0:11

He is drinks chess, motherfucking podcast man.

0:14

He's a legendary queen's rapper.

0:17

He ain't segreed that your boy in O r E.

0:18

He's a Miami hip hop pioneer.

0:21

What Ups dj E f N?

0:22

Together they drink it up with some.

0:24

Of the biggest players you know what I mean.

0:26

And the most professional unprofessional

0:28

podcast and your number one source

0:31

for drunk drinks Chans.

0:32

Mo postcavery Days New Year's Eve.

0:34

Listen, It's time for drink Champions.

0:37

Drink up, motherfuck mother.

0:44

Would a good be hoping sooner it should be this your boy in.

0:46

O R E?

0:47

What up is dj E f N?

0:48

And this drink Champs Yappy? I will make something and

0:54

right now. When we started this show, we want we

0:56

said we want to interview legends, icons,

0:58

people who's been in this game, who has changed

1:01

this game. This man has not only changed

1:03

the game, He's changed my life personally.

1:06

He's been one of the greatest people I ever

1:08

met in life period. He's

1:11

one of the best CEO's

1:13

best. I

1:17

don't even.

1:20

He is.

1:21

He is hip hop. He gave me some

1:23

of the best stories of

1:25

my life in my career involves

1:28

this man right here. And all of my friends

1:30

know these stories too, by the way, because it's not like I

1:32

said once, I say them fifteen

1:35

million times and he's alumni too

1:37

young. But in case you don't know who we're talking about,

1:39

were talking about the one, the only motherfucker

1:41

impeccable Leo Leo.

1:49

I don't thank you.

1:50

Your story is so beautiful, especially

1:54

when with like like our producer just

1:56

said, you know, starting from

1:59

a road manager run DMC, how

2:01

did how did? How did that come together?

2:04

Came together because I had a passport

2:06

and they needed to get to London and

2:11

none of Russell invited

2:13

me to work at Rush and

2:18

the record label. No, no, this is before

2:20

def Jam. Rush management

2:23

was started with Curtis Blow and

2:27

the office was three people Bill

2:30

Adler, Tony

2:32

Rome, Heidi Smith. And

2:36

when I went to the office for the

2:38

first time Russell Russell

2:40

never told them that I was coming to

2:42

work, and they were all depressed

2:45

and their heads were down, and I

2:48

thought, like, where's the marching band?

2:50

I came all the way

2:53

of a ride in Los Angeles

2:56

to come to work and they

3:00

were all depressed, and I said, what's going on?

3:02

And they told me, we don't know who

3:04

you are. Russell never told us that

3:06

you were coming. But run DMC

3:08

is that the JFK and

3:12

they're road manager Jeff Flood.

3:14

We can't find them and

3:17

no one has a passport, so

3:19

we're fucked.

3:20

I said, well, I got a.

3:21

Passport, and that's how I became run

3:23

DMC's road manager. It's just

3:25

simple as being in

3:27

the right place at the right time. And

3:30

we went for three and a half

3:32

years. We never missed a gig. We

3:35

were five people running Ray

3:37

God bless his soul, Jay

3:41

D, Joey and myself.

3:43

Even when we sold back to back Joe

3:45

Louis Arenas, we were five

3:47

people, so we never ran around

3:50

with the crew.

3:51

There was no excess.

3:53

We grabbed the needle, our

3:56

bags and before the

3:59

curtains were we're on the way

4:01

to the next city.

4:03

God damn it.

4:07

When you show up to the airport, what do they say? They

4:09

don't know you either.

4:11

Hello.

4:11

No, they knew me because they they

4:13

were They had a show with me before

4:16

that. That's how I got to because Joey

4:18

was the one who convinced Russell like

4:20

this white kid in Los Angeles

4:24

is a crazy man and he

4:26

needs to be part of our crew, and

4:29

you should hire him, and so that's how

4:32

that's how it happened.

4:33

All right, Well, I have a hit record that's

4:35

called Nothing Right. And

4:38

I don't know if you guys know the story, but I want to tell

4:40

you how this story uh

4:43

came about? Famous story, famous story.

4:45

I'm sure I told he don't this is famous?

4:48

You said? Drinks many Usually usually.

4:50

A CEO would say, I'm gonna come to the studio. I'm gonna

4:52

meet you. Don't have your boys there? Leo

4:55

calls me and says, have all your boys there?

4:57

Very weird, very I don't know if you remember

4:59

this. Very So I'm like, okay. So

5:03

Leo comes, has

5:05

a video. I have a video where a lot of y'all don't know is

5:07

I have a video with j Rul called I'm going to Live

5:09

my Life. A lot of y'all probably didn't

5:12

see it because let

5:14

me get to the story. So we're in right

5:16

track recording studio. Leo tells me, have all my friends

5:18

there. Leo comes in the room.

5:21

He plays me the video of me

5:24

and Joe. Rule of course, I love seeing myself,

5:26

So I'm like, yeah, this is this is grant

5:28

the.

5:28

Need to hear Mammy.

5:32

You.

5:33

So le all looks at the thing and he goes,

5:36

so the video plays, We're

5:38

all like, yo, I like it. I like it.

5:41

And then Leo goes, it's popcorn,

5:46

and I go, What's the first time I ever knew popcorn

5:48

was bad? He

5:50

goes, it's popcorn. He goes,

5:53

I invested, And then this is this

5:55

is how it is, how I know Leo

5:58

is this motherfucker in the world. So he

6:00

goes, I invested in Norri. You

6:02

know, you know, the war war rested

6:05

in that. He's like if He's

6:07

like, if you cut me, if

6:09

I cut you, he said, if you cut me right now, ask

6:12

me what I bleed? I said blood.

6:14

He goes, no, if you cut me, asked me. So,

6:16

I said, lee off, I cut you, what would you bleed? He

6:18

said what dmc sucker mc. Then

6:22

he said to me, so Nory, I'm gonna ask you again,

6:25

if I cut you, what would you bleed? And

6:27

I said, super dog? He said exactly

6:30

for I was waiting for you in the studio. Listen.

6:38

There were a lot of dark days for me.

6:40

You know, there was a moment in time that

6:43

I felt like there.

6:46

Was no room for me in this industry.

6:50

And I remember

6:52

specifically that time was

6:55

when bad Boy was

6:57

dominating everything. And

7:00

you have to understand that def Jam was

7:03

designed black and white

7:05

and shades of gray, and

7:08

we were representing like

7:12

CNN of what's happening

7:14

in the hood.

7:15

Okay, remember before.

7:17

Run DMC, Flash

7:19

and all of.

7:20

Those crews, Cold Crush, Brothers,

7:23

Furious Five, all of them wore

7:26

sequins and leather because it

7:28

was the end of the disco era. And

7:32

then run DMC came along

7:34

and looked like forty

7:36

drinking round Away guys,

7:40

and that really took off. And

7:42

that was really at the core of

7:45

the architecture of r of Deaf

7:48

Jam. And so when

7:50

bad Boy, bad Boy was about

7:53

aspiration, we were about

7:55

putting the camera on what's happening,

7:58

and they were about putting the

8:01

camera on the possibilities,

8:05

you know what I'm saying, because

8:08

and so and

8:10

the possibilities was exciting for

8:12

people. You know, they don't want to hear just

8:14

about how tough it is being

8:17

black in America. And so

8:20

they wanted to get a piece of the

8:23

American dream and remix

8:25

it and make it their own. But

8:28

it was in technicolor, and I didn't know

8:30

how to play in technicolor, and

8:34

everything was colorful, and

8:37

Bentley's dis private planes

8:39

that we knew about rubber bands, okay,

8:43

and and Seville's

8:46

chevyes trucks pimblance.

8:50

We didn't know Versace. We couldn't even

8:53

spell versace if you get you know

8:55

what I'm saying. So

9:01

I said to myself, you know, it had

9:03

a great run. All

9:05

good things come to a fucking end. And

9:09

I was ready to go until

9:11

that fucking Locks

9:13

video. And then they

9:15

put them in technicolor, and it got me

9:18

pissed off. Okay,

9:20

it made me so angry, like that's

9:23

black and white and shades of gray. You

9:26

don't technicolor that. And

9:29

then I found d MX

9:33

and one of the things that I love doing

9:35

is taking polaroids of new

9:38

artists, just taking a snapshot

9:40

of polaroid. And what

9:43

came on that polaroid I

9:45

kept in my breast pocket and I said,

9:48

fuck that.

9:49

There's room for.

9:52

Aspirational technicolor

9:54

shit, but there's also room

9:57

for our get down and our

9:59

ability to continue doing our thing.

10:01

Okay, so almost don't want to get a DMX first, first

10:03

of us, salute to you, Salute to

10:05

you.

10:07

So yeah, we had Warren g On

10:10

here and

10:12

there's a big room with that. At one point, Warren

10:15

G's record or album saved

10:18

Death Jam.

10:19

It fucking ain't right, it's shaved.

10:21

There's a rumor.

10:23

It's not a rumor.

10:24

There's actually I

10:26

was getting swung out

10:28

of Sony,

10:32

out of Columbia Records, like we're

10:34

getting thrown out, and

10:38

we really didn't have a home.

10:39

To go because that was just some people who don't understand.

10:41

I was a distributor.

10:43

Yeah, there were, there are partners.

10:45

You know, you

10:47

have to understand that Death

10:50

Jam, the

10:52

original Death Jam deal.

10:54

Was sixteen points. That

10:56

included the artists

10:59

at the lay whoa.

11:02

Just as an FYI, you know what right

11:05

now, sixteen points It doesn't

11:07

get you.

11:07

Out of that exactly.

11:09

Thing For those who don't understand

11:12

sixteen points to say off.

11:13

Of us sixteen not sixty sixteen.

11:15

No, no, sixteen points off of let's just say a fifteen

11:18

dollars CD.

11:18

What is that? I don't know.

11:20

It's too little. It's

11:24

too little. So we

11:28

weren't happy about it. Obviously when

11:30

we figured things out, which

11:32

wasn't didn't take a long time. Remember

11:35

there wasn't too much historical

11:38

mentorship or history prior to

11:40

us, so I couldn't call yo,

11:44

what was your deal? And who's

11:47

you know? How does this work? So

11:49

we're making it up on the way and

11:51

so we are getting

11:53

swung out.

11:54

Of, out of and

11:57

how did you get warm with g? Yeah?

11:58

And actually

12:02

we shipped Regulate from

12:05

Sony. They

12:07

didn't. Actually I was so scared

12:10

that because the ink wasn't dry

12:12

with PolyGram, but

12:15

I couldn't stop the

12:17

record. And you know what

12:19

happened with Regulate and we sold

12:22

close to six million albums And

12:25

so just imagine if

12:28

for whatever reason that thing blew up

12:30

too fast before the ink dried,

12:33

they'll just rip that up and say come

12:35

on back, buddy, and the whole nine.

12:38

But instead we shipped

12:40

it and it was actual numbers

12:43

that represented the letter of deaf

12:45

Jam, because I didn't want anybody

12:48

to know that this was associated

12:50

with deaf Jam. So there are a few records

12:52

out there vinyls that so

12:55

D was four.

12:58

E was five oh

13:01

alpha the alphabet. And

13:03

so.

13:05

How I find found Warren G was

13:09

he was part

13:11

of the whole G funk movement. And

13:13

I'm greedy, I'm you know, I'm looking

13:16

for to expand def jam. Deaf Jam

13:19

didn't just represent New

13:21

York City. It represented rap music, and

13:23

so I was

13:26

opening offices in Germany

13:28

and Tokyo. Fuck it, I'm going

13:30

to open up an office in Los

13:32

Angeles.

13:33

Okay.

13:34

By the way, we

13:36

gave n w A their first national

13:39

tour, and I

13:41

knew what the fuck was going on.

13:42

With So

13:46

yeah, I always believed that.

13:50

Run DMC and all my acts

13:53

needed to bring the dopest openers,

13:56

the ones that were going to give the hottest

13:59

run for their money, because it

14:01

was an expression of gratitude

14:04

to your fans that you bring them

14:06

someone that is so

14:09

on fire and so important. So it's

14:12

part of your story. But sometimes

14:15

you bring someone so hot it

14:18

puts heat on the.

14:22

Headliner.

14:23

I remember busting in that door and

14:26

I said, run the MC, we got

14:28

a problem.

14:29

And they said, what's the problem.

14:31

I said, I just stopped at

14:33

the merch counter

14:37

and they're selling seventeen T

14:39

shirts to your one T shirt NWA

14:43

Wow. So you know, you

14:46

know what I'm saying. You know, if

14:48

you're curious enough, you know how

14:51

to suss out what's going

14:53

on and what's happening and

14:55

so, and I'm from Los Angeles. Fifteen

14:58

eighty kDa was the first all

15:00

wrap radio station. It was not

15:03

in New York City. Yeah,

15:05

it was fifteen eighty k. They

15:08

get the fuck out right

15:10

back to your history, Uncle

15:13

Jam's army. Please please

15:16

understand that there was some real shit

15:19

going on in Los Angeles, and

15:21

so I wanted a piece of LA

15:24

and so I was able to find

15:27

Warren he was goin

15:29

to being neglected and

15:31

signed him. And Chris

15:34

Lighting was incredibly

15:38

important. God rest

15:40

his soul. And what

15:42

a beautiful man and a

15:46

huge reason why I'm here

15:48

today. He was a critical

15:51

reason why we were successful.

15:53

Fucked with you, Norrid, okay, and

15:59

he helped me.

16:00

And you know, Warren was being

16:02

neglected by his crew. I snatched

16:05

his ass up. And about

16:09

the reason why I signed him is I

16:12

used to never sign an artist unless

16:14

I went to their house, okay,

16:17

because you could fake all sorts of

16:19

things at a restaurant to pull up

16:21

in the whip and everything is fake.

16:25

You could talk that shit, but

16:29

they rarely can fake

16:31

someone out at home. And

16:33

what am I looking for when I walk into

16:36

someone's house. I'm

16:38

looking for my duke's on

16:41

a picture smiling, because

16:43

there's got to be someone that

16:48

put up with that creative side,

16:50

fuel the creative side, and

16:53

I remember walking in Warren's house and

16:56

there was ship all over the rug,

16:58

like literally shitty had dogs

17:03

and it was like scary, like I'm not fucking

17:05

with this guy, but there was

17:07

his mother's picture. I

17:10

said, wait a second, let me give him a chance.

17:14

And then I went into his little room

17:16

studio, no dog shit

17:19

there. It was pristine, and

17:22

on the turntable was

17:24

Carol King Tapestry

17:26

and Bob Seeger. I

17:29

said, and what the fuck do you know

17:31

about these artists? He go, my

17:33

grandfather played me all

17:35

these records, and he started

17:37

playing me the parts

17:39

of the records that he's going

17:42

to jack, and

17:45

I said, fuck, I'm signing you right now,

17:47

okay, And wouldn't let him out the door until

17:50

I pricked his finger, you

17:52

know, And for

17:54

sure saved our career and

17:57

my career. And there's

18:00

a couple of artists that did that.

18:01

Red Man, I was dead and stinking.

18:05

I was, you remember for some

18:07

match I was, I

18:09

was. I was on

18:12

the on the canvas.

18:13

Man.

18:14

I couldn't like that big dude, Tyson

18:16

Fury. Remember when he all of a suddenly he came

18:18

over. That's exactly

18:21

what happened with me. I remember

18:23

the ref saying seven, and

18:26

I'm saying I'm not getting up aids and

18:29

then time for some action. I got up

18:31

and said, what.

18:33

I'm bad

18:40

energy?

18:40

It gives you that, Yeah, yeah, Reggie.

18:42

Noble, Boy, Reggie

18:45

Noble.

18:45

I spoke to him on the phone because of this whole

18:47

city of Hope shit, and

18:50

he told me he could do like.

18:53

A hundred.

18:55

Diving guy diving and

18:57

I hear in his voice what

19:00

a remarkable human being he is.

19:03

And I tell them every single time

19:05

I see him, You're the reason why

19:08

I'm here, Okay, And so you

19:10

know, gratitude is part of

19:13

living a healthy, long

19:15

life when you have gratitude.

19:18

And so many

19:21

good things have happened to me, and

19:24

two of them were Reggie Noble

19:26

and Warrang.

19:27

G came at the right time.

19:29

So think about me getting

19:33

swung and then

19:35

walking into a new company and

19:38

selling six million albums right like

19:41

that, what all

19:44

of a sudden, they're throwing all sorts of stuff,

19:46

yeah stuff, Oh you

19:49

know, suddenly

19:51

the deals they're explaining how I got

19:53

was getting fucked, and how they're going

19:55

to improve my life and the life

19:57

of my click. And then it's

20:00

just a beautiful, beautiful thing, and thank

20:04

you Warren. Thank you, Red

20:07

Man. It was just extraordinary.

20:09

We got Now.

20:12

Now we've we've been doing this for seven years, right

20:14

going into our eighth year, going into we've

20:17

been we've been interviewing artists and we've

20:19

been interviewing about people

20:21

about the best record label, right, and

20:24

everyone always has down says, they

20:27

always say death Caam, but they always say the one

20:30

seventy varicks slash one

20:32

sixty sixty. So

20:34

let me tell you the crew to THEAY name Yeah, obviously,

20:37

Leo, Cohmes, Russell, obviously, Russell, Leon,

20:40

Kevin Leles, Mike

20:42

Kaiser, Julie Julie.

20:44

Greenwaling, Greenwald, jud executive

20:47

hands them.

20:48

Did I say Mike Kaiser, Mikeiser,

20:51

uh randiaka y Rob

20:54

Love, I believe.

20:56

Uh West Party Johnson,

20:58

Yes, yes, rest in peace?

21:00

Do you do you know how special

21:03

that labor is? Like I always watched Entourage

21:06

and I watch Empire, and I'm like,

21:08

if somebody actually really series

21:10

did a real death jam, like the

21:12

real depth jam. Let me just tell you how important

21:15

this label was. I used to

21:17

go there to get out the streets.

21:19

Would still be in the streets because

21:21

because you can roll dice there, get your haircut,

21:24

and by weed right there in the safest place

21:26

in the world. It was like, you know, swear

21:28

to God. And I was on this

21:30

time. I was on violator management,

21:33

which was like a part in the building. But what

21:35

I'm saying, do you know how important that establishment was

21:37

to hip hop?

21:38

So the answer is only

21:40

now only because one of the biggest

21:43

problems that I have, and the biggest

21:45

regret that I have, is that

21:47

I was so focused on forward that

21:49

I didn't recognize how good now

21:52

was. I did not take

21:54

photos like.

21:55

I should have.

21:56

I did not document, I didn't

21:58

stop and say than I

22:01

was just I

22:03

was fucking hungry, I

22:06

was famished, and I was

22:08

like, focused on

22:10

tomorrow.

22:11

How does tomorrow work?

22:14

And so.

22:17

I'm not I'm not making that

22:19

mistake again. I'm so

22:21

grateful to be here with you right now

22:23

and with your whole team, that

22:26

I'm not going to forget this moment. Yes,

22:28

okay, you know.

22:29

You know what they say. They say winners never

22:32

enjoyed the moment because they always want

22:34

to go to the next win. I was listening

22:36

to that. This morning. A friend of mine lost

22:39

came over and we started to work out, and he's

22:41

playing the Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant

22:43

Traynor's book, and he said, he said,

22:46

he said he every time one of

22:48

his clients won, he would give them a hug

22:50

and just leave because he knew his clients

22:52

could not could not enjoy

22:55

the moment. They went and looked at the

22:57

book and said, I had two errors. Though I had

22:59

thirty two points, but I had two errors.

23:01

And is that how you feel you always play

23:03

life well?

23:05

Number one?

23:08

I always felt my contribution

23:11

to the culture was that

23:15

I was going to outwork, out,

23:17

hustle, out, focus, out

23:20

delivery, and also a lot

23:22

there are a lot.

23:22

Of mouths that depended

23:26

on us winning.

23:29

And so I felt since

23:31

I couldn't wrap, I couldn't do

23:34

you know, design, I

23:36

couldn't you know, take a photo of you.

23:39

I had.

23:39

My contribution had to be, as

23:43

you know, moving this thing forward.

23:45

And so.

23:47

That's still no excuse. If

23:50

I had to do it over again, I'll take more photos.

23:52

I would say thank you more. I would

23:55

have focused more on the present than I

23:57

did.

23:59

But okay, all right, let's now,

24:01

I know we got off. We've missed him

24:03

earlier, and you said

24:05

that that's how you used to sign artists. But DMX,

24:07

he's another for change the game. How

24:10

do you hear about DMX is the IRV got

24:12

IRV.

24:13

IRV brought me up to Yonkers.

24:16

And

24:18

they were supposed to.

24:21

Come at eleven o'clock.

24:24

By two thirty, they were scrambling like,

24:27

you get over here and wrap for him, you

24:29

know, because Exton's

24:32

show up right So everybody

24:35

in the room had to rap for me, you.

24:38

Know, because they're trying to.

24:39

They're trying to, Like I was going like, oh

24:41

my god, what's going on?

24:43

This is like other artists he was.

24:44

It wasn't just say he's waiting waiting

24:48

Wan d Yuan d were

24:50

saying, what the fuck this

24:52

guy is gonna jet in a second? You

24:55

wrapt the cleaning

24:58

man.

25:01

So then

25:04

they X walked in and

25:06

it was like all

25:08

of them were pockroaches.

25:10

Ran right away, like you could feel

25:13

the oxygen change in

25:16

the room. And he had just had his

25:19

mouth wired shut, but

25:22

he was so excited

25:25

to meet me that

25:28

he started rapping. You could hear them

25:31

breaking.

25:31

Wow. Yeah, it was a

25:33

moment. It was a moment. And let

25:36

me just put it to you this way. I'm

25:38

not a fucking genius. My

25:40

mother would assigned him.

25:42

It was that obvious,

25:44

Like if my mom was at that table,

25:47

come here, son, I'm going.

25:51

You know, it was really,

25:53

really, really obvious.

25:54

And

26:00

that's a real tragedy

26:02

that we could all learn from the

26:05

people. People loved

26:08

X so much that

26:10

they didn't let Earl

26:12

Simmons live, okay, and

26:15

he was didn't have the confidence in

26:17

himself because

26:19

he wanted to be loved. You know, he had a really

26:21

difficult childhood, and

26:23

so he wanted to be loved so much

26:26

that because X

26:29

was so loved, he kept X in

26:33

front. You know, Earl Simmons,

26:36

it's just a loved to fish,

26:40

be with his children.

26:41

Quiet. But nobody fucked

26:44

with Earl Simmons.

26:45

They all wanted X, and he didn't

26:47

know how to

26:50

let Earl live.

26:52

Earle loved fishing.

26:56

Like we went up to

26:58

I.

26:58

Don't know if the cats or Lake George

27:01

or something. I put him up there and

27:05

five point forty five in the morning, he

27:08

was on the dock. I went to get some coffee

27:10

and too fucking early for me to

27:13

wake up, so I went back to sleep. Eleven

27:17

o'clock he's still on the dock. So

27:20

you catch anything, he said, No, this

27:22

is just fishing. And

27:32

I'm lucky enough to have had a

27:34

relationship with Earl Simmons, and

27:37

I care deeply about Earl Simmons.

27:39

You know what.

27:40

Exis XUS is a guy driving

27:43

one hundred and fifty in the twenty miles zone.

27:46

That's what exes.

27:48

And so what do you expect if access

27:50

supposts, if all you love is

27:53

X.

27:54

What do you expect?

27:57

Yeah, you know that doesn't That

27:59

doesn't well, driving one hundred

28:01

and fifty and a twenty mile an hour

28:04

zone, that just doesn't end.

28:05

Well. Let me ask you because,

28:10

like a lot of to a lot of people, when they first

28:12

heard d MX, he resembled Onyx, right

28:15

likenaa,

28:17

So what made you because did

28:20

you think that would be a problem or you

28:23

knew you knew the.

28:24

Difference now now it wasn't

28:26

a problem. It was so fucking I never

28:28

heard that.

28:29

I never I never heard I felt

28:31

that.

28:31

So so whole norries

28:34

referencing is you know that

28:36

wire that's cut

28:40

and it's that water that

28:42

that's dangerous, and that's what that

28:45

Those two bands were disorganized

28:48

danger There was no like everything

28:52

organized.

28:52

It was like fucking shit, could you

28:55

go to an ONYX show?

28:57

And yeah, fucking to this day, you

28:59

know yeah, it's a problems

29:01

bit. Yeah. I told

29:03

them in Russia before you. It

29:06

was pretty curious you went to Russia before that, yeah,

29:08

you know, yeah, yeah.

29:10

Thought that was the first time you went. There

29:13

was another place, it was former so you just

29:15

the yeah.

29:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

29:17

Because that Russia thing was different.

29:21

Talk to me, shout out to two moves

29:23

here by the way, and he threw some tidbits

29:26

at me, telling me I didn't know that

29:28

you managed Dayla

29:31

yes, and I hit pause immediately and he

29:33

hit me back with a bunch of voice messages,

29:35

which I appreciate him for doing, and he

29:37

was just breaking down how you and Russell were involved

29:40

in them and tribe and I didn't I didn't realize. I

29:42

didn't know that much about it, and about the tour they

29:44

were on, that tour that you mentioned n w A one yes

29:47

and you stopped Macio from

29:50

joining the military, you

29:52

know.

29:53

So we just saw. We

29:57

just saw each other recently in London.

30:00

They did something for me and Google and

30:03

YouTube at

30:05

a conference and

30:08

I hadn't seen them in fifteen years,

30:12

and it

30:14

was really like an extraordinary

30:16

feeling. There's a lot of

30:18

stories that people tell me about,

30:21

like They were telling me in

30:23

the crowd about how

30:26

I got them out of high

30:29

school and college but

30:33

insisted on them

30:36

finishing their degree. So

30:39

beautiful things about me that I

30:41

don't remember. I have

30:43

an excuse, but they're

30:47

very very important, very

30:50

important, like that live

30:52

wire and that little

30:56

water on the ground.

30:57

They weren't that.

30:59

They were represented optimism

31:03

and joy, uh and a

31:06

different you know for.

31:07

Me, like I have all

31:09

the illness rappers.

31:12

That was a juke move when I represented

31:15

tribe and Deyla. I

31:17

just juked everybody like they thought

31:19

I was just one way like ry me.

31:22

And like did you know that he represented?

31:24

That's crazy, that's on the rush, that was on the rush.

31:27

Okay, okay, like a

31:30

sonic.

31:32

Pause and then pause telling me some stuff and then

31:35

just thinking about all the

31:37

groups and artists that Rush

31:40

and Deaf Jam collectively that you were

31:42

involved in and got to see developed.

31:45

That's extraordinary in terms.

31:46

Of lucky motherfucker. Lucky

31:49

motherfucker.

31:49

I've touched more rappers than

31:52

everybody else combined. Okay,

31:55

period. Okay, Big

31:57

Daddy Kane shout out to him. I just kim

32:00

joined me. I haven't seen him. Must

32:03

have been two decades he

32:05

joined me two days ago at

32:08

the Secretary of State's House

32:12

where we did rekindling

32:16

a new initiative around

32:18

music diplomacy.

32:20

So Dave Grohl Bono and

32:22

I brought Rock Kim and rock.

32:25

And did you know the Secretary of

32:27

State of the United States is

32:30

a musician guitarist and

32:32

he was played Muddy Waters on

32:34

stage. It was the most ridiculous

32:38

thing. And so I

32:40

saw that we had opera singers, we

32:42

had Dave Grohl Bono, we

32:45

didn't have any rappers. So we

32:49

got a few late

32:52

editions that was great, and one of them

32:54

was Rock Kim And when

32:56

he got on stage,

33:00

shut that place so down,

33:03

and it's all you know, guitarists and

33:05

symphony people and everything like that.

33:08

It was it brought shivers to

33:10

me because I

33:13

mean, if you think about those

33:15

lyrics and that man and

33:18

just to see him and the

33:20

life that he's created for himself.

33:22

Man, big shout out to rock Camra My

33:25

goodness.

33:26

So yeah, let's make noise.

33:31

Let's make noise for.

33:34

Music diplomacy, American

33:37

music. Let's not only

33:39

send guns around the world, let's

33:41

send our culture. You

33:44

know, by being in Kansastan, you

33:46

know, they Kazastan knows

33:48

more about America through the movies and

33:50

the music than they do. Buy

33:52

the guns. They only can't even name

33:55

the gun, but they can name you. They book

33:57

you or Disney.

34:00

We're losing that influence.

34:01

We've lost.

34:02

I've been traveling and I've been and they've been telling us.

34:04

They're like, we've like and specific to

34:06

hip hop. They said, hip hop

34:09

and you could take everybody could take it how they

34:11

want. They said, hip hop is a business

34:13

for you guys. It's you guys lost touch

34:15

with what it really is. And so now they're

34:18

looking to their to their regional peers.

34:20

Like I was in Vietnam, they're looking to China and

34:22

Korea, I was in Colombia, and they're looking

34:24

to the countries.

34:25

Around them, of course.

34:26

And it's sad to see because I like to

34:28

think of it, and I think it's true that hip hop

34:31

is probably one of the biggest cultural

34:33

exports that we we put out there that's

34:36

impacted.

34:37

So important, so important that we,

34:41

you know, culturally make

34:44

people understand what

34:46

an incredible country we have,

34:48

feel proud of, what are, what we've

34:51

accomplished and everything, and and

34:53

make the world a better place through music.

34:55

Okay, I can tell you something.

34:58

This world is in a really really

35:00

difficult place. This thing

35:03

could go real wrong, real fast.

35:06

But music is a connector.

35:09

It reminds us that we have more in common

35:11

than what separates us, and so I

35:13

want to do everything in my power to promote

35:15

that. I'm glad that the American

35:17

government Anthony Blincoln big

35:20

shout out to Anthony blinkn Okay,

35:25

our Secretary of State promoting

35:27

and funding bipartisan support

35:31

on funding American soft.

35:33

Power around the world.

35:35

So you know, one of the most important

35:37

moments of my life was when we

35:39

were opening up YouTube music in

35:42

India and

35:45

I was in Mumbai and

35:47

the biggest slum in Mumbai

35:49

in Asia is in Mumbai

35:52

called Davari Is where

35:54

slum Dog Millionaire is.

35:57

In the middle of this

35:59

slum is an

36:02

after school program

36:05

that's dedicated to hip

36:07

hop rap music. These

36:09

kids are breakdown, they're

36:11

wearing hip they're wearing cagles.

36:14

It's like a time warp. It's late

36:17

eighties.

36:17

Yeah, the little kids

36:19

with kangos, they're breaking

36:21

the.

36:23

Battles in

36:25

these the biggest

36:27

slum in the world, and

36:30

it's rap music that's keeping them

36:32

learning living off

36:34

the streets. It's just such a

36:36

powerful and important moment for me. It was

36:39

amazing, amazing.

36:41

I get this out. Well,

36:44

our show is about giving people the flowers,

36:46

So we want to give you a flowers. Face to face man

36:48

and man, tell you how great you are. You

36:51

know what I mean? Tell you, Tell

36:55

you how much you mean to the coach.

36:57

Thank you, thank you. This is really

36:59

mean for to me. Grateful. I'm

37:02

grateful to this. I'm grateful

37:04

to you, know.

37:05

You the man. Leo, you man, you man. Let's

37:08

make some.

37:10

Thank you so kind.

37:13

You want to do kick Thomas snob you got something, okay?

37:16

Yeah, we have sunny going on this place, okay.

37:18

Or he could just slip the champagne.

37:20

Okay, he can set a champagne. You want to explain on the rules.

37:22

We're gonna give you two choices. You

37:24

pick one.

37:25

Nobody drinks, but if you say both

37:27

or neither, which would be the political correct

37:29

answer, we're all drinking.

37:31

Right, but you don't have to take shots. You would take SIPs of the

37:33

champagne. Or if you want to designate a hit up my

37:35

friend right there, baby baby

37:38

shot. All right, So okay, you're gonna

37:40

ask me.

37:40

We're gonna give you two choices, right, So I

37:43

answered the question drinking.

37:46

No, no, no.

37:46

If you don't answer, then like if

37:48

you say both, like you don't want to, you don't

37:51

want to pick, say both or neither of them.

37:53

We're all drinking.

37:53

We're all gonna have it.

37:54

If I say one of them, nobody.

37:56

Drinks, Nobody drink nobody. I

37:59

think I'm gonna do a for this. Well,

38:01

you gonna tell her she don't know,

38:03

she don't know about how to do the bikie shots.

38:07

All right, cool, you're ready, you can go to the first one. All

38:09

right?

38:11

Rick Rubin or

38:13

Kanye West.

38:16

Mm hmm, fucking

38:20

Rick Rubin, jay

38:25

Z or Dame Dash jay

38:28

Z.

38:28

All day, meth

38:31

alad.

38:33

We're drinking, Okay.

38:36

I like how you understand the GA he understands

38:42

okay Wu tang clan or

38:44

public enemy public adem me okay,

38:47

I like that.

38:49

D MX or tupaca, d m

38:51

X right

38:55

kiss or fab.

38:59

Hm kiss?

39:01

Okay?

39:03

Analog or digital?

39:04

That's analog, that's the good.

39:06

That's I always go analog. Eighties

39:10

or nineties hip hop? Are you skipped? Oh

39:13

my bad? No, I gotta go back to that

39:15

eighties and nineties hip hop.

39:17

I don't give a fuck. Okay,

39:21

right, now okay, drink

39:24

no.

39:24

No, no, Na's album

39:27

Allmatic or Biggie Album Ready to Die

39:30

Biggie Album.

39:31

Okay, all right, Run DMC

39:33

or Beastie Boys, Run

39:36

DMC. Okay, Primo

39:40

or Pete Rock, Primo,

39:44

who Rihanna

39:46

or Mariah.

39:53

We're drinking no no, yeah.

39:58

That we're gonna drink with pre Move and Pete Rock. Okay,

40:01

go ahead, Doctor dre r

40:03

Puff I drinking.

40:09

Let me get it ready,

40:12

got it? That should have been you

40:14

again, Scarfhaser,

40:17

ice Cube, Scarface.

40:22

Fixed, come on.

40:25

Crazy Yeah Yeah, Crush.

40:29

Or Beat b Street Crush

40:32

Groups podcast

40:35

or See I Wear My Collars Trying Yes Yeah.

40:38

Podcast or radio podcasts.

40:47

God, I love this game.

40:48

It's Doc. It's Doc and hell is high

40:50

or Flesh of My Flesh. We

40:53

got to put you up against yourself, you know, fuck

41:02

it.

41:02

We're drinking.

41:05

I'm going Japanese de Leon.

41:08

You can keep you can have to say that anyone.

41:12

Okay, you guys have

41:14

to work after.

41:15

This, something

41:17

like that. I got to go be a father after this.

41:21

Okay, this is a good one. Russell

41:23

Simmons or Kevin Lyales. We're

41:26

drinking, okay, all

41:31

right, okay,

41:35

l L cool j or Snoop dogg L

41:43

cool j As hard as hell

41:45

battle anybody. I don't care you tell,

41:48

I won't tell. Hey,

41:51

oh my god, hold on? Oh okay, here

41:54

mob deep.

41:56

E P M D all day, all

41:59

day, it's my thing.

42:03

Go ahead, there, you got the chip, Midnight

42:06

Marauders or low end theory.

42:09

We're drinking gez

42:12

or Rick Ross, Rick

42:17

Ross kick

42:19

a Prie or Funk Master Flex.

42:23

Funk Flex.

42:25

Rad Alurn or grand Master Flash rather

42:27

Alarn Rough

42:30

Riders or Rockefeller drinking

42:38

Slicker Rick or rock him

42:40

drinking. Oh damn, come on, that's

42:43

up reasonable

42:46

out or in my lifetime Viole two.

42:51

In my lifetime. Loyalty

42:55

or respect. Loyalty

43:01

or respect that's disrespectful.

43:07

Respect. It

43:11

could be both.

43:13

So the problem is

43:17

a lot of people have

43:19

fake loyalty. But if

43:21

you have respect, then you have real

43:24

loyalty. You

43:26

want you understand what I'm saying. My

43:29

whole team had to fight. They

43:32

can't. They can't.

43:33

I can't be loyal to you if you're not

43:36

going to.

43:38

You know, make that happen,

43:41

right, I could just because you made

43:43

the decision, not I didn't make the decision.

43:47

Okay, So but you

43:49

could only get respect if you're ready

43:51

to do the work. So

43:53

if you do the work, then I'm loyal to you.

43:58

Do you understand what I'm saying.

44:00

I'm just thinking of the people that earn respect

44:02

through fear, and that's not that's not going to.

44:04

Get that's not respect. Power is

44:07

not taken, it's given. People

44:11

give you power, you don't take power.

44:19

That, my friend.

44:21

That was That was a pretty quick one of the quick

44:25

You went through those answers pretty quickly.

44:28

So one point I

44:30

supposed to go slow.

44:31

No, some people they just say

44:33

both. They want to give it over and

44:36

give relationships. And the reason why

44:38

we do that is not to single people out. We want

44:40

to mention these names, to have them in the conversation.

44:42

Yeah, for sure, thank you.

44:46

This. There's been a room at one point too, right that

44:49

Sugar Knight try to like bully

44:52

job rule off of the recordation.

44:53

No, No, I have no, I

44:55

have no idea about that.

44:57

But I do know.

45:00

There was a moment in La I

45:04

was at the Palace on Vine Street

45:06

it must be a different place, and

45:09

Chris Lighty comes up to me and

45:12

pulls out a gun and says,

45:14

come this way.

45:16

I said, what do you mean?

45:17

He says, look over there and was

45:19

shuging his crew coming after

45:21

me.

45:22

Really and this it was after I signed Warren

45:25

g and he was very upset.

45:26

Oh okay, okay, okay, and Chris

45:30

has me go through the kitchen.

45:34

Like wow, that was did

45:36

that really happen?

45:39

And you know, finally

45:41

got to the four seasons they were waiting

45:43

for me. Took me through

45:45

the kitchen to my room. Wow,

45:47

yeah it was. It was a thing. And

45:51

that's my Sugar Night story.

45:54

Face with Sugar.

45:55

Yeah, I had many.

45:55

Face to face I saw him in jail and

45:57

the whole nine visit him all that.

46:00

Oh yeah,

46:03

that's crazy. I wasn't ready

46:05

for that.

46:07

But when you saw him in jails after that

46:09

incident, yeah yeah.

46:11

I mean, so you guys reconciled in

46:13

a sense, there's.

46:14

No reconcile, okay, Just so

46:16

you're clear, there

46:21

was no apologies for what I

46:23

did. Like I

46:27

used to say to my artists, the

46:30

same answer I'm giving you right now is

46:33

the same answer when

46:35

you fling me out the window and I'm about to hit

46:37

the concrete and giving you the same fucking

46:39

answer. The only difference is you're going to jail,

46:42

so you're threatening me. And scaring

46:44

me. And I'm giving you the same answer.

46:47

Okay, So once you take

46:50

the fear out, once they realize

46:53

there's no change, what he

46:55

must be crazy?

46:56

How you know he's not going

46:58

to change.

46:59

Once they realized there's no change,

47:02

then it's a different relationship.

47:05

Does that make sense?

47:07

Yeah?

47:07

I feel like that creates the respect.

47:09

Creates respect.

47:10

But I think it's respect

47:13

because I have

47:16

a point of view. There

47:18

was nothing wrong with me signing

47:21

more and see he had all the opportunity

47:23

to he neglected it the whole nine

47:26

I didn't do anything disrespect

47:29

for you know wrong.

47:32

I just signed an artist, gave

47:34

him an opportunity and

47:36

that's it.

47:37

Kept it moving. Now, Now,

47:41

how hard was it for you? Right? Def

47:43

Jam was everything? I remember

47:46

like like like you know, you know,

47:48

it was everything, But you get this awful

47:51

from Atlantic right and

47:53

Atlantic is I don't know how this Atlantic

47:56

deal was structured, but I know that

47:58

at first you it was just who win and

48:01

then those who could get are? But

48:03

how hard was that not to hold that in?

48:06

Then the Atlantic stuff stuff

48:08

happened six years later. It was

48:11

really when

48:13

I sold Deaf Jam. I

48:15

was thirty eight years old and

48:19

part of the deal was you either work

48:21

for them or you go for five

48:23

years on what they call garden

48:26

leave, where you cannot go back

48:28

in the industry that you love. I'm

48:30

thirty eight years old. I

48:32

didn't work for the paper. I worked

48:35

for the Journey. I was on the Journey

48:37

And that would have been a death sentence

48:40

for me to.

48:42

Get this money.

48:43

From death Jam for selling it, selling but

48:45

not be able to work. But not being able to work

48:48

unless I worked for them. Oh, and

48:50

that's why I created the

48:52

Island Deaf.

48:53

Jam Music Okay. Now

48:56

what happened.

49:00

Why I left the Island def Jam

49:03

Music Group for the Warner

49:05

Music Group is Edgar

49:08

Broffman that owned Universal.

49:12

They bought PolyGram.

49:14

Okay, they bought a lot of things.

49:15

Eleven point nine billion

49:18

dollars and Island

49:20

def Jam was part

49:23

of that group.

49:24

Okay.

49:25

And he went off

49:28

to buy Warner

49:31

Music Group from aol time

49:33

Warner Wow. And because he saw

49:36

my work at Island def Jam, he

49:38

asked me to come along and

49:41

own a piece of this new company. And

49:44

it was one an

49:46

opportunity for me. And

49:49

we talked about the Warner Warner

49:51

Music Group. I I was hired as the chief

49:53

creative officer but

49:56

the real reason is going to be the first time

49:58

I've ever said it

50:01

is universal did

50:04

something really really bad to me. Now,

50:12

things were going really great for me. Joh

50:15

Rule was exploding, jay Z was exploding,

50:18

DMX was exploding. You

50:20

know, it was all incredible,

50:24

and I was broke the killers.

50:29

I didn't.

50:30

I transformed myself from the.

50:32

Rap guy to all of a sudden,

50:34

to other types of music,

50:36

the entrepreneurialism of rap

50:39

music I introduced to the rest of

50:41

the Suddenly. We went from

50:43

the last place to the number one record

50:45

company in the country, and I was good

50:47

money. But

50:50

I got harpooned because

50:55

two of job Rule's original

50:58

members went to jail.

51:00

Oh yeah, because you saw on cash Money click right.

51:02

And then they came back and

51:08

they were on TVT Records, and

51:12

so you.

51:12

Know when Steve

51:14

Gott killed.

51:17

This is a really really tough story for me.

51:22

So these two guys come back from

51:24

jail and say the job Rule, Yo,

51:26

let's do a cash money And

51:29

in the vault of TVT

51:32

was a cash money.

51:35

Album.

51:36

Yeah, And so erv

51:41

and job really didn't want to

51:44

do that. Their career is going

51:46

like crazy, bom boom boom boom.

51:49

So they made me tell

51:52

Steve Gottlieb that I'm not actually

51:54

going to do this. Now,

51:57

all of a sudden, I get a lawsuit person

52:00

in a lawsuit that I led

52:02

him on to believe that

52:04

job rule can do cash

52:06

money and accused

52:10

me of fraud.

52:14

So I said, get the fuck out of here. I didn't do anything

52:16

wrong.

52:16

I have jow rules multi Platinum,

52:19

and you're trying to rekindle cash

52:21

money.

52:22

It doesn't make any sense.

52:24

No, the

52:27

courts didn't believe believe

52:29

me, and I lost

52:31

one hundred and thirty five million

52:33

dollar judgment. Okay,

52:37

one hundred and thirty five million dollar judgment,

52:40

now think about it. So

52:45

I was indemnified by

52:48

Universal. I'm an employee at this point

52:50

of Universal, Like, can

52:52

you imagine if I gave job roll go

52:54

ahead to another independent

52:56

company multi Platinum job

52:58

rull go ahead and do this cash money side

53:00

project.

53:01

I'll be fired.

53:03

So I thought I did

53:05

the right thing for the company, for the

53:07

artists, everything. So

53:16

I went. Now I'm embarrassed.

53:19

Imagine they called me a fraudster. I'm

53:22

in the paper. The whole nine

53:25

lost one hundred and thirty five million dollars.

53:29

Now in order to

53:34

get a retrial, you

53:36

have to post a bond for

53:39

sixty million dollars. So

53:42

I went to Universal and said, you

53:45

know, you're on the hook for one hundred

53:47

and thirty five million. Let's

53:50

post a bond and get a retrial.

53:52

Because this went off the rails

53:55

and they boked the

53:58

people I gave my company.

54:00

To the blood, sweat

54:02

and tears that I gave that company, they

54:06

balked on the sixty

54:08

million bond that would allow

54:10

them to retry the case

54:13

that they were on the hook for one hundred and thirty

54:15

five million dollars. At that moment, I

54:18

realized, these people got

54:20

me out here like crazy. Now

54:23

put up the sixty MILLI went

54:26

to retrial, through the case

54:28

out. Finally they

54:30

said this is absolutely crazy. Steve

54:33

Godlieb already spent tens and tens

54:35

of millions of those dollars

54:38

and court got thrown

54:42

out, completely reversed.

54:44

I was clear Universal

54:47

saved one hundred and thirty five million dollars,

54:49

but I could never forgive them,

54:53

and that's why I left my company.

54:57

In fact, I actually

55:00

turned down Edgar and

55:03

on January sixth, right after I

55:05

got back from Barbados, I

55:08

walked in the morning because I was

55:11

under a lot of stress. They were telling

55:13

me this new Warner Music

55:15

Group is going to be so valuable, hundreds

55:17

of billions of dollars millions, and you're

55:20

going to do great in the whole

55:22

nine and what

55:25

they universal did to

55:27

me and I was struggling, but I didn't want to

55:29

leave the company, so I turned them Warner

55:31

down. I went that morning

55:33

to the office, never had a key, and

55:36

it was the first time that

55:39

I couldn't get in the office. I

55:42

said, this is a sign that I fucked up.

55:45

I walked back home. I

55:48

told my wife, well what

55:51

happened. She says, you're

55:53

an idiot. You just went too early. Go

55:55

back to the office. There's this sign.

55:57

Bullshit.

55:59

It just as I just as I

56:01

was leaving, Edgar Brotherland

56:04

called again and said, are you sure you

56:06

don't want to roll with us? And that at

56:08

that moment I said I'm coming and

56:11

never returned back to that jam

56:13

And that's how that's that's

56:21

crazy me. Yeah, that

56:23

was the first time that that story

56:26

ever been heard.

56:26

Okay, so you

56:29

get to Warner about to say Atlantic

56:31

where you get to Warna. This

56:35

is a room all not not you, but

56:38

every CEO kind of gets to a new company

56:40

and kind of fires everybody and brings in their

56:42

own crew. Was that your plan?

56:46

I don't believe in that. I don't.

56:48

I don't.

56:49

I don't fire everybody and

56:51

bring in my own crew. Everybody

56:53

has a chance to win that that job.

56:56

This is nothing personal. This

56:59

is this is not a game. This is people's

57:01

lives. We have a fiduciary

57:03

responsibility to the artists and the songwriters.

57:07

I was going to get the best click, period,

57:09

and that didn't mean my click.

57:12

Okay, I like this, like

57:15

this, what's

57:21

your click there?

57:23

So what you're saying because they

57:25

were the best, they were the best, just

57:27

so you know, award your team.

57:29

Won, just just just so you know it.

57:32

That's really not accurate, Okay, cool,

57:34

because many of

57:36

the my click made it, the

57:39

ones that you know about historical

57:42

people in this industry, many

57:45

of them didn't make it. Okay.

57:47

It's simple as that. So, like

57:51

I said, I believe that we

57:54

need to win. You need the best

57:56

team.

57:58

I believe that. That's simple as that. Goddamn

58:00

it, damn god, damn.

58:04

Let me ask you, before you

58:07

worked with run DMC, would

58:09

you have considered yourself a

58:11

hip hop head, a bee boy?

58:13

Like before you got into

58:15

the industry.

58:16

No, I was a curious person.

58:20

And I was raised

58:22

by two incredible

58:25

parents that made

58:28

sure that I did everything

58:30

in my power to avoid work. Now,

58:33

that's very strange think about Jewish

58:36

parents. Usually,

58:39

man, you go to school, become a doctor or

58:41

a lawyer, that's your gig. My

58:44

parents said, this is

58:46

a very new concept to have a career.

58:49

You see, a couple generations ago, people

58:51

didn't have a career. They went to work, right,

58:55

And they said, because we're

58:57

successful, we could afford

58:59

you the opportunit unity to find

59:01

your passion because if you find

59:04

your passion, you'll be a

59:06

very wealthy person.

59:07

And they weren't meaning money.

59:09

Right, They're meaning and by the way,

59:12

I'm on the verge of being sixty four years

59:14

old. I've been in this game for

59:16

forty years. I do not know

59:19

where the time went. It's

59:21

weird. So they

59:24

were right, found

59:26

my passion have enjoyed almost

59:29

every day. I work really hard,

59:32

but I work in a a in a

59:34

space that I feel incredibly

59:36

passionate about.

59:37

So

59:40

look was the reason the reason why I asked that is did

59:42

you so you were you passionate

59:44

about hip hop?

59:45

Prior to that?

59:45

Were you passionate about just the entertainment industry.

59:52

I was not passionate

59:55

about hip hop until

59:59

I came to New

1:00:01

York. Okay, I came

1:00:03

in New York during

1:00:06

the Fever period. Encore,

1:00:10

it's pretty early. You know

1:00:13

the Red Parrot, where

1:00:16

Fat Catch used to post up, the

1:00:21

Roxy Danse materia.

1:00:23

This was a moment before

1:00:26

aids, before crack.

1:00:29

This was a moment where New York

1:00:32

was just on the verge of bankruptcy, just

1:00:34

survived bankruptcy.

1:00:36

This was a moment where.

1:00:40

The exclusivity of Studio

1:00:43

fifty four gave into the

1:00:45

inclusivity of the Fever.

1:00:48

This was a moment in time where

1:00:52

at any given party

1:00:56

you could bump into Jean Michel

1:00:58

Basquiat, Madonna

1:01:02

and the Warhol, Keith Herring, you

1:01:04

know, Flash,

1:01:08

Mellie mel kg

1:01:11

You know. It was a melting pot because

1:01:15

New York, because of the

1:01:19

financial troubles, had affordable

1:01:22

housing. So painters

1:01:24

and the arts and people

1:01:26

there were drawn there, and

1:01:29

so it was this melting pot.

1:01:30

I don't know what the fuck question you asked me.

1:01:34

I'll ask you how much of a hip

1:01:36

hop d were you getting it? Were you attracted

1:01:38

to? So the first time as a hip hop

1:01:40

head or as just the industry.

1:01:42

No, no, I'm pre sucker mc bro

1:01:46

be clear. Okay,

1:01:48

So there weren't that many hip

1:01:52

hop hads fire to me. But

1:01:55

the first time that I met the beat,

1:01:58

my brother was wood shop teacher

1:02:00

at Vermin Day in South central

1:02:03

LA, and he used

1:02:05

to bring me. Vermin Day had the national champion

1:02:08

high school basketball team, and

1:02:10

he used to take me to the games. And

1:02:13

every break, a

1:02:15

guy with a bass and some drums

1:02:18

would run up with some girls. I'm

1:02:20

doing those moves and

1:02:22

I was like eight years

1:02:25

old, and I said, oh my

1:02:27

god, I can't believe what I just heard, and

1:02:29

they would race back and then every break

1:02:31

or halftime.

1:02:34

Fast forward to

1:02:36

listening to.

1:02:38

Fifteen ADYKDA and

1:02:40

going to see an Uncle Jam's army

1:02:43

event. I recognized

1:02:45

that beat. That

1:02:48

beat was familiar to me, and

1:02:50

I liked it. You

1:02:52

know what I'm saying.

1:02:53

It was like that

1:02:55

that shit that I liked. It

1:02:59

was familiar to me, and I wanted more

1:03:01

of it.

1:03:02

But this is the reason why I was saying all of this, because

1:03:06

you became the archetype of the

1:03:08

hip hop executive. Like it or

1:03:10

not, you became that person, and

1:03:14

I feel like you come prior to the

1:03:16

industry of hip hop.

1:03:18

That's why I was asking you, leading you into that question.

1:03:21

And now people look at hip hop

1:03:24

the industry extracted the music and

1:03:26

monetized the music.

1:03:27

But we both know, and we talked.

1:03:28

About internationally, the culture

1:03:30

lives all these elements. How

1:03:34

do you feel the the

1:03:36

rest of like hip hop as a multi

1:03:38

dimensional culture, how

1:03:40

can it thrive further going into the future.

1:03:42

I don't know.

1:03:43

I'm not a It was funny one

1:03:45

day I was invited into the

1:03:48

global management

1:03:50

meeting of PolyGram in Seville, Spain,

1:03:53

and I sat next to the

1:03:56

head lawyer of PolyGram and he said,

1:03:58

so, Leor, what's to

1:04:00

rap music? What's the future of rap music?

1:04:02

And I turned to him and I said, I

1:04:04

don't know. It was like

1:04:06

really put off in English dot

1:04:09

He said, so what do we pay you

1:04:11

millions of dollars for?

1:04:14

I said, I don't know.

1:04:16

I hope you don't pay me millions

1:04:19

of dollars to predict the future.

1:04:22

I hope you pay me.

1:04:23

Millions of dollars to create an environment,

1:04:26

a safe space, a creative

1:04:28

space where artists in

1:04:31

that garage with a snot

1:04:34

running down their nose that are going

1:04:36

to change the future. Want

1:04:38

to be with us. I

1:04:41

never wanted to predict the future. That's

1:04:43

corny to me. That's like

1:04:45

what I want to create,

1:04:48

and then safe environment for

1:04:51

that future have to be.

1:04:52

Well, well, that is predicting the future too, because you're creating

1:04:55

the future a foundation for

1:04:57

a future.

1:04:57

I don't know.

1:04:58

I never weather veined thing. I

1:05:01

can't tell you. I can't tell

1:05:03

you. I can tell you the

1:05:06

thing that lives inside of me. Okay,

1:05:09

think about this. The

1:05:13

center of the music industry

1:05:16

is in New York City in nineteen

1:05:18

eighty three. All

1:05:21

the record companies were here. They weren't in

1:05:23

La they weren't in Atlanta and Miami. They

1:05:25

were all every decision maker, every

1:05:27

single person record

1:05:30

label industry, or the entire record

1:05:32

label industry. It was

1:05:35

in New York City.

1:05:37

Now, how far is

1:05:40

Midtown from the Bronx forty

1:05:45

fifty sixty, seventy eighty blocks.

1:05:50

So think about that. A

1:05:53

kid like me, Russell Rick,

1:05:58

no money, no

1:06:00

clout, no knowledge,

1:06:05

I got high.

1:06:08

All those four things alone

1:06:12

is a reason why couldn't be

1:06:14

successful, right, But it was

1:06:16

because of the arrogance of

1:06:19

these labels that didn't

1:06:21

drive up to the Bronx and realized

1:06:24

to get into the fever there

1:06:27

was more demand than supply,

1:06:31

and it was the arrogance of them not

1:06:33

getting in a car for

1:06:36

ten It wasn't in Poughkeepsie

1:06:41

or Memphis. It was in the

1:06:44

Bronx Queens. All

1:06:47

they had to do was go there. So because

1:06:50

of the arrogance of the

1:06:52

industry, we were

1:06:54

able to incubate. And

1:06:58

then five six years later and they

1:07:00

realized, oh shit, this is not noise

1:07:02

that's going away or fad.

1:07:06

Suddenly we had money, we

1:07:09

had clout, we

1:07:11

had knowledge. Getting

1:07:14

high was in the thing. No more, okay,

1:07:19

And suddenly we were a beasts and

1:07:22

they thought that they could get in just buy

1:07:24

money. Remember

1:07:27

how they came in, Fuck

1:07:29

it, we'll just buy the ship up and

1:07:35

yeah, so I think that

1:07:37

to me is so if you told me yep,

1:07:42

you know about the

1:07:45

motherfucker's jumping on one leg

1:07:48

singing in the north

1:07:50

of the d R in

1:07:52

Pueta Plata, that shit is

1:07:54

big. You know what I do, And

1:07:56

get on the fucking plane and go

1:07:59

just touch the baggie. I

1:08:01

want to see it. I

1:08:03

don't want to ever say that

1:08:06

ain't possible, that's just noise. That's

1:08:09

a fat I need to go understand

1:08:11

that. Actually, because I remember

1:08:14

what I did to them. The only

1:08:17

reason why I'm here is because they

1:08:19

wouldn't get in a fucking.

1:08:20

Car drive

1:08:23

some blocks down, some blocks

1:08:25

down.

1:08:26

That's insane, insane.

1:08:29

This is a drink Champs p s A good

1:08:32

be hoping what it should be? This is your boy,

1:08:34

and what up is dj e f N.

1:08:36

This is not drink Champs Happy. I feel

1:08:39

drinking something drink Champs happy

1:08:41

without the hour healthy hour, healthy

1:08:43

healthy drink help you out. I

1:08:51

don't think I've ever interviewed a doctor, so,

1:08:54

I mean, the wait is on you. The

1:08:59

closest document it got to is doctor Dre. Yeah,

1:09:03

so explain, explain exactly what you do

1:09:05

dot.

1:09:06

So I'm a cardiologist, but I am

1:09:08

and I worked a long time and issues are on.

1:09:10

Health and healthcare and YouTube.

1:09:13

We've been really trying to build out the platform,

1:09:15

arout how we get health and messages out to people,

1:09:17

or we let people understand how to take

1:09:20

care of themselves into a preventative way, but

1:09:22

just in general, just how we improve the health of the community.

1:09:26

So how did you look up with Leo? So there is

1:09:28

my guy? Okay,

1:09:33

City of Hope.

1:09:34

No, no, no, no, This has nothing

1:09:36

to do with City of Hope. This has to do

1:09:38

with that we're colleagues work

1:09:43

at the largest global

1:09:45

platform in the world, you

1:09:47

know, two point plus billion

1:09:50

daily active users, insane

1:09:52

from the you know,

1:09:54

corners of Indonesia

1:09:57

to the Geria,

1:10:00

back to Chile, back to South

1:10:02

central l a and and back to New

1:10:05

York. We're global and

1:10:08

doctor Garth leads all the

1:10:10

health initiatives that YouTube

1:10:14

does. Okay, And so YouTube

1:10:17

is not just about cat videos

1:10:19

and music, no,

1:10:25

no, we

1:10:30

what we're what the

1:10:33

leadership is attempting to do is

1:10:36

use the power of the platform.

1:10:38

And doctor Garth, uh,

1:10:42

you know, we like Alton Ellis.

1:10:44

You know who Alton Ealyis is.

1:10:46

Okay, he was before Bob Marley,

1:10:49

and Bob Marley really like

1:10:52

fell in love with Alton Ellis. Let's

1:10:54

hear it from Alton l Okay,

1:10:58

diferent part of the being. Then you

1:11:01

are from nor right, Okay?

1:11:03

Where are you from? Because I so

1:11:05

I'm originally from Jamaica. Okay,

1:11:08

yeah, well yeah.

1:11:13

Right, but actually part of my education

1:11:16

here and then went off to all the places for medical school

1:11:18

and everything. So think of myself as Jamaican

1:11:20

little Floridan.

1:11:21

And then all over the place.

1:11:23

So what made me want to be a doctor and not like doctor

1:11:25

dre.

1:11:27

You know, if I was going to be honest story,

1:11:29

there are a lot of things affecting our

1:11:31

communities, you know, black and brown people.

1:11:33

If you think even about you know.

1:11:35

The health of the community right around here in Overtwn.

1:11:37

You think about Brooklyn, the Bronx, if you think

1:11:39

about all of these communities across the world,

1:11:42

our communities be the disproportionate

1:11:44

impact of diabetes, hypertension, heart

1:11:47

disease, and we're dying at a higher rate.

1:11:49

So my goal and my life and

1:11:51

and and all of our goals, I think to

1:11:53

figure out how we can help the community

1:11:55

get healthier. And you know, YouTube is

1:11:58

the way we can do that. But he wants to know why you

1:12:00

chose to become a doctor. How did that even

1:12:02

happen? Like instead of being a DJ.

1:12:06

You look like he might be a DJO.

1:12:09

Like try to.

1:12:17

Legend in Jamaica, you know, and Shapa

1:12:19

and all of those people are still legend.

1:12:21

You know.

1:12:21

I saw my mom do a lot of things in Jamaica helping

1:12:23

people. She was a nurse and she would really

1:12:25

take care of people and not just inspired me to be

1:12:28

on the same journey that I was just describing. So

1:12:30

she was a nurse in Jamaica. She's a nurse in Jamaica and a

1:12:33

nurse.

1:12:33

Wow wow, wow, you know

1:12:35

what, what's crazy things in New York

1:12:37

City. One of the first times we got encountered

1:12:40

with health used to be these juice bars, right,

1:12:42

and and we used

1:12:44

to go there, and there used to be juice bars. But a lot

1:12:46

of times we used to go there. We used to go there because they

1:12:49

were selling weed, right, But by

1:12:51

the time we were selling buying the weed, we would buy

1:12:54

the juice war Like the roster man

1:12:56

would come.

1:12:56

He was mostly Caribbean people that yes,

1:12:59

they would tell us, all here, take.

1:13:00

A shot of ginger, you know, take a shot of wheat

1:13:02

grass. And we're really there just for the

1:13:05

reef. Call that bag, yeah,

1:13:08

come back and the Caribbean.

1:13:10

Why does it seem like Caribbean people are more healthy

1:13:12

and holistic as well? That's very true.

1:13:14

I mean, you know, putting the weed conversation

1:13:17

part aside. In a Racipheen region, a lot

1:13:19

of it is about healthy eating, you know, a lot of

1:13:21

it is about how you know, you eat food

1:13:23

that's grown from the earth and So that's a big

1:13:25

part of Caribbean culture, Puerto Rican

1:13:27

culture. You know, that's a big part of a

1:13:33

big part of all our cultures.

1:13:34

You know.

1:13:34

It's healthy eating. Yeah

1:13:36

yeah, yeah, Well in

1:13:39

our communities it's very healthy and

1:13:41

excume the healthy. It's very popular to

1:13:44

the fried foods. Yeah, why are we

1:13:46

prone to liking fried foods?

1:13:48

You know, I think that's a flavor. That's

1:13:50

one conceptual flavor that we kind of learn

1:13:52

and understand earlier on.

1:13:54

But it also.

1:13:55

Doesn't mean that we don't like stuff that's

1:13:57

healthy and green, like which you're drinking now. I mean

1:13:59

I watch you all the time when you're out there running on

1:14:01

the beach, yes, you know, and then pulling your kids

1:14:03

along the state time. That's a part of our

1:14:05

culture too, you know. And even if you think

1:14:07

of like just all the different kinds of foods we

1:14:09

eat that's grown from the earth. So again, healthy

1:14:12

living, I think is a part of just the broader

1:14:14

Caribbean culture, and we need to

1:14:16

think about how we get it all that message

1:14:18

out more and more and more.

1:14:20

Now, is it safe to say that like

1:14:22

a lot of us that have our parents when we

1:14:24

were first generation Americans, that

1:14:27

it was healthier eating,

1:14:29

more organic eating in the home

1:14:31

countries, and then we're here and it's just a

1:14:33

fast paced living and that's the food that's affecting

1:14:35

our health.

1:14:36

You see, you see generational changes.

1:14:38

You know, you see particularly even in Cuban

1:14:40

and Mexican communities where women

1:14:43

have lower birth rates of things like infant

1:14:45

mortality with but the longer they stay

1:14:47

here, the more you know, the culture

1:14:49

and the stress and all of the things that

1:14:51

make life unhealthy starts to impact our health.

1:14:53

So yeah, we definitely start to see a lot.

1:14:55

Of that generational dynamic developed,

1:14:57

you know, as as more and more and more as

1:14:59

we get accustomed to a lot of unhealthier

1:15:02

addectivities.

1:15:03

I would say that it was also, you

1:15:05

know, to be an immigrant very

1:15:08

stressful, and then you have a

1:15:10

predatory uh

1:15:13

you know, fast food, commercial

1:15:16

food indust commercial food industry

1:15:19

that uh you

1:15:21

know, wasn't regulated properly, didn't

1:15:24

give information about

1:15:26

what people were eating and the

1:15:28

consequences of what they ate. I

1:15:30

mean, there's a disproportionate

1:15:32

share of fast food

1:15:35

fried stuff in

1:15:38

black communities that there are in white

1:15:40

communities. So I think that

1:15:43

aided that issue.

1:15:45

As well, and the symbolism behind it because growing

1:15:48

up to us, McDonald's was like luxury food,

1:15:50

like a big deal to go to McDonald's.

1:15:52

Yeah, you know, yeah, and it plays out

1:15:54

right.

1:15:54

So we see like life expectancy in

1:15:57

communities like right around here much lower

1:15:59

than if you're the dry ten minutes into Miami

1:16:01

Beach or where people are have other

1:16:03

healthy options. So you know, this isn't

1:16:05

just about about where

1:16:08

we are now. It's about where we have been for a long

1:16:10

time.

1:16:11

Do you know.

1:16:12

Let me put something in your

1:16:15

in your mind.

1:16:18

For every dollar that

1:16:20

America earns, we

1:16:23

pay twenty to twenty

1:16:26

three cents to healthcare.

1:16:28

That's crazy, Like

1:16:31

we are so out of whack

1:16:33

to the rest of the world.

1:16:35

So I just want to put it in perspective.

1:16:39

If and it's all reactive

1:16:42

medicine, most of it is all reactive.

1:16:45

They're waiting for people to get

1:16:47

fat, ignore their health,

1:16:49

get sick, and then they go and

1:16:53

it taxes the you

1:16:55

know economy. Imagine

1:16:58

if we could lower that down to

1:17:01

ten percent, where does

1:17:03

that thirteen percent go?

1:17:06

Education? Right,

1:17:08

you know, communities?

1:17:10

Maybe we could have music

1:17:13

back in public education

1:17:15

or the arts and stuff like that.

1:17:18

So when the money is

1:17:20

going in the disproportionate

1:17:23

way, to you know, healthcare.

1:17:27

I think it's just insane

1:17:29

that we don't tackle it. And that has

1:17:31

nothing to do with how disproportionate

1:17:34

all the effects of these diseases

1:17:37

are in the black community. And so

1:17:40

that's I think real. But that

1:17:42

should highlight some of the big issues.

1:17:44

But doesn't it seem like an uphill battle to dislodge

1:17:47

the politics of it and all the money in politics

1:17:49

that comes from pharmaceutical industries

1:17:51

and all these different industries.

1:17:53

And that's why we want to go bottom

1:17:55

up. And every

1:17:57

single one of your viewers

1:17:59

and your listeners are

1:18:02

important because if we could

1:18:04

get them more focused

1:18:07

on healthcare and

1:18:10

being living healthy, it

1:18:12

will deburden the

1:18:14

the institution and and

1:18:17

and I think it would change a lot of people's

1:18:19

lives and change society's life

1:18:21

too. We need more education,

1:18:24

We need higher paid teachers,

1:18:27

We need music and the arts

1:18:29

back in these schools, and.

1:18:33

We need to just get this under

1:18:35

control. That makes no noise in that Let

1:18:40

me actually, right, one of these famous

1:18:42

diets right now is this keto diet.

1:18:45

So everyone is ket keto.

1:18:48

And how you've recently been going to Europe this whole

1:18:50

year, right, nobody

1:18:54

in Europe but didn't nobody's overweight.

1:18:57

It's like I'm looking like, how's

1:18:59

the work?

1:19:00

Yeah, yeah, So you know what I tell

1:19:02

my patients is stay

1:19:05

away from fat diets. You know, there's

1:19:07

really the thing about dieting is trying to be

1:19:09

consistent over time. What you've see

1:19:11

in a lot of different communities. Again in Cuban communities

1:19:14

and Puerto Rican communities and Criban communities,

1:19:16

you see healthy eating that's a part of the culture

1:19:18

and stays that way over time. And that's the problem

1:19:21

with whatever diet of the month it is,

1:19:23

or the diet of the week, is that people

1:19:25

get on it, they go up and down, they lose lose

1:19:27

gain weight, and so those are the kinds of challenges.

1:19:29

So we the concept is how

1:19:31

do you have a culture of healthy

1:19:34

eating that lasts for the rest of your life.

1:19:36

I know you pass on to your kids as well.

1:19:38

Right, because I'll guess my question is

1:19:40

how come in America that's our

1:19:43

way is like the no bread But in Europe that's

1:19:45

like the first thing, like like they

1:19:48

etceet you first, and religion

1:19:51

and nobody's big out there. Are they making Europeans

1:19:54

different than.

1:19:54

The control is a big part of all of this. R

1:20:00

yeah, there's not.

1:20:01

Sometimes about what you eat is about sometimes about

1:20:03

how much about you eat, and so if you eat a

1:20:05

lot of carbohydrates, that

1:20:07

has one particular impact. But it's not

1:20:09

that everything all food is evil. A lot of times

1:20:11

it's the quantity as well

1:20:13

as the quality of the food that you eat.

1:20:16

Nor you know, I live in Europe, right, Yes, I know

1:20:19

you didn't invite me to your spots.

1:20:20

Yes, I heard

1:20:23

you're posted up.

1:20:32

There. It's pretty sure. So I was

1:20:34

in Sardinia. It's an island

1:20:38

in Italy. I wanted to

1:20:40

go and visit one of the Blue zones,

1:20:42

Okay, and the Blue Zone. There's five blue zones

1:20:44

in the world, one in Japan,

1:20:47

one in this place in the mountains of Sardinia,

1:20:50

one in California.

1:20:53

I don't know whether Central America. What

1:20:55

is a blue zone?

1:20:56

The blue zone is a community

1:20:59

that lives healthy into

1:21:02

their hundreds.

1:21:03

So it's just not a one off.

1:21:05

It's a community of people that

1:21:08

for some reason are living you

1:21:11

know, into their hundreds, not in the hospital

1:21:13

bed, but like.

1:21:14

Playing after there.

1:21:16

And so

1:21:21

I visited this community

1:21:23

up in the mountains of Sardinia, and

1:21:25

I can tell you what my

1:21:28

observation was community. It's

1:21:31

pretty simple, love

1:21:34

companionship. But

1:21:36

they're eating a cheesy

1:21:39

yogurt that is a

1:21:41

probiotic that this

1:21:44

is the reason why this

1:21:47

community and a certain type of wine

1:21:49

that is very pro something about

1:21:52

probiotic and the gut.

1:21:54

And I think that.

1:21:55

And so when I did some discovery on

1:21:57

the other blue zones, you

1:21:59

know, when you get paper for some reason, you're

1:22:01

interested in all this hit.

1:22:05

So what

1:22:08

I.

1:22:08

Realized, and I'm luck for you to

1:22:10

confirm or not, it's something about

1:22:13

the gut.

1:22:13

Is something super powered.

1:22:15

A second brain, right, yeah, second

1:22:18

brain. I didn't know.

1:22:18

Yeah, I

1:22:21

mean it helps to drive

1:22:23

a lot of your metabolism. And so

1:22:25

that's why a lot of these behaviors end up

1:22:28

making you healthier overall.

1:22:32

I've seen a study that Tupac

1:22:35

Chopo was talking about

1:22:40

everybody everybody

1:22:43

knew, and

1:22:47

he said that they put rabbits

1:22:50

in a cage and they fed them all poisoned.

1:22:52

But one set of rabbits they

1:22:54

massaged and they you know, played music

1:22:57

to and like we're nice to. And

1:22:59

even though they he fed them all

1:23:01

poison that those set of rabbits

1:23:03

that they were nice to took the poison

1:23:05

and and actually it became healthy.

1:23:10

Is that something that we're supposed to be doing, Like, as we're

1:23:12

eating, are we supposed to be thinking positive and

1:23:14

feeling good about ourselves?

1:23:15

Well, that's stress too, Yeah, exactly

1:23:18

that that part of it around stress is important. Listen,

1:23:20

we have a challenge many times talking

1:23:22

about mental health, stress

1:23:25

and those kinds of things in our community, particularly

1:23:28

even as black and brown men, you know, and

1:23:30

so to the point of even understanding

1:23:32

that we have to normalize talking

1:23:34

about hard days, good days,

1:23:37

bad days, stressful day, depression, you

1:23:39

know, all of those things. So so again, understanding

1:23:41

how we normalize the sculsuons about stress

1:23:44

and how we attack

1:23:46

it and deal with it is a part

1:23:48

of even that conversation.

1:23:50

And go back to what Leros earlier.

1:23:52

He said, you know, you get some paper, you

1:23:54

start to think about these things. A lot of the communities

1:23:56

that are suffering from a lot of disease, you

1:23:58

know, they're nomic struggle

1:24:00

there, you know what I'm saying. But once you

1:24:02

you come out of that struggle, you're like, oh, you have something

1:24:04

to live for, you want your family to live longer.

1:24:07

You know, you start to think about creating

1:24:09

generational wealth. It's a whole different ballgame.

1:24:12

Yeah.

1:24:12

And I also say, let's think about creating generational

1:24:14

health along with generational

1:24:17

health.

1:24:19

And that's why we decided. You

1:24:22

know, I don't like celebrating myself

1:24:24

noriy. I like being behind the scenes

1:24:27

and just watching this

1:24:30

beautiful culture, you know, grow

1:24:33

up.

1:24:33

See you choosing

1:24:35

between lake.

1:24:43

It's just it's wonderful.

1:24:46

It's wonderful.

1:24:47

It's wonderful too to

1:24:50

see there's a culture grow up

1:24:52

and.

1:24:54

Be so successful.

1:24:57

But I realized that

1:24:59

there's you know, I used to never know

1:25:02

anybody who died when

1:25:05

I was, you know, growing up. First

1:25:07

person that died was jam Master Jake

1:25:09

Wow. Wow, first

1:25:12

person that you know. People used to

1:25:14

say, oh I lost so and so and so. I

1:25:16

didn't even understand that feeling. But

1:25:19

as you get older, you start losing

1:25:21

people, people that you care

1:25:24

so deeply about that you take for granted.

1:25:27

You know, everybody wants to go to a funeral

1:25:29

and celebrate someone's life, and

1:25:32

while they're alive, they

1:25:35

didn't, you know, they didn't take the time.

1:25:38

And so.

1:25:41

The City of Hope asked me to do this

1:25:43

numerous times, and I really

1:25:45

didn't want to do this. In fact,

1:25:48

I didn't even know that the City of hope

1:25:50

this event was

1:25:53

something for many many years

1:25:55

because I never got an invite,

1:25:58

okay, until you

1:26:00

know, rap music kicked down that fucking

1:26:02

door. All of a sudden, I started

1:26:05

getting the inviting and I started recognizing,

1:26:07

like, wow, there's these events

1:26:09

and these hospitals and

1:26:11

these you know, the access

1:26:14

to things. I had no idea, and I

1:26:16

believe me, I was a

1:26:19

decade successful. So

1:26:22

I felt it coming a sort of way like what

1:26:24

you know, like Grouch and Mark says, I won't

1:26:27

belong to a club that would take me as

1:26:29

a member, and so I

1:26:32

said to myself, why do I Why am

1:26:34

I going to do this? I don't want to celebrate myself.

1:26:37

And then all these people started getting sick,

1:26:40

and I really really wanted started

1:26:42

to try to understand this

1:26:45

whole cancer thing. What

1:26:48

is it? What is it about? How

1:26:50

is people getting affected? And

1:26:53

then I saw the statistics about

1:26:57

how the percentage

1:26:59

of black people that

1:27:02

get sick versus white people. Since

1:27:06

my career has been based on

1:27:09

black music, I

1:27:11

felt like, wow, this is interesting. Let

1:27:13

me talk to the hospital and

1:27:15

discuss with them if they could

1:27:17

do something to you

1:27:20

know, fund this

1:27:23

inequity in cancer. And

1:27:27

they were incredible,

1:27:30

like this hospital, which is the world's

1:27:32

most famous hospital in

1:27:34

cancer, cancer research, cancer

1:27:37

treatment, the way they treat patients, etcetera,

1:27:39

etcetera, etcetera. They

1:27:42

understood the inequity that

1:27:45

was happening and they want to close the gap.

1:27:48

And so the moment they said that

1:27:50

they're ready to put money to

1:27:53

mobile vans that

1:27:55

would go inside communities,

1:27:57

black communities to

1:28:00

get early detection, I

1:28:02

said, ship, get over my fear

1:28:05

and and let's make this happen.

1:28:08

He said, yeah,

1:28:14

I know, I'm bouncing around a little bit, but let me let

1:28:17

me ask. At

1:28:20

one point, my friend Roster, he's

1:28:22

a vegan, right. Uh, he's also

1:28:24

Jamaican, right, But I don't know, I feel

1:28:26

need to say that. But yeah,

1:28:30

I mean.

1:28:31

But listen,

1:28:35

yeah, okay.

1:28:36

At one point I was a vegan, right, And

1:28:38

I the reason why I kind of got off

1:28:40

of being a vegan. I swear to God, I had

1:28:42

no animal instincts, Like I sweld

1:28:44

of God Like people were stepping on my shoes and I

1:28:47

was like, are you okay? Like I was just

1:28:49

like I was just too soft, Like I just like,

1:28:51

wait a minute, you know the meat. I

1:28:54

kind of felt like you only have animal

1:28:56

instance if you're animal in you

1:28:59

now was I walking? Oh?

1:29:01

I don't know. I don't think there's in a data wround

1:29:04

that fact. Okay, right, because

1:29:06

this is just me, this is my true right, right.

1:29:08

But what I say to people that my patients often

1:29:10

is choose a diet that works for you,

1:29:13

that you can be on for a long time,

1:29:15

not just something that feels good or somebody

1:29:17

else is doing or is engaging just for

1:29:19

this week or this moment. Because these

1:29:21

are lifestyle decisions. And that's

1:29:23

why I have to say and shout out to folks like you and

1:29:25

others who have been really talking about

1:29:28

lifestyle.

1:29:28

You know, how do you?

1:29:29

It could be more an exercise think about these things.

1:29:31

So this is about creating a healthier lifestyle, not

1:29:33

just about one die or vegan die. Works for you,

1:29:35

then that works, but it doesn't work for you, and

1:29:38

you need to find something that does.

1:29:39

Something that works for you. That's exactly right, exactly

1:29:42

right. You like

1:29:44

pescaria, You've

1:29:46

been needing like fifteen years. You need fish to be That's

1:29:48

what I'm saying. Yeah, I need fish to swim

1:29:50

with. I'm cuting, what's

1:29:56

that? Well?

1:29:57

I want to dive deeper into the cancer

1:29:59

research and everything going on because obviously,

1:30:01

you know, we know that a lot of people in

1:30:03

different communities feel that there's a lot of

1:30:05

conspiracy around that they feel

1:30:07

that these treatments are there, that the cures

1:30:10

are there, and they're just not giving access.

1:30:12

What's what's the truth, what's really going on?

1:30:16

Truth be told.

1:30:17

You know, the distrust between our black and brown

1:30:19

communities and healthcare system has a lot

1:30:21

of history.

1:30:21

You know, they think that it's a skey experiment.

1:30:23

All kinds of thing has happened that really have turned

1:30:25

our communities off. And so we in

1:30:27

healthcare need to make a proactive effort

1:30:29

to engage people and bring them in.

1:30:32

And when we think about things like cancer, we have really

1:30:34

effective screening for cancer, you know, for

1:30:36

colon cancer, especially for those who getting

1:30:39

up in there for it is you know, you know, think about poland

1:30:41

cancer screening, especially for women

1:30:43

as they get into their fort they thinking about breast cancer screening

1:30:46

and colon cancer is really impacting

1:30:49

our Black community. Breast cancer taking

1:30:51

away a lot of our queens, i

1:30:53

mean, the black and brown communities.

1:30:56

And so we have to really get out of the messagebout how we start

1:30:58

to pull people in and listen. We've lo us

1:31:00

a lot of our soldiers

1:31:03

to cancer, you know, Guru from

1:31:05

multim Milum, a lot of people who we all love

1:31:07

and.

1:31:07

Has contributed to our culture.

1:31:09

So we have to think about how we start

1:31:11

to again really get this message out of our own health

1:31:13

and start to talk to our community.

1:31:14

Is more about it.

1:31:15

You're powerful, guys, your

1:31:18

your your voice is powerful.

1:31:20

Yeah. Your plan on

1:31:22

having it on the front page of YouTube or something like that, or

1:31:24

we.

1:31:24

Are trying to recruit people like you?

1:31:26

You know what we want?

1:31:27

Yeah, well what we want we

1:31:29

want we want influential voices to

1:31:31

try to help us communicate to the

1:31:33

community. You know, I mean you have a

1:31:36

lot of particularly a lot of folks and hip

1:31:38

hop comunity. We don't talk a lot about help. You know,

1:31:40

if you look at styles, you

1:31:42

know, sounds, I mean I love some of the stuff sounds to say,

1:31:44

and all of that stuff is ingreensboy health.

1:31:46

And then how do we.

1:31:49

So how do we connect all of those voices

1:31:51

around some of the evidence and help to communicate

1:31:53

to our community. And that's why I think it's just

1:31:55

an evolution and a revolution that we're starting

1:31:57

to see really around how we get the mess

1:32:00

are a non healthcare so we want to start partnering

1:32:02

more with artists and other people who have

1:32:04

voices, have the community,

1:32:07

have the engagement around

1:32:09

you know, again, how we educate our community around a

1:32:11

lot of these health messages.

1:32:12

Yeah, that's that's that's that's that's

1:32:15

a deep man, It's deep. It's very

1:32:17

deep. What else? What else we got in there? Come

1:32:21

on, let's get let's hitt to some points.

1:32:23

We No, I still want to talk about the cancer

1:32:25

things. Yeah, Okay, I'm interested because,

1:32:27

like I said, a lot of conspiracies around cancer

1:32:30

research and whether or not there's there's specific

1:32:33

cures that like people feel that there's cures

1:32:35

and they're just being held back.

1:32:38

Definitely.

1:32:39

Yeah.

1:32:39

So I mean, truthfully, we have a lot of effective

1:32:42

cres for cancer. We need to do a better

1:32:44

job of how we bring in

1:32:46

and get those cures to the black and brown community.

1:32:49

I mean, we need to make sure that we're getting more folks

1:32:51

into the clinical trials, but treatment

1:32:53

and education and all of those kinds of

1:32:55

things. So I would say that the healthcare system needs

1:32:57

to do a better job, but we do have a lot of effective

1:32:59

cares. Cancers come a long way

1:33:01

dej from where it used to be, especially

1:33:04

when you think about pediatric cancers and all of these kinds

1:33:06

of things screening and

1:33:08

how we can detect a polyp earlier

1:33:11

before it becomes colon cancer, you know, how

1:33:13

you can detect you know, breast

1:33:15

malignancy earlier. So all of these kinds of things

1:33:18

we're seeing advances, but the skepticism

1:33:20

I would say that we've seen in our community. There's a history

1:33:23

of where that came into being, and we need to respect that history.

1:33:25

But we need to also do a better job of educating

1:33:27

people and bringing them in doctor cancer

1:33:30

be cured. You

1:33:32

know, cancer is a big thing, right. There's a whole bunch

1:33:34

of different kinds of cancers. There are some cancers

1:33:36

that we have better treatment for than others,

1:33:38

but we have a lot of real good treatment. One thing

1:33:41

I will say eliarer that we have with cancer is a lot

1:33:43

of cancers that we can find early and

1:33:45

do something about. Like I said, colon cancer

1:33:47

being one of them, and a lot of others. So the

1:33:49

concepts around early detection is important,

1:33:52

especially in our communities where we see less of

1:33:54

those kinds of.

1:33:55

What percentage I

1:33:57

mean when you find out

1:33:59

that you have cancer

1:34:03

early versus like, what's

1:34:05

the percentage opportunity

1:34:08

of surviving that.

1:34:09

Big difference, big difference. I mean, that's why the

1:34:11

concept of early is a game

1:34:13

changer, right. You know, if you can bring free early, if you

1:34:15

can find something at stage on before it becomes

1:34:17

stage four, you.

1:34:18

Know, those things make a difference.

1:34:20

And this is what's really hurting our

1:34:22

community when you look at those numbers around

1:34:24

and what's happening in the Bronx Brooklyn,

1:34:27

you know, Queens, when you look at what's happening in LA

1:34:29

and all the South Central what's killing our community

1:34:32

are these diseases. So we really have to

1:34:34

do a really better job of kind of bringing

1:34:37

in early detention.

1:34:38

But I think those ends up going back

1:34:40

to economics because

1:34:43

it sounds like screening is the big thing,

1:34:45

like if you can catch it early. But I think a

1:34:47

part of this issue is people not having insurance

1:34:50

even if they do have insurance. I also even for myself,

1:34:53

like I have to do the screening. I'm at the age where I

1:34:55

have to do and me trying to figure

1:34:57

out, okay, I have to go to the gastrologist

1:35:00

and then you have to book this the day

1:35:02

for the appointments months out, like it

1:35:05

seems confusing. It seems difficult, and

1:35:07

that's me with someone with insurance. You imagine the person

1:35:09

that first of all, they have to get insurance. Yeah, I then

1:35:11

you have to navigate and it seems like

1:35:13

like you know, like you're it's something complicated

1:35:16

which shouldn't be complicated.

1:35:17

You're totally right now, we have to do a better job.

1:35:19

Although shout out to you for getting your

1:35:21

colon cancer screening because it's.

1:35:23

On the books.

1:35:25

Shout out for even planning planning to get it done.

1:35:27

So that's actually a big thing right right there.

1:35:29

But you're right, we have to do a better job of like simplifying

1:35:31

the process and again demystifying

1:35:33

the process because we have that lives.

1:35:35

On YouTube, Like can you be to YouTube

1:35:38

and actually go through.

1:35:40

You do you do?

1:35:41

We have we have a lot of information about how

1:35:44

did they access that information?

1:35:46

Just yeah, you just have to put in colon cancer. Okay,

1:35:48

you know colon cancer screening.

1:35:50

And what about the insurance side of it?

1:35:52

Yeah, I know, the insurance side of it. And that's where things

1:35:54

always get a little bit more complicated. And that's where

1:35:56

to your point that you just alluded to, you

1:35:58

know, there are there are ways in which

1:36:00

we need to build a better infrastructure

1:36:03

to take care of our communities. And you're right, the maze

1:36:06

of going through appointments and scheduling

1:36:08

can be a challenge, but at the end

1:36:11

of it is your life, right,

1:36:13

you know, And it doesn't matter how much money you have. If you

1:36:15

don't live long, you don't live to

1:36:17

enjoy it. So I would just say, you know, we do a lot of

1:36:19

things. You know, if we're buying a house, we do a lot

1:36:21

with a lot of challenges to get the mortgage, to get to

1:36:24

get the house. So think about

1:36:26

that when you go through all the challenges, and there are challenges

1:36:28

and we need to do better, but think about the end

1:36:30

goal of where you're trying to get to, and

1:36:33

it really is about you know, saving her.

1:36:34

But imagine those struggling families were both

1:36:37

parents are working, you know, full days,

1:36:39

like imagine to even have the time

1:36:42

to sit there. Like I told you, I'm going through the process

1:36:44

and I'm like, this is crazy, this.

1:36:46

Is taking me forever.

1:36:47

I got to talk to my primary then

1:36:49

they got a referral.

1:36:50

I got to give me a couple of referrals. I guess the first

1:36:52

one.

1:36:53

Takes too and it's just I'm already,

1:36:55

Like I can't I need an assistance, Like

1:36:57

imagine the regular you know with kids in the house,

1:37:00

all works two jobs.

1:37:01

Why, yeah, yeah, I mean you're right.

1:37:02

I mean that's where we have challenges with the system

1:37:05

and ways in which we need to work on making

1:37:07

things better. But you're exactly right, especially for our communities,

1:37:09

we have a disproportionate burden of those challenges.

1:37:12

Right. I was watching the episode of Siindfeld

1:37:15

the other day, right, sorry, the simple, simple,

1:37:17

last ship, right, But I was watching an episode

1:37:19

of Soundfeld and Jeorge the stanzas

1:37:21

in the hospital and they've come in to

1:37:23

take his tonsils out on them, and then

1:37:25

and then and then Cramer says to him,

1:37:27

man, I know somebody that would do it cheaper,

1:37:30

right, So that he goes to the person and it's

1:37:32

a holistic doctors, a holistic

1:37:35

doctor. But I didn't realize that back

1:37:37

then, holistic doctors was looked at us as

1:37:39

a cheaper route to go. But there's

1:37:41

a lot of people who believe in holistic healing.

1:37:44

Is that something that you know?

1:37:46

I think there's a role also a role for

1:37:48

both holistic complementary healing the

1:37:50

concept of spirituality and how all of that

1:37:52

plays and these are either or they

1:37:54

can work together. You know, you can get your screenings

1:37:57

and pray. You know, you can engage in

1:37:59

this thing and that thing. So again, what you

1:38:01

find with a lot of this is that bringing

1:38:03

these things together.

1:38:05

For now holistic.

1:38:06

Do you know someone who's not trained

1:38:08

taking out your ton So that's probably yeah,

1:38:11

I don't think that was a good Everything

1:38:14

else in terms of like the complimentary

1:38:16

holistic healing, I think as you're having

1:38:18

that as a part of how we take

1:38:21

care of patients is just how we take care of people.

1:38:23

How about supplementation, what's your

1:38:25

Yeah, you know, it depends certainly.

1:38:27

I think if you're a deficient in a vitamin, you

1:38:29

know, taking supplement there's there's some supplements

1:38:31

that are helpful. So I think, you know, the

1:38:33

other thing what I find about supplementation sometimes

1:38:36

is it allows you to engage in this conversation

1:38:38

about healthy eating overall, because

1:38:41

the you know, the real crux of all of this

1:38:43

is maintaining a healthy, balanced

1:38:45

lifestyle over time. If you just do it for

1:38:47

a month and it's fun, that doesn't really get you

1:38:49

the effect. So the thing is how do you choose

1:38:51

and engage and you know, start running

1:38:53

with your kids and doing things and walking and

1:38:55

talking with your friends about all

1:38:58

these things.

1:38:58

And that's the kind of stuff that pays off over time.

1:39:01

What about artificial intelligence?

1:39:04

Yeah, you

1:39:07

know, is that going to play into

1:39:10

beating cancer and making it easy

1:39:13

for these communities to get access?

1:39:15

Yeah, you know, AI potentially has a

1:39:17

role. You know that we're learning a lot about

1:39:19

AI and health right now, and if it can

1:39:21

simplify your appointment process and get

1:39:23

the message out faster, then that's a good thing, you

1:39:25

know. So anything that can simplify

1:39:28

that back end I think is going to be important. So I think

1:39:30

we're going to learn more about that Liria as the healthcare

1:39:32

and AI start to evolve. But

1:39:34

I think anything that can make it easier for

1:39:37

you know, our people to get the things that

1:39:39

they need will be important.

1:39:41

How much do we need the government involved

1:39:43

in this at all?

1:39:48

I think the government's essential in

1:39:50

this. But the

1:39:53

government, I think they

1:39:57

can't supplement what

1:40:00

we need to do, and that is

1:40:03

get the word out that we should

1:40:06

be more careful

1:40:08

caring of ourselves prior.

1:40:11

To getting sick.

1:40:12

The whole medical industry

1:40:15

is based on once you get sick,

1:40:18

and I think there should be significantly

1:40:21

more funding from the government education

1:40:25

to prevent sickness, to lower

1:40:27

the twenty two to twenty three percent of our

1:40:29

GDP down to

1:40:32

normal levels, so we could reinvest

1:40:35

in the communities in education,

1:40:38

music, the arts

1:40:41

just make our societies

1:40:43

a more healthy place.

1:40:45

We should be bipartisan, but unfortunately

1:40:47

someone will hijack one way or the other.

1:40:49

Yeah, it should be bipartisan. And

1:40:53

I hope you guys show up on October

1:40:55

eighteenth to my event with

1:40:58

you you yeah, not only you

1:41:01

know, I'm not

1:41:03

gonna say they're honoring me. I think

1:41:05

they're gonna honor you

1:41:07

know, fifty years of hip

1:41:09

hop. Many of

1:41:11

my artists are coming out, Nori

1:41:14

Okay

1:41:19

are coming out to New York City, you

1:41:21

know, No La Los Angeles.

1:41:24

Ready, it's a black tie

1:41:27

and we're sold out. We've

1:41:30

raised millions and millions

1:41:32

and millions of dollars and

1:41:36

so we're going to have a great party. We're

1:41:38

going to celebrate hip hop. We're

1:41:41

going to do some good work.

1:41:42

Listen.

1:41:43

I was in Israel recently with

1:41:45

my mother. She's

1:41:47

ninety three years old. She had her

1:41:49

four yeah, she

1:41:55

had her four boys,

1:41:57

sixteen grandchildren.

1:42:00

Wow, and

1:42:04

she's traveling all over the world by herself.

1:42:06

She's fully engaged in life. And

1:42:09

I turned to her and I said, you know, you're very

1:42:11

lucky, and she says, I know how

1:42:14

lucky I am.

1:42:15

I said, why are you so

1:42:17

lucky?

1:42:18

And without hesitation, she

1:42:20

said, the more you give, the more you receive.

1:42:23

That's it. And then like it's

1:42:25

the mic drop, and so.

1:42:29

You know, this is the

1:42:31

reason why I'm doing

1:42:33

this, is just

1:42:36

to give. And

1:42:39

I love the fact that we have

1:42:41

a lot of influence, a lot of power,

1:42:43

a lot of reach, and

1:42:46

so every once in a while doing

1:42:48

some good things is

1:42:50

a very powerful and important

1:42:53

thing for us to do.

1:42:54

Do you think hip hop should have this own health

1:42:56

insurance? I

1:42:59

think.

1:43:01

The answer is emphatically yes.

1:43:05

I don't want any

1:43:08

of the artists that

1:43:10

to not be able to after I mean,

1:43:12

this is a very short career. You

1:43:16

know, not everybody could reinvent themselves.

1:43:20

A lot of musical people

1:43:23

that are, you know, in a different planet.

1:43:25

They're de vulnerable parts

1:43:29

of our society.

1:43:30

Just because they're talented and we're successful

1:43:32

and well known and made some money doesn't

1:43:35

mean that they were able to keep

1:43:37

that money flowing. And they should

1:43:39

not be without an

1:43:42

insurance card and something

1:43:44

to fall back on. I'm

1:43:46

wondering if the Grammys has a program

1:43:49

of that, or Music Cares.

1:43:51

Or I'm not sure.

1:43:53

Chuck D and Chuck

1:43:55

D I believe.

1:43:56

Well, Chuck D is like a beacon of

1:43:58

good shit.

1:44:00

You know what I'm saying.

1:44:01

He just keeps He just keeps trying

1:44:03

to push the envelope through the right things.

1:44:05

Amazing and the whole nine. So

1:44:08

yeah, I would like to

1:44:11

see that. I would like to.

1:44:12

See this community

1:44:15

grow old gracefully. Thank

1:44:22

you.

1:44:24

I'm gonna tell you another a

1:44:27

great meeting. I'm

1:44:29

with you, and you

1:44:32

offered me a great deal. But

1:44:34

I was like, Leo, you know I'm hot, these

1:44:36

people offer me more, and he's like, yo,

1:44:38

you said to me. He looked at me like a man, and you

1:44:40

said, if it's

1:44:42

all about money, didn't take

1:44:44

the deal. But if it's about your career,

1:44:47

then you're at the right place. Thank

1:44:50

you. I

1:44:52

guess what,

1:44:57

Andy, the way, you gotta understand

1:44:59

how hard that is for a person

1:45:01

to calculate that and say, you know what, because

1:45:04

what he's saying is righteous. It's saying like, yo,

1:45:06

bro, these guys are just investing because

1:45:08

you're hot. For now, I'm

1:45:11

going to show you a career, and you showed me a career.

1:45:13

Thank you.

1:45:13

You know what I mean, I'm gonna show you. I'm

1:45:16

gonna also tell you. I remember

1:45:19

you're telling me. You and cav It's like,

1:45:21

yo, we're gonna have you on tour for

1:45:25

the and for the rest of the

1:45:27

duration. And boy did I do tours

1:45:29

from Survival or the Fittest to Amazing

1:45:32

all these tours that and it was

1:45:35

like I just knew that I made the

1:45:37

right decision.

1:45:37

Man.

1:45:37

So I always wanted you to know that face to face,

1:45:41

talk about you, talk about you like Jesus.

1:45:43

When you're not not around, I can't say it in

1:45:45

your face.

1:45:45