WEBVTT - QLS Classic: Little Brother 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.720 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. Listen and 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:08.840 gentlemen check it out. This is a classic QLs episode 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:13.119 featuring our fam Little Brother. Of course, you know they 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.440 have a really powerful documentary called Me the Lord Watch. 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.040 I highly recommend you watch it. They're one of my 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.919 favorite groups. We'll assume we be one of your favorite groups. Falla, No, 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:24.799 they're already one of your favorite groups. All right, Quest 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:34.839 Love Supreme Classic Little Brother. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.680 another episode of Quest Love Supreme. I'm your host Quest 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:43.280 Love with Me. Today is Boss Bill and kind of 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:48.120 weird is Fontigolo on his own former podcast, As suggested, 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:54.280 the product sun is return and the one and only 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:58.280 Big Poof collectively known as Door of North Carolina's Finest 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:07.480 Little Brother. I'm correct, seeing duran correct? Yep, yep, and 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:09.640 you claim Durhman as well. 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.600 Pooh Durham claims me. 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:20.280 Like who's one of the tug of war of where 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:22.559 the genesis and little brother actually lies? 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:28.080 It all started at Central, you know what I mean? 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.360 We were students in North Carolina Central together, so Durham, 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:33.960 for all intents and purposes, it is the birthplace a 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.520 little brother yeah, I just I just have. 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.720 To make it clear that I'm I'm from Virginia originally 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:45.560 just what cities Alexandria, all through northern Virginia, but Alexandria 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:46.959 and Fairfax specifically. 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.560 Okay, all right, So, I, in the attempts to treat 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:56.320 Fonte as a regular guest, did not assume that everyone 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:57.160 knows his story. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:01:58.280 I do. 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.920 However, I'm not that familiar with your story, pooh. So 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:06.360 to give us a recap or whatever, I'll start with you. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.000 What was your entry into music? 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:14.680 Probably the radio, but like more importantly BMG, when they 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:20.440 did the uh you could get likes for a dollar 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:20.880 or whatever. 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:23.800 Were you or were you scamming? 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:25.639 I was scamming big time. 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:27.399 Yeah, proud Sam here. Yeah. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.440 I did it about five different times and got five 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.640 different groups of CDs. But that was probably my real intro, 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:39.600 just learning about so many different artists. And I had 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:42.320 friends from New York. I mean everybody probably did at 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.639 that time, back in the nineties who would come down 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.400 with tapes like That's how I first heard the big 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.520 ee nas and just different artists from out of New 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:55.240 York at the time, and between that and radio, because 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:59.200 radio was real regional in the nineties, so you I 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:01.480 mean we were it was heavy Go Go influence, but 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.240 you would get when the artists come through, you will 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.680 start getting a different artist. So that's how I got 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.280 put on to Like when Ray Kwan, when he dropped 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.880 the Purple tape, he came through, did an interview. They 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:16.600 actually debuted incarcerated scar faces on the radio. I'll never 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.160 forget it in DC. So that was my start. 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:20.400 Man. 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:23.359 I was actually just talking about this with my wife yesterday, Like, 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.520 we didn't listen to music in the house. My mom 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.600 is not a huge music fan, so I just had 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.040 to get at other places because it didn't come from 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:34.400 the crib. 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.200 Yeah, I was gonna ask for the same for you, Fante, Like, 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:43.640 was there trickle down creativity in your life like an 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:48.320 older cousin and older like, Yeah, for me, it absolutely was. 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.480 It was it was my mom. I think it started 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:52.000 with my mom. 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.760 So the thing was, you know, I have very young parents, 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.840 so my mother was my mother when she had me, 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:02.040 she was fifteen and my dad was seventeen, So I 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.720 was pretty much with my mom like all the time, 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:10.280 So wherever she went, I was there. So during the summer, 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:12.880 but during the like the weekends, that was when we 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:14.600 had to clean up. We all live with my grandmother, 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:18.280 so that was clean up time. So that was when 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.600 she was playing all the you know, all just you know, 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:25.320 the classic R and B stuff, Luther Patty, you know, 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.560 you had Johnny Guitar Watson. She used to like Love 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:31.240 Jones by Johnny Guitar Watson and we would sing that. 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:34.480 And then during the week if she went out to 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.560 like the park or whatever. That's why I heard all 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:41.520 like the early eighties, you know, Nucleus jam on it, 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.480 Shannon let the music play. That was kind of where 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.520 I was hearing all that. And so between her and 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:51.320 my uncle, but two uncles. My one uncle, Mike, he 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.720 was a DJ, and he would get like all the 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.720 promo records from the station and bring them home and 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:58.440 I would go through the promo records. 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:02.400 And then my other uncle, my uncle Brod, He was super. 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.040 He was kind of the more experimental, I guess in 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:10.920 terms of his taste, Like he was heavy p funk heavy. 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.400 He was a big dance music fan, so a lot 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:17.960 of South soul stuff, south sool, orchestra, instant funk, got 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:18.720 my mom made up. 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:21.040 He like heart. 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.080 I remember he had like the Heart, the Dreamboat, and 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.640 the album, you know what I'm saying. So he he 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:29.200 went all over everywhere. So he was probably, you know, 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.760 one of my biggest musical influences in terms of no 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:34.000 regard for a genre. 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.440 If it was funky to him, he just fucked with it. 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.600 And that's what it was. So with Pooh, for you, 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:47.599 you not having that like what was it just recreational 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.839 or just an escape or like life playing? 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.599 It was an escape for me. I can put on music, 0:05:56.360 --> 0:06:00.720 had a bite walk man, just ride around town unless 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.160 I was just listening to music, had the auto reverse 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:07.920 so flip itself. And so you know, I just for me, 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:11.240 it was just something I just always innately enjoyed and 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:15.320 just enjoy listening. I was always a writer, not necessarily 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:17.760 a music but like I would write poetry, I would 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.680 write short stories. So that inspired like that intrigued me 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.960 in music. That's why I took to Nas like I did, 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:27.760 because his rhymes are more like stories to me. So 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.040 that's why I took the Prince. His stuff was like stories, 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:35.880 and I mean that that was pretty much it. I 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:39.640 later learned that my dad is a big music head 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:42.320 and fan, but you know, I didn't meet him till 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.240 I was nineteen, so I would not have known that 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:45.400 in my younger years. 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:49.640 Now, I mean, is this the typical narrative for a 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.120 young black teenager in the early nineties to go this 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:57.159 particular route, because again, I mean, you know, I'll call 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:02.880 truly ignorant Northerners, and what our thoughts are about anybody 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:07.800 below the Mason Dixon line. So I mean just in general, 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:11.040 because Aucass had this problem as well, like people just 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:16.840 landing whatever, you know, not knowing. So was there ever 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:22.200 a I mean, is this the typical route of a 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.600 young black teenager in that time period? 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:30.160 I definitely wouldn't say it was typical, just because you 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.760 know where we grew up at where I grew up 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:37.320 in Greensboro, North Carolina. You know, there wasn't There were 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:41.280 people who made music, but there wasn't really the thought 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.800 of actually making it as a musician. It was just yo, 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.000 we like music, we spend records, you know, we freestyle whatever. 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:50.920 But I don't think there was ever a real thought of, like, yo, 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.880 you could make a living doing this. This the South 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:56.640 at that time and still in many ways it's still 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.200 very traditional in the sense of, you know, you go 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.800 to school, you get a job, you get you some benefits. 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.040 You know, you bring a steady check home. You know 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.440 what I'm saying. That was life, That's what it was. Yeah. 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:12.880 So in terms of just musically though, we were always 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.240 the South was always a big kind of melting pot 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.680 because and I think a lot of things that people 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.280 didn't understand the problem that cast had and also you 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:24.600 know a problem that little brother had, you know, people 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.080 didn't understand it. In the South, we grew up listening 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:30.640 to everything. Like the South was the meeting point for 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.120 all kinds of music. So you had, of course, you 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.120 know where we were, and I talked about this for 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.040 him the show where we were in Greensboro, that was 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:41.800 you know, it's the South, it's East Coast. But it 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.120 was a lot of traffic that went through Greensboro, be 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.920 it college students, be it drug dealers, be it you know, 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.160 just all kinds of transplants that was bringing their music, 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.360 you know, to our area. And then like Pool was saying, 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:56.880 you had the Cats coming from DC. They brought to 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.439 Go Go, you know what I mean. And so we 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.000 were getting and then you had Florida that was you know, 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.240 Magic Mike two Live Crew you had the base, you know, 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:09.120 from from Florida and Atlanta, and then you know the 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.839 West coast, you know, with like Chronic of course, I 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:13.880 mean Chronic was kind of the bombed, it went off everywhere. 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:18.040 But we were students, and that was something that I 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.559 think we always had an advantage of as Southerners because 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:24.439 we really had to study all types of music. 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:28.120 Versus New York. They kind of got caught off guard. 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.000 Like the South was a sucker punch to them, like 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.080 when they saw you know, when Master p blew up 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:37.400 and you know, no limit, you know, cash money. 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.199 They got caught off guard. They was like, what the 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.240 fuck is this? But in the South, we knew that 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:44.319 shit was coming, you know what I mean, because we 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:48.040 had been studying it. So Okay, when I first started 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.240 coming down to North Carolina, there was a club called 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:56.040 is it the Cat's Cradle? Yep, okay, So like one 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.480 of our very first gigs was at the Cat's Cradle, 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.480 And I mean, you know, we were the roots, so 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.439 of course we're going to attract sort of an alternative 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:11.360 sort of audience whatnot. So there was like an element 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.000 of culture that I was familiar with down there that 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.040 I wasn't too certain about. I don't know if you 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.600 guys know Dave Tompkins. He was like a writer. Yeah, 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:20.439 he was a writer at I know of him. I 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:22.440 don't know him personally, but I know who he is. Yeah, 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:24.800 he wrote for like Vibe and all that stuff and whatnot. 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:28.520 So he was like showing me around North Carolina and whatnot. 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:33.760 So I meant, was there a first draft of a crew? 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:39.040 Like how how do you two meet and amalgamate into 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.520 what will eventually be known as Little Brother? Like what's 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:42.480 what's the circle? 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.000 I mean we initially met, uh in a dorm room. 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:52.800 Tay came through in this ever ever bubbly personality to 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:54.840 supit a rohund he wrote for English class. 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:59.880 Uh, and that's hot. That's how we met, as those 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:01.520 first how we met straight up. It was. 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:07.679 Already on the hallway Joe Joe Wright, I remember his 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:10.599 last name today, Joe Wright. He was. It was his 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:12.800 room and he used to just have mad people come 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.040 in the room. And I was fresh on the hallway 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:19.199 because I actually stayed in a hotel for half of 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:23.400 my first semester in college. But I got there. We 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:25.559 were in the room kicking it and Fonte come in 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:29.040 and was like, yeah, I wrote this round for English class. 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:32.559 It's called no Apologies. And he starts spinning and I'm 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:35.640 just like, what you wrote that for English class? That 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.400 could be on the radio or some ship. And that's 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:41.600 when he let everybody know he was quitting football as well. 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.199 I didn't know he played football, but he was quitting. 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.120 Football. Man, I played football. 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.079 I started playing football in the sixth grade, and h 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:56.480 I played all through middle school, all through high school, 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.199 and I played my first two years in college and 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.440 a fullback. And you know, by the time I got 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:07.640 to college, I realized that it was a much more 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.880 of a It was a commitment that I just didn't have. 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.160 Like I didn't love the game. I wasn't on scholarship. 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:17.679 I didn't care, you know, I was like, why am 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:18.080 I out here? 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:18.440 Fuck? 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:18.559 This? 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.679 Was it a Friday night lights culture for football down there? 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:27.400 Or yeah, it kind of was. 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:29.800 I mean it was a big So the school I 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.520 played for in high school, Page high school, we used 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:35.559 to whoop ass like we was the truth. And so 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.839 my senior, my junior senior year, my senior year, we 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.679 got to the semifinals and we almost took state, but 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.640 we lost in the semifinals. But we always had a 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:49.959 good program, and so it was something I think for me, 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.280 it was just something that was more social. In high school, 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.319 it was just you know, I was a big kid. 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.959 I had decent size, you know, decent speed, and you 0:12:58.000 --> 0:12:59.439 know I like to hit motherfuckers. So I was like, 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.400 all right, fuck I played football. But once I got 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:05.640 this was I got to college. That's when I was like, yo, 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:07.880 this ship is a business, Like you really got to 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.520 be committed, and I just didn't have. 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:11.240 The love for it. 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.880 And I'm just like, man, why am I out here? 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:15.839 I love doing music, so let me go do music. 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:18.000 And that was around the time that that was when me. 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:18.480 And who met. 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.000 That's where we met, and I mean it morphed into 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:27.240 a different variations of what it ultimately became. It was 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.440 a big ass group of us at one time called 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.760 the organization. Then that whittled down to give me. 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:35.880 How many how many people in that organization? 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.000 I don't know at nine so it was okay, the organization, 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:43.719 It was me. You I guess ninth was in it 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:46.480 by default. I think I don't even think he was 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.679 in the organization. Yes, it was people I can't even 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:50.400 remember their name. 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:51.520 It was organization. 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.079 It was this organization, So I know definite it was me, you, 0:13:54.600 --> 0:14:00.520 Joe God who you remember Rosie Rosie was like one 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:02.320 of it was this. It was a girl we used 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:04.079 to run with named Rosie who was em C. 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:04.840 She was dope. 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:05.480 Uh. 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:07.839 Medina of course she was in that. 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:10.400 Yes, yes, it was was there. 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.360 Medina was Medina was she was another girl she was 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:19.840 She was an m C. And Medina was Dope. And 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:24.720 Medina and and Sean Dawn they had a whirlwind ro 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.200 Manus relationship. 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.120 And it was the original Chris Brown and Rihanna man. 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:39.680 Man old man. Listen, Okay, we leave that man to 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.120 tell his own his own war war stories. 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:43.480 Those stories and out ours to tell. 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.880 We were collective of just em c's and and then 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.120 we had a z these Colins Collins, he was he 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:51.240 was our R and B singer. 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:54.480 Yeah, he keep them hollering. Collins. 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:58.080 He had like somebody else that wrapped. I can't remember that. 0:14:58.160 --> 0:14:59.960 I can't remember who it was. But it was your 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:06.120 very loose and I used that term loosely. It was 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:09.680 very loose collective of people who went to school together 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:12.400 and we would just. 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.760 Go to each other each other rooms, freestyling and ra 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:16.320 style and that was that was it. 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.640 And then it whittled down to Gimme, which is me 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:22.480 sean Dan give. 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.520 Me a g I M M E y Yeah, yep, 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.560 that was name. What that was at an acronym? Was it? 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:29.720 It was? Of course it was an A. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:38.920 Of course, God I murdered many ms. That was one 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:39.280 of them. 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:41.160 Yeah, we had a couple of them. 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:42.400 That was the main one. 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:44.760 That was the main one. God I murdered. Man, it 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.640 was so many bad We had so many bad meanings 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:49.400 for the acronym. 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:50.440 But that was it. 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:53.920 I want a group to come out named acronym in 0:15:54.000 --> 0:16:04.440 the accomplished character resilience, right. 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:09.720 I don't get that ship way to fuck up out 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:14.160 of here, But I mean it transformed into many different 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.840 took many different shapes, and I still remember this is 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:19.760 this would always be funny to me. I mean, this 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.960 was the moment that changed my rap career. But it's 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.680 it's still funny because it's ironic how it ended up. 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:29.360 U Seandan didn't come back to school one semester, so 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.640 that was the end of Gimme and uh Fante was 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:33.960 in my dorm room and he was like. 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:35.880 Yo, man, we got went to New York. He went 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:36.520 back to New York. 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.160 Yeah, Sean went back to New York. So I was like, 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:42.400 what's good man. He's like, yeah, man, I don't see 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.800 as being no duo. So, uh, you know, you gotta 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:46.560 do some more work. 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:48.320 So but if you need me for. 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:53.640 Something, just I let me. That conversation changed my It 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:55.240 changed my rap career. 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:55.480 Man. 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.160 It made me work the hardest ship, Like I never 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.200 worked so hard my life at something. But I mean 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.720 it's ironic because that's what we ended up a duo anyway. 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.480 During that period. I mean, how how much would you 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.800 say you were committing to your craft as opposed to 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.199 like surviving going your job and I write rhyme, maybe I. 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:18.440 Was surviving man. 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.040 Uh yeah, it wasn't. 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:25.280 It wasn't serious for me. I still didn't. I still 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.320 didn't believe that it could be more than just something 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:32.000 we were doing in school at the time, because I 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.080 never saw this as a career for me. It was 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:39.760 just something I love to do. And that moment let 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.080 me know like, hey man, you gotta step your ship 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.680 up or you better start really going to class. It 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.640 was it was one of those moments. Yeah, I'm saying 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:52.119 I didn't choose class. 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:54.680 Yeah, that was the thing. 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.640 I mean, I remember at that time because we were 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:58.720 kind of It was a pivotal moment for all of 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.040 us because at that time, Sean Donnie went back to 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:04.000 New York and Pool was still me and you. We 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:06.840 were only ones I think still in Durham and you 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:08.879 were about to go home that summer. We were about 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:12.159 to just go home for that summer. And this is 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:17.040 ninety eight, ninety nine, No, this was this was probably 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.360 was it two thousand, It had to be the two thousand. 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.280 It was two thousand and one, because that's the summer. 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:27.959 We don't know what it was two thousand and one 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:29.000 to spring. 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:33.000 It was spring two thousand and one. I went to 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.720 Charlotte for the summer and I was taking the train 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:40.200 back to Durham because that's when the Justice League started. Yeah, 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.119 that's when little brother became little brother like that. 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:45.680 And that end us Spring two thousand and one. That 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:49.440 was like dealing. It was born. My oldest son was born. 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:53.800 He was born December two thousand, So yeah, around two 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.720 thousand and one Spring, old Nigga, My head was in 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.040 a whole nother place. I was like, yo, if you 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.160 ain't real about this shit, nigga. Yeah, you better find 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:03.439 something else because nigga, I got a kid. 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:06.320 Yeah, I'm going to say out, when you have a 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.760 kid and when you have real life situations, then how 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.920 much pressure to pursue your your craft? Like what's the 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.320 ratio balance? Man? I was scared of ship. 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:18.879 I was. 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:19.200 I was. 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.080 I was scared to tell. But you know, my son 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:26.520 was born the end of December. Uh he you know, 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.760 he was Christmas. He was Christmas Eve two thousand and 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:33.960 so I ended up finishing my degree in that that 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:37.600 following semester of like May two thousand and one. His 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:40.840 mother ended up coming back I think that next the 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.080 semester after that, and she finished her degree like in December. 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:47.399 So we were young parents and we had no fucking 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.600 idea what we were gonna do. You know, I had 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:52.840 no clue you know what what it was gonna be. 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:56.920 And me and Pooh, we were we had started kind 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:58.639 of making records. We had made a couple of records. 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:01.080 It's give me and you know, I felt like we 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:01.760 had something. 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:04.480 It was dope. But uh, you know, Seanda went back 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:05.200 to New York. 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.240 Me and Pool were just you know, kind of here 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.320 he was going back home for the summer, and he 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:13.640 was going back home to Charlotte, and we had that conversation. 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:15.360 Was like, yo, man, I don't really see us being 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:15.760 the duo. 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:18.760 But that summer, I remember Pooh went home and that 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:21.360 was it was this event used to call call fat 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:23.440 City that a buddy of ours was having. 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:26.639 It's cat DJ dr and it was like. 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:30.399 An open mic kind of freestyle thing and Pooh he 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.280 put in work and he came back that next semester 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.280 and his rhymes was just different. 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:38.840 He was rhyming. I was like, nigga, you shit sound good? 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:39.520 You know what I mean? 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.200 And I could just see he had really put that 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:43.959 work in. I mean, and we always kind of been 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.320 putting it in, but I really just saw in him. 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:48.879 I was like, yeah, like he really he really about 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:52.359 it now, and you know, we all, you know, we 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:53.640 took him seriously at that point. 0:20:54.680 --> 0:21:01.480 Okay, So where does ninth come into the equation of ninth? 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:05.800 Originally was man ninth? Was I met nine in ninety. 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:07.280 Eight? 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:08.960 Ninety eight? It was ninety eight. 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:13.280 Yeah, So ninety eight we were moving into the dorm. 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:16.920 This was like, uh, you the day when everybody moves 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:19.280 into the dorm. I was playing football, so I had 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.080 already been there earlier to report for camp. So we 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:24.000 had been in there all the all the football players. 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:27.320 But this is when the civilians we used to call them, 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.679 you know, the civilians had first moved in, so all 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.760 the niggas didn't bolve like it's like it's civilians about 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:35.720 to move in, the civilians coming, and so ninth it. 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:37.879 Was sports and first, and then the civilians come. 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:40.040 Yeah, that's when the civilians come after that, because we 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:42.880 had to report early, you know, for two days, three 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:46.400 of days really and so so man, so I'm I'm 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:48.280 in the joint. I walk into the dorm and it's 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:50.800 like the lobby kind of commons area, and I see 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:52.960 this dude holding a source magazine. 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:54.520 And I was like, yo, man, let me let me 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:55.880 see that. Let me let me see that source. 0:21:56.400 --> 0:22:00.399 And at that time, this was again, this is like 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.760 ninety eight, so this is master p you know, bad boy. 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:07.200 I mean, this is kind of like the peak of 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:10.720 that era, you know, approaching that era. So to see 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:14.960 somebody with a source magazine, that shit was like, Nigga, 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:16.919 that's like manner from heaven, you know what I mean. 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:19.080 It's like, oh, my god, you know about this too? 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:23.760 What the fuck you know? And so he was like yeah, man. 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:26.080 So we me and him started going through the source 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:29.640 together and it was an ad for Most steps Black 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:33.000 on Black Side, and I think either me or him 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:34.080 was like, Yo, man, I'm. 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:36.119 Waiting on this shit. And I was like, nigga, you 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:38.359 know about that? Like what you were you up on Most? 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:41.920 And from that point on, me and Knife like we 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:44.359 were like that was it, you know what I mean? 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:47.480 It was like, you know, I found kind of another Jedi. 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:49.080 So that was ninety eight. 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:51.680 Can I ask Can I ask something? Sure? 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:52.160 Well? 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:55.560 When I met culturally, did you often have to code 0:22:55.600 --> 0:23:00.159 switch musically to fit in with whatever social sirvece or 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:03.960 you were in? So say, if like someone's not into 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:09.200 most that is in your parameter in college, like who 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:10.960 else are you listening to? At that time? 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:15.399 No Limit they ran ship because I couldn't make No 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:18.119 Limit ran ship, bro. 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:19.520 Like that was for me. 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:23.320 It was different because so I didn't get no Limit 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:26.960 until I got to college because at the time that 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:30.320 was when we was playing football, and so all the 0:23:30.400 --> 0:23:31.600 football players. 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:32.640 Like all in the locker room. 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:35.159 That was what we was bumping about it about it 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:39.760 the true album No Limit Soldiers, like you know, before 0:23:39.840 --> 0:23:42.040 we went to the weight room, like we bumped that ship. 0:23:42.520 --> 0:23:46.320 So that was when No Limit clicked for me because 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:48.119 I was like, Okay, this is what the music is 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:50.880 used for. It wasn't necessarily nothing. I was riding around 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:52.159 in my car playing, you know. 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:54.159 So at no point were you guys like, hey, this 0:23:54.240 --> 0:24:02.480 is this thing called the love movement. I was a hold, 0:24:03.800 --> 0:24:04.840 you know, I was. 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:08.639 Still I was still in high school. But I mean 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:10.680 for us, it wasn't. It was just like you like 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:15.399 what you liked, and you learned from other people about 0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:18.840 other you know, other ship. So I learned from other 0:24:18.880 --> 0:24:21.160 people about No Limit. I learned because I was listening 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:24.200 to New York stuff personally. So I learned from other 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:26.600 people about No Limit. I learned from other people about 0:24:26.600 --> 0:24:28.479 the West Coast. I had a homeboy who was from 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:32.200 Oakland originally, so he put me on to Drew Down 0:24:32.480 --> 0:24:35.440 and Too Short and all the guys from Oakland and 0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:38.800 and so that's how I started just taking everything in. 0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:42.040 But it wasn't like a if you come into the 0:24:42.119 --> 0:24:43.879 circle and you be like yo, man. I listened to 0:24:45.119 --> 0:24:47.160 you know, the Jungle Brothers, and somebody was like, man, 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:50.240 I'm listening to fucking n w A man. Like it 0:24:50.400 --> 0:24:52.800 wasn't a seemed like they wasn't down on that. It 0:24:52.920 --> 0:24:54.920 was just like, oh well, let me see what that's 0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:58.400 talking about. And it was like a sharing experience. 0:24:58.440 --> 0:25:02.520 It was a lot sharing, way more communal experience. We 0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:06.920 gotten a no limit, but it was more like with binoculars, 0:25:08.400 --> 0:25:11.040 let's see what they're doing a distance, Let's see what 0:25:11.119 --> 0:25:13.600 they're doing. I mean when the movie came out, we 0:25:13.680 --> 0:25:15.320 had it on the tour bus, but it's more like, 0:25:16.000 --> 0:25:19.399 look at those guys. But we I didn't realize that 0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:21.080 that ship was a culture. 0:25:21.640 --> 0:25:25.080 It's it was a that ship. Yeah, man, Yeah, it 0:25:25.200 --> 0:25:27.720 wasn't a movement, nigga. It was definitely a culture. 0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:31.800 Like you saw that no Limit tank. 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:35.040 Out the way, and. 0:25:35.280 --> 0:25:37.760 Yet the thing that's curious to me is that you 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:44.320 guys still decided to go to another pasture that not 0:25:44.480 --> 0:25:46.879 travel before down there, where it could have been easy 0:25:47.000 --> 0:25:52.000 for you guys to just go that route. I just 0:25:52.080 --> 0:25:54.840 think that that wasn't who we were, you know, because 0:25:54.880 --> 0:25:57.920 I've you know, I've been asked that question a lot 0:25:58.000 --> 0:26:00.720 about you know, why we chose was the route that 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:04.600 we did and you know, for me, I think it 0:26:04.720 --> 0:26:06.399 was just an extension of who we were, you know 0:26:06.400 --> 0:26:08.359 what I mean. I mean the no limit stuff and 0:26:08.520 --> 0:26:10.280 like a lot of the South stuff that was popping 0:26:10.320 --> 0:26:12.800 at that time. You know, I enjoyed those records, and 0:26:13.080 --> 0:26:14.920 you know, they certainly had a place in my life, 0:26:15.520 --> 0:26:18.280 but I knew I couldn't live that, you know what 0:26:18.280 --> 0:26:22.399 I mean, And so I was like, well, the stuff 0:26:22.520 --> 0:26:27.080 that is more connected to me in terms of, you know, 0:26:27.280 --> 0:26:28.879 just who I am as a person and kind of 0:26:28.960 --> 0:26:32.200 where I want to live my life. It was tribe. 0:26:32.320 --> 0:26:34.879 It was calm and the roots, and you know, it 0:26:35.080 --> 0:26:37.720 was all the stuff from that kind of native tongue tree, 0:26:38.280 --> 0:26:42.200 and that was what felt right to us in terms 0:26:42.240 --> 0:26:42.959 of making records. 0:26:43.640 --> 0:26:47.000 Now, I'll say what attracted me to you guys when 0:26:47.040 --> 0:26:50.800 I first heard of you guys was the fact that, well, first, 0:26:50.920 --> 0:26:55.720 I mean, our listeners need to know exactly how ahead 0:26:55.720 --> 0:26:58.800 of your time you guys were as far as I mean, 0:26:58.840 --> 0:27:01.000 what people are doing now, as far as like do 0:27:01.119 --> 0:27:05.960 it yourself, making records, making final products in your houses, 0:27:06.320 --> 0:27:10.359 in your apartment, that sort of thing, which I mean 0:27:10.480 --> 0:27:12.800 is practically unheard of. I mean, for all the folklore 0:27:12.800 --> 0:27:16.720 of Rizza. Yeah, making the wood tanking stuff in his apartment. 0:27:16.840 --> 0:27:19.520 He still brought those aid debts to a real studio 0:27:19.760 --> 0:27:23.040 to polish them and all those things. So the first, 0:27:23.200 --> 0:27:25.920 you know, when you guys told me that all this 0:27:26.000 --> 0:27:29.200 stuff was made in your in your dorm room and 0:27:29.359 --> 0:27:32.240 on fruity loops and on computers and all that stuff 0:27:32.400 --> 0:27:37.639 like that was like talking Greek to me. I how 0:27:37.720 --> 0:27:42.320 did you guys even know? I mean, how are you 0:27:42.359 --> 0:27:46.119 guys even pioneers of just new ways of recording and whatnot? 0:27:46.440 --> 0:27:48.879 That's all we had, we black folk man, you know 0:27:48.920 --> 0:27:52.840 what I'm saying, working what you got? Like, we didn't 0:27:52.880 --> 0:27:56.600 have no studios, We didn't have no you know NiFe, 0:27:56.640 --> 0:27:58.560 didn't have no beat machine, like. 0:27:59.400 --> 0:28:02.040 I mean, point was it like? Because even with us, 0:28:02.119 --> 0:28:04.240 it was like, okay, well we got to get to 0:28:04.320 --> 0:28:06.560 a real studio one day. So like we pulled it 0:28:06.640 --> 0:28:08.840 up our money and just went to a real studio 0:28:09.119 --> 0:28:10.520 and no point is there. 0:28:10.640 --> 0:28:13.240 Like we heard what we had and what we were doing. 0:28:13.520 --> 0:28:16.560 It was like fuck that studio like this is and 0:28:16.640 --> 0:28:18.680 then were good and then too on top of that, 0:28:19.040 --> 0:28:22.080 and on top of that, you remember we heard, so 0:28:22.200 --> 0:28:24.199 we heard the stuff that we were making in our studio. 0:28:24.680 --> 0:28:26.960 And then we also heard the stuff that was coming 0:28:27.080 --> 0:28:30.240 out of the big studios at that time, right, and 0:28:30.359 --> 0:28:34.040 that shit was garbage, And so I think that kind 0:28:34.080 --> 0:28:36.199 of gave us even more confidence because we was like, Yo, 0:28:36.359 --> 0:28:38.880 if we're doing this shit in our fucking in my 0:28:39.000 --> 0:28:42.440 homies apartment and y'all niggas is going to ease. 0:28:42.520 --> 0:28:42.680 You know. 0:28:42.800 --> 0:28:44.920 It was mixed on this twenty four track or whatever, 0:28:45.280 --> 0:28:47.720 and the music still ain't good. So I think for 0:28:47.920 --> 0:28:49.920 me that was a big That was a big factor too. 0:28:50.400 --> 0:28:53.280 That's when I realized it was the man, not the machine. 0:28:54.120 --> 0:28:55.520 That's that's that's what that taught me. 0:28:56.920 --> 0:29:00.760 What were the alternative group names? A little? I mean, 0:29:01.120 --> 0:29:03.560 was it Little Brother? Just in automatic, like that's what 0:29:03.680 --> 0:29:08.120 we are. Did you have other that was the first name? Yeah? 0:29:08.240 --> 0:29:10.440 I think another one, The only one I can remember 0:29:10.640 --> 0:29:13.520 was Round Midnight. I remember we had that was one 0:29:13.960 --> 0:29:14.480 which things. 0:29:14.520 --> 0:29:17.880 That was one we had one that we just all 0:29:17.960 --> 0:29:20.400 knew it couldn't be used for a rap group. Flea 0:29:20.480 --> 0:29:21.360 market Mannequins. 0:29:22.040 --> 0:29:23.840 Oh, I remember that. 0:29:24.960 --> 0:29:27.080 I'm still wearing that ship for something. Why. 0:29:29.480 --> 0:29:32.040 I have no idea where that came from. I remember 0:29:32.160 --> 0:29:34.080 that name, but I don't know what the thought of 0:29:34.160 --> 0:29:36.600 it was. I think maybe I was like I was. 0:29:36.640 --> 0:29:39.360 I was listening to like Google dolls and like food Fighters, 0:29:39.400 --> 0:29:41.080 like I was into that ship. So I was trying 0:29:41.120 --> 0:29:43.080 to think of a name that sounded something like that, but. 0:29:43.200 --> 0:29:45.760 An alternative name that you get you all the booked 0:29:45.760 --> 0:29:46.960 at a club, right. 0:29:47.840 --> 0:29:52.760 Wait a minute, a lot of pissed off people. 0:29:58.120 --> 0:30:01.560 So what was the the the genesis of what we 0:30:01.760 --> 0:30:03.160 now know as the listening. 0:30:04.640 --> 0:30:09.200 At the beginning of it, man, the listening was Yeah, 0:30:09.280 --> 0:30:12.440 by this time, this is around two thousand and one, 0:30:13.840 --> 0:30:19.240 it's old one. Yeah, I graduated school in May and ninth. 0:30:19.360 --> 0:30:21.800 He was by this time he was fully fledged, like 0:30:21.920 --> 0:30:24.760 making beats. So the thing with Knife was that, you know, 0:30:24.920 --> 0:30:29.160 we met in ninety eight. I didn't hear a beat 0:30:29.280 --> 0:30:32.120 from him until like a year later. I didn't even 0:30:32.160 --> 0:30:34.840 know he made beats. He came to my room. We 0:30:34.960 --> 0:30:37.880 met in ninety eight. He came to my room one 0:30:38.000 --> 0:30:41.200 day and he had He's like, yo, man, I got 0:30:41.240 --> 0:30:42.880 something I want to play for you. He's like, yeah, 0:30:42.880 --> 0:30:44.560 I got the black Star bootleg. 0:30:44.640 --> 0:30:45.800 I was like, word, you got that? 0:30:45.880 --> 0:30:48.960 She's a hell yeah, And so we played the Black 0:30:49.040 --> 0:30:52.840 Star album. We was listening to the Blackstar record, and 0:30:52.960 --> 0:30:55.040 I was like, man, this shit crazy as hell, this 0:30:55.080 --> 0:30:58.720 shit dope. And so then I didn't see ninth again 0:30:58.840 --> 0:31:01.240 for like months at a time because. 0:31:00.960 --> 0:31:03.600 He was in school. But I don't think he was 0:31:03.680 --> 0:31:06.960 really in school. Yeah, he was a career student. Like 0:31:07.520 --> 0:31:11.520 how do y'all do that? Likes yo? 0:31:11.680 --> 0:31:13.920 If you get if you hang around the dorm, if 0:31:13.960 --> 0:31:17.000 you can get uh, you know, if you're good with 0:31:17.120 --> 0:31:19.680 somebody in the calf, you can eat. So if you ain't, 0:31:19.760 --> 0:31:21.720 even if you ain't got no meal playing, you know, 0:31:21.880 --> 0:31:24.600 you can get in the calf on especially on like Chicken. 0:31:24.400 --> 0:31:31.920 Day, nigga, come on anybody on Chicken Day. Every day? 0:31:31.960 --> 0:31:34.400 Essential was like the club. I was gonna say. At 0:31:34.440 --> 0:31:38.280 Treia School, they did not allow any rentals, wrap or 0:31:38.440 --> 0:31:43.240 foil uh inside their cafeteria for fear that you know, 0:31:43.280 --> 0:31:45.520 the students would steal the food and take it back 0:31:45.520 --> 0:31:46.080 to their dorm. 0:31:46.240 --> 0:31:46.480 Man. 0:31:46.960 --> 0:31:49.560 Listen, man, niggas took all kind of ship back from 0:31:49.560 --> 0:31:53.200 the dorm. We were taking so word everything. 0:31:53.320 --> 0:31:56.280 I mean, we had a takeout line in the calf 0:31:56.920 --> 0:31:59.120 so you can come and get your food and eat, 0:31:59.240 --> 0:32:00.600 like get it to go and lead. 0:32:01.080 --> 0:32:03.520 Straight up, straight up but h so, yeah. 0:32:03.600 --> 0:32:06.880 So around that time, you know, niney nine Poop ninth 0:32:07.080 --> 0:32:09.080 wasn't on campus like that. I've just kind of see 0:32:09.120 --> 0:32:12.360 him sporadically. But ninety he bring the Black starlebum to 0:32:12.440 --> 0:32:14.720 my room. We listened to it, and then in ninety 0:32:14.840 --> 0:32:17.480 nine he shows back up. And by this time we 0:32:17.560 --> 0:32:19.840 were in a new dorm. We were in the new residence, 0:32:20.000 --> 0:32:21.320 and so we had moved and we had like this 0:32:21.400 --> 0:32:24.040 little sweet or whatever, and so he come and he like, yo, man, 0:32:24.040 --> 0:32:25.680 I got some joints I want to play for you. 0:32:25.880 --> 0:32:27.560 And I was like, and I was thinking he had 0:32:27.600 --> 0:32:31.560 like another unreleased album, and he plays. He puts the 0:32:31.600 --> 0:32:34.000 tape in, plays it and I'm like, yo, this shit dope. 0:32:34.040 --> 0:32:34.400 Who is this? 0:32:34.920 --> 0:32:37.600 He's like, yo, this is me? I said, word, I said, 0:32:37.880 --> 0:32:39.440 He's like, you made these beats. He was like, yeah, 0:32:39.560 --> 0:32:40.080 these joints. 0:32:40.360 --> 0:32:42.080 I said, what you make them on? He said, man, 0:32:42.080 --> 0:32:44.320 I just make him on fruity loops or well no, no, no, 0:32:44.520 --> 0:32:45.960 I'm sorry. It wasn't frud loops at the time. This 0:32:46.000 --> 0:32:48.120 is even before fruit loops. He was using a program 0:32:48.320 --> 0:32:51.760 called called beat Nah. This was even before acid. It 0:32:51.920 --> 0:32:55.360 was called it was a program called be Box and 0:32:56.080 --> 0:32:58.080 he was using be box and cool at it to 0:32:58.200 --> 0:33:03.000 make to make tracks, and I mean again, it was 0:33:03.120 --> 0:33:03.720 unheard of me. 0:33:03.760 --> 0:33:04.840 I was like, nigga, what the fuck? 0:33:04.960 --> 0:33:07.840 Like, I was really on a computer and so but 0:33:07.960 --> 0:33:11.080 he had some joints and so one record he had 0:33:11.200 --> 0:33:11.960 was one Beat Had. 0:33:12.320 --> 0:33:14.360 I said, man, when you let me wrap over this? 0:33:14.480 --> 0:33:16.400 He was like, all right, cool, he said you really 0:33:16.400 --> 0:33:17.840 want to wrap I said, yeah, let me wrap over 0:33:17.880 --> 0:33:20.720 this joint. And I did a record called paper Lines 0:33:20.920 --> 0:33:22.600 and that was like ninety nine. That was like the 0:33:22.680 --> 0:33:25.640 first song me and him ever did together. And I 0:33:25.720 --> 0:33:29.640 remember doing it. I played it for pool, played it 0:33:29.720 --> 0:33:31.400 for just cats and our crew. They really they really 0:33:31.440 --> 0:33:34.560 fucked with it. And that was that was kind of 0:33:34.640 --> 0:33:37.640 when it all first started. So around the time, by 0:33:37.720 --> 0:33:40.160 the time oh one World Around, that was when the 0:33:40.280 --> 0:33:43.160 league had all, we was just recording so much shit 0:33:43.280 --> 0:33:45.600 together and it was still just kind of loose. But 0:33:46.200 --> 0:33:50.120 by this time we would had started work on a song. 0:33:50.240 --> 0:33:52.600 It was called Speed, and originally it was supposed to 0:33:52.600 --> 0:33:57.240 be me and Median. Median never shows up to the 0:33:57.560 --> 0:34:00.360 studio and so Pooh was there. 0:34:00.400 --> 0:34:01.720 I can't remember if you wrote with me to the 0:34:01.760 --> 0:34:03.360 studio that night or yeah, I think. 0:34:03.440 --> 0:34:05.440 I think I came up on the train and I 0:34:05.480 --> 0:34:05.960 wrote with you. 0:34:06.520 --> 0:34:07.000 Yeah, we came. 0:34:07.120 --> 0:34:09.719 We came to the studio together and I was like, 0:34:10.480 --> 0:34:11.960 I was like, well, ship Pool here like you you 0:34:12.040 --> 0:34:14.360 want to rocket? He was like, yeah, I rocket, And 0:34:14.520 --> 0:34:17.680 so we did that song together and that was it. 0:34:17.920 --> 0:34:19.040 That was just like the Speed. 0:34:19.160 --> 0:34:21.600 I know, that was their first joint together. That was 0:34:21.640 --> 0:34:25.200 the very first song we put together. Oh shit, okay, okay. 0:34:26.160 --> 0:34:28.400 So it's also explained to me who is in the 0:34:28.600 --> 0:34:33.160 Justice League? Okay, all right, I'm sorry should I say 0:34:33.480 --> 0:34:34.160 Justice League? 0:34:37.160 --> 0:34:42.000 That side was to remember the names, it's fifteen of them, 0:34:43.320 --> 0:34:44.000 and also. 0:34:44.040 --> 0:34:47.200 How do you how do you wrestle with that Justice League? 0:34:47.400 --> 0:34:50.040 And have y'all ever had a meeting a collective meeting? 0:34:50.200 --> 0:34:52.879 Like I talked to Rook. 0:34:53.280 --> 0:34:55.440 I haven't taught the rook in sometimes Rook from the 0:34:55.680 --> 0:34:59.399 Justice League, but it was it was always love, I love. 0:34:59.760 --> 0:34:59.960 Yeah. 0:35:00.320 --> 0:35:00.759 We met. 0:35:01.200 --> 0:35:03.160 At one point me and Brook was talking. This was 0:35:03.320 --> 0:35:03.879 years ago. 0:35:04.280 --> 0:35:05.520 He was like, yo, man, we need to do a 0:35:05.880 --> 0:35:08.759 Justice League meets Justice League, Like let's let's collab, let's 0:35:08.800 --> 0:35:11.200 do some ship and we were talking about doing it, 0:35:11.280 --> 0:35:13.239 but I know it just never happened. But it was 0:35:13.360 --> 0:35:17.640 never no, no, smoking's first. I think we were first. 0:35:17.719 --> 0:35:20.880 I think we were first. I think yeah, all right, 0:35:20.920 --> 0:35:24.160 all right, all right, so so Justice League members, Okay, 0:35:24.400 --> 0:35:26.359 so let's let's we're gonna do this the easy way. 0:35:26.960 --> 0:35:28.200 Start with the niggas on the phone. 0:35:28.640 --> 0:35:34.080 Yeah, me, and do you have nine? Did you have 0:35:34.440 --> 0:35:42.640 Sean Dawn? You have Seambu Crisis? Uh Na Cason right 0:35:43.000 --> 0:35:56.080 that Comanche? Hey, uh flacentriccentric Centric big legacy though leg 0:35:56.320 --> 0:35:57.480 lega thirteen. 0:35:59.840 --> 0:36:01.240 Were the crisis Crisis. 0:36:01.600 --> 0:36:02.360 I said crisis. 0:36:02.440 --> 0:36:03.120 You got crisis. 0:36:03.400 --> 0:36:04.080 I said crisis. 0:36:04.200 --> 0:36:07.239 You show your Allen Poe and Eggar Allan Poe or. 0:36:08.520 --> 0:36:12.160 Said flow the flow. I said, PoCA, Yeah, I got 0:36:12.320 --> 0:36:15.759 the flow. The reading nig I think that's it. I 0:36:15.840 --> 0:36:18.520 think forgetting. So it's fifteen. We forget. 0:36:18.840 --> 0:36:21.520 We got Mike Bird, we got Eccentric, we got some 0:36:21.680 --> 0:36:24.520 of your real got some of your got Bird, got 0:36:24.600 --> 0:36:25.359 Bird says all. 0:36:25.480 --> 0:36:30.960 We got book saves a crisis, leg crisis. I think 0:36:31.160 --> 0:36:33.239 what about the weight, you said, the Waight team. That's 0:36:35.760 --> 0:36:36.960 I think we got everybody. 0:36:36.719 --> 0:36:40.560 Median media damn median median. 0:36:41.120 --> 0:36:41.640 Yeah. Yeah. 0:36:41.800 --> 0:36:45.080 Another dude that showed up intermittently like he would just vanished. 0:36:45.160 --> 0:36:47.400 For like months at a time, and then just popped 0:36:47.400 --> 0:36:49.880 back up. That was that's that's been meetings and mo 0:36:50.040 --> 0:36:52.440 since I know him. Everybody needs your elk be in 0:36:52.480 --> 0:36:52.839 their life. 0:36:57.440 --> 0:37:00.239 Just shows up in here. That was him? Was it 0:37:01.680 --> 0:37:06.879 so with speed? Like when is the official like okay, 0:37:07.080 --> 0:37:11.080 are we a group? Or was it just like okay, 0:37:11.560 --> 0:37:12.000 what is this? 0:37:12.520 --> 0:37:12.719 I mean? 0:37:12.800 --> 0:37:15.360 Is it like a relationship where you're like, you know, 0:37:15.520 --> 0:37:18.000 like after the third date, then she's like, okay, so 0:37:18.120 --> 0:37:21.760 what are we? We are farmers. 0:37:24.160 --> 0:37:27.600 For that? I think like a day or two later, 0:37:28.480 --> 0:37:30.800 like we all just kept listening to the song and 0:37:31.160 --> 0:37:35.520 noticed the chemistry and said, hey, this sounds good. Let's 0:37:35.680 --> 0:37:37.520 let's make a few more and see how it come out. 0:37:38.239 --> 0:37:40.680 And a few more turned into a whole Lass album. 0:37:41.280 --> 0:37:43.800 Okay, Now I really want to now that I've established 0:37:43.840 --> 0:37:46.360 the story for those that are not familiar, now I 0:37:46.480 --> 0:37:51.319 want to get to my real first question because even 0:37:51.400 --> 0:37:54.920 more than the roots, like okay, okay, granted it's like 0:37:55.280 --> 0:37:57.920 eleven of us, but really the roots are two people, 0:37:59.000 --> 0:38:02.360 and it comes down to me Intarique and fifty to 0:38:02.400 --> 0:38:07.600 fifty is a little bit more easier than thirty three 0:38:07.680 --> 0:38:13.320 or three and third. So in the beginning, are you 0:38:13.640 --> 0:38:20.719 guys ever, like, what is the the democratic process of 0:38:20.880 --> 0:38:22.399 how decisions are made? 0:38:23.880 --> 0:38:24.040 Man? 0:38:24.120 --> 0:38:28.440 At that time, I mean, it was we had I 0:38:28.560 --> 0:38:32.800 think I thought was a fairly a good system that 0:38:33.000 --> 0:38:37.320 got kind of you know, corroded over time. But but originally, 0:38:37.480 --> 0:38:38.719 you know, it was the three of us. It was me, 0:38:38.840 --> 0:38:43.839 poor Knife, and Doe was our manager. So pretty much 0:38:44.040 --> 0:38:47.040 whenever it came down to do something, me, poor Knife 0:38:47.080 --> 0:38:50.520 would discuss it internally, and it's three of us, so automatically, 0:38:50.600 --> 0:38:53.160 somebody's gonna lose, you know what I mean. Sometimes I lose, 0:38:53.239 --> 0:38:56.400 sometimes Pool lose, Nfe lose, whatever. But whatever it was 0:38:56.520 --> 0:38:59.319 that we voted on, we would then go to our 0:38:59.400 --> 0:39:01.680 manager and be like, look, this is what we agreed on, 0:39:02.160 --> 0:39:03.040 this is what we're gonna do. 0:39:03.239 --> 0:39:03.800 And that was it. 0:39:05.320 --> 0:39:09.360 Once Ninth left the group, that was when things changed 0:39:09.719 --> 0:39:13.160 and we no longer had that kind of third swing vote, 0:39:13.320 --> 0:39:18.040 so to speak. So that was when for me, I 0:39:18.160 --> 0:39:24.520 think just the group became very taxing because it was just, yeah, 0:39:24.680 --> 0:39:27.600 it was, but yeah, particularly and hard as a twosome 0:39:27.640 --> 0:39:29.520 at that point because at that point in time, me 0:39:29.600 --> 0:39:32.520 and Pool hadn't really I don't think me and you 0:39:32.600 --> 0:39:34.040 had really talked like that. 0:39:34.120 --> 0:39:36.560 About what we wanted and about kind of at all. 0:39:36.640 --> 0:39:39.160 We didn't have none of them conversations, so we were 0:39:39.239 --> 0:39:40.960 just making a lot of them decisions on the fly, 0:39:41.440 --> 0:39:44.240 and you know, when you don't have a third person 0:39:44.320 --> 0:39:47.480 there to kind of help smooth things over, in some ways, 0:39:48.480 --> 0:39:49.319 it made it really hard. 0:39:49.360 --> 0:39:50.560 But in the beginning, that's what it was. 0:39:50.680 --> 0:39:52.560 It was the three of us, we make a decision 0:39:52.840 --> 0:39:54.800 and then just kind of told our manager what we 0:39:54.880 --> 0:39:55.600 wanted to do with it. 0:39:56.560 --> 0:39:59.759 So what were your initial goals for the listening? Was 0:39:59.840 --> 0:40:03.239 it like, Okay, we'll have these collection songs, we'll try 0:40:03.280 --> 0:40:05.600 to get a major deal too much. 0:40:08.600 --> 0:40:13.960 It was let's do these songs, sell them ourselves, and 0:40:14.040 --> 0:40:14.840 see what happens. 0:40:15.480 --> 0:40:18.440 Yeah, originally we was gonna do We was gonna do it, 0:40:18.520 --> 0:40:21.680 put it out ourselves because I was on I think 0:40:21.680 --> 0:40:23.080 I had like a credit card at that time, I 0:40:23.120 --> 0:40:26.320 had my little Discovery card and I was we was 0:40:26.400 --> 0:40:29.000 on disc makers and I was just running numbers. I'm like, yo, 0:40:29.200 --> 0:40:32.200 so how much if we just press this shit ourselves? 0:40:32.280 --> 0:40:34.239 And we moved out the trunk like I was, you know, 0:40:34.440 --> 0:40:36.799 doing it just in my mind, and I was talking 0:40:36.880 --> 0:40:38.640 to ninth about it. Because I remember we were in 0:40:39.400 --> 0:40:43.440 We were in the computer lab at h at at 0:40:43.520 --> 0:40:46.319 in C State. So another fun fact about this time, 0:40:46.400 --> 0:40:49.320 which I'm just now remembering. Even though the listening was 0:40:49.400 --> 0:40:52.240 recorded on a computer, none of us had personal computers 0:40:52.239 --> 0:40:56.280 at that time. Oh like none of us had personal computers. 0:40:56.360 --> 0:40:59.320 I didn't do get story Yo bro for real, Like 0:40:59.400 --> 0:41:01.919 I didn't have a computer. Ninth ain't had one. Ninth 0:41:02.080 --> 0:41:04.480 was using he was a courting. We was recording at 0:41:04.480 --> 0:41:07.040 Sazar Comanche's crib and he had a compact for Sario. 0:41:07.719 --> 0:41:09.520 So that was the computer. 0:41:09.960 --> 0:41:12.759 So whenever I wanted, whenever I wanted to get on 0:41:13.000 --> 0:41:16.359 like okay, player and ship nigga, that was all computer lab. 0:41:16.520 --> 0:41:20.000 So uh, my Homie Median he was a student at 0:41:20.120 --> 0:41:22.800 n C State but like not really a student, but 0:41:22.920 --> 0:41:23.640 he had an I D. 0:41:25.320 --> 0:41:32.640 So he was there. You know us we use Yo Reil, 0:41:33.040 --> 0:41:33.720 Yeah Leroy. 0:41:34.480 --> 0:41:40.200 Uh we used LeRoy's roommate, Uh, Louis Cheronis like he 0:41:40.320 --> 0:41:42.360 was the he was the cafe Nigga pretty pretty pretty 0:41:42.400 --> 0:41:44.840 low when we were this joint. 0:41:44.920 --> 0:41:47.719 And and then like when I was at Central like 0:41:47.880 --> 0:41:50.279 that that that my last year. That was when I 0:41:50.440 --> 0:41:51.920 was I was on the newspaper. 0:41:52.320 --> 0:41:53.040 I was an editor. 0:41:53.239 --> 0:41:55.200 I was the arts in arts and entertainment editor on 0:41:55.239 --> 0:41:57.760 our newspaper, and so I would be in a computer 0:41:57.880 --> 0:41:59.000 lab all the time. 0:41:59.440 --> 0:41:59.560 You know. 0:42:00.000 --> 0:42:02.000 That's when I would get all my OK player post off. 0:42:02.440 --> 0:42:05.240 But after that, I mean I was going home like nigga, 0:42:05.239 --> 0:42:06.239 we have no computers at. 0:42:06.200 --> 0:42:08.160 The crib, no cell phone? 0:42:08.360 --> 0:42:10.680 Shit Ty didn't he have a cell phone at that time? 0:42:11.040 --> 0:42:12.520 Yeah, I don't think I got my first cell phone 0:42:12.600 --> 0:42:15.040 probably like oh, what four something like that, some shit 0:42:15.120 --> 0:42:15.239 like that. 0:42:15.360 --> 0:42:19.200 Yeah, three four, Yeah, Boss, Bill, correct me if I'm wrong. No, 0:42:19.320 --> 0:42:23.160 this is literally the Bill Gates story. Bill Gates' story 0:42:23.520 --> 0:42:27.239 had a faulty ID that let him stay in the 0:42:27.320 --> 0:42:31.320 computer lab like fifteen hours a time. To be in 0:42:31.360 --> 0:42:34.600 the computer lab during Bill Gates day was like attaxing, 0:42:34.800 --> 0:42:38.520 like forty dollars an hour thing, but he never got 0:42:38.640 --> 0:42:40.400 charged for it. So then he was like, all right, 0:42:40.440 --> 0:42:42.560 I'm gonna stay in this motherfucker for fifteen hours a 0:42:42.680 --> 0:42:46.600 day figure out how to turn this big ass room 0:42:46.800 --> 0:42:54.960 into a laptop. So basically, sneaking in computer labs, barring 0:42:55.080 --> 0:42:58.880 other people's idea and whatnot, this is the Bill Gates story. 0:42:59.040 --> 0:43:02.600 That's what I wish we made Bill Gate's money, but really, 0:43:04.320 --> 0:43:05.879 but fate didn't have it that way. 0:43:06.239 --> 0:43:08.239 But but no, that was it. We were just doing 0:43:08.280 --> 0:43:08.760 those records. 0:43:08.800 --> 0:43:11.640 So at that time, yeah, the thought wasn't you know, 0:43:11.680 --> 0:43:14.799 at least for me, the thought it was just Okay, 0:43:14.880 --> 0:43:17.000 we made this record, let's just get it out so 0:43:17.120 --> 0:43:17.880 people can hear it. 0:43:18.480 --> 0:43:21.080 And you know, it was just. 0:43:22.800 --> 0:43:25.360 Like I don't think no one had a thought of 0:43:25.719 --> 0:43:28.920 where it was gonna go. I knew my life was 0:43:28.960 --> 0:43:32.600 gonna change. Like I can specifically remember the night when 0:43:32.680 --> 0:43:35.719 we finished everything and like we had the final mix 0:43:35.840 --> 0:43:38.120 down and sequence of the album and I just sat 0:43:38.160 --> 0:43:41.040 outside my apartment in the car just listen to the record, 0:43:41.560 --> 0:43:44.400 and I just I knew things were gonna change. I 0:43:44.520 --> 0:43:47.040 just felt that we had something special. It wasn't like, 0:43:47.600 --> 0:43:49.520 you know, yo, we're gonna be rich or we're gonna 0:43:49.560 --> 0:43:52.800 be whatever. But I specifically remember having the feeling of 0:43:52.960 --> 0:43:55.840 just like yo, like something is around the corner. I 0:43:55.880 --> 0:43:57.879 don't know what it is, but I know something's coming 0:43:58.440 --> 0:44:01.920 and at that time, and we just wanted people to 0:44:01.960 --> 0:44:03.680 hear it. That was the only that was the only 0:44:04.560 --> 0:44:05.920 mo What was. 0:44:05.960 --> 0:44:08.200 The first sign of that, of that assurance was it 0:44:08.280 --> 0:44:10.719 like your first out out of state show. Was it 0:44:11.880 --> 0:44:14.239 like a mentioned in the source or like, what was 0:44:14.280 --> 0:44:17.000 that moment where it was like, oh, ship happened. 0:44:17.360 --> 0:44:21.400 I think for me it was when uh, when Benny 0:44:21.480 --> 0:44:26.360 b got in touch with us, just to have somebody 0:44:26.640 --> 0:44:28.120 Benny B from ABB Records. 0:44:28.560 --> 0:44:32.680 Okay, so that was not your label, No, No, not 0:44:32.800 --> 0:44:33.640 at all at all. 0:44:33.719 --> 0:44:37.400 I thought that ABB was your Now ABB was Benny 0:44:37.480 --> 0:44:40.759 b Uh from the Bay Area. They they had put 0:44:40.800 --> 0:44:43.000 out like a lot of dilated people's twelve ines. That 0:44:43.080 --> 0:44:45.640 was kind of their claim to fame, uh, dillate people's 0:44:45.680 --> 0:44:47.719 the far Rye. They had put out like just a 0:44:47.760 --> 0:44:50.080 lot of stuff and they were known for just moving vinyl. 0:44:50.640 --> 0:44:50.839 Yeah. 0:44:51.120 --> 0:44:54.280 And that was how a buddy of ours, a promoter 0:44:54.400 --> 0:44:56.640 out this way bum rush DJ bum rush. 0:44:57.360 --> 0:44:57.480 Uh. 0:44:57.760 --> 0:45:02.560 He had to connected abb Ian Davis, I D and 0:45:02.920 --> 0:45:05.279 I D heard our stuff on the narre from all 0:45:05.360 --> 0:45:07.799 of us. We had posted on Okay player and all 0:45:07.840 --> 0:45:10.920 that shit, and we had the little site that was 0:45:10.960 --> 0:45:14.080 when Bossville had the John he had the Yeah, it's 0:45:14.120 --> 0:45:15.920 like he posted up to join us up on there. 0:45:16.160 --> 0:45:18.160 So it was just kind of spreading and so I 0:45:18.320 --> 0:45:20.680 G I D from A dB A B b caught 0:45:20.680 --> 0:45:22.880 wind of it and reached out. The bum rusher was like, Yo, 0:45:22.920 --> 0:45:26.200 you gotta line on these little brother dudes, and I 0:45:26.320 --> 0:45:28.840 d caught my crib you know what I'm saying one day, and. 0:45:29.200 --> 0:45:30.440 That's how we started talking. 0:45:30.719 --> 0:45:33.759 And that was how the ABB relationship, Uh, that was 0:45:33.800 --> 0:45:35.080 how we came to sign with them. 0:45:35.600 --> 0:45:39.759 So, Bill, were you the okay player that officially introduced 0:45:39.840 --> 0:45:43.759 okay player to introduced a little brother to Okay player? 0:45:44.920 --> 0:45:47.000 I guess, but I mean I got it through von 0:45:47.080 --> 0:45:50.200 p from currently a Tania Morgan and like Vaughn hooked 0:45:50.239 --> 0:45:53.200 me up with Eccentric and the Centric sent me like 0:45:53.280 --> 0:45:55.759 the Beasts for Love joint revisited and like so I was. 0:45:55.960 --> 0:45:57.840 I was a Ninth Wonder fan first and then I 0:45:57.840 --> 0:46:00.200 didn't even know about these two until later, Like I 0:46:00.239 --> 0:46:02.160 think I heard speeding away from me, like maybe not 0:46:02.400 --> 0:46:04.319 maybe like a week or two after that, and then 0:46:04.360 --> 0:46:04.719 I was like. 0:46:05.000 --> 0:46:08.360 Damn, what is this ship? Slot funked us too. He 0:46:08.600 --> 0:46:09.319 was another one. 0:46:09.400 --> 0:46:12.359 He was the one that really cause again we had 0:46:12.440 --> 0:46:15.840 no computers, let alone a way to build a website 0:46:15.880 --> 0:46:18.319 or none of that ship. So Slot was the one 0:46:18.440 --> 0:46:21.560 that had he had built like a little site for us, 0:46:21.680 --> 0:46:23.120 and he was like, yo, I can put some joints 0:46:23.200 --> 0:46:23.600 up for y'all. 0:46:23.640 --> 0:46:24.279 I was like cool. 0:46:24.840 --> 0:46:27.000 And I was working at Blue Cross Blue Shield at 0:46:27.040 --> 0:46:29.480 the time, and he would call me, you know. 0:46:29.880 --> 0:46:31.600 We would we would he would well he would DM 0:46:31.719 --> 0:46:32.759 me or PM. 0:46:32.560 --> 0:46:34.200 Me as we would call it back then, and he 0:46:34.320 --> 0:46:36.839 was like, yo, man, like y'all joints just crashed my server. 0:46:37.080 --> 0:46:39.759 I gotta like everybody been coming this ship. I was 0:46:39.840 --> 0:46:40.759 like word for real. 0:46:41.120 --> 0:46:42.799 And we just had like three folks songes up there. 0:46:42.920 --> 0:46:45.640 So slop was a big, a big part of that. 0:46:47.200 --> 0:46:49.560 Was it you and Ninth or you and Pool or 0:46:49.800 --> 0:46:50.560 were you alone? 0:46:51.040 --> 0:46:51.279 Would you? 0:46:52.680 --> 0:46:54.919 I wouldn't. I went to the Greensboro show. 0:46:55.360 --> 0:46:59.160 I didn't go to that one, Okay. All I remember 0:46:59.320 --> 0:47:02.759 was that we were doing a show and it was 0:47:02.840 --> 0:47:07.960 about to rain, and and said we should cancel this 0:47:08.040 --> 0:47:11.600 show because it's electric and whatever. And I'm like, dude, 0:47:11.640 --> 0:47:13.960 you wear Timberland's like no one's you ain't getting let 0:47:14.000 --> 0:47:19.120 you cuted, and he like protested that I think he 0:47:19.360 --> 0:47:21.560 didn't play this show or like walked off stage earlier 0:47:21.640 --> 0:47:24.480 or something shit, And I felt bad and I did 0:47:24.560 --> 0:47:27.520 something very uncharacteristic, like I'm never the guy that like 0:47:27.600 --> 0:47:29.759 goes in the audience and like, hey, how you doing. 0:47:29.840 --> 0:47:33.799 Thanks for you know. But some sit said, all right, 0:47:33.880 --> 0:47:36.600 go out there and shake hands for the first time 0:47:36.640 --> 0:47:38.680 in your whole career. And I did it, and you 0:47:38.760 --> 0:47:43.239 put it in my hand. You reminded me that this 0:47:43.480 --> 0:47:46.000 was the little brother I read about. Okay player, oh 0:47:46.040 --> 0:47:51.640 wow wow ok And normally, you know, normally anybody hands 0:47:51.719 --> 0:47:56.640 me disc is instant, uh, you know, coffee table coaster 0:47:56.760 --> 0:47:57.000 for me. 0:47:59.480 --> 0:48:05.840 For instance, about to break up my droll on your CD, nigga, 0:48:07.000 --> 0:48:08.920 I just I just thought it trash. 0:48:10.480 --> 0:48:10.840 Right now. 0:48:11.160 --> 0:48:14.400 I can't do that. I just leave it back backstage. 0:48:14.440 --> 0:48:16.160 I don't know, like I'm kind of proud of my 0:48:16.280 --> 0:48:19.000 track record like something. I was going to leave it 0:48:19.160 --> 0:48:22.080 backstage and I looked at it, and I don't know 0:48:22.160 --> 0:48:25.880 if it was the fact that you're handwriting like the 0:48:26.200 --> 0:48:31.080 the your your your front or whatever. You really Yeah, 0:48:31.200 --> 0:48:33.080 some spoke to me. I'm like, yo, he really puts 0:48:33.120 --> 0:48:37.560 some effort into this homemade uh this artwork. I was like. 0:48:37.680 --> 0:48:40.239 And I went back picked it up and listened to it, 0:48:40.239 --> 0:48:42.960 and I was like, holy shit, like I'm poor lone 0:48:43.000 --> 0:48:49.359 jealous of this, like like this ship and and like yeah, 0:48:49.560 --> 0:48:55.280 like I'll say that I've only you know, Jill Blow, 0:48:55.560 --> 0:49:03.319 Slum Village, Cody Chestnut and you guys. I'm sure I'm 0:49:03.320 --> 0:49:06.680 missing somebody else. But like something told me to listen 0:49:06.719 --> 0:49:10.799 to that shit, and that shit like that changed my life, man, 0:49:11.320 --> 0:49:15.680 because I personally didn't think I would at that time. 0:49:15.760 --> 0:49:18.440 I was concerned because there was the idea of a 0:49:18.520 --> 0:49:25.960 group existing was becoming endanger and in dangerous species. And 0:49:26.080 --> 0:49:28.239 I was like, yo, a real group, not not a 0:49:28.280 --> 0:49:32.840 bunch of soloists. And you know, from there then I 0:49:33.040 --> 0:49:35.719 just saw the word spread and spread and spread. So 0:49:37.120 --> 0:49:39.960 when it like, what was the decision to not go 0:49:40.120 --> 0:49:42.680 the slow and steady route and like, let's get it real, 0:49:42.840 --> 0:49:49.440 let's get a deal through atlantic and poverty. So as 0:49:49.520 --> 0:49:51.239 your own record label, all right, so what is it 0:49:51.480 --> 0:49:55.160 back then? What was what were the roadblocks and the 0:49:55.440 --> 0:49:58.480 potholes in being your own record label? 0:50:01.360 --> 0:50:04.560 You should have yeah, distribution, you didn't have directed consumer 0:50:05.480 --> 0:50:10.000 back then. But I think for for I can speak 0:50:10.040 --> 0:50:14.240 for me on this my decision. I think if abb 0:50:14.400 --> 0:50:17.680 if that experience would have been a better experience for us, 0:50:18.600 --> 0:50:20.439 it wouldn't have been a thing of well, man, let's 0:50:20.480 --> 0:50:22.840 go get this deal we'd have been it would have 0:50:22.840 --> 0:50:25.360 been more like shit, we good where we at, but 0:50:25.520 --> 0:50:30.239 the experience wasn't good because so, yeah, that makes the 0:50:30.320 --> 0:50:34.080 experience terrible. We still haven't gotten paid, So can I ask? 0:50:34.320 --> 0:50:37.040 Let me ask, Let me ask, all right? So that 0:50:37.640 --> 0:50:39.320 it came out on two thousand and two, two thousand 0:50:39.320 --> 0:50:43.000 and three, Yeah, two thousand and three. Okay, So had 0:50:44.400 --> 0:50:49.880 technology as we knew now in twenty twenty been available 0:50:50.680 --> 0:50:54.759 in two thousand and two, two thousand and three, would 0:50:54.800 --> 0:50:59.200 this had been a different outcome? Very different, very different. 0:50:59.360 --> 0:51:01.880 I wouldn't have fuck personally, I wouldn't have. 0:51:01.880 --> 0:51:04.279 Fucked with no label had we had it, you know, 0:51:04.640 --> 0:51:07.279 had we back then, you know, we already had the 0:51:07.360 --> 0:51:08.560 means of our own production. 0:51:08.760 --> 0:51:10.200 So we owned our means of production. 0:51:10.280 --> 0:51:12.960 We could make it ourselves, you know, if we had 0:51:13.160 --> 0:51:15.239 a straight pipeline that we could get it directly to 0:51:15.360 --> 0:51:17.120 our fans and see the money back. 0:51:17.320 --> 0:51:22.879 Man, fuck a label, straight up. But that was but poo. 0:51:23.200 --> 0:51:25.000 But you made a great point, you know, when you 0:51:25.160 --> 0:51:27.200 you know, you ask about what made us make that jump. 0:51:27.600 --> 0:51:30.279 You know, I really think an agree one hundred percent 0:51:30.440 --> 0:51:33.000 that had it, if our indie experience would have been 0:51:33.120 --> 0:51:36.280 better and we would have actually been like paid fairly 0:51:36.440 --> 0:51:38.439 and you know, according to our contract. If we would 0:51:38.440 --> 0:51:41.680 have actually been compensated for our work on an indie label, 0:51:42.760 --> 0:51:44.840 I think we would have been much. 0:51:44.760 --> 0:51:47.360 More hesitant about signing to a major. 0:51:47.719 --> 0:51:50.120 But at that time, you know, we we put out 0:51:50.160 --> 0:51:52.080 the records and you know, you're hearing all this buzz 0:51:52.320 --> 0:51:54.320 and you know, everybody's saying, oh, man, y'all about to 0:51:54.320 --> 0:51:57.320 blow up, y'all do this whatever. So then Atlantic comes knocking, 0:51:57.880 --> 0:51:59.480 and it was a bunch of labels that wanted to 0:51:59.480 --> 0:52:03.080 sign us at that time, but that kind of fed. 0:52:04.360 --> 0:52:08.160 Uh well, Mike Karen reached out first, but we were 0:52:08.360 --> 0:52:10.520 we were told, we got the word not to deal 0:52:10.560 --> 0:52:14.319 with him. So like we ended up. 0:52:14.360 --> 0:52:19.759 We met with Warner, We met with Jive, and then 0:52:21.440 --> 0:52:25.279 we met It's Warner and then it was Warner because 0:52:25.360 --> 0:52:26.800 Tom Waller. That's when we met Tom Wally. 0:52:27.040 --> 0:52:30.680 Tom Wally, we met with Rest of Peace, Chris Lighty 0:52:30.880 --> 0:52:31.840 and Peter THEO and. 0:52:32.000 --> 0:52:36.400 Jive to throw something. Yeah yeah, Chris Lighty, man, he 0:52:36.520 --> 0:52:36.880 came to. 0:52:38.200 --> 0:52:43.359 Me and to the club, took us to the crowd 0:52:43.440 --> 0:52:43.799 house and. 0:52:44.360 --> 0:52:48.640 Lighty yeah, like the thing was, Man, I'll never forget 0:52:48.719 --> 0:52:49.279 this ship. Man. 0:52:49.360 --> 0:52:53.240 I remember being in there and because this is around 0:52:53.320 --> 0:52:57.120 the time of Chris Lighty, like g Unit Holland on records, 0:52:57.200 --> 0:53:00.880 Chris Lighty, right, So the thing was, man. So we 0:53:01.040 --> 0:53:03.040 went into the meeting. We had a meeting at Jive, 0:53:03.560 --> 0:53:06.239 and you know, Chris Lighty comes in and we're all 0:53:06.320 --> 0:53:09.200 sitting there at the table. It's Chris Lighty, it's me 0:53:09.480 --> 0:53:13.560 Pooh Doe, our manager at the time, and Wayne Williams 0:53:13.640 --> 0:53:15.080 DJ Wayne Williams out of Chicago. 0:53:16.239 --> 0:53:21.919 We're all sitting in there. Williams from R Kelly, Yes, yes, yeah. 0:53:22.200 --> 0:53:24.960 R Kelly chosen a few DJs, Wayne Williams, you know 0:53:25.000 --> 0:53:27.799 what I'm saying. So he's in there, and so, man, 0:53:27.880 --> 0:53:32.160 so we we talking and stuff and and I remember 0:53:32.239 --> 0:53:34.080 Chris saying he was like, you know, man, I listened 0:53:34.080 --> 0:53:36.719 to y'all album and he's like, Yo, it tells the 0:53:36.800 --> 0:53:39.920 whole story. He's like, it's not just singles. He's like, 0:53:40.040 --> 0:53:42.520 you know, it tells a whole story. And you know, 0:53:42.600 --> 0:53:44.399 I really think I love what you guys are doing. 0:53:44.480 --> 0:53:46.800 I think, you know, we can push it. And I 0:53:46.920 --> 0:53:48.480 was just sitting there. I was like wow, and he 0:53:48.600 --> 0:53:50.759 was like, you know, man, I remember he's like. He 0:53:50.880 --> 0:53:52.640 was talking about fifty and he was like, you know, 0:53:52.880 --> 0:53:55.879 the whole thing with fifty was get ready to root 0:53:56.000 --> 0:53:58.320 for the bad guy. That was our whole marketing scheme. 0:53:58.760 --> 0:54:00.480 And I was like, yeah, it's like the movie Payback. 0:54:01.040 --> 0:54:02.719 And he was like, yo, I like this guy. 0:54:03.120 --> 0:54:03.960 I like this guy. 0:54:04.080 --> 0:54:05.960 You know, like it was funny. He said, yo, I 0:54:06.120 --> 0:54:08.200 like this guy. And I said, yeah, it was like that. 0:54:08.320 --> 0:54:09.680 He was like yeah, He's like, you know, that was 0:54:09.760 --> 0:54:12.480 my whole thing with fifty. And he said, but I 0:54:12.600 --> 0:54:14.920 really like y'all. He said, y'all are like different from 0:54:14.960 --> 0:54:17.200 everything else that's out and y'all really cut through the clutter. 0:54:17.760 --> 0:54:20.200 And he was talking. He started talking about his time 0:54:20.200 --> 0:54:22.680 at Death Jam. I never get this shit. He was like, yo, 0:54:22.920 --> 0:54:24.839 he said, man, you know when I was at Death Jam, 0:54:25.320 --> 0:54:27.120 he said. You know, I was fresh off the Mister 0:54:27.200 --> 0:54:29.799 Smith album, so I was the prince of Death Jam. 0:54:29.920 --> 0:54:32.799 He was like, I could do whatever I wanted, he said. 0:54:32.840 --> 0:54:35.279 And so the next record I signed was this this 0:54:35.640 --> 0:54:40.000 record called Crew now Me. You know, hip hop fucking 0:54:40.120 --> 0:54:42.239 rap NERD. I'm like, Nigga CW. 0:54:42.320 --> 0:54:44.600 I'm like, yeah, Dirty thirty. I love that fucking album. 0:54:45.120 --> 0:54:47.279 And he again he was like, yeah, I like this guy. 0:54:47.360 --> 0:54:50.080 I like this guy. I say this, I like this guy. 0:54:50.400 --> 0:54:52.399 I said, nah, man, Dirty thirty that was the shit, 0:54:52.719 --> 0:54:54.400 and he said something He's like, I never get it. 0:54:54.440 --> 0:54:55.080 He said yeah. 0:54:55.120 --> 0:54:57.640 He said, man, I love that record too, but just 0:54:57.680 --> 0:54:59.520 because you love something don't mean it's gonna sell. 0:55:00.600 --> 0:55:03.920 And I was like, damn, that's the fucking truth. But 0:55:04.760 --> 0:55:05.920 but yeah, man, he was. 0:55:06.400 --> 0:55:09.359 I you know, that was just my only encounter with Chris, 0:55:09.840 --> 0:55:12.319 but I really liked him. Man, I fucked with Chris. 0:55:12.360 --> 0:55:13.560 He was a straight shooter, you know. 0:55:13.760 --> 0:55:16.480 He you know, he's where we wanted to go. We 0:55:16.640 --> 0:55:17.480 wanted that's where. 0:55:17.280 --> 0:55:20.560 We wanted to go for real, because you remember, Job 0:55:20.680 --> 0:55:22.960 was like, they wanted to just re release the listening first, 0:55:23.040 --> 0:55:23.799 and that was. 0:55:23.840 --> 0:55:29.439 The problem because they them re releasing the listening means 0:55:29.520 --> 0:55:32.520 they now take some ownership, if not all, ownership of 0:55:32.640 --> 0:55:35.880 the album. And Benny Beef maybe b wasn't given that 0:55:36.000 --> 0:55:38.960 album up. He wasn't given that album up. 0:55:39.400 --> 0:55:43.800 And I'm sorry, Yeah, I guess we had to go. 0:55:44.840 --> 0:55:48.359 We essentially had to go where he was comfortable going. 0:55:48.520 --> 0:55:50.520 That's how we ended up at Atlanta, or we would 0:55:50.560 --> 0:55:51.839 have never went to Atlanta. 0:55:51.600 --> 0:55:53.080 And the only reason I think, well, I won't to 0:55:53.080 --> 0:55:54.640 say the only reason I know, A big reason why 0:55:54.719 --> 0:55:57.719 he chose Atlantic was because Atlantic let him keep his 0:55:57.880 --> 0:56:01.760 vinyl rights so atant and let him continue to press 0:56:01.840 --> 0:56:05.480 the all the LB vinyl, but they retained the rights 0:56:05.560 --> 0:56:06.399 for everything else. 0:56:06.640 --> 0:56:08.560 And so that was how we ended up at Atlanta. 0:56:09.120 --> 0:56:10.360 That's almost unpressing in it. 0:56:11.080 --> 0:56:12.719 That did he press anything up for the second album 0:56:12.719 --> 0:56:13.759 other than loving it twelve minutes. 0:56:14.880 --> 0:56:18.719 There was a minstrel show vinyl. I think there was Mister. 0:56:18.520 --> 0:56:23.080 Show vinyl, and I think it was a it was 0:56:23.120 --> 0:56:25.600 another single. I gotta look through my records. I think 0:56:25.600 --> 0:56:26.960 it's a single. 0:56:29.040 --> 0:56:29.959 Again again. 0:56:32.120 --> 0:56:35.440 Yeah, and then and then he reissued the listening in 0:56:35.480 --> 0:56:37.359 the Mystery Show a couple of years ago. 0:56:37.440 --> 0:56:38.279 It's like a year or two ago. 0:56:39.000 --> 0:56:41.440 Yeah, didn't he had a courtesy to send us in 0:56:41.560 --> 0:56:46.239 me of this fabulous reissues. Vinyl ain't paying us play 0:56:46.320 --> 0:56:50.520 Boy could gave us some vinyl ship that look good? 0:56:50.600 --> 0:56:51.840 It looks it looks snasty. 0:56:52.000 --> 0:56:52.200 You know. 0:56:56.280 --> 0:56:59.360 I have to ask you a question which is like, like, 0:56:59.560 --> 0:57:04.200 I know, know as not not trite, but as you know, 0:57:05.719 --> 0:57:09.239 as it not meaning something today as it once meant 0:57:09.880 --> 0:57:14.840 back in the nineties. But did it mean anything to 0:57:14.920 --> 0:57:16.920 you to see those four and a half mics in 0:57:16.960 --> 0:57:17.360 the source? 0:57:17.640 --> 0:57:22.280 Head all, yes, yes, it meant everything. 0:57:23.160 --> 0:57:26.840 Yeah, yeah, seeing the four and a half, seeing you 0:57:26.920 --> 0:57:30.600 know we got four on the listening because again this 0:57:30.800 --> 0:57:34.040 was something that you know, this is pre like you know. 0:57:34.240 --> 0:57:37.800 Social media, you know, for the blocks took over. Yeah. 0:57:37.960 --> 0:57:41.880 Yeah, so I mean we were literally hearing about this, 0:57:42.080 --> 0:57:44.240 so it will be like, yo, your words that y'all 0:57:44.280 --> 0:57:46.000 got four in the source, Like what, nigga? 0:57:46.080 --> 0:57:46.120 What? 0:57:46.640 --> 0:57:47.720 And then you see it. 0:57:47.840 --> 0:57:50.040 I remember like going to the you know, grocery store 0:57:50.080 --> 0:57:52.360 and buying the source and you see it and it's 0:57:52.440 --> 0:57:55.120 like holy shit, like this is really it's a real thing. 0:57:55.680 --> 0:57:58.880 And and I got like the hip hop quotable, and 0:57:59.680 --> 0:58:03.440 that to me was like holy shit, because. 0:58:03.200 --> 0:58:04.640 I grew up. Wait a minute, what did you get 0:58:04.800 --> 0:58:07.160 quortable for? I got it twice. I got it one. 0:58:07.280 --> 0:58:08.720 The first time I got it was for the Yo Yo, 0:58:08.800 --> 0:58:10.400 and then the second time I got it was of 0:58:10.440 --> 0:58:13.600 course my verse on the Off for you Off show. 0:58:13.840 --> 0:58:16.840 And that to me was just like man, holy shit. 0:58:17.160 --> 0:58:19.320 You know that was a moment. So yeah, that shit 0:58:19.400 --> 0:58:21.480 meant a lot back then. That should been a whole lot. 0:58:22.800 --> 0:58:24.520 Yeah, I tried to act like four and a half 0:58:24.680 --> 0:58:27.120 MIC's on mean, nothing like the story, but you know 0:58:28.320 --> 0:58:32.080 it's still hanging on my wall. No, four and a 0:58:32.120 --> 0:58:33.720 half is the real five. I mean, me and you 0:58:33.840 --> 0:58:35.600 talked about this a lot, But four and a half 0:58:35.720 --> 0:58:39.120 is the real five. It is. It is absolutely. 0:58:42.800 --> 0:58:43.680 So with. 0:58:46.360 --> 0:58:52.760 In hindsight, how was the mentreal show experience? Because there 0:58:52.840 --> 0:58:56.920 was so much expectations and so much was happening. I 0:58:57.040 --> 0:59:01.120 meant like Hoove was co signing you guys, like everybody 0:59:01.320 --> 0:59:06.440 was like all the stars were aligned, Like at the 0:59:06.560 --> 0:59:09.040 end of the day, what happened? 0:59:10.480 --> 0:59:16.680 Man? So have you been watching the Last Dance Bulls documentary? 0:59:18.160 --> 0:59:21.960 I just got them watching it, Okay, So I watched 0:59:22.000 --> 0:59:23.280 it at eight o'clock this morning. 0:59:23.320 --> 0:59:27.240 Ok So, the thing about it is like at the time, 0:59:27.480 --> 0:59:29.120 we only knew what we saw. 0:59:29.320 --> 0:59:31.600 So it was just like you just see the. 0:59:32.080 --> 0:59:34.000 You know, them going for the the you know, the 0:59:34.080 --> 0:59:37.000 third championship in the row for the second time, but 0:59:37.120 --> 0:59:39.919 you don't see all all of the underlying stuff that's 0:59:39.960 --> 0:59:44.040 going on during that time. It's just like, Yo, the 0:59:44.120 --> 0:59:48.160 concentration the motherfuckers had was amazing, And I look at 0:59:48.160 --> 0:59:50.800 the Mystery Show. It wasn't that dramatic, but it was 0:59:50.880 --> 0:59:54.320 dramatic enough for us. You know, I was twenty four 0:59:54.320 --> 0:59:57.400 to twenty five years old at the time, hadn't really 0:59:57.480 --> 1:00:01.960 experienced a lot, and we're trying to record this album 1:00:02.920 --> 1:00:08.240 major label, trying to keep maintain our sound, dealing with 1:00:08.360 --> 1:00:11.400 our own ship as a group at the time, because 1:00:11.440 --> 1:00:14.959 that was when the group really started to splinter during 1:00:15.040 --> 1:00:19.280 that time. And so you got all that happening, and 1:00:19.400 --> 1:00:24.560 then you have this album that people at the label 1:00:25.200 --> 1:00:31.160 say they excited for, but you know, there's some trepidation 1:00:31.400 --> 1:00:34.000 because of the title, and nobody, all the white people, 1:00:34.000 --> 1:00:35.160 they don't want to deal with this ship. 1:00:35.280 --> 1:00:42.160 Now, let me ask, Okay, so is this Craig Kelman 1:00:42.560 --> 1:00:47.280 or or Julie Like what era of Atlantic. 1:00:48.480 --> 1:00:51.919 Craig and Julie? When when when Death Jam took over? Yes? 1:00:53.160 --> 1:00:57.360 Or Kevin It's it's right, it's at the takeover. It's 1:00:57.400 --> 1:01:01.920 at the Death Jam takeover Warner. And so the real 1:01:02.040 --> 1:01:06.440 problem started before the ink was dry. On our contract 1:01:06.480 --> 1:01:12.720 with Atlantic. Robert Reef too low, I Rea. 1:01:14.000 --> 1:01:15.880 If you say, if you say his whole name, then 1:01:15.960 --> 1:01:17.880 this might not be good. He's gonna say it was 1:01:18.120 --> 1:01:19.920 it was Reefed there because he would seem like your 1:01:19.920 --> 1:01:20.440 biggest man. 1:01:22.000 --> 1:01:25.160 He started there. And then when we went into his 1:01:25.280 --> 1:01:27.840 office after the deal was done, we saw the boxes 1:01:27.880 --> 1:01:32.080 in there and he was on the way out. But 1:01:32.320 --> 1:01:34.560 it was it was, It was nothing more telling. Then 1:01:34.640 --> 1:01:37.680 we pulled up for a meeting one time and we 1:01:37.920 --> 1:01:40.800 were walking into the building in New York. We walking 1:01:40.800 --> 1:01:43.720 into the building and Rob and Reef is coming in 1:01:44.160 --> 1:01:47.320 at the same time, and he waiting at the desk. 1:01:47.400 --> 1:01:49.240 We're about to go upstairs. We're like, yo, what you're doing. 1:01:49.280 --> 1:01:50.840 He's like, man, I gotta wait to get to get 1:01:50.960 --> 1:01:56.920 let up our an R, right because he was no 1:01:57.040 --> 1:02:00.000 longer They let him get an R of the album. 1:02:00.240 --> 1:02:03.360 But he wasn't no longer. He was no longer employed. 1:02:03.520 --> 1:02:07.080 Man's was not an employee of it employee Like. 1:02:08.600 --> 1:02:10.400 And this how this how you're finding out? 1:02:10.880 --> 1:02:12.440 Yes, we found out. 1:02:12.520 --> 1:02:15.600 We found out Reef was fired when we came. 1:02:15.800 --> 1:02:17.960 Just like Bo said, we came to the building and 1:02:18.320 --> 1:02:20.360 you know, we realized that he had to get buzzed 1:02:20.400 --> 1:02:21.880 in just like we had to get buzzed and we're like, 1:02:21.920 --> 1:02:22.439 what the fuck. 1:02:22.760 --> 1:02:25.080 So then we get up to his office and we 1:02:25.200 --> 1:02:27.600 see all the boxes be like Niggy, like you really 1:02:27.680 --> 1:02:30.800 fired out this bitch and you know, and he was. 1:02:30.880 --> 1:02:32.800 I mean, I actually funny thing. We actually saw Reef 1:02:32.840 --> 1:02:34.680 in New York like last year. We was kind of 1:02:34.720 --> 1:02:37.280 doing our press run and I mean it's all love. 1:02:37.360 --> 1:02:39.640 I mean, it's you know, it was you know, I mean, 1:02:40.160 --> 1:02:41.640 everybody had to do what they had to do at 1:02:41.680 --> 1:02:43.919 that time. So it was no like hate or nothing 1:02:44.000 --> 1:02:44.160 like that. 1:02:44.560 --> 1:02:44.760 It was. 1:02:44.840 --> 1:02:48.080 It was it was all love. But but yeah, Reef bound. 1:02:48.120 --> 1:02:49.280 That was when he bounced. I think he went to 1:02:49.320 --> 1:02:50.400 Shady right who we went. 1:02:50.280 --> 1:02:53.200 To, or he wouldn't. I think, I know he ended 1:02:53.280 --> 1:02:57.080 up over at uh Shady Shade for five. But it 1:02:57.200 --> 1:03:00.400 was just one of them things where we we're in 1:03:00.480 --> 1:03:02.960 the building, we're new. They don't know what to do 1:03:03.080 --> 1:03:07.240 with us really because we're unlike what they have or 1:03:07.280 --> 1:03:10.440 what they what they had and we don't have an 1:03:10.480 --> 1:03:15.080 A n R h Our marketing guy James Lopez who 1:03:15.440 --> 1:03:19.680 now runs the Will Packer Productions. Uh so, James Lopez 1:03:19.840 --> 1:03:23.200 was marketing. He ended up being our marketing our A 1:03:23.320 --> 1:03:28.600 n R Our cheerleader. All we had him punching bag 1:03:28.800 --> 1:03:30.880 Rodney Johnson recipes to Rodney Johnson. 1:03:31.440 --> 1:03:33.960 Wait can I ask is was rig Morales there yet 1:03:34.360 --> 1:03:38.560 or was this before he came to Rigg? He was? 1:03:39.920 --> 1:03:44.880 Jay Brown ended up being there right before we left 1:03:44.920 --> 1:03:47.360 because Jay Brown was Lupe's A and R. 1:03:48.960 --> 1:03:52.840 This like the Hollywood shuffle music, like literally def Jam 1:03:52.920 --> 1:03:55.960 and Shady are just that's all. It was switching characters. 1:03:58.000 --> 1:04:01.120 So yeah, Julie too, man, Julie always was in our 1:04:01.200 --> 1:04:04.600 corner and she and she was with whatever, like as 1:04:04.640 --> 1:04:06.840 long as we came in and show her that we 1:04:07.080 --> 1:04:10.040 was passionate about what we wanted to do. She was witty. 1:04:10.560 --> 1:04:13.040 So shout out to Julie Greenwalk. 1:04:13.800 --> 1:04:16.560 Okay, so I love the title the Minstrel Show, but 1:04:17.720 --> 1:04:19.800 humor me, why did you decide to go with the 1:04:19.840 --> 1:04:20.439 minstrel show? 1:04:20.480 --> 1:04:22.440 Because we could call it nigga music. 1:04:27.360 --> 1:04:30.000 That you wanted to call that we wanted to call it. 1:04:30.240 --> 1:04:32.200 Was like, man, what we call the ship nigga music. 1:04:32.720 --> 1:04:34.920 And that was like the running we were with it. 1:04:35.000 --> 1:04:36.760 I think that might have lasted for like three. 1:04:36.600 --> 1:04:38.880 Weeks and then we realized, Okay, we can't call it album. 1:04:39.000 --> 1:04:40.800 They're not gonna let us do that. We didn't even 1:04:40.840 --> 1:04:43.480 think they were gonna let us do show, but. 1:04:44.480 --> 1:04:47.120 Nigga music in the pocket. It's like, we did want 1:04:47.120 --> 1:04:54.440 to call it nigga music. Wait, was there any red flax? Like, 1:04:54.520 --> 1:04:57.600 wait a minute, I don't know, because oftentimes I'll have 1:04:57.680 --> 1:05:01.560 to explain to white people what minstrel see is and 1:05:01.680 --> 1:05:03.640 they never know what it is. And then like they're 1:05:03.680 --> 1:05:06.800 already in the middle of you know, the swamp. 1:05:06.920 --> 1:05:07.440 So like. 1:05:09.160 --> 1:05:10.680 Man were thinking at the time. 1:05:10.800 --> 1:05:12.920 Man, at the time, I think they were. I mean, 1:05:12.960 --> 1:05:14.560 the one thing I got to give Atlantic credit for, 1:05:14.840 --> 1:05:18.000 you know, they let us do us. And so my 1:05:18.200 --> 1:05:22.240 main thought in going into the Mintel Show, particularly once 1:05:22.400 --> 1:05:25.200 we you know, signed to Atlantic, my whole thing was, 1:05:25.600 --> 1:05:28.200 we gotta show our fans that we can still do 1:05:28.400 --> 1:05:32.360 us on a major label, because around that time, you know, 1:05:32.600 --> 1:05:35.200 signing to a major label, in a lot of ways, 1:05:35.240 --> 1:05:36.320 it was kind of the kiss of death. 1:05:36.440 --> 1:05:36.960 You know what I mean. 1:05:37.040 --> 1:05:39.040 If you heard that your favorite band signed to a 1:05:39.080 --> 1:05:41.720 big label, the first thing as a music fan that 1:05:41.800 --> 1:05:44.560 your mind is like, ah, man in a scope, about 1:05:44.560 --> 1:05:46.320 the fuck they should up Atlantic, About the fuck they 1:05:46.320 --> 1:05:48.840 should up you know what I'm saying. So our whole 1:05:48.880 --> 1:05:50.920 thing was, well, man, first and foremost, we got to 1:05:50.920 --> 1:05:53.760 show our fans and we can still be us. You know, 1:05:54.440 --> 1:06:00.320 unapologetically us on a major label, and so Atlanta they 1:06:00.400 --> 1:06:03.000 stood behind that. You know, it was a gamble and 1:06:03.360 --> 1:06:05.919 you know, and they let us the record that y'all hear. 1:06:06.640 --> 1:06:09.320 That is the exact record that we took out of 1:06:09.400 --> 1:06:14.640 our computer in in Durham and put out to the world. 1:06:14.880 --> 1:06:17.400 And you know, from the stories I've heard just from 1:06:17.440 --> 1:06:20.960 so many cats on uh you know labels, that is 1:06:21.040 --> 1:06:23.160 something that rarely happened certainly didn't. 1:06:23.200 --> 1:06:25.240 It wasn't happening back then, you know what I'm saying. 1:06:25.800 --> 1:06:30.320 And we learned it using real facilities this time around. 1:06:30.640 --> 1:06:32.200 This was same thing. It was the same. 1:06:32.280 --> 1:06:34.680 We still recorded that one. I think by this time 1:06:34.720 --> 1:06:39.080 we weren't recording in Comanche's crib no more. We had 1:06:39.120 --> 1:06:40.360 the chop shop by that point. 1:06:40.720 --> 1:06:43.840 Yeah. We we actually had an office space that we 1:06:44.000 --> 1:06:47.600 dubbed the studio and it was the same ship was 1:06:48.600 --> 1:06:52.640 set up, same setup, just a communal space and not 1:06:53.280 --> 1:06:54.200 someone's apartment. 1:06:54.720 --> 1:06:56.240 Yeah, but it was the exact same setup. We had 1:06:56.280 --> 1:06:59.479 a computer, we had, Uh, we had a mic. 1:06:59.640 --> 1:07:00.360 We U was the. 1:07:02.000 --> 1:07:06.720 Road, We had monitors, wass. 1:07:05.880 --> 1:07:08.160 The same The same mic that I have in my 1:07:08.640 --> 1:07:10.760 my setup right now is the mic we recorded the 1:07:10.840 --> 1:07:13.200 Mystery Show, get back all that on. 1:07:13.920 --> 1:07:19.800 But mix wise, uh, guru mix it a real basically. 1:07:19.520 --> 1:07:23.440 Mixine mix it that baseline. That was probably like the 1:07:23.560 --> 1:07:26.160 only kind of upgrade I guess. You know what I 1:07:26.240 --> 1:07:28.480 mean is that, you know, Google, he mixed the baseline. 1:07:28.800 --> 1:07:31.000 But everything else, Man, that ship was straight out of 1:07:31.280 --> 1:07:35.280 our computers, and you know that was that was what 1:07:35.440 --> 1:07:38.400 it was. And I think we learned a valuable lesson too, 1:07:39.040 --> 1:07:40.840 you know when you ask about you know, what was 1:07:40.880 --> 1:07:42.920 the climate like in terms of us calling it the 1:07:42.960 --> 1:07:46.600 minstral show or whatever. I don't even know if the 1:07:46.760 --> 1:07:49.440 people around, if the if you know, the Julie and 1:07:49.480 --> 1:07:51.280 Craig and all them, I don't even think they got 1:07:51.360 --> 1:07:53.480 too much into the politics of it. I think they 1:07:53.560 --> 1:07:56.280 were just like, Yo, this is something new. These guys 1:07:56.320 --> 1:07:59.400 are buzzing. Let's just throw it out and see what happens. 1:07:59.840 --> 1:08:02.920 And one of the things that we learned that you know, 1:08:03.080 --> 1:08:06.680 me and Pooh learned and Pool was even doing now 1:08:06.840 --> 1:08:09.680 like in his uh career as a manager. You know, 1:08:09.800 --> 1:08:12.720 we we were very self contained. So we came to 1:08:12.800 --> 1:08:15.520 a label and in our mind we thinking like, yo, 1:08:15.760 --> 1:08:18.040 we got our artwork done, we got our music done. 1:08:18.120 --> 1:08:20.200 We know who we want to master, Like we came 1:08:20.280 --> 1:08:23.639 in with all that shit already, and in our minds 1:08:23.640 --> 1:08:26.160 it's like, yo, we're making the job of the label easier. 1:08:26.680 --> 1:08:30.120 But what really happens is that you don't have anyone 1:08:30.200 --> 1:08:33.519 to root for you because they don't have no one 1:08:33.600 --> 1:08:35.960 can lay a claim to your success. Like no one 1:08:36.040 --> 1:08:39.040 can say they're not personally invested in it. 1:08:39.200 --> 1:08:41.479 They got no investment, they got no skin in the game. 1:08:41.720 --> 1:08:45.400 So you know, that's one of the things that for 1:08:45.720 --> 1:08:49.200 us it was like hell yeah, but it ended up 1:08:49.240 --> 1:08:51.280 being a liability when trying to come into the measure 1:08:51.360 --> 1:08:54.360 label system because everybody is trying to look for a 1:08:54.439 --> 1:08:54.840 leg up. 1:08:54.960 --> 1:08:58.280 Every an R nigga want to be VP. Every mail 1:08:58.360 --> 1:08:59.360 room nigga want to be an. 1:08:59.240 --> 1:08:59.640 A n R. 1:09:00.040 --> 1:09:03.439 So everybody's looking for that thing to hold on to 1:09:03.680 --> 1:09:05.920 that's gonna be the star to take them somewhere else. 1:09:06.360 --> 1:09:09.720 And if they can't hitch their wagon to your star, 1:09:10.000 --> 1:09:11.040 then they don't give a fuck. 1:09:11.880 --> 1:09:17.200 Man. I still remember we gave Sycamore so much. We 1:09:17.320 --> 1:09:20.120 gave him the petty that Babyface gave Teddy Riley the 1:09:20.160 --> 1:09:20.679 other night. 1:09:23.200 --> 1:09:28.920 Like Sycamore down with uh Sycamore is the DJ Sycamore. 1:09:30.120 --> 1:09:32.760 He was was what do you wrong with? 1:09:34.120 --> 1:09:35.840 I remember who he ran, but I just know he was. 1:09:35.920 --> 1:09:37.760 He was fresh, he was fresh a and R over there. 1:09:38.560 --> 1:09:43.760 And because the crazy thing is Hip Hop wanted to 1:09:43.880 --> 1:09:48.439 be our an R. But Craig Callman wouldn't let us 1:09:48.520 --> 1:09:50.519 go over with Hop because Hop and G had the 1:09:50.600 --> 1:09:53.519 office over there, and Hop was like, YO, give me them, 1:09:54.560 --> 1:09:58.160 give me Saigon and it was somebody else and Craig 1:09:58.240 --> 1:10:01.559 Carman wouldn't do it, so he ended up giving us 1:10:01.600 --> 1:10:03.639 the Sycamore. And I remember us going to New York. 1:10:03.680 --> 1:10:08.559 We was working on I think, yeah, it became get Back, 1:10:08.680 --> 1:10:10.880 and we went up there and we just had we 1:10:10.960 --> 1:10:13.280 were just so off putting the Sycamore man, like, man, 1:10:13.360 --> 1:10:15.280 we know what the fuck were doing. Man, I don't 1:10:15.280 --> 1:10:17.439 even know why we're up here with you. No taking 1:10:17.560 --> 1:10:19.640 us off an all these producers and ship nigga. We 1:10:19.680 --> 1:10:22.280 don't need these niggas, like I know who that attitude 1:10:22.800 --> 1:10:24.880 that we had, man, and I was like, just like 1:10:25.160 --> 1:10:28.120 like you said, just thinking back on it as as 1:10:28.160 --> 1:10:31.320 a manager now with an artist that signed to Dreamville 1:10:31.320 --> 1:10:34.479 and in the Scope and another one on indie label 1:10:34.520 --> 1:10:39.719 Mellow Music, I just I understand now how off putting 1:10:39.800 --> 1:10:43.960 we were. And we didn't even allow them to treat 1:10:44.040 --> 1:10:46.960 us like stars. Like that was a big thing I 1:10:47.080 --> 1:10:49.880 noticed as well, because we were so self contained, we 1:10:50.000 --> 1:10:53.920 didn't allow them to pamper us, if you will, And 1:10:54.400 --> 1:10:59.160 and that it is very off putting to label folk because. 1:10:58.960 --> 1:11:01.479 They because the thing is man and the other thing too. 1:11:01.640 --> 1:11:04.680 Like I just kind of saw, is like how much 1:11:04.840 --> 1:11:08.080 the the record industry, you know, at that time, and 1:11:08.200 --> 1:11:12.240 I mean even certainly now, how much it perpetuates dysfunction 1:11:12.479 --> 1:11:15.800 and how much it requires that shit in order to 1:11:15.920 --> 1:11:18.479 remain a business model, because you know, like we were 1:11:18.479 --> 1:11:20.120 saying earlier, you know what made you sign the. 1:11:20.120 --> 1:11:23.200 Deal, Nigga was poverty, Like niggas was broke and shit. 1:11:23.320 --> 1:11:25.920 So like when I saw, you know, you know, a 1:11:25.960 --> 1:11:28.840 couple of weeks ago, months ago, whatever, when when Meg 1:11:29.000 --> 1:11:31.800 was going through that shit with her label and all 1:11:31.880 --> 1:11:33.920 that shit came out and they were talking about Meg 1:11:33.960 --> 1:11:36.800 the Stallion and her deal, and everybody was just oh. 1:11:36.760 --> 1:11:38.880 Well, you know, why don't you just get a lawyer 1:11:38.960 --> 1:11:41.960 and why don't you just get this Yeah, and. 1:11:42.040 --> 1:11:45.320 It's like, nigga, you don't understand the consequences that the 1:11:45.439 --> 1:11:48.680 artists are living in when they signed these fucking contracts, 1:11:48.760 --> 1:11:49.240 you know what I mean. 1:11:49.400 --> 1:11:50.040 It's hard to. 1:11:50.080 --> 1:11:54.639 Think two three years down the line when nigga rent 1:11:54.760 --> 1:11:57.240 is about to be due on the first, So you 1:11:57.320 --> 1:11:57.720 know what I mean. 1:11:57.840 --> 1:12:03.439 So you can't you know the circumstances of what you 1:12:03.560 --> 1:12:04.200 signed this shit. 1:12:04.760 --> 1:12:07.920 You know, the record industry the is the shit is 1:12:07.960 --> 1:12:10.640 pretty much a goddamn glorified payday loan, you know what 1:12:10.680 --> 1:12:14.760 I mean. It's more predatory lending than anything else, you 1:12:14.800 --> 1:12:17.800 know what I mean. So poverty and dysfunction, that shit 1:12:17.960 --> 1:12:20.800 is baked into their business model. So in a lot 1:12:20.840 --> 1:12:24.479 of ways, it again, it becomes a liability if you're 1:12:24.520 --> 1:12:27.200 an artist that is self contained, know what you want, 1:12:27.400 --> 1:12:30.000 show up on time, do your job, just do it whatever, 1:12:30.600 --> 1:12:33.759 because at that point they have nothing. They can't control 1:12:33.840 --> 1:12:37.760 you with nothing. And we were those dudes like we 1:12:37.960 --> 1:12:39.680 just didn't give a fuck. We were just like, yo, 1:12:39.880 --> 1:12:41.640 we make the music we want to make. If we 1:12:41.680 --> 1:12:43.519 don't get this look or that look or that look, 1:12:43.920 --> 1:12:47.000 who fucking cares. But so when you're a part of 1:12:47.040 --> 1:12:48.479 that bureaucracy, you can't be like that. 1:12:49.560 --> 1:12:54.640 So let me ask if if say, the outcome of 1:12:54.720 --> 1:12:58.519 the mental show turned out to be more rosier than 1:12:59.120 --> 1:13:04.320 what happened. Uh what we would you guys have delved 1:13:04.520 --> 1:13:08.920 into your next step, which was like uh, I mean 1:13:09.000 --> 1:13:14.439 for Pooh was like the Sleepers project, Fonte, You're you're 1:13:14.520 --> 1:13:19.840 making Foreign Exchange, uh with Nikola, like you're doing these 1:13:19.880 --> 1:13:23.760 side projects, still committed to the well. I mean then 1:13:23.800 --> 1:13:28.160 there's nine departure, so his leaving to do more production 1:13:28.280 --> 1:13:33.800 and whatnot, like your your next step was splintering up 1:13:33.840 --> 1:13:37.800 and taking a break for a while. But had the 1:13:37.920 --> 1:13:42.639 outcome been different, would you guys have even chartered off 1:13:42.680 --> 1:13:47.040 into the territory or the the outcome? 1:13:47.400 --> 1:13:50.639 The funny thing is the outcome of the Minstry show 1:13:50.680 --> 1:13:53.760 didn't even weigh in because the first Foreign Exchange and 1:13:54.240 --> 1:13:58.000 my album, my Sleepers album were done, already. 1:13:57.760 --> 1:14:02.040 Done fo y okay, I thought I've been sure it 1:14:02.160 --> 1:14:04.639 was two thousand and it was five, two thousand and five, 1:14:04.680 --> 1:14:08.680 four two thousand and five, okay, okay, And Sleepers came 1:14:08.720 --> 1:14:13.040 out in February of five. I forgot when that first 1:14:13.280 --> 1:14:15.080 Connecting Connector came out in oh four. 1:14:15.280 --> 1:14:18.320 It was it was like all four, I want to say, yeah, 1:14:18.360 --> 1:14:21.599 And we were working on those records, like with each other. 1:14:21.880 --> 1:14:24.800 So yeah, it was never a thing of like, you know, 1:14:24.840 --> 1:14:26.519 if Pool's like, I'm working on a record, I need 1:14:26.560 --> 1:14:28.280 a verse for that, all right, cool, I jump on it. 1:14:28.640 --> 1:14:31.479 He jumped on you know, foreign exchange records. So there 1:14:31.640 --> 1:14:35.000 was always you know, me just kind of being a 1:14:35.040 --> 1:14:38.360 student of the game. I always saw the groups that 1:14:38.640 --> 1:14:42.360 allowed themselves to kind of do their own thing, they 1:14:42.439 --> 1:14:44.720 seemed to work a lot better, you know what I mean, 1:14:44.880 --> 1:14:46.640 Like even with like Gang Star was kind of my 1:14:46.720 --> 1:14:51.439 example where Pream was doing remixes for everybody, but Guru 1:14:51.560 --> 1:14:53.800 had Jasmin tasks like that was his own thing that 1:14:53.920 --> 1:14:56.519 he did, and then they came together and do Gang Star, 1:14:56.680 --> 1:14:59.320 And so that was always my thought. So when it 1:14:59.400 --> 1:15:03.040 came to us throughing side projects and solo stuff, even 1:15:03.040 --> 1:15:04.760 went ninth with all the stuff he was doing, we 1:15:04.880 --> 1:15:07.560 were all very much a part of that, and we 1:15:07.840 --> 1:15:08.600 we championed that. 1:15:10.360 --> 1:15:15.720 Okay, So without making this, you guys's uh audio obituary, 1:15:18.640 --> 1:15:23.040 So then you all right, So I actually want to 1:15:23.080 --> 1:15:28.760 cut in Tarantino this skipping in the future, because I 1:15:28.920 --> 1:15:33.800 don't know the story of after me begging and begging 1:15:33.880 --> 1:15:37.559 and publicly began, We've we've talked about this story before 1:15:37.600 --> 1:15:40.280 in the salone episode of me trying to wield a 1:15:40.400 --> 1:15:45.559 Little Brother reunion into existence. But what was the straw 1:15:45.840 --> 1:15:50.760 that at least that unbroke the camel's back for you 1:15:50.920 --> 1:15:56.240 to be like, okay, like what you down? You down? 1:15:58.240 --> 1:16:03.320 I think it was just us becoming friends, Like we 1:16:03.479 --> 1:16:06.000 just had to take time to after we didn't speak 1:16:06.040 --> 1:16:08.880 for a while. We just had to take time to 1:16:09.080 --> 1:16:14.720 just become friends. And that just really and honestly, like 1:16:14.880 --> 1:16:19.120 for almost two years we didn't discuss making no music together. 1:16:20.200 --> 1:16:23.280 We didn't discuss It was more like, yo, how you 1:16:23.400 --> 1:16:26.160 doing in life? Like what's going on in your life? 1:16:26.400 --> 1:16:26.880 And then. 1:16:28.560 --> 1:16:32.160 Eventually once we did that show the next day, it 1:16:32.320 --> 1:16:34.240 was just it was unspoken, like I went to take 1:16:34.320 --> 1:16:38.400 house to pick my money up and he was like, yo, 1:16:38.760 --> 1:16:41.920 I'm cooking. He said, I'm cooking. I said I'll stay. 1:16:42.360 --> 1:16:44.080 You know what I'm saying, I'm not going to turn 1:16:44.120 --> 1:16:47.320 down the free meal. And we just was talking before 1:16:47.360 --> 1:16:50.000 everybody else pulled up, and it was just one of 1:16:50.040 --> 1:16:52.320 them things was like, man, how you feel? It was like, shit, 1:16:52.360 --> 1:16:53.639 I feel good? How you feel? 1:16:55.000 --> 1:16:56.680 Okay? So now I want to go back a little bit. 1:16:56.920 --> 1:16:59.040 How hard is it to walk away because for me, 1:17:00.840 --> 1:17:03.639 I know, for me and Tarique, like, yes, we were 1:17:05.360 --> 1:17:08.320 birds of a feather, best friends in high school, spending 1:17:08.400 --> 1:17:12.400 night each other's couches, you know whatever, do everything together, 1:17:13.160 --> 1:17:16.080 and then we start a business with each other, and 1:17:17.439 --> 1:17:21.680 we're just slowly now, we're just slowly now now that 1:17:21.760 --> 1:17:25.600 we're inching to fifty, we're slowly now inching back to 1:17:25.680 --> 1:17:29.439 where we were when we were fourteen and fifteen. But 1:17:29.600 --> 1:17:35.880 there was a period between ages twenty three to forty 1:17:36.000 --> 1:17:45.640 seven in which we were very committed business partners and 1:17:45.720 --> 1:17:48.240 it was like, no, matter what, this group is not dying, 1:17:48.439 --> 1:17:53.080 which doesn't make for good chemistry if you're you know, 1:17:53.720 --> 1:17:57.040 if you're making creative products. So it's likeing together for 1:17:57.040 --> 1:18:04.679 the kids, Yeah, is defeat. Did you feel a sense 1:18:04.720 --> 1:18:07.519 of like a dream deferred? Once it was like, Okay, 1:18:07.600 --> 1:18:10.840 this group is officially a rap and just put it 1:18:10.920 --> 1:18:12.920 on the shelf and you'll go that way and I'll 1:18:12.960 --> 1:18:17.160 go this way. I'll let you go. Uh. 1:18:18.680 --> 1:18:23.000 I think for me that didn't hit till later at 1:18:23.040 --> 1:18:26.280 the time when we stopped speaking. I think I was 1:18:26.360 --> 1:18:28.400 just I was so pissed, and I think we were 1:18:28.439 --> 1:18:32.080 so just frustrated at just a bunch of things and 1:18:32.439 --> 1:18:36.320 turn each other. That it was more like, fuck that ship, 1:18:36.320 --> 1:18:41.719 I'm gonna show this nigga. And later on I started 1:18:41.760 --> 1:18:45.800 to really sink in, like, yo, I think we fucked up, 1:18:45.960 --> 1:18:49.000 but it's too late to turn back now. Yeah, it 1:18:49.120 --> 1:18:50.360 was down this path. 1:18:51.240 --> 1:18:51.880 Yeah it was. 1:18:52.200 --> 1:18:54.360 I didn't realize that, I think. You know, at the 1:18:54.439 --> 1:18:56.880 time when when we you know, just said fuck it, 1:18:58.160 --> 1:19:00.080 I was just tired, you know what I mean. And 1:19:01.160 --> 1:19:04.400 I just you know, we had spent so many years 1:19:04.439 --> 1:19:07.280 just kind of in a pressure cooker together, just album 1:19:07.400 --> 1:19:13.200 mixtape tour, mixtape, album tour, and I was just fucking exhausted, man. 1:19:13.479 --> 1:19:16.800 And so at the time when we said, you know, 1:19:17.000 --> 1:19:19.479 it was over, I was like, Okay, well, you know, 1:19:19.600 --> 1:19:22.000 we hadn't really been, you know, because a lot of 1:19:22.000 --> 1:19:24.000 people asked, well, if the record, if you think if 1:19:24.040 --> 1:19:26.639 the record would have sold better, y'all would have stayed together. 1:19:27.080 --> 1:19:29.479 The thing about it, at the time when we broke 1:19:29.600 --> 1:19:33.759 up in Old Well, ninth Left and O seven and then. 1:19:33.760 --> 1:19:38.360 We improved twenty ten. 1:19:39.000 --> 1:19:41.800 At that time, that was when we were seeing some 1:19:42.000 --> 1:19:46.800 of our best shows. So you know, after Get Back, 1:19:47.240 --> 1:19:50.639 that was when we got a really big black audience. 1:19:51.920 --> 1:19:55.080 So our shows were still going up, Like, you know, 1:19:55.240 --> 1:19:57.720 we were doing really good business on the road, and 1:19:57.920 --> 1:19:59.120 you know, we could have kept. 1:19:59.120 --> 1:20:00.719 You know, going out there and getting that money. 1:20:00.800 --> 1:20:04.679 But I think it was a combination of just exhaustion 1:20:05.200 --> 1:20:08.320 and then just it wasn't fun, Like we just weren't 1:20:08.479 --> 1:20:12.360 enjoying each other, We weren't enjoying the experience. We were 1:20:12.400 --> 1:20:14.960 literally just coming on stage, just rap rap, rap, and 1:20:15.040 --> 1:20:17.560 then we would go off in two separate directions. And 1:20:18.600 --> 1:20:21.599 for me, you know, I mean, you know, you gotta 1:20:21.640 --> 1:20:24.439 make money. Money is important. But the minute this shit 1:20:24.479 --> 1:20:27.519 started feeling like a job, nigga, I'm gone. I didn't 1:20:27.520 --> 1:20:28.680 get in this shit because I wanted to. 1:20:28.680 --> 1:20:30.840 Work a job. I could have kept my job, you know. 1:20:31.040 --> 1:20:32.840 I got in this to, you know, make a living 1:20:32.960 --> 1:20:35.840 and be around people I love and us build something together. 1:20:36.200 --> 1:20:38.160 And once this shit became work, it was like, man, 1:20:38.240 --> 1:20:38.560 fuck this. 1:20:39.880 --> 1:20:41.600 And for me it was, like I said, it was 1:20:41.720 --> 1:20:43.519 just I think for me it was just hard just 1:20:43.640 --> 1:20:47.120 looking at the scene at the time and it was like, Yo, 1:20:47.280 --> 1:20:50.280 this shit is wide open. This is what we fought 1:20:50.360 --> 1:20:53.080 all them fucking years for is to get to this point, 1:20:53.200 --> 1:20:55.880 and we got here. We're the man in the cave 1:20:56.600 --> 1:20:58.680 that all we had to do was hit that take 1:20:58.760 --> 1:21:00.519 that pitchfork and hit that dirt one more. 1:21:00.400 --> 1:21:02.200 Time and the diamond all the diamond. 1:21:02.240 --> 1:21:05.040 Yeah, but we turned around and walked away where that 1:21:05.360 --> 1:21:08.600 where that guy, Like, that's that's how I felt, just 1:21:09.000 --> 1:21:11.639 how everything turned around, and I was just like, damn, 1:21:12.280 --> 1:21:16.559 we missed an opportunity there. But like you said, man, 1:21:16.600 --> 1:21:21.840 we just exhausted, man, just with each other, with the situation, 1:21:22.280 --> 1:21:24.120 with just everything. It was just like, man, I just 1:21:24.200 --> 1:21:28.200 need time to go be free over here by myself 1:21:28.479 --> 1:21:31.400 or doing some other ship and yeah, get back. 1:21:31.439 --> 1:21:33.760 But that was our last album, We Owe ABB And 1:21:33.960 --> 1:21:37.320 after that that was like freedom. I felt freedom in 1:21:37.360 --> 1:21:39.200 a way that I hadn't felt in a long time. 1:21:39.960 --> 1:21:42.519 And that was when I met I was like, nigga, 1:21:42.800 --> 1:21:45.800 fuck a label, Like fuck we out this deal. We're 1:21:45.840 --> 1:21:49.680 free of Atlantic abb Man, fuck this ship. And that 1:21:49.840 --> 1:21:52.080 was when me and Nick form e fie music after that. 1:21:53.320 --> 1:21:57.200 Okay, all right, so everyone that listens to the show 1:21:57.360 --> 1:22:03.600 knows Fonte's disdain for me holding on tightly to politically 1:22:03.720 --> 1:22:10.080 correct non gotcha questions. Go in something we talk about whatever. 1:22:10.120 --> 1:22:17.800 We're in the age of the Roman, Nick, the. 1:22:17.960 --> 1:22:20.800 Age of the Roman, so. 1:22:23.960 --> 1:22:31.400 Should I will publicly into the future a reunion of 1:22:31.479 --> 1:22:34.320 the original unit of this group. Well, I can tell 1:22:34.360 --> 1:22:39.120 you this, damn you already started. Okay, you can, you can, 1:22:39.479 --> 1:22:39.840 you can. 1:22:40.120 --> 1:22:42.360 You can say out loud and put into the air 1:22:43.320 --> 1:22:46.360 as much as you want, Brother Amir, I can tell 1:22:46.360 --> 1:22:53.479 you what ain't gonna Happensten. 1:22:50.360 --> 1:22:55.360 Listen, listen, wait, listen, hear me. 1:22:55.680 --> 1:22:59.839 I know my ass already, but I listen because I believe. 1:23:00.360 --> 1:23:04.240 Okay, for those that never heard the salone episode, I 1:23:05.120 --> 1:23:10.040 went on Twitter, I think in I was at least 1:23:10.200 --> 1:23:13.719 at fallon at the time. It's like twenty twelve thirteen. 1:23:14.600 --> 1:23:18.280 It nah, this was later than that. This was this 1:23:18.400 --> 1:23:19.400 is about twenty. 1:23:21.760 --> 1:23:28.640 This yeah, oh yeah, that was about twelve thirteen is 1:23:29.720 --> 1:23:31.160 I decided. 1:23:31.040 --> 1:23:33.840 You know what I'm gonna will. I'm a publicly will 1:23:34.080 --> 1:23:38.320 a Little Brother reunion for the greater good, you know, 1:23:38.479 --> 1:23:42.000 the rof the hell's paid with great intentions. Facts I 1:23:42.040 --> 1:23:44.240 put it. I put a tweet out there. I was like, 1:23:44.520 --> 1:23:47.280 I want little I forget the exact wording, but it's like, 1:23:47.360 --> 1:23:50.080 I'm willing a Little Brother reunion because damn it, I 1:23:50.240 --> 1:23:55.200 need it. And you know, Fante kind of did the 1:23:57.040 --> 1:24:00.719 you when Chappelle man, I was like, nah, man, chill, 1:24:00.840 --> 1:24:01.320 don't do that. 1:24:01.520 --> 1:24:01.720 Chill. 1:24:02.040 --> 1:24:05.120 I tried, I tried. I tried to defuse the bomb 1:24:05.640 --> 1:24:07.880 and you did it like yo man, my wife and 1:24:08.080 --> 1:24:11.400 my wife is here like like what are you doing? 1:24:11.840 --> 1:24:17.840 Like that sort of thing. He gave an example of 1:24:18.200 --> 1:24:20.000 like yo, man, this is like me putting out there 1:24:20.080 --> 1:24:21.840 like you and salons and da da da da da. 1:24:22.439 --> 1:24:24.720 And then Salon saw our name says wait wait me 1:24:24.800 --> 1:24:29.080 and a mirror what and then it caused what a time? 1:24:29.680 --> 1:24:31.800 I saw all that. That's all the fireworks. 1:24:34.479 --> 1:24:34.679 Yeah. 1:24:35.400 --> 1:24:38.360 Yeah, we weren't even talking at that time. We were 1:24:38.920 --> 1:24:40.680 talking at that time, but that ship went off. 1:24:40.720 --> 1:24:45.799 That was crazy. My whole point was that this still happened, 1:24:47.000 --> 1:24:51.240 and you said it would never happen. So that's it. 1:24:51.400 --> 1:24:54.000 It never happened. Is it possibility? What were you saying? 1:24:55.320 --> 1:24:58.120 Oh, back back to my answer. That was a nice story, 1:25:00.439 --> 1:25:05.439 like this is the thing, this is this, yeah, this 1:25:05.560 --> 1:25:08.840 is this is the thing. We when we came back 1:25:08.920 --> 1:25:16.800 this time, we realized the fundamental differences as men, and 1:25:16.920 --> 1:25:20.280 you can't get past that fact, like he is who 1:25:20.320 --> 1:25:24.439 he is, we are who we are, and we see 1:25:24.520 --> 1:25:29.520 things differently than the way he does, and the clarity 1:25:29.680 --> 1:25:34.360 is there, and that's just it like, because for me, 1:25:35.200 --> 1:25:37.160 the thing I always said about little Brother, even when 1:25:37.160 --> 1:25:40.240 we weren't talking, when we weren't making music, the magic 1:25:40.360 --> 1:25:44.439 in the music was that it was our relationship. It 1:25:44.479 --> 1:25:47.439 wouldn't the fact that ty Dope, I'm Dope night Beast 1:25:47.479 --> 1:25:51.759 for Dope. It's our relationship. It's the way we approach records, 1:25:51.800 --> 1:25:54.599 the way we made records. You can hear the joy 1:25:54.760 --> 1:25:57.240 in the records. In our later records, you can start 1:25:57.320 --> 1:26:01.120 to not hear that joy, and little, yeah, a little 1:26:01.120 --> 1:26:04.479 by little it was gone. And so when we came 1:26:04.680 --> 1:26:07.599 back to do which ended up being made a little watch, 1:26:07.720 --> 1:26:12.080 me and Tay had a talk and it basically was like, listen, man, 1:26:13.000 --> 1:26:15.680 we here to do this for each other, were here 1:26:15.720 --> 1:26:20.040 to have fun doing this shit, and nigga anything more 1:26:20.120 --> 1:26:23.760 than that, we ain't. It's whatever, like, we ain't here 1:26:23.840 --> 1:26:28.400 for it. And we realized very quickly that we saw 1:26:28.520 --> 1:26:33.760 things that way he did not, And so it's just like, Yo, 1:26:33.840 --> 1:26:37.040 we're good like we're good like we're. 1:26:36.920 --> 1:26:39.400 Good when when's the last time you guys have spoken 1:26:39.439 --> 1:26:45.640 to ninth twenty eighteen, the twenty. For me, it was 1:26:46.040 --> 1:26:48.639 more than you it bro it was twenty eighteen. 1:26:49.200 --> 1:26:52.040 You was twenty eighteen. For me, it was twenty nineteen. 1:26:52.200 --> 1:26:53.840 It was March twenty nineteen. 1:26:53.600 --> 1:26:58.200 Yeah, because it was right time Nip died and yeah, yeah, yeah, Marsh, Yeah, 1:26:58.200 --> 1:26:59.559 it was March sween nineteen. 1:26:59.680 --> 1:27:01.400 Yeah for me at twenty eighteen. 1:27:02.000 --> 1:27:04.360 The last the last time we actually saw each other, 1:27:04.640 --> 1:27:09.920 like saw saw each other was yah yeah come back 1:27:10.280 --> 1:27:14.000 Articicol Festival. Yeah, so August twenty eighteen, that was the 1:27:14.040 --> 1:27:14.920 last time we saw each other. 1:27:15.920 --> 1:27:19.880 And that performance was just someone saying, hey, who was missing? 1:27:19.920 --> 1:27:25.280 Who was supposed to Royce? Yeah, Royce Man. Who's the 1:27:25.320 --> 1:27:28.320 person that was the point person who reached out to him? 1:27:28.400 --> 1:27:33.400 It was so's my man, Suleyman Massi. He's a promoter 1:27:33.640 --> 1:27:37.519 and he runs now he owns the ARTICLEP Festival with 1:27:37.640 --> 1:27:40.839 the music festival that goes on down here in Durham 1:27:41.120 --> 1:27:44.560 and Royce Msster's flight and me and Suleiman, you know, 1:27:44.640 --> 1:27:46.720 we had a working relationship. He had booked for an 1:27:46.760 --> 1:27:48.920 exchange a bunch of times, so we knew each other 1:27:49.120 --> 1:27:51.479 just you know, over the years, and so he reached 1:27:51.479 --> 1:27:53.519 out to me and was like, yo, man, Roycemster's flight 1:27:53.600 --> 1:27:56.320 that you want to do a solo set and I'm 1:27:56.439 --> 1:27:59.800 literally at home in you know, a T shirt and 1:28:00.640 --> 1:28:04.840 my boxer was just like doing nothing and U I said, well, 1:28:04.920 --> 1:28:07.040 let me check and see if it's even possible. 1:28:08.240 --> 1:28:09.439 So I ended up making the calls. 1:28:09.479 --> 1:28:11.400 I called reached out to Flash it was my two 1:28:11.520 --> 1:28:15.320 DJ first he didn't get answer for him, so then 1:28:15.400 --> 1:28:17.840 I reached out to Knife and me and Knife had 1:28:17.880 --> 1:28:20.360 been hanging in Durham that previous night, so I hit him. 1:28:20.400 --> 1:28:22.640 I was like, hey, man, Suley Min hit me by 1:28:22.720 --> 1:28:24.760 wanting to do this this show, you know, would you 1:28:24.840 --> 1:28:25.800 would you DJ for me? 1:28:26.200 --> 1:28:29.000 He was like, yeah, I'll DJ for you. And I said, man, 1:28:29.040 --> 1:28:30.800 you know it'd be crazy, man, what if we get 1:28:30.840 --> 1:28:33.160 Pool involved in this shit? And he was like, oh hell, 1:28:34.280 --> 1:28:34.960 I mean he was. 1:28:35.080 --> 1:28:38.439 He was super reluctant about it, but you know, I 1:28:39.200 --> 1:28:40.720 you know, kind of twisted his arm and he was like, 1:28:40.720 --> 1:28:42.600 all right, cool, you know, I'll do it. And I 1:28:42.680 --> 1:28:45.479 called Pooh and hit SULEI mine back and we got 1:28:45.520 --> 1:28:48.439 everything sorted out and so that all came together within 1:28:48.520 --> 1:28:50.360 the matter of three four hours. I mean, it was 1:28:50.479 --> 1:28:54.280 super super fast, and that was it. I mean that 1:28:54.479 --> 1:28:58.080 was kind of what started it. And that was the 1:28:58.200 --> 1:29:02.599 last time the end. And at the end, it wasn't 1:29:02.720 --> 1:29:06.639 like yeah, I enjoyed that. It was absolutely yeah. 1:29:06.760 --> 1:29:09.439 I mean the funny, the funny part about it was 1:29:10.640 --> 1:29:14.200 foreshadowing in life. I didn't see him when it was over, 1:29:16.360 --> 1:29:18.400 Me and Tate, no, no lie, no bullshit. Like me 1:29:18.479 --> 1:29:20.560 and Tate walked back up to the to the to 1:29:20.680 --> 1:29:24.840 the r VS, which were our trailers, and he didn't 1:29:25.000 --> 1:29:27.439 because he went down there to the stage before we did, 1:29:28.160 --> 1:29:30.000 and he didn't go back up when we went up, 1:29:30.479 --> 1:29:32.439 and I ain't seen him since we walked off that stage. 1:29:32.479 --> 1:29:35.920 We took like two pictures together, and then I was like, man, 1:29:35.960 --> 1:29:37.519 fuck this, I ain't got to stay down here taking 1:29:37.560 --> 1:29:39.840 all these pictures and going going upstairs to get drunk 1:29:40.040 --> 1:29:43.599 like and Tab was like, nig I'm going upstairs too, 1:29:43.800 --> 1:29:46.760 and we went upstairs and I didn't. I haven't seen 1:29:46.840 --> 1:29:50.760 him since. Like, no lie, no cat, as the young 1:29:50.840 --> 1:29:52.120 people say, no cap. 1:29:52.360 --> 1:29:54.000 Not a cat, not a cap at all, No cap, 1:29:54.080 --> 1:29:56.640 no fedora, no none of that shit, because a man 1:29:57.040 --> 1:29:59.479 he couk twenty twenty two. I'm getting you all life, coach. 1:30:00.040 --> 1:30:00.840 We don't need one man. 1:30:00.880 --> 1:30:01.439 Were good. 1:30:02.760 --> 1:30:03.200 Not for this. 1:30:03.600 --> 1:30:06.600 I mean, if you want to coaches talk about childhood 1:30:06.640 --> 1:30:08.120 trauma and ship like that, we talking about that. 1:30:08.439 --> 1:30:12.000 That's something totally different. We're good on this. You don't 1:30:12.040 --> 1:30:12.639 work this out. 1:30:12.960 --> 1:30:17.000 We don't go all the way out. Okay, all right, 1:30:18.640 --> 1:30:21.960 I feel you, man, you know, no, no, no, no, 1:30:22.320 --> 1:30:24.000 I'll take that. Look, this is this is a little 1:30:24.160 --> 1:30:27.240 this official Little Brother reunion. I'll take it. The album 1:30:27.320 --> 1:30:30.160 is banging. You're happy to have been a part of it. 1:30:31.720 --> 1:30:33.040 So what happens? 1:30:33.920 --> 1:30:34.040 Uh? 1:30:35.040 --> 1:30:37.160 Okay, So obviously we're in the edge of the rona 1:30:37.280 --> 1:30:40.920 now where all the breaks have suddenly halted on our 1:30:41.000 --> 1:30:48.600 professional lives. And you know what happens now is this 1:30:49.080 --> 1:30:50.400 time for a new album? 1:30:50.760 --> 1:30:52.559 Is it making it through the rona? 1:30:52.640 --> 1:30:52.800 Man? 1:30:53.160 --> 1:30:56.040 That's all that's all you can do right now, one 1:30:56.120 --> 1:30:56.720 day at a time. 1:30:57.120 --> 1:30:57.680 Yeah, one day. 1:30:59.000 --> 1:31:01.960 You know people always asks about another album. Man, it's 1:31:02.000 --> 1:31:03.799 one for us. It's just one of them things. 1:31:03.640 --> 1:31:05.599 Where it's like, let's be like you're lucky you got 1:31:05.600 --> 1:31:06.160 the one you got. 1:31:07.840 --> 1:31:13.920 Not only that, but like we both have just a 1:31:14.040 --> 1:31:16.479 lot of other things that we have going on, and 1:31:17.439 --> 1:31:21.880 you know, like I manage full time. So luckily Big Dough, 1:31:21.960 --> 1:31:24.280 my partner so he was able to pick up a 1:31:24.320 --> 1:31:25.200 lot of that slack and. 1:31:26.200 --> 1:31:29.240 And what is that into now? Who being a manager 1:31:29.439 --> 1:31:31.120 being a suit Listen. 1:31:30.880 --> 1:31:34.400 Man, let me tell you something, bro. This ship is 1:31:34.600 --> 1:31:37.759 this ship well you can't see him in the camera, 1:31:37.880 --> 1:31:39.840 but I got a lot of grades down here, now, man, 1:31:40.240 --> 1:31:42.680 got a lot of grades. Man, it's you know, it's 1:31:42.760 --> 1:31:44.040 for me. It's just one of them things. Man. I 1:31:44.120 --> 1:31:46.600 just love music, and I love the guys that I have, 1:31:46.800 --> 1:31:49.320 and I believe in them full force, and I just 1:31:49.360 --> 1:31:51.120 want to see them accomplish some of the things that 1:31:51.160 --> 1:31:54.360 they want to accomplish, if not everything. So I'm I'm here, 1:31:54.400 --> 1:31:55.880 I'm right or die. That's why I don't have a 1:31:55.920 --> 1:31:59.400 lot of clients, man, Like I gotta I gotta feel 1:31:59.439 --> 1:32:02.519 goosebump when I hear you for the first time. And 1:32:02.640 --> 1:32:06.000 all these guys I had that feeling. But it's hard, man, 1:32:06.680 --> 1:32:11.760 it's stressful. It's three it's three different people, three different personalities, 1:32:12.240 --> 1:32:15.280 three different levels in their careers right now. 1:32:16.720 --> 1:32:19.640 But you're using you're using the wisdom all of it 1:32:19.840 --> 1:32:22.840 that you all right, but that you have. But this 1:32:23.000 --> 1:32:23.320 is the thing. 1:32:23.960 --> 1:32:30.160 How old are the thirty thirty thirty thirty one and 1:32:30.439 --> 1:32:31.360 twenty four. 1:32:33.240 --> 1:32:33.439 Young. 1:32:33.800 --> 1:32:36.559 Yeah, and this is this is the thing I tell 1:32:36.640 --> 1:32:39.760 people I have. I have a lot of wisdom, right, 1:32:39.920 --> 1:32:43.719 I have a lot of wisdom, but this is their careers, 1:32:44.760 --> 1:32:47.519 so I don't I don't rule with the iron fists. 1:32:47.640 --> 1:32:52.000 I'm more of a let's have a conversation about whatever 1:32:52.120 --> 1:32:54.960 the situation is. That's way to pros the cars. I'll 1:32:55.000 --> 1:32:57.640 give you my advice, I'll give you some you know, 1:32:57.800 --> 1:33:00.519 some anecdotes if I have any. But at the end 1:33:00.560 --> 1:33:02.760 of the day, you have to make a choice for 1:33:02.880 --> 1:33:05.439 you because it's your career, and I'm gonna ride whatever 1:33:05.520 --> 1:33:07.920 that choice is, whether I agree or not, but it 1:33:08.120 --> 1:33:10.519 has to be your choice because you gotta go out 1:33:10.520 --> 1:33:11.040 here and sell it. 1:33:11.080 --> 1:33:11.799 Shit exactly. 1:33:12.280 --> 1:33:14.400 We were always kind of on some when it came 1:33:14.439 --> 1:33:17.280 to us dealing with other acts whatever. We always kind 1:33:17.280 --> 1:33:19.439 of on some tigos to the runner shit, just in 1:33:19.520 --> 1:33:22.080 the sense of, you know, like he said, as like, 1:33:22.200 --> 1:33:24.000 I can have my thoughts about it, but if it's 1:33:24.040 --> 1:33:26.800 a song you believe in, you the one that's gotta 1:33:26.840 --> 1:33:28.160 walk out here on this shit, not me. 1:33:28.280 --> 1:33:30.720 It's it's your name that's attached to it. So I 1:33:30.800 --> 1:33:31.960 could hate the fucking song. 1:33:32.120 --> 1:33:33.880 But if you love it and this is what you 1:33:34.040 --> 1:33:37.160 believe in, then I'll stand behind you on it, cause 1:33:37.160 --> 1:33:38.519 it's you the one that's gotta sell. 1:33:38.360 --> 1:33:39.960 It, and it's gonna follow you. 1:33:41.439 --> 1:33:44.240 It's gonna follow you, right. I think the best thing 1:33:44.360 --> 1:33:47.040 for me, the best thing for me and my position 1:33:47.320 --> 1:33:52.719 is I have a legacy that's cemented. Whether I stopped 1:33:52.760 --> 1:33:55.640 today and just go back to being Thomas Jones and 1:33:55.720 --> 1:33:58.200 go work at the airport or some shit, like, my 1:33:58.320 --> 1:34:02.240 legacy is cemented already, so I don't have that fear 1:34:03.080 --> 1:34:06.639 of the fuck up. And it's just like, Yo, let's 1:34:06.800 --> 1:34:09.880 let's let's go, Let's go fast, let's go hard, and 1:34:09.960 --> 1:34:12.400 if we suck up along the way, it's gonna happen. 1:34:13.520 --> 1:34:16.040 Mistakes going to hunted and mistakes going ten. There's two 1:34:16.040 --> 1:34:19.800 different type of mistakes. Let's go on hunting and that's 1:34:19.880 --> 1:34:20.479 just what we do. 1:34:20.640 --> 1:34:22.840 Yeah, yeah, I was. I was thinking that. 1:34:23.040 --> 1:34:25.200 We had Jimmy jam on you know the other day, 1:34:25.360 --> 1:34:29.360 and you know, he was talking about how his wife, 1:34:29.439 --> 1:34:31.439 you know, how he got involved in the Grammys and stuff, 1:34:31.479 --> 1:34:33.800 and it was his wife that was telling him like, Yo, 1:34:33.920 --> 1:34:35.040 this is what you're supposed. 1:34:34.680 --> 1:34:36.040 To be doing. Now, you know what I mean? 1:34:36.640 --> 1:34:39.720 And that really resonated with me because it kind of 1:34:39.800 --> 1:34:42.200 reminded me. I think that was a lot of what 1:34:42.360 --> 1:34:44.880 me and Pool would have conversations with about. Made The 1:34:44.960 --> 1:34:48.559 Lord Watch one of the earliest conversations we had. After 1:34:48.640 --> 1:34:52.040 we finished the record. The first thing we thought about was, Okay, 1:34:52.920 --> 1:34:55.680 how can who can we help, Like, now that we've 1:34:55.760 --> 1:34:58.240 done this, how can we use this new platform we 1:34:58.400 --> 1:35:00.720 have to you know, jump somebody the l fall so 1:35:00.880 --> 1:35:04.000 help you know, someone else. And so when it comes 1:35:04.080 --> 1:35:08.360 to you asked about doing another album for me, you know, 1:35:08.520 --> 1:35:11.959 that record just took a lot, Like it took everything 1:35:12.280 --> 1:35:14.880 out of me because it was so much we knew 1:35:14.880 --> 1:35:16.519 we had to get right. And I mean, you know, 1:35:16.600 --> 1:35:18.880 and you always, you know, not to say that it's 1:35:18.920 --> 1:35:21.840 ever been, you know, records that we have stepped on 1:35:22.120 --> 1:35:24.719 or like purposely just did some bullshit or whatever. 1:35:24.720 --> 1:35:26.439 I mean, we always put our best foot forward. 1:35:26.880 --> 1:35:29.320 But we made a little Watch that was just a 1:35:29.560 --> 1:35:33.439 draining process because we did everything ourselves, you know. 1:35:33.439 --> 1:35:33.680 What I mean. 1:35:33.720 --> 1:35:38.519 We cleared our samples, we were budget label studio, the. 1:35:38.560 --> 1:35:40.120 Whole nine, you know what I'm saying. 1:35:40.560 --> 1:35:43.960 So it just took so much out of us both 1:35:44.280 --> 1:35:47.880 and I think in terms of us doing another record, 1:35:49.560 --> 1:35:52.600 For me, it really just came down to I just 1:35:52.680 --> 1:35:56.360 wanted us to do something, So where now the errors 1:35:56.360 --> 1:35:58.200 out of the room. So now if I just want 1:35:58.240 --> 1:36:00.400 to jump on a song for his album, well he 1:36:00.479 --> 1:36:02.519 jumped on song on my album. We can just do 1:36:02.640 --> 1:36:04.600 a fucking song and that be the end of it. 1:36:04.680 --> 1:36:07.599 It's no more discussion of oh, well what does this mean? 1:36:07.800 --> 1:36:09.920 And nigga just mean we did the song together, you 1:36:10.000 --> 1:36:12.640 know what I mean. So we have the freedom to 1:36:12.720 --> 1:36:13.280 do that now. 1:36:13.600 --> 1:36:15.920 And if another record comes, if we feel like we 1:36:16.000 --> 1:36:18.400 got something else to say, you know, we can do that. 1:36:18.800 --> 1:36:22.880 But as of right now, speaking for me, I'm just 1:36:22.960 --> 1:36:26.400 kind of enjoying the peace of just having you know, 1:36:26.520 --> 1:36:29.080 my brother back in my life again and us being 1:36:29.160 --> 1:36:32.360 able to use our influence to help other people. 1:36:32.640 --> 1:36:36.200 Like that's the most that's the most joy the joyous 1:36:36.240 --> 1:36:36.920 part of it for me. 1:36:37.640 --> 1:36:40.880 And we still got cities we ain't touch yet because 1:36:40.920 --> 1:36:44.120 of the role No man, straight up, we ain't been 1:36:44.200 --> 1:36:49.040 to New York, Houston, Detroit, to roder Boston. We ain't 1:36:49.040 --> 1:36:52.760 did a show at the crib sits the festival, like man, 1:36:52.840 --> 1:36:54.640 y'all ain't getting no album to that happen. 1:36:55.600 --> 1:37:02.439 Five Hey, man, burden hand a burden in hand, beast 1:37:02.479 --> 1:37:04.720 two in the bush. I mean I wanted a new 1:37:04.800 --> 1:37:07.800 Little Brother record. You got it, I got I got 1:37:07.880 --> 1:37:11.760 a Christmas gift. I'm not being greedy. Thank you. I 1:37:11.920 --> 1:37:13.720 appreciate it. Thank you for this, man. 1:37:14.080 --> 1:37:16.519 Yeah, man, And and I always wanted to thank you, 1:37:17.080 --> 1:37:20.280 Amir for I don't know if you remember, but we 1:37:20.400 --> 1:37:22.200 did a show at the t l A. This is 1:37:22.320 --> 1:37:25.280 this is around, this is the listening time, and you 1:37:25.720 --> 1:37:28.160 came to the show, and I. 1:37:28.240 --> 1:37:29.679 Know what you're talking about. 1:37:29.720 --> 1:37:32.080 I remember you said, Yo, I want to buy some 1:37:32.479 --> 1:37:35.080 CDs from y'all, and we said, okay, how many you want. 1:37:35.840 --> 1:37:39.920 You paid for thirty c ds. You left them CDs there, 1:37:41.439 --> 1:37:44.040 I did so we were able to resell them CDs 1:37:44.600 --> 1:37:47.080 money in the half, and we needed that money. 1:37:47.200 --> 1:37:47.400 So I. 1:37:49.160 --> 1:37:49.720 Thank you for that. 1:37:52.000 --> 1:37:55.519 That's that's a very mere thing to do. But I 1:37:55.600 --> 1:37:58.160 think I also did it on Donald's Got Niggas Back 1:37:58.200 --> 1:38:06.040 Down ninety five show it all right? Well, look I'm 1:38:06.080 --> 1:38:08.760 wrapping up the show, man, Yo, I want to thank 1:38:08.800 --> 1:38:12.200 you all for doing this show under under these circumstances. 1:38:12.280 --> 1:38:14.640 I never thought i'd get the Little Brother episode, but. 1:38:14.680 --> 1:38:16.600 You know what though, man on some Brittain, this is 1:38:16.760 --> 1:38:22.720 just my mind working post edible. How poetic is it 1:38:23.120 --> 1:38:25.439 that we all met on the internet and now we're 1:38:25.479 --> 1:38:34.000 doing our show. My god, can't do do it? 1:38:36.040 --> 1:38:39.840 It's only right Well on behalf of Big Pooh, Fanticicolo, 1:38:40.080 --> 1:38:43.840 Boss Bill, the rest of the team Supreme. Yeah Sugar, Steve, 1:38:45.120 --> 1:38:47.760 unpaid Bill and oh my god, I was about to 1:38:47.800 --> 1:38:52.000 see you out getting cigarettes anyway, I'm back now all 1:38:52.000 --> 1:38:54.559 are you good? All right? This is a quest Love 1:38:54.920 --> 1:38:57.120 and thank you for tuning in and we will see 1:38:57.120 --> 1:38:59.280 you on the next go round of Quest Love Supreme. 1:38:59.439 --> 1:39:12.880 Thank yous. What's Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio. 1:39:18.160 --> 1:39:22.560 For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 1:39:23.000 --> 1:39:24.679 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.