January 19, 2022 • 64 mins
Once upon a time in late December of 2021 Quest and Team Supreme had one of the realest conversations ever with your favorite MC's favorite MC and ghostwriter. This 2 part conversation with the artist some call Skillz, now back to his original moniker Mad Skillz, touches on this intriguing hip hop journey, the mysteries behind his highly anticipated annual Rap Up's and some Hip Hop Confessions that knock Quest and Team Supreme off their feet! Put your seatbelts on!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Question. Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio,
Ladies and Gentlemen. What year is this for us? I
still feel like we're in our second year. This is
coming up on year six were starting. Yeah, My My
(00:22):
indication of how time is flown by is how much
uh pay Bill's darters have grown. You just have like
straight up like, let's not let's not talk about that.
That sounds terrible. I can kindly keep up with the
nap singing in okay, singing open sing okay, following into
(00:47):
steps of their father Fayla coot Stein. Oh yeah, man,
this is this is another wait are we drinking this episode? Well, someone,
let's drinks to all the other episodes. Damn see I
gotta why woulds and some Yeah, I go close from
(01:08):
Crowned Apples. I want to get it, but I gotta
drive back to you. I'm in the apartment right now,
so you know, I got an edible me or something
join us something to get to you. I'm not to
the place where I can drive and do that yet,
so and I wouldn't recommend that ship. No, no, no, wait,
do wait to move to the farm. You can drive
(01:30):
and do anything. Yeah, in the suburb I'm going on
that now it's too curvey out there, man, I can't
do that. Um So, yeah, this is another year has
has going by. Apparently we're going to year number six.
Damn We're We're like, we're like an institution now, We're
not just like an up and starting podcast. We're too
in I heart years. That's what those QLs classics or
(01:52):
four folks. So catch up with us, catch up, get it,
get six years of cure lesson about to be three
years of COVID. That that said, thank you very much
for that, for that segue fonte. That that said, I
probably have caught up on every book, every podcast known
(02:14):
to man um and one of the podcasts that I
familiarize myself with, even though I first introduced myself to
it as a YouTube series but is definitely my favorite,
is Hip Hop Confessions with our Guest Today. So I
thought it would be kind of a cool idea if
we did kind of a cross episode where you know,
(02:39):
I guess it's the first time where two UH podcasts
are are coming together as one per se. So that said,
I will say, uh, this, this gentleman is, in my opinion,
one of the UH most skillful dependable professional mcs and
(03:00):
DJs that I've known, and most importantly, he's a music head,
you know, so I know any conversation with this gentleman
is going to be highly interesting. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome. Okay,
now here's the deal. Now, I believe that I was
told to drop the mad fifteen years ago. Lately I
(03:22):
hear that. So you're going back to square one. This
is you're going back to Biggie Smalls. You're going back
to Diamond D. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Quest Love
Supreme mad Skills. How are you? I know you can
(03:44):
add you two since and it's it's gonna be the same.
We might as well just bring it all together. Um yeah, man,
are we back at square one again? Y'all? Like, what's
what's going on again? Yeah? Yeah, she just you know, man,
(04:05):
like just in the last thirty hours, the count is
now up to seventeen, I know, seventeen people that got
like hit. These aren't like people I know. These are
like the ones that were you know, cool for the
last two years, like didn't come out. They triple masks,
like they made me seem like the devil. Like these
(04:28):
people are getting caught out there, which is kind of
worrying me a little bit, you know. Yeah, yeah, all
the people I know that have caught it, I know
probably like five people that have caught it, like the
last couple of like last week or so, and they
were all vaccinated, all vaccinated, and I think in one
of them was boosted I know as well, so which
is crazy. I'm in the house. I'm boosted. I got mine.
(04:50):
I got mine two weeks ago. I think I'm boosted.
And I got my flu shot. I've never got a
flu shot before, so I could triple down because I
ain't messing around ship, I'll take another shot. I took
the pneumonia shot by accident, took the back scene. My
doctor was like, you know, that's sixty year olds. I
was like, that'll work, that's fine. A pneumonia vaccine. A
(05:11):
doctor mistakenly gave it to me because she was like,
you're not old enough for it. But that's fine. I
know what I want to be like, damn, Okay, y'all here,
triple mass, triple being up. So there you got a
pneumonia shot. Yeah, yeah, I did get pneumonia. Okay. Grace
had pneumonia and I got pneumonia from Grace, like oh wow,
(05:36):
like two months ago, but I was just staying for
like three days. But you know I tested like seven
times and they all were negative. After six pneumonia could
be like COVID you can still chick. You're still about
to say, yeah, like this, this this battle also between
this winner is going to be weird, man, because like again,
(05:59):
I'm seventy five degree person and she's like a sixties
seven degree person, a woman of a certain age. Now
we get high after forty she wants she wants it
like freezing levels like I don't know, you know, we
got to rather like she's at the forum right now.
(06:19):
I'm here, and you know, I got this joint on
like eighty one, Like I'm in heaven right now. It's
Africa here and I got to do sweaters on. Anyway,
Skills man, how goes it? Where are you right now?
I'm in Virginia right now? Uh yeah, it goes you know,
same ship, different air freshening, you know what I mean,
(06:41):
try trying to get it together. This is weird because
I know that this isn't a typical episode, but I
do got a billion questions for skills about his life
as bring it right. All right, well we can make
this decision right here. Do we just do a skills
episode or do we do our what was make it up?
I think me mix it up? First of all, have
(07:05):
you like listened to an Outcast record and its entirety yet?
I knew he was gonna ask me that, And are
you just doing it just to keep the joke running? No? No, no,
like um for me, you know, it's not really it
was never really a joke. Uh, that was you know
(07:25):
on my podcast confessions, Like that was my first confession.
I've never listened to an Outcast album in its entirety.
And from that time, people have given me box sets,
you know, gift wrapped nicely, and you know, people have
tried to make more from organizing. Now wise heard of
this h no KP KP has and k people like
(07:45):
that's kind of crazy to me, like and I was like,
he was like, it's crazy because we was in Virginia
tough like when we was first you know, I mean
trying to get that shut off. We was in the
Virginia the Carolina is like tough on promo and I
was like, bro, like I was heavily East Coast and
for Lureence Rapper. So if it wasn't Jay Rule and
Gang Star and you know what I'm saying and big
(08:07):
and something, it wasn't it wasn't. It wasn't falling you know,
on my radar. So and now I'm looking at it
like what I've missed the boat Like, I'm not gonna
it's not gonna feel how it felt that y'all in
ninety four. So it's like, what what the fund is
the boy? You know? You know what, there's still some
(08:28):
great music. I was gonna say no even if they
have a video. If they had a video for and
it was a single I heard, if you know, if
it was t I for me or Knowing Nellie for me,
Like I don't know the filler, but I know yeah,
like you the song on fucking Country Grammar Nigga. Right,
(08:49):
So you could go to outcast content and pretty much
done what they're gonna do, because yeah, but you know
all of the other ones that people swear by, like skills,
you ain't like. So when I say to you, Papa,
see that you don't know you wouldn't Friday? Is that true?
(09:17):
Is that true? See? But that's the thing though, because
you're telling that you're not a deep cuts guy. But
you know who troops you, mama. You know what, I
can actually match you in that sort of I could
sort of match you in that. If I were on
(09:39):
your show, my hip hop confession would have been, I've
never seen a Kanye West video. I mean, you on
my show right now, So okay, I've never seen a
Kanye West video. But you know something, though, I discovered
something this week that has totally this this might break
me down and made me publicly admit that I am.
(10:02):
First of all, I'm not a I'm not admitting that
I'm not a Kanye West fan. I am obviously a
Kanye West fan. I DJ's music, I have his records. Um,
there's been there's been some weird water under the bridge
that we're just no no, no, no, no, we in
in the last weird Enough it's from the project that
means skills work with the jay Z thing. Like weird Enough,
(10:25):
Me and Kanye finally had like our first conversations due
to the many times that he stood me up for
that project. I won't go into that, but I just
found out that he goes produced one of my all
time favorite joints. And now, ah, it's which one. It's
a deep cut, joh Man, I don't know what it is.
We go our fingers ready, come on, let's go. It's
(10:48):
a deep cut. Um. Even though I know the Mad
Rapper album was was sort of aimed at underground rappers,
you know, kind of middle you know, the the Mad
Rapper was born out of kind of biggie busting shots
to rappers, making fun of like poor, poor dusty rappers
(11:11):
like us whatever, even though I think Kicking the Door
was mainly made for Naas. But you know, I definitely
know that he one of his last words was about
like fucking up the roots when he's seen us. But um,
there's a song on the Mad Rapper record that I
might like. This is in my top ten joints, a
(11:32):
joint called I'm Ghetto with Ray Kuan m And I
just found out that Kanye West produced that joint, like
back when he was an apprentice to um. Now for me, my,
you know, you know, if you know my history, a
(11:53):
lot of people will tell you, you know, they might
see something on him. I don't. I have his name
blocked on like all social media, so I don't see
his name at all. So sometimes people would be like,
damn skills, like you go so hard on dude, Bro
like god, damn bro like damn. He and I were
like this. Then the third I'm like, man, that the
ain't no fucking genius, Like he's a he's a better
(12:15):
Pete Rock at best nig I'm not calling him the genius.
So for me, I'm gonna here's my hip hop. Here's
here's a hip hop confession for you, our mirror. I'm
gonna I'm we're gonna backtrack all the way to my
disdain for that that nigga so and and here's here's this,
here's the thing, and this is this is probably gonna
hit you in a in a weird way. I don't
(12:38):
funk with dude because of what he said about Reek
on Wendy Williams show. And I don't know what year
that was. I don't know what year it was, but
I remember listening to the radio in New York City
and this was at the Rockefeller bubble up of Kanye West,
(12:58):
and he was on Wendy and she was like, yo,
you you're such a good dressed rapper, Like you dressed
very well. He's like he's like, yeah, thank you. You You know,
She's like, but you know what, you know who my
all time favorite well dressed rapper is? And he said who?
And she was like that guy Black thought from the roots.
Every time I see him, he is dressed to the
(13:19):
nine and the nigga Kanye said, many nign get all
his ship in the good Will store, yo, And I
was like, Eddie, I'm in the car like nigga, fuck you,
you know what I mean? Like, and I with Kanye
since there's water under that bridge. Let the record show
that the first person to take Kanye to Barney's was
(13:42):
to reach Trotter m hm me and tore the polar
opposites of each other Trek even in COVID, I guarantee
you Trek's outfit is worth like dollars, hands down fashion
icons quest love of Christmas sweater from you know, from work,
(14:03):
from being on tour with y'all. I didn't know like
black label like I didn't. I didn't certain things I
didn't know would be like Yo, just roll with me.
Like was the first that I've seen with like product sneakers.
He was the first thing in the walk on stage
with a fur on like so when so when when
you said that ship, I was like, that's my men,
Like so so he literally he literally took like when
(14:26):
when they were working on the gun whatever the song
on Qualities record that he produced with fararellmonchon Yeah the
Guns something. Yeah, that session, like Reek took Kanye and
Quality to Barneys for the very first time. But that's
(14:46):
why this is a level of pettiness that and that
had not been seen before because even Riek has gotten
over this by now skills so they're sharing stage together
and everything. The real story and how you of this
story before? Right, what's the Pixar the Pixar movie the
Incredible Remember how like the sidekick, I always wanted to
(15:08):
hang with the whatever? Yeah, way before the way before
the days of like way before the Blueprint and all
that stuff. Like you know, he used to come around
like I don't remember him. I kind of remember him,
but you know, like apparently like he was he was
(15:34):
you know back when we was comeing. I'm just saying that, Yeah,
there there was a moment that happened where the downfall
of that that freestyle video that has went super viral
of like trek Rowman on the Street, is that you know,
it tells every other MC like he's the guy to
(15:56):
beat or he's the guy that you know you want
to get in the cipher with Tree's day is of
like just cipher and all that ship is that kind
of I think once ill Adelf Half Life came out,
he was like, nah, man, I'm I'm I gotta I
want I want to write some shing, not just freestyle
some ship. And it was just one day where he
just caught Beat Reek on a bad day where he
like Reek was like changing his clothes in the men's
(16:17):
room and oh boy, just shot a shot, like all right,
I gotta do this, And he went in the men's
room like while Threek's changing and just started putting a
lyrical clinic on and I'm pining to freestyle for you
while you changing your clothes. Yeah, that is a rapper's
worst nightmare. But I mean we we know. I mean,
the thing is is that we know that's him. We've
(16:38):
seen him get on tables before, perform his entire album
and all that stuff, so yes, he's yeah, but that's bullshit.
Like look but back in back in two thousand before that,
like it was just who's this dude kick get him
out of and you know, I think I've never I've
(16:59):
never I've never her. I liked his first three albums
when he started wilding out. I never brought into the
you know, he don't have all his marble. Something's wrong
with him. I always feel like he used that ship
as a crutch and it's just I can't co sign
with the genius. You know, he's a genius. And I'm like,
I'll be like, yeah, no, he ain't. Like he's a
(17:19):
child of you, tib you know what I'm saying, he's
he's not a genius, like officially gave him too much
time to right, So let's just keep it moving because
I'd rather talk about Reek than that nigger. So I've
never seen the video, but you know what, you ain't
missing ship. I do want to see flashing light stuff.
(17:44):
It was it was cool, yeah, and that's the video
was or whatever though, and the video was whatever, flashing light.
I've just you know, it's not even like I just
I've never seen any Kanye West. But it's not like
I was trying to purposely avoid it because I don't
watch MTV and BT like I didn't watch one or
(18:06):
six in parts. So I'm just a video. But I
to circle this back to it. Will Kanye's name be
mentioned in the wrap up? Because there, yes, there is.
You didn't here? Oh no, no, I mean you mean
like our show, the wrap up or the skills? What
you talking about? Like, come on, skill, stop playing skills?
(18:29):
What you're doing? So just for the rapper, let me
just say something for the record. For the last ten
dare I say, I don't know, fifteen years, how ever
long you've been doing this, however long I've been on
the radio, I call skills and I say, skills. Is
there a wrap up? Why am I doing that? Ship?
It's always a wrap up? I asked him this last time.
I said, skills, You're not gonna do it this time? High, Well,
(18:51):
I don't know, so skills first of all, here, Uh,
I am never I've never pub literally, I only publicly
came out once in the song and said I don't
I ain't doing another one, and that was two thousand ten.
So I never publicly said I ain't doing it so
for me, but you got the plug. So for me, Um,
(19:13):
this uh, this one will probably this is the one,
so it'll probably be the last one. Sounds good, okay,
all right, yeah, at least say goodbye. Don't don't go
out for a cigarettes and just leave us. No, no, no.
But as soon as you hear it, as soon as
it comes on, you will under you will already know. Okay,
(19:34):
this it's the shortest one. It might be just a
six second wrap up. Didn't didn't the year ago by fast?
Don't do that? It really did, did you? Take? The
music reflects the time, So Nick is gonna hear the
end of that song, but goddamn it over there already listen.
I'm just saying, y'all say it went by fast, but
(19:54):
this is the year that started on January. Are you
gonna burn a bridge or something? No, no, no, I'm
not gonna burn no bridges. But I'm just gonna I'm
a gracefully on the on the on an even number.
So you said you said it started like on January six.
You think this saying it sometimes? This year it feels
like it was short, but it's been reached it Uary six.
My point was she talking about insurrection. This year started
(20:17):
with a whole insurrection that felt like that was forever ago.
This year started out with President Trump. This year it
feels like Biden has been president for like three years already.
I'm just saying, sometimes it feels short, but sometimes it
feels long. Yeah, I feel you. I feel you. See
I've been I've been, uh you know, I've been toying
around with with some some different uh pockets. And I'm
(20:40):
gonna give it a value effort. I'm gonna sit down
there this year down that was last year? Do you
know the year that took you the longest to come
up with the wrap up? Like? What year was like
(21:01):
a particular nightmare for you to craft it together? Should
last year? Because there was nothing entertaining about last year?
Throwing in the trash, that was the throwing in the
trash here right, yes, So for me to try to
make that entertaining, there was sitting down looking at a
blank piece of paper, saying, how can I make some
mike chuckle? How can I make them get a quick laugh?
(21:21):
How can I get a punch line in? Won't none
of that ship last year? Last year? Want nothing funny
about last year? How do you source for information? Like
do you by the year? Do you just keep a
memo of things worth noting? So then once you get
to November, you start sourcing. All right, this is important.
It's important this, you know, I don't even think about
(21:42):
the song until Black Friday, because otherwise I don't think
about the song until Black Friday. That's my ritual. On
Black Friday, I go, okay, what beat you go wrap over?
You're gonna get a beat made, You're gonna wrap over
something else that was hot this year? What you're gonna do?
And then maybe, like that Monday after December one, December
(22:04):
second third, I might start writing down what I can
remember from memory. I go, okay, insurrection. I don't have
to fucking I don't. I don't need to know when
that happened. I remember that. I might have to go
back and remember, oh when did so and so and
so and so break up? What what month was that like?
But other than that, I write down, right, I write
(22:25):
down everything that I can remember from memory, and then
I write down Then I you know, I go to
the internet and um write down everything else, and then
I put it all in order. This happened in January, okay,
this happened in February. Okay, Tom Brady and the Bucks
one this this time. And then I sit there and
look at it, and I might try to write something
(22:48):
I might not. But the funny thing about it is
what I tell people is music don't give a funk
about pressure. That's why I have to start it when
I started, because I can't just go on the day
after Christmas, all right, I'm gonna do this ship, and
it's gonna be done by thirst. Ship music would be
like not bit, you know what I mean. So some
(23:10):
days I can sit down there and look at a
blank piece of paper on December seven and I don't
write nothing, And maybe on December twelve, I sit down
and I might write eight bars and they all some
days too crafted to to get it together, yes, to
write it, you know, it doesn't take long. But it's
(23:33):
just like pacing it like it's almost like a DJ
said like Valley's and peaks like I'm gonna start here,
I'm gonna take them up and bring them back down.
It's like that. How do you make sure that you
don't have it's not too much information? Because I'm thinking,
if you're going monthly, do you stop yourself at a
certain point being like, all right, let's like two paragraphs
and ship. I might get to like summer and be like, okay,
(23:53):
how long is this song? You know what I'm saying
if if if I'm like, damn, we have three minutes
at July, Like, okay, Nick, you really need to wrap
this ship up me. Wait, wasn't wasn't uh games? Three bars?
Wasn't that twenty? Was that like seventeen or twenty minutes?
We might want to ask a rap nerd I don't
(24:16):
listen to niggas wrapped that long. Let's see, I ain't
got it in me. Now you're on that light year
where you get selected. That is fonte the rapid wrap
n is. Don't be rapping. That's stop me. That's yeah,
I know I ain't got time for that. Man, I don't.
I really don't in a real way. Like I'm listen,
we forty plus man, you know what else I could
(24:36):
do at that time? Man? Listen, man, that's an episode
of the TV. Yeah. See this is to two brothers
living below the Mason Dixon line talk right there exactly.
This is this is called this as fontee coin the
phrase this is called rap after forty but do you know,
(24:59):
I'll just because taste never so okay, before we got that,
so before we got on, we was talking. I was
telling her like, I don't, we don't. I don't know
anyone who celebrates Kuanza. So she was saying, that's a
southern thing. So do you skills being from Virginia? Do
you know anyone who celebrates quasa? No, who is celebrating Kwanza?
(25:22):
So everybody indeed affluent and Bill's daughter and Bill's daughter, wait,
y'all celebrating? Wait what? Yeah? No, no, you missed the
which was my daughter came home singing Kwanza carols, carols
(25:47):
or something, Kwanza songs, Kwanza jams, whatever the funk she
came and it was hilarious. We are So that's that
have been And so there you go. You know what
you said? People? You know it's more Bill does she
(26:10):
sang the song? I was like, what is the song?
Because I did not. I was not even aware that
there were quansa songs and you celebrated and you didn't
know to some quanza celebrations. Yes I have, Yes, I have.
You way talk about it like you're in it, way
deeper than that you talk. You talk about it like
you got like tasting, you got kuans of prime, don't
(26:38):
young You know what I'm saying? It started right. I'm
just saying maybe progressing with the music. I'm not aware,
but it doesn't mean it's not happening. I don't know you.
I feel like, yeah, I feel like I should be
me in tune with it and you should be. And
we make jokes on the show. The show and the
ship an't funny because black people and that thing on
one of the holidays. And when we make our only
(27:00):
make jokes because all I know how to do with
laugh at our ship. I'm done. I'm gonna be. I'm
gonna be real with once the farm. Once the farm
gets settled, I think Grace might be forced me to
celebrate Quanta the principle. It's like, you don't even know
why you're giving gifts. You don't know what Santa has
to do with Jesus. You just follow a tradition like
(27:20):
a fucking robot. Like no, but I've been stopped. I've
been killed Santa clause I killed him early, like so
that I'm not working and giving the credit to a
white man out of here. So now that's over. In
terms of the giving gifts, I mean, yeah, like I
give gifts like I give gifts because nickas be needing ship,
but Nias needing ship more days than just that one day,
(27:42):
and I give more days. I'm not really a holidays.
I'm sorry, celebrator, you know what I mean. I just
I try to do good year around. When I grew up,
Christmas was Salvation Army knocking at my door with a
pair of pants and some jocks. So I didn't have
same Christmas a lot of things, Say North Carolina, he
(28:04):
was knocking on the door, like, here go your g
I Joe, nigodbye. That was my ch Uh. So Hanaka
was earlier this year? Correct? Yep, Steve, how was it?
How was what? Hanakah? Hanaka? We we canceled it. It
was supposed to be on Sunday this past Sunday and
(28:24):
my my sister got COVID. Uh so she's doing good,
she's fine, but um, but yeah, we had to cancel
all that. So, uh, we're gonna be like dry, We're
gonna do like present drive bys. We're gonna drive by
and just like throw the presidents out the window, like
this is the first year you didn't get the Oh no,
the check, the check's gonna it's gotta understand, Steve years Man. Yeah, no,
(28:54):
I have the Quins is the happiest day of his life. Boy,
he gets quote the check. I never even I don't
even how much the check is worth. But Steven satisfied
with hashtag the check. Yeah check, like in a way
that that Clarence what's his name says the ship in uh,
Clarence Williams the third exactly, Oh the ships one of
(29:21):
the Stevens check. One of the funniest cinematic moments is
when they slapped him with the gun and he just
started and they said, he you score, you t off
on the nigger. He do that? Yo, bro, you got it.
I'm good. Whatever problem we had, it ended right there.
I don't want man enough of the talk, old man,
(29:44):
where's the ship? And he's there? Fier This ain't up
to hell? Right. We went script a little bit, but hey,
this is nothing. But wait, Skills, you mentioned something. I
(30:07):
just wanted to touch you on it real quick. It
sounds so sentimental. You mentioned about your Christmas is and
this is you know, we want to know more about Skills,
and you know it's about the growing up in in Fayetteville,
what your life was like. And you know, um, I
was born and I was born in Detroit, Michigan. But
I don't remember being there. I think I left when
I was around two. Most of the yeah yeah now
(30:33):
signing hospital. Um. Some my first earliest of my childhood
memories are probably being in Fayteville riding bikes, um all
that type, ship playing ball. Um. I grew up, my mom.
It was my mom, my sister, and uh yeah, I
(30:54):
was running through Fayeville, you know, just being a kid,
and I'm gonna tell us where comes. I was always curious.
That's that's later. That's later. But uh, one thing, No,
I got older, I have an older Um, I got
an older sister and younger brother, and then my dad
had some kids. So those are I got four siblings
(31:18):
on that side. Um, but I knew earlier on that
this was wasn't a place to stay at. Um. And
there's no disrespect to Fairville, but it was my mom
used to something, you know, uh, you know, we used
to see the commercials for the Army be all you
can be and ship, and then like right after that commercial,
it would be a you know, a commercial for say
(31:40):
some cars or TV or furniture set, and they would
be like no calling also and souls eat one and
up and then denying up like so it was like
they were almost advertising if you're in the military, you
can come and get this stuff, you know, and we'll
only charge you this. So I was already like, damn,
like I got right here totally. I'm thinking for you
(32:02):
right by Brag, right by for Brag. I lived, Yeah,
I lived in the trailer park right next to four Brag.
So I had J Cole's mindset before J Cole was
even born. And I gotta get the funk out of here.
Um and I never and just hearing you say that, man,
it's so crazy because I never thought that people were,
(32:25):
you know, companies were advertised differently, you know, in the
military town. You know what I'm saying, Like, I never,
I never thought about that. But that's crazy. Yeah, come
get a car, and come get some furniture, come get
you know, a television color TV. But but if you
are in the military, always we know you're gonna get
a check. So if you are this status and up,
(32:48):
then you could come down here right now. We're basically
give you this ship. You can put a dollar down,
you can get this. We know you're good for it.
Right So, right after Soul Train you know that was
the commercials who he saw. So I remember thinking to myself, like,
I gotta get the funk out of here at an
early age, I might have been thirteen twelve, like I gotta,
(33:09):
I can't stay here. I didn't know where I was
gonna go, but um, yeah, I had to get the
hell up out of there, and uh I did um
at about fifteen, and I came to Virginia. When I
came to Virginia, my mom changed religions. She met a
Musliman and she adapted to Islam. And she told us that,
you know, me and my little brother, if we wanted
(33:31):
to um change our names, we could. So when I
went to the new town, which was Richmond, Virginia, and
I started school, I told everybody my name was Chikwan
and it's been Chikuan ever since. Wow, when you were
in Fairville, what did you started high school in Faville?
I damn, I went to every school in Favie first,
(33:56):
I would to send me. First. I went to Westwood,
I mean Westwood. I went to Stanford. I lived, like
what kind of stupid my mom? My mom was all
over the town. That you gotta understand. My mom was
on heroin. So I was all over the place. So
(34:17):
I had a mom that was on drugs. Drugs were
super rampant at that time. And no father's just me
and my mom and my little brother, and we all
over like we might have moved every three or four months.
And I never lived in the house. It was always
a trailer, like I didn't even know. I didn't even
know houses existed until I was like ten. I thought
(34:40):
everybody lived in the trailer. And if you had a
double wid ship, I mean like you was bothering you know,
I mean, so yeah, without without d yea even though
I did work with dre but later, but any connection
(35:03):
at all. My pop died when I was My pop
died when I was about uh, I want to say,
eight and nine years old. Uh, I never really knew him.
And then you the fast four years later when he
passed away at eight, and then my mom passed away
when I was around and like night and so that
(35:23):
my mom and my dad ended up dying from the
same drug thirty years apart. And I didn't make the
connection that my father was the person who turned my
mother on until American gangsters that came up. Yeah. Crazy, Yeah,
(35:43):
So you know all my adolescent years. First time hearing
it was just this guy named Don Reid. He used
to be on the radio, and favor first time here
in hip hop was on a radio station in North Carolina.
I think I might have heard hard Times first. I
was one and seventy one hard Times by that's the
(36:06):
first rap song you heard on the radio, So you
never had the rappers the light. I heard Rappers the
Light in in people's houses and not in seventy nine
when it was get Hell though, so it didn't hit.
So there wasn't a I mean, I'm from the Northeast,
so in Philadelphia, New York, there's like a you know,
a Frankie Crocker sort of figure that plays that stuff
(36:28):
in real time. But there wasn't that person, and it
was a guy named Don Reid. Um he was probably
playing that stuff. But the first time I remember laying
in the bed cutting on the radio and I heard that,
And once I heard that motherfucking bat bat ba, that
was it. I was done. And that's that's probably why
(36:50):
the run DMC ship was so stellar to me, because
when I ended up meeting them in Fairville in front
of Off the Murk, like it was I took and
that was that means everything to you. It was my introduction.
(37:13):
You just totally now I get it because even like
knowing the story, you're run DMC story, Like I was
kind of wondering, like, wait, why does run DMC mean
that much to you? I think it's something too and skills,
you know, correct me if I'm if I'm wrong on this.
There was something just as guys in the South, like
(37:34):
run DMC just represented something different, like it wasn't. I
don't know. Maybe it's because they had the hats like
you know, our grandad's would wear or whatever, but yeah,
you know what I mean, But it was just something
different about you didn't. I mean, you know, we loved
l L I mean, we love all that stuff, but
it was something about Run DMC like they were just superheroes,
you know what I mean. That ship was so Yes,
it was they could fly, bro, they could fly, They
(37:57):
could do no wrong. And anybody that came him up
after them, or anybody you saw after them, even if
they dropped before Curtis blows and you know, like you said,
um flashing all of them, they just didn't have the
same appeal that them three niggas. That because when you
looked at them, if you didn't see yourself and one
of them, you could automatically go, man, he looked like
(38:18):
my cousin. He looked like tee. He looked like, yeah, man,
we we could go out and be a little run DMC.
You automatically thought of two friends when you saw them
right straight. My first rap group that was in it
was three of us. It was Yes, listen, I was
I was run. That was that was run the side burns.
(38:42):
I was him skinny, lanky like so yeah, that's that
was when I fell in love with it. Wait, I
highly recommend our listeners. You just released the story. I
think last was last year? When or was it this
year that you released the story about your run DMC story? Which,
oh it was that was that was that came out
(39:04):
of on on the other podcast earlier this year. Okay, yeah,
I highly recommend our our listeners too. I don't want
to spoil the alert it now it's too epic to tell.
But yeah, just if you like skill, it's it's on.
It's on my I G two. So okay, yeah, I
highly recommend that because I was there and even I
(39:27):
didn't know that was happening. That's a strange I don't know, man,
I didn't know that story. Yo, dog, I didn't even
know about the slick Rick. Were you there for the
slick Rick situation? Oh yeah, well yeah it slick Rick says,
I'm crazy to yeah to me. Yeah, I didn't even realize. Well,
because the thing is is that when I'm doing shows,
(39:48):
I don't I never have the vocalist. I have the
music in my um my end ears m so you
know I have I have reaked down very low, like
just so I know where he is in the verse
and whatnot. And apparently, you know, we were sound checking
and I didn't even realize that, like slick Rick was
(40:08):
kind of talking slick to me in a way that
was very offensive and what does that mean? I was there.
My My version was that I just saw Tarik like
the music is loud. I just see Tworek like something like, Wow,
Trek is really happy to see slick Rick. I didn't
(40:29):
realize that Trek was getting serious. And then I took
my head off. I was like, come on, what's going on?
And I found out twenty minutes after the fact that
it already happened to ship So I just started. Was
having a regular sound check. So they're doing their sound checking, uh,
and I think they was doing, uh what's this? I
(40:50):
can't remember the song per se, but it's the one
that starts without enough Mona Lisa right, So they started
mona Lisa over and um, Rick is you know coming
in with his first name? Was one of those days.
Not much right, stopped it, yo, starting over? Speed it up?
Like like, speed it up? So everybody like, okay, to enough,
(41:11):
start it over? Did it again? He like, yo, speed
it up? So everybody's like, damn, how fast you want
this ship? Bro? Like they're playing it. He stops again.
Reek reeks still doing that. Not much to do, yeah,
living with him. Slick Rick goes, yo, come on, speed
that ship up, bitch, and Tarik goes, who the you
(41:34):
talking to? He said, Yo, who who are you talking to?
Dug like Rick like, yo, man, I'm just saying mine,
speed it up, man like yo, And Rick like Reek
like yo, if you if you want it faster and
stay faster. But what you ain't about to do it's
called nobody up here. I'll say, motherfucking name, bro, like
(41:56):
wrong with you. So then like they having words and
I'm just like, oh God, like to me, it's looking
like too. You remember I put up I put up
on Instagram where you take Teddy Pendergrass volume off, it
looks like he's doing stand up comedy. Yeah right right,
that's exactly literally with no sound. So in my mind
(42:18):
I'm like, man, twe exactly super extra getting happy seeing
slick Rick because it looked like like my version of
it was like, yo, man, I'm doing more to Lisa
what you man? I always wanted to do, like, you know,
like it was exaggerated. Yo, what the funk? Bro? Like,
who the fund? You think you're talking to dog? Like
(42:39):
we all grown men up here. I don't know what
you think this is? Like that's how it. It wasn't
real life. And they, you know, they squashed it real quick.
And you know, Rick was like, yo, mom, sorry man,
just just having a rough day. Man, you just throwing
a huge point, not a bus your fucking funk with
con ye after fucking reek stands up? You know what?
Donay that ship I'm not like that happened a plane
(43:02):
where like someone I don't know, maybe I was storing
in first class. I don't know what it was, but
whatever the case was like I had my headphones on
and again Trek's like, and I'm like, wait, what's going
on in Terrek was like defending, like something happened with
me with dude, I was sitting next to you, and
Riek just was ready to you know, exactly about that
(43:27):
AC so that's what happened, and uh, you know, but
I was there. Yeah, I was saying, this almost happened
again for me, and we're so crazy. Is when it
happened for me. Reek was like, yeah, now you gotta
go to the back, and I'm like, god, God, looking
like Tina took me to the back, like Tina had
security stay with me. I was like, damn yes, yes
(43:49):
I'm here. Wow, man, all right, how did I not?
I don't know, maybe my version of Rhodes colored glasses,
just some other ship like that ship you got on
the l John was. I did not know none of
that it was happening. Because the thing was, I was
just laughing at them like they was biggering like an
(44:10):
old couple all night. No, I meant, run DMC, we're
bickering like an old couple all night. Oh yeah yeah, yeah.
They couldn't stand each other at that point and I'm like,
d just like y'all can't get it together. And you know,
I've spoke to them separately, like I've offered to get
them a life coach, because literally, I think run DMC
(44:32):
is probably the only act that could do that Rolling
Stones action right now if they would drop their ego
and and and this is now the time for them
to really submit their legacy and important. They just cannot well.
(44:55):
I think they started having problems back on the Crown
Royal album. I remember hearing it way back then. I
mean that was you know, God, that was almost twenty
years ago. So that's because he had no voice. But
these voice is back now. I don't know. Sometimes I
not even you can fix it. And you know, good
you had to be a good radio house and transitions.
But you know, they they were both willing to meet
(45:18):
at the middle. I'm gonna make this ship happen, goddamn
like old leave alone, the Mender of Bridges. All right,
this year was a good year. Quest Love Turn fifty
did talk about that was terrible. I don't you know.
(45:43):
His age is a mystery. We'll see that for the
see that for the side. Because I might be one
year older than I might be two years older than Ship.
I just discovered. I just went to my dad's old
papers realized that he didn't even know his true birthday,
(46:03):
Like I found his old birth certificate and him and
his sister I've been celebrating each other's birthdays all their lives,
like Ship and she was June second, but we all
their lives. Damn my birthdays general second. Wow, you're a Gemini, yes,
but both but both of me are very nice people.
(46:29):
You are the nicest Gemini I know everyone. You know
you you listen. Listen. One thing, if it was one
thing that that Reek and our mire knew about me,
that when I hit them up and say yo, I'm
pulling up, they was like, all right, cool. I always
came do low. I never had no extra niggas with me.
(46:51):
It was only one past. It was no drama because
I took my access to being able to rock with
the roots very serious. So I was like, I was like,
I'm never gonna let nobody fun. I'm on the bus.
If I needed to go to the next city, I
got a ride. Like. I never wanted to funk up
(47:14):
that relationship. So I've always any time it didn't matter
whether they could be like yo skills where you had.
I'm back on my side, yo yo miny yo yo
go somebody go grab skills he had, And it was
just like that, that's it, skills. It's just you. Sean.
Everybody knew that. It was always just me. We always
appreciate that, always just me. Okay, so what part two?
(47:42):
What's what's what's our what's our rating for it? So
it's better than last year for sure? Yeah? Yeah, but
I give it like a C plus. Yeah, I give
it a B definitely gonna have my collegiate average C plus. Well,
(48:07):
you even doing a lot unpaid bill and we don't
even get into like what what was the highlight of
your year? U uh watching Summer of Salt. No, Uh,
I don't know. I don't know. It was just such
a weird year. I worked a lot, I made two
movies which are cool and that's exciting, and uh, I
(48:29):
don't know, it's it was. You know, it's hard. It's
in my opinion, it's hard to gauge anything right now. Right,
It's like you have highs and lows, but everything's sort
of like evens out in the middle. You weren't there,
did your song make it at all. I didn't. I
didn't see the rest of the nominations. Uh, your score,
your song, Like are you I'm not nominated. We're not
(48:51):
going to share in the Oscar Fund, my friend, but
we will share at the Grammy Fund. I voted for you, though.
It's weird. Well, the thing is is that I only
allowed to voice my opinion in the music categories m
so I couldn't touch the dot. I couldn't even vote
in my own category to get nominated because I'm not
(49:12):
in the dock branch. They're they're very different than music.
Like with music, they let you choose where you want
to place your votes, whereas in the the academy you
have to stay in Here is they're definitely about standing
in your lane. So I got to vote on score
and song. But until someone brings me into the dot,
(49:33):
I think they want to see, like if I do
two or three of these things, then they'll be like,
all right, then we'll let you in the dock branch.
But that's why I was a little bit not shocked.
But I would think strategically, like I wouldn't try to
vote for the person that is most likely to win.
If you're being strategued. You know the other dock branch people,
some of them are in the branch. I wouldn't vote
(49:55):
for my movie because then that would lessen their chances
of what you know? What I mean? You know, how
about is the year you became a director, like a
film director. For those who do not know, very Summer
of Soul. Summer Soul was shortlisted for an OSCAR. That's
not like a like a minor award. That's like a
(50:15):
major award, and it's very exciting. You need some flowers
and some ship right now. I get a lot of
award flowers, but you need to shut the funk up
in your Christmas sweater and just take it in the moment.
I love you. Guys wore me down. I'm not deflecting.
I'm not deflecting any praise or any of those things.
I gladly accepted if we have accomplished anything in the
(50:37):
five years coming on six on quest of supreme is
that a miir doesn't get superbly awkward when we say congratulations.
It's fucking fantastic. That's true, that's true. No, man, you
made a beautiful film. Man, I know I have made
a beautiful film. I take it that white people love
that ship. And so that's how I know it. White people,
(50:57):
black people, which is our our opinions don't matter. We
started the hush for white people to be like what
they're talking about, you know what I'm saying. But and yes,
my mother saw it five times, so yes, you won. However,
I'm just saying that every white person wants to make
it known to me and booking this show that they're
white client love Summer Soul. You definitely are. You definitely
(51:20):
came out of the gate with something special, man, and
as your friend, I was super proud of you watching
it because standing back, I was like, damn, you know,
I was like, well, you know, damn, my nigga made
a movie. And I was like, least he ain't make
coming to America too. Shots, let's talk about talk about it. Look,
(51:43):
I wasn't coming to America too, like I didn't exactly
before you watched it, right, I knew all. I mean,
it was just a nostalgia play. I just wanted fans
service and it was just like watching a family reunion
and I got to see all my people and that
was it. National Lampoon Party. I think, go ahead, I
(52:04):
just got one question for everybody. Did you watch it
more than once? Absolutely not, but so I was gonna say, so,
let's be fair. So in one in the era of
just never ending content, is there anything that we're watching
(52:25):
more than once? I watched Someone Sold more than once. Yeah,
I've watched video music box documentary more than once. Like
it's it's some good content. I did it. I'm like,
I'm gonna pull this up even if I just got
it on the background noise, and I don't. I'm paying
attention to it, but I'm kind of not. I will
never in my life looking at coming to America to
(52:47):
again ever. I watch you saw Dollar and I did
like Dolomite. Dolom was great. Yeah, I like. And I
rewind True Story a few times, so don't stories. The
thing that's the best True Story is the best thing
Kevin Hard has ever done. It is Yes, acting straight
(53:08):
is okay. And he shoted in Philly. I mean you
should see it. He shot in Philly and I won't
watch it. And then he shot it in Philly. And
for the first time a whole TV show licensed the
whole catalog to gambling. It's gambling huff all over on
that this year is the fiftieth anniversary of Gamble in Nashville.
So it just really dope. Yeah, you should watch it.
(53:29):
You wouldn't, You would enjoy it. I mean the Power
of the Dog. Did you watch The Power of the Dog?
You know what? It didn't comer back? Yeah, it's called broke.
I didn't like. I went to sleep on it. I was.
I tried. It's like broke Back Hill. It's anyway broke
back Hill. No, you know what broke back I started down?
(53:52):
When when you're an Academy member, not only do they
send you are you got like that? That's too like
just show you how it is. But the thing they
keep they keep tabs on how active you are as
an Academy member. Huh, like because I wasn't, you know?
(54:14):
I mean I see movies on my own, which is
what I did before, Like I never like looked at
They used to send DVDs or whatever. But now they
have like their own streaming service. So there's like a
hundred and sixty four films you're supposed to go through.
I don't know if I'm gonna watch all one D
sixty four. I watched Denzel in um Macbeth. I still
(54:37):
got to check it only because like you know, I mean,
I've read it so much in school and whatnot, Like
I'm curious to still they'll do. Um, I saw did
he play did he play himself? In training Day in Macbeth?
It was my head. That's like, like I thought, that's
(54:59):
what I'm There are too many actors who played themselves
that I've noticed in these days, and I'm like, everybody
playing because himself. Yeah, let's talking about it. They're talking
elizabe Eefan. It's shot beautifully. I don't know if it's
it's gonna be very interesting to see. Like I know
(55:20):
the traction is going to be like Denzel is McBeth.
But as as an Academy member. As an Academy member,
how do you what is your favorite film of the year.
I just saw Pig Cage, So basically, Nick Nicholas Cage
(55:41):
was like once uh, like a James Beard Michelin chef
that um went off the grid and his his beloved
pet pig gets kidnapped. His his his pig is like
the best truffle pig there is. You know, you neat
pigs to um search for truffles and then you sell
(56:03):
those truffles for gazillions of dollars. And you know, so
it's basically a story of a kidnapped truffle pig that
Nicholas Cage spends the entire movie looking for. But it's
it's it's intention ship. It's definitely gonna be like one
of the one of those sounds like one of the joints.
(56:25):
Sounds like you say, it sounds like a pig came
to America. No, I'm just what do you call it? Also,
Drive my Car? I believe Driving My Car is probably
the film that's gonna be, uh this year's Oscar winner?
(56:46):
What about what story? Just like move Bill? Laugh at
that West Side story? Stop it did? Why is that
a joke? No, it's not. That's not you know the
(57:08):
rest of the Bills joke. I'm saying because he made
though he made those other two movies, so he last
musicals don't make movies. Let's get into it. Musical don't
make money is what I was trying to take this much?
Are you guys more gunshy? Now, well, since you kind
of did Hamilton's already, is their need to do Hamilton's
(57:30):
the movie? Or do you guys consider what you guys
did on They already put that out right, But that's
the performance. But will there be a movie ized version
of Hamilton's Of course, you'd be a dumbass not to
make it. Do Does anybody can see it? I don't know,
but they'll make it. So wait, is it true that
(57:51):
west Side, even though it's getting crazy acclaim what people
don't see? Here's the thing. People that a three d
billion dollars this past weekend and and west Side story
made about. Yeah, so here's the thing. Here's the thing
because this I saw a lot of year. I saw
(58:12):
a lot of years frustration when I'm here says this,
And this is a frustration. This is an issue that
I've always had. What I'm here from the day I
met him, Like it's like, it's the it's the acclaim
I'm here with Like we we would be talking and
you know I'm here, you know, because he obsesses over right,
(58:33):
we'll be looking a tame We'll be looking at the
source and have a fucking on the back of the
bus and have a four hour conversation about how somebody
saw fit to only get these and thigs three mikes
like and I'll be like, I mean, why do you care?
Someone it's a U. G K album? Why do you care?
And he'll be like, na, bro, you don't understand skills.
It deserves more than that, And I'm like so so
(58:55):
later on in life, you know, when the routes would
drop albums, I only paid attention to those reviews. I
didn't look at nobody else's They could rate a jay
Z album. I wouldn't give a funk when they put
a roots album in a in a in a publication,
I would automatically go look at the reviews like snap,
they only gave, they only gave phrenology. It's a snap.
(59:20):
So it was always a thing with me and I
miror about he cares so much and I just didn't,
I guess because I never put out those I didn't
never put out that MENI ou so for me, there's
too much. It's a whole another thing, and I'm like,
there's too much for me to take in. And my
thing is that I at least want to see what
(59:42):
the aggregate is as far as the general opinion of
critics that I like what they think about something before
I say okay, I'm gonna take two hours to do.
What about when the people say that they like it
or they don't like What about regular people gather and
it's a whole bunch of them and they like it
and they say it's good. Regular people, Like I'm an
(01:00:02):
industry person, he's an academy member. There are a different
kind of combinations that you can do with that. I
remember being in the studio with it, like God, bless God,
bless Rich. I would be in the studio with Rich
and Dice, you know what I mean, Like these motherfucker's
stay on the road like it's just me, Dice and
Rich just working on hooks and ship and then like
(01:00:22):
it like Dice might say some ship that I might
say some ship, and Dice will go lay it down,
and then fucking Rich will come in and Rich will
be like, yeah, no, the fucking yeah, you're not The
publications they're not gonna like this ship. I'm like, Rich,
like are we writing for he? Break out the barber
shops lockdown? Back then, I I used to care what
(01:00:46):
I didn't care what Pitchfork thought, but I did care
the fact that there's a point in two thousand four
where your average local publication, like your whatever, the San Francisco,
the Oklahoma or the St. Louis version of the Village Voice.
I would notice that, like, wow, they're just going to
(01:01:10):
see what pitchwork says and then plagiarized the same thing
for their own review. Like there's a point where after
the arts, where after two thousands, where I believe critics
stopped like listening to a record in forming their own opinion,
and they decided that like a great example is uh,
I gotta bring it back to old boy beautiful, dark,
(01:01:33):
twisted fantasy where no, no, we can take that away.
We could, we could look at hell hath no fury
clips Now. That particular review in Pitchfork always bothered me
because of the way that it was like such a
uh I mean, they were salivating it. It was like,
(01:01:53):
to me the highest form of like white fetishism of
like cocaine street black life, to the point where I
found it offensive. But everyone, every little blog and critics
sort of made that their north star because it was
like it was basically like the writers at S and
L just like salivating over like what real street life
(01:02:16):
is like, like snow on the Bluff, but a more
successful version of like hey, let's visit the hood and
see what it's like. And well, so reading like, did
I agree that that album was incredible? Yes? Did I
have a problem with the writers at Pitchfork salivating over
in some sort of black fetish way. Absolutely. So It's
(01:02:38):
not like I ride with it, but I'm just very
much at Pitchforks, say when you didn't appreciate them salivating
over that ship and being like the white people that
they are. The thing is is that at the time,
Critical Claim is all the roots had to justify their
existence on a label that they weren't making money. We
(01:02:59):
weren't DMX selling four million. You got you? Yeah, critical
critical Love that was' that was your lifeline that I
needed to hear that now I needed I needed to
hear that. I mean, that's what I needed to Yeah,
that's critic. Why continue with because at a certain point
it sounds like you care about about it about three
or four white people say, because the critics who really
(01:03:19):
matter are usually non non black people anyway, So when
you say you don't care about what regular people to
say because youre an industry person, it sounds a little okay,
well you gotta speak loud of like I said, it
sounds a little out of touch to something that's what
I was saying. That's all I'm saying. I think that
(01:03:39):
I think, I think as I get what you're saying,
like I think what it is what I'm hear you
saying mirror is like when he says he's an industry person.
I don't think it's necessarily like you're looking at it
like I need these people to validate me. It's just
more so I need to know who fun with me
so I can leverage them for other opportunities. You know,
you know what I mean. It's not about whether you
thank you for the translation. You know what It's like.
(01:04:01):
We're not selling we ain't selling hellicopies, but I fucking
Rolling Stone give us a good review. I should have
made sense to these motherfucking suits. I get it. Thank you,
And that's a lesson for all, for all of us.
Everybody didn't understand exactly me, but me and our mayor
used to go back and forth over the show. I
used to I used to grind my motherfucking gears. But
now I understand. I'm glad. I'm glad after all these years,
(01:04:22):
I finally got we haven't understand it. Hold up, all right, y'all.
So that was part one of this week's episode. Stay
tuned because next week, Next Wednesday, Part two, and you
don't want to miss it. Supreme is a production of
(01:04:44):
My Hearted Radio. For more podcasts. For my heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
Question. Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio,
Ladies and Gentlemen. What year is this for us? I
still feel like we're in our second year. This is
coming up on year six were starting. Yeah, My My
(00:22):
indication of how time is flown by is how much
uh pay Bill's darters have grown. You just have like
straight up like, let's not let's not talk about that.
That sounds terrible. I can kindly keep up with the
nap singing in okay, singing open sing okay, following into
(00:47):
steps of their father Fayla coot Stein. Oh yeah, man,
this is this is another wait are we drinking this episode? Well, someone,
let's drinks to all the other episodes. Damn see I
gotta why woulds and some Yeah, I go close from
(01:08):
Crowned Apples. I want to get it, but I gotta
drive back to you. I'm in the apartment right now,
so you know, I got an edible me or something
join us something to get to you. I'm not to
the place where I can drive and do that yet,
so and I wouldn't recommend that ship. No, no, no, wait,
do wait to move to the farm. You can drive
(01:30):
and do anything. Yeah, in the suburb I'm going on
that now it's too curvey out there, man, I can't
do that. Um So, yeah, this is another year has
has going by. Apparently we're going to year number six.
Damn We're We're like, we're like an institution now, We're
not just like an up and starting podcast. We're too
in I heart years. That's what those QLs classics or
(01:52):
four folks. So catch up with us, catch up, get it,
get six years of cure lesson about to be three
years of COVID. That that said, thank you very much
for that, for that segue fonte. That that said, I
probably have caught up on every book, every podcast known
(02:14):
to man um and one of the podcasts that I
familiarize myself with, even though I first introduced myself to
it as a YouTube series but is definitely my favorite,
is Hip Hop Confessions with our Guest Today. So I
thought it would be kind of a cool idea if
we did kind of a cross episode where you know,
(02:39):
I guess it's the first time where two UH podcasts
are are coming together as one per se. So that said,
I will say, uh, this, this gentleman is, in my opinion,
one of the UH most skillful dependable professional mcs and
(03:00):
DJs that I've known, and most importantly, he's a music head,
you know, so I know any conversation with this gentleman
is going to be highly interesting. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome. Okay,
now here's the deal. Now, I believe that I was
told to drop the mad fifteen years ago. Lately I
(03:22):
hear that. So you're going back to square one. This
is you're going back to Biggie Smalls. You're going back
to Diamond D. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Quest Love
Supreme mad Skills. How are you? I know you can
(03:44):
add you two since and it's it's gonna be the same.
We might as well just bring it all together. Um yeah, man,
are we back at square one again? Y'all? Like, what's
what's going on again? Yeah? Yeah, she just you know, man,
(04:05):
like just in the last thirty hours, the count is
now up to seventeen, I know, seventeen people that got
like hit. These aren't like people I know. These are
like the ones that were you know, cool for the
last two years, like didn't come out. They triple masks,
like they made me seem like the devil. Like these
(04:28):
people are getting caught out there, which is kind of
worrying me a little bit, you know. Yeah, yeah, all
the people I know that have caught it, I know
probably like five people that have caught it, like the
last couple of like last week or so, and they
were all vaccinated, all vaccinated, and I think in one
of them was boosted I know as well, so which
is crazy. I'm in the house. I'm boosted. I got mine.
(04:50):
I got mine two weeks ago. I think I'm boosted.
And I got my flu shot. I've never got a
flu shot before, so I could triple down because I
ain't messing around ship, I'll take another shot. I took
the pneumonia shot by accident, took the back scene. My
doctor was like, you know, that's sixty year olds. I
was like, that'll work, that's fine. A pneumonia vaccine. A
(05:11):
doctor mistakenly gave it to me because she was like,
you're not old enough for it. But that's fine. I
know what I want to be like, damn, Okay, y'all here,
triple mass, triple being up. So there you got a
pneumonia shot. Yeah, yeah, I did get pneumonia. Okay. Grace
had pneumonia and I got pneumonia from Grace, like oh wow,
(05:36):
like two months ago, but I was just staying for
like three days. But you know I tested like seven
times and they all were negative. After six pneumonia could
be like COVID you can still chick. You're still about
to say, yeah, like this, this this battle also between
this winner is going to be weird, man, because like again,
(05:59):
I'm seventy five degree person and she's like a sixties
seven degree person, a woman of a certain age. Now
we get high after forty she wants she wants it
like freezing levels like I don't know, you know, we
got to rather like she's at the forum right now.
(06:19):
I'm here, and you know, I got this joint on
like eighty one, Like I'm in heaven right now. It's
Africa here and I got to do sweaters on. Anyway,
Skills man, how goes it? Where are you right now?
I'm in Virginia right now? Uh yeah, it goes you know,
same ship, different air freshening, you know what I mean,
(06:41):
try trying to get it together. This is weird because
I know that this isn't a typical episode, but I
do got a billion questions for skills about his life
as bring it right. All right, well we can make
this decision right here. Do we just do a skills
episode or do we do our what was make it up?
I think me mix it up? First of all, have
(07:05):
you like listened to an Outcast record and its entirety yet?
I knew he was gonna ask me that, And are
you just doing it just to keep the joke running? No? No, no,
like um for me, you know, it's not really it
was never really a joke. Uh, that was you know
(07:25):
on my podcast confessions, Like that was my first confession.
I've never listened to an Outcast album in its entirety.
And from that time, people have given me box sets,
you know, gift wrapped nicely, and you know, people have
tried to make more from organizing. Now wise heard of
this h no KP KP has and k people like
(07:45):
that's kind of crazy to me, like and I was like,
he was like, it's crazy because we was in Virginia
tough like when we was first you know, I mean
trying to get that shut off. We was in the
Virginia the Carolina is like tough on promo and I
was like, bro, like I was heavily East Coast and
for Lureence Rapper. So if it wasn't Jay Rule and
Gang Star and you know what I'm saying and big
(08:07):
and something, it wasn't it wasn't. It wasn't falling you know,
on my radar. So and now I'm looking at it
like what I've missed the boat Like, I'm not gonna
it's not gonna feel how it felt that y'all in
ninety four. So it's like, what what the fund is
the boy? You know? You know what, there's still some
(08:28):
great music. I was gonna say no even if they
have a video. If they had a video for and
it was a single I heard, if you know, if
it was t I for me or Knowing Nellie for me,
Like I don't know the filler, but I know yeah,
like you the song on fucking Country Grammar Nigga. Right,
(08:49):
So you could go to outcast content and pretty much
done what they're gonna do, because yeah, but you know
all of the other ones that people swear by, like skills,
you ain't like. So when I say to you, Papa,
see that you don't know you wouldn't Friday? Is that true?
(09:17):
Is that true? See? But that's the thing though, because
you're telling that you're not a deep cuts guy. But
you know who troops you, mama. You know what, I
can actually match you in that sort of I could
sort of match you in that. If I were on
(09:39):
your show, my hip hop confession would have been, I've
never seen a Kanye West video. I mean, you on
my show right now, So okay, I've never seen a
Kanye West video. But you know something, though, I discovered
something this week that has totally this this might break
me down and made me publicly admit that I am.
(10:02):
First of all, I'm not a I'm not admitting that
I'm not a Kanye West fan. I am obviously a
Kanye West fan. I DJ's music, I have his records. Um,
there's been there's been some weird water under the bridge
that we're just no no, no, no, no, we in
in the last weird Enough it's from the project that
means skills work with the jay Z thing. Like weird Enough,
(10:25):
Me and Kanye finally had like our first conversations due
to the many times that he stood me up for
that project. I won't go into that, but I just
found out that he goes produced one of my all
time favorite joints. And now, ah, it's which one. It's
a deep cut, joh Man, I don't know what it is.
We go our fingers ready, come on, let's go. It's
(10:48):
a deep cut. Um. Even though I know the Mad
Rapper album was was sort of aimed at underground rappers,
you know, kind of middle you know, the the Mad
Rapper was born out of kind of biggie busting shots
to rappers, making fun of like poor, poor dusty rappers
(11:11):
like us whatever, even though I think Kicking the Door
was mainly made for Naas. But you know, I definitely
know that he one of his last words was about
like fucking up the roots when he's seen us. But um,
there's a song on the Mad Rapper record that I
might like. This is in my top ten joints, a
(11:32):
joint called I'm Ghetto with Ray Kuan m And I
just found out that Kanye West produced that joint, like
back when he was an apprentice to um. Now for me, my,
you know, you know, if you know my history, a
(11:53):
lot of people will tell you, you know, they might
see something on him. I don't. I have his name
blocked on like all social media, so I don't see
his name at all. So sometimes people would be like,
damn skills, like you go so hard on dude, Bro
like god, damn bro like damn. He and I were
like this. Then the third I'm like, man, that the
ain't no fucking genius, Like he's a he's a better
(12:15):
Pete Rock at best nig I'm not calling him the genius.
So for me, I'm gonna here's my hip hop. Here's
here's a hip hop confession for you, our mirror. I'm
gonna I'm we're gonna backtrack all the way to my
disdain for that that nigga so and and here's here's this,
here's the thing, and this is this is probably gonna
hit you in a in a weird way. I don't
(12:38):
funk with dude because of what he said about Reek
on Wendy Williams show. And I don't know what year
that was. I don't know what year it was, but
I remember listening to the radio in New York City
and this was at the Rockefeller bubble up of Kanye West,
(12:58):
and he was on Wendy and she was like, yo,
you you're such a good dressed rapper, Like you dressed
very well. He's like he's like, yeah, thank you. You You know,
She's like, but you know what, you know who my
all time favorite well dressed rapper is? And he said who?
And she was like that guy Black thought from the roots.
Every time I see him, he is dressed to the
(13:19):
nine and the nigga Kanye said, many nign get all
his ship in the good Will store, yo, And I
was like, Eddie, I'm in the car like nigga, fuck you,
you know what I mean? Like, and I with Kanye
since there's water under that bridge. Let the record show
that the first person to take Kanye to Barney's was
(13:42):
to reach Trotter m hm me and tore the polar
opposites of each other Trek even in COVID, I guarantee
you Trek's outfit is worth like dollars, hands down fashion
icons quest love of Christmas sweater from you know, from work,
(14:03):
from being on tour with y'all. I didn't know like
black label like I didn't. I didn't certain things I
didn't know would be like Yo, just roll with me.
Like was the first that I've seen with like product sneakers.
He was the first thing in the walk on stage
with a fur on like so when so when when
you said that ship, I was like, that's my men,
Like so so he literally he literally took like when
(14:26):
when they were working on the gun whatever the song
on Qualities record that he produced with fararellmonchon Yeah the
Guns something. Yeah, that session, like Reek took Kanye and
Quality to Barneys for the very first time. But that's
(14:46):
why this is a level of pettiness that and that
had not been seen before because even Riek has gotten
over this by now skills so they're sharing stage together
and everything. The real story and how you of this
story before? Right, what's the Pixar the Pixar movie the
Incredible Remember how like the sidekick, I always wanted to
(15:08):
hang with the whatever? Yeah, way before the way before
the days of like way before the Blueprint and all
that stuff. Like you know, he used to come around
like I don't remember him. I kind of remember him,
but you know, like apparently like he was he was
(15:34):
you know back when we was comeing. I'm just saying that, Yeah,
there there was a moment that happened where the downfall
of that that freestyle video that has went super viral
of like trek Rowman on the Street, is that you know,
it tells every other MC like he's the guy to
(15:56):
beat or he's the guy that you know you want
to get in the cipher with Tree's day is of
like just cipher and all that ship is that kind
of I think once ill Adelf Half Life came out,
he was like, nah, man, I'm I'm I gotta I
want I want to write some shing, not just freestyle
some ship. And it was just one day where he
just caught Beat Reek on a bad day where he
like Reek was like changing his clothes in the men's
(16:17):
room and oh boy, just shot a shot, like all right,
I gotta do this, And he went in the men's
room like while Threek's changing and just started putting a
lyrical clinic on and I'm pining to freestyle for you
while you changing your clothes. Yeah, that is a rapper's
worst nightmare. But I mean we we know. I mean,
the thing is is that we know that's him. We've
(16:38):
seen him get on tables before, perform his entire album
and all that stuff, so yes, he's yeah, but that's bullshit.
Like look but back in back in two thousand before that,
like it was just who's this dude kick get him
out of and you know, I think I've never I've
(16:59):
never I've never her. I liked his first three albums
when he started wilding out. I never brought into the
you know, he don't have all his marble. Something's wrong
with him. I always feel like he used that ship
as a crutch and it's just I can't co sign
with the genius. You know, he's a genius. And I'm like,
I'll be like, yeah, no, he ain't. Like he's a
(17:19):
child of you, tib you know what I'm saying, he's
he's not a genius, like officially gave him too much
time to right, So let's just keep it moving because
I'd rather talk about Reek than that nigger. So I've
never seen the video, but you know what, you ain't
missing ship. I do want to see flashing light stuff.
(17:44):
It was it was cool, yeah, and that's the video
was or whatever though, and the video was whatever, flashing light.
I've just you know, it's not even like I just
I've never seen any Kanye West. But it's not like
I was trying to purposely avoid it because I don't
watch MTV and BT like I didn't watch one or
(18:06):
six in parts. So I'm just a video. But I
to circle this back to it. Will Kanye's name be
mentioned in the wrap up? Because there, yes, there is.
You didn't here? Oh no, no, I mean you mean
like our show, the wrap up or the skills? What
you talking about? Like, come on, skill, stop playing skills?
(18:29):
What you're doing? So just for the rapper, let me
just say something for the record. For the last ten
dare I say, I don't know, fifteen years, how ever
long you've been doing this, however long I've been on
the radio, I call skills and I say, skills. Is
there a wrap up? Why am I doing that? Ship?
It's always a wrap up? I asked him this last time.
I said, skills, You're not gonna do it this time? High, Well,
(18:51):
I don't know, so skills first of all, here, Uh,
I am never I've never pub literally, I only publicly
came out once in the song and said I don't
I ain't doing another one, and that was two thousand ten.
So I never publicly said I ain't doing it so
for me, but you got the plug. So for me, Um,
(19:13):
this uh, this one will probably this is the one,
so it'll probably be the last one. Sounds good, okay,
all right, yeah, at least say goodbye. Don't don't go
out for a cigarettes and just leave us. No, no, no.
But as soon as you hear it, as soon as
it comes on, you will under you will already know. Okay,
(19:34):
this it's the shortest one. It might be just a
six second wrap up. Didn't didn't the year ago by fast?
Don't do that? It really did, did you? Take? The
music reflects the time, So Nick is gonna hear the
end of that song, but goddamn it over there already listen.
I'm just saying, y'all say it went by fast, but
(19:54):
this is the year that started on January. Are you
gonna burn a bridge or something? No, no, no, I'm
not gonna burn no bridges. But I'm just gonna I'm
a gracefully on the on the on an even number.
So you said you said it started like on January six.
You think this saying it sometimes? This year it feels
like it was short, but it's been reached it Uary six.
My point was she talking about insurrection. This year started
(20:17):
with a whole insurrection that felt like that was forever ago.
This year started out with President Trump. This year it
feels like Biden has been president for like three years already.
I'm just saying, sometimes it feels short, but sometimes it
feels long. Yeah, I feel you. I feel you. See
I've been I've been, uh you know, I've been toying
around with with some some different uh pockets. And I'm
(20:40):
gonna give it a value effort. I'm gonna sit down
there this year down that was last year? Do you
know the year that took you the longest to come
up with the wrap up? Like? What year was like
(21:01):
a particular nightmare for you to craft it together? Should
last year? Because there was nothing entertaining about last year?
Throwing in the trash, that was the throwing in the
trash here right, yes, So for me to try to
make that entertaining, there was sitting down looking at a
blank piece of paper, saying, how can I make some
mike chuckle? How can I make them get a quick laugh?
(21:21):
How can I get a punch line in? Won't none
of that ship last year? Last year? Want nothing funny
about last year? How do you source for information? Like
do you by the year? Do you just keep a
memo of things worth noting? So then once you get
to November, you start sourcing. All right, this is important.
It's important this, you know, I don't even think about
(21:42):
the song until Black Friday, because otherwise I don't think
about the song until Black Friday. That's my ritual. On
Black Friday, I go, okay, what beat you go wrap over?
You're gonna get a beat made, You're gonna wrap over
something else that was hot this year? What you're gonna do?
And then maybe, like that Monday after December one, December
(22:04):
second third, I might start writing down what I can
remember from memory. I go, okay, insurrection. I don't have
to fucking I don't. I don't need to know when
that happened. I remember that. I might have to go
back and remember, oh when did so and so and
so and so break up? What what month was that like?
But other than that, I write down, right, I write
(22:25):
down everything that I can remember from memory, and then
I write down Then I you know, I go to
the internet and um write down everything else, and then
I put it all in order. This happened in January, okay,
this happened in February. Okay, Tom Brady and the Bucks
one this this time. And then I sit there and
look at it, and I might try to write something
(22:48):
I might not. But the funny thing about it is
what I tell people is music don't give a funk
about pressure. That's why I have to start it when
I started, because I can't just go on the day
after Christmas, all right, I'm gonna do this ship, and
it's gonna be done by thirst. Ship music would be
like not bit, you know what I mean. So some
(23:10):
days I can sit down there and look at a
blank piece of paper on December seven and I don't
write nothing, And maybe on December twelve, I sit down
and I might write eight bars and they all some
days too crafted to to get it together, yes, to
write it, you know, it doesn't take long. But it's
(23:33):
just like pacing it like it's almost like a DJ
said like Valley's and peaks like I'm gonna start here,
I'm gonna take them up and bring them back down.
It's like that. How do you make sure that you
don't have it's not too much information? Because I'm thinking,
if you're going monthly, do you stop yourself at a
certain point being like, all right, let's like two paragraphs
and ship. I might get to like summer and be like, okay,
(23:53):
how long is this song? You know what I'm saying
if if if I'm like, damn, we have three minutes
at July, Like, okay, Nick, you really need to wrap
this ship up me. Wait, wasn't wasn't uh games? Three bars?
Wasn't that twenty? Was that like seventeen or twenty minutes?
We might want to ask a rap nerd I don't
(24:16):
listen to niggas wrapped that long. Let's see, I ain't
got it in me. Now you're on that light year
where you get selected. That is fonte the rapid wrap
n is. Don't be rapping. That's stop me. That's yeah,
I know I ain't got time for that. Man, I don't.
I really don't in a real way. Like I'm listen,
we forty plus man, you know what else I could
(24:36):
do at that time? Man? Listen, man, that's an episode
of the TV. Yeah. See this is to two brothers
living below the Mason Dixon line talk right there exactly.
This is this is called this as fontee coin the
phrase this is called rap after forty but do you know,
(24:59):
I'll just because taste never so okay, before we got that,
so before we got on, we was talking. I was
telling her like, I don't, we don't. I don't know
anyone who celebrates Kuanza. So she was saying, that's a
southern thing. So do you skills being from Virginia? Do
you know anyone who celebrates quasa? No, who is celebrating Kwanza?
(25:22):
So everybody indeed affluent and Bill's daughter and Bill's daughter, wait,
y'all celebrating? Wait what? Yeah? No, no, you missed the
which was my daughter came home singing Kwanza carols, carols
(25:47):
or something, Kwanza songs, Kwanza jams, whatever the funk she
came and it was hilarious. We are So that's that
have been And so there you go. You know what
you said? People? You know it's more Bill does she
(26:10):
sang the song? I was like, what is the song?
Because I did not. I was not even aware that
there were quansa songs and you celebrated and you didn't
know to some quanza celebrations. Yes I have, Yes, I have.
You way talk about it like you're in it, way
deeper than that you talk. You talk about it like
you got like tasting, you got kuans of prime, don't
(26:38):
young You know what I'm saying? It started right. I'm
just saying maybe progressing with the music. I'm not aware,
but it doesn't mean it's not happening. I don't know you.
I feel like, yeah, I feel like I should be
me in tune with it and you should be. And
we make jokes on the show. The show and the
ship an't funny because black people and that thing on
one of the holidays. And when we make our only
(27:00):
make jokes because all I know how to do with
laugh at our ship. I'm done. I'm gonna be. I'm
gonna be real with once the farm. Once the farm
gets settled, I think Grace might be forced me to
celebrate Quanta the principle. It's like, you don't even know
why you're giving gifts. You don't know what Santa has
to do with Jesus. You just follow a tradition like
(27:20):
a fucking robot. Like no, but I've been stopped. I've
been killed Santa clause I killed him early, like so
that I'm not working and giving the credit to a
white man out of here. So now that's over. In
terms of the giving gifts, I mean, yeah, like I
give gifts like I give gifts because nickas be needing ship,
but Nias needing ship more days than just that one day,
(27:42):
and I give more days. I'm not really a holidays.
I'm sorry, celebrator, you know what I mean. I just
I try to do good year around. When I grew up,
Christmas was Salvation Army knocking at my door with a
pair of pants and some jocks. So I didn't have
same Christmas a lot of things, Say North Carolina, he
(28:04):
was knocking on the door, like, here go your g
I Joe, nigodbye. That was my ch Uh. So Hanaka
was earlier this year? Correct? Yep, Steve, how was it?
How was what? Hanakah? Hanaka? We we canceled it. It
was supposed to be on Sunday this past Sunday and
(28:24):
my my sister got COVID. Uh so she's doing good,
she's fine, but um, but yeah, we had to cancel
all that. So, uh, we're gonna be like dry, We're
gonna do like present drive bys. We're gonna drive by
and just like throw the presidents out the window, like
this is the first year you didn't get the Oh no,
the check, the check's gonna it's gotta understand, Steve years Man. Yeah, no,
(28:54):
I have the Quins is the happiest day of his life. Boy,
he gets quote the check. I never even I don't
even how much the check is worth. But Steven satisfied
with hashtag the check. Yeah check, like in a way
that that Clarence what's his name says the ship in uh,
Clarence Williams the third exactly, Oh the ships one of
(29:21):
the Stevens check. One of the funniest cinematic moments is
when they slapped him with the gun and he just
started and they said, he you score, you t off
on the nigger. He do that? Yo, bro, you got it.
I'm good. Whatever problem we had, it ended right there.
I don't want man enough of the talk, old man,
(29:44):
where's the ship? And he's there? Fier This ain't up
to hell? Right. We went script a little bit, but hey,
this is nothing. But wait, Skills, you mentioned something. I
(30:07):
just wanted to touch you on it real quick. It
sounds so sentimental. You mentioned about your Christmas is and
this is you know, we want to know more about Skills,
and you know it's about the growing up in in Fayetteville,
what your life was like. And you know, um, I
was born and I was born in Detroit, Michigan. But
I don't remember being there. I think I left when
I was around two. Most of the yeah yeah now
(30:33):
signing hospital. Um. Some my first earliest of my childhood
memories are probably being in Fayteville riding bikes, um all
that type, ship playing ball. Um. I grew up, my mom.
It was my mom, my sister, and uh yeah, I
(30:54):
was running through Fayeville, you know, just being a kid,
and I'm gonna tell us where comes. I was always curious.
That's that's later. That's later. But uh, one thing, No,
I got older, I have an older Um, I got
an older sister and younger brother, and then my dad
had some kids. So those are I got four siblings
(31:18):
on that side. Um, but I knew earlier on that
this was wasn't a place to stay at. Um. And
there's no disrespect to Fairville, but it was my mom
used to something, you know, uh, you know, we used
to see the commercials for the Army be all you
can be and ship, and then like right after that commercial,
it would be a you know, a commercial for say
(31:40):
some cars or TV or furniture set, and they would
be like no calling also and souls eat one and
up and then denying up like so it was like
they were almost advertising if you're in the military, you
can come and get this stuff, you know, and we'll
only charge you this. So I was already like, damn,
like I got right here totally. I'm thinking for you
(32:02):
right by Brag, right by for Brag. I lived, Yeah,
I lived in the trailer park right next to four Brag.
So I had J Cole's mindset before J Cole was
even born. And I gotta get the funk out of here.
Um and I never and just hearing you say that, man,
it's so crazy because I never thought that people were,
(32:25):
you know, companies were advertised differently, you know, in the
military town. You know what I'm saying, Like, I never,
I never thought about that. But that's crazy. Yeah, come
get a car, and come get some furniture, come get
you know, a television color TV. But but if you
are in the military, always we know you're gonna get
a check. So if you are this status and up,
(32:48):
then you could come down here right now. We're basically
give you this ship. You can put a dollar down,
you can get this. We know you're good for it.
Right So, right after Soul Train you know that was
the commercials who he saw. So I remember thinking to myself, like,
I gotta get the funk out of here at an
early age, I might have been thirteen twelve, like I gotta,
(33:09):
I can't stay here. I didn't know where I was
gonna go, but um, yeah, I had to get the
hell up out of there, and uh I did um
at about fifteen, and I came to Virginia. When I
came to Virginia, my mom changed religions. She met a
Musliman and she adapted to Islam. And she told us that,
you know, me and my little brother, if we wanted
(33:31):
to um change our names, we could. So when I
went to the new town, which was Richmond, Virginia, and
I started school, I told everybody my name was Chikwan
and it's been Chikuan ever since. Wow, when you were
in Fairville, what did you started high school in Faville?
I damn, I went to every school in Favie first,
(33:56):
I would to send me. First. I went to Westwood,
I mean Westwood. I went to Stanford. I lived, like
what kind of stupid my mom? My mom was all
over the town. That you gotta understand. My mom was
on heroin. So I was all over the place. So
(34:17):
I had a mom that was on drugs. Drugs were
super rampant at that time. And no father's just me
and my mom and my little brother, and we all
over like we might have moved every three or four months.
And I never lived in the house. It was always
a trailer, like I didn't even know. I didn't even
know houses existed until I was like ten. I thought
(34:40):
everybody lived in the trailer. And if you had a
double wid ship, I mean like you was bothering you know,
I mean, so yeah, without without d yea even though
I did work with dre but later, but any connection
(35:03):
at all. My pop died when I was My pop
died when I was about uh, I want to say,
eight and nine years old. Uh, I never really knew him.
And then you the fast four years later when he
passed away at eight, and then my mom passed away
when I was around and like night and so that
(35:23):
my mom and my dad ended up dying from the
same drug thirty years apart. And I didn't make the
connection that my father was the person who turned my
mother on until American gangsters that came up. Yeah. Crazy, Yeah,
(35:43):
So you know all my adolescent years. First time hearing
it was just this guy named Don Reid. He used
to be on the radio, and favor first time here
in hip hop was on a radio station in North Carolina.
I think I might have heard hard Times first. I
was one and seventy one hard Times by that's the
(36:06):
first rap song you heard on the radio, So you
never had the rappers the light. I heard Rappers the
Light in in people's houses and not in seventy nine
when it was get Hell though, so it didn't hit.
So there wasn't a I mean, I'm from the Northeast,
so in Philadelphia, New York, there's like a you know,
a Frankie Crocker sort of figure that plays that stuff
(36:28):
in real time. But there wasn't that person, and it
was a guy named Don Reid. Um he was probably
playing that stuff. But the first time I remember laying
in the bed cutting on the radio and I heard that,
And once I heard that motherfucking bat bat ba, that
was it. I was done. And that's that's probably why
(36:50):
the run DMC ship was so stellar to me, because
when I ended up meeting them in Fairville in front
of Off the Murk, like it was I took and
that was that means everything to you. It was my introduction.
(37:13):
You just totally now I get it because even like
knowing the story, you're run DMC story, Like I was
kind of wondering, like, wait, why does run DMC mean
that much to you? I think it's something too and skills,
you know, correct me if I'm if I'm wrong on this.
There was something just as guys in the South, like
(37:34):
run DMC just represented something different, like it wasn't. I
don't know. Maybe it's because they had the hats like
you know, our grandad's would wear or whatever, but yeah,
you know what I mean, But it was just something
different about you didn't. I mean, you know, we loved
l L I mean, we love all that stuff, but
it was something about Run DMC like they were just superheroes,
you know what I mean. That ship was so Yes,
it was they could fly, bro, they could fly, They
(37:57):
could do no wrong. And anybody that came him up
after them, or anybody you saw after them, even if
they dropped before Curtis blows and you know, like you said,
um flashing all of them, they just didn't have the
same appeal that them three niggas. That because when you
looked at them, if you didn't see yourself and one
of them, you could automatically go, man, he looked like
(38:18):
my cousin. He looked like tee. He looked like, yeah, man,
we we could go out and be a little run DMC.
You automatically thought of two friends when you saw them
right straight. My first rap group that was in it
was three of us. It was Yes, listen, I was
I was run. That was that was run the side burns.
(38:42):
I was him skinny, lanky like so yeah, that's that
was when I fell in love with it. Wait, I
highly recommend our listeners. You just released the story. I
think last was last year? When or was it this
year that you released the story about your run DMC story? Which,
oh it was that was that was that came out
(39:04):
of on on the other podcast earlier this year. Okay, yeah,
I highly recommend our our listeners too. I don't want
to spoil the alert it now it's too epic to tell.
But yeah, just if you like skill, it's it's on.
It's on my I G two. So okay, yeah, I
highly recommend that because I was there and even I
(39:27):
didn't know that was happening. That's a strange I don't know, man,
I didn't know that story. Yo, dog, I didn't even
know about the slick Rick. Were you there for the
slick Rick situation? Oh yeah, well yeah it slick Rick says,
I'm crazy to yeah to me. Yeah, I didn't even realize. Well,
because the thing is is that when I'm doing shows,
(39:48):
I don't I never have the vocalist. I have the
music in my um my end ears m so you
know I have I have reaked down very low, like
just so I know where he is in the verse
and whatnot. And apparently, you know, we were sound checking
and I didn't even realize that, like slick Rick was
(40:08):
kind of talking slick to me in a way that
was very offensive and what does that mean? I was there.
My My version was that I just saw Tarik like
the music is loud. I just see Tworek like something like, Wow,
Trek is really happy to see slick Rick. I didn't
(40:29):
realize that Trek was getting serious. And then I took
my head off. I was like, come on, what's going on?
And I found out twenty minutes after the fact that
it already happened to ship So I just started. Was
having a regular sound check. So they're doing their sound checking, uh,
and I think they was doing, uh what's this? I
(40:50):
can't remember the song per se, but it's the one
that starts without enough Mona Lisa right, So they started
mona Lisa over and um, Rick is you know coming
in with his first name? Was one of those days.
Not much right, stopped it, yo, starting over? Speed it up?
Like like, speed it up? So everybody like, okay, to enough,
(41:11):
start it over? Did it again? He like, yo, speed
it up? So everybody's like, damn, how fast you want
this ship? Bro? Like they're playing it. He stops again.
Reek reeks still doing that. Not much to do, yeah,
living with him. Slick Rick goes, yo, come on, speed
that ship up, bitch, and Tarik goes, who the you
(41:34):
talking to? He said, Yo, who who are you talking to?
Dug like Rick like, yo, man, I'm just saying mine,
speed it up, man like yo, And Rick like Reek
like yo, if you if you want it faster and
stay faster. But what you ain't about to do it's
called nobody up here. I'll say, motherfucking name, bro, like
(41:56):
wrong with you. So then like they having words and
I'm just like, oh God, like to me, it's looking
like too. You remember I put up I put up
on Instagram where you take Teddy Pendergrass volume off, it
looks like he's doing stand up comedy. Yeah right right,
that's exactly literally with no sound. So in my mind
(42:18):
I'm like, man, twe exactly super extra getting happy seeing
slick Rick because it looked like like my version of
it was like, yo, man, I'm doing more to Lisa
what you man? I always wanted to do, like, you know,
like it was exaggerated. Yo, what the funk? Bro? Like,
who the fund? You think you're talking to dog? Like
(42:39):
we all grown men up here. I don't know what
you think this is? Like that's how it. It wasn't
real life. And they, you know, they squashed it real quick.
And you know, Rick was like, yo, mom, sorry man,
just just having a rough day. Man, you just throwing
a huge point, not a bus your fucking funk with
con ye after fucking reek stands up? You know what?
Donay that ship I'm not like that happened a plane
(43:02):
where like someone I don't know, maybe I was storing
in first class. I don't know what it was, but
whatever the case was like I had my headphones on
and again Trek's like, and I'm like, wait, what's going
on in Terrek was like defending, like something happened with
me with dude, I was sitting next to you, and
Riek just was ready to you know, exactly about that
(43:27):
AC so that's what happened, and uh, you know, but
I was there. Yeah, I was saying, this almost happened
again for me, and we're so crazy. Is when it
happened for me. Reek was like, yeah, now you gotta
go to the back, and I'm like, god, God, looking
like Tina took me to the back, like Tina had
security stay with me. I was like, damn yes, yes
(43:49):
I'm here. Wow, man, all right, how did I not?
I don't know, maybe my version of Rhodes colored glasses,
just some other ship like that ship you got on
the l John was. I did not know none of
that it was happening. Because the thing was, I was
just laughing at them like they was biggering like an
(44:10):
old couple all night. No, I meant, run DMC, we're
bickering like an old couple all night. Oh yeah yeah, yeah.
They couldn't stand each other at that point and I'm like,
d just like y'all can't get it together. And you know,
I've spoke to them separately, like I've offered to get
them a life coach, because literally, I think run DMC
(44:32):
is probably the only act that could do that Rolling
Stones action right now if they would drop their ego
and and and this is now the time for them
to really submit their legacy and important. They just cannot well.
(44:55):
I think they started having problems back on the Crown
Royal album. I remember hearing it way back then. I
mean that was you know, God, that was almost twenty
years ago. So that's because he had no voice. But
these voice is back now. I don't know. Sometimes I
not even you can fix it. And you know, good
you had to be a good radio house and transitions.
But you know, they they were both willing to meet
(45:18):
at the middle. I'm gonna make this ship happen, goddamn
like old leave alone, the Mender of Bridges. All right,
this year was a good year. Quest Love Turn fifty
did talk about that was terrible. I don't you know.
(45:43):
His age is a mystery. We'll see that for the
see that for the side. Because I might be one
year older than I might be two years older than Ship.
I just discovered. I just went to my dad's old
papers realized that he didn't even know his true birthday,
(46:03):
Like I found his old birth certificate and him and
his sister I've been celebrating each other's birthdays all their lives,
like Ship and she was June second, but we all
their lives. Damn my birthdays general second. Wow, you're a Gemini, yes,
but both but both of me are very nice people.
(46:29):
You are the nicest Gemini I know everyone. You know
you you listen. Listen. One thing, if it was one
thing that that Reek and our mire knew about me,
that when I hit them up and say yo, I'm
pulling up, they was like, all right, cool. I always
came do low. I never had no extra niggas with me.
(46:51):
It was only one past. It was no drama because
I took my access to being able to rock with
the roots very serious. So I was like, I was like,
I'm never gonna let nobody fun. I'm on the bus.
If I needed to go to the next city, I
got a ride. Like. I never wanted to funk up
(47:14):
that relationship. So I've always any time it didn't matter
whether they could be like yo skills where you had.
I'm back on my side, yo yo miny yo yo
go somebody go grab skills he had, And it was
just like that, that's it, skills. It's just you. Sean.
Everybody knew that. It was always just me. We always
appreciate that, always just me. Okay, so what part two?
(47:42):
What's what's what's our what's our rating for it? So
it's better than last year for sure? Yeah? Yeah, but
I give it like a C plus. Yeah, I give
it a B definitely gonna have my collegiate average C plus. Well,
(48:07):
you even doing a lot unpaid bill and we don't
even get into like what what was the highlight of
your year? U uh watching Summer of Salt. No, Uh,
I don't know. I don't know. It was just such
a weird year. I worked a lot, I made two
movies which are cool and that's exciting, and uh, I
(48:29):
don't know, it's it was. You know, it's hard. It's
in my opinion, it's hard to gauge anything right now. Right,
It's like you have highs and lows, but everything's sort
of like evens out in the middle. You weren't there,
did your song make it at all. I didn't. I
didn't see the rest of the nominations. Uh, your score,
your song, Like are you I'm not nominated. We're not
(48:51):
going to share in the Oscar Fund, my friend, but
we will share at the Grammy Fund. I voted for you, though.
It's weird. Well, the thing is is that I only
allowed to voice my opinion in the music categories m
so I couldn't touch the dot. I couldn't even vote
in my own category to get nominated because I'm not
(49:12):
in the dock branch. They're they're very different than music.
Like with music, they let you choose where you want
to place your votes, whereas in the the academy you
have to stay in Here is they're definitely about standing
in your lane. So I got to vote on score
and song. But until someone brings me into the dot,
(49:33):
I think they want to see, like if I do
two or three of these things, then they'll be like,
all right, then we'll let you in the dock branch.
But that's why I was a little bit not shocked.
But I would think strategically, like I wouldn't try to
vote for the person that is most likely to win.
If you're being strategued. You know the other dock branch people,
some of them are in the branch. I wouldn't vote
(49:55):
for my movie because then that would lessen their chances
of what you know? What I mean? You know, how
about is the year you became a director, like a
film director. For those who do not know, very Summer
of Soul. Summer Soul was shortlisted for an OSCAR. That's
not like a like a minor award. That's like a
(50:15):
major award, and it's very exciting. You need some flowers
and some ship right now. I get a lot of
award flowers, but you need to shut the funk up
in your Christmas sweater and just take it in the moment.
I love you. Guys wore me down. I'm not deflecting.
I'm not deflecting any praise or any of those things.
I gladly accepted if we have accomplished anything in the
(50:37):
five years coming on six on quest of supreme is
that a miir doesn't get superbly awkward when we say congratulations.
It's fucking fantastic. That's true, that's true. No, man, you
made a beautiful film. Man, I know I have made
a beautiful film. I take it that white people love
that ship. And so that's how I know it. White people,
(50:57):
black people, which is our our opinions don't matter. We
started the hush for white people to be like what
they're talking about, you know what I'm saying. But and yes,
my mother saw it five times, so yes, you won. However,
I'm just saying that every white person wants to make
it known to me and booking this show that they're
white client love Summer Soul. You definitely are. You definitely
(51:20):
came out of the gate with something special, man, and
as your friend, I was super proud of you watching
it because standing back, I was like, damn, you know,
I was like, well, you know, damn, my nigga made
a movie. And I was like, least he ain't make
coming to America too. Shots, let's talk about talk about it. Look,
(51:43):
I wasn't coming to America too, like I didn't exactly
before you watched it, right, I knew all. I mean,
it was just a nostalgia play. I just wanted fans
service and it was just like watching a family reunion
and I got to see all my people and that
was it. National Lampoon Party. I think, go ahead, I
(52:04):
just got one question for everybody. Did you watch it
more than once? Absolutely not, but so I was gonna say, so,
let's be fair. So in one in the era of
just never ending content, is there anything that we're watching
(52:25):
more than once? I watched Someone Sold more than once. Yeah,
I've watched video music box documentary more than once. Like
it's it's some good content. I did it. I'm like,
I'm gonna pull this up even if I just got
it on the background noise, and I don't. I'm paying
attention to it, but I'm kind of not. I will
never in my life looking at coming to America to
(52:47):
again ever. I watch you saw Dollar and I did
like Dolomite. Dolom was great. Yeah, I like. And I
rewind True Story a few times, so don't stories. The
thing that's the best True Story is the best thing
Kevin Hard has ever done. It is Yes, acting straight
(53:08):
is okay. And he shoted in Philly. I mean you
should see it. He shot in Philly and I won't
watch it. And then he shot it in Philly. And
for the first time a whole TV show licensed the
whole catalog to gambling. It's gambling huff all over on
that this year is the fiftieth anniversary of Gamble in Nashville.
So it just really dope. Yeah, you should watch it.
(53:29):
You wouldn't, You would enjoy it. I mean the Power
of the Dog. Did you watch The Power of the Dog?
You know what? It didn't comer back? Yeah, it's called broke.
I didn't like. I went to sleep on it. I was.
I tried. It's like broke Back Hill. It's anyway broke
back Hill. No, you know what broke back I started down?
(53:52):
When when you're an Academy member, not only do they
send you are you got like that? That's too like
just show you how it is. But the thing they
keep they keep tabs on how active you are as
an Academy member. Huh, like because I wasn't, you know?
(54:14):
I mean I see movies on my own, which is
what I did before, Like I never like looked at
They used to send DVDs or whatever. But now they
have like their own streaming service. So there's like a
hundred and sixty four films you're supposed to go through.
I don't know if I'm gonna watch all one D
sixty four. I watched Denzel in um Macbeth. I still
(54:37):
got to check it only because like you know, I mean,
I've read it so much in school and whatnot, Like
I'm curious to still they'll do. Um, I saw did
he play did he play himself? In training Day in Macbeth?
It was my head. That's like, like I thought, that's
(54:59):
what I'm There are too many actors who played themselves
that I've noticed in these days, and I'm like, everybody
playing because himself. Yeah, let's talking about it. They're talking
elizabe Eefan. It's shot beautifully. I don't know if it's
it's gonna be very interesting to see. Like I know
(55:20):
the traction is going to be like Denzel is McBeth.
But as as an Academy member. As an Academy member,
how do you what is your favorite film of the year.
I just saw Pig Cage, So basically, Nick Nicholas Cage
(55:41):
was like once uh, like a James Beard Michelin chef
that um went off the grid and his his beloved
pet pig gets kidnapped. His his his pig is like
the best truffle pig there is. You know, you neat
pigs to um search for truffles and then you sell
(56:03):
those truffles for gazillions of dollars. And you know, so
it's basically a story of a kidnapped truffle pig that
Nicholas Cage spends the entire movie looking for. But it's
it's it's intention ship. It's definitely gonna be like one
of the one of those sounds like one of the joints.
(56:25):
Sounds like you say, it sounds like a pig came
to America. No, I'm just what do you call it? Also,
Drive my Car? I believe Driving My Car is probably
the film that's gonna be, uh this year's Oscar winner?
(56:46):
What about what story? Just like move Bill? Laugh at
that West Side story? Stop it did? Why is that
a joke? No, it's not. That's not you know the
(57:08):
rest of the Bills joke. I'm saying because he made
though he made those other two movies, so he last
musicals don't make movies. Let's get into it. Musical don't
make money is what I was trying to take this much?
Are you guys more gunshy? Now, well, since you kind
of did Hamilton's already, is their need to do Hamilton's
(57:30):
the movie? Or do you guys consider what you guys
did on They already put that out right, But that's
the performance. But will there be a movie ized version
of Hamilton's Of course, you'd be a dumbass not to
make it. Do Does anybody can see it? I don't know,
but they'll make it. So wait, is it true that
(57:51):
west Side, even though it's getting crazy acclaim what people
don't see? Here's the thing. People that a three d
billion dollars this past weekend and and west Side story
made about. Yeah, so here's the thing. Here's the thing
because this I saw a lot of year. I saw
(58:12):
a lot of years frustration when I'm here says this,
And this is a frustration. This is an issue that
I've always had. What I'm here from the day I
met him, Like it's like, it's the it's the acclaim
I'm here with Like we we would be talking and
you know I'm here, you know, because he obsesses over right,
(58:33):
we'll be looking a tame We'll be looking at the
source and have a fucking on the back of the
bus and have a four hour conversation about how somebody
saw fit to only get these and thigs three mikes
like and I'll be like, I mean, why do you care?
Someone it's a U. G K album? Why do you care?
And he'll be like, na, bro, you don't understand skills.
It deserves more than that, And I'm like so so
(58:55):
later on in life, you know, when the routes would
drop albums, I only paid attention to those reviews. I
didn't look at nobody else's They could rate a jay
Z album. I wouldn't give a funk when they put
a roots album in a in a in a publication,
I would automatically go look at the reviews like snap,
they only gave, they only gave phrenology. It's a snap.
(59:20):
So it was always a thing with me and I
miror about he cares so much and I just didn't,
I guess because I never put out those I didn't
never put out that MENI ou so for me, there's
too much. It's a whole another thing, and I'm like,
there's too much for me to take in. And my
thing is that I at least want to see what
(59:42):
the aggregate is as far as the general opinion of
critics that I like what they think about something before
I say okay, I'm gonna take two hours to do.
What about when the people say that they like it
or they don't like What about regular people gather and
it's a whole bunch of them and they like it
and they say it's good. Regular people, Like I'm an
(01:00:02):
industry person, he's an academy member. There are a different
kind of combinations that you can do with that. I
remember being in the studio with it, like God, bless God,
bless Rich. I would be in the studio with Rich
and Dice, you know what I mean, Like these motherfucker's
stay on the road like it's just me, Dice and
Rich just working on hooks and ship and then like
(01:00:22):
it like Dice might say some ship that I might
say some ship, and Dice will go lay it down,
and then fucking Rich will come in and Rich will
be like, yeah, no, the fucking yeah, you're not The
publications they're not gonna like this ship. I'm like, Rich,
like are we writing for he? Break out the barber
shops lockdown? Back then, I I used to care what
(01:00:46):
I didn't care what Pitchfork thought, but I did care
the fact that there's a point in two thousand four
where your average local publication, like your whatever, the San Francisco,
the Oklahoma or the St. Louis version of the Village Voice.
I would notice that, like, wow, they're just going to
(01:01:10):
see what pitchwork says and then plagiarized the same thing
for their own review. Like there's a point where after
the arts, where after two thousands, where I believe critics
stopped like listening to a record in forming their own opinion,
and they decided that like a great example is uh,
I gotta bring it back to old boy beautiful, dark,
(01:01:33):
twisted fantasy where no, no, we can take that away.
We could, we could look at hell hath no fury
clips Now. That particular review in Pitchfork always bothered me
because of the way that it was like such a
uh I mean, they were salivating it. It was like,
(01:01:53):
to me the highest form of like white fetishism of
like cocaine street black life, to the point where I
found it offensive. But everyone, every little blog and critics
sort of made that their north star because it was
like it was basically like the writers at S and
L just like salivating over like what real street life
(01:02:16):
is like, like snow on the Bluff, but a more
successful version of like hey, let's visit the hood and
see what it's like. And well, so reading like, did
I agree that that album was incredible? Yes? Did I
have a problem with the writers at Pitchfork salivating over
in some sort of black fetish way. Absolutely. So It's
(01:02:38):
not like I ride with it, but I'm just very
much at Pitchforks, say when you didn't appreciate them salivating
over that ship and being like the white people that
they are. The thing is is that at the time,
Critical Claim is all the roots had to justify their
existence on a label that they weren't making money. We
(01:02:59):
weren't DMX selling four million. You got you? Yeah, critical
critical Love that was' that was your lifeline that I
needed to hear that now I needed I needed to
hear that. I mean, that's what I needed to Yeah,
that's critic. Why continue with because at a certain point
it sounds like you care about about it about three
or four white people say, because the critics who really
(01:03:19):
matter are usually non non black people anyway, So when
you say you don't care about what regular people to
say because youre an industry person, it sounds a little okay,
well you gotta speak loud of like I said, it
sounds a little out of touch to something that's what
I was saying. That's all I'm saying. I think that
(01:03:39):
I think, I think as I get what you're saying,
like I think what it is what I'm hear you
saying mirror is like when he says he's an industry person.
I don't think it's necessarily like you're looking at it
like I need these people to validate me. It's just
more so I need to know who fun with me
so I can leverage them for other opportunities. You know,
you know what I mean. It's not about whether you
thank you for the translation. You know what It's like.
(01:04:01):
We're not selling we ain't selling hellicopies, but I fucking
Rolling Stone give us a good review. I should have
made sense to these motherfucking suits. I get it. Thank you,
And that's a lesson for all, for all of us.
Everybody didn't understand exactly me, but me and our mayor
used to go back and forth over the show. I
used to I used to grind my motherfucking gears. But
now I understand. I'm glad. I'm glad after all these years,
(01:04:22):
I finally got we haven't understand it. Hold up, all right, y'all.
So that was part one of this week's episode. Stay
tuned because next week, Next Wednesday, Part two, and you
don't want to miss it. Supreme is a production of
(01:04:44):
My Hearted Radio. For more podcasts. For my heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
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Laiya St. Clair
Questlove
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