QLS Classic: Doug E. Fresh Part 1

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. What's Up?

Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is unpaid bill from Quest Love Supreme. On Today's
Classic QLs. We travel back to January of twenty twenty
two for our conversation with the legend Dougie Fresh. This
is part one.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Shall we started?

Speaker 3 (00:31):
We can't do call Dog such a roll call episode?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Are you.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
Yelling out?

Speaker 1 (00:41):
I will think of a solution so we can get
back to role call audio.

Speaker 5 (00:44):
Can you work on I actually thought.

Speaker 6 (00:46):
Of one today, Like we can just we can just
do our own, our own verse ours. We can say
that yeah, and the supreme is ourselves.

Speaker 7 (00:57):
But the whole thing is the reaction to you what
the other person says.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Exactly and then and then our guest wants to hear.
They can kind of get an idea.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Sometimes well okay, I think I got a good idea.

Speaker 6 (01:11):
We go back into a studio in person with people
and we do our role calls there.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
Now I'm good on that.

Speaker 6 (01:19):
Fante, you can always be even if we're live all
together in a studio with a.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
Guest being yeah, we just passed you. I'm I'm with it.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Can we make Fonte like Max headrom though, like he's
just like on a TV.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
You can just see his head. Can I start this please? Oh?

Speaker 7 (01:36):
No, small talk, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, that was the
small talk. Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to another episode of
Quest Love Supreme. I'm your host Quest Love and the
Supreme team is with me strong all five of you
or four of you? I still don't know the proper
number anyway. Uh unpaid bill, Congratulations, thanks friend. I think

(02:00):
you're Yeah, you're you're you're doing big things in your
life right now. What you got going on?

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Thanksgiving?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Uh? Grammys? Uh, movies? Uh, that's it. That's all you
can ask for life jobs. I'm good.

Speaker 7 (02:17):
I was like, life is good, brother, good still dropping.
I kind of kind of at the point where you were, Well,
I kind of hit a plateau in Yeah. So I'm
down probably like thirty right now. I'm down probably like
thirty seven, you know what I mean. And so I've
been just switch it up a little bit, and I'm
gonna start going meatless.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
Maybe like one or two days a week, just to try,
you know.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
I see.

Speaker 4 (02:38):
So, uh, we're we're switching it up a little bit.

Speaker 7 (02:41):
Well, I'm about to let you know this what my
heck I got dandy lion, garlic, spinach, and cucumber. So
hopefully this will do the trick and get me off
that plateau.

Speaker 4 (02:52):
I was just gonna eat some sweet potatoes.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
But yeah, I'm gonna think less. See that'll do it.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
That'll do it. Yeah, that called will put it on you.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
I'm good, still got the three jobs. Moving down to
where the black folks live in l A. Really excited.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
Yeah, you got a new apartment, talk about it.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Apartment right now?

Speaker 8 (03:14):
Yeah, no, this is my mama house. But in LA,
I got me in a nice spot. So now my
parents got another bed sleeping. I ain't got to sleep
on the couch.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
And I'm down with a black folks.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Where do black people live in l A?

Speaker 8 (03:26):
Just if they're lucky there? They live in South LA Inglewood,
you know I live. I got I'm letting the murder
by the drum Circle and whatnot, which is kind of like,
really dope. It's being highly gentrified right now because that's
where the stadium is and then putting in the train,
so LA is it really expansion gentrification on level three.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
The football stadium?

Speaker 5 (03:47):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (03:48):
Yeah, I went there to see uh the last Rolling
Stones LA show. Yeah, I heard it, and I didn't
realize they dropped that joint like right in the middle
of the hood.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, right in Inglewood.

Speaker 7 (04:00):
The second you step off the pavement, you're definitely in Inglewood.

Speaker 8 (04:05):
Yes, it's not as long as that people can afford
to stay.

Speaker 7 (04:09):
Yeah, it's yeah, right right right in the middle of it.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Steve, how are you? Yes, I'm good. How are you okay?
Where am I? How are you?

Speaker 9 (04:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (04:21):
I know where you are. Okay. Let your many followers
know that you're good.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, boss man, and congrats on the witch Call.

Speaker 7 (04:30):
We forgot to congratulate the well the oscars and all that,
But then the short film you did shout Okay, you
didn't realize I directed a second film. Sometimes when when
when there's a little buzz on you and then people
start and you know, I got a call from a

(04:54):
team hove to uh settle Well. The thing was is
that I knew without something on that level, he would
not come to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
So I told the staff, let me direct something and
that will lure him to it.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Without that, he wouldn't have come. He would have just
you know, phoned in.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
All right.

Speaker 7 (05:14):
This is probably the longest wow we never going to
four minutes without even acknowledging our guests right now, we haven't.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Talked in a while. We sorry, guests, we haven't talked.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
It's been a minute, Okay.

Speaker 7 (05:26):
So what I will quickly say about our guest today is,
if if I were compiling a list of the most
charismatic figures in hip hop or maybe in music, I
wouldn't hesitate to put this gentleman. This gentleman will probably

(05:47):
and I'm trying to keep the quest level hyperbole down
to a minimum, he's probably, if not in my top three,
maybe he is my number one most charismatic figure that
I know in hip hop. And the evidence of that

(06:08):
for me is, and I'm going beyond hip hop and
going to music, the evidence is in the in the
thirty five years that I've been fortunate enough to see
him perform. Throughout those decades, I've never not seen him
elevate any event.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
To the highest level.

Speaker 7 (06:31):
Like I've never seen him walk in any situation with
fear or trepidation. It's and to me, like, you know,
I'm a guy who wire overthinking, like, oh, I can't
go out there.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
You know, they don't know.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
Who I am.

Speaker 7 (06:46):
Whatever, Like forget generational, forget genre. I've seen him rock
with you know, Prince Tom, Cruise, Heavy d Chuck Brown,
like every from every genre I've just he's the the
most charismatic and you know, stupid charismatic. Will Smith's charismatic.

(07:06):
I can name a gazillion Jay Z's charismatic. But you
know this, our gentleman, this, our guest today is.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
The world's greatest entertainer.

Speaker 7 (07:17):
Yes, literally, lady ladies and gentlemen, our guest today is
officially known for the and not for the Please give
it up for Doug E.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Fresh on Quest Left Supreme.

Speaker 9 (07:40):
Flowers.

Speaker 5 (07:43):
Let me tell you it is an honor.

Speaker 9 (07:45):
It is an honor, and I appreciate y'all giving me,
or rather having such a long delay on the introduction
because I felt because I felt like I got caught
up with all of y'all too, and I felt like
it was family conversation and I was able to hear
it close up in person, you know. So yeah, thank

(08:07):
you and thank you for having me on your show, Quest,
I appreciate it. With the Supreme Team and that name,
Supreme Team HP hip Hop, for y'all to use that
name is a very powerful thing. Because back on w
HBI it was the world famous Supreme.

Speaker 5 (08:28):
Team show Keys, Holla and Justice.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yes, yes, I know you did.

Speaker 5 (08:36):
That's what look.

Speaker 9 (08:37):
You are the ultimate collector. So I know that when
I mentioned something like that, you would you either know
it or you would appreciate it, you know. So I
and I appreciate you, and I appreciate you having me
on your show.

Speaker 5 (08:52):
Thank you know what I.

Speaker 7 (08:53):
Think, even though I'm going to start before that, I
do believe that you are indeed, and I think about
till today, you are indeed the first beat boxer the
world has seen, because I believe that your cameo and
Beat Street did predate the Fat Boys. So even though

(09:17):
you know, a lot of the world credits Buffy, rest
in peace to Buffy as the first beat boxer they
ever seen. If we really look at the timeline for
all this hip hop heads that saw Beat Street in
nineteen eighty three, the disco three Fat Boys didn't come
out until nineteen eighty four, So technically, and it's weird,

(09:40):
I don't think at the time, and I remember the
Christmas rap from Beat Street. I think at the time
you might have been so effortless in doing what you
were doing. I don't think it even registered to us
that you were doing drums with your mouth.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Right, you know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (09:59):
And it was a funny.

Speaker 9 (10:00):
It was us trying to make people kind of laugh
and feel good. But it's deep that you picked that
up because I actually did the movie at the time,
because there was a scout who went up to Savoy
Matter and I was performing on that show with the
Crash Crew, Master Don and the Deaf Committee, and I

(10:25):
believe at that time. I don't think the foss MC's
was on that show at the time, but I performed
there and then she gave me a card. And when
she gave me a card that said Beach Street on it,
she said, do you want to be in a movie?
Because what you're doing would be unbelievable to see in
a movie. And I'm gonna tell you some information. So
I went there and he started to see what I do,

(10:48):
and he was like, I don't care what I gotta do.

Speaker 5 (10:50):
I gotta get you in this movie.

Speaker 9 (10:52):
Now. Originally run DMC was supposed to be in Beach Street.
What And That's what I'm telling you. I think you know,
I'm give you the yeah, I know, Well, y'all well,
y'all done, ran to the right y'all and ran in
the right store tonight because this and everything and by

(11:16):
the way and everything is free, just by the way,
just so you know, it's just free. So they're right.
So but this is how it went. I was supposed
to do beat when I was doing Beach Street. Harry
Belafonte wanted me to do something where this thing with

(11:37):
the beat box could be showcased. So what happened is
Run DMC and Russell came up there and they were
going to be in Beach Street, but I don't think
Russell felt good about them just doing a little segment
in it. He wanted them to do more. And then
we and then it was me Run in the elevator

(11:59):
and d M s see and in the room. So
they started doing one of their records, the rhyms to
the second album that came out, the beat that sound
a little bit like suck MC's.

Speaker 5 (12:11):
I don't know the exact song, but they was saying.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
The King of Rocket album.

Speaker 5 (12:15):
The next album, right, yeah, it's.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Right, the last song inside too.

Speaker 5 (12:21):
It got done. Yeah, I got like a little it
got a little kind of thing to it.

Speaker 9 (12:27):
So I'm in the elevator and we started doing it
and he said, and he looked at Russell and he said, Yo,
this will be crazy. We should get Dug to do
the beatbox on this, and we could do this whole
thing in the movie with And then we started coming
up with the idea to do it, and then and
then Harry was excited about it. But then Russell pulled out.

(12:49):
And after he pulled out, then he brought in Treacherous three.
And when he brought in Treacher's Three, Treacher's three knew
me as a kid because they knew me from going
into Bobby Robinson's record shop or all the time. So
when they seen me, they said, hey, you know, Harry said,
mister Bellafonte said, you know, is it any way that
you can have Dougie do this with you? Because I

(13:11):
think this routine is unbelievable. So if you listen to
the rhyme, they mentioned me multiple times and the rhyme,
he said, you know, you know that kid Dougie fresh
from down the block, because I.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
Really lived down the block, you know, so when.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
You were their labelmates too, because the right.

Speaker 9 (13:31):
Right, I was yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, just having
fun came out on on enjoy. But what happened is
that that was after you know, Treacher's three was already established.

Speaker 5 (13:46):
But I let out just having fun and.

Speaker 9 (13:49):
I did the movie because at the time, I felt
like I needed to let people who understand the beat
Box and I needed to do something. And I started
to see a lot of people trying to, you know,
kind of kind of go there with it. In the
time we grew up in hip hop, it was about
being as original as possible, so if you did something,

(14:12):
it would be considered biting. But see, biting was only
considered bad because the only way to make hip hop
survive and to be pure creatively, it was necessary for
you to feel that kind of pressure.

Speaker 5 (14:27):
So somebody say you're a bito.

Speaker 9 (14:29):
That was kind of like the worst thing that you
can ever be called in your life, you know what
I mean?

Speaker 1 (14:36):
It was crazy?

Speaker 9 (14:37):
Well, okay, and the be Box was made up in
eighty I introduced it in eighty two, but I made
it up in eighty one. See, because I started in
eighty one at Harlem World. That's where I started. And
when I made it, I made it because I used
to play the trumpet, and when I played the trumpet,

(14:59):
I used to there was a teacher in my class
named brother Lee.

Speaker 5 (15:03):
Brother Lee was I went to as two A one.

Speaker 9 (15:05):
And Brother Lee really quick. Brother Lee was in there
and he said, what do you want to play? And
I pointed to the percussions and the drums. He said, well,
you can't play that jet. You got to play the trumpet.
I said, well, why you asked me, Brother Lee, I
mean baby, and he said he said, I understand, he said,
but I want you to play the trumpet.

Speaker 5 (15:23):
So I took the trumpet home every day.

Speaker 9 (15:26):
And when I took the trumpet home, I would practice it,
take the mouthpiece, boil it, do the whole thing, do
all of the exercises. And then one day when I
came back to school, Brother Lee was gone because they
cut all the music programs in school. So I gave
them the trumpet back. And I was still walking home.
And when I was walking home, I would pass by

(15:46):
the mom and pop record shops. So at that time
Grandma asked a flash hat out. It was a Friday night.
Everybody was freaking the highs right and I would always
say it, right there you go, and I would always
hear the baseline, and when I would hear the baseline.

(16:09):
Then all of a sudden, I hear all of these
other things. So I would walk back and forth and
I would just kind of try to keep adding.

Speaker 5 (16:16):
More and more and more.

Speaker 9 (16:18):
Ideas to the beat, to the point that I had
maybe seven eight nine things going on at the same time.

Speaker 5 (16:24):
I'm not thinking.

Speaker 9 (16:29):
And I'm going crazy now, but I'm not thinking about it, right,
let me tell you this true story. I'm not thinking
about it. So then I go to Barry's house where
we used to practice, because me and Will Barry b
that's right, we go over there and practice because that
was the practice house.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
Long story short.

Speaker 9 (16:49):
I'm in there doing the beatbox and I'm doing I
think I was doing in peace to President because it's
like right, and I'm going to piece the President.

Speaker 5 (16:59):
And then all of a.

Speaker 9 (16:59):
Sudden his mother comes in the room and say, that
was a nice beat. I liked that beat that was playing.
And he said, Ma, that wasn't the record. That was him,
And now he said that was him, and then she said, well,
whatever it was, it was a nice beat. And then
he turned around and looked at me and said, yo,
you know what, you should do that in the Big
Park tomorrow because Mike and Dave was throwing jams out

(17:21):
in the Big Park. He said, Yo, you should call
it the human beat Box. I said, I'm not going
to do that.

Speaker 5 (17:25):
That's crazy.

Speaker 9 (17:26):
I'm not doing that. You're trying to make me look crazy.
He said, I'm telling you, yo, what you just did
was crazy. So then I went out to the Big
Park and when I did it, everybody lost their mind.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
And that was the beginning of the Beatbox.

Speaker 7 (17:41):
And that was nineteen eighty one. That was okay eighty two.
What Burrow did you premiere that in?

Speaker 5 (17:50):
I premiered it in Harlem. I prepared it in Harlem.

Speaker 9 (17:54):
And then after which was a fascinating piece that I
think you'll appreciate too, is that Curtis Blow came out
with one hundred and twenty fifth Street, the people laying
the concrete, and it was on you know, you know,
you know, you're like, you know, So what happened? Craziest story.

(18:14):
I was doing the Beatbox. I was on Flyers with
the Cold Crush, Busy Bee with the Funky four with Fantastic,
with treacherous street feelers like I'm on I'm rolling now.
So now what happened is Curtis Blow was outside, and
this was the first time Harllow Week had somebody up.
Curtis Blow was the first hip hop artist to perform

(18:36):
at Harllow Week. Before that, it was never no hip hop.
So when Curtis Blow was there, they forgot to give
him turntables because it wasn't normal. So I'm walking down
the street. But I'm walking down the street they see me. No,
that's Dougie Fresh right there. No Dougie, come over here.
And Curtis said to me, He said, Dougie, is it

(18:57):
possible for you to get on and do the beatbox
for me? Because I have no turntables, the band, there's
no band. The band only know how to play for
whoever's getting on next. There's no CD, there was no cassette,
there was nothing. I was standing there. I was like
this crazy Curtis Blow is asking me to get on
with him. Are you crazy? I was like, oh, mister Blow, Uh,

(19:19):
no problem, sir, I'm reckon do that right, sir. That
I got on and when I got on, Frankie Krocker
was on BLS. And this is when Harlem Week was big,
so it was probably like fifteen thousand people outside. I
got on and I did the beat box and that
was the first time Curtis Blow heard the beat box.

Speaker 5 (19:39):
And that was way before the fire Boys.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Okay, se y'all did see ya.

Speaker 9 (19:44):
That's why I'm giving you that feet.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
I get it.

Speaker 9 (19:46):
And then I asked them later.

Speaker 5 (19:48):
I asked some later.

Speaker 9 (19:49):
I said, curt when you did this and you know
that I create, you know you know that I did this,
I said, it didn't feel a little funny with you
in there doing doing He said, Dougie, you know, he
just asked me to come in and produce.

Speaker 5 (20:02):
And he said, I.

Speaker 9 (20:05):
Said, I'm just trying to understand. I said, did you
He said, Dougie, it was just so crazy. I was
under so much. I said, I don't worry about it, man,
I said, I just wanted to know, you know what
I mean, because if I did it for you, you
called me to do it, then it was kind of
strange for me to hear that you produced the fact

(20:29):
voice and then the tradition and hip hop was not
about you when you do something, see you, you're trying
to create your own sigmaents you were looking to do
and I didn't need to do to beat box.

Speaker 5 (20:47):
I just it found me.

Speaker 8 (20:49):
And there had to be a life lesson in that though, Doug,
don't you feel like at the end of the days
that you were so young and that happened to you,
You feel like, in retrospect, was there some type of
life lesson and that, Yeah, you.

Speaker 9 (21:00):
Know what's interesting with the life lesson? I always feel
this way, And this is the truth I say to myself.
If the music program was never cut at I is
two o one and Brother Lee was no longer there,
would I have created the beat box? I don't know.
And then on top of that, what's really fascinating is

(21:22):
Brother Lee. Later on I found out it's Malcolm Lee's father.
Why brother Lee is also a jazz musician whose brother
is Spike Lee.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
Billy was your teacher.

Speaker 9 (21:44):
Malcolm Lee's father was your music teacher. And then guess
what when when I made my records and I came out,
I found out.

Speaker 5 (21:52):
I said, I got to talk to Brother Lee and
I'm going.

Speaker 9 (21:55):
To ask you what was you gonna say?

Speaker 4 (21:57):
Well, I'm I'm the.

Speaker 5 (21:59):
Trumpet about.

Speaker 9 (22:03):
I said, I said, Brother Lee, I'm getting ready to
perform at Madison Square Garden. I said, I want you
to know that I made up this thing called the
beatbox and I made it up because of you having
me play the trumpet. And I said, you know, I
want you to perform with me at the garden. He said, Dougie,
I'm so proud of you. He said, but man, I

(22:24):
don't know if I can handle performing at the garden.
He was a jazz physician. He said, I might be
too much for me. I said, well, I just want
you to know that what you did and what and
what happened from from the way all of these things
landed turn this thing into something that in hip hop
we call the fifth element. And I just want you
to know that you are the reason or one of

(22:48):
the reasons how this thing became what it is, and
it was the deepest thing in the world. And then
I wound up working with his son Malcolm on Girl
Trip and and and it's fascinating circle ties together.

Speaker 7 (23:05):
I have a theory, especially in hip hop, those who pioneer,
those who go first, really never get the glory.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Those who go second always get the shine.

Speaker 7 (23:19):
So yes, I think in this case, because we technically
think of you as the second, you also improved or
be boxing even though you were the first, and even
though you came out with a single, the original Human
Betpop whatever, Right, I still say that, you know, it's
a good thing you came second, because I don't know why.

(23:41):
But it's just like, you know, Marley Marrole started the
noise thing, but then the Bomb Squad came in and
really started the noise thing.

Speaker 5 (23:48):
You know, they weren't there right right.

Speaker 7 (23:51):
East, these first white rappers, and yeah they had success,
but Eminem really like, whoever does it second in hip
hop always capitalizes it better. We gotta stuff from the beginning.
First of all, where were you born? Where were you born?

Speaker 9 (24:11):
I was born here in the US, but as a kid,
I was taken back and forth to Barbados. So it's
kind of like you would consider it kind of like
a dual dig it citizenship in a kind of a way,
you know, because as a kid, that's how my parents
kind of moved. And then my grandfather's from Trinidad and
my grandma's from Barbados, so they was kind of they

(24:34):
didn't know whether I should stay in Barbados or should
I be.

Speaker 7 (24:39):
So then I'll ask you then when people are asking
you about the origins of hip hop and being as
though a lot of the first generation of that culture came.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
From the Islands.

Speaker 7 (24:54):
Do you do you what is your true belief on
where hip hop was born? Is it the Bronx or
do we have to say that technically you know the
composites of all the residents of the islands, that's where
it was born. And what are you seeing on these
islands that lead you Because something's happening there that's bringing

(25:18):
it to America.

Speaker 5 (25:20):
So right, right, it's a very interesting question.

Speaker 9 (25:24):
Well, my sister introduced me to hip hop here in
the US, but my family was so diverse in their
music selection that it made it easy for me to
take Soca reggae and Go Go and R and B
and all of these other musics, and it just it.

Speaker 5 (25:46):
Was just one of these things.

Speaker 9 (25:47):
Where you're influenced by all of these things, but in
the form of hip hop in the way that I
learned it, because I am the first child of the
first generation in hip hop, meaning that I am the
beginning of like all of these people that came before me.

(26:09):
I learned from DJ Hollywood. So my sister came home
and said, there is this guy named DJ Hollywood who's rapping.
I said, let me hear what he say. She said,
he go ring a dinger ding the dong the dong dong,
the dang the dang dang d ding the dong dong
to the hip hop.

Speaker 5 (26:26):
She wopped the box before.

Speaker 9 (26:29):
Anything I've ever heard, and when she told me, say
it again, say it again, and I'm trying to catch it.
Then my brother brought in a tape with Grandma's top
flies in the series five. And when he brought these
pieces in and then my family lived in the Bronx
and also in Harlem. So the point I'm making is
that in the form that I learned hip hop here,

(26:54):
meaning like I think the influence goes back way further
than we really understand stand. But the pieces that I
learned from watching Hollywood, watching Our love Bugstarsky, being able
to sit on the side of the stage at Harlem
World when Busy the Battle Kumo d being there in

(27:16):
the contest. I was in that contest in eighty one.
So we were taking all of these elements as far
as like weird it it originate, It originated in Harlem,
it originated in the Bronx, it originated in Brooklyn.

Speaker 5 (27:30):
There was movements going on all over.

Speaker 8 (27:33):
Do you guys attribute as we we have some historians here,
I'm curious. I'm like, do you attribute any of this
to like scatting and at all? Or do you just
go straight to.

Speaker 9 (27:40):
The well, that's what I'm saying on the levels, because see,
if you're looking at it on the levels that I'm
talking about, you could say Calypso and Soca, our original storytellers.
You could say Yellow Man and Nico Demus, and you
can go back even further than that, but just use
them as a blue print. I'm getting married and the morning,

(28:04):
you know, like like all of these different pieces is
what made up what we do. And then even and
this is my experience, you know that that I seen
all of these elements come together, and they were influencing me.
Whenever I would go to a certain borough in the Bronx,

(28:28):
I would get a particular kind of hip hop. When
I'm in Harlem, I watch Hollywood burn the Apollo down. See,
Hollywood is the architect of crowd participation, and I learned
I learned the skill directly from him. So I know
I know things about it that nobody You will never

(28:50):
know this because it doesn't exist.

Speaker 5 (28:52):
Any like he had it.

Speaker 9 (28:55):
He gave it to me, and I understand the dynamics
of it that like be another kid might not like
Batman's school grew up watching me, so he understands some
of the dynamics of it. So what I'm saying is
is that it just kept evolving because everybody was doing
it in their own experience.

Speaker 5 (29:13):
So I can only respond to the experience that I had.

Speaker 9 (29:17):
But I was in all of the burrows, most of
the burrows, studying it, you know.

Speaker 7 (29:22):
Okay, So that leads me to what I said at
the at the top of the show, which is the
thing that I admire and the thing that I want
to learn from you the most. Tarik actually learned this
from you. You have a way of commanding the crowd
that's not forced because usually in hip hop people have

(29:45):
to at least the modus operandi. Yeah, the motus operandi
r come. It's a full twelve yelling and like the
idea of what you imagine, like Freddie Fox to be
like shoe off the microphone.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
But you, but you are.

Speaker 7 (30:10):
So the thing that made me pay attention to your
your crowd control. And the thing is is like the
one level that I lack in my life journey is
the ability to really communicate in a way that I'm
not in my head like you know, because this is
the thing, like right before I address a crowd or whatever,

(30:31):
suddenly I'm in my head, like, man, I want to
look like a nut out here.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
So what I want to.

Speaker 7 (30:36):
Know is I'm certain now that this is like your
fourth decade in the industry, that now you just do
it out off of muscle in marine, like you know
how to capture the crowd. But in those first ten years,
like even without the show in Lottie Dottie, Like, in
those first ten years, how are you psyching yourself up?

(30:57):
Because you, you, to me, are like hip hop's true version.
I've seen most stuff do this. Also, you're the true
version of like when I watch a comedian do crowd work.
You know, even without a single, without a song, you
walk on the stage, you know how to engage the crowd,
how to talk to them, things to do, and it

(31:17):
always works.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
Like I know you've seen you learn it from Hollywood.

Speaker 7 (31:20):
But for the first ten years, like the first five years, say, okay,
right before the show eighty four, you're doing CrowdWork, Like
what are you saying to yourself before Like are you
ever nervous in any situation like damn, who I got tonight?

Speaker 1 (31:35):
A bunch of white people at a corporate party? Like
how do I do this?

Speaker 8 (31:39):
Like?

Speaker 9 (31:40):
Wow, right, I remember we did that.

Speaker 5 (31:42):
We did a corporate party together one time. I remember
that time.

Speaker 7 (31:46):
There's no crowd, you can't frock. So what is your
what is your motivational? I need the motivational talk on
how you deal with crowd work and why do you
do so well?

Speaker 9 (31:57):
I used to see Apollo want to sing a come
out and he sing and I watched him practice before
he got on. He'll be like this.

Speaker 5 (32:05):
I believe he's singing the notes and everything is tight.

Speaker 9 (32:08):
It's he's pictures perfect. When the showtime starts and he
walks out there, I believe it.

Speaker 5 (32:15):
And the audience boom right before he even finishes.

Speaker 9 (32:19):
It's because they feel the frequency of fear. And when
they smell it and they feel it, they automatically get
out of here.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
Man, Yo, were you don't believe it?

Speaker 4 (32:30):
You don't believe it?

Speaker 5 (32:31):
We believe get out, yo.

Speaker 9 (32:32):
Who's next? Now? If it's a little kid, If it's
a little kid, it's fascinating. Little kid get up there
and he'll be like I believe they'd be like, all right,
come on, shorty, you're gonna do it. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah,
it's encouragement because he's a younger kid, you see what
I'm saying. And they don't want to boo him because
they want to build him up to be come as

(32:53):
great as they see him having the confidence to at
least get up on that stage. But if it's an
if it's a person who is giving, like coming up
there and you start singing and they feel fear, the
frequency automatically makes them boom. So through these little lessons,
I advance the technology that I learned from Hollywood, and

(33:15):
I learned from love Buck and Busy B and I,
and I was able to change. I guess, like you said,
I played with it so much that I don't even
think about the frequency. I feel the frequency and I
just respond to the frequency, or I make the frequency

(33:36):
what I wanted to be right, and I'm and I
bring you to that frequency.

Speaker 5 (33:43):
You see what I'm saying. It's interesting.

Speaker 8 (33:45):
Can you tell us what you feel like in your body?
Is this is going on like in your body?

Speaker 9 (33:50):
Don't you tell us?

Speaker 7 (33:51):
How do you how do you talk yourself out of fear? Okay,
all right to read no, no, no for real.

Speaker 5 (33:57):
That's a good question.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
As it is taping.

Speaker 7 (34:02):
Tarika has left the Tonight Show for four months, so
thus forcing me in a position where I have to
address the audience something I hate doing.

Speaker 4 (34:13):
I don't know.

Speaker 7 (34:13):
I don't know if it's that I feel Hollywood or
feel you know, like ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the
ROUTO did well?

Speaker 9 (34:22):
See that's the part right there. That's the part right
there where it goes wrong. See. The fear is because
you're doing something and being something that's not as authentic
as you.

Speaker 5 (34:33):
So the key is to be you and to.

Speaker 9 (34:37):
Be you as best like be you and enjoy being you,
and don't make it like you're trying to fit into
something and replace it. Don't replace anything, just be you.
And the energy is so honest that people will feel

(34:58):
that frequency and they will accept it and make it
what it is, like the same way, like your conversation
now is so real that it's making me respond to
you like I'm responding because I can feel what you're saying,
and because I feel it, it makes me talk to
you like this. And that is the same thing you

(35:20):
have to do. And fear comes from your thinking, don't think,
feel it and be you when you think. That's where
fear lives. Fear live in thought. Fear can't exist when
it's just pure energy and truth. See, fear and truth can't.

(35:44):
Fear and truth can never be in the same room
together because truth exposes care. You see what I'm saying.
So as much as you be yourself, fear can't be around.
Like right now, I'm telling y'all the truth, and it
doesn't matter to me how you feel.

Speaker 5 (36:01):
About my truth because it's truth.

Speaker 9 (36:05):
Now, if I was fearful, it's because I want you
to feel a particular way about me. But I'm not
concerned with your feelings right now. I'm only concerned with
making sure you feel the truth. And when you.

Speaker 5 (36:19):
Feel the truth, you can determine how you feel about me.

Speaker 9 (36:23):
You may like me, you may not, but guess what,
you know what you gonna get when you deal with me.

Speaker 5 (36:30):
You understand truth.

Speaker 9 (36:31):
Right And I'm saying and I'm saying it in this
way to make you understand that your.

Speaker 5 (36:37):
Truth is good. Your truth is good.

Speaker 9 (36:40):
And you don't like he that's that's his space, but
your space is you know, you're coming from a completely
different space and that space you're coming from. It's a
good space. You just don't know it because you haven't
been using it. You understand what I'm.

Speaker 7 (36:59):
Saying, being for use it right now so you know,
we will see how it goes till.

Speaker 8 (37:10):
I feel like at some point, even for Dougie Fresh,
there's an energy in your body that you may have
to either suppress for the moment or figure you know
what I mean, Like it's something different going on in
here sometimes than out there to get to what they need.

Speaker 5 (37:25):
But given what they need right you're.

Speaker 9 (37:28):
Always you know the reason why the energy is not
bothering me because my level of focus is on what
I want, and what I want is I want to
save a life. I want to fix this problem. See
what happens is this when people are dealing. And it's
a fascinating how this all ties in together. Because see,

(37:52):
when a person panics, the panic stops them from making
a disc that they would have made if they didn't panic.
So if a person can focus on what they're doing,
panic can't get in because you're focused on what you're doing.

(38:13):
Now you'll feel things. Panic could be at the door knocking,
but you're focused and it's it's It's part of a
I guess a technique. Like even like when I work out, right,
say I run, I run, and I don't use no music.

Speaker 5 (38:30):
And sometimes what I do is when I'm running, I'm.

Speaker 9 (38:33):
Taking my mind and I'm focusing on something and I'm
training it to focus on that. And you know how
the mind work, there's always a new thought that come in.
Even when somebody's talking to you, there's a new thought.
But I train my mind to block all the things,

(38:55):
and I am focused on that. And when I'm ready,
I will let you tell me what I will let
And I hope I ain't bugging y'all out, but okay, okay,
I will.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
I will.

Speaker 9 (39:08):
I will decide when I want that thought to come in,
and I decide if I want that thought or use
that thought because the focus is what is what I'm
looking at. And in order for me to be effective
at that thing that I'm doing, I have to stay focused.
If I'm performing and something is going on and I'm

(39:29):
not focused on the audience, let's say I'm I'm too divided,
you know what I mean. I'm trying to, you know,
get this happening. I'm trying to get my man in
the club. I'm trying to make sure my girl is situated.
I'm trying to make sure yo yo yo yo sound
man like it's too much. So if you're able to

(39:50):
take and focus on something, the impact of it is powerful.
And then when you're focused on it and you trage
your mind to think like that, then what happens is
that there's no fear in it because you're focused, and
there's no panic because that thing you're focused on is
the only thing that matter.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
Think about are meditation.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
I was about to say, a marriage sound like what
we talk about.

Speaker 9 (40:16):
I don't have no problems with it, but I guess
in a form I do what kind of I guess
it's like a form of meditation, because when I'm running,
I may be running for seventy minutes, sixty minutes, ninety minutes,
and every time my mind is trying to take me
someplace else, I'd be like, no, no, no, no, we're
staying here.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Yeah, you're doing it.

Speaker 5 (40:39):
I keep grabbing it meditation, and I put it right back.

Speaker 9 (40:42):
I go like this, no, right here, And then I
practice it so much to the point that people don't
know how hard it is to think about the same thing.

Speaker 5 (40:53):
For ten minutes with any interruptions, just ten minutes.

Speaker 3 (40:56):
If they try to meditate, they know it.

Speaker 5 (41:00):
That's what. Yeah.

Speaker 9 (41:01):
Yeah, So I kind of incorporate that in a lot
of things because I feel like fear is not real,
but it's real to you when you're going through it.
So if I'm able to, you know, control the outcome
by my focus, then fear can't get in there. So

(41:25):
if I'm dealing with a situation like city college, if
I'm dealing with a situation where I see somebody who
got shot at a club or a family member instead
of me, kind of king, I'm focused and I deal
with that, and it's I'm so focused that I'm not
allowing nothing to stop me. And anybody that's giving me anything,

(41:50):
I can hear when it's something I need, but if it's, ah,
oh my god, I don't need that, you know, meaning
like if you said so, Doug, I got to ride
for so and so I can hear you and I
would grab the person and put them in the ride.
So it's a focus for being able to understand what's necessary.

Speaker 5 (42:13):
I don't know if I went too far with.

Speaker 9 (42:14):
This, but I mean.

Speaker 7 (42:17):
It's an earful Yeah, A question for you, Doug, because
you've you know, in terms of your faith, because we
know that you've been involved with like scientology for a while.
Is that having that kind of focus, Is that something
that you know you learned in that faith? How does
that help you as an entertainer?

Speaker 9 (42:33):
It's funny, that's a that's a real good question, bro.
You know what, I didn't get that from scientology. I
discovered it from just running, you know. And I'm running,
like my running is the thing I love to do,
you know. So when I'm running, I started to discover
how my mind is all over the place trying to

(42:55):
keep itself busy because I'm trying you know, you're running
it he's trying to breathe and so so all of
a sudden, I said, Yo, the mine is panic ging, Yo, doggie,
why are you pushing me like this? Yo? You know
this is too heavy?

Speaker 5 (43:11):
So why you got me? And then I would like this,
shut up, bro, shut up, shut up, shut up.

Speaker 9 (43:18):
Like all right, and I'll be like we're doing this
right here, and now I want you to relax, don't panic,
and breathe and and and not to the degree to
say if I needed to slow down, you slow down.
But don't panic. See that's the part that piece right there.

(43:42):
Don't panic you See what I'm.

Speaker 7 (43:45):
Saying A good buddy of mine is it's actually your too, DJ,
my man, DJ skills.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
That's that's my guy.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
Oh that's a bad man.

Speaker 9 (43:53):
That's a bad man.

Speaker 7 (43:55):
Yeah, it's a bad bad Yeah. And he was telling me, uh,
going out with you. He was like, yeah, Dougie, he
will work out before the show. He always tells me like, Yo, Doug,
workout or you'll run or whatever for the show.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
Shower kind of have your time and then you do it.
So I always highly of you. Man.

Speaker 7 (44:11):
Well, I think when you mentioned when we mentioned meditation earlier,
what I what I do know is the sort of
common factor, the reason why people jog, the reason why
we work out, the reason you know.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
I've said in.

Speaker 7 (44:25):
Past episodes about like advanced breathing techniques and sexual activity,
like anything that causes you, yes, anything that causes you
to breathe, like it's your last breath. Somehow your mind
your mind goes into another which is another is weird
to say.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
I kind of want to know.

Speaker 7 (44:46):
I don't want to know, but I do want to
know what what the mind state is to a person
that's about to drown, because I also believe I almost drowned.

Speaker 9 (44:56):
That's how I came That's another that's how I came
up with this. I said, kid almost dropped, almost dropped
the Central Park Lake.

Speaker 5 (45:04):
Me and two of my friends took a little boat.
We took one of them little boats. He was cutting school.

Speaker 9 (45:09):
They talked me into it, and I jumped on the
boat with him, and we didn't even have use was
pushing out with a little log, and then all of
a sudden, one he had heard the siren, so he
knew he wasn't supposed to be doing nothing.

Speaker 5 (45:22):
So he had fear.

Speaker 9 (45:24):
He jumped into that water. He started swimming, and so
when he jumped, the boat pushed back, and all of
a sudden, the other one was there. I said, man,
I ain't jumping in that water. Come on me and
you let's just roll back. And all a sudden he's like, yo,
come on, man, come on. So his fear he transferred
it to his cousin. His cousin jumped out the boat
started swimming. Then he said, oh, come on, man, the

(45:45):
cops is gonna get us. I'm telling you, the cops
gonna get you. You know, here. We are young. I said, man,
I don't care what he saying. I'm rolling this damp boat,
you know. So I get closer to the ship. I
think that I'm getting I'm close enough. He's panicking. I
allowed his fear to get in me. I jumped in
the water. I'm doggy podder. I'm saying, this is close enough.

(46:05):
I think I'm good. And I put my feet down
under me, thinking that the ground was there.

Speaker 5 (46:11):
There wasn't no ground. There wasn't no ground.

Speaker 9 (46:14):
It wasn't no ground. And I started, right, wow, I
mean when i'm and then my man came in and
he grabbed me and pulled me in right.

Speaker 5 (46:24):
And when he pulled me in, I'm spinning.

Speaker 9 (46:26):
I'm spinning the water up. So now when I go
to the pool, and this is a real story, I'm
over here.

Speaker 5 (46:32):
Everybody's in the five.

Speaker 9 (46:33):
Feet sixteen you know, summertime pool is with everybody else. Girl,
I'm over in the little four feet or the three feet,
sitting in here with my feet water. I'm just shook.
I'm just shook, like to my point it was crazy.
Then I said, I can't live my life like this.
This is crazy. I said, this is not even this
makes me feel crazy. Every time I'm getting in water,

(46:54):
I'm shuk. So that one day I went to Hawaii
to to go do a show because this was on
for a while. I got in a WHI the dude
was sitting out on the raft and my man, my
sound man, said, Yo, come swim out. Man, Yo, come
come out here. So I said, I said, all right,
I got to break this. I jump in the water
and I swim out. I get to the raft. He

(47:14):
said there, talk to me. Asked me like two different things.
He said, well, I gotta go. I'm jumping off the raft.
He jump off the raft and he swims back to
the to the beach. I'm sitting there going, damn, this
is crazy. I gotta go all the way back now.

Speaker 5 (47:28):
So I jump.

Speaker 9 (47:29):
So I jump in the water and I started swimming.
And when I started swimming, I said, I stopped. And
then I lay in the water and I'm floating and
I said, wow, now I get it. I said. The
reason why I almost drowned, it's not because I can't swim.
It's because I panicked. And when I panicked, it took

(47:52):
everything out of me. It made me not think, It
just made me.

Speaker 5 (47:58):
Just how stired here.

Speaker 9 (48:00):
Yeah, yeah, it took everything out of me. And I said,
if I relax, if I breathe, and if I trust myself,
and if I allow this to make sure that that
fear is not there, then it's not as hard. And

(48:20):
that lesson is the lesson that I have applied in
every aspect of my life, from that time that I
drown to the time that I discovered that. And then
I learned that when you run, even when you breathe
it most people stop running because they panic when they're breathing.

(48:41):
It's getting cut short, right, So the key is to
think and focus on the breathing and then you relax,
the same way if a person is you know, you
know you're going into a stressful situation.

Speaker 5 (48:57):
You have to relax and then the energy will flow.
And I mean, I hate to say it like this suit,
but we're keeping it real on this little com y'all.

Speaker 9 (49:06):
Y'all took me.

Speaker 5 (49:07):
I didn't even think.

Speaker 9 (49:09):
But even if you're losing the fireproom, bro, if you don't.

Speaker 7 (49:12):
Die, you don't and there's a Dougie fresh.

Speaker 5 (49:24):
Like you're sitting there like this.

Speaker 4 (49:27):
I don't want nobody to have me.

Speaker 9 (49:29):
I don't want nobody to see me, and then I
ain't gotta go. You see what I'm saying. But until
i'm I'm keeping it so real. And I know y'all
know it's true that if you don't relax, y'all, if
you don't relax, it's crazy. So that's a that's a
big part of controlling fear. You can't control fear unless

(49:56):
you relax.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
We got to get to the show eventually, But I
do have one question. You mentioned.

Speaker 7 (50:10):
A legendary Harlem figure that I don't know anything about
besides his record labels, But could you please like we've
heard everything about Jersey and Sugar Sugar Hill with Sylvia
and Bobby in Jersey, but a lot of people don't
know that the Bobby Robinson that runs Enjoy Records is

(50:31):
another Bobby Robinson I know nothing about. And you know,
I'm a fan of the Godfather of Harlem and Bobby
Robinson's character this season, Yeah, he's been Yeah, Bobby Robinson's
sort of been a figure in the first In the
second season, he owns a local record store.

Speaker 4 (50:51):
Obviously, Okay, I saw the first season.

Speaker 7 (50:55):
So obviously you know, like I can see like you
own a record store, and then you start your label.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Oh YadA YadA, YadA woo.

Speaker 7 (51:01):
But can you talk about Bobby Robinson and what he
meant to the community of Harlem, like and your dealings
with him, Like what was he like?

Speaker 9 (51:10):
Bobby? Bobby Robinson was a very mild mannered, low key,
community friendly guy who was not a very big guy.

Speaker 5 (51:24):
But he was a guy that.

Speaker 9 (51:28):
All of us respected because he had his own record shop.
He would go to his record shop, he had the
Mamo Pop Record Shop, and you would you would hear
everything that came out from the Treacher's Free, from the Feelers,
from Coolkow, from anybody from Funky four. And he was
the first guy out there doing it. But the problem

(51:49):
is is that in the community, Bobby Robinson was also
known as a guy who did not pay and he
did not pay no rappers. So so I when I
did the deal with him, I got some money up
front from him because I knew based on the history
of what he did with the trust. I used to

(52:10):
sit in Bobby Robinson's record shop and watch Treacher's Three
come in there, and LA would be like, Joe, we're
Bobby Man, I'm looking for my money.

Speaker 8 (52:18):
Man.

Speaker 9 (52:19):
I would watch mo d coming, it goes Bobby in here, Yo,
where's he at? And I would watch how.

Speaker 5 (52:26):
People respected Bobby because he was.

Speaker 9 (52:29):
The guy who looked like he knew more than us
we were kids, but it looked like he didn't either
explain what was going on, or he was doing things
and didn't really come clean on what he was doing.

Speaker 5 (52:46):
Can you under saying.

Speaker 7 (52:48):
Okay, so okay, So nineteen eighty one and I get
a deal with Enjoy Records? What how's the deal broker?

Speaker 1 (52:59):
Like? What is housing k or fair deal for Enjoy Records?

Speaker 7 (53:03):
Are you giving me and you're Bobby Robinson, are you
giving me and my crew like five hundred bucks to
do one side? Or like, what's what kind of deal
my striking with you? If you're Bobby Robinson? I want
to make a rap record.

Speaker 5 (53:17):
Bobby Robinson is not giving you a deal where you
really know what.

Speaker 9 (53:22):
You're gonna get. You might get ten center record, you
might get twelve cents a record or fifteen cents a record,
But he is not sitting down with a lawyer and
going through a deal with you. He know you're a
hungry young kid who could rap, and he's just trying
to put the record out and he's saying, no, here,
sign this and we're gonna work it out. And there's

(53:43):
no way for you to take account to how many
records he sold because he's selling them out the trunk
or he's passing them around.

Speaker 5 (53:51):
As to mom and pop distribution.

Speaker 9 (53:54):
Bobby Robinson was a guy that for me, I watch
every hit pop artists that he had signed, from Grandmaster
Flash to Funkie four to Treacherous three and feel his four.
I watched all of them. He had them all and
he never dealt with them in a way that they

(54:16):
felt confident that they were going to get compensated for
their music. And with me, I just did one single
with him with two sided, because I did get Fresh
Doug on the other side, because I needed to have
something out because I seen what was going on in
regards to people believing that I might have got it
from Fat Boys, which originally was Disco three. So when

(54:40):
I got with him, it was only for strategic purposes.

Speaker 5 (54:44):
It wasn't he.

Speaker 9 (54:44):
I knew that Bobby Robinson was not a guy that
would pay you, and he would not. He was not
a guy that you could see yourself making money with.

Speaker 7 (54:54):
So you went with enjoyed, just so that you could
stop the bleeding of the fat boys being the soul
creators of the beat box, Like I gotta get in
the Okay, I get it marketing right right.

Speaker 9 (55:09):
So I strategically, I said, if I hit him with
the movie, if I hit him with just having fun
and Get Fresh tough, because remember I said, for all
the sounds you bet boxes are doing, all you bit
from me, I should be sewing some say yay what
they should be going. From the time you hit this robing,
your career is ruined. That's the way I opened it up,

(55:29):
you know what I mean. And then and so once
I did that, it was to make people know. And
then out in Long Island in eighty two, I met
Biz and then I would have Biz with me everywhere
because Biz was coming to my house and he was
going to the store for my mother. He was going
to the store for my grandmother. And he was up

(55:51):
under me because he was trying to learn the beat box.

Speaker 5 (55:54):
So I had him there you talking, yes, business, Biz
was This is one of the members, the first members
of the Get Fresh Crow.

Speaker 4 (56:04):
Did not know.

Speaker 9 (56:07):
You that.

Speaker 5 (56:13):
That's my brother. I love him. He's on this new
album that I just let out. I mean, that's one
of our list times together. And then and and he's
his family, you know what I mean.

Speaker 9 (56:25):
So and then eventually and then it got a little
weird because he's trying to do the beat box. I'm
doing it and I'm like, yo, Biz, you know you're
biting straight up.

Speaker 5 (56:34):
I can't let you do that.

Speaker 9 (56:36):
And he's like, all right, all right. And then that's
when he went to Magic. But I was with Magic first.
But Magic was trying to get me to battle everybody.
So I didn't like that. I didn't like how Magic
was trying to get me to go in there and
battle every single person that he had. That that he
didn't like because he was getting high at the time

(56:58):
and he.

Speaker 5 (56:58):
Wasn't the same as the magic from w HBI, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 7 (57:03):
Doug one more enjoyed eraror question that I gotta know about,
you know, because I come from a lineage of musicianship,
you know, and all respect to Keith le Blancin and
Doug win Bush of sugar Hill.

Speaker 5 (57:17):
To talking about Pumpkin, Baby.

Speaker 1 (57:20):
Pumpkins.

Speaker 7 (57:22):
So for our listeners that don't know, pumpkin, Pumpkin was
the you know, for Keith le Blancin and and Doug
win Bush to be the house band of sugar Hill
Records over at Enjoy Records up in Harlem. The leader
was Pumpkin the drummer. And you know if you if
you're if you're a beat, heead you know if you

(57:44):
collect records. Then his interpolation of tower power squid cakes,
it was done. I think even better. You know, I
prefer love rap by Spoony g. That break more than
the original breakdown it should have came from. Can you
tell me anything about I knew nothing about Pumpkin.

Speaker 9 (58:05):
What was he?

Speaker 1 (58:06):
Let me tell you about original.

Speaker 9 (58:08):
Pumpkin, right right, right right Pumpkin. Pumpkin was unbelievable. One
day and this is what happened with Bobby Robinson. And
this is what made me do it like I did it.
Pumpkin was in there and I told him a beat
I wanted him to play. He played a beat. He'll
go to the keyboards. I said, give me this sound.

(58:30):
He'll go in there.

Speaker 5 (58:31):
He'll pick up the sound. If you need him to
play the bass and grab the bas and put that
in there. Pumpkin was like.

Speaker 4 (58:37):
A one man man.

Speaker 9 (58:39):
And what happened and if you listen to love rap
when it's going that beat, and then if you hear
in the back, you here the percussions.

Speaker 5 (58:53):
That's Spoony G's.

Speaker 9 (58:54):
Brother and his name is Pooci all of them little
brother Poochie is Spoony Jeans brother.

Speaker 5 (59:02):
Never knew that b this this thing runs so deep.

Speaker 9 (59:07):
But but Pumpkin, and before Pumpkin passed, Pumpkin came to
the studio and he kept saying, Dougie, let me let
me play a beat for you tonight.

Speaker 5 (59:16):
Come on, Dougie, mean, let's go back to back, Let's
do beat.

Speaker 9 (59:19):
And in the middle of everything going on before me
and were before me and it were able to get together,
he passed away. But Pumpkin was a guy that that's
why we did this. That's why he did this song.
Pumpkin and the All Stars. We remember that one because
Pumpkin and if you have oh, that was his cod

(59:39):
kidnamed Fly Fly.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Tired Michael Jackson.

Speaker 9 (59:44):
We crazy, look, look, look Pumpkin was. Pumpkin was honestly
as a drummer, as a musician, he was a guy
that you could tell your ideas too, and he would

(01:00:04):
be able to give you the idea just like you
wanted it and add some things. That was really really good.
So my first record I was gonna do was a
song with Pumpkin, but we never got to finish it.

Speaker 7 (01:00:20):
I was going to say, because if it wasn't for
Pumpkin passing away, would you have worked with Teddy Riley
for the show in nineteen eighty five? If Punkin were
still alive, would you go on to Pumpkin instead of
Teddy Riley?

Speaker 5 (01:00:37):
I would have probably went to Pumpkin.

Speaker 9 (01:00:39):
But also I was I was teaching Teddy about hip
hop because Teddy was from.

Speaker 5 (01:00:46):
The church, church kid, right, so we used.

Speaker 9 (01:00:49):
To cut school and that's when I introduced him to swing.
And that was the beginning of it because because the drums,
you know, let me talk to you as a producer
now like on the d X or the DMX, the
button in the back would determine how much swing that
you put into a beat. If I'm going.

Speaker 5 (01:01:13):
That's swinging, run DMC's beat is to be like.

Speaker 9 (01:01:17):
Now, it's more like.

Speaker 5 (01:01:20):
Right action.

Speaker 9 (01:01:21):
So what I brought was so that's swing, that's swing,
that swing. And I did it because Greg Greg g
from the disco for owed me some money because I
did a show for him because he was a promoter
on the side, and because he owed me money, he

(01:01:42):
lent all of his equipment to Teddy. And when he
lent it to Teddy, he said, Yo, man, I ain't
got the money right now for Joe. If you want
to work on your music and you want to get
your joint done, yo, I got the equipment over there
at Teddy's house. I said, really, he said yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:01:59):
So I went over there.

Speaker 9 (01:02:01):
Teddy had all of his equipment over there, and right
over there is when I started to make up the
pattern of this show. The drums, and then that's when
I hit that shaker and I as when, huh.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
How many tracks were you?

Speaker 9 (01:02:17):
Like?

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
What equipment made the show?

Speaker 5 (01:02:20):
I use.

Speaker 9 (01:02:21):
I used the DX drum machine, and I use a
series of keyboards because my manager was the one in
the studio that played everything. Because it's just a complicated story, man.
But but you know, but the truth of the matter

(01:02:45):
is that I know that the show would have never
became what it is if I didn't have Teddy there
to be able to to to express my ideas the
way that I express you know what I mean.

Speaker 7 (01:03:01):
I was gonna say the show is one of the
most unusual formatic songs I've ever heard, because if you really,
if you really break down the show, the show is
almost like it's almost like I wouldn't say interludes, but
I would almost say seven vignettes because nothing, nothing repeats

(01:03:26):
twice like then here we go, here we go, come on.
It's almost like it's like every hooks could be a
hook every four bars, and I know you guys aren't
dealing with like pro tools and cut these four bars,
so it's almost like I feel like you had to
map out that entirely sequence.

Speaker 5 (01:03:45):
I did, I did, I did. I went over there.

Speaker 9 (01:03:48):
I sat down, and this is when I first learned
how to count the bars and arrange it.

Speaker 5 (01:03:53):
So I sat down and I arranged the whole thing.

Speaker 9 (01:03:57):
And when I arranged it, I went over there his
house after I'm made up the track.

Speaker 5 (01:04:00):
Because this is how.

Speaker 9 (01:04:01):
Y'all understand this, because y'all are musicians and y'all know
the game.

Speaker 5 (01:04:05):
You go there, you feel the music, and you make
it up.

Speaker 9 (01:04:08):
After you make it up, I would take the tape
home and then I would, you know, play around with it.
I'll go to Will's house, Battery's house, and I'll come
back and say I like this.

Speaker 5 (01:04:17):
I like this, and so I wanted I didn't.

Speaker 9 (01:04:19):
I just structured it where I want the horn to
hit here, I want this to be, and I learned
how to structure it based on how many bars everything
was on the song. And then after it was all done,
then I had to go back and program the drums
so so I can separate all of these pieces, so

(01:04:43):
you don't want even pacing. No, I just I just
programmed it like that Teddy. I told Teddy what I
wanted to do, and he knew how to work the equipment,
and so he sat down and whatever I was asking
him to do, he would do it.

Speaker 5 (01:05:00):
I'll say, like Teddy was the one who came up
with the.

Speaker 9 (01:05:03):
Drum roll, so so because I was doing a drum
roll and mom was cool. But then and he heard
mine and it was in his like a combination of
what I was doing and what he added to it,
which made it better. So the other part that any
contribution that anybody was trying to make to the song,

(01:05:23):
if it felt good and if it worked, it didn't matter.

Speaker 5 (01:05:26):
Who came up with it.

Speaker 9 (01:05:28):
It was about making this thing as hot as it
could be. Like when I hit the shaker. I hit
the shaker by accident because it was I was looking
for something else. And then when I hit the shaker,
I just started to you know, because I'm doing the
bee box and all of that, I said, I started,
I started.

Speaker 5 (01:05:47):
Really moving it.

Speaker 9 (01:05:48):
And then when I was working with the drum machine Teddy,
I said, I want swing in it, and he was like, okay,
and he put a little I said no, I got
to swing harder than that, and.

Speaker 5 (01:05:58):
Then he started saying no, I got to swing.

Speaker 9 (01:06:00):
I said, that's it right there, that's swing and nobody
was using it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
Man, not like that.

Speaker 7 (01:06:07):
I'm gonna tell you to be alive and of age
in nineteen eighty five. I'm probably the last human that
got on the train of the show right before it
took off, because I spent the entire summer of nineteen

(01:06:30):
eighty five in California where it was all about Toddy
T's batter Ram the batter I remember, right, I like, yeah,
my cousins, My cousins were bangers whatever like and literally
that's all you only heard batter Ram. So to spend June,

(01:06:53):
July and August in California in the Altadena, Pasadena with
my teenage cousins.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
Only hearing batter Ram.

Speaker 7 (01:07:03):
I come back home to Philly and this is this
is I know that nineteen eighty five is probably the
last regional year for hip hop, where like only regions,
you only dealt with their regions and it wasn't like
fully national yet. And I got home and saw, you know,

(01:07:24):
the landed. My plane landed like three or four in
the afternoon. Got home, and I remember like talking to
the kids on the block, and I just knew I
was up on something that they weren't up on. And
I was like, yo, y'all know about batter Ram. Now
I'm from Philly, right. They looked at me like I

(01:07:44):
was an alien. They're like, what the hell is a
batter Ram. I'm like, right, you can't stop. I'm singing
the first verse and everything. They just looked at me
like it was like the block was laughing at me.
They're like, nah, we only know about the show and
Lotty Dottie. And I was like, like, the did not
know about this. Literally, this is like two days before

(01:08:05):
school started. And they told me, nah, this is this
has been number one on Power ninety nine for three
months in a row, like that's the that's the last
time I felt so late on something that the whole
world was up on.

Speaker 8 (01:08:19):
You still had you still had till nineteen ninety one
to get back on it again.

Speaker 3 (01:08:22):
Because I was gonna say, did did the New Jack City?

Speaker 8 (01:08:25):
I wanted to know the story between on the New
Jack City situation and how it became kind of that
scene and in that movie, and how you even allowed
them to use it. Yeah, because I felt like it
came back and the Ninjack City it just gave it
new life.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
I mean the show never I think, no gave it
was timeless.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (01:08:50):
For starters.

Speaker 7 (01:08:51):
I guess we should ask you, how did you hook
up with Slick Rick to start this group?

Speaker 9 (01:08:58):
Well that's an interesting question because Slick Rick was well,
he wasn't Slick Rick.

Speaker 5 (01:09:07):
He was Ricky Ricky right, he was Ricky.

Speaker 9 (01:09:10):
D And he was with his crew that man, y'all.
Y'all asked some questions. Man, Well, yeah, it was the
Cango Cup. But where I seen him, see the Kango
crew was in his school. Where he was doing his
thing was up at the Cadet Club in the Bronx. Now,

(01:09:33):
Rick was moving around with different guys trying to get
his get his hip hop thing going on. And there
was a guy named Donald d.

Speaker 5 (01:09:41):
And there was another dude named June loves.

Speaker 1 (01:09:48):
Syndicate.

Speaker 9 (01:09:49):
All no, this is another guy and he calls himself
now Dandy down. He's still alive, right, But it was
these three guys. Me and Tito was hanging out. One night.
Tito came by my house from the Fearless four and
we hung out and we went uptown and they had
an EMC contest. Now I was known to take a

(01:10:09):
lot of EMC contests because my style was was basically
the new thing with.

Speaker 5 (01:10:15):
The beat box.

Speaker 9 (01:10:16):
I'm rhyming, it's crowd participation, I'm dancing, it's Harlem, it's
a whole nother thing.

Speaker 5 (01:10:23):
There's melody.

Speaker 9 (01:10:24):
So there was a new dimension and hip hop coming
in long story shot, me and Tito got on and
the girls loved Tito, so it was like a It
was like a it was like, let's go get this
money Tito. But then they said we couldn't be in
it because they looked at him as a professional and
they looked at me as a.

Speaker 5 (01:10:42):
Professional, even though I didn't have a record out at
the time, nothing major.

Speaker 9 (01:10:46):
But this is what so Rick June Love and Donald
D was in the contests. So when they was in
the contest, the Cold Crush Brothers was in the contest too.
So this is how the story goes. I was there
whe watching June and watching them. I say, Yo, these
dudes is nice. I said, yo, Yo, t don't look
at the nice and he was like yeah, yeah, and

(01:11:07):
Tila Rock was up there and he's like, yeah, you
know it's yours. It's yours, yo. That's another right, that's
the whole another story. So we up there and all
of a sudden, say, yo, I heard Rick And so
the rhyme that you hearing him say on the show
was the rhyme that I heard him say in the contest.
And so when he said that rhyme in the concert,

(01:11:27):
I said, Yo, the kid is nice, said the kid.
Donald D was rhyming about a beef patty. And when
he brought the beef patty, so they burned it and
they flipped it on the other side and gave it
to him, and they tried to hide it, you know
what I'm saying, And he wrote a rhyme about the beef.
I was like, Yo, these dudes are ill, because I
haven't heard nobody rhyme like this. You know, long story short,
June Love stopped. June Love was gonna team up with

(01:11:51):
Greg Nice. June Love got murdered. So the style that
you hear Greg Nice's rhyme in is June style.

Speaker 7 (01:12:02):
Okay, So the great Nice style of fear the Fan
that is based on June Love, right, And June Love
was a part of Cago Crew.

Speaker 4 (01:12:15):
Okay, you're following me, got it.

Speaker 5 (01:12:19):
I'm trying to another.

Speaker 1 (01:12:20):
Beat boxer, Greg Nice, right, But.

Speaker 9 (01:12:22):
Greg NICs was also under my guidance because the feel
is four. He wanted to do the beatbox for the
Feelings four because they wanted something to balance out what
they wasn't doing, and because I rhymed the beat buzz.
So Greg Nice was another piece that he was going
with feelers for. So that's my man all that, But

(01:12:45):
I'm just telling you he started to transition into the
Junie Love style because he was going to do the beatbox.

Speaker 5 (01:12:52):
For June Love, and when June Love.

Speaker 9 (01:12:55):
Lost his life, Greg basically took the style and then
he went forward with it. So like all I was
going on, Rick seeing me get on, and then I'm
doing parties throughout the whole city. So everywhere I go,
Rick is like, yo, jugie freshman, Yo, you think you
could put me on with you? I said, Yo, I

(01:13:15):
gotta hear you, man, I gotta hear all night. You know,
see if you're good whatever you know? I say, Yo,
you seem like a cool dude. Say yeah, man, my
name is Ricky de Man. I say, yeah, I see
you downtown, man at Ro said was kind of slick.
He said, yeah, man, I'm nice. So I would go
all of these different places and I would see him.
He would be pressing me, like everywhere I go. I'm
in the door.

Speaker 5 (01:13:34):
He's like, yo, Doug, put me on.

Speaker 9 (01:13:36):
I get off stage, and then he'll be standing there.
He was like, y'all see you get on man, Yo,
do you think we could go back on? You could
put me on with you? And I'll be like, I
can't do that, man. I just got off. And one
day I'm going down the hill and Comment Avenue and
Harlem and he's I see him on the phone.

Speaker 5 (01:13:55):
I don't know how he was on the corner on
the phone while.

Speaker 9 (01:13:59):
I'm walking down there. The odds is like a billion
to one. I take him over to Will's house. I
got this little drum machine, the RX seven that I
got from oc from Feelings spoiled one of his dj
because it was crazy Eddy and oc Oc was trying
to sell me the drum machine. So you know, you
when you were broke, you're trying to borrow somebody drum

(01:14:20):
machine and trying to get.

Speaker 5 (01:14:21):
As most out of it as you can. And then
you know, you gotta, you know, to stress you then
you give it back, you know how that was? So yeah,
So Rick came over and I say, yo're come over
into the house man. And then right then and there
is when I say, yo, let me see what you got.
I got on.

Speaker 9 (01:14:40):
A couple of other dudes got on. And that was
the day that he started lotty ditting. And when he
said it, he couldn't he couldn't even finish the rhyme
because we was laughing for at least an hour. I mean,
it was like, yo, let me tell you something. Bro
Rick was so goddamn funny. I'm talking about like he

(01:15:01):
was h hilarious. I mean to the point that we
all in there holding our stomach. He can't finish the rhyme.
Then all of a sudden, out there and then the rhyme.
He said, I told you I was nice. I told
you I was nice.

Speaker 7 (01:15:16):
Wait are there any other takes of Lotty Doddy that
we've not heard because.

Speaker 9 (01:15:23):
It's just you too.

Speaker 5 (01:15:24):
Yeah, there's a couple, I.

Speaker 1 (01:15:25):
Mean alternative takes of it.

Speaker 9 (01:15:28):
Nah. Now, what we did and what we did on
Wax was when we made that. That was because my
manager at the time say, Yo, why don't y'all do
that thing called Lotti Doddy that all the kids are
talking about in the street because Lotty Dotty was created
in eighty four. And what I did is when I
seen them, when I heard the rhyme, I say, Yo,

(01:15:50):
this rhyme would be crazy if I did the beatbox
and I just come in with different words and I
changed the beat so that it doesn't get boring, and
I say, yeah, this will be good. And then all
of a sudden, I said that we get and then
he was excited. I said, and we could take all
the rap contests. He was like, yeah, yeah, that's what
I want. Because he felt that he got jerked when

(01:16:12):
he was at the Cadet court because they didn't they
didn't win, so he had this big thing on his
shoulder saying I'm taking every contest. So then we started
going around in the city just taking every contest, and
then when we did it on record, we took out
the second part to Lottie Dottie because we mentioned Vanessa.

Speaker 7 (01:16:33):
Ways Williams, Oh yeah, you told me. Wait a minute,
Wait a minute, God, this is like the rabbit hole
of life. I just gotta do you have any of
those tapes? From course, okay, I'm coming to your rib

(01:16:53):
of course. Literally more more than the twelve inch there was.
There was again Philadelphian. There was a dude, my go
to cheese steak guy every Sunday, my go to steak guy,
like he would have He would have like he had

(01:17:13):
cousins from New York that always put him on to
like those t Connection tapes and those Parlem World tapes.
So when I'm you know, Sunday after church my routine,
I get a cheese steak after church, and he's always
playing some live whatever. And one of these Sundays he
had like much of my mom's dis may this is

(01:17:36):
the first time I'm here and treator like a prostitute
a live version, and I snuffed back. I was like, Mom,
I'm gonna get some potato chips and I stuck up
to him. I said, and I had one of those
like my mom's you know you always record over your
mom's tapes or whatever, And I had like one of
her old gout, like one of the gospel tapes that
she just walked from church and was like, yo, can

(01:17:59):
you can you meet me? Gods it don't be back
tomorrow for lunch. And I lived with it's a live
version of YouTube, just doing your whole routine. And I
studied that ship to the tape. Pop it popped and
I never got I gotta get that back again.

Speaker 9 (01:18:16):
But yo, yo, yo, yo, that's crazy you're saying that.
I mean, you know, see when we when we treat
him like a prostitute, we were already doing that and
that was going to be the next thing we was
gonna let out and some other things that we had right.

Speaker 5 (01:18:31):
But what was crazy is when I hurt Jay and
them do it with.

Speaker 9 (01:18:35):
The beat, it changed the whole vibe of it. It
wasn't like the same or it wasn't the same.

Speaker 7 (01:18:42):
Yeah, Like I'm probably the only person that like when
I heard it, I was like, man, I don't want
it with music.

Speaker 1 (01:18:47):
I want it with Dougie, right right, right, But.

Speaker 9 (01:18:50):
You know it's crazy, it's real like that. And that's
interesting because like I said about frequency, going back to that,
it was a match of a frequency. You see see
when you doing the beat box people think is easy
or simple. It's like the way you if you're playing
the drums, you're playing to align your spirit with the

(01:19:15):
person that you're playing for. You're not playing like a
drum machine. You're playing like a spirit. So when they're
doing this and not, you gotta flow. So what Lottie
Dottie is it's to match, to match him and to
move with him and to make him be the best

(01:19:36):
he can be. It wasn't about me. It was about
how can how can we make this be the best?
And I had to match the way the energy move.
If I don't match the way the energy move, you're
just liking me.

Speaker 5 (01:19:52):
But I don't just want you to like me. I
want you to like what's going on.

Speaker 9 (01:19:56):
I want you to feel it. So it has to move,
you know what I mean? And that's how that's the
reason why I treat him like a prostitute lives better
than the drum machine.

Speaker 1 (01:20:08):
Yes it is, how okay? So by September.

Speaker 7 (01:20:13):
First of all, let me just declare that I probably
think that the show Lotti Dottie is one of the
greatest twelve inches of all time.

Speaker 1 (01:20:23):
For any I'm afraid to ask, I pray the answers.

Speaker 7 (01:20:29):
Yes, I hope you still own your publishing for Lottie
Dotty because it's probably the most sampled song of in
hip hop history.

Speaker 5 (01:20:40):
Yes, I do, Yes, I do, Yes, I do.

Speaker 9 (01:20:43):
But not only do I own all of the publishing.

Speaker 5 (01:20:47):
I made sure Rick owns his publisher and the story
and the other side of this.

Speaker 9 (01:20:53):
Story, which only requests love and the Supreme Team could get,
is when I made the show a quest. When I
did just having fun, I called it just having fun
because I was learning about the studio and I knew
Bobby Robinson wasn't gonna pay nobody, so I wasn't gonna
try to do everything that I could do with him.

Speaker 5 (01:21:13):
That was number one.

Speaker 9 (01:21:14):
Original human Beatbox was with Entertainment Records and Vincent Davis.
I had an argument with him because I made the
beat up and he put that bing bing link sound
in there and it sounded like I hated it.

Speaker 1 (01:21:30):
Man.

Speaker 9 (01:21:32):
You know, I'm gonna tell you I love the guitars.
But I hated that sound because I had a different
idea that I felt was better, and me and him
got into a conflict, so that vocal was just a practice,
a rough vocal on what I was getting ready to
come back and do better. So then I left the
studio and I started doing shows.

Speaker 5 (01:21:54):
I stacked up.

Speaker 9 (01:21:55):
All my money and when I went in there, I
made the show and Dotty, and when I told Rick
about the show, he said that idea is whack. That
ain't gonna work. So then I said, Rick, I said,
trust me, I know what I'm talking about, the same
way I told you that this beatbox thing is going
to work with this routine. So then what happened. He

(01:22:18):
trusted me and we went into the studio and I
made this show and I made Lottie Dotty. I took
it the Profile Records. Profile Records heard it. He said,
this is the worst music I've ever heard. He said,
who's that guy sounding like that? And what's this little
clicking sound that I keep hearing in the song?

Speaker 5 (01:22:37):
So he said it.

Speaker 9 (01:22:38):
To me and I said, Steve, it was It was
the owner Coo, so listen to this. So afterwards, I said,
no problem, now I paid all the money I spent
ten I had saved the ten grand I went to
Daily Planet Studio in New York. So then after that

(01:23:00):
I went and I said, man, I got to get
this record out. So I took it to WHBI. Jerry
blood Rock played it, and a couple of other guys
started getting the crazy buzz. So I went to this
label called Dain your Records, right, I said, distributed by Fantasy.
So when I went to him, I said, he said, yo,

(01:23:20):
I want to distribute the record for you. I said,
that's cool, I said, but I'm going to own it.
He said, well, I want to buy into the ownership.
I said, if you want to buy into the ownership,
you got to give me the money back that I
spent and then we can go from there.

Speaker 5 (01:23:39):
So then what he did is he gave me the
money back, and then.

Speaker 9 (01:23:42):
Basically I owned the master, and I brought him in
and I gave him a piece of the master. So
in eighty five, I was the first artist to ever
own their master. You see, but I learned that because
of what happened over there, and I watched it. So
when I owned the Master and I came back and

(01:24:04):
when I gave Rip half of the publishing on the show,
and we both split high for the publishing on Lottie Dottie,
and then from there we moved forward.

Speaker 4 (01:24:14):
And then now, so was that Reality Records? Was that you?
Was that your Reality Records?

Speaker 9 (01:24:19):
Yeah? See it went from oh and by the way,
and every record after that, I owned the master, So
it was right. So what happened is that I was
seeing what was going on, and you know, I'm like
around seventeen years old, eighteen years old, but I'm seeing
that something just didn't seem right about how people are

(01:24:42):
owning your master, Like I thought that was kind of
And then since I spent the money, I was like,
how you're gonna own it? So now the record blows up.
I go to Roxy. Cory is in Roxy. The record
is on fire.

Speaker 5 (01:24:57):
I mean bro. When I say fire, I mean five y'all.

Speaker 9 (01:25:02):
So now Corey comes in there and he said, Yo,
could I talk to you?

Speaker 5 (01:25:07):
I said sure.

Speaker 9 (01:25:09):
He said, Yo, Man, I made a mistake. Man, I
was wrong, He said, Man, this thing, I just couldn't
see it coming. He said, I was just seeing run DMC.
I couldn't see nothing. This was just so unusual. It
was so new it was, so I didn't know what

(01:25:29):
to think. I said, bro, I said, it ain't no problem.
I was just giving you the first opportunity because you
got the label. I said, it's okay. He said, Yo, man,
is it any way that we could do something else?
Are you signing anybody? I said, well, I got to
deal with I got my masters and I'm also with
the label. But it's a great deal. I got my publisher,

(01:25:50):
I got the masters. I said, but maybe we couldn't
down the road. And then after he got Dana Dan
because he wanted to.

Speaker 4 (01:26:05):
Fame that album.

Speaker 9 (01:26:08):
Right right, And we didn't mind because Dana was a
part of the family, you know what I mean. But
I'm just showing you how sometimes once again it's back
to that fear. He told me my record was garbage.

Speaker 7 (01:26:25):
I was like, okay, so this this leads to my
follow up question. You two have undoubtedly created one of
the and this is not even a thing where it's
like time has to pass by before we know it's
a classic. But it's like y'all just hit us with

(01:26:46):
these two singles and then nothing else. Now of course,
with you like yes, I realized that, oh my god,
came out in eighty six, So you did come up
with an album?

Speaker 4 (01:27:00):
Why they came back?

Speaker 9 (01:27:01):
They did?

Speaker 4 (01:27:01):
Sitting in my car?

Speaker 7 (01:27:02):
They didn't come back they yeah, but like, yeah, there
were teen years later, two years he.

Speaker 5 (01:27:08):
Was going to prison. Yeah why why did I know?

Speaker 7 (01:27:11):
But even before prison, what was happening with Slick Rick
between nineteen eighty six in nineteen eighty nine, before he
signed the Deaf Jam? Like why why didn't why capitalize
on you know, the hottest single, making you.

Speaker 1 (01:27:28):
Guys a unit? Like was that just a one off deal?

Speaker 9 (01:27:31):
And okay, now what happened was is that to the
blame of us both? I felt that once again, like
I said, I was already established in the street, I
was moving around. I took Will and Barry and I
brought them together and that was the first time again

(01:27:51):
with two DJs DJ together at the same time. There's
never been a crew before the Gift Fresh Crew with
two DJs DJ at the same time. Get Fresh Crew
is the foundation to the executioners because that because no,
I had two sets and they're playing at the same time.

(01:28:12):
Not you get on after me. So I was really
always trying to push something new.

Speaker 5 (01:28:19):
The Deep Box was new. I had my guys there.

Speaker 9 (01:28:23):
I brought Rick in here, and what happened with me
and Rick was, you know, I felt that he was
accusing me of doing something that I didn't do.

Speaker 5 (01:28:36):
He was accusing me of not He felt.

Speaker 9 (01:28:39):
Like I was trying to make all the money of
something and that's not true. I gave him half of
the royalty.

Speaker 5 (01:28:46):
I gave him half of the publishing.

Speaker 9 (01:28:48):
I gave him a really good salary while he was
on the road, and also the other DJs I had
a manager. I gave him twenty percent. The agent. I
gave him, you know, the ten percent because he was
booking the shows all of these different expenses and everybody
had to, you know, get a salary. And on top
of that, I put him in on what was already

(01:29:08):
in motion. And I didn't like how we were. We
were like this, you know what I'm saying. And then
when I started to see how people was getting in
his head and people was coming in trying to.

Speaker 5 (01:29:20):
Get into my head.

Speaker 9 (01:29:22):
I didn't really like the energy. So I said, I
gotta pull out of this. And I didn't want no money.
I didn't want no producer or no override or no
find this speed. I was like, bro, you go ahead
and do what you gotta do, because the energy is
not feeling good no more. And I think we got

(01:29:45):
too much love for one another for us. I felt
that the magic were creating is because once again he
trusted me. I trusted him, and when I felt that
there was a violation of him trusting me bothered me.
And I was young and I should have just allowed
him to express that, but I took it personal and

(01:30:07):
I just say, yo, you go do your thing. And
then when he went over there, Russell sat him on
the bench for multiple years, And if we're being real,
it's because you know, at that time he didn't really
know what to do with him. And over there depth Jymp,
everybody was happy, but not so happy because we were

(01:30:30):
we were a little bit of a threat to people
because of the dynamics of all of the things that
we were bringing together. But I love Rick, so I
didn't want nothing but the best for him, and I
just felt like, you know, if the energy is not right,
it doesn't make sense for us to go any further.

Speaker 7 (01:30:53):
Was there any conversation or reach out to you to
do anything on The Great Adventures Life, Like, did they
try to say something or no.

Speaker 9 (01:31:05):
They tried to.

Speaker 5 (01:31:06):
They didn't call me, but they tried to. They tried to.

Speaker 9 (01:31:10):
Put me in it because if you listen to maybe
six or seven eight songs, my voices is throughout the
whole album. So they're trying to balance out the formula
of what it was that we created together. So when
people are listening to that album, they they're hearing his
brilliance and the excellence of the production, but they're also
feeling my frequency in there in a subtle way, because

(01:31:36):
I'm in there, you know, and I'm in multiple songs.
So they were trying to figure out how to bring
him where.

Speaker 5 (01:31:43):
He needed to be. And I look at it like
this too.

Speaker 9 (01:31:45):
To be completely transparent, I think that it was necessary
because Great Adventures of Slick Rick gave him the platform
to express things that I think was important for him
to express, and we probably could have figured it out.
But I think that would he have been what I

(01:32:06):
call the greatest storyteller? Could he have been that with me?
And could I have been the entertainer that I've grown
to become, Because maybe it would have been too much
forced from two different you know what I'm saying, two
different energies, and it would not really have been as
great as it could have been.

Speaker 5 (01:32:26):
And you know, I just I just know that.

Speaker 9 (01:32:29):
Like and then when he was about to go to prison,
because he knew it was happening, I went up to
Neurochelle and vance Wright was up there, and I said,
let me hear some of his music, man, and he
played something in her sitting in my car, and I said, nah,
y'all got a drum machine. Pull that out. And he
was getting ready to do the same thing that he
did with jam Master Jay. I said, let me do it,

(01:32:53):
and then I put it in there, and then I
kept the loop in there.

Speaker 5 (01:32:57):
And then when he got out.

Speaker 9 (01:32:59):
Of prison after doing a long, long rough ride, I
was there for him to perform with him when he
got out in LA and I did that for him
to support him, you know what I mean. And then
I had the Senator to go up and you know,
make sure you didn't get depored in. And then when
the Senator became the governor, I brought the governor in

(01:33:21):
because I felt like, even though we're not together, we're
always together, all right, y'all.

Speaker 3 (01:33:31):
I know you want some more and we got it
for you.

Speaker 8 (01:33:33):
That was part one of quest love Supreme's interview with
Dougie Fresh.

Speaker 3 (01:33:37):
You ready for part two?

Speaker 9 (01:33:39):
All right?

Speaker 3 (01:33:39):
Stay tuned's coming up West Love.

Speaker 1 (01:33:42):
Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts
from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite Chills

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Laiya St. Clair

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