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Kenny Parker Talks new Book "My Brother's Name Is Kenny: The Greatest True Hip-Hop Story Ever Told"
Feb 9, 2023
Kenny Parker brother of KRS-One on Sway In The morning talking about his latest book "My Brother's Name Is Kenny: The Greatest True Hip-Hop Story Ever Told"
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Kenny Parker Talks new Book "My Brother's Name Is Kenny: The Greatest True Hip-Hop Story Ever Told"
https://youtu.be/Kw4iYxmqO0E
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0:07
wow
0:08
that was the voice
0:10
of a very very
0:12
important person
0:14
in the evolution of this culture we know
0:15
as hip hop
0:18
for so many reasons and normally i would
0:20
do this introduction but i feel it'll be
0:22
inappropriate if um if um heather chimed
0:25
in on this but i will say this that um
0:28
his brother is easily one of the most
0:30
influential people in my life
0:32
um i remember when the criminal minded
0:35
project came out
0:36
and my brother and i used to sit up in
0:39
our shared room on off of east 22nd
0:42
street in east oakland and listen to
0:44
this music and listen to these lyrics
0:47
and the thing that i loved so much about
0:49
it was the annunciation the way his
0:52
his addiction was
0:53
uh the tone of his voice and the words
0:56
that he used were so powerful
0:59
you knew then that he was a philosopher
1:01
that he was a thinking man and then you
1:04
also knew that there was depth in his
1:05
content
1:06
because he educated us from day one you
1:09
know he was always on the side of the
1:12
disenfranchised from day one he was
1:15
making us aware that we were being
1:16
indoctrinated in a way that wasn't
1:19
favorable for who we are as a people in
1:21
the culture
1:22
he taught us to search for other
1:24
information that you know what you may
1:26
find in the public school system or what
1:28
you being taught isn't good for you
1:30
since day one we're young people in our
1:32
most transformative years getting this
1:34
information from a peer
1:36
who's nearly our age from day one right
1:39
he made bangers
1:41
he gave us insight to what it's like to
1:43
live in new york city to be homeless
1:46
he gave us a lot of information that
1:49
helped shape and mold us today i'm
1:50
talking about krs-1 but standing next to
1:53
him
1:54
through this whole process the same way
1:56
my brother t calloway has an amazing
1:58
story he had a younger brother that was
2:01
in the shadows that kind of kept him
2:04
you know stable kept him balanced kept
2:06
him on the course same as krs-1 his
2:09
younger brother has a story to tell
2:12
and his story gives us insight on who
2:14
chris is
2:15
and who they family was
2:17
as they were coming up we used to hear
2:19
the stories have to be about them being
2:21
in homeless shelters
2:23
being in um um being out on the streets
2:26
this book paints the picture to the
2:28
detail and it makes you appreciate who
2:30
they are as a family even more so you
2:32
want to add on to this
2:33
um i was telling kenny yesterday how
2:35
proud i was of him just finding the time
2:38
and the energy and just remembering so
2:41
much i think we talk a lot about
2:42
documentation here and how important it
2:45
is just to sort of start um you know
2:47
recognizing your history and your legacy
2:49
and everything that um you and your
2:51
family have tried to build and i think
2:53
kenny did an amazing amazing job at
2:56
capturing what life was like prior to
2:59
the lights the action the camera and
3:01
becoming a superstar and for me knowing
3:03
kenny since college um how they made it
3:06
out you know for kenny to be an educated
3:08
a formerly educated man graduating from
3:11
a jesuit institution with a degree in
3:12
psychology and his brother becoming a
3:15
hip-hop legend an icon of music legend
3:17
and icon i should say because i want to
3:19
take it outside of hip-hop it's nothing
3:21
short but a miracle you know yeah
3:23
absolutely happy to have him here today
3:25
let's talk about his new book my brother
3:27
my brother's name is kenny yes that's
3:29
kenny parker thank you for having me oh
3:31
my goodness absolutely we got the
3:33
legendary the iconic one himself wow
3:37
kenny parker kenny parker what's up
3:40
parker
3:42
what's good legendary
3:44
my brother name is kenny
3:47
that's kenny parker
3:48
my other brother i see you is much
3:50
darker i've heard that phrase every
3:53
single day of my life for the past 35
3:55
years really people say this every day
3:58
wow that phrase changed my entire life
4:01
how so
4:02
i was a regular college student
4:05
the day before my philosophy came out
4:07
uh-huh and the next day i was signing
4:09
autographs and getting mobbed because of
4:12
that one line wow
4:14
back then back then a shout out was so
4:18
tremendous in a rap song uh-huh and then
4:21
for keras one to say that's my brother
4:24
and that's his name kenny parker the
4:28
next day
4:29
literally the next day i was
4:32
mobbed i couldn't go anywhere in the
4:33
city how did you cope with that because
4:36
when you read through the book you were
4:37
always kind of like the the shy one
4:41
yes um
4:43
it
4:44
how did i cope with it it was difficult
4:46
yeah because
4:48
i didn't do anything i i always believed
4:51
and i was raised to believe that you get
4:52
accolades when you do something uh-huh
4:55
i didn't do anything i just
4:57
my brother said that's my brother over
4:59
there and everybody started handing me
5:01
demo tapes and
5:02
you know
5:04
where's your brother can i meet him and
5:06
why are you in the supermarket shopping
5:08
for food you know i'm like
5:10
[Music]
5:11
you know i'm a college student i'm about
5:13
to get some oodles of noodles from over
5:15
here and half a chicken from doubt you
5:17
know
5:18
regular stuff but all of a sudden it was
5:20
just overwhelming what year was that 88
5:22
1988 1988.
5:25
now
5:25
when i i'm speaking from a fan from
5:28
coming from the west coast you know and
5:31
we thought that your brother
5:34
like nobody could beat up krs-1 that's
5:36
how we thought like he he had so much
5:38
bravado and who he was as an emcee
5:42
where did that come from though
5:45
you know it's interesting because we
5:46
weren't raised like that yeah you know
5:48
we were
5:51
mild-mannered kids we were the kids that
5:54
liked to play sports played skelly
5:57
we went to the library on our own we
6:00
actually on our own went to the library
6:02
and read books and you know
6:04
i was the shy one and my brother was
6:06
even more quiet than i was
6:08
i was really the lead chris was more
6:11
quiet i was
6:12
up until we were like 17 18 years old i
6:15
was the lead
6:16
everything that i did he followed me all
6:19
my friends
6:20
were his friends he had no friends all
6:22
my friends were his friends i played
6:24
ball he played ball i played skelly he
6:26
played skelly
6:27
until hip hop came
6:29
okay and then he
6:31
he found himself like he just went
6:33
through life just existing
6:35
and then hip hop came and then he was
6:37
like this is all i want to do with my
6:38
life
6:39
like just like that let's paint that
6:41
picture you said he went through life
6:42
just existing
6:44
so as a kid when you read this book
6:47
kenny really
6:49
just lets us into what their family life
6:51
was like
6:52
brutal it was brutal you know you didn't
6:55
know that the man that was
6:58
you thought to believe was your father
7:00
was your father wasn't your father until
7:03
what age
7:05
six six years from age zero to six i
7:08
thought my father was my father and i
7:10
thought i was privileged because we at
7:12
that point we lived in harlem
7:14
and um nobody had a father
7:18
no none of the kids i knew had a father
7:19
but we had a father so i thought i was
7:21
special i had a father wow until i found
7:23
out my father wasn't really my father
7:25
and i found out in a harsh way yeah you
7:28
know that he told us you know
7:30
well he used to you know at this time he
7:33
must have been frustrated in the
7:34
relationship i'm not sure what's going
7:36
on with your mom but whenever he got
7:38
frustrated he would unload bombs like
7:41
he'll kind of punish the kids for his
7:42
frustration he might run in the room and
7:44
say santa claus ain't real we left the
7:46
presents for you
7:47
just like that
7:49
the tooth fairy ain't real that wasn't
7:51
the tooth fairy we put that quarter
7:52
under your pillow just like that he'll
7:54
have an argument with my mother and
7:56
he'll come in the room and be like guess
7:58
what kids there's no santa claus that
7:59
was us and walk out
8:01
and just leave us there like yeah what
8:03
are you taught we like five
8:05
or there's no tooth fairy
8:08
and i love the tooth fairy by the way
8:12
put money under a pillow and you wake up
8:14
in the morning and there's put your
8:16
tooth under your money i thought the
8:18
tooth fairy was the greatest thing ever
8:21
he was like there's no tooth fairy that
8:23
was us
8:24
and then you know one day he came and
8:26
was like they had a bad argument and he
8:28
came and was like guess what
8:30
i'm not your real father you were
8:32
adopted and left the room
8:35
whoa i'm laughing that sounds crazy
8:40
what did chris say we both were stunned
8:43
we're stunned
8:44
what do you mean you're not we
8:46
you know
8:47
my mother and
8:49
stepfather they they married when we
8:51
were like three and two so we don't even
8:53
remember a life before him
8:55
so he was our father until he walked in
8:57
the room and said i'm not your father
9:00
and just left us there
9:02
and then your mother came behind that
9:04
right and had to explain you know
9:06
he's not your father you know i married
9:08
him and
9:10
you know your last name wasn't even
9:11
parker before
9:12
this and you know you have a father and
9:15
i'm like what do you mean we
9:17
you know but then you know it made sense
9:19
because now i'm like oh now i know why
9:21
he acts so shady towards us and why we
9:22
get beaten because you're not my real
9:24
father so then i became more you know
9:26
defining like oh i got it my real father
9:29
wouldn't give me a beating but you would
9:31
yeah so this is like six years old i'm
9:34
this is how i process how often were you
9:36
getting beatings by him by him
9:39
well i probably got it beaten probably
9:42
oh no every other day maybe once a day
9:45
but my brother probably got beat two or
9:47
three times a day it's krs-1 yeah
9:50
so they ruled like slave owners
9:52
yeah and that was the good part of our
9:54
life that was the prelude to the to the
9:58
next the next man in your mother's life
10:00
i want to walk this up a little bit
10:02
because it's kind of helping me
10:03
understand who y'all are yeah and how
10:06
you got here and and by the way at this
10:08
time y'all living where at the linux
10:10
terrace yeah we live in atlantic's
10:11
terrace and call them uh-huh
10:14
which is a nice building
10:18
in 1971. what nobody first of all most
10:22
buildings weren't even wired for cable
10:24
but lennox terrace was wired for cable
10:26
we had cable actually we had cable in
10:28
our room
10:29
i was bawling we was balling 71 we was
10:32
balling y'all were balling before the
10:33
ceiling fell in like yeah
10:37
the body fell out the bottom fell out
10:38
especially yeah because he became
10:40
abusive to your mom as well yes and then
10:43
um he hit her once right and promised
10:45
not to again well that was this no that
10:47
was the second guy
10:48
the first guy he put a gun to her head
10:51
that's right
10:52
and you know said i was gonna kill you
10:54
we were there we were right there
10:55
looking you know and then
10:57
after he put a gun to her head and then
10:59
after that argument stopped then he
11:01
calls me over like hey kenny let me show
11:03
you this gun you know one day i'm going
11:04
to show you how to work you know use and
11:06
i'm like
11:08
conflicted you know you just put a gun
11:10
to my mother's head i i understood that
11:12
you could have killed her but at the
11:13
same time like yo that's a real gut
11:15
i want to see it you know excited
11:18
i'm like that's a real gun but at the
11:20
same time you know two minutes earlier
11:22
you was pointed at my mother's it's just
11:23
you know my brother was there too he
11:25
remembers it vividly really yeah we
11:27
actually talk about it sometimes
11:30
this is the life of kenny parker krs-1
11:33
wow your mom was still throughout this a
11:36
stickler for education though yes very
11:38
very strict disciplinarian and um she
11:41
felt like education was the only chance
11:44
that a black man had to make it in
11:45
america
11:46
was to be educated so when we hear keras
11:49
one and we talk about his perfect
11:51
diction that goes back to your mother
11:53
absolutely i mean she wouldn't even let
11:56
us speak slang in the house
11:58
if i came home and i said hey mom what's
12:00
up
12:00
she would say no go outside
12:03
come back in the house and address me
12:06
properly so i have to come back in the
12:08
house and hello you know mother how are
12:10
you doing today she like oh okay i'm
12:12
fine she wouldn't even ought to say hey
12:14
my what's up like i couldn't we couldn't
12:15
talk like that at all
12:17
so at this time is it music in your home
12:19
at all yeah i mean
12:21
we used to the radio station wbls uh-huh
12:24
can i say that yeah so
12:26
it's too late
12:31
we've been doing this we've been doing
12:32
this too long though to be
12:34
station banging i don't know
12:36
right back in the day wbls was the big r
12:40
b station in new york so that was that
12:42
station was on 24 hours a day in our
12:44
house
12:45
you know i thought michael jackson was
12:47
the greatest because he was a little kid
12:49
you know actually he was like 12 when i
12:51
was like five but they was acting like
12:53
he was like five yeah you know but i you
12:55
know michael jackson was my guy you know
12:57
a little kid but yeah music was always
13:00
playing non-stop in our house
13:02
i'm gonna keep walking a little bit all
13:04
right um and so you got music playing
13:07
you got a mother who's a stickler for
13:09
education you're living in linux terrace
13:12
with an insane man who's not your real
13:14
dad he's your stepfather who gets so
13:16
frustrated and abusive that he puts a
13:18
gun to your mother's head
13:21
and then eventually she leaves him yes
13:24
right yes
13:26
and then that linux terrace lifestyle
13:29
goes to total opposite
13:31
the next day
13:33
it's like it was christmas eve she left
13:35
so then one day you're living with a
13:37
doorman fish tank
13:40
cable
13:41
everything you wanted and the next day
13:43
we moved to the bronx in like a tenement
13:46
and she just moved with like the clothes
13:47
on her back and her kids so basically
13:49
you know we went from that to roaches
13:52
rats
13:53
you know for me at like six i'm like
13:58
what's the first time the first time you
14:00
saw a rat in the house
14:02
i can't remember it it was just normal
14:05
it was so normal that
14:07
i can't remember our first time it was
14:09
like okay that's a rat
14:12
okay get used to it but roaches there's
14:14
roaches
14:15
you know you know you come in the
14:17
kitchen you cut the lights on look like
14:18
a carnival in your kitchen
14:23
you see like
14:24
50 60 70 roaches in the kitchen
14:28
when you cut the light on after but that
14:30
becomes normal so you cut the light on
14:32
they run
14:33
then you do what you got to do and then
14:34
you leave it it just becomes normal
14:37
after a while you know
14:38
well all this is happening mike muse i
14:40
just want to paint the picture right and
14:42
then we're going to let hb jump on this
14:44
too but well all this is happening in
14:46
the neighborhoods that you are what are
14:48
your relationships like how uh with
14:51
other kids
14:53
rough i mean
14:55
we got bullied a lot you know and our
14:57
father never taught us to fight or i
15:00
never knew how to fight i was scared to
15:02
fight
15:03
so you're living you moved to the bronx
15:04
to the hood and you're scared to fight
15:07
that's problems so me and i'm not gonna
15:09
speak for chris i'm gonna speak for
15:10
myself i got robbed every day
15:13
bullied beat up and after a while you
15:16
get used to that like okay i'm gonna go
15:17
outside somebody's gonna take my money
15:19
but you know this is just what it was
15:22
you know it took me a while to kind of
15:24
figure out how to navigate in the hood
15:25
it took me years actually so you would
15:28
get robbed of what money
15:30
your mother sent you to the store go get
15:33
eggs bread milk she gave it back then
15:35
she probably that's probably like two
15:36
dollars
15:37
you know
15:38
you get back 50 cent change 35 change
15:42
you on your way home from the store
15:44
somebody just run up on you run your
15:45
pockets
15:47
and you just take whatever's in your
15:49
pocket so you cut back home your
15:50
mother's like where's my change
15:53
these dudes took money oh these dudes
15:55
took it
15:56
and that was like a regular that was
15:58
like a regular every other day every
16:00
other day
16:01
every other day
16:03
so chris and you were getting bullied a
16:05
lot
16:06
a lot
16:07
but you know i'm gonna speak for myself
16:09
because
16:10
but we was taken
16:11
we were together every single day 24 7.
16:14
but i we i uh yeah we got we got robbed
16:18
and bullied a lot
16:19
as you know we're like seven years old
16:22
and a ten-year-old run up on you
16:25
you know that's like a giant you know
16:26
intimidating you know 10 11 year old
16:28
runabout you're like yo what's up and
16:30
you're seven you're like yo yeah nine
16:33
here
16:34
take
16:36
yeah at this time um i read too and i
16:38
can relate to this too because i
16:40
remember in the 70s when your family was
16:42
on public assistance they had this rule
16:44
that you couldn't have men in the house
16:46
yes right and they used to do these uh
16:48
what they call uh face to face yeah the
16:50
face face to face i remember my mother
16:52
used to do the face to faces where uh
16:55
a social worker pop up on your house
16:58
with no warning none
17:00
no warning show up to see if there's a
17:02
man in the house cause they wanted to
17:03
keep men out of the family you could in
17:05
order to get welfare you had to say you
17:07
were a single mother yeah so if they
17:09
come in there and there's a shoe
17:12
if they see a shoe
17:14
they don't have to see a man
17:16
if they see a man's shoe you were in
17:18
trouble if they see a new tv how did you
17:20
get a tv
17:22
you're on welfare anything that they saw
17:24
that didn't fit the guidelines of what
17:26
you were a stipend
17:28
you were in trouble and they'll take you
17:30
off the benefits you had a new jacket if
17:32
you had new dishes how did you get that
17:35
and they was and it was some social
17:37
worker that knew nothing of you from a
17:39
whole nother
17:40
community that's coming in and judging
17:42
your life i remember going so when i'm
17:44
reading this book i'm like yo we had to
17:47
do that same [ __ ] i know a lot of people
17:49
are gonna
17:50
relate to that welfare life man
17:53
i'm curious about and the reason why i'm
17:55
bringing up these relationships with men
17:57
because in your mother because i'm
17:59
wondering how it affected you guys
18:01
growing up as young men because she
18:03
eventually found found someone else she
18:05
started dating joe's worse yes joe yes
18:09
okay and joel was from jamaica yes he
18:12
was from jamaica and um he kind of
18:14
charms your mother for a while and she
18:16
finally agreed to go out on a date with
18:18
him and then she brought him home and he
18:20
had some crazy accent that y'all did not
18:22
get right i heard the jamaican accent
18:24
for the first time i'm like what is this
18:26
i was i was seven you know i've heard
18:28
accents you know you watch tv you know
18:30
you hear little stuff but i'm like you
18:31
know he's like you know why
18:32
yeah he's talking like that i'm like yo
18:35
i'm like what
18:37
you know
18:38
i don't want to disrespect but you know
18:39
you're seven years old and you hear
18:42
blood clot
18:43
yeah blood clot
18:46
what are you talking about i actually
18:47
asked him like what what do you why do
18:49
you sound like that i'm from jamaica
18:52
you know and and yeah okay jamaica okay
18:55
you know get used to it you know you're
18:57
a kid you don't have that much
18:59
conversation you know
19:01
okay he's just my mother's guy okay get
19:04
with it you know before you get it
19:07
how did she act when he was in the house
19:09
so she's different than when she when he
19:11
first came around she we could tell that
19:13
she liked him because she started acting
19:15
different
19:16
you know she was like on her best
19:18
behavior so you know i'm looking at my
19:20
mother like wow she's not yelling you
19:21
know she's calm and hey kids and you
19:23
know you don't really talk like that i
19:26
know you don't you don't talk like that
19:27
so i could tell that she liked him you
19:29
know he was a charming guy he was very
19:31
charming at first in the beginning
19:33
absolutely when did it change
19:36
i would say about six seven months in my
19:39
mother got pregnant with my sister
19:41
and then he flipped
19:43
and just said you know what
19:46
i'm a roster
19:47
and
19:48
you know that that was like what is a
19:50
roster then he's like you know i'm going
19:52
dreads and i'm smoking weed and this is
19:54
what i do this is my religion and matter
19:56
of fact you kids need chastising you
19:58
boys and then he just started
20:00
brutalizing us from for like four years
20:03
just
20:04
beating us with whatever extension cords
20:08
rubber hoses whatever
20:11
i read that you know the belt wasn't
20:13
enough so he moved to the extension cord
20:15
yeah he started with a belt but it was
20:17
like this isn't really doing the job so
20:20
he found an extension cord
20:22
you know extension cord is like a whip
20:25
and you know that leaves whelps and you
20:27
know like rip your skin but he was like
20:29
yeah this this is it right here
20:32
so we started getting beat every day
20:35
uh-huh extension cords
20:38
and the hard part about that is when
20:41
you're a kid
20:42
and this foreigner
20:44
is
20:45
in your home especially the male and boy
20:48
dynamic
20:49
is in your home and you're hoping that
20:52
if all else fails you're going to have
20:54
your mothers going to protect you right
20:57
what happened with that well the first
20:59
time he hit us
21:00
we i called my mother at work
21:03
and i'm like yo this man
21:06
that we know for like six months just
21:08
hit me
21:09
and you know her reaction was that
21:12
he told her that you know we're
21:14
undisciplined kids and we need some
21:15
chest eyes and so she's going to give
21:17
him permission to beat us
21:19
and once she said that you know our
21:21
heart sunk like you know we thought we
21:23
thought he did that because you know my
21:24
mother wasn't home but now my mother was
21:26
like yeah
21:27
that's what that's what it's going to be
21:28
from now on
21:30
once that happened you know there's
21:32
nobody to save you it's just out there
21:34
so you say every day that's hard for
21:36
people to believe but were you literally
21:38
getting beat every
21:41
six out of seven days why like what
21:43
would be the reasons you're not screwing
21:45
up
21:45
anything like what
21:47
y'all making too much noise
21:50
your room's not clean
21:52
dishes aren't done
21:56
he could come home and just look at you
21:58
and just be like you know what i forgot
22:01
to beat you from something from the
22:02
other day you remember what it was
22:04
extension chords you just get whipped
22:06
basically
22:08
and this is joe joe yes
22:11
joe also um was the first one to bring
22:14
bob marley in your house yes right he he
22:17
introduced reggae music to us
22:20
um he came and was he had the album
22:23
i think it was naughty dread was the
22:25
album uh-huh and he was like this guy
22:27
bob marley's from jamaica and he's the
22:29
greatest thing in jamaica i think you
22:32
know he's the greatest and i'm like bob
22:33
marley i don't care about reggae i don't
22:35
care about not you know i don't care
22:37
about reggae my brother was like yo i
22:40
like this but you know bob marley he he
22:42
took a real liking to bob marley
22:45
beca you know after joe introduced it to
22:48
us i mean i was just like yeah he's cool
22:49
whatever now i love him but at the time
22:52
i was like yeah whatever my brother was
22:54
like yo bob marley he really got into
22:56
the reggae music from that
22:58
is that where the influence in boogie
23:00
down productions music come from i would
23:02
say yes the originally
23:05
yes the bob marley introduction to our
23:08
house it was rastamon vibration that was
23:10
the second album my brother actually
23:11
bought
23:12
with a little money he made sweeping
23:15
excuse me he was sweeping he had to
23:16
sweep the whole building the super gave
23:18
him like
23:19
five dollars to sweep the whole building
23:21
one day
23:22
and he took that five dollars and went
23:24
to the store and bought rastaman
23:26
vibration because he loved bob marley
23:28
that much and i'm like are you crazy
23:30
we only have food
23:32
no clothes look at you yo you we got
23:33
five dollars i'm like yo we could do
23:35
this we could do this he's like nah i'm
23:36
going to get the new bob marley album i
23:38
thought he was crazy i still think he's
23:40
crazy for doing that right
23:42
at that age how old were y'all around
23:44
that time
23:45
nine wow i was nine so he was probably
23:48
10. so
23:51
while this is going on you guys are
23:53
still see this is you never know and by
23:55
the way
23:57
now that you're older in retrospect when
23:59
you reflect back on
24:01
your mom was she a young mom yeah i mean
24:04
because she had me at 20 so i mean she
24:06
had chris at 19.
24:08
okay so she was a young mom yeah so with
24:11
things i know when i was younger certain
24:13
things would happen would be perplexing
24:14
to me and now that i'm older i could
24:16
look back and go wait a minute
24:18
what was her circumstances right your
24:20
original father left her abandoned
24:22
pretty much abandoned her pretty much
24:24
yeah with two kids actually i was even
24:26
born yet she left my original father
24:28
left her when she was pregnant with me
24:30
yeah
24:31
really i've never even seen my father to
24:33
this day to this day i have no idea he
24:35
could be he could be working here
24:37
seriously i wouldn't even not walk right
24:39
past him there's a couple dudes that
24:40
look
24:42
like a couple of them
24:47
um
24:48
do you have a
24:50
a better understanding of
24:52
the choices your mom
24:54
might have made back then understanding
24:57
her
24:58
circumstance when it came to the men
25:00
that came in the house honestly no no
25:03
okay
25:04
i mean as you read the book as you get
25:06
through the whole thing she's made some
25:07
decisions that i don't
25:10
understand
25:11
i mean i i don't have any children so
25:13
i've never raised children yeah but i
25:15
know there's basic needs like kids need
25:17
food they need to eat they need clothes
25:20
they don't need to get beat with the
25:21
extension cord you know there's a lot of
25:24
there's more but you know there's basic
25:26
things that kids need
25:28
that's you know universal that was
25:30
lacking in our life so i don't
25:32
understand personally you understand
25:34
that um
25:35
has she read the book
25:37
i don't think so
25:39
uh
25:40
my brother you know my brother
25:42
he had to okay it so he has it my
25:45
brother and my mother are very close so
25:48
he might have given it to her i'm not
25:50
sure but i don't know
25:52
okay maybe the book might
25:54
be
25:55
some healing mm-hmm oh
25:57
man possibly okay kenny this you know
26:00
you're doing interviews now baby these
26:01
things i mean it's gonna be i mean hey
26:04
my brother's always talking to me about
26:05
a situation but you know it's a family
26:07
thing but yeah you know they have a
26:10
different relationship than i have you
26:12
know them too and us just like separate
26:14
like separate relationship
26:16
so while all of this is happening it's
26:18
abuse happening at the home
26:20
it's crazy i read at one point y'all
26:23
didn't get haircuts for like six years
26:26
more than that yeah but we no haircuts
26:28
no longer than six years
26:31
way longer than six you didn't get it
26:32
how long was it uh we the span the
26:34
longest span y'all went in between
26:36
haircuts me i went 11 years without
26:38
getting a haircut bro yeah so you took
26:41
the roster thing seriously
26:44
i didn't want i didn't yell as happy as
26:46
hell and say peters
26:48
by that time i had a haircut
26:50
um
26:51
no i didn't want that but you know
26:53
there's no haircut you just you know
26:55
just
26:56
there was no money for a haircut i mean
26:57
haircut on the list of things we needed
26:59
probably was like fifth or sixth yeah
27:02
you know a haircut that's a come-up
27:04
that's a come-up yeah so y'all wearing
27:06
the same clothes every day people
27:08
bullying you at school
27:10
every day you got an abusive situation
27:13
at home yes
27:14
how was your performance in school
27:17
i was actually honor roll student
27:19
julia's gonna say that despite all of
27:22
that i was an honorable student i was
27:24
straight and narrow
27:26
my brother on the other hand was the
27:28
exact opposite okay krs one he was a
27:31
horrible the teacher
27:33
it's shocking
27:35
was it but it wasn't that he wasn't
27:37
intelligent was he just not into the
27:39
curriculum he was incredibly intelligent
27:41
but he just didn't care about school at
27:43
all
27:44
ever
27:45
from like kindergarten
27:48
just didn't do the work just i don't
27:50
care there's nothing you could do you
27:51
could they beat him they tried to beat
27:53
it into him he just i don't care
27:55
he did not care about school did he ever
27:57
say why not
28:00
no he never did you know he just
28:03
his first 14 years of life he just drew
28:06
i'm trying to he just drifted along he's
28:08
just a person on earth
28:11
then hip-hop
28:13
then hip-hop
28:14
we gonna get to that
28:16
during that 14 years though you talked
28:18
about how you guys voluntarily went to
28:21
the library yes you guys were huge
28:23
marvel comic fans gigantic right and you
28:27
even learned chris
28:29
you guys even wrote your own comic books
28:30
at one point but you read you like to
28:33
read comic books a lot because of the
28:35
language yeah well comic books for me
28:37
helped my vocabulary okay for me because
28:40
you know you can read a comic book and
28:41
marvel comic books are written for like
28:43
children and adults they had scenarios
28:46
so you can see something not understand
28:48
a word
28:49
but in the context of the story you
28:51
could say okay you know this means this
28:53
so it kind of really helped me
28:55
understand
28:56
you know but chris got to the point
28:58
where
28:58
he would draw his own comic books and
29:01
have whole stories and create whole
29:03
stories
29:05
and then go to school and get all f's um
29:08
and get all out all f's and could
29:10
write a whole story
29:13
and draw it all characters villains
29:15
heroes the whole thing
29:17
and get all f's there's a story in the
29:20
book where the teachers his teachers
29:22
brought him down the hallway to one of
29:23
your classrooms
29:25
and say hey you got any pencils or pens
29:27
and are you prepared for school and
29:29
you know kenny not knowing yeah i got my
29:32
pens i got my pencils and they were
29:34
really trying to humiliate your brother
29:36
because he didn't have he wasn't
29:37
prepared for school and it baffled you
29:39
yeah i mean
29:40
i was in fourth grade so i like eight
29:43
he was in fifth grade so he's nine
29:46
and his fifth grade teacher his class
29:48
was down the hall his fifth grade
29:49
teacher walked him to my class wow
29:52
just to say can you give your brother a
29:55
pen and pencil because he just comes to
29:56
school with nothing every day
29:59
which i can understand because he had
30:00
pens and pencils at home yeah we had
30:02
everything at home and if he got caught
30:04
without a pen and pencil that was the
30:05
extension cord
30:07
so you must be crazy to come to school
30:09
without a pen and pants you know what's
30:10
going to happen if you get caught but he
30:12
just
30:13
did not care he didn't care so he ended
30:15
up dropping out of school at wood grade
30:17
he didn't finish ninth grade he didn't
30:20
finish night krs krs-1 the teacher
30:23
easily the most intelligent person to
30:26
ever pick up a mic
30:28
arguably you could talk right barely
30:30
escaped eighth grade
30:32
by the time ninth grade it was it was
30:34
inevitable
30:35
i mean she really should have been out
30:36
of eighth grade
30:39
with the world
30:41
by eighth grade it was over it was over
30:44
um he eventually got tired of the
30:46
extension core first time he ran away
30:48
from home he was 11. yeah first time he
30:50
ran away from home he was 11 years old
30:52
wow 11 years old
30:54
and you begged your mother to bring him
30:56
back home yeah i was i was 10 years old
30:59
and i was the mediator between my mother
31:01
and my brother
31:02
and he ran away to prospect park at that
31:04
point we lived in brooklyn
31:06
and um he ran away to prospect park and
31:08
i went and i had to go get him tell him
31:10
to come back home he didn't want to come
31:12
back home
31:14
my mother was acting like shane want him
31:15
back home he's 11.
31:18
and you know i'm begging my mother and
31:20
i'm begging him and you know eventually
31:22
he counted like a middle point and he i
31:24
talked him into coming home
31:27
that time
31:29
but that was like the first time he ran
31:31
away he was like 11. well how many times
31:32
did he end up running away
31:35
like six
31:36
six times
31:38
yeah
31:39
the saga of joe
31:41
how did you how did how bad did it get
31:44
with joe with us or
31:47
everything
31:48
well he used to beat my mother
31:51
he used to beat us every day with
31:52
extension cord
31:54
he had a gun he shot off guns in my room
31:57
[Music]
31:59
just because
32:01
like he bought a new gun so he was like
32:03
yo he kicked open my room doing busted
32:05
shot in the wall bang
32:07
like yo check out
32:11
i'm like 10. i'm like 10 years old when
32:13
this happens so i'm like yo this dude
32:15
shot a gun shot actually he shot a he
32:17
shot a hole through chris's coat because
32:19
he shot the gun through the closet
32:21
and went through chris's coat sleeve so
32:23
chris had a hole in his coat for the
32:25
rest of the winter
32:28
this dude was wild man
32:30
the name of the book is my brother's
32:32
name is kenny the greatest true hip-hop
32:35
story ever told this is what makes it so
32:38
great
32:39
understanding what you guys had to
32:41
endure that same man said he wished your
32:43
brother would die
32:44
yeah i mean he he she tried to kill him
32:47
i mean he basically tried to kill him
32:48
one time i mean
32:50
joe tried to kill chris one time
32:52
and you know
32:54
he had to go chris had to go to the
32:55
hospital and
32:57
lie to the doctors and said he fell off
32:59
a bike which we didn't own
33:01
of course
33:02
you know
33:03
you know it was bad but eventually chris
33:06
stood up to him wow
33:08
you know eventually by like chris had to
33:11
be
33:13
12.
33:14
and then he was like yo i had enough and
33:16
they squared off
33:18
you know and after that
33:20
joe back down to a 12 year old yeah
33:23
after that you know there's no more bees
33:25
like a revolution for us
33:28
chris is my hero like you know yeah my
33:31
absolute hero he's you know he changed a
33:33
lot he changed my life so many times but
33:35
that was one time you know because you
33:37
were being bullied a lot
33:40
tremendous it wasn't even called
33:41
bullying back then you know now it would
33:43
be considered back then it was just you
33:44
know boys being boys you know yeah you
33:46
know i was tall i was the tallest kid in
33:48
my school
33:50
dark skin nappy hair snappy head no
33:53
haircut
33:55
wearing the same clothes flooding jeans
33:57
and jeans was flooding you know
33:59
holes in my sneak you know most of the
34:01
people in my neighborhood were on
34:02
welfare
34:03
and we look bad to them
34:05
so imagine you know everybody's poor and
34:07
they're looking just like y'all y'all
34:08
look terrible
34:09
and they were poor so you know we were
34:11
like the poorest people in the whole
34:13
area so every day was
34:16
bullying and laughed at you know until i
34:18
discovered sports which changed my life
34:21
so you discovered sports
34:24
and then it was hip-hop that changed
34:26
chris's life
34:27
what was that first moment of hip-hop
34:29
that you remember
34:30
well first of all
34:32
when we moved to the bronx we moved next
34:34
door to cool herc
34:37
next building over so y'all was 1600
34:40
said cedric we lived in 1600 cedric herc
34:42
lived in 1520 which is the next building
34:45
over
34:46
so on the day that hurt created hip-hop
34:48
we was outside in front of his door
34:51
wow you know but we were like i was
34:53
seven chris was eight you know we were
34:55
little kids but hip-hop was right in
34:57
front of our door
34:59
you know i used to ride my big wheel
35:00
past hurx building every day
35:02
we had a big wheel that we brought from
35:04
linux terrace that was our last you know
35:06
luxury yeah we brought the big wheel for
35:08
lettuce terrace
35:09
you know so that you know so
35:12
we got hip-hop from day one
35:15
but and you know and then we moved to
35:17
brooklyn so
35:18
brooklyn didn't have hip-hop like the
35:20
bronx so you get like sporadic sporadic
35:22
hip-hop you know so by like 78 79 we was
35:26
on hip-hop but it was so hard to get
35:28
because it was only on cassette yeah
35:30
but when rappers the light came out
35:33
that's that's when you know
35:35
that's when chris to me when he
35:37
mentioned it i was the first person he
35:39
ever mentioned it to i thought he was
35:40
crazy
35:41
you know i want to be a rapper and i'm
35:44
like are you out of your mind you know
35:46
you just got left back in eighth grade
35:51
you know you want to be a rapper i mean
35:53
there was like five rappers
35:56
you know what i mean at this time curtis
35:58
and they weren't even out yet yeah so we
36:00
heard one rap we heard the sugar hill
36:02
gang there was one song
36:04
and he was like
36:06
he had an epiphany
36:08
he was like this is what i'm gonna do
36:09
with the rest of my life he's 14. he
36:11
said that at 14.
36:14
did that day he went from larry to
36:16
becoming krs no that was a gradual
36:18
process he went from larry to larry g
36:21
that was his first name larry g which i
36:23
thought he was great we used to argue i
36:25
was his first hater
36:28
i was the official first
36:30
hater because everything he told me i
36:32
was like get out of your mind
36:34
you know you have lost your mind
36:36
i'm just like how we're talking now like
36:38
you're bugging
36:40
you know because you know me and chris
36:42
are only 10 months apart yeah so we
36:45
almost like
36:46
he's
36:47
almost yeah we we didn't have an older
36:49
brother younger brother relationship
36:51
like really if anything i was really
36:53
like the older brother like i said i was
36:54
like the lead uh-huh
36:56
so you know he's telling me i'm gonna be
36:58
a rapper i'm like you you don't even
37:01
really what are you talking about
37:04
i'm larry g you're booking
37:08
he was the ladies and gentlemen he was
37:09
bugging you know you know we see how it
37:12
turned out yeah but if you're thinking
37:14
this is 1979
37:16
he was [ __ ] he was [ __ ] yeah
37:19
i want to jump in just and just kind of
37:21
again because i didn't know i didn't
37:23
meet kenny until i was 17 and in college
37:26
and he talked about bad he discovered
37:28
sports ended up becoming an incredible
37:30
high school player kenny here in in
37:32
brooklyn and abraham lincoln high school
37:34
and he got noticed through uh scouts and
37:37
other and college coaches recruiting
37:40
because they were coming to see other
37:41
people play and they noticed him in that
37:43
dire situation he was in somehow he's
37:46
still going to school playing ball and
37:47
got you know signed to go to saint
37:49
peter's where he and i met
37:51
um
37:52
it fascinates me though hearing this and
37:54
i've known kenny now over 30 years when
37:56
i think about it that
37:59
really you sh you and your brother
38:01
should have been
38:02
like you needed therapy like you guys
38:04
should have been absolutely and mental
38:06
like how does kids today go to school
38:09
dealing with even 10 of this like never
38:11
mind the poverty if you're a child right
38:13
now in the home and your mom has a
38:15
boyfriend or a stepfather and he's
38:17
beating you or beating your mom
38:19
that kid is dealing with trauma
38:22
how do you get up and go to school is
38:23
fascinating to me but i'm wondering
38:25
kenny is that the reason because you had
38:27
a free ride to college why you studied
38:30
psychology like what because basketball
38:32
players just don't normally go get a
38:34
psych i'm going to take up psychology
38:36
like general arts
38:39
physical training
38:41
nutrition
38:42
[Music]
38:43
nutrition
38:56
why did you pick psychology you know
38:58
it's funny you know at 18 19 i was
39:00
trying to understand the world
39:02
and i was trying to understand why
39:05
people do what they do
39:07
and i had a core requirement class was
39:11
psychology 101. everybody had to take
39:13
that so i took psychology 101 and it
39:16
really hit me like you know this is the
39:18
study of human behavior
39:20
and this was really what i was searching
39:22
for my whole life like you know why did
39:24
my mother make the decisions she made
39:26
you know why did my brother make the
39:28
decisions he made because you know i
39:30
even in this i'm not even painting
39:32
people how wild he was as a teenager
39:34
like really he was a
39:36
wild teenager like why did he make the
39:38
decisions he made and i was just trying
39:40
to understand the world and psychology
39:44
was like
39:46
my my highway to to probably the answer
39:51
everybody i didn't take like 101 what
39:52
was i doing i don't know everybody had
39:54
to take it
39:56
well flunking it maybe um
40:01
you're not going to talk about heaven as
40:02
a freshman
40:04
she said that you said that you changed
40:06
the whole social life for that school do
40:08
we want to go there heather heather's a
40:10
freshman what was she like
40:12
okay let me let me paint the picture
40:14
real quick okay
40:15
hey ben don't listen to this
40:18
heather was a freshman when i was a
40:19
senior uh-huh but um i had red shirt in
40:22
my freshman year so i was actually like
40:23
a super senior so i was actually there
40:25
four and a half years so in my four and
40:27
a half years at st peters now university
40:29
shout out to them
40:31
we never really had a party in the dorms
40:33
maybe five people could get together you
40:35
had to have a
40:36
special permission
40:39
from the r.a to have a party in the dorm
40:42
we had to fill out paperwork to have a
40:44
party
40:45
so in my four years there there was
40:46
never any party was a quiet catholic
40:48
school
40:49
and comes this freshman jersey city
40:53
and turned the whole dorms up tied down
40:58
heather had
41:00
fried chicken party
41:03
cooked all this chicken
41:05
all this beer
41:07
right in the dorms
41:10
had music
41:12
and then invited the whole hood
41:15
to the college
41:17
keep in mind
41:18
there was people that came that never
41:20
even came in the neighborhood
41:22
that our school was in forget coming
41:24
i'm talking about dozens like a army
41:27
came to the school of just
41:31
cornrows baggy pants
41:38
heather brought the whole hood to the
41:40
party multiple times wow so heather just
41:43
turned our dorms into like a club and
41:46
she was 17. we had never seen nothing
41:48
like it before i've never seen nothing
41:51
like heather when she when she came to
41:53
saint peter's college and it you know
41:55
they didn't say anything you know all
41:57
right it was just like yo i was scared
41:59
of her
42:09
hold on we got russ on the line who
42:10
wants to chime in real quick russ go
42:12
ahead say what's up to kenny parker i
42:14
can see that hey what's going on guys
42:17
hey uh kenny parker man i gotta share a
42:19
story guys so
42:21
kenny parker was a like you said a
42:23
senior i was a freshman at manhattan
42:25
college and
42:27
this guy this guy was a ferocious
42:30
rebound a matter of fact on the on the
42:32
scotland report on the board it said
42:34
kenny parker big time rebounds and
42:36
remember my boy kenny boyce to say oh
42:38
kenny parker you know my name is kenny
42:40
kenny
42:42
we knew about the origins you know with
42:44
karen swan but man kenny man you were
42:46
the ferocious guy back then man with the
42:49
mac you know mac you know the max
42:50
conference everything man
42:52
yeah man i i just i just played against
42:55
them can't wait to read this book you
42:57
played against kenny
42:59
yes i did yo i appreciate the love so
43:01
anybody that talk about me and ball you
43:03
know i'm excited right now i appreciate
43:05
that so much yeah we used to play
43:06
manhattan we were in our conference yes
43:08
was he nice for us
43:09
was he nice yeah he was nice he was a
43:12
great rebound the ferocious rebounder
43:14
man you know
43:15
everything on the glass
43:17
i'm really gassed right now he just blew
43:19
my head off my head is completely off
43:21
right now
43:22
oh yeah you should see kenny's face
43:25
and he got the book man russ thanks for
43:27
that call let's get that book my
43:28
brother's name is kenny it's available
43:30
on amazon today right now
43:33
let me let me ask you this question
43:35
because i i
43:36
i i gotta hear the story from from you
43:39
like and i i'ma skip some things to
43:42
encourage y'all to read the book
43:44
there's a story
43:45
about latin quarters
43:48
multiple in there yeah multiple stories
43:50
but this one in particular is when
43:52
the dj played the bridge
43:54
by
43:56
m.c shan i'm not sure if it was red
43:58
alert that day djing but
44:00
it was not that day but yeah i know
44:01
you're talking okay okay and then
44:04
immediately after they play south bronx
44:07
right right
44:08
and that was the first time you heard it
44:10
in public yes
44:12
what
44:13
what was going on at that time well
44:15
first of all
44:17
i couldn't believe my brother had a
44:19
record
44:20
start there the same guy who i shared
44:22
socks with who i used to argue over
44:24
packs of cookies with
44:25
has a record that red alert was playing
44:27
on on red alert if you were on the red
44:29
alert show you are starring now
44:31
absolutely there was no major there was
44:33
no rare there was barely major radio
44:36
play maybe one song will get on every
44:38
other song was on the mix show so if red
44:40
alert plays your record you're a
44:42
superstar okay
44:44
south bronx had been out three weeks
44:46
red alert played it for three weeks in a
44:48
row
44:49
chris came by my boy daryl's house in
44:51
brooklyn left two passes for this club
44:53
called latin quarters i had never been
44:55
to a club before
44:56
so we were gonna meet chris at this
44:58
place called latin quarters go inside
45:01
got the latin quarters it's packed like
45:03
a thousand people in there they start
45:05
playing hip-hop
45:07
and they played m.c shan's the bridge
45:10
and they playing the bridge the bridge
45:12
everybody's dancing the bridge the
45:13
bridge the bridge
45:15
and i'm like wow you know i know i know
45:17
south bronx is an answer to the bridge i
45:18
wonder if they're going to play my
45:19
brother's song in here and i'm i'm there
45:22
and then they mix the vocals of south
45:24
bronx right in many people tell me this
45:27
style is terrific it is kind of
45:28
different so i'm like yo they playing
45:30
this song
45:31
and i'm like
45:32
is it gonna clear the dance floor like
45:34
i'm scared
45:35
but people are still there dancing
45:37
they're like okay
45:38
and then the chorus came
45:40
we're from the south bronx and the whole
45:43
latin quarters exploded the whole place
45:47
went to the roof
45:49
and i feigned i practically thank you
45:52
i don't remember anything after that
45:55
i was unconscious i could not believe
45:58
that my brother had a hit record that in
46:01
this club the latin quarter and
46:02
everybody i mean the bronx went crazy i
46:04
mean everybody was singing but the bro
46:06
people from the bronx i thought they
46:08
were going to tear the club apart they
46:09
went absolutely crazy for this record i
46:11
couldn't believe it i still can't
46:13
believe it
46:14
be based because when you read this book
46:17
the greatest true hip-hop story ever
46:19
told i can't believe it either now that
46:22
i know your past yeah is that why you
46:24
said it is that a big part of why you
46:26
couldn't believe it yes i mean
46:30
most
46:31
i'm i consider myself a hip-hop fan and
46:34
a student of the game okay so i read
46:36
everybody's story i study everything i
46:38
love it all so most of the stories that
46:41
i read everybody's like
46:43
i was i'm hard i used to sell drugs i
46:46
used to rob people i just got to jail
46:48
and then i gave that up and i decided to
46:50
become a rapper that's like everybody's
46:53
story and then when 50 came it was like
46:55
he got shot you know he has proof that
46:57
he did and after that everybody got shot
47:00
yeah so i'm like well
47:02
you know like i'm like really everybody
47:04
but i like okay so i'm like well what
47:07
about nobody's telling a story about the
47:09
kids who were in the hood that that was
47:12
regular kids that played ball and
47:14
you know
47:15
played skelly and drunk sun do drinks
47:17
and you know regular kids nobody's
47:19
telling that side of the hood and i was
47:21
in the hood with er i lived in new york
47:23
and it was the murder capital of america
47:26
and
47:28
i was a regular timid kid in that
47:30
environment
47:31
and nobody's telling that side of the
47:33
story
47:34
and then to see my brother
47:38
you know who was
47:40
they they consider him i'm not going to
47:42
say
47:43
crazy but
47:45
the authorities consider him practically
47:47
like had a learning disability
47:49
practically they considered him
47:51
to see that guy
47:53
become the guy that everyone knows he is
47:57
is incredible it's almost like a miracle
47:59
like i wouldn't believe it if i didn't
48:01
see it with my own two eyes
48:03
so that's why you know i called it you
48:05
know the greatest true hip-hop story
48:07
ever told because it's the truth and
48:09
it's not like anybody what what charis
48:11
one went through to just get in the game
48:14
is unbelievable like now you know it's
48:17
it's easier to become an artist now but
48:20
back in those days it was almost
48:21
impossible
48:22
to get in the music business i mean
48:25
and in a rap game it was like by that
48:27
point it was like 20 rappers when
48:29
charisma
48:30
came out you know it was and so
48:33
you know i say that to say to see where
48:35
he was and what he became
48:37
it's incredible
48:39
kenny parker man i gotta let tracy and
48:42
mike uh muse uh actual question even
48:44
though they didn't know the lyrics the
48:45
criminal minded um
48:55
hey i'm wondering when you um first
48:58
brought up doing this book to your
49:00
brother did he have any qualms any
49:03
issues with any aspect of that book no
49:05
it's funny that you mention that because
49:07
when i first decide i want to do the
49:09
book
49:10
i said i want to tell the whole story
49:13
you know the real story that people
49:15
don't know you know and
49:17
embarrassing parts of our lives i want
49:20
to tell it all
49:22
but you know i called chris and i was
49:24
like yo
49:25
i want to tell a story i want to tell
49:27
the real story but you know i don't want
49:29
to mess up your image and how people
49:31
know you
49:32
so you know
49:33
tell me how much i can really tell
49:36
and his exact words were
49:38
i don't give a [ __ ]
49:40
tell it all don't forget this don't
49:43
forget this don't forget this
49:45
that was exactly where so after he said
49:47
that i'm like oh okay i'm telling
49:50
everything i'm snitching on everything
49:52
uh-huh so
49:54
you know he he gave me the blessing yeah
49:57
to tell it all
49:59
and then after the book was finished
50:00
after the rough was finished i sent it
50:02
to him to read
50:03
but i gave him two rules i said you know
50:05
you can't change anything i said this is
50:07
my perspective it's not your perspective
50:09
it's what i saw not yours so you can't
50:12
change that
50:13
but if there's anything in the book that
50:15
you want me to take out that you don't
50:17
want people to know
50:18
i'll take it out got it and he he said
50:21
no leave it all in there and i said if
50:23
there's anything that you think is not
50:25
accurate because i want it to be the bdp
50:29
bible you know what i mean yeah
50:32
everything in there is factual if you
50:33
want to know about our group you read
50:35
this book and it's as factual as
50:37
possible so i said if there's anything
50:38
in the book that you think is not
50:40
factual
50:41
correct me and he was like no everything
50:44
in there is how you know how i remember
50:46
it so those are the only two rules so
50:48
basically it's all you know it's the way
50:50
it is
50:51
keyboard guys had a question i was
50:52
curious about the relationship you with
50:54
your second stepfather joe do you
50:57
have you seen him recently is he still
50:59
with us have you talked to him have you
51:02
tried i have not seen that man
51:07
30-something years since i you know i i
51:09
mean there's a piece in the story where
51:11
i ran into him again
51:13
i don't want to give it away but it it
51:15
you know it's crazy but
51:17
no i had no intentions that i never
51:19
wanted to see him ever again i mean i
51:21
hated this man
51:22
so i never wanted to see him ever again
51:24
but you know i have a sister
51:27
shout out to chanel
51:28
you know that my mother and him had a
51:30
had a daughter was my sister so i talked
51:33
to my sister so she you know she gives
51:35
me little bits and pieces
51:37
of him but
51:40
i have no relationship with him i have
51:42
no desire to ever see him ever i mean i
51:44
can't believe he's still alive
51:46
did your mom eventually leave him
51:49
yes yes eventually she
51:51
she had enough of him
51:53
beating
51:54
she she had not what he did to us but
51:57
their relationship uh-huh she had enough
51:59
of them to and so she decided to
52:02
you know leave which i was like finally
52:04
like yo yeah so yeah oh yeah
52:07
oh that's just this we're not even
52:09
happy i'm only in the first five
52:11
chapters i'm just discussing with y'all
52:13
right yeah yeah really i mean a lot
52:16
happened and you know
52:19
because then you know
52:20
he became homeless i became homeless you
52:23
know it's a lot that went on and
52:27
you know he became homeless and then
52:30
like
52:30
next thing you know he had a record you
52:33
know
52:33
it's just so mind-blowing to me yeah
52:37
and the next thing you know he's krs won
52:39
and then
52:40
you know the battle was shanne which i
52:43
thought he was gonna lose by the way you
52:45
thought he was going did you once again
52:46
i was hating what you saying to him
52:49
my here's my exact words and don't laugh
52:52
america
52:53
um
52:54
when i first heard south bronx i said to
52:57
him i said you know it sounds like
52:58
you're dissing m.c shane
53:00
and he was like yeah
53:02
i was like you know shannon is dope like
53:05
i thought m c shannon was dope i like
53:07
m.c yeah everybody liked him
53:09
you know
53:10
shannon's dope yeah he was like
53:13
he's all right
53:15
i'm like shannon is not i shannon is
53:17
dope that was my that was our initial
53:19
conversation that shannon is not i
53:21
don't so that's you know that's how me
53:23
that's how our relationship is you know
53:24
i mean
53:25
so
53:26
when shane came out with kill that noise
53:29
the answer to south bronx
53:32
i came to chris and i was like you heard
53:34
kill that noise i told you you know i
53:37
told you not to mess with shane i told
53:38
you that's how i'm talking to him
53:40
and he was like i got the answers call
53:42
the bridge is over
53:44
and i'm like the bridge is over how does
53:47
it go you know i'm talking to him like
53:49
this the bridge is over how does it go
53:52
and he's like well you know it's into a
53:53
reggae baseline
53:55
and you know the baseline is like you
53:57
know
53:59
i was like that [ __ ] is whack it's over
54:02
here
54:08
you thought this was wack no
54:11
he i didn't hear the beat he just was
54:13
mimicking
54:14
the mouth he didn't
54:15
i didn't hear all this part yet
54:19
this is your brother bro
54:22
i got to see him do this live for the
54:24
first time
54:26
at union square when he premiered it
54:28
and once again i almost fainted
54:31
because you know he was trying to
54:33
explain to me what the bridge is over
54:35
what it was
54:36
and i told him that sounds wack
54:39
so he says to me come to union square
54:41
i'm going to do it tonight just come to
54:42
union square
54:44
so i'm like all right let's go to union
54:45
square so i'm in union square
54:48
watching him perform thinking that
54:52
your career you know south bronx was
54:53
dope but you know i'm so proud of you
54:55
but you know
54:56
you're winding down now
54:58
you know this is what i'm thinking if
55:01
he's a real hater boy i mean
55:03
you gotta understand
55:05
mc shan
55:06
backed by molly maul yeah shout out to
55:09
molly mall
55:10
mr magic is on the radio they was on the
55:12
radio dissing bdp the night before these
55:16
bombs is over shannon is back we cut you
55:19
know dave was on the radio distance so
55:21
i'm like wow like you know
55:23
what are you gonna do like magic and
55:25
molly like this kings
55:28
i got this record called the bridge is
55:29
over like really like how's you know how
55:32
does it go like you know so when we went
55:34
to union square you know what i mean i'm
55:36
like yo so we went to union square and
55:39
then he threw one uh
55:43
dude
55:44
i'm like oh that's what he was singing
55:47
to me in a beat and everybody's quiet
55:49
you know everybody's like what is this
55:51
because we never heard reggae and
55:53
hip-hop mixed before yeah that's what
55:55
yeah so you know everybody's like what
55:57
is this and then he goes the bridge is
55:59
over the bridge is over them on my eye
56:02
baby you fainted that's when you fainted
56:04
i fainted
56:05
i don't even remember after that but
56:08
everybody fainted
56:10
the whole place went crazy like he's
56:12
chatting jamaican
56:14
this dude was just singing regular south
56:16
bronx he's a whole new dude on this
56:18
record
56:19
and then he's like you know
56:21
magic alphas you for sucking
56:24
nobody never said anybody's name like
56:26
dante
56:27
he called everybody everybody he went in
56:30
molly's [ __ ] yo like i couldn't believe
56:33
it
56:34
you had never heard anything like this
56:36
before yeah that was that was battle rap
56:39
on a whole the world hadn't heard it he
56:41
invented battle this was the first song
56:44
on wax on wax this was the first battle
56:46
record ever made was the bridge is over
56:49
no one had ever disrespected anyone like
56:51
that before in the history of music
56:54
ever
56:56
so and i thought kill that noise was
56:58
disrespectful by [ __ ] because he was
57:00
like he was laughing at the end of the
57:01
record carrots what ha ha he's laughing
57:04
i'm like yo he's laughing at you dude
57:06
like it's over
57:07
you know what i mean i had no idea
57:10
what chris had in store i just was you
57:13
know
57:14
i i still like
57:15
[ __ ] i still like the bridge yeah yeah
57:17
yeah everybody liked the bridge you know
57:19
everybody likes sham but that bridge is
57:21
over was was
57:23
a one game-changing record i think one
57:26
of the greatest records ever made
57:28
absolutely why did he do it did he
57:31
really have that much love for the bronx
57:34
or did he see it as a way of getting
57:36
notoriety
57:38
well you know i don't want to put words
57:40
in his mouth why do you think he
57:42
well
57:43
he loved the bronx okay
57:46
and
57:47
mr magic and molly mall dissed him see
57:51
they wanted to be down with the juice
57:52
crew so scott larock rest in peace and
57:56
keras one went to the studio where mr
57:59
magic and marley mall were to play their
58:01
demo for mr magic
58:04
and mr magic was like
58:06
this is trash threw it in the garbage
58:08
you guys are bums get out you you are
58:12
will never be like my m.c shan
58:15
you are trash get out
58:17
and threw them out of the studio
58:19
so as they're going back to the bronx i
58:22
guess with the tail between their legs
58:24
chris is like nah
58:27
i'm better than shan and then he wrote
58:29
south bronx
58:31
which was like let me give you a history
58:33
of the bronx where i'm from and let me
58:35
take a little shot at shan
58:37
but the thing was he knew shan was gonna
58:39
answer
58:41
so he wrote the bridges over too
58:44
so he had the bridges over on deck
58:46
waiting for shan to answer so south
58:49
bronx was debate really
58:51
for the bridges over was the real dis so
58:54
the south bronx was just to set you up
58:57
but it ended up being a huge record yeah
59:00
on its own uh-huh but it was still
59:02
debate
59:03
for the bridge is over which was the was
59:05
the
59:06
cut you know
59:07
so
59:09
that's really what it was and that's how
59:10
you had to come into the game it wasn't
59:12
easy to get in the game then it was only
59:14
a handful of people you could hand your
59:16
demo tape too yeah he handed it to mr
59:18
magic and molly mall was the number one
59:20
producer in the hip hop game is that
59:22
absolutely did you shout out to rick
59:24
rubin as well
59:25
i mean but you know but you got the
59:27
juice crew that's good daddy kane
59:36
right so you go to mali and he adjusted
59:39
eric being rock kim
59:41
um he adjusted uh eric b for president
59:44
and and check out my melody too which
59:46
was the number one record in new york so
59:48
it's the number one guy
59:49
so you go to them with your demo and
59:51
they tell you get the hell out of here
59:52
you're terrible there's not many places
59:54
to go
59:55
so his attitude was i'm i'm coming in
59:57
the game like this now okay watch this
1:00:00
he was a battle rapper already from
1:00:02
battle in the bronx
1:00:04
the world wasn't ready for a battle
1:00:06
rapper to come in again it was ready for
1:00:07
song makers you know yeah a battle
1:00:10
rapper came in the game and and turned
1:00:13
it upside down
1:00:14
who are some of the people he battled
1:00:15
early on
1:00:17
i mean he told me stories but
1:00:20
i mean i i don't want to say you know
1:00:22
okay yeah yeah he had other battles with
1:00:25
other mc's even before that you that
1:00:28
were out yeah
1:00:29
even before south bronze came because
1:00:31
scott larocque used to take him all
1:00:32
around
1:00:34
and scott larocque that ks was like his
1:00:36
pit bull uh-huh you know
1:00:38
you think you're nice and sick his dog
1:00:40
on him you know mean i got this kid
1:00:42
carrots who was still in the shelter at
1:00:44
that point
1:00:45
still living in a shelter shelter so
1:00:47
that's why you know when he said he's
1:00:49
going to battle m.c shane he was in the
1:00:50
shelter
1:00:52
so it's like a homeless guy going to
1:00:54
battle a number one rapper like it's
1:00:57
it's mind-boggling to me you know what i
1:00:58
mean i'm i'm
1:01:00
a hip-hop fanatic at this point i can't
1:01:02
believe it like
1:01:04
you're homeless you're going to battle
1:01:06
against molly martin mr magic
1:01:14
which
1:01:15
you know now looking back on it people
1:01:17
be like you know you're crazy but at
1:01:18
that time in 86
1:01:21
how yeah you're the same dude that
1:01:24
didn't even finish ninth grade like i
1:01:27
know you differently than the world like
1:01:29
how
1:01:31
but you know
1:01:32
dandy you know
1:01:33
bridges over was for me too i think
1:01:39
look man listen give a round of applause
1:01:41
for kenny parker man this is an amazing
1:01:43
moment
1:01:44
we got to do part two yes yes please i
1:01:47
got so much more you know okay so i'm
1:01:49
gonna have you come back
1:01:51
that would be fantastic i'm gonna have
1:01:52
you come back i'm gonna figure out in
1:01:54
two not next week but the following week
1:01:55
let's go okay come back i want to do
1:01:58
part two i hope you enjoyed this
1:01:59
conversation i had a fantastic time
1:02:01
thank you for having me sway you know
1:02:03
always love
1:02:04
yeah love and h.b you know
1:02:07
that's my little sister crazy little
1:02:09
sister right there i mean
1:02:10
i got stories about her for days to
1:02:12
write that book for days okay all right
1:02:15
you know chicken parties man chicken
1:02:17
party
1:02:18
kenny parker you are a hip-hop
1:02:21
legend yes i appreciate it thank you for
1:02:23
your contribution as a producer as a dj
1:02:26
as a historian
1:02:29
as the brother of one of the greatest of
1:02:30
all time
1:02:32
and i tell this story all the time i'ma
1:02:34
end with this because i know uh we got
1:02:36
our next show about to come up
1:02:38
and rose daniels who co-authored this
1:02:40
book for you
1:02:41
shout out to rose my book wouldn't be
1:02:43
what it is without her you did thank you
1:02:45
excellent job rolls excellent excellent
1:02:47
excellent
1:02:49
often tell this story that your brother
1:02:52
and my partner keem tech and me are
1:02:54
really close have been since the early
1:02:56
90s
1:02:57
and your brother would come to our house
1:02:58
a lot in tarzana california before i
1:03:01
move to new york and sit in my bedroom
1:03:04
we have a bunch of bedrooms in that
1:03:06
house and we would all sit down and just
1:03:08
talk
1:03:09
and i remember mtv was asking me to work
1:03:11
then i just got a call we were in a
1:03:13
conversation oh i gotta take this call
1:03:15
chris i was like well who is that suede
1:03:17
[Laughter]
1:03:21
that's a good impersonation right and i
1:03:23
was like yeah this is mtv man i don't
1:03:25
know why they trying to get me to go
1:03:26
over there this boy bands you know i'm
1:03:28
not into i'm just hip-hop chris
1:03:30
sway i'm not gonna do the
1:03:32
impersonation i can't do the whole thing
1:03:34
but sway i said what do you think about
1:03:36
this chris man you know me and ted got a
1:03:38
home we're doing all we're doing fine
1:03:40
for ourselves right
1:03:41
sway if if you're not a part of an
1:03:43
organization
1:03:45
or a movement
1:03:47
that's against the establishment by the
1:03:49
time you're 18
1:03:51
then you have no heart
1:03:53
wow
1:03:56
but by the time you're 25
1:03:58
if you're not a part of that same
1:04:00
organization that you were against
1:04:03
then you have no brain
1:04:06
wow
1:04:09
i said the next time they call
1:04:11
i'm going to say yes
1:04:13
that's dope they called again it was the
1:04:15
third time they called i didn't know it
1:04:17
was going to be the next time
1:04:19
i said yes
1:04:20
that's how i ended up decided to go to
1:04:22
mtv it was because of your brother
1:04:24
he may even remember that he used to
1:04:26
come that's when he took the um he was
1:04:28
working for quest records was it yeah
1:04:30
warner bros uh reprise reprise he became
1:04:33
the president of the freeze yeah and
1:04:35
when he moved to l.a yeah who do you
1:04:37
think he was hanging with wow
1:04:40
yeah he was saying i did not know that
1:04:42
that's that's exclusive that's in the
1:04:44
school so you could put in your book
1:04:46
yeah all right but kenny park a big
1:04:47
round of applause man y'all want to talk
1:04:49
to kenny parker hit up his social media
1:04:51
at djkennyparker on twitter instagram
1:04:54
facebook and dj kenny parker absolutely
1:04:57
dj parlay thank you for doing it um with
1:04:59
us today man appreciate you thank you
1:05:01
for having me all right follow him at
1:05:03
it's parlay p-a-r-l-e mike muse is at yo
1:05:06
hit me up at i am mike muse mu s and sam
1:05:09
e on twitter instagram and tune into the
1:05:11
mic news show tomorrow 2 p.m eastern
1:05:13
standard time on urban view channel 126.
1:05:15
tracy g
1:05:17
twitter instagram it's tracy g i t s tr
1:05:20
acyg thank you kenny you've lived an
1:05:22
extraordinary life you still are living
1:05:24
and you're a hell of a storyteller thank
1:05:26
you for sharing this thank you so much
1:05:27
tracy thank you history yeah part two
1:05:29
and give us a couple of weeks before we
1:05:31
need it necessary okay
1:05:33
rose i won't have you filming we'll have
1:05:34
somebody at that time all right i'm out
1:05:36
real sweet across the board y'all stay
1:05:38
on the right side of positivity we'll be
1:05:40
back monday we'll have jesse smallette
1:05:41
joining us monday so make sure you tune
1:05:43
in to that have a great weekend god
1:05:44
bless and uh let's end with some kr's
1:05:47
one we want south bronx or
1:05:49
uh you got i'm still number one in there
1:05:51
that's one of my favorite records of all
1:05:53
time you got it for chris i still number
1:05:55
one
1:05:59
d nice played that for me in the studio
1:06:00
shout out to him the first time i heard
1:06:02
that did he produce it be nice he had
1:06:04
something to do with it but i wasn't
1:06:05
there so i don't want to give the wrong
1:06:07
credits but i was still in college and i
1:06:09
came by the studio and denise was like
1:06:11
did you hear still number one i'm like
1:06:12
what what's that he played it for me and
1:06:15
blew my head off
1:06:17
so uh that's one of my all-time
1:06:19
favorites how did chris and
1:06:21
dee nice meet because steve knights were
1:06:23
so young that's nice was scott's little
1:06:26
protege
1:06:27
oh folks so scott scott
1:06:30
as i if i recall that was
1:06:32
that was scott's like little son not his
1:06:35
son but you know yeah his dude his
1:06:37
little dude yeah like my my my my my use
1:06:43
i couldn't even get it out all right
1:06:46
okay
1:06:49
and then scott larocque and chris
1:06:51
met in the shelter yes scott was a
1:06:52
counselor and chris was a resident of
1:06:55
the bronx men's shelter
1:06:57
and that's how he met wow which is
1:06:59
another this incredible timing
1:07:02
we'll talk about that in part two kenny
1:07:04
parker take it from the top real quick
1:07:06
for me parlay rewind it there we go hey
1:07:08
hey you guys have a great weekend sway
1:07:09
in the morning shave 4 5 and we're out
1:07:14
[Music]
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