CELEBRATING HALF A CENTURY OF HIP-HOP: Honoring the Genre's Pioneers, Style, and Evolution with A.J. Throwback

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yo, confident you, Mary Swingler, in the house, in
the place to be Listen.
So excited to have you hereback on Confident you podcast
Today, right now, in this moment, in this time, whether you are
watching this day night, evening, midday, this is going to be

(00:24):
absolutely epic.
Listen, it is the 50thanniversary of something that
started in a rec room at abirthday party and now it's
celebrated, 50 years later, allaround the globe.
Are you listening to me?
Happy 50th anniversary hip hop,come on, come on, come on, come

(00:51):
on.
So excited to be doing this,listen.
So I couldn't do this by myself.
I had to bring someone who was,shall I say, a hip hop guru, so
excited that he was availableto do this with me, because I
definitely need someone to walkme through the evolution of hip

(01:17):
hop.
Happy anniversary, hip hop, 50years in the making.
And now, without further ado,we have with us our guest, aj
Throwback.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Hey, hey, hey, hey, glad to be back.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
How are you?
I'm awake, I'm so excited.
Look at that.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Wrong button.
All my energy pushed you offthe road.
Did you see that?

Speaker 1 (01:46):
what's up sir?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
hey, what's good what she says.
I'm glad to be back once again.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Thank you for having me again on this joint who else
would I celebrate 50 years ofhip hop with?
But the hip hop guru himself.
Come on now.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
I don't know about a guru.
I know a little somethinghip-hop with, but the hip-hop
guru himself.
Come on now.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Come on I don't know about a guru.
I know a little somethingthough you know a little
something, just a little bit.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Un poquito.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Okay, you know a little bit, let's see.
Can you tell me?
I'm just going to test to seewhat you know.
Can you tell me?
I'm just going to test to seewhat you know.
Can you tell me what hip hopartist or if there are more than
one hip hop artist that wasknown for sporting K-Nga?

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, you know, I mean you got Run DMC, you got LL
Cool J.
You know I mean you got Run DMC, you got LL Cool J.
I mean, darn, anybody, you know, like that was of that
particular era.
That was like and what'sinteresting about you asking

(03:06):
that question was the transitionfrom one bit of fashion to the
next era of fashion.
Because, like, if you thinklike earlier, like when you
think about Grandmaster Flashand the Furious Five, when you
think about Grandmaster Kaz andthe Cold Crush Brothers you know
what I'm saying like, when youthink about people like that
they were kind of sort ofmimicking a lot of their style
after the funk groups of the 70s, you know what I'm saying.
Like they were trying to belike big time, you know.
But then when you get to likethe run DMCs and you get to the

(03:27):
LL Cool J's, like they kind ofstripped it down, you know what
I'm saying.
Like they stripped a lot ofthings down.
Not only was the fashion thatbecame a little bit more
stripped down, if you will, butit also was representative of
the streets, because you didn'thave people dressing like you
know.
You didn't have people dressinglike you know, you didn't have
people dressing like the IsleyBrothers or dressing like Earth,
wind, fire just walking aroundin the street.

(03:48):
You know what I'm saying.
Like they was wearing Kangos itdepends on where you were
walking.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
It depends on where you were walking.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Right, right.
But in the hood, in the Bronx,you know what I'm saying Like
where you know where hip-hop wasfounded and started, like nah,
you ain't had that going on likethat.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
I ain't had that going on like that.
Let me see.
Let me see, I'm trying to showeveryone that you actually are a
guru, but I'm also giving themones that they know, to make
sure that they understand Okay,so yeah, I got that one.
I got that one.
So a clock Is understand.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Okay, so yeah, I got that one, I got that one, so a
clock.
Is there anyone that you think?

Speaker 1 (04:32):
is associated with a clock.
Oh, that's.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
That's easy.
Flavor flay, you know, flavorflavor, oh, one of my favorite
groups, all time public enemy,you know.
And the cool thing about flavorflay that a lot of people don't
realize, you know, like I thinkpeople see the personality and
they automatically assume youknow what I'm saying.
He's just like the like justthat guy.
You know what I'm saying butthis guy, like is a musician,

(04:54):
like a trained musician, like hecan play multiple instruments,
you know, and well, like, notjust like he can play a little
bit, like he puts me to shame.
You know like I need topractice some more.
You know what I mean.
Like Flavor.
Flav was like that, you know.
Like that dude, you know solike his presence in Public
Enemy it was really necessaryBecause it's like you have Chuck

(05:17):
D who's like more of like theserious one, you know what I'm
saying.
But like he serious one, youknow I'm saying, but like he
gives you the energy, but thenyou have flavor flay was like
just really like thatpersonality, you know, that kind
of sort of just takes it overthe top and and flavor, you know
I'm saying like he was veryconscious in a lot of ways, but
I think it kind of sort of getsovershadowed by like you know

(05:37):
his look, you know I mean.
But like you needed flavor flayin that group, you needed that
you needed that, which iav inthat group.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
You needed that, you needed that which I think that
this is so interesting thatwe're here already off of the
second o'clock that the yin andyang of them two, you know
Flavor, flav gave it, heliterally gave it.
Yeah, absolutely he literallygave it, because the message and

(06:06):
the um, everything public enemy, I, I just okay, okay, okay,
look, let me go, let me go, letme go, let me go.
I want to do my next one.
I want to do my next okay okay,afro puffs, oh, that's rage.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
That's rage, lady of rage.
You know, I'm saying likesomebody from you know,
representing farmville virginia,you know.
So I had never heard offarmville virginia until like
lady of rage, you know, I mean,but like she was somebody who I
feel like she didn't get enoughshine, as she should have, in
terms of when her projectactually came out, um, or when

(06:47):
her music came out.
I just felt like she didn'thave enough push because I mean,
like everybody that you talk towho loves hip-hop, who's a
hip-hop head, will sing herpraises in terms of how well, of
how much of a lyricist she is,you know, I'm saying, and so
like lady rage is one of thoseunsung heroes of hip-hop, you

(07:09):
know, I'm saying that like Ifelt like she just really, if
she had the right push, she'dhave taken off.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
She'd have really taken off my goodness, give me
your top five.
Top five rap singers.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Rap singers.
When you say rap singers, theyrap.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
When they sang, they sang their own hook.
In the beginning they weren'tdoing it that?

Speaker 2 (07:43):
ooh, Wow, I already got to sit here.
I know I'm literally thinkingof people who I would put in
this category.
It's just a matter of figuringout the order.
So most death is definitely inthere.
Um say is the song for most defwell, most people know you know

(08:05):
him with umi says like now,granted, he's not rapping and
singing, and umi says, but likeyou hear his vocals, and umi
says, you know, like his ability, so I would say most def.
Um, I would say, of course,lauren hill.
Lauren hill is definitely, youknow, she's definitely, cause I
mean, she's probably one of thebest at doing both, like she's

(08:27):
the most lyrically adept andlike in terms of her vocals
she's, you know, definitely oneof the best at that.
Um, missy is one of my personalfaves of all time.
Like when I say harmony, you'renot going to find too many
people better at harmonizing,better at vocal arrangements.

(08:49):
I don't care, like how wellthey sing, how well you know,
whatever.
You're not going to find toomany people better at harmony,
whether she's is her song orwhether she's arranging it for
someone else, because literallyall I'm thinking about is what
she did on Free Yourself forFantasia.
Like that that's a masterclassin vocal arrangements, but then

(09:14):
she'll turn around and give yousomething like super duper hip
hop.
Like she is really of theculture.
When you really think about,like what made the culture what
it is?
Missy really took that andrepresented it to the fullest.
You know, I mean so, I meanmissy's like one of my faves
like period, like rapentertainment, singing, you know

(09:36):
whatever.
Like she's, I mean she's like agoat for me.
You know, um, I'd have to thinkof like two others, because I'm
trying to think like, who reallycan sing and rap, like can do
both really well?
Absolutely, queen Latifah.

(09:58):
Oh, yes, yes, yes, absolutely.
I don't know how I overlookQueen Latifah, because you know
what it is.
I overlook how well she cansing.
You know I'm saying like, butshe can sing, she can sing very
well.
You know I'm saying so, yeah,she would definitely be.
She'd be actually be prettyhigh on the list for me.
Um, and then I'm trying tothink who else would I put in

(10:20):
that category?

Speaker 1 (10:22):
for real, are you else?

Speaker 2 (10:24):
would I put in that category For real.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
Are you actually saying the word for real?

Speaker 2 (10:31):
No, I thought you were saying for real, I thought
you were like throwing, for real.
Yes, you know what'sinteresting about for real.
And this is why I can't be madat that answer, because
Pharrell's vocal arrangementsare very underrated, very
underrated, like I think about.
Like what he did on a song likeCome Close for Common when he

(10:53):
worked with Mary J Blige.
I also think about just some ofhis other songs where it's like
he's working with other peopleand he arranges vocals very well
.
It's like he's working withother people and he arranges
vocals very well.
But I was just telling I wasjust telling my wife this, maybe
like over the weekend orsometime last week Pharrell is
an underrated rapper.
Pharrell be having bars, youknow I'm saying people focus so

(11:16):
much on you know Pharrell is aproducer.
Pharrell is, you know, the hooksinger.
You know I'm saying a lot ofthe other stuff that he's done,
but Pharrell be having barslegit.
You know I'm saying a lot ofthe other stuff that he's done,
but pharrell be having barslegit, you know, and like sneaky
bars, like I think.
And it's funny that we mentionedmissy, because I thought about,
uh, the song he did with missya couple of years ago.
Uh where they, where they fromthat song right there.

(11:39):
Oh my gosh, like that's sohip-hop like that, that
throwback, almost like planetrock type of hip hop.
Like stripped down, it's not awhole lot of music going on with
it.
And like he's spitting and likespitting some like low key
knowledge on that joint.
You know what I mean Talkingthat, talk on it.

(12:00):
So yeah, I would put Pharrellin that category.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
All right, sir, I will say that, yes, for me a
guru knows how to give theanswer and then give the
background to the answer.
That is what you just did inour first round of hip hop.
Do you know that was round one.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
I didn't know we was doing rounds, but I'm glad I did
well in round one.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
So I want to.
Now that you said no, I say yes.
I will let the people decidefor themselves.
We are about to start at thebeginning, the beginning of hip
hop.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Sir, if you could just give us a quick cliff note
tutorial on how hip hop beganwell, I mean, as many folks know
, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in theBronx, in the rec room, dj Cool

(13:10):
Herc, who is actually from hewas originally born in Kingston,
jamaica, and what was going onat that time was, like 1973,
you're talking August 11th 1973,throws the first hip hop party,
and what was going on at party?

(13:31):
Well, it wasn't branded hip-hopat that time, it was just what
it was.
Was that it was one?
It was a back to school jam,that's what it was.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
so, yeah, like birthday party for his little
sister well, probably was a bitof both.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
But on the actual advertisement, you see it say
back to school, jam um, 1520cedric avenue, quote, unquote,
the rec room.
You know I'm saying august 11,1973, I think.
The party was like from eithernine at night to four in the
morning or something like that.
It was like 25 cents for theladies, 50 cents for the guys,
you know I mean.

(14:08):
So, like it was, it was a whole.
It was a whole vibe that wasgoing on, and one of the things
that cool herk said was that therec room really only held about
40, 50 people, but the word hadspread like wildfires about
what he was doing and the typeof music that he was playing.
Because, the thing is, at thattime disco was starting to take
off and so hip-hop was reallykind of sort of like I don't

(14:34):
want to say anti-disco, but like, when you think about what the
vibe of disco was like, you had,like you go to a place like
studio 54, um, and I forget whatthe one of the other popular
ones was called, but like thosetypes of clubs you had to be
suited and booted.
Like you had to like dress acertain way, you had to spend a

(14:55):
certain amount of money in orderto get in these parties.
And then the music that theywere playing.
There was a lot of people whoreally couldn't connect with
that.
They connected more with thefunk stuff, they connected more
with the blues, with gospel,with rock, with a lot of these
things that weren't being playedin the disco clubs.

(15:17):
And so the thing that made whatDJ Kool Herc special was that,
one, he had a lot of recordsthat a lot of people didn't have
.
Two, they weren't playing themon the radio.
And three, he would only playthe what's called the breaks.
So it's the part in the songwhere it's just like the drums,

(15:38):
maybe the bass line or whatever,but it's like those parts where
, like, really the groove sitswith these songs, you know, and
those were the parts that hewould play during his set,
because a lot of he saw theenergy that, like, when you play
these parts, people respondedto it.
They had a certain reaction.

(15:59):
That's where the whole thingwith break dancing comes from,
because the dancers would danceto the breaks.
And so, like, hold on hold onhold on.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
Okay, Are you serious ?
Is that?

Speaker 2 (16:11):
what that came from.
That's what that's where theterm comes from.
They dance to the breaksbecause, again, that's where the
groove sat.
Like you can, you can have theparts where they, you know, they
sing in and there's theinstrumentation and all of that,
but, like, when those breakshappen and how they just kind of
how the music move them.
That's where that comes from.

(16:34):
Yes, they dance to the breaksand so, um, cool herk is part of
what's called the holy trinityof, like, hip-hop djs.
So you had dj cool herk, um,you had africa bambada, um, you
know, like he, you know he andit's funny because he was like
you know, I had a lot of thoserecords saying about cool herc.

(16:54):
He's like I heard what coolherc was doing.
I had a lot of those records.
And then some, you know, I'msaying, and so, like you had,
like I said, uh, dj cool herc,africa bambada.
And then, of course, one of myfavorite djs to me, like he just
changed the face of djingforever, and that's grandmaster
flash.
And the thing about grandmasterflash that was special was,

(17:18):
whenever we think about cuepoints of songs, this dude, like
he was trying to figure out abetter way of transitioning
between two songs.
That like like, if he had, ifhe found a break in a song, a
lot of times what would happenwas the transitions weren't as

(17:39):
smooth.
And so as somebody who wasreally fascinated with like
circuitry and how things worked,he would you know, he was at
first he was trying to likealmost like jerry rigger way, to
kind of sort of make it happenwith the circuitry.
But then he just figured outlike okay, how can I take this
part and kind of sort of scratchbetween these two parts and

(18:02):
make it a smoother transitionthan what we hear from radio djs
, than what even that we hearfrom coolool, herc and Bambada?
And so that's when he would takea crayon, mark the parts on the
song and he would count howmany times the record would go
around and then he would switchbetween those two parts and

(18:26):
that's what changed DJingforever.
That's how we know DJing tothis day, like as hip-hop DJs,
as DJs period, like that'sGrandmaster Flash, that was the
genius that he came up with.
So when you talk about like thepeople, like the forefathers of
hip-hop, the guys that reallylike set the tone, because at

(18:47):
first it was about the DJs, soyou talking again.
Kool Herc, afrika Bambaataa,grandmaster Flash they were the
ones that really, like, helpedto set the tone for what hip hop
became in terms of, like, theDJing aspect.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
The rappers came later.
The rappers came later Likethey weren't even like they
weren't even like the forefrontat first Right came later like
they weren't even like theyweren't even like the forefront
at first right.
But but then you had peoplelike um, you had the fantastic
five.
You had, uh, of course, uh, thefurious five with meli, mel, um
and that whole group.

(19:23):
You know I'm saying that endedup.
You know they were, they werewith grandmaster flash, right,
um, like you had so many groupsat that particular time.
I want to say, uh, I want tosay it was a fantastic five.
And then it was like a threegroup because they battled
between each other and it was no, it was, I think it was a fancy
.
I want to say it was afantastic three.

(19:44):
And then it was the cold crushbrothers.
I want to say they were theones that battled and at first
because, like, actually I thinkit was a fantastic five, they
had the girls, so like the womenwas like really responding to
them, and because they had thecrowd that night, everybody

(20:05):
thought that they won.
But then, when they listenedback to the tapes, you know,
because at that time, likethat's where you had the bootleg
takes coming coming because youdidn't have things recorded on
record.
At that time.
Like for the first seven years,like six, seven years of hip
hop, people weren't going in thestudio and actually recording

(20:25):
hip hop records.
So all you had were like almostkind of like in Go-Go, you had
like these PA tapes almost wherepeople would record the party
and you know they wouldcirculate around the hood and
that's how you heard those tapesif you weren't at the party.
You know, I mean, and so thisbattle, this epic battle that
happened.
When they listen back to thetape they was like, oh, not a

(20:47):
cold crush, brothers, they, they, they killed.
Like, oh, not a cold crushbrothers, they, they, they
killed it.
But that's where you kind ofsort of had these foundations,
because a lot of it started withfrom the party scene.
You know, like you said certainrhymes that really you were
really just trying to get thecrowd going.
You had the dj working, you had, um, the mcs coming along.

(21:07):
Of course you had the b boys,the b girls, the break dancers.
You know I'm saying they were ahuge part of that movement and
really just kind of sort ofbringing these elements together
.
Um, then of course, you hadgraffiti that started.
That started coming along, likeyou see people what they call
bombing trains in new york.
Like I mean, to me I felt likethey made the trains look better

(21:30):
because they were boring, theywere silver, you know, it wasn't
anything going on with them.
But then you see a train to getbombed and it's like, oh my
gosh, this thing just like justtook on a completely different
personality, you know, but likeI think I would be remiss if I
didn't say that a lot of whatlike really inspired hip-hop to

(21:55):
be a thing was what was going onin the streets.
A lot of times, when you haveany new movement, it's always a
movement of the youth that's inrevolt to whatever is going on
at the time.
So not only did you have discogoing on at the time, but you
also had the Bronx was literallyon fire.
Like that's not even like anykind of uh you know symbolism or

(22:21):
anything like that.
No, it was literally on fire,like burning buildings, like all
the time.
I think it was like one year itwas like 12,300 fires in the
Bronx alone and like you, lookall around and it's just like
abandoned buildings, burned downbuildings, rubble, trash,
debris, everywhere, people onyou know, people on welfare,
people getting mugged, killedStreet gangs were rampant, like

(22:44):
all of these different things.
And so you had people who justfelt like we need something for
us, people who just felt like weneed something for us, we need
something that speaks to ourmovement and how we're feeling
at the time.
And so hip hop really kind ofsort of birthed a lot of that,
just kind of sort of ragingagainst the machine, so to say.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
You know raging against the machine.
You know, raging against themachine.
Listen, we are going to haveround two.
It is a hip hop, did you know?
So, african medallion Name whatgroup?

Speaker 2 (23:37):
Well, let's see, I believe x-clan was a group that
rocked the uh, the medallions um, of course, public enemy.
They were definitely known forrocking medallions um a lot of
the members of the nativetongues collective and anybody
who doesn't know native tongues.
You talking trap call quest,you talking de la soul.
You talking moni love talkingqueen latifah, you're talking to
jungle brothers, uh, leaders ofthe new school, um, and you

(23:59):
know it's a bunch of otherpeople.
Some people, like I found outyears later I was like they were
part of native tongues.
I didn't even know that, but,like native tongues, they were
big on the african medallions um, and you know it's, it's a
bunch of other people.
Those are like the first people, like first couple of groups
that like come to mind when Ithink about how, like, a lot of

(24:20):
Afrocentrism was so important atthat particular time.
You're talking the late 80s,early 90s, because I mean it's
like you saw the Africanmedallions, you saw everybody
wearing the ex Malcolm X hats.
You know I'm saying like I meanyou think about Queen Latifah.
One of the things that made herspecial was the fact that there
was that connection to Africa,even Africa and Bambaataa now,

(24:42):
granted, he wasn't necessarilyas much on the medallion
movement, but without AfricaBambaataa and what he did,
because he really brought thatfifth element of hip-hop that
people overlook and that'seducation.
You know I'm saying knowledge.
I should say that is fiveelements to hip-hop.
Most people say four, but it'sactually djing, emceeing, b-boy

(25:07):
and b-girling, graffiti andknowledge.
Those are the five elements ofhip-hop.
And so when you have therepresentation of the african
medallions coming out, it's likethat's part of the knowledge,
that's part of the continuationof things like what people like
africa bambada started with zulunation and bringing a lot of
the gangs together and unifyingpeople through their identity,

(25:32):
connecting back to africa.
So when you look at the publicenemies, when you look at the
x-clans, when you look at um,the native tongues and a lot of
other people who representedthat, it's basically just a
continuation of what the africanbambaata started.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
You know right right, right, all right.
So that was round two.
Ding, ding, ding, you did well.
That was a nice littleeducational moment, thank you.
So how did hip hop start foryou?

Speaker 2 (26:04):
So I mentioned Grandmaster Flash and the
Furious Five.
That was my start, like when Iwas, and I mean a little kid
like that song probably came outwhen I was, and I mean a little
kid like that song probablycame out when I was two or three
years old.
But I still remember, I stillremember Mike, my dad, having
records at that time and hewould play that record and
apparently I went crazy, youknow, I'm saying, and even when

(26:26):
I heard it years later it'salmost like I was connecting
back to that time of really justkind of sort of gravitating
subconsciously and consciouslytoward that record, because the
importance of it was one didn'treally have a lot of conscious
hip-hop songs at the time.

(26:47):
A lot of it was like partydriven at the time, yeah, but
when you hear the message, themessage really just kind of sort
of changed the trajectory ofwhat you could talk about in a
hip-hop song.
You know, that's number one andthen number two for me why it's
a subconscious thing is becausethe type of rap that I would

(27:08):
end up making and the type ofrap that I would end up
gravitating towards as an artistand as a lover of the culture,
a member of the culture would bethat type of rap.
You know, something that has amessage, something, something
that has substance, somethingthat represents what's going on
in culture, what's going on inour communities, what's going on

(27:30):
with us as individuals, asblack people.
You know what I'm saying, blackand brown people, you know what
I'm saying.
So, like for me, that was likemy first real introduction to
hip hop that I could remember.
Now, granted, I remember allthem, sugarhill records laying
around with the, with the coollogo and all of that, like when
I was a kid, but like I didn'tgravitate towards those records

(27:54):
as much as I did.
The message, like the messagethat was like that thing that
really kind of sort of opened itup for me in the beginning.
You know, I mean, it was groupsthat I ended up gravitating
towards more when I became ateenager.
But when you talk about what,what was my first introduction
that I could remember?
It was the message grandmaster,flash, furious five it was the

(28:16):
message grandmaster, flashfurious five.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Give me that lyric, that verse that stands out to
you from the message I meanbroken glass everywhere.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
I mean like just I don't know the whole verse, I
can't even tell you.
Like you know it's one of thosethings like when you hit, like
I could probably recite a goodamount of the bars, but like I
mean it's so many differentpieces to like what makes that
song special.
You know, I mean like thebroken glass everywhere.
You know people walking aroundlike they just don't care.
You know I'm saying it's likethe picture that they painted

(28:55):
with what life was like at thattime, cause what you have to
realize is that while there wasa lot of poverty going on in the
Bronx when hip hop firststarted, it got worse in the
early eighties because then youhave cocaine and crap coming

(29:15):
along, and that when that hit,especially in a city like New
York, I mean it's just likecompletely exploded and changed
life for so many differentpeople.
You know I'm saying it created.
It created the hustler.
You know they've created adifferent type of hustle when it
came to that life.
Unfortunately, it created a lotof addicts to a different kind

(29:36):
of drug.
That was just like even moredangerous, because not only was
it dangerous for the personselling it, but it was dangerous
for the person ingesting it.
You know what I'm saying it was.
It was just danger all the wayaround ingesting it.
You know what I'm saying it was.
It was just danger all the wayaround.
And you know we get into thiswhole political thing in terms
of you know who introduced it,who brought it into the hood and

(29:57):
all of these different things,but that's another conversation
for another day.
All I can say is that when youhave a song as powerful as that
representing that, and then thepoverty and then the
hopelessness and just so muchthat's going on at that time in
New York City, in the Bronx,it's like you needed a record

(30:17):
like that.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
You absolutely needed it you needed it to me to tell
the truth, to acknowledge whatwas going on and to get the
message out.
So hip hop started in a recroom in the Bronx a school party
, a back to school party, abirthday party for his sister,

(30:41):
and then it's now around theworld.
How do you see hip hop growingup?

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Tell me the stages of growth to go from that rec room
to around the world well, uh,one of the things that made it
go around the world was onceagain going back to grandmaster
flash and the furious five.
Like they were one of the firsthip-hop groups to tour

(31:09):
worldwide.
You know, like when you had alot of these other groups kind
of battling, you know, in theseunderground circuits, they were
the main ones that like stillhad the part of the essence of
hip hop but because they had somuch appeal, people wanted you
know, they wanted them to cometo this country or come to that
country.
Then you have, of course, sugarhill gang rappers delight.

(31:34):
Now there's a lot ofcontroversy behind that song,
but what cannot be denied is thefact that that record really
opened up the door for thepossibilities of what hip-hop
music could be.
You know I'm saying, and so,like it was the same thing with
them.
They were talking about, Ithink it was Wonder Mike.
One of the things that he wassaying was, you know, they were

(31:56):
getting invited to go toCopenhagen and they were getting
invited to go to Brussels andall of these different places
around the world.
Just from that one record.
That one record changed theirlife.
You know what I'm saying, andso you have that Then you have
that, then you have um, I'mtrying to think, of course uh,

(32:17):
run dmc.
You know, we'd be remiss if wedon't talk about run dmc.
Run dmc the thing that made rundmc special was when they first
started out and the beats thatthey were rapping on they were,
and the beats that they wererapping on they were completely
stripped down.
No bands, no music.
In fact, russell Simmons one ofthe things he talked about was

(32:38):
the fact that when they finishedthe song Sucker MCs, which was
their first single, when theyfinished Sucker MCs, the
engineers was like, oh, I guesswe can work on this tomorrow.
And he was like, what do youmean?
Work on this tomorrow?
It's done.
Like, what else we got to workon?
It's just drums and themrapping, and to have that kind

(32:59):
of vision and to understand whatthe streets wanted to hear and
to kind of sort of take it in adifferent direction.
It was just something specialto set up what they ended up
doing with, say, aerosmith anddoing that record, because not
only do you have what they didwith Aerosmith, but also the

(33:23):
whole thing of the Adidas likethey.
Run DMC became the firstnon-athletic entity to have an
athletic endorsement or anendorsement by an athletic shoe
company, the first, nobody elsebefore them.
That's the power of hip hop.

(33:43):
Hip hop could be a commercialcommodity.
That's something russellsimmons understood.
He also understood that it couldbe in these spaces where it's
not just people that look likeus and to go there, you got to
kind of sort of rewind back alittle bit once again to
grandmaster flash.

(34:05):
The fact that a big mega popstar or I won't even say pop,
but like a big mega star, likeblondie, blondie being hip to
grandmaster flash because of fabfive freddy like him, fab five
freddy putting her on to flashopened up so many doors for

(34:29):
flash because of her basicallymaking a whole song about how
dope grandmaster flash was.
You know I'm saying so.
It's like when you start gettingin different spaces and
understanding that, yes, you canstill keep the culture and
still represent who you are andstill represent the essence, but

(34:50):
still get in these other spaceswhere other people are going to
actually pay for your music andyou don't even realize just how
impactful it is and just howmuch it speaks to people even
beyond your own borders.
You have all of these differentphases and you start seeing,
like, the evolution of hip-hop,you start seeing how global it

(35:12):
can be.
You see, start seeing howcommercially viable it can be
while still maintaining a lot ofits essence, while still
maintaining a lot of its grit,um, in the process.
Now, sometimes it can be hardto do, but at the same token,
like without some of these setup moves, like a Grandmaster

(35:33):
Flash and the Furious Five, likeSugar Hill Gang, like Run DMC,
like, like I said, what Blondiedid with Grandmaster Flash and
making a song about him Likewithout these set up, a lot of
these set up moves, you don'thave hip hop being where it is
now setup moves.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
You don't have hip-hop being where it is now,
right, right.
You don't have hip-hop beingwhere it is now because hip-hop
just did the um halftime show ofthe uh, the football game, the
uh, I'm bad with it.
Help me it, it's the.
Superbowl the Superbowl, ha haha, ha, ha yeah.
So, yes, that that just to seethat happen, to know that Jay Z,

(36:29):
a rapper, is in charge of that.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
The vision that you have to have to be able to get
into those rooms and take thehustler that you used to be on
the street and turn it into aboardroom hustler.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
Different minds.
Yeah, I see the minds.
Yeah, I see the hat, I see thehat and and shout out to my,
shout out to my brother dj shane.
He uh got this shirt for me.
It's got literally every albumcover of uh, jay-z's albums,
because he knows jay-z is myfavorite rapper.
You know I'm saying so, it'sjust it's, it's so.
It's no coincidence that youmentioned Jay-Z, you mentioned

(37:16):
Hustle and I'm wearing what I'mwearing Right.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
Ladies and gentlemen, it has happened again where
something has come out of mymouth and I'm telling you I
didn't see any of this stuff.
That's what happened.
You put it in, but I couldn'tsee the shirt are you serious,
yep and I didn't know that.
I didn't know that it was jay-z.
Let me tell you who I thoughtit was, nah we, and you know

(37:43):
it's funny.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
Most people um well, most people whenever they think
of me, they automatically think,like my favorite rapper is Nas.
Now, he's one of my favorites,like for sure, I think.
For me, though, jay-z is alittle bit.
I like Nas' messaging more, butin terms of like putting words

(38:07):
together, for whatever reason, Ijust connected a little bit
more with Jay-Z, you know, andJay-Z has a lot of quotables for
me, that Even though, like awise man told me don't argue
with fools, Cause people from adistance can't tell who is who.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
Wait a minute, let's see.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Ooh, I would have to.
It would have to be the entiresecond verse.
I can't even quote the wholeverse, but the entire second
verse of moment of clarity.
And here's why because he talksabout how, basically, um, truth
, truth be told, I wanted torhyme like common sense, but I

(39:02):
did 5 mil.
I ain't been rhyming likecommon sense Because the reality
of it is, and it's one of therealest To me, it's one of the
realest verses he's ever written.
Because the reality of it is, Ifeel, like Jay-Z and you can
hear it on his first album, likewhen you think about a song
like 222's.
Like you can hear the fact thatJay-Z and you can hear it on

(39:23):
his first album.
Like when you think about asong like 222s.
Like you can hear the fact thatJay-Z can be conscious when he
wants to.
And this is one of the thingsthat I've kind of sort of
battled with people about foryears.
I'm like this dude is moresocially aware than you realize.
He just did it from a streetperspective.
That's all you know what I'msaying.
Like that's.
That's the only difference.
That's all you know what I'msaying.
Like that's, that's the onlydifference.
He might not have been out theretalking about or talking it in

(39:43):
the same way, like as a publicenemy you know what I'm saying
but like or as a Nas, you know,or as a Tupac, but what he
talked about he did it in a waywhere he wasn't necessarily

(40:03):
always glorifying certain things.
Like he talked about it, likeyou know.
Like you know, like, gottalearn, gotta learn to live with
regrets.
You know, I'm saying just thatone line alone, that's a course,
but like that one line aloneshapes so much of how I look at
the world.
You know, I'm saying becausesome people will always say you
know, I ain't got no regrets, Iain't got no regrets.
He's like nah, you gotta learnto live with regrets, because
it's some things that's going tohappen in your life, it's some

(40:24):
things that you're not going tobe proud of and you really end
up being remorseful for thethings that you did.
And so I mean I would probablysay, if I had to think like, top
three off the top of my head,those would be the three, you
know, and there's a ton andthere's a ton more.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
There's a ton more.
Gotta learn to live withregrets.
Listen, I don't think that youshould go through your life
going I should have did this, Ishould have did that, I should
have did this.
But I do think the look back isreal.
I believe that you should takeresponsibility and

(41:04):
accountability for the thingsthat you have done and then make
a choice to do better in thefuture.
And how can you do that unlessyou say, dang, that wasn't right
, I shouldn't have did that.
I should have did thisdifferently.
It helps you get a betterperspective and plan for where
you're going.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
That's right.
That's right and to that point,and the fact that we're talking
about Jay-Z because when youtalk about evolution, you think
about where he was mentally,emotionally, spiritually, in a
lot of different ways.
You think about where he waswhen he made reasonable doubt.
You're talking 26 years old,like he's still in his 20s brain

(41:43):
, just finished probably cookingbacon and all that right.
Then you get to when he made444 2017 he's 47 years old.
So now he has 21 years ofexperience between when he made
his first groundbreaking debut,easily considered a classic, to

(42:04):
this album, where he's the mostintrospective he's ever been in
his entire recording career.
And it's funny because it'slike, I think, those of us who
really understand him andartists like him is that we
always knew he could make thatalbum.
It was just a matter of like.
You had to grow up, you had tolive life, you had to go through

(42:27):
certain experiences.
You had to experience ups anddowns.
You had to experience beingbeing the bad guy in a lot of
situations.
You had to experience beinghurt.
You had to experience loss andlosing people and losing
friendships, and you know goingthrough marital issues and
losing friendships.
And you know going throughmarital issues and being a
father and you know goingthrough all of these.
You know your mother coming outlike knowing that your mother

(42:50):
was going through what she wasgoing through, knowing there was
something different about yourmother but her coming out and
you being glad that she actuallyowns her truth, like all of
these different layers thatjay-z talks about on his album.
He had to grow up in order tobe able to talk about it and
talk about it freely and get tothe point was like I'm not.

(43:11):
I'm not worried about what I'mtalking about on these songs,
because y'all gonna buy itanyway, because I've already
built up that carte blanche withy'all as my audience.
Y'all have been riding with meall this time.
Now I'm about to show you how Ican evolve.
Now I'm about to show you how Ican get better and to me,

(43:32):
that's the beauty of hip hopperiod.
I take it out of the wholecontext of just Jay-Z.
Like, do you really think aboutthe difference between how,
again, hip-hop started as morelike a party thing and then how
it evolved into people beingmore conscious?
Because I mean, of course Imentioned the message
grandmaster, flash and furiousfive, but then you think about

(43:52):
somebody like rakim.
Rakim helped to change howpeople rap today, not just just
with his content but the way heflows.
Rakim single-handedly changedthe way that people flowed, from
that um, from the way that,like a lot of the old school

(44:14):
cats did it, to really what weknow now.
Because I mean mean Rakim'sflow is so timeless that you can
roll that flow out now and it'sstill, it's still fresh because
it's just that dope.
And to know that he got a lotof that from studying John
Coltrane and like, if I couldrap like John Coltrane, like

(44:37):
plays his instrument, it's likeI got something.
And he figured it out becausehe was bringing flows you never
heard before.
It wasn't that just like simple, like plug and play flow that
everybody was doing at one point, you know, I mean like he, he
brought something totallydifferent to the table, you know
.
But he also brought theconsciousness.
You know that you, when youstart seeing the evolution and

(45:02):
then you see a lot of these sameartists like where they started
, when they were in their teens,when they're in their early 20s
, and then you see them now andlike some of the music they're
making now is even better thanthe music they made when they
were younger and you know, likethese classics that we herald so
much because they grew up andthat's the beauty of us being 50

(45:22):
years into hip-hop is to seehow it's grown up since then, to
see a lot of the legends stillmaking records and making some
of the best music of their life.
You know, um, one artist that Ialways talk about when it comes
to just watching his evolutionhe's not talked about enough is
Royce the Five Nine.
Uh, royce the Five Nine, he'san artist that really kind of

(45:46):
sort of came up with like kindof being connected to Eminem.
But Royce the Five Nine, whenhe first started out you could
tell he was somebody that wastrying to figure out.
Okay, how do I do this?
Because you could tell the typeof MC he was.
I mean, he was gritty.
He come from detroit, detroitrappers.
I always say detroit rappersand philly rappers.
They are different type ofrapper.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
They don't make rappers like them detroit or
philly that's the same way Ifeel about the music r&b music
how about?

Speaker 2 (46:17):
yes, I agree.
I agree that both of thosecities just produce a different
type of artist, a special typeof artist that has a certain
grit, a certain soul that you'renot gonna get anywhere else.
And I'm not saying that youdon't have it anywhere else.
You're just not gonna getdetroit soul or detroit funk
right like you know, likeanywhere else.

(46:39):
So you're not gonna get phillyfunk or philly soul like
anywhere else.
Or you're not gonna get phillyfunk or philly soul like
anywhere else, or you're notgonna get a philly rapper or
detroit rapper.
It's, I feel, like those citiesbecause they're industrial
cities.
Industrial cities to me justproduce a different type of
person.
But then you compound that with, like, the differences in the
struggles that each of thosecities go through and then put

(47:01):
it with the music, it justproduces a special type of
artist.
So, going back to Royce, theFive Nine, like when he first
started out, you could tell hewas just trying to, like, get
his feet wet.
Then over time, like, eachproject got better and better
and better.
But then when he startedgetting transparent in his music
, talking about, like, a lot ofthe things that, like were his

(47:22):
setbacks, were the things thatwere holding him back, he
started talking about you knowrelation, you know his
relationships.
He started talking about mentalhealth.
I always think about his songStrong Friend.
Check up on your strong friend.
Like when you think about wherehip hop was at one point and
you didn't necessarily hearsomebody just come out and say

(47:43):
I'm dealing with mental health.
Cause.
If you think about a song likemy mind's playing tricks on me
by the ghetto boys, one of myfavorite hip hop songs ever, one
of the one of the beststorytelling songs ever, they're
talking about mental health inthat song, but but then you
gravitate toward a song likestrong friend by royce to five

(48:04):
nine, you can't get that songwithout a mind my mind playing
tricks on me.
But you can't get the even moretransparency without the change
of the landscape, withoutpeople growing up, without
people understanding, hey, it'sokay to go to a therapist.
Hey, it's okay to talk aboutmental health issues and you

(48:25):
don't get branded a certain way,you don't get classified, as
you know all of these differentlabels that people will try to
put on you, you know.
So I say all that to say that towatch people like a Jay-Z, to
watch people like a Royce atFive Nine, to watch somebody
like a Scarface who I feel likeScarface has always kind of sort
of been on that wave of like,just keeping it like a hundred

(48:48):
percent gritty, I mean, scarfaceis one of my favorites at all
time as well, one of the beststorytellers ever.
Even with him, to witness hisevolution not only as a rapper,
but as a person.
You know, like that's, thebiggest thing for me is not
seeing how hip hop transformslives, not just how it

(49:08):
transforms you as an artist, buthow it transforms you as a
person, because you go throughso many different things being
in this industry, experiencingthe things that you experience
taking L's in so many differentways, experiencing the things
that you experience taking L'sin so many different ways, but
also experiencing a lot ofvictories.
You have so much to tell.
You have so many stories totell that it's hard to be

(49:29):
limited in the type of storiesthat you tell you know so.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
Wow, OK, so trans pop transforms lives.
It literally transforms.
That is something that we aredefinitely.
That hip hop transformation iswhat we are going to touch on in

(49:55):
the after party.
Sir, I appreciate you stickingaround for this entire episode
and just just giving us a walkthrough hip-hop.
I am um very grateful.
I have one more round you readyokay, all right.

Speaker 2 (50:17):
All right With the years.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
Of hip hop.
Did you know?
Let's see when do I want to gowith this.
How do I Want to Five bestcollaborations.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Five best collaborations, mmm.

Speaker 1 (50:41):
Five best collaborations I want the album
or the song and why?

Speaker 2 (50:47):
okay, I really gotta think about that.
That's a really good question.
Huh see, I'm always I feel likea lot of times I'm always gonna
be okay.
They might not be in order, butit is kind of a bias because
it's going to be involved someof my favorite rappers.

(51:07):
But this can't be life.
Jay-z, beanie seagull, scarfacefrom, uh, the dynasty rock a
Familia album.
The reason why that's one of myfavorite collabs is because
that was the first.
The thing is like Beans andScarface had worked together.

(51:31):
Beanie Siegel and Scarface hadworked together.
I'm trying to think if Scarfaceand Jay-Z had worked together
by that point yet I would haveto think about that.
But to see all three of them onthe same track and dig Because
what's funny about that song isthat Kanye West, when he first

(51:53):
pitched that beat to Jay-Z, hewasn't expecting Jay-Z to be
introspective.
And so for Jay-Z to kind ofsurprise him and get
introspective on that song.
And then you have beanieseagull, bring his own
perspective, and then scarface.
Oh my god, scar, how scarfacewraps up that song.

(52:14):
When I came into the studio uh,what do you say?
Do this with Jay?
I got a phone call from one ofmy it's my homeboy, reese just
lost one of his kids and when Iheard it it just burst me into
tears and I'm probably jackingup some of the lyrics.
But what he ultimately says isthat I could have rapped about

(52:39):
my hard times in the song, butheaven knows, I would have been
wrong, it wouldn't have beenright, it wouldn't have been
love, it wouldn't have been life, it wouldn't have been us.
This can't be life.
Like being able to empathizewith one of his homies in that,
in his verse, that he probablywas going to end up writing

(53:00):
about something that heexperienced, but it caused him
in that moment to be thankfulfor his own child, because his,
his kid, was two at the time.
And so to have that amount oflike, just empathy and
introspectiveness in that verseand to be the closer because I

(53:23):
always think, like you got tohave a strong, you have to have
somebody strong at the beginning, strong in the middle, strong
at the end, it's just one of thebest collaborations, like ever
to me, you know.
And then the production.
The production was what I lovedabout the production.
It was very simple, very simple, wasn't a whole lot going on,
because you know Kanye, after awhile, like he, he progressed

(53:46):
his production, but what made itso great is that it was a
little on the stripped down sidefor Kanye's taste, you know.
I mean because it's like he.
He admitted he bit the drumsfrom uh, one of Dre's songs, uh,
and then you know the HaroldMelvin and the Blue Note sample.
I Miss you.
Like it was very simple, verysimple what he did, and for me

(54:07):
it just made it a very goodcollaboration, not just with the
artists themselves but also theproduction itself.
It just allowed them to telltheir stories.
So that would definitely be be,if not number one, definitely
at the top.
Um, another one, I would sayrainy days by uh rayquan and

(54:32):
ghostface killer.
Um rayquan and ghostface killer.
They did a lot like it didn'tmatter whether they had solo
projects.
It's like they basically wereon everybody's stuff together.
You know they were on eachother's albums, like all the
time together.
Rainy days is like one of myfavorite like Wu-Tang songs
period, like by any member ofthe Wu-Tang.
I love, I love thatcollaboration Once again, like

(54:55):
they really like talking somereal stuff that people you know
can relate to.
What's another collaborationthat I really, really enjoy.
Um, oh, ladies first.
Moni love queen latifah, likethe.

(55:15):
The fact that, like you know,like queen latifah, her moni
love rap and she's like we'regonna do a song together and it
ended up being ladies first.
That ended up being their firstcollaboration together, you
know, on I want to say that wasqueen latifah's first album.
Um, oh my gosh, why can't Ithink of the name.
I think it's all hell to queen.
I think that's the name of thename of the album.

(55:38):
Um, and then, I'm sorry, therainy day song, that's.
That's off of what we in thehip-hop community called purple
tape, only built for cuban links, 1995, what I mean, when that
album hit the streets it waslike crazy, you know I'm saying.
But back to queen latifah andmoni love.
That album, you want to say,came out in 1989.
Um, and for me the reason whythat's one of my favorite

(56:02):
collaborations is the power ofthe black woman.
What is set up for black womenwho were hip-hop artists at that
time?
You know, I'm saying because Imean you already had light, mc
light, setting it up forbasically everybody that came
after her.
Because a lot of people don'tnotice, mc light was actually

(56:24):
the first woman solo artist torelease an album, first one.
So, before you know, I'm saying, like mc light walked so or
crawled, whatever you want tosay it, so that queen latifah
could run monie, love could runit, because it could set up that

(56:46):
particular um collaboration tohappen.
You know, I mean so.
And just the, just theempowerment, the, the images in
the video, like everything thatwas involved with ladies first,
that's just always been one ofmy favorite songs right there,
scenario Tribe Called Quest,leaders of the New School,

(57:10):
that's just, I mean enough said.
I mean like the fact that, likewhat made that song so great?
The hook is at the beginning,the hook is at the end.
The hook is at the end.
There is no hook in between,it's just rap, rap, rap.
Give me bars, give me bars,give me bars.

(57:31):
And iconic bars, legendary barsLike that.
Right, there was just, like Imean just a match made in heaven
.
Everybody brought a differenttype of flow, but each flow fit
into the pocket of the beat,each and every single one.
You know I mean uh, so thatwould definitely be for my fifth

(57:55):
one.
I mean I mean there's so manythat I could pick from so many
that I could pick from, so manythat I could pick from.
Oh my gosh, there's so many Icould pick from and I'm really
trying to like sit here andthink, like I'm really trying to
think, collaborations that Iwouldn't have expected to happen

(58:18):
, wouldn't have expected tohappen, um, that's, that's tough
.
That's tough.
Um, I mean, one of the onesthat came to my mind was like
two of america's most wanted.
I just love that song by snoopdogg and tupac.

(58:38):
I just love that song.
You know I'm saying ain Tupac,I just love that song.
You know what I'm saying?
Ain't nothing but a gangstaparty.
I just love that song.
You know, what I'm saying.
I don't even know if I put thatlike top five, but that's one
of the first ones that came tomind.
I love that joint right there.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
I'm trip-walking.
I'm trip-walking.
You can't see that?

Speaker 2 (58:55):
Oh, no, no, hold on, hold on.
I'm gonna tell you the one, I'mgonna tell you the one even
before that, and it's a tiebetween these two songs okay now
granted they was all labelmates but still it still was a
collaboration Make them Say Uhby Master P featuring Silk to
Shocker, featuring Mia X,featuring Fiend, featuring

(59:17):
Mystical.
And also Hot Boys and Girls byMaster P with Silk to Shocker I
think Silk to Shocker is on thatrecord.
Mystical absolutely set thatsong off.
His verse was the verse to endall verses on that song and on

(59:37):
Make Em Say Uh.
He closed out on Make Em Say Uhand then opened up on uh on hot
boys and girls, but then alsomia x.
Her verses on both of those werejust absolute fire.
You know, I'm saying mia x,another one who does not get
enough credit for how dope, howdope of an artist that she is,
her unladylike album.

(59:58):
And then it was another one, Iwant to say the one she put out
97, that album right there, Ilistened to that one day.
Oh my gosh, mia x is absolutelyphenomenal of an artist and so
so underrated, so underratedlike she does not get enough
credit for how awesome she is ofan artist come on here.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
Come on here.
You have taken us on a journey.
I am grateful.
I am so honored that you camethrough.
I think this was an amazing wayto celebrate the 50th
anniversary of Hip Hop.
Sir, you're hustling Jay-Z swagover there I appreciate you

(01:00:41):
being here.
I just, um, I'm excited for thisafter party because I got some
you got, I got some questions.
Yeah, yeah, after party isabout to be hot.
I, just before you get out ofhere, I just want the people to
have an opportunity to know howthey can work with you

(01:01:08):
absolutely, absolutely so.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
If you want to work with me, the easiest way to
access me is social media.
I am on Facebook and well, nowit's X, formerly Twitter at AJ
throwback um on Instagram andTik TOK, it is a dot J dot
throwback Um.
You can follow my YouTube page,aj throwback nine to eight, but

(01:01:34):
if you want to reach medirectly, you can just email me.
My email address is info at B?
Aa-m-m-l-l-c dot net and mywebsite, where you can find
everything that's involved withme, whether you're talking music
, you're talking media.
My merchandise line a littlebit of everything is there
B-A-M-M-L-L-C dot net.

(01:01:57):
I definitely love to collaboratein terms of, you know, rap.
I collaborate in terms ofproduction.
All of that good stuff hit meup, as long as the music is fire
and as long as you sayingsomething and as long as you
won't have me out here soundingcrazy whether I'm the one
producing it or I'm the onecollaborating.
Look, I'm up for it.
So I just appreciate everybodywho contributes to the culture,

(01:02:18):
everybody who really takes thisthing seriously.
Because you talking 50 years, Ithink, about the big line.
You know, never thought thehip-hop would take it this far
and look at where we at now.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
So yeah, there's that so did you just say I never
thought you had me that stuff.
I said, did he just say I neverthought where's that from.
So Did he just say I neverthought when is that from.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
So that's from Juicy Notorious BIG.
Remember rapping Duke.
You never thought the hip hopwould take it this far.
Yeah, classic, I mean.
Come on, who don't know, juicyoh my goodness Right who don't
know Juicy?

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Oh, my goodness Right who don't know Juicy?
Listen, I didn't get to say myfavorite collaboration.

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
Yes, what are yours?
Can I get to mine?
Yes, absolutely yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
I'm interested in hearing this.
So my favorite rapcollaboration is Flavor in Ya.
Time for new Flavor in Ya.
I'm getting new Flavor in Ya.
Brand new Flavor in Ya.
Listen to me, wait, wait, wait.
Let me tell you you wouldn'tbelieve my favorite on there

(01:03:40):
it's like so hard.
You got L, you got Craig, yougot Big, you got Busta.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
Yep Busta Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
And if I'm forgetting anybody, it's because this my
favorite part is actually whenthe joint come on.
Craig, I ain't even understandhow they understand that old
George, that old George Jackson.
Robotic futuristic list when Ihear it, I lose it because I

(01:04:18):
know what's about to happen.
I'm like it's coming.
It's coming, oh my goodnesswhat.
I lose it because I know what'sabout to happen.
I'm like it's coming, it'scoming, oh my goodness what.
Oh my goodness.
So yes, that would be myfavorite part.
Yeah, I know it's like wait,what, what?
That?

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
It sets it up though.
It sets it up Like it's allabout the setup.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
You got to set the record up right and I feel like
they did that.
I feel like they definitely didthat.
I am, I'm excited, I'm excited.
So let me just finish Right.
Hold on.
I just wanted to make sure theygot all your social media, so I

(01:05:01):
just put that together.
I apologize for the delay.
There we are.
That is how you can follow myman in them.
What is, what is?
What is Facebook and X?

Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
So Twitter is no longer Twitter anymore because
of Mr Elon Musk.
Need I say more?
You know he took a good thing.
He took a good thing and messedit up, and now it's X.
It's like I don't go on there.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
He took a good thing and messed it up.
And now it is what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
On X.
You can find him at AJThrowback and on Instagram and
TikTok at ajthrowback.
Listen, I am so excited andhonored that you were here
Before you get out of here.
Can you give their people someconfident tips on never losing

(01:06:10):
the hip in they hop what you?

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
know I'm gonna come up with it.
Go ahead, sir.
I like this one, I like this.
See, man, always come with thechallenges.
I love it.
I love it.
So a confident tip to neverlosing the hip in your hop.
Now, I said last time when Iwas on here that you have to be

(01:06:33):
yourself To extend that.
You have to see the hipness, itwithin yourself, because a lot
of times it's very easy becausewe don't come from certain
backgrounds or we don't comefrom necessarily, say, the
struggle, because a lot of timesit's assumed that you got to be

(01:06:58):
from the streets.
You got to be from the hood.
You got to be from this.
You got to be from the streets.
You got to be from the hood.
You got to be from this, yougot to be from that.
Whatever you are in your walk oflife, it doesn't matter whether
you're from the hood, itdoesn't matter whether you're
from the suburbs, it doesn'tmatter whether you're from the
country, it doesn't matterwhether you're from New York, la
, dc, whatever.
You know what I'm saying youfrom?
Find whatever makes you hip.

(01:07:20):
Find whatever makes you who youare.
That is that gives you thatedge, that gives you that notch
I'm not gonna say over somebodyelse, but just takes you to a
whole different level thatnobody else is doing what you're
doing To me, that's what makesyou hip.

(01:07:42):
That nobody else is doingwhatever you're doing exactly
the way that you're doing it.
And when you figure that out,that's when you get that hop,
that's when you get that jump,that's when things start popping
off for you, you know.
So that's my confident tip tofinding a hip in your hop.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
Listen.
Yes, never do you disappoint.
I appreciate you, sir.
I am very, very honored thatyou came through to celebrate 50
years of hip hop with us hereat Confident U.
So thank you so much, confidentU, for doing the things that

(01:08:23):
you do.
I am honored.
I am also honored that let'ssee, wait, hold on, tell the
people what they're hearing.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
Well, it's a little something I made called the
Mistress.
It's the instrumental to a songthat's actually out.
You can find it on my Bandcamppage, which is
ajthrowbackbandcampcom.
Yes, and it's a song.
Actually, it's an ode to music.
It's an ode somewhat of an odeto hip-hop.

(01:08:55):
Yes, that's who the Mistress is.

Speaker 1 (01:09:07):
Yes, so the last song that tell.
Tell everyone about the lastsong, because now, this is now
the song that will be played, uh, underneath, uh, my interviews.
Tell everyone about the lastsong.
Let me put it on so that youcan have an opportunity to
explain that to the audience.
I just want them to understandthe genius that is.

(01:09:30):
Aj Tobi.

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
Well, this song right here, this song right here,
this is for my sister right here.
Yes, yes, you, yes you.
This is, this is, this is herinspiration, because she uh
challenged me to come up with asong and, uh, this is one of the

(01:09:55):
first songs that I did in avery long time.
Uh, when we started to worktogether again, uh, for a song
called never forget.
And so, uh, yeah, you, you hearthe, the instrumentation.
I wanted to be very much like Idon't know, I wanted to almost
very hip-hop in a lot of ways,because I wanted to mix funk, I

(01:10:17):
wanted to mix rock, I wanted tomix, like, some blues elements
in there, like a little bit ofeverything, very much hip hop.
The drums are kind of sort ofhard, harder hip hop drums but
like, because it's melodic, itlike pulls it together and makes
it like more.
For me, it makes it more of asong for a singer than a rapper,

(01:10:38):
even though I've, you knowrappers love rapping over my R&B
beats, for whatever reason,maybe it's the drums.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
You're not hearing it .
You're not hearing it, butthey're hearing it.
They are hearing it Again,again, again.
Thank you so much.
We are about to go to the afterparty, where we will definitely
discuss that transformationthat happens in lives of hip hop
artists and hip hop in itselfand the way that rap flows as

(01:11:12):
well, as I definitely want toget into that mix of music and
how hip hop has gone around theworld, because it's no longer
just in the Bronx and it's notjust here.
I want to hear how it isshowing up around the globe.
So, thank you so much, sir.
I appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (01:11:33):
Absolutely.
Thank you for having me onceagain.
This is a great conversationAlways.
It's a great conversation withus, on and off camera.
You know this is what we doAlways is a great conversation
with us on and off camera.

Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
You know this is what we do.
This is what we do.
This is what we do.
I want y'all to know this isexactly what we do.
I know that you had a good time.
Listen, rap, hip hop issomething that started.
It's like from a mustard seedand now you just see the fruit

(01:12:02):
all around the globe.
So if there's something thatyou want to do and you feel like
it's small, it's not anythingthat's valuable to anyone but me
.
Look at what happened so thinkabout all the things you can do
and make sure you're doing them.

(01:12:23):
And before I get out of here,let me make sure that if there's
anyone that is suffering at thehands of domestic violence,
there is help.
There are people that want tohelp you move into the next
phase of life safely.

(01:12:44):
They want to help you.
So if you know someone, if youare that someone, you can call
Bethany House at 1-888-80-HELPSthat's 43577.
That's 43577.
Or you can call the NationalDomestic Violence Hotline at
1-800-799-SAFE that is 7233.

(01:13:09):
I am so honored that you tookthe time to just celebrate hip
hop with your girl.
I appreciate that.
I know you had a great time.
See you next time right here onConfident you Podcast.

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