WEBVTT - Questlove Part 1 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:27.640 Pushkin, Pushkin, Welcome to Broken Record Season two. I'm Malcolm Glado, 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.800 Rick Rubin, Bruce Headlam and I are back eight more 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:35.320 weeks of conversation with some of the most talented musicians 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:37.760 in the world. We're gonna talk to them, they're going 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.640 to play for us, and we're starting with an insane 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:44.240 two part interview with a mere Quest Love Thompson, drummer 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.040 for The Roots, a hip hop band from Philly that 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:49.960 it has become The Tonight Show's house band. Quest is 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:54.480 also a producer, a DJ, and an all around musical polymn. 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.760 I sat down with him in Manhattan after a taping 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:00.560 of The Tonight Show. Rick joined us by a sky 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.800 from a studio in Hawaii. We didn't think we talked 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.800 a Quest for nearly three hours, but he kept pulling 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:12.520 us in story after story. Afterwards, I texted Rick all 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:19.200 caps that went well. First off, Amyra, thank you so 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.040 much for joining us, Thank you for having me, Thank you, Reck, 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.600 and I've been looking forward to this all week. You 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.640 first of all, you guys, you know each other from 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:32.479 how far back from life? When did I first meet you? Rick? 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:36.000 I think I have a vague action, but I want 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:37.440 to see if you have the same one as me. 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:44.880 I think around Voodoo time two thousand ish. I believe 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:51.760 I met Rick somewhere in La I think it's two thousand. Okay, 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.520 I'll tell you my recollection was. We met in the 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.920 lobby of a hotel that had very high ceilings. It 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.440 was really dark, and it was at some sort of 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:08.040 a big show festival on the East coast, maybe Tibetan 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:13.080 Freedom Festival, in the hotel in the lobby. Okay, yeah, okay, 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:18.000 could that be yes? I think that's correct, Yes, you're right. DC. 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.799 It was on like second album of yours, it was, 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.639 I know it was early third album, but it was 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:30.320 about fourth album time. I remember we tried the first 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.880 time we tried to do Tibetan Freedom it rained out, 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.360 so instead I was one of the lucky few people 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.000 that got to see Radiohead at the nine thirty club. 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:43.440 Really instead you went to well, no, no no, I mean 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:45.560 they were, you know, like it was like a lightning 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:51.080 storm threatened the DC portion of the Tibetan Freedom concert. 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.359 So instead, you know, everybody's going home and radio Heads like, 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:56.680 wait a minute, we're going to be the nine thirty clubs. 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:01.080 So it's a pretty Good Relation Prize. Yeah, yeah, no, 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.680 it was great. I wouldn't have had it any other way. 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:09.680 We're going to plunge into things musical. Okay, you're so 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.960 in your household growing up, so your dad has an 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.240 extraordinary record collection. Yeah, I understand it. So what do 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:19.280 you What are you listening to as a as a kid? 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:23.480 All right, so I grew up with three very distinct 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.800 record collectives. My dad was into what I would sort 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:32.080 of jokingly say is the yacht rock of his day. 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:39.080 He was into Mathis streisand vocal groups like he had 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:42.920 pet sounds, so you know, seeing pet sounds in my house. 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:45.120 As a kid, I was just like beach Boys whatever. 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.400 But once I got older and realized, oh, their harmony 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:53.320 game is bar none. Then anybody like flaunting harmony to 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:55.480 the next level like my dad was on it, or 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:57.960 vocals to the next level because he was sort of 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:02.600 like a Nat King Cole type. Mom was more funky 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:07.200 and hip, So any album cover that had like Marty 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:09.880 clairwig that like, you know, Miles Davis, Bitch's Brew or 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:14.400 Santana's album covers like those those oil really funky like 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:18.440 abstract oil painting covers like she would buy records like 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:22.080 a like a crate digger or a record collector in 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:23.960 my day, does like you look at the cover, Oh, 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.520 this monkey gotta be something like that's how she collected 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:30.800 I got famous Ohio players. Yeah, anything funny? So funny 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.480 you say that because I get a copy of Honey 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:40.680 when I'm six years old on the corner. It's like, uh, 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:46.440 this is January twenty, nineteen seventy six, Happy fifth birthday, Mare, 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:49.120 We love you very much, Mommy and Daddy. And I'm like, 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.000 that's the way that album coming. I'm like, yo, like, 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.000 do you guys realize what you gave me? Like it? 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.440 For those who are not on it's it is a 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.599 very very beautiful, very very NEI. But they were just 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:03.560 like we saw this high art and that's the thing, 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:05.400 even though I didn't see it as Slation's like, oh 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.560 my god, who's this one? Yeah, Like I'm you know, 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.800 I just saw a theme of Okay, everyd Ohio player's 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:15.360 album cover looks like black playboy. My sister. My sister 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:21.159 at that time, blending in with her middle school friends 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.839 and eventually her high school friends, you kind of sort 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:27.520 of have to adapt to their taste. She's bringing home 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:34.560 Bohemian Rhapsody, She's bringing home Bowie, She's bringing home fal Cat. 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.480 Like my dad and my sister have very similar tastes. 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.080 My sister is like one of the biggest yacht rock fans. 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:46.000 I know, Rupert Holmes, Ambrosia, like all that soft the 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:49.960 Captain ands Neil, all that stuff. And the main role 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:53.400 in the household was don't touch my stereo. So I'm 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.279 not allowed to choose what I want to hear, so 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:58.080 I have to be forced to listen to what they 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.240 want to hear. You were held hostage by yacht rock 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.960 as a child, I mean, you know, I think from 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.560 the age of three till about nine, you just take 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:11.120 in everything that they give you. So I mean I 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.880 pretty much had an adults knowledge of music by the 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:16.760 time I was ten years old. Like I was reading 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.760 Rolling Stone. I often talk about seeing the Prince Dirty 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:26.800 Mind lead review, the Yoko cover story of Rolling Stone, 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:32.240 her first interview after John was assassinating, and I knew 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:34.400 it was a big deal even at the age of nine, 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.919 that Prince got a four and a half star lead 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.320 review and Rolling Stone, because in my head, I was like, wait, 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:43.720 white people don't know this guy, Like, how do he 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:45.719 get the lead review on the artwork and all this stuff, 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:49.360 and reading the how glowing it was, I was just like, 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.200 this is a big deal. So I really had an 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:56.400 adults vocabulary with music by the time I was ten. 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:03.200 Do you have any memories of records of like specific events, 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.000 like the time that you the first time you saw 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.280 so and so I could. I have a bunch of them, 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.400 but I want to ask you first of yeah, oh man, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.560 the day that Songs in the Key of Life came out, 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.520 that that could have been a national holiday. I mean, 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:21.680 the world stopped. It was like war the worlds. We 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.040 brought the record and like the entire family even like 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.080 I'm coming over and listened to it, Like my mom's 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:32.360 sister came to the house and we're just sitting there 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.880 listening to this record. Now again, I'm six years old, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.679 so you know, I'm not understanding anything about Stevie Wonder's 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:43.200 genius period and the fact that you know, from seventy one, 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.120 you know that the streak was happening, and I didn't 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.680 know Malcolm Murciso like his producers and none of those 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:54.280 guys were But I just remember like how they treated 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.760 that album as an event and there was a booklet 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:00.720 inside it, and these fonts are really weird and is 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:04.720 he drowning in donuts? And just everything about that album 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.720 was like an event. So I mean, did any one 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.920 of the did you appreciate it as an album? Or 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:15.240 do certain songs even today kind of stand up really 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:18.000 because of Stevie Wonder, I'm not an album guy, and 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.360 I feel so ashamed to say them front of you, Rick, 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.400 because I know that you create great singles. I'm just 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:29.960 now realizing as a DJ now, and I mean, like 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.800 in the last three to four years, like, oh man, 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:36.719 the single does matter. I'm suddenly seeing be what I 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:40.080 should have known thirty years ago when I first started. 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.679 But I've just seen albums as peaks and valleys and statements. 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:48.760 And you know, for me, it was I always felt 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.520 as that, as though, any how my creates should be like, Okay, 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:53.680 well he starts off with a slow song here, and 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.960 he slowly rises here, and then the jazz fusing songs 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.400 number four, and then the high end songs are here, 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:01.439 and then he a little bit here and side threes 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:03.800 a little slow, and then the breathless race of the 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.719 finish at the end. So I always took it as 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.120 complete statements, which is why I'm one of the few 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:14.280 people that I was elated with Journey through the Secret 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.360 Life of Plants, which everybody included my dad. Once that 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.160 came out, He's like, I'm not buying me. He stopped 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:24.160 record binging after Journey through the Secret Life of Plants 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:28.680 because yeah, but for me, that was my dark side 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:33.480 of the moon. That was my put headphones on, close 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.120 your eyes and imagine, like what's happening and you hear 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:40.040 all this panned noise and everything. And I didn't know 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:44.079 about pop hits or you know, why is it all instrumental? 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:49.920 That sort of thing, Like, what's your version of that 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.560 kind of event album from your childhood? Is there one? 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:54.920 Do you have a version of the of Sons in 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.480 the Cave Life? Well, I can remember that particular album. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:01.960 I can remember getting that album and Chuck Mangioni at 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.480 the same time, so they must have come out in 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.880 the same year, I imagine. And I remember I had 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.760 a little keyboard although I couldn't really play anything, and 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:14.120 trying to play along all the different parts on the record, 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.199 just on the keyboard, just try to have some understanding 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.800 of what was going on. I can remember the first 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.439 time I was in a record store and I saw, Now, 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.080 this is sort of it's late for this because the 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:29.720 record came out much earlier. But I remember finding the 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:35.920 MC five and first seeing that first album cover and 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.160 then listening to it and thinking, well, this is during 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:41.360 punk rock times, like, wow, this is it's kind of 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.800 like punk rock, but it's old, but it has that energy. 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.560 It has like a frantic energy, and that really excited me. 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.200 And that I can remember, Okay, is there anyone else 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:53.680 like the MC five. It's like, well, it's not exactly 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:55.520 like them, but then it leads you to Iggy and 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:59.679 the Stooges, and I can just remember these moments of 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.120 revelation of hearing a new I can remember the first 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:05.079 time I heard their Moones and just didn't have any 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:08.200 point of reference for it. I have a slight confessor 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.240 to make. Yeah, I hate to say this. I finally 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:16.360 listened to the entire Ramones album start to finish eight 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.720 days ago, and I'm so mad that it took me 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.199 so long to do it. What led you to do it? Okay, 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.439 this is the lamest thing ever. So I'm kind of 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.439 at a creative fork in the road right now. As 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.959 far as DJing is concerned, because a lot of the 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.320 collective music I play feels to a specific audience, and 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:38.120 I'm trying to figure out more creative ways to bring 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:39.920 them out because of course, like you know, the people 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.400 that like the music that I like are older, they 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.640 have kids. They're not coming out at two three in 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:46.760 the morning. I'll say. In the last year or so, 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:51.280 I've been doing Saturday afternoon Djay Sunday afternoon DJing so 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:55.760 that it's family friendly. Parents can come and relive their 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:59.000 club days and the kids can have It's it's my 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.480 version of re hip hop, because hip hop's supposed to 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.679 be a community based afternoon sort of thing, that sort 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:08.440 of thing. And I did uh an ice skating rink. 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:09.920 I knew it was going to be a lot of 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.040 kids there, and I was like, all right, well, let 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.120 me make sure that I'm playing kid friendly stuff whatnot, 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:17.760 and not just happened to just look on the internet. 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:19.800 I was like, all right, adult music that kids seem 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.720 to like as well. And of course briskly I can't 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:27.880 pronounce it, risking bop was listed and I was like, yeah, 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:32.160 because they always sing that at sports at sports events, 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:36.000 and I didn't have it, so I downloaded it and 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:38.560 I saw that, oh, all the songs are under two 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:42.000 minutes and thirty seconds. Two minutes and thirty seconds. And 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:44.800 as a songwriter, as I spoke to you before, like 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:49.520 not focusing on singles, I'm now obsessed with people that 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:53.640 have had successful singles under three minutes, because it's one 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:57.560 thing to do these well thought out, you know, introspective, 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.960 eleven minute free jazz stuff. And the roots are such artists, 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:06.439 but it's like, can we do judy as a punk? 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:10.679 Can we make an effective song with bare minimum in 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:12.960 three minutes? Can we be just as effective? So now 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:18.760 I'm trying to study minimalist effectiveness. So it's like as 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:23.280 a writer, it's why I'm obsessed with commercials. Always been 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:26.720 obsessed with commercials because they tell a story in thirty seconds, 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:28.840 you know, And if you are a writer and you 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.320 know how hard it is tell a story, you're you 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.000 put the person who writes to brilliant commercial at the 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.480 top of the list. The only reason why I'm obsessed 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.280 with this is because now that I work at the 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:42.640 Tonight Show, we have to write eight second jingles, of 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:45.360 which you have to have narrative of what the title is. 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.640 Writing eight second songs is sort of our version of commercials. 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.120 So how often this is a question for both you 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.880 as producers, how often do you say to the artist 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:03.600 you're working with, make it shorter. I never do, unless 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:07.400 unless it's boring. It's like it's really every piece has 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:10.080 the length that it wants to be. I have a 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.520 question for you. Yeah, okay, so fight for your right 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:17.520 to party. Yeah, I'll say the last four years. I 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.760 read the original demo version with extra verses in it, 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.960 and YadA, YadA, YadA. So I'm asking this mainly because 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:28.960 I just read the Beastie Boy book. So in your head, 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.720 how did you have that much discipline to know what 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:38.760 to reduce? Like, you're famous for reducing stuff, taking taking 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:42.040 elements away. So honestly, in that case, I don't remember 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.560 it ever being longer than that. Well, there's like an 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.960 extra verse in there that was taken away, So I 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.800 wonder I'd love to hear it, because I have no 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.520 recollection of it ever being longer. In those days, it 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:59.560 would be unusual for us to shorten anything. Really, Yeah, 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.080 and then you weren't thinking like, okay, three minutes and 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.040 thirty seconds. Ever in my life have I thought that? 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.200 So you don't have Clive Davis ears and not in 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:12.320 the least I'm I'm but you're so bullseye with it. 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.800 Like it has to do with growing up where I 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:20.000 grew up and listening to the Beatles. So the first 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:23.360 formative music for me was the Beatles, and those were 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:28.720 short pop songs. So I had that formula of goodness 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:30.880 in me from the time I was a little kid. 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.720 That was just all I knew that was good. And 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:37.840 when I would hear something that felt like anytime, it 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.320 felt like it got boring to me, right, it was 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.240 too long, but some you know, I like ten minute 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.840 jams too well. I mean, one of my favorite groups 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:49.840 is Trouble Funk, and if you listen to their music, 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:55.680 it just goes forever. Right, He's being seriously modest right now, 0:15:55.880 --> 0:16:00.520 but like he literally the most revolutionary thing that he 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.720 brought to the world of hip hop was he literally 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:11.560 invented the three minute song. Like before him, even a 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:15.320 song as as sticky and friendly as the message like 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.760 grand Master Flast and that was still eight minutes Planet 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.720 rock because you're thinking of the club and keeping the 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.640 groove lasting a long time. That sort of thing ll 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:29.160 like when we got Ello's record, Yo, these songs are 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:34.600 four minutes long, Like we never even fathom that you 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.360 could have an effect of hip hop record or song 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:41.640 to be three minutes and fifty seconds. Like just seeing 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.800 those times on the Deft dam thing, I was just like, 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.600 this is weird, what's going on here? But to you, 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:52.520 that was just anyone else. It was just based on 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:54.520 growing up with the Beatles. That was it. It wasn't. 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.320 It was not at all premeditated in any way. It 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.320 was natural to me. And when I would get you know, 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.880 I collected twelve inch twelve inch vinyl at that time, 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.280 because every hip hop record came out twelve inch pretty much. 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.280 That was the main format of the day. So I 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:12.960 would get these, you know, Jimmy Spicer records that were 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:15.880 nine minutes long, and it would be or twelve minutes long, 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.840 and it always seemed like they weren't made to listen to, 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.960 they were made to dance to. They weren't. They weren't 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:27.280 long in service to the song, right, And I've always 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.520 wanted to work in service to the song, whatever that is. 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:33.680 And sometimes it's the whole side of an album. Sometimes 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:39.040 it's three minutes, but usually just take someone so long 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.920 to learn that lesson. And I think it just has 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:47.880 to do with where you started listening to Farrow Sanders 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:52.080 and longer, more experimental pieces. I started listening to the Beatles, 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:54.280 but again before I knew what I was listening to, 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.000 just what I gravitated towards the Beatles and the Monkeys 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.800 when I was a little teeny kid. No, I'll admit that, 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:07.719 or selfishly or whatever, like I was definitely creating stuff 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:11.399 that teenage me would want to. I didn't know what 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:13.919 a pop hook was or none of that stuff until 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.640 you know, even when we got our first real hit 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:21.440 four albums, and there was fear that I might ruin 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.600 it because I wanted to show our drum end bassed 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:28.639 London influence, and it became a thing of like, yo, 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.520 it's just too radical for the song, like, well, this 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.160 ruin it. But even then my answer was like, we're 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:36.080 not a pop group, so it doesn't matter, right, Like, 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:37.720 we're never ever going to get on the radio in 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:40.919 this lifetime, so let's just do it. And then it 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.440 backfired and worked. But even then I didn't know why 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:46.760 the song worked and the elements that made it work 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.280 It wasn't until I started DJing. Like, if you look 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:53.840 throughout history, every great producer has done a lot of 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:58.800 hours djaying somewhere. Rick has done it, Jimmy Jam, Doctor 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.639 Dre had hissed it suation. The reason why he's so 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:05.800 good is because if you played the wrong song, the 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:10.600 club might get shot up. So imagine djaying under those 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.199 tense conditions. So it's almost like you have to have 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:15.680 a winner out of the game. It's a hip hop 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:19.080 version of that famous statement, the prospect of a hanging 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:22.440 in the morning concentrates the mind wonderfully. This case is 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.320 the prospect of a shooting in the club. Yes, concentrates 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:30.480 the djaying wonderfully. Yeah, well can you? This is the 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:32.119 other thing that I've always been obsessed with, and that 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.679 is that when you get immersed, as the two of 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.440 you are in music, what happens when you listen to 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:41.240 music that's not your own? Can you turn the critic 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:46.159 off and appreciate it with your without passing judgment, or 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:49.040 are you actually producing the song in your head as 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:55.360 you listen? Who first? I can do that with records, 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:59.680 I can't do that with concerts. In concerts, I become 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.800 the same man, God, they got to turn the high 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:05.040 head up. Sometimes at actual shows, I'll run back to 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.080 the guy, no, the sound guy. Oh my god, I'm 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.440 such a fan. Good you start up to high at more, 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:13.919 just say a little bit and then run Like I 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:20.040 micromanage many a concert records. I do that with Prince 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:23.200 a lot. I'll say that with Prince. I'll do that. 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:26.440 You'll do what was critiqued as you listen. I'm harder 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.120 on him than I am on anyone else well, because 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:35.000 it's like Prince is my DNA, and I've always felt 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:41.240 as though it's usually when you upgrade your situation, like 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.560 if you the artist that I like, Uh, let's take 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:48.560 Risen from Wu Tang. People will speak with great reverence 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:52.000 of the first five Wu Tang projects from Enter the 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:56.240 thirty six Chambers up until let's say, uh, iron Man 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:00.640 the ghost Face album. And that's because they had limited 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:05.480 resources inside of his apartment in Staten Island. But it's 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:09.239 like once they upgrade it to that plus studio in 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:12.120 La for Wu Tak forever, that's when they started beeting 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.760 a difference from the fan base with Prince. The same 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.760 thing when he was in his bedroom with like very 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:22.480 limited equipment. That's where like the most creative shit ever happened. 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:24.960 And you know, I mean, I'll allow a pass for 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:27.800 the record plant as well. He was in that zone there, 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:32.720 but once he got to Paisley Park, then I started noticing, like, ah, man, 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:35.960 I bet you he used like sure fifty seven microphones 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:40.520 on the drums and used an SSL board and then 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:44.600 I just started like dissecting machine and the cleanness of 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:48.000 it all. And you know, it's hard for me to 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:50.960 separate that. I occasionally do that with Stevie Wonder as well. 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:54.680 I do it with everything pretty much anything I hear. 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:58.160 I'm always thinking, oh, I wish it was more like this, 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.280 or like like I just imagine it sounding different, and 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:03.719 it's hard to turn off the producer brain. It's one 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.000 of the reasons I really like listening to classical music 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.080 and jazz, because I don't have that same feeling listening 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:11.520 to that music, but listening to hip hop or listening 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:16.160 to rock music, or more often than not, I'm producing 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:18.800 in my head. There's one example which would be fun 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:23.320 to talk about because you're involved, is the D'Angelo Voodoo 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:27.520 album to me, is absolutely perfect. It's the first time 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:31.560 I can remember listening through to an album wishing I 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:33.919 had something to do with it because it was so good. 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:37.480 It was just like, oh my god, this is everything 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:40.520 I want an album to be, and it was unlike 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:44.320 anything I'd ever heard before. Such a scary time period, man, 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:52.720 because Virgin wasn't seeing it that way. Oh man, there 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:56.880 you know, there was a lot of Okay, when will 0:22:56.920 --> 0:22:59.040 you guys actually start the real record now and stop 0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:02.159 messing around. We're looking at each other like, this is 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:04.639 the record we tell us how you got involved with 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:09.000 D'Angelo and that elf. I met di'angelo and Eric Abadu 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:13.800 coincidentally on April Fools nineteen ninety six, I'm on tour 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:16.959 with the Fujis and the Goodie Mob. It is the 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:20.560 sole Trade Awards weekend. One year before the Biggie tragedy. 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:27.040 The Fujis were just beginning there Crest into the Stars 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:29.240 with the Score album. So there was a lot of 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:33.520 playful sort of tension between the two groups. You know, 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:35.840 by this point, the Roots become like such a well 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:38.760 oiled machine live and like, Okay, we gotta kick their 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:40.960 ass tonight. We're in La we gotta do it. And 0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:45.600 I remember getting on my drum set and seeing I 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:47.840 didn't know who Erica was, I'd assume at the time 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:49.760 that was his girlfriend. You know, she had the tall 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:53.199 head wrap onorn. But I knew D'Angelo silhouette because he 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:55.879 was like front. I could see his silhouette front and 0:23:55.920 --> 0:24:01.640 center behind the lights. And I remembered that I dismissively 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:06.840 talked myself out of playing on Brown Sugar, his previous album, 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:09.840 because at the time I was just like soul singers 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:12.800