July 1, 2024 • 43 mins
What happens when a young kid from a musically inclined household in Brooklyn gets captivated by DJs in Philadelphia? You get DJ Scratchator, a legendary figure in hip-hop and the longtime DJ for Busta Rhymes. Join us on "Your Opinion Doesn't Matter" as Scratchator recounts his early inspirations, his transformative experiences with local Brooklyn DJs, and the mentorships that have shaped his illustrious career. It's a nostalgic trip through the chaos and passion of early hip-hop events that evolved into the cultural phenomenon we know today.
Our conversation takes a deep dive into the evolution of hip-hop culture, from its gritty early days to its current influence on parties and gatherings. DJ Scratchator shares personal anecdotes about the chaotic nature of early hip-hop events and the ongoing need to blend old and new styles to connect with younger audiences. With insights into how veteran artists like Method Man continue to shape the genre and the crucial role that radio plays in popularizing hip-hop, we offer a nuanced look at how this vibrant culture has evolved over the decades. Additionally, we explore the technical evolution of DJing, contrasting the manual precision of the early days with the convenience of today's digital tools.
In a heartfelt moment, we remember our friend Clinton, whose enthusiasm for hip-hop brought so much joy to our lives. This tribute underscores the importance of celebrating those we've lost while also looking at the future of hip-hop, including the rise of female artists like Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. We discuss the role of competition in driving the genre forward and share personal stories that capture the spirit of hip-hop culture. Tune in for an episode filled with nostalgia, insights, and heartfelt memories, celebrating 30 years of hip-hop inspiration.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome.
Welcome to the your OpinionDoesn't Matter podcast.
Okay, it's a good day.
It's a good day for real youknow I got a good friend of mine
, man a good friend of mine.
Shit how many years we kneweach other.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Man over 30, man Over 30 years.
Man Over 30 years at least.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I consider him a brother of mine, you know.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yeah, man, I'm proud to say he's a friend and I'm
proud of you for what you'vedone with your career.
So, um, you heard me a coupleother podcasts when I talk about
like well-known djs or mcsthat's come from the east
flappish neighborhood.
This is one a good friend ofmine, dj scratchy tour what up,
(00:42):
y'all, what up, what up.
Right right.
He is currently the DJ forBusta Rhymes.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
No doubt.
Yeah, man, yeah, going on about20-something years with that.
20 years, maybe 96 to now, 96to now, yeah, almost 28 years.
I know you longer, butdefinitely it's like over two
and a half decades, man.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
That's what's up, man .
That's what's up, man.
So let's get into hip hop.
Man.
What inspired you to startDJing?
What got you into it?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well, in most households there was always
music being played.
You know I'm saying like musicis so even much more so popular
now that everybody listens totheir own.
You had to listen to what wasbeing played by your parents.
You know I'm saying, and, um,you know, I had an uncle who
(01:40):
used to, he had a dj setup.
I give him his props as to sayhe had the DJ setup and he would
play music and he knew what toplay.
But to me, the DJ also knew howto do a little bit more than
just play the music that thepeople wanted.
It's actually, you know, backthen, doing little tricks, being
(02:02):
able to scratch, blending music, you know, keeping it rocking,
not letting the music stop, youknow, and my uncle, you know,
like I said, he played music andhe still does up to this day.
And, um, but one time, you know,as a kid growing up, and I was
listening to music in the houseand my uncle had the dj set up
(02:22):
and I wasn't really interestedin it until I actually saw a dj,
dj and and this I got inspiredfrom this in, uh, philadelphia
as a kid, I saw some djs djingin the park.
Just happened to be, you knowthe kids riding the bike and I'm
just like, wait a minute,something don't sound right.
You know, let me, let me lookin to see what's going on with
(02:47):
the music.
And when I got close and I seenthe DJ cutting the records and
switching the songs, I was likeas a little kid like, oh, we
have that at home, we could dothe same thing.
So when I got back to the cribI touched my uncle's stuff and
he tried to kill me.
He was like, what are you doing?
No, you don't do that torecords, you're gonna mess them
up and blah, blah.
(03:07):
But I later learned, like lateron that actual year, that that
happened.
I'm not not gonna say when thatwas, but you know, um, I met
some djs when I came to actuallybrooklyn, because I learned I
used to go down to philadelphiafor the summer.
I was just about to ask youyeah, yeah, I was in.
Learned I used to go down toPhiladelphia for the summer.
I was just about to ask youyeah, I was in Philly, I used to
(03:28):
go down for the summer.
You know, my mom used to shipus off, ship me off down to hang
out with grandma, so she'd geta break, if you think about it.
Oh, for the summer.
Yeah, just for the summer.
Yeah, after school was out, youyou know, and I enjoyed it
because Philadelphia was poppingas far as like kids on the
street Back in these days.
It wasn't dangerous to thepoint other than you got the
little bullies, but it wasn'tgunshots popping off and crazy
(03:53):
like that.
You know, it wasn't so bad outthere in Philly like it is now
Not knocking Philly because Istill go down there, my
grandmother still lives there.
But you know, like I said, gotto brooklyn, met up with some
djs and they started showing mehow to do it and after that I
just I loved it so much that Ijust wanted to be the best that
I could be and and better thananybody else that I knew.
(04:14):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So that was the motivation how old were you when
you got the bug?
How old were you?
Nine he's nine nine years oldbecause when I, when I'm, when I
actually met you, you was, youwas already at the beginning,
already starting, yeah yeah,yeah, definitely I was it.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I would have.
We were teenagers, for sure.
Um, I'm just trying to rememberlike how old but maybe we
probably met, maybe like aroundI was 14, 15, somewhere around
them, ages somewhere, and um, Imet you because of a dj yeah you
know what I'm saying.
Yeah, dj dj, dane, vt, uh, dice,you know these guys, they um
(04:55):
through dice I met a lot ofother djs because dice was very
popular too and he was on thescene.
He started like around the sametime as me, you know, and we
met because we were supposed tobattle.
Then we became good friends andwe started djing together and
blah, blah, blah.
We never really battled, butwe're all supposed to battle me
and dice are supposed to battleeach other.
Oh word, yeah.
But then when we finally gotaround to it, it was, it was
(05:16):
just all love.
You know, I'm saying, but notsaying we had beef, but it was
just like battle for what?
Let's just, you know, let'sjust do it.
You know what I'm saying.
Right, right, right, yeah.
So we, we officially metbecause of other djs and you
happen to live on the same blockas um, as dj dt, and that was,
and another battle was supposedto happen.
That's why we came around therebecause, if I remember
(05:39):
correctly, dj godfrey wassupposed to battle dj dt, you
know, dane, and we came throughand then we just won the crew.
After that, it just, you know,oh, wow, yeah, that's from what
I remember Now when you finallyget DJ Dice up in here.
He might have another story,but I believe that's how it went
.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
He might say he came around and you chickened out.
He probably gonna say somethinglike that.
He can say what he wants.
Yeah, dj Dice.
Current release DJ and fightRed man and Method man.
Yeah, so what about any MCbattles?
Anybody was supposed to?
Who used to come down there?
That's like you know, likeknown now.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Come down where.
In Dane's basement, I don'tknow about in Dane's basement,
but I definitely used to workwith little Sean.
You know, definitely bus usedto come on on our block or Troy
Avenue.
That's how I met him through mybest friend, e double, and you
know I mean that's it.
(06:40):
And then of course we we knewspecial ed was from around the
way and all of that.
But as far as any other rapartists, I mean but then you get
it.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Then you wasn't.
Um buster wasn't the first onewho recruited you?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
who somebody else recruited you.
Well, I actually I dj'd forlittle sean for a little bit, no
, before that.
Mc light, yes, mc light, butyeah, that was.
That was very short-lived,though, but we still cool to
this day, because I see herevery now and then what happened
with that?
what happened was light and Iwent to the same high school
wingate, right wingate which isnot too far from where we live,
(07:14):
right and light because I, youknow, I was a dj in school,
people knew me.
She's like I want you to be mydj, right, and I was, I'm down
with it, right, but I guess mebeing too honest about how I
felt about her music, what itsounded like.
She didn't like my comment, Ithink, and after that she was
(07:35):
like I don't know if I want torock with you like that and what
it was.
I could remember, of course,because of course she blew up,
right and I was.
I wasn't kicking myself becauseI didn't even think, I didn't
even know the magnitude of whatit is to be Seeing the rap
artists that you know blow up.
(07:55):
You know, you see them on thevideos back then, here and there
, but when you hear records onradio and stuff.
But anyway she came out with asong.
I Crammed to Understand you,sam, radio and stuff, but anyway
she came out her song, Icrammed to understand you, sam,
and when I heard it, compared tosome other things that I heard
that I liked, I said the way itsounded because it was nice, it
was raw, it was.
It was real.
True for me, hip-hop, nottaking nothing away from it, but
(08:17):
for my young mind and nothaving the experience, I said to
her I said, yo, it sounded likesomething that was made in a.
It didn't sound.
It sounded like something thatwas made in a.
It didn't sound professional,it sounded like it was made in a
basement, like because I wasalready aware of recording stuff
in a basement, right, so meknowing how something sounds
(08:37):
that sounds like it's recordedin the basement.
Compared to what was on record,that's what it sounded like and
I think that was the.
That was what they was lookingfor.
That's, that was the sound itwas going for.
And when I made that comment, Ithink she was probably looking
at me like, oh, she got tight,she got tight, she.
I believe she got tight becauseafter that we lost connection,
like that, and it wasn't likeshe said, yo, I'm not working
(08:58):
with you, or it was like somesome really ill vibes.
It was just like it was likesilence.
After that I was like I waslike, okay, but other things was
happening in my life.
I was still dj, I was stilldoing what I wanted to do so it
was like okay, no problem inhigh school your road.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Your road was um.
You know, you are like um.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
You are historian in pop and, and I'd like to think
so.
I like to think that I played amajor role in hip hop, right,
but I'm humble and I'm modestwith it, right.
But what I can say is like whenI think about, let's say, I
(09:42):
didn't say what I said to herand I did end up going out and
rocking with her.
Who knows where I would be now,right, and I believe that, you
know, there's always a paththat's kind of like set for you
and certain things are supposedto happen.
They're supposed to happen,because right now, light is
great.
Light is doing what she.
(10:04):
She's still doing voiceoversfor BET and certain things.
She's alright.
So when I see her, she lookslike everything is good and glam
and everything is great, and Idon't know what her DJ at that
time.
What is he doing now?
What he's doing now?
I don't see him, but you knowhim, though.
I think I met him once.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
I't hear, I don't see him.
You know so.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
But you know I'm doing, you know, I think I met
him once, I mean, but if you see, I know well if what he looked
like back then I don't know whathe's looking like these days.
Right, that's what I'm saying.
I haven't seen him right.
So I'm not saying that he's notdoing anything great or
whatever.
Or you know, or he's or he isdoing bad, but at the end of the
day, it's like I just knowwhere I'm at now.
(10:44):
I'm like I'm grateful for whereI'm at right now, having that
experience, having theexperience of working with my
local djs like dice um, dj, lexum, dj exclusive, like the.
The guys who taught me how todj um being around, have an
opportunity to first get on theindustry scene the hip hop with
(11:08):
Lil Sean, you know, who was downwith me, and some of the people
I just mentioned.
We had our little crew, but hekind of was.
He got a record deal and hestarted doing his thing and then
, after that, linking up withBusta and also being able to DJ
for countless other artists as aresult of being working with
Busta and also being able to DJPhil Connelly and other artists
as a result of being workingwith Busta, meeting other people
and holding them down when theyneeded me.
(11:30):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
So yeah, so tell me, let's.
I remember.
I remember right.
I was me and Pratt used to usethe Young Bucks rolling with
y'all at different parties.
Them parties back then wascrazy.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Right?
Explain what you mean by crazy.
What was with y'all thedifferent parties?
Right them parties back thenwas crazy.
Right, explain what you mean bycrazy.
What was what was crazy aboutthem?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
the fights, okay, the shootings and uh-huh, and this,
this was hip-hop, right, and itjust well.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You know what I don't .
I don't agree with the factevery time, not every to
everywhere.
No, no, no, I wasn't gonna saythat.
I don't agree that every timewe went out it was crazy.
I don't agree that shooting andfights is hip hop.
That's what I meant.
I think that hip hop is themusic, it's the fun part of
(12:17):
black culture, what we bringwith our style, our how we
finesse words, how we manipulatethe music.
Right, you know what I'm sayingTaking old classics and making
it, giving it a different sound,keeping some of the original
sound, but making it more hip.
Right, right, right, and makeyou hop, because that's what hip
(12:38):
hop was about.
It was dance, it was all ofthat.
But I understand what you'resaying.
Hip hop always and it seemslike it still does break
violence, but so does rock.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Right, but you know what I stand corrected.
I didn't mean it like okay,that's hip hop Meaning.
That was there when we wasgrowing up in hip hop, right,
that was the negative side ofhip hop.
Of course hip hop is beautiful.
A lot of things spawned out ofhip hop.
You know what I'm saying.
Everything is and it was new.
That was the beauty of hip hop.
It was new to us.
(13:07):
Everything was new right youknow you would like, you would
learn certain new scratchesright you would learn different
things.
Now there's nothing reallyconsidered new to me.
There's nothing.
There's nothing like like a new, a new feeling.
You know, beside these kids isnot even rhyming on beat.
You know I'm saying it's likethey doing their own thing, they
doing their own thing well, youknow something, you're right,
(13:29):
but there is a lot of new.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
That like that not rhyming on beat, it's new,
because that was never hip-hop,right.
So, just to um, like, we stillhave people who actually give
you real hip-hop.
You know that there's stillpeople still pushing it.
Some of them are not known.
Some of them are known, verywell known.
You know.
Some of them are beefing witheach other right now.
(13:52):
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, um, and some of them arestill doing it, even from back,
maybe not as far back as whatwe're talking about, when we was
in the parties, but as far backas 90s, you know.
You see what meth said about onthe summer jam.
He said, yo, we like the crowdis too young, they don't know us
like that, so I won't beattending anymore.
(14:15):
But to me, um, I don't agreewith not going, I agree with
that.
He said the crowd is young andactually showing them is key.
You know, um, we're, we'restill raising these young, these
youngins, right, the people whoare we consider young, who are
new into hip hop or new beingable to get out the house, even
(14:37):
though kids are out of the housea lot earlier, in a way.
But then again, no, it justdepends on where you, where you
from and where, how your parentsraised you right.
But at the end of the day, westill gotta show them, we still
gotta talk to them.
You know, even if they didn'tknow who method man was, only
because they saw him on power.
When they saw him from power,then they see him rapping and
(14:57):
they'd be like, oh snap, he doesthat too, even if they think
it's new or he's just trying it.
Then when they do theirresearch, like, oh, this guy has
been around for a while, so Ido believe that we still need to
mix it.
You know, you don't just playnew music in the club.
You got to play some some, some, some good classic hip-hop,
some old school stuff.
(15:18):
And then people can connect thedots where, oh snap, that sounds
like this new song I heard andthat's what they understand,
where right they took this fromand how they freaked it to make
it sound up to date.
You know what I'm saying.
So I believe that we stillgotta mix and mingle a little
bit.
You know that's how you, thatyou're only gonna learn the
(15:38):
history, if someone teaches itto you, shows it to you, so we
can't just exit out and say, nah, we gotta go there and
sometimes show them.
Because I'm gonna tell you thetruth, I was at the summer jam
that uh meth was at right andwhen you see how meth and red
performed the songs that thekids didn't know how in sync
(15:59):
they were, how the songs, whatthey sounded like, you can
understand all the words theysaid.
They're saying, not saying youcan't understand the new people,
but again, anybody who didn'tknow about it.
Now they're like I think I likethat, even if it's 10 out of
the 10 000 people that was there, 10 people, that's 10 more fans
(16:19):
.
That's gonna start playing yourmusic.
That's gonna start tellingother people about you.
So I don't think you shouldever say I won't do this or that
again unless you like,physically you can't, or you
totally against any form ofmusic.
Now you know what I'm saying,right?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So do you think that um, do you think um radio, was
the?
Um the cause for this?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
doing what they've been doing when they was, when
we was growing up, and we waslistening to the radio and they
was playing what was hot at thatmoment.
That's what they did, right,certain at certain hours, right.
But our radio stations I, theystill do it to a degree now in a
little bit, where we had thequiet storm where it was all
slow jams after 10 or 11 orwhatever it was, but then you
had the hip-hop during the day,then you had old school during
(17:04):
midday for the lunch.
So that's still happening to adegree.
But at the end of the day Idon't think radio is the blame.
I know that they do push the newmusic because of whatever
politics, but they do have somestations that still give you
what you want you just got to.
If you want to hear it, you gotto look.
Still give you what you want Ifyou want to hear it.
(17:25):
You got to learn.
And then, real quick, the kidsdon't listen to the radio, they
go straight to the internet.
They see what's trending on thesocial media platforms.
So you can't blame the radioanymore either for what the kids
like.
They're going to go and findwhat they like.
They're going to find it.
You know what the?
Speaker 1 (17:44):
radio to me is either for what the kids like they're
going to go and find what theylike.
They're going to find what theylike, they're going to find it.
You know what, you know whatthe radio to me.
It did a lot of damage Like.
So I see the gatekeepers, likehow Funkmaster Flex he's a
gatekeeper over there.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Right right.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
You know what I mean?
She's staying there.
It's like they don't want nonew blood.
Right now there's this reggaesong that comes on on 97 and 105
.
No-transcript.
And then, after like threeweeks now, I'm liking this song.
(18:16):
So I want to know Do you knowwhat song this is?
No, I mean, it's the onlyreggae song that come on during
the day.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Are you talking about the one?
Yeah, that one, that's BobMarley's grandson, uh-huh.
Okay, that's Lauryn Hill's sonand that's Rohan hill's son and
that's, um, they, um, rohanmarley's father, lauren hill.
She had all her kids with rohanmarley, yeah, and that's her
(18:44):
son.
So that song why they pushingit is because it it was trending
so hard on the social mediaplatforms, everybody's.
Yeah, I never heard.
You know, the song, with novideo, had over 55 million views
with just his artwork andsocial media.
I don't know, I don't know ifthere was some back channel on
(19:08):
how it gets pushed like that.
I don't know those politicslike that, right?
Um, I mean, we could always beconspiracy theorists and come up
with some or think of somestuff, right.
But that's why you heard thatsong, because when the streets
are dictating, what's?
hot the radio is going to jumpon it.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Right, so I couldn't, I couldn't.
I was like yo, this song to mewas kind of whack in the
beginning, but then you know,after you hearing it, you hear,
yeah, but but now that I toldyou who it is, did you know that
his name is YG Marley?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
No, I didn't know anything.
All right, now that you knowthat he's a Marley, can you now
hear the Marley?
Because if you listen to thebeginning sample, it's Bob
Marley.
I don't know.
If you heard the beginning, no,the very beginning, you'll hear
a song of Bob Marley playing,and then they take that track,
they freak it a little bit andand his grandson is singing and
he's going ah, and he has a bobmarley sound.
(20:01):
What now?
If you connect the dots whenyou hear you okay, okay, so,
yeah, so that is a a like.
Again, you didn't know why, andthen now you see the connection
on why it happened it wastrending, it's trending.
So the gatekeepers sometimesthey have to conform to what the
(20:26):
people want and what they'resaying is hot Right, even if you
think it's trash, it might notbe trash to a couple other
million people.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
You know what I'm saying?
Right, right, right, because Ithought they would test that
after 6 pm, but I'm hearing thatat two in the afternoon, 12
o'clock.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
I'm like, dang, I did a nice little remix of it.
Um, I put some buster vocalsover it from off of his latest
album, from the blockbusteralbum, and they, they, he loves
it.
He took on me.
That's like one of my bestdreams.
I make a bunch of differentremixes and he, he was like yo.
Even a lot of people say yoscratch that one, and of course
(21:04):
it's trending.
So the way the beat sounds,everybody knows where it is.
If you know, you know, right,yeah.
And when you hear him on itlike oh shit, I didn't know
buster did this is on it, buthe's not, I put him on it oh,
okay, okay, yeah, the re-remixthe, the well.
I mean, I don't, I don't know ifthere's enough.
There's no official remix rightof that song.
It's just the kid yg marley andI put it together and it hasn't
(21:26):
been played much.
I mean, I just play it when Iplay it and I gave it to bus and
I think when he'd be going outhe might be making djs.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
He'll play this shit oh, you know what I'm saying To
force them to hate.
Eventually you get on it.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Well, he makes them.
You know, I think when theyhear they probably like it too.
But I haven't been in the inthis on the scene to see the
reaction.
But all I know is he said thereaction when he does play it or
get to play they'd be like yothis shit is hot.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Years you've been making.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
You know you're on and off with making tracks and
stuff like that you know, I mean, I mean I like some of your,
your beats, but, like you know,like um, did buster ever throw
you a?
You know, throw you a bone?
Well, I'm not a dog, so I don'teat bones, you know, I mean,
did buster ever know what I'msaying?
Um, yeah, yeah, definitely Imade.
I made a track, um that was on,that was supposed to go on on
the next flip mode album afterthe first one, and I got paid
for it.
Um, actually, buster helped meget um a track that I made to
(22:28):
method man, called what'shappening, which was was pretty
popular at the time.
This just came out back in 2003and um, him and method man is
on it.
I produced a track.
They shot a video.
Um, they've never performed thesong together, though, but
method man did perform it onceon mtv.
Right, you know what I'm saying, and I got that footage.
(22:50):
I'm glad I got that, because Inever saw him perform it, and
every time I saw him I'm like yo, what's up when you don't
perform my track?
He said I don't know, man.
I just said I can't do itwithout bus.
He said I tried it once beforeand it came off, but you know,
cause he raps first, so he's onthe first verse, then it's the
chorus and then bus, so he coulddo it like that.
You know, and cause I we was ontour together two state of the
(23:21):
mind, state of new york, um,state of new york mind talk, and
you know the beats man like hehas helped me out on it here and
there.
You know what I'm saying andI've just since we're on the
topic I've done tracks forfabulous.
I did a track for monicathrough the help of missy, who
I'm going to be on tour withthis summer.
Okay, missy, ciara Busta,timbaland, and yeah, it's going
(23:42):
to be epic man.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Nice, nice, nice, nice.
And do you have any like?
Did you ever meet somebody thatyou was like super starstruck?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I mean, it was a pleasure to be able to stand up
next to Janet Jackson.
You didn't mean Mike, no, Inever meant Mike Um standing up
next to Janet Jackson.
Um, I saw her once at the videoshoot when they were shooting
the video for what's it going tobe.
And then, um seeing her whenbus one I think the best video,
(24:15):
or something ontv and she cameup and and and we were, um, we
all went up on stage with him,you know, but starstruck for
anybody you're ready to too longnow.
Yeah, um, I don't know, itwould have to be somebody that
maybe we thought was was deadand they not.
That I would be like, oh shit,like you know, but I've been
(24:36):
around countless people, youknow, I don't know, there's
nobody, there's nobody, I know.
I, I know when I do get aroundcertain um, actress and actors
and stuff like that, I size themup because you know, on tv
everybody looks kind of big.
And then when you finally see,like sure, he's sure, all
(24:56):
because you know, on tveverybody looks kind of big.
And then when you finally see,like he's sure all, because you
know everything is always zoomedin, you know what I'm saying.
So you see them, they look likethey big, you know right, right
, right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
So now, um, let's take back to the parties, back
in the days when you was doingit for the love, like majority
was for the love, y'all wasgetting paid, like that yeah, we
were getting some money, but itwasn't like like you know, like
what I would get now if I dj.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
You know what I'm saying.
It was for the love, it was forthe fun, it was for the
experience.
You know what I'm saying.
Like you remember, after we didthe parties, we would go out to
go eat breakfast and the moneywe made we would spend it on
everybody eating, becauseeverybody who's there with us
either helped us out when we wascarrying equipment or was part
of making sure that nobody wouldmess with us, like our little
(25:40):
own security team, our crew.
You know what I'm saying.
So we definitely.
You know we did it for the loveand for the fun of it.
You know that's how, that's howyour passion usually starts.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You love it, so you don't mind doing it, you know so
now, um far as like, um likethe first, when you start
scratching, like I remember, umsome certain records, y'all used
to put markers on it, likeespecially for um eric b, for
for president right make you,make you clap for this right.
Right you have to put.
You have to put marks.
Explain to people when you haveto mark the records, to catch
(26:13):
it so that I think those are.
Explain what does it mean whenyou mark okay.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
So for the people who are djing now, who maybe
started within the last, let'ssay I'm gonna give 10, 10 years,
right, because serato andtractor and all of these dj
softwares are in effect now thecue points would be out.
Our one cue point on the recordback in the day, that cue point
(26:38):
told us where, whatever soundwe wanted to cut or bring it
back to is where the actual markwould be.
So picture a record spinning.
As you can see, in Seratothere's a line that's spinning
around in a circle, clockwiseright, and every time you
(26:59):
scratch it it would go back.
Go like this so if for ericbeing for president, if I came,
if, if the mark was at the topand it said I came in the door,
so at that point you would knowthe eye is right at the top.
So when it went, I came throughthe door and you wanted to
bring it back to that point, youwould know the I is right at
the top.
So when it went, I came throughthe door and you wanted to
bring it back to that point, youwould reverse it back.
(27:21):
I came to the door, I came tothe door.
So when you were scratching it,if you, if you scratched it,
and when I came to the door Isaid it before.
I never let the mic magnetizeme, no more than you want to go
back two times back to.
I came to the door.
So if it went around once,twice and a half, you knew you
had to go back around two timesand a half to bring it back
(27:44):
right.
So that's what the markers were.
Now you don't have to worryabout that as much.
We have these buttons, the cuepoints, and you've got multiple.
So if you knew I came to thedoor and said it before, you
could hit.
The first one usually is red onthe dj um systems and the
second one be yellow.
So I came through the door, setit before.
So now you could go, I, I, Icame through the door, set, set,
(28:07):
set, set, set, set, set, set itbefore I came to the door.
Set it came, set it, I came, Isaid it, I said it.
I said you could do it likethat.
So it makes it jump.
But we couldn't do that.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
We didn't have any buttons, we had to do all that
manually with your hands.
So you would have two of thesame records.
If you knew, I came through thedoor, said it before.
When the mark got, let's say itgot to the bottom, you would
have one turntable with itpointing up and the other one
with the line pointed down soyou can cut.
I came through the door and theother turntable with the mark
(28:39):
pointing down.
I never said it before, so youcan go, I came, I said it, I
came, I said it going back andforth.
But now the cheat code with thecomputer you can have up to 10
cue points on one MP3 fordifferent parts and then now you
can make beats with thembecause you can hit it like a
pad, like a drum.
I, I can't, I can't, I, I can't, I, you know you could do
(29:04):
whatever you want with it.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
so that's what the marks were for us back in the
days so do you think that um thenew djs, who who didn't um come
up with the in the 1200s, 1200s, the actual dj?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
like people with With turntables.
Yeah, because there's so manydifferent brands of turntables.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, do you think that it was?
Do you?
Do you, do you consider thoseguys real DJs?
If they using, if they usingthose computer things?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Well, if they're using.
Because one thing I liked aboutthe new age of DJing that came
to be with the computer was thatthey allowed the computer and
the turntable to work together.
Um, I think that made the lifeof a dj a lot easier, because
now you didn't have to carry allthe record crates.
(29:47):
You had all your songs if youhad it as an mp3 in the laptop
or on your hard drive and youcould select them without having
to turn around and look for arecord or do something.
You know, now it wasinstantaneous.
I could switch, like I couldswitch almost a song a second if
I want.
I could just go bop, bop, bopand if you have it set up right,
(30:08):
you could make it seem seamlessright.
So it's a beautiful thing.
It made the life for djs whocame from the turntable and
vinyl era.
It made the job easier for thepeople who started later, who
don't know, who didn't knowanything about turntables, cause
now they have these thingscalled the controllers that have
(30:28):
like a CD type looking, setupCD player looking, set up, with
a mixer in the middle andeverything is combined.
Now the turntableable you don'teven have to, you don't need it
, everything is all in one.
Use your laptop.
Sometimes you don't even need alaptop if you have a flash
drive with all your music.
You can just plug it in and youcan select what's on the flash
drives to play through.
(30:50):
This, this, this, um, oh, wow,this, this module, like, uh,
this, this setup.
So, in any case, I would.
I think that if you love djing,you should want to know the
history behind it.
You might want to go and checkit out, try it out.
See what it took djs before youto to be able to do what you're
(31:13):
doing now so easily.
How hard it was be able to dowhat you're doing now so easily.
Yeah, how hard it was, andappreciate you.
I think djs would appreciate somuch more what they're able to
do if they knew how it was backin the days.
Yeah, you know, and, um, Ithink that that is something you
know, you want to.
You want to, you want to lookinto that djs.
(31:34):
You want to go and just, evenif it's just try it, go, look at
some videos of some DJs whowere battling back in the 80s
and the 90s, when there was noserato, no tractor, no virtual
dj, none of these softwares thatare out now and see what they
used to do with these recordsand what they used to make
(31:55):
people, how, how they used toamaze people with what they did.
They're doing in actualactuality.
Everything that serato and allof these dj platforms were based
based off of how fast DJs usedto do things in the battles.
That's what made them say yo,we need to make something to me
that can do what these guys aredoing, but the average person
(32:19):
could do it.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Right, so they found the cheat sheet.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Pretty much.
They found a way to make somemoney, but it also made lives
easier for the current DJs, theDJs who had it hard right.
And how about this?
Those DJs who were dope backthen are even crazier now with
the software.
Even the guy who's justlearning can't do what these DJs
(32:46):
are doing.
Like.
You got to be so invested intowhat it is you want to do on
these turntables now because djsare still using the turntables
but again they're using theaspect of the computer age to do
what they did.
But they could taken it to likea hundred times a level higher
than what they were doing backin the days, because it's so
(33:07):
quick and a new DJ, even if hethinks he could come in and do
that, it's going to take himyears to be able to get that.
I mean, or maybe not, it justdepends on how motivated some
people are.
It could take them weeks, butit ain't going to be like oh
what DJ Craze or DJ Q-Bert orany of these other battle DJs
from back in the days whatthey're doing now that I see
(33:30):
they're not going to be able tojust go up there and say I can
do that.
There's a lot of thought,creativeness is still in the
mind.
Technology, yeah, helps yourcreativeness, but if you don't
have it, you can't get it.
You can't do it, no, you haveto develop it.
I'm going to said you can't getit, you got to develop that.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
You know that's a skill set.
Yeah, man, there's definitely askill set.
Man, how do you feel about thecurrent state of hip-hop and
like what's going on, and how doyou, how are you fitting in to
this new age of hip-hop?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
well, I don't think I need to fit in, I'm already in,
right, you know what I'm saying.
No, no, no, that's not, it's,it's cool, cool.
That's still a great questionhow I fit in.
I believe that I'm in.
I'm not trying to fit anywhere.
I just do what I do and I playthe new music when I learn of it
, because there's some thingsthat come out so quickly that
(34:20):
you can't keep up unless youconstantly on it, like that, and
I'm not.
I'm not constantly on it, I'mgoing to on it, I'm gonna keep
it a buck.
I got other things happening inlife that I can't just be on
trying to know what the newestthing is.
If it's that popular, I'll hearabout it.
Right and um, the current stateof hip-hop I like where it's
going, um, at the moment.
(34:41):
It seemed well, let's say, acouple weeks ago, or maybe a
couple months ago, it seemedlike the girls was was running
it like there was a bunch of new.
Or maybe a couple months ago itseemed like the girls was was
running it like there was abunch of new girls out, a bunch
of girl records was out.
You know, between um, cardi band and um and uh, what's her
name um brooke, and gorillamegan, the stallion, nikki, and
(35:05):
all of these girls.
You know it was like oh man,it's like the girls are taking
over, right, you know what I'msaying, right?
And then, and not to mention me, shameless plug, my daughter
raps too.
She's about to, she's about toblow up his daughter's good, his
daughter's good.
She raps on beep, and all ofthat because you said that they
don't be.
But in any event, then I feltlike the men was like yo, wait,
(35:29):
wait, wait.
What's going on?
Like everything is all aboutthe chicks right now.
Oh, yeah, sexy red, and youknow city girls.
And I know there's one personI'm forgetting.
Oh, I said Cardi B.
Cardi B, you know all of thegirls, that's just been Megan.
Yeah, I, girls that would,that's just on the scene, right,
(35:50):
you know, that's lotto andsweetie.
All of them, all of.
Anyway.
Now, the biggest talks rightnow was, at least recently, was
the kendrick and drake beef,which started with j cole in it
and then he respectfully bowedout and it was a way to get
everybody, everybody back on the.
Oh, the dudes.
Is they going in now?
I'm not saying the girls arequiet, but nobody talking about
(36:12):
it as much right you know I'mnot saying that this is a
conspiracy or whatever, but it'scrazy how the universe works.
Where it brought it shifts theattention back and forth,
whether it was planned or not.
It's crazy.
All the girls and the girls bebeefing too.
You know to a degree.
You know Nikki and Ice Spiceagainst Cardi B and what's the
(36:39):
girl I said her name was Lottothey going back and forth.
So you know, and I learned this, I hear about a lot of stuff
through my young daughters whoare following it, especially
because she wants to be in theindustry.
And I'm going to say she's inthe industry, but at the end of
the day, what it means, like youknow, she's keeping me up to
speed, and then all of a sudden,boom, somebody thinks someone
(37:02):
said something subliminal on theguy's side, kendrick, with,
with um and and and j cole andthem, and now they're going back
and forth and now that hype isgoing on.
You know, it's just, it's justcrazy to see and I it's all
hip-hop whether how they rap in,what kind of beats they
twerking while they battling, orwhatever.
I'm talking about the girls,right, of course, but at the end
(37:23):
of the day, it's just like,right, it's.
It's just what it is.
It evolves.
Think about it, do you think I?
But I do believe.
Like they used to have battlesback in the days our parents had
some singers.
That was probably sick sendingshots subliminally in their
music at each other or stealingwhat somebody's flow, or this
and that or hey, wait a minute.
(37:45):
I said that in one of my songsway back.
That wasn't popular, but nowit's popular because another
person, it's so much man.
It's history.
It's just what happened.
Yeah, that's what it is.
It's competition, competition,and history represents itself in
different ways, man.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
So you think Drake took that L, that major L.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
I still.
You know what.
I saw Funkmaster Flex and Ebrotalking about how Flex said
Drake took it and then Ebrosaying Kendrick take it.
At the moment I'm still I likeboth of the songs, but I think
there's a Drake song that Ididn't hear yet.
(38:21):
I think that came out after.
They're Not Like Us.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Right.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
But they're Not Like Us.
Everywhere, everywhere you hearit, they be going crazy for it
everywhere because it's easy.
They not like us.
Everybody sings it down to.
Last weekend I was in baltimoreand I played it.
You know I wasn't expecting toplay music before my show but
they said, hey, play a couplesongs before um to do the
(38:46):
changeover from one set to thenext to our set.
And I played a couple songs andI played that and the crowd who
was jamming to some old schoolmusic I'm talking about singing.
I want to thank you and beforeI let go, and I was surprised,
excuse me I was surprised thatpeople who was jamming on that
was singing J Cole's.
(39:06):
I mean, sorry, mean, sorry, notj cole, kendrick's whole song,
it was just like and they wereolder, it was mature people, I
want to say were older, but itwas mature people who was there
to see, you know, buster, bigdaddy kane perform a little
earlier before us.
The next day they had um.
I forgot, it'll come to me in asecond, but it was just good to
(39:28):
see that.
Yo, that battle record isbananas is bananas and it's
worldwide known so far.
From what I, from what?
I nice, I'm happy.
It's just I gotta hear this.
The latest drake that cameafter that, I think I heard one,
but I think he did maybe two.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I'm just don't quote me well, I mean, you know it's a
healthy competition man.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah, man, and I, you gotta love that.
I just, we, just we would likeit all to just stay non-violent.
That's it, yeah we love itnon-violent, but it's usually
there's always somebody's mansin them who, yes, it's the mans
in them.
You can't control the meds likeyo.
Well, he said what man, I ain'tgoing for, I'm going to go see
what the hell.
I'm gonna go check them, yeah,I'm going, and the and the and
(40:09):
the main man will be like, nah,don't do that.
And then they'll do that, okay,I won't.
And then they still do it.
Entourage, yeah, entourage, yougotta.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
You gotta know who you have around you, and then
they run and run up with each oneach other and start head
butting each other bam bam, bambam.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Everybody wants to prove that yo man see, I'm down
for you sometimes.
You know, screw that shit yeah,man screw that yeah man, I mean,
uh, man, just you know, for thepeople I know we didn't, we
probably we're gonna reiterateit you know it's your boy.
World famous dj scratchertaught how to send america.
You know, I just want everybodyto know, man, if you love what
(40:44):
you do, you can be great at itand you could probably live off
of it and take care of yourfamily.
And one of the things that I'mgrateful for with the fact that
I love DJing so much that it itgave me an avenue to be able to
survive, I'm still surviving offDJ money and take care of my
family.
That's a message that I wouldlike people to to get from me.
(41:06):
Yeah, and that's a message thatI would like people to to get
from me.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Yeah, and that's a closing.
That's a good closing statement, because every time we always
do a closing statement at theend of the show.
No doubt and um my closingstatement is is that um keep hip
hop alive, man?
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Oh, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Keep hip hop alive and, uh, it's going to these a
lot of people's veins who reallylove it right, hip-hop and and
music in general.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Music helps.
What what's the term?
Calm the savage beast right,right, right in us all, not just
the person who's wilding out inus all.
And so music is a definitely agetaway and we need it.
You know what I'm saying rightthe melodies, the voices, the
words, all of those things helpyou.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
You need that because a lot of times not to cut you
up a lot of times people listento music when they're by
themselves yeah, it could, music, music, music could sway you
different directions, but peoplegot to remember that the beauty
of it was to make you feel good, exactly, and like, oh my, my,
my homeboy.
You know, um, god rest.
You know, god rest my boy.
(42:10):
You know I didn't have a showsince since, since my boy passed
my boy Clinton, you know, um,and how long is that now?
It's probably like a month.
Okay, Change.
I mean I'm hurt that I lost myboy.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
You know what I'm saying and this is what you're
thinking about.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
I know him too.
Yeah, for y'all who don't know,I know him too yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
To make me think about the hip hop he used to
love, ll, when L used to takehis hat off and he said no, no,
he needs to put his head.
My hand is like a shark's fin,right, right.
And my boy?
He used to jump off his bed anddo that same dance.
Yo man, I miss him, man.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
I love my boy, and that was a cool dude too, man,
he's a cool guy Speaking to him,yeah man.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
So yeah, man Again.
Rest in peace my boy.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Yeah, rest in peace, clint man.
The last time I saw him was atmy birthday party in 2021.
Yeah, man, we was on your blockmy old block.
Yeah, your old block, troyavenue.
Still your block, though he'sflat bush baby right right,
right, right, right.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
So yes and um, it's been a pleasure yo definitely
man and um, you know I wastrying to get spliff.
Spliff is supposed to comethrough.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
Maybe it's gonna come through once he, once he see
this, or yeah, about when I seehim.
I'm gonna see him this weekend.
I'll let him know too.
Yeah, he can't come through andtalk about.
Tell him hip hop needs to betalked about.
You know what I'm saying?
Right, right, right yeah andyes.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
This is the your opinion doesn't matter podcast,
and we are outie we're out ofhere.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Peace, peace, peace.
Welcome.
Welcome to the your OpinionDoesn't Matter podcast.
Okay, it's a good day.
It's a good day for real youknow I got a good friend of mine
, man a good friend of mine.
Shit how many years we kneweach other.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Man over 30, man Over 30 years.
Man Over 30 years at least.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I consider him a brother of mine, you know.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yeah, man, I'm proud to say he's a friend and I'm
proud of you for what you'vedone with your career.
So, um, you heard me a coupleother podcasts when I talk about
like well-known djs or mcsthat's come from the east
flappish neighborhood.
This is one a good friend ofmine, dj scratchy tour what up,
(00:42):
y'all, what up, what up.
Right right.
He is currently the DJ forBusta Rhymes.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
No doubt.
Yeah, man, yeah, going on about20-something years with that.
20 years, maybe 96 to now, 96to now, yeah, almost 28 years.
I know you longer, butdefinitely it's like over two
and a half decades, man.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
That's what's up, man .
That's what's up, man.
So let's get into hip hop.
Man.
What inspired you to startDJing?
What got you into it?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well, in most households there was always
music being played.
You know I'm saying like musicis so even much more so popular
now that everybody listens totheir own.
You had to listen to what wasbeing played by your parents.
You know I'm saying, and, um,you know, I had an uncle who
(01:40):
used to, he had a dj setup.
I give him his props as to sayhe had the DJ setup and he would
play music and he knew what toplay.
But to me, the DJ also knew howto do a little bit more than
just play the music that thepeople wanted.
It's actually, you know, backthen, doing little tricks, being
(02:02):
able to scratch, blending music, you know, keeping it rocking,
not letting the music stop, youknow, and my uncle, you know,
like I said, he played music andhe still does up to this day.
And, um, but one time, you know,as a kid growing up, and I was
listening to music in the houseand my uncle had the dj set up
(02:22):
and I wasn't really interestedin it until I actually saw a dj,
dj and and this I got inspiredfrom this in, uh, philadelphia
as a kid, I saw some djs djingin the park.
Just happened to be, you knowthe kids riding the bike and I'm
just like, wait a minute,something don't sound right.
You know, let me, let me lookin to see what's going on with
(02:47):
the music.
And when I got close and I seenthe DJ cutting the records and
switching the songs, I was likeas a little kid like, oh, we
have that at home, we could dothe same thing.
So when I got back to the cribI touched my uncle's stuff and
he tried to kill me.
He was like, what are you doing?
No, you don't do that torecords, you're gonna mess them
up and blah, blah.
(03:07):
But I later learned, like lateron that actual year, that that
happened.
I'm not not gonna say when thatwas, but you know, um, I met
some djs when I came to actuallybrooklyn, because I learned I
used to go down to philadelphiafor the summer.
I was just about to ask youyeah, yeah, I was in.
Learned I used to go down toPhiladelphia for the summer.
I was just about to ask youyeah, I was in Philly, I used to
(03:28):
go down for the summer.
You know, my mom used to shipus off, ship me off down to hang
out with grandma, so she'd geta break, if you think about it.
Oh, for the summer.
Yeah, just for the summer.
Yeah, after school was out, youyou know, and I enjoyed it
because Philadelphia was poppingas far as like kids on the
street Back in these days.
It wasn't dangerous to thepoint other than you got the
little bullies, but it wasn'tgunshots popping off and crazy
(03:53):
like that.
You know, it wasn't so bad outthere in Philly like it is now
Not knocking Philly because Istill go down there, my
grandmother still lives there.
But you know, like I said, gotto brooklyn, met up with some
djs and they started showing mehow to do it and after that I
just I loved it so much that Ijust wanted to be the best that
I could be and and better thananybody else that I knew.
(04:14):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So that was the motivation how old were you when
you got the bug?
How old were you?
Nine he's nine nine years oldbecause when I, when I'm, when I
actually met you, you was, youwas already at the beginning,
already starting, yeah yeah,yeah, definitely I was it.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I would have.
We were teenagers, for sure.
Um, I'm just trying to rememberlike how old but maybe we
probably met, maybe like aroundI was 14, 15, somewhere around
them, ages somewhere, and um, Imet you because of a dj yeah you
know what I'm saying.
Yeah, dj dj, dane, vt, uh, dice,you know these guys, they um
(04:55):
through dice I met a lot ofother djs because dice was very
popular too and he was on thescene.
He started like around the sametime as me, you know, and we
met because we were supposed tobattle.
Then we became good friends andwe started djing together and
blah, blah, blah.
We never really battled, butwe're all supposed to battle me
and dice are supposed to battleeach other.
Oh word, yeah.
But then when we finally gotaround to it, it was, it was
(05:16):
just all love.
You know, I'm saying, but notsaying we had beef, but it was
just like battle for what?
Let's just, you know, let'sjust do it.
You know what I'm saying.
Right, right, right, yeah.
So we, we officially metbecause of other djs and you
happen to live on the same blockas um, as dj dt, and that was,
and another battle was supposedto happen.
That's why we came around therebecause, if I remember
(05:39):
correctly, dj godfrey wassupposed to battle dj dt, you
know, dane, and we came throughand then we just won the crew.
After that, it just, you know,oh, wow, yeah, that's from what
I remember Now when you finallyget DJ Dice up in here.
He might have another story,but I believe that's how it went
.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
He might say he came around and you chickened out.
He probably gonna say somethinglike that.
He can say what he wants.
Yeah, dj Dice.
Current release DJ and fightRed man and Method man.
Yeah, so what about any MCbattles?
Anybody was supposed to?
Who used to come down there?
That's like you know, likeknown now.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Come down where.
In Dane's basement, I don'tknow about in Dane's basement,
but I definitely used to workwith little Sean.
You know, definitely bus usedto come on on our block or Troy
Avenue.
That's how I met him through mybest friend, e double, and you
know I mean that's it.
(06:40):
And then of course we we knewspecial ed was from around the
way and all of that.
But as far as any other rapartists, I mean but then you get
it.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Then you wasn't.
Um buster wasn't the first onewho recruited you?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
who somebody else recruited you.
Well, I actually I dj'd forlittle sean for a little bit, no
, before that.
Mc light, yes, mc light, butyeah, that was.
That was very short-lived,though, but we still cool to
this day, because I see herevery now and then what happened
with that?
what happened was light and Iwent to the same high school
wingate, right wingate which isnot too far from where we live,
(07:14):
right and light because I, youknow, I was a dj in school,
people knew me.
She's like I want you to be mydj, right, and I was, I'm down
with it, right, but I guess mebeing too honest about how I
felt about her music, what itsounded like.
She didn't like my comment, Ithink, and after that she was
(07:35):
like I don't know if I want torock with you like that and what
it was.
I could remember, of course,because of course she blew up,
right and I was.
I wasn't kicking myself becauseI didn't even think, I didn't
even know the magnitude of whatit is to be Seeing the rap
artists that you know blow up.
(07:55):
You know, you see them on thevideos back then, here and there
, but when you hear records onradio and stuff.
But anyway she came out with asong.
I Crammed to Understand you,sam, radio and stuff, but anyway
she came out her song, Icrammed to understand you, sam,
and when I heard it, compared tosome other things that I heard
that I liked, I said the way itsounded because it was nice, it
was raw, it was.
It was real.
True for me, hip-hop, nottaking nothing away from it, but
(08:17):
for my young mind and nothaving the experience, I said to
her I said, yo, it sounded likesomething that was made in a.
It didn't sound.
It sounded like something thatwas made in a.
It didn't sound professional,it sounded like it was made in a
basement, like because I wasalready aware of recording stuff
in a basement, right, so meknowing how something sounds
(08:37):
that sounds like it's recordedin the basement.
Compared to what was on record,that's what it sounded like and
I think that was the.
That was what they was lookingfor.
That's, that was the sound itwas going for.
And when I made that comment, Ithink she was probably looking
at me like, oh, she got tight,she got tight, she.
I believe she got tight becauseafter that we lost connection,
like that, and it wasn't likeshe said, yo, I'm not working
(08:58):
with you, or it was like somesome really ill vibes.
It was just like it was likesilence.
After that I was like I waslike, okay, but other things was
happening in my life.
I was still dj, I was stilldoing what I wanted to do so it
was like okay, no problem inhigh school your road.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Your road was um.
You know, you are like um.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
You are historian in pop and, and I'd like to think
so.
I like to think that I played amajor role in hip hop, right,
but I'm humble and I'm modestwith it, right.
But what I can say is like whenI think about, let's say, I
(09:42):
didn't say what I said to herand I did end up going out and
rocking with her.
Who knows where I would be now,right, and I believe that, you
know, there's always a paththat's kind of like set for you
and certain things are supposedto happen.
They're supposed to happen,because right now, light is
great.
Light is doing what she.
(10:04):
She's still doing voiceoversfor BET and certain things.
She's alright.
So when I see her, she lookslike everything is good and glam
and everything is great, and Idon't know what her DJ at that
time.
What is he doing now?
What he's doing now?
I don't see him, but you knowhim, though.
I think I met him once.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
I't hear, I don't see him.
You know so.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
But you know I'm doing, you know, I think I met
him once, I mean, but if you see, I know well if what he looked
like back then I don't know whathe's looking like these days.
Right, that's what I'm saying.
I haven't seen him right.
So I'm not saying that he's notdoing anything great or
whatever.
Or you know, or he's or he isdoing bad, but at the end of the
day, it's like I just knowwhere I'm at now.
(10:44):
I'm like I'm grateful for whereI'm at right now, having that
experience, having theexperience of working with my
local djs like dice um, dj, lexum, dj exclusive, like the.
The guys who taught me how todj um being around, have an
opportunity to first get on theindustry scene the hip hop with
(11:08):
Lil Sean, you know, who was downwith me, and some of the people
I just mentioned.
We had our little crew, but hekind of was.
He got a record deal and hestarted doing his thing and then
, after that, linking up withBusta and also being able to DJ
for countless other artists as aresult of being working with
Busta and also being able to DJPhil Connelly and other artists
as a result of being workingwith Busta, meeting other people
and holding them down when theyneeded me.
(11:30):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
So yeah, so tell me, let's.
I remember.
I remember right.
I was me and Pratt used to usethe Young Bucks rolling with
y'all at different parties.
Them parties back then wascrazy.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Right?
Explain what you mean by crazy.
What was with y'all thedifferent parties?
Right them parties back thenwas crazy.
Right, explain what you mean bycrazy.
What was what was crazy aboutthem?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
the fights, okay, the shootings and uh-huh, and this,
this was hip-hop, right, and itjust well.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You know what I don't .
I don't agree with the factevery time, not every to
everywhere.
No, no, no, I wasn't gonna saythat.
I don't agree that every timewe went out it was crazy.
I don't agree that shooting andfights is hip hop.
That's what I meant.
I think that hip hop is themusic, it's the fun part of
(12:17):
black culture, what we bringwith our style, our how we
finesse words, how we manipulatethe music.
Right, you know what I'm sayingTaking old classics and making
it, giving it a different sound,keeping some of the original
sound, but making it more hip.
Right, right, right, and makeyou hop, because that's what hip
(12:38):
hop was about.
It was dance, it was all ofthat.
But I understand what you'resaying.
Hip hop always and it seemslike it still does break
violence, but so does rock.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Right, but you know what I stand corrected.
I didn't mean it like okay,that's hip hop Meaning.
That was there when we wasgrowing up in hip hop, right,
that was the negative side ofhip hop.
Of course hip hop is beautiful.
A lot of things spawned out ofhip hop.
You know what I'm saying.
Everything is and it was new.
That was the beauty of hip hop.
It was new to us.
(13:07):
Everything was new right youknow you would like, you would
learn certain new scratchesright you would learn different
things.
Now there's nothing reallyconsidered new to me.
There's nothing.
There's nothing like like a new, a new feeling.
You know, beside these kids isnot even rhyming on beat.
You know I'm saying it's likethey doing their own thing, they
doing their own thing well, youknow something, you're right,
(13:29):
but there is a lot of new.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
That like that not rhyming on beat, it's new,
because that was never hip-hop,right.
So, just to um, like, we stillhave people who actually give
you real hip-hop.
You know that there's stillpeople still pushing it.
Some of them are not known.
Some of them are known, verywell known.
You know.
Some of them are beefing witheach other right now.
(13:52):
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, um, and some of them arestill doing it, even from back,
maybe not as far back as whatwe're talking about, when we was
in the parties, but as far backas 90s, you know.
You see what meth said about onthe summer jam.
He said, yo, we like the crowdis too young, they don't know us
like that, so I won't beattending anymore.
(14:15):
But to me, um, I don't agreewith not going, I agree with
that.
He said the crowd is young andactually showing them is key.
You know, um, we're, we'restill raising these young, these
youngins, right, the people whoare we consider young, who are
new into hip hop or new beingable to get out the house, even
(14:37):
though kids are out of the housea lot earlier, in a way.
But then again, no, it justdepends on where you, where you
from and where, how your parentsraised you right.
But at the end of the day, westill gotta show them, we still
gotta talk to them.
You know, even if they didn'tknow who method man was, only
because they saw him on power.
When they saw him from power,then they see him rapping and
(14:57):
they'd be like, oh snap, he doesthat too, even if they think
it's new or he's just trying it.
Then when they do theirresearch, like, oh, this guy has
been around for a while, so Ido believe that we still need to
mix it.
You know, you don't just playnew music in the club.
You got to play some some, some, some good classic hip-hop,
some old school stuff.
(15:18):
And then people can connect thedots where, oh snap, that sounds
like this new song I heard andthat's what they understand,
where right they took this fromand how they freaked it to make
it sound up to date.
You know what I'm saying.
So I believe that we stillgotta mix and mingle a little
bit.
You know that's how you, thatyou're only gonna learn the
(15:38):
history, if someone teaches itto you, shows it to you, so we
can't just exit out and say, nah, we gotta go there and
sometimes show them.
Because I'm gonna tell you thetruth, I was at the summer jam
that uh meth was at right andwhen you see how meth and red
performed the songs that thekids didn't know how in sync
(15:59):
they were, how the songs, whatthey sounded like, you can
understand all the words theysaid.
They're saying, not saying youcan't understand the new people,
but again, anybody who didn'tknow about it.
Now they're like I think I likethat, even if it's 10 out of
the 10 000 people that was there, 10 people, that's 10 more fans
(16:19):
.
That's gonna start playing yourmusic.
That's gonna start tellingother people about you.
So I don't think you shouldever say I won't do this or that
again unless you like,physically you can't, or you
totally against any form ofmusic.
Now you know what I'm saying,right?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So do you think that um, do you think um radio, was
the?
Um the cause for this?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
doing what they've been doing when they was, when
we was growing up, and we waslistening to the radio and they
was playing what was hot at thatmoment.
That's what they did, right,certain at certain hours, right.
But our radio stations I, theystill do it to a degree now in a
little bit, where we had thequiet storm where it was all
slow jams after 10 or 11 orwhatever it was, but then you
had the hip-hop during the day,then you had old school during
(17:04):
midday for the lunch.
So that's still happening to adegree.
But at the end of the day Idon't think radio is the blame.
I know that they do push the newmusic because of whatever
politics, but they do have somestations that still give you
what you want you just got to.
If you want to hear it, you gotto look.
Still give you what you want Ifyou want to hear it.
(17:25):
You got to learn.
And then, real quick, the kidsdon't listen to the radio, they
go straight to the internet.
They see what's trending on thesocial media platforms.
So you can't blame the radioanymore either for what the kids
like.
They're going to go and findwhat they like.
They're going to find it.
You know what the?
Speaker 1 (17:44):
radio to me is either for what the kids like they're
going to go and find what theylike.
They're going to find what theylike, they're going to find it.
You know what, you know whatthe radio to me.
It did a lot of damage Like.
So I see the gatekeepers, likehow Funkmaster Flex he's a
gatekeeper over there.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Right right.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
You know what I mean?
She's staying there.
It's like they don't want nonew blood.
Right now there's this reggaesong that comes on on 97 and 105
.
No-transcript.
And then, after like threeweeks now, I'm liking this song.
(18:16):
So I want to know Do you knowwhat song this is?
No, I mean, it's the onlyreggae song that come on during
the day.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Are you talking about the one?
Yeah, that one, that's BobMarley's grandson, uh-huh.
Okay, that's Lauryn Hill's sonand that's Rohan hill's son and
that's, um, they, um, rohanmarley's father, lauren hill.
She had all her kids with rohanmarley, yeah, and that's her
(18:44):
son.
So that song why they pushingit is because it it was trending
so hard on the social mediaplatforms, everybody's.
Yeah, I never heard.
You know, the song, with novideo, had over 55 million views
with just his artwork andsocial media.
I don't know, I don't know ifthere was some back channel on
(19:08):
how it gets pushed like that.
I don't know those politicslike that, right?
Um, I mean, we could always beconspiracy theorists and come up
with some or think of somestuff, right.
But that's why you heard thatsong, because when the streets
are dictating, what's?
hot the radio is going to jumpon it.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Right, so I couldn't, I couldn't.
I was like yo, this song to mewas kind of whack in the
beginning, but then you know,after you hearing it, you hear,
yeah, but but now that I toldyou who it is, did you know that
his name is YG Marley?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
No, I didn't know anything.
All right, now that you knowthat he's a Marley, can you now
hear the Marley?
Because if you listen to thebeginning sample, it's Bob
Marley.
I don't know.
If you heard the beginning, no,the very beginning, you'll hear
a song of Bob Marley playing,and then they take that track,
they freak it a little bit andand his grandson is singing and
he's going ah, and he has a bobmarley sound.
(20:01):
What now?
If you connect the dots whenyou hear you okay, okay, so,
yeah, so that is a a like.
Again, you didn't know why, andthen now you see the connection
on why it happened it wastrending, it's trending.
So the gatekeepers sometimesthey have to conform to what the
(20:26):
people want and what they'resaying is hot Right, even if you
think it's trash, it might notbe trash to a couple other
million people.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
You know what I'm saying?
Right, right, right, because Ithought they would test that
after 6 pm, but I'm hearing thatat two in the afternoon, 12
o'clock.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
I'm like, dang, I did a nice little remix of it.
Um, I put some buster vocalsover it from off of his latest
album, from the blockbusteralbum, and they, they, he loves
it.
He took on me.
That's like one of my bestdreams.
I make a bunch of differentremixes and he, he was like yo.
Even a lot of people say yoscratch that one, and of course
(21:04):
it's trending.
So the way the beat sounds,everybody knows where it is.
If you know, you know, right,yeah.
And when you hear him on itlike oh shit, I didn't know
buster did this is on it, buthe's not, I put him on it oh,
okay, okay, yeah, the re-remixthe, the well.
I mean, I don't, I don't know ifthere's enough.
There's no official remix rightof that song.
It's just the kid yg marley andI put it together and it hasn't
(21:26):
been played much.
I mean, I just play it when Iplay it and I gave it to bus and
I think when he'd be going outhe might be making djs.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
He'll play this shit oh, you know what I'm saying To
force them to hate.
Eventually you get on it.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Well, he makes them.
You know, I think when theyhear they probably like it too.
But I haven't been in the inthis on the scene to see the
reaction.
But all I know is he said thereaction when he does play it or
get to play they'd be like yothis shit is hot.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Years you've been making.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
You know you're on and off with making tracks and
stuff like that you know, I mean, I mean I like some of your,
your beats, but, like you know,like um, did buster ever throw
you a?
You know, throw you a bone?
Well, I'm not a dog, so I don'teat bones, you know, I mean,
did buster ever know what I'msaying?
Um, yeah, yeah, definitely Imade.
I made a track, um that was on,that was supposed to go on on
the next flip mode album afterthe first one, and I got paid
for it.
Um, actually, buster helped meget um a track that I made to
(22:28):
method man, called what'shappening, which was was pretty
popular at the time.
This just came out back in 2003and um, him and method man is
on it.
I produced a track.
They shot a video.
Um, they've never performed thesong together, though, but
method man did perform it onceon mtv.
Right, you know what I'm saying, and I got that footage.
(22:50):
I'm glad I got that, because Inever saw him perform it, and
every time I saw him I'm like yo, what's up when you don't
perform my track?
He said I don't know, man.
I just said I can't do itwithout bus.
He said I tried it once beforeand it came off, but you know,
cause he raps first, so he's onthe first verse, then it's the
chorus and then bus, so he coulddo it like that.
You know, and cause I we was ontour together two state of the
(23:21):
mind, state of new york, um,state of new york mind talk, and
you know the beats man like hehas helped me out on it here and
there.
You know what I'm saying andI've just since we're on the
topic I've done tracks forfabulous.
I did a track for monicathrough the help of missy, who
I'm going to be on tour withthis summer.
Okay, missy, ciara Busta,timbaland, and yeah, it's going
(23:42):
to be epic man.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Nice, nice, nice, nice.
And do you have any like?
Did you ever meet somebody thatyou was like super starstruck?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I mean, it was a pleasure to be able to stand up
next to Janet Jackson.
You didn't mean Mike, no, Inever meant Mike Um standing up
next to Janet Jackson.
Um, I saw her once at the videoshoot when they were shooting
the video for what's it going tobe.
And then, um seeing her whenbus one I think the best video,
(24:15):
or something ontv and she cameup and and and we were, um, we
all went up on stage with him,you know, but starstruck for
anybody you're ready to too longnow.
Yeah, um, I don't know, itwould have to be somebody that
maybe we thought was was deadand they not.
That I would be like, oh shit,like you know, but I've been
(24:36):
around countless people, youknow, I don't know, there's
nobody, there's nobody, I know.
I, I know when I do get aroundcertain um, actress and actors
and stuff like that, I size themup because you know, on tv
everybody looks kind of big.
And then when you finally see,like sure, he's sure, all
(24:56):
because you know, on tveverybody looks kind of big.
And then when you finally see,like he's sure all, because you
know everything is always zoomedin, you know what I'm saying.
So you see them, they look likethey big, you know right, right
, right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
So now, um, let's take back to the parties, back
in the days when you was doingit for the love, like majority
was for the love, y'all wasgetting paid, like that yeah, we
were getting some money, but itwasn't like like you know, like
what I would get now if I dj.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
You know what I'm saying.
It was for the love, it was forthe fun, it was for the
experience.
You know what I'm saying.
Like you remember, after we didthe parties, we would go out to
go eat breakfast and the moneywe made we would spend it on
everybody eating, becauseeverybody who's there with us
either helped us out when we wascarrying equipment or was part
of making sure that nobody wouldmess with us, like our little
(25:40):
own security team, our crew.
You know what I'm saying.
So we definitely.
You know we did it for the loveand for the fun of it.
You know that's how, that's howyour passion usually starts.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You love it, so you don't mind doing it, you know so
now, um far as like, um likethe first, when you start
scratching, like I remember, umsome certain records, y'all used
to put markers on it, likeespecially for um eric b, for
for president right make you,make you clap for this right.
Right you have to put.
You have to put marks.
Explain to people when you haveto mark the records, to catch
(26:13):
it so that I think those are.
Explain what does it mean whenyou mark okay.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
So for the people who are djing now, who maybe
started within the last, let'ssay I'm gonna give 10, 10 years,
right, because serato andtractor and all of these dj
softwares are in effect now thecue points would be out.
Our one cue point on the recordback in the day, that cue point
(26:38):
told us where, whatever soundwe wanted to cut or bring it
back to is where the actual markwould be.
So picture a record spinning.
As you can see, in Seratothere's a line that's spinning
around in a circle, clockwiseright, and every time you
(26:59):
scratch it it would go back.
Go like this so if for ericbeing for president, if I came,
if, if the mark was at the topand it said I came in the door,
so at that point you would knowthe eye is right at the top.
So when it went, I came throughthe door and you wanted to
bring it back to that point, youwould know the I is right at
the top.
So when it went, I came throughthe door and you wanted to
bring it back to that point, youwould reverse it back.
(27:21):
I came to the door, I came tothe door.
So when you were scratching it,if you, if you scratched it,
and when I came to the door Isaid it before.
I never let the mic magnetizeme, no more than you want to go
back two times back to.
I came to the door.
So if it went around once,twice and a half, you knew you
had to go back around two timesand a half to bring it back
(27:44):
right.
So that's what the markers were.
Now you don't have to worryabout that as much.
We have these buttons, the cuepoints, and you've got multiple.
So if you knew I came to thedoor and said it before, you
could hit.
The first one usually is red onthe dj um systems and the
second one be yellow.
So I came through the door, setit before.
So now you could go, I, I, Icame through the door, set, set,
(28:07):
set, set, set, set, set, set itbefore I came to the door.
Set it came, set it, I came, Isaid it, I said it.
I said you could do it likethat.
So it makes it jump.
But we couldn't do that.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
We didn't have any buttons, we had to do all that
manually with your hands.
So you would have two of thesame records.
If you knew, I came through thedoor, said it before.
When the mark got, let's say itgot to the bottom, you would
have one turntable with itpointing up and the other one
with the line pointed down soyou can cut.
I came through the door and theother turntable with the mark
(28:39):
pointing down.
I never said it before, so youcan go, I came, I said it, I
came, I said it going back andforth.
But now the cheat code with thecomputer you can have up to 10
cue points on one MP3 fordifferent parts and then now you
can make beats with thembecause you can hit it like a
pad, like a drum.
I, I can't, I can't, I, I can't, I, you know you could do
(29:04):
whatever you want with it.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
so that's what the marks were for us back in the
days so do you think that um thenew djs, who who didn't um come
up with the in the 1200s, 1200s, the actual dj?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
like people with With turntables.
Yeah, because there's so manydifferent brands of turntables.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, do you think that it was?
Do you?
Do you, do you consider thoseguys real DJs?
If they using, if they usingthose computer things?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Well, if they're using.
Because one thing I liked aboutthe new age of DJing that came
to be with the computer was thatthey allowed the computer and
the turntable to work together.
Um, I think that made the lifeof a dj a lot easier, because
now you didn't have to carry allthe record crates.
(29:47):
You had all your songs if youhad it as an mp3 in the laptop
or on your hard drive and youcould select them without having
to turn around and look for arecord or do something.
You know, now it wasinstantaneous.
I could switch, like I couldswitch almost a song a second if
I want.
I could just go bop, bop, bopand if you have it set up right,
(30:08):
you could make it seem seamlessright.
So it's a beautiful thing.
It made the life for djs whocame from the turntable and
vinyl era.
It made the job easier for thepeople who started later, who
don't know, who didn't knowanything about turntables, cause
now they have these thingscalled the controllers that have
(30:28):
like a CD type looking, setupCD player looking, set up, with
a mixer in the middle andeverything is combined.
Now the turntableable you don'teven have to, you don't need it
, everything is all in one.
Use your laptop.
Sometimes you don't even need alaptop if you have a flash
drive with all your music.
You can just plug it in and youcan select what's on the flash
drives to play through.
(30:50):
This, this, this, um, oh, wow,this, this module, like, uh,
this, this setup.
So, in any case, I would.
I think that if you love djing,you should want to know the
history behind it.
You might want to go and checkit out, try it out.
See what it took djs before youto to be able to do what you're
(31:13):
doing now so easily.
How hard it was be able to dowhat you're doing now so easily.
Yeah, how hard it was, andappreciate you.
I think djs would appreciate somuch more what they're able to
do if they knew how it was backin the days.
Yeah, you know, and, um, Ithink that that is something you
know, you want to.
You want to, you want to lookinto that djs.
(31:34):
You want to go and just, evenif it's just try it, go, look at
some videos of some DJs whowere battling back in the 80s
and the 90s, when there was noserato, no tractor, no virtual
dj, none of these softwares thatare out now and see what they
used to do with these recordsand what they used to make
(31:55):
people, how, how they used toamaze people with what they did.
They're doing in actualactuality.
Everything that serato and allof these dj platforms were based
based off of how fast DJs usedto do things in the battles.
That's what made them say yo,we need to make something to me
that can do what these guys aredoing, but the average person
(32:19):
could do it.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Right, so they found the cheat sheet.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Pretty much.
They found a way to make somemoney, but it also made lives
easier for the current DJs, theDJs who had it hard right.
And how about this?
Those DJs who were dope backthen are even crazier now with
the software.
Even the guy who's justlearning can't do what these DJs
(32:46):
are doing.
Like.
You got to be so invested intowhat it is you want to do on
these turntables now because djsare still using the turntables
but again they're using theaspect of the computer age to do
what they did.
But they could taken it to likea hundred times a level higher
than what they were doing backin the days, because it's so
(33:07):
quick and a new DJ, even if hethinks he could come in and do
that, it's going to take himyears to be able to get that.
I mean, or maybe not, it justdepends on how motivated some
people are.
It could take them weeks, butit ain't going to be like oh
what DJ Craze or DJ Q-Bert orany of these other battle DJs
from back in the days whatthey're doing now that I see
(33:30):
they're not going to be able tojust go up there and say I can
do that.
There's a lot of thought,creativeness is still in the
mind.
Technology, yeah, helps yourcreativeness, but if you don't
have it, you can't get it.
You can't do it, no, you haveto develop it.
I'm going to said you can't getit, you got to develop that.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
You know that's a skill set.
Yeah, man, there's definitely askill set.
Man, how do you feel about thecurrent state of hip-hop and
like what's going on, and how doyou, how are you fitting in to
this new age of hip-hop?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
well, I don't think I need to fit in, I'm already in,
right, you know what I'm saying.
No, no, no, that's not, it's,it's cool, cool.
That's still a great questionhow I fit in.
I believe that I'm in.
I'm not trying to fit anywhere.
I just do what I do and I playthe new music when I learn of it
, because there's some thingsthat come out so quickly that
(34:20):
you can't keep up unless youconstantly on it, like that, and
I'm not.
I'm not constantly on it, I'mgoing to on it, I'm gonna keep
it a buck.
I got other things happening inlife that I can't just be on
trying to know what the newestthing is.
If it's that popular, I'll hearabout it.
Right and um, the current stateof hip-hop I like where it's
going, um, at the moment.
(34:41):
It seemed well, let's say, acouple weeks ago, or maybe a
couple months ago, it seemedlike the girls was was running
it like there was a bunch of new.
Or maybe a couple months ago itseemed like the girls was was
running it like there was abunch of new girls out, a bunch
of girl records was out.
You know, between um, cardi band and um and uh, what's her
name um brooke, and gorillamegan, the stallion, nikki, and
(35:05):
all of these girls.
You know it was like oh man,it's like the girls are taking
over, right, you know what I'msaying, right?
And then, and not to mention me, shameless plug, my daughter
raps too.
She's about to, she's about toblow up his daughter's good, his
daughter's good.
She raps on beep, and all ofthat because you said that they
don't be.
But in any event, then I feltlike the men was like yo, wait,
(35:29):
wait, wait.
What's going on?
Like everything is all aboutthe chicks right now.
Oh, yeah, sexy red, and youknow city girls.
And I know there's one personI'm forgetting.
Oh, I said Cardi B.
Cardi B, you know all of thegirls, that's just been Megan.
Yeah, I, girls that would,that's just on the scene, right,
(35:50):
you know, that's lotto andsweetie.
All of them, all of.
Anyway.
Now, the biggest talks rightnow was, at least recently, was
the kendrick and drake beef,which started with j cole in it
and then he respectfully bowedout and it was a way to get
everybody, everybody back on the.
Oh, the dudes.
Is they going in now?
I'm not saying the girls arequiet, but nobody talking about
(36:12):
it as much right you know I'mnot saying that this is a
conspiracy or whatever, but it'scrazy how the universe works.
Where it brought it shifts theattention back and forth,
whether it was planned or not.
It's crazy.
All the girls and the girls bebeefing too.
You know to a degree.
You know Nikki and Ice Spiceagainst Cardi B and what's the
(36:39):
girl I said her name was Lottothey going back and forth.
So you know, and I learned this, I hear about a lot of stuff
through my young daughters whoare following it, especially
because she wants to be in theindustry.
And I'm going to say she's inthe industry, but at the end of
the day, what it means, like youknow, she's keeping me up to
speed, and then all of a sudden,boom, somebody thinks someone
(37:02):
said something subliminal on theguy's side, kendrick, with,
with um and and and j cole andthem, and now they're going back
and forth and now that hype isgoing on.
You know, it's just, it's justcrazy to see and I it's all
hip-hop whether how they rap in,what kind of beats they
twerking while they battling, orwhatever.
I'm talking about the girls,right, of course, but at the end
(37:23):
of the day, it's just like,right, it's.
It's just what it is.
It evolves.
Think about it, do you think I?
But I do believe.
Like they used to have battlesback in the days our parents had
some singers.
That was probably sick sendingshots subliminally in their
music at each other or stealingwhat somebody's flow, or this
and that or hey, wait a minute.
(37:45):
I said that in one of my songsway back.
That wasn't popular, but nowit's popular because another
person, it's so much man.
It's history.
It's just what happened.
Yeah, that's what it is.
It's competition, competition,and history represents itself in
different ways, man.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
So you think Drake took that L, that major L.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
I still.
You know what.
I saw Funkmaster Flex and Ebrotalking about how Flex said
Drake took it and then Ebrosaying Kendrick take it.
At the moment I'm still I likeboth of the songs, but I think
there's a Drake song that Ididn't hear yet.
(38:21):
I think that came out after.
They're Not Like Us.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Right.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
But they're Not Like Us.
Everywhere, everywhere you hearit, they be going crazy for it
everywhere because it's easy.
They not like us.
Everybody sings it down to.
Last weekend I was in baltimoreand I played it.
You know I wasn't expecting toplay music before my show but
they said, hey, play a couplesongs before um to do the
(38:46):
changeover from one set to thenext to our set.
And I played a couple songs andI played that and the crowd who
was jamming to some old schoolmusic I'm talking about singing.
I want to thank you and beforeI let go, and I was surprised,
excuse me I was surprised thatpeople who was jamming on that
was singing J Cole's.
(39:06):
I mean, sorry, mean, sorry, notj cole, kendrick's whole song,
it was just like and they wereolder, it was mature people, I
want to say were older, but itwas mature people who was there
to see, you know, buster, bigdaddy kane perform a little
earlier before us.
The next day they had um.
I forgot, it'll come to me in asecond, but it was just good to
(39:28):
see that.
Yo, that battle record isbananas is bananas and it's
worldwide known so far.
From what I, from what?
I nice, I'm happy.
It's just I gotta hear this.
The latest drake that cameafter that, I think I heard one,
but I think he did maybe two.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I'm just don't quote me well, I mean, you know it's a
healthy competition man.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah, man, and I, you gotta love that.
I just, we, just we would likeit all to just stay non-violent.
That's it, yeah we love itnon-violent, but it's usually
there's always somebody's mansin them who, yes, it's the mans
in them.
You can't control the meds likeyo.
Well, he said what man, I ain'tgoing for, I'm going to go see
what the hell.
I'm gonna go check them, yeah,I'm going, and the and the and
(40:09):
the main man will be like, nah,don't do that.
And then they'll do that, okay,I won't.
And then they still do it.
Entourage, yeah, entourage, yougotta.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
You gotta know who you have around you, and then
they run and run up with each oneach other and start head
butting each other bam bam, bambam.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Everybody wants to prove that yo man see, I'm down
for you sometimes.
You know, screw that shit yeah,man screw that yeah man, I mean,
uh, man, just you know, for thepeople I know we didn't, we
probably we're gonna reiterateit you know it's your boy.
World famous dj scratchertaught how to send america.
You know, I just want everybodyto know, man, if you love what
(40:44):
you do, you can be great at itand you could probably live off
of it and take care of yourfamily.
And one of the things that I'mgrateful for with the fact that
I love DJing so much that it itgave me an avenue to be able to
survive, I'm still surviving offDJ money and take care of my
family.
That's a message that I wouldlike people to to get from me.
(41:06):
Yeah, and that's a message thatI would like people to to get
from me.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Yeah, and that's a closing.
That's a good closing statement, because every time we always
do a closing statement at theend of the show.
No doubt and um my closingstatement is is that um keep hip
hop alive, man?
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Oh, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Keep hip hop alive and, uh, it's going to these a
lot of people's veins who reallylove it right, hip-hop and and
music in general.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Music helps.
What what's the term?
Calm the savage beast right,right, right in us all, not just
the person who's wilding out inus all.
And so music is a definitely agetaway and we need it.
You know what I'm saying rightthe melodies, the voices, the
words, all of those things helpyou.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
You need that because a lot of times not to cut you
up a lot of times people listento music when they're by
themselves yeah, it could, music, music, music could sway you
different directions, but peoplegot to remember that the beauty
of it was to make you feel good, exactly, and like, oh my, my,
my homeboy.
You know, um, god rest.
You know, god rest my boy.
(42:10):
You know I didn't have a showsince since, since my boy passed
my boy Clinton, you know, um,and how long is that now?
It's probably like a month.
Okay, Change.
I mean I'm hurt that I lost myboy.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
You know what I'm saying and this is what you're
thinking about.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
I know him too.
Yeah, for y'all who don't know,I know him too yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
To make me think about the hip hop he used to
love, ll, when L used to takehis hat off and he said no, no,
he needs to put his head.
My hand is like a shark's fin,right, right.
And my boy?
He used to jump off his bed anddo that same dance.
Yo man, I miss him, man.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
I love my boy, and that was a cool dude too, man,
he's a cool guy Speaking to him,yeah man.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
So yeah, man Again.
Rest in peace my boy.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Yeah, rest in peace, clint man.
The last time I saw him was atmy birthday party in 2021.
Yeah, man, we was on your blockmy old block.
Yeah, your old block, troyavenue.
Still your block, though he'sflat bush baby right right,
right, right, right.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
So yes and um, it's been a pleasure yo definitely
man and um, you know I wastrying to get spliff.
Spliff is supposed to comethrough.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
Maybe it's gonna come through once he, once he see
this, or yeah, about when I seehim.
I'm gonna see him this weekend.
I'll let him know too.
Yeah, he can't come through andtalk about.
Tell him hip hop needs to betalked about.
You know what I'm saying?
Right, right, right yeah andyes.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
This is the your opinion doesn't matter podcast,
and we are outie we're out ofhere.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Peace, peace, peace.
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