Full Transcript for 9th Wonder | ROC Solid w/ Memphis Bleek

the city. 00:02:42 Speaker 1: Shout out bro holding it down he sold he sold heroin man and um but that was my favorite aunt and uncle and at the time i didn't know i didn't know all i know man is my cousins and them they would get. 00:02:57 Speaker 2: Like for christmas like mopeds and sprees and honda scooters and all this stuff for Christmas, I'm like, man, where they get some of that? 00:03:06 Speaker 3: Like, what they doing over there? 00:03:08 Speaker 4: You know what I mean? 00:03:09 Speaker 2: And so my cousins, they're a little bit older than me, they were playing like hip hop. 00:03:14 Speaker 4: And I ain't never heard it. You know what I mean? Not a lot of it anyway. 00:03:17 Speaker 2: Outside of like Rapper's Delight, but they was playing like Pac Jam and Egyptian Lover and Planet Rock. And they was playing all of that. And I was like, man, but then I got to see like the styles too, like what they were wearing. Because at that time, you know, all of the movement that was going on from the game was up and down I-95. And so with that also came clothes. So all of the clothes Cass was wearing in New York, man, like, I don't think people understand how at that time New York had a big influence on North Carolina. And so a lot of styles Cass was wearing came down here, man. Cass was one of my cousins that was wearing it. So everything they did, man, was close to the street and was close to hip hop, man. And I was the little cousin that was around, but couldn't. My older cousins were like, man, go home, man. 00:04:04 Speaker 4: Go home. Can't be out here. Go home. That's right. But that's why I fell in love with the music, man. I fell in love with hip hop. 00:04:12 Speaker 3: That's dope, man. 00:04:12 Speaker 1: Even before the producing, what artists you would say shaped your love for falling into the production? 00:04:19 Speaker 4: Oh, man. 00:04:20 Speaker 2: I'm going to say P-Rock is probably number one. That I heard, you know, that I thought that I was like, man, at that time I said, man, I think that's what I want to do. I don't know how I'm going to do it. I think that dude that's not really talking, like I want to do what he does. He's a DJ producer, you know. He's one of the first. But then you got people before you like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and, you know, the big dogs. 00:04:43 Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying? 00:04:44 Speaker 3: Legends. All legends, man. P-Rock a legend. You know what I mean? All them legends. 00:04:48 Speaker 4: Moneyball too. 00:04:49 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:04:50 Speaker 3: Moneyball. Like. Premier, all of them. 00:04:52 Speaker 4: Premier, yeah, Premier. There's just so many to name at that time. 00:04:55 Speaker 3: It's too many, man. 00:04:56 Speaker 4: It's too many to name, yeah. 00:04:57 Speaker 3: That's a fact. 00:04:58 Speaker 1: So how did the little brother, all that come together with Fonte, Big Pooh? 00:05:03 Speaker 3: Shout out to Pham, too, man. You know what I mean? How did that come together? What was that like? 00:05:08 Speaker 2: We went to school together. Went to school at North Carolina Central University. And I met Fonte first and met Pooh after that. And at first, we weren't going to be a group. It was going to be us doing music. And then it's turned into us being a group, man. And that's one of the ways that led me to a guy that I ended up becoming best friends with, hearing my music online. And that's Young Guru, because he heard the Little Brother album. 00:05:35 Speaker 3: That's what's up. Guru put me on. That's a fact. Guru was blasting. You come in the studio like, what's up? He's like, nah. These them guys, Bleak, I'm telling you. They next. They next. I'm like, all right. 00:05:46 Speaker 1: Like, that's what I was going to say. Like, the listening became an underground classic. That's one of those records that's been played. I've been hearing it. The whole album, you know what I mean, became a classic. At what point did you realize your sound was creating the wave in North Carolina? Like, you was reaching people further beyond than just the local market. 00:06:05 Speaker 2: This is like the time when we came along. This is like the beginnings of... people putting their music on the internet and people clicking on it worldwide and you not knowing who clicking on what. Now, you know, if somebody on Instagram or whatever, you can, like, track these people. It's like a profile and a follower. 00:06:25 Speaker 4: At that time, it was just weird screen names, you know? You know, chat rooms. That's a fact. 00:06:31 Speaker 2: And so, we had no idea where you live. You can live here. You can live in San Diego. You can be in Japan. We didn't know. 00:06:39 Speaker 4: And so. 00:06:40 Speaker 2: That's how my music started to spread. These beats concerns started to really spread. And never in a million years I thought that me making beats and us making music and whatever it was, was being played in bass. 00:06:55 Speaker 3: Line, dog. You know what I mean? Yes. Everything being played in bass line. 00:07:00 Speaker 1: Guru was the driving force for it. Even before Kanye even really came around with his music. That was the wave. He was playing all that. Mos Def, Tyleb, Kanye, y'all. 00:07:15 Speaker 3: Like, Farrowmouch. 00:07:16 Speaker 1: Everybody being played at this. And y'all was in that wave. And it's like, who these guys? 00:07:22 Speaker 3: Trust me, Blizz. They the ones, man. 00:07:24 Speaker 1: Like, you developed a signature sound. You know what I'm saying? With the soul, samples, the drums, and all that. How was you able to separate yourself from the other producers who say they do the same? 00:07:36 Speaker 3: You know what, man? It's just. 00:07:39 Speaker 4: You know what, man? 00:07:39 Speaker 2: I noticed, you know, with Justin Kanye, you know, they would speed records up and sample them that way. 00:07:45 Speaker 4: I wouldn't do that that much. 00:07:48 Speaker 2: I leaned more towards the way that

RZA chopped soul, you know, when he did it. And when Pete and Kareem did it, I got it my side from that. And shout out to High Tech, too, because at the time, High Tech was making amazing records that they didn't think they was going to make the radio, end up making the radio. 00:08:04 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:08:06 Speaker 2: You know, just listening to all of that. Of course, you got Madlib, you got Dilla. Of course, you have so many at that time. You know, I just had to find my space in it, whatever that was. And I still, this day, people say it's the ninth one to sound, and I'm like, I don't know what that is. 00:08:24 Speaker 4: But, you know, I still try to, you know, find it. But I tell you. 00:08:28 Speaker 1: No one has your sound, and vice versa. 00:08:32 Speaker 3: You has no one else's sound. And that's very... unique and. 00:08:37 Speaker 1: At the same time hard to do in this business because you know everything is a copycat copy and paste or you know everybody want to follow the the trend you know it's a very trendy music industry right now it's not where like back in the day i felt like everybody from their own region their own neighborhood was trying to make their own identity right now we just live in one big identifying industry where everybody look, talk, walk the same. You don't even know where half of them from. I be saying these cities and be like, nah, he from over here. Be like, well, he sound like he from over here. You know what I'm saying? So that's one thing I give you major credit for. Cause being from down here and being influenced from up North, you don't sound like nobody up North. Not near one of your beats. And with that being said, led to my days of when I first met you. blackout yeah man sitting there chopping up threats yeah man let's talk about that session because boy oh boy that was a movie how did that even happen. 00:09:40 Speaker 2: I was scared as hell you know and at the time at the time man i was selling beats for like 300 a piece wow and um if somebody wanted to be for me i think right before i got with jay i did, I know, I did a record with Master Ace called Good Old Love. 00:09:57 Speaker 4: And he gave me, you know, he gave me $ 2, 000 for it. Oh, wow. I'm like, okay. Yeah, yeah. 00:10:03 Speaker 2: And then, I'm going to say sometime in September, man, this guy named T. Smith that was shooting footage for Fade to Black. He was shooting all the footage for that. And he, I kicked with him the year, I mean, earlier that year. But, We talked in September. He's like, yo, man, this T Smith. 00:10:22 Speaker 4: I'm like, what's up? He said, man, I'm sitting beside somebody that know you looking for beats. 00:10:28 Speaker 3: I said, oh. 00:10:29 Speaker 4: He said, you know young Goo from Rockefeller? I said, what? 00:10:33 Speaker 2: I was confused. I was living in North Carolina. He said, I'm going to put him on the phone. He put Goo on the phone. Goo was like, yeah, man, I'm a fan, man, little brother, man. I know all your beats, blah, blah, blah. 00:10:46 Speaker 4: He said, so look. 00:10:48 Speaker 2: Jay-Z doing an album now. And I saw the advertisement earlier that summer. It said 12 tracks, 12 producers. And he was supposed to be working with all the producers he worked with before. 00:11:00 Speaker 3: Because it was supposed to be his last album. 00:11:03 Speaker 2: And I remember seeing the advertisement. And he was like, yeah, man, come up here, man. Play some beats for Jay. I said, boy, this crazy right here. You got to understand, man, like, It's like you said, although little brother wasn't necessarily conscious, conscious like that, because we ain't never talk about the things you think conscious rappers talk about. 00:11:24 Speaker 4: They never did that. 00:11:26 Speaker 2: But we were put in that box, just the way we sounded. I never, like getting a Jay-Z call was last on the list. I was like, I thought I never. And so he's like, man, it was a Wednesday. He said, you think you come up here Saturday? I said, yeah, yeah, I'm coming this Saturday. 00:11:43 Speaker 3: That's right. 00:11:43 Speaker 2: And I got, and I, and I got off the phone with him and I made like, in like two, three days, I made like 30 beats. And I was like, man, I'm not missing this opportunity for nothing. And so I, I got to New York that Saturday and Jay was in there, man. And I remember cause B was laying on the, and this is the time that B was together in the world. 00:12:03 Speaker 4: Didn't know. Remember that? It was on the low. It was on the low. 00:12:07 Speaker 3: Yep. 00:12:08 Speaker 4: And, um, He came, he said, man, you know, he said, man, what's up? 00:12:12 Speaker 2: And I had called Questlove before I went up there because at the time Jay had just did the unplug with the roots. So I called him and told him. So I guess Jay, he said, yeah, man, I talked to Amir today, man. Amir told me you was coming up here, man. And he said, man, I asked Goo, I said, I'm supposed to be meeting some dude named Night Wonder today. And so I came in, he's like, let me what you got. And I played him, I played 29 beats for him. And he was, you know, I had another CD ready to put in the console and baseline. And I took the CD out. He's like, hold on, wait, wait, wait. Go back to three, six, nine, 11, 10, 11. He started naming all the tracks that he remembered. 00:12:53 Speaker 4: Cause people understand this dude's memory. 00:12:55 Speaker 3: Oh my God. 00:12:56 Speaker 2: So he was like, man, So we went through them again. So we got off the, you know, we got off the last track. He was like, hey man, what's your story, man? 00:13:06 Speaker 4: Because this doesn't make no sense. I was like, I was. 00:13:10 Speaker 2: Like, man, I don't even want to tell you where I'm from because you're going to trip. He said, wait, he's like, man, I'm from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He's like, Oh, no, I remember that. We went down, me and Beans. We almost got in a fight down.

00:13:21 Speaker 1: There in the club. That shit still on YouTube to this day, bro. 00:13:26 Speaker 4: I'm from there, man. He was like, he said, man, that's crazy, man. 00:13:31 Speaker 2: He said, you got a lot of beats, man. He said, what you doing on Monday? I said, what I need to be doing on Monday. He said, you need to be back up in here. 00:13:41 Speaker 4: Okay. So, mind y'all, I'm broke. I ain't got no money. 00:13:46 Speaker 2: I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to stay in New York two more nights. 00:13:49 Speaker 4: Figured it out. 00:13:50 Speaker 2: So we stayed, and I came back that Monday, and it was crazy in the studio that Monday, man. People don't understand how magical Baseline was. 00:14:02 Speaker 1: Yo, I'm letting you tell your story, because I remember walking in my first time hearing it. is when Cedric the Entertainer was in the booth. Like, the verse was done already. I heard the beat one day, and then I come back, done, and sat in the booth like, hey, this threads, and I'm like, yo, nah. 00:14:21 Speaker 2: And he told me, he was like, he came in, and we played some more beats. He said, so I got this sample, man, you think you'll use it? And I, you know, I chopped it up. He said, I'm about to leave, but I'm coming back. And I stayed there. I had an IBM ThinkPad laptop. And, uh, Justice in there. Justice was like, what you getting ready to do with that? 00:14:40 Speaker 4: I said, I'm going to make a B. 00:14:42 Speaker 3: He was like, what? 00:14:42 Speaker 2: I thought I'd make a B. And he came back and I played it for him. 00:14:47 Speaker 4: He was like, aw. 00:14:47 Speaker 3: That's it. 00:14:48 Speaker 4: And he went in the booth. 00:14:49 Speaker 2: And at the time, Jay was so ahead of everybody. At the time, he had on some shoes like some Air Force Ones, but had a star at the end of the check. I said, what's those? He said, they babes, but they ain't our check. 00:15:04 Speaker 3: I said, all right. 00:15:07 Speaker 2: And so, you know, we, um, he got in the booth and he said the nines, he said my name and, uh, said, did the first verse and he left. And Goo was like, the whole room was quiet. And Goo was like, yo, he just said your name on the track, bro. Goo said, where you live? 00:15:26 Speaker 4: I said, I know, come on. He's like, no, no, no. What, where do you live in? He said, I live in, I said, in an apartment. He said, start looking for your house. 00:15:33 Speaker 3: Word up. 00:15:34 Speaker 4: Because he said my name. He said, man, he said your name on the song. 00:15:36 Speaker 3: Everybody going to want to be. 00:15:38 Speaker 4: He said, you'll say your name on the song. And he said my name. He left. 00:15:44 Speaker 2: And I remember you was there that day. But you was playing niggas in Madden. 00:15:49 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We was outside. Yo, when Jay used to be in the room and cooking up, we was outside. Because I think Beans and them was working on the State Property album at that time. And I was playing Madden. We had Mad Call of Duty. 00:16:03 Speaker 4: Sauce Money. 00:16:04 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:16:05 Speaker 2: Yo, I don't think y'all understand that. It was a lot of people. Rest in peace, Clark Kent. He was there that day. 00:16:11 Speaker 3: Rest in peace, Clark, man. 00:16:13 Speaker 2: Sad Entertainment was there that day. Everybody was there. And so when Jay, we did the first couple of verses. And so Jay was like, he used to leave out the A-room, look, and yell out, like, all right, I'm finna run the album. Everybody from the pool room come in. And now it's like 20 of us in this room playing the album. And Jay looking at me like, so I'm going to let you hear what else I'm working on. 00:16:38 Speaker 4: I'm like, all right. 00:16:40 Speaker 2: And the first record he plays is What More Can I Say? 00:16:44 Speaker 4: And it's loud. Like, it's loud. 00:16:48 Speaker 3: Are you not entertained? 00:16:49 Speaker 2: So I'm looking around at everybody. Like, what the hell is going on? So he played that. He played that. He played December 4th. Then he said, yo, this is a little single. And so he played Change Clothes. Hey, listen, when he played Allure, I said, bruh, what. 00:17:08 Speaker 4: Is going on? 00:17:09 Speaker 3: It's one of my favorite J-rock hits. 00:17:11 Speaker 4: I said, boy, I ain't going to make it, though. I'm not going to make it, because it's crazy. 00:17:17 Speaker 2: So he ended up doing the third verse the next day after that. And he was like, he said, Nightman, I sold the garden out in four hours. He said, you ready to be a part of history? 00:17:28 Speaker 3: I said, yeah, I'm worried. I'm like, yeah. 00:17:30 Speaker 4: Your history, man. I'm still with it. 00:17:32 Speaker 2: And that was kind of, you know, but what more can I say? People don't understand about Jay. And you know this more than anybody. He writes in real time. So it's like everything he says either happened today, yesterday, maybe last week. 00:17:51 Speaker 3: Or he predicting it that. 00:17:52 Speaker 4: Or he predicting it to happen. 00:17:53 Speaker 1: Because I never forget when he did You're Only a Customer. He like, it's the eventual triple platinum nigga with the solid go-fate like. 00:18:01 Speaker 3: What? 00:18:02 Speaker 4: Eventual. 00:18:02 Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying. No one starting the verse like that. 00:18:05 Speaker 4: Like that. 00:18:06 Speaker 2: So he was like, yo, and what more can I say? He back to the music that made Black Roof is translucent. Nigga's got a problem, Houston. 00:18:13 Speaker 4: What up, B? 00:18:15 Speaker 2: So after I heard what more can I say? I said, man, I'm going to the store. I just had to take a walk. I went downstairs, and I went outside, and the Maybach was sitting outside. 00:18:25 Speaker 3: This is 2003, yo. 00:18:26 Speaker 2: Like, Rick Ross and I saw all the Maybach music like 2009, 8, 9, 10. 00:18:32 Speaker 4: This is 2003. 00:18:33 Speaker 3:

Think about the private jets. Everybody just riding them now. 00:18:37 Speaker 4: Now, now. And so I walk outside, and the Maybach's sitting outside. 00:18:41 Speaker 2: I said, boy, I wonder if the roof really translucent. And I went to the, and looked over, you can. 00:18:47 Speaker 4: See straight down. 00:18:48 Speaker 3: Straight in. 00:18:49 Speaker 4: This dude don't be lying about nothing. 00:18:51 Speaker 3: No cap. 00:18:52 Speaker 4: No, it was incredible. 00:18:53 Speaker 3: No, man, that's ill. 00:18:54 Speaker 1: Cause then you go from there to producing records. You know, you went from underground producing to big dogs. Now you're working with Destiny's Child or Girl, Mary J. Blige, Good Woman Down, other major artists. How did that transition? What was that like going from the underground to now you're dealing with all A-list? 00:19:14 Speaker 2: Well, well, B was in the studio that night when I played him the beats. And she came back that Monday. And Jay called me. Alvin came out November 14, 2003. Jay called me in May of 2004 and. 00:19:30 Speaker 4: Was like, I said, hello. It was a private call. I said, hello. 00:19:35 Speaker 3: All the time. 00:19:36 Speaker 1: Negative number saved in my phone should still come up private. I don't know how you do that. 00:19:40 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. 00:19:40 Speaker 4: Same thing. Same thing for me. And I'm like, yo, like. Hello? He's like, yo, what's up? It's Jay. 00:19:47 Speaker 3: I said, Jay who? 00:19:49 Speaker 4: He said, Jay-Z. 00:19:50 Speaker 2: I said, man, stop playing on my phone. And he started laughing. And I was like, nah, this him for real. And we on the phone. I said, man, what's up, man? He said, man, what's up, man? 00:19:58 Speaker 4: How you been? I said, I've been good. 00:20:01 Speaker 2: He said, so listen, that Beat CD you played for me. I can't find it. I know I took it home. Can you send it to Destiny's Child? Somebody going to call you with an address. 00:20:12 Speaker 4: I hang up. 00:20:14 Speaker 2: Ten minutes later, One World, the Beyonce old company, One World, call me. Yo, this is Teresa LaBarber from One World. 00:20:23 Speaker 4: Is this nice? 00:20:24 Speaker 2: Like, hey, you know, want to get the CD out to the girls, blah, blah, blah. She called back two days later. Hey, want to get you to L.A.? and so going from underground to that because i mean even when i did threat after that the next album i worked on was a dude from la named murce i did an album called murce 316 and uh everybody from that side of fence thought that i wasn't gonna work with cats like that and i was like nah i'm like you know i'm gonna get it on both sides now that's right and so i did that but Thinking about everybody I did records for, and I believe, and I might be wrong, you're the only rapper on the mainstream that I did two records for for that album. 00:21:13 Speaker 4: Everybody I got one off. I did. You were the only one that gave me two. 00:21:17 Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? You know what I mean? I show love, dog. Duke called me. 00:21:25 Speaker 2: It was like, yo, will you ask him in L.A.? He said, yo, So Jay just told Bleak he need to get beats from you, and Goose said. 00:21:33 Speaker 4: You might end up doing half this album. 00:21:35 Speaker 3: I said, what? I said, 50. I said, 50. Like, 50. 00:21:39 Speaker 1: Yo, and that's crazy, because the song we did, All Right, bro, people done remixed it, done did all it. Yo, that record done goes crazy. 00:21:47 Speaker 4: It was on Hot. That's one of the. 00:21:50 Speaker 1: Records I feel I should have shot a video for. Like, I dropped the ball on that. 00:21:55 Speaker 2: Kanye called me about that one time. Kanye called me when we did All Right. Kanye called me. 00:21:59 Speaker 4: He was like, boy. We said, man, I heard this. You did this record for Bleaker Horror? I'm like, yeah. Boy, you talking about, boy, so many castles. Man, I hate to beat you. 00:22:11 Speaker 3: I love it. 00:22:13 Speaker 1: That's when you know you got that heat. That leads to my next question. How the hell did you link up with K-Dot, with Kendrick for the record Duckworth? 00:22:22 Speaker 3: Because, man. 00:22:24 Speaker 1: That's one of the best songs, rather. 00:22:26 Speaker 2: Man, you know, at the time now, it's like 2010, and I am seven years in the game now. And I'm not noticing now all of the younger rappers is watching me now. Watching us as a little brother, even when I was in the group, out of it, they were watching us. 00:22:46 Speaker 4: And I. 00:22:47 Speaker 2: Now here comes this kid named Drake, this dude named Meek Mill, this kid named Nipsey Hussle, this kid named Mac Miller, Big Crit. 00:22:58 Speaker 4: I can name so many. Cole, J. Cole. J. 00:23:01 Speaker 1: Cole, that's downtown, Fayetteville native, baby. 00:23:04 Speaker 4: And this crew from L.A. called Black Hippie. 00:23:08 Speaker 2: And Black Hippie was Schoolboy Q, Abso, J-Rock, and Kendrick Lamar. And I met Kendrick in L.A., And we talked for a minute. It was 2010. 00:23:18 Speaker 4: And we talked. 00:23:20 Speaker 2: And he's like, man, you know, I think he's a beast for you, man. But, you know, I got to meet him with Dre in a couple weeks. I said, bro, I got to hair up. And so that was 2010. And then years later, man, we got back together again. And the first is three beats in Duckworth. The first beat was for the game. The second beat was for the second and third beats was for Commons. 00:23:46 Speaker 4: None of them, one of them rappers took the beats. None of them. 00:23:49 Speaker 3: Wow. 00:23:49 Speaker 4: And, I mean, they said, you know, people say all the time, things happen. 00:23:53 Speaker 3: You know, that's how it would be. Word up. 00:23:55 Speaker 4: And I remember the day I played the beats for Kendrick. I was in L.A. 00:24:01 Speaker 2: I was at Snoop's studio at 12. Dre's studio at 6 the same day. And Kendrick at 10. And I remember

talking to some cats that day. Like, man, you're moving around the city, man. How you moving around the city this way? Because I'm in these, you know, And so I played the beats with Kendrick, man. And they were all on a beat file. And he said, just give me all 26 of them beats. And I gave them to him. And then next thing you know, he picked the three. 00:24:26 Speaker 4: Wow. 00:24:27 Speaker 2: And it became not only a dope song, but one of his most legendary songs. 00:24:32 Speaker 3: Exactly. 00:24:32 Speaker 1: I was about to say, what was your reaction when you heard the finished product? 00:24:35 Speaker 3: Because you sent 26 beats. You're not knowing. All right, you picked three. But you made three, one song. 00:24:42 Speaker 2: You know how it goes. So they called me. Shots of Dave Free. Dave Free called me and was like, yo, man, I needed sample clearances for two beats. 00:24:50 Speaker 4: So I'm thinking, oh, I got two on there. 00:24:53 Speaker 3: OK. 00:24:54 Speaker 4: And so. 00:24:55 Speaker 2: He calls me back again. He said, nah, I need to sample clearances for one more beat. 00:24:59 Speaker 4: I was like, I got three on that? 00:25:00 Speaker 2: He was like, nah, nah, nigga. It's one song, three beats. 00:25:05 Speaker 3: Wow. 00:25:05 Speaker 2: And I said, what? And the first time I heard that done was a song on Gangsta's Daily Operation. They did it one time. And then Prem did it again on Hard to Earn, a song called Speak Your Clout, where it changed three times. And then Merz did it with Walk Like a Man. And then Here He Comes with it changing three times. And the story was crazy. 00:25:31 Speaker 3: Crazy. 00:25:32 Speaker 2: And it was the last song on the album. And it was, yo, man, it kind of restarted my career again because now it's a whole new age of kid that's not following me. They might not know anything prior to 2007, but everything after 2000, they were like, man, first time I heard you was Duckworth. That just kind of restarted my career again. 00:25:53 Speaker 3: That's a blessing, man. That's all you need, man. Music is forever, bro. 00:25:56 Speaker 1: I try to tell the kids it's forever. So you helped develop a whole generation, you know what I mean, of producers through the Soul Council, you know what I mean, through the label Jamula Records, you know what I mean? Shout out my girl Rhapsody. Shout out my dog Ruben Vincent, you know what I mean? Students of the game. How important has artist development and creating opportunities for others became for you? 00:26:19 Speaker 4: You know, it's just watching.... 00:26:23 Speaker 2: Just being around Jay that first time taught me so much in that short period of time. 00:26:29 Speaker 4: You know what I mean? Because I'm not only looking at him. 00:26:33 Speaker 2: I'm looking at everybody around him and how he affected everybody's life. 00:26:38 Speaker 4: You know what I mean? 00:26:39 Speaker 2: And I kind of hang like, should I be that kind of way as well? Should I have my own family? Because all big homies got big homies. 00:26:50 Speaker 3: That's right. 00:26:51 Speaker 4: You know what I mean? All of them. 00:26:52 Speaker 2: And I don't think people understand how big Jay-Z's family tree is, but it is. He has created a whole crew. Like, he has his crew, but then you, but you knock out your own crew. It's like a family tree. It's crazy. And my extension of that was Jamla. And I just thought, I was like, man, like, I need to create my own universe like he has his own universe. 00:27:18 Speaker 4: Because Emery.... 00:27:22 Speaker 2: OG Juan, you, everybody's been, like, he has not changed his personnel in 30 plus years. 00:27:31 Speaker 4: Nah. 00:27:32 Speaker 3: You know what I mean? There's no... No new friends. 00:27:34 Speaker 1: No new friends. 00:27:35 Speaker 2: And I was like, man, that is amazing to do that. And I was like, man, I need to come up with something. 00:27:41 Speaker 4: It's hard to do. 00:27:42 Speaker 3: It's hard. 00:27:43 Speaker 4: It's hard to do. 00:27:43 Speaker 3: Because people, not only do you not change up, other people change. You know what I'm saying? 00:27:47 Speaker 1: A lot of people jump out the whip when the car's still moving. They think you ran out of gas. 00:27:52 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:27:53 Speaker 3: They don't know. 00:27:54 Speaker 1: The car just getting back started. 00:27:55 Speaker 3: Everybody. Everybody. 00:27:56 Speaker 1: So that's hard to do. I commend Jay, Ty, Emery, Wong, Lenny. I look at some of these guys, even Chaka Pilgrim. I look at them and be like, yo, we came from the office when it was roaches and rats running around. Look at this shit now. We didn't imagine this. Half of them did, not me. 00:28:18 Speaker 3: I was young. 00:28:19 Speaker 1: I was just happy to be on the train. Yo, let's go back to producing a little bit because I wanted to ask you. Sampling is a very important staple in production and hip-hop's foundation. 00:28:31 Speaker 3: But with technology today. 00:28:33 Speaker 1: AI, and all the way the records is being produced, they invented Fruity Loops for the kids to produce easier. 00:28:40 Speaker 3: Because if that was out when I tried, I probably would be nice right now. 00:28:43 Speaker 4: That's the first thing I use. That's the first thing I use. 00:28:46 Speaker 1: Bro, I had Just Blaze and Guru come to my house, build me a studio set up, MPC the rack, bought all the sounds, everything. I couldn't get past the, you know how the MPC got the click to put the beat on time? 00:29:02 Speaker 3: I could never do it. 00:29:03 Speaker 1: So I'm like, how do a producer, you have to be crazy. Like, it's like in White Man Can't Jump where he say, you don't hear Jimmy. I guess I didn't. Because that shit will not go on the timer for me, no matter how fast or slow I made it. 00:29:21 Speaker 3: So I just gave all the equipment back to Gu. 00:29:24 Speaker 1: Gu, you take the shit. 00:29:25 Speaker 3: I don't need it.

00:29:30 Speaker 1: So with that being said, do you think we losing the art form in hip hop of the digging for records, discovering new sounds, the digging through the crates? 00:29:39 Speaker 3: With the technology that's out today? 00:29:41 Speaker 4: I don't think so. 00:29:43 Speaker 2: Because, you know, every generation rebels the generation before it. 00:29:48 Speaker 3: That's right. 00:29:49 Speaker 2: And now you got a lot of kids now that believes in like analog again. 00:29:52 Speaker 3: So they're really like, I don't. 00:29:54 Speaker 2: Want to do some 14-year-olds out here, man, that's like I don't really want to do what the 25-year-olds are doing. They want to be like, I want a real record. I want to hold it in my hand. 00:30:05 Speaker 4: You know what I mean? 00:30:07 Speaker 2: I want to hold a CD in my hand. I want to hold a tangible object. I can play some music. And they're getting back to that, I think. And we just got to be patient with them and let them find and discover for their own. But AI can come and go. Whatever's going to change so many times. But you cannot beat a human being. You can't beat what's in a human's mind. You can only copy what's in a human's mind once the human lets it go. Your pre-thought ideas, AI cannot come up with. 00:30:37 Speaker 3: That's a fact. 00:30:38 Speaker 4: That's what it is. 00:30:39 Speaker 3: That's a fact. 00:30:39 Speaker 1: Now, you spent years teaching hip-hop history, music production at universities. Why is that important for you to bring hip-hop into the academic spaces? What you think the next generation needs to understand about the culture? 00:30:54 Speaker 2: I mean, it's just up to us to tell the right story. Nobody's going to tell the story better than us. Only issue is, is that, you know, the way the university thing is set up, you have to have certain qualifications to teach on a certain level. 00:31:07 Speaker 4: I didn't have it. 00:31:08 Speaker 2: I taught without a degree for years, but, and it just got my degree, but it's just, but it's the situation is up to us to teach it. 00:31:17 Speaker 4: Nobody can teach. this thing that we started. You know what I mean? Nobody can teach it. 00:31:23 Speaker 2: No book will be able to tell you anything about this thing that we started because hip-hop came from the street. 00:31:29 Speaker 4: It came from the community. 00:31:30 Speaker 3: That's right. 00:31:31 Speaker 2: And it's only the practitioners that can tell the story. And I thought, well, let me get ahead of the gun because I don't want nobody... We'll get mad when the story is told the wrong way, but we don't want to go tell the story ourselves. 00:31:44 Speaker 4: So I want to tell the story. 00:31:46 Speaker 3: That's a fact. 00:31:46 Speaker 2: So you got to worry about you know, getting the story wrong. Cause I'm here, I'm in the, what we call the canon. I'm in the canon to, academic canon to go ahead and to get the story right. 00:31:56 Speaker 1: That's

what's up, man. Congrats on that. I remember when you first, you and Guru running universities, man. You see how far we came with this shit, man? 00:32:04 Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Like, look at this. 00:32:06 Speaker 1: These guys, professors, literally. Like, and you always championed lyricism. 00:32:12 Speaker 3: You know what I mean? That relationship between the MC and the producer, right? 00:32:16 Speaker 1: Has streaming and the pressure to make viral records changed that creative relationship, you think? 00:32:21 Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so. I mean, some. 00:32:23 Speaker 2: I mean, now it's just like a... We also dealing with a generation that wants things fast. They want to do it fast. It's like they don't want to know the process. And here's the thing, though. I don't care if we're talking about selling dope or making records. they want it. 00:32:39 Speaker 4: Fast that's right they think that you. 00:32:41 Speaker 2: Know i'm getting you know nah no you got to spend at least a year standing on the corner being a lookout first right you got to be the lookout kid before you even get to its stages to this and the same thing with rapping and mcn no matter what you're talking about i've never i've never really been a person they're like oh you got to be talking about this thing or that thing something about it nah because I grew up on Tribe, but I also grew up on NWA, too. 00:33:07 Speaker 3: That's right. 00:33:07 Speaker 2: So I need all the stories. But you just got to be good at telling the story, though. If it's street, it's street. I don't really care about it being street. But you got to be able to talk about the street like nobody. 00:33:18 Speaker 3: Else talks about the street. That's right. 00:33:19 Speaker 4: That's the thing. But I've always felt that way. 00:33:22 Speaker 3: No, I agree with you, man. 00:33:23 Speaker 1: Like we used to say coming up, when the lies run out, the rhymes run out. So long as you're telling the truth and it's authentic to you, Somebody somewhere going to relate and going to rock with it, man. 00:33:34 Speaker 3: I believe it. Whether it's one or 1,000, they're going to get the message. 00:33:38 Speaker 4: That's what it is. I've always thought that. What you say in celebration, bulging on my jeans on a 10-speed weeding. 00:33:45 Speaker 3: 10-speed weeding, you know what I mean? 00:33:47 Speaker 4: You can visually see that. 00:33:49 Speaker 3: That's right. 00:33:49 Speaker 4: You know what I mean? I'm being held, team rocks, water and ice water. 00:33:52 Speaker 1: They just didn't see me fixing that damn 10-speed chain, hand on greasy, that shit come off. 00:33:59 Speaker 3: You got to see it. 00:34:01 Speaker 4: I've been in hell. Team Rock sweater and ice water. 00:34:03 Speaker 3: Word up. That's crazy. 00:34:05 Speaker 4: You see that? Like, you can see it. That's what I'm talking about, though. 00:34:09 Speaker 1: Yo, between producing, DJing, educating, running businesses, what does this chapter of your career look like, you think? 00:34:21 Speaker 4: Oh, man. I don't want to be known, and you'll get what I say when I say it. It's a different. 00:34:28 Speaker 2: It's different when the cast younger than you call a nigga unk. But it's also different when they call you OG. If you get called OG, it's different from being called. You calling unk, nigga, that goes further. That means your dress messed up, all this messed up. 00:34:46 Speaker 3: You just old. You just old. 00:34:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, they just like, yo, you in the way. 00:34:49 Speaker 3: It almost means you in the way. You in the way. 00:34:51 Speaker 1: Like, word up. You in the way. 00:34:54 Speaker 4: You're called OG, man. Yo, what up, OG? 00:34:56 Speaker 2: Like, when I get that, That means, nah, I'm here because if I need some wisdom, I know who to come to because you've lived a life and you still are relevant. 00:35:06 Speaker 4: But like, you in the way. 00:35:08 Speaker 3: Yeah, you in the way. 00:35:09 Speaker 1: You got to go sit down. 00:35:10 Speaker 2: And so now I'm looking around, man. And, you know, I got cast in hip hop. They called me OG. I got cast that I've taught in universities. They called me OG. And my other life, probably the last eight years, has been Nike basketball. 00:35:27 Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. 00:35:28 Speaker 2: I got a lot of like NBA stars right now that I mentored and Nike grassroots. 00:35:35 Speaker 4: That I love. 00:35:37 Speaker 3: I didn't know you had that plug. 00:35:39 Speaker 1: We're going to talk off camera. 00:35:41 Speaker 4: You know what I mean? Yes, sir. Nike EYBL, man. 00:35:45 Speaker 2: I started Nike EYBL seven, eight years ago. Shout out to my man, Carlton DuBose. And I've watched, I met Tyrese Maxim when he was 16. And, and, But Tyrese, the Boozer Twins, Cooper Flagg, Kay Cunningham, Rob Dillingham, Jalen Green, John Kaminga. Like a majority of the NBA, I've had in front of me either making beats, learning how to make beats, talking, having conversation. I've been teaching the Duke the last 16 years. I've taught about 30-something draft picks. It's been in my class. Zion Williamson. Like, basketball has been. 00:36:29 Speaker 3: More my life. I don't think he paid attention, though. Zion ain't paying attention. 00:36:33 Speaker 1: Yeah, he did. 00:36:33 Speaker 4: You got to pay attention to my class. 00:36:35 Speaker 3: He did. 00:36:35 Speaker 1: No, I promise he did. 00:36:36 Speaker 3: You was talking about girls in your class. He must have skipped that chapter. 00:36:39 Speaker 4: I wouldn't have that chapter. 00:36:41 Speaker 1: That's why. 00:36:43 Speaker 3: He skipped that chapter. 00:36:44 Speaker 1: That's a whole other class. 00:36:45 Speaker 4: He a baller, though. 00:36:46 Speaker 3: But nah, man. 00:36:46 Speaker 5: You know how many people called me and was like, man, he ain't hollering at Zion about that. We ain't talking about that in class, dog. We ain't talking about that. We should

have brought that up, man. We got to make that a subject. 00:36:59 Speaker 4: I got to blame. 00:37:00 Speaker 3: This is your fault. 00:37:02 Speaker 4: I'm like, no, it's not. 00:37:03 Speaker 2: We ain't talking about that. 00:37:07 Speaker 3: But no, man. 00:37:09 Speaker 4: That's my boy. 00:37:09 Speaker 1: He went too far. Sometimes it's too far. He went too much. It's too much and it is too, too much. 00:37:17 Speaker 4: He's young. 00:37:17 Speaker 3: He's learned. I hope he did. 00:37:20 Speaker 4: He's learned. 00:37:21 Speaker 3: Because that was bad. That's a bad look. 00:37:25 Speaker 4: Nah, he learned, man. That's my dude. But, you know, wonderful student, man. 00:37:28 Speaker 3: Him. 00:37:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, great ball player, wonderful guy. I would never take that. It's just tasting women is just like. 00:37:34 Speaker 4: I'm getting all dying, man. Shouts to R.J. 00:37:40 Speaker 3: Barron. 00:37:40 Speaker 4: Shouts to Derek Lively. Shouts to every Duke player in the league. 00:37:43 Speaker 3: I love you all, bro. 00:37:44 Speaker 2: I'm getting... You. 00:37:47 Speaker 1: Put the name up. I wasn't thinking about it. When you said his name, it's like, wait a minute. He was a great student. 00:37:54 Speaker 3: He was a great student. 00:37:55 Speaker 4: What was you talking about in class? 00:38:00 Speaker 2: It's going to get clipped. It's going to get clipped. It's already going to get clipped, dog. It's going to get clipped. I already know. Memphis Bleak United want to talk about Zion Williams' choice of women. 00:38:09 Speaker 4: He did that, though. 00:38:10 Speaker 3: It ain't our fault. 00:38:12 Speaker 1: It's going to get clipped. We the OGs. He should have watched our resume. 00:38:16 Speaker 3: Damn. 00:38:17 Speaker 1: We got to start printing out our resumes. 00:38:18 Speaker 4: Shout out to Zion, man. 00:38:20 Speaker 3: Keep balling, man. 00:38:21 Speaker 1: Stop getting hurt. It's probably because of them. 00:38:24 Speaker 4: Stop. 00:38:25 Speaker 1: I can't stop, man. We got to get off this. We got to stop. Yo, let's get this over with. 00:38:30 Speaker 4: Let's do it. 00:38:34 Speaker 2: In my class, we're talking about history of hip-hop, dog. That's what we're talking about in class, man. Bleak wanted me to talk to him about something else. 00:38:40 Speaker 1: Yeah, I need a class to get these young boys straight. 00:38:44 Speaker 4: No, no, no, seriously. 00:38:47 Speaker 2: That's really across the board with younger men. That's a conversation we truly need to have across the board. I don't care who you are. We just need to have a conversation about men being men and all of that stuff. And just the relationship you have with women, man, just, you know, it's crazy out here for women right now. 00:39:10 Speaker 3: No, it's bad, man. 00:39:11 Speaker 4: It's crazy for women. 00:39:12 Speaker 3: It's bad. 00:39:13 Speaker 4: And a lot of brothers ain't doing a good job. 00:39:15 Speaker 3: That's right. They ain't doing what they're supposed to. 00:39:17 Speaker 4: That's right. 00:39:18 Speaker 3: We got to take care of our own. I agree with that part. That's 100%. We got to support and take care of our own, man. 00:39:24 Speaker 4: And protect. 00:39:25 Speaker 3: And protect, man. That's a fact. You got to be there for your community, man. 00:39:29 Speaker 1: So with Jamula Records and the Soul Council have been important platforms for developing talent. What's your vision for the brands today, man? 00:39:39 Speaker 3: You know what I mean? 00:39:39 Speaker 1: Like what's, What's your approach to the next movement on the involvement of arts development? 00:39:44 Speaker 2: Trying to stay ahead of the curve, man. You know, it's still going to be a process. Still trying to teach them it's a process. But now trying to find new and inventive ways to go to direct the consumer. Like casting a wide net and getting a lot of people like we used to do back in the day. It's not even a possibility like it used to be. The market is too spread out. You can have your own niche market and just stay over here and make a lot of money. And so that's where I'm trying to get my artists to think like, think it's not about the music that you make. It's where your music can live when you make it. And start thinking that way. Start thinking, well, my music can be here or here or here, or instead. 00:40:22 Speaker 4: Of I'm going to be on the Grammys. 00:40:24 Speaker 3: I'm going to be the biggest. 00:40:26 Speaker 4: Like that's, that's a whole net wide net. We got to cast. 00:40:30 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:40:31 Speaker 2: Let's focus on who likes your music first and let's build that, whatever that is. And I think one of the, the, the crews has done that. great is Griselda. Griselda figured that out. 00:40:43 Speaker 4: 100%. 00:40:43 Speaker 2: And I think that most labels, incubator labels, small independent labels, need to just be focused on the people that likes your music. 00:40:51 Speaker 3: That's right. They cater to their core. 00:40:53 Speaker 4: That's it. 00:40:54 Speaker 3: And tour. 00:40:55 Speaker 1: sell their merch, sell their records at the shows, everything. I love what they're doing. Their movement is definitely something that needs to be studied. These new generation definitely need to pay attention. And some of these labels need to pay attention because I always say, you can't reinvent the wheel. And we got away from the touching people. The internet got away from that. You took a picture with my aunt 20 years ago. Certain people run up on me. I be out sometimes. They'll be like, Bleak, you got a picture with my mom back in the day. And it's like, damn, if it don't make me feel old, but we really was there. We was in that record store. We was in that sneaker shop. We pulled up to the club and had a meet and greet. There's no more meet and greets. And now they're charging them for meet and greets. You know what I'm saying? Now you got to pay to

take a picture? It's like, damn. 00:41:45 Speaker 4: Get it? 00:41:47 Speaker 1: I'm not knocking you. But we still got to get back to touching who our people are. 00:41:53 Speaker 4: The community part. 00:41:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, because we don't, on the internet, people say, yo, I have a following, but they don't even know who these people are, what they look like, never went and did nothing. 00:42:01 Speaker 3: To support them. 00:42:02 Speaker 2: You go to a show and there's 50 people in the audience and you're like, dang, I thought I had a bigger following than that. 00:42:08 Speaker 1: Because you never support. So they're not going to come out and support you all they know you for is YouTube. We there for your YouTube show, we not there for the physical show. You do a concert on YouTube, we're going to pull up. You put that fly up, I might not be there. 00:42:24 Speaker 4: I might not be there. 00:42:25 Speaker 3: Straight up. 00:42:25 Speaker 1: That's the thing. 00:42:26 Speaker 4: Especially post-COVID. I might not be there. 00:42:28 Speaker 3: Yes. That's the fan base now, man. You know? 00:42:31 Speaker 4: Crazy. 00:42:32 Speaker 3: All right. So are there any. 00:42:34 Speaker 1: New projects, collaborations, or artists you're particularly excited about right now? 00:42:38 Speaker 4: Man, yeah. 00:42:40 Speaker 2: You know, of course, I'm always excited about the artists on my label. 00:42:43 Speaker 3: That's right. Rap City, Ruben Vincent. 00:42:46 Speaker 4: No, no, correction. Rap City is now, she has her own label now. 00:42:49 Speaker 3: Oh, she went indie on them? 00:42:51 Speaker 1: Yep. 00:42:51 Speaker 4: And her label's called We Each Other. 00:42:53 Speaker 3: I need a deal, girl. 00:42:53 Speaker 1: She got an album out now. 00:42:54 Speaker 4: Y'all know that. She got an album out right now. 00:42:56 Speaker 3: It's doing, it's going crazy. She always the fam, though, man. It's like with us. 00:43:03 Speaker 1: I got my own thing, but no matter what I do, I'm Rockefeller, Roc Nation. I don't care if I tell people tomorrow, I'm Chicken Noodle Soup Records. They're like, no, you're not. You're Roc Nation, nigga. I don't care what you say. 00:43:16 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's probably going to be my album. It may be nominated for Rap Album of the Year. 00:43:20 Speaker 3: Oh, God bless. 00:43:21 Speaker 4: It's one of those type of runs. But Ruben, Ruben, of course. 00:43:27 Speaker 3: He's working. He's a worker. I respect him because he grind, he. 00:43:32 Speaker 1: Don't give up, and anything y'all ask of him to do, from you, the guru, even if I. 00:43:37 Speaker 3: Give his little ass some advice, he be like, all right, Bleak, I'm on it. 00:43:40 Speaker 1: And he will implement it in something he doing. I love that about him. 00:43:44 Speaker 4: So you got Ruben, my man from Washington Heights, New York, my man, the Mussolini. 00:43:48 Speaker 3: Okay, fuck with Moose, I ain't know that. Okay. 00:43:52 Speaker 4: We just did. 00:43:52 Speaker 2: We just dropped a record. So Moose is one of mine. I signed this group from Australia by the name of Yonder. 00:44:00 Speaker 4: They dope. Okay. I mean, from New Zealand. I'm sorry. 00:44:02 Speaker 3: Same thing. It's right there. I confuse them. 00:44:04 Speaker 2: It's different, but they different. 00:44:06 Speaker 4: But I hear you. 00:44:07 Speaker 5: Yeah. 00:44:07 Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah. 00:44:08 Speaker 3: Shout out Auckland. You know what I mean? 00:44:10 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's exactly where they're from. 00:44:11 Speaker 3: Auckland, New Zealand. 00:44:12 Speaker 4: And you been an augmenter before? 00:44:13 Speaker 3: Of course. Shout out my man Dan K out there, man. I got the homie out there. 00:44:16 Speaker 4: Who am I talking to about? I know he been an augmenter before. 00:44:20 Speaker 2: But nah, shout out to my boys from New Zealand, Yonder. My R & B artist, Sweater. Sweater's dope. And of course, and Heather Victoria, who's been here, a star war in this label. And yeah, Swank and Draft. That's right. 00:44:38 Speaker 3: That's right. I got the joint with them, man. 00:44:40 Speaker 1: When we dropping it. 00:44:41 Speaker 4: It's coming. Swank and Draft. 00:44:45 Speaker 2: And I signed this kid from Cleveland, Ohio by the name. 00:44:48 Speaker 4: Of Eli the Don. 00:44:49 Speaker 3: That's what's up. 00:44:50 Speaker 2: It's super dope. But yeah, man, that's the label. As far as outside of that, man, I just love my team, everything about my team. There's other artists that I love, R & B, hip-hop. You know, so many. So many is really dope. 00:45:09 Speaker 3: Too many artists today, man. 00:45:10 Speaker 4: Yeah, man. 00:45:11 Speaker 1: God bless the family, man. I wish everybody that success from the label, man. Let's let them. Let's win. It's enough fans for everybody. They say we're using bots. Bottom up for everybody then, nigga. Let's go. Let me chill. Share your bots, man. Get stingy with the bots. Stop playing, man. If I had the bot plug, I'd be passing out. Bottom up. 00:45:34 Speaker 3: Be bottomless bots. 00:45:36 Speaker 2: But I'm doing that, and then we're trying to finish now. 00:45:41 Speaker 4: Me and Black Thought got an album coming. Ooh! 00:45:44 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:45:45 Speaker 1: Tell Black Thor I want to battle. They say he the nicest nigga ever. They say to be the nicest, you got to go at the nicest. Yo, nah. 00:45:53 Speaker 3: Yo, listen. 00:45:54 Speaker 1: Black Thor has a rap. Jimmy Kimmel has a ride at Disney World that Black Thor does the introduction for. 00:46:02 Speaker 4: I've seen it. I've seen it, yeah. 00:46:04 Speaker 3: No one can fuck with him. 00:46:05 Speaker 4: Yeah, he's crazy. 00:46:07 Speaker 1: He's too ill. I'm sitting there with my daughter and I'm like, wait a minute. This thing is about the rap, something about the introduction of the ride. And then I'm listening, and he murdered it. Like, I'm about to do all that. Like, yo. 00:46:20 Speaker 3:

Nah, fire, man. Word up, man. 00:46:23 Speaker 1: So when people talk about the greatest producers in hip-hop history, where do you feel 9th Wonder belong in that conversation? 00:46:30 Speaker 4: You know what, man? There was a... Billboard did a. 00:46:34 Speaker 2: top 25 producers in the last 50 years for the 50th anniversary of hip hop. And I made the top 25. So I'm happy about that. I didn't think I would, but I made, I didn't even know he was making the list. And they sent me the list. 00:46:50 Speaker 4: I was like, what? And, you know, I'm just grateful to be here, dog. 00:46:54 Speaker 3: It's a blessing, man. 00:46:57 Speaker 2: There's certain generations and certain people that say, oh, you the GOAT, you the GOAT. 00:47:01 Speaker 4: You know what I mean? 00:47:01 Speaker 2: I think the term greatest of all time in music can be. 00:47:08 Speaker 4: A sign to so many different people. 00:47:10 Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Like when it comes to music. When people ask me, man, who's your top five rappers? There's at least 30 rappers you can put in the top five. 00:47:19 Speaker 3: That's a fact. 00:47:20 Speaker 2: That you can make an argument for. And I think it's the same thing with production as well. It's about thirsty. 00:47:26 Speaker 3: It's too many. It's too many. Because every generation has a top five. 00:47:29 Speaker 4: Every generation has a top five. 00:47:31 Speaker 1: Every generation, every genre has a top five. Remember, there's so many different systems of rap. It's not just hardcore rap. 00:47:40 Speaker 4: It's underground. 00:47:41 Speaker 3: You know what I mean? It's thoughtful. It's all of that different style. 00:47:45 Speaker 1: So it's like, You can't be who the top five across the board. 00:47:49 Speaker 3: We know that, top five. 00:47:52 Speaker 2: But I think Dr. Dre is the greatest hip-hop producer of all time. 00:47:56 Speaker 3: Out of everybody? 00:47:58 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:47:59 Speaker 2: And the reason why, you know, from sound to changing of sound, and if you look at, and I'm a big person about resume, too. 00:48:08 Speaker 4: Like, it's not. 00:48:12 Speaker 2: And I learned this from Rodney Jerkins and Timbaland. It's not the beats that you make, it's the artists. 00:48:17 Speaker 4: That you make. 00:48:19 Speaker 2: And the albums that you produce or are responsible for. And he's responsible for Straight Outta Compton, The Chronic, Doggystyle, Get Rich or Die Tryin'.. 00:48:33 Speaker 4: The Slim Shady LP. 00:48:37 Speaker 3: You take them five. Ice Cube, NWA in the beginning. 00:48:41 Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. And the game documentary. He's executive produced all of those. And if you look at it from an artist standpoint, it's NWA, Snoop, M50, Game, Kendrick. 00:48:56 Speaker 4: Nah, bro. 00:48:57 Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I agree with you. I just wanted to hear your explanation. 00:49:00 Speaker 1: Because me, to have to be a producer, to feel like, even as a rapper, to recreate yourself through each generation is tough. As a producer, to lose it all, bounce back and not lose it all once. 00:49:13 Speaker 3: He lost it all twice. 00:49:15 Speaker 2: Cause it's straight out of Compton sounding Dre then there's Chronic sounding Dre then there's still Dre sounding Dre shout out to Scott Storch cause he was all there and Daz and everybody that was involved but it's Dre DJ Quick Battle Cat. 00:49:29 Speaker 1: They still take him as the The co-founder to find everybody to put them together. 00:49:35 Speaker 4: Quincy Jones. 00:49:36 Speaker 3: Yeah, I give that to Drake. 00:49:39 Speaker 2: As far as who has the best ear for samples, to me, that I've seen do remarkable things with samples, taking two, three, four, five records and making one beat, and that's P-Rock. P-Rock is... He taught me how to listen, and he taught me how to hear, I would say. But as far as the part of it, that's DJ Premier. 00:50:02 Speaker 4: That's Premier. That's, you know, he's Mr. Sound in New York. 00:50:06 Speaker 1: DJ Premier got a chapter in my life just because of M.O.P. 00:50:10 Speaker 3: What he did with them. 00:50:11 Speaker 1: Guys is just like, bro, that's a chapter in my life that I can play and know exactly where I was at and what I was thinking. 00:50:22 Speaker 3: Like, he owned that. 00:50:23 Speaker 1: 13 to about 16. Them three years at M.O.P. Downtown Swinger era. 00:50:30 Speaker 3: Downtown Swinger. Oh my Jesus Christ. 00:50:32 Speaker 4: Brownsville. 00:50:33 Speaker 3: Wow. 00:50:34 Speaker 4: Yeah, Brownsville is a crazy. 00:50:36 Speaker 1: And I know he did wonderful work with Gangsta and Group Home. What he did for me. He gave Group Home some of the illest beats ever. 00:50:48 Speaker 4: Jay told me that story one time. Jay said, I came to the studio and heard, man, who that beat for? He's like, man, that's from Groupon. 00:50:56 Speaker 1: I'm like, what? Exactly. Yeah, man. 00:50:58 Speaker 3: Yo, you go through their albums. They got some. It's fucking undeniable. 00:51:02 Speaker 4: That first Groupon album is crazy. 00:51:05 Speaker 1: What's one lesson you learned about the music business that you wish you understood when you first started? 00:51:10 Speaker 2: I don't know, man. I think I am where I am because of the mistakes that I made. You know, the game has been good to me. You know what I mean? You know, Blee, the game ain't good to everybody. 00:51:28 Speaker 3: No, it's not. 00:51:29 Speaker 2: And, you know, some of us refuse to adjust sometimes. But the fact that you and I are still sitting here and you started years before me, that's. 00:51:41 Speaker 4: A blessing, man. 00:51:42 Speaker 2: So I think the mistakes that we made, too, the things that we didn't know, we ain't supposed to know everything at the beginning. But the things that we continue to learn over time, that's why we're now both sitting Adjust. 00:51:54 Speaker 3: And adapt, man. I tell them all day, you've got to be able to adapt. 00:51:57 Speaker 1: And another one of my quotes I run with, the day I can't inspire is when I'm a retirement. 00:52:03 Speaker 4: That's right. 00:52:03 Speaker 1: I feel like I still have inspiration to give. I've still got a story to tell. 00:52:08 Speaker 3: For sure. It's just like you, man. You said it best. 00:52:12 Speaker 1: The mistakes you make is why we're still sitting here, man. 00:52:15 Speaker 3: If we had a perfect role, we'd probably be out of here. 00:52:17 Speaker 4: Out of here, man. 00:52:19 Speaker 3: Out of here. So when it's all said and done, And you know what I mean? You did what you did. Your contribution to hip hop. What's the one thing you want to be remembered for? 00:52:31 Speaker 4: Somebody who loved the culture, man. 00:52:34 Speaker 2: I don't think people understand how much I love the music that's been made over the past 50 years. I love the music more than anything else. I'm a fan first. I've always been a fan first. And I believe me being a fan first. Fan first is one of the things that keeps me here. Because it never gets old to me. It's probably the main reason why I lived in North Carolina and never lived anywhere else. Because I never wanted it to just get old to me. You know what I mean? Living in New York, you see, oh, they go grand poobah all the time. I never wanted that. 00:53:06 Speaker 4: You know what I mean? 00:53:07 Speaker 2: I always wanted the people that I had on my wall, seen in magazines, always, when I see them, I always want to still feel excited. And, you know, That's why I always live here. And so being a fan, I want somebody to say, yo, let me tell you, 9th loved music before anything else. 00:53:25 Speaker 1: Yes, what's up, man? Continue much success, man. Blessings forever. My brother, 9th Wonder, one of the greatest producers that ever do it. The greatest that ever come out of North Carolina. Let's be clear. Y'all want to do verses, Swiss, holla at me. whoever think they want it. 00:53:43 Speaker 3: You know what it is. 00:53:44 Speaker 1: It's Rock Solid, and we co-sign by 9th Wonder, if you want to smoke. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows at. And you can follow me on any social media platform under the name Memphis Bleak. 00:54:06 Speaker 3: You see anybody frauding, flag them.