July 10, 2024 • 67 mins
Ever wondered why a famous 90s rapper might feel let down by today's concert crowds? Join us as Your host O.G. GOAT and Shariff from Queens sheds light on the evolving landscape of hip hop and the generational divide that's causing ripples in the music world. His efforts to introduce younger adults to old-school beats to their undeniable preference for modern trap music, Shariff brings a heartfelt perspective on how every era reshapes this dynamic genre. We reflect on hip hop's journey from its marginalized roots to its current status as a cultural powerhouse, all while keeping alive the spirit of its legendary forebears.
https://youtu.be/4j4M9-uy9gI?si=tas9Na7MC9VONpb5
Switching gears, we tackle the pressing issue of modernizing education to foster safer communities. Despite lottery funds supposedly earmarked for schools, our institutions often lag behind in technology and resources. Smart boards and tablets are simply not enough; we need a curriculum that genuinely engages students. With comparisons drawn from both public schools and the healthcare sector, we delve into the challenges and potential solutions for making education a catalyst for reducing crime rates. Join our debate on the reliability of technology in these crucial sectors and how updated learning tools can better stimulate young minds.
We wrap up with a nostalgic homage to hip hop's pioneers and an appreciation for the technological strides that have transformed the industry. Remembering the high costs and rarity of early cell phones, we pay tribute to icons like Nas, Jay-Z, and Biggie Smalls, who climbed the heights of success through sheer grit and innovation. We also highlight Ralph McDaniels’ invaluable contributions via his live Instagram sessions and Video Music Box shows. Special thanks to Sharif for his insights, and a heartfelt shoutout to our audience for tuning in. Don't miss out on this rich tapestry of hip hop history and modern-day reflections!
We want to hear from you, Introduce yourself the way you would like it aired, where your calling from State and City is fine as well as which Season, Podcast title and episode. Call the Studio at 212-718-0330 and leave your comments
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What part of the game is that. August 2022
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is your pod host , og GOAT, with another segment
from.
What Part of the Game is that?
And we have Sharif from Queensgets the money on the line today
, and we're going to be talkingabout an interesting topic of
misplaced feelings.
(00:21):
Let's say feelings, let's sayand uh, sharif, you wrote in
earlier this week and you had atopic that you wanted to discuss
about a concert.
Tell us more about that.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, good morning everyone.
Let me say that first, my nameis Sharif.
Queens Gets the Money.
Official Queens representative.
And the topic that I heartfeltfor me was, you know, reading
the news and seeing that youknow a famous rapper who is very
(00:58):
much known in the industries,you know, early 90s, not only as
a group but also as a solorapper, coming from my era, you
know and him just expressingsome anger or disappointment,
(01:18):
and crowd participation as faras it was concerned, with him
performing, as far as being ontheir phones and sitting in
their seats.
So just chopping that up andtrying to understand it in all
angles, not just one way, justnot being a lover of hip hop and
(01:39):
jumping on the bandwagon ofthis famous rapper's thought
because he's part of my era, andsaying you know what he's right
, he's right, he's right and,looking at it on, you know what
side of the game is this?
So that is what I guess we'rediving into today or this
(02:00):
morning.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Right, right, I agree .
I think that everything and wehave to realize this is it comes
a time when you know our era iscoming to a close, just like
anything else.
Just like anything else.
(02:23):
I remember one time I was in mycar and I had some guests in my
car young, adults and I wasdriving.
(02:43):
So you know, I'm trying to puton some music and they wasn't
feeling it.
But you know, I had some, youknow, hip hop from the 80s, 90s
and they was looking at me likewhat is this?
And I was, oh man, that's right, you guys don't even know this,
whether they knew it or not.
They just wasn't vibing to it,you know, and it was just
(03:03):
something that they just reallywasn't into, right?
So I tried to get you knowtheir opinion on what kind of
music they would like, and oneof the things that jumped out
was trap music.
Now, I don't know of the termtrap music.
(03:24):
Now I don't know of the termtrap music.
I mean, I do now, but at thispoint I didn't know of the term
trap music.
But then I played it and I waslike, wait a minute, now this
sounds like a cross between EDM,house music and a little bit of
(03:45):
rap too.
Okay, so all it did was migrateinto something else.
But they have a definitive wayof telling the difference
between our typical rap music orhip hop and trap music, which I
haven't quite put the nail onthe head on that I it seems to
(04:09):
me that the trap music most ofit I don't know for me might be.
I have a hard timeunderstanding it.
I guess that's the way theyfeel about our old school hip
hop.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I do definitely understand that.
What was the age ratio of thefamily members that you were
transporting?
Because that'll help meunderstand a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, they was under 30.
They were between, I think, 20and 30 years of age.
Wow Interesting.
Yeah, they were between 20 and30 years of age.
Wow Interesting.
Yeah, they were between 20 and30 years of age.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So if you were, yes, go ahead If you were to, because
you know their age and you lookback at our era, which I guess
I should ask you what do youconsider our era?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Well, my era.
I come from a time when hip hopwas born, you know let's say
Shout out to the BX, shout outto the BX.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I came from that era and you know I watched it grow.
I was there during the wholeprocess when they just wasn't
feeling it and I was saying tomyself why do our people have to
always do stuff that you knowsends a negative light?
(05:41):
That's the way I was feelingback then.
Really, yeah, because you knowlisten because it sent a
negative vibe through thecommunity and so many people was
protesting.
And I want our people to dothings and rise to the top and
(06:06):
make it happen.
But the era of hip hop and rapenlightened me to the fact that
sometimes you have to just jumpout there and make things change
, make things happen.
If we keep going with the flow,things won't happen.
(06:30):
There's an old saying that goesif you keep doing what you've
been doing, you're going to keepgetting what you've been
getting.
So if someone doesn't make it apoint to put a spin on things,
then we're going to keeplistening to the same old music
we've been listening to.
And I applaud now the hip hopindustry and I think it started
(06:57):
to sink in early on with me thatyou know what these guys have
done.
It this thing is they're notgoing to be able to stop it
because there was no slowingdown.
It was like a freight traincoming through.
You know, I used to.
I used to be at the Encore onCross Street from the Terminal.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
What Terminal?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Jamaica Terminal in Jamaica, Queens.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, over there by the New York Public Library.
I watched that change nameseveral times.
I actually knew the owner and Iused to be at the door at
Fantasia when it was on AmericanLending, at the door at
Fantasia when it was on AmericanLinden, and I think Curtis Blow
(07:49):
I think it was had appearedthere at that time when he was
just starting out his careerearly on.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
What year was both of them?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Ooh, I don't remember the year, but I know we're
looking at early 80s, maybe late70s, around then, you know.
But see, I grew up in SouthJamaica all my life, you know
(08:19):
Really.
Yeah, my mother went to WoodrowWilson High School.
Okay, you familiar with WoodrowWilson?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
The thing about it is no, because I've come via
Flushing, via Left Rock City,right, so you know it's kind of
funny that we might meet atmutual clubs or roller skating
rinks but, that doesn'tnecessarily mean you go into
those neighborhoods because theywere still an understanding
(08:51):
then that wasn't your place.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Right, okay, so Woodrow Wilson is on the south
side of Jamaica, which name haschanged to August Martin.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh, okay, familiar with August Martin.
Yes, yes, that's Familiar withAugust Martin.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yes, yes, that's what Will Joe Wilson is, and I was
around there.
I mean, my first job was atRockaway Fish House.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Wow, which is still there today?
Yeah, wow, but you're stillthere today.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, yeah, still there, not at Rockaway Fish
House, but I'm still in thecommunity yes, no, no, I'm
saying, but it's a good thingRockaway Fish House still exists
.
Yes, yes, I was there.
The owner passed away, though.
Rest in peace, dog.
He passed away but his wifeknows me, all his children know
(09:48):
me, who now run the place.
The wife is still involved.
But anyway, this was, this wasthe era that I grew up in and a
lot of the they were, they were,they played a major, major part
in the hip hop industrybecoming to what it is.
(10:11):
And at some point, you know, Ikind of argued you know the
Bronx Really.
Okay, all right, but see, I wasin South Jamaica so I didn't
know what the Bronx was reallydoing when it came out in the
(10:33):
Bronx.
But I do know of Sugar HillGang.
I think that was pretty muchkind of like my first take on
hip hop and rap music.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Did I tell you why that's interesting?
Say it again I told you whythat's interesting.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, I think that was my first.
Now I've heard Wait, wait.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I don't want to lose this.
I don't want to lose this.
Okay, go ahead.
I want to tell you why that'sinteresting, because dealing
with the differences in our age,but being part of the same era.
So, with that being said, myearliest remembrance of hip hop
actually when I think about itwas my mother and father.
(11:19):
They were music lovers.
They purchased albums, shoutout to Jimmy Music World on Main
Street.
So my mom and dad purchasedrecords and I remember hearing
Curtis Blow rap the Christmassong and if I go back and think
in my mind about hip hop, thatwas very it stands in my brain
(11:44):
hearing that Curtis Blow, youknow hip hop album for Christmas
right it just rings in my headright, but I think the Sugarhill
Gang if I'm not let me lookthis up was pre-Curtis Blow.
(12:05):
I think you're.
I definitely know you're right,but it's funny what your mind
receives or you know it choosesto hold that.
So maybe just because that songit was Christmas, so I
associate it with a holiday andit was very uplifting.
So that's, that's probably whymy brain associates with that
associated with a holiday.
Right, right, and it was veryuplifting.
(12:25):
Yes, it was Definitely.
That's probably why my brainassociates with that with
hip-hop, and I know I rememberseeing the Sugar Hill records in
the house and I rememberwatching the video with them
performing.
But I think that because CurtisGlow has had longevity, that's
(12:49):
another reason it stayed in mymind too.
Right, right you know, and it'snot with the same song, it's.
You know, he's not noted forjust one song and he had
accolades in being in movies, soI think that's why that
resonates a little different forme.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And you know I around Christmas time I do play that
Curtis Blue.
You know I do play that record,you know.
And so yeah, but you know, Ihave to as I grow older, I have
to begin to realize, like when Iwas in the car with these young
(13:30):
adults, that that's what I grewup on, right, what I grew up on
on them, you know, because theyhave what they like and they
have their own, for whateverreason or whatever gives them to
(13:50):
their type of music.
They have what they like and soyou know, this is, this is what
makes change, this is whatkeeps the wheel turning from
generation to generation andgeneration, just the same way as
(14:11):
hip-hop, rap music, however youwant to.
You know that concert that was,and this might have been before
his time.
I'm not even sure if thoseartists was around the time when
(14:41):
I used to watch Video Music Box.
You remember video music?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Shout out to Queens public library, where Alfred
Daniels is the hip hop directorof not just Merritt Boulevard
but Bayside and other librariesin Queens and I would say,
definitely, guys, get on thereand check out Queens public
library via Instagram.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
There you go Outstanding.
We appreciate that, and I'msure Mr Ralph McDaniels will as
well, because I used to watch itreligiously.
I had to get up in the morningand watch this video music box.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Can I share something with you?
You what?
There was actual studies done.
Video music box came on everyday when kids got out of school,
so kids literally rushed hometo go turn to Channel U.
Some of y'all don't know aboutthat.
That's right, you had to getthat good tinfoil 31, if I'm not
(15:50):
mistaken.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
You are correct.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Which is public access, free TV, and you had to
get that good tinfoil for yourmany of you don't know rabbit
ears.
We had antennas back then thatyou had to lay them right so you
could see it right.
So, with that being said, therewas a study that was done.
So myself, you and ourgeneration, they documented us
(16:18):
going straight home to get tovideo music box and the crime
rate in New York City actuallywas down at those times and
y'all can Google that becausethat is fact.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
I believe it.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Mm-hmm, I believe it.
Shout out to Ralph McDanielVisionary, it makes sense.
Innovator yes.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense and to touch on that,
not to get too far off fromwhere we was at, but to touch on
that as well.
This is one of my ideas thatI've always thought about to
help reduce the crime in ourneighborhoods, because I feel
(16:59):
that in public schools nowadaysthey are not teaching in a
modern sense.
You know, we have this thingnow, lottery, and the money, the
proceeds from the lottery go toschools and so forth and so on.
But if you visit your publicschools, I'm really really not
(17:23):
seeing it visit your publicschools.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I'm really really not seeing it.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
I mean I'm not seeing a large enough improvement on
the public schools.
It only seems like it's gettingworse.
What do you mean?
Crime in the schools?
Kids carrying guns?
When I went to school theywasn't bringing guns to school
the way they are right now.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
We didn't have days.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
My point I was trying to get at is the failure to
occupy the children's minds Nowwhen we grew up.
Okay, books and so forth and soon.
That's the thing and that'swhat it is the chalkboard.
But in this day and age thereshould be a whole, totally
(18:10):
different system.
We shouldn't still be lookingat the same math books that were
copyrighted in the 1960s, 70sand 80s.
We shouldn't be looking at that.
But a lot of these math bookswere just recently outdated, in
the past 15, 20 years, andthey've slightly changed.
(18:31):
They're even trying to changethe terminology.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I'm going to share this with you.
My kids are now adults.
So my twins are 27.
My middle son is 26 and myyoungest is 20.
So just because you're talkingabout the public school system
(18:57):
With me being able just to speakto that, with going through it
with my kids that were part ofthe public school system, first
of all, the curriculum didchange.
It changed the common core.
It isn't what it was when wewere in school and my kids, who
were born in 96, 98, 2004, are aproduct of common core where
(19:19):
things did change up a lot,because I wasn't even able to
help them with math.
I couldn't even do a bookreport with them because I came
from the era of who, what, whereand why.
So they want these kids tothink bigger out the box.
So with that I'm going to agreeto disagree that the public
(19:42):
school system in my, with theyears I'm telling you with my
kids, has changed.
It isn't what we were in thebookstore.
As a matter of fact, we're nottalking about books now, we're
talking about these.
Kids are using smart boards andusing tablets.
So for my kids it changed.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Okay, If I go to a public school nowadays and I'm
talking about Queens I'm surethere may be some schools that
might have a smart board.
(20:21):
I'm still seeing chalkboards insome schools.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Because they didn't remove them, because those were
okay.
Give you an example FlushingHigh School is a landmark.
So whatever is in Flushing HighSchool, they cannot change that
school is a landmark.
So therefore, you are going togo into these schools.
These schools weren't justbuilt.
Now you might see when theystart adding on new schools.
You might not see a chalkboard,but what I will say to you, the
(20:53):
probability is you will see one, because if we don't have Wi-Fi
connection or the Internet goesdown, we have to resort back to
the old way.
So you're not going to seenecessarily chalkboards become
obsolete because of that reason.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
So let me ask you a question.
We've come from just about thesame era and how often have you
(21:32):
come to a?
Point where you're no longerable to access the Internet.
What do you mean?
You're unable, just period.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
You're unable to access the Internet, wi-fi being
down?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, how often does that happen to you?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, I'll be very a matter of fact with you.
I work for one of the biggesthospitals.
That is a monopoly, and, withthat being said, now we're
talking about health care.
Oftentimes I come from thetimes where I transcribe orders
and this allows the nurse tomedicate her patient based on
(22:04):
what I put on her medic.
There are often times in thathospital where the system goes
down and we have to resort backto paper, so it does happen a
lot.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Okay, so I have one of my careers growing up and not
to create a debate on thisissue, but one of my careers
growing up is in the computerindustry.
Okay, 30, 40 years in thecomputer industry.
(22:39):
When I first started out in thecomputer industry, I was
working on systems known as the8088s and 8286s.
One of the jobs I had wasworking for Microsoft and we
might have come acrosssituations where a studio
(23:00):
executive might have an issuelogging in, but for the most
part, my question was to accessthe internet where most of the
data is found.
I don't remember I can'tremember a time when the
(23:21):
Internet was unattainable Onlyif it was related to something
on my, like my system.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I can just tell you in my experience at the hospital
, right, honestly.
So between the Internet, ok,let me.
Let me say this have you everhad to be a patient in a
hospital?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Sure Just had an operation recently within the
last couple of months.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Okay.
So, with that being said, I wantto say that there are times
that patients are waiting to getdischarged in the morning,
right, and you know, policy iswe have to go over discharge,
which you explain whether you'reold meds or you're new meds to
you, and this stuff has to beprinted out.
Still, we still are one of thehospitals that has a paper trail
(24:08):
, because the company isdeciding on, I guess, which
program they want to go with.
So we still have a paper trailwhere some hospitals don't.
So, with that being said, thereis a lot of times that, let's
say, my nurse is working from aportable computer and she has to
(24:29):
find the Wi-Fi to catch it tobe able to complete that
discharge paperwork and to printit out so that that patient
could leave the hospital andthat bed ready for the next one.
We are met a lot of times withdelays because of Wi-Fi and
internet, and we got to remembersomething, because we're not
(24:52):
the only people in that large,you know, building depending on
the same thing, so the systemgets overloaded.
So, with that being said, I'mtelling you that those problems
do present itself and that's whythose chalkboards are still
there.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Right, ok, so I'm going to move on from this, but
to give you a little bit ofclarification as to what I was
referring to, I'm not talkingabout what is known as a WAN and
a LAN.
This is your wide area and localarea networks, which is within
the corporation.
(25:25):
I'm talking about the actualinternet itself, which goes
beyond your hospital.
You go beyond your school andthis is where the data is.
And this is what I'm talkingabout when I say the Internet
itself that I know of hasactually not been down.
(25:48):
Now, your network, which is anindividual school's problem,
like just because your hospitalmay not be able to access the
Internet or the wifi, doesn'tmean every hospital is unable to
access the internet and wifi,so that's an individual problem.
(26:10):
So what I'm saying is that mypoint to get to move on is that
as time changes and we move onto bigger and better things and
newer technology, the schoolshould move right along with it
at just an equal pace as lifeitself is moving, and it's not
(26:34):
been the case.
You may have a smart board inthe school today, but there
should have been.
Listen, I was just in schoolthree years ago.
Three years ago I was in acollege.
I went back to school for mybachelor's degree and there was
(26:55):
a whole, and I was in the schoolof technology.
There was a whole lot ofchalkboard.
And I'm just talking threeyears ago and we have I'm a
grown man in class with students20 and 30 years ago, but this
is a school of technology.
So what I'm saying is that wehave to learn to understand that
(27:20):
times have changed and timesare consistently changing.
We have to be within ourselves.
We have to have anunderstanding as to when it's
time I hate to say it to sitdown, because you don't want to
sit down.
It's a way to keep your memoryflowing, but you have to
(27:45):
understand when you're notrelevant as the term uses, the
newer generation might use itYou're not relevant at this
point.
If I'm not mistaken, there is amuseum for hip hop.
There is, and so that in itself, when I first heard of that and
(28:10):
I went there, I said to myselfwell, this is, this is coming to
a head right now.
You know what I mean.
If they feel that this belongsin a museum, then in some form
or fashion someone is putting ischaracterizing it as before and
(28:43):
not the future.
So, with that being said, whensomeone does a concert and
you're doing music, you have toreally understand your audience.
You have to understand youraudience.
You have to understand youraudience.
(29:03):
You have to understand whoyou're playing for and who
you're playing to.
You know, and we spoke aboutthis before- yeah.
And you know like I use thisscenario with the Chinese
restaurant.
You know it's hard to take anAsian person to a soulful
(29:24):
restaurant and expect them toenjoy it Like you would someone
from the South.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
We're not saying that's a fact.
That's not a fact Because wehave a lot of we have a lot of
Asians that are mixed withJamaican, so we're not saying
the whole population, pleaseaudience.
We're not.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
No, I'm not saying that, but it's just a figure of
speech.
Okay, this is what I'm saying.
It's a figure of speech, whatI'm saying.
If you open a soul foodrestaurant, you can't expect the
(30:06):
majority of your clients to beAsian.
If you open a soul foodrestaurant, I wouldn't expect
that, I wouldn't expect most ofmy customers to be Asian, I
would not.
I'm not saying I wouldn't expectan Asian to come in, because I
was in the supermarket the otherday and you know what I mean
(30:28):
and there was an AfricanAmerican male with an Asian
girlfriend and brother stoppedme and says hey, tell her, you
know what goes with macaroni andcheese.
What do you need to make amacaroni and cheese?
(30:49):
Tell me, this is not it righthere.
And he pulls up a can ofcarnation milk and he says, like
this is the main ingredient.
Well, she has no idea she.
He's like it's like he'stalking French to her in some
sort of way and she says to meshe says I don't know, that's
his thing, he does the cookingor whatever.
So in my mind I'm laughing.
(31:11):
But again, the point here isthat things change.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
And our concert.
I love when you say thingschange, you know what I mean and
our concert I love.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
When you say things change, you know what I mean and
our concert promoters.
Concert promoters and artistshave to understand that.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
We're going to put a bullet point there.
Audience Promoters.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Concert promoters yes .
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Okay, key words in this conversation.
Key words yes, yes, key wordsin this conversation.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Key words yes, yes.
And artists you know they needto understand who they playing
to.
You can't fault somebody If youwere getting paid to perform at
a concert and they're notinterested in listening to your
(32:02):
song.
Maybe they came there forsomeone else or lack of better
words.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Lack of better words, they don't even know who you
are, what your music is about.
That it was probably the betterway to say that when we're
dealing with, when we're dealingwith artists okay, going and
doing concerts listen, Iunderstand that.
Back when you guys started, youdidn't sign contracts with
(32:31):
dental plans, 401k rock roughiras.
You didn't at that time, whatyou know may have not been
knowledgeable in what that.
One day you were going to getold.
Okay, I'm just going to say itlike that one day you're going
to get old.
So here's the reality of thesituation.
One day, sheree is 19, shereefis 19 years old.
(32:56):
The next time you turn aroundand look, she's's 50 years old.
What does she put into herSocial Security if I'm just out
there rapping and those taxdollars are not going towards
that?
So, with that being said, thatgoes the same way choosing the
audience and not just going forthe money.
(33:18):
Not just going for the money,because if you're going for the
money because you're out herestill working the circuit right,
which you, you, yay, Iappreciate y'all walking the
circuit, but the fact of thematter is you got to get in
where you fit in Bottom line,bottom line.
You got to get in where you fitin.
Here's the great thing.
(33:40):
My children, my kids, were bornhearing Gangstar.
They know who DJ Premier is.
They recognize when a beat isproduced by Premier.
My kids are familiar with Naswho, in my opinion, is the
chosen one.
And the fact of the matter iswe could go back further with
(34:04):
hip hop, with digging in thecrate.
My kids are familiar with that.
But you are responsible forwhat you pour into yours and
because me and my husband Godrest his soul were music people,
we poured into these kids sothat they are able to relate to
not just their generation, toours, and have a great
(34:25):
appreciation and, mostimportantly, respect.
But everybody going to theseconcerts, promoters, are not who
my kids are.
So, with that being said, youhave a responsibility to say to
the artists yes, I know you wantto make this money, but let me
explain something.
You might meet this situationwhere people, or young people,
(34:47):
are not familiar with your music.
Don't be offended If you'rehere to make the money.
Make the money and thenintroduce them to you because
this is their first introductionto you.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
That's all I'm saying .
First introduction to you.
That's all I'm saying.
I like the term introduce themto you, which was more of the
way it should have went down.
It's more of the way it shouldhave went down because they
don't know you.
You know what I mean.
I like that term introduce.
You should have did a whole, awhole spiel on how it got
(35:22):
started, and you know I'mtalking about the entertainer.
You know what I mean.
Not a spiel in terms of verbal,but a quick, elevated pitch and
go right into how it began andhow we started and how it
started in the parks and one ofthe ways that I know Basically
you're saying brown sugar it.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
We have a movie called Brown Sugar, one of the
ways and it says when did youfall in Hold on one second?
Speaker 1 (35:48):
One of the ways that I came to understand and hear
hip hop is from back in the dayswe used to go to the parks and
we used to jam in the parks andthere there there was uh dance
to the drummer's beat and therewas a lot of this 45 things
(36:14):
right, there was a lot of thismusic that did not necessarily
have rap to it, you and so whathappened was the first to come
about that I can remember was,eventually, the MC.
So the MC comes on and he wantedto get into the groove and at
(36:35):
then, at that time, he wasn'treally classified as an MC.
He was just down with the DJwho was playing the song.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
It was the hype man.
It was the hype man.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Right, the hype man or he would be the one that
would be introducing the DJ orupcoming events to get the crowd
to come to the next show.
And with his introduction hestarted to come on with a little
rhythmic flavor.
(37:06):
And that rhythmic flavor andwhat he said I want everybody to
throw your hands up in the air.
This sort of thing started togenerate into a rap and then it
went on from there.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I would like to say to our audience there may be
some parts of this that Some ofyou I'll say it.
I'll say it the way Jay-Z saidit.
Allow me to reintroduce myself.
With that being said, we havewild style, crush, groove, brown
(37:45):
sugar and B street, which areall movies.
If you're not in our era that,if you want to understand what
me and Leroy are speaking abouthere today, you can go back to
those movies and they will helpintroduce you to what we're
talking about and how we becamefamiliar.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Right, and let me add something I like to give
resources.
Let me also add something tothat, and this is what brought
about and how what you'relistening to today has migrated
from, and so this is why theolder generation wants you to
(38:28):
understand.
You just didn't start with whatyou're listening to now that
migrated from the old school.
Preach, preach.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Let me tell you something.
Let me be very honest with youguys as an audience and I'm not
talking to my era, becausethey're familiar Real quickly I
want to shout out a largeprofessor of Queens who is
phenomenal.
Not only did he have mainsource, this is where Nas from
Queensbridge was discovered atlive at the barbecue.
(39:03):
Respecting your space.
We're respecting the fact thatyou're not going to wave your
hands in the air because youdon't come up from the wave your
hand in the air and the parkjam era.
You didn't come up in the erawhere we had Brooklyn Queens Day
(39:25):
and I saw Keith Murray performthe most beautiful thing in the
world.
What we're doing is what,respectfully, was not given to
you guys.
We're giving you anintroduction into our world and
why we appreciate it and we payhomage to it via through video
music box which you can see onYouTube, via through going to
(39:48):
city park concerts, via to beingat hip hop, rock, the bells
summer jam and we have segmentswhere they give respect to our
era.
We're going to properly what meand Leroy are doing here today
is introduce you so that youguys are not being forced into
(40:10):
this being disrespectful thing,because you can't be
disrespectful about somethingyou have no clue about.
Parents are having kids a lotyounger.
Your parent may not even havegrown up in our era, so
therefore you have no knowledgeof it.
So what we are actually doingis, if you choose, to want to
understand what that famousrapper was upset about, we don't
(40:35):
want to be upset with you, wewant to introduce you.
That's what's occurring herethis morning, right?
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Right and it's important to understand.
I mean, these guys did a lot, alot of work.
You know, you just don't becomefamous overnight, overnight,
nope, they took a lot work.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
You know, you just don't become famous overnight.
They took a lot.
You might have been at a rollerskating rink, performing For a
long period of time.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
At the parks, the record companies was turning you
down.
You had to knock on doors.
Even 50 Cent, who just you, youknow coming out more in the
newer generation, you know, look, he had to go to the west coast
at some point because he wasn'tgetting the type of recognition
(41:27):
that he wanted, you know so,and he hustled hard yes, he
hustled hard we didn't even getinto mixtapes.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
This man was putting out his even get into mixtape.
This man was putting out hisown music on mixtape and selling
them and went out there.
Guess what?
He didn't have the internetlike y'all had to promote
himself.
His promotion came from word ofmouth.
Our generation had to workhella hard to get notarized.
(41:57):
Let me tell you something Nashad to work hella hard to get
the credit that he did.
Jay-z came on the jazz withHawaiian Sophie and these they
worked.
They worked.
There was no internet to say,hey, I'm going to get up here
and I'm going to say this and dothis and then 5,000 people are
(42:19):
going to like it.
No, that is not the way theycame.
They came via 7 train.
J can train F train via If.
If Mr C got your record andspun it.
Biggie had to work too Okay.
News slash Biggie had to worktoo Okay.
(42:40):
He went from ashy to classy andyour generation ain't going
from ashy to classy, becausey'all are already coming out
sporting a shirt that is in abudget that I can't afford.
That's not their story.
We come from humble beginnings.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
The real deal.
Holyfield used to run that allthe time.
The real deal.
You know you wouldn't have yourTwitter and text messaging and
(43:18):
Facebook if it wasn't for peopleof my age, in my era, way back
when and I say I do mean wayback when in the 80, 88 and 82,
86 eras so those are chips, bythe way and there was text
(43:40):
messaging going on back there inthe 70s, little do you know
when systems were connected to anetwork.
Whatever you was doing on acomputer, I can break through
the screen and send you a textmessage way in the 70s and 80s.
Yeah, so this happened way inthe 70s and 80s, and so don't
(44:02):
think that you know, it justhappened now and that I mean you
got to tell them, you got totell them.
Wait, wait, wait, hold on, Holdon, hold on Real real, real,
real.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Hold on one second.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
You're going to miss it.
Hold on Real, the real, real,the real.
Hold on one second.
So what I'm saying is that wecreated this.
We created this text messagingand Facebook and all this sort
of stuff.
It was because of what we didin the past, and this is what
(44:33):
artists are telling you.
They're telling you what theydid in the past to make it
possible for you to do whatyou're doing today.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
Okay, what did we make possible?
What were we using?
Explain to our audience we wereusing reel-to-reels.
Explain how we got to theinternet, leroy.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Right, well, that's what I just did.
I explained reel-to-reel.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
What appointment did we use Reel-to-reel?
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Hold on.
Reel-to-reel is on the audioside, but I'm referring to the
computer, the digital, analogside.
When we was using computers tosend text messages there wasn't
cell phones.
Then we wasn't using cellphones.
My first cell phone and Iunderstand what Busta Rhymes is
saying my first cell phone wasprobably before most people,
(45:21):
when I was walking around with acell phone.
I didn't see nobody elsewalking around with a cell phone
Because it was so expensivethey couldn't afford it.
I paid $2,500 in the mid-'80sfor a cell phone, $2,500 in the
mid-80s for a cell phone whichrequired a $500 deposit and
$1.50 per minute, and the cellphone company was called Mobile
(45:44):
One.
If you want to know what mycell phone looked like, watch a
version.
Watch an episode of Miami Vice.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
I think they had it on there, an older episode of
Miami Vice.
I'm going to tell you who elsehad it Leroy Flick, rick had one
in a video.
You only saw a few rappers withthis.
You know, with this capacity,well, even if it wasn't theirs,
the record companies would getit to give this imagery in a
(46:17):
video of wealth.
So if you guys Google it, andthese things were huge, this
wasn't like the ones you couldput in your pocket.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
I'm quite sure Leroy had a case that came with it A
black leather case with a strapthat went across my shoulder.
Shout out to old school.
You know, I used to always ridearound in limos back in the
days, and then we came out withthe car phone.
Oh, you was really doingsomething, because nobody had a
(46:45):
phone in the car.
No, I'm sitting in the back ofthe limo with the window down on
the phone, that's you know.
I mean I'm telling my age, butI'm like you know.
I mean, you're right, I'mtelling my age, but I'm like.
You know what?
Speaker 2 (46:56):
this is crazy go ahead and tell your age because,
let me tell you something, alot of people didn't make it to
his age.
So I god bless leroy, because alot of people from our era did
not make it and we have lostsome giants that came from our
eras.
If we just right now pay somehomage to Heavy D, that was just
(47:20):
from Mount Vernon, that wasjust a force we lost.
God, let me just share thiswith you Mr C, okay, okay, mr C,
he rightfully had the name theFinisher and I was blessed
enough to be to his memorialservice and meet with his family
(47:40):
and with the community thatloved him.
We have lost Prince Marky D,who was on Rock the Bell Sirius
Radio, where LL Cool J is givenback to our era by giving them
jobs on Rock the Bells, wherethey have 401ks and pensions and
(48:01):
, at this age, are getting whatis rightfully their due.
Shout out to LL Cool J Queensgets the money.
You know, we lost some giants,guys.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
You don't even know about them.
I got a group for you.
You don't even know about them.
I got a group for you.
You ready, go ahead.
How about the Fat Boys?
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Go Good God, almighty Force.
Mcs, staten Island, stand up.
We've lost.
They are a whole rebuilt brand.
And let me tell you something.
They could listen, listen, Iain't even going to talk about
it.
If you really that concernedabout it, go google it, go
(48:39):
youtube it.
We, we listen.
We had rappers that quotedbible quotes that if you ain't
in the church you wouldn't evenlisten.
Heavy d said many are called,but the chosen are few, and all
I want to know is it good to you?
We had giants baby.
So when we win so respectfullylet me back up Buster it hurts
(49:06):
because we, because they, theyworked hard.
I remember when Buster Rons wasleaders of the new school,
buster Rhymes was leaders of thenew school.
I remember Lost Boys when theywere in Jamaica Queens at
backyard parties performingbefore they got a contract.
These guys work for thepositions and guess what?
I understand Buster Rhymes.
(49:28):
Let's not say anger, becausethey like to attach us with
anger.
Let me not use that word.
Let me say frustration.
But guess what?
His promoter, who is possiblymuch younger than him, didn't
really think about how toproperly put Busta Rhymes in a
(49:49):
good situation.
And that's just my ownassumption.
I'm not saying that's the case.
So please don't get offended bywhat I'm saying, but what I'm
saying is when you pull up to awedding and you've gotten a
beautiful invitation, in yourright mind you pull up dressed
appropriately.
If you got to go face thatjudge at court some of you
(50:11):
younger kids don't know what mygeneration knows you come in
there and you present yourselfproperly.
You put on a slacks and a shirtand a tie.
A lot of y'all are walking inthe court with your pants hung
down and sneakers on andexpecting that you're going to
get a pass just because youshowed up.
Well, if you probably talk tous from our generation, you
(50:34):
might think we're all squares.
But let me tell you somethingAll that stuff that y'all are
doing was going on in ourgeneration and all we're trying
to do is give you access to ourlane so that you can do better.
We are not trying to shovenothing down your throat.
I promise you that If you don'twant to be part of our circle,
(50:56):
that's okay, right, right.
But what we're going to say toyou is when it goes down and you
run back to us and go Yo, son,and we go yes, young man.
Well, this is probably why thisturned out this way?
Because of the way you showedup, and that's where Buster's
rhymes rhymes not anger, becausehe's not an angry black man.
(51:19):
Frustration, because he'sreally trying to give you the
formula, and dr dray talkedabout the formula and in in in
in his career, there's a formulaand all we're trying to do is
give you the formula from wherewe got the formula from and keep
hip hop alive, regardless ofhow you want to express it.
(51:43):
We got to keep it alive, but wealways got to pay respect from
where it comes from.
So, because we didn't formallyintroduce ourselves, allow us to
reintroduce ourselves.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
While you was talking , you know, I said let me find
out who the promoters of thisshow was.
And I've come up with a companycalled the Solomon Group and if
you click on the Solomon Groupand then click on the About Us,
they have a page there of thepeople involved in making the
(52:18):
Solomon Group what it is.
And let me tell you something Idon't see nobody over there
that look like they're under 38.
Speaker 2 (52:30):
Wait, wait, wait.
Say that again, say that againUnder.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
Under 38.
None of them look like they'reunder 38.
Maybe one person I mean over 38.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (52:42):
Yeah, that's why I said say that again.
Speaker 1 (52:44):
There's one gentleman , let me see one, two, three,
maybe three that look like theycould possibly be over 38.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
And we can't even say that, Leroy, because these kids
my mother, always used to sayto me Sharif, if you play hard,
you're going to look hard.
And I'm going to say that toy'all and y'all generation,
Y'all play so hard that by thetime you get me in Leroy's age,
I don't know if the fountain ofyouth is going to preserve you.
So that's what sometimes we'retrying to give to you too, is
(53:18):
that?
How do you preserve this thingcalled youth?
Well, guess what?
There's a formula to that.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
Because if you play hard now, I promise you you're
going to look hard later.
I'm looking at the openinglines on this page the Solomon
Group.
Listen to what this firstsentence says who we are.
We are passionate teams ofcreators, technologists,
producers and fabricators ofexperience who thrive on the
(53:54):
complexity of delivering what'snext.
Let me repeat that, ondelivering, the complexity of
delivering what's next?
Speaker 2 (54:07):
Well, I'm going to just say this to you Some of
those artists is not what's next?
Speaker 1 (54:13):
Well, I'm going to just tell you something not.
Speaker 2 (54:13):
what's next?
Well, I'm going to just tellyou the wordage that they use to
speak about the company may not, in some of our cases, even be
familiar wordage to us, so justreading that tells you.
We could go back and go back toRussell Simmons, who is a big
(54:40):
deal in our community With hislabel.
See what the words look like.
Speaker 1 (54:48):
And I promise you it ain't going to sound like that.
Right, Mentioning RussellSimmons.
He would, in order for thecrowd to be the right crowd, In
order for the crowd to be theright crowd, he would have been
a better promoter for an eventlike that for people to
appreciate the old school.
Speaker 2 (55:07):
Guess what, what, guess what?
I'm going to give you onebetter guys, you who would have
been an appropriate setting tohelp facilitate or give advice
on crowd promotions, because hetends to stay, he always stays
in his lane, ralph McDaniels.
A lot of people are not listen,drink champs, give them his
(55:33):
roses.
I'm going to just say that,nori, I have affiliations with
Left Rock City.
I'm from there.
Nori, give Ralph McDaniels hisflowers.
And I'm going to say this to youwhy?
Because every artist that meand Leroy have either mentioned
or not mentioned today becausethere's too many to mention they
(55:54):
all had to go through videoMusic Box in order for promotion
, including Eric B and Rakim.
Everybody had to go throughroute to get seen on TV because
there was no other blackplatform, because MTV was not
checking for us.
Don't get it twisted.
What happened was, with thatsituation, yo, mtv Raps was born
(56:20):
because of video music.
And guess what?
That's?
When they got the message thathip hop was a big thing and they
said let me go find these youngblack men and put them on there
.
And what happened was RalphMcDaniels could have taken that
lane.
But guess what Ralph McDanielsdoes?
He plays by his own rules andhe wasn't about to play second
(56:44):
to something he created.
Speaker 1 (56:46):
And speaking of playing by its own rules, we
also not only innovated thathistory of hiphop and rap, but
we also brought out publicationsto produce and to do write-ups
on our own hip-hop and rap.
Speaker 2 (57:07):
There was Right On, right On.
Speaker 1 (57:10):
Right On Magazine and .
Speaker 2 (57:12):
The Source, remember the Source, the.
Speaker 1 (57:14):
Source.
Speaker 2 (57:15):
You know what I mean.
Okay, how do y'all think y'allget Love Hip Hop?
It came from somewhere, baby,and I know y'all my young people
out there.
Y'all watch Love Hip Hop.
Those people that you arelooking at on that show are from
our generation, some of them,and if they're not from Leroy's
generation, they're from minesor someone in the middle of me.
(57:39):
It all comes out of there.
You're not watching your peopleon love, love and hip hop.
You're watching our people andy'all are keeheeheehing at these
shows but yet not going backand looking to see where it came
from.
So once again, I'll say this onemore time Busta Rhymes'
frustration comes from the factto some ability or some source
(58:04):
of communication or visual.
You guys are in our lane but,respectfully, not knowing.
You're in our lane.
And I gave an example with LoveHip Hop.
Y'all know who Peter Gunz is.
That's our time baby, okay, andhe has a son that is in y'all's
age, that's got music out.
(58:26):
So, in some way, fashion orform, whether it be through
jewelry, clothes, sneakers,brands, television movies y'all
are in our lane, but you brands,television movies, y'all are in
our lane, but you just don'tknow it.
That's right.
So that's where the frustrationcomes from.
Speaker 1 (58:43):
That's right, and for this reason you do owe some
form of respect to the oldergeneration.
You know, I'm looking at onemore thing.
I'm going to bring up aboutthis promoters of the Essence
Festival, and then I'm going toback out of here.
I'm looking at anotherparagraph and the first three
(59:06):
words you ready, Ready Fifteenyears ago.
Be Jesus.
Speaker 2 (59:15):
Lord.
Speaker 1 (59:17):
Hold on.
Let me add that 15 years ago,Solomon Group proudly opened its
doors in the culture of wealthand spring that is New Orleans.
So here's a company that opened15 years ago Busta Rhymes.
History goes way before that.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
We're celebrating over 50 years of hip hop Over 50
years.
And Ralph is doing that Over 50years of hip hop we're paying
homage to and the math ain'tmapping here, Leroy, that's
right and you know what, and youknow what this promoters.
Speaker 1 (59:56):
this Solomon Group wouldn't have a leg to stand on
if it wasn't for old school hiphop bringing forth rap and hip
hop to the masses in order forit to be a mainstream genre of
music.
(01:00:17):
So you wouldn't have hadSolomon Group if it wasn't for
old school to give you youressence festival this year Shit,
so you gotta remember to theyoung black you.
This is where it comes from 15?
Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
You said 15, right, that math ain't mathin'.
Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Only 15 years ago.
Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
And we are celebrating over 50 years of
hip-hop.
So here we go.
Not trying to, we're absolutelysupporting why y'all were
sitting down and looking atphones, but we're actually
showing you, because you are amuch smarter generation from us.
You have the internet where youcould say you know what?
(01:01:01):
Let me Google why you guys aremore innovator than we ever can
be.
With that being said, y'allcould have said listen, let me
just say this because,respectfully, I have to say it.
So we have two other famousbrought together rappers one
(01:01:24):
that stars on Powers as anattorney, the other one that is
a representative of New Jersey,coming via one of them through
Wu-Tang Clan, them throughWu-Tang Clan.
With that being said, theyannounced publicly that they
(01:01:46):
would no longer be participatingin Summer Jam because they felt
disrespected.
But once again, if we had thetime, I'm quite sure Leroy would
have Googled who was thepromoters for that.
And I bet you that mathwouldn't have math either,
because what happens is he wasso disgraced, distasteful by the
(01:02:10):
audience, lack of participationhe has vowed that he would
never go back there again.
But check y'all, watch him onpower.
That's all I'm going to sayabout that.
Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
I have to because of the topic and the artist that
we're discussing, I mustrespectfully name two other
people.
Are you there?
Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
I'm here.
Speaker 1 (01:02:33):
One of the groups I want to mention is Jam Master J,
Run DMC and Jam Master J.
Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
Rest in peace.
Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
Rest in peace and Doug E Fresh and Slick.
Rick because they wascreatively masterminds at what
they did.
You know, not only did Doug EFresh have rap or produce rap
music, but he also added a spinto it with, you know, B-Box and
(01:03:10):
this generation doesn't knownothing about that, but he
created something within itselfthat everybody wanted to be a
part of and nobody knew how todo it.
You just can't go on stage andbeatbox.
Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
Nope, you can't, you just can't do that Because
there's only two famous for it,one being via the Fat Boy and
Dougie Fresh.
Okay, and I'm going to tell you, let me tell you something.
They make the music with yourmouth, biz.
Rest in peace.
Rest in peace.
Okay, there's a lot of history,young men, young women and and
(01:03:49):
let me let me just say this toyou respectfully, I've said it
more than once Ralph McDanielsis the director of the hip hop
program at Queens Public Librarywhere, at least twice or more
times out of the week, he hasperformers come, speakers come,
(01:04:13):
not just about hip hop, aboutbusinesses and a lot of things,
and he even had the lady thatstarted Right On Magazine there.
I apologize for not rememberingher name at this time, but you
can follow Right On on Instagram.
With respectfully that beingsaid, if you want to know
something, take yourself rightdown to Queens Public Library.
(01:04:36):
It's free, ac.
I promise you you won't bedisappointed.
(01:05:02):
Not only will you learn thehistory of hip hop, but you
might find a job.
You, me and Leroy, or maybeeven care about what me and
Leroy is saying Take yourselfdown to Queens Public Library
and see what Ralph McDaniels isdoing.
Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
And, on that note, this is your host, og GOAT and
Sharif Queens Gets the Money.
We'd like to thank you fortuning in and Sharif, before we
leave, is there anything youwould like to say?
Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
I'd probably like to say I'm on Instagram as Sharif
plus Peyton, but that's myspiritual thing going on there.
I also have Simple Girls Liveon IG where we just promote
tricks me and my sister-in-law,where we went on and follow
Queens Public Library on IG.
(01:05:53):
On IG Every Saturday from 12.30and then next session starting
at 1,.
Ralph McDaniels is live onthere.
The first segment is usuallyabout something bringing
attention to the public and thesecond edition at 1 is him
spinning 45.
So check it out y'all.
(01:06:14):
Queens Public Library IG RalphMcDaniels Video Music Box still
on Channel 25,.
Check it out y'all.
Queens Public Library IG RalphMcDaniels video music box still
on channel 25 every Saturday atmidnight.
Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
check it out thank you and thanks for coming to the
show today, sharif thank youfor having me you're quite
welcome and this is your podhost, og Goat, and we're out.
This is your pod host , og GOAT, with another segment
from.
What Part of the Game is that?
And we have Sharif from Queensgets the money on the line today
, and we're going to be talkingabout an interesting topic of
misplaced feelings.
(00:21):
Let's say feelings, let's sayand uh, sharif, you wrote in
earlier this week and you had atopic that you wanted to discuss
about a concert.
Tell us more about that.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, good morning everyone.
Let me say that first, my nameis Sharif.
Queens Gets the Money.
Official Queens representative.
And the topic that I heartfeltfor me was, you know, reading
the news and seeing that youknow a famous rapper who is very
(00:58):
much known in the industries,you know, early 90s, not only as
a group but also as a solorapper, coming from my era, you
know and him just expressingsome anger or disappointment,
(01:18):
and crowd participation as faras it was concerned, with him
performing, as far as being ontheir phones and sitting in
their seats.
So just chopping that up andtrying to understand it in all
angles, not just one way, justnot being a lover of hip hop and
(01:39):
jumping on the bandwagon ofthis famous rapper's thought
because he's part of my era, andsaying you know what he's right
, he's right, he's right and,looking at it on, you know what
side of the game is this?
So that is what I guess we'rediving into today or this
(02:00):
morning.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Right, right, I agree .
I think that everything and wehave to realize this is it comes
a time when you know our era iscoming to a close, just like
anything else.
Just like anything else.
(02:23):
I remember one time I was in mycar and I had some guests in my
car young, adults and I wasdriving.
(02:43):
So you know, I'm trying to puton some music and they wasn't
feeling it.
But you know, I had some, youknow, hip hop from the 80s, 90s
and they was looking at me likewhat is this?
And I was, oh man, that's right, you guys don't even know this,
whether they knew it or not.
They just wasn't vibing to it,you know, and it was just
(03:03):
something that they just reallywasn't into, right?
So I tried to get you knowtheir opinion on what kind of
music they would like, and oneof the things that jumped out
was trap music.
Now, I don't know of the termtrap music.
(03:24):
Now I don't know of the termtrap music.
I mean, I do now, but at thispoint I didn't know of the term
trap music.
But then I played it and I waslike, wait a minute, now this
sounds like a cross between EDM,house music and a little bit of
(03:45):
rap too.
Okay, so all it did was migrateinto something else.
But they have a definitive wayof telling the difference
between our typical rap music orhip hop and trap music, which I
haven't quite put the nail onthe head on that I it seems to
(04:09):
me that the trap music most ofit I don't know for me might be.
I have a hard timeunderstanding it.
I guess that's the way theyfeel about our old school hip
hop.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I do definitely understand that.
What was the age ratio of thefamily members that you were
transporting?
Because that'll help meunderstand a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, they was under 30.
They were between, I think, 20and 30 years of age.
Wow Interesting.
Yeah, they were between 20 and30 years of age.
Wow Interesting.
Yeah, they were between 20 and30 years of age.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So if you were, yes, go ahead If you were to, because
you know their age and you lookback at our era, which I guess
I should ask you what do youconsider our era?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Well, my era.
I come from a time when hip hopwas born, you know let's say
Shout out to the BX, shout outto the BX.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I came from that era and you know I watched it grow.
I was there during the wholeprocess when they just wasn't
feeling it and I was saying tomyself why do our people have to
always do stuff that you knowsends a negative light?
(05:41):
That's the way I was feelingback then.
Really, yeah, because you knowlisten because it sent a
negative vibe through thecommunity and so many people was
protesting.
And I want our people to dothings and rise to the top and
(06:06):
make it happen.
But the era of hip hop and rapenlightened me to the fact that
sometimes you have to just jumpout there and make things change
, make things happen.
If we keep going with the flow,things won't happen.
(06:30):
There's an old saying that goesif you keep doing what you've
been doing, you're going to keepgetting what you've been
getting.
So if someone doesn't make it apoint to put a spin on things,
then we're going to keeplistening to the same old music
we've been listening to.
And I applaud now the hip hopindustry and I think it started
(06:57):
to sink in early on with me thatyou know what these guys have
done.
It this thing is they're notgoing to be able to stop it
because there was no slowingdown.
It was like a freight traincoming through.
You know, I used to.
I used to be at the Encore onCross Street from the Terminal.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
What Terminal?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Jamaica Terminal in Jamaica, Queens.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, over there by the New York Public Library.
I watched that change nameseveral times.
I actually knew the owner and Iused to be at the door at
Fantasia when it was on AmericanLending, at the door at
Fantasia when it was on AmericanLinden, and I think Curtis Blow
(07:49):
I think it was had appearedthere at that time when he was
just starting out his careerearly on.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
What year was both of them?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Ooh, I don't remember the year, but I know we're
looking at early 80s, maybe late70s, around then, you know.
But see, I grew up in SouthJamaica all my life, you know
(08:19):
Really.
Yeah, my mother went to WoodrowWilson High School.
Okay, you familiar with WoodrowWilson?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
The thing about it is no, because I've come via
Flushing, via Left Rock City,right, so you know it's kind of
funny that we might meet atmutual clubs or roller skating
rinks but, that doesn'tnecessarily mean you go into
those neighborhoods because theywere still an understanding
(08:51):
then that wasn't your place.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Right, okay, so Woodrow Wilson is on the south
side of Jamaica, which name haschanged to August Martin.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh, okay, familiar with August Martin.
Yes, yes, that's Familiar withAugust Martin.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yes, yes, that's what Will Joe Wilson is, and I was
around there.
I mean, my first job was atRockaway Fish House.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Wow, which is still there today?
Yeah, wow, but you're stillthere today.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, yeah, still there, not at Rockaway Fish
House, but I'm still in thecommunity yes, no, no, I'm
saying, but it's a good thingRockaway Fish House still exists
.
Yes, yes, I was there.
The owner passed away, though.
Rest in peace, dog.
He passed away but his wifeknows me, all his children know
(09:48):
me, who now run the place.
The wife is still involved.
But anyway, this was, this wasthe era that I grew up in and a
lot of the they were, they were,they played a major, major part
in the hip hop industrybecoming to what it is.
(10:11):
And at some point, you know, Ikind of argued you know the
Bronx Really.
Okay, all right, but see, I wasin South Jamaica so I didn't
know what the Bronx was reallydoing when it came out in the
(10:33):
Bronx.
But I do know of Sugar HillGang.
I think that was pretty muchkind of like my first take on
hip hop and rap music.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Did I tell you why that's interesting?
Say it again I told you whythat's interesting.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, I think that was my first.
Now I've heard Wait, wait.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I don't want to lose this.
I don't want to lose this.
Okay, go ahead.
I want to tell you why that'sinteresting, because dealing
with the differences in our age,but being part of the same era.
So, with that being said, myearliest remembrance of hip hop
actually when I think about itwas my mother and father.
(11:19):
They were music lovers.
They purchased albums, shoutout to Jimmy Music World on Main
Street.
So my mom and dad purchasedrecords and I remember hearing
Curtis Blow rap the Christmassong and if I go back and think
in my mind about hip hop, thatwas very it stands in my brain
(11:44):
hearing that Curtis Blow, youknow hip hop album for Christmas
right it just rings in my headright, but I think the Sugarhill
Gang if I'm not let me lookthis up was pre-Curtis Blow.
(12:05):
I think you're.
I definitely know you're right,but it's funny what your mind
receives or you know it choosesto hold that.
So maybe just because that songit was Christmas, so I
associate it with a holiday andit was very uplifting.
So that's, that's probably whymy brain associates with that
associated with a holiday.
Right, right, and it was veryuplifting.
(12:25):
Yes, it was Definitely.
That's probably why my brainassociates with that with
hip-hop, and I know I rememberseeing the Sugar Hill records in
the house and I rememberwatching the video with them
performing.
But I think that because CurtisGlow has had longevity, that's
(12:49):
another reason it stayed in mymind too.
Right, right you know, and it'snot with the same song, it's.
You know, he's not noted forjust one song and he had
accolades in being in movies, soI think that's why that
resonates a little different forme.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And you know I around Christmas time I do play that
Curtis Blue.
You know I do play that record,you know.
And so yeah, but you know, Ihave to as I grow older, I have
to begin to realize, like when Iwas in the car with these young
(13:30):
adults, that that's what I grewup on, right, what I grew up on
on them, you know, because theyhave what they like and they
have their own, for whateverreason or whatever gives them to
(13:50):
their type of music.
They have what they like and soyou know, this is, this is what
makes change, this is whatkeeps the wheel turning from
generation to generation andgeneration, just the same way as
(14:11):
hip-hop, rap music, however youwant to.
You know that concert that was,and this might have been before
his time.
I'm not even sure if thoseartists was around the time when
(14:41):
I used to watch Video Music Box.
You remember video music?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Shout out to Queens public library, where Alfred
Daniels is the hip hop directorof not just Merritt Boulevard
but Bayside and other librariesin Queens and I would say,
definitely, guys, get on thereand check out Queens public
library via Instagram.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
There you go Outstanding.
We appreciate that, and I'msure Mr Ralph McDaniels will as
well, because I used to watch itreligiously.
I had to get up in the morningand watch this video music box.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Can I share something with you?
You what?
There was actual studies done.
Video music box came on everyday when kids got out of school,
so kids literally rushed hometo go turn to Channel U.
Some of y'all don't know aboutthat.
That's right, you had to getthat good tinfoil 31, if I'm not
(15:50):
mistaken.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
You are correct.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Which is public access, free TV, and you had to
get that good tinfoil for yourmany of you don't know rabbit
ears.
We had antennas back then thatyou had to lay them right so you
could see it right.
So, with that being said, therewas a study that was done.
So myself, you and ourgeneration, they documented us
(16:18):
going straight home to get tovideo music box and the crime
rate in New York City actuallywas down at those times and
y'all can Google that becausethat is fact.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
I believe it.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Mm-hmm, I believe it.
Shout out to Ralph McDanielVisionary, it makes sense.
Innovator yes.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense and to touch on that,
not to get too far off fromwhere we was at, but to touch on
that as well.
This is one of my ideas thatI've always thought about to
help reduce the crime in ourneighborhoods, because I feel
(16:59):
that in public schools nowadaysthey are not teaching in a
modern sense.
You know, we have this thingnow, lottery, and the money, the
proceeds from the lottery go toschools and so forth and so on.
But if you visit your publicschools, I'm really really not
(17:23):
seeing it visit your publicschools.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I'm really really not seeing it.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
I mean I'm not seeing a large enough improvement on
the public schools.
It only seems like it's gettingworse.
What do you mean?
Crime in the schools?
Kids carrying guns?
When I went to school theywasn't bringing guns to school
the way they are right now.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
We didn't have days.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
My point I was trying to get at is the failure to
occupy the children's minds Nowwhen we grew up.
Okay, books and so forth and soon.
That's the thing and that'swhat it is the chalkboard.
But in this day and age thereshould be a whole, totally
(18:10):
different system.
We shouldn't still be lookingat the same math books that were
copyrighted in the 1960s, 70sand 80s.
We shouldn't be looking at that.
But a lot of these math bookswere just recently outdated, in
the past 15, 20 years, andthey've slightly changed.
(18:31):
They're even trying to changethe terminology.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I'm going to share this with you.
My kids are now adults.
So my twins are 27.
My middle son is 26 and myyoungest is 20.
So just because you're talkingabout the public school system
(18:57):
With me being able just to speakto that, with going through it
with my kids that were part ofthe public school system, first
of all, the curriculum didchange.
It changed the common core.
It isn't what it was when wewere in school and my kids, who
were born in 96, 98, 2004, are aproduct of common core where
(19:19):
things did change up a lot,because I wasn't even able to
help them with math.
I couldn't even do a bookreport with them because I came
from the era of who, what, whereand why.
So they want these kids tothink bigger out the box.
So with that I'm going to agreeto disagree that the public
(19:42):
school system in my, with theyears I'm telling you with my
kids, has changed.
It isn't what we were in thebookstore.
As a matter of fact, we're nottalking about books now, we're
talking about these.
Kids are using smart boards andusing tablets.
So for my kids it changed.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Okay, If I go to a public school nowadays and I'm
talking about Queens I'm surethere may be some schools that
might have a smart board.
(20:21):
I'm still seeing chalkboards insome schools.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Because they didn't remove them, because those were
okay.
Give you an example FlushingHigh School is a landmark.
So whatever is in Flushing HighSchool, they cannot change that
school is a landmark.
So therefore, you are going togo into these schools.
These schools weren't justbuilt.
Now you might see when theystart adding on new schools.
You might not see a chalkboard,but what I will say to you, the
(20:53):
probability is you will see one, because if we don't have Wi-Fi
connection or the Internet goesdown, we have to resort back to
the old way.
So you're not going to seenecessarily chalkboards become
obsolete because of that reason.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
So let me ask you a question.
We've come from just about thesame era and how often have you
(21:32):
come to a?
Point where you're no longerable to access the Internet.
What do you mean?
You're unable, just period.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
You're unable to access the Internet, wi-fi being
down?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, how often does that happen to you?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, I'll be very a matter of fact with you.
I work for one of the biggesthospitals.
That is a monopoly, and, withthat being said, now we're
talking about health care.
Oftentimes I come from thetimes where I transcribe orders
and this allows the nurse tomedicate her patient based on
(22:04):
what I put on her medic.
There are often times in thathospital where the system goes
down and we have to resort backto paper, so it does happen a
lot.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Okay, so I have one of my careers growing up and not
to create a debate on thisissue, but one of my careers
growing up is in the computerindustry.
Okay, 30, 40 years in thecomputer industry.
(22:39):
When I first started out in thecomputer industry, I was
working on systems known as the8088s and 8286s.
One of the jobs I had wasworking for Microsoft and we
might have come acrosssituations where a studio
(23:00):
executive might have an issuelogging in, but for the most
part, my question was to accessthe internet where most of the
data is found.
I don't remember I can'tremember a time when the
(23:21):
Internet was unattainable Onlyif it was related to something
on my, like my system.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I can just tell you in my experience at the hospital
, right, honestly.
So between the Internet, ok,let me.
Let me say this have you everhad to be a patient in a
hospital?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Sure Just had an operation recently within the
last couple of months.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Okay.
So, with that being said, I wantto say that there are times
that patients are waiting to getdischarged in the morning,
right, and you know, policy iswe have to go over discharge,
which you explain whether you'reold meds or you're new meds to
you, and this stuff has to beprinted out.
Still, we still are one of thehospitals that has a paper trail
(24:08):
, because the company isdeciding on, I guess, which
program they want to go with.
So we still have a paper trailwhere some hospitals don't.
So, with that being said, thereis a lot of times that, let's
say, my nurse is working from aportable computer and she has to
(24:29):
find the Wi-Fi to catch it tobe able to complete that
discharge paperwork and to printit out so that that patient
could leave the hospital andthat bed ready for the next one.
We are met a lot of times withdelays because of Wi-Fi and
internet, and we got to remembersomething, because we're not
(24:52):
the only people in that large,you know, building depending on
the same thing, so the systemgets overloaded.
So, with that being said, I'mtelling you that those problems
do present itself and that's whythose chalkboards are still
there.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Right, ok, so I'm going to move on from this, but
to give you a little bit ofclarification as to what I was
referring to, I'm not talkingabout what is known as a WAN and
a LAN.
This is your wide area and localarea networks, which is within
the corporation.
(25:25):
I'm talking about the actualinternet itself, which goes
beyond your hospital.
You go beyond your school andthis is where the data is.
And this is what I'm talkingabout when I say the Internet
itself that I know of hasactually not been down.
(25:48):
Now, your network, which is anindividual school's problem,
like just because your hospitalmay not be able to access the
Internet or the wifi, doesn'tmean every hospital is unable to
access the internet and wifi,so that's an individual problem.
(26:10):
So what I'm saying is that mypoint to get to move on is that
as time changes and we move onto bigger and better things and
newer technology, the schoolshould move right along with it
at just an equal pace as lifeitself is moving, and it's not
(26:34):
been the case.
You may have a smart board inthe school today, but there
should have been.
Listen, I was just in schoolthree years ago.
Three years ago I was in acollege.
I went back to school for mybachelor's degree and there was
(26:55):
a whole, and I was in the schoolof technology.
There was a whole lot ofchalkboard.
And I'm just talking threeyears ago and we have I'm a
grown man in class with students20 and 30 years ago, but this
is a school of technology.
So what I'm saying is that wehave to learn to understand that
(27:20):
times have changed and timesare consistently changing.
We have to be within ourselves.
We have to have anunderstanding as to when it's
time I hate to say it to sitdown, because you don't want to
sit down.
It's a way to keep your memoryflowing, but you have to
(27:45):
understand when you're notrelevant as the term uses, the
newer generation might use itYou're not relevant at this
point.
If I'm not mistaken, there is amuseum for hip hop.
There is, and so that in itself, when I first heard of that and
(28:10):
I went there, I said to myselfwell, this is, this is coming to
a head right now.
You know what I mean.
If they feel that this belongsin a museum, then in some form
or fashion someone is putting ischaracterizing it as before and
(28:43):
not the future.
So, with that being said, whensomeone does a concert and
you're doing music, you have toreally understand your audience.
You have to understand youraudience.
You have to understand youraudience.
(29:03):
You have to understand whoyou're playing for and who
you're playing to.
You know, and we spoke aboutthis before- yeah.
And you know like I use thisscenario with the Chinese
restaurant.
You know it's hard to take anAsian person to a soulful
(29:24):
restaurant and expect them toenjoy it Like you would someone
from the South.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
We're not saying that's a fact.
That's not a fact Because wehave a lot of we have a lot of
Asians that are mixed withJamaican, so we're not saying
the whole population, pleaseaudience.
We're not.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
No, I'm not saying that, but it's just a figure of
speech.
Okay, this is what I'm saying.
It's a figure of speech, whatI'm saying.
If you open a soul foodrestaurant, you can't expect the
(30:06):
majority of your clients to beAsian.
If you open a soul foodrestaurant, I wouldn't expect
that, I wouldn't expect most ofmy customers to be Asian, I
would not.
I'm not saying I wouldn't expectan Asian to come in, because I
was in the supermarket the otherday and you know what I mean
(30:28):
and there was an AfricanAmerican male with an Asian
girlfriend and brother stoppedme and says hey, tell her, you
know what goes with macaroni andcheese.
What do you need to make amacaroni and cheese?
(30:49):
Tell me, this is not it righthere.
And he pulls up a can ofcarnation milk and he says, like
this is the main ingredient.
Well, she has no idea she.
He's like it's like he'stalking French to her in some
sort of way and she says to meshe says I don't know, that's
his thing, he does the cookingor whatever.
So in my mind I'm laughing.
(31:11):
But again, the point here isthat things change.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
And our concert.
I love when you say thingschange, you know what I mean and
our concert I love.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
When you say things change, you know what I mean and
our concert promoters.
Concert promoters and artistshave to understand that.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
We're going to put a bullet point there.
Audience Promoters.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Concert promoters yes .
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Okay, key words in this conversation.
Key words yes, yes, key wordsin this conversation.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Key words yes, yes.
And artists you know they needto understand who they playing
to.
You can't fault somebody If youwere getting paid to perform at
a concert and they're notinterested in listening to your
(32:02):
song.
Maybe they came there forsomeone else or lack of better
words.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Lack of better words, they don't even know who you
are, what your music is about.
That it was probably the betterway to say that when we're
dealing with, when we're dealingwith artists okay, going and
doing concerts listen, Iunderstand that.
Back when you guys started, youdidn't sign contracts with
(32:31):
dental plans, 401k rock roughiras.
You didn't at that time, whatyou know may have not been
knowledgeable in what that.
One day you were going to getold.
Okay, I'm just going to say itlike that one day you're going
to get old.
So here's the reality of thesituation.
One day, sheree is 19, shereefis 19 years old.
(32:56):
The next time you turn aroundand look, she's's 50 years old.
What does she put into herSocial Security if I'm just out
there rapping and those taxdollars are not going towards
that?
So, with that being said, thatgoes the same way choosing the
audience and not just going forthe money.
(33:18):
Not just going for the money,because if you're going for the
money because you're out herestill working the circuit right,
which you, you, yay, Iappreciate y'all walking the
circuit, but the fact of thematter is you got to get in
where you fit in Bottom line,bottom line.
You got to get in where you fitin.
Here's the great thing.
(33:40):
My children, my kids, were bornhearing Gangstar.
They know who DJ Premier is.
They recognize when a beat isproduced by Premier.
My kids are familiar with Naswho, in my opinion, is the
chosen one.
And the fact of the matter iswe could go back further with
(34:04):
hip hop, with digging in thecrate.
My kids are familiar with that.
But you are responsible forwhat you pour into yours and
because me and my husband Godrest his soul were music people,
we poured into these kids sothat they are able to relate to
not just their generation, toours, and have a great
(34:25):
appreciation and, mostimportantly, respect.
But everybody going to theseconcerts, promoters, are not who
my kids are.
So, with that being said, youhave a responsibility to say to
the artists yes, I know you wantto make this money, but let me
explain something.
You might meet this situationwhere people, or young people,
(34:47):
are not familiar with your music.
Don't be offended If you'rehere to make the money.
Make the money and thenintroduce them to you because
this is their first introductionto you.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
That's all I'm saying .
First introduction to you.
That's all I'm saying.
I like the term introduce themto you, which was more of the
way it should have went down.
It's more of the way it shouldhave went down because they
don't know you.
You know what I mean.
I like that term introduce.
You should have did a whole, awhole spiel on how it got
(35:22):
started, and you know I'mtalking about the entertainer.
You know what I mean.
Not a spiel in terms of verbal,but a quick, elevated pitch and
go right into how it began andhow we started and how it
started in the parks and one ofthe ways that I know Basically
you're saying brown sugar it.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
We have a movie called Brown Sugar, one of the
ways and it says when did youfall in Hold on one second?
Speaker 1 (35:48):
One of the ways that I came to understand and hear
hip hop is from back in the dayswe used to go to the parks and
we used to jam in the parks andthere there there was uh dance
to the drummer's beat and therewas a lot of this 45 things
(36:14):
right, there was a lot of thismusic that did not necessarily
have rap to it, you and so whathappened was the first to come
about that I can remember was,eventually, the MC.
So the MC comes on and he wantedto get into the groove and at
(36:35):
then, at that time, he wasn'treally classified as an MC.
He was just down with the DJwho was playing the song.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
It was the hype man.
It was the hype man.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Right, the hype man or he would be the one that
would be introducing the DJ orupcoming events to get the crowd
to come to the next show.
And with his introduction hestarted to come on with a little
rhythmic flavor.
(37:06):
And that rhythmic flavor andwhat he said I want everybody to
throw your hands up in the air.
This sort of thing started togenerate into a rap and then it
went on from there.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I would like to say to our audience there may be
some parts of this that Some ofyou I'll say it.
I'll say it the way Jay-Z saidit.
Allow me to reintroduce myself.
With that being said, we havewild style, crush, groove, brown
(37:45):
sugar and B street, which areall movies.
If you're not in our era that,if you want to understand what
me and Leroy are speaking abouthere today, you can go back to
those movies and they will helpintroduce you to what we're
talking about and how we becamefamiliar.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Right, and let me add something I like to give
resources.
Let me also add something tothat, and this is what brought
about and how what you'relistening to today has migrated
from, and so this is why theolder generation wants you to
(38:28):
understand.
You just didn't start with whatyou're listening to now that
migrated from the old school.
Preach, preach.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Let me tell you something.
Let me be very honest with youguys as an audience and I'm not
talking to my era, becausethey're familiar Real quickly I
want to shout out a largeprofessor of Queens who is
phenomenal.
Not only did he have mainsource, this is where Nas from
Queensbridge was discovered atlive at the barbecue.
(39:03):
Respecting your space.
We're respecting the fact thatyou're not going to wave your
hands in the air because youdon't come up from the wave your
hand in the air and the parkjam era.
You didn't come up in the erawhere we had Brooklyn Queens Day
(39:25):
and I saw Keith Murray performthe most beautiful thing in the
world.
What we're doing is what,respectfully, was not given to
you guys.
We're giving you anintroduction into our world and
why we appreciate it and we payhomage to it via through video
music box which you can see onYouTube, via through going to
(39:48):
city park concerts, via to beingat hip hop, rock, the bells
summer jam and we have segmentswhere they give respect to our
era.
We're going to properly what meand Leroy are doing here today
is introduce you so that youguys are not being forced into
(40:10):
this being disrespectful thing,because you can't be
disrespectful about somethingyou have no clue about.
Parents are having kids a lotyounger.
Your parent may not even havegrown up in our era, so
therefore you have no knowledgeof it.
So what we are actually doingis, if you choose, to want to
understand what that famousrapper was upset about, we don't
(40:35):
want to be upset with you, wewant to introduce you.
That's what's occurring herethis morning, right?
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Right and it's important to understand.
I mean, these guys did a lot, alot of work.
You know, you just don't becomefamous overnight, overnight,
nope, they took a lot work.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
You know, you just don't become famous overnight.
They took a lot.
You might have been at a rollerskating rink, performing For a
long period of time.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
At the parks, the record companies was turning you
down.
You had to knock on doors.
Even 50 Cent, who just you, youknow coming out more in the
newer generation, you know, look, he had to go to the west coast
at some point because he wasn'tgetting the type of recognition
(41:27):
that he wanted, you know so,and he hustled hard yes, he
hustled hard we didn't even getinto mixtapes.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
This man was putting out his even get into mixtape.
This man was putting out hisown music on mixtape and selling
them and went out there.
Guess what?
He didn't have the internetlike y'all had to promote
himself.
His promotion came from word ofmouth.
Our generation had to workhella hard to get notarized.
(41:57):
Let me tell you something Nashad to work hella hard to get
the credit that he did.
Jay-z came on the jazz withHawaiian Sophie and these they
worked.
They worked.
There was no internet to say,hey, I'm going to get up here
and I'm going to say this and dothis and then 5,000 people are
(42:19):
going to like it.
No, that is not the way theycame.
They came via 7 train.
J can train F train via If.
If Mr C got your record andspun it.
Biggie had to work too Okay.
News slash Biggie had to worktoo Okay.
(42:40):
He went from ashy to classy andyour generation ain't going
from ashy to classy, becausey'all are already coming out
sporting a shirt that is in abudget that I can't afford.
That's not their story.
We come from humble beginnings.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
The real deal.
Holyfield used to run that allthe time.
The real deal.
You know you wouldn't have yourTwitter and text messaging and
(43:18):
Facebook if it wasn't for peopleof my age, in my era, way back
when and I say I do mean wayback when in the 80, 88 and 82,
86 eras so those are chips, bythe way and there was text
(43:40):
messaging going on back there inthe 70s, little do you know
when systems were connected to anetwork.
Whatever you was doing on acomputer, I can break through
the screen and send you a textmessage way in the 70s and 80s.
Yeah, so this happened way inthe 70s and 80s, and so don't
(44:02):
think that you know, it justhappened now and that I mean you
got to tell them, you got totell them.
Wait, wait, wait, hold on, Holdon, hold on Real real, real,
real.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Hold on one second.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
You're going to miss it.
Hold on Real, the real, real,the real.
Hold on one second.
So what I'm saying is that wecreated this.
We created this text messagingand Facebook and all this sort
of stuff.
It was because of what we didin the past, and this is what
(44:33):
artists are telling you.
They're telling you what theydid in the past to make it
possible for you to do whatyou're doing today.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
Okay, what did we make possible?
What were we using?
Explain to our audience we wereusing reel-to-reels.
Explain how we got to theinternet, leroy.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Right, well, that's what I just did.
I explained reel-to-reel.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
What appointment did we use Reel-to-reel?
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Hold on.
Reel-to-reel is on the audioside, but I'm referring to the
computer, the digital, analogside.
When we was using computers tosend text messages there wasn't
cell phones.
Then we wasn't using cellphones.
My first cell phone and Iunderstand what Busta Rhymes is
saying my first cell phone wasprobably before most people,
(45:21):
when I was walking around with acell phone.
I didn't see nobody elsewalking around with a cell phone
Because it was so expensivethey couldn't afford it.
I paid $2,500 in the mid-'80sfor a cell phone, $2,500 in the
mid-80s for a cell phone whichrequired a $500 deposit and
$1.50 per minute, and the cellphone company was called Mobile
(45:44):
One.
If you want to know what mycell phone looked like, watch a
version.
Watch an episode of Miami Vice.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
I think they had it on there, an older episode of
Miami Vice.
I'm going to tell you who elsehad it Leroy Flick, rick had one
in a video.
You only saw a few rappers withthis.
You know, with this capacity,well, even if it wasn't theirs,
the record companies would getit to give this imagery in a
(46:17):
video of wealth.
So if you guys Google it, andthese things were huge, this
wasn't like the ones you couldput in your pocket.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
I'm quite sure Leroy had a case that came with it A
black leather case with a strapthat went across my shoulder.
Shout out to old school.
You know, I used to always ridearound in limos back in the
days, and then we came out withthe car phone.
Oh, you was really doingsomething, because nobody had a
(46:45):
phone in the car.
No, I'm sitting in the back ofthe limo with the window down on
the phone, that's you know.
I mean I'm telling my age, butI'm like you know.
I mean, you're right, I'mtelling my age, but I'm like.
You know what?
Speaker 2 (46:56):
this is crazy go ahead and tell your age because,
let me tell you something, alot of people didn't make it to
his age.
So I god bless leroy, because alot of people from our era did
not make it and we have lostsome giants that came from our
eras.
If we just right now pay somehomage to Heavy D, that was just
(47:20):
from Mount Vernon, that wasjust a force we lost.
God, let me just share thiswith you Mr C, okay, okay, mr C,
he rightfully had the name theFinisher and I was blessed
enough to be to his memorialservice and meet with his family
(47:40):
and with the community thatloved him.
We have lost Prince Marky D,who was on Rock the Bell Sirius
Radio, where LL Cool J is givenback to our era by giving them
jobs on Rock the Bells, wherethey have 401ks and pensions and
(48:01):
, at this age, are getting whatis rightfully their due.
Shout out to LL Cool J Queensgets the money.
You know, we lost some giants,guys.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
You don't even know about them.
I got a group for you.
You don't even know about them.
I got a group for you.
You ready, go ahead.
How about the Fat Boys?
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Go Good God, almighty Force.
Mcs, staten Island, stand up.
We've lost.
They are a whole rebuilt brand.
And let me tell you something.
They could listen, listen, Iain't even going to talk about
it.
If you really that concernedabout it, go google it, go
(48:39):
youtube it.
We, we listen.
We had rappers that quotedbible quotes that if you ain't
in the church you wouldn't evenlisten.
Heavy d said many are called,but the chosen are few, and all
I want to know is it good to you?
We had giants baby.
So when we win so respectfullylet me back up Buster it hurts
(49:06):
because we, because they, theyworked hard.
I remember when Buster Rons wasleaders of the new school,
buster Rhymes was leaders of thenew school.
I remember Lost Boys when theywere in Jamaica Queens at
backyard parties performingbefore they got a contract.
These guys work for thepositions and guess what?
I understand Buster Rhymes.
(49:28):
Let's not say anger, becausethey like to attach us with
anger.
Let me not use that word.
Let me say frustration.
But guess what?
His promoter, who is possiblymuch younger than him, didn't
really think about how toproperly put Busta Rhymes in a
(49:49):
good situation.
And that's just my ownassumption.
I'm not saying that's the case.
So please don't get offended bywhat I'm saying, but what I'm
saying is when you pull up to awedding and you've gotten a
beautiful invitation, in yourright mind you pull up dressed
appropriately.
If you got to go face thatjudge at court some of you
(50:11):
younger kids don't know what mygeneration knows you come in
there and you present yourselfproperly.
You put on a slacks and a shirtand a tie.
A lot of y'all are walking inthe court with your pants hung
down and sneakers on andexpecting that you're going to
get a pass just because youshowed up.
Well, if you probably talk tous from our generation, you
(50:34):
might think we're all squares.
But let me tell you somethingAll that stuff that y'all are
doing was going on in ourgeneration and all we're trying
to do is give you access to ourlane so that you can do better.
We are not trying to shovenothing down your throat.
I promise you that If you don'twant to be part of our circle,
(50:56):
that's okay, right, right.
But what we're going to say toyou is when it goes down and you
run back to us and go Yo, son,and we go yes, young man.
Well, this is probably why thisturned out this way?
Because of the way you showedup, and that's where Buster's
rhymes rhymes not anger, becausehe's not an angry black man.
(51:19):
Frustration, because he'sreally trying to give you the
formula, and dr dray talkedabout the formula and in in in
in his career, there's a formulaand all we're trying to do is
give you the formula from wherewe got the formula from and keep
hip hop alive, regardless ofhow you want to express it.
(51:43):
We got to keep it alive, but wealways got to pay respect from
where it comes from.
So, because we didn't formallyintroduce ourselves, allow us to
reintroduce ourselves.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
While you was talking , you know, I said let me find
out who the promoters of thisshow was.
And I've come up with a companycalled the Solomon Group and if
you click on the Solomon Groupand then click on the About Us,
they have a page there of thepeople involved in making the
(52:18):
Solomon Group what it is.
And let me tell you something Idon't see nobody over there
that look like they're under 38.
Speaker 2 (52:30):
Wait, wait, wait.
Say that again, say that againUnder.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
Under 38.
None of them look like they'reunder 38.
Maybe one person I mean over 38.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (52:42):
Yeah, that's why I said say that again.
Speaker 1 (52:44):
There's one gentleman , let me see one, two, three,
maybe three that look like theycould possibly be over 38.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
And we can't even say that, Leroy, because these kids
my mother, always used to sayto me Sharif, if you play hard,
you're going to look hard.
And I'm going to say that toy'all and y'all generation,
Y'all play so hard that by thetime you get me in Leroy's age,
I don't know if the fountain ofyouth is going to preserve you.
So that's what sometimes we'retrying to give to you too, is
(53:18):
that?
How do you preserve this thingcalled youth?
Well, guess what?
There's a formula to that.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
Because if you play hard now, I promise you you're
going to look hard later.
I'm looking at the openinglines on this page the Solomon
Group.
Listen to what this firstsentence says who we are.
We are passionate teams ofcreators, technologists,
producers and fabricators ofexperience who thrive on the
(53:54):
complexity of delivering what'snext.
Let me repeat that, ondelivering, the complexity of
delivering what's next?
Speaker 2 (54:07):
Well, I'm going to just say this to you Some of
those artists is not what's next?
Speaker 1 (54:13):
Well, I'm going to just tell you something not.
Speaker 2 (54:13):
what's next?
Well, I'm going to just tellyou the wordage that they use to
speak about the company may not, in some of our cases, even be
familiar wordage to us, so justreading that tells you.
We could go back and go back toRussell Simmons, who is a big
(54:40):
deal in our community With hislabel.
See what the words look like.
Speaker 1 (54:48):
And I promise you it ain't going to sound like that.
Right, Mentioning RussellSimmons.
He would, in order for thecrowd to be the right crowd, In
order for the crowd to be theright crowd, he would have been
a better promoter for an eventlike that for people to
appreciate the old school.
Speaker 2 (55:07):
Guess what, what, guess what?
I'm going to give you onebetter guys, you who would have
been an appropriate setting tohelp facilitate or give advice
on crowd promotions, because hetends to stay, he always stays
in his lane, ralph McDaniels.
A lot of people are not listen,drink champs, give them his
(55:33):
roses.
I'm going to just say that,nori, I have affiliations with
Left Rock City.
I'm from there.
Nori, give Ralph McDaniels hisflowers.
And I'm going to say this to youwhy?
Because every artist that meand Leroy have either mentioned
or not mentioned today becausethere's too many to mention they
(55:54):
all had to go through videoMusic Box in order for promotion
, including Eric B and Rakim.
Everybody had to go throughroute to get seen on TV because
there was no other blackplatform, because MTV was not
checking for us.
Don't get it twisted.
What happened was, with thatsituation, yo, mtv Raps was born
(56:20):
because of video music.
And guess what?
That's?
When they got the message thathip hop was a big thing and they
said let me go find these youngblack men and put them on there
.
And what happened was RalphMcDaniels could have taken that
lane.
But guess what Ralph McDanielsdoes?
He plays by his own rules andhe wasn't about to play second
(56:44):
to something he created.
Speaker 1 (56:46):
And speaking of playing by its own rules, we
also not only innovated thathistory of hiphop and rap, but
we also brought out publicationsto produce and to do write-ups
on our own hip-hop and rap.
Speaker 2 (57:07):
There was Right On, right On.
Speaker 1 (57:10):
Right On Magazine and .
Speaker 2 (57:12):
The Source, remember the Source, the.
Speaker 1 (57:14):
Source.
Speaker 2 (57:15):
You know what I mean.
Okay, how do y'all think y'allget Love Hip Hop?
It came from somewhere, baby,and I know y'all my young people
out there.
Y'all watch Love Hip Hop.
Those people that you arelooking at on that show are from
our generation, some of them,and if they're not from Leroy's
generation, they're from minesor someone in the middle of me.
(57:39):
It all comes out of there.
You're not watching your peopleon love, love and hip hop.
You're watching our people andy'all are keeheeheehing at these
shows but yet not going backand looking to see where it came
from.
So once again, I'll say this onemore time Busta Rhymes'
frustration comes from the factto some ability or some source
(58:04):
of communication or visual.
You guys are in our lane but,respectfully, not knowing.
You're in our lane.
And I gave an example with LoveHip Hop.
Y'all know who Peter Gunz is.
That's our time baby, okay, andhe has a son that is in y'all's
age, that's got music out.
(58:26):
So, in some way, fashion orform, whether it be through
jewelry, clothes, sneakers,brands, television movies y'all
are in our lane, but you brands,television movies, y'all are in
our lane, but you just don'tknow it.
That's right.
So that's where the frustrationcomes from.
Speaker 1 (58:43):
That's right, and for this reason you do owe some
form of respect to the oldergeneration.
You know, I'm looking at onemore thing.
I'm going to bring up aboutthis promoters of the Essence
Festival, and then I'm going toback out of here.
I'm looking at anotherparagraph and the first three
(59:06):
words you ready, Ready Fifteenyears ago.
Be Jesus.
Speaker 2 (59:15):
Lord.
Speaker 1 (59:17):
Hold on.
Let me add that 15 years ago,Solomon Group proudly opened its
doors in the culture of wealthand spring that is New Orleans.
So here's a company that opened15 years ago Busta Rhymes.
History goes way before that.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
We're celebrating over 50 years of hip hop Over 50
years.
And Ralph is doing that Over 50years of hip hop we're paying
homage to and the math ain'tmapping here, Leroy, that's
right and you know what, and youknow what this promoters.
Speaker 1 (59:56):
this Solomon Group wouldn't have a leg to stand on
if it wasn't for old school hiphop bringing forth rap and hip
hop to the masses in order forit to be a mainstream genre of
music.
(01:00:17):
So you wouldn't have hadSolomon Group if it wasn't for
old school to give you youressence festival this year Shit,
so you gotta remember to theyoung black you.
This is where it comes from 15?
Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
You said 15, right, that math ain't mathin'.
Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Only 15 years ago.
Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
And we are celebrating over 50 years of
hip-hop.
So here we go.
Not trying to, we're absolutelysupporting why y'all were
sitting down and looking atphones, but we're actually
showing you, because you are amuch smarter generation from us.
You have the internet where youcould say you know what?
(01:01:01):
Let me Google why you guys aremore innovator than we ever can
be.
With that being said, y'allcould have said listen, let me
just say this because,respectfully, I have to say it.
So we have two other famousbrought together rappers one
(01:01:24):
that stars on Powers as anattorney, the other one that is
a representative of New Jersey,coming via one of them through
Wu-Tang Clan, them throughWu-Tang Clan.
With that being said, theyannounced publicly that they
(01:01:46):
would no longer be participatingin Summer Jam because they felt
disrespected.
But once again, if we had thetime, I'm quite sure Leroy would
have Googled who was thepromoters for that.
And I bet you that mathwouldn't have math either,
because what happens is he wasso disgraced, distasteful by the
(01:02:10):
audience, lack of participationhe has vowed that he would
never go back there again.
But check y'all, watch him onpower.
That's all I'm going to sayabout that.
Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
I have to because of the topic and the artist that
we're discussing, I mustrespectfully name two other
people.
Are you there?
Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
I'm here.
Speaker 1 (01:02:33):
One of the groups I want to mention is Jam Master J,
Run DMC and Jam Master J.
Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
Rest in peace.
Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
Rest in peace and Doug E Fresh and Slick.
Rick because they wascreatively masterminds at what
they did.
You know, not only did Doug EFresh have rap or produce rap
music, but he also added a spinto it with, you know, B-Box and
(01:03:10):
this generation doesn't knownothing about that, but he
created something within itselfthat everybody wanted to be a
part of and nobody knew how todo it.
You just can't go on stage andbeatbox.
Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
Nope, you can't, you just can't do that Because
there's only two famous for it,one being via the Fat Boy and
Dougie Fresh.
Okay, and I'm going to tell you, let me tell you something.
They make the music with yourmouth, biz.
Rest in peace.
Rest in peace.
Okay, there's a lot of history,young men, young women and and
(01:03:49):
let me let me just say this toyou respectfully, I've said it
more than once Ralph McDanielsis the director of the hip hop
program at Queens Public Librarywhere, at least twice or more
times out of the week, he hasperformers come, speakers come,
(01:04:13):
not just about hip hop, aboutbusinesses and a lot of things,
and he even had the lady thatstarted Right On Magazine there.
I apologize for not rememberingher name at this time, but you
can follow Right On on Instagram.
With respectfully that beingsaid, if you want to know
something, take yourself rightdown to Queens Public Library.
(01:04:36):
It's free, ac.
I promise you you won't bedisappointed.
(01:05:02):
Not only will you learn thehistory of hip hop, but you
might find a job.
You, me and Leroy, or maybeeven care about what me and
Leroy is saying Take yourselfdown to Queens Public Library
and see what Ralph McDaniels isdoing.
Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
And, on that note, this is your host, og GOAT and
Sharif Queens Gets the Money.
We'd like to thank you fortuning in and Sharif, before we
leave, is there anything youwould like to say?
Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
I'd probably like to say I'm on Instagram as Sharif
plus Peyton, but that's myspiritual thing going on there.
I also have Simple Girls Liveon IG where we just promote
tricks me and my sister-in-law,where we went on and follow
Queens Public Library on IG.
(01:05:53):
On IG Every Saturday from 12.30and then next session starting
at 1,.
Ralph McDaniels is live onthere.
The first segment is usuallyabout something bringing
attention to the public and thesecond edition at 1 is him
spinning 45.
So check it out y'all.
(01:06:14):
Queens Public Library IG RalphMcDaniels Video Music Box still
on Channel 25,.
Check it out y'all.
Queens Public Library IG RalphMcDaniels video music box still
on channel 25 every Saturday atmidnight.
Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
check it out thank you and thanks for coming to the
show today, sharif thank youfor having me you're quite
welcome and this is your podhost, og Goat, and we're out.
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