August 30, 2023 • 48 mins
Part 2 of Kid Capri's Questlove Supreme interview follows the legend's move into mixtapes. Kid Capri explains how he used his voice to keep the Hip Hop DJ in the spotlight, and after working on Grammy and Pulitzer-winning albums, what motivates him after nearly 50 years behind the turntables.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Loft Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hi, good people, This is Sugar Steed from Team Supreme.
We are back with part two of our QLs interview
with Kid Capri. In part one, Kids spoke about growing
up just blocks away from here, a cool hurt through
his first party. He also recalled digging for records in
the seventies and eighties and the early inroads to his
legendary career. If you haven't check out that episode. All
month long, we're celebrating fifty years of hip hop at
(00:27):
Quest Left Supreme. In addition to Kid Capri, we have
conversations with Styles P and slum Village.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
What year was your first mixtape?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
The first? Well, keep it Bob being a star child,
Chief about a star child.
Speaker 5 (00:44):
Me and him start making tapes together when I started
playing the S and S with him, and then after
I left after that year a year year and a half,
I left. You know, I was doing my little parties
Studio fifty four and stuff like that, and I just
said what I'm gonna doing. I went outside.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
You played the Studio fifty four absolutely, Oh WHOA tell
me what that shit's like?
Speaker 6 (01:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Man, yeah, Red Alert What happened was Louis Vega. Larry
Levan was playing Fridays and Saturday, but they had this
Wednesday that Red Alert was doing. Red Alert was going
on the road with BDP. So he told the people
at Studio fifty four, I want KICKI Prix to be
to take my spot. It was like KICKI Pree, who's that?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
We don't know him?
Speaker 5 (01:25):
Like nah, He was like, yo, trust me, He's gonna
do what he do. When I got there, you know,
I told it into pandemonium. But I was going on
the regular and I was going on the club nights too.
I would go hang out just to be there. You
know what I'm saying that I couldn't believe I was
playing Studio fifty four and shit, but I went there
and did my thing. This was eighty seven, eighty eight,
eighty seven, eighty eight.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Eighty nine around that time. Okay, I brought biz there.
I bought I bought all these different groups to Studio
fifty four before. Man, it was dope. It was.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
It was crazy, and then it got so crazy that
the crowd it was just the crowds was too much.
They were messing up the fruit stands and I'm watching
the security open the door with people's heads and I
just say, you know what, it would just end this.
But now after that, I said what I'm gonna do?
And I said, you know what, I'm just gonna sell
my old mixtapes. And you know, so I went to
trailer Horn and I brought a hundred mixtapes. I copied
(02:19):
tapes that I had, and I made a new tape.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
And I was copying on.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
These six tape decks all night, standing up tired, sitting
in the hall. My equipment was in a horse so
you walk in the door. My equipment was right there
at a one bedroom apartment and I would sit there
and make these tapes. And the next day I would
go outside and sit there on the street corner and
people will say, you know, twenty hours to kick the
Pretell who are you? Why would I give you twenty
hours for a tape? I said, you listen to the
intro of it in your car and you'll come back
(02:44):
and buy it. Then I got gaviteed, they'll put it
in the car and listen to it, come back and
we get that, get that, get that, And next thing
you know, my my tapes is in every car passing
by in the cop cars, in the misty softy truck,
people coming off the golf wall, your tapes and cigarettes
is the biggest day. It became, and then my parties
became infectious. They seen how I performed. And I remember
(03:04):
I was doing LL's party one time after he did
the Guard and Russell Simmons walked up and was like, Yo,
what do you think about being on.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
A comedy show. It's like comedy show? What we're talking about?
I was like, it was Russell simmers shut up, go
do it, and we ended up doing it next to
you know, I'm a superstar.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
I didn't even see it. I didn't even I was
when we were doing the show. I wasn't even seeing
that far. I'm not seeing that this is going to be.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I'm thinking we're just doing something to have fun, you know,
DJ with comedy show. That's it.
Speaker 7 (03:32):
Studio fifty four in eighty seven. I didn't even know
Studio fifty four was still around eighty seven. What records
were going off back then in Studio fifty four? What
were you playing?
Speaker 5 (03:41):
I was playing Public Enemy, playing all the Cane records,
everything of that ever.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
Right, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Hip Mop was allowed.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Wow, that's what I'm saying. See it was Levann and
Louis Vega. It was all house. But Red Alert was
so respected that they gave him that Wednesday was going
on a tour.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
He needed somebody to cover. He knew, you know, and
that's when he got me in. When I came in,
they seen a whole new different ship. They seen the
line going around the building down the street like it
was every time I came out. It was just panemodium
and I had to leave it. I didn't want to leave.
I had to leave it because it got too dangerous.
(04:26):
So you know, I ended up, and you know, and
then for God, thank God, the day I said, I remember,
I got Bismarck got me.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
My first album deal, right, so I'm up.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
I'm up in the office and lady start like open
these four magazines and say and said Kickie Pree the
only DJ in the world to make millions of dollars
off a street mixtape. I was like, wow, So I
did it. I made that's you know what. I didn't
want no problems right right, let me just let me
(04:57):
just end it. And then I made the last due
o this tape and that was it. And then fortunately
in my career, you know, went Deaf comedy jam came
out and came, tours came, and I was on my way.
But the mixtape had I not sat on that corner
because I got girls driving by, laughing at bequests like
I'm doing bad, I'm pedaling, I'm in.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Harlem, you know what I'm saying, girls driving by.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
So I had to put fourteen gold chains on my
neck to look like I'm doing good because I was
doing something, but me not having that pride, you know,
willing to sit there and take that it was the
right decision.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Okay, So you went there, and I truly wanted to
know how competitive is that marketplace? Again from the outside
looking in? You know, when you when you're on road
trips and on tour, like you make your stop to
(05:56):
your your local mom and pop spot and you just
buy all the mixed taps and you know he's buying
you and do wopping.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
That's and that's all these cats, But I mean, how.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Heavy was the territorial competition, especially with other mixtape DJs,
Like are you listening to blah blah blah mixtapes to
see if he's biting your mix or like the embities
with that, like is anyone else taking Stephanie Mills and
putting Overpeach the president or once in a lifetime grew
(06:29):
by new addition and you gotta go there. I know
it's in sort of retrospect, but how how tense, like
who is who is your main competition?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Then?
Speaker 5 (06:38):
I had no competition when I landed. When I landed,
everybody wanted to be kid Capri. Everybody wanted to do
it to this day. You see, all these DJs don't
disrespect as the truth. All these DJs do the kid Capri.
A lot of them party DJs. They do the kid
Capri the way they talk, the way they play the music,
the way they look. You know, I made the DJ
(06:59):
be an artist. I wanted to be looked at as
an artist and not somebody just playing records. I wanted
to be where I get on that stage next to
that dude that has a platinum marble, like Kelly, I'm
gonna make it hard for him to be on stage
like That's what that was my focus, not just being
a DJ playing records of people just looking at me
like that. So that's why I took it that way,
and my whole thing was, I'm gonna be better than everybody.
(07:19):
I'm gonna give a show that they never seen. I'm
gonna made people feel like they never seen. So it
called on and it made DJs around the country that
never spoke on the mic, never dj they never played
records quick or played those type of records. See me
when I come in the city and they're seeing this
panemonium going on, and made them do it. So this
is the way you got to do it. And the
promoters will tell them you got to do it the
(07:41):
way the pre do it, and those djas say, yo,
I'm the top DJ. Why do you get kicked pre
to come to town? Shut up, shut up and sit
there and watch and look and pay attention.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Where's that come from?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Because for me, I just started talking maybe in twenty
twenty and even down twenty twenty three, I think I've
waned off forty Like all right, the pandemic's over.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I don't have to talk as much.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I'll tak my ass off on zoom like you know
what I mean, Like when I'm djaying online. But you
have this like bull and a China shop energy. Where
does that come from? Because I feel like one of
the one of the hardest battles, even without the music,
is maintaining getting the respect that of a school bully,
(08:33):
Like you're grabbing people by the collar when you're dressing them,
not like, hey, guys, how are you doing today? So
I'm Kickapria. No, I'm gonna play some records and I
hope you enjoy it, like you're not that kind of like,
So where does that come from? Where do you learn
that from?
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Like I told you, I'm a fan of it.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
So it's a certain amount of keep in mind, we're
looked at as DJ's that just played. DJ's looked at
somebody just play records. What's gonna make me any more
special than anybody else? Right, So I gotta add something
that means, something that's gonna make people say, oh wait
a minute, it's different. Not only that, it's just a
(09:09):
feeling in me. Look, I had to surgery recently. Right
after that the BT Awards, I had surgery. They took
my thigh word out all right, right. I had shows
books that I couldn't canceled. I didn't cancel the show,
and I told the promoters, y'all, I'm not gonna really
speak on a mac like that. While I'm on stage,
you know. But then I get on there and it's
(09:31):
a different thing. It's a feeling that I get that
I want people to feel. So it comes with me
screaming it.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
It's like I can't really explain it. It's like I
gotta scream it out.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
I gotta, especially when it's at that point where I
know these people are gonna go so crazy. How can
I make me even go that much more crazy in
that instant? And it's my voice?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Yo?
Speaker 6 (09:56):
A question about your voice? Is that your voice on
Party Groove show vis?
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (10:03):
What are you saying?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah? What are you saying? Stretching?
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Ben?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I bet you give me yoga instructions.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
That was a live show that I did in the
Powerhouse where they made.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
The Juice movie at Okay, that's the reason why they
made the Juice movie there, because I made the Powerhouse
hot Downtown and on the tape I would do I
would make the peak like I would saying, do the
bind and stretch, keeping going through the bin and go Ben.
I'm making people dance, Ben and stretch in the party
(10:35):
in the club.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
Oh wow, Okay, So I know you.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Show being sampled the mixtape record and it became the
first party group record Ben and Stretch keeping going through
the bin and stretching that you're Ben and Stretch.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
But everybody around the world says, yo kid, what are
you saying? But it called it the way it sound
made it, you know, with something sounds good, it is good,
as James Brod, So they didn't know what I was saying,
but it sounded good. But my record Uptown with my
daughter that saw my on my album The Love that Sound,
(11:16):
Now I did it again. I did the bend stretch
on the end of that record, so it's it's it's
ah And now the Zooma uses that record in there.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Zoomba. Uh, it's crazy except me your video the whole super.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
Class big super Class dances the Uptown So that many
Stretch definitely worked.
Speaker 7 (11:34):
Out James and made Booker's is the big biggest thing.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
Yeah, why is that record?
Speaker 3 (11:44):
When we when we interviewed him.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
Got me rest in peace, got rest and so yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
What was it?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
First of all, did you produce that on Grandpoop's record? Yeah,
of course you did. Like I'm trying to do the
math in my head because even when I got the record,
I'm like, what I listened to this soundtrack to even
know that, and it's so unusual.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
It's a very unusual break that it's not.
Speaker 6 (12:19):
It's not a substitution.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yeah, yeah, it's such a weird it works.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
But even then I was just like, wait a minute,
why would he sample it?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
What?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
What is your relationship to to biggest theme?
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (12:34):
It was just a dope joke that I think I
heard Blousy had played it one time.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Blucy b Yeah, I think I heard Blucy played it
with rock Kim Dad. What did I hear to that?
I heard I think Boosey played it.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
And you know, we would take like all right, perfect example,
like mister me Forster Silver that record made in nineteen
seventy two, the record was over there with made It Hot,
made the top, you know all these records that was
over As a matter of fact, Take six I put.
I put Spread Love on that tape and Take six
(13:11):
in twenty twenty reached out to me kid, he said, Yo,
we made that record for the gospel people. You put
that record on your tape and put us on the
worldwide tour, so we want you to remix the song.
I did a remix of Spread Love with takes six
in twenty twenty. It's called Spread Love twenty twenty. This
(13:31):
shit is crazy, the beats, the drumk is crazy.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Everything.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
So they they they were so they had so much
gratitude would be putting it on them that they came
back and asked me to produce that.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
I was so happy for that, But you're.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
The one that's responsible for that. Spread Love mixed with
I Cantina Turn a Break Under.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
That's forty five K. I did a real.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Remix for Thrill John.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Okay, okay, okay, keep in mind that record. It really
had nothing to do with what else was on the tape.
It was like.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
Everything else on the different, so far away from everything else.
But that's what I'm trying to say. I go by
what is hot, what is good, and it doesn't have
to make sense. It'll makes sense after I make it
make sense. I think like that, like it don't happen.
If you listen to my show on Serious Sex, Some
Fly the Block Party, you hear Young and Me and
(14:24):
here Al Green. After you hear, you know what I'm saying,
Like you never know what you're gonna hear, And that's
what makes it so so.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You know, you're you're like the king of the mashup
to me marrying you know, worlds of stuff. So what
do you consider like your signature mix that that is exclusively,
exclusively yours, And what do you consider the mix that
like the first time he did it, the entire crowd
(14:58):
with ape shit, like what the.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Fuck is that we could go? We go up to
something the way you make me feel with the piece
of President that changed the whole Army be game. Now
you had to make bondb records with Breakbeast.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
That's how Mary and all these things came about because
nobody heard it that way before, you know what I'm saying,
and it just changed the whole game.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
So that was one of the things. But there's so
many things.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Let me just let our listeners know that yes, both
and Mary credit you when they heard that Stephanie Mills
something the way you make me feel a cappella, which
is unusual to be on a twelve inch like you know,
the idea of an R and B a cappella.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
At that time, right, very unusual.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So instantly, I you know, we're sparks going on in your head,
Like yo, what the hell, like I can do anything
with this or the.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Full circle was when me and Stephanie did it live.
I remember you came with the me ucl kid.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
I was hip hop.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Tell that story of how you got something to do
it with you.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
What happened was I've been doing Indiana Black Explode with
Ann Paris, the promoter for twenty something years every year.
An Paris now manages Stephanie Mills, so I was doing
a show for him out there in Indiana. He told
Stephanie Mills the story about what I did with the record,
(16:18):
and he had her coming to Indiana without me knowing.
So I was on stage, she was right there and he' said, yo,
little steph, I bought Stephi out here for you.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
I was like talking about she came out. I never
met her.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
She didn't know nothing about what was going on until
we told her she had this big shit reck. She
knew what her record was to her, but in the
street she had no idea what was going on. So
when we did it then, it wasn't rehearsed. Like I said,
I never met her. It was my first time meeting
up and we did that shit on the spot. And
if you remember, she was going to keep going, and
(16:56):
I stopped. I said, that's it, that's all I need.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
I'm good.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
I felt like be stopping up and it being short
would make more of an impact than me having to
do the whole thing. That's just the way I thought
at the time. But just her being there with me
and seeing a visuated. When I touched your heart, I
know I did something when you when you rolled up
on me a jazzy Jeff's cuip. He was like, okay,
that right there. When you said that, I was like, yeah,
(17:22):
I did something.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Questions reserve. You don't say too much, you know, so
if you say something.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It's like, I'm excited about stuff. I'm excited about stuff.
What would you consider you're what's a hard market? Have
you ever met a marketplace in which they're like.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Like down South for instance?
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Really every crowd I get into, I whip it down.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
That's what I do, no matter where it's at, no
matter what what the situation is. Because my whole attitude was,
know what's going on in that city that city. Don't
care about what's going on in New York. They care
about what's going on in that city. So find a
DJ that's there. Find out what's going on, and when
he when he tells you what's going on, you know
what's going on. Bringing that DJ out, show the respect
(18:13):
to that DJ and put him on stage and let
everybody know this is just this city's DJ. You know
what I'm saying. You were a guess in their house.
And with that, all the information from different places were
coming to me. I would stay on top of what's
going on over here, what's going on with this side
of the country.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
I was. It was just the way I did things.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
And with me doing that, with me going to experience
it and do it, it made me learn how to
stay do it everywhere else.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
So I never had a.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
Got booed, never a crowd walked out on me, never
been a thing where people wasn't happy or somebody says
some crazy shit in the crowd or through something that
never been under that.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
It always been people happy. And I'm blessed.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
I'm very happy for that, very blessed in that way
for that to happen, because, like I said, I'm a
fan of it, and I know how I want to feel.
If I paid my money, I gotta drive to get there.
If I have a car, I gotta buy clothes to
wear to be there. I gotta pay to get in.
I gotta buy drinks. If somebody's gonna buy them a
(19:11):
drinking I'm mor.
Speaker 6 (19:12):
I might have had to hire a babysit or something too,
Like you.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Know what all these things I got to do because
kicking freeze in the building. How do I not get
the best I can get it? You know what I'm saying?
Like I think like that. And then there's a reverse
two way. People don't think about what you had to
do to get to the event. If you had traffic,
lost your bags, you know, did you eat? Are you sick?
Do you feel? All they do is the end RESULTE
(19:35):
I wanted, I want my show. I went what I
paid for. I paid for that. They don't know nothing,
So it works both ways.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
There is a moment in two thousand.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
There was a moment in two thousand and five in which,
for the very first time, I played the horn intro
to Troy and I didn't get that scream yeah, like
you know what happens when you play that intro when
you used to play the intro, Like the choice is
yours and you know for the longest, Like one of
(20:06):
my signature things would be like play Troy right after
like scenario who's that ramp in a place like start
high fiving and crying and hugging. And there was a
moment where that didn't happen and I was like, oh shit,
I gotta adjust it and adjust fact like I never
(20:27):
had a quiet Troy moment in my life. How long
did it take you to really truly adjust to be
in an open format DJ and like embrace things because
you know, as open minded as I would like our
listeners to think I am. You know, and I've explained
(20:49):
this before on the show that as an individual course,
we know that we have our opinions of what good
music is and what bad music is. But then as
a DJ, I have opinion on what is effective for
my DJ set and not effective for my DJ set,
And oftentimes with those four things good, bad, effective, non effective,
(21:10):
Like what's effective for my DJ sets now is stuff
that I personally wouldn't listen to, but I know works
for my set. Right, So you know, there's like maybe
a year or two where I just wrestled with damn,
do I just or do I just like fight and
only play to my audience? Like?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
How long did it take you.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
To just start adjusting to a new atmosphere and new generations.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
There's plenty of records I hate that I play that
only but it's not about me, you're saying, it's about
that boom and you know, so that right there automatically
makes you know that you have to step out of
your own personal feeling and adjust to what they want,
(21:59):
because that's the end result. A lot of DJ sometimes
they missed the mark because they feel like they don't
like this record, so it shouldn't be played at the
end of the day. You know, Like I said that
stuff that I might play that I don't. I don't
really care for much to but I see, but I'll
see a crowd go crazy to it, and it'll make
(22:20):
me like it. I might not even like the song
the first but once I see a crowd lose it,
lose it to it, it'll make me say, all right, well,
I could adjust to it all.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
You know, it will make me lacking in some kind
of way.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
But let me ask you, and I'll let's use an
example from twenty five years ago, so you don't have
to be like now, like man, fuck ice, spice or whatever.
I don't know, is there an album. That is there
a song that you acknowledge as a classic now that
(22:50):
maybe twenty five years ago you were like, I'm not
feeling this like it took you long to like adjust
to it.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Biggie Biggie Biggie. You don't like half the times loved it.
I hated the hook.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
You known mean it was a smart hook.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
I hated the hook at first. At first, I couldn't
stand the hook. Biggie Biggie Biggie. I just couldn't stay.
I just didn't like it. But the record was dope.
The loop, you know.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
You know what I'm saying. The record was dope.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
So and then after I guess you hear it a
certain way, I didn't you start like Then after a
while I was like, ah yeah. But at first it
was like, damn All should have did a different hook.
But I was wrong.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
It was effective.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
It was effective, you know.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
It was sometimes a lot of times I guess what's
going to be a hit.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
But you know, I'm not a robot.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
Sometime I missed you know what I'm saying, or you know,
I like listen, but sometimes I missed it. You see
what it is, you know, But me and you would
have never made a Laughy Taffy beat. We would have
never wrote that, not that it's bad for them, we
would have never did that.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
We would have probably passed it on it.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
But look front of it on Laughy Taffy for its
initial run.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
Right, and it's a classic.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
When I was gonna say I played Laughing Taffy the
first time I did the goal party for the Carters,
I was like, all right, let me reach into my
second generation Southern bag that I would have otherwise ignored
on my own gigs, right, and just the way that
they were going to ape shit about it, I was like, yo,
I was wrong.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
Like if I played Laughy Taffy the snock records, they lose,
they got theirn mind. It don't matter what age it is,
you know what I'm saying, because it was just that
time and moment.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
And most dance records like that, boarded down records for
some reason, it just works.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Or you went there briefly.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
But of course your tenure with I mean, would you
consider yourself a Juice Cup member or no?
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Okay, I just saw cold Chilling Bear's got me.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
Granddaddy, I you and business brother Domonchelle a production Uh.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
He had a production deal. And it was crazy.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Because when Ben's got me that day, I wasn't even
looking for our deal. I wasn't even thinking about our deal.
And remember I was leaving studio fifty four. Bez pulled
up on me with the car right on the corner
and he said, OK, we'll get you out and deal.
I said, shut up, shut up. So then one day
he came in. They seen me on a rutker. Matter
of fact, the day that he pulled up on me
a rutcker, he said, kid, come here, cook here, I'm
(25:32):
gonna show you something. And he played you, god, what
our seal beers you bucket? You really gonna put this out?
That's what I said, you really gonna put this out?
Speaker 4 (25:42):
He was like what what? And he put the record out.
We on tour, We go crowd losing their bodies.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
I was playing, yo, pull it off, and it worked
and he got me by deal. Like I said, even
worked the deal. You gotta be the deal because I
was hot. He could have gave that deal to anybody
else that was a real rapper.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
You know what I'm saying. I was robbing on the
record of the tape.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
So I was trying to be a rapper, like even
with bib about right now, I'm not trying to be
a rap on stage.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
I just want for music in the world. But at
the time, you.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Know, he could have gave that to somebody that really
really was good, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
But he he you know, he really gave it to
be And I've always gonna be a dead or to day.
I really appreciated that.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
You know, have you dj' for I don't want to
say a pedestrian rapper, but I mean, I know you
are Kick Capri like you DJ your own, but have
you done any any tenures with like at NMC that
needs like I know a few times like Biggie. We'll
go back and forth on DJ's and whatnot.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Pinny me Joy was me and rock Kim did this tour.
Oh okay, this was a crazy tour me and rock
Kim did. When I went on tours Salt Pepper, That's right,
you were DJ DJ for Salt Pepper, DJ for KIPT
played the very first tour the Public Getting Be Greatest
Hip Hop Show tour.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
It was thirteen groups on that tour. I was helping
him on that, but.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
I never really played behind a lot of people KRS
one of course, but not really a whole lot of
people because people always looked at me as a one
man band. I guess, I guess that's what it is.
I guess the perception is that he didn't he don't
want to play for nobody behind you know, behind nobody.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
So but yeah, but.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
When I went on tour with them, I didn't play
behind him. But I went on tour with them as
a matter of fact. But Jennifer Lopez, she wanted to
be behind it. Like there's a lot of people that
reached out. It just didn't work out because of the time.
I felt like if me and Kendrick Lamar would have
went on tour together, you know the Political Ward album
you put me on ask the only hip hop album
want the Polical Water.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Deeply Gready put me in voice. He put my voices
in place around the country I've never been to. So
I'm deeply and grady for that, grateful for that and
loved the fact that he did that.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
And when I was in the studio with my ass
and I said, Yo, you could have got DJ Battlecat
or you know, DJ Pooh. These dudes A legends, you
could have got them on the album The West Coast,
you know. He was like, yo, I love the dudes
and everything. He was like, but I know what you
did for the music business. I know what you did
for DJs.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
I know what you did. I wanted that authenticity on
this album. I was like, Wow, he really knew who
he was, so I didn't have to really explain that.
He would have got it and he put me on
that album.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
And how crazy was the effect afterwards?
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Amazing? Man, I couldn't believe it. It was like it
was crazy, you know.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
And keep in mind he brought me to There might
be kids that don't know about kicking. Pree never had
any kicking pre spad. I don't know nothing about me.
He brought me to those people, you know what I'm saying.
Like I said, he put my voices in countries I
never been to. It's the Poliza album like it never
no ever, no other hip hop album ever in history.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
This is a milestone. So she could have did so
much more, like going on toward with each other. And
he didn't need me, of course, because you know he
is what he did been me and him together just
doing certain things it would have been, it'd have been special.
So but like I said, he's already special, So it
was all good.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Cake.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
You talking about your transition into the production game.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
I was always making beats. My first album that Biz
got me. It says biz production. Biz produced it. But
I produced the album Being Coolie. And then I produced
the soundtrack the Streets album with Jay and did that
whole album. And then I just did this album that
the Love Album, The Love Album in the pandemic. I'm
seeing a lot of ship to stuff that I was
(29:38):
a lot of agree with it. I said, you know what,
let me just do something different and I won't slack
key and came out good. I recorded it, goveled my
hair on my shoulders and said keep going. So I
just said him doing the album, I put slack key
out of How did I get the response? I want
to dabble with a never see the out light a day,
But it was good response and I put down the mouth.
Great response and have a guy work complained about it.
A lot of different artists snoopid, different people will call congratulated.
(30:01):
Nobody seen this coming because of robbing on it. My
last album is twenty four years ago. You know, music
business is different. I had everything against me with this album,
but I didn't I didn't care about that. I just
wanted to put it out, and you know, it worked out.
But yeah, it's gotta keep going with it.
Speaker 7 (30:17):
I wanted to ask you, particularly about Nothing Belove Heavy,
du Do you remember what do you remember about that
session working with him?
Speaker 5 (30:25):
Nothing Beloved was a different beat, and when we were
in the studio, I just said it didn't match what
I was trying to do with him. So I changed it,
and I went in my bag and pulled out the
eight Games and put the A Games on the band,
put the drums, and then he caught right his block
and he couldn't write. He couldn't write, so did so
(30:48):
I wrote to half. I wrote half of the second verse,
and I wrote I wrote half of the second version.
I wrote the last verse, and then we end up
doing the record and then the c CNY tragedy happened.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
But the nine people died. One of my friends, Jule,
he was one of the people that passed away.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
You were there at TCN one No, my daughter's mother,
she was there.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
She was putting bodies out. She pulled father MC's daughter's
mother father MC's girl who was pregnant at the time,
and she passed away. She pulled her out. Oh no, wow, yeah,
you my friend.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
He was the only dude there was only there's only
two castles in New York, one of Yonder's, one on
my block and my block kings with Terraces, where they
made the movie The Wanderer was at. So you look,
if you wish to watch the movie The Waders, you'll
see my block. The wrong king was Terrice. This capsule
he lived in. He was twenty five years old. Ever
had sex. He was waited until you had the a
wife before he had sex. And he was killed in
(31:44):
this CCN wide thing. And I remember Heavy d had
to show with the Garden and he was because he
had something to do with the event. He just wasn't there,
but he was one of the promoters and he had
explained it and he was like, yo, I'm not going
to take responsibility, but I feel bad of what happened.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Tell everybody back.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
I beloved for the crowd, and he dropped up beloved
and the crowd lost their Goddamn.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
I was standing right that or the stage. The crowd
lost it. That's what I do.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
I gave it his last hit is a big hit.
That was his biggest that was his last hit record
before he passed away.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Damn, I know you did that. Damn that's crazy.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
The first time I saw you spend, you would come
to the event with like at least eight crates, fifteen
the level yep that I've never seen, the dizzying level
of how you would organize records or whatever.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
That's why with Jeff Jazzy, Jeff would try to convince
me to be on Serato and.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
That was hard to make that transition.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (32:53):
I like the fact that I had fifteen crates and
I would wanted to crate catch the record at the
last second it dropped the needle way and it just
looked crazy to the crowd. So I thought if I
got rid of that and went to the computer, it
wouldn't be that same excitement. And Jeff will always say, Okay, got.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
It, go on the computer. You got to do. You
know what I'm saying. Savado shit.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
So you relate to the Serado game.
Speaker 5 (33:16):
Oh yeah, okay, I ain't started Surroado game this whole
six so death Comedy Jam came back and Mike EPs
was host, and they asked me if I will produce
the beats on Deaf Comedy Jam because they didn't want
to clear the death Jam records right, So I produced
all the beats that how do I play? Put it
in Soroader. I put the beats of Sovado and I
(33:37):
did the show. Then I started putting the break piece
of Soroader. Now I put the reggae records. Now I
put the old for reggae. Next thing, you know, every
day was a Soroado. Got read the records and now
I was good. And then I see the crowds and
in my show still reacting the same way when I
had the records, So I was good.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
How irksome is it for you to watch any of
the retro Deaf Comedy Jam shows? And like, for me,
the best part of the show is when you start
doing the ll breakdown thing. And you know, of course
when it came on DVD and now that it's streaming
(34:15):
and even on YouTube, you know, they put like interstitial
music over it, like so you're trying to imagine what
they're dancing to you.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
I can't stand it. I hate it. I hate it's
it's it's the claims is it's the money, it's you know,
it's a lot of money.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
You would think that they death jam records. It would
be all right for deaf comedy jam to playing.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
But I thought that way. They don't go that way.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
It's whoever was a publisher. You know, you got to
go through all that ship. And some people are just beaty.
Some people want what they want and they don't see
the bigger picture, so they're eliminated. I was making the
beats and you got gut around it.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
I was going to say, there's there's one comedian that I,
if I recall correctly, like he made you part of
the act.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
This brother named Talent. It's just come.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
That's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
But Talent would do this thing where he would have
a scenario and needed a soundtrack to it, and he
would have you play the record and then he would
do the scenario. All right, we wand we want to
kick it all right now, this scenario is blah blah blah,
and I can never find and it's one of the
funniest things ever. And I wish I could find that original.
But because of music clearance issues, you know, people don't.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
Get so much footage from us on the road. Me
and Bernie. Bernie was like my uncle.
Speaker 5 (35:34):
Bernie mack was like my uncle like like like this,
like so I got so much footage of me and
him and Bill Bellamy and Chris Tucker and Eddie Griffith,
all of us.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
Man, just on the road and just different funny things. Man.
Speaker 5 (35:51):
This dude, Bernie mack Man was funny all day long. Man,
just all who would be on the tour bus. He'll
wake up and put us scotty cap on and he'll
have you laughing, just laughing all the way into the
time to do the show.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Then he'll go and host the show.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Tear that down, get back on the tour was put
the scotty cap on with the hind again and have
him laugh.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
Until you fall asleep. And then he messes with the
bus driver just where the bus driver got pulled over because.
Speaker 6 (36:18):
He laughed in his ass long.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
This dude was just all day you just look at
him and just laugh. He just it was amazing in
that way. It was, you know, he was one of
them dudes. It was sad to see him go too,
you know, but all them, all those everybody got tour
with everybody that was on that show, they all my
extended family.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
Man, we all did something. We did something great together,
you know what I'm saying, and it really touched people.
Like every time we sold out somewhere, you just see
the people just smiling and happy, and you know that
was that was the most thing for me.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
How many, how much good times.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
It was never a threat where you had to worry
about crime going on, to somebody getting hurt or shot
of a fight breaking out.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
It was always fun, laughing and it was dope. Was dope.
Speaker 6 (37:01):
I was going to ask you about just the Master
of the Mix.
Speaker 7 (37:03):
Man. It was a while back, but I really enjoyed
that show, and uh, I want to just ask you
about just kind of what that experience was like getting acting,
I guess as a as a judge and judging other DJs. Man,
how was that experience?
Speaker 4 (37:17):
It was dope. I was always like the cyb of Cow.
I was very serious.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
I was really.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
Straight because I had to worry about the reason why
I was so serious was because they had to worry
about our credentials. I had to worry about, you know that,
because they had to worry about I wanted to be truthful,
you know, sound show, no favoritism. I didn't want to
show like I didn't know what I was talking about
or you know, any of that. I wanted to be
what it was and it worked out. We was on
for two seasons on BT and then we was on
(37:46):
one season of VH one. My me, personally, I think
they should have kept that show going. You know, I
know what issues they had, but they should have kept
that show going because what it did you have? It
was like Mel Starting you see right now, have Mel
Starting not been on that show. We don't know if
we've seen him as quick as we did, but because
he was on that show and he's super talented, so
(38:09):
that show got a chance to to, you know, show
the world who these dudes are. The same way in
Death Comedy Jam. Remember before Death Comedy Jam was Richard Pryor,
Red Fox Andeddie Murphy. You know, a couple of other
dudes sprinkle here for comedy. You if you didn't, it
wasn't them dudes, you you know. So when we got
Deaf Comedy Jam, we displayed all this plethors of all
(38:31):
these different people. Now it became bigger. And that's the
same thing with Master the mix. It was all these
different DJs, Chris Carr and you know Jco. All these
dudes do are readers now, you know what I'm saying
because of that show. Being on that show, so it
was definitely a dope show. They definitely should have Capten.
They some things I would have changed around. I'd have
changed some things around. I ain't think that I didn't
(38:51):
really agree with yeah, but you know, it is what
it is. And then I was on another show.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Did you know?
Speaker 4 (38:56):
I was on a Growing Up pip hop? I missed
that one now about doing it? And I did that
because yeah, I only did one season, only did one season.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
I was out, I'm not speaking of which. Talk about
u Ena.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
First of all, I'm surprised we got through this whole
episode without any jokes of me taking your last name.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Love is actually your last name, correct.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
The real last name is by the name of album
is called The Love.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Of Course Love.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Yeah, Well, talk about what it's like like collaborating with
your daughter and now that she has has, you know,
planted her seeds and and is starting her story right now,
Like what what is that?
Speaker 3 (39:38):
What is that like for you to see her? Karen
on the Legacy.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
At first, you know, I know the music business, I
know what's in the music business.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
I know everything. And normally you don't want your kid
in that, you know what I'm saying. You don't want
them to go through certain d But the way she
grew up, how was she showed me how she handled herself,
how she do things.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
She has a skin for it. Now did she have
the talent for it? Didn't know.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
And I wasn't gonna push her off on people just
because she's my daughter. She had to prove to me
that she really could do a thing. And she came
to me with this record where she did mind his
best to be over with her little boyfriend at the time,
and the record was dope. But that she did a
record that she wrote for Rihanna called Air that never
got to Riana, and she end up recording to herself
and that's when the one I was like, Okay, she's ready,
(40:33):
And from there on she'd been moving there. But how
she carry herself, how she treats people, the smiles she
keep on her face, how she talk, the way she
look at stuff.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
She's just like me.
Speaker 5 (40:42):
She is she she respects what it is. And then
she see how her father moved. That's another day. She
see how father moved, how different people treat me, you know,
and it makes it automatically molds your child when they
see it. When they around the experience said, they always
home with it. Now around to see things that they
don't go with it. They go with but when they
(41:04):
get a chance to really see everything, it kind of
mows them. And that's what happens. She really know what
she's doing, and she's talented. She really works hard. It's
more of the talent. She really really works hard, you know.
And I just wanted her to really just be happy
and and all she's happy.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
That's it, you know.
Speaker 5 (41:22):
This music business, like I said, you let it get
to you, it will, you know. And sometimes things don't
work out the way you want when you wanted to
work out, you know. And that's a part of growing,
that's a part of that's the part of appreciating the journey,
you know.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
Matt.
Speaker 7 (41:37):
I always wanted to ask you one of my favorite
intros of all time to an album is off Sex
and Violence BDP.
Speaker 6 (41:45):
Do you remember like where y'all was y'all recorded that
when you recorded man, whoops right?
Speaker 3 (41:54):
I always thought y'all did that on purpose to make
it like that's how parties are, Like, what was it to.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
Get another album?
Speaker 6 (42:01):
It's very the very first joint with him and Freddy Fox.
Uh nice, this movie got.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Right. I was on it. I wasn't on that.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Nah, you're on that.
Speaker 6 (42:13):
At the end, ladies and gentlemen give it off with
my motherfucking man whoops and the record stops. It's like, oh,
y'all know where they come from, blowing up on the
parties and all that. Right, My people go back.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
To it goes duck down, go back and check that.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
No, that's I love that ship.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Yeah, you know, so like for you, and I know
it's a cliche to ask, but like, you know, being
as though this is hip hop's fiftieth year and Jeff
always jokes with me that no one's going to celebrate
the fifty first, so we got to celebrate it now.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Yeah, for you, you know, is there anything that.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
You you've yet to check off in in your bucket
list that you haven't achieved yet?
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Like, you know, what were you like to see the
culture go or for you to do or or do
you just you know want to stop and chill and
you know.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
But I'll tell you this, well.
Speaker 5 (43:17):
The one thing I haven't got a chance to do
as many things as I did was sell a platinum
album or sell a gold album. You know, I only
had three albums in my career. Making records never been
my bread and butter. I do it because I want
to do it, you know what I'm saying. But I
the Love album, it has so many layers to it.
My mother's on the funck covered with the big as
(43:39):
for my daughter's on the record. I produced every day,
wrote everything. I didn't runner any artists it's hot, say
you'll come get on my ship to sell it or
none of that. I did everything myself. There's so many
layers to it. And I didn't put it out for
it to go platinum gold. I'll put it out to
put something in the world, but I would like to
see it really do good. I would like to see
the world hit this album and really, I'm saying, and
(44:01):
just absorb it because I haven't got a bad complain.
Speaker 4 (44:03):
One time since I put it out. You know, the
Internet they're gonna say whatever they want. I haven't got
one of those yet, not one, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
So with that being said, the frustraight part for me
is that I know everybody hasn't heard it. I know
everybody don't know what's dead. There's people that come to
me right now. I remember when you had your two
albums out, you didn't hear the third one, like you know,
that's how I know. It's like, you know, that's the
frustraight part.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
But only I follow you on I G and during
the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
You know, you didn't even know it was in the room,
watching in the studio making your beats and as you
were making the record and whatnot. So you know, it's
finally good to see the fruition of it. Your mom
actually has a hugemongous afro yo like yes up.
Speaker 4 (44:47):
She was definitely definitely big on her and.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Her last name is Love. I might be a long
lost cousin. I don't know, it might be exactly brother,
Thank you man.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
You know I got to see very briefly at the
at LL's Rock the Bells Festival, which was really like
a kind of amazing family reunion. Like to be backstage
and literally there's an era of hip hop that I've
yet to meet, So, you know, to be backstage and
(45:20):
you're seeing like the Fearless four and and the Fantastic
Romantic five and the Cold Crush Brothers, and.
Speaker 4 (45:29):
Yeah, we're about the experience because I was about to
the Yankee Stadium for the second time, or the level
of the hip hop day the Yankee Stadium.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
Who's on that show me.
Speaker 5 (45:39):
Snoop Nas whiskedly for one, DMC, Fat Joe, Ace Boogie,
a whole bunch of other people.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
So hip hop's is coming to the Bronx.
Speaker 4 (45:51):
Coming to the hometown, coming to the hometown and smash
it down.
Speaker 5 (45:54):
The first time I did Yankee standion was when I
did it for Nelson Mandela when he came out of
jail right a celeb for me, Yank saying me and
car West went and did it, and that was that
was a milestone. So we're back again and I'm gonna
come in just do my thing. I'mna pull off something
special too. When I pull out this thing that would
pull out, it's going to shake the room. So I'm hoping, yeah,
(46:16):
but it's gonna be dope. Thank you, stading home man.
I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Ladies and gentlemen, kick Capri on quest left Supreme. Thank
you man for everything.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
Thank you, Thank you man straight.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
You know you you your your tapes have entertainment. I've
seen you many times like rock shows. I took notes
and you know you've been nothing but but genuine and
really really kind of and and dope to me. Any
nerdy questions I had over the years, You've answered them.
And I thank you for that, and thank you for
doing our show man.
Speaker 4 (46:48):
Thank you for having me. Man.
Speaker 6 (46:50):
I got a chance to see you.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (46:51):
This was in Toronto some years back. We were opening.
Me and Knife were opening for you and rock Kim.
You were spending for rock Yim in Toronto and that
was one of the best.
Speaker 6 (47:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we opened up. It was it wasn't
a little brother, It was just me.
Speaker 7 (47:05):
I was doing my solo record at the time, and
Night for spending for me and so and but we
opened up for rock him and Kid and masterclass Man.
Speaker 6 (47:14):
It was just I was just sitting backstage taking notes.
Speaker 4 (47:16):
So thank you for everything, brother, for I appreciate that.
Little brother. You gotta come out another joint, need another joint.
Speaker 6 (47:22):
Oh No, we're working.
Speaker 3 (47:23):
We're working, brother, We're working well on behalf of Sugar Steven.
It was the quietest episode of Quest Love Supreme ever,
I wonder why.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
I'm just enjoying the quiet, man, enjoying the quiet. Yeah, kay, Capri,
thank you for repping New York so well all these years.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
And New Jersey. Hey man, it's the box.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Yeah, so be Ava and Sugar Steve and paid Bill
and this is quest Love and the great legendary kick
a Pree of course, Love Supreme. Shout out to Brittany
and Jake holding us down and our good friends at iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
And we'll see you on the next go round, all right,
Peace West. Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. For
(48:35):
more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Quest Loft Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hi, good people, This is Sugar Steed from Team Supreme.
We are back with part two of our QLs interview
with Kid Capri. In part one, Kids spoke about growing
up just blocks away from here, a cool hurt through
his first party. He also recalled digging for records in
the seventies and eighties and the early inroads to his
legendary career. If you haven't check out that episode. All
month long, we're celebrating fifty years of hip hop at
(00:27):
Quest Left Supreme. In addition to Kid Capri, we have
conversations with Styles P and slum Village.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
What year was your first mixtape?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
The first? Well, keep it Bob being a star child,
Chief about a star child.
Speaker 5 (00:44):
Me and him start making tapes together when I started
playing the S and S with him, and then after
I left after that year a year year and a half,
I left. You know, I was doing my little parties
Studio fifty four and stuff like that, and I just
said what I'm gonna doing. I went outside.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
You played the Studio fifty four absolutely, Oh WHOA tell
me what that shit's like?
Speaker 6 (01:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Man, yeah, Red Alert What happened was Louis Vega. Larry
Levan was playing Fridays and Saturday, but they had this
Wednesday that Red Alert was doing. Red Alert was going
on the road with BDP. So he told the people
at Studio fifty four, I want KICKI Prix to be
to take my spot. It was like KICKI Pree, who's that?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
We don't know him?
Speaker 5 (01:25):
Like nah, He was like, yo, trust me, He's gonna
do what he do. When I got there, you know,
I told it into pandemonium. But I was going on
the regular and I was going on the club nights too.
I would go hang out just to be there. You
know what I'm saying that I couldn't believe I was
playing Studio fifty four and shit, but I went there
and did my thing. This was eighty seven, eighty eight,
eighty seven, eighty eight.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Eighty nine around that time. Okay, I brought biz there.
I bought I bought all these different groups to Studio
fifty four before. Man, it was dope. It was.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
It was crazy, and then it got so crazy that
the crowd it was just the crowds was too much.
They were messing up the fruit stands and I'm watching
the security open the door with people's heads and I
just say, you know what, it would just end this.
But now after that, I said what I'm gonna do?
And I said, you know what, I'm just gonna sell
my old mixtapes. And you know, so I went to
trailer Horn and I brought a hundred mixtapes. I copied
(02:19):
tapes that I had, and I made a new tape.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
And I was copying on.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
These six tape decks all night, standing up tired, sitting
in the hall. My equipment was in a horse so
you walk in the door. My equipment was right there
at a one bedroom apartment and I would sit there
and make these tapes. And the next day I would
go outside and sit there on the street corner and
people will say, you know, twenty hours to kick the
Pretell who are you? Why would I give you twenty
hours for a tape? I said, you listen to the
intro of it in your car and you'll come back
(02:44):
and buy it. Then I got gaviteed, they'll put it
in the car and listen to it, come back and
we get that, get that, get that, And next thing
you know, my my tapes is in every car passing
by in the cop cars, in the misty softy truck,
people coming off the golf wall, your tapes and cigarettes
is the biggest day. It became, and then my parties
became infectious. They seen how I performed. And I remember
(03:04):
I was doing LL's party one time after he did
the Guard and Russell Simmons walked up and was like, Yo,
what do you think about being on.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
A comedy show. It's like comedy show? What we're talking about?
I was like, it was Russell simmers shut up, go
do it, and we ended up doing it next to
you know, I'm a superstar.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
I didn't even see it. I didn't even I was
when we were doing the show. I wasn't even seeing
that far. I'm not seeing that this is going to be.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I'm thinking we're just doing something to have fun, you know,
DJ with comedy show. That's it.
Speaker 7 (03:32):
Studio fifty four in eighty seven. I didn't even know
Studio fifty four was still around eighty seven. What records
were going off back then in Studio fifty four? What
were you playing?
Speaker 5 (03:41):
I was playing Public Enemy, playing all the Cane records,
everything of that ever.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
Right, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Hip Mop was allowed.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Wow, that's what I'm saying. See it was Levann and
Louis Vega. It was all house. But Red Alert was
so respected that they gave him that Wednesday was going
on a tour.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
He needed somebody to cover. He knew, you know, and
that's when he got me in. When I came in,
they seen a whole new different ship. They seen the
line going around the building down the street like it
was every time I came out. It was just panemodium
and I had to leave it. I didn't want to leave.
I had to leave it because it got too dangerous.
(04:26):
So you know, I ended up, and you know, and
then for God, thank God, the day I said, I remember,
I got Bismarck got me.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
My first album deal, right, so I'm up.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
I'm up in the office and lady start like open
these four magazines and say and said Kickie Pree the
only DJ in the world to make millions of dollars
off a street mixtape. I was like, wow, So I
did it. I made that's you know what. I didn't
want no problems right right, let me just let me
(04:57):
just end it. And then I made the last due
o this tape and that was it. And then fortunately
in my career, you know, went Deaf comedy jam came
out and came, tours came, and I was on my way.
But the mixtape had I not sat on that corner
because I got girls driving by, laughing at bequests like
I'm doing bad, I'm pedaling, I'm in.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Harlem, you know what I'm saying, girls driving by.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
So I had to put fourteen gold chains on my
neck to look like I'm doing good because I was
doing something, but me not having that pride, you know,
willing to sit there and take that it was the
right decision.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Okay, So you went there, and I truly wanted to
know how competitive is that marketplace? Again from the outside
looking in? You know, when you when you're on road
trips and on tour, like you make your stop to
(05:56):
your your local mom and pop spot and you just
buy all the mixed taps and you know he's buying
you and do wopping.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
That's and that's all these cats, But I mean, how.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Heavy was the territorial competition, especially with other mixtape DJs,
Like are you listening to blah blah blah mixtapes to
see if he's biting your mix or like the embities
with that, like is anyone else taking Stephanie Mills and
putting Overpeach the president or once in a lifetime grew
(06:29):
by new addition and you gotta go there. I know
it's in sort of retrospect, but how how tense, like
who is who is your main competition?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Then?
Speaker 5 (06:38):
I had no competition when I landed. When I landed,
everybody wanted to be kid Capri. Everybody wanted to do
it to this day. You see, all these DJs don't
disrespect as the truth. All these DJs do the kid Capri.
A lot of them party DJs. They do the kid
Capri the way they talk, the way they play the music,
the way they look. You know, I made the DJ
(06:59):
be an artist. I wanted to be looked at as
an artist and not somebody just playing records. I wanted
to be where I get on that stage next to
that dude that has a platinum marble, like Kelly, I'm
gonna make it hard for him to be on stage
like That's what that was my focus, not just being
a DJ playing records of people just looking at me
like that. So that's why I took it that way,
and my whole thing was, I'm gonna be better than everybody.
(07:19):
I'm gonna give a show that they never seen. I'm
gonna made people feel like they never seen. So it
called on and it made DJs around the country that
never spoke on the mic, never dj they never played
records quick or played those type of records. See me
when I come in the city and they're seeing this
panemonium going on, and made them do it. So this
is the way you got to do it. And the
promoters will tell them you got to do it the
(07:41):
way the pre do it, and those djas say, yo,
I'm the top DJ. Why do you get kicked pre
to come to town? Shut up, shut up and sit
there and watch and look and pay attention.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Where's that come from?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Because for me, I just started talking maybe in twenty
twenty and even down twenty twenty three, I think I've
waned off forty Like all right, the pandemic's over.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I don't have to talk as much.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I'll tak my ass off on zoom like you know
what I mean, Like when I'm djaying online. But you
have this like bull and a China shop energy. Where
does that come from? Because I feel like one of
the one of the hardest battles, even without the music,
is maintaining getting the respect that of a school bully,
(08:33):
Like you're grabbing people by the collar when you're dressing them,
not like, hey, guys, how are you doing today? So
I'm Kickapria. No, I'm gonna play some records and I
hope you enjoy it, like you're not that kind of like,
So where does that come from? Where do you learn
that from?
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Like I told you, I'm a fan of it.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
So it's a certain amount of keep in mind, we're
looked at as DJ's that just played. DJ's looked at
somebody just play records. What's gonna make me any more
special than anybody else? Right, So I gotta add something
that means, something that's gonna make people say, oh wait
a minute, it's different. Not only that, it's just a
(09:09):
feeling in me. Look, I had to surgery recently. Right
after that the BT Awards, I had surgery. They took
my thigh word out all right, right. I had shows
books that I couldn't canceled. I didn't cancel the show,
and I told the promoters, y'all, I'm not gonna really
speak on a mac like that. While I'm on stage,
you know. But then I get on there and it's
(09:31):
a different thing. It's a feeling that I get that
I want people to feel. So it comes with me
screaming it.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
It's like I can't really explain it. It's like I
gotta scream it out.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
I gotta, especially when it's at that point where I
know these people are gonna go so crazy. How can
I make me even go that much more crazy in
that instant? And it's my voice?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Yo?
Speaker 6 (09:56):
A question about your voice? Is that your voice on
Party Groove show vis?
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (10:03):
What are you saying?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah? What are you saying? Stretching?
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Ben?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I bet you give me yoga instructions.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
That was a live show that I did in the
Powerhouse where they made.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
The Juice movie at Okay, that's the reason why they
made the Juice movie there, because I made the Powerhouse
hot Downtown and on the tape I would do I
would make the peak like I would saying, do the
bind and stretch, keeping going through the bin and go Ben.
I'm making people dance, Ben and stretch in the party
(10:35):
in the club.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
Oh wow, Okay, So I know you.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Show being sampled the mixtape record and it became the
first party group record Ben and Stretch keeping going through
the bin and stretching that you're Ben and Stretch.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
But everybody around the world says, yo kid, what are
you saying? But it called it the way it sound
made it, you know, with something sounds good, it is good,
as James Brod, So they didn't know what I was saying,
but it sounded good. But my record Uptown with my
daughter that saw my on my album The Love that Sound,
(11:16):
Now I did it again. I did the bend stretch
on the end of that record, so it's it's it's
ah And now the Zooma uses that record in there.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Zoomba. Uh, it's crazy except me your video the whole super.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
Class big super Class dances the Uptown So that many
Stretch definitely worked.
Speaker 7 (11:34):
Out James and made Booker's is the big biggest thing.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
Yeah, why is that record?
Speaker 3 (11:44):
When we when we interviewed him.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
Got me rest in peace, got rest and so yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
What was it?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
First of all, did you produce that on Grandpoop's record? Yeah,
of course you did. Like I'm trying to do the
math in my head because even when I got the record,
I'm like, what I listened to this soundtrack to even
know that, and it's so unusual.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
It's a very unusual break that it's not.
Speaker 6 (12:19):
It's not a substitution.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yeah, yeah, it's such a weird it works.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
But even then I was just like, wait a minute,
why would he sample it?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
What?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
What is your relationship to to biggest theme?
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (12:34):
It was just a dope joke that I think I
heard Blousy had played it one time.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Blucy b Yeah, I think I heard Blucy played it
with rock Kim Dad. What did I hear to that?
I heard I think Boosey played it.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
And you know, we would take like all right, perfect example,
like mister me Forster Silver that record made in nineteen
seventy two, the record was over there with made It Hot,
made the top, you know all these records that was
over As a matter of fact, Take six I put.
I put Spread Love on that tape and Take six
(13:11):
in twenty twenty reached out to me kid, he said, Yo,
we made that record for the gospel people. You put
that record on your tape and put us on the
worldwide tour, so we want you to remix the song.
I did a remix of Spread Love with takes six
in twenty twenty. It's called Spread Love twenty twenty. This
(13:31):
shit is crazy, the beats, the drumk is crazy.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Everything.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
So they they they were so they had so much
gratitude would be putting it on them that they came
back and asked me to produce that.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
I was so happy for that, But you're.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
The one that's responsible for that. Spread Love mixed with
I Cantina Turn a Break Under.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
That's forty five K. I did a real.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Remix for Thrill John.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Okay, okay, okay, keep in mind that record. It really
had nothing to do with what else was on the tape.
It was like.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
Everything else on the different, so far away from everything else.
But that's what I'm trying to say. I go by
what is hot, what is good, and it doesn't have
to make sense. It'll makes sense after I make it
make sense. I think like that, like it don't happen.
If you listen to my show on Serious Sex, Some
Fly the Block Party, you hear Young and Me and
(14:24):
here Al Green. After you hear, you know what I'm saying,
Like you never know what you're gonna hear, And that's
what makes it so so.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You know, you're you're like the king of the mashup
to me marrying you know, worlds of stuff. So what
do you consider like your signature mix that that is exclusively,
exclusively yours, And what do you consider the mix that
like the first time he did it, the entire crowd
(14:58):
with ape shit, like what the.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Fuck is that we could go? We go up to
something the way you make me feel with the piece
of President that changed the whole Army be game. Now
you had to make bondb records with Breakbeast.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
That's how Mary and all these things came about because
nobody heard it that way before, you know what I'm saying,
and it just changed the whole game.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
So that was one of the things. But there's so
many things.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Let me just let our listeners know that yes, both
and Mary credit you when they heard that Stephanie Mills
something the way you make me feel a cappella, which
is unusual to be on a twelve inch like you know,
the idea of an R and B a cappella.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
At that time, right, very unusual.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So instantly, I you know, we're sparks going on in your head,
Like yo, what the hell, like I can do anything
with this or the.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Full circle was when me and Stephanie did it live.
I remember you came with the me ucl kid.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
I was hip hop.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Tell that story of how you got something to do
it with you.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
What happened was I've been doing Indiana Black Explode with
Ann Paris, the promoter for twenty something years every year.
An Paris now manages Stephanie Mills, so I was doing
a show for him out there in Indiana. He told
Stephanie Mills the story about what I did with the record,
(16:18):
and he had her coming to Indiana without me knowing.
So I was on stage, she was right there and he' said, yo,
little steph, I bought Stephi out here for you.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
I was like talking about she came out. I never
met her.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
She didn't know nothing about what was going on until
we told her she had this big shit reck. She
knew what her record was to her, but in the
street she had no idea what was going on. So
when we did it then, it wasn't rehearsed. Like I said,
I never met her. It was my first time meeting
up and we did that shit on the spot. And
if you remember, she was going to keep going, and
(16:56):
I stopped. I said, that's it, that's all I need.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
I'm good.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
I felt like be stopping up and it being short
would make more of an impact than me having to
do the whole thing. That's just the way I thought
at the time. But just her being there with me
and seeing a visuated. When I touched your heart, I
know I did something when you when you rolled up
on me a jazzy Jeff's cuip. He was like, okay,
that right there. When you said that, I was like, yeah,
(17:22):
I did something.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Questions reserve. You don't say too much, you know, so
if you say something.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It's like, I'm excited about stuff. I'm excited about stuff.
What would you consider you're what's a hard market? Have
you ever met a marketplace in which they're like.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Like down South for instance?
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Really every crowd I get into, I whip it down.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
That's what I do, no matter where it's at, no
matter what what the situation is. Because my whole attitude was,
know what's going on in that city that city. Don't
care about what's going on in New York. They care
about what's going on in that city. So find a
DJ that's there. Find out what's going on, and when
he when he tells you what's going on, you know
what's going on. Bringing that DJ out, show the respect
(18:13):
to that DJ and put him on stage and let
everybody know this is just this city's DJ. You know
what I'm saying. You were a guess in their house.
And with that, all the information from different places were
coming to me. I would stay on top of what's
going on over here, what's going on with this side
of the country.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
I was. It was just the way I did things.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
And with me doing that, with me going to experience
it and do it, it made me learn how to
stay do it everywhere else.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
So I never had a.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
Got booed, never a crowd walked out on me, never
been a thing where people wasn't happy or somebody says
some crazy shit in the crowd or through something that
never been under that.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
It always been people happy. And I'm blessed.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
I'm very happy for that, very blessed in that way
for that to happen, because, like I said, I'm a
fan of it, and I know how I want to feel.
If I paid my money, I gotta drive to get there.
If I have a car, I gotta buy clothes to
wear to be there. I gotta pay to get in.
I gotta buy drinks. If somebody's gonna buy them a
(19:11):
drinking I'm mor.
Speaker 6 (19:12):
I might have had to hire a babysit or something too,
Like you.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Know what all these things I got to do because
kicking freeze in the building. How do I not get
the best I can get it? You know what I'm saying?
Like I think like that. And then there's a reverse
two way. People don't think about what you had to
do to get to the event. If you had traffic,
lost your bags, you know, did you eat? Are you sick?
Do you feel? All they do is the end RESULTE
(19:35):
I wanted, I want my show. I went what I
paid for. I paid for that. They don't know nothing,
So it works both ways.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
There is a moment in two thousand.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
There was a moment in two thousand and five in which,
for the very first time, I played the horn intro
to Troy and I didn't get that scream yeah, like
you know what happens when you play that intro when
you used to play the intro, Like the choice is
yours and you know for the longest, Like one of
(20:06):
my signature things would be like play Troy right after
like scenario who's that ramp in a place like start
high fiving and crying and hugging. And there was a
moment where that didn't happen and I was like, oh shit,
I gotta adjust it and adjust fact like I never
(20:27):
had a quiet Troy moment in my life. How long
did it take you to really truly adjust to be
in an open format DJ and like embrace things because
you know, as open minded as I would like our
listeners to think I am. You know, and I've explained
(20:49):
this before on the show that as an individual course,
we know that we have our opinions of what good
music is and what bad music is. But then as
a DJ, I have opinion on what is effective for
my DJ set and not effective for my DJ set,
And oftentimes with those four things good, bad, effective, non effective,
(21:10):
Like what's effective for my DJ sets now is stuff
that I personally wouldn't listen to, but I know works
for my set. Right, So you know, there's like maybe
a year or two where I just wrestled with damn,
do I just or do I just like fight and
only play to my audience? Like?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
How long did it take you.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
To just start adjusting to a new atmosphere and new generations.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
There's plenty of records I hate that I play that
only but it's not about me, you're saying, it's about
that boom and you know, so that right there automatically
makes you know that you have to step out of
your own personal feeling and adjust to what they want,
(21:59):
because that's the end result. A lot of DJ sometimes
they missed the mark because they feel like they don't
like this record, so it shouldn't be played at the
end of the day. You know, Like I said that
stuff that I might play that I don't. I don't
really care for much to but I see, but I'll
see a crowd go crazy to it, and it'll make
(22:20):
me like it. I might not even like the song
the first but once I see a crowd lose it,
lose it to it, it'll make me say, all right, well,
I could adjust to it all.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
You know, it will make me lacking in some kind
of way.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
But let me ask you, and I'll let's use an
example from twenty five years ago, so you don't have
to be like now, like man, fuck ice, spice or whatever.
I don't know, is there an album. That is there
a song that you acknowledge as a classic now that
(22:50):
maybe twenty five years ago you were like, I'm not
feeling this like it took you long to like adjust
to it.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Biggie Biggie Biggie. You don't like half the times loved it.
I hated the hook.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
You known mean it was a smart hook.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
I hated the hook at first. At first, I couldn't
stand the hook. Biggie Biggie Biggie. I just couldn't stay.
I just didn't like it. But the record was dope.
The loop, you know.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
You know what I'm saying. The record was dope.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
So and then after I guess you hear it a
certain way, I didn't you start like Then after a
while I was like, ah yeah. But at first it
was like, damn All should have did a different hook.
But I was wrong.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
It was effective.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
It was effective, you know.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
It was sometimes a lot of times I guess what's
going to be a hit.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
But you know, I'm not a robot.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
Sometime I missed you know what I'm saying, or you know,
I like listen, but sometimes I missed it. You see
what it is, you know, But me and you would
have never made a Laughy Taffy beat. We would have
never wrote that, not that it's bad for them, we
would have never did that.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
We would have probably passed it on it.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
But look front of it on Laughy Taffy for its
initial run.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
Right, and it's a classic.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
When I was gonna say I played Laughing Taffy the
first time I did the goal party for the Carters,
I was like, all right, let me reach into my
second generation Southern bag that I would have otherwise ignored
on my own gigs, right, and just the way that
they were going to ape shit about it, I was like, yo,
I was wrong.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
Like if I played Laughy Taffy the snock records, they lose,
they got theirn mind. It don't matter what age it is,
you know what I'm saying, because it was just that
time and moment.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
And most dance records like that, boarded down records for
some reason, it just works.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Or you went there briefly.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
But of course your tenure with I mean, would you
consider yourself a Juice Cup member or no?
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Okay, I just saw cold Chilling Bear's got me.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
Granddaddy, I you and business brother Domonchelle a production Uh.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
He had a production deal. And it was crazy.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Because when Ben's got me that day, I wasn't even
looking for our deal. I wasn't even thinking about our deal.
And remember I was leaving studio fifty four. Bez pulled
up on me with the car right on the corner
and he said, OK, we'll get you out and deal.
I said, shut up, shut up. So then one day
he came in. They seen me on a rutker. Matter
of fact, the day that he pulled up on me
a rutcker, he said, kid, come here, cook here, I'm
(25:32):
gonna show you something. And he played you, god, what
our seal beers you bucket? You really gonna put this out?
That's what I said, you really gonna put this out?
Speaker 4 (25:42):
He was like what what? And he put the record out.
We on tour, We go crowd losing their bodies.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
I was playing, yo, pull it off, and it worked
and he got me by deal. Like I said, even
worked the deal. You gotta be the deal because I
was hot. He could have gave that deal to anybody
else that was a real rapper.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
You know what I'm saying. I was robbing on the
record of the tape.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
So I was trying to be a rapper, like even
with bib about right now, I'm not trying to be
a rap on stage.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
I just want for music in the world. But at
the time, you.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Know, he could have gave that to somebody that really
really was good, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
But he he you know, he really gave it to
be And I've always gonna be a dead or to day.
I really appreciated that.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
You know, have you dj' for I don't want to
say a pedestrian rapper, but I mean, I know you
are Kick Capri like you DJ your own, but have
you done any any tenures with like at NMC that
needs like I know a few times like Biggie. We'll
go back and forth on DJ's and whatnot.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Pinny me Joy was me and rock Kim did this tour.
Oh okay, this was a crazy tour me and rock
Kim did. When I went on tours Salt Pepper, That's right,
you were DJ DJ for Salt Pepper, DJ for KIPT
played the very first tour the Public Getting Be Greatest
Hip Hop Show tour.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
It was thirteen groups on that tour. I was helping
him on that, but.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
I never really played behind a lot of people KRS
one of course, but not really a whole lot of
people because people always looked at me as a one
man band. I guess, I guess that's what it is.
I guess the perception is that he didn't he don't
want to play for nobody behind you know, behind nobody.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
So but yeah, but.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
When I went on tour with them, I didn't play
behind him. But I went on tour with them as
a matter of fact. But Jennifer Lopez, she wanted to
be behind it. Like there's a lot of people that
reached out. It just didn't work out because of the time.
I felt like if me and Kendrick Lamar would have
went on tour together, you know the Political Ward album
you put me on ask the only hip hop album
want the Polical Water.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Deeply Gready put me in voice. He put my voices
in place around the country I've never been to. So
I'm deeply and grady for that, grateful for that and
loved the fact that he did that.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
And when I was in the studio with my ass
and I said, Yo, you could have got DJ Battlecat
or you know, DJ Pooh. These dudes A legends, you
could have got them on the album The West Coast,
you know. He was like, yo, I love the dudes
and everything. He was like, but I know what you
did for the music business. I know what you did
for DJs.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
I know what you did. I wanted that authenticity on
this album. I was like, Wow, he really knew who
he was, so I didn't have to really explain that.
He would have got it and he put me on
that album.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
And how crazy was the effect afterwards?
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Amazing? Man, I couldn't believe it. It was like it
was crazy, you know.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
And keep in mind he brought me to There might
be kids that don't know about kicking. Pree never had
any kicking pre spad. I don't know nothing about me.
He brought me to those people, you know what I'm saying.
Like I said, he put my voices in countries I
never been to. It's the Poliza album like it never
no ever, no other hip hop album ever in history.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
This is a milestone. So she could have did so
much more, like going on toward with each other. And
he didn't need me, of course, because you know he
is what he did been me and him together just
doing certain things it would have been, it'd have been special.
So but like I said, he's already special, So it
was all good.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Cake.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
You talking about your transition into the production game.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
I was always making beats. My first album that Biz
got me. It says biz production. Biz produced it. But
I produced the album Being Coolie. And then I produced
the soundtrack the Streets album with Jay and did that
whole album. And then I just did this album that
the Love Album, The Love Album in the pandemic. I'm
seeing a lot of ship to stuff that I was
(29:38):
a lot of agree with it. I said, you know what,
let me just do something different and I won't slack
key and came out good. I recorded it, goveled my
hair on my shoulders and said keep going. So I
just said him doing the album, I put slack key
out of How did I get the response? I want
to dabble with a never see the out light a day,
But it was good response and I put down the mouth.
Great response and have a guy work complained about it.
A lot of different artists snoopid, different people will call congratulated.
(30:01):
Nobody seen this coming because of robbing on it. My
last album is twenty four years ago. You know, music
business is different. I had everything against me with this album,
but I didn't I didn't care about that. I just
wanted to put it out, and you know, it worked out.
But yeah, it's gotta keep going with it.
Speaker 7 (30:17):
I wanted to ask you, particularly about Nothing Belove Heavy,
du Do you remember what do you remember about that
session working with him?
Speaker 5 (30:25):
Nothing Beloved was a different beat, and when we were
in the studio, I just said it didn't match what
I was trying to do with him. So I changed it,
and I went in my bag and pulled out the
eight Games and put the A Games on the band,
put the drums, and then he caught right his block
and he couldn't write. He couldn't write, so did so
(30:48):
I wrote to half. I wrote half of the second verse,
and I wrote I wrote half of the second version.
I wrote the last verse, and then we end up
doing the record and then the c CNY tragedy happened.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
But the nine people died. One of my friends, Jule,
he was one of the people that passed away.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
You were there at TCN one No, my daughter's mother,
she was there.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
She was putting bodies out. She pulled father MC's daughter's
mother father MC's girl who was pregnant at the time,
and she passed away. She pulled her out. Oh no, wow, yeah,
you my friend.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
He was the only dude there was only there's only
two castles in New York, one of Yonder's, one on
my block and my block kings with Terraces, where they
made the movie The Wanderer was at. So you look,
if you wish to watch the movie The Waders, you'll
see my block. The wrong king was Terrice. This capsule
he lived in. He was twenty five years old. Ever
had sex. He was waited until you had the a
wife before he had sex. And he was killed in
(31:44):
this CCN wide thing. And I remember Heavy d had
to show with the Garden and he was because he
had something to do with the event. He just wasn't there,
but he was one of the promoters and he had
explained it and he was like, yo, I'm not going
to take responsibility, but I feel bad of what happened.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Tell everybody back.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
I beloved for the crowd, and he dropped up beloved
and the crowd lost their Goddamn.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
I was standing right that or the stage. The crowd
lost it. That's what I do.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
I gave it his last hit is a big hit.
That was his biggest that was his last hit record
before he passed away.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Damn, I know you did that. Damn that's crazy.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
The first time I saw you spend, you would come
to the event with like at least eight crates, fifteen
the level yep that I've never seen, the dizzying level
of how you would organize records or whatever.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
That's why with Jeff Jazzy, Jeff would try to convince
me to be on Serato and.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
That was hard to make that transition.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (32:53):
I like the fact that I had fifteen crates and
I would wanted to crate catch the record at the
last second it dropped the needle way and it just
looked crazy to the crowd. So I thought if I
got rid of that and went to the computer, it
wouldn't be that same excitement. And Jeff will always say, Okay, got.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
It, go on the computer. You got to do. You
know what I'm saying. Savado shit.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
So you relate to the Serado game.
Speaker 5 (33:16):
Oh yeah, okay, I ain't started Surroado game this whole
six so death Comedy Jam came back and Mike EPs
was host, and they asked me if I will produce
the beats on Deaf Comedy Jam because they didn't want
to clear the death Jam records right, So I produced
all the beats that how do I play? Put it
in Soroader. I put the beats of Sovado and I
(33:37):
did the show. Then I started putting the break piece
of Soroader. Now I put the reggae records. Now I
put the old for reggae. Next thing, you know, every
day was a Soroado. Got read the records and now
I was good. And then I see the crowds and
in my show still reacting the same way when I
had the records, So I was good.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
How irksome is it for you to watch any of
the retro Deaf Comedy Jam shows? And like, for me,
the best part of the show is when you start
doing the ll breakdown thing. And you know, of course
when it came on DVD and now that it's streaming
(34:15):
and even on YouTube, you know, they put like interstitial
music over it, like so you're trying to imagine what
they're dancing to you.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
I can't stand it. I hate it. I hate it's
it's it's the claims is it's the money, it's you know,
it's a lot of money.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
You would think that they death jam records. It would
be all right for deaf comedy jam to playing.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
But I thought that way. They don't go that way.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
It's whoever was a publisher. You know, you got to
go through all that ship. And some people are just beaty.
Some people want what they want and they don't see
the bigger picture, so they're eliminated. I was making the
beats and you got gut around it.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
I was going to say, there's there's one comedian that I,
if I recall correctly, like he made you part of
the act.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
This brother named Talent. It's just come.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
That's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
But Talent would do this thing where he would have
a scenario and needed a soundtrack to it, and he
would have you play the record and then he would
do the scenario. All right, we wand we want to
kick it all right now, this scenario is blah blah blah,
and I can never find and it's one of the
funniest things ever. And I wish I could find that original.
But because of music clearance issues, you know, people don't.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
Get so much footage from us on the road. Me
and Bernie. Bernie was like my uncle.
Speaker 5 (35:34):
Bernie mack was like my uncle like like like this,
like so I got so much footage of me and
him and Bill Bellamy and Chris Tucker and Eddie Griffith,
all of us.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
Man, just on the road and just different funny things. Man.
Speaker 5 (35:51):
This dude, Bernie mack Man was funny all day long. Man,
just all who would be on the tour bus. He'll
wake up and put us scotty cap on and he'll
have you laughing, just laughing all the way into the
time to do the show.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Then he'll go and host the show.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Tear that down, get back on the tour was put
the scotty cap on with the hind again and have
him laugh.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
Until you fall asleep. And then he messes with the
bus driver just where the bus driver got pulled over because.
Speaker 6 (36:18):
He laughed in his ass long.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
This dude was just all day you just look at
him and just laugh. He just it was amazing in
that way. It was, you know, he was one of
them dudes. It was sad to see him go too,
you know, but all them, all those everybody got tour
with everybody that was on that show, they all my
extended family.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
Man, we all did something. We did something great together,
you know what I'm saying, and it really touched people.
Like every time we sold out somewhere, you just see
the people just smiling and happy, and you know that
was that was the most thing for me.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
How many, how much good times.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
It was never a threat where you had to worry
about crime going on, to somebody getting hurt or shot
of a fight breaking out.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
It was always fun, laughing and it was dope. Was dope.
Speaker 6 (37:01):
I was going to ask you about just the Master
of the Mix.
Speaker 7 (37:03):
Man. It was a while back, but I really enjoyed
that show, and uh, I want to just ask you
about just kind of what that experience was like getting acting,
I guess as a as a judge and judging other DJs. Man,
how was that experience?
Speaker 4 (37:17):
It was dope. I was always like the cyb of Cow.
I was very serious.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
I was really.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
Straight because I had to worry about the reason why
I was so serious was because they had to worry
about our credentials. I had to worry about, you know that,
because they had to worry about I wanted to be truthful,
you know, sound show, no favoritism. I didn't want to
show like I didn't know what I was talking about
or you know, any of that. I wanted to be
what it was and it worked out. We was on
for two seasons on BT and then we was on
(37:46):
one season of VH one. My me, personally, I think
they should have kept that show going. You know, I
know what issues they had, but they should have kept
that show going because what it did you have? It
was like Mel Starting you see right now, have Mel
Starting not been on that show. We don't know if
we've seen him as quick as we did, but because
he was on that show and he's super talented, so
(38:09):
that show got a chance to to, you know, show
the world who these dudes are. The same way in
Death Comedy Jam. Remember before Death Comedy Jam was Richard Pryor,
Red Fox Andeddie Murphy. You know, a couple of other
dudes sprinkle here for comedy. You if you didn't, it
wasn't them dudes, you you know. So when we got
Deaf Comedy Jam, we displayed all this plethors of all
(38:31):
these different people. Now it became bigger. And that's the
same thing with Master the mix. It was all these
different DJs, Chris Carr and you know Jco. All these
dudes do are readers now, you know what I'm saying
because of that show. Being on that show, so it
was definitely a dope show. They definitely should have Capten.
They some things I would have changed around. I'd have
changed some things around. I ain't think that I didn't
(38:51):
really agree with yeah, but you know, it is what
it is. And then I was on another show.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Did you know?
Speaker 4 (38:56):
I was on a Growing Up pip hop? I missed
that one now about doing it? And I did that
because yeah, I only did one season, only did one season.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
I was out, I'm not speaking of which. Talk about
u Ena.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
First of all, I'm surprised we got through this whole
episode without any jokes of me taking your last name.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Love is actually your last name, correct.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
The real last name is by the name of album
is called The Love.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Of Course Love.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Yeah, Well, talk about what it's like like collaborating with
your daughter and now that she has has, you know,
planted her seeds and and is starting her story right now,
Like what what is that?
Speaker 3 (39:38):
What is that like for you to see her? Karen
on the Legacy.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
At first, you know, I know the music business, I
know what's in the music business.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
I know everything. And normally you don't want your kid
in that, you know what I'm saying. You don't want
them to go through certain d But the way she
grew up, how was she showed me how she handled herself,
how she do things.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
She has a skin for it. Now did she have
the talent for it? Didn't know.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
And I wasn't gonna push her off on people just
because she's my daughter. She had to prove to me
that she really could do a thing. And she came
to me with this record where she did mind his
best to be over with her little boyfriend at the time,
and the record was dope. But that she did a
record that she wrote for Rihanna called Air that never
got to Riana, and she end up recording to herself
and that's when the one I was like, Okay, she's ready,
(40:33):
And from there on she'd been moving there. But how
she carry herself, how she treats people, the smiles she
keep on her face, how she talk, the way she
look at stuff.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
She's just like me.
Speaker 5 (40:42):
She is she she respects what it is. And then
she see how her father moved. That's another day. She
see how father moved, how different people treat me, you know,
and it makes it automatically molds your child when they
see it. When they around the experience said, they always
home with it. Now around to see things that they
don't go with it. They go with but when they
(41:04):
get a chance to really see everything, it kind of
mows them. And that's what happens. She really know what
she's doing, and she's talented. She really works hard. It's
more of the talent. She really really works hard, you know.
And I just wanted her to really just be happy
and and all she's happy.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
That's it, you know.
Speaker 5 (41:22):
This music business, like I said, you let it get
to you, it will, you know. And sometimes things don't
work out the way you want when you wanted to
work out, you know. And that's a part of growing,
that's a part of that's the part of appreciating the journey,
you know.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
Matt.
Speaker 7 (41:37):
I always wanted to ask you one of my favorite
intros of all time to an album is off Sex
and Violence BDP.
Speaker 6 (41:45):
Do you remember like where y'all was y'all recorded that
when you recorded man, whoops right?
Speaker 3 (41:54):
I always thought y'all did that on purpose to make
it like that's how parties are, Like, what was it to.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
Get another album?
Speaker 6 (42:01):
It's very the very first joint with him and Freddy Fox.
Uh nice, this movie got.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Right. I was on it. I wasn't on that.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Nah, you're on that.
Speaker 6 (42:13):
At the end, ladies and gentlemen give it off with
my motherfucking man whoops and the record stops. It's like, oh,
y'all know where they come from, blowing up on the
parties and all that. Right, My people go back.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
To it goes duck down, go back and check that.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
No, that's I love that ship.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Yeah, you know, so like for you, and I know
it's a cliche to ask, but like, you know, being
as though this is hip hop's fiftieth year and Jeff
always jokes with me that no one's going to celebrate
the fifty first, so we got to celebrate it now.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Yeah, for you, you know, is there anything that.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
You you've yet to check off in in your bucket
list that you haven't achieved yet?
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Like, you know, what were you like to see the
culture go or for you to do or or do
you just you know want to stop and chill and
you know.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
But I'll tell you this, well.
Speaker 5 (43:17):
The one thing I haven't got a chance to do
as many things as I did was sell a platinum
album or sell a gold album. You know, I only
had three albums in my career. Making records never been
my bread and butter. I do it because I want
to do it, you know what I'm saying. But I
the Love album, it has so many layers to it.
My mother's on the funck covered with the big as
(43:39):
for my daughter's on the record. I produced every day,
wrote everything. I didn't runner any artists it's hot, say
you'll come get on my ship to sell it or
none of that. I did everything myself. There's so many
layers to it. And I didn't put it out for
it to go platinum gold. I'll put it out to
put something in the world, but I would like to
see it really do good. I would like to see
the world hit this album and really, I'm saying, and
(44:01):
just absorb it because I haven't got a bad complain.
Speaker 4 (44:03):
One time since I put it out. You know, the
Internet they're gonna say whatever they want. I haven't got
one of those yet, not one, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
So with that being said, the frustraight part for me
is that I know everybody hasn't heard it. I know
everybody don't know what's dead. There's people that come to
me right now. I remember when you had your two
albums out, you didn't hear the third one, like you know,
that's how I know. It's like, you know, that's the
frustraight part.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
But only I follow you on I G and during
the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
You know, you didn't even know it was in the room,
watching in the studio making your beats and as you
were making the record and whatnot. So you know, it's
finally good to see the fruition of it. Your mom
actually has a hugemongous afro yo like yes up.
Speaker 4 (44:47):
She was definitely definitely big on her and.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Her last name is Love. I might be a long
lost cousin. I don't know, it might be exactly brother,
Thank you man.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
You know I got to see very briefly at the
at LL's Rock the Bells Festival, which was really like
a kind of amazing family reunion. Like to be backstage
and literally there's an era of hip hop that I've
yet to meet, So, you know, to be backstage and
(45:20):
you're seeing like the Fearless four and and the Fantastic
Romantic five and the Cold Crush Brothers, and.
Speaker 4 (45:29):
Yeah, we're about the experience because I was about to
the Yankee Stadium for the second time, or the level
of the hip hop day the Yankee Stadium.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
Who's on that show me.
Speaker 5 (45:39):
Snoop Nas whiskedly for one, DMC, Fat Joe, Ace Boogie,
a whole bunch of other people.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
So hip hop's is coming to the Bronx.
Speaker 4 (45:51):
Coming to the hometown, coming to the hometown and smash
it down.
Speaker 5 (45:54):
The first time I did Yankee standion was when I
did it for Nelson Mandela when he came out of
jail right a celeb for me, Yank saying me and
car West went and did it, and that was that
was a milestone. So we're back again and I'm gonna
come in just do my thing. I'mna pull off something
special too. When I pull out this thing that would
pull out, it's going to shake the room. So I'm hoping, yeah,
(46:16):
but it's gonna be dope. Thank you, stading home man.
I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Ladies and gentlemen, kick Capri on quest left Supreme. Thank
you man for everything.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
Thank you, Thank you man straight.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
You know you you your your tapes have entertainment. I've
seen you many times like rock shows. I took notes
and you know you've been nothing but but genuine and
really really kind of and and dope to me. Any
nerdy questions I had over the years, You've answered them.
And I thank you for that, and thank you for
doing our show man.
Speaker 4 (46:48):
Thank you for having me. Man.
Speaker 6 (46:50):
I got a chance to see you.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (46:51):
This was in Toronto some years back. We were opening.
Me and Knife were opening for you and rock Kim.
You were spending for rock Yim in Toronto and that
was one of the best.
Speaker 6 (47:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we opened up. It was it wasn't
a little brother, It was just me.
Speaker 7 (47:05):
I was doing my solo record at the time, and
Night for spending for me and so and but we
opened up for rock him and Kid and masterclass Man.
Speaker 6 (47:14):
It was just I was just sitting backstage taking notes.
Speaker 4 (47:16):
So thank you for everything, brother, for I appreciate that.
Little brother. You gotta come out another joint, need another joint.
Speaker 6 (47:22):
Oh No, we're working.
Speaker 3 (47:23):
We're working, brother, We're working well on behalf of Sugar Steven.
It was the quietest episode of Quest Love Supreme ever,
I wonder why.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
I'm just enjoying the quiet, man, enjoying the quiet. Yeah, kay, Capri,
thank you for repping New York so well all these years.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
And New Jersey. Hey man, it's the box.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Yeah, so be Ava and Sugar Steve and paid Bill
and this is quest Love and the great legendary kick
a Pree of course, Love Supreme. Shout out to Brittany
and Jake holding us down and our good friends at iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
And we'll see you on the next go round, all right,
Peace West. Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. For
(48:35):
more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Laiya St. Clair
Questlove
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