WEBVTT - Scarface: The Reunion 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:22.996 Pushkin. I sit alone in my four cornered rooms, damning 0:00:23.076 --> 0:00:28.076 a candle. What I should let me dropped from shoodlike 0:00:28.116 --> 0:00:32.316 this field. Scarface is a Houston rapper with a gruff baritone. 0:00:32.916 --> 0:00:36.516 He's one of the most recognizable, respected voices in hip 0:00:36.556 --> 0:00:40.636 hop for decades now. He straddled the line between commercial 0:00:40.756 --> 0:00:44.916 and authentic, a dynamic that was once rare in the culture. 0:00:45.396 --> 0:00:49.196 Day by day is more impossible the cold. I feel 0:00:49.196 --> 0:00:52.436 like I'm the one that's doing dope. I'll often drift 0:00:52.476 --> 0:00:57.356 when I drive, having fatal bolts of suicide. Scarface's appeal 0:00:57.436 --> 0:01:01.396 was his vulnerability. His graphic depictions of hood life, paired 0:01:01.396 --> 0:01:04.116 with a psychological toll that environment took on its residence, 0:01:04.596 --> 0:01:07.236 was groundbreaking. It got the attention of Rap a Lot 0:01:07.236 --> 0:01:10.756 Records CEO James Prince, who recruited Face to join the 0:01:10.756 --> 0:01:14.916 Ghetto Boys when he was only seventeen years old. The group, 0:01:15.116 --> 0:01:18.356 which also included Willie D and Bushwood Bill, were one 0:01:18.356 --> 0:01:21.356 of Rick Rubin's earliest rap signings for his post def 0:01:21.396 --> 0:01:25.676 jam label, Deaf American the main national news in nineteen 0:01:25.756 --> 0:01:30.316 ninety when Deaf Americans distributor Geffen Records refused to release 0:01:30.356 --> 0:01:33.596 the Ghetto Boys music because of its violent lyrical content. 0:01:34.596 --> 0:01:36.996 Already square in the middle of the gangster rap era, 0:01:37.436 --> 0:01:40.836 the group's lyrics pushed the genre even further. They were 0:01:40.876 --> 0:01:44.316 tagged at the label Horrorcore, the rap version of an 0:01:44.316 --> 0:01:48.956 eighties slasher film. On today's episode, Scarface and Rick talk 0:01:48.996 --> 0:01:52.756 about how Face's recent experience with COVID was eerily similar 0:01:52.796 --> 0:01:55.356 to his classic verse on minds, playing tricks on me, 0:01:56.156 --> 0:01:59.956 and surprisingly, Scarface also talks about the Miranda Lambert song 0:02:00.236 --> 0:02:07.156 that makes him yearn for his childhood Texas home. This 0:02:07.316 --> 0:02:09.876 is broken record liner notes for the did You to Age? 0:02:09.956 --> 0:02:19.116 I'm justin Richmond. Here's Rick Rubin with Scarface. How are 0:02:19.116 --> 0:02:22.596 you feeling, man, I'm good man. How you doing good? 0:02:22.596 --> 0:02:24.396 It's so good Toe. You've been such a long time. 0:02:25.036 --> 0:02:27.156 I know it's been too damn long. Man. Looked like 0:02:27.276 --> 0:02:29.916 time been kind to you. Man. You're getting nice right either. 0:02:30.476 --> 0:02:32.236 Thank you, Thank you? You You look pretty good to yourself. 0:02:32.276 --> 0:02:35.756 You look healthy. I'm getting there, man. I understand you 0:02:35.756 --> 0:02:37.916 went through a physical transformation. Tell me a little bit 0:02:37.956 --> 0:02:40.596 about it. I just decided that I didn't want to 0:02:40.596 --> 0:02:43.396 be big no more. I just like forty four years old. 0:02:43.716 --> 0:02:46.356 Rick and I decided that I didn't want to. I 0:02:46.436 --> 0:02:49.436 didn't want to go through those health risks though, mars 0:02:49.516 --> 0:02:54.156 hart and congestive heart failure and and just being overweight 0:02:54.236 --> 0:02:57.036 old beasts. Man, it's a lot of things that come 0:02:57.116 --> 0:02:59.636 with you, you know, not taking care of your body. 0:02:59.676 --> 0:03:02.676 You're eating crazy. Yeah, how heavy did you get up to? 0:03:03.156 --> 0:03:06.276 I got up to two ninety one. Wow, I'm one 0:03:06.396 --> 0:03:09.076 hundred and ninety five them. But I also do die. 0:03:09.116 --> 0:03:11.076 I was just four days a week now because the 0:03:11.156 --> 0:03:14.396 COVID knocked out my kidneys. When did you have COVID? 0:03:15.116 --> 0:03:18.676 I had COVID February March of twenty And do you 0:03:18.716 --> 0:03:22.156 know how you got it? I have no clue. Man, Wow, 0:03:22.596 --> 0:03:24.396 did people around you have it as well? Or no? 0:03:24.996 --> 0:03:28.676 Nobody else had it? They wanted to keep me in 0:03:29.116 --> 0:03:31.556 the hospital in the small room when no, life's kind 0:03:31.556 --> 0:03:35.396 of like a solitary confinement. And I ended up, you know, 0:03:35.516 --> 0:03:37.796 just after down a stand in the hospital. Man. They 0:03:37.796 --> 0:03:40.316 had to toilet up under the sink and the you know, 0:03:40.396 --> 0:03:42.316 inside the cabinet. And it's just like I was in 0:03:42.396 --> 0:03:44.956 depending attention and I like being in jail, So I 0:03:45.036 --> 0:03:48.116 just scratched it all together. Were you able to go out, 0:03:48.196 --> 0:03:49.876 like did they let you out? I don't know how 0:03:49.876 --> 0:03:53.516 any of that stuff works. Okay, so you can leave 0:03:53.916 --> 0:03:58.116 on your own recognizant, I guess, but you have to 0:03:58.156 --> 0:04:02.356 sign a letter saying that you left against the doctor's orders. 0:04:02.996 --> 0:04:04.836 And I left and I just said, you know, well, 0:04:04.876 --> 0:04:07.916 if I'm gonna die, and I'm gonna die at home, man, 0:04:07.916 --> 0:04:10.476 I definitely don't want to die in this box because 0:04:10.516 --> 0:04:13.036 that you couldn't even have visitors and not you can't 0:04:13.036 --> 0:04:16.636 even have this the hospital now. So these people that's dying, 0:04:16.956 --> 0:04:20.756 they died by theirselves and I don't want to do that. 0:04:20.796 --> 0:04:24.956 Mand So how long we sick for it? I was 0:04:25.076 --> 0:04:31.276 sick from the beginning of March until about April the seventh. 0:04:31.836 --> 0:04:34.596 I went to the hospital for my kidneys after that, 0:04:34.636 --> 0:04:36.756 but I ended up fighting the COVID. So when I 0:04:36.756 --> 0:04:41.236 first caught COVID, I couldn't breathe, and then as time progressed, 0:04:41.316 --> 0:04:44.436 I couldn't breathe and it felt like I had the flute, 0:04:44.836 --> 0:04:48.476 and it was like the flute times twenty thousand, and 0:04:48.516 --> 0:04:51.716 then my lung still up with water. And then they 0:04:51.756 --> 0:04:54.956 fight you the pneumonia. So that's bilateral pneumoonians, so they 0:04:55.036 --> 0:05:00.036 fight pneumonia. When they killed the pneumonia, then then the 0:05:00.036 --> 0:05:04.036 fluid arms around my heart. And then when they you know, 0:05:04.236 --> 0:05:07.036 fight that off then and then it attacks my kidneys 0:05:07.076 --> 0:05:11.476 and then it gets it knocks my kidneys. Wow. So 0:05:11.596 --> 0:05:15.196 how are you feeling in general now since that? If 0:05:15.236 --> 0:05:18.156 you ask me, how do I feel? You know, just 0:05:18.316 --> 0:05:22.556 in general, I'm cool. But the last and effects of 0:05:22.556 --> 0:05:27.156 the covid man, you know, like I hallucinate, Wow, you know, yeah, 0:05:27.236 --> 0:05:29.156 I see things that aren't there when I was sleeping. 0:05:29.196 --> 0:05:31.276 You know, I could be in a dream, wake up 0:05:31.316 --> 0:05:33.716 and go get water and come back, go back to sleep, 0:05:34.036 --> 0:05:37.636 and be back in that same dream, in that same spot. Well, 0:05:37.676 --> 0:05:41.436 that would segue easily into us talking about a song. 0:05:44.796 --> 0:05:47.036 You always thought I was crazy man, but just a 0:05:47.156 --> 0:05:50.756 serious man. But seriously, you wrote a song a long 0:05:50.796 --> 0:05:55.156 time ago that tells the story you just told for real. 0:05:55.476 --> 0:05:59.196 It's unbelievable, Like it's it's it's coming in, it's coming 0:05:59.276 --> 0:06:04.076 to life. Yeah, tell me the story of mis playing 0:06:04.076 --> 0:06:07.796 tricks on me. So like my grandmother would always walk 0:06:07.876 --> 0:06:10.836 around in the house and miss play stuff, and she said, 0:06:11.436 --> 0:06:14.076 I guess my mom must be playing tricks something, you know. 0:06:14.076 --> 0:06:17.556 That's when a title came from. The song came from. 0:06:17.956 --> 0:06:20.556 You know. I wrote all three verses except for Willie's right, 0:06:21.556 --> 0:06:24.076 and originally it was the it was my two verses 0:06:24.076 --> 0:06:26.316 and didn't the one that Bill raps that was the 0:06:26.356 --> 0:06:29.116 original song that was supposed to go on to mister 0:06:29.196 --> 0:06:32.916 Scarface's back album, I don't you remember that? Yeah? And 0:06:33.036 --> 0:06:37.356 I wrote it because, you know, that's what I was feeling. 0:06:37.476 --> 0:06:40.236 That's where my mind state was. I wrote a lot 0:06:40.276 --> 0:06:45.796 of music about dying back then, Rick, and it was 0:06:45.876 --> 0:06:49.156 because I guess I was a troubled kid, and I 0:06:49.236 --> 0:06:52.836 think that I think that writing was the only out 0:06:52.956 --> 0:06:55.916 that that I had, you know, because I couldn't talk 0:06:55.956 --> 0:06:59.756 to my mom. She didn't understand that. My dad, he 0:06:59.796 --> 0:07:02.436 didn't know what I was going through. So I just 0:07:02.516 --> 0:07:06.716 wrote io songs. It was therapeutic. I don't know how 0:07:06.796 --> 0:07:11.996 therapeutic it was, but I did write it. And it's 0:07:12.436 --> 0:07:15.836 interesting to talk about that song and that kind of 0:07:15.876 --> 0:07:19.276 song because it really was nothing like that before. In 0:07:19.316 --> 0:07:22.356 the early days of hip hop, the subject matter was different. 0:07:22.676 --> 0:07:25.396 And then when gangster rap came along, that was the 0:07:25.436 --> 0:07:29.476 next kind of level of hard was gangster rap. But 0:07:29.556 --> 0:07:33.676 then what you did was different than that and beyond that, 0:07:33.956 --> 0:07:36.836 and I guess people would refer to it as horror rap, 0:07:39.036 --> 0:07:42.996 you know, like it's like gangster rap was more real life, 0:07:43.036 --> 0:07:50.236 street stories was yours were more violent dreams that were 0:07:50.276 --> 0:07:55.436 you know, more more like like horror movies and just showing, 0:07:56.196 --> 0:07:59.716 not showing, but just actually putting how you felt, the 0:07:59.796 --> 0:08:02.996 vulnerability that you felt, put that in the words and 0:08:03.156 --> 0:08:07.196 recited that and put those feelings you know, behind it. 0:08:07.396 --> 0:08:10.436 When Wow on the mike, you know what I'm saying, Yeah, 0:08:10.476 --> 0:08:12.756 but I felt about it. I didn't realize I was 0:08:12.796 --> 0:08:15.476 doing something new, but I really felt like I was 0:08:15.516 --> 0:08:18.996 just writing my heart Rick, That's about it. Yeah, what's beautiful. 0:08:19.036 --> 0:08:23.076 You also have written emotional lyrics that you know, I 0:08:23.436 --> 0:08:25.556 listened to the lyrics sometimes that can make me cry 0:08:25.796 --> 0:08:29.716 because you could feel the emotion in what you're saying. 0:08:29.796 --> 0:08:33.276 And it's different than you know. For for the longest time, 0:08:33.996 --> 0:08:38.796 rappers were just presenting, you know, a hard face. You know, 0:08:38.836 --> 0:08:42.676 it was a front basically, and there was great power 0:08:42.756 --> 0:08:47.676 that you found in being vulnerable. And it was new. 0:08:48.076 --> 0:08:52.756 It is new. It's still new. Am Wow, that's heavy man, 0:08:53.636 --> 0:08:57.756 And you know, chip to be coming from you know, 0:08:58.036 --> 0:09:01.236 number the number one producer hip hop producer of all times. 0:09:01.636 --> 0:09:04.316 Do you realize you you rock the bells? Do you 0:09:04.356 --> 0:09:07.796 realize you run? Do you see this ship? Rick? Like 0:09:07.876 --> 0:09:10.716 you're a bad dude and you're a beast boy, You're 0:09:10.716 --> 0:09:13.756 a beastie boy, the game man. Like for a statement 0:09:13.836 --> 0:09:18.956 like that they be coming from d Ri Rubin. Wow, 0:09:18.956 --> 0:09:23.036 it's big man. Thank you for the kind words, sir. Well. 0:09:23.076 --> 0:09:26.516 I I love I've always loved music, and I've always 0:09:26.516 --> 0:09:30.316 loved your music. And I remember when I first heard 0:09:31.236 --> 0:09:33.396 the first thing I heard was the Ghetto Boys when 0:09:33.396 --> 0:09:36.596 it was still g h E T t O. Yeah 0:09:36.636 --> 0:09:41.036 you changed that, yeah, Rick Rubin actually changed our name 0:09:41.116 --> 0:09:44.276 from g h E t t O t g E 0:09:44.316 --> 0:09:49.116 t O Boys. Yeah, And I remember hearing it and 0:09:49.196 --> 0:09:53.236 feeling like this is the next Like this is a progression. 0:09:53.636 --> 0:09:57.356 This music hasn't gone to this place yet, and it 0:09:57.436 --> 0:10:00.116 felt revolutionary. And that's what always excited me about music. 0:10:00.156 --> 0:10:02.396 You know, I always try to make I always trying 0:10:02.396 --> 0:10:06.076 to make stuff that was the most interesting thing in 0:10:06.116 --> 0:10:08.876 that moment, you know, and as a fan and look 0:10:08.916 --> 0:10:11.316 for the and you know, look for that where's this 0:10:12.476 --> 0:10:15.356 what's exciting about music? And it's always when someone takes 0:10:15.356 --> 0:10:18.116 it to the next level. And your writing did that, 0:10:18.196 --> 0:10:20.076 And tell me if this is great. Always was of 0:10:20.276 --> 0:10:23.836 the belief that you were. Were you the main writer 0:10:23.916 --> 0:10:25.276 for the Ghetto Boys? I feel like you wrote a 0:10:25.316 --> 0:10:28.516 lot of lyrics, not just your verses. I wrote a 0:10:28.556 --> 0:10:30.756 lot for the bill. Will and I wrote a lot 0:10:30.796 --> 0:10:33.876 the bill. I see. You know Bill didn't write at all. Rick. Yeah, 0:10:34.276 --> 0:10:36.796 you know, he may have had a few ideas, but 0:10:37.476 --> 0:10:42.036 you know, mainly those ideas came from James and ourselves, 0:10:42.076 --> 0:10:45.356 you know, but Willie and I wrote the mass majority 0:10:45.356 --> 0:10:48.196 of the larrus f Bushwick. How did you meet Willie? 0:10:48.716 --> 0:10:52.876 By accident? James had heard of record from me caused 0:10:52.916 --> 0:10:57.556 scar Face, and he wanted me to do a few 0:10:57.556 --> 0:11:01.036 songs with the group Ghetto Boys. So we all went 0:11:01.036 --> 0:11:03.116 out to James's ranch. I don't know if you've ever 0:11:03.156 --> 0:11:07.676 been out there. We went out there and we were 0:11:07.756 --> 0:11:12.356 locked into the dance with no transportation, no nothing, for 0:11:12.476 --> 0:11:14.916 like weeks at a time. He would just drop us 0:11:14.916 --> 0:11:18.036 off out there and leave right and we'd be like, damn, 0:11:18.036 --> 0:11:19.556 we don't even know what we had, dude, how we 0:11:19.636 --> 0:11:21.676 want to get back to well, you know where we lived, 0:11:22.316 --> 0:11:26.676 so we were forced to record together. And when we started, 0:11:26.956 --> 0:11:30.916 it was Willie Bill billing the rapper. Yet I'm sorry 0:11:30.916 --> 0:11:33.156 it was Willie. It was myself, and it was a 0:11:33.156 --> 0:11:37.076 guy named Jukebox because Johnny C had left the group 0:11:37.836 --> 0:11:40.636 and we just started making music together and all of 0:11:40.676 --> 0:11:44.756 a sudden it was no more juke Buck, so it 0:11:44.876 --> 0:11:47.036 was just me and will and then we had to 0:11:47.076 --> 0:11:48.996 write the bill, so it was us three. Now that's 0:11:49.036 --> 0:11:52.796 the ghetto boys that you ended up getting into an 0:11:52.836 --> 0:11:57.436 agreement with and distribution for YEA. And they called you 0:11:57.476 --> 0:12:00.516 Action then though I remember they always referred to as Action. 0:12:01.116 --> 0:12:04.516 I was a DJ. I'm probably a better DJ producer 0:12:04.556 --> 0:12:07.596 than I am a rapper. Rick I don't know about that. 0:12:08.156 --> 0:12:10.996 I mean, I don't know how good you're all the beats, Ricked, 0:12:11.036 --> 0:12:12.876 I did a lot of those beachs man. A lot 0:12:12.916 --> 0:12:15.036 of people put their name on my beach, you know 0:12:15.076 --> 0:12:17.076 with me. But a lot of those beats, I do 0:12:17.236 --> 0:12:20.676 those beech Man, Yeah, yeah, I did a lot, a 0:12:20.756 --> 0:12:24.356 lot of those beats. Incredible. Did you know Mike Dean 0:12:24.516 --> 0:12:27.876 back from those days too. Mike Dean came in on 0:12:27.916 --> 0:12:31.356 this song that I did call street Life, and if 0:12:31.396 --> 0:12:33.516 I told you that I think that Mike is the 0:12:33.516 --> 0:12:36.596 best producer, i'd be lying. But if you ask me, 0:12:36.756 --> 0:12:41.996 is he the best engineer, mixer musician by far? I 0:12:41.996 --> 0:12:45.196 don't know old body better than Mike and mixing, engineering 0:12:45.316 --> 0:12:48.116 and and and master and all that that's seen him. Yeah. 0:12:48.556 --> 0:12:51.996 But as far as like your vibe, like the vibes 0:12:52.076 --> 0:12:56.036 didn't come from Mike Dean, Like the grooves and and everything, 0:12:56.116 --> 0:12:58.756 those came from Mike, It O Joe and Beato and 0:12:58.876 --> 0:13:02.876 Tone Compone and mister Willie a few more people and myself. 0:13:03.556 --> 0:13:06.756 But Mike Dean made it sound great. Yeah, he's and 0:13:06.836 --> 0:13:09.316 he still does. He still does. I still work with him. 0:13:09.676 --> 0:13:14.476 He's incredible. He is incredible. Noe better. But I met 0:13:14.556 --> 0:13:17.596 Mike Dean back in nineteen ninety three through Beatop and 0:13:17.636 --> 0:13:19.996 then from nineties and the ninety four album we worked 0:13:19.996 --> 0:13:23.556 Throw together with Ino Joe, Mike Dean and I worked 0:13:23.596 --> 0:13:25.996 with n O Joe on that, on that Diary album 0:13:26.196 --> 0:13:29.276 and then the Untouchable album and then a couple more 0:13:29.276 --> 0:13:32.956 albums after that. We'll be right back with more from Scarface. 0:13:33.276 --> 0:13:41.516 After a quick break. We're back with Scarface. You meet 0:13:41.596 --> 0:13:45.036 DJ Screw, I did meet Dj Screw, but we were 0:13:45.156 --> 0:13:47.916 more friends than we were music partners, you know what 0:13:47.996 --> 0:13:51.316 I mean. Like I used to listen to his tapes 0:13:52.156 --> 0:13:54.516 that he would make, but I never wrapped it in 0:13:54.556 --> 0:13:57.916 their ciphers, you understand, because it was a totally different 0:13:57.916 --> 0:14:01.716 cipher from from from when I grew up jumping in. Yeah, 0:14:01.796 --> 0:14:07.116 you know, this was slowed down top and screwed. And 0:14:07.196 --> 0:14:10.796 I could say screwed because Crew didn't. Yeah, I put 0:14:10.836 --> 0:14:13.556 you up on something rig If Screw didn't do it, 0:14:13.996 --> 0:14:17.796 then it's not screwed because Screw is a human being. 0:14:18.036 --> 0:14:21.196 So if somebody's saying it it's chopped and screwed, it's 0:14:21.356 --> 0:14:24.156 not chopped and screwed. It may be chopped, but it's 0:14:24.196 --> 0:14:27.516 not screwed because Screw didn't do it. Yeah, if someone 0:14:27.556 --> 0:14:29.476 else did, it would be chopped and slowed down, but 0:14:29.516 --> 0:14:32.516 it's not screwed. Yeah, chopped and whoever his name is, 0:14:32.756 --> 0:14:35.556 but it's not screwed. Yeah, you know. And we took 0:14:35.596 --> 0:14:37.836 that real personal when people said, yeah, man, I got 0:14:37.916 --> 0:14:40.596 sore and so so and so screwed, and I'm like, well, 0:14:40.636 --> 0:14:42.556 how did you get his screwed and screwed? In here? 0:14:43.196 --> 0:14:45.876 Like now, we're from the South Side we take screw 0:14:45.956 --> 0:14:48.516 Real series down here. I loved it. I remember that. 0:14:49.756 --> 0:14:53.156 What was it one am or three am? Three am? Yeah, 0:14:53.236 --> 0:14:57.036 three am, that's the one. It shout shied to kit 0:14:57.116 --> 0:15:00.956 Ki and fat Padding, big hawking is she and the 0:15:00.956 --> 0:15:04.876 whole screwed up click? Yeah that was good music. Yeah. 0:15:05.076 --> 0:15:07.636 For me, it wasn't about the rapping. It was just 0:15:07.716 --> 0:15:11.796 about the groove. The roof was crazy. Yeah, the gruel 0:15:11.956 --> 0:15:14.356 is crazy. Tell me about how did you come to 0:15:14.356 --> 0:15:17.716 write your book? You know what? I would say that 0:15:18.356 --> 0:15:21.316 the first part of my life was still on my 0:15:21.436 --> 0:15:26.036 shoulders at the time that my book came out, But 0:15:26.156 --> 0:15:28.956 once the truth about my life came out, I felt 0:15:28.996 --> 0:15:33.156 like everything was lifted off my shoulders, if that makes sense, Beautiful. 0:15:33.596 --> 0:15:36.276 It felt like I told you or I told the 0:15:36.316 --> 0:15:39.556 world everything that needed to be known about me, Like 0:15:39.836 --> 0:15:43.276 that was the first half of my life, and it 0:15:43.356 --> 0:15:45.996 weighed heavy on my weigh the heavy burden on my 0:15:46.076 --> 0:15:49.436 shoulders because it was a lot of stories that needed 0:15:49.436 --> 0:15:53.356 to be told. That's like the theory of confessional, you know, 0:15:53.516 --> 0:16:01.156 in church pretty much it was a confessional time, you know. Yeah, Beautiful, 0:16:01.236 --> 0:16:04.156 do you have any kind of religious or spiritual beliefs 0:16:04.276 --> 0:16:08.036 or connection. You know, I'll just believe in God now. 0:16:08.916 --> 0:16:12.516 I believe it. You know, you can. You can break 0:16:12.516 --> 0:16:15.036 it down into a gang if you want to, because 0:16:15.036 --> 0:16:17.876 it's all religion is to me as a gang, you know, 0:16:17.876 --> 0:16:20.916 whether you Baptist, a Christian, or Muslim or whatever you 0:16:20.996 --> 0:16:23.676 as also there's always somebody that's willing to take that 0:16:23.796 --> 0:16:26.636 to the extreme. But are you willing to take God 0:16:26.716 --> 0:16:29.596 to the extreme? Like, I just believe it's bigger than me. 0:16:29.636 --> 0:16:34.596 I believe it's God, period, regardless what denomination you want 0:16:34.596 --> 0:16:37.796 to call yourself belonging to it. I just believe it's God, 0:16:38.516 --> 0:16:41.916 you know, Like like if you can see suspending in space, 0:16:41.996 --> 0:16:44.556 spinning on the ball with water stuck to a life 0:16:44.636 --> 0:16:47.996 growing from it, if you can show me a person 0:16:48.036 --> 0:16:50.516 that can make this happen, then you'll change the way 0:16:50.556 --> 0:16:53.916 I'm thinking from right now. I just only believe in God. 0:16:54.476 --> 0:16:58.556 I think more people had that relationship, the world would 0:16:58.556 --> 0:17:03.036 probably be a better place. Probably so beautiful. Tell me 0:17:03.116 --> 0:17:07.076 your first memory of hip hop period? Any any memories 0:17:07.076 --> 0:17:11.796 of hip hop? Originally, my aunt moved to New York 0:17:12.276 --> 0:17:16.716 in the sixties. She brought a brownstone in Harlem, So 0:17:17.356 --> 0:17:21.916 you know, I'm a kid getting take from my cousin 0:17:22.116 --> 0:17:24.236 are going to New York when I'm a little when 0:17:24.236 --> 0:17:27.636 I'm a youngster and actually being a part of the 0:17:27.676 --> 0:17:32.196 original hip hop. So I know all about hip hop, 0:17:32.276 --> 0:17:35.956 you know, from Cool Hurt to Red Alert to all 0:17:35.996 --> 0:17:38.636 the casts that were DJ and Molly Mall and just 0:17:38.836 --> 0:17:42.636 all of that. So I think that my earliest visions 0:17:42.676 --> 0:17:46.196 a hip hop had to be like Curtis Blow Mode 0:17:46.396 --> 0:17:51.236 and what's the Battle and classic Battle busy Bee busy Bee, 0:17:51.436 --> 0:17:56.596 that Battle Breaking B Street. I think that when everybody 0:17:56.796 --> 0:18:00.516 was doing the Sugar Hill Gang, I was on Curtis 0:18:00.556 --> 0:18:03.356 Blow or something. You know, all kinds of stuff. Man, 0:18:03.916 --> 0:18:07.716 When did you first start the idea of writing instead 0:18:07.716 --> 0:18:10.916 of just listening? Had to be in a sixth grade man, 0:18:11.316 --> 0:18:13.876 you know what really turned me into really wanted to 0:18:13.956 --> 0:18:18.396 rap When Criminal Mind became out. That's when I knew 0:18:18.396 --> 0:18:21.236 I wanted to be a rapper. When six in the morning, 0:18:21.276 --> 0:18:24.316 when I first heard six in the morning by his tea, 0:18:24.396 --> 0:18:26.916 I knew I wanted to rap. That's amazing, you know, 0:18:26.956 --> 0:18:29.756 I see, I see inspired a lot of people to rap. 0:18:29.796 --> 0:18:32.796 It really did. Man, and he don't even know it, 0:18:32.836 --> 0:18:36.916 but you know, he to me, Ricky talked it and 0:18:37.076 --> 0:18:40.076 he spoke about our life. You know, six hit in 0:18:40.076 --> 0:18:43.036 the morning, police said at my door, fresh should be 0:18:43.116 --> 0:18:46.356 just across the bathroom floor. But you know what I mean, 0:18:46.396 --> 0:18:48.796 You're like you saw that. I was like, Oh, take 0:18:48.836 --> 0:18:50.956 him a lot, let's go. You know we saw that. 0:18:51.316 --> 0:18:53.516 Did you see the movie he made. I think it's 0:18:53.556 --> 0:18:57.796 called Something from Nothing. I ain't see that highly recommended. 0:18:57.836 --> 0:19:01.196 It really Something from Nothing. I want to check that out. Yeah, 0:19:01.236 --> 0:19:04.916 it's a story of hip hop. He interviews mcs and 0:19:05.156 --> 0:19:11.716 everybody raps a cappella and it's magnificent. Everybody. Wow, it 0:19:11.716 --> 0:19:13.836 will blow your mind. I wanted to take it out. 0:19:14.076 --> 0:19:17.556 Another early rap for me hip hop for me, Oh 0:19:17.636 --> 0:19:20.196 my mind, big Time was a song that he did 0:19:20.276 --> 0:19:25.596 called Reckless Incredible. It's different for IC because musically that 0:19:25.676 --> 0:19:27.716 felt like more of a It felt like more of 0:19:27.756 --> 0:19:31.276 a New York kind of beat, like New York club 0:19:31.276 --> 0:19:34.596 beat that eventually would have led to like Miami bass 0:19:34.716 --> 0:19:39.116 was sort of a derivation of that style. Um, but 0:19:39.556 --> 0:19:41.636 I don't remember a lot of IC's records having that 0:19:41.716 --> 0:19:46.276 kind of tempo. Yeah, that's way back early iced Tea. 0:19:46.556 --> 0:19:50.356 That was back when hip hop sounded like that. Wow, 0:19:51.356 --> 0:19:56.476 you know, and that's early hip hop for me. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, 0:19:56.556 --> 0:19:59.156 that sounds like when you think of breakdancing music. It's 0:19:59.196 --> 0:20:02.156 that kind of music that was nice to break dance 0:20:02.196 --> 0:20:08.796 too cool. Yeah, but I don't anymore. Did Bush with 0:20:08.916 --> 0:20:12.076 Bill joined the group originally as a dancer? Yes, he did, 0:20:12.436 --> 0:20:14.556 from what I understand, I wasn't in the group when 0:20:14.596 --> 0:20:17.236 he was a dancer, I see, no, But you know what, 0:20:17.396 --> 0:20:20.836 when I came to Houston and you guys performed for 0:20:20.956 --> 0:20:25.076 me and that we were in this little club and 0:20:25.116 --> 0:20:28.636 I remember he was dancing. Yeah, he was a dancer, man. 0:20:28.676 --> 0:20:31.836 You know. Back then, we just did what we thought 0:20:32.556 --> 0:20:35.396 was the best way to do our side of the story. 0:20:35.516 --> 0:20:38.636 You know. Yeah, let's talk a little bit about that, 0:20:38.716 --> 0:20:42.476 because coming from New York, it felt like, at least 0:20:42.516 --> 0:20:44.596 for a period of time, all of hip hop music 0:20:44.636 --> 0:20:48.316 being made was coming from New York early on, and 0:20:48.356 --> 0:20:51.156 then the first records I started hearing from outside of 0:20:51.196 --> 0:20:54.476 New York were coming from the West Coast. But those 0:20:54.676 --> 0:20:57.596 had a different sound, and we didn't really like him 0:20:57.636 --> 0:21:00.156 so much in New York, kind of like Egyptian Lover, 0:21:00.636 --> 0:21:03.916 you know, that that kind of stuff, And I feel 0:21:03.916 --> 0:21:07.116 like ghetto boys might have been the first group I 0:21:07.156 --> 0:21:10.076 heard from the South might have been. That's possible, not 0:21:10.116 --> 0:21:12.396 unless you you know, you had the Two Live Crew 0:21:12.596 --> 0:21:16.596 that makes the surface before the Ghetto Boys did. But 0:21:16.636 --> 0:21:19.756 for the most part, we were one of the first 0:21:19.796 --> 0:21:22.596 acts to come out of the sound for sure. Yeah, 0:21:22.716 --> 0:21:24.916 Like I was aware of the Two Live Crew, but 0:21:25.516 --> 0:21:30.436 their music felt more like party music than I wouldn't 0:21:30.436 --> 0:21:33.796 call it rap music, Okay, do you know that? That's 0:21:33.836 --> 0:21:35.396 how I heard it, Like, I heard it as like 0:21:35.476 --> 0:21:43.116 more like party music, whereas Ghetto Boys seemed like serious rap. Okay. 0:21:43.276 --> 0:21:46.196 And then I'm in agreement with you one that Rick. 0:21:46.516 --> 0:21:50.516 We wanted to be respected by everybody, you know, New York, 0:21:50.756 --> 0:21:54.516 especially because we knew how difficult it was to break 0:21:54.596 --> 0:21:58.316 into that New York market, Like you could never get 0:21:58.316 --> 0:22:01.556 to record played in New York, you know New York rappers. 0:22:01.556 --> 0:22:04.116 I remember the first time we did the New Music, 0:22:04.156 --> 0:22:07.836 said Minard, back in the late eighties early nineties. We 0:22:07.876 --> 0:22:11.316 got booed. And we didn't get booed by the audience. 0:22:11.356 --> 0:22:13.396 We got booed by the other rappers that were in 0:22:13.396 --> 0:22:16.196 the audience, you know what I mean. Wow, Yeah, it 0:22:16.236 --> 0:22:18.996 was rappers that were there at the New Music seminar. 0:22:19.636 --> 0:22:21.916 I gonna say no names, but it was rappers that 0:22:21.956 --> 0:22:25.076 were booing. And then you turn around and those same rappers, 0:22:25.556 --> 0:22:29.156 you know, a couple of years later, they was talking 0:22:29.196 --> 0:22:33.316 about getting money too, you know, those very same rappers. Yeah, 0:22:33.916 --> 0:22:37.956 you know, we talked about our life as ghetto boys. 0:22:38.276 --> 0:22:41.436 You know, we didn't we didn't have the five degrees 0:22:41.436 --> 0:22:44.676 of knowledge or you know, I didn't want to rap 0:22:44.836 --> 0:22:48.956 better than nobody else, to show my skills or compare 0:22:49.076 --> 0:22:52.676 myself to a to an anvil coming down on your 0:22:52.716 --> 0:22:56.276 head and and and cracking your head with this rap. 0:22:56.836 --> 0:23:02.836 We was talking about robbing your ass, breaking in your 0:23:02.836 --> 0:23:05.796 house and still in your card or you know what 0:23:05.836 --> 0:23:09.836 I mean, because that was our life in sixteen seventeen 0:23:09.956 --> 0:23:13.236 years old when you met me. Uh Rick, you know 0:23:13.276 --> 0:23:17.156 what I'm saying. Yeah, that was my life. We'll be 0:23:17.236 --> 0:23:24.796 right back with more from Scarface. Here's the rest of 0:23:24.876 --> 0:23:31.036 Rick Rubin's conversation with Scarface. Was there much other hip 0:23:31.036 --> 0:23:33.436 hop music going on in the South that you were 0:23:33.436 --> 0:23:37.716 aware of? Not that I'm aware of, But I will 0:23:37.796 --> 0:23:40.316 say that I was the biggest Juice Crew fan ever. 0:23:41.036 --> 0:23:44.036 You know, I was the biggest LA fan ever from 0:23:44.076 --> 0:23:47.716 the biggest ice Cube in wa fan ever, Public Enemy 0:23:47.796 --> 0:23:52.436 fans ever. And then you take those all of those rappers, 0:23:52.476 --> 0:23:56.676 all of those influences, and you molded into one character, 0:23:56.756 --> 0:23:59.836 and that was me because I wanted those skills. I 0:23:59.876 --> 0:24:03.756 wanted that delivery, but I wanted my street rawness. Ye. 0:24:04.356 --> 0:24:06.556 You know, you take all of those mcas and then 0:24:06.636 --> 0:24:08.436 put a little bit of yourself in there, and you 0:24:08.516 --> 0:24:11.516 become one of the greatest mc is known to the 0:24:11.796 --> 0:24:14.196