November 27, 2024 • 58 mins
In Part 2 of Questlove's one-on-one with RZA, The Abbott speaks about his latest release, the Classical album inspired by adolescent lyrics, A Ballet Through Mud. Quest' also fans out with RZA, with both artists highlighting some favorite songs from the Wu-Tang Clan crew catalog, discussing some under-sung affiliates, and addressing why Bobby Digital is focused on evolution, not chasing his rich legacy.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Questloft Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
All Right, ladies and gentlemen, as promised, Welcome back to
quest Loft Supreme to our second part of our conversation
with the prolific Masterful Grizza aka Prince Raqem, the Abbot,
Bobby Digital, Bobby Steeles, the Scientist, Prince de Light, Prince
Dynamite was the exact exag ala, what's up brother.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
How you doing? Thanks, simple lessings, Thanks for inviting me back.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I have to tell you that, you know, when they
initially told me that you were coming out to do
the back Mud project, just based on the title alone,
I didn't know what to expect, and for those who
don't know it's out now, I mean, this is as
straight ahead as classical music as I've heard it. I
(00:59):
knew it was classical music, but I thought it would
be rizified, but he kind of went straight ahead with it.
Can you give me the basic genesis of how this
project came to be?
Speaker 4 (01:09):
I mean yeah, I mean it started from finding one
of my old lyrical notebooks during the pandemic, like a
notebook to have my lyrics from the age of like
fourteen and nineteen, and in that book, is like all
types of stories and ideas of being younger, first time, smoking, drinking, sex,
et cetera. And certain lyrics in there. You know, back
(01:33):
in those days' writing three page lyrics, so certain lyrics
had these long stories and these ideas, and I was like,
I should record these lyrics and write music to it.
You know, I'm busy doing my TV show, I'm doing
posing that, so my brain is in composer mode. And
I said, I want to actually try to write an
opera or something with these lyrics. And as I started
(01:56):
doing it, first of all, somebody corrected me. It was
a guy named Evan Lamberg. He was like, operas are
usually an Italian wizard, so I don't think you're gonna
be able to do that. So okay, cool, he said,
but you know ballet or sweet so like the Nutcracker
or Peter and the Wolf, that type of thing.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
And so I said, okay, let me take that approach,
and then I did.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
But when I started writing the music or playing music
and composing it, it all started to not need lyrics.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
It started to not be something that will just.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Be a continuation of what I'm known for, to show
an evolution of of of my creative mind and yet
still to me have the story and the spirit of
what I was trying to say in the music, you
know what I mean. She said something that you're a
scientist or history and all that. But I'm gonna correct
you on one thing you said. It wasn't rizzified. But
(02:51):
if you actually take a listen right, and you'll hear
the staccato nests of triumph burn a Lotus arriving you're here,
like the Bobby Digital like on the song the type
of track of ballet Domus is actually saying baby comes Bobby.
(03:13):
So it's like the catens of Howard Ryan or the
cats of the vibe that I bring like MC and
shows up in some of the melody lines and then
the keys of which a lot of my tracks come
out in right, you know, or the sample heroes like
you know Marcone, I'm a hero. You know, it's one
(03:33):
of my heroes, Quincy Jones, of course that's in peace,
Isaac Hayes, like a lot of my heroes and how
they would do something, you know, they did it with
soul and with rhythm right music right. I removed all
the rhythm, all the percussion, all the lyric system and
then left that as the ballet.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So well, when I'm at Riz, like, for me, your
relationship with this chords sort of classing I mean something
like knowledge God, which to me, it's the type of
composition that I guess the term is uh with synesthesia,
like where you could see, like you can visualize, you
(04:16):
can see the notes, you paint such these pictures with
dissonance minimalism. That that's what I thought. We're based on
the title the Ballet through Mud, But this isn't the
first time that you've done kind of full circle, fully
realized thing like, if anything, I mean you're in full renaissance,
(04:38):
moved like be it, you know, directing your movies, your
various projects that you've.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Done with other artists and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
If anything, I think you're probably the most prolific figure
that we have as far as someone actively putting creative
prints and almost in every creative medium.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
For you, though, was the story that you wanted to.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Convey with Bellion, Well, one of the lyrics that it
started with, right, it's called Joe is a nerd, right
and Uh in that lyric, I could do a few
bars of the lyric, right.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I don't think I did it last time I was here,
but you didn't know. Okay, So Joe was a nerd, right,
So part in the cadence and part in the lack
of MC love.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Apologize.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
It starts off like a Sue was this girl who
was really quite fly. Brad was real cool when he
was her guy. Lisa was freaky, she loved to have sex.
Her brother name was but they called him Decks. His
sister name was Monica, and she was a verge. Joe
was just their friend and he was a nerd. Brad
bought the beer, Shoe bought the smoke. Lisa had sheets
(05:52):
Decks that had coke, but Joe was the type who
didn't get high, nor did Monica. She was willing to try,
so Brad did a joint, passed it that Joe said,
come on, man smoking and Joe said, no, what's wrong?
Are you scared? Was asked by Sue. Are you're just
a nerd? Joe said that's not true. Monica said, come on,
just have a taste, as she puffed on the joint
blue to smoke in his face. Now on Monica, Joe
(06:14):
had a crush. He didn't wanted to smoke the weed,
but felt that he must, and like many we know,
love made him a fool. So he pulled on the
joint to prove he was cool. At Lista was like, yo,
forget about Joe, They said, Yo, decks, where the heck
is the blow? He pulled out two grams and it's
all that I bought, but it's more than enough that
they proceeded to snort. Now, at this time, Joe had
finished three beers and Brad was like, here, have another,
(06:35):
you queer, and Joe was like no, while holding his stomach,
and while facing Monica he said, only vomit.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
She said, oh my god, shit, how observed? And every
want to laugh and said, Joe is a nerd. Joe
was a nerd. Joe was a nerd. Joe brought embarrassed,
so he did the bird. They chased him. He ran
inside of old shack, and then was this sound, the
crashing glass.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
It was dark inside, so Brad had to get a
light and they checked to see if Jorge was all right.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
But when they found them, he had quarts.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Of red blud spitting from his head, and Monica said,
oh my god, jobs, Dad and he.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
All started to run and never mentioned this incident again
to anyone.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
So so anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I'm amazed at anyone that's able to sort of retain
that amount of text in their heads.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
You when did you write this year?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I probably was sixteen, So yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Wow, man, Okay, So you actually quoted a good friend
of mine, Jazzy Jeff, when Jeff once famously said a
quote to like leave nothing behind.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
A lot of our hip hop generation we know that,
like a figure like Tupac leaves earth, but has you know,
so much product left over, like Prince has over five
thousand songs in his arsenal. But for you, you said
that you subscribe to the theory that you know, get
(08:09):
it all out, leave nothing behind, like just on a
daily for now, assuming that you're not in the fight
or flight hustle mentality that you were back in ninety
two ninety three when you were putting the clan together,
you know, trying to.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Shoot your shot.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
How is just your daily creative muscles flowing at this stage.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
It's like creativity is the energy. It's a flow.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
It's it's almost like we're breathing in a way right
in the sense of it's just in you, right, even
how we talk.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
It's just it's a creative cadence or a flow to that.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
So for me, you know, to say that, how do
I take that energy and put it into a structure
that's just saying right.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Daily, you know I make I'm either making music or
writing down, you know, ideas for a film, or writing
lyrics or or making beats. It's like I never stopped creating.
It's like I can't stop creating. To be quite frank
with you, like like you know, like not to get
(09:25):
too personal here, but you know, my wife, she made
a joke.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
So the god from Supreme he rebuild it.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
One day I saw him on Instagram and he was
talking to He kind of quoted me or something. But
he came to my crib and you know, you know
I was showing on nobody showing in my crib. I
don't know what was what got I say, every room,
but we right up, you know in the bedroom. Because
of my bedroom, I have beat machines. I gotta I
got my bed and I got my piano.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
You know what I mean to my wife, you know,
she sleeps beside the piano.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
To say she called that, you know what I mean, she's.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
My wife, right, So she went roll with me, because
that's what she's with right, get it right?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
So what point being made.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
I'm just saying that to say of how much that
creativity is around being in me. So talking of the
Valley through Mud, a lot of it was written right
in front of my wife. But when I found the book,
I can't tell her, so she became my first audience.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Right then.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
I'm playing something and she could be sitting there watching,
you know, you know, like I said, started doing the pandemic,
So she might be watching the news and she's watching
the news and me scoring or writing something to this
story I got and I'm scoring her world, you know
what I mean at the same time, You know what
I mean, I got it. The creativity is like that
for me, and even for whether it's lyrics. I got
(10:45):
a phone full of lyrics, you know what.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
I mean that?
Speaker 4 (10:48):
And Jeff gave us some wisdom. He said, try to
die empty, but it's probably not possible. I don't think
it's possible for me because at the end of the day,
the book that I'm talking to you about, it's four
hundred lyrics in that one and I got two of them.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
It's just like if I didn't say Joe was a nerd.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Nobody's going to hear Joe was in nerd except for
if you was hanging out with me back in high school. Right.
So that's just how it is, right, But that's the
art of growth, art of creativity.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
It evolves right in all of us.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
And at the level that at my level of creativity,
it's like I understand more about what inspired me.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Right, if you mentioned knowledge guard or if you mentioned anything.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
From the creatment from the Purple tape, right, It's almost
like even my experience then was more darker, more gritty,
more aggressive towards the world, you know what I mean,
And not saying that I couldn't get like that anytime
and stuff on my feet, right, like say, I might
Tyson slapped Jake when he stepped on his feet, but
Jake said the stepped on his toe in the.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Ring, right, But oh yeah, woke, come up.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Right, I'm just saying, give your stuff on this toe
and then deep right, it made is that you.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Know that energy, you're always gonna exist.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
But we've been blessed to put that in our back
pocket and put in our front pockets. We could wear
our creativity, you know, wear our cheet wear our positivity
and not to ship this to you, but it's just
like yo. You know, you get get up there every
united at at any moment you're gonna you may catch
a wave, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
You know, thought might go into something. You know what
I mean? You might?
Speaker 4 (12:31):
You know it ain't that be hurst like that. It's
just like yo, you might. You may start going, you
may go. You may bunk bunk out the band and
the duce may come in on the on the one
may come in on the three. You may whatever it seems,
you can't. You can't get rid of it, you know
what I mean? And so I'm the same.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
What are your current preferred weapons of choice when it
comes to beat making?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Now?
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I think once again, like all of us over these,
I got so many toys ridiculous, but.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
But that in Sonic, don't call it.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
They't got two of those. I got one in my office.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
That uh with the floppy discs, Yeah, with the floppy
disc I got a dog.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
To this day, D'Angelo.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
You you must have said something to D'Angelo back in
ninety five. To this day, to this day, still uses
that in Sonic, And I don't know how he finds.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Floppy discs and scuzzies like.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
For for for listeners out there, you know this is
this is pre pre pre pre pre pre pre, but
pre gigabytes, you know what I mean. Like and but
to this day he still has his original nineteen ninety
five and sonic and and scuzzy and the floppy discs.
(14:03):
And he said that, like you said something to him
about that machine, and that's been his inspiration since then, Like.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
You know, it was a powerful machine and it still
has something you know, I think, Yeah, still got a
couple a lot of mathematics, you know, a lot of thematics.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Actually did something really cool a few years ago.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
We did an album called The Soccer Continues where he
had the musicians play and then he just ran everything
through the ASR and it shit sounded like it sounded adventage,
like you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
It wasn't totally totally bunk bung, but.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
It was over eighty percent closer to what the invented
sample would be. But it wasn't the sample. It was
just musicians playing through the ASR. So for anybody out
there who can't find an ASR, there's another thing called
the DP four, which is sonic made which has a
lot of the effects of the ASR. So the ASR
had like fifty built in effects that you can want
(14:57):
your sample to do right Vanderpoles and and it would
have low pass filters and et cetera, et cetera. But
the DP four was the flagship effects model for it.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
So if you can't find an ASR ten or.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Or EPs sixteen plus and you can find a DP four,
you can actually still get that ASR sound by running
your new equipment through that. So that's one of the
share that with which the viewers my listenership. And then
I'll say, right now, for me, I think what MPC did, right.
I think MPC has for hip hop and for creativity
(15:37):
mastered the way uh the newer the PC the But yeah,
but it's a software and it's a hardware all at once,
you know what I mean. And so that to me,
it is my favorite piece right now because at the
end of the day, I can put it at the
center of everything and then have the simple now of
(16:00):
how to work with the MPC right, and then run
all my ship through it without even looking at my
pro tools.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Speaking of leaving empty, what becomes of all the residual
riser beats that were not used between when you first
got your machine, and this even dates back to the
Prince Marquen days of ninety one. What becomes of the
volumes and volumes of just leftover beats and whatnot.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Well, for what people will consider, you know, my prime time,
it's not a lot.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Because I had two floods, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
That's my worst night, man.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Yeah, I had two of them. Though, It's like, how'd
you get two?
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Right?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
And you said left on the floor.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yeah, because I'll be making beats and the floppy disk
being those little cases eighty in the case, and you
don't mind you said it on the floor under the keyboard.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I never expected that to be an issue until it was.
Until my just was.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Floating, right, And then I build my ship differently and
the water.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Can't come from the bottom, motherfucker comes from the top.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
But I laughed at it, right, because at the end
of the day, I had a flood right after thirty
six chambers, right before we get to that.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Then I had a flood right after Liquid Swords, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
And then and then I moved to another studio build
that up and had another water issue.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
And then and that's to run it all together here
with the funniest part. And while we're.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Filming the Wu Tank series and I'm composing the music
for it, and there's an episode that Mario van Peebles
is directing which is about the flood it cost me
that morning, and I'm talking about in my Calie house.
Water is coming into my house. We got the street
line backed up and it's and I told him, yo, gee,
(17:53):
this ship is real.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Are you a water signed person or like.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
I'm a cancer. So I don't know what that means.
I know it's a moon, but I don't know if
it's water mud. But I will say that at the
end of the day though, it means sometimes you gotta
be set. Noah had to get in that arc, you
know what I mean, had to close those doors and move.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
So are your archives protected now?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
No, not like that. I'm gonna say that you didn't learn. No,
I'm gonna say no, I don't think you could protect
what's going to go. That's just my opinion. So I
might be too philosophical there. But at the end of
the day, you know you're gonna get it out what
you get out for the time. You have to get
to do what you do, and don't be shy to
get a lot of it out if you can, right,
(18:38):
I remember your scholars something ever could do on that
versus he was like, girl, drop that shit, you know
what I mean, So get out what you can. But
of course some of it, it just existed for the moment.
It's still in the universe. It's still there even if
you on't even play that track one time, It's still
(18:59):
captured in that cube of time.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
But yeah, my archivan, I've never been good at that,
I said. I will say that I never really good
at archiving.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I feel living in the moment. Yeah, I always wanted
to know what your feelings were.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Of your level of soul kind of having two renaissance periods.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
One could say that the quote unquote.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Chipmunk soul movement like two thousand and two thousand and
one to two.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You know, like basically I will say when.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Just blazing ye kind of with with Justin and and
with Kanye as well. But also I definitely feel now,
especially like post Griselda stuff your old drug and you know,
rock Manciano your old drug. I mean just there's like
almost a second wave of it. How do you feel
(19:56):
and that? Have you ever got the itching? And I
know like most creators don't want to go back, They
want to push for it, and you're definitely pushing forward.
But is it a part of you that when you
hear your ideas still resonating twenty thirty forty years later,
does that give you the itching to reaching your stax
(20:18):
records politics to come back in in lace us again?
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I don't think so, to be quite honest, it's almost
like damn, okay, no, seriously, I don't think so. It's
more like for me, if something happens naturally right, then
I'm just gonna do it. But but I won't be
like if everybody start going shell to Adidas, am I
gonna throw on those shelteres in that?
Speaker 3 (20:43):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (20:44):
One of my blessings in my flaws is kind of
you know, probably personality thing putty self centered on me
pretty sure that you know what I mean, Like like
I'm mean, you know, like you know what I mean?
Pretty pretty you know, and and and strive. It's hardly
(21:06):
even say it because as I'm older, my humbleness is
here and my humility is here and I said, all
praise is due to a law. But I definitely came
from that personality just like you know what I mean,
Like like dude, this is you know, kind of my humility.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
But like me said, you feel some certain way. It's
almost like I'm Bruce Lee. Yo.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
They doing what they doing, like yo, you know this. Look,
let me let me be a little ego in it.
They breaking boards and you gotta respect them. They trained
themselves to break a board. But I'm breaking bricks all right,
I'm breaking bricks. And so if you want me to
come back to the gym and break some bricks for you,
you know what I mean, I'll do that. But I
(21:47):
don't need to break bricks no more. Right, It's like
I don't need it for the external. I better now
be in the internal. So so if we go back
to the ballet, it's like yo, okay, do that, kid, right,
I get it. And then when you do that, Okay,
now you're doing that. Cool guess what. Okay you did that.
Now watch me do virtue aso ship that you can't
(22:08):
do because now you got put it in the ten
thousand dollars. So that part of me is a is
a thing so let me say though, but it's but
it's flattering too, and it's complementary because at the end
of the day, and I said this to Uh, I
think I said it's to Kanye doing twist and dark
fantasy sessions. When I said who Tank Forever, I wasn't
just talking about us as the figures of it.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
I was just talking about to be brought to the game. Yo.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
That energy, man, that energy ain't going nowhere, y'all. Somebody
gonna pick that up. I don't care if you pick
it up from old Dirty, you know what I mean.
My in my analogy, and this may sound crazy, but
in my anology, you know, dirty helps the sound. You
know what I mean, Dirty helps another energy expound is
expand Dirty helps Missy Elliott right in my analogy.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Right.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
So it's just because I'm seeing him as I'm seeing
the one artist him as an example, I'm seeing that
artist able to inspire other artists, you know what I mean,
to to make them. Like Buster once said to me,
he was like Yo, when he heard his album, they
freed his brain, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Freedom? So so you.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Made somebody may get that from meth, They may get
it from Ray like Brizelda.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
They they ripping. I love Brizil. He put this shit on.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
You go listen to this ship for two hours and
still be and still be zoning in with another joint, right,
because the catalogue has grown like that. But yeah, but
do I hear ghosts? Do I even hear when it
may be an unknown MC like is lord in the
cadus of their MC who took and who it might
whether he did it consciously or subconsciously, is able to
(23:47):
see that she be inspired and then put it back
out in a different way.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
And I just end with this.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
So they say Bruce Lee is the father of them.
M A, you know what I mean? He made g Condo, Right,
So g Condovas took boxing, fencing, judo, ju jitsu, wing,
chung cho, a young fat you know what I mean,
Hung Gard, you know what I mean? He put all that,
you know what I'm saying into one thing, studying Muhammad
(24:14):
Ali and studying Japanese kimbo.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Right.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
So point being made is that he's one of the
first ones that pioneered at But as time goes on,
maybe somebody else will say, oh that's the man like
the ain't a whiteson man, you know what I mean,
or whatever, not like that.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
The but point being made is that so it's flattering.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
It's a blessing to see that that whatever we added
to the culture is still there and that others are
able to find their voice.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
You know.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
I think Drew did a joint recently with with with
one of my woul brothers, you know what I mean.
I was with Rock a few months ago, just you know,
just chilling and he's just like yo, you know what
I mean, He's like yo, you know at being an abbot.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Can I say this real quick?
Speaker 4 (24:57):
So a habboit is the one at the temple. He
don't fight really, no more like that, you know what
I mean. He's throw a little wisdom out now. He
could fight, though, I don't get a twisted now. The
average is staying on one finger, you know what I mean.
But he should be past that. He should be a
spiritual guide an example. So for me, going back to
(25:20):
the ballet, I'm continuing to show us that there is
no limitation of the art that founded in us that
started as hip hop.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Hip Hop is our.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Entry into art and culture, you know what I mean?
And connect same entry, connect same energy, find this self
in a classical place where you're sitting there and everybody
got on a suit and tie and there's somebody from
our and no nah, that's presenting that night. Can you
sit there and and and and watch a film and
be like, oh shit, that film was done?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Like right now, Frank Ocean is about to do his
first movie.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Yo.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
You know what I'm meaning?
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Oh that shit is wow, Frank Ocean is is what
is this artist who who had this hip hop on
the foundation.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
It's his cinematic expression.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
I seen Zoe Kravitz movie Blake twice.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Right, if you watch that one, same thing, like, look
at this artist evolved right where some actresses will never
be brave enough to even take that chance.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
So I'm I'm doing that as well in my Travelers.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
All right, I feel you, but I definitely feel as
though it's an homage to you and how your you know,
your styles is influential. But I definitely see the importance
of taking steps forward and not looking back. But sometimes
I just get it itching and you know, go back
(26:41):
to the old neighborhood and have a fish sandwich.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Exactly, you know what. But like I said, if you
get that in and if I get that inch.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
I do it.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
You know what, there's a couple of joints that's in
the in the oven.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
You know, sometime be in the studio or somebody one
of my wool bugs may pop over, okay, just hit playing,
be called something, and it'd be like it is and
it it may just stand stay in the studio.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
But there's always.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Something in there, right, And it's like I said, when
I made beats or make music. No, of course, of
course there's days where you know, I'm digging. At our
last Vegas show, I had bought my MPC right because
sometime I like to open the show with just a
lot of.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Eight O eights and stuff. But in this particular and
I got like fort these.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Joints, but in this particular one there's a thes a
sample and so since we had some downtime, I loaded
it and it just start hitting play uh and scratch
was there? Deck was that capital was yo. They was
like give us that ship. It was it was it
was sounds and records that dudes happened stumbled the poor chair.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
It wasn't even stack ship.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
It was just you know, whenever you dig, you dig
and you you sample it and you hold it right.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
But I was like, I told Scratch Show, just come
and see you. I'll give it you.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
He ain't come, you know, not that I wasn't moving,
But if you would have guy there within that hour,
I'll be like, oh, yeah, you played with.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
It and do and do what you're gonna do with it.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Then.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
So I'll ask you in your arsenal, can you name
five of your favorite creations.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
I don't know if I could do that, but I
can tell you, like certain ones that that I felt
that'd be interesting, very uh like.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
There's some there's always a moment when you feel.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Like there was a boom.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Yeah, yeah that nobody nobody did that, and they I
did that and they can't do it and they might
can never do it. Well, maybe they can, especially technology
back then. So when I did Glaciers of Ice, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yes, yeah, niggas and niggas can't fuck me right.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
I was.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
That feeling of with that track, and it took a
few days to make it. So that's another thing. It
wasn't like I made it in fifteen minutes, but I
made in fifteen minutes, right, But you could tell just
loose drums and and fucking actually doing the mutes and
and and solos on the spot.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
That's what makes it so bouncy.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
I'm just doing that ship live, right, But on Glaciers
it's just like I really composed it in a way,
you know what.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I mean, and I and I kept changing it.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
I was very cool with the idea of what it
would of what it became, and then I did that
right because LASiS I made Lasism before Raindy Days and
then Randy Day sat on the grill for three days too, right,
And what I like about it is just that there
was just a vibe of feeling right. It's not that
complicated in all reality, but everything from the sample that
(29:34):
intros to the thunderstorm to the girl I singing for
him but he isn't here, yo, son, and that fucking
that fucking h string, uh fucking trimmelo down to fucking.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Boom boom, It's like base, It's like what the fuck?
Speaker 4 (29:52):
All that shit just came to that moment and then
the hook, Like when I told Blue Vaspberry, I want
to do the same this ship.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yo, Can you please tell me how did Blue Raspberry
get in the game, because to me, like she.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Doesn't get enough credit or whatever.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
For like her ad libs and what she asked to
the game, like how did she wind up in the Click?
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Well, I think Ray Kwalm met her first early on
to back in Atlantic City. I think that one of
those early rap things he kept intact with her. She
actually sung for us that night. She sung Whitney Houston
as good as Whitney Houston, like then she went and blew.
She hit that patty note as you hit that note
(30:36):
in places that.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yeah right.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
She was one of the only person to do it
beyond you know, in real life. And so I just
always brought her to the studio and when I would do.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Her, it was just like, I'll just tell her to
say this song, say this song, say this song. And
she had such a.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Good repertoire, like on thatpod Man saying, man, right, this
is that's her again. I'll tell her sing these songs
and then I would take them and then put them
in the ASR and chop them into something else. And
I just thought it was as unique that she was
like a living two box. So her name was Candy,
of course. But let me say one thing about her
(31:14):
that I'm proud to say. Earlier this year January of
this year, I did a concert in Colorado. So I'm
part of this imagination artist, so I have to owe
them three concerts. This was my second one, and I
did the links orchestrated, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
So we trotted it out.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
We got the Officer to play, and I bought Blue
Raspberry to do her parts, and Bro, she got a
stand in the ovation. She just was and she came
out like she was. She was like a She came
out like a weak thing.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Gladys. She had this dress on.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
She I mean, she felt so good that night and
I was so proud of her, and yo, she was flawless.
She's like a celebrity, you know, one of those every celebrity.
Don't make it, bro, you know what I mean, some
of are locked in. Some of our greatest it could
be in a mental asylum. Some of our greatest are
struck right in that home because they pregnancy or or
(32:08):
from something like that. Turned that rote a different way,
and not saying that. You know, she didn't get some accolades,
and she had some success in her life, but for
her level of talent, the crowd like they just they
I didn't tell them to stand up.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
She just was chilling that ship.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Was there ever gonna be a Blue Raspberry album?
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Yeah, I wanted to do a Blue Raspberry album.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
I had to assigned the foundation the fourth disciple, Okay,
but he you know there was kids and ship being
kids and focus kids being kids and shit.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
All right, So you said Glaciers of Ice and.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
I mentioned Rand understand special. I think Brandon ruck is
a special Really, yeah, I say you. I think Brandon
Rucker is a special.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Follow it right, so hard to follow it that.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
That's what makes it special to me.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
I don't even.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Count that as the first song on thirty six Chambers
like for me, like same on is the first.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Makes it shame.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
It's the tanged But even though same goes a little
bit off the rails, it is pretty the tank. I'm
gonna challenge you, okay, no, to go ahead and follow
it because it actually and I didn't know that, right,
but it's actually a composition, almost like an orchestrated composition.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Yes, it starts one way, it builds up it gets
to this.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
So I just think that the part of beat making
that I that I feel confident in. If I want
to say, you ask me about what I think is
dope I think that when I'm able to tell a
story with the music before the MC even gets on it,
Like if you take the rap off and just listen,
it's still shit happen and the shit is going. It
(33:54):
ain't just like a full ball phrase that I'm just
dropping the snare, dropping the drum, adding the high ass
and doing the one on a four drop.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
It ain't that. It's a lot going on in that motherfucker.
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (34:06):
That For me, it's my thoughts when you're actually like
what impresses me?
Speaker 3 (34:12):
When I'm able to do that? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Got it for me?
Speaker 3 (34:17):
I'll say that.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I know you're always tired of cats asking you like,
if you were to pare down WU Tank Forever to
a single album, would you be able to for me,
Deadly Medley, I want to redo that joint because that,
to me is one of the heaviest.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
I don't know that was a crazy That was the realue.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
That makes me want to cardrack a garbage truck and
just ram it in a wall like uh see, now
you see.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
So I'm glad you respond to stuff like that. To
some stuff is for the aggression. It's straight up for
fuck that.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
We kicking and that's that's my walking music in the
morning when I do my five thousand steps in the morning.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Nellie Medley is on that mixes. It just makes you
walk different.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Man, that's crazy. That's what you know what I like
on that album? Hm, that was a walk that we
called bum. Yes, the track like that.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
I like the track like that because once again, if
you don't have the lyrics, it's telling you a story.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Look now now that you open up that record, I
gotta ask you, man, first of all, let me finish
my my other four Stroke of Death on on ghost
Space record with the backwards record.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Shit.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Oh god, yo, almost now I literally almost crashed my
car that ship.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Like you know, I just like I said, that's that
was a question. But it's like, Yo, it's like remember
remember I don't I know you remember this? Look sometimes
at the block party mm hm, the DJ throw something on.
Did somebody get punched in the fence? That's how hip
(36:13):
hop was, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (36:15):
For this podcast, A lot of those that have been
privy to going to Latin Quarter would tell me that
when Steti Sonics Stetsa comes on.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Exactly that man, Yo, run.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Run, exactly.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
My third joint, probably my all time favorite Wu Tang
cannon song is the stomp by ODB.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
To this day, like.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
He started the foundation of that beat though he so
so od B he bought that beat to me.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
I got him an as r.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
He made four beats in his life, okay, right, or
four that he played me, and this was one of them,
you know what I'm saying. And I was like, all right,
and all I think was after beats and you know,
a few sounds for it.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
But that groove too too.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
Toomoom doom, the brother got the bad I put that
little thing in there that's to add to it, but
that was the total groove. It's total rhythm and Brooklyn's
do as well. People don't give od B the credit
for that either. To Mask get most of the credit,
and I get it some credit for it too, But no,
(37:31):
od b Uh, he only made a few beats, even
though he was a human beat box.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
He could have made a hundred beats, but he just
he was the equipment, you know what I mean. And
ship but that's one of them. So man, I'm glad
to hear that.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
That's one to get my last one, and again it's
only because when we were living in London, broke, hungry,
borderline depressed, we have a way different relations and shit
with Ta Cal than you did.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Like and I know Metha always says like I hate
that album, but that album kept our sanity.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Like we were living in London at the time when
just like all you had there was no internet, no streaming,
so you were forced to listen to against your will
like I'm a scatman and like just all of whatever.
It was on pop radio at the time, so we
just always kept but Plo style on to Cal was like.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
That was you know what, actually, you know, it's weird.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
There was one time, I'll say like maybe around ninety
four ninety five we were basically pick a Western European
country and stay there for a month and just hit
every city, every club and whatnot. There was one time
when we played in the south of France, and this
(39:02):
is how sneaky pre internet life was.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
There was a.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Crew in France that basically committed the entire to Cal,
the entire built for Cuba links and the entire.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Returned to the thirty six Chambers.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
And we sat backstage, We're like, yo, these motherfuckers are
actually doing.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
The whole entire.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Thirty album from starting to fit as if it was
their joints, Like I know these lyrics from somewhere, and
you know they use other instrumentals and try, but the
audience didn't know any better. I mean, two of your
most eccentric creations I'm obsessed with.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
First one, how did black Shampoo come to be?
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Fucking uh? I think that's the Coast well right.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
Right, So I think it was I think the machines,
but you you know, I knew the lyric. He had
the lyric, and so I was like, fuck it, let
him loose on it. It was definitely very It was that,
to be honest with you, it was black Shampoo. And
there's another one that wasn't on the American album called sun.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Shower Wait, sun Showered from wait that ghost released?
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Or no, no, not the Sun with slip Wick and
all that.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Okay, no, no, no, I'm talking about son Showers the Power.
Speaker 4 (40:31):
Nope, because there's a ghost version of Okay, it's one.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
It's one. It was on a Who Tank Forever album,
but only on the European version.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
Okay, I don't understand that in Black Shampool were tour
of the last tracks, and it was kind of at
the time, I think I was really falling into Bobby
Digital creatively.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (40:53):
You know that we recorded Whutank Forever and the Grave
Digger second album at the same time.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
You know that I didn't know that you did it, Okay.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
I had everybody live in La well for at least
two months, music ping pon, but we had to stay
at la for two months. Grave Diggers came out, We
had an American studio, had the whole shit locked down. I
was just going to room the room making both albums,
you know what I mean, So I think, and then
at the end of the day, Bobby Isel was coming.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
So I think that.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
I started like stop sampling and started playing all of
the machines and black wool as a result.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Of that, and you got a lyric, you know, some
baby oil shit. You know we got it, Okay.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Yeah, I was gonna say in your second most eccentric
beat that I'm obsessed with how many people ask you
about the Guitar Center commercial.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
Oh shit, you don't.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Understand, yo, there's an obsession with trying to figure out
like it's so wild and crazy.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
I don't remember it told me, but I don't.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
I knew you weren't aware of it.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
There is an underground society of beat makers that like,
I'm trying to get my boys Jroe Elliott right now,
who's in the roots to like flip it like you
you remember you doing a demonstration beat.
Speaker 4 (42:10):
Up on the spot of some shit on that on
the spot, right. I remember Dallas Foston had made this
machine called the beat Thing. Right. It was the first
machine that I saw that had a battery power for
two three hours, meaning you can make the beats on the.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Plane on the plane and exactly right.
Speaker 4 (42:30):
And so you know I bought it, yes for that.
I never released a song from it or nothing. But
it's just like I'm on a plane. I'm not wasting
just messing around, right, I get it. And then that
Good Talk Center, I remember him talking.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
I said, you gotta bother that shit was just this
ship and you can just do this ship. Yeah, but
I don't remember the beat at all.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Bruh.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
There's a whole underground society trying to figure out because you.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
Know, the crazier your beats are.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
It's like we just sit and try to analyze that ship,
like try to figure it out.
Speaker 3 (43:03):
But even if it's ugly appreciated.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
No, when it's ugly and stinking and unorthodox, it's even
better for me. You know, I don't consider like a
good song bat song.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
It's just like Thomas doing the dog.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yes, absolutely, of the many disciples that also like co
produce what you who's the disciple of your arsenal of
or your generals of producers that you've worked with that
later went to, you know, Helm for the projects, not
like which which ones?
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Do you feel like? Really?
Speaker 2 (43:41):
I mean, I'm not trying to make it play favorite
so I.
Speaker 4 (43:45):
Can pay those bumpers down a little bit from you know,
from the avid seat. Look, first of all, I think
fourth had the most potential. Let me say something my
fault disciples, you know for those times. I don't know
how as Tom shaid, but during that time period he
didn't have a lot of records. He made his collection
of beats and songs almost from one crate.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
Okay, you know what I mean. This one crate that
he had.
Speaker 4 (44:12):
Contained one hundred tracks for him mayor sample Love Story
four or five, maybe even ten times for his catalog.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
You see what I mean?
Speaker 4 (44:23):
Because of really the way he did it, the pieces
that excited him or the rendition of the version of
that song, you know what I mean. So I think
he was very special, but yet you don't have a
lot of material. True Master, I think, who was already
making beats and you know he was hanging with us,
(44:44):
hanging with Premier, you know, introduced us to Premier.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
You know, I knew Keep before that.
Speaker 4 (44:49):
But but True Master, I think if you listen to
True Master tracks, he's I think he's the most consistent
at staying at a sound, right, he stays at that.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
He did fish I think, Yeah, I know he did
fish on on on Goosie Joint.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
You've been warned.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
And he did a Brooklyn Zoo too correct, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
Exactly got it.
Speaker 4 (45:12):
So I'm saying, so he's consistent with like it's going
to be hip hop, it's going to sound like they
ain't going to sound too far fetched on the left,
you know what I mean. But then the brother who
I think put the most time into it is the
fifth the last people who was Mathematics.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
You know, he he he came in late, but he
never stopped.
Speaker 4 (45:33):
He's still you know, you know, right now math has
dropped some ship on you right now, and it's like, yo,
you know, true Mass has sent me a few tracks
recently and for something he wanted me to, you know,
help him with and and you know it sounds like
I said, he's consistent. But Math Math can make a
stacks album with musicians and make it sound like a.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
Wu Tang thing.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
I believe.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
He said in an interview that trailing Quentin Tarantino for
Kill Bill prepared you for your your directing debut, Man
with the Iron Fists. What's it like to work with
Eli Roth? Because I only know Eli Roth because he
makes one of the most disturbing, uh you know, heart
(46:15):
afflicts of all time.
Speaker 4 (46:17):
So well, first of all, in Man with the Iron Fist,
Man Eli, we laughed because I vote the first draft myself.
But I was still you know, at the at the
I won't say novice level. I was at the intermediate level.
I wasn't good enough to really write a whole movie.
I was getting there, you know, for so let's just
(46:39):
say this was my college sheet.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
But I needed help.
Speaker 4 (46:42):
And Eli, you know, used to always be at Clinton House.
You know, we watched a lot of movies together. I
considered him a classmate. It's like four of us, you know,
like maybe Edgar rider be up.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
There, you know what I mean. So he, you know, helped.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
Me finish, help me write now with the Iron Fist,
And because I got it written, I was ready to
direct it. But the funny thing is, as a writer
and we did the film, it was like some of
the stuff that is glory, like he'll I say, they're
gonna blame him for it and mail Guyan fans like
they chopped his arms off all that ship. No that me,
And then some of the stuff that was actually funny
(47:20):
and soft it was him, which is interesting because exactly
it doesn't make no right Exactly. Funny thing is, you know,
don't forget I'm a grave.
Speaker 3 (47:30):
I got you. But the thing you studying with Quinn
was a blessing. That's got to say that.
Speaker 4 (47:35):
You know a lot of people got to go to college,
uh and get there and get their education.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
I was blessed to get it through.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
I'm gonna just use this world as a definition of it.
Do apprenticeship, you know what I mean. I was willing
to sit beside great masters, you know, every every time
I acted in the film, like you know, when I
was an American gangster, I'm sitting beside really Scott y know,
and being the resid helps, you know what I mean,
meaning like I'm not some bomb some barrel they like,
you know what I mean, Right, I traveled well, you know,
(48:02):
not to use money here by my multimillionaires, so it's
not like I need anything, right, So so yeah, I
could beat you in Italy, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (48:10):
We could talk about it.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
So what was camp Quinton like?
Speaker 2 (48:14):
Because for me, one of the things I'd like to
do the most if I ever have free time.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
I love going to his two movie theaters.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
I always go to New Beverly Nice, like I'm always,
I'm always because his collection is just the illness as
far as but I know that studying under him, and
he's so like he likes the energy of creative people.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
Like what was the whole process like with kill Bill?
How do they call you?
Speaker 4 (48:41):
And well, like you said, his movie theaters before his
movie theaters, it was his house, right, all those friends
he would show him at his home and invite his
friends over, you know what I mean. And I was
amongst those friends. And then I was, you know, grave
enough or humble enough to be like, yo, can you
(49:01):
teach me?
Speaker 3 (49:02):
You know? I want to learn?
Speaker 4 (49:03):
And him also he doesn't know how to use music equipment,
but he's a very musical guy. He could have been
a music producer based on him here, you know what
I mean. So he was like, okay, share you share
that knowledge, and so we shared knowledge with each other
and sportship, friendship and spent a lot of time together.
But the time is. If you want to make movies,
then watch movies. If you want to write books, then
(49:25):
read books. Or to write a movie, then study scripts.
I bought fifty scripts just to read them. I'm like,
I'm reading Breakfast the Tiffany's you know what I mean,
I'm reading the Breakfast Club. Fuck it, I'll read both
of them, right because these are successful scripts, you know
what I mean. And then at the end of the day, though,
I also get to you know, like before kill Bill
(49:47):
was finished, you know, he read it to me parts
of it, and then when it was finished, he gave
me a copy, you know what I mean. You know,
Django I was writing now Nangas while he was writing Changos.
He was on page forty. I was on page ninety.
So I was blessed. And Eli's well, you know what
I mean. It was it was you know that crew,
Elvis Mitchell, you know, a certain crew with people and
(50:09):
all that knowledge, and me I was sponging the knowledge,
like I was.
Speaker 3 (50:14):
I was allowing the knowledge to sponge on me.
Speaker 4 (50:16):
Take it and a doorbit, uh, and then just give
you one idea of how something like how a day
would go.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
It was like, yeah, I got I'm doing a double
feature tonight. You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (50:27):
It could be uh, Paul Mazerke's film, right, fucking you
know what I mean, Chris Christofferson's fucking four films, or
something like we're gonna do Convoy and maybe casting over
whom one of his joints, right, And so I'm like cool,
and and so we go.
Speaker 3 (50:45):
And watch them.
Speaker 4 (50:46):
You know, we've watched so many films that Quinn was
such a film cinephile, right, Yeah, that he had thirty
five million points, so you watch it in the big
that's one thing.
Speaker 3 (50:56):
But then he had sixteen milliplints. So now that means
you got to watch it.
Speaker 4 (50:59):
In the living room, right, what it's for in the morning?
Speaker 3 (51:03):
Now? Who tapped out? Who made it? For the next one?
Speaker 4 (51:07):
Me, I'm you know, we hire pot that's studio time.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
Plus I got to go I can go to six
in the morning, and then he.
Speaker 4 (51:15):
Have all the books and that that he allowed access to,
like yeah, we want to take a book, the book whatever,
you know what I mean, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
Yeah, like that to me is that's the dream, like
for real, like I love old archives and movies like
i'm I'm I was.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
I was so envious that you had access to that.
Speaker 3 (51:38):
Man.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
That's that's I.
Speaker 4 (51:39):
Would say something about them real quick too, so people would,
you know, just for sometimes people like he says this
world and this movies a lot and all that, and
it's like this hospitality. It's like, you know, my brother freedom,
my younger brother. You know, there's some time and all that.
You know, even if I wasn't in town and Quentin
(51:59):
was showing movie, you'll let my brother come and watch
it with him and give him room to spend the night.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
And freedom is straight up. And it's just like.
Speaker 4 (52:07):
When you family, you family, and if you know. And
that's so he was the godfather, you know what I mean.
It was he was the abbat of film for me,
you know what I mean. And I would come with
my peoples and he always had supreme hospitality and and
also always would give us a little bit of wisdom.
You know. Remember one day one of my man's that
got murdered this and this was the night that we
(52:29):
had a plan to do something together and I was
gonna you know, I came because I said I'll be there.
So I got there, I said, I'm actually don't I
don't want to go. I got you know, I got
a problem I gotta deal with. So what you're talking about?
Hold on, hold on. We planning this ship like a
month ago, right, So I'm like, yeah, so hold on,
let me make your margarita to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
And I sold. So we talked about the problem, like yeah,
my man that and so you.
Speaker 4 (52:52):
Know, maybe I don't know, right, bum bong right, yeah,
and also deal with some things, right, he said, Bobby,
lets plain style to you. Said, you gotta understand. You said,
you're up here, right, and there's not a lot of
people from your community, from your generation, from your culture
that's up here.
Speaker 3 (53:13):
Say you're up here just so that you can reach
down and pour somebody else up. That's why you're here,
so you can.
Speaker 4 (53:20):
Always be able to reach down and pour somebody up
if you ever go down. There's nobody up here that
can reach down you know what I mean, So keep
moving up here.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
That's kind of what I want to close with.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
You know, I've been studying you and this is kind
of what I brought up the last episode for you personally.
And I feel like there's a few of us that,
you know, when we make it, there is a survivor's
guilt that sort of overshadows us a little bit. How
(53:55):
do you deal with the idea of survivor's guilt or
the idea of like, not everyone can come with you
that sometimes you have to save yourself, put your own
oxyg your mask on first before you can help other people.
Speaker 4 (54:11):
At the end of the day, I do help, right,
I continue, you know, you know, that's just what we
we gotta do that because that's that's part of our blessing.
Right at minimum that just use the Bible on this one.
At minimum you got ten percent times, you know what
I mean. So at minimum, you know, so I start
to compartmentalize it. You know, I have my wife, you know,
(54:35):
has a good head on her shoulder, and I have
my older sister, and sometimes we'll choose who to help.
Who've been helped five times already? All right, that's the
fifth time let them go, you know what I mean.
But we all here to help believe that and know that, right.
And the blessing though I hope, I hope you feel
the same, is that sometimes you do go out to
(54:56):
the world and you see, you know, whether it's homeless people.
Speaker 1 (55:01):
You know.
Speaker 4 (55:01):
I remember lying with Jay one day and we got
to a light and he stopped the car, your old
stop stop stop and going down this windows just pulled
out to under his getting some homeless that all right, go,
you know what I mean? And yeah, I do the
same shit. That's what that's why it's my man and whatever.
But it's like I've seen the natural I've seen goes
(55:21):
through the same thing. Right, It's that's how we are,
That's how. But the beauty of it is that because
we deal with hopefully we deal with all the stress
and the and the obligatory thing of helping others, uh,
the pressure of family needing help a lot and not
never satisfied. Because you may help them five times, they
(55:44):
won ten times, right, But then you're still able to
go home to your peace. If I wasn't able to
go home, you know what I mean, Like if I
go back to East and I go to the Woo mansion.
Speaker 3 (55:57):
That ship is in the woods. Bro it's quiet, So
I go back to that temple. Then I'm able to.
Speaker 4 (56:02):
Calm my shit down, reevaluate, and go back out again.
So the best way I can say that is that
you gotta be able to plug them back into yourself right.
And then the last thing I say is that at
this age, I realize that really helping people with don't
mean giving them no money. You that's the person that
(56:22):
they want, you know what I mean? That's not what
they need, you know what I mean? The money, it's
almost like it's like food, You're gonna eat it and
ship it out.
Speaker 3 (56:33):
They need to know how to fast. They need to
know something else.
Speaker 4 (56:37):
And at this age, I've been doing that more, you know,
like striving into like okay, here, I'm.
Speaker 3 (56:44):
Gonna give them a little blessing.
Speaker 1 (56:46):
But now help people now now I got to.
Speaker 3 (56:48):
Now let me hit them with this.
Speaker 4 (56:50):
And if they don't take this after I gave them this,
then that means they don't want me. They want this,
and they go better go find that someone else. Because money, money, uh,
money is something that you bless your family with.
Speaker 3 (57:04):
But I will say this too. Money is something that
is earned.
Speaker 4 (57:10):
Man. It's it's something that is earned. If you don't
earn it, you know what I mean, you will never
know the value of it.
Speaker 1 (57:18):
There it is, brother, Thank you, brother, thank you. I
appreciate you. This is Quest Love Supreme, our our Part
two conversation with Ariza uh Man of Renaissance.
Speaker 2 (57:29):
And you know, I'm not even going to ask you
what do you have next down the pipe because I
know You're always going to have something.
Speaker 1 (57:36):
Down the pipe.
Speaker 2 (57:36):
But thank you man for for just years of blessing
us and inspiring us.
Speaker 1 (57:42):
Man, I appreciate that. Thank you for coming on Quest
Love Supreme.
Speaker 3 (57:44):
Man, Thank you Questions Base.
Speaker 2 (57:49):
Thank you for listening to Quest Love Supreme. Hosted by
a Mere Quest Loft Thompson, Are you Saying Clear? Sugar,
Steve Mandell An unpaid, Bill Sherman. The executive producers are
Amira quest Love, Thompson, Sean Ge and Brian Calhoun. Produced
by Brittany Benjamin Cousin, Jake Payne, Eliah Sainclair, edited by
(58:15):
Alex Conroy.
Speaker 1 (58:17):
Produced by iHeart by Noel Brown. West Love 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 shows.
Questloft Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
All Right, ladies and gentlemen, as promised, Welcome back to
quest Loft Supreme to our second part of our conversation
with the prolific Masterful Grizza aka Prince Raqem, the Abbot,
Bobby Digital, Bobby Steeles, the Scientist, Prince de Light, Prince
Dynamite was the exact exag ala, what's up brother.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
How you doing? Thanks, simple lessings, Thanks for inviting me back.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I have to tell you that, you know, when they
initially told me that you were coming out to do
the back Mud project, just based on the title alone,
I didn't know what to expect, and for those who
don't know it's out now, I mean, this is as
straight ahead as classical music as I've heard it. I
(00:59):
knew it was classical music, but I thought it would
be rizified, but he kind of went straight ahead with it.
Can you give me the basic genesis of how this
project came to be?
Speaker 4 (01:09):
I mean yeah, I mean it started from finding one
of my old lyrical notebooks during the pandemic, like a
notebook to have my lyrics from the age of like
fourteen and nineteen, and in that book, is like all
types of stories and ideas of being younger, first time, smoking, drinking, sex,
et cetera. And certain lyrics in there. You know, back
(01:33):
in those days' writing three page lyrics, so certain lyrics
had these long stories and these ideas, and I was like,
I should record these lyrics and write music to it.
You know, I'm busy doing my TV show, I'm doing
posing that, so my brain is in composer mode. And
I said, I want to actually try to write an
opera or something with these lyrics. And as I started
(01:56):
doing it, first of all, somebody corrected me. It was
a guy named Evan Lamberg. He was like, operas are
usually an Italian wizard, so I don't think you're gonna
be able to do that. So okay, cool, he said,
but you know ballet or sweet so like the Nutcracker
or Peter and the Wolf, that type of thing.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
And so I said, okay, let me take that approach,
and then I did.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
But when I started writing the music or playing music
and composing it, it all started to not need lyrics.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
It started to not be something that will just.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Be a continuation of what I'm known for, to show
an evolution of of of my creative mind and yet
still to me have the story and the spirit of
what I was trying to say in the music, you
know what I mean. She said something that you're a
scientist or history and all that. But I'm gonna correct
you on one thing you said. It wasn't rizzified. But
(02:51):
if you actually take a listen right, and you'll hear
the staccato nests of triumph burn a Lotus arriving you're here,
like the Bobby Digital like on the song the type
of track of ballet Domus is actually saying baby comes Bobby.
(03:13):
So it's like the catens of Howard Ryan or the
cats of the vibe that I bring like MC and
shows up in some of the melody lines and then
the keys of which a lot of my tracks come
out in right, you know, or the sample heroes like
you know Marcone, I'm a hero. You know, it's one
(03:33):
of my heroes, Quincy Jones, of course that's in peace,
Isaac Hayes, like a lot of my heroes and how
they would do something, you know, they did it with
soul and with rhythm right music right. I removed all
the rhythm, all the percussion, all the lyric system and
then left that as the ballet.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So well, when I'm at Riz, like, for me, your
relationship with this chords sort of classing I mean something
like knowledge God, which to me, it's the type of
composition that I guess the term is uh with synesthesia,
like where you could see, like you can visualize, you
(04:16):
can see the notes, you paint such these pictures with
dissonance minimalism. That that's what I thought. We're based on
the title the Ballet through Mud, But this isn't the
first time that you've done kind of full circle, fully
realized thing like, if anything, I mean you're in full renaissance,
(04:38):
moved like be it, you know, directing your movies, your
various projects that you've.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Done with other artists and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
If anything, I think you're probably the most prolific figure
that we have as far as someone actively putting creative
prints and almost in every creative medium.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
For you, though, was the story that you wanted to.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Convey with Bellion, Well, one of the lyrics that it
started with, right, it's called Joe is a nerd, right
and Uh in that lyric, I could do a few
bars of the lyric, right.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I don't think I did it last time I was here,
but you didn't know. Okay, So Joe was a nerd, right,
So part in the cadence and part in the lack
of MC love.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Apologize.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
It starts off like a Sue was this girl who
was really quite fly. Brad was real cool when he
was her guy. Lisa was freaky, she loved to have sex.
Her brother name was but they called him Decks. His
sister name was Monica, and she was a verge. Joe
was just their friend and he was a nerd. Brad
bought the beer, Shoe bought the smoke. Lisa had sheets
(05:52):
Decks that had coke, but Joe was the type who
didn't get high, nor did Monica. She was willing to try,
so Brad did a joint, passed it that Joe said,
come on, man smoking and Joe said, no, what's wrong?
Are you scared? Was asked by Sue. Are you're just
a nerd? Joe said that's not true. Monica said, come on,
just have a taste, as she puffed on the joint
blue to smoke in his face. Now on Monica, Joe
(06:14):
had a crush. He didn't wanted to smoke the weed,
but felt that he must, and like many we know,
love made him a fool. So he pulled on the
joint to prove he was cool. At Lista was like, yo,
forget about Joe, They said, Yo, decks, where the heck
is the blow? He pulled out two grams and it's
all that I bought, but it's more than enough that
they proceeded to snort. Now, at this time, Joe had
finished three beers and Brad was like, here, have another,
(06:35):
you queer, and Joe was like no, while holding his stomach,
and while facing Monica he said, only vomit.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
She said, oh my god, shit, how observed? And every
want to laugh and said, Joe is a nerd. Joe
was a nerd. Joe was a nerd. Joe brought embarrassed,
so he did the bird. They chased him. He ran
inside of old shack, and then was this sound, the
crashing glass.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
It was dark inside, so Brad had to get a
light and they checked to see if Jorge was all right.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
But when they found them, he had quarts.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Of red blud spitting from his head, and Monica said,
oh my god, jobs, Dad and he.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
All started to run and never mentioned this incident again
to anyone.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
So so anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I'm amazed at anyone that's able to sort of retain
that amount of text in their heads.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
You when did you write this year?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I probably was sixteen, So yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Wow, man, Okay, So you actually quoted a good friend
of mine, Jazzy Jeff, when Jeff once famously said a
quote to like leave nothing behind.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
A lot of our hip hop generation we know that,
like a figure like Tupac leaves earth, but has you know,
so much product left over, like Prince has over five
thousand songs in his arsenal. But for you, you said
that you subscribe to the theory that you know, get
(08:09):
it all out, leave nothing behind, like just on a
daily for now, assuming that you're not in the fight
or flight hustle mentality that you were back in ninety
two ninety three when you were putting the clan together,
you know, trying to.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Shoot your shot.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
How is just your daily creative muscles flowing at this stage.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
It's like creativity is the energy. It's a flow.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
It's it's almost like we're breathing in a way right
in the sense of it's just in you, right, even
how we talk.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
It's just it's a creative cadence or a flow to that.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
So for me, you know, to say that, how do
I take that energy and put it into a structure
that's just saying right.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Daily, you know I make I'm either making music or
writing down, you know, ideas for a film, or writing
lyrics or or making beats. It's like I never stopped creating.
It's like I can't stop creating. To be quite frank
with you, like like you know, like not to get
(09:25):
too personal here, but you know, my wife, she made
a joke.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
So the god from Supreme he rebuild it.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
One day I saw him on Instagram and he was
talking to He kind of quoted me or something. But
he came to my crib and you know, you know
I was showing on nobody showing in my crib. I
don't know what was what got I say, every room,
but we right up, you know in the bedroom. Because
of my bedroom, I have beat machines. I gotta I
got my bed and I got my piano.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
You know what I mean to my wife, you know,
she sleeps beside the piano.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
To say she called that, you know what I mean, she's.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
My wife, right, So she went roll with me, because
that's what she's with right, get it right?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
So what point being made.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
I'm just saying that to say of how much that
creativity is around being in me. So talking of the
Valley through Mud, a lot of it was written right
in front of my wife. But when I found the book,
I can't tell her, so she became my first audience.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Right then.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
I'm playing something and she could be sitting there watching,
you know, you know, like I said, started doing the pandemic,
So she might be watching the news and she's watching
the news and me scoring or writing something to this
story I got and I'm scoring her world, you know
what I mean at the same time, You know what
I mean, I got it. The creativity is like that
for me, and even for whether it's lyrics. I got
(10:45):
a phone full of lyrics, you know what.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
I mean that?
Speaker 4 (10:48):
And Jeff gave us some wisdom. He said, try to
die empty, but it's probably not possible. I don't think
it's possible for me because at the end of the day,
the book that I'm talking to you about, it's four
hundred lyrics in that one and I got two of them.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
It's just like if I didn't say Joe was a nerd.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Nobody's going to hear Joe was in nerd except for
if you was hanging out with me back in high school. Right.
So that's just how it is, right, But that's the
art of growth, art of creativity.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
It evolves right in all of us.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
And at the level that at my level of creativity,
it's like I understand more about what inspired me.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Right, if you mentioned knowledge guard or if you mentioned anything.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
From the creatment from the Purple tape, right, It's almost
like even my experience then was more darker, more gritty,
more aggressive towards the world, you know what I mean,
And not saying that I couldn't get like that anytime
and stuff on my feet, right, like say, I might
Tyson slapped Jake when he stepped on his feet, but
Jake said the stepped on his toe in the.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Ring, right, But oh yeah, woke, come up.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Right, I'm just saying, give your stuff on this toe
and then deep right, it made is that you.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Know that energy, you're always gonna exist.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
But we've been blessed to put that in our back
pocket and put in our front pockets. We could wear
our creativity, you know, wear our cheet wear our positivity
and not to ship this to you, but it's just
like yo. You know, you get get up there every
united at at any moment you're gonna you may catch
a wave, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
You know, thought might go into something. You know what
I mean? You might?
Speaker 4 (12:31):
You know it ain't that be hurst like that. It's
just like yo, you might. You may start going, you
may go. You may bunk bunk out the band and
the duce may come in on the on the one
may come in on the three. You may whatever it seems,
you can't. You can't get rid of it, you know
what I mean? And so I'm the same.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
What are your current preferred weapons of choice when it
comes to beat making?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Now?
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I think once again, like all of us over these,
I got so many toys ridiculous, but.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
But that in Sonic, don't call it.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
They't got two of those. I got one in my office.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
That uh with the floppy discs, Yeah, with the floppy
disc I got a dog.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
To this day, D'Angelo.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
You you must have said something to D'Angelo back in
ninety five. To this day, to this day, still uses
that in Sonic, And I don't know how he finds.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Floppy discs and scuzzies like.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
For for for listeners out there, you know this is
this is pre pre pre pre pre pre pre, but
pre gigabytes, you know what I mean. Like and but
to this day he still has his original nineteen ninety
five and sonic and and scuzzy and the floppy discs.
(14:03):
And he said that, like you said something to him
about that machine, and that's been his inspiration since then, Like.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
You know, it was a powerful machine and it still
has something you know, I think, Yeah, still got a
couple a lot of mathematics, you know, a lot of thematics.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Actually did something really cool a few years ago.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
We did an album called The Soccer Continues where he
had the musicians play and then he just ran everything
through the ASR and it shit sounded like it sounded adventage,
like you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
It wasn't totally totally bunk bung, but.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
It was over eighty percent closer to what the invented
sample would be. But it wasn't the sample. It was
just musicians playing through the ASR. So for anybody out
there who can't find an ASR, there's another thing called
the DP four, which is sonic made which has a
lot of the effects of the ASR. So the ASR
had like fifty built in effects that you can want
(14:57):
your sample to do right Vanderpoles and and it would
have low pass filters and et cetera, et cetera. But
the DP four was the flagship effects model for it.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
So if you can't find an ASR ten or.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Or EPs sixteen plus and you can find a DP four,
you can actually still get that ASR sound by running
your new equipment through that. So that's one of the
share that with which the viewers my listenership. And then
I'll say, right now, for me, I think what MPC did, right.
I think MPC has for hip hop and for creativity
(15:37):
mastered the way uh the newer the PC the But yeah,
but it's a software and it's a hardware all at once,
you know what I mean. And so that to me,
it is my favorite piece right now because at the
end of the day, I can put it at the
center of everything and then have the simple now of
(16:00):
how to work with the MPC right, and then run
all my ship through it without even looking at my
pro tools.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Speaking of leaving empty, what becomes of all the residual
riser beats that were not used between when you first
got your machine, and this even dates back to the
Prince Marquen days of ninety one. What becomes of the
volumes and volumes of just leftover beats and whatnot.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Well, for what people will consider, you know, my prime time,
it's not a lot.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Because I had two floods, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
That's my worst night, man.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Yeah, I had two of them. Though, It's like, how'd
you get two?
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Right?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
And you said left on the floor.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yeah, because I'll be making beats and the floppy disk
being those little cases eighty in the case, and you
don't mind you said it on the floor under the keyboard.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I never expected that to be an issue until it was.
Until my just was.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Floating, right, And then I build my ship differently and
the water.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Can't come from the bottom, motherfucker comes from the top.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
But I laughed at it, right, because at the end
of the day, I had a flood right after thirty
six chambers, right before we get to that.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Then I had a flood right after Liquid Swords, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
And then and then I moved to another studio build
that up and had another water issue.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
And then and that's to run it all together here
with the funniest part. And while we're.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Filming the Wu Tank series and I'm composing the music
for it, and there's an episode that Mario van Peebles
is directing which is about the flood it cost me
that morning, and I'm talking about in my Calie house.
Water is coming into my house. We got the street
line backed up and it's and I told him, yo, gee,
(17:53):
this ship is real.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Are you a water signed person or like.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
I'm a cancer. So I don't know what that means.
I know it's a moon, but I don't know if
it's water mud. But I will say that at the
end of the day though, it means sometimes you gotta
be set. Noah had to get in that arc, you
know what I mean, had to close those doors and move.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
So are your archives protected now?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
No, not like that. I'm gonna say that you didn't learn. No,
I'm gonna say no, I don't think you could protect
what's going to go. That's just my opinion. So I
might be too philosophical there. But at the end of
the day, you know you're gonna get it out what
you get out for the time. You have to get
to do what you do, and don't be shy to
get a lot of it out if you can, right,
(18:38):
I remember your scholars something ever could do on that
versus he was like, girl, drop that shit, you know
what I mean, So get out what you can. But
of course some of it, it just existed for the moment.
It's still in the universe. It's still there even if
you on't even play that track one time, It's still
(18:59):
captured in that cube of time.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
But yeah, my archivan, I've never been good at that,
I said. I will say that I never really good
at archiving.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I feel living in the moment. Yeah, I always wanted
to know what your feelings were.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Of your level of soul kind of having two renaissance periods.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
One could say that the quote unquote.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Chipmunk soul movement like two thousand and two thousand and
one to two.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You know, like basically I will say when.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Just blazing ye kind of with with Justin and and
with Kanye as well. But also I definitely feel now,
especially like post Griselda stuff your old drug and you know,
rock Manciano your old drug. I mean just there's like
almost a second wave of it. How do you feel
(19:56):
and that? Have you ever got the itching? And I
know like most creators don't want to go back, They
want to push for it, and you're definitely pushing forward.
But is it a part of you that when you
hear your ideas still resonating twenty thirty forty years later,
does that give you the itching to reaching your stax
(20:18):
records politics to come back in in lace us again?
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I don't think so, to be quite honest, it's almost
like damn, okay, no, seriously, I don't think so. It's
more like for me, if something happens naturally right, then
I'm just gonna do it. But but I won't be
like if everybody start going shell to Adidas, am I
gonna throw on those shelteres in that?
Speaker 3 (20:43):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (20:44):
One of my blessings in my flaws is kind of
you know, probably personality thing putty self centered on me
pretty sure that you know what I mean, Like like
I'm mean, you know, like you know what I mean?
Pretty pretty you know, and and and strive. It's hardly
(21:06):
even say it because as I'm older, my humbleness is
here and my humility is here and I said, all
praise is due to a law. But I definitely came
from that personality just like you know what I mean,
Like like dude, this is you know, kind of my humility.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
But like me said, you feel some certain way. It's
almost like I'm Bruce Lee. Yo.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
They doing what they doing, like yo, you know this. Look,
let me let me be a little ego in it.
They breaking boards and you gotta respect them. They trained
themselves to break a board. But I'm breaking bricks all right,
I'm breaking bricks. And so if you want me to
come back to the gym and break some bricks for you,
you know what I mean, I'll do that. But I
(21:47):
don't need to break bricks no more. Right, It's like
I don't need it for the external. I better now
be in the internal. So so if we go back
to the ballet, it's like yo, okay, do that, kid, right,
I get it. And then when you do that, Okay,
now you're doing that. Cool guess what. Okay you did that.
Now watch me do virtue aso ship that you can't
(22:08):
do because now you got put it in the ten
thousand dollars. So that part of me is a is
a thing so let me say though, but it's but
it's flattering too, and it's complementary because at the end
of the day, and I said this to Uh, I
think I said it's to Kanye doing twist and dark
fantasy sessions. When I said who Tank Forever, I wasn't
just talking about us as the figures of it.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
I was just talking about to be brought to the game. Yo.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
That energy, man, that energy ain't going nowhere, y'all. Somebody
gonna pick that up. I don't care if you pick
it up from old Dirty, you know what I mean.
My in my analogy, and this may sound crazy, but
in my anology, you know, dirty helps the sound. You
know what I mean, Dirty helps another energy expound is
expand Dirty helps Missy Elliott right in my analogy.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Right.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
So it's just because I'm seeing him as I'm seeing
the one artist him as an example, I'm seeing that
artist able to inspire other artists, you know what I mean,
to to make them. Like Buster once said to me,
he was like Yo, when he heard his album, they
freed his brain, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Freedom? So so you.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Made somebody may get that from meth, They may get
it from Ray like Brizelda.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
They they ripping. I love Brizil. He put this shit on.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
You go listen to this ship for two hours and
still be and still be zoning in with another joint, right,
because the catalogue has grown like that. But yeah, but
do I hear ghosts? Do I even hear when it
may be an unknown MC like is lord in the
cadus of their MC who took and who it might
whether he did it consciously or subconsciously, is able to
(23:47):
see that she be inspired and then put it back
out in a different way.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
And I just end with this.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
So they say Bruce Lee is the father of them.
M A, you know what I mean? He made g Condo, Right,
So g Condovas took boxing, fencing, judo, ju jitsu, wing,
chung cho, a young fat you know what I mean,
Hung Gard, you know what I mean? He put all that,
you know what I'm saying into one thing, studying Muhammad
(24:14):
Ali and studying Japanese kimbo.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Right.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
So point being made is that he's one of the
first ones that pioneered at But as time goes on,
maybe somebody else will say, oh that's the man like
the ain't a whiteson man, you know what I mean,
or whatever, not like that.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
The but point being made is that so it's flattering.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
It's a blessing to see that that whatever we added
to the culture is still there and that others are
able to find their voice.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
You know.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
I think Drew did a joint recently with with with
one of my woul brothers, you know what I mean.
I was with Rock a few months ago, just you know,
just chilling and he's just like yo, you know what
I mean, He's like yo, you know at being an abbot.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Can I say this real quick?
Speaker 4 (24:57):
So a habboit is the one at the temple. He
don't fight really, no more like that, you know what
I mean. He's throw a little wisdom out now. He
could fight, though, I don't get a twisted now. The
average is staying on one finger, you know what I mean.
But he should be past that. He should be a
spiritual guide an example. So for me, going back to
(25:20):
the ballet, I'm continuing to show us that there is
no limitation of the art that founded in us that
started as hip hop.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Hip Hop is our.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Entry into art and culture, you know what I mean?
And connect same entry, connect same energy, find this self
in a classical place where you're sitting there and everybody
got on a suit and tie and there's somebody from
our and no nah, that's presenting that night. Can you
sit there and and and and watch a film and
be like, oh shit, that film was done?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Like right now, Frank Ocean is about to do his
first movie.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Yo.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
You know what I'm meaning?
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Oh that shit is wow, Frank Ocean is is what
is this artist who who had this hip hop on
the foundation.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
It's his cinematic expression.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
I seen Zoe Kravitz movie Blake twice.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Right, if you watch that one, same thing, like, look
at this artist evolved right where some actresses will never
be brave enough to even take that chance.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
So I'm I'm doing that as well in my Travelers.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
All right, I feel you, but I definitely feel as
though it's an homage to you and how your you know,
your styles is influential. But I definitely see the importance
of taking steps forward and not looking back. But sometimes
I just get it itching and you know, go back
(26:41):
to the old neighborhood and have a fish sandwich.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Exactly, you know what. But like I said, if you
get that in and if I get that inch.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
I do it.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
You know what, there's a couple of joints that's in
the in the oven.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
You know, sometime be in the studio or somebody one
of my wool bugs may pop over, okay, just hit playing,
be called something, and it'd be like it is and
it it may just stand stay in the studio.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
But there's always.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Something in there, right, And it's like I said, when
I made beats or make music. No, of course, of
course there's days where you know, I'm digging. At our
last Vegas show, I had bought my MPC right because
sometime I like to open the show with just a
lot of.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Eight O eights and stuff. But in this particular and
I got like fort these.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Joints, but in this particular one there's a thes a
sample and so since we had some downtime, I loaded
it and it just start hitting play uh and scratch
was there? Deck was that capital was yo. They was
like give us that ship. It was it was it
was sounds and records that dudes happened stumbled the poor chair.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
It wasn't even stack ship.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
It was just you know, whenever you dig, you dig
and you you sample it and you hold it right.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
But I was like, I told Scratch Show, just come
and see you. I'll give it you.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
He ain't come, you know, not that I wasn't moving,
But if you would have guy there within that hour,
I'll be like, oh, yeah, you played with.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
It and do and do what you're gonna do with it.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Then.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
So I'll ask you in your arsenal, can you name
five of your favorite creations.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
I don't know if I could do that, but I
can tell you, like certain ones that that I felt
that'd be interesting, very uh like.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
There's some there's always a moment when you feel.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Like there was a boom.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Yeah, yeah that nobody nobody did that, and they I
did that and they can't do it and they might
can never do it. Well, maybe they can, especially technology
back then. So when I did Glaciers of Ice, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yes, yeah, niggas and niggas can't fuck me right.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
I was.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
That feeling of with that track, and it took a
few days to make it. So that's another thing. It
wasn't like I made it in fifteen minutes, but I
made in fifteen minutes, right, But you could tell just
loose drums and and fucking actually doing the mutes and
and and solos on the spot.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
That's what makes it so bouncy.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
I'm just doing that ship live, right, But on Glaciers
it's just like I really composed it in a way,
you know what.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I mean, and I and I kept changing it.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
I was very cool with the idea of what it
would of what it became, and then I did that
right because LASiS I made Lasism before Raindy Days and
then Randy Day sat on the grill for three days too, right,
And what I like about it is just that there
was just a vibe of feeling right. It's not that
complicated in all reality, but everything from the sample that
(29:34):
intros to the thunderstorm to the girl I singing for
him but he isn't here, yo, son, and that fucking
that fucking h string, uh fucking trimmelo down to fucking.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Boom boom, It's like base, It's like what the fuck?
Speaker 4 (29:52):
All that shit just came to that moment and then
the hook, Like when I told Blue Vaspberry, I want
to do the same this ship.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yo, Can you please tell me how did Blue Raspberry
get in the game, because to me, like she.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Doesn't get enough credit or whatever.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
For like her ad libs and what she asked to
the game, like how did she wind up in the Click?
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Well, I think Ray Kwalm met her first early on
to back in Atlantic City. I think that one of
those early rap things he kept intact with her. She
actually sung for us that night. She sung Whitney Houston
as good as Whitney Houston, like then she went and blew.
She hit that patty note as you hit that note
(30:36):
in places that.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yeah right.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
She was one of the only person to do it
beyond you know, in real life. And so I just
always brought her to the studio and when I would do.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Her, it was just like, I'll just tell her to
say this song, say this song, say this song. And
she had such a.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Good repertoire, like on thatpod Man saying, man, right, this
is that's her again. I'll tell her sing these songs
and then I would take them and then put them
in the ASR and chop them into something else. And
I just thought it was as unique that she was
like a living two box. So her name was Candy,
of course. But let me say one thing about her
(31:14):
that I'm proud to say. Earlier this year January of
this year, I did a concert in Colorado. So I'm
part of this imagination artist, so I have to owe
them three concerts. This was my second one, and I
did the links orchestrated, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
So we trotted it out.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
We got the Officer to play, and I bought Blue
Raspberry to do her parts, and Bro, she got a
stand in the ovation. She just was and she came
out like she was. She was like a She came
out like a weak thing.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Gladys. She had this dress on.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
She I mean, she felt so good that night and
I was so proud of her, and yo, she was flawless.
She's like a celebrity, you know, one of those every celebrity.
Don't make it, bro, you know what I mean, some
of are locked in. Some of our greatest it could
be in a mental asylum. Some of our greatest are
struck right in that home because they pregnancy or or
(32:08):
from something like that. Turned that rote a different way,
and not saying that. You know, she didn't get some accolades,
and she had some success in her life, but for
her level of talent, the crowd like they just they
I didn't tell them to stand up.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
She just was chilling that ship.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Was there ever gonna be a Blue Raspberry album?
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Yeah, I wanted to do a Blue Raspberry album.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
I had to assigned the foundation the fourth disciple, Okay,
but he you know there was kids and ship being
kids and focus kids being kids and shit.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
All right, So you said Glaciers of Ice and.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
I mentioned Rand understand special. I think Brandon ruck is
a special Really, yeah, I say you. I think Brandon
Rucker is a special.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Follow it right, so hard to follow it that.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
That's what makes it special to me.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
I don't even.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Count that as the first song on thirty six Chambers
like for me, like same on is the first.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Makes it shame.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
It's the tanged But even though same goes a little
bit off the rails, it is pretty the tank. I'm
gonna challenge you, okay, no, to go ahead and follow
it because it actually and I didn't know that, right,
but it's actually a composition, almost like an orchestrated composition.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Yes, it starts one way, it builds up it gets
to this.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
So I just think that the part of beat making
that I that I feel confident in. If I want
to say, you ask me about what I think is
dope I think that when I'm able to tell a
story with the music before the MC even gets on it,
Like if you take the rap off and just listen,
it's still shit happen and the shit is going. It
(33:54):
ain't just like a full ball phrase that I'm just
dropping the snare, dropping the drum, adding the high ass
and doing the one on a four drop.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
It ain't that. It's a lot going on in that motherfucker.
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (34:06):
That For me, it's my thoughts when you're actually like
what impresses me?
Speaker 3 (34:12):
When I'm able to do that? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Got it for me?
Speaker 3 (34:17):
I'll say that.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I know you're always tired of cats asking you like,
if you were to pare down WU Tank Forever to
a single album, would you be able to for me,
Deadly Medley, I want to redo that joint because that,
to me is one of the heaviest.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
I don't know that was a crazy That was the realue.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
That makes me want to cardrack a garbage truck and
just ram it in a wall like uh see, now
you see.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
So I'm glad you respond to stuff like that. To
some stuff is for the aggression. It's straight up for
fuck that.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
We kicking and that's that's my walking music in the
morning when I do my five thousand steps in the morning.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Nellie Medley is on that mixes. It just makes you
walk different.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Man, that's crazy. That's what you know what I like
on that album? Hm, that was a walk that we
called bum. Yes, the track like that.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
I like the track like that because once again, if
you don't have the lyrics, it's telling you a story.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Look now now that you open up that record, I
gotta ask you, man, first of all, let me finish
my my other four Stroke of Death on on ghost
Space record with the backwards record.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Shit.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Oh god, yo, almost now I literally almost crashed my
car that ship.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Like you know, I just like I said, that's that
was a question. But it's like, Yo, it's like remember
remember I don't I know you remember this? Look sometimes
at the block party mm hm, the DJ throw something on.
Did somebody get punched in the fence? That's how hip
(36:13):
hop was, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (36:15):
For this podcast, A lot of those that have been
privy to going to Latin Quarter would tell me that
when Steti Sonics Stetsa comes on.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Exactly that man, Yo, run.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Run, exactly.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
My third joint, probably my all time favorite Wu Tang
cannon song is the stomp by ODB.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
To this day, like.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
He started the foundation of that beat though he so
so od B he bought that beat to me.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
I got him an as r.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
He made four beats in his life, okay, right, or
four that he played me, and this was one of them,
you know what I'm saying. And I was like, all right,
and all I think was after beats and you know,
a few sounds for it.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
But that groove too too.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
Toomoom doom, the brother got the bad I put that
little thing in there that's to add to it, but
that was the total groove. It's total rhythm and Brooklyn's
do as well. People don't give od B the credit
for that either. To Mask get most of the credit,
and I get it some credit for it too, But no,
(37:31):
od b Uh, he only made a few beats, even
though he was a human beat box.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
He could have made a hundred beats, but he just
he was the equipment, you know what I mean. And
ship but that's one of them. So man, I'm glad
to hear that.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
That's one to get my last one, and again it's
only because when we were living in London, broke, hungry,
borderline depressed, we have a way different relations and shit
with Ta Cal than you did.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Like and I know Metha always says like I hate
that album, but that album kept our sanity.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Like we were living in London at the time when
just like all you had there was no internet, no streaming,
so you were forced to listen to against your will
like I'm a scatman and like just all of whatever.
It was on pop radio at the time, so we
just always kept but Plo style on to Cal was like.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
That was you know what, actually, you know, it's weird.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
There was one time, I'll say like maybe around ninety
four ninety five we were basically pick a Western European
country and stay there for a month and just hit
every city, every club and whatnot. There was one time
when we played in the south of France, and this
(39:02):
is how sneaky pre internet life was.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
There was a.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Crew in France that basically committed the entire to Cal,
the entire built for Cuba links and the entire.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Returned to the thirty six Chambers.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
And we sat backstage, We're like, yo, these motherfuckers are
actually doing.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
The whole entire.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Thirty album from starting to fit as if it was
their joints, Like I know these lyrics from somewhere, and
you know they use other instrumentals and try, but the
audience didn't know any better. I mean, two of your
most eccentric creations I'm obsessed with.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
First one, how did black Shampoo come to be?
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Fucking uh? I think that's the Coast well right.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
Right, So I think it was I think the machines,
but you you know, I knew the lyric. He had
the lyric, and so I was like, fuck it, let
him loose on it. It was definitely very It was that,
to be honest with you, it was black Shampoo. And
there's another one that wasn't on the American album called sun.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Shower Wait, sun Showered from wait that ghost released?
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Or no, no, not the Sun with slip Wick and
all that.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Okay, no, no, no, I'm talking about son Showers the Power.
Speaker 4 (40:31):
Nope, because there's a ghost version of Okay, it's one.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
It's one. It was on a Who Tank Forever album,
but only on the European version.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
Okay, I don't understand that in Black Shampool were tour
of the last tracks, and it was kind of at
the time, I think I was really falling into Bobby
Digital creatively.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (40:53):
You know that we recorded Whutank Forever and the Grave
Digger second album at the same time.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
You know that I didn't know that you did it, Okay.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
I had everybody live in La well for at least
two months, music ping pon, but we had to stay
at la for two months. Grave Diggers came out, We
had an American studio, had the whole shit locked down. I
was just going to room the room making both albums,
you know what I mean, So I think, and then
at the end of the day, Bobby Isel was coming.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
So I think that.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
I started like stop sampling and started playing all of
the machines and black wool as a result.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Of that, and you got a lyric, you know, some
baby oil shit. You know we got it, Okay.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Yeah, I was gonna say in your second most eccentric
beat that I'm obsessed with how many people ask you
about the Guitar Center commercial.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
Oh shit, you don't.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Understand, yo, there's an obsession with trying to figure out
like it's so wild and crazy.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
I don't remember it told me, but I don't.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
I knew you weren't aware of it.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
There is an underground society of beat makers that like,
I'm trying to get my boys Jroe Elliott right now,
who's in the roots to like flip it like you
you remember you doing a demonstration beat.
Speaker 4 (42:10):
Up on the spot of some shit on that on
the spot, right. I remember Dallas Foston had made this
machine called the beat Thing. Right. It was the first
machine that I saw that had a battery power for
two three hours, meaning you can make the beats on the.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Plane on the plane and exactly right.
Speaker 4 (42:30):
And so you know I bought it, yes for that.
I never released a song from it or nothing. But
it's just like I'm on a plane. I'm not wasting
just messing around, right, I get it. And then that
Good Talk Center, I remember him talking.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
I said, you gotta bother that shit was just this
ship and you can just do this ship. Yeah, but
I don't remember the beat at all.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Bruh.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
There's a whole underground society trying to figure out because you.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
Know, the crazier your beats are.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
It's like we just sit and try to analyze that ship,
like try to figure it out.
Speaker 3 (43:03):
But even if it's ugly appreciated.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
No, when it's ugly and stinking and unorthodox, it's even
better for me. You know, I don't consider like a
good song bat song.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
It's just like Thomas doing the dog.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yes, absolutely, of the many disciples that also like co
produce what you who's the disciple of your arsenal of
or your generals of producers that you've worked with that
later went to, you know, Helm for the projects, not
like which which ones?
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Do you feel like? Really?
Speaker 2 (43:41):
I mean, I'm not trying to make it play favorite
so I.
Speaker 4 (43:45):
Can pay those bumpers down a little bit from you know,
from the avid seat. Look, first of all, I think
fourth had the most potential. Let me say something my
fault disciples, you know for those times. I don't know
how as Tom shaid, but during that time period he
didn't have a lot of records. He made his collection
of beats and songs almost from one crate.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
Okay, you know what I mean. This one crate that
he had.
Speaker 4 (44:12):
Contained one hundred tracks for him mayor sample Love Story
four or five, maybe even ten times for his catalog.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
You see what I mean?
Speaker 4 (44:23):
Because of really the way he did it, the pieces
that excited him or the rendition of the version of
that song, you know what I mean. So I think
he was very special, but yet you don't have a
lot of material. True Master, I think, who was already
making beats and you know he was hanging with us,
(44:44):
hanging with Premier, you know, introduced us to Premier.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
You know, I knew Keep before that.
Speaker 4 (44:49):
But but True Master, I think if you listen to
True Master tracks, he's I think he's the most consistent
at staying at a sound, right, he stays at that.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
He did fish I think, Yeah, I know he did
fish on on on Goosie Joint.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
You've been warned.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
And he did a Brooklyn Zoo too correct, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
Exactly got it.
Speaker 4 (45:12):
So I'm saying, so he's consistent with like it's going
to be hip hop, it's going to sound like they
ain't going to sound too far fetched on the left,
you know what I mean. But then the brother who
I think put the most time into it is the
fifth the last people who was Mathematics.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
You know, he he he came in late, but he
never stopped.
Speaker 4 (45:33):
He's still you know, you know, right now math has
dropped some ship on you right now, and it's like, yo,
you know, true Mass has sent me a few tracks
recently and for something he wanted me to, you know,
help him with and and you know it sounds like
I said, he's consistent. But Math Math can make a
stacks album with musicians and make it sound like a.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
Wu Tang thing.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
I believe.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
He said in an interview that trailing Quentin Tarantino for
Kill Bill prepared you for your your directing debut, Man
with the Iron Fists. What's it like to work with
Eli Roth? Because I only know Eli Roth because he
makes one of the most disturbing, uh you know, heart
(46:15):
afflicts of all time.
Speaker 4 (46:17):
So well, first of all, in Man with the Iron Fist,
Man Eli, we laughed because I vote the first draft myself.
But I was still you know, at the at the
I won't say novice level. I was at the intermediate level.
I wasn't good enough to really write a whole movie.
I was getting there, you know, for so let's just
(46:39):
say this was my college sheet.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
But I needed help.
Speaker 4 (46:42):
And Eli, you know, used to always be at Clinton House.
You know, we watched a lot of movies together. I
considered him a classmate. It's like four of us, you know,
like maybe Edgar rider be up.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
There, you know what I mean. So he, you know, helped.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
Me finish, help me write now with the Iron Fist,
And because I got it written, I was ready to
direct it. But the funny thing is, as a writer
and we did the film, it was like some of
the stuff that is glory, like he'll I say, they're
gonna blame him for it and mail Guyan fans like
they chopped his arms off all that ship. No that me,
And then some of the stuff that was actually funny
(47:20):
and soft it was him, which is interesting because exactly
it doesn't make no right Exactly. Funny thing is, you know,
don't forget I'm a grave.
Speaker 3 (47:30):
I got you. But the thing you studying with Quinn
was a blessing. That's got to say that.
Speaker 4 (47:35):
You know a lot of people got to go to college,
uh and get there and get their education.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
I was blessed to get it through.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
I'm gonna just use this world as a definition of it.
Do apprenticeship, you know what I mean. I was willing
to sit beside great masters, you know, every every time
I acted in the film, like you know, when I
was an American gangster, I'm sitting beside really Scott y know,
and being the resid helps, you know what I mean,
meaning like I'm not some bomb some barrel they like,
you know what I mean, Right, I traveled well, you know,
(48:02):
not to use money here by my multimillionaires, so it's
not like I need anything, right, So so yeah, I
could beat you in Italy, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (48:10):
We could talk about it.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
So what was camp Quinton like?
Speaker 2 (48:14):
Because for me, one of the things I'd like to
do the most if I ever have free time.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
I love going to his two movie theaters.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
I always go to New Beverly Nice, like I'm always,
I'm always because his collection is just the illness as
far as but I know that studying under him, and
he's so like he likes the energy of creative people.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
Like what was the whole process like with kill Bill?
How do they call you?
Speaker 4 (48:41):
And well, like you said, his movie theaters before his
movie theaters, it was his house, right, all those friends
he would show him at his home and invite his
friends over, you know what I mean. And I was
amongst those friends. And then I was, you know, grave
enough or humble enough to be like, yo, can you
(49:01):
teach me?
Speaker 3 (49:02):
You know? I want to learn?
Speaker 4 (49:03):
And him also he doesn't know how to use music equipment,
but he's a very musical guy. He could have been
a music producer based on him here, you know what
I mean. So he was like, okay, share you share
that knowledge, and so we shared knowledge with each other
and sportship, friendship and spent a lot of time together.
But the time is. If you want to make movies,
then watch movies. If you want to write books, then
(49:25):
read books. Or to write a movie, then study scripts.
I bought fifty scripts just to read them. I'm like,
I'm reading Breakfast the Tiffany's you know what I mean,
I'm reading the Breakfast Club. Fuck it, I'll read both
of them, right because these are successful scripts, you know
what I mean. And then at the end of the day, though,
I also get to you know, like before kill Bill
(49:47):
was finished, you know, he read it to me parts
of it, and then when it was finished, he gave
me a copy, you know what I mean. You know,
Django I was writing now Nangas while he was writing Changos.
He was on page forty. I was on page ninety.
So I was blessed. And Eli's well, you know what
I mean. It was it was you know that crew,
Elvis Mitchell, you know, a certain crew with people and
(50:09):
all that knowledge, and me I was sponging the knowledge,
like I was.
Speaker 3 (50:14):
I was allowing the knowledge to sponge on me.
Speaker 4 (50:16):
Take it and a doorbit, uh, and then just give
you one idea of how something like how a day
would go.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
It was like, yeah, I got I'm doing a double
feature tonight. You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (50:27):
It could be uh, Paul Mazerke's film, right, fucking you
know what I mean, Chris Christofferson's fucking four films, or
something like we're gonna do Convoy and maybe casting over
whom one of his joints, right, And so I'm like cool,
and and so we go.
Speaker 3 (50:45):
And watch them.
Speaker 4 (50:46):
You know, we've watched so many films that Quinn was
such a film cinephile, right, Yeah, that he had thirty
five million points, so you watch it in the big
that's one thing.
Speaker 3 (50:56):
But then he had sixteen milliplints. So now that means
you got to watch it.
Speaker 4 (50:59):
In the living room, right, what it's for in the morning?
Speaker 3 (51:03):
Now? Who tapped out? Who made it? For the next one?
Speaker 4 (51:07):
Me, I'm you know, we hire pot that's studio time.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
Plus I got to go I can go to six
in the morning, and then he.
Speaker 4 (51:15):
Have all the books and that that he allowed access to,
like yeah, we want to take a book, the book whatever,
you know what I mean, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
Yeah, like that to me is that's the dream, like
for real, like I love old archives and movies like
i'm I'm I was.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
I was so envious that you had access to that.
Speaker 3 (51:38):
Man.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
That's that's I.
Speaker 4 (51:39):
Would say something about them real quick too, so people would,
you know, just for sometimes people like he says this
world and this movies a lot and all that, and
it's like this hospitality. It's like, you know, my brother freedom,
my younger brother. You know, there's some time and all that.
You know, even if I wasn't in town and Quentin
(51:59):
was showing movie, you'll let my brother come and watch
it with him and give him room to spend the night.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
And freedom is straight up. And it's just like.
Speaker 4 (52:07):
When you family, you family, and if you know. And
that's so he was the godfather, you know what I mean.
It was he was the abbat of film for me,
you know what I mean. And I would come with
my peoples and he always had supreme hospitality and and
also always would give us a little bit of wisdom.
You know. Remember one day one of my man's that
got murdered this and this was the night that we
(52:29):
had a plan to do something together and I was
gonna you know, I came because I said I'll be there.
So I got there, I said, I'm actually don't I
don't want to go. I got you know, I got
a problem I gotta deal with. So what you're talking about?
Hold on, hold on. We planning this ship like a
month ago, right, So I'm like, yeah, so hold on,
let me make your margarita to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
And I sold. So we talked about the problem, like yeah,
my man that and so you.
Speaker 4 (52:52):
Know, maybe I don't know, right, bum bong right, yeah,
and also deal with some things, right, he said, Bobby,
lets plain style to you. Said, you gotta understand. You said,
you're up here, right, and there's not a lot of
people from your community, from your generation, from your culture
that's up here.
Speaker 3 (53:13):
Say you're up here just so that you can reach
down and pour somebody else up. That's why you're here,
so you can.
Speaker 4 (53:20):
Always be able to reach down and pour somebody up
if you ever go down. There's nobody up here that
can reach down you know what I mean, So keep
moving up here.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
That's kind of what I want to close with.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
You know, I've been studying you and this is kind
of what I brought up the last episode for you personally.
And I feel like there's a few of us that,
you know, when we make it, there is a survivor's
guilt that sort of overshadows us a little bit. How
(53:55):
do you deal with the idea of survivor's guilt or
the idea of like, not everyone can come with you
that sometimes you have to save yourself, put your own
oxyg your mask on first before you can help other people.
Speaker 4 (54:11):
At the end of the day, I do help, right,
I continue, you know, you know, that's just what we
we gotta do that because that's that's part of our blessing.
Right at minimum that just use the Bible on this one.
At minimum you got ten percent times, you know what
I mean. So at minimum, you know, so I start
to compartmentalize it. You know, I have my wife, you know,
(54:35):
has a good head on her shoulder, and I have
my older sister, and sometimes we'll choose who to help.
Who've been helped five times already? All right, that's the
fifth time let them go, you know what I mean.
But we all here to help believe that and know that, right.
And the blessing though I hope, I hope you feel
the same, is that sometimes you do go out to
(54:56):
the world and you see, you know, whether it's homeless people.
Speaker 1 (55:01):
You know.
Speaker 4 (55:01):
I remember lying with Jay one day and we got
to a light and he stopped the car, your old
stop stop stop and going down this windows just pulled
out to under his getting some homeless that all right, go,
you know what I mean? And yeah, I do the
same shit. That's what that's why it's my man and whatever.
But it's like I've seen the natural I've seen goes
(55:21):
through the same thing. Right, It's that's how we are,
That's how. But the beauty of it is that because
we deal with hopefully we deal with all the stress
and the and the obligatory thing of helping others, uh,
the pressure of family needing help a lot and not
never satisfied. Because you may help them five times, they
(55:44):
won ten times, right, But then you're still able to
go home to your peace. If I wasn't able to
go home, you know what I mean, Like if I
go back to East and I go to the Woo mansion.
Speaker 3 (55:57):
That ship is in the woods. Bro it's quiet, So
I go back to that temple. Then I'm able to.
Speaker 4 (56:02):
Calm my shit down, reevaluate, and go back out again.
So the best way I can say that is that
you gotta be able to plug them back into yourself right.
And then the last thing I say is that at
this age, I realize that really helping people with don't
mean giving them no money. You that's the person that
(56:22):
they want, you know what I mean? That's not what
they need, you know what I mean? The money, it's
almost like it's like food, You're gonna eat it and
ship it out.
Speaker 3 (56:33):
They need to know how to fast. They need to
know something else.
Speaker 4 (56:37):
And at this age, I've been doing that more, you know,
like striving into like okay, here, I'm.
Speaker 3 (56:44):
Gonna give them a little blessing.
Speaker 1 (56:46):
But now help people now now I got to.
Speaker 3 (56:48):
Now let me hit them with this.
Speaker 4 (56:50):
And if they don't take this after I gave them this,
then that means they don't want me. They want this,
and they go better go find that someone else. Because money, money, uh,
money is something that you bless your family with.
Speaker 3 (57:04):
But I will say this too. Money is something that
is earned.
Speaker 4 (57:10):
Man. It's it's something that is earned. If you don't
earn it, you know what I mean, you will never
know the value of it.
Speaker 1 (57:18):
There it is, brother, Thank you, brother, thank you. I
appreciate you. This is Quest Love Supreme, our our Part
two conversation with Ariza uh Man of Renaissance.
Speaker 2 (57:29):
And you know, I'm not even going to ask you
what do you have next down the pipe because I
know You're always going to have something.
Speaker 1 (57:36):
Down the pipe.
Speaker 2 (57:36):
But thank you man for for just years of blessing
us and inspiring us.
Speaker 1 (57:42):
Man, I appreciate that. Thank you for coming on Quest
Love Supreme.
Speaker 3 (57:44):
Man, Thank you Questions Base.
Speaker 2 (57:49):
Thank you for listening to Quest Love Supreme. Hosted by
a Mere Quest Loft Thompson, Are you Saying Clear? Sugar,
Steve Mandell An unpaid, Bill Sherman. The executive producers are
Amira quest Love, Thompson, Sean Ge and Brian Calhoun. Produced
by Brittany Benjamin Cousin, Jake Payne, Eliah Sainclair, edited by
(58:15):
Alex Conroy.
Speaker 1 (58:17):
Produced by iHeart by Noel Brown. West Love 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 shows.
Hosts And Creators
Questlove
Laiya St. Clair
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