WEBVTT - Tariq Nashid: They Stole Country & Rock, Is Hip Hop Next? 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:02.040 But all right, job. 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:08.080 All across the USC Compton watch Bay to La, come 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:10.760 on to California y day from Owy the Valley. 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:13.160 We represent that Keller County. 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:15.520 So if you're keeping it real on your side of 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:20.920 your town, you tune into Gainst the Chronicles Chronic Goals. 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:24.360 We gonna tell you how are we goals? If I 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:26.880 lie my nose will girl like Pinocchio. We're gonna tell 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.280 you the truth and nothing but the truth. Gangs the 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.879 Chronic Goals. This is not your average shows. 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:37.160 You're now tuned into the rail mc ain't, Big Change 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.200 and Big steels the streets. 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:49.040 Hello, Welcome to the Gainst the Chronicles podcast, the production 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:52.400 of iHeart Radio and Black Effect podcast Network. Make sure 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:54.800 you download the iHeart app and subscribe to Against the 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:57.680 Chronicles For my Apple users, hit the Purple Michael your 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.800 front screen. Subscribed Against the Chronicles, leave a start rating 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.400 the comment like to welcome you to another episode of 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.119 the Gainst the Chronicles podcast. It's your boy, big steeal. 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:10.160 You know this is where gangster rap lives, right, yeah, 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:14.080 it's living. It's living, living froof right next to the wave. 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.800 Hell yeah, you know we're gonna do that. 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:18.280 Over again. 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:22.440 Thanks all, We like to welcome you to another episode 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.160 the Gainst the Chronicles podcast where Gangster Rap Lives is 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.959 your boy Big Steel along with and today we have 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:32.560 a man of many traits and he's good at all 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.160 the motherfuckers. You know how your expression skilled that many things, 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:38.039 but mastering now you actually master of every motherfucking thing 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:44.240 you do. Accomplished author director, yes, sir, social media mogul 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:46.600 and just all that good ship man. Yes, and I 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:48.600 fuck with you because you're from the Midwest. Yes, sir, 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.600 you know what I'm saying. Mister Tarka she what's that 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.640 in the family? Thank y'all for having me here. First 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.880 of all, it's usually man, Usually we don't get people 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.760 of your caliber. No, no offense, none or other guests. 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.640 We don't answer dope people on here. But you have 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.320 done a whole lot of dope shit in your life. 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:07.559 Man. 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:11.480 Man, I try, Man, I try. What took you on 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:13.799 the path that you want? Now? Man? What puts you 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:14.400 on that path? 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:15.119 Man? 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:18.360 Just wanting to bring the truth to things. 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:18.760 Man. 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:22.120 I started with relationship books. And the reason why I 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.240 started with relationship books, man, there were a lot of 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:28.959 books out at the time late nineties that would give 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.520 real janky relationship advice. You had books like Mena from Mars, 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.359 Women Are from Venus and all that stuff, and it 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:36.960 was a real corny advice that really didn't work. So 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.000 I said, let me do something. Let me put out 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:41.120 a book with some real game in it, that real 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.679 dude's spit, that real cats can appreciate. And I wrote 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:46.840 a book called The Art of mackin nineteen ninety nine, 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:49.480 came out in two thousand, became a huge best selling book, 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.880 and that took off my author career right there. And 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.920 then later on I started to morph into documentary films 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:58.280 because I saw there was a void. There was a 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:00.720 lot of movies out here that show with us black 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:04.040 folks in real negative lights. You have movies like The 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:07.840 Help and Precious and The blind Side, and all of 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.680 these movies showed us in very subservient positions. And I said, 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:12.680 now we have to have a balance. We have to 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:16.240 show the constructive side of black society. So I came 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:18.519 up with the Hidden Color Series as an experiment. I 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:20.200 didn't know if it was gonna do good or whatever, 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.080 because nothing like that had been done before. We put 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.239 that out, and that took off. So I like to 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:27.400 try to experiment with different things, man, and kind of 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.880 take risk and just stay true to what I'm putting 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.000 out there, man, And luckily a lot of it has 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.280 been successful. Yeah, you got a lot of different takes 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.760 as far as like on race in America. Yeah, yeah, 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:43.320 things have gotten better. And me originally being from the Midwest, right, 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:45.640 one thing I noticed is people tell you how they 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.240 feel out there. Yes. Indeed, you know, you run across 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.240 a white guy out there, he gonna call you a nigger. 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.000 You know, he's gonna say what he gotta say to you. 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.640 You know, in the Midwest, man, that's where most of 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:58.520 them militia groups are, the white supremacists militia groups, they're 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:00.960 all in Ohio. They're in Mission again, where I was born. 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.280 A lot of people think that stuff is in the South, 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.320 them militia groups where they're training for race wars and 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:09.440 all that. That's in the Midwest. In fact, many of 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:12.320 the race riots that we had were actually in the Midwest. 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:14.840 When you see footage of doctor King getting hit with 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:17.200 rocks and stones, that's in Illinois. You know, a lot 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:19.039 of folks don't know that. When you see folks getting 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:22.400 whooped on with sticks and people fighting back. That's out here. 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:25.320 They showed the watch Riot footage and people think that 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.320 it's the stuff going on down south, But that racism 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.760 was all over the country man, so people kind of 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:32.840 try to regulate it to the south. It was all 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.160 over the place. Oh no, it was all over the places. 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.039 Like I said earlier, they'd tell you how they feel 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.880 out there. They were I fought many a white boy 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.000 and they go squab with you. Yeah, yeah, they go 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:46.159 squabbing with can't you fade with you know? They go 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.400 running with you? Yeah, they're catching Whereas I know this 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:51.120 out here, I almost rather would have like a eel 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.159 was back in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and all them places 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.559 to where you know, where somebody stands which you are here, 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.160 Hey buddy, how was it going your friend? But I 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:04.200 remember one time I had an incident to where a 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:07.320 dude that butted out me by accident. We had just talked. 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:10.120 And this is when I was working for a publishing 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:12.479 company actually, and I was talking to a guy that 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:16.760 worked at Bug Music. He's no longer working there, but 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:18.760 I was talking to a guy that worked at Bug Music, 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:23.039 and he had said something like you black shit colored bitch, 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.359 and it was just like, Wow, who was he talking to? 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.120 You know, you hear somebody on the phone and I 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:31.080 was like this, So I was listening and it kind 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:32.600 of rolled off for me and then I hung up. 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.400 He called me back, Oh man, that was me and 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:38.039 my friend. We joked like that, and I was just 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.520 kind of like, whatever, coward, you know, going to say 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:42.920 what you gotta say. I'm glad I know how you feel. 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:43.120 Now. 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.280 Yeah, that liberal racism is real funny style and that's 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.760 the most insidious racism. So like in the Midwest, man 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.360 you mentioned earlier, many of those places are very conservative, 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:53.039 so they just let you know what it is. They 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:54.800 ain't gonna really play that game with you. And I 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.560 can almost respect that to a certain degree. Out here. 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:00.760 They'll sit there and act like your buddy, but they'll 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:02.960 skin and grin in your face while they're secretly calling 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:04.839 the cops on you. When we see a lot of 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.240 these caring videos where these white women harassing random black people, 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.719 many of those are in liberal, so called liberal cities, 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.920 where they tell you that the hippie liberal white folks 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.800 are better than the right wing republican white folks. They're 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:21.720 the same two wings on the same bird. We got 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.680 to understand that. So systematic racism is a very real thing, 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:28.839 and we got to understand that we as black people, 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.240 we got to be more codified with each other, and 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:36.279 that's how we protect ourselves from that. Hey, you being 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.680 a comptent, right when you were in comptent, it was 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:43.640 majority black, right, Yeah, black and Mexican. Black and Mexican, 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.120 so you didn't have too many encounters with racism. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:51.560 Niggas no other than police shit, you know, racial pro 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:56.480 I mean profiling. You know, it was a nigga and 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:03.080 khakis and a Raiders hat, you know, were automatically symbolized 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:08.960 as a gang banger. So you know, we got harassed 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:11.920 a lot by the police. Didn't matter what color they was. 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.280 A lot of them was black sometimes, you know mostly 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.120 you know, you had a few whites and you know, 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:22.360 Mexican cops patrolling, but it didn't matter what color they was. 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:26.520 We just got harassed for being young black niggas living 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.640 in the inner city because we were just looked at 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.600 as I mean, you know, it was gangbanging was going around. 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:38.920 Compton was full of gangs shit. So and then you know, 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.880 I guess for the fact that probably none of those 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:49.200 police patrolling grew up in Compton, so you know, always 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:55.560 thought that was I always thought that was important to 0:07:55.680 --> 0:08:00.680 have police who grew up or you know, came from 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:03.600 those type of areas. Then they would better know how 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.080 to deal with niggas, you know what I'm saying, as 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:10.040 far as we were concerned. But a lot of them 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:12.600 motherfuckers didn't come from where we was from, so. 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.640 They looked at they looked at. 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.840 Gang banging and all that was just you know, it 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:23.360 was just it was just senseless to them, so we 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:24.560 got harassed for it. 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:29.080 You know, I was looking at eight shoes. Eight shoes 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.160 reminded me of some of my buddies used to wear 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.920 the Nike Cortest shoes similar to what my boy has on, 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.920 and I would roll with him because I was always neutral. 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:39.760 But some of my guys they were in part of 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.559 different sets, and when they would wear the Nike Cortest shoes, 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:45.120 the cops would roll up and say, hey, that's gang paraphernalia, 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:46.000 and then him all. 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:46.319 Of us up. 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:48.160 So they were doing a little shit like that all 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:48.600 the time. 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:59.320 I remember when they start trying to ban certain attire 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.920 and schools ye at one point, you know, I could 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:06.760 wear whatever the fuck I wanted to wear in school, 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.319 but I think by the time I got to junior 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:14.040 high school they had dress codes in school, and not 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:16.800 for the fact that if you went to a private 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:20.200 school and had to wear a uniform, like you couldn't 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:25.800 wear certain hats because those were you know, symbolized with 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:31.120 you know, every neighborhood had, you know, a baseball or 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:35.760 a football cap that represented their neighborhood, so they tried 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.880 to cut that out. They definitely tried to cut out 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.160 the white teas at school. You could not wear all 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:48.000 white tea the school, and you couldn't wear color shoe strings. 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.559 So yeah, they started trying to break us down as 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:56.080 far as you know, because they figured, I don't know what. 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:59.319 They thought, you know, that would stop certain shit. 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.079 This racist is hell though, because when you start talking 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:08.320 about dickies and a T shirt, that all kind of 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:11.120 started other people being poor, that's what, you know, people 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.840 being poorant you know, you get your daddy's work pants 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:15.199 and it was his shirt. 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:19.040 It was affordable attire. I mean, like we wouldn't going 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:23.040 to the mall buying at the time. At the time, 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:26.600 you know, everything was guess you know, guess this, or 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:31.960 guess that my parents wasn't going to buy no motherfucking 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:36.120 hundred dollars jeans and an eighty dollars shirt. You get me, 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:40.080 My parents share when it was time to go school shopping, 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.439 they might hand your ass one hundred and fifty dollars 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:44.120 and se. 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:47.880 You got damn right. 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.800 So the first place, you know, once we got to 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.120 school ship, nigga, I'm gonna buy me about two pack 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:57.800 of all white T shirts. I'm gonna go buy me 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:02.160 a pair of cor tests, maybe repair khakis, nigga, And 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:04.400 then motherfucker's finna get reflipped. 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:05.520 You feel me? 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.640 And you know the fly thing is Man brothers from Compton, 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:12.440 South Central. They wore those clothes and made it so fly. 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:18.040 It became nationally recognized and emulated. Then the corporate structure 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:20.640 got onto it now, so now it's trendy all over 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:21.320 the world now. 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.000 Because when I when we used to go on tour 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:26.760 and we used to go back down South or back 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:31.160 East or Midwest, motherfuckers used to be like, well, I 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.280 got them work uniforms on the ship because you know, 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:38.800 back where y'all was from, niggas wore them like for work, 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.840 I wear me niggas working in sanitation or at the 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:47.920 you know, the automotive place or whatever. They wore dickies. 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.840 You get the overalls, the khakis with the shirt. But 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:57.360 to us, that was that was motherfucking cheap wardrobe for 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:01.319 a motherfucker coming up and camped in because mostly everybody 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:05.960 was in poverty. Didn't get me, soa shit everybody. It 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:10.319 wasn't just you know, a section or or like this. 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:15.079 Get every gang in Compton, south Central, La, Long Beach. 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:20.240 I don't even fuck us. The Mexicans wherever you were from. Shit, nigga, 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.520 that was your attire. And you get a pair of 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:27.200 khakis back then probably football fucking twelve thirteen dollars. 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:28.080 Shit. 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:32.839 You know what's interesting, man, DC said when he left Dallas, 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:37.280 everybody was dressing like Houdini. When he went back to Dallas, 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:38.800 everybody stressing like easy. 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:39.520 Yeah. 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.160 So that showed the influence of it, man, that influence 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.600 of that La culture. They made something so simple, so 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:48.360 fly that everybody had to emulate it. And it was affordable. 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.640 And you know how, I notice when it became popular 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:57.520 the price of dickies. Yeah, didn't nobody get no money 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.079 didn't nobody have a sponsorship deal like you were. I 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.880 think that they the confidence most wanted a deal and said, hey, 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:05.720 you know what, we got a couple hundred bands for y'all, 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:06.680 for y'all promoting our. 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.120 Product, and did hike the motherfuckers up. 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:11.520 Yeah. I didn't think about that Dickey's yet. I never 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:13.720 seen nobody do an endorsement deal with it. They like 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:14.960 fuck that? Yeah? 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:18.719 Yeah, why because look at it? They model was our 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.880 gear is for the hard work in nine to five man, 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.680 you get me? So that they was already they was 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:28.160 already had sponsorship. 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:29.280 We don't need no sponsor. 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.160 Every nigga that take his ass to work out a 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:37.720 factory or construction or whatever they finished, buy one of 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:38.400 our suits. 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.920 Yeah. Now, let me ask you something, ad, When did 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.640 you and your guys get your first major record deal? 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.679 Well before y'all had to deal with was it Orpheus 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:48.360 Records to something? 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:49.720 That was our first deal? 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:52.440 Okay? Were you in an independent before then? Did you 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:53.319 do something with my Cola? 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:53.760 No? 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.840 I didn't fuck with my Cola, but the dude that 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.600 we fucked with, they all went through my Cola. I 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:07.880 fucked with Techno Hop right, Okay, Like I said, I 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:14.640 met Unknown through Lonzo because shout out to guy exactly Lonzo. 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.720 You know, everybody know Lonzo had a crew cut and 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.560 world class wrecking crew and all of that. So I 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.280 just happened to be fucking with some dudes who was 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:30.480 trying to get a singing deal with Lonzo, you know, 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.280 because Lonzo was that type and he was pushing that agenda, 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:38.560 so I tried to get I was me and me 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.680 and the homie Chill shout out my nigga chill. We 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.720 was just like tag alongs because you know, we was 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:51.360 in the neighborhood banging and ship and the music had 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:56.360 just started cracking and ship. So I was never good 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:00.720 at serving, you get me. So when when the rap 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:05.080 bug caught me, I figured, like, what ship? I can 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.160 write some songs about, you know, being from trag New 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.960 and what goes in Compton and the drive by shootings 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.560 and all of that shit. So we hooked up with lot. 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:19.800 We we just happened to tag along and Ann was 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:24.320 there and I had a demo tape that I played, 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:30.880 and so they liked the ship, and we actually, uh, 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:37.600 instead of fucking with Lonzo, we went with Unknown. Well, 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:42.320 no Lonzo basically turned the song Unknown because he couldn't 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.880 do shit with us at the time, Lonzo. You know, 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:47.960 he had a gang of ship going on and he 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:49.920 was primarily focused on the R and B stuff at 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:53.680 the time. Yes, he probably couldn't produce way and you 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:56.560 know after you know, like I said, my man had, 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.400 he had ship going on and at the time just 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:04.560 produced it in the Morning An had he had all 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:08.080 the king Ts singles. Oh yeah, he had the coolest. 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:13.640 He had motherfucking you better bring a gun pay back 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:14.240 to Mother. 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.080 All that was. That was that was pool. But they 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:19.440 came out under. 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:24.560 Techno who was the producer, and Unknown had the label, 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:29.000 so that came out, and then Iced Tea. Of course 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.520 Ice Tea had Dog in the Wax over there. He 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.080 had a record call you Don't Quit over there, and 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:39.480 then after those two they dropped six in the Morning, 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:47.440 So Unknon had a little more of the street element 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.200 as far as the records were going. He did a 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:54.000 lot of techno shit, but once easy and then broke 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:57.640 out in Cube and all of them they like, we 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.880 gotta get in there. So we went through Unknown via 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:04.879 a DJ Slip. Slip was the producer. He was producing 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.120 all the music that came up out of there. 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.200 So did y'all producer, Did y'all put out a record 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:12.160 on Techno Hot before y'all got with the major. 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.200 We put out a MAXI single. 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.800 It had three songs on it, Wanted Yes, Yes, we 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:24.560 were compts most wanted then, and we put out a 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.320 record called this is Compton, Give it Up and I 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:31.680 give up Nothing that ye oh man, that had to. 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.040 Be like eighty nine. 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.280 I remember that record. The homie had that tape. 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:40.320 Yeah, because we had a tape too. Now, the plan was. 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:45.560 They were gonna stop fucking with Macola and they were 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:51.760 supposed to form West Coast Distributor some lonzown in Egypt 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:56.640 Lonzo Egypt, Unknown and I think l a dream team 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:01.639 dude snake. They were going to form their own and 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.359 stopped fucking with Ma Cola and I don't know what happened, 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.439 because we were supposed to be the first project to 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:17.120 come through there, and uh, we did that single, and 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:23.080 I think Unknown met this guy named Chuck Fastard and 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:28.440 Stewart and I forgot the other dude name. He ended 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:34.680 up working for Morgan Creek. But they heard the motherfucking 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:44.000 single and so Unknown negotiated because they was fucking with Orpheus, 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.720 this dude that Unknown met. So that's how we ended 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:54.639 up signing to Orpheus Capital because Unknown met a dude 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:59.040 who was fucking with Orpheus, who Orpheus had to deal 0:18:59.119 --> 0:18:59.840 with Capital. 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:01.760 So but at the. 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:09.080 Time, nothing that they had put out was successful, so Capitol. 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:12.560 Was on their last like legs with Orpheus. 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.280 So then Orpheus put out Arabian Prince. 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:20.000 Yeah, they put out a gang of bullshit. No disrespect 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:23.960 to you know, raybe in prints, but they was putting 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:27.040 out a gang of bullshit. You just just ship that 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:34.800 wasn't going. So we ended up coming through. But it's 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:38.160 like I said, it was at the time where Capitol 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.800 was like, we ain't really fucking with Orpheus no more. 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:47.680 So what happened was we put out It's a Compton 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:52.320 thing through Orpheus, the first album, ce Them Dub album, 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:53.440 and then. 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:55.720 The whole album. 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.880 Hell No, a lot of it was produced by dj 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.960 A No One produced a little bit. But Unknown was 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:10.399 really like the executive motherfucker. He you know, he was 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:15.480 the motherfucker who knew the game. We didn't know shit. 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:18.320 I didn't know shit. You get me. So that's how 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:21.680 my publishing got stolen. You know, he stole my publishing 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:25.600 and all of that. I was just a young nigga 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.240 eager to rap. You get me, I didn't know. I 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.360 was seventeen years old. I didn't know shit about contracts 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:32.320 and lawyers and. 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:32.800 All of that. 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:35.080 Nigga, all I wanted to do was be on the 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:39.240 cover of Fresh or right on Nigga riding that limo 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:43.399 with that doukie rope on and you know that made 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:47.959 me feel like I had accomplished something in music. 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:50.200 Did you have any dealings with Jerry Heller at the time, 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:52.560 Hell no, I never went the. 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:58.640 But see, all the niggas was was And I don't 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:02.639 want to call him crooked because I tell Steal this 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:05.480 all the time. If you don't know, you don't know. 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:11.240 And like my nigga still is probably a rare motherfucker 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:15.159 because he believe in being fair with niggas. But like 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:17.160 I tell him all the time, if a nigga gonna 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.320 fuck you, he gonna fuck you. If he can, he's 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:21.240 gonna fuck you. 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:26.120 And at that time, all. 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:30.879 These little independent labels that were running around the city, 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:33.879 if they got them are artists, they was gonna fuck 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:37.240 you even at Micola. You know, we've heard rumors about Micola, 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:40.040 how they would backdoor the records. Of course, you've been 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:44.040 hearing rumors about that for years, man, man please, So, 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:46.760 like I said, we signed the Orpheus and then that 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:51.679 deal fell through, and then the record, I guess it 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:58.680 sold about two hundred thousand copies. So Orpheus went over 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:03.240 to Sony and so we ended up getting a deal 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:08.960 through Orpheus. Through Sony, we moved like two hundred thousand 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:13.800 units on our very first record, and we had one video. 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:18.520 We had no radio play, no promotion, no nothing. We 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:24.480 did about two hundred and some thousand. So Orpheus basically 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:31.960 they got dropped by Capital and then EA my probably 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:35.560 wanted to sign us. So we did the New York 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:38.359 trip and went to go sit down with EMI and 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:42.119 Chrysalis and all that. But like I said, at the time, 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:48.080 they had no idea what to do with us, you 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:52.400 get me, They had no idea. So we came home, 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:54.320 we didn't have a deal, and then next thing you know, 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:58.040