WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: LL Cool J Part 1 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:00.400 Question. 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:07.760 Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio Sad Depressed, 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:09.960 Getting Killed. 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:18.919 Virum So Suprimo, roll called So three Sun Sun Subrivo, 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:24.000 role called Supremo So So Suprivo ro called. 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:31.360 Subrivo as you can tell. Yeah, we got ll yeah 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.000 and for the first time in history. Yeah, my roll 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:41.040 call fell subrivo called so. 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:47.440 My name is Fante and my rhymes is vicious. But 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:50.720 I'll also say yeah, pudding is delicious. 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:58.520 Supprivo suprivo soun s brivo. 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:03.560 My name sugar. Yeah, I need a beat, Yeah like 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:05.640 Quincy Jones needs like. 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:19.160 His feet up here? Bill, Yeah, back for more, Yeah, 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:21.840 Sugar Steve, Yeah, happy. 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:38.440 Port like yeah, more like Chris Robinson Yeah l L yeah, smoking. 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:51.600 L L Yeah, I say bless up. Yeah, I'm with 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.520 the tribe. This one's quest love. 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:01.400 So so so. 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:10.000 Supo Son Son sun Sel. 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.040 Damn like you speaking what rhymes with Robinson? 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:22.600 Smoking Son? Oh smoking. 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:24.640 Level. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.359 We were both like, wait none rhymes and Robin we 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:31.200 started with smoking son and Robinson. 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:33.800 All right, okay, so look all right, all right. First 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.919 of all, yes, we're we're live and lost Ange. We're 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.760 taming Los Angeles with No No A C. But it's 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:42.200 all good. 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:42.640 Uh. 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.000 This is the Quest of Supreme podcast of course with 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.720 Fon Tickeelo, North Carolina's Finest Little Brother. 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:55.200 How's preparations going for for with Charlotte Dave Riley. What's 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:57.360 the Durham Durham made and Durham? 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.239 No, it's going well, man, It's just you know, we're 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:00.959 at the last kind of the stretch before we go, 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:02.959 so you know, you know how I go. 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.880 I mean a million to use the cross, you know. 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:08.160 I and you're organizing it too. 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.560 Yeah, not by myself. Okay, we have a team, but 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:13.920 but me and Pool were overseeing it from tip to tip. 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.400 Headaches out the ass get But it's going well though, Sugar. 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:21.880 Steve House, how's life in jazz business? Everything's good. It's 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:23.960 nice to be here. They don't let me have them 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:25.800 Manhattan much, so it's good to get away. 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:29.880 Okay, Steven Weed free right now? 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:30.080 Bro? 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.079 Yeah, there's that. There's that too, So I may talk 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:33.919 more during this. 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:37.280 Yeah. I was about to say, you seem very clear 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:38.280 today for some reason. 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:39.000 Took a shower. 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.960 Yeah, okay, that's that's good. You've been released from Sesame 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.480 Street prison. Yeah, where have you been at the Muppets? 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:47.200 Been holding you hostage. 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.080 Hostage. Yeah, I got negotiated out from Sesme Street and 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:50.680 I'm here. 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:51.360 I'm excited. 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:56.000 Really nothing not, everything's fine. No, no, I've been driving 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.040 my kids the volleyball. I was about to say, did 0:03:58.120 --> 0:03:59.680 the strike even affect Sesame Street? 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.920 Not, that's that's what None of the muppets are unionized, No, 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:05.480 they all it's they're free from that, which is good. 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:07.160 Okay, that's that's good to hear. 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:09.400 Well, as is this speaking of course, you know, we 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.040 resolve to strike and you know who like wants me 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:17.560 back at thirty Rock immediately like yeah, exactly, Like how's 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:17.880 it going? 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:20.279 I am going good? Now are we getting this week started? 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:22.000 I was about to say, how long did it take you? 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:23.960 Ritty and l story? 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:25.800 First of all, shout outs to call you got a 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:27.440 shout out to the people that make it happen that 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.479 it took months, but it was so worth it, of course. 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.919 But yes, it's the perfect way to start our adventure. 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:34.919 With a legend. 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:36.640 I've been having a what's what's the term a t 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:41.040 d T tet A tet uh with with a very 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.920 passionate I would say over zealous person in in in 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:51.159 the I g d ms about how we always disrespect Yeah, okay, so. 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:54.680 I it's not talking about her feet or anything like that. 0:04:55.000 --> 0:05:00.960 Right, it's an l a callback it is anyway, all right. 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.000 So look, I'm gonna do this Stephen A. Smith's out 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.680 because I'm world famous for the intros or lack of 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.680 intros or the over enthusiastic intros. But I think that 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:18.400 it's important that our listeners understand why we should address 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:23.040 our guest today in terms of royalty without making him 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:27.600 cringe or whatever. So basically, I will say, in the 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:30.680 past seven years of doing this podcast, you know, we've 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:35.440 had presidents and musical pioneers and actors and sports figures 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.160 and whatnot. For out of nine Jackson's we've had on 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:44.560 the show, Wow, But this is probably the episode I've 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:46.680 been waiting for. I mean, from a guy that has 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:49.240 co authored a song about hip hop being the love 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:53.719 of his life, I will say that who better than. 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:55.799 To have what I deem? 0:05:56.040 --> 0:06:00.760 Probably I call him a junior pioneer only because he's 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.560 the reason why my definition of the pioneer never gets 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:06.280 the glory. But it's the person that comes behind it 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.920 that improves on the pioneer. Literally, our guest today is 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:13.600 the reason why I think that because and I had 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.520 to write this part down basically, you know at nausea 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.160 that yeah, okay, Curtis Blow was the first goal selling 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:24.240 rapper on a major label, but our guest today has 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:30.160 improved on that twelvefold. And also he literally built the 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:34.120 deaf Jam empire. Without his success, I don't know if 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.799 there would have been budget or whatever for the Beast's 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.159 down to public and me down, you know, literally built 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:45.560 an empire. Not to mention literally so many firsts that 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:49.960 our guest has achieved. If you want to say, the 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:54.000 three minute rap song, the idea of course, the skit 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:56.200 emotions on Wax. 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.960 Whatever, true, I have my only pair of troops. Yeah, 0:06:58.960 --> 0:06:59.719 I was gonna say. 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.120 Smith him the idea of pivoting to something else besides 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:08.320 wrapping the comeback the remix. Like literally I made a 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:10.000 list and it was like over twenty but I would 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:11.560 bore you all, and I know he's like, yo, I 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:13.760 can't wait to get the funk out of here. Lad, 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:17.840 please welcome James Stop Smith a l. 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.560 Cool day to Let's love Supreme, Thank you, thank you. 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:25.120 You're also going to realize that the reason why we 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:28.640 really haven't had our first true conversation yet. Was I 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:30.760 was waiting for this play because I didn't want to like, 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.240 oh my god, I didn't want to freak you out 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.560 by like nerding out on you because I will go 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:37.880 cuckoo for Coca puffs. 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.800 But no, just save it, save it, save it for 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:42.800 the podcast notes. 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.120 Every time he thought that, well, why y'all want to 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:46.400 every time he thought, I hope he took a note 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:46.920 like yet. 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:48.680 No, literally, he would come and out hide like I 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:50.000 don't want to because I don't want him think like 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.080 I'm ignoring him whatever, not return his phone calls. But 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:53.960 I'm also the kind of guy that wants to know 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.040 like twelve things about his career in a casual moment. 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.880 And you know, I've always scared off many an R. 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:04.680 That's hilarious that way. So on the road, yes, we did, yeah, 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:08.560 oh man. And not to mention, I'm I'm back from 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:10.880 camp cool Jay talk about yeah we got to hear 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:12.520 about it. I heard about it, but talk about it. 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.400 How the regiment put people tour. The tour was just 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:16.880 it was rigorous. 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.360 I mean, you know, quest worked so hard, man, I mean, 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.200 rehearsing forty hours a day, you know, twenty four hundred 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.720 hours a day just bringing artists in and bringing guests 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:30.080 in and fitting them into the set, and like on stage, 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:32.160 I would call him my general every night because he was, 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.319 you know, just working so hard and so tirelessly to 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:39.079 make it look effortless, you know what I'm saying, for 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.600 the audience, and to make it a show where everybody 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.040 could just come in and once they get in, they 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.280 once they stood up, they basically never sat down for 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.520 two three hours and didn't mit three four hours and 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:49.440 didn't miss a beat. 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:51.640 It was It was a lot of fun. It was dope. 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:52.280 We put up. 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:56.719 It worked. It worked. It works for real. We still 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.240 got a couple more, but it really was serious. Like, 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:01.400 so you did a great job on that, man, Like 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.000 it was amazing. It was amazing, all. 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:07.640 Right, So let me get to the nerd part. Okay, 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.240 So without the usual rigmund like where were you born? 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:10.800 On? Stuff? 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:14.720 I actually I want to know what was your life 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:20.680 like in nineteen eighty three, one year before you started 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:25.000 your journey to your path, Like what was typically happening 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:26.400 to you in eighty three. 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:27.000 By that point? 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.520 Yeah, So in eighty three, I was just running around 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:34.720 the city networking with you know, other MC's and DJs 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.200 and producers, and spending a lot of time in Harlem. 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:40.959 I would go up to like see my man Silver Fox. 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:43.560 He lived across He had a record store across from 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.000 Grant Projects. This guy named Julio Gina had a record 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:51.559 store on a label CCL Records, And I was I 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:53.720 spent a lot of time in Harlem at the record store, 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.360 just kind of holding my craft, talking to Fox about 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:00.920 cadences and couplets and stuff like that. Like you know, 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.120 me and Kouji Rapp would be like down at this 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.880 place called Joe Grant one hundred tienth Street and Harlem 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.160 rhyming together and you know what I'm saying, Me and 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.480 him and Fox and you know that. 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:13.040 So I basically spent a lot of time. 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:14.439 And then i'd be if I was in Queens, I 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:17.120 might be in like Herbie Lovebugs basement, you know what 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:20.160 I'm saying, Like when he was like just making beats 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:21.920 he had and he didn't have any records out or anything, 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:23.880 but he was down there, like so we'd be down 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:25.000 there and just hanging out. 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:26.920 And you were born in Queens, No, I was born 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:27.480 in Long Island. 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:29.559 I was born in base Show base Shore, Long Island, 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:31.840 and then you know, I would go back and forth 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.800 between Base Show, Long Island and Queens and then you know, 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.640 spent obviously most of my time in Queen's ultimately, but 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:41.040 for many years I went back and forth, you know 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:42.920 what I'm saying to school, So because we. 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:44.760 Always hear the folklore of hip hop and. 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:46.960 All the Bronx stories, the Bronx Monks, marks Monks, Bronks 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:51.480 and all these tapes, tapes, tapes, how is the rest 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:57.600 of the Burroughs getting spread of this creative pandemic? 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:59.640 Like yeah, yeah, so create That's a good way of 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.559 looking at it, right, So what happened actually is me 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:05.640 being in Long Island, I was in North Babylon. I 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:07.880 would go back and forth between North Babylon and Queens. 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:09.839 When I was in North babylin next door to me 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.520 was a bunch of foster kids, so a woman, a 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:14.280 couple of them of colors, you know what I'm saying. 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.679 They had like five or six forster kids like in 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:19.199 the house. 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.680 And they were from Brooklyn, the Bronx uptown like everywhere, 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:24.520 and a lot of them like my man Kenny from 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.000 Brooklyn and Wayne was from the Bronx and Reynard and 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.439 them were, you know, so I would hear all the 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:31.160 tapes my manor Eric Ward and all them. 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:33.800 They would play all of the tapes from the Bronx. 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.240 So I was exposed to hip hop from day one, 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:40.320 like I was exposed to like Flashing, the Furious Four 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:43.720 and the Foursome Seas way early, like before the records, 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:45.400 before Raptors, the Light, before all that. 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.280 I was already hearing everything that was going on in. 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.160 The city first before yeah, there was the Furious Four 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:54.000 before they were the Furious Five. Yes, yeah, So I 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.000 was you know, I was hearing all these records and 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:57.000 hearing the Cold Crush. 0:11:57.400 --> 0:11:58.920 So I got into it real early. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:02.520 So at like nine years old, I was already like 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.280 rhyming and trying to rhyme like those guys and trying 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.720 to make up rhymes and stuff like that. So by 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.720 the time I was eleven or twelve, I actually started writing, 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:14.439 you know, at eleven or twelve, I started really getting 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:18.079 into it. So that's why I was actually ready when 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.240 I was sixteen to start death jam because I had 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:23.640 already been doing it like like, you know, maybe eight 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.240 years at that point. You know, at sixteen, I had 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:29.120 already been in hip hop like eight years, like trying 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:30.599 to you know, get good at it. 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:35.200 Who was your north star in terms of like that's 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:36.160 the MCI. 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.719 Like it was a mix of all of them. It 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:40.480 was a mix of all of them for different reasons. 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:42.559 It was more like mixed martial arts than it was 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.200 like one style. It wasn't just karate. It was mixed 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.240 martial arts, you know what I'm saying. So it was 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.640 you know, and funny, you know, I actually picked that 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.839 up from Bruce Lee, you know what I'm saying, because 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:55.920 G Condo was like the first MMA, right, Like it 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:58.280 was the way of the intercepting fists and it was 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.839 all about taking all of these very styles and putting 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:04.319 them together. So that's why, like you know, early on 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:08.280 I was able to do stories, love records, hard records, 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:08.679 this and that. 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:10.800 That's why, like I can do any kind of song now. 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.439 So it's like, you know, it's like a guy on 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:15.800 a basketball court who could play defense, who could shoot, 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:17.120 who could go left, who can go right? 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:19.080 Who could do threes? Who could dunk? 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.160 Who could you know, like pride in myself and doing anything, 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.880 you know, avant garde records like anything. So and that 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.520 came from just listening to all of them, right, listening 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:33.040 to hearing Spoony and hearing Mail and you know, hearing Mo. 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:33.840 But then like in. 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.640 DLB for different reasons, like in Tito for a different reason, 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:39.200 like and pays for a different reason, like in JDL 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:41.839 because of what he does, like in Ad for certain 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.400 reasons like like a cast for other you know, like 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:46.240 it was all these different people Shah Rock for the 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:48.760 Echo Chamber and you know hearing like so it was 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.040 all of these different people that you know, just kind 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:54.040 of I just absorbed all of it, you know what 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:54.440 I'm saying. 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:58.360 Well, I gotta ask you now, did you ever in 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:04.679 your wildest dreams ever imagine that, like one of the 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.080 one of the pegs of the ladder of your whole story, 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:09.520 that you actually go toe to toe with one of 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:11.240 those pioneers like in the beginning. 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:16.120 Definitely not definitely not man, Listen, you talked about Modi, right, Like, 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.040 oh definitely not, of course, not like I love Mo. 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.640 You know, I still love Mo. But you know it's 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:25.280 like basketball right or boxing. 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.320 I mean, you know, de la Joya had to fight 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:31.680 Chavez like regardless, so you know that was just it 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:33.640 just came with the territory. But I didn't lose any 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:36.240 respect for him. I never lost respect for him. I 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:40.000 never felt like personally insulted. Always took it as part 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:40.440 of the game. 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:42.200 Yeah, I see that. 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:46.320 So, I mean I've heard Ruben's side, I've talked to 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.280 ad of rock like them might be in NYU whatever. 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:53.480 So first of all, how did you even have And 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:55.960 we heard the story about like your grandfather getting you. 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:58.840 What equipment did he get you? Exactly? You got me too. 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.560 I wanted techniques, but you know my grandfather, you know 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:03.640 I wanted technique. 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:08.680 You know you're getting to Sheba's, right, Yeah, I got 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:12.520 I got to to Sheba's and I wanted I wanted 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:14.200 the Gemini he got me a uh. 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:17.560 It wasn't a new Mark, I forget the name of it, 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:18.520 but it was a different one. 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:21.080 It had a crossfader and a a and a turn 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.000 on it, and it didn't have a slide fada, had 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.640 a turn knob on it. But yeah, so I had 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.800 the mixer so you can dj oh yeah, okay, oh yeah, 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:30.160 oh yeah. 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:30.440 Yeah. 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:34.160 I started off that way because see my grandfather, he 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:36.720 was a jazz musician and He used to take me 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.040 in the basement when I was laby six five sixty 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.920 seven and record me like doing little jazz things, and 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.240 he would like mess with stuff, and he had like 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.080 a reel of reel and I'd be down there doing little. 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:49.560 Jazz stuff and all that, you know what I'm saying. 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:53.000 So I came up listening to like Jimmy Smith at 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:55.120 the Penthouse and you know, all of these. 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.320 But then I'd be listening to Smothers brothers, like Comedy records. 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:00.520 But then I'm listening to like So I I got 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.560 exposed to a lot of different kinds of music, whether 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.400 it was Miles or Charles, Charlie Parker or bird or 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.560 Birdland stuff and Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington all this 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.040 stuff count Basi records, so I got and it was 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:13.600 a lot of big band too, So it wasn't just 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:15.640 the normal jazz. It was a lot of big band jazz. 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.080 But I say that to say that's where I kind 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.520 of got into it, you know what I'm saying. And 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.440 then I ended up getting the equipment because I fell 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:24.880 in love with it. Because I got hit on a 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:28.560 mini bike and my grandfather wanted to keep me in 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.640 the house, and it was a choice either money. 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:32.480 No, No, it was settled. 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:33.920 They were just trying to keep me in the house 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:36.280 because you know, we used to have a mini bikes 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:38.400 and all that with the you know, with the with 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.480 the shoelace tied to the throttle with no brakes on it, 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:46.760 just running around the block. And I got hit on 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:49.240 one of them joints, and then you know, they was 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.920 like my grandmother was going crazy and the neighborhood's talking. 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:55.720 That was like headline news. And then so he got 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:57.520 me some equipment to keep me in the house. 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.160 Because its household. 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.200 No, no, did they know what hip I was to be? 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:04.359 Like? 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:08.119 No, well, well, the only resistance came later when I 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:12.680 started becoming professional, because my grandmother didn't really believe that 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.280 it was real and she wanted me to stay in school. 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:18.520 And my mother secretly had made a pet with her 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:20.040 that she would let me stay out of school for 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.600 two years because remember I dropped out in the ninth 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:26.920 grade the store. When Radio came out, I was sixteen seventeen. 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.159 When when it dropped the single, when the when I 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.320 Need a B came I was sixteen Radio I was 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:32.160 turning seventeen. 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:33.640 I was around seventeen, because. 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.119 You had a deal that you would secret No, my 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.560 mother had a secret deal that she would let me 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.000 stay out of school and pursue my dreams for two years, 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.159 and if it didn't work out, she would make me 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:46.280 go back to school. Because I asked her, I'm like, 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:48.160 why did you let me do that? And she said, 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.000 because you were really, really passionate about it. And I 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:52.440 knew you were young enough to be able to go 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:55.560 back to school, So that that was a she took 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:56.080 that shot. 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:59.439 I'm glad she did. That's I'm glad she did. 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.040 Curious about your grandfather, what instrument did he play? 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:06.280 Tenor saxophone? Played the tennis sacks? 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:10.200 And so I used to, you know, grow up and 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:12.520 just change learning how to change the reads and how 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:14.879 to clean it, and you know, mess around with it 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:17.640 stuff like that. Well you would play sax I would 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:19.920 mess around with it, but nothing of any consequence. I 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:21.600 mean I used to mess around with it, but nothing. 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:23.760 You can at least play like love roller coaster. You know, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.160 you know, you know, nothing, nothing of any real consequence. 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.000 But I but I did grow up around a lot 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:32.080 of instruments. He would buy me guitars. I would break 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.760 them and pop the strings and stuff like that, And 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:37.240 it was just he had a love for music, and 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.399 my grandmother loved music, and my mother wrote poetry, you 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:43.280 know what I'm saying, so you know, and play the 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.440 the accordion and you know, you know what I'm saying. 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:54.560 So we don't understand, like this makes sense exactly? 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:04.040 How did you even haven't wherewithal to know that? Let 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:07.440 me hand deliver these tapes. First of all, what's on 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:09.600 the tapes? Are you just like freestyling and piece to 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:10.639 president or like no? 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:11.000 Now? 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.359 So I was about to quit because I couldn't get 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:17.919 any make any headway because labels. A lot of labels 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.040 were turning me down. Well it wasn't that many, but 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:21.919 it was the first label you went to. I sent 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:24.200 something to sugar Hill. I tried to get on sugar Hill. 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:27.159 And when I started trying to get on sugar Hill, 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.080 I was probably like fourteen, maybe thirteen. 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:33.760 Do they know this? Now? They do now, you know? 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.000 And so when I was like thirteen fourteen, I started 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:42.479 sending demos to sugar Hill trying to get on them. 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:44.960 They responded, though they were polite. 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.159 They said, you know, we just want to inform you 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.560