Speaker 1: Get up, getto boys. It's back and reoaded all in
Speaker 1: your mind. Yeah, not deep throating. This is for the streets,
Speaker 1: the reel, the railroaded, the distant franchise, the truth escapegoating,
Speaker 1: and they ain't knowing We spink the truth, so they
Speaker 1: ain't quoted because we wrote it. The North South East Coat,
Speaker 1: the gv MY for keeping your head bobbing. It ain't
Speaker 1: no stopping and wants to be try to head by
Speaker 1: and then the system is so corrupt they throw the
Speaker 1: rock out of their heads and then blame it on us.
Speaker 1: Don't get it twisted on code and me and danceing
Speaker 1: for no buttment biscuits. It's Willie d y'all scar faces
Speaker 1: here with us in spirit. Collectively we are the ghetto boys,
Speaker 1: reloaded for another episode of information and instructions to help
Speaker 1: you navigate through this wild, crazy, beautiful world in studio
Speaker 1: with us right now. Yeah. How you feeling, man? You
Speaker 1: fresh off of versus battle? How does it feel man versus? An?
Speaker 1: Amazing feelings? It's an amazing experience. You know, big shout
Speaker 1: to you know Tim Swist, Oh you gotta get about
Speaker 1: the mic. Yeah, And I was a big big shout
Speaker 1: to you know, Timm and Swiss for such a wonderful
Speaker 1: platform for artists to showcase their talents. You know, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's evolved. You know, it started out, you know,
Speaker 1: artists is playing their records and you know, really just
Speaker 1: a celebration of hip hop and entertaining one another during
Speaker 1: the pandemic. And then it's just it's it's you know,
Speaker 1: once the once the world started to open back up,
Speaker 1: it evolved, you know, and now it's, yeah, it's always
Speaker 1: going to be a celebration hip hop, but now it's
Speaker 1: it's it's a you know, with live audience and everything.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a performance. It's it's a stage presence,
Speaker 1: it's your showmanship is it's everything that kind of goes
Speaker 1: into you know, what the verses is along with those
Speaker 1: hit records. You know, but you don't have to be
Speaker 1: about the hit records. You know, there were moments in
Speaker 1: our verses where I feel it wasn't it wasn't so
Speaker 1: much about the records as it was about the moment,
Speaker 1: you know, and that and you know that that's that's
Speaker 1: what makes very versus real dope, those moments, you know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I know it's going down you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: Fat Joe versus j Rum, you know, icons of hip hop.
Speaker 1: And I'm at the hospital because Brad, you know, everybody
Speaker 1: know its scar faces getting your life saving kidney transplant.
Speaker 1: So I'm in the waiting room, just waiting, you know,
Speaker 1: and so I missed that historic event. Starticipating another historic event.
Speaker 1: It's nothing more historic than than our brother, Yeah, getting
Speaker 1: well being man. You know, because I'm sitting there thinking, like,
Speaker 1: you know, with all Brad has contributed to hip hop,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's like this is huge, you know.
Speaker 1: And then at the same time, you know, we talked
Speaker 1: this reality of you guys doing you know, doing your thing,
Speaker 1: you know, with the verses competition, we're talking We're talking
Speaker 1: grapes and watermelons, you know what I'm saying, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: we're the grapes on a performance and we're talking about
Speaker 1: one about hip hop legends, you know, getting a kidney.
Speaker 1: So that he's here with us too, to keep blessing
Speaker 1: us with his presence and his his talents, and so
Speaker 1: you know that that's crazy. Man. It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: like just just being in that moment, man, I'm like,
Speaker 1: because I'm hip hope for real man, for real. I
Speaker 1: mean I left me too, Willie. That's you know. I
Speaker 1: think that's the one thing I think people don't understand
Speaker 1: about me, or maybe just you know, misunderstood. You know
Speaker 1: that's a misunderstanding about me. Is I love hip hop? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Like I live, he breathe hip I was talking to
Speaker 1: Nori overy day on the phone, all right, big shot
Speaker 1: with my brother Noriega, and um, you know, I was
Speaker 1: just talking about how I love him, yeah, And I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think you understand like I really
Speaker 1: love music. I really love him like I wrapped every day. Hmm.
Speaker 1: Still even though I put out a record, I wrapped
Speaker 1: every day. It's like lyrical exercise to me. So I
Speaker 1: could you know when I'm in the gym and I'm
Speaker 1: listening to music and it's you know, it's getting me
Speaker 1: hype while I'm working out. Yeah, I'm creating. But because
Speaker 1: you know, I don't write anything down, you know. So
Speaker 1: I learned that from from from home. Really yeah, I wrote,
Speaker 1: I wrote my first album, and then after that you
Speaker 1: just started going off dumb. It's really not off. Do
Speaker 1: I write it? But I write it in my head?
Speaker 1: How do you how do you rever that stuff, man, like, dang, well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing, right, When you create it that way,
Speaker 1: it becomes it becomes repetition. You're saying it over and
Speaker 1: over and over again as you're you know, writing it
Speaker 1: in your head. So it's you know, two bars, four bars,
Speaker 1: six bars, eight bars, and you're as you're adding to it,
Speaker 1: you're starting from the beginning each time, basically to keep
Speaker 1: adding to it, just so so by the time you know,
Speaker 1: you really learning this wrap in a different way then
Speaker 1: you would if you wrote it down. You know, the
Speaker 1: paper was my crutch. I know I have it on here.
Speaker 1: If I write it at this moment, I don't really
Speaker 1: have to remember it because I can read it and
Speaker 1: I get the flow on the vibe of it because
Speaker 1: I know what I wrote it. I know what it's
Speaker 1: supposed to sound like. I know I'm supposed to feel like.
Speaker 1: But the words come back to me as I read it,
Speaker 1: you know, doing it like this, the words are it's
Speaker 1: like it's already embedded in you. It's already you know,
Speaker 1: it's becomes part of you, becomes one and and and
Speaker 1: it actually flows and just feels so much better. It
Speaker 1: just it feels like it's just another instrument over the track.
Speaker 1: And and so I learned that from home because you know,
Speaker 1: um he one day I was supposed to be on
Speaker 1: a Can I Live? And so um I go to
Speaker 1: the studio and uh ho is in there? And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I was late, sister, and so I break up my
Speaker 1: get that, break up my pin in my pad. You're
Speaker 1: about to write my verse to Canny, probably write my
Speaker 1: verse can I Live? And he's like, you know, I
Speaker 1: got it, so we've done rule. It's like you late
Speaker 1: to this one, you know what I mean? And I'm like,
Speaker 1: what's talking about? Like I don't, I don't see nothing,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And he went in the
Speaker 1: booth and he started to recite his verses, and at
Speaker 1: that moment, I'm like, okay, home, what was what is
Speaker 1: this magic trick? But what this happened there? He didn't
Speaker 1: I don't see because he was just vibing on it.
Speaker 1: He's like, I already got it and then winning and recited.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, okay, I didn't see where he had
Speaker 1: it done, you know what I mean? There was no
Speaker 1: finished homework here, so you know, and so he said, no,
Speaker 1: you know, I write it. You know in my head
Speaker 1: it's alright that one get like like you know, who
Speaker 1: do does that? And so I started doing it because
Speaker 1: I didn't believe it could be done. If that makes yeah.
Speaker 1: I wanted to see if that was a real thing,
Speaker 1: that actually it was possible. And you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: as you started with two bars and four bars, and
Speaker 1: it intended to just it starts to flow that way
Speaker 1: really really easy. And then you know, as time went on,
Speaker 1: I started recording in a lot of different ways to
Speaker 1: like sometimes I'll you know, get the vibe of a record,
Speaker 1: go in record sixty eight bars, let it, let it rest,
Speaker 1: and then you know, think of another sixth day bars
Speaker 1: and finish it off. You know, you know I've grown
Speaker 1: to do things in a lot of different ways. It's
Speaker 1: because it's just you know, it becomes your process, your
Speaker 1: recording process, and a lot of different artists have a
Speaker 1: lot of different, you know, crazy recording processes that are
Speaker 1: really dope and unique, like like ol d B. He
Speaker 1: you know, he used to do some dope shit. He
Speaker 1: record every bar fine for line, I'm the one then
Speaker 1: I mean, hey, song, all right, stop punch me and
Speaker 1: then say that this like it's just you know, everybody
Speaker 1: has their own genius to the way they record, to
Speaker 1: the way they do things. And you know that that
Speaker 1: was just I thought that was really really interesting and
Speaker 1: dope and genius that that t J could do that.
Speaker 1: And I believe he learned that from Big, I want
Speaker 1: to say, but I don't know if he learned it
Speaker 1: from Big or if that's just something that they need,
Speaker 1: you know, But about I also a big recording like
Speaker 1: that as well. Yeah, do you what comes first? The
Speaker 1: music or the lyrics? Music? Music? Yeah? But sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: so I've become someone of a producer because I can
Speaker 1: I hear music, but I just can't play it. And
Speaker 1: so if I create a melody, I create a hook,
Speaker 1: I can hear what I wanted to sound like over
Speaker 1: a track. I can hear you know, what the track
Speaker 1: or what I would like the track to be. And sometimes,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll go in and let producers know, you
Speaker 1: know that play or players know that alight. I hear
Speaker 1: you know, uh over this because this is what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: you know, verbally, So I wanted to kind of match
Speaker 1: what it is, and so I will give them I
Speaker 1: hear horns, I hear you know, and so you know,
Speaker 1: they'll play these things and create them and then go
Speaker 1: on their own away with it, which is what creativity
Speaker 1: is about. So you know, sometimes I you know, record
Speaker 1: like that when I think of the hook first, but
Speaker 1: nine of the time I like to get the beat
Speaker 1: and then I'll create around that. Man, we'sh your relationship
Speaker 1: like now with jay Z you mentioned them earlier. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean me and Hope we have a relationship, but
Speaker 1: it's distant. You know, we don't we don't speak often,
Speaker 1: you know, but when we see each other's love, it's cool.
Speaker 1: You know on the five you know, I ever need
Speaker 1: to hit them for anything. It's it's love as cool
Speaker 1: as no you know so and vice versa. You know.
Speaker 1: So it's just you know, it's it's that's that's the condlation.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of like, you know, we'd be he's
Speaker 1: doing what he's doing, what I'm doing, what I'm doing,
Speaker 1: but mutual respect and love from you know, where we
Speaker 1: come from. I you know, I look at you know,
Speaker 1: what Jay is and and what X was rest in
Speaker 1: peace and what I am as we all come from
Speaker 1: the same school of them seeing the doghouse. You know
Speaker 1: that that that that mentality of battle rap and and everything.
Speaker 1: I know, I make the the you know, but I
Speaker 1: didn't come from that. You know, I can know you
Speaker 1: can hear it. And even when you even when you're
Speaker 1: doing the hippop slash R and B whatever they want
Speaker 1: to call it or whatever, you can hear the competitive
Speaker 1: spirit in it. It's a gristive, you know, it's like
Speaker 1: going in you know, so you can definitely hear it.
Speaker 1: And speaking of X and we just mentioned jay Z,
Speaker 1: you guys had that murder inc group rap group at
Speaker 1: one point. It never materialized. Whatever happened to that. It
Speaker 1: wasn't really for me. It was never really a group.
Speaker 1: We would never really agree. So what was that about?
Speaker 1: Because y'all was on the God he wanted us to
Speaker 1: be a group. God God, he wanted us to make
Speaker 1: a group album. Yeah, And it's just, you know, your
Speaker 1: will is so crazy because EX and X and J
Speaker 1: so competitive. We all were very competitive. I'm very competitive
Speaker 1: with those guys. But they had a a competitive thing
Speaker 1: that was like I just well, it was just you know,
Speaker 1: and then I guess it stemmed from their old battle
Speaker 1: that they had or whatever, and and there competitive spirit
Speaker 1: was just crazy. It was hard to get them in
Speaker 1: the same mood together, but they respected each other as
Speaker 1: mcs and and and I think that's important, you know,
Speaker 1: first and foremost not you well, now, yeah, I definitely listen.
Speaker 1: I was the younger and and and I was, you know,
Speaker 1: realistically with it. I was just happy to be there.
Speaker 1: I was hable to be a part of that. You know,
Speaker 1: I was younger than them, but you know, I felt
Speaker 1: like I was on part with them, like I'm on
Speaker 1: you know, their level as far as making records and
Speaker 1: then seeing I just felt I was there, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And and you know, I didn't have
Speaker 1: any issues with being a part of the situation when
Speaker 1: I ever wanted to put together other than I felt
Speaker 1: like this, if this happens, this will always be my
Speaker 1: legacy of you know, John started with that Mega group
Speaker 1: and that's how he blew up. So when it didn't
Speaker 1: happen that way and I started making my own records
Speaker 1: and started blowing up and becoming something, then I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: now I feel like I really belonged a part of it, right.
Speaker 1: I didn't feel like before then, I didn't feel like
Speaker 1: even though they accepted me as one of the three
Speaker 1: of the group, I felt like these two had proven
Speaker 1: to the world that they earned, that they are those mcs,
Speaker 1: those type of m c s, and then I just
Speaker 1: feel like I didn't at that moment, At that point,
Speaker 1: I hadn't proven myself, you know, to the world, and
Speaker 1: as I started making my mark, then I felt like,
Speaker 1: you know, wow, I wish this would have came to fruition.
Speaker 1: But I always think about that scenario of you know,
Speaker 1: what that would have been for me as an artists,
Speaker 1: and and I'm kind of happy it went the way
Speaker 1: it did. Yeah, when I saw that that cover XXL,
Speaker 1: I was like, shit, Like, oh man, that rude d
Speaker 1: M X jay Z. Are you talking about a supergroup?
Speaker 1: Like say, I was like, if that happened, it's a rap.
Speaker 1: You know, I would have definitely liked at least Hee
Speaker 1: one one album, But you know, things happening, And I
Speaker 1: think every record we did was dope though. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's facts. Every record we did we do from you know,
Speaker 1: from from It's Murder the Murder Gram and X and
Speaker 1: Jay did Money Cash Hose and me and Jay the
Speaker 1: Gangster Ship, and like we just we had a we
Speaker 1: had a a like, you know, if we was to
Speaker 1: put that project together then back then, and it would
Speaker 1: have been you know, me and next doing the record
Speaker 1: here and me and Jane and then all of us,
Speaker 1: and you know, it would have been crazy. It would
Speaker 1: have been very crazy. Man, take me back two the eighties.
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Atkins growing up in Queens Man, Man, what was
Speaker 1: that like? It was hip hop? A lot of it
Speaker 1: was a lot of hip hop culture, you know, in
Speaker 1: in my in my hood because run DMC l cool
Speaker 1: j Yeah, he's do you know run you know, big up,
Speaker 1: big up, big up to to my big brother godfather,
Speaker 1: run Um Run DMC was right from I was like
Speaker 1: they want two or five? And how this was where
Speaker 1: they was right right there and I'm right up to
Speaker 1: block on what night one and would all but I
Speaker 1: used to be, you know, on Hollos all the time,
Speaker 1: and that's what we used to get money right there
Speaker 1: on that block over there, and so I used to
Speaker 1: see them all the time come through. And I remember
Speaker 1: this story vividly like it was yesterday. The d m C.
Speaker 1: They shot the dm C whatever d um he had
Speaker 1: a black A fifty the pop up lights A fifty.
Speaker 1: I BMW me and it's some weird crazy way that
Speaker 1: car played a big role in my life because it
Speaker 1: inspired you exactly inspired me. I was like, man, I
Speaker 1: want that car. I want that car. Was so amazing
Speaker 1: to me. And so as as you know, as I
Speaker 1: got in you know, junior high school and going in
Speaker 1: high school and we saw selling drugs and the block
Speaker 1: and you know, ship like that. That was the other
Speaker 1: success story that I was able to witness coming out
Speaker 1: of my neighborhood, not some point because you know, people
Speaker 1: not you know, hustling and drug dealing and and how
Speaker 1: um some some of our you you know, make money
Speaker 1: in our neighborhoods. But everybody wants to be successful, and
Speaker 1: I think, you know, people don't understand that the first
Speaker 1: signs of success, the first successful people I've seen was
Speaker 1: you know, because I was getting money on the streets
Speaker 1: and so being from Hollis, seeing another success story somebody
Speaker 1: else that did something other than that and had that
Speaker 1: was important because for me it was like, okay, you know,
Speaker 1: this is one way to achieve that, but there's the
Speaker 1: other way. I could be like run DMC, I could
Speaker 1: you know, when you never see anybody from your hood
Speaker 1: or from your regional area make it, it makes it
Speaker 1: feel like it's that much harder to achieve. I've never
Speaker 1: seen anybody come from here and make it. That's why
Speaker 1: y'all was so important. That's why with you and Face
Speaker 1: and be Bushwick and the ghetto boys at WHI y'all
Speaker 1: did for the South was so important. Y'all gave these
Speaker 1: young aspiring artists and wrapped, you know, talented young motherfucker's
Speaker 1: a vision of date from right here in Houston. I
Speaker 1: see Willie, I see Space, I see them all the time,
Speaker 1: and they're doing it. And that was that. That was
Speaker 1: enough to inspire the next generation of mcs and for
Speaker 1: running you know, run DMC. That was that for me.
Speaker 1: It was that was enough to inspire me to Okay,
Speaker 1: let me let me explore something other than this, because
Speaker 1: this is the only outlet that I thought I had
Speaker 1: out and and and thank God for that, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Thank God and all I said all
Speaker 1: the time, thank God for hip hop. Yeah yeah, m hmm.
Speaker 1: If my homework is correct, you was raised by a
Speaker 1: single mother, Yeah, yeah, so were what what was the
Speaker 1: financial situation where y'all like poor, you know, medium, you know, alright,
Speaker 1: what what was going on? Man? See he's crazy? So
Speaker 1: my my my grandparents, we're more stable at a house
Speaker 1: you know, grass car you know. And where did they live.
Speaker 1: They lived in Hollis as well. They lived like kind
Speaker 1: of were running mc wherever at so two or seven
Speaker 1: and for instance, Lewis is like maybe a block offer Hollie.
Speaker 1: So so it's a nice you know, a house there,
Speaker 1: but houses here, you know, you know, you know how
Speaker 1: that go. So they had a nice stable environment and
Speaker 1: my mom knew that, and so she made me stay
Speaker 1: with my grandparents and live with my grandparents for a
Speaker 1: while until I was about eleven twelve years old, which
Speaker 1: was cool, and they were they were Joe's witnesses, my
Speaker 1: my my grandparents and as well as my mother, my mother,
Speaker 1: my family. And so as I as I got older,
Speaker 1: I started to you know, seem more learn more about
Speaker 1: the religion. And my mother she got this fellowship. And
Speaker 1: when when you get this fellowship, just like it's like
Speaker 1: they banish you, like to just on you from the
Speaker 1: from the congregation and nobody's allowed to speak to you.
Speaker 1: So a mother would come get me like just on
Speaker 1: weekends like that. That was like her time to spend
Speaker 1: with me was on weekends. And so once she got
Speaker 1: this fellowship. They kind of cut that time my grand
Speaker 1: because you gets banished. My grandparents stopped the visits and
Speaker 1: it was like, you know, this is trying to explain
Speaker 1: it to me and whatever the best way they could possible.
Speaker 1: But at that point in time, when you're that age,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like a that's like a really it's
Speaker 1: like a really weird age because you like coming of age,
Speaker 1: you understand things, you're coming into you know, young adulthood,
Speaker 1: but you're still very much a child, you know, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying around that twelve year old age.
Speaker 1: And so I made decisions as a young man, you know,
Speaker 1: at that at that moment, to choose my mother and
Speaker 1: her situation and you know, over the comfortability of being
Speaker 1: you know, with my grandparents. So you so, I so
Speaker 1: I left because my mother couldn't come see me like that.
Speaker 1: I said, you know, this is not what I want
Speaker 1: to do. This is this is not you know what
Speaker 1: this should be about this, you know, this religion thing.
Speaker 1: So I left, I'm stay with my mom. And from
Speaker 1: that point on it was different. Everything was different from me,
Speaker 1: Like that comfortability of having my grandparents as a you know,
Speaker 1: crutch and every things there, you know, food and you
Speaker 1: know whatever. It wasn't the same anymore. It was you, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're moving from place to place, and you know, like
Speaker 1: I said, the family is really not fucking with us
Speaker 1: at all. It was like we were the black sheep
Speaker 1: to the family. No, my mother was looked upon as
Speaker 1: the outcast, you know, like she she was a bad
Speaker 1: person to them. And my mother never went back to
Speaker 1: the religion, which was fine with me. So what was
Speaker 1: like like one of the like more serious type of
Speaker 1: situations when you were growing up that made you say, like,
Speaker 1: I can't live like this when you know, one day
Speaker 1: I came home from school and there was a viction
Speaker 1: notice on the door. It wasn't the first time I've
Speaker 1: seen the viction ortice on the door, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: we take it down and it was over I seeing it,
Speaker 1: bringing bringing the crib, you know, tell my mom you
Speaker 1: have no on the door, you know, whatever, whatever. But
Speaker 1: this time was different because not you know, I took
Speaker 1: the viction nor was reported into my mom, and she
Speaker 1: broke down. She broke down, and at that time, you know,
Speaker 1: in my neighborhood and just in hoods across America, crack
Speaker 1: cocaine was very very uh you know, vibring in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1: It was moving. The motherfucker's was selling it. Everybody was
Speaker 1: doing It was like, it wasn't like you had to
Speaker 1: be you didn't have to be no drug kingpin or nothing.
Speaker 1: You go get a pack and and and just get
Speaker 1: on the block and start moving, you know. And so
Speaker 1: at that moment, my mom she broke down, and she
Speaker 1: she was just basically telling me how sorry she was
Speaker 1: and you know whatever, you know, and and and she
Speaker 1: didn't really have an answer at that moment for what
Speaker 1: was gonna be our next situation. And so at that moment,
Speaker 1: I think I became a man because I knew that
Speaker 1: I couldn't break down and cry with her. I knew
Speaker 1: that I had to be strong for her, even though
Speaker 1: I didn't know what the fun was about to have it.
Speaker 1: I just like, this is, you know, we were gonna
Speaker 1: get thrown out of here, and I don't know where
Speaker 1: we're gonna go. I'm probably about twelve thirteen years old,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But I knew right then
Speaker 1: and there like this is a changing point, that that
Speaker 1: was the changing point for me. I knew I had
Speaker 1: to be strong for my mom and whatever whatever, I
Speaker 1: had to do that from this point, I'll do to
Speaker 1: help my mom because I felt like it's just me
Speaker 1: and her now, it's just me huggin's world. Like I'm like,
Speaker 1: we're not getting no assistance from you know, my grandparents anymore.
Speaker 1: It's just you know, fan, her brothers, everybody stopped speaking
Speaker 1: to him. So it was like, you know, it was
Speaker 1: but that's the thing. It's a religious thing. It's not.
Speaker 1: So I'm not just saying that it was an evil thing,
Speaker 1: even though it sounds that way. I know, to the
Speaker 1: you know, to the normal listen or whatever, that's that's
Speaker 1: that's how the religion goes. Did you feel any pressure
Speaker 1: to become a Jehova Witness? No, not at all. I
Speaker 1: you know, they make you do it, absolutely, But you
Speaker 1: know what, what kid is not made to go to
Speaker 1: church through these and he's young, you know, so yeah,
Speaker 1: so I was made to go and I didn't want
Speaker 1: to go, but you know, you had to go, and
Speaker 1: you did it, and I did it. But once I
Speaker 1: was with my mom, I never looked back on it.
Speaker 1: I actually looked at the religion as bad evil because
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is what broke up my family, this
Speaker 1: is doing this religion, Like my family would be together,
Speaker 1: my mom, my grandparents would be This wouldn't be my
Speaker 1: life if it wasn't for this religion. So the religion.
Speaker 1: I hated the religion because of it. I blame the
Speaker 1: religion for all of that, Like this is the religious fault.
Speaker 1: What I'm going through and my mom is going through,
Speaker 1: what we're all dealing with, is this religion. And I
Speaker 1: felt that way because as I got older and my
Speaker 1: mom got a chance to explain to me what she
Speaker 1: really did to get banished, and I'm like, that's it.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that's all you think is so, So that's
Speaker 1: all I'll fill you in because it's not even a
Speaker 1: big deal. So when your Joe's when you're not allowed
Speaker 1: to associate with corner worldly people, worldly people, or people
Speaker 1: who are not in the religion. So you work at
Speaker 1: a job or you go to school, who the funding
Speaker 1: you just dealing with. You're dealing with worldly people. You
Speaker 1: work with these people, these are and and and it
Speaker 1: doesn't make them bad people because they're not Jehovah's witnesses.
Speaker 1: You understand what I'm saying. But you're not allowed or
Speaker 1: not supposed to associate with these people because they're not
Speaker 1: of this religion. Now. I know they may have loosened
Speaker 1: up the way it works and ship like that now,
Speaker 1: but that's the way it worked there. Say this is
Speaker 1: why my motherfuck cousin, don't be asking the phone. I
Speaker 1: knew it was that deep know what, he's Jehovah's witness
Speaker 1: man and you you're a worldly person, you do worldly
Speaker 1: things they're not gonna do. But that was that, that
Speaker 1: was what it was about. And so you know, she
Speaker 1: got dispellership because after to work she'd go with her
Speaker 1: co workers and ship, go have drinks and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Regular people ship go out to clubs and you know whatever,
Speaker 1: and party would help, you know. So in my mother's eyes,
Speaker 1: she was living a double life because you're not supposed
Speaker 1: to do these things. And she, my mother would go
Speaker 1: to the go to the Keenom Hall church and then
Speaker 1: right out of the churches, getting a move on, and
Speaker 1: go down to the party with the co workers and ship.
Speaker 1: And so when she got this fellowship, she felt like,
Speaker 1: you know what, fucking I'm cool, I'm free, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I don't have to fake who I
Speaker 1: am and I'm not doing no pig, I'm not doing
Speaker 1: nothing that's crazy. I'm yeah, I like to fucking go
Speaker 1: out and have some fun or whatever and and show
Speaker 1: once I learned about what it when I was saying,
Speaker 1: you know whatever, so now here it's the crazy ship.
Speaker 1: Right as I get into the music business started coming
Speaker 1: a star ship like that. It's all good now, it
Speaker 1: was all good families all back but one moment, yo,
Speaker 1: And I know for a fact it was because of
Speaker 1: who I was becoming that was bringing the family back together,
Speaker 1: you know, my celebrity, my stuff. And I could have
Speaker 1: looked at it as you know what or now everybody
Speaker 1: wants to come around, you know, you know the but
Speaker 1: I've seen the the joy and the happiness in my
Speaker 1: mother's eyes to have her brother, you know, back, and
Speaker 1: and and you know they spoke, of course, but it
Speaker 1: wasn't just the relationship wasn't the same. And I think
Speaker 1: the relationships always had a little something there after. But
Speaker 1: for me to see, you know, my family be back together,
Speaker 1: I don't, I don't. I don't care. What's the circumstances
Speaker 1: of what it is and what did it. I can
Speaker 1: have my own thoughts about it or whatever. But I
Speaker 1: just know that my mother is happy. They're happy to
Speaker 1: be together again. And and and if it took you know,
Speaker 1: my celebrity, my hip hop to do that too, that's
Speaker 1: cool too. Yeah, you know what I mean? How did
Speaker 1: you decide to go the route of primarily talking about
Speaker 1: love situations, relationships and things like that, because that's where
Speaker 1: people know you for that. I mean, I saw your
Speaker 1: show and you know, hey, man, the women came out.
Speaker 1: It's like the women come out for ja Rue, Like,
Speaker 1: how did you decide that? Okay, I'm gonna go this
Speaker 1: route of talking about relationships, you know, the ups and downs,
Speaker 1: the end and as the highs and lows or whatever,
Speaker 1: as opposed to talking about hardships, you know, because you
Speaker 1: knew a lot about hardships, and most rappers who know
Speaker 1: about hardships, that's how they get on. They talk about
Speaker 1: that's what we did. Yeah yeah, but what But what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is that, yeah, you do talk about hardships,
Speaker 1: but primarily you're known for the relationship side. And that's
Speaker 1: not a knock because I'll explain, when you do it
Speaker 1: the way you do it, you're in pocket with it.
Speaker 1: Like when you hear somebody here j rou talk about relationships.
Speaker 1: They're listening to a person who's given sage advice. That's
Speaker 1: a person that knows, okay, like it sounds like the
Speaker 1: ship that I'm going through. What he's talking about, It's
Speaker 1: like what I'm going through right now. You know. So,
Speaker 1: but but but how how do how do you? How
Speaker 1: do you? How do you feel about that? Like being
Speaker 1: known more for you know, the relationships side of uh
Speaker 1: rapping as opposed to speaking of the hardships. You know
Speaker 1: where oftentimes when people uh, when they compare it to
Speaker 1: the people who talk about the hardships, oftentimes more often
Speaker 1: you know, they get more shine, you know, or they
Speaker 1: get a lot more respect. I'm talking about not just
Speaker 1: in record sales, but as far as how people revere them.
Speaker 1: I do, I do understand exactly what you're saying. Um,
Speaker 1: Like take a two part fans you know, spoke about
Speaker 1: his pain all the time, and he's revered differently. UM
Speaker 1: for me, you know, making records for for for for
Speaker 1: for the females. It was it was a conscious decision too,
Speaker 1: you know, um, when you when you know, like like
Speaker 1: we were talking about it earlier, when I was in
Speaker 1: between two monsters to juggalizes my two brothers, J and X.
Speaker 1: And Jay was you know, money personified, and now was
Speaker 1: his you know, his possana, and X was the streets.
Speaker 1: And I'm you know, I'm a little bit of both,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm a little bit grimy and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a little flashy, like I like a little bit
Speaker 1: of both of them, you know. And nobody was feeling
Speaker 1: that Lane and I of of catering and talking to
Speaker 1: the ladies in that way. And and so yeah, when
Speaker 1: I made my second album, I wanted to be different.
Speaker 1: I wanted to be as different as possible. I grew
Speaker 1: my hair, you know, I was, you know, basically bored
Speaker 1: before that, you know, and you know, the low season
Speaker 1: like seasons, and I grew my hair, had braids and
Speaker 1: started making music that reflected what I was going through now, okay,
Speaker 1: now what I've been through, what I'm seeing, and what
Speaker 1: I'm going through now. Okay, So my second album, I
Speaker 1: went got this big mansion out in Beverly Hills. Um
Speaker 1: actually wasn't the Whos and uh uh, it was Hollywood Hills,
Speaker 1: Lord King, and we were just living like ghetto fabulous.
Speaker 1: It was like the most flies sucked up the house
Speaker 1: you ever wanted to see with beautiful house. But we
Speaker 1: had like renaissent the furniship in the motherfucker. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: was we was doing what were doing? You know, we
Speaker 1: didn't know, Yeah, we didn't know no better. We had
Speaker 1: a room that we called the Dome and it was
Speaker 1: just like eight beds in the motherfucker for all homies,
Speaker 1: you know. So, but we were we were starting to see,
Speaker 1: you know, through all the homies out he's you know,
Speaker 1: we were starting to live. We're starting to see you
Speaker 1: were going out. Also, I was night every night, every night,
Speaker 1: you know, and and we in l A you know,
Speaker 1: you know that first, you know. So, and so the
Speaker 1: music started to reflect and I wanted the music to reflect.
Speaker 1: I wanted my sound and everything to be different. It
Speaker 1: was different. It was what I was becoming versus what
Speaker 1: I was and when I went through. And you know,
Speaker 1: that's the beauty of your first album, and first album
Speaker 1: is it's it's a body of work, that's your whole
Speaker 1: life up until that point. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's why people's first albums are special to so many fans,
Speaker 1: and you know, because it is that body of work.
Speaker 1: That's you know, from when I was you know, you
Speaker 1: get those records on my first album and we gotten signed.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about my father and daddy's a little baby
Speaker 1: who I'm talking about my daughter, and you know, you know,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Those are those are records
Speaker 1: that you know, once I got to the second album,
Speaker 1: Rule through three six, I wasn't holding from five. I
Speaker 1: was on a we out here living it up, you know,
Speaker 1: say we you know, to vibe the music change because
Speaker 1: that's what I was experienced, That's what I was going through.
Speaker 1: But I also, like I said, I made a conscious
Speaker 1: decision to cater more to my female audience because they
Speaker 1: were catering the meat. I was seeing that, you know
Speaker 1: that I was getting a heavy swell of female audience
Speaker 1: and so as they gave me the love, I gave
Speaker 1: it right back to them, and it reflected in the music.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you, def Jam didn't like that album.
Speaker 1: They didn't like my second album at all. They didn't
Speaker 1: want me to Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, then it was
Speaker 1: then it was then it was different thinking about those
Speaker 1: songs that you made, Like when you know you mentioned
Speaker 1: you know how you know pot the comparison there, that's
Speaker 1: a good comparison. The difference is that pot Pot struggle
Speaker 1: songs were played on the radio. Your struggle songs were not. No,
Speaker 1: And that's the difference. And I think, but you know,
Speaker 1: here's the here's the craziesh about it. See William Yo,
Speaker 1: There's so many records that I wanted to make, singles
Speaker 1: that I felt would have put me in a different
Speaker 1: m h heartened space of the people along with those
Speaker 1: the records. But at the time, you know, when when
Speaker 1: I was doing what I was doing, it was you know,
Speaker 1: first single, second single, hopefully third single on to the
Speaker 1: next album, you know what I mean. You didn't get
Speaker 1: to do like how artists get to do so many
Speaker 1: records off the album today and give you so many
Speaker 1: different visuals. I wish I could have did that. I
Speaker 1: wish I could have did that. I wish there was
Speaker 1: so many records that I wish I could I wish
Speaker 1: I wanted to do a video for fucking only begotten Son,
Speaker 1: like they let me do that these little baby because
Speaker 1: it was about my daughter, you know, but it didn't
Speaker 1: slap like you know, uh some of my bigger records,
Speaker 1: you know, Holla, Holla was my first really hit record,
Speaker 1: and and you know, so, so what happens sometimes with
Speaker 1: all the like myself, that that the labels figure out
Speaker 1: this guy is capable of making really big records. They
Speaker 1: want you to make those records, and if you make
Speaker 1: those records, those are the records that they're gonna put out.
Speaker 1: And that's what I was kind of up against. I
Speaker 1: love to make those records too, and so they were
Speaker 1: on every album because if you listen to my albums,
Speaker 1: it's a contrast of everything. It has those records as
Speaker 1: my street records, that has my feeling records that they're
Speaker 1: all on there. It's just the labeled new the ones
Speaker 1: to say, these are the money makers and we're gonna
Speaker 1: let those be you know, the album. So so my
Speaker 1: real hard fans that's why that show die hard with
Speaker 1: me because they know the records like Passion. They know,
Speaker 1: you know, they they hear six Ft under the Ground.
Speaker 1: They listen to those records and they're like, rule these records,
Speaker 1: you know, never again. These records are very very like
Speaker 1: those type of records. That's over the Passion records. They
Speaker 1: you know, but those are some of my favorite records.
Speaker 1: That's why I created, uh, a concert series coll Vibes,
Speaker 1: and I haven't done one yet. I'm doing the first
Speaker 1: one and it's gonna come up in a couple of
Speaker 1: months maybe maybe soon. So you take and it will
Speaker 1: be dope for y'all to do one too. So I
Speaker 1: was inspired by Versus and I have my own live
Speaker 1: streaming platform. It's called icon Live. It's an app store
Speaker 1: which you can go get that absolutely, but um uh,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a it's a concert series that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do on on icon But also, you know, we
Speaker 1: have the ability to do a lot now the world's
Speaker 1: back open, so but I wanted to be a warm,
Speaker 1: intimate setting kind of like um MTV m plugs meets Rhuma. Reason. So,
Speaker 1: the concept of it is you're take an iconic artists
Speaker 1: and they do their classic album from front to back,
Speaker 1: live band, telling the stories behind the music, what they
Speaker 1: were going through, and they made this album because people
Speaker 1: those classic albums. You think of these, you know those
Speaker 1: really really dope albums. You you get the Deal Boys
Speaker 1: album or you know, Fucking Miseducation Lauren Hill, or you
Speaker 1: know some of these just really cool, dope dope albums
Speaker 1: that people really really would love to hear what the
Speaker 1: fund artist was going through when you mean that, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? It's that and it's a concert
Speaker 1: series and it's warm and it's intimate, and you tell
Speaker 1: the stories behind the music with the live band, and
Speaker 1: then you released the album as a live album after
Speaker 1: that and as a whole new life. So so so
Speaker 1: this is what the Vibes Concert Series is gonna be about.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start and do the first you know, concert series.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do any very VICI live and you know,
Speaker 1: pullout my face. Yeah yeah, yeah, man, his story? Man,
Speaker 1: whose idea was it to pair you and ashante Um?
Speaker 1: You know, of course she was a part of the label.
Speaker 1: She was artist on the label. A hell of a run.
Speaker 1: I mean, y'all could not miss. Yeah, we have a
Speaker 1: great chemistry, man, but yeah, we absolutely doe. Whose idea
Speaker 1: was that? I mean, you know, I don't know who's idea.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's just something that kind of really
Speaker 1: really just happened. You know. Home used to be in
Speaker 1: the studio. He was, you know, studio rat and it
Speaker 1: was all the time. Every day she'd beat there a
Speaker 1: little hoodie on and sweats and ship just soaking it
Speaker 1: up right, and you know, and you know, I was
Speaker 1: making all these big records, female records and ship and
Speaker 1: at the time we were constructing, I just did like,
Speaker 1: ain't it funny Always on Time? I mean, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: not anything, I'm real, Ain't it funny for j Lo?
Speaker 1: And and you know, those records were skyrocketing, and I
Speaker 1: think it was working on Always on Time, and we
Speaker 1: were looking for a different artists to put on Always
Speaker 1: on the Town. You know, god he was. He put Alicia,
Speaker 1: you know, Beyonce. Let's get somebody, you know, big, big
Speaker 1: name on this record. And I was like, yeah, we
Speaker 1: got you know, home girls, you see it all the time.
Speaker 1: Let's give her us. Let it there. She dreaded reference
Speaker 1: these other records, and she has a pretty well yeah,
Speaker 1: so she you know, she she came and did it.
Speaker 1: Knock it out. It sounded amazing, and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is it. Let's front, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And then we and then it was after that it
Speaker 1: was put on, put a body on this, put a
Speaker 1: body on that. Last, let's you know this, this chemistry
Speaker 1: is dope that we have. And and so we made
Speaker 1: a lot of records together all the dope records together
Speaker 1: and we crush it. You know what I'm saying. We
Speaker 1: we we became something of our generation that wasn't there. Man.
Speaker 1: I just thought about some ship. I just thought, what
Speaker 1: thought about? What's the man? You and a shanty? Oh?
Speaker 1: The motherfucking asked for the Simpson of him, the ash
Speaker 1: for the Simpson of hip hop. You know, because asked
Speaker 1: for the Simpson. Could not miss when they got in
Speaker 1: the studio as far as like female male that that
Speaker 1: that that chemistry that they had there was unmatched. I
Speaker 1: mean they could not miss. And you and Ashante could
Speaker 1: not miss. You know, that was beautiful man. And when
Speaker 1: chemistry yeah, and you know, and to see that, to
Speaker 1: see that at you know, at the you know, during
Speaker 1: the versus battle, to see her come back out and
Speaker 1: do her thing, like man, y'all the energy that y'all had, man,
Speaker 1: I mean, the nostalia that that it that it brought back,
Speaker 1: It was like absolutely, man. Just it was appreciative. I
Speaker 1: mean I was appreciative of it, you know, like I
Speaker 1: was like, this is like it felt like it was
Speaker 1: in a time capsule, you know, like nobody was missing,
Speaker 1: you know, a beat that was beautiful man, like, how
Speaker 1: did that verses come about in the first place? Who
Speaker 1: made the call that? You know that it came together
Speaker 1: so quick, it was like two weeks. It was yeah,
Speaker 1: because man, it seemed like you prepared for that though,
Speaker 1: it's like you must have been already ready or something.
Speaker 1: He was seeing like he was cocking loaded for that thing,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I said, man, I people don't really
Speaker 1: know where I come from in the m C or
Speaker 1: why you know, we were dogs, man, we come we
Speaker 1: come from that that that school and what I'm seeing
Speaker 1: just because I made you know, pretty female record. That's
Speaker 1: my talent. That's what I'm able to do outside of
Speaker 1: just rapping in them seeing But I go, you know
Speaker 1: that's that's not you know nothing, that's neither you know there,
Speaker 1: but the verses that it came about so quick. You know.
Speaker 1: I was actually I was getting about to get in
Speaker 1: the shower and I see the call from Swiss. I'm like, oh, ship,
Speaker 1: so it's you know, it's called me that Austen. That's
Speaker 1: it's about some business and ship. So I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: what's this must be? Versus? You know what I'm saying
Speaker 1: is said to me about And I'm like okay, well,
Speaker 1: well let's see what's happening. At first, I'm, you know,
Speaker 1: thinking this is gonna be versus with me and the
Speaker 1: other guy or whatever. But then I see fat Joe's
Speaker 1: also on my line, and I'm like, okay, let me
Speaker 1: see what Joe was talking about. So I called Joe.
Speaker 1: Joe's like, yeah, versus rule. I'm like, okay, so that
Speaker 1: my opponent is you, Joe, And I like, I would
Speaker 1: you know, I'm with it, you know whatever, whatever, And
Speaker 1: I called Swiss and he laid it down for you
Speaker 1: know what it was. I have seen so many verses songs.
Speaker 1: You know, all right, let's do it. Cracks are a
Speaker 1: good friend, and it'll be friendly and it'll be fun,
Speaker 1: and you know, I ain't got to kill nobody. And
Speaker 1: you know what I liked. What I liked about it
Speaker 1: was that, you know, for the most part, it was
Speaker 1: very respectful. But they did come that time when he
Speaker 1: made the comment about you know a little more in vita.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, And you know, and you
Speaker 1: jumped on that real quick. Yeah, not on my watch, baby,
Speaker 1: You're gonna disrespect the ladies on my wife's crack. But
Speaker 1: I do know, I know, it's on the heat a battle. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and I felt that and I felt this apology too.
Speaker 1: I thought, yeah, I thought his apology was was very sincere.
Speaker 1: He apologized that night before anything even really hit. The
Speaker 1: fans and the ladies didn't even really know what he
Speaker 1: was apologizing for. So you know, he he handled it.
Speaker 1: And then we spoke, you know, behind the scenes. You know,
Speaker 1: were brothers, so you know, we hold each other accountable
Speaker 1: as we should as men. And I'm like, crack, there's
Speaker 1: no you know, you you already apologize, but you know
Speaker 1: it was a public display of you know, disrespect, so
Speaker 1: you gotta give that same public apologize and so yeah,
Speaker 1: and to his credit, he did absolutely, you know. And
Speaker 1: the thing about it is that there's some people that's
Speaker 1: on his level that would hold their nuts on that apology.
Speaker 1: You're like, yeah, you know, he ain't I gotta apologize,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying? Why why you know, like
Speaker 1: that type of thing. You know, he knew he was wrong, right,
Speaker 1: he knew he knew you know that that that was
Speaker 1: you know, wrong and over the line. And you can't
Speaker 1: you you know, you're not you can't talk to these
Speaker 1: these women like that. You can't talk to these black
Speaker 1: queens like that crack, you know, and so he knew.
Speaker 1: But you know, like sometimes when you you're in that
Speaker 1: zone and you're doing the thing. I'm not making no
Speaker 1: excuse us for what he said, what he did. You know,
Speaker 1: he said what he said and he apologized for it.
Speaker 1: But I do know how you can say some crazy
Speaker 1: shit sometimes when you when you when you in that
Speaker 1: in that in that doghouse, but you're in that doghouse. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel that. What do you think about the current
Speaker 1: state of hip hop? And do you think that it's
Speaker 1: in good hands? And if so, whose hands are we
Speaker 1: talking about? Like, you know, how do you feel about
Speaker 1: the current state of hip hop? Um? I love the
Speaker 1: current state of hip hop. And I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 1: why we as hip hop legends, historians, you know, Elder Statesman,
Speaker 1: we like to see see things sometimes through our own
Speaker 1: lenses because we know hip hop to being a certain way,
Speaker 1: we grew up on it a certain way. But for me,
Speaker 1: as I looked at the evolution of hippop, it's it's changed.
Speaker 1: Every two to four years, something new has come out
Speaker 1: of hip hop m and so it's the same to me.
Speaker 1: It's it's just elevating out of a more global pace.
Speaker 1: It's seeing artists from home genres and spectrums and and
Speaker 1: and cultures. You know, you got you know, African artists
Speaker 1: and they're doing afrobeats music, and you know you got
Speaker 1: reggaetone artists, and you got you know, we have gay
Speaker 1: uh rappers. Now we have free type of country, rappy,
Speaker 1: type of rapper that you can think of exists. Were
Speaker 1: the only genre music that confused with any music rock, pop, country,
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. That's the power of hip hop. And
Speaker 1: when I look at it like that, I'm like, we
Speaker 1: have to let it be that. It's odd artists, what
Speaker 1: you can get away with. That's what war Hole said.
Speaker 1: That's not my quote, that's what the fucking great Warhole said.
Speaker 1: He said, artist, what you can get away with? And
Speaker 1: you gotta look inside that and understand the meaning of that. M.
Speaker 1: You understand if I can put a value on something
Speaker 1: that's worth something to you, that's odd. M hmm. Do
Speaker 1: you think that an artist perhaps is going to far
Speaker 1: to make a statement like Lena's X made where he said,
Speaker 1: fuck your kids? Did you know that? Did he? Do
Speaker 1: you know? He said that he said yeah. He said,
Speaker 1: he actually said fun your kids. On on the Breakfast Club,
Speaker 1: DJ Envy asked him about his responsibility, asked him about
Speaker 1: his responsibility to children, and he said, fuck your kids,
Speaker 1: and and then he said, well, you know, not really
Speaker 1: funk your kids, but funk your kids, you know, like uh,
Speaker 1: And I know, like none of us are perfect. You know,
Speaker 1: we've all staying and fallen shot of Glory Guard and
Speaker 1: we all if you don't have some questionable lyrics, some
Speaker 1: lyrics that have pushed the boundaries, you're really a great artist,
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So we we've all you know, had
Speaker 1: our moments or whatever. But you know, one thing that
Speaker 1: I have never subscribed to is saying fun the kids,
Speaker 1: you know, like you know, like yeah, you know, everybody's
Speaker 1: entitled to be who they are and you know, express
Speaker 1: themselves as an artist and expressed their hearts. I don't,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't care. I want everybody to be there,
Speaker 1: don't want everybody be happy being them. But like I said,
Speaker 1: we all have to hold it, tell accountable for things
Speaker 1: when they're wrong. That's it, just things when they're right
Speaker 1: and wrong, you know. And if little Nasa said your kids,
Speaker 1: that's on the wrong side of things. You know, you
Speaker 1: can feel who you want, little Nozi, you can do
Speaker 1: all the stuff that you want to do. Nobody, at
Speaker 1: least not me. I'm not knocking that man for what
Speaker 1: he does. I don't you know. I happen to think
Speaker 1: he makes good music when you trash. Yeah, but we can,
Speaker 1: we can. You know that. That's that that that's the
Speaker 1: thing about music is subjective. That's true. It's subjects true,
Speaker 1: you know. And so and so when I when I
Speaker 1: think about you know, the responsibility that we have is artists.
Speaker 1: We have big responsibilities artists. I didn't learn that responsibility
Speaker 1: to I. You know, learn that responsibility you understand. And
Speaker 1: I think a lot of artists can attest to that.
Speaker 1: You know, we all came out while and and and
Speaker 1: and and wanted our freedom of speech and wanted to
Speaker 1: say funk this and funk that, and and that's just
Speaker 1: the way hip hop always bred us to be. And
Speaker 1: that's the way we always were. But wrong is wrong,
Speaker 1: and we almost hold each other accountable when things are wrong,
Speaker 1: and and and that goes across the border around spectrum.
Speaker 1: So if we if we want to sit down and
Speaker 1: have a real conversation, about hip hop and the destruction
Speaker 1: and the things that it does to our kids and
Speaker 1: our communities. We could have that conversation, but I don't
Speaker 1: think my fucker's is really ready for that conversation because
Speaker 1: then we got to talk about drill music and this
Speaker 1: and that and all kinds of ship. And then it's
Speaker 1: tapping in the ship that people feel comfortable with, you understand,
Speaker 1: because it's not making them uncomfortable. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what art does. It pushes the boundaries in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways and sometimes just not always gonna be comfortable
Speaker 1: when you are making a statement and pushing the boundary,
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, Little nos X being you know,
Speaker 1: the first gay rapper, or whether it's you know, n
Speaker 1: w A saying fun the police. It's the boundaries that
Speaker 1: are being pushed that, you know, makes hip hop what
Speaker 1: it is and it makes hip hop special. So I
Speaker 1: just think that when we have these conversations, it has
Speaker 1: to be a broad conversation. It can't we can't single
Speaker 1: out certain things. We got to bring it all to
Speaker 1: the table, you know what I mean. And I've been
Speaker 1: to I'm guilty of a gang of ship, you know,
Speaker 1: I was saying about ecstasy and ship like that. I'm
Speaker 1: sure there's kids to say because said it was. So
Speaker 1: I'm not sitting here acting like I haven't played my part.
Speaker 1: And you know, I always say that all the time.
Speaker 1: I dropped out of high school because care Rest once said,
Speaker 1: you know, I make about a gay a week fu school.
Speaker 1: That was a real line to me. And I felt like,
Speaker 1: if I could achieve a GI a week, I don't
Speaker 1: need school. And as I started to make money selling drugs,
Speaker 1: it was getting making the gym. We just didn't don't
Speaker 1: need school. I tried out high school. You know, so
Speaker 1: hip hop is very influential. You got kids that are
Speaker 1: very impressionable, that listen to us, look up to us.
Speaker 1: We're the heroes I know. You know Run DMC, you
Speaker 1: know Mother Fucking Coogi Rap and Big Daddy Kane and these.
Speaker 1: It was my het roes Man, heroes Man, Willie Dee's
Speaker 1: car face. You know what I'm saying, was my heroes man.
Speaker 1: And so I know how impressionable hip hop can be
Speaker 1: on young minds. And and and you know, I can
Speaker 1: never blame the artist for expressing their art. I never never.
Speaker 1: You have the right to say and do what the
Speaker 1: funk you want. Will there be consequences for something that
Speaker 1: you say and do? Absolute fucking lukely, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. But you have the right to do it
Speaker 1: and say it. You may have to pay for it
Speaker 1: some way down the line, but but you have the right.
Speaker 1: And that and that, and that is where I draw
Speaker 1: my line when it comes to artistry and and and
Speaker 1: morality and things of that nature. I think that we
Speaker 1: can separate art from the man, and we should, under said,
Speaker 1: and that way, the art gets to be the art
Speaker 1: and the people get to be the people. But it's
Speaker 1: very hard to do that now with social media. So
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, to your point, I think that, yeah,
Speaker 1: it is very important that you push those boundaries. I
Speaker 1: think some of the best art that we've gotten was
Speaker 1: because people pushed the boundaries. I mean, I don't want
Speaker 1: to live in some plan dass world where all the
Speaker 1: artists are just walking on eggshells and afraid to just
Speaker 1: bust out and just get outside of the box. I
Speaker 1: don't want to live in that type of world. But
Speaker 1: I will say that's that's why you know, when I
Speaker 1: hear certain artists say certain things, I give them grace
Speaker 1: because I know that I was that artists at one point.
Speaker 1: And I know that, and I also know that there's
Speaker 1: a certain amount of latitude that has to be granted
Speaker 1: when it comes to youth, you know, like I thought
Speaker 1: that I knew some ship when I was younger, you know,
Speaker 1: like I was saying some things on records and stuff,
Speaker 1: and I thought, and people to this day to think
Speaker 1: that I was like a profit or whatever. But as
Speaker 1: I got older, you know, I started like realizing, like, man,
Speaker 1: I I you know, it was so much more for
Speaker 1: me to learn and that I just did not know.
Speaker 1: And uh, I learned that that I do have a
Speaker 1: responsibility as an artist. You know, I do have uh
Speaker 1: you know, I do need to because my thing was
Speaker 1: always like I, hey, man, I'm responsible for what I say,
Speaker 1: not how you interpret it. You know, that was my thing,
Speaker 1: Like and no, you know, I'm responsible for how it's
Speaker 1: interpreted also, you know, because like you say, there are
Speaker 1: we do have young impressionable minds out there. And no,
Speaker 1: it's not our job to raise kids. It starts at home, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: I agree that it starts with the parents first and foremost.
Speaker 1: It starts at home, but it does take a village
Speaker 1: to raise a child, and we have to look out
Speaker 1: for each other, you know, we have to, you know,
Speaker 1: we have to hold each other accountable, you know, like
Speaker 1: you say, like, yeah, you could say whatever you want
Speaker 1: to say, but you know, you the people that you
Speaker 1: know wants to, you know, decide that we don't like
Speaker 1: what you said. You can be brought to the table.
Speaker 1: Gets to bring you to heare you know? So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think we're on the same page. The man, you know.
Speaker 1: I I know that some of the artists that are
Speaker 1: being criticized right now for that message, they're gonna get
Speaker 1: wiser with age. And it's like Maya Angelo said, when
Speaker 1: you know better, you do better, right, And we know
Speaker 1: better because this is some things that we said fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago we're not gonna say today. You know, I
Speaker 1: listened to the records now made them well. We just
Speaker 1: said things that you just can't say now. And it
Speaker 1: was like shouting it loud, and this is like wow,
Speaker 1: work things change, people to change. The world changes, you know,
Speaker 1: and and growth is important m hm, you know, for
Speaker 1: for everybody and every walk of life, but especially in
Speaker 1: music and entertainment. You know, we do become the old
Speaker 1: jis and it's important that we do. You know, when
Speaker 1: we can, you know, pull pull, pull a young one
Speaker 1: to the side and let them know, Yo, this is
Speaker 1: what it is. This is You know, I ain't trying
Speaker 1: to school you, but I'm trying to school you. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, like because it's it's it's that
Speaker 1: old saying that old you know, each one teach one.
Speaker 1: We've lost that way in our community and we need
Speaker 1: to bring that back. Like like, anytime I get a chance, man,
Speaker 1: I try to drop some knowledge on the young boys,
Speaker 1: just let them know, like you're doing the right things,
Speaker 1: but you know there's some things you could be doing
Speaker 1: a little better. You know, Man, how do you feel
Speaker 1: like being such a huge contributor to the hip hop
Speaker 1: landscape that some youngsters don't know who John Rule is?
Speaker 1: Like when you it's like, we know, it's like if
Speaker 1: you know, you know right, But there are some youngsters
Speaker 1: that like who like and Batman's and then versus happened.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh not now you on everybody's radar. You know,
Speaker 1: how do you feel about the youngsters who may be
Speaker 1: just not getting tuned into who Jah Rule is? But
Speaker 1: at the same time, some of these guys who I
Speaker 1: know for a fact what I think, even saying that
Speaker 1: they were fans of jih Rule had to be influenced
Speaker 1: by you, because you know what kind of music that
Speaker 1: they're making. How do you feel about, you know, the
Speaker 1: youngsters who don't really know who you are, but there,
Speaker 1: I guess they're warming up now to you. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's cool. I love that, you know, I love that
Speaker 1: you know, you know we can transcend to the next
Speaker 1: generation that, you know, That's what I was, you know, talking,
Speaker 1: you know, joking with Crack. You know, he's he's saying like,
Speaker 1: yesterday's his not today's hits. I'm like, yesterday's it's It's
Speaker 1: not that's for sure, But you know, those those hits
Speaker 1: that are able to stand at at the time was
Speaker 1: classic that never to never go away. And for me,
Speaker 1: that's dope. You know, that's that's that's why we make that,
Speaker 1: That's why we make music. Like I'm so happy when
Speaker 1: I hear a twenty year old say they know my music.
Speaker 1: It's like some real it's crazy. I was just standing
Speaker 1: next to one, you know, and your music was playing
Speaker 1: and she was like jamming all of the words, and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh yeah, you was raised right, because
Speaker 1: that's good music. That's good music, man. And it's a
Speaker 1: beautiful thing. Man. It's a beautiful thing to be able
Speaker 1: to to to span over a decade or two. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and music can still resonate to, you know, a youth
Speaker 1: full audience. And ship. That ship is, That ship is,
Speaker 1: that's what that's that's why we do it, man. Like
Speaker 1: I still listen to all the old dope you know,
Speaker 1: readA Franklin and saying I listen to all that. My
Speaker 1: wife that's ship, all that she listen. She and KidSing, cooking,
Speaker 1: all that's playing. You know. So my kids grew up
Speaker 1: on that too, you know, Like that's what I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to do with my kids. You know, they in the twenties,
Speaker 1: they know all of that. You know, they know all
Speaker 1: of that old school music, all that good old stool music.
Speaker 1: They should you know you before versus he was kind
Speaker 1: of off the radar. Yeah, where you been? Man? You know,
Speaker 1: I see a little stuff happening here or there or whatever.
Speaker 1: But like the music, like, are you gonna do music again?
Speaker 1: Like put out some new stuff. You know, it's crazy.
Speaker 1: I love making music, I said, rum every day, create
Speaker 1: music all the time. The problem with me and putting
Speaker 1: out music. You want. I want people to receive my
Speaker 1: music because it's good music, or because it's bad music
Speaker 1: or whatever that is, you know what I'm saying, and
Speaker 1: not have outside I thought about why they don't want
Speaker 1: the music mm hmm. And I and I felt like
Speaker 1: for for a time, it just felt like if if
Speaker 1: I could have made fucking thriller and people would have
Speaker 1: would acting my deposit and and and for me, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't. I love music, It's my passion. It's very
Speaker 1: therapeutic for me. I get out a lot of ship
Speaker 1: out of it, a lot of rage, a lot of anger,
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, a lot of feelings. I
Speaker 1: make it to put it in my music. So I
Speaker 1: still make music. I'll do it for myself if I
Speaker 1: have to. Like I said, it's like therapy for me.
Speaker 1: So at my studio, I make my music. But I
Speaker 1: just I just felt like everything is about timing, and
Speaker 1: the right timing wasn't right for me to put out
Speaker 1: music right now after versus, I feel like the people
Speaker 1: are receiving me, And what's those calls like? Now, what's
Speaker 1: those business calls like? Now? After the versus Versus has
Speaker 1: a real effect. Man, That's what I'm gonna say. I
Speaker 1: want to say versus as a very real effect and
Speaker 1: for somebody like me and what I was going through personally,
Speaker 1: just with my with the fans. You know, you know,
Speaker 1: Drake says in one of his new record you know,
Speaker 1: you know people turning back on me for no good reason.
Speaker 1: I feel like ship. Every time I listen to that record,
Speaker 1: I feel like and I felt like, that's what I
Speaker 1: was going through. And that's why I really love doing
Speaker 1: that versus because I wasn't versed in Fatcho. I was
Speaker 1: versing the world. I it was John rul versus the world.
Speaker 1: I wanted everybody to remember understand who I am as
Speaker 1: an artist. I do this ship because I love it.
Speaker 1: And you can tell when I'm on that stage, you
Speaker 1: could tell I love it. I'm having a good time.
Speaker 1: I'm rocking the George's music. It's no smoke for me.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love this ship. But I'm also of,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the those guys. I'm MCMC like
Speaker 1: I rap rap, and I also know how to write
Speaker 1: songs and you know, produces this. You know, I'm an
Speaker 1: artist and I and and I shouldn't be allowed to
Speaker 1: be that. I should be allowed to be all of
Speaker 1: those things without being critiqued for this. And out of
Speaker 1: the third you know, you us just hip hop. We
Speaker 1: do this to our own Like we look at the
Speaker 1: artists that, you know, once they cross over out of
Speaker 1: you know, the hip hop charts and going to the
Speaker 1: rhythmic and and the pop charts, they crossed over, they're
Speaker 1: not hip hop anymore. We should embrace that these artists
Speaker 1: have figured out a way to crack the code and
Speaker 1: now they're it's bringing hip hop to a fucking plucthora
Speaker 1: people that we probably would have never reached. These artists
Speaker 1: should be celebrated, but instead we throw them, kick him
Speaker 1: to the side. They cross over, they're selling out. It's
Speaker 1: always been like that, going way back to you know,
Speaker 1: back in Motown days, it's been that. It's always, you know,
Speaker 1: been Once the music is out of the hood and
Speaker 1: then too the hearts of many, you ain't hood enough
Speaker 1: no more. That's that's just ridiculous. That's just oxy moon.
Speaker 1: I love my hood just as much as anybody. But
Speaker 1: I do love to make records for the world. I
Speaker 1: love that. I love doing that. I love doing that
Speaker 1: for me to make a record for the homies or
Speaker 1: whatever those records are. You know, we can do those.
Speaker 1: Those are easy records to make a record that the
Speaker 1: whole world can gravitate towards and and and and see
Speaker 1: the same vision that you saw when you created it.
Speaker 1: That's that's what we're do it for. That, That's that's
Speaker 1: what I thought I was doing it for. That's what
Speaker 1: you know, that's what I thought. You know, making music
Speaker 1: and being an entertainer was about touching the world. Music
Speaker 1: is the only at form you can't touch it touch
Speaker 1: as you and so you wanted to touch as many
Speaker 1: people as possible, you know. So that's how I see music.
Speaker 1: I see it through a very wide lens, and and
Speaker 1: sometimes I get critique for that, but I wouldn't want
Speaker 1: it any other way. Man. Yeah, have you ever thought
Speaker 1: about being a guy, damn professor out of college or something?
Speaker 1: Because I feel it. You know what I'm saying. You
Speaker 1: really do love it. I do hear the passion in
Speaker 1: your voice. You can fucking do this ship man, Like
Speaker 1: for me, really do love music. I studied music music theory. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know the cadences, you know, the oasis is, you know,
Speaker 1: the vibrations and you know your voice patented that you
Speaker 1: can can have people feel a certain way. All of
Speaker 1: these things matter, you know, like you know, making slower
Speaker 1: records in the wintertime and faster records in the summertime,
Speaker 1: because that's what people just naturally want to feel. They
Speaker 1: don't even know they wanted that way. These are these
Speaker 1: are these are things that you know, see, man, you
Speaker 1: teaching me stuff. Man, I ain't never thought I thought
Speaker 1: about the summer days. They ain't ever think like slow
Speaker 1: it down in the winter and speed it up into something.
Speaker 1: This is what people were. Yeah, you know, they don't
Speaker 1: know they wanted. It's subconscious. You're a rap bilogist. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's beautiful, man, this this has been a beautiful, amazing conversation.
Speaker 1: I I absolutely appreciate you. Man. I remember first when
Speaker 1: I first heard you, I was like, am I want
Speaker 1: to do something like that? Had it in pocket? Man?
Speaker 1: You I mean you killed it, man, like you really
Speaker 1: you really killed it. And and that versus bringing it
Speaker 1: back shout out to Swiss until that versus reminded everybody
Speaker 1: of how relevant and how necessary JI rule is. Not
Speaker 1: was appreciate that man, you know, for everything that you've
Speaker 1: done for hip hop for carving, your laying out and
Speaker 1: inspiring so many others. Man. Hey, and also you know,
Speaker 1: being responsible for some babies. You know. Hey, We thank you, man,
Speaker 1: We thank you, we salute you, we appreciate you, we
Speaker 1: love you. Thanks for having me, Ladies and gentlemen. J
Speaker 1: RU much love, baby, and won't Talk. This episode was
Speaker 1: produced by A King and brought to you by The
Speaker 1: Black Effect Podcast Network and I Heart Radio Old