WEBVTT - Run the Jewels 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:04.960 Welcome to Inside the Studio presented by I Heart Radio. 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:15.680 I'm your host Joe Levy. So this time out I 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.160 got to talk with LP and Killer Mike of Run 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:22.800 the Jewels, who have made one of the hardest, craziest, 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:26.599 and most politically charged hip hop albums of the year, 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:30.240 although actually you could pretty much say that for any 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.320 year in which Run the Jewels puts out an album, 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.280 but still, the early June release of this one, which 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.520 is called Run the Jewels four, felt a little deeper, 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.360 coming as it did just weeks into the protest marches 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:47.040 that spread around the country and around the world after 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:50.320 the killing of George Floyd by the police in Minneapolis. 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:53.920 Run the Jewels four has been rightly hailed as an 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.440 album that catches the mood of that moment. In fact, 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:00.320 Killer Mike told me that he's heard from protest sster's 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.760 around the country who have taken up one song from 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.040 the album, it's called Walking in the Snow, as something 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.839 of an anthem on their marches. And in that track, 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.360 Mike talks at one point about the TV news showing 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:16.319 a man like him, that is, a black man choked 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:20.360 out by the police, while whispering the words I can't breathe, 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:24.240 which of course were the exact words used by both 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:28.880 George Floyd Dismay and Eric Garner six years before that. 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.360 So the sad fact is that Walking in the Snow 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:36.240 is a song that both describes a system that's been 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.959 broken and deadly for a very long time and a 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.520 song that feels like it was written ten minutes ago 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:47.360 in reaction to what's happening right now. As Killer Mike 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.559 and LP told me, Run the Jewels four was actually 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:55.520 recorded last year. The original plan before the pandemic was 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.960 to release the album in the spring and for Run 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:01.360 the Jewels to go out on road with Rage against 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:06.160 the Machine, who were slated for a reunion gig at Coachella. Now. 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.280 LP comes out of the nineties underground hip hop scene 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.160 in New York. He was in the trio company Flow, 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:14.840 and he was also a co founder of the crucial 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:19.120 indie labeled Deaf Jucks. Killer Mike is from Atlanta. He 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:22.040 earned his nickname as a battle rapper, and he made 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:25.320 his recorded debut in two thousand on a cut from 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.919 the outcast classic Stanconia. And the two of them began 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.240 working together about a decade ago when LP was slated 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.320 to produce a couple of tracks on a Killer Mike 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:38.200 solo album called Rap Music. Mike heard what LP had 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:42.320 done and convinced him to produce the entire album, and 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.680 part of what their partnership and Run the Jewels shows 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.959 is how the Internet is just about a race, any 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.480 space in between whatever we call alternative and mainstream hip hop. 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.040 I mean, we live in an age when music can 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:02.320 come from anyone, any where, with or without a label, 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.160 and it can sound like anything. A Round the Jewels 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.679 track might be futuristic, or it might be an old 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.680 school throwback. It might start out with some New York 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:15.880 experimental rock and then shift into a Southern syrup e 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.840 style and Run the Jewels for The guests include two 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.080 Chains and Farrell on the one hand, and Josh Hammy 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.480 from Queens of the Stone Age and Zach de Larroca 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.000 from Rage Against the Machine on the other. I mean 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:31.520 this is music that does whatever it wants in the 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:35.119 same way. Their music doesn't sound like just one thing. 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:39.640 Their songs don't stay in just one place. These guys 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:44.880 can move rapid fire from ship talking to heavy thinking, 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.280 with a lot more in between. There's a fair amount 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:50.880 of humor on Run the Jewels four. The album is 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:56.160 set up as episode four of a ridiculous fictional television 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.080 show cross between I Don't Know the A Team and 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.760 Dukes of Has Heard. Maybe it's that cop show that 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.720 the Beastie Boys were starring in in the Sabotage video. 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.920 Whatever it is, it's about two anti heroes on the 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.840 run fighting against crooked cops, and it's called Yankee and 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.120 the Brave, which is a reference to the Yankees and 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.760 Atlanta Braves baseball caps that LP and Killer Mike ware. 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:23.560 But the final track on the album is called a 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.000 Few Words from the Firing Squad, and it goes somewhere 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.720 more emotional than these guys have gone before. LP told 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.680 me about how originally he planned to put drums on 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.280 this track. What you're hearing is almost what they started with, 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.200 and once he and Killer Mike began putting their verses 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:44.800 down and talking about the women in their lives and 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:49.039 their core values, he decided against tinkering with it. I 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:51.039 didn't want to take away from anything Mike was saying. 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:52.560 I didn't want to take away from anything I was 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:55.800 saying by overproducing it. It needed to be something that 0:04:56.000 --> 0:05:00.320 felt really clear and felt and felt really powerful because 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.640 I think that um it demanded it, you know what 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.880 we were saying, as Jamie and Mike needed to be 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.160 front and center and needed to be heard. So LP 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.200 and Killer Mike talked in depth about that song, and 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.080 they also talked about how they've tried to keep their 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.279 businesses Run the Jewels and also the other side businesses 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.520 outside of music that they've started keep these things going 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:27.680 during the pandemic, and most importantly, about how and why 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:39.320 they worked together. Here's what else they had to say. Okay, 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.520 when Mike Lfie, welcome to inside the studio. Hey, thanks 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.000 for having us man, although none of us are actually 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.120 inside anything resembling a studio. I'm in my living room, 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:50.520 l P, you're where are you? I'm just on a 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.719 I'm just on a deck. I'm just on a deck, 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.960 just on a deck. Not actually djaying on this particular deck, 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:01.479 but no, no, look a literal wood deck. Yeah. Uh? 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:03.560 And and and Mike, where you at? I'm in my 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.120 gaudy ass dining room and my wife to side with 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.839 African mask on the wall and ship oh nice. Obviously 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.440 Run the Jewels. For episode four of A Yankee and 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:15.360 the Brave as you put it on. The first track 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:18.159 has been received this one of the best albums of 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.039 the year so far and most definitely an album that 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:24.279 helps people, whether they're listening like me on their headphones, 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.200 are out in the street, cope with things right now? 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.839 And how does that feel? It's been amazing. I you know, 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:33.480 it's connected with people on a level that we, you know, 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.479 are blown away by. You know, but you know, I 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:38.719 think people love the music. I think people I think 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:42.120 the music is is giving people energy, and I think 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.320 that people are connecting with the spirit of the things. 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:47.080 So I'm honored, man, I really am. I think that 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:49.320 we just make we just made music, and we just 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.240 try and please each other, you know, make sure that 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.320 we feel like we repped you know who we are. 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.080 And you don't know how people are gonna react to it, 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:58.400 but we felt like this was a special record. So 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.640 to to to have people react like that is amazing. 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:06.920 Feels good. Um awesome hip hop ship Like I'm loved that. 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.640 It took times and it resonates. I'm loving it. People 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.440 are wrapping out words. I'm missing y'all. I look forward 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:16.880 to get out on the road next year. But just 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.160 the perfect phrases it just feels day, I'm good. And 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.960 of course a lot of people are receiving it as 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:25.600 very much an album at the moment, and I have 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.040 to say, the tracks like Pulling the Pin do feel 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.440 like they could have been written like ten minutes ago. 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.680 But I've read that the album was originally scheduled for 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.720 release in April, and it is. After all, it was 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:38.440 to Run the Jewels album. You could go back to 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:40.920 Thieves from Run the Jewels three, and you can hear 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.920 music that fits this moment. You go back to earlier, 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:45.920 you can back you know, you go back to close 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:47.840 your eyes, you can go back to you know, I 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.880 think that we the truth is is that people are 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.600 tuning into that frequency right now, and and and but 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:56.840 the truth but like you said, I mean, this album 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.120 was gonna drop in April, and we made it in 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:03.120 two thousand nineteen, so you know, this is where this 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:04.960 is where we were at in our heads in terms 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:06.800 of our art and what we were looking at the 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:11.200 things that we were tackling. And so you know, um, 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.440 you kind of wish that someday those types of some 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.080 of the ideas that feel really relevant right now will 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:20.000 never feel relevant again. You know. That's that's the hope, 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:21.920 you know, and to me and Mike can do that, 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:24.160 do our version of the kid and play kickstep or 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:25.720 whatever it is that we got to come up with too, 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:30.200 like you know, make happy music basically, um, those those 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.040 things are connecting with people. And more than anything, we 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.440 wanted to give people something that just had life to 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.679 it and energy to it and a little bit of 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.959 um that. We didn't want something that was that felt 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.400 like it was despair. We want something that felt like 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.560 it was resilience, something that felt like it you know, 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.640 it could translate like puff your chest out a little 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.280 bit like yeah, you know, you know, we see what, 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:55.160 you know, some of the things that are going on. 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.520 And yet I don't think you walk away from this 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.000 record feeling defeated. I think that you walk away from 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.040 this record feeling energy. I hope, you know. No. I 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:04.839 mean I would say a lot of it is fight music, 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.400 right yeah, yeah, for sure, thinking man's fight music or 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.320 thinking people's fight music as it were, for sure. But 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.960 one thing that that really resonates. I mean, Mike, you've 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.160 talked about this, You've talked about hearing from people who 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:19.680 are out protesting that they've taken up that track walking 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:23.000 in the snow as they march. Yeah, and that's such 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.480 a strong record musically and lyrically. But but it is 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.480 it's a fight song on some level, right it is, 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.520 and and people have to understand that fight is the 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:36.320 internal and external fight. It is the cental, spiritual and 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.800 physical fight. You know, it is the warfare philosophy and 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.680 ideology is good for people. It is absolutely a fight 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.880 song and it gets you motivated. It is um just 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:49.960 really moves. And dare I say, is krump because that's 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:54.120 what boo and that Memphis accent and energy gaze to 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.960 what the feeling was. She brought that out and that 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.959 you know. So, but the world, Doug gets so cold. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.880 You're walking in the snow, and people out there have 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:04.960 called me. The homies have called me from Tampa and 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.640 Sat Pete. The homies called me from New York. Homies 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.160 called me from l A at different times where that 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.360 record was playing as people were protesting. So I'm very 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.440 proud just made something that fits the mood of the 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:19.520 moment and motivates people and pushes the movement forward past 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:22.240 the moment. But like you said, it is you nailed 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.440 it when you said, it's it's it's it's thinking man's 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.640 fight music. Because really the fight that we are, the 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:32.040 way that we're fighting on that song, it's been particular 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.440 as we're fighting intellectually against some of the concepts and 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:40.400 some of the ideas that people are accepting. You know. Um, 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.000 I think that there's an there's there's some obvious things 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.200 that resonate really quickly with people, like for instance, you know, 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:50.480 the clear thing about Mike who was referencing um, Eric 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:54.520 Garner's death, and obviously that resonated really quickly and very 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.280 clearly with the moment of just very very publicly had 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.120 you know, everybody experiencing those words being uttered again and 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.800 the death of another black man in America. But what 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:06.200 me and Mike are doing through the subtext of that 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:10.040 whole song is trying to challenge and really debate some 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:13.040 of the some of the mind frame and some of 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.000 the intellectual positions that people are taking that are allowing 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.720 this stuff to happen, that are allowing our ideals to 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.960 be compromised. Um. And that's what I think is there 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:25.240 in the song underneath it all. When when it finally 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.600 you know, once that shock of of there being something 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.280 that sounds you know, really clearly of the moment. I 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:33.440 think that there's something deeper there as well, you know, 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:38.720 Mike saying, you know, never forget that you know about 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.319 state Jesus was going by to stay and me challenging 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.199 the idea of being. You know, if you're a Christian 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:47.880 and yet you somehow find yourself politically on the side 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:51.960 of people who are caging children, then perhaps you're not 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.720 as Christian as you purport to be to yourself and 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.720 to others, you know, and you know, so it is 0:11:57.760 --> 0:11:59.320 a fight, but I think it's a fight for the 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.360 hearts and my end of all of us. You know, 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:03.560 it's not a record that says go out and fight. 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:08.280 It's physically, although that's a result um that can happen 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.160 in culture and that you know sometimes has to happen. 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.880 But really that record is a record of us saying, like, hey, 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:17.920 let's take this to task. Let's fight against these ideas. 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.200 If you really want to back up your you know, 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.520 if you really want to back up your position, you know, 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:26.000 here's here's our argument. You know, you know, there are 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.920 some production choices on this track. We're talking about walking 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.200 in the snow that that really hit me the more 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:33.520 I listened to it, and one in particular, you take 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.800 that that channing noise, that sort of posse and effect 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.600 yo yo noise out from the back, and it becomes 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.200 a whole different track, right because you you lose that 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:44.760 sense of community, but you also lose a little bit 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.520 of that fighting spirit that we're talking about, right if 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.120 you were to if you were to take it out, 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:50.520 if you were to take it out. So tell me 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.719 a little bit about how this track comes together. Like, 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.000 let's just talk about the recording, the concept, how does 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.920 this all mesh? Which comes first? How's it happen? This track, 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:04.600 more than maybe any on the album, evolved like really 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:08.120 far from what it originally was. Elements of what it 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.520 originally was made it into the track, But originally it 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:12.720 was just one beat. It was a little bit more 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.840 just straightforward all the way through. It was kind of 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:20.200 just this soulful, funky beat. We both laid down our 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:24.559 our our main verses over that originally, and um, I 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:27.319 just couldn't fight the feeling that this needed more, more 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.320 of a dynamic thing to happen. It felt like it 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:33.160 was a journey and that the music originally that we 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:35.400 had wasn't complete. It didn't feel like the music was 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.160 bringing you on that journey as much. You know. UM, 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.920 we created all these different sections and and and many 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.840 of them changed and radically, you know, like originally under 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:48.640 my under My Verse there was another totally different beat 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:50.880 that I had tacked on and then you know, so 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:53.319 it was just it was kind of a really epic 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.679 and long creation of this thing and going back and 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.120 forth and you know, sending it to Mike and being like, 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:00.800 what do you think of this? You know, we're kind 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.040 of just playing off of each other and vibing off 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.120 of of of how it felt, and ultimately sort of 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.960 the original hook was just me sped up saying that, 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:12.040 and I was like, oh, this isn't right, Like it 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:14.600 kind of sounded like a shitty version of Gangster Boob, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:16.920 you know, and we were like, wait, we know the 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:19.720 real Gangster Boo. We should get her on. UM. As 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.560 a producer and as a technician, this was maybe the 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.320 most intricate thing that we put together for the record. 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.880 It was really ultimately about five different pieces of music 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.680 that got melded into one piece of music. And I 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:34.480 think that when you when you hear it and you 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.920 hear the changes, and you hear how things pull over 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.440 and drag over into other sections, but every time you 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:43.880 get to another section, it's sort of metamorphosizes. And that 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.720 was intentional. We wanted We wanted to follow how the 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:50.240 conversation was changing as well throughout the song and highlight 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.280 the fact that it was the same conversation with different 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:55.680 perspectives and that so each moment had to have its 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.520 own gravitas, like what Mike said, what he said, it 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.920 had to have elements of that original soul beat that 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.120 we had kind of created for him when that heat 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:08.720 that inspired him. So it was it was tricky, but 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.240 but I'm really proud of the way it all came together. Mike. 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:13.240 This is the track where you you bust out that line. 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:15.640 We'd be the heroes. The breakers have changed the busters 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:17.960 of locks and and maybe this is just nerd ing 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.760 out too much, but I heard that like a little 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.920 recasting of the famous run the Jewels hand sign. But 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:26.480 the chain being snatched away maybe isn't one you wear 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:30.400 around your neck. Maybe it's one that's holding you down mentally. Yeah, 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:33.000 it's a retard to the thinking of down. You know 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.120 what I mean. You can't tain't pick up your crown 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.120 holding when holding you down. Before you ever match bas 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:40.960 yourself from many things physical, you gotta free your mind 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.400 and heart of the need to be approved of by 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.280 all the guards and the eagle. You know I mean, 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.640 so you know we are We are the heroes to 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:49.840 break and telling the bust of the lock. That's because 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:54.920 our friendship, our musical camaraderie, out music all challenges convention 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.120 every step of the way. So it's not like I'm 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:59.400 want to come to your hometown and necessarily open up 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.800 the cage it or you, but hopefully what what what 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:06.080 we do lyrically, besides just be badass and dope as fuck, 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:08.560 it's gets you to take off some of the limits 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:13.479 you were told and nobody even knows why. So absolutely 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.120 I think our music does that for people, because not 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.520 because I'm arrogant enough to think that I have some 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.640 magical superpower, because people have literally told us, like, your 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.160 music makes me feel this way, And I've been like, 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.320 when I start seeing Run of Julis to get grown up. 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:30.480 When people were sucking kayak in a hundred miles on 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.720 the river and surviving and climbing mountains and ship and 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.400 doing spark races. First of all, I was like, yo, 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:39.320 that I don't want to do none of that ship. 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:48.280 Our music liberates the soul and and good you know, 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.400 good gospel music does that, you know anything music you feel? 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.640 And I think that there's a there's a celebratory feel 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.880 to this record, not like we've bothered, we pop the champagne, 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.480 we've made it, but a celebration a lot because we 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:02.440 ain't did it yet. Baby, So we're gonna keep all 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:06.439 living facts. And I think that you cast yourself, you know, 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.160 you're you're we're in this, in this world and Jamie 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.720 and Mike's world. You were authoring our own legend within 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:14.840 the creativity that we have where we're we're right, we're 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.600 writing our graphic novel, we're writing our film, we're writing 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:22.000 our we're creating ourselves as as the image of of 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.200 who we want to be, our avatars that exist within 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:29.280 this plane. And we chose heroes. Now the heroes are 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.879 not um perfect. Well, I mean, the whole album is 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.800 set up, is it's practiced by this idea of you 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:40.359 Yankee from New York, brave Atlanta. You're on the run 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:44.560 from cricket cops to to funk ups, petty petty criminal 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.240 funk ups who are on the fucking run, and but 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:49.880 who are at the end of the day standing up 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:54.080 to something and standing in the moment. They're morals, They're 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:57.160 just they believe the strippers should have a union. They 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.920 support that. That's a real thing, and I really support 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.520 and you do actually say that on the record. Yeah, 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:04.959 it may take table dances up to ten dollars, but 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:07.879 I'll bite the bullet. You know, you're you're you're a 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:09.840 good man. Wait where are you getting for ten dollars? 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:13.520 Where I won't go? He's he's in Atlanta, Dude, He's 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:19.200 an Atlanta He thinks he thinks that's expensive. Um, yeah, 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.159 he doesn't understand. Mike doesn't understand that. It's usually taunt. 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.800 Never mind, we won't get into this too much. But 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:27.520 but you know, I think that I think that one 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:29.320 of the things that me and Mike that I love 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.320 about these that that run the Jewels is that they're 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:34.280 you know, it's based on our hearts, it's based on 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:40.240 our soul and our on our perspectives. And it's also constantly, um, 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:45.399 sort of challenging the idea that goodness is proper, that 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:49.760 goodness is clean. That goodness is um delivered to you 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:52.520 in the way that you would hope that it was 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:56.320 to match up to your sensitive sensibilities. And so being 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:58.760 an anti hero gives you a lot of room to 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.240 have a lot of fun when you're being creative, you know, 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:06.719 but also allows you to remain um honorable to the 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:09.360 things that you think are important. And I think that 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.560 that when we when that's that's what we pull off 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:13.480 when we do these records, and it's why we're allowed 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:18.159 to be funny and stupid when we want to be um. 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:23.000 And it's also why we never have any issues changing 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:26.879 that mode and and and be getting serious too. Speaking 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.439 of the funny stupid anti hero, I think one of 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:31.880 my favorite moments on this album is LP, when you 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:37.520 declare yourself a rudeness mcgever on Holy Colama Fuck. But 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:39.320 but it's also one of my favorite moments because it 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:42.679 rhymes with criminal Minder, which is a nod to the 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:46.720 Boogie Down productions classic Criminal Minded. And I thought about 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:49.600 this album a lot when I was listening to R 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:52.879 t J four. It came out in the year I 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.760 Ran Contra and I remember at the time care Us 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:57.960 one and Scott Rock talking about how with a kid 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:01.200 in the South Bronx so crack, he was a criminal, 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.760 but if the government sold arms to Iran, which was 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:08.159 illegal at the time, that was just business as usual. 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:10.680 And that's a that's an idea I hear resonate through 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.080 your work. Karras One and B. D. P are a 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.080 huge influence for me because when I was growing up 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.359 a white kid in Brooklyn, learning about my city in 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.560 another way through hip hop music really you know, but 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:26.920 also learning about world politics through hip hop music. Now, 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:29.320 these were these were some of the first people that 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:32.560 actually had my ear, you know, like Kari's one had 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:36.199 my fucking ear. So when he talked about Noriega, or 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.199 when he talked about I Ran Contra, or when he 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:42.720 talked about you know, um, like this is this is 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.399 stuff that actually clicked with me, that actually led me 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:49.240 towards a world perspective. So yeah, the criminal Minder was 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.880 a straight homage to him, because I look at it 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:54.639 the same way I look at George Orwell. Um, I 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.000 you know, thought crime, you know, like, yes, I am 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:01.679 absolutely guilty of thought cry as defined by you know, 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:04.119 by Orwell, And so I look at them on the 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.720 same level I look at cares one in George orwell 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:08.479 in terms of the effect that they had on my 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:13.199 life in the same regard like um and you know, 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.160 and also by the way, that song that whole first 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:18.280 two verses of me and Mike was a was a 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.640 was a stylistic reference to one of the greatest duels 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:26.240 of all times, trying the gambler. Yeah to their song 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:29.399 broken Language, which which which is uh? Which is just 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:31.639 so cool to think because me and Mike, you know, 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:34.639 I'm from New York, Mike from Atlanta. But the fact 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:36.640 that that was I don't have to explain to Mike. 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:39.560 Mike doesn't have to explain to me when we're referencing 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:41.840 those styles. That's the other thing I love Run the 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:45.480 Jewels because me and Mike just no styles and we 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.720 really grew up being influenced by them and listening to them, 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:51.240 not only the intellectual stuff but also just the straight 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:55.320 rap shit, you know, the swagger ship. So you know, yeah, 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:57.080 that was a fun jam to make. That's actually one 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:11.360 of my favorites on the album. Let's talk about another standout, 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:14.960 just the choruses look at all these slave masters posing 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:17.879 on your dollars and and Mike. There's an episode of 0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:20.199 your Netflix series Trigger Warning where you pull out a 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.159 twin dollar bill and you deliver brief history lesson, like 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:26.120 talking talking about right Andrew Jackson, And yeah, I feel 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:28.520 like this whole concept might have been kicking around for 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:32.320 a minute, you know, but the crazy ship is that 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.160 was for all for all wrote up? Is that? Right? Yeah? 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:39.480 The slave masses all my dollars kind of obviously like 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:42.240 time as a kid, you learned about slave, you know 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:44.880 what I mean, It's it's right there for you to hear. 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:48.199 That's no surprise. But I think that the reoccurrence of 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:51.119 capitalism and slavery and stuff is popped up in my 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:53.280 music a lot. And it's and that's something I've had 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:55.919 to contend with, was being a capitalist and a business 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:58.159 person myself. But I think it's something that Run the 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:01.000 Jewels touches on in terms of money. But I think 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:03.920 for real though just came with the perfect thread too, Soul. 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:07.760 The three verses that we put on there all look 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:10.159 at capitalism and money in our relationship with it, but 0:23:10.240 --> 0:23:13.000 in different ways. Like I learned business through selling drugs. 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:16.159 That's how I learned business, you know, when I go 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:20.280 business religion of philosophy. I already knew how to make 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:23.320 a dollar growth, you know, from selling drugs. And I've 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:25.680 had to contend with the fact that for many years 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:28.240 of my life that that that as a child, I 0:23:28.359 --> 0:23:31.000 made this very adult decision at a time when anybody 0:23:31.000 --> 0:23:33.399 who had any intelligence would have sold trust because it 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:35.720 was too easy not to do. But I have to 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:38.600 say to myself, when I'm castigating or or promoting and 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:41.400 pushing things down, am I a hypocrite? And I've had 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:44.040 to accept that that there are some things that, Yeah, 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:46.880 after you've become an adult, you have your own kids 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:49.160 and ship, you don't want to go to the gas 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:52.520 stations with fifty little dude selling drusts Africa. But you've 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:57.360 been you don't saying, so I've had to I've had 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:01.040 to reconcile those things. And a part of this record 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:05.399 for me was stylistically doing a distinctly Southern style. But 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:07.840 at first I didn't like two lines that I had 0:24:07.840 --> 0:24:09.680 in there. It just made it some trap wrap ship 0:24:10.119 --> 0:24:12.320 and I needed to alter those minds to make it 0:24:12.359 --> 0:24:15.520 what it was. A philosophical observation of who I am 0:24:15.560 --> 0:24:18.199 a relation to business. Being a businessman now but that 0:24:18.280 --> 0:24:22.600 exception coming from selling drugs, um that the fact that marijuana, 0:24:23.119 --> 0:24:26.160 although still has black men and women and brown people 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:29.720 in jail for decades now, now is a legal thing 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:34.080 that my white homeboys in Colorado and California participating in 0:24:34.680 --> 0:24:37.360 legally and abundantly. So we lost an opportunity to take 0:24:37.400 --> 0:24:40.840 advantage of alcohol sixty years ago because we would cut out. 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:44.040 Let's not let legislation do that to us again. And 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:47.040 the fact that a casino owner runs our country, you know, 0:24:47.200 --> 0:24:49.680 it shows us that, yes, in America, you two can 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:52.520 be anything in president included. But it shows you the 0:24:52.520 --> 0:24:55.400 mentality of the country that we are a criminal country. 0:24:55.720 --> 0:24:59.880 We promote criminal culture, and we whitewash it or legislated 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:03.720 to make it acceptable. But we are no more kind 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:06.040 of country of roads and criminals. And if we don't 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:09.040 understand that in our relation to money, there is no 0:25:09.160 --> 0:25:12.600 road to improvement. Capitalism does prevail in the most vicious 0:25:12.600 --> 0:25:16.199 and evil way. And capitalism works like you participant in 0:25:16.200 --> 0:25:18.359 it or a victim of it. And it is obvious 0:25:18.400 --> 0:25:21.240 at this point by being even a compassionate capitalist, I 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:24.720 am a participating I mean this is important and capitalism 0:25:24.760 --> 0:25:27.399 certainly comes up on this record comes up on pulling 0:25:27.400 --> 0:25:30.160 the pen as well. And and we can't really talk 0:25:30.200 --> 0:25:33.200 about justice of any kind. We certainly can't talk about 0:25:33.240 --> 0:25:37.160 racial justice if we're not also talking about economic justice. Right, absolutely, 0:25:37.240 --> 0:25:41.520 first and foremost absolutely absolutely. I just left the meeting 0:25:41.920 --> 0:25:43.800 with a bunch of black panthers and a bunch of 0:25:43.800 --> 0:25:46.600 local organizers. And one of the biggest things that was 0:25:46.640 --> 0:25:48.600 talked about and easy the original guys that were from 0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:51.840 the late sixties, early seventies, men and women, and the 0:25:51.880 --> 0:25:54.600 local organizers, men and women, and people from the music industry. 0:25:54.920 --> 0:25:57.520 Um and when the number one thing talked about was 0:25:57.520 --> 0:26:01.000 was economic stability um self alliance injustice in terms of 0:26:01.080 --> 0:26:03.760 from the government and corporations in terms of helping my 0:26:03.800 --> 0:26:06.960 community save Alize. So absolutely, And Mike, you've mentioned your 0:26:07.000 --> 0:26:09.960 business profile you grew in some barbershops I think you 0:26:10.000 --> 0:26:13.359 were also I've read you also have food trucks restaurants. 0:26:13.440 --> 0:26:17.000 Is that right? Yeah? Our own uh uh. We're growing 0:26:17.000 --> 0:26:19.240 a line of barbershops called the Swag Shop. My wife 0:26:19.240 --> 0:26:21.520 and I we currently have three. I'm missed. In the 0:26:21.560 --> 0:26:24.160 next twenty four months is to have ten more, um 0:26:24.200 --> 0:26:26.720 to serve as a prototype to hopefully grow into a 0:26:26.720 --> 0:26:30.440 regional and national chain much like Floyd's or Rooty's. Um 0:26:30.520 --> 0:26:33.000 Tipping I bought a fifty year old restaurant called Bancane 0:26:33.000 --> 0:26:36.080 Sea Food. Were then partnered with the developer Noel Khalil 0:26:36.280 --> 0:26:39.240 out of out of Atlanta, who's a businessman to a 0:26:39.280 --> 0:26:42.000 friend and partner to um to to to roll this 0:26:42.119 --> 0:26:44.960 restaurant out um and we started with food trucks. We're 0:26:44.960 --> 0:26:46.600 about to buy second food trucks so that we have 0:26:46.640 --> 0:26:49.159 two routes running and I breaking mortar. Business should be 0:26:49.240 --> 0:26:51.639 up in the next eighteen months, So you know I 0:26:51.680 --> 0:26:54.800 who definitely I'm a kid from the neighborhood who kind 0:26:54.800 --> 0:26:56.640 of went back and bed, which is supposed to doing 0:26:56.680 --> 0:26:59.719 reinvest in the neighborhoods Now, your governor and Georgia pushed 0:26:59.720 --> 0:27:02.560 for early reopenings. Did you reopen your business? Did not? 0:27:02.640 --> 0:27:04.840 You didn't know, We did not know. They still close. 0:27:05.000 --> 0:27:08.480 Our barbershop just opened UM two weeks ago. The one 0:27:08.520 --> 0:27:12.040 downtown we open and open with strict regulations. Other two 0:27:12.040 --> 0:27:15.399 shops remain closed because we we wanted to see what 0:27:15.600 --> 0:27:18.040 the first dirty days would be like. In our downtown shop, 0:27:18.800 --> 0:27:21.639 we had no infections. Our customers are healthy. Our barbers 0:27:21.640 --> 0:27:24.160 are healthy. So we got about maybe two more weeks 0:27:24.160 --> 0:27:27.359 before we decided we're gonna open without restaurant. Because we 0:27:27.400 --> 0:27:30.880 operate in an open outside food truck park area, we've 0:27:30.880 --> 0:27:33.120 been able to keep our restaurant closed, although we don't 0:27:33.119 --> 0:27:35.480 have a bricking more restaurant, but people sit down. It's 0:27:35.560 --> 0:27:37.760 essentially you come in, you order, you take it in, 0:27:37.800 --> 0:27:39.520 your food, and you take out. So our trucks have 0:27:39.560 --> 0:27:41.880 been able to run if anyone's interested. By the way, 0:27:41.920 --> 0:27:46.080 I also owned businesses. It's not as exciting as all 0:27:46.119 --> 0:27:47.960 that Mike just said, But I got a bar to Delhi. 0:27:49.359 --> 0:27:51.960 That's my story, and is Delhi has the best prescribed 0:27:52.040 --> 0:27:54.240 me in New York. I'm a I'm a cat's customer. 0:27:54.280 --> 0:27:56.280 But let me tell you, Frankles man best prescribed me 0:27:56.320 --> 0:27:57.960 in New York. Y'all don't want y'all don't want to 0:27:58.000 --> 0:28:00.920 play with that. Frankles in Brooklyn, you're are is probably 0:28:00.960 --> 0:28:04.200 not open as your deli been open. The Delhi has 0:28:04.400 --> 0:28:09.719 been open for delivery stuff very carefully. And um, you know, 0:28:09.800 --> 0:28:12.320 like a lot of like a lot of businesses, um 0:28:12.359 --> 0:28:14.960 you know, had had to had to adapt, you know, 0:28:15.040 --> 0:28:17.640 you really, you know, and the bar has been the same. 0:28:17.680 --> 0:28:20.240 We've experimented with doing some drinks to go and stuff 0:28:20.280 --> 0:28:22.440 like that, but it's been very difficult, and the truth 0:28:22.440 --> 0:28:24.520 of the matter is the most important thing has been 0:28:25.359 --> 0:28:27.760 you know, for me being involved in businesses like that. 0:28:27.800 --> 0:28:30.800 The thing that I really drove home to me during 0:28:30.840 --> 0:28:34.639 this whole thing that we're all experiencing right now is 0:28:35.080 --> 0:28:38.120 just how devastated the service community has been. You know, 0:28:38.440 --> 0:28:41.080 I'm very close all my friends are in that community, 0:28:41.160 --> 0:28:45.240 and that's been the hardest part making sure that they're okay, 0:28:45.280 --> 0:28:47.960 and making sure that everybody's like, you know, handled and 0:28:48.000 --> 0:28:50.360 the same thing as a as a as co business 0:28:50.400 --> 0:28:51.920 owners with me and Mike, you know, we have an 0:28:52.000 --> 0:28:54.760 entire crew of people who rely on us, um whose 0:28:54.800 --> 0:28:57.320 whole year was supposed to be you know, basically working 0:28:57.320 --> 0:28:59.280 for us. As we toward you know, you were going 0:28:59.320 --> 0:29:01.880 to go out on the with rage against the machine, correct, 0:29:01.920 --> 0:29:04.520 and we still are. It's scheduled to being you know, 0:29:04.600 --> 0:29:07.880 next summer. But but that and me and micro okay, 0:29:08.040 --> 0:29:10.840 sitting it out and and clenching our teeth. You know, 0:29:10.880 --> 0:29:13.800 while while that money isn't being earned, but people who 0:29:13.880 --> 0:29:17.880 are who work for us, that's really is their their livelihood, 0:29:18.080 --> 0:29:20.479 you know, and it's and it's not something that they 0:29:20.520 --> 0:29:22.200 can just take a year off of and not be 0:29:22.280 --> 0:29:24.600 affected by, you know. So it's been, it's been. It's 0:29:24.600 --> 0:29:27.040 been interesting. I don't know about what you guys did 0:29:27.040 --> 0:29:30.480 with your businesses, whether you went to PPE for paytech 0:29:30.520 --> 0:29:33.720 protection loans. But but a band can't run the Jewels. 0:29:33.760 --> 0:29:36.680 Can't exactly do that, can they? You can to some degree, yes, 0:29:37.000 --> 0:29:39.040 not run the Jewels. Yes you can. You can um 0:29:39.400 --> 0:29:41.720 if you've got a payroll. You know, there are things 0:29:41.760 --> 0:29:43.760 that you can do UM and then and we have 0:29:43.920 --> 0:29:47.200 managed to get some of that UM going for them, 0:29:47.240 --> 0:29:49.760 and we've also relied on the kindness of our fans, 0:29:50.320 --> 0:29:52.920 you know, we've relied on the kindness of our of 0:29:52.960 --> 0:29:55.480 the Jewel runners who have been incredibly supportive. We put 0:29:55.480 --> 0:29:58.600 a T shirt up that fully benefited all of our 0:29:58.640 --> 0:30:01.880 crew members that you know, breaked in a lot of 0:30:01.920 --> 0:30:03.880 money that went directly to them to be able to 0:30:03.920 --> 0:30:05.280 put it, you know, to be able to hold them 0:30:05.280 --> 0:30:07.320 over while they're waiting to be able to you know, 0:30:07.440 --> 0:30:10.400 live earn a living. UM. So we've we've we've got 0:30:10.480 --> 0:30:12.800 a really strong community in that regard and it's been 0:30:12.920 --> 0:30:15.160 very lucky, like people care and and that's that's a 0:30:15.200 --> 0:30:17.760 cool thing. And and and we're definitely gonna honor that 0:30:17.800 --> 0:30:21.239 by giving the you know, these these great guys you 0:30:21.280 --> 0:30:24.200 know their jobs is the second that we can and 0:30:24.480 --> 0:30:27.560 giving a great show. You know. Um, it's one of 0:30:27.560 --> 0:30:29.560 those things that I know Mike is dealing with it 0:30:29.800 --> 0:30:32.520 with his businesses as best as he can. And it's 0:30:32.520 --> 0:30:35.160 just one of those like, you know, things that all 0:30:35.200 --> 0:30:37.600 of us got hit with and now you know, it's 0:30:37.600 --> 0:30:40.200 a curveball. It's like we got we did, we tried 0:30:40.280 --> 0:30:43.280 like three times. We got shot now. But what we 0:30:43.360 --> 0:30:47.280 did is the first month we haven't charged our barber's anything. 0:30:47.440 --> 0:30:50.959 We've managed, um, even in closing, our rents were paid 0:30:51.080 --> 0:30:53.720 by our online sales and things of that nature. And again, 0:30:54.080 --> 0:30:56.800 the food truck that'm running is simply pick up and 0:30:56.840 --> 0:31:00.360 walk away. So in our food truck, soccer die years. 0:31:00.400 --> 0:31:03.080 She was on CNN yesterday with Rook Baldwin for a 0:31:03.080 --> 0:31:05.840 black out Tuesday. Heard Kevin Kohey who runs one United Bank, 0:31:05.880 --> 0:31:07.960 which is a black bank we used, but she was 0:31:08.000 --> 0:31:11.160 on there yesterday. She's an amazing woman, former military woman, 0:31:11.560 --> 0:31:14.280 runs the hell out of our operation. She's as operations manager. 0:31:14.600 --> 0:31:18.760 But she purposely hires people that are on probation or 0:31:18.880 --> 0:31:22.280 have been involved with a sentence and are getting out 0:31:22.280 --> 0:31:24.960 of jail, and we pay them fairly and they get 0:31:24.960 --> 0:31:28.400 an opportunity to get back in the real world at work, UM, 0:31:28.440 --> 0:31:30.800 and they're respected and they're treated well. And I respect 0:31:30.800 --> 0:31:33.760 her for that because service workers kids, it's a shitty 0:31:33.840 --> 0:31:36.320 job sometimes when you're dealing with people who are in 0:31:36.320 --> 0:31:38.520 a Russia have the attitude it's hell to keep firm 0:31:38.560 --> 0:31:40.680 and keep faithful and be just be nice. We have 0:31:40.720 --> 0:31:43.760 an amazing crew. These people are um are getting a 0:31:43.840 --> 0:31:45.960 second chance at going forward in life. And I wanted 0:31:45.960 --> 0:31:48.720 to appreciate Chokla for that because we we we were 0:31:48.800 --> 0:31:50.960 just going to hire people that you know, deserve the job, 0:31:51.120 --> 0:31:53.520 which could have been anything from twenty year old kids 0:31:53.560 --> 0:31:55.640 making it through college to you know what I'm saying, um, 0:31:55.920 --> 0:31:57.600 sixteen year old kid who just wanted a job when 0:31:57.600 --> 0:31:59.640 you got off got out of school. But she made 0:31:59.680 --> 0:32:02.360 sure that had people who were interested in taking the 0:32:02.400 --> 0:32:04.440 whole ride with us. And what she's doing is growing 0:32:04.520 --> 0:32:08.160 more operations managers versus just employing people. And I really 0:32:08.160 --> 0:32:10.240 appreciate her for that. I want to bring back to 0:32:10.240 --> 0:32:12.960 the music and ask a little bit how your your 0:32:12.960 --> 0:32:16.200 partnership musically has has changed or grown if it has 0:32:16.280 --> 0:32:18.400 over the years. You guys have been making music together 0:32:18.480 --> 0:32:21.200 for seven or eight years now? Ten now? Ten? Can 0:32:21.280 --> 0:32:26.200 you count rap music? Yeah? Yeah, so ten years now? 0:32:26.440 --> 0:32:31.200 And gels yeah seven eight and and LP you were 0:32:31.720 --> 0:32:34.000 you were talking about walking in the Snow. How that 0:32:34.040 --> 0:32:36.880 track grew? It sounded like a lot of those production 0:32:36.880 --> 0:32:39.560 decisions are made face to face. Has that changed over 0:32:39.640 --> 0:32:41.960 time or was that the method from the start. I'm 0:32:42.000 --> 0:32:45.560 sort of always making the record in a sense, you know, 0:32:45.880 --> 0:32:50.040 I'm always making the music. I'm always tweaking in. Um So, 0:32:50.080 --> 0:32:53.080 the face to face with me and Mike comes when 0:32:53.120 --> 0:32:56.240 I have something to present him. My greatest thrill is 0:32:56.280 --> 0:32:59.200 inspiring my my rap partner. Like that's like and when 0:32:59.240 --> 0:33:01.200 it comes to when it comes to that first level 0:33:01.360 --> 0:33:04.040 is making something that I think is beautiful and and 0:33:04.120 --> 0:33:06.640 something that I think is working. Um but when I 0:33:07.040 --> 0:33:09.560 but when I get with Mike, the first round is 0:33:09.600 --> 0:33:12.600 just presenting him with like a menu list of of 0:33:12.720 --> 0:33:15.320 things that I already know that if if he likes something, 0:33:15.400 --> 0:33:17.440 I'm I'm good to go. Because I'm inspired by them. 0:33:17.440 --> 0:33:20.040 I don't I don't play Mike anything that I don't like. 0:33:20.120 --> 0:33:23.840 I don't play him anything that I wouldn't wrap on myself. UM, 0:33:23.880 --> 0:33:25.640 and you know, be you know, and then we whittle 0:33:25.640 --> 0:33:28.720 it down because because the second wave is about inspiration, 0:33:28.800 --> 0:33:31.160 the second wave is about what happens, you know, once 0:33:31.200 --> 0:33:34.560 once this music that I've been working on, um, hits 0:33:34.600 --> 0:33:36.920 the ears of my partner and hits us together in 0:33:36.960 --> 0:33:40.040 a room. You know, there's a different dynamic between me 0:33:40.120 --> 0:33:42.000 and Mike than there is with us alone. And we 0:33:42.040 --> 0:33:44.680 don't really do the we don't do these records. Um. 0:33:44.720 --> 0:33:48.160 When it comes to writing them and and and recording them. 0:33:48.200 --> 0:33:50.440 We do them in the same room, you know, we 0:33:50.520 --> 0:33:52.800 do them in the same place. May not always be 0:33:52.840 --> 0:33:56.160 at the same hour, um, but but we're always there, 0:33:56.520 --> 0:34:00.000 We're always around each other. And so that energy between 0:34:00.000 --> 0:34:02.240 me and him is different than what what might happen 0:34:02.280 --> 0:34:04.160 just alone, if I would just set set alone and 0:34:04.280 --> 0:34:07.240 just write some ship to my own music. So that 0:34:07.320 --> 0:34:11.040 inspiration thing is that really one of the most important parts. 0:34:11.120 --> 0:34:13.040 You know, you bring the first level of sort of 0:34:13.120 --> 0:34:15.840 music in and and then once once we kind of 0:34:15.880 --> 0:34:18.279 go away after we were inspired, I kind of go 0:34:18.360 --> 0:34:20.439 back in and tinker more and it's and we keep 0:34:20.480 --> 0:34:23.799 doing that over and over again. Um, that's always been 0:34:23.800 --> 0:34:25.680 the method. The truth of the matter is is that 0:34:25.880 --> 0:34:28.560 at the end of the day, I I feel like 0:34:28.640 --> 0:34:31.480 it's evolved to the point where I know my partner 0:34:31.680 --> 0:34:35.879 enough to know that he is in tune with me 0:34:36.239 --> 0:34:38.439 and to know that if I really think some ship 0:34:38.560 --> 0:34:40.799 is dope, is a good chance that Mike is gonna 0:34:40.800 --> 0:34:43.800 think it's it's great too. There's just a trust there 0:34:43.840 --> 0:34:46.880 with that, and then ultimately you have to really confront 0:34:46.920 --> 0:34:49.239 it like, Okay, is this do you really feel? You know, 0:34:49.440 --> 0:34:51.360 if I change some ship or a funk around with it, 0:34:51.640 --> 0:34:53.399 I got it. I got I gotta run it past 0:34:53.440 --> 0:34:56.719 my partner because this is his record too. He has 0:34:56.760 --> 0:34:58.600 to be able to know that this is wrapping him 0:34:58.600 --> 0:35:01.080 and he has to feel it like that's the only criteria. 0:35:01.120 --> 0:35:03.399 Everybody got to feel it. So there have been things 0:35:03.400 --> 0:35:06.880 that have changed simply just because it was a matter 0:35:06.960 --> 0:35:09.799 of making sure that everybody was like fully on the 0:35:09.840 --> 0:35:11.919 same page. For me, I can I can keep going, 0:35:12.000 --> 0:35:14.480 I can keep working with ship, you know. So that's 0:35:14.520 --> 0:35:18.200 been my my joy of being a collaborative partner with 0:35:18.280 --> 0:35:21.240 Mike and and how it's developed over the years because 0:35:21.320 --> 0:35:26.839 Mike is I trust our um simpatico. I trust I 0:35:26.880 --> 0:35:31.200 trust our connection, you know, with music. And I also 0:35:31.840 --> 0:35:35.040 love that I get to react off of someone else. 0:35:35.080 --> 0:35:37.160 I love that I get to react off Mike is 0:35:37.200 --> 0:35:39.640 my audience. Mike is the audience to me and Mike, 0:35:39.680 --> 0:35:41.600 you brought up rap music and you you've talked in 0:35:41.640 --> 0:35:44.400 the past about how you you pretty much hustled LP 0:35:44.640 --> 0:35:49.080 to produce that whole album. Yeah, it's gonna come on 0:35:49.239 --> 0:35:51.640 for a track or two, and you were like, no, No, 0:35:51.719 --> 0:35:56.200 you're doing the whole thing. You're doing the whole To 0:35:56.239 --> 0:35:58.160 take me back to that moment, what were you hearing 0:35:58.200 --> 0:36:01.120 in his beats and his tracks that made made you 0:36:01.160 --> 0:36:03.399 want to hustle this guy for a whole album, I'll 0:36:03.400 --> 0:36:07.880 take you back a little further. So after after Monster 0:36:08.400 --> 0:36:12.120 on Columbia, UM was a Dave McPherson, whoever was running it, 0:36:12.560 --> 0:36:14.799 taught me about a profit and loss sheet and how 0:36:14.920 --> 0:36:17.120 even though I hadn't went gold, that I had made 0:36:17.120 --> 0:36:19.120 the company money and that's why they weren't going to 0:36:19.200 --> 0:36:22.000 promote it anymore. And get back in the studio and 0:36:22.080 --> 0:36:24.719 let's get another album going. Out like this sucks, dick. 0:36:25.000 --> 0:36:27.840 No one ever told me about this part of the game, right, Like, 0:36:27.920 --> 0:36:29.560 wait a second, it would have been better if you 0:36:29.680 --> 0:36:32.960 lost money. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. So I 0:36:33.120 --> 0:36:37.960 was searching for what I realized that Outcaans had was 0:36:38.000 --> 0:36:42.200 an amazing machine to put me out had I been 0:36:42.400 --> 0:36:45.759 ready with my own sound and identity. But what they 0:36:45.800 --> 0:36:48.480 didn't have was the time to develop another artist, as 0:36:48.520 --> 0:36:51.720 they were at the biggest moment in their careers. And 0:36:51.719 --> 0:36:54.479 and nor was it fair to ask that of them? 0:36:54.640 --> 0:36:58.680 You know what? What what they did not have was 0:36:58.760 --> 0:37:02.160 someone to help me through finding Mike. It wasn't there 0:37:02.280 --> 0:37:05.560 responsibility to have is the responsibility here, dope ship. And 0:37:06.200 --> 0:37:09.239 with that said L Well before I got to L, 0:37:09.440 --> 0:37:11.440 I went in and locked in with Ray Murray. And 0:37:11.440 --> 0:37:15.120 when me and Ray Murray locked in, we did records 0:37:15.160 --> 0:37:19.919 that felt like, um, what the guy who became half 0:37:19.920 --> 0:37:23.160 of Run of Jewels would have been doing. And the 0:37:23.200 --> 0:37:27.360 other half of the records felt um distinctly Southern smooth, slick, 0:37:27.440 --> 0:37:30.319 and the thing that that that he could do and 0:37:30.520 --> 0:37:32.400 that he is a hybrid up. So you're here in 0:37:32.520 --> 0:37:37.280 just you're hearing a Southern flow over a booming ass 0:37:37.480 --> 0:37:41.080 grind grind out track, but it's distinctly Southern. So I 0:37:41.080 --> 0:37:43.920 remember playing those for Puff. I played like six records 0:37:43.920 --> 0:37:47.640 for Pluck. Three were what would have become the prequel 0:37:47.640 --> 0:37:50.319 to like A Run of Jewels type m C three 0:37:50.400 --> 0:37:54.400 were Southern, slick, astatic, and Puff said, I like a both. 0:37:55.200 --> 0:37:58.879 He said, man, you really do both well. And then 0:37:59.040 --> 0:38:02.560 I said, but which one you like the most for me? 0:38:02.719 --> 0:38:05.839 And he looked at me and he said the hard 0:38:05.880 --> 0:38:08.960 ship he and and that was it. And now this 0:38:09.040 --> 0:38:13.600 is six years later, probably I meet L And when 0:38:13.719 --> 0:38:18.239 Al played the first beat, the second beat, and the 0:38:18.320 --> 0:38:22.520 third beat, I knew this. I was born to wrap 0:38:22.560 --> 0:38:26.360 on LP beats. No one was born to wrap on 0:38:26.560 --> 0:38:29.840 LP beats like me, including LP. Because LP is the 0:38:29.880 --> 0:38:33.440 greatest rapper producer on Earth. So because he has to 0:38:33.520 --> 0:38:35.839 be a rapper and producer, that is the only thing 0:38:35.880 --> 0:38:38.120 that gives me the edge. I am born to rap 0:38:38.160 --> 0:38:40.359 on his beat. And then I just then I just 0:38:40.440 --> 0:38:44.200 had to convince him to do it. And Jason DeMarco 0:38:44.320 --> 0:38:47.080 was in my co conspirait with James DeMarco. Jason was like, 0:38:47.200 --> 0:38:50.279 fuck that, we'll find the money. Don't even worry about 0:38:50.280 --> 0:38:53.360 calling any other producers. This This went exactly as I 0:38:53.400 --> 0:38:55.640 hoped it did. And then I just started aggravating shot 0:38:55.640 --> 0:38:57.239 out of L, calling, hey, how are you doing the 0:38:57.320 --> 0:39:00.360 beautiful la you like a girl? Hey what do you do? 0:39:00.360 --> 0:39:03.319 You want to go lunch? And I just started, well, 0:39:03.640 --> 0:39:05.640 you know, just gnawing that, like, come on, man, we 0:39:05.680 --> 0:39:07.680 gotta do this. And the next thing, you know, him 0:39:07.680 --> 0:39:09.759 and Jason worked it out and the rest is history. 0:39:09.800 --> 0:39:12.080 And I'm glad that l took that chance because he 0:39:12.120 --> 0:39:13.799 had been burnt by a lot of people. Ell is 0:39:13.840 --> 0:39:16.799 on ell is an amazing dude, and a lot of 0:39:16.800 --> 0:39:19.480 times people would take that amazing and they'll use it 0:39:19.520 --> 0:39:21.359 and they'll abuse it. And I'm not just talking about 0:39:21.360 --> 0:39:23.360 the old musicians who I don't know. I people have 0:39:23.480 --> 0:39:27.000 sucked us over for charities and ship and Ellen steadfastly 0:39:27.120 --> 0:39:30.160 just been one of the most giving, loving, encouraging, dope 0:39:30.239 --> 0:39:32.360 human beings. So I was I was like, man, this 0:39:32.440 --> 0:39:34.319 white boy gonna go to the top. I'm sorry, like 0:39:34.480 --> 0:39:37.239 we're taking this sight got away man, And here we 0:39:37.320 --> 0:39:40.120 go years later, just getting just getting started. I feel 0:39:40.160 --> 0:39:44.239 like the four record Um Quadruful No was our was 0:39:44.239 --> 0:39:47.239 our cornerstone, and we have appeerramid to build now and 0:39:47.280 --> 0:39:49.319 we'll we'll see where we are in fifteen twenty years 0:39:49.360 --> 0:39:51.400 going into rock and roll Hall of Fame. Well, I mean, 0:39:51.400 --> 0:39:53.400 I've seen you guys at Madison Square Garden, so I 0:39:53.440 --> 0:39:55.520 know you can turn it out. I said, I saw 0:39:55.560 --> 0:39:57.680 you guys open for Jack White, and that was some 0:39:57.680 --> 0:39:59.600 some ship to see two guys walk on stage and 0:39:59.600 --> 0:40:02.239 hold that place the way you guys did. Hell yeah, yeah, 0:40:03.200 --> 0:40:08.160 moment man, thanks yeah, And you know when the Rage 0:40:08.200 --> 0:40:12.399 Tour goes, we're gonna be doing that ship uh fun 0:40:12.520 --> 0:40:16.080 before that show too, because it's as yeah, hell yeah, man, 0:40:16.560 --> 0:40:19.399 Like Jack White is important, he's big, but I'm still 0:40:19.400 --> 0:40:22.319 a black guy from Atlanta. So I was like, you know, yeah, 0:40:22.360 --> 0:40:26.359 well Jack White, like, Yo, this is big. We can't 0:40:26.360 --> 0:40:28.880 funk up, you can't get too high. For get your works. 0:40:29.160 --> 0:40:33.839 We got just they're gonna, they're gonna. We went out 0:40:33.920 --> 0:40:37.439 and well, that's that's just, that's just because when you're 0:40:37.520 --> 0:40:40.280 when you're born and raised in New York City, getting 0:40:40.520 --> 0:40:43.960 New York play, getting a chance to play Madison Square Garden. 0:40:44.000 --> 0:40:46.320 I mean we literally have a song on our record 0:40:46.440 --> 0:40:49.000 that's inspired by that getting a chance to play Madison 0:40:49.040 --> 0:40:52.040 Square garden is is to some degree you feel like, well, 0:40:52.080 --> 0:40:54.719 once I do that, I can retire, you know. Yeah, 0:40:54.800 --> 0:40:56.879 And there have been amazing moments like that for us 0:40:56.920 --> 0:41:00.319 that really, um let us know that, um, we were 0:41:00.360 --> 0:41:02.480 on the right track in the sense that like the 0:41:02.520 --> 0:41:04.160 way that we approached our show and the way that 0:41:04.200 --> 0:41:08.160 we gave gave to our show. Um. Once we never 0:41:08.280 --> 0:41:10.920 changed that, Like even when we were doing small clubs, 0:41:10.960 --> 0:41:13.120 when we first started and we were doing small clubs 0:41:13.160 --> 0:41:16.080 and we were doing five hundred people, and sometimes it 0:41:16.200 --> 0:41:19.920 wasn't five hundred people and sometimes it was a thousand people, 0:41:19.960 --> 0:41:22.560 but that it was a humble. It was a humble 0:41:22.840 --> 0:41:25.400 you know. It was a humble you know, underground hip 0:41:25.480 --> 0:41:29.240 hop groups, touring schedule, you know. But we never acted 0:41:29.280 --> 0:41:32.200 like we never you know, for us, it was always 0:41:32.239 --> 0:41:36.200 just like, well, this is our stage. So we were 0:41:36.200 --> 0:41:39.040 gonna play this ship like we're run DMC at fresh Fest. 0:41:39.040 --> 0:41:43.359 We're gonna play this ship like. And and when when 0:41:43.360 --> 0:41:46.120 it came time for the for for us to actually 0:41:46.120 --> 0:41:48.759 get those opportunities and people started bringing us out to 0:41:48.840 --> 0:41:53.360 do stadiums, um and arenas, etcetera, it wasn't much of 0:41:53.360 --> 0:41:55.279 a transition for us to be able to hold that 0:41:55.320 --> 0:41:57.840 down because I don't know, I guess some people do 0:41:57.960 --> 0:42:00.439 things differently. Maybe some people give us small our show 0:42:00.520 --> 0:42:03.000 for a smaller venue, But we always gave the biggest 0:42:03.000 --> 0:42:05.040 show that we could in our heads and every venue, 0:42:05.160 --> 0:42:07.840 so it didn't really change. When we got into that stage. 0:42:08.000 --> 0:42:10.080 It was I was like, oh, ship, we can do this. 0:42:10.280 --> 0:42:12.399 It was you know. We then went on a tour 0:42:13.000 --> 0:42:15.440 with I mean, of course we've done huge festivals and 0:42:15.480 --> 0:42:17.359 been in front of hundreds of thousands of people, and 0:42:18.640 --> 0:42:20.799 but yeah, the Lord Tour was also a big one. 0:42:21.560 --> 0:42:24.360 The Lord Tour was interesting because that was our first 0:42:24.400 --> 0:42:27.920 straight and tour of arenas, and we were the opening 0:42:28.040 --> 0:42:32.400 directly before a wonderful musician who's absolutely not in our genre, 0:42:32.480 --> 0:42:36.239 you know, like absolutely didn't share a fan base with us, 0:42:36.640 --> 0:42:39.799 so she loved our music. She brought us on, and 0:42:39.840 --> 0:42:42.000 we knew that that was we knew that that was 0:42:42.080 --> 0:42:45.359 our sort of tour where we knew every single night 0:42:45.440 --> 0:42:48.880 it was our job to turn an audience that and 0:42:49.520 --> 0:42:51.560 sometimes there was a lot of running tools fans, but 0:42:51.640 --> 0:42:53.920 most for the most part, it was mostly of course 0:42:54.080 --> 0:42:57.200 Lord fans who didn't really know who we were. Yeah, 0:42:57.239 --> 0:42:59.799 you had that first wave that was like the first 0:43:00.160 --> 0:43:02.319 roads would be, but our fans were like in the 0:43:02.360 --> 0:43:06.600 middle and back. But what was weird is that there 0:43:06.600 --> 0:43:09.080 were so many dates right out there. There were there 0:43:09.080 --> 0:43:11.680 were dates, There were dad daughter dates, and there were 0:43:11.760 --> 0:43:15.560 just like young guy young girl dates. And when we 0:43:15.800 --> 0:43:19.400 came out and started smashing, you could see the dads 0:43:19.440 --> 0:43:22.279 and daughters, you could see the girlfriend and boyfriends. You 0:43:22.320 --> 0:43:24.680 could see the women turned to the men and look 0:43:24.760 --> 0:43:27.800 at them like you motherfucker, and the guys are looking 0:43:27.880 --> 0:43:31.919 like hell fucking yes, like I thought you were doing 0:43:32.000 --> 0:43:36.680 something for me. You were doing something for you exactly. 0:43:38.480 --> 0:43:40.840 That was I must say that that was one of 0:43:40.880 --> 0:43:43.960 the things because I always watched the crowd. I noticed 0:43:43.960 --> 0:43:45.840 that and then what you know, it didn't It was 0:43:45.880 --> 0:43:47.800 even if it was just a couple of dozen or 0:43:47.800 --> 0:43:49.960 a couple of hundreds some nights, it was enough for 0:43:50.040 --> 0:43:53.040 me to know that that that that we're going places 0:43:53.120 --> 0:43:57.240 baby with because I was the only way my sisters 0:43:57.239 --> 0:44:00.640 were gonna get me to go see fucking let let 0:44:00.640 --> 0:44:03.439 me see who was my love? ABC is if ice 0:44:03.480 --> 0:44:08.839 Cube that would be an interesting pairing, I think, Uh, 0:44:10.239 --> 0:44:26.279 I know, right. We got to talk about the last 0:44:26.320 --> 0:44:28.880 track on the album a few words for the firing squad. 0:44:29.160 --> 0:44:32.600 So this is something, this is, this is intense, something 0:44:32.640 --> 0:44:34.920 maybe a little different for Run the Jewels LP. You've 0:44:35.040 --> 0:44:37.240 you've said, this song is for the women in your lives. 0:44:37.360 --> 0:44:39.960 You you talk about your wife and your sister, Mike, 0:44:40.040 --> 0:44:42.960 you talk about your mom passing, and and your wife 0:44:42.960 --> 0:44:45.279 who who says you she needs a husband more than 0:44:45.320 --> 0:44:47.840 the world needs another martyr. Tell me about putting this 0:44:47.920 --> 0:44:51.279 song together. It started just as a sound bed, not 0:44:51.560 --> 0:44:54.520 very dissimilar from what you hear in the final product, 0:44:54.680 --> 0:44:59.320 you know, the final product, um, and which is interesting 0:44:59.360 --> 0:45:04.000 because it mind, I always thought that it would evolve 0:45:04.040 --> 0:45:05.759 and there would be drums and it would be it 0:45:05.800 --> 0:45:08.840 would you know, I intended to turn this thing into 0:45:10.000 --> 0:45:13.600 more of a traditional sort of beat, you know. Um. 0:45:13.640 --> 0:45:15.160 I thought that there would be there would be a 0:45:15.160 --> 0:45:17.400 build up, but then it would be we'd be wrapping 0:45:17.440 --> 0:45:22.080 over drums. But the strings that we have, um, you know, 0:45:22.200 --> 0:45:24.960 laid down and the and um just the sort of 0:45:25.000 --> 0:45:27.759 the the baseline and the energy of it was so 0:45:28.440 --> 0:45:32.680 invocative and just um that it moved both of us. 0:45:32.760 --> 0:45:35.200 I think I did if I did my verse first, 0:45:35.200 --> 0:45:36.799 and you know, a lot of times will run the Jewels. 0:45:36.840 --> 0:45:41.040 For the most part, you're hearing the unfolding of inspiration 0:45:41.120 --> 0:45:43.680 as it happens. In other words, if a lot of times, 0:45:43.719 --> 0:45:45.920 if if Mike is first, that's because Mike had an 0:45:45.920 --> 0:45:49.759 idea first, you know, UM, and vice versa. And on 0:45:50.000 --> 0:45:54.320 this particular one, I had been moved to by this music. 0:45:54.360 --> 0:45:56.000 I have been sort of just listening to it and 0:45:56.160 --> 0:46:00.120 it was really it really put me somewhere. UM, and 0:46:00.160 --> 0:46:02.880 I put my verse down first, and you know the 0:46:03.560 --> 0:46:06.160 UM and Mike followed and and you know, me and Mike, 0:46:06.400 --> 0:46:08.279 you know, back to your question about how our our 0:46:08.360 --> 0:46:11.359 creative relationship has evolved, I think that we have an 0:46:11.440 --> 0:46:15.440 unspoken ability to pick up on what the other person 0:46:15.680 --> 0:46:18.520 is feeling and two and and then to come in 0:46:18.560 --> 0:46:22.120 with something that compliments. And now it's never about doing. 0:46:22.960 --> 0:46:24.960 You know, it's not like, oh, I'm gonna do what 0:46:25.040 --> 0:46:27.480 you did and you know, it's it's more like, I'm 0:46:27.480 --> 0:46:29.799 gonna honor the spirit of where you are on this 0:46:30.040 --> 0:46:33.640 and UM, I think, UM, this is a good example 0:46:33.680 --> 0:46:37.160 of that where it was just really beautifully syncd up 0:46:37.160 --> 0:46:39.680 where we we knew. Mike knew what I was trying 0:46:39.719 --> 0:46:41.960 to do with this when I when I laid my 0:46:41.960 --> 0:46:44.239 my verse down, and my verse was very personal. I 0:46:44.239 --> 0:46:48.480 think they're both very very personal, both of them. Um, 0:46:48.560 --> 0:46:52.319 and they're also defiant and they're also you know. And 0:46:52.360 --> 0:46:55.680 I think that it's my favorite Run the Jewels song 0:46:56.320 --> 0:46:58.600 on this record, and maybe one of my favorite Run 0:46:58.640 --> 0:47:01.920 the Jewels songs ever, because it captures everything that I 0:47:01.960 --> 0:47:04.239 think really Jamie and Micro about more so than the 0:47:04.320 --> 0:47:08.040 characters of LP and Killer Mike. UM. And every record 0:47:08.080 --> 0:47:10.319 has to have that moment where you take your superhero 0:47:10.400 --> 0:47:12.960 cape off and just and you're just lay bare, like 0:47:13.040 --> 0:47:15.840 this is really who we are, period. There's no playing 0:47:15.840 --> 0:47:19.719 around on that song. It's it's it's it's very genuinely 0:47:19.920 --> 0:47:22.320 both of us, and it's everything that I love about 0:47:22.360 --> 0:47:24.880 what we can accomplish together and when we're really in 0:47:24.920 --> 0:47:27.359 that zone. And you can't do this for every song, 0:47:27.600 --> 0:47:30.000 but unique because it needs to be special and you 0:47:30.040 --> 0:47:32.000 need to feel it. It needs to be um, it 0:47:32.040 --> 0:47:34.560 needs to be time for you to do this. But 0:47:34.800 --> 0:47:38.640 laying yourself there and even risking some people not completely 0:47:38.680 --> 0:47:41.319 getting exactly what you know, I'm talking about things that 0:47:41.480 --> 0:47:44.040 only my sister and my mother know about, you know, 0:47:44.160 --> 0:47:47.560 that really know about and referencing those things, but also 0:47:47.680 --> 0:47:51.120 the fact that there's defiance and that we're relating who 0:47:51.160 --> 0:47:55.560 we are and what formed us to what our attitude 0:47:55.640 --> 0:47:57.520 is now. And I think that when you when you know, 0:47:57.600 --> 0:48:01.080 when you leave this record, um, hopefully what you feel 0:48:01.120 --> 0:48:05.560 from that song is almost like an emotional history to 0:48:05.800 --> 0:48:09.960 qualify and for people to understand why we stand up 0:48:10.000 --> 0:48:12.080 the way that we do when we stand up, what 0:48:12.120 --> 0:48:14.120 it is that it means to us, and how the 0:48:14.200 --> 0:48:18.320 people in our lives are really have influenced us to 0:48:18.360 --> 0:48:22.040 try and be better man, try and be um honorable man. 0:48:22.320 --> 0:48:24.239 And Mike, when it came to your verse, when when 0:48:24.320 --> 0:48:26.200 Jamie laid down his verse and it came to you, 0:48:26.280 --> 0:48:30.160 where where was your head? At? My head? It's been 0:48:30.280 --> 0:48:34.520 fucked up few like we get two of those three years. 0:48:34.560 --> 0:48:37.719 My mother, you know it's been gone. You know my 0:48:37.800 --> 0:48:41.719 mother was chilenge. She had so her mom was my mom. 0:48:41.840 --> 0:48:45.560 And I remember my grandmother died. My grandmother died like 0:48:46.320 --> 0:48:48.719 eight years ago, and it just fucked me up, Like 0:48:48.800 --> 0:48:50.879 I didn't even talk for a day. I was just 0:48:51.520 --> 0:48:54.440 my sister is like, you gotta get over there to 0:48:54.440 --> 0:48:57.120 get passes. You gotta you know, you gotta Samity the league. 0:48:57.200 --> 0:48:59.840 So you know, like you told my grandfather died, you 0:49:00.360 --> 0:49:02.359 got a day or two the morning. But you know, 0:49:02.440 --> 0:49:05.160 with that, said my sister, I was so hurt. My 0:49:05.239 --> 0:49:08.440 sister and wife dressed my grandmother's body, and you know 0:49:08.480 --> 0:49:12.120 it's just traditional Southern stuff, right, But man, I didn't know. 0:49:12.360 --> 0:49:15.360 I thought that death had hit me with the hardest 0:49:15.440 --> 0:49:17.200 Lord could hit me with. You know, my grandmother and 0:49:17.239 --> 0:49:18.840 my mother. My mother told me, she said, you know, 0:49:19.280 --> 0:49:21.000 I know you love your grandmother, but when I go, 0:49:21.239 --> 0:49:24.319 you donna understand, and that I'm your mother. Yea. So 0:49:24.400 --> 0:49:27.200 we had this lifelong relationship where she was a big 0:49:27.239 --> 0:49:30.920 sister as much as a mother, and I saw as 0:49:30.920 --> 0:49:34.200 a mother. She was my mommy, but I never felt 0:49:34.239 --> 0:49:38.080 it like I felt it when she died. And we 0:49:38.120 --> 0:49:40.719 had stayed in Europe to do for Runner Jewels business, 0:49:40.920 --> 0:49:43.480 and I made the decision to say, but I M 0:49:44.920 --> 0:49:47.200 just you know, sometimes you just feel like maybe I 0:49:47.200 --> 0:49:50.839 didn't make the right call, you know. And luckily my 0:49:50.880 --> 0:49:53.560 man sleepy Head got to the hospital, so I got 0:49:53.640 --> 0:49:55.920 a chance to talk to her. You know, place time 0:49:56.480 --> 0:49:58.200 I think the plane was taken off, I was still 0:49:58.239 --> 0:50:00.200 on it. But somehow I once spoke you on that all. 0:50:00.719 --> 0:50:02.399 I was glad it happened, because she was dead by 0:50:02.400 --> 0:50:05.239 the time I landed. She had transitioned. But I didn't 0:50:05.239 --> 0:50:08.560 go to therapy afterwards. I didn't talk to any mentors, 0:50:08.719 --> 0:50:11.440 religious scholars. I literally just went back to work. I 0:50:11.440 --> 0:50:13.880 remember that knew heard her birthday would have been on 0:50:13.960 --> 0:50:16.719 January three. We were in Australia following year, and my 0:50:16.800 --> 0:50:21.160 wife put together impromptu breakfast and the crew and Hell 0:50:21.200 --> 0:50:22.920 and his wife and everybody came down and it just 0:50:23.320 --> 0:50:25.399 made me feel better. But that was just a grief there, 0:50:25.520 --> 0:50:29.080 and this record gave me an opportunity to just pour 0:50:29.560 --> 0:50:32.839 and it just you know, I listened to it now 0:50:32.960 --> 0:50:36.359 and still tier up because you know, my mom was 0:50:36.440 --> 0:50:40.800 just She was a beautiful, beautiful soul that was tormented 0:50:40.840 --> 0:50:44.200 out the world. Like people who are addicts are terribly sensitive. 0:50:44.640 --> 0:50:47.000 People who are depressed a lot of times spend their 0:50:47.040 --> 0:50:49.680 time making other people happy, you know what I'm saying. 0:50:49.680 --> 0:50:52.600 And she did all of that. And the best description 0:50:52.680 --> 0:50:55.719 is uh ex d boy who turned into a real 0:50:55.800 --> 0:50:59.080 estate guy who took his mom's with his mom left 0:50:59.160 --> 0:51:01.160 him after he died in gut A small, little nice 0:51:01.160 --> 0:51:03.840 fortune for itself out of the cab. He said myself, like, 0:51:03.960 --> 0:51:07.440 I lost my life, coach when your mom died, and 0:51:07.440 --> 0:51:09.759 and I said, yeah, man, the coach has gone. And 0:51:09.840 --> 0:51:11.600 she did that for even though she couldn't be a 0:51:11.680 --> 0:51:14.720 mother to me. She was so much of a mother 0:51:14.920 --> 0:51:18.520 and guy and coach to so many dudes to get 0:51:18.560 --> 0:51:21.919 them out of the streets and legitimize themselves. And my mother, 0:51:22.200 --> 0:51:24.960 you know, it was. She could be a hard personality 0:51:25.000 --> 0:51:27.759 to deal with. So I'm at peace with the fact 0:51:27.840 --> 0:51:29.520 I wasn't there. I'm at peace with the fact we 0:51:29.640 --> 0:51:32.719 talked so we knew she I'm at peace that with 0:51:32.840 --> 0:51:35.360 the fact that I couldn't be there. But I needed 0:51:35.360 --> 0:51:37.799 to say it in that record gaming opportunity because I 0:51:37.840 --> 0:51:39.680 wanted to say it. I didn't know how to say 0:51:39.719 --> 0:51:42.640 it at that time. I was so angry, you know, 0:51:43.280 --> 0:51:45.839 just angry. I couldn't even sit on couching and get 0:51:45.840 --> 0:51:48.080 it out to a therapist. I had to get it 0:51:48.080 --> 0:51:51.000 out in song. And you know, I was just being 0:51:51.000 --> 0:51:53.560 myself up physically. We were we were going too hard. 0:51:53.640 --> 0:51:56.319 So I'm glad the record game the opportunity to pour 0:51:56.360 --> 0:51:58.239 it out. I'm glad that I made peace with that. 0:51:58.320 --> 0:52:01.000 There's a shrine for my mother and grandmother up in 0:52:01.040 --> 0:52:02.400 my house you know, of course my wife and not 0:52:02.480 --> 0:52:05.399 spiritual leash you on me, your ancestors. So they're they're 0:52:05.400 --> 0:52:07.239 trying for the people that have been here before. But 0:52:07.280 --> 0:52:10.280 my mother's is the one that I talked to daily. 0:52:10.560 --> 0:52:13.359 I get up every single morning and and and could 0:52:13.400 --> 0:52:15.360 make sure I communicate, you know, with her. You know 0:52:15.360 --> 0:52:17.520 what I'm saying, So that ad meant a lot to me. 0:52:17.560 --> 0:52:20.399 That record steal means and Chris the very last thing 0:52:20.719 --> 0:52:22.880 on the record. We circle back around to the Yankee 0:52:22.880 --> 0:52:25.239 and the brave concept. So I need to ask you 0:52:25.280 --> 0:52:29.200 baseball is starting back up. Are you guys genuinely into 0:52:29.320 --> 0:52:31.759 the Yankees and the Braves? Are you looking forward to it? 0:52:32.160 --> 0:52:36.200 I'm I'm a brave thing. No, although I can show 0:52:36.200 --> 0:52:38.200 you pictures of me is like a five row over 0:52:38.239 --> 0:52:42.600 the Yankee had on the in Yankee stadium. Um, but no, no, 0:52:42.760 --> 0:52:44.920 I don't care. I don't. I don't. I'm sorry. I 0:52:44.960 --> 0:52:51.080 wish I could. But what I do love about sports 0:52:52.360 --> 0:52:54.319 is uh and I don't follow it. Is what I 0:52:54.360 --> 0:52:56.200 mean when I said I don't care, I just don't 0:52:56.239 --> 0:52:59.239 follow it. I do enjoy sports. Um, we've also lived 0:52:59.239 --> 0:53:02.200 on a bus that years. So it's hard to watch. 0:53:02.320 --> 0:53:04.759 But that's no excuse for That's no excuse for me. 0:53:04.800 --> 0:53:08.759 I I lost the plot like thirty years ago. But 0:53:08.880 --> 0:53:11.920 I love the community that it brings. And I do 0:53:12.040 --> 0:53:13.959 and I and you know, especially if you're in New Yorker, 0:53:14.000 --> 0:53:17.480 like I've rocked a Yankee hat forever, and I couldn't 0:53:17.480 --> 0:53:20.120 tell you three people on the current Yankees team, Like 0:53:20.120 --> 0:53:22.840 I couldn't even tell you just because it's just my 0:53:23.080 --> 0:53:25.600 session became music. I never really you know, I never 0:53:25.680 --> 0:53:27.480 followed it in the same way that a lot of 0:53:27.480 --> 0:53:30.000 other people do, but I do love the community of it. 0:53:30.120 --> 0:53:32.000 We felt like that was the right place to put 0:53:32.080 --> 0:53:34.960 that song, really kind of at the edge of the 0:53:34.960 --> 0:53:37.680 precipice of like, well, did they get shot? You know, 0:53:38.000 --> 0:53:40.480 did they die? You know? Did they get killed by 0:53:40.480 --> 0:53:43.640 the firing squad? And I love that. Um, the record 0:53:43.719 --> 0:53:47.000 got to end with oh no, they're still alive. And 0:53:47.000 --> 0:53:49.239 and now here's the loop. It goes right back into 0:53:49.239 --> 0:53:51.880 the episode. You know, Um, we have no interest in 0:53:51.960 --> 0:53:56.800 leaving people down. We have interest in surviving and going forward. 0:53:56.800 --> 0:53:59.839 And they're and they're being even emotionally when people listen 0:53:59.920 --> 0:54:02.400 to the record. We just didn't want anybody to We 0:54:02.440 --> 0:54:05.560 wanted the note to be funny and exciting when we left. 0:54:05.680 --> 0:54:09.240 You know, um, I just want Freddie Freeman to get 0:54:09.280 --> 0:54:12.000 cured of COVID and for a ConA and Freeman and 0:54:12.080 --> 0:54:15.960 Nick to lead us to another World championship. Because I 0:54:15.960 --> 0:54:19.440 still love the Atlanta Blanks and I don't like the 0:54:19.520 --> 0:54:22.240 Mets so often I tipped my head to the Yankees. 0:54:23.880 --> 0:54:26.040 You gotta understand that women, I was a kid. When 0:54:26.080 --> 0:54:27.759 I was a kid, we used to play. We used 0:54:27.800 --> 0:54:30.480 to We used to cut class, drink forties and playing handball. 0:54:30.600 --> 0:54:33.120 That was my sports. Where we used to go or 0:54:33.160 --> 0:54:35.160 we used and that was like just an excuse to 0:54:35.239 --> 0:54:37.160 hang out with your friends and smoke weed and hit 0:54:37.160 --> 0:54:39.399 a ball against That was she was fun. And then 0:54:39.560 --> 0:54:41.760 and then we used to skateboard, and that was another 0:54:41.800 --> 0:54:45.400 excuse to cut school, and and and then people are like, 0:54:45.400 --> 0:54:46.920 oh man, you're not in the sports. It's like, well, 0:54:46.960 --> 0:54:48.719 first of all, you gotta understand New York City, we 0:54:48.760 --> 0:54:52.440 didn't have like dope beautiful sports facilities, like you know, 0:54:53.080 --> 0:54:55.560 we were playing in like public parks and Ship had 0:54:55.760 --> 0:54:58.880 patchy dirt and ship and glass, and people were leaving 0:54:59.000 --> 0:55:02.960 cracked stems and ship and like and you know, dogship 0:55:03.120 --> 0:55:06.680 and like and and then I also never quite understood 0:55:06.719 --> 0:55:10.759 the joy of being yelled at, like I just don't like. Yo, 0:55:11.440 --> 0:55:13.440 you don't understand the joy of being yo? That what 0:55:13.480 --> 0:55:17.080 are you doing in the group? You know? I'm I'm 0:55:17.120 --> 0:55:20.400 doing the yell motherfucker yo. I was on the phone 0:55:20.400 --> 0:55:24.680 with Matt Ryan and Pat the uh, the Falcons quarterback yesterday, 0:55:24.680 --> 0:55:27.440 and I was talking about this asshole teacher I had 0:55:27.560 --> 0:55:30.279 who turned out I loved her because she taught me 0:55:30.320 --> 0:55:34.239 civics and politics and miss Ellison man Matt after I 0:55:34.280 --> 0:55:36.600 told he said, Yo, man, my fucking little league coach 0:55:36.680 --> 0:55:41.640 was that asshole coach box He Matt is one of 0:55:41.640 --> 0:55:44.279 the greatest quarterbacks in the world right now thanks to 0:55:44.280 --> 0:55:46.920 that asshole coach, right, I hear you, And you know 0:55:46.960 --> 0:55:51.000 what he needed, that tough love. I'm a rapper. You 0:55:51.080 --> 0:55:52.920 know if you listen to me and l story, you 0:55:52.920 --> 0:55:54.880 would literally think he was a black kid in the 0:55:54.920 --> 0:55:57.799 group because I grew up, we would we would all 0:55:57.880 --> 0:56:01.040 my whole neighborhoods. So the guys sleep from church to Sleep. 0:56:01.120 --> 0:56:05.040 The episode from my TV show Sleep really is My 0:56:05.080 --> 0:56:07.480 best friend? Like in terms of that's like a group 0:56:07.480 --> 0:56:09.680 of best friends that I have from different like from 0:56:09.760 --> 0:56:11.759 the streets. Sleep always make sure I was good. We 0:56:11.800 --> 0:56:14.160 went to we met each other gambling at the bottom 0:56:14.200 --> 0:56:17.040 of a church. But he played baseball when we were kids, 0:56:17.480 --> 0:56:20.279 so the whole community would go watch all kids play 0:56:20.320 --> 0:56:23.040 baseball on Saturdays, is what we did. I grew up 0:56:23.040 --> 0:56:28.520 in this wildly weird, wholesome like all black enclave of 0:56:28.600 --> 0:56:31.319 mixed in com stability and l grew up in the 0:56:31.320 --> 0:56:34.200 grimy streets in New York. It's so if you just 0:56:34.400 --> 0:56:36.920 if you just told people, yo, there's a black guy, 0:56:36.960 --> 0:56:38.560 there's the white guy. One guy grew up and it 0:56:38.719 --> 0:56:40.400 was never played and the other guy grew up with 0:56:40.440 --> 0:56:43.640 like baseball leagues. They swear to God they think of no. 0:56:43.840 --> 0:56:45.680 But you make it sound like I grew up on 0:56:46.120 --> 0:56:47.759 like like I was grew up on, you know, in 0:56:47.840 --> 0:56:49.480 the school of hard Nights, and I had it if 0:56:49.480 --> 0:56:54.880 I had it fine in terms of the facilities, for sure, 0:56:55.200 --> 0:56:57.880 for sure, like sports was never a thing. Like it's like, 0:56:58.000 --> 0:57:00.560 wait a second, so you're saying you want me to 0:57:00.680 --> 0:57:05.040 sign up to spend my time that's after school for 0:57:05.080 --> 0:57:08.440 the most part, Like you want me to stay in school, 0:57:08.680 --> 0:57:12.920 put on some uncomfortable ship, run around in the city area, 0:57:14.640 --> 0:57:18.000 get yelled at constantly by some dood who I think 0:57:18.120 --> 0:57:20.160 is an asshole, and then you want me to go. 0:57:20.520 --> 0:57:22.640 Then you want me to go do a communal shower 0:57:22.760 --> 0:57:25.320 with everybody. That's what your plan for me is. And 0:57:25.360 --> 0:57:29.080 I was like, you know, I'm and and suffice to say, 0:57:29.120 --> 0:57:34.160 I was out of high school by the age of sixteen. Cool, Yeah, 0:57:34.360 --> 0:57:38.400 I was done. I was in musical engineering school. Piece. Well, 0:57:38.840 --> 0:57:42.680 so your tour has been rerouted for next year. Is 0:57:42.680 --> 0:57:46.280 that what we're thinking? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what it's. 0:57:46.360 --> 0:57:48.800 I mean that we made. They made Rage made the 0:57:48.880 --> 0:57:53.320 official reconfirmation of the of the whole tour starting next year. Yeah, 0:57:53.320 --> 0:57:57.440 starting in Coachella obviously in April and starting in June 0:57:57.440 --> 0:57:59.959 with the tour, and that's all. Of course, we're praying, 0:58:00.240 --> 0:58:03.240 and you know, it's it's whatever's out there that that 0:58:03.240 --> 0:58:06.280 that happens, and maybe America gets his fucking ship together 0:58:06.320 --> 0:58:09.200 so we can have some fun again. Yeah. Well here's uh, 0:58:09.200 --> 0:58:11.000 here's hoping so because we really do want to hear 0:58:11.040 --> 0:58:14.040 this album live. Uh, And and guys, I really want 0:58:14.040 --> 0:58:15.640 to thank you for being here. Thank you so much 0:58:15.720 --> 0:58:19.160 for joining us man, thank you, thank you, absolutely thank you. Alright, 0:58:19.200 --> 0:58:30.000 alright later. Inside the Studio is a production of I 0:58:30.160 --> 0:58:34.000 heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, check 0:58:34.040 --> 0:58:37.440 out the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 0:58:37.480 --> 0:58:38.600 you get your podcasts.