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Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme is a production of Iheartradiopreama.

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Speaker 2: Some Supreme roll Suprema Son Supremo roll call Suprema So

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Speaker 2: some Supremo role called Suprema Some Suprema roll call.

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Speaker 3: I had a brilliant roll call for Curtis Blow, but

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Speaker 3: for some reason, you ain't never going to know it.

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Speaker 3: Come on, Bri.

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Speaker 4: Supremo roll came Supreme Sun, Son Supremo roll call.

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Speaker 1: My name is Sugar.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I love you all. Yeah, but once and for all. Yeah, baseball.

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Speaker 5: Supreme Rome Supremo Sun some Supremo roll coming off the cuff.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, rubber words in English.

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Speaker 3: So why does it happen to be so.

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Speaker 4: Damned Supremo Supremo roll call Suprema Son some Supremo.

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Speaker 6: Roll em Yeah what curd is blown?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 6: If your hip hop, yeah you should already know.

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Speaker 4: Oh, come Bramo Son the Son Supremo ro come Prema.

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Speaker 7: Can't believe my man Premo roll call one two three

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Speaker 7: four hit it yeah now yeah, I'm gonna spit it.

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Speaker 4: S Subpremo roll come Surema Son Son Supremo.

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Speaker 3: Roh, Come Subramo Son.

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Speaker 4: Son Supremo roll Come Subramo some some Supremo roll.

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Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen, this is of course Love Supreme. I

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Speaker 3: forgot the name of my own show. We are at iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 3: Thank you very much. We're here with Team Supreme. Unpaid

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Speaker 3: Bill and here is not here. You are not a

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Speaker 3: pay bill, you are a boss Bill. Wow. I knew

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Speaker 3: what I was saying. I knew. I was just testing

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Speaker 3: to see if you knew who you were. Of course

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Speaker 3: we got a Sugar Steve and we have a laya

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Speaker 3: with us on paid Bill right.

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Speaker 6: Now is doing his thing and Broadway.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, whenever, whenever he's hit on Broadway, he don't

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Speaker 3: have time for us. No more, ladies and gentlemen, plain

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Speaker 3: and simple. You know you hear of kings and pioneers

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Speaker 3: and people bragging about their status in this culture. I'm

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Speaker 3: sure you, ladies and gentlemen, that the gentleman that we're

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Speaker 3: about to introduce is literally the pioneer of this amazing

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Speaker 3: art form that has made trillions of dollars. What can

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Speaker 3: I say? First rapper on a major label, first rapper

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Speaker 3: to get a gold plaque, first rapper to cover a song,

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Speaker 3: first rapper to make a love ballot, uh, first rappor

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Speaker 3: to tour overseas. I mean his production credits looming large.

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Speaker 3: I mean, for God's sakes, he produced the record that

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Speaker 3: was Jay Z's very first purchase of a full hip

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Speaker 3: hop album. Speaking of the Fat Boy's debut, I mean,

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Speaker 3: through this man like this is how we know he was.

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Speaker 3: He was the entry of Russell Simmons into the world

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Speaker 3: of Run, into the world of Full Force, into the

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Speaker 3: professional world of Alison Williams, of the Great Unhurled Larry Smith,

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Speaker 3: and his production credits. The aforementioned Fat Boys, not to mention,

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Speaker 3: gave Salaam Remy his first.

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Speaker 1: Start in production.

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Speaker 3: Oh yes, a yeah, fourteen year old. Yes do we do?

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Speaker 3: We do our homework. Not to mention, Uh what I what?

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Speaker 3: I credit as one of the rare legit hip hop

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Speaker 3: movies about hip hop culture. This man is starred in

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Speaker 3: as a political activist working with the anti apartheid Sun

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Speaker 3: City Project. Not to mention organizing the King Celebrate holiday.

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Speaker 3: There's so many, so many credits. Oh Jesus, for a

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Speaker 3: lot of us are entry to Bob Dylan, right and

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Speaker 3: if our culture this dude, Yes, I'm pointing to the

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Speaker 3: one and only first rapper on Soul Tree. You know,

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Speaker 3: Soul tree means everything to me. Ladies and gentlemen. I'm

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Speaker 3: so honored to have on Quest Love Supreme, the one

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Speaker 3: and only Curtis Blue.

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Speaker 1: It's a Quest Love Supreme. Thank you, Thank you.

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Speaker 3: Man. Uh, this is a long time coming. We have

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Speaker 3: a gazillion questions. This this is like a this show

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Speaker 3: is such a it's nerd out culture going awry. So

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Speaker 3: it's just just bear with us. If we asked too

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Speaker 3: many nerdy questions that that.

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Speaker 1: Intro was so incredible, I mean you kind of like

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Speaker 1: had me shook there. I didn't know. It's so much stuff.

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Speaker 1: I'm here like, yeah, wait a minute, I'm remembering things.

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Speaker 3: We're we're literally about giving flowers where they're due.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there's so much more that you're doing. I've been

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Speaker 3: known to make like fifteen minute intros and then it's

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Speaker 3: time to go grand opening grand clues, right, So what

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Speaker 3: I really this is this is like one of our

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Speaker 3: first chances to interview someone that was there for the

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Speaker 3: beginning of hip hop culture before it came a professional business.

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Speaker 3: So I have so many questions about it's starting its

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Speaker 3: formation in the Bronx to like the parties and all

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Speaker 3: those things. Well, for those that don't know that, listen

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Speaker 3: to us that are that are younger, where were you born?

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Speaker 1: I was born and raised in Harlem.

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Speaker 3: Okay, Harlem Okay, Yes, yes, sir, So could you give

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Speaker 3: us kind of I guess a prototypical idea of what

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Speaker 3: the environ was when hip hop was just a local

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Speaker 3: block party thing, when it was just yes, you know,

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Speaker 3: like on a Saturday, let's let's pick a Saturday in

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Speaker 3: nineteen seventy eight, before it was a business. Oh man,

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Speaker 3: what was? What was? You'd probably go back before.

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Speaker 8: Suddenly it's really amazing and it's a story that you know,

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Speaker 8: the energy and the vibe and the spirit that was

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Speaker 8: going around New York City the Five Boroughs during that

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Speaker 8: time was something that's so hard to explain.

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Speaker 1: You really had to be there to really understand that

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Speaker 1: energy that was happening. See, we were all like a

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Speaker 1: group of people who understood and really related and loved

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Speaker 1: this culture way before it became a culture. So it

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Speaker 1: was just like something new that we were trying to

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Speaker 1: do and represent. Of course, you had disco on this

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Speaker 1: side defense and then you had R and B soul music,

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Speaker 1: and most of us grew up on soul music, and

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Speaker 1: we love James Brown and the Motown sound and the

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Speaker 1: Isisley Brothers and all of that stuff and soul music.

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Speaker 1: We started playing soul music when disco became the most

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Speaker 1: prominent thing that you heard on the radio. But if

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Speaker 1: you remember the Motown sound that we grew up on

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Speaker 1: in the sixties, the snare drum, we're talking music theory now.

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Speaker 1: The snare drum was on the one, two, three, and

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Speaker 1: the four pop pop popp babe babe baby, you know,

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Speaker 1: and and and then disco comes out and it went

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Speaker 1: back to the same four on the floor of the

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Speaker 1: floor talking about the kick drum, right, the boom boom

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Speaker 1: boom boom, So that beat for us wasn't like James Brown,

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Speaker 1: because James Brown, in between disco and motown, had a

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Speaker 1: musical revolution with the sound that we call boom bat

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Speaker 1: So the boom bat boom baps, boom bat bat syncopated rhythms,

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Speaker 1: syncopated rhythms, and the drummer, you know, Clyde Stubberfield, was incredible.

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Speaker 1: So as kids, when we heard this new sound, we

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Speaker 1: were like, we lost our minds. Everybody wanted to be

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Speaker 1: James Brown and dance like him, and uh, that's when

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Speaker 1: we started going down to the floor whenever we heard

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Speaker 1: the break, because the break of the music was the

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Speaker 1: most important part of the song. That's when everyone did

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Speaker 1: their best dance moves. That's when we created the circle.

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Speaker 3: So people just literally wanted to wait for the breakdown, like, Okay,

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Speaker 3: that's what it was five, that's what it was.

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Speaker 1: Really going to get crazy, and I'm talking in nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventy two, seventy three. Okay, So here comes Cool Herk,

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Speaker 1: the DJ who understood this that the break was so

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Speaker 1: very important, and we were B boys and B girls

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Speaker 1: because we danced to the breaks that Cool Herk would play,

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Speaker 1: and he would play these funky, incredible songs like give

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Speaker 1: It Up a Turn It Loose, or getting into Something

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Speaker 1: by the Isley Brothers, or or Listen to Me by

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Speaker 1: Baby Huey or Jimmy Cast has Just Begun, the Mexican

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Speaker 1: you know, the Melting Pot Apache, you know all these

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Speaker 1: incredible songs. They were soul music, but they were fast

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Speaker 1: and it was the same kind of tempo as disco music.

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Speaker 1: It was dance music. I call it obscure dance music.

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Speaker 1: It was funk, and we just lost our minds. So

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Speaker 1: we represented and created those circles around us, just like

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Speaker 1: Saturday Night Fever, you know the movie with John Travolta

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Speaker 1: with the white suit on. He creates this circle around

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Speaker 1: him and pretty soon somebody comes in the circle and

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Speaker 1: they do a competition and a battle, and the winner

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Speaker 1: of that competition was the most popular guy. He was

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Speaker 1: the hero of the story, right, And so that's what

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Speaker 1: happened at the Cool Hurt clubs around twelve one o'clock

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Speaker 1: in the morning, he played this give It Up a

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Speaker 1: turn and Loose, and everybody was standing around waiting for

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Speaker 1: the break. When that break came, we went off. And

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Speaker 1: that was hip hop the first early days of hipek God.

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Speaker 3: Now for that particular record that you gave an example

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Speaker 3: of give It Up for Turn It Loose, which that

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Speaker 3: particular recording was made in nineteen sixty nine. So even

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Speaker 3: though James Brown himself was trying to keep up with

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Speaker 3: the trends of the day and make disco records, you're

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Speaker 3: basically saying that you guys never left those records alone.

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Speaker 3: So a song like Get on the Good Foot still

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Speaker 3: had life way beyond it's nineteen seventy two release, like

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Speaker 3: It's still was something in seventy four, seventy five, seventy six,

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Speaker 3: as long as it had a funk break. So did

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Speaker 3: you guys look at the commercial music at the time

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Speaker 3: as kind of like how we look at modern pop

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Speaker 3: radio now, Like I don't listen to that. I listened

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Speaker 3: to No, it was cool.

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Speaker 1: It was cool. It was a you know, we you know,

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Speaker 1: we listened to it. It was on the radio, but

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Speaker 1: somebody was break dancing to like Stevie Wonder's Eye wi

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Speaker 1: you know. No, it was more like you know, the

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Speaker 1: village people, why and Okay? So like the commercial disco stuff, okay,

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Speaker 1: down a summer and stuff like that, We're like, yo,

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Speaker 1: we want James Brown, you know what I mean. So,

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Speaker 1: so the hip hop became that rebellion to disco. I

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Speaker 1: call it, you know, ghetto disco.

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Speaker 3: Okay for those that have been collecting tapes and really

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Speaker 3: keeping up in sort of the early formation of what

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Speaker 3: hip hop was. The role that MC was once the

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Speaker 3: co star to who the DJ was so right, can

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Speaker 3: you what I want to know is and I've heard

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Speaker 3: like some of these like DJ Hollywood tapes right where

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Speaker 3: in my mind he had an endless vocabulary, an endless

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Speaker 3: combination of rhymes that came up nowhere. Now, I mean

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Speaker 3: most of them season I know, really have a good

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Speaker 3: fifteen to twenty minute repertoire before they run out of

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Speaker 3: space and steam. And you know, I don't know to do,

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Speaker 3: but he's his things seemed endless. Like who was who

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Speaker 3: in your mind were like the top five? First of all,

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Speaker 3: who was the one? Was Hollywood? The pioneer of the

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Speaker 3: call and response rhyming k at least in the hip

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Speaker 3: hop sins? I know, there's Jocko Henderson and all that

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Speaker 3: stuff back, yeah, of course, of course, but who was

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Speaker 3: in terms of hip hop? Was DJ Hollywood?

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Speaker 1: First?

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Speaker 3: Like where does Hollywood? And Eddie Chiba and like all

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Speaker 3: these other mcs that really weren't making records.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so after herk okay, you have to see there

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Speaker 1: there there were two different kinds of crowds. Okay, first

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Speaker 1: and foremost, you know Flash Grandmass and Flash calls him

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Speaker 1: to shoe people and the sneaker people one okay, you

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Speaker 1: know the sneaker people. You know, we partied at the

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Speaker 1: block parties and the community centers in the park jams

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Speaker 1: and and and and the the small around the way clubs,

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Speaker 1: you know, like three seventy one, Disco Fever up in

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Speaker 1: the Bronx and places like that. But you know, Grandmaster

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Speaker 1: Flash was so very important to this transition from the

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Speaker 1: DJ being the focal point of the party. He controlled

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Speaker 1: the music, He controlled the ambiance, he controlled the lights,

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Speaker 1: he controlled the tempo of the songs he was playing.

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Speaker 1: He hired, he hired and fired the mcs. The MCS

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Speaker 1: were first a diamond dozen't All we did was we

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Speaker 1: we we we went to the house and we got

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Speaker 1: the equipment and took the equipment to the gig and

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Speaker 1: set it up, and at the end of the night

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Speaker 1: we break it down and carry it back to the house.

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Speaker 1: And the DJ would let us in free, you know.

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Speaker 1: So that's your plus, that's your getting on the guest list.

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Speaker 1: And so you know, if we were nice to him,

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Speaker 1: or if he was nice to us and feeling good,

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Speaker 1: he would let us make announcements like, Yo, Joey, your

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Speaker 1: mom's outside is ten o'clock. You gotta go, you know,

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Speaker 1: sound okay, Sam, your car is getting.

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Speaker 3: Told, you know, right okay?

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Speaker 1: And so Flag you know now herk played a whole song.

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Speaker 1: He had the most incredible playlist all the songs I named,

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Speaker 1: and they're about twenty five to thirty songs, maybe even

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Speaker 1: fifty soul music in a club. And so Flash understood

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Speaker 1: that the most important part of this song that he

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Speaker 1: played was the break, because he knew all the bee

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Speaker 1: boys would go down to the floor and start doing

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Speaker 1: their best moves. Everyone got crazy and started yelling and screaming,

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Speaker 1: you know when the break came. And so he wanted

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Speaker 1: to try to find a way to extend his break

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Speaker 1: because the break was only fifteen twenty seconds long. And

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Speaker 1: so he got two copies of the same record and

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Speaker 1: he started playing the break. Herk would play a whole

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Speaker 1: song and you have to stand up waiting for the

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Speaker 1: break to come. Right, Flash went there. He just started

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Speaker 1: the break at the top of the song, you know,

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Speaker 1: he played a break, and when it got to the

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Speaker 1: end of the break before the singing started coming back

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Speaker 1: in and he played the beginning of the break again.

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Speaker 1: So he actually extended this break and made it from

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Speaker 1: fifteen to twenty seconds to three four minutes. Right. So

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Speaker 1: we had to do more as MC's than make announcements.

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Speaker 9: So I have a question at the time, what was

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Speaker 9: the transition? Because are people they are we scratching yet.

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Speaker 1: Right, he started scratching, and oh he was very very

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Speaker 1: fast because you had to go from one turntable to

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Speaker 1: the other to catch the beat before it ended and

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Speaker 1: got to the whack part, right, and so he extended

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Speaker 1: the break and.

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Speaker 3: Right, listen to the show. He'll get mad.

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Speaker 1: Yes the scratch, that's what I said, Yes, yes, we

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Speaker 1: love you. And so you know, it was like DJ's

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Speaker 1: like that. That gave us the opportunity to shine. So

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Speaker 1: we became like instead of standing on the side of

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Speaker 1: the turntables just making announcements, we went out front and

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Speaker 1: started rocking the crowd. And we had to do more,

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Speaker 1: so we started telling stories and rapping in rhythm and

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Speaker 1: you know, using crowd response, throw your hands in the

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Speaker 1: air and all of that stuff. And that's how you know,

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Speaker 1: it really came off. So Hollywood get into Hollywood. He

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Speaker 1: was a master at the crowd response, and he had

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Speaker 1: a Puerto Rican DJ by the name of DJ Junebuck

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Speaker 1: Rest in Peace and best DJ I ever saw in

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Speaker 1: my life. Very fast, accurate, would keep the beat going

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Speaker 1: for Hollywood, and he was just tearing it up. When

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Speaker 1: I saw Hollywood at this club three seventy one, It

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Speaker 1: blew my mind. I never knew that there was something

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Speaker 1: like this possible, you know, that a guy could just

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Speaker 1: take control of an audience and have them eating out

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Speaker 1: of the palm of his hands, just by the way

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Speaker 1: that he was rapping in rhythm. First time I ever

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Speaker 1: heard rhythmic rap was DJ Hollywood. You know, of course,

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Speaker 1: there are other MC's before him, like k C, the

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Speaker 1: Princess sould J you the disco King you had up

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Speaker 1: in the Bronx with HERK you had Cochlear Rock. He

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Speaker 1: was the first MC up in the Bronx rock and

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Speaker 1: just talking smack on the microphone, you know. But Hollywood

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Speaker 1: put it together with rhythmic chance like throw your hands

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Speaker 1: in the air and way if I'm like you just

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Speaker 1: don't care. And if you got on clean underwear, somebody

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Speaker 1: say oh yeah, oh yeah, everybody you gotta say, oh.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know I got to I don't I'm commander. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: my mind got clean on the It's was that a

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Speaker 3: Eureka moment for you?

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Speaker 1: Like it was a Eureka moment, you know, just seeing

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Speaker 1: HERK the first time I saw HERK it blew my mind,

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Speaker 1: just to the fact that he had this big, huge,

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Speaker 1: Mungo's sound system and he was playing these songs that

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Speaker 1: I grew up with that I just thought that, you know,

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Speaker 1: give it up a turn and Los it was my

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Speaker 1: favorite song, and he played it loud and everyone went crazy,

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Speaker 1: and then you had Grandmaster. Flash was another one blew

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Speaker 1: my mind with the speed on the turntables. This guy

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Speaker 1: had white gloves on with rings on and they were

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Speaker 1: just flashing, He's going to turntable. I saw him at

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Speaker 1: the Hotel Diplomat one time, and that was just amazing

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Speaker 1: to see how fast he was and keeping that beat going.

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Speaker 1: And it's real what we call turntableism. This evolution of

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Speaker 1: the turntable, the DJs and Flash gave us the opportunity

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Speaker 1: along with Hollywood. Everyone mimicked Hollywood when he came out.

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Speaker 1: He blew my mind as well.

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Speaker 3: Did you guys ever venture out of the burrows? So

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Speaker 3: was there a thing of like you know, was touring

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Speaker 3: for you back then, like Okay, I'm gonna do a

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Speaker 3: party in Queen's Or would Long Island be a part

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Speaker 3: of this folklore as well? Staten Island even like new

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Speaker 3: or was just or even newer like whre or did

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Speaker 3: Burrells just like stick to themselves until rat became a business.

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Speaker 1: Well me, I was a traveler. I went from Harlem,

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Speaker 1: you know, I had fourteen years old fifteen years old

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Speaker 1: travel on that Number four train riding up to the Bronx,

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Speaker 1: you know, to check out cool heirk at the Executive Playhouse.

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Speaker 1: And they were scary. You know. That was during the

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Speaker 1: time when roots had came out Alex Alex Haley's roots, right,

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Speaker 1: and so there was a lot of that, you know,

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Speaker 1: right straight out of the Civil rights movement, and cats

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Speaker 1: were like feeling themselves. And there was a lot of

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Speaker 1: violence on that train, you know what I mean, a

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Speaker 1: lot of.

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Speaker 3: People you risked everything just to see men. It was worth.

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Speaker 3: That's why I want to know what makes That's the

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Speaker 3: one the one thing I didn't have, Like I had

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Speaker 3: strict parents, right, were just like, no, you ain't going.

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Speaker 3: So whenever I hear like, uh, the generation after you

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Speaker 3: talk about the Latin quarter right, right, and I'm like, yo,

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Speaker 3: y'all could have y'all risking y'all lives to hear this,

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Speaker 3: like you might get stab shot, killed her.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, but understand understand. There were so many

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Speaker 1: things going around in the community in New York City

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Speaker 1: that was happening during that time. And I'm telling you

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Speaker 1: hip hop was like a saveror you know, like like

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Speaker 1: you know, we had the gangs, the gangs like that

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Speaker 1: that movie The Warriors was real. There were a lot

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Speaker 1: of gangs. I remember running home from school, you know,

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Speaker 1: in the early early seventies, because all you had to

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Speaker 1: do is say they coming and were out, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean, you know, going to the corner store

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Speaker 1: for my mom. It's like, yo, you want me to

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Speaker 1: go to store?

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Speaker 3: Really, okay, I'm glad to know I'm not the only

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Speaker 3: one that would go crazy. And then you had for

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Speaker 3: toilet paper, and then then you had to map out.

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Speaker 1: You had the drug wars of the Bronx and Harlem

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Speaker 1: coming out of the Frank Lucas story American gangster, right,

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Speaker 1: you know when he went to jail, and I think

355
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Speaker 1: it was nineteen seventy four seventy five, they had a

356
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Speaker 1: big drug war. Everybody was fighting for his territory. So

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Speaker 1: there were a lot of murders and gunshots and all

358
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Speaker 1: around people were just dropping like fly eyes, you know.

359
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Speaker 1: So it was kind of dangerous. It was dangerous living

360
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Speaker 1: during that time. So for me, you know, it was

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Speaker 1: my savior. I used to love to go to the

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Speaker 1: club and just you know, go to the speaker and

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Speaker 1: stick my head and the speaker and the base was

364
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Speaker 1: rumbling all the way through my toes and I just

365
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Speaker 1: closed that was worth it. I closed my eyes and

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Speaker 1: go off. And that's hip hop.

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Speaker 3: He just told the story of the first time I

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Speaker 3: ever went to a club, Like everyone has put your

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Speaker 3: head in the speaker and it just changes your life. Yeah, yep.

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Speaker 3: What do you think hip hop culture would have been

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Speaker 3: if there was no blackout of nineteen seventy seven?

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Speaker 1: At A lot of cats talk about that because a

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Speaker 1: lot of Equick equipment was obtained doing those years doing

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Speaker 1: that that that blackout nineteen seventy seven. But for me,

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Speaker 1: it was more like, you know, we hit the local

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Speaker 1: bike store and I got like bikes.

377
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Speaker 3: So you wanted to travel, traveler, I told you you

378
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Speaker 3: didn't want to train.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no more for a train.

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Speaker 6: It's a long ride to the Bronx.

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Speaker 1: Yeah it is, yea, it is. But you know, just

382
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Speaker 1: traveling around New York City was was was special for me.

383
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Speaker 1: I just thought that, you know, I had cousins out

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Speaker 1: in Queens and and and forty projects and and Cambria

385
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 1: and aunts and uncles all around Queens. So you know,

386
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Speaker 1: I used to spend my summers out in Queens. Actually,

387
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Speaker 1: you know how how how we all used to go south.

388
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Speaker 1: I'm going to Atlanta?

389
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Speaker 3: Where are you going on?

390
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,360
Speaker 1: North North Carolina? Where you're going, Kim and Kirk, We're

391
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Speaker 1: going to Queens.

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Speaker 3: So it's like another world probably, you know.

393
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Speaker 1: And and if Suburbia that part of Queens okay, yeah yeah.

394
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Speaker 1: And so just spending my days out there whenever I could,

395
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Speaker 1: you know, having a lot of family out in Queens.

396
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Speaker 1: I hung out with with Russell Simmons because I met

397
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Speaker 1: him in college and he was from Hollis Queen's and

398
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Speaker 1: we opened up a club in nineteen seventy eight called

399
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Speaker 1: Disco Fever, I mean night Fever, Disco Okay, okay, wait

400
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Speaker 1: you for that club And that was two hundred and

401
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Speaker 1: first Street in Hollis Avenue. And that's where I really

402
00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:27,560
Speaker 1: got good as a DJ, you know, DJing and the

403
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,280
Speaker 1: club and for a year and then we actually used

404
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Speaker 1: propaganda and Russell started putting my name on flies Queen's

405
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Speaker 1: number one DJ Curtis Blow Okay.

406
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Speaker 3: So he built the folklore of Curtis Blow.

407
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Speaker 1: And Russell was a sociology major, you know, so he

408
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:51,920
Speaker 1: understood about the masses and the spectrum and and the

409
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,960
Speaker 1: different movements of people and what they would like and

410
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Speaker 1: stuff like that. So he convinced me to let that

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Speaker 1: propaganda happen.

412
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Speaker 3: So is he the one talked to you into would

413
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,920
Speaker 3: you say that your entry into hip hop is what

414
00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:08,920
Speaker 3: really put the focus on the MC as opposed to

415
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Speaker 3: the DJ.

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Speaker 1: No, because I think Hollywood did that. He was actually

417
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Speaker 1: the first king of rap. He was so hot. He

418
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Speaker 1: was the first guy that charged five hundred dollars. Before that,

419
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:28,399
Speaker 1: we were making thirty forty dollars a night MC's or

420
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Speaker 1: you know, the the popular ones were getting one hundred,

421
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,560
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty dollars a night. But Hollywood was

422
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Speaker 1: the first to charge five hundred. You want five hundred dollars.

423
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Speaker 3: But Hollywood at your partyment guaranteed, you.

424
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Speaker 1: Know, Oh yeah, it was pack you have a line

425
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,760
Speaker 1: around the corner, you know. And so Cat started, you know,

426
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,240
Speaker 1: trying to charge five hundred dollars a day. They were like, shit, nigga,

427
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Speaker 1: you made Hollywood.

428
00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 3: So I guess technically your first single was Christmas Wrapping, correct.

429
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 1: Yes, nineteen seventy nine.

430
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:09,399
Speaker 3: Okay, so please, how did that come about? And how

431
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,280
Speaker 3: did you avoid Sylvie Robinson and Joey and also Bobby

432
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:17,600
Speaker 3: Robinson at Enjoy. There's no relationship between the two, right,

433
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,880
Speaker 3: like they just both coincidentally have a name, right, Robinson,

434
00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,440
Speaker 3: So Enjoy Bobby Robinson and Sylvie Robinson were not related, correct.

435
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:26,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, Bobby Robinson was from Harlem. He had that store

436
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:30,600
Speaker 1: on one hundred and twenty fifth Street, Bobby Bobby's records,

437
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,760
Speaker 1: and he goes back to the to the forties and fifties.

438
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:37,600
Speaker 1: You know, he has a lot of contacts. Everybody knows

439
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 1: him and soul music and R and B music and

440
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,400
Speaker 1: so you know during that time. Of course, sugar Hill

441
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 1: Gang when they came out, well, well let's give a

442
00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 1: shout out to King Tim the third that was actually

443
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 1: the first personality. Jock, you're listening to the sown, but the.

444
00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 3: Indeed alert and I.

445
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 1: Am here and so hit comes sugar Hill. Every bus,

446
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 1: every car, every train wanted to play that rappers Delight song.

447
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:11,760
Speaker 3: I said him, don't stop the record.

448
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,720
Speaker 1: Every taxi, every boom box, every record store was playing

449
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:18,000
Speaker 1: at twenty four to seven. And so we were in

450
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,879
Speaker 1: the studio in October and so we were trying to

451
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:23,639
Speaker 1: get a record deal. I think I got my record

452
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,840
Speaker 1: deal because Rappers Delight was so hot. We went to

453
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:31,000
Speaker 1: twenty two different labels though nice and everybody hated the

454
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:35,200
Speaker 1: record except for two people. The first guy liked it.

455
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,159
Speaker 1: He wanted to sign it up, sign me up. So

456
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 1: he took it up the flagpole to the vice president

457
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:45,359
Speaker 1: and president and they said no. So label was that

458
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 1: that was The guy's name was Corey Robbins. Okay, Now

459
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:55,440
Speaker 1: Corey quit his job because of this, and he went

460
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,639
Speaker 1: and started his own label and two years later he

461
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:04,280
Speaker 1: signed run DMC and the label it's called Profile Records. Right.

462
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 1: So the next guy is an English fellow, John Staines.

463
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 1: He's ain't on director for Mercury PolyGram Records over in

464
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:15,200
Speaker 1: the UK in London. He said, we can recoup this

465
00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:18,760
Speaker 1: record in six months, let's sign them up. So actually,

466
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:25,440
Speaker 1: actually I became a British artist really signed to a

467
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:30,480
Speaker 1: company called Mercury Phonogram out in the UK, and my

468
00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 1: records came back to America on an import. Wow, a

469
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:36,360
Speaker 1: crazy deal.

470
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,080
Speaker 6: So they had you first, and they knew you first.

471
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:39,920
Speaker 1: Yes, So I was the first artist signed to a

472
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:40,760
Speaker 1: major label.

473
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:44,920
Speaker 3: So can I assume that you're inn R? Was the

474
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,080
Speaker 3: was the person that said why was the night before Christmas?

475
00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:51,440
Speaker 3: Before you interrupted them with holding that wait, hold that wait?

476
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:55,359
Speaker 3: Was he was heither twice the night? That's him. I

477
00:27:58,320 --> 00:27:59,879
Speaker 3: just put two and two together. The guy was in

478
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,520
Speaker 3: English and you know, and that those it's you know

479
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 3: a lot of the earlier records. It's really weird, especially

480
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:10,280
Speaker 3: with your catalog, a lot of your catalog, and I

481
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 3: hope I'm not opening up a well, hopefully the grace

482
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,320
Speaker 3: period is over. Even as I was recapping your catalog,

483
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 3: I didn't realize how much. In particular, the Bomb Squad

484
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:29,159
Speaker 3: when Public Enemy was making Nation of Millions used a

485
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:31,959
Speaker 3: lot of your records as the basis for their rhythms,

486
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:36,720
Speaker 3: which I just found out today that from the back

487
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 3: Popular Demand album, one of those songs is the basis

488
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 3: for the Night of Living bass Heads remix, which is weird.

489
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 3: They could have just sampled James Brown, but they were like,

490
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,240
Speaker 3: all right, let's sample this meta Like, let's sample Curtis

491
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 3: Blow sampling James Brown with the extra kicks in there

492
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 3: and all that stuff. So anyway, I'm falling in a

493
00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:59,480
Speaker 3: rabbit hole. But my point is, yeah, you were one

494
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 3: of the first rappers to travel overseas. So what is

495
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,840
Speaker 3: that like literally being the Trojan Horse or the the

496
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 3: Neil Armstrong the or the flag shig. I don't want

497
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,480
Speaker 3: to say Christopher Columbus because I don't believe I'm just

498
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:20,800
Speaker 3: saying on Columbus day right exactly, like to be the

499
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,720
Speaker 3: flag bear of Like was there a resistance? Was there

500
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 3: or did you find out You're like they were really

501
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:29,840
Speaker 3: more open because you also at the top of the

502
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 3: pops right right.

503
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,800
Speaker 1: Right, Yes, what was that like? Man, it's like a

504
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 1: dream world.

505
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 9: You know.

506
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 1: I tell people this many at times that that my

507
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:44,800
Speaker 1: life is like a dream world. It's hard to understand

508
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 1: reality when you when you're you know, in the right

509
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 1: place at the right time, and you know, big shout

510
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,800
Speaker 1: out to Debbie Harry who actually flew me out to

511
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,360
Speaker 1: the UK for a big, big, big, big press conference.

512
00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 1: And you know, being on a major l that means

513
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,200
Speaker 1: you know, major press, that means we have a major

514
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:07,360
Speaker 1: office in every major city around the world. And being

515
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 1: a college student, you know, I want to work the system,

516
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 1: and so I went to the publicity department, I said, Man,

517
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 1: send me everywhere I want to travel all over, right,

518
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,040
Speaker 1: you know. And when I got there, I sat up

519
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 1: in the conference room and we had all the press

520
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 1: you know, lined up from print, magazines, newspapers, radio, television.

521
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,920
Speaker 1: It was incredible and awesome to just be a part

522
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,800
Speaker 1: of all of that stuff. And it was documented, you know,

523
00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: this new thing called hip hop and I was representing this.

524
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,240
Speaker 3: So was it tiring, like trying to explain to people

525
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,720
Speaker 3: know what this was, no history of it.

526
00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 1: No, no being a communications major as I love to talk.

527
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 1: So and then it was so very very important, like

528
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,760
Speaker 1: you said, you know, we had to actually you know,

529
00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,440
Speaker 1: be good on stage, you know, because that was very

530
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:05,200
Speaker 1: very important to the success of the culture. When people

531
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,000
Speaker 1: see you live on stage and during that time, if

532
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 1: you didn't have a good show, people the next day

533
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 1: would not go out and buy your record. Right That's

534
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 1: how you know the music business operated, you know. You

535
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 1: go out on tour and you sing your new song,

536
00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 1: your new album, and then the next day everyone goes

537
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: and buys the record. This is how they support it.

538
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 1: And so going out there on stage for the first

539
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:35,160
Speaker 1: times and seeing these audiences and the audiences seeing me

540
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:37,520
Speaker 1: for the first time, or seeing hip hop for the

541
00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,479
Speaker 1: first time. A lot of that you know, where's your band?

542
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 1: You know, but at the end of the show, they're

543
00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 1: all saying, oh, you know, and and it was so

544
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 1: very important for us to rock the house and that

545
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:55,000
Speaker 1: was key to you know, my experience and being in

546
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 1: New York City around the Five Boroughs, just you know,

547
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,000
Speaker 1: playing the clubs and you know, like the night Fever

548
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 1: Disco and the Hotel Diplomat three seventy one Disco Fever,

549
00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:08,880
Speaker 1: you know, the block parties and the park jams. Just

550
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:14,960
Speaker 1: being used to handling a microphone and might control and

551
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:19,200
Speaker 1: MC means my control, and it was so very important.

552
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:21,960
Speaker 1: I just thank god that I had that experience seven

553
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,600
Speaker 1: eight years in the biz before I made my first record.

554
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:27,560
Speaker 1: So in touring.

555
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:32,560
Speaker 3: Behind the single, especially mainstream, assuming that you did tours

556
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:36,840
Speaker 3: with regular acts and whatnot. Yeah, okay, so I know now,

557
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 3: I mean especially with I mean even in modern times

558
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:44,400
Speaker 3: like watching the Wu Tang series that's on TV right now,

559
00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 3: and it's to the point now where at least of

560
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:51,280
Speaker 3: this recording where like there is a starting the tour

561
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:55,240
Speaker 3: and what I call like rapper problems like with the

562
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 3: monitors not working and yeah, you know, the proper channels

563
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:01,760
Speaker 3: for the and you know all those things and the

564
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:07,160
Speaker 3: MIC's not working. Like how difficult was it as far

565
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:10,960
Speaker 3: as like opening first of all? Like what what mainstream

566
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:14,360
Speaker 3: bands were you touring with back during this period? Like

567
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,040
Speaker 3: who were you opening for in America at least?

568
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 1: Okay, people like Cool and the Gang and the Gap

569
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:30,400
Speaker 1: Band and Comfunction. I remember going on tour in nineteen

570
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:34,360
Speaker 1: eighty all Platinum tour with the Commodores. The Commodores were

571
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:37,800
Speaker 1: really really hot Lineo Richie had all those ballads and stuff.

572
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,760
Speaker 1: And while we did about one hundred and twenty shows

573
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:43,040
Speaker 1: around the country, and they took me places I never

574
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 1: heard of before, like Two Below, Mississippi, you know, and

575
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,480
Speaker 1: a lot of college towns. It was incredible just being

576
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,640
Speaker 1: a part of that tour and meeting people, and and

577
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,080
Speaker 1: for me it was like, you know, I had this

578
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:00,840
Speaker 1: thing I had to It became am a mission of

579
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 1: mine to meet my heroes that I grew up, all

580
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,880
Speaker 1: the soul singers that I that I listened to as

581
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:08,960
Speaker 1: a kid. I just wanted to meet them and hug them.

582
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,040
Speaker 1: And so I had again my record company set it

583
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:15,880
Speaker 1: up the publicity department Beverly Page she set it up

584
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 1: with people Like I met Aretha Franklin really over and

585
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 1: she invited me for lunch over at Hitsville Studio and

586
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:24,799
Speaker 1: we sat and talked for an hour, and.

587
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:26,680
Speaker 3: You know this talk about her rapping son.

588
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:30,640
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm sorry.

589
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:33,920
Speaker 3: Like, if you if you have any dealings, if you're

590
00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:35,880
Speaker 3: in the Hip Found Nation and you have any dealings

591
00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:37,400
Speaker 3: with Theretha Franklin, trust me.

592
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:39,279
Speaker 1: Her son's name's going to come up.

593
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:40,640
Speaker 2: I know.

594
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,399
Speaker 3: Yeah, my sister went to high school with him. Really yeah,

595
00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:47,200
Speaker 3: he's still looking for a deal right now.

596
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:50,439
Speaker 9: Wait, how earlier on was the Aretha meeting because I'm wondering,

597
00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:52,719
Speaker 9: I'm like, how did she know that she needed to

598
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 9: have a conversation.

599
00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:57,279
Speaker 1: Eighty one nineteen eighty one, Uh, you can't understand what

600
00:34:57,360 --> 00:34:58,680
Speaker 1: he was a start.

601
00:34:58,520 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 3: Out the gate.

602
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:02,920
Speaker 6: I understand to understand that as a whole number.

603
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,640
Speaker 3: Especially with roller skating culture like really hitting its zenith

604
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,239
Speaker 3: in like nineteen like the Breaks. To me, that song

605
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:13,760
Speaker 3: was tailored me for roller skating culture, like between seventy

606
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:18,960
Speaker 3: eight Boom and eighty three at least roller skating culture.

607
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:22,000
Speaker 3: So it's like, I feel as though that's roller skating

608
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,440
Speaker 3: cultures will allow boogie music, like the Breaks wasn't a

609
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:28,719
Speaker 3: disco song, so it wasn't like but it still had

610
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:30,760
Speaker 3: a groove to it that was like disco but slower

611
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,400
Speaker 3: so and it made it easier to navigate on skates.

612
00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:35,960
Speaker 6: Yeah, all levels, all levels.

613
00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:40,000
Speaker 3: And so yeah, they're like I don't recall, like we

614
00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:43,280
Speaker 3: went roller skating every Sunday in the summer of nineteen

615
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:46,880
Speaker 3: eighty and the Breaks had to been played five times,

616
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:52,920
Speaker 3: five six times, like without between, like Curtis blowing Rick James,

617
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 3: Like it was like the battle of who owned roller skates?

618
00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:59,360
Speaker 3: So how important our relationships? Because I also know that

619
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:04,520
Speaker 3: it's kind of weird. I'm a soul trained expert. So

620
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:08,720
Speaker 3: here's the thing about your particular episode. So when Don's

621
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 3: talking to you, and this is something that he's known

622
00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 3: for every episode, he kind of lets in a snarky

623
00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:19,160
Speaker 3: thing like I'm an old guy. I don't understand, but

624
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:20,960
Speaker 3: you know, the kids love it. I don't get it,

625
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:26,480
Speaker 3: but whatever, But I mean, at least the resistance, how

626
00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:30,080
Speaker 3: much resistance did you have to go not only to

627
00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,279
Speaker 3: get your record deal, but like, what was it just

628
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:36,640
Speaker 3: like for people not to see the future, Because people

629
00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:39,799
Speaker 3: hate change more than anything well, even if it's good for.

630
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:44,320
Speaker 1: Them, there's a story behind that. You know. Again, it

631
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:47,680
Speaker 1: is nineteen eighty, right, and I was just coming off

632
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:50,800
Speaker 1: a tour in Europe. Okay, I think I did about

633
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:55,120
Speaker 1: thirty shows in thirty three days or something. Monumental tour.

634
00:36:56,280 --> 00:37:00,719
Speaker 1: But during that time, but nearly over in Europe, was

635
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:05,480
Speaker 1: the hottest thing on the press. With the press, everyone

636
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:09,560
Speaker 1: was talking about them and their show, their live show,

637
00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:14,280
Speaker 1: their lip singing, right, And it was like the record

638
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:16,640
Speaker 1: company came to me, the promoters came to me, Oh,

639
00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:18,719
Speaker 1: you can't lip sing. Make sure you don't lip sing.

640
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 1: I'm telling you they're gonna boo you and this and that.

641
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,080
Speaker 1: We don't play that over here in Europe. And you

642
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:24,680
Speaker 1: got to do an hour and a half.

643
00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:26,880
Speaker 2: You know, right.

644
00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:31,320
Speaker 1: And so I'm like, okay, no problem. And you know

645
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,479
Speaker 1: I'm made for that because I have a on every song,

646
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,080
Speaker 1: most of every song, about the ten first ten singles

647
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:40,279
Speaker 1: I have, the B side has an instrumental and I

648
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:44,360
Speaker 1: rat live, you know, we call it half playback. So

649
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,759
Speaker 1: I got through the tour. But when I came back

650
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:51,520
Speaker 1: to America and I'm setting up for soul training, I'm

651
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:55,640
Speaker 1: sitting in the makeup room, and Irene Carra is sitting

652
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:57,719
Speaker 1: right there, and at the forefront of my mind, I'm

653
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:00,680
Speaker 1: thinking about, you know, Millie Vanillian, what's going on there?

654
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:03,320
Speaker 1: And I know that you know they lip sing on

655
00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:06,920
Speaker 1: Soul Train, that's their policy. So here comes down Coltney.

656
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,600
Speaker 1: Oh well, the stage manager comes in with the microphone

657
00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:13,879
Speaker 1: and microphones, got this phony little plug, right, it's all right,

658
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,200
Speaker 1: you gotta lip sing and make sure you know you

659
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,280
Speaker 1: you word the words, you know your mouth the words,

660
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,320
Speaker 1: just like the song and and and and be in

661
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:27,200
Speaker 1: rhythm is I'm like, look, we're weird, right, I Am

662
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,920
Speaker 1: not gonna lip sing. That's not what I do. This

663
00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:33,040
Speaker 1: is hip hop. We do hip hop here. This is

664
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:35,520
Speaker 1: live I need and plus I got crowd response. I

665
00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:38,640
Speaker 1: need to say these these words the crowd response and

666
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,759
Speaker 1: have the whole audience answer back to me. You know

667
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:43,960
Speaker 1: what I mean, It's very important. This is hip hop.

668
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:47,279
Speaker 1: I'm not lip singing. And they were like, oh, don

669
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:49,359
Speaker 1: Cornelius came in, what do you mean You're not gonna

670
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 1: live sing. This is our rules, this is our policy,

671
00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:56,000
Speaker 1: and they just say, well, look, mister Cornelius, I'm going home.

672
00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:01,600
Speaker 1: How about that one iren Carol looked at me like, boy,

673
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:07,120
Speaker 1: you crazy, right, And so because isn't it everyone's dream

674
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:09,840
Speaker 1: to be on Soul Training? Yes, yes, and and it

675
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,440
Speaker 1: was a big thing. But I did not want to

676
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:17,680
Speaker 1: get the Europeans and and and and America. Hasn't you know,

677
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:21,120
Speaker 1: gotten his news yet about Milli Vanilli yet, Well you're

678
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:24,840
Speaker 1: predating and you mean and stuff. I didn't want to

679
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:28,759
Speaker 1: have that that reputation. So I was the first artist

680
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:32,080
Speaker 1: to sing live the breaks on Soul Train. So that's

681
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,759
Speaker 1: why Don comes out with snorky. You want to know

682
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:37,440
Speaker 1: what everybody's making so much about this?

683
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:38,560
Speaker 9: Is that what he said?

684
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:44,680
Speaker 3: It was a little It wasn't like and I.

685
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:48,080
Speaker 1: Was shocked because I looked at him like they didn't

686
00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:48,440
Speaker 1: know you did?

687
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 7: Right?

688
00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:53,960
Speaker 3: So by this point, was Run your DJ on this

689
00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:54,719
Speaker 3: initial Run?

690
00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:59,360
Speaker 1: Yes? Yes, yeah, oh but no, no, no, no, after that,

691
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:02,759
Speaker 1: after the before the Common Door's tour. Here's a story

692
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:06,279
Speaker 1: about Run. Run was my DJ before the Commodoor's Tour

693
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:10,640
Speaker 1: all Platinum tour. So Run was out playing basketball with

694
00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:15,400
Speaker 1: this guy down the block named Jason Mizelle. Right, So

695
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:19,799
Speaker 1: he breaks his arm playing basketball and so I'm like, yo,

696
00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:23,600
Speaker 1: we gotta go on tour man. I was asking his dad.

697
00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:25,960
Speaker 1: His dad's no, you can't go out on to please dad,

698
00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:27,759
Speaker 1: let me go, Let me go. He said no, no,

699
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:30,000
Speaker 1: you got to stay in school. He said, no, please dad,

700
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 1: let me go into you. Look, you got one arm.

701
00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:36,920
Speaker 1: You can't DJ. Yes, I can't look right right, And

702
00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:39,520
Speaker 1: so he didn't get to go and he stayed home.

703
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:42,480
Speaker 1: So when I got back off a tour about about

704
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:46,840
Speaker 1: four months later, that's when I heard that he started

705
00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:52,200
Speaker 1: a group called Run DMC with his fellas that were

706
00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:56,000
Speaker 1: up in the attic practicing and hanging out with him.

707
00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:00,520
Speaker 1: And so the story is, if if Run didn't break

708
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,160
Speaker 1: his arm, there would be no Run DMC.

709
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:07,279
Speaker 3: You had just been your DJ. Yeah, and Russell didn't

710
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:09,040
Speaker 3: have enough pool to be like Dad, I'll take care

711
00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:11,839
Speaker 3: of him. Like, was Russell also traveling with you at.

712
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:14,319
Speaker 1: The non Dad was running the show? Yeah?

713
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:14,839
Speaker 3: Yeah, dad.

714
00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:19,840
Speaker 1: Dad was very powerful. He bought Run the Turntables three.

715
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:22,960
Speaker 6: Brothers right like Danny Russell and Run right? And who

716
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:23,319
Speaker 6: was old?

717
00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:26,960
Speaker 1: Because I was getting okay, yeah, okay, I was wondering

718
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 1: Russell's the middle child and Joey is the run the youngest?

719
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:32,960
Speaker 1: Can I ask you a question that explained so much.

720
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:36,960
Speaker 3: Russell's the middle child. Oh yeah, you gotta make yourself distinct.

721
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:39,680
Speaker 6: What's your question about touring?

722
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:42,560
Speaker 9: Because I know, since you were the first to ever

723
00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:45,480
Speaker 9: tour like this internationally, there had to be like some mistakes.

724
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:46,880
Speaker 9: There had to be like some moments where you and

725
00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:48,840
Speaker 9: you and Russell were like, okay, so we're not going

726
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:51,200
Speaker 9: to do this like that again. Like there were just

727
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:53,080
Speaker 9: so many new things to you guys, Like did you

728
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:54,240
Speaker 9: even know about writers?

729
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:54,640
Speaker 1: Did you know?

730
00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:57,480
Speaker 6: Like what didn't you know that you learned in your first.

731
00:41:57,800 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 1: How many pass?

732
00:41:59,280 --> 00:41:59,480
Speaker 9: Yes?

733
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:01,440
Speaker 1: I had to learn it all.

734
00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:04,400
Speaker 3: I learned it all on Where's Your Travel? That fly?

735
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:09,160
Speaker 1: Oh it was incredible. I was I was the most

736
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:14,400
Speaker 1: sought after live act because it was just me and

737
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:19,080
Speaker 1: my DJ, just two people, two people, two turntables in

738
00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:22,479
Speaker 1: the microphone. Really yes, so not the first to start

739
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:26,000
Speaker 1: the entourage, right right, So you easy to work with.

740
00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:33,560
Speaker 1: But then Russell in eighty one, Oh boy, yeah, so

741
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:37,320
Speaker 1: here he comes with Larry Smith. Larry Smith was playing bass,

742
00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:41,400
Speaker 1: play bass on the breaks and Christmas rap and so.

743
00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:45,239
Speaker 3: Larry Smith produced Orange Crust was the band for all

744
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:46,799
Speaker 3: those for Christmas rap.

745
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:49,360
Speaker 1: No no no, no, no, no not Orange Crushed. That

746
00:42:49,560 --> 00:42:55,120
Speaker 1: came after Russell took forty thousand dollars of my money

747
00:42:56,239 --> 00:42:58,880
Speaker 1: and bought all his banner and he gave it to Larry.

748
00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:01,640
Speaker 1: Larry bought the banning equipment and and and they said,

749
00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:04,320
Speaker 1: all right, you're going out with a band. I'm like, what,

750
00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:08,759
Speaker 1: how could you do that? I didn't okay this? He said, way, Hey,

751
00:43:11,239 --> 00:43:12,040
Speaker 1: I'm the manager.

752
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:21,320
Speaker 3: You built Larry Larry uh Smith's career well budget.

753
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:25,320
Speaker 1: Larry. I got to give props to him because he

754
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:31,879
Speaker 1: was excellent musician, incredible producer. You know, I remember many

755
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:34,320
Speaker 1: of the nights we sat up and talked about, you know,

756
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,520
Speaker 1: my sound and trying to get a sound that was

757
00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:43,640
Speaker 1: in between James Brown and Chic and Larry was the man.

758
00:43:43,719 --> 00:43:45,440
Speaker 1: He was definitely the man. I love him.

759
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:49,080
Speaker 3: So who worked on like Christmas wrapping and rapping blow

760
00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 3: and and.

761
00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:52,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was Larry. Larry was on the base. But

762
00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:57,560
Speaker 1: you had John Trope I was on guitar, and we

763
00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:02,200
Speaker 1: had Jimmy bray Aloud who actually went on to become

764
00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:08,440
Speaker 1: a Lin drum a Lin drum programmer, and he was

765
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:11,960
Speaker 1: on drums, and you know, so during that time, you know,

766
00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:15,400
Speaker 1: we recorded in the studio like the seventies. In the sixties,

767
00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:17,839
Speaker 1: it was a live band, you know what I mean,

768
00:44:17,920 --> 00:44:20,680
Speaker 1: And and and we had to rehearse and you know,

769
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:24,480
Speaker 1: let's play it one more time and recorded and hopefully

770
00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:25,279
Speaker 1: it would come out.

771
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,560
Speaker 10: Okay, I'm sorry, And we do White Guy in the

772
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:34,120
Speaker 10: Corner As a question, Yes, John Tropia, Yeah, the guitarist. Yes,

773
00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:36,880
Speaker 10: so was he the guitar He's a to me, he's

774
00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:38,560
Speaker 10: the famous jazz guitarist.

775
00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:40,880
Speaker 1: Right, and he's on the breaks.

776
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:42,879
Speaker 3: Wow, that's his work.

777
00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 1: That's his work on the.

778
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:49,080
Speaker 10: Break run DMC stuff.

779
00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:57,120
Speaker 3: There was not well Edie did Martinez, Eddie Martinez anywhere?

780
00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:01,480
Speaker 10: Wow, No, I need to process. I'm not schooling on anything.

781
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:04,239
Speaker 10: I don't know too much about it about him. I

782
00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:05,320
Speaker 10: just have a few records.

783
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:05,440
Speaker 9: You know.

784
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:08,560
Speaker 6: He don't get blown away easily. But it is Curtis.

785
00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:12,160
Speaker 3: That's just really yeah, unexpected, it was unexpected name.

786
00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:12,439
Speaker 1: Yeah.

787
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:12,799
Speaker 3: Yeah.

788
00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:16,640
Speaker 1: But he's he's a legend, definitely a legend. And you know,

789
00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:21,600
Speaker 1: I remember seeing him in the studio because my producer JB.

790
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:24,680
Speaker 1: Moore was also a guitar player, and he couldn't do

791
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:28,279
Speaker 1: the guitars right the way we wanted it and the

792
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:31,719
Speaker 1: way he wanted it actually, and so when John came

793
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:32,799
Speaker 1: in and played it.

794
00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:42,880
Speaker 3: Perfect, perfect rhythm, and it was just immaculate, you know, Drives.

795
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:47,040
Speaker 3: So for your first album, like, whose idea was it

796
00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:51,080
Speaker 3: to do? Like taking care of business to the girl?

797
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:53,400
Speaker 6: What's the other one? That the slow one that's like.

798
00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:58,520
Speaker 1: All I want? Fine that girl.

799
00:45:59,719 --> 00:46:02,000
Speaker 3: People don't even credit that as the first love ballot.

800
00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:04,840
Speaker 3: So it's like for you, you were making a format

801
00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:07,840
Speaker 3: that was palatable. The radio was like Frankie Crocker on

802
00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:10,080
Speaker 3: your mind, like okay, the label.

803
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:12,800
Speaker 1: Saying we need something that you know right? Well, it

804
00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:14,279
Speaker 1: was all by design, of course.

805
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:14,480
Speaker 3: You know.

806
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:18,520
Speaker 1: We wanted to, you know, have a fusion with other

807
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:21,160
Speaker 1: forms of music because it was so brand new, this

808
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:25,120
Speaker 1: thing hip hop and rap, you know, so why not

809
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:28,000
Speaker 1: rap over a rock and roll song? Why not have

810
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 1: a reggae rap? Or I was the first to do

811
00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:34,200
Speaker 1: a country in Western rap, that Way Out West song.

812
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:37,480
Speaker 1: You know, you know, we we we just tried to

813
00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:41,799
Speaker 1: be different and tried to give something new. Was a limit, man.

814
00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:45,320
Speaker 9: I feel in retrospect, though, do you see how like

815
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:47,320
Speaker 9: free you were in that moment? Because I feel like

816
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:50,000
Speaker 9: a lot of MC's today out the gate couldn't just

817
00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:51,920
Speaker 9: say I'm producing that in this different genre.

818
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:53,920
Speaker 6: I'm like, they won't they want to be allowed to.

819
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:57,040
Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing. I always wanted to be a singer,

820
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:03,600
Speaker 1: and I remember singing those singing songs that every album

821
00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:07,600
Speaker 1: I put on the singing But listen, folks, it took

822
00:47:07,719 --> 00:47:09,839
Speaker 1: me a couple of weeks to do those.

823
00:47:23,160 --> 00:47:28,960
Speaker 3: So in eighty three, uh in Philadelphia, Uh, Party Time record, Yes,

824
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:32,040
Speaker 3: which of course you know, well you would know that

825
00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:37,000
Speaker 3: Tracy like try to bring try to bring that back.

826
00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:40,919
Speaker 3: So that was the first time I ever heard full

827
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:44,279
Speaker 3: Force on record. So how did you how did you

828
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:46,160
Speaker 3: hook up with those guys as far as like did

829
00:47:46,200 --> 00:47:48,320
Speaker 3: they produce that record? Were they just the band or

830
00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:50,120
Speaker 3: like what was how did you guys.

831
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:53,640
Speaker 1: They became producers after that because we sat in the

832
00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:57,160
Speaker 1: studio and talked about you know, uh JB. Moore and

833
00:47:57,280 --> 00:47:59,720
Speaker 1: Robert Ford and what they were doing on my stuff

834
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:02,120
Speaker 1: and how they wanted to do the same thing but

835
00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:07,800
Speaker 1: differently more funky era or more creative. So they were incredible.

836
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:11,800
Speaker 1: I met them through JB. Moore and Robert Ford and

837
00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:16,840
Speaker 1: very very, very talented musicians and singers, and it was

838
00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:18,759
Speaker 1: incredible just to be a part of that. But the

839
00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:22,040
Speaker 1: Go Go song talk about it Trouble for Wow, Trouble

840
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:23,480
Speaker 1: that was EU.

841
00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:25,440
Speaker 3: So here it is.

842
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:28,920
Speaker 1: On my birthday, I turned twenty one years old. I

843
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:32,320
Speaker 1: had the number one record in the country, and so

844
00:48:32,520 --> 00:48:35,880
Speaker 1: I'm going down to play the Capitol Center down in DC.

845
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:39,600
Speaker 1: So I had my band, remember the Orange Crushed band.

846
00:48:39,680 --> 00:48:42,480
Speaker 1: I ain't got ten bali's and oh man, we got

847
00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:44,200
Speaker 1: eight nine pieces.

848
00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:44,480
Speaker 2: Right.

849
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:48,640
Speaker 1: We rolled down to the Capital Center and I'm headlining

850
00:48:49,200 --> 00:48:52,799
Speaker 1: this concert and they have all these local bands there

851
00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:55,880
Speaker 1: and I didn't know what they were, you know what

852
00:48:56,040 --> 00:48:59,239
Speaker 1: it was. So I'm walking the spot. I'm here the

853
00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:04,120
Speaker 1: first time, that first time I'm here in Go Go

854
00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:09,960
Speaker 1: No tell me you were you. The whole crowd is

855
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:12,680
Speaker 1: going crazy. I'm saying, oh, I'm about to tear this.

856
00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:15,200
Speaker 6: Right.

857
00:49:16,200 --> 00:49:18,200
Speaker 1: So they were going crazy and it was a band

858
00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:22,040
Speaker 1: called Trouble Funk. Then another band came on, e you

859
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:24,680
Speaker 1: freeze right. They went on the same thing.

860
00:49:28,840 --> 00:49:28,920
Speaker 4: And.

861
00:49:31,560 --> 00:49:34,320
Speaker 1: The crowd is going crazy again, even more crazy. So

862
00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:37,000
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, Chuck Brown was it? Oh my god?

863
00:49:37,719 --> 00:49:40,400
Speaker 1: Right the Godfather he comes out and tears up the

864
00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:43,600
Speaker 1: spot too. So it's my turn. So I locked it.

865
00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:47,680
Speaker 3: Let me music.

866
00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:52,600
Speaker 1: I throw on Christmas Wrapping. When we're playing Christmas Wrapping,

867
00:49:52,719 --> 00:49:55,800
Speaker 1: the band is tight, clean and everything, but the crowd

868
00:49:55,960 --> 00:50:03,239
Speaker 1: is like this looking at us, like I'm like, oh

869
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:05,840
Speaker 1: my gosh, we better get to the breaks and you

870
00:50:05,920 --> 00:50:09,240
Speaker 1: know quick on this one here, right, So I'm speeding

871
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:11,400
Speaker 1: through the set and then we throw on the brakes.

872
00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:14,160
Speaker 1: Clap your hands over, we are right right, and then

873
00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:20,400
Speaker 1: like still right, number one record in country. And so

874
00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:23,320
Speaker 1: that night I got my butt tore up three or

875
00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:27,000
Speaker 1: four different times. And for me it was like my

876
00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:29,239
Speaker 1: mom's always said that you can't beat them, join them.

877
00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:33,440
Speaker 1: Hell yeah. So I got all that numbers. Nice.

878
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:34,160
Speaker 3: Nice.

879
00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:39,080
Speaker 1: Next year, I called my boys Sugar Bear and Sugar

880
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:45,160
Speaker 1: playing Party. We did party time, damn. Okay, yeah, okay,

881
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:48,080
Speaker 1: And it's just wonderful to have them in the studio

882
00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:50,520
Speaker 1: just doing that thing live.

883
00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:52,879
Speaker 6: And how many pieces in the studio in that moment?

884
00:50:53,160 --> 00:50:55,440
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it was like seven eight pieces?

885
00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:58,239
Speaker 6: Yeah, And so you were the first for that too,

886
00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:01,040
Speaker 6: I'm guessing the first do a Go Go collapse?

887
00:51:01,239 --> 00:51:04,879
Speaker 3: Well no, because flash of them did. H they did

888
00:51:04,960 --> 00:51:09,240
Speaker 3: a live version. Well, they actually signed Trouble Funk two records.

889
00:51:09,719 --> 00:51:13,320
Speaker 3: The first live Go go that I've heard it was

890
00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:16,600
Speaker 3: Trouble Funk live on Sugar Hills, so the Robinson's got

891
00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:17,320
Speaker 3: there early on that.

892
00:51:17,719 --> 00:51:23,440
Speaker 1: And then actually actually the first sample loop right was

893
00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:26,080
Speaker 1: on the song if I Ruled the World, and and

894
00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:30,160
Speaker 1: the sample was Trouble Funk. You know that pump pump,

895
00:51:30,239 --> 00:51:40,600
Speaker 1: pump push. I took the percussion part and laid it

896
00:51:40,760 --> 00:51:42,439
Speaker 1: under if I Rule the World.

897
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:51,480
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, how did that feel for you to have

898
00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:55,200
Speaker 3: that song come back and for people to learn that

899
00:51:55,400 --> 00:51:58,400
Speaker 3: you're you know, you're the origin of of of that

900
00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:00,680
Speaker 3: particular song, because that's all I means so much too.

901
00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:05,280
Speaker 6: I like your harmonies and you got better harmonies.

902
00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:14,280
Speaker 3: Okay there, you know it was just you and Alison

903
00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:17,480
Speaker 3: Williams actually right, that's Alison singing yes.

904
00:52:17,440 --> 00:52:27,239
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, you and Audrey Wheeler yes yes, yes, yes, and.

905
00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:28,520
Speaker 6: So harmonies were better.

906
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:32,120
Speaker 2: It was.

907
00:52:32,680 --> 00:52:35,200
Speaker 1: It was awesome. It's it's the ultimate and flattery to

908
00:52:35,400 --> 00:52:37,760
Speaker 1: to hear your song on the radio that you recorded

909
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:41,399
Speaker 1: some time ago. I remember when Sony sent me the tape.

910
00:52:41,440 --> 00:52:45,200
Speaker 1: They sent me a cassette tape, and it was awesome.

911
00:52:45,239 --> 00:52:47,319
Speaker 1: I sat there and played the tape in my car

912
00:52:48,239 --> 00:52:51,640
Speaker 1: for about three hours kept rewinding and rewinding it.

913
00:52:52,360 --> 00:52:52,520
Speaker 9: You know.

914
00:52:52,719 --> 00:52:55,239
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, that's gotta be Laurence Hill.

915
00:52:55,800 --> 00:52:58,680
Speaker 1: That's gotta be Laurence Hill. You know. So I called

916
00:52:58,719 --> 00:53:01,880
Speaker 1: them back. I said, look, Sony, you guys got a big, major,

917
00:53:02,040 --> 00:53:04,359
Speaker 1: major monster hit on you. You better put all your

918
00:53:04,440 --> 00:53:08,239
Speaker 1: promotion in this because this is going platinum. It went,

919
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:09,560
Speaker 1: it went triple platinum.

920
00:53:09,800 --> 00:53:10,000
Speaker 3: Yeah.

921
00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:12,120
Speaker 6: Now, did you think that we're too close or.

922
00:53:12,840 --> 00:53:15,840
Speaker 1: The same thing you heard? But I didn't hear it.

923
00:53:15,960 --> 00:53:19,040
Speaker 1: I didn't hear that song, like like I sat and

924
00:53:19,840 --> 00:53:21,720
Speaker 1: you know, listened to If I Rule the World because

925
00:53:21,719 --> 00:53:22,120
Speaker 1: I feel like.

926
00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:24,759
Speaker 6: The checks are the same. Like that song played more

927
00:53:24,800 --> 00:53:27,800
Speaker 6: than the world right, Yeah, about to close it was.

928
00:53:28,280 --> 00:53:30,800
Speaker 1: It was huge yet one song of the year I

929
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:33,200
Speaker 1: think in nineties something Jesus Christ.

930
00:53:33,239 --> 00:53:40,839
Speaker 9: I forgot about next Christ, that song like the song

931
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:44,360
Speaker 9: that you get annoyed because it just played all the time, the.

932
00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:46,879
Speaker 3: Dance word, you know, as a DJ, I need that song,

933
00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:52,400
Speaker 3: So I get it. I know, uh, I don't want

934
00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:54,800
Speaker 3: to skip eighty four. And I know that you're involvement

935
00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:57,680
Speaker 3: in the King celebration thing. Yes, it was important. Can

936
00:53:57,719 --> 00:53:59,520
Speaker 3: you tell the story. I've heard the story about you

937
00:53:59,719 --> 00:54:01,960
Speaker 3: person only like Prince funding Miss.

938
00:54:03,640 --> 00:54:03,799
Speaker 9: King.

939
00:54:03,960 --> 00:54:06,759
Speaker 3: Yes, So how did the idea come to be?

940
00:54:07,520 --> 00:54:10,719
Speaker 1: Well, I got a phone call from Dexter Scott King,

941
00:54:11,480 --> 00:54:16,800
Speaker 1: Martin Luther King's son, and it was incredible.

942
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:24,040
Speaker 11: Here he goes, uh, hello, Curtis, this is Dexter Scott

943
00:54:24,320 --> 00:54:28,279
Speaker 11: King and I'm the son of Martin Luther King. And

944
00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:32,040
Speaker 11: he sounds like I want you to produce a song

945
00:54:32,160 --> 00:54:36,840
Speaker 11: about my fall. So no, no, I hung up on him.

946
00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:41,600
Speaker 1: Right. I thought it was a prank.

947
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:42,279
Speaker 3: He called me back.

948
00:54:42,360 --> 00:54:45,360
Speaker 1: I hung on him again. So the third time I

949
00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:47,480
Speaker 1: listened to him, I was like, well, he's got to

950
00:54:47,520 --> 00:54:50,880
Speaker 1: be real. He's calling three times. So we got together,

951
00:54:51,239 --> 00:54:54,719
Speaker 1: became good friends. Another guy, Philip Jones, who was the

952
00:54:54,840 --> 00:54:57,839
Speaker 1: other producer on the set, and I went to back

953
00:54:57,880 --> 00:55:03,759
Speaker 1: to Mercury PolyGram and convinced them to sponsor this song,

954
00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:08,919
Speaker 1: and uh, they paid for the studio and I called

955
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:12,320
Speaker 1: all the artists it was no one said no. So

956
00:55:13,280 --> 00:55:15,600
Speaker 1: the idea was to use all the people that weren't

957
00:55:15,680 --> 00:55:23,520
Speaker 1: in We are the World right, And Souston Whitney said yes,

958
00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:29,719
Speaker 1: and Stephanie Mills said yes, man no. With Ricky it

959
00:55:29,800 --> 00:55:30,400
Speaker 1: was incredible.

960
00:55:30,480 --> 00:55:32,160
Speaker 3: You give us one note? Who was the one artist

961
00:55:32,280 --> 00:55:36,560
Speaker 3: is like, yeah, I'll make it and then didn't know.

962
00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:40,439
Speaker 1: Everyone said, yeah, it was incredible. It's such a meaningful song,

963
00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:44,080
Speaker 1: you know, to be a part of that, and it was.

964
00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:46,160
Speaker 1: It was a lot of fun to make, you know.

965
00:55:47,600 --> 00:55:50,080
Speaker 1: Uh So the so the record company did not want

966
00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:53,120
Speaker 1: to pay for the video the music video, okay, so

967
00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:59,200
Speaker 1: uh dexter dex went and and and got with Prince

968
00:56:00,360 --> 00:56:03,600
Speaker 1: and asked Prince when he paid for it. And he

969
00:56:03,719 --> 00:56:05,560
Speaker 1: calls me up and said, Prince said he's gonna put

970
00:56:05,640 --> 00:56:09,600
Speaker 1: up ninety thousand dollars for his music video. And I

971
00:56:09,760 --> 00:56:14,040
Speaker 1: was like, oh my gosh, yes it did. And Prince

972
00:56:14,080 --> 00:56:17,959
Speaker 1: and I became friends after that. I mean, he was really,

973
00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:21,360
Speaker 1: really a nice guy. I forgot and you know me,

974
00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:23,680
Speaker 1: I'm trying to, you know, hang out with all the

975
00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:26,480
Speaker 1: stars that I could. And so I went back to

976
00:56:26,560 --> 00:56:28,480
Speaker 1: my record company. I said, hook up something for me

977
00:56:28,600 --> 00:56:31,440
Speaker 1: and Prince. We got to do something together. So they

978
00:56:31,520 --> 00:56:35,400
Speaker 1: did Beverly Page. She hooked up this picture autograph session

979
00:56:35,600 --> 00:56:39,400
Speaker 1: with me and Prince. I think we were in Detroit somewhere,

980
00:56:39,760 --> 00:56:42,360
Speaker 1: and the club was packed. There's a line outside of

981
00:56:42,920 --> 00:56:50,560
Speaker 1: all these women, right, and so Prince signs about fifteen

982
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:54,440
Speaker 1: hundred autographs and takes about fifteen hundred pictures and me,

983
00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:59,120
Speaker 1: I took about ten pictures. Really, he was a big

984
00:56:59,200 --> 00:57:01,960
Speaker 1: he was superstar. People loved him. Man with a great guy.

985
00:57:02,520 --> 00:57:06,800
Speaker 3: Wow yep, yep, so uncharacteristic of him. Yeah, you never know.

986
00:57:08,200 --> 00:57:14,879
Speaker 3: Working on the Crush Groove sound movie, yes, uh, well

987
00:57:14,960 --> 00:57:18,040
Speaker 3: obviously you know, we know that's based on the life

988
00:57:18,080 --> 00:57:19,000
Speaker 3: of Russell Simmons.

989
00:57:19,320 --> 00:57:23,640
Speaker 1: But how was that experience for you in general? Well,

990
00:57:23,760 --> 00:57:26,040
Speaker 1: it was it was a lot of hard work. I'll

991
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:28,320
Speaker 1: tell you the truth, because during that time, I was

992
00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:32,840
Speaker 1: a producer, and so I was producing the Fat Boys

993
00:57:32,920 --> 00:57:38,760
Speaker 1: second album and producing my America album with if I

994
00:57:39,080 --> 00:57:42,440
Speaker 1: the World, and also the Crush Groove soundtrack. So I

995
00:57:42,560 --> 00:57:45,680
Speaker 1: was producing three albums at one time and had deadlines

996
00:57:45,680 --> 00:57:47,520
Speaker 1: and all that. So I was going to three different

997
00:57:47,560 --> 00:57:50,960
Speaker 1: studios every day. You know. It was hard work, hard work,

998
00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:52,320
Speaker 1: and then I had to wake up at six in

999
00:57:52,400 --> 00:57:55,000
Speaker 1: the morning to get on film set, you know, to

1000
00:57:55,160 --> 00:57:58,080
Speaker 1: do the movie. And it was a lot of work.

1001
00:57:58,120 --> 00:58:00,560
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I kind of like took

1002
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:03,600
Speaker 1: a break. You know. Last thing I did was a

1003
00:58:03,680 --> 00:58:06,479
Speaker 1: Martin Luther King song, and then I took a break

1004
00:58:06,560 --> 00:58:09,880
Speaker 1: for about five years. I didn't go into the studio,

1005
00:58:09,960 --> 00:58:12,240
Speaker 1: couldn't go into too much work, and it was too

1006
00:58:12,400 --> 00:58:15,120
Speaker 1: much because he didn't produce the third Fat Boys record. No,

1007
00:58:15,360 --> 00:58:15,920
Speaker 1: what was it like?

1008
00:58:16,320 --> 00:58:19,000
Speaker 3: Just man, Well, were you managing them at the time or.

1009
00:58:19,040 --> 00:58:21,520
Speaker 1: Just noticing them? Their manager was a guy by the

1010
00:58:21,600 --> 00:58:25,920
Speaker 1: name of Charlie Stetler from right right and he also

1011
00:58:26,960 --> 00:58:31,160
Speaker 1: manages Scribbles DJ Scribbles and Doctor Dre and ed Lover

1012
00:58:31,280 --> 00:58:35,240
Speaker 1: from your MTV raps. But Charlie was their manager and

1013
00:58:35,640 --> 00:58:39,240
Speaker 1: they were signed to Suture Records and mars Levy it was.

1014
00:58:39,400 --> 00:58:50,000
Speaker 1: It was marsh Levy on Sutra. Yeah, oh wow, oh yeah, yo.

1015
00:58:50,680 --> 00:58:51,800
Speaker 1: That explains a lot.

1016
00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:55,240
Speaker 3: I never thought after Records and the hit Man book,

1017
00:58:55,280 --> 00:58:59,960
Speaker 3: I thought, mars Levy, you just gotta be hit Man,

1018
00:59:00,040 --> 00:59:00,320
Speaker 3: and like.

1019
00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:02,800
Speaker 6: It's not good.

1020
00:59:04,120 --> 00:59:04,840
Speaker 3: Book is hit Man?

1021
00:59:05,200 --> 00:59:10,040
Speaker 1: You know? Yeah, right Sleeve owned Sutra. But they were

1022
00:59:10,120 --> 00:59:12,760
Speaker 1: some good guys and then you know from Brooklyn, good

1023
00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:17,240
Speaker 1: Fellas and none of the Fat Boys, you know those guys.

1024
00:59:22,360 --> 00:59:27,800
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ like for me, that album managed you captured

1025
00:59:29,160 --> 00:59:33,000
Speaker 3: their their humor spirit in a way that you know,

1026
00:59:33,680 --> 00:59:38,720
Speaker 3: hip hop hadn't seen before, and especially that first record

1027
00:59:38,840 --> 00:59:42,120
Speaker 3: like that, I think everyone that's of my age. Now

1028
00:59:42,280 --> 00:59:44,200
Speaker 3: like that was their first experience, either that or the

1029
00:59:44,280 --> 00:59:50,120
Speaker 3: run DMC record. But yeah, just producing, I mean, how

1030
00:59:50,520 --> 00:59:53,200
Speaker 3: hard was it trying to explain like they don't need

1031
00:59:53,320 --> 00:59:56,840
Speaker 3: music and just beat the culture beatboxing? And how how

1032
00:59:56,920 --> 00:59:58,600
Speaker 3: did you manage it? How many takes would it take

1033
00:59:58,680 --> 01:00:00,880
Speaker 3: to get like those songs?

1034
01:00:01,960 --> 01:00:05,280
Speaker 1: They were great in the studio, It was awesome. What

1035
01:00:05,600 --> 01:00:08,480
Speaker 1: is on the record? That humor, that that that that

1036
01:00:09,120 --> 01:00:15,000
Speaker 1: genuine personality comes through? Because I just you know, let

1037
01:00:15,200 --> 01:00:22,560
Speaker 1: the record button go, and I remember buff rest in

1038
01:00:22,640 --> 01:00:24,760
Speaker 1: peace he said one time, he said, yo yo yo,

1039
01:00:24,880 --> 01:00:27,040
Speaker 1: Kurt Man, Yo yo, All I want is a call.

1040
01:00:29,600 --> 01:00:32,320
Speaker 1: He got two houses and all of this stuff. Man,

1041
01:00:32,480 --> 01:00:37,600
Speaker 1: and these guys were incredible and they love music. I

1042
01:00:37,760 --> 01:00:41,360
Speaker 1: found out as a producer, the basic job of a

1043
01:00:41,520 --> 01:00:46,080
Speaker 1: producer is to make people's dreams come true. You know,

1044
01:00:46,160 --> 01:00:49,160
Speaker 1: you take them around the basis and bring them home

1045
01:00:50,080 --> 01:00:52,280
Speaker 1: and when you get home, you know you have that

1046
01:00:52,400 --> 01:00:55,320
Speaker 1: finished product. And that's our job.

1047
01:00:55,960 --> 01:00:58,200
Speaker 3: Well, how where was it letting a fourteen year will

1048
01:00:58,240 --> 01:01:01,600
Speaker 3: produce you? Because salam Remy got to start as a

1049
01:01:01,720 --> 01:01:02,680
Speaker 3: fourteen year old kid.

1050
01:01:03,760 --> 01:01:07,480
Speaker 1: Well, like he had the tracks, okay, you know, and

1051
01:01:08,840 --> 01:01:10,880
Speaker 1: I wanted to give him a shot. His dad was

1052
01:01:10,960 --> 01:01:14,000
Speaker 1: a very good friend. He worked at the record company.

1053
01:01:14,040 --> 01:01:18,560
Speaker 1: He was one of the promoters promotion department. He actually

1054
01:01:18,640 --> 01:01:20,720
Speaker 1: introduced me to his son and said, you know, he's

1055
01:01:20,760 --> 01:01:23,440
Speaker 1: got some good stuff. And I said, well, I'll give

1056
01:01:23,480 --> 01:01:26,120
Speaker 1: him a shot. How about that? You know? So he

1057
01:01:26,800 --> 01:01:30,560
Speaker 1: did the back by Popularity de Man song, you know,

1058
01:01:30,840 --> 01:01:35,640
Speaker 1: and that was great. He actually asked Molly mar to

1059
01:01:35,760 --> 01:01:38,360
Speaker 1: do the scratches on it, and Mally came down to

1060
01:01:38,440 --> 01:01:42,000
Speaker 1: the studio really because of his kid, Wow, and got

1061
01:01:42,080 --> 01:01:45,040
Speaker 1: on the record and started scratching and wow. The rest

1062
01:01:45,160 --> 01:01:45,600
Speaker 1: is history.

1063
01:01:46,200 --> 01:01:49,520
Speaker 3: It's crazy. So at the end of the day, what

1064
01:01:49,560 --> 01:01:51,680
Speaker 3: do you want your legacy to be as far as

1065
01:01:52,840 --> 01:01:56,800
Speaker 3: your I mean, you've done so many things to be

1066
01:01:56,960 --> 01:01:59,240
Speaker 3: first of this and first of that, Like where do

1067
01:01:59,280 --> 01:02:02,280
Speaker 3: you see the history of hip hop as far as

1068
01:02:03,360 --> 01:02:07,120
Speaker 3: like preserving it and those types of things, like how

1069
01:02:07,200 --> 01:02:12,240
Speaker 3: do you want to see the culture preserved? Well, what

1070
01:02:12,320 --> 01:02:13,320
Speaker 3: do you think of today?

1071
01:02:14,760 --> 01:02:18,280
Speaker 1: That question? Well, you know, there's there's a project we're

1072
01:02:18,320 --> 01:02:21,680
Speaker 1: working on called the Universal Hip Hop Museum where we

1073
01:02:21,840 --> 01:02:25,120
Speaker 1: want to document this history and put it in a

1074
01:02:25,160 --> 01:02:27,680
Speaker 1: brick and mortar location where the whole world can come

1075
01:02:27,760 --> 01:02:30,320
Speaker 1: and visit. And see and be a part of it,

1076
01:02:30,680 --> 01:02:36,040
Speaker 1: and just you know, the many stories, the many lives,

1077
01:02:37,400 --> 01:02:41,920
Speaker 1: and the many careers and and the so much talent

1078
01:02:42,120 --> 01:02:44,760
Speaker 1: that has been a part of this way of life

1079
01:02:45,480 --> 01:02:47,960
Speaker 1: that it needs to be documented. It needs to be

1080
01:02:48,120 --> 01:02:52,080
Speaker 1: stored and cherished and supported in one place, and we're

1081
01:02:52,120 --> 01:02:54,600
Speaker 1: doing that, working on that right now. So you can

1082
01:02:54,640 --> 01:02:57,560
Speaker 1: go to u h h M dot org to find

1083
01:02:57,600 --> 01:03:00,760
Speaker 1: out more information about the universal hip hop music. But

1084
01:03:00,920 --> 01:03:04,160
Speaker 1: as for me, I want people to remember me as

1085
01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:10,040
Speaker 1: a guy who actually was a big part of practical study,

1086
01:03:10,960 --> 01:03:14,560
Speaker 1: so very important even in music. Whatever it is that

1087
01:03:14,680 --> 01:03:19,240
Speaker 1: you want to do in life, I think that practical

1088
01:03:19,440 --> 01:03:22,680
Speaker 1: study is very important. You go and do your research

1089
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:29,480
Speaker 1: in that field of whatever it is, doctor, lawyer, businessman, rapper, singer, DJ,

1090
01:03:30,320 --> 01:03:33,480
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. Study the history of it, and within that history,

1091
01:03:33,600 --> 01:03:39,640
Speaker 1: find out someone who was successful and study the steps

1092
01:03:39,680 --> 01:03:42,880
Speaker 1: that they took to achieve that success and then repeat

1093
01:03:43,200 --> 01:03:47,200
Speaker 1: those steps, mimic those steps, and then I guarantee you

1094
01:03:47,400 --> 01:03:49,440
Speaker 1: also will achieve success.

1095
01:03:50,720 --> 01:03:53,160
Speaker 9: So do you think then, basically, since you were the

1096
01:03:53,200 --> 01:03:55,600
Speaker 9: first in so many situations, Because I'm thinking as you're speaking,

1097
01:03:55,640 --> 01:03:57,400
Speaker 9: I'm like Curtis blow Is sitting next to us. He

1098
01:03:57,480 --> 01:03:59,400
Speaker 9: was the first person to get a major endorsement deal

1099
01:03:59,520 --> 01:04:03,120
Speaker 9: right in twenty nineteen. Are just bloomber endorsement deals. Basically,

1100
01:04:03,200 --> 01:04:05,040
Speaker 9: it seems like it should be a part of the

1101
01:04:05,480 --> 01:04:09,600
Speaker 9: education matriculation of an MC to have a Curtis Blow

1102
01:04:09,800 --> 01:04:13,600
Speaker 9: education since you were reverse right, I mean there are

1103
01:04:13,840 --> 01:04:14,960
Speaker 9: other classes on others.

1104
01:04:15,040 --> 01:04:19,600
Speaker 1: Well, I'm a big avid supporter of education. Education. Education

1105
01:04:19,840 --> 01:04:23,040
Speaker 1: is the key to success, is the key to getting

1106
01:04:23,080 --> 01:04:27,800
Speaker 1: out of the ghetto. Research, you know, bring the classroom

1107
01:04:27,880 --> 01:04:31,400
Speaker 1: into the culture and the culture into the classroom. Very

1108
01:04:31,440 --> 01:04:35,960
Speaker 1: important doing your research, like I said, and we as

1109
01:04:36,480 --> 01:04:41,000
Speaker 1: rappers just speaking on rap you know, the oratory, We

1110
01:04:41,120 --> 01:04:46,160
Speaker 1: are orators, we are communicators. So I majored in communications

1111
01:04:46,240 --> 01:04:49,400
Speaker 1: and studied the greatest orators of our time like Barbara

1112
01:04:49,520 --> 01:04:53,120
Speaker 1: Jordan and Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King, Malcolm X.

1113
01:04:53,200 --> 01:04:55,600
Speaker 1: And I found out that we have all of these

1114
01:04:55,760 --> 01:04:59,480
Speaker 1: options and windows that we can open, doors that we

1115
01:04:59,600 --> 01:05:04,000
Speaker 1: can own and as the orators of this culture like

1116
01:05:04,160 --> 01:05:11,600
Speaker 1: for instance, public speaking politics, you have broadcasting, you know, uh,

1117
01:05:12,000 --> 01:05:17,840
Speaker 1: television and radio broadcasting, journalism. Uh, here's one for your preaching.

1118
01:05:18,960 --> 01:05:23,720
Speaker 1: I've got you our father Walker, You're correct ordained minister,

1119
01:05:23,880 --> 01:05:27,800
Speaker 1: and and and so and so, you know, and study

1120
01:05:27,840 --> 01:05:30,919
Speaker 1: your all. Studying all of the great orators of our time,

1121
01:05:31,040 --> 01:05:35,200
Speaker 1: I found out that the most passionate of the speakers

1122
01:05:35,560 --> 01:05:39,440
Speaker 1: the oratory or the orators were the preachers and the reverence.

1123
01:05:40,000 --> 01:05:42,640
Speaker 1: You know, many of those speeches like Martin, Luther King

1124
01:05:42,760 --> 01:05:46,720
Speaker 1: and Malcolm X, you know, gave me the fortitude and

1125
01:05:46,920 --> 01:05:50,080
Speaker 1: and the will and want to take it to the

1126
01:05:50,200 --> 01:05:54,200
Speaker 1: next level in this field. And as an MC, that

1127
01:05:54,360 --> 01:05:57,640
Speaker 1: means that you're a master of the ceremony. It doesn't

1128
01:05:57,680 --> 01:06:00,760
Speaker 1: matter what the ceremony is. You be on the street

1129
01:06:00,840 --> 01:06:04,040
Speaker 1: corner and a circle full of twenty people. You can

1130
01:06:04,120 --> 01:06:06,240
Speaker 1: be at a club. You can be at a block

1131
01:06:06,360 --> 01:06:08,640
Speaker 1: party or a park jam. You can be at a

1132
01:06:08,720 --> 01:06:12,080
Speaker 1: community center. You can be at a concert with five

1133
01:06:12,200 --> 01:06:16,000
Speaker 1: people or twenty thousand. You know, you can be at

1134
01:06:16,040 --> 01:06:25,400
Speaker 1: a bar mitzvah, you know, wherever it is. I've played

1135
01:06:25,440 --> 01:06:28,280
Speaker 1: a couple of bar mins in my time. Yes, yes,

1136
01:06:28,840 --> 01:06:33,160
Speaker 1: and you know, so that is the story. You are

1137
01:06:33,440 --> 01:06:36,280
Speaker 1: a master of any ceremony.

1138
01:06:36,400 --> 01:06:38,760
Speaker 9: I don't know anybody who has used their communications degree

1139
01:06:38,800 --> 01:06:40,080
Speaker 9: to the levels that you have.

1140
01:06:40,280 --> 01:06:41,960
Speaker 6: In this moment, I just realized that I was like

1141
01:06:42,320 --> 01:06:42,840
Speaker 6: all my life.

1142
01:06:42,880 --> 01:06:45,320
Speaker 9: I think as a communications major, I was like, maybe

1143
01:06:45,360 --> 01:06:46,640
Speaker 9: I should have did business and something like that.

1144
01:06:46,720 --> 01:06:48,960
Speaker 6: But now that you've broken it down like that, No,

1145
01:06:49,120 --> 01:06:49,600
Speaker 6: you got.

1146
01:06:49,480 --> 01:06:51,720
Speaker 1: Some windows, you got some communication.

1147
01:06:51,880 --> 01:06:53,520
Speaker 3: You're literally I am.

1148
01:06:53,480 --> 01:06:55,200
Speaker 9: But I you know, you got to have some multiple hustles,

1149
01:06:55,280 --> 01:06:57,880
Speaker 9: as you know yourself as a former radio host.

1150
01:06:58,560 --> 01:07:01,000
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I just want to stay away from politics

1151
01:07:01,080 --> 01:07:01,640
Speaker 1: these days.

1152
01:07:03,920 --> 01:07:07,640
Speaker 3: We need more people like you, you know, and in

1153
01:07:07,720 --> 01:07:11,280
Speaker 3: front of the masses. You know, what can I say? Wait,

1154
01:07:11,400 --> 01:07:15,960
Speaker 3: I want to mention that these I totally forgot. I'm

1155
01:07:16,000 --> 01:07:18,480
Speaker 3: still card in the history. I totally forgot. So yeah,

1156
01:07:18,520 --> 01:07:21,720
Speaker 3: the hip Hop Nutcracker explained to me this project, like how.

1157
01:07:22,280 --> 01:07:26,880
Speaker 1: Wow, Well, the hip Hop Nutcracker is a modernized version

1158
01:07:27,080 --> 01:07:32,960
Speaker 1: of the classic Tchaikovsky's incredible classical music. We are now

1159
01:07:33,800 --> 01:07:37,120
Speaker 1: uh doing hip hop dance and break dancing and and

1160
01:07:37,400 --> 01:07:42,000
Speaker 1: and ballet and and and uh bringing the story uh

1161
01:07:42,320 --> 01:07:46,200
Speaker 1: to the masses with the the culture of hip hop

1162
01:07:46,400 --> 01:07:50,600
Speaker 1: in the forefront. And so it's a new modernized version.

1163
01:07:50,760 --> 01:07:55,240
Speaker 1: Is really something that every family should see is doing

1164
01:07:55,320 --> 01:07:58,680
Speaker 1: the holiday season, you know, when when when love is

1165
01:07:58,760 --> 01:08:00,960
Speaker 1: in the air and everyone's hug on each other and

1166
01:08:01,120 --> 01:08:02,920
Speaker 1: trying to thank each other for putting up with you

1167
01:08:03,280 --> 01:08:06,080
Speaker 1: all year long. You know, just go out and have

1168
01:08:06,200 --> 01:08:14,640
Speaker 1: a great time seeing this classic, classic rendition of Tchaikovsky's hit.

1169
01:08:15,160 --> 01:08:18,320
Speaker 3: But so like all the songs are filtered through hip hop,

1170
01:08:18,400 --> 01:08:21,519
Speaker 3: so there's like trap versions of the sugar Plum song.

1171
01:08:28,240 --> 01:08:29,160
Speaker 3: I might need to do that.

1172
01:08:30,200 --> 01:08:32,840
Speaker 1: It's incredible because we have a DJ who is actually

1173
01:08:32,920 --> 01:08:37,040
Speaker 1: playing beats under this class music, and we have an

1174
01:08:37,120 --> 01:08:40,479
Speaker 1: electric violinist who's doing any thing. But the creators of

1175
01:08:40,920 --> 01:08:43,479
Speaker 1: Jennifer Weber want to give her a shout out. She's

1176
01:08:43,560 --> 01:08:49,439
Speaker 1: also the choreographer and director Michael Fitterson Uh put together

1177
01:08:49,520 --> 01:08:55,040
Speaker 1: this piece that is a great, great holiday family fun classic.

1178
01:08:55,640 --> 01:08:58,560
Speaker 1: So it's it's it's a it's it's a show that

1179
01:08:58,800 --> 01:09:03,320
Speaker 1: everyone needs to see, all all ages, all races, don't

1180
01:09:03,320 --> 01:09:07,880
Speaker 1: want to matter. It's incredible. It's really a good look

1181
01:09:07,920 --> 01:09:11,360
Speaker 1: for hip hop and a good look for music in general.

1182
01:09:12,360 --> 01:09:15,000
Speaker 3: That's good. I mean for you being on the forefront

1183
01:09:15,080 --> 01:09:20,160
Speaker 3: of one of the first hip hop ballets, and I

1184
01:09:20,240 --> 01:09:22,759
Speaker 3: mean you were there when hip hop was in stadiums

1185
01:09:22,800 --> 01:09:24,680
Speaker 3: with the fresh vest. To go from there all the

1186
01:09:24,720 --> 01:09:29,840
Speaker 3: way to to where we are now, that's quite a journey.

1187
01:09:29,960 --> 01:09:31,760
Speaker 3: We thank you for coming on the show.

1188
01:09:32,120 --> 01:09:34,519
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thank you for having me, you know, and

1189
01:09:35,320 --> 01:09:37,200
Speaker 1: a big shout out to all the dancers who are

1190
01:09:37,280 --> 01:09:40,720
Speaker 1: part of that because we have so much talent that's

1191
01:09:40,760 --> 01:09:41,160
Speaker 1: out there.

1192
01:09:41,280 --> 01:09:41,439
Speaker 9: You know.

1193
01:09:41,640 --> 01:09:45,960
Speaker 1: These young dancers are coming out, you know, from all

1194
01:09:46,080 --> 01:09:51,919
Speaker 1: over the world, and they have so much mad flavor,

1195
01:09:52,200 --> 01:09:56,360
Speaker 1: so many different styles from power moves to you know,

1196
01:09:56,560 --> 01:10:01,240
Speaker 1: to to the wave to pop locking and uh, you know,

1197
01:10:01,840 --> 01:10:05,280
Speaker 1: it's incredible to see how it's all put together and

1198
01:10:05,439 --> 01:10:11,160
Speaker 1: how Jennifer whoever did this thing and the choreography is incredible. Wow. Oh,

1199
01:10:11,320 --> 01:10:11,560
Speaker 1: thank you.

1200
01:10:12,400 --> 01:10:14,960
Speaker 9: Can I thank John and your wife Shirley too, because

1201
01:10:14,960 --> 01:10:16,400
Speaker 9: this has been like a year and a half in

1202
01:10:16,479 --> 01:10:20,960
Speaker 9: the work here like, thank you Shirley.

1203
01:10:20,800 --> 01:10:29,760
Speaker 3: Thank you well, ladies and gentlemen on behalf of the crew,

1204
01:10:30,600 --> 01:10:35,000
Speaker 3: the team Supreme Unpaid Bill, Boss, Bill Sugar, Steven Laya,

1205
01:10:35,439 --> 01:10:36,800
Speaker 3: this of course love Thank you very much.

1206
01:10:37,560 --> 01:10:40,080
Speaker 1: Uh whose formats for?

1207
01:10:40,160 --> 01:10:46,360
Speaker 3: Did you did you pleasure? Maybe I know them? We're

1208
01:10:46,439 --> 01:10:48,679
Speaker 3: stopping right here, you know this, of course, look supre

1209
01:10:48,800 --> 01:11:10,439
Speaker 3: We'll see you on the next round. Thank you. For

1210
01:11:10,600 --> 01:11:14,800
Speaker 3: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

1211
01:11:15,240 --> 01:11:16,960
Speaker 3: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,