July 17, 2025 • 48 mins
In Part 2 of our conversation with legendary A&R exec and producer Dante Ross, the ride gets even crazier.
Dante breaks down the highs and lows of his time at Elektra and Def Jam, working with iconic artists like Brand Nubian, ODB, MF Doom, and Everlast. He shares the wild backstory of Whitey Ford Sings the Blues—from late-night jam sessions to a near-fatal heart attack that almost stopped the album before it started.
We also get into the aftermath of success, chasing the next high, and why Dante finally decided to write the book everyone told him to write. This one’s about friendship, survival, reinvention—and keeping it honest.
Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now for part two of Mixed and Mastered with Dante
Ross.
Welcome to Mixed and Mastered,the podcast where the stories of
the music industry come to life.
I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringingyou real conversations with the
people who have shaped the soundof music.
We're pulling back the curtainon what it takes to make it in
(00:22):
the music business.
These are the stories you won'thear anywhere else, told by the
people who live them.
This is Mixed and Mastered.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So I decided that day I want to work at Election
Records.
So he hired me.
So that's what that was likethe thing though it was, it was
not necessarily the rap stuffbut he told me I signed Anita
Baker, I signed Parliament, Isigned Keith Sweat and I was
like, wow, but he's like I'veworked with Richard Pryor, I
signed him and I was like,really, he's like he's the
(00:55):
craziest fucking guy in thewhole world.
But when he told me that, whenhe told me he signed the Pixies
and played me Tracy Chapman,that's when I decided I had to
work there.
So I went to work at ElectricRecords.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, yeah, and there you worked with Brand Newbie
and Leaders of the New Schooland Old Dirty Bastard and Delta
40 Home of Sapien and P-Rock andSeal.
Smooth Yep, that was an amazingroster, bro.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
That was a crazy run.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
A crazy run.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I remember that.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, you were running, you were rolling, you
were rolling man.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Jesus Christ, I mean, look, we never had the promo
team that did those recordsjustice.
And and I got sick of hearingthat from everyone too like if
those records had been a jive, Iwould have five platinum
records, at least gold records,you're right you know how many
gold records I had at Electraone yeah no one, one one.
I had one gold record atElektra Records.
(01:46):
Pete and CL didn't go gold.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I think it's gold now , but at the time I'm saying
that's incredible, I did notknow that 150,000 sold with a
smash hit record with a hitrecord pushing it yeah, and we
never had a great promo guy.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
The best guy we had was Ruben Rodriguez and he had
his own label, so he cared aboutDigable Planets more than my
group.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, he cared about his own shit and they won gold,
they won gold.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So he, yeah, but Kraz , you know.
And I signed KMD, obviously.
Oh yeah, kmd, mf Doom.
But my first record was a flopShazzy.
I came out the gate with a flopthat only J-Zone remembers, Wow
.
So it didn't work.
And who was next Was Nubian,next, next, and they limped out
(02:39):
of the gate.
Ruben Rodriguez hated them.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
What was the first single?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Feels so Good, feels so Good.
And B-Side was brand brand,brand newbie and he hated them.
He hated them.
He was everything they hated.
Yeah, you know, and they wereeverything he hated.
You know he's a bougie dude.
He wore like a meat coat, youknow the whole thing you know,
one of those his hair.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
He's, you know, one of those His hair.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
He had the Peebo Bryson going on, absolutely,
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Give us a little story.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
He wasn't, he never liked me.
He hated me.
You know, he hated me.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Look man, I went to work with size 40 jeans and a
skateboard and a backwardsbaseball hat.
He was not jacking me at all.
Yeah, he wasn not jacking me atall.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, he wasn't.
Yeah, he wasn't, he wasn'trocking with me and, um, brand
new being.
You know, he, he, if it was upto him he could, he would have
fired me, but he couldn'tbecause craz loved me, because
craz craz made me a vicepresident really early.
I I was the youngest vicepresident history warner music
group up to that point, wow.
So I think I was 25 years old,26 years old, I was the vice
president and I became seniorvice president.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Um, yeah, he, he, um, craz loved me and and look, I
had all those great recordsleaves a new school which buster
came out of it and I had agreat run, but you know, all
good things come to an end yeah,they do, and you know, and so
from there you go to I went todef jam, you did.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I had a label deal at def jam and I I did A&R there
as a vice president and it wasterrible.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Now, what period of Def Jam was this?
Because Def Jam has had itsperiod, the G-Funk period.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Warren G is the guy.
South Central Cartel is on themap.
I go there, I sign Trigger theGambler.
The record doesn't.
It's not good.
Me and Lior go to war.
I have zero hits.
I work on the Nutty Professorsoundtrack.
It's a bad fit.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
You're dying, you're dying.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
It's a bad fit.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's a bad fit.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
It's a bad fit.
I should have never done it.
I had my own label no DoubtRecords.
No Doubt Records, no Doubt.
The band comes out.
It's all fucked up.
Everything that could go wronggoes wrong.
I end up deciding to not go towork.
I'm not going to work anymore.
I'm not going to the.
I'm not going to go to theoffice anymore.
I'm out.
I'm out and I have a contract.
They got pay me overhead.
(05:00):
I'm not going.
I don't return leo's calls.
I start making.
You know, I always made beats.
I produced shit for brandnewbie and for poobah.
Oh, also I did a solo grandpoobah record which was a hit.
Yeah, um, electro, which shouldhave been a gold record but it
wasn't.
Absolutely had a huge single,you know, 360 yep.
So my grand poobah is the best,worst artist I ever worked with
(05:25):
in my whole life, one of thegreatest rappers, top of the
food chain.
But the guy who will leave youstranded in the airport waiting
for him six hours, not show up,and just you know man, just the
shenanigans.
I love the guy, but shenanigansI still.
I'm still holding resentmentsto this day.
Sylvia roan took over and me andher weren't.
We weren't a great fit, but inretrospect I should have stayed.
(05:46):
I should have made it work.
I was one of those guys like Ididn't understand the fact that
you don't love your job.
I didn't love working for her,so I quit.
And it was dumb because she wasa great promo person, you know.
I quit because the second, thesecond Grand Poobah record I'm
under the gun.
But I got Buster's solo recordin my back pocket and I leave
(06:09):
right after Dirty comes out.
What I should have done isstayed and hired somebody and
gone to work at Interscope.
But I did a deal with Def Jambecause I wanted to be my own
boss.
It didn't work out.
I'm fucking.
I'm just dying.
I'm dying over there.
But I started really focusingon making beats.
Oh, I had Dell too.
I had Elektra.
And I produced stuff for Dell onthat second record which
(06:31):
performed, actually, I think,350.
It did pretty good 300.
And that was a miracle makingthat record.
Anyway, I had to redo the wholething over.
But anyway, I'm dying, I'mgetting cooked at Def Jam and I
just really focus on makingmusic.
And I me and Everlast have beenfriends since I met him at
(06:51):
World on Wheels with De La Wow.
We remained friendly.
I was friends with them whenHouse of Pain blew up.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Well, you were gone from, Tommy Boy, when House of
Pain blew up correct.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I was gone.
But they were.
I was friends with them.
I was friends with Muggs.
I was friends with Cypress Hill, who I wanted to sign to
Elektra and my boss wouldn't letme sign him because of Killing
man.
I should you know, that wouldhave been another one of mine.
But they went to Columbia andthey sold way more records than
they would on Elektra.
So God bless, yeah, yeah, and Iremain friends with him.
So you know that's what it is.
(07:24):
Mug's still a good friend ofmine to this day, and so is
B-Real.
So I go to, I go back to mystudio, I start making music and
I linked up with Everlast.
He was in New York.
I don't know what the fuck hewas doing in New York.
I want to.
We just started hanging.
Oh, that's what it was.
I'm in la working at def jam,but I put sadat x on loud and I
(07:47):
put out sadat x wild cowboysrecord.
I'm managing sex, wow, and youknow it's so stupid.
I could have gone and worked atloud and I did the deal with def
jam yeah, with steve yeah stevetried to hire me to be his
first a and r guy right whenwu-tang came out because I had
dirty.
He was come and be the seniorvice president here and I turned
him down.
So, anyway, and Steve, I loveSteve to this day.
(08:07):
He's one of my favorite people.
What a great dude.
So I linked up with Everlast inLA because of Guru.
Rest in peace.
We're staying at the MadreanHotel.
So is Guru's crazy ass.
We go to drink with Guru, meand X, and he's like yo,
everlast is coming.
Everlast shows up and me andhim.
(08:31):
We just start vibing.
He says I want to put X on thesong on my House of Spain record
I'm working on and I'm likelet's make it happen.
And Guru was like y'allmotherfuckers is like the same
dude, you're both the same crazywhite dude.
And Eric's like yeah, we'vebeen hearing that for years and
facts is that Muggs and himthought that me and Eric hanging
(08:53):
out together during House ofPain first run was bad, that
someone's going to jail.
They're like someone's going togo to jail.
So you know, that was kind ofthe you know the vibe.
And but me and him hit it off.
He flew X back out a couple ofweeks later to do the song.
He actually followed up onsomething.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Someone who says something drunk follows up and
actually came through with it.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah.
So then he came to New York andhe was running around.
He was on House of Pain tourfor the last record.
They did a video for fed up.
I'm in the video with guru onthe remix with peter green.
You know that is the actor hewas.
He's in pole fiction, he's zedwow.
So he kills me in the video.
(09:37):
I don't know, you can find iton youtube anyway.
So so, but me and me and eric,we just start hanging out heavy.
He's running around with me andmy crazy-ass friends, my boy,
manny Stacks, who's locked upright now he got 20.
Shout out to Stacks I love you.
And we're running around thestreets of New York bugging out,
just bugging out.
(09:59):
He's staying with me.
We're just doing crazy shit.
Then I went to L, to LA, justto go.
I was with this girl and shewas driving me crazy.
I was like I'm going to LA fora minute.
I stayed at Eric's house.
He had stayed at my house, wewere chilling and we went to the
Super Bowl together.
That year we drove from LA toPhoenix or Tucson or Scottsdale.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
I went to that Super Bowl in Phoenix.
I went to that one in Phoenix,I went to that one.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Steelers Cowboys.
I'm a Steelers fan, he's aCowboys fan.
We had crazy tickets and wejust you know, that was like my
brother from another Like I waslike.
You know, sometimes you meetpeople and like that.
One time you hang out you'rejust like best friends from that
day on.
It was like that.
And I slid him a tape of beats.
(10:48):
He was fucking with it.
And then he was like yo, let's.
So he like right, when thehouse of pain record comes out,
right after they go on thislittle tour, he quits the band.
He's like fuck this shit.
And so tommy boy exercises theright to a solo record.
We do demos, we start making arap record.
Meanwhile leo is paying me thewhole time.
That's so I think the dealfinally comes to an end.
(11:11):
I'm one of those dudes.
I always land.
I'm like a fleet frog.
I go from lily pad to lily padyeah when the clock's ticking, I
catch another check.
Yeah like I got the best lucklike that.
So so I'm just I'm all you know, because I think it's like I'm
not a big God guy in atraditional sense, but I think
I'm always protected, like I'malways protected.
That's why I made it out of theLower East Side.
(11:33):
That's why the dude got shot 20feet away from me in Detroit on
the Airbnb in Rakim Tour, andwe didn't get shot.
You know.
That's why, like I've seen allthis shit happen, I've been like
you know, look, guns have beenpointed at me more than once in
my life and I didn't get shot,and you know.
So you know that's allsomething bigger than me.
There's a reason.
So I'm always protected.
(11:54):
That's like another example ofbeing protected my deals running
out, I catch the check to doEric's record.
We start making a rap recordand it's going cool.
You know, albie, the greatAlbie, was my A&R guy, albie
Ragusa.
Albie and Monica give me the job.
Albie is super tight with Eric,super tight with me.
(12:15):
Yes, so me and Albie did thisclub.
That's another thing I forgot.
Me and Albie did this club.
White Boy Wednesdays.
It was a party called Thing Me,stretch Me.
And Albie did this club.
White Boy Wednesdays.
It's a party called Thang Me,stretch Me, stretch.
Nick Quest did album.
The five of us own Jewels, djJewels.
We do this party called Thang.
It lasted for like a year andchange.
(12:35):
It's like our version of SoulKitchen.
Everyone has to pay $5.
We give you a blunt at the doorso you can smoke weed there.
It's at the Space Island Lounge, which is a reggae club on the
Bowery, and so that's what it is.
And Eric came one night and hewas with Albie this is where it
all started and he was lookingup.
It was a tin ceiling.
(12:56):
He was looking up at theceiling.
I said what are you looking at,bro?
He said, man, I just ate somemushrooms and that ceiling's
moving.
I started laughing and hepulled out a bag of mushrooms
and me and curious ate mushroomswith him.
We hung out to like the nextday.
So that's when our bond wasformed.
It was like voltron yeah yeah,that was like that's when we
(13:18):
really first became good friends.
And then when we went to la, wewere kindled.
So we came to new york and Ihad my studio in the basement.
He he's staying at my house.
I always, you know, I'm reallyinto writing and I wrote about
in a book but I'm going to workon.
My next thing is I'm going towork on the screenplay on this,
because my writer friend saidthis is the part that you need
to make a screenplay next.
(13:38):
I'll talk about that later.
So I always say we were liketwo men who were lost at sea and
we found a life raft back toland.
Right, we had nowhere to go butup.
Our best days were behind us.
People, the odds were that wewere going to crash out.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That it was over.
They wrote you off.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, it was like you're on a downward cycle, bro,
you know.
So we're in New York making arecord and I was quite popular
with the ladies At that time.
I had a revolving door and Ericwould always be like Jesus
Christ bro.
So he's on my couch, staying onmy couch, and I walked in with
(14:18):
this girl and she looked Irish.
She had like ivory skin,beautiful blue eyes.
She's a model girl, she's verybeautiful.
And he looks at her and helooks at me and he goes home
team.
And I said home team Becausehe's Irish, right.
And I started I was like whatdoes that mean?
He's like, oh, he's like.
I was like, oh, you're Irish,he's Irish, you know.
(14:39):
She's like yo, he doesn't looklike the guy from House of Pain.
I was like don't get too excited, whatever.
So you know, one thing leads toanother and I end up going.
I go to the bathroom, I'm inlike my boxer shorts and I hear,
oh so Eric had come to thestudio.
I had a guitar in the studioand he asked if he could borrow
(15:00):
it, because I knew he playedguitar a little bit.
He could play guitar.
He to borrow it because I knewhe played guitar a little bit he
could play guitar.
He was playing, like you know,he played ACDC songs and all
this other shit, but I didn'tknow if he could really play.
I didn't know he could reallyplay and I came out the bathroom
, or I was going to the bathroom, I was going to it and I heard
him playing.
He's playing a song, strummingon the guitar, and I said what
(15:23):
the fuck is that?
it was almost like when I heardthat tracy chapman song or like
when I heard, when I heard, likecat stevens, when I was a
little kid I heard wild world Iwas like that song is so
beautiful.
Or even like um, use me by billwithers, like you know, I'm a
sucker for, for an acousticguitar and emotional vocals and
and, um, what the hell is that?
That's super cool.
He's like oh, it's a song Iwere, I wrote, I said play that.
(15:46):
Again, he's played it.
He started singing it, he'ssinging the song.
And I said, and I was blownaway, I was like yo, we got to
record that.
So that song was what it's like, wow, and it's exactly as is on
the record, like the, themelody, the, everything, the
(16:07):
chords.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
You basically just plug the mic in and just let him
go.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It's exactly that song, minus the drums and the
strings, no bass, but it's thatsong.
And I was like we have torecord that.
And he goes, I'm not ready todo that yet.
I said why.
He said, well, once I do that,I can't, I can't rap anymore.
I said, nah, you're bugging.
And, um, I said that because meand him both were into rage
(16:34):
against the machine shit.
I saw rage against the machineopen for house of pain before
they had a record deal or beforethe record was out.
They had been signed.
Wow so, and another fantasticband.
So he had turned me on toSoundgarden.
No, I knew Soundgarden, but hereally got me to listen to
Soundgarden.
He turned me on to Radiohead.
I didn't know they had anythinggood besides Creep, but he made
(16:56):
me listen to Pablo Honey.
And then I turned them on to alot of music as well older punk
rock stuff.
I got them into the Clash.
So we were really into turningeach other on to music.
This was a place that we metand I stayed on them.
Usually my rule of thumb isdon't push too hard, because the
artist doesn't listen.
Make them always think it'stheir idea.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
It's a fine line.
It's a very fine line.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
You know that song you want to do.
You know what I mean, likeconvincing they came up with
exactly yeah, but this time Ididn't do that.
I didn't play sight games witheric.
I just was like we, you got todo that, you got to do that, and
then he played it for mypartner.
Rest in peace, john gamble johnproduction partner, my studio
(17:39):
engineer, my, my brother, john,gave me the look and John hardly
ever, ever, like, gave me thelook.
Like what the fuck?
He gave me the look like yo andthen he was like, he was like
yo, you gotta get him to do that.
So me being slick, I was likeyo a couple days, like maybe a
(17:59):
week later, I was like yo, we'rethe part of the studio today.
Eric's like really.
I was like, yeah, john wantshis of studio today.
Eric's like really.
I was like, yeah, john wantshis guitar back.
So so he brought the guitar.
I got there before him, Icalled him from the studio, so I
I figured out approximately thetempo of the record and I took
the drums famous breakbeat.
I chopped them up and I said,yo, man, play that record again.
And then I played the drumsbomb, play.
(18:22):
That shit fit like a hand in aglove, like bong, and we knew we
had to do it.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
He recorded it as an air person.
It's such a you can't evendescribe it.
When you get one, it's afeeling you can't describe it to
somebody who hasn't done it.
But when you hear that one,it's like the best sex you've
ever had in your life.
It's like, yeah, you can't youchase that high for the rest of
(18:49):
your life.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
It's like God, it's a God shot Like boom.
Literally it only happened tome a few times in my life,
literally, you know, literally Iget a handful of times in my
entire life the record I go.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I know that's a hit, but there's also records that
are hits.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
This is different.
This is different.
Right, there's a record that'slike great.
You're like, yes, that's great.
Yeah, happened to me with grandpoobah.
He did the rhymes on step tothe rear in one shot.
He did that shit because, yo,we were going to make another
record and poobah, you know howlong it took to track a song.
Back in the day, me and mypartners had made another beat
for him and he walked in and hewas like I can't fuck with it.
(19:26):
We're like I hate you right now.
So my partner, gibi, rest inpeace.
Gibi, yep, he was like, lookedat me.
Like you know, gibi was likethe coolest cucumber on the
block Absolutely no one wascooler than that dude.
And talk about like me and himtogether with the ladies was
like ridiculous.
Like you know, he taught meeverything I forgot.
(19:48):
Like that guy was like thebiggest influence on my whole
life.
So he looked at me and was likeI got this kid Like and he
pulled out his.
He had a little box of S900discs and he went up to the S900
and he played the loop that isStep to the Rear, and just
(20:08):
looped it.
He started doing it by hand andPuba was like yo.
That's that shit and bong.
And then we laid down the loopand a kick and a snare.
There's nothing else in thatrecord and one piano hit.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
And he rapped it all the way through.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yo, he rapped it in one shot and I was like this is
the greatest record we ever made.
We were both like what the fuck?
So you know, we did that wholesong in like four hours.
So you know, that was maybe theonly other time.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
it was like you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Let me ask you a question.
So the House of Pain comes out,I ain't going to say blow up,
explodes, explodes.
Three million albums or so.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Three albums, no, no, I think the single's like damn
near diamond, but the album, Ithink, is two or three million,
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
So it's crazy time you win Grammy, which is crazy
right, oh, but you're talkingabout.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
You mean what?
It's the Everlast record.
Whitey Ford Sings the Blues.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yes, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm saying House of Pain, I and
Whitey Ford Sings the Blues.
Yes, yeah, I'm sorry, house ofPain, I'm saying House of Pain,
I'm tripping Everlast, everlast,everlast, triple Platinum.
Yes, yes, yes, excuse me onthat.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
But what you forgot is that he had a heart attack
before the record came out.
So we were doing the last songin the whole album.
I hadn't been back to New Yorkfor eight or nine months.
I want, I'm paying rent on myhouse, I want to fucking go back
home and I'm, you know, a lotof Eric's fucking a tax man's on
him.
It's just, it's dark.
(21:37):
We do the last song on thealbum, called it's called Tired.
He starts complaining about himchest pains.
I said, yo, we got to finishthe fucking record ready, bro,
like I'm fucking, I got to gohome.
He, you know, I didn't know howto drive.
I'm living in la in my girl'shouse because I was living with
eric.
But I was like I can't livewith him and make a record, I'm
gonna kill him.
(21:57):
He's gonna kill me.
It's like it's too much me, himand john in one house, forget
it.
He's complaining about chestpains.
He says he had food poisoning.
He ate at this terriblerestaurant all the time,
damiano's.
I was like how could you eatthat shit?
Like only irishman eats at atime.
Thinks that's italian food.
Like you know, get you, get abetter diet.
Kid like stop, you know so, andI was also like that's when I
(22:18):
first really got into workingout.
I was like working out like allthe time because I was so bored
.
He slept at two o'clock.
Every day I get up like eighto'clock.
So so you know, I'm like sofucking, I have like five hours
to kill every morning.
So I go to the gym and I gotthe call from John that he had a
heart attack in the middle ofthe night.
I got a rule like don't pick upthe phone in the middle of the
night because either someonedied or someone needs you to get
(22:39):
back to jail.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's never good.
It's never good Someone's injail or someone's dead.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, so I didn't pick up the my girl's house.
I finally picked up on.
She was in Vegas at a tradeshow and he said yo, dante
Everett had a heart attack.
I went to the hospital.
John looked like he'd seen aghost.
He said right before you gotthere he had a.
He went in a fucking cold redcardiac arrest.
He might die.
So he almost died.
(23:03):
He was on 48 hours.
Wow.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
And we'll be right back Ready to launch your
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Speaker 3 (23:25):
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And now back to our show.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
He was born with congenitive heart valve disorder
.
He was taking Coumadin.
It was mixed, prescribed bloodthinner, so that's why I had a
heart attack, so anyway.
So I finished the record he waslaid up.
I took it back to New York andI finished it without him.
So Jamie Stow, pete Rock'sengineer, mixed it with me and
John, we finished it.
It was to me the best recordI'd ever made.
(24:07):
Took me out of my rap comfortzone.
It was my version of Check yourHead, you know.
Very different record Nothinglike it.
But we're playing instruments.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Nothing to say.
No, it's a whole differentthing.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah right, it's like total and completely inspired
by Check your Head and by Beckand by Rage Against the Machine.
You know, cake, I had donethese demos with this band
called Roguish Armament beforethat and we almost got a deal
and all fell apart.
But it was like rock rap.
It was pretty cool.
So I knew I could kind of.
I had like every label tried tosign but just all fell apart.
(24:42):
So I knew I could kind offigure that formula out.
But Eric was a great songwriter, which those guys weren't.
He could actually write songs,songs, he's a good singer.
So he was laid up and Ifinished the record and and we
turned into tommy boy.
He told me sam crespo said yo,your record is great.
Now they're gonna sell this one.
So I was happy, then sad in thespan of 30 seconds and sam kept
(25:06):
it real with me because I knewsam forever yeah anyway.
yeah, the record comes out, soask your question.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I'll answer it.
So what kind of mind fuck is itto become a Grammy-winning
smash album producer?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
You know it was different emotions.
So the good part of it is wewalked through hell to get to
heaven with that record.
Yeah, and they say I'm abeliever that hell, hell and
heaven are on earth.
Right, I don't believe inmystery shit.
Yeah, Like to go up to the skytype shit.
Yeah, I don't believe in noneof that.
So you know we walked throughhell broke.
(25:46):
You know he was broke and I wasbroke.
You know he was broke and I was.
I had had a terrible breakupwith this girl in new york and
and we made this beautiful pieceof art that was centered in our
deep friendship and um, we.
The other thing is we made it inthe house.
We never went to a major studio.
We mixed it in a big studio butwe made the whole thing at home
(26:08):
, home recording, because I'veseen the beasties.
G son and I had my studio innew york, so we just built a
version of my studio in New Yorkand Eric's house.
So we did the whole thing inthe house horns, everything.
There's no live drums on therecord, but we did all in-house,
except for strings.
We did that in a big studio.
So that was a ticket and um,you know, the record comes out
(26:31):
and it blows up.
So I felt that we had earnedevery inch of that success.
Eric almost died.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I never worked harder on a record in my entire life.
I never wanted a record tocount more.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I feel like he felt the same.
John certainly felt the same.
We were granted all of thesegifts.
So, yes, a mind fuck the poserswere.
We worked really hard andbelieved in our bond and made
this great record.
That's the good stuff.
The bad stuff is I goteverything I wanted, and
sometimes that's not good that'sthat actually what I was going
(27:12):
to say.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
I wasn't going to say that particularly, but yeah,
it's kind of like.
You work hard, you guys arefucking damn near like in your
boxers making jams you know whatI'm saying Like eating pizza
and shit.
And then this thing takes overthe country and the world.
You know, it becomes thismonster, it becomes its own
thing.
It becomes so big.
It's so big, it becomes likeits own kind of entity.
(27:33):
It's just moving and all thismoney is coming in and people
are calling you and come workwith Like how did I don't know
how?
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, you said you tried to get everything that you
thought about.
It didn't come out of the gatefast.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
No, not out of the gate, not out of the out.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
It came out in August .
He won on tour in Septemberplayed a show in New York,
killed it Cone Island High JohnLeland, my old friend John.
Leland, he did a stunning reviewin the Daily News, stunning.
The record got very goodreviews but it wasn't selling.
(28:08):
But a station in Seattlestarted to play at the end and
it performed and then K-Rockstarted to play it.
So from August, september toDecember it keeps going up.
By December the second to lastweek of Billboard reporting the
single goes number onealternative record in the
(28:30):
country.
The album was top five sold ahundred thousand records that
week.
Our biggest week 103 000records.
I was at a christmas party.
I want to say this for loudjeff fenster was there.
Fenster fucked me on this dealon that alternative band Roguesh
(28:50):
Armament.
He fucked me royally.
The band broke up.
He came up to me and goescongratulations, you have the
number one alternative record inthe country.
And he had a hat on.
I took his hat and I threw itacross the room.
I said don't fucking talk to me.
And Maria Ma was there and Lisa,and they got between me and
(29:11):
they said don't do it, dante,don't hit them, don't do it.
Come on, don't do it.
They're like hugging me, we'reso proud of you and, um, that
was cool, my sisters, becausethey were really good friends of
mine, yeah, it was like lisa,rose, my, my smoke weed partner,
so and maria had gone out giveme for a long time.
So you know we um, you know itwas great, but then you know, I
(29:32):
also had a little too muchaccess to the world.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That's what I want.
That's kind of what I wasleaning on.
How do you cope with that, thatlevel of everything.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
You know, I bought a place that was upside, you know.
I bought a place.
I bought my first place, whichwas great in me packing, and I
bought too many gold chains, aRolex.
I dated a lot of women.
I was like, hey, let's go tothe Bahamas.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Let's go over here.
Let's go to Miami.
Let's go to Miami.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Let's go.
Let's go to LA.
I'm just doing it, spend moneylike stupidly, cause I got a big
publishing deal as the firsttime I had.
Like it's the first time Icould say I was a millionaire,
yeah, I got a million dollars,yeah, and a house.
And you know I was, um, I wasin crazy good shape.
(30:29):
I was super dedicated toworking out and I guess that's
when I started boxing, doingjiu-jitsu and stuff, so I was
really into being fit.
But I also was drinking like afish and, yeah, man, I lost
sight of some things.
But what was great is I got towork with a bunch of cool bands
(30:51):
and do a bunch of cool shit JohnSpencer, blues, explosion, korn
, the Getaway People, rozelle.
You know I got a label dealfrom Steve my champ which wasn't
very successful but was a lotof fun.
I was too focused makingrecords for other people because
I could go and pick up a$60,000 check here, $100,000
there.
(31:12):
You know, and I became also,like the biggest rock rap
remixer, one of them.
So if I didn't do it, if ButchVig didn't do it, I did it.
Whether it was Incubus, korn,the Deftones, I did all that
shit.
And all those gigs were $25,000pop gigs.
So you know, and I lined themup for days.
I produced Naina Cherry, allthis shit, man.
I went to england and producedsome shit.
I tried to be a songwriter.
I wasn't very good at it, but Igot to blue santana and I got a
(31:36):
song that won a grammy onsupernatural and those checks
never stopped coming.
So that was two grammys.
So I got my grammy for everlastis oh, for best alternative
song.
The grammy I got for santana isfor Best Alternative Song.
The Grammy I got for Santana isfor Album of the Year, so
that's the real Grammy.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Where do you keep your trophies?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
My Grammy is right.
The Santana one, I think, isright behind me.
I think it's right there.
There it is in the corner.
I don't know if you can see it.
That's my.
Grammy and for Best AlternativeSong.
You know what you get you get afucking medal.
Then you get another statue,you get a medal and a plaque.
So I got the plaques and youknow, I got the Santana Gold
Records.
It's a platinum.
(32:17):
It's a 12-time platinum at 120.
And I worked on three recordswith Santana.
I liked working with them a lotand you know, I producer a
failed songwriter.
I was not a great songwriterfor 10 years and I did that for
10 years from 1999, 2000 to 2010or so, and tell me how you just
(32:41):
run.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Tell me, because people have told me this over
the years but I haven't had theI don't know the gumption on
whatever to do it.
But tell me how you decided towrite this book, my dad?
Speaker 2 (32:52):
is a writer.
He published 11 books.
Oh, wow, when I was a kid I wona new.
I didn't win it, sorry.
I came in second in a New YorkCity sports writing contest.
I was in middle school.
Wow, I wrote about baseball.
Red Smith, a famous writer.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
You know, sports writer Red Smith.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
He was the judge, one of the judges.
My family had a mutual friendwith his, james Roach, another
sports writer, and he became myfriend and told me I should be a
sports writer and I have thisbook he gave me, called when the
Strawberries Turn Red.
It's about baseball, he told me.
(33:34):
In the book he said to Dante,you're on your way to the
greatest job, to the greatestjob you'll ever know.
Wow, and he signed it.
So I always want to be a writer.
I always had literaryaspirations and I feel like I
had the second best job in theworld, right.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Red probably had the.
You know it was a great job.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
I mean not even that I did it that good, it's just
the opportunity to do it, thejob itself for a music nerd like
us.
Like what do you want?
To be an A&R guy?
It's like you're the biggestmusic fan in the world, right,
Absolutely, and that's all Iever been, really.
So, um, I wrote the book causeI'm a good storyteller.
Like 20 different people thattold me to write a fucking book,
(34:16):
and including Sasha Jenkins,rest in peace.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Wow, god bless him, god bless him.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
He, um, and me and him had a very intricate
relationship up and down,sometimes good, sometimes bad.
So by no means am I like, Idon't want to be like.
You know that was my bestfriend in the world.
But he, when I I wrote for massappeal and he was like you
should go write a book, cause Iwas, he got, he plugged me into
writing mass appeal.
There were some issues where meand him at the end wrote, like
(34:42):
you know, two thirds of themagazine.
So so he was one of the guysand a few other people Mel
DeCole, quest, eric People werelike dude, fucking, go write a
book already, shut the fuck up.
So me and my dad we're going towrite a book together.
My dad got sick.
We started to write it.
I have the first like 80 pages.
(35:04):
We wrote together.
But my dad got sick.
He got cancer.
He had a couple of bouts ofchemo before he was in remission
.
But he got sick and we put thebook down because he had to live
the end of his life and I wrotethe book when he was dying.
I wrote it and then, after hepassed, I couldn't look at it
(35:29):
for five years.
I just couldn't look at it.
It's been around that long.
Well, it hasn't been.
So I fast forward to about hedied in 2011 to about 2015, 2016
.
I picked it up at the urging ofhis friend, who was also older,
(35:50):
and he told me you should writethis.
You need to write this.
So I'd send him the manuscript.
He asked to see it.
I said no.
He said you should write it butrewrite it.
So I spent some time rewritingit.
Then I put it down again.
So I had this literary agent whois the worst human being in the
entire fucking planet.
(36:11):
He ended up getting sued formillions and millions of dollars
.
I won't say his name becausehe's such a prick He'd probably
sue me, but you know who you areand you're a prick, if you ever
hear this.
I met him in jujitsu by chokingthe shit out of him.
So you should have realized Imight choke the shit out of you
one day.
That said, it didn't work out.
(36:33):
During the pandemic, I rewrotethe entire book and there had
been a publisher who I don'tlove now after the book came out
, but he had wanted to do thebook prior to the rewrite.
I did the rewrite, he got me aneditor and we put the book out.
So that's the process of it,but the gumption came from being
(36:56):
a good storyteller and also thewant to connect with my dad and
the man who told me to pick thebook back up QR Hand Quentin
Roosevelt Hand my godfather.
He passed away during thepandemic so I got to be with him
right before he passed away.
I drove up to the bay and Istayed with him for a couple of
days just to see him, because itwas important.
(37:19):
My dad wanted me to always takecare of him if I could.
So my dad left behind somethings and we took care of QR.
That's the best we could beforehe passed away.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
That's beautiful, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
So that was the book could before he passed away.
That's beautiful, beautiful.
So that was the book and that'swhy I wrote it, probably to be
close to my dad, and also I feltlike I have a story to tell
that is much bigger than justthe music.
So that part is the obvious,the bells and whistles.
But I have an intricate lifestory and it's very cathartic to
put your life on paper and notto lie about it.
(37:53):
So a lot of people write astory about themselves and it's
not very objective.
I had a friend of mine who wrotea book and I won't say his name
, but his book was.
He was always Superman.
And I had a friend who's agreat writer, seth Rosenfeld,
screenwriter, mostly playwrightand Seth, his word of advice for
me was be really honest aboutyour faults, your shortcomings,
(38:15):
and celebrate the wins, becausethat's what makes a book good,
that's a good story Ups anddowns.
So that's what I tried to dowhen I wrote the book.
I tried to just keep it honest.
You know, I'm also, likelong-term member of a 12-step
program and in the 12-stepprogram I belong to rigorous
honesty is at the center of it.
So being rigorously honest isat the center of my story, so I
(38:41):
try not to lie.
You know I'm an honest person.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Congratulations, man, on everything you know.
Thank you, we could do thisfive hours, seven hours.
Yeah, man, yeah, like 10.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
We could do this five hours, seven hours.
Yeah, man, yeah, like 10.
Easily, because I love talkingto you, because we know so much
For the people who are listening.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
we skipped over a lot of shit With all the shit we
talked about.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
we skipped over a lot of shit we skipped over, like
the last 10 years kind of.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
We both worked at.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Warner Music Group.
Jeff was at Atlantic, I was atAtlantic.
I was at ADA, yeah you were atADA, yep, yep.
That's a story in itself.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
I'd come down to your office and we'd commiserate.
You know.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Yep, I mean, jeff was there when I found you, were
there when I brought in Made inTokyo.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You had Ugly God, yep, yeah,yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Little Dicky, little Dicky, who Atlantic passed on
upstreaming Guys like a megastar.
You know they.
You know it was one of those.
You know those meetings wherewe do the meeting and I got to
say, little Dickie is so little,he's so little Dickie.
He goes.
How do you feel, craig?
How do you feel about being onAtlantic records?
(39:46):
And he goes well, it soundsgreat if you guys want to write
the check.
And you promise me I'm going tobe bigger than Macklemore.
And Julie goes.
What are you crazy?
No, I can't promise that.
Who can promise that?
I can't, no one can promise youthat.
And he goes.
Well, that's what I mean.
And so the meeting's like,everyone laughs and the meeting
(40:09):
ends.
And you know, craig, what doyou think?
And Mike Kaiser goes.
I love him, I think we shoulddo it.
I don't know why.
It's like the only time MikeKaiser ever looked out for me in
my life.
He helped get me the ax.
He put my head in theguillotine is what I heard.
Mike, I grew up with you.
I got your first job at Def Jam.
(40:29):
I hope you hear this.
Mike, I grew up with you.
I got your first job at Def Jam.
I hope you hear this by allI've heard behind the scenes.
You helped chop me up.
You helped barbecue me Anyway,one day you'll explain that.
And Julie was like he's acharmer, and I, when she said
that, I knew it wasn't going tohappen.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
It was over.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
It was over.
Wow, wow, wow.
Yeah, you know it was a weirdplace working there, but it was
a weird place.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
It was a weird place, but we, you know we're here now
.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
I did fucking eight years there.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
So I did three years there, 16, 18.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
I started at Warner with Todd, todd, lior and Joey.
Then they put me at ADA becauseI found Macklemore and Lior
told me to bring it to Kenny.
So I went to ADA, I becamesenior VP at ADA and then it all
went away.
Yeah, like it always does, allgood things come to an end, man,
they do.
No one stays at a record labellonger than 10 years.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
No man, anyone, no one stays at a record label
longer than 10 years.
No, that's miraculous.
It's miraculous.
This is like some lady like inroyalties or something you don't
really see some shit likeexactly, but the creative admin.
Exactly, but the creativepositions don't last.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Yes, we got okay you know it's crazy between my two
stints at the warner musical.
It was we in the beginning,between a lecture and ada warner
brothers.
I worked there a total of 17years Wow.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
It's crazy, that's a run.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Two different ones.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Two different empires .
Yeah, quick, very quick, acouple questions, quick and
you've got a million of these.
But tell me one artist youwanted to sign but you didn't or
couldn't.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Tribe Called Quest.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
Million of these, but tell me one artist you wanted
to sign, but you, but you didn'tor couldn't.
Child called quest.
They broke my heart, okay, okay, okay.
Tell me one or two of yourfavorite artists and why
everybody gets this questioneverlast, because he's one of my
best friends okay I still talkto him almost every day.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Um, he's my and we had the craziest experience
working together.
It was life-defining.
So things aren't alwayslife-defining Right and the
other one is very, very hard topick between Dirty and Doom.
Okay, say them both Dirty andDoom, probably in part because
(42:49):
they both passed.
Doom because he was subjectedto the craziest ordeal coming
from kmd to become mf doom anddied and experienced this
rebirth career-wise, and he wasfucking hilarious, just
hilarious, the funniest dudeever.
Love him to death.
(43:10):
What a great guy.
And Dirty, because Dirty wasdirty and there's only one Dirty
Like Doom and Everlasting andSingular.
But All Dirty Bastard was aonce-in-a-lifetime opportunity
that will never happen again.
It never happened the same wayagain.
He was like a shining star, aHalley's Comet.
He was, like you know, scorchedearth times 10.
(43:34):
And making that record was noteasy, getting it done, but it
was an experience that changedmy life and told me to believe
in myself, because I knew morethan most other people around me
who doubted it.
And I loved him for theexperience of the record, like
the album cover, just that aloneand how it went down, with
(43:55):
Danny clinching him and the artdirection which came from him
and all of it was a once.
This is why, this is why I dowhat I do.
Yeah, that is the experience.
That is the reason you do it.
To have have lightning in abottle and to capture it, yes,
to bring the fucking ball in theend zone when there's the most
(44:18):
formative defense in the worldin front of you To win game
seven.
That's what that felt like tome.
So working with him, is thatthat experience?
So all dirty bastards.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Okay, and last question, I tailored this for
you.
Tell me two of your favoritedowntown restaurants, that's a
good question.
You're a low-key foodie.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
I love to eat, I try not to say foodie.
Okay, interesting, interesting.
So they have to still be open.
No, no, no, of course not.
So I'm going to pick myfavorite burger spot, because
I've gone here since I was a kidand that's a corner bistro.
Okay, every time I go to NewYork I go there because it's the
(45:03):
best affordable burger in NewYork.
It's unchanged by time.
It's not a smash burger 20bucks.
You get that thick burger withthe fries and the same.
Yeah, I love that place, this ismy spot.
And then you know it was DaSilvano.
They closed.
(45:24):
So, I ate at Silvano foreverbecause they took such good care
of me there.
I knew Silvano and that placeis just unbelievable.
The food is so good.
So Bar Pitti, which his wifeowns Silvano Clothes, is right
next door.
I love that place.
But I go to a place called ElPosto, which is owned by my
(45:45):
friend, julio, who used to ownEl Bogato.
So him and his wife, beatrice,own it.
So it's on 2nd Street, theblock I grew up in New York.
The food is amazing and theytreat me great there.
So that's where I go a lot.
When I go to New York I alwayshave a meal there.
The food is, you know, four orfive stars.
The service is five stars and Ilove eating on the block where
(46:10):
I grew up.
So I go there as much forwalking past my childhood house
where I played stickball, rightnext door to as much as a
restaurant.
I love the restaurant.
The food is tremendous.
If you are in New York, go.
I love the El Bogato.
I think the food here is betterthan El Bogato.
So that's my two spots.
Okay, that's it.
That's it.
That's it we done.
Shout out to Winsome inBrooklyn too.
(46:30):
That's a great one.
I don't know if you know thatplace, but go there.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
I don't know that place.
No, okay, well, thank you,dante Ross.
Thank you, Jeff Sledge this isin the lobby of the Gavin.
That's where we really clicked.
Yeah, that's.
You know, Sean always loved you, so I loved Kazoff, you came
(46:53):
with high recommendationsbecause Sean could do no wrong.
You used to call me Mighty JoeYoung.
Wow, he was the only guy that Iwould lie to you.
You're Mighty Joe Young, SledgeYo you cannot call someone that
today.
I miss that guy man.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
I love him.
He was the best.
I miss that guy.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Rest in peace to the captain.
Rest in peace to Sean Kazoff.
You know I'm a Rushki Sledge,I'm a Rushki he believed in me
before I believed in myself.
Yeah, yeah, sean was.
He was from another era, he wasspecial.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
He was a special dude you know who who says that
about him too, ali Ali's alwayslike man Sean.
He signed Tropic Quest and noone knows that.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
Yeah, I always tell people he signed Tropic Quest
and he won Again.
I'm going to end this afterthis.
He brought Farside to Jive.
He gave me that cassette.
I swear to God I was confined.
It had passed me by on thecassette and we passed, I passed
on Farside.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
They were too much like leaders, I had to say from
Paul Stewart, you know who wasgoing to sign Tribe Called Quest
.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Who's that?
Speaker 2 (47:55):
I left Tommy Boy to sign them to Elektra.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Really.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
And Jive paid $350.
I was willing to pay $375.
They would have kept theirpublishing, but Jive was a
better label.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
And that's why they went to Jive.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
Yeah, wow, wow.
Thank you, man.
I really appreciate this man.
Thank you, man.
I really appreciate this.
You can catch Mixed andMastered on Apple Podcasts,
spotify, iheart or wherever youget your podcasts.
Hit that follow button, leave areview and tell a friend, I'm
your host that follow button.
Leave a review and tell afriend, I'm your host, jeffrey
(48:31):
Sledge.
Mixed and Mastered is producedand distributed by Merrick
Studios.
Now for part two of Mixed and Mastered with Dante
Ross.
Welcome to Mixed and Mastered,the podcast where the stories of
the music industry come to life.
I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringingyou real conversations with the
people who have shaped the soundof music.
We're pulling back the curtainon what it takes to make it in
(00:22):
the music business.
These are the stories you won'thear anywhere else, told by the
people who live them.
This is Mixed and Mastered.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So I decided that day I want to work at Election
Records.
So he hired me.
So that's what that was likethe thing though it was, it was
not necessarily the rap stuffbut he told me I signed Anita
Baker, I signed Parliament, Isigned Keith Sweat and I was
like, wow, but he's like I'veworked with Richard Pryor, I
signed him and I was like,really, he's like he's the
(00:55):
craziest fucking guy in thewhole world.
But when he told me that, whenhe told me he signed the Pixies
and played me Tracy Chapman,that's when I decided I had to
work there.
So I went to work at ElectricRecords.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, yeah, and there you worked with Brand Newbie
and Leaders of the New Schooland Old Dirty Bastard and Delta
40 Home of Sapien and P-Rock andSeal.
Smooth Yep, that was an amazingroster, bro.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
That was a crazy run.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
A crazy run.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I remember that.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, you were running, you were rolling, you
were rolling man.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Jesus Christ, I mean, look, we never had the promo
team that did those recordsjustice.
And and I got sick of hearingthat from everyone too like if
those records had been a jive, Iwould have five platinum
records, at least gold records,you're right you know how many
gold records I had at Electraone yeah no one, one one.
I had one gold record atElektra Records.
(01:46):
Pete and CL didn't go gold.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I think it's gold now , but at the time I'm saying
that's incredible, I did notknow that 150,000 sold with a
smash hit record with a hitrecord pushing it yeah, and we
never had a great promo guy.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
The best guy we had was Ruben Rodriguez and he had
his own label, so he cared aboutDigable Planets more than my
group.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, he cared about his own shit and they won gold,
they won gold.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So he, yeah, but Kraz , you know.
And I signed KMD, obviously.
Oh yeah, kmd, mf Doom.
But my first record was a flopShazzy.
I came out the gate with a flopthat only J-Zone remembers, Wow
.
So it didn't work.
And who was next Was Nubian,next, next, and they limped out
(02:39):
of the gate.
Ruben Rodriguez hated them.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
What was the first single?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Feels so Good, feels so Good.
And B-Side was brand brand,brand newbie and he hated them.
He hated them.
He was everything they hated.
Yeah, you know, and they wereeverything he hated.
You know he's a bougie dude.
He wore like a meat coat, youknow the whole thing you know,
one of those his hair.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
He's, you know, one of those His hair.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
He had the Peebo Bryson going on, absolutely,
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Give us a little story.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
He wasn't, he never liked me.
He hated me.
You know, he hated me.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Look man, I went to work with size 40 jeans and a
skateboard and a backwardsbaseball hat.
He was not jacking me at all.
Yeah, he wasn not jacking me atall.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, he wasn't.
Yeah, he wasn't, he wasn'trocking with me and, um, brand
new being.
You know, he, he, if it was upto him he could, he would have
fired me, but he couldn'tbecause craz loved me, because
craz craz made me a vicepresident really early.
I I was the youngest vicepresident history warner music
group up to that point, wow.
So I think I was 25 years old,26 years old, I was the vice
president and I became seniorvice president.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Um, yeah, he, he, um, craz loved me and and look, I
had all those great recordsleaves a new school which buster
came out of it and I had agreat run, but you know, all
good things come to an end yeah,they do, and you know, and so
from there you go to I went todef jam, you did.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I had a label deal at def jam and I I did A&R there
as a vice president and it wasterrible.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Now, what period of Def Jam was this?
Because Def Jam has had itsperiod, the G-Funk period.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Warren G is the guy.
South Central Cartel is on themap.
I go there, I sign Trigger theGambler.
The record doesn't.
It's not good.
Me and Lior go to war.
I have zero hits.
I work on the Nutty Professorsoundtrack.
It's a bad fit.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
You're dying, you're dying.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
It's a bad fit.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's a bad fit.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
It's a bad fit.
I should have never done it.
I had my own label no DoubtRecords.
No Doubt Records, no Doubt.
The band comes out.
It's all fucked up.
Everything that could go wronggoes wrong.
I end up deciding to not go towork.
I'm not going to work anymore.
I'm not going to the.
I'm not going to go to theoffice anymore.
I'm out.
I'm out and I have a contract.
They got pay me overhead.
(05:00):
I'm not going.
I don't return leo's calls.
I start making.
You know, I always made beats.
I produced shit for brandnewbie and for poobah.
Oh, also I did a solo grandpoobah record which was a hit.
Yeah, um, electro, which shouldhave been a gold record but it
wasn't.
Absolutely had a huge single,you know, 360 yep.
So my grand poobah is the best,worst artist I ever worked with
(05:25):
in my whole life, one of thegreatest rappers, top of the
food chain.
But the guy who will leave youstranded in the airport waiting
for him six hours, not show up,and just you know man, just the
shenanigans.
I love the guy, but shenanigansI still.
I'm still holding resentmentsto this day.
Sylvia roan took over and me andher weren't.
We weren't a great fit, but inretrospect I should have stayed.
(05:46):
I should have made it work.
I was one of those guys like Ididn't understand the fact that
you don't love your job.
I didn't love working for her,so I quit.
And it was dumb because she wasa great promo person, you know.
I quit because the second, thesecond Grand Poobah record I'm
under the gun.
But I got Buster's solo recordin my back pocket and I leave
(06:09):
right after Dirty comes out.
What I should have done isstayed and hired somebody and
gone to work at Interscope.
But I did a deal with Def Jambecause I wanted to be my own
boss.
It didn't work out.
I'm fucking.
I'm just dying.
I'm dying over there.
But I started really focusingon making beats.
Oh, I had Dell too.
I had Elektra.
And I produced stuff for Dell onthat second record which
(06:31):
performed, actually, I think,350.
It did pretty good 300.
And that was a miracle makingthat record.
Anyway, I had to redo the wholething over.
But anyway, I'm dying, I'mgetting cooked at Def Jam and I
just really focus on makingmusic.
And I me and Everlast have beenfriends since I met him at
(06:51):
World on Wheels with De La Wow.
We remained friendly.
I was friends with them whenHouse of Pain blew up.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Well, you were gone from, Tommy Boy, when House of
Pain blew up correct.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I was gone.
But they were.
I was friends with them.
I was friends with Muggs.
I was friends with Cypress Hill, who I wanted to sign to
Elektra and my boss wouldn't letme sign him because of Killing
man.
I should you know, that wouldhave been another one of mine.
But they went to Columbia andthey sold way more records than
they would on Elektra.
So God bless, yeah, yeah, and Iremain friends with him.
So you know that's what it is.
(07:24):
Mug's still a good friend ofmine to this day, and so is
B-Real.
So I go to, I go back to mystudio, I start making music and
I linked up with Everlast.
He was in New York.
I don't know what the fuck hewas doing in New York.
I want to.
We just started hanging.
Oh, that's what it was.
I'm in la working at def jam,but I put sadat x on loud and I
(07:47):
put out sadat x wild cowboysrecord.
I'm managing sex, wow, and youknow it's so stupid.
I could have gone and worked atloud and I did the deal with def
jam yeah, with steve yeah stevetried to hire me to be his
first a and r guy right whenwu-tang came out because I had
dirty.
He was come and be the seniorvice president here and I turned
him down.
So, anyway, and Steve, I loveSteve to this day.
(08:07):
He's one of my favorite people.
What a great dude.
So I linked up with Everlast inLA because of Guru.
Rest in peace.
We're staying at the MadreanHotel.
So is Guru's crazy ass.
We go to drink with Guru, meand X, and he's like yo,
everlast is coming.
Everlast shows up and me andhim.
(08:31):
We just start vibing.
He says I want to put X on thesong on my House of Spain record
I'm working on and I'm likelet's make it happen.
And Guru was like y'allmotherfuckers is like the same
dude, you're both the same crazywhite dude.
And Eric's like yeah, we'vebeen hearing that for years and
facts is that Muggs and himthought that me and Eric hanging
(08:53):
out together during House ofPain first run was bad, that
someone's going to jail.
They're like someone's going togo to jail.
So you know, that was kind ofthe you know the vibe.
And but me and him hit it off.
He flew X back out a couple ofweeks later to do the song.
He actually followed up onsomething.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Someone who says something drunk follows up and
actually came through with it.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah.
So then he came to New York andhe was running around.
He was on House of Pain tourfor the last record.
They did a video for fed up.
I'm in the video with guru onthe remix with peter green.
You know that is the actor hewas.
He's in pole fiction, he's zedwow.
So he kills me in the video.
(09:37):
I don't know, you can find iton youtube anyway.
So so, but me and me and eric,we just start hanging out heavy.
He's running around with me andmy crazy-ass friends, my boy,
manny Stacks, who's locked upright now he got 20.
Shout out to Stacks I love you.
And we're running around thestreets of New York bugging out,
just bugging out.
(09:59):
He's staying with me.
We're just doing crazy shit.
Then I went to L, to LA, justto go.
I was with this girl and shewas driving me crazy.
I was like I'm going to LA fora minute.
I stayed at Eric's house.
He had stayed at my house, wewere chilling and we went to the
Super Bowl together.
That year we drove from LA toPhoenix or Tucson or Scottsdale.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
I went to that Super Bowl in Phoenix.
I went to that one in Phoenix,I went to that one.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Steelers Cowboys.
I'm a Steelers fan, he's aCowboys fan.
We had crazy tickets and wejust you know, that was like my
brother from another Like I waslike.
You know, sometimes you meetpeople and like that.
One time you hang out you'rejust like best friends from that
day on.
It was like that.
And I slid him a tape of beats.
(10:48):
He was fucking with it.
And then he was like yo, let's.
So he like right, when thehouse of pain record comes out,
right after they go on thislittle tour, he quits the band.
He's like fuck this shit.
And so tommy boy exercises theright to a solo record.
We do demos, we start making arap record.
Meanwhile leo is paying me thewhole time.
That's so I think the dealfinally comes to an end.
(11:11):
I'm one of those dudes.
I always land.
I'm like a fleet frog.
I go from lily pad to lily padyeah when the clock's ticking, I
catch another check.
Yeah like I got the best lucklike that.
So so I'm just I'm all you know, because I think it's like I'm
not a big God guy in atraditional sense, but I think
I'm always protected, like I'malways protected.
That's why I made it out of theLower East Side.
(11:33):
That's why the dude got shot 20feet away from me in Detroit on
the Airbnb in Rakim Tour, andwe didn't get shot.
You know.
That's why, like I've seen allthis shit happen, I've been like
you know, look, guns have beenpointed at me more than once in
my life and I didn't get shot,and you know.
So you know that's allsomething bigger than me.
There's a reason.
So I'm always protected.
(11:54):
That's like another example ofbeing protected my deals running
out, I catch the check to doEric's record.
We start making a rap recordand it's going cool.
You know, albie, the greatAlbie, was my A&R guy, albie
Ragusa.
Albie and Monica give me the job.
Albie is super tight with Eric,super tight with me.
(12:15):
Yes, so me and Albie did thisclub.
That's another thing I forgot.
Me and Albie did this club.
White Boy Wednesdays.
It was a party called Thing Me,stretch Me.
And Albie did this club.
White Boy Wednesdays.
It's a party called Thang Me,stretch Me, stretch.
Nick Quest did album.
The five of us own Jewels, djJewels.
We do this party called Thang.
It lasted for like a year andchange.
(12:35):
It's like our version of SoulKitchen.
Everyone has to pay $5.
We give you a blunt at the doorso you can smoke weed there.
It's at the Space Island Lounge, which is a reggae club on the
Bowery, and so that's what it is.
And Eric came one night and hewas with Albie this is where it
all started and he was lookingup.
It was a tin ceiling.
(12:56):
He was looking up at theceiling.
I said what are you looking at,bro?
He said, man, I just ate somemushrooms and that ceiling's
moving.
I started laughing and hepulled out a bag of mushrooms
and me and curious ate mushroomswith him.
We hung out to like the nextday.
So that's when our bond wasformed.
It was like voltron yeah yeah,that was like that's when we
(13:18):
really first became good friends.
And then when we went to la, wewere kindled.
So we came to new york and Ihad my studio in the basement.
He he's staying at my house.
I always, you know, I'm reallyinto writing and I wrote about
in a book but I'm going to workon.
My next thing is I'm going towork on the screenplay on this,
because my writer friend saidthis is the part that you need
to make a screenplay next.
(13:38):
I'll talk about that later.
So I always say we were liketwo men who were lost at sea and
we found a life raft back toland.
Right, we had nowhere to go butup.
Our best days were behind us.
People, the odds were that wewere going to crash out.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That it was over.
They wrote you off.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, it was like you're on a downward cycle, bro,
you know.
So we're in New York making arecord and I was quite popular
with the ladies At that time.
I had a revolving door and Ericwould always be like Jesus
Christ bro.
So he's on my couch, staying onmy couch, and I walked in with
(14:18):
this girl and she looked Irish.
She had like ivory skin,beautiful blue eyes.
She's a model girl, she's verybeautiful.
And he looks at her and helooks at me and he goes home
team.
And I said home team Becausehe's Irish, right.
And I started I was like whatdoes that mean?
He's like, oh, he's like.
I was like, oh, you're Irish,he's Irish, you know.
(14:39):
She's like yo, he doesn't looklike the guy from House of Pain.
I was like don't get too excited, whatever.
So you know, one thing leads toanother and I end up going.
I go to the bathroom, I'm inlike my boxer shorts and I hear,
oh so Eric had come to thestudio.
I had a guitar in the studioand he asked if he could borrow
(15:00):
it, because I knew he playedguitar a little bit.
He could play guitar.
He to borrow it because I knewhe played guitar a little bit he
could play guitar.
He was playing, like you know,he played ACDC songs and all
this other shit, but I didn'tknow if he could really play.
I didn't know he could reallyplay and I came out the bathroom
, or I was going to the bathroom, I was going to it and I heard
him playing.
He's playing a song, strummingon the guitar, and I said what
(15:23):
the fuck is that?
it was almost like when I heardthat tracy chapman song or like
when I heard, when I heard, likecat stevens, when I was a
little kid I heard wild world Iwas like that song is so
beautiful.
Or even like um, use me by billwithers, like you know, I'm a
sucker for, for an acousticguitar and emotional vocals and
and, um, what the hell is that?
That's super cool.
He's like oh, it's a song Iwere, I wrote, I said play that.
(15:46):
Again, he's played it.
He started singing it, he'ssinging the song.
And I said, and I was blownaway, I was like yo, we got to
record that.
So that song was what it's like, wow, and it's exactly as is on
the record, like the, themelody, the, everything, the
(16:07):
chords.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
You basically just plug the mic in and just let him
go.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It's exactly that song, minus the drums and the
strings, no bass, but it's thatsong.
And I was like we have torecord that.
And he goes, I'm not ready todo that yet.
I said why.
He said, well, once I do that,I can't, I can't rap anymore.
I said, nah, you're bugging.
And, um, I said that because meand him both were into rage
(16:34):
against the machine shit.
I saw rage against the machineopen for house of pain before
they had a record deal or beforethe record was out.
They had been signed.
Wow so, and another fantasticband.
So he had turned me on toSoundgarden.
No, I knew Soundgarden, but hereally got me to listen to
Soundgarden.
He turned me on to Radiohead.
I didn't know they had anythinggood besides Creep, but he made
(16:56):
me listen to Pablo Honey.
And then I turned them on to alot of music as well older punk
rock stuff.
I got them into the Clash.
So we were really into turningeach other on to music.
This was a place that we metand I stayed on them.
Usually my rule of thumb isdon't push too hard, because the
artist doesn't listen.
Make them always think it'stheir idea.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
It's a fine line.
It's a very fine line.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
You know that song you want to do.
You know what I mean, likeconvincing they came up with
exactly yeah, but this time Ididn't do that.
I didn't play sight games witheric.
I just was like we, you got todo that, you got to do that, and
then he played it for mypartner.
Rest in peace, john gamble johnproduction partner, my studio
(17:39):
engineer, my, my brother, john,gave me the look and John hardly
ever, ever, like, gave me thelook.
Like what the fuck?
He gave me the look like yo andthen he was like, he was like
yo, you gotta get him to do that.
So me being slick, I was likeyo a couple days, like maybe a
(17:59):
week later, I was like yo, we'rethe part of the studio today.
Eric's like really.
I was like, yeah, john wantshis of studio today.
Eric's like really.
I was like, yeah, john wantshis guitar back.
So so he brought the guitar.
I got there before him, Icalled him from the studio, so I
I figured out approximately thetempo of the record and I took
the drums famous breakbeat.
I chopped them up and I said,yo, man, play that record again.
And then I played the drumsbomb, play.
(18:22):
That shit fit like a hand in aglove, like bong, and we knew we
had to do it.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
He recorded it as an air person.
It's such a you can't evendescribe it.
When you get one, it's afeeling you can't describe it to
somebody who hasn't done it.
But when you hear that one,it's like the best sex you've
ever had in your life.
It's like, yeah, you can't youchase that high for the rest of
(18:49):
your life.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
It's like God, it's a God shot Like boom.
Literally it only happened tome a few times in my life,
literally, you know, literally Iget a handful of times in my
entire life the record I go.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I know that's a hit, but there's also records that
are hits.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
This is different.
This is different.
Right, there's a record that'slike great.
You're like, yes, that's great.
Yeah, happened to me with grandpoobah.
He did the rhymes on step tothe rear in one shot.
He did that shit because, yo,we were going to make another
record and poobah, you know howlong it took to track a song.
Back in the day, me and mypartners had made another beat
for him and he walked in and hewas like I can't fuck with it.
(19:26):
We're like I hate you right now.
So my partner, gibi, rest inpeace.
Gibi, yep, he was like, lookedat me.
Like you know, gibi was likethe coolest cucumber on the
block Absolutely no one wascooler than that dude.
And talk about like me and himtogether with the ladies was
like ridiculous.
Like you know, he taught meeverything I forgot.
(19:48):
Like that guy was like thebiggest influence on my whole
life.
So he looked at me and was likeI got this kid Like and he
pulled out his.
He had a little box of S900discs and he went up to the S900
and he played the loop that isStep to the Rear, and just
(20:08):
looped it.
He started doing it by hand andPuba was like yo.
That's that shit and bong.
And then we laid down the loopand a kick and a snare.
There's nothing else in thatrecord and one piano hit.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
And he rapped it all the way through.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yo, he rapped it in one shot and I was like this is
the greatest record we ever made.
We were both like what the fuck?
So you know, we did that wholesong in like four hours.
So you know, that was maybe theonly other time.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
it was like you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Let me ask you a question.
So the House of Pain comes out,I ain't going to say blow up,
explodes, explodes.
Three million albums or so.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Three albums, no, no, I think the single's like damn
near diamond, but the album, Ithink, is two or three million,
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
So it's crazy time you win Grammy, which is crazy
right, oh, but you're talkingabout.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
You mean what?
It's the Everlast record.
Whitey Ford Sings the Blues.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yes, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm saying House of Pain, I and
Whitey Ford Sings the Blues.
Yes, yeah, I'm sorry, house ofPain, I'm saying House of Pain,
I'm tripping Everlast, everlast,everlast, triple Platinum.
Yes, yes, yes, excuse me onthat.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
But what you forgot is that he had a heart attack
before the record came out.
So we were doing the last songin the whole album.
I hadn't been back to New Yorkfor eight or nine months.
I want, I'm paying rent on myhouse, I want to fucking go back
home and I'm, you know, a lotof Eric's fucking a tax man's on
him.
It's just, it's dark.
(21:37):
We do the last song on thealbum, called it's called Tired.
He starts complaining about himchest pains.
I said, yo, we got to finishthe fucking record ready, bro,
like I'm fucking, I got to gohome.
He, you know, I didn't know howto drive.
I'm living in la in my girl'shouse because I was living with
eric.
But I was like I can't livewith him and make a record, I'm
gonna kill him.
(21:57):
He's gonna kill me.
It's like it's too much me, himand john in one house, forget
it.
He's complaining about chestpains.
He says he had food poisoning.
He ate at this terriblerestaurant all the time,
damiano's.
I was like how could you eatthat shit?
Like only irishman eats at atime.
Thinks that's italian food.
Like you know, get you, get abetter diet.
Kid like stop, you know so, andI was also like that's when I
(22:18):
first really got into workingout.
I was like working out like allthe time because I was so bored
.
He slept at two o'clock.
Every day I get up like eighto'clock.
So so you know, I'm like sofucking, I have like five hours
to kill every morning.
So I go to the gym and I gotthe call from John that he had a
heart attack in the middle ofthe night.
I got a rule like don't pick upthe phone in the middle of the
night because either someonedied or someone needs you to get
(22:39):
back to jail.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's never good.
It's never good Someone's injail or someone's dead.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, so I didn't pick up the my girl's house.
I finally picked up on.
She was in Vegas at a tradeshow and he said yo, dante
Everett had a heart attack.
I went to the hospital.
John looked like he'd seen aghost.
He said right before you gotthere he had a.
He went in a fucking cold redcardiac arrest.
He might die.
So he almost died.
(23:03):
He was on 48 hours.
Wow.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
And we'll be right back Ready to launch your
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Speaker 3 (23:25):
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journey today.
And now back to our show.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
He was born with congenitive heart valve disorder
.
He was taking Coumadin.
It was mixed, prescribed bloodthinner, so that's why I had a
heart attack, so anyway.
So I finished the record he waslaid up.
I took it back to New York andI finished it without him.
So Jamie Stow, pete Rock'sengineer, mixed it with me and
John, we finished it.
It was to me the best recordI'd ever made.
(24:07):
Took me out of my rap comfortzone.
It was my version of Check yourHead, you know.
Very different record Nothinglike it.
But we're playing instruments.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Nothing to say.
No, it's a whole differentthing.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah right, it's like total and completely inspired
by Check your Head and by Beckand by Rage Against the Machine.
You know, cake, I had donethese demos with this band
called Roguish Armament beforethat and we almost got a deal
and all fell apart.
But it was like rock rap.
It was pretty cool.
So I knew I could kind of.
I had like every label tried tosign but just all fell apart.
(24:42):
So I knew I could kind offigure that formula out.
But Eric was a great songwriter, which those guys weren't.
He could actually write songs,songs, he's a good singer.
So he was laid up and Ifinished the record and and we
turned into tommy boy.
He told me sam crespo said yo,your record is great.
Now they're gonna sell this one.
So I was happy, then sad in thespan of 30 seconds and sam kept
(25:06):
it real with me because I knewsam forever yeah anyway.
yeah, the record comes out, soask your question.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I'll answer it.
So what kind of mind fuck is itto become a Grammy-winning
smash album producer?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
You know it was different emotions.
So the good part of it is wewalked through hell to get to
heaven with that record.
Yeah, and they say I'm abeliever that hell, hell and
heaven are on earth.
Right, I don't believe inmystery shit.
Yeah, Like to go up to the skytype shit.
Yeah, I don't believe in noneof that.
So you know we walked throughhell broke.
(25:46):
You know he was broke and I wasbroke.
You know he was broke and I was.
I had had a terrible breakupwith this girl in new york and
and we made this beautiful pieceof art that was centered in our
deep friendship and um, we.
The other thing is we made it inthe house.
We never went to a major studio.
We mixed it in a big studio butwe made the whole thing at home
(26:08):
, home recording, because I'veseen the beasties.
G son and I had my studio innew york, so we just built a
version of my studio in New Yorkand Eric's house.
So we did the whole thing inthe house horns, everything.
There's no live drums on therecord, but we did all in-house,
except for strings.
We did that in a big studio.
So that was a ticket and um,you know, the record comes out
(26:31):
and it blows up.
So I felt that we had earnedevery inch of that success.
Eric almost died.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I never worked harder on a record in my entire life.
I never wanted a record tocount more.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I feel like he felt the same.
John certainly felt the same.
We were granted all of thesegifts.
So, yes, a mind fuck the poserswere.
We worked really hard andbelieved in our bond and made
this great record.
That's the good stuff.
The bad stuff is I goteverything I wanted, and
sometimes that's not good that'sthat actually what I was going
(27:12):
to say.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
I wasn't going to say that particularly, but yeah,
it's kind of like.
You work hard, you guys arefucking damn near like in your
boxers making jams you know whatI'm saying Like eating pizza
and shit.
And then this thing takes overthe country and the world.
You know, it becomes thismonster, it becomes its own
thing.
It becomes so big.
It's so big, it becomes likeits own kind of entity.
(27:33):
It's just moving and all thismoney is coming in and people
are calling you and come workwith Like how did I don't know
how?
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, you said you tried to get everything that you
thought about.
It didn't come out of the gatefast.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
No, not out of the gate, not out of the out.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
It came out in August .
He won on tour in Septemberplayed a show in New York,
killed it Cone Island High JohnLeland, my old friend John.
Leland, he did a stunning reviewin the Daily News, stunning.
The record got very goodreviews but it wasn't selling.
(28:08):
But a station in Seattlestarted to play at the end and
it performed and then K-Rockstarted to play it.
So from August, september toDecember it keeps going up.
By December the second to lastweek of Billboard reporting the
single goes number onealternative record in the
(28:30):
country.
The album was top five sold ahundred thousand records that
week.
Our biggest week 103 000records.
I was at a christmas party.
I want to say this for loudjeff fenster was there.
Fenster fucked me on this dealon that alternative band Roguesh
(28:50):
Armament.
He fucked me royally.
The band broke up.
He came up to me and goescongratulations, you have the
number one alternative record inthe country.
And he had a hat on.
I took his hat and I threw itacross the room.
I said don't fucking talk to me.
And Maria Ma was there and Lisa,and they got between me and
(29:11):
they said don't do it, dante,don't hit them, don't do it.
Come on, don't do it.
They're like hugging me, we'reso proud of you and, um, that
was cool, my sisters, becausethey were really good friends of
mine, yeah, it was like lisa,rose, my, my smoke weed partner,
so and maria had gone out giveme for a long time.
So you know we um, you know itwas great, but then you know, I
(29:32):
also had a little too muchaccess to the world.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That's what I want.
That's kind of what I wasleaning on.
How do you cope with that, thatlevel of everything.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
You know, I bought a place that was upside, you know.
I bought a place.
I bought my first place, whichwas great in me packing, and I
bought too many gold chains, aRolex.
I dated a lot of women.
I was like, hey, let's go tothe Bahamas.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Let's go over here.
Let's go to Miami.
Let's go to Miami.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Let's go.
Let's go to LA.
I'm just doing it, spend moneylike stupidly, cause I got a big
publishing deal as the firsttime I had.
Like it's the first time Icould say I was a millionaire,
yeah, I got a million dollars,yeah, and a house.
And you know I was, um, I wasin crazy good shape.
(30:29):
I was super dedicated toworking out and I guess that's
when I started boxing, doingjiu-jitsu and stuff, so I was
really into being fit.
But I also was drinking like afish and, yeah, man, I lost
sight of some things.
But what was great is I got towork with a bunch of cool bands
(30:51):
and do a bunch of cool shit JohnSpencer, blues, explosion, korn
, the Getaway People, rozelle.
You know I got a label dealfrom Steve my champ which wasn't
very successful but was a lotof fun.
I was too focused makingrecords for other people because
I could go and pick up a$60,000 check here, $100,000
there.
(31:12):
You know, and I became also,like the biggest rock rap
remixer, one of them.
So if I didn't do it, if ButchVig didn't do it, I did it.
Whether it was Incubus, korn,the Deftones, I did all that
shit.
And all those gigs were $25,000pop gigs.
So you know, and I lined themup for days.
I produced Naina Cherry, allthis shit, man.
I went to england and producedsome shit.
I tried to be a songwriter.
I wasn't very good at it, but Igot to blue santana and I got a
(31:36):
song that won a grammy onsupernatural and those checks
never stopped coming.
So that was two grammys.
So I got my grammy for everlastis oh, for best alternative
song.
The grammy I got for santana isfor Best Alternative Song.
The Grammy I got for Santana isfor Album of the Year, so
that's the real Grammy.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Where do you keep your trophies?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
My Grammy is right.
The Santana one, I think, isright behind me.
I think it's right there.
There it is in the corner.
I don't know if you can see it.
That's my.
Grammy and for Best AlternativeSong.
You know what you get you get afucking medal.
Then you get another statue,you get a medal and a plaque.
So I got the plaques and youknow, I got the Santana Gold
Records.
It's a platinum.
(32:17):
It's a 12-time platinum at 120.
And I worked on three recordswith Santana.
I liked working with them a lotand you know, I producer a
failed songwriter.
I was not a great songwriterfor 10 years and I did that for
10 years from 1999, 2000 to 2010or so, and tell me how you just
(32:41):
run.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Tell me, because people have told me this over
the years but I haven't had theI don't know the gumption on
whatever to do it.
But tell me how you decided towrite this book, my dad?
Speaker 2 (32:52):
is a writer.
He published 11 books.
Oh, wow, when I was a kid I wona new.
I didn't win it, sorry.
I came in second in a New YorkCity sports writing contest.
I was in middle school.
Wow, I wrote about baseball.
Red Smith, a famous writer.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
You know, sports writer Red Smith.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
He was the judge, one of the judges.
My family had a mutual friendwith his, james Roach, another
sports writer, and he became myfriend and told me I should be a
sports writer and I have thisbook he gave me, called when the
Strawberries Turn Red.
It's about baseball, he told me.
(33:34):
In the book he said to Dante,you're on your way to the
greatest job, to the greatestjob you'll ever know.
Wow, and he signed it.
So I always want to be a writer.
I always had literaryaspirations and I feel like I
had the second best job in theworld, right.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Red probably had the.
You know it was a great job.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
I mean not even that I did it that good, it's just
the opportunity to do it, thejob itself for a music nerd like
us.
Like what do you want?
To be an A&R guy?
It's like you're the biggestmusic fan in the world, right,
Absolutely, and that's all Iever been, really.
So, um, I wrote the book causeI'm a good storyteller.
Like 20 different people thattold me to write a fucking book,
(34:16):
and including Sasha Jenkins,rest in peace.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Wow, god bless him, god bless him.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
He, um, and me and him had a very intricate
relationship up and down,sometimes good, sometimes bad.
So by no means am I like, Idon't want to be like.
You know that was my bestfriend in the world.
But he, when I I wrote for massappeal and he was like you
should go write a book, cause Iwas, he got, he plugged me into
writing mass appeal.
There were some issues where meand him at the end wrote, like
(34:42):
you know, two thirds of themagazine.
So so he was one of the guysand a few other people Mel
DeCole, quest, eric People werelike dude, fucking, go write a
book already, shut the fuck up.
So me and my dad we're going towrite a book together.
My dad got sick.
We started to write it.
I have the first like 80 pages.
(35:04):
We wrote together.
But my dad got sick.
He got cancer.
He had a couple of bouts ofchemo before he was in remission
.
But he got sick and we put thebook down because he had to live
the end of his life and I wrotethe book when he was dying.
I wrote it and then, after hepassed, I couldn't look at it
(35:29):
for five years.
I just couldn't look at it.
It's been around that long.
Well, it hasn't been.
So I fast forward to about hedied in 2011 to about 2015, 2016
.
I picked it up at the urging ofhis friend, who was also older,
(35:50):
and he told me you should writethis.
You need to write this.
So I'd send him the manuscript.
He asked to see it.
I said no.
He said you should write it butrewrite it.
So I spent some time rewritingit.
Then I put it down again.
So I had this literary agent whois the worst human being in the
entire fucking planet.
(36:11):
He ended up getting sued formillions and millions of dollars
.
I won't say his name becausehe's such a prick He'd probably
sue me, but you know who you areand you're a prick, if you ever
hear this.
I met him in jujitsu by chokingthe shit out of him.
So you should have realized Imight choke the shit out of you
one day.
That said, it didn't work out.
(36:33):
During the pandemic, I rewrotethe entire book and there had
been a publisher who I don'tlove now after the book came out
, but he had wanted to do thebook prior to the rewrite.
I did the rewrite, he got me aneditor and we put the book out.
So that's the process of it,but the gumption came from being
(36:56):
a good storyteller and also thewant to connect with my dad and
the man who told me to pick thebook back up QR Hand Quentin
Roosevelt Hand my godfather.
He passed away during thepandemic so I got to be with him
right before he passed away.
I drove up to the bay and Istayed with him for a couple of
days just to see him, because itwas important.
(37:19):
My dad wanted me to always takecare of him if I could.
So my dad left behind somethings and we took care of QR.
That's the best we could beforehe passed away.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
That's beautiful, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
So that was the book could before he passed away.
That's beautiful, beautiful.
So that was the book and that'swhy I wrote it, probably to be
close to my dad, and also I feltlike I have a story to tell
that is much bigger than justthe music.
So that part is the obvious,the bells and whistles.
But I have an intricate lifestory and it's very cathartic to
put your life on paper and notto lie about it.
(37:53):
So a lot of people write astory about themselves and it's
not very objective.
I had a friend of mine who wrotea book and I won't say his name
, but his book was.
He was always Superman.
And I had a friend who's agreat writer, seth Rosenfeld,
screenwriter, mostly playwrightand Seth, his word of advice for
me was be really honest aboutyour faults, your shortcomings,
(38:15):
and celebrate the wins, becausethat's what makes a book good,
that's a good story Ups anddowns.
So that's what I tried to dowhen I wrote the book.
I tried to just keep it honest.
You know, I'm also, likelong-term member of a 12-step
program and in the 12-stepprogram I belong to rigorous
honesty is at the center of it.
So being rigorously honest isat the center of my story, so I
(38:41):
try not to lie.
You know I'm an honest person.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Congratulations, man, on everything you know.
Thank you, we could do thisfive hours, seven hours.
Yeah, man, yeah, like 10.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
We could do this five hours, seven hours.
Yeah, man, yeah, like 10.
Easily, because I love talkingto you, because we know so much
For the people who are listening.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
we skipped over a lot of shit With all the shit we
talked about.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
we skipped over a lot of shit we skipped over, like
the last 10 years kind of.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
We both worked at.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Warner Music Group.
Jeff was at Atlantic, I was atAtlantic.
I was at ADA, yeah you were atADA, yep, yep.
That's a story in itself.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
I'd come down to your office and we'd commiserate.
You know.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Yep, I mean, jeff was there when I found you, were
there when I brought in Made inTokyo.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You had Ugly God, yep, yeah,yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Little Dicky, little Dicky, who Atlantic passed on
upstreaming Guys like a megastar.
You know they.
You know it was one of those.
You know those meetings wherewe do the meeting and I got to
say, little Dickie is so little,he's so little Dickie.
He goes.
How do you feel, craig?
How do you feel about being onAtlantic records?
(39:46):
And he goes well, it soundsgreat if you guys want to write
the check.
And you promise me I'm going tobe bigger than Macklemore.
And Julie goes.
What are you crazy?
No, I can't promise that.
Who can promise that?
I can't, no one can promise youthat.
And he goes.
Well, that's what I mean.
And so the meeting's like,everyone laughs and the meeting
(40:09):
ends.
And you know, craig, what doyou think?
And Mike Kaiser goes.
I love him, I think we shoulddo it.
I don't know why.
It's like the only time MikeKaiser ever looked out for me in
my life.
He helped get me the ax.
He put my head in theguillotine is what I heard.
Mike, I grew up with you.
I got your first job at Def Jam.
(40:29):
I hope you hear this.
Mike, I grew up with you.
I got your first job at Def Jam.
I hope you hear this by allI've heard behind the scenes.
You helped chop me up.
You helped barbecue me Anyway,one day you'll explain that.
And Julie was like he's acharmer, and I, when she said
that, I knew it wasn't going tohappen.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
It was over.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
It was over.
Wow, wow, wow.
Yeah, you know it was a weirdplace working there, but it was
a weird place.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
It was a weird place, but we, you know we're here now
.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
I did fucking eight years there.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
So I did three years there, 16, 18.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
I started at Warner with Todd, todd, lior and Joey.
Then they put me at ADA becauseI found Macklemore and Lior
told me to bring it to Kenny.
So I went to ADA, I becamesenior VP at ADA and then it all
went away.
Yeah, like it always does, allgood things come to an end, man,
they do.
No one stays at a record labellonger than 10 years.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
No man, anyone, no one stays at a record label
longer than 10 years.
No, that's miraculous.
It's miraculous.
This is like some lady like inroyalties or something you don't
really see some shit likeexactly, but the creative admin.
Exactly, but the creativepositions don't last.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Yes, we got okay you know it's crazy between my two
stints at the warner musical.
It was we in the beginning,between a lecture and ada warner
brothers.
I worked there a total of 17years Wow.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
It's crazy, that's a run.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Two different ones.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Two different empires .
Yeah, quick, very quick, acouple questions, quick and
you've got a million of these.
But tell me one artist youwanted to sign but you didn't or
couldn't.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Tribe Called Quest.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
Million of these, but tell me one artist you wanted
to sign, but you, but you didn'tor couldn't.
Child called quest.
They broke my heart, okay, okay, okay.
Tell me one or two of yourfavorite artists and why
everybody gets this questioneverlast, because he's one of my
best friends okay I still talkto him almost every day.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Um, he's my and we had the craziest experience
working together.
It was life-defining.
So things aren't alwayslife-defining Right and the
other one is very, very hard topick between Dirty and Doom.
Okay, say them both Dirty andDoom, probably in part because
(42:49):
they both passed.
Doom because he was subjectedto the craziest ordeal coming
from kmd to become mf doom anddied and experienced this
rebirth career-wise, and he wasfucking hilarious, just
hilarious, the funniest dudeever.
Love him to death.
(43:10):
What a great guy.
And Dirty, because Dirty wasdirty and there's only one Dirty
Like Doom and Everlasting andSingular.
But All Dirty Bastard was aonce-in-a-lifetime opportunity
that will never happen again.
It never happened the same wayagain.
He was like a shining star, aHalley's Comet.
He was, like you know, scorchedearth times 10.
(43:34):
And making that record was noteasy, getting it done, but it
was an experience that changedmy life and told me to believe
in myself, because I knew morethan most other people around me
who doubted it.
And I loved him for theexperience of the record, like
the album cover, just that aloneand how it went down, with
(43:55):
Danny clinching him and the artdirection which came from him
and all of it was a once.
This is why, this is why I dowhat I do.
Yeah, that is the experience.
That is the reason you do it.
To have have lightning in abottle and to capture it, yes,
to bring the fucking ball in theend zone when there's the most
(44:18):
formative defense in the worldin front of you To win game
seven.
That's what that felt like tome.
So working with him, is thatthat experience?
So all dirty bastards.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Okay, and last question, I tailored this for
you.
Tell me two of your favoritedowntown restaurants, that's a
good question.
You're a low-key foodie.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
I love to eat, I try not to say foodie.
Okay, interesting, interesting.
So they have to still be open.
No, no, no, of course not.
So I'm going to pick myfavorite burger spot, because
I've gone here since I was a kidand that's a corner bistro.
Okay, every time I go to NewYork I go there because it's the
(45:03):
best affordable burger in NewYork.
It's unchanged by time.
It's not a smash burger 20bucks.
You get that thick burger withthe fries and the same.
Yeah, I love that place, this ismy spot.
And then you know it was DaSilvano.
They closed.
(45:24):
So, I ate at Silvano foreverbecause they took such good care
of me there.
I knew Silvano and that placeis just unbelievable.
The food is so good.
So Bar Pitti, which his wifeowns Silvano Clothes, is right
next door.
I love that place.
But I go to a place called ElPosto, which is owned by my
(45:45):
friend, julio, who used to ownEl Bogato.
So him and his wife, beatrice,own it.
So it's on 2nd Street, theblock I grew up in New York.
The food is amazing and theytreat me great there.
So that's where I go a lot.
When I go to New York I alwayshave a meal there.
The food is, you know, four orfive stars.
The service is five stars and Ilove eating on the block where
(46:10):
I grew up.
So I go there as much forwalking past my childhood house
where I played stickball, rightnext door to as much as a
restaurant.
I love the restaurant.
The food is tremendous.
If you are in New York, go.
I love the El Bogato.
I think the food here is betterthan El Bogato.
So that's my two spots.
Okay, that's it.
That's it.
That's it we done.
Shout out to Winsome inBrooklyn too.
(46:30):
That's a great one.
I don't know if you know thatplace, but go there.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
I don't know that place.
No, okay, well, thank you,dante Ross.
Thank you, Jeff Sledge this isin the lobby of the Gavin.
That's where we really clicked.
Yeah, that's.
You know, Sean always loved you, so I loved Kazoff, you came
(46:53):
with high recommendationsbecause Sean could do no wrong.
You used to call me Mighty JoeYoung.
Wow, he was the only guy that Iwould lie to you.
You're Mighty Joe Young, SledgeYo you cannot call someone that
today.
I miss that guy man.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
I love him.
He was the best.
I miss that guy.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Rest in peace to the captain.
Rest in peace to Sean Kazoff.
You know I'm a Rushki Sledge,I'm a Rushki he believed in me
before I believed in myself.
Yeah, yeah, sean was.
He was from another era, he wasspecial.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
He was a special dude you know who who says that
about him too, ali Ali's alwayslike man Sean.
He signed Tropic Quest and noone knows that.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
Yeah, I always tell people he signed Tropic Quest
and he won Again.
I'm going to end this afterthis.
He brought Farside to Jive.
He gave me that cassette.
I swear to God I was confined.
It had passed me by on thecassette and we passed, I passed
on Farside.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
They were too much like leaders, I had to say from
Paul Stewart, you know who wasgoing to sign Tribe Called Quest
.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Who's that?
Speaker 2 (47:55):
I left Tommy Boy to sign them to Elektra.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Really.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
And Jive paid $350.
I was willing to pay $375.
They would have kept theirpublishing, but Jive was a
better label.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
And that's why they went to Jive.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
Yeah, wow, wow.
Thank you, man.
I really appreciate this man.
Thank you, man.
I really appreciate this.
You can catch Mixed andMastered on Apple Podcasts,
spotify, iheart or wherever youget your podcasts.
Hit that follow button, leave areview and tell a friend, I'm
your host that follow button.
Leave a review and tell afriend, I'm your host, jeffrey
(48:31):
Sledge.
Mixed and Mastered is producedand distributed by Merrick
Studios.
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