#495 - Ice Cube

Interview with Ice Cube on The Bootleg Kev Podcast.

Full video version of the episode is available on YouTube!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yo, what's cracking this your homeboy? Ice Cbe Hotstyles, My style,
Jo Styles, Die Soule. We're doing it big right here
on the Bootleg Cavs podcast. I was about to say show.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Before we start the episode, Man, I got to remind
everybody that we are on the radio in eighty cities
every single day across the country. Man Real ninety two
to three every day Monday through Friday in Los Angeles,
Wild ninety four to one in Tampa, Kkfur and Phoenix.
We're all over the place, Miami, Vegas. We can go
on and on. We want to give a shout out

(00:32):
to our latest affiliate. Shout out to Knoxville, Tennessee, Man
Hot one oh four point five for being the latest
city to join the Bootleg cav Show network. All right now,
I don't ever really talk about the radio show on
the podcast, keep them separate. But if you want to
listen to the radio show, you can click the link
in the bio for a list of all the cities
you can listen to at. Yeah, that makes sense. Let's

(00:53):
get to the interview, Yo, Bootleg cav show Man special
guests in here a living legend, one of the greatest
of all time, one of the founding fathers of the
hip hop that I grew up on, the freest thinker
in hip hop. In twenty twenty four, Ice Cube the
don Mega Well.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yes, what's happening with man, it's an honor.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
We did a conversation before, but it was with the
Mount Wesmore guys. Yeah, so it's good to have you,
like on the one on one you got new music out,
you know what I'm saying, like, Yeah, yeah, that's dope.
It's my ego is it sounds like vintage Cube.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Good. That's what I wanted. Thank you, That's what I wanted. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
I feel like when like, you know, people like I
grew up listening to try to chase like a current record,
It's just it's just like that's not why, like we
love you, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, you know, being in the game for almost forty years,
that's great. It's and I've seen waves come and go
and I just you know around the Laugh Now Cry

(02:02):
Later record six. Yeah, right before that record, I was like, man,
when I pick up a I need a Baker record,
I want it to sound like I need.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
A Baker, right, you don't want it to sound like that.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
She chased Joyeah, so I felt like, well, ice Ce
fans are the same way, you know, when they pick
it up, they wanted to be cointessential, authentic ice Cube.
And so that's what I that's what I've been worry about,

(02:46):
worrying about delivering, you know what I mean When I
say worrying, I'm not like I'm worried, but he's what
I've been focused, you know, doing records. That's you know,
totally me.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
I wonder too, because like you're you're always, you know,
growing up. I feel like people could listen to your
albums for kind of like a current narration of the world. Yeah,
through you know, through your eyes at least. And I
do feel like the world is like in a crazy
place right now, at least in the United States. It
feels like everyone's losing their fucking mind. Are you, like,

(03:22):
are you getting back to some of the like, you know,
addressing some of the shit that's happening that people are
freaking out about or.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
I believe so. I believe so in my own way though,
right you know, it's really about making good records at
the end of the day, and you don't want like
the things you're trying to show or highlight to get

(03:53):
in the way of a good record, right, so you
have to find ways to to uh barrier is the
wrong word, but to fit it. It's you feed your
dog medicine without a doubt because people are not buying

(04:14):
music for a history lesson or uh. You know, it's
not a social studies experiment. It's music. So that the
magic buying your music. But the magic is to make
it bad, make it bump if you both the rhyme's

(04:36):
dope for sure, to make it a good song at
the end of the day, because it could be for me,
it could be for any artists. Nobody want to be
preached to in their music. You know, they want to
they want to rock with something they can relate to.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
But I think it's about relatability. Yeah, and if and
if you take that and you know, apply it, then
it's a plus. If not, if the records are good,
the records are.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Good, Yeah, it's it's about now. Of course, I got
a few records that's you know, all about me. You know,
I'm an MC so I mean it's my ego, but
I think everybody should celebrate their ego. Yeah, you know,
it's something that.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
I feel like I feel like we've gotten away from
like everyone's so like worried about you know. I feel
like you kind of said it at the end of
the record. You said, like people are gonna get triggered.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, Like so what it's good for them to be triggered.
Let them know you here for sure, Like you can't
be docile, that won't get you nowhere. You have to.
It's cool, you know, as long as you don't go overboard,
you know, but you gotta, you know, let people know

(05:53):
you here. Why are you unique? Why are you you?

Speaker 2 (05:59):
I think back, and I'm like, could ice Cube from
nineteen ninety one release Death Certificate today and not get canceled.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Or like Lethal Injection?

Speaker 2 (06:11):
I think it's songs like like kve Bitch or like
Black Korea, Like, yeah, I don't know if these songs
could exist these days without people like you know, you'd
have a TMZ article written with like twenty like they'd
be on an MSNBC running you through the Mud or something.
You know.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Yeah, I mean I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't necessarily
think about that, you know. To me, people's reaction and
the music that they or whatever makes them react from

(06:48):
entertainment is usually a good thing, right, as long as
you get a reaction. Oh yeah, you want to You
don't want a record to play and there's nothing. Yeah,
you want to. You want to.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
You want to strike a motion.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Without a doubt. You know. That's to me, the reason
people like music because it strikes emotional chords and so
you know, nobody's stopping me from saying anything. So it's
all about the artists having the courage to do it

(07:22):
and not worry about so called being canceled.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll say this, man, you ended up
being right about a lot of shit, especially like you know,
I'll say this, like you're You're the main reason I
didn't get the second JAB.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Man, that's good.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
I got the first one. But when I was like, wait,
Q passed up on nine million dollars, I'm I gotta
do something. I got to look.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
Into this, you know, And I didn't need the JAB, So.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Thank you for that, though cute, oh no problem saved
me from a potential vaccine injury or you know, mild
card dice is I'm.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Glad you didn't. You know, if you didn't need it,
you shouldn't get it.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
That was a crazy time though, because you know, like
at the end of the day, like you had kind
of become the the poster child for like anti vacs.
And I'm curious as somebody who had the FBI come
after them at a certain point in time in their
career with n w A in the eighties, Tipper Gore
et cetera to having like mainstream media and like social

(08:26):
media come after you for something else, obviously.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Totally different things. What were the difference.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Between dealing with those two things and what was crazier?

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Well, I mean, for clarity, I'm not anti vacts.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
Right, but but you can get the face of it.
Well yeah that list just like RFK is not anti VACCX.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah. Well you know, but so you have so you
have to for anybody who thinks make it make it clear.
I've been vaccinated before as a kid, you know, with
you know all the ship they give you that course,
but no, don't take flu shots. But but you know,
the childhood vaccinations, I've gotten them before. Okay, but those

(09:07):
were studied for years. This is something new six months
fast track bullshit. So the difference was me, I knew
it was nothing they could do to make me do it.

(09:27):
Outside holding me down and and and sticking it in
my arm right now. And I felt like nobody was
gonna do that. So, you know, I knew that bad press,
people coming down on you, people talking ship. I've had

(09:49):
that before, and that don't that don't kill you. I mean,
at the end of the day in a flood, you
want to be a tree. I love that. You know
what I'm saying. You want to be steady while everything is. Yeah,

(10:11):
so stand your ground, you know, stand on your beliefs.
Let the chips fall what they may. I was willing
to take, you know, any kind of you know, consequence
for for you know, standing on what I believe would

(10:32):
actually harm me and not help me.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
I love that. Did you feel like because since then,
I'm not sure from the from at least my recognition,
I haven't seen any new Cube movies. I know you're
working on it, like I think Warner Brothers just greenlit
a New Friday or that's even works, right, But did
that affect that, the whole hysteria around your decision, did

(10:56):
it affect you getting new movies after after everybody you
realized it wasn't that big of a deal.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
You never know, you know, you you never really know
why movies don't happen or didn't happen or or what.
So you know, I got my hunch that it probably did.
You know. The first movie that we lost was the
one you talked about, which was a movie I was

(11:25):
doing with Jack Black called oh hell No.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
And Buddy Cop stuff.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
No, no, it was. It was. It was a comedy,
but it wasn't Buddy Cop. But but that was the
first one. You know, I wasn't gonna go on nobody's
movie set that was wanting me to take the jab,
so I probably lost out on a few. I was
in the middle of shooting a movie, uh, the Clarissa

(11:57):
Shiells boxing story. I was the trainer and we were
shooting in Canada, so I couldn't go back and shoot
because I wasn't Canada was not it was, Yeah, it
was real strict. So lost that one. And and you
know when the movies came back, you know, I was

(12:21):
offered to do a movie, but it was during the strike.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
So now, so you don't want to cross picket line.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
No, no, even though I had an exempt. Now I
had a SAG exemption.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
Just the optics.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, but what is an exemption doing the strike, either
we striking or we not? What are we doing? An exemption?
To me, was was useless. I wasn't. I would never
take an exemption doing a strike.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Someone told me recently that even though like that strike
was about AI, like they recently just struck some like
a ideal like the movie companies. That kind of made
it like kind of crazy that that strike kept all
those people out of work all that time. Anyway, but
I don't know that. You probably don't want me.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
You know, AI, You're gonna have artificial entertainment now, it's wild. Yeah,
have you artificial fun?

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Have they made any artificial intelligence songs with your voice?

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Because that's the thing they have that's gotta be wild. Yeah.
It's the wackyt shit you ever want to hear. Terrible.
I mean, it's you know, for shits and giggles. But
I couldn't see nobody buying it. I couldn't see nobody. No, No,
I don't think turned on by it to the point
where they where it becomes a hit wreck. I think.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
I think what's gonna end up happening in the future
is when artists die, maybe one hundred years from now.
You know, there's going to.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Be like, but who wants that show? Nobody?

Speaker 2 (13:49):
But you never know, maybe in fifty years an artist
might be like, look, I got this book of rhymes.
When I pass away, have a that's.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Still you know, you pick an artist. It is why
you love different artists, actors, uh, you know, singers, you know,
especially songwriters, rappers, this, directors. You like them because of

(14:17):
the choices they make. Right, you know what I'm saying.
The choices they make is what you respect. So when
you take them out of the choice making, you're really
not getting the artists work. You know what if they

(14:38):
got prints, they do a print song and got him
singing some shit, he would never sings saying some things
he would never say.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
You know what's funny is when Pop died and all
those albums were coming out. Yeah, and I remember there
was an album called Oil to the Game and it
had like fifty se jah Rule and all this shit,
and I just remember being like, I mean, like it's cool,
but like I don't know, Poko, it is song with
these guys, so it felt it just felt weird.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
It is weird. It is as opposed to.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
Like putting him on an album with like people he
actually was peers with, you know, but it's like, Okay,
who's hot, who's current, Let's throw them on these unreleased
TUPAC records, reproduce them, and then it's like it's it's
it's like almost like a blend or a mash up
mixtape as opposed to like an album.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah, and you don't get the same feeling from it,
not only because you know, you know, they were not
there and the creation of this, so you don't even
know if these are his choices or these are records
that he even wanted out. That's the key.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Everything not everything that gets not everything that gets recorded
is supposed to hit hit hit.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Consumption because some of it is it's just ideas. Some
of it is, you know, not good enough for the public.
Some of it is you know, whack. You know. At
the end of the day, it's a reason why he
hasn't been released.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
I love the remix that just dropped because I look
at Killer Mike as a modern day ice Cube. Uh.
Killer Mike is one of my favorite rappers of all time. Uh,
one of the best guys. Somebody else who's a free thinker, Yeah,
somebody who's always just kind of like been a man
of the people I love Killer Mike Man and it

(16:30):
was just so dope to hear you guys and him
pay homage to you in his verse.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, that was amazing. You know, I didn't know he
was gonna do that, So that was you know, straitsalttle
him and Buster you know, gave it up for sure.
That was none beloved. You know, respect them both, you know,
as MC's in the game, they've always you know, played
to win and never played the game cheap for sure,

(16:59):
never played the music or what it's all about cheap.
I don't look at them dudes as you know, just
money grabbers, you know what I mean. It's correct. The
love is pure. So it's always good to get on
the track with some ferocious him sees that. Uh, you know,

(17:21):
make sure you have your game stepped up.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yo, are you your your son is one of my
favorite Twitter follows because I'm a diehard wrestling fan. Yeah,
and he is like.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
He's in it. Yeah, he the man.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
He's like a real wrestling like he's got a podcast,
like he's he's.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
On it, like man, it's wrestling on every day at
the house. One of those.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Do you follow like anything that's going on, Like are
you like, just just because it's on, Like, are you
like yo, So, what's going on with the bloodline right now?

Speaker 1 (17:50):
You know, I'm trying to keep up, you know. He
he he uh, you know, he's showing me what's up.
But he he goes between different air so he's looking at.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
You can watch the old ship.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah, the old you know, uh w w F you
know w c W. He's like keep up. He all
over the place with it. So it's hard to keep
up with who's current and is this a current Max watching?
But you know, I'm I'm happy that he's passionate and
that he's able to talk about it, you know, you

(18:24):
want to You got a podcast, so he able to
talk to some of the biggest names in the game.
And no, I think it's and he's really good and
go you know deep into you know, the behind the
the you know the act. I forgot what he called it.
It's you know character, Yeah, what's the character when you

(18:45):
in character all the time? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
It's funny because I was following his account on Twitter
for a while and I thought it was like a
parody account because I was like, there's no way ice
Cube Son is like one of the Biggest Wrestling. I'm
like the same dude from like Den of Thieves, Like
he loves this ship.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
For real, loves it for real, for real, you know.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
And then the podcast I was like, oh, ship, he
really is about this ship for real.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
I remember when he was he was still in uh
I think he was still in elementary and I went
to go pick him up from school. Just take him
out of school middle of the day, you know, I
would love it. Yeah. I used to do that in
the middle of exactly all that, you know, pick him

(19:26):
up in the middle of the day because I know,
you know when they say your parents is here to
get you, you know, everybody grabbing ship. They gone. So
picked him up, were rolling, didn't tell him where we
was going. We didn't go home, so I know he
was tripping out. Didn't tell him where we was going,
and I was like, as we got close, I was like, well,

(19:48):
I don't want him to freeze. I want him to
you know, have his ship together. I said, you want
to meet the Rock today, you know, and he was
like what he just couldn't believe it that we was
on our way to go talk to the Rock and
we went and met him, you know, out here and uh,

(20:09):
Venice and uh sat down. We ate.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
It was just you know, tall Fire and your kids.
You're sitting there, sitting.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
There and uh what he remembers, he ordered the burger
in the rock ordered the burger. So he was like,
we got the same thing. Yeah, exactly, you know, geeking
off that. So to see him now being able to
hit all the events, know all the people. That's so
if you love and be able to do a podcast,
be and starting to become one of the biggest names

(20:38):
and yeah, you know, and definitely and uh, you know,
speaking and commentating on the wrestling. It's cool.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
I always was curious. So straight out of Compton and
Easy does it came out in the same.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
Year kind of, you know, a few months apart.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Right, so very close close to each other. Yeah, when
you guys were working on like was there was all
that shit getting worked on at the same time, and
it was it was there like whiteboards in the studio
or like that's going on easy Ship. This is going
on straight out of Compton? Like how or were they
separate sessions?

Speaker 1 (21:11):
Like well, what happened? You know, we started to you know,
Easy was blowing up, so it was all about Okay,
you know, we had multiple records on them. Then we
had some n w A records that he was on,
and the whole thing was like, let's put all our
energy into the Easy Does the album. I was still

(21:38):
uh through the first half of the album. I was
still in Arizona, so I would only be able to
work on it on them.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
We're going to school out there, right. It wasn't Debrye,
but it was like.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
No, it was damn there, Like it was called Phoenix
Institute of Technology. I just know.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
I remember when I was a kid, I always thought
you went to debry I was like man.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
To but it was low low, a low budget and
the Rye and Ship, yeah it was. It was definitely,
but so just getting it together and making sure it
was dope, and then like once we had it and
it was done, then we just started to focus on

(22:16):
the n w A record on the album because we
knew we had we had some dope singles out by
then we had Dope man, now we had Gangster, so
it was like, you know, let's get ready to do
a whole album on the group.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
It's just so crazy to think that all of that
was being worked on around the same Yeah, like what
a special time that you guys didn't even understand was
like going.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
To change the trajectory of like everything, not at all.
We thought we were gonna be straight underground locals, like we're.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
Gonna crack off in LA.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
It's just that's that's we thought that's the only place
we about to jump off. Visit right in LA where
they understand what we're talking about. Because we didn't know
the rest of the world was paying attention with this
kind of stuff. When did you guys realize that you
made raider hats a thing? Like when we would go
out of town to other cities.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
They could be in Wyoming and they'd be raider hats
hit the Yeah, we.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
Would hit the foot locker and they would be like, man,
all the raider stuff is gone.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, why do you even have it in stock We're
in Chicago or something.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Because of us. It was like they they would be like,
all of us gone, So get to the show and
everybody out there in raider hats, and we in Denver
when you know these different places that had their own teams,
but it was all raider gear out there.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
I always wanted to ask you America's most wanted was
I remember it got five mics in the source because
when I was I was born in eighty seven, so
I was one years old with Straight Out of compt
came out. But I like went back and like like
study all the five MIC albums.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
You know.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, but to think about like kind of where you
were in your career coming out of the group, feuding
with the group, having this pressure of like having to
deliver your first thing outside of the group, but then
also being like brave enough to be like I'm gonna

(24:25):
go tap in with like New York and and you
know and the Bomb Squad and PE and these guys.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
What was the pressure like for.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
You And how nervous were you to work working on
that project because you have to kind of understand the
narrative that's happening, like I gotta make sure whatever I
do is better than whatever they're doing, you know what
I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
I didn't really look at it like that. You know.
When I left the group, you know, I left for nothing,
So I didn't. I didn't. I was like, damn, now
I gotta go find a deal, right, I don't even
have a label. And so I went and talked to
Brian Turner at priority. Shout out the priority man. Yeah,

(25:07):
shout out to priority. Shout out to Brian Turner, Mark
surround me who don't get a lot of a lot
of uh, you know, a lot of mention. So he's like,
there's nothing you can do to keep the group together.
I'm like, no, it's over. He said, well, we still
want you, so we will give you a solo budget

(25:33):
and deal for a solo album. So that was, like, man,
the best news I had heard since I left the group,
because now you got somebody to go that deal. Now
I can do my own way, you know, where I
can be the head producer on it and what I want.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
To go and wherever, like whatever ideas you want to
get across. You don't have to clear with it.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
I don't have to clear with with Dre and easy
is unapologetically you know, argue with Rinning a little bit.
Y're gonna beal and ship. So I could just do
what I want. And now I got uh it's me
and it's sir Jenks who was he was soaking up

(26:13):
a lot of game from you know, from the time
I started start. We started hanging with the Recond crew,
and and then the Recond crew kind of dismantled, and
then we put n W A together and he's real
competitive with his cousin Dre right, real competitive. So I

(26:34):
knew he was ready to produce and ready to show
what he got.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
Yeah, like this guy, his like his cousin is the
biggest or at least you know.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah, and he did. I mean, he delivered, and so
I said, uh, but he wasn't ready to do a
whole project. You know, he was ready to to contribute.
And you know, he has some tracks that he actually
produced on the America's Most Wanted. Everybody give credit to
the Bomb Squad, but Janmes, did you know once upon

(27:09):
time the projects a song called the Bomb It's a
Man's World. So he you know, we we knew, you know,
we wanted to have other producers for other tracks. You know,
we didn't know we were gonna have one other team

(27:31):
working on the whole album. We thought, let's get tracks
from here here right there. And I was talking to
Chuck d throughout the breakup because we had met on
the road. We met in Las Vegas at the Thomas
and Max Center on some shows we had did together

(27:54):
Easy and n W A Republic Enemy, and then we
became real cool exchange numbers. So when I was going
through the breakup, I would call him, you know, really
for some big brother advice, you know what I should do.
He was trying to keep us together. He was like, man,
this group is too important for sure. Got to try
to keep it together. Cube. But also at the time,

(28:18):
I wanted Dre to produce my solo record, but easy
and and Jerry vetoed.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
That what what Yeah, that wasn't gonna get allowed.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, they vetoed that even though Dre wanted to do it,
because me and Dre was actually still on cool.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
Terms, even though publicly there was the feud, but it wasn't.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
It wasn't it wasn't a few yet. It was just
a breakup. Yeah, But they dissed me before No Vassiline
or one hundred Miles and Running.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
But No vascanline was like, you know, the greatest this record.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, that was that was a comeback. That was the
great after after the Niggas for Life album where they
dissed me more and said they was gonna do ship
to me with broomsticks and all this kind of ship. So,
you know, long story short, I'm looking for Sam Severn.
I'm in I'm in New York looking for Sam Severn

(29:11):
because he did the third Base album and they beats
was banging, yeah, and he stooped me up. But I
saw Chuck in New York at Depth Jam and then
we connected and he was doing the record that night
with Big Daddy King called Burn Hollywood Burn. Oh yeah,
and he was like, do you want to be on

(29:32):
this record? I was yeah, it would let the world
know you solo. I was like, hell yeah, went down
there and recording the record. That's when Hank Shockley was there.
Keith Shockley and I started talking about him trying to
get my album produced, and they was like, we'll do
that whole thing. It was like, I felt like I

(29:54):
was in good hands. How could I miss with the
best producers in hip hop at the time, you know,
And so I felt like, our, I'm in good hands.
If I can't get the best on the West, I'm
gonna get the best on these.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
That shit's crazy and as a classic, and it's crazy
too because you were kill it will drop the same.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
Year right yeah, later on that year.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yeah, you were like you got that deal and you
were like, I'm fucking active.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Yeah, and we had records left over from the America's
Most Won and we're like, what we're gonna do with
these records. I don't want to wait a whole other years.
Let's put something out and then and then Chinks had
did just this crazy remix to Endangered Species. So having
that and the other records that we had, then I
thought of that jacking for beats idea.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
One of my favorite album covers was the Kid when
You with the Gun?

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yeah, and then Uh even a song that never gets mentioned,
Dead Homies ended up becoming a big song for me
at the time too. After Kill It Will.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Records, Jacking for beats you were like the first because
you got to think about like mixtape culture and kind
of t I has a jack in for Beats freestyle
that was legendary, Like if did you like, were you
purposely only grabbing shit you knew you could clear?

Speaker 1 (31:17):
No, I was grabbing everything I liked that year. So
like some of the dopest beats right came out that year.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
But back then you couldn't just go on YouTube and
typing something something instrumental. And I'm not sure even back
then we had records. We was in record pools. We okay,
he was getting all the records, so we had you know,
it was instrumentals on each.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
Would you who if you if you could pick like
three beats.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Right now, if you did a twenty twenty four jack
and for beats current beats? Is there anything that comes
to mind that you would you would you would hop on?

Speaker 1 (31:46):
Oh man, I like us, I mean that's that's it,
That's what would be uh man, I love that twenty
one Savage Red Run want it all while we have
bread Crumb.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah that's hard.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
And uh man, let me think about what other beats
that got me going crazy this year? M them two
are the two that come to mind.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
Do you look at uh death Certificate as like your Illmatic,
your magnum opus of an album?

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Yeah, I mean it's it's pretty both. You know America's
most and Death Certificate are pretty you know, epic records.
You know, they're like my Citizen Kane, so.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Just like you're left and right hand.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
Yeah, it's uh amazing time in music. You know how
those records was put together, very entertaining records.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
Captivating, like the energy just captivated, Like when you like
listen to like Summer Vacation, you're like Damn. I feel
like like I wasn't there, but I felt like I
felt like that was like the energy of it.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, it was the energy at the time. And yeah, amazing,
amazing records.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
You've you've talked about your relationship with John Singleton at
with but I'm curious, how were you tapped in it
all to Snowfall, which was kind of his last thing
that he not a lot, not a lot in Snowfall
because obviously he passed away. Yeah, I mean even before that,

(33:42):
you know, he just had a lot of issues with
the with the the station, the FX or something and
people running the show, and he couldn't really do it
the way he might have been exactly how he wanted
to do it. And you know, John Singleton is at
his best when he can do what he feels and

(34:04):
he's not harnessed. And so I don't want to I
don't want to look at the TV version of It's
almost like if you were gonna watch it, you would
wanted to have watched it without knowing all that, like
going to.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
It blindly, right, Yeah, but you know I knew.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Like I watched it not knowing that, Like I mean,
obviously you kind of knew it was based off Freeway
with Ross, right, but like I didn't know that, Like
there was like this thing where you know, I guess
he wanted he was he wanted to get some sort
of credit, you know, Like it was kind of like
based on my life. Loosely, I already watched.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
It's a lot of people out there with the saying, right,
that's fair. It's just the most famous one. To be fair,
You you bring dope in your neighborhood and you make
a lot of money.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
And at the time the CIA was providing it.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
Yeah, you make a lot of money, but you're gonna
fuck up the neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yo, when you you and Pooh wrote Friday.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Because Friday's one of the most pivotal.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Moments in my life as a child, I talk like
smoky as a as a white child in Arizona. Yeah,
for at least a two year period. I mean I
was like eight years old when that movie came out,
and that movie literally changed my life. I know the
entire movie by heart, as a lot of other people
do that, Like some of the scenes, did you understand

(35:35):
how they were gonna translate? Like you got knocked the
fuck out man?

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Oh yeah?

Speaker 2 (35:41):
Or or smoky smoke, an angel dust running down the
street while the dudes is bust Like did y'all understand
like how crazy? Like like yo, this shit's gonna go off?

Speaker 1 (35:50):
Like yeah, we knew it wasn't nobody in Hollywood like
us me and Pool. We knew you got your black
dudes in Hollywood, and you got your for real funny dudes.
But it ain't none of them like us. Ain't none
of them gonna come from this angle of comedy.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
It was so good, just a little like just like
even like Pool with the chains, like my Mama change man,
Like there was just I just wonder like like that's
like one of the most brilliantly written like comedies of
all time.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
And it's you know, it's here's why people love the movie.
It's everybody can live a Friday, right like you and
your man and go out here, have a crazy Friday,
staying right in front of it, right in front of
y'all spot and smoke one and just watch and trip

(36:47):
off come up and you know, just you know, anybody
can live at So it's very relatable. And what's what's
memorable is is the day you all remember it's today
that the Bully gets his ass with what's coming to everybody.
Remember whoever they have in their mind, and if they

(37:10):
saw them get it, they remember that day how it
played out, and it's uh, it gives you a euphoria
when you see that because nobody really likes it.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Bully, you know, was it was it like a difficult
transition or was it easy for you to like go
from being one of the most prolific mcs and writers
on the music side to writing a movie that's a
whole different format that.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Yeah, it wasn't easy. I ain't gonna say it was easy.
It was. I had never been to film school, I
had never written the script. So actually John Singleton encouraged
me to write scripts when we was doing Boys in
the Hood. He said, when you're gonna write a script, cute,

(37:57):
which caught me off guard because I was just trying
on the act. That was your first movie. Are you
trying to suck these lines to man? Let alone write
the script? Like, what are you talking about? He's like,
you think he said you like doing Boys in the Hood.
I was like, yeah, man, it's good. You know, it's
cool shit write the script? You said, Uh, you think
Hollywood got another movie for your ass out there. Hollywood

(38:21):
ain't got shipped for you. Man, if you want to
do movies, you're gonna have to write your own movies
if you want to do them, and that that kind
of was like, oh damn. And then he was like,
you can do it. Cute because I see this the
music you write. You know, it's vivid. People can see it.

(38:41):
You can see the see play out in their heads.
So you can write a script. Man, You just gotta
understand the framework, parameters and what you got to get across.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
And Friday the franchise has just been like the launching
pad for like Chris Tucker, Mike Epps, Kat Williams, Uh.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
Jerry Crew.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
A lot of times, the first people ever seen Bernie
Mack was on the first Friday. A lot of people
didn't weren't watching. You know that in comedy, you know
what I'm saying. So I'm sure cast in that movie
had to be just fun. Like I could just imagine, like.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
Oh, we had a ball, you know. Once I knew
I got John Witherspoon, I knew we was gonna have
a funny movie.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
God rest his soul.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
Man. Yeah, getting him to play my father in the
movie was a home run and getting them to seriously
look at Chris Tucker because originally Pool was supposed to
play smoking DJ Pooh. We wrote it for us to

(39:45):
do it, and then once Newline got involved with the movie,
they it was concerned he didn't have enough acting experience.
So that's why he played red hm hmm. So it
was there was actual you know, they look poo is amazing.

(40:08):
He would have been a double smoky too, without a doubted.
The lines was there, you know, but uh, they were
trying to put in known actors to be smoky, like
non comedians Tommy Davidson name came up and other people

(40:31):
which I thought they were funny. But to me to
take this movie serious and to really have this movie
catch you kind of off guard, I really wanted to
be the only known face in it. I wanted to folks.

(40:53):
I knew you would recognize with Jeana King and tiny,
but as far as my guy right, I wanted to
be a new, fresh face because nobody would come in
the movie thinking live in color or you know, I
already have their on what kind of funny he's gonna be.

(41:15):
It was just this was a new character like for
most people Chris Tucker is smoky Like, it's nothing before
that that they can really.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Yeah, because even if you watch the Fifth Element, he
just played like a weird, like a different version of
smoky in the Fifth Element. Yeah, you know, so like
a sassy, smoky Fifth Element with Bruce Willis.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
And it's because you know, that's the first real thing
you've seen the man, and that's really what I wanted that.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Effect facts, Yeah, it works. I want to jump ahead
a little. One of my favorite albums of all time
is bow Down Gangster Killer and Dobe Buelers Fucking just
one of my favorite songs to ever be made.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
You guys were in this mix with Common when Common
dropped I Used to love Her? Yeah, and he had
his verse that you guys reacted to on West Side Slaughterhouse.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Is it safe to say west Side Slaughterhouse was kind
of like the conception of West Side Connection.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
It was was now it was on.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
Yeah, I'm curious, did you guys take real offense to
like when you heard I used to love Her? Like,
what were your guys' thoughts? Like, because you guys are
motivated enough to put that record together.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
I think what it was was we saw a wave coming.
I think we had saw first before before we took
any offense to that record. It was records like fuck Compton,
they came out, Tim Dogg, Tim Dogg, and and so

(42:56):
we felt like the more successful we got, the more
pot shots we were starting to hear from New York
and starting. Yeah, it was it was called keep it real.
That's what they keep it real. We don't keep it real.
This is real hip hop. We're keeping it real here.

(43:16):
So that was the kind of line in the sand
between patting us on the back for being this new
phenomenon to how many records these niggas gonna put out?
You know what I meant it first, but damn. And
so we were starting to get pot shots, and I

(43:40):
think Common just got caught up in all that because
Uh master As had did a record Caross slaughter House
where he was like, that's why we did West Side
slaughter House because he was saying our records was just
saying murder, murder, murder.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Kill, kill, kill, And I mean, I know he's amazing,
but Born de Role is like, if you heard it,
you might think exactly.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
So we were starting to take offence, and you know,
at first, we was like, Yo, we're just now getting
accepted in hip hop. Let us be cool, you know,
and not trip because we all know how to turn
a party out, and it's just gonna go bad. It

(44:28):
ain't gonna be nobody, gonna have no funds. It's just
gonna go bad for us. But it was like, this
is all we could take. You know, Somebody gotta somebody
gotta stop this, or everything we've accomplished will be erased
and negated and looked at as like just a blip

(44:52):
on the hip hop radar. And I'm like, no, we
have to solidify what we've done in hip hop, and
the way to do that is to band together under
this West Side umbrella.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
So the Bitch and You comes out. Yes, when you
first hear it, Yeah, how do you feel?

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Well? I mean I had a record, It's a hard record.
I had a record cock. I had a record cocked
and loaded and ready to attack. Okay. Then I get
a call from Minister Farrah con after this is after
the Bitch and You drops, Yes, okay, But he caught
all the rappers together because he saw getting out of

(45:44):
hand and basically was like, if y'all don't call some
kind of truce with this. Somebody is gonna could die
and not because as somebody from the West sidegunt tack
com or somebody from Commons side gonna attack us. But

(46:07):
now you have maybe a third party could do something
to one of us and then we're gonna blame each other.
So when you beef in public, it gives you or not,
it gives an opportunity for third party. And we was

(46:29):
thinking government CIA to step in and kill one of us,
hurt one of us, and then we're gonna.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Start blacken each other, incite this, divide and conquer.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
Yeah, So.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
In the by the way, that's a real thing, without
a doubt. That's all that's happened in different facets of
the country over time, like and and to destroy other
countries and coops and all.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
It happens. For sure, it happened to the Nation Islam
with Malcolm X. They was beefing. Somebody come in and
kill Malcolm X. Now one side blaming the other. Other.
Now that being said, it was it was just in
the best interest to to stop the beef right there

(47:15):
and not do the records that I had what was
the name of the song you had cocked and loaded?
I don't know. I got to look at my notebook.
It's buried in my notebook. I haven't it was it
was crazy though, yeah, I mean I was. It was
a disc record.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Did you think The Bitching You was a hard record?

Speaker 1 (47:38):
I didn't feel those things from it, Okay, that's fair,
you know. I didn't feel like, uh, you know, I.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Was just wonder because obviously you guys are like, I.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
Mean, we're cool now, but I just want to hear
the record, and I think I only heard the records once.
I only heard it once when somebody did you only
want to listen to it one time?

Speaker 2 (47:58):
You're not going to go back into to it once
unless you're Drake and everywhere you go it's playing.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
And you know, to me, it was, uh, you know,
it was cool.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Yeah, now that was, you know, an interesting time for sure.
On the new record, you say that you're here to
fight reptiles and lizards.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
Now, I know that you and I are probably a
little more on the conspiracy side than other people. Huh
did you mean like reptilians lizard people?

Speaker 1 (48:25):
I think that's what we all fighting somewhere somehow.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
I'm just curious. Yeah, that stuck out.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
It is Yeah, I think we all fighting some kind
of forces that are not happy with humanity and trying to,
you know, make sure we're self destruct.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Do you feel like I don't want to get too
specific with like any sort of politics or anything, but
you know, with what's going on obviously the election just ended.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
There is a real economy in division. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
People's entire livelihoods and their houses and their car notes
are paid based on peddling divisive material to divide people, right,
And I'm just curious from your perspective, you've I mean
you've seen, I mean, you've been a part of so
many different like eras of the country as a black

(49:18):
man in America. Obviously, fucking you've talked about I think
a bird in the hand and the bushy, the first bush, Jesus,
the first bush, you know what I mean? Even Reagan,
it was were you wrapping in before?

Speaker 1 (49:32):
Man?

Speaker 2 (49:33):
But I'm just curious, like, what what would you say,
like if you had to kind of as somebody who's
kind of seen I don't know if the country has
ever been this divided, Like, what do you think would
be the healing factor.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
For people to mind their own business a little more?
I love that, Yeah, I think if if you wait
make up, and you in social media and you're looking
at everybody business and you affected negatively, and you start

(50:09):
affecting people around you negatively because of other people's business
that you've been watching, that's a problem. Minding your own
business don't just mean ignoring the world. It means everybody
got shit they need to do in their own life,

(50:32):
and they need to mind their own business like you
mine a goal mine, like clean your shit up, fix
your shit. You got your loose sinds, type your loose sinds,
work on your business, and not worry about the fate
of the world, because nine times out of ten, you're

(50:57):
getting frustrated and worked up about somebody else's business and
some shit that don't even concern you.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
Yeah, and you're getting frustrated and worked up because that's
with the purpose of probably that's what that's what they
want exactly.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
And you're not hit till you hit, and you're not
hurt till your hit. So stop waiting. You know what
makes a soldier fight on through the bullets that are
coming at him? Why does he keep going? How does

(51:32):
he keep going when he knows bullets are incoming? Because
you're not hit till you hit, so you might not
ever get hit. So why sit there and ship your
pants when you're not even hit. So most of the
time people are crying and yelling and this is my

(51:54):
life gonna change and my rights and it not even
really affects them, you know. They just get worked up
over other people's business.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
Yeah, and even like sometimes like they're getting worked up
over what they perceive to be factual when a lot
of times it's not.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
It's not. You know, people always think they can sing
into the future on how it's gonna be, But that's okay.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
I'm like, hey man, we've lived through everybody, right, so
it's gonna be. There's gonna be another president of four
years and another one after that.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
I'm curious.

Speaker 2 (52:24):
You and your wife are one of probably the most
successful marriage in hip hop at this point.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
How many years thirty two? Uh, we've been together since
nineteen eighty nine, so I'm married in nineteen ninety two.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
That's beautiful, as somebody I've been married for over five years?
What is the key to lasting that long? Because sometimes
me and my wife want to kill each other.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
I mean, you gotta you gotta want to be there.
You know, you gotta understand the reason you married this person,
and you gotta want to be there. You gotta you know,

(53:19):
be a giver, not a receiver. And the more you give,
the more you will receive in a relationship. That's right.
And so you know, having somebody to go through this
crazy life with and if you guys can have each

(53:40):
other's back where it's us against the world. And the
thing is, when it's real tight, whether you're married or not,
y'all still be like that. That's a real commitment marriage
and all that just a license paperwork. You have to

(54:03):
be committed to a person for life. And you stay
down with her. She stayed down with you, and let
the chips fall what they may. And we could yell
all day at each other, but still love your ass.
You Still we're still gonna be Yeah, I ain't going nowhere.
You ain't going nowhere. You know, we're gonna work through it,

(54:23):
live through it, and come through it, yo. Whatever.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
Like how close or how far along was the idea
of the new n w A when like hello and
chin check and all that ship was like was it
was it like a thing that was getting worked on
or was it just a night because you guys were
I think there was this there was the source cover
that was.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Yeah. We we were just you know, kind of figuring
our next moves in a lot of ways. We had
just really start to come back together after you know,
Easy passed away and it was just you did like

(55:08):
natural Born Killers. Yeah we did that, but that was
that was for the that was for the murder, was
the case soundtrack, and basically what happened. You know, we
thinking about, Okay, this is a project that we we
like working together. We could get together and do a

(55:29):
whole nother project. Then dra meet some kid named eminem.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Crazy some kid, and then and then it just was like.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
Man and then after that he meets some dude named fifty,
and it was kind of like the hold on cue
I got. I got a few things to do before
we get to that, which is understandable.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
And you guys were on the up and smoke tour together.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
Yeah, Yeah, we had fun. You know, we all went
out big tour.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
I'm sad because I sold so many of my CDs
to the warehouse to afford my ticket in Phoenix, Arizona,
And that was one of the dates you were.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
Not Yeah, when they put the tour together. I had
spot dates, so I had to miss one or two.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
You miss Phoenix, Yeah, I was like, wait Ice Cubes
that performing the night?

Speaker 1 (56:19):
What the fuck? Yeah? That was trust me, I was
I was hating effect that I was a crazy somewhere
else on some smaller ship and I'm.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
Like, ah, that was a crazy tour though it was.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
It was. It was as fun and big and crazy
as you can imagine.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
You had like that run like around the war and
peace times when you were like on Corn's followed the
Leader and then they were on your album and then
you were doing like a lot of rock festivals or
shows like I remember just like seeing that shit on
MTV news all the time. Yeah, what like like what
made you and Corn like hit it off to where
you guys did a couple of records together.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
You know, after doing a Lola it was a tour
in ninety two. I was, you know, hot with that market.
So it was always you know, me and my management
looking for ways to connect with another rock group or
do some cool shit. And I ended up getting with

(57:21):
new management and they one of the groups was Corn,
and so I dug the record because it was incorporating
hip hop into this rock and sure you have a
breakbeat breakout and then they go back and yeah, I'm like, oh,
this shit is dope. So meeting them, you know, just

(57:41):
saying how cool they wash, it was like, dude, you
know we're working on some shit. If you want to
come get down, let's get down. And we did stuff
together and then we went on the Family Values Tour.
That's the tour. Lamp Biscuit, Yah, yeah, Limp Biscuit, that's
like yeah corn Limp Biscuit. A group called uh minished

(58:04):
Well I wasn't Ministry, it was damn They are called
how Many Values to Ours? That's a fucking legend. The
front ro Romstein, Wait, Romstein was on that.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Trash mash and and then ice.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
Cube them motherfuckers a day on.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
Like h that's just such a crazy, like sonic opposite
of the spectrum like industrial German rock.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
These motherfuckers will put theirself on fire in the middle
of the Ramstein Dudes, Romstein, Dudes, Ramstein, Ramstein. This motherfucker
would be performing and then they would come and put
this vadast ship on him, right, not ship, but it

(58:54):
was like some uhlobby ship.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
That they could on fire without killing.

Speaker 1 (59:03):
Such as motherfucker on fire? Was this before you went on? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (59:08):
So so then you're like, I gotta follow the dude
who just set himself on fire?

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Yeah yeah, this ship was good. No, it was after us,
yeah yeah, yeah, it was. Thank god it was after us,
but we would be tripping off these dudes. Man, they was.
They was like, this was some of the crazy ship
I ever seen.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
And I mean yeah, the mosh pits had to be crazy.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
It was fun. Yo.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
What would you say is your worst movie out of
all the bigger ones? Your worst big budget movie?

Speaker 1 (59:37):
What's your I'll go first the Triple X. Uh well,
I would say, uh Ghost of Mars Is I forgot
about that one. You're right about that. That was I
did some ship called Rampart with I remember Rampart with

(59:59):
Woody Harrelson. Yep, that's garbage. Okay, it wasn't. Fucking Triple
X is better than that ship. Come on, man, Triple X.
The only reason to me, Triple X had the wrong director.
They had an old school director when they should have
got somebody wasn't exhibiting Triple X too. Yeah yeah, yep, yeah,

(01:00:23):
that was a Sam Jackson and William Dafoe. It was
just the wrong director. You know. He didn't he didn't
add no, no, no spice to it. It just felt old.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
What is your, in your opinion, your most underrated movie
that you don't get You don't you know? I mean
you've done all about the Benjamins. Yeah, for sure, I agree.
Follow Yeah, Mike Apps, you feel like that's the Mike
Apps movie that really made people be like, oh ship, yeah,
Mike Is.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
I love working with Mike. He's he's uh, he's my
favorite person to work with.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Is Uh. It's gonna be difficult to pull off this
new Friday movie. Obviously, I'm excited because John will not
be in it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
Well, I think Friday's great. Is Friday has a universe
of people. It does, and if we make a movie
that that is on point, he will be missed, but

(01:01:30):
he won't ruin the movie.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
You gotta have unk in it. Of course, something has
gotten with the barbecue spot. I got it, I got it,
I got this watch. Did you like my video?

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
Oh? I loved it. It wasn't entertainment, it was great.
And and then did you was that a wig you
had on it? On? Now? Hell? Yeah, you know that
you don't look like Moore's day for real.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
This is this is this is uh okay, so kill
it will comes out and that's your last album in
which you had like long hair and the death certificate
you got the fade. Yeah, were you like worried about
cutting your hair and like because you just like it
was there's almost like this era of Cube where it's like, okay,
there's Jerry Jerry curl Cube and then haircut Cube.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
I wasn't worried at all. I had to cut my
hair because for acting. No, I just got a pool. Okay,
I could afford a pool. I was in that shit
every day. And if you can imagine how Jerry Curle
look after you swim every day for a whole summer. Shit,
that shit was looking like you know afro. So I

(01:02:34):
was like, I love this fucking pool. I'm gonna be
in this shit every day. So I cut my hair
because I couldn't. I couldn't keep it from looking fucked up.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Seventh season of Big Three just wrapped.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
Eighth, Yeah, seventh, we're going into today.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
Going into the eighth season. Uh I know that. Uh
you know, for people who watch it, they just love it.
They appreciate it, and I'm just curious, like, did you
ever figure out what the disconnect has been with like
the NBA?

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
Yeah, I know what it is. That's easy. They mad
they didn't think of the ship and they don't want
somebody like me running something like this when they believe
they own basketball, but they don't because.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
They have the w NBA, they have the G League,
They have.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Every base covered except for what happens when players, but
they don't own basketball. Correct. Nobody runs and say, ma,
I'm going out to go play NBA. They say I'm
going out to go play basketball. So there's room for
the Big three to exist, and we will exist. We
don't even need the NBA at this point. Do you

(01:03:51):
think it's an Adam Silver thing? Of course, it's a
straight I mean, is it a smart business decision not
to work with me and the big No? Okay, so
it got to be personal.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
Yeah, that doesn't make any sense to me.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
It don't make crazy man sense, as my man keyboard was.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
Saying, because you could like embrace it and then it
could be this cool place where players go. It's like, hey,
you retired.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
They didn't think of it. They don't want me running it.
They don't want to work with it, so we don't
need them now. Maybe four or five years ago we
probably wanted them to do it, but now they were
just being on.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
Well they never embraced and won back in the day.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
Remember this is bigger, I mean not bigger. This is different.
It's different. But I'm saying like they didn't embrace that
because they they didn't want, you know, that style of
play to come into the NBA for the Big three?
Is there?

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
I know I saw somebody. There's going to be expansion,
right like new Ts and all that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
Yeah, well we're selling teams, so teams are now going
to be represented by cities and then after we sell
a lot of twelve, we'll expand.

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
So right now there's twelve teams that people can invest in,
eight because four have been So if somebody wanted to
invest in the team and bring it to Phoenix, what
would they have to do?

Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
Shit, have some MS, A lot of MS, A lot
of MS, I mean, you know, a reasonable amount.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
A reasonable amount of MS. Yes, some fucking money per se.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Yeah, yeah, that's fair. It is fair to.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
Talk to me about the album. I've heard that it's
amazing good.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
I believe it is you know it's called man Down,
and you know I have to accumulate it the record.
That's what I ended up calling it because it felt
like a record talking about a lot of different subjects.
A few of them have to deal with the state
of men and how you know, how are added two

(01:06:00):
d is in twenty twenty five four Pussification of men? Yeah,
I mean, you know it's sad, and so you know
it's really about us standing up, you know what I mean.
Don't be a pussy all your life. Be a dick
sometime and get hard. I like, what, yo, was it cool? Going?

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
I went to Joe Rogan spot in Austin with Freddy
Gibbs when Freddy Gibbs did it, Yeah, he's got like
it's very like an unassuming building, like you wouldn't even
know it's there. Yeah, but let you go in and
it's like this is a place, Like how cool was that?
Being able to link with him. Obviously a lot of
people would say he might have just you know, thrown
the election in someone's favor, but because he is the

(01:06:48):
biggest media platform in the world.

Speaker 1 (01:06:49):
Yeah, real cool, you know, being able to you know,
see how he get down And I've been a fans
of that dude since fear factor for sure, and then
to see him you know, getting to the UFC and
really be you know, extremely you know, passionate and full

(01:07:11):
of information. Yeah, which to me helped you know, grow
that sport and get it to where it is. I
think his analysis was just as good as the fight.
And so to see him using that platform and being

(01:07:32):
able to to talk about things in a in a
more you know cool setting two or three hours long
form really uh deep dive into each topic in each
conversation without feeling like you rushed or you you can't

(01:07:55):
get out of something cool that you think people will
want to see it here. So it was real cool
to hang with them and hope to do it again sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
Any features on the album on Man.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
Oh yeah yeah, we definitely got features Exhibit Killer, Mike Buster,
Snoop forty, Short, j D, j D, Jermaine pre no
Nah Nah j D from the Lynch Mob. I mean,
I don't know man JD from the Lynch Mob, and

(01:08:32):
we got Corrupt on there be Real Yo.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
The it felt like the Mount Westmore album. It was
a little disappointing in terms of just like the impact
it made.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
It Yeah, what do you think.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
There were some dope joints on there? But where do
you think the Mount Westmore project? Because I think what
my favorite part that came out of that was you
guys did shows together. Yeah, and it gave fans like
you could go see all of y'all together on stage,
which was amazing. But in terms of like the actual
body of work, it got like mixed up with the NFT.

Speaker 1 (01:09:04):
It was delayed a bunch of times, Like yeah, it
just you know, the the NFT thing was it was
a mistake in a lot of ways, and it's just
a project that kind of took too long to hit.
And you know, you got four people trying to come
together to do something and everybody else they couldn't hold

(01:09:27):
on no more, so they had to go do their
own solo shit and couldn't really work the record or
you know, promote the record or really.

Speaker 2 (01:09:36):
Tour the record, right, I mean there was some dope.
I mean, you guys have some records they got played
on radio, and shit.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
It's a good record. You know, just wish we could
have wish it would have came out on time and
and you know we had time to really work.

Speaker 2 (01:09:53):
It for Let's say there's a seventeen year old kid
who hears it's my ego for the first time, and
they hear you I was Kendrick before Kendrick. Yeah, explain
because I said, I.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
Know what you mean, but like, well, I started kicking
what we call street knowledge a long time ago, and
it's a blend of you know, what's happening on the
streets and what's happening in the world, and you know,
being able to do it in a dope way in
a hip hop form and still be you know, fresh

(01:10:28):
but informative is a style at that. Uh. You know,
I've helped coin with a few other ogs, you know,
like Iced Tea and Carras and you know, the Meley
mel and rock Kims of the world. But and you
were like also a good kid in a mad city

(01:10:49):
before that was the thing, Like yeah, I mean, you know,
we all was like you were like, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
Trying to like get your shit together, going to you
went to Arizona to go to college and shit, but
you still were kind of telling the story of your
of your neighborhood and of your Yeah, and you know, I.

Speaker 1 (01:11:03):
Start rapping at fourteen years old, So it's it's an
age where you trying to figure out which way you're
gonna go. You're gonna go sports dope, gang banging. Luckily
hip hop was right there, and so that's the door
I went through and it's gotten me here. Uh So,

(01:11:26):
you know, the line is not a disc The line
to me is paying homage to what Kendrick has done
in the Gang to be honest, or I wouldn't even
say that about to do the halftime show. Yeah, so
salute to all those Grammy nominations, Salute to him being
a true artist and not compromising the art for the fame.

(01:11:51):
And I believe I'm the same type artists.

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
Well, he just got I think six or seven Grammy
nominations for Not Like Us Today.

Speaker 1 (01:12:00):
Good.

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
Can you imagine if like no Vassiline in the Night
would have got like Grammy nominations and melted the Academy down.

Speaker 1 (01:12:09):
Ship.

Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
They're still not even showing the Best Rap Album award
on TV, which is fucking preposterous to me.

Speaker 1 (01:12:15):
Yeah, it's just you know, it's them trying to keep
some sense.

Speaker 2 (01:12:21):
Of number one genre of music in the world. But
you know, let's not show you the Album of the
Year A couple of quick things. Would you ever do
a podcast under the right circumstances, because I feel like
if you were just like speaking on your perspective of
current events or music, I just feel like it would

(01:12:42):
be Yeah, I can make it work. It's an eight
figure idea right there. You got to do it, man,
can make it work. And I mean obviously there's been
guys who have done it. Would there ever be a
world in which you would ever make up with mac
ten and do another West Connection album?

Speaker 1 (01:13:02):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
Time will tell. I don't know fair enough. Yea, the
new album Man Down? Yeah, uh, what is the what's
the release date?

Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
November twenty right around the corner?

Speaker 2 (01:13:20):
We got you and Snoop dropping Like yeah, Snoop's back
with Dre. This new record feels like classic Cube, like
the West Coast got.

Speaker 1 (01:13:30):
This ship right now? Man? Why not?

Speaker 2 (01:13:32):
You know the dog pounds dropped on Death Row.

Speaker 1 (01:13:35):
Hey, we ain't never went nowhere, We just got busy,
but we're back.

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
Do you take like when you when you hear that
term like legacy artists, I feel like that's a good thing,
is that you're still here and you're still go.

Speaker 1 (01:13:48):
Oh yeah, you know you still hear people still give
a fuck, you know, I know, uh, you know, people
gonna put titles on on on you when you've been
around for decades, and that's cool, you know, as long
as they still paying attention, you know, calling the old
school og legacy legend, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
Just don't call me whack and you're I know you're
working on a lot of other shit, but uh, besides Friday,
any other movies in the works you're writing in the oh.

Speaker 1 (01:14:23):
Yeah, definitely got we got some things cocked and loaded.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
I can't wait to see it, man. I feel like
it's been a few years since I've seen you, like
on a on on a big screen, so it's been
a minute, do you uh randomly? Also, I just got
to give you props because you also have besides Friday,
the twenty one Jump Street. Yeah, ship like you're you're
rolling that as the as the Captain is so good.

Speaker 1 (01:14:47):
Thanks, thanks, Oh, it's so good.

Speaker 2 (01:14:49):
I just got to give you props. I can't wait
to hear the album. Man, the new record is dope.
The remixes out, will bust a rhyme and kill a
Mike and uh yeah, man down. November twenty second, ice
Q one of the greatest of all time. Yeah yeah,
I appreciate you man, Luke, I appreciate you too.

Speaker 1 (01:15:05):
Oh.