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Talib Kweli & Diamond D Talk New Album ‘Gotham’, New Blackstar Album & DMX, Anthony Bourdain’s Death
Apr 18, 2021
Talib Kweli is known for his monumental collaborative albums like Blackstar with Yasiin Bey, Liberation with Madlib or Reflection Eternal with Hi-Tek. And now he connects with the Grammy award winning legend Diamond D to form Gotham.
The album features Busta Rhymes, Skyzoo, John Forte, Niko IS and Nire’ Alldai. The duo called in to Sway In The Morning to talk about the album and got into DMX’s interview on the people’s party. Kweli also talked about his connection to Anthony Bourdain and the night he died.
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Talib Kweli and Diamond D Talk New Album ‘Gotham’, New Blackstar Album & Anthony Bourdain’s Death https://youtu.be/mJXfZu5dhyc
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0:00
if if i see something new if i see some
0:02
potential
0:03
you know i definitely give my time no
0:04
doubt no doubt that was from the
0:06
people's party
0:08
uh podcast tyler quality is here diamond
0:11
d
0:11
are here this is the truth speaker
0:13
himself ladies and gentlemen he's never
0:16
been the quiet one welcome him back to
0:18
the show to talk about the gotham
0:19
project give it up for toddler quality
0:21
hey hey
0:22
hey hey hey come on man
0:27
what's up what's up hey darling
0:32
but i got to shout out my brother over
0:34
here diamond d man this dude he
0:36
he helped write the soundtrack of the
0:38
original world famous wake up show with
0:40
sway tech and dj revolution it was his
0:42
production it was his affiliation with
0:44
the d-i-t-c crew
0:46
it was his sustainability his ability to
0:49
continue to produce
0:50
quality music and hip-hop the one and
0:52
only diamond d
0:53
diamond d is here with us baby what up
0:57
yo yo yo what's up everybody what's
1:00
poppin
1:01
come on all right hey come on man i'm
1:04
loving it man we got rich knights
1:06
joining us too ladies and gentlemen rich
1:10
nice
1:16
absolutely absolutely fellas
1:18
congratulations on the project before we
1:20
jump into it man
1:21
i haven't spoken with either either one
1:23
of you in a while
1:24
in this pandemic world man how you been
1:26
tyler let's start with you brother how
1:28
you been
1:30
uh i've been great you know uh i've uh
1:33
i'm uniquely and truly blessed and a lot
1:36
of people are not so i count my
1:37
blessings every day
1:38
uh as an artist i get to determine my
1:40
own schedule and so because
1:42
because i get to determine my own
1:44
schedule as a working artist and the
1:45
pandemic i was able to
1:47
be flexible and make moves that other
1:50
working-class people was not able to
1:52
to make so i feel very blessed that i've
1:54
been able to continue working
1:55
and you know i will shout out i want to
1:57
shout out to all the uh essential
1:59
workers and all the hospital people and
2:00
all of
2:01
all the people who have all the people
2:02
who had to go to work
2:04
even when the rest of us could afford
2:06
not
2:07
absolutely and then you also your
2:10
people's party podcast is
2:12
is extremely well done man
2:13
congratulations on that
2:15
and your co-host thank you i need you if
2:17
you have a guest that's okay
2:19
all right
2:22
[Laughter]
2:34
know i'm trying to get all the revenue
2:36
streams and do it for the culture
2:38
do it for the culture man what's that
2:40
what's that um that juxtaposition like
2:42
for you being on the other side
2:45
um it's real natural because if you see
2:46
what the people's party are doing with
2:48
jared meyer who's one of the founders of
2:50
raucous so it's the same people i came
2:51
in my career
2:52
started my career with and if you notice
2:54
it's very rare
2:55
that i speak to people that i don't have
2:57
a personal relationship with already
2:59
i would actually like to uh do that more
3:02
going forward i want to get into like
3:04
you know but the problem is i know
3:06
everybody i'm saying so i've been doing
3:07
it
3:08
too long but you know it's very natural
3:11
and i'm a fan of journalism
3:13
i'm a fan of you sway i'm a fan of gil
3:15
noble i'm a fan of combat jack
3:17
i'm a fan of you know what i'm saying
3:18
like i really i'm really a fan of
3:20
journalism career
3:21
that's what's up man i saw the
3:23
conversation you you two had with um
3:26
with dmx man and i want to say commend
3:28
you on that i saw
3:29
clips of a conversation you have with
3:31
dmx man can you recollect that day what
3:34
was that like
3:35
talking with him in retrospect now that
3:37
you know he's transitioned
3:40
um that was i'll be honest with you
3:43
um that was a hard day
3:46
because you know let me start off with
3:48
that was a beautiful day because we did
3:50
a lot of beautiful things but
3:51
the day before he came over dave's
3:53
propel house i was at dave chappelle
3:54
house
3:55
and he cooked us all crab legs and we
3:57
sang and we
3:58
we danced and it was beautiful and then
4:00
the next day we sat down
4:02
and you know i expected him to open up
4:04
but i didn't expect him to open up
4:07
that much as much as he did and what i
4:09
saw
4:10
if you watch the interview just from my
4:12
perspective it looked like
4:14
he's really really really in that moment
4:17
struggling
4:18
he's not talking about some past things
4:20
this is something when he talked about
4:21
that monster
4:22
that he said in that clip this is
4:24
something that he's still dealing with
4:25
and he was trying his best dmx mentioned
4:27
god more than any rapper
4:29
ever alive ever to ever do it and so
4:32
he's constantly
4:32
his constant uh uh race
4:36
to the spiritual meant that he was
4:38
fighting that monster every step of the
4:40
way
4:40
and like swiss beat said i love swiss
4:43
beats
4:44
clip because swiss beats was like yo dmx
4:48
took care of other people so much that
4:50
he didn't take the time to take care of
4:51
himself
4:52
and the way he the way he came to where
4:55
he was at
4:56
and he cooked his crab legs and he sang
4:58
with us and then he made sure to take me
5:00
out and we played pool all night
5:01
and he made sure everybody was good and
5:03
everybody who came up to him he made
5:04
sure he had a word for
5:05
and and he was so focused on other
5:07
people
5:08
that i could tell that that was that was
5:12
his
5:12
way to deal with the monster that he
5:15
described
5:16
that he was facing um man
5:19
wow i appreciate that man quality i
5:21
don't want to add on today i want to add
5:22
on to that there's a lot of rumors of
5:24
speculation about his death and i just
5:26
got to stay out of respect for the
5:27
family
5:28
if the family ain't say it you ain't you
5:30
shouldn't be saved
5:31
there it is there it is right there
5:34
there it is right there man
5:36
tyler qualia is with us diamond d is
5:38
with us as well
5:41
diamond man um what up what up
5:45
man i i went through these i i'm i'm
5:47
fascinated by
5:48
you i i wonder what keeps you motivated
5:52
what keeps you inspired because
5:54
listening to
5:55
this fusion between you and talib kuali
5:58
and
5:59
the music the entire project of gotham
6:01
is produced by you
6:03
uh you know it's it's you you you've
6:05
been able to be successful throughout
6:07
the
6:07
ages and throughout the areas but the
6:09
sound has constantly been morphed and
6:11
has constantly changed and it pivoted
6:13
and some sounds
6:14
you know they come and they go but
6:16
you've been able to maintain and sustain
6:19
your authenticity in this process
6:22
um how like how have you been able to do
6:26
that what keeps you
6:27
motivated what keeps you in spot what
6:29
inspires you what's your muse
6:31
um you know i'm i'm still a fan i'm
6:34
still a fan of hip-hop
6:36
you know um that's all i can really
6:38
attribute it to
6:40
as far as quality uh me and quality you
6:43
know like he said we go back you know
6:45
the first time me and quality kind of
6:46
hooked up was
6:48
um on the pharaoh match album
6:52
on that song called the truth with him
6:54
in common and um
6:55
pharaoh and um after that
6:58
he appeared on the die piece one he also
7:01
appeared on the dawn piece too
7:02
so it was just a natural progression at
7:05
some point to hook up with quality
7:07
and make a lp
7:10
what it was who was it that got you to
7:12
carly mentioned that you
7:13
are one of the top producing producer
7:16
rappers of all time
7:18
who was it that told you to rap
7:19
initially was it brown poo on grand
7:21
poobah
7:24
no like nobody but just big being around
7:27
lord finesse being around grand pool but
7:29
at that time
7:31
um up at the legendary um jazzy j studio
7:34
up in the bronx
7:35
just being around them and um it was
7:38
just a natural progression
7:41
i thought i was going to hear you
7:42
spitting bars on these on this project
7:45
yeah i'm on two joints okay okay there
7:48
you go
7:49
that's what i'm saying yeah no doubt
7:52
i like the project because um what was
7:55
the video i was watching um
7:58
and i liked the project gotham because i
8:01
was watching
8:01
on mama's the video that you shot tyler
8:04
and man i
8:05
it was a it was a vibe that y'all
8:07
captured in that video that
8:09
i didn't even know i missed but it
8:11
didn't feel
8:12
it didn't feel retro to me it felt
8:14
current and needed to me it almost felt
8:16
medicinal
8:18
to me why you know what's crazy about
8:20
that video i was um i
8:22
got sick and i felt like i had covered i
8:24
was in europe in uh
8:26
in february when it was the hot spot and
8:29
um
8:30
and i canceled two weeks worth of shows
8:32
because i felt that sick and i was
8:33
paying attention to covet i was telling
8:34
the doctors i was like i think
8:37
and they were like nah nah you don't you
8:39
don't have that and i
8:40
i don't think they they understood what
8:41
was about to happen and uh
8:44
you know i i still to this day have not
8:46
tested positive for any antibodies so i
8:48
don't know what that was but i feel like
8:50
i had it
8:50
but once i got over it i said as soon as
8:54
i got over it i was like yo i gotta work
8:56
i gotta work and i went and that video
8:59
is just a documentation of
9:01
just everything i did in one day that's
9:03
just one day of me hanging out and i
9:05
knew that my day was packed
9:06
i was going to go to harry belafonte's
9:08
birthday party at the apollo
9:10
i was going to go hang out with john
9:11
forte he's in the video
9:13
i went to this thing with diamond d with
9:14
djing uh that's where you see like uh
9:17
chemistry baths and el sensei and
9:18
everything at a at the boiler i think
9:20
it's boiler room well i remember what it
9:22
was
9:22
um right and we just but what's
9:24
interesting is
9:25
that video was shot maybe a week
9:29
before the world went into lockdown
9:32
to me that's like the last view
9:36
that's like the last thing right right
9:38
that's what new york city looked right
9:39
before the pandemic
9:41
man that maybe that's what it is because
9:43
you know i saw danny from uh
9:45
you know lyricist lounge i saw all the
9:47
photos
9:49
yeah everybody was out you talk about
9:51
paris you got the song attention
9:53
featuring sky zoo uh and in it you say a
9:56
line i was in paris tonight bourdain
9:58
died i wish i knew he was in pain i
10:00
would have been at
10:01
by his side when you're faced with
10:03
immortality you make space for the
10:05
reality you erase to make a salary
10:08
um man
10:11
that lyric right there that bar
10:14
you know were you in paris were you
10:16
talking about anthony bourdain
10:18
then when you said bourdain yeah i mean
10:21
i did i did the
10:22
the last episode of no reservations
10:24
before he left to do a show on cnn
10:26
he did he filmed in brooklyn and he had
10:29
me
10:29
and michael k williams as guest and um
10:33
i took up to roberta's pizzeria and
10:36
michael k williams took him to like i
10:37
think a
10:39
caribbean spot somewhere you know but
10:42
bourdain and i maintained a sort of text
10:45
friendship i never saw him again after
10:47
doing that episode
10:48
but i would always speak to him whenever
10:50
i would travel i would go places
10:52
and i would ask him about food and he
10:53
will always respond
10:55
and so i considered him a friend and
10:57
then when when i did the episode with
10:58
him
10:59
i read his book no reservation in his
11:01
book he talks about working in the
11:02
supper club in 1997.
11:04
and when i think about it i'm like damn
11:06
well supper club in 1997
11:07
that's what jessica rosenblum was
11:09
throwing parties in there and [ __ ] flex
11:10
and he knocked the big captain on him
11:12
with djing in
11:13
and there so i remember being in there
11:14
eating the food so i'm like i must have
11:16
ate this man food in 97.
11:18
and we connected on that level and so
11:20
what i found out
11:21
remember that the news that he he passed
11:23
away
11:24
i was in paris i was maybe a couple of
11:26
miles away from the hotel where he
11:28
passed away at and i was like wow you
11:30
know had i
11:31
of course i wasn't that close to him to
11:33
be knowing his whereabouts like that
11:35
but i just in retrospect wish i would
11:39
have known
11:39
because that means that i was there with
11:41
him on his last day on earth i was in
11:43
the same city
11:44
as him and had i known that i absolutely
11:48
would have reached out
11:48
yeah it could have made a difference you
11:50
never know um
11:52
man i won't speculate that far that's
11:54
the whole thing
11:58
but yeah you feel me though i feel you
11:59
definitely man tyler carly is here man
12:01
your flow is impeccable on this man i
12:03
feel like you revi
12:04
you you stay rejuvenated i guess all the
12:07
books you read man keep you sharp
12:12
you know hp you want to jump in on that
12:14
i do want to jump in what's up dee
12:16
what's up tyler
12:17
uh tyler it's so funny i was literally
12:19
just looking at a picture
12:21
of me you and most from soundset uh two
12:23
years ago because x was at that sound
12:25
set as well
12:26
um i love that picture i got it from
12:29
that same day all with all my
12:30
all my all good pictures with x and all
12:32
that yeah man it was amazing and it made
12:35
me think about i was telling horse i was
12:36
telling my husband i was like yo
12:38
man everybody was out and about you
12:40
touched on it for a quick second
12:42
we were all working and doing our thing
12:44
and for you to somebody just like a road
12:46
hog you always out doing shows
12:48
what has it been like not being able to
12:50
be out the mp on the road
12:52
what have you been doing with that extra
12:53
energy because it's one thing going in
12:55
the studio and recording
12:56
but it's just like a second win you get
12:58
when you out in front of people on stage
13:02
well i gotta say um i've never before
13:05
the pandemic i've never been
13:06
in one place in one city for more than a
13:09
month
13:10
in my entire adult life
13:13
and that's real it sounds like it sounds
13:15
like i'm making that up but it's a
13:16
that's a real statement
13:17
and i'll be honest i i'm like oh this is
13:21
how the other side lives
13:23
and i'm saying like i did i
13:26
toured the way i toured relentlessly 200
13:28
days a year for 20 years straight
13:30
because i'm like well this is what i
13:32
need to do to feed my family because
13:34
what i have to do to feed my family and
13:35
as much as i love
13:37
going on the road i love it i love it i
13:39
love it i love everything about being a
13:41
touring mc
13:42
but it's toxic and is grinding and it
13:46
can be very unhealthy
13:47
and when you do it for 20 years at the
13:48
pace i was doing it at you start to
13:50
develop
13:51
habits that support of a toxic and
13:54
unhealthy lifestyle and you start to
13:56
justify that because you're like well
13:58
i'm doing what i got to do
13:59
you know what else am i going to do not
14:01
not go get this bag but then when the
14:03
pandemic forces you to sit down you got
14:05
you start to make different choices
14:06
and if you're a hustler and if you're
14:08
creative you gotta you gotta figure it
14:10
out
14:10
so i've been blessed to be around people
14:12
um
14:13
you know i i went to um you know i spent
14:16
the first
14:17
part of the pandemic in l.a so to take a
14:19
stop okay
14:20
focus on the people's party you know we
14:22
started doing the zoom
14:23
stuff i turned in my book which is why
14:26
my book came out this year because i've
14:27
been writing the book for years
14:29
but i'm like okay well now it's time to
14:30
pivot you know what i'm saying um
14:33
in the book did the album with diamonds
14:34
i mean me and diamond were about to drop
14:36
the album
14:37
uh right before the pandemic hit but we
14:40
we
14:40
you know recalibrated and then of course
14:42
mr chappelle he started
14:44
doing shows out in yellow springs ohio
14:46
and so
14:47
now i'm part of a community where we're
14:49
getting tested
14:50
and we're we're figuring out a way in
14:52
which to still
14:53
work and do shows in the pandemic and
14:55
that became exciting and that became my
14:57
life
14:58
um and to the point where i'm spending
15:00
most of my time in ohio
15:01
i'm calling y'all from ohio right now um
15:04
and so that's that's really what up so
15:06
i'm saying all i have to say while i
15:07
appreciate my life on the road and i
15:09
love
15:10
what it's given me i'm now at this age
15:13
of stage in my career
15:14
very very happy and blessed that i could
15:16
like be in one place for more than a
15:18
month
15:19
right beautiful hey i didn't forget
15:22
about you
15:23
man i ain't trying to blow up a little
15:25
spot from the last time
15:27
but you make sure you hit me because you
15:29
know i'm in jurors
15:30
and you know yup man i still want to
15:32
invite you over to dinner
15:34
i still you know we always we always
15:36
used to just kind of see each other in
15:38
working spaces or
15:39
while we're moving whether you're in the
15:40
studio whatever but we i would just love
15:43
to sit down and sup with you and just
15:44
catch up man you always been a beautiful
15:46
spirit
15:47
and a beautiful energy and i always want
15:49
to keep that line of communication open
15:51
as
15:52
talib talked about you know even through
15:54
tech sometimes
15:55
is so many people are special to us in
15:57
our community we have to keep our lines
15:59
of communications open we really do
16:01
and just reach out even if you're
16:03
thinking about somebody for the day
16:04
you'll be like yo you was all my heart
16:06
he's on my spirit i'm just sending you a
16:08
hug virtual whatever but
16:09
i want to keep our lives of
16:11
communication open d
16:13
yeah yeah likewise heather no next time
16:16
i get up there i'ma definitely reach out
16:18
i just been down here in atlanta
16:20
basically um
16:22
since the pandemic hit so
16:25
but let you know but luckily you know
16:27
most producers
16:28
um if you've been doing it for a while
16:30
you pretty much got a studio in your
16:32
house
16:33
so right even before the pandemic most
16:35
producers would just stay home and work
16:37
so
16:38
um i'm just lucky enough to have that so
16:41
i really
16:42
didn't really have to venture out too
16:44
much but i can still do what i love
16:46
in the comfort of my home so that's
16:48
what's basically been
16:49
been helping me get through it gotcha i
16:52
didn't know you was in atlanta man you
16:53
better hey
16:54
have you hooked up with any atlanta
16:56
based artists like sci high to prince or
16:58
or other ones yeah i hope that was sahar
17:01
yeah
17:02
one time but um yeah definitely
17:05
it's a few heads down here at rockwood
17:08
we got the listening party jumping off
17:10
soon too
17:11
oh yeah we got to listen to party
17:13
tomorrow at uh parlor in atlanta
17:16
um yes i don't know what's up what's up
17:17
with atlanta all the rappers moved to
17:19
atlanta
17:20
guys do live in atlanta guys
17:23
quality of life on the same block who
17:26
does
17:27
mickey sacks the quality of life
17:30
yeah quality of life yeah uh torrey's
17:33
out there too
17:34
like everybody yeah yeah um
17:37
that's awesome tracy you want to jump in
17:39
yeah absolutely
17:40
um d ty lib so good to hear you guys i
17:43
would love to get your thoughts on
17:45
something that um
17:46
hb myself and sway were talking about
17:48
earlier with another
17:50
major icon in the game jay prince
17:53
and he had just shared that he bought
17:56
himself an
17:57
island prince island number
18:00
one and what stood out to me like beyond
18:02
the flex
18:03
like the key takeaway because you know
18:05
many of us may not be able to replicate
18:07
that type of flex but we can't replicate
18:09
something he said which was um turning
18:12
the
18:12
impossible to possible and that means
18:15
many different things
18:16
for us and i'm wondering if there's a
18:18
standout
18:19
time either in your professional life or
18:22
in your personal life
18:23
that really relates to turning the
18:26
impossible into the possible
18:30
um i you know shout out to jay prince um
18:34
they prince to me exemplifies the spirit
18:37
of hip-hop
18:38
where we take uh something from make
18:41
make something out of nothing
18:43
and um particularly southern hip-hop um
18:45
that hustler spirit
18:46
that southern hip-hop really injected
18:49
into
18:50
the hip-hop space because you know
18:52
hip-hop was from new york and then it
18:54
blew up in la
18:55
but people down south really really
18:57
really had to hustle when they own
18:58
they didn't have any outlets and so for
19:01
him to come from
19:03
you know uh a street culture
19:06
and to make it to the point where he's
19:08
owning the island that to me is the
19:09
story of hip-hop
19:11
it's the story of of diddy it's the
19:13
story of jay-z it's the story of
19:15
of all these people and um i think just
19:18
us
19:18
existing in this era where we see that
19:21
our lives still don't matter
19:22
and to a large degree you know every day
19:24
we get traumatized by new images
19:26
of black people being being harassed or
19:29
assaulted
19:30
uh or killed by by people who we pay to
19:32
protect us
19:33
uh every day we look on tv and and we
19:36
have to fight
19:36
and fight hard for representation in
19:39
these spaces
19:40
every day um we are doing that
19:43
that that we are doing the impossible
19:46
that's what we that's what we do
19:47
that's what that's what being black
19:49
means black is not even a real thing
19:50
race
19:51
race is a social construct yeah but what
19:53
bonds us together is our unique
19:55
experience with african people who are
19:57
dragged here and we and we not only
19:59
survive
20:00
but figure out ways in which to become
20:02
the exception to the rule
20:04
in a lot of ways and our whole existence
20:06
is impossible
20:07
but but for me hip-hop is is the best
20:10
sort of representation of
20:11
it because hip-hop is a place where we
20:13
can get on a microphone
20:14
or get on instagram and be like yo this
20:17
is who i am unapologetically mm-hmm
20:22
stated diamond was it something somebody
20:24
told you you would never do
20:26
and you ended up doing um
20:32
probably make it this long in the
20:34
business
20:36
you know but i mean you know it's a
20:38
blessing i mean you know
20:40
i went from being one of being one of
20:42
the producers on lord vanessa's album
20:45
you know on that first album back in
20:46
1990
20:48
to um here i am 2021 and i got a new
20:52
album coming out friday
20:53
with my man todd live so you know that
20:56
in itself
20:59
but uh yeah that's one of the things i
21:01
probably was told
21:02
no it wouldn't last this long or
21:04
whatever and look at you now man gotham
21:07
that's the project man rich nice is on
21:09
the line rich
21:10
rich bridge hello
21:13
red rich brother
21:19
there's a lot of bronx representation in
21:21
the room right now
21:23
i'm getting nervous hey relax man you
21:26
know
21:26
hip-hop is always around higher infinite
21:28
power healing our people remember
21:30
that remember that's right okay that's
21:31
right um you know
21:33
you know you've you've created with so
21:35
many talented icons
21:37
over the years i mean from too short the
21:39
krs the cypress hill the lauren hill the
21:42
lord fernandez brand new being
21:44
red hot lover tone one of judge blaze's
21:45
favorite songs number one player
21:48
um when you know the process was find a
21:52
room you like to work in you know a
21:54
studio
21:55
find the engineer you like for your
21:56
sound and then find the right
21:59
mastering engineer like you did with the
22:00
late great tom coyne for
22:02
the classic stunts blunts and hip hop
22:04
what has changed
22:06
in your technique in this new world of
22:08
production can you walk us through it
22:10
in this new world of production um
22:14
the new well of course now uh uh it's a
22:17
lot more software based
22:18
whereas you know when we came up it was
22:21
more hardware
22:22
you know it was more banging on mp npcs
22:24
or sb12
22:26
or whatever whatever sequence that you
22:28
might have had at that point
22:30
but um now you know you can do all of
22:32
those things on the keyboard if you
22:33
choose to
22:34
that's one of the main things um aside
22:37
from
22:38
the internet of course um you know
22:41
in the 90s if you wanted to work with
22:42
somebody on the east coast on the west
22:44
coast you know you would either fly out
22:46
there or them to you
22:47
and you know and now that's the thing of
22:49
the past you know because now you can
22:51
just
22:51
send somebody the session um so
22:54
basically just technology rich that
22:57
would be like the biggest thing it's
22:58
just a lot of easier now
23:01
what what equipment are you using are
23:03
using the same equipment are you using
23:04
all inside of the box equipment well i
23:08
use
23:09
i use um the yamaha motif
23:13
the um the xf xf6
23:16
that's the keyboard i saw eric sermon
23:18
killing it about 10 years ago
23:21
and i just went out and bought one but
23:24
not like i got the latest one now but
23:26
eric was the first one i saw really
23:28
rocking on it so
23:30
like the past 10 years i just been
23:32
rocking with that
23:33
um as far as software pro tools a little
23:36
bit of logic
23:38
and um i'm good over here
23:41
and what about mastering do you do like
23:43
how do you handle the mastery now
23:44
because you know before the process was
23:46
go to this go to the mastering lab and
23:48
sit in the room with the engineer and
23:50
like how do you do mastering now well
23:53
we're mastering you know you
23:54
you pretty much really want to be there
23:56
unless you really trust the dude who's
23:58
mastering it
23:59
you know um you want to be there
24:01
obviously because if there's any
24:03
infractions you don't like that'll be
24:05
the time to speak up on it where you
24:07
know instead of just sending each other
24:08
emails back and forth so that's really
24:11
based on
24:12
whether you trust the mastering engineer
24:14
enough for him to just do it
24:16
and you not be there but um of course
24:18
that's a very important process
24:22
so tyler do you do how did you feel
24:26
trusting you know you know i mean
24:28
obviously diamonds are super
24:29
professional but
24:30
was it some separation anxiety for you
24:32
to just say i i gave diamond my vocals
24:34
and i'm just going to wait to see how it
24:36
turns out
24:38
oh not at all um not at all
24:41
not not even in the slightest uh diamond
24:44
is a master at this craft he's not just
24:46
a master at the craft
24:47
he's one of the architects of the craft
24:50
we think about what hip-hop sound like
24:51
especially the type of hip-hop
24:52
particularly that the audience of
24:54
sway in the morning and what y'all do
24:56
your audience you know
24:57
the people who want to hear the hyenas
24:58
spit and all that like
25:00
diamond created that sound he's one of
25:03
the people that created that sound so
25:05
he you know of course i have my
25:07
preferences and of course me and him go
25:09
back and forth
25:10
back and forth with notes and there's
25:11
things there's one particular
25:14
diamond i'm gonna bring this up but we
25:15
diamond had a different uh
25:17
drums for on mamas sway you said you
25:19
like all mamas
25:20
like i wrote to the to the original beat
25:22
the dynasty but then diamond as a
25:24
producer as a fluid
25:26
producer who keeps working he had
25:28
different drums but i had already gotten
25:30
i don't know if it was demo itis or
25:31
whatever but i had already gotten used
25:33
to
25:34
how it sounded so it was like this
25:36
there's just little conversations
25:37
but i got like like i just it's diamond
25:41
d what am i supposed to do
25:44
what you gonna do you know
25:48
yo yo sway i'm i'm i'ma see this joint
25:51
that i did over and then you just let us
25:53
know okay
25:54
because yeah we have a drum a drums off
25:57
okay let's have a drums off because
25:58
diamond i don't know if i got the right
26:00
number but i texted you last night
26:02
and um i'm gonna see my news joint on um
26:06
on the ground right now
26:07
okay send me that because the baseline
26:09
on own mamas
26:12
that's so good oh that thing is bouncing
26:16
we're gonna play on mama so y'all know
26:18
what we're
26:19
talking about um
26:22
gotham the theme behind gotham um
26:25
is what i walked away with is gotham is
26:29
um is originally new york before
26:32
batman was called you know they had
26:34
gotham city
26:35
and batman and i don't know man i felt
26:38
like this whole project is retrieving a
26:40
feeling
26:41
but also ushering it into the future the
26:44
new age to now to the new age
26:46
you know and i hear a lot of people i
26:48
had a little tj on the show
26:50
um the other day who's from the bronx
26:53
and
26:54
young man 19 years old and and we were
26:56
having a conversation about mcs
26:58
and you know in the comments section i
27:01
was getting a lot of man new york ain't
27:03
what it was com
27:04
you know today compared to what it was
27:06
and
27:07
but you know i i i've always talked you
27:09
know me i always embrace these emcees so
27:12
the
27:12
the fabio foreign performed on our show
27:15
you know
27:16
pop smoke the you know uh the
27:19
little tj's all the young artists are
27:22
considered
27:22
more like new york drill artists uh
27:25
today
27:26
what what what where is their place in
27:28
gotham you know in theory where
27:30
where do you place them what do you
27:32
think
27:35
if you're born in new york you're from
27:36
new york there's nothing i could take
27:38
away from any of that
27:39
um the drill sound and i you know i
27:41
might be sounding ignorant here and
27:42
y'all could correct me because y'all
27:44
more y'all speak to these people every
27:45
day
27:45
i just check in every once in a while um
27:48
as far as i know that the origins of the
27:49
drill sound is not new york city am i
27:51
correct
27:52
and saying that correct yes chicago
27:55
oranges
27:56
i've heard of chicago drill and i know
27:57
that a lot of that was influenced by
27:59
london is that
28:00
also clear london london right so
28:03
yeah i have no problem with you know
28:05
it's like when asap rocky in them came
28:07
out they were doing a lot of that trail
28:08
sign that houston staff
28:10
um i don't got no problem with people
28:12
trying trendy things that's not
28:14
you know that's not that's not what i
28:15
would do you know but um
28:17
or maybe i would do it you know who
28:19
knows i don't know um
28:21
i don't have a problem with that at all
28:22
but i do know that
28:24
for what i create and for what diamond d
28:26
creates in this lane
28:28
that we have to deliver in our lane and
28:30
this is something that i've learned
28:31
through experience which is why i
28:33
corrected myself when i said i want to
28:34
try it because
28:35
that's not a necessarily accurate
28:37
statement i want to try it now
28:39
but there was a time in my career where
28:40
i probably would have tried it because i
28:42
tried all through my career i've tried
28:44
different things
28:45
i've tried different ways i've tried
28:46
because as an artist
28:48
i can't i don't i don't ever want to be
28:49
boxed in but what i've learned
28:52
that if i'm going to try something i'll
28:55
try it on stage
28:56
i'll put it out on a free mixtape like
28:57
if you listen to my [ __ ] the money
28:58
mixtape
28:59
there's a lot of beats that you wouldn't
29:00
expect to hear me rapping on but i'm
29:02
like okay since i'm
29:03
experimenting i'm not going to ask my
29:05
fans to pay for that
29:06
but when i'm when i'm rolling out of
29:08
childhood quality project at this age of
29:10
my
29:10
my career because of what i learned well
29:13
then i'm gonna go get diamond d
29:15
or somebody to of that calendar you know
29:17
what i'm saying
29:18
okay all right man this way check your
29:21
email too
29:22
okay cool man uh which one you got the
29:24
two or the three
29:26
i don't you ain't got to say the whole
29:27
one you got the two all right cool
29:29
send it to the three the same one for
29:31
two to three all right
29:33
okay all right and then then we'll we'll
29:35
listen to that man uh tyler
29:37
i'm talking to code yeah yeah
29:48
man come on hey i was with showbiz the
29:50
other day man i went over to the studio
29:52
and just hung out i saw that yeah yeah
29:56
man we gonna have to do that d-i-t-c
29:58
conversation real
29:59
soon big tone what up big tone in white
30:01
plains
30:02
say what happened what's up y'all
30:07
me again of tony tone white plains um
30:10
i had a question um first of all much
30:13
love to to my crew man
30:15
i love you guys i always say um i had a
30:18
question
30:19
actually actually took questions with
30:21
diamond d
30:22
and then for for tally first i thought
30:25
hold up tom pick one question we got
30:27
other callers so you got to pick one
30:28
question go for it
30:30
okay um damn all right charlie
30:34
are you going to work with most deaf uh
30:35
ever again
30:37
absolutely we have a black star album
30:39
with a mad lib
30:40
that we have finished and we are just
30:42
trying to figure out the best way to get
30:44
it out because black star is a crew
30:46
we're not trying to be on the dsps we're
30:47
not trying to take it get taken
30:48
advantage of by spotify
30:50
or none nothing like that so we trying
30:51
to figure out the best way to get it to
30:53
the fans
30:53
but i'm going to say this it's going to
30:55
be a black star summer
30:57
it's going to be it's coming this summer
30:58
y'all okay
31:00
that's coming this summer what do you
31:02
mean by being taken advantage of break
31:04
that down how do you what's your
31:05
perspective on that
31:06
i mean look you can find talent quality
31:08
music on spotify and all the dfps
31:10
you can find the gotham album on spotify
31:13
and all the dsps and
31:14
the fact is is that regardless of how
31:16
much artists are being taken advantage
31:17
of
31:18
regardless how anybody feels ninety
31:20
percent of music consumers
31:22
are going to spotify or title avatar
31:24
going going that's where they get new
31:25
music right so
31:27
i feel like the onus is on me to get the
31:29
music to the people
31:30
um and so i'm gonna go where the people
31:31
are at but i need the people to know
31:34
that for artists to go where y'all are
31:36
at with these streaming services we are
31:38
being taken advantage of
31:39
we are not getting our just due we are
31:41
getting fractions on a penny
31:43
and a lot of times we not even privy to
31:45
the accountant we can't even see what
31:47
they make to even know
31:48
if they treat us fair and these are the
31:50
contracts that we are forced to
31:52
enter into with these dsps in order to
31:54
provide convenience
31:55
for the consumer me as a consumer i
31:57
understand it i understand why spotify
31:59
is convenient
32:00
sometimes i turn it on myself when i'm
32:01
in a moment of convenience
32:03
um but people need to know that artists
32:05
are being taken advantage of
32:07
now while myself calibrally and other
32:09
things i'm doing is still in spotify as
32:11
far as black star as far as black star
32:12
business
32:13
with this album we're not going to put
32:15
it on dsps we're going to find
32:16
a more disruptive way to bring it to the
32:18
people and we we hope
32:20
that the people will follow our lead on
32:21
that okay
32:23
uh makes sense to me um
32:26
mike checker what up he in the loose
32:27
saint louis stand up
32:29
mike checker mike checker yes sir
32:33
i just wanted to say man i'm proud of
32:35
them tyler
32:36
diamond d just keep going with the music
32:38
man keep the righteousness in it
32:40
and just keep representing us man i'm
32:42
proud of them i'm i've been listening to
32:43
them since day one
32:45
i grew up in saint louis but i'm from
32:47
the town i'm from vallejo magazine and
32:49
sonoma sweaty
32:50
oh come on man when you set the town man
32:52
perked up right there baby come on
33:02
he shouted out matt grace i was like yo
33:04
he in tune two
33:05
town business come on business all day
33:08
you already know
33:11
when can i call back to give you 16
33:13
because there's credence to the name
33:14
might check it's a reason for that name
33:16
hey man i got tyler quality i got
33:19
diamond d have the b
33:20
tracy g and rich nice on the line do it
33:22
now okay man listen
33:25
we go hard in the paint when they throw
33:26
stars at our saints
33:28
stay charged in the state with no regard
33:29
for the fate we go to war for the bank
33:31
when it's smaller it's great global
33:33
banks illuminating we disregard the hate
33:35
but still
33:36
shopping their stores we're envying our
33:38
toys they do that dirt and that evil and
33:39
we had no remorse like we're either
33:41
stupid or maybe we just don't want to
33:42
see it it's right in front of our face
33:44
and [ __ ] still don't believe it she
33:45
concerned with the chrome
33:47
he want to know where the thong is it's
33:48
90 feet the first pimp no matter where
33:50
home is
33:51
[ __ ] is grown tears and we live in the
33:52
sick world where the babies look like
33:54
women
33:55
and the women act like little girls
33:58
quick 16. hey
33:59
mike checker
34:03
let's go around the table diamond d if
34:06
you heard that would that be somebody
34:07
you consider working with
34:10
oh yeah i like his style right there no
34:12
doubt i like
34:13
him rich nice i appreciate that
34:16
i like i like his wordplay i like how he
34:19
he didn't let the words jumble up with
34:20
each other he
34:21
let him breathe you know i mean he let
34:22
him breathing but right right
34:24
good it was good i live what do you
34:26
think man if you heard him
34:28
in the booth would he make you rewrite
34:29
your verse
34:31
i don't know about rewrite but that [ __ ]
34:32
was hella dope okay
34:36
that's the realest [ __ ] right there okay
34:38
we can't rewrite the god verse
34:40
one of the gods of the game i patted
34:41
myself out to him
34:43
to listen to him okay i love it
34:46
that's what's up mike checker you made
34:47
it happen man hp what you think
34:50
town business come on business baby
34:53
tracy's a critic though she's hard to
34:55
please what do you think tracy that is
34:56
true
34:58
but right here i can honestly say that i
35:00
would hit repeat on that
35:01
i would definitely want to unpack hear
35:03
it again and hear some more
35:05
mike checker oh man that man you you'll
35:07
see this
35:08
yes i will be calling you back brother
35:10
y'all have a blessed morning and you're
35:12
here for me soon
35:13
that's what's up family all right look
35:16
hey lord space wait wait wait before you
35:18
go to the next call i just got to say
35:19
man
35:19
he did that [ __ ] right because what he
35:21
did was he gave us some beautiful he
35:23
gave us
35:23
me and diamond beautiful compliments
35:25
within 20 seconds
35:26
by 45 seconds he was ramen and then he
35:29
got off the phone with
35:30
us he did do that right
35:34
right that's how you do it citizens pay
35:38
attention that is true
35:40
that is true man we gonna go to raleigh
35:42
north carolina damage is on the line
35:44
grand rises damage
35:47
what's up what's up tyler quality what's
35:50
up diamond
35:51
what's good y'all yo shout out the other
35:53
day when y'all
35:54
you were doing an interview with johnny
35:56
d and i just want to let you know
35:58
everybody hit me up hit the whole crew
36:00
up they were really excited about it
36:01
just wanted to tell you for that i know
36:04
the diamond talks
36:06
a couple people in the crew every once
36:07
in a while but
36:09
i hadn't talked to him in a good minute
36:10
so i just want to shout you guys out
36:12
let you know that you know what i'm
36:14
saying we really appreciated y'all doing
36:16
that and
36:17
that and uh those are the underground
36:20
they did the same thing
36:21
they gave us a shout out on um dory show
36:26
okay that's what's up what's up who's
36:29
your crew damage
36:30
oh yeah yeah food front oh yeah
36:33
oh man come on man oh come on yo damn it
36:37
what up fam
36:38
uh
36:44
[Music]
36:48
mercury college tour together for sure
36:51
for sure the funniest part is everybody
36:53
asked me about you she said something
36:55
about uh
36:55
uh wp wd is his name man
36:59
wd was on that tour that's never td
37:02
you guys yeah yeah i forgot about i mean
37:05
i ain't forget about him but yeah he's
37:07
talking back and forth but he wasn't
37:09
funny though he wasn't funny
37:16
i can't wait to hear what y'all got
37:17
cooking up though for real like yo i
37:19
know sway say he was about to play
37:21
something man
37:22
i just calling in to check in with y'all
37:24
on the humble and and
37:25
shout out y'all for shouting us out and
37:27
you know i'm saying we got stuff coming
37:29
too so be on the look for that
37:31
but but it's really good to hear y'all
37:33
together and to hear y'all together is
37:34
going to be phenomenal
37:36
bro all right no doubt the um what was
37:39
the
37:39
um action what's the first album called
37:44
action bro
37:47
bro come on man don't front like we
37:49
wasn't playing y'all in the bay area
37:51
yes come on bro one time
37:54
on uh we came up to the show it was like
37:56
a day i think it was i don't remember
37:58
what it was but it was like you had
38:00
oh my i met every mc ever in the game on
38:03
that day we all came up and it was like
38:04
a freestyle or something like that
38:06
bro what you talking about that was the
38:08
gavin seminar
38:09
rich knight that was the gavin seminar
38:12
and that was the first time that me and
38:15
tech took over cameo
38:17
they gave us friday and saturday night
38:19
and we called it the woodstock of
38:20
hip-hop
38:21
and so yeah it was amazing that whole
38:23
thing was amazing that's why i missed
38:26
fuji's i met everybody i did uh i don't
38:28
i mean
38:29
we were all out there probably we all
38:31
went out together yeah we did shows i
38:33
meant souls of mischief out there
38:35
was that was that was an incredible
38:36
experience yo this
38:38
this this is back when richard's on
38:40
motown
38:41
yes sir yup outstanding days
38:46
um yep um yo damage man
38:49
um damn let me write down your number
38:51
brother man ah
38:52
man this is great man you just call
38:54
random
38:55
oh yeah i listen all the time man you
38:58
know i've always been a fan i was a fan
39:00
back in the days we used to try to like
39:01
figure out ways to hear tapes for you
39:03
guys back in the day so
39:04
we were on the show was on a man and a
39:06
pleasure of course but you know as
39:07
you've expanded your career to go
39:09
everywhere you know what i'm saying
39:10
i always followed you because you you
39:12
were you were yeah i don't know if you
39:13
remember
39:14
but you were very graciously kind and
39:16
very supportive of the crew so yo sway
39:18
all the way always
39:19
you know that's beautiful yo i
39:22
appreciate it of course quality i maybe
39:24
met you once or twice
39:25
donna you know we were road dogs back in
39:27
the days but you know it's much better
39:29
you know i won't call i won't call them
39:31
a name that i'll really call it just to
39:32
be like peace and thanks for the shout
39:33
outs and everything
39:34
you can get my number one listen i was
39:36
listening to that
39:39
i was listening to that yeah front album
39:41
back in the day so thank you for making
39:42
that
39:44
oh yeah well you know hey i'll
39:46
definitely plug this because i know
39:47
i'm on uh sway uh platforms i'm gonna
39:50
say this we got material from there
39:51
until now and we're releasing it now
39:54
we're going to nlp route
39:58
and that's what it is yeah yeah man it's
40:00
definitely not fun
40:03
that any it's really hip-hop for people
40:05
just like you
40:06
it's your fault for stuffing you know
40:08
i'm saying
40:19
that's what's up man hey damn it's good
40:21
to hear your voice man that's what this
40:22
show does
40:23
i love you you're getting people fam
40:25
from decades ago that's tuned in i love
40:27
it man i i just sent you a text all
40:29
right
40:30
oh yeah they locked in
40:33
as always everybody on the show
40:43
hey this is great man i i can't wait to
40:45
see you all where we could come in the
40:46
studio and do something
40:47
um in person and tyler your memoir
40:51
vibrate higher a rap story that's a
40:53
whole separate conversation
40:55
but i really uh preach appreciate how
40:58
transparent and how much
41:00
introspective that you offer in this
41:02
memoir
41:03
um and that you were able to finish it
41:05
you know and so we maybe on another time
41:08
we could have you come back and talk
41:09
about
41:10
um the content of the memoir if you're
41:11
up to that oh i'd love to
41:14
and thank you absolutely diamond d love
41:16
you brother i'ma listen to both first
41:18
man
41:21
okay gotham album is out tomorrow make
41:23
sure y'all support these dudes make sure
41:25
you support these
41:26
icons and continue success to them i'ma
41:29
play on mamas
41:30
wait till you hear how this baseline
41:33
drop up
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