August 2, 2023 • 57 mins
Questlove Supreme is celebrating 50 years of Hip-Hop with a month of special programming. The celebration begins with Detroit legends Slum Village. In Part 1, T3 and Young RJ discuss the city's unique history and how it shaped the formation of SV. T3 recalls how he, J Dilla, and Baatin dissed one another throughout their acclaimed Fantastic debut and explains how Q-Tip helped the group, then gave them some other attention.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. I'm in
the hair salon now, y'all.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
So there we go.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode, a
very detroit episode, yes.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Of Quest Love Supree.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
If you're if you're watching our never ending soft ones
on YouTube, then you know you know why this is
a very detroit episode. If you're just listening, I ain't
describing nothing to y'all. Right now, we got Team Supreme
in the house.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Fanticlo, bro, what man, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
We're been waiting on this one for a minute, man,
We've we've.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Been waiting for this one for a minute.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Yeah, man, Little Brother, we were honored recently in our
city in Durham with a proclamation from the mayor and
you know, so it was we're celebrating not twenty of
the year as well as Hip Hops fifty year of course.
And you know there would be no Little Brother without
the group that we have on today.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So exactly, exactly a dream come true. And I've been
waiting on this in four minute.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Sugar Steve, whateup, bro? What up? Everybody?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
How you doing?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Actually I should say what up? Though? Sugar Steve how's
it going.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Everything's good. I'm a couple of our albums have caught
fire on our record label. So but now I got
to spend my whole day shipping fucking records all over
the world.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So that's that's a good problem to have.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Man, you had a dream of your own label, and
it's happening, and you know that's amazing. Speaking of of
albums that have set the world and movements on fire,
I will say that the totality the higher legacy of
our guest today just ring strong, and not only hip
(02:06):
hop culture, but in music and everything from their.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Production to their delivery, to their cadence.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
To be honest with you, just the love that they
have for their city of Detroit, the love that they
have for each other, for hip hop culture, for innovation,
for like doing something original. I guess you could say
that their chemistry is to me, like the most important
element that has kept the legacy of this group alive.
(02:39):
It's not about one specific member over another member. It's
about just the overall chemistry and the contributions that various
members have given this particular organization.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
And you know, me myself, nothing will ever ever.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Ever, I don't know It's like once you get in
this end industry, you kind of see things different from
a production standpoint, from a creative standpoint, Like there's a
part of your life where music means something to you
before you get in the industry, and then there's a
part of your life when once you're in the industry,
you see things.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Different, like you see everyone as a peer.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And I don't know when anything that this group has created,
I don't know. I just I hold it like the
holy scriptures coming from Moses.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
I can go on with a gazillion descriptions about how
important the legacy of this group is, especially on hip
hop's fiftieth anniversary, but you know we're going to get
to just wrap. It was something we haven't done a
long time. Friends of the show, y'all welcome Slum Village
to Quest Love Supreme. I'm sorry that was like a
(03:53):
lifetime achievement, right I should have been through VT wars
this week. I don't know, you know, RJ, Rice and
and and T three. Thank you man, Thank you for coming.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
What's the word man? Appreciate you having us.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Thank you r J. Where are you right now.
Speaker 7 (04:13):
In the studio. We're finishing up this album.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Okay, so you're you're still Detroit right now, Dylan Detroit,
all right? And T three you the same.
Speaker 7 (04:22):
Yeah, I'm in Detroit at crib.
Speaker 8 (04:26):
I'm just happy to be here, man, and you know,
happy to be a part of this wonderful show.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Thank you. Wait, I gotta ask, y'all.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
You know, I absolutely positively never miss an opportunity to
talk out how important the city of Detroit was to
my creativity. I mean, you know, in addition to just
interacting with you guys, and you know, even for about
ten for for for Dyla, anyone, I mean, even illegic
(04:58):
like whoever has come from the city Detroit. But a
lot of my creativity, like a lot of the music
I worked on, I technically did in that city. That's
important to me. And you know, so I feel like
I have a relationship with the city as well that
was instrumental, like between ninety seven and around like two
thousand and six. Uh, and even like when I tore
(05:22):
like I know places by heart, I go by myself.
Detroit's a little bit different now, like from what I'd
known it as twenty five years ago, Like just as
residents of the city, how do you guys feel about
what's happening in Detroit?
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Like is it progress?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Like things are just different now, like former firehouses are
now like five star hotels and.
Speaker 6 (05:46):
We rebuild it, you know, okay, And it's a good
look for the city. You know, it was desolate and
bleak for so long. You know that now we're finally
getting you know what I'm saying, that downtown back how
it's supposed to be. We finally getting the neighbor that
was run down. You know, they're tearing them down and rebuilding.
So you know, it's it's good for the city, you
know what I'm saying. And I'm happy to see it.
Speaker 7 (06:08):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
Make people want to stay in Detroit, you know what
I'm saying, not ready to get up out of here
and go somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Right, So the temptation has never been strong to be like,
all right, well, let's relocate to Atlanta or like go
down South or anything.
Speaker 7 (06:22):
Nah nah, not for.
Speaker 8 (06:24):
Me, no, no, no, no, no, no, not for us,
because you know what, it's just the vibe, you know,
we like and you could be for yourself, you could
be you could be bothered or not bothered. It's a
choice you make, and I think I think that's something
we like, you know, you know us, we kind of
stick to ourselves.
Speaker 7 (06:44):
So uh yeah, Detroit is a plus for that, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
You know, oftentimes, like all right, take it. Take a city,
a musical city like Austin. Austin takes a pride in
its weirdness. For me, though, like the black version of
what I see all in terms of I've just never
seen a city so open. And once I realized that,
you know, you guys were raised on the Electrified Mojo
(07:11):
and if you know you guys listening, go on YouTube
and just start listening to Electrifying Mojo, you got to
realize that this dude was basically one of the last
of the Mohicans in terms of there was a time
when radio really trusted its DJs to do whatever they
(07:31):
wanted to do. You know, now like you kind of are,
you're a prisoner of corporate radio in which the the
playlists are like predetermined before you even you know, like
September's playlist has already been determined for you. So whereas
a guy like Electrified Mojo back in the early eighties
was like just playing some of the weirdest music ever.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
And so.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
You know, once his listeners are growing up in immersed
in this music, it's it's like, no wonder Detroit is
such a creative hub where people just think different. Is
that weirdness still prevalent in Detroit right now as we speak, or.
Speaker 7 (08:15):
I think it's still happening.
Speaker 8 (08:17):
I think a lot of a lot of the people
that are the younger people that are kind of weird,
they came up after they came up on us. I
get a lot of that from people like Curtis Roach
and a couple of other camps from Detroit. But then
you know, Dray has a whole another side, which is
is hood, you know, from these creative people, suges hood,
(08:42):
you know what I'm saying. And then then you got
the creative hood, which is kind of a merge of both,
which is like the side of baby, you know, something
like that.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
So see, that's the thing.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I even though I think you guys in the very
beginning might have been slightly defensive towards how we saw y'all,
because you know, like the music was one way, but
you guys were saying something like crazy outlands ship on
top of it like, y'all justicehood and creative.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But I don't know what The.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
First time I came from Detroit, I'm like, yo, this
this is like a city that will listen to Thomas
Dolby and do the Carlton but they're also going to
beat your ass if you fuck with him, like and
that's the ship I couldn't.
Speaker 7 (09:29):
Right, Yeah, I mean, because you know he's always been
a collected Uh. We always been uh.
Speaker 8 (09:35):
I mean we grew up on Tribe and NWA at
the same It wasn't either or it wasn't rock jazz.
It was any music that we can find creatively, we there,
and then we grew up on techno, which is totally
something else, you know in itself.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Thing that's key.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I think you guys embracing electronic music and techno is
the key to why Detroit so crazy.
Speaker 7 (09:58):
Yes, yes, creatively, yes.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
See you had it at one point where they would
play all the hood stuff during the day, you know
what I'm saying, the commercial stuff. Then at nighttime when
people going to the clubs, was like all techno, you
know what I'm saying. Stuff like that, So our prime
time getting ready for the party was techno music. So
you know, we had the opportunity that had that balance,
(10:22):
you know what I'm saying, Like T was saying.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Can you take us back to the beginning to where
like if I'm looking, I guess in archaeology terms, like
if I'm looking for the spark, you know, the sticks
and students that like built the spark, where does the
actual where does this story of slum village begin?
Speaker 8 (10:44):
I would say it began in Persian High School where
we were.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (10:51):
The school, uh, you know, Persian High School, which is
this because when I was coming up to be a rapper,
you know, it was weird that was considered weird to
be a rapper, you know what I'm saying, Because it's
just so like even though it was a few rappers,
hood rappers that was out there, but what we was
on we was extra loe as extra you know, so
(11:15):
we were walking around you know, extra close, extra, you know, dreadlocks.
You know, we we were very were out there you
know early, you know, you know you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7 (11:28):
So when I.
Speaker 8 (11:29):
Heard about other guys that were like me, I was like,
oh okay, now we got a squad.
Speaker 7 (11:35):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (11:36):
So now that you know, I ran into Dyla because
I heard about him through this guy, through that guy
heard about by ten and then was and it just
all clicked up.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
So it was it wasn't a neighborhood thing, like they
weren't your next door neighbors, like you heard about them
from the other side of town or.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
I mean we're in the same neighborhood, believe it or not.
Speaker 8 (11:55):
But I did not know that, which is like I mean,
in Detroit, you're not gonna come outside your house and
just walk around and you know, you know what I'm saying,
So you going to your house, you know what I'm saying,
to your destination of back because you don't want no static,
you don't want nothing to happen, So you just going
to where you go.
Speaker 7 (12:13):
So I even though we closed it, we all in
KNA Guardens, it was just.
Speaker 8 (12:17):
Like different random parts like and had them everyone for school,
you know.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
So r J Yo actually our listeners out there should
know that. I mean, you come from a lineage of
you know, Detroit hip hop, being as though you know
your father is you know, the legendary RJ of RJ's
latest arrival, Like I grew up listening to Shackles.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Heavy in your Arms is the one for me?
Speaker 4 (12:47):
That's the one, Like, yeah, exactly my rotation right now,
still on my spot.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
So can you talk about just growing up as sort
of like lineage of Detroit culture? Like what is your
childhood like with your parents that are popping, Like, you know,
I have them on Soul Training, I have them on
you know what I mean? Like they were national, they
were always played on radio. So what was it like
just growing up in that environment?
Speaker 6 (13:13):
I grew up on the road, So between them touring
and stuff, you know, like I was like out on
a Fresh Fest and you know, stuff like that with
them as a kid with fat Boys and run DMC
and all of that.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
So that's kind of how I grew up.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
So were there Jermaine sightings as well?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Because I thought Jermaine was the only kid that was
like allowed in the press fest.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Did you get to see him at all? Like nah?
Speaker 6 (13:39):
Because remember I'm I'm I'm ten years younger than Tea,
ok So I was like two, okay, three years old,
So Jamine dupri was like eleven twelve, Okay, I get it. Yeah,
So between that and then you know, when they would
be on the road. When I got to a certain age,
(13:59):
I would be my grandmother and my grandmother stayed in
Coney Gardens because that's where my father grew up at.
So that's how all of everybody kind of came together.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Y'all describe Cooney Gardens like we I know it as
a song, But what is the neighborhood of kinder Gartens.
Speaker 8 (14:20):
Uh, it's a hood, but it's not like you know
what I'm saying. It still got good people. It still
had a good batch of people there. It wasn't overly violent,
but it did have its hood aspects, you know what
I'm saying. We always had a nice park. I lived
right right across the street of a nice park. We
had a nice you know, place to play in whatever.
So I mean, you know, I don't know why. Uh,
(14:43):
you know, we had so much respect for And it's
the only neighborhood really in the hood where you see
where they got the actual the actual banner where it
says Coney Gardens, Like they named this hood. You know
what I'm saying. They really don't do that. It usually
be like East West that you know, whatever the the streeters,
but they actually named the whole neighborhood. So once we
(15:04):
saw that, you know, we just gravitated to it because
you know, we had found each other and you know,
in this awkward little place as.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Late children of the seventies and eighties, just in your
general childhood, how aware of you, guys, of the lineage
of Detroit, Like was living in Detroit just like to
you growing up in the early eighties, Like ah, man,
this town used to have something and then everyone left it,
(15:33):
like there's no more music left? Like that, was there
still a strong presence of the music lineage that the
world knows as like Detroit.
Speaker 8 (15:45):
I definitely say, yeah, man, I grew up on the
Motown sound. That's it was definitely part of my household,
part of everybody. Everybody was still very proud of that.
Even though Motown had left went to Cali, you know
what I'm saying, we were still very proud of that.
We still had the Motown Museum, we still had you know,
we're still proud of all the musicians that came through.
So that was the definite just soul music in general.
(16:08):
We was we all grew up on that. That was
definitely part of our you know, our our bringing up.
Speaker 7 (16:14):
You know what I would saying.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
I want to ask y'all man specifically when you're talking
about tech No earlier New Dance Show and the scene,
break that down, like, what what.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Did that mean to to Detroit culture?
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Uh?
Speaker 7 (16:27):
That was everything.
Speaker 8 (16:29):
Everybody used to run in the house and tune in
our version of soul trained.
Speaker 7 (16:34):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (16:35):
When you see answers who became popular in the neighborhood
for showing up and and and also it broke a
lot of rappers too, a lot of up and coming
rappers they got a chance to perform on that. So
the New Dance Show was everything for us. My wife
worked at the museum now for the for the New
Dance Show, So it's it's still a part of my
(16:56):
life today, you know what I mean? Yeah, man, it's
it's inspired us in many ways.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I will say that the scene, you know, if you
to our listeners out there, if you've not watched it,
just to describe it. Like most most territories parts of
the United States would have their local dance show. Detroit
had the scene. I know, Chicago had a show that
was more geared to stepping. Okay, Philadelphia we had our
(17:22):
show called Dancing on air, which found some success and
actually became national known as Dance Party USA. And that's
where like Kelly Rippa used to dance on the show whatever.
But oh wow, a lot of local eyes back when
dances were regional. You know, how they danced in Detroit
is not how they were dancing in Texas. And you know,
(17:44):
you you would only know when you were like visit
cousins in the summertime, like what kind of dance is that?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Or whatever?
Speaker 3 (17:50):
So like for Detroit and dancing, do you guys know
the history of the Earl Flynn? Like what is it
about there? And there's the Earl Flynn still a Detroit
move or is that just like one specific generation even
your history were dancing? Like I know and and by
(18:11):
Ten's version of Pregnant on the first Slim Village album,
it's an interlude where he's rhyming over the Roger loop, right,
you know, it's only like forty five seconds, but he
literally I read the lyrics and basically he's saying that
I came to a jit, like I came to a
party to show.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Them how I dance and they looking at me like
I'm a weirdo. And you know.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
Digit is a Detroit dance kind of like Chicago got footwork,
you know what I'm saying, Detroit has its own version,
you know what I'm saying, a little more technical than
the footwork. And that's what he was talking about. He said,
when I walk in there doing my jit, they looking
at me crazy, you know what I'm saying, because he
jitting and he got dreadlocks, you know what I'm saying.
(18:56):
So jitting was like a cultural thing here, I'm saying,
like everybody did it for the most part, So that's
kind of.
Speaker 7 (19:05):
How it worked.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Earl Flynn was like, if I ain't mistaken to you,
that wasn't that like the gang.
Speaker 7 (19:11):
Earl Flynn, he cain't called the Earl Flynns. And that
was they move that they used to do to List,
That's where it came from. Yes, that's where it came from.
It was a gang.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
So answer me this.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Around the Parade album period, you know, I would routinely
like Prince's relationship with Detroit is just on some other level.
Even when I would go back to old album credits
at least like from Controversy nineteen ninety nine, Purple Rain
and whatever. I mean, I didn't even realize that Prince
(19:44):
was Princess love for Detroit, like all this Detroit shoutouts
start with what up though, you know? And I'm like,
Prince knows to speak? Like what does Prince know? And
if you watch like concerts in eighty six, assuming that
this is the earl Finn like where you wave your
arms back and forth, Prince was routinely So that was
(20:06):
Prince's version of doing.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
The brother spilll a certain way like that or like no.
Speaker 8 (20:14):
They have overwhelming love for him. See you gotta think,
like you said, go back to the uh to the mojo.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
Mojo broke Prince.
Speaker 8 (20:23):
He would play a whole Prince album on you know,
you know what I'm saying sometimes even with the curse words.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And yeah, that was like how does that happen?
Speaker 8 (20:34):
And Prince call him. He would pick up the phone
and call him and thank him. So they developed a relationship,
you know what I'm saying, And they became really close.
So he helped he helped Prince break in Detroit, man,
So you know, they they became great friends man.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
You know.
Speaker 7 (20:53):
So it's it's just.
Speaker 8 (20:53):
A dope that had that Prince incorporated so much detroited there. Yeah,
it was incredible.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah, when the Roots first visited. Detroit was the second
American city that we visited when we first started touring,
and the place that they took us was a spot
called the Hip Hop Shop, Okay, which I mean by
that point, Mari's Malone. You know, hip hop fashions were
(21:20):
starting in ninety four ninety five starting to become a
little national. It wasn't just localized, but was the Hip
Hop Shop sort of just like a localized hub for
NMC back in the early nineties or like, how talk
to me about the relationship of that establishment.
Speaker 8 (21:42):
Well, we had a few establishments, but that was one
of the main ones, and that was the one that
really you know, had the breakout artists, you know what
I'm saying. That's where Royce, Eminem and D twelve L
and just everybody was at this spot.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
So this was the spot for MC's.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
You go there.
Speaker 7 (22:03):
It was only on Saturdays. They sold closed during the week.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
Maurice made his own clothes and sold them and then
he let us have an open mic on on Saturdays.
It was hosted by Proof Recipes to Big Proof, and
you know what I'm saying, It was just it was
just something that we had some of the Illis battles
now swam Village. We didn't really battle, but we used
to like premiere songs and play certain joints and do
(22:28):
stuff like that. But it was it was some dope
battles there, you know. Em had a few battles there,
a bunch of people. So it was it was it.
Speaker 7 (22:35):
Was our spot.
Speaker 8 (22:36):
It was our only spot really at that time. We
had a couple of nighttime spots, but that was the time.
And it was in seven mile, which is kind of
scary if seven miles.
Speaker 7 (22:47):
It's like a.
Speaker 8 (22:48):
Martin Luther King Boulevard, you know, type of But at
that time, it was all up, you know what I'm saying.
Everybody went there. Did they think you had some guys
smoking weed in the car. You have some people drinking
their little beers and then going there and do their
hip hop, you know what I'm saying. And then it
was just a dope spot for us to do it.
So shout out to Marowice Malone for doing that. Man
(23:09):
setting that up.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
In your opinion, like, how how is hip hop translated
in terms of like Okay, so a song like Ain't
No Future in Your Front? Like was that just universally
accepted by the entire hip hop community or did you
know was it like, Okay, well, you guys are more
West Coast sounding, so you know that's y'alls thing, and
(23:31):
we're more East Coast sounding, so this is our thing.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
No, it was universal because we Detroit is like the
melting pot of every sound. We listened to Luke Intwo
Live Crew on the radio, we listened to Doctor dre
Snoop Dogg, we listened to Trot Twister, and they played
everything in Detroit. So it was just like a dope song.
(23:56):
Detroit just accepted it as a dope song. It wasn't
a out It sounded more Cali. It was just, you
know what I'm saying, represented the city as a whole.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Speaker on the first moment in which it's like, okay,
let's start a group. Now I know before it was
slum Village, that the name was sound.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Cinepon all right, doness backwards.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Okay, oh okay. So explained to me how like the
year that starts and the group in that formation, and that.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
Formation it started off like I said, I heard about
these cats.
Speaker 8 (24:39):
Number one, we was dancing tiam But speaking of dancing,
everybody in my crew dance too.
Speaker 7 (24:44):
By the way, you had to dance.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I can attest to this.
Speaker 7 (24:46):
Yes, you know what I'm saying, So everybody in the
crew dance.
Speaker 8 (24:50):
But anyway, I heard about some cats, I about Dyla
and this, and I heard about by ten. But first
it was like me and by ten and I got
with bout ten and why g first and we had
a group called hard to Pose, which one he did
two songs, but yeah, it was it was more West
Coast gangster sounding a little bit, but yeah, we had
those couple of songs. We did that, and then then
(25:13):
we heard about Dyla about the beats, and then while
she introduced me to that, then we decided to do
official cinepod stuff, which means we went to the studiou
Mold's studio, this Hood studio, and we recorded these couple
of records and one of the records had a Flip
Wilson sample in it, so it's very zany. It was
(25:37):
very element that is what you what you heard from
uh uh Centerpire. So the CENTERPID lineup was me, Uh,
why was uh by ten? Deyla QUD was this? Yeah,
QD was in this because that's when dancers was really
a part of it. And QD started off dancing first,
(25:58):
so he was a part of it.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
So you're saying that at this point, Ellmeness was kind
of all north Star.
Speaker 8 (26:04):
Yeah, never stop between them and uh organized early yes,
but definitely Ellen.
Speaker 7 (26:13):
S for sure.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (26:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (26:15):
So and so we made our couple of first records
on which was called rat a Tat tat the sound
of the Whack.
Speaker 7 (26:27):
And you know, we all doing a chance we do
it and uh, you get you know all that, you.
Speaker 8 (26:32):
Know all that because everybody was doing that at that time,
and uh and then we did a couple of records
that cinepop only that before we form Slan Village.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Sure their records, I.
Speaker 7 (26:43):
Said, only two records on two records literally to.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
No, no, no, I mean like physical like I can
find this on eBay records.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
Oh no, not physical records.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Okay, y'all just made something. I was about to say, man,
okay records back then, Like what was the sense of
making music?
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Like who was because you're naming a lot of NCA's
and a lot of beat makers, so like what was
what was the division of labor at least for that
particular project, Like.
Speaker 7 (27:13):
I think why j produced one and Dyla produced one.
Speaker 8 (27:17):
P The only did backgrounds and me ten Dila rapped
and U featured this one guy, this guy who was
who turned out to be an R and B singer,
I forget his name.
Speaker 7 (27:30):
Uh yeah, but yeah, I was like, all right, right, no,
I mean he underground. He didn't he didn't blow.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Up big, but he Okay, I see. And that configuration
lasted for how long? And then how did it morphed
into the second phase of the group, which I guess
is slum village.
Speaker 8 (27:50):
And it maybe lasts for a few months before everybody
decided at that time that you know, dancing was kind
of been getting played out a little bit, maybe maybe
a year. Maybe dancer was getting played obviously, we don't
really need to dance with no more. And Andy was
like Dyla's beast is incredible. I don't need to be
doing no beats no more. And then it was like, well,
(28:12):
we only people left, so it was basically there. So
we was in the basement one day and.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Did you know it was like when you're hearing this
stuff and I've heard even in the what we call
the camp, the camp amp Era shout out to amp Fiddler.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yeah, the camp Amp era of.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Dyla's musical development, Were you guys at all aware, like,
all right, this is a weird ass shit, Like I
live in a territory and still to this day, I
know that a part of my production has to appease
the need to please the barber shop in Tarik's head,
(28:58):
you know, whereas like sometimes I want to do some crazy,
off kilter shit, but then I'll give it to Tariqu
like he ain't gonna fuck with this because it's just
too weird sounded. But it's almost like like all those
I think the earliest song I heard from you guys
is was it here come the drums or bring the
drums or.
Speaker 7 (29:16):
Yeah, yeah, I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yes about the drips, which is crazy shit, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Even the early demos of the songs that wound up
on Fantastic were just super weird, Like how is there
no filter for especially coming from Detroit, which I imagine
you have to have a protective shell of hardness to
get respect. You guys were just like anything goes and
if it's weird, it's dope, Like, yes, this is true.
Speaker 8 (29:46):
I mean, I think, like I say, most of our
albums were based on comedy, so just us making each
other live is what we was really doing. So we
had dad, so we would you know, when we was
working our little factory jobs together, we basically laughing all day,
creating ideas using that for songs, just you know.
Speaker 7 (30:06):
So it just basically came out of humor and it
was enough.
Speaker 8 (30:09):
Of us where we felt like we could just stay
in our bubble and never be a part of the
real world almost, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7 (30:16):
So we were just in our bubble just period.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Like when you play it for your boys and there's
no cringing, like that's a demo fast forward, Like.
Speaker 7 (30:25):
All my boys was just as weird. So it was
just like we was all found each other.
Speaker 8 (30:30):
It was a good hundred of us eventually, but you
know what I'm saying, But the core was like a
good team. So yeah, we was all just as weird,
and they was like the weird of the best. Oh man,
it's you know what I'm saying, Because to us, hip
hop was all new. We didn't kind of grow up
on no structure like New York did when hip hop
was a certain type of way, and you know what
(30:51):
I'm saying, it was just whatever I creative you can get,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
And that's that's kind of what we incorporated for people
that so immersed pop culture? How are you getting this
stuff where? And from my first fifteen years of coming
to Detroit, there really wasn't nothing like I knew you guys,
So you guys were entertainment enough. But for the average person,
(31:17):
like what do you what was there for culture?
Speaker 8 (31:20):
Well?
Speaker 7 (31:21):
The cultures we're building this thing up, you know.
Speaker 8 (31:25):
You know what I'm saying from from stone by stone,
So you you saying, Okay, when Club Gillna started coming up,
we started building up our audience where we had.
Speaker 7 (31:34):
A literal following of people.
Speaker 8 (31:37):
At least we can we can get one hundred people
to come to our show, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7 (31:43):
And that's why when you hear when you hear the
Look of Love and you hear.
Speaker 8 (31:48):
You hear an audience singing it, that's just fans before
we even got it got on, you know what I'm saying,
because we had already pulled up a base. He's by piece,
you know what I'm saying. As far as the movie
it is, it was one theater in the hood that
you could go through called.
Speaker 7 (32:02):
A bel air.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
No, no, I didn't go there. I know about the
bel Air.
Speaker 8 (32:12):
I used to have to catch a bus to get
to it. But yeah, it's nice theater though, But yeah,
that's the spot. And I knew you was the movie
man because you know, we went to the movies one time.
We was on the road together somewhere.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, that's my thing. I was like, damn nothing, what
do y'all do up here?
Speaker 3 (32:29):
So all right, So the thing is is that when
Fantastic is finally coming to Fruition, so what's what's the
discussion in.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Terms of like, let's we we gotta make our own tape.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
And I heard there was a rumor that you guys
were initially about to sign to Ruben Rodriguez's Pendulum label.
Speaker 8 (32:54):
Yeah, that was that was the possibility, but that was
that was later though a little bit later now, But yeah,
I was.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Was earlier before because I think Pendsulum came out like
ninety two.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
Correct, Yeah, Pendulum is before volume uh Fantastic Volume one.
Speaker 7 (33:09):
That was way popsic. Yeah Sally, that was true. Okay, Yeah,
that's what happened. Well, we were signed to John Sally
and his Dad.
Speaker 8 (33:17):
They had a h they had a place called Hoops Studio, Okay,
and uh, basically they were gonna.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
Sign us they was was it was between us and
uh diggable planners.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Oh wow, oh wow, and y'all almost Yeah, this explains it.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
The thing is is that you guys sounds like when
I heard Fantastic, we were more amazed that like this
isn't it doesn't feel like a demo. This sounds it
sounds like this group has had experience before. Y'all sounded
like professional. Now Fantastic winds up in my hands in
like ninety six ninety seven, So even by ninety two,
(33:59):
you guys were at least set or poised to make
your grand rival or whatever. So yeah, now that makes sense.
Do you think you guys were ready for that back
then or no?
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Are you glad how how it turned out? Yes?
Speaker 8 (34:18):
Absolutely, because if we would have came out, we had
this song called is It the Magic? And it had
the upright base and it was it was everything you wanted,
a jazz slash.
Speaker 7 (34:32):
Rap it could be.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
It was all that.
Speaker 8 (34:34):
You know what I'm saying, Am Philip was on the planet.
Shout out to Phila always shown us love, Yeah, so
that was that was that record. No, I don't think
we was ready because we were still developing styles and
I just think.
Speaker 7 (34:49):
We weren't ready at that time. What do you think, Jay.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
Hey Man, Yeah, that's what I say. I think it
worked out exactly how it was supposed to.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
I was recently doing this radio show about the Milestone
Records label and McCoy tyner specifically, and the guy who
owned that label or and keep News said something to
the effect of when he first met McCoy, you know,
McCoy was like, you know, you gave me this one session,
(35:21):
then you never called me again until until later on.
And he said, well, back then, you weren't McCoy yet.
You weren't McCoy tyner yet, meaning you know, he hadn't
developed his unique style, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
He found his voice.
Speaker 5 (35:38):
So when when you all were starting out this time
period that we're talking about, was dilla dilla yet? Is
what I'm asking, like his earliest beats had he found
what we now know as what he did? The quest
could probably answer this question.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
I think I think as a as a listener, there
were already signs of what was coming in the future,
so sort of like and you know, I've gotten my
hands on a lot of these, like ninety two beats,
ninety three beats. Yeah, even for back then, that was
a really unorthodox thinking that.
Speaker 8 (36:15):
You know.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
I was like, wow, even early, like I'm pressed to
find something that I'm like that's not really whack, Like
you see that he was searching for it.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Of course he perfects it, but I don't know that's
that to me, Like coming out the gate, it was.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
An immediately like a jarring thing of like, this isn't
like how the hip hop I grew up sounding is
made so but it didn't sound like an amateur making.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
It sounded like someone doing it on purpose.
Speaker 5 (36:46):
Right, But you all recognized at that, even early on
that he was a special talent.
Speaker 7 (36:52):
Yes, when I heard its beat, I was like, this
is it. This is it.
Speaker 8 (36:56):
Early early, first of all, you think it just you
and your neighborhood, like, oh, he's just good for your neighborhood.
But then you started it started branching up. You're like,
wait a minute, this guy is really incredible and like
you know, like I said, he started off with just
a pause and Cassette took that was then went to
(37:17):
this and went to that learner. It was like, man,
I was amazed. I was just happy to be alone
for the ride. For the most part, before we even
got a chance to develop what slum village would come
to be.
Speaker 7 (37:28):
I was just looking at him like, how's this kid?
Who my age? Well, how's he doing? You know what
I'm saying. I'm looking right away the same age, you know.
You know know what I'm saying. And he was just
killing it.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
You know what I'm saying. What year were you born?
R Jay? Like, how old were you at the time
when this is happening?
Speaker 7 (37:46):
Ninety two?
Speaker 6 (37:47):
I'm about eight nine years old.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
So when you're first hearing this, does it hit you different?
I think as an adult, that hits me different simply
because you know, I knew what the lay of the
land was. For me, the lay of the land was
like what tribe was doing, and what Dayla was doing,
and what public enemy was doing, what Molly Mal was doing.
And so Dyla's arrival was more akin to that of
(38:12):
like Godzilla come to town, like wait, what the hell
is that over there? You know, that sort of thing.
But for you to come, you know, to be much younger,
It's not like you had an established lay of the
land of what once was like, oh, black and white television,
suddenly like and the Wizard of Ours, everything turns to color.
(38:32):
So for you though, like, how are you receiving this at.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
A young age, I knew it was dope because he
was producing for my kids group, so he was doing
some of our demos.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Oh wow, wait, really for sure? Tell me about this.
I didn't know this.
Speaker 6 (38:51):
I had a group called First It went from rich
Kids Kids you not. You know what I'm saying, And
it's always and he was and he was producing the
demos for us because of the studio. We was all signed,
so my proms had us signed. He had slum sign,
(39:13):
he had Paul Rosenberg, Eminem's manager, was signed to the label.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
And he was rhyming.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Yeah, he was rhyming.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
I need evidence.
Speaker 7 (39:24):
It was dope too, Paul Bullet. Yes, it's as Skinny Supreme.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Did you know this?
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, it's in Dan's book he talks about it.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
A little bit.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
No, no, I just never heard the music.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
I never heard the music, but I've heard the story.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Okay. Yeah, So it was all of us up there
and this Barack Recordings.
Speaker 6 (39:48):
No, this is hoo sounds. This is in ninety two
when he opened the studio with Sally. We would go
up there and I would see him. You know, I
come home from school and seeing the make beats in
my kitchen, you know what I'm saying. So it was
just like, Okay, this is like a big brother and
I'm seeing him.
Speaker 7 (40:08):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (40:08):
Record and then he was making demos for us, so
I always knew, you know what I'm saying, he was dope.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
So who's teaching you how to make beats at this time?
Speaker 7 (40:17):
Like?
Speaker 3 (40:17):
How old were you when you started messing around on machines?
What technology was at the studio?
Speaker 6 (40:24):
I start making beats the first time I was on
the DMX drum machine, just programming in the drum machine,
and I was just picking up pops equipment. When I
actually started producing was around the age of thirteen fourteen,
and just being at the studio, I was like, man,
(40:46):
I might as well give it a shot. So I
asked my Pops and he was like, man, I'm not
teaching you nothing, you know what I'm saying, Get the machine,
figure it out if you want to do it. So
I sat there and figured it out. Eventually, the guys
come to studio, he like playing some beats. This is
around like ninety seven okay, you know what I'm saying,
(41:08):
and ninety eight, and I played them and they laughed
at the beats. Deyla vout ten and t was just
fell out laughing, and you know, they like these beats
funny as hell. So after they leave out, you know
what I'm saying, Dylan like, yo, man, let me show
you some stuff.
Speaker 7 (41:25):
So he showed me, you know what I'm.
Speaker 6 (41:27):
Saying, how to work the three thousand.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (41:29):
So I'm like, okay, So he like, work on that,
and when I come back, I'm gonna show you some
more stuff. I want to hear what you're doing. So
he would come back in check up, Okay, what you got?
Speaker 7 (41:40):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (41:40):
This is how you work the effects in the three
thousand to get delays and stuff. And then eventually, you
know what I'm saying, Corrupt came to Detroit and I
ended up producing some songs for Corrupt.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
How old were you the time?
Speaker 7 (41:54):
Fifteen?
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Wow? Okay.
Speaker 6 (41:57):
So when Dylan heard the beats that I did for Corrupt,
he was like, okay, now you ready, And then that's
when you know it just I kind of got in
a mix with that and then producing a climax with
Dyla right and mixing the record and all of that stuff.
That's how I ended up at the video shooting with yall.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Ah nice nice damn. So you were literally young RJ. Sure, yes, literally?
Speaker 3 (42:30):
So can you tell me how and the whole process
of making Fantastic one, because for me, the bomb at
Dyla dropped on me was that he made the music
for Fantastic Volume one. After the vocals were done, he
(42:51):
was like, he would just do a high hat and
you guys would just rhyme to the high hat.
Speaker 8 (42:57):
I would say this number one. It is what happened though.
Volume one got done because a beat, a dumb beat.
It was the group five Ella.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Shout out to them and this saf i ella that's
on all of y'alls on Hey five Ella?
Speaker 7 (43:15):
Wait?
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Are y'all singing? Wait? Is this five four three two
one ll thing again? Are y'all like beefing with each
other on the song? Yes?
Speaker 7 (43:22):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Wait wait wait, I was only playing Are you serious?
Speaker 8 (43:26):
First of all, every song on Volume one is me
to talk about Dylan Dyla talk about me or him
talking about boxing.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
I don't even ask that question. I'm talking about other crews. Yeah,
you guys are just basically using the microphone as a
pulpit bully like method. Yes, yes, yes, you gotta give
me specifics because when.
Speaker 7 (43:50):
Dylan saying, I'm still sicking niggas popping up in my crib, but.
Speaker 8 (43:53):
He talking about to announced the ship about me because
this nigga he told me, he said, he'll tell you
to come to his crib and then he won't ask
it the dog.
Speaker 7 (44:03):
And then he's saying, I'm pumping up, but I'm not
popping at the crib you're talking to. I walked over here.
Never knew this ship like that man us to stuff
like that.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Yes, and so counterfeit. Niggas be running like, yeah.
Speaker 7 (44:21):
Come back, Yes we That's all we did all day
was talk about each other on the bus.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
You were lightly ranking on each other.
Speaker 7 (44:30):
Yeah, I mean, you know, because that's kind of niggas.
Speaker 8 (44:32):
We was when I don't know why the fun I'm
fucking with you, Well, that's that was a chick that
the Deyla was messing with.
Speaker 7 (44:41):
That's that it was.
Speaker 8 (44:42):
It wasn't it wasn't. I ain't talking about it. But
then by ten threw a couple of slick lines in
there too, though.
Speaker 7 (44:46):
A yeah, all we used to do.
Speaker 8 (44:50):
But like I said, it started off with a beef
with them, and Dylan had produced a whole tape now
man you and came out with official nothing yet, and
they was bragging like Dyla did our stuff before he
did y'alls boom, So here come watch the hyping us up.
The first song we're gonna do is players talking about them.
(45:13):
That's the first song we did.
Speaker 7 (45:16):
Players.
Speaker 8 (45:17):
We were talking about them and this other guy from
the old hip hop scene that I was talking about
personally because we was dating the same girl and he
got mad and I tried to anyway, but yeah, something
like that. So so that's how it all kind of started.
Speaker 7 (45:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
After that, what is the seven eight eight.
Speaker 7 (45:35):
Seven eighty eight is our birthdays?
Speaker 8 (45:37):
So I'm I'm Dela's February seventh, I'm uh November eighth,
and by Tennis March eighth, so it's it's just our birthdays.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
So weird, all right.
Speaker 7 (45:49):
So it was inspired by that. So we we did
like half of the take to just clicks and then
half we did beats. So I went off. But even
with the beats that we did, he's still remixed. It
wasn't the same either. So so that's how we did volume,
and we did it, like I said, we did it.
Speaker 8 (46:10):
In a week because we had all these rhymes that
we and songs, you know what I'm saying, just from
ten years of being together. You gotta we was together
for a long time before we actually came kind of out,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
So what did that record?
Speaker 4 (46:23):
Volume went on because it sounds like y'all just recording
on like headphone mic, like all.
Speaker 7 (46:28):
Type we recorded.
Speaker 8 (46:31):
We record part of it on hand phone mis we
because we had two mics, and then we had to
do part of it straight to that. So it's stuff
right to that that mean one takes. That means if
you fuck that, we had all over again, do it
again because we're doing straight to that. Then we took
part over to our ja's studio room once we got
some time to do that.
Speaker 7 (46:50):
So it's all over the place with that. Yeah, that's
why we had the role because we didn't did it
like twenty seven.
Speaker 8 (47:00):
Times like oh fuck that figure, Yeah, I mean, but
I enjoyed the process and when we made it, or
we made it, if you listen.
Speaker 7 (47:07):
To me at the end, I was like, Ooh, I
already knew. I already like in the UH or one
of those thugs, I already knew it was gonna be
a classic. Yeah, I was like, ooh, this is it?
Speaker 1 (47:19):
So question all right?
Speaker 3 (47:20):
I always wanted to know this, and I know I'm
like asking you to remember like inside jokes from like
almost thirty years ago, but so on fat Cats song
or at least at the end of how We Bullshit
after listening to this song for like twenty five years,
I listened. I listened to UH Fantastic, like it's entirely
(47:43):
last night for the first time in like maybe like
maybe like five years, Like it's it's been a minute
since I just sat down and listen to any album,
and it's in its entirety.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
But it finally hit me.
Speaker 3 (47:58):
Am I correct in assuming that you guys, at the
time that you recorded it, the Soul Train Awards must
have just came on, because you're obviously talking about escape.
Like at the very beginning, like you guys are trying
to remember their name. You're like, you know the group,
the sings get back you see LEXI, Right, But then
there's a moment where I believe that you guys are
(48:22):
mocking Color Me Bads first single of their sophomore album,
Time and Change.
Speaker 8 (48:29):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. Yeah yeah, because comedy.
Everything was comedy.
Speaker 7 (48:35):
That is true.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
All right.
Speaker 3 (48:36):
Do you remember the second album that Colored Me Bad?
Did Fonte where timon Chance? Yeah, when they they decided
to enlist Bootsy in the Pfunk All Stars as their band.
Oh I missed that point, but it was really weird,
like anywhere they were going, like literally like I'm looking
at Gary Mupp and Walker and Bootsy Collins and Catfish,
(48:58):
but just be side guys to call me bad, not
like hey, like at least in Delight, like Delight was
like yo, yo, we got run Bouc's Robber band as
our band. But literally I saw performance on the Soul
Trade Awards. Finally I looked it up, and I believe
that that's what you guys were mocking, because like, at
(49:19):
no point, dude, did you guys think that that was
ever going to get out or get back to them
or anything like that.
Speaker 8 (49:25):
So I think I think we thought we was being
so coded that people was gonna really be like, ah,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
You know, it took me ant.
Speaker 8 (49:35):
As possible trying to be and that was and that
was shout out to frank Nick. That was frank Nick.
Speaker 7 (49:39):
That was saying that too. That was frank Nick.
Speaker 8 (49:42):
Okay, So I mean, like I said, everything was based
on jokes comedy. I don't know why we decided to
say that before the song that that we was getting
ready to record, but we just.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
Kept it like, oh, okay, what was your level of
shock that not only.
Speaker 3 (50:01):
Is this going to take off in your city, but
at what point do you realize that this cassette demo
might actually be not only hip hop's most important creative
shift very quietly though, I mean not like in terms
of Doctor Dre like turning the whole world around with
(50:25):
the sound of the West Coast the g funk sound,
But at what point do you realize that this thing
is going to be bigger than just something local or
something that's dope for hip hop, but almost like damn
nearrow its own genre or a way of life, Like,
at what point does that hit you, believe it or not?
Speaker 8 (50:46):
Once we got that demo or that volume one to
Q tips hands right, and he started calling this person
and people like you and the people like, yeah, Jelo,
all of these people saying, oh man, that's what I'm
looking like. Okay, these are people that I admire, you
(51:08):
know what I'm saying, and I love their music. And
that's when you know, Okay, we do got some legs,
you know. You know what I'm saying, We got something
to stand on. But you know how long that takes
because it's word of mouth. First of all, you had
to mail the tape.
Speaker 2 (51:23):
Remember, you got to add yes.
Speaker 7 (51:28):
Citizism.
Speaker 8 (51:29):
Okay, now you gotta wait. Then they gotta listen to it.
Then they gotta play Hey boy, y'all ain't in the
same state. So he but you Tip single handedly played
it for everybody.
Speaker 7 (51:39):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
He did.
Speaker 3 (51:41):
I can attest that the first time I heard Fantastic
Volume one, I was in Germany and living off of
per diem and weekly stipend. So you know, like you know,
to be a broke star musician living on about three
(52:02):
hundred seventy five dollars a week on your own, the
find for yourself and the temptation, you know, to pick
up the phone to call the United States long distance
for twenty five minutes right right? No, literally, like I
told them, like, set up a microphone to the speakerphone.
(52:24):
I want to hear this whole entire thing that was
that was That was a one hundred and sixty eight
dollars phone call that I could not afford. And no, seriously,
I was like, Okay, I can live off of Pomfrets.
There's a joke in the roots community Pomfret's buku tamat
(52:48):
usually after midnight when bodega's or like those those like
late night spots that are about to close.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
Right before they closed, they might like sell the food
for cheap.
Speaker 3 (53:00):
When you're touring Europe, you know, you'll go to the
kebab dude and he'll cut off half the price. So
I was like negotiating my meals, like I can live
off of street street kebabs, buku tamats, and Pomfretes. And
at the venue, I knew I was good for a
turkey sandwich, like you know, they give you food at
(53:20):
the venue.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
So nah, man, I had to starve one week for
some village over the telephone, but.
Speaker 7 (53:29):
Thanks uh.
Speaker 3 (53:32):
But on the other side of things, so is it
jarring to be in this bubble that's so influential in
which on one hand people are embracing you, but on
the other hand it's almost like we get to sample
and taste the nectar of the fruit before you yourself
(53:53):
get to.
Speaker 1 (53:54):
Enjoy that.
Speaker 7 (53:55):
Well, it's it's a lot. It was a lot for us.
Speaker 8 (53:58):
Number one out the gate got We got kicked in
the in the in the rump because Hugh To decided
when he we did finally get him on the record day,
he wants to use our record as a platform to
leave the hip hop right.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
Anyway, when I heard that verse, I was like, wait
a minute, right.
Speaker 8 (54:20):
So guess what New York said to slum village boom
you you got rid of try god class.
Speaker 7 (54:27):
I was like, no, I didn't. I just wanted the first, right,
you know what I'm saying. I just wanted the first.
I didn't know. When I went down there, he was talking.
I was walking with Q two Donald Street.
Speaker 8 (54:39):
He was going to to Borrow's Pizza and we was
going to some studio or something after that, and he
was like, man, you know, I'm really thinking about quitting. Man,
I'm out, and then he loops up the original hold Tight.
Speaker 7 (54:52):
Spittney's sentimental lyrics.
Speaker 3 (54:55):
It's something about this group that makes people want to
you know, some some sort of ours is release that
happens that makes everybody confrontational on a slim Village casette. Yeah,
it's it's weird. So right now this is this is
twenty five years of of of a legacy of of
(55:17):
of of this brand, way of this brand name, a
way of life, amazing influential music that I deem very refreshing.
Can you guys tell me, especially in hip hop's fiftieth year,
how is hip hop still refreshing to you?
Speaker 7 (55:38):
Right now?
Speaker 8 (55:39):
Slum Villish is in a space where we're just creating
whatever we feel that that's not in the market.
Speaker 7 (55:46):
I can do me like to the total.
Speaker 8 (55:49):
So because because the label situation ain't there no more,
you don't have to nobody said, hey, make sure you
do it hit single or you know, make sure it
is nobody know, where's nobody coming.
Speaker 7 (56:01):
It's wild, wild West. Everybody out there with the pistols.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
That they like.
Speaker 2 (56:05):
Anything you can hit, anything, you can hit.
Speaker 4 (56:07):
It don't matter what it is. It's just you can
deliver it to the audience and present it in a
compelling way. It don't matter if it's trap shit, boom bapshit, whatever.
Speaker 7 (56:18):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
I love that West.
Speaker 8 (56:20):
Yes, I'm out there with my with my my pistols.
I'm ready to go. So right now I'm having the
best time of my life making music. Right now, slum Village, I'm.
Speaker 1 (56:29):
Just living in your heart.
Speaker 3 (56:31):
It's like the beginning, Like what what you feel that's
dope and incredible for you in your heart.
Speaker 1 (56:36):
That's what you're given to the world.
Speaker 5 (56:40):
Okay, QLs listeners, this is sugar Steve. That's where we're
gonna stop. Part one of this two part interview with
slum Village. Check back next week or on your podcast
feed for part two of this quest Love Supreme conversation
with T three and Young RJ. In part two, they
discussed slum Village's evolution through the years, new music, and more.
Speaker 1 (56:57):
See you there. What's Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. I'm in
the hair salon now, y'all.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
So there we go.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode, a
very detroit episode, yes.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Of Quest Love Supree.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
If you're if you're watching our never ending soft ones
on YouTube, then you know you know why this is
a very detroit episode. If you're just listening, I ain't
describing nothing to y'all. Right now, we got Team Supreme
in the house.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Fanticlo, bro, what man, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
We're been waiting on this one for a minute, man,
We've we've.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Been waiting for this one for a minute.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Yeah, man, Little Brother, we were honored recently in our
city in Durham with a proclamation from the mayor and
you know, so it was we're celebrating not twenty of
the year as well as Hip Hops fifty year of course.
And you know there would be no Little Brother without
the group that we have on today.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So exactly, exactly a dream come true. And I've been
waiting on this in four minute.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Sugar Steve, whateup, bro? What up? Everybody?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
How you doing?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Actually I should say what up? Though? Sugar Steve how's
it going.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Everything's good. I'm a couple of our albums have caught
fire on our record label. So but now I got
to spend my whole day shipping fucking records all over
the world.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So that's that's a good problem to have.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Man, you had a dream of your own label, and
it's happening, and you know that's amazing. Speaking of of
albums that have set the world and movements on fire,
I will say that the totality the higher legacy of
our guest today just ring strong, and not only hip
(02:06):
hop culture, but in music and everything from their.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Production to their delivery, to their cadence.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
To be honest with you, just the love that they
have for their city of Detroit, the love that they
have for each other, for hip hop culture, for innovation,
for like doing something original. I guess you could say
that their chemistry is to me, like the most important
element that has kept the legacy of this group alive.
(02:39):
It's not about one specific member over another member. It's
about just the overall chemistry and the contributions that various
members have given this particular organization.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
And you know, me myself, nothing will ever ever.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Ever, I don't know It's like once you get in
this end industry, you kind of see things different from
a production standpoint, from a creative standpoint, Like there's a
part of your life where music means something to you
before you get in the industry, and then there's a
part of your life when once you're in the industry,
you see things.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Different, like you see everyone as a peer.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And I don't know when anything that this group has created,
I don't know. I just I hold it like the
holy scriptures coming from Moses.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
I can go on with a gazillion descriptions about how
important the legacy of this group is, especially on hip
hop's fiftieth anniversary, but you know we're going to get
to just wrap. It was something we haven't done a
long time. Friends of the show, y'all welcome Slum Village
to Quest Love Supreme. I'm sorry that was like a
(03:53):
lifetime achievement, right I should have been through VT wars
this week. I don't know, you know, RJ, Rice and
and and T three. Thank you man, Thank you for coming.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
What's the word man? Appreciate you having us.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Thank you r J. Where are you right now.
Speaker 7 (04:13):
In the studio. We're finishing up this album.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Okay, so you're you're still Detroit right now, Dylan Detroit,
all right? And T three you the same.
Speaker 7 (04:22):
Yeah, I'm in Detroit at crib.
Speaker 8 (04:26):
I'm just happy to be here, man, and you know,
happy to be a part of this wonderful show.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Thank you. Wait, I gotta ask, y'all.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
You know, I absolutely positively never miss an opportunity to
talk out how important the city of Detroit was to
my creativity. I mean, you know, in addition to just
interacting with you guys, and you know, even for about
ten for for for Dyla, anyone, I mean, even illegic
(04:58):
like whoever has come from the city Detroit. But a
lot of my creativity, like a lot of the music
I worked on, I technically did in that city. That's
important to me. And you know, so I feel like
I have a relationship with the city as well that
was instrumental, like between ninety seven and around like two
thousand and six. Uh, and even like when I tore
(05:22):
like I know places by heart, I go by myself.
Detroit's a little bit different now, like from what I'd
known it as twenty five years ago, Like just as
residents of the city, how do you guys feel about
what's happening in Detroit?
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Like is it progress?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Like things are just different now, like former firehouses are
now like five star hotels and.
Speaker 6 (05:46):
We rebuild it, you know, okay, And it's a good
look for the city. You know, it was desolate and
bleak for so long. You know that now we're finally
getting you know what I'm saying, that downtown back how
it's supposed to be. We finally getting the neighbor that
was run down. You know, they're tearing them down and rebuilding.
So you know, it's it's good for the city, you
know what I'm saying. And I'm happy to see it.
Speaker 7 (06:08):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
Make people want to stay in Detroit, you know what
I'm saying, not ready to get up out of here
and go somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Right, So the temptation has never been strong to be like,
all right, well, let's relocate to Atlanta or like go
down South or anything.
Speaker 7 (06:22):
Nah nah, not for.
Speaker 8 (06:24):
Me, no, no, no, no, no, no, not for us,
because you know what, it's just the vibe, you know,
we like and you could be for yourself, you could
be you could be bothered or not bothered. It's a
choice you make, and I think I think that's something
we like, you know, you know us, we kind of
stick to ourselves.
Speaker 7 (06:44):
So uh yeah, Detroit is a plus for that, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
You know, oftentimes, like all right, take it. Take a city,
a musical city like Austin. Austin takes a pride in
its weirdness. For me, though, like the black version of
what I see all in terms of I've just never
seen a city so open. And once I realized that,
you know, you guys were raised on the Electrified Mojo
(07:11):
and if you know you guys listening, go on YouTube
and just start listening to Electrifying Mojo, you got to
realize that this dude was basically one of the last
of the Mohicans in terms of there was a time
when radio really trusted its DJs to do whatever they
(07:31):
wanted to do. You know, now like you kind of are,
you're a prisoner of corporate radio in which the the
playlists are like predetermined before you even you know, like
September's playlist has already been determined for you. So whereas
a guy like Electrified Mojo back in the early eighties
was like just playing some of the weirdest music ever.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
And so.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
You know, once his listeners are growing up in immersed
in this music, it's it's like, no wonder Detroit is
such a creative hub where people just think different. Is
that weirdness still prevalent in Detroit right now as we speak, or.
Speaker 7 (08:15):
I think it's still happening.
Speaker 8 (08:17):
I think a lot of a lot of the people
that are the younger people that are kind of weird,
they came up after they came up on us. I
get a lot of that from people like Curtis Roach
and a couple of other camps from Detroit. But then
you know, Dray has a whole another side, which is
is hood, you know, from these creative people, suges hood,
(08:42):
you know what I'm saying. And then then you got
the creative hood, which is kind of a merge of both,
which is like the side of baby, you know, something
like that.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
So see, that's the thing.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I even though I think you guys in the very
beginning might have been slightly defensive towards how we saw y'all,
because you know, like the music was one way, but
you guys were saying something like crazy outlands ship on
top of it like, y'all justicehood and creative.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But I don't know what The.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
First time I came from Detroit, I'm like, yo, this
this is like a city that will listen to Thomas
Dolby and do the Carlton but they're also going to
beat your ass if you fuck with him, like and
that's the ship I couldn't.
Speaker 7 (09:29):
Right, Yeah, I mean, because you know he's always been
a collected Uh. We always been uh.
Speaker 8 (09:35):
I mean we grew up on Tribe and NWA at
the same It wasn't either or it wasn't rock jazz.
It was any music that we can find creatively, we there,
and then we grew up on techno, which is totally
something else, you know in itself.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Thing that's key.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I think you guys embracing electronic music and techno is
the key to why Detroit so crazy.
Speaker 7 (09:58):
Yes, yes, creatively, yes.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
See you had it at one point where they would
play all the hood stuff during the day, you know
what I'm saying, the commercial stuff. Then at nighttime when
people going to the clubs, was like all techno, you
know what I'm saying. Stuff like that, So our prime
time getting ready for the party was techno music. So
you know, we had the opportunity that had that balance,
(10:22):
you know what I'm saying, Like T was saying.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Can you take us back to the beginning to where
like if I'm looking, I guess in archaeology terms, like
if I'm looking for the spark, you know, the sticks
and students that like built the spark, where does the
actual where does this story of slum village begin?
Speaker 8 (10:44):
I would say it began in Persian High School where
we were.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (10:51):
The school, uh, you know, Persian High School, which is
this because when I was coming up to be a rapper,
you know, it was weird that was considered weird to
be a rapper, you know what I'm saying, Because it's
just so like even though it was a few rappers,
hood rappers that was out there, but what we was
on we was extra loe as extra you know, so
(11:15):
we were walking around you know, extra close, extra, you know, dreadlocks.
You know, we we were very were out there you
know early, you know, you know you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7 (11:28):
So when I.
Speaker 8 (11:29):
Heard about other guys that were like me, I was like,
oh okay, now we got a squad.
Speaker 7 (11:35):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (11:36):
So now that you know, I ran into Dyla because
I heard about him through this guy, through that guy
heard about by ten and then was and it just
all clicked up.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
So it was it wasn't a neighborhood thing, like they
weren't your next door neighbors, like you heard about them
from the other side of town or.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
I mean we're in the same neighborhood, believe it or not.
Speaker 8 (11:55):
But I did not know that, which is like I mean,
in Detroit, you're not gonna come outside your house and
just walk around and you know, you know what I'm saying,
So you going to your house, you know what I'm saying,
to your destination of back because you don't want no static,
you don't want nothing to happen, So you just going
to where you go.
Speaker 7 (12:13):
So I even though we closed it, we all in
KNA Guardens, it was just.
Speaker 8 (12:17):
Like different random parts like and had them everyone for school,
you know.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
So r J Yo actually our listeners out there should
know that. I mean, you come from a lineage of
you know, Detroit hip hop, being as though you know
your father is you know, the legendary RJ of RJ's
latest arrival, Like I grew up listening to Shackles.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Heavy in your Arms is the one for me?
Speaker 4 (12:47):
That's the one, Like, yeah, exactly my rotation right now,
still on my spot.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
So can you talk about just growing up as sort
of like lineage of Detroit culture? Like what is your
childhood like with your parents that are popping, Like, you know,
I have them on Soul Training, I have them on
you know what I mean? Like they were national, they
were always played on radio. So what was it like
just growing up in that environment?
Speaker 6 (13:13):
I grew up on the road, So between them touring
and stuff, you know, like I was like out on
a Fresh Fest and you know, stuff like that with
them as a kid with fat Boys and run DMC
and all of that.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
So that's kind of how I grew up.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
So were there Jermaine sightings as well?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Because I thought Jermaine was the only kid that was
like allowed in the press fest.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Did you get to see him at all? Like nah?
Speaker 6 (13:39):
Because remember I'm I'm I'm ten years younger than Tea,
ok So I was like two, okay, three years old,
So Jamine dupri was like eleven twelve, Okay, I get it. Yeah,
So between that and then you know, when they would
be on the road. When I got to a certain age,
(13:59):
I would be my grandmother and my grandmother stayed in
Coney Gardens because that's where my father grew up at.
So that's how all of everybody kind of came together.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Y'all describe Cooney Gardens like we I know it as
a song, But what is the neighborhood of kinder Gartens.
Speaker 8 (14:20):
Uh, it's a hood, but it's not like you know
what I'm saying. It still got good people. It still
had a good batch of people there. It wasn't overly violent,
but it did have its hood aspects, you know what
I'm saying. We always had a nice park. I lived
right right across the street of a nice park. We
had a nice you know, place to play in whatever.
So I mean, you know, I don't know why. Uh,
(14:43):
you know, we had so much respect for And it's
the only neighborhood really in the hood where you see
where they got the actual the actual banner where it
says Coney Gardens, Like they named this hood. You know
what I'm saying. They really don't do that. It usually
be like East West that you know, whatever the the streeters,
but they actually named the whole neighborhood. So once we
(15:04):
saw that, you know, we just gravitated to it because
you know, we had found each other and you know,
in this awkward little place as.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Late children of the seventies and eighties, just in your
general childhood, how aware of you, guys, of the lineage
of Detroit, Like was living in Detroit just like to
you growing up in the early eighties, Like ah, man,
this town used to have something and then everyone left it,
(15:33):
like there's no more music left? Like that, was there
still a strong presence of the music lineage that the
world knows as like Detroit.
Speaker 8 (15:45):
I definitely say, yeah, man, I grew up on the
Motown sound. That's it was definitely part of my household,
part of everybody. Everybody was still very proud of that.
Even though Motown had left went to Cali, you know
what I'm saying, we were still very proud of that.
We still had the Motown Museum, we still had you know,
we're still proud of all the musicians that came through.
So that was the definite just soul music in general.
(16:08):
We was we all grew up on that. That was
definitely part of our you know, our our bringing up.
Speaker 7 (16:14):
You know what I would saying.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
I want to ask y'all man specifically when you're talking
about tech No earlier New Dance Show and the scene,
break that down, like, what what.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Did that mean to to Detroit culture?
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Uh?
Speaker 7 (16:27):
That was everything.
Speaker 8 (16:29):
Everybody used to run in the house and tune in
our version of soul trained.
Speaker 7 (16:34):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (16:35):
When you see answers who became popular in the neighborhood
for showing up and and and also it broke a
lot of rappers too, a lot of up and coming
rappers they got a chance to perform on that. So
the New Dance Show was everything for us. My wife
worked at the museum now for the for the New
Dance Show, So it's it's still a part of my
(16:56):
life today, you know what I mean? Yeah, man, it's
it's inspired us in many ways.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I will say that the scene, you know, if you
to our listeners out there, if you've not watched it,
just to describe it. Like most most territories parts of
the United States would have their local dance show. Detroit
had the scene. I know, Chicago had a show that
was more geared to stepping. Okay, Philadelphia we had our
(17:22):
show called Dancing on air, which found some success and
actually became national known as Dance Party USA. And that's
where like Kelly Rippa used to dance on the show whatever.
But oh wow, a lot of local eyes back when
dances were regional. You know, how they danced in Detroit
is not how they were dancing in Texas. And you know,
(17:44):
you you would only know when you were like visit
cousins in the summertime, like what kind of dance is that?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Or whatever?
Speaker 3 (17:50):
So like for Detroit and dancing, do you guys know
the history of the Earl Flynn? Like what is it
about there? And there's the Earl Flynn still a Detroit
move or is that just like one specific generation even
your history were dancing? Like I know and and by
(18:11):
Ten's version of Pregnant on the first Slim Village album,
it's an interlude where he's rhyming over the Roger loop, right,
you know, it's only like forty five seconds, but he
literally I read the lyrics and basically he's saying that
I came to a jit, like I came to a
party to show.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Them how I dance and they looking at me like
I'm a weirdo. And you know.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
Digit is a Detroit dance kind of like Chicago got footwork,
you know what I'm saying, Detroit has its own version,
you know what I'm saying, a little more technical than
the footwork. And that's what he was talking about. He said,
when I walk in there doing my jit, they looking
at me crazy, you know what I'm saying, because he
jitting and he got dreadlocks, you know what I'm saying.
(18:56):
So jitting was like a cultural thing here, I'm saying,
like everybody did it for the most part, So that's
kind of.
Speaker 7 (19:05):
How it worked.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Earl Flynn was like, if I ain't mistaken to you,
that wasn't that like the gang.
Speaker 7 (19:11):
Earl Flynn, he cain't called the Earl Flynns. And that
was they move that they used to do to List,
That's where it came from. Yes, that's where it came from.
It was a gang.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
So answer me this.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Around the Parade album period, you know, I would routinely
like Prince's relationship with Detroit is just on some other level.
Even when I would go back to old album credits
at least like from Controversy nineteen ninety nine, Purple Rain
and whatever. I mean, I didn't even realize that Prince
(19:44):
was Princess love for Detroit, like all this Detroit shoutouts
start with what up though, you know? And I'm like,
Prince knows to speak? Like what does Prince know? And
if you watch like concerts in eighty six, assuming that
this is the earl Finn like where you wave your
arms back and forth, Prince was routinely So that was
(20:06):
Prince's version of doing.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
The brother spilll a certain way like that or like no.
Speaker 8 (20:14):
They have overwhelming love for him. See you gotta think,
like you said, go back to the uh to the mojo.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
Mojo broke Prince.
Speaker 8 (20:23):
He would play a whole Prince album on you know,
you know what I'm saying sometimes even with the curse words.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And yeah, that was like how does that happen?
Speaker 8 (20:34):
And Prince call him. He would pick up the phone
and call him and thank him. So they developed a relationship,
you know what I'm saying, And they became really close.
So he helped he helped Prince break in Detroit, man,
So you know, they they became great friends man.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
You know.
Speaker 7 (20:53):
So it's it's just.
Speaker 8 (20:53):
A dope that had that Prince incorporated so much detroited there. Yeah,
it was incredible.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah, when the Roots first visited. Detroit was the second
American city that we visited when we first started touring,
and the place that they took us was a spot
called the Hip Hop Shop, Okay, which I mean by
that point, Mari's Malone. You know, hip hop fashions were
(21:20):
starting in ninety four ninety five starting to become a
little national. It wasn't just localized, but was the Hip
Hop Shop sort of just like a localized hub for
NMC back in the early nineties or like, how talk
to me about the relationship of that establishment.
Speaker 8 (21:42):
Well, we had a few establishments, but that was one
of the main ones, and that was the one that
really you know, had the breakout artists, you know what
I'm saying. That's where Royce, Eminem and D twelve L
and just everybody was at this spot.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
So this was the spot for MC's.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
You go there.
Speaker 7 (22:03):
It was only on Saturdays. They sold closed during the week.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
Maurice made his own clothes and sold them and then
he let us have an open mic on on Saturdays.
It was hosted by Proof Recipes to Big Proof, and
you know what I'm saying, It was just it was
just something that we had some of the Illis battles
now swam Village. We didn't really battle, but we used
to like premiere songs and play certain joints and do
(22:28):
stuff like that. But it was it was some dope
battles there, you know. Em had a few battles there,
a bunch of people. So it was it was it.
Speaker 7 (22:35):
Was our spot.
Speaker 8 (22:36):
It was our only spot really at that time. We
had a couple of nighttime spots, but that was the time.
And it was in seven mile, which is kind of
scary if seven miles.
Speaker 7 (22:47):
It's like a.
Speaker 8 (22:48):
Martin Luther King Boulevard, you know, type of But at
that time, it was all up, you know what I'm saying.
Everybody went there. Did they think you had some guys
smoking weed in the car. You have some people drinking
their little beers and then going there and do their
hip hop, you know what I'm saying. And then it
was just a dope spot for us to do it.
So shout out to Marowice Malone for doing that. Man
(23:09):
setting that up.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
In your opinion, like, how how is hip hop translated
in terms of like Okay, so a song like Ain't
No Future in Your Front? Like was that just universally
accepted by the entire hip hop community or did you
know was it like, Okay, well, you guys are more
West Coast sounding, so you know that's y'alls thing, and
(23:31):
we're more East Coast sounding, so this is our thing.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
No, it was universal because we Detroit is like the
melting pot of every sound. We listened to Luke Intwo
Live Crew on the radio, we listened to Doctor dre
Snoop Dogg, we listened to Trot Twister, and they played
everything in Detroit. So it was just like a dope song.
(23:56):
Detroit just accepted it as a dope song. It wasn't
a out It sounded more Cali. It was just, you
know what I'm saying, represented the city as a whole.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Speaker on the first moment in which it's like, okay,
let's start a group. Now I know before it was
slum Village, that the name was sound.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Cinepon all right, doness backwards.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Okay, oh okay. So explained to me how like the
year that starts and the group in that formation, and that.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
Formation it started off like I said, I heard about
these cats.
Speaker 8 (24:39):
Number one, we was dancing tiam But speaking of dancing,
everybody in my crew dance too.
Speaker 7 (24:44):
By the way, you had to dance.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I can attest to this.
Speaker 7 (24:46):
Yes, you know what I'm saying, So everybody in the
crew dance.
Speaker 8 (24:50):
But anyway, I heard about some cats, I about Dyla
and this, and I heard about by ten. But first
it was like me and by ten and I got
with bout ten and why g first and we had
a group called hard to Pose, which one he did
two songs, but yeah, it was it was more West
Coast gangster sounding a little bit, but yeah, we had
those couple of songs. We did that, and then then
(25:13):
we heard about Dyla about the beats, and then while
she introduced me to that, then we decided to do
official cinepod stuff, which means we went to the studiou
Mold's studio, this Hood studio, and we recorded these couple
of records and one of the records had a Flip
Wilson sample in it, so it's very zany. It was
(25:37):
very element that is what you what you heard from
uh uh Centerpire. So the CENTERPID lineup was me, Uh,
why was uh by ten? Deyla QUD was this? Yeah,
QD was in this because that's when dancers was really
a part of it. And QD started off dancing first,
(25:58):
so he was a part of it.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
So you're saying that at this point, Ellmeness was kind
of all north Star.
Speaker 8 (26:04):
Yeah, never stop between them and uh organized early yes,
but definitely Ellen.
Speaker 7 (26:13):
S for sure.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (26:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (26:15):
So and so we made our couple of first records
on which was called rat a Tat tat the sound
of the Whack.
Speaker 7 (26:27):
And you know, we all doing a chance we do
it and uh, you get you know all that, you.
Speaker 8 (26:32):
Know all that because everybody was doing that at that time,
and uh and then we did a couple of records
that cinepop only that before we form Slan Village.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Sure their records, I.
Speaker 7 (26:43):
Said, only two records on two records literally to.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
No, no, no, I mean like physical like I can
find this on eBay records.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
Oh no, not physical records.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Okay, y'all just made something. I was about to say, man,
okay records back then, Like what was the sense of
making music?
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Like who was because you're naming a lot of NCA's
and a lot of beat makers, so like what was
what was the division of labor at least for that
particular project, Like.
Speaker 7 (27:13):
I think why j produced one and Dyla produced one.
Speaker 8 (27:17):
P The only did backgrounds and me ten Dila rapped
and U featured this one guy, this guy who was
who turned out to be an R and B singer,
I forget his name.
Speaker 7 (27:30):
Uh yeah, but yeah, I was like, all right, right, no,
I mean he underground. He didn't he didn't blow.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Up big, but he Okay, I see. And that configuration
lasted for how long? And then how did it morphed
into the second phase of the group, which I guess
is slum village.
Speaker 8 (27:50):
And it maybe lasts for a few months before everybody
decided at that time that you know, dancing was kind
of been getting played out a little bit, maybe maybe
a year. Maybe dancer was getting played obviously, we don't
really need to dance with no more. And Andy was
like Dyla's beast is incredible. I don't need to be
doing no beats no more. And then it was like, well,
(28:12):
we only people left, so it was basically there. So
we was in the basement one day and.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Did you know it was like when you're hearing this
stuff and I've heard even in the what we call
the camp, the camp amp Era shout out to amp Fiddler.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yeah, the camp Amp era of.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Dyla's musical development, Were you guys at all aware, like,
all right, this is a weird ass shit, Like I
live in a territory and still to this day, I
know that a part of my production has to appease
the need to please the barber shop in Tarik's head,
(28:58):
you know, whereas like sometimes I want to do some crazy,
off kilter shit, but then I'll give it to Tariqu
like he ain't gonna fuck with this because it's just
too weird sounded. But it's almost like like all those
I think the earliest song I heard from you guys
is was it here come the drums or bring the
drums or.
Speaker 7 (29:16):
Yeah, yeah, I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yes about the drips, which is crazy shit, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Even the early demos of the songs that wound up
on Fantastic were just super weird, Like how is there
no filter for especially coming from Detroit, which I imagine
you have to have a protective shell of hardness to
get respect. You guys were just like anything goes and
if it's weird, it's dope, Like, yes, this is true.
Speaker 8 (29:46):
I mean, I think, like I say, most of our
albums were based on comedy, so just us making each
other live is what we was really doing. So we
had dad, so we would you know, when we was
working our little factory jobs together, we basically laughing all day,
creating ideas using that for songs, just you know.
Speaker 7 (30:06):
So it just basically came out of humor and it
was enough.
Speaker 8 (30:09):
Of us where we felt like we could just stay
in our bubble and never be a part of the
real world almost, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7 (30:16):
So we were just in our bubble just period.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Like when you play it for your boys and there's
no cringing, like that's a demo fast forward, Like.
Speaker 7 (30:25):
All my boys was just as weird. So it was
just like we was all found each other.
Speaker 8 (30:30):
It was a good hundred of us eventually, but you
know what I'm saying, But the core was like a
good team. So yeah, we was all just as weird,
and they was like the weird of the best. Oh man,
it's you know what I'm saying, Because to us, hip
hop was all new. We didn't kind of grow up
on no structure like New York did when hip hop
was a certain type of way, and you know what
(30:51):
I'm saying, it was just whatever I creative you can get,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
And that's that's kind of what we incorporated for people
that so immersed pop culture? How are you getting this
stuff where? And from my first fifteen years of coming
to Detroit, there really wasn't nothing like I knew you guys,
So you guys were entertainment enough. But for the average person,
(31:17):
like what do you what was there for culture?
Speaker 8 (31:20):
Well?
Speaker 7 (31:21):
The cultures we're building this thing up, you know.
Speaker 8 (31:25):
You know what I'm saying from from stone by stone,
So you you saying, Okay, when Club Gillna started coming up,
we started building up our audience where we had.
Speaker 7 (31:34):
A literal following of people.
Speaker 8 (31:37):
At least we can we can get one hundred people
to come to our show, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7 (31:43):
And that's why when you hear when you hear the
Look of Love and you hear.
Speaker 8 (31:48):
You hear an audience singing it, that's just fans before
we even got it got on, you know what I'm saying,
because we had already pulled up a base. He's by piece,
you know what I'm saying. As far as the movie
it is, it was one theater in the hood that
you could go through called.
Speaker 7 (32:02):
A bel air.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
No, no, I didn't go there. I know about the
bel Air.
Speaker 8 (32:12):
I used to have to catch a bus to get
to it. But yeah, it's nice theater though, But yeah,
that's the spot. And I knew you was the movie
man because you know, we went to the movies one time.
We was on the road together somewhere.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, that's my thing. I was like, damn nothing, what
do y'all do up here?
Speaker 3 (32:29):
So all right, So the thing is is that when
Fantastic is finally coming to Fruition, so what's what's the
discussion in.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Terms of like, let's we we gotta make our own tape.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
And I heard there was a rumor that you guys
were initially about to sign to Ruben Rodriguez's Pendulum label.
Speaker 8 (32:54):
Yeah, that was that was the possibility, but that was
that was later though a little bit later now, But yeah,
I was.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Was earlier before because I think Pendsulum came out like
ninety two.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
Correct, Yeah, Pendulum is before volume uh Fantastic Volume one.
Speaker 7 (33:09):
That was way popsic. Yeah Sally, that was true. Okay, Yeah,
that's what happened. Well, we were signed to John Sally
and his Dad.
Speaker 8 (33:17):
They had a h they had a place called Hoops Studio, Okay,
and uh, basically they were gonna.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
Sign us they was was it was between us and
uh diggable planners.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Oh wow, oh wow, and y'all almost Yeah, this explains it.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
The thing is is that you guys sounds like when
I heard Fantastic, we were more amazed that like this
isn't it doesn't feel like a demo. This sounds it
sounds like this group has had experience before. Y'all sounded
like professional. Now Fantastic winds up in my hands in
like ninety six ninety seven, So even by ninety two,
(33:59):
you guys were at least set or poised to make
your grand rival or whatever. So yeah, now that makes sense.
Do you think you guys were ready for that back
then or no?
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Are you glad how how it turned out? Yes?
Speaker 8 (34:18):
Absolutely, because if we would have came out, we had
this song called is It the Magic? And it had
the upright base and it was it was everything you wanted,
a jazz slash.
Speaker 7 (34:32):
Rap it could be.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
It was all that.
Speaker 8 (34:34):
You know what I'm saying, Am Philip was on the planet.
Shout out to Phila always shown us love, Yeah, so
that was that was that record. No, I don't think
we was ready because we were still developing styles and
I just think.
Speaker 7 (34:49):
We weren't ready at that time. What do you think, Jay.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
Hey Man, Yeah, that's what I say. I think it
worked out exactly how it was supposed to.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
I was recently doing this radio show about the Milestone
Records label and McCoy tyner specifically, and the guy who
owned that label or and keep News said something to
the effect of when he first met McCoy, you know,
McCoy was like, you know, you gave me this one session,
(35:21):
then you never called me again until until later on.
And he said, well, back then, you weren't McCoy yet.
You weren't McCoy tyner yet, meaning you know, he hadn't
developed his unique style, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
He found his voice.
Speaker 5 (35:38):
So when when you all were starting out this time
period that we're talking about, was dilla dilla yet? Is
what I'm asking, like his earliest beats had he found
what we now know as what he did? The quest
could probably answer this question.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
I think I think as a as a listener, there
were already signs of what was coming in the future,
so sort of like and you know, I've gotten my
hands on a lot of these, like ninety two beats,
ninety three beats. Yeah, even for back then, that was
a really unorthodox thinking that.
Speaker 8 (36:15):
You know.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
I was like, wow, even early, like I'm pressed to
find something that I'm like that's not really whack, Like
you see that he was searching for it.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Of course he perfects it, but I don't know that's
that to me, Like coming out the gate, it was.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
An immediately like a jarring thing of like, this isn't
like how the hip hop I grew up sounding is
made so but it didn't sound like an amateur making.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
It sounded like someone doing it on purpose.
Speaker 5 (36:46):
Right, But you all recognized at that, even early on
that he was a special talent.
Speaker 7 (36:52):
Yes, when I heard its beat, I was like, this
is it. This is it.
Speaker 8 (36:56):
Early early, first of all, you think it just you
and your neighborhood, like, oh, he's just good for your neighborhood.
But then you started it started branching up. You're like,
wait a minute, this guy is really incredible and like
you know, like I said, he started off with just
a pause and Cassette took that was then went to
(37:17):
this and went to that learner. It was like, man,
I was amazed. I was just happy to be alone
for the ride. For the most part, before we even
got a chance to develop what slum village would come
to be.
Speaker 7 (37:28):
I was just looking at him like, how's this kid?
Who my age? Well, how's he doing? You know what
I'm saying. I'm looking right away the same age, you know.
You know know what I'm saying. And he was just
killing it.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
You know what I'm saying. What year were you born?
R Jay? Like, how old were you at the time
when this is happening?
Speaker 7 (37:46):
Ninety two?
Speaker 6 (37:47):
I'm about eight nine years old.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
So when you're first hearing this, does it hit you different?
I think as an adult, that hits me different simply
because you know, I knew what the lay of the
land was. For me, the lay of the land was
like what tribe was doing, and what Dayla was doing,
and what public enemy was doing, what Molly Mal was doing.
And so Dyla's arrival was more akin to that of
(38:12):
like Godzilla come to town, like wait, what the hell
is that over there? You know, that sort of thing.
But for you to come, you know, to be much younger,
It's not like you had an established lay of the
land of what once was like, oh, black and white television,
suddenly like and the Wizard of Ours, everything turns to color.
(38:32):
So for you though, like, how are you receiving this at.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
A young age, I knew it was dope because he
was producing for my kids group, so he was doing
some of our demos.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Oh wow, wait, really for sure? Tell me about this.
I didn't know this.
Speaker 6 (38:51):
I had a group called First It went from rich
Kids Kids you not. You know what I'm saying, And
it's always and he was and he was producing the
demos for us because of the studio. We was all signed,
so my proms had us signed. He had slum sign,
(39:13):
he had Paul Rosenberg, Eminem's manager, was signed to the label.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
And he was rhyming.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Yeah, he was rhyming.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
I need evidence.
Speaker 7 (39:24):
It was dope too, Paul Bullet. Yes, it's as Skinny Supreme.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Did you know this?
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, it's in Dan's book he talks about it.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
A little bit.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
No, no, I just never heard the music.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
I never heard the music, but I've heard the story.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Okay. Yeah, So it was all of us up there
and this Barack Recordings.
Speaker 6 (39:48):
No, this is hoo sounds. This is in ninety two
when he opened the studio with Sally. We would go
up there and I would see him. You know, I
come home from school and seeing the make beats in
my kitchen, you know what I'm saying. So it was
just like, Okay, this is like a big brother and
I'm seeing him.
Speaker 7 (40:08):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (40:08):
Record and then he was making demos for us, so
I always knew, you know what I'm saying, he was dope.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
So who's teaching you how to make beats at this time?
Speaker 7 (40:17):
Like?
Speaker 3 (40:17):
How old were you when you started messing around on machines?
What technology was at the studio?
Speaker 6 (40:24):
I start making beats the first time I was on
the DMX drum machine, just programming in the drum machine,
and I was just picking up pops equipment. When I
actually started producing was around the age of thirteen fourteen,
and just being at the studio, I was like, man,
(40:46):
I might as well give it a shot. So I
asked my Pops and he was like, man, I'm not
teaching you nothing, you know what I'm saying, Get the machine,
figure it out if you want to do it. So
I sat there and figured it out. Eventually, the guys
come to studio, he like playing some beats. This is
around like ninety seven okay, you know what I'm saying,
(41:08):
and ninety eight, and I played them and they laughed
at the beats. Deyla vout ten and t was just
fell out laughing, and you know, they like these beats
funny as hell. So after they leave out, you know
what I'm saying, Dylan like, yo, man, let me show
you some stuff.
Speaker 7 (41:25):
So he showed me, you know what I'm.
Speaker 6 (41:27):
Saying, how to work the three thousand.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (41:29):
So I'm like, okay, So he like, work on that,
and when I come back, I'm gonna show you some
more stuff. I want to hear what you're doing. So
he would come back in check up, Okay, what you got?
Speaker 7 (41:40):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (41:40):
This is how you work the effects in the three
thousand to get delays and stuff. And then eventually, you
know what I'm saying, Corrupt came to Detroit and I
ended up producing some songs for Corrupt.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
How old were you the time?
Speaker 7 (41:54):
Fifteen?
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Wow? Okay.
Speaker 6 (41:57):
So when Dylan heard the beats that I did for Corrupt,
he was like, okay, now you ready, And then that's
when you know it just I kind of got in
a mix with that and then producing a climax with
Dyla right and mixing the record and all of that stuff.
That's how I ended up at the video shooting with yall.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Ah nice nice damn. So you were literally young RJ. Sure, yes, literally?
Speaker 3 (42:30):
So can you tell me how and the whole process
of making Fantastic one, because for me, the bomb at
Dyla dropped on me was that he made the music
for Fantastic Volume one. After the vocals were done, he
(42:51):
was like, he would just do a high hat and
you guys would just rhyme to the high hat.
Speaker 8 (42:57):
I would say this number one. It is what happened though.
Volume one got done because a beat, a dumb beat.
It was the group five Ella.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Shout out to them and this saf i ella that's
on all of y'alls on Hey five Ella?
Speaker 7 (43:15):
Wait?
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Are y'all singing? Wait? Is this five four three two
one ll thing again? Are y'all like beefing with each
other on the song? Yes?
Speaker 7 (43:22):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Wait wait wait, I was only playing Are you serious?
Speaker 8 (43:26):
First of all, every song on Volume one is me
to talk about Dylan Dyla talk about me or him
talking about boxing.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
I don't even ask that question. I'm talking about other crews. Yeah,
you guys are just basically using the microphone as a
pulpit bully like method. Yes, yes, yes, you gotta give
me specifics because when.
Speaker 7 (43:50):
Dylan saying, I'm still sicking niggas popping up in my crib, but.
Speaker 8 (43:53):
He talking about to announced the ship about me because
this nigga he told me, he said, he'll tell you
to come to his crib and then he won't ask
it the dog.
Speaker 7 (44:03):
And then he's saying, I'm pumping up, but I'm not
popping at the crib you're talking to. I walked over here.
Never knew this ship like that man us to stuff
like that.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Yes, and so counterfeit. Niggas be running like, yeah.
Speaker 7 (44:21):
Come back, Yes we That's all we did all day
was talk about each other on the bus.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
You were lightly ranking on each other.
Speaker 7 (44:30):
Yeah, I mean, you know, because that's kind of niggas.
Speaker 8 (44:32):
We was when I don't know why the fun I'm
fucking with you, Well, that's that was a chick that
the Deyla was messing with.
Speaker 7 (44:41):
That's that it was.
Speaker 8 (44:42):
It wasn't it wasn't. I ain't talking about it. But
then by ten threw a couple of slick lines in
there too, though.
Speaker 7 (44:46):
A yeah, all we used to do.
Speaker 8 (44:50):
But like I said, it started off with a beef
with them, and Dylan had produced a whole tape now
man you and came out with official nothing yet, and
they was bragging like Dyla did our stuff before he
did y'alls boom, So here come watch the hyping us up.
The first song we're gonna do is players talking about them.
(45:13):
That's the first song we did.
Speaker 7 (45:16):
Players.
Speaker 8 (45:17):
We were talking about them and this other guy from
the old hip hop scene that I was talking about
personally because we was dating the same girl and he
got mad and I tried to anyway, but yeah, something
like that. So so that's how it all kind of started.
Speaker 7 (45:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
After that, what is the seven eight eight.
Speaker 7 (45:35):
Seven eighty eight is our birthdays?
Speaker 8 (45:37):
So I'm I'm Dela's February seventh, I'm uh November eighth,
and by Tennis March eighth, so it's it's just our birthdays.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
So weird, all right.
Speaker 7 (45:49):
So it was inspired by that. So we we did
like half of the take to just clicks and then
half we did beats. So I went off. But even
with the beats that we did, he's still remixed. It
wasn't the same either. So so that's how we did volume,
and we did it, like I said, we did it.
Speaker 8 (46:10):
In a week because we had all these rhymes that
we and songs, you know what I'm saying, just from
ten years of being together. You gotta we was together
for a long time before we actually came kind of out,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
So what did that record?
Speaker 4 (46:23):
Volume went on because it sounds like y'all just recording
on like headphone mic, like all.
Speaker 7 (46:28):
Type we recorded.
Speaker 8 (46:31):
We record part of it on hand phone mis we
because we had two mics, and then we had to
do part of it straight to that. So it's stuff
right to that that mean one takes. That means if
you fuck that, we had all over again, do it
again because we're doing straight to that. Then we took
part over to our ja's studio room once we got
some time to do that.
Speaker 7 (46:50):
So it's all over the place with that. Yeah, that's
why we had the role because we didn't did it
like twenty seven.
Speaker 8 (47:00):
Times like oh fuck that figure, Yeah, I mean, but
I enjoyed the process and when we made it, or
we made it, if you listen.
Speaker 7 (47:07):
To me at the end, I was like, Ooh, I
already knew. I already like in the UH or one
of those thugs, I already knew it was gonna be
a classic. Yeah, I was like, ooh, this is it?
Speaker 1 (47:19):
So question all right?
Speaker 3 (47:20):
I always wanted to know this, and I know I'm
like asking you to remember like inside jokes from like
almost thirty years ago, but so on fat Cats song
or at least at the end of how We Bullshit
after listening to this song for like twenty five years,
I listened. I listened to UH Fantastic, like it's entirely
(47:43):
last night for the first time in like maybe like
maybe like five years, Like it's it's been a minute
since I just sat down and listen to any album,
and it's in its entirety.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
But it finally hit me.
Speaker 3 (47:58):
Am I correct in assuming that you guys, at the
time that you recorded it, the Soul Train Awards must
have just came on, because you're obviously talking about escape.
Like at the very beginning, like you guys are trying
to remember their name. You're like, you know the group,
the sings get back you see LEXI, Right, But then
there's a moment where I believe that you guys are
(48:22):
mocking Color Me Bads first single of their sophomore album,
Time and Change.
Speaker 8 (48:29):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. Yeah yeah, because comedy.
Everything was comedy.
Speaker 7 (48:35):
That is true.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
All right.
Speaker 3 (48:36):
Do you remember the second album that Colored Me Bad?
Did Fonte where timon Chance? Yeah, when they they decided
to enlist Bootsy in the Pfunk All Stars as their band.
Oh I missed that point, but it was really weird,
like anywhere they were going, like literally like I'm looking
at Gary Mupp and Walker and Bootsy Collins and Catfish,
(48:58):
but just be side guys to call me bad, not
like hey, like at least in Delight, like Delight was
like yo, yo, we got run Bouc's Robber band as
our band. But literally I saw performance on the Soul
Trade Awards. Finally I looked it up, and I believe
that that's what you guys were mocking, because like, at
(49:19):
no point, dude, did you guys think that that was
ever going to get out or get back to them
or anything like that.
Speaker 8 (49:25):
So I think I think we thought we was being
so coded that people was gonna really be like, ah,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
You know, it took me ant.
Speaker 8 (49:35):
As possible trying to be and that was and that
was shout out to frank Nick. That was frank Nick.
Speaker 7 (49:39):
That was saying that too. That was frank Nick.
Speaker 8 (49:42):
Okay, So I mean, like I said, everything was based
on jokes comedy. I don't know why we decided to
say that before the song that that we was getting
ready to record, but we just.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
Kept it like, oh, okay, what was your level of
shock that not only.
Speaker 3 (50:01):
Is this going to take off in your city, but
at what point do you realize that this cassette demo
might actually be not only hip hop's most important creative
shift very quietly though, I mean not like in terms
of Doctor Dre like turning the whole world around with
(50:25):
the sound of the West Coast the g funk sound,
But at what point do you realize that this thing
is going to be bigger than just something local or
something that's dope for hip hop, but almost like damn
nearrow its own genre or a way of life, Like,
at what point does that hit you, believe it or not?
Speaker 8 (50:46):
Once we got that demo or that volume one to
Q tips hands right, and he started calling this person
and people like you and the people like, yeah, Jelo,
all of these people saying, oh man, that's what I'm
looking like. Okay, these are people that I admire, you
(51:08):
know what I'm saying, and I love their music. And
that's when you know, Okay, we do got some legs,
you know. You know what I'm saying, We got something
to stand on. But you know how long that takes
because it's word of mouth. First of all, you had
to mail the tape.
Speaker 2 (51:23):
Remember, you got to add yes.
Speaker 7 (51:28):
Citizism.
Speaker 8 (51:29):
Okay, now you gotta wait. Then they gotta listen to it.
Then they gotta play Hey boy, y'all ain't in the
same state. So he but you Tip single handedly played
it for everybody.
Speaker 7 (51:39):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
He did.
Speaker 3 (51:41):
I can attest that the first time I heard Fantastic
Volume one, I was in Germany and living off of
per diem and weekly stipend. So you know, like you know,
to be a broke star musician living on about three
(52:02):
hundred seventy five dollars a week on your own, the
find for yourself and the temptation, you know, to pick
up the phone to call the United States long distance
for twenty five minutes right right? No, literally, like I
told them, like, set up a microphone to the speakerphone.
(52:24):
I want to hear this whole entire thing that was
that was That was a one hundred and sixty eight
dollars phone call that I could not afford. And no, seriously,
I was like, Okay, I can live off of Pomfrets.
There's a joke in the roots community Pomfret's buku tamat
(52:48):
usually after midnight when bodega's or like those those like
late night spots that are about to close.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
Right before they closed, they might like sell the food
for cheap.
Speaker 3 (53:00):
When you're touring Europe, you know, you'll go to the
kebab dude and he'll cut off half the price. So
I was like negotiating my meals, like I can live
off of street street kebabs, buku tamats, and Pomfretes. And
at the venue, I knew I was good for a
turkey sandwich, like you know, they give you food at
(53:20):
the venue.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
So nah, man, I had to starve one week for
some village over the telephone, but.
Speaker 7 (53:29):
Thanks uh.
Speaker 3 (53:32):
But on the other side of things, so is it
jarring to be in this bubble that's so influential in
which on one hand people are embracing you, but on
the other hand it's almost like we get to sample
and taste the nectar of the fruit before you yourself
(53:53):
get to.
Speaker 1 (53:54):
Enjoy that.
Speaker 7 (53:55):
Well, it's it's a lot. It was a lot for us.
Speaker 8 (53:58):
Number one out the gate got We got kicked in
the in the in the rump because Hugh To decided
when he we did finally get him on the record day,
he wants to use our record as a platform to
leave the hip hop right.
Speaker 1 (54:15):
Anyway, when I heard that verse, I was like, wait
a minute, right.
Speaker 8 (54:20):
So guess what New York said to slum village boom
you you got rid of try god class.
Speaker 7 (54:27):
I was like, no, I didn't. I just wanted the first, right,
you know what I'm saying. I just wanted the first.
I didn't know. When I went down there, he was talking.
I was walking with Q two Donald Street.
Speaker 8 (54:39):
He was going to to Borrow's Pizza and we was
going to some studio or something after that, and he
was like, man, you know, I'm really thinking about quitting. Man,
I'm out, and then he loops up the original hold Tight.
Speaker 7 (54:52):
Spittney's sentimental lyrics.
Speaker 3 (54:55):
It's something about this group that makes people want to
you know, some some sort of ours is release that
happens that makes everybody confrontational on a slim Village casette. Yeah,
it's it's weird. So right now this is this is
twenty five years of of of a legacy of of
(55:17):
of of this brand, way of this brand name, a
way of life, amazing influential music that I deem very refreshing.
Can you guys tell me, especially in hip hop's fiftieth year,
how is hip hop still refreshing to you?
Speaker 7 (55:38):
Right now?
Speaker 8 (55:39):
Slum Villish is in a space where we're just creating
whatever we feel that that's not in the market.
Speaker 7 (55:46):
I can do me like to the total.
Speaker 8 (55:49):
So because because the label situation ain't there no more,
you don't have to nobody said, hey, make sure you
do it hit single or you know, make sure it
is nobody know, where's nobody coming.
Speaker 7 (56:01):
It's wild, wild West. Everybody out there with the pistols.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
That they like.
Speaker 2 (56:05):
Anything you can hit, anything, you can hit.
Speaker 4 (56:07):
It don't matter what it is. It's just you can
deliver it to the audience and present it in a
compelling way. It don't matter if it's trap shit, boom bapshit, whatever.
Speaker 7 (56:18):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
I love that West.
Speaker 8 (56:20):
Yes, I'm out there with my with my my pistols.
I'm ready to go. So right now I'm having the
best time of my life making music. Right now, slum Village, I'm.
Speaker 1 (56:29):
Just living in your heart.
Speaker 3 (56:31):
It's like the beginning, Like what what you feel that's
dope and incredible for you in your heart.
Speaker 1 (56:36):
That's what you're given to the world.
Speaker 5 (56:40):
Okay, QLs listeners, this is sugar Steve. That's where we're
gonna stop. Part one of this two part interview with
slum Village. Check back next week or on your podcast
feed for part two of this quest Love Supreme conversation
with T three and Young RJ. In part two, they
discussed slum Village's evolution through the years, new music, and more.
Speaker 1 (56:57):
See you there. What's Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Laiya St. Clair
Questlove
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