Speaker 1: Welcome to five hundred Greatest Songs, a podcast based on
Speaker 1: Rolling Stone's hugely popular, influential, and sometimes controversialist. I'm Britney Spanos.
Speaker 2: And I'm Rob Sheffield, and we're here to shed light
Speaker 2: on the greatest songs ever made and discover what makes
Speaker 2: them so great. This week we're going into It Takes
Speaker 2: two by Rob Bass and DJ Easy Rock. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What an absolutely catchy song, kind of perfect.
Speaker 2: One of the truly great summer songs of all time. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it was on the twenty twenty one list of the
Speaker 2: five hundred Greatest Songs and number one sixteen.
Speaker 1: And the song was released in nineteen eighty eight. And
Speaker 1: I was reading an interview that Rob had done with
Speaker 1: with Rolling Stone a few years ago, kind of in
Speaker 1: the series about how great nineteen eighty eight was for
Speaker 1: hip hop and how their manager had basically just asked
Speaker 1: them to work on a couple songs so they can
Speaker 1: start maybe getting signed and start chopping around music. And
Speaker 1: it started off as just a demo that they were
Speaker 1: using to get signed, and they use this great sample
Speaker 1: of Lynn Collins nineteen seventy two song think About It,
Speaker 1: which has that yeah woo that sample in the background
Speaker 1: and then it just completely changed their lives.
Speaker 2: It changed everything. It was phenomenal. It was the epical
Speaker 2: hip hop song of the epical hip hop summer of
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight, which was such a golden age for
Speaker 2: hip hop.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean what was making nineteen eighty eight that
Speaker 1: golden age and that kind of that best year? And
Speaker 1: if you agree that it was the best year of
Speaker 1: hip hop, I.
Speaker 2: Don't know if it's the best year, but it was
Speaker 2: definitely a golden age in that people had taken the
Speaker 2: idea from Run DMC that you could focus the music
Speaker 2: entirely on hip hop and make street records and that
Speaker 2: they could cross over and be hits. But so much
Speaker 2: of the music was going strange places that you wouldn't
Speaker 2: have predicted. But the summer of eighty eight was a
Speaker 2: time when you could turn on the radio and just
Speaker 2: hear hip hop getting reinvented week after week, with so
Speaker 2: many brilliant minds building on the innovation of what people
Speaker 2: had just done. So it was this ongoing creative project
Speaker 2: where people were constantly checking each other out and bouncing
Speaker 2: back with a new record. So the end of the summer,
Speaker 2: it Takes two was a hit all summer long. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and it was really strange to think of it as
Speaker 2: a top forty hit when it was so raw and uncut.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean this was also such a turning point,
Speaker 1: right in terms of kind of hip hop as pop
Speaker 1: music and kind of the opening of spaces both in
Speaker 1: radio and on MTV of like having more of these
Speaker 1: hip hop records played in primetime and played, you know,
Speaker 1: on the radio beyond just like the late night mixes
Speaker 1: that would play rap music, or MTV having this was
Speaker 1: like the first year that you know, MTV.
Speaker 2: Raps TPA yeah, summer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean this was such like a turning point
Speaker 1: of seeing this music become what was top forty pop
Speaker 1: music and being played as equally as everything else being
Speaker 1: played at the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It was so crazy how hip hop was considered
Speaker 2: a fad, almost novelty music right up till Run DMC
Speaker 2: really defined that it could be. Well, Run DMC really
Speaker 2: showed everybody what it could be and raising Hell from
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty six, which was their third album, but a
Speaker 2: phenomenal album. Yeah, Run DMC had already changed the world
Speaker 2: with records like Sucker MC's and it's like that in
Speaker 2: rock Box they were as they said, the first hip
Speaker 2: hop group to make a street record that was for
Speaker 2: the streets rather than the clubs. Raising hell, they proved
Speaker 2: that it was an album format, and they showed how
Speaker 2: flexible it was, how diverse. It was still a phenomenal album.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean with it takes two. I mean that song,
Speaker 1: I mean is just like such a great kind of
Speaker 1: catchy song that is still very much played on radio constantly,
Speaker 1: is very much still kind of a foundational song for
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. I mean, what about that
Speaker 1: song makes it so so great and kind of stand
Speaker 1: out from the summer of eighty eight.
Speaker 2: Well, it takes two takes that James Brown break that
Speaker 2: you mentioned, James Brown going yet and Lynn Collins going
Speaker 2: wo and just loops it into eternity. It was at
Speaker 2: a time when James Brown symbolized so much in pop music.
Speaker 2: He symbolized its independence from pop, its independence from compromise,
Speaker 2: its uncompromising blackness. And that James Brown was used in
Speaker 2: this really mutated way, and that there's so much disco
Speaker 2: in the record as well, that it's got that strafe
Speaker 2: set it off rhythm track. Rob Basse told me once
Speaker 2: that he was thinking of one specific roller rink in
Speaker 2: Harlem where they used to go and skate. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: he was thinking of a record that would affect that
Speaker 2: particular room and what people like to skate to in
Speaker 2: that particular room. So he was aiming for a really
Speaker 2: specific building, a really specific room, a really specific crowd,
Speaker 2: And to his surprise and to everybody's surprise, it turned
Speaker 2: out to be a sound that the whole world wanted
Speaker 2: a piece of.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I love the roller rink inspiration. I feel
Speaker 1: like that's so apt for this song.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean it's just so a great dance records,
Speaker 1: such a great hip hop record, Like I mean, the
Speaker 1: use of the samples is so incredible and kind of
Speaker 1: you know, just like so infectious on it. And I
Speaker 1: mean just like the flow is I mean just like amazing.
Speaker 1: Like it's everything that I really love about like a
Speaker 1: really great kind of hip hop track.
Speaker 2: Absolutely Yeah. And that records like this were dropping so fast.
Speaker 2: Records is innovative and brilliant. So that summer you have
Speaker 2: records by EPMD like strictly business and you've got to chill.
Speaker 2: You've got Eric B and Rakim Follow the Leader. You've
Speaker 2: got Public Enemy with Rebel without a pause and bring
Speaker 2: the noise. There was so much happening in the air
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty eight that for a record like It
Speaker 2: Takes Two, which is just a straight up street record,
Speaker 2: to just cross over to Top forty pop, it was
Speaker 2: unprecedented and very strange. I mean, it was very different
Speaker 2: from run DMC when they finally made the Top forty
Speaker 2: with a pop hit. They did it the compromising way.
Speaker 2: They did a cover of Walk This Way Aerosmith, which
Speaker 2: a song which had a really big impact on Aerosmith's
Speaker 2: career but in many ways turned out to be not
Speaker 2: so great for Run DMC.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the video for the song is also really really
Speaker 1: great outside of the They kind of had to self
Speaker 1: finance this video basically and kind of filming outside of
Speaker 1: the Apollo And there's like a like a bismarky like
Speaker 1: cameo in the in the video too, of him just
Speaker 1: like walking past or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a total straight up Harlem street scene like
Speaker 2: the record, and that something like this could be a hit.
Speaker 2: You didn't have to cover a pop hit, you didn't
Speaker 2: have to do that with the famous pop artist. You
Speaker 2: could just do a record like this, and that was
Speaker 2: what people wanted.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean, are you a fan of kind
Speaker 1: of the Rob bassed dj ez rock kind of full
Speaker 1: discography and like, what are some what are some songs,
Speaker 1: other songs I should check out by them?
Speaker 2: Joy and Pain is a great one. I'm an unusually
Speaker 2: huge fan of Rob Bass. His second album, The Incredible Bass,
Speaker 2: which was done without DG. Easy Rock. That's a great
Speaker 2: record as well. War is a great version of the
Speaker 2: Motown song War. You're just talking about rap battles in
Speaker 2: the eighties and he says, you know what, I don't
Speaker 2: see Patty and Luther battling. But Rob Bass was someone
Speaker 2: who just had this, as he put it in the song,
Speaker 2: a real funky concept. That album, it takes two. It
Speaker 2: had other great hits on it, like Joy and Pain. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but it's really this one song seemed to hit at
Speaker 2: a specific time and place and has never really gone away. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was reading in an interview that you'd
Speaker 1: done about how his favorite use of it was in
Speaker 1: the Proposal. It was just like such a great scene
Speaker 1: with it with like Sandra Bullock and Ryan and Ryan
Speaker 1: Reynolds kind of singing the song. Like the fact that
Speaker 1: the song is just still kind of finding new ways
Speaker 1: to break through and kind of be in you know.
Speaker 1: So it's in so many movies and TV shows and
Speaker 1: also like there's a great Black Eyed Peace song that
Speaker 1: samples like their version. You know. It's like, I think
Speaker 1: it's so fascinating to kind of see this song that
Speaker 1: obviously was so important to this like breaking point for
Speaker 1: hip hop in this moment when hip hop was becoming
Speaker 1: even more mainstream and being that song of the summer
Speaker 1: that it was kind of still still being such an
Speaker 1: important touchdowne for everyone.
Speaker 2: It's very similar to a rock sane chante song that
Speaker 2: was huge around the same time, go On Girl, Yeah,
Speaker 2: which is also a phenomenal song.
Speaker 1: Love that song. That's a top song for me.
Speaker 2: Rox Sande Chante with rhymes written by Big Daddy Kane, who,
Speaker 2: along with Bismarquis, was also so huge in that great
Speaker 2: hip hop explosion of eighty eight.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Long Lived the Cane is one of my favorite albums
Speaker 2: from the eighties, especially the song eight and No Half
Speaker 2: Step in Yes to Me that was a wordsmith just
Speaker 2: showing how far he could go to the outer extremes
Speaker 2: and yet not making it sound complex or thorny, but
Speaker 2: just making it rock.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean especially kind of with how big this
Speaker 1: year was, and especially how big this particular song It
Speaker 1: Takes Two was, and kin kind of what it cracked
Speaker 1: through at that moment in sort of radio and MTV
Speaker 1: and kind of all these outlets that previously were more
Speaker 1: medicine to have hip hop be played against, you know,
Speaker 1: like next to Madonna and you know, Prince and Michael
Speaker 1: Jackson and you know, all the kind of like what
Speaker 1: seemed to be just like more kind of straightforward like
Speaker 1: pop music, Like what sort of happened or I guess,
Speaker 1: like what do you remember of happening in ninete eighty
Speaker 1: nine and going forward and what this allowed for hip
Speaker 1: hop over the next couple of years.
Speaker 2: Well, this was the era before sampling got really litigitious,
Speaker 2: which really changed everything in late ninety nine especially, But
Speaker 2: this was the era when basically people treated samples like
Speaker 2: they were free and DJ could take a beat from
Speaker 2: anywhere and turn it into a hitter at least turned
Speaker 2: it into a great record. Yeah, And there was so
Speaker 2: much creativity going around with an album, Like in early
Speaker 2: eighty nine you have Dala Soul with later that year
Speaker 2: it's the Beastie Boys with Paul's boutique, but people were
Speaker 2: making such adventurous pastiche records with sampling, and it ended
Speaker 2: very quickly and very horribly. The Dala Soul song was
Speaker 2: a really minor track on Three Feet High and Rising.
Speaker 2: It was transmitting live from Mars and it used a
Speaker 2: sample of the sixties pop hit by the Turtles called
Speaker 2: You Showed Me, who previously were not considered all that
Speaker 2: consequential in pop history, but Dalas Hole sampled them on
Speaker 2: their album and that was the lawsuit that really froze
Speaker 2: that sort of creative era of anything goes sampling.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I didn't realize it was the
Speaker 1: Turtles that kind of were the ones that broke that down.
Speaker 2: It was the song where Dala Soul with the French lesson. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and it's while that, you know, like so many great
Speaker 2: Prince Paul productions, you listened to Three Feet High in
Speaker 2: Rising now and it's still full of surprises. You still
Speaker 2: hear so much imagination and creativity going into it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I love sort of the kind of
Speaker 1: crate digging stories from all these great producers and mcs
Speaker 1: from the eighties and early nineties, which just like how
Speaker 1: they've on those samples and kind of just like digging
Speaker 1: into those classic and often long lost disco and soul
Speaker 1: records and rock records that they would just kind of
Speaker 1: find and kind of like digging through record stories and
Speaker 1: finding these songs that they were able to kind of
Speaker 1: patch together and make a massive hit out of.
Speaker 2: Absolutely it goes back to the old school rap battles
Speaker 2: in the South Bronx, where DJs like Cool Hirk were
Speaker 2: innovating the idea of taking a break and making that
Speaker 2: the whole record, making that the whole song. Grandmaster Flash, Africa,
Speaker 2: Bombada and cool Heart. They famously used to take the
Speaker 2: labels off the record so other DJs couldn't peer over
Speaker 2: and see what they were breaking. Africa and bab Bada
Speaker 2: had a great quote that he liked to put on
Speaker 2: music by the Stones or the Beatles or the Monkeys
Speaker 2: and later tell people, yeah, you were really dancing to
Speaker 2: that monkey's song, and people were really surprised to hear
Speaker 2: that they had danced to a monkey zone. I do
Speaker 2: that you could take any break and build a record
Speaker 2: around it, but it takes too ridiculous. It just takes
Speaker 2: that one brief moment in a James Brown song that
Speaker 2: was not a crossover hit, definitely like a great digging pick, yeah,
Speaker 2: and turned it into the basis of a whole phenomenal
Speaker 2: record that was so influential and remains really influential.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And what do you think it is about this
Speaker 1: particular song? I mean, obviously, again, like this year was
Speaker 1: so massive, and I mean there are all these incredible
Speaker 1: songs that obviously still have so much longevity and have
Speaker 1: still kind of maintained their popularity and still sound fresh
Speaker 1: and still sound so, you know, influential. But I mean
Speaker 1: with this particular song that I mean, I feel like
Speaker 1: kind of just is so ingrained into everything that we like,
Speaker 1: look here constantly. What do you think it is about
Speaker 1: it takes two that's maintained its popularity over the years.
Speaker 2: It's just so immediate, right, You hear it and it
Speaker 2: just grabs you right away.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, I mean it's kind of hard to not
Speaker 1: be like that. Yeah, it was just like completely intoxicated.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, one of the great openings, yeah, in music history,
Speaker 2: with the announcement that you're about to be a mazed
Speaker 2: by the power of Rob Bay and DJ Easy Rock.
Speaker 2: Then the most amazing hit it intro yeah, and just
Speaker 2: that perfect opening where Rob Bass just says, I win
Speaker 2: a rock right now. Yeah, And this is definitely a
Speaker 2: song that creates the moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean I think, like especially with any sort
Speaker 1: of eighties hip hop and sort of that fusion of
Speaker 1: like dance and kind of the songs that are both
Speaker 1: you know, club and street like this. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just kind of like a perfect storm of kind of
Speaker 1: catchiness and fun that is on all these songs. Like
Speaker 1: the song is just so much fun to listen to
Speaker 1: and to hear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you love about eighties hip hop?
Speaker 1: I mean, I think like so much of the sampling
Speaker 1: and kind of that kind of combination of like like
Speaker 1: disco and rock and soul and all of that has
Speaker 1: always just like really drawn me. I think just the
Speaker 1: songs are so fun and dancy, and I think that's
Speaker 1: always been my favorite thing. Like I just really like
Speaker 1: I always think of that Missy Elliott outro, and I
Speaker 1: think work it where She's just like, like, this is
Speaker 1: hip hop, we love to dance. Like that outro is
Speaker 1: like such like a kind of encapsulates so much of
Speaker 1: what I love, especially about that sort of decade of
Speaker 1: the birth of hip hop is how dancy it is?
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Missie La definitely a great example of somebody
Speaker 2: who takes that playful, creative, anything goes spirit of eighties
Speaker 2: hip hop, and it was very much an industry that
Speaker 2: was not trying to cross over to pop, but was
Speaker 2: able to stand on its own terms.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean even just like listening back, it's like
Speaker 1: they're so I mean, because they are so influential to
Speaker 1: so much of what pop and hip hop would sound
Speaker 1: like for the next couple of decades. Like, I think
Speaker 1: it seems like so obvious that these songs like it's like,
Speaker 1: so they should be hits. You know, it's like a
Speaker 1: song like hearing it takes two. It's like, how are
Speaker 1: they not? I mean, obviously, of course there's a lot
Speaker 1: of reasons why a lot of hip hop artists weren't
Speaker 1: signed just yet. But I mean it's one of those
Speaker 1: songs where it's like this is of course this is
Speaker 1: a big hit. Of course this song would blow up.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is like one of the catchiest songs
Speaker 1: ever made. It's such like a song that you immediately
Speaker 1: need to like move your body as soon as you
Speaker 1: hear it, and kind of hard to get out of
Speaker 1: your head once you hear it for the first time
Speaker 1: and just sounds like it, you know, just sounds so
Speaker 1: fresh and like it should be the biggest song of
Speaker 1: all time.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. In the spring of nineteen eighty nine, Spin magazine
Speaker 2: did a list of the greatest songs of all time
Speaker 2: and this was number one. Yeah, and it really kind
Speaker 2: of summed up what the song meant at the time
Speaker 2: that it felt like, right now is a time of
Speaker 2: so much creativity and so much innovation, and it takes too.
Speaker 2: Is definitely a song that celebrates that. Yeah, it's definitely
Speaker 2: a moment that captures hip hop where you could take
Speaker 2: this minimal record. It's just a rhythm, there's no pop hook,
Speaker 2: there's no outside instruments, and it's just minimal hip hop
Speaker 2: for hip hop. It's never intended to cross over. But
Speaker 2: you hear that song everywhere.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, I mean I think that it's like one
Speaker 1: of those songs that it is very much like I
Speaker 1: still hear it kind of like at block parties and everything.
Speaker 1: Like I feel like every time my block has a
Speaker 1: party in the summer, like this song is always, always,
Speaker 1: always out on the mix.
Speaker 2: Yeah, those run DMC records for the eighties, they always
Speaker 2: still sound so immediate and fresh and impatient, like they
Speaker 2: want your attention right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there is like so much of that urgency to
Speaker 1: the beat on it takes too as well, Like there
Speaker 1: is kind of that like it's so like propulsive and
Speaker 1: just like really kind of it's really just like really
Speaker 1: hard to not move when you hear it. Yeah, where
Speaker 1: do you sort of hear? The influence of it takes
Speaker 1: to and of also rob bass and DJ easy rock.
Speaker 2: Honestly, the idea of just taking a break and making
Speaker 2: a whole song out of it influenced the way everybody
Speaker 2: made music. It was a bit like the Ramones in
Speaker 2: a way that the Ramones had this just play the
Speaker 2: fun part of the song and make that the whole
Speaker 2: song and do it over and over and again. But
Speaker 2: for hip hop to just prove that you could go
Speaker 2: so minimal and still make music that you still hear
Speaker 2: weddings and parties, it's still something that is fresh and
Speaker 2: influential on how other people make music.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like, I mean, of course, the Black
Speaker 1: Eyed Peas song, the samples that I am a big
Speaker 1: fan of that song body, and I mean I feel like, yeah,
Speaker 1: so much of Obviously Missy Elliott, who I know we
Speaker 1: both both love and have talked about this on the
Speaker 1: show before, is so kind of had constantly been pulling
Speaker 1: from this era of hip hop and kind of so
Speaker 1: much a love letter to a song like It Takes
Speaker 1: Two and kind of this like Year of eighty eight
Speaker 1: kind of hip hop breaking through and kind of that
Speaker 1: that kind of Golden Age is so influential on her.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah. EPMD had such a huge hit that summer
Speaker 2: with Strictly Business where they take a little bit from
Speaker 2: I Shot the Sheriff and they loop it all the
Speaker 2: way through the song, just this really micro minimal sliver
Speaker 2: of the song and in a completely weird sort of transcendence.
Speaker 2: They don't even use the Bob Marlee version. They use
Speaker 2: the Eric Clapton version, And it sounds so wild to
Speaker 2: take this little bit of a rock version of a
Speaker 2: reggae song and just loop it into this elemental hip
Speaker 2: hop beat. Yeah, but to me that records like that
Speaker 2: sum up the spirit of that period and hip hop
Speaker 2: and what made it a real Golden Age.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Next we'll be joined by Rob Bass.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, this record is a classic.
Speaker 3: Thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Where does a record like this come from?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean it was definitely like a last minute thing.
Speaker 3: You know, me and DJ Easy Rock had to be
Speaker 3: in the studio that night, you know, to go and
Speaker 3: work on something. We ain't really have nothing ready, So
Speaker 3: we went to one of our homeboy's house and he
Speaker 3: played a bunch of records for us and we was like, yo,
Speaker 3: I like that. He said, you know, he like this,
Speaker 3: and we just took both of the records and went
Speaker 3: to the studio put them both together, and that's how
Speaker 3: we came up with It Takes two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm curious. How how did you and easy Rock
Speaker 1: originally meet and kind of connect and start making music together.
Speaker 3: Well, we met in public school, grade school. I think
Speaker 3: it was fifth grade. Yeah, we met in fifth grade,
Speaker 3: and we used to always play you know, softball together,
Speaker 3: and we hung together. And then you know, once the
Speaker 3: hip hop things started, you know, coming in to play,
Speaker 3: you know, we just got into that. So it was
Speaker 3: like it was actually like seven of us, and we
Speaker 3: was a group called a Short Shot seven when we
Speaker 3: first started. And then you know, as time went on,
Speaker 3: you know, people just broke off and then me and
Speaker 3: him just stuck together and kept going.
Speaker 1: Yeah, can you tell us a little bit about that
Speaker 1: musical chemistry that the two of you have and had
Speaker 1: and when you sort of realized that the two of
Speaker 1: you were creating something really special.
Speaker 3: You know, we used to go to all of the
Speaker 3: block parties and skating rinks and listen to what people
Speaker 3: were dancing to, and we just came up we said,
Speaker 3: hey man, we got to get something to make people
Speaker 3: party and dance. So, you know, we got in the
Speaker 3: studio and we saw certain you know, beats and rhythms
Speaker 3: that they used to dance to, and we just try
Speaker 3: to come up with that same type of vibe and
Speaker 3: we was actually able to do it.
Speaker 2: You know, the record. It was wild that it became
Speaker 2: such a huge hit, even though it's so street.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because we definitely we made it for the We
Speaker 3: made it for a Harlem and the Bronx. Basically, we
Speaker 3: didn't know it would go worldwide.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It was something we did and we didn't think it
Speaker 3: was spread. You know, we thought it was just for
Speaker 3: around the Way, and it's you know, we feel blessed
Speaker 3: at it, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean that year was such a big year for
Speaker 1: hip hop, and I mean, obviously the song changed your life.
Speaker 1: When did you sort of start to realize that something
Speaker 1: really big was happening with the song?
Speaker 3: Well, when I first heard it on the radio, because
Speaker 3: back then, if you get a rap record on the radio,
Speaker 3: that was huge. You know, that means that the record
Speaker 3: was going to kind of blow up most likely, And
Speaker 3: the first time I heard it on daytime radio, I
Speaker 3: knew right there, I said, we got something here, man,
Speaker 3: this might go far, you know.
Speaker 1: And do you have a favorite place that you've heard
Speaker 1: the song, either on a TV show or movie or
Speaker 1: is there a place like a grocery store or something
Speaker 1: that you've heard the song that just felt really fun
Speaker 1: and random?
Speaker 3: Well, favorite, I definitely got to say the radio radio
Speaker 3: because once I heard the radio, it was it was
Speaker 3: so exciting just to hear your song on the radio
Speaker 3: is especially, you know, coming from you know, just struggling
Speaker 3: for a few years trying to get to record on
Speaker 3: the radio, and then you finally get one. That was
Speaker 3: the biggest for me.
Speaker 2: You know, how did the record come out?
Speaker 3: We had recorded it and then we signed Profile Records
Speaker 3: and they, you know, at that time, they were one
Speaker 3: of the big rap labels. They had run DMC and
Speaker 3: a few other big groups, and you know, once they
Speaker 3: heard it, you know, an R I think his name
Speaker 3: was Brian Chin. Yeah, he believed in the record and
Speaker 3: they put the record out and it took a little
Speaker 3: while before it caught on, but when it did, it
Speaker 3: caught on really big.
Speaker 2: But you said that you made it for Harlem and
Speaker 2: the Bronx. What kind of record were you thinking about
Speaker 2: making when you made it?
Speaker 3: Well, this is something you know that you know, DJs
Speaker 3: would play at a party, you know, something that they
Speaker 3: would play on play at the party. When it first
Speaker 3: come on, like people jump up and dance. That's why
Speaker 3: you know, we started it with this slow intro and
Speaker 3: then we came in with to hit it, and the
Speaker 3: beat hit so hard that you know, once it come on,
Speaker 3: people just started dancing. So it was kind of like
Speaker 3: just basically a party record, party record to make people
Speaker 3: get on the dance floor, you know, still does.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know the video is such a love
Speaker 1: letter to that as well. Can you tell me a
Speaker 1: little bit about what it was like to film the
Speaker 1: video When he did, they.
Speaker 3: Didn't want to give us a video, so we had
Speaker 3: to shoot the video on our own, So we put
Speaker 3: up our own money and we got a camera. We
Speaker 3: had a guy we met that had a camera and
Speaker 3: he knew how to shoot videos a little bit, and
Speaker 3: we went to one hundred and twenty fifth Street in Harlem,
Speaker 3: set up, shot right there, went into a couple of stores.
Speaker 3: We just started filming. We just was filming, and then
Speaker 3: people started to come jump in the video. We seen
Speaker 3: Bizmocky across the street. He came across and got in
Speaker 3: the video. Red Alert was walking by. He jumped in
Speaker 3: the video. People got behind us. It just happened like that.
Speaker 3: It was no script. We just did it the way
Speaker 3: we did it.
Speaker 2: It was such an exciting and free time in hip hop.
Speaker 3: Yes it was, Yes, it was.
Speaker 2: What was it like hearing the innovation that was going
Speaker 2: on in eighty eight.
Speaker 3: One thing about hip hop at that time, everybody had
Speaker 3: a different style, Like it wasn't no one rapper sounding
Speaker 3: like another rapper. So everybody like if you heard run DMC,
Speaker 3: you knew who that was. You heard Nick Daddy Kane,
Speaker 3: you know who that was. Dougy Fresh note, everybody had
Speaker 3: their own style. So it was just like it was
Speaker 3: a great time in hip hop when, like I said,
Speaker 3: the different flavors of hip hop you could get any
Speaker 3: type of hip hop you want to hear. You want
Speaker 3: some public Enemy, you got that over here. You want
Speaker 3: some Paris One, you got that over here. You want
Speaker 3: some broad Basis right here. You know, it was an
Speaker 3: amazing time.
Speaker 2: Did you think that the record would last the way
Speaker 2: it does over time?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: Wait, no, I never would have thought in a million
Speaker 3: years that it would last as long. Because I mean
Speaker 3: when I do concerts now, you got little kids that
Speaker 3: wasn't even born when the record came out, and they
Speaker 3: coming up to me singing a song. So I'm like,
Speaker 3: I'm just like I said, I felt blessed. Man. It's
Speaker 3: like crazy to have these little kids that know the lyrics,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, especially because this is for our five
Speaker 1: hundred Greatest Songs of All Time podcast and list. I'm curious,
Speaker 1: what are some of the songs that you think are
Speaker 1: the greatest of all time?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 3: Now, that's that's pretty hard for me. The greatest of
Speaker 3: all time? I gotta say one of them got to
Speaker 3: be Rappers Delight Sugarhill Gang, because that was one that
Speaker 3: started at all to me. You know, I would say
Speaker 3: the message by Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five
Speaker 3: should be in there, I guess, and who go soul
Speaker 3: soignic I'm going back though, you know, so Sonic cos
Speaker 3: playet Rock, you know, that was another one that was huge.
Speaker 3: And then to catch up in time, I mean, it's
Speaker 3: just been so many. It's just so many tone low
Speaker 3: wild things, but no ice, Ice, ice baby. You know,
Speaker 3: it's just so many. You know, it's so many.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like you said, hearing your record in daytime, there's
Speaker 2: really a sense of hip hop was finally taking over
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 3: At that time. You will only hear maybe one or
Speaker 3: two rap records three for the most and on the
Speaker 3: daytime radio most of the time they would play hip
Speaker 3: hop at night. So to get your record played during
Speaker 3: the daytime least where I was living at in New York,
Speaker 3: that was something huge. It was huge. That mean, you
Speaker 3: was like one of the big groups at the time,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned how you know, having really young kids
Speaker 1: come up and knowing the song. I mean, this song
Speaker 1: is still so still just one of the biggest songs
Speaker 1: of all time and also such a big influence on
Speaker 1: a lot of young artists and a lot of music.
Speaker 1: Where do you kind of hear at the legacy of
Speaker 1: it takes too in music today.
Speaker 3: I think it's just one of those songs that's probably
Speaker 3: just gonna stick around, and you know it's gonna it's
Speaker 3: here to stay. I just see it. It's here to stay.
Speaker 2: You know. The record it turned into such an important
Speaker 2: part of the James Brown legend and the James Brown
Speaker 2: connection to hip hop.
Speaker 3: Oh definitely, definitely. You know, I grew up when I
Speaker 3: was a little kid. You know, my parents used to
Speaker 3: always play James Brown. So he to me, James Brown
Speaker 3: has got to be one of the founder fathers of
Speaker 3: hip hop because you know, I believe when you hear
Speaker 3: him sing, it sounded like he rapping most of the time,
Speaker 3: you know, so he definitely wanted the founder fathers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you got to that break before anybody else.
Speaker 2: Everybody wanted it after you got it.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean, but actually, let the truth be told,
Speaker 3: they were one or two other releases that used the sample,
Speaker 3: but they didn't use it the way I used it. So,
Speaker 3: you know our record maybe they came out maybe two
Speaker 3: weeks before us, but then we came right behind and
Speaker 3: we blew it out the water.
Speaker 2: You know, you made it just part of the universal
Speaker 2: universal music.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, after we did it, like
Speaker 3: a lot of rappers were coming out with the same
Speaker 3: type of rhythm, same type beat at the wool. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, so it was good. It was a good thing.
Speaker 3: I mean actually when I first when we did the
Speaker 3: record and when it was completed, we played it for
Speaker 3: a few people and a lot of them were like,
Speaker 3: I don't know about this record. It's too much woo. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's too fast.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: They had a lot of complaints about it at first,
Speaker 3: you know, but then when it started hitting, they was like, Oh,
Speaker 3: I knew that was going to be a hit. And
Speaker 3: I'm looking at them like, yeah, right, look.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for talking about this classic record.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we really appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for listening to Rolling Stone's five
Speaker 2: hundred Greatest songs. This podcast is brought to you by
Speaker 2: Rolling Stone and iHeartMedia. Written and hosted by Rob Sheffield
Speaker 2: and Brittany Spanelstve, produced by Jason Fine, Alex Dale, Christian Horde,
Speaker 2: and Gus Wenner, and produced by Jesse Cannon, with music
Speaker 2: supervision by Eric Syler.