Questlove Supreme: Diamond D

Diamond D joins Questlove Supreme in Atlanta to discuss growing up with Hip-Hop pioneers in his literal backyard. The acclaimed producer/MC/DJ triple-threat discusses his career, from Ultimate Force and Stunts Blunts & Hip Hop, into his new album, The Rear View. QLS brings back its sample-spotting game as we sit down with the best-kept secret.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. Here we Go,
Just follow Us.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Supremo role called Supremo, Supremo role called Supremo Sound, Supremo
role called Supremo Sound Sound so Premo.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Some say I'm crazy, some say I'm ill. Yeah, fuck
you talking about.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Premo Supremo Supremo Sound Supremo.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
My name is Fante. I ain't hard to find, Yeah,
and I'm not like Sally.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
I got a two track.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Mine Supremo ro cal suremo Son, Sure.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Here's a little story, Yeah about Sugar Steve. Yeah, she
wanted Diamond, gave her.

Speaker 5 (01:01):
The d.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
H R Supreme.

Speaker 6 (01:10):
It's like no time to rest, It's time to learn
from hip hop's finest.

Speaker 5 (01:26):
My name is Diamond, my beast, the best. Yeah, I'm
down in the A now. Should have put my man quest.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
So free, so.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Freemo, so some Supremo roll Son.

Speaker 5 (01:48):
So you like the.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Learning a new button every week?

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Uh yeah, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of
Quest Love Supreme.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
I'm your host Quest Love.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
You know we're down here in the A in Atlanta
doing our first drafts of in person episodes. It's been
three years and uh, you know, glad to be with
the fan. Spoke to unpaid Bill this morning. He's fine,
chill with Grover and Oscar and then on Sesame Street

(02:27):
on a Saturday. Wait, today, Saturday, right right now. When
I got into uber it is one, I was like, oh, damn,
it is Saturday.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Oh it's you go to work. You go to work.
It's Saturday. I mean, probably not when they're airing this,
but yeah, I'm all yeah, I'm just all messed up.

Speaker 7 (02:43):
No more days of play.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I thought it was Thursday. Damn. Okay, it's like that. Anyway.
How are you doing.

Speaker 7 (02:50):
I'm doing Oh, I am doing great. We're back in
the A. I'll barely recognize it. I ain't been here
in twenty years.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
I'm kind of mad because I'm here in the A,
but I've yet to go to stroke Ris and probably
is that.

Speaker 6 (03:02):
Like a new Strokers. I don't even what the hell
is that. I'm from the Magic City.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Gentleman.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
You know, okay, this is what I'm learning about my
Atlanta trip number one. You know, it was sort of
a topic of the past, but now I get the
feeling that people actually go to the strip clubs here
just to eat.

Speaker 7 (03:23):
So I heard Magic Cities.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
Just everyone behind the cameras was like, ain't like somebody.
I was like, nobody, you want to hear Magic It
has the best wings ever.

Speaker 7 (03:34):
I hear the Diamond got really quiet when we start
talking about.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Listen all right yesterday. I know always said this like
this is my favorite shows. But any any chance that
I get to nerd out on the production techniques that
really drew me to hip hop and drew office to
hip hop. No matter who you're like, it's it's always
a good episode. And so this gentleman has been forced

(04:04):
to record with even before his solo career, like the
work that he's done. You know, it's this strong city.
I don't a strong city at all associated with Aaron Fuchs.
Anytime I see the words, I just get I'm afraid
even if I say, the label might get litigious. So
that was that was Jazzy J and Rocky Buchano, Right, okay,

(04:24):
all right, well yeah, Ali, the resume is strong, like
some of my my my favorite producer moments comes from
this gentleman years. I mean, we all of his records,
uh Suns, Bunts and hip hop Hatred. I got to
ask you about your your Sophomore, Hatred, Passionate Infidelity like Dome, Peace,

(04:47):
the Gotham and now your brand new joint the Review,
which is excellent work. You've been doing quality, excellent work,
and sometimes it's easy to sort of take for rand it.
People do excellent work and they often get overlooked, and
when top five lists and top ten lists are named,
and you know, sometimes a person so effortless that you

(05:11):
tend to forget their contributions.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
But you know, that's what quest Love Supreme is for.
So that's it.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Let's welcome the one and only, finally, finally, Diamond D.
Am I allowed to call you Diamond?

Speaker 5 (05:23):
Now?

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Course? Okay?

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Number one plea were allowed? No, no, no no, But
here's the deal. I have two versions of the album.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
When it was like Diamond stump blumped in here and
then there was Diamond, Well.

Speaker 5 (05:36):
It was Diamond and psychoch Neurotics. Diamonds Diamond psychoch Neurotics.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
So what was the situation with your name? It was
there another Diamond d like back in the day.

Speaker 5 (05:47):
That I don't know what, I'm not sure, but I
think it might have been originally somebody that was signed
to Weston Records.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
Wow, New York yeah. Yeah, they did Tony Garden their heartbeat,
like you.

Speaker 8 (06:00):
Know, hot Shot was on that table, but I think
somebody had the name.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, okay, so.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, well, you know this is my favorite nerd out
moment on Quest Love Supreme. So I'm gonna start from
the beginning. What was your first musical memory? Time out?
Let me go to og style. Where were you born?

Speaker 8 (06:19):
I was born in Manhattan, New York hospital.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Wow, I never heard any yeah, get to get to
it all right, all right, was raised in the Bronx. Okay,
your first musical memory sitting.

Speaker 8 (06:34):
In my uncle's room and him just playing music.

Speaker 5 (06:37):
He had a large vinyl collection, So I was just
sitting in his room like eight nine years old and
just listening to and play records.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
What was he playing?

Speaker 5 (06:47):
Everything? Mostly mostly funk, jazz, soul, you know what I mean?
Shouts out to Gary was he was?

Speaker 3 (06:54):
He very ridiculous with the collection. Like I've had an
older cousin that was that way. But you couldn't touch
the wax.

Speaker 5 (07:01):
And you know, yeah, definitely fresh, yeah, definitely. You know,
you know, you have to hold a record like this
with both hands. He's very meticulous about his whinys. And
then you know when I came along with the DJ hand,
you know, we had to put our hands on the record.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
I was gonna say, how okay.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
So I've sometimes I try and explain to people the
trouble you know, I mean' t ezy now that hip
hop is and it's about to be in its fiftieth
year for us also take for you know, for granted
it's development and how you know far it's come. But
you know, I try to explain to people that a
lot of those pioneers, you know, Flash got so much

(07:39):
kickback or pushback if you will, you know, because the
general idea is that you're going to destroy the needle
or destroy the belt driver, the turntable, like putting your
fingers on the grooves those are big no nose.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, I got punishment trying to.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
You know, like my first introduction in scratching, of course,
was you know, grand Master Flash on the wheels of
steel and you know, trying to practice on my dad's
you know, while he's not looking and see what happens
and you get in trouble. But yeah, like how do
you discover what that is in in the bronx? And
were you like privy to any of those like block
parties or anything.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
Oh yeah, they would like right outside Noxlain it take it.
Growing up with Farvest projects, me Fat Joel fer Ness.
We would all see DJs like you.

Speaker 8 (08:29):
All were in the same buildings, still the same same complex.

Speaker 5 (08:33):
But we would see Gud like Grant with the Theadore
mainly theatre, sometime Flash. At that point they were already
making records, but we were able to just go downstairs
and just see these jams going on in the parks.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
What was it?

Speaker 3 (08:47):
What was it like seeing Because I'm assuming that you're
too young for Harlem World or right, so I'm assuming
that you're eleven or twelve year oldag seeing it. So
what how does the trickle effect happen to you? Like
where tapes the thing instantly or how do you get
the information just.

Speaker 5 (09:05):
Watching it firsthand? You know you've seen people out there,
you know with boxes, you know, recording or whatever. But
we you know, I saw the firsthand. You know, when
Flash made Grand Master Fast on the Wheels of Steals,
I had already seen him do some of that, you know,
outside in the parks, cutting up good times, you know,

(09:26):
shit like that, but just being close in proximity to it,
is what drew me, and in fact quest when I
was a little kid, whenever I saw the DJ reach
for the damn right I'm Somebody album cover by the JB's,
you know, I would lose my mind because I knew
he was gonna play blow your Head. And that sticks

(09:46):
like even even now as an adult, that always sticks
out to me. A lot of times people ask me,
you know, what's the first song to draw you into
hip hop? I mentioned blow your Head. It's not a
rap record, it's just a a break bead that was
real popular, and as little kids, we would lose our
fucking mom when that shit came in.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
So all right, So Chuck d once explained to me
the effect of that, because I asked, like, why would
like why was that the first record that introduced the
world to public enemy? And he explained to me that,
you know, because okay, I grew up with an old
like a father, and older uncles and older cousins, and

(10:27):
so they came more or less from the I mean,
I'm not saying like I inherited the critical thinking, but
the way that you know, I'm sure a classic album
comes out we all get together and discuss that shit critically.
That's how they were, you know, because my dad was
a musician and all that stuff. So in my household,
James Brown was kind of over by seventy three. Like

(10:52):
my I distinctly remember the very first album, my dad
panned like this is trash.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
He didn't like the payback. I don't think he liked
the idea of paying fifteen ninety.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
So typically, I guess back in seventy three seventy four,
an album would run three ninety nine. A single album's
like three ninety nine, maybe four ninety nine. So when
you're paying eleven twelve ninety nine for a double album
the first thing, and you know, I'm three years old,
but my dad's like, wait a minute, there's only eight

(11:24):
songs on this record, and it's a double record, and
each song is like a meandering I never knew what
meandering was. But like by the time you get to
that like side three times running out Fast whatever, like
twelve minutes, you know, he just took it off and
he's like, I don't like this. And so in my mind,
James Brown was over in seventy four. But Chuck details me.

(11:45):
He's like James Brown commercially might have had his last
heyday of string, you know, after Poblo'm taking the mess.
But he's like in the hood, we never stopped playing
good Foot and get if anything like, we brought those
singles back, but it was just hood stuff. But for
some reason, me and myself, I never liked blow your
Head because in my mind I imagined James Brown's like, Okay,

(12:09):
so Stevie Wonder got a moog and made miracles of
it with him. It was almost like I could see,
I could see like the bubble wrap on the floor and.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Him just and this is the thing.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Even James Brown's musicians himself will say like he was
the worst soloist of all time, correct, but one of
those guys where even if he's wrong, he's right. So
for him to do like all this like crazy solo
and and whatnot, just never understood why y'all gravitated to
that record.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
It's is just to have an instrumental that was fast,
to let.

Speaker 8 (12:39):
Bee boys go off or yeah, that's all it was.

Speaker 5 (12:43):
You know, I'm a little kids, so I'm not really
thinking about the musicality of it, but just the effect
that I Rick had had when he was played a party,
like you know, people would lose their fucking minds, you know,
that little one part To touch on what you're saying,
I did read with read. Wesley said that James went

(13:03):
in there behind their backs and he put that mood
sound over the up. Yeah right, he said. It wasn't
only at first, but the eyeing is that that's what
drove it by the time these young black and brown.

Speaker 8 (13:17):
Kids were listening to it, you know, in seventy eight
and seventy nine at these parties.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, I was going to say, we.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
We're now an iHeart affiliate and so we're like limited
on the times that we could play songs.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
But just for that you people know what we're talking about.
This is blow your head.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
Oh, thank y'all.

Speaker 7 (13:38):
So y'all was talking about that public enemy. No, okay,
that's exactly like, Okay, we're here now, we here, we here.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Yeah, so you know, but this is also what I
want to know.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Do you have any memories because this is kind of
the one thing that hip hop pineys really don't talk about.
But I mean, I can only put two and two
together that if it weren't for the Blackout of seventy seven,
we might not have had hip hop culture because I'm
just assuming that because of the.

Speaker 8 (14:13):
Of the looting estemal, I'm a little kid doing the blackout.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
But no, no, no, I'm not saying.

Speaker 5 (14:19):
But I have heard stories about a lot of equipment
came into possession during the blackout, so you know it
might it definitely pushed it along a little bit, right,
But I mean it was there before that.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
But what I want to know is how, because I'm
also aware that as the years and decades go by,
maybe revisionist history sets in and stories get exaggerated. But
how officially loud were these speakers at these block parties
where they like concert level size, where you gouts are

(14:54):
satisfied with.

Speaker 8 (14:55):
Loud enough where you can hear them three blocks away?

Speaker 1 (14:57):
How do you get power of electricity in a park streamline?
Believe so someone would have to risk their life climb
up the lamp post.

Speaker 5 (15:07):
Or a lot of them, a lot of them knew about,
you know, equipment, so they would break it to a
lamp post, get the power lines and do some ship
in the next thing.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
Now, Kwame's dad here explain that Kwame Kwami's dad used
to tell like, for the longest Kwame's father was still
the neighbors gas like he knew how to run a
line inside of their.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Inside of their basement or whatever, and.

Speaker 7 (15:38):
Just yeahful people.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
Exactly if nothing else.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
So how old were you when you officially when you
considered yourself like all right, I'm gonna get into this
music ship.

Speaker 5 (15:52):
Like, how old were you? I would say about twelve?
About twelve when I asked my mom to buy me
some turntables.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
Yeah, did you want to DJ? Or yeah? No, I was.

Speaker 5 (16:02):
I wanted to be a DJ. I didn't care about
ron and I just you know, I was My whole
focus was the beats, the breakbeats. I would just go
to these these jams to stand by the ropes and
try to see album covers, you know, just how they
find these little parts with the drums. That's what really
like intrigued me. You know, all of these records with
these little drum parts. So I was just drum crazy.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
When you were a kid, what was the record store that.

Speaker 8 (16:28):
Was like the go to the whiz Nobody Whiz. And
there was another store on Third Avenue, I remember the name.

Speaker 5 (16:36):
But the first break I bought was Shangle Lie really
yeah okay, but we called it Paradixes very nice and
IRV got it. He mentioned it in documentary. He said
he used to cut that as a kid, and I
was like, oh, ship, that's crazy. But yeah, that was
the first joint I brought my own money. So yeah, yeah,

(16:59):
so the slick No, no, no, that's that's Frisco disco.
But Daylight so sampled this on something.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
Dad ain't damn So in your mind, what was it
about it? Because in your mind, wasn't that disco. Wasn't
disco off limits?

Speaker 5 (17:18):
Or no?

Speaker 1 (17:18):
No, no?

Speaker 5 (17:19):
A lot of breaks with disco, you know that super
sperm with disco, Frisco disco, the Mexican is just begun.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
What so whatever kept people dancing long?

Speaker 8 (17:30):
That was good enough for you?

Speaker 5 (17:31):
I mean you know, yeah, as long as the break
was there, all I need is you Tonight by Arthur
Price sock Yo. A lot of disco joints. Serone was
a disco record. Rocket in the pocket. It's a disco
record if ah.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
Okay, wait a minute, all right, So would you spend
it on thirty three or forty five?

Speaker 5 (17:50):
Well, I mean forty five if you want to rhyme
into it. But on thirty three it speeds up right, Okay,
it's a disco record. Sarna is a disco artist. I
didn't know that rocket int sped up. I'm okay.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
So I'm one of those people least with the basic breaks,
especially with the stuff that's more disco fied, Like I mean,
there's two ways to listen to it, and I'm yeah,
like the first maybe twenty years of my life, I'm
very guilty of needle dropping. Yeah, oh there's a drumming
and then right, but then you know those that are
really into it, they study the song to figure it.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
So, like, what is your process of how much patience
do you have?

Speaker 3 (18:26):
So when you go and you bend shop and you
get coming with four hundred joints or whatever, right, then.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Is it like wine? Do you just let it sit
there until you get to it?

Speaker 5 (18:39):
Or it all depends on how how much patient do
you have to Like, no, they're not gonna sit there
too long, But in.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
Your mind, is there always a part that's usable and
you figure out? Because maybe with Dyla. So Dylan told
me he Dyla never made a beat on a Sunday, okay,
And he would house clean and do chores or whatever
and just have records on and he said, you do
about three or four hours or whatever. You know, sometimes

(19:10):
he will record some shit and just listen to drive around.
So yeah, like, are you one of those people that, like,
you'll listen to something over and over again until it
hits you or you.

Speaker 8 (19:21):
Just nah, I just go through it when I'm near.
But when i'm near, I'm focused.

Speaker 4 (19:30):
How did you make the transition from you know, DJ
in to then making tracks producing wells?

Speaker 5 (19:37):
Most producers started off as DJs, But to answer a question,
I would say, like around nineteen ninety when me and
Premier did law on this first album, The Funky Technician.
Well before that, it was a Master Rob I'm not
playing well. Well, I didn't produce that, but I bought
the record. Ah, Okay, I didn't know how to program.

(19:57):
Jazzy J programmed it that say you're Jay loop this
part up the clean back for the hook.

Speaker 8 (20:04):
Put these guitars in the chorus. Yeah, I didn't know
how to work it.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
So I got to ask you this question, of course,
and you know what I'm about to ask you, Okay,
So for me, you know, and outside of New York,
you know, I grew up in a three thousand record household,
of which you know, truthfully maybe only ten maybe fifteen

(20:28):
percent appealed to me, and the rest was just my
dad's boring stuff, like I'm not listening to Arthur price
Out and the Beatles and all this other stuff.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
But of course, you know, once.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
I hear Nation of Millions and suddenly like I'm like, oh,
that's that stuff, that's that stuff. That's now It's like
I got to go through all them records and then
I discovered like, oh god, this is how they make
hip hop. So here's the deal. So I became a
Bomb Squad junkie. Okay, me too, And I mean for me,

(21:01):
there's nine seminole even though they've done more, but to me,
they've done nine important documents as far as like they're
they're cannon and really like sampling laws kind of killed
them off, and you know, there's other inner issues in
the group, but for real, it's like for me, it
was always you know, Barton Rush Nation, Black Planet. I
do count because they did a majority of it poison

(21:24):
by BBD correct. Even the non Bomb Squad sounds songs
sounded like them. Of course, America's most wanted And for me, yeah,
and I now consider you know, Terminator's first joint but yeah.
But the last two records in their in their Cannon

(21:44):
that I consider part of that document, of course, was
Young Black Teenagers and Son of Berserk.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
Now, when I heard Are You with Me?

Speaker 3 (21:54):
I thought that was like just one of the most
craziest things I ever heard in my life, but didn't
realize that they just put the need on my record,
right you can you can sample. It's so meta, like
they sampled a sample of you.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
I don't understand that. So when you heard it, what,
I flipped the funk out, But you know, it isn't
an honor like, oh my god. It was mixed feelings, honestly.
But I turned to Jazzy Jay and I said, Yo,
these dudes just basically just rhymmed over the instrumental, so
you know, but listen, Strong City was distributed by UNI, right,

(22:33):
Son of Berserk was sounding UNI. Yeah, but still that's
the that's the master how the publishing get worked out.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Let me all right, so let me play the ten
seconds I could play.

Speaker 8 (22:47):
That's my fucking record.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
Meanwhile, I'm dreaming, like, damn, I wonder what part Eric
Sadd did, like, because I see the bomb squad just
as on some synaesthesia like the way that the guitar
stems are. And then I heard what you did and
I was like, ah, damn, they just took diamonds join
and looft it. So what happened when you heard that?

Speaker 8 (23:11):
I went to jazz J.

Speaker 5 (23:12):
I pointed it out to him because you know, he
had a vested interest in it, and it never went
further than that. I don't know what happened. I don't
know what happened with that. I don't even know if
you know, if we were credited on the publishing side.
I just never looked back.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
Wow, what was at that time? I've read, Uh, you
did an interview, this was years ago. You talked a
little bit about Wild Pitch and Stu Fine at the time.
What was he like as a businessman? How was how
did the Wild Pitch business structure work?

Speaker 8 (23:43):
Well, you know Stu Fann, I'm gonna give Stewart's props.

Speaker 5 (23:46):
You know, he signed Gang Star, he signed Lord Finess,
he signed Laard Professor and Maine source Chill rob G.
You know Stu Fahn and his wife Amy Finn, they
had a good ear. They had a they had that they.

Speaker 8 (24:00):
Had a good ear for good hip hop.

Speaker 5 (24:04):
Student never really did anything personally towards me, but being
around my man Lord for Neesse and listening to his grumblings.
You know, if your man grumbling about, you want to
grumble too, you know what I mean. So you know, yeah,
I took that shot. I made that one line at him.
He didn't really do anything to me, but oh, just

(24:25):
listening to Lord for Neess grumble all the time, yo,
like that, you know, man but shouts out to stup.

Speaker 8 (24:34):
Fine, you know he actually.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
I'm checking.

Speaker 8 (24:38):
He threw me a pass later on in life on
his l L track that I that I that I did.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
Anyway, he's still alive. I believe he is.

Speaker 8 (24:48):
I'm not sure.

Speaker 5 (24:49):
I'm not sure, but well, I Pitch has a legacy
straight up. You know, I'm believing I'm leaving off some
artists too.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
But yeah forty five k well, no, no, no, I
mean he he did Gangstars, Bust the Muster move boy.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
You know what Stu gave me two men back when
Search was working at Wild Pitch. Yeah, Search was like briefly,
I guess he signed OC to Wild Pitch.

Speaker 8 (25:17):
Correct, correct, I left OC, that's right.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (25:20):
And were a great artists, a lot of great artists.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
We were shooting Solid Treatment on my birthday and Search
hit me off with two mint copies of Buster move Boy.
But I let them ships on a radiator, so it's work.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Wow, shut up, Steve. You gotta take care of your records, damn.

Speaker 8 (25:41):
So it's interesting, is Permi It wasn't producing yet.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah, the pre the pre premiere. Thanks, but I was the.

Speaker 8 (25:51):
Forty five King fan, so you know he's one of
my mentors.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Mentors too, that's my joint.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
Okay, before I get you know, I became aware of
you even though I knew of you and didn't know
of you because cassettes they really weren't putting on credits
and all those things. And you know, I primarily brought
my joints on cassettes.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
But those on the radiators, yes I did. H But
can you.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Tell me about the environment of like the record conventions
and you know, friendly competition.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
Okay, just take me when you just hypothetically walked me through.

Speaker 7 (26:39):
Y'all were talking about like vinyl conventions.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
So they were set up record conventions and like hotels
like Hotel Pennsylvania and the Roosevelt also, So okay, so
you find out a record convention is coming, what time
do you want to get there? And who's waiting in
line already before you get there?

Speaker 8 (26:58):
I mean you're liable to see anybody.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
You know.

Speaker 5 (27:02):
We there seven am, kid Capri Buck Wildlord fess uh
with Sean Smith.

Speaker 8 (27:08):
Gerrol b Q two. You know Diler was there a
few times, Pete Rock your man, Prince B.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
I heard, yeah, I heard Prince Bold get there early
and yeah, you know, Prince B.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
You know why he was winning because he didn't he
didn't he didn't negotiate, he didn't haggle. We all negotiating
with dealers. Prince B oh eight hundred all right, you know,
so they loved him. One of my stuff aside, they
loved him. Everybody else was like yo, yo eight how
about seven? You know we all in there trying to

(27:45):
cut deals.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
But Prince B. I give him as props with money.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
He was good, right, Okay, So it's it's it's it's
friendly competition, but still the wild West, and you guys
are paying for gold.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
And your mind? Do you already know the dealer you
want to go to? Like, how do you without the
aid of.

Speaker 5 (28:07):
Yeah, well, how do you after going a few times?
You pretty much know what dealers you really want to
really want to rock with my man John eighty eight keys.
He used to be up under John all the time.
I forgot my man. What was my man's name, Bleaker Street,
Bob black Dude, I remember him. I remember my man

(28:30):
Bob from Boston, Me and kicking pre We like Bob
from Boston. Bob had he had the officials. I don't
know where he was getting these joints from, you know,
But a lot of good memories. I remember when the
Power of Zeus was out, okay, and everybody was on
the proud for that. But I remember one year when
it first came to our attention. It might have been

(28:54):
like twenty copies did and you know, we all, you know,
everybody that was in the know, we all got one.

Speaker 8 (29:00):
But those are good memories, I know, I remember them days.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
Whatever I was gonna say without you know, like I'll
say the generation after you, which I guess that's where
I come to play whatever. But you know, we were
always going on these wild goose chases because of the
whole biz.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Uh to say it, but you know, searching for these bellis.
But what was a real record that was just like
you heard about?

Speaker 3 (29:35):
And I'm you know, I don't mean like the fake
Bellis Mandi Gras shit, but like, what was a real
like record that y'all were like you heard about or
that sort of thing that you just had to get.

Speaker 5 (29:47):
Ivy from digger to digger. But for me, it was
The whipp Jenny, the album by Dave Matthews. Okay, Dave
Matthews was.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
Not Dave Matthews band but James Brown former James Brown
former musical Yeah, he.

Speaker 5 (30:08):
Was also attached to the d Police trio in some way,
shape or form, but he put out an album on
People Records. It's the only psychedelic funk album that was
on People People Records, So that was like always on
my list.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Besides the show is Funky down Here record?

Speaker 5 (30:27):
Yeah yeah, okay, but that was James Brown, but this
was like an offshoot that is great, which made it
even more rare.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
See that's that's another one, my my all right, So
Christian McBride jazz got basis. His uncle was also James
Brown freaking worked at a jazz station and we were
in high school together, so we always had Chris had
Whipper Jenny and had shows Funky down.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Here other rare albums we put them, George Rms like,
this is hard. And that's the thing.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
We were never in the mind space of something's on
here that we can loop and make it work. And
only when I became older, I was like, ah, so
many drawings on here.

Speaker 6 (31:10):
But yo, can I ask a really maybe dumb, fundamental
crate digging question questions?

Speaker 1 (31:17):
Okay?

Speaker 6 (31:18):
Because I always I couldn't never understood how you set
the price point and how you know?

Speaker 7 (31:22):
I mean, I know rare issues are rare issues, but
how you know that this record is worth this?

Speaker 1 (31:28):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (31:29):
How do you know?

Speaker 7 (31:29):
And especially when you just starting out, how do you?
And then there's a learning process.

Speaker 5 (31:35):
It comes with years of digging. You know, you just
you know, the albums you see often compared the ones
you don't.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
Okay, But it's also he's okay, so there's.

Speaker 3 (31:47):
Maybe I should explain it at the top of the
show that what makes diming unique is so the first
generation of sampling. Of course, you know you got to
this is why I alway shout out Break Be Lou.
Break Be Lou basically took the fundamentals, like the easy stuff,
funky drummer and piece to president, like beats that you've

(32:08):
always heard all your you know life on those early records,
like up until the Marley maul Rick Ruben period, so
like up from up until eighty six eighty seven. So
I'll say, like the what we call the classic period
of hip hop between eighty seven kind of ninety.

Speaker 8 (32:24):
Yeah, the ball squad e right.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
What break Blow would do is basically just make these
compilation records, put seven songs on each record, and then
you buy that record and then you sample it. Made
it easy for dweeps like me, so I didn't have
to go spend hours in a good will because I could.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Just cheat and get the Wikipedia version of these joints.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
So then you know, Diamond's part of what I call
the first wave of Renaissance beat makers, in which it's
almost equivalent to So basically there's a collective of producers
that are like, yo, we ain't gonna do the Captain
Obvice Ship and sample James Brown and Funky Drummer. We're gonna,
we're gonna, we're gonna do the hard Ship and go

(33:08):
in our parents' record collection and get this old you know,
Gaunt McDermott record. And so they made art out of
we were taking the chitlings like the part of the carcass.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
That you know.

Speaker 6 (33:23):
So y'all also made those prices go up too as
the years went by, correct, But.

Speaker 7 (33:27):
That's right, you know.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
But the thing is is that I want to know now,
once y'all for me, once they use some ship, Now
I'm the next generation after him. So when I got
the sound library like life, like, yeah, MANI Alexander's love
and have happiness. That's a great example. So after the

(33:51):
beat Nuts used that, suddenly that Manti Alexander records seventy
five bucks.

Speaker 5 (33:57):
And even before that, when tip you on Gangster Bitch, yeah, yeah,
it was on the radar.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
So for those who know what but what she she
set me up for a good value though, So what
I'm asking is, we're records super expensive if it hadn't been.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Utilized used yet.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
All right, So say like there's a time before let's
say in eighty nine Eugene McDaniels, where no one has
sampled that record yet before tribe. Are you still paying
one hundred and fifty dollars for it? Because after Tribe
used it? I mean this is one hundred and fifty.

Speaker 5 (34:28):
Bucks to a jazz collector. Yes, if I'm a jazz collector.
I'm not concerned what hip hop is doing. It's a
it's still a good body of work. It's Vinyl Eugene McDaniel's.
He only made a hand for of album, so you
know it would still be worth money. It all depends
on the individual.

Speaker 7 (34:49):
Okay, what's the most you spent on a record and
what to use for?

Speaker 4 (34:53):
What do you use it for?

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Giving your top five most expensive joints, man, I don't
even know Quest Whip Virginie that was one of them, Okay,
because I.

Speaker 8 (35:02):
Was looking, I was looking for that.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (35:07):
I just have no clue what the most expensive. I'm like,
how far can't it go? Can be a fifteen thousand dollars?

Speaker 5 (35:13):
I mean, look on discogs. Yeah, you know, I think
have to be a break beat. It could just be
something that's a collective's item.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Yeah, I'll say, well definitely. You know, like quality records
are like seventy five.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
I'm trying. Maybe there was one.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
There's one ridiculous, Like normally if it's mint condition, then
it's whatever. Like someone tried to get me, you know,
like maybe two hundred four back before they reissued The
Sweet Charles.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Okay, and you're one of the first ones, right, you
have the first one? That was the break ever talking
to you about that? No, not yet, oh man, like
for him to shut the fuck up.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
Interlew was his favorite joint on stunts, blunts, stunting blunts, so.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
Him making.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
Drop down and get your ego on the follow up
to Hot in Here Nelly's joint, like he was like,
that was me trying to do my diamond.

Speaker 8 (36:17):
That was like his his always showed me love. But
he never told me that story yet.

Speaker 4 (36:22):
How did you get signed? Get your deal as an EMC,
you know, to make your first record?

Speaker 5 (36:26):
I was actually doing a demo deal for an artists
they wanted to sign. The artist name was Joe Control.
So yeah, I was just just making the Beast for him,
like a two demo deal and now ROMed on one
of them. So what were you making your tracks on
at that time? What were you making your tracks on
at that time? I had a CAI nine hundred just

(36:51):
a sample. Everyone has a yeah, and had an HR
sixteen eleases wow, okay, but the least is it had
sixteen pads on it, eight eight, So I had sixteen
triggers on the sample.

Speaker 1 (37:04):
It's on the sampler. How many seconds? Oh plenty?

Speaker 5 (37:09):
No, I you know I did my album on that.
I may flow Joe on that, I'm the score, punks
jump up to get beat down. Anything between ninety two
to ninety six. I was still using that.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
Wait a minute, you got to answer this question now,
I know, like, well, first I want to know it's
it safe to say that you were Jazzy Jay's apprentice,
like his protege, no doubt, your first generation Zulu that said,
please tell me what is the drum machine that he
used on suicide.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
For busy Bee? That was the SP twelve. No, that's
not a stock, Joe, you're trying to tell me that's
a stock.

Speaker 8 (37:47):
The SP twelve.

Speaker 5 (37:49):
Oh that'st be twelve, not the twelve hundred. The twelve
with the the floppy. This looked like a like a
seven inch dog. I sat there and I watched Jay
take Funky Drummer one two three four link link.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
K.

Speaker 8 (38:09):
I lost my mind, Yo, lost my mom and I
just gave it away.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
But we know that's basic, right. So your first deal,
how you signed, how you were doing the demo deal
for Okay for stunts, blunts or Strong City. Well, yeah,
I guess to start with Strong City. For Strong City,
the m C in the group, his name is Rob.

Speaker 5 (38:34):
Rob came to my house and said, yo, I've seen
Jazzy Jay and the Projects. I said, nah, you're lying.
He said, nah, right over there now, so I go downstairs.
Sure enough, Jay had on the first generation Death Jam jackets,
the Satin Joints all purple, and we met him. You know,

(38:57):
this is this is around the time when this is
but after Jazzy j had a song called cold Chilling.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
In the spot right, cold rock stuff. Yes, yes, that's
the rush. Yeah, he just talked right, that's so, you know,
he helped. He helped.

Speaker 5 (39:17):
He actually helped put death Jam on the map along
with It's yours. And I believe he didn't need to.
I believe he did. Yeah, I need to beat you know.
But anyway, we go over there, we meet him to
come to find out he's friends. He's friends with a
female and the Projects, and he gave us his number
and we we went to see him a few weeks

(39:40):
later and just developed a relationship and then he eventually
signed us. Okay, yeah, but that's how it happened. You know,
my man saw him in the jets. That was around
what year, Oh, that was like eighty eight. Okay, that's
eighty eighty eight definitely.

Speaker 4 (39:54):
And then from there, how did from that situation, how
did you make it to you know, Mercury the being
you know?

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Okay, so.

Speaker 5 (40:03):
After the Ultimore Force came out, didn't really blow up,
but you know, we made some noise regionally.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
Man, they used to play that record in North Carolina.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
Yeah, like they bro it was a show they used
to have on no kind of anti It was the
Black college in Greensboro where I grew up, called the
full Moon Block Party, and they would play I'm Not
Playing And I didn't find out that was, you know
you till like years later.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
I was like, what the fuck?

Speaker 5 (40:28):
But I used to love that record, man, I was
like nine, and yeah, you know, that's the first records
to in corporate the blues, you know what I mean?

Speaker 8 (40:35):
And I used to cut doubles of that the beginning.

Speaker 5 (40:39):
I'll be king. I finally going through my grandfather's records.
He had one just like maybe like eighty four, right,
so my first year of high school. But I'm at
this point, I'm still I'm looking. I'm actively looking for beats.
And I said, oh shit, this is nice, and then
maybe a year later with another one.

Speaker 8 (41:00):
But I used to cut it.

Speaker 5 (41:02):
So when we got through with Jack J, I said, Yo,
we're gonna we're gonna flip this right here, because you know,
nobody really fucking with the blue and you know it's
it's a it's a funky beat. But that's how I
got signed this Strong City, how I got signed to
for the stunts blunts I was doing. I was doing
a demo for somebody iron doing it mm hmm. So

(41:24):
about a month later they call us down there. So
I'm like, okay, I'm about to get a check with
these motherfucking beats. So I go down there like all right, yeah,
what's up. You know, they like, Yo, we want to
sign you. I was like me, that's what's up? All right,
you know, let's do it. I wasn't even really looking
for the deal, but who was a.

Speaker 8 (41:46):
Yeah he was.

Speaker 5 (41:47):
He was a big shot over at Priority. He signed
special at all those groups over there.

Speaker 8 (41:55):
Brian Chen.

Speaker 5 (41:58):
I thought it was a little harsh to the m
seed that I was doing the demo for, but I
think they might have just broken up with some money
or something. But yeah, I actually deal just kind of
fell in my lap. But Brian's he liked the music
and he liked what I was rhyming, you know what
I was rhyming.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
So and you really didn't have any intentions of ry
like being an m C.

Speaker 8 (42:18):
No, it was just something I did.

Speaker 5 (42:19):
But around this time, I'm around Lord Finess almost every day.
I'm around Grand Poopa Maxwell because he was signed a
Strong City also in the group, calling masses of ceremonies.

Speaker 8 (42:31):
So that's right, Sexy cracked out. So I'm around these.

Speaker 5 (42:39):
Dudes, and you know, it's just rubbing off on me,
even though my thing is DJing and still making beats.
But I knew how to rhyme. And one of the
first demos I recorded was Best Kept Secret. And then
when they heard that, they said, okay, we're gonna do an.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Album on you. How long did it take for you
to make that record? How on stuff? Blunts? Y? Yeah? Uh?

Speaker 8 (43:04):
About eight months? Yeah, about eight months?

Speaker 4 (43:07):
And at that time were they with samples and stuff?
Was it was it just you know, wild wild West shit,
just whatever? Or how did y'all handle it?

Speaker 8 (43:16):
It's just a collection of records that.

Speaker 4 (43:18):
In terms of clearances, like clearance samples, was they.

Speaker 8 (43:20):
Well I didn't care about that.

Speaker 5 (43:21):
That was a label's job, you know at that you know,
back then you just turn turn it in, give them
the names, you know, the names you want to give
them that far.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
But what I want to know is were you conscious
at least.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
To avoid ultimate beats and breaks or definitely because what
the party didn't get out was, you know again, like
the reason why you're part of the Way and the
renaissance guys is you know there's Premiere, yourself, Frish Professor.

Speaker 8 (43:57):
That's after stuffs blunts, Ali and Tip after stuff blunts.

Speaker 6 (44:01):
Right.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
But I just meant when we're talking about the what
I consider the people that went outside the circle, what
I call the Ivy League circle of sampling, where you
guys are now acquiring records that aren't easily available.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
That's what stands you guys apart.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
But back then, was it just a general rule like no,
no more ultimate beats and breaks, no easy James Brown shit,
like I gotta find some shit that no one has
and make some shit out that.

Speaker 5 (44:30):
I don't know if it was general, but amongst that
core group of diggers, we had already progressed. And you know,
me living in the Bronx a lot, Like you said,
a lot of the beats that Lou was putting on
them records we already knew about, right, you know what
I mean? So well, fuck what you heard I said.
People will always say, hey, like the way you make beats,

(44:53):
he doesn't use beats.

Speaker 8 (44:55):
That wasn't a jab at loud. That was just me
being honest.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
Yeah, I guess know, but but it pushed, it pushed
the envelope further. Correct, So in your mind, who of.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
The initial.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
Renaissance crew and I'm talking Pete, I'm talking Premiere, Chipping
Ali large professor, Like, who did you consider.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
Like real nice with theirs? Like I got it? Well,
Like did anyone ever flipped the question? Well?

Speaker 5 (45:39):
I got to start with Prince Paul for his work
on Daylight Sol's first album, which really showed me because
at that point it was a lot of James Brown
as you know Quest, but that Dayly album in eighty nine,
it opened, it opened the doors for me. Like, you know,
there's so much other stuff out here that I knew
about but really wasn't on my radar.

Speaker 8 (46:01):
So I got to shout out Prince Paul.

Speaker 5 (46:04):
Of course, Trip Court Quest their first albums, Jungle brothers.
All these albums influenced me out of the members you
just named, obviously Pete Rock's first album, you.

Speaker 8 (46:18):
Know what I mean, and the work that me and
showbiz was doing. So you know, you just take all
of that in and.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
Then has there ever been a moment where and again,
like you know, I'm listening to it like I don't
have a deal yet, so anything you guys are doing
are like, oh, man, this man from Heaven. But I
know that there comes a time where like a man,
I had that record, I should have used it first

(46:46):
or whatever, Like has there ever been that moment of.

Speaker 5 (46:49):
Like, ah, they got to it before I did, or Yes,
it's been times like that. I know, record I've used
joints that people ran behind me and used.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
It was bigger than when I did it New York
ship Buster.

Speaker 8 (47:05):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, that's one example.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Yeah, that's one example. But I consider that an on
man's joint, Like if years.

Speaker 8 (47:12):
He told me that's what it was, I was definitely that.

Speaker 4 (47:15):
Yeah, just the two of us chub Rock.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (47:18):
DJ Scratch said when he when he did that, he
had never heard I went from mine before what.

Speaker 5 (47:25):
He said, he was on the road. D Jane from
the Hit Squad in ninety two and Stunts. Blunt wasn't
on his radar. I couldn't call I couldn't call dude
a liar, you know, trumb trub Rock. He used the
Albi King joint after me. That's effects. They want effects.
I used that for law for Neess first. Ah wow,

(47:48):
I mean I can go on and on.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Yeah, I forgot about that one. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
I think in general, a lot of a lot of
people when they create, Like I think there are people
that are creators and then people are listeners, right Like
I'm a listener, so I'll absorb it. But yeah, oftentimes
I'll meet creators that aren't hipto. But that's in all
parts of music, you know, Yes, you know. I would

(48:13):
ask the revolution, like was Prince sitting around like damn,
I gotta beat Thriller and like that sort of thing,
like was he? And I think Lisa told me, like
Prince listening to Thriller like for the first time, it's completion,
like I think when they were on when the last tour,
like the Parade Tour in eighty six, but for the

(48:35):
most part they had to put him on this shit.

Speaker 4 (48:39):
My joint off the record my favorite joint off Stars
Blunts was Check one two.

Speaker 8 (48:44):
That was like, yeah, that's my favorite joint too, really yeah,
just the feel of it.

Speaker 4 (48:48):
Yeah, And like I always the thing I always liked
about you because you know, I think with producers, I
think there's something about producers that rhyme that y'all have
an understanding of just really using y'all voices as an
instrument and like complimenting a beat rather than just I'm
gonna bar you the fuck up, you know what I mean,
Like you Pete Deyler resting peace, like you know, y'all

(49:09):
all had to think. And so I wanted to ask
you about one of my favorite verses of yours, like
whatn't on your album the way you started off Runaway
Slave Bill Digger going Back on the Block with my
Name and Quinn right right. What do you remember about
that session or if it in the making of that album,
because that's like in terms of y'all's crew, like.

Speaker 8 (49:28):
That album, those were good times. Yeah, we were all
in the studio together.

Speaker 5 (49:33):
I wrote it on the spot, you know, and Quincy
had that album out Back on the Block, you know,
so it was a cultural reference, you know, a pop
cultural reference. Yeah, I mean, shit, it's crazy. Those a
lot of good memories. You know, back when we all
we were.

Speaker 8 (49:51):
Just all forming. We already we already we had already
known each other for years. We all grew up with
each other.

Speaker 5 (49:56):
But around that time we were was like, yo, you know,
we can all come to ever try to form, you know,
and make a statement, you know, and then I would
definitely say d I t C definitely pushed the culture
forward as far as you know, trying to dig for
music that wasn't touched already. Well, just trying to stand apart.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
I'll say, the first time I was really aware of
your existence, like for real, of course is in a
lot of us. It was a show business on the
low in theory? Correct, How did that come?

Speaker 1 (50:35):
How did that? That's crazy?

Speaker 5 (50:36):
You know I went there to play beats for Tip
had chopped just to play. Yeah, I went, you know,
I went there. I chopped up to Jimi Hendrix joining.
He was really feeling it and he knew I had
a deal and Poolba Pooba was on the track originally
and the label felt he says some things he shouldn't

(50:58):
have said, and Tips say your Pool, you know, I
really want you on here, but the label wants you
to you know, change first up, okay, and you know
Pool by ninety one ninety two, Pool Boy was like.

Speaker 8 (51:11):
I ain't changing shit.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
Couldn't tell them anything, right, you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (51:15):
Now, the gods it's a Doctor X and Jamal, they like, shit,
we want to be on this fucking record.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
You know, we love trip.

Speaker 8 (51:23):
So while I'm near tips like yo, you want to
be on the joint, I'm like, hell, yeah, you know
what I mean?

Speaker 1 (51:28):
And I wrote it on the spot.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
That's a that's a notable. I mean, even though it's
not a debut, right, but for a lot of us,
we feel like that was.

Speaker 8 (51:37):
Like conceded my album. So it was like an alley open.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
It was a great set up. It was a great sep.
You know what, kids, Uncle, it's time for the return of.

Speaker 5 (51:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
Oh yes, you thought I was gonna have Dyan. You
thought we was gonna have him on the show and
and not do a round a bit.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
You guessed it.

Speaker 7 (52:00):
It's been a minute, all right.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
So I do this to every beat maker that I respect,
in which you know, again I'm adhering to the rule.

Speaker 5 (52:14):
I know.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
It's like I feel like there's like forty two warriors
in the already cleared with Jake. He knows what time
it is. We good, all right?

Speaker 3 (52:23):
So one, I'm gonna upgrade the game because Fante always
insists on playing even though I'm no. I'm gonna let
you win this too, because I've uped the game. This
is what happens when you're when you're on a in
quarantine and COVID, you think of new ways to do.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
So I'm the bit you can't guess it here? Is
that the idea all of you in all right. So
what I'm gonna do is, I'm going to play a
list of Captain Obvious songs of which I've isolated a
specific part to see if you can identify the sample.

(53:00):
I think.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
I think you're up for this. This one's very easy
and I'm allowed. I will allow to clues because you know, yeah,
I need it, all right? Sample number one? What is
this sample? And I've detuned it to throw you off.

(53:22):
Let me know when you need a clue.

Speaker 4 (53:30):
I don't even know what d tuning means. So oh
that's a uh, it's a it's I don't want to
I know, I don't want to say it. If you
know I know what it is. It's a it's a
say it it's uh.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
It's walking by?

Speaker 6 (53:46):
Right?

Speaker 4 (53:47):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (53:48):
What nice?

Speaker 1 (53:51):
Nice? Nice? Here we go de tuned number two.

Speaker 4 (53:55):
Oh, I got that.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
What it was used to say it? If you know
it's it.

Speaker 8 (54:04):
I'm not right.

Speaker 4 (54:05):
I'm not right.

Speaker 6 (54:05):
I was like, is a ball involved? No, okay, sounds
like boss. I don't know why I thought that song.

Speaker 8 (54:13):
I don't know what that is.

Speaker 4 (54:14):
Okay, let me love it.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
All okay, now press constructions the messenger used on n
w WA's I ain't doing all right that that was
a little advanced.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
I'm sorry. Number three, h.

Speaker 8 (54:35):
H nothing a piece.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
I don't know what that is.

Speaker 4 (54:47):
H Oh, that's a that's ah, it's scarface. Use it
for money in the power?

Speaker 1 (54:54):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (54:54):
I don't know the original break.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
Yeah, I love serename Barry Damn.

Speaker 6 (55:02):
Maybe I made this a little to it Manning.

Speaker 1 (55:05):
Yeah, yeah, you see.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
I gotta throw off the smell first, man. I want
to come out of the captain. I like, all right,
here we go. Number four?

Speaker 8 (55:15):
Is that?

Speaker 6 (55:26):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (55:28):
I hear the end of that's there?

Speaker 1 (55:29):
It's a good old time funk delic.

Speaker 8 (55:31):
Yeah, yeah, don't say nothing. That's the fucking delic.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
Yes, good old music, good old music music.

Speaker 5 (55:38):
Yes you're correct that magic Tones first, right by the
magic Tones.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
All right, Yes you're right, boy. I just found that
forty five. I was like both on westbound right, and
that's even better. Yes, that is even better. And I
gotta talk to you about your forty five game.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
All right? This is number five that James Brown.

Speaker 4 (56:10):
No, oh, that's a Bill Withers. Uh oh no, it's
a Harlem.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
Close yeah, use me, I don't all right, let me
not de tune it to throw you out.

Speaker 7 (56:43):
Could everybody get a fair chance sometimes, you know, I.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Mean you know, of course, I just.

Speaker 4 (56:51):
Two.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
I think you could do number six. I don't know
this one. That bongo's not Steve. You don't know this.

Speaker 4 (57:24):
Oh it's jazz. No, okay, it's not anything.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
I have no idea, said maybe Staples.

Speaker 5 (57:35):
Oh crazy Eddie Kendricks. The little snippets like yeah, that's
why he won't he won't play two seconds.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
Well, I'm only allowed to play two seconds, so that's
like a half of a second.

Speaker 8 (57:51):
I think.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
All right. See now I feel bad for this next
one because it's only the reverb, but all right, I
won't he tuned this one.

Speaker 7 (58:04):
See every song I hear is I think it's Brenda Russell.

Speaker 1 (58:10):
I mean no, no, no, no, that's what. H oh
that ain't no.

Speaker 4 (58:23):
I have no idea what this is. I know different.

Speaker 7 (58:27):
Really, I don't know that one good one, the first
one to do that.

Speaker 8 (58:35):
That's her records, her record.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
I know that. Shout out to Slim Robbie, right, that's right,
so the Kings.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
I would say that when Miles Davis is ex wife
Betty Davis, she signed the Island Records in seventy seven
to make a fourth record that was supposed to make
her a star of it because she's so headstrong and
producing right in her own joints. He dropped her, and
then Chris Chris Blackwell, and then you know she just

(59:06):
fade into obscurity.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
But basically.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
Slim Robbie had brought Grace to his attention and instead
he signed Grace Jones to Island Records and.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
Was supposed to Betty Davis's record.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
I mean not, I don't know for I mean, Chris
definitely had visions on what he wanted her to do,
but like part of her story was like I write
and I control. She got the Commodore as the record
like I didn't realize, like it was heard songs for
the commodoors that got them to deal with Motown. They
offer her a deal and she's like, do I own
my publisher and they're like, nope. She wrote that Harlem

(59:40):
song that I used for the Chambers Brothers, and like
she wrote a whole bunch of songs. But then they'd
be like, yo, you want to deal and she's like,
if only I owe my music one So, because she
was so headstrong on a jawin, they just kind of
got black Paul, all right, these are my last two.

Speaker 1 (59:57):
And I won't detune it. Number games freaking me out. Yes,
there's two events. Let's go, let's let's see. Oh that's uh.

Speaker 3 (01:00:09):
Yeah, that's eug McDaniel's Freedom and Death Dance. All right,
this is one that all of you should know. And
I am de two ing because I feel like it's
Captain Obvious.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
Slid Stone close, but.

Speaker 4 (01:00:32):
No, I'm out.

Speaker 7 (01:00:39):
The airport.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
Oh is that one, two, three, four or five? Yeah? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
I could tell your eyes like you that you kind
of knew where it was. All right, I will go
home and retool my game.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Damnit.

Speaker 7 (01:00:59):
It was fun. Anybody won this outside of Fante, any
of our guests.

Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
Fante always beats them all, just I think just Blaze
was the closest and Pete Peeple was pretty good. One
was well, I was unfair to people. I was doing
like high hats with people before I peteknew him to
that was crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:01:18):
I was gonna ask you about your second album because
that was the one for me, Like, I mean that
was like my album. It was you know, I was
I think like sixteen that came out and by of
all your singles, man, the Hiatus bro like talk about
putting out that album at the time, this is ninety seven.

(01:01:38):
Well yeah, so this is like the head this is
like bad Boy, you know, like all the what radio was.
So how did you figure out kind of your lane
in the midst of all that.

Speaker 8 (01:01:50):
Well, the plan was to just you know, still still
do Diamond D, but.

Speaker 5 (01:01:56):
Just have you know, to have a little more radio
accessible joints comparing stunts blunting hip hop. So uh, I
did the joint with UH with Veronica Cream and Sunshine.
She was signing Mercury Records at the time. But yeah,
good memories the Hiatus. A lot of people thought that
I that I sampled Swahili.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
Land for that. Jean showed me that record was bro.
But it's not that.

Speaker 5 (01:02:22):
You know, hey, me and Dylan, we both we both
influenced each other. You know, Dyla went on Dyla has
going on record to say I was one of his influences.
You know, the same with Pete, the same with Premiere.
You know, we all influenced each other. But that was
not Swahili Land. You know, those who know where the
sample came from your no, but yeah, and you know

(01:02:48):
the album. What I learned was in the process of
recording that album was you know, we all we all
want to be signed directly to a major label. But
in hinds like I should have stayed with the label
that signed me, which was Chemistry. I should have stayed
with them because they would have cheerleaders. And when I

(01:03:09):
was on Mercury, I was just another artist. They were
excited about me, but they weren't as excited as the
people at Chemistry Records were Chemistry, they were your translators
for Mercury. Well, I was signed in Chemistry first. You know,
Brian Chen was over there, so he was the one
fighting for me. Once I with the Mercury, you know
Hansen is over there, will.

Speaker 4 (01:03:38):
I think they had I think only they had. It
was scratched over.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
There at that time there, you know what I mean,
there were really uh we remember I told you that
we got the contract that Mercury, So yeah, Brian and
we signed.

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
We even went to the Jingle Jangle. We went to
the Legal Jangle video shoot that Friday. They took us
out to dinner and we're like, yo, we're gonna be
down with Black Sheep and everything. And this is the
first time I'm hear in jingle Jangle and that the
way the piano.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
Just dropped down. Shit. We was like, yo, we made it,
We made it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
And we get the We get the contract. And because
they misspelled meaning to Rikan Malik's names, that clinical era, right,
but crucial era, because I guess when three or more
people in the party are misspelled, they have to give
you a new contract. Kenyata's assistant forgot to FedEx Us

(01:04:41):
Thursday to Friday the new contracts. So they were like,
all right, look, we'll sit it Saturday delivery, you'll get
it Monday.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
You'll be cool.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
And they gave Wendy Goldstein enough time to land a
plane and we Horse and Pony Show.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
We didn't think we was going to sign to this ship, so.

Speaker 3 (01:04:56):
We just asked for the world and she gave it
to us and we were like, okay, we're going to
get and literally that's what happened.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
I got that.

Speaker 8 (01:05:04):
That might have been a better move anyway, in hindsight,
I'm still here.

Speaker 4 (01:05:11):
I wanted to ask you two specific records to your
favorite records and your catalog for me, Pharaoh munch uh Shine.

Speaker 8 (01:05:21):
Ah right right right, people don't. People don't mention that record.

Speaker 5 (01:05:25):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:05:25):
They mentioned the Light more. Oh well yeah, I mean
you tall it light, but yeah, like Shine, that was
the one.

Speaker 1 (01:05:32):
Yeah. Yo.

Speaker 8 (01:05:33):
March was like, yo, you got got something for me?

Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
D I was like yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:05:36):
So you know, I sent them like two joints and
I was one of them. I didn't really make it
necessarily with him in mind, but I knew something like
that that's bouncy, the way the baseline bounces off the
keys and the xylophones, that he might like it, you know,
And that's that's one of my favorite joints that I
ever produced.

Speaker 4 (01:05:55):
Nah that Joe, I love that record, that one and
also as well, Oh my god, I lost it. What
the score, but uh, it's a recent it's magic Evan
hell Evan l.

Speaker 8 (01:06:09):
Right, it sounds like nat lists but it's not.

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
Yes, yeah, talk about that.

Speaker 4 (01:06:14):
Man?

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
Was that just you just send it to them?

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
Like how did that come come together?

Speaker 5 (01:06:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (01:06:18):
I just you know, I just sent them the joint and.

Speaker 5 (01:06:22):
You know the step Brothers that was Alchemists in Evidence
and they were like yeah, we we we want we
want to touch this one up. And once once they
laid the vocals, I added the uh you know the
oh man, what's the name of that group? It's magic

(01:06:43):
right right, right, Well, what's the name of that what's
the name of the group? That's feel feels? But I knew,
but that's when it came together. Dude, Yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:06:58):
We got to talk to score though, I mean, we
gotta like the score.

Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
I gotta kind of mention something.

Speaker 3 (01:07:05):
Even though there was like a little friendly there was
a little occasional friendly jabin between the two groups groups.
The roots of the fujis oh okay, But you know
it's weird because in this age, in this age of misinformation,
you know, you hear something and you think and you
act on things without verifying first, Like mad people getting

(01:07:28):
our ears like, yo, man, I heard the Fuji system,
but everybody was in our ears the day that the
Score came out. And at the very beginning, why Cliff says,
you rock it, lie, but you ain't saying nothing, and
yo that like if I could just go back and
tell twenty four year old Amir Tariq, like, dog, verify

(01:07:51):
some shit first before you bust a shot out. But
in our minds, like we were always we were already
hearing shit. I mean again personally, no, no, we toured together,
we were friends, but it was definitely like, oh, they're
going to blow up for real, for real. And when
we heard that, we're like, yo, you think that. We

(01:08:11):
had like conversations like, yo, are they talking about us?
You rocket live but you ain't saying nothing.

Speaker 1 (01:08:17):
Whatever.

Speaker 8 (01:08:18):
Oh that's from one of the earlier records.

Speaker 3 (01:08:21):
I know that, So shout out to Salam Remy for
putting me on the heat. But it was after the fact,
and so we might have made a song called.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
What they Do.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
So that's I never and ironically they is the twenty
sixth anniversary of Hiladelph Half life.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
Somebody to remind me, Yeah, yeah, dude, yeah, but talk
about what.

Speaker 3 (01:08:47):
When has have you ever played a beat for an
artist that they fronted on that you had to give
another artist that?

Speaker 4 (01:08:53):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:08:54):
Hell yeah, like who should have gotten what?

Speaker 5 (01:08:56):
I'm not going to name names, but no, no, no, no,
but it happens. You know, somebody passed on something to somebody.

Speaker 8 (01:09:03):
You know. It's just like it's just like women, right,
was one man's trash, next man's treasure?

Speaker 1 (01:09:10):
Right, you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (01:09:11):
Just like man?

Speaker 1 (01:09:12):
Yeah? Right yeah, yeah, definitely that too. That to downtown
damn dude. Yeah, before we wrap, I gotta talk dude
for me. Let's do it for me.

Speaker 5 (01:09:27):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:09:28):
First of all, can you on on streaming? I can't
find Grown Man Talk nowhere?

Speaker 8 (01:09:35):
Uh yeah, it's not on there.

Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
And that to me, you got to put it on there,
you must.

Speaker 8 (01:09:39):
Yeah, And I feel always like the fifty ways.

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
No time will heal you?

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
Like no, no, no, no, just the whole joint like
us right right right right, but hitting like just that
whole joint because it came to mixtape. Yeah, but it's
so unexpected and I wasn't expecting it, right And but
for you, why do you because even with the review,
like you're still after a while, like after album number five,

(01:10:05):
number six. Most cats might just phone it in and
be like, all right, you'll give me seven thousand for
a quickie record here whatever. But when I still hear
your stuff, it's like you still care, right, And but
for you, like what keeps you motivated?

Speaker 1 (01:10:20):
Like in your mind?

Speaker 3 (01:10:21):
Are you like, yo, I'm gonna fuck somebody up with
this in the way I play, like even the way
you did the joint with pass On review with the
Flying High.

Speaker 1 (01:10:28):
Commodore's joint right right.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
That killed me, man, because I didn't even think about
that shit, but like, how long have you had that
in your pocket Flying High?

Speaker 1 (01:10:37):
Yes?

Speaker 8 (01:10:39):
Oh wow, it's always been back here. I just never
really got to it.

Speaker 5 (01:10:43):
And then when I when I when I approached pause,
he said, yo, send me a joint. I say, you
know what, I'm gonna flip that. I'm gonna flip something
that I can hear daylight soul on. And that's definitely
I can hear daylight on. And you know, as soon
as he heard it, he sent me the verse back
maybe like forty eight hours later.

Speaker 3 (01:11:01):
Just like once a year, somebody will loop something that's
just like it's not a loop, it's just different parts.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
But just that, just like, why not think about this ship?
Oh man, I wouldn't.

Speaker 4 (01:11:14):
I gotta ask you Edog busted and alcoholics the next level?

Speaker 5 (01:11:20):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, bas talk about what I
forgot about that. But somebody brought that up to my
attention not too long ago, I guess because Edog's version
didn't really do what it's supposed to do. I changed
the drums up, right, I changed the drums up and
the licks picked it up from there.

Speaker 8 (01:11:42):
You know, I'm I'm gonna tell you something else that
that y'all might not know. There's a song. There's a
song bys called Petty People. You know that song? No,
it's on a Wild Cowboys album.

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
I got it.

Speaker 5 (01:11:55):
Pulls up real quick play quick second. I made two
beats on this day. That was one of them, and
the score was the other.

Speaker 1 (01:12:04):
Wow.

Speaker 8 (01:12:06):
Yes, I cut the same drums.

Speaker 4 (01:12:09):
And this is for the people in the Rule where
I went to school, like this.

Speaker 5 (01:12:17):
Right right?

Speaker 1 (01:12:20):
Oh yeah, that is it is wow. But also.

Speaker 3 (01:12:25):
Speaking of veto g Man the streets of the ghetto
jor man, Oh I was crazy. But this is this
is what I want to ask you, because that specifically,
how are you like, what is your micro chopping game
into because there will be some joints.

Speaker 1 (01:12:45):
That will fluctuate, uh speed wise.

Speaker 3 (01:12:49):
As far as looping, I happen to know that the
source of that sample is one of them things where
I can't loop it perfectly. And my chopping game wasn't
good enough for it. You know, it wasn't like we
had able to to just stretch it on or whatever.
But like, how aggressive are you to force something to work?

(01:13:11):
Because that's definitely one of them joints because it wasn't
the looping part. This is the fact when you got
to add drums and everything on top of it, then
you realize, oh, my ship might be off whatever. And
that's that particular loop on streets of the ghetto. That
and I'll play a little bit right right even there,

(01:13:34):
I hear a little gap in there where. But for you, like,
how determined are you to make some shit work? Like
as far as your chopping game, And.

Speaker 5 (01:13:47):
I mean, if I can loop, if I can loop it, well,
if I can create a loop, I'll be able to
put the drums under it.

Speaker 8 (01:13:53):
You know, that's the easy part.

Speaker 3 (01:13:57):
It sounds easy to just the regular the ear, but
knowing the frustration of there's some records in which you
might find that magic four bar loop and then they
might fluctuate or whatever, and unless you're good at micro chopping,
you might be asked that that that.

Speaker 5 (01:14:15):
Loop right there, that was just a two bar loop,
and the drummer was pretty on point for that. But
they are awesome, the awesome joints were the drums a
little off and you have to really like go in between.

Speaker 1 (01:14:28):
Right, you know, and do what you do.

Speaker 3 (01:14:30):
I feel, Yeah, you came to Atlanta, you know, and
there's a slew of New Yorkers that have migrated down south,
a lot of them in North Carolina and whatnot?

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
What is it like? What is it about this city
that attracted you to come here?

Speaker 8 (01:14:47):
And do you find I didn't come in for the music.

Speaker 5 (01:14:52):
I came here because, you know, I looked at what
three hundred thousand would get you in New York, and
I looked at with three hundred thousand would get you
down here.

Speaker 8 (01:15:04):
I didn't come down.

Speaker 7 (01:15:04):
Here everybody's first motivation for I didn't.

Speaker 5 (01:15:06):
Come down here for the music. I was already coming
down here doing a lot of work with Dallas, Austin Joy,
Shades of Lingo, Illegal Me and Eric Sermon so I
know I was already down here, but the house did
crumb snatches, right, crumb snatches I had. I had a
nice house and not far from Livingston, New Jersey, nice spot.

Speaker 8 (01:15:31):
I sould at.

Speaker 6 (01:15:35):
No.

Speaker 8 (01:15:35):
And just just what she was, what you were able
to get for your money back then, is what really
led me to come down here.

Speaker 1 (01:15:43):
How long have you been down here? Since two thousand
and nine? She's been down here for a minute.

Speaker 3 (01:15:48):
Yeah, you're from the So do you feel like a
stranger in a strange land based on what you do
for a living man?

Speaker 1 (01:15:55):
Well? You know what? All right?

Speaker 8 (01:15:56):
They don't you know, boom back does not thrive down here.

Speaker 3 (01:15:59):
There is a boom but yeah, I was gonna say,
is there So when you do your forty five sets
and all that stuff, I don't really.

Speaker 8 (01:16:06):
I don't only do them here. I travel and do them.

Speaker 6 (01:16:09):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:16:10):
I have done forty five sets here obviously, But just
as far as being an artist, you know, you know,
I'm still basically, you know, a boom back artist for
lack of better words. So you know, if you're a
boom back artist, you know you live on serious XM.
You gotta just be comfortable with that, you know, what

(01:16:30):
I mean. You know, it's just it's just real talk.
And it doesn't matter if you live in Atlanta on
any other southern city or West coast platform, right, it's
just the music that I do. Is it hard to
not get influenced by the culture. Like we've spoken to
DJ Drama, who was like, yo, I'm straight backpacked. Yeah
I want to move down here. It's like, okay, well
I got to adjust. Yeah, well, yeah, he did what

(01:16:52):
he had to do, and you see where he's at now.
Shouts out to Drama, but yeah, you know, hey, well
you know Drama when he came down there, he was
a DJ. I'm a producer, so it's a little different,
but definitely, you know, it rubs off, it rubs off
on you. You realize that mm hmm cod chary to

(01:17:16):
what people believe. There are people down here who are
who can't spit right, you know, whether you know it
is trap or drill or boom back whatever.

Speaker 8 (01:17:28):
You know, just you know, stereotypes are just that I feel.

Speaker 5 (01:17:32):
But you know, it's a good balance for me to
be down here because I know I'm up in New
York almost every month anyway, I know, for the past
ten years.

Speaker 3 (01:17:39):
Well, brother man, Yo, thank you. We we finally made
this joint happen. And you know, I'm just I'm happy
we finally got to come and give you flowers and
nerd out on on on your history and your catalog. Man,
I appreciate having me Diamond deladies and gentlemen. Of course
Love Supreme all right, so on behalf of Sugar Steve

(01:18:02):
like fon Tickeolo and unpaid Bill.

Speaker 1 (01:18:05):
This is Quest Love and the Immortal Diamond d. We'll
see you on the next go around on the Quest
Love Supreme. Peace. Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
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