Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: What Up y'all? It's on paid bill Quest Love Supreme.
Speaker 1: We are back with Part two of the Quest Love
Speaker 1: Supreme Interview with Steve Ritt. You co founded Loud Records
Speaker 1: and put out some critical albums by Wu Tang, Great
Speaker 1: Kwan Mob. Do you haven't listened to part one? Please
Speaker 1: check it out. Steve talks about growing up a music industry,
Speaker 1: James Brown coming do it Far, Mitzvah, his relationship with
Speaker 1: Dupap but now hip hop classics. Check it. I I
Speaker 1: will say that my first listen to that album thirty
Speaker 1: six Changers of Cuban Lamps. Oh, thirty six Chambers. So
Speaker 1: the day that both Marauders and and and the Wu
Speaker 1: Tank comes out, and we're driving up from Philly listening
Speaker 1: to this, and you know, I know it's not not
Speaker 1: since Princess fan Base with the album Dirty Mind. If
Speaker 1: I heard what I deem like revision in an opinion
Speaker 1: of the record when I first heard the Wood Tang record,
Speaker 1: and not that I was looking from like a commercial
Speaker 1: standpoint or an underground standpoint, but I just never heard
Speaker 1: something so dirty in my life. I don't know that's
Speaker 1: like this is way too underground for regular people, and
Speaker 1: yet it almost became the pinnacle of maybe it's weird
Speaker 1: like they became. They became the epicenter of the mainstream
Speaker 1: of the system that they were against, which you know,
Speaker 1: I wasn't complaining was power. Oh yeah they do. But
Speaker 1: I just mean they still are still they still not.
Speaker 1: I don't mean I don't even like enough four four
Speaker 1: letter word wag like their mainstream that Christ No, But
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that, I there's no way you're gonna
Speaker 1: tell me when that first listen that this group was
Speaker 1: going to be the Alpha and Omega and the epicenter
Speaker 1: of what. But let me ask you a question. Sorry
Speaker 1: for cutting you off when you heard when you heard
Speaker 1: Cream and can it be for the first time? Well yeah,
Speaker 1: well yeah, well yeah, what what I remember? I remember
Speaker 1: hearing Cream for the first time in the studios I knew,
Speaker 1: I mean I knew actually before because I was on
Speaker 1: the road. I moved to New York, and I opened
Speaker 1: up the New York office, and I opened up and
Speaker 1: I took an apartment in New York and now I
Speaker 1: was by a coastal But but at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, when Cream came out and forget about the
Speaker 1: well that's one dollar dolla BILLI and what that meant
Speaker 1: to me or whatever. But I just knew that this
Speaker 1: album there was something fucking special about it. Then three
Speaker 1: months later, my office in l A was on Melros
Speaker 1: and King's Road. What Cookies is literally the building with
Speaker 1: cook Cookies is. And I'm going to the deli to
Speaker 1: grab a sandwich and I see this white kid head
Speaker 1: down to hear on a fucking skateboard with the old
Speaker 1: Wo Tank Scully singing mood Tank panting on the up,
Speaker 1: and I knew, get go. I said, at my age,
Speaker 1: now I'm sixty years old. Now, I said, when I'm
Speaker 1: sucking sixty, they're still gonna be around. I don't know.
Speaker 1: In my mind, it was just like again, I gotta
Speaker 1: go back to the first Jungle Brothers record. Like the
Speaker 1: Jungle Brothers first album, straight Out the Jungle was just
Speaker 1: like an inside secret for like real heads. Meanwhile, like
Speaker 1: mainstream America only feels hammer Vanilla ice like more, you know,
Speaker 1: mainstream rappers. And Jungle Brothers was on Tommy Boy correct
Speaker 1: Uh no, no, no, that's day Lost sold. Jungle Brothers
Speaker 1: was on Warlock and then went to Warrener Brothers for
Speaker 1: the second album, and I was just like, just to me,
Speaker 1: I you know, once once Cream started picking up traction,
Speaker 1: I was like, wait a minute, this is almost like
Speaker 1: if Straight out the Jungle by the Jungle Brothers really
Speaker 1: got a chance. Now. I mean, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: factors into the success of Wu Tang Clan, but what
Speaker 1: I was basically leading up to was upon first listen
Speaker 1: of that entire record, you knew you had lightning in
Speaker 1: a bottle in your possession. Yeah, I knew we had
Speaker 1: lightning Outcast was throwing up a party and when did
Speaker 1: their album came out? To Summer Night ninety four, I
Speaker 1: know I was at a party, an album released party.
Speaker 1: I was with Steve Staff, okay, and I mean I
Speaker 1: think I think Clark was DJ. The M T D
Speaker 1: record came on and we're talking and also everybody just
Speaker 1: went straight to the to the dance floor losing that
Speaker 1: funking mine and that's when I knew that there was
Speaker 1: That was like my first like I needed to see
Speaker 1: it with my own eyes, right, and that's why I
Speaker 1: like to be outside. So it was like at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, like when I see something with
Speaker 1: my eyes and that's what made me move to New
Speaker 1: York and opened up shop in New York. And then
Speaker 1: remember the new music seminar, Yes, right then, I said, Clark,
Speaker 1: let's find the club was um Areas? Whose area? And
Speaker 1: they let me do a showcase with the Licks Twister
Speaker 1: and all of New York showed up. Shout out to
Speaker 1: G two, who thanks trustee U one of one of
Speaker 1: their many street team people that I've associated with with.
Speaker 1: G used to be part of the Princeton hip hop
Speaker 1: circle that you know, yeah, but you know he would
Speaker 1: also work the Philadelphia market like would have like his
Speaker 1: side guys or I don't know if Ge was part
Speaker 1: of Rifkin's street promotion team or business personal people, but
Speaker 1: that's how I got hit to them, all right, So
Speaker 1: I have to ask you the other side of the
Speaker 1: coin too, because a big part of my personal success
Speaker 1: was also being the guy on standby whenever somebody would
Speaker 1: mess up. I e blah blah blah, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to make it to the show. Can you guys get
Speaker 1: here in twelve hours? Uh da da da just dropped out, yo,
Speaker 1: Can you guys fly in next week? And literally at
Speaker 1: the beginning of WU Tang Forever. I swear to God,
Speaker 1: at least six of my entire output of doing shows
Speaker 1: we're based on Wu Tang shows not attempted during the
Speaker 1: during the period of of you talking about the Boutang
Speaker 1: gage to get some machine starting then, but just basically,
Speaker 1: you know, like the roots might as well have been,
Speaker 1: you know, the twelfth member of the Wu Tang clan,
Speaker 1: because literally is like, uh, who's supposed to come or
Speaker 1: whatever designated will remember we're supposed to show up, and okay,
Speaker 1: we'll get the roots instead. So for me, though, in
Speaker 1: and I have my theories about this. What are your
Speaker 1: feelings on Wood Tang Forever? There's a double appul right,
Speaker 1: but did you get goose bumps on certain songs? All right?
Speaker 1: The album I mean was a double appule. So, like
Speaker 1: I said, I never get to to myself in a
Speaker 1: and I got goose bumps. On Triumph, I got goose bumps.
Speaker 1: I've got the name of the kid, it's yours. And
Speaker 1: there was one and and there was one more record
Speaker 1: which I would have Well, I really got goose bumps.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, I put that
Speaker 1: Twitter together between Wotang and Rage, right, and you know,
Speaker 1: we um it was first million dollar hip hop video.
Speaker 1: Brett Ratner directed it. Oh yeah, look, no nothing else.
Speaker 1: I just hadn't from my perspective. Uh that okay. So
Speaker 1: first of all, I feel like the strength of Triumph
Speaker 1: was that it was the first offering. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: it could have been, like, name any other song that
Speaker 1: it could have been dogshit the song not actual dogshit.
Speaker 1: I mean, it could have been Reunited. It could it
Speaker 1: could have been whatever. Whatever. The first song from that
Speaker 1: album was Gonna come forth, was gonna be Reunited? Was
Speaker 1: the song that gave me googse bumps that you Triumph?
Speaker 1: And right, why didn't reunite it? To me? The opening Reunited,
Speaker 1: I mean first, you know, was ridiculous in that. I
Speaker 1: mean the s they started fighting. So let me just
Speaker 1: tell you where where I am, right, Biggy Passes few
Speaker 1: months before that, right, Me and puffect conversations before Big
Speaker 1: pass who's gonna come first? We were big and we
Speaker 1: were both coming with a double album, so big was
Speaker 1: always gonna come first, right because I didn't really we didn't.
Speaker 1: We weren't having video records, right, so we have breadth
Speaker 1: through the video and like you said, whatever the video
Speaker 1: was the video. The video was but to me, they
Speaker 1: were a rock and roll group or they were a group, right,
Speaker 1: So the Rage tour was right. We sold lately in
Speaker 1: records on that album if they finished that tour, mm hmm, right,
Speaker 1: because we already we started in Florida and we were
Speaker 1: coming up to New York, so that was already home base,
Speaker 1: like and sALS we're going up now. We were gonna
Speaker 1: do the bum fuck, you know, like the did Mid Indiana,
Speaker 1: like the mid mid, mid, mid, Midwest and West Coast.
Speaker 1: That album would have sold twenty million records, and that
Speaker 1: was always my plan if we and I agree with you,
Speaker 1: it should have went Diamond. I you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know the exact conditions. I don't you know, I know
Speaker 1: it's a fire. I always felt like, ah, whenever whenever
Speaker 1: someone gets a good formula and they change it. I
Speaker 1: wish they didn't make that record in California. I wish
Speaker 1: they would have stayed. Well. Well, the problem was if
Speaker 1: you saw the show where is this house got flooded?
Speaker 1: Everything was destroyed, so that he had he had to
Speaker 1: start from scratch anyway, and with everybody having solo record,
Speaker 1: I understand what you're saying. With everybody, with everybody having
Speaker 1: solo records in New York, you're being pulled ten different ways.
Speaker 1: Everybody's being pulled, tended. They all want plas, the one
Speaker 1: plat ghost, one class plat. So it's like they're getting
Speaker 1: so then being in one house together and to create
Speaker 1: that unity how they had it on the first album.
Speaker 1: Granted it wasn't shottling and it wasn't in a basement
Speaker 1: right right, but the house got flooded and everything was
Speaker 1: everything was destroyed. Can I ask though, um, I kind
Speaker 1: of feel like the end of that rain kind of
Speaker 1: not the end of that rain, but at least the
Speaker 1: stronghold of that initial period was the Hot ninety seven situation. Uh,
Speaker 1: with that that was a bad situation. I was on
Speaker 1: my god, how could you have rectified that situation? Or like,
Speaker 1: how do you in terms of are you the type
Speaker 1: of CEO that has to talk to the artists to
Speaker 1: stop them from sabotaging their progress or whatever, or could
Speaker 1: you explain the story that whole Hot nine seven situation
Speaker 1: and then like Hot nineties seven not playing woods Hang anymore?
Speaker 1: And I was, I was, I was on a plane,
Speaker 1: I was, it was my bachelor party, Okay, I was
Speaker 1: flying from Dallas to Atlanta, and you know, we land
Speaker 1: and my phone's blowing the funk up. But you know,
Speaker 1: I have all pretty much my senior executives with me.
Speaker 1: You know. Was my brother, was a partner, my best friend,
Speaker 1: my child's best friend, Rich you know, was a partner, Mojoe,
Speaker 1: who's you know, became a brother in running promotion. You
Speaker 1: know that they were all with me. And I'm getting
Speaker 1: just when everybody had to you know, not even the
Speaker 1: two way, just a page sto and like what the
Speaker 1: fuss happening? And I couldn't get Ris on the phone.
Speaker 1: And then Tracy, who was the programer, just called me.
Speaker 1: I'm getting married in four fucking days, like called me
Speaker 1: and says, go fund yourself, like you know, just like
Speaker 1: I mean, she was a dude. We wouldn't went to fist, right,
Speaker 1: But she didn't know that, you'd personally like she she
Speaker 1: she was venting. I don't even think she was so mad.
Speaker 1: I don't even think she went to the wedding. And
Speaker 1: she was invited to the wedding. Don't again. Wu Tang
Speaker 1: was the first rap record that had ninety seven fucking played.
Speaker 1: They were a dance station had seven was also on
Speaker 1: that No more music, less rap. They were on that,
Speaker 1: so they weren't a rap I mean said it was
Speaker 1: a dance station like and then Flex was I mean,
Speaker 1: between Flex and Angie, they're the ones that took it
Speaker 1: to a whole different place where Flex had to show
Speaker 1: on the weekends, you know. And then you know, and
Speaker 1: then thank god, you know, Puff came with Flavor in
Speaker 1: the ear and there was some you know, and then
Speaker 1: finally you know, and he was making those records like
Speaker 1: so thank God for him because you know, so there
Speaker 1: was it was absolutely unreparable. I guess we our listeners
Speaker 1: that are are hearing, you know, they're they're doing summer
Speaker 1: jam and yeah, you know, I don't know who's ghost
Speaker 1: face or I forgot who said something out on line.
Speaker 1: They don't play our ship, you know, listen, let's keep
Speaker 1: it a hundred. There were seventy five thousand people there
Speaker 1: right right. They're making a fortune, so we weren't. We
Speaker 1: were on tour with Rage, right and at the end
Speaker 1: of it, we weren't getting paid a lot of money yet. Yeah,
Speaker 1: really a Rage tour and and goes you know, should
Speaker 1: you have said it? No? But about to say that
Speaker 1: don't help with your arguments. Like, just to be clear,
Speaker 1: artists do not get paid for doing uh else? No,
Speaker 1: but no, now they get you know, they started getting
Speaker 1: paid a few years and not a few years after
Speaker 1: that they were getting Aine Nicki Minaj not getting paid
Speaker 1: these yeah for ny well no, I mean, but just
Speaker 1: black artists in general, just you know, you just black
Speaker 1: radio that you Yeah, I'll do it for free, you know,
Speaker 1: as long as you keep playing my records. But so
Speaker 1: there is literally absolutely no for no. So for a
Speaker 1: while they even banned all records. What yeah, this is
Speaker 1: the thing. But this is what was happening to right, Steve,
Speaker 1: nothing wrong, That's what I mean. I mean, me and
Speaker 1: Tracey you were friends. Who else is she going to
Speaker 1: take that out of? But you know, are just happened
Speaker 1: in Philly with beans like it happened with Foxy Brown
Speaker 1: with Death Jam when she cutted out Kobe and they said,
Speaker 1: we don't parent we playing these records for a minute
Speaker 1: like that. I did not know that, Okay, Um, so
Speaker 1: with actually you mentioned puff, I was gonna ask with
Speaker 1: the with the opening sketch of side three or side
Speaker 1: two of the Purple Tape of Great Kwan when they
Speaker 1: kind of you know, draw a line the sand with
Speaker 1: Bad Boy and Wu Tang I e the I guess
Speaker 1: by that point in Bad Boys establishing himself as more
Speaker 1: of a mainstream, uh middle on the I mean no,
Speaker 1: I mean, but we gotta give credit. What credits do?
Speaker 1: I mean? Puff had everybody. I mean, he he had
Speaker 1: the palm in the world in the palm of his hands.
Speaker 1: He was coming with it. And you know what, what
Speaker 1: go said? You know, me and Puff spoke. He goes,
Speaker 1: what was that about? I said, I don't know, you know,
Speaker 1: I have no idea, but I go, let's just keep it.
Speaker 1: We're in two totally different names. We're not even in
Speaker 1: the same freeway, like you know, I'm just using New
Speaker 1: York like you know, we're on the Northern States there
Speaker 1: on the l i A, you know. And it's just like,
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to get people. He's making radio radio records.
Speaker 1: We're still making records for for the street, and I'm
Speaker 1: not like I'm trying to help Helf get as much
Speaker 1: as he possibly can, like so, and you know, and
Speaker 1: they worked it out a few months later. So I
Speaker 1: always wanted to know what the response was, because you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: know when when Shuk said fuck New York or whatever
Speaker 1: whatever the hell he said at the SURCE Awards, that
Speaker 1: that that that's when we all they all reunited again, right,
Speaker 1: and that was that was like two weeks after we
Speaker 1: came out with the album. So were you there for
Speaker 1: hip Hop's funeral? Um? I was there? No, I wasn't
Speaker 1: there with my son was just born, So I pretty
Speaker 1: much was taking that wrong there. Can I ask a
Speaker 1: question real quick about these records since you have such
Speaker 1: not made for radio records, but yet and still it
Speaker 1: seems like you got to a stride where y'all were
Speaker 1: picking like amazing singles. I had the best day in
Speaker 1: our staff to this day. That person, though there was
Speaker 1: a it was a team who was It was a
Speaker 1: guy named Maddie See who actually distubbored Digg. You worked right, yes, right,
Speaker 1: Scotfrey start up as my assistant, and he got himself
Speaker 1: into um and are quickly stretching Armstrong who had the
Speaker 1: stretching about Vito show, Yeah, and then hit he was
Speaker 1: he was the first one. And then the guy named
Speaker 1: Seawan C. King Yes, yes, yes, speaking of Maddie See. Um,
Speaker 1: I remember getting Sick Ones Part one, how in the
Speaker 1: world did you guys manage two on the second go
Speaker 1: round get capsule lightning in the bottom like the Street Team.
Speaker 1: So I was saying, the streets don't lie. The record
Speaker 1: was cool, it did what it was supposed to do,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't a fucking smatch. And we came in
Speaker 1: and you know, and I said, Mattie, what are we
Speaker 1: gonna do? You know, um, you know, we're cool, but
Speaker 1: this is not gonna drive any anything home. And he goes,
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, havoc, just to the remix
Speaker 1: last night. Here it is, and you heard it, and
Speaker 1: we heard it. And I was on the way to
Speaker 1: how could I be down? And um, I had a
Speaker 1: walk man, not even at this man, I had a
Speaker 1: walk man. And I was in a car with them
Speaker 1: stretching Barbiito and I was on my me and Barbido.
Speaker 1: I used to play basketball, and there was like some
Speaker 1: type of celebrity game and they lost their mind, and
Speaker 1: you know they were they were they were the first
Speaker 1: one to play it. They played it, we gave it
Speaker 1: the flex. This is September, October, and then when we
Speaker 1: came back after Christmas. It's the biggest record in New York.
Speaker 1: So but I'm saying, in your mind, it wasn't like,
Speaker 1: oh well that didn't make it all right? What else
Speaker 1: you guys got? Like I think another in our CEO
Speaker 1: would have just been like, oh well that's still born,
Speaker 1: so what else? What else is down the pike? But
Speaker 1: it's just unheard when they song like that. Well when
Speaker 1: they when they came to the office, I knew they
Speaker 1: were the perfect like who is your first child? And
Speaker 1: I got my first check and my first plaque and
Speaker 1: everything else like that. But you know, when you give
Speaker 1: a jab, you gotta come with a cross or a
Speaker 1: hook right right away, right So Who definitely shook people
Speaker 1: and got everybody's attention. But when we came with Bob,
Speaker 1: that's when everybody, we everybody knew that lab was for real.
Speaker 1: And I still had the marketing company. So the biggest
Speaker 1: LAB got the biggest the marketing company. Of that the
Speaker 1: big of the marketing company that more people wanted to
Speaker 1: be allowed, and we would like we would like three
Speaker 1: ft three, you know, well matcap we made a little
Speaker 1: bit of money, but it just did a little over
Speaker 1: a hundred. But you know, licktsed and go gold, but
Speaker 1: the lixts at three thousand, who did two million on
Speaker 1: the first record, and you know and mob did you
Speaker 1: know they weren't planning him on the first album. So
Speaker 1: even with you knowing because me, you know, I knew
Speaker 1: of and I had the fourth and Broadway from the
Speaker 1: back ye back and all that stuff like, but in
Speaker 1: your mind you're like, yeah, these guys are gonna still
Speaker 1: be a thing. Yeah. I mean they came to the
Speaker 1: office they want I don't know if they were gonna
Speaker 1: smoke a cigarette, they were gonna smoke a blump, but
Speaker 1: they went to the bathroom and this is like, you know,
Speaker 1: a corporate building and they live proud of you. Wasn't
Speaker 1: there a because he was sick at the time. It
Speaker 1: was had again. You know some of the guys, guys
Speaker 1: and the sprinklers just went off. I said, did a
Speaker 1: perfect follow up to all time And that's all. So
Speaker 1: you there still have to be an edge or a
Speaker 1: rock or an element of of your groups that authenticity. Yeah,
Speaker 1: to make him I see, I see. Do you mind
Speaker 1: telling us like a Prodigy story just because you know,
Speaker 1: we were one of the last shows that he did
Speaker 1: before we lost him. He was like a I mean,
Speaker 1: he was a brother to me. I mean just um,
Speaker 1: like he had such a good, good soul and you know,
Speaker 1: he just wanted to learn and he was like a sponge.
Speaker 1: I think his oldest son or daughter is my oldest
Speaker 1: son that I think that like four or five months apart.
Speaker 1: And he would say, is your son coming to the office.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't know why he was. I need
Speaker 1: to come up, and I got my kid with me.
Speaker 1: You know, if he was coming up, that means he
Speaker 1: must have been going over some artwork or whatever he
Speaker 1: was going through. So we were fortunate enough, you know,
Speaker 1: to have a nannie. So I'm like, I'll make sure
Speaker 1: you see what time are you gonna be here? So
Speaker 1: I just had to get approval from my wife and
Speaker 1: you know, and the nannie would watch, you know, both babies,
Speaker 1: you know, and and he and he was appreciated, like
Speaker 1: and you know, we could have arguments and say funk
Speaker 1: you to each other, but at the end of the
Speaker 1: day we would both say, you know about love him
Speaker 1: and you know, and it wasn't like we're just We're
Speaker 1: just fighting for what we felt. And then it was
Speaker 1: never about money. It was always about maybe a single
Speaker 1: or a tour or something like that. It was not
Speaker 1: like we already spent this and we're not going It
Speaker 1: was just it was about passion and really what was
Speaker 1: gonna get to the next level after the jay Z
Speaker 1: incident and two thousand and one, did you like, how
Speaker 1: does it leave? We'll CEEO respond to that, just like
Speaker 1: off your back, just get the next record ready? Actually, wait,
Speaker 1: can you explain the situation to me? You know again,
Speaker 1: I was I was in l A for the summer.
Speaker 1: I remember getting the call and I wanted to call ban.
Speaker 1: I'm like, where the fund did you get that picture? Like?
Speaker 1: How did you get the picture? Right? So, oh, we're
Speaker 1: gonna get you know, we're going to get on this show. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got the t on that joy all right? So
Speaker 1: so so at so at the end, at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, it's like, man like, let's just get
Speaker 1: to work and not even about this thing Jay or whatever.
Speaker 1: It's like, what's this saying sticks and stones like break
Speaker 1: your bones, but names will never on me. So I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: we got one on the chin, but you know what,
Speaker 1: we're still standing. And it's not how many times you falls,
Speaker 1: how many times you get up? Why did you decide
Speaker 1: to sell the label? Because I wanted, I, you know,
Speaker 1: when us selling to Sony, we will going to be
Speaker 1: the third major in the Sony system. Right it's Columbia
Speaker 1: Epic and now is gonna be Us. And and it
Speaker 1: really wasn't about the money, was more about my ego,
Speaker 1: which you know, was funked up. I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: We're gonna be the third major, and I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: able to have this be on the same playing field
Speaker 1: as Jimmy as you know, as every as everybody else,
Speaker 1: because I always felt we weren't on the same playing field.
Speaker 1: And it ended up being the biggest mistake of my life.
Speaker 1: So you left the n so like the whole Project
Speaker 1: Pet period, and that that whole came three six Mafia,
Speaker 1: like we broke the six Mail, we broke Project Pat,
Speaker 1: we broke Flipped, Um Punt passed. During that time, we
Speaker 1: had Murder Music. The Vena was before Vino was like
Speaker 1: ninety right around the fun time um so that you know,
Speaker 1: and it was just I never played a corporate game before.
Speaker 1: You know, we went from the staff of thirty people
Speaker 1: to the coolest, most creative company out there on both
Speaker 1: aspects on the marketing side of things, and and then
Speaker 1: on the record side of things. You know, we did
Speaker 1: the deal and next thing, you know, I had the
Speaker 1: staff of three people, and I'm like, what the funk
Speaker 1: is this? Like there was this woman, God bless us.
Speaker 1: So her name was Tolba Haman. You know, she was
Speaker 1: in the sixties, calling me Mr Rickn. I'm thirty five
Speaker 1: years old, thirty six years old, Like please don't call
Speaker 1: me Mr Rickn, you know, and she was just and
Speaker 1: I knew then it was like how much how much
Speaker 1: time do we have left in this fucking deal? And
Speaker 1: it was just like I was stopped for three years.
Speaker 1: I started having panic attacks and anxiety attacks. I was like,
Speaker 1: I just couldn't wait to get the funk out. And
Speaker 1: it was the first time like I didn't know which
Speaker 1: way to look because I thought I was getting kid
Speaker 1: every which way I got from corporate. Now there's another
Speaker 1: Philadelphia connection that you kind of have. UM. My good
Speaker 1: friend Charles Stone the Third, who directed Many Roots video
Speaker 1: Um made his debut um with with the Street Classic
Speaker 1: called paid him Full Um, which is I believe one
Speaker 1: of your first loud film. Could you talk about the
Speaker 1: process of getting into the movies again, I didn't want
Speaker 1: to be in it. We were doing all we were
Speaker 1: doing all of Mirrormax's marketing through through the marketing company.
Speaker 1: Now you know, we're branching out. Now I have every
Speaker 1: film studio, MGM, Mirror, Maax, Walk, Warner Brothers, plus the
Speaker 1: records and the Street Team. Marketing went to Corporate America
Speaker 1: and I sold me to a company called Dinner Public
Speaker 1: at that time, which was the largest advertising holding company
Speaker 1: in the lane. Okay, so Merrormax wants there's a guy,
Speaker 1: don't even Scott Lambert, who was an agent, William Mars,
Speaker 1: who was just a really good good friend, um, a
Speaker 1: really good friend of mine. And he says, merror Max
Speaker 1: wants to do urban films, like I can get you
Speaker 1: a three picture deal. And I'm like, huh if you
Speaker 1: know he's like, he was a brother to me. I'm like, Scott,
Speaker 1: that's not gonna happen. Why would they give me a
Speaker 1: three picture deal? So he sets up a meeting. I
Speaker 1: don't want to say hard I think it was Bob Winsey,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't. I couldn't stand Bob. I already had
Speaker 1: a fight with him once and I beat this ship
Speaker 1: out of him. He meant this, Oh, I was safe. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, those questions too, like yeah, he didn't mean,
Speaker 1: he mean, he was just a fucking prick. I mean
Speaker 1: when the big earthquake in l A happened, my office
Speaker 1: was destroyed. I had to send a reported because I
Speaker 1: don't give a fuck who died who did with that?
Speaker 1: And I said this, I said, the next name, I
Speaker 1: see you, I promise you smack the ship. And I
Speaker 1: hung and I hung up the phone. A year and
Speaker 1: a half later, my son is four weeks old. He
Speaker 1: was born June tenth, July fourth, the weekend I'm pulling off.
Speaker 1: I took a house in the Hamptons and there's a
Speaker 1: guessish I go to take a kissing there he is,
Speaker 1: He has no idea what the funk I am. I
Speaker 1: smacked him in the face, I said, And that is
Speaker 1: our promo, ladies and gentlemen, Steve will be on quest ups,
Speaker 1: the freeme smacking motherfucker's up. I liked it a lot down,
Speaker 1: not just any kind in the so how I got it.
Speaker 1: So now we're doing a presentation for the video you mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, so we're coming and my brother says, um
Speaker 1: Merrimacks is coming with off. By the time we land was.
Speaker 1: It was the Mention, which was the sister label to Merrimax,
Speaker 1: was like the indie side. Um to Jonathan, you're full
Speaker 1: of ship. We land and get to the hotel. There's
Speaker 1: a fucking contract. I don't know if my brother foratched
Speaker 1: my signature. I don't even remember signing the deal. And
Speaker 1: next thing you know, I have a three picture This
Speaker 1: will happen within a week, a three picture deal. And
Speaker 1: they threw crazy fucking money outs. And then Brett Ratner says, um,
Speaker 1: Dame has an incredible story, right, But I go, who's
Speaker 1: gonna produced it? I don't know nothing about I don't
Speaker 1: even have to produce a record, Like I'm gonna not
Speaker 1: produce a fucking movie because no, you gotta hire this
Speaker 1: guy Ron. We hired this guy Rock and and the
Speaker 1: and the rest of history, and they you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna The only thing that I did is we
Speaker 1: had the deal. But this was I gotta give credit
Speaker 1: to Dame. Dan did everything. He pickedure and he did everything.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to take his thunder. I mean he
Speaker 1: did everything. And you know, I just went for the
Speaker 1: ride when he asked me to take my name off
Speaker 1: as executive producer I was taking my name off anyway.
Speaker 1: It was based on a true story and I didn't
Speaker 1: want any fucking headaches people just coming out of the
Speaker 1: wood right coming at you. Yeah, so I was taking
Speaker 1: my name if anyone, I was like, that's not a problem.
Speaker 1: We now live in a time in which the the
Speaker 1: African Renaissance is truly arrived with like um African music
Speaker 1: and African artists getting mainstream success. But you know, I
Speaker 1: know that you. I mean, I won't say a risk,
Speaker 1: but you were actually ahead of the game. And I
Speaker 1: believe you signed a con, is you not? What was
Speaker 1: it about a con? And you signed him early, like
Speaker 1: back in two thousand four, two thousand five, I believe
Speaker 1: was that he was right when I left Glad, I
Speaker 1: started an SRC right right right, So I signed Banner.
Speaker 1: I'm a basketball and banner and yeah, I'm a basketball
Speaker 1: guy and I break my nose playing basketball and the
Speaker 1: the matro guy that I am. All I really want
Speaker 1: to do is cribe. But my son is watching and
Speaker 1: I want to show him, like I have blood all
Speaker 1: over me and I want to show him that it's okay.
Speaker 1: So like get hit and you don't have to pry
Speaker 1: me while I'm seeing three of everything. It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: if the baskets over there, I shut the bowl over that.
Speaker 1: Like then I literally just ended up felt paining like
Speaker 1: and I just passed out. And when they were taking
Speaker 1: me to the hospital, Kenny Burns with him, and Kenny
Speaker 1: he goes, you gotta hear this, and I'm like, what
Speaker 1: the funk it is this? And there was only one
Speaker 1: record that I wanted to hear and that I mean,
Speaker 1: there's only one record that I said, just keep on
Speaker 1: playing it over and over and over again. And my
Speaker 1: philosophy was like I never considered myself an A and
Speaker 1: R guy, Like it was always about the team. Wait,
Speaker 1: Kenny Burns said that No, I said, Kenny had the
Speaker 1: tape and he played for me. We were playing ball.
Speaker 1: And now what went to the hospital to get my
Speaker 1: nose ticks? Okay, I'm just I'm just tripping to Kenny
Speaker 1: Burns is apart of the ACN store. This is amazing, Okay.
Speaker 1: So um, in those days, I flew to Private M
Speaker 1: and I just didn't know if I was being laughed
Speaker 1: to fly. I didn't know what the hell was the
Speaker 1: matter with my nose. It could have been like a
Speaker 1: full you know rain Now, I don't know what the funk.
Speaker 1: You know, they said they broken nose and I couldn't
Speaker 1: really fly for twenty four hours for infectual. So I
Speaker 1: just said, we're going to Atlanta, said in New York
Speaker 1: and um I met the vine him at a con
Speaker 1: the rest of his history and I pretty much did
Speaker 1: the same thing. Um, universal laughed in my face. I said,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be the biggest artists in my career.
Speaker 1: And they said, oh, this is could be big at
Speaker 1: the war. I'm like yeah, and they laughed, and I
Speaker 1: got so fucking mad. I was like, you know what
Speaker 1: funck you guys. And I had somebody that was with
Speaker 1: me at laughed. Started off as an intern in the
Speaker 1: Street Team guy and then he just grew and grew
Speaker 1: and grew with me. And then when I started s SC,
Speaker 1: he became he was. I gave him a piece of
Speaker 1: the company me and he was my president STA. His
Speaker 1: wife was pregnant at the time, and I said, God,
Speaker 1: you do the East and the South, I'll do the West.
Speaker 1: In the Midwest, and we didn't have a video, we
Speaker 1: didn't have anything. He took a con and I took
Speaker 1: a count for the book and I may we may
Speaker 1: believe who was a con? And we yeah, wow, this
Speaker 1: is like the Little Richard James Brown situation. We're both
Speaker 1: Little Richard and James Brown. We're touring as Little Richard.
Speaker 1: I didn't okay, so we had no video, nobody knew
Speaker 1: what any kind of look like. And at the at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, the record broke in Albuquerque,
Speaker 1: New Mexico, and so like, so which is like, you know,
Speaker 1: I fly, I fly into me York with the record
Speaker 1: club locked up with styles. I was just about to
Speaker 1: say okay, right time to New York. And this is
Speaker 1: you know, Republic was doing for doing their their research.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't not. There's a fucking report like like this
Speaker 1: must have been fifty pages on every store in Albuquerque,
Speaker 1: in EUTA. You wouldn't believe how many stores that were,
Speaker 1: you know, between Target, the Walmart and the ship's going
Speaker 1: through the roof, and we're like, what the fund is
Speaker 1: going on? You know, and I'm like I'm trying to
Speaker 1: bring it east and you know now you know, and
Speaker 1: we had to change out philosophy because the Republic was
Speaker 1: a radio company. They didn't understand street records. So I
Speaker 1: had a cover like like Philly came in, Boston came
Speaker 1: in Connecticut, Cayyon, Miami came. You know, New York was
Speaker 1: the last one to come in, you know. And then
Speaker 1: who was Mother's Day? And I get a phone call
Speaker 1: from somebody goes, what the fund did you do in Brooklyn?
Speaker 1: I'm like, what are you talking about? Let's talking about
Speaker 1: a you know, And the truth is, I really didn't
Speaker 1: do anything. We just we surrounded New York where it
Speaker 1: would just have the weekend and with the King's Plaza mall.
Speaker 1: You know, the record was being played in the fucking
Speaker 1: call you know that Monday he broke calls me up
Speaker 1: and he says, we're adding the record, you know. And
Speaker 1: then two weeks later, like the research, it was like
Speaker 1: number one requested in like top three call out. I mean,
Speaker 1: the record broke and the right it was the first
Speaker 1: first week, I think we scanned three thousand records. It
Speaker 1: was the lowest sound scanning record I ever had in
Speaker 1: my life. First week, but each week it did, you
Speaker 1: go three thousand to fifteen hundred, stay stated three three thousand,
Speaker 1: two hundred, three thousand, one hundred. And when that fucking
Speaker 1: thing just took off, I mean, by by the fall.
Speaker 1: We were at sixty thousand a week, mm hmm, and
Speaker 1: we didn't even become like lonely yet. I'm so tired
Speaker 1: of that record. I have a confessor about locked Up
Speaker 1: in about locked Up, And this is before the errors exam,
Speaker 1: where you can't find out who the artist is. I
Speaker 1: swear to God for a good one seconds, for good
Speaker 1: one seconds, I said, holy shit, ROBERTA Flecky. But but
Speaker 1: locked Up with starts Pete was those story remix. I
Speaker 1: didn't hear his verse, but a CON's voice. It was
Speaker 1: so I can't describe it. It's it's such a compliment
Speaker 1: to a con, such a compliment, and I'm saying this
Speaker 1: is androgynus, but I literally are It was a woman singing,
Speaker 1: and because it was done in such a rich alto,
Speaker 1: and I never heard this voice before. For twenty seconds,
Speaker 1: I was like, Hey, it could happen. I was like,
Speaker 1: if and Aretha Brinklin working together, let me find out
Speaker 1: that that's ROBERTA flag is about to come back like
Speaker 1: a motherfucker. Okay, wait, before I let you go, there's
Speaker 1: one question I always ask of every label CEO, can
Speaker 1: you help me three x that you almost signed that
Speaker 1: were close, but no cigars. Jay Zy you could have
Speaker 1: you could have signed jay z B and B actually
Speaker 1: hated me so much and because we took him for
Speaker 1: so much money, they didn't want to give us any
Speaker 1: more money to sign Jake. But I go back with
Speaker 1: Dane since the years old when he was managing Original Flavor.
Speaker 1: Wow wow so ja um. He wasn't an act, but
Speaker 1: he was to me one of the best executives. You know,
Speaker 1: IRV Gotti. When he had Mike Dronimo, we tried to
Speaker 1: get the record and I will tell you this, whatever
Speaker 1: reason we couldn't get to sample cleared and then being
Speaker 1: he was saying, you're wasting your time and this was
Speaker 1: literally I just signed my deep. They said, you're you're
Speaker 1: wasting your time and we're not gonna give you money
Speaker 1: to do find something else. So if I didn't deal
Speaker 1: with Mike, I'm sure would it ended up being with me.
Speaker 1: Are you talking about Master I See or the single
Speaker 1: that he had that was more puffy ash No, the
Speaker 1: first single, the first Master I See that's a goddamn masterpiece,
Speaker 1: um wow z. And then then you had a chance
Speaker 1: to sign him. Yeah. But but the thing was that
Speaker 1: if he stayed with us, and I had to know
Speaker 1: with Paul Rosenberg a few weeks ago. He wouldn't have
Speaker 1: been Eminem four million records later he would have been eminent.
Speaker 1: He would have been Eminem fifty million records. He was
Speaker 1: an underground rapper, you know. And you talked about Genie
Speaker 1: in the bottle, right, so you're talking about him and
Speaker 1: Ray just creating magic that that. You know, he would
Speaker 1: have been lobde. He would have been willed your punt.
Speaker 1: We had a pop record on was still not to
Speaker 1: play it, but you know he would have been just
Speaker 1: in that lane. That was the only thing we knew
Speaker 1: how to DoD hm. Wow, So I know that. You know.
Speaker 1: One of the thing is also interesting about your story
Speaker 1: is the fact that how the lineage goes down from
Speaker 1: your grandfather, your father, you and now your your son
Speaker 1: is an MC. Correct. So my youngest both my sons
Speaker 1: played ball, you know, one one played college, another one
Speaker 1: played for a famous high school out in l A.
Speaker 1: And he didn't want to go to college, and out
Speaker 1: of nowhere, he just started rapping and he put out
Speaker 1: a record, and ship put the record at himself and
Speaker 1: he did you know, a few hundred thousand streams flex
Speaker 1: played the record on his own without the connection, no
Speaker 1: knowing that, not knowing the connection. But but it was
Speaker 1: during the holiday, so he played. He had a two
Speaker 1: week run and he was going to music school in Florida,
Speaker 1: full sale, and it was just you know, my son,
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to read it. He needs to see
Speaker 1: it and feel it. So he lost his love from
Speaker 1: doing like real school work. That's not him. So you
Speaker 1: know he has twelve twelve of his friends are like
Speaker 1: his crew. They roll in the NBA. So he's gonna
Speaker 1: be an intern for Rich paul Um starting December. Nope,
Speaker 1: the way you're talking about basketball, I feel like your
Speaker 1: true passion is owning a team. Or now I've lost
Speaker 1: so much money in basketball. I mean, I'll I'm just
Speaker 1: I'm just a fan now that that's all I'm gonna be.
Speaker 1: I've lost tensively ins or dollars? Did you try to
Speaker 1: never try to own a team. But like my my
Speaker 1: philosophy in life, and this is what I've learned from
Speaker 1: my dad. If I can help one one person and
Speaker 1: save that life and put him in the right direction,
Speaker 1: then I did my job on her. No money, Could
Speaker 1: you know that feeling of saving somebody. You can't put
Speaker 1: a price on it. And you know, so when me
Speaker 1: and my wife split, my kids are interration, okay, and
Speaker 1: they all came out different complexion. Well for you, you know,
Speaker 1: one came out really lights getting attractor rapp m hm.
Speaker 1: So when we split, she moved to Florida and there's
Speaker 1: an area called Dellery Beach and in this one area,
Speaker 1: Delwy Beach is probably the most gang affected in all
Speaker 1: the flour in a in a five block radius, and
Speaker 1: there was a gym there and she threw him in there,
Speaker 1: and she goes, you gotta learn how to stand on
Speaker 1: your own. And she wouldn't let me go to any games.
Speaker 1: And then finally like I didn't know what AU was
Speaker 1: or anything like that. And then I don't know where
Speaker 1: I think she was coming out to late. I don't
Speaker 1: know where where she was coming but she was like,
Speaker 1: you gotta pick a bounce at two o'clock as a
Speaker 1: game at twelve. I get there at one to watch
Speaker 1: the game, and I knew he was gifted. And then
Speaker 1: but I don't know that he had two of the
Speaker 1: games at night, you know, one at six and one
Speaker 1: at nine. I was in heaven and I just started
Speaker 1: going to the games, and you know, they respect him
Speaker 1: for who he was. And I just minded my ownusiness.
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to try and buy a team, but
Speaker 1: I didn't know that he was eleven and he was
Speaker 1: playing on a fourteen on the team and they didn't
Speaker 1: win a game. But now and he wasn't talking to
Speaker 1: me with me and his mom separating, but now he
Speaker 1: was back in my life. And I said to the coaches,
Speaker 1: said the season can't be over, and he still, well,
Speaker 1: you know it's over. I'm like, you gotta find something.
Speaker 1: I go, because, well, there's a tournament next week for
Speaker 1: twelve and under the team. I said, well, alex is eleven,
Speaker 1: how old is say? And like we end up putting
Speaker 1: six guys on the team. He goes, who will coach?
Speaker 1: I said, I will? He says, what do you know
Speaker 1: about basketball? I said, enough, I should you not? I
Speaker 1: go seventy and that whole fucking song seven zero. So
Speaker 1: Florida is known for football. I know nothing about football.
Speaker 1: Half my team of professional formal players right now. So
Speaker 1: they were just the best athletes in the world. And
Speaker 1: I just had him pressed and they could all shoot
Speaker 1: the shoot out of the ball and jump and they
Speaker 1: were how old was Alex? He was eleven and twelve
Speaker 1: like that time, right, Yeah, And I really thought I
Speaker 1: was gonna become a professional basketball coach like I had
Speaker 1: him traveling. We won States, we won Nationals, we won
Speaker 1: the World Games, and I just started taking on challenges.
Speaker 1: And then I get a phone call to buy a
Speaker 1: tournament which was like a record convention, and just like
Speaker 1: one thing went to another, and I mean I lost
Speaker 1: my shirt. But at the end of the day, that
Speaker 1: is my happiness. Music, right, Music is the closest thing
Speaker 1: to God. Right, make your latic and make you cry,
Speaker 1: just your memories. It's just it touches your soul. Sure,
Speaker 1: and basketball just it just touches me too. Where I
Speaker 1: get fucking crazy? Do you still get an itching or
Speaker 1: like just one more hit metaphorically speaking as in drugs,
Speaker 1: not like a hit single, but just is I mean,
Speaker 1: are you addicted at all to the adrenaline? Yeah? I'm
Speaker 1: finding that rare Jim So I got I got this
Speaker 1: kid right now, same as take from San Diego, California,
Speaker 1: m eighteen years old, self contained produces himself. Um he
Speaker 1: had eight monthly uses on Spotify and now he's closing
Speaker 1: in and I want to say a little under two hundred.
Speaker 1: He had twenty five who was on TikTok and we're
Speaker 1: closing in on three hundred followers and all the kids
Speaker 1: just keep on putting out music and putting out music,
Speaker 1: and his energy is fucking ridiculous. And people will say
Speaker 1: to me, it's, you know, it's nothing what people are
Speaker 1: used to be putting out. But you know what, my
Speaker 1: old day, one of my old day, and our guys
Speaker 1: on the West Coast brought it to me, and it's
Speaker 1: it's it's different, and he's self contained. And each day
Speaker 1: we're going up slowly, but and he's gonna break. I
Speaker 1: just don't know when. I don't know how to read
Speaker 1: records there, but the adrenaline that I get every day
Speaker 1: and just seeing it if we're up ten streams or
Speaker 1: a thousand streams or getting on a new playlist I have.
Speaker 1: I was sick for a while. I had a mess
Speaker 1: part attack eight years ago. That's why you lost the weight, No,
Speaker 1: I just because I didn't want to get another heart attacks.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm in. That's what I'm in. So um yeah,
Speaker 1: I spent three times. What was that? Was it? Just overworking?
Speaker 1: Was it stress. It was never going to the doctor
Speaker 1: and not taking care of myself. If I went to
Speaker 1: a doctor and said, hey, you blood pressures high, you
Speaker 1: gotta do something. You gotta lose ten times. You gotta
Speaker 1: do this, you gotta do that. Um, But it was
Speaker 1: I'm not blaming my extual I'm not blaming anybody. It
Speaker 1: was just me not taking care of myself. You could
Speaker 1: say stress, you could say this, you could say that,
Speaker 1: but it was just you gotta know your body and
Speaker 1: you gotta just take care of yourself. You know, you
Speaker 1: gotta make yourself a priority. Now, yeah, you know you
Speaker 1: are learning that in the pandemic. Thank god. No, you
Speaker 1: can't be a victim. And you know, and just like
Speaker 1: who wants to hear a victim story at least not
Speaker 1: of your own self? Like m so you don't feel
Speaker 1: like a stranger in the strange land in terms of like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I do, I have no idea what the fun I mean?
Speaker 1: I have no I called the Empire distributes us the
Speaker 1: smartest guy in the music business. I don't want to
Speaker 1: bother him, so I speak to like what can I
Speaker 1: do to that? Like I used to make a call sheet? Right,
Speaker 1: two people will be some mixture you guys by streeting
Speaker 1: guys today. Right, I've got five guys, right, and they
Speaker 1: all worked with me who are all at the DSPs.
Speaker 1: I mean I said here, like just twiddling my fucking
Speaker 1: thumbs and I'll take a nap at three o'clock. But
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that today, Like, how is it different
Speaker 1: now promoting especially with the internet at the helm you
Speaker 1: have no word of the Internet in the early nineties,
Speaker 1: but you have nobody promote to like you can't you
Speaker 1: can't promote Spotify the record they don't want to record
Speaker 1: on the radio yet. So my day was today. I
Speaker 1: got him a booking agent at t A right, and
Speaker 1: I was really excited to do your things. So I
Speaker 1: went to lunch, made a few calls and just thinking
Speaker 1: about the podcast that saal like freedom to Make. That's
Speaker 1: a dope day. That's amazing. Wait a minute, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get crushed if I don't ask one answer Roth question?
Speaker 1: All right, could you talk about your your your work
Speaker 1: with as Roth and and with Scooter I mean at
Speaker 1: as great as as she was. I notion Pennsylvania. You know,
Speaker 1: um you got the name with Jerry Clark introduced me
Speaker 1: to Scooter. I was in Atlanta. The Scooter, I think
Speaker 1: was still in college, and he dis reminded me a
Speaker 1: little of myself. I thought he was a little bit
Speaker 1: more full of ship, but I thought he was brain
Speaker 1: and I offered him to become president of company without experience.
Speaker 1: He gave Scoot Scooter a start. I gave Scooter his
Speaker 1: first record here Ship. Now I feel like there's a
Speaker 1: question that I should be asking that I don't know
Speaker 1: to ask, because again, you keep on pulling these historical
Speaker 1: I gave sca so this, this is what I'm proud of.
Speaker 1: I gave scooted his first record here with I gave
Speaker 1: Guy O Sirie. I got him his first deal with
Speaker 1: Henji and Evili with Ruben Rodriguez at Angela Market. Wait,
Speaker 1: what so I just didn't started Maverick. Guy was eighteen
Speaker 1: years old. You gave oh Ship. No, I didn't sign.
Speaker 1: I didn't sign him. I made the deal for Guy.
Speaker 1: So Guy was was managing Henji. Yeah, at the age
Speaker 1: of eighteen. Yeah, you imagine, I think at the age
Speaker 1: of sixteen, and I begged him to go, let's start
Speaker 1: an independent record company and he fucking said no. Wow,
Speaker 1: it was another one. I want one more, at least three? Yeah, like,
Speaker 1: give me some more. Start bragging, brag on yourself. This
Speaker 1: is minority moment. I mean I can't brag it myself.
Speaker 1: But you know Scooter, I opened him to become president.
Speaker 1: That's so he said no. I said the guy, let's
Speaker 1: start a record company. He said no, And I made
Speaker 1: the deal and then on and that's you know, and
Speaker 1: then zz me you know me rizzer and fetch up
Speaker 1: you know those it can I ask you an awkward
Speaker 1: question that probably nobody ever asked. Was it ever awkward
Speaker 1: to have that many? Five percent is on the label?
Speaker 1: Thank you good night? Also, I mean blackmaid is God
Speaker 1: and the white maid is devil. They were all on
Speaker 1: my wedding. I mean I never thought about it to
Speaker 1: just now like and it never came to you know.
Speaker 1: I also to know, I wanted to know at some
Speaker 1: point where the where did they stop? Because I feel
Speaker 1: like also at a certain point, you're helping to make
Speaker 1: money too. So but that's interesting. Yeah, you never with
Speaker 1: the bag. The only one that we had issues with,
Speaker 1: um was dead press. Oh yeah, Um, I forgot about
Speaker 1: the press. But at the end of the day, I
Speaker 1: probably handled it wrong. It was my my ego was hurt.
Speaker 1: It was like how the fund did not trust me?
Speaker 1: Are you serious? Yeah? I mean I mean that the
Speaker 1: first record. Were you there for the second album? No,
Speaker 1: I can tell okay, oh no, I wish. I wish
Speaker 1: that second that second album should have blown up, and
Speaker 1: it didn't. But you know, but then you look at
Speaker 1: you know mp any yup. You know it's just like
Speaker 1: those those are records to this day. You know that's
Speaker 1: still give me goose bumps. Yeah, stay around forever. Now,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is the first time I think you
Speaker 1: and I are talking, man, But I've heard but stand
Speaker 1: up things about you, and you know, all the respect
Speaker 1: that you had, and this is like a long, long, long,
Speaker 1: long overdue conversation. Man. I thank you for coming on
Speaker 1: the show. You in New York for you. I'm currently
Speaker 1: in New York. The next time, we gotta go to dinner,
Speaker 1: no doubt, no doubt. Well that's why you got a
Speaker 1: daughter too. Yeah, right, where do you guys want to
Speaker 1: go for dinner? I'll set it up and wait, so good,
Speaker 1: build nothing, no questions. Well, I just I mean, Steve,
Speaker 1: it sounds like like you made a lot of close
Speaker 1: friends and and a lot of people hate you, which
Speaker 1: makes you an authentic Steve. So congratulations on that. And
Speaker 1: but what a great career. I mean no, it just
Speaker 1: just too much, too much, the process incredible. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: really wish I was there at Radio City for that
Speaker 1: night at uh celebration. That night was so fucking special.
Speaker 1: I mean it was. I mean I think it was
Speaker 1: excess last performance. It was, and it was right before
Speaker 1: everything shut down. Yeah, yeah, it was amazing. I was
Speaker 1: in the Radio City would never be the same after that,
Speaker 1: They never, they never said so many people backstage and
Speaker 1: in their life. I also wanted to know how that
Speaker 1: was organized and oneot, well you have a uh sick
Speaker 1: of Steven and Bill and Fontagelo and Laya the great,
Speaker 1: the great Steve Rifkin. Yes, this was amazing. Hope I
Speaker 1: didn't talk too much. No, we live for rabbit, Holy
Speaker 1: trust what is that? What are those words? They're going
Speaker 1: together talk to us? We don't know. So until next time,
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, and I promise you that I will
Speaker 1: have better camera working. Yeah, and Steve looked professional. I'm
Speaker 1: just I feel like a drunk here, But anyway, thank you.
Speaker 1: You get you're not a drunk and you're getting high
Speaker 1: too much. All right, we'll see you on the next
Speaker 1: go around. Thank you very much, lady and gentleman. What's
Speaker 1: What's Left Supreme is a production of My Heart Radio
Speaker 1: but more podcasts. For My Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.