Organized Noize Part 1

Questlove Supreme travels to Atlanta to kick it with some of the city's musical architects. Organized Noize appears in a comprehensive two-parter. In Part 1, Rico Wade, Ray Murray, and Sleepy Brown discuss their approach to sampling, recall the early days of OutKast and the Dungeon Family, and have a few laughs about their formation. This conversation is not to be missed.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio Road,
Some Prima Road called Some Prima Road, called Some Prima Road,
Some Primo Road. My name is Quest Love and I

(00:24):
don't flake and a t L. Yeah break some Subrima Road,
sub Prima Road. My name is Fantee and I'm gonna

(00:49):
speak my cloud. Organized taught me try to get you
out road. Come little Prima, some Prima moon all. My
name is Sugar, Yeah, and I apologize. This may get
noisy and unorganized, right, Prima Suprema ro, it's my ear, Yeah,

(01:21):
and I'm overjoyed. Yeah, it's like I'm back in causey again.
Ya organized Primo roll, Some Primo Rong, Okay on Rico
down and on part one Part one, Yeah, Suprema Robe,

(01:47):
Mafo down, Prima Suprema roll with this is Yoda. Yeah
and you know I hold it down. Yeah. Organized noise, Yeah,
we all in time. Sign My name is Sleeping Yeah,

(02:10):
and I'm the smoothest. You'll never find another mother that
could do this a ship. My mind's like, all right,

(02:36):
where's my where's my manager? Yeah? He was like, you
just sign up for this. You did not sign up
for this. I'm like, boy, you did not do a
good job. You're good, bro. You you made enough classics
to sustained. Oh no, my my part is gonna read
why I don't go viral. That's a good thing. Ladies
and gentlemen, Welcome to another episode of Course Love Supreme,

(03:00):
a t L edition. We are in Atlanta talking to
a lot of the greats. What can I say, Ladies
and gentlemen, We are here with three gentlemen who have
built a movement, a sound of way of life, literally
putting not even a section of the because that's that's
just very reductive. But I mean they literally change the

(03:24):
scope of of music as we know it and of
creativity as we know it. You know, some of the
blackest shit ever, some of the most Afric futurist ship ever,
what what you would call legacy from George Skyler. Are
we down the sun, rid, down the p funk And
when the time came in their their hands, they created magic.

(03:44):
Simply put, I'll say, one of the most respected and
in some producers eyes, most feared men. Dogs. Yeah, I
wouldn't even talk about us, like listening to a new
album like they did what Niger? When I heard main
stream I wanted to jump out. I don't know what
it is like you vin get loop. Literally, yeah, I've

(04:08):
never I never had a production collective to just make
me like, damn, why don't I think of that ship? Seriously,
it's this is a long time overdue, and you know
all the classic lpie's they've been involved in that that
they had their hands and from all the entire like Outcast, Cannon, Uh,
Goodie mob, Cannon, Parnt Advisory Um Slim cut of Calhoun Joy,

(04:33):
Oh god, yeah, yeah, I totally forgotten the last awesome
Yeah great, Yes, if the names go on, dude and
for on the reel, I don't know if crazy sexually
cool would have been what it was without a little

(04:53):
ladies and gentlemen. It's it's actually happening. We've been talking
about this forever. Welcome Rico, Wait Ray Murray and the
one and only. I cannot believe Sleepy Brown is on
quest of supreme organized Noise. Thank you man too. Must

(05:15):
So this is rare for us, because like I prefer
one on one shows where we get the grilled people
like it's I mean, Steve joke that this looks like
peace negotiations happen, Like what you did. I feel like
it's beat between us Sleepy and Sugar Steve over here. Yeah. No,

(05:39):
but this this will be really interesting. And as I said,
we're in Atlanta right now, and I'm hoping to get
all the edge of location and all the questions I
want to answer about just the sound that you guys
have crafted for the last thirty years. Damn there. So
I guess I'll start. Well, I know your lineage runs deep.
I know all your lineage runs deep, but especially Sleepy

(06:00):
being the shot of the legendary Jimmy Brown Brick. Um,
I'll start with you. Can you tell me what your
first musical memory was? Um, I was six years old, right,
and it was my first concert I went to. And
I was with my grandparents, and uh, we get to
the concert and uh walk on inside the stage and

(06:21):
my dad din't start perform, and uh, when I seen
them do dads, my mouth dropped a little back in
my grandmother when I said, this is what I want
to do period. I knew I want to do music.
Soon as I saw my dad playing them home and
everybody screaming and going crazy, I was just like, I
gotta do this, this is this is what I have

(06:43):
to do. And plus you know my mom would buy
me Jackson five albums every Christmas, right, you know, so
I was like the six Jackson. Plus I was in
Brick and Commodorees and I was in there everybody group.
So my first experience of music was the greatest era
of music to me was the funk error and the disco.
Err No music has been made more beautiful than that.

(07:06):
So that's my whole being, you know what I mean?
No matter what, That's why they called me funk or
not because if they're funky, how are you doing funks
with that? Assuing daz and music and ain't going hurt
nobody that the captain obvious. Do you have a favorite
Brick song that isn't a hit or anything? Yeah, yep,

(07:29):
fun one of um happy happy, You know what I
was gonna say, damn always always say, but I've always
confessed that I'm kind of working on Sultry. Right, It's
like preface with like I'm not supposed to say this,
but no, um, I'm getting to the seventy seven episodes

(07:50):
and I gotta say, your dad was charismatic motherfucker even
when performing Happy on Sultry. Like I just but they
always had the biggest smile. It's like we saw him performed.
He was just excited and happy to perform for people.
And he's always been that way. When he was younger,
he had had a band of Savannah that did a
couple of records, Jimmy and the Um the Mighty Sensations

(08:12):
that did pretty good. So he's always always loved music
till this day. You know what I mean. I'm working
on the album right now with him. We're doing like
an instrument Yeah, instrumental um still play. He played Trumbone
auto sex, every horn you can put in front of me.
And killing Living from the Mind was also one of

(08:34):
my favorite that Basine and Uh Somerset Uh Summer Tell
remember white album cover? Yeah, yeah, I know that. Wait
like Brick Trivia, have you heard this tippit about Prince?
Do you know the story? So Prince was such a

(08:55):
fan of Brick. What do you know that he wrote
get it Up? He wrote that for Brick and they
rejected it. We interviewed Mars, I'll do it for you
sound effects sign yes, Mars, and we I mean we've

(09:17):
had Damne I remember the time or except for Terry
Lewis Terry Lewis um. But yeah, when we asked Mars
about him and Prince Craft in the first record, you know,
he told us that he's playing drums on everything. He
was like, when we may get it up for some reason,
like Prince was really into not for some reason. I

(09:39):
mean everybody was into it, but man, you just blew me.
Prince Tad wrote get it Up for Brick Brick to
be whatever the album is with with the Green was like,
it's I don't know, I know, it's like the Green Leaves.
Before that album they rejected it. You gotta talk to
your dad about that. What you doing? Yeah, man, there

(10:04):
you go. That's crazy all right? So, Ray, what is
your first musical memory? Me and my brother and sister
used to turn the lights off and dance around to
uh flight time the airplane landed nas New York state

(10:25):
of mind. Uh So early on, I kind of like
my father's jazz head. So he he had all of
this music, which was like everything that we ever heard
in hip hop. You feel me all of this ship
that cat sample, that's the ship that I grew up
with playing in the house. All three of you are
born in Atlanta, Okay, Yeah, I was, and you where

(10:50):
are you born? How about you gotta heavy swag boards?
I know where where I was going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Yes,
my mom's from Pittsburgh. Well, I grew up before we
came to Atlanta. We came to Atlanta with Maynard Jackson
when he took over the city when he became the

(11:11):
first black mayor. My father and mother were at uh Tuskege, Alabama.
So I grew up in Tuskege pretty much Alabama. Okay,
I got roots here too. Shout out to Mobile, not
but Mobile. All right for you, Reco What's what's your
first musical memory? Oh Man, Even were listening to their memories,

(11:31):
I was mana as a simple at Um it's good
now it's as simplest him music on the radio because, um,
you know what I'm saying, I didn't really hit it.
We didn't have a car when I was younger, so
I didn't really hear the radio until like mom was
cleaning up or something, or or when I found it,
just went into that back room. We had an extra room,
and I just kind of went to digging room, Yes,

(11:54):
the guest room in the man up finding more than
records back there one day, but back but the records
not not no, yes there's money, but like Donna Summer

(12:16):
and uh like ring my Bell and all that kind
of stuff with some of the records and Osley Brothers. Yeah,
I was seeing that stuff as records. But but on
the radio when she was it was just the energy
of the house. She would be a different person when
when the music came on and was she turned up
loud and she cleaned up. So people always made that.
I always say, you know, I like to pay my

(12:36):
music when I'm cleaning up. I really understood what that meant.
It's like, I'm I feel good today today is this
is what I'm doing. I'm going I need to feel good.
You need to feel good while I'm getting so. So
my examples of music, and another one at a young
age was my first little job and I was like
ten years old, just unloading the back of eighteen or
like a UM truck or whatever. They used to play

(12:57):
the radio, and I just remember that made it go by.
So for music, music was always a I didn't never
think I could necessarily be able to make it. They
never think I would be a part of the business.
But I knew how important it was, and how much
I did, how much you did for me just at
that young age and didn't even know who UM, didn't
know exactly who. None of the artists was just knew
that UM at that time being a man of my age,

(13:20):
which is fifty. During that time nineteen eighty, I was eight,
So like, like, what are you talking about? Like soaking
up so at the right time, it's it's the end
of the seventies. So we but they still low it.
As far as the albums, I can still see album
I still saw eight tracks. I'm so I still I
still wrote in cards when we did that, actually had
an eight track in it. So wow. But your knowledge

(13:44):
of a brick is amazing because even when when I
found out who his father was or whatever, you just
thought about that's ice cube song. That's the song that
you got back. That was deep. I was so happy
when they did yeah. I was like, how did you
think about Yeah? I like a lot of other artists

(14:10):
had sampled before that. You know, Kid played they ain't
gonna hurt nobody, Hammel did, uh he did us all good? Yeah? Good. So.
But when I heard que on one of the coldest
disc records ever, all the time, bro, my heart was
like I want jelly, So I was, man, that's still

(14:38):
one of my favorite Man. I still played that records
and at like them in the mirror and I'm cute
and let me shut up. So I have a lot
of musician friends that are in uh Atlanta, like a
little John Roberts used to live down the Philly. However,
there were for musician friends of mine that gave me

(15:01):
theory or on how they got so advanced in their musicianship. Now,
you mentioned you'd be in fifty that you were eight
back then, and I know that one of the most
crucial points in the timeline in a black person's life
in Atlanta history, of course, and if you're eight years
old were the Atlanta murders. And what my friends told

(15:24):
me was like, basically because their parents were strict, like yo,
you ain't going outside, you know, I pick you up
for school. You stay in the house. And because of
that specific late sixties early seventies generation told to stay
in the house, they just got more advanced in their music.
Can you explain to us, like how that period affected

(15:47):
you guys, Like were you fully aware that many young
black kids were getting kidnapped and all those things and
like were your parents like you know, it was it
was prime time for us. And the fact that I
lived in apartments, single parent. Mom she went and she worked,
so it was latchkey kid. So so then I had
two little sisters like six and five years younger like like,

(16:09):
so it was like yeah, and I had to watch him.
So it was almost like I was trained. I was wrong.
Mom had got me ready the knife behind here, whoop
over here, like pistol over on top of the close,
and yeah, like everything was. She treated me as a
young adult because she was like, I mean, I don't
want to the white folks doing this. She was scared,

(16:32):
so she was like, you can't out run the reco.
Stop thinking that get me. I'm too fat, I promised you.
Police can't get me. I'm jumping fishes one league, like
she said, she said, she said, she said, dope, you know,
and they just trying to get rid of all y'all.
They're trying to just scoop him up. But and she

(16:53):
just made me believe that it was something that it
actually necessarily was, but it wasn't because it was a
lot going on in around. It was the video games.
Video games that just touchdown. So that's why I want
to scovered them um them dollar pieces in that in
that back room. Yeah, you want to just go hit
the arcade. And we had an arcade downtown Atlanta and
the Omni and the arcade at It's like the arcade

(17:14):
is when you first stopped meeting that the people people
who do music, the people who were eventually was gonna
be the people, the dancers, the people who loved New
York and knew that we would get shunned for acting
that way, but people still would do it, almost to
the point where like I want to be different, you
know what I'm saying, didn't know that being I don't
don't necessarily want to be copying somebody else. But that's

(17:35):
different that straight and tell you the So so as
far as the child murders, we community centers. So like
people got a chance to to do a boy scout.
They was trying to get you to do some accounts
that they had at the city had put a whole

(17:56):
thing together where they was giving out T shirts. I
remember these these these classic teacher would say eighty eighty one,
eighty two, and then it kind of let you know
that my mam wad cared about me because she made
she went to the camp kids who don't go to
count and this is free. Yeah, this is this is
free and so like he's just seeing like and those
people were also bringing it to you too, as well

(18:17):
as far as making sure that you know, be with
a friend, stopped trying to do stuff by yourself. So
so that little fear was kind of how you should
have felt as a young adult anyway. But the city
was so active about it or whatever as far as
no trick or tree you know what I'm saying, Like
eventually grew into week y'alln go to the mall and
do it. But really was like when you get home
at three thirty or whatever, go in the house at

(18:37):
four o'clock, like it was a curfew. It wasn't a
parent It was like one two. These two years started, yeah,
because he numbers was when we first started this ship,
and then eighty was the year. Was the second year.
That's when everything got like that. When I start when

(18:59):
it was it was like anything, I wasn't tripping about it.
Then by that point point it was like like it
was it was more like yeah, we trained was trained
in or whatever, like but but I do remember saying
like like, damn, we don't get the free kame. They
used to be a like Halloween used to be cool
because everybody show up at schooled and we said, have
even the holloween. Then they started doing little carnivals at
the school. The community kicked in. I gotta say that,

(19:21):
Like and watching the special that HBO did or whatever,
like it was most definitely informative and most definitely enlightened
me on a lot of things that I thought was
going on, and it kind of like brought validity to
what I knew what was happening. But I knew it
wasn't just that because a culture of because we Atlanta
is a melting pot, you know what I'm saying, Like,
you know, you got San Francisco, but Atlantas we had

(19:43):
gay laws put in place when I was younger as
well because of because of disrespect, you know what I'm saying,
like this mightly just want to be you know, because
of racism, because we found a racism in a great
way that we was on top of bed before it
became a worldwide thing or whatever as far as dealing
with um, you different people. Because that explains why atlanted
is such a mecca for that because America's democracy lies

(20:07):
in the hands of Atlanta or Georgia. Period. Absolutely, so
with all those things are because of Wayne Williams, my
dad and me, Like that's the number one conspiracy theory.
I'm so glad you said Wayne Williams, because I still say,
in my mind, Walter Clyde Orange of the commodoors, do

(20:30):
you have those glasses that whatever? But I never I
never truly felt that it was especially what's happening now
so unhinged, like I always felt like it was something
else and some other people, Yeah, I think a lot
of job. It was a collective. It was a collective.
I think people took advantage about it was like it

(20:52):
was happening or whatever. And that's why, yes, and the
things that I'm telling you, all the stuff that was reinforced,
it's the reason why we didn't lose more because it
was thirty two kids. It was thirty two. It was
like thirty one thirty two kids. It was like, I mean, well,
technically it was more than that. It has never stopped words, yes,
I mean the Atlanta is a center for sex trafficking,

(21:16):
so it technically has never stopped you just don't hear
about it being associated with Wayne Williams but abducted missing,
that hasn't changed. Yeah, yeah, but now with the fact
that you have people illegal, Like when I was young
about for Highway, it was like it was you know,
it was Spanish a little bit. But now like we

(21:37):
have completely Atlanta. It's not just a mecha for black people.
It's Latinos, it's Asians. We have everybody here working. To
you that's going to say it's working together, but but
been been been living together for long enough to win
that they know each other. Everybody cool. It's been a
good decade for your like diverse, diversifying, gentrification. But back
to your question, your question, you said something about this,

(22:00):
Did that affect you in your creation? No, it's the
neglect that made Atlanta artists perfect their crafts and talent shows,
high school events and filming because there was no outlet,
so you had, Yeah, you had a bunch of high
talent competing against itself without any kind of visualization in

(22:24):
terms of everybody else. So that said, uh, what is
your version of Okay? Like I know the history of
the Bronx and the Cold Crush Brothers and Dadada so
what is Atlanta's first generation hip hop history? Dream? Yes,

(22:46):
but I'm all independent. I'm gonna say this though, I'm
gonna say this s OS band or like what's the
group Brickhi to my brick, Atlanta had a band culture
in the seventies, came to Roles. So when so when
the dramachine start kicking in that why they might have
turned down the print song if he had drum drum
beats in it because they were such a live just
like how the rules was early on, like it's such

(23:07):
a live thing. That was what made the package that
they so like with that, Brick had a studio, a
lot of studios that was in Atlanta. Like when that
pass they used was either church or an old musician
from a band group from Atlanta who left something there.
So that was like for me, like to me, that's
where the musicianships started it. But as far as when

(23:28):
the drummer scene was, like Ray was saying, the talent shows,
it was almost like we couldn't necessarily do we didn't
have the culture that crushed brew like or whatever, like
like we had shot d you got right here in
the dream. You got these groups, these artists that are
coming out. But really they are somewhat emulating what we
love about New York but doing it down South style.
So but the fact that like the DJ and the

(23:52):
fact that we took on the other aspects of it,
it wasn't it was like our movement was why. I
guess we got cultures Like we was into the style,
like like you would see people dressed like the fat
laces shoe lakes. I mean, this is the shoe laces tho.
We literally mimicked a New York culture and the Miami
culture like from gold teeth to to the to the

(24:12):
big ear rings is really what you see and what
you want to see or whatever. So like for me,
our most original stuff was us being, you know, having
an original style of dance or a dress coming up
without crazy hair. When he was wearing perms and finger ways.
It was really country turned up like like we was
doing that too year. Not the dudes, but yeah, the

(24:34):
girls were definitely doing all that dudes. It was the
dude players dry fast, dry fast waves through shouts out
La Manche's music. They definitely like credited. Jermaine said, you know,

(25:00):
he had to go to New York part of it
and live in New York and kind of bring it back.
And even with like Criss Cross's first record, like half
those breakbeats came from literally from like you know what
when I say this, but whenever, like Muggs would leave
the studio, have to work on Cypras Hill, and like
the sounds would still be in there, which is why

(25:20):
I like the midnight theme. Loop isn't jump like you're
telling too much, not know not he's not telling too
much at all, Because that's that really makes because the
most sense because we three, it's three of us, so
it's not just Ray, it's not just me, and it's

(25:41):
like we all have a certain amount of history and
the way we did because we did like we're gonna
spend as much time as you won't talking. We went
into New York. We flew and raised it. Fly to
New York like when we got big royalty checks or something,
and instead of going to the mall, instead of going
about all the new designer stuff, We'll go to New York,
your hotel, rooms street, he raised pizza, and go to

(26:01):
all the Jewish little storied and backed up everybody. We got.
We got some what what he said that day, I
got some not Pete Rock but name he said, he
said it was, but it was more than cute till
who He said, Yeah, I was holding these cutes and
I was to record. So we found him. But our

(26:22):
discovery of New York as a source was only because
we had like Pilford, Atlanta and the South, because you know,
everybody got a record collection. I was about to say
the best records I've ever found. Word blows absolutely. But
when we first started for my forty five, I'm talking
about Carrine and Blee. This dude he went in back.

(26:44):
He already identified where the brakes came in. That he
had already because all he does was the old man
sitting around list those spots. He would hit it and
he's like, yeah, So he didn't know kind of money
we had. He's like, yeah, you know, I charged like
forty fifty for these. I'm like, cool, how many of
you got? We're dropping bags thousands of dollars and each

(27:06):
time we gotta break we like That's ane thing about
one thing about hip hop, originality is the most important
thing because it inspires and motivates. Yeah, so if you
come up with something, even if you didn't do it
the best, you just presented it to the world, so
somebody else is gonna rip it another day or whatever.
Right in these first little eighteen months. They can't come

(27:26):
behind you with it. It's got to be your lane
only right now. So as many breaks as we had,
it was up to just making records that coincide it
or whatever. But our that was that was our lifeline.
Once we made it into the music industry, we felt
like as long as we were digging, we were reading
books and we were learning, and that's what New York
had forgot for a little while, they got caught up

(27:47):
into the that they've done out and that's why the
South got in there because we didn't. It looked like
they led us in with master p and cash money.
It was like, that's because they funked up and then
sunk with us early on. But when we would we
were a brother. That's why it's called the East Coast
because Atlanta is on the East Coast. It's it's it's
a d C is on the East Coast. It's like

(28:08):
all of all these places are reminiscent of hip hop.
Even though we give all the credit to Bronze, you've
all the credit to New York Brooklyn because they is
deservedly so, like like we always looked at New York
as the father, in the Los Angeles as the mother,
and we were the child that came from. And that's
why he said from neglect, that's where Atlanta came from.
The fact that that that neglect was enough to try

(28:30):
to figure it out on y'all. Now coming up in
the South, like we I tell you all the time,
like we had to study everything. So it's like, you know,
it wasn't just if you came up in New York.
You might have knew what was going on if you
lived in Brooklyn, or you might have knew who the
hot dude was over here. But in the South, we
had to know everything. You had to know all right,
this is New York, this is the Midwest, this is this,

(28:50):
this is Texas, this is Houston, Like you know what
I mean. And it just made it always made from me. Um,
it just gave me a grade vocabulary. You know what
I'm saying. And you know what I mean. Just the
knowing everything because you had to know it. Well, first
of all, how did you three meet? M hmm, we

(29:10):
met very very se Music Music is why we met.
Music is how we met. Um there was this girl
I was dating at the time. I ain't Cookie. She
knew Rico. I knew te Bons very well. Okay, so
and she went Tabos. Then she was Tian. This she
was tr So I was in a dance group in
all the high schools. So that was kind of like

(29:31):
the bomb. We just go girls just scream all this stuff.
So fact Cookie told me. Now I don't know how
true this is, but Cookie told me that um Tian
wanted what Tian wanted me to meet Rico, and Rico
wanted to meet me. So I was like, cool, So
we go. Me and Cookie go over Tian's house, which
is at East Point, walk up to his job Lamante

(29:56):
past and then I walked in. You know what I'm saying,
and Cook, you like, yo, Rico this this pat He
was like, so, so I'm start like I did. It's
like a dance that we used to do, like stuff

(30:17):
the time. So and when you ended, you hit your
legal route right. So the whole time each he wanted me,
he dissed the shut up. He tried to fleece you with.
But I started laughing because I was like it were
fun to me. I was like man, dude, but it

(30:37):
was anyway, So you know, we meeting whatever. I'm gonna
tell this other part. So we meet at whatever, and uh,
I'm like, yeah, well you know, you know he said
we'll hang out some day whatever, blah blah blah. So
I walked back down with my girl, Cookie and Tier,
which they started fussing. We get around the corner they
and all out brawl in the middle of the streets.

(30:59):
Who win it? I'm sorry, No, that was she might
have been a little yeah, but that's a little fighting
because she threw the first took took run and cooking
went behind the cooking with hood ship. Get the fighting.

(31:24):
I'm in the middle of trying to break it up,
called Ryan by. So they fusted each other and walked
their several ways and I'm just standing on I'm like, okay,
so back up to they just got in to the
fight and just and just to go back when he's
a crazy way to meet your future straight up. But

(31:46):
because like you said, I already knew who he was,
because he to be Unesse was a legend, like as
far as to like didn't look like it, as far
as as far as because he had little had little smurf,
I mean or whatever, and he was cattle like, not chubby,
but just where he was. But the boy, the boy
could move. And I say the boy could move. The

(32:07):
boy was in the number one best group in Atlanta
at that time or whatever, and I had just took
was taking dance lessons from a member of that group,
somebody who was in that group. But they put him out.
They put him out because he was no one. He's
doing too much. But he talked. He taught me how
to dance. But I knew I was never gonna beat him.

(32:27):
So when I saw him that day, it was more
like so so. But from that day he said, he
laughed or whatever, but he did see the fact that
I had a job and I was kind of I
was doing stuff. So so yeah, so he was like

(32:48):
he was tired of dancing. I had just learned how
he was like to to three year legend already he
was ready for music then he was already starting to
do them like four tracking demos, and I'm just looking like, yeah,
so when we talk about your first experience with music,
never never thought this would happen. I never thought I

(33:10):
would meet somebody that actually made music. He was showing me.
So now I'm getting money, I'm doing stuff and I'm
not selling dope like I've really got a job. I
just want to stay fresh, just trying to look like
I'm just don't live in these apartments right here. You
know what I'm saying. I got a car, I'm living.
I'm living like I live in Buckhead or something. But
I'm living in East Point like hell and end the love,

(33:30):
you know what I'm saying. So yeah, but but so
but he was the one who was like, go, this
is just local dancing. This is the this is local.
He the one who wanted to start the group. I
wanted to be an artist, and I just I believe that.
I love the fact that he believed in me or nothing.
I felt like I could sell it. I felt like
I can do it. So I started learning about music.
I started like reading whatever you can learn the little

(33:52):
especially Bens, whatever Jack the Rapper or whatever's gonna come
to town. I'm trying to do him. Right Then he
bumped into Raid at the studio at Joe's car. Gene
Carr moved here. They moved him. She living Philly now.
But yeah, damn man, things you learned that my family said, student,

(34:18):
we've never seen you get because I don't live here.
I graduated from Cloud Come back year. Did you go
to clark uh eight years old? When I was a
I went to ninety six and ninety nine house that
over here. Yeah, but Joe, Joe had a little studio,
a nice little bit studio in his house, and he

(34:40):
used to let you know, me and Rico Golden and
working stuff. Now we used to pay for of course.
All right. So one day I'm working and Joe tells me, like,
y'all gotta run somewhere. You cool, you can stay here,
He told me, said, Yo, my boy, Ray gonna come

(35:01):
through here and grab something right quick. He won't be
nothing but a minute, but you know you're meet him whatever.
I said, Okay, cool. So I'm in. I'm confused because
I don't know what the hell I'm doing. All of
a sudden, hit the door closed. Ray comes around the corner.
He doesn't talk to me at all. All he does
is grab his head. Okay. So he goes in up
and he gets to the keyboard, loads of this, do

(35:23):
all this boom, and when he hit it, my mouth
dropped because I'm like, how the funk you just do.
Wait a minute, this just sounds like public inemy, Like, Bro,
how you make this? I'm gonna go with that sampling
now listening. He looked at me and I'm looking, Utree,
I'm looking. I'm amazed, so automatic. As soon as I'm sorry,

(35:48):
I see a read, Bro, I don't miss something. You
name right. We got to have him. I said, he
has to be a part of this. Bro, you don't
understand he could teach like he has to be a part.
Was the way Ray taught me samples. I came from
the punk era, where right, I just would have got
thought everything right. So when I first started hearing like,

(36:11):
you know, rapping everything I thought in my mind with
some stuff, it was original. He came in there with
a bag about this big, with nothing but tapes, Ramsey Lewis,
James Brown, Blackbirds, just everybody and all the bridge. She
stopped playing stuff and I'm like, wait a minute, that's
what Wait, wait Ante, what do you get there? He's like,

(36:33):
you know it, I've been recording every time I go
over somebody's house. You know what I mean? Because I
was playing with these records when I was little. I
love music, so I record, mute and I was a
DJ way early, like you know what I mean, running
the scene him first came out. I was one of
my homeboys taught me how to DJ. So I was
DJ backspinning, you know, uh soccer sucker mc so. Later

(36:58):
on I found out that through my DJ friends that
a lot of the records. That's when we first found this,
uh the break beat collection, Ultimate Beats and Breaks Shout
out to break people. See, I didn't know that's like sleepy.
I didn't know everything was a sample. At first, I
thought that these guys incredible, these guys are making this music.
That so I learned how to program based on listening

(37:21):
to Ship and trying to reprogram on Balls drum Machines
or at Lasi's drum machines or nine on nines on
five or five, seven or seven, you name. I don't
did it? Then I started. When I found the sampling record,
I said, oh, these motherfucker's yeah, so the company. This
is what I didn't figure out. This is what I

(37:41):
didn't know. Did the compilation come out before the records
were hit or after? Probably after okay, because in my
mind that came out before. So I was like, oh,
well then I just need to get the records before
the motherfucker come out and do it first. So I
started digging deep. Wait, let me, let me do a
quick thirty seconds tutorial. So basically for those that two

(38:04):
percent of you that have been listening to us for
six years, um that don't know. So basically, you know,
we always say that of in the in the in
the folklore of of break bology, that basically African Bimbado
was the collector, like cool Eric was the system, Flash
was the technique, and Bimbado was the collector. And of
course they were wiped the labels away off the record,

(38:27):
so you couldn't shizam your way. Was he spending? What's
he spending? Um? And eventually our homeboy break Bet Lou
uh decided to just make a cheat sheet. Uh you know,
we could say the Wikipedia of it, or we could
say cliff notes of all the essential breakbeats, like the
basic four food groups, of the meat and potatoes of

(38:49):
break beatology of what they were spending the seventies and yeah,
come eighties six when you're listening to License to Ill
and like early pre that that period between like the
Molly mall Rick Rubin period and yeah, I too was disappointed,
Like I really thought Jim mter j was doing them
bells on like Peter Piper. What I'm saying, I thought

(39:14):
the time was really doing seven seven seven, don't speaking.
Everything didn't work. It's still it still was amazing though,
that he took Bob James and he was mixing it
with a drum program and he was keeping it on
be for that for the breakdown part still was amazing.

(39:35):
It was just that you could possibly do it too
if you worked at your crab. But but it wasn't
gonna be by doing what they did. So it's now
just a complete study session. He said, let me see
if I can reprogram the same beats with the same drums.
Let me just get to the level I'm there. And then,
like you said, we started digging because one thing they
taught you they had to put the name of the

(39:57):
artists and they had to put the year. So you
started studying years students and student because you studying years years. Yeah,
that was years. What you're getting? That's what you like?
Yeah for samples, what's your what's you know? It don't stop.

(40:17):
Maybe maybe it changed, but I'm gonna tell you when
they got whacked for me when when the fucking drum
machine started going in cameo. When the cameo drums sound
was like the sound the sound though, because you gotta
understand you're coming from a real snare, a snare amplified,

(40:38):
a snare distorted until this fucking eighties, I don't know.
It's kind of princess. It's funny you mentioned this because
even for me, I realized, all right, so I'm I'm studying, uh,
the Isley Brothers, we might do a Ernie episode. And

(40:59):
when it came down onto their ballots, I was like, Yo,
why doesn't Ernie Eisley ever play the high hat? Like
he'll just play the kick and he'll just do the
basic fibers of it. And it just hit me that
for a lot of seventies cats, drums are almost just
simply a metronome and everything sits on top of it.
I mean, this is a few you know, James Brown,

(41:19):
George Clinton, whatever. But when Prince came along, it's the
loudness of those those handclaps, by the way, I mean,
most people know this because they've read the Diller book.
Those Lynn drum handclaps. That's Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers didn't.
So yeah, when Roger Lynn was sampling, Uh, I didn't

(41:41):
know what. I didn't know that, but I knew from
Jimmy I V. We've talked about it because he's handed. Yeah,
you know, he was there. He was there recording the
sounds and we were dweeves here man. So I'm gonna say, yeah,
out of all the producers being in hip hop, the
ones that I truly love him a little Molly Mall,

(42:02):
I love fucking Larry Smith absolutely, Tad Absolutely the band
for Cigure Hill, the band for Cigure Hill. Bro. Those
the most incredible mixed sounding records ever. Right, Yeah, Larry Smith.
He really brought like R and B kind of sensibility

(42:24):
to hip hop, but it was still hip hop and
the record sound really big. I mean you listen to
like Friends or everything on it now, it's still just crazy.
Everything go back to, Uh, what's what's the name of
his group that he was in Curse. Yeah, I'm regular

(42:45):
my dad. I'm still blown for you, bro, That's what
I was trying to you know. You know the last
question I asked Jay before I've seen him maybe like
one months before, and the thing that always confused me
was he would actually scratch the introo and the thing

(43:10):
was he would scratch or he would take that same
break and scratch it for rock Box. But in my mind,
I was like, wait a minute, I know you guys
are using a d m X rhythm machine, So how
did you scratch that without like like did you just
make a thirteen second intro and send it to the

(43:30):
factory for you to scratch it? And then he told
me that initially for second Seas Running, Jay wanted to
rhyme to action. So what they wound up doing I
think he said that the engineer did a did a

(43:52):
distortion trick and just turned up the compression so much
like when you really you could wait on right, like, yeah,
shout out to engineers. Everything happened like Steves Co engineered
every classic like from Voodoo to you know, just whatever,

(44:13):
like all these classic records. But yeah, I always wanted
to know how Jay was able to scratch and he's
basically scratching Orange Crushes Action intro. But they compressed it
so much that it sounds like the drum machine that
they eventually programmed on the d So you have a

(44:34):
class somewhere, bro hip hop class I was made me
quit man. No, literally, I stopped NYU to just do
the podcast because so can I ask a question. You
guys said, when you're originally starting to dig and because

(44:57):
they were wiping the labels, you're or they had to
listen initially, But you said they would only list the
artists in the year, so you were shopping or digging
by year? What about by label? They listed everything. We
were just look at the fact that they thozed were
the key the key points they listed the whole title,
the publishers, to the writers. They were listed everything. But

(45:20):
we would look for the years first first, just so
we could go would you would you stop at seventy nine?
May I get eighty? It depends on the cover to
me too, because I'm still I'm steel the color. I
still like the pictures. Like the pictures too. I like
the pictures, and but the years can help me trust
it because I was into focus. Well, because you get

(45:42):
some you can get some hard drums and some pretty
riffs or whatever, like so like, and then just the
jazz you had to listen to even though you didn't
want to, you had to because you wouldn't you would
have missed the whole phase of hip hop. It was like, like,
because I was thinking earlier when we was talking about it,
when when um, when they dropped that, like and you

(46:03):
realize what came from whether whether and when they tried
called quiz did um something they had that that wasn't
many realton, it was some. But once you start doing,
once you start leving, leving it for that, it didn't
matter if you found something first. He was like, oh god,
they killed what they did with it killed that. I

(46:24):
like how they I mean, so it's also about that too,
like to be so was that inspiration for mainstream? Man, listen,
now you gotta but I say, you gotta really appreciate
that because we dug so deep, because we appreciated all

(46:44):
of these these changes in production style, how it went
from pure James Brown vibe to incorporating melodies and drums
and then getting away from them being combined. Two dope boys.
Know it just hit me right now, dude. The drums
from mainstream, same drums from Fallen Left. Yes, indeed, ye, yes,

(47:09):
even now, I'm like, even now you tell me, you
tell me now, I mean what you say, why do
you say that? No? No, no, it's it's it's literally
the same breaking. No, no, no, that's not about snitching. See,
this is the assumption. This is the assumption, is that
everything is as it was lifted as a loop. Well

(47:37):
I'm sure you stop it, but it may have been
just sounds programmed in order with advance. I mean, you
gotta remember now, that is what. Let me explain something, les,
let me explain let me playing something. I love it.
Larry Smith is his foundation of production is hardly because

(48:01):
he's in the band, but also because of the technology.
He's using S sales Right, Okay, we started when we
got to the music industry, they left us in the
room with S s LS. So this is where we
learned how to make equipment. And what I'm saying, the
synthesis is what you got to really appreciate, not necessarily

(48:25):
the the the copying, you feeling, the ability to be
able to make something be something else and yoda. And
I'm gonna get into the pod because because to be honest,
you could be right. I'm not sure I'm such a
stickler for reverb sounds. I assume that you guys used

(48:52):
iron Butterfly Soldier in our town for the drums dropping
them me here, but I can't speed it up, but right,
you might be close. But the key to it though
it is um yes, the program because it makes stuff
out temple or whatever. We might take drums and then
program reprogram the same loop but end up touching other

(49:14):
sounds that make it might change the high head or
change this part if it if it makes it better.
But but the the greatness or whatever, I'm impressed with,
like you rap for us speak a lot of other
people when they talk about mainstream, I love it because
it's creative people. The fact that y'all love that, and
the fact that it wasn't orthodox, It wasn't it was

(49:37):
I was it really can? I asked paying based on that?
And then the thing is I think we had that
little red keyboard. Was that that was the magic box
and we discovered that list sound. We just let that
sound go. But but the main thing is that I

(49:57):
think it was also U Yeah, That's what I'm about
to get to without telling too much, was that it
was it was like a sale therapy, you know how
you know, we got that dunk, that bounce before the
bounce come in, we got like a quarter like doom
do don't do do? So it's like we have a
half of rip. So like it's like a um a
six bar loop like like um like rolling doom doom,

(50:20):
like the way we just cut it off. Mainstream was
dead with a straight beat. You're right, it was. It
was giving you. It was flipping up a different part.
But I couldn't figure out how to do that weird
beat to that at that point in my career, so
I had to go easy, just keep it down, but
the music go crazy. All right. So now what we

(50:46):
know as the Dungeon Studios before you guys get a budget,
before Ellie and whatnot, Like, I'm certain that you guys
are creating a workspace and some sort of environment or
you know, you called it the Dungeon. What is the
equipment there and who's there? I mean because just based

(51:06):
on the videos, I'm assuming that it's almost like the
Southern Woutang where it's like twelve if y'all, Just like
the Dungeon was my mother's basement, unfinished basement, the wooden
steps go down the steps. Ray was Yoda. He used
to cook up, he wake up and get on the
drum machine. And it was an MPC from the time
of MPC came out. We had one before we even
moved over there, like from the very first MPC we

(51:27):
had one or whatever, so and the problem was it
was unfinished basement, so it was dusty, so he used
to load the three point five he did. So sometimes
we have to be consigned about losing things as soon
as this is why d' angelos, that's why we laughed
when we hear he's still using them. D' angelo is still.

(51:49):
It's still and he isn't one no no, but it's
almost a good it's a big sound or it's a
it's an analog texture. I mean it's something you do
for a sound or whatever, like the s P twelve,
like that's what I'm saying. The other drum machine that
we didn't mess with that much because the past which
it was stick once we figured out we meted that
to the MPC and programming from the MPC, but get

(52:12):
eight oh eight, so you were filtered the SP twelve
and then just met it through the Yeah, program programing
SP two. I mean like you get examples edited in
the speech. Weil then since since literally every every sail,
the buttons get stuck, so you can't really program, so
you just made it a minute. Once we've learned MITI
for real with like, oh I can control this drummer

(52:33):
machine with this drum machine or whatever, because they had MIDI.
So once we started doing that, start like waterfalls had
the twelve on it. I'm ludicrous, Saturday's use spil and
I promise you that was the sound. That was like
the bass music. It was like Andre three thousand bombs
over bad there all that, but that's bombed. That's the
spl type of bube. So we had an down there,

(52:55):
We had an MPC down there and Um, you couldn't
really record. We had a six track so you can
hear stuff. He had two big house speakers down there
or whatever and Um. And most of the time it
was about writing because you had the steps, so people
will sit on the steps. You have big boods, Ray,
you have cool Joe, you have big route. Big route
usually be closer the Ray because on your basement, on

(53:15):
your steps, on the wood steps, the wood steps, you
would see them down the steps. But it was like
it was almost like going down to Um, you know
Ray on the drum machine and you and and it
was already known. You got really talking to Rate and
all all you can do is like is appreciate this
music box. So they're all writing, they all right now,
and the person that finishes first, they on that song
or they all writing. And he changed whenever he finished

(53:36):
what he's doing for that for that sequence, he changed
the beat, and everybody, everybody turned the page and try
to remember it when you go back to then we
gotta get back on it. But you would keep writing
over a new beat. So now your styles are changing,
because now you were just writing with a certain thought process.
Now that thought present has been enhanced by the beat changing.
It's like the plant based version of drink champs right now,

(54:00):
that basic it also reminds me of like yeah, so
and then dig then digging into crazy. The fact that
ray would start so early, some people would be you
would get a chance, just the knowledge of light. You
hear you, hear it. He'll sample it now, he's chopping
it up. Now, he messing it up. Now he fitted
program something to it. But but he might sample five

(54:22):
or six things before he started programming, or when I
go down there later, or when Sleepy get on there.
He already had unpacked the drum machine up with so
many different things that he maybe some of them. He
started on some of them he didn't. So it's like
if it's sometimes you might be like, get that right,
get that for me? I grabbed that like sleep he
does it all the time like because no, because he

(54:44):
has his own sound. That's what's cold about Sleepy like
like like most artists get confused around Ray because he's
gonna go from waterfalls to see therapy. We diverse. So
the fact that he might be digging on something crazy
and all sud he might go into something that's in
my mind. I'm the business person like that. Not for you.
That's gonna be You determine what I don't. You're the

(55:06):
traffic cop, yes, but I don't determine it. Like I
don't say it in front of nobody. I said, I said,
we can use them for him. Yeah, we trust each other.
Trust like I'm not gonna tell the artist because because
the Invot songs Coolbrie song, Couberes was killing it the world.
That's it was. It was only it wasn't it wasn't

(55:30):
even lie of drums, it was it was it was.
It was a beat red head of beat on and
it was that cramp like you said that Kubries was
writing to that, but hold on him, don't let go.
That's the song we're talking about. Yeah, but but when
it got beautiful, I think I think we called le Jo.
We called Leo. Happened to be we called the John
in for that. So the night that he tracked that,

(55:52):
I believe we were at the tabernacle because he told
me the tabernacle right, Because when I saw a little
later that that night, he told me that he just
did it like two days before whatever, And so that's
how I think that. Does the Tabernacle not exist anymore? Wait? Wait,

(56:12):
And I'm also glad you told this story because I
always felt like you were secretly judging me, like you
and James and kiss my ass, James Poison. I feel
like I wanted to explain to you because the way
we were, you noticed that I always I used my computer,
but I always put it through the that SP twelve
I got and I never used that. Yes, the reason is, um,

(56:35):
there's a new version of me. There's a new kidded
out version of us. I got it as a great texture,
but I haven't learned to really freak it yet, so
I still do my ship on my computer. But I
like the texture of how samples go through the should
just have an SP twelve plug in and they kind
of like m PC, but you just don't believe it too.
It's not some things you just want to like like that.

(56:57):
Like what I'm willing to do is to try to
set up with the sounds digitally again, but with the quality.
I gotta be honest, L John, how I sound really
changed America? Like like that that clean eight Await the DJ?
It was the DJ. And I once thought that little
John Roberts was a little John. It's like, yo, he's
really revolution because the thing was, I knew DJ drama

(57:21):
back when he was backpack dramatic, dramatic, and when Ter
try and convinced me that this guy Gangster Grills is dramatic,
get the funk out of here. Until I seen him,
I was like, holy shit, you really did change, Like
so I didn't want At one point, I didn't think
that little John Roberts was revolutionizing dance culture in Atlanta,

(57:44):
and then I realized there was two of them. So
what what kind of NPC was it? Wow? I mean
for your your weapon of choice, original studio, the original
studio downstairs, the big key win. The first weeks, the
first we started on the first one and then graduated

(58:06):
with each one. You feel like there's a different sound
between the different models. They are they are like, um, okay, now,
some people three thousand, the two thousand was the second one,
right now, that's the that's okay, that's that's the one.
Three thousand. Three thousand was the one that that they
started using. The three thousand and one they start using

(58:27):
their effects. They start using the little where they could
like you can make a sound when you can hid
a sample, that they start doing that. The two thousand
was the was the bounce box, but anything you did
was bouncing or whatever. So it does differ. Does all
of them have a different sound? But what what gives it?
The bounds the quantizing, Yes, yes, a good job. Well,

(58:48):
to be specific to the drum machines, when they changed
them around, they kept putting the fucking click the tap
button on different sides. So if you started on the
first one, you tap with your left or whatever, and
if you start another one, you tapped with you right.
So it made people be biased to the drum machine
left handed like that, And it seems like the three

(59:11):
thousand is like the one, right, three thousands, the one
if you're dialer now. And the thing is that Roger
Lynn didn't. It has his name, but Roger Lynn had
nothing to do with the two thousand. It's it's almost
like the easy adda situation where they have a name
but that sort of thing. So really, the last thing
that he did, he did the NBC sixty, the NBC

(59:32):
sixty two, and then he did the three thousand, and
then NBC sixty came in like here's a boot, you know,
and my sucker asked felt for the two thousand because
it's for left handed people. So alright, rapid five. All right, Yeah,
it's rapid five. Okay, So which is dr a swath
healing ritual? Okay, look, man, we look, bro, we got time.

(59:56):
Just got to look man. That probably to me that
Kolbrees album like Ghetto came Bro, those records. I've heard
parts of the story what happened with those two records
in the Interscope deals and what was that Interscope situation
was it was a good deal, but it was just
bigger than what we was used to whenever we had

(01:00:18):
more power or whatever. So like and the artists, you
know what I'm saying, We by that time we as
a company, we wouldn't produce. We was production company, but
we were a label and um and the artists had
more responsibility or whatever, Like we was making your music,
but we wouldn't holding your hand to make sure you
went on your shows, to make sure you did. Yes,

(01:00:38):
we did that without casts, but they were seventeen years old.
Eighteen years old. It was more about do you even
have a bank card? You know what I'm saying. I
don't want to leave you out there. But by the
time we got the good amp, y'all grow yes, and
and not to disfect, but I did what I've been
wanting to say this to quest because how did you
feel when you first met Because the first to a

(01:00:59):
good Amie know was with the Roots and with already dramagic. No,
it wasn't because we we first met Goodie Mob, like
my first introduction to I mean besides seeing outcasts on
two people, but in real life we are very first
trip to Atlanta, we went to this radio station and

(01:01:28):
so I didn't go to the radio station that night,
but I listened and basically all of Goodie Mob in
the Roots like freestyled for twenty minutes. It was on
YouTube for the longest, like it was like a legendary moment.
I just remember Greek coming back, like, yo, there's even
more of them because because the thing is, yes, there

(01:01:53):
were there was a lot of bias towards how we am.
The Northeasts were very to be very particular, very territorial
about culture and whatnot. So yes, we tend to think
that most of down South was just luke and nothing else.
And so shout out to Cosmic Cab for he always

(01:02:16):
rode for the Players Ball remix. Now I will be
super super transparent, honest, the original Players Ball. I remember
when it came on BT and it was the jury
is up in the air because we were like, all right,

(01:02:36):
so here's my things, alright. It was no, no, no, no.
Where I was, I was dirty dungeon. Hip hop has
to be filthy, like the first Jungle Brothers record, the
first Woo Tang record. And when the Chronic came out,
I told you, Andre laughs his ass off. I hated

(01:02:57):
the Chronic for like twenty years because us it just
sounded too pristine too. Yeah, it was too It was like, wait,
I thought we were against this. I thought we didn't
want to sound like afternoon Radio. And to me then
suddenly hip hop just sounded clean and big and right.

(01:03:18):
But I didn't come from like club culture with ship
had to kick. I wanted this ship like that right,
And I was just like, I don't know, man, like
it's too clean and da da da da da. And
then I got in Cosmic Kept's car and he played
the main Ingredient remixed version, and when the drums kicked in,

(01:03:40):
like it could cut you off because you've been dropping
these motherfucking jims everybody that's coming out, I'm thinking about
to produce the main Ingredient over. We literally played played

(01:04:03):
it with the piano and had sleep becoming singing glad
to see you gotta say it like it's cool. Yeah,
that's what we did, but that ain't what we ain't. Wait,
I thought it was listened to it right, I'm it's that,
but it ain't that. I grew up with Shame on
the World as a record, so I instantly knew so maybe,
And then guess when somebody else came behind us and
it and did that, he didn't get like this what

(01:04:28):
they did. And when I heard that Youngster's record, I
liked it because I liked the sea I actually liked
the beat and the seven was real cool to me.
Oh damn, it was mad problems. I didn't know that. No, no,
a moment where I didn't even think of that ship.

(01:04:50):
No no no. But when Cosmic Cabin is like Philly
swamp Master flex and that's hard. When he used to
have his like mixtapes out, like I'd be in the
car and when he put it on the way them drums,
it was like a hard version of friends, you know

(01:05:10):
what I mean? And yeah, I mean it was. It
was a hard version of friends. Like like if I
were drumming, that's what you say. If I were drumming, Yeah,

(01:05:32):
well here's the thing, Like I wasn't even though I'm
immersed in hip hop and all that ship, like I'm
still trying to figure out, Hey, how can I recreate
these bricks. I would have been a perfect supplement to
that ship. So when he did that, then that's when
that was my Kaiser Sosa coffee Drop reveal moment. I

(01:05:55):
was like, oh, ship, there there is a problem. Then
I was like, y'all really did earn those four and
a half mics yet we were one day and the
easy issues, So let's go and I wouldn't. I would like,
try to read the review before I see what the
mics are. And I saw a half and I was like, wait,

(01:06:16):
it's a leave review. They wouldn't do No three and
a half leave review two three, four, and Alf like
we stopped rehearsal and I immediately went to rection, doing like, yo,
I gotta get this ship. And hey man, so it's
so monumental what you're saying now. Because to even back
that up, I remember when l A read because it

(01:06:38):
was important to him to call me in every Tuesday,
every day, every once a week when radio reports come out.
He just wanted me. He was excited, but he knew
it wasn't his. He was excited, but he knew this
is y'all. Y'all need to be excited. And he said that, uh,
he was on the show but four weeks ago. Yeah,
and he definitely said that even like he didn't know

(01:07:00):
the world like cl C, he could instantly have saved.
He didn't really know whatever y'all say. Absolutely, but but
but he started he started the felt, you know, like
I owe you to teach you. And he was like, Yo,
if this market plays your record, it's probably gonna trigger
these markets around it. So so shout out to the

(01:07:21):
Bay because that's who really jumped. That's who and that's man.
But yeah, absolutely makes sense. That makes sense because yes,
they played the original one. They played the original one Vegas,
every other market New York from when we had out Peak.
I'm looking at New York. I'm like, I said, they

(01:07:42):
still ain't come. And he said look at me and
said they yeah. He said, they're just not they're not
really working with it. But I said, that's all you
have to say. We went and as soon as he
soon as you let me know. As soon as he
said they didn't like, I said, they don't want he
out that music, sip. Okay, cool, let's break it down.
Let's break it down. Let we was already gold at
that point. It was like we need to give and

(01:08:04):
for you to tell me that Cosmic cares somebody who
was a big influencer in in in the East Coast,
because guess where everything turned around once we dropped that remix.
The whole East Coast lit up. But love for Outcast.
You had such a crazy momentum, especially with Outcasts as

(01:08:25):
your main trojan horse, to literally change the narrative of
how the world thought southern hip hop was this is
what I gotta know as a lead single, Yes, a
song being eighty bp ms in fifteen whatever, Like we'll

(01:08:46):
say the second half of the arts between is normal.
But in elevator and the thing was, you know, I asked,
even even off campus, grilled dre and and and Big
Boy about this. But since y'all create, how like that

(01:09:09):
was such a risk y'all could have just played it
safe and just kind of fitting. What did it follow though? No,
but I can tell you this for a meaning that
what did we do before that? What was the single? Well,
I mean, what we do before that? What do we
do before that? Hip hop wise? To me, it was good.

(01:09:32):
It was so because they broke the ground with pianos
and this this when you were with with with sell therapy.
It was easy for the cast to pick up. It
was so different. Sois a that's a real story behind it,

(01:09:53):
give it not the real stroke every day the music
gonna float down and think this just the actual bee's knees.
This is what happened, And Tonio read. At this point,
we was in a contract negotiation. We were trying to
bring our label. We wanted to be a label. We

(01:10:14):
want Outcres to be signed US Red Clay Records. So
if you look at the original versions of Elevators, it's
a Red Clay Records. We end up leaving. But so
when when so we was in a little bit more control.
Big and Dre's the first single they produced. They produced,
They produced it, They produced first, they produced that. They
came to Big Boy came up with this incredible hook,

(01:10:35):
and we produced it in the sense of we put
Dreble on it. We made it sound like a big song.
So they wanted to put it out. I looked at
it as a set up record. This is a little
street It's gonna be the street retreat. They read them like, nah,
you gotta give me an up Temple, we gotta this,
Maybe you gotta you gotta do you know all the
basis of the food group, gotta come. This is our
first single moment at something like it's it's a fact

(01:11:00):
a t elegans throw your hands in the air, like
this might end up being second. It was supposed to be.
It was gonna be. They was gonna come with that.
They had they playing, they had they roll out playing
the same reason why he wanted Miss Jackson to be
the first single on another album. But but since we
went in control and we and then the spirit of
hip hop. Right, thanks were New York. Now we're Atlanta.

(01:11:21):
I'm saying we were powerful a little bit. We're gonna
leak it right, took off, took off, let's go, took
off beyond anybody's so we took we we leaked it.
I wonder how y'all leaked it back then? Did you
leak it to a d JA? We went straight to
Great Street. It was it was actually make sure it

(01:11:41):
was probably people like um um eighty nine point three.
It was ninety one the college stations because back then
we had been schooled in the fact that that's the
only way hip hop is gonna be hurried. First, mainstream
radio wasn't an option when it weren't even option there
when something that you thought was gonna happen, so at
least we get there. It was just a real to
make a real hip hop community in a Lanta outcast

(01:12:02):
was big enough to wear and it was a cool record.
We didn't and we did a remix where we probably
took another one of those good breaks on the Parliament
Shi Man, this is my thing by the way. Have

(01:12:27):
you ever sat here? Has somebody quests out it's not
that listen, it's cool. I like this ship. I'm literally
I'm literally on producer's thread of like just thirty dweebs
who sit and just all we do just sitting when

(01:12:48):
I know. When I found So Fresh, So Clean, I
was like, get the fun. That's not a sample. But
I know we know what am I? Alright? Alright? We
shot never the record. We never heard the record. This
is I appreciate how the universe work yes into the frequency.

(01:13:11):
Yet when we really and truly didn't never like everything else,
I mean, on god, we never like like like that
was literally like us producing like um by ear. I
mean like like like sleepy I had a road, Sleepy
playing a melody, he playing a melody, and met programming
a beat that fitted the melody or whatever, and we
actually created a breakbeat, like like we created a breakbeat.

(01:13:34):
And then years later somebody say, this is jazz record
that sounds just like suppressed so clean, that's it? Did
they do our ship? But she came out in the seventies.
I'm like, wow, But now let me say this. I
never heard the record, but maybe it played when I
was dreaming what night because I swear to god, I

(01:13:55):
went to Rico house. I said, I got this ideal man.
He's like, well, I'm like, dude, I'm just saying. I
said that he got a couple like that, but Barry
got a couple like that. Even. But something sounds like

(01:14:17):
it literally happens all the tule where you don't know
you're subconscious thing. One thing you can say for a fact,
they are eighty eight keys, and I gotta say it
felt good to his fingers the movement. So that's why
you play it again. That sounds like but they stay
there though Ponte it goes do nothing like that, nothing

(01:14:50):
like that do do We're not okay, no no, no, no, no,
we're not even we're not in that so got some
gal but we are scientists. That just it means that
how it gets built. But let me just say that's

(01:15:18):
what they sample. That was just that's what they say.
But listen to it. It no, no, but everything else
right now, it's not like that's just the to me,
this is whoever it is DJ Premier, if it's you know,
all the great ones. That's why I organized nose is respected.

(01:15:38):
And here is a part of this, this class of people,
you know what I'm saying, because you spend time. But
now they've given they've given the kids so much technology
to it. They got the notes on the board for
them they're showing. So the music sounds cleaner but very musical.
But people don't respect to as much. It's not as
creative because because we had to do a lot more,
we have to like speak things up a little, slow
it down to get it in tune because you only

(01:15:59):
have a little bit of sampling time, like sp had
like ten a half seconds. Can I speed it up to? Yeah?
How does how does your cousin I feel about? Like
does he look at you guys like you guys are
like like as future ever asked? Like on my record?

(01:16:20):
Or yes he did he did he did that and
I hated it because I mean I hated it. I
loved it. I love the thought of doing it, but
the fact that like he wanted to do it because
he wanted a song that sounded like back in the day,
and that's cool, but we want a song that sounds
like So let's evolve, Let's come together and do something
that's not just some old sounding ship but some new
sound and ship with the old with the familiars do both. Yeah,

(01:16:43):
that's what That's what what happened anyway, right, I mean,
well I got a whole I got a whole album
on anyway, But I wanted to where is it that
I got him wrapping over everything? Future? I got man, futures.
It's my cousin. And if I wanted and if we
wanted to, yeah, futures like like like we wanted to,
we could with what's working for him or whatever. It's like,

(01:17:05):
it's maybe not because the song we did, he did
some three thousand, did some dry three thousand ramming under whatever,
and it was dope. I just think that, to be honest,
it was just, um it sounds it was. It was dope,
But me and Ray had a version that we had
kind of like made it a little more futuristic, and
it was stupid and they and they didn't they didn't
want to use that one. So I've been mad since. Yeah,

(01:17:29):
what's up for everybody? This is fonte fun to the
local Quest of Supreme. This interview was so meaningful for me,
and I'm sure y'all can tell whether you listen along
or watching us on YouTube. I was losing my mind
and just geeking out the entire time. We're pausing this
two part discussion here for now, but please make sure
you come back from part two for the Quest of
Supremes Atlanta sit down with the Gods Organized Noise. We

(01:17:51):
continue to speak about outcasts. Learned one of the biggest
R and B hids began as a beat for a
Dungeon Family MC and also did a deep dive into
some of the best works. Um this was this was amazing.
Check it out. Q LS Fontiello Yeah. Quess Love Supreme

(01:18:12):
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