Questlove Supreme: Kurtis Blow

Hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow stops by to talk to Questlove and Team Supreme about his unique place in music history as rap’s first superstar.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of Iheartradiopreama.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Some Supreme roll Suprema Son Supremo roll call Suprema So
some Supremo role called Suprema Some Suprema roll call.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
I had a brilliant roll call for Curtis Blow, but
for some reason, you ain't never going to know it.
Come on, Bri.

Speaker 4 (00:32):
Supremo roll came Supreme Sun, Son Supremo roll call.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
My name is Sugar.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, I love you all. Yeah, but once and for all. Yeah, baseball.

Speaker 5 (00:46):
Supreme Rome Supremo Sun some Supremo roll coming off the cuff.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, rubber words in English.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
So why does it happen to be so.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
Damned Supremo Supremo roll call Suprema Son some Supremo.

Speaker 6 (01:09):
Roll em Yeah what curd is blown?

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:14):
If your hip hop, yeah you should already know.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Oh, come Bramo Son the Son Supremo ro come Prema.

Speaker 7 (01:23):
Can't believe my man Premo roll call one two three
four hit it yeah now yeah, I'm gonna spit it.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
S Subpremo roll come Surema Son Son Supremo.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Roh, Come Subramo Son.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
Son Supremo roll Come Subramo some some Supremo roll.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Ladies and gentlemen, this is of course Love Supreme. I
forgot the name of my own show. We are at iHeartRadio.
Thank you very much. We're here with Team Supreme. Unpaid
Bill and here is not here. You are not a
pay bill, you are a boss Bill. Wow. I knew
what I was saying. I knew. I was just testing

(02:13):
to see if you knew who you were. Of course
we got a Sugar Steve and we have a laya
with us on paid Bill right.

Speaker 6 (02:21):
Now is doing his thing and Broadway.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, yeah, whenever, whenever he's hit on Broadway, he don't
have time for us. No more, ladies and gentlemen, plain
and simple. You know you hear of kings and pioneers
and people bragging about their status in this culture. I'm
sure you, ladies and gentlemen, that the gentleman that we're
about to introduce is literally the pioneer of this amazing

(02:48):
art form that has made trillions of dollars. What can
I say? First rapper on a major label, first rapper
to get a gold plaque, first rapper to cover a song,
first rapper to make a love ballot, uh, first rappor
to tour overseas. I mean his production credits looming large.

(03:09):
I mean, for God's sakes, he produced the record that
was Jay Z's very first purchase of a full hip
hop album. Speaking of the Fat Boy's debut, I mean,
through this man like this is how we know he was.
He was the entry of Russell Simmons into the world
of Run, into the world of Full Force, into the
professional world of Alison Williams, of the Great Unhurled Larry Smith,

(03:33):
and his production credits. The aforementioned Fat Boys, not to mention,
gave Salaam Remy his first.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Start in production.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Oh yes, a yeah, fourteen year old. Yes do we do?
We do our homework. Not to mention, Uh what I what?
I credit as one of the rare legit hip hop
movies about hip hop culture. This man is starred in
as a political activist working with the anti apartheid Sun
City Project. Not to mention organizing the King Celebrate holiday.

(04:06):
There's so many, so many credits. Oh Jesus, for a
lot of us are entry to Bob Dylan, right and
if our culture this dude, Yes, I'm pointing to the
one and only first rapper on Soul Tree. You know,
Soul tree means everything to me. Ladies and gentlemen. I'm
so honored to have on Quest Love Supreme, the one

(04:28):
and only Curtis Blue.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
It's a Quest Love Supreme. Thank you, Thank you.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Man. Uh, this is a long time coming. We have
a gazillion questions. This this is like a this show
is such a it's nerd out culture going awry. So
it's just just bear with us. If we asked too
many nerdy questions that that.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Intro was so incredible, I mean you kind of like
had me shook there. I didn't know. It's so much stuff.
I'm here like, yeah, wait a minute, I'm remembering things.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
We're we're literally about giving flowers where they're due.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, there's so much more that you're doing. I've been
known to make like fifteen minute intros and then it's
time to go grand opening grand clues, right, So what
I really this is this is like one of our
first chances to interview someone that was there for the
beginning of hip hop culture before it came a professional business.

(05:33):
So I have so many questions about it's starting its
formation in the Bronx to like the parties and all
those things. Well, for those that don't know that, listen
to us that are that are younger, where were you born?

Speaker 1 (05:46):
I was born and raised in Harlem.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Okay, Harlem Okay, Yes, yes, sir, So could you give
us kind of I guess a prototypical idea of what
the environ was when hip hop was just a local
block party thing, when it was just yes, you know,
like on a Saturday, let's let's pick a Saturday in

(06:09):
nineteen seventy eight, before it was a business. Oh man,
what was? What was? You'd probably go back before.

Speaker 8 (06:15):
Suddenly it's really amazing and it's a story that you know,
the energy and the vibe and the spirit that was
going around New York City the Five Boroughs during that
time was something that's so hard to explain.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
You really had to be there to really understand that
energy that was happening. See, we were all like a
group of people who understood and really related and loved
this culture way before it became a culture. So it
was just like something new that we were trying to

(06:55):
do and represent. Of course, you had disco on this
side defense and then you had R and B soul music,
and most of us grew up on soul music, and
we love James Brown and the Motown sound and the
Isisley Brothers and all of that stuff and soul music.
We started playing soul music when disco became the most

(07:19):
prominent thing that you heard on the radio. But if
you remember the Motown sound that we grew up on
in the sixties, the snare drum, we're talking music theory now.
The snare drum was on the one, two, three, and
the four pop pop popp babe babe baby, you know,
and and and then disco comes out and it went

(07:40):
back to the same four on the floor of the
floor talking about the kick drum, right, the boom boom
boom boom, So that beat for us wasn't like James Brown,
because James Brown, in between disco and motown, had a
musical revolution with the sound that we call boom bat

(08:01):
So the boom bat boom baps, boom bat bat syncopated rhythms,
syncopated rhythms, and the drummer, you know, Clyde Stubberfield, was incredible.
So as kids, when we heard this new sound, we
were like, we lost our minds. Everybody wanted to be
James Brown and dance like him, and uh, that's when

(08:22):
we started going down to the floor whenever we heard
the break, because the break of the music was the
most important part of the song. That's when everyone did
their best dance moves. That's when we created the circle.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
So people just literally wanted to wait for the breakdown, like, Okay,
that's what it was five, that's what it was.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
Really going to get crazy, and I'm talking in nineteen
seventy two, seventy three. Okay, So here comes Cool Herk,
the DJ who understood this that the break was so
very important, and we were B boys and B girls
because we danced to the breaks that Cool Herk would play,
and he would play these funky, incredible songs like give
It Up a Turn It Loose, or getting into Something

(09:01):
by the Isley Brothers, or or Listen to Me by
Baby Huey or Jimmy Cast has Just Begun, the Mexican
you know, the Melting Pot Apache, you know all these
incredible songs. They were soul music, but they were fast
and it was the same kind of tempo as disco music.

(09:21):
It was dance music. I call it obscure dance music.
It was funk, and we just lost our minds. So
we represented and created those circles around us, just like
Saturday Night Fever, you know the movie with John Travolta
with the white suit on. He creates this circle around
him and pretty soon somebody comes in the circle and
they do a competition and a battle, and the winner

(09:44):
of that competition was the most popular guy. He was
the hero of the story, right, And so that's what
happened at the Cool Hurt clubs around twelve one o'clock
in the morning, he played this give It Up a
turn and Loose, and everybody was standing around waiting for
the break. When that break came, we went off. And
that was hip hop the first early days of hipek God.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Now for that particular record that you gave an example
of give It Up for Turn It Loose, which that
particular recording was made in nineteen sixty nine. So even
though James Brown himself was trying to keep up with
the trends of the day and make disco records, you're
basically saying that you guys never left those records alone.
So a song like Get on the Good Foot still

(10:32):
had life way beyond it's nineteen seventy two release, like
It's still was something in seventy four, seventy five, seventy six,
as long as it had a funk break. So did
you guys look at the commercial music at the time
as kind of like how we look at modern pop
radio now, Like I don't listen to that. I listened
to No, it was cool.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
It was cool. It was a you know, we you know,
we listened to it. It was on the radio, but
somebody was break dancing to like Stevie Wonder's Eye wi
you know. No, it was more like you know, the
village people, why and Okay? So like the commercial disco stuff, okay,
down a summer and stuff like that, We're like, yo,
we want James Brown, you know what I mean. So,

(11:12):
so the hip hop became that rebellion to disco. I
call it, you know, ghetto disco.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Okay for those that have been collecting tapes and really
keeping up in sort of the early formation of what
hip hop was. The role that MC was once the
co star to who the DJ was so right, can
you what I want to know is and I've heard
like some of these like DJ Hollywood tapes right where

(11:43):
in my mind he had an endless vocabulary, an endless
combination of rhymes that came up nowhere. Now, I mean
most of them season I know, really have a good
fifteen to twenty minute repertoire before they run out of
space and steam. And you know, I don't know to do,
but he's his things seemed endless. Like who was who

(12:04):
in your mind were like the top five? First of all,
who was the one? Was Hollywood? The pioneer of the
call and response rhyming k at least in the hip
hop sins? I know, there's Jocko Henderson and all that
stuff back, yeah, of course, of course, but who was
in terms of hip hop? Was DJ Hollywood?

Speaker 1 (12:23):
First?

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Like where does Hollywood? And Eddie Chiba and like all
these other mcs that really weren't making records.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
Okay, so after herk okay, you have to see there
there there were two different kinds of crowds. Okay, first
and foremost, you know Flash Grandmass and Flash calls him
to shoe people and the sneaker people one okay, you
know the sneaker people. You know, we partied at the

(12:50):
block parties and the community centers in the park jams
and and and and the the small around the way clubs,
you know, like three seventy one, Disco Fever up in
the Bronx and places like that. But you know, Grandmaster
Flash was so very important to this transition from the

(13:11):
DJ being the focal point of the party. He controlled
the music, He controlled the ambiance, he controlled the lights,
he controlled the tempo of the songs he was playing.
He hired, he hired and fired the mcs. The MCS
were first a diamond dozen't All we did was we
we we we went to the house and we got
the equipment and took the equipment to the gig and

(13:34):
set it up, and at the end of the night
we break it down and carry it back to the house.
And the DJ would let us in free, you know.
So that's your plus, that's your getting on the guest list.
And so you know, if we were nice to him,
or if he was nice to us and feeling good,
he would let us make announcements like, Yo, Joey, your
mom's outside is ten o'clock. You gotta go, you know,

(13:54):
sound okay, Sam, your car is getting.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Told, you know, right okay?

Speaker 1 (13:58):
And so Flag you know now herk played a whole song.
He had the most incredible playlist all the songs I named,
and they're about twenty five to thirty songs, maybe even
fifty soul music in a club. And so Flash understood
that the most important part of this song that he

(14:20):
played was the break, because he knew all the bee
boys would go down to the floor and start doing
their best moves. Everyone got crazy and started yelling and screaming,
you know when the break came. And so he wanted
to try to find a way to extend his break
because the break was only fifteen twenty seconds long. And
so he got two copies of the same record and
he started playing the break. Herk would play a whole

(14:44):
song and you have to stand up waiting for the
break to come. Right, Flash went there. He just started
the break at the top of the song, you know,
he played a break, and when it got to the
end of the break before the singing started coming back
in and he played the beginning of the break again.
So he actually extended this break and made it from

(15:08):
fifteen to twenty seconds to three four minutes. Right. So
we had to do more as MC's than make announcements.

Speaker 9 (15:17):
So I have a question at the time, what was
the transition? Because are people they are we scratching yet.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Right, he started scratching, and oh he was very very
fast because you had to go from one turntable to
the other to catch the beat before it ended and
got to the whack part, right, and so he extended
the break and.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
Right, listen to the show. He'll get mad.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yes the scratch, that's what I said, Yes, yes, we
love you. And so you know, it was like DJ's
like that. That gave us the opportunity to shine. So
we became like instead of standing on the side of
the turntables just making announcements, we went out front and
started rocking the crowd. And we had to do more,

(16:00):
so we started telling stories and rapping in rhythm and
you know, using crowd response, throw your hands in the
air and all of that stuff. And that's how you know,
it really came off. So Hollywood get into Hollywood. He
was a master at the crowd response, and he had
a Puerto Rican DJ by the name of DJ Junebuck

(16:22):
Rest in Peace and best DJ I ever saw in
my life. Very fast, accurate, would keep the beat going
for Hollywood, and he was just tearing it up. When
I saw Hollywood at this club three seventy one, It
blew my mind. I never knew that there was something
like this possible, you know, that a guy could just

(16:43):
take control of an audience and have them eating out
of the palm of his hands, just by the way
that he was rapping in rhythm. First time I ever
heard rhythmic rap was DJ Hollywood. You know, of course,
there are other MC's before him, like k C, the
Princess sould J you the disco King you had up
in the Bronx with HERK you had Cochlear Rock. He

(17:04):
was the first MC up in the Bronx rock and
just talking smack on the microphone, you know. But Hollywood
put it together with rhythmic chance like throw your hands
in the air and way if I'm like you just
don't care. And if you got on clean underwear, somebody
say oh yeah, oh yeah, everybody you gotta say, oh.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah, you know I got to I don't I'm commander. Yeah,
my mind got clean on the It's was that a
Eureka moment for you?

Speaker 1 (17:40):
Like it was a Eureka moment, you know, just seeing
HERK the first time I saw HERK it blew my mind,
just to the fact that he had this big, huge,
Mungo's sound system and he was playing these songs that
I grew up with that I just thought that, you know,
give it up a turn and Los it was my
favorite song, and he played it loud and everyone went crazy,

(18:04):
and then you had Grandmaster. Flash was another one blew
my mind with the speed on the turntables. This guy
had white gloves on with rings on and they were
just flashing, He's going to turntable. I saw him at
the Hotel Diplomat one time, and that was just amazing
to see how fast he was and keeping that beat going.
And it's real what we call turntableism. This evolution of

(18:27):
the turntable, the DJs and Flash gave us the opportunity
along with Hollywood. Everyone mimicked Hollywood when he came out.
He blew my mind as well.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
Did you guys ever venture out of the burrows? So
was there a thing of like you know, was touring
for you back then, like Okay, I'm gonna do a
party in Queen's Or would Long Island be a part
of this folklore as well? Staten Island even like new
or was just or even newer like whre or did
Burrells just like stick to themselves until rat became a business.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Well me, I was a traveler. I went from Harlem,
you know, I had fourteen years old fifteen years old
travel on that Number four train riding up to the Bronx,
you know, to check out cool heirk at the Executive Playhouse.
And they were scary. You know. That was during the
time when roots had came out Alex Alex Haley's roots, right,
and so there was a lot of that, you know,

(19:20):
right straight out of the Civil rights movement, and cats
were like feeling themselves. And there was a lot of
violence on that train, you know what I mean, a
lot of.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
People you risked everything just to see men. It was worth.
That's why I want to know what makes That's the
one the one thing I didn't have, Like I had
strict parents, right, were just like, no, you ain't going.
So whenever I hear like, uh, the generation after you
talk about the Latin quarter right, right, and I'm like, yo,
y'all could have y'all risking y'all lives to hear this,

(19:49):
like you might get stab shot, killed her.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
I don't know, but understand understand. There were so many
things going around in the community in New York City
that was happening during that time. And I'm telling you
hip hop was like a saveror you know, like like
you know, we had the gangs, the gangs like that
that movie The Warriors was real. There were a lot

(20:15):
of gangs. I remember running home from school, you know,
in the early early seventies, because all you had to
do is say they coming and were out, you know
what I mean, you know, going to the corner store
for my mom. It's like, yo, you want me to
go to store?

Speaker 3 (20:30):
Really, okay, I'm glad to know I'm not the only
one that would go crazy. And then you had for
toilet paper, and then then you had to map out.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
You had the drug wars of the Bronx and Harlem
coming out of the Frank Lucas story American gangster, right,
you know when he went to jail, and I think
it was nineteen seventy four seventy five, they had a
big drug war. Everybody was fighting for his territory. So
there were a lot of murders and gunshots and all
around people were just dropping like fly eyes, you know.

(21:02):
So it was kind of dangerous. It was dangerous living
during that time. So for me, you know, it was
my savior. I used to love to go to the
club and just you know, go to the speaker and
stick my head and the speaker and the base was
rumbling all the way through my toes and I just
closed that was worth it. I closed my eyes and

(21:22):
go off. And that's hip hop.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
He just told the story of the first time I
ever went to a club, Like everyone has put your
head in the speaker and it just changes your life. Yeah, yep.
What do you think hip hop culture would have been
if there was no blackout of nineteen seventy seven?

Speaker 1 (21:38):
At A lot of cats talk about that because a
lot of Equick equipment was obtained doing those years doing
that that that blackout nineteen seventy seven. But for me,
it was more like, you know, we hit the local
bike store and I got like bikes.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
So you wanted to travel, traveler, I told you you
didn't want to train.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah, no more for a train.

Speaker 6 (22:10):
It's a long ride to the Bronx.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah it is, yea, it is. But you know, just
traveling around New York City was was was special for me.
I just thought that, you know, I had cousins out
in Queens and and and forty projects and and Cambria
and aunts and uncles all around Queens. So you know,
I used to spend my summers out in Queens. Actually,
you know how how how we all used to go south.

(22:35):
I'm going to Atlanta?

Speaker 3 (22:36):
Where are you going on?

Speaker 1 (22:36):
North North Carolina? Where you're going, Kim and Kirk, We're
going to Queens.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
So it's like another world probably, you know.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
And and if Suburbia that part of Queens okay, yeah yeah.
And so just spending my days out there whenever I could,
you know, having a lot of family out in Queens.
I hung out with with Russell Simmons because I met
him in college and he was from Hollis Queen's and

(23:08):
we opened up a club in nineteen seventy eight called
Disco Fever, I mean night Fever, Disco Okay, okay, wait
you for that club And that was two hundred and
first Street in Hollis Avenue. And that's where I really
got good as a DJ, you know, DJing and the
club and for a year and then we actually used

(23:31):
propaganda and Russell started putting my name on flies Queen's
number one DJ Curtis Blow Okay.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
So he built the folklore of Curtis Blow.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
And Russell was a sociology major, you know, so he
understood about the masses and the spectrum and and the
different movements of people and what they would like and
stuff like that. So he convinced me to let that
propaganda happen.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
So is he the one talked to you into would
you say that your entry into hip hop is what
really put the focus on the MC as opposed to
the DJ.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
No, because I think Hollywood did that. He was actually
the first king of rap. He was so hot. He
was the first guy that charged five hundred dollars. Before that,
we were making thirty forty dollars a night MC's or
you know, the the popular ones were getting one hundred,

(24:32):
one hundred and fifty dollars a night. But Hollywood was
the first to charge five hundred. You want five hundred dollars.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
But Hollywood at your partyment guaranteed, you.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Know, Oh yeah, it was pack you have a line
around the corner, you know. And so Cat started, you know,
trying to charge five hundred dollars a day. They were like, shit, nigga,
you made Hollywood.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
So I guess technically your first single was Christmas Wrapping, correct.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yes, nineteen seventy nine.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Okay, so please, how did that come about? And how
did you avoid Sylvie Robinson and Joey and also Bobby
Robinson at Enjoy. There's no relationship between the two, right,
like they just both coincidentally have a name, right, Robinson,
So Enjoy Bobby Robinson and Sylvie Robinson were not related, correct.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, Bobby Robinson was from Harlem. He had that store
on one hundred and twenty fifth Street, Bobby Bobby's records,
and he goes back to the to the forties and fifties.
You know, he has a lot of contacts. Everybody knows
him and soul music and R and B music and
so you know during that time. Of course, sugar Hill

(25:44):
Gang when they came out, well, well let's give a
shout out to King Tim the third that was actually
the first personality. Jock, you're listening to the sown, but the.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
Indeed alert and I.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
Am here and so hit comes sugar Hill. Every bus,
every car, every train wanted to play that rappers Delight song.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
I said him, don't stop the record.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
Every taxi, every boom box, every record store was playing
at twenty four to seven. And so we were in
the studio in October and so we were trying to
get a record deal. I think I got my record
deal because Rappers Delight was so hot. We went to
twenty two different labels though nice and everybody hated the
record except for two people. The first guy liked it.

(26:35):
He wanted to sign it up, sign me up. So
he took it up the flagpole to the vice president
and president and they said no. So label was that
that was The guy's name was Corey Robbins. Okay, Now
Corey quit his job because of this, and he went

(26:55):
and started his own label and two years later he
signed run DMC and the label it's called Profile Records. Right.
So the next guy is an English fellow, John Staines.
He's ain't on director for Mercury PolyGram Records over in
the UK in London. He said, we can recoup this
record in six months, let's sign them up. So actually,

(27:19):
actually I became a British artist really signed to a
company called Mercury Phonogram out in the UK, and my
records came back to America on an import. Wow, a
crazy deal.

Speaker 6 (27:36):
So they had you first, and they knew you first.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Yes, So I was the first artist signed to a
major label.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
So can I assume that you're inn R? Was the
was the person that said why was the night before Christmas?
Before you interrupted them with holding that wait, hold that wait?
Was he was heither twice the night? That's him. I
just put two and two together. The guy was in
English and you know, and that those it's you know

(28:03):
a lot of the earlier records. It's really weird, especially
with your catalog, a lot of your catalog, and I
hope I'm not opening up a well, hopefully the grace
period is over. Even as I was recapping your catalog,
I didn't realize how much. In particular, the Bomb Squad

(28:25):
when Public Enemy was making Nation of Millions used a
lot of your records as the basis for their rhythms,
which I just found out today that from the back
Popular Demand album, one of those songs is the basis
for the Night of Living bass Heads remix, which is weird.
They could have just sampled James Brown, but they were like,

(28:47):
all right, let's sample this meta Like, let's sample Curtis
Blow sampling James Brown with the extra kicks in there
and all that stuff. So anyway, I'm falling in a
rabbit hole. But my point is, yeah, you were one
of the first rappers to travel overseas. So what is
that like literally being the Trojan Horse or the the

(29:09):
Neil Armstrong the or the flag shig. I don't want
to say Christopher Columbus because I don't believe I'm just
saying on Columbus day right exactly, like to be the
flag bear of Like was there a resistance? Was there
or did you find out You're like they were really
more open because you also at the top of the

(29:29):
pops right right.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Right, Yes, what was that like? Man, it's like a
dream world.

Speaker 9 (29:36):
You know.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
I tell people this many at times that that my
life is like a dream world. It's hard to understand
reality when you when you're you know, in the right
place at the right time, and you know, big shout
out to Debbie Harry who actually flew me out to
the UK for a big, big, big, big press conference.

(29:57):
And you know, being on a major l that means
you know, major press, that means we have a major
office in every major city around the world. And being
a college student, you know, I want to work the system,
and so I went to the publicity department, I said, Man,
send me everywhere I want to travel all over, right,
you know. And when I got there, I sat up

(30:18):
in the conference room and we had all the press
you know, lined up from print, magazines, newspapers, radio, television.
It was incredible and awesome to just be a part
of all of that stuff. And it was documented, you know,
this new thing called hip hop and I was representing this.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
So was it tiring, like trying to explain to people
know what this was, no history of it.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
No, no being a communications major as I love to talk.
So and then it was so very very important, like
you said, you know, we had to actually you know,
be good on stage, you know, because that was very
very important to the success of the culture. When people

(31:05):
see you live on stage and during that time, if
you didn't have a good show, people the next day
would not go out and buy your record. Right That's
how you know the music business operated, you know. You
go out on tour and you sing your new song,
your new album, and then the next day everyone goes
and buys the record. This is how they support it.

(31:27):
And so going out there on stage for the first
times and seeing these audiences and the audiences seeing me
for the first time, or seeing hip hop for the
first time. A lot of that you know, where's your band?
You know, but at the end of the show, they're
all saying, oh, you know, and and it was so

(31:47):
very important for us to rock the house and that
was key to you know, my experience and being in
New York City around the Five Boroughs, just you know,
playing the clubs and you know, like the night Fever
Disco and the Hotel Diplomat three seventy one Disco Fever,
you know, the block parties and the park jams. Just

(32:09):
being used to handling a microphone and might control and
MC means my control, and it was so very important.
I just thank god that I had that experience seven
eight years in the biz before I made my first record.
So in touring.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Behind the single, especially mainstream, assuming that you did tours
with regular acts and whatnot. Yeah, okay, so I know now,
I mean especially with I mean even in modern times
like watching the Wu Tang series that's on TV right now,
and it's to the point now where at least of
this recording where like there is a starting the tour

(32:51):
and what I call like rapper problems like with the
monitors not working and yeah, you know, the proper channels
for the and you know all those things and the
MIC's not working. Like how difficult was it as far
as like opening first of all? Like what what mainstream
bands were you touring with back during this period? Like

(33:14):
who were you opening for in America at least?

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Okay, people like Cool and the Gang and the Gap
Band and Comfunction. I remember going on tour in nineteen
eighty all Platinum tour with the Commodores. The Commodores were
really really hot Lineo Richie had all those ballads and stuff.

(33:37):
And while we did about one hundred and twenty shows
around the country, and they took me places I never
heard of before, like Two Below, Mississippi, you know, and
a lot of college towns. It was incredible just being
a part of that tour and meeting people, and and
for me it was like, you know, I had this

(33:58):
thing I had to It became am a mission of
mine to meet my heroes that I grew up, all
the soul singers that I that I listened to as
a kid. I just wanted to meet them and hug them.
And so I had again my record company set it
up the publicity department Beverly Page she set it up
with people Like I met Aretha Franklin really over and

(34:20):
she invited me for lunch over at Hitsville Studio and
we sat and talked for an hour, and.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
You know this talk about her rapping son.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Oh yeah, I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Like, if you if you have any dealings, if you're
in the Hip Found Nation and you have any dealings
with Theretha Franklin, trust me.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
Her son's name's going to come up.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
I know.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah, my sister went to high school with him. Really yeah,
he's still looking for a deal right now.

Speaker 9 (34:47):
Wait, how earlier on was the Aretha meeting because I'm wondering,
I'm like, how did she know that she needed to
have a conversation.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
Eighty one nineteen eighty one, Uh, you can't understand what
he was a start.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Out the gate.

Speaker 6 (34:59):
I understand to understand that as a whole number.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
Especially with roller skating culture like really hitting its zenith
in like nineteen like the Breaks. To me, that song
was tailored me for roller skating culture, like between seventy
eight Boom and eighty three at least roller skating culture.
So it's like, I feel as though that's roller skating
cultures will allow boogie music, like the Breaks wasn't a

(35:24):
disco song, so it wasn't like but it still had
a groove to it that was like disco but slower
so and it made it easier to navigate on skates.

Speaker 6 (35:34):
Yeah, all levels, all levels.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
And so yeah, they're like I don't recall, like we
went roller skating every Sunday in the summer of nineteen
eighty and the Breaks had to been played five times,
five six times, like without between, like Curtis blowing Rick James,
Like it was like the battle of who owned roller skates?

(35:56):
So how important our relationships? Because I also know that
it's kind of weird. I'm a soul trained expert. So
here's the thing about your particular episode. So when Don's
talking to you, and this is something that he's known
for every episode, he kind of lets in a snarky

(36:16):
thing like I'm an old guy. I don't understand, but
you know, the kids love it. I don't get it,
but whatever, But I mean, at least the resistance, how
much resistance did you have to go not only to
get your record deal, but like, what was it just
like for people not to see the future, Because people
hate change more than anything well, even if it's good for.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Them, there's a story behind that. You know. Again, it
is nineteen eighty, right, and I was just coming off
a tour in Europe. Okay, I think I did about
thirty shows in thirty three days or something. Monumental tour.
But during that time, but nearly over in Europe, was

(37:00):
the hottest thing on the press. With the press, everyone
was talking about them and their show, their live show,
their lip singing, right, And it was like the record
company came to me, the promoters came to me, Oh,
you can't lip sing. Make sure you don't lip sing.
I'm telling you they're gonna boo you and this and that.

(37:21):
We don't play that over here in Europe. And you
got to do an hour and a half.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
You know, right.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
And so I'm like, okay, no problem. And you know
I'm made for that because I have a on every song,
most of every song, about the ten first ten singles
I have, the B side has an instrumental and I
rat live, you know, we call it half playback. So
I got through the tour. But when I came back

(37:47):
to America and I'm setting up for soul training, I'm
sitting in the makeup room, and Irene Carra is sitting
right there, and at the forefront of my mind, I'm
thinking about, you know, Millie Vanillian, what's going on there?
And I know that you know they lip sing on
Soul Train, that's their policy. So here comes down Coltney.
Oh well, the stage manager comes in with the microphone

(38:09):
and microphones, got this phony little plug, right, it's all right,
you gotta lip sing and make sure you know you
you word the words, you know your mouth the words,
just like the song and and and and be in
rhythm is I'm like, look, we're weird, right, I Am
not gonna lip sing. That's not what I do. This

(38:31):
is hip hop. We do hip hop here. This is
live I need and plus I got crowd response. I
need to say these these words the crowd response and
have the whole audience answer back to me. You know
what I mean, It's very important. This is hip hop.
I'm not lip singing. And they were like, oh, don
Cornelius came in, what do you mean You're not gonna
live sing. This is our rules, this is our policy,

(38:52):
and they just say, well, look, mister Cornelius, I'm going home.
How about that one iren Carol looked at me like, boy,
you crazy, right, And so because isn't it everyone's dream
to be on Soul Training? Yes, yes, and and it
was a big thing. But I did not want to

(39:13):
get the Europeans and and and and America. Hasn't you know,
gotten his news yet about Milli Vanilli yet, Well you're
predating and you mean and stuff. I didn't want to
have that that reputation. So I was the first artist
to sing live the breaks on Soul Train. So that's
why Don comes out with snorky. You want to know

(39:35):
what everybody's making so much about this?

Speaker 9 (39:37):
Is that what he said?

Speaker 3 (39:40):
It was a little It wasn't like and I.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Was shocked because I looked at him like they didn't
know you did?

Speaker 7 (39:50):
Right?

Speaker 3 (39:51):
So by this point, was Run your DJ on this
initial Run?

Speaker 1 (39:55):
Yes? Yes, yeah, oh but no, no, no, no, after that,
after the before the Common Door's tour. Here's a story
about Run. Run was my DJ before the Commodoor's Tour
all Platinum tour. So Run was out playing basketball with
this guy down the block named Jason Mizelle. Right, So

(40:15):
he breaks his arm playing basketball and so I'm like, yo,
we gotta go on tour man. I was asking his dad.
His dad's no, you can't go out on to please dad,
let me go, Let me go. He said no, no,
you got to stay in school. He said, no, please dad,
let me go into you. Look, you got one arm.
You can't DJ. Yes, I can't look right right, And

(40:37):
so he didn't get to go and he stayed home.
So when I got back off a tour about about
four months later, that's when I heard that he started
a group called Run DMC with his fellas that were
up in the attic practicing and hanging out with him.
And so the story is, if if Run didn't break

(41:00):
his arm, there would be no Run DMC.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
You had just been your DJ. Yeah, and Russell didn't
have enough pool to be like Dad, I'll take care
of him. Like, was Russell also traveling with you at.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
The non Dad was running the show? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Yeah, dad.

Speaker 1 (41:14):
Dad was very powerful. He bought Run the Turntables three.

Speaker 6 (41:19):
Brothers right like Danny Russell and Run right? And who
was old?

Speaker 1 (41:23):
Because I was getting okay, yeah, okay, I was wondering
Russell's the middle child and Joey is the run the youngest?
Can I ask you a question that explained so much.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Russell's the middle child. Oh yeah, you gotta make yourself distinct.

Speaker 6 (41:38):
What's your question about touring?

Speaker 9 (41:39):
Because I know, since you were the first to ever
tour like this internationally, there had to be like some mistakes.
There had to be like some moments where you and
you and Russell were like, okay, so we're not going
to do this like that again. Like there were just
so many new things to you guys, Like did you
even know about writers?

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Did you know?

Speaker 6 (41:54):
Like what didn't you know that you learned in your first.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
How many pass?

Speaker 9 (41:59):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (42:00):
I had to learn it all.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
I learned it all on Where's Your Travel? That fly?

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Oh it was incredible. I was I was the most
sought after live act because it was just me and
my DJ, just two people, two people, two turntables in
the microphone. Really yes, so not the first to start
the entourage, right right, So you easy to work with.

(42:26):
But then Russell in eighty one, Oh boy, yeah, so
here he comes with Larry Smith. Larry Smith was playing bass,
play bass on the breaks and Christmas rap and so.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
Larry Smith produced Orange Crust was the band for all
those for Christmas rap.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
No no no, no, no, no not Orange Crushed. That
came after Russell took forty thousand dollars of my money
and bought all his banner and he gave it to Larry.
Larry bought the banning equipment and and and they said,
all right, you're going out with a band. I'm like, what,
how could you do that? I didn't okay this? He said, way, Hey,

(43:11):
I'm the manager.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
You built Larry Larry uh Smith's career well budget.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Larry. I got to give props to him because he
was excellent musician, incredible producer. You know, I remember many
of the nights we sat up and talked about, you know,
my sound and trying to get a sound that was
in between James Brown and Chic and Larry was the man.

(43:43):
He was definitely the man. I love him.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
So who worked on like Christmas wrapping and rapping blow
and and.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
Yeah, that was Larry. Larry was on the base. But
you had John Trope I was on guitar, and we
had Jimmy bray Aloud who actually went on to become
a Lin drum a Lin drum programmer, and he was
on drums, and you know, so during that time, you know,

(44:12):
we recorded in the studio like the seventies. In the sixties,
it was a live band, you know what I mean,
And and and we had to rehearse and you know,
let's play it one more time and recorded and hopefully
it would come out.

Speaker 10 (44:25):
Okay, I'm sorry, And we do White Guy in the
Corner As a question, Yes, John Tropia, Yeah, the guitarist. Yes,
so was he the guitar He's a to me, he's
the famous jazz guitarist.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
Right, and he's on the breaks.

Speaker 3 (44:41):
Wow, that's his work.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
That's his work on the.

Speaker 10 (44:45):
Break run DMC stuff.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
There was not well Edie did Martinez, Eddie Martinez anywhere?

Speaker 10 (44:57):
Wow, No, I need to process. I'm not schooling on anything.
I don't know too much about it about him. I
just have a few records.

Speaker 9 (45:05):
You know.

Speaker 6 (45:06):
He don't get blown away easily. But it is Curtis.

Speaker 3 (45:09):
That's just really yeah, unexpected, it was unexpected name.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
But he's he's a legend, definitely a legend. And you know,
I remember seeing him in the studio because my producer JB.
Moore was also a guitar player, and he couldn't do
the guitars right the way we wanted it and the
way he wanted it actually, and so when John came
in and played it.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
Perfect, perfect rhythm, and it was just immaculate, you know, Drives.
So for your first album, like, whose idea was it
to do? Like taking care of business to the girl?

Speaker 6 (45:51):
What's the other one? That the slow one that's like.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
All I want? Fine that girl.

Speaker 3 (45:59):
People don't even credit that as the first love ballot.
So it's like for you, you were making a format
that was palatable. The radio was like Frankie Crocker on
your mind, like okay, the label.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
Saying we need something that you know right? Well, it
was all by design, of course.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
You know.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
We wanted to, you know, have a fusion with other
forms of music because it was so brand new, this
thing hip hop and rap, you know, so why not
rap over a rock and roll song? Why not have
a reggae rap? Or I was the first to do
a country in Western rap, that Way Out West song.
You know, you know, we we we just tried to

(46:37):
be different and tried to give something new. Was a limit, man.

Speaker 9 (46:42):
I feel in retrospect, though, do you see how like
free you were in that moment? Because I feel like
a lot of MC's today out the gate couldn't just
say I'm producing that in this different genre.

Speaker 6 (46:52):
I'm like, they won't they want to be allowed to.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
Well, here's the thing. I always wanted to be a singer,
and I remember singing those singing songs that every album
I put on the singing But listen, folks, it took
me a couple of weeks to do those.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
So in eighty three, uh in Philadelphia, Uh, Party Time record, Yes,
which of course you know, well you would know that
Tracy like try to bring try to bring that back.
So that was the first time I ever heard full
Force on record. So how did you how did you

(47:44):
hook up with those guys as far as like did
they produce that record? Were they just the band or
like what was how did you guys.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
They became producers after that because we sat in the
studio and talked about you know, uh JB. Moore and
Robert Ford and what they were doing on my stuff
and how they wanted to do the same thing but
differently more funky era or more creative. So they were incredible.
I met them through JB. Moore and Robert Ford and

(48:12):
very very, very talented musicians and singers, and it was
incredible just to be a part of that. But the
Go Go song talk about it Trouble for Wow, Trouble
that was EU.

Speaker 3 (48:24):
So here it is.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
On my birthday, I turned twenty one years old. I
had the number one record in the country, and so
I'm going down to play the Capitol Center down in DC.
So I had my band, remember the Orange Crushed band.
I ain't got ten bali's and oh man, we got
eight nine pieces.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Right.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
We rolled down to the Capital Center and I'm headlining
this concert and they have all these local bands there
and I didn't know what they were, you know what
it was. So I'm walking the spot. I'm here the
first time, that first time I'm here in Go Go
No tell me you were you. The whole crowd is

(49:10):
going crazy. I'm saying, oh, I'm about to tear this.

Speaker 6 (49:15):
Right.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
So they were going crazy and it was a band
called Trouble Funk. Then another band came on, e you
freeze right. They went on the same thing.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
And.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
The crowd is going crazy again, even more crazy. So
I'm like, wow, Chuck Brown was it? Oh my god?
Right the Godfather he comes out and tears up the
spot too. So it's my turn. So I locked it.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
Let me music.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
I throw on Christmas Wrapping. When we're playing Christmas Wrapping,
the band is tight, clean and everything, but the crowd
is like this looking at us, like I'm like, oh
my gosh, we better get to the breaks and you
know quick on this one here, right, So I'm speeding
through the set and then we throw on the brakes.

(50:11):
Clap your hands over, we are right right, and then
like still right, number one record in country. And so
that night I got my butt tore up three or
four different times. And for me it was like my
mom's always said that you can't beat them, join them.
Hell yeah. So I got all that numbers. Nice.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Next year, I called my boys Sugar Bear and Sugar
playing Party. We did party time, damn. Okay, yeah, okay,
And it's just wonderful to have them in the studio
just doing that thing live.

Speaker 6 (50:50):
And how many pieces in the studio in that moment?

Speaker 1 (50:53):
Oh yeah, it was like seven eight pieces?

Speaker 6 (50:56):
Yeah, And so you were the first for that too,
I'm guessing the first do a Go Go collapse?

Speaker 3 (51:01):
Well no, because flash of them did. H they did
a live version. Well, they actually signed Trouble Funk two records.
The first live Go go that I've heard it was
Trouble Funk live on Sugar Hills, so the Robinson's got
there early on that.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
And then actually actually the first sample loop right was
on the song if I Ruled the World, and and
the sample was Trouble Funk. You know that pump pump,
pump push. I took the percussion part and laid it

(51:40):
under if I Rule the World.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Okay, okay, how did that feel for you to have
that song come back and for people to learn that
you're you know, you're the origin of of of that
particular song, because that's all I means so much too.

Speaker 6 (52:01):
I like your harmonies and you got better harmonies.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
Okay there, you know it was just you and Alison
Williams actually right, that's Alison singing yes.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Yes, yes, yes, you and Audrey Wheeler yes yes, yes, yes, and.

Speaker 6 (52:27):
So harmonies were better.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
It was.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
It was awesome. It's it's the ultimate and flattery to
to hear your song on the radio that you recorded
some time ago. I remember when Sony sent me the tape.
They sent me a cassette tape, and it was awesome.
I sat there and played the tape in my car
for about three hours kept rewinding and rewinding it.

Speaker 9 (52:52):
You know.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
I was like, oh my god, that's gotta be Laurence Hill.
That's gotta be Laurence Hill. You know. So I called
them back. I said, look, Sony, you guys got a big, major,
major monster hit on you. You better put all your
promotion in this because this is going platinum. It went,
it went triple platinum.

Speaker 3 (53:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (53:10):
Now, did you think that we're too close or.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
The same thing you heard? But I didn't hear it.
I didn't hear that song, like like I sat and
you know, listened to If I Rule the World because
I feel like.

Speaker 6 (53:22):
The checks are the same. Like that song played more
than the world right, Yeah, about to close it was.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
It was huge yet one song of the year I
think in nineties something Jesus Christ.

Speaker 9 (53:33):
I forgot about next Christ, that song like the song
that you get annoyed because it just played all the time, the.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
Dance word, you know, as a DJ, I need that song,
So I get it. I know, uh, I don't want
to skip eighty four. And I know that you're involvement
in the King celebration thing. Yes, it was important. Can
you tell the story. I've heard the story about you
person only like Prince funding Miss.

Speaker 9 (54:03):
King.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
Yes, So how did the idea come to be?

Speaker 1 (54:07):
Well, I got a phone call from Dexter Scott King,
Martin Luther King's son, and it was incredible.

Speaker 11 (54:19):
Here he goes, uh, hello, Curtis, this is Dexter Scott
King and I'm the son of Martin Luther King. And
he sounds like I want you to produce a song
about my fall. So no, no, I hung up on him.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
Right. I thought it was a prank.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
He called me back.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
I hung on him again. So the third time I
listened to him, I was like, well, he's got to
be real. He's calling three times. So we got together,
became good friends. Another guy, Philip Jones, who was the
other producer on the set, and I went to back
to Mercury PolyGram and convinced them to sponsor this song,

(55:03):
and uh, they paid for the studio and I called
all the artists it was no one said no. So
the idea was to use all the people that weren't
in We are the World right, And Souston Whitney said yes,

(55:24):
and Stephanie Mills said yes, man no. With Ricky it
was incredible.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
You give us one note? Who was the one artist
is like, yeah, I'll make it and then didn't know.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Everyone said, yeah, it was incredible. It's such a meaningful song,
you know, to be a part of that, and it was.
It was a lot of fun to make, you know.
Uh So the so the record company did not want
to pay for the video the music video, okay, so
uh dexter dex went and and and got with Prince

(56:00):
and asked Prince when he paid for it. And he
calls me up and said, Prince said he's gonna put
up ninety thousand dollars for his music video. And I
was like, oh my gosh, yes it did. And Prince
and I became friends after that. I mean, he was really,
really a nice guy. I forgot and you know me,

(56:21):
I'm trying to, you know, hang out with all the
stars that I could. And so I went back to
my record company. I said, hook up something for me
and Prince. We got to do something together. So they
did Beverly Page. She hooked up this picture autograph session
with me and Prince. I think we were in Detroit somewhere,
and the club was packed. There's a line outside of

(56:42):
all these women, right, and so Prince signs about fifteen
hundred autographs and takes about fifteen hundred pictures and me,
I took about ten pictures. Really, he was a big
he was superstar. People loved him. Man with a great guy.

Speaker 3 (57:02):
Wow yep, yep, so uncharacteristic of him. Yeah, you never know.
Working on the Crush Groove sound movie, yes, uh, well
obviously you know, we know that's based on the life
of Russell Simmons.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
But how was that experience for you in general? Well,
it was it was a lot of hard work. I'll
tell you the truth, because during that time, I was
a producer, and so I was producing the Fat Boys
second album and producing my America album with if I
the World, and also the Crush Groove soundtrack. So I

(57:42):
was producing three albums at one time and had deadlines
and all that. So I was going to three different
studios every day. You know. It was hard work, hard work,
and then I had to wake up at six in
the morning to get on film set, you know, to
do the movie. And it was a lot of work.
As a matter of fact, I kind of like took
a break. You know. Last thing I did was a

(58:03):
Martin Luther King song, and then I took a break
for about five years. I didn't go into the studio,
couldn't go into too much work, and it was too
much because he didn't produce the third Fat Boys record. No,
what was it like?

Speaker 3 (58:16):
Just man, Well, were you managing them at the time or.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Just noticing them? Their manager was a guy by the
name of Charlie Stetler from right right and he also
manages Scribbles DJ Scribbles and Doctor Dre and ed Lover
from your MTV raps. But Charlie was their manager and
they were signed to Suture Records and mars Levy it was.

(58:39):
It was marsh Levy on Sutra. Yeah, oh wow, oh yeah, yo.
That explains a lot.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
I never thought after Records and the hit Man book,
I thought, mars Levy, you just gotta be hit Man,
and like.

Speaker 6 (59:02):
It's not good.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
Book is hit Man?

Speaker 1 (59:05):
You know? Yeah, right Sleeve owned Sutra. But they were
some good guys and then you know from Brooklyn, good
Fellas and none of the Fat Boys, you know those guys.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
Jesus Christ like for me, that album managed you captured
their their humor spirit in a way that you know,
hip hop hadn't seen before, and especially that first record
like that, I think everyone that's of my age. Now
like that was their first experience, either that or the

(59:44):
run DMC record. But yeah, just producing, I mean, how
hard was it trying to explain like they don't need
music and just beat the culture beatboxing? And how how
did you manage it? How many takes would it take
to get like those songs?

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
They were great in the studio, It was awesome. What
is on the record? That humor, that that that that
genuine personality comes through? Because I just you know, let
the record button go, and I remember buff rest in

(01:00:22):
peace he said one time, he said, yo yo yo,
Kurt Man, Yo yo, All I want is a call.
He got two houses and all of this stuff. Man,
and these guys were incredible and they love music. I
found out as a producer, the basic job of a
producer is to make people's dreams come true. You know,

(01:00:46):
you take them around the basis and bring them home
and when you get home, you know you have that
finished product. And that's our job.

Speaker 3 (01:00:55):
Well, how where was it letting a fourteen year will
produce you? Because salam Remy got to start as a
fourteen year old kid.

Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
Well, like he had the tracks, okay, you know, and
I wanted to give him a shot. His dad was
a very good friend. He worked at the record company.
He was one of the promoters promotion department. He actually
introduced me to his son and said, you know, he's
got some good stuff. And I said, well, I'll give
him a shot. How about that? You know? So he

(01:01:26):
did the back by Popularity de Man song, you know,
and that was great. He actually asked Molly mar to
do the scratches on it, and Mally came down to
the studio really because of his kid, Wow, and got
on the record and started scratching and wow. The rest
is history.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
It's crazy. So at the end of the day, what
do you want your legacy to be as far as
your I mean, you've done so many things to be
first of this and first of that, Like where do
you see the history of hip hop as far as
like preserving it and those types of things, like how

(01:02:07):
do you want to see the culture preserved? Well, what
do you think of today?

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
That question? Well, you know, there's there's a project we're
working on called the Universal Hip Hop Museum where we
want to document this history and put it in a
brick and mortar location where the whole world can come
and visit. And see and be a part of it,
and just you know, the many stories, the many lives,

(01:02:37):
and the many careers and and the so much talent
that has been a part of this way of life
that it needs to be documented. It needs to be
stored and cherished and supported in one place, and we're
doing that, working on that right now. So you can
go to u h h M dot org to find

(01:02:57):
out more information about the universal hip hop music. But
as for me, I want people to remember me as
a guy who actually was a big part of practical study,
so very important even in music. Whatever it is that
you want to do in life, I think that practical

(01:03:19):
study is very important. You go and do your research
in that field of whatever it is, doctor, lawyer, businessman, rapper, singer, DJ,
doesn't matter. Study the history of it, and within that history,
find out someone who was successful and study the steps

(01:03:39):
that they took to achieve that success and then repeat
those steps, mimic those steps, and then I guarantee you
also will achieve success.

Speaker 9 (01:03:50):
So do you think then, basically, since you were the
first in so many situations, Because I'm thinking as you're speaking,
I'm like Curtis blow Is sitting next to us. He
was the first person to get a major endorsement deal
right in twenty nineteen. Are just bloomber endorsement deals. Basically,
it seems like it should be a part of the
education matriculation of an MC to have a Curtis Blow
education since you were reverse right, I mean there are

(01:04:13):
other classes on others.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
Well, I'm a big avid supporter of education. Education. Education
is the key to success, is the key to getting
out of the ghetto. Research, you know, bring the classroom
into the culture and the culture into the classroom. Very
important doing your research, like I said, and we as

(01:04:36):
rappers just speaking on rap you know, the oratory, We
are orators, we are communicators. So I majored in communications
and studied the greatest orators of our time like Barbara
Jordan and Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King, Malcolm X.
And I found out that we have all of these
options and windows that we can open, doors that we

(01:04:59):
can own and as the orators of this culture like
for instance, public speaking politics, you have broadcasting, you know, uh,
television and radio broadcasting, journalism. Uh, here's one for your preaching.
I've got you our father Walker, You're correct ordained minister,

(01:05:23):
and and and so and so, you know, and study
your all. Studying all of the great orators of our time,
I found out that the most passionate of the speakers
the oratory or the orators were the preachers and the reverence.
You know, many of those speeches like Martin, Luther King
and Malcolm X, you know, gave me the fortitude and

(01:05:46):
and the will and want to take it to the
next level in this field. And as an MC, that
means that you're a master of the ceremony. It doesn't
matter what the ceremony is. You be on the street
corner and a circle full of twenty people. You can
be at a club. You can be at a block
party or a park jam. You can be at a

(01:06:08):
community center. You can be at a concert with five
people or twenty thousand. You know, you can be at
a bar mitzvah, you know, wherever it is. I've played
a couple of bar mins in my time. Yes, yes,

(01:06:28):
and you know, so that is the story. You are
a master of any ceremony.

Speaker 9 (01:06:36):
I don't know anybody who has used their communications degree
to the levels that you have.

Speaker 6 (01:06:40):
In this moment, I just realized that I was like
all my life.

Speaker 9 (01:06:42):
I think as a communications major, I was like, maybe
I should have did business and something like that.

Speaker 6 (01:06:46):
But now that you've broken it down like that, No,
you got.

Speaker 1 (01:06:49):
Some windows, you got some communication.

Speaker 3 (01:06:51):
You're literally I am.

Speaker 9 (01:06:53):
But I you know, you got to have some multiple hustles,
as you know yourself as a former radio host.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Yes, yes, I just want to stay away from politics
these days.

Speaker 3 (01:07:03):
We need more people like you, you know, and in
front of the masses. You know, what can I say? Wait,
I want to mention that these I totally forgot. I'm
still card in the history. I totally forgot. So yeah,
the hip Hop Nutcracker explained to me this project, like how.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
Wow, Well, the hip Hop Nutcracker is a modernized version
of the classic Tchaikovsky's incredible classical music. We are now
uh doing hip hop dance and break dancing and and
and ballet and and and uh bringing the story uh

(01:07:42):
to the masses with the the culture of hip hop
in the forefront. And so it's a new modernized version.
Is really something that every family should see is doing
the holiday season, you know, when when when love is
in the air and everyone's hug on each other and
trying to thank each other for putting up with you

(01:08:03):
all year long. You know, just go out and have
a great time seeing this classic, classic rendition of Tchaikovsky's hit.

Speaker 3 (01:08:15):
But so like all the songs are filtered through hip hop,
so there's like trap versions of the sugar Plum song.
I might need to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
It's incredible because we have a DJ who is actually
playing beats under this class music, and we have an
electric violinist who's doing any thing. But the creators of
Jennifer Weber want to give her a shout out. She's
also the choreographer and director Michael Fitterson Uh put together
this piece that is a great, great holiday family fun classic.

(01:08:55):
So it's it's it's a it's it's a show that
everyone needs to see, all all ages, all races, don't
want to matter. It's incredible. It's really a good look
for hip hop and a good look for music in general.

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
That's good. I mean for you being on the forefront
of one of the first hip hop ballets, and I
mean you were there when hip hop was in stadiums
with the fresh vest. To go from there all the
way to to where we are now, that's quite a journey.
We thank you for coming on the show.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
Yeah, I thank you for having me, you know, and
a big shout out to all the dancers who are
part of that because we have so much talent that's
out there.

Speaker 9 (01:09:41):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:09:41):
These young dancers are coming out, you know, from all
over the world, and they have so much mad flavor,
so many different styles from power moves to you know,
to to the wave to pop locking and uh, you know,

(01:10:01):
it's incredible to see how it's all put together and
how Jennifer whoever did this thing and the choreography is incredible. Wow. Oh,
thank you.

Speaker 9 (01:10:12):
Can I thank John and your wife Shirley too, because
this has been like a year and a half in
the work here like, thank you Shirley.

Speaker 3 (01:10:20):
Thank you well, ladies and gentlemen on behalf of the crew,
the team Supreme Unpaid Bill, Boss, Bill Sugar, Steven Laya,
this of course love Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (01:10:37):
Uh whose formats for?

Speaker 3 (01:10:40):
Did you did you pleasure? Maybe I know them? We're
stopping right here, you know this, of course, look supre
We'll see you on the next round. Thank you. For

(01:11:10):
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