WEBVTT - QLS Classic: Little Brother 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:09.080 Questloft Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. So y'all, June 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:11.640 is Black Music Momp, and every year we use this 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:15.680 time to knowledge something that really can't be overstated. Black 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:20.560 music is one of the foundational forces behind modern culture. Now, 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:22.960 back when Teams Supreme and I we're doing the Quest 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.840 Love Supreme and now on the Quest Love Show, We've 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:29.360 always tried to create a space for those stories. So 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.280 for the entire month of June, we're bringing you an 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:37.040 episode every day focus on the history, influence, and ongoing 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.680 evolutions black music. A team and I dug through the 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.520 catalog and selected episodes that build especially meaningful for now 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.640 conversations that are formed and entertained and connect the dots 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.880 between where this music comes from and where it's headed. 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:52.840 Now. 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:57.480 Alongside those, we'll be releasing four new episodes on Quest 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:02.080 Loft Show featuring trailblazers, innovator and cultural connectors and visionaries 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.120 who represent the past, present and future. 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.600 Of black music. I want you to enjoy the same. 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:22.880 Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to another episode of 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:23.920 Quest Love Supreme. 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:25.679 I'm your host Questlove with Me. 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:31.120 Today is Boss Bill and kind of Weird is Fontigolo 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:36.960 on his own former podcast as Sudds the proud of 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:41.040 his son, his return and the one and only Big Pooh, 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:50.720 collectively known as Durham, North Carolina's finest little Brother. I'm 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:54.800 correct and seeing Durham correct yep, yep, and you claim 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.280 dorm as well, Pooh. 0:01:57.920 --> 0:01:58.840 Durham claims me. 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.600 Like who's one of the tug of war of where 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:13.640 the genesis little brother actually lies? It all started at Central, 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:15.680 you know what I mean with students in North Carolina 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.280 Central together, So Durham, for all intents and purposes, it 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.360 is the birthplace a little brother. Yeah, I just I 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:24.920 just have to make it clear that I'm from Virginia 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:30.960 originally just what cities Alexandria, all through northern Virginia, but 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:36.079 Alexandria and Fairfax specifically. Okay, all right, So I in 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.720 the attempts to treat Fonte as a regular guest, to 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:43.320 not assume that everyone knews his story. 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:44.560 I do. 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:48.120 However, I'm not that familiar with your story, Pooh. So 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:52.639 to give us a recap or whatever, I'll start with you. 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:55.200 What was your entry into music? 0:02:56.000 --> 0:03:00.880 Probably the radio, but like more importantly BM when they 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:02.919 did the h you could get like. 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.120 CDs for a dollar or whatever. 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:10.080 Were you or were you scamming? 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:11.800 I was scamming big time. 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:12.079 Yeah. 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.160 Yeah, I did it about five different times and got 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:19.160 five different groups of CDs. But that was probably my 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:23.320 real intro, just learning about so many different. 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.840 Artists. And I had friends from New York. 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.480 I mean everybody probably did at that time, back in 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.680 the nineties who would come down with tapes like That's 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.400 how I first heard the big ee nas and just 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:37.120 different artists from out of New York. 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:37.480 At the time. 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:42.680 And between that and radio, because radio was real regional 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.040 in the nineties, so you, I mean we were. It 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.160 was heavy go go influence, but you would get when 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:52.200 the artists come through, you will start getting a different artist. 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.400 So that's how I got put on to like when 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:57.320 Ray Kwan when he dropped the Purple tape, he came through, 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.800 did an interview. They actually debut you incarcerated scar faces 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.040 on the radio. I'll never forget it in DC. 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:06.320 So that was my start. 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:06.560 Man. 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.080 I was actually just talking about this with my wife yesterday, 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:13.360 Like we didn't listen to music in the house. My 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:17.560 mom is not a huge music fan, so I just 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.000 had to get into other places because it didn't come 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:20.559 from the crib. 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.400 Yeah, I was gonna ask for and the same for you, Fante, Like, 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:29.800 was there trickle down creativity in your life like an 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:34.560 older cousin and older like, Yeah, for me, it absolutely was. 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.640 It was it was my mom. I think it started 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.760 with my mom. So the thing where you know, I 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.400 have very young parents, So my mother was my mother 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:46.159 when she had me, she was fifteen and my dad 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:49.799 was seventeen. So I was pretty much with my mom 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:54.480 like all the time. So wherever she went, I was there. 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:58.120 So during the summer, but during the like the weekends, 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.159 that was when we had to clean up well with 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:04.080 my grandmother, So that was clean up time. So that 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.159 was when she was playing all the you know, all 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.839 just you know, the classic R and B stuff, Luther Patty, 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.000 you know, you had Johnny Guitar Watson. She used to 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.960 like Love Jones by Johnny Guitar Watson and we would 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:20.360 sing that. And then during the week if she went 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:22.920 out to like the park or whatever. That's why I 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:27.320 heard all like the early eighties, you know, Nucleus gem 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.400 on It, Shannon let the music play. That was kind 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:33.200 of where I was hearing all that, and so between 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:37.360 her and my uncle, my two uncles. My one uncle Mike, 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:39.800 he was a DJ, and he would get like all 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.400 the promo records from the station and bring them home 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.440 and I would go through the promo records. And then 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:49.240 my other uncle, my uncle brid he was super. He 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.520 was kind of the more experimental, I guess in terms 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:54.400 of his taste, Like he was heavy. 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:59.200 P funk heavy. He was a big dance music fan, 0:05:59.279 --> 0:05:59.719 so a lot. 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:04.200 Of South Old stuff, southsol orchestra, instant funk that my 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:04.920 mom made up. 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.520 He like Heart. I remember he had like the Heart, 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.279 the Dreamboat and the album, you know what I'm saying. 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:15.000 So he he went all over everywhere. So he was probably, 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.320 you know, one of my biggest musical influences in terms 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.200 of no regard for a genre. 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.599 If it was funky to him, he just fucked with it. 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:23.400 And that's what it was. 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:29.080 So with Pooh, for you you not having that like 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:35.440 what was it just recreational or just an escape or 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.040 like I was life playing? 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:40.000 It was an escape for me. 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.920 I can put on music, had a bite walk man, 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:47.839 just ride around town unless how I was just listening 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:52.440 to music. Had the auto reverse so flip itself and 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.479 so you know, I just for me. It was just 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:55.279 something I just. 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:59.679 Always innately enjoyed and just enjoy listening. 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.279 I was always a writer, not necessarily of music, but 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.000 like I would write poetry, I would write short stories. 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.840 So that inspired like that intrigued me in music. That's 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.960 why I took to Nas like I did, because his 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:14.880 rhymes are more like stories to me. So that's why 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:19.880 I took the Prince. His stuff was like stories, and 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.080 I mean that was that was pretty much it. I 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.800 later learned that my dad is a big music head 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.440 and fan, but you know, I didn't meet him until 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:30.400 I was nineteen, so I would not have known that 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:31.360 in my younger year. 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:35.880 Now, I mean, is this the typical narrative for a 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:39.360 young black teenager in the early nineties to go this 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:43.320 particular route, because again, I mean, you know, I'll call 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:48.520 truly ignorant Northerners are and what our thoughts are about 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:53.360 anybody below the Mason Dixon line. So I mean just 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.560 in general, because Aucass had this problem as well. Yeah, 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.560 like people just are landing whatever, you know, not, So 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:06.440 was there ever a I mean, is this the typical 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:10.800 route of a young black teenager in that time period? 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:16.360 I definitely wouldn't say it was typical, just because you 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.920 know where we grew up at where I grew up 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:23.480 in Greensboro, North Carolina. You know, there wasn't There were 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:27.480 people who made music, but there wasn't really the thought 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.960 of actually making it as a musician. It was just yo, 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.240 we like music, we spend records, you know, we freestyle whatever. 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.120 But I don't think there was ever a real thought of, like, yo, 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.040 you could make a living doing this. This the South 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:42.800 at that time and still in many ways it's still 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.400 very traditional in the sense of you know, you go 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:47.959 to school, you get a job, you get you some benefits. 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.160 You know, you bring a steady check home. You know 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.559 what I'm saying. That was life, That's what it was. Yeah. 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:59.080 So in terms of just musically though, we were always 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.440 the South was always a big kind of melting pot 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:04.840 because and I think a lot of things that people 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:08.560 didn't understand, the problem that cast had and also you know, 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.120 a problem that little brother had, you know, people didn't 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.199 understand it. In the South, we grew up listening to everything, 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.600 like the South was the meeting point for all kinds 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.680 of music. So you had, of course, you know where 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:22.559 we were and I talked about this for on the 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.560 show where we were in Greensboro, that was you know, 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.240 it's the South, it's East Coast, but it was a 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:31.360 lot of traffic that went through Greensboro, be it college students, 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:34.480 be it drug dealers, be it you know, just all 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:38.240 kinds of transplants that was bringing their music, you know, 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:40.679 to our area. And then, like Pool was saying, you 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.480 had the Cats coming from DC. They brought the go go, 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:46.200 you know what I mean, and so we were getting 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.920 Then you had Florida that was you know, Magic Mike 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.679 two Live Crew. You had the base you know from 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:55.720 from Florida and Atlanta. And then you know the West 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.160 Coast you know, with like Chronic of course, I mean 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:00.200 Chronic was kind of the bomb that went off everywhere. 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:04.200 But we were students and that was something that I 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.720 think we always had an advantage of as Southerners because 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.240 we really had to study all types of music versus 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:12.160 New York. 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:13.480 They kind of. 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:15.480 Got caught off guard, like the South was a sucker 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.080 punch to them, Like when they saw you know, when 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.560 Master p blew up and you know, no limit, you know, 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:23.679 cash money. 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:25.400 They got caught off guard. It was like what the 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:26.040 fuck is this? 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.160 But in the South, we knew that shit was coming, 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.439 you know what I mean, because we had been studying it. 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.440 So Okay, when I first started coming down to North Carolina, 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:39.360 there was a club called is it the Cat's Cradle? 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:39.720 Yep? 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.640 Okay, So like one of our very first gigs was 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:47.600 at the Cat's Cradle. And I mean, you know, we 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.440 were the roots, so of course we're going to attract 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.560 sort of an alternative sort of audience whatnot. 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:54.480 So there was. 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.600 Like an element of culture that I was familiar with 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:01.959 down there that wasn't too certain of that. I don't 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:03.840 know if you guys know Dave Tompkins, he was like 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:04.280 a writer. 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:06.599 Yeah, he was a writer. I know of him. I 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:08.280 don't know him personally, but I know who he is. 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:10.400 Yeah, he wrote for like Vibe and all that stuff 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:12.880 and whatnot. So he was like showing me around North 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.880 Carolina and whatnot. So I meant, was there a first 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:23.880 draft of a crew like how how do you two meet? 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.360 And a manga mat into what will eventually be known 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.640 as Little Brother, Like what's what's the circle? 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.480 I mean, we initially met uh in a dorm room. 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:37.880 Uh Tay came through in this ever ever bubbly personality. 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.280 Uh to spit a rhyme he wrote for English class. 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.280 Uh and and that's how we met. 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:47.680 As that was first time we met straight up. It was. 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:53.839 Ari on the hallway, Joe Joe Wright, I remember his 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:55.760 last name today, Joe Wright. 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:56.320 He was. 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.160 It was his room and he used to just have 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:00.640 mad people come in the room. And I was fresh 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:04.280 on the hallway because I actually stayed in a hotel 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.320 for half of my first semester in college. 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:08.960 But I got there. 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.600 We were in the room kicking it, and Fonte come 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:15.400 in and was like, yeah, wrote this around for English class. 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.719 It's called no apologies. And he starts spitting and I'm 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:21.800 just like, what you wrote there for English class? That 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.559 could be on the radio or some shit. And that's 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.800 when he let everybody know he was quitting football as well. 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.000 I didn't know he played football, but he was quitting 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:33.720 out of that you. 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.280 Played football for man. I played football. 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:40.000 I started playing football in the sixth grade, and I 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.160 played all through middle school, all through high school, and 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:46.000 I played my first two years in college and I 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:49.600 played fullback. And you know, by the time I got 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:53.800 to college, I realized that it was a much more 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.160 of a It was a commitment that I just didn't have. 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:00.400 Like I didn't love the game. I wasn't on scholar ship. 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:01.960 I didn't care. 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:04.560 You know. I was like, why am I out here? Fuck? 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:04.720 This? 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.640 Was it a Friday night lights culture for football down 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:13.600 there or high football? And yeah, it kind of was. 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:15.960 I mean it was a big So the school I 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.640 played for in high school, Page high school, we used 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:21.760 to whip ass like we was the truth. And so 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:26.040 my senior, my junior, senior year, my senior year, we 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:29.880 got to the semifinals and we almost took state, but 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.800 we lost in the semifinals. But we always had a 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.120 good program, and so it was something I think for me, 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:37.760 it was just something that was more social. 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:39.680 In high school, it was just you know, I was 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:40.480 a big kid. 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:44.120 I had decent size, you know, decent speed, and you 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:45.320 know I like to hit motherfuckers. 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:47.000 So I was like, all right, fuck it, I play football. 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.440 But once I got the was I got to college, 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.160 That's when I was like, yo, this ship is a business, 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.200 Like you really got to be committed, and I just 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:57.440 didn't have the love for it. 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.080 And I'm just like, man, while am I out here? 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.000 I love doing music, So let me go do music. 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:04.080 And that was around the time that that was when 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:04.680 me and who met. 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:08.199 That's where we met, And I mean it morphed into 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:13.400 a different variations of what it ultimately became. It was 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:15.600 a big ass group of us at one time called 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:20.400 the organization. Then that whittled down to give me how. 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:22.920 Many how many people in that organization? I don't know 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:27.000 what nine So it was okay, the organization. It was me, you. 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:31.520 I guess ninth was in it by default. I think 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:32.560 I don't even think he. 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.840 Was in the organization. It was people I can't even 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:36.560 remember their name. 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:37.640 It was this organization. 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:41.040 It was this organization, So I know, Devin, it was me, you, Joe, 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:47.920 God who you remember? Rosie Rosie it was it was 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:49.480 a girl who used to run with named Rosie. 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.440 Who was MC. She was Dope. Uh, Medina of course 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:53.960 she was in that. 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:59.840 Yes, yes, it was Theda. 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:01.800 Modina was Medina was A. 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.240 She was another girl she was she was an m 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:08.320 C and Modina was Dope and Medina and and Sean Dawn. 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.200 They had a whirlwind. 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.280 Romance, tumotualist eumotualistuous relationship. 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:16.440 And it was. 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:21.520 The original Chris Brown and Rihanna Mann Man. 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:26.960 Old man, listen, Okay, we leave that man to tell 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:28.840 his own his own war war stories. 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.640 Those stories are not ours to tell. But we were 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.040 a collective of just em c's and and then we 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.520 had a Z Yoursell Collins. 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:38.320 He was he was our R and B singer. 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:44.080 Yeah, keep them hollering Collins. He had like somebody else 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:45.960 that raped. I can't remember that. I can't remember who 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:49.720 it was. But it was just a very loose and 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.920 I used that term loose lee. It was very loose 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:59.040 collective of people who went to school together and we 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.400 would just go to each other each other rooms, freestyling style, 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:04.880 and that was that was it. And then it whittled 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:09.400 down to give me which is me sean Dan, give 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:10.240 me a g I. 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:10.720 M m E. 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:12.600 Yep, yeah, yep. 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.440 That was no name. What that was at an acronym, 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:17.120 was it? It was? Of course it was an acronym. 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:25.760 Of course, give us God the murder me God, I 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:27.080 murdered menyms. 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.000 That was one of them. Yeah, we had a couple 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:30.400 of them. 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:31.640 That was the main one. 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:33.960 That was the main one, God I murdered man. It 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:37.840 was so many bad We had so many bad meanings 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:39.840 for the acronym, but that was it. 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:43.160 I want a group to come out named acronym in 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:44.040 the an. 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:55.640 Accomplished character, resigious, resilience, nigga. 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:58.920 I don't get that ship way the fun up out 0:16:58.960 --> 0:16:59.200 of here. 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:04.280 Yeah, but I mean it transformed into many different took 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.240 many different shapes, and I still remember this is this 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:09.159 would always be funny to me. I mean, this was 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.480 the moment that changed my rap career. But it's it's 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:16.240 still funny because it's ironic how it ended up. Seandan 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:19.040 didn't come back to school one semester, so that was 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:22.080 the end of gimme and h Fante was in my 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:23.800 dorm room and he was like, yo, man. 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:25.239 We got he went to New York. He went back 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:25.760 to New York. 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.359 Yeah, Sean went back to New York. So I was like, 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.640 what's good man. He's like, yeah, man, I don't see 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:35.000 as being no duo. So uh, you know you gotta 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.399 do some more work. So but if you need me 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:38.000 for something, just. 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:38.480 I let me. 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.440 That conversation changed my It changed my rap career. 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:44.720 Man. 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.400 It made me work hard at ship, like I never 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.440 worked so hard in my life at something. But I mean, 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:55.000 it's ironic because that's we ended up a duo anyway. 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.720 During that period, I mean, how how much would you 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:03.080 say you were committing to your craft as opposed to 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:05.880 like surviving going your job and I write rhyme. 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:10.280 Maybe I was surviving man. Uh yeah, yeah, it wasn't 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:14.520 It wasn't serious for me. I still didn't I still 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:17.560 didn't believe that it could be more than just something 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:21.240 we were doing in school at the time, because I 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:24.320 never saw this as a career for me. It was 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:29.040 just something I love to do. And that moment let 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:32.280 me know, like, hey man, you gotta step your ship 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.680 up or you better start really going to class. 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:37.040 It was. It was one of those. 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:40.480 Yeah I'm saying I. 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:41.680 Didn't choose class. 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:43.920 Yeah, that was the thing. 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:45.880 I mean, I remember at that time because we were 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:47.960 kind of it was a pivotal moment for all of 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.280 us because at that time, Shan Donnie went back to 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:53.320 New York and Pool was still me and you. We 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:55.800 were the only ones I think still in Durham and 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:57.760 you were about to go home that summer. We were 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:00.239 about to just go home for that summer, and there 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:05.359 was just this is ninety eight, ninety nine, No, this 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:08.360 was this was probably was it two thousand, It had 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:09.640 to be the two thousand. 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:13.520 It was two thousand and one because that's the summer. 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.200 We you know what it was two thousand and one. 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:19.880 It was spring. It was spring two thousand and one. 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:25.080 I went to Charlotte for the summer and I was 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:27.360 taking the train back to Durham because that's when the. 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:28.480 Justice League started. 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:32.440 Yeah, that's when little brother became little brother like that, 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:33.200 and that. 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.119 Us Spring two thousand and one. That was like dealing. 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.639 It was born. My oldest son was born. He was 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.520 born December two thousand, so yeah, around two thousand and 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:45.480 one spring old Nigga. 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:47.600 My head was in a whole nother place. I was like, Yo, 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:48.720 if you ain't. 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:51.520 Real about this shit, nigga, yeah, you better find something 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:52.720 else because nigga, I got a kid. 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:54.360 Yeah, I'm not going to say. 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:56.920 When you have a kid and when you have real 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:03.080 life situations, then how much pressure to pursue your your craft? 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:05.080 Like what's the ratio balance? 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:06.520 Man? I was scared of ship. 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:08.119 I was. 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:08.479 I was. 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:11.679 I was scared to tell you know, my son was 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:14.600 born the end of December. 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:16.680 Uh he you know, he was Christmas. 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:20.680 He was Christmas Eve two thousand and so I ended 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:24.320 up finishing my degree in that like that following semester 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:25.720 of like May two thousand and one. 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:28.800 His mother ended up coming back. 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.639 I think that next the semester after that, and she 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:35.080 finished her degree like in December. So we were young 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.280 parents and we had no fucking idea what we were 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:41.000 gonna do. You know, I had no clue you know 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:44.520