WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Steve Rifkind Part 2 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.040 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:07.760 What if y'all it's unpaid bill Quest Love Supreme. We 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:09.600 are back with part two of the Quest Love Supreme 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:12.440 Interview with Steve Rick. You've co founded Loud Records or 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.239 put out some critible albums by Wu Tang, Ray Kwan, Mob, Deep, 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:17.200 and Mourn. If you haven't listened to part one, please 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:19.119 check it out. Steve talks about growing up in his 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:21.919 music industry, James Brown, coming to a bar mitzvah, his 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.640 relationship with Tupac, and putting out some hip hop classic 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:25.319 check it. 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:34.239 I will say that my first listen to that. 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.480 Album thirty six Cuban lens. 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:38.960 Oh, thirty six Chambers. 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.320 So the day that both Marauders and and the Wu 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:44.839 Tank comes out, and we're driving up ninety five from 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:50.559 Philly listening to this, and you know, I know it's 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:54.160 not not since Princess fan Base with the album Dirty Mind. 0:00:54.200 --> 0:01:00.279 If I heard what I deem like revision on an 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:03.680 opinion of the record when I first heard the Wu 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.000 Tang record, and not that I was looking from like 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:10.319 a commercial standpoint or an underground standpoint, but I just 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.200 never heard something so dirty in my life I don't know. 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:18.120 It's like this is way too underground for regular people, 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:24.039 and yet it almost became the pinnacle of me. 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:24.959 It's weird. 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.480 It's like they became they became the epicenter in the 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.840 mainstream of the system that they were against, which you know, 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:36.759 I wasn't complainings power. 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:37.600 Oh yeah they do. 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:39.840 But I just mean they still are still they're not 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:40.800 they still not look at it. 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.080 I don't mean, I don't mean, like in a four 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:46.920 letter word way, like they're mainstream, right, No, But I'm 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.800 just saying that I there's no way you were going 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:53.120 to tell me on that first listen that this group 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:54.840 which was. 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.400 Going to be the alpha and the mega in the 0:01:58.440 --> 0:01:59.600 epicenter of what. 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:01.960 But let me ask you a question. Sorry for cutting 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:04.400 you off when you heard when you heard Cream and 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:05.520 can it be for the first time? 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.960 Well yeah, well yeah, well yeah, what did I remember? 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:12.200 I remember hearing Cream for the first time in the 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:17.760 studio singles? I knew. I mean I knew actually before 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.920 because I was on the road. I moved to New York, 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.280 and I opened up the New York office, and I 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:26.240 opened up and I took an apartment in New York, 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:29.160 and now I was by Coastal. But but at the 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:31.160 end of the day when Cream came out and I 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.440 forget about the mess on dollar dollar bill and with 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.640 that meant to me or whatever. But I just knew 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:44.440 that this album there was something fucking special about it. 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.560 Then three months later, my office in LA was on 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.240 Melrose and King's Road where Cookies is literally the building 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.359 with Cookies is, And I'm going to the deli to 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:54.760 grab a sandwich and I see this white kid head 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.000 down to hear on a fucking skateboard with the old 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:00.239 Wu Tang Scully singing Wu Tank cleaning the up with 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.919 and I knew, get go. I said at my age, 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:07.760 now I'm sixty years old. Now, I said, when I'm 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.360 fucking sixty, they're still going to be around. 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:12.080 Yeah, I don't know. 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.120 In my mind it was just like again, I gotta 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.800 go back to the first Jungle Brothers record. Like the 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.440 Jungle Brothers first album, Straight Out the Jungle was just 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:26.639 like an inside secret for like real heads. Meanwhile, like 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:32.280 mainstream America only feels Hammer Vanilla Ice like more you. 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:33.560 Know, mainstream rappers. 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:37.440 And one question, though, yes, Jungle Brothers was on Tommy 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:39.680 Boy correct. 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:41.280 Uh no, no, no, that's day lot Soul. Jungle Brothers was 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:45.120 on Warlock and then went to Warner Brothers for the 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.720 second album. Okay, and I was just like, just to me, 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:54.200 I you know, once once Cream started picking them Traction, 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.000 I was like, wait a minute, this is almost like 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.800 if Straight out the Jungle by the Jungle Brothers really 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:02.120 got a chance. 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:02.360 Now. 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:05.680 I mean, there's a lot of factors into the success 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:11.360 of Wu Tang Clan, but what I was basically leading 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.640 up to was upon first listen of that entire record, 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.799 you knew you had lightning in a bottle in your possession. 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:25.200 Yeah, I knew we had Like Outcast was throwing a party. 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.760 When did their album came out to summer ninety four. 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:31.640 I know, I was at a party, an album release party. 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.680 I was with Steve Staff, okay, and I mean I 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:40.880 think I think Clark Hill was DJing. The HD record 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:45.280 came on and we're talking, and also everybody just went 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:50.320 straight to the to the dance floor and losing the 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:54.240 fucking mind. And that's when I knew that there was 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:56.480 That was like my first like I needed to see 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.120 it with my own eyes, right, And that's why I 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:01.800 like to be outside. So it was like at the 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:03.279 end of the day, like when I see something with 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:05.200 my eyes and that's what made me move to New 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:08.120 York and open up shop in New York. And then 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:12.320 you remember the new music seminar. Yes, right then said clock, 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:18.400 let's find the club areas. Whose area? And they let 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:20.960 me do a showcase with the Licks Twister and all 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:22.040 of New York showed up. 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:27.760 Shout out to G two Wu Tang's trustee, one of 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.080 their many street team people that I've associated Wu with. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.640 G used to be part of the Princeton hip hop 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:42.840 circle that you know, yeah, but you know he would 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.159 also work the Philadelphia market like it would have like 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.960 his side guys also or I don't know if G 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:54.000 was part of Rifkins street promotion team or Brizes personal people, 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.440 but that's how I got hit to them, all right, 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.040 So I have to ask you the other side of 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:03.960 the coin too, because a big part of my personal 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:11.440 success was also being the guy on standby whenever somebody 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.440 would mess up. I e blah blah blah, it's not 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:16.880 going to make it to the show. Can you guys 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.760 get here in twelve hours? Uh da da da just 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.200 dropped out, yo, Can you guys fly in next week 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:27.560 and literally at the beginning of Wu tank Forever, I 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:32.160 swear to God, at least sixty percent of my entire 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:38.840 output of doing shows were based on Wu Tang shows 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:40.080 not attended. 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:46.960 During the during the period of ninety seven. 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.640 You talking about the Wu Tang grade to get some machine. 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:55.080 To starting then, but just basically, you know, like the 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.000 roots of mine as well have been you know, the 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:01.640 twelfth member of the Wu Tang clan, because literally is like, uh, 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.560 we were supposed to come or whatever designated who member 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:07.680 was supposed to show up, and okay, we'll get the 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:13.840 roots instead. So for me though in nineteen ninety seven, 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:20.440 and I have my theories about this, what are year 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:22.600 feelings on Wu Tang Forever. 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.360 It's a double album? 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:29.920 Right, but did you get goosebumps. 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:35.160 On certain songs? All right? The album? I mean it 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:36.840 was a double album. So, like I said, I never 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.280 considered myself in a and I got goosebumps on Triumph, 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.200 I got goosebumps. I've got the name of the kid, 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.560 it's yours. And there was one and then and there 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:48.480 was one more record which I would have well, I 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.680 really got goosebumps. But at the end of the day. 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:57.080 I put that twittergether between Wu Tang and Rage right right, 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:01.720 and you know we first million dollar hip hop video. 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:04.000 Brett Rattner directed it. 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:11.760 Oh yeah, look, no nothing is, but I just from 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:16.360 my perspective, ah that okay. So, first of all, I 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:20.920 feel like the strength of Triumph was that it was 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.400 the first offering. I mean, you know, it could have 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:26.440 been like name any other song that it could have 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.120 been dog shit, the song not actual dog shit. I mean, 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.360 it could have been Reunited. It could it could have 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:35.560 been whatever whatever. The first song from that album was 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.160 gonna come forth, was gonna be everything. 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:41.880 It Reunited was a song that it's Triumph, and right, 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:47.360 why didn't reunite it? To me? The opening Reunited, I 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:52.480 mean first, you know, was ridiculous in that. I mean 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:56.840 they started fighting. So let me just tell you where 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:01.800 I am, right, right, Dicky Passes few months before that, right, 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:05.120 m H. Me and Puff had conversations before Big Pass 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:08.400 who's gonna come first? We were Biggie and we were 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:13.640 both coming with a double album. So Big was always 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:18.160 gonna come first, right because I didn't really we didn't. 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:23.200 We weren't having radio records, right, so we have bread 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.800 through the video and like you said, whatever the video was, 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.880 the video, the video was. But to me, they were 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.760 a rock and roll group or they were a group. Right, 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:38.280 So the Rage tour mm hmm was right. We sold 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:42.960 date Leon records on that album if they finished that tour, 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:48.120 mm hmm, right, because we already we started in Florida 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:50.840 and we were coming up to New York, so that 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:54.559 was already home base, like and sales were going up. 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:59.400 Now we're gonna do the bump fuck you know, like 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:05.000 the mid mid Indiana right the mid mid, mid, mid, Midwest, 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.520 and West coast. That album would have sold twenty million 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.720 records and that was always my plan if we should 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:12.320 have went diamond. 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:15.840 So I agree with you, it should have went diamond. 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:19.760 I you know, I don't know the exact conditions. 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.160 I don't you know. I know it was a fire. 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:28.240 I always felt like, ah, whenever whenever someone gets a. 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:32.520 Good formula and they change it. I wish they didn't 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.120 make that record in California. I wish they would have stayed. 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:39.120 Well. The problem was, if you saw the show, Ris's 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:42.480 house got flooded. Everything was destroyed, right, so that he 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:47.480 had he had to start from scratch, anyway, and with 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.800 everybody having solo recket, I understand what you're saying. Right 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:54.679 with everybody, with everybody having solo records in New York, 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.400 you're being pulled ten different waves. Everybody's being pultended. Hot 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:04.040 they were one plant plass, plat plat, So it's like 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.599 they're getting so them being in one house together and 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.240 to create that unity how they had it on the 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.000 first album. Granted it wasn't hiding and it wasn't in 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:16.959 a basement right right, but the house got flooded and 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:18.720 everything was everything was destroyed. 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:24.160 Can I ask though, I kind of feel like the 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.760 end of that rain kind of not the end of 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:33.360 that rain, but least the stronghold of that initial period 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:36.200 was the Hot ninety seven situation. 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:41.839 Uh, with that that was a bad situation. I was 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:42.320 on my back. 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:44.640 Could you have rectified that situation? 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.319 Or like, how do you in terms of are you 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:50.679 the type of CEO that has to talk to the 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:56.160 artists to stop them from sabotaging their progress or whatever? 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.959 Or could you explain the story that whole Hot nine 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.000 seven situation and then like Hot ninety seven not playing 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:05.160 Wu Tang anymore, and I. 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:07.640 Wasn't I was. I was on a plane. I was 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:11.880 it was my bachelor party, Okay, I was flying from 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:18.440 Dallas to Atlanta, and you know we land and by 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:20.640 phones blowing the fuck up. But you know, I have 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.240 all pretty much my senior executives with me. You know. 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:27.480 It was my brother, was a partner, my best friend, 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.240 my childhood best friend, Rich you know, was a partner, 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:34.920 Mojo who's you know, became a brother and running promotion. 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.240 You know that they were all with me. And I'm 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:41.079 getting just when everybody had to, you know, not even 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.679 the two ways, just a page still and like what 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.400 the fuck's happening? And I couldn't get Risen on the phone. 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.040 And then Tracy, who was the program there had ninety 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:56.439 seven yes, just called me. I'm getting married for fucking days, 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:01.839 like called me and said scope fuck yourself, like you know, 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:04.560 just like I mean, if she was a dude, who 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.480 wouldn't want to fist, right, But she. 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:12.720 Didn't know that, you personally like she she was venting, right. 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:14.960 I don't even think she was so mad. I don't 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:16.599 even think she went to the wedding. And she was 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.360 invited to the wedding. Don't forget wu Tang was the 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:22.640 first rap record that ninety seven fucking played. They were 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:23.360 a dance station. 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.560 Hot ninety seven was also on that new Rap work Day, right, 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:31.719 more music, less rap. They were on that. 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:34.719 No, they weren't a rap I mean, no said it 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:37.839 was a dance station like right, and then Flex was 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.439 I mean, between Flex and Angie, they're the ones that 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:43.360 took it to a whole different place where Flex had 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.360 to show on the weekends, you know, and then think 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.199 you know, and then thank god, you know, Puff came 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:52.120 a flavor in the year, and there was some you know, 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:55.040 and then finally you know, right, and he was making 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:59.000 those records like so thank god for him, you know, 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:01.840 So there was it. 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:06.559 Was absolutely unrepairable. I guess for our listeners that are hearing, 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:13.079 you know, they're they're doing summer jam and uh, you know, 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:15.520 I don't know if it's ghost face or I forgot who. 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:18.120 Said something out of line ninety seven. They don't play 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:19.240 our ship, you know. 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:23.920 Listen, let's keep it one hundred. There were seventy five 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:28.640 thousand fucking people that right, right, they're making a fortune. 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.000 So we were we were on tour with Rage, right, 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:34.720 and at the end of it, we weren't getting paid 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:38.680 a lot of money yet right, yeah, really a rage 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:42.080 tour and and ghost you know, should he have said it? 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:43.960 No, but I'm about to say that don't help with 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:48.600 your argument, which, like, just to to be clear, artists 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.360 do not get paid for doing summer else. 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:53.240 No, no, but no, now they get you know, they 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:55.480 started getting paid a few years not a few years ago. 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.000 There's a few years after that they were getting paid 0:14:58.000 --> 0:14:58.560 big dollars. 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.320 I see, I see your Nicki Minaj is not getting 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:03.640 paid these yeah, for Hot ninety seven. 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.600 Well no, I mean, but just black artists in general, 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.680 just you know, you just those radio step to black 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.280 radio that you yeah, I'll do it for free, you know, 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.240 as long as you keep playing my records. But so 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:17.880 there was literally absolutely no. 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:24.760 She no. So for a whatch they even banned all 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:25.520 loud records. 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:28.760 What yeah, this is the thing. 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:33.000 But this is what was happening to, right, Steve, something wrong, 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:35.400 That's what I mean. 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:37.400 I mean, me and Tracy were friends. Who else is 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:38.320 she gonna take that out of? 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.720 But you know, amir, this happened in Philly with beans 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:48.120 like it I had with Foxy Brown with death Jam 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:50.120 when she cussed out Kobe and they said we pay 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:51.920 ain't playing these records for a minute like that. 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:53.480 I did not know that. 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:58.600 Okay, So with actually you mentioned Puff, I was gonna 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:05.480 ask with the with the opening sketch of side three 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.520 or side two of the Purple tape of Ray Kwan 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:11.920 when they kind of, you know, draw a line in 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:16.280 the sand with bad Boy and Wu Tang, I e 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:20.320 the I guess by that point in ninety five, Bad 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.720 Boys establishing himself as more of a mainstream. 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.160 Middle on the aisle. 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:31.640 I mean no, I mean, look, we got to give credit, 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.880 what credits to I mean, Puff had everybody. I mean 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.320 he he had the palm the world in the palm 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:39.800 of his hands. He was coming with it hit and 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:44.120 you know what what ray Go said, you know, being 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.080 Puff spoke. He goes, what was that about? I said, 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:49.160 I don't know, you know, I have no idea, but 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:52.240 I go, let's just keep it. We're in two totally 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:54.840 different lanes. We're not even in the same freeway, like 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:57.640 you know, I'm just using New York like you know, 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.560 we're on the northern state. They're on the I E. 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.160 You know, And it's just like I'm not trying to 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:07.560 compete and think he's making radio radio records. We're still 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.920 making records for the street, and I'm not like I'm 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.360 trying to help Puff get as much as he possibly 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:18.720 can like so and you know, and they worked it 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:19.680 out a few months later. 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.080 So I always wanted to know what the response was, 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:22.919 because you know, I. 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.400 Yeah, no, wh when Shulk said fuck New York or whatever, 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:28.840 whatever the hell he said, it's the sorta wars right 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:33.040 that that that's when we all they all reunited again, right, 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:35.440 And that was that was like two weeks after we 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:36.960 came out with the album Wow. 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.960 So were you there for hip Hop's funeral? I was there? 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:43.520 No, I wasn't there with my son was just born. 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:45.840 So I pretty much was taking. 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.080 Can I ask a question real quick about these records 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.240 since you have such not made for radio records, but 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.040 yet and still it seems like you got to a 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.600 stride where y'all were picking like amazing singles I had. 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:02.160 I had the best an our step to this day. 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.520 That person there was a it was a team. Who 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.760 was was a guy name of Maddie who actually discobbed Bigie. 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:14.280 He worked at Yes Right was a guy right Scott 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.520 Free started off as my assistant and he got himself 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:23.240 into an r quickly stretched Armstrong who had the stretch 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:32.320 of babidosh. Yeah, and then he was he was the 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.119 first one. And then the guy named is Sean C. 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:42.280 King Yes, yeah, yes, yes, speaking of Maddie C my deep, 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:48.240 I remember getting shook one's part one. How in the 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:53.000 world did you guys manage to on the second go 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:58.920 round again capsure lightning in the bottom like the Street Team. 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.080 So I was saying, the streets don't lie. The record 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:05.520 was cool, it did what it was supposed to do, 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:09.719 but it wasn't a fucking smash. And we came in there, 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:14.520 you know, and I said, Mattie, what are we gonna do? 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:19.359 You know, you know, we're cool, but this is not 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:23.000 going to drive any anything home. And he goes, as 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.719 a matter of fact, Havoc just did a remix last night. 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:29.280 Here it is, and you heard it, and we heard it. 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:31.320 And I was on my way to how can I 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.840 be down? And I had a walkman, not even at 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:36.800 this man, I had a walk man. And I was 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.720 in a car with them stretching Barbido and I was 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.360 on my me and Barbido. I used to play basketball, 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.960 and there was like some type of celebrity game mhm, 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:50.959 and they lost their mind. And you know they were 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.520 they were the first one to play it. They played it, 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.800 we gave it the flex. This is September October. And 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:02.439 then when we came back after Christmas, it's the biggest 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:03.160 record in New York. 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:06.399 So but I'm saying, in your mind, it wasn't like, 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:09.080 oh well that didn't make it all right? What else 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:13.440 you guys got? Like no, I think another an R 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:16.320 or CEO would have just been like, oh well that's 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:17.160 still born. 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:20.240 So what else? What else is down the pike? But 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:25.119 now it's just when the data song like that. 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:28.680 Well, when they when they came to the office, I 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:33.600 knew they were the perfect bike. Who is your first child? 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.639 And I got my first check and my first plaque 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:38.960 and everything else like that. But you know, when you 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:41.159 give a jab, you got to come with a cross 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:45.600 or a hook right fuck right away? Right So Who 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:50.359 definitely shook people and got everybody's attention. But when we 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:54.320 came with Bob, that's when everybody we knew. Everybody knew 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:56.520 that Lad was for real and I still had the 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:00.080 marketing cope. So the bigger lab got the bigger the 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:02.320 marketing company that the bigger the marketing company, the more 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:05.480 people wanted to be a lab. And we were like 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:08.959 we were like three for three. You know, well met 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:10.720 cap we made a little bit of money, but it 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:12.600 just did a little over one hundred, but you know, 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:15.119 lick it and go go. But the licksid three hundred thousand. 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:20.440 We did two million on the first record, and you know, 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:23.159 and Mob did you know they won't planting them on 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:24.960 the first alt So even with. 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.600 You knowing, like because me, you know, I knew of 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:33.600 and I had the fourth and Broadway Mob d from 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:36.639 the back, Yeah, yeah, hit back and all that stuff like, 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:39.960 but in your mind you were like, yeah, these guys 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:41.000 are going to still be a thing. 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.520 Yeah. I mean they came to the office they want 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:46.880 I don't know if they were gonna smoke a cigarette. 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:48.159 They were gonna smoke a blump. But they went to 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.320 the bathroom and this is in like, you know, a 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:56.119 corporate building, right, and they lit pro Proudigy wasn't there 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.480 because he was sick that time. It was having and 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:03.200 you know some of the guys twelve guys and the 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:06.760 sprinklers just went off. I said, they're a perfect follow 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:08.119 up to That's. 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:13.520 So you there still had to be an edge or 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:18.920 a rot or an element of of your groups that authenticity. 0:22:21.320 --> 0:22:22.320 I see, I see. 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:25.119 Do you mind telling us like a prodigy story just 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:27.119 because you know, we were one of the last shows 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:28.919 that he did before we lost him. 0:22:30.119 --> 0:22:31.720 He was like a I mean, he was a brother 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:36.720 to me. I mean, just like he had such a good, 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:41.280 good soul and you know, he just wanted to learn, 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:43.879 and he was like a sponge. I think his oldest 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:48.120 son or is my oldest son that I think they're 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:52.200 like four or five months apart. And he would say, 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:56.720 is your son coming to the office. I'm like, I 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:58.520 don't know why he was. I need to come up, 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:01.119 and I got my kid with me. You know, if 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:02.800 he was coming up, that means he must have been 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:05.080 going over some artwork or whatever he was going through. 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:08.120 So we were fortunate enough, you know, to have a nanny. 0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:11.280 So I'm like, I'll make sure you see what time 0:23:11.280 --> 0:23:12.760 are you going to be here? So I just had 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:15.960 to get approval for my wife and you know, and 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:21.119 then nanny would watch, you know, both babies, you know, 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:25.920 and he and he was appreciated, like and you know, 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:29.560 we could have arguments and say fuck you, to each other. 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:33.880 But at the end of the day we would both say, 0:23:33.920 --> 0:23:35.399 you know, but I love you and you know, And 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:38.440 it wasn't like we were just fighting for what we felt. 0:23:38.480 --> 0:23:40.840 And it was never about money. It was always about 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:42.840 maybe a single or a tour or something like that. 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:45.119 It's not like we already spent this and we're not 0:23:45.240 --> 0:23:48.840 going It was just it was about passion and really 0:23:49.200 --> 0:23:51.520 what was going to get to the next level. 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:56.440 After the jay Z incident in two thousand and one, 0:23:57.520 --> 0:24:01.440 did you like, how does a lead we'll CEO respond 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:05.000 to that to like your back just get the next 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:05.639 record ready? 0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:10.800 Actually, wait, can you explain the situation to me? You 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:13.119 know again, I was in. 0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:17.240 LA for the summer. I remember getting the call and 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:19.840 I wanted to call Bain. I'm like, where the fuck 0:24:19.920 --> 0:24:21.399 did you get that picture? Like how did you get 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:22.400 the picture? Right? 0:24:22.880 --> 0:24:31.080 So, oh, we're going to get you know, want to 0:24:31.080 --> 0:24:34.080 get on this show? Yeah? I got the t on 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:35.359 that join all right. 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:41.240 So so so at the end, at the end of 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:43.840 the day, it's like, man, like, let's just get to 0:24:43.920 --> 0:24:45.760 work and not even about this and Jay or whatever. 0:24:45.960 --> 0:24:48.520 It's like, what's it saying? Sticks and stones may break 0:24:48.560 --> 0:24:51.840 your bones? But names will never army. So I mean, yeah, 0:24:52.080 --> 0:24:53.600 we got one on the chin, but you know what, 0:24:53.680 --> 0:24:55.520 we're still standing. And it's not how many times you fall, 0:24:55.640 --> 0:24:56.520 how many times you get up. 0:25:01.240 --> 0:25:06.280 Why did you decide to sell the label in ninety. 0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:10.760 Nine because I wanted, I you know, when I was 0:25:10.800 --> 0:25:14.119 selling to Sony, we willing to be the third major 0:25:14.520 --> 0:25:18.320 in the Sony system, right Columbia Epic and now it 0:25:18.400 --> 0:25:22.760 is going to be us And and it really wasn't 0:25:22.760 --> 0:25:25.040 about the money. It was more about my ego, which 0:25:25.520 --> 0:25:26.760 you know, was fucked up. I was like, all right, 0:25:26.760 --> 0:25:30.280 we're going to be the third major, and I'm going 0:25:30.359 --> 0:25:31.920 to be able to have this be on the same 0:25:31.960 --> 0:25:34.919 playing field as Jimmy as you know, as every as 0:25:34.960 --> 0:25:38.040 everybody else, because I always felt we weren't on the 0:25:38.080 --> 0:25:40.560 same playing field. And it ended up being the biggest 0:25:40.600 --> 0:25:41.320 mistake of my life. 0:25:43.560 --> 0:25:46.960 So you left in ninety nine. So like the whole 0:25:48.320 --> 0:25:52.120 Project Pat period, and that that whole. 0:25:51.960 --> 0:25:54.280 Came three six Mathia're like, we broke three six Mathild, 0:25:54.280 --> 0:25:59.280 We broke Project Pat, we broke Flip pun Past. During 0:25:59.359 --> 0:26:02.720 that time, we had Murder music. Divina was before Divina 0:26:02.800 --> 0:26:06.439 was like ninety five ninety six but ninety eight, right 0:26:06.480 --> 0:26:12.639 around the fun time, so that you know, and it 0:26:12.920 --> 0:26:15.520 was just I never played a corporate game before. You know, 0:26:15.680 --> 0:26:18.520 we went from a staff of thirty people to the coolest, 0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:23.639 most creative company out there on both aspects, on the 0:26:23.720 --> 0:26:26.800 marketing side of things and then on the record side 0:26:26.800 --> 0:26:28.719 of things. You know, we did the deal and next 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:30.359 thing you know, I have the staff at three hundred people, 0:26:31.080 --> 0:26:33.440 and I'm like, what the fuck is this? Like there 0:26:33.520 --> 0:26:36.800 was this woman God bless us soul. Her name was 0:26:36.880 --> 0:26:39.120 Toba Hoffman, and you know, she was in the sixties, 0:26:39.200 --> 0:26:41.480 calling me mister rifkin I'm thirty five years old, thirty 0:26:41.520 --> 0:26:44.320 six years old, Like please don't call me mister Rifkett, 0:26:44.359 --> 0:26:48.000 you know, and she was just and I knew then 0:26:48.119 --> 0:26:49.960 it was like how much how much time do we 0:26:50.000 --> 0:26:52.200 have left in this fucking deal? And it was just 0:26:52.320 --> 0:26:55.600 like I was stuck for three years. I started having 0:26:55.640 --> 0:26:57.760 panic attacks and anxiety attacks. I was like, I just 0:26:57.800 --> 0:26:59.359 couldn't wait to get the fuck out. And it was 0:26:59.400 --> 0:27:03.520 the first time I didn't know which way to look 0:27:03.520 --> 0:27:05.760 because I thought I was getting hit every which way 0:27:05.760 --> 0:27:07.640 I got from corporate. 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:12.960 Now there's another Philadelphia connection that you kind of have. 0:27:14.960 --> 0:27:18.680 My good friend Charles Stone the third, who directed many 0:27:18.720 --> 0:27:25.960 of Roots Video, made his debut with the Street classic 0:27:26.080 --> 0:27:30.520 called Paid Him Full, which is I believe one of 0:27:31.119 --> 0:27:32.200 your first loud film. 0:27:32.600 --> 0:27:35.159 Could you talk about the process of getting into the movies. 0:27:37.960 --> 0:27:40.239 Again, I didn't want to be in it. We were 0:27:40.320 --> 0:27:44.040 doing all we were doing all of Mirror Max's marketing 0:27:44.880 --> 0:27:47.480 through the marketing company. Now you know, we're branching out. 0:27:47.920 --> 0:27:53.199 Now I have every film studio MGM, Mirror Max, Warner Brothers, 0:27:54.080 --> 0:27:56.840 plus the records and the Street Team. Marketing went to 0:27:56.920 --> 0:28:00.080 Corporate America and I sold twenty five percent comp me 0:28:00.160 --> 0:28:01.800 to a company called in a Public at that time, 0:28:01.880 --> 0:28:05.720 which was the largest advertising holding company in the world. Okay, 0:28:06.280 --> 0:28:09.080 so Merri Max wants There's a guy named Scott Lambert 0:28:09.160 --> 0:28:10.879 who was an agent William Marris, who was just a 0:28:11.000 --> 0:28:15.000 really good good friend, a really good friend of mine. 0:28:15.520 --> 0:28:18.640 And he says, Merri Max wants to do urban films, 0:28:18.720 --> 0:28:21.320 like I can get you a three picture deal. And 0:28:21.400 --> 0:28:24.680 I'm like, huh, you know, he's like he was a 0:28:25.280 --> 0:28:27.880 brother to me. I'm like, got it, that's not gonna happen. 0:28:27.880 --> 0:28:30.280 Why would they give me a three picture deal? So 0:28:31.000 --> 0:28:34.560 he sets up a meeting. I don't want to say hard. 0:28:34.720 --> 0:28:37.520 I think it was Bob winste but I couldn't. I 0:28:38.000 --> 0:28:40.000 couldn't stand Bob. I already had a fight with him 0:28:40.040 --> 0:28:41.520 once and I beat this ship out of him. 0:28:42.520 --> 0:28:49.160 He meantphis, Oh yeah, yeah, all right, we have those 0:28:49.280 --> 0:28:50.280 questions too, like. 0:28:52.440 --> 0:28:54.400 I mean, he mean, he was just a fucking prick. 0:28:54.640 --> 0:28:57.480 I mean, but when the big earthquake in La happened, 0:28:57.560 --> 0:29:00.480 my office was destroyed. I had to send a reported 0:29:00.880 --> 0:29:03.479 because I don't give a fuck who died, who did who? 0:29:03.600 --> 0:29:03.640 That? 0:29:04.160 --> 0:29:05.760 And I said this, I said, the next time I 0:29:05.840 --> 0:29:08.760 see you, I promise you to smack the ship. And 0:29:08.840 --> 0:29:11.080 I hung it and I hung up the phone. A 0:29:11.200 --> 0:29:13.880 year and a half later, my son is four weeks old. 0:29:14.000 --> 0:29:16.360 He was born in June tenth July, fourth weekend, nineteen 0:29:16.440 --> 0:29:18.760 ninety five. I'm pulling off. I took a house in 0:29:18.760 --> 0:29:21.040 the Hamptons, and there's a guess. I go to take 0:29:21.040 --> 0:29:22.560 a piss and there he is here, has no idea 0:29:22.600 --> 0:29:28.480 who the fuck I am? Steve. I smacked him in 0:29:28.480 --> 0:29:29.440 the face, I said. 0:29:31.040 --> 0:29:34.640 And that is our promo, Ladies and gentlemen, Steve will 0:29:34.720 --> 0:29:38.239 be on quest Lops Supreme smacking motherfuckers up. 0:29:38.480 --> 0:29:41.760 I likes it. I like it a lot back, not 0:29:41.960 --> 0:29:43.120 just any kind in the hand. 0:29:44.040 --> 0:29:47.840 So now I got it. So now we're doing a 0:29:47.920 --> 0:29:53.600 presentation with the Vina you mentioned. So we're coming and 0:29:55.080 --> 0:29:58.800 my brother says, merrim Max is coming with Off. By 0:29:58.880 --> 0:30:01.640 the time we land was it was Dimension, which was 0:30:01.680 --> 0:30:04.600 the sister label to Merri Max. It was like the 0:30:04.720 --> 0:30:08.280 Indy side said, Jonathan, you're full of ship. We land 0:30:08.320 --> 0:30:11.600 and get to the hotel. There's a fucking contract. I 0:30:11.640 --> 0:30:13.680 don't know if my brother fortd my fucking signature. I 0:30:13.720 --> 0:30:16.640 don't even remember signing the deal. And next thing you know, 0:30:16.680 --> 0:30:18.640 I have a three picture This will happen within a week, 0:30:19.120 --> 0:30:21.440 a three picture deal. And they threw crazy fucking money 0:30:21.480 --> 0:30:26.360 at us. And then Brett Rattener says, Dame has an 0:30:26.400 --> 0:30:30.000 incredible story, right, But I go, who's gonna produced it? 0:30:30.040 --> 0:30:31.720 I don't know nothing about I don't even have to 0:30:31.720 --> 0:30:33.680 produce a record, like I'm going to now produce a 0:30:33.760 --> 0:30:36.560 fucking movie. He was, No, you gotta hire this guy Ron. 0:30:37.560 --> 0:30:41.640 We hired this guy Rock and and and the rest 0:30:41.720 --> 0:30:44.560 is history. And they you know, I'm not gonna the 0:30:44.640 --> 0:30:46.600 only thing that I did is we had the deal, 0:30:47.120 --> 0:30:49.800 but this was I gotta give credit to day Ding 0:30:49.880 --> 0:30:53.120 did everything he pictured. He did everything. I'm not trying 0:30:53.160 --> 0:30:55.800 to take his thunder. I mean he did everything. And 0:30:56.320 --> 0:30:58.440 you know, I just went for a ride. When he 0:30:58.480 --> 0:31:01.520 asked me to take my name as executive producer, I 0:31:01.640 --> 0:31:04.840 was taking my name off anyway. Was based on a 0:31:04.840 --> 0:31:07.000 true story and I didn't want any fucking heads people 0:31:07.080 --> 0:31:07.680 just coming. 0:31:07.480 --> 0:31:09.360 At it right, coming at you right. 0:31:09.480 --> 0:31:11.400 Yeah, So I was taking my name off anyway. I 0:31:11.480 --> 0:31:12.760 was like, that's not a problem. 0:31:13.720 --> 0:31:17.800 We now live in a time in which the African 0:31:18.920 --> 0:31:23.800 renaissance has truly arrived with like African music and African 0:31:23.880 --> 0:31:25.840 artists getting mainstream success. 0:31:25.960 --> 0:31:28.360 But you know, I know that you. 0:31:30.080 --> 0:31:31.680 I mean, I won't say a risk, but you were 0:31:31.800 --> 0:31:35.400 actually ahead of the game. And I believe you signed 0:31:35.680 --> 0:31:36.080 a Kon? 0:31:36.600 --> 0:31:41.680 Is you not? What was it about Akon? And you 0:31:41.880 --> 0:31:43.840 signed him early, like back in two thousand and four, 0:31:44.000 --> 0:31:44.760 two thousand and five. 0:31:44.920 --> 0:31:47.720 I believe that he was right when I left Glad, 0:31:47.760 --> 0:31:52.400 I started SRC Records right right, So I signed Banner. 0:31:53.640 --> 0:31:57.000 I'm a banner A yeah, yeah, I'm a basketball guy 0:31:57.520 --> 0:32:03.480 and I break my nose playing basketball. And the macho 0:32:03.520 --> 0:32:05.800 guy that I am like, all I really want to 0:32:05.800 --> 0:32:09.800 do is cry, but my son is watching and I 0:32:09.880 --> 0:32:11.720 want to show him, like I have blood all over me, 0:32:11.800 --> 0:32:13.760 and I want to show him that it's okay to 0:32:13.920 --> 0:32:17.200 like get hit and you don't have to cry. Meanwhile, 0:32:17.240 --> 0:32:19.200 I'm seeing three of everything. It's like, you know, if 0:32:19.200 --> 0:32:21.320 the basket's over there, I shot the ball over there 0:32:21.800 --> 0:32:24.440 right like then, I literally just I never felt paying 0:32:24.480 --> 0:32:27.880 like and I just passed out. And when they were 0:32:27.920 --> 0:32:33.880 taking me to the hospital, Kenny Burns with huh and Kenny, 0:32:34.480 --> 0:32:37.280 he goes, you got to hear this, and I'm like, 0:32:37.360 --> 0:32:39.400 what the fuck is this? And there was only one 0:32:39.480 --> 0:32:42.120 record that I wanted to hear. And I mean, there's 0:32:42.160 --> 0:32:43.720 only one record that I said, just keep on playing 0:32:43.720 --> 0:32:46.040 it over and over and over again. And my philosophy 0:32:46.280 --> 0:32:48.600 was like I never considered myself an A and R guy, 0:32:48.760 --> 0:32:50.000 Like it was always about the team. 0:32:50.560 --> 0:32:54.080 Wait, Kenny Burns said that, No, I said. 0:32:54.280 --> 0:32:57.200 Kenny had the tape and then he played with me. 0:32:58.000 --> 0:33:00.280 We were playing ball, and now I went to the 0:33:00.360 --> 0:33:02.320 hospital to get my nose ticks. 0:33:02.520 --> 0:33:04.360 Okay, I'm just I'm just tripping at Undy Burns. As 0:33:04.360 --> 0:33:05.800 a part of the Akon story, this is amazing. 0:33:05.840 --> 0:33:11.520 Okay, So in those days, I flew private MHM, and 0:33:11.720 --> 0:33:13.720 I just didn't know if I was laughed to fly. 0:33:13.800 --> 0:33:14.800 I don't know what the hell was the matter with 0:33:14.840 --> 0:33:16.960 my nose. I could have been like a full you 0:33:17.040 --> 0:33:19.640 know rain. Now I don't know what the fuck you know? 0:33:19.720 --> 0:33:21.560 They said they broke my nose and I couldn't really 0:33:21.600 --> 0:33:25.440 fly for twenty four hours for effect. So I just said, 0:33:25.440 --> 0:33:27.640 we're going to Atlanta set of New York, and I 0:33:27.760 --> 0:33:31.280 met the vine I at aicon. The rest was history, 0:33:31.320 --> 0:33:35.440 and I pretty much did the same thing. Universal laughed 0:33:35.440 --> 0:33:36.720 in my face. I said, this is gonna be the 0:33:36.720 --> 0:33:39.640 biggest office in my career, and they said, oh, this 0:33:39.680 --> 0:33:43.600 is couna be biggeran war. I'm like yeah, and they laughed, 0:33:43.640 --> 0:33:45.400 and I got so fucking mad. I was like, you 0:33:45.440 --> 0:33:49.320 know what, fuck you guys. And I had There's somebody 0:33:49.360 --> 0:33:51.040 that was with me at LAB who started off as 0:33:51.120 --> 0:33:53.600 an intern in the street team guy and then he 0:33:53.800 --> 0:33:56.240 just grew and grew and grew with me, and then 0:33:56.280 --> 0:33:59.040 when I started SC he became he was because I 0:33:59.040 --> 0:34:00.320 gave him a piece of a company me and he 0:34:00.440 --> 0:34:04.560 was my president. Got the name of his wife was 0:34:04.640 --> 0:34:07.520 pregnant at the time, and I said, God, you do 0:34:07.640 --> 0:34:11.320 the East in the South, I'll do the West in 0:34:11.400 --> 0:34:13.799 the Midwest. And we didn't have a video. We didn't 0:34:13.800 --> 0:34:15.920 have anything. He took a kN and I took a 0:34:16.080 --> 0:34:19.640 conm boo, and I mean, we may believe whoo was 0:34:19.719 --> 0:34:20.920 a kon and. 0:34:21.160 --> 0:34:29.919 We wait, wow, this is like the Little Richard James 0:34:29.960 --> 0:34:35.239 Brown situation. We're both Little Richard and James Brown. We're 0:34:35.280 --> 0:34:36.480 touring as Little Richard. 0:34:38.080 --> 0:34:40.520 I didn't okay, oh it. 0:34:42.000 --> 0:34:45.120 So we had no video. Nobody knew what any kind 0:34:45.120 --> 0:34:49.960 of looked like. And at the at the end of day, 0:34:50.360 --> 0:34:53.400 the record broke in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and so like 0:34:53.520 --> 0:35:00.239 so like you know, I fly fly into me York 0:35:00.239 --> 0:35:01.680 with the record club locked up with style. 0:35:01.880 --> 0:35:03.200 I was about to say, was locked up. 0:35:03.280 --> 0:35:05.880 Okay, right, I come to New York and this is 0:35:05.880 --> 0:35:09.160 where you know Republic was known for doing their research. 0:35:09.800 --> 0:35:13.560 I should you not. There's a fucking report like like 0:35:13.680 --> 0:35:19.200 this must have been fifty pages on every storm in 0:35:19.320 --> 0:35:22.080 Albuquerque and util. You wouldn't believe how many fucking stores 0:35:22.120 --> 0:35:25.040 that were, you know, between Target and Walmart, and the 0:35:25.160 --> 0:35:29.200 ship's going through the roof. So wise and We're like, 0:35:29.480 --> 0:35:32.120 what the fuck is going on? You know, and I'm like, 0:35:33.120 --> 0:35:35.319 I'm trying to bring it east and you know now, 0:35:35.600 --> 0:35:40.120 you know, and we had to change out philosophy because 0:35:40.560 --> 0:35:43.880 Republic was a radio company. They didn't understand street records. 0:35:44.840 --> 0:35:50.360 So I had a cover like like Philly came in, Boston, 0:35:50.440 --> 0:35:53.080 came in Connecticut, came in, Miami, came in you know, 0:35:53.320 --> 0:35:56.160 New York was the last one to come in, you know. 0:35:56.280 --> 0:35:58.920 And then who was Mother's Day? And I get a 0:35:58.960 --> 0:36:00.640 phone call from somebody who goes, what the fuck did 0:36:00.680 --> 0:36:02.600 you do in Brooklyn? I'm like, what are you talking about? 0:36:03.840 --> 0:36:06.320 We're talking about Akon, you know. And the truth is 0:36:06.400 --> 0:36:10.640 I really didn't do anything. We just we surrounded New 0:36:10.760 --> 0:36:13.640 York where it would just have to leak in and 0:36:13.840 --> 0:36:16.920 with the King's plasm mall. You know, the record was 0:36:16.960 --> 0:36:21.399 being played every fucking call, you know. That Monday, Abro 0:36:21.520 --> 0:36:23.360 calls me up and he says, we're adding the record, 0:36:23.520 --> 0:36:26.480 you know. And then two weeks later, like the research 0:36:27.160 --> 0:36:30.000 was like number one requested in like top three call out. 0:36:30.960 --> 0:36:34.680 I mean, the record broke and the right it was 0:36:34.760 --> 0:36:38.520 the first the first week, I think we scanned three 0:36:38.640 --> 0:36:41.040 thousand records. It was the lowest sound scanning record I 0:36:41.120 --> 0:36:44.520 ever had in my life. First week, but each week 0:36:45.440 --> 0:36:48.160 it didn't go three thousand to fifteen hundred. They stayed 0:36:48.160 --> 0:36:51.080 at three thousand, three thousand, two hundred, three thousand, one hundred. 0:36:51.520 --> 0:36:54.200 And when that fucking thing just took off, I mean, 0:36:54.880 --> 0:36:58.000 by by the fall, we were at sixty thousand a 0:36:58.080 --> 0:37:01.839 week and we didn't even come up lonely yet. 0:37:03.640 --> 0:37:04.680 So tired of that record. 0:37:04.760 --> 0:37:05.120 Good God. 0:37:07.520 --> 0:37:10.520 I have a confessor about Lockdown. I have an professor 0:37:10.560 --> 0:37:11.239 about Locked Up. 0:37:11.320 --> 0:37:14.000 And this is before the error sizam where you can't 0:37:14.760 --> 0:37:19.080 find out who the artist is. I swear to God 0:37:19.640 --> 0:37:26.160 for a good twenty one seconds, For good twenty. 0:37:25.960 --> 0:37:35.160 One seconds, I said, holy shit, roberta flex of the scene, yo. 0:37:39.400 --> 0:37:44.200 But yeah, but Locked Up with styles Pete was those storymix. 0:37:45.280 --> 0:37:49.960 I didn't hear his verse, but A Kon's voice was 0:37:50.080 --> 0:37:53.200 so I can't describe it. 0:37:53.360 --> 0:37:56.320 It's such a compliment to Acon, such a compliment. 0:37:56.680 --> 0:38:00.360 Yeah, and I'm saying it's androgynist, but I literally it 0:38:00.440 --> 0:38:03.480 was a woman singing, and because it was done in 0:38:03.600 --> 0:38:08.200 such a rich alto, and I never heard this voice before. 0:38:09.440 --> 0:38:13.879 For twenty seconds, I was like, hey, rich it could happen. 0:38:13.960 --> 0:38:20.120 I was like, if and Aretha Franklin working together, I was, yo, shot, 0:38:20.200 --> 0:38:22.320 let me find out that that's. 0:38:22.520 --> 0:38:24.880 ROBERTA Flag is about to come back like a motherfucker. 0:38:30.560 --> 0:38:33.960 Okay, wait before I let you go, there's one question 0:38:34.080 --> 0:38:38.279 I always ask of every label CEO, Can you tell 0:38:38.400 --> 0:38:43.200 me three x that you almost signed that were close 0:38:43.239 --> 0:38:44.480 but no Cigars. 0:38:45.560 --> 0:38:45.880 Jay Z? 0:38:46.840 --> 0:38:48.320 You could have you could have signed jay Z. 0:38:49.160 --> 0:38:53.359 B mvus hated me so much and because we took 0:38:53.440 --> 0:38:55.960 him for so much money, they didn't want to give 0:38:56.000 --> 0:38:58.080 us any more money to sign JA. I go back 0:38:58.120 --> 0:39:00.520 with Dane since he's fifteen sixteen years old when he 0:39:00.560 --> 0:39:01.800 was managing Original Flavor. 0:39:02.120 --> 0:39:05.839 Wow, Wow, so that's dope. 0:39:06.520 --> 0:39:07.200 So Jay. 0:39:09.239 --> 0:39:11.640 He wasn't an act, but he was to me one 0:39:11.680 --> 0:39:14.560 of the best executives, you know, IRV Gotti when he 0:39:14.640 --> 0:39:16.680 had Mike Geronimo. We tried to get the. 0:39:16.719 --> 0:39:17.799 Records ship. 0:39:19.680 --> 0:39:22.160 And we'll tell you this, whatever reason we couldn't get 0:39:22.160 --> 0:39:25.200 the sample cleared and then BMB is saying, you're wasting 0:39:25.280 --> 0:39:28.520 your time. And this was literally I just signed my DAP. 0:39:28.800 --> 0:39:31.759 They said, you're wasting your time and we're not going 0:39:31.800 --> 0:39:34.120 to give you the money to do it find something else. 0:39:34.719 --> 0:39:37.080 So if I didn't deal with Mike, I'm sure would 0:39:37.200 --> 0:39:38.200 ended up being with me. 0:39:39.080 --> 0:39:43.680 Are you talking about Master I See or the single 0:39:43.760 --> 0:39:46.520 that he had that was more puffy ish? No, the 0:39:46.560 --> 0:39:50.319 first single, the first Master I See, that's a goddamn masterpiece. 0:39:52.880 --> 0:39:58.880 Oh wow, jay Z and then m and you got 0:39:58.920 --> 0:39:59.799 a chance to sign him. 0:40:00.520 --> 0:40:00.759 Yeah. 0:40:00.800 --> 0:40:04.160 But but the thing was this, if he stayed with 0:40:04.320 --> 0:40:06.719 us and I had to do with Paul Rosenberg a 0:40:06.760 --> 0:40:10.880 few weeks ago, he wouldn't have been Eminem four hundred 0:40:10.880 --> 0:40:13.080 million records later, right, he would have been eminent. He 0:40:13.080 --> 0:40:15.880 would have been Eminem fifty million records. He was an 0:40:15.960 --> 0:40:18.640 underground rapper, you know. And you talk about Genie and 0:40:18.680 --> 0:40:24.000 no Battle, right, so you're talking about him and Dray 0:40:24.200 --> 0:40:27.040 just creating magic that that you know, he would have 0:40:27.120 --> 0:40:32.319 been Bob Deep. He would have been Wu your pun. 0:40:32.440 --> 0:40:33.799 We had a pop record on. I was still how 0:40:33.840 --> 0:40:35.759 to play it, but you know he would have been 0:40:36.400 --> 0:40:37.960 just in that length. That was the only thing we 0:40:38.040 --> 0:40:38.520 knew how to do. 0:40:41.760 --> 0:40:45.239 Wow, So I know that you know what. 0:40:45.360 --> 0:40:47.440 The thing is also interesting about your story is the 0:40:47.480 --> 0:40:50.120 fact that how the lineage goes down from your grandfather, 0:40:50.239 --> 0:40:53.920 your father, you and now your your son is an MC. 0:40:54.080 --> 0:40:54.400 Correct. 0:40:55.320 --> 0:40:59.920 So my youngest both my sons played ball, you know, 0:41:01.120 --> 0:41:04.120 one played college, another one played for a famous high 0:41:04.120 --> 0:41:06.040 school out in LA and he didn't want to go 0:41:06.120 --> 0:41:09.399 to college, and out of nowhere, he just started rapping 0:41:10.880 --> 0:41:14.640 and he put out a record and shouldn't put the 0:41:14.640 --> 0:41:16.279 record out of himself, and he did you know, a 0:41:16.320 --> 0:41:19.600 few hundred thousand streams. Flex played the record on his own. 0:41:21.160 --> 0:41:25.720 Without knowing the connection, no knowing knowing the connection. 0:41:26.640 --> 0:41:29.520 But it was during the holidays, so he hit a 0:41:29.560 --> 0:41:33.680 two week run and he was going to music school 0:41:33.920 --> 0:41:36.480 in Florida full sale, and it was just you know, 0:41:37.960 --> 0:41:41.080 my son, he doesn't want to read it. He needs 0:41:41.160 --> 0:41:45.120 to see it and feel it. So he lost his 0:41:45.360 --> 0:41:51.040 love from doing like real school work. That's not him. 0:41:52.600 --> 0:41:55.320 So you know, he has twelve twelve of his friends 0:41:55.560 --> 0:41:59.120 like his crew. They're rolling in the NBA. So he's 0:41:59.160 --> 0:42:03.040 going to be an intern for Rich Paul starting December. 0:42:04.480 --> 0:42:07.799 The way you're talking about basketball, I feel like your 0:42:07.880 --> 0:42:09.479 true passion is owning a team. 0:42:09.840 --> 0:42:13.200 Or now I've lost so much money in basketball. I mean, 0:42:13.320 --> 0:42:16.480 I'll I'm just I'm just a fan now that that's 0:42:16.560 --> 0:42:19.280 all I'm I've lost tensive millions of dollars. 0:42:19.960 --> 0:42:22.799 Did you try to No, never try to own a team. 0:42:22.920 --> 0:42:25.600 But like my philosophy in life, and this is what 0:42:25.680 --> 0:42:27.160 I've learned from my dad. If I can help one 0:42:27.719 --> 0:42:29.880 one person and save their life and put him in 0:42:29.880 --> 0:42:31.759 the right direction, then I did my job on her. 0:42:32.200 --> 0:42:36.960 No money, could you know that feeling of saving somebody? 0:42:37.640 --> 0:42:40.160 You can't put a price on that. And you know, 0:42:40.600 --> 0:42:44.120 so when me and my wife split, my kids are 0:42:44.160 --> 0:42:49.280 into racial okay, and they all came out different complexion, 0:42:49.320 --> 0:42:52.080 all three of them, you know, and one came out 0:42:52.560 --> 0:42:57.759 really like skinning, like Jack the Rapper. So when we split, 0:42:57.960 --> 0:43:02.120 she moved to Florida and there's an area called Delery 0:43:02.200 --> 0:43:05.840 Beach and in this one area in Dowery Beach is 0:43:05.880 --> 0:43:10.400 probably the most gang affected in all the flower in 0:43:10.480 --> 0:43:12.520 a five block radius. And there was a gym there 0:43:13.640 --> 0:43:16.400 and she threw him in there, and she goes, you 0:43:16.480 --> 0:43:19.400 got to learn how to stand on your own. And 0:43:19.480 --> 0:43:22.120 she wouldn't let me go to any games. And then 0:43:22.239 --> 0:43:24.640 finally like I didn't know what au was or anything 0:43:24.760 --> 0:43:28.600 like that, and then I don't know where I think 0:43:28.640 --> 0:43:30.200 she was coming out to. I don't know where she 0:43:30.280 --> 0:43:31.400 was going but she goes, oh, you got to pick 0:43:31.440 --> 0:43:33.479 the ballots at two o'clock as a game at twelve, 0:43:34.440 --> 0:43:37.360 I get there one to watch the game, and I 0:43:37.440 --> 0:43:40.320 knew he was gifted and then, but I didn't know 0:43:40.360 --> 0:43:42.520 that he had two of the games at night, you know, 0:43:42.640 --> 0:43:45.000 one at six and one and nine. I was in 0:43:45.120 --> 0:43:50.000 heaven and I just started going to the games, and 0:43:50.600 --> 0:43:52.719 you know, they respected him for who he was, and 0:43:52.800 --> 0:43:54.680 I just minded my own business. I wasn't gonna try 0:43:54.719 --> 0:43:57.759 and buy a team. But I didn't know that he 0:43:57.960 --> 0:44:00.080 was eleven and he was playing on a fourteen on 0:44:00.200 --> 0:44:05.040 the team and they didn't win a game. Right but now, 0:44:06.640 --> 0:44:08.960 and he wasn't talking to me with me and his 0:44:09.160 --> 0:44:12.120 mom separating, but now he was back in my life. 0:44:13.440 --> 0:44:14.960 And I said to the coach, I said, the season 0:44:15.000 --> 0:44:19.680 can't be over, and he still, well, you know it's over. 0:44:19.880 --> 0:44:22.719 I'm like, you got to find something. I go, he was, well, 0:44:22.719 --> 0:44:25.399 there's a tournament next week for twelve and under team. 0:44:25.520 --> 0:44:27.359 I said, well, alex is eleven. How old to say? 0:44:27.480 --> 0:44:30.319 And like, we end up putting six guys on the team. 0:44:30.360 --> 0:44:32.439 He goes, who will, coach? I said, I will. He says, 0:44:32.440 --> 0:44:35.440 what do you know about basketball? I said enough, I 0:44:35.520 --> 0:44:40.200 should you not? I go seventy and oh that whole 0:44:40.239 --> 0:44:45.480 fucking song seven zero. So Florida is known for football. 0:44:45.600 --> 0:44:48.040 I know nothing about football. Half my team of professional 0:44:48.080 --> 0:44:51.080 football players right now. So they were just the best 0:44:51.160 --> 0:44:54.280 athletes in the world. And I just had him pressed 0:44:54.760 --> 0:44:56.200 and they could all shoot the shit out of the 0:44:56.239 --> 0:44:58.959 ball and jump and they were how old was Alas? 0:44:59.200 --> 0:45:01.680 He was eleven to twelve at that time, right, yeah? 0:45:02.960 --> 0:45:06.000 And I really thought I was going to become a 0:45:06.080 --> 0:45:10.880 professional basketball coach, like I had him traveling. We won States, 0:45:10.920 --> 0:45:13.759 we won Nationals, we won the World Games, and I 0:45:13.840 --> 0:45:15.560 just thought I'm taking on challenges. And then I get 0:45:15.560 --> 0:45:17.480 a phone called to buy a tournament, which is like 0:45:17.560 --> 0:45:21.880 a record convention, And just like one thing led to another, 0:45:22.000 --> 0:45:24.080 and I mean, I lost my shirt. But at the 0:45:24.200 --> 0:45:27.279 end of the day, that is my happiness. Music, right, 0:45:27.440 --> 0:45:30.399 Music is the closest thing to God right right, make 0:45:30.440 --> 0:45:32.920 your laughing and make you cry, just your memories, It 0:45:33.120 --> 0:45:38.520 just it touches your soul. Sure, and basketball just it 0:45:38.680 --> 0:45:42.440 just touches me too. Where I get fucking crazy, do you. 0:45:42.880 --> 0:45:48.520 Still get an itching or like just one more hit? 0:45:49.200 --> 0:45:52.840 Metaphorically speaking as in drugs not like a hit single, 0:45:52.960 --> 0:45:56.640 but just is I mean, are you addicted at all 0:45:56.719 --> 0:46:00.560 to the adrenaline? Yeah, I'm finding that rare Jim. 0:46:00.920 --> 0:46:03.799 So I got. I got this kid right now, same 0:46:03.800 --> 0:46:08.759 as Take forty five from San Diego, California, eighteen years old, 0:46:09.120 --> 0:46:17.239 self contained, produces himself. He had eight monthly uses on 0:46:17.360 --> 0:46:21.520 Spotify and now he's closing in and I want to 0:46:21.560 --> 0:46:27.400 say a little under two hundred thousand. He had twenty 0:46:27.440 --> 0:46:29.880 five who was on TikTok and we're closing in on 0:46:29.960 --> 0:46:33.320 three hundred thousand files and all this kid is just 0:46:33.400 --> 0:46:35.400 keep on putting out music and putting out music, and 0:46:35.520 --> 0:46:39.040 his energy is fucking ridiculous. And people will say to me, 0:46:39.560 --> 0:46:44.840 it's you know, it's nothing what people are used to 0:46:45.120 --> 0:46:48.040 be putting out. But you know what, my old day, 0:46:48.120 --> 0:46:49.640 one of my old day in our guys on the 0:46:49.719 --> 0:46:54.080 West Coast brought it to me and it's it's it's different. 0:46:54.280 --> 0:46:58.680 He's self contained. And each day we're going up slowly 0:46:59.040 --> 0:47:00.759 and he's gonna break. I just don't know when I 0:47:00.760 --> 0:47:03.480 don't know how to read records. Yeah, but the adrenaline 0:47:03.520 --> 0:47:05.359 that I get every day and just seeing it if 0:47:05.400 --> 0:47:09.000 we're up ten streams or a thousand streams, or getting 0:47:09.040 --> 0:47:11.640 on a new playlist I have. I was sick for 0:47:11.680 --> 0:47:13.759 a while. I had a mess heart attack eight years ago. 0:47:14.920 --> 0:47:17.920 That's why you lost the weight. No, I just was 0:47:17.920 --> 0:47:19.960 away because I don't want to get another heart attack. 0:47:20.239 --> 0:47:22.880 That's what That's what I'm meant, that's what I'm in. 0:47:24.480 --> 0:47:28.120 So yeah, I was sent three times. 0:47:28.600 --> 0:47:30.360 Oh man, what was that like? 0:47:30.560 --> 0:47:32.320 Was it just overworking? Was it stress? 0:47:33.440 --> 0:47:36.120 It was never going to the doctor and not taking 0:47:36.120 --> 0:47:39.040 care of myself. If I went to a doctor and said, hey, 0:47:39.040 --> 0:47:41.640 your blood pressure is high, you gotta do something. You 0:47:41.680 --> 0:47:43.520 gotta lose ten times. You gotta do this, you gotta 0:47:43.600 --> 0:47:47.840 do that. But it was I'm not blaming my x y, 0:47:47.880 --> 0:47:49.680 I'm not blaming anybody. It was just me not taking 0:47:49.719 --> 0:47:51.880 care of myself. You could say stress, you could say that. 0:47:51.960 --> 0:47:53.640 You could say that, but it was just you got 0:47:53.760 --> 0:47:55.040 to know your body and you got to just take 0:47:55.080 --> 0:47:55.680 care of yourself. 0:47:55.840 --> 0:47:58.120 You know, you got to make yourself a priority. 0:47:58.160 --> 0:47:58.800 And that's what it is. 0:47:59.040 --> 0:48:01.640 Yeah, you know you are learning that in the pandemic. 0:48:02.400 --> 0:48:02.799 Thank god. 0:48:03.640 --> 0:48:06.719 No, you can't be a victim. And you know, and 0:48:07.000 --> 0:48:09.120 just like who wants to hear a victim story? 0:48:10.120 --> 0:48:15.319 At least not of your own self, so you don't 0:48:15.320 --> 0:48:17.640 feel like a stranger in the strange land in terms 0:48:17.680 --> 0:48:18.120 of like. 0:48:18.840 --> 0:48:20.759 Yeah, I do, I have no idea? What the fuck? 0:48:20.920 --> 0:48:21.120 Okay? 0:48:21.239 --> 0:48:21.399 Good? 0:48:21.880 --> 0:48:25.720 I mean, I have no truth. I call the Empire 0:48:25.800 --> 0:48:28.320 distributes us guys. Who is the smartest guy in the 0:48:28.440 --> 0:48:30.880 music business. I don't want to bother him, so I 0:48:30.960 --> 0:48:33.239 speak to him, like what can I do today? Like 0:48:33.760 --> 0:48:37.200 I used to make a clall shoot, right, two hundred 0:48:37.480 --> 0:48:39.560 people be some mix guys by streeting guys. 0:48:40.480 --> 0:48:40.600 Right. 0:48:40.760 --> 0:48:43.320 I got five guys, right, and they all work with me? 0:48:43.400 --> 0:48:45.319 Who are all at the DSPs. I mean I sit 0:48:45.440 --> 0:48:47.799 here like just twiddling my fucking thumbs and I'll take 0:48:47.800 --> 0:48:48.680 a nap at three o'clock. 0:48:52.800 --> 0:48:56.440 But I'm just saying that today, Like how is it 0:48:56.560 --> 0:49:01.759 different now promoting? Especially with the internet at the helm 0:49:02.360 --> 0:49:05.280 you have no word of the internet in the early nineties. 0:49:05.080 --> 0:49:08.360 But you have nobody promotes to Like you can't promote, 0:49:08.719 --> 0:49:11.440 you can't promote Spotify the record. They don't want the 0:49:11.480 --> 0:49:14.160 record on the radio yet. So my day was today. 0:49:14.360 --> 0:49:18.839 I got him a booking agent at UTA, right, mm hmm. 0:49:19.120 --> 0:49:22.040 And I was really excited to do your thing. So 0:49:22.800 --> 0:49:26.440 I went to lunch, made a few calls, and just 0:49:26.520 --> 0:49:28.680 thinking about the podcast all day. 0:49:30.960 --> 0:49:33.200 Sound like freedom to make That's a dope day. 0:49:34.880 --> 0:49:36.960 Wait a minute, I'm gonna get crushed if I don't 0:49:37.000 --> 0:49:38.560 ask one to asker roth question. 0:49:38.960 --> 0:49:41.719 Oh all right, could you talk about your your your 0:49:42.040 --> 0:49:44.720 work with and Scooter? 0:49:45.080 --> 0:49:47.040 I mean at as great as the ASHU was. I 0:49:47.080 --> 0:49:51.680 know he's from Pennsylvania, you know, right. The guy the 0:49:51.800 --> 0:49:54.239 name of Jerry Clark introduced me to Scooter. I was 0:49:54.320 --> 0:49:56.840 in Atlanta and Scooter, I think was still in college 0:49:57.200 --> 0:50:01.040 mm hm. And he just reminded me a little of myself. 0:50:01.160 --> 0:50:02.719 I thought he was a little bit more full of shit, 0:50:03.800 --> 0:50:06.560 but I thought he was brilliant. And I offered him 0:50:06.560 --> 0:50:10.120 to become president of company with no experience huh. 0:50:10.640 --> 0:50:12.640 And he gave Scooter his start. 0:50:13.440 --> 0:50:14.640 I gave Scooter his first record. 0:50:14.719 --> 0:50:14.839 Yip. 0:50:15.520 --> 0:50:17.080 Yeah, shit. 0:50:18.280 --> 0:50:20.040 Now I feel like there's a question that I should 0:50:20.080 --> 0:50:24.040 be asking that I don't know to ask, because again 0:50:24.120 --> 0:50:26.280 you keep on pulling these historical. 0:50:26.760 --> 0:50:28.680 I gave so this, this is what I'm proud of. 0:50:28.760 --> 0:50:32.360 I gave Scooter his his first record deal with I 0:50:32.440 --> 0:50:36.280 gave guy Siri. I got him his first deal with Henji, 0:50:36.360 --> 0:50:38.640 and evil ly with Ruber and Rodriguez at Pendelum America. 0:50:39.480 --> 0:50:43.240 Wait what so I just didn't start at Maverick. 0:50:43.920 --> 0:50:45.000 Guy was eighteen years old. 0:50:45.920 --> 0:50:47.920 You gave oh shit, Okay. 0:50:47.719 --> 0:50:49.480 No, I didn't. I didn't sign him. I made the 0:50:49.520 --> 0:50:50.080 deal for guy. 0:50:50.680 --> 0:50:55.040 So guy was was managing Henji. Yeah, e belie at 0:50:55.080 --> 0:50:55.880 the age of eighteen. 0:50:56.600 --> 0:50:58.840 Yeah, you're I think at the age of sixty. And 0:50:58.960 --> 0:51:01.480 I begged him to go lists an independent record company 0:51:01.520 --> 0:51:02.320 and he said no. 0:51:04.480 --> 0:51:09.000 Wow, okay, all right, gods another So it was another one. 0:51:09.000 --> 0:51:11.839 I want one more at like, give me some more. 0:51:12.040 --> 0:51:15.680 Start bragging. Brag on yourself. This is minory moment. 0:51:16.280 --> 0:51:19.160 I mean, I can't brag on myself. But you know Scooter, 0:51:19.280 --> 0:51:20.880 I opened him to become president of s r C. 0:51:21.040 --> 0:51:23.320 He said no. I said the guy, let's start a 0:51:23.360 --> 0:51:25.640 record company. He said no, And I made the deal 0:51:26.400 --> 0:51:31.880 and then on and that's you know, and then me 0:51:32.120 --> 0:51:34.239 you know me raz and fetch up you know those 0:51:34.440 --> 0:51:35.879 you got it them? 0:51:37.040 --> 0:51:39.000 Can I ask you an awkward question that probably nobody 0:51:39.160 --> 0:51:41.719 ever asked? Was it ever awkward to have that many 0:51:41.760 --> 0:51:43.040 five percent on the labels? 0:51:47.000 --> 0:51:54.680 Thank you good night, Dante? Also, I mean the black. 0:51:54.560 --> 0:51:56.200 Maid has got it the White Maiden's Devil. 0:51:56.760 --> 0:51:58.879 They were all on my wedding. I mean I never 0:51:58.920 --> 0:52:02.399 thought about it, just now, like and it never came 0:52:02.520 --> 0:52:03.080 to my you. 0:52:03.120 --> 0:52:05.680 Know, I also asked that to know. I wanted to 0:52:05.760 --> 0:52:07.719 know at some point, where the where did they stop 0:52:07.760 --> 0:52:09.719 because I feel like also at a certain point you're 0:52:09.719 --> 0:52:10.759 helping to make money too, so. 0:52:10.920 --> 0:52:15.440 You don't how much. But that's interesting. Yeah, you never 0:52:15.840 --> 0:52:16.200 with the bag. 0:52:17.560 --> 0:52:20.400 The only one that we had issues with was that press. 0:52:21.160 --> 0:52:24.319 Oh yeah, I forgot about the press. 0:52:24.840 --> 0:52:28.640 But at the end of the day, I probably handled 0:52:28.680 --> 0:52:31.800 it wrong. It was my my ego was hurt. It 0:52:31.920 --> 0:52:33.400 was like, how the fuck are they not trust me? 0:52:35.160 --> 0:52:35.920 Are you serious? 0:52:39.760 --> 0:52:39.960 Yeah? 0:52:40.080 --> 0:52:42.520 I mean I mean were the first record? Were you 0:52:42.600 --> 0:52:43.520 there for the second album? 0:52:44.320 --> 0:52:44.360 No? 0:52:45.560 --> 0:52:50.359 I can tell okay, Oh no, I wish I wish 0:52:50.400 --> 0:52:52.600 that second that second album should have blown up, and 0:52:52.680 --> 0:52:53.040 it didn't. 0:52:54.080 --> 0:52:55.640 But you know, but then you look at you know, 0:52:56.200 --> 0:53:01.239 m p any up. You know it's just like those 0:53:01.280 --> 0:53:03.839 are records to this day, you know that still give 0:53:03.920 --> 0:53:04.560 me goosebumps. 0:53:05.520 --> 0:53:09.000 Yeah, stay around forever. No, I mean, this is the 0:53:09.080 --> 0:53:10.839 first time I think you and I are talking, man, 0:53:10.920 --> 0:53:14.040 But I've heard them, but stand up. 0:53:14.239 --> 0:53:17.080 Things about you and you know, all the respect that 0:53:17.160 --> 0:53:20.239 you had, and this is like a long, long, long, long, 0:53:20.320 --> 0:53:24.040 overdue conversation. Man, I thank you for coming on the show. 0:53:24.400 --> 0:53:25.600 You in New York? Are you? And l A? 0:53:26.320 --> 0:53:29.440 I'm currently in New York. The next time we got 0:53:29.560 --> 0:53:31.799 to go to dinner, no doubt, no doubt. 0:53:32.200 --> 0:53:39.359 Well that's right, you got a daughter too, Right, where 0:53:39.360 --> 0:53:40.439 do you guys want to go for dinner? 0:53:40.480 --> 0:53:41.520 I'll set it up and. 0:53:45.440 --> 0:53:48.400 Wait, So good Bill, nothing, no questions. 0:53:49.000 --> 0:53:52.320 Well, I just I mean, Steve, it sounds like like 0:53:52.440 --> 0:53:55.080 you made a lot of close friends and and a 0:53:55.120 --> 0:53:57.840 lot of people hate you, which makes you an authentic Steve. 0:53:58.000 --> 0:54:02.520 So congratulations on that. And but what a great career 0:54:02.600 --> 0:54:06.840 I mean, no, just just too much, too much to process. 0:54:07.120 --> 0:54:07.600 Incredible. 0:54:07.680 --> 0:54:10.759 Yeah, I really wish I was there at Radio City 0:54:10.840 --> 0:54:14.360 for that night at uh celebration. 0:54:14.920 --> 0:54:17.920 That night was so fucking special. I mean it was. 0:54:19.440 --> 0:54:22.680 I mean, I think it was Ex's last performance. It was, 0:54:23.520 --> 0:54:25.439 and it was right before everything shut down. 0:54:26.000 --> 0:54:28.400 Yep, yep, it was amazing. 0:54:28.480 --> 0:54:30.560 I was in a radio City would never be the 0:54:30.600 --> 0:54:34.640 same after that. They they never saw so many people 0:54:34.960 --> 0:54:36.600 backstage and in their life. 0:54:37.920 --> 0:54:40.600 I also wanted to know how that was organized and 0:54:40.640 --> 0:54:40.920 what not. 0:54:43.920 --> 0:54:47.719 Well on behalf of Siga, Steven and Bill and Fan 0:54:47.800 --> 0:54:52.600 Diegelo and Laya, the Great, the Great Steve Rifkin. 0:54:53.239 --> 0:54:55.280 Yes, thank you, Supreme. 0:54:57.040 --> 0:54:58.719 This was amazing. Oh I didn't talk too much. 0:54:59.080 --> 0:55:02.000 No, we live for Rabbit, Holy trust? 0:55:02.080 --> 0:55:02.440 What is that? 0:55:03.840 --> 0:55:04.600 What are those works? 0:55:04.600 --> 0:55:05.160 They go together? 0:55:05.280 --> 0:55:05.879 Talk too much? 0:55:06.000 --> 0:55:06.440 We don't know. 0:55:07.960 --> 0:55:11.360 So until next time, ladies and gentlemen, and I promise 0:55:11.400 --> 0:55:22.760 you that I will have better camera working and Steve 0:55:22.880 --> 0:55:25.279 look professional. I'm just I feel like a drunk here. 0:55:25.480 --> 0:55:28.880 But anyway, thank you for doing our shows. 0:55:29.800 --> 0:55:32.239 You're getting You're not a drunk, but you're getting high 0:55:32.280 --> 0:55:32.640 too much. 0:55:36.280 --> 0:55:37.919 All right, We'll see you on the next go around. 0:55:37.960 --> 0:55:39.280 Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. 0:55:39.360 --> 0:55:47.040 This West Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Cream. 0:55:50.400 --> 0:55:53.640 For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 0:55:53.880 --> 0:55:56.920 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.