I AM RAPAPORT: STEREO PODCAST
Speaker 1
What's up? This is Michael Rapport. You are now listening to the I Am Rappaport Stereo podcast. Coming up next the great DJ Premier. You are now listening to a podcast, but it's going to feel like a documentary. DJ Premier is rocking with me. We're talking about some of the biggest, best, most exciting, most challenging songs he's ever made. We're talking Game Star, We're talking manifest Step into the Arena. We're talking about working with Jay Z on the Reasonable Doubt album. We're talking about working with Nas on Ilmatic. Nas is like New York state of Mind. Biggie Smalls. DJ Premiere produced Unbelievable ten Crack Commandments, Kicking the Door. We're talking about one of my favorite hip hop songs ever, Come Clean by j RU, the Damnager, and so much more. I'm telling you right now, people, I am telling you eight now. It's the I Am wrapp Reports Stereo podcast, but it should be called the I Am Wrappaport documentary with the great one of a Kind DJ Premier. Coming up next, Miles Jordan's let Me Get Something Funky. I wanted it, the people wanted it. One more is there to say Let's do It DJ Premiere on the Iron Wrap Reports Stereo podcast All butter Soft. I am wrapp Reports. Stereo Podcast T shirts are available at district Lines dot com forward slash. I am Wrappaport. That is district Lines dot Com forward slash. I am Rappaport. We got the Sucker Shit T shirt coming out in white. We got a beautiful design, okay me and g Moody the cartoon versions. We have the waste Land T shirt. We have the Stickman thirty three T shirt coming All butter soft. Iron Wrapp Reports Stereo Podcast T shirts are available at district Lines dot Com forward slash. I am Rappaport one two two one two in the place to be DJ Premier. It's in deep concentration on the motherfucking Iron Wrapp Reports Stereo Podcast. I can't tell you how excited I am to talk to you. I break and rule number one of the Iron Rapports Stereo podcasts. I had to fact check and get on my notes together because when I was getting ready to start doing this, I started listening to like so many different premiere songs and I had to zero in because I can't do the you know the life and times of DJ premier in just one podcast. So I appreciate to rock with me. I always catch you at next games, whenever I'm whenever I'm blessing and yeah, and once you once you sit on the floor, it's it's hard to go back. You know. It's crazy. The first time I met you in person, come Clean had just come out and I saw you at the tunnel and I introduced myself to you and I said, you know that come Clean shin You were like j Rus right here and he had his ship wrapped and you guys are smoking, and I was just like, what the fuck. Needless to say, I'm a huge fan. I've been a huge fan for a long time. So how does it work. Let's say there's a new a new rapper. His name's White Mike rapper. You know, like it's me and I'm like, all right, premiere, you've heard me rock, You've heard me do my thing. How do we make a song? Let's say you think I'm talented, so we agree to rock. We meet, we're talking on the phone. Year let's come I come to the studio. I come to the compound here. What do we do when I get to the studio, at this point in your career, because you know, I'm it's changing, evolved with different people, different artists, different people you become comfortable with. So what do we do with two eighteen? You're like, Yo, these kids got skills. I wanna do a single with him? Um. For me, I always approach it in two ways as a fan that wishes that he could do do this as a producer, and then I also also approach it as a DJ, a real DJ and not not a robot DJ. Robot DJs have to be told what to do and they have to do what and do what they're told. But both ways told what to do and do what they're told. You know, yeah, put them both together. For me, I'm one of It's like a sports fan. I'm like, man, why would he run that play? Man? I would have thrown a knop, done an option on that. Even options are in college and not really in the pros. But you know, but that's how I am with my approach. It's the same way. It's like, man, if I could learn how to work that, what is he using to make it sound so dope like that? If I can learn it, I guarantee I can interpret a OP style from my perspective of what it should sound like if given the opportunity, and which is how my demo got heard by Guru. He liked my production and just my overall uh style of how my demo was made. And from there, once I got to after the first Gangster album, the first one that I didn't understand how to produce, so we used to do it all together. It was me, Guru and our engineer, Slomo's son and Feld, and we had such a sound studios in Brooklyn, and Uh. I used to see King of Chill and they're mixing m C lights stuff and I'd be like, Yo, where's MC lighting everybody. He's like, they already did their recordings and I'm like, so, why are you by yourself? He said, well, once they record, then I produced and mix it. And I'm like, so what does that? What does the producer do? He's like, I thought the producer just made the beat. I didn't know it. You're coaching vocals arrangement. Now, I don't like that. I think you should say it over you know, things like that, which is also I'm very critical though, So all of that and once I knew that that's where it produce is. I'm like, well I'm not because I'm very vocal and telling you how I feel. So I'm like, all right, let me start to practice. More So, by the second Gangster album, Step in the Arena, when just to get a rep and all that came out, I started to really say, you know what, I could do this and I'm ready for anybody more like ninety two when when when care Arrests called, you know, then I was really really ready. So that's when you first started feeling like you you understood what you were doing. But I mean, the first I get it because it's your first record. You probably have criticism of it, but let me jump right into it. And I was too cocky too. I wanted to beat up the the engineer because I was like, hey, I want to set up my turn table. I brought the whole coffin with me from Texas to New York. He's like, well, you're not gonna be doing that then anything. He's from Israel. He's like, you're not gonna be doing nuts us until later. And I'm like, who the funk you talking to? And and noun and groups like dude, like you know you don't understand. However, you were doing your demos. We don't do at like that in the studio. You can do scratches five days from now. And I'm like, you can because we used to do it everything on the spot, latest, gradual, later Vogel lay everything and there's a done, done deal. He's like, na, on the studio you can punch in. You can with the first album. You were that unaware of the tech totally alright, So so I believe. And it's such a long time ago, you know, we're we're getting we we ain't old, but we're getting old. It's crazy. So like I'll just start, like, you know, the jump off song that I think I remember first, and it could be wrong, but the jump off song I thing. And and let me just say this, there's no way that I'm gonna be able to get to the life and times of all the production of Premier. And there's no way I'm gonna be able to get to the life and times of all the production of Gang Star. So I'm gonna I'm gonna pick and choose some joints and talk about you, and then we're gonna talk about the prime record. We're gonna talk about the which way is West record? And all that, But like the jump off joint Manifest, when you listen to that, now, do you hear flaws? Like it worked? At the time? You know, Google was like, I was like, is this where's this motherfucker from? Because he sounds like New York. It's like you could kind of here a spine of it? Is that a Boston excellent? What the fund is going on? So when when you listen to that song, now, what do you remember about that time and about the making of specifically Manifest? Well, Manifest the original demo is the album version, which is words I Manifest. And if you look on you know, obviously all of our remixes that came out of twelve in singles, they readded those to the if you Buy No Woman's Tonice Guy. Now, all of our remixes are also on there, and it just says Manifest. Remixer doesn't say words I'm Manifest. Honestly, the original version is what I made when I met Guru and I said I'll send him some visa that I was gonna make and he liked that one, and I remember, you know, I never met a rap artist in my life, so I was so excited to meet him because when I was staying in New York, uh at my grandfather's used to listen to WBLS and nine eight point seven Kiss and Awesome Too and tape all this shows. Go back to Texas and be like, yeah, I got all the new rap stuff from New York because there was a big deal to say you got the latest himpopum. So when we did the original Words I Manifest, Craig G was at his apartment and now he was like, yo, Craig G is and I was a juice crew not was I am a Juice Crew junkie. So he was like you want to say it was up to him. I'm just like, man, I'm about to pass the funk out Craig G. You know. And and Craig knows the story, you know. So then uh, he talked to me and said, Yo, these beats are dough. Man. I had to see from him even saying it's dope. I'm like, yo, we're about to get popping. So when we did the original album version and we and Stu find who owned will Wild Pitch Records, was like, Yo, Molly Mall is gonna start the show Friday with with the song. We were just like, man, that's my idol. You know it's Molly so um. When that came out and he started the buzz, Stewart was like, yo, I want to do a video to this, but he said, I don't think this version has enough energy. He said anyway that we could actually just redo it with more excitement, more everything to it. I was like, cool, and what did you do to the song to change it? Well, for one added and you know, we sped it up. We sped it up. We added like a whole intro, like like now when they're going tone no, no done, they go, oh it gathered around and then down it plays for a minute, but when the vocals kicking in and uh not only that, we didn't have automation back then. So the part where he said stopped, think for a moment, okay, we had the all line up side by side and hit the buttons together. I think for a moment okay. And that's what we did about twenty takes. Because every time we say stop, think for a moment okay and swayed, we would you know, we might hit one button too quig or one too late. Started again, you know, started again, started again. Guarantee was about twenty takes about the twentieth when we were hop five and quietly because we still haven't finished the mixing, still running and we're like got it, you know, like little kids. That's dope, that's that's fucking dope. I mean the technology has changed so much, which I want to get to and like I said, I'm really trying to keep my head together because I don't want to there's no way to do the life and times um, and it's crazy, um, Like I don't know if it's today recently a couple of days ago, uh, twenty year anniversary of Moment of Truth. And first of all, I don't know who keeps tracking these fucking things, like now you can have an anniversary like oh this is the you know thirty thirty three years ago to this day. I stopped my toe and got stitches and like we were, you know, twenty years ago, like this record was put out. I mean the Gang Star catalog is so you guys would put out double records, like the fucking albums you put out. The records they were thick, they were like ten joints to be like fifteen joints, sixteen joints. So the e t you know, it was like, I mean joint you got thirty, you know, and all thirties songs will be on the the CD, not even a double CD because then it got to the point where it's like we went back to ten but right, but you know, going back to the first record game, because I said DJ Premiere is in deep concentration. This was like your your DJ song, which this is like a dinosaur. Now they don't exist anymore. You know, back in the days it was and I say days, I don't. Doesn't it shouldn't be days. It's not back in the day. This is an ongoing debate. People say back in the day, and I'm like, it wasn't just one. So back in the days, it would be like whether it was the Trip song from Mr Mohammed, you know, Red Alert had his joints on Jungle Brother, Sammy G Sammy B is on the cut. You know, you would always acknowledge the DJ your DJ Premier is in deep concentration, is like these DJ songs, these d J holmanngs, DJ shout songs, they don't. This is something that's I was. I was following the blueprint, you know, terminated the actually had one, uh UTFO with mixed Master Ice had one uh run DMC always had a jam Master J record, so I was like, well, you know Eric b is on the cut and Chinese arithmetic. I was like, Yo, you know, we gotta do everyone. I always talked about their DJ in the RAM and always gave you know, Mo Love's uh Mo Love's theme on Ultra Magnetics Critical b Down, like everybody out a DJ record. So I was like, I gotta do one. And that's one of like a very good DJ song because when we look back on him, and I'm not gonna name names some of them, I am like, you know, you skip forward, but like the kind of memories. All right, step to the arena, give me the science of that song. When I asked you about all your songs, are you able to recall the samples of all of them? Totally? Okay? So step into the arena, give me the magic of that song, give me the like the samples of that song. What do you remember about specifically that day when you were when you were doing that song. For one, I wanted my sound to the sound dirty because we worked at Calliope and Lativa was working their Jungle brothers were working there day I was working there, um you know, so when i'd read to see where they were working forty five King was doing a few things there, so ultra magnetics. So I was like, yo, I gotta make my stuff sound more dirty like that. And what do you mean by dirty? I feel like me, me and grew. You's always called no mom, Mr nice guy, our resume because we we were still just getting ourselves together to be able to be partners and making a sound that was ours with Stephanie Arena. Is my first time actually saying I'm doing everything, no no no help from anybody touching the machine, just me, but establishing the sound where I wanted to be, where you go, Yo, Premier did that because when I hear Molly, I don't even have to look at the record. I could just tell that sounds like his bounce, that sounds like his echo, that sounds like his delay, like it's you could just tell, and then when you look it's like Marley or they'd say Molly Mars or whatever. It's because saying the guy to produce his name was a big deal, saying how E t saying man Tronics, you know, saying saying Larry Smith and Rick Rubin, you say that name, you know, and and you know even Russell Russell's name was he was part of involved. And so hearing all that again Davy DMX, same thing, I just was like, I gotta may be known for that, especially not being from New York and being and out of town, you know. And at that time, it was like if you weren't from there, you weren't getting no love unless you were from Connecticut Philly. Even then we had question marks. But when you say make the sound dirty, is it the samples? Is it some technical reverb? Like what do you how did you create that signature premier specifically gangstar dirtiness? Hearing the bridge? When I heard the bridge, I was like, how is it sounding like that? It sounds like an old drum. It doesn't sound like lynn drum. It doesn't sound like the T T R A to way. It doesn't sound like the No. None Order seven, you know. And I knew all my equipment, you know, just from being a junkie for ice build car stereos as a kid in my neighborhood when I was in Texas. For everybody in my neighborhood, I would I was really into you know, drilling the holes and making sure it's a neat where where you don't have to go to. You know, we didn't really have cost stereo places yet. Remember when the booming system era came out, it was really an I era and and that became where cost stereo places became mega paid making the dope systems because our our songs started being designed four systems. Because my era is really the big boom box and always had a radio everywhere I go. If youven, if you look at a lot of the old if you google image of us, that radio that that it shows me and gurgle together is the radio I made all my beats on, all the way to the last uh, all the way up to full clip. That's radio. So when we made the beats on the radio, I would I would run run the outputs of the drum machine into the headline in port so I would run that into the act so that I could it just had to sound like you. I wanted to sound like you're walking down the street annoying everybody like radio raheem. But this is before radio Ryan, you know this is but I want that type of a sound to pump with with my name attached to us and so specifically the dirtiness. Is it a texture? Is that kind of samples? Is it layering? Like what is it? Because I don't I understand it from your thing, but I'm technically it's a combination of things because the bridge is him taking you know, the snare from from Impeach the kids programming in his way. But then you hear make the music with your mouth and just boom boom. It's just it just sounds like it's not clean. And I was just like, but it matched the city because me being in New York way before I got into hip hop. When I stay with my grandfather, the music matches the look. I always say that I feel like certain artists don't match the way they are with the record. Like when you look at us and you hear us we Me and Grew, our records matched us. E P M D. Their records matched them when you saw them as like, you know, their records sound like EBMD, Eric B and rock Kim and they looked and their music sounds like them. Uh. Same thing with Shan you know he then when you saw him, his records always were good, cool gi rapping polo. Same thing Kane same thing. All of that was tied into my focus to be exactly like that without being a bitter, because we were from the era where where fights would break out literally from a minor bite. Somebody would just roll them there you beat my ship. And also the fight broke out over over sounding similar. You know what I'm saying, Like, that's how ill it was, you know, like over sounding similar. So for me, once I was I was like, where are they getting the sounds to do that? I didn't understand it was sampling yet, I'm just like where they're getting it? But I was up on my records, but I'm still not understanding how are they getting I didn't know they were taking pieces from old records and then just truncating the little edges and then making that their drum and their keep their their horn and man and and all that stuff. I'm just like, this is how they do it. So then once I figured it out, it was during the James Brown era where everybody's really heavy on James, including myself. But I was like, you know, a lot of people don't use jazz samples. And my grandfather was a jazz bass player and the trumpeter, So I was like, man, there's not a lot of vocal in here. I could start taking these and flipping them and putting hard drums to it. We weren't, you know a lot of people like, oh, yeah, jazz rapp. It's like, no jazz rap is rapping about jazz. I was taking sounds and no one's touching and just wanting to bring them out into the forefront and starting another style that just seemed like no one really tapping. Then that became popular jazz sample the baselines, and next thing you knew, uh, we were getting labeled as that. So that's why by the time we were on the Hard to Earn album, I was like, you know what, they keep labeling us wrong. Group was like, yo, I'll do jazz batazz to protect Gangstar from being labeled. Is that? And even though we did jazz, the jazz thing and jazz music and the one for the you know, the one for Spike Lee. So we were so when we did that Harder Earn, I said, I'm taking all jazz samples down. I'm gonna start just doing weird space sounds and weird stabs and other stuff. And that's why I'm proud of that album because it was very just raw, stripped down but still a dope out and the only one that was really melodic was Massive Bill. One of the things you did, and I'm gonna lead this into uh jay Z, but one of the things you did, uh Speak your Cloud is one of my favorite songs, one of my favorite gang star songs. It's obviously Guru Dap and Jay Ru and I'm gonna refer to as a medley song where each MC had their own beat. What was the concept behind that? Um, did you know like you were gonna? I believe, and I'm not I don't claim to know everything. I believe that was the first time that had been done. It might have been you know, I don't get that. I get the times wrong. I know, like on the r at the barbecue, I mean where the beat literally was like Dep's gonna rhyme to this beat, jus gonna ryme to this beat, Goole is gonna rhyme to this beat and it's all one song. What was the concept behind that? And were those beats made beforehand? And who decides the order? You did so many joints where it was like Guru m O P, Guru m O P F Joe. Uh you know so so, but like specifically and that's what how do you decide to order what like the Medley concept, where did that come from from? Specifically speaking speaking well, actually speaking clouds. The second time we did it. The first time we did it was I'm the man on daily operation because we wanted to introduce the rest of our team to let them be heard. Because I think Molly Malls a Symphony started this whole posse cut record, uh phenomena because once he started doing it with the Symphony also, and everybody's getting their whole crew on songs and and then all sudden this guest appearance things started. It wasn't really no guest appearances during the nineties and the eighties. You know, every Blue Blue Moon, you know, you know Spoony G and the sequence, their Monster Jam. You know, you might have sugar Hill meets the Furious Vibe for but they were labelmates and but overall there was no there was no features. And you know, like now when we were promoting out, they're like, yeah, man, so he got your new album coming out, so who he got on it? And it's like, uh yeah, it's like you know, now you say, I got Jay Kids, I got fabulous. I got Jay, I got nas where back then it wasn't it wasn't no thing. So by the time the Symphony, I became like this new phenomenon and everything, and of course Lava the barbecue blew us all away. You know, scenario blew us away. We were just doing the same thing. But I just I always wanted to be different, always wanted to be different. Where you where I stand out, it's a it's a standout competition thing with me. All that, it's still a competition thing with me. So for that, I was like, you know what, We're gonna introduce our guys, but everybody's gonna get their own sound for them. I think I'm very good at matching sounds to the artists. That's one thing I specialized into this day. I think that's why most of the records work. When I dropped him. They ain't gotta be platinum anything like that, but I think they still work when when we when we put it together to to do what we set out to do. So we're speaking cloud on back. You know, it was really nine three, but the album came out the same thing. We were just revisited again because by that time j Ru and then we're popping on their own group home at a hot single with Superstar. Jay Wud was big with come Cleaning the original and can't start the profit. So we were just bringing our family back. And Sugar was home from prison, so we were like that Sugar, you know, founded Gangstar with Gurgle, so we we were so happy to put him back into the mix and get him back to rhyme and and and plus Sugar taught Google how to wrap. Gurgle used to sing. I didn't know that. Yeah, he was a singer. He could sing. That's that's crazy. I remember they have a routine when one day of year when you see Sugar who's out on tour right now without food and h j ru out in Europe. But I got footage of them showing this thing where they used to wear their sport coats and they take them and flip them around and then put them back on their on their body while they did a little little step so it'd be like off, twirl it back on it, and they did and they did it like almost like remember in five beats when when they when they all linked back up at the end and let's see we can still do our moves. It was like that, but they didn't exactly like if they did it back in the eighties. And then Shug was wrapping, but you know, she was in the street getting in a lot of trouble. And it got to a point where Groo just took to the reins and just got better than Shug, you know. And so but when he came home, we was just like, yo, we gotta kind of re educate you into how to how to you know, do it the way these guys are doing it. Because now Groove finally got became a master at Ryan Roman and he's always been a great writer. And then the next thing you even know, they were popping. Uh, we were all popping us the Gangster I found a but specifically with with Speaking Cloud and I'm the motherfucking man with each MC having a different song. Did you craft the beats in the studio? Yeah, everything's on the spot, everything's on this fight. So you're stalking around like and so, what what's the tools you're using at the time. Um, By that time, I was on the KAI and PC sixty because my engineer Eddie Sancho, I had met thanks to show biz from D I T C. And the show bizin a g um Lord. Ferness was on his second album and uh, he had a song called return to the Funky Man. He was doing the remix to it. Show Biz is like, yeo, I need you to come lay scratches on this remix. I did a new beat to it, and I was like, all right, cool. He said, well, I'm gonna meet you. He said that was some studio called d n D. I was like, all right, I'll meet you down there with the d n D. Because I was always working in Brooklyn. We had such a sound in that firehouse, and uh, this is my first you know, New York studio in the city. And uh, when I get there, Eddie Sancho is It wasn't freelance. Then he was one of the employees. And then they just said Eddie, uh do this session. Once I got there, show bids had to leave and he was like, Yo, when y'all mix it, can you just make sure you get me a cassette copy. Of course, a cassette you know, mixing it was still a cassette, you know, and that that it wasn't like we weren't burning CDs yet. And then uh, I said, y'all bring it to you later on. So I had a dope sound system and my mams the MPV that I'm very known for flexing. We're just talking about how everybody New York knew my mom and my vehicles, and uh so I popped it in there to hear the mix and it was so right and pumping. I said, this is what I'm gonna do my next album. So that's how I ended up going to d n D. I was like, you know what I was gonna do it to Calliope, I'm gonna do it here. So because if it sounds like that, already can pre meditate how it's gonna sound when I apply these new beats to this. I was still on the spl which was the Gold two back in the eighties all the way into the early nineties. But my engineer Eddie was like, yo, well he became my engineer and he let he quit n D and became just a freelancer. We was hiring him so much. But he was like, yo, man, I'm looking at the way you lay your beats down and you should use the NPC sixty. And I was like, no, I'm good with the sp He's like yeah, but the way you're doing it. You could use this because this is almost like a tape machine without the tape. And he's like, let me show you how you could to buy the tracks. So once he showed me, I was like, damn, that is cool, said there, I need to buy one. He said, I'll sell you mine. Money was was popping at the time, you know, and we weren't platting the more goal, but we had good budgets. Later laid out bought his right then and there on the spot started mastering that and uh, I said with damn. And that means I'm gonna leave the SP twelve loan. And that's what all of us use, easy Mobi p rock, We all use that. That was the most famous drummer machine besides the eight or the Rollanado Wait and not on in the lyndroom. Next thing, you know, I said, I'm gonna do one more beat on this to say goodbye to the SP twelve hundred, and it was taking personal how dusty and dirty it is. That's the last beat I made on the So when you're changing these machines, because this is like I don't know what I've heard them, I don't know what is it is? It would it be like the equivalent of going from a Mac to a Windows how competent from from a PC to a Mac. Yeah, totally different because you have to relearn it. Yeah, and that's the thing. I don't like learning new stuff. Same thing with Serato, right, I mean, now my master at it. But when I'm happy with the way I am, I'm just keeping that way. It's like, you know, uh, it's almost like how heavy metal is. I meant that I love rock. A love new wave, you know, because I grew up in that too. I was. I was here before rap, so you know, I had my new wave phase. I was into all the new wave clubs, going to see Devo and the Smiths and Psychedelic Furs and Susie and the band Sheets. I was going all those concerts, you know, and just doing all the crazy stuff that they do there, you know what I mean. I was wild on the low, you know, so during that era, UM, bring all that with you when when you when you create. And then I used always like how new wave artist always had B sides. They would always have a song and it was an unavailable on LP, and I'd always be like, well, damn, why isn't it on the album. Like I'm one of those that will be like why wy wy wy y you know what I'm saying, and they want to understand why once I do, I'm like, well, ship, I want to do B sides. Then Public Enemy would have a B side rubble with out of pause and I'm like, damn, this ain't on the album, and you know, until they came out with Nation the Millions, but it wasn't on your bummers to show. But but it was on the B side, or You're Gonna get yours, which was on your bummers to show. Prince always had B sides, uh, you know, just stuff like that special at whatever be side ready to Attack that wasn't on the album. So I was like, we damn man, we gotta do the same thing. That's why we did Dwick. There's a B side. People used to be like why down the album? It was a B side. It turned into a hit, so we told the label to add it to Daily Operation, which they didn't do. So people were like, well, damn, why is it on hard d Earned when Dwick is is a couple of years old? Because they we want them to add it to uh did it to Daily Operation? While I was still fresh. They didn't do it, So I was like, well, people, if they ever buy a Gangstar album, they gotta find on one of them. So I'm not gonna do it five albums later. Let's put it on in the next one. So that's why we threw it on hard. It should have been on Daily Operations. Another one of these medley songs that you did jay Z in my Lifetime record, the intro medley is one of my favorite jay Z joints because the way he's rocking its raw, the beats keep changing. Yeah yeah, that can't rhyme, no, and then it flips. The beats changed when you were doing that with jay Z? Is he actually not? Nothing's written down? Where did the beat come from? Give me that process because it's like, you know, at that point, jay Z was famous, but who would have thought we'd be talking about jay Z like he's like in a different planet now of fame and iconicness. Give me everything you got about the making of that song and the beat changing and like what it was like to work with it like a jay Z in his first sort of prime, you know, because he's went through three different three or four different primes. So what you know what I mean, Like, it's like when you thought it was over with jay Z, he went to another level. So what do you remember about that? And specifically that song with the Motherfucker's No More? That one was totally totally his idea. He called me and said, I want to do this intro to the album. Even when we were doing reasonable doubt, same thing, he would call me and he would wrap the I'm on the phone a cappella. So with this one, same thing. He did the whole million one verse for me over the phone with the idea, he said, and then I wanted to connect some type of way. He said, you know how you do it for breakdown things, you know, and he goes, but I wanted to connect, and then I'm gonna go, and he said, I'm gonna go. Motherfucker's can't ran. He said. When I say Rome, I wanted to drop. He's very calculating on how he wants to do his thing. That's why he shows are tight and uh, he was like, that's how I wanted to drop. So I said, all right, I'll meet you at D n D. He said yeah. Because two shorts coming into town to work on a week ago. They were working on that which was on that album, so you know, and I knew too shot from way back, but to see him in New York with J was like, you know, in New York at dn D, you know what I'm saying, So so too Short and him went and the dn D had just built a brand new room in the A room, the B room which I had and the delud. The new room is called the D room for d n D. So J went in there to work with two shorts and uh, he said, let me know when you got the first part done, and I'll come later, and then I'll go back in there with too Short and and got the second part, I'll come later. That so being he gave me the idea, I already knew how I wanted to approach. And he said it's gonna be called a million one questions, you know, And so right there, as soon he said that, I said, a leah, you know like that. I'm like that where certain things, either a line or a title will make me think of a line or a scratch, just just on some DJ ship. And I was like at one and a million, and I said, I wonder if I took just a million and kind of flew that in as a part of the song in Mike, I don't kind of fly if I tuned it right, and then before all the tune before Ableton, this is just sonically knowing as ever as a guy with a I have a good ear. And then I pitched it and I was like, damn, this works. Sampled it kept hitting at a million? Did it say? You know I got the first part? He came in and goes, don't let's cut it. You know the money, So I made the money, So I've played with me for real? Is that naked really paid monsters I've met? Or there with the wreck? Is the truly state of bef been slept with the tip with the position you who can you really match a triple platinum on this? But only your single gonna go Rackefellership fold and you left out in the cool? Is it back at your your motherfucker's the left before Rome goes then cuts it. You know what you know, I've never seen him write anything on paper, They said, yeah, I think he did back in the day on he said on paper bags and he lose the paper bags. I think that's what when he said that's how he had to start remembering stuff, but I've been a mini session with him and never seen him right as him and big and then and then boom, you know you you funked my head up. You suck my head up with that. You suked my head up with that, because obvi, listen, I didn't even know that was from an earlist sample. Yeah, one of the millions. I think that's my favorite song she's ever made. When I heard that, I was like, this Timberland guy is sick. Like That's when I was like, I already liked him with super Duper Fly and all of that, but when I were wanted a million and they well on Timberland. I was sitting in the car LOWD with Missy and just the way she moved in the video, I was like, yo, it's tembling, guys about to be huge and he blew up and then what about the beat change in that? You know, he went back in the room with too short because he had already lady. You know, once he liked the beat and cut it, he said let me know when you got the other part. So I'm just looking for samples and uh. In the studio, you're doing this everything around which like you're playing records like what will match up? I still do that to the very day. That's why some people like, to my brain up, you're really sucking my head out. Well, I never knew no other way to do it. I thought that's how everybody did Yeah, but you're funk in my head up though. That's how I thought, that's how every producer did it. So when some people like, you know, like now, if a producer gets a gig or whatever, they're like, and I'm gonna sending you thirty beats to pick from, and you'll be like, I'll take the third one, and I'll take number seven. And then you don't do that. You come in there. We're making a painting, blank canvas, all right. So the second beat in that is he like, so he's not writing, is he he knows what he wants to say, because, like I said, he did over the phone before I even got We've never been a great Instagram moment that of broke Instagram if you had that ship now, like like on this ship. And you know, obviously back then, because Jay's a little younger than me, so I looked at him as an up and comer that deserves to get a shot, you know, because I was already already knew him from jazz. Oh because we were label made, so jazz or every time I saw jazz or at the label, or any stuff that we had to all do together. Sometimes me hammer vanilla ice, uh, technotronic with a pump up the jam k K Jazz Gangstar, Arrest of Development, D'Angelo. We always had to do like different promo stuff. So it was all label made stuff, and Jay would be around with jazz, so it was always I was up. It wasn't like, uh, you know, I don't know anything about you, you know. So and then I used to live on one of the three and the Bronx, so when I lived up there before we got signed to a major. Nice always he named Dash because he was he was dealing with original, original flavor. So jay Z would be up in the Bronx, so I'd always see him up there with Damn. And then this before they started Rockefeller, So you know, Dame Wore, I think did he have rock Waller is a pit bull. I think he have rock wall Yeah, we're walking his dogs. So he came in and he just laid down the rest of the song. Yeah. So so with Rond nor More once he went back in the room was short to work. I'm you know, I would just saying to myself, motherfucker's can't just hit the play button to see if it would hit the way because he had already said I wanted to go motherfucker's can and then come on right on rhyme, So I already knew that's his concept. So I'm guru always called me a beat Taylor. He said, it's like a tailor, like a guy can look at Jim. You're tall and you know, a six foot and change. Okay, yeah, you know what. I know. It's kind of suit you need where that super may not look fly on me. I'm a little wide and heavier. It's like, all right, let's get fat boy a nice little suit too, and they don't look fly. So it's the same thing with me with my approach to a beat. So if you give me a concept ahead of time, I'm just giving you the theme music to match your vision. Be honest with me, did you ever imagine? I mean, I think that one of the beautiful things about jay Z is that he took the dream and squashed the dream and took it to another level of euphoria, like the imagination of his idea of success couldn't have been this, because I don't think it was even unimaginable for even a musician like he's beyond a rap star. Did you ever imagine jay Z would be where he is now? Like I mean, when did you see like this guy's fucking really on another thing of specialness? I mean, for me, it was really when he did reasonable doubt because I watched. I was there for the making of almost all of it. Like you know, IRV Gott. He would come by and lay his b Uh, Nobody and Sean and LV would come by and and then do that session. Ski would come do a session and uh A lot of us done at D and D. So to see him put together and the way and he always knows how he wants it, you know. So even a good friend of mine that lived in the Bronx, a younger kid who actually is the one who gave me the justice get a rep sound because his dad had in this collection because the Puerto Rican and his father had that in his collection and saying, yo, I think you can flip this shout to DJ red Handed, who was jay Z DJ first, I've watched him rehearse and Jay is the specific don't fuck up like he's been like that since literally ninety don't funk up, don't sunk up, Diana, I just go to the shows. This is when he was just standing in the middle and just rhyme and have all of his punchline freestyle joints to due to the crowd, to have him laughing. Twenty two twos he would do that and but you gotta drop on Q with him. And then and even when he did Summer Jam when he brought Michael Jackson, I remember, uh, bleak mr Q and he said bleak and not focused? Go and then John Rules coming out, do can I get a And he didn't come out on this cue because somebody had distracted him backstage. I remember he came out and he was what happened and he goes, yo, I was distracted backstage and he said, you wanna start it over? He goes give it up with John Rule y'all and like see you like you know this roules h. So he's like giving up. So you saw that student he and he said again, yo, you're not focused. So that a loan. I was like, damn he is. He's he's still on it the same way as he was back then with Red Handed as a DJ before and the album was completed, did all the way to being a platinum guy with the Hard Knocked Life. This on the hard know this after Hard Knock Life. Uh, when he brought Michael Jackson out this when he was this, when he was doing the Blueprint, Yeah, because Takeover was was was on the blueprint. So he was about to drop that album and we had nerd the whole Takeover. Yes, so yeah, he I was at that summer jam, you know, and I mean I was with Freddie Fox and and uh the rest of my crew, and I remember when Michael came out. We were even like Michael, it's really Michael's crazy. You know what I'm saying. Michael could do then that effect on you fuck, especially summer to bully. You can beat up everybody you want and beat hard. And we've been a mini of brawls in my career and survived him. And Michael came out. Fox was like, oh, Ship, Yeah, he'll tell you anything like Michael. That was Michael Ship. After that, I was like, I'm not going to no more Summer jat care who comes. I'm not going no more. I'm good, all right. Speaking of great records, this is I mean, documentaries have been made about this, uh the Illmatic record. Yeah again, I can't go over everything, you know, New York state of Mind. Um, this is an iconic record, the iconic production you Pete Pete Rock, uh large pro q Tip who's overseeing that record? Who is? All right? I want to get cute Tip. I want to get large problem, want to get Pete Rock. I want to get premier who was sort of distributing it out, because that was like a great team effort, because you guys seem the old no this guy special talking about so so how is it sort of being distributed and how did what do you remember about the song and the songs that you did well? For one, I gotta give large Professor to credit. Always look at large Professor as what I am to Guru with Gangster. I feel like he's the premier to NAS, you know, like it's like, no, I don't care if NAS does a hundred albums. Always make sure large Professors on it as your as your go to automatic, like he can do one here doing an interlude. Make sure he's on it because that's your whole base of us believing that you're that next dude because he gave you the sound. And I don't like when people are abandoning sounds that built them, you know what I'm saying. That's why I sticked you today. That's some people, all premiers just on that ninetiesh Uh he still does the same old thing, all right, you ain't gonna listen to it. I like with ain't cost Young from a C d C said, he said, man, somebody said, uh, he said, I saw an article the other day where they said a C d C does the same thing over and over ten times. And he goes, that is not true. He said, we do the same thing eleven times. I was like, that's me just to hip hop version and angers Young is one of my favorite guitarists, and I'm a big a C d C fan and he's an are he so like me? So yeah, we're on the same page. But yeah, Large we used to hang over each other's house before I even got signed to a major. We were still on the manifest uh single, living off of that, and I remember, uh, you know, Queen's artists always get named rapper in front of their name. Remember Large, Confessors like Yo, your your your prem man. You know, you know Large always talks. He's the most New York toss sounding dude by far, like he's and he goes your prem your world, Yo. I got the dude name the rapper Nas. He called him the rapper Nas. You know, it's like there's a rapper noid. You know, it's a there's a lot of rapper and uh mcs from back then. You just do the rapper knowledge. You gotta him. Were about to do the joint called the Barbecue, and you got you got this guy Acnelly And I was like, all right, and uh I had met fatal once, you know, but even though you know he was on it, he stressed the Acnelly and Nas uh the direction of paying attention to them. Went over there and he played me the record when I heard it blown away off first listen and then by the time it blew up and everybody was on it. Then he did back to the grill. Was searching and searching them, helping get the deal with faith him and over at Sony through rough House and everything, and then plus they did halftime with the Zebras. The first time I ever saw you in the movie, the first time I ever saw me in the movie was the first time NAS record played half time. I was like proud of that ship. So I wouldn't see Zebra. Well, I wouldn't see it for two reasons. You go to see it, Seel did not. Well, I didn't want to see the the interracial thing to see how that went, because sounds she was hot anyway bullshe but yeah, the bullet right right. Uh. And so from there, Um, I think Lars Professor and NAS himself were choosing all of that, you know, like the only thing I um was involved in was mastering the album, and uh, NAS put it in sequence, he sequenced and that order, and then I took it. I remember when I had to go pick up the last master because I had already we had are Me, Pete and Q Tip had already done our songs, and then I went to go pick up the last song and it happened to be Life's a Bit. I had to go meet him at Chunk King because I used to go to the sessions with NAS and Large Festing just watch them work, just like, Wow, this is so dope, and and just watching how Large Festivals making ain't how to tell? Then he makes one time for your mind and just making him like this, and I was just like, damn man, it's still on the sp It's like, Damn Lodge is ill, you know. So, uh, he did not wanted me to come get the final master so I could go to master uh and mastered this where we do all of our stuff. And uh, next thing, you know, he's like, he's like, yeah, I want you to to be my man. A Zy he said, he just spit a verse you're playing for him, and they played it and he goes on, this is my father right here, Oh Lou, this is my father right here. You know. He's like he's about to play on the song and I'm just like, wow, nice to meet you, you know. And uh he plays the song and I'm just like hearing that verse that a Zy did. We were just like this, dude's about to be the next thing too, you know because Lison Bits just who doesn't know that verse. Then his father goes in does the horn parts. They bounced it to a DAT digital audio tape, which is what it was called thanks to Iced Tea. He's the first one ever had one that I saw in New York and uh at the New Music Seminar and he was like, you know, Premier, this is the new thing called a DAT. It's called a digital audio tape. That ship was about the size of my turntable. I'm like, what does that do? He said, you know how you jumped on stage and the record skip. He said, this will play the beat and now evil can can scratching and now the the beat won't jump. And I was like, how much does that cost? And he was like bitch. Back then it was like, wow, that's too much. I can't afford that, you know. But yeah, my first show I ever did with gang Stars with Trial call quests Queen Latifa. She brought Money Love on stage because we didn't know we met money I read knew knew lativacause the Flavor Unit because King was doing the production for Gangster before I joined, so we knew Latifa and her dances Kika now and recipes to LA's mom to uh actually sent her a texted the day she passed, and she literally just texted me yesterday just saying thank you and all that stuff. So shout the live but uh, yeah, man, that that was our first show and nice Teave was a headliner and and you know, so I got to see Trial for the first time because I was hearing them beyond the Jungle Brothers promo and all that, but we had never seen a and then we heard uh description of a fool but then pub beginning me on that which was a beast side but on the album, and uh, then we got to watch him perform, all of them, Jerobe and everybody, and they wore that outfit is that they wore in the video. They had that on and uh we opened up with us then then Tropical Quest and Latifa and I remember Special Led was in the bathroom getting money to motivated to do it because she was nervous to go on stage. And then when she came out and did that verse to Ladies first, the whole crowd went. But Nannas like, oh, you know, different flow she had, you know, and her voice she had the British accent. But when she rapped she signed a marriage. Yeah. I was there to watch all that. You that's a lot of memories, man, I got the tape. I'm still looking for the tape. I have the video tape up all of that. You need to pull that where we're we're looking for that because I'm doing working on a documentary for Gangstars. So we're going through all my old tables. They're they're they're in a safe place. We're going through them toil. We digitized them all right, so specifically New York state of Mind. That's a lot of pressure. Like that's a lot of pressure, like New York State and like the beat, this sound like New York state of Mind. Billy Joel like like, Yo, New York state of Mind. Give me the science, give me the ingredients of the song clink uh blank canvas Um. That was the second record I did. Represent was the first one, but not the one on the album. It was a jazz baseline but dooble doo doo doo, And that was the first one we did. But then when Q Tip and Pete came in and we were always in communication with each other, and I was like, yo, check out the beat Pete Rockers gave me and are and he already had a format it with the whose world is this? Because Nas asked him to sing it, and I was just like, yo, man, this is better than mine. I gotta change my ship. So I changed mind to the one that's on the album, which is really a remix because Nas like the Baseline one. I had to convince him like, yo, this is definitely the one. He was like, I don't like this, this is my to the baseline. When I'm like, nah, this is the one. Then we just kept tugging until we got its way. He went ahead accepted that one. So once I heard the World of Yours then, because he had already tagged me to do three, So so you knew you were gonna do three songs on the record. Okay, So the second one was New New York State of Mind. And that's when he came in and uh, um, we were just fishing through records and me and him just he's just sitting there dropping. I'm just dropping the needle. And I pulled up the Joe Chambers record and I cleared it so I could say the name, you know, I don't like the girl, Sad Chambers. Everybody and uh thumbing around, what's the first part, what's the jokes Chamber? Simple? Um, like yeah, So when we just heard that, because first it goes wound round and then round, it just breaks down all of a sudden. You know, if you if you were just listening more am he's really noisy more around, it would have been like I skipping the next record whatever. That played for just a couple more seconds and it just goes around more around, and it calms down. We both look at each other like, yo, on that back. No no no, no, no, so you can flip that said, hold on, put on my sample, my mom with pads, he says, he said, watching me do it, he said, I'm going open into bays. So he's always dripping off at it's just a little funny, you know, just and then then all of a sudden you're playing now it's going that and you know so and when you're doing that, when you're making specifically like New York City and you're hearing the man, it's sounding like fucking ship. Well has to me just put it into the machine. But you're you're clear, you have a clear set goal. You're not like, you know, like but it has to sort of go get out to get to something. I mean, I call it experiment mode. That's what I call it, experiment because it might not work. The only part already had rolling was to do you know the part that beginning when he's like, you know, it's time straight up the fucking dungeons a rep That part already had, but that's all I had, you know, she just had that as a potential something. I was like, I want I definitely, I'm very good at knowing what temple I wanted to be, and I was like, I already did representing that's more up temple. But but but but it's like I want to get one of just I like slow beats, you know, just because I drive a lot. I love driving and just blasting music because it's it's just a thing so that I'll just like drive for hours and just be by myself because you're right with somebody talking the middle of It's like, oh, man, enjoyed this. So I just rised by myself a lot and just blast my music so and not my music that I make. I like listen to other people. But um, so was that rhyme written? Was his verse is? Not? So? Then go ahead? And that what happened. So then, uh, once I got the where I'm gonna catch it, he's like and he starts writing. He always sits at the desk, and I don't I don't know. I still haven't asked why is he do this? He starts doing this and maybe because while the music is kind of loud, in the room. I guess doing this, you can hear yourself. Maybe I never even said, yo, why do you do that? All the years I've known, at least from the those albums, at least the first three year three albums we worked on, he's always at the front of the death river and just like like he's wrapping into his hand. The next thing you know, he's ready to cut the first verse. And once he cut the first verse, he did in one take and one on one. Thing I love about it, which I've said another interviews, is I love how he's looking at the paper and uh when he said straight out the fucking done is the rapper fake nigs, don't don't make it back. I'm getting ready to count him in, but he's not looking. He goes, I don't know how to start this, and you hear him say that, I don't know. I just started rappers. I'm you flipping with your poky mpy kicking musician and flicking composition of pain. I'm like face sniffing poka holding the M sixteen see with the panemics treame now bullet holes left in my pipes. I'm shooting it up with street clothes. Had me and non it out to be frost y'all know my selo what's on without the hand plate? I keep something Jake said that being up in the stand. Wait, I eat the corner corner beat and brands with the sel chaps laughing the base sets trying to sell some poking napps ge Basket on Quick Forever Nigas reminiscing about the last time the task forms flipped. Yo, you know he looked, because my my boot is right here and the borders literally at an angle sideway, so I'm not close to just ye if I'm sitting there at the board, he's literally right here in the glass. So I'm sitting there going to three, you know, like let's go because I have a recording already. That's fucking dope, because sometimes you get the best take from practicing it, because if you pray to say, sometimes you nail it. And then when you're ready to do it now you're doing too much to make it exactly. You don't get the same if you don't get the same feel. And I'm more of a field person if they don't feel right, and I'm like, yo, let's cut it again, and huh, I could do it again. Like, yo, I'm the coach. I hear you. I'm listening to you. It's not better than that take. You know. I love this ship so fucking much. I can't tell you how much I love. Like you're making my heart race hearing these stories. I love this ship, all right. And I'll say, well, what things? When I did uh memory Lane, I didn't like that one. He he was like, yo, I have enough hard stuff already, have enough stuff that's in those vibes. I need something that just feels like we're sitting in the park. And that's what it was called. It wouldn't call memory lane. Was called sitting in the park. And then I started scratching none let me take a trip down memory Lane and and the coming out of Queensbridge, and I was like, man, we should call the memory lane. He said, well, how about we call the memory lane sitting in part. I was like, I'm cool with that, you know. So that was that was his idea on that, and you know not now it's very knowledgeable what he wants to do as well. So I remember they're laughing at the cover of the Ruben Wheelson cover, gonna look at this dude, and they all his whole crews and they're laughing, and we're like, you ain't gonna find someone that all you thumbing around all somewhere to dudu because I wanted to make sure my stuff was on the level of what Tip Large and Pete was doing. I went to the World of Yours session and Red Battery. I remember when Q Tip dropped off the cassette of him pause mixing the One Love with the Heath Brothers, which was cleared so I could say it it's not anitching uh. I remember when he when he had it looping. You know when you pause mixing sometimes it's looping. You know, it's like a stop start. But we were like, what what where did he get that? What the hell? Because I remember we had to go for some reep. We had to go to Puffet p Diddy studio for some reason, and I told now I'll give him a ride and he was like, y'all want to hear it in your car and we were just like, what the hell is q Tip on? I was like, I gotta top this one too. That's when I changed to represent to the one that's on the aisle. I was like, man, these guys are killing everybody. Was bringing that a game because we all knew if we're on it together, everybody's coming with the ellis that's fucking dope. So I wasn't competitive or like, man, I don't want to have the weakest song. So then that's why I kept fighting. I felt like New York State Mine was the tightest one out of the three that I did. That that's fucking good ships to you know, for doing the Life of Bitch. I mean, one of the most incredible records, even though I was a known sample that we already knew coming up, and it was still so neat and it fit right into all of our UH songs. And he's qb um the song I met you with. It doesn't age. It's so goddamn good. Come Clean j ru um. I almost feel like this was like a blessing and a curse because the bar was set so high on j ru with the come Clean song. The video was Dusty Dirty shot in East New York, Brownsville. Do Do, Dude, I'm not a musician, How quick do you know? Like this is this is a song, like this is a fucking banger, Like when you guys are in the studio and come clean and he's you want to what he's come back and the like, are you guys, this is a this is a fucking hit, like this is this is This was this demo. So we didn't really make it for putting out to the street yet. We were just making a demo and that was the demo. Guru used to put out these things called Ill Kids Samples UM and he put three three artists on it. So this was this was the the Ill Kids Sambly but Sugar group home UH and Jay Ru and UH and Guru came up with the idea that we should start. Uh sign an artist and he said, this is a homies list. Put put them on. So he said, uh, let's signed three artists each. I didn't have anybody in mind yet, so I said, who you want to sign? He said, definitely, got put Sugar on since he found the gang star he said j Ru and he said, and now DAP wasn't rapping yet. One day they did a demo when they were with Guru called so called friends. Him and Melancho the Nutcracker. I was hanging with me. I was like a mentor to Melancho because that's when I met him in the Bronx and uh when I lived there, and uh he wanted the box, which is why he had that physique, you know, always that shirt off, big barrel chessis. He was boxing for real. So shot the Buddy mcgirr's team. They were actually training them to box. But he uh me, he got two gun charges and he got shot. So uh he just was taking soul. So out of the uh context of being able to box. Um, he was facing he was facing jail time. So the judge, Judge Bamburger, big up. If it wasn't for her, she who knows what Melancho would be. But she said, I don't want him doing anything violent. And I'm like, yeah, but y'ah honor. For two years I went to court with with my without criminal lawyers. She was like, I was like, Yeahanna, why won't you let him box win? Uh, he can get paid for it and it's something he loves. She goes, because it's a violent sport and I don't want him do anything violent because he's already got gun charges underage under he's under seventeen. She goes, do you know what the word remaned means? I was like, yes, I do. She goes, well you do music, make him make an album. She goes, next time you come back to court, he better be making an album. I was like, man, he was like I don't want to make no record, you know. So I did pretty much force it to just like we gotta do it. Let's do this and you know. So that's how it became pushing them to just just spit, man, just say say say some rhymes, man. And then that's how it ended up being the two of them together. You know. When we hear Dad rad we was like, wow, Dad actually got a couple of lines and his voice. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, let's put you in the in the studio and nothing, let me do a beat. You know. So after so called Friends, the first one was Superstar and it you know where we were. We we knew it was right, but when it came to who we should start with first, I said, Jay Roots is the most ready out of all the demos that he did. I just think I can make a better demo than the ones he was doing because Guru was producing all the demos. So from there I did come clean, give me everything one come clean or all the samples cleared. Yeah, what we got sued. I got sued, but now it's cleared. Okay, what's the dude, Dude that's from Shelley Man. Uh, it's called uh, it's a it's a very end of the album. Like it's a little itty bitty like how like a second two seconds, three seconds maybe maybe almost a minute long. It's called space that part. Yeah, it's called spaces a cappella because Shelley Man is a dolt drummer. I'm into drummers. I'm into drumming and bass, and so you're you listen to the end, you hear this little piece. Yeah. What happened was when we were on the Gangstar Too Hard to Earn All and Onyx was really popping head be I used always cut oh hands up because there dropping some ship on two turntable that sound check, and j Rue was like, yo, man, we need to do a record with that as a hook. And I was like cool. So we always kept that in mind that whenever we make a record together. You know, even though we've done I'm the Man, but now his own first debut, I said, I'm gonna use that as a hook. So I already went in knowing that's gonna be the hook. But now I didn't really know the tempo yet. I didn't know what I was gonna use as a sound. But when Jay we heard up that sound, he was like, Yo, that's it, that's it, and I was like, all right, let me finish it. And then he went in there you want a front ward jump up and get bucked. If you're feeling lucky duck, then fresh your luck and there it is. You're want to jump up and get If you're feeling jump then press your luck. That's not fake gangster MPs and make them fact your playing big. You're nine spread Mama's great momick Nick missed that only caught the fun the rest Joe Romaine stuff. And I'll call you and come to the jumps up there eat my man that you will sub get live, catch your freakings out than I don't bang bang, what's your out bang bang? But let's live gonna be. I'm a true mask that you can check my potential. Because I choose to use my I wouldn't potent. You got up freaky freaky, freaky, freaky flow good rolled on my life retail capture and you guys knew you had to know because because that song is so of the time. It's so grimy, it's such a banger, it's so New York, it's so Brooklyn, and the rhyming and the beat like it's it's like, what is this ship? You know? And it doesn't age. It's a fucking classic. It's like Smithsonian level music, hip hop, rap, whatever the funk you want to call it. That's museum quality ship, no question. No, there's a certain record. I know they're they're gonna work, not all of them, but like in the Life master Field, we knew that's gonna work. Uh Dwick, we know it's gonna work. We had it's gonna take off like that, Like we knew it was gonna be popping because it sounds like our first party record. We never really made party record nice and smooth always gets two girls popping and everything. And even though girls went to Guru too, we still never really had records like that. And you know, but the nicest move ran that that territory and uh man, it was just a fun record. And uh also Dwick just became like just like the national anthem of the summer, you know what I'm saying, Like you know so, but but like that even that, like Don Barron from the Masses of Ceremony was there when we were making and Dubb C was there from the West Coast. He was there and we were making that record, like you know, yeah, yeah, I at the turn table on a big old, raggedy television that didn't work. I scratched on top of the television, those old ones that your mama have with the with the old wood. Yeah that you put a big old vase on there, and it's like, yo, don't touch that. Yeah. Do you think like it was almost like a curse that Come Clean was so good Jay Will mean the other dope songs, but I mean the fucking bar was set so high, you know. I mean not to say, I don't say it's a curse, but it's like the the expectations, it's like almost they're hard to follow up. How do you follow up Come Clean? Like even with you know, he had the Bitches, you know, and and the Original and cast Out the profitt they're all dope songs, but like the fucking bars, Like I don't know how you talk, you know what I'm saying. I mean, we were more an album or you know, we're from an album perspective, So I remember Biggie when when you know I lived, I had moved from East New York to the Bronx and one eight then moved into brand from oursellers As house because he was about to be the music director for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Jay Leno was just taking over for Johnny Carson, so he was moving. But at the time we were all living together, me Guru Branford and his wife and his son Reese and uh uh so we we had a nice couple of months living together with them, and during before we tore the house up and turned into the Animal House. But during that time, I mean it was just a dope time where we would go down down the block and I remember Mr C lived close to us. Lady of Rage, we lived with Nikki d because you know, they were roommates. Um Chuff Rock was lived right by us. Um so we see them, and we see Big because he would see us always go over. That's when we strength forties, so we'd always go there, Goodbye forties. The weed spopt would be on the corner. We go the weed spot, the one that's just the one chlorox bottle in the window, and and we want one Brillo pad box and everything, and then uh, we'd always see Big and he was just like, yo, man, I want to work with you one day. But it was like just just a good time. But by the time we got to the point of j Rue popping, I remember Big, he said, Yo, man, if you ever do a video the Brooklyn to O, I just want to stand next to you and just look hard and not say anything. And and he was like, all right, if I ever do that song, I'll make sure that happens. Even if we because I love Brooklyn Tuck it. It's just it's so dirty. He his rom flow, the drums a big hel Let's check get out Joe, you know, just I love that song to this very day. But yeah, we we were were from an album love standpoint of making records. We Got You. We weren't really a single. Yeah, it was an album because I come from seeing singles as twelve inches only, and then then later on albums came I Got You Run DMC's first album. The majority of songs on there for twelve inches first. So it's like when we got the albums, like there's only three new songs, you know, unless you get the instrumentals on the twelve inches like that. It's not a lot of new ship on here. So it's the Grammars Flash Furious file, same thing to the message like most of these already out minus one of two. Then the album concept started to calm later, you know, and then that became, well, let's make dope albums. Yeah, Prince was a guy of us to make dope albums. The Prince recipes told me that Stepane Arena was one of his favorite albums. Sucked me up. I was. I was with de Angelo and he said, yo, go in that room where they were playing tramps. Remember tramps and they're playing tramps. Yeah, and Prince was gonna do a prize appearance. Do you knew how much of a Prince fanatic I was, So he surprised me and said, yo, man, I gotta go do a couple of interviews before the show starts. He said, just go in that room right there, and I'll meet you in there. When I walk in, there Princes standing there with treats from Naughty by Nature. And I walked. You know, the Prince gives you that looking over that, and you could be the hardest dude. You'd be the killer. You see Princes like, Yo, that's Prince, and you know he and I and Prince already knew because I guess Dad told him, Yo, this guy is a big fan of Orus. So when he walked in, he goes Joe. He's like, yo, man, Daly, I mean Step in the Arena is one of my favorite albums. And remember punched me in the chest and go sicking the you know what I'm saying like, and I was like, yeah, I'm solidified, man, you know me and Guru I solidle about Prince said he like Stepping the Arena. And then my mother has a subscription to Essence magazine and I remember that. You know that it was the slogan the magazine for today's black woman, you know from all the soul trained commercials when I was young in the seventies, and I said, uh, it said, Shandy is embarking on her new tour. What is your survival kid on tour? And she's like, oh, I need such such hair care products. I need this, And they said, what the albums are you taking? She goes a gang Star Daily operation. You can't tell me nothing. My head. Kanye did that record, they got already had done that in my I was like that't wait till I get my money right, because I was like Sandy's Bumping Eye Album present our second album. Man, all I need is George Clinton and Boots after that and Michael right, I'm good, and to read the Franklin Minnie Rippington too. All right, Biggie big Well, I mean just everything's been said about Biggie as as it should be. Unbelievable. Ten let me just let me just because I can't do everything with you. I can't do the whole fucking thing. I got a whole list here, I got two pages a list, I got a highlight. I can't do it all. I'm just gonna throw this at you, ten Crack Commandments. This is a concept song. It's a very specific song. He's fucking one, two, three, all the ten Crack Commandments. What do you remember about the recording of that song? By the way, premier Unbelievable, kicking the Door. I want to talk about that sample. We're gonna have to do it another time. Ten Crack Commandments. He doesn't write the ship down. It's a very intricate song. It's not just rhyming. It's boom boom boom. It's the ten Crack Commandments. What do you remember about working with Biggie on ten Crack Commandments. Well, for one, the original was really a promo that me and Jay were the damage to deal for Angie Martinez. I actually just posted it during his anniversary of his passing. Angie Martinez just posted on Instagram with her explaining the story. Uh, Angie, when she was on High ninety seven, she had a segment called the Hot five at nine. It's Hot five songs at nine o'clock. Everybody would tune into that. And then Andie was so popular that everybody you could think of was making promos for Doe, promos almost like records. We met at Jay Rules a big deal back then we did one too. So again, if you listen to the scratches on ten Crack Ammendments, it only goes to five. You know when the bet drops, you know, he goes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine boot then the beat driver goes one one to to to to three, four or five, and I do it again one, two, two, three four five can we're doing the Hot five at nine. I'm not going past that. And then right before the verse, I go back to one, two three five seven, eight nine. It wasn't No. Ten because it was it was. It was a promo for the Hot five and nine Boom. I'll play it for you after we're done, Uh, the original with the and he's like, it's the Caliente Sinko all on the weather on Hot ninety seven within j Martinez. You know. So it was a whole tribute to her. Dig heard that one day when she was playing, you know, show of promos right here in three weeks from now she played again because beat Nuts with popping they played have one, everybody had one, Wou Tang King just who warriors drum he had one, and uh, they happened to hear it. I remember, my homie was because the way Angie told it was pretty much accurate. The only thing that was missing from the way she told it was Puff heard it too, and he was the guest up there that day. And my homie Danny was like, that's when we had pages. My people just keep going off going on, you know back then. If you need us right now, what are you're putting in? And I want one? He's like, yo, Puffy's on the radio telling you to call him, and I'm like words, I turned how night sound. And I'm driving in the street and I'm listening, and you know, he's doing regular chat and kicking it and everything him and Angie. I'm like, he's saying nothing about me, and and then maybe like we're gonna get into a song, you know whatever, whatever, we'll come back with more Puffy And when he goes, yoe from here, call me if you get this. Everybody has a warm line called the warm line, and he's like, yo, big, he wants to do it. He has an idea for this that he wants to create over that beat. And I was like, well, you and Ja Rue got a little tenson over the whole one Day record we did, you know so, And you know, I don't know that that's gonna work because I'm riding with Rue, but I was also riding the route during that time because I thought the way he expressed that record, and then I knew the some of the people that he mentioned that he had a problem with. I knew the reason why because we were homies, so I knew the insides of that. So um, being that's the case, he said, we'll just asking because even him and Puff had had a little tention at the time so I said, you know what, let me, uh, let me call Ruin, tell him what it's up. You know him and Big with mad cool with each other. Yeah, all of us are cool. Big uh uh called j j ruined. He he said, I told him what was up. And the first thing j Rue said it was like, yeah, that's hip hop. Let him have it. Just like that. He wasn't like, let me think about it or let me talk to him. Is none of that. He was just like, yeah, that's hip hop, let him have it. Cool puff, We're good. I said, I'll bring the real because it's the real. It's already laid, the beats already lay so I'll just bring that same reel to the to the session. Brought it to the session and uh, he constructed it and said he's gonna lay it to the next They're gonna lay in the next couple of days. And when I see the Notorious movie, always go, man, that's a little off because when they played Scots a limit, He's sitting there going, yeah, I'm the greatest. That was my session. That was ten cracking mamments. I'm not mad at it. It's all good, but that my song was really the last song he did. It wasn't Scot's a limit. Scott's limit was already done because they played me the album when we were doing Kicking the Door. They'll play me stuff, just let me hear the album sound. And they played me the R. Kelly record. They played me wild record, a story to tell, the original story to tell before they had the offic sample. I was there for all of that. So this is the last record where I remember the lights were really dim. Uh. He was recovering from the hip surgery, so he was on a walker. He had to sit in the wheelchair to cut his vocals, and I remember sees were everybody was hungry and seems like, yo, I'm gonna go to McDonald's and get some food. And I remember bigg he goes, ope you get robbed on the way to McDonald's. And I was like, baby say that said, cuse man, look at me. I'm up and this you know, like you know, like you said, uh in the rounds a little scrip with me. So you know, even though he was being funny about it, it was just still funny because accident. Yeah, so you know, but it was all last met him. Gussie gotta you all just lamping and he cut the vocals in there, and I remember when it was over, he goes, my album is Thinness Breath. It's over, he said, I'm the greatest. So that's why when that when I saw in the movie, I'm like, that was my session. Okay, you're giving me so much ship bream that I'm like, you're sucking my mouth up, like my face up. So specifically with the rhymes to that song when you were watching him do it, and it's so intricate, like I said, it's not even like not that the other ones weren't, but it's a concept and that you know, you know, and he's breaking the shift down like and the concept at the time, the ten crack commandments and it's Biggie, It's Biggie at this time. What was he like in the booth? Like watching him Ron, You've you've seen everybody, You've seen so many fucking people. I can't but watching specifically, what is your memory of watching the Notorious b I G. Biggie Small rocking the booth? What is the lasting thing in your head specifically with with tank Crack command That for t Crackerman was a little different because he had to get in the wheelchair and sit down and wrap where when we did unbelievable, he was standing up because he wouldn't you know, he hadn't broken and he's never hip button broken in he was literally in a wheelchair when he did, he'll he'll go to the booth and on a walker and then to help him walk, because he even said praying my first single hypnotize when he played me, he said, by the time we shoot this video, I'm gonna dance in it. I'm gonna get mom going to physical therapy and I'm gonna dance in that video, which he does, you know, so because he was like, yeah, I'm because he couldn't really stand on his own yet, so you know, they would help walk him to the booth, send him in the wheelchairs so he could spend it verse. So for him to say, man, I'm gonna dance in that video and he had already passed before we saw it. When I saw him walking and dancing, I was like, yeah, man, you did what you said you set out to do, and you did it. And then uh, once he cut the verse and said it was over, the only thing I did was I was like, well, I gotta add a ten because it wasn't intended to have a ten anyway. And I just took the you know, the thing with the launching path for the NASA team on his TAN nine. And it's something about that ten just worked, you know what I'm saying. That's why the ten sounds different. Plus Chuck never went to ten on shut him down anyway. This is good, all right, I'm gonna skip ahead. I was gonna ask you about MCS act like they don't know. I was gonna ask you about the show biz and a g next level. I was gonna ask you about one of my favorite songs, the O C joint My World off of Jewels, which is a quintessential New York song. Yeah, and just he's just New York period. I mean when he comes on, when he starts rhyming on that ship, you're like, this is another one, like you know, And and then that's a guy who you know. It's sort of like you know that that record, um uh it didn't pop, like you know, it was like, Yo, this dude is gonna be the next time. I don't know why it's so fucking long ago. I don't know, like it didn't sell it, like, but we thought like this is gonna be the next NOAs type of like, this is gonna be the next dude, but I can't keep it here all fucking day. I talk about the Joey Badass ship, the fucking most deaf shit. That's one of my favorites. The Mathematics. I don't have a lot of favorites because I don't like to sweat my own music like that. But Mathematics, I was like, this is creative. Why do you say it's one of your favorites. It's not. It's like off but on just that brun now it's like that makes me just be like, yeah, I gotta get a car and drive. I want to annoy people, turn it all the way up and just be like boom boom boom band damp the bandam Like that's how it gets me. If I and always judge my records as a listener, I don't judge my records that oh yeah for me, I made it. I judge it like, yo, what I bumped this? If I heard this, would I'd be like oh, or would I'd be like it's okay? If it got me where, I'm like, I don't care if everybody hates it. It's dope period. If I like it like that, it's dope, you know, And that's not a cocky thing. I just I just feel what I feel. And again, you know, I'm seeing people sit there like I'm saying that, like that's not I got you. But they but if they're they're feeling that, they're feeling it. Even the fucking the limb Biscuit song with Method Red, Yeah, this is a big, fucking huge song. I could ask you so many questions about m O P. Another one of my favorite times with them. Man, always good times. I mean they're like fucking heavy metal, hard rock. They will they make you ready to like that's like that's like fight music. I look so forward when we go into lab. It's always fun, cracking jokes, the energy, I'm gonna rattle. I got my fighting skills really up to pau MP's like fuck fighting Like they're no, I'm talking about this because they are actually like if something drama was starting, they were like, yes, they're uh, you know me, I don't want no drama. I'm not like, oh man, I gotta fight somebody. They're like, yeah, fighting you know. So they really are their records they are, they are what they are the mash out policy. All right, I'm gonna rattle lift it. I'm gonna rattle these questions off to you. I'm not gonna ask you your top five mcs because you've worked with everybody's top five m C. I'm gonna ask you this Premier's top five mcs that you never worked with. I'm proud of that question. That's a good fucking question. Premiers. Top five mcs that you never work can put them in order? Just yeah, the top five that they never worked with. Ice Cube He's incredible Cube Uh ghost face Killer. That's crazy that I can't believe you never worked with him Love ghosts Uh Drake, that would be sick, dirty him up, messing him up. Yeah, he's around the dirty ships before you know that would yo you and Drake would be fucking stupid. I've always been a fan. I don't know understand why people hate on him. He makes banging as records. He insistent as fuck, like oh everything he's been doing, Just d do the whole record. So it's up Drizzy Drake Premier record. I'll be on the front line because I've talked about I always say, you know, people like jay Z and all of them, nas everybody. It's it's this again from the perspective of a fan. It's not Premier talking a fan. They've accomplished everything from radio to club to getting the girls to the money. They can do whatever they one now and it's all it's all good. So I like when when they all come back to just raw, I agree and just do a raw album to show that man with my eyes clothes, this is what I'm still good. It's almost sawing that, like you may have been a super Bowl champ and or or an iconic basket and the NBA champ, and you can still I totally a nice lefty and a nice pass and then because you know, have like and also it balances it out. It balances it out because we're we're always gonna be older. But like I'm like Drake, Eminem, Jay z uh, the guys that are still a nice all of them you're doing with daylight, which I'm gonna get to. Like, I'm like balance it, Like jay z can do whatever you want, Eminem could do what you ever. What they're not doing it for money, like Jay said he could drop a state due it's still still you know, he's still gonna blow up. Okay, you know, but though, but okay, so that's three. So that's three. Give me two more that you never worked with Did you ever work with Bus of Rhymes? Yeah, I'm on his new album okay it's coming out. Yeah. Uh. Two more that you never worked you worked with cares when I can't mcs act like they don't know a fucking ridiculous song. Melliemail, melliemail, the Furious five, And we've talked about doing something. I've just just never gotten to make it happen yet, but we will. Okay, one more. Oh ll, he's another one. He doesn't even need to rhyme. That goddamn show that he's on. He's making so much money off that, the lip sync thing, the lip sync that wasn't even thinking about that, the fucking CBS, n C I whatever. The money's coming in on top of the money the ladies. Hellll, I'm just gonna make a public please hello cool J Premier Channel too. Man. Uh you know he took over back radio. Okay, Okay, that's a great list. Now we talked about the jazz and how you win anti jazz and and this could just be this doesn't even have to be so I know, but she went away from you. I get it. Give me even. This is for people that like jazz but want to learn more about jazz, so it doesn't have to be so intricate. Premier's Top five Jazz artists that if you never listen to jazz, you should listen to like school to young people like you should listen to these five. I'm a huge Stanley Clark fan because I played bass, so you gotta get Stanley Clark, you know, like you know like rock Pebbles and sand or even I want to play for you with the double album because you could hear him live, but it also has studio recordings on it. Stanley Clark, Stanley Clark. Uh, I would say definitely Cold Trane, John Coltrane, the must Uh who else do I like? Um? I like uh like like Charlie Maingus, Big tim just that's a the house and my parents his house mangas Um. I would say, all right, Blakey and um that was that for And I would say, um, it's not deep jazz as far as like the traditional, but uh man ship anything from brand from ourselves or whin Yeah we did what's their traditional? I was gonna say the Crusaders, which is what I was getting at. But but you know, Branford schooled me on a lot, so you know, I've been I watched his shows. Then I saw him leave jazz, uh just for a hot second and play with Sting when he came out with the Dream of the Blue Turtles, and I was like wow, And then he was getting flat for everybody. I can't believe you're abandoned jazz to play with Sting And It's like, yo, it's nothing wrong with that. I mean, it's a it's an extra extension of what makes him great already. What then is the problem? You know? So you know I've had people say I can't believe that. I've said I've been a fan of Drake and people hit me on Twitter like how could you like him? And it's like, how could I not records a dough like you mac At? Your girl likes it. You know, ship make it happy, man, make it happy. Um, how do you listen to music at this time? You've made so much you're such a fan. How does Premier listen to music at this time? And are you able to listen to music without sort of busy being busy? And he listening for a loop or something. So what's what's your favorite way to listen to music and are you able to just listen? Yeah, just switches all the time. Like driving up here, I was listening to YouTube, the whole YouTube like you know that. You know, during I was very very in a rebel molde back in the in the eighties. So I was really into October and the Boy album and the War album and then I'm going to go see them before him during that era that a late late eighties, So I really became like the biggest you too fan. You know. I think some of the newest stuff is a little not YouTube, which is not a distance just doesn't sound. It's like it's like, man, let me in there, a kind of because that's so ill and had great perform Would you be able to produce the YouTube album that's anybody? Yeah, anybody I'm a fan of. I could do it because you you understand the chamber that it's totally totally because I'm again I go, I ranged, my my range is there from as I said, from the Smiths. You know, I'm a big fan of Morrissey. I went to this concert year before last and he tore it down in Blondie opened up. I didn't even know she was opening up, and they were like ladies and gentlemen giving up the garden. It was packed, you know. And this is Morrissey and Blondie like giving up for Blondie. I'm like, oh ship, and she tore it down towards Is that something you would love to do? Just like if one of these groups or a new sort of you know, new wave group and you're not doing hip hop with it, like would you? You're totally thats fucking don't because I get it and I know again I'm of those It's just like when they bring a new coach and you know we're gonna revamp this team, We're gonna get that ring. I'm saying way like, I don't sit there going what can I do to make this right? I'm already like I know what y'all need, right, Like that's how I come in with that. You're not going to be like a YouTube with like a break beat. Nah, tell even if I incorporated some hip hop elements, I wouldn't do it too where I'm I'm looking to change. I got you. I wanted to sound like you. You that's had me open on them. That's cool that that you're like it. Just I would love to hear some ship like fanatic man van Halen. I went to van Halen concerts when Daily Roth before he left the group, you know, before Sammy had got to go, but I was there and then we don't like this, you know. I've been going to concert nineteen seventy seventy five, seventy four cause my mom and I would concert buddies like ain't concert. Me and my mom were going Rufus and Shaka Khan I Contina Turner, Tina Turner. I actually had to make an announcement that I got lost because I'm I'm there with my family and I wandered out and I'll and started moving around, you know, being sneaky. I couldn't remember what all I was in. Started crying. Usher took me to the front of the stage and they were like, there's a little boy loss and Tina Town you know, makes the announcement and I'm up there on the stage like it's me and and my parents. They said, whatever the parents, I come get him and come get this guy. That's crazy, all right. Prime with Royce, you did the which way as West with MC eight Jil, Why are you making these records with just one artist? Um? What do you like about doing a full record one artist? And who else would you like to do that with? You know, because I love it when it's you and a person and you guys just zero, you know, on a goal and it sounds and a full record. Yeah. Eight and I were friends back in eighty nine. Uh, my first trip to l A to Long Beach and we did a show that turned kind of violent, you know, so that's my first experience with the West Coach getting wild and gangs and all that stuff. And you know, I when I met eight, you know, I was already cool with Dub, and I was cool with Cube already and recipes of crazy tunes or Dub's brother who passed and he was Ice Cubes DJ. Um he still is Ice Cube DJ. They don't put any d D on the on the stage and what what They just leave the turnertables empty. But you know which is dope. But uh, yeah, I met eight. We've been friends for a long time. He was on the Hard Earned album. You know, I did remixes for the Compertence Most Wanted with Deaf Wish and then next thing you know, I was doing an album for Black Poet who was signed to me for an album in two thousand nine, and we did a remix to his single and we ran into eight um when I did the remix, and also all the name Young Melee who's signed to Ice to Dove Seed through Ice Cubes Lynch Mob being prints. So you know this guy young Man waiting, he's had to take the young off now. But there's a couple of Melee's out there, one from the East Coast and there's a Melee box. You know, there's the other Melee's, but this one, this dude's a beast on the mic like man like he he he's got it. He's he's totally a little look at it. Look for young young Man. I don't even get you a folder. He spits, ok, he's he's he's every time Doub does the show. Now the guy us hight Man with him, that's that's Melee. He was actually one of the characters in uh uh st Andrews for the video game years back. But he's a problem. But anyway, uh So, when I ran to eight and I was like, you don't drop on the remix, and I said, what are you doing now? And he said, oh, man, um, I got a whole bunch of demos, but they're just scattered everywhere. I said, can I hear him? He let me hear him, and I was like, yo, man, some of the mixes are bad, but if you want me to kind of help, send me everything and let me pick the best ones that I think are tight, and I'll mix him down for you and uh, just as a fan and a longtime friend. And that's what we did for Which Ways West and because I only produced three, but I you know, I scratched on every one, and he would get all the artists on and be like, yo, it's gotta be real on one, yo, just corrupt. Just did one? He sent it to me or we see each other in Callie. Next thing, you know, we shaped it and it sounded like an album, and then it wasn't hard to break his fan uh the sales of it, which it actually did very well because his fan base was already built, right, so we didn't have to reintroduce him. Everybody was reaching out to us all the pr I was like, yo, we want to do an interview with eight. We went an n W eight and he started popping up again, bing bing bing, So it was just a no brainer with him, He's already solidified. And the Prime Records problem was an idea that was brought to us by Mike Harrod who works at Shady Um. I known him from way back when he had a label out and uh in the early nineties, and Uh, it was really supposed to be a slaughter House album, the start House EP, and you were going to produce the whole thing well with the sound of Adrian Young. That was the That was the whole pitch. You don't get to sample no records from anybody. You're only gonna use Adrian Young sound and make your own beats from just his sound. I was like, I don't want to do that because I'm known for digging for them dirty records or whatever. So I passed on it. As time passed with them still Royce kept nudging me come on Premium like this would be a goo good thing, and it was just to do an EP to stall while they finished the Sloughtouse album. So as time passed, everything just kind of started getting disconnected to the degree where Royce was like, Yo, if would you be down to do it? If I just did it and I was like, yeah, because me and Royce have been just making bangers every time, so it already knew comfort Zone wise, it would work just like that. I said, but I still want to do it with me sample. He said, yeah, but that's not the idea, and we weren't called Prime yea, it was just Royce and Premiere, but he said, but that's the concept. I was like, all right, Matt Adrian and then I already like Black Dynamite, which he did the soundtrack and scored, so I already liked that movie. So he's I'm gonna just send you all my instrumentals of all my albums I've released, and you do what you wanna do. Man, I'll stay away. I'm not I'm not gonna get involved. I started listening to sounds and I was like that I can actually freak. That first beat I did was the song Prime. We're never title for it. I'm in l a uh. Royce was was recovering from being sober from his alcoholism, so he was still fighting that and he hadn't wrapped in a while. So I was like, man, I'm I've known him all his his his years of being drunk. So I was like Damn. I wonder if he could still wrap nice sober, because you never know, sometimes you lose your swag. So, uh, this is the first record I gave him the beat. I said, tell him what you think? He said, Yah, let me see if I can write something to it. I'm in l A. I'm on my way to uh pack my bags. We're going back to New York. Me and my my manager and my tour manager. I was hanging out with Joaquin Phoenix, uh, the actor, and my man John Abrams, who was an actor and uh they they had introduced me to Uh. He asked me that if I if I could meet Joaquin beings he wanted to meet me. I was like cool. So when I met him, we we met and this during Golden Globes in l A. He goes, Joe, I have a friend that says she knows you really, really well. She's hired by the Curtain. Oh fucking I'm like, that's never. I don't like questions, Yeah, I don't like that. I don't like surprises, Yeah, especially from a friend. And she said she knows you very well. Where is this going? Well? It turned out to be dope, though, and so could we met at an hotel really dark right now, I don't know what no. So when I turned around, it's a man the Demi who's Ted Demi's wife who started with your on TV reps. I'm like, I've seen her in years and we're like, what's up. She was like, Yo, you know I do photography. Now, I do this and that. I do some really wicked ship and she said you should check it out. Once we checked it out, um, I was like, you know, I'll keep you in mind for some work now. The next day, the Golden Glove was just happened. Of course, after that it's after party, right We're leaving the next morning early, like six in the morning. Johnny and Joakin text me and go, yo, did He's doing a crazy after party right now? You should come. I'm like, you know, who's not gonna go to a puff party. I'm like yeah, so I tell my managing them, ye, let's go to the party. Like you know, we gotta leave it six to morrow. I'll sleep it off on the plane. Right when I'm about to walk out of the room, Royce texted me and says, yo, I just sent the lyrics of the first song. I was like, okay, I'll listen to it later. Then I was like, you know what, let me listen to announ see if he's still dope. Download of the the MP three as soon as he came on gather around, gather around, and I was like, yo, he sounds the same. Gather round, gather round round. Witness the memoirs of five nine being read as he sees it. Fitting police sirens behind him while he's driving instantly causes butterflies of his stomach, even no beast legit. I was like, and he kept saying, prim prim I'm in my permanent prim in the hook and I was like, let me right, just pray prim down. That's just as a tentative title. I went to the party, had a ball come back. Royce is like, yo, would you be down to call ourselves instead of Roy's five nine and DJ premiere like a group name. And I was like, what do you want to call it? He said, won't we call ourselves primed? And I was like, he said, but we're gonna spell it p R. But the P and the R a capital h y and me a slower case P is for premiere RS for Royce, and then H y and me is just everything hip hop and everything, and I was like, I like that. So that's how we ended up. That's why I'm the prompt too. Just for the people that may not know. I was like, let me just reiterate what this means, because some people like YO, just don't sound like you just don't sound like the way you do your Beach and digging in the craze. No, it's a concept album. I'm stepping outside of my regular box. And now when I do other people, if it's not a prom for Jack, I go back to digging and beats the regular way. But this is a Prime project. So the creative part is we take one guy's sound and I make a flip of it with the premier way. First of all was Adrian Young, Next one was was at Man Wonder. Next one might be Judy Woody. Right, it was Judy Woody. I'm gonna take all those sounds and flip those I love that only for Prime. I got you, Um, what can we what can I expect? I got fucking And because of that then Amanda was like, yo, let me do the cover. She ended up doing the Problem cover with the crack Faces. So she we with the second time and We're like, yo, let's get Amanda. So just for running, thank you a king, thank you John Abrams. Because of them, Amanda has done both of our covers. And you see she does really creative ship. Stupid ship she did Torri wolfles are attitude, So shout the Tory. Yeah, day Lost Soul. I so a text or something on fucking line. Yeah, and I didn't have your number. I hit Pete it said day Law Soul record produced by Premier Pete Rock. Is this true? How far along are you guys into it? Is it just you guys? Day La Pete Rock, Premiere. That's what I want? What is that? We haven't done anything yet, We've done the I'm gonna get you, motherfucker the Pete send me some stuff. When we're off, I'll show you some stuff he sent me. And I'm like, you asshole, because we gotta out do each other. Good. We gotta out do each other's back to the amatic again. Good back to say and you guys could saying all that ship Yeah yeah, okay, So so my final question, I'm gonna let you go. Yeah. We were just structuring some of the b I and everything and stuff like that. So and I have had other albums I needed to finish my n y G's album, Uh that I need to finish, had a have a couple of surprises that that that I needed to finish that are gonna be coming out soon. So uh and then with Daylight, It'll be easy anyway, because again I know what to do with them. Like, but Pete already said, well, I'm already starting, and he's sending me little videood and I'm like, good, I want you guys to get we're sampling today because you know I still do it the same. We still but but in terms of production, like I talked a lot of ship about rappers, and we could blame the rappers, but it starts with the production. I feel like, more so than the art of m seeing is gone, even more because there's talented MC's, the production is is suffering. Always the beat man. I don't care what anybody says, I don't care how nice you are. It's because a lot of dope mcs they don't have beats. Yeah, and I'm not naming names some of them. There's there's a lot a lot of dope rappers. They didn't make a lot of I don't know if there're people around them telling them this is a dope him like, this ain't a dope song, dude, I don't give you absolutely I agree. I agree, alright, I totally agree. And I'm not afraid to tell them. If they want my opinion, I'll say I'm not. We're not. I'm not excited in the studio. If you're not excited in the studio, no one else is going to get excited. All right, this is not the furg man. When he came here, just on the spot, we made it right down the spot. He watched me make it, and then that's what we made and I was just seeing if we could click and drum blank canvas. He was watching me bring bring it back. And next thing, you know, we put that on the man and made a nice little dent, you know, And he said, make a prem beat. Don't make don't don't make plane Jane, don't you know, don't make shopper ranks. Make pre And that's why I like too. He came in and and wrote it to my beat, and it sounds like we made a good job. I love that record, man, all right. I am wrap ports stereo podcasted with pre premiere. What can I say I broke the rude Rule Number one of the Iron Rap or Stereo podcast, which is fact Check. I had to do it. I appreciate you rock with me any time. Motherfuckering premiere
April 20, 2018 1:43am
1h 43m
It’s an honor and a privilege to have one of the most prolific producer’s in music history, DJ Premier join Michael Rapaport on the I AM RAPAPORT: STEREO PODCAST to discuss: Forming of Gangstarr, Making of “Manifest”; Producing in a pre-automation world, Getting that “Premier” sound, Drum Machines and the evolution of equipment, Making of “Speak Ya Clout”, Last beat Premiere made on the SP 1200, Making of Jay-Z’s “A Million and One Questions”, Jay-Z brings out Michael Jackson at Summer Jam, Jay-Z attention to detail,Making of NY State of Mind with Nas, Going to Puffy’s studio, Making of Jeru the Demaja’s “Come Clean”, Making of the 10 crack commandments with BIG, Working with M.O.P., Top 5 MC’s that Premiere HASN’T worked with, Making of “Which Way is West” with MC Eiht, Forming of PRhyme with Royce the 5’9”, a De La Soul, Pete Rock, DJ Premiere album in the works?& a whole lotta mo’! This episode is not to be missed!
Michael’s Hardcover/Audiobook
This Book Has Balls: Sports Rants From The MVP of Talking Trash (www.ThisBookHasBalls.com). All NEW Butter Soft T’s, Hats & Poster Bundle’s can be found at www.DistrictLines.com/iamrapaport. Boston: Live I AM RAPAPORT Tour Date: August 26th, 2018. Tickets are Available at: https://thewilbur.com/artist/i-am-rapaport/
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