WEBVTT - Mark Ronson 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:10.520 Request. Loft Show is a production of iHeart Radio. As 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:16.360 if nabbing Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's groundbreaking 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:20.600 Back to Black wasn't enough not to mention to Record 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:25.360 of the Year nods for rehab from said Back to 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:29.520 Black and his own uptown funk with Bruno Mars, not 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:33.200 to be outdone by the Oscar he won for Lady 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:37.280 Got Got a Shallow for a stars Born And you 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:41.320 can also add in the executive producer of the phenomenon 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:45.320 known as the Barbie Soundtrack. Our guests can now add 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:50.440 New York Times best selling author there you go. This 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.800 is his love letter to a music era that's also 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.480 near and deer close to my heart of the late 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:02.120 nineties early arts New York nightlife. It's called night People. 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:06.319 I highly recommend this essential reading. Our guest today, of course, 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.960 goes without an introduction for his accolades and his roster. 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.120 It will be all day saying it. Miles Cyrus, du 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:17.080 Alipa A Dell, Paul McCartney, Wile Ronfest, Luli Allen, Christina 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:22.240 Aguilera goes face killing most steph cute tip yea yea yeava, YadA, YadA, YadA. Ladies, 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:25.640 and gentlemen once again, Mark Ronson, what's up? Hell, how 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:27.120 are you? Thank you for doing this for me? 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:27.520 Thank you? 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:28.000 You know. 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:30.840 The great thing about the New York Times bestseller thing 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:32.960 is what you only need one week on there. You 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:33.840 can say for the rest of you. 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:38.040 As long as you get that first week and they're 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:39.960 like they weren't put the sticker on there, New York Times. 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.320 Best to put the sticker on my grave anyway, No, 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.120 I mean, you've kind of blazed the path of like that, 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:51.680 I guess, pivoting the music writing that comes from a musician. 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.120 There's plenty of great music writers that we love, and 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.080 we know Nelson, George, Dan charnis all this. But but 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:00.320 I definitely look up to you very much. Thin You've 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.800 read such great books and they just cast a white 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.760 net without pandering. And yeah, so anyway, I know you're 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.440 congratchating me now I'm gone throwing it back at you. 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.839 I mean, I love books like these, and no matter 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.079 how much I try to encourage our peer group to 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.600 take note of things, especially now that I'm in the 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.400 dock space, and it's really hard trying to extract information 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:25.960 from a seventy year old, you know, in a way 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.120 that's not revisionist history. Yeah, or just wrapped in a bowl. 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:32.480 Well yeah, one day we you know, when the studio 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.799 did this hit single and then went home and I'm like, yeah, 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.840 you know, so I love seeing how the sausage just 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.840 made and kind of is a very fascinating read. So 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.200 I thank you for giving me the pleasure to nerd 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:47.639 out on you. 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:53.240 I was really inspired by Anthony Bourday in Kitchen Confidential, 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.520 was a book that I never caught when it came out. 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:58.600 I read it much later on, maybe around the time 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.799 that that doc came out about him, and I just 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.360 thought it was listen, He's an incredible, like like hundred 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:10.079 Thompson level writer. But what I really took more inspiration 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:14.480 from was that writing about a high octane sort of 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:18.200 occupation profession and all the crazy highs and lows of it. 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.320 But also like, I'm actually not really into cooking and 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.000 I'm not a great cook, and I don't know anything 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:26.960 about kitchens. But like his second chapter was all about knives, 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:28.960 and then I'm like, oh, now I give a shit 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:31.320 about knives. Like I just was thinking about this, like 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.600 he localizes yeah, and I was like, you can write 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:38.360 about cartridges slip mats and the inner workings of a 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.240 technique's twelve hundred, like in a book like this, because 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:42.880 if you're going to write a tribute to DJ and 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.600 as long as like, you'll get so bogged down. But 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:48.200 I really wanted to make it. Yeah, part of that 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.240 like when you're a kid and you see two turntables 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:53.600 together for the first time and you have that like 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:58.040 lifelong infatuation with it, and what some of those things are, 0:03:58.200 --> 0:03:59.880 as well as just what New York. 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:01.760 Was like in the clubs. Do you remember the first 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:06.120 time that you saw a DJ perform? I do? Who 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:06.800 was it? I do? 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.120 And it's amazing that I remember because I was on 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.000 acid or ecstasy or maybe both because there was this 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.160 all ages kids rave like in pre Giuliani New York 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.920 and like ninety two ninety three, God bless David Dinkins 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.560 that he was dealing with the housing crisis. He wasn't 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:24.919 worried about like fifteen year old kids maybe like at 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:29.240 a rave on ecstasy. I was at this club called 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:32.440 The Shelter, which before that was Area Shelter. Yeah, the 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.080 Shelter was but on Friday nights. For about a year 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.120 and a half, they had this all ages rave called NASA, 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.279 and they didn't serve alcohol, so there was a reason 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:43.839 that kids could get in and be up all ages, 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:46.040 but they that certainly turned a blind eye to you 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:46.680 know whatever else. 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.000 I mean when you say all ages, you could be 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:49.560 how old. 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.360 I think that there were definitely, like we were fifteen sixteen. 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.480 There were definitely kids that looked like thirteen. It had 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:00.680 like a definite like Lord of the Flies vibe to it. 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.200 Like but at least before they started bashing each other 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:04.840 in the head with the shells. 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.920 Would they raise an eyebrow if say a forty year old. 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:10.320 Yeah, That's what was so cool about it. It was 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.480 like there was It wasn't like there was this other 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.120 scene going on that was a little adjacent, which was 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.040 disco two thousand and Limelight, which became the party Monster. 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.560 You know that that was much more debauch, and that 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:25.280 was like older people going through the rooms trying to 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.640 apply young kids with row hipno or whatever. But this 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.720 really was just like schools out for summer, Like this 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.160 was something about it, and that's why it was just 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.880 so incredible. Was the first thing that like I lied, 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:41.520 beg you know, borrow like whatever to get into this 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:46.920 place because it was like Disneyland for kids. So what 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:50.760 Disneyland is for kids, Disneyland for serotonin. 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:55.000 Trade kids, I don't think so good. Yeah so yeah. 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.680 So they had the big main room and they had 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:00.440 big techno DJs playing, and I would alway, I go 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:02.480 into those rooms of my friends and then after like 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.760 five minutes be like, I know I'm supposed to like this, 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.160 but I just really don't, and I would drift to 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:09.960 this other room down the hall, this small room that 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:12.560 was called the chill out Room. And the first time 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.640 that I was in that room and we were on 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:18.720 ecstasy or mushrooms or you know, depending on the night, 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:22.400 and it did have this really fun vibe like at 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:25.919 PG thirteen Caligular with glow sticks, like just kids making 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.800 out everywhere. But I saw DJ Dimitri from d Light 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.920 was playing in the corner and he was playing the 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.479 song and I was like, it was like this girl 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:39.120 singing about like Jamaica funk with these like beautiful lush 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.160 chords and unlike anything I had ever heard. And I 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:42.120 went up to her, I was like, what. 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:42.760 Is this song? 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:44.600 And he just like points to a twelve inch like 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.360 he's kind of smiling bobbing around, and I see Tom 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.480 Brown funking for Jamaica. But at that point, like I 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.040 knew Jamerica and brand New Heavies. That was the extent 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.160 of my knowledge of anything like this, So that was 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.000 really exposing me a lot of music. And then I 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.680 remember this other kid getting on right after him, and 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.919 where Dmitri had been like kind of smiling, bobby bouncy, 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.440 like kippie energy, this kid looked like had this furious 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.480 look of concentration in his eyes and just threw on 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.119 his first record. I think it was main Source faking 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.800 the phone, and he then he puts on a second copy, 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.800 and then he starts bringing back the ba ba ba 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.040 ba ba ba ba bah bah bah. And I'd listened 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:25.560 to Stretch, Armstrong and DJ's on the radio, but I'd 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.000 never seen somebody in person what he was doing. And 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.320 the room started to fill up. He played this incredible set, 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.600 and I was so like he was like slamming records 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:38.520 in mixing others doubles. It was like this ballet of 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:42.640 like the fucking brutish movements and and I just remember 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.160 being like, holy shit like that, and it was just 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:47.240 after the time i'd really fallen in love with like 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:51.360 Pete Rock and Tribe and that was like I was like, 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:52.600 this is what I want. 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:56.160 To do, Like this is yeah, got it? So Dimitri 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:00.640 who subsequently, I guess for our listeners if line of 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.680 notes are correct, Dmitry also played a very instrumental role 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.840 and the first Tribe album he gets credited, Wow, he 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.920 gets a major shout out MB liner no idea, what 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.440 was his I believe. I think I asked Tip about 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.600 this once, like what was the delight connection? Because also with. 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:21.440 Tip on. 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:31.600 But yeah, I believe that Dmitri was key in a 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:35.520 lot of those obscure samples that they might have not 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.280 known about, you know, because the thing is is that 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.640 the quick version for our listeners out there, of course, 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.400 is that you know, when hip hop starts, especially in 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:48.240 the Africa Bambada era, DJ's will wipe off the label 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.920 so you had no clue what they were playing. And 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.599 of course, the proprietor of what we now know is 0:08:54.679 --> 0:09:00.440 the cliff Notes or the Wikipedia of Breakbeat Collections, Ultimate 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.200 Beats and Breaks. It's like a twenty five volume set 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:06.240 record of which they will put seven of those hard 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.400 defined records that you couldn't you know, Shizam or people 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:14.760 of the shoulder of whoever's DJing during the initial era. 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.760 Now all these records are available at your helmet. You know. 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:22.520 Of course, as we're listening to hip hop between eighty 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:27.040 six and kind of nineteen ninety, you will hear a 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:31.199 combination of all those things that are on those break beats, substitution, 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:35.120 funky drummer, long red, just the breaks of the day. 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:37.959 Yeah, right, and even in a clever way like you 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.640 take it personal like gangsters, like you know, they had 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.880 definitely people doing these very clever starting to you know, 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:45.280 manipulate and take these. 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:49.560 Flipping yeah, exactly. So the thing is is that occasionally, 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.079 I'll say, your first for araate outside of the confines 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.480 of ultimate beats and breaks is your parents' collection, depending 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:02.320 on how expansive they are, and then once you get addicted, 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:07.920 then you start rummaging through your relatives collections. I had 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:12.040 two uncles that were major collectors, So every Sunday dinner 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.400 there or occasional barbecue, I'd go through the record collection 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:19.719 and see deep stuff that my dad wasn't into. And 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.800 then the last place is of course the library. But 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.280 the level of digging that when I say the Renaissance 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.160 era gave us. When I say the Renaissance, I'm talking 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:34.600 about the Pete Rocks, the Q Tips, the ARS professors. Yeah, 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.080 like kind of the sons of Paul Cy, if you will, 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.439 Paul C being the what I say is the person 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.559 that read and studied the SB twelve hundred manual and 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:44.800 then taught it to Paul, who then taught it to 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:48.000 everyone else. Yeah, it's like that era of hip hop 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:53.680 is going outside the color lines of what was initially 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.440 spun back in the Bronx. And so as a result, 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:03.440 you know, cats like Dimitri Ta also from Delight being 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:05.840 as though there their quest were funk was a little 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:07.560 bit different, but they would. 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.160 Yeah, and they were bringing in like exotica. I think 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.360 of that, and I'm still obsessed with and I tried 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:16.920 to do something. Initially, I only wrote this book because 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.000 I was making an album where I was going to 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:21.760 like do some nineties covers and flip some nineties things 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.040 that I loved and feeling a little nostalgic musically, and 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.360 I was like, I'll write a book to go along 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.680 with it, and I'll give context to like a friendship 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.319 with the Leah and my relationship to these records, and 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.480 then I wrote the book and forgot to make the album. 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:35.920 That's a very flip and silly thing to say, but 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:37.000 I got bogged down. 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:39.280 I was home man, that this was a part of it, 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:39.920 like a secret. 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.640 Yeah, I hopefully it will be, but I you know, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.000 so I've been flipping all these things and versions that 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.480 hopefully will come out some day of stuff mentioned in 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.199 the book, and even that beginning of dntingly and ding 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.320 ding ding thing we are going to dance like all 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:59.040 that French exotica, that that silly spirit, which was also 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.320 what you know, dale us so we're doing on three 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.200 V Highlight. It was obviously very like you could listen 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:06.559 to d Light and now having you see this like 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.360 I can hear right, oh yeah, the thread between DJ 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:10.880 Dimitri and some of. 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:14.040 The tribes and stuff. Yeah exactly, yeah. 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.520 No, that's super cool. I wrote a bit about in 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:18.880 the book as well, like I wanted to at least 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:22.480 cover in the book all the touchstone things of being 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:24.000 in New York at that time, and one of them, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.560 of course, is the Roosevelt Record Convention. And I remember 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.000 this is a little bit later than when we're talking 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:33.280 about maybe ninety four ninety five. But going there and 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.640 seeing these amazing records on. You know, they would have 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.040 all these record vendors around this room in this hotel, 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:46.199 the Roosevelt Hotel, and everybody would go there, right. It 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:49.200 was just where Q Tip and Large Professor and Diamond 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.199 D and they would find their breaks and the more 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.800 high end dealers would set up their crates and then 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.559 that they'd make a makeshift cardboard wall behind them with 0:12:57.720 --> 0:12:59.960 like the top top records pinned up, and I would 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.480 see like Roy Ayre's musical project Ramp like up on 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:05.760 the wall, like one hundred dollars, you know, like kind 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.640 of dream and then drooling as a kid looking at 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:12.000 these records. But I remember, and I told C Tip. 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:14.240 I don't think I even told him til I was 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:17.200 writing the book. I was like, I remember seeing him 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:19.319 one time at one of those record conventions and I 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.959 was holding under my arm the Rotary Connection album that 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.280 has the Memory band, the sample from the beginning of 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.559 Anita apple Ball. Yeah, and I went up to him 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.760 thinking like because I was so starstruck and geeked out 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:34.679 of everyone does this. Yeah, right, I was like, I'm 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:37.520 gonna go up to him and like say something cool. 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.800 And pretend and then he'll bring you the Yeah. Yeah, totally, 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:43.160 you and I are the same. All right, go ahead, 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:43.840 finish your story. 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:46.160 I went up to him and I was like, oh, 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:48.160 just like on the way out, he was wearing something 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.600 like bright Tommy Hill figure jacket or Helly Hanson. 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:51.000 I remember. 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.559 I was like, this is the uh, this is the 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.480 record you guys sample for Benita, right, like trying to 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.440 be cool, and he just looked at him. 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:01.720 I was like know and just walked down. I thought 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:04.000 you were the FEDS and he was. 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.959 Like he was like he said to me, when I 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.520 tell this story, it's like, yeah, it was mercenary out there, 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:11.480 like we weren't even giving away the stuff that we 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:13.120 had already do sampled. 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.000 Yeah, when we were first working with Bob Power at 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.920 Battery Studio, when we were mixing do You Want More? 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:28.200 Tribe was in Studio C trying to remix Oh my 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:32.000 God for the live show. So I would make these 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:37.080 excuses to go to the bathroom to figure out right, 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:42.080 and literally it's it's Ali and Tip and a turntable 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.840 and a twelve hundred and fife is there too? Two 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:47.840 other guys are there who I didn't know, and I 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:54.080 know that they were trying to mix. What is it's 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:57.600 the it's the second song on Manny Riperton's Adventures in 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.880 Paradise after the check the rhyme saying, uh, the second 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:06.000 song on that record, the dude, dude do doude do 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:08.480 A feeling. I think the feeling is there's something that 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:10.920 there was an issue, not an issue with sampling it, 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:12.840 like even I tried to sample it, and I know 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:14.880 what the problem that they were having with it. It 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:17.320 speeds up, you know you hear the perfect loop. 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.240 Yeah, but it's not when you take it apart, it's. 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:22.600 Right and it's not like now where you could just 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:26.120 like manipulate it so it fits four perfect bars. So 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:31.080 they actually I went to see them that show. It 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:34.400 was New Year's Eve. It was day Last, Soul Tribe 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:35.640 and Souls. I went to that. 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:38.320 I went to that show ninety two New Year's e Yes. 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.200 I remember watching Souls do ninety three till Infinity and thinking, 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:44.800 is this gonna sound weird, like because it's ninety four 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.960 now or something now thirty years later, still listening to it, 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:49.800 but anyway, Yeah, I was at that show. That's crazy. 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:53.360 Yeah, So I think that was the last night that 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:58.560 Tarik and I were like fans, right, We had a 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:00.920 good four year streak of into like all of our 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.440 favorite shows and beat in the front row like there's no. 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:07.480 There was no like aware artists too. We better not 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:08.440 like no no no. 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:13.080 We were fans like the era of yelling go go 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.080 go and jumping and jumping like I was off with. 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.080 We were there for a caras One doing that Many 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:22.480 a Day, last show, Many a Tribe show, whatever. But 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.280 we were there that night and the first time I 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.480 had notes, I was like, ah, man, they should have 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.920 filtered the midsmore so we could hear the baseline better. 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:35.280 You know, they tried, it didn't work. And also remember 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:39.760 Raphael Sadik coming out to do Electric Relaxations and midnight 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.240 to play bass on it and his base wasn't up 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.480 at all. Yeah, I was like I was in the 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.400 front row. But then it was also like should I 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:48.680 go to the sound? Yeah. So the first time I 0:16:48.800 --> 0:17:02.720 ever had notes was that. Have you ever had a 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:06.480 DJ gig where it's sort of like everyone like, wow, 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.520 look at him, go like you're really killing that Mark Ronson. 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:14.320 I think I've definitely, I know I have. They all 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:17.440 blur together a little bit. After thirty years of this, 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:19.920 you know some of the highlight. There's nights that I 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.520 remember something very special and transformative happening, like the night 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:26.679 that like I decided to drop back in black by 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.680 ACDC at Cheat on a Monday night, like like like 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.000 something that had never been done and said like could 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.719 have gone either way. I remember DJing in Japan at 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:39.320 that hip hop club Harlem, and I remember I had 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:41.760 never ever got on the mic because like at that 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.760 point and in New York, like just white DJs like 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:45.560 did not get on. 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:46.880 The mic, like how's everyone doing? 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:49.760 Yeah, yeah, with the owner of a blue super has 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:52.000 been parked at Double Park, Like that was the only 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:53.719 time you got on the mic. And I don't even 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:55.920 want to make it like a race thing. There was 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:59.879 something just about we knew that we were sort of 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:01.399 privileged to be in hip hop'space. 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:03.480 But there's there's a voice. I don't think it's black 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:06.560 and white, because I to this day, as much as 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:07.359 I wanna. 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:10.840 You don't get aius, Like I don't have the voice 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.000 that's like what's that motherfucker? Like right? 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:14.840 Right? So I just do sound bites. 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:17.240 You could and you definitely have a lot of a 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:19.680 much better voice for it than a lot of people 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.160 who are presently doing it, but you observe that it's 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:23.240 not something that you should be. 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:26.960 Yeah, it was a busy concentrating the records and yeah. 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.720 Yeah, but but I remember one night there was something 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:32.840 I was playing in Tokyo and it was right as 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.000 two thousand and three, right as my record UI with 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:36.840 ghost Face and Nate Doggie came out, and it was 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:39.359 a big record, and there's something you know what it's 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:41.159 like when you go into the booth, like or you 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:45.920 step on stage. Japanese crowds are so grateful, enthusiastic. There 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:47.879 was this thing, but I could just tell I was 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:50.399 ripping it doing all this stuff, and I could just 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:54.480 tell the crowd was like in this weird nervous like 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:58.320 purgatory between having a good time and and I just was. 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:00.000 I just looked down at the mic by the booth 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:01.440 and I was like, I know what it is. I 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.080 know until I say something to this crowd, I haven't 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:06.800 given them permission to let loose, like this is not 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.199 New York White Go. Every week I'm going to see them. 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.399 They need me to say something. And I remember getting 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.440 on that mic and then the place just like fucking exploded. 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.400 You know, listen, I've had some of my favorite ever 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:21.720 performance experiences djaying like, That's why I keep coming back 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.520 to it. That's why after thirty three years and I've 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:27.320 beat up ears and back and all that stuff, because 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:29.800 on any given night, you can just go into a 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.680 into a room like I went into Gabriella's a couple 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:35.880 months ago and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I hadn't played, I hadn't 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.399 played a while, I hadn't played Vinyl and just like 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:42.119 to play it again to remember, like, oh, not like 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:44.359 in some way like, oh, thank god I still got it, 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:46.200 but yes, in a little way, thank god I still 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:48.520 got it playing for kids half my age or kids 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:52.160 who weren't even around when Cares's Step into a World 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.399 First came out, weren't even alive, Like, so I can't 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.159 remember like the one gig where it was like the 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.080 Peewee Tour de France experience. You talk, but there's just 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:04.359 moments and snatches of these things that just kind of 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.119 beat everything that It's why I keep doing it. 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.879 Okay, So then the other side of that coin is 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:14.400 can you tell me the story of the worst gig 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:21.840 of established Mark Watson's life. Yeah, I mean devastating. When 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.520 you do a bad gig, you feel devastated or yeah. 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:26.520 Oh it's terrible, and I go home and I'm like, 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.320 I'm gonna quit now, I'm gonna save face, Like why 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:31.640 am I still doing this? I think there's a lot 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:34.680 of it, you know. Sometimes it's what happened to me, 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:37.280 And I talk about this about in the book. You know, 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:39.680 in the nineties and the early two thousands, before I 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.440