#590 - Evidence Talks New Project, Dilated Peoples, Working with Kanye, Alchemist & His Top 5 producers

https://youtu.be/3KnBes7qcTk

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, we're about to get into another episode, of course,

(00:02):
sponsored by Prize Picks. Man. Shout out to Prize Picks
for rocking with us. We're super excited to have them
as partners on the podcast because I'm a user of
Prize picks.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Man.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Prize Picks, it's how you watch sports and win cash,
and it's the best place to do so. NFL season
is here, and look, you gotta just create a lineup,
all right, pick more or less on a few player stats,
all right. And Prize Picks is available in forty five states,
including California and Texas. Right now, if you support me,
if you support the podcast, man, sign up.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Use that promo code Bootleg right now on Prize Picks,
and they're gonna give you fifty dollars in lineups when
you play your first five dollars lineup. Use the promo
code Bootleg. When you play five bucks, you're gonna get
fifty bucks in lineups. That's right, I mean, that's crazy. Right.
What are we talking about now? This week? Week two?
NFL season is here. I got a couple of things
I want to get into. I'm I'm gonna walk you

(00:54):
out through my lineup that I like the most this week.
I put a few together, but this one, I like
a gonna go to this Green Bay Packers game. Josh
Jacobs more than a half a touchdown receiving or rushing.
Matthew Golden, the rookie, the wide receiver, first round pick,
more than thirty four and a half receiving yards. Jamar

(01:16):
Chase from the Bengals had a really rough Week one.
I like him to bounce back against that Jacksonville Jaguars
defense more than eighty six and a half yards. I
like Aaron Rodgers to not look like he did last week.
We're gonna do less than two hundred and twenty four

(01:39):
and a half passing yards. And then I like the
Beast the Gods say Kwon Barkley Super Bowl rematch to
get more than a half a touchdown against the Kansas
City Chiefs. That Kansas City Chiefs defense looked really, really
shaky against the Chargers last week. That's my lineup putchers together.
Used that promo code Bootleg prize picks right now, play

(02:00):
five dollars and get fifty dollars in lineups. That's what
we do and support the show. Go to prize pictures
that promo Codelet get into the episode Brulet keV. Hey,
we're here with my guy, the legendary Evidence, who brought
me so many gifts we got just we got a mug,
We got Rubik's Cube. No one's ever brought me things

(02:23):
to do homework with my.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Kids with puzzle.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
We got a puzzle.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
I'm really are these color they are color pencils so
we can do our kids and then come on the
color pencils with the unlearning in case I want to
pick up the pen you know, maybe get.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Some bars down, you know. But this vinyl, we got
to show everybody the vinyl.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
If let's start the interview with a bang.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
That these are sold out obviously right, this.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Is this is this, It's like a bundle. The OV
strip comes sign signed yep, and then everybody does OVI strips?
Which one where's the camera just straight ahead?

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Straight ahead?

Speaker 2 (03:06):
This one apparently we made made it to say something
along the lines of since nobody can read this, at
least to everybody.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
In Japan, that's tight.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
I had a great time in your country, and that's
what it's.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
That's pretty much what it says.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
That's pretty much what it says. That's fire y'all can
check it out. And then so that's motherfucker's lightening me
up in Japanese? Is the yeah, the translate button a lot?

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Can we show this puzzle piece of vinyl thing?

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah? And then so it came with there's a song
that's produced by conductor that's not on the album and
it's on a puzzle vinyl like Mayor Hawthorne had the
Heart vinyl, you know, like Bobby call will joint.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Is this a forty five or just a normal you.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Know, good question. I think it's forty five.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Probably forty five, right, Actually no, I think if it's
a forty five there'd be the bigger hole in the middle.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, So it's thirty three
probably seven. And then an instrumental amazing, which is tight
conductors having a minute. So this is like to have
like a.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
He's having a definitely, you know what I mean. It's
it's funny too because he always gives you props. Uh look,
oh that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
The picture of this.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
What what is the turner because you have to turn
the album in a while ahead before.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
You instrumental album. We did this bundle for a hundred
bucks all that it was crazy.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
It's well worth it. My thing is is when you
when you know you're gonna do something crazy like this,
like obviously you got to is it like ninety days out?
You gotta turn the album in.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
That's the crazy part. Like, So with Rhyme, says, I've
been doing bigger picture right releases. I've been for everybody.
I've been producing my own albums on my own label,
but as an artist, as an MC, I've still been
signed to Rhymester with the so like learning about the
manufacturing and like you can move.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
This wattle just in front of the micro how do
you want to.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Get right? Did you get there? Yeah? Oh for me
it is cook okay.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, I mean because you have been doing the vinyl
thing on your own, so you know this is obviously
an official Evidence album, so it's a little different. Obviously
you had it like what what what leeway do you
have to give Rhyme SAARs so they can make sure
this is ready by the time the album comes out.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
So I've been doing the like producing blues album for
Domo's album thank You and then stuff like that. There's
a certain time frame that I'm used to. But with Rhyme,
says it's like there's still a bigger picture of play
like they're doing they're so listening to Amba and things
like that, and so we're still doing a pre order

(05:57):
and it's a longer leading time and like after I've
been doing the independent thing for a minute, like getting
used to like more of the older way a little bit,
but in a dope way, like yeah, a bigger reach.
This takes a long time, Like we had to have
I mastered this album in November. Wow, so about that,

(06:19):
you know, And like so I started shooting mad videos
because I had nothing else. It's like there's gonna be
a long time for me to you guys.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Shot the video at the Apple Pan, my favorite burger
in La.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
You know what I mean. And like all those videos
were all a little bit ago, right, and so I
just got stacked up on artillery to have when I dropped.
But yeah, it's frustrating, or you got to not have
butterfingers because people want to drop everything they got not
envy a little bit, Like moving in real time is
something that I want to get into.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
More, right, because I do feel like you're I feel
like when we think of you as an artist, it
does feel very like we get gaps in between projects.
It's not as as in real time as like, yo,
maybe you get in with Conductor and you have no
no with your production. I mean like, let's say you

(07:08):
and Conductor get in and you guys bang out eight record.
You're wrapping over his beats and you're like, what if
we just want to drop these like and then and
then the okay, well fuck, we gotta think about vinyl and.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
The whole leading this hell. But then when you drop
it and it's proper.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Feels good.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
It feels good when you got this, when you got everything,
and it's like and people are like, wow, look at
the attention to detail, people spending their money, which is
real for sure, and then they get a package that's
like you could tell people gave a ship. It does
go a long way. So you know, Alchemist is my
like it's the oracle, you know. And then there's rhyme

(07:46):
staters and between the two of them, they're like, this
is how you do it like that and this is
how you do it. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
It is interesting, Like I feel like al has kind
of changed the way a lot of people should look
at the vinyl game because he's really like kind of
he was explaining to me how he was able to
kind of figure out that direct to record plant relationship,
and you know, it's really changed his business model as

(08:15):
a producer for you, being able to work with guys
like Blue and like do these like side projects with
Domino and all that. Like, is that something that you
were able to pick up from al in terms of
just like figuring out and the new business model of
what it is to be evidence as either a producer
or a rapper.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, there's been like a tremendous reinvention, and it came
subtly over a long time, So there was no like
banner that I just you know, started waving. But watching
him do that, you know, because you got to understand,
I watched all the evolution of Alchemists, So his whole
thing was like, look, figured out a bunch of shit
where things went wrong, and I'm going to help you

(08:51):
trim the fat on those things. And I'm gonna give
you the playbook how to save years and the mistakes
that I made, you know, and those were a lot
of things like not doing your own album through your
own label, right, taking advances and because they made my
first chemistry set through MASSI appeal BOLDI James Alcomy right right,

(09:14):
twenty fifteen fourteen, something like that. But that didn't ring
off like price of tea in China. It wasn't even close.
And that's because you could tell one thing is more,
because I argue the music is just as good, right right, right,
you know, And so I think when you know it's
yours and the fans know they're supporting you directly, you
don't have to do a Patreon. You can say this

(09:36):
is a fair exchange I'm giving you.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
I'm going to give you a kind of like a
piece of art crack.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
You know what I'm saying, and in return you pay,
And it's like, yo, the value this is going up
after Yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
See it with the ol vinyl like you even I'm
sure your vinyl, like you could go on eBay and
like a lot of these limited edition vinyls, Like if
you're a fan one, it's dope to like support and
get something dope that you could tangible put on your shelf.
But if you're just like I want to support and
fuck I'm in a tough time. I can flip this
vine over three hundred bucks. It is what it is like.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
And so the whole point was that it was like
I was like, look, this is the way I'm having success,
and I'm watching it. I'm seeing it. It's not like
he has to flass it or show me something. I
see it in real time, the just from the studio
and the people who are coming over, and you're noticing things. Okay,
there's been an upgrade going on and there's a new
fever for what's being created. So he was like, you

(10:31):
need to do this. So my idea was all right,
I still got a couple more on rhyme says, let
me start producing other artists under my label. I can
get the feel of what this is like, start building
with people getting mailing this, create my website, see what
my insufficiencies are, what I'm strong in, and also get
to flex my production because I produce for a lot

(10:53):
of people over the years, but it was always like
a track here, a track there. I did full bodies
of work, but they were always for another label. And
so this was like, Okay, now you got to show
people you're giving out your best beats. It's on your label.
You're gonna make the art, You're going to shoot the video.
You're gonna believe in the artist. It's something you want
to post on the front of your Instagram, not just

(11:13):
in the story, you know what I mean, Like, you're
serious about this, and then by the time I get
off rhyme sayers, I'll have a well kind of more
than making me the guinea pig.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
Yeah, as opposed to you like jumping in.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
From the dopest label to like what am I doing?
You know what I mean. So it's been like a
two three years, but I did eighteen releases, which is crazy.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
That's dope a lot.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
And there's like I was telling somebody else, it's like,
these are the people who are all the way locked in,
the people who would know the keyboard player's name from
Radiohead if they have a keyboard player. But my point is,
you know what I mean, And so losing not losing,
but like maybe losing some casual fans in the process
of really gaining some people who are all the way

(11:56):
dialed in.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Hey, we got to stop the interview to tell you
about our good folks. Odd socks man. Now, these are
the odd Socks basics, ladies and gentlemen. Now, when I
tell you this is a product that every single day
I'm alive. For the last five six years I have
used are these odd Socks Basics. Now, what odd Socks
is doing is they're kind of reinventing the sock game,

(12:17):
if we're being honest, and the underwear game. You know,
a lot of times you'll hit Walmart, you'll hit Target,
you'll get some socks, you get some draws. They're affordable,
they end up with holes in them, they don't really
feel great. Not odd Socks, ladies and gentlemen. These odd
Socks Basics are the most comfortable socks I've ever had
on my feet. Not only that, but you're super affordable.

(12:38):
Fourteen ninety nine for a six pack. That's it odd
socks dot Com. And if you don't believe me, sock
check full. Wait, that's the ex is on the other side.
There we go. Ah, you see that. Sorry you had
to see those white lakes. But it's so dope that

(12:59):
you know, I get to push a product that I
use and that I love, so odd Socks they got
the six pack of socks for fourteen ninety nine at
odd socks dot com. The basics. This is the future
of socks, the future of underwear comfort and affordability. I'm
talking about affordability without jeopardizing the quality because they are
the most comfortable socks you ever put on your feet.

(13:20):
Ladies and gents and the ETCeteras. Got to show love
to the ETCeteras. We like all the stripes on the flag.
There are odd socks dot com man, much love to
my brothers over there. Make sure you get some right now,
odd socks dot com. Let's get back to the interview
for people who don't know, cause I think that you know.
It's funny because I was talking with al We had
like a random three hour hang before this Alfredo two event,

(13:43):
and we were just just shooting the shit and he
was telling me, he was like, YO, like right now,
I don't He's like. I was like asking him, I
was like, Yo, who are the producers right now that
you feel like, are like really in their bag that already?
He's like, Yo, honestly, Ev like Ev is like unlocked
a new tea here of like being in his producer bag.
Is that something? Because I feel like you're you're like

(14:05):
a studio rap. This is just kind of your life
at this point. I'm like, you would just do music
for yourself that nobody else would ever hear if you
if you had to. But is that something you feel
like you've just elevated recently with maybe just the launch
of the label and like kind of realizing, like, hey,
the production side of this is how I'm gonna unlock

(14:27):
this business model as a guinea pig, like you said,
you know, with these other artists, you feel like the
production bag for you has gotten like just crazy recently.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
I think it's evolving, like because the beats on that
Los Angeles album last year were crazy. I think it's evolving.
In photography, you don't you're not supposed to know you're
getting better. You just shoot every day and then you
look back at your photos and wow, I used to
just only shoot at the sun, you know, a sunsets only.
I had no idea. I just pointed, I can't rat
the sunset every day, right, And then you start looking

(14:59):
and wow, look at this. I'm focusing on people's hands
now making a series like that. And so I think
I've just become more and I've just kept doing it.
I just kept doing it. And the thing I can
always say, and a lot of people always say, is
what is always be the weakest man in the room.
You know, it's always that's a good.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Thing, great way to move.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
And if you're hanging out with a what I'm hanging
out with Sam, I am and I got Budgy, and
I could think of knowledge in the room, and I
can think of Chuck strangers in the room, and I
could just start picturing everybody who's in the studio right now.
Sometimes I'm sitting in there like fuck, And so that'll make.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
You still how you sharpen your sword? Man?

Speaker 2 (15:36):
And then when I'm recording people, you got to imagine, Look,
I didn't I had a few years off wrap. My
last album was twenty twenty one, twenty twenty five. That's
four years.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
And that's like the lifetime in hippop career roulette, right,
you know what I mean. There's people's careers are don't
last four years.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
I'm done, But you got to imagine it's like in
that time I recorded some of the best rappers and
made dope ass albums with them. You don't think I'm
not sitting there being a sponge like absorbing all this shit.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
And just even getting inspired on side.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
And I'm sitting with Earl and Al and I'm sitting
Donald and I'm sitting with everybody who's like and they
throw me in love. So it's like, all right, many
doubts I have, it's being confirmed by the people that
I care about the most. I could throw those out
the window. Then there's other shit I gotta deal with.
But it's like there's a dope thing about wanting to

(16:31):
be the worst and then also being accepted, you know
what I mean. And it's like, oh, it's like redeeming,
Like you know, this is it's not light. These are
really God forbid anything happens to anybody. These are real legends,
you know what I mean. And so it's like and
so for how to say it is the highest compliment
And he would never say to me, that's the dopest

(16:52):
part about you guys.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
For people who don't know you guys' history. You guys
have been friends that you guys are kids, right.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, since it definitely.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
For you real young Yeah, what was what was your guys'
like genesis of y'all's relationship? Was it school? Was it just?

Speaker 2 (17:05):
It wasn't school, It was mutual friends and malls were
big at the time. People would everybody.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Would go hang on at that. I mean, my childhood.
We just Saturday. Yeah, let's go hang on at the
mall for for six hours. Yeah yeah, it hang out
at sam Goodie and listen to some albums, you know,
maybe go to game Stop, play some demos, you know.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Sh it was crazy, a little crazier than that. But
the he was just in a common circle. And then
there was an open mic. One time he said he
saw me trying to get the mic. He was intrigued
by that. And then after a while we were just
hanging out. But this has got to be fourteen, wow,
fifteen and then you know, I've told the story a
million times. But I lived in Venice next to QD three,

(17:46):
Quincy Jones' son, and you know he was at the
time there's no pro tools, nothing like it, and having
a studio alone was just a big deal, big fucking deal.
And so to come to my house, maybe we could
go over there smoke weed, right, and so I just
my house became the place in Venice or like for me,
I was the man, but also for the bonus of

(18:08):
we could probably go over to Q's house and you
got him and he's producing Ice Cuban, right, Tupacin's Yeah,
you know what I mean, and so I'm living next
to this. Even if that wasn't at the time maybe
a little later, it's still like the evolution. I met him.
He was doing the music for Fresh Prince of bel Air,
you know what I mean. He's legendary. Shit.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
It's crazy too, because I feel like there was this like,
you know, I always to try to tell people when
I was a kid. So I met you when I
was so a platform tour came to Phoenix, the Neatest
Hideaway when I was probably twelve or thirteen, probably thirteen actually,
because that was two thousand, right, was that two thousand platform? Yeah,
So I was thirteen. So this is a time when

(18:49):
my best friend Ramses finds out that his brother is
in a rap group called Dilated People's Roka. Right, So
he had went out to LA and hung out with
his pops and Raka and at the time the Licks
were around and all this. Anyway, So the first time
I get to meet you, guys, I'm thirteen. I'm go
to this concert. That concert really changed my life because

(19:14):
at that time I was like, I was like, I'm
always been a hardcore hip hop but I was very
much like very into like DMX and you know, all
the commercial shit, the No Limit records and all this shit.
But when I went to this show, there was a
DJ who opened up for y'all. I think he was
from Arizona. His name was DJ Megadeth and he was

(19:35):
just playing shit like I never even fucking heard, and
I was like, it was like it unlocked this whole
thing as a kid for me. But fast forward, you
guys do Expansion Team and I got to come to
La with Ramses as a kid. I went to the
Fat Beats signing you guys had, which was also a
cool thing for me because I was hanging out in

(19:56):
the office at Fat Beats. I was like a fourteen
fifteen year old fucking raw Digg is there?

Speaker 2 (20:01):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (20:02):
Obviously Jay five pulls up and then you guys had
the Expansion Team released concert. I think J five was
there right.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Anyway, this whole like you guys, I always say, dilated
people's as like a fucking as a just you guys
really changed my trajectory as a hip hop fan.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
So that led you into everything else.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, bro, like really changed my life, you know. And
so I used to tag your guys's logo on every
folder I had if I still have old folders from
high school and middle school and it's I can hit
that fucking logo with my eyes closed.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Here's the thing, I'm super proud of you just walking
in here, seeing everything you've accomplished. You know, I've always
been the young one and the crew, you know, so
I know what it's like. Yeah, you know, and so
I know what that's kind of feels like, you know,
even if it's a right evolution of it. And so yeah,
just to see you do all this is crazy. We
could talk about it later, but yeah, I don't even
want to drag that. I didn't want to even drag

(20:57):
that element into it, just because I'm proud of thank
you everything that you're doing. I don't even look at
you as the kid that I used to know.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
It's a trip. But I want to know, like because
I remember around that time, like I went and copped,
like I got the Dafari album Focused Daily from the warehouse,
and I remember you were in that motherfucker you had
long hair in the booklet and this one I'm learning
about like Liquor Crew and all this stuff, and like
kind of this just collective that you know involves kind

(21:25):
of everybody when we talk about you and rock and
you know X and King T and what's.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
The trip is? You think me and Al are friends?
He goes to New York to college and I stay here.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Because that was ninety five when he left.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
I think nine actually yeah later, And so then he's
mobbing with everybody out there, and then this is what
I'm doing out here.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
You're mobbing with all the LA legends is out there
building with It was mob wild, Yeah, just wild. So
I wonder, like, at what point in time, because obviously
you're kicking it with with Al, Like where did the
idea of Dilated start? Because you guys had one of
the most successful independent singles of all time on vinyl

(22:06):
with Work the Angles. Yeah, at the time it was
the most successful. I'm not sure if it still is
or not, but that wasn't so it's hard to say,
but it did really good. It did really really good.
But like that record kind of kicked off you guys
getting a major deal and putting out an album and
obviously having a crazy album run. But like, what was
the beginning of you rock and Babs kind of coming together.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
Alchemists and me used to go to freestyle at the
hip hop shop on the Melrose Rock. I worked there.
I met him. I had seen him before the graffiti
or graffiti. I already liked him and knew him had
somebody to talk to. And I walked in there, you know, right,
and then yeah, he probably seen us rhyman. I linked
up with him, Like I said, I live next to
QD three, and I had beats from him that maybe

(22:50):
my mom gave him money right for something crazy, like
something real sweet, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yeah, I got you here, whatever it was, you.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Know what I mean, or whatever, And so I used
to run with that like, yo, I'm maybe I told Rocket,
you know, we could do a demo or something like
along those lines, you know, like the way Rhyme Alchemist
was already rhyming with Scott Cohn. Yep, I wasn't in
that group. I was looking for something I didn't want
to wrap by myself. Wrapping with somebody who looked like
me wasn't going to happen. There was nobody else, so

(23:21):
it was like, okay, well this is dope in a
different way, you know what I mean. And Rocket was
more street older. I was like, that's kind of fire.
And then so yeah, we just started working. He led
to him knowing DJ Lethal from House of Pain, which
led to doing demos there, getting a record deal, getting
an album that got shelved, and then coming back through

(23:41):
independence on aby ab and then meeting Baboo who worked
at Fat Beats. Everything just kind of happened. It's that
young shit of just being young and the world is
in front of you and you're not questioning and you're
just taking it all in, you know what I mean,
And so things just were moving and yeah, then that
led to making the Work the Angle song, pressing up vinyl,
selling out shows on Sunset Strip, crazy labels coming to

(24:05):
check it, and getting a record deal. It was it
was wild.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
Yeah, Work the Angles is Uh, it's one of my
favorite songs.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Of all time and not crazy.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
It's like it's it somehow has not aged like when
you like, when I hear the song, it's still it.
Just you know, there's certain records from that era, especially
from like the quote unquote like backpack era of la
hip hop that like I loved growing up, and then
I'll listen to sometimes now and I'll be like, ah,
this is the work the Angles is fucking It's on

(24:32):
the mantle Bro.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
Some of the ship has done really good because now
everything is digital, a lot of that was analog, and
the analog shit still holds up in a major way.
If it was done so you could still you could
put eighty plugins on and you can't just get what
it was like hitting tape, you know what I mean.
And so some of the older stuff it was done right,
holds up in a weird way just because of the
fact that we're all trying to emulate that so much

(24:56):
now through all.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
The yeah, through the plugins, you're trying to emulate what
what you guys did, because that's all you had. You
already know. Man, want to give a shout out to
slap Woods for presenting the podcast only papers I smoke
man only leafs that we let fly around here on
the Blueleg Cap podcast. We just did a crazy pool
party with them too. That was insane out here in La.
So shout out to slap Woods. When I tell you,

(25:17):
man quality. They smoke so good. And they're called slap
Woods because they slap I know, that's like their you know,
their tagline, but it's also the truth, all right, So look,
go follow them at slap Woods. Make sure you hit
their website, and if you're at your local smoke shop,
if you're your local store and you need some papers,

(25:38):
get you some slap Woods. And you know, I think
pretty soon I want to do we are going to
do this. Pretty soon. I want to do a giveaway
with some Slapwood stuff, So be on the lookout for that.
We'll be announcing it on the podcast. We're gonna be
sending out obviously, you got to be of age sending
out a good box of these goodies. Oh, the sweeping
and and cilgar wraps are fire. Slap woods Man, make
sure you go show them some love. Slap Woods follow

(26:00):
him on Instagram at slap Woods. Let's get back to
the podcast. Okay, so the platform ends up coming, you
guys end up signing. I'm sure there was, uh, there's
there had to be some sort of bidding more for
you guys to end up with Capital.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, the bidding war happened. We went to Capitol because
they didn't have rap, and we thought if we're the
only rap, well, all the other people liked it, but
they said what you did was good, but we what
about working with such and such And at the time
we were so like in your Yeah, we were gangstar minded,
you know.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
What I mean, Like, we want to do more of
this the.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Way we want it, and so Capital just didn't know
any better, and they gave us more money, so it
was the place to go.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
So Platform comes out amazing body of work. I feel
like things started to really change, at least commercially for
you guys once Expansion Team drops.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
Because the first album wasn't accepted commercially, but we had
such a strong fan base that we did numbers. Yeah,
so they kept us.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
And it was a great album. Yeah, yeah, yeah, great
fucking album. Yeah. But Expansion Team comes and then you
guys finally kind of get I guess a taste of
what like mainstream success could look like with a record
like Worst Comes the Worst.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Which is ironic because it was such like a just
a dilated kind of record.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
It was super dilated.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yeah, guru, do it like a little there's no exactly
like the way Eric sermon, just like music we had
when Worst Come to Worst, My people come first, just
to refrain constantly coming back. The song is a minute
in fifty seconds. Capitol said that couldn't work, so we
added the instrumental at the end for like two minutes.
If you've ever noticed, it's a short song on the

(27:34):
vinyl and then the beat just runs from Matt. That's
how we defeated like that. Once they saw it longer,
they said, cool, we didn't do anything different. But the
craziest thing is that really worked to our favor because
they would play our song on Power one of six,
let's say, but not because they wanted to, because it
was working in the format or what is tested or whatever.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
Testing it was working, you know, not researching.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
It was researching, not because the DJs at the station
were excited that it was researching, right, but it was
and the Capitol had some money behind it, I'm sure,
so they were playing it. So they'd always played at
the end of their segment. What was dope is we
had that long instrumental running at the end, so they
would use that as the gap to talk about whatever
the fuck they were talking and get the next DJ

(28:20):
on and so our beat would just be running for
like five minutes as like an ad and it really
just it propelled the song at radio for some reason,
you know what I mean. And that one just worked out.
And I would say that second album is the most
pure Dilated ever was at the moment because it was
really our first album, the album that came out previous

(28:40):
we had made, previous to having a deal, right, this
was kind of a time made an album, you know
what I mean, on a label, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (28:47):
And so yeah, because it's almost like if you think
of like worth the Angles Work the Anglesers recorded as
like a single and then it ended up in a
you know, and you guys actually platform.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
It was just a collection of songs.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
A lot of stuff that was released independently prior to that.
So The Expansion Team, to me is one of my
favorite albums ever. And I think of like even just
like the moments where like fill the Agony gets an
interlude and Tafari gets an interlude, and like you guys
have like I feel like like even live on Stage
ends up being like a in Step brother It ends

(29:18):
up being like of yeah, video game song too.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
It was in the movie. It's still in the movie
NBA Street, NBA Street all that shit, but it's in
the movie Step Brothers when they're on their job and auditions.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
Right, But it's like crazy that like just why we call.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
It it's step Brothers, Me and Alchemists, Ah.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
I see that, but yeah, that was such a you know,
important album just for me personally, man, because that to me,
like you said, like that album to me is like
a classic. I think it's your guys' best album, and
I feel like it kind of changed everything. And then
Neighborhood Watch comes troublesome time, so Neighborhood Watch happens, and.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
Then that's like the labels in the mix now, So
now the labels like your get a little taste because
we almost went gold with this. Last one did really good. Yeah,
I'm assuming probably the Worst comes to Worst, but that
at the time, it was like so there made a
silver plaque in Europe or whatever something, you know, it
was like a big deal.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
I remember the Worst Comes Worst video. I remember like,
oh shit, man, these underground dudes got a BMW. This
one got an X five dog.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
First day it came out, you know. But that so
it was like, yeah, I was in my little thing
right there. I don't have any jewelry. I don't do
none of that. I always just want a nice car
and a good microphone and that's my that's my jewelry.
But all to say was like once that happened, Black
Eyed peas were blowing up and got bright ideas.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
J five's doing well too, Like so, I feel like
J five had some Like I remember J five would
always be on like MTV at least like Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
They had a crack Interscope was really good.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
You guys had that word of mouth tour that was amazing.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
I mean, the whole thing was dope. And then at
that point it got a little cloudy. I think ambitious
a little bit.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
But I love Neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
WI Good songs great, a great record with the with
the Kanye song attached to it.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
I love Neighborhood. Watch Marathon is like one of my
favorite fights.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
No good. I just mean the Kanye single being like
so was that was representing the whole album that really
didn't represent that song.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
I would say, would you say, like was it was
this way like a label play?

Speaker 2 (31:17):
It was a label play and then but that was
cool because it was like working with Kanye West really
wasn't different than working with any under underground beat maker.
To me at the time, at that time, he was
making soul samples, breakbeats attached to him.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
I didn't see the what's coming I'm saying, But back
then I feel like it's obviously a different time. You
guys obviously went on tour with him too and.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Later, but when they're proposing Scott Storch or Kanye West
as ideas Kanye West felt like, oh, that's the guy
who made truth for Beanie Seagull, right, that's a dope loop.
I would have looped that, you know what I mean,
Like it was more natural, like guy like minded, you
know what I mean? With the East Coast sound, it
was it wasn't that crazy to me as an idea.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
This way was one of them joints that like again
it it like you said, I'm like, oh shit, like this,
it's really fucking happening, Like you turn on BT, this
way is on the video was crazy.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
You never felt right, It never felt all the way right.
But a lot of the moments were genuine and like
me getting to produce on college dropout and then going
on tour with him, he was really he looked out
for us in a major way and he did his
best to make us feel comfortable in his ascension like
he he was there for that. So I gave him

(32:30):
a lot.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
Of was was that era? Because I feel like I
feel like like you said, because you. You was a
last call college drop out that you were able to
help produce or co producer or whatever.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
I produced that ship.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
You produced the record.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
And then he and then the sample got denied and
then he took it away. Was that I didn't know
after that. He just amazed me with what he did.
He deserves the production?

Speaker 1 (32:55):
Was that something you guys worked on in the this way?

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Right then? Right then, same exact time. So jay Z
was doing the Blackout? Yeah, and I had to beat
mister Rockefeller bet Middler's sample and say can you get
it to him? And he wanted it?

Speaker 1 (33:11):
And wow, So you guys were did you guys cut
this way in the studio with Kanye?

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (33:18):
So that was like a how was that session?

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Pretty good? There's two days? Was there the whole time?

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (33:26):
Legend was there the whole time. These aren't artists who
are big yet, so it's it's not weird. I'm picking
them up in my car, you know what I mean.
So it's just like another day if I pop in
there and some up and coming kids, you know what
I mean. And so really, I mean, it was obvious
what was happening, and it was obvious that I remember,

(33:49):
But you know, he was also Rockefeller, so it wasn't
like he was nobody. He produced fucking.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
The college dropout there.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
Correct, and look at him as an artist was what
I wasn't doing. I was still looking him and him
like buck wow or look at him like that, you
know what I'm saying, or just blaze or somebody just
dope on the production side.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah, because I think around that time he probably only
really had like through the Wire circulating on the mixtape scene,
and then he was on the Twister record.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
No that came. He was showing us the video for
the Wire, like the raw edit.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
That's fucking wild.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Ueah.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
So you guys go on this tour and this was
another cool LA trip of my childhood. I came out
here and I saw you guys at the House of
Blues open for you a. But this was also doubled
as like because your guys at LA date. Yes, yeah,
because Neighborhood Watch dropped around that same time, and it
was wild because you guys performed and like everybody in

(34:48):
their mom came out during this show. From what I remember,
I think Exhibit came out. I feel like dub C
came out, maybe not during your set but I just
remember being at the House of Blues on Sunset and
being like, Yo, this is like I've never seen so
many famous motherfuckers perform in one night, like Kanye. I
think Kanye was. Were the young Guns on that tour? Yep,

(35:11):
young guns were on that tour. That was a crazy tour.
I still have pictures from that tour. I think at
that time, I was probably like sixteen, So I just
remember I have a picture with Kanye West at the
Marquee Theater in Phoenix. Picture with you guys, I got
my blue Neighborhood Watch Echo shirt on. But yeah, like

(35:35):
you said, it was almost like that was like the
first tour. Really that was a college dropout tour, right, Okay,
it's like the genesis of like you know, obviously.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Yeah, Consequence was on tour.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Really though, JLC, the hip hop vian Lenis Chick, John
Legend was just I remember because.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Fucking who's the dude getting everybody cuts? Who's like famous,
super famous barber dude.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
It was wild, was like the the tour life, like
because you guys are these la guys. Obviously you guys
are kind of at this point like your own thing.
But like the I feel like that college dropout era.
It was. It was kind of like a It.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Was different that Dilated has a wide variety of an audience.
That was I remember performing it being a predominantly black audience,
you know what I mean, and be like, Okay, yeah,
this is current, you know what I'm saying. This isn't
like white people clinging on to a past era type shit,
you know what I mean, This is like happening right
now with tour Little Brother, they have like an audience

(36:37):
like that as well, which tour which is always amazing, amazing,
But yeah, so it was dope. To me. It felt
a little different than when we're just doing like our
backpack thing, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Right, it was like almost like yay, was he kind
of took the backpack spirit and put it into this
commercial package that I don't think we had seen in
a long time.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Never happened before.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
Yeah, I like, first of all the polos talking about
like like but just being proud of high lip quality,
proud of most death, like championing, I'm gonna go to
the top and I'm going to champion the people that
we that should be champion, you.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Know what I mean. That was his edge to me
was always like like he probably you know, he said
it in his rhyme some way, but you know, putting
like this person with that person right, you know, and
not being afraid to do it was bold and it
showed solidarity. Another strong thing from Al that you know,
I was talking to somebody. Yeah, it's like, yo, he's
still showing me as much love as he did, no

(37:37):
matter what's happening, you know what I mean. And it's
like that says a lot.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
Yeah, I think it's I think too, with the you know,
the certain uh level of hip hop that I kind
of came up listening to and the community that obviously
is here in LA that is from that era, I
think it's important that everybody sticks together more than it
like like you know, like I feel like I was
a perfect example of somebody who, like, no matter how

(38:02):
big of a placement he gets, he got, meet the
Grams or whatever, like, Al's still gonna do records with
who he who he came up like, which is what
he likes or what he likes. Like even I was
floating ideas to Al, I was like, yeah, it'd be
crazy if you did an album and so and son.
He's like, I mean, yeah, that's a cool name, but like,
I don't know if i'd want to do it type
ship and that and that and then what great? What

(38:23):
about restraint?

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Right? You know? That's I mean, you do ship? You know,
maybe there's somebody like.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
To me, him and Larry June doing their ship was
like the most natural shit ever and it came in.
By the way, you're on that project, which fucking the
first one. But shout out to al Man. He's He's
definitely two of the top four albums of the year
in my book so far. So shout out to al
I want to give a shout out to our family
at Broken Man Broken. Uh listen, I love these vapes.

(38:52):
Broken Cannabis. Make sure you go shoot him a follow.
I was in Austin, Texas, and you know, I was
off the Broken in Texas, even though I'm not sure
legally I was supposed to be off the Broken in Texas.
But look, you gotta go follow them right now. Go
to Rokencannabis dot com, shoot them a follow on social media.
You'll see it down below. They got the solventless rosin pure.

(39:13):
It will melt you in a good way. By the way,
all right, so make sure you go shoot them a
follow man. And you know we only rock with the
premium the best. And when I tell you, broken is
the best. They've been doing this for so long, and
uh man, the rosin, the solventless Rosin. Man, it hits
all right. So they got the disposables, they got the carts.

(39:34):
Let's just open one of these up, just so y'all
can see. These carts are beautiful. All right, we got
it open he fast forwarded. All right, So this the
cart and then obviously you got your disposable right here.
Both of these incredible. Follow them and check them out.
Rokencannabis dot com. Can you take me to your So?
Wait is the Weatherman OLP?

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Right? Is that right?

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Seven oh seven?

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (39:57):
So seven the Weatherman LP comes out? And it feels
like there's kind of like, you know, I feel like
you as a as an MC, I feel like when
like the with the early Dilated people, shit, you could
always kind of tell like, well, ev is like the
guy who can produce and rap, but rock is like
the guy who could rap rap, you know. But it

(40:18):
felt like every new album that Dilated would drop, your
bars would get sharper, you would get better right, and
then I feel like the Weatherman LP comes out and man,
I mean it's it's front to back, just an incredible
body of work and you know, personal classic to me,
do you feel like when you were working on that,

(40:39):
did you feel like you had any sort of like
chip on your shoulder or like something to prove?

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Totally did not not in a beef sense, no, no,
but of.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Course, but just like a solo album from evidence and
you know.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
I mean, I was in a group with two great people,
so at a show, you got to imagine the confusion.
It's like, who's here to see what? You know? What
I mean? Though I never had the defining moment of
really in the first however, many years of my career
knowing exactly why things were the way they were, so
making a solo record would be the chance to find
that out. I'm young, I'm probably twenty eight or nine,

(41:11):
right around there, in a real confident time, you know
what I mean, and I felt like, this is the
time I'm going to do that. My mom had passed
on the college dropout tour, so I left that so
that tour is beautiful and the worst thing ever, you know,
And then right around then I was trying to figure
out how do I say something personal within a dilated record.
And when I was making a sequence, I had a

(41:33):
song and I tried to put it with dilated stuff,
with a bunch of anthemic or political or freestyle type shit,
and it felt like, why is this just jumping out?
So that was one of the main reasons to do
a solo record was to pay homage to my mom
straight up. And then I started to get into the

(41:53):
idea of it, and I started to realize that songwriting
and producing is something that I truly love and that's
what makes a great album. There's a lot of barready
rappers who have made projects that didn't hold up over
a long period time.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, it's like you're you know.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
So I was like, oh, I could I know how
to make records? Like, like, even if it was my
delusional mind, I really felt like that kind of how
to pick beats and how to say the right thing,
and I have a reason to make it, and so yeah,
that's just what happened.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
I couldn't imagine like Chase the Clouds Away being on
a dilated album.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
My point, It could It could? It could because Rocca
would say, helly you put that on the album. That's
why it could you know what I'm saying, because there
was no not like RockA never gave me no, no
for sure, but he was the biggest one, like stop
doing freestyle records, do something about something. All his ship
is overly conceptual, right, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (42:49):
It would do like a proper, proper gand on.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Political record or this or that. So no, if anything
he encouraged it, it wouldn't be that, it would just
be my production filter going this doesn't work. And so yeah,
me in a group setting is one evidence, and me
and by myself is more Michael than it is.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Do you feel like you know? Because I feel like
between the Weatherman coming out and then fast forward a
few years you put out Cats and Dogs Layover, Cats
and Dogs Layover. Yeah, I forgot Layover and.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
And I did the Beatles album. I did a bunch
of shit for like immediate fans. They were getting fed
right around then.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
So you have this like insane momentum as evidence that
rivals whatever. I feel like, you know, dilate his momentum
was it?

Speaker 2 (43:34):
I could never rival that because that was major, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
Capital, But but I remember dude, like going to your
show like at this time, no, they had a moment.
I remember going to like seeing you in Vegas at
the hard Rock and you're fucking selling out in Vegas
and like you you had like you know, you had
a lot of just I feel like there was a
like you. I feel like for a while there a
lot of like your fingerprints were on a lot of

(43:59):
like some blog error raption that started a part that
people wouldn't even like maybe even give you credit for.
But like, do you feel because because you are naturally
an introvert and I know that you've gone through a
lot on the personal side of your life that you
know a lot of people you know, I don't want
to get into the specifics, but you've been through a lot.

(44:21):
Do you feel like you purposefully kind of like relaxed
on I guess like because I feel like there was
like a point in time where it felt like you
just kind of like just were like, yo, I got
to take a break from this shit, Like I'm a
step back from from from being quote unquote evidence.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
Was that something that I mean in like the amount
of work I was putting out.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, I feel like just I feel like just like
the amount of work and just like you know, I
feel like obviously man, you know you like I said,
I feel like cats and Dogs drops. And then after
Catting Dogs, what was the next thing?

Speaker 2 (44:56):
Whether or not that was my biggest solo record. That's
crazy that strow all the way and that's all those
two eighteen or ninety.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
But that's a big gap.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
Huge but step brothers in between, a Dilated record in between.
You know, like you can always trace me, I have,
I said on a new album. Every time I disappeared
through production, you know what I mean, it's like you
could find me. I'm somewhere written somewhere.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
Do you feel like though? Like did you? Because because
I say this about my shit is like I purposely.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Well, I've never had dreams of having a solo career,
by the way, but start let's start with that. How
I was at an in store in Philadelphia with Little
Brother and Dilated People's and Little Brother and we were
signing right next to t LA and we were signing
records and somebody came to Big Poo and said, gave
him a project called Sleepers.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Great album.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
I didn't know what the fuck that meant.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
You're like, wait, Big Poo's got a solo album.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
And what is this? And the guy every other person
who went up to him and signed Little Brother shit,
they was like, yo, you're the man. And then as
soon as the guy came with Sleepers, he started talking
to him forever about it. I was like, well, what
the fuck is this? You know what I mean? And
and he's like, I got a solo record. I want
a solo you know what I mean. It was like
I didn't see much past that. There was no big

(46:10):
play here. It was just that that moment on how
passionate the solo record was. Versu the way people were
looking at him when he was signing autographs for his group.
I was like, there's a direct connection with that.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
When you look back at I mean, because this new album, man,
I feel like this new album is incredible. It's it's
one of the best albums of the year. The production
is insane. I feel like, when you think of your
solo discography, where would you if you were to take
because I feel like, you know you could put it
put this album up there, But I mean if you
were to take the new album out of where would

(46:44):
you rank your solo discography? Like what in your opinion,
what's your best album?

Speaker 2 (46:50):
How things play out over time is fucked up. So
it's like, but I could tell you how I felt
when I made him right, but how age determines is
kind of so yeah, But well, I'll say that The
Weatherman was dope to me because I made sixteen songs,
and sixteen songs are on the.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Album sixteen for sixteen.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
There was no miss there was no asking if they
all had a reason, and they all the order presented itself.
I had a lot of great Alchemist production on that show,
for sure. I had him rapping twice, a lot of
people just getting hip to al rapping. But it's like
I've been hollered at y'all about this man. Stop, you

(47:31):
know what I'm saying. So it's like I was, now,
now you you guys, figure that shit out. Now. I
already did the Mountaintop, my favorite rapper, my favorite producer,
my favorite art. Yeah, for sure, I did all that.
So it's like, but yeah, and so that was great
because the confidence and this is no second guessing. I
flew to New York and mastered it Tom Coin, who
passed away with legendary mastering engineer just all the way

(47:54):
Victory Layover was the second one. That one was the
same thing again really in my bag. They were short
nine songs. I guess that's an album nowadays. At that time,
anything under ten was EPP that I was. It was
on Jason Goldwatch's label, which was Dcon which is now massive.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Remember, and the.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
Reason we did that is because he said I'll shoot
a lot of videos. So I was early on the
video thing.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
Yeah, had like eight videos for an album with nine
songs or seven videos and.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
You're a lot of your video What was that? That
that other platform that wasn't YouTube back then that people
were during the blogger will put their videos on that
was like four K or h D.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
I don't remember.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Start start with a v vimeo, vemo, vimeo that ship
still No, it's not is it?

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Vimeo? Vemo Venmo?

Speaker 1 (48:43):
But Cats and Dogs comes out.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
So then that's my first rhyme says, so that's all
the buzz. Then I signed with them because I had
been seeing what Atmosphere was doing touring and it intrigued
the ship out of me, and their social media presence
early on MySpace and Instagram preaked me out because nobody
was that organized like I want to be with them, right,
they are organized, They're not in New York, they're not.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
In LA They're in Minneapolis.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Yeah, they're just different, you know what I mean. I
was like I could and they there's nothing like me
over there. Sure nobody's doing my style ship, you know
what I mean? And so then did that and then
that led me to current. So Rhyme series has been
huge in my solo career.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Yeah, I remember you the I was in I remember
when you and Brother Ali toured nine probably yeah, yeah, yeah,
because that was like and I feel like that was
because that was before Cats and Dogs, But I feel
like that probably was the lead into it, leading you
probably had already worked out that deal and they're like
I was on the road with Brother Ali and.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Exactly they were doing something like that and the Yeah,
what a dope. That was like a reset button for me.
It change my attitude. His guys perform on carpets, they
have in ears. They're not rapping at other rappers and
other beat makers in the crowd. They're rapping at people
who don't make music, just humans, you know what I mean.
It was like, oh this is it wasn't as B boy,

(50:01):
is what I was used to. Even though they are
in the purest sense, it just had a Midwest twist on.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
It for sure. Hey, we gotta wrap up this interview
another one presented by Hardan. Baby, you already know what
it is. Shout out to Hardeen for presenting another episode
of the Bootleg Cab podcast. Don't forget when you're in Vegas,
you get in that tax you getting that uber say
take me to Hardean, the number one cannabis dispensary in
the world. Premium selection of the craziest gas you could
ever ask for, and then they break down all what

(50:28):
all the terps mean. It's incredible. Go to Hardan Underscore
Las Vegas. Shoot them a follow and when you're in
Las Vegas and make sure you shoot them a visit. Hey,
don't forget to go to bootleg keV dot com. You know,
we had to celebrate the two year anniversary of the
most viral interview of all time. Throw the shirt up
so you could see it. I turned it down. Shout
out to that boy Big Boogie, a big college in Jacksonville,
and we just threw these on sale half off for

(50:50):
the five hundred episode t Bootleg keV dot Com. Go
get you a shirt. Let's get back to the interview.
If you had to put together your personal mount rushmore
of production production, and you can't use Al because he's
one of your best friends. So let's take Alchemists and.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
We should have put him in there.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
No, No, he's he he's not because it's not undebated.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
If he's in there or not.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
He built the mountain.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
We know he's there. You mean, there's so many people
before him. He's built. What I'm saying, he's about your
personal mountain. You guys have been friends that you were fourteeneh.
But that doesn't mean, that doesn't mean.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
Okay, it's implied.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
I have a lot of friends who rap who ain't
gonna make my top ten list.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
Okay, but let's say four people who aren't the Alchemist.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Why four? Because top five? So how about with al
would be six?

Speaker 1 (51:32):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (51:34):
Five? This sucks. This sucks. What's your favorite movie?

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Big Lebowski?

Speaker 2 (51:41):
Really, it's definitive It's better than Godfather to definitively, The
Big Lebowski is my favorite movie. Better than Coming to America.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
I think it is better than Coming to America.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
Doctor dre Well DJ Premiere.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
Primo Doctor dre.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
Pete Rock oh yeah, and Large Professor okay, and then
it would right, here's where it gets wild m M
because this is a wild play. But notice mine all
from an era. And then this gets debatable. Okay, but

(52:28):
it it's either Marley Mall okay, or it's Kanye.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
Respected. That's a great list.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
And I feel like, because if you're going to go
back to what inspired premiere, you know what I'm saying.
And then if it's what inspired the whole next generation
of production, it's Kanye, either Pharrell or it's one of
them two and then Alchemists, of course it's different.

Speaker 1 (53:08):
I respect the list. Would you guys do another.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Who got missed? Who is the ones?

Speaker 1 (53:12):
Maybe mad Lib not enough?

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Maybe Game not enough? Songs that changed life?

Speaker 1 (53:19):
You said, Primo, maybe the Rizza?

Speaker 2 (53:22):
Oh yeah, there is? So then there's the Then he
might be the best of and it's crazy because he
might be the best of all time, but he the
only armor? What is it? What is the thing in
the armor that the only thing about him that is
just not a wide catalog of records outside of.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Te I also feel like he kind of stopped.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
Like and then that and then the then the that as.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
Well, right, yeaheah, And that that's kind of how I
feel about like when I think of like.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
Dilah and then and then JA because I think like,
I think Dila is up there and then Q two.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
But when I think of like, I think it's crazy
because I just had this conversation about just being able
to survive eras with the output and there's really not
that many people. And when you start thinking of it
in that sense, Ow's in that combo all time because.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
He's done something that no one else has done.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
There's I'm about reinventing that over and over and over
that and being relevant over and over and over for such.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
A long time.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
Not just crazy.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
But see I was arguing with somebody who's of a
higher statue. You know, I don't want to throw him
out there, but he was. We were arguing about rap
and he said this rapper is the greatest of all time,
and I said, shit, what about this guy who in
my mind is out wrapping that guy? And he goes, dude,
ain't change the generation for sure. So he's what he

(54:53):
was telling me was, yeah, he got maybe there's more syllables.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
He could maybe like bar out more. Yeah, but the
influence He didn't, you know that conversation all the time
because I'm a big Black thought guy.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Oh you're doing this, don't do that.

Speaker 1 (55:05):
No, No, I'm a huge Black thought guy. But it's like,
even like a Loop A fiasco. I think Loop A
fiasco bar for bar when he wants to, like rap
could probably out wrap the planet. Now, with that being said,
you couldn't put Loop A above nas or jay Z
or even though like if you know, if if you
sent each one of those guys into a room and

(55:26):
they had to come up with like thirty two bars,
Like maybe Loop A has the best thirty two bars.
But when you're talking about the totality of influence of culture,
longevity of relevancy, that's just something that when you have
those conversations you can't ignore.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
There's some shit I watched on some platform the other day.
It was a big platform and they were interviewing some
guy who I didn't know who he was, but it
had some the platform had so many members that decided
to watch it. And he was interviewing some guy who
ran Capital Records in UK okay whatever it is. But
this guy apparently signed big artists and at a time

(56:02):
where everything was tanking right, he was going like this,
and he just said, it's three things that I look for,
I think, he said, in an order that decide whether
this is going to work or not. And everyone, all
his stockholders and all the people in the room are
trying to guess, you know, the people who write the checks, like,
trying to figure out why this guy's working right, and

(56:22):
they all say, they said, we're like, they said, uh, talent,
He said, yeah, that's number two or three, and then
they said work ethic and they said number two, and
then nobody could get one for a long time, and
he just gave up, and he said, likability. I signed
somebody if they're likable or that's it. And he said,

(56:43):
if you base it on talent or work ethic, well
there's a lot of those. But he's like, if nobody
likes you, the doesn't matter. He said, we're in a
music business.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
We're not just keywords business that.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
And so it's like, as nice as people are, they
got to realize that in the music business, maybe they're
not as dope as they thought they were, right, but
like in every other sense they are for sure, you
know what I mean. And so that's I think that's
why sometimes person singing behind sting, it's probably a better
singer than sting, but they're not sting, you know what
I'm saying, And so they're sitting behind him going, I'm

(57:16):
singing that's so much better than you. Let's keep it real,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
That's a good point.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
So it's like, but things work out for different ways.
And I think he even said, yeah, put Madonna in
a singing contest, is what he says.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
You obviously, I always wondered this, to go back to
worst comes the worst for a second, How did like
like the Guru part of that song? By the way,
shout to Guru?

Speaker 2 (57:34):
Alchemists just you know, that might be one.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
Of our's like early like big like radio records.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
He made that happen, is what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
Oh, he made the Guru thing happen.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
Premiere and Alchelmist made it happen Premiere mixed that record.
People don't even realize it. Him and Eddie, Wow, you know,
it's just we had a space. We asked, Guru, can
you put something there? We thought maybe a chorus would
come in. It came out as back as a rhythmic
shout out it was. It was a dope shout out
and it worked, you know what I mean, And it
just like I was so honored, you know. So that's
just like a that's just a magical wishless time and

(58:07):
things are happening, you know, with the best of the
best mind you I got to work be in the studio.
I brought me in to hang out with Premiere and
NASA's lifetime. Sometimes you get to meet artists when they're
at a different point of their career.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
That's a crazy point though, just.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
To be around some of these people at you know,
it's like when I was hanging out with well certain,
you know, with the alcoholics or it's certain. It's like
that at the exhibit, I'm looking at the pivotal moment
when it's all happening. It's not that it's not just
as great now, but you just got to remind yourself,
like pre gray hair motherfuckers who are like in their bag,

(58:43):
you know what I mean. It's like I.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Would say, like lately, I've been trying to because I
live so much in like cool moments that I don't
realize how cool they are. And you've probably been in
a lot of these situations where you're like you got
to kind of sometimes just be like, yeah, I've been
trying to do because I've been able to interview recently
like Snoop and like, uh, just people I grew up

(59:04):
like idolizing and it's not a big deal to me anymore,
but recently I had to be like damn, Like like
I just interviewed ghost Face Killer, which is like, you
know wild, he's like my fifth favorite MC of all time.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
All the people too, when they come see you, they're
like happy to see you and they know you, and
it that's not like you're just like a like a chure.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
And it's even just like even like being like an
instrumental part of the interview side of the blog era
like at that time and I'm interviewing Kendrick and j Cole,
like I don't realize, like this is like a crazy
weird renaissance and like hip hop.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
And now we break for Viagrad.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
But no, no, I feel like for you, like you
had to have been in so many of those moments
where you're like, Damn, I'm hanging out during the Liquid
Crew era of West Coast hip hop or I'm hanging
out around like and you're a part of this.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
You gotta understand who is like when you're I see
it now with my kid and other people. It's like
when when you're young and hanging out with older people,
you're not your best self. You're tripping over your shoes,
you're stuttering, your mouth is dry, you're not you're on
your p's and q's, trying to impress people. And then
then you go hang out with your homies and you're

(01:00:15):
the man for sure, and then they see you over there,
They're like, that's not even the same guy who's hanging
out with us, you know what I'm saying. So it's
like being young, we got to experience a lot of
like those like crazy like I don't know what the
fuck I'm doing here and I don't even know if
I should speak type moments, you know what I mean.
And now it's become grown into it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
Well, now you're going to look back and be like
you never get over that shit.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
You shouldn't, especially you know I hang out with be real,
it still fucks me up. I'm not evidence around Breel
round premiere. I'm a mess. Yeah, he looks at me
funny because it's like he don't even know who I
am because I'm still You're just like it's like Dwight
goodin DJ premiere, Haleyo Grace, you know what I mean.
It's like this wall of legend shit, the homie, which

(01:01:00):
is I don't I don't know how to get over it?
Do you? And I don't want?

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
You shouldn't. That's what That's kind of my point, like
you shouldn't get over it, because that's what kind of
got you here, right when I think of like, you know,
sometimes like we have these West Coast hip hop conversations
and like the I guess, the the I would say,
the boom back underground side of that conversation always gets

(01:01:24):
ignored when we think about like what West Coast hip
hop rats are and all that? Did you guys ever,
because there was definitely a crazy movement coming out of
LA between yourself, J five, you know, visionaries, living legends,
fucking we can go on and on and on, but
it was very much different than what the commercial audience
had perceived West Coast music to sound like to be.

(01:01:48):
What was it, like, I guess making music like that
in LA and being a part of that like kind
of backpack renaissance but not really necessarily kind of sounded
like what the general public had assume was LA hip
hop was supposed to sound like.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
It was a weird time. It was a lot of
like where are you guys from?

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
Type ship Even the platform, we weren't on the subway like.

Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
The LA subway. Right. We were trying to show people,
you know what I mean, But yeah, we weren't on
the cover. It was all our music was super East
Coast inspired. But when I was growing up, I thought
EPMD was from the West Coast, true, you know, because
they had they were wrapping a more bounces.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
They were here so cool.

Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
I like that, you know. I would say Fat Beats
was just a tremendous force in all of this. You
said music, plus there was warehouse, it was Tower Records.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Beats in LA was crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
I'm saying. Previous to that, that's where I used to
go to the mainstream places to buy O GC or right,
Black Movie. Right. I didn't know then thefar I put
me up on game on there's a store. He started
naming off Rascal and Ship that I never heard about him.
What the fuck is Rascal? He's like, oh, they got
that up there, and I'm like, what is it? And

(01:03:00):
I'm finding these twelve inches Most Deaf, Miss Fat Booty,
LP Funk Crusher, Company Flow Wild, I'm seeing all these records.
I couldn't even it was like none of this was
that music. Plus that was and a lot of it
was East Coast.

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
It kind of like opens you up to a whole
new world of like independent ship that you didn't even
know existed totally.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
So it showed me that like you can like East
Coast shit and make East Coast sound in music or
premiere DJ, premiere minded beats and have a store on
the West Coast that's gonna slang this shit fire no Internet,
you know what I mean, prior to the Internet.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
Yeah, so it's like who was the first I guess
laog when we think of like West Coast hip hop
that like maybe is on like the more traditional sonically
West Coast side that really embraced you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
Was it was?

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
It? Obviously probably be real I'm assuming, right, tough.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
Well lethal house of paints, so yeah, soul Assassins, a
lot of alcoholic.

Speaker 1 (01:04:03):
Crew, the Licks, Yeah, kan T.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
I didn't know k T really right, but yeah, but
we were always kind of like like.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Did you guys ever get on like Snooper Dre's radar back.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
I mean you can watch this in the Calis Active video.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
It's way later though, but cali is Active is later.
I mean, like you know ninety nine, two thousand thousand,
two thousand and two, Like, did you like get like
did you ever find out like yo, oh shit, Dre
knows who we are?

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
No, it was finding out that Pete Rock played our
ship on fucking the radio right right, right, right right.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
I knew that like that side had embraced you guys.
I just didn't know if there was like, yo, fucking
DJ Quick is slapping our ship. This is crazy? Or
you know, cause I feel like.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
No, I don't think I don't think so. I think
it was more like, no.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
What Cali's active?

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
Be real for sure, be real, show love it's unquestionable.

Speaker 1 (01:04:55):
Yeah, shout out to be real. Last Dilated album was
uh Is eleven years ago. Director of photography. Yeah, are
we ever going to get another one?

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
Do you want one? Of course you want one.

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
I wouldn't mind one.

Speaker 2 (01:05:11):
You wouldn't mind one.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
I would fucking think about it. Well, when I've seen
you guys perform live like three times in the last
twelve months and every time you guys perform live, I'm like, fuck, I.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
Just did a song for Rocket we put out of
forty five and my forty five I saw that fire
called conflicts and contradictions, conflict and contracts.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
Would would you guys? Have you guys talked?

Speaker 2 (01:05:33):
You guys have done some live shows together. Recently they're
been doing live shows. There's been a little demand for it.
I'm not big on like living off the past ship,
but I don't feel like dilated is When we get on.

Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
Stage, it feels very current.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
It was just yeah, it doesn't. I feel like we
give it are all still there's it's not mailed in never.

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
I mean, you guys are all each too. Like I
just feel like, you know it wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
I don't think there's a need for a new record
right now if we just started making music. But we
live far different lives, so I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
He has very far apart.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
I don't know how that. I don't know what sparks
it off, you know what, maybe even a single maybe,
but I don't. I don't hate the idea of it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
I love the well that's that's what I like to hear.
It's like when I just saw Baboo. I was like,
Baboo duck season, Dog, Like, can we do another duck season?
Like what are we doing?

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
Maybe I'm yeah, maybe maybe. I like the may I
love rock, I love Babs and they're still sharp as fuck.
So I mean, it's it's if it wasn't overhyped and
if it was just like out the way and like,
this is the thing I didn't know I needed today?
Is that the tweet or whatever that makes sense this
album I didn't know I needed on a Friday. Maybe

(01:06:46):
something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
You uh helped with Conductor because I was interviewing Conductor
and we had talked about how instrumental you were and
kind of helping him, uh network and kind of get
in front of some of the Grisel all this stuff.
Explain to me kind of your guys, because he's got
a crazy I mean, obviously you showed the vinyl that
that's that's not on the album, but the record that

(01:07:08):
is on the album with Blue. It's probably my favorite
beat on the album, to be honest, but it is crazy.
Explain your guys' relationship because Conductor is on a crazy run.
He's obviously producing for Drake, He's producing for I mean
he's he's killing it right now.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
He's having his moment right now for sure, and I
hope that continues to the I met him at a
show man. I just met him at a Yeah, with
the atmosphere, he wanted to come into the show. I
got him in. I was aware to some capacity of
what he was doing and no idea. Really I knew

(01:07:41):
he was nice, kept in touch, super he just felt sincere.
I enjoyed hanging out with him that day. He had
a lot, a lot of good things to say. Started
peeping his Instagram and it was like, oh, this isn't
this is fire, right, you know, And it's like, it's
hard to gauge fire when there's two likes because everything

(01:08:04):
is such like a driven.

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
Even if you don't think it matters to you, it does,
it does, it does? He's subconscious at this point you have.

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
To ask yourself, why isn't anybody else Maybe I'm bugging
and so yea. It was just early on this thing,
but I kept enjoying what he was doing to the
point where I was like, I think trying it got
some beats. I don't know if it worked out, but
now we're talking and then yes, I think terminology. My
man Urn was doing an album with with horns. He

(01:08:32):
had an album where he was doing all album with
every all horn loops something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:36):
It conco sounds about right because Sermonology is sucking a
million albums.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Yeah, He's like, at this point, I'm going to do that.
And so I was watching a conductor ig he had
a beat with a horn plant tag him and they took off,
and then probably somewhere in there it led to Griselda
or something else. I didn't do nothing for conductor. He
did everything for himself. I just liked what he was doing,
but from a genuine place, not for sure, you know,

(01:08:59):
because it's it's uh yeah, when things get shiny, it's
so much easier to like him. I believed in what
he did earlier. Yeah, it's not a surprise. I've seen
so many people do well of growing up around will
in a mid and red food that is kind of
all and everybody. I've seen everybody do their things, So

(01:09:21):
it's not a surprise when I believe in somebody and
other people do as well.

Speaker 1 (01:09:27):
How many unreleased? Uh ever, you guys cooking up the
new Step Brothers album, is there? Al don't want to.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Say cryptic to me, imagine that and to the internet.
It feels like he's wanting this to happen. Another thing
happens twenty fourteen, that's he you know, I think he did.
He has gangreen, he'd been dropping those. I think he
got a couple done, so I think that's probably something
he wanted to do for a minute, and then I

(01:09:54):
would hope this would be something like that. I think,
here's the thing. I've tried to jump this and started,
but he wraps on his own beats, So me sending
him my beats ain't going to start this project. It's
just not So when he's ready is when it will happen.
But I think, like we have a song called rain

(01:10:17):
every season on on on Learning volume two, one.

Speaker 1 (01:10:20):
Of my favorite also has a puzzle and color pencils
and composition book and.

Speaker 2 (01:10:30):
Yeah, but I wake up in my email and I
have a beat and a verse done. So it was like,
that's that's going to get done, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:10:40):
I could just do my part and then and then
it's going to be on the album.

Speaker 2 (01:10:43):
So when he wakes up in that mentality and has
me in mind is when that will happen. But I
don't think it's too far away. I don't think it's
too far away. Who could be bullshitting and it's mastered already.

Speaker 1 (01:10:55):
I think it probably is. It could be who's somebody
that you would love to produce an album for that
you haven't worked with yet.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
I've been thinking about this. Here's what I learned. The
ideas of what you have are not what reality is.
And so it would have to be somebody At this
point in my life. It's like you're dating within your
tax bracket. It's got to be somebody you don't want
to you don't overkick your coverage. No, it's got to

(01:11:26):
be somebody who likes to drive to my driveway.

Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
Hey jay Z, Like, yeah, of course he.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
Wants to use my bathroom at my house, you know
what I'm saying. And somebody use my forks that I
wash in my sink. That's who I need to work
with right now. And of that list I have as
at the top of that one, you know, I don't know.
I don't know who wants to come over.

Speaker 1 (01:11:46):
I feel like you and Larry would be crazy. You
guys obviously have some DoPT.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
You have two songs that I've sent him beats. He's
actually sent me back like is this available? You know
what I mean? So you never know, but things like that,
as a producer, you know very well once somebody says
that it's sixty forty maybe anything, you know. So, But
I would love to work with Larry, But in all fairness,
I got put up on Larry around Alchemist's time of

(01:12:13):
that record. So I would need to produce something that
I have a full range of their whole.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
Career, right like you kind of need to tap in
and like.

Speaker 2 (01:12:20):
Something that I well, Like doing Blue was really something.
That Blue album was something that was high on my list,
believe it or not. Like I might have answered this,
He's one of my favorites, but I don't know somebody
who would trust me. I've worked with Gunn. I've done

(01:12:43):
two with him already. I would like to work with
I would like to work with Earl Sweashert. Who wouldn't
want to work with you know? That would be I
think he'd come over and I think he.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
Would at ryest he came out with al.

Speaker 2 (01:12:56):
Yeah, ask Earl if he would use my fork.

Speaker 1 (01:12:59):
Earl would be done or it would be dope, I
would say. On the up and coming side. I think
Coyote would be dope. The two brothers Coyote, they got
a whole project with statics selected coming.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
I feel like Coyote, I'm learning about them through ber Reu,
two guys I already know.

Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
Yeah, they're super super talented.

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
If they want to come over, then we're talking.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
But they'd come over maybe.

Speaker 2 (01:13:22):
But that's the thing. I really feel like I got
to be producing people who I could be there.

Speaker 1 (01:13:27):
With that is that kind of like for you?

Speaker 2 (01:13:29):
I have the sony with you're saying that the I
have that, and I have the Noyman and I have
the man leaves and I have the thing, which I mean,
I want to shape the whole sound. I have my booth,
I have my mix engineer, I have my master and
I want to for you.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
Is that create a sound like you're not just if
you're gonna do that, we gotta be in my Like
it's almost like like you're coming over and we're doing
this where I.

Speaker 2 (01:13:51):
Could go to their place, right, But I really just
don't want to have like a mailing.

Speaker 1 (01:13:56):
No the email back and forth is I would do
it if.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
It was the right artist, of course, course, you know
what I'm saying, but right now, though the people like
that would be the game.

Speaker 1 (01:14:06):
Right was wanted produce Oh for the game game, that'd
be dope games. I feel like a lot of people
don't give him.

Speaker 2 (01:14:13):
Seen I'll beat me to that. That's not going to happen.
I mean, I didn't have a chance, but that would
have been a wishless thing. You know, It's just like
who you got to find somebody who knows that I've
been that I have a flank in forty five that's fire.
I got to find somebody who knows that, who's like
all the way in tune. I don't want to solicit, right,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:14:33):
Do you you know what's I was just having this
conversation with somebody. I feel like it'd be dope if
I don't. I don't know if Fante just doesn't like
oh No, we.

Speaker 2 (01:14:42):
Talked, but but if about a forty five we talked
about doing one, I would love you and oh no
on my label production for him.

Speaker 1 (01:14:49):
That'd be crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:14:50):
I would be crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:14:51):
Last Little Brother shows are coming up of all time.

Speaker 2 (01:14:53):
And the joints the Little Brother did a conductor of
fire Dude.

Speaker 1 (01:14:58):
I would love for Fonte to just put out more
music and like the group obviously, but well listen v man,
Uh the project is out, people can go support it.
It is Uh. These vinyls that you showed off are
currently sold out.

Speaker 2 (01:15:16):
But this is this is a bundle that sold out
with all the stuff that came together.

Speaker 1 (01:15:19):
Oh got it. So the bundle sold out, but there.

Speaker 2 (01:15:21):
Is instrumental album still available, almost done, getting close and
then black finel all day?

Speaker 1 (01:15:28):
Did you you know? I was? I want to ask
this question because I just was talking. Did you guys
ever have any run into MF Doom?

Speaker 2 (01:15:37):
I got to so lucky. I got to produce a
song for Doom, not with his a cappella flowing on
top of it. He wrapped on and beat for side
rock dope MC on rhyme stick. Yeah, she's ill and
so homosize the producer. He produces all her ship. They
let me have one or two joints on the album.

(01:15:59):
I was outside producer and I got lucky enough the
Doom got on one of those joints.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
Also crazy. How did you end up on the reanimation
Lincoln Park project?

Speaker 2 (01:16:12):
I think that was just a time when Lincoln Park
was looking to do a remix album with hip hop beats,
so AMP Live is on their Alchemist is on there.
I'm on there. There's a lot of people on there.

Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
Like a lot of people don't like uh, you know Mike,
you noticed like a fucking l a backpack baby, and.

Speaker 2 (01:16:30):
He could rap good. The the I got lucky because
I had a song called High Voltage, which was so
it was a remix album. So yeah, animation because everyone
remixed Lincoln Park song. I got lucky and got a
song called High Voltage, which was the only song that
wasn't remixed. It was just a song that had.

Speaker 1 (01:16:49):
Never been heard. Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
They performed live or some ship. And then we got
Pharaoh Manch on it super Dope, which was one of
my other heroes. Pharaoh Manch would be somebody else. I
think he would come over.

Speaker 1 (01:17:01):
What was your You guys had so many iconic tours.
Think about the Little Brother Tour, the Kanye Tour, the
Scratch Tour was sick, the Word of Mouth tour was crazy.
What's your favorite tour you've ever done as a as
you could be as a member of the group, solo artist,
what's your favorite tour?

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
Yeah, the I didn't like touring, Let's start with that.
So favorite and tour that's like jumbo shrimp. You know
what I'm saying, wasn't I wanted to be making beats
at home producing shit. Once I look back on it, okay,
was amazing, you know what I mean. So sometimes you're
not in the moment, right, you know what I mean?

(01:17:46):
But yeah, the first tour dilated in Jurassic five was
stupid because we had a shitty tour bus. The three
rap groups and DJ's all one on the bus. People
like sleeping in any available space like a jail cell,
you know what I'm saying, Like ripping the curtains down.

Speaker 1 (01:18:05):
I remember wrapping them.

Speaker 2 (01:18:06):
Up as a blanket. No, like the most wild ship.

Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
I think I played you in Tony Hawk on the
bus for that tour. He was a child and I
beat you. Yeah, sounds about right.

Speaker 2 (01:18:18):
The theory that was too crazy because I'm just too young,
you know what I mean. But later I think there
was a European Rhyme Saies tour that was dope, twenty
eleven meter in atmosphere and brother, I really enjoyed that.

Speaker 1 (01:18:31):
That's second, that's a big tour.

Speaker 2 (01:18:32):
It was dope. Yeah, tour buses and ship Is.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
There anything because I feel like we don't get enough.

Speaker 2 (01:18:38):
With Rage against the Machine. I got to tour with
them on their last tour, Dilated people's Gangstar. Think about that?
The fuck?

Speaker 1 (01:18:48):
What year is that?

Speaker 2 (01:18:49):
Two thousand the Battle of Los Angeles tour?

Speaker 1 (01:18:52):
Holy shit, I didn't even.

Speaker 2 (01:18:55):
That's legendary shit, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:18:56):
I mean, Gang Star, Dilated, Rage against the Machine fucking
crazy and.

Speaker 2 (01:19:02):
Raged against the Machine were such gangsters for bringing out.

Speaker 1 (01:19:08):
Those that's wild. Shout out to zach Man Zach's is
a dope dog.

Speaker 2 (01:19:15):
Yeah, they were breaking up right on tour, you know
what I mean, we're there, it's shit crazy? What is uh?
You know?

Speaker 1 (01:19:24):
I feel like Slug and Uh, I guess just kind
of the when I think of maybe underappreciated or under
talked about, like guys who've like kind of done legendary
shit changed the game. I feel like Slug atmosphere and
rhyme Sayers is in that conversation because I do feel
like like when you think about like Slug was getting

(01:19:45):
like radio play, like on alternative rock radio and like
but like making boom back like dusty rap shit, Like, uh,
what is something that you've kind of learned from being
so close to those guys, because I do feel like
they're underappreciated, under celebrated, and they are. You know, they
are fucking goats in their own right, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:20:04):
Yeah, Like I said before, Dilated was like it just
I learned everything I didn't learn from Dilated, I learned
from them. So the recorded music of rhyme Sayers wasn't
part of my upbringing as far as like catalog. I
knew Scapegoat, I knew joints, you know what I mean,
But I wasn't the audio of what they did. I

(01:20:25):
was listening to Mob Deep, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:20:27):
For sure they had very much like their own like
corner of their Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:20:30):
So I wasn't immersed. I was immersed. I knew the
radiance of the success.

Speaker 1 (01:20:35):
Yeah, you knew that they were doing well, but.

Speaker 2 (01:20:37):
I didn't know the nuance of it all. And when
I got there, it was real jarring to me because
I always thought, like, before you come out on the show,
you're backstage with a mic going already already, right, get ready?
You know. I didn't, and then the beat drops and
you walk out and you fucking bouncing and the crowds
going crazy. I never knew like the idea of like

(01:20:58):
the mic on the mic stand and walking out slowly
on top of a carpet and taking the mic off
the stands saying what up to the people, putting the
mic away and comfortable for a second, and then dropping
some shit right like they they just had a more
rock and roll approach to the hip hop. Still pure
as fuck. It's still a rapper in a DJ, of course,
but their approach to it was like, like I said,

(01:21:22):
the in ears, no hype man, no one doubling every
other word, like no faking an encore, like walking off
unnecessarily to make the crowd, so you can walk back
on and be the man, right, Like just a lot
of dumb shit that was the most important little shit.

Speaker 1 (01:21:40):
Not funny, you know, like like I feel like that,
Like how you said like you were listening to Mob
Deep but you knew the scope. It's almost like how
I used to be that way with like Strange Music
and Tech nine, where I'd be like, yeah, I know,
like they're selling out every time they come to town.

Speaker 3 (01:21:55):
But then when I like went to the show and
got involved in it, and I was like, oh shit, yeah,
this shit is It's crazy that there's just this other
pocket of the game, the hip hop culture that like,
is it whatever we're fucking into initially?

Speaker 1 (01:22:12):
You know, I feel like Atmosphere is like a perfect
example of that. It's like Atmosphere was like you're either
it's either for you or it's not. But you can't
deny how the impact and the success, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:22:22):
So shout out to them.

Speaker 1 (01:22:24):
Shout out to them. So are you officially after this
album everything's on your own label?

Speaker 2 (01:22:29):
Well that's the idea. Yeah, move it there. It's a bittersweet,
you know, because in an industry where everybody hates the
label I don't. I love rhyme saies, you know, and
so they've done a lot of good for me outside
of music as well, like just on some human shit.
So I don't want to end it. I think that
it'll be on a one off basis, like hey, not
contractually bound, like yo, let's do on that.

Speaker 1 (01:22:51):
Hey, let's do one.

Speaker 2 (01:22:52):
Let's do one, you know what I mean, or maybe
four or whatever, you know what I mean, that kind
of thing.

Speaker 1 (01:22:57):
But you want to be able to be like, hey,
I want to drop an evidence out um on my ship.

Speaker 2 (01:23:00):
Yeah, that's all the card ship.

Speaker 1 (01:23:03):
I respect that one hundred percent. Man. Look, go get
the album. The album is incredible. Unlearning Volume two. Proud
of you, Bro, Proud of you, man, I.

Speaker 2 (01:23:10):
Mean you're right that fuck that all see that bullshit.

Speaker 1 (01:23:14):
Come on man, yeah, go get the album, Go get
the puzzle.

Speaker 2 (01:23:19):
I'm gonna smoke weed.

Speaker 1 (01:23:20):
We're gonna smoke some weed. Evidence So he has a son,
h