Ralph McDaniels Talks Video Music Box Experience, Teases Dr. Dre Interview & Reacts to Diddy’s Trial + More
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Way, what's up, its way up for Angela yee. And
of course a legend is back in the building, Uncle Ralph,
Ralph McDaniels this year.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Anytime I've come to see you, Angelaeve, my energy just
goes way high. So you you yeah, you got it,
got it?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Well, listen, you're honestly, it's always a pleasure to have
you here. I always tell you this every time I
see you, but just from somebody who's grown up, just
everybody was like Ralph McDon Ralph McDaniels was the god
to us thing. But I think it's always a blessing
to see you still, like really always doing the thing.
There's a lot of people who you know, end up
doing other stuff, but this has been your lane forever
(00:37):
and it's not an easy thing to still be in
this space.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'm independent, you know, be independent, Yes, independent and doing
it all the time, you know, forty one years of
being on TV, of making movies and TV shows and commercials,
and I still enjoy it and I still like being
out and you know, being around the new music as well.
So it's not like I'm all old school, like, oh.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I'm glad you said that because so listen, I want
to talk about and for everybody who doesn't know video
music Box, just do a Google, just watch the documentary,
just look at all the footage and the archives. Because
content is so valuable. Yes, and I think you were
super early on even understanding the value of having so
much content.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
And it's a way for us to tell our stories,
especially in the times that we live in now with
the government trying to get rid of some of our stories.
We have to make sure that we document it ourselves.
We can't depend on somebody else to take care of it.
We have to take care of it ourselves. So document everything,
put it in the vault, and hold on to it
because forty years later it could mean a lot to somebody.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
And it's interesting because it's so much easier to document
now than it was, because think about back then, it
was not you had to have equipment, a strong back
to hold out equipment. You got to make sure nobody
take your camera. I mean, if you was coming with
a camera, that was a job. You couldn't put it down. Nowhere,
they were heavy. You got to have vhs, you have
to have film. It's so different now.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I was deep in Brooklyn back then, you know, like
I was like, Yo, we got to watch the camera,
we got to watch the batteries. It take batteries. Yeah,
I mean thing, all this stuff now it's all on
the phone. That's it on the iPhone.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
That was the grind.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I want to ask you this, since you talked about
really knowing about the new music self destruction right when
you did that video, you could do a self destruction today,
who would you like to see doing a headed for
self destruction? Because that brought together all of the heavyweights
back then and it was all about hip hop, and
I do feel like it's a relevant song today for
this new generation we see so much happening. If you
(02:35):
could do a self destruction, who would you like to
put together?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, I mean, I mean off the top. It have
to be artists that are relevant to the street, that
means something to the community. And that was the way
we did the last one. So I would definitely go
with Kendrick off the top because he's he has something
to say and he had and people you know related
to him, you know, with all of his lyrics and stuff.
Like he only has two albums, right and he's you know,
(03:00):
but people get it.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Oh no, he has more than two albums, right.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I don't know how many, but I won't even away
up too that really hit like that, But that whole
movement is amazing. So you know, I look at it
like this, Kendrick could start off and then I mean,
it would be dope.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
If Drake was on it, now, that would be Listen,
that sounds a good dream. But you know you've seen
a lot of beef guest squashed yeah, through the years
that you may have never thought would happened.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, yeah, no, I think that would be dope. If
they were both on it, that would be incredible. And
then you know, everybody could feeling you know, twenty one Savage,
you know, all of these other guys could fill in,
you know, and go from there because I think they
all have something to say. It's all about first of all,
it's all about, you know, taking care of your family,
making some money, and being creative, right, and that's all
(03:49):
we want to do. We don't want to be outside
and getting shot and killed and everything. I was reading
this thing about this guy in Detroit that that just
recently got shot Skill baby Skill a baby, and I'm like,
what this is crazy? Like I hear about that, I
hear people other people shouting him out.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, and then forty eight hours later he's on stage
before two Doug performing again and Skiller Baby. When I say,
and it's interesting because they love him in Detroit. So
I don't know where the hate comes from. And you know,
we don't know what goes on in people's all personal lives.
But I've been in Detroit and been around skill of
Baby and seeing the energy that he puts out. He's
a good guy, right, And a lot of these artists,
(04:24):
I think, And it's important because I know you know this,
a lot of them are good people. And sometimes the
image or the perception that people have is not that.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
No, man, this is Look, they're on stage, they're performing,
they're artists, they're performing. Then they go home just like
you do. And we all do with our families, with
our moms, our dad or whoever it is, and our
wives and go and should we That's not the life
that you live in, you know. If you're making money, Yeah, yeah,
if you're not making money out you outside trying to
stir up some problems. But nah, non, if you out
(04:53):
there making money, you ain't trying to mess that up.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
What's a beef? The guy squash back then that you
were surprised by that you could think of because, like
we said, you just mentioned Kendrick and Drake, imagine them
being on a song together. But was there a time
that you're like, damn, I never thought they would be
together in the room.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Fifty and Joe sitting at.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
The nick game, that's a fact. I saw you posting
the next I'm sorry, what's happening? But but you're right
about that. We wouldn't. But you know what, that wasn't
really Joe's beef.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Right, right, But do you know fifty just wants to
all the smokes.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, at all times, at all times.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, so anytimes somebody sitting because he just goes hard,
I'll be like, but that's how he was. He came
out the gate like that, you know, So anytime I
see somebody sitting with fifty, I'm like, oh, okay, y'all
all right right.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
And it is nice to see some of the artists
that have had that longevity making the power moves that
they're making. Still. Yeah, you know you mentioned Fat Joe.
You mentioned fifty, like you know, and Fat Joe just
to see him doing like his podcast with Jada Kiss.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Right, which is awesome. And Jada and you know what,
And I recently was reading people saying, oh, Jada is not,
you know, a gangster, And I'm like, if you've been
in this business as long as we've been in and
we see some real gangsters in these buildings, in these offices,
you know, the gangsters in the street, that's lightweight compared
to some of the hustling that be going on up
(06:16):
in these buildings.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
You know. We also just watched Kais and Not do
his whole streamer University and it feels like, listen and
see everything that just transpired. And I'm thinking about the
evolution of We started this off talking about content, so
let's start. Let's talk about the evolution of how things
started to wear. Because you really were a pioneer in
(06:38):
this space. And so just for just a brief timeline,
can you just talk to people about how video music
backs started and evolved into where you are today.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, I mean, the reason why we did it was
because people wanted it. You know, there was a need
for it. There was no black artists on TV on
a regular basis other than Soul Train, and that was
starting to get Old schoolpop was the new thing, and
there was no place for you to see it. So
I came up with this idea because I knew all
of the artists and I knew they had videos, but
(07:08):
their videos weren't played anywhere. I said, look, let's maybe
put a show together for half an hour, because that's about,
you know, all we could feel in time. And I
said let's put it on TV. And they said, all right,
let's do it. And then next thing I know, we
was on every day and I was like, Okay, what
am I supposed to do now? And so I'm supposed
to put all of this together, excuse me, and you know,
(07:29):
and make it take off. But the audience was like,
come do a shout out with me, Come out, come
hang out at the club.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
You invented the shout out.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Right, you know, So that became just as important as
the music video until music videos started to be made
for every artist.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And then and you even did the music videos for
these artists too, because that's that's a natural evolution of
progression from doing the show where you're playing the videos
to actually making the video.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
It was open. That lane was opened, you know, because
people were making it. They weren't from the culture. They
weren't hanging out with us in the club at night.
I knew all the dancers, I knew all of the
graffiti artists. Like we're shooting a video tomorrow. Everybody came
just like that. It was like we just did it,
and that became the scene. Is kind of like what
Kai is doing now with the University. You know, he's
(08:14):
bringing all these people together who do different things on
their streams but can learn a little bit from each other,
and the person that's watching can learn how to do it.
You know, like my daughter she does a stream and
she's like, oh, I just learned a lot from watching
the university. That's great, which is what it's all about,
which is I think what his whole intent was.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And he stayed independent too. He had deals on the
table and to know how to say, Okay, I believe
that this is going to be bigger and I don't
want to give this to somebody. It's too valuable.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
When he said that he wanted to stay in there
because people were asking why you ain't on Netflix and
all that stuff, and he said, no, that could be
I think we should stay right here. I'm like, bro,
I love you right now.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
All right? So then so showing the videos, making the videos,
and then movies movies.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
The first film I did was Juice for starring Tupac
and on my apps and others, and that was just by,
you know, like somebody said they need your help here, Ralph,
you know, you need to come on the set. And
I came on the set and there was nobody there,
and I was like, well, what happened? I said, nobody's
calling us back? What I can know? Everybody? I called
Queen Latifa and all these different people and they were like,
(09:21):
you're working on it. And I'm like yeah, they were like
all right, we coming.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
And that's a great listen. People have to also, I
think even today, the value of relationships is important, and
corporations will pay because a lot of times they don't
know who to call in they don't even know who
to call, and then they don't know how to reach them,
and they don't.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Know how to treat them. They scared of them when
they get But yeah, we just we just did it,
like how we was in the club, look come on in.
So we went, we went down there. We started doing that.
I started working on videos. I did early Wu Tang stuff.
I know that part of that whole scene cream I
directed the ghost face, I mean ray Quon and Ghosts
(10:00):
starate his scar faced ice cream. The funny story, I
always hear you, well, I've heard you talk about you
and cappan Donna. I've got stories about Cappa Donna for days.
But he's an amazing guy and.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Story tell us one.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So Cap Donna we talk. Let's talk about ice cream. Right.
So there's three artists wrapping on ice cream. Right, there's Raekwon,
Ghosts and Cappan Donna and so Capan Donna's fresh out
of jail, came home. He's we in Jamaica Queens shooting it.
The scene is the ice cream truck, met the man
and Rizza in the truck. All Cap Donna has to
(10:34):
do is come from behind the truck and start doing
his verse. Every time we got to do his verse,
the camera moving, he was standing behind the truck. He's like,
come on, So I'm like, why is he not coming
from behind the truck? Because he did. He didn't know.
He thought that the camera was going to go behind
the truck. There's no lights back then you gotta come
to the lights. So he was like, okay, we did
it like three times. Riz is like, yo, what are
(10:55):
you doing? He said, I don't understand. He said, you look.
So we had to walk him through it and then
stop right here and then start wrapping. He's like okay,
so that's how he got it too.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And was expensive too. I can't keep on reshooting stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
And then he just killed it.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
On top of that, he went into his little cap
Donna dance. He killed it.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That was listen. That video was amazing. That video spawned
like T shirts because every girl wanted to be like
a Caramel Sunday or you know, everybody had their little
T shirts the French vanilla right right.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I might still have some of those you probably got.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
How do you know? Like, because I have to imagine
all the amazing like merch that you have, promo things.
You can't get rid of any of that. I knew
it because I was moving and I was looking through
stuff and I'm like, man, I can't throw this out,
like how do you get you know what I'm saying,
you can't because this feels like archivval thing.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I have to hide it from my wife because she'll
be like, this can't be worth anything, and I'm like, yeah,
you're right, right now. It is. It's it's it's because
we just were there. You know, we were there, We
were in that moment. You know. It's it's so interesting
how hip hop is. It's like it's errors, you know,
the eighties, the nineties. Then we get to Nas and
(12:20):
Wu Tang and Biggie and you know, and Jay.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And you did it not his first video too, right, Yeah,
I did it.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Ain't hard to talk, yeah, and and and we captured
him and Main Source doing live at the Barbecue, which
was a big deal because that's really the first time
he really heard Nas on a record like that.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
That's why he said, I'm waving automatic guns and nuts.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Right. It was like, what is he talking about? And
that's my dude now because he you know, he's he's
an executive producer on my documentary, right as well as
Rest in Peace, Sasha Jenkins, who just passed away. Yeah,
me and me and Sasha did a lot of work
to get In fact, every documentary that Sasha did, I
worked on. I helped him along. You know, he like,
(13:00):
I need footage for this, and that's how we would
get the ideas going. And that's how we get it
because you know, you want to do something a story
like I'm gonna do a story on Angerley. I'm going
to go, wow, I remember when she used to be
over here. Let me see if I can find some footage.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
You have footage of everybody?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, so that's how it starts, all right.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So so we talked about the movies and then we
so you also wrote a children's book. Let's not forget that.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
We got another one coming.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh, another one coming.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Okay, Yeah, it's it's called Virtual Virtual hip Hop, and
it's really like these kids who are into the virtual
reality and there'll be a coinciding virtual reality game that
goes along with the book.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Okay, y see. I like that. And that's what I'm
talking about. Always evolving the evolution of things like staying
up to date on technology, I think is such an
important thing too.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
I think that kids want to know about, you know,
the old school study. They hear it, they see their
parents or they see their uncle, and they see me,
he's the old school What is he? Why did he
do this? They want to see that stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And I also think if you listen to some of
the new hit songs today, a lot of them are
nostalgic with samples from songs that we grew up listening.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
To and they're amazed, like it's almost like a reveal,
like you know the videos that you watch on YouTube
and somebody's listening to an old school song, like what
that's where that came from?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Right right?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
It's crazy, it's crazy, but I love it. I think
that is It's it's a time And that's why we're
doing the Video Music Box Experience because people came out
for the first one in any event that I do,
really and they just like this is the first time
them seeing some of these artists, like seeing Milk Ded
do top billing. You know, it's like, what, that's the
guy that did that.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
You know, like that still sounding the same, still.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Sounding the same, Milk still doing it, you know, Grand Pooba.
We have some special guests that we're adding now. Mister
Cheeks is on it now. Okay, Yeah, that's like a
rare sighting.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
The Parish from E. P. M. D irish As from
Black Sheep and you know that was the classic.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Everybody knows engine Engine number nine, you know, like all
of that.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, we don't and again and we always say there's
two people don't dance in the club like they used to.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Well, you know, the music is a little different, but
it's it's still hip hop.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
What I do see though, people doing Where was I
just now and they were doing the line dances. That's
the thing everywhere I noticed, like certain songs and everybody dance,
which but the fan's underground. Yeah, you know, I don't.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I don't because I hear it all the time. I'm like,
it's not a New York thing, but I mean I
see it here.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
It's like I was in Philly and I was at
this hat and Tea Evan shout out to them and
they were like, okay, now, everybody come up to the
front and get your fans ready. I was like, okay, now.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
This is you know what's funny is all the DJs
are like New York in it out, and it's like
it's not a song that you can really New York out.
It's like it is what it is, like just let
it live and let it, let it be what it be.
But I like it. It looked as long as they on
the floor. Line dancing has become a thing, you know.
But we used to have dances back in the days,
the wop and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
But we don't have the cabbage pads.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
The cabbage pads, right, we like to do that. You
could do that at my party at the video. You
can come and do it there June twenty if come
on out and get on the dance come and walk
with us exactly do what you like all right now.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
But that's going to be amazing. And it's also going
to be at Brooklyn Bowl, Yes, which is an amazing
venue to have that because you go Bowl, but there's
also a dance floor, yes, and it's great for live performances,
and the.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Food is amazing and it's in Brooklyn. Yeah, you don't
have Look, you don't have to leave Brooklyn. It's a
you know, there's a bunch of stuff going on, but
this is right here in Brooklyn. So Queen's is right there.
My people came from the Bronx. Last year. We had
a bunch of birthday parties, girls night out. All kinds
of stuff are going on that night, and I think
women really love it because they just get a chance
to get together and women know how to party, you know, guys,
(16:53):
we just yes, we do.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And listen, the party is always good when there's women.
Because it used to be like if you want to
get in, guys, you got to bring three girls right
in those days, So where when you go and guys
be like, yo, you could come in, come in with us,
so we could all.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Get in exactly right. Yeah, you'd be left outside, be
like yo, bro, I got money many.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
So this is going to be from now on like
a series. How often do you plan to do the
video music back is box experience?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I think that if Brooklyn Bowl is down, I'm down,
you know, so I'm down to do it. You know,
like in the past, you know, quest Love had a
night there. I started doing a hosted Slick Rick's birthday party.
He does an annual birthday party there. So we could
be part of that hole, that that part of the
hip hop scene.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Right. The other day, when I was interviewing Tretch, I
was talking about I was like, y'all need to like
do they used to do a lot of stuff in
Jersey too at NJ Pack? Oh yeah, I think NJ
Pack when they do the jazz past, things like this
could really pop too. You know.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
No, it's it's it's it's a time for Look, if
you over a certain age, you don't go everywhere. This
is for a certain age.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Like the early right early, going home.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I'm on that couch and I'm chilling, you know, So
this is for that crew. You work every day. You
still work every day, you still do your thing. You
come out enjoy yourself. It's on a Friday this time.
Last time was on Thursday. So now you have no excuse.
You can sleeping on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
June twentieth and I think we got to bust out
the old school camera and let people do shoutouts.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Oh yeah, oh no, that's part of the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Okay, goes, I said, that's got to be part of
the experience.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
That's part of the experience. Look, look, look, Angelou, we're
doing We're doing nails and eyelashes too.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Okay, I like it a backdrops.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Backdrops Nicky and Minnie. That's how we're doing it now.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I know there's other things that we may not know
that you're working on. So give us a little tea
on that. Like any other documentaries, I know you have
a ton of archive of footage. What's the plan now,
because you just have so much you could be doing.
I know people hitting you up all the time, But
for Uncle Ralph, what do you feel like? This is
what my next big project I want to be I
think for me.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Is completing the archiving of the of the video Musy
Boss Collection, which is a thing. It's like the Rockefeller Collection,
you know, That's the way I look at it. Its
value is amazing because I didn't know when I was
shooting that this was gonna be what it is today,
and so making sure that that's complete. And the reason
why is that this way we could tell our story
from a first hand person that was there. You know,
(19:26):
I'm archiving, I'm saying this is what happened, because sometimes
you read stuff about yourself and that, oh she was
in California, and just know that was in Brooklyn. With that,
you know the translation, don't.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
No matter what it was, I wasn't there, right, I
don't know what it is, but no, I didn't know this.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Was on no Stron Avenue. I know the spots she
was at, I know the background. So we want to
make sure that we get all our information right and
as we tell our story. That's a big part to
me too. And I don't care if it's hip hop
or whatever it is. You know, get your information right,
and this way we can put it in a hip
hop museum that's coming to the Bronx in twenty twenty seven.
It's coming soon, so we could put it there and
(20:02):
people can go and see it, and people can use
it as a reference if they're working on another documentary
or whatever it is. It's there and it exists. It's
a living body of work that you can do whatever
you can. You could tell you like the clothes, the wardrobe,
the hairstyles, the dances we talked about, all of that
you can reference in my stuff is other than the
(20:24):
artists and the music.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I mean, it's Fubu, it's April Walker, it's all of
the all of the clothing brands. Let me ask you this,
what's something that you found in the archives that you're like,
damn that you have not put out there yet, but
you like, this's the whole.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Doctor Dre interview, which is pretty rare in New York.
And sometimes I forget that some of the West Coast
artists that I that I did stuff with because I
didn't see them as much and they usually just came
here to do like interviews and things like that. But
I got some great like West Coast artists like Dre,
And people think because I'm an East Coast guy that
I don't have this, but now everybody came to New
(20:59):
York back in day, that's where all the media was at.
You had to come to New York. So yeah, no,
I got some great stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I mean it amazed that'd be for so strong between
the East and the West at that time. That it
is rare to see, like an interview where you might
have a doctor Dre right now, you don't.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
That was rare. Ice Cbe might see but Dre and Snoop,
well Snoop maybe, but Dre definitely not right.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
He don't even have to go nowhere. Ever, Yes, anew
today is rare, you know, to see of doctor Dre.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
I think that I think that it's important that that
people know. And I always tell this, you know, even
you know guys from from Atlanta, like like Outcasting. You know,
I always say, Andre three thousand doesn't know how much
love we had for him in New York and he
used to feel like we didn't give him love. I said, no,
that was the industry, that wasn't the people we love.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
I remember going to see Outcasts and the Fujis perform
in New York right together, and that was so exciting.
To like for both groups because it's not like we
got to see our cast but there. I remember Uncle
Luke saying he didn't get love here. It was hard
for them back then to come to New York.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Me and Red Alert played Uncle Luke to death.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah it was, yes, y'all did.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, we definitely like we got in trouble playing and
some of them two Lives, Two Live Crew songs, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah, yeah right. It probably is more of an industry
thing because people some of those songs they crossed every boundary.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, you know when you was in the club and
Red put on you know what you call them, mom.
I can't remember the big song they had.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
But whatever, it was the birthday song.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah, it's your birthday that he went crazy still to
this day because they were you know what. College also
made that transition, right, that that that relationship work because
if you was going to school anywhere past Washington, d C.
You knew all of those southern songs, right.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah, and like spring Flings, those were always the big Yeah.
I have memories, yes, yes, yeah, easy easy, angela Ye,
you have to do a documentary and listen, and I
do have to ask you, like you see some of
these celebrities that you've known personally firsthand. Like we're watching everything,
are you paying attention to, like the whole Diddy trial,
Like I.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Am, Yeah, it's it's you know, I told somebody you know,
and you know you're get in trouble when you say
certain things, but I'll say it, you know, Like I
watched Diddy from when he was seventeen. He was the
stage manager for me, hosting a show on at Harlem
Week when he was a kid, and I go, you
got the next act? And he go, yeah, okay, right,
and then that's how I met him. And then he's
(23:27):
he's choreographing Joe to see dancing behind father him, see
a video that everything's going to be all right, Thing's
going to be all right. Yeah right, and he's coming
up and I'm watching him. He's I'm like, he's doing it.
He's in it. And and then he gets bad Boy
and then he does whatever he does, and then he
has a school in Harlem and he's doing all these
(23:48):
things and all these kids are employed. And I meet
young kids that I worked for bad Boy and they
mad happy, like that meant something I worked for. And
now to watch where it's at today This was not
the plan, right, This was not the plan and it
really really wrong. And I hope that you know, it
works out for everybody, but you know, sometimes this is
we in a time of reality right now. So be
(24:11):
careful what you do out there, you know, because I'm
pretty sure he's not the only one that had things
that they did and not saying that it was illegal
what he did, but it might not have been right.
I'm not saying that he was legal, but it might
not have been right, and his soul knows that now,
you know, because it's got you know, sometimes it got
to be slow down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
How did you manage to avoid issues yourself? I don't
there's no bad Ralph McDaniel stories out I mean, I'm.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Pretty sure I was an idiot in certain cases. You know,
I'm pretty sure, you know, because but you know, as
I got older, I just was like I didn't care.
I don't worry about things like I used to. But
when you're younger, you think that this is it. If
I don't get this one hundred percent right, it's gonna
affect my career. And you do things that you know
may not be the right thing. You know, you're trying
(24:58):
to aggressively make something happen, So that means you're pressing
somebody or whatever you're doing. And but I don't you know,
I stopped at that point because I realized that God
is in charge, you know, and and and me, you know,
like I'm cool, I'm good with me. You know, I'm
good with me. So that's what when you're young, you
don't think like that.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, people have to think about the future and the
bigger picture. It's not just today. But if what I'm
doing now, is this going to affect what happens later
and affect other people? Because the last thing you want
is to always be looking over your shoulder, like who's
going to tell the truth about something I did?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Yeah? Yeah, you you want to just look Just stay
out of the way. Most of the time, we get
in the way of ourselves because we think we can
control everything and you can't. I don't care what happens.
The Knicks are going to win the series.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Okay, you just all right now, we're going to play
this back. I'm going to keep this clip, and so
we're going to see what happens. You do that, because
they have to win the next three games in a
row exactly and you feel good about it, right, Okay,
you hear me, you feel me all right? Listen, make
sure you guys check out Ralph McDaniel's and Late Development
(26:05):
present the Video Music Box Experience featuring Ralph McDaniels and friends.
You guys will have a good time. You can go
set it off because Strafa is going to be their
performance too, right, that's gonna be a big deal.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Yes, that's a line.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
That's a line. Dance right there. Get your fans ready.
But you guys can get tickets. You can go to
Brooklyn Bowl dot com. Make sure you follow at Video
Music Box and you will have a time. It's just so,
it's amazing to see where we whoever thought that hip
hop would make it this far right, it's way up
Way, what's up, its way up for Angela yee. And
of course a legend is back in the building, Uncle Ralph,
Ralph McDaniels this year.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Anytime I've come to see you, Angelaeve, my energy just
goes way high. So you you yeah, you got it,
got it?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Well, listen, you're honestly, it's always a pleasure to have
you here. I always tell you this every time I
see you, but just from somebody who's grown up, just
everybody was like Ralph McDon Ralph McDaniels was the god
to us thing. But I think it's always a blessing
to see you still, like really always doing the thing.
There's a lot of people who you know, end up
doing other stuff, but this has been your lane forever
(00:37):
and it's not an easy thing to still be in
this space.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'm independent, you know, be independent, Yes, independent and doing
it all the time, you know, forty one years of
being on TV, of making movies and TV shows and commercials,
and I still enjoy it and I still like being
out and you know, being around the new music as well.
So it's not like I'm all old school, like, oh.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I'm glad you said that because so listen, I want
to talk about and for everybody who doesn't know video
music Box, just do a Google, just watch the documentary,
just look at all the footage and the archives. Because
content is so valuable. Yes, and I think you were
super early on even understanding the value of having so
much content.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
And it's a way for us to tell our stories,
especially in the times that we live in now with
the government trying to get rid of some of our stories.
We have to make sure that we document it ourselves.
We can't depend on somebody else to take care of it.
We have to take care of it ourselves. So document everything,
put it in the vault, and hold on to it
because forty years later it could mean a lot to somebody.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
And it's interesting because it's so much easier to document
now than it was, because think about back then, it
was not you had to have equipment, a strong back
to hold out equipment. You got to make sure nobody
take your camera. I mean, if you was coming with
a camera, that was a job. You couldn't put it down. Nowhere,
they were heavy. You got to have vhs, you have
to have film. It's so different now.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I was deep in Brooklyn back then, you know, like
I was like, Yo, we got to watch the camera,
we got to watch the batteries. It take batteries. Yeah,
I mean thing, all this stuff now it's all on
the phone. That's it on the iPhone.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
That was the grind.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I want to ask you this, since you talked about
really knowing about the new music self destruction right when
you did that video, you could do a self destruction today,
who would you like to see doing a headed for
self destruction? Because that brought together all of the heavyweights
back then and it was all about hip hop, and
I do feel like it's a relevant song today for
this new generation we see so much happening. If you
(02:35):
could do a self destruction, who would you like to
put together?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, I mean, I mean off the top. It have
to be artists that are relevant to the street, that
means something to the community. And that was the way
we did the last one. So I would definitely go
with Kendrick off the top because he's he has something
to say and he had and people you know related
to him, you know, with all of his lyrics and stuff.
Like he only has two albums, right and he's you know,
(03:00):
but people get it.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Oh no, he has more than two albums, right.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I don't know how many, but I won't even away
up too that really hit like that, But that whole
movement is amazing. So you know, I look at it
like this, Kendrick could start off and then I mean,
it would be dope.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
If Drake was on it, now, that would be Listen,
that sounds a good dream. But you know you've seen
a lot of beef guest squashed yeah, through the years
that you may have never thought would happened.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, yeah, no, I think that would be dope. If
they were both on it, that would be incredible. And
then you know, everybody could feeling you know, twenty one Savage,
you know, all of these other guys could fill in,
you know, and go from there because I think they
all have something to say. It's all about first of all,
it's all about, you know, taking care of your family,
making some money, and being creative, right, and that's all
(03:49):
we want to do. We don't want to be outside
and getting shot and killed and everything. I was reading
this thing about this guy in Detroit that that just
recently got shot Skill baby Skill a baby, and I'm like,
what this is crazy? Like I hear about that, I
hear people other people shouting him out.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, and then forty eight hours later he's on stage
before two Doug performing again and Skiller Baby. When I say,
and it's interesting because they love him in Detroit. So
I don't know where the hate comes from. And you know,
we don't know what goes on in people's all personal lives.
But I've been in Detroit and been around skill of
Baby and seeing the energy that he puts out. He's
a good guy, right, And a lot of these artists,
(04:24):
I think, And it's important because I know you know this,
a lot of them are good people. And sometimes the
image or the perception that people have is not that.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
No, man, this is Look, they're on stage, they're performing,
they're artists, they're performing. Then they go home just like
you do. And we all do with our families, with
our moms, our dad or whoever it is, and our
wives and go and should we That's not the life
that you live in, you know. If you're making money, Yeah, yeah,
if you're not making money out you outside trying to
stir up some problems. But nah, non, if you out
(04:53):
there making money, you ain't trying to mess that up.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
What's a beef? The guy squash back then that you
were surprised by that you could think of because, like
we said, you just mentioned Kendrick and Drake, imagine them
being on a song together. But was there a time
that you're like, damn, I never thought they would be
together in the room.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Fifty and Joe sitting at.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
The nick game, that's a fact. I saw you posting
the next I'm sorry, what's happening? But but you're right
about that. We wouldn't. But you know what, that wasn't
really Joe's beef.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Right, right, But do you know fifty just wants to
all the smokes.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, at all times, at all times.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, so anytimes somebody sitting because he just goes hard,
I'll be like, but that's how he was. He came
out the gate like that, you know, So anytime I
see somebody sitting with fifty, I'm like, oh, okay, y'all
all right right.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
And it is nice to see some of the artists
that have had that longevity making the power moves that
they're making. Still. Yeah, you know you mentioned Fat Joe.
You mentioned fifty, like you know, and Fat Joe just
to see him doing like his podcast with Jada Kiss.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Right, which is awesome. And Jada and you know what,
And I recently was reading people saying, oh, Jada is not,
you know, a gangster, And I'm like, if you've been
in this business as long as we've been in and
we see some real gangsters in these buildings, in these offices,
you know, the gangsters in the street, that's lightweight compared
to some of the hustling that be going on up
(06:16):
in these buildings.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
You know. We also just watched Kais and Not do
his whole streamer University and it feels like, listen and
see everything that just transpired. And I'm thinking about the
evolution of We started this off talking about content, so
let's start. Let's talk about the evolution of how things
started to wear. Because you really were a pioneer in
(06:38):
this space. And so just for just a brief timeline,
can you just talk to people about how video music
backs started and evolved into where you are today.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, I mean, the reason why we did it was
because people wanted it. You know, there was a need
for it. There was no black artists on TV on
a regular basis other than Soul Train, and that was
starting to get Old schoolpop was the new thing, and
there was no place for you to see it. So
I came up with this idea because I knew all
of the artists and I knew they had videos, but
(07:08):
their videos weren't played anywhere. I said, look, let's maybe
put a show together for half an hour, because that's about,
you know, all we could feel in time. And I
said let's put it on TV. And they said, all right,
let's do it. And then next thing I know, we
was on every day and I was like, Okay, what
am I supposed to do now? And so I'm supposed
to put all of this together, excuse me, and you know,
(07:29):
and make it take off. But the audience was like,
come do a shout out with me, Come out, come
hang out at the club.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
You invented the shout out.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Right, you know, So that became just as important as
the music video until music videos started to be made
for every artist.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And then and you even did the music videos for
these artists too, because that's that's a natural evolution of
progression from doing the show where you're playing the videos
to actually making the video.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
It was open. That lane was opened, you know, because
people were making it. They weren't from the culture. They
weren't hanging out with us in the club at night.
I knew all the dancers, I knew all of the
graffiti artists. Like we're shooting a video tomorrow. Everybody came
just like that. It was like we just did it,
and that became the scene. Is kind of like what
Kai is doing now with the University. You know, he's
(08:14):
bringing all these people together who do different things on
their streams but can learn a little bit from each other,
and the person that's watching can learn how to do it.
You know, like my daughter she does a stream and
she's like, oh, I just learned a lot from watching
the university. That's great, which is what it's all about,
which is I think what his whole intent was.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And he stayed independent too. He had deals on the
table and to know how to say, Okay, I believe
that this is going to be bigger and I don't
want to give this to somebody. It's too valuable.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
When he said that he wanted to stay in there
because people were asking why you ain't on Netflix and
all that stuff, and he said, no, that could be
I think we should stay right here. I'm like, bro,
I love you right now.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
All right? So then so showing the videos, making the videos,
and then movies movies.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
The first film I did was Juice for starring Tupac
and on my apps and others, and that was just by,
you know, like somebody said they need your help here, Ralph,
you know, you need to come on the set. And
I came on the set and there was nobody there,
and I was like, well, what happened? I said, nobody's
calling us back? What I can know? Everybody? I called
Queen Latifa and all these different people and they were like,
(09:21):
you're working on it. And I'm like yeah, they were like
all right, we coming.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
And that's a great listen. People have to also, I
think even today, the value of relationships is important, and
corporations will pay because a lot of times they don't
know who to call in they don't even know who
to call, and then they don't know how to reach them,
and they don't.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Know how to treat them. They scared of them when
they get But yeah, we just we just did it,
like how we was in the club, look come on in.
So we went, we went down there. We started doing that.
I started working on videos. I did early Wu Tang stuff.
I know that part of that whole scene cream I
directed the ghost face, I mean ray Quon and Ghosts
(10:00):
starate his scar faced ice cream. The funny story, I
always hear you, well, I've heard you talk about you
and cappan Donna. I've got stories about Cappa Donna for days.
But he's an amazing guy and.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Story tell us one.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So Cap Donna we talk. Let's talk about ice cream. Right.
So there's three artists wrapping on ice cream. Right, there's Raekwon,
Ghosts and Cappan Donna and so Capan Donna's fresh out
of jail, came home. He's we in Jamaica Queens shooting it.
The scene is the ice cream truck, met the man
and Rizza in the truck. All Cap Donna has to
(10:34):
do is come from behind the truck and start doing
his verse. Every time we got to do his verse,
the camera moving, he was standing behind the truck. He's like,
come on, So I'm like, why is he not coming
from behind the truck? Because he did. He didn't know.
He thought that the camera was going to go behind
the truck. There's no lights back then you gotta come
to the lights. So he was like, okay, we did
it like three times. Riz is like, yo, what are
(10:55):
you doing? He said, I don't understand. He said, you look.
So we had to walk him through it and then
stop right here and then start wrapping. He's like okay,
so that's how he got it too.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And was expensive too. I can't keep on reshooting stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
And then he just killed it.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
On top of that, he went into his little cap
Donna dance. He killed it.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That was listen. That video was amazing. That video spawned
like T shirts because every girl wanted to be like
a Caramel Sunday or you know, everybody had their little
T shirts the French vanilla right right.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I might still have some of those you probably got.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
How do you know? Like, because I have to imagine
all the amazing like merch that you have, promo things.
You can't get rid of any of that. I knew
it because I was moving and I was looking through
stuff and I'm like, man, I can't throw this out,
like how do you get you know what I'm saying,
you can't because this feels like archivval thing.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I have to hide it from my wife because she'll
be like, this can't be worth anything, and I'm like, yeah,
you're right, right now. It is. It's it's it's because
we just were there. You know, we were there, We
were in that moment. You know. It's it's so interesting
how hip hop is. It's like it's errors, you know,
the eighties, the nineties. Then we get to Nas and
(12:20):
Wu Tang and Biggie and you know, and Jay.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And you did it not his first video too, right, Yeah,
I did it.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Ain't hard to talk, yeah, and and and we captured
him and Main Source doing live at the Barbecue, which
was a big deal because that's really the first time
he really heard Nas on a record like that.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
That's why he said, I'm waving automatic guns and nuts.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Right. It was like, what is he talking about? And
that's my dude now because he you know, he's he's
an executive producer on my documentary, right as well as
Rest in Peace, Sasha Jenkins, who just passed away. Yeah,
me and me and Sasha did a lot of work
to get In fact, every documentary that Sasha did, I
worked on. I helped him along. You know, he like,
(13:00):
I need footage for this, and that's how we would
get the ideas going. And that's how we get it
because you know, you want to do something a story
like I'm gonna do a story on Angerley. I'm going
to go, wow, I remember when she used to be
over here. Let me see if I can find some footage.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
You have footage of everybody?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, so that's how it starts, all right.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So so we talked about the movies and then we
so you also wrote a children's book. Let's not forget that.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
We got another one coming.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh, another one coming.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Okay, Yeah, it's it's called Virtual Virtual hip Hop, and
it's really like these kids who are into the virtual
reality and there'll be a coinciding virtual reality game that
goes along with the book.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Okay, y see. I like that. And that's what I'm
talking about. Always evolving the evolution of things like staying
up to date on technology, I think is such an
important thing too.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
I think that kids want to know about, you know,
the old school study. They hear it, they see their
parents or they see their uncle, and they see me,
he's the old school What is he? Why did he
do this? They want to see that stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And I also think if you listen to some of
the new hit songs today, a lot of them are
nostalgic with samples from songs that we grew up listening.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
To and they're amazed, like it's almost like a reveal,
like you know the videos that you watch on YouTube
and somebody's listening to an old school song, like what
that's where that came from?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Right right?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
It's crazy, it's crazy, but I love it. I think
that is It's it's a time And that's why we're
doing the Video Music Box Experience because people came out
for the first one in any event that I do,
really and they just like this is the first time
them seeing some of these artists, like seeing Milk Ded
do top billing. You know, it's like, what, that's the
guy that did that.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
You know, like that still sounding the same, still.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Sounding the same, Milk still doing it, you know, Grand Pooba.
We have some special guests that we're adding now. Mister
Cheeks is on it now. Okay, Yeah, that's like a
rare sighting.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
The Parish from E. P. M. D irish As from
Black Sheep and you know that was the classic.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Everybody knows engine Engine number nine, you know, like all
of that.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, we don't and again and we always say there's
two people don't dance in the club like they used to.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Well, you know, the music is a little different, but
it's it's still hip hop.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
What I do see though, people doing Where was I
just now and they were doing the line dances. That's
the thing everywhere I noticed, like certain songs and everybody dance,
which but the fan's underground. Yeah, you know, I don't.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I don't because I hear it all the time. I'm like,
it's not a New York thing, but I mean I
see it here.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
It's like I was in Philly and I was at
this hat and Tea Evan shout out to them and
they were like, okay, now, everybody come up to the
front and get your fans ready. I was like, okay, now.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
This is you know what's funny is all the DJs
are like New York in it out, and it's like
it's not a song that you can really New York out.
It's like it is what it is, like just let
it live and let it, let it be what it be.
But I like it. It looked as long as they on
the floor. Line dancing has become a thing, you know.
But we used to have dances back in the days,
the wop and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
But we don't have the cabbage pads.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
The cabbage pads, right, we like to do that. You
could do that at my party at the video. You
can come and do it there June twenty if come
on out and get on the dance come and walk
with us exactly do what you like all right now.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
But that's going to be amazing. And it's also going
to be at Brooklyn Bowl, Yes, which is an amazing
venue to have that because you go Bowl, but there's
also a dance floor, yes, and it's great for live performances,
and the.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Food is amazing and it's in Brooklyn. Yeah, you don't
have Look, you don't have to leave Brooklyn. It's a
you know, there's a bunch of stuff going on, but
this is right here in Brooklyn. So Queen's is right there.
My people came from the Bronx. Last year. We had
a bunch of birthday parties, girls night out. All kinds
of stuff are going on that night, and I think
women really love it because they just get a chance
to get together and women know how to party, you know, guys,
(16:53):
we just yes, we do.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And listen, the party is always good when there's women.
Because it used to be like if you want to
get in, guys, you got to bring three girls right
in those days, So where when you go and guys
be like, yo, you could come in, come in with us,
so we could all.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Get in exactly right. Yeah, you'd be left outside, be
like yo, bro, I got money many.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
So this is going to be from now on like
a series. How often do you plan to do the
video music back is box experience?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I think that if Brooklyn Bowl is down, I'm down,
you know, so I'm down to do it. You know,
like in the past, you know, quest Love had a
night there. I started doing a hosted Slick Rick's birthday party.
He does an annual birthday party there. So we could
be part of that hole, that that part of the
hip hop scene.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Right. The other day, when I was interviewing Tretch, I
was talking about I was like, y'all need to like
do they used to do a lot of stuff in
Jersey too at NJ Pack? Oh yeah, I think NJ
Pack when they do the jazz past, things like this
could really pop too. You know.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
No, it's it's it's it's a time for Look, if
you over a certain age, you don't go everywhere. This
is for a certain age.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Like the early right early, going home.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I'm on that couch and I'm chilling, you know, So
this is for that crew. You work every day. You
still work every day, you still do your thing. You
come out enjoy yourself. It's on a Friday this time.
Last time was on Thursday. So now you have no excuse.
You can sleeping on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
June twentieth and I think we got to bust out
the old school camera and let people do shoutouts.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Oh yeah, oh no, that's part of the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Okay, goes, I said, that's got to be part of
the experience.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
That's part of the experience. Look, look, look, Angelou, we're
doing We're doing nails and eyelashes too.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Okay, I like it a backdrops.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Backdrops Nicky and Minnie. That's how we're doing it now.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I know there's other things that we may not know
that you're working on. So give us a little tea
on that. Like any other documentaries, I know you have
a ton of archive of footage. What's the plan now,
because you just have so much you could be doing.
I know people hitting you up all the time, But
for Uncle Ralph, what do you feel like? This is
what my next big project I want to be I
think for me.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Is completing the archiving of the of the video Musy
Boss Collection, which is a thing. It's like the Rockefeller Collection,
you know, That's the way I look at it. Its
value is amazing because I didn't know when I was
shooting that this was gonna be what it is today,
and so making sure that that's complete. And the reason
why is that this way we could tell our story
from a first hand person that was there. You know,
(19:26):
I'm archiving, I'm saying this is what happened, because sometimes
you read stuff about yourself and that, oh she was
in California, and just know that was in Brooklyn. With that,
you know the translation, don't.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
No matter what it was, I wasn't there, right, I
don't know what it is, but no, I didn't know this.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Was on no Stron Avenue. I know the spots she
was at, I know the background. So we want to
make sure that we get all our information right and
as we tell our story. That's a big part to
me too. And I don't care if it's hip hop
or whatever it is. You know, get your information right,
and this way we can put it in a hip
hop museum that's coming to the Bronx in twenty twenty seven.
It's coming soon, so we could put it there and
(20:02):
people can go and see it, and people can use
it as a reference if they're working on another documentary
or whatever it is. It's there and it exists. It's
a living body of work that you can do whatever
you can. You could tell you like the clothes, the wardrobe,
the hairstyles, the dances we talked about, all of that
you can reference in my stuff is other than the
(20:24):
artists and the music.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I mean, it's Fubu, it's April Walker, it's all of
the all of the clothing brands. Let me ask you this,
what's something that you found in the archives that you're like,
damn that you have not put out there yet, but
you like, this's the whole.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Doctor Dre interview, which is pretty rare in New York.
And sometimes I forget that some of the West Coast
artists that I that I did stuff with because I
didn't see them as much and they usually just came
here to do like interviews and things like that. But
I got some great like West Coast artists like Dre,
And people think because I'm an East Coast guy that
I don't have this, but now everybody came to New
(20:59):
York back in day, that's where all the media was at.
You had to come to New York. So yeah, no,
I got some great stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I mean it amazed that'd be for so strong between
the East and the West at that time. That it
is rare to see, like an interview where you might
have a doctor Dre right now, you don't.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
That was rare. Ice Cbe might see but Dre and Snoop,
well Snoop maybe, but Dre definitely not right.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
He don't even have to go nowhere. Ever, Yes, anew
today is rare, you know, to see of doctor Dre.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
I think that I think that it's important that that
people know. And I always tell this, you know, even
you know guys from from Atlanta, like like Outcasting. You know,
I always say, Andre three thousand doesn't know how much
love we had for him in New York and he
used to feel like we didn't give him love. I said, no,
that was the industry, that wasn't the people we love.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
I remember going to see Outcasts and the Fujis perform
in New York right together, and that was so exciting.
To like for both groups because it's not like we
got to see our cast but there. I remember Uncle
Luke saying he didn't get love here. It was hard
for them back then to come to New York.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Me and Red Alert played Uncle Luke to death.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah it was, yes, y'all did.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, we definitely like we got in trouble playing and
some of them two Lives, Two Live Crew songs, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah, yeah right. It probably is more of an industry
thing because people some of those songs they crossed every boundary.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, you know when you was in the club and
Red put on you know what you call them, mom.
I can't remember the big song they had.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
But whatever, it was the birthday song.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah, it's your birthday that he went crazy still to
this day because they were you know what. College also
made that transition, right, that that that relationship work because
if you was going to school anywhere past Washington, d C.
You knew all of those southern songs, right.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah, and like spring Flings, those were always the big Yeah.
I have memories, yes, yes, yeah, easy easy, angela Ye,
you have to do a documentary and listen, and I
do have to ask you, like you see some of
these celebrities that you've known personally firsthand. Like we're watching everything,
are you paying attention to, like the whole Diddy trial,
Like I.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Am, Yeah, it's it's you know, I told somebody you know,
and you know you're get in trouble when you say
certain things, but I'll say it, you know, Like I
watched Diddy from when he was seventeen. He was the
stage manager for me, hosting a show on at Harlem
Week when he was a kid, and I go, you
got the next act? And he go, yeah, okay, right,
and then that's how I met him. And then he's
(23:27):
he's choreographing Joe to see dancing behind father him, see
a video that everything's going to be all right, Thing's
going to be all right. Yeah right, and he's coming
up and I'm watching him. He's I'm like, he's doing it.
He's in it. And and then he gets bad Boy
and then he does whatever he does, and then he
has a school in Harlem and he's doing all these
(23:48):
things and all these kids are employed. And I meet
young kids that I worked for bad Boy and they
mad happy, like that meant something I worked for. And
now to watch where it's at today This was not
the plan, right, This was not the plan and it
really really wrong. And I hope that you know, it
works out for everybody, but you know, sometimes this is
we in a time of reality right now. So be
(24:11):
careful what you do out there, you know, because I'm
pretty sure he's not the only one that had things
that they did and not saying that it was illegal
what he did, but it might not have been right.
I'm not saying that he was legal, but it might
not have been right, and his soul knows that now,
you know, because it's got you know, sometimes it got
to be slow down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
How did you manage to avoid issues yourself? I don't
there's no bad Ralph McDaniel stories out I mean, I'm.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Pretty sure I was an idiot in certain cases. You know,
I'm pretty sure, you know, because but you know, as
I got older, I just was like I didn't care.
I don't worry about things like I used to. But
when you're younger, you think that this is it. If
I don't get this one hundred percent right, it's gonna
affect my career. And you do things that you know
may not be the right thing. You know, you're trying
(24:58):
to aggressively make something happen, So that means you're pressing
somebody or whatever you're doing. And but I don't you know,
I stopped at that point because I realized that God
is in charge, you know, and and and me, you know,
like I'm cool, I'm good with me. You know, I'm
good with me. So that's what when you're young, you
don't think like that.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, people have to think about the future and the
bigger picture. It's not just today. But if what I'm
doing now, is this going to affect what happens later
and affect other people? Because the last thing you want
is to always be looking over your shoulder, like who's
going to tell the truth about something I did?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Yeah? Yeah, you you want to just look Just stay
out of the way. Most of the time, we get
in the way of ourselves because we think we can
control everything and you can't. I don't care what happens.
The Knicks are going to win the series.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Okay, you just all right now, we're going to play
this back. I'm going to keep this clip, and so
we're going to see what happens. You do that, because
they have to win the next three games in a
row exactly and you feel good about it, right, Okay,
you hear me, you feel me all right? Listen, make
sure you guys check out Ralph McDaniel's and Late Development
(26:05):
present the Video Music Box Experience featuring Ralph McDaniels and friends.
You guys will have a good time. You can go
set it off because Strafa is going to be their
performance too, right, that's gonna be a big deal.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Yes, that's a line.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
That's a line. Dance right there. Get your fans ready.
But you guys can get tickets. You can go to
Brooklyn Bowl dot com. Make sure you follow at Video
Music Box and you will have a time. It's just so,
it's amazing to see where we whoever thought that hip
hop would make it this far right, it's way up
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