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Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

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What up, y'all?

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Welcome back to Quest Love Supreme. So

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last week we gave you part one of

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our conversations with L, who Jack tapeed

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the iHeart Studios Hollywood. Make

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sure you check that out because we asked L about

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as early as days, rapping people,

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doubting I need love, new

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producers, and some of those rabbit hole questions

0:24

we always wanted to know.

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Yeah, we only made it to talking about nineteen

0:28

ninety.

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So yeah, here's part two where

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we talk about everything else.

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Enjoy y'all.

0:45

So, also early with Wildcats

0:48

with Toys or whatever, you're

0:50

one of the first people in

0:53

the hip hop lane to start pivoting to other

0:56

mediums acting. Yeah,

0:59

how easy or

1:01

hard was it to convince you? Because I've

1:04

literally met nobody in our

1:06

industry that it wasn't a struggle.

1:09

Me too, I had to be talked.

1:11

And almost by at gunpoint to

1:14

direct this film I want to do it.

1:17

How easy was it for you to get into

1:19

that lane? I had no

1:21

no problems with it, you know, as long as

1:24

as long as it didn't

1:26

do anything that was gonna undermine what

1:29

I was doing, you know, in music, you know

1:31

what I'm saying, as long as it didn't undermine that

1:33

I was cool. You know. I always believed,

1:35

like my mother used to always tell

1:37

me, you could do anything you put your mind to, you know what I'm saying.

1:40

So it's like for me and I used to,

1:42

you know, watch Bruce Lee and dream

1:44

about having movies and me and my

1:46

man Pierre would have the he'd have the was

1:48

it the thirty four millimeter or the sixteen minute?

1:51

The cameras the sixteen milimeter cameras

1:53

and we'd be making kung ful movies and

1:55

all that. So I was with it. I was I wanted to

1:57

smoke. I wanted all to smoke. I want to make movies,

2:00

want to do it all.

2:01

How easy was the transition to do though?

2:03

Did you have to get an acting coach?

2:04

I definitely study. I definitely have had many acting

2:06

coaches. I went to the Spies Academy.

2:09

Uh. You know, I worked with a lot of acting coaches,

2:12

Greta Secat, Winnie Winnie

2:14

Hill and my current coach. You

2:16

know, I trained and studied, you know read, you know Stanislavsky

2:19

and you know and Uda Hagen

2:21

and you know yo, yeah, oh yeah, that technique.

2:24

Oh yeah, yechnique. Oh yeah, oh yeah,

2:26

of course hundred percent. Like I listen, you

2:29

have to you have to and you have to respect the

2:31

craft, right Like people assume that I

2:34

just kind of bounce into things,

2:36

but I you know, I watched

2:38

I study everything, you know what I'm saying, and

2:40

I pay attention to the craft.

2:42

Was there a role that you passed up that was sort

2:44

of like, damn, I had

2:46

first DIBs on blah blah blah.

2:49

A role I passed up was the

2:52

the Alan Payne role in New Jack City.

2:54

I passed that up. Oh really, yeah

2:58

yeah, I passed on that and I

3:00

wanted to do it. My father didn't want me to play a drug dealer,

3:04

but then you did. That's

3:11

my decision, DN, you

3:13

know, let me do this. That's a call classes.

3:16

No creative curfews. You

3:20

for real, for real, straight up.

3:22

That probably is my favorite Movie's my favorite

3:25

Thank you, Thank you guest.

3:27

Yeah, oh boy.

3:30

We haven't been on this show every time. Every once in a while where we

3:32

talk to people about the Latin quarters,

3:35

and nine of the ten times, everybody's story

3:37

starts with one

3:39

time I was there and ll cool J did

3:41

this, and I'm

3:44

not even I'm not even making this up. Like every story,

3:46

they're like, we're there, yeah, I was that, Like I

3:48

feel like you were. I feel do you have your favorite

3:50

Latin Quarter story or we do it

3:58

every time? Very

4:00

offensive, the.

4:05

Racist. It's

4:10

just like if you sound like as a Mexican.

4:14

Country Latin,

4:21

I totally forgot you are a hip hop legend

4:23

that was of age of the Latin corner. The

4:26

only reason why I'm obsessed with the Latin Quarter is

4:28

because to hear everyone tell the

4:30

story. Everyone tells

4:33

of the best time they've ever

4:35

musically had in their lives,

4:38

like listening to hip hop, but it always

4:40

comes on the b side of like

4:43

fighting and break it. I'm like, why

4:45

would you go to a place where something could

4:47

possibly happen to you just to hear

4:49

what top billing sounds like on the speaker system?

4:51

Did you ever frequent Latin Quarter or whatever?

4:54

What is it like in your Like

4:57

what's your take on the Latin Quarter?

4:58

I mean it was dangerous,

5:02

dangerous, Like you know I

5:04

had to do it one time. Man, Like you

5:06

know, he's saying something crazy to me. I'm like, what's up.

5:09

He's like, what's up? What's up? Like

5:11

what's up. I look down at his hand. He got a raise, a

5:13

blade in his hand. I'm like, okay, that's

5:15

what you

5:18

know, that's what you

5:20

know what I'm saying. So it's like it

5:22

was that kind of a spot. But then you hear like amazing

5:25

dancing and and like you know,

5:27

it was like a badge of honor to be able to walk around

5:29

in there with jewelry on. You know what I'm saying. It was so

5:32

for you.

5:33

Never think of a vulnerability like yo, man that

5:35

I can't go there because like.

5:38

I start with you, no no, no, no, you gotta

5:40

remember like everybody,

5:43

I ran with it, yo. No no no no

5:50

no no no no no no. That

5:52

wasn't a problem. That wasn't my issue. You

5:54

know. I'm not saying this impossible. I'm

5:56

saying, but that wasn't my issue. I was good. I

5:58

was good. So you weren't a roll with yourself

6:01

person. You were a not in those

6:03

not when I went to certain clubs. Now, when I

6:05

went to the I would do that sometimes, but

6:08

really honestly, I would go downtown

6:10

with some of them clubs by myself. Like I might

6:12

go to CBGB's or something, and you

6:15

know, fish bone and falling or I'm down

6:17

there, like you know, standing there and the like they got

6:19

some punk rock dudes on there. I don't

6:21

know if it's a sex pistol or who it might be, and

6:23

they be in there performing at CBGB's.

6:25

I might go there by myself, but when I went to the Latin

6:27

quarters, I usually took a couple of dudes with me,

6:30

you know, depending on who it was, you know what I'm saying.

6:32

And we was moving around, it was we was good.

6:34

Plus like I said, you know, I was I

6:36

was really friendly with all of the guys

6:39

in the town that were really I had

6:41

very few real problems,

6:43

you know with guys because I knew how

6:47

to not be tough, you know what I'm saying, like how

6:49

to not and not be a punk either, you

6:51

know what I'm saying. So I didn't

6:53

have like a lot of them problems like you

6:55

know, I just didn't you know what I'm saying.

6:57

Can you tell us the story of how you

6:59

and Arli Maum connected and yeah,

7:02

what is the feeling of

7:04

the perception of being underestimated by

7:07

that point in your career?

7:09

So first, the underestimated piece.

7:11

The underestimated piece is kind of like, listen,

7:14

I love a challenge, man, and you

7:17

know, I welcome those moments

7:19

when people think that I'm not gonna be able to do something.

7:21

It's actually it inspires

7:24

me. I secretly relish the opportunity

7:26

to prove that I'm more than

7:29

what you think I am, you know what I'm saying. And

7:31

so that part for me is

7:33

like, you know, being

7:36

down in the fourth quarter is like I just want the

7:38

ball, like I love that. I live for

7:40

it, you know what I'm saying. That's why it's thirty

7:42

some odd years later and I'm still out here.

7:44

You know, we're still doing arenas. You know what I'm saying,

7:46

because I just relished that, you know. In

7:49

terms of me Molly, it was

7:51

like I used to go up to BLS

7:53

at the time and do interviews, and

7:56

one day I was up there and we was doing something

7:58

and Mally was like, yeah, what's something, And I'm

8:00

like yo, and he, you know, he always had the great stuff, and he

8:02

had kind of the Juice Crew stuff had

8:04

just cooled off just enough, so he

8:06

was kind of like in a little bit of an in between phase.

8:09

And I was coming off a panther and so

8:12

obviously, you know, I had got booed at the

8:14

use of Hawkins thing and all that down

8:16

down in New York because remember, so

8:19

said, I don't know so what happened. You gotta

8:21

remember. So when I came out with that walking with a

8:23

panther, the real issue with walking with a panther wasn't

8:26

yeah, there's some songs on there people don't like whatever. The

8:28

real issue was the imagery. Imagery. So

8:31

at that time, it was about you had public

8:33

enemy, you had ex clan, you had care rests that everybody

8:35

was on the area. And I'm running around with diamonds

8:38

flooded Minx, champagne,

8:42

you know, models on the back and cell phones,

8:44

briefcases cash I'm

8:46

going to CALLI getting five sixty benches,

8:48

getting convertible tops, cutting, you

8:51

know. So they're looking at me like that

8:53

was foul, you know. And see fast

8:55

forward ten years now

8:58

and everybody was you know, when you asked

9:00

for it to ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety

9:02

nine, it was different, right, But at that time I

9:04

was the first guy who really did that, so it

9:06

was looked, it was frowned upon, right, So

9:10

that was really the energy. So

9:12

it felt like I wanted to show that number there was

9:14

more to it than just the trappings.

9:17

Does that make sense? I only show them there

9:19

was more to it than the trappings, like I really because I

9:21

really loved this. I didn't do it for the trappings.

9:23

The trappings came, but I did it for

9:25

the for the love. And so I

9:28

got with Mally. Mally was like, Yo, what something, man, let me get a remix

9:30

of something. I'm like, let's

9:34

do it so that casual

9:36

yep? Okay, like Yo, let's do a remix.

9:38

Let me get a remix. Someone said, let's get it, So I said,

9:40

he said, we'll send me the toys. So I gave Jingling Baby.

9:43

Okay. And when I gave Jingling

9:45

Baby, you know, I had been playing

9:48

with it already, so I had that baseline on there. You

9:50

know what I'm saying, because I used to make a lot of my beats. Okay,

9:53

you know what I'm saying. Like you know I'm a type of guy. I mean

9:55

I made a lot of my beats. You know what I'm saying. People don't

9:57

realize that. So so I had already

9:59

had put that base on it. So I sent it to him

10:02

and he was like, yo. And when that came in,

10:05

when I walked in the studio. He had the baseline planing.

10:07

I was like, oh word, He's like, yo, how you got this on here?

10:09

You ain't? So he like chopped it in and put some stuff

10:12

to it. Then he put that walking on Sunshine

10:14

in it, and you know, he said, Yo, I want you to

10:16

read through the vocals. Though you know what I'm

10:18

saying. I want you because you always yelling on your Joe. I

10:20

want you to do it more mellow. I'm like, all

10:22

right, you know

10:24

leads to booming.

10:26

All right, now, this is all right. This is something.

10:29

So every night every

10:31

night I would go to z Trip right and

10:35

I would say to him. I was like, yo, are

10:38

you guys? Is this all pro tools?

10:40

He's like what do you mean? I was like, is

10:43

Yello doing this live or is that pro

10:45

tools? He's like, no, he's live. I

10:48

was like, all right, you're protecting him.

10:49

So about maybe six years later, I

10:52

went to the pro tools guy right, and

10:54

I.

10:54

Said, let me see, let me see all the tracks real quick, because

10:56

this is something now as

10:59

far as I know. So the thing is is that in

11:02

my mind, Tik's

11:04

greatest gift as an MC is his breath control.

11:07

And when you watch the Hot ninety seven free style,

11:09

like you rarely hear whatever.

11:11

So like Teriq's you know, he is a communications

11:14

major in college and so he does his whole circular breath

11:16

thing. But I never heard

11:19

a rapper ever

11:22

use intonation in concert,

11:25

just like their record, like rock

11:27

Kim, who's the king of monotone

11:30

and all this stuff, thigure of a marital

11:32

plant, like he goes loud and I was like, wait a

11:34

minute, ll would match note

11:36

for note like his vocals on

11:39

each song, and it was blowing my mind that

11:42

he wasn't yelling and he

11:44

was talking monotone and still projecting.

11:47

So I never like that to me, you

11:50

never get enough credit for that, And you

11:52

know, I don't even know if that's a thing to

11:54

celebrate, Like, wow, you sound just like your records, but

11:57

I've never seen a

11:59

human being never out

12:01

of breath matching their vocals

12:03

and like that's hard.

12:05

No a record, no record like Booming

12:07

System, where you kind of are more lowered to

12:09

do that in an arena. Yeah yeah, yeah,

12:11

that's like to keep it low like because yeah, but you

12:14

naturally as an MC, I mean, you're excited,

12:16

you naturally want.

12:17

To go bi. Yeah, but what makes booming

12:19

system is the coolness of it, right,

12:21

you know, you know you hear boxes say

12:24

keep your composure. You

12:26

got to keep keep your composure. You gotta

12:28

you gotta trust it. You know what I'm saying. The audience

12:30

know what it is? How do you know that

12:33

and apply that?

12:34

Especially when you live a life and walk

12:36

a path in which you almost

12:38

got to justify every step that

12:40

you're taking and not performatively

12:43

prove yourself every time. But

12:45

literally, like since Panther, every

12:48

LL record's been an event to me because I always

12:50

been like, all right, I want to see Like for me

12:52

Panther, I was like, I wonder what LL sounds like over

12:55

sample production?

12:57

You know what I mean?

12:58

Next record is like I wonder what LL sound was

13:00

like in nineties production, like you know, topping

13:02

the beat. So it's almost like even

13:04

from your biggest supporters, it's

13:07

like can he do it again?

13:08

Can you do it? I tell you,

13:11

Like, like even this this new record I just

13:13

finished, right, I just finished this record with Q tip

13:16

and yeah yeah

13:19

yeah something No,

13:21

no, that's too that's too fancy. I need I

13:24

need, I need some cheaps. I need something I can get

13:27

get right to it, get right to the

13:31

world. What right, just what happened? Why?

13:35

Never doing chapstick and did they ever reach?

13:42

Yeah? Yeah, everybody shaststick

13:44

for years. My whole life, all that aquall fall

13:46

and all that run around with the shiny lips like you

13:48

know, like like I kissed

13:50

the chicken grease or something like I took

13:53

the chicken. Yeah,

13:55

like like I've been like I've been kissing

13:57

a pot of chicken grease knowing that you

13:59

got up like everything I'm

14:02

like, I mean, be a while. It is my first application.

14:05

That's my first application, you know what

14:07

I mean? For

14:13

years, like my whole life.

14:15

Sorry,

14:18

nobody ever hear you about doing that, like getting

14:20

your.

14:22

That's you

14:24

your merch game. I swear to God that it

14:26

would sell out.

14:30

Too damn long. Yes, I'm

14:33

sorry, Broke. That's a good damn

14:36

got.

14:36

My question doesn't matter,

14:39

you know, it doesn't you know, with your

14:41

intonations and whatnot, like with how

14:44

how do you know like screaming

14:47

when some of it applies for us and when something.

14:50

Is just listen to it. I just

14:52

listened to it, not really really

14:55

listen. I really make do the

14:57

song. Just do the song?

14:59

What do you what's all the Just

15:01

do the.

15:02

It's just that I think, right, you

15:04

must meditate though, because I think what a mir two

15:06

is asking is like and even what Ponte said

15:08

about just being nashural on a stage and being excited, Yeah,

15:11

you have to have a certain still level of control

15:13

from based on what I'm sick.

15:14

Well, you have pat yourself. You have to well, you

15:16

have to be first of all, you

15:19

know, in terms of cardiovascular you gotta

15:21

be in shape. You know what I'm saying,

15:23

because a lot of times, a lot of the yelling and a lot

15:25

of that can be attributed to people just being out of

15:27

breath. You're not in shape.

15:29

But I was gonna ask what family of youth have you drank

15:32

from? Because you don't seem to age like

15:34

you know, if you look the same as you do from Helen.

15:37

Your mouth God, little

15:39

melon, little melanin on herb. Bro No

15:41

th mea. You know you got a cousin

15:44

like, yo, this is my cousin. He's

15:46

sixty one. He's like, yeah, what happening baby? It was

15:48

good? It's good.

15:49

Cook like

15:52

you don't do Okay, I'm just gonna start asking vitamins.

15:56

Lion's main changa rachi

15:59

like write him in deep.

16:01

Fronte's face right now?

16:03

Is that.

16:04

I was your mushrooms? You're healthy mushroom.

16:07

I did not. I've never heard of No one knows

16:09

what I'm talking about. I don't know

16:11

what is. Yeah, I don't

16:14

know. Yeah, the rhythm to the boogey to be.

16:17

That's because spells no magic. I'm

16:19

telling you healthy mushrooms for you anyway?

16:21

What is?

16:22

What is the health situation?

16:24

Here? Are you vegetarian? Pest? Like

16:27

I meet, I meet, I

16:29

got it, I got I got to have me

16:31

a porterhouse or something. Wait, i't

16:33

to have it. Wait a minute, I'm sorry, I'm an animal.

16:36

This isn't got to have it. I love everybody. I

16:38

want you to be a vegetarian. I want you to do

16:41

that. I want you to be a pescatarian. I want

16:43

you to have herbs and spike like I

16:45

gotta have the best. He

16:48

gets the best coming. Sorry man, wait

16:50

eat.

16:51

This reminds me of the very first time I

16:53

went on my health journey. Courtesy

16:56

of Mark Jenkins. Right, yes, remember so the

16:58

second time I met ll and

17:00

I know you don't remember this.

17:01

This is like right when.

17:04

The tipping point was out, So it's like two thousand and four. So

17:08

Jenkins was in LA working

17:10

out training me and

17:14

of course lobby call and

17:18

you were passing the Gower Street in La. So

17:20

it's like, dog, I

17:22

gotta go to Roscoe's so fair

17:25

right exactly, I cheat.

17:26

On my trainer. So I

17:29

went in right now. You worked out

17:31

with Mark Jenkins before, So

17:33

I walked in.

17:34

I know Jenkins was in LA working

17:36

with me, him and maybe like two

17:38

others celebrity clientele. And

17:41

Mark Jenkins is the guy who his

17:43

business one his stock went up when he built then

17:46

for the entitled video. So

17:49

you know I'm in roscos

17:52

and pictures the Pink Panthers.

17:55

Theme, turn right

17:58

right and and

18:02

ll so

18:12

you can't now.

18:12

The thing is, this is the second

18:15

I've not met LL so I don't know if he knows

18:17

what a quest love is or who a quest love is whatever.

18:20

So right now

18:22

I'm panicking because I'm like, oh damn, he

18:25

gonna tell. You're probably gonna tell.

18:28

So I like gave

18:30

him pan I said, well, just coming from a fan standpoints,

18:32

like yo, man, I said, by the way,

18:35

I said, you know, I'm a client of

18:37

Mark Jenks as well, so just you know small,

18:41

he said, don't worry about it your secret

18:43

safe with me, worry

18:53

about it secret safe.

18:57

The first time I met him, wait, at

18:59

least that five.

19:00

But the first time I met him it was the

19:02

NAACP Awards. We were

19:05

I think we were doing something for for Bono, like a

19:07

truth. You know, Bono just started the Red Company

19:09

for Africa or whatever, so they gave him an award.

19:12

So there's there's like.

19:14

Backstage, there's like a two second quick

19:16

change booth. There's two of them.

19:18

Princess in one of them booths, so it's like you can't

19:20

get in there whatever. So they're like, I

19:23

thought there was a booge in my nose or maybe a ZiT. I

19:25

don't know, like I saw something there, so I

19:28

like ran in the room. Now LLC

19:30

is positioned right in front of the mirror. I'm

19:33

trying to like, you know, I

19:36

just want a good I

19:38

want a good ten seconds, yes, to make sure that

19:40

everything's straight, but really to see if I got a bully

19:42

or whatever.

19:43

But llll's not budget. You're just sitting there and

19:47

I don't want to be like yo.

19:52

And he was like, you say, your

19:54

secret safe worries. You look marvelous, you

20:00

know, you

20:02

just look at me like don't worry you.

20:04

Marvel's be like

20:11

the second pop that Jordan Jesus.

20:19

I wanted to ask you about Chris Lighty because

20:23

we I had a chance sat down to you know, meet and talk

20:25

with him before he you know, before he passed, and

20:28

he talked about specifically the Mister Smith

20:30

album and for him, how

20:32

that really kind of set him up at def

20:35

Jam and like really people saw him as

20:37

you know, an executive and it you know, put him on another

20:39

level. What was that Mister Smith

20:41

album for you and working with him? What was that experience

20:44

like?

20:45

Because that was almost like another comeback.

20:48

Every album is for me most of the time

20:51

takes on that type of energy. You know.

20:53

It's because I take so long between

20:55

records and because I make so few

20:57

albums that every time it's like,

21:00

okay, well what's it gonna be? But that

21:02

one was an amazing experience

21:04

working with Chris. I trusted

21:06

him completely in terms

21:09

of his creative, his

21:11

ear. What actually happened

21:13

was I made a whole album called Mister Smith. I made

21:15

a whole album. I didn't like it, so then I threw

21:18

it away. You know, I do that a lot. Yeah,

21:21

we're gonna talk about that too. Yeah, So I did

21:23

this album. I did an original a mister Smith

21:25

album with a whole bunch of other songs. It was called

21:27

Mister Smith. But I didn't love the album. So I

21:30

was like, eh, I kept that one song

21:32

with shot skills of mister Smith, but the

21:34

rest of it I didn't like. I kept that. Yeahs

21:38

re peace. So me and Chris we

21:40

just started working. He started finding tracks,

21:42

finding beats, and I

21:45

ended up getting with track Masters

21:47

and then getting with Rashad and you

21:49

know, it just came together. It came together,

21:51

and you know, working with them

21:54

was you know, he was a good dude, man. And you

21:56

know, I remember Chris, you

21:58

know, when he first started, we all got along

22:00

because you know, Chris used to be security at

22:02

the tunnel, you know what I'm saying. So

22:05

when he was when he was like working the door

22:07

at the tunnel, he always gave me love and we always got

22:09

along very very well. And you

22:12

know, well she was still

22:14

here. Yeah, man, I was one of my favorite records

22:16

on that.

22:16

When you were talking about I Need a Beat and how you

22:19

pretty much played it live and then right over it

22:21

made me think of no, are oh.

22:22

Yeah, let's

22:25

do that? Yeah, yeah, yeah,

22:27

yeah, yeah, that I think my man, I

22:29

think Chad might have did that. Doctor,

22:32

I think so, I think I think so. I

22:35

think Chad did that. That's my think. Favorite

22:37

Cha No, no, no, Chad

22:39

Elliott. Chad Elliott. Yeah. They

22:42

used to work with Jodasi and all of them and

22:44

all that. Okay, you know what I'm saying. I was

22:46

on the impression that the track masters of the entire

22:49

record did they know they didn't do everything Rashard

22:52

did doing it. You

22:54

know, there was a few other few

22:56

other producers, but they finished it. What happened

22:58

was we actually work on the album and I was doing

23:01

songs, and then track messes came in kind

23:03

of midway and finished the album. So

23:06

we didn't start the album together. We finished

23:08

the album. So they they actually

23:10

made it a cohesive body of work. I have

23:12

to give Stout some credit,

23:14

and give Tone and Polk credit, and

23:16

give Chris Lighty credit because they came

23:18

in and helped me kind of finish

23:20

the project and make it a cohesive what

23:23

we felt was at that time a cohesive body

23:25

of work. You know what I'm saying.

23:26

Nah, that's one of like that record mad, because

23:28

I mean the singles or the singles were like no airplay,

23:31

Hollis the Hollywood like.

23:32

Yeah, that was fun. That was fun, yo, you

23:35

know. I mean that's why, you know, I'm really excited to

23:37

like for people to hear this record I do with Tip because

23:40

this is gonna be I thinks how

23:43

many songs in which Tip so you did?

23:47

He produced it. He did everything, he

23:50

did all the beats, he did everything sound. Yes,

23:52

he did everything. I

23:55

think it's fourteen songs, fourteen here for this,

23:57

Yeah, it's fourteen and it's all like like

23:59

a whole new thing. So that's

24:02

gonna be a lot of fun. You know.

24:03

I was just gonna ask about another person, since we're talking about

24:05

having a happy sad moment with Chris Lighty, I was gonna

24:08

say the last time I was in a room with you, I

24:10

was fortunate to be in a room with you, Biz

24:12

and Greg nice As y'all were taping an episode

24:15

for Serious and so I wanted you to

24:18

talk about give us a fun Biz story, but

24:20

also talk about why you even tap Biz

24:22

to be on your radio station.

24:24

Rock the Bell. So so Biz, I've known

24:26

Biz forever, you know, before we made

24:28

records, and then

24:31

before Biz made records, he used to just come

24:33

to my house all the time, coming to the basement.

24:35

I'd be down there right in rhymes. He'd be sitting there. Yo. He

24:38

used to just make me laugh. He was just the funniest

24:40

dude in the world. And me, I love that dude. You know what I'm saying.

24:42

I love biz man like business, my man,

24:44

you know what I'm saying. And you know, we knew each

24:47

other from Long Island. I would see him, he, I would see him,

24:49

Nona he we'd come to Queens, he would come to the house. So

24:51

so in terms of the

24:55

tapping them to be on salute the sample on Rock

24:57

the Bells, I started Rock the Bells because

25:00

I felt like the

25:02

artist that I love, Like when I look at the way Bob

25:04

Dylan is treated and held in high regard,

25:07

and Mick Jaggers held in high regard,

25:09

and you know these various

25:11

artists, Paul McCartney is held in high

25:13

regard, I felt like, you know, the

25:15

Bismarcks and the Big Daddy Kanes and the rock

25:18

hymns and the public enemies and all of them deserved

25:20

that kind of treatment as well, and I felt like they weren't

25:22

getting it. And I felt like, you know, MC

25:25

light wasn't getting it. Queen Latifa wasn't getting

25:27

it when I look at and

25:29

then when I would listen to the channel, you

25:31

know, which was Backspin at the time, it was like a glorified

25:34

jukebox, you know what I'm saying. But it wasn't really

25:36

about the coach and it wasn't really about us. We

25:38

shouldn't have to make excuses for having long

25:41

story careers with a lot of success. You should

25:43

be celebrated for that, not persecuted

25:45

and penalized for it. And I felt like I

25:48

felt like the industry was turning hip hop

25:50

into it was commoditizing hip hop and

25:52

turning everybody into cardboard boxes.

25:55

In other words, if you know it's an old box

25:57

or older box, you just throw it away and you just

25:59

kind of they weren't treating the

26:01

culture the way it needed to be treated, and I wanted

26:03

to. So what I said, I said, you know what what

26:06

I'm gonna do is I'm gonna do for hip

26:08

hop culture what I did for me in my own career. So

26:11

all I did was I said, so the mindset

26:13

that I applied to me that helped

26:15

me be here, by the grace of God, for so

26:18

many years and be successful. I said, I'm

26:20

gonna do that for the whole culture. And so I

26:22

took BIS and put them on the channel in Shante

26:24

and all of these artists and got them all, you

26:27

know, Grand Master Kaz and and all

26:29

of them. And now you know, I watched

26:31

this whole renaissance of hip hop happen. You

26:34

know what I'm saying. When we did Rock the Bell's Festival

26:36

and the Cruisers and Rock the Bell's Resorts and all of

26:38

this stuff, getting that on MTV, thank

26:40

you, thank you. Yeah, we streamed it. The thing

26:42

the thing about it is that is that I

26:45

wanted to do what I've did for me for the

26:47

entire culture because it can't be about you forever.

26:50

It has to There has to be more in

26:52

your life in terms of your journey. You have to

26:55

want to see others succeed. That's why even

26:57

when we did the Force Tour, I didn't

26:59

do the normal headlining thing and like

27:02

snatch all of the production and make

27:04

them kind of rap and give them ten feet

27:06

of stage and no, no, you have the same sound,

27:09

you have the same lighting package, you have the

27:11

same opportunities to rock the stage that I

27:13

do. Because I want us all to succeed,

27:16

and I want to see us treat it that way. I want them

27:18

the same way they treat Bono. I want them to treat

27:20

DMC. I don't want to see a

27:22

difference.

27:23

No, man, I don't get it was one of the biggest things I saw

27:26

when I went to the tour. I always

27:28

admire how just the professionalism

27:31

first and foremost. And you know, I

27:33

really think it's something that every young

27:35

artist, like every young MC's I really think

27:37

there's something that they should really see because it very

27:40

rarely hearing your story. You know, you

27:42

were first in like everything, so

27:45

there was no blueprint to follow. But now we're

27:47

thankful enough that we have a blueprint. And I'm

27:49

like, yo, go Seel go see

27:52

Rod, go see the roots. This is what it looks like

27:54

to be fifty years old and still

27:57

killing it like they're still a late

28:00

right right, not on some like oh okay,

28:02

but like no, still vibrant, like still

28:04

jamming.

28:05

Yeah. Well that's because hip hop. You

28:07

know, it was being served in a greasy brown paper

28:10

bag unless you had a new hitout, and I

28:12

wanted it served on the silver platter regardless.

28:15

You know, Rock Kim deserves to have the biggest

28:17

stage and the biggest platform, regardless. When

28:19

we do the Grammy special, we're putting you on the biggest

28:21

stage regardless. I don't need to.

28:24

There's no reason why they

28:26

should be treated otherwise. We live

28:28

in It's a strange world, right because like

28:31

I have, I literally have millions and millions

28:33

of fans all over the world. But because

28:36

not the majority of them aren't fourteen, that

28:38

doesn't make them least valuable. Right, So

28:40

you're like, my fans just had birthdays with me. They

28:43

didn't disappear, you know what I mean? You know,

28:45

you know, so like we got to

28:47

kind of get out of this kind of this this state

28:49

of mind of like if you're not you

28:52

know, if it's not the brand new thing

28:54

and you've been out three years, it doesn't count. It's

28:56

not how it works. Like I don't

28:59

know, rolland Stone was discography front

29:01

the back, but when they come in town to do a show, I go,

29:03

I don't know, you two's discard back to back.

29:05

But when they come in town, I go to the show. I love the show.

29:07

What I'm saying is, yo, people

29:10

want to see Elo cool J,

29:12

and they want to see the beasties and they want

29:15

to see run the EMC. They want to see Public Enemy,

29:17

they want to see ice T. You just got to put

29:19

them in a position to be seen, you

29:21

know what I'm saying, And stop trying

29:23

to pretend that it's

29:26

not they don't want to be seen, because that's all. That's

29:28

just a game. It's not real. Because

29:30

the reality is the fans love it. They want

29:33

to buy the music, they want to come to the show. And we saw

29:35

those arenas and we saw those crowds, and

29:37

so they're there. And guess what if

29:39

we went a second time now, it'd be even bigger,

29:43

you know what I'm saying, It would be even bigger. And we

29:45

did very well, but it would be even bigger because

29:47

it because people now see that Yo,

29:49

now they know it's real and like

29:52

a word, ah man.

29:53

And the regional aspect that y'all add to when you

29:55

know, like you go a certain region and they might bring

29:57

out so and so and so and so. I can't wait

29:59

for ought to come back to LA because shoot.

30:01

It's about absolutely.

30:04

I really brought up p D and uh yeah,

30:06

and Brody, I brought up PEP Absolutely David

30:11

Banner, no doubt.

30:13

Like ran in the third tier Beady

30:18

and David todd Up. I love it.

30:20

Yeah, okay, so I'll

30:22

be remiss if I don't ask this question. And

30:25

I'm certain that you've spoken about it before

30:28

and I might have missed the story. But just

30:31

as a lover of them sees the

30:35

four three two one situation, Wait,

30:40

don't do the cynical giggle.

30:41

Yeah, let me ask the question. Ready, let's go

30:43

take it back.

30:44

Let's go Like I'm under

30:46

the impression that Cannabis

30:50

was paying tribute

30:52

to your arm or whatever. Like I

30:54

never knew the story behind that. I didn't even

30:56

know it was a disc like sorry

30:58

for making rehab on.

31:00

Look, you know, cannabis really ain't

31:03

do nothing wrong, man, I just you know, Cannabis

31:06

just touched the third rail. Oh

31:09

lord, No, he didn't do nothing street,

31:12

He didn't do nothing room Street. You know what I'm saying. Yeah,

31:14

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

31:16

you know what I mean. He touched the third rail. He

31:19

and said because we had met downstairs earlier,

31:21

and you know, he said,

31:23

yo, yo, hell man, like you tell him

31:25

get a tattooed just like yours. And instead of me saying,

31:27

all right, man, do you think I'm like nah, I

31:30

get your own. I'm like territory and all that

31:32

on the microe and so, and

31:34

I just said that to him. And then when I played it when

31:36

I heard him on the record, because I said, all right, he's

31:38

gonna go do his vocal, I'm like, yeah, do you think when I

31:40

heard him on the record, He's like, is that a mic on your arm? Let

31:42

me bo?

31:43

I'm like, oh, we just had this conversation a

31:47

so that and that was the original yeah,

31:49

yeah right, and so he actually

31:52

it was really more about me being a little

31:54

bit more oversensitive.

31:55

I think, you know what I'm saying. I think it was more

31:57

about that, you know, that being said,

32:01

look what I try to do with him? I

32:03

say, look, you know, after it happened, I

32:05

thought about it. I'm like, yo, you know what, I don't

32:07

know, say something on the record or something. Nobody'll

32:11

know what I'm talking about. Just you know, just flip it

32:13

and do something else or you know. And he

32:15

didn't want to, you know, go with that. And then he

32:17

made the record, and you know, but

32:19

I tried to embrace him later, like I did shows

32:21

with him at Barclays and you know, I

32:23

did a show with him. I brought him out Barclays,

32:25

I brought him out different concerts. I try to give

32:27

him love because I want him and

32:30

his fans to know that, you know, I got love for him,

32:32

you know what I'm saying. It just you know, it

32:34

was just hip hop. It was just an MC

32:37

hip hop thing. You know. I didn't really wish

32:39

him any real ill will you know what I'm

32:41

saying.

32:42

How was the with the You spoke

32:44

earlier about working with track Masters. I want to ask

32:46

you about the Phenomenon album?

32:48

Yeah, what was What was

32:50

that like?

32:50

And did y'all had yall relationship changed

32:53

coming off either for better for words,

32:55

coming off of mister Smith going in the Phenomenon, you.

32:57

Know, Phenomenon like like the Phenomenon album

33:00

was one of those things where I just wanted to experiment.

33:02

So I went in the studio with Puff and messing

33:04

around with the Phenomenon song, and you

33:07

know, me and Steve, you know, had a conversation

33:09

about it recently because I think now

33:12

in hindsight, they probably looked at it like I was

33:14

just kind of baling on them a little bit. But in reality,

33:16

I was trying to just be creative

33:19

and do different things and just

33:21

work with different people in experiment, because

33:23

I like working with different producers. I like hearing

33:25

different things I like to I

33:27

like that. I enjoy it because I do this for fun

33:30

too. I don't do this just for

33:33

a chart position or money. I do it because

33:36

I love it. So part of that love

33:38

is working with different artists and different

33:40

producers and being creative. So the phenomenon was

33:43

fun, you know what I'm saying, Like, you know, it

33:46

was great. You know Sally Richison on the records,

33:48

I'm you

33:50

know what I'm saying, like

33:52

an hour yeah,

33:55

yeah, yeah, she was ooh, mister Smith,

34:01

Yeah yeah, yeah, she's cool. Wow, man,

34:03

you had I was gonna ask you had a record that drop?

34:06

It was. This has been some years ago. It

34:08

was called Take It. Oh yeah, Joe, Yeah,

34:11

what happened? What happened? It was? It wasn't

34:13

It was a record that I did on a I did

34:15

it on a little independent label. I did

34:17

the album and I did a few,

34:19

quite a few songs with track masters on there, and

34:22

I just it didn't have distribution. And it

34:24

was right around the time when I started my TV

34:26

show and see I asked Los Angeles

34:29

at the time, and I just didn't have. I didn't

34:31

make the time to promote it and really

34:33

go after it and perform it and get

34:35

it out there. It was,

34:38

it was. It was on authentic. It was yeah,

34:40

it was on authentic and authentic as an album

34:43

was just kind of created in a little

34:45

bit of a vacuum. And you know,

34:47

I was on a TV set, you know, I

34:50

just was experimented the accidental

34:53

racist. Damn right, let's talk about

34:55

it. So you know what I was trying

34:57

to say with that song, At

34:59

least I thought I was articulating, because nobody

35:01

absolutely agreed. That's

35:05

pretty clear, that's pretty obvious. What

35:08

I was trying to say is that you

35:11

keep your shit to yourself. I'll keep minding

35:13

myself. How about that. Let's start there. You

35:15

know what I'm saying, like like we just knock going, you

35:17

know, you know, you keep your symbolism

35:20

over there, and I'll keep

35:22

my symbolism over it. That's what I was trying to say.

35:24

But there is a level of

35:27

false equivalence there. It's hard to really

35:29

connect the dots on that because you can't compare

35:32

you know, honestly, you know what

35:35

a Confederate flag stands for to

35:38

what somebody may perceive an outfit.

35:40

To me, you just can't really you can't

35:42

really connect those you know what I mean,

35:44

I can't really connect that. So what I

35:46

was trying to say, what I was looking to

35:48

say, is that if we could get a little bit less

35:51

judgment, maybe it would help us

35:53

function. You know, if we focused

35:55

more on what works and less on what doesn't

35:57

work, maybe it'll help us function better.

36:00

That's what I was trying to say. But I just didn't

36:02

you know, I just didn't get there. You know, I just missed the jump

36:04

shot. You know what I'm saying, Like it is what it is.

36:07

It's just that that ship bounced off the back

36:09

of the rim, crazy exploded.

36:12

The backboard fell down, the scoreboard

36:15

fell down, My shorts

36:17

ripped fell off that

36:20

record. The thing I remember about that record specifically,

36:23

it came out around the time when

36:26

it was Twitter. It was like Twitter was all

36:28

about going ship with gold on top of that ship

36:32

went gold. It might be platting. That's

36:35

even even

36:38

worse, you know what I mean,

36:40

when they started making the Basketball Player. So

36:44

yeah, I did not know that. Yeah, yeah it

36:46

would go, but I forgot about I got

36:48

a back off that joint. Wow, that was I'm

36:50

just thinking that one back yo Ill

36:53

Bomb. Yeah, that one, like Bill

36:56

Bomb, Now, that one a lot of fun. That was

36:58

like, you know, running around down in the city,

37:00

run around at Queens, me and Bem and

37:03

you know, just run around in the city. And you know, Flex

37:06

asked me if I wanted to do something. Scratch made the beat.

37:08

I just went went in the studio and everything

37:10

I was saying on the record was kind of like what we was living.

37:13

We had the strobe lights flashing on the trucks and

37:15

all that. It was all, you know, it

37:17

was real. It was very real. It was very

37:19

real. I was gonna say, also, what's

37:22

my joint on exits thirteen? You

37:25

better watch me? Oh yeah, okay,

37:27

So here's the thing.

37:28

So I don't know if you know christ

37:31

Chris Rocks nickname is

37:34

so what Guile

37:37

Siri dubs Chris

37:39

Rock. He always calls him track nine

37:42

because Chris is the type of music

37:44

fan that like

37:47

doesn't go for the hit. He goes for the filler.

37:50

You know, He'll he'll go for Stevie Wonder's

37:54

Yeah, like the filler cut that lets you know

37:56

he's a deep music fan. And when it came out,

37:59

he was just like this is the one. How

38:01

come I wish like,

38:04

why was it more made of?

38:05

You? Better watch me? Like that to me? You know,

38:07

you know what's funny, man, I'll tell you that it was like

38:09

a winner. I think one of the things

38:12

that that happens, you

38:14

know, and this happens with labels, this happens with

38:17

artists. You get so so spoiled

38:19

by instantaneous reactions that when

38:21

you have records that kind

38:23

of hit a different part of your audience

38:27

that is not as reactive,

38:30

you just don't know, you know, don't

38:33

know how to gauge it, you know

38:35

what I'm saying. Like I've had a lot of songs like that,

38:37

Like the dou Wop was a song that people

38:40

like back in the days, really really like. But

38:43

I didn't know back then how to react

38:45

to that, how to react to it,

38:48

you know what I'm saying.

38:48

I was gonna ask you if we could do that on tour, but I

38:51

would you know, after like

38:53

we I mean, we kept mister goodbar,

38:55

but then there's like some other you just

38:57

kept cutting them off.

38:58

Was like, ah, I don't never get Yeah, no

39:00

we did Nitro, he dropped it Nitro.

39:03

I was like, oh my god, like, oh boy,

39:05

yeah, oh boy, oh boy,

39:07

that's an at wheeler right there. Good

39:10

god? What was it life working with the Bomb Squad?

39:13

Excellent? Eric Yoor, Eric

39:15

Sadler, Keith and Hanks, Shockley, the

39:18

way they worked on them, the way they could.

39:20

They built the beat in front of you or is it wow?

39:23

Yes, they built them in front of me. Yeah. Yeah,

39:25

it was crazy. Nitro was crazy

39:27

and it gets no rougher.

39:33

You mentioned earlier that you

39:36

have absolutely no qualms whatsoever about

39:38

scrapping an entire record,

39:42

So just based on your history,

39:45

how much is in the LL

39:48

cool J Cannon vault

39:50

from radio down

39:52

to the forced album?

39:54

And will we ever see any of it? Will you ever released

39:56

of it? I'll never put any of it out.

39:58

I probably have you

40:01

at least won't put none, and you will like this can't

40:03

come out possumously or I'm not gonna do that. Not

40:06

gonna do that. But we got

40:08

to see who lives you know, We don't you

40:11

know no telling how that's gonna

40:13

play. Give my help, Gerald,

40:17

No, no, I'm saying that, Gerald. We don't know no player.

40:19

But hey,

40:22

listen, I'm not talking tough in that one. I don't know I'm

40:24

just so, can you reveal can

40:27

you reveal what you revealed to me?

40:28

Yeah?

40:29

Probably songs if you made with you know who, oh

40:32

to start there. Oh so with Dre,

40:34

Me and Dre probably have about forty songs.

40:37

Yeah, did we doctor

40:39

Dre? Yeah we had we got we had Zoom that was on

40:41

the bulwark right right right,

40:44

but we had you know, but we got a lot of songs

40:46

in the can, Like I had a lot, Like I'll tell you a record

40:48

that was mine that he obviously

40:50

he took my vocals off because he ended up doing it because I was

40:53

all over the place. But that you know, that song I

40:59

was that was one of my points that

41:03

yeah. Yeah, yeah, me and Dre had did

41:05

that first. Yeah,

41:10

yeah, that that one. Yeah, it was crazy.

41:13

Quite a few of them, it's been a lot of them.

41:15

Had a lot of damned

41:17

that be he did real well, Oh it killed it.

41:20

It was dope. It was dope. I love you better

41:22

man, Yeah, I wasn't talking about that. Working

41:24

with the Neptunes, what was man, it

41:26

was amazing working with Pharrell and and

41:29

with Chad and uh that's

41:31

when they worked together still too, and it was

41:34

like, I mean, it was dope. I just,

41:37

you know, the one thing, you

41:39

know what's crazy. I was so focused on working

41:41

out and getting ready for the video.

41:43

This is gonna sound really crazy. I forgot

41:46

to ask Pharrell to be in the video. I

41:49

literally forgot because

41:52

I forgot, like like like

41:55

I forgot to ask you. I wanted

41:58

because I wanted. I wanted for Rell to sing on the

42:00

hook for Real did the intro? Why didn't

42:02

he sing that? He was like, no, I don't want to do it. I want to I

42:04

want to put my man on. I'm like okay. And

42:06

so once he put Mark on the hook, then

42:09

I forgot that he yeah to

42:11

ask for Real to be in the video. And I seen

42:13

them one day, like, you know, you asked me to black.

42:16

I just felt crazy.

42:18

But that's when you got that knife shelf down there on your

42:20

b So it was worth it for all of us who was watching

42:22

the.

42:22

Video up all

42:27

right now.

42:29

I just want to know the things that we don't know that's

42:31

equivalent to chunking studios. For instance,

42:34

do you know who's singing on around the

42:36

Way, girl?

42:37

Uh, it's the Flex right, that's like Chris,

42:40

not Chris, but it was the Black Street. It was

42:42

black before they were black

42:44

streets, so lighty Darren lighty

42:47

and all of Yeah, it was them guys. Yeah, it

42:49

was great as the flex and the driver, remember yeah,

42:53

yeah, yeah, I don't know it was no, it was Lighty

42:56

and the other one. And Eric's

42:59

Eric Eric. His name

43:01

is Erica.

43:06

Okay, all right?

43:07

Oh, yes, as we rapidfire? What is the

43:09

meaning I've always going to ask you this, What is the meaning

43:11

of blow titious?

43:14

Yo? Yo? I

43:17

mean it's just blowtitious? Like you know what I mean?

43:19

Like, Yo, you know, me and my man

43:21

Tie fight, yo, Tie, and you know you

43:24

hilarious with this man like me

43:26

and me and Tod was seeing each other in the

43:28

swept like blow

43:31

ticious. And then I just

43:33

put it on the record. Now everybody said, yo, he's

43:35

talking about you know, is he talking about

43:37

trans he? Was he talking about? Is

43:40

he going left? Like? It's

43:42

just blow titious.

43:44

Stevie Delicious, skeeee

43:47

Stevie Delicious. Give me coops

43:49

coops, love me good God, damn hollis

43:52

the Hollywood. Yes

43:55

we're again. We got alright.

44:00

So that was that on that

44:03

you know what I'm saying. And I

44:05

actually had another verse on on on

44:07

the flavoring your Ear remix, and

44:10

then I changed it to that one POPA love it

44:12

that that record, the one Yeah

44:14

Yeah, I love that. Yeah. That was a cool one too. That was

44:16

fun. Damn. You know some some of them joints.

44:18

This is the part of the show where he does yeah but

44:20

okay, So speaking of flavoring your ear, was

44:23

there a rumor I don't

44:25

know who told me, maybe Zezdriver told me. Was

44:29

that verse at all connected? I

44:31

heard that that was maybe

44:33

he directed the Biggie or something like that with why

44:36

would I do that?

44:37

But then the who shot? Then

44:39

the I shot you. I was in the studio

44:41

with Big when he did shot you. I

44:43

was literally, this is someone trying

44:46

to make something bugging out. Ye

44:48

let me tell you something, let me say something. That's why

44:50

I'm asking some of my no, no, no, it's all good.

44:53

My record, Like these songs were like sometimes

44:55

I like it's just like head sprung right.

44:58

Sometimes I just

45:00

do comedy on them joints. Sometimes I just

45:03

do shit that's stupid, Like

45:05

sometimes I'm consciously doing like Big

45:07

Ellie a bit silly, big

45:10

Money, Big really really

45:13

with an R. I didn't say Big Willie and Big

45:15

Billy and all these you know, so

45:18

so between that, like saying that or doing

45:20

his ship low, it just sounded

45:22

good to me.

45:23

I will say that, Yes, you are your

45:26

your level of humor on record and

45:28

people ask me on your scissor World, I'm like, oh, God,

45:31

home and use this because you know, everyone was like, give

45:33

you your favorite l record and I was like,

45:35

Yo, I'm sorry, but you can't dance.

45:37

It's my favorite song of all time. You

45:41

look like a moro. Yo's

45:44

favorite shit of all time? Yo. They put

45:46

a patch on it. Yes, that's what I'm

45:48

saying, Like for me, can you your

45:51

your level of humor? Your evil laughter?

45:53

All? That's my favorite shit of all time. I really

45:56

love the force the new song, Oh thank

45:58

you? So you still get the same rush

46:00

from writing a song that you did when you made

46:03

I Need to Beat one hundred percent. I

46:06

love it. I mean, you know, like,

46:09

I love the fact that the way

46:11

people address the idea of me

46:14

having an album is going to be very different after

46:16

I put this record out, because

46:18

right now it's kind of like a warm and fuzzy

46:20

cute. All that's cute, and let's talk about what

46:23

you've done, because that's just the nature

46:25

of our game, right because when you

46:27

do something a long time, the

46:29

bar goes up and the expectations go

46:31

down. Right, So my bar

46:34

is up here and the expectations

46:36

for what I'm going to deliver is down here, and

46:39

so we you know, you have to

46:41

be self aware with that, right. So I

46:44

love it, you know, I love you know,

46:46

making songs, and I love

46:48

the challenge of showing people what's

46:51

possible in hip hop. We haven't had an artist

46:54

that's been out multiple decades to put

46:56

records out that really have impact. We've

46:58

had quotables, we've had critical

47:01

acclaim, you know, we've had everything

47:03

kind of in between there, but we haven't heard anybody

47:05

really smash them. Yeah,

47:07

nah, man, it's change. I was when we were

47:10

at the four Stour.

47:11

I was just sitting there and I'm watching

47:13

it and like, you know, this is you know, rock cam, this

47:15

is everybody, Daylight, Everybody some of my favorite

47:18

rap routs all time. But I was just really

47:20

watching your performance and it really reminded

47:22

me of something like a mirror you would say, like how what

47:24

you're saying like kind of like the curse of the straight A students,

47:27

so to speak, Like no one you have so much

47:29

longevity.

47:29

And so much, consistently so good. We take it for granted,

47:32

take it.

47:32

For granted, And I'm just watching thefore

47:34

and I'm like, I'm watching it, but I'm like, yo,

47:36

I know these songs like and I don't think

47:38

people really give you that credit as an MC.

47:41

They give you the credit as you know, breaking being

47:43

a pioneer and all that, but I'm just like, yo, funck

47:45

all that. If we just talking raps Dog

47:48

like ll is probably the most quotable rapper

47:50

ever, Like I knew all the songs.

47:53

I think that's I think that's I think that's probably

47:56

you know, look, that's all subjective, right,

47:58

Like, I don't really concern myself

48:00

with that part of it.

48:02

What I will tell you is this, obviously

48:04

I'm good enough to still be here. So

48:08

that's a start. I

48:15

mean, because you were telling your story and I'm like,

48:17

it's not an eighty damn bro. And

48:20

when the album comes a lot of them gonna listen,

48:22

They're gonna listen. Can you

48:25

tell us like you told us it was you and Tip. That's really kind

48:27

of all you told us, was you? Right? Yeah? You know, I'll

48:31

just just driving on what season

48:33

is it coming?

48:34

What season is it will be cold

48:36

outside soon.

48:38

Come. How do you I'm regaining your masters

48:40

back from that?

48:41

Ye?

48:41

How did you do that? It just it just

48:43

worked out. I mean, you know people you

48:45

own your masters? Yeah, he

48:48

should? Should you open that

48:50

place? Crazy?

48:51

By the way, there's a song. So

48:53

when I'm was teaching the n y U there's a song. I

48:56

don't know how well now that poss

48:59

explain to me a whole, like how two inch

49:01

tapes are whatever a

49:04

rare commodity. There's an actual

49:07

LL song on one

49:09

of the Nation a millions reels

49:13

that I never heard before. It was just like one

49:15

verse, probably because

49:17

that's probably Rick Rick probably just like a raven

49:19

shit.

49:20

And yeah, probably that makes a lot of

49:22

sense because you know, it's funny, like

49:24

a lot of the original Public Enemy songs.

49:26

At the time, Rick came to me and he was like, yo, he

49:29

wanted me to record Uzie ways a ton

49:32

wow. And I was like and

49:34

I was like yeah, he was like, do you want

49:36

to record it? I'm like, well, what do you mean. He's like, well,

49:38

you just do the song. I said no, I write my own rhymes,

49:41

though. Rick. He's like, oh, okay, okay,

49:43

okay, So then he did. He ended up

49:45

doing Public Enemy. You know what I'm saying.

49:47

So, you know, so he brought me UZI

49:50

ways a ton. He brought me like he wanted me

49:52

to record a lot of those PE songs. You know

49:54

what I'm saying. Oh my god, you had a reck I'm

49:56

on the Street Fight the soundtrack the Light Yeah,

50:00

yeah, yeah, yeah? What was

50:03

I was just wilding, man, like, just having fun.

50:05

Like a lot of the songs are like become

50:07

like jam sessions, just vibing and

50:09

then say, yo, I keep that. I like it. You know what I'm

50:11

saying. I don't like for me to

50:14

be honest with you, you know. And this goes back to the MC

50:17

comment that you kind of that you were

50:19

talking about. Like the difference between

50:21

me and a lot of the other guys is that for

50:23

a lot of them, they're always focused

50:25

on being as descriptive and as creative

50:28

and as clever as they possibly can lyrically

50:30

on every song. I don't do that. I

50:33

go for the feeling of the song, whatever

50:36

the song requires to feel good.

50:38

That's what I do. It is I'm not so

50:40

so what does But what that does is you

50:43

get in situations where you only need twelve

50:45

points to win sometimes you need

50:47

forty five, sometimes you need

50:50

seven, sometimes you need nineteen, as

50:52

opposed to a guy who's always out

50:54

there trying to go to thirty forty

50:57

every night. That's

50:59

the so creatively, that's why I

51:03

probably am not in a lot of those conversations

51:05

because that's not my focus. I look

51:07

at guards like Michael Jackson. I look at Rick

51:09

James, I look at you know, James

51:12

Brown. I look at you know, these

51:15

artists, Marvin Gay. I look at these different artists,

51:17

and the thing that they all have in common is the feeling.

51:20

It wasn't about just the lyrics, right,

51:23

the technical lyric was not what made

51:25

you feel good? You know what I

51:27

mean?

51:28

Nah, I mean because we sang the whole flavor in ear

51:30

verse and blow t is ain't even real word, but

51:32

it just it's so good,

51:35

you know what I mean.

51:36

But I bet you you know if if in

51:38

a certain scenario, if you said you're

51:41

like blow you know

51:43

what I mean, like you just it's just a vibe,

51:45

So that was you don't say I'm saying

51:48

no. That's why, like my catalog

51:50

is the way it is, because part

51:52

of being able to run fast is

51:55

being confident enough to run slow. Damn.

51:59

You know, you know, you know, being

52:01

it, you know what I mean, that's part of it. I ain't all

52:04

the time, you know, because you know you see Hussein

52:06

boat jogging, You're like, oh, he ain't really fast.

52:09

It's like he's

52:12

jogging. Okay, you know you

52:14

understand I'm saying. So that's kind of

52:17

part of But I think that

52:19

I have to stick with that. I have

52:21

to be myself. I don't want to be

52:24

fighting for my lyrical life on every

52:26

song. That's not what it's about because

52:28

people don't need that for me. For me, what

52:31

they need is to be touched in their souls. So

52:33

whatever the song requires, that's

52:35

what I'm gonna do. You already do that for

52:39

now.

52:39

I have one point five questions because you already mentioned

52:41

his name and I forgot what was

52:43

it like?

52:44

Uh?

52:44

Cay telling the process of making serious

52:46

effect with Michael Jackson.

52:48

Mike is hilarious man. So like,

52:51

first of all, you walk in the studios adry ladies,

52:53

traffic, I'm like, yo, Mike's in traffic is hilaric.

52:55

Like. But we had a good time, man,

52:57

Yeah, we had somebody, you know, we had so much fun And

53:01

just what year was that made like I found

53:04

this around around the I'm bad

53:06

around the bad a little bit after the bad

53:08

area, like, no.

53:11

My bad, there's

53:13

a bad battle yeah, radio Lee

53:16

baying.

53:18

Oh yeah, they came out on Radio School. I

53:20

came out first the Battle the bad albums.

53:23

It's going to be right here, Yo,

53:25

No, it definitely ain't. And so I was like,

53:27

yo, you know, just working

53:30

with Mike was just it was just a lot of fun, you know

53:32

what I'm saying. We had a good time in the studio. We

53:34

hung out, you know what I'm saying. We were always

53:37

cool. It was great. Plus, you know, I spent so

53:39

much much time with Quincy Jones. You

53:41

know, he taught me a lot about

53:43

career between him and Lino Richie.

53:46

So now it was amazing. It was amazing.

53:48

Okay, So my my final question

53:51

is when when we first started rehearsing,

53:54

we of course had to put off a few days

53:56

because you just became a yeah

54:00

yeah three times over, which made

54:02

me think, like, how what

54:05

advice could you give us

54:08

those who are in budding relationships, dice

54:10

who are newly married and whatever, how

54:13

to maintain uh, your

54:16

sanity and your family and also

54:19

career be a career because

54:21

I think. I think it's rather like

54:24

notable and applause worthy that

54:26

you know, you and Simone have made

54:28

it through the storm, you have kids and.

54:30

And all that successful business too. I would

54:32

love some ear rings. We

54:35

could work that out, I think. I think. Look, man,

54:37

I think what I what I've learned, man, is where

54:41

I'm starting as I ain't playing detective. Okay,

54:44

it ain't gonna be no detective work involved. I'm

54:47

not doing that. Okay, it's no

54:49

detective work. So it's

54:51

gonna be what it's gonna be. All I'm starting

54:53

it. Let's because I need sanity and

54:55

I need to be calm and relaxed, and that's it. So

54:57

I'm not doing no detective work. Okay, I

55:00

ain't coughing nothing, and I ain't playing detective.

55:02

So I'm out

55:04

that game. Okay, So now you

55:07

just take it off about fifty percent of your

55:09

drama everything, right, I put that

55:11

with that, just like, okay, no

55:14

detective work. That's first thing. Second thing is

55:18

I'm gonna try to help facilitate

55:20

your dreams, make your dreams come true,

55:22

right, help you with your dream make

55:24

sure you write. And then the third thing is

55:27

I'm gonna always go after my dreams

55:29

and my purpose wholeheartedly. You

55:31

know what I'm saying. And the

55:34

better I take care of me, the better

55:36

I can take care of you. You know what I'm saying.

55:39

And then you know, then there's little things. You

55:41

know, you can't be afraid of silence, man, you

55:44

know what I'm saying, Like, we ain't got to be

55:46

talking. Man, It's all right.

55:49

When I tell you, when

55:52

I tell you, there's one point

55:54

by day for where the roof a

55:57

daily tab on ll idioms

56:01

her way past, like wake

56:03

up and smell the coffee. I'm

56:06

not playing literally, I'm going

56:08

I missed out. Oh

56:11

all right, I don't in the

56:13

house, yeah yeah,

56:16

the one the pants leg?

56:18

How did that? Was that? Just something? Yeah?

56:20

I did it? Listen the bike messages in New

56:22

York did it? I liked it because

56:25

they used to do it for that episode of Oil. Wouldn't

56:27

get on their chain the chain, so

56:29

I'm like, yo, I'm rolling my joint up.

56:31

Man.

56:31

I just started wearing it like that and it took

56:33

on the life of his own. But my favorite thing

56:35

about that is that's my son on the theme song

56:38

in the house. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, wow.

56:41

Last yeah, I put them on there.

56:43

Debbie did a sitcom too.

56:45

Yeah, I did the sitcom with Debbie Allen, the

56:47

last time she acted in the sitcom. It was amazing.

56:49

Working with Debbie was great. She's she's amazing.

56:51

Okay, last last question, No more films,

56:54

because you've been.

56:55

Asked for a minute. Well, I just we just wrapped and

56:57

c I asked we did fourteenth seasons.

57:00

I have a.

57:02

Well, I guess I could talk about a little bit with the tentative

57:04

deal. I got to reoccur role on n

57:06

CIS Hawaii, and then

57:09

I got some films that that I'm looking at. Yeah,

57:11

I got some films. I got some films I'm looking at for

57:14

sure.

57:14

I think we've asked absolutely

57:17

everything. Cool James Todd

57:19

smith Man, No, for real. I I

57:22

know every time we like thank you whatever

57:24

and like give you the presidential but for

57:27

real, when I say thank.

57:28

You, I'm happy to be here. Man.

57:30

You're literally one

57:32

of my favorite creative human

57:35

beings ever. And the thing is is that, as

57:37

we said before, you make

57:40

it look so effort like literally it's like Steph

57:42

Curry, Like after a while you're just.

57:43

Like, all right, great, it's going in like

57:45

a big deal.

57:46

All right, But

57:49

yeah, and I think now, especially

57:52

in light of the onslaught of

57:54

death that hip hopics experience a

57:57

lot of premature careers. Cut and

57:59

Frank also seeing a lot of

58:01

brothers just self sabotage their things, like

58:05

that's why I'm watching people,

58:07

and like you're you're a really exemplary of

58:10

human beings that aren't afraid even if you

58:12

make a misstep, like it's

58:15

like, okay, well that didn't work.

58:16

What else is there in the territory? Right?

58:18

And I would say this, I would say in terms of the self

58:21

sabotage, just to just to put some words

58:23

out there in the universe for people. You

58:26

don't limit yourself, right, you

58:28

know what I'm saying, You don't limit

58:30

yourself. You have to be comfortable

58:32

with them. We're seeing something bigger

58:34

for your life, and you have to be comfortable

58:37

with that idea. A lot of people

58:40

think they're comfortable with it, but the

58:42

reality is when they every time they say that they

58:44

self talk to themselves about doing something big,

58:46

there's a little voice that jumps in there and says it's

58:49

not possible because it's gonna require you to

58:51

change. It's gonna require you to change.

58:53

And a lot of it is also just fear based

58:56

and kind of feeling like everybody,

58:59

a lot of people feel success is like hitting a lot

59:01

of and

59:03

it's not. You know what I'm

59:05

saying, it's it's the effect

59:08

is like hitting the lot of But the journey isn't,

59:11

you know what I'm saying. So so, so you

59:14

gotta be willing to believe in yourself and that

59:16

aspect of yourself, and you gotta really believe. You

59:18

gotta believe, man, you can't be limited.

59:21

You gotta believe in yourself and believe

59:23

in the power inside of you to do something greater with

59:25

your life. You know what I'm saying. And that really

59:28

is something that you know when you when

59:30

you're drifting off to sleep at night. You

59:32

have to envision something greater for your life. You

59:35

have to take make a conscious effort to control your

59:37

thoughts on a daily basis so that you're

59:39

seeing yourself go to the to the height

59:41

you want to go to. You can't just be your

59:44

Your mind shouldn't be like a cork just

59:46

thrown in the ocean, just randomly bouncing

59:48

around. You should be very intentional about

59:50

what you want out of life.

59:51

I need you to gather everyone in hip hop and just

59:53

lock them in camp and just op

1:00:00

yeah.

1:00:00

I just yeah. That was a moment that

1:00:03

was definitely put that off because

1:00:05

they you know, they was, you can't do it. They can't

1:00:08

I own this, okay, so

1:00:12

they knew no owned

1:00:16

it, but ing

1:00:20

below, I get it. I was

1:00:22

the car side didn't know it's your car.

1:00:29

All right, I'm gonna be having Fantigolo

1:00:31

and Sugar, Steve Man, unpaid

1:00:34

Bill and Light.

1:00:34

Yea, man, you

1:00:36

don't want to rate? Why do what I do? Thank

1:00:38

you great James Stott Smith has

1:00:41

finally come on this question. We don't need no more. Episodes

1:00:43

were good. Thank you so

1:00:45

much. We appreciate it.

1:00:46

Till on, loan bro,

1:00:49

thank you, thank you for listening to The Quest

1:00:52

Love Supreme. This podcast is hosted by a

1:00:54

mere Quest Love Thompson, like YOUA Saint

1:00:56

Claire, Vante Coleman, Sugar,

1:00:58

Steve Mandell and myself.

1:01:00

Unpaid Bill Sherman.

1:01:01

The executive producers are Mer just

1:01:03

walked into the goddamn room, Thompson, Sean

1:01:05

g and Brian Calhoun. Produced

1:01:08

by Britney Benjamin, Jake Pain and Ia Sinclair.

1:01:10

Edited by Alex Conroy. I know Alex

1:01:12

Conroy, produced for iHeart by

1:01:15

Noel Brown and Mike John Auto

1:01:17

engineering by Graham Gibson at Iheart's La Studio.

1:01:20

Thank You very Much.

1:01:21

West Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

1:01:27

For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit

1:01:29

the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

1:01:32

or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.