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Craig G from The Legendary Juice Crew Talks About Hip-Hop Took Him Around The World | LIVING LEGENDZ
Jun 10, 2022
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0:00
[Music]
0:03
hey man here we are again another
0:04
episode of living legends i'm your host
0:06
suede callaway alongside my other host
0:09
right he goes by the name of
0:11
rick knight rich nice is in the building
0:13
man this is where we like to celebrate
0:15
people the architects those who lay down
0:18
the brick work to create this business
0:20
this culture we know us we call hip hop
0:23
today's guest man it's different though
0:25
he's not just legendary i consider this
0:27
man a friend i consider this man a
0:28
brother one of the most ferocious
0:30
freestyle mc's to ever pick up a mic
0:33
this guy is a member of the the
0:35
legendary juice crew when you when you
0:38
do your knowledge you learn how
0:39
important they've been in the
0:40
development of hip-hop and we talk about
0:43
a lot of people talking about special ed
0:45
we talk about shaheen but this guy right
0:47
here was one of the first teenage pop
0:49
idols to ever come out of it
0:54
to come out of hip hop give
0:58
[Applause]
1:10
the shout record was the first time we
1:11
ever heard you shout yeah shout
1:15
let it all out well listen everybody my
1:17
name is craig g i sounded like that like
1:19
i was yeah but you had you had a lot of
1:22
you had a lot of bravado on your voice
1:23
she was 12 years old man how many people
1:27
put out records at 12 years old stevie
1:29
wonder right
1:31
happy birthday okay stephen i don't want
1:32
to date this but yeah yeah stevie wonder
1:35
yeah but i mean what was that like
1:36
though your 12 year old put out a
1:38
wreckage he was a superstar in the
1:39
neighborhood
1:40
it wasn't that
1:41
it's not like a crazy [ __ ] story
1:44
because it's so simple molly lived in my
1:46
building okay
1:48
i lived on the second floor 41-17 vernon
1:51
boulevard molly lives on the sixth floor
1:53
wow and
1:55
he was already doing certain joints like
1:57
dimples d and working with shannon them
1:59
i think he had moved to 12th street to
2:01
his sister's apartment where he did like
2:04
a lot of hits
2:05
and um
2:08
and the bridge everybody knew who the
2:10
rappers were like if you was like trying
2:12
to
2:13
just be known as a rapper not get on it
2:15
was just you wanted to be known and
2:16
heard as a rapper
2:17
and
2:18
he came to my career one day i was like
2:20
yo we got this idea for a song um
2:23
shout rap and i was like oh shout that's
2:25
the joint yeah you know so
2:27
i remember going to the studio and
2:31
rapping for seven minutes i didn't know
2:33
how to make a song
2:35
and m.c shannon had to tell me about
2:38
bars like versus and versus yeah like i
2:41
just went and he struck he has credit on
2:43
the song because he helped me like
2:45
structure the rhymes
2:46
so yeah so wait so
2:49
that was before
2:50
transformer transformer was the next
2:52
single oh
2:54
that's crazy that was the first one i
2:56
ain't gonna fly i was mad at you for
2:57
transforming transformer was like
3:01
um
3:03
the label was like here's a thousand
3:05
dollars we want you to make a song about
3:06
transformers no i was mad because i was
3:08
rapping at the time and i wanted to do a
3:10
transformer song
3:12
and all the kids in the hood that was
3:13
our favorite i could imagine like yeah
3:15
so when you smacked it it was just like
3:16
oh he beat us to the point so we was
3:19
just kind of mad that you did it first
3:21
you know wow i ate no no it wasn't hate
3:24
no it wasn't it wasn't hate it wasn't
3:25
happening the song was not the song
3:27
didn't do that great no it's okay don't
3:28
worry about it
3:29
but let me tell you but let me tell you
3:30
in the hood a lot of people who enjoyed
3:33
that show was very happy because you had
3:36
to
3:37
and the noises on it so the djs used to
3:40
cut that part that's what we used to
3:41
like all the time so imagine this
3:43
imagine being 12 years old putting out
3:46
shout rap okay
3:48
and
3:49
every
3:50
urban station
3:52
that played the tears sofia song
3:55
played
3:56
the rap version
3:58
on the air all the time like
4:00
i was doing mad shows like my moms
4:02
wouldn't let me do shows during the week
4:04
but 12 years on the weekends my older
4:07
brother somebody would have to come with
4:08
me and then
4:10
doing transformers at 13
4:14
and crickets
4:15
and being a feeling like you're a
4:16
failure before you're even a teenager
4:19
wow what was that like for you like we
4:21
hear a lot of artists nowadays talk
4:23
about anxiety and stress and
4:25
you know feeling like failures
4:27
depression that's these are common
4:29
narratives nowadays you was ex well you
4:31
were experiencing that then absolutely i
4:32
was like uh i listen
4:35
it wasn't my idea to do the song but i
4:37
just thought everything was supposed to
4:38
work back
4:39
you were making a record so i was like
4:41
okay it's gonna work right and at 14
4:44
like 13 14 years old it was like oh man
4:47
what the hell wait nobody liked this
4:50
song really
4:51
didn't know it was big in europe okay
4:53
you know this was pre
4:55
you know internet technology so
4:58
it was big in europe but in the states i
5:01
could never get a spin like it was like
5:03
oh wow really
5:05
i made a song that didn't work did you
5:07
understand like
5:08
the music business ever it's a whole lot
5:10
that goes into it bds you know uh how
5:14
much how many spins you're getting
5:15
already or how much money you're getting
5:17
paid for spins at 13 i had no idea
5:21
what the hell i made a record right okay
5:25
we you know we on but
5:27
yeah it kind of bugged me out i was like
5:29
wait a minute yo wait you know so
5:33
when you look back on it now it builds
5:35
resilience yeah it builds resilience
5:38
because
5:39
after that
5:40
we did the juice for all stars and i'm
5:42
thinking at 14 i killed that verse and i
5:44
was like yeah okay right all right all
5:47
right that's that's that's what it is
5:48
and then like a few months later
5:50
we recorded it didn't come out yet but
5:52
we recorded drop of science and science
5:55
for the uncontrollable yeah i was 16
5:57
when it came out like a few months after
5:59
16 but we recorded it like when i was
6:01
like 15 and i was like wow
6:04
so drop this so i'm on the west coast
6:06
y'all on the east coast
6:08
we start using that turn drop in science
6:10
because of that song
6:12
right
6:14
what did it mean i thought it meant like
6:16
he was giving people knowledge of self
6:18
well me personally i wasn't a five
6:20
percent of them my brother name was
6:22
powerful mel kim god i love okay
6:24
so
6:26
he would say it and he would explain to
6:28
me what it was and you know it was just
6:30
a phrase for me
6:32
because i was kind of studious anyway as
6:35
a kid like i liked school and stuff like
6:38
that it was kind of weird but
6:39
i like english class because you're
6:41
writing you're doing stories and being
6:43
creative so dropping science was like i
6:46
suck that science class
6:48
science and math like i suck like
6:51
like the intricate math like algebra you
6:53
know i was like i just need to know how
6:55
much money i'm making i don't need to
6:56
know what y equals b
6:58
you know
7:00
but drop in science like there was five
7:03
percent as they stepped to me like yo
7:04
what's today's mathematics you being
7:06
dropping science and i'm like uh
7:08
yo you got heat over that what yeah new
7:11
york was big and five percent that time
7:14
yeah but i explained it and you know i i
7:15
wasn't backing down
7:17
i'm just like yo this is what it is you
7:19
know
7:20
my family plus i i kind of knew the
7:22
mathematics because again my brother
7:23
yeah so but you could have got and then
7:26
what you say is to save yourself part of
7:28
me was
7:29
i ain't five percent but i got knowledge
7:30
yourself
7:31
and that was cool that was cool
7:33
what was school like because you're so
7:35
young at this time you're going to
7:37
junior high school and in high school
7:38
what was school like
7:40
school was in junior high school nobody
7:42
really
7:43
wasn't that serious
7:45
when i went i went to graphic arts
7:48
on in the city and you know park west
7:50
was next door all the decepticons all
7:52
that like
7:53
me and sean price had classes together
7:55
wow
7:56
um recipes sean price what up burn um
8:01
high school the symphony video came out
8:04
oh come on man
8:06
the symphony come on man you were in
8:09
high school when the symphony came out i
8:11
was in the 10th grade
8:13
so you became an instant star on campus
8:16
i was a truant
8:20
and just so you know because i went to
8:22
school across the street it was an easy
8:24
neighborhood to be a true first of all
8:25
at graphics you come out the gate for
8:27
lunch i never went back to sleep
8:30
i would go to the chinese restaurant on
8:32
the joint where you sit down and
8:35
one o'clock
8:37
time to go home because i lived in
8:38
queens and i would have to commute to
8:40
school
8:40
they kicked me out i was like in the
8:42
11th grade i had like 30 credits
8:45
[Laughter]
8:48
yeah
8:49
it was bad man it was bad but craig man
8:52
you know you were a teenager
8:54
as far as rap music go you were a
8:56
teenage superstar bro yeah by the time
8:59
you were in high school you put out a
9:00
couple records
9:01
that was
9:03
unusual that was rare that didn't happen
9:05
man you would live in the dream but it
9:07
doesn't sound dreamy to me the way you
9:09
explain it
9:11
listen it's always a dream because you
9:14
have to be
9:16
um grateful for stuff like i i come from
9:19
a hood where
9:20
my first album covered the kingpin on
9:23
the back like a lot of those people are
9:24
dead
9:25
yeah and i'm from this
9:28
small hood in new york city where some
9:31
of the greatest rappers in the world
9:32
came from and i have a
9:34
part in building that to where people
9:38
could recognize them and it's like
9:41
it it
9:42
it sucked but it didn't suck because i
9:44
could have been doing other stuff
9:46
so
9:47
i'm grateful
9:48
can you paint the picture for me for
9:50
somebody who grew up
9:52
on the west coast watching these things
9:54
take place
9:55
uh
9:56
living in the neighborhood you lived in
9:58
i mean you named
9:59
dimples d you name you name m.c shan
10:02
marley mall like who would you just see
10:04
on any given day walking around the
10:06
neighborhood
10:07
i'll be honest with you before them
10:09
[Music]
10:11
like my introduction were these dudes
10:13
called the sunshine boys the high
10:15
fidelity crew
10:17
uh there was a dude named tj swann he
10:19
just passed not the biz cj swann
10:22
and he's from queensbridge he just
10:23
passed away um
10:25
uh squeaky like there was dudes that
10:28
were like stars in the hood and they
10:30
rocked that re-center
10:33
shannon do it out in the center but i
10:36
was too young to go to these shows but
10:38
the tapes would make it around the hood
10:40
uh my older brother was in a rap group
10:42
they was called high fidelity
10:44
jazzy jamel my man rally like these
10:46
dudes
10:48
were like
10:50
superstars to me and then molly lived
10:53
upstairs and we had our windows in the
10:55
back facing the park and you could hear
10:57
him
10:58
djing and playing joints and
11:01
like my earliest memories was like
11:03
calling the awesome two
11:05
on a tuesday at two in the mornings
11:08
that's what they used to replay the show
11:09
at two in the morning you wasn't
11:10
supposed to be on the phone right and
11:12
i'm whispering you know can i hear fresh
11:14
by the frustration
11:16
molly mall lives in my building like
11:19
i was like
11:21
all in
11:22
i was all in because
11:24
i just couldn't understand how a dude
11:27
could grab the mic and make the crowd
11:29
like it
11:30
like i was like yeah i was it and then
11:33
that was your that was your lure that's
11:35
that's what hooked you yeah and to be a
11:37
lyricist
11:40
you really gotta have some brains not a
11:42
rapper
11:43
a lyricist right like you got to have to
11:45
write down
11:46
slick rick okay you know vivid
11:49
storytelling you know like
11:52
like
11:53
g-rap like when you feel like you're
11:55
there you know or
11:57
red man or tribe where they just put you
12:00
in the mood like you know
12:01
and
12:03
i just wanted to be that and this was
12:05
i'm talking about beforehand there was
12:06
dudes in the hood that could do that
12:08
yeah
12:09
so it was already being done yeah the
12:11
business kind of co-opted it and made it
12:14
what it is man yeah you mentioned the
12:16
symphony
12:17
and that easily that could be the
12:19
greatest you know posse record if you
12:22
will you know ever created i know if
12:26
and it
12:27
really kind of spurred other great
12:30
records like it to be created but i'm
12:32
looking at this what 16 year old at this
12:35
time 15 15 at this time and you're going
12:38
in the booth and you got big daddy kane
12:40
and
12:41
you got master ace and you got
12:43
cool g rap
12:45
well the weird thing with that is is
12:46
that
12:47
ace wasn't supposed to be on the song i
12:49
wasn't supposed to be on the song and
12:52
i didn't hear kane's verse
12:55
what happened was we did the cover for
12:57
molly marlin control okay ace had just
13:00
graduated
13:01
school he had a hyundai he drove me
13:04
to the picture set but he was in the
13:06
picture as well he drove us there and
13:08
then afterwards molly was like yo we
13:10
gotta do this one song craig come to the
13:12
studio
13:13
uh kane g rap and ace drove me
13:16
ace was my ride
13:18
ace got there molly threw the beat on
13:21
um
13:22
i was writing i was just like writing i
13:24
wasn't really thinking about if i had to
13:27
go first and not like a lot of people
13:28
get that misconception like oh you
13:30
didn't want to go first no i was trying
13:32
to write you know to me when you rhyming
13:35
on a song or somebody else it's a battle
13:37
so at 15 i'm just trying to make the
13:39
best verse i can it's taking a minute
13:42
he tells ace to get in the booth ace
13:44
gets in the booth and does it dope verse
13:47
my attention undivided yes any in the
13:49
past i've tried to do what i did just
13:51
the way i came up yeah shout out to asia
13:54
um
13:55
then i did my verse
13:57
and
13:58
kane had the leaf
14:00
this is when
14:01
and was pop and kane had a show
14:04
kane made the hook
14:05
next up i believe and then left
14:09
g-wrap gets on
14:10
we're doing 16-inch tape two like
14:13
eight-track that's what they're
14:14
recording all you guys like a real it's
14:16
a reel to reel it's a you know if you
14:19
ever watch like an old show and you
14:20
press the button and these it's one of
14:22
those
14:23
anyway
14:24
g-rap does this verse and he raps till
14:27
the spool goes off the tape wow a whole
14:30
another half of his verse and
14:34
cain came back into this verse we
14:38
i
14:39
perfect story i was on a cruise a few
14:42
like a month ago for my birthday
14:45
the dj recognized me i listen i would
14:49
he's from brazil mind you
14:52
now mind you you're on a cruise they're
14:54
playing you know dance music
14:56
we didn't notice it symphony is one of
14:59
the biggest dance floor clearing records
15:01
ever because the tempo it's not us it's
15:04
not one of those
15:06
he played the song and they was looking
15:08
around like uh what the hell are you
15:09
playing uh-huh he's shouting me out and
15:11
i'm just like you know listen you
15:13
ruining the party my dude though show me
15:15
and
15:17
make it like my fault yeah but it
15:20
definitely
15:21
wound up being one of those songs but
15:23
you got to give ralph mcdaniels and the
15:25
v kid love for that because the video it
15:27
was the video that kind of put it there
15:29
right video yeah the video was amazing i
15:31
was 15 dress up cowboy hat listen i
15:34
chose the sombrero okay me personally
15:37
because i was i
15:39
i'm a big clint eastwood fan and i just
15:41
always think like the mexican dudes and
15:44
fistful of dot they were like gangster
15:46
because they was always somewhere in the
15:47
cut like
15:48
always uh-huh they never had answers do
15:51
you know it i don't know where it's from
15:53
though i don't know nothing
15:57
i i always respected them dude so i
15:59
wanted to wear the sombrero
16:01
yo and that made you stand out like
16:03
you'd even know you was branding
16:04
yourself at that time right i no i just
16:07
thought again i was a western fan dude
16:10
like you know and i always thought the
16:11
shady
16:13
great the shady mexican dudes was cool
16:16
because they diablo yeah they never
16:17
really talk much and like you know you
16:20
had to have conversations and you get no
16:22
answers
16:23
yo craig you it's 20
16:26
it's 2021 2022 your song is playing on a
16:29
cruise
16:32
that was made back in 1988
16:36
the impact that that song in your career
16:38
made
16:39
that was never in the stars for you i
16:41
mean what do you feel about that now
16:43
i feel like um
16:48
again i'm grateful yeah i was just in
16:51
the right place at the right time
16:53
the whole debate on who had the greatest
16:55
verse where i don't i was 15. i didn't i
16:58
was on this song yes i wasn't you know
17:00
listen whoever had the greatest verse
17:02
i'm not here to say anybody held their
17:05
own
17:06
but
17:08
i still
17:09
perform
17:11
from that song i still travel from that
17:13
song i still
17:15
do side projects just listen
17:18
we didn't know
17:20
but i'm glad it happened absolutely i'm
17:22
absolutely great of his kind
17:24
of kind how does it feel
17:27
i mean as an mc
17:29
as a person who wasn't even looking for
17:31
it and
17:33
like he said to be on the song that's
17:34
probably one of the greatest
17:36
arguably one of the greatest
17:38
group songs but then people come to you
17:41
and say hey
17:42
we want to recreate that energy
17:44
can can you come on another song like
17:46
that
17:47
how how how do you handle that
17:51
you can't recreate that energy but i
17:53
mean if i'm working i'm not going to
17:55
tell you that
17:56
we're going to try to do our best to do
17:58
it but
17:59
at the end of the day like for me i'm
18:01
like yo
18:03
we
18:05
i didn't we didn't try we didn't we just
18:07
went and tried to do see
18:09
there are errors in the era we're from
18:12
we tried to just
18:15
do something we wanted to play in the
18:17
car over and over again
18:19
that's all we wanted we wasn't
18:21
radio wasn't even really that important
18:23
we just wanted the joint that you wanted
18:26
to hear people driving by playing
18:28
and
18:30
like
18:31
for me
18:32
recreating that energy is not nothing
18:34
because i don't want to be stuck there
18:36
right yeah i'm gonna be stuck there like
18:38
that was i was 15 yeah i i they're
18:42
rappers that came after me that i became
18:44
fans of that
18:45
made me want to step my game up i'm not
18:47
still there
18:49
but
18:50
show wise i i'll do it all day i'll do
18:53
it all day because it's a moment in time
18:56
you know
18:57
it's a milestone bro did you ever
18:59
perform that song in the latin quarters
19:02
no
19:03
no
19:04
i went to latin quarters one time
19:08
something else you might not know i used
19:09
to answer the phones for mr magic on the
19:12
wrapper wow wow okay
19:13
isaiah
19:14
legendary d you gotta rest a piece of mr
19:17
magic he is one of the first
19:20
hip hop radio djs that was on
19:22
terrestrial radio in new york city
19:25
he
19:26
basically
19:28
gave rap radio its birth
19:31
can we say this revolution
19:33
yeah he revolutionized and i would
19:35
answer the phones i used to come up with
19:37
molly
19:38
and that's why i was always freestyling
19:40
on the show like i've rapped with
19:42
everybody curtis blow the fat boys big
19:44
so
19:46
um
19:48
i would like
19:50
really really just
19:52
i was soaking it all in like the hip-hop
19:55
stuff to me was like
19:57
yo
19:58
this is a religion like i can't believe
20:00
like
20:01
dudes like you know you mentioned
20:03
special ed earlier i used to come to the
20:05
station early
20:07
and
20:08
listen to the records that got mailed in
20:11
in the am room
20:13
and
20:14
you gotta ask molly get my output molly
20:17
ace in the morning the nwa king t
20:20
i would listen every record that came to
20:24
wbls which was a radio station in new
20:26
york that's still right
20:27
wow yeah i would listen to everything
20:30
what year is this about
20:32
80
20:35
so how many people craig
20:37
like artists you know it was a big
20:39
divide you know back then like it wasn't
20:42
the west coast east coast thing hadn't
20:43
even birthed yet oh no but the divide
20:45
was basically was no internet it was you
20:47
know we only saw what we saw on friday
20:49
night videos or the box
20:51
or you know
20:52
but the relationships i never really saw
20:54
the relationships in the magazines or
20:57
what were your relationships with
20:58
artists from california like who did you
21:00
meet who did you hang out with
21:01
alcoholics man
21:04
like like
21:05
to this day i speak to them regularly
21:07
like e e
21:09
j rotash
21:11
like
21:12
um
21:13
king t like
21:15
i used to hang out with broadway
21:18
who used to produce
21:19
and i was friends with madcap remember
21:22
man cap
21:23
my man coke they was from pasadena they
21:26
was on loud
21:27
i said hang out with them
21:29
i i
21:30
again hip-hop i traveled i i was doing
21:33
shows in cali like so
21:36
i became a fan a lot of this and then
21:38
like i was just telling rich
21:40
i had a dude at the music factory rest
21:41
in peace my man stan
21:43
he would like he knew i was like a rap
21:46
fan so like he would put me on the stuff
21:49
that came
21:50
from other areas
21:52
and he would have like three copies of
21:54
it because he knew it wasn't gonna
21:55
really sell in new york
21:57
and i remember buying easy does it
21:59
he put me onto that like i was on
22:01
atlantic so
22:03
i was on a
22:04
a
22:05
national label so
22:07
i was hearing like the dlc i had the dlc
22:11
promotional cassette remember atlantic
22:12
used to just have the white cover with
22:14
the type out and then when he came to
22:17
new york i hung out with him shout out
22:18
to dlc got the documentary coming out we
22:20
got the same last name i used to hang
22:22
out with i bought him to the castle in
22:24
the bronx so the castle was a club that
22:27
kicked capri used to dj at back in the
22:29
days it's the same club that slick rick
22:31
has very dangerous
22:33
um it's it's a very dangerous club in
22:36
the bronx actually yes
22:37
in the south bronx i bought dlc
22:40
exactly it was you took dlc to that club
22:42
yeah yeah
22:43
ask him he will tell you i took him to
22:45
that club yes the la posse were
22:48
instrumental in ll cujo's first house
22:50
yeah
22:50
they was they had put an album on
22:52
atlantic so we were all in the on the
22:55
same floor you know so
22:58
yeah i
22:59
i was like
23:00
what i liked a lot i kind of
23:03
some of the mc king t was dope the
23:05
alcoholics was dope even mad cap was
23:07
dope like you know
23:09
i remember getting the promotional
23:10
cassette of cypress hill from my man
23:12
sincere when he worked that epic
23:14
like these dudes were dope but
23:17
the beats were interesting to me yeah
23:19
the way they produced the way they
23:21
produce where they had the live
23:23
instrumentalization over the i was like
23:25
yo this is
23:27
i had a blazer chevy blazer with the 15
23:29
inch box the alpine you pull out and i
23:33
wanted to hear the green the green was
23:35
it the lime green that's yeah that's how
23:37
i got i love too short because of that i
23:40
love too short because of that like
23:43
i never forget i forgot which one it was
23:45
it was one of them songs where he just
23:48
rapped for like 10 minutes but the beat
23:51
you could feel it from up the block
23:55
yeah he was like [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ]
23:57
make me rich i was like okay
24:00
like
24:01
stop that rap wow
24:05
yes
24:06
yes and then
24:07
you had hyrule come out hieroglyphics
24:10
and i was like these dudes are rapping
24:13
they rapping rapping like yo
24:15
like these dudes is nice did you go home
24:18
and did you bring that home people did
24:19
they believe you or what was that
24:22
actually they rocked with um um
24:26
the signal in new york uh-huh they
24:28
rocked without retail infinity yeah they
24:30
rocked with that yeah they rock with
24:32
that yeah we rock with that out here
24:33
uh-huh it's a big misconception you
24:35
think we didn't rock with certain songs
24:37
we rocked with that we rock was straight
24:39
out of compton real heavy we like
24:43
that whole
24:44
east coast west coast thing was media
24:46
produced that was fabricated it was it
24:49
was super we rocked with cali stuff like
24:52
heavily
24:53
we rock with texas i was a huge
24:56
ghetto boys fan
24:58
mr that mr scarface album was the
25:00
hustlers in new york yeah loved that
25:03
album
25:04
he had the coke all over the car they
25:06
was like yo what the [ __ ] but it was
25:08
like some tough [ __ ] like
25:09
don't don't let the media fool you we
25:12
will open the [ __ ] here okay we were
25:14
opening this [ __ ] in new york trust me
25:16
we were don't don't get existed remember
25:18
yahoo friend that wasn't from virginia
25:20
yeah yeah yeah yeah we we [ __ ] with
25:23
people what was your relationship like
25:24
with with philadelphia rap because in
25:26
the beginning you had some pop art
25:28
affiliates i started in philly right
25:31
what do you mean
25:32
my first single and my second single was
25:35
on pop art records
25:36
lawrence and dana goodman i don't know
25:38
if both of them are alive still or not
25:40
but there's sons with a youngster shout
25:42
out to um the youngsters karan shout out
25:45
to all of them um um
25:48
they had me
25:50
shan shantay
25:52
uh
25:53
dana left lawrence and started his own
25:55
label he had jazz jeff and the fresh
25:57
prince they had salt and pepper
25:59
when they were the human nature human
26:01
nature yeah and
26:02
philly hip-hop was like schooly d like
26:07
like to this day my man est like st
26:10
that's mike
26:11
steady b
26:13
cool c
26:15
yeah but
26:16
est was my dude yeah
26:18
like
26:20
i remember hearing from the giddy up
26:21
like
26:23
like i was like oh
26:24
now people don't know esc
26:27
found life outside of being an artist
26:29
and wrote for beyonce for a solo out
26:32
did not know that yeah due to knowledge
26:34
getting knowledge do the knowledge who
26:36
you write for
26:38
here we go
26:41
no one no
26:42
um i helped out on the eight mile movie
26:44
okay
26:46
but the battle scenes i also helped out
26:47
only to get richard trying okay
26:50
um i've done commercials for nike i've
26:52
done um
26:53
van grack
26:55
like people thought they was down to
26:56
clan they was up in portland adidas on
26:58
van rack a lot of people didn't know
27:00
that
27:00
but
27:01
um
27:02
i wrote for a couple of rappers but
27:04
we're not going to talk about that the
27:05
um i don't want to you want to talk
27:07
about i don't want to put them on black
27:08
okay it's the stanton statutory what do
27:10
you call that the statue of limitations
27:12
yeah
27:13
that don't work for egos though okay
27:15
okay wow okay so did i just drop one
27:18
quote that i just dropped down yeah so
27:20
there was a gap between we put your
27:22
first album came out what do i say 91
27:24
was it 90 90 yeah king 10 yeah and
27:29
now that's more like it more like i came
27:31
on 91
27:33
okay yeah that was two years after then
27:35
there was a gap then there was a gap all
27:37
right
27:38
yeah before that gap the eight mile
27:40
movie came out though right you know
27:42
okay talk after the gap okay um i put
27:45
out the first album the kingpin all
27:47
right um
27:48
mind you coming off dropping science to
27:50
symphony
27:51
they're expecting some
27:53
big
27:54
returns a bunch of goddamn house records
27:57
[Laughter]
27:59
take three hip house songs i'm i'm 16
28:02
and like here's 40 000. you got to do
28:04
these the guy that signed me at atlantic
28:06
was merlin bob who was a house music dj
28:08
yes i used to like house music in new
28:11
york we rocked with house music before i
28:13
got a little funny
28:14
and
28:15
the tunnel played house hip-hop
28:18
everything and you know like there was
28:20
joints ten city so i did this household
28:23
called turner's house into a home
28:25
molly dj during the week on the air like
28:28
a house mix and this song was huge in
28:30
new york i got signed to atlantic off
28:32
the strength of that song okay so we do
28:34
that album
28:35
i'm
28:36
dissatisfied i'm like oh my god what the
28:38
hell did i do here yeah second album i
28:41
did not ask more like it put a lot of
28:43
work into it it was the same time all he
28:45
was doing mama said knock you out so it
28:47
was like
28:48
we was in a zone
28:50
album comes out um
28:53
i found out major labels didn't work the
28:56
way
28:57
independence work
28:59
like everybody screams independent now
29:00
but cold chilling sleeping bag these are
29:03
all independent labels so if you went up
29:04
and been like yo we want this single to
29:06
drive in three weeks they sit down in
29:08
the room you work it out do a video boom
29:10
done
29:11
atlantic it didn't work that way
29:14
um
29:15
album we probably did like a hundred and
29:17
fifty
29:18
five days in that day
29:19
again i'm still 18 years old
29:23
i'm totally dissatisfied with the music
29:25
business at this point right 18 years at
29:27
18.
29:29
burnt out and jaded absolutely mind you
29:32
the story i told with the symphony no
29:35
without transformers and feeling like i
29:37
felt the same way again at 18. depressed
29:40
like yo what in the hell
29:42
spent like four or five years being
29:44
pissed at the music business i had a son
29:46
the only thing that saved me was
29:49
i wasn't really frivolous with my money
29:51
so by the time i turned 21 it was like
29:53
money i had money
29:55
so i was there you know i ain't
29:57
stressing it
29:58
independent game came
30:00
like
30:01
i came late like 97 it was already
30:04
rocking like 93 you know but
30:07
i did a single
30:09
uh shout out to mark sparks he did the
30:11
beat
30:12
i think we spent like a thousand dollars
30:14
to do the song
30:15
i made like 27 000 in like a month i was
30:18
like wait a minute
30:20
hold on a second i can put out a this is
30:23
back when mom and pop which was wreckage
30:25
stores you don't know about these things
30:27
young people there was a store you
30:29
actually went into
30:31
and bought music vinyl cds they
30:34
recommend stuff to your whole experience
30:37
so you could do a single
30:39
sell it for
30:41
the store would sell it for 4.99 if it
30:43
was a maxi single and you made two
30:44
dollars
30:46
and
30:47
i sold like 15 000 copies of this thing
30:49
i was like yo are you kidding me and
30:51
from there is when
30:53
between
30:55
92 and 97 i was quiet and then that came
30:59
and i haven't looked back since i just
31:01
you know put out music when i went yeah
31:03
yeah nice you're in control uh
31:06
there's a couple things i want to hit on
31:08
man
31:09
you you are
31:11
by far when we talk about freestyling
31:13
and i know you've talked about this
31:14
plenty of times before we're going to
31:16
talk about it again if you don't mind
31:17
yeah you know there's nobody i would say
31:20
in legacy that's done it bigger and
31:22
better than you right uh the the whole
31:26
terminology freestyle to me has got
31:28
convoluted
31:29
right in your opinion what is a
31:31
freestyle so
31:34
there are absolutely two meanings of
31:36
freestyle okay
31:38
the first one is
31:40
just the general written rhyme that you
31:42
have that's not about nothing
31:44
that's freestyle yes
31:47
what
31:48
some of us do
31:50
is really considered off the top
31:52
okay freestyle which is you just say
31:55
what comes to mind
31:57
and you have guys like supernatural
32:00
juice
32:01
i think idea recipes was nice at that
32:03
time uh there was a lot of dudes fab i
32:06
think it was fab
32:08
yeah yo i thought dope uh
32:11
wordsworth punchline these dudes uh
32:14
pumpkin head rest of the deck so lupe
32:16
our good privacy lupe even the new dudes
32:19
in the battle dna is nice with it off
32:20
there yeah um
32:22
you know that's a definition of
32:24
freestyle as well off the top where you
32:26
just think of
32:28
what comes to mind so
32:31
who was your
32:32
most
32:33
challenging battle would you say you had
32:37
um
32:37
[Music]
32:39
none
32:41
nobody
32:43
because i look
32:44
i went into it
32:46
for me
32:47
it was a snap session really i didn't
32:49
really care about it right in the back i
32:51
just wanted to make fun of you
32:53
i'm an aries i'm an aries anti-social
32:55
aries i
32:56
get a chance to get the mic and be an
32:58
[ __ ]
32:59
talk about your shoes and your mother
33:01
and whatever you know so to me but um
33:07
like i didn't get the battle
33:09
certain dudes
33:11
like me and that thing was super shout
33:13
out to supernatural was like a legendary
33:15
thing but i didn't get the battle shout
33:17
out to jews from chicago he's nice real
33:20
nice you know uh
33:22
eminem is a beast mind you you know you
33:24
know i never really got to battle those
33:26
dudes because i kind of coasted off the
33:29
that thing i'm
33:31
i got pigeonholed okay
33:34
i had dropping science i had the
33:36
symphony i had shout rap drew school all
33:38
stars i had uh you are not the one
33:40
and all of a sudden they're saying oh
33:42
craig can't make records because he is
33:44
known for freestyling i'm like where
33:47
i had joints before this so i kind of
33:50
shied away from it kind of like
33:52
kind of lifting the curse yeah it's like
33:54
you know
33:55
you you go to the studio for five hours
33:58
you make this dope ass song and you get
34:00
on stage you want to rock it and they
34:01
like rhyme about the lights and you're
34:03
like
34:07
uh what career i didn't have any
34:09
expectations
34:11
i
34:11
hurt my career
34:13
i was happy to have a career like i'm my
34:17
my existence in hip-hop is a serious of
34:19
being in the right place at the right
34:21
time
34:22
wow
34:24
not saying that i didn't take my craft
34:27
seriously right but
34:29
i just was in the right place at the
34:30
right time so i didn't have
34:32
expectations
34:34
i've been to africa i've traveled the
34:36
entire world
34:39
rapping
34:40
yeah that's dope her what career i i
34:43
want to talk about that for a second you
34:44
said you was in the right place at the
34:45
right time and so let's walk through
34:49
that night
34:51
1994
34:54
at the new musical seminar now i don't
34:57
know if you remember i saw you that
34:58
night yes you had a 40 in your hand
35:02
shout out to diamond d it was your fault
35:04
any time it did give you the 40 no but
35:08
we'll talk about that okay and and and
35:11
oddly enough
35:13
you were really quiet that night you
35:15
wasn't it wasn't a lot of conversation
35:17
with a lot of people you was really kind
35:18
of just monitoring me on every night
35:20
though like yeah
35:22
that's true that's true what do you want
35:24
like
35:25
no and it was interesting because at the
35:27
time i was working with krs
35:30
and i distinctly heard him say to
35:32
supernat
35:34
leave that alone
35:36
there is no victory in that for you why
35:38
are you messing with that leave that
35:40
alone
35:41
so that night at the joint
35:44
in my mind i didn't even think it was
35:46
going to happen i'm telling people oh
35:47
it's not going to happen
35:50
he got set up and and and not by me and
35:53
so when
35:55
when the lyricist lounge people started
35:56
talking and digging it up and digging it
35:58
up and digging it up i don't know if
36:00
people actually knew you were there or
36:02
didn't know you were there no no one did
36:04
they know you were there
36:07
the new music seminar was a thing in new
36:09
york yeah i don't know people don't know
36:12
the new music seminar was a seminar that
36:14
was put together by the guy that owned
36:16
tommy boy up there yeah tommy silva
36:18
tom silverman put it together and people
36:20
from all over the world came to find out
36:22
just to get it was a networking
36:24
possibility europe everywhere that night
36:27
it was you know an event being thrown by
36:29
a collective called lyricist lounge yes
36:32
and all legendary and putting hip-hop on
36:34
the map like underground hip-hop yeah
36:36
like mainstream shout out to danny shout
36:38
out to anthony he live in the bed and
36:39
marshall yeah yeah all right and so that
36:42
night supernatural was performing right
36:46
hosting even he was hosting it
36:48
and it was brumblings
36:51
i tell you how it really went down so
36:55
we were supposed to battle on barbito
36:58
okay i think buck wild and another
37:01
producer were gonna bring the npcs and
37:03
we were gonna battle on the on
37:05
you know
37:06
um
37:09
he didn't come he i don't know why he
37:11
didn't come
37:12
now i had an album that i was doing that
37:15
never came out called return of the
37:16
seventh letter and i was working with
37:18
hush productions
37:20
uh charles huggins and like freddie jack
37:22
and they had a studio
37:24
they had this ill studio on 58th street
37:28
right on columbus circle i was recording
37:30
there
37:31
the seminar was at the hotel around the
37:33
corner the sheridan so after i've
37:35
recorded a couple of songs i go over
37:37
there i see diamond d
37:39
diamond d got a white 735 bmw i think
37:42
this is the fuji's i don't even think
37:44
came out yet we got some 40s we in the
37:46
front drinking 40s like i'm again 94
37:50
what i'm
37:51
23 24 years old maybe
37:54
um
37:56
i go i'm just hanging out i'm not i'm
37:59
you know super nat yeah we're not
38:01
whatever bad or whatever i'm the
38:03
underdog he signed to east west records
38:06
i'm like i don't know
38:07
they asked him
38:09
you know some of the battle with you and
38:10
supernat with you and craig g if it's
38:12
gonna happen it could happen he looks in
38:14
the crowd
38:17
i don't think he knew i was there right
38:19
he's like yo craig where you at i turn
38:21
around grandmaster caz is behind me oh
38:24
i'm like
38:26
so i walk on stage with my 40
38:30
right let's talk about all the
38:32
depression and i'm not doing nothing
38:35
lost a lot of weight i wasn't really
38:36
eating it wasn't that nothing to do with
38:38
any extracurricular drugs i was just
38:40
stressed out
38:41
the money that i had stashed was
38:43
starting to run out okay you
38:45
self-medicating baby yeah yeah so
38:48
i knew all the rumors and i knew what he
38:50
was
38:51
it was like a mile almost i knew what he
38:53
was gonna say before he said it
38:56
i'm such a hip-hop fan i found out he
38:58
was from indiana
39:02
and then
39:03
it's about wit that's why i love off the
39:05
top you gotta have wit
39:07
like i grew up in queensbridge you
39:08
couldn't go to the store without
39:09
somebody saying i saw your mom's pushing
39:12
the shop you had to be funny quick come
39:14
back
39:15
so
39:16
he was at a disadvantage because he
39:18
didn't know his opponent i knew him
39:21
and that's i'm a sports fan i want to
39:23
get in your head
39:24
[Music]
39:26
oh you didn't know i knew he was
39:28
familiar
39:29
but shout out to supernat man because
39:31
he's great
39:32
off the top of the head as well like you
39:34
know
39:35
it's a lost art
39:36
but
39:37
at the same time
39:39
after the battle was over he still had
39:41
his deal yeah yeah
39:43
it wasn't nothing with me
39:44
he could have made a song with whoever
39:46
was hot at the time and nobody would
39:48
remember the battle
39:49
so you got to blame the record labels
39:51
for him not me i think the record label
39:53
at that time was saying yeah prior to to
39:56
that battle
39:57
we got the best guy who freestyles and
40:00
no one can defeat him and you know that
40:01
was the the line i think he was running
40:04
with krs yeah and then after that night
40:07
they could no longer say he was the
40:08
undefeated guy because that one lyric
40:10
that one lyric about the indiana lyric
40:13
the crowd went bananas because mike
40:16
tyson was locked up in indiana yeah so
40:19
that lyric
40:20
people went the whole place erupted
40:22
everyone gave me they called after that
40:24
i didn't call anyone
40:27
why not man it was opportunity he just
40:30
didn't do it yo so i never even looked
40:32
at typos i didn't really explore that
40:34
whole dynamic of juice crew
40:37
and bdp
40:38
and him being down with chris krs-1 and
40:41
you being down with marley
40:44
was that a part of the equation no i
40:46
didn't think so i like harris one yeah
40:49
like you know
40:50
being that
40:53
that album was incredible wait hold on
40:55
man the timings yeah man
40:58
we're still talking sorry sir so you
41:00
like kara as one but but even with the
41:02
bdp juice crew
41:05
battle that that didn't that didn't
41:06
matter that was bdp shin
41:10
word
41:12
it was bdp i made duck alert because i
41:14
was
41:15
working on the rap attack
41:17
so of course red alert and them were
41:19
down the dial
41:21
i didn't make that record because of the
41:22
juice crew okay i made that record
41:24
because i was working with magic and
41:26
molly uh-huh so
41:28
did you did you ever like when you first
41:31
crossed paths with red red alert after
41:33
making that song what was that like red
41:35
is one of the nicest guys you could ever
41:37
meet uh-huh i love red alert man every
41:39
time i see that man he has something
41:41
positive to say to you
41:43
he didn't take it personally okay i mean
41:45
again i was 15. he knew the radio was
41:48
yeah tell us a little bit about your
41:49
relationship with mr magic because you
41:51
know people fail and realize that he was
41:53
so wise and he would say things but his
41:56
tongue was sharp he could say things to
41:57
build you up or cut you down
42:00
so tell us about your relationship with
42:01
him mrs magic was a jerk
42:05
rest in power rest in peace
42:07
but miss magic was a jerk because he
42:10
didn't have a filter
42:12
and i kind of learned that from him like
42:14
like
42:18
you can say what's on your mind
42:20
and
42:22
like it's so sensitive now people say
42:24
what's on their mind
42:25
and you can respect it or not you don't
42:27
have to delve deep into what they said
42:30
like i don't respect that why'd you have
42:32
to know i don't respect it keep moving
42:34
and magic was the kind of guy
42:36
when again me answering the phones he
42:38
would get a six-pack of budweiser drink
42:41
him on the air
42:42
and
42:43
whoever he ain't like that dave would
42:45
get it
42:46
i didn't agree all the time yeah but
42:48
that's how the man felt
42:50
like i didn't like the fact that he
42:51
broke the public i thought public enemy
42:53
record was dope
42:54
but you know
42:56
that was his opinion he broke the block
42:58
but he said no more music from yourself
42:59
i was oh please explain that
43:01
he just didn't like them so what did he
43:03
do this is this broke the record on the
43:06
air they played uh public enemy number
43:09
one which
43:12
as great of a song as it is i could see
43:14
how it would rub people the wrong way
43:15
because
43:17
like they didn't get it
43:19
but i got it like it was chaos in music
43:22
and i was like yo what the [ __ ] this is
43:25
what the
43:26
uh he didn't get it and
43:28
they were the victim of the day there
43:30
was always a victim of the day
43:33
yeah sometimes it was juice crew members
43:35
like he would get on me
43:37
so but i knew he was just drinking his
43:39
beer so it wasn't i was a kid yeah yeah
43:42
i was a kid i mean
43:43
i'm what 14 years old he's giving me 150
43:46
bucks a week to answer the phone
43:49
yeah i'll take it let's go
43:51
so and i got to get out of queensbridge
43:54
i would take the train
43:55
this is when it was on second half i
43:57
would go to the city and i started
43:59
seeing like a world outside of the hood
44:01
and i was like wow you know
44:03
wow this is dope
44:05
so
44:06
listen i love mr magic i love all
44:09
of
44:11
every bit of
44:12
everything i went through as i look back
44:14
on it it's not like
44:15
i used to be bitter about it and angry
44:18
and
44:20
i moved on there you go i moved on i
44:22
like that and i'm happy i like that
44:25
yeah come on
44:27
man i mean
44:28
um
44:30
juice crew
44:31
has so many
44:33
legendary iconic people that are part of
44:35
this this collective
44:37
if you don't know the juice crew is i
44:39
invite everybody to go down that that do
44:42
the research do the knowledge rest in
44:44
peace the biz marquee man absolutely biz
44:46
uh what
44:47
when was the first time you met biz what
44:49
was your friendship like biz used to
44:51
hang in queensbridge
44:53
like before he got on like anybody that
44:55
got onto the juice crew had to come to
44:58
queensbridge and biz was just
45:00
entertain the dude again he was older
45:02
than me so i didn't really get to know
45:04
him
45:05
my illest story with biz was they were
45:07
doing a christmas party a juice crew
45:10
christmas party i think cool v was with
45:12
us too
45:13
we were coming from the office
45:16
to the place they were having a party
45:18
and we were driving through central park
45:20
biz had a 735 black brand new the star
45:24
rims on it i was like and i remember him
45:26
running the yellow light and hitting the
45:28
cab wow wrecking into the dash in the
45:31
yeah yeah on the way to the party and he
45:34
was unconcerned
45:36
and y'all still went to the party yes
45:37
and we still went to the party and i was
45:39
like
45:40
this guy i got some money
45:42
like i want to make this kind of money
45:43
where i could crash a foreign car and
45:46
like you know they were all inspirations
45:48
to me because i was a kid watching all
45:50
this
45:51
where's the juice crew movie is that
45:53
ever going to happen cut the check i'm
45:55
down that's all that's all we're waiting
45:57
on not me i mean it's
46:00
you got
46:02
eight different people living in
46:03
different states and different states of
46:05
their life
46:07
you know but you don't even need y'all
46:09
necessarily to make the movie you get
46:11
actors to act out the roles can you tell
46:13
the guy that custom checks that and
46:15
let's get let's get it going i can let
46:16
them know
46:17
i can shoot them on instagram
46:19
actually there's conversations about
46:22
stuff being worked on but you know we'll
46:24
get to that point i mean you know the
46:25
story should be told it's an interesting
46:27
story
46:28
it's an interesting story it's a lot of
46:30
crazy [ __ ] that happened it's all part
46:32
of my french but
46:34
yeah when we get there
46:36
i'll be happy
46:38
i'll wear a suit
46:39
instead of
46:40
let me ask you this um when you look at
46:42
the culture from the point you came in
46:45
in 85 to now
46:46
do you feel like it aged well
46:50
when you look at a certain element of it
46:52
yeah mainstream it didn't but mainstream
46:55
back didn't then age well yeah
46:57
you know i love him to death but
46:58
nobody's playing knocking boots by candy
47:00
man
47:02
i you know but
47:05
you do have the griselda dudes
47:08
even freddie gibson that matters dudes
47:10
that are you know playing the planet
47:12
asia's of the world and
47:14
dudes that are really
47:16
rock mossy and you know a lot of dudes
47:19
are still cypress just put out a dope
47:21
out yeah
47:22
you know there's dudes that take the
47:24
elements and we appreciate you guys
47:26
because
47:27
as long as you do that we're going to
47:29
still work because people want to
47:31
hear that sound
47:33
so
47:34
mainstream hip-hop we we never liked it
47:36
so i can't really speak on
47:38
the the traps and all that i don't i
47:41
don't listen to that i'm
47:43
a middle-aged man yeah they don't make
47:45
that for me so i have no i used to
47:47
always oh they suck
47:50
it's not my business it really isn't my
47:53
business
47:54
it ain't for you don't hate me i won't
47:56
hate you i'm out the way you do your
47:59
thing i ain't mad at you
48:00
because it's not for me to understand
48:03
yo what's one of your top
48:05
milestone moments that you consider in
48:07
your career
48:09
um
48:12
damn
48:13
i would say um
48:18
rocking that barclays center twice
48:20
in the last like four years
48:23
this late like i did a full arena twice
48:27
wow versus in the mtv rap like
48:30
for me it's like wow you know you
48:33
actually got to hit a stadium stage
48:36
even though i did wembley in in london
48:38
but i only got to do drama science with
48:41
i think public editing that was a lot of
48:43
people there but
48:46
new york i actually got the rock like
48:48
and then also just the movie stuff yeah
48:52
like to even be considered to work on
48:53
eight miles shout out to paul shout out
48:55
to m rosenberg yeah yeah shout out to
48:57
mark lebel like
48:59
that like
49:01
like really like i was like yo word this
49:03
is dope and forever i'm etched in that
49:06
history nice yeah and that's m
49:08
at that colossal level
49:10
that's like em when you could look at
49:12
him you can't even see him he's so high
49:14
up you know what i mean like it's kind
49:15
of crazy because i
49:18
met em judging the rap olympic shout out
49:20
to wendy day
49:22
i was doing the rap olympics and
49:24
i remember
49:26
i thought he won the battle
49:28
with juice no it was uh otherwise
49:30
otherwise otherwise it was dope though
49:33
otherwise it was dope
49:35
i thought the fix was in no disrespect
49:36
shout out to ac alone
49:38
he was one of the judges freestyle
49:40
fellowship oh yeah because otherwise
49:43
it's out of the mm had a little
49:45
conversation about it now the ill part
49:47
of the story is is
49:49
years later i moved to vegas
49:51
they're doing the anger management tour
49:53
m is like
49:56
you know like yeah colossal he has the
49:59
palms the the room with the bowling
50:01
alley they had a party
50:03
everybody's having party strippers
50:05
running around and
50:06
i see em in the corner i sit and i'm
50:08
talking with him
50:10
and i'm like yo you know what up man
50:11
everything and the first thing he says
50:13
to me is john really needed to win that
50:16
battle
50:17
he remembered it like like he i think it
50:19
was some money involved and i'm just
50:21
looking at him like you're still you won
50:26
like yo b you won you won in a bigger
50:29
way
50:30
but
50:30
that's the testament of just being an
50:33
emcee like like yo you know like he was
50:36
it was still on his mind and i thought i
50:37
was like yeah i voted for you maji i
50:40
thought the fix was in but it's all good
50:43
and then y'all got to work together
50:45
i appreciate that man like for real but
50:47
you know i'm here
50:49
i'm alive come on i have a
50:52
somewhat of a legacy you got a beautiful
50:54
emergency
50:57
what can i ask for
50:59
like amazing it could always have went
51:01
better but it could have went worse too
51:02
yeah and it's still going you're talking
51:05
to a healed man there it is a happy
51:08
healed man and i appreciate it as a huge
51:10
hip-hop fan because we're all hip-hop
51:12
fans but as a huge hip-hop fan
51:13
especially as an emcee
51:15
what's that one hip-hop song that you
51:18
love that you wish you wrote
51:21
there's a few man god damn that's an
51:23
unfair question but
51:26
honestly that i wish i wrote let me
51:28
think for a second it would probably
51:32
have to be
51:34
um give me a second because i'm going to
51:37
make this good like
51:41
like children's story like i wish i
51:43
could
51:44
i wish i could have made a song like a
51:47
nurse
51:48
rick do a children's book or for
51:50
children's story there it is i i don't
51:52
want to get
51:53
what's up it's done
51:54
[Laughter]
51:55
but like he made like a
51:58
a song
52:00
that
52:01
your kids could open a book and you know
52:02
how to be had like the one sentence per
52:04
page and
52:05
like that was crazy to me or
52:09
see i tell you it's not fair or fight
52:10
the power like a public enemy yeah like
52:13
when they may fight the power it was a
52:14
lot going on in new york with yusef
52:16
hawkins and like you know i oh man it
52:20
was like
52:21
yo
52:22
let's go riot
52:24
yeah you were like yo it was tight out
52:26
yeah and then not to like like
52:30
take away from other parts of the
52:31
country a good day yeah
52:33
that's cute today was a good day
52:37
like
52:38
you know he was supposed to have been
52:40
like the antithesis did i say that right
52:43
antithesis of
52:44
like things going well then he made a
52:47
song about having a good day yeah
52:50
i was like okay this is maturity and
52:52
hip-hop like
52:54
it's okay you can have a day where it's
52:56
really nothing going on i'm just
52:57
chilling
52:58
so yeah so three i got three
53:01
i got three so those are my three those
53:03
are three those are good the best um one
53:05
of the best parts of this conversation
53:07
is you saying you're a healed man and i
53:09
think a lot of us need that same kind of
53:10
healing that came through this path
53:12
called hip-hop and so it's good to know
53:14
that that that's a waiting at the end of
53:16
the tunnel but man yeah yeah can i just
53:19
say um
53:20
when kovitz started i went back to
53:22
school and i work in healthcare
53:24
and what i did was
53:27
not
53:28
i spent my whole life letting what i did
53:31
in music and music defined me
53:33
as a person like if things weren't going
53:35
well i didn't feel well about myself and
53:37
like a lot of child i'm not saying i'm a
53:40
star but a lot of child people in the
53:42
entertainment business
53:44
and when i went back to school and
53:46
started doing health care
53:48
i was like yo there's another purpose
53:50
for me in life
53:52
and now it made me look back on all of
53:55
the music stuff i did and
53:57
look at it from a grateful perspective
53:59
as far as
54:00
not like oh it could have been better
54:02
yeah i did a lot man you did a lot bro i
54:04
did a lot i did a lot man yeah and i'm
54:07
still here and
54:08
i'm happy i'm happy for you and i love
54:10
all you people that's still rocking
54:13
suede craig love you to death rich nice
54:15
yes
54:16
you already know yeah i was gonna wear
54:18
the the the
54:19
colorful button up but i left it at the
54:21
crib
54:22
that's all right you can wear the next
54:24
interview okay okay greg g man a living
54:27
legend
#Arts & Entertainment