WEBVTT - #344 - Thirstin Howl III 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:04.680 Yeah, yeah, you already know how the Third, the Polo Weekend, 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:09.520 the Skillion there, the Skelosophy. Make sure you catch me 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:13.200 on that bootleg keV show man. It's gonna be serious. 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:15.240 Man. What up Bootleg keV. 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.560 Boutlet cav podcast. Man, we got a special guest in here, 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:23.880 Thurst and how the third welcome. 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:25.000 Yeah, what's up? Kevin? 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.280 It's crazy because I remember I told you, like one 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:30.200 of my first vinyls I ever got was one of 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:33.960 your singles when you were with Rackets, and I didn't 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.920 really know much about you, and then it was through 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:42.879 the Source or the Double Excel, I really like I 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.480 read up on you, and uh, I was like super 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.800 intrigued by the whole low life shit and some of 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:51.879 the for people who don't know like what the low 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.160 lifes were, like, first of all, you're still poloed out 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:56.800 right on Brand Life. 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:57.560 Lower is Life. 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:02.960 But back in the nineties, please correct me if I'm wrong, 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:05.080 Like you guys would like kind of boost a lot 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:08.280 of polo right in the eighties. Okay, Okay, So in 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.200 the eighties it started, what was what kind of give 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.400 me the background of what the low life movement was, 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.400 and you know, I feel like we see so much 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.880 of this boosting of high end products out of like 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:22.920 Louis Vatam these days, and I like, you guys were 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:24.080 doing the first low key So. 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.800 I mean, you know, low life was just a group 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:32.400 of kids coming together man for survival. You know, did 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:34.520 a lot of things we weren't supposed to be doing. 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:40.080 You know, it definitely expanded way beyond clothing and stealing clothed. 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.800 There was so many entities to what low Life was. 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.800 But you know, we were known mainly for running up 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.600 in stores and taking everything rushing. There was a lot 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:53.960 of casual boosters. You know, we was terrorizing clubs and 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:58.520 concerts and events and even the subway system. But like 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:02.440 I always stress and reinterview because these are always the 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:07.440 first questions. Low Life has transformed since then, of course, 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:12.520 a positive movement with a positive organization within hip hop culture, 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.560 pushing things forward and teaching people to actually do the 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:17.680 opposite of. 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:18.799 That what y'all were doing. 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.840 Yeah, yeah, so, because so many people just want to 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.960 hear the crime. Listen, that was so long ago, and 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.320 we've been on this path for a very long time now, 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.960 you know what I mean, we're heavy and entertainment heavy 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.560 and art, heavy in film, you know, heavy in community 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:39.320 service and things like that. So it's for me, it's 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.280 really all about what we are today. I mean, if 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.000 you want to know the Low Life history is all 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:47.760 over the place on the internet. You could google it 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.800 and they'll tell you all the stuff that I'm tired 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.880 of repeating because we you know, we got the stigma 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.160 stuck on us that I've been trying to shake off. 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:57.560 It's been years since. 0:02:57.680 --> 0:02:59.800 Have they ever approached you guys to do like a 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.040 or like a movie? Because I feel like it'd be 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:06.200 a great Netflix series like that eighties, Like I just 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:10.360 feel like that that was such an interesting thing to 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.080 be a part of that. Like, I'm surprised we haven't 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.200 seen it kind of you know, come out as like, 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.200 you know, we see Raising Kine and we see Snowfall, 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.000 which is kind of based on Freeway Rick Ross's life loosely, 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:21.679 you know what I mean. Has anybody ever approached you 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:22.600 guys to do something like that? 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.440 Well, that's actually why I'm here in California right now. 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:30.040 We're doing the Low Life series Distealing the American Dream 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:35.040 with Kevin Garnett and Content Cartel and my good friend 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:39.120 Mark Levin and Blowback Production, so along with my company 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:40.720 Scilly in there, you know. 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.880 So it's everything is in the mix. So it's just 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.880 a matter of time before it's on the big screen. 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:50.440 So that's on the way, on the way. Kg's what 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.280 is a producer, investor, he's everything. 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:55.760 You know, he's part of the entire thing. 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.720 We partnered up, you know, our companies to do this 0:03:58.840 --> 0:03:59.880 together in sing. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.040 So KG had a lot of interest in the story. 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.280 You know, his company hit me up, he sat down, 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:08.920 you know, Adam Sandler got involved. 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:10.480 Oh sh happy Madison. 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:13.440 So there was you know, there was so many angles 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:15.640 to it, but it's coming. 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:18.360 How would you rate Adam Sandler's drip? 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.080 His drip, I mean, Adam don't gotta kire man. 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.159 That's what I like about him, right, It's very much 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.760 like his lack of is the drip. It says more 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:31.320 than you know if he were to be wearing like. 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:35.440 A and it complements his personality and what he's known 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.160 for in comedy is like I'm gonna make you laugh 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.120 every time I walk in the room, whether I'm telling. 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.960 A joke in you know, and he's a good dude man, you. 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:48.160 Know how much First of all, how extensive is your 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.960 collection of polo? Because you know there's people who I 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.200 know who have stuff that they've just I got a 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.480 good friend who collects the Teddy Bears, the actual Teddy Bears, 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.280 And I mean he's got and stuff from when he 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:02.640 was a kid all the way to. 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:04.080 Now give me his address. 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:08.240 But but like, yeah, for you, like what would you 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.840 say like these days? Like how much? Like how much 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:12.960 stuff do you have it at the crib? Like are 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:14.440 you are you still collecting a lot? 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:19.599 I mean it's never ending, right, But I don't hold 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:21.720 on to things like people think you know what I mean, 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:25.359 not in the order there not because only because I 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.640 like you curse on him, right, I won't say what 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.800 the fuck? I like my shit new and crispy, and 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.880 I like the up to date shit. So many people 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.240 want the vintage. They want to act like they was 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:40.040 there in the past. You know, I don't care about 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.640 the venta shit. I was there in the same manner 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.640 as hip hop. Like I feel funny wearing a cago 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.800 and gazelles today. It feels like a costume because I 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.919 did it in the eighties and stuff. So I don't 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:54.839 try to revisit the past in my time. I'm trying 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:58.240 to not trying, but I'm always into the new shit 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.080 that's coming out. The fresh flavor was, you know. But 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.279 my collection is what it is. But I'm mostly into 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.400 the home stuff. Like imagine, if this is my home, 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:11.880 all this shit is Polo on that right. 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.240 So that's how I get dom that you got to 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:15.480 pull up home stuff. 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:19.480 You got the towels and the accessories around the crib. 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.280 And that's the shit I care about the most, you 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:21.800 know what I mean, you. 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:23.560 Have any of the actual like stuff Teddy Bears. 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.800 I have the collection I have. I maybe have fifty bears. 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.480 And everything was like gifts man for my family, for 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:32.719 my children. 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:34.440 Fans probably bringing fans. 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:36.600 With male shit to my po box. All the time. 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.800 I've always put my information on, like my CDs and stuff, 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:44.760 and here comes a box that I didn't expect. You know, 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.760 A fan sent me an autograph Mike Tyson glove because 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:50.280 they know I love Mike Tyson and I'm from Brownsville, 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:52.800 you know. So I just received stuff from people I 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:54.520 didn't even know that and they would tell me, Yo, 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:55.800 I think you would like this. 0:06:56.200 --> 0:07:01.120 It's crazy because I remember, like really hearing about Brownsville 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:05.720 like from MOP. Right, Mop was like still one of 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.160 my favorite rap groups of all time. Shot to them, they. 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.280 The kings to me of Brownsville falls in hip hop music. 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:13.960 You know, they were the most dominant because they were 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:15.680 the most consistent, you. 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:17.040 Know, outside of myself. 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:21.040 MOP had more of a mainstream platform and they had 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:21.840 them bangers. 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:26.240 Well, I just remember like reading their interviews and like 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.040 in my head thinking Brownsville was like the worst place 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:33.760 in America, Like how crazy was Brownsville in the nineties, 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:35.680 because it had to have been. Like I read some 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:38.800 stuff that like like Fame and Billy Dans would be 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:40.560 saying about like things that they used to do, and 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:42.960 it just it seemed like a very And then when 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:45.880 you would hear other people from Brooklyn talk about Brownsville, 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:49.080 the way they would talk about Brownsville was like it 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:50.560 was it was like crazy. 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:54.280 Like you know, Brooklyn is considered one of the worst 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:59.200 boroughs of New York City and the rest of Brooklyn don't. 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.400 Come to Brownsville that right, That's that's how serious. 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:07.119 And Brownsville is mostly composed of housing projects. Man, maybe 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:10.840 I think like thirty three housing projects and we're not 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.360 talking about you know, in all these other states, your 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.960 housing projects are like two floors. Right in New York City, 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.760 the it's just twenty floors, and you got twenty floors 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.560 with ten buildings per project and a bunch of you know, 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.640 wild people, you know, because it's poverty is a lot 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.600 of poverty. So poverty is stacked on top of poverty. 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.679 So it forces people to be the way they are 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.680 in that environment because they don't have anything. So and 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.160 you know, it's always about taking it. It's a Brooklyn waste, 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:39.560 so not. 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:41.680 Just taking it out there, that's about they taking it 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:43.080 from each other, you know. 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:47.360 But Brownsville is it's massive, man, Like I would have 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.920 to credit Brownsville for everything I am today. Without that, 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.800 I wouldn't be thirston Howell. If I would have grew 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:55.440 up somewhere else, I wouldn't have. 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:56.440 Been thirston Howell. 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.960 I wouldn't have had that Brownsville training experience, you know, 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:05.520 because to be solidified in Brownsville takes a lot of work, 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:06.719 you know, coming up. 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:08.640 So I love Brownsville. 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:14.040 I was gonna say back then, like compared to now 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.080 that like Brooklyn has changed so much, not Brownsville, I 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:20.560 was gonna say, but there is like one area that 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:22.520 really hasn't gotten hit because if you think of like 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:25.480 Bushwick and like all these areas of Brooklyn that you 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.320 go to now, and it's obviously gentrified a lot. You know, 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.320 like a lot of people who can't afford to live 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:33.840 in work in Manhattan, they go to Brooklyn or even Harlem. 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:35.599 Harlem is definitely changing. 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:37.040 A lot, you know what I mean, all them gentrified. 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:38.840 Yeah, I was gonna say for you, like, is it 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.040 a good or a bad thing to kind of see 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:45.240 Brooklyn kind of transform a bit and become more of 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.920 a gentrified place because it is raising the housing prices. 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:50.319 It's making it a lot harder for a lot of 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:50.960 people to live. 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:55.040 You know, it's evolution, man. You can't stop evolution, no 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:56.280 matter what. 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:57.600 What we want or what we feel. 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.360 But you know, the sad part is that you know, 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.440 they force South the less fortunate or the people who 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.079 don't really have the means right, and you know, and 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:10.360 they just making way for people from West bubble fuck 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.760 to come in and just take over these neighborhoods where 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:15.839 you know, as far as the older people that have 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:19.120 been there their entire lives in their seventies and eighties, 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:22.680 that really don't have another place. It's too late for 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:25.280 them to relocate anywhere. That's the only. 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:26.120 Sad part about it. 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.480 But the evolution, Yeah, and they leave, they don't give 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.120 a fuck. They you know, they leave a lot of 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:35.079 people with no options. But evolution, you know, when shit changes, 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.080 you have to know how to change with it. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:39.720 I always say evolve or dissolve. 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.240 But you know, and but financially, being from places like that, 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:47.880 a lot of people don't have the education, They don't 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.520 have the opportunities the rest of the world have because 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:52.920 they also blocked. You know, a lot of jobs will 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.920 block you based off of your zip code. When you 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.240 get this crazy fell out of application, you give them 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.959 a Brownsville zip code, they looking at it up, you 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:01.480 know what I mean. 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:03.480 But people still. 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.320 Make it out of there and make it in there, 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:07.600 you know, while they live in there. So it's not 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.960 a hopeless place. It's actually rich, you know what I mean. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:15.480 Because I grew up in Brownsville in a project, right, 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:19.080 And I look at my son, who grew up in 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:20.240 a suburb. 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:21.800 In a home someplace, And. 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.920 When my son comes outside, he didn't have a single 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:30.840 friend to play with. But when I came outside, in 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:36.000 my less fortunate home in Brownsville, dysfunctional household, poverty, strict neighborhood. 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.960 I had a thousand friends where I walked out b door, 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.240 So the riches I received from being there, Like that's 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:46.839 the part people don't understand. Your personality is molded. You're 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.680 around all these different personalities and characters that you're able 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.480 to absorb and learn from and mimic. 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:55.880 And that's the richest of it, man. 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.880 And everybody is so rich and talent, bravery, you know, 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.640 resourceful because when you lack, that's when you have to 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.880 be resourceful. And everything that was like even within my life, 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:08.640 I learned to be more resourced. 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:08.880 Right. 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:13.160 I was gonna say you were a part of like 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.920 this golden age of underground hip hop. I call it. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.079 It's like the Raucous era, right, because you obviously were 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:20.040 with Rockets for a sec. 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.040 I only did a single with Raucus. 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:24.640 But I'm saying first for a quick sec. But like 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.560 I just think of that whole era of New York 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.520 underground rap, right, because when we think of the term 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:34.440 underground or backpack, it's really like to me, that pocket 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.040 of like you know, there was la shit going on, 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:40.719 like dilated people's and like a project blowed stuff like that, 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:42.680 and then there was like in New York, there was 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.800 most there was yourself, there was al A, the Rugged Man, 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:47.960 there was all. There was just this whole movement going on, 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.960 like for you like being a part of that movement, 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.760 and like because nowadays, like I don't know if there's 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.600 necessarily an underground anymore, because I think the Internet kind 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.960 of just made everything so easily accessful to everybody, so 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:04.360 there's just a bunch of niches. But like, did y'all 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:06.920 kind of realize, like you guys are a part of 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.640 this like really cool moment in hip hop history that 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.280 I don't think has really been replicated in terms of 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:15.640 just like that underground New York hip hop, say, thinking 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:17.640 about the sound bombings and the tunnel and all this 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:18.560 shit that was going on. 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.560 I mean, I had no clue that that's what it 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.640 was gonna be or what it actually was. All I 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:29.439 knew is, you know, that movement represented the people that 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.720 weren't allowed to be mainstream or had to follow the 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.800 certain standards of commercial radio or what your label is 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:39.360 and your A and rs and telling you this was 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.720 the real raw artist, you know, I mean, the hungry 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:47.720 motherfuckers that was just being resourceful however they can. But 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.280 I literally did I know that it would turn into 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.800 what it is today. Little did I know that I 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.280 would even make it this far as an artist. You know, 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.360 I could never have predicted that it would have been this. 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:00.319 But you know, the. 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:04.320 Underground shit, the backpack shit, it still exists because there's 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:10.360 certain cities like LA, like Massachusetts, like New York where 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.160 the underground still thrives heavy. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:15.920 I just mean in terms of like the newer artists, 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:18.800 like I think that there's like still obviously like I 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.520 think the closest thing we have to that it's kind 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:23.400 of like we've seen with like guys like thirty eight, 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:25.440 specially Griselda and kind of what they've been able to 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:27.880 do in terms of like still selling vinyl and but 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:32.560 it's still more accessible like Benny the Butcher's doing records 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:33.520 with two chains. 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:34.440 Yeah. 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.560 I think back in the day to think that like 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.160 Talb and jay Z could do a song together was 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.520 so far fetched because it felt like they were so 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:45.840 far apart, even though they were never that far apart. 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:50.840 But like from a fan's perspective, the commercial shit and 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:55.160 the underground shit were so far apart, even though they 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.320 weren't really you know what I mean, Like, but there 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.480 was kind of like a segregation. 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.680 Kind of because a lot of people, especially in the mainstream, 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.200 they looked down on the underground, like it wasn't the 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:09.040 thorough dudes or the street dudes were I'm a street dude, 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.200 so I was doing underground music. It just was we 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.920 were creative beyond anything, and some of the street dudes 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.680 don't want to do that. So that's what separated. But 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.280 I always said this as well, like when they were 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.840 saying hip hop was dead, the underground was the life 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:28.440 support keeping it alive for a long Sure, sure we 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:32.640 was the motherfucking heartbeat of hip hop, you know, making 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.040 sure that it was pure as far as the culture 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:35.720 is concerned. 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.640 Did you ever attend the Lyricist Lounge stuff back in 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:41.240 the day. 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:42.800 Of course, that's why I got started. 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.840 What was that like? Because I just read I remember 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:50.280 I bought the Lyricist Lounge double disc that came in 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.120 the cardboard sleeve, and then there was the one that 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:55.800 had the Oh No on it, which I think was 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.360 two or three. But then there was the TV show 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:01.840 which was way ahead of its time, right It was 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:03.440 super ahead of its time because I think about how 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:05.760 big wildin Out is. That was kind of like kind 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:08.840 of the first inclination that but Lyricists Lounge originally was 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:11.840 like was it a monthly event or how often were 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:13.720 they doing lyricists lounges in New York? 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:15.720 If varied, man, it could have been every week. 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:17.440 What was that like though? And like, what were the 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.280 other MC's that you know you were brushing shoulders with 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:21.400 at Lyricist Lounge. 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.320 It was full of hungry mcs that when you showed 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:26.720 up you got a rhyme. 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:29.320 Everybody's rhyming fucked the stage. 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.560 We could be outside the cipher go on all night outside, 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:35.880 it goes on in the bathroom. That's where niggas went 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.720 to really shop in their shit and see what you was. 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:42.280 You know, I met Danny Castro from the Lyricis Lounge. 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:45.240 You had an ascap event where they were playing demos, 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:47.920 and they played my demo and I remember when one 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:49.600 of my songs came out, you know, the crowd went 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.760 crazy in a fucking listening party. So he approached me 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.920 to perform. I've never performed on stage ever in my life. 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:56.480 Wow. 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.280 So when Danny invited me. That was the first show 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.920 I ever did. I went to a Lyvers's Lounge showcase. 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.399 I performed along with Mass the fool you know, and 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.719 shut it down for my first show ever. That fucking 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:13.159 that should appeared in like twenty thirty magazines the photo 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.280 that said what happened that night. But I also was 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:19.000 a part of the TV show. When we were recording 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:23.439 the Lyris's Lounge album, we would get into ciphers even 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:27.640 in the studio, attacking each other in ron form, and 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:30.640 that's how they got the idea for the TV show 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.520 because we carried our conversations that way and they was like, hey, 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:35.480 that shit is genius. 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:38.600 You know it was myself Wordsworth. 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:43.000 Wordsworth was a beast with as al skills was involved. 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.440 So just the way we were interacting and they were filming, 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.399 they got the ideas for the show and then you 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:50.679 know the rest was history. 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:54.560 Yeah, that show man. I feel like maybe five seven 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:57.920 years too early, because I think like man Lyricists Lounge 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.080 would have went crazy and like twoy twelve or something 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.840 twenty ten. Like I just feel like because I when 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:05.280 I watch because I watched Wilding Out, and I'm like, 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.600 wilding Out is really like a like a like it's 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:11.040 really like a battling show. Like you know, it's mixed 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.119 with comedy, it's mixed with like, but it's like really 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:15.080 like it's kind of dope because it's kind of the 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:16.760 raw form of like punchlines. 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.840 The Lyvers's Lounge Show was theatrical, super theatrical. 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.960 There was a lot of makeup involved costumes and that's 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:25.480 what I love. 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:28.600 Hey, don't be surprised if you see another version. 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:30.920 It was the Lyricis Lounge of the show. For people 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:32.520 never saw it. It was kind of like if you 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.320 mix Dave Chappelle and Wilding Out together. Yep, Chappelle showing 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:36.119 Wilding Out together. 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:36.960 You know, it's crazy. 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:39.800 Some of our writers on The Levers's Lounge Show were 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:42.520 actually the writers from in Living Color. Oh wow that 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.800 we had behind the scenes man, so and it was 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.720 tremendous fun doing that show because same thing. We go 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:52.840 fucking film right all day and then we you know, 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:56.720 we rented houses and lived together. When we get back home, 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.760 motherfuckers is going at it all night, rom and like 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:02.159 attacking you know, just ciphers. 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:04.200 So it was a beautiful time. Man. 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.920 You were super close with Juice, right jay Weiss. 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:11.160 I just went to see Juice yesterday. I didn't even 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:12.200 know he was in Callie. 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:15.600 What's crazy is when I first got Napster, when the 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:19.360 Napster wave happened, so my best friend's brothers and dilated 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:21.920 people's So when I was a kid, I was around 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:24.480