Black Music Month QLS Classic: Q-Tip

In a variety of eras, forms, and styles, Q-Tip has honored Black Music's past and piloted its future. In early 2017, the legendary MC, producer, and DJ spoke about the historical firsts and classic Hip-Hop history he took part in and witnessed as part of A Tribe Called Quest, and so much more.

 

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Questlove Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic episode
was produced by the team at Pandora.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
What's Up, Everybody, It's Sugar Steve from Team Supreme. June
marks Black Music Month. We often speak about it on
Questlove Supreme and we've had some of the legends responsible
for the recognition on the show. Every day this June,
we are running a different episode from the QLs archives
to honor the tradition and the tent of Black Music Month.
This week we are focusing on some of the great hip.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Hop conversations in the ULS catalog.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
Our leader Questlove has a new book out called hip
Hop Is History. Check it out at questlove dot com.
Today we are re releasing an interview with q Tip
of a tribe called quest whose contributions shaped the direction
of hip hop over the last thirty five years.

Speaker 5 (00:56):
Supremo Sun Suck, Supreme Mo, Role Call, Suprema Suck Suck, Suprema,
Roll Call, Suprema son Son, Supremo Roll Call, Suprema Son
Son Supremo Roller.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
What's love going, Ramble, Yeah, what's love going? Gampbell?

Speaker 6 (01:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Q Tip not leaving it? Yeah, he tells me a
crookedly sip.

Speaker 7 (01:20):
Supremo, So something Supremo son sign.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
My name is Fante. Yeah, this is the squad. Yeah,
the phone is ringing.

Speaker 7 (01:33):
Yeah, Supremo, roll call Suprema, Son Supremo roll call.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
My name is Sugar, Yeah, Sugar Steve. Yeah, I am
so backwards. I stop and breathe Suprema.

Speaker 8 (01:52):
Something something Supremo, roll call Supremo something so Supremo roll call.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
I'm gonna pay Bill.

Speaker 9 (02:00):
Yeah, live in the dream. Yeah, fucking cute, Tip Man. Yeah,
Quest Love Supreme.

Speaker 8 (02:06):
Roll call Suprema some some Suprema roll called Suprema something
something Supremo roll call afternoon.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah, well US fans, Yeah, this is boss Bill. Yeah,
Trump called question.

Speaker 8 (02:23):
Supremo son So Supremo, roll Supreme, Son Supreme roll.

Speaker 10 (02:31):
It's my ear. Yeah, I'm very excited. Yeah, Tip is here.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, I'm a ladies inviting O.

Speaker 7 (02:41):
Supreme roll Suprema something Supremo roll call.

Speaker 10 (02:48):
Yeah, what's your appraisal? Yeah, I have a cold. Yeah
my voice extra nasal ro call.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Suprema so some Supreme, So.

Speaker 7 (03:01):
Supremo, Supremo, roll Suprima Supreme.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another edition of Quest Love Supreme.
I am your host quest love. Uh we have Froan Tickeolo.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yes.

Speaker 11 (03:25):
Uh man, it's a beautiful day in New York City.
It's a little cold out, Yeah, it's un dropped the
hawk then came out January.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
What do you expect. I'm glad.

Speaker 11 (03:36):
I'm glad because I was worried for a minute, but
now I think winter is here in full force, really
full force anyway.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
But no, no, no for a while. I mean because
I mean in at least in North Carolina.

Speaker 11 (03:48):
I mean up in like November, late November we had
a couple of seventy degree days, so New York.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
I'm good, You're right.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
I mean December was cold as shit. I remember one
particularly December it was like really really cool. But in
January it's even colder. Yeah, I'm glad.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
I'm glad winters here to you know, get the get
my get my body right. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 11 (04:08):
I'm about forty pounds in the stomach virus away from
my ideal weight.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
So I'm working on it. So that stomach virus is
gonna get you through. That's that's gona give me.

Speaker 11 (04:22):
It's gonna give me to my to I'm in my
jurrial avert stage right now, that stomach virus gonna get
me to my Anthony Anderson.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
There's always like smooth moved tea or something. No, man,
that's just cameras. No really, the stomach virus.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Oh yeah, stomach virus will take you. It'll get you
some yogurt. How will you get the stomach I don't
know how I'll get it.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
I got that is, I got kids.

Speaker 9 (04:46):
I'm about to get front cutis just hold on a minute,
just like it could be within the next five minutes.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
You guys are basically saying that you will hope that
your kids get you sick so that you lose some weight.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Well, no, that's him.

Speaker 11 (04:58):
I necessarily hope it has depends. But if it did happen,
I can't say that would be mad about it. It
would help me get over.

Speaker 10 (05:07):
This like the holiday, the extra holiday weight and all
of that.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
And just you know, just stress weight. Smooth move tea
at least takes out like seven to ten pounds.

Speaker 10 (05:16):
Of some of that home two boxes.

Speaker 12 (05:18):
Nah, I don't I know.

Speaker 10 (05:19):
I don't do the detox tease, I don't do that plan.

Speaker 11 (05:22):
Yeah, I just you know, cut back, virus, lift and
get a stomach virus, you know what I mean, A little,
a little not ro virus is just a man get
those abs right for the spring.

Speaker 6 (05:33):
I got the stomach virus a couple years ago, drop
like fifteen pounds and then didn't come back.

Speaker 10 (05:36):
Oh my god, fifteen pounds. I'm glad you alive.

Speaker 11 (05:39):
I think I think didn't. Wasn't this a thing like
in the twenties or something where they would give no,
like tapeworms, Like well, people would get bled do tapeworms
for people go to Brazil right now for that, Like.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
And just what are you seriously? Yeah, dead ass. It
was just like people would do it. Tapeworms would do
stuff to like not the.

Speaker 13 (05:57):
Cool skult, not the hot burning the light bulb. It's
like five different. It's a lot of Yeah, no, it's
a lot of ways to lose Beyonce lemonade.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, other than eat right in and breakout, because no
one wants to do that.

Speaker 11 (06:09):
Yeah yeah, yeah, the waist trainers just gonna have all
these people fucked up. Nah, we don't do none of that.
Why we want to do that? We could just you know,
we don't want to work out to eat right. So yeah,
if I get the summer virus and you know, stay
in the gym. Hopefully by springtime I'll be on my
Blackish Anthony Anderson.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
I'm life Anthony Anderson right.

Speaker 11 (06:27):
Now, but hopefully i'll be I'll be Blackish Anthony Andersen
by Uh.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
I hope to meet you there, bro.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, okay, so you I've been abstaining this, this has
been this has been the period of abstinence.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
Okay, I'm doing it's I've made it through.

Speaker 14 (06:44):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
I made it through the at least what I call
the the underground tunnel, which was the first fifteen days
of avoiding sugar, avoiding flour, bread, gluten, fried foods.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Are you angry, don't? I don't know, just one day? Yeah,
you know what?

Speaker 7 (07:06):
You know what?

Speaker 3 (07:07):
You know what the stepback to all that is.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
I've been snapping at more people than normal withdrawal like clear.
I don't know if it's a clear mind or just
what it is, but yeah, I've been like I feel
like my boxing gloves might be in my future, like
I could.

Speaker 15 (07:28):
Are you past the cravings phase? Are you still craving?

Speaker 1 (07:33):
I was dreaming heavily of food, Like, you know that's
bad when you're just you know, dreaming of a pound cake?

Speaker 15 (07:43):
Were you dreaming of it or were you dreaming of
eating it?

Speaker 3 (07:46):
I was just dreaming of it. Like you know that
that intimate's cake that dad used to.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
My dad was the kind of dude that would measure
like what the family wouldn't take, Like he have the
sharpie mark on the lemonade bottle and the tea bottle
and the fruit punch bottle and everything, and how much
intimated cake was was consumed before he got to it.

Speaker 11 (08:07):
So yeah, that's that's as some real black daddy shit.
That's real though. There I'm with you on that.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
You don't measure your shit?

Speaker 11 (08:15):
Nah, I don't, I mean most of the time because
for me with sweets, I particularly buy them in very
small quantities. And our whole thing with sweets is like
if I buy it, we gotta kill it today. So
I let my kids go in, Like if I buy
like cupcakes or whatever, it's like, all right, we're gonna
go in today, and then that's it, because if you
keep it around and you eat it day after day

(08:35):
after day, then that's how.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
You, you know, set the bad pressure exactly.

Speaker 11 (08:39):
If you just going one day maybe maybe once twice
a month, maybe you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
So even when you were on tour, now forget your kids,
your bandmates. Some of the worst roots band fights ever
over food. Oh in the name of food brouh. Yeah,
like we would. I remember, I guess the period where
we just covered almond milk instead of soy milk. Vanilla
almond milk was just as good on your cereal than

(09:06):
soy milk was. And I remember, shit was about to
be set off because it was like I put my
name on the milk. I guess I didn't realize that
it was either Hubb or Camal, like they put their
name on the milk, thus they were claiming it. So
not realizing this, we kind of killed the milk and
you know, and shit almost got set off on the tour.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
Phostle, Yeah, it was. It was fade. It was almost
fade time. So you know that's the.

Speaker 11 (09:36):
Tours would be because particularly if you were on the
bus and like you've been driving through the middle of
nowhere and you've been thinking about food. Yeah, you've been
in your bunk and you get up in the middle
of the night and go to the bunk, go to
the refrigerating.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
That shit ain't there.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
You're basically describing Chicago to Denver. For for most for
more touring acts, I mean, if you're a pop act
or you're a country act, there's some stops in between
Chicago and Denver that you can do. But for most
urban acts, especially if you're under the tuolage of Carol Lewis,

(10:09):
like the first question she proposes to you is where
do you want to stop start? Now, logic, she always
suggests that your hometown should be the last stop on
the tour because of all the things that you've acquired
on that tour, you know your home can be your
last stop. So all the cereal that's on your rider,

(10:32):
all of the records that you went shopping with, all
the closes, the sneakers, right, you don't have to ship
them home from like Mexico, you can. You know, you're
already in your hometown. So you normally start off on
the opposite So normally we would start tours like in
Vancouver and then go counterclockwise Seattle, Portland, San Franco and

(10:56):
down and then eas.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Your way back to the East coast.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
But yeah, with with the touring dynamic, there's a whole
being considerate of food factor that not many people getting
I suspect that that's probably one of the prime reasons
why they're more solo accident group accidents.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Oh man, I can believe it.

Speaker 11 (11:21):
I mean I tell people all the time, if you
ever want to get to really know a person, live
with them or tour with them, like, because you can't hide,
like whatever your vices are, whatever the fuck shit you
got with you, if you it's gonna come out.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
It's gonna come come out and watch. Oh my god.

Speaker 11 (11:37):
You can't hide, bro, you can't hide. So yeah, if
tour was not enjoyable at all, request.

Speaker 15 (11:44):
Of I think it's important you know that it's inspirational
and you're doing so much. I can't tell you how
many times I've seen your like social posts and I've
been like, I'm gonna eat some will now he's holding out.
I don't need this cookie.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
So yeah, I keep going. It's it's it's it's hard.
I mean, look at it. It's like more for me.
But you're naturally like a thing god bass Bill.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
So yeah, I don't think you either you're a starving
artist or you just don't overeat.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
But then you talk about like checkers, I have the
worst diet world. I have a Steve diet. One has Steve.

Speaker 15 (12:19):
You really want to lose weight, I'll tell you how.

Speaker 16 (12:23):
I lost thirty pounds weed, cigarettes and coffee diabetes.

Speaker 15 (12:28):
That's when I lost thirty pounds.

Speaker 6 (12:31):
But for real, you you're right for those Checkers, huh.
I mean if it's late at night and nothing else
is open, I mean, what am I going to do
as the Checkers in the city. There's lots of them
in the city.

Speaker 15 (12:41):
What is Checkers?

Speaker 3 (12:41):
Checkers is fast food. It's fast food.

Speaker 15 (12:43):
It's burgers, fries, and cola.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
It's like.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
That.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
There is I feel like in most most college town
there's a Checkers. The only one I know of is
in d C.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
There's one next to that days in On New York,
A New York I have, yep, do you know about
that days in Wow?

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Now, I know I know what you're talking about, but
I don't know what's the specific significance of that. Oh no,
it's just shot no. Yeah, But it's just that when
you're in Verry Hotel, I feel like you're no, no, no.
When you're touring.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
For some reason, promoters will put their artists in that
particular days in On On, New York Avenue next to
the twenty four hour Checkers. Like when we were first touring.
I think the first time we met Old Dirty Bastard,
he had just mastered returned to the thirty six and

(13:44):
they gave us. Someone from Electric gave us a copy
of that CD, like at that hotel. But now I've
seen a lot of crazy shit go down there, like
with a lot of nineteen ninety four ninety five era
hip hop acts. Man, who's the girl that's singh think
five A on the corner right, someone in her crew.

(14:05):
I don't know how they ram their car inside of
the room.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
But they did so. Thus, uh, it was like, yeah,
a lot of crazy function done went down.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
But you know, speaking speaking of the group Dynamic, today's
a special episode of Questlove Supreme, and the reason being
is that our guest today is one of the most
beloved members of one of the favorite groups of not

(14:40):
even hip hop history. I guess we have to take
him out of ye hip hop. Yeah, I think they've
just become the group Dynamic. But ladies and gentlemen give
it up for a Q tip. All right, So, brother Kamar,

(15:07):
is it before we get started? Yeah, you're gonna tell
me what is that damn sample?

Speaker 3 (15:15):
No no, no, no, no, don't get for twenty years,
twenty years, but I don't remember. I don't really don't.
Sampling don't matter no more. You can reveal I know
it doesn't.

Speaker 10 (15:26):
I'm not being like that. I totally would reveal it.
Like I really don't remember. I know it's like an
e CM joint. I know that for sure. To check Steve.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Swallow one of those random like library record things. No no, no, yeah,
so it might be Keith Jared.

Speaker 10 (15:45):
It could be you know, well, it's not definitely not that.
Let me see. Oh I'm feeling like it's Steve Swallow.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
So Paul us a guitar player that pauls.

Speaker 10 (15:55):
Can we talk about that.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
You paused itself? I don't know, but I just just
it's Ho's fault.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
I think pause is Ho's biggest contribution to hip hop.
Well it sucks, okay, I agree, I agree more pause
but I can't.

Speaker 10 (16:10):
But but I don't know.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
I can't remember.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Man, can't you like Shazama?

Speaker 3 (16:14):
Sample?

Speaker 1 (16:15):
And uh, it doesn't play long enough if it weren't,
if it were you know, isolated, if it were isolated.

Speaker 10 (16:25):
The minute it here is like a vocals then it
tunes into the whole.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
I've heard everything. I heard it was red Halt.

Speaker 10 (16:31):
I heard it was It's definitely not that. It's definitely
putting you in the right or the right terrain there.
It's definitely some em ship. Damn when I find it.
I promise you if you saw the album cover, would
you know what? I wouldn't. I'd have to listen to it.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
Man, do you remember the day you made it? Or
was it just like I made it there in the studio.
This is one of those like mindless five minutes.

Speaker 10 (16:59):
Yeah, I just went from I just came from record
shopping and I went to Ed's studio, which is which
was called Dollar Cab Lab in Flatbush, Wait.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
Special had a studio called Dollar Dollar Cabs.

Speaker 10 (17:15):
Yeah yeah, so what what yeah?

Speaker 13 (17:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (17:21):
What was that? Seriously? Yeah he talked about it in
a source like I mean back then, I remember that.

Speaker 10 (17:26):
Yeah, Dollar Cab Lab, that's where we did it at
What did you?

Speaker 3 (17:30):
Was you on the sp sp that that was there?

Speaker 10 (17:34):
And I had to I had to break out, so
I just like do this ship on him like five minutes,
literally like five ten minutes.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
Pete Rock explained to us that he procrastinated on the
Shut Him Down remix so last minute that even when
he was like, yeah, yeah, I'm twenty minutes away, he
just like grabbed anything and just hear it.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
Now I'm realizing that some of the best beats in
hip hop were just mindless and overthinking. Just time to
overthink it.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
Well, okay, so, of course the more help I'm gonna find, I.

Speaker 10 (18:12):
Mean, you know so much because he put it in
the damn the damn thing, the intro song. So I
feel really bad that the world.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yes, like, there's there's certain samples that I can't find that.

Speaker 10 (18:24):
Ship I got everything, Okay, great, you can work to do.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
All right, we will find it. So coffee, Well wait,
do you know that the sky sample?

Speaker 10 (18:36):
Of course that's Eric Dolphie.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
That's off the same record that the Jazz is the Prison. No,
well that is.

Speaker 10 (18:48):
That is not Grant Green.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
That was yeah, Grant Green was the Jazza I'm thinking, so.

Speaker 10 (18:56):
Yes, skypage is Eric Dolphie out to lunch you Jesus?

Speaker 1 (19:00):
All right, all right, finally something that's how even the
baseline too? Yeah, all right, all right, forgive me ladies
and gentlemen like I normally I go through the chronological
order of a person's life. But no, no, this this

(19:21):
is a burden in hand to the first moment. All right,
So tip, sir, I know you're tired of answer these
questions and we've known it before, but all right, So
the name of the high school that you guys, Mary Bertram? Yeah,
what I hear so much about this school? Was it
a business school? Was it a trade school?

Speaker 10 (19:43):
It was a business school.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
So you aspired it, like when you were in first grade,
You're like, yo, I want to go to Mary Bertram
to learn.

Speaker 10 (19:51):
No, no, actually, uh what happened was my sister was
older than.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Me, just medical you did. I met her for the
first time at thirty Rocks Yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 10 (20:03):
Yeah yeah. So she's like super duper brain girl, right
and uh she took the SAT which is standard chest
back in the day, I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
So they still do that.

Speaker 10 (20:17):
They still do that. Y. So she got like one
of the top scores in the city and she got
accepted to Stuyvesant, which is like the top top high school,
like specialized high school.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
Whatever.

Speaker 10 (20:32):
So my dad wouldn't let it go. My dad was
Trance was working for TRANCEY was a token booth clerk
transit and during the time, you know, there was a
rash incidents where girls were getting pushed off the platform.
So my dad was like old school.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
He was like, you're not going to no Manhutdan.

Speaker 10 (20:50):
We were living in Queens, so I was like wanting
to be like my sister. I'm going to take the
test too. I want to go to Stuyvesant too. So
of course I didn't make it. Got accepted though to
Brooklyn Text. I went to their orientation and it was
just like all the Decepticon dudes, which was a New
York gang back then. I was just like, okay, I'm
not going. Yeah, I'm definitely not going to my zone school.

(21:13):
So my average was cool, good enough, and I had
some recommendations that I got accepted to Bertram which was
a business school. It was like a specialized school.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
And there was safe.

Speaker 10 (21:26):
No, it was not safe. That's why I was getting
the hell out of there. Okay, you know what I'm saying,
because my zone schools out there. It was like it
was crazy. I probably would not be sitting here and yeah,
it was that bad. But so I would hour and
a half two hours every morning the school to Mary

(21:48):
Berkram High School, which was ironically enough in that time,
it was right across the street from police headquarters. So
but it was they would still make trouble, would still
managed to find himself and regardless of the proximity of that.
But yeah, it was a great time, man, it was

(22:09):
a great time. I remember, you know, before we started
freshman freshman freshman year, we had the opportunity to go
to do an early orientation, so I went a little
bit earlier in August and ship and the first person
I met was brother J because he went to our

(22:30):
school too, from X clan.

Speaker 3 (22:31):
Brother J. That was brother Brother J is the rapper.
He always talk like this. They always they were like
forty years old. In my head. They were just like
the old guy like I don't know why I thought
the man's old guys and not.

Speaker 10 (22:48):
Like nice J never lost it. J still got it nice.
His voice just crass, you know what I'm saying. So
he was the first dude I met at Ali, and
then as the school year went on, I eventually met Africa.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
And all them.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, Kiarana always jokes that Ali and Mad Yes, but
she always jokes that Ali always had the Gucci clutch, yeah,
like but she called she called it the fixed briefcase
because what was in that bag, like he just wanted.

Speaker 10 (23:28):
Now it was a clutch. He he had a burner
in there. You had like a you know really yeah
alas say Mohammed, Yeah from bed stye do or die?

Speaker 3 (23:38):
Okay, I'm sorry.

Speaker 10 (23:39):
I mean that's how I was back then.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
I always say, your mom is like the fourteenth disciple
that wasn't mentioned.

Speaker 10 (23:47):
Like angeloises and like, okay, you know he used to
carry all sorts of stuff in there. But I hope
I did not out Ali, but uh yeah. School was
was fun though. Man.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
It was just like.

Speaker 10 (24:08):
I don't know how it was for you guys, but
back then, like that was for us. That was like
our kind of coming of age thing.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
It was.

Speaker 10 (24:17):
It was a it was a true place, especially for
me just geographically being that far away from home. It
was a place that I could really uh at you
out you know what I wanted to do or who
I wanted to be. Yeah, you know what I'm saying
because I went to school for computer science because I
wanted to just like be a program designer.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
Did you make some like lifelong friends too?

Speaker 10 (24:42):
You start? Oh yeah, man, it's like, that's everything.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
You're probably one of the figures, one of the few
figures from the Renaissance hip hop period that doesn't have
a I dropped out a school narrative. It's like, yeah,
pretty much eighty of all of our hip hop favorites
have a story that leads to and I just dropped

(25:08):
out of high school and went straight to that.

Speaker 10 (25:12):
School post and those guys.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yeah, I'm just saying that.

Speaker 10 (25:15):
Well, Mace I think dropped out.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
Okay, I see, Mace may have dropped out, But it's
just weird.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
It's rare that you hear of make, you know, liking
high school when you know, I actually enjoyed this experience
because for most people, I mean, high school's none but
a precursor to prison for some for some you know, So,
how did I mean obviously you, you and five were
childhood friends, and you and Ali were high school friends.

(25:46):
Like how did well, how did Jerobi enter the picture?
And how did the twain meet? Like, how did you guys?

Speaker 10 (25:53):
Jerobi was he lived on five? Uh, his mom his
mom's crib was like on my side of the tracks,
you know, so track thing so and his grandparents' house
was on the other side of the tracks and when

(26:16):
he would go to the other side of the tracks,
that's what Jerobi. That's where he met Jerobi. Okay, so
that was like around twelve thirteen. So I knew Jerobi
when he was probably like twelve eleven. That's when I
first met him.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah, okay, So at this point, even though you're going
for like in high school, was it just like okay,
we're just fans of music.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
But you know, there were no grand designs to start
a band or become.

Speaker 10 (26:50):
Yeah, there was. I mean we were pretty we were
pretty resolute and what we wanted to do.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
By what point, like ten eleven?

Speaker 10 (27:00):
Wha. I mean I've said before another interviews. You know,
Fife put the bug in me. We was like nine. Wow,
you know what I'm saying. We were eleven twelve like
just wrap. I mean we were goofing, but was definitely
rapping and definitely like you know how I don't know
if other kids would do this, but you know you

(27:22):
have your pad and you right out what the name
of the group was, who was in it?

Speaker 3 (27:25):
Oh yeah, you always you remember that used to draw
album covers? Yeah, yeah, brother, we did the exact same
thing right right.

Speaker 10 (27:35):
The watch yeah, yeah, the whole ship. Like we did
a little I remember one time we did we did
this demo. Uh okay, this is freshman year. No, it
was tenth grade. It was tenth grade. So we were
like fifteen. So Jerobi was going to tech, Fife was

(27:55):
going to Springfield in Queens and me and Ali was
in Birch or whatever. So on the weekends, you know,
our hostel a little bit, and for my money, I
would like scrape up and I would I looked literally
in the Yellow Pages for like a rehearsal studio. So
I found this one in the city on Fourteenth Street

(28:17):
called Giant Rehearsal Studios. Saved up the money and every
weekend we'd go there and Ali would bring his four
track that belonged to Uncle Mike, and Uncle Mike used
to work at Columbia and stuff. So we'd go there
and we would record like our little routines. So my

(28:40):
sister was dating Skeef Hanslom and Skef and Jazzy used
to come by the house like see my sister or whatever.
Jazzy j So I was like, damn want to be
a sulation. Oh my gosh, you know, and I know
it was just like we would be in there working,

(29:03):
work and work and working, and we had like this horrible,
these little fucking, wretched, little fucking songs that we worked on.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
And everybody, what was the loop? What did you payback?

Speaker 10 (29:20):
And we had and we had a drummer his name
was Anton shouts out to a boogie. It's the o
G a boogie from the brooks.

Speaker 13 (29:29):
Uh.

Speaker 10 (29:30):
He was because he was he was drumming in school whatever.
So I was like, yo, so you're gonna play the
beat over this and it was called a routine routine.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
And he has your rugby with that beato, so y'all
just rhyme over the back. Yes, it was pretty bad.

Speaker 10 (29:54):
And Jazzy and Scheff, through my assistance and bucking my
sister day came one Saturday. They looked like they were hungover,
like they had they I don't know, maybe Halem World
or something was the night before and they came by
and listened to it, and Jazz he was like, Yo,

(30:14):
that shit was kind of whack.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
Y'all.

Speaker 10 (30:15):
Gotta keep working on that ship, wow, really keep working.

Speaker 13 (30:21):
Like he saw something, he heard something.

Speaker 10 (30:23):
I hope. So, oh, maybe he was just being nice,
because you know, we wanted up bang one of my
sister's friends. But that was kind of like but we
weren't discouraged by it. We just okay, like we were
some really industrious little bastards man, so we kind of
like had an idea To answer your question, So was

(30:45):
this eighty six, eighty eighty? This is eighty five eighty five? Yeah, wait,
eighty five, eighty six? Yeah, it was probably like eighty
six eighty six.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
It had to be in eighty six, So I was like,
even the idea of rhyming over a record, is that
even the idea back in eighty five?

Speaker 3 (31:02):
Like well, and by eighty six samples were like, yeah,
that was that was all you had. I think you
had that if you didn't have a drum machine.

Speaker 10 (31:08):
I mean I remember, I mean look, so what year
was the biz Dance?

Speaker 3 (31:14):
Eighty eighty six, seven, eighty six, a little bit more.

Speaker 10 (31:21):
Yeah, it was like sund.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Okay, So.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
What was the first step to seriousness as in, I'm
gonna save up and get this drum machine?

Speaker 3 (31:34):
Or because what I didn't know?

Speaker 1 (31:37):
I only found that recently that you guys actually were
thinking about signing to Geffen.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
Yeah, back in eighty nine, I read Yeah, I forgot
where I read that.

Speaker 10 (31:49):
But because Jeff Fenster gave us, well, Glenn Freeman was
really the orange pin to the whole things. So, you know,
I had worked with Jungle. You know, we were in
high school and they were finishing up the album.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
So they were the Jungle Brothers in her high school.
I mean Jim Brownski Era was in high school. So
while they were in the high school Jim Brownski's album,
what was like like for them to.

Speaker 10 (32:20):
Crazy because even for us, like in Philly, like it
must have been crazy.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
Yeah, So I can imagine in high school, high school
having a record out the Jungle Bros.

Speaker 10 (32:30):
Yeah, yeah, that was kind of ill.

Speaker 5 (32:32):
It was.

Speaker 10 (32:34):
It was wild because we were finishing up the album
while I believe we were in twelfth grade.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
And finishing up the debut album for people. So wow, no, no, no.

Speaker 10 (32:45):
Finishing up of Jungle, gotcha. So you know I did
some ship on it. I did uh promo, well, I
did promo that was eleventh grade, and.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Then Time and then Time yeah, and then promo two.

Speaker 10 (32:59):
Yeah, in Time that was for the album and Black
as Black did that and I the first record I
ever mixed was straight out the Jungle, So it was
me and Red Alert and Tony D and Mike. We
actually mixed that record. That was the first time and
I remember yeah and Red and Red was like, so

(33:20):
this is what you do, tip, So these are the faders,
so I already equed it. We got it sounded right.
So before we're gonna do a couple of takes, and
I want you to ride this up and then when
we hit this, I need you to ride the next
fader up, but don't bring it to don't bring it

(33:42):
past this point. They had the tape on it. Don't
bring it past this point. And then after that, I'm
gonna let you do one with If you want to
do a different one, then you just do it different.
But for the first couple, like Red was just like
Red Alert.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
You the automated system, Well it was.

Speaker 10 (33:57):
It was I never did it before, right, you know
what I'm saying. Mike had did him and Aff were
doing by himself. That was like my first time actually
mixing a joint, you know what I'm saying. I was crazy,
like intimidated, but excited about it because I felt like, wow,
this is fucking Red Alert.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
And in high school at high school, so he was
of legend status o man, he was.

Speaker 10 (34:22):
I was just telling my assistant as we were talking about,
you know the history of this studio. Like right across
the street was Latin Quarter. There's a parking lot on
forty eighth Street. That's what Latin Quarter was. He's wearing
Old Quad City, right, yeah, Old Quad Studios.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
I call this Tupac Central. Yeah really, so right.

Speaker 10 (34:42):
Across the street was Latin Quarter and that was where
Red was. Like he bought the whole Harlem and Bronx
ship to Midtown and he was ruling ship like that
was I mean, even Magic and Molly and them was
like on the radio, they was the Dawn. Tan's the
thing that kind of took to me, in my just
opinion that had read elevated is because he had a

(35:05):
place to play. Literally after he went, after he was
on the radio, everybody would flock to the quarters or
go to the square.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
So that was up the block.

Speaker 10 (35:12):
So Red was, Yes, he was supreme status, Like you
will go to the Latin Quarter yeah, hell yeah, I have,
I got I got a lot of Latin Quarta stories.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
I was going to say everyone that's I've been trying
to get the definitive Latin Quarter story out of people, right.
And but the thing that amazes me the most about
the legend of the Latin Quarter, right is the fact.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
That you go there knowing that someone's going to know.

Speaker 10 (35:46):
Well, I mean that was his old joint Latin Quarter,
so he transformed into something different.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
Yeah, you really know about it that we don't know.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
But no, no, I'm just saying that like our Latin Quarter,
and Philly was a place called After Midnight, of which
my parents were like, hell, no, people get shot there.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
No, you ain't going. But everyone that has done this
show has a Latin Quarter story.

Speaker 10 (36:13):
Was Whose house was it?

Speaker 3 (36:14):
Though?

Speaker 10 (36:15):
Was that like a schooly d? Yeah, I mean it.

Speaker 3 (36:19):
It was. The The reason why.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
The reason why After Midnight was so special was because
at the point where MSG stopped hosting hip hop after
the death all that stuff, the closest you could get.
You couldn't even get to the spectrum. Sometimes you could,
but like the East Coast Mecca least and Chuck The's
Eyes was like always After Midnight, Lady B hosted that.

Speaker 10 (36:45):
Yeah exactly, But it's just that people don't talk about
her enough.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
But every but every person that talks on the show
about Latin Quarter they I guess the rewards of hearing
hip hop far outweighed the risk of getting shot or

(37:11):
getting your chain taken or it was exciting.

Speaker 3 (37:13):
No, you know what I'm saying, Like, well you went
with Red, obviously correct.

Speaker 10 (37:20):
Violators. We'd be carrying carrying his records. The first time
I met Chris Slider, who was carrying Red's records. So
later I became you know, after I was became the
dude whould always carry REDS records. Yeah, well it was
Chris and he would do that for a while. Then
as Jungle started popping, I was still around, So then
I eventually became REDS Record.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
But it wasn't like you had to wait outside for
an hour to get in an I would meet up
with a f And.

Speaker 10 (37:51):
The first time I went to the Last quarters, right,
there was a sabarro across the streets, pizza. There was
probably the scene. Yeah, right, thinking about that, so.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
Exactly.

Speaker 10 (38:16):
So we're on the corner, so it's hot. It's like
must have been one hundred degrees that day. So we're
out there, right, it's like twelve thirty. So AF and
I standing in the corner and he was like, yeah,
I'm waiting for my man on Greg. He said about
Greg Nice. He's like, Now, at the time, Greg Nice
was the beat box for Empcy Search and they were

(38:38):
on Select. And at first I see they've come around
the corner. Search has this crazy high top and he's
eating watermelon from you know those you know when you
go to the delis and you go to the fruit bars,
and he got the watermelon. He's like and was like, Yo,
this nigger crazy Yota, this is Search.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
This is Greg.

Speaker 10 (38:58):
Greg was like what what up? He's like up, He's
like this Search. We're all kids, you know what I'm saying.
And Searches they're like yo, what up?

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Homeboy?

Speaker 10 (39:08):
And the water bellon juices. I'm like, this dude is wow.
I didn't know see ship. Then d Nice comes up.
He had his BDP ship on it whatever, his little
letther BDP Dapper Dan Joint.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
He's like, ah, was like a Derek. He's like, yoah,
what up?

Speaker 10 (39:26):
What up y'all. He's like, yeah, it's cute.

Speaker 3 (39:28):
Tip.

Speaker 10 (39:28):
He's like, what up?

Speaker 1 (39:29):
Slight pause, yes if d Nice who okay, I'm sorry
my fault. D Nice is team right alert, Yeah, I'm
getting my yeah right right. It's I'm thinking wait, d
Nice is not supposed to be there. That's the wrong territory,
you know what.

Speaker 10 (39:47):
You like that really because all of the juice crews,
I mean, it wasn't really like that was more of
an instigation of magics. They always kind of.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
Like around when okay took so so.

Speaker 10 (40:02):
D k and A was like, Okay, we're gonna go in,
and Derek was like, now I'm about to meet Caine
and I was just like, I just straightened up his
shit because you know, Caine is Caine at the moment,
he's tears shit up and he It was just off
of just rhyming with Biz and then you would always

(40:23):
hear about this dude Caine, like in the streets whatever,
in the circles. So we go across the street on
the side of the block where Latin Quarter was. We
leave the to borrow All you can eat station and
we go to the that'side and then about fifteen minutes later,
you know, we smoking whatever. Fifteen minutes later, Limo pulls

(40:45):
up and his cane and he's in a limo and
he's like, what up, Derek, what up?

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Y'all?

Speaker 10 (40:51):
Everybody's like, yo, what up? Whatever. We're just like standing
back and he was like, yeah, yeah, so play me
that joint and sudden he was like his man, I
guess was sitting on it was a super stretch, so
I guess the uh the tape player was towards the partition,
towards the front. So his man presses play and it's raw. Wow,

(41:12):
it's it's rushing out of the fucking window and it's
just everything just got just at that moment, like how
we just had just the second how everything kind of
got still was like that for like four minutes. It
just got still. So you heard pre raw like yes,
and and Derek was like as soon as it came on,

(41:34):
shouts out to d that's my brother. He was like,
oh yeah, it has to beat the sandy and the
mused talking about I'll take your man and so okay, okay,
he has said that, and k was like, yeah, but
it ain't this ship and it was that that ship rocked.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
Yo.

Speaker 10 (41:53):
I was I couldn't think of nothing else like and
then he just drove ae, I got the show whatever,
and he just drove off in the night. He met
him there to play him raw and that was just
that was one of my Latin quarter moment.

Speaker 3 (42:09):
Sorry, No, that's exactly that was a Q tip exclusive. Wow.
So wow, okay, that was that was a happy, a
great you know, makes it nobody moment. Waiting, I was like,

(42:33):
oh man, he please don't live it say he said,
nigga please.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
All right, if you're just joining us, we're chatting with
the rapper, actor, producer DJ member of a legendary hip hop.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
Group a tripholl Quest Q Tip.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
The group released their critically claimed sixth studio album, We
Got It from Here, Thank You for Your Service in
November of twenty sixteen.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Have you guys ever performed at the Latin Quarter? No,
we didn't know.

Speaker 10 (43:05):
Okay, okay, I saw a lot of performances there, though, what.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
Did you see? I know you saw like a lot
of first I saw well, I.

Speaker 10 (43:13):
Saw mc light uh cram to understand you. And then
when she got off stage, I tried to kick it
to her and she was kind of happening and we
went on a date ship. Yeah, okay, that's what's up.

(43:34):
You got that?

Speaker 3 (43:37):
No, but that but that was it was.

Speaker 10 (43:39):
It was it was early. I mean, you know, it
was like Crean and said she was That was the
first one of the first that I saw audio to
do before they did that. I like cherries. So was
it grape sauce hour?

Speaker 3 (43:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 14 (43:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (44:00):
Wait a minute, wow? Did that fly over with y'all? Though?
Was there a little bit of have you seen.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
A legendary act perform at the Latin Quarter that didn't
have their sit together at that moment? I mean, I've
heard conflicting reports of public enemies first time.

Speaker 10 (44:21):
Yeah, I didn't see that night. I didn't see that night,
but I heard that that that.

Speaker 3 (44:25):
Was about Chuck's on the mission.

Speaker 11 (44:28):
He said that was it didn't go well and he
said it was actually Melly Mail in the back was like, yeah,
he's like Mail had.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
Like the big deb yo. These niggas as wax yol.
It was ill because you yo mail is.

Speaker 10 (44:46):
I mean, we all know right right it's not Rushmore architect,
But at that time it was like a generation.

Speaker 3 (44:57):
The old guy in the back and it was but
it wasn't that.

Speaker 10 (44:59):
But we never viewed him. We always looked at him
as yo, that's Melly Mau like your mayor busy be
got suicide. He's ringing off like we were still kind
of fucking with him. I feel like Mel kind of felt, no, well,
he would come and will always instigate the fact that
he was older and we were young niggas. Y'all young,
y'all young niggas and y'all young boys. I'll be seeing

(45:21):
him in the court be like like with the muscles,
I'm flexing out there.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
Everybody. Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo
yo yo yo you.

Speaker 10 (45:31):
Young ya young niggas don't know what you know?

Speaker 1 (45:33):
All this ship and wasn't And I saw the battle, yeah,
a thousand dollars battle.

Speaker 10 (45:38):
Yeah with KRS. And he got up on stage.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
This is meiling male versus Kress.

Speaker 10 (45:44):
Yeah, okay, I saw that ship and mel was on
stage doing push ups and ship.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
Like jack.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yo.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
It was Easter.

Speaker 10 (45:57):
It was the Easter Easter Sunday. And you know, He's like,
I'm real, I'm a real nigga from the bunks ship.
You know what I'm saying. You know, Yeah, I'm not
trying to play. I'm just telling you.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
I'm just saying it because I don't like it sounds
just like him.

Speaker 13 (46:16):
That's why I'm laughing, because.

Speaker 10 (46:19):
That niggas.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
An old man's trip.

Speaker 10 (46:25):
He is fucking can open and ship on barehand and
type ship.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
One time, one time I did a documentary. I did
a documentary which one time we were not.

Speaker 3 (46:41):
I was in the documentary once in my life. You
need a sound effect that I was in a documentary once.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
No Man had admitted that when he was doing White
Lines he was on coke, that he was cooked up.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
So I have to mention that, Wait, you do you
remember this?

Speaker 10 (46:59):
Like did not know this?

Speaker 3 (47:00):
No No so at Tasty Treats.

Speaker 10 (47:04):
Oh he came to Tasty treat.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Dog Okay, like I mentioned in the documentary. Well yeah,
you know, well the ironic thing about White Lines was
anti drug message.

Speaker 3 (47:14):
Yeah, dog, I got I got a better one.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
So there was that moment where I was djaying and
then y'all mean was like, hey, yo, Mellye's mail. Melly
Mel want to talk to you one second because he
said that because you said him, because you said he was.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
On crack, because and I was like what I looked
to the right. It was this mail with like missiling
man status. Though, yeah, this is hell. Like wound up
being around for like two or three years at every event.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
Yes, yes, we squashed it, but then he just came
to every event, at every Okay player event.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
He noticed that wait, he was there at the Christmas
party with.

Speaker 10 (48:13):
He used to be seeing Melle bell in there.

Speaker 3 (48:15):
Like yeah, wearing lime greens. I love shout out to Mel.
Mel is a legend.

Speaker 10 (48:22):
Oh my goodness.

Speaker 17 (48:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:24):
So all right, see, I want to stay at the latt.
Got it got that quarter, We.

Speaker 10 (48:31):
Got enough, I think we got But anyway, I'll finished
this up. That krs. You know, Mel had said some
rap whatever and he was like, you're supreme and he
hit the floor, was doing like push ups and they
threw the beat on it. I forget what the beat was,
and all I can remember is Kris was hitting that

(48:51):
rund from poetry? Right, how did this start? Let us begin? No, no, no, no,
no no no, that's my philosophy. Poetry, the poetry.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
You stop.

Speaker 10 (49:09):
Yeah, he say something now he put the mic down
to him.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
Thought so it was like one of them, it was.
It was over for real.

Speaker 10 (49:20):
Niggas start fighting. Niggas got they shut the ship down,
the normal quarter like it was just quiet.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
It was. It was wild. Were you there for the
last the quote last night?

Speaker 10 (49:33):
That was the last night?

Speaker 3 (49:35):
Everybody day one day, normal.

Speaker 10 (49:38):
Easter Sunday when that ship happened and niggas the violets
got into it, and I'm telling you that was the
last night.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
Everyone has a last night at the last quarter, like
Faith Newman had her last.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
Night, like her last night? Like what was her last night?
What she said? Right? I think it was I can't remember,
but she.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
Said, wasn't there for the last night? She said, a
fight broke? I remember she said. It was like all this,
we need to have that Hunter to finish the story
and then to damn. She was a coach, that girl.
That's why I want to get her on the show.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
She knows mas progress. That's amazing. Yeah, wait a minute,
it's not a stab.

Speaker 10 (50:16):
I love him the Hunter, so do jack me too?

Speaker 3 (50:20):
Anyway? All right, so all right, wait, I feel like
there's more.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
What what other historical first in classic hip hop history
have you been able to witness?

Speaker 3 (50:35):
Let me see?

Speaker 10 (50:38):
Oh well, I remember when Biz was working on.

Speaker 3 (50:44):
Just a Friend. I heard you're the reason that it
even came to be.

Speaker 10 (50:47):
You told him like, well, it wasn't that, like not
Q Tip told me to do it or some ship
like well, he he played it for for me in
Calliope Studios, and the original was you you must be
on speed. If you say he's just your friend, you

(51:15):
must be on speed. I was like, Biz, you cannot
say that, or he's that.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
I know.

Speaker 10 (51:20):
I was thinking about doing this other one. You you
got what I need.

Speaker 3 (51:26):
I was like, you must be on speed.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
Yeah that's another Yeah, a Juice Crew interpolation didn't didn't
Big Daddy Kane do a perfect combination? Or you on
your suation. He had a whole routine with Biz where
they used to do Johnny I believe that. I was like,
live it never mad, Yeah, record okay, I believe. I
mean it was so routinely done, Like I feel like

(51:54):
somewhere in history there it exists something.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
It has to be somewhere on some demo tape. I
could believe that somewhere. I forgot to ask Marley that question.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
All right, So your record collection, see before before your
career and I guess during at least up to the
Jungle Brothers, Like at what point are you?

Speaker 3 (52:17):
Are you going through your father's records?

Speaker 10 (52:19):
Like how are you well, I'm going through my father's
record before all of it, Like as a kid, it
was my father's records.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
Let me let me okay what I really wanted to okay,
Like the Bronx had their beginnings of hip hops and
going to part jams and whatnot.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
Was there a story of that in.

Speaker 10 (52:39):
Queen's Actually, of course Brooklyn and Queen's actually there was
a lot of this. It's a lot of even recent
recollection about the beginnings of literal hip hop, you know
what I'm saying, like jams and shit. Know, Grahad Master

(53:01):
Flowers was doing it Brooklyn, but he but the Brooklyn
and Queens guys they would always be you know, it
was the parties would kind of be overflowing there that
that was the territory, much like Bronx and Harlem, you
know what I mean that connection.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
Because we only hear about the Bronx and I know, like.

Speaker 10 (53:23):
A lot of this if you look. It's funny because
one night somebody sent me a link and one night
I just got into this whole YouTube. You know, yeah,
exactly It's Labyrinth and you see all of these these
ogs from like Brooklyn and Queens. You know, they had
Infinity sound out of Queens. You had the Albino Twins

(53:43):
and Disco Twins, like an Infinity machine was a pretty
big sound system at the same time as you know,
the Hercule, which was cool herds and Sashquash, which was
Gene and them ship. So Queens has big sound systems.
In Brooklyn had some sound systems as well too. So
the first time I went to a jam, I must

(54:07):
have been about six seven, and I believe that grand
Master Flowers was DJ. And it was actually a one
one block off where of Fife's mother lived on that
side of the tracks. And that was the first time
I've seen a DJ bring It was not any scratching,
but it would just be like, you know, bringing it

(54:29):
back kind of and it was hot shot. It was
a hot shot. Yeah, I think it was hot shot,
hot shot, hot shot hot to Yeah, that joint exactly,
and that it was just that was like the first
recollection of that. Everybody was like kind of on the

(54:51):
carry line. No, okay, I remember that break Ye. Dad
was early. That was early, and that was like an
instigation into getting record for me. But you know, luckily,
you know, my dad had a pretty substantial record collection
and he would trade with my aunt Effie was up
in Harlem and my other my cousin lived a few

(55:14):
blocks away and they had like a bunch of records.
And then my my my friend lived across the street.
He was much older than me, Eric Saler Squad No, No,
not that one. Oh okay, it's another Saddler family. So
they had a bunch of records, so I'd be like
raising everybody's joints and just listening to music. Then by

(55:37):
the time you know, I started thirteen fourteen and the
breaks and all that stuff, you start hearing all of that,
I started putting two and two together. Because at first
it was just like a family hobby to collect records,
so it wasn't really from a position of like grapping breakbeats.
But then that that kind of between from when I

(55:59):
was seven up to ten, it was just about a
record collecting thing. And then when you got to when
I got to like twelve, thirteen fourteen, I started realizing
put two and two together and made the connection of
what it was. So that's kind of how I kind
of got into the whole.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
So your dad encouraged, didn't discourage you from touching his
record collection, you didn't have it.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
Don't touch my stereo, dad.

Speaker 10 (56:20):
Or my mother was more still, yeah, I would do
that and fuck the ship up. Yeah, because you know,
you have the whole, the one system with the take
the open the wood cover and.

Speaker 3 (56:34):
Like, but I won't look at you know that type
of Yeah, it was the belt drive.

Speaker 11 (56:46):
They were like, they wouldn't even go back. It was
just straight the belt drive. It wasn't direct drive.

Speaker 10 (56:50):
Yeah, which'all think?

Speaker 13 (56:51):
How do y'all think that affects music now that the
era of your parents' records is over? Like kids today
don't get to go through their parents'.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
Albums like we all did. Yeah, because now there's ninetyums.

Speaker 10 (57:01):
Do they go through it?

Speaker 3 (57:02):
But do they go through their parents? I phone out
like how do you.

Speaker 11 (57:06):
My boys get it in the car? Like when when
we go on road trips and stuff and I'm playing
my music, that's.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
When they get you control the music? Yeah, I control
the music in the car. The car is a lot
much to their chagarn uh. Sometimes I mean you're purposely
like they got headphones on. Sometimes.

Speaker 10 (57:24):
Do you find that that in the car when you're
having those trips that they are a little bit more
open to hearing it? And I was like, oh wow,
Dad like that?

Speaker 3 (57:32):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (57:32):
Yeah, yeah, that was I mean I give me an
example that someone from our era that they really dig
someone from from our era.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
I mean that you put them onto you like when
they was like five or six. Yo. No, no dead ass.

Speaker 11 (57:43):
And I'm not saying just because he was here. When
the new record came out, I was just playing it
in the house and my son came home from school.
He's like, oh, Dad, is that the new Tribe album?
And he and you had them like, oh, I had him.
I was like, you might be, you might get it,
but not my son.

Speaker 3 (57:59):
He was he's fifteen, and so he was. I mean,
I had him. I was playing when he was a kid.

Speaker 11 (58:04):
I made him like a tape of just some of
my favorite music, had some Tribe on there. Micheondego, cello
like came. I mean, I just made him a tape
and so he would go to sleep to that as
a kid. And so now I will say, man, I mean,
and I see. I think this generation, the kids, they're
the most open because everything is free. So whereas back

(58:25):
in our day, like you might want to take a
chance on a radio Head or some shit.

Speaker 3 (58:30):
But it's like, Okay, I can buy Radiohead, I can
buy Cuban links. Yeah, nigga buy a cubul links. I mean,
but now everything is available.

Speaker 11 (58:36):
So those kids, now, my boys, they listen to everything
from like the most ignorant trap shit to like Tribe King,
you know what I mean, Like they listen to it
all because they have access.

Speaker 3 (58:47):
To reach starters that way.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
Celia, when she was born, I made her an iPod
of just random stuff and to this day, like she's eleven,
but she loves the police.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
Why she loves my boy my son.

Speaker 11 (59:05):
For last Christmas, he asked for uh, he wanted me
to buy him a CD copy of Metallica's and Justice
Fall because he used to play one on Guitar Hero.

Speaker 3 (59:18):
And so that like led him that.

Speaker 11 (59:20):
So like that ship Queens of the Stone Age, like
all that kind of you know, Rocky's into that.

Speaker 10 (59:25):
It's funny because you know, my little cousins they are
like fourteen fifteen, and you know they're not necessarily what
everybody deals with the millennial or whatever. I feel like
that that crew is a little bit more open. It's
like it's like, okay, I feel like the millennials or

(59:45):
whatever when they had streaming and all of that stuff
and it hit for them. It it wasn't you know,
the functionality of what streaming really was to be, which
was to cross sectionalize all types of music, hadn't really
league came hit its stride with them and hasn't really
following them with that younger generation through watching them, sees

(01:00:07):
that it's really, hey, it's about all of this shit everything. Yeah,
you know, because I was surprised, like like a year
and a half ago we had like this in store.
We did this collaboration with Stucy and the line was
like around the corner. Store was like, yo, nigga. Prior
to this, I was cutting my lawn in my New

(01:00:28):
York Jets socks and my fucking Nike shorts. I had
my tank top one, you know, smoking bead yelling at
my dogs, scratching my back like I.

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
Ain't been out. It's like, come do this. I'm like okay,
and you go to it.

Speaker 10 (01:00:44):
You see this and it's these fifteen sixteen year old
kids like, oh my god.

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
You don't know what I'm like, huh. Pop up stores
are now there. It's the new black.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:00:56):
Yes, it's encouraging and it feels it feels encouraging. I'man
encouraged by it.

Speaker 11 (01:01:01):
No, you, I will say, Tom, you were one of
the one of my favorite producers in the sense that
you always though I've always described it is like you
always kept the foot.

Speaker 3 (01:01:08):
In both worlds.

Speaker 11 (01:01:09):
Like you could do a Midnight Marauders, but then could
do the infamous you know what I'm saying. Or you
could do like a Craig mac remix, and like you
always found a way even when you work with big
mainstream acts of the time, you still found a way
to put your stamp on what.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
You were doing.

Speaker 11 (01:01:26):
And I think that's and in my opinion to me,
that always kept you kind of you. You never to me,
never came across as like that bitter guy like a
lot of the older cats.

Speaker 10 (01:01:34):
So you know what it is, you know why, and
he could tell you it's not evenly a big secret.
It's DJ right, don't you find it?

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
I mean like DJing or I'm smart about it now
because I wasn't DJing as heavy since maybe the last
three or four records where I'm now aware of it. Yeah,
now now I know why Dre, Like when I saw
straight out of Compton and realize the environment that Dre
was DJing a at that roller skating rink where it's

(01:02:03):
like you play the wrong record, that's your ass. Now realize, oh,
that's why all of Dre's stuff is taking no prisoners
with with his singles and stuff like it has to
just got to hit grab you by the throat.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
Now I realize that that, yeah, that's that's the.

Speaker 10 (01:02:19):
The other thing about it too, is that it's it's
you get to see what works and why, you know,
because I, you know, I think that you and I
we maybe I think we come from the same philosophy
when we spend you know what I'm saying, it's like,
you know, current, current, a little bit back on another one, throwback,

(01:02:41):
tempo wise, tempo match, baseline match and boom now current,
you know current, you know, just to try to mix
and then sometimes you know that the crowd may not
know the throwbacks, but you just want to see the
reaction if if it's one of the yeah, because because
if it if it doesn't stop the groove and that
you who's moving it to it. It's a great study,

(01:03:03):
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:03:03):
Psychological stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
If you're just tuning in, we're getting a hip hop
history lesson with rapper actor producer DJ member of a
tripal Quest Q Tip. The reason why I brought the
record collection is because in the era of when you
guys finally get your debut record out.

Speaker 7 (01:03:22):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
First of all, the long ass title of People's Instinctive
Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

Speaker 10 (01:03:30):
Why I mean Captain beef Hart and yeah, I mean,
you know, we need a title.

Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
We need to stick the fuck out when we need
other options for the debut album.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
Before was the you know either or we always had
like three to choose from it.

Speaker 10 (01:03:55):
Now were just like, yo, this is what it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
Is really, you know. Okay, So in the era of
you guys making that record.

Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
Well as a music producer, the first thing, the reason
why I have a dividing line between the renaissance era
of hip hop and the classic era of hip hop
and the thin line that's in between is the fact
that you guys managed to miraculously avoid James brown Well

(01:04:29):
using anything from Break B Loo's Ultimate Beats and Breaks collection,
which all right for our listeners, Break B Lou shout Out,
What's Up?

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
Lou? Lou Flores.

Speaker 1 (01:04:43):
Wisely came up with a Wikipedia or a cliff notes
if you will.

Speaker 10 (01:04:50):
Of records and street Beat Lenny.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
Yeah, Street b Lenny shout Out of all the records
that Bam and HERK and fl and Theodore would spin.

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
Back in the day.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
And when this compilation came out, in late nineteen eighty
five through nineteen eighty nine, pretty much, I'll say sixty
percent of most hip hop relied on these breaks for
their daily diet. All these you know, synthetic substitution impeached

(01:05:24):
to President. God made me funky. It was just to
the point where the average record take, like, take a
producer like Herbie Lovebug his productions on saying, like a
filler cut on a kid in play record, You get comprised.

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
You can they tell, oh, that's volume made.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
He used the drums from here and the loop from
there and the baseline from there, you know, all on
the same record where you really didn't do any heavy digging.
So this is the first time, or at least with
the native tongues, this is the first time that I'm
hearing loops that aren't on the compilation. And it's like,
oh God, I gotta do some work to figure out

(01:06:04):
what they use.

Speaker 10 (01:06:05):
What this is? What was that?

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
Was that already a rule that like no substitution, no
funky drummer, no impeached the president.

Speaker 10 (01:06:15):
Yeah we were.

Speaker 3 (01:06:17):
It was.

Speaker 10 (01:06:18):
It was a crew of us, right like it was
me Africa, Juju.

Speaker 3 (01:06:28):
The Beatnuts. Who is the music head of the beat nuts.

Speaker 10 (01:06:31):
They both are.

Speaker 3 (01:06:33):
But who's your go to?

Speaker 10 (01:06:35):
Well, Juju, who made because Juju? I mean because that
was my men, like in senior year high school, like
we were me him Rashad.

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
Yep.

Speaker 10 (01:06:49):
They all went to the No no, no, we all
went to different schools, but we were all like meet
up at the hubs and ship, like we just knew
niggas from when you know, we was getting up getting
beats and ship and you'd see dudes, you be like, yo,
that dude got because we always there was a there
was a small group of us who was like anti

(01:07:10):
break beat, you know what I mean, Like we had
to have the right ship, you know what I feel like,
all right, the.

Speaker 3 (01:07:17):
Large professor substitutions. But not once did you feel like
all right.

Speaker 10 (01:07:22):
Oh yeah, well after after you know, after we've established
ourselves in that way, you didn't come back. There's been
times I've used substitution kicks and ship like that and like.

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
That whatever tell yeah okay, or like you know, and
like Pete would.

Speaker 10 (01:07:40):
Use he would use substitution a lot, you know, some
of them ships. Just as a producer, you'd be like, yo,
that ship is still that that James brown Snea is
still rocking. We got to boot, you know what I mean.
But back then, early on, it was just about it
was about the hunt nigga, you know, saying you know

(01:08:02):
that ship just had the fight. It was just like
and then we got so on it. We would travel
out of town and fights. Me and Paul would get
fucking rent cars and.

Speaker 3 (01:08:11):
Be driving Pittsburgh. Yeah, all types of ship. You would
go to Jerry's and Pittsburgh. Yep.

Speaker 10 (01:08:17):
I went to Jerry's.

Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
Yeah, it's yeah, if any beat bigger.

Speaker 1 (01:08:21):
There's seven Pilgrimage like Mecca Pilgrim, but Jerry's you'll never
get past.

Speaker 3 (01:08:28):
Like the letter D and or C right right, right right,
that's how large his warehouse is.

Speaker 10 (01:08:34):
But the crew was it was like Juju and and
this is the crew. Like we all would know each other.
We all would go to spots and ship. It was
Juju Diamond large myself Africa, Pete, I said Paul, right, Paul.

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
Prem had already bought a store.

Speaker 10 (01:09:03):
He already had everything. Wow, he had a store. Oh
Latif Latif, I said Rashad, No, noah, it was we
was we was. Mark already had He's a OG so
he was already. So Prem had the record store that

(01:09:26):
he bought when he was in Texas and came and
they just shipped him every like forty thousand records of
some crazy ship. So he had everything, and Mark had everything.
So we were all putting our ships together kind of
at that time, you know, at the same time, you know.
But it was the hunt. It was the hunt. It

(01:09:47):
was like Game of Thrones or some ship.

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
I'm glad you're saying this because even though my career
came in the tail end of it, many a record
dealer had the fear of their eyes when like, because
I would just straight up ask them, because they like,
record dealers will do this thing where it's like, all right,
they know what kind of money is walking in, right,

(01:10:10):
so they'll look at me.

Speaker 3 (01:10:12):
They'll look at me and like, okay, a mirror's good
for ten thousand.

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
So they have a system where it's like they'll give
you all right, that's ten, that's twenty, that's ten, that's twenty,
that's ten, that's twenty.

Speaker 3 (01:10:23):
No, that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
But then they know you're itching and I'm like, so
that's it, and they'll be like, well, you know, I
got a shipment that just came in last night. And
all the warehouse is up the block, right, Oh, take
you over the block. Yeah, there's all that kind of
I got some dresses over here. Yeah no, but that's

(01:10:45):
what it's like.

Speaker 3 (01:10:46):
And then there's just a points.

Speaker 1 (01:10:48):
Well I would tell them to just cut to the chase,
like and that's the thing as a record collector, you
never tell them like, look only got a thousand, Just
cut to the chase and give me the good ship,
because no, they'll just do the same shit the tens,
the twenties, the tens, the twenties, the tens, the twenties.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
Were you out there?

Speaker 1 (01:11:05):
And then they'll be like they they will usually say
like Pete Rock was always the thing, like well, yeah,
we were holding some of the stuff for Pete Rock.

Speaker 3 (01:11:16):
You know, I'll give you an extra ten for it. Yeah.
But then you're like you get desperate and not realizing
this wouldn't be true. No, no, no, no, I realized
then I realized that was the hustle.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
And then finally I found a guy where he's just like,
look this is worth one hundred, this is worth one fifty,
this is you know, and those type of things. So
of course those prices would be jacked up because they
would use it like stuff already, so like like a
prime example the Manty Alexander and having his all right,

(01:11:53):
so before you use that for gangster bitch, know that
the album was worth like ten bucks now. But because
gangster like he q Tip single handedly brought up the
stocks on all we're not just the stuff he was, I'm.

Speaker 10 (01:12:14):
Feel bad a little bit because it just happened like
okay boom, so.

Speaker 3 (01:12:18):
Yeah, my generation is now paying the extra on the
New Tribe album.

Speaker 10 (01:12:22):
I used this this for whatever would be the Nairob Yeah,
like that ship is got rocketed already.

Speaker 13 (01:12:35):
But give me an example of like from once it
came to whence it got once?

Speaker 18 (01:12:38):
Tip touched it no all the time, like oh Jesus Christ,
I've read ram Ramp is a five dollars record.

Speaker 1 (01:12:47):
I don't even think there's an original Ramp record. Like
every Ramp album I've seen is. I just felt like
they Yeah, they finally just printed it in the name
of the interest of finding the need an apple bum sample.

Speaker 3 (01:13:01):
So how much is that now? Ran three hundred?

Speaker 1 (01:13:04):
Well you for an original press I've never seen an
original pressing of Rent, but uh, Eugene McDaniels, I've never
seen I've never seen the Headless Heroes under two hundred
bucks original. I playing that, I played that ship. The

(01:13:32):
first argument Stacey and I ever had over music, first
tasty treat Stacey and I ever had over music was
over that record.

Speaker 3 (01:13:46):
She by the time we got to that song, she
was like.

Speaker 11 (01:13:53):
A little this is the last song on eug McDaniel's
debut album. Helial play everything. I've plaid everything, No, no, no,
the SAMs for this, for the tip Us, it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:06):
Was jagget dagger. It was jagged a dagger. You know,
we was having a ball. That's good on the MYCT.

Speaker 1 (01:14:13):
Weird enough, Jack of the Dagger was such a dig
at Mick Jagger, like stealing black music.

Speaker 10 (01:14:20):
What the loop was so dope.

Speaker 3 (01:14:24):
One of the one of the last dates that we
did on when Lauren released that, did you play that
as he walked out?

Speaker 14 (01:14:30):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:14:30):
No, no, no, man, you know what he can't Yes,
he was scheduled, he was scheduled to be on the show.

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
We prepared that song.

Speaker 1 (01:14:41):
And then he okay, okay, he didn't do it, but yeah,
when he comes down, dude's jagging the dagger Like what
they gonna do the research on it?

Speaker 3 (01:14:50):
Anyway? Last the last date, the last date of this
Lauren Hill tour when she did that unplugged record Smoking
Groups tour. I remember that right.

Speaker 1 (01:15:00):
So it was Thanksgiving night in Seattle and I played
the Parasite and blasted it because I DJ before she
came on dog the look on the art, it was
the best.

Speaker 3 (01:15:12):
I might have to play you. Yes, I gotta. Can
I play the whole song? Please? The whole song is
like that, no minutes. We can't not right now.

Speaker 10 (01:15:20):
I mean if you can put a little bit, just
skim through, skim through certain.

Speaker 3 (01:15:25):
Yeah, I think it's a good close. We'll close the
show with it. Okay, stop, we will close the show
with That's fair.

Speaker 10 (01:15:32):
Can we talk over it the show like Mystery Science Theater.

Speaker 3 (01:15:38):
That is kind of what we do. Great, awesome, that's
all we do, all right? So what making this?

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
Making the record the debut? Yeah, people's I call it
Peter Peter p tour Peter Peter to make him that record?
What is because this is a group of super producers.
I mean it's a group of multiple c's, but it's
also a group of super producers.

Speaker 3 (01:16:08):
How what is the.

Speaker 1 (01:16:11):
What is the agreed upon method of making joints, like,
is it just yo, I got this loop?

Speaker 3 (01:16:19):
Yeah, I got this loop. I like that loop. Okay,
let's work on that. Or is it you know, do
you just come in with the finished product like I
like this? Does alast say? Yo? What do you think
about this? Yeah? That joints nice? I'll do that.

Speaker 10 (01:16:31):
It's kind of both.

Speaker 3 (01:16:32):
Okay in the beginning, what's it like? What's it like
on the first album?

Speaker 10 (01:16:35):
Like in the beginning, Uh, A lot of it was
demos that I'd done over the prior, I'd say five
years maybe.

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
Okay, I'm calling. I'm calling an audible storytime with Q Tip.
All right, I'm just gonna play ten seconds of random
tribe joints and you tell me, like, what comes to
mind when you made this?

Speaker 3 (01:17:00):
Well, if you remember any details, read.

Speaker 10 (01:17:08):
It, read it, turn the page, see what it says.

Speaker 3 (01:17:11):
Read it to you?

Speaker 10 (01:17:11):
Will you please? I mean running away roy is you
know it's one of my favorite.

Speaker 1 (01:17:26):
This shake catches a lot of slack, like I I'll read,
I'll read you know, like uh uh lists like Ego
trip list or whatever, where of course this didn't description
didn't of course, so it catches flack as in weird

(01:17:47):
debut songs by groups that will later God. But there's
nothing wrong with this loop. This is not my go
to song to spend. But I was never mad at
this loop or.

Speaker 3 (01:18:01):
The place of the ending. It felt like a good
ending for the album.

Speaker 8 (01:18:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:18:05):
I used to run that joint and.

Speaker 1 (01:18:06):
That was actually the B side was even funnier. Pubic
B side the joint talking smack comics.

Speaker 10 (01:18:17):
It was funny.

Speaker 3 (01:18:18):
It was like, it's very skipped to my loop.

Speaker 10 (01:18:20):
No, no, no, you know what it was to I
had two years earlier. There was a store on Bleika,
the street where you get all the fucking prints unreleased joints.

Speaker 3 (01:18:35):
Well, not Bob's, but it was another joint. It was Generations.

Speaker 10 (01:18:41):
I think it was not on, but it's off. You
know where all the chest stores. I think it was
a cross the street and down the block from my Moods.
I think there's a story where Prince actually walked in
to that store and walked out with all this ship. Yeah,
that had yo, It's ill because I was in there.

(01:19:01):
I would always hit there after school because Karena and
I would always be in the village and shit and
I would always go get I was just a huge
Prince fan. So I had heard movie Star, heard Bob
George Super Califori at the front, whatever the fuck you know,
all of that shit. Like I was just like stuck.
I remember playing movie Star for Africa. He and We're
in like eleventh grade and we're like mocking the shit

(01:19:24):
and listening to all this unreleased Prince shit, and this
was like kind.

Speaker 3 (01:19:29):
Of like one of the Yeah, what who's the you know,
it's about George?

Speaker 10 (01:19:35):
You know what I'm saying. I like doing all that
silly shit. Underneath it is the BT Express beat, you
know what I mean. I mean it's it's clearly tuned out.
But it was also still inn overage of disco kind
of house parties that were still going on. You know,
you still have Frankie Knuckles Ip, still had Larry Levan

(01:19:58):
doing parties back then, even though their houses had closed,
and maybe Frankie was doing back and forth from Chicago
to New York. So Body, Body and Soul was being established,
re established, but it was still a disco thing that
was happening.

Speaker 3 (01:20:13):
Have you ever got to see Larry spin or his systems? Yeah,
well I saw him at Limelight. Okay, did he control
the system there?

Speaker 10 (01:20:22):
I don't think so. This is towards because.

Speaker 3 (01:20:25):
When you DJ, you hea the world's loudest bass cabinets ever.
And I know that. He always me you you're always
aiming for a paradise.

Speaker 19 (01:20:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:20:36):
I'm trying to go for that man.

Speaker 10 (01:20:37):
Yeah, okay, I'm But the first real big system I
think I heard was in the World as we discussed
a A Twice's favorite song.

Speaker 3 (01:20:55):
Wow, my favorite song.

Speaker 10 (01:20:59):
I haven't heard this ship ever because I got mine,
especially slide the family stone.

Speaker 3 (01:21:06):
Advice take my advice.

Speaker 1 (01:21:16):
That was Scott Page from the ninety one album classic
The Low in Theory.

Speaker 10 (01:21:22):
When I made this beat, I was like, Yo, this
is like one of the most perfect beats I ever made,
just because you hear the brushes, You hear the brushes
on the drums playing like playing right in between that
fucking monstrous ass snig kick, that fucking gregorco Is rocking,
and the just the and then when the flu the

(01:21:43):
with the fucking phone and ship. I was just like, damn,
I wanted I wanted to make this ship longer, but
I was like, you'll fight, we should keep this ship short.

Speaker 3 (01:21:54):
Like this.

Speaker 10 (01:21:55):
It's like he was like Burt, he said this even
though I would love to we got all the joints.
We need to make this short, like because this one,
I just I just love this record. I think this
is my favorite. I think I've said before the butter
was my favorite on the album, but it's really this.

Speaker 3 (01:22:14):
I haven't heard this in a while. Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:22:17):
See this is where we haven't common because I don't know,
like maybe it was the Beast being the B side
of Check the Rhyme or whatever, but this just hit
me at the right moment, Like we brought the Check
the Rhyme single. It's like a Friday night Tower Records,
and when like we already knew Checked the Rhyme. So

(01:22:39):
when we heard the B side for sky pager In
on a loud ass car system on a Friday night,
like we sat it. We sat there and listening to
like twenty times in a row, Like I was so mad.
There was no instrumental over this shit. But this is
like one of the songs that like me and Tarique
it bonded over like but it may be hard.

Speaker 10 (01:22:59):
To to Maybe you understand it, amir, but don't. Sometimes
it's like you take yourself out of it as the
actual artist and then you as the DJ Resister, Listen,
you know what I'm saying, and you just hear it
and for a minute you be like, oh shit, you
know what I'm saying.

Speaker 11 (01:23:16):
I'm sure, but you have to have time. I think
like you have to have distance away from it. You
know what I'm saying, Yes, because like why you're working
on it while I'm working on stuff like I can't write,
Oh my god, but.

Speaker 1 (01:23:26):
I'm certain that you make records that younger you would
want to buy as a consumer or.

Speaker 3 (01:23:36):
Correct? Do you not make rhymes that.

Speaker 10 (01:23:39):
You wish.

Speaker 3 (01:23:42):
You're you're you're?

Speaker 1 (01:23:43):
It would like like right now, you mean like like
just in general, I thought that was the whole goal
of a musician to make the stuff you want to hear,
make the stuff that you would buy as a music
Oh absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, making the stuff that
you want to hear, and pretty much, well, at least
for me, just making the stuff that, you know, the
stuff that I felt was missing, like a record that man,

(01:24:05):
I wish I could buy this record.

Speaker 3 (01:24:07):
I make the record that I want to buy and uh,
but but.

Speaker 11 (01:24:10):
I think it only gets to that point for me,
like kind of going back what Tip was saying, why
you're working on it.

Speaker 10 (01:24:15):
I don't listen to none of it. Yeah, it's like like,
I don't, I haven't listened to this, Like when I
put it out, I don't listen to it. And the
only the only time I'll go through it is if
I'm DJing, I'll listen to the ship because I really
try to stay away from playing my own ship. But
when you're reading a crowd or if you know, sometimes

(01:24:36):
you may hit a little bit of it and then
and then you see it work. You see your work
in the context of other people in the club, just
to bring it back to the DJ anything, and it
makes you go, oh, what was the last record that
you played yours in the club? And you was like,
oh what you feeling?

Speaker 1 (01:24:54):
What? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:24:55):
Wow, see, now that's weird.

Speaker 1 (01:24:58):
I have a roule against playing our shit because every
time I play the root.

Speaker 3 (01:25:05):
Ship is the fastest for.

Speaker 10 (01:25:10):
Yeah, I don't, I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:25:14):
But no, but I'm saying they got this already.

Speaker 1 (01:25:17):
It's already established that you're the establishment of that level.
Like you know, there's at least five tribe songs that
are the mount rushmore go to songs of a party starter.
So even when you were DJing, like is it embarrassing
to play what's the captain obvious one like scenario.

Speaker 10 (01:25:39):
I don't play none of it obviously.

Speaker 3 (01:25:41):
So even when you were DJing in let's say nineteen ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:25:44):
Three and you put scenario on knowing the motherfucker's gonna
go out, they mind like, is this still like a
weird thing?

Speaker 10 (01:25:49):
Like yeah, I don't, I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:25:51):
I don't do that.

Speaker 10 (01:25:52):
I can't do that. I'll play Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:25:55):
You'll play some obscure sit.

Speaker 10 (01:25:57):
I'll play something more if, like especially if it's like
a I have a groove rowing or whatever. Like let's say, okay,
so what is somewhere like one hundred and five bp
M or some ship.

Speaker 3 (01:26:07):
I know what you're going to say, what no, I
was doing do it? Do it?

Speaker 1 (01:26:12):
I was going to say you you would probably play
no footprints. I feel like you would play footprints a
not club song. But okay, you taught me this term
part of my French niggag drum.

Speaker 10 (01:26:38):
Drums, nigga drums dr.

Speaker 3 (01:26:44):
Drums. No, he's just it's just he taught me that term.
He's just like it's like that's the secret.

Speaker 1 (01:26:53):
Like the music smooth, but the beat is so cracking
and hard and just hard like it's it's it's like
Freddy Fox.

Speaker 3 (01:27:02):
Punching you in the news. It's this ship over on
top while like in my head, why was Freddy Fox? Yeah?
The hip hop yeah, like damn it, like.

Speaker 1 (01:27:17):
We're getting a pound from busting rhymes, you know, like
it's yeah, no, when Busted picks you up, it's you
gotta hide your hands like him, him and the Angelo,
Him and Angelo the harip like he pulls your finger
like our things.

Speaker 10 (01:27:34):
But he did is relentless deal do it all night
for two hours.

Speaker 1 (01:27:39):
Every since Primo said the same thing, he has like
he adapted every two minutes. D M buster the reason
why I get pounds down. They will pull your joints
out of sockets, giving you a pounds so hard touch
your manlihood.

Speaker 3 (01:27:56):
It's just now it's just pounds, man. It does.

Speaker 1 (01:28:01):
Jesus, I feel like each album is like nine hours
worthy of right, Right, So we got any any any
people's instinctive questions I missed?

Speaker 3 (01:28:12):
Well, I mean, I'm trying to think.

Speaker 11 (01:28:14):
I just remember this funny plate description of a fool
because that was the first time I can recall my
older cousin of mine pointing out to me that it
was a sample because I didn't know. I didn't know
the roy As record, and I remember him playing, you know,
the typical old school y'all, all the y'all y'all stealing.

Speaker 3 (01:28:34):
That's still like.

Speaker 10 (01:28:39):
About this whole sample ship. I mean, and you guys
know this. I mean there's fucking twelve notes, you know, right,
And it's like you have different varying degrees of voicings
and ship that you could use. So everybody has sampled

(01:28:59):
Private Joy by Prince. Okay, did you play that real quick?
Just a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:29:04):
We're not allowed to, Okay, I'm sorry, sorry, all right?

Speaker 3 (01:29:11):
Do you have uh.

Speaker 10 (01:29:14):
Frankie Valley who loves You pretty baby?

Speaker 3 (01:29:19):
Okay? You ain't got no Frankie Valley and nice reference.

Speaker 10 (01:29:27):
But my point is is that it's the same voicings,
just different keys, you know what I mean, Like if
you listen to them back to back, it's the same ship.
Like it's like people, you.

Speaker 3 (01:29:42):
Know, I'm playing it. It's Frankie Valley. Yes, it's uh,
who loves You by Frankie Valley in the four.

Speaker 10 (01:29:50):
Seasons, just the highlights and illustrate mine, it's Private Joy.

Speaker 3 (01:30:01):
I didn't realize that.

Speaker 12 (01:30:05):
Yeah, that's private joy.

Speaker 3 (01:30:17):
That is private joy, you know what I mean. I
never realized that till now.

Speaker 10 (01:30:21):
It's like that that ship goes on. Some people can
rearrange and revoice certain chords and you know, you know,
reapproach the melodies and stuff like that, but sampling is
something that has been done for how many how many
times you've heard the chord changes from Cherokee in regular Ship?

(01:30:44):
You know what I'm saying, Like it's.

Speaker 3 (01:30:47):
Stupid, it is.

Speaker 11 (01:30:49):
Yeah, when y'all were in terms of you were talking
about Juju, it's funny that you mention that because I
always it makes total sense now hearing it that you
and Juju ran together, because I always thought, like to
use a stranger things reference. I always thought that the
Beating Uts first album was like the upside down version
of Midnight Marauders, Like that was a real Black Sea album.

Speaker 3 (01:31:11):
Oh man, it was.

Speaker 19 (01:31:13):
That is so they there you go, Joe, You're right,
because I love I love days they and.

Speaker 10 (01:31:34):
They don't get their props. Their sucking albums always fucking.

Speaker 3 (01:31:40):
Razy. There's no album that doesn't have like when.

Speaker 10 (01:31:44):
I first heard that fucking that Diamond Bird ship.

Speaker 15 (01:31:47):
That do.

Speaker 3 (01:31:49):
Do Do Do Do do do do just worked on like,
how does that work with with ideas or whatever? Like
have they ever worked on?

Speaker 14 (01:32:08):
No?

Speaker 3 (01:32:09):
We never like did that.

Speaker 10 (01:32:10):
The only thing we did was we started this group
called the Fabulous Fleas.

Speaker 3 (01:32:17):
How far? How far did that go? Why didn't it materialize?

Speaker 10 (01:32:23):
I don't know. We had two records?

Speaker 3 (01:32:28):
Wait what wow? Exist actually made.

Speaker 1 (01:32:32):
Shout Out to Pass and I'm still waiting for my
fabulous Fleas has a lot of ship, yes he does.

Speaker 3 (01:32:38):
He has a lot his wedding for free to get
some fleas.

Speaker 13 (01:32:43):
Yo.

Speaker 10 (01:32:44):
He has a lot of stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:32:45):
He does.

Speaker 10 (01:32:46):
He is, he's going to low He's like, so yeah,
that was the That was you know, Juju Man and
Light and Less Sorry. And I remember when Fashion was
with them for the first couple of joints, right, Fashion
joined in the second because it was Fashion on the
first one.

Speaker 11 (01:33:06):
He was on the first was the first, and then
he left after no no, No, He was on the
EP and then he was on the album and then
he left when they did Street Level.

Speaker 3 (01:33:14):
That's because he did the God Connections. That's right.

Speaker 11 (01:33:16):
That's a couple of joints to Fashion is dope. And
you talk about sampling. One thing I wanted to ask you,
like from Marauders to Beats Rhymes in Life? How did
the sampling laws like did it? Was it harder to
sample at that time because Beat Rhymes Life had a
lot more live stuff on it.

Speaker 1 (01:33:36):
Especially didn't pay attention because this record, like I was
bomb squad terry like so much.

Speaker 3 (01:33:44):
I was like, how do they clear they clear all
this ship? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:33:47):
The laughing speaking of which, Uh, sir, come on, yes, sir,
it is time for Uh, it's time for a moment.
That's why I gave you a pen and paper. Uh,
We're going through round one of so all right to

(01:34:11):
be fair because I wasn't fair to Pete Rock when
he did it.

Speaker 3 (01:34:17):
Here we go.

Speaker 1 (01:34:19):
I'm gonna test your gangster. I'm gonna test a gangster
on samples like.

Speaker 10 (01:34:22):
Gangster and gyle.

Speaker 3 (01:34:23):
Yeah, I'm gonna play you.

Speaker 10 (01:34:25):
I'm gonna lose this horrible No, you're not You're not.

Speaker 1 (01:34:28):
And because I'm gonna give it to you twice, I'm
gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna.

Speaker 3 (01:34:31):
Play you a slew of samples and you name them ship.
You ready, you can do better than me. Here we go.
I'm gonna do this for you twice. Here's the first round.
Name these two. You might want to have a pin
because they're gonna come quick.

Speaker 10 (01:34:51):
Oh ship like that? You ready, yes, sir?

Speaker 3 (01:34:54):
Part one? Here we go. Oh man, Okay, Tip is singing,
he's not writing. There you go my favorite song.

Speaker 10 (01:35:19):
I'm not gonna I'm never gonna win.

Speaker 3 (01:35:21):
All right, you gotta get closer to close to the mic.

Speaker 10 (01:35:24):
I'm not gonna win. I got this too much.

Speaker 3 (01:35:26):
It's too quick. Yeah, because I was like, I'm not
gonna do this.

Speaker 10 (01:35:29):
This is too crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:35:31):
It was like, this is this is this is a Stapley,
this is a staple.

Speaker 10 (01:35:38):
Already, I'm ready.

Speaker 3 (01:35:40):
I'll give it to you one more time, and I
write this this rite the art? Everybody, just right right?
The artist? You don't song? I know he concocted this
ship to come on now. It's fun, but you guess
it is fun?

Speaker 10 (01:35:58):
All right, come on, all right you genus?

Speaker 3 (01:36:00):
Ready, all right, just named the artist. I don't know.
I know that, I don't know.

Speaker 10 (01:36:11):
You know this don't know, I don't know. It's not
enough for me. Eddie Kendricks.

Speaker 3 (01:36:20):
Okay, you're saying the song next?

Speaker 10 (01:36:38):
Is that Marbret Holmes no up titled uh.

Speaker 3 (01:36:45):
You know the song? Yeah?

Speaker 10 (01:36:48):
Bang guy that's a ship. Oh fuck is that for all?
That's Hamilton bohand that's Brenda Russell.

Speaker 1 (01:37:04):
Okay, got a little bit. Okay, we missed Tyrone Davis
and the brick Fun brick Fun, Yes, and uh our
farmer soul sides.

Speaker 3 (01:37:16):
He does use that for the pussy. That was right exactly. Well,
that's when he mentioned that. I was like the night Lighters.
There you go and Detroit Emeralds.

Speaker 10 (01:37:28):
Detroit Emeralds.

Speaker 3 (01:37:30):
All right, so you you sort of guessed it.

Speaker 10 (01:37:32):
I'm sorry, it's Carl.

Speaker 3 (01:37:35):
Yeah, yeah, give me another one.

Speaker 10 (01:37:37):
Do you have another?

Speaker 3 (01:37:38):
Yeah? Give me pete, give me pete.

Speaker 1 (01:37:40):
No, I got advanced rounds you. We'll get you a
little bit later. You got advanced rounds.

Speaker 15 (01:37:44):
Give you a breather.

Speaker 1 (01:37:50):
So did you Were you satisfied? Were you satisfied with?
How did you feel? The general reception was for the
debut record going into the second record, like.

Speaker 10 (01:38:05):
You feel like I had a little bit of a
chip on my shoulder coming from the like who chuck
Eddie rolling Stone?

Speaker 3 (01:38:13):
The three star review?

Speaker 10 (01:38:15):
I never yeah, fuck you the fucker. And then that's
what I slowly but surely got on my diet, of
which I'm now practicing of trying to, you know, look
at any kind of articles, of any kind of reviews,
anything at all of good bad. I don't want to
hear nothing because you know.

Speaker 1 (01:38:34):
You and I took it personally, that's weird. It's not
even my record. And I to this day, Chuck is
on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thing. He
him and Alan Light profusely apologize.

Speaker 3 (01:38:48):
To you for it. I never I'm literally all right,
I'm on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame board.

Speaker 1 (01:38:58):
So basically the Rolling Stone editors of the eighties and
the nineties are in the same room.

Speaker 3 (01:39:04):
Trust me.

Speaker 1 (01:39:05):
They realized that them reviewing hip hop ten years ago
was the equivalent of a vegetarians review and chicken contest.

Speaker 10 (01:39:14):
Exactly what they need to make a statement, because that's
in a room.

Speaker 1 (01:39:16):
No, even with Alan without Allan Light has regrets over
America's most wanted Chuck Eddie has regrets over People's Sea.
He said it was the least danceable hip hop.

Speaker 3 (01:39:30):
Dude. When I read it, I was just because I
got the Source review.

Speaker 1 (01:39:37):
Tribes debut record was the first album to get a
five mic review in The Source in the summer of
ninety and they because I had it already. They were
saying everything I felt. I was like, wow, this is
like real critics actually are reviewing. That's when I realized like, oh,
the source might be onto something, being like our Bible.

(01:40:00):
But then, because I was collecting all those Rolling Stone
reviews on the back of.

Speaker 3 (01:40:07):
The who's the main review?

Speaker 1 (01:40:10):
It was someone else that I think was it Neil Young,
I don't know if it was Freedom, whatever it was.
Tribes was the thing on the back, and I was
just like, how can critics be so out of touch?
And then I realized, oh, there's a double standard between
hip hop experts and rock experts.

Speaker 3 (01:40:29):
Like Solange and Brandy.

Speaker 10 (01:40:31):
Yeah, what happened with them? Unclear?

Speaker 3 (01:40:34):
Well, now Solange gave just due to Brandy's work and
kind of the.

Speaker 1 (01:40:44):
Pitchforkian or John of John Cara, Yeah, John care I
can never get his I don't even know if I
said it right.

Speaker 3 (01:40:52):
I think I think, yeah, you got right, John Caramonica.
You know there's kind of there's kind of like a snarky.

Speaker 10 (01:40:57):
They said stop kaping for Brandy or something, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:41:00):
Like basically right, yeah, like a snarky like what do
you know about like real musical and Brandy's high art.

Speaker 3 (01:41:07):
To you that sort of thing, and she.

Speaker 1 (01:41:11):
Your record ship exactly so, but she did the slime
sting got in the ass and yeah, you know, yeah exactly.

Speaker 10 (01:41:20):
So it's I remember when she was talking to me
about doing the record she was mad about She was
so mad that it was a little bit intelligible. So
so it was I just like I was like looking
at her.

Speaker 14 (01:41:33):
Too, like.

Speaker 1 (01:41:35):
On the ground, right, So she proposed to the idea
of what the album was going to be before you
got started working. Yeah, yeah, when she she came, that's
the first thing, like she's like, come out of the
studio whatever I want you hear some ideas, see what's up.
And then like she gave me the pitch and Sampa
is there too, and I'm looking at Sanfa like who
met me? No, No, it's just like she was just

(01:42:02):
like I wanted I'm making a manifesto and I'm tired
of the ship.

Speaker 3 (01:42:06):
You with me or not?

Speaker 1 (01:42:10):
And I two three and falling, Like, dude, that's exactly
like is that okay, you're joking, that's exactly what they
playing record. Yeah, she knew what she wanted and was

(01:42:33):
like she was not gripping me by like full force
and crust groove to get the results.

Speaker 3 (01:42:39):
So I love the records you did on her too.
That was my favoritejots.

Speaker 10 (01:42:43):
Her and I have about about ten records together. Yeah,
and pub we were working on this ship and then
she went to Raphael and and at one point she
came back to me.

Speaker 3 (01:42:59):
She came back to me.

Speaker 10 (01:43:01):
But I've been working with Cilantro. I've always encouraged her
to like go, like she's like a ded ded dear
dear like that, like we come come to the crib
cook type ship, like that's my sister right there. And
I'm just really happy for her. So how good is
that album? Maybe so fucking good, man, so good? And

(01:43:26):
I'm so happy for her, you know, because it's like
like just not to digress, but you know, obviously her
sister is you know what I mean, And it must
be you know, you know, nepotism aside. It must be
hard to be. But she's so fucking hit and nailed

(01:43:50):
her own voice here and stuck her foot in it,
and it's just I'm just I'm just really happy for her.

Speaker 15 (01:43:57):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:43:58):
I'm still clad for Salona. So happy. Well, that's why
I wanted y'all clap with me, So it didn't sound like.

Speaker 5 (01:44:06):
Like that.

Speaker 1 (01:44:08):
So for you, it was like the chip on your
shoulder was wait till they get a load of me.
I always I see. I didn't know if you read
your your like if you read reviews or not.

Speaker 10 (01:44:21):
And so when you had another little chip after this
one too though, but I can't say what it is yet.

Speaker 3 (01:44:28):
But for low in theory, this new album, yeah, I
don't know who.

Speaker 10 (01:44:34):
Refuted Well, it's not you know, it's I just.

Speaker 3 (01:44:40):
All right, what's the name of the periodical? Does it
start with the pet mad? Is the rating good? You
can do? Damn? Anyway? Because about three seconds this.

Speaker 11 (01:44:58):
Murder was it?

Speaker 3 (01:44:59):
Was it a mad? Was it a publication? Was it?
Is it a peer? Was it like someone? It was
like peer review kind of good questions?

Speaker 10 (01:45:08):
We're all good man, I'm just gonna fuel it into
the music.

Speaker 3 (01:45:12):
There you bet?

Speaker 13 (01:45:13):
Monkey, stop your show?

Speaker 3 (01:45:15):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 13 (01:45:16):
Was that an aunt moment?

Speaker 11 (01:45:17):
That was such an an you got to bring some
chicken in here for us? So was there a meeting
or a manifesto of like what should we do this record?

Speaker 3 (01:45:33):
Or was just just like yeah, yeah, I think it was.

Speaker 10 (01:45:40):
It was more like, come on, fife, you know what
I'm saying. And I was just like, yo, let's go.

Speaker 1 (01:45:50):
So was it that he didn't feel No, it was
just even with the last record, like should he have?
Was he late to a few sessions that like what
song should a fight been on on on the first
album that he wasn't on?

Speaker 3 (01:46:02):
There was just like all right, well you're not there, so.

Speaker 10 (01:46:10):
Probably go ahead and the ring rhythm?

Speaker 3 (01:46:12):
Uh, he should have been on going the.

Speaker 10 (01:46:15):
Ring Yeah rhythm, Uh, push it along.

Speaker 17 (01:46:22):
On that what it's time to decipher the situations. Situation
you made me think I was crazy right now.

Speaker 10 (01:46:33):
I mean, I mean footprints he should have been okay,
I mean it was a couple. But when we got
we were gonna make low end theory, we was just
like we need more of you with that, and were
just like, Yo, now it's time to two. You know,

(01:46:55):
we put all the colors on the canvas with the
first album. Now it's time to go cubism, you know,
like sharp, you know, distinct, exact like show now we
got to show our lines, you know what I'm saying.
So it was more it was more about that, and

(01:47:16):
luckily the timing was just I mean, it wasn't our time,
and it was just like the environment was kind of
heading towards that.

Speaker 3 (01:47:24):
We'll also so you guys, like you broke it down
more simple for.

Speaker 1 (01:47:31):
The people, Whereas like my idea of a tribe called
Quest was definitely like whatever. The back cover of the
Benita apple bum twelve inch was like, my version of
tribe is the abstract kind of artsy looking kids whatever.
Whereas now the same group, it's now on the Tarik

(01:47:53):
side of the fence and just rocking.

Speaker 3 (01:47:56):
Because the first thing I noticed I was like, oh,
they're rocking Champion right right. We started that.

Speaker 10 (01:48:01):
We kind of was doing that purposefully.

Speaker 5 (01:48:04):
I know.

Speaker 10 (01:48:05):
The time we got to the Cannot Kick A video,
we was like, okay, now we gotta start. We got
to start phasing it in fashion and fashion in it
too as a precursor.

Speaker 3 (01:48:15):
You wanted to look like the people.

Speaker 10 (01:48:17):
Well yeah, well we came out like the first album
was like about the first album was more about the
the spirit and more about just philosophically kind of the thing.
You know, the vastness, the all inclusiveness nature of the record,

(01:48:38):
you know, the idealism, the youthfulness, the naivete, like it
was important, you know much like if you look through
phases of childhood, you know, it's important to keep a
kid's imagination and intact and incited, and you know you

(01:48:59):
definitely want to step in with certain lessons there, but
you want to be more encouraging. So the spirit was
more of a child spirit, whereas the Loewen theory was
a little bit more of a coming of age, like
I said, very specific, minimal like bare bones, like stripped
down like that was like all purposeful, like discuss designed

(01:49:20):
by the time we got to the Kannakika video, you know,
mixing a little bit of kinta cloth with polo right like,
and then full on by the time the album.

Speaker 1 (01:49:35):
For me, one of the most important musicians on the
low end theory rock Carder No by Power. Oh well, yeah,
so how did tell the story of how Bob came
into uh to be?

Speaker 10 (01:49:53):
We were working in the studio Gilliope and Shane Farber
was like the head engineer, right. There was another cat
there too. They were all kind of like you know,
rocker dudes, like real rock and roll whatever, and it
was a beautiful studio and Shane was doing the Jungle Brothers,

(01:50:15):
he was doing Bizz he was he was doing a
lot right. So we started to work on our ship
and this was the first album and I remember Africa
and had to have a sub one day, like Shane
couldn't do the session. So there was a guy in
the back who would do jingles. He had like the
perfect jingle voice.

Speaker 3 (01:50:35):
And then.

Speaker 10 (01:50:37):
And well before we get there, when you go into
the lobby or into the front desk room of Calliope,
they'd have all of their records that they that were
done at the studio up on the wall, twelve inches
and shit, one of them being Stetso Sonic Ghost Tetza.
That was one of the Latin quart of staples. You

(01:50:59):
know when that ship We'll come home with those fucking
drums rumbling, It was a fucking problem. If you had
anything on nice, you would want to hold on to it.
All of that ships, the heart of the drum play, a.

Speaker 3 (01:51:11):
Little bit of the police. Are you trying to sinuate
that the heart of the song? The more like.

Speaker 10 (01:51:17):
Yes, it was back then it was exciting for this, Yes,
it was exciting. Really, it was like yes, because the
d you know that that how do you say that?
How does how do you say the jiff with the
battle kid and he's standing with his glasses.

Speaker 3 (01:51:31):
It was like, yes, It's like, Yo, where do you go? Man?
How do you find that jiff? Because I look for
that jiff and can't. I don't know what you call it.

Speaker 10 (01:51:39):
I don't know battle rap really battle rap.

Speaker 3 (01:51:47):
So you heard ghost.

Speaker 1 (01:51:48):
Sets of by stets of Sonic in the Latin corner.
So this was like your smells like spirit. This was
your smells like teen spirit at the Latin Quarter.

Speaker 10 (01:52:00):
That record was so crazy that it inspired them to
make this other cup came out the Mighty Mic Masters.
You ever hear that no.

Speaker 3 (01:52:12):
Get you? Word feels like an answer record, the best
that's kind.

Speaker 10 (01:52:22):
And that ship is banging to Freddy Freddy being Mighty
Mic Masters.

Speaker 3 (01:52:26):
The Mighty Mic Masters. What's the name of the song?

Speaker 10 (01:52:29):
I think it's called word, It's just word. I'm the
real McCoy, I'm the real play boy.

Speaker 3 (01:52:35):
Ladies man a door. Remember that it was on Tough City.

Speaker 10 (01:52:42):
Yeah, turn it up, turn refuge alert, Arnie.

Speaker 3 (01:52:54):
Oh man, that's day Swing. It's like hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
this isn't a compression. Wow, this is what year? What

(01:53:17):
year is this? What years?

Speaker 1 (01:53:18):
The pumpkin was on drums Pumpkin's a mother Pumpkin was
the house rummer of Enjoy Records.

Speaker 3 (01:53:28):
Ladies, gentlemen, what what uh what Keith LeBlanc and Doug
wyn Bush World sugar Hill Records. Nah, huh, Pumpkin.

Speaker 1 (01:53:43):
I always wanted to know where these drums came from
on Swing a Lot King because I thought this was
a prince like this is like a prince Ball beat
to me, like every prince Ball beat my mind is this,
And I thought he programmed it.

Speaker 3 (01:53:57):
I'm not saying that what studio was that done in?

Speaker 17 (01:54:00):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (01:54:00):
The information is not here.

Speaker 10 (01:54:02):
Wow, I wonder if that was done.

Speaker 3 (01:54:04):
Freddy be the Mighty on Aaron Fuchs Tough City. It
was nineteen eighty six eight.

Speaker 10 (01:54:11):
It was crazy so Bob so I looked. I looked.
I was like, wow, Stetsa because I remember always looking
at the credits and it said recorded and mixed by
Bob Power Jump cut two. You know the sub is
in there and it's the engineer for Africa and for
a session on Dumb by the Forces, I think, and
you know the song I can't remember.

Speaker 1 (01:54:33):
I was about to say, it has to be doing
our own thing. No jb'sh JB's coming through hard.

Speaker 10 (01:54:41):
It could be because that's one of the artist, it's
one of the In terms of arrangements for hip hop songs,
it's either the first or the second for me, Like
like JB's coming Through. You listen to the fucking arrangement
on that record and what's going on that ship is
like a Queen record.

Speaker 3 (01:54:59):
Yes, insane is criminal.

Speaker 1 (01:55:02):
It's criminal. That was not even considered the first single off.
I feel like, if that can't burrow my god this world,
ye oh my god. They was, and the video of
that ship could have made a difference. It could have

(01:55:23):
made a difference. I swore it was going to be
like I mean that.

Speaker 10 (01:55:28):
Ship is to this day, it's like because that was
never an official single, was it? No?

Speaker 1 (01:55:33):
And then it was it was because the B side
is what FOREL based nothing on for Norri the George
Michael father figure.

Speaker 15 (01:55:46):
That was.

Speaker 10 (01:55:55):
You know, but that freaking so anyway, So this guy
is like this engineer guys like recording vocals on Africa
and he's like Africa's rapping rap rappings up. Then the
engineer goes, oh, that's okay.

Speaker 3 (01:56:15):
I think that take was good.

Speaker 10 (01:56:16):
Did you want to get another one?

Speaker 3 (01:56:17):
Are you ready?

Speaker 10 (01:56:17):
To do another one, and as like, what the fuck
is this motherfucker? He's like, okay, clear, stand by, Like
he was just okay, clear, It's like this motherfucker sounded
like a fucking an airline pilot associate that he would
say or whatever the fuck right. So I liked his efficiency.

(01:56:38):
I like the fact that he was just like on
it and just accommodating and nice. Because Shane was a
little old rocker guy, rough, little rough, a little rough,
not old rocker guy. But he started because he had
a few hits. He was doing the money ship. He
was feeling himself, you know what I'm saying, and the

(01:56:58):
most unlikely base with a bunch of black kids.

Speaker 3 (01:57:02):
So now he's balling.

Speaker 10 (01:57:04):
He's feeling the feeling himself. And Bob was just like okay.
I was like, so then we had to have the
session were supposed to use Shane, and Shane couldn't do
it because I guess shame is in Costa Rica balling
whatever regretful vacation yo. Sudden Bob Power was I was like, wait,
didnute Bob Power? Is that the guy who was doing

(01:57:27):
the Jungle Brothers session two days ago and the guy
who did and he was like, yeah, I was like
book them and that was it. Wow, that was it.
Home since then ever since then.

Speaker 3 (01:57:41):
Was our second guest on the show. It's amazing, literally
exact same that.

Speaker 10 (01:57:44):
Record, that's that's the sonic record. That was it and
that was like and I saw him work because he
and I.

Speaker 1 (01:57:51):
Like, that's how Like I wonder if say regrets it now,
like in hindsight, if you didn't take that vacation like
Shane could have on so much hip hop history because.

Speaker 10 (01:58:07):
He did just a friend, he did that stuff, Monies
in the Middle, he did.

Speaker 1 (01:58:11):
But for a lot of the mid nineties, late nineties
generation cats, like we all read the engineer credits to
our favorite records and it was like Bypower, try by Powered,
Daylight Soul. So that's who we rolled with, Like we
wanted the person that sounded chrisp and clean. So how

(01:58:32):
how many mixes would you go through? And I know
how meticulous Bob is as an engineer, but for the
low end theory to get the base frequency that fucking
loud and to get the snare drum that like, to
get the the the base frequencies that you guys use
and the snares that you guys use and the voices

(01:58:54):
and you guys don't have Chuck d Preacher voices. So
to get it thirty three and a third of the
base with the kick, the snare to punch through and
your voices which aren't Teddy Pendergrass. It's none of that
ship that was good. But I'm just saying, what was

(01:59:21):
what was the mixing process? Like, I mean, how much
damage did y'all do to Well? I know, first of all,
if you know by power, he never uses the big speakers,
So that's even like he mixes everything on like clock
radio status like the worst speaker.

Speaker 3 (01:59:37):
Well because these everybody, if you if you sound good
on that, that was his big rule.

Speaker 10 (01:59:44):
Like and I to this day he's so right because
if you could if.

Speaker 3 (01:59:49):
You get it sounds great.

Speaker 10 (01:59:52):
You're here and you hear everything and it's in articulation,
and you know that you're seventy five there and he
will always say so being at you. You hear everything,
then it's about what you know the person, what kind
of personality you wanted to have, Like so if if
it's going for this or that, he he leans more
to what's naturally their sonically, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (02:00:14):
So how did y'all achieve that?

Speaker 1 (02:00:16):
Because as simple as the record sounds drums, bass, voice,
minimum samples, that is some hard ship to achieve to
be that loud. It's it's louder than the average hip
hop record. Like you take an album like Nation and Millions, Yeah,
and which is crammed with everything, and it's it's not

(02:00:36):
really loud though, but it's loud. It's not heavy, it's light.
It's it's loud in the in the high end sense
of the word.

Speaker 10 (02:00:43):
But do you feel like it has a lot of compression?
Takes a Nation.

Speaker 3 (02:00:45):
Milly a lot, right, Yes, So how did you guys loudness?
How did you guys achieve that? Because that's some hard Bob.

Speaker 10 (02:00:53):
Because Bob, I mean, his thing is about placement too,
Like a guitar should kind of naturally be in like anywhere.
If it's a rhythm guitar, it shouldn't naturally be in
kind of like a you know, low mid, the bottom
end of a low mid, so anywhere from like three hundred,

(02:01:16):
you know, up to kind of maybe like Bob was
so scientific with it, you know too, you know, it
should be there, and then the bass has its section
like depending that he was more about the natural placement
of music and vocals and the sections of it, not
too much compressions. And he really liked to use a
lot of you know going through like we we worked

(02:01:40):
on that on the blow and there you worked on
the John Lennon Eve that was in battery. What Yeah,
that was in battery.

Speaker 3 (02:01:49):
Damn, that was before my time.

Speaker 10 (02:01:51):
That was I was in studio b really, So we
did a lot of shit going through that Neve and
then we wind up mixing in a on the SSL.
So the actual recording of it, the ship I was
giving him, I was giving him, So.

Speaker 1 (02:02:08):
You would record that battery on in the b room. Yeah,
do you miss going to battery just.

Speaker 3 (02:02:14):
To feel Yeah, it was fun.

Speaker 1 (02:02:18):
Like when did y'all go, because y'all was We started
December of ninety three, so.

Speaker 3 (02:02:27):
What's weird?

Speaker 10 (02:02:28):
Was Okay, the first joint y'all did. Y'all did home?

Speaker 3 (02:02:31):
Right?

Speaker 1 (02:02:31):
Well, we did organics home at some spot in Nepolis,
great studios.

Speaker 3 (02:02:37):
Well that was like in the grid. We didn't know
what we were doing.

Speaker 1 (02:02:39):
So all of Christmas of nineteen ninety three, and this
before automation. This is on two inch tapes, so like
you know, I would regretfully, like the guys would get
mad at me if I'd say, like, okay, I want
to echo on this part, which would mean that Bob
would rewind rewind, and you know when you rewind the

(02:03:00):
tape that's already ninety seconds worth of time. Now we're
trying to perfect it. Any any request I had of
Bob Power was a twenty minute exercise.

Speaker 3 (02:03:11):
So we're taking eight to nine hours per song per day.

Speaker 1 (02:03:17):
And you know we were used to just knocking shit
out like okay, now song's done, but now it's like
but Bob explaining like this is the meticulous process.

Speaker 10 (02:03:26):
And guys, I need some quiet. If you guys want
to talk, please guys go another room.

Speaker 3 (02:03:32):
Did you hear that a lot?

Speaker 10 (02:03:32):
Did you hear that a lot?

Speaker 3 (02:03:33):
I said that a lot? Boss Bill.

Speaker 1 (02:03:35):
Boss Bill has alerted me to the fact that what's
the website all Music All Music or discocks When you
go to discogs and you look up someone's information. Because
I gave Bob a new moniker title for each song,
it would be like mixed by Bob.

Speaker 3 (02:03:53):
Guys, you really must take this in the break room.
Power he has over he has over like sixty his
credits guys. Really, I left you, guys some food in
the fridge. Go check it out. Why I mix this
song like literally, yeah, Bob was you it must be quiet?

Speaker 1 (02:04:09):
There was no like, none of that, none of the
ship that I thought was going to happen when you
make a rap record, like girls and parties and all
that stuff. None of that was going on at Root sessions,
like we were quiet and and focused.

Speaker 10 (02:04:23):
Guys. I just need a little bit of quiet, please, Tip,
Why don't you come in and take a little you know, I.

Speaker 3 (02:04:31):
You know, I know it didn't get right right exactly.

Speaker 1 (02:04:34):
He would talk you down in a non condescending in
a way you feel like, yeah, you are doing this
for the greater good, Bob. Okay, let me take all
this weed and hookers and the right right right right right,
all right. Well, at this rate, I'll be lucky to
get the Midnight Maran.

Speaker 3 (02:04:52):
We gotta gets now, let's come on, all right, so look,
so look.

Speaker 5 (02:04:59):
For me.

Speaker 1 (02:05:00):
Know this is nerd facts, but it should be noted.
It should be noted that, uh, I feel like the
scenario remix ushered in well, the chopping of the chopping
of Blind Alley and what it represented. I felt like

(02:05:20):
that was the most influential move that you guys did
as producers, because.

Speaker 3 (02:05:27):
Pretty soon.

Speaker 1 (02:05:30):
When Kats heard Blind Alley chopped in a way okay,
I'm speaking of the emotions Blind.

Speaker 11 (02:05:37):
Alley ain't no half step in being yeah, all these
songs and you brought it back for phony rappers on uh.

Speaker 3 (02:05:51):
So to to chop it up in a way in which.

Speaker 1 (02:05:57):
I feel like producers were like, wait a minute, you
don't have to play the complete four bar phrase of
a drum.

Speaker 3 (02:06:04):
Weekend now.

Speaker 10 (02:06:06):
That that you know, just to interrupt that happened on
check the rhyme. Actually, because I remember having a conversation
with Large because prior to this, and this is not
like me trying to do none of that ship but
just on some like producers ship, geeky whatever. But I
remember having a conversation with Large Professor, and I was like, Yo,

(02:06:27):
those drums on the ep m D album. You know
that E P m D song?

Speaker 3 (02:06:33):
Uh it was.

Speaker 10 (02:06:37):
The Hydro It was on their album, right, and they
had the whole loop just playing, and I had the
I had the record and I remember just wait, you
remember yo. I remember just playing it and I was like, yo, Paul, Yo,
I could just get half a bar. All these drums

(02:07:00):
they're naked right here, and I can extend it.

Speaker 13 (02:07:05):
He was like what you mean.

Speaker 10 (02:07:06):
I was like, yo, listen, and it was like, doom.

Speaker 3 (02:07:10):
Do do forgive me? Do this Hydra Washington Jr.

Speaker 10 (02:07:27):
And then I just took an extra and then I
took an extra kick off of the mini rip he
put it, and I was like, Yo, look at this kick.

Speaker 3 (02:07:33):
Just translate for me. I'm just having a moment.

Speaker 10 (02:07:36):
Yeah, that was the first time. Yeah, you could take
half of a half a half a bar. Like it
wasn't that wasn't being done, you know what I'm saying.
So it was just like you would get the loop
and loop it, or you'd have a program still to

(02:07:56):
that point. But to realize that you could just get
a little fun peace and extended.

Speaker 1 (02:08:01):
I was like, oh, Ship, it was so weird that
you said that, because when you said check the rhyme,
I was gonna say, well, that doesn't count to because
no one knows what those drums are anyway.

Speaker 3 (02:08:14):
We know them all alone, all right, Philadelphia's own Grove,
Washing Bosville Just go Sie Sie.

Speaker 1 (02:08:24):
Side note Lewis Johnson and the Brothers. Johnson is playing
base and Steve, you are the master.

Speaker 3 (02:08:33):
Of all things. Cree Taylor.

Speaker 15 (02:08:35):
Uh oh, yes, kudo, Yes, what what album is?

Speaker 6 (02:08:39):
It?

Speaker 11 (02:08:41):
Is it?

Speaker 10 (02:08:41):
Feeling so good?

Speaker 3 (02:08:42):
Feel so good? Damn mm hmm.

Speaker 12 (02:08:50):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 3 (02:08:53):
Papa love it? Play check the rhyme I will.

Speaker 1 (02:09:01):
I would still love to flip it, show our listeners
exactly I was made.

Speaker 3 (02:09:05):
But you know I can hear it. They can hear it,
because yes, if you couldn't hear poison, if Auntie can
hear it?

Speaker 10 (02:09:17):
Yo, where was where was Creed Tailor's studio at Creed
Taylor Studio the ct I like, where did he cut
Rudy van Gelder? Oh he cut it. He cut it
in Englewood.

Speaker 15 (02:09:28):
Everything there, yeah, all at ct I she was cut.

Speaker 1 (02:09:35):
I wouldn't do that, all right, just for tip, I'll
do it right now, Thank you, thank you, You're welcome.

Speaker 3 (02:09:45):
Now I forgot what I was looking for.

Speaker 16 (02:09:46):
The kudoo stuff too, mainly over there, some stuff at electrically. Actually,
I realized that it should be a museum. The reason
why it was taking me so long was because I
forgot that rhyme was spelled.

Speaker 3 (02:10:00):
They cut Love Supreme in that room.

Speaker 15 (02:10:03):
They cut all that blue note. You know, all blue note.

Speaker 13 (02:10:07):
I hear.

Speaker 3 (02:10:09):
Yeah, boom boom, boom boom. It's fucking amazing.

Speaker 1 (02:10:19):
Speaking of speaking of that, speaking of the remix, Yeah,
speaking of the remix, Uh, where did Hood come from?

Speaker 10 (02:10:27):
The Hood was through on my Way, you know street k.
He was in and out of group homes. He was
really trying to get it together, and I was looking
forward to working with him because kind of pre dating,
you know, a Redman or b I G like, I

(02:10:49):
thought that, like he kind of occupies something that I
hadn't heard in about, like a real, real street energy
that was now but it was just real like he
has he has rhms man. He was dope, and unfortunately
I was the only he was from Hollis. I was
the only joint that he got to do. He didn't

(02:11:10):
even get to see that come out.

Speaker 3 (02:11:13):
Oh damn. How long was his demise after Well.

Speaker 10 (02:11:17):
After we did the record, he was murdered. I think
the week after damn Jesus.

Speaker 1 (02:11:23):
Okay, So how many versions of scenario are there? And
why did it go through so many drafts before we
wound up with the final version that we have.

Speaker 10 (02:11:34):
I think there's like one which is original two.

Speaker 3 (02:11:40):
Do you know who was on each version.

Speaker 10 (02:11:43):
No, I know, there's a there's one version with us
again with there's one there actually four. There's the riginal,
there's the one that's out. Then there's another version with
all of us who were on the record, with just
different placement in different little versions.

Speaker 3 (02:12:05):
So there's this different way Busted doesn't end the song and.

Speaker 10 (02:12:09):
He does, yeah, something something different. It was a rough
about it. I don't know if he didn't end it,
but I know it's a different rap a little bit.
Then there's another version with Jirobi.

Speaker 3 (02:12:25):
And pass.

Speaker 10 (02:12:28):
On it and right that, and then there's another version
with Dress pause and Chris Lady.

Speaker 3 (02:12:40):
Like, this is our moment. Let let's not mess this
up for.

Speaker 10 (02:12:43):
I already knew that it was going to be the
first one.

Speaker 3 (02:12:47):
So the album version is the first one.

Speaker 10 (02:12:50):
Yeah, I already knew that that was going to be it.

Speaker 1 (02:12:52):
Wait a minute, let me make sure this straight. The
version that's on the album, Yes, was done completely as
we know it. And you're saying that there was a
discussion like we could do better.

Speaker 10 (02:13:07):
We did that and I kind of knew what it was.
But everybody was in there and heard it and heard
about it was like run on it.

Speaker 3 (02:13:18):
Yes, So here's the other million dollar questions and you
know what's coming.

Speaker 10 (02:13:23):
Mm hmmm.

Speaker 3 (02:13:24):
Why wasn't Daylight on every any tribe records and award tour?
It doesn't count, you know.

Speaker 10 (02:13:32):
I wanted.

Speaker 3 (02:13:35):
Fantasy in our minds. No, no, no, no, no no.

Speaker 10 (02:13:38):
The first thing I wanted to do. I had a
record called Native Tongues for the first album and it
sampled Pride and Vanity by Ohio Players. I still have
to beat actually, but and I played it. I told
Daylight and Jungles that come by. I got the I

(02:13:59):
got the record for all us. And then I had
like on Instinctive Travels ship right, and so then I
was playing it and passing him was like, you know, mercy,
you know, listen to a dude. That ship day was
just to see it. So and then because when we

(02:14:20):
walked in, when they walked in, we were working on
mister Muhammad oh man. It was the first tam he
heard it and he was like, I was like.

Speaker 3 (02:14:27):
Yo, that that's hype. That's the hype. That's the hype.

Speaker 10 (02:14:30):
He kept saying, that's like yo, But let me play
you the beat for Native Tongue, and it's all like
do do do, dude, and where, And he was like, no,
we're gonna rob on the other one. I was like, nah,
that's mister morass. At least joined now, y'all not roming

(02:14:52):
on that. It's this one.

Speaker 3 (02:14:53):
No, fuck that other one.

Speaker 10 (02:14:56):
Come on, y'all, come on, pause, come on, come on,
let's do it.

Speaker 3 (02:15:00):
We rubbing the other world.

Speaker 10 (02:15:02):
And I was looking at him. I was like, I
was like, well, this is a rhyme on it, so
that would never happen.

Speaker 3 (02:15:17):
Then, well that doesn't count.

Speaker 10 (02:15:21):
Yeah, that doesn't count. I was that was the one
chance I believe other than a war tour and the
scenario things, you.

Speaker 1 (02:15:31):
Know, because like every native tongue entry has their own
native tongue posse cut on it, and.

Speaker 3 (02:15:40):
It never happened on a tribe record. And I just.

Speaker 10 (02:15:44):
All right, so Midnight there's a there's a version of
Midnight with.

Speaker 3 (02:15:52):
Ad Rock on it. The night is on my mind.

Speaker 10 (02:15:56):
Yeah, But before it was even that, it was just
a beat over there.

Speaker 1 (02:16:02):
Wow, I just found that ship. Uh, the George Juke
Jordan m hm, wow, ah, don't make me figure out
what it is?

Speaker 10 (02:16:12):
The aura?

Speaker 7 (02:16:14):
Ah?

Speaker 3 (02:16:15):
Is it? Okay? Yes, that's it? You sure you found it?

Speaker 7 (02:16:20):
Well?

Speaker 1 (02:16:21):
I knew I was on it because it felt familiar.
I didn't figure out which cord y'all used, but it.

Speaker 10 (02:16:27):
Was just who was the voice for the tour guide
Rest in peace? Laurel Dan She just passed last year.

Speaker 3 (02:16:33):
Oh man, she was.

Speaker 10 (02:16:35):
She was the production coordinator at Jive. Sweet lady, like
just super nice and oh man, she was white, white, Yeah,
but she was super cool. Man Like, I feel like
she was dope.

Speaker 3 (02:16:53):
And how did y'all eq her voice to make it
sound like that?

Speaker 10 (02:16:56):
You know, we just wanted to make it sound like
a computer or phone something like that, something that was
just that didn't funk with the other frequencies and ship.
You know, this is the voice on your Yeah. I
remember writing all of that ship out for her and
telling her say it like this, No, no, say it
like this. And I was like, Okay, now, Bob, you
gotta chop it. I know, I know, Tip, I know,

(02:17:18):
I know.

Speaker 3 (02:17:18):
So he was.

Speaker 10 (02:17:20):
I was. I was more excited about that than anything
else on the record. I said, Okay, got it, got
exactly Tip, I know.

Speaker 3 (02:17:29):
And hard computer? How do you do that?

Speaker 5 (02:17:33):
Ye?

Speaker 3 (02:17:33):
Like he's chopping it, like you mean, like on actual
real he's chopping a voice.

Speaker 10 (02:17:37):
That was done on tape.

Speaker 3 (02:17:43):
Mm hmm, yeah.

Speaker 10 (02:17:47):
She would say, oh no, no, no no no no no,
no no no, I gotta ask Bob. I can't remember.
I wanted to say it was either done tape or
it was a or it was samples and I would
fire off this sample, the fire off the sample for
the next phrase, like I am on the front of
your album cover and then yeah, you're about to you know,

(02:18:12):
I tried quest, you know, I think it was.

Speaker 11 (02:18:15):
That cute tip. Was that the first time? So you
carried that, uh that graphic over into the Beats Rhymes
and Life cover And I've always wanted to ask.

Speaker 3 (02:18:26):
You this, Yeah, who is that person? Yeah? No, well no,
that was it. I'm sorry, No, you know you was
kind of completing it right, who was that person?

Speaker 11 (02:18:37):
And also my my theory or how I always interpreted
the Beats Rhymes and Life cover. To me, it looked like,
because this is around the time, this is like Biggie pop,
like all that ship was going on, and it just
looked like hip hop was just kind of in a
state of emergency, and you know, so you had like
the red, black and green, the figure was crying and

(02:18:58):
the city was burning, and to me, it just that's
what it represented.

Speaker 3 (02:19:03):
It represented hip hop kind of falling apart.

Speaker 10 (02:19:08):
I mean, it was just like be Rhyme's a life period.
It was an odd time. It was a little dark,
just because I guess Fife and I were having our
issues and I converted Islam and then I met Dyla

(02:19:32):
and just meeting him was just like a bright spot
and bringing him in on the record, and I bought
some Consequence on the record. So I guess everybody started
feeling threatened. And my whole thing was like come on,
you know, I was all this old happy go like no,
it's a tribe. Everybody could come on your hey, you know.

(02:19:52):
And I don't think everybody was feeling nats. But I
just wanted to kind of like be more expansive. I
felt like, you know, the way that hip hop was
starting to shift, even though we weren't necessarily following the
same course per se, I still wanted to put something

(02:20:14):
in there that still represented still represented like a growth,
if you would, or some sort of like you know,
new elements. Just we're changing in our own way, you know, uh,
the same at the same time that the genre is changing.
So you know, it just brought it was a lot

(02:20:37):
of stuff that wasn't discussed, wasn't clear when people put
us on this pedalestal at the time critically and all
the shit.

Speaker 11 (02:20:48):
So sorry, but I mean, but y'all had released like
three perfect albums before, so it's kind of like, I mean,
you can understand where that pedestal came from.

Speaker 3 (02:20:56):
I mean, it was I was saying it was a
well deserved pedestal.

Speaker 10 (02:21:00):
Well, I you know, after that first.

Speaker 3 (02:21:07):
Wait a minute, why are we skipping a record? Like
we know, we're not We're we was just asked the question.

Speaker 1 (02:21:12):
I was just he was talking about the figurine and
whatever whatever represent Wait before we go to the dark place, wait,
go to the happening place. Please explain this, tell me
the story. All Right, I'm gonna play. I'm gonna play
this for it, I'm gonna play. I'm gonna play you
this and you explain what this means to you. This

(02:21:33):
Don't walk Away by Jade on Quest Love Supreme.

Speaker 10 (02:21:50):
Joy Lit It know you're in the constant mind.

Speaker 3 (02:21:56):
I'm the one with the bracest of course, no rock,
another rock, got a rock home. How about said there
there's a reason why I'm playing this. Ladies, and gentlemen,
Tim's gonna explain why.

Speaker 10 (02:22:23):
Shout the girls who have poetic justice braids?

Speaker 3 (02:22:25):
Can? I? Yi, you're an R and B head head.

Speaker 1 (02:22:32):
That's weird to me because it's like you live in
a world where like Gaut McDermott lives.

Speaker 3 (02:22:40):
But then right now you're doing the rebot.

Speaker 10 (02:23:07):
I just took the video.

Speaker 3 (02:23:07):
This is gonna be great because there's no music behind it, like.

Speaker 1 (02:23:13):
Garfield Garfield minus Garfield, explain to me why that song
is so important to you?

Speaker 10 (02:23:23):
Man, this is to that record.

Speaker 3 (02:23:25):
That ship is so dope. But this is the thing
though in.

Speaker 10 (02:23:28):
The baseline obviously, but I heard it.

Speaker 3 (02:23:30):
It didn't hit me that way. So how where did
it hit you to the point you were like, yo,
we gotta go there.

Speaker 10 (02:23:40):
Well, of course, turn it off.

Speaker 3 (02:23:46):
Wait it's a turning off. Hey hey no oh way,
see I'm the only one man is off, said Barb.

Speaker 10 (02:24:03):
Put it on Barbar Right, they gotta based off that song? Well, right, yes,
you gotta let this play.

Speaker 3 (02:24:19):
You gotta get to the don't walk break it down. Okay,
this is the breakdown.

Speaker 10 (02:24:26):
You can turn it down. No, we just turn it down.
Every time we hear the talk over it. It's the baseline,
know that you make you explain.

Speaker 3 (02:24:40):
Dumb.

Speaker 10 (02:24:44):
I was just hit as ship in the club. That
ship would just be rocking so hard.

Speaker 3 (02:24:49):
All right, the course is back. It's I've heard you
played this in the club many times. Yeah, yes, I mean, my.

Speaker 10 (02:24:57):
God, and it's an era like the whole era.

Speaker 3 (02:25:02):
It's summer ninety three all over. That was a good summer.

Speaker 10 (02:25:05):
Oh my god, that she was cracking. So when I
heard it, I was like, I gotta make a record
like that, that baseline. So I just wanted to like
reapproach it.

Speaker 3 (02:25:14):
So it was digital digital bom pom pomb, I.

Speaker 10 (02:25:20):
Mean, because obviously was going against the Weldon ravine.

Speaker 3 (02:25:24):
You know what I mean, I never would have gotten
like it took me a long time to figure out.

Speaker 6 (02:25:32):
That's where Yeah, boo boo.

Speaker 3 (02:25:43):
How do you hear these music ideas? Because because I know.

Speaker 1 (02:25:46):
The imergion, because I know I think you're the king,
especially with songs like this where you.

Speaker 3 (02:25:55):
Will force a a square and a circle peg. Because
the thing is the the horn line.

Speaker 10 (02:26:07):
Doesn't have anything that is a guitar line from Charles Earling.

Speaker 3 (02:26:12):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (02:26:13):
Yeah, so the guitar line from Charles Erland has nothing
to do with which has nothing to do with the
j bassline, which has nothing to do with the bridge.

Speaker 3 (02:26:26):
And it works, but you forced it to work.

Speaker 10 (02:26:30):
That was fun, wasn't it.

Speaker 13 (02:26:31):
Yeah? It always fun.

Speaker 3 (02:26:33):
Yeah, we don't have enough dance breaks.

Speaker 10 (02:26:36):
You need to have more dance breaks well on every episode.

Speaker 3 (02:26:42):
How about this?

Speaker 9 (02:26:43):
I was the first guest, now I'm on the show.
You can be the fiftieth guest, now you're on the show.

Speaker 10 (02:26:47):
I would either that or is this a proposition? A proposal,
and you guys could talk it over.

Speaker 3 (02:26:57):
The Chapelle level of proposal. Music might not ever have crazy.
It's just like a mayor.

Speaker 10 (02:27:06):
You gotta trust me on this.

Speaker 3 (02:27:07):
Yes, so I have traumatory idea. Great. You don't get.

Speaker 10 (02:27:19):
Great idea every time that y'all want to have a
dance seg. Just call it the tip dance segue. I
don't care nigga. If it's nigga, I have beef with said, Okay,
this is the tip.

Speaker 3 (02:27:39):
If d do that, you have to record an intro
for the second.

Speaker 10 (02:27:44):
I'll totally I'll do it. Don't worry about it. I'll
record the tip dance segment music.

Speaker 1 (02:27:53):
All right, give us the intro like interrupt. We interrupt
this for a Tip dance break.

Speaker 10 (02:28:00):
We interrupt this for a Q Tip dance break.

Speaker 18 (02:28:04):
Dance this, I will always want way come on eftless
wait dancing. It's a q Tip Brands dance break.

Speaker 3 (02:28:24):
Man away.

Speaker 1 (02:28:28):
Okay, let's talk about arguments in the group. See, actually,
Midnight Marnas is so overwhelming.

Speaker 3 (02:28:45):
I don't know what to talk about it or how
to praise it. Electric relaxation, Like, okay, let's get to
the dark because there's a lot of a lot of dissecting.
I want to do creative. Can I ask what popped
in my head? Ahead?

Speaker 10 (02:29:00):
I don't know if it's ever going to come back again,
so I have to take advantage of it.

Speaker 3 (02:29:03):
Okay.

Speaker 10 (02:29:06):
The part on the album where you are you and Rich?
And I think it's you rich and who is youll
arguing on the.

Speaker 3 (02:29:14):
Phone that yes, that was very much real.

Speaker 10 (02:29:18):
What was that?

Speaker 3 (02:29:19):
Okay? So we were it's talking about the intro to rising,
the introll, the Rising down?

Speaker 1 (02:29:25):
Should I played Have you heard ifah? If Liyah hasn't
heard it, then that means it doesn't exist.

Speaker 3 (02:29:31):
You know I heard it, you didn't. I want to
hear it. I feel like if if a root song
falls in the forest and doesn't hear it. It never
made a sound. I'm good to game there, I am good.
It's like it's not game. Just the album.

Speaker 13 (02:29:56):
Oh yeah, that that was a good one too. Had
the Go Go drawn with Christte Michelle.

Speaker 3 (02:29:59):
And anyway anyway, all right, so this is what Tip
is asking about.

Speaker 4 (02:30:04):
Like this, I mean that ship wasn't fun.

Speaker 3 (02:30:06):
That it was not It wasn't no trip. It was
hard working ship.

Speaker 15 (02:30:10):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (02:30:11):
And I feel like I'm busting that. It breaks my
heart when I hit us further and not getting gatic.

Speaker 1 (02:30:17):
Well if you God, really that fucking unhappening only got
problems with me and made me are to go somewhere
how fucked up like truly is is what he was
really saying.

Speaker 10 (02:30:25):
That it don't get no better than this unless you
got your own record label.

Speaker 3 (02:30:28):
That's basically a point I'm trying to get the problem.

Speaker 4 (02:30:31):
I mean, And when you got that phone call from
you and know where it came from, and energy like.

Speaker 1 (02:30:36):
The bandage can't handle the you tell me some screaming
at me, I'm kind where the energy needs to go
A mirror, mirror, please tell him it doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (02:30:50):
All the way. This is what I'm talking about. What anyway,
it sounds like that conversation we had a couple of
weeks ago.

Speaker 10 (02:31:09):
That's Rich right there, right.

Speaker 3 (02:31:11):
That is niggas.

Speaker 10 (02:31:12):
They know that that nigga Rich, don't matter what the
nigga look like.

Speaker 3 (02:31:20):
Rich got a net soul like Ethan Rich. I p yeah, man,
that is like he was Peter Grant.

Speaker 10 (02:31:28):
That motherfucker bloody. Somebody knows real quick.

Speaker 3 (02:31:37):
Rich will bloody you knows and you will thank him
for it afterwards.

Speaker 10 (02:31:40):
I mean, but yeah, So what you're hearing is, so
who was that talking at for that waster?

Speaker 3 (02:31:46):
That was okay?

Speaker 1 (02:31:48):
Uh a j Shin who is uh the stretched Armstrong
and Bibido of Philadelphia who discovered us and with his
accident money settlement money made a demo called Organics for
the Roots and we somehow nuanced.

Speaker 3 (02:32:04):
That into a record deal.

Speaker 1 (02:32:06):
So this particular back for some pay. Next question, No,
a bootleg recently came back. Like I was like, wait,
where'd this album come from? It's like us live in
London somewhere anyway. So the scenario is we are doing
our first promo tour down South and this is where

(02:32:31):
we're slowly realizing that this is going to be a
long hard journey, and that long hard journey, you know,
in our minds, we thought like, well, if we make
what's good to Like, we didn't know what a formula level.
I didn't know about a hook and pop atmosphere and
all that stuff, and we didn't know that stuff. So

(02:32:53):
all we knew was that we went to a nightclub
in North Carolina. No fence from town.

Speaker 3 (02:33:01):
We went. We went to a nightclub in North Carolina.

Speaker 1 (02:33:04):
Uh And in hindsight, the DJ probably shouldn't have stopped
playing warreng g immediately, Like it was one of those televisions.

Speaker 3 (02:33:14):
It was like it was like no, it was like yeah, no,
no no. It was like a perfect example.

Speaker 11 (02:33:20):
It was like the five Heartbeats, this next group coming on,
say they better than the five Folktops putting together we.

Speaker 3 (02:33:27):
Shall see goddamn. I'm just saying.

Speaker 1 (02:33:34):
I'm just saying as as a DJ who is DJ
through the bad Boy era, like Puff is notorious, especially
like let's go ten years back, you beat DJ in
the club and then the bad Boy street team commandeer's.

Speaker 3 (02:33:48):
Your DJ booth with yo here play this now?

Speaker 1 (02:33:53):
Like and so this person obviously didn't have any nuance
with the segue, so it's like a very popular own song.

Speaker 3 (02:34:01):
Suddenly he just takes it off and puts on a song.

Speaker 1 (02:34:06):
Maybe I should have put the kick drum on the
one and the three so that the beat was more steady.
That he just puts the source of static on. And
I literally watched a dance floor. It was like, no,
it wasn't even that. It wasn't even that it hurt

(02:34:27):
them to dance too. They were just like that kick
drummers a little disorienting.

Speaker 3 (02:34:34):
I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (02:34:35):
I meant for me, I was just taking the second
half of substitution. I was taking the second half of substanution.
I wanted to do off substitution, but because those guys
were like, we'll get sued, we'll get sued. And I
was like, all right, well I'll do the second half
of substitution. And I flop them on it because I said, Yo,
Dayla already did the second half of substitution on the

(02:34:57):
last song on Blue Mind State, and and you know
they're like, no, man, don't do substitution. We're gonna get sued.
So I mean I saw him struggle with it. And
then when they cleared the dance floor. It was like, oh,
we're fucked. We are so fucked right now.

Speaker 3 (02:35:15):
And so just all that week, we go to in
stores with just.

Speaker 1 (02:35:19):
Like three people there and those are like the employees
we go to. We went to Florida somewhere and nobody cared.

Speaker 3 (02:35:27):
It was like a week of hell. And so we
got on the phone. It was Wendy Goldstein, Joe Rindy
was on that call.

Speaker 11 (02:35:36):
Yes, oh my god, and Tarik quiet, hell, yeah, what
y'all got damn contracted in the shred of.

Speaker 1 (02:35:43):
Like right, so right over that muff, Tarik is fussing
and cussing and like he laid into it, like you know,
what the fuck, Like we're out here, the street team
doesn't know who we are, and.

Speaker 3 (02:35:59):
Right, no, well that's okay.

Speaker 1 (02:36:02):
Yes, in the very beginning, Wendy called and cursed out
Wendy gold Steam. Wendy then called Tarik like I just
got cursed out by Tik, What the fuck? And then
then Rich called Joe and me and Tariq was like, yo, like,
y'all can't be spassing out at the A and R

(02:36:23):
like that, and you know, you can't be spassing out
and Tarik would just like you know, it was just
basically we had all these expectations to do well.

Speaker 3 (02:36:35):
We thought is a.

Speaker 10 (02:36:36):
Wild boy too? Yes, so it must have been crazy.
Like I was listening to that ship when it first
came out, I was like, I felt, you know, the group.

Speaker 3 (02:36:48):
Dynamic through anything. Yes, every group. This is why like groups.

Speaker 6 (02:36:55):
One thing I can ask, did you guys just take
record every conversation you guys on the phone?

Speaker 3 (02:36:59):
You tape that right? Did you like that? Oh? I
was too? Okay. This is the part that I'm leaving out.
Was that I still had a bunk bed. Yeah, exactly.
Here's the thing I was.

Speaker 10 (02:37:18):
I had.

Speaker 1 (02:37:18):
I'm still in my childhood home as a teaching So
because I was on the top bunk, the message already
went to machine a mirror. I know you're there, pick
up the phone, you know, like old school answer machines.

Speaker 3 (02:37:35):
Machine recorded it, right, So then you know, on on
the top bunk region and didn't.

Speaker 1 (02:37:41):
I was too lazy to get off off the bed
to turn the machine off, right, So I just let
it go and stay.

Speaker 3 (02:37:47):
But then, you know, so why was.

Speaker 10 (02:37:49):
He calling out your name like AMA, talk to them
and tell them well, because it.

Speaker 1 (02:37:54):
Was Rich was saying, Amir, will you tell them these
people think that they're talking to me.

Speaker 3 (02:37:59):
No, he was like, Amir, will you tell them what
happened on the road.

Speaker 1 (02:38:03):
Basically, it was kind of the two managers arguing with
each other, whereas Joe aj Shin was like, yo, don't
mess up our good thing at Geffen, and Rich was
sort of on me and Serika's side, like shits fucked
up out here.

Speaker 3 (02:38:17):
And we were broke, and when you're broke, you argue.

Speaker 1 (02:38:20):
So that's there was a lot of that going on,
but surprisingly we stayed together now twenty five plus years.

Speaker 10 (02:38:29):
We'll get a sound effect for that.

Speaker 3 (02:38:31):
The key to that, like a.

Speaker 1 (02:38:38):
Well, this is what I want to know, Like why
didn't y'all just not that you guys were road dogs
as far as like always on a tour bus, but
we knew from the gate that two tour buses would
save this group. And you know, I joke about the
whole Gryffin door and Slytherin thing, but you know, in hindsight,

(02:39:02):
could a lot of the tension then avoided.

Speaker 10 (02:39:05):
If we had two tour buses?

Speaker 3 (02:39:08):
Yeah, I mean it was just like doing all a
lot of pay were y'all on the same bus, so.

Speaker 10 (02:39:16):
You gotta remember and it's probably like y'all too, like
we grew up together, you know what I'm saying, So
you getting separate buses to me, Yeah, I've seen a
lot of rock and rollers say that and networks but that,
and that's very well. But our ship was deep, you know,
part of the pun, deep rooted. That had nothing to

(02:39:39):
do with any sort of physical separation.

Speaker 3 (02:39:43):
It was more, I mean.

Speaker 10 (02:39:50):
Like it's it was really like we were cool. Then
you get on and then people start coming around that
you've never seen before. They start working their way into
your equation, and then this starts to become separate groups
like yeah, yeah, a little factions, and you know how

(02:40:11):
that ship is. There's the faction. Yeah yeah, there's this faction,
this faction, and then that coupled with the fact that
you're still young, you are still you know, fighting for
your own terrain as an individual and all that ship,

(02:40:31):
and then the new people are coming in like yeah, man,
you can pay for your own terrain, fight for my
own train like that type ship.

Speaker 1 (02:40:45):
I feel you, and especially for you, because there's nothing
more awkward when you get singled out, and.

Speaker 10 (02:40:51):
That's why I situation said from the beginning, well, this
is the way I tribe never put my face on
the cover.

Speaker 11 (02:40:57):
And I wanted to ask you that man like me,
you always seem to be and let me know if
if I was reading it wrong, you always seem to
be like a kind of reluctant.

Speaker 3 (02:41:06):
Very reluctant, you know what I mean, Like you never
I mean, you had the talent.

Speaker 14 (02:41:09):
I mean.

Speaker 1 (02:41:09):
But the thing, the thing though, is at least there
is sometimes at least there's justifiable understanding for the lead
voice to be the center of attention.

Speaker 3 (02:41:28):
It's twelve more times awkward when the leader is the.

Speaker 1 (02:41:34):
Guy that's way in the back, Yeah, the jont Yeah yeah,
it's like, oh Jesus, like I don't want this attention.

Speaker 3 (02:41:41):
And it's but thank you, that's what she said.

Speaker 1 (02:41:49):
No, but it's it's it's like no one understands the
group dynamic more and the ship that goes on with groups,
especially in your situation and in your situation more than me.

Speaker 3 (02:42:03):
Like it's it's just I get it.

Speaker 1 (02:42:07):
I think at least me and tw week situation, the
greater good of the group is probably I mean, we at.

Speaker 3 (02:42:19):
Least had that understanding ironclad.

Speaker 1 (02:42:22):
You know, we've only had one fistfight in our twenty
five years, and that was like maybe a two weeks
after the distortion of static video.

Speaker 3 (02:42:33):
It's never I mean, I'm too bick Like I sat
on top of him, like it's like he threw a chair.

Speaker 1 (02:42:45):
We wrestled in the in the office, and then like,
well here's this that rich This is the thing that
riched later ad minute, like we like post post fights
with anybody that you've ever been in a fist fight.

Speaker 3 (02:43:02):
I don't know if you've personally been in a fist fight.

Speaker 1 (02:43:05):
But yeah, even even the person that gets hit and
the person that does the hitting, they both are equal pain,
like you know. And but me and Tarik like didn't
want to let each other know that we were so
we were like limping in the hallway of our apartment.

Speaker 14 (02:43:23):
But when we see each other like I'm not hurt.
Then like a month later we just laughed out loud
about it like yeah, I wasn't I wasn't hurt either.
I'm sorry man, you know. So it's it's it's I

(02:43:45):
get that ship. So obviously tip your career, I feel
is keep talking, Oh.

Speaker 1 (02:43:57):
So fight, Oh yeah, this that was do it t
right Tip fight right here. So Tip, obviously your your
your story is.

Speaker 3 (02:44:09):
Way more expansive. You're going to have to come back
later in the year in the future. Ull speaking about.

Speaker 10 (02:44:20):
Is this part one?

Speaker 3 (02:44:21):
Yes? This is part one?

Speaker 11 (02:44:24):
What did you learn from I learned that Q Tip
is still one of the biggest music fans ever to
see you drop records and him still be dancing to it,
and you know, for you to drop a record like
Ghosts and him to reminisce on it and it takes
him right back to the last quarter, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 3 (02:44:42):
That's just a beautiful thing to see.

Speaker 11 (02:44:43):
It's a lot of brothers that you know, have been
in the game, have been in the game as long
as you have, you know what I'm saying, but have
become somewhat jaded and have lost that passion Like.

Speaker 10 (02:44:52):
How could how could you? Maybe it's just me being naive,
but how could you not have to excitement for music?

Speaker 1 (02:45:00):
It can happen because some people they they did take
it personally. So it's like if you have musical dreams
and okay, dream for me a dream, what happens to
a loan deferred?

Speaker 3 (02:45:15):
You know what I mean? It's like it's that kind
of ship.

Speaker 11 (02:45:17):
So like if your if your ship gets deferred, then
all of a sudden, it's like sour grade.

Speaker 10 (02:45:22):
You know, I can't even understand that, like seriously, like
I can't even I don't have a comprehension of that.
Like I love music so much, Like it's so much
a part of of everything, even when if I'm in
a fucked up most said whatever, like there's music to accompany,
Like when Fife passed, you know, for you know, days after,

(02:45:44):
you know, I'd have to put together some I'd have
to hear some music to get me up.

Speaker 3 (02:45:48):
To what was your stuff?

Speaker 10 (02:45:51):
I mean you go to Stevie or Herbie or you
know e w Web for you know, go to just
keep me up, keep me optimistic, keep me you know going,
And you know, I don't know, I guess.

Speaker 11 (02:46:10):
I sound corny, Yeah, Verry Human, did you have any
records that you played for like the other stuff, just
to really get into the sadness of the moment, Like
did you have any of those joints?

Speaker 10 (02:46:22):
No? But it's funny because you know how it is,
like you you always find something about whatever it is
that makes you sad. It's just very relative a poignant
to that moment, you know. For a horrible example, like
if you have a breakup with the girl and every
song you hear is like relatable to the breakup or whatever, you.

Speaker 3 (02:46:46):
Know what I mean.

Speaker 10 (02:46:46):
So even in those joyous songs, there would be points
that would take you here that you know, tear you up,
you know what I mean. So I just can't even
fathom somebody not appreciate loving music.

Speaker 1 (02:47:01):
Well, I'm gonna actually take the liberty to say that
I think we all learned something really important, and.

Speaker 3 (02:47:08):
That's the importance of a good goddamn dance breaking ladies
and gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (02:47:15):
Yes, I've taken over the awesome backswell no, we We're
going to dance break right now. This is the best
farm beat song of nineteen ninety.

Speaker 3 (02:47:26):
Three, according to Camal Forrie.

Speaker 1 (02:47:28):
Don't walk Away by jay On behalf of Fran tikeoloas
Boss Bill Sugar Steve Unpaid Bill, Yeah man, yay yo,
Margaret and you tip this Quest Loves signing off West
Love Supreme.

Speaker 3 (02:47:47):
Got you.

Speaker 1 (02:47:50):
Quest Love Supreme. It's a production Iheartrating. This classic episode
was produced by the team at Pandora.

Speaker 10 (02:48:00):
One.

Speaker 1 (02:48:00):
More podcasts from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.