Dante Ross Talks About His Hip-Hop Memoir 'Son of the City' on Sway In The Morning | SWAY’S UNIVERSE

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I thought that was pretty cool
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Man, that voice right there. Let me explain something. Tracy, I often say this is one of the reasons I like to come to Passion
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I won't even say work. This hasn't felt like work in I don't know how long. This is King Tech, and I started doing this in the early 90s
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And so to be able to sustain over the decades and be able to be a conduit, if you will, of history, culture, politics, community
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all of these different things when I look at this industry as it as it's evolved over the decades
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especially when you talk about hip-hop as a culture and rap as a music there are certain
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pivotal characters who played a major role in what we look at now as well as we call it the music
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business you know the business of music if it wasn't for certain individuals recognizing and
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having a love and a passion for the culture there's certain artists who may not have had the
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end result that they've had and i recall um when king tech and i first start working in radio we
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started as artists and did it did it independently in the bay area and then ended up signing with
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giant warner brothers with irving azoff charlie minor and all these major figures of that time
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and we got into radio working with kmiel which was a big deal to have a radio show on that kind
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of station at that time that station was crossing over a lot of acts a lot of acts were being broken
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on that particular platform all across the country, but it took a community to make it happen
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It wasn't actually happening by themselves, and it wasn't just those top-notch executives
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who would get credit for it that made it happen. It was people like the young man that's in this building with us today
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that made sure that certain artists got cared for, got recognized, and were heard
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and were represented in the way that they wanted to be represented at a time when the music business was looking for that quick ROI
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Why? You know, they want to put in a little bit of money to get a whole lot of money
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And when it came to so-called black urban music or when it came to black music, it always got the short end of the stick
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I saw it personally. I'm not just saying this shit. I worked in radio for 30 plus years
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If it wasn't for men like him or women who would get in position to be able to point out things that has substance that we should care about
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then we may not know groups like Dell the Funky Homo Sapien
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Give that a big round of applause. We may not know the Queen Latifas of the world, the Grand Poobas of the world
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the Pete Rock and CL Smooths of the world. We may not know the Busta Rhymes of the world or the Old Dirty s of the world
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We may not know, maybe Eric B and Rakil may not have had such a great tour
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because he was their tour manager at one point. You know, there's so many different ways that this man has contributed
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Complex called him one of the top 25 greatest A&R representatives in hip-hop
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He's a music industry executive. He's an artist himself, artist and repertoire representative
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He's a record producer. My good friend Everlast, who lived at one point a block away from me in Tarzana
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and then he evolved into Whitey Ford. And this man who's with us today was very instrumental in him creating that sound
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and doing production for him as well. And now he's an author. And he wrote this book, Son of the City
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I want to welcome him to the show, my good friend. Long time. Long time, colleague
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I watched him grow. Give it up for the one and only Dante Ross, y'all. Dante Ross
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Wow, wow. That was so eloquent, man. Bro. You are a wordsmith, my friend
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He is. You know what I do, Dante? I look at us like when we, I know you look at me and go, what the
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You've been looking at me for decades, bro. Yeah, how we end up here. How we end up here
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And we made it, right? And we made it. So many people we know aren't here. They're not here
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They didn't make the journey. They didn't make the journey. And I don't know if in 88, did you think in 2023 you was going to be in New York City on satellite radio talking about the book you offered
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Man, in 1988, I had no idea where I'd end up. I just knew I was in the middle of it and it felt right
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Yeah. You know, I think when you're younger, you're in the moment, right? And I was just in the moment and I was just around all this incredible stuff
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You know, like I look at it, I look back and I say, like, I'm so lucky to have been allowed to contribute
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Yeah. Right. I was allowed to contribute. And that's like one of the greatest honors of my life
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Being allowed to contribute. 100 percent. And you and it just kind of let's let's start with your dad, man
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Your dad was the inspiration behind this book, right? A writer, a political activist
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You know, I grew up with like, you know, my dad went to high school with Stokely Carmichael. Oh, damn. He would come to my house. Bobby Seale was in my house
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so my dad i grew up around all this stuff you know like political activism and and uh bobby seal was
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in your house definitely he was my dad's friend you know and stokely was really good friends with
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my pops you know so you know i was around all this stuff growing up um like jazz musicians like ed
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blackwell who played with like ornette coleman was in my house and all these people so i grew up
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around a lot of culture and art my mom was a painter um and a school teacher so i grew up around
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all this beautiful, creative stuff. So it was always in me since I was a child
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So he wasn't into rock and roll, your dad. He wasn't into it at all, right
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He thought it was corny. He liked soul music, but he was a jazz cat. He liked Charlie Mingus and John Coltrane and Miles Davis
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and things like that. Where was hip-hop at this time? Hip-hop was like, it wasn't even around
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You know, hip-hop, I didn't get exposed to hip-hop until Sugar Hill Gang, so Rapper's Delight, 79
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And my dad actually had an appreciation for hip-hop. I actually turned him on to Tribe Called Quest
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He loved Tribe Called Quest. Because of the jazz infusion, right? Yeah, he actually, he really, really liked them a lot
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He would listen to them all the time. You grew up where? I grew up in New York on the Lower East Side, but I was born in San Francisco
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I'm from the Lower East Side. I'm from Avenue B and 2nd Street. So you're from the Lower East Side
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When it was the Lower East Side. When it was the Lower East Side. When it was a Puerto Rican neighborhood. Okay, and so you're young, Dante Ross, at this point. Yeah
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What was going on on the Lower East Side? I know Fab Five Freddy. Was this the Fab Five Freddy era of Lower East Side
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Way before that. This was before that. Yeah, Freddy's from Brooklyn. I was around during that time
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That was when I was a teenager. But now this is like, it was a largely Hispanic neighborhood
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They had names for the avenues, right? Kind of bohemian, yeah. The further down you went in the letters, the worse you were doing
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Yeah, it's like A is alive, B is bad, C is crazy, and D is dead
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Yeah, that's the block. Exactly, yep. My mom taught school on Avenue D and Housing Street
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She ran a nursery school. She was like a beloved figure in my community, so I always got a passive where I went
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My mom started a credit union. She ran a nursery school, so I was very blessed that my parents were where they were
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What are their names, your parents? My mom is Nora, and my dad is John. John, okay
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I was raised by my mom. My dad was in San Francisco mostly, but he was around
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He was around. Sounded like a free-spirited man. He was a Rolling Stone
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Okay. You know, like kids showed up after he passed, like I'm your brother type of thing
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Oh, word. Oh, my. He was, you know, he was one of those guys. One of those guys
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Yeah, he's a wild dude. So I'm trying to walk you up to how you got involved in the industry, but I know that you were friends with one of the, was he, was John
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John Barry, he was one of the Beastie Boys, but we were all friends from, you know, we were in high school
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Punk rock was his thing We all got into punk rock I was a skateboarder and I was friends with the Beastie Boys We ran around the same Were they the Beastie Boys at that time Yeah they were the Beastie Boys but they were a punk rock band Okay This kid John Barry played guitar He was like my
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best friend. And I just, we were all like a clique of kids. You know, we just all ran around the city
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and, and, um, punk rock ran its course and hip hop was this thing. We just gravitated towards
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it was the new punk rock for us. We're downtown kids, like quintessential downtown kids. And
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Growing up downtown is, you know, it's the most eclectic place in the world
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To me, it's where everything cool starts. Okay. You know, in New York City
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And we were early adapters. You know, I think it just was like our side-by-side culture
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And the Roxy started happening, the grill. We knew people like Ramal Z and Fab Five, Keith Haring, and, you know, all these people
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You see, you know, Dante, when you say these names, you got to give it context now
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Okay, so, like, there was Fab Five Freddy is obviously, you know, Star Wild Style, Yo
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MTV Raps and people like Futura 2000, the painter, and Keith Haring, the artist, and
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Patty Ass, who ran the first graffiti gallery in the world, fun gallery where we all used
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to hang out, and the god, Ramal Z, who told us to go to Negril because he was hosting it
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So we went to the first downtown hip-hop party ever done in 1981 at Negril on 2nd Avenue
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and that's the party that became the Roxy. That became the Wheels of Steel party
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Wow. We were around it very early, and that was the first time I'd seen hip-hop culture in the flesh
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I knew records, and I'd seen dudes on Soul Train, but I saw people breaking in front of me
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rapping, emceeing, DJing. And this is 1981, and it blew my mind
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I'd never seen anything so powerful. Before that, I was really in this band called The Bad Brains, and to me, that was like, they were the gods
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They were like, it was like, seeing them was like a god shot. And then you fast forward a couple years and I see hip hop in the flesh and it's like a God shot
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Yeah. You know, I see this thing that I can't explain. It just was so powerful
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Yeah. Consume my life. Yes, it is. To the day. Dante Ross is here
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Eight, eight, eight, seven, four, two, three, three, four, five. You kind of talk about the Beastie Boys like it's no big deal
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But you know that we're your friends. And that's what I love about it. That's what we all came up. These is like our friends. Right. 100%
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But did they foresee what would happen in their career? You know, those guys were like, how can I say it
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They were extremely confident, you know, and I think once Russell got involved and Rick got involved
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it was a no-brainer. Okay. And I remember seeing them at the Apollo. I saw them catch a bad one open for Curtis Blow
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and they did a whole Madonna tour, and I think that made them very resilient. Okay
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And I saw them after they did a run on one of the Fresh Fests. What, did they get booed
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Oh, they got booed. Yeah, all that. Yeah, Madonna. They used to get booed all the time. Keeney Boppers was like, get out of here
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And then they did a show with Kurtis Blow. People wasn't with him. And then I saw them after they did a little run with Run DMC and Houdini at the Apollo
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open for Run DMC. And people didn't really know who they were until they did Hold It Now Hit It
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Because that record was on the radio. And people lost their minds. And in my head, I said, sorry about cursing
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No, go ahead. Satellite. You're on Eminem. You're on Eminem station. Let's go. They're about to be famous
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I was like, it's going to happen. And, you know, Russell's a genius
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He knew that it was going to take America by storm. He had the palatable version of Run DMC who were already big
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And it was this part two. I saw it, though. I saw it. I was like, if they could rock the Apollo like this, it's a no-brainer because it's the hardest audience in the world
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So what was your role at that time? You were just an onlooker. Just their man. Just their crazy friend
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Did you ever think you'd get into the music business at that time? I kind of did. I knew this cat named Mark Kamens, and he signed Madonna
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and he used to, he mixed some early Beastie Boys record and he used to always tell me
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yo, you be a good A&R scout, I want to give you a job. And then Russell would kind of, you know
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he always liked me and he gave me a job at Death Jam. Ricky Powell went on tour and I took his job as an office messenger
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And I realized pretty early on that I knew something they didn't know
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because I was going to Latin quarters and these places that they couldn't go. You know, I would hang on Andre Harrell, Nelson George
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and Russell, and I was a little kid, you know, and they got a kick out of me
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but they would always pick my brain for records. What's pop in the Latin quarters
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Because they couldn't go there. They're already leading the aspirational lifestyle. They're already brand name
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They're a little too old to go there. So I'm in the Latin quarter and I'm hearing, you know
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Karras One and Just Dice and Kid and Play and whatever's come down the pipe
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And that was the world I was in, which is the next iteration after Run DMC
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It's the start of the golden era, right? The golden era. So I'm in there. The native tongue era
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It's predating it. Because to me, it all starts with Eric B. is president
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That's the first one. What year was that? That was 87, right
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Yeah, so to me, that's when it happens, right? And I saw it in real time
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You know, the world lived in real time. Then it wasn't, there was no numbers, no ytics
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You had to live in real time and see things in real time. So you would experience records at places like Union Square, where Clark Kent was DJing at 17
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And Latin Quarter, where, you know, those places were dangerous places to be
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that's like the equivalent of a drill party now you never know what could happen
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it was some wild shit it was wild when you say 87 is the beginning of the golden era
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I love that that's when I say it started run DMC is like they're here
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and then Airbnb and Rakim and people are sampling it's right here
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take a listen take Dante back for a second thank you DJs
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Dante Ross is hanging out with us 888-742-3345 Bro, you remembering
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when you used to hear this in Latin Quarters? Yo, I heard this record coming out of the car
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in Washington Square Park and I lost my mind I went to Music Factory
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and I asked Stanley who was the dude who had the Breakbeat book
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and I asked him about the record he pointed it to the wall and I bought two of them I was a kid and it was really the B-side
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that got me my melody. Check out my melody. Because it was so crazy to me
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And I was like, oh, my God. And I heard it in the Latin Quarter. I heard it at Union Square
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Union Square was before Latin Quarter. And then it was the quarters. And I had the pleasure, the honor, I should say
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So I used to go to Latin Quarters. And Hank and them, Hank Shockley and them, gave me the test pressing of Rebel Without Applause
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And I gave it to Red Alert. And Red doesn't ever remember this. And he played it that night
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Because he was already playing Public Enemy No. 1. And I seen the Latin Quarter go buck wild
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and it was like in real time, like I was like, oh my, this is it
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You know what I mean? And to me, like, it's funny, we talk about Eric B and Rakim
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I'm good friends with Rakim, he performed my birthday, I've traveled the world with him
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he's my guy, and Chuck D is a dear friend of mine as well, and Public Enemy for me was like the
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they're like Bad Brains, I see hip-hop, run DMC, and that's like Public Enemy, right
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Public Enemy to me was, they were everything. That was the most powerful group I'd ever seen
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Come on, man. Dante, man, we living your life right now, baby
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So what's interesting with Hank Shockley and Keith, you know, the Shockley brothers
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I feel like I was reading in your book that you had a fight with Hank I had a little altercation with Hank I did I love Hank though How did you fight Hank Shockley bro Because I was crazy man He was the biggest producer in the game He was I almost got fired for it But I love Hank Hank is my man
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You know what I mean? Things happen. A little wrestling match, a little thing
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You know what it is. You're a kid. Things happen. It's like going to the basketball court
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You're getting to fight with your friend. It's like a yoke up. Not a fist
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beating his ass. A little fist going on. A little something. Hank whooped your ass, huh
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Nah. Hank I'm a little crazier than Hank. I love you, Hank
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Hank Shockley, I love you. You're my man. But the funniest thing to me is reading in your book
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when you wrote about this fight you had with Hank Shockley, the most celebrated producer
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of his time, and then you had to talk with Russell Simmons about it
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I was very lucky he loved me. If he didn't love me, he would have fired me. He told me that. What did Russell say to you? He told me to calm my crazy ass down
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He said, when you make some hit records, do whatever the
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you want, but right now you need to calm yourself down and and he also told me you know i was gonna get hurt if i kept kept kept it up he said you
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know you might end up in a bad spot but how did that advice really help you moving forward i mean
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you know made me mind my p's and q's a little bit you know and also i have to say um um look
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a lot of people say a lot of things about russell um i i can't weigh in on any of it but he opened
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the door for me him and leor so you know and i was always very lucky that people like him
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Andre Harrell, Lior Cohen they always loved me, Steve Rifkin so I was always lucky like that, that people who
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had, who were empowered you know, embraced me. Let's talk about some of the women that were empowered that
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embraced you. Let's talk about Monica Lynch. Oh we love Monica Lynch
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she was my first, Lior is my first mentor, she's my second mentor
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she did it with a much more gentle hand, she dropped De La Soul in my lap, she
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let me sign Queen Latifah she was just an amazing person, I think a very under celebrated person because, um, hip hop was a boys club, but still
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is. And I think she never got her just due. She should be talked about the way Sylvia Rohn is
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And she isn't people don't really know all the things she did, but she was responsible for
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uh, digital underground success, De La Soul, Queen Latifah, you know, a whole bunch of other stuff
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Coolio. She's a genius. She's a marketing genius. Besides Def Jam, Tommy boy probably had the most
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powerful label identity and she's responsible for that. She's one of the first people to understand that in hip-hop
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She was here with Daylight Soul not that long ago too. I couldn't believe she actually
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stood in the room. I mean, I took her. We went to the Daylight thing. Dave had passed and
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I was like, Mo, I'm coming to New York and she was like, I was like, you going? She's like
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I didn't want to call the fellas. I was like, I got you and we just went and we all got to
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be together and it was beautiful. Shout out to Monica Lynch. I bring up her name
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because she helped give us a lot of records back then with Sway and Tech
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you know, and then Soul Sonic Force. That was Tommy Boy, wasn't it? Yes, it was
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That was one of my, you know, favorite groups of all time at that time, too
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Yeah, you know, I walked in there and I kind of was like a good luck charm. I liked that
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They were kind of a little on the ropes. Daddy-O got me the job from Stetsasonic. Shout out to Daddy-O
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Come on, give Daddy-O from Stets. I love Daddy-O. Did Daddy-O give you some music earlier
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Did he give you plug tuning? He plugged me in with my job at Tommy Boy
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and he was always my man, one of my mentors as well. he taught me a lot of stuff a lot of spiritual stuff you know daddy always was um he was a god
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back then he just told me a lot of stuff yeah you know he's a very spiritual cat he put me up on the
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power positive thought by Bhagwan Rajneesh when I was like 20 years old and that book changed my
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life changed your life look at your life now so uh Monica Lynch uh Sylvia Rome so you did a lot
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with electric records too I did I worked for Sylvia it wasn't it wasn't all love it was a little
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awkward she came in after i had done all the stuff you know brand newbie and dirty i signed buster
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and all this other stuff and and um we didn't necessarily have the best rapport but in retrospect
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she did me a huge solid after i left the label she sent me royalties for dirty and for pete rock
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so no one had ever done that for me before when i left the job still paid me a significant amount
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of money so I have to tip my hat to her at all times. She's a legendary person
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and an incredible executive. Me and her, we come from different sides. We look at it differently
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She's a genius. She's a G. She's a bonafide. We love Sylvia Rohn
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Let me ask you this. Dante Ross is here. The book is Son of the City. You can get the
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book now. Order it. It's on all DSPs I'm assuming. People hear the term
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A&R. It's just almost defunct now. Folks like us know what that artists and repertoire and now it means ytics and research is that what it
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means now i mean that's what i call it because that's what it is because everyone's looking at
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the numbers everyone has the same information there's very little secrets and people aren't
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going to sign something without numbers now no major label is going to do that which is good and
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bad it allows independent culture to flourish we look at people like alchemist or or you know
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action bronson or whomever it is uh run the jewels who live outside of the paradigm of a major label
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So, you know, there's pluses and minuses to it. There's pluses and minuses to it
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I mean, I'm a big fan of independent culture right now and where it stands in the big equation
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Because the major labels, we've all seen them snatch something up and, you know, the brakes come on and it doesn't happen
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Not everyone's a little Uzi Vert. Not everyone should be on a major label. Okay
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Dante Ross is here. Trace, I'm going to let you jump in. He says something that I got to get in there and ask him about
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You mentioned Old Dirty. shout out to old dirty Wu-Tang Clan
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come on RZA the whole crew is genius and in the book you talk about
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one of the sessions I can't think of which one I think you wanted him to write a second verse
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oh yeah for Shimmy Shimmy the second verse I never got he just had the backwards verse
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and did the same verse again and then he told me yo your man Q-Tip did that
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and he did on Sucker N's he has the same verse twice
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so I had no argument nothing I could say Dirty didn't write lyrics
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He wrote some. You know, he had some help. You know, as er said
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I might have wrote it, but that's Dirty's lyrics because I can't say it like that
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Okay. So, you know, and I worked on an old Dirty documentary
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Comes out in August with Sam Pollard and Jason Pollard. And I'm a producer on it
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with the estate with Isoline and Messiah Jacobs. And I'm also the music supervisor on it
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We did it with A&E. And it's great, man. It'll be out in August, and I'm working on a couple of doc things
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some of my iced tea right now and a couple other things. What about old Dirty that we don't know
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He loved his kids. He loved his lady. We know that. He was a very warm individual
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He was hilarious. And before it all went haywire, he was a really great person
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and very self-aware. People don't realize this. Like his imaging was all created by him
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like he had a self-awareness about who he was and how he wanted to be perceived and i think people
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don't realize that you know they remember him as this reckless crazy guy who was like wu-tangs for
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the children but i think um there was actually a lot of self-awareness and how he moved and how
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he wanted the world to perceive him okay tracy g yeah i have two things and i'm grateful to be
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hearing about your journey through a tremendous career dante um when sway had brought up a and r and how it almost feels like obsolete However shout out to I would say the last most popular A Baroline Diaz Yeah I don really know her
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but I would give Orlando Wharton is a great A&R guy, and he really is in it
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He really, you know, he lives it, and he's at every session for his artists and all that
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And I just, you know, I know O really well, and I see his process. And, you know, I worked at WMG for nine years
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and he was one of the guys who reminds me the way that I did it
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I love that. He lives in the culture. Yeah, shout out to him. You should know Beryl
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Yeah, she was the VP of A&R. Yeah, Interscope. And she's got her label, Great Day Records
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Through Alamo. Alamo, yep. She's a real one. I don't know her, but I see her from afar
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and she seems to really be in the culture, which is always, I think, the way you have to be
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Yeah, but for those who are taking the independent route, which is so many artists
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what would you say if you could give like a DIY A&R type of syllabus for an independent artist to
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consider for themselves what would be on it I mean content is king right so you have to always
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play the game you have to create a lot of music you have to put out a lot of music you have to
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create a lot of visuals you have to use all the tools in front of you know kids are lucky now
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They have more free tools than ever, whether it's TikTok, Instagram, DSPs, the distro kids of the world
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So there's no handcuffs. You don't have handcuffs. Like I worked with Marlon Kraft for a long time, and we really leveled that up because that's what we did, especially during the pandemic
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So, you know, I think that, you know, content is king, man. Just keep, don't live in a vacuum
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Don't overthink it. Get your music out there. What still matters, though, from, say, like two decades ago that should still be considered now
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Well, you know, two decades ago, we're like in the blog era. It's the start of the blog era
24:17
And that's the beginning of the independent nature of all of this. So I say two decades ago, we had blogs, which were an incredible tool to get your music out there for free
24:26
You know, people didn't have to buy it. You could share your music with everyone. You could build a buzz organically online by being on the right blogs
24:32
Those don't exist anymore. But you're self-powered now. It's all in your hands
24:37
Your laptop is your studio. It's your marketing team. It's everything. So, you know, you just got to get in there and make it
24:43
You know, technology is always the advent of change, and technology has been put in every child's hands now, every kid
24:51
So, you know, you got Fruity Loops on your computer, and you got your marketing team right there
24:56
Go do it. There's nothing to hold you back. So don't overthink it. Get busy. Get busy
25:00
I love that. Dante Ross here. DB. I often have conversations about just the changing of New York in general
25:06
because you have places like CBGB that are no longer around. You have murals and art pieces and, you know, Five Points and things like that
25:11
I mean, the trains was looking like an art museum in 1980. Exactly. And I feel like a lot of that, you know, even just seeing, you know, Andy Warhol, Basquiat
25:18
or Harold Hunter walking around, you know what I mean, downtown and just like all those things would fester like the creativity and the mind of everybody trying to like do it
25:26
Now it feels like everybody wants to be the star. Well, everyone's, everyone's clout chasing now, you know, and people all want fame
25:32
They don't want to create. That's not the, how can I say it? Like the end goal is like, I want to be famous
25:37
Right. Right. And then it was like, I want to express myself creatively. So I think that the goals are very different now
25:42
I don't think Keith Haring or Futura or Dondi White or even Ramal Z
25:48
or even the Beastie Boys, their end goal wasn't to be famous
25:52
It was to be creative, right? And now I think the end goal is fame because everyone sees how obtainable it is
25:58
You know, we live in fast food culture. It's a microwave world. Right. You know, it's all obtainable
26:02
Back then, it was a different paradigm. Huh. You know, when you go to a hip-hop show now, Dante
26:07
you'll see the audience, just to throw a percentage out there, feels like 75% white
26:14
It's really true. Especially at festivals. It's really true. It's probably more than that. Yeah, I know
26:18
That's weird. It's weird. That's weird to me. You're really right. You know, and I feel like, look, man, I'm a white cat
26:27
I live the culture. I've been in it forever. But I feel like a lot of white kids, being hip-hop for a few years
26:34
that's something you try on. I'm going to go put the suit on for a few seasons. and then I'm going to go be a hedge fund dude, right, or whatever it is
26:40
I'm going to pay my dues for the hip hop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to try this on for a second
26:44
It's not something that is part of the DNA of their soul, right
26:49
It's like I'm going to try it on. It's really cool right now, but that's not something they're committed to for their life
26:55
Me, I didn't have that option, and it's because I was involved in the culture as it emerged, right
27:00
I grew up listening to James Brown and Just Be Gone by Jimmy Castor Bunch
27:05
and Pleasure by Joyous and all these records were in the street
27:08
I went to block parties and park jams. I saw all this stuff. So for me, when Break Beats came out
27:14
like Rob by Samandy and everyone started using these records, I already knew these records
27:18
because my sister's eight years older than me and I'm outside since I'm a little kid
27:23
So to me, it was always part of my, like the fabric of my listening DNA
27:28
So for me, I don't have to adjust my ears. You know, I was lucky that way. I'm blessed that way
27:32
Oh man, we got Dante Ross here. Give him a big round of applause. Excellent combo
27:37
That's a beautiful conversation. We're going to open up the phone lines, too. 888-742-3345
27:43
Dante Ross met leaders of the new school, right? And you saw them perform
27:52
You approached them to talk about what the future could hold, but Buster was quiet
27:58
Buster was very quiet. Charlie Brown did all the talking. Yeah. And I heard later on that they broke up and they got back together again because they knew I wanted to sign them
28:08
This is what Buss has told me and it's the legend. And when they first came to see me, Brown came by himself because I think they were still broken up
28:17
And the first time Buster and Brown and all of them came to my office, they had an argument
28:22
About what? Who knows? They could argue about anything. There's a foreshadowing of things to come
28:27
so that one episode I want to say was it Yo MTV Raps
28:31
yeah it was heartbreaking and then Charlie Brown broke up live on TV
28:36
on TV oh my we're no longer gonna be together he's like you know
28:40
it's all about Brown this year you know Brown threw the monkey wrench in it you know look
28:44
Scenario is the best thing that ever happened to him it was the worst thing that ever happened to him because when a Scenario
28:49
came out because we all know you know Busted stole the show tipped through an alley-oop
28:54
you know really I mean look at it as I combine like it's just too much You know, it's like he was doing the oop
28:59
He dunked, and that was that You know, that was He was the rhyme style
29:05
I mean, you know He's blessed Oh my god, oh my god
29:13
And you know, like, when you hear this at a party People will sometimes just skip straight to this part
29:17
All the time, all the time They just take, I mean, there's also like an edit
29:21
You know, it's like you just, right there Goes to drop and it ends
29:25
That's the end of the song Yeah man And you were there at this time
29:30
I was there at this time You was A&R? I was And I wanted
29:34
Tip to come in And look They made time It was Confusing record
29:39
I sent them back To make it again Chris Lighty's their manager Me and Chris Powwow
29:45
So maybe we Yeah rest in peace I love you brother Chris Shout out to his daughter Tiffany
29:51
It's like family So we I said man Maybe we should get Pull Tipman
29:55
They don't listen to me no more and we was talking about it and I brought it up to the group
29:59
Man, only Buster was with it, because I was going to have Tip come in and try and do what he did with Mob Deep
30:06
But no one except Buster was with it. So we didn't do it. They fixed the record, or they went back in on the record
30:13
Similar results. But the whole time I was over there saying, me and Chris was like, we got this for you, Buster
30:18
Whenever you're ready, it's yours. And they broke up, and it took him two years, but he took the deal, and he ended up making history
30:26
Wow, love it. What did Tip, explain what Tip did for Mob Deep. I mean, he was the executive producer on The Infamous
30:33
but he also did, I think, Temperatures Rising, Give Up the Goods
30:37
and I think he fixed a couple of other things, but he did those two songs, and I think he mixed all of it
30:42
and he had kicks and snares, and he's very instrumental in that record, far more than people know
30:48
Q-Tip, Zalouk King. 100% love Tip, and The Infamous, one of the greatest hip-hop records ever made
30:56
I'm a huge Mobb D fan. Prodigy is one of my favorite MCs ever, And I knew them when they were called the Poetical Prophets
31:02
I actually looked at signing them, and I didn't sign them. And they got signed, changed their name
31:07
They changed their name because Puff told them that was a whack name, Poetical Prophets
31:11
They became Mobb Deep, signed the island, put out the first record, Juvenile Hell, it didn't pop
31:16
And then they did the Mighty Infamous, the Infamous later on. That's crazy because Juvenile Hell popped to us
31:21
Right, right. To me, hit from the back was ill. Yeah, right? So it's interesting at that time, like something could not pop mainstream, but be huge everywhere else
31:33
And that's all that mattered. Yeah. And, you know, Matty C was working at the source
31:36
He put him in the source. Then he went to work it loud. And then he signs Mobb Deep when they get dropped
31:42
Wow. And shout out Matty C. He's the one who told me all the Wu-Tang was available for solo deals
31:49
And that's kind of why I signed Dirty. He was like, yo, take that. Here, pass me the rock
31:53
He passed you the rock. Because he was like, Maddie's kind of my protege
31:58
He would call me his mentor. So me and Maddie were super tight, and he just told me
32:02
yo, man, you might want to grab one of these dudes. I tried to grab Dirty and Matt, and I got Dirty
32:07
I can't have you keep mentioning Wu-Tang and affiliates without mentioning Prince Paul
32:13
Oh, man, Prince Paul. We love him. Daddy-O. Prince Paul is a genius
32:18
Let me tell you, man, being in the studio with Dayla and Paul
32:22
when they made that first record, I was just lucky to be there, like to watch their genius just happen in front of me
32:28
What do you remember from one of those sessions? I remember all of it, man. It was like jokes, lots of jokes
32:32
I remember Mace got a car and it got stolen. Wait, Mace got a car
32:37
Mace had a Pathfinder and we went out one side and his car was gone. Dead ass
32:43
His car was gone. I remember that Mace put ketchup on everything he ate
32:49
Chinese food, I'd never seen that before. Lots of jokes. Jokes, jokes, jokes
32:55
I saw Prince Paul time stretch a sample. Never seen anyone do that before
33:00
And I saw them just put all those records together. It was genius. What is time stretching a sample
33:06
It's pitch shifting. You have to make it match the tempo of the beat that you're creating
33:10
So if you have a sample that's way too fast, you have to stretch it out, pause, to make it fit the BPM that you're trying to put out for the song
33:16
And without changing the key. Right, exactly. Because when you change that, it also either brings it down or pitches it up
33:21
Pitches it up. So he was the first person I ever saw do that. And one thing people don't know is that, like, the Daylaw guys
33:28
Paz and Dove and Mace, also had a big hand in the production
33:32
I lent Paz to Get On My Life Woman drums for I Know. You know, I don't know, man
33:38
It was just a wonderful time. I was like, I didn't really know what I was doing. I was a little kid
33:42
I don't think any of us knew what we were doing. Paul was the seasoned vet because he'd been in Stet
33:46
He was really the ringleader, if you will. And I will say in the middle of doing that record
33:50
because we walked into the album with two hit songs We knew we had something And you know it was just a wonderful time man Sometimes you young you innocent you in the moment and you just know you in the middle of it
34:02
Man, we got Dante Ross here, man. I gotta, before we run out of time
34:07
you've been very instrumental in the Bay Area hip-hop scene by supporting a lot of the Bay artists
34:13
Was Del the first Bay artist you supported? He's the first one I signed
34:17
I really, he's the only one I signed. But, you know, I'm like, that's my second home. And look, I was probably the only guy in New York who rocked with Too Short way back
34:25
Way back. Because he had opened for us when I was Eric B. and Rockham's road manager in Oakland Coliseum in 87
34:30
And we had the tape. And I actually brought it to Leore and them. And they laughed
34:34
So I've been tuned into Too Short. And 40 early, I remember when he had the federal joint out, A-plus put me up on that in Oakland in his house
34:45
A-plus from Hieroglyphic. Soul Simstiff, yeah. So I've always kind of been tuned into it
34:49
And I think one thing is music that's regional, music isn't regional anymore
34:54
but it sounds better when you're in that place. So when you hear Too Short in Oakland
34:58
it sounds different. You know what I mean? And Digital Underground was like from the Bay
35:02
but they kind of sounded national, if that makes sense. So I've always been a fan of like Ghetto Boys
35:09
or Devin the Dude or Early Outcast or whatever it is. I'm not just a New York-centric person with my ears
35:15
because I have a job, it's business. And if you can't hear beyond just your region, you probably should get a new job
35:21
That's one of the key ingredients to your success, Dante Ross, because you didn't have a pigeonholed ear
35:27
Right. Which we appreciated when you was bringing all these artists that you supported over the years to our platform
35:33
So salute to you on that. Thank you. For me, it's about the MC. Can you rap
35:37
Yeah. You know, that's basically it. Who do you like today? Who's popular
35:41
There's a whole lot of people I like. There's a lot of young kids I like. I like this kid, Lord Sko
35:46
I like Pink Sifu I like Mike I like Moreland Craft I love Action
35:52
Mayhem Lorraine Rock Marcy All the Griselda dudes Obviously Anderson Paak J. Cole
35:58
Kendrick is the Apex You know schoolboy Q Okay I mean it goes on and on
36:03
If you look There's always great music You just gotta look Jid That's right Earth Gang
36:07
Yeah IDK We just had IDK IDK Cimino You know What about some women
36:12
Oh yeah I mean I love Rhapsody You know like I can't tell you I'm a big Cardi fan
36:18
I like Megan. I tried to sign Megan. Young people at work told me she wasn't it when she had just had the freestyle joint
36:25
I tried to sign them. They were too cheap. I was told, we already got Cardi
36:28
What do we need Megan for? And she signed with $300,000. And I fully believed in Megan because she was beautiful, and I wanted to met her, and she was mad cool
36:36
And T. Ferris was the manager, and Carl Crawford was still involved, and he told me
36:40
$100,000, I can't lose money on this. I need X amount of money. And we didn't do it
36:44
You didn't do it. But you was right there, though. Right there. I mean, that's happened so many times
36:49
If I had a list of all the people I wasn't allowed to sign and I could sign them all, I'd be a zillionaire
36:54
Well, you tried to sign the DOC, the Tommy Boy, right? I did try to sign them. And then Tommy Silverman was like, no
36:59
Nope. Who are some of the people you tried to sign? Tribe Called Quest, DOC, recent people I tried to sign, G-Eazy, Megan Thee Stallion, G-Herbo, Little Dirk
37:15
I'm trying to man so many people told you no you had a place now
37:20
you don't need to ask nobody you should just be able to sign I have my own label
37:24
you'll all hear about it in a minute I'm 90% done with the deal
37:28
I can't let it out the bag now but I got my own thing my own situation
37:32
and my first cat is this kid Lord Skull who's I saw you post him 18
37:36
from Washington Heights he's I don't know he reminds me of Action Con
37:40
he's just a bugged out cat and a couple other things coming down the pipe C.S. Armstrong
37:44
who's a soul singer and a bunch of other things. Bring that kid from the Heights Sco you need to put him on the freestyle Yeah bring him here We test him out Yeah got it he ready well you gonna say he got bars all right we see all right i love that mark what up you in denver what going on mark hey mark what up mark
38:02
what up though y'all hey what up though what's up man let me tell you something i first found
38:10
out about you because i'm a skateboarder okay did you just fall off the skateboard
38:15
Call back. Call back. He ate it, right? He's only doing a tic-tac
38:23
His new name is Skidmark. A tic-tac. He did a skidmark. No, a tic-tac
38:29
Oh, that's a move. Damn. I lost. If you hadn't said nothing
38:35
you could have left it right there. Cameron is in Fort Lauderdale
38:39
Generational differences. A tic-tac. She was like, I need a Tic Tac
38:48
You stupid, Sway. It's a Tic Tac. How you smelled his breath over the phone
38:53
It's crazy. His breath was humming so hard, we smelled it over the phone
38:59
We was like, yo, man, go get that Tic Tac. Going deep with the joke in the wrong direction
39:04
I thought he meant Tic Tac. How you smelled his breath? Tic Tac
39:09
He didn't have a Tic Tac. That's a Lord Seer joke. That's a Lord Seer joke. You need to go jump in the aisle of Listerine and chill
39:19
That was a good shot, though, Tracy. Cameron, go ahead. You got a comment
39:25
Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. Thanks for calling. Hey, I just want to give a shout-out to Dante because, man
39:30
I'm an early Gen X-er, man. I grew up as a white kid in Gary. Listen, WGCI
39:35
But, you know, Friday night videos and Yo! MTV raps my thing
39:40
Did you eat Tic Tacs? I got a breath mint for you, kid
39:49
I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. It just went there. I've been possessed by a stretch of Bobito in Lord City
39:56
I can't help myself. Sorry, boss. Cameron, what did you want to say, though, man
40:02
Yeah, yeah. I'm here, man. Just start over, Cameron. Just start over. Take it from the top, Cameron
40:07
y'all. Ain't this question? Good morning, Cameron. Cameron, say what you want to do
40:12
Just say it, man. Say it. Cool, Cam. Let's hear it, yo. Hey, hey. So, listen, man
40:16
You talked a few minutes about the golden age of hip-hop in the 80s and such, man. And growing up as an early-gen actor in Gary, Indiana, as a white kid, you know, like, I listen to WGCI at night on Sunday nights and new music
40:27
Listen around Led Zeppelin and all that good stuff. But I want to thank you, man, because, you know, you fostered a generation of acceptance, you know, at the same time grunge music did through hip-hop, you know, and listening to all that early stuff
40:39
So I just want to thank you for the work you put in, man. All right, thank you, man. Thank you. Thank you
40:43
You grew up a generation of accepting people, man. Good stuff. Thank you, boss
40:47
It's live. Hey, man, good call, Cameron. I appreciate you, man. I hate grunge
40:52
No, no. Sorry. You hate it? No, not really. I like Nirvana. I don't like Pearl Jam too much, though
40:56
I went to see Pearl Jam, and I was like, yo, this is really New York
41:01
People's really rocking like this? I was shocked. Anyway. Yeah, you're ahead, though, man
41:04
So what kind of deals are you going to give with your platform? You're going to do it? So, you know, everything's... 360
41:09
You're going to do it like that? Everything's equitable. Don't put them in the field. Come on, man. Everything's equitable, man. You own half of it
41:14
You get your master's in two, three years. It's all equitable, man
41:18
I don't believe in anything but equitable situations at this point in time
41:23
There is no reason to do any land grabs. I don't do that
41:27
I don't believe in it. Okay. It's all about you have ownership
41:31
You walk away with your master's. Bong, bong, bong. Did you evolve into that
41:35
Were you always in that mindset? Well, I worked at ADA and I ran ADA for almost eight years
41:40
I brought Macklemore there and I did the little Dickie deal and a couple other deals and I thought in working there I saw that this is the way to do deals now This is how we do it And I believe fostering independence is the way to do it
41:53
Everything else at this point in time is a land grab. And I can understand if someone got a couple of milli on the table
41:59
for you, cool. You want to take that, take that, but know what that comes with
42:03
It comes with a whole lot. We hear a lot of artists whining nowadays
42:07
because they realize the deals they sign. And so you don't want to be that
42:11
person, Dante Ross. I've never been that person I've always been a person on the artist side
42:15
I've always really been tight with my artist and to my detriment
42:19
sometimes I'm not a company guy and I think some people would consider me a loose cannon
42:25
because I'd be like nah all that morals over money that's where you at
42:30
I mean look man I walk down the street I go anywhere I never had a problem with anyone going anywhere
42:36
because of the way I conduct myself real quick I know we have to go
42:40
And when you talked about your platform, it made me think of somebody that you went to once upon a time that I used to work with, a young man who used to intern at K&E.O
42:49
That became now probably one of the most. Larry Jackson. Larry Jackson. 100%. Give it up for Larry Jackson
42:54
Larry Jackson. Give that a round of applause. And so Larry has his new company
42:58
Is it Gamma? Gamma. Gamma, right. And the kind of deals that they're doing seem very artist favorable
43:04
You write about a moment where you took Josh Stone to Larry Jackson
43:08
No, it wasn't. That's not the story. I was doing, I had worked on Santana's Supernatural, and I had a, you know, I had a song in there
43:15
so 20 million, won a Grammy, blah, blah, blah. So fast forward, it's his next record
43:20
And, you know, they, I write a song with, I write it with Anthony Hamilton, and Larry's
43:27
the A&R guy, and we record Josh Stone singing Anthony's parts. I have to transpose the record
43:33
It means put it in a different register, and it loses, it loses the thing
43:37
and Jostone walked in and said, I can't sing like Anthony Hamilton
43:42
So I already knew it was toast. Yeah. She was already scared and she did her vocals
43:47
and they had me go bring it to Clive and Clive kicked that shit out the door
43:52
like a hockey puck. No? Like a hockey puck. And he said
43:57
the other kid, put the other kid on it. And that was Anthony? And Anthony at the same time
44:01
had Y had just come out with Jadakiss. And Clive didn't even realize this
44:06
So I went and recut it with Anthony again, and that was the song that made the album
44:12
And Anthony Hamilton's a wonderful singer, you know? And it's funny that Santana said, he said
44:16
I like the other guy. He sounds like, Kaz, yo, look at the guy
44:22
Oh, shit. Kaz, yo, come in here, man. Grandmaster Kaz is outside
44:27
The Cold Crush Brothers. Wow. He's one of my heroes, yo. What the hell
44:30
That's wild. Yo, we just brought him up earlier. When I told him he took my daughter on the floor
44:35
Yeah, 100%. The legendary, iconic Grandmaster Cass has returned home. Cass and Dante Ross in the same building
44:45
Wow. Damn, you know that. Hey, yo. Cass, take a seat, man
44:49
Come on, man. Man, grab the sheep. We got to say blessings of Grandmaster Cass. Wow
44:57
Wow. You got Sean Rock here. Wow, Sean Rock. Oh, my God
45:03
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Wow I gotta say thank you to Sha Rock Wow Wow
45:12
My heroes just walked in here I'm I'm blown away right now
45:18
The first female rapper Of hip hop ever The legendary iconic South Bronx song
45:26
You Sha Rock Is in this building man If it wasn't for Sha Rock
45:32
If it wasn't for Grandmaster Cass There would be no shade for a 5
45:36
There would be no shade for a 5

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