June 18, 2025 • 50 mins
In this episode of TMHF, we sit down with Tim Wilson, the force behind Urban Lights Music, to break down how he curates culture in the same way a chef curates a tasting menu -intentional, emotional, and always rooted in the people. He shares how Minneapolis hip-hop is a flavor all its own, and why his work isn’t just about music - it’s about preserving a movement, plating it, and serving it to the next generation.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Favorite Prince interaction? I know you've had them.
I have Prince interactions I can't talk about in public, but
I, I will tell you this. So Prince used to hang out with
me, South Beach nightclub every Wednesday night for about a
year, maybe 2. He'd sit in the DJ booth with
me. They his people would come up,
(00:20):
clear everybody out the booth, and then he would sit in the
booth with me and watch me DJ from 9:00 to midnight.
And then he'd be like, all right, I'm out.
And then, you know, throughout the evening, it was very funny
to have Prince leaning over yourshoulders and go, yo-yo, what
you going to play next? What you going to play next?
And I'm like, you want me to play one of yours?
He said, no, no, no, Just do your thing.
Do you say, Tim, look at her, man.
(00:41):
No, she shouldn't have had it all.
And I'm thinking in my mind like, yeah, that's friends
talking to me about the club. That's crazy.
He's funny as shit too. He's hilarious.
Yeah. I'll tell you some stories off
camera. It's very funny.
I got you. Yeah.
OK. All right.
Last night to live. Local show, local meal.
What are they? Local show.
(01:04):
Wow. Well local meal.
The the place I really like the most ain't even open.
It was Tucci, but Nucci. I used to love that Tucci 0.
Yeah, that was. And that would that would have
been my my last meal for sure. And as far as a local show I
honestly I will go see any localhip hop show that I don't know
(01:27):
the artist just to watch the vibe.
That's though. Yeah, that's though.
You know what takes a special track to do this?
I need to remind y'all I'm sick with it.
My name is meaning it's one of the same.
Simple and plain. I'm all about my paper.
The bacon. We've got these lanes running
(01:50):
for the border. The talents in Mr. Porter keep
it flowing like it's water. Here we go.
Here we go creeping to below speed.
Is it him and his friend sittingin the nosebleeds?
Play it cool. He is special just because he's
on TV. Everybody's hands up acting like
they know. We welcome to Taste Music here
(02:12):
Food podcast show B destination for food, music and culture and
how they connect. I'm your host, Ed Porter, and
today we have an amazing guest, somebody I've been looking to
talk to for quite some time in aplatform like this.
And I would be remiss not to give this man his flowers.
(02:35):
And so I'm going to attempt to do such with this intro right
here. So, you know, all right,
omitting a Bruce Leroy S Neon Glow is an iconic record shop on
University Ave. One man has been cooking up a
revolution in rhythm. The mastermind behind Urban
Lights Music, Minnesota's only black-owned record store.
(02:55):
He's a living archive of hip hophistory, a visionary DJ and
artist in his own right, helpingto shape the Twin Cities musical
past as well as his future. For over 30 years he's been
serving up musical feast to his community, blending beats like
spices, stirring a soulful Stew of sound and satisfying hungry
ears with every groove. A true pillar of the Minneapolis
(03:17):
hip hop community, he's mentoredcountless aspiring DJs and
artists, turning raw talent intoseasoned pros, marinating them
in wisdom until they are sizzling on stage.
Through his weekly Faders obsessions, he throws open the
doors for local turntablists to learn, jam and shine,
transforming turntables into classrooms and raising up the
next generation 1 vinyl at a time.
(03:39):
He's a tastemaker and fusing thescene with flavor, a cultural
leader keeping the vibe alive and a musical force mixing
history with innovation. Ladies and gentlemen, the one
and only Mr. Tim Wilson. I'm tearing up, right?
I don't know where to hug you oryeah man, listen.
All the above, man D all the above.
Man, Yeah, No, I appreciate you.That's that's awesome, man.
(04:00):
I appreciate that. No, so really quick Urban Lights
for Urban Lights was the first one of the first stops I made
when I got to Minnesota. OK.
So my neighborhood record store,Moody's, yeah, yeah, which is
that's. Gonna call.
Yeah, he's gonna call. It so is is so I tapped in with
(04:22):
with them. OK to where where do I go when I
go to to this place? I don't know where to go.
You know I like so they oh, urban lights, cool urban lights.
Yes, Sir, Saint Paul. And then I realized that cats in
Minneapolis don't don't go to Saint Paul, which is weird,
which is which is weird. But yes, it was it was my first
stop. That's my one of my first stops.
I bought 50s album from OK. This is my first stop man.
(04:45):
So this is a long time coming tosit down and have this
conversation. And I just want to get into the
evolution of urban lights. Like how did it come about?
I know the story, but it's it's how did it all come about and
the evolution of over the years?Well, literally it came about
because be honest with you, I probably was in the music
(05:09):
business before I knew it was inthe music business.
So I can go all the way back to high school and I wasn't the
athlete, but I was, I wasn't thebest student, but I was very
creative and so I wanted to finda way to fit in.
Music became that way to fit in and I was already collecting
(05:30):
records. I would go with my grandmother
and she could take me down to the record store and I'd buy the
top 20 records, give me all those 40 fives, and then I go
home and I'd make. Mixes.
It was the first record you bought.
First record I bought was Maze, the Maze Maze album.
That was the first record I everowned.
(05:51):
And so I go and I make these mixes and my locker goes from
having books and everything in it too.
I'd open it up, bam, it's a store.
And so people come to my locker.Hey, I got a party this weekend.
I need some slow jams. Boom. $15 Go out the door.
Groovers Incorporated, What's the name of the cassette?
(06:11):
So, so literally, I was doing itbefore I knew I was doing it.
And then I was always hanging out at record stores throughout
the city. That's how I built my vinyl
collection to be able to DJI would trade information for
records and then so I was Musicland and then I would go
across the street to the other record store and then I would
(06:33):
get on the bus and go to anotherrecord store.
And you know, end of the week, Ihave a lot of all the new joints
and became DJ and started DJ INGaround the city.
We in 1st Ave. had no business being in 1st Ave. at 15 DJ.
But we, we were in the booth the, the, the cat who used to DJ
on Thursday nights. More funk night back in the day
(06:55):
named Roy Freedom. He he, he would smoke a
cigarette like every 15 minutes.So he'd be like, who wants to
DJ? So, you know, we're all like,
yeah, let's go. I do it.
Every week we're there to take turns and and kind of learn the
game a little bit. And so all that information and
then I start running a record pool for another record store.
(07:15):
So I'm getting inclemented on how to order, how to, how a
store should go, you know how. You was in the business before
you? Yeah, I was.
I was in the business. Before I ever got in the
business, so you know, it was like the mafia.
Problem right? Right.
You know, born into it. And so, yeah, I'm, I'm learning
just the communication game. I'm, I'm talking to people like
(07:37):
Jay Prince, I'm talking to Luther Campbell, I'm talking to
Tom Silverman. All these labels are just
getting started. Tommy Boyd, Skywalker records,
rap a lot profile, Sugar Hill, Joey Robinson.
I'm I'm speaking to all these people because I'm trying to get
records into the city for the DJs and so they'll cool
relationships with people. Had to get a job, graduated from
(08:01):
school, end up in sales. But I'm also at the same time
still in the music business. I'm 1 foot in, one foot out,
rapping, producing, running a label.
Don't glaze over the rapping part so they get up.
Don't, don't, don't tell. People you got to go on online
and find don't glaze. We're not having a discussion,
(08:23):
you know, So we, I did for a minute.
Yes, I there are records out there you have to find.
I got a couple. Yeah, yeah, I.
It's all good. Couple slip through the cracks
every once in a while. I ain't mad at you.
So I I was doing all these things at the same time and
being in sales and used to hang out at a store called Northern
(08:47):
Lights. It was on my sale in my sales
territory. So I'm supposed to be selling
products, but I'm at the record store hanging out and the owner,
they own like probably 12 to 15 stores at that time.
And and they used to joke with me like, hey, you should buy
this. You're here all the time.
You know, I might as well just give you a key.
You can come in and go as you please.
And we laugh and joke about it. But all the way back to high
(09:09):
school, me and my buddies used to say, man, what if we can own
our own record store? That would be so cool.
Like, you know, we do all this music stuff and we could just
put it all under one roof. That'd be great.
So I called each of these people, said, hey, we can buy a
record store. In 1993, we bought a record
store. I opened it up.
Urban Lights Music was born. Dope, dope, dope.
(09:31):
And you know, so we talking 30 plus years now, Yeah.
Yeah, 31. 31 Yeah. So how have you adapted to
what's going on as far as, you know, how people are consuming
music? Today, well, it honestly is a
hard process because, and I tellpeople this all the time is
like, I used to just put a key in the door and order music and
(09:53):
sell music. That was it.
Now it's a little bit more calculated as far as what you
order one, but two, the moves that you make because I got to
keep bodies coming in. So, you know, we turned it more
into a cultural spot. Now it's a space, it's a
creative space now. So people come in, people just
come in and sit and write, you know, and they'll come in and
paint, they'll come in and draw,they'll come in and DJ, they'll
(10:16):
come in and man, I'm putting this record together, man.
You mind if I just sit in the corner and just absorb for the
rest of the day? Cool.
So that's the evolution of everything.
Now, how I got there was obviously selling CDs and
cassettes, and then vinyl got real important.
I took my record pool from the store I was at, moved it over
(10:37):
here now. So now I'm running a record pool
in this house. So I got all these different
ways to get people, music, DJs, the community, you know, doesn't
matter. Everybody's getting music.
And then CDs, cassettes went away.
CDs became very important. And then one day vinyl went
away. And I was just talking to
(10:57):
somebody about this other day. It seemed like it was about a 10
year period where vinyl was like, where is it at?
Like, you know, all, all, all the record pool records dried
up, all the promos dried up, allthe I want to order this on
vinyl. We don't even make it on vinyl
because CD only. And then when that changed and
went digital, then it's like, OK, what's the business going to
(11:19):
be at this point? So what we we did is, is I
continue to do a record pool, but it was a digital record
pool. I continue to serve people
music. But it was via putting in an
iPod, putting an MP3 player. C DS came back a little bit,
made a research, mixtapes came in.
So now with the mix tape game. So mixtapes are outselling
(11:40):
everything. And that that probably ran us
another 5 1/2 years, maybe 6. And they were very expensive at
one time. Yeah, now, now cheap.
But back in the day, I mean, youknow, you could go on. 125th at
Harlem. And yeah, yeah.
Yeah, 10 for 10 for $10. You know, people come in, man,
you don't sell all you can do inNew York.
(12:01):
Maybe I've moved in New York, bro.
We can't do that price. I don't, I don't, I don't know
that pricing structure doesn't work for me, right.
But yeah, so the mixtapes carried us.
And then, you know, I said we, we, we adjusted to the digital
game. The mixtapes came and now the
Resurgence vinyl is back. So I've seen it go, it's
(12:21):
cyclical. I've seen it go from one thing
back to what it was and now C DSare about to come back so.
Absolutely. Yeah.
That's crazy. What do you think was or is the
the golden era if you will, for Minneapolis hip hop?
That's a good question. Sorry about the cough.
No, no good. The golden era.
(12:44):
Well, so people forget a lot about how hip hop started, and I
like to say that we were really on the forefront of what was
going on because we were DJ in the parks.
But again, we were trying to emulate everything going on in
New York. So you know, we're listening to
the radio show. We're trying to emulate the DJ
(13:04):
because of that, we're trying toemulate the music now.
So now now we're finding ways torecord at home, find a studio in
somebody's basement with a four track task scam hooked up to a
Roland seven O 7 and try to you know, so you know, we're wearing
the break dancing clothes. We got the graffiti crew with us
and the whole thing. So we're doing everything.
(13:26):
So that was the beginning of hiphop before we were even really
making record records. I think the first record TC
Ellis, the Twin Cities rapper probably is the first official
record that was ever pressed. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis also
(13:46):
produced a record for Ice T Believe it or not this is might
be pre breaking Wow called cold win madness.
Y'all y'all y'all please please please check it out.
I'm a player, I'm always clean and it was like 11 minutes long,
so you know. It was a disco song.
(14:12):
So that happened and then K Tel Records popped up.
The IRM crew, they were the first group to have a record
deal. CU double TINKAL.
So at that time, I was running arecord pool place called Wide
(14:35):
Angle Records. So Wide Angle was also a record
label, too. They actually would have one of
the first, I guess, distributiondeals.
They made a deal with Tommy Boy,who eventually made a deal with
Warner Brothers Group called Information Society.
But it was a record called Running that came out of
Minnesota. A lot of people don't remember
that. And because of that gentleman by
the name Jerry Silvers had Wide Angle Records.
(14:57):
I'm running a record pool. He says.
I'll give you your own label. OK, so now I'm running a record
label. So what's the first thing that
me and my partners did? We was like, well we need to
find some groups. So we need to find a group like
Salt and Pepper, group like Public Enemy, group like DMC.
We need a kid play group. And so we go through the city
and we find all this talent and we start putting records out.
(15:19):
So literally that's kind of the beginning of the hip hop scene
in the Twin Cities. Everybody has their own story of
it, but like date and times, that's probably the beginning.
That's that's the Super dope. Can you can you discuss your
involvement as far as artist management and how you supported
(15:43):
artists over the years? I mean myself being one of them,
like, you know, you, you are thego to cat in the city for and
that's not just just not just hip hop, but R&B, whatever
anybody's doing as a local artist, you give people the
(16:04):
artist a platform to be able to have their product up in the
store with the likes of everybody else, you know.
And so the fact that you do thatis, you know, you know.
It was always a big thing for mewith the store.
You know, I was remember people asking me, do you have a local
section? And I would tell artists like
why do you want to be in a localsection?
(16:25):
Like you should want your CD to be right next to Run DMC, You
want your CD to be right next toN.W.A.
Let's shoot for that. There's no local sections.
Everybody's equal here. So from the beginning, we used
to give people opportunities forwindow space right along with
the national acts that would payfor it.
But I give the local acts, you get the window for 30 days, you
(16:47):
can have your stuff up. We would do in stores just like
we do in stores for the big artists for local records.
So I always felt like that was important just to give people a
shot and and, you know, growing that situation and and I like to
talk a lot. So I would have a lot of
conversations with people about,yeah, I like what you're doing,
(17:07):
but if you did this, this and that, I think you might be a
little bit more successful. So then it became like, don't
play Tim Records because he's he's.
Going to pick it apart. He's going to pick it apart and
and it's going to be a thing. So don't don't don't listen to
it. You know, but but I've actually
had people come to me go Yo, remember when I brought my album
(17:28):
into you and you told me it sucked.
I appreciate that I got a job and I'm and I have a.
Family now, everything's good, yeah.
I pivoted. Other people still see me and
go, yeah, you know, man, you messed up my career.
I'm like, no, I'm just trying tokeep it real.
Everybody can't go. Everybody can't go.
But to that point, the city has so much talent and I, I have set
(17:54):
the store up in a position now with the open mics and the
different events that we do to showcase the talent and give
people a chance to feel like it's big.
Because it should be. If it's your art and you feel
like people should hear it, see it, let's make it big.
And so that's what we aim to do.And it's in a great segue to
(18:18):
talk about fate is up. So let's let's talk about fate
is up. So Fate is Up came up.
Basically we used to get together anyway and hang out in
DJ and just, you know, play old records, talk about the old
days, talk about techniques and new equipment and all that.
And we said, look, we're here anyway on Saturdays.
(18:39):
Let's turn this into a thing. So we just turned it into a
opportunity for local DJs to getwith us to come hang out.
We order food, do the thing and talk music and then talk DJ and
how to continue to move that medium or that way of presenting
music to the public. Let's let's find a way to keep
(19:00):
this moving on. Let's keep the art form going
because the invent of the controller showed up and
everybody just just like making music.
Everybody feels like they can doit right.
So, so so the underlying part offaders, which honestly scares
off a lot of people is that theysee the scratching and the
(19:20):
mixing and all that they go. I don't want none of that.
You know, I just. It's not.
It's not. It's playing music for people,
which is cool. Do your thing, but D Jing is an
art and it's it's a way to manipulate music and change it
and do different things with it.And to be honest with you, a lot
(19:41):
of music survived and got to another level because the DJ
mixed it, cut, scratched it on amixed show, changed beat, did
this, this and that. Same clicks were happening as
far as audience approval and allthat kind of, you know, Nielsen
rating type stuff. But people were hearing it in a
different way. And so.
(20:03):
It was very important DJ, super important.
So it was very important to us to kind of keep that alive.
And so now, man, people come by,we teach DJ and we people have
record release party. We had somebody shoot a video
last week during Faders Up, you know, So yeah, yeah, we just try
to, you know, just keep the culture alive.
So Saturdays, what's the time? Saturdays from 12:00 to 4:00.
12:00 to 4:00. In store, yeah, People come hang
(20:26):
out. DJs if you, if you've never been
by, come hang out. Bring your needles, bring your
records. Bring your needles.
Bring your needles. Bring your needles.
I use your own needles, bro. We don't share needles.
We don't share DJ needles no more.
That doesn't work. Absolutely.
Absolutely. So you know, what do you think?
Did you think First off that theculture would be aware it is
(20:50):
right now? And how have you seen it
evolved, good or bad? Right.
I didn't see the culture becoming this because, you know,
in the beginning I thought it was a fad, you know, rapping,
rhyming over music that can't last long.
But then you look at genres likejazz and rock and and they go
through their different iterations and changes and and
(21:11):
rap beginning to evolve. You know, it just wasn't rhyming
over music. Now I was rhyming with a
purpose. Now I was rhyming with news and
Public Enemy and N.W.A shell showing you what it looks like
in South Central Los Angeles. And then it turned into more
Afrocentricity conversations with groups like Arrested
Development, Tribe Called Quest,De La Soul, and now it.
(21:33):
And that was the golden era of hip hop when there was a bunch
of different flavors such as food, right?
It's great that people are able to monetize.
I always tell cats rap is a con.Do it to get you something else,
get you the the clothing deal, the soda deal, the whatever else
(21:53):
you can sell because of your music.
That's the important thing because the music itself now
doesn't make any money. The streaming doesn't make
money. But what can make money
obviously is touring, but doing like you do Thai food to.
It shows things. How you can be creative and
expand your network is probably the more important thing now.
So that's the good part of it. The bad part about it is I think
(22:16):
everyone feels like they're invited to the party.
And the barrier of the entry is very low.
There's you know what there's there's no gatekeepers.
Gatekeepers are bad and good, but at one point in time, and I
and I believe I heard LA Reid talk about this the other day
and he was saying that there's no boutique labels anymore.
(22:37):
And we sat, we had a big argument about that if it was a
couple weeks ago, because, and Iand I agree because they were
the gatekeepers, whether it was it was divine Mill.
So, so death, death row, you know, all these you, you had to
go through them to get to the mainstream.
Now the mainstream just goes, oh, you have 30 million views on
(23:01):
YouTube. You.
Must be hot. You're invited to the party, you
know, here's your ticket and, and, and we go.
And so that's the bad side of it.
It's we haven't there's a lot ofmusic that shouldn't be there.
And then what it begins to do iswater down the overall, you
know, it's like having a a bunchof fast food restaurants that
all sell the same thing. Eventually we're all going to
get tired and you know, so. And there's no more.
(23:25):
That's what you need to share there's.
No more other development. There's no don't.
A&R is gone. Yeah, A&R is gone, Yeah, Yeah.
But so coming back, because now the machine figured out that
they're losing money. So you can't have that.
You can't have the machine losing money.
So now the machine says, OK, well, you know what?
I might need the streets back again.
(23:46):
I might need you radio people back again, and I might need you
to go find me some artists that are qualified to be here because
we have a bunch on the roster that should.
So that's the good and the bad, the Ying and the Yang.
I've seen the whole thing change.
It's almost, I feel like it's the housing market right now.
It's got to bottom out. It has to.
And and once it bottoms out and it's just the worst thing ever,
(24:09):
which we're real close that it can only get better.
Right. Yeah, and that's the hope.
Every region has is, you know, has a food, you know, has, you
know, the South has BBQ. Yeah.
New Orleans has Creole. Yeah, New York is known for a
lot of things, but we're gonna go with pizza.
(24:30):
Yeah, for. Sure.
Same thing in music, you know, West Coast has has that funky
yeah, yeah, Yep, Yep. You know the the South has had
it's going to. Be trap.
It's going to be trap. And of course, New York is known
for boom back. How would you say that those
regions played a role into what that initial sound wound up
(24:54):
being? Well, and and that's an
interesting question because I don't know if Minnesota ever.
Found it. That was my next that my next
question was if that's the case.I don't, I don't think we found
a sound. Honestly, it doesn't really
matter what you do. It ties to Prince and it ties to
(25:15):
that original Minneapolis sound that he birthed Jimmy and Terry
Morris, Jesse Johnson, Monty, the whole Jelly Bean, the whole
that they all the branches of the tree go from them.
So rap wise, no, we never now you could you could argue that
(25:35):
the rhyme singers maybe came up with the style, which is very
boom bap, very backpack rhyming.You know, that was their thing.
I grew up with a lot of those guys.
So they they were young enough to watch us and say, hey, I want
(25:56):
to do that. And then they took it to a whole
another level. So so I would argue that they
they have a stake in it, but sound wise, Northside we kind of
always looked at it like that was more the Midwest S flavor.
So that was where your twisters,your Nelly that type of music
was that you know, you might slide it down South, mess with
(26:17):
TI that type of thing. Southside was hip hop and that's
where I was from. So it was boom bap.
It was KRS-one, it was, you know, that music run DMC, Saint
Paul was West Coast, so they were into, you know, SIBO,
Looney, Coleone, all undergroundBay music.
(26:38):
And so neither shall meet ever, ever, because that's what
happens, right? You know, nobody crosses the
boundaries, the lines, and you can tell from the music.
And so, you know, one of the things that me and my business
partner are trying to do is really usher in this new era of
the Minneapolis sound. And it's really honing in on
(27:02):
this lyrical talent along with this very soulful music.
Because we come from that background with Prince and we
come from that background. Even even some of the rock
stuff, if you want to dig in theBob Dylan and some of these
records is really soulful records out there.
But it's us trying to find this new sound and take these very,
(27:23):
very talented artist here and put them on a platform that that
may step above what they're currently doing and show them a
different way to market themselves and and more
importantly, a different way to monetize themselves.
So we can get there. But I I don't think anybody put
a stamp on it yet. And and as we know, you know,
(27:44):
the city has to get behind something to push it, and that's
the everything that's you got. To find one, you got to find one
and you got to ride. You got to.
You got to help push them to thetop.
And that's that's the way it's happened.
It happened for Prince, happenedfor Bob Dylan happen for next
same way, you know, so it has tobe that I want to talk about the
(28:06):
DJ as the chef as far as creating and, you know,
experiences and vibes for sure. So you know a a chef would
curate a a meal by courses just as a DJ does the same thing.
I do the same thing with. The with with, you know, with
and in a unique way. The The remix is a DJ iteration
(28:31):
that started. From DJ, definitely DJ.
And without that, like you said,there's D JS used to break
records. For sure they don't do.
That anymore? That's another problem with the
music business. There's no D JS breaking records
anymore. But then they have no outlet.
The outlet used to be the radio,but now the radio's all
(28:51):
conglomer conglomerized if. I don't even know if that's a
word, but you have to go throughso many channels to get your
record played. Now it it forces all the
independent people out, they have no chance to get their
record played on the big major stations like they might have in
the past. So.
There's no show. There's no more any any.
There's no DJ show, there's no, you know, at after 10 mixed show
(29:13):
on Friday and Saturday night where you're hearing all the new
joints. It doesn't exist anymore.
Which is travesty because that'swhere, you know, we would
discover. That's where you hear these new
groups that you never heard about, or you'd hear a certain
DJ or a certain style or, you know, whatever it was it between
10:00 and 12:00, you knew that you were about to get some.
(29:34):
Yeah, you're about to get some new flavor And, and so, you
know, from a DJ standpoint, yeah, we, we serve it up just
like a chef, because if you, if you picture DJ in a club, right,
So that the, the, the first partof the evening is all just me
playing you a bunch of music you've never heard before.
So I'm going to give you some appetizers and have you go, hey,
who was that record you just played?
Right. But that's the that's the job.
(29:56):
That's what I'm supposed to do. That's what the record label
gave me, the records. Teasing that pound.
So I'm giving you these little, you know, OK.
And so now is the clock. It's 10:00.
Now I've got to serve. I've got to get into the main
course here. So because from 11:50, that's
the prime time. So now I'm giving you all the
hot records. I'm giving you all the records,
you know, but I might give you, you know, those some spices and
(30:18):
I might mix it different. I might go from this record to
that record. I might change the beat on that.
I might flip the acapella, whatever.
And then as we get into the the midnight one o'clock 2:00
getting ready to close. Now I'm going to bring it down.
We'll have some dessert and theny'all out.
And so literally, it's the same game.
It is the same game when you do your events, any event, I don't
(30:39):
care what it is, from faders up to just a impromptu gathering
where something music is being played to to have people
commune. That the vibe of the atmosphere
is is very home mess to me. I don't know, it's hard to
explain like so from even from like, you know, the posters on
(31:02):
the wall, everything, it feels like New York to me.
I'll be honest to me because that's what I grew up going to,
you know, again, Moody's and Holland music cut and you know,
and that's, that's the divide. And that was my bedroom.
That's my bedroom. So, yeah.
And that's, that's yeah. Turntables in my corner, posters
all over the wall, you know, records everywhere.
Yeah. And, and that, but that, that
(31:24):
inviting atmosphere, I think it,and that's why I think people
gather there, you know, for in acreative outlet as well, because
it feels, it feels like this is the place to, to be creative.
It's it's it's definitely. And a lot of people.
Say it's definitely a safe haven.
And that's, that's, that's, that's probably the best payoff
(31:45):
for me, period. You know, just being at it this
long is having people say I feelcomfortable here.
Yeah, has to be isn't that because that's that's you know,
and what's so dope about it to me too is that the guy that owns
it is is always behind the counter.
You didn't think so. So like like you and and and
(32:08):
they're to give inside. I remember the first time I
walked into Moody's. So if you think about it in this
manner, it makes total sense. So it's, it's, it's actually a
little intimidating because you have, you know, a plethora of
like, you don't know where to start.
So like, like if you like, if you have a cigar enthusiast, you
(32:29):
walk into a cigar shop. I mean, it's it's.
Cigars everywhere. Like, like what do I one as as
men, we don't like asking directions for anything, right?
We just want to you want to look, we want to walk in like,
you know, but there's a sense ofas like as in Moody's the same
thing you have is there's never that that that feeling of
(32:52):
pretension. It's very like, dude, we, we I'm
here to help you. What are you looking for?
Oh, OK, cool, cool, cool. I point you to this, I point you
to that. And it's that that's the that
feeling is, is something that one you can't manufacture.
It has to be, you know, true andhonest from the heart because
it's something that exudes that to me is the magic of what
(33:15):
you've created. I appreciate that.
I I, I had a conversation with agrandmother and her son the
other day. I let people come in
pleasantries, hey, how you doing?
Let them move around without being bothered.
And then when it looks like theyhave a question, then that's
(33:35):
when I slide in and say, what are you looking for today?
And the lady said to me, I don'tknow, what do you recommend?
And I said, well, I can recommend a lot of stuff, but
you don't look like you like a lot of stuff.
So I said, what do you listen to?
(33:58):
And then I can direct traffic from there.
She said, well, you know, I likejazz and I like jazz.
That that that speaks to me is very soulful.
I said, OK, we went to the jazz section and I said, are you hip
to Shirley Horne? Are you hip to Nancy Wilson?
Nina Simone, I know the people, but I don't know the music.
(34:22):
Can you point me the right ones?I said, well, I would listen to
this if you're going to start with Shirley Horne, if you want
Nina Simone, we can go a bunch of different ways, but this is
the greatest hits. I'd start here because it tells
a story. And I said, you know, she said,
what can I listen to him? That's of course.
She said, you're going to play them for me.
That's what I'm here for. So I start going through the
(34:42):
albums and, and, and and matter of fact, Donald Fagen was one of
them because I'm a big Asia Steely Dan fan, which I Steely
Dan Asia I think is one of the greatest albums ever made.
And and so I start going throughthe CD Shirley Horne, and she's
like, she's like, yeah, this is incredible.
I've never heard this before. I said.
(35:02):
I said, you know, and and so her, her, her grandson and I
guess they trade music back and forth, which is really cool.
And I said you guys have a greatrelationship.
I said, well, I'm a helping handto here.
I say because I said he he's he's for his age is really old
school. You can tell by his
conversation. And I said, so somebody like
Shirley Horne, right, who I said, if you can close your eyes
(35:24):
and picture her in front of the piano and the guy's doing his
thing with the cigarette hangingout of his mouth and the drink
right here. And she's got the old school
microphone in front of her and it's, you know, you can barely
see over the smoke in the club, but she's doing her thing and
she's telling stories. Nina Simone would be the same
way. And the lady was like, you know
what, I can visualize everythingyou say and I'll take all of
these. And so that's it.
(35:47):
That's why I do it. And and when I say I love to
talk, I love to talk about. Absolutely.
So what what you just described is what we were just talking
about previously is about the difference between taking
someone's order and curating. And curating experience.
It's it's I always knew from thebeginning, man, it's like I, I
was when we open, I was combating Target, I was
(36:10):
combating Musicland, Best Buy, Sam Goody Coconuts.
It was a all kinds of record stores everywhere, right?
And people like, and we were always higher priced.
But why should I come here? Because we're going to have a
conversation about this music that you're not going to have a
conversation that these other stores about because they don't
know what they're selling. They just the music's in the
(36:31):
back of the store for a reason. It's a loss leader.
They need to get you there past the towels and the the spaghetti
mix and the Doritos and everything else.
And then, oh, by the way, Jadakiss has a new CD.
But let me get that too. That that's it.
And so, but now me and you can have a conversation about it and
I'll tell you, don't buy that. And This is why, in my opinion,
(36:52):
so. Based off your preferences too.
Based on my you know what I'm saying?
And and and there's and. And people and people still tell
me that this day, like Tim Man, you, you just don't like West
Coast music like you do East Coast.
No, I don't, I don't. But I understand it and I get
who it's for. But you know, Ice Cube,
America's Most Wanted, probably one of the greatest rap albums
(37:13):
ever made, top five for me. That spoke to me different than
some other stuff, say Out of theBay and things like that.
So I have my certain ones that people still remind me.
Yeah, man, you're a fan. You like all that, you run DMC,
all that. That's you.
You know, you don't like, you don't like soft music.
No, no, I I respect everything and I understand what it's for.
(37:33):
And I understand everybody has adifferent palette.
Absolutely, absolutely. OK, this is a good time to go
into. Questions from the audience.
Minneapolis music greatness we probably missed.
Who would you say that is? Oh wow.
(37:55):
I don't think enough people paidattention to Jesse Johnson when
he left the time to A&M Records first album.
He had a song called Free World that that was, again, I said I
looked for records that are gamechangers and that was one that
just oh man, when that we throw that on in the club, they would
(38:17):
go crazy. But the beat and he was doing
everything they I think he mighthave produced everything, every
instrument, every beat, everything.
I think we missed. Yeah, we missed on Jesse.
Yeah, he's the problem with Jesse is that he had that vibe
(38:38):
right. He did my mic.
They say it's too much like my friend and so it automatically
groove to men, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But Prince always said, though, he pushed him so hard because he
was the one that was supposed tobe next.
Like, you know, makes sense, makes sense.
(39:01):
What's a local group or nationalOK that we're sleeping on right
now? Who?
We locally, I'm going to say I'll start a whole conversation
with a bunch. There's a bunch of local artists
that people are missing on, but there's a kid named Louis Blaze
(39:22):
that people need to pay attention to.
I'm hungry now. Give me my play, Play.
I'm putting it on for the state state Minnesota Bonnie race and
I'm a wrap it to the grave. He's super dope.
You know, you when you when you talk artists in next level and
opportunities, it's it's it's looking for that it factor.
(39:44):
And so, you know, again, every, you know, as artists to do their
thing or whatever. You know, people have great
music, great creativity, but then there's something about the
extras and and and that's what shows like American Idol were
looking for. They weren't looking for the
best at that. They were looking for the all
around person that can check every box.
(40:04):
And, and I believe he's, he's one, yeah.
That's dope. OK, who is next from
Minneapolis? Who you think is next?
I I honestly I think. Who do you think is next step
that the city's going to get behind?
That's really. That's a good question,
(40:25):
honestly. You know what?
Honestly, I, I really think gospel wise people should get
put behind Giovanta. Father, I trust you.
Father, I trust you. He, he checks the boxes and he
(40:46):
makes really good music and it does resonate on a national
level. And so I think there needs to be
more attention paid to that. OK, OK, OK, this is a good time
to go into a little segment thatI call one got to go you do the
(41:06):
one got to go. All right, so films belly paid
in full or juice one got to go belly shout out the.
Dame shout out the Dame. Paintingful is one of my is is
(41:29):
is is a classic. Yeah, so.
So Belly got to go. Belly got to go.
Oh my God, it barely got to go because.
For the opening scene alone, it got to stick.
Yeah, yeah, But no, the open scene was crazy, right?
But I I wasn't. You know what?
I don't like that, don't like that one big.
The whole reggae tones. I get you you.
(41:51):
Know it's just, yeah, I wasn't there.
I wasn't there at that time. I got you.
I got you. OK, finally, debut classics.
Okay. Nas zoomatic Snoop dogs doggy
style and. You're not even going to say.
Notorious BIG ready to die one got to go.
(42:15):
Nas got to go. Nas got to go.
If you know, you know. Can't you know me, though?
They they. Why?
I know I knew, but he died, wasn't going away.
I know that's I know. That's your favorite?
Album. It's the best album ever made.
Yeah. It's for sure, yeah, Nas got to
go. I I.
Illmatic The the the the album that's in, That's that.
(42:37):
Illmatic was incredible for our first album.
It wasn't ready to die, but it was incredible.
The production was incredible, but it wasn't ready to die.
I may hold a grudge against him because he he wrote Urban Life
on something one time instead ofUrban light.
Oh, this is personal. It could be, but you can't
(43:03):
replace ready to die and I do. I look at records like they they
made changes right Ready to Die to Me ushered in a new East
Coast sound just a Snoop issued in him and Doctor Dre just
changed the whole landscape of West Coast music with The
(43:26):
Chronic and then what they did with Doggy Style.
I feel like Illmatic was a greatalbum, but it didn't change
anything for me. I get that.
I look at. I look at.
Plus he spelled like Urban LightI.
See, is this this purpose light?I look at these three albums and
(43:48):
I look at any any debut album asfar as the artist's impact on
culture at that time. And to me, there's the only
greater impact I feel of a debutalbum coming out Then then Snoop
(44:12):
and, and, and Biggie had a 2, right?
The greatest I've ever seen to date is 50.
Yes, as far as as far as impact,as far as impact and like like
everywhere, like I've never seento this day, I still have not
seen that. Was crazy.
That was insane. I.
Remember. So I did the 10th anniversary
event at a club called South Beach and I had Woo Kid come in
(44:33):
and DJ, right? And he kept telling me like, yo
tell man, my homeboy man, 5th $0.50 man, he's dope, man.
I want to bring it with me. And I was like, Nah, nobody here
really knows. I mean, I was familiar with the
mixtapes, you know, stuff like that.
I was like, Nah, Nah, they're not ready for me.
Tim man. He just kept calling me about.
And I remember I asked the doodle on the club and he was
(44:54):
like, Nah, we're good. We'll just take the DJ and, and
he called me the day before he'sabout to fly.
He said, Tim man, he'll buy his own ticket just to come hang
out. I'm like, Nah, we're good.
We're all it's cool. It's cool.
So we can come see DJs the partyand I end up calling him back a
week later and say we want to book $0.50 and, and we were
(45:20):
going to take him to Prince's old club, which was glam, which
is called the Quest now. So we bought $0.50 to the Quest
and it immediately sold out. This is pre, this is 2 weeks
before Ready to Die. Maybe a week before Ready to Die
came out. He came to Minneapolis, 2000
(45:41):
people in the club lying around the block that couldn't get in.
And I remember my the guy I did the show with, he paid $0.50
that night to come back and do the Target Center.
And so that's how it went from zero to 100.
Like that album listen when it dropped?
(46:03):
It changed that get rid of trying.
So I lived the whole the whole movie.
So like from from the mixtapes, yeah.
How to rob set it off? Yes.
And of course, the orchestrationof all that was Gem SJ That that
that put him on to, to exactly that.
That put him in play to, to, to,to, you know, to go the way he
(46:26):
was going. Yeah, and then once, once Dre
got a hold of it. Dre to this day.
It was like it. It literally was like a rocket
took. Off.
Yeah, that was, that was, that was and you.
Don't see that anymore. No, no, no.
I. Don't.
I can't even think of the last time we may have experienced
that with an artist where you were like, yo.
(46:49):
That's him. It hasn't happened since it.
Hasn't happened since he that. That album went crazy.
Every song was ridiculous. You know, he was able to tour
off that. He was able to, I mean, look at
the empire he's built based on that first album.
But it went zero to 100. And, and keep in mind, we I paid
him, we paid him $2000 to do theshow a week later he was 25.
(47:12):
Oh yeah, yesterday's price, not today's price.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And remember, so he has the
same, you know, he has that samechip on his shoulder as you did
with Nas with the like, you didn't even want me to pay for
my own ticket. I.
Blew him off. Man, listen, that was, that was
a meteor rock. I'm a meteor happening.
(47:35):
That whole, that movement, that 50 movement was something
different. And then we had and then, and
then if you think about also themarketing behind the whole
thing, it's like we don't even market music like that no more.
We don't market anything like that.
Movies, TV, cars. Nothing.
Nothing does that. What they put behind that?
Yeah, everything about it was, was and then, and then of course
(47:55):
the music was, was, was quality.So you stood the test of time
and to this day. Yeah, it's still one of the best
albums ever made, period, for sure.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's definitely top ten, maybe 5 in a
lot of people's conversations, but it's definitely one of them.
For sure. Yeah, sure.
Well man, listen, I can talk to you forever.
(48:16):
Bro Yeah, yeah, we've been here.Yeah, whatever, man.
Cory Booker did the filibuster. We just go to it.
Yeah, what not you know what that's I'm gonna hold you to
that we going we. I'm with it.
Yeah, that'll be that'll be dope.
I think gay would have a problem.
But yeah, man, listen, I I got to thank you again.
I appreciate you more. For everything that you do, I.
(48:36):
Appreciate that. For for the culture, for the
community, for artist, you know enough cannot be said about you
know the role that you play for you know, for for the history as
well as the future and and I appreciate you bro and wit.
(48:57):
Please tell all the people that they can follow you where he can
catch you at. Give them all your things.
Urban Lights music is where I'm at every day, 1449 University
Ave. Saint Paul, right in the midway.
It's hopefully the midway's about to grow again, get back to
it again, become a destination as instead of a pass through,
(49:17):
but people pass through to see us.
But we'd like you to come and hang out and spend some time
there at the urban light on Instagram, Facebook, XI think
it's called these days maybe. I don't know what he's doing
over there. He's got a lot of problems right
now for sure. And also on TikTok.
So yeah, that's where I'm. At Absolutely Man, this has been
(49:39):
the Taste Music Here Food podcast show with my guest, Mr.
Tim Wilson. Until next time, peace.
Appreciate y'all. Dope man it.
Was cool. NBC Our relation to NBC.
Favorite Prince interaction? I know you've had them.
I have Prince interactions I can't talk about in public, but
I, I will tell you this. So Prince used to hang out with
me, South Beach nightclub every Wednesday night for about a
year, maybe 2. He'd sit in the DJ booth with
me. They his people would come up,
(00:20):
clear everybody out the booth, and then he would sit in the
booth with me and watch me DJ from 9:00 to midnight.
And then he'd be like, all right, I'm out.
And then, you know, throughout the evening, it was very funny
to have Prince leaning over yourshoulders and go, yo-yo, what
you going to play next? What you going to play next?
And I'm like, you want me to play one of yours?
He said, no, no, no, Just do your thing.
Do you say, Tim, look at her, man.
(00:41):
No, she shouldn't have had it all.
And I'm thinking in my mind like, yeah, that's friends
talking to me about the club. That's crazy.
He's funny as shit too. He's hilarious.
Yeah. I'll tell you some stories off
camera. It's very funny.
I got you. Yeah.
OK. All right.
Last night to live. Local show, local meal.
What are they? Local show.
(01:04):
Wow. Well local meal.
The the place I really like the most ain't even open.
It was Tucci, but Nucci. I used to love that Tucci 0.
Yeah, that was. And that would that would have
been my my last meal for sure. And as far as a local show I
honestly I will go see any localhip hop show that I don't know
(01:27):
the artist just to watch the vibe.
That's though. Yeah, that's though.
You know what takes a special track to do this?
I need to remind y'all I'm sick with it.
My name is meaning it's one of the same.
Simple and plain. I'm all about my paper.
The bacon. We've got these lanes running
(01:50):
for the border. The talents in Mr. Porter keep
it flowing like it's water. Here we go.
Here we go creeping to below speed.
Is it him and his friend sittingin the nosebleeds?
Play it cool. He is special just because he's
on TV. Everybody's hands up acting like
they know. We welcome to Taste Music here
(02:12):
Food podcast show B destination for food, music and culture and
how they connect. I'm your host, Ed Porter, and
today we have an amazing guest, somebody I've been looking to
talk to for quite some time in aplatform like this.
And I would be remiss not to give this man his flowers.
(02:35):
And so I'm going to attempt to do such with this intro right
here. So, you know, all right,
omitting a Bruce Leroy S Neon Glow is an iconic record shop on
University Ave. One man has been cooking up a
revolution in rhythm. The mastermind behind Urban
Lights Music, Minnesota's only black-owned record store.
(02:55):
He's a living archive of hip hophistory, a visionary DJ and
artist in his own right, helpingto shape the Twin Cities musical
past as well as his future. For over 30 years he's been
serving up musical feast to his community, blending beats like
spices, stirring a soulful Stew of sound and satisfying hungry
ears with every groove. A true pillar of the Minneapolis
(03:17):
hip hop community, he's mentoredcountless aspiring DJs and
artists, turning raw talent intoseasoned pros, marinating them
in wisdom until they are sizzling on stage.
Through his weekly Faders obsessions, he throws open the
doors for local turntablists to learn, jam and shine,
transforming turntables into classrooms and raising up the
next generation 1 vinyl at a time.
(03:39):
He's a tastemaker and fusing thescene with flavor, a cultural
leader keeping the vibe alive and a musical force mixing
history with innovation. Ladies and gentlemen, the one
and only Mr. Tim Wilson. I'm tearing up, right?
I don't know where to hug you oryeah man, listen.
All the above, man D all the above.
Man, Yeah, No, I appreciate you.That's that's awesome, man.
(04:00):
I appreciate that. No, so really quick Urban Lights
for Urban Lights was the first one of the first stops I made
when I got to Minnesota. OK.
So my neighborhood record store,Moody's, yeah, yeah, which is
that's. Gonna call.
Yeah, he's gonna call. It so is is so I tapped in with
(04:22):
with them. OK to where where do I go when I
go to to this place? I don't know where to go.
You know I like so they oh, urban lights, cool urban lights.
Yes, Sir, Saint Paul. And then I realized that cats in
Minneapolis don't don't go to Saint Paul, which is weird,
which is which is weird. But yes, it was it was my first
stop. That's my one of my first stops.
I bought 50s album from OK. This is my first stop man.
(04:45):
So this is a long time coming tosit down and have this
conversation. And I just want to get into the
evolution of urban lights. Like how did it come about?
I know the story, but it's it's how did it all come about and
the evolution of over the years?Well, literally it came about
because be honest with you, I probably was in the music
(05:09):
business before I knew it was inthe music business.
So I can go all the way back to high school and I wasn't the
athlete, but I was, I wasn't thebest student, but I was very
creative and so I wanted to finda way to fit in.
Music became that way to fit in and I was already collecting
(05:30):
records. I would go with my grandmother
and she could take me down to the record store and I'd buy the
top 20 records, give me all those 40 fives, and then I go
home and I'd make. Mixes.
It was the first record you bought.
First record I bought was Maze, the Maze Maze album.
That was the first record I everowned.
(05:51):
And so I go and I make these mixes and my locker goes from
having books and everything in it too.
I'd open it up, bam, it's a store.
And so people come to my locker.Hey, I got a party this weekend.
I need some slow jams. Boom. $15 Go out the door.
Groovers Incorporated, What's the name of the cassette?
(06:11):
So, so literally, I was doing itbefore I knew I was doing it.
And then I was always hanging out at record stores throughout
the city. That's how I built my vinyl
collection to be able to DJI would trade information for
records and then so I was Musicland and then I would go
across the street to the other record store and then I would
(06:33):
get on the bus and go to anotherrecord store.
And you know, end of the week, Ihave a lot of all the new joints
and became DJ and started DJ INGaround the city.
We in 1st Ave. had no business being in 1st Ave. at 15 DJ.
But we, we were in the booth the, the, the cat who used to DJ
on Thursday nights. More funk night back in the day
(06:55):
named Roy Freedom. He he, he would smoke a
cigarette like every 15 minutes.So he'd be like, who wants to
DJ? So, you know, we're all like,
yeah, let's go. I do it.
Every week we're there to take turns and and kind of learn the
game a little bit. And so all that information and
then I start running a record pool for another record store.
(07:15):
So I'm getting inclemented on how to order, how to, how a
store should go, you know how. You was in the business before
you? Yeah, I was.
I was in the business. Before I ever got in the
business, so you know, it was like the mafia.
Problem right? Right.
You know, born into it. And so, yeah, I'm, I'm learning
just the communication game. I'm, I'm talking to people like
(07:37):
Jay Prince, I'm talking to Luther Campbell, I'm talking to
Tom Silverman. All these labels are just
getting started. Tommy Boyd, Skywalker records,
rap a lot profile, Sugar Hill, Joey Robinson.
I'm I'm speaking to all these people because I'm trying to get
records into the city for the DJs and so they'll cool
relationships with people. Had to get a job, graduated from
(08:01):
school, end up in sales. But I'm also at the same time
still in the music business. I'm 1 foot in, one foot out,
rapping, producing, running a label.
Don't glaze over the rapping part so they get up.
Don't, don't, don't tell. People you got to go on online
and find don't glaze. We're not having a discussion,
(08:23):
you know, So we, I did for a minute.
Yes, I there are records out there you have to find.
I got a couple. Yeah, yeah, I.
It's all good. Couple slip through the cracks
every once in a while. I ain't mad at you.
So I I was doing all these things at the same time and
being in sales and used to hang out at a store called Northern
(08:47):
Lights. It was on my sale in my sales
territory. So I'm supposed to be selling
products, but I'm at the record store hanging out and the owner,
they own like probably 12 to 15 stores at that time.
And and they used to joke with me like, hey, you should buy
this. You're here all the time.
You know, I might as well just give you a key.
You can come in and go as you please.
And we laugh and joke about it. But all the way back to high
(09:09):
school, me and my buddies used to say, man, what if we can own
our own record store? That would be so cool.
Like, you know, we do all this music stuff and we could just
put it all under one roof. That'd be great.
So I called each of these people, said, hey, we can buy a
record store. In 1993, we bought a record
store. I opened it up.
Urban Lights Music was born. Dope, dope, dope.
(09:31):
And you know, so we talking 30 plus years now, Yeah.
Yeah, 31. 31 Yeah. So how have you adapted to
what's going on as far as, you know, how people are consuming
music? Today, well, it honestly is a
hard process because, and I tellpeople this all the time is
like, I used to just put a key in the door and order music and
(09:53):
sell music. That was it.
Now it's a little bit more calculated as far as what you
order one, but two, the moves that you make because I got to
keep bodies coming in. So, you know, we turned it more
into a cultural spot. Now it's a space, it's a
creative space now. So people come in, people just
come in and sit and write, you know, and they'll come in and
paint, they'll come in and draw,they'll come in and DJ, they'll
(10:16):
come in and man, I'm putting this record together, man.
You mind if I just sit in the corner and just absorb for the
rest of the day? Cool.
So that's the evolution of everything.
Now, how I got there was obviously selling CDs and
cassettes, and then vinyl got real important.
I took my record pool from the store I was at, moved it over
(10:37):
here now. So now I'm running a record pool
in this house. So I got all these different
ways to get people, music, DJs, the community, you know, doesn't
matter. Everybody's getting music.
And then CDs, cassettes went away.
CDs became very important. And then one day vinyl went
away. And I was just talking to
(10:57):
somebody about this other day. It seemed like it was about a 10
year period where vinyl was like, where is it at?
Like, you know, all, all, all the record pool records dried
up, all the promos dried up, allthe I want to order this on
vinyl. We don't even make it on vinyl
because CD only. And then when that changed and
went digital, then it's like, OK, what's the business going to
(11:19):
be at this point? So what we we did is, is I
continue to do a record pool, but it was a digital record
pool. I continue to serve people
music. But it was via putting in an
iPod, putting an MP3 player. C DS came back a little bit,
made a research, mixtapes came in.
So now with the mix tape game. So mixtapes are outselling
(11:40):
everything. And that that probably ran us
another 5 1/2 years, maybe 6. And they were very expensive at
one time. Yeah, now, now cheap.
But back in the day, I mean, youknow, you could go on. 125th at
Harlem. And yeah, yeah.
Yeah, 10 for 10 for $10. You know, people come in, man,
you don't sell all you can do inNew York.
(12:01):
Maybe I've moved in New York, bro.
We can't do that price. I don't, I don't, I don't know
that pricing structure doesn't work for me, right.
But yeah, so the mixtapes carried us.
And then, you know, I said we, we, we adjusted to the digital
game. The mixtapes came and now the
Resurgence vinyl is back. So I've seen it go, it's
(12:21):
cyclical. I've seen it go from one thing
back to what it was and now C DSare about to come back so.
Absolutely. Yeah.
That's crazy. What do you think was or is the
the golden era if you will, for Minneapolis hip hop?
That's a good question. Sorry about the cough.
No, no good. The golden era.
(12:44):
Well, so people forget a lot about how hip hop started, and I
like to say that we were really on the forefront of what was
going on because we were DJ in the parks.
But again, we were trying to emulate everything going on in
New York. So you know, we're listening to
the radio show. We're trying to emulate the DJ
(13:04):
because of that, we're trying toemulate the music now.
So now now we're finding ways torecord at home, find a studio in
somebody's basement with a four track task scam hooked up to a
Roland seven O 7 and try to you know, so you know, we're wearing
the break dancing clothes. We got the graffiti crew with us
and the whole thing. So we're doing everything.
(13:26):
So that was the beginning of hiphop before we were even really
making record records. I think the first record TC
Ellis, the Twin Cities rapper probably is the first official
record that was ever pressed. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis also
(13:46):
produced a record for Ice T Believe it or not this is might
be pre breaking Wow called cold win madness.
Y'all y'all y'all please please please check it out.
I'm a player, I'm always clean and it was like 11 minutes long,
so you know. It was a disco song.
(14:12):
So that happened and then K Tel Records popped up.
The IRM crew, they were the first group to have a record
deal. CU double TINKAL.
So at that time, I was running arecord pool place called Wide
(14:35):
Angle Records. So Wide Angle was also a record
label, too. They actually would have one of
the first, I guess, distributiondeals.
They made a deal with Tommy Boy,who eventually made a deal with
Warner Brothers Group called Information Society.
But it was a record called Running that came out of
Minnesota. A lot of people don't remember
that. And because of that gentleman by
the name Jerry Silvers had Wide Angle Records.
(14:57):
I'm running a record pool. He says.
I'll give you your own label. OK, so now I'm running a record
label. So what's the first thing that
me and my partners did? We was like, well we need to
find some groups. So we need to find a group like
Salt and Pepper, group like Public Enemy, group like DMC.
We need a kid play group. And so we go through the city
and we find all this talent and we start putting records out.
(15:19):
So literally that's kind of the beginning of the hip hop scene
in the Twin Cities. Everybody has their own story of
it, but like date and times, that's probably the beginning.
That's that's the Super dope. Can you can you discuss your
involvement as far as artist management and how you supported
(15:43):
artists over the years? I mean myself being one of them,
like, you know, you, you are thego to cat in the city for and
that's not just just not just hip hop, but R&B, whatever
anybody's doing as a local artist, you give people the
(16:04):
artist a platform to be able to have their product up in the
store with the likes of everybody else, you know.
And so the fact that you do thatis, you know, you know.
It was always a big thing for mewith the store.
You know, I was remember people asking me, do you have a local
section? And I would tell artists like
why do you want to be in a localsection?
(16:25):
Like you should want your CD to be right next to Run DMC, You
want your CD to be right next toN.W.A.
Let's shoot for that. There's no local sections.
Everybody's equal here. So from the beginning, we used
to give people opportunities forwindow space right along with
the national acts that would payfor it.
But I give the local acts, you get the window for 30 days, you
(16:47):
can have your stuff up. We would do in stores just like
we do in stores for the big artists for local records.
So I always felt like that was important just to give people a
shot and and, you know, growing that situation and and I like to
talk a lot. So I would have a lot of
conversations with people about,yeah, I like what you're doing,
(17:07):
but if you did this, this and that, I think you might be a
little bit more successful. So then it became like, don't
play Tim Records because he's he's.
Going to pick it apart. He's going to pick it apart and
and it's going to be a thing. So don't don't don't listen to
it. You know, but but I've actually
had people come to me go Yo, remember when I brought my album
(17:28):
into you and you told me it sucked.
I appreciate that I got a job and I'm and I have a.
Family now, everything's good, yeah.
I pivoted. Other people still see me and
go, yeah, you know, man, you messed up my career.
I'm like, no, I'm just trying tokeep it real.
Everybody can't go. Everybody can't go.
But to that point, the city has so much talent and I, I have set
(17:54):
the store up in a position now with the open mics and the
different events that we do to showcase the talent and give
people a chance to feel like it's big.
Because it should be. If it's your art and you feel
like people should hear it, see it, let's make it big.
And so that's what we aim to do.And it's in a great segue to
(18:18):
talk about fate is up. So let's let's talk about fate
is up. So Fate is Up came up.
Basically we used to get together anyway and hang out in
DJ and just, you know, play old records, talk about the old
days, talk about techniques and new equipment and all that.
And we said, look, we're here anyway on Saturdays.
(18:39):
Let's turn this into a thing. So we just turned it into a
opportunity for local DJs to getwith us to come hang out.
We order food, do the thing and talk music and then talk DJ and
how to continue to move that medium or that way of presenting
music to the public. Let's let's find a way to keep
(19:00):
this moving on. Let's keep the art form going
because the invent of the controller showed up and
everybody just just like making music.
Everybody feels like they can doit right.
So, so so the underlying part offaders, which honestly scares
off a lot of people is that theysee the scratching and the
(19:20):
mixing and all that they go. I don't want none of that.
You know, I just. It's not.
It's not. It's playing music for people,
which is cool. Do your thing, but D Jing is an
art and it's it's a way to manipulate music and change it
and do different things with it.And to be honest with you, a lot
(19:41):
of music survived and got to another level because the DJ
mixed it, cut, scratched it on amixed show, changed beat, did
this, this and that. Same clicks were happening as
far as audience approval and allthat kind of, you know, Nielsen
rating type stuff. But people were hearing it in a
different way. And so.
(20:03):
It was very important DJ, super important.
So it was very important to us to kind of keep that alive.
And so now, man, people come by,we teach DJ and we people have
record release party. We had somebody shoot a video
last week during Faders Up, you know, So yeah, yeah, we just try
to, you know, just keep the culture alive.
So Saturdays, what's the time? Saturdays from 12:00 to 4:00.
12:00 to 4:00. In store, yeah, People come hang
(20:26):
out. DJs if you, if you've never been
by, come hang out. Bring your needles, bring your
records. Bring your needles.
Bring your needles. Bring your needles.
I use your own needles, bro. We don't share needles.
We don't share DJ needles no more.
That doesn't work. Absolutely.
Absolutely. So you know, what do you think?
Did you think First off that theculture would be aware it is
(20:50):
right now? And how have you seen it
evolved, good or bad? Right.
I didn't see the culture becoming this because, you know,
in the beginning I thought it was a fad, you know, rapping,
rhyming over music that can't last long.
But then you look at genres likejazz and rock and and they go
through their different iterations and changes and and
(21:11):
rap beginning to evolve. You know, it just wasn't rhyming
over music. Now I was rhyming with a
purpose. Now I was rhyming with news and
Public Enemy and N.W.A shell showing you what it looks like
in South Central Los Angeles. And then it turned into more
Afrocentricity conversations with groups like Arrested
Development, Tribe Called Quest,De La Soul, and now it.
(21:33):
And that was the golden era of hip hop when there was a bunch
of different flavors such as food, right?
It's great that people are able to monetize.
I always tell cats rap is a con.Do it to get you something else,
get you the the clothing deal, the soda deal, the whatever else
(21:53):
you can sell because of your music.
That's the important thing because the music itself now
doesn't make any money. The streaming doesn't make
money. But what can make money
obviously is touring, but doing like you do Thai food to.
It shows things. How you can be creative and
expand your network is probably the more important thing now.
So that's the good part of it. The bad part about it is I think
(22:16):
everyone feels like they're invited to the party.
And the barrier of the entry is very low.
There's you know what there's there's no gatekeepers.
Gatekeepers are bad and good, but at one point in time, and I
and I believe I heard LA Reid talk about this the other day
and he was saying that there's no boutique labels anymore.
(22:37):
And we sat, we had a big argument about that if it was a
couple weeks ago, because, and Iand I agree because they were
the gatekeepers, whether it was it was divine Mill.
So, so death, death row, you know, all these you, you had to
go through them to get to the mainstream.
Now the mainstream just goes, oh, you have 30 million views on
(23:01):
YouTube. You.
Must be hot. You're invited to the party, you
know, here's your ticket and, and, and we go.
And so that's the bad side of it.
It's we haven't there's a lot ofmusic that shouldn't be there.
And then what it begins to do iswater down the overall, you
know, it's like having a a bunchof fast food restaurants that
all sell the same thing. Eventually we're all going to
get tired and you know, so. And there's no more.
(23:25):
That's what you need to share there's.
No more other development. There's no don't.
A&R is gone. Yeah, A&R is gone, Yeah, Yeah.
But so coming back, because now the machine figured out that
they're losing money. So you can't have that.
You can't have the machine losing money.
So now the machine says, OK, well, you know what?
I might need the streets back again.
(23:46):
I might need you radio people back again, and I might need you
to go find me some artists that are qualified to be here because
we have a bunch on the roster that should.
So that's the good and the bad, the Ying and the Yang.
I've seen the whole thing change.
It's almost, I feel like it's the housing market right now.
It's got to bottom out. It has to.
And and once it bottoms out and it's just the worst thing ever,
(24:09):
which we're real close that it can only get better.
Right. Yeah, and that's the hope.
Every region has is, you know, has a food, you know, has, you
know, the South has BBQ. Yeah.
New Orleans has Creole. Yeah, New York is known for a
lot of things, but we're gonna go with pizza.
(24:30):
Yeah, for. Sure.
Same thing in music, you know, West Coast has has that funky
yeah, yeah, Yep, Yep. You know the the South has had
it's going to. Be trap.
It's going to be trap. And of course, New York is known
for boom back. How would you say that those
regions played a role into what that initial sound wound up
(24:54):
being? Well, and and that's an
interesting question because I don't know if Minnesota ever.
Found it. That was my next that my next
question was if that's the case.I don't, I don't think we found
a sound. Honestly, it doesn't really
matter what you do. It ties to Prince and it ties to
(25:15):
that original Minneapolis sound that he birthed Jimmy and Terry
Morris, Jesse Johnson, Monty, the whole Jelly Bean, the whole
that they all the branches of the tree go from them.
So rap wise, no, we never now you could you could argue that
(25:35):
the rhyme singers maybe came up with the style, which is very
boom bap, very backpack rhyming.You know, that was their thing.
I grew up with a lot of those guys.
So they they were young enough to watch us and say, hey, I want
(25:56):
to do that. And then they took it to a whole
another level. So so I would argue that they
they have a stake in it, but sound wise, Northside we kind of
always looked at it like that was more the Midwest S flavor.
So that was where your twisters,your Nelly that type of music
was that you know, you might slide it down South, mess with
(26:17):
TI that type of thing. Southside was hip hop and that's
where I was from. So it was boom bap.
It was KRS-one, it was, you know, that music run DMC, Saint
Paul was West Coast, so they were into, you know, SIBO,
Looney, Coleone, all undergroundBay music.
(26:38):
And so neither shall meet ever, ever, because that's what
happens, right? You know, nobody crosses the
boundaries, the lines, and you can tell from the music.
And so, you know, one of the things that me and my business
partner are trying to do is really usher in this new era of
the Minneapolis sound. And it's really honing in on
(27:02):
this lyrical talent along with this very soulful music.
Because we come from that background with Prince and we
come from that background. Even even some of the rock
stuff, if you want to dig in theBob Dylan and some of these
records is really soulful records out there.
But it's us trying to find this new sound and take these very,
(27:23):
very talented artist here and put them on a platform that that
may step above what they're currently doing and show them a
different way to market themselves and and more
importantly, a different way to monetize themselves.
So we can get there. But I I don't think anybody put
a stamp on it yet. And and as we know, you know,
(27:44):
the city has to get behind something to push it, and that's
the everything that's you got. To find one, you got to find one
and you got to ride. You got to.
You got to help push them to thetop.
And that's that's the way it's happened.
It happened for Prince, happenedfor Bob Dylan happen for next
same way, you know, so it has tobe that I want to talk about the
(28:06):
DJ as the chef as far as creating and, you know,
experiences and vibes for sure. So you know a a chef would
curate a a meal by courses just as a DJ does the same thing.
I do the same thing with. The with with, you know, with
and in a unique way. The The remix is a DJ iteration
(28:31):
that started. From DJ, definitely DJ.
And without that, like you said,there's D JS used to break
records. For sure they don't do.
That anymore? That's another problem with the
music business. There's no D JS breaking records
anymore. But then they have no outlet.
The outlet used to be the radio,but now the radio's all
(28:51):
conglomer conglomerized if. I don't even know if that's a
word, but you have to go throughso many channels to get your
record played. Now it it forces all the
independent people out, they have no chance to get their
record played on the big major stations like they might have in
the past. So.
There's no show. There's no more any any.
There's no DJ show, there's no, you know, at after 10 mixed show
(29:13):
on Friday and Saturday night where you're hearing all the new
joints. It doesn't exist anymore.
Which is travesty because that'swhere, you know, we would
discover. That's where you hear these new
groups that you never heard about, or you'd hear a certain
DJ or a certain style or, you know, whatever it was it between
10:00 and 12:00, you knew that you were about to get some.
(29:34):
Yeah, you're about to get some new flavor And, and so, you
know, from a DJ standpoint, yeah, we, we serve it up just
like a chef, because if you, if you picture DJ in a club, right,
So that the, the, the first partof the evening is all just me
playing you a bunch of music you've never heard before.
So I'm going to give you some appetizers and have you go, hey,
who was that record you just played?
Right. But that's the that's the job.
(29:56):
That's what I'm supposed to do. That's what the record label
gave me, the records. Teasing that pound.
So I'm giving you these little, you know, OK.
And so now is the clock. It's 10:00.
Now I've got to serve. I've got to get into the main
course here. So because from 11:50, that's
the prime time. So now I'm giving you all the
hot records. I'm giving you all the records,
you know, but I might give you, you know, those some spices and
(30:18):
I might mix it different. I might go from this record to
that record. I might change the beat on that.
I might flip the acapella, whatever.
And then as we get into the the midnight one o'clock 2:00
getting ready to close. Now I'm going to bring it down.
We'll have some dessert and theny'all out.
And so literally, it's the same game.
It is the same game when you do your events, any event, I don't
(30:39):
care what it is, from faders up to just a impromptu gathering
where something music is being played to to have people
commune. That the vibe of the atmosphere
is is very home mess to me. I don't know, it's hard to
explain like so from even from like, you know, the posters on
(31:02):
the wall, everything, it feels like New York to me.
I'll be honest to me because that's what I grew up going to,
you know, again, Moody's and Holland music cut and you know,
and that's, that's the divide. And that was my bedroom.
That's my bedroom. So, yeah.
And that's, that's yeah. Turntables in my corner, posters
all over the wall, you know, records everywhere.
Yeah. And, and that, but that, that
(31:24):
inviting atmosphere, I think it,and that's why I think people
gather there, you know, for in acreative outlet as well, because
it feels, it feels like this is the place to, to be creative.
It's it's it's definitely. And a lot of people.
Say it's definitely a safe haven.
And that's, that's, that's, that's probably the best payoff
(31:45):
for me, period. You know, just being at it this
long is having people say I feelcomfortable here.
Yeah, has to be isn't that because that's that's you know,
and what's so dope about it to me too is that the guy that owns
it is is always behind the counter.
You didn't think so. So like like you and and and
(32:08):
they're to give inside. I remember the first time I
walked into Moody's. So if you think about it in this
manner, it makes total sense. So it's, it's, it's actually a
little intimidating because you have, you know, a plethora of
like, you don't know where to start.
So like, like if you like, if you have a cigar enthusiast, you
(32:29):
walk into a cigar shop. I mean, it's it's.
Cigars everywhere. Like, like what do I one as as
men, we don't like asking directions for anything, right?
We just want to you want to look, we want to walk in like,
you know, but there's a sense ofas like as in Moody's the same
thing you have is there's never that that that feeling of
(32:52):
pretension. It's very like, dude, we, we I'm
here to help you. What are you looking for?
Oh, OK, cool, cool, cool. I point you to this, I point you
to that. And it's that that's the that
feeling is, is something that one you can't manufacture.
It has to be, you know, true andhonest from the heart because
it's something that exudes that to me is the magic of what
(33:15):
you've created. I appreciate that.
I I, I had a conversation with agrandmother and her son the
other day. I let people come in
pleasantries, hey, how you doing?
Let them move around without being bothered.
And then when it looks like theyhave a question, then that's
(33:35):
when I slide in and say, what are you looking for today?
And the lady said to me, I don'tknow, what do you recommend?
And I said, well, I can recommend a lot of stuff, but
you don't look like you like a lot of stuff.
So I said, what do you listen to?
(33:58):
And then I can direct traffic from there.
She said, well, you know, I likejazz and I like jazz.
That that that speaks to me is very soulful.
I said, OK, we went to the jazz section and I said, are you hip
to Shirley Horne? Are you hip to Nancy Wilson?
Nina Simone, I know the people, but I don't know the music.
(34:22):
Can you point me the right ones?I said, well, I would listen to
this if you're going to start with Shirley Horne, if you want
Nina Simone, we can go a bunch of different ways, but this is
the greatest hits. I'd start here because it tells
a story. And I said, you know, she said,
what can I listen to him? That's of course.
She said, you're going to play them for me.
That's what I'm here for. So I start going through the
(34:42):
albums and, and, and and matter of fact, Donald Fagen was one of
them because I'm a big Asia Steely Dan fan, which I Steely
Dan Asia I think is one of the greatest albums ever made.
And and so I start going throughthe CD Shirley Horne, and she's
like, she's like, yeah, this is incredible.
I've never heard this before. I said.
(35:02):
I said, you know, and and so her, her, her grandson and I
guess they trade music back and forth, which is really cool.
And I said you guys have a greatrelationship.
I said, well, I'm a helping handto here.
I say because I said he he's he's for his age is really old
school. You can tell by his
conversation. And I said, so somebody like
Shirley Horne, right, who I said, if you can close your eyes
(35:24):
and picture her in front of the piano and the guy's doing his
thing with the cigarette hangingout of his mouth and the drink
right here. And she's got the old school
microphone in front of her and it's, you know, you can barely
see over the smoke in the club, but she's doing her thing and
she's telling stories. Nina Simone would be the same
way. And the lady was like, you know
what, I can visualize everythingyou say and I'll take all of
these. And so that's it.
(35:47):
That's why I do it. And and when I say I love to
talk, I love to talk about. Absolutely.
So what what you just described is what we were just talking
about previously is about the difference between taking
someone's order and curating. And curating experience.
It's it's I always knew from thebeginning, man, it's like I, I
was when we open, I was combating Target, I was
(36:10):
combating Musicland, Best Buy, Sam Goody Coconuts.
It was a all kinds of record stores everywhere, right?
And people like, and we were always higher priced.
But why should I come here? Because we're going to have a
conversation about this music that you're not going to have a
conversation that these other stores about because they don't
know what they're selling. They just the music's in the
(36:31):
back of the store for a reason. It's a loss leader.
They need to get you there past the towels and the the spaghetti
mix and the Doritos and everything else.
And then, oh, by the way, Jadakiss has a new CD.
But let me get that too. That that's it.
And so, but now me and you can have a conversation about it and
I'll tell you, don't buy that. And This is why, in my opinion,
(36:52):
so. Based off your preferences too.
Based on my you know what I'm saying?
And and and there's and. And people and people still tell
me that this day, like Tim Man, you, you just don't like West
Coast music like you do East Coast.
No, I don't, I don't. But I understand it and I get
who it's for. But you know, Ice Cube,
America's Most Wanted, probably one of the greatest rap albums
(37:13):
ever made, top five for me. That spoke to me different than
some other stuff, say Out of theBay and things like that.
So I have my certain ones that people still remind me.
Yeah, man, you're a fan. You like all that, you run DMC,
all that. That's you.
You know, you don't like, you don't like soft music.
No, no, I I respect everything and I understand what it's for.
(37:33):
And I understand everybody has adifferent palette.
Absolutely, absolutely. OK, this is a good time to go
into. Questions from the audience.
Minneapolis music greatness we probably missed.
Who would you say that is? Oh wow.
(37:55):
I don't think enough people paidattention to Jesse Johnson when
he left the time to A&M Records first album.
He had a song called Free World that that was, again, I said I
looked for records that are gamechangers and that was one that
just oh man, when that we throw that on in the club, they would
(38:17):
go crazy. But the beat and he was doing
everything they I think he mighthave produced everything, every
instrument, every beat, everything.
I think we missed. Yeah, we missed on Jesse.
Yeah, he's the problem with Jesse is that he had that vibe
(38:38):
right. He did my mic.
They say it's too much like my friend and so it automatically
groove to men, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But Prince always said, though, he pushed him so hard because he
was the one that was supposed tobe next.
Like, you know, makes sense, makes sense.
(39:01):
What's a local group or nationalOK that we're sleeping on right
now? Who?
We locally, I'm going to say I'll start a whole conversation
with a bunch. There's a bunch of local artists
that people are missing on, but there's a kid named Louis Blaze
(39:22):
that people need to pay attention to.
I'm hungry now. Give me my play, Play.
I'm putting it on for the state state Minnesota Bonnie race and
I'm a wrap it to the grave. He's super dope.
You know, you when you when you talk artists in next level and
opportunities, it's it's it's looking for that it factor.
(39:44):
And so, you know, again, every, you know, as artists to do their
thing or whatever. You know, people have great
music, great creativity, but then there's something about the
extras and and and that's what shows like American Idol were
looking for. They weren't looking for the
best at that. They were looking for the all
around person that can check every box.
(40:04):
And, and I believe he's, he's one, yeah.
That's dope. OK, who is next from
Minneapolis? Who you think is next?
I I honestly I think. Who do you think is next step
that the city's going to get behind?
That's really. That's a good question,
(40:25):
honestly. You know what?
Honestly, I, I really think gospel wise people should get
put behind Giovanta. Father, I trust you.
Father, I trust you. He, he checks the boxes and he
(40:46):
makes really good music and it does resonate on a national
level. And so I think there needs to be
more attention paid to that. OK, OK, OK, this is a good time
to go into a little segment thatI call one got to go you do the
(41:06):
one got to go. All right, so films belly paid
in full or juice one got to go belly shout out the.
Dame shout out the Dame. Paintingful is one of my is is
(41:29):
is is a classic. Yeah, so.
So Belly got to go. Belly got to go.
Oh my God, it barely got to go because.
For the opening scene alone, it got to stick.
Yeah, yeah, But no, the open scene was crazy, right?
But I I wasn't. You know what?
I don't like that, don't like that one big.
The whole reggae tones. I get you you.
(41:51):
Know it's just, yeah, I wasn't there.
I wasn't there at that time. I got you.
I got you. OK, finally, debut classics.
Okay. Nas zoomatic Snoop dogs doggy
style and. You're not even going to say.
Notorious BIG ready to die one got to go.
(42:15):
Nas got to go. Nas got to go.
If you know, you know. Can't you know me, though?
They they. Why?
I know I knew, but he died, wasn't going away.
I know that's I know. That's your favorite?
Album. It's the best album ever made.
Yeah. It's for sure, yeah, Nas got to
go. I I.
Illmatic The the the the album that's in, That's that.
(42:37):
Illmatic was incredible for our first album.
It wasn't ready to die, but it was incredible.
The production was incredible, but it wasn't ready to die.
I may hold a grudge against him because he he wrote Urban Life
on something one time instead ofUrban light.
Oh, this is personal. It could be, but you can't
(43:03):
replace ready to die and I do. I look at records like they they
made changes right Ready to Die to Me ushered in a new East
Coast sound just a Snoop issued in him and Doctor Dre just
changed the whole landscape of West Coast music with The
(43:26):
Chronic and then what they did with Doggy Style.
I feel like Illmatic was a greatalbum, but it didn't change
anything for me. I get that.
I look at. I look at.
Plus he spelled like Urban LightI.
See, is this this purpose light?I look at these three albums and
(43:48):
I look at any any debut album asfar as the artist's impact on
culture at that time. And to me, there's the only
greater impact I feel of a debutalbum coming out Then then Snoop
(44:12):
and, and, and Biggie had a 2, right?
The greatest I've ever seen to date is 50.
Yes, as far as as far as impact,as far as impact and like like
everywhere, like I've never seento this day, I still have not
seen that. Was crazy.
That was insane. I.
Remember. So I did the 10th anniversary
event at a club called South Beach and I had Woo Kid come in
(44:33):
and DJ, right? And he kept telling me like, yo
tell man, my homeboy man, 5th $0.50 man, he's dope, man.
I want to bring it with me. And I was like, Nah, nobody here
really knows. I mean, I was familiar with the
mixtapes, you know, stuff like that.
I was like, Nah, Nah, they're not ready for me.
Tim man. He just kept calling me about.
And I remember I asked the doodle on the club and he was
(44:54):
like, Nah, we're good. We'll just take the DJ and, and
he called me the day before he'sabout to fly.
He said, Tim man, he'll buy his own ticket just to come hang
out. I'm like, Nah, we're good.
We're all it's cool. It's cool.
So we can come see DJs the partyand I end up calling him back a
week later and say we want to book $0.50 and, and we were
(45:20):
going to take him to Prince's old club, which was glam, which
is called the Quest now. So we bought $0.50 to the Quest
and it immediately sold out. This is pre, this is 2 weeks
before Ready to Die. Maybe a week before Ready to Die
came out. He came to Minneapolis, 2000
(45:41):
people in the club lying around the block that couldn't get in.
And I remember my the guy I did the show with, he paid $0.50
that night to come back and do the Target Center.
And so that's how it went from zero to 100.
Like that album listen when it dropped?
(46:03):
It changed that get rid of trying.
So I lived the whole the whole movie.
So like from from the mixtapes, yeah.
How to rob set it off? Yes.
And of course, the orchestrationof all that was Gem SJ That that
that put him on to, to exactly that.
That put him in play to, to, to,to, you know, to go the way he
(46:26):
was going. Yeah, and then once, once Dre
got a hold of it. Dre to this day.
It was like it. It literally was like a rocket
took. Off.
Yeah, that was, that was, that was and you.
Don't see that anymore. No, no, no.
I. Don't.
I can't even think of the last time we may have experienced
that with an artist where you were like, yo.
(46:49):
That's him. It hasn't happened since it.
Hasn't happened since he that. That album went crazy.
Every song was ridiculous. You know, he was able to tour
off that. He was able to, I mean, look at
the empire he's built based on that first album.
But it went zero to 100. And, and keep in mind, we I paid
him, we paid him $2000 to do theshow a week later he was 25.
(47:12):
Oh yeah, yesterday's price, not today's price.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And remember, so he has the
same, you know, he has that samechip on his shoulder as you did
with Nas with the like, you didn't even want me to pay for
my own ticket. I.
Blew him off. Man, listen, that was, that was
a meteor rock. I'm a meteor happening.
(47:35):
That whole, that movement, that 50 movement was something
different. And then we had and then, and
then if you think about also themarketing behind the whole
thing, it's like we don't even market music like that no more.
We don't market anything like that.
Movies, TV, cars. Nothing.
Nothing does that. What they put behind that?
Yeah, everything about it was, was and then, and then of course
(47:55):
the music was, was, was quality.So you stood the test of time
and to this day. Yeah, it's still one of the best
albums ever made, period, for sure.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's definitely top ten, maybe 5 in a
lot of people's conversations, but it's definitely one of them.
For sure. Yeah, sure.
Well man, listen, I can talk to you forever.
(48:16):
Bro Yeah, yeah, we've been here.Yeah, whatever, man.
Cory Booker did the filibuster. We just go to it.
Yeah, what not you know what that's I'm gonna hold you to
that we going we. I'm with it.
Yeah, that'll be that'll be dope.
I think gay would have a problem.
But yeah, man, listen, I I got to thank you again.
I appreciate you more. For everything that you do, I.
(48:36):
Appreciate that. For for the culture, for the
community, for artist, you know enough cannot be said about you
know the role that you play for you know, for for the history as
well as the future and and I appreciate you bro and wit.
(48:57):
Please tell all the people that they can follow you where he can
catch you at. Give them all your things.
Urban Lights music is where I'm at every day, 1449 University
Ave. Saint Paul, right in the midway.
It's hopefully the midway's about to grow again, get back to
it again, become a destination as instead of a pass through,
(49:17):
but people pass through to see us.
But we'd like you to come and hang out and spend some time
there at the urban light on Instagram, Facebook, XI think
it's called these days maybe. I don't know what he's doing
over there. He's got a lot of problems right
now for sure. And also on TikTok.
So yeah, that's where I'm. At Absolutely Man, this has been
(49:39):
the Taste Music Here Food podcast show with my guest, Mr.
Tim Wilson. Until next time, peace.
Appreciate y'all. Dope man it.
Was cool. NBC Our relation to NBC.
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