Episode 16 - Dave East Featuring Dave East

Episode 16 of Lemme Ask You This with Talib Kweli and Tef Poe features Harlem MC/actor Dave East. After Dave is introduced, Talib talks about what he has in common with Dave. Tef shows love to Dave and Dave talks about his work with Scram Jones. Talib asks Dave about working with Pain In Da Ass. Dave talks about the pros and cons of going independent and Tef asks Dave about how he stays so musically versatile. Talib and Dave talk about having supportive parents and being raised by hiphop as well. Tef asks Dave about what kind of jewels he gets from OGs in the game. A conversation about Harlem turns into a discussion about ICE and immigration. Talib talks about Dave being adept at dealing, basketball and rap. Dave talks about growing up around Dip Set. Talib asks about the top three basketball GOATS and Tef asks Dave about his top five favorite Knicks. Talib asks Dave about his Kyrie Chanel album. Dave East talks about the importance of prison visits and Tef asks Dave about how the hood keeps him humble. Dave talks about his connection to Nipsey Hussle and Tef speaks on Darren Seals. Dave speaks on how having children helps him as a man. Talib asks Dave about his song Keisha and stories are shared about getting robbed by groupies. Talib shares a story about dirty macking and Dave talks about not chasing the bag. Talib asks Dave about the Karma mixtapes and his relationship to reggae music. Dave talks about his relationships with Popcaan and Young Dolph. Tef asks Dave about how he relates to different regions and Talib talks to Dave about Dave West. Tef and Dave East talk about their relationship to Islam. Tef asks Dave about his love for wrestling. Talib asks Dave about the Let's Rap About It podcast. Talib asks about the accuracy of the Diddy documentary. Dave East talks about playing Method Man and not wanting to be a sex symbol. Dave East shows love for Mario Van Peebles. Talib asks about the difference between Brooklyn and Harlem. 

Shot and Edited By Chino Chase. Additional Filming By Aaron Ross Media Co.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'. What's up, everybody? We back with another episode of Let Me Ask You This. I am Tef Poe.

SPEAKER_03 0:19

Talib Quali here. How y'all feeling? And uh we got a special guest in the house. We got my motherfucking man, Dave Vies, in the place to be. My dog. What's up, Davies?

SPEAKER_00 0:28

How you?

SPEAKER_03 0:28

How you feeling?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

I'm good, man.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Good to see you. Um I see you out and out and about a lot, actually. Last time I seen you, when was the last time I seen you? We were somewhere. We were somewhere. We were somewhere. We were somewhere. That's that's accurate. That's accurate. But you're a man after my own heart when it comes to some of these, uh, some of the ways you approach the game. You and I both have albums for Styles P. You know what I'm saying? Um shout out to the ghost Styles P. Facts. Um, you uh approach making music at a relentless clip. I do the same. You know what I'm saying? Um you rhyme over classic hip-hop beats like Gangstar and Common and shit like this. I do the same. So I want to thank you for your contributions to hip hop. Appreciate it. For being on this podcast with us. It's a new thing that we're doing, and um you are a part of helping us build this legacy for it. Dope. And um and I'm looking forward to having this conversation. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

I'm glad y'all even invited me up here. This is fire.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

Yeah, man. Um, Tef Paul, have y'all met before?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Nah, this is my first time meeting Davies, man. I'm a big fan, you know what I'm saying? Appreciate it, bro. I respect the whole legacy, what you represent, I think is needed in the game. Uh, when you first came out, I said that's what the game has been missing. And to see you maturate through the game the way you have, it's been real dope. Thank you, bro. Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 1:49

Yes, indeed, yes, indeed. You got this new joint. Um, well, actually, you got a couple joints from Scram Jones.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yeah, man, big, big shout out to Scram. We we started a um Scram did one of my first mixtapes early, early on, um, straight out of Harlem. And then we started a um, this for the love, I call it like a series of just taking like all of my kind of favorite classic RB records whether it's old joints or 90s, like any time period really, but just RB beats that I kind of wrap in that in that lane over. But scram mixing it, and you know what I mean? And it's fun. I like doing them tapes with Scram. Because Scram is to me is one of the um, he's real, he's like hip-hop. Like, you know, it's it's no um, he's not watered down. Like, you know what I mean? I I think Scram really comes from an era and a cloth that I really respect as far as hip-hop.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

That's the word of the day with you, is the respect for the for that era of hip-hop and for the people who practition that for real. You know what I'm saying? Like you go in many different directions. Right. You make all different types of joints, but you always tap in with a certain sound. Right. Um, I feel like that's one of the reasons Nas tapped in with you in the way that he did. You know what I'm saying? He's Escobar, you Pablo. Right. You know what I'm saying? Right, right, right, right, right. Put it together, you got the whole thing. You know what I'm saying? That's all right. Um that um that Karma Four, man, that Pablo song is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Thank you, bro.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

It's a great piece of work right there.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Thank you, bro. You know what's crazy? I uh I was a big uh Wheezy fan coming up, like high school or whatever. And I I think it was uh he had a crew called um Squad Up.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

And Gutta Gutta, that's one of the dudes was with him. That's one of his old, one of his old joints that I was a big fan of the record. Oh, were? I flipped that. See, I don't even know that original joint. I flipped, I flipped it. So that if you if you tapped in with them and you listen to the Pablo record, then you go, oh, we got that. That's I flipped gutter joint. Yeah, you got pain in the ass on that, too. Gutta gutter was cold, too. All that's all the cloth, bro. Like I feel like if it wasn't from that, I wouldn't even wanted to rap. So that's why I always tap back into what I grew up on or what inspired me. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 4:05

Pain in the ass on the skits, he's doing the um, he's doing a lot of work on that album.

unknown 4:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

But he's doing the good fellas shit. Shouts to Payne, man. That's him doing that Joe Pesci shit.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

All of that. And he just went in there and said, I said, yo, he said, yo, what's the direction? I said, yo, Payne, go do what you do, bro. Like, I don't, I don't, I don't want to give you no direction. You know what I mean? Just go do what you do and then we'll edit it later. Like, just go, go, go, go, go, call it.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

So all that shit, but he knew a lot of intricacies about where you was going. Y'all, y'all had a conversation. I played on the music. Okay, you played in the music. Okay, yeah. Because he's really telling a story of you going from dealing with the labels, dealing with a mass appeal and dealing with a death jam to you going independent. Right. But he's telling it even from a third person perspective, like my man Dave East. Yeah. But like, I thought that was a very, very creative way to deal with it creatively.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Right.

SPEAKER_03 4:54

A lot of people don't know how to deal with the shit they're going through, whether it's a beef or whether it's a personal problem they having with someone or whether it's something a problem they having with the industry. And I sometimes it taints the music. Right. But people get in the booth and that be on their shoulder. Like, you know, I wrote a book, right? And when I turned the book, and I was going through drama with my ex-manager at the time. You know what I'm saying? Like, and I wrote, when I turned the book in, my editor was like, it's good, but you could lose a lot of these paragraphs about this and that, because you're not gonna be thinking about this. Where you was at in 10 years, right the same way you think about it now. And having a good editor was good for me writing that book because I would have just gone in that direction. But man, that is so it's it's a really great way to do it creatively because it doesn't feel like you I'm I'm being beaten ahead with like somebody complaining. Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

It feels like you making art out of it. And I didn't want to do no interviews about it. You know what I mean? Like if it comes up, if it comes up in an interview, I'll speak on it, but I'd rather speak about it through the music. Like if you tap into the music, now you can hear me going from a major to being independent. You know what I mean? Like I wanted to kind of, like you're saying, I just wanted to creatively paint that picture without doing a hundred interviews, dissing the labels, or you know what I mean, or big enough independent. I wanted to put it all in the music, you know what I'm saying, and just let my move show it.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

I feel like though, your output as an independent artist is we getting a lot more focused on what I think Dave East represents.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

You know what I'm saying? Like not just now, but from back, all the mixtapes, you know what I'm saying? All the independent music has just been really, really, really sharply focused on what you want to do, and it's been distinct.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Right.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 6:40

It ain't a hundred um hands in them in them pots. You know what I'm saying? When I'm when I'm when I'm making that music. I feel like with the labels, um, there was a lot of other people involved that didn't really know me, wasn't really concerned with knowing me. You know what I mean? Like, so I feel like with me being independent, you really gonna get um me. Like my full creative process down to the skits, yeah. The whole way I'ma lay out the record, everything is just gonna be um I still got people that that are that's in my corner that I take advice from and shit like that. But overall, with the music, I feel like that's me. And the only way I can really paint that is by having 100% creative control of what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Something I think the fans wanna know, man. Like people like myself, they got the Dave East YouTube playlist. Yeah. Um fired. You very versatile. Okay. You know what I'm saying? Like, for a person that could really rap, you choose different dimensions. Like, I'll hear you on some underground shit, I'll hear you on some more radio friendly shit, I'll hear you on some lady vibes, I'll hear you on some stuff that's for the lyricists. You know, I was surprised to see you on a um DJ Shadow album. You know what I'm saying? I was on there with some super underground cats, and I was like, what the hell Dave is doing over here? You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 8:01

But I love I love mu more than everything, bro, and I feel like uh this kind of gets lost. And you know what I mean? Like, I love hip-hop. Like, I it don't it don't have to be what's trendy right now or what everybody else is leaning to. Like, I just love the the the culture of it, beyond the music, the clothes, the attitude, the the slang. Like I that's how I grew up. I don't, without hip-hop, I'm not me. As much as my parents raised me, hip-hop raised me. Like, I feel the same way. I mean, like, it's like a 50-50 thing. Like, I'm raised in equal magic. But my mind and what I was trying to emulate was was rap.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

That's my whole from a three, four-year-old kid. Like, and what's crazy about what you say is that both you and me, we grew up with our parents. Right. Um, but a lot of people in this rap shit did not. I'm not just talking about artists, but people who listen to it. And for them, we have a privilege that we gotta acknowledge from growing up like that. But for them, a lot of them is raised on hip-hop. You know what I'm saying? And when I say that, people who are detractors are thinking, oh, you raised on like going to a strip club and violence. That's not what I mean. Right. I mean raised on the rudiments and the foundations and the principles of the real hip-hop, the shit that you're saying that you love. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like, like peace, love, having fun, you know what I'm saying, all that type of shit. Dancing, principles of it. The real principles of it, like, and and and the codes of it. Right. You know what I'm saying? The codes of how we move, how we talk to each other, how we dress, how we walk, you know what I'm saying? Like, all of that shit. We raised on it. Like our kids is in the hip-hop. Like, I've heard I've heard you talk about, and it's similar to me, with our parents, like your parents be supportive, but they wasn't really like in the hip-hop.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Cause they from the Motown era. Yeah. So my dad, first, my mother was supportive. Like, I could never knock my mom's. She was supportive. But she didn't even really know what I could actually do with it or where I could take it. My dad was like, man, are you getting paid? Because if you're not getting paid, go get a job. He's West Indian. Right. Go get a job. Like, you know what I'm saying? Go. I'm like, man, I don't want to get a job, it's gonna take from the the hours I'm putting in to this music right now. And and fortunately, you know what I mean, it worked out. But out the gate, nah, I ain't had that support. I had to I had to make that, I had to thug that support. Like, look what I did. Like, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Um, as one of the new generation MCs that does get a lot of respect from the veterans, the legends, um, what are some of the jewels you picked up from that? That and you like I feel like you and your way to Legend Island yourself.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

So many, bro. So many. I I get Jews in person, I get Jews watching interviews, I get Jews listening to the music. Uh I I pick up a lot. And I I feel like um me watching and observing what's what came before me, what's going on around me, it um it make my navigation a lot smoother. You know what I mean? Because I I can see what not to do. We all we all gonna fuck up here and there, but if you're human, you know what I'm saying? If you actually are human, you're not an alien, you're gonna fuck up here and there. Right. Ain't nobody perfect. But at the same time, um, I feel like there's been enough mistakes made in the in the in the world I'm in for me to be able to sit back and see it, you know what I mean, and and actually make the decision of not doing certain things or not putting myself in certain spaces because of what I actually want to do, like what I'm trying to get to. I'm still far from where I'm trying to get. You know what I mean? So what's your vision? My vision? Um I couldn't even I couldn't even break it down in words, bro. I'm gonna be real with you. You asked this on the list. I'm gonna have to put this on.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Nah, I just asked because it's like, you know, um just generational wealth.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

That's my that's my thing. You know what I mean? More than anything. I don't want it to just be, oh, I was Dave East, this dope rapper, and then that was that. Nah.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

I got you.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

I want my family to own, my kids to own. I want them to be set out where they don't have to never ever think of none of the shit I was thinking about to get to a dollar. Like, you know what I'm saying? And I want my parents in their older years to do it exactly how they want to do it. You know what I mean? So that's that's really my whole um, the whole base for my grind.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

No doubt. Well being from Harlem is a base for your grind as well. Thousand percent. Yeah, man. Harlem is very important in the history of African-American culture, really in the history of the world. Um, my grandfather, Lloyd Moorhead, was born in Harlem Hospital. Um, he's first generation from St. Croix. So our stories are similar in that direction. Um But Harlem is just from the Harlem Renaissance to what was going on in Harlem during the Malcolm X times to the Dipset era. You know what I'm saying? Like Harlem has been so important historically. And so what do you feel like Harlem adds to what it is you do?

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Um, it's it's my it's my my background, man. It's just um all of the stories, everything I grew up hearing my father speak about and um foods and and energy and music. It was just so many parties, family reunions, uh, cookouts and a park. It was just so much as a kid that um I always wanted to even dive deeper into the history of Harlem, like before me. So I was always interested in the Allham 80s, the drug dealers, then before that, Malcolm, like all the way back to Bumpy and Duke Ellington and Billy Holiday, like all the way back to that, I've always um tapped in because I know my family was around that. My grandfather came from Barbados and went straight to Riverside Drive.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

Like, I wonder if our grandfathers knew each other. Might have.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

My grandfather worked on the Panama Canal. That's how he snuck into the country. He never was a um documented. Yeah, he never had no paperwork. Have you been seeing ice at the airports? Um, I saw them in Newark. Yeah. But I didn't even realize they wasn't deep.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

Oh, they was deep when I saw them. They was deep. They had the weapons, they had the bulletproof vests. When I seen them, they had TSA agents training ice agents how to do the TSA shit. Cause they're about to try to eliminate the TSA altogether.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

That's one thing I've had I have seen. I've been I've been in the airport probably the last two, three weeks, kind of heavy. And TSA is terrible right now.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

Yeah, they got them fucked up. But it's crazy because it's like that shit is making us more unsafe, in my view. Yeah. Because I seen the ice agents not knowing how to do their job and not knowing how to work the machines. So if you got them in there already on a job, not knowing how to work the machines, well, that means shit getting through. You know what I'm saying? Like, what's the point? How are we making this shit more dangerous? Anyway, that's a side. I let it through on the joint someone, that's all.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Yeah, man, that's a side point. And they what they check it for ain't what normal they check it for. Like, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 15:09

So right, they check it for, yeah, they check it for. Some other shit might get through there with putting up the city. They numbers did shot up too. They they arrest numbers with ice have shot way up at the airports. I think so. Well, you gotta be be careful if you if you got an issue, be careful at the airports because ice is at the airports. They getting people with warrants? They getting people they getting people with the doc, you know, people.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

I mean, I was just wondering, because niggas be saying, oh I got warrants, I can't do woo-woo woo.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

I don't know. I we gotta I gotta research that. I don't think they get you for no warrant. Depending on what the warrant is, but I don't uh I've I I think I've traveled with a warrant once or twice. You know what I'm saying? With ice doing it though? Before ice. That's what I'm saying. We get unprecedented times here, man.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Yeah. We gotta ask you.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

You know what I think? All of that is uh is bully tactics, man. And I don't I I I just don't respect uh the way the, you know what I mean? I don't want to dive too deep. I just don't respect the bully, the bully tactics because uh a lot of the people that they try to detain and violate are really earning a honest living. Like they're not. Are they the salt of the earth? They the ones that they like. And they the ones that that might have might have watched your your your your cousins or whatever. They might have been feeding you. They might have been, they I feel like they so in tune with the communities we grew up in.

SPEAKER_03 16:26

That's you really can't see that. Like what you just said is a very unique New York perspective. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 16:32

And I always say I'm biased because I'm from New York City, but it's a very unique. At the same time, it's like these, like, how y'all violating them?

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like people don't realize it's not an immigrant that stole your job, it's a billionaire that stole your job. Damn, that's a quote, quote. Yeah, and once people realize that, the system will be able to see some real change.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

And most of the times when the when the when the immigrants come here, they they they they thugging them jobs that people really don't be wanting.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

You know what I mean? They taking over that industry. The jobs people don't be wanting. You know what I'm saying? They feeding their families, holding themselves down all for that. So I just I don't respect the bully tactics.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

I remember a long time ago, I used to do construction in Knoxville. I ain't got no business in Knoxville, but I was down there doing what I had to do. And uh I was doing construction. I used to chill with this nigga named Omar. He was a Latin nigga, you know, coming from St. Louis, we don't know a lot of Latin niggas, you know what I'm saying? But he was a cool nigga. Man, they came and pulled dog off the site. And I never seen cuz again. You know what I'm saying? Like, took him wherever they took him. I always say, man, that's a dirty game. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. He was a good nigga too. Working, provide for his kids, provide for his family.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

One thing I not to cut you off, one thing I learned traveling this world, bro. Once you leave out of America, you understand why America catch the hate we catch. Now, if you always hear, if you never leave America, you might not, you might not feel it or peep it unless you're watching the news. But once you step foot out of this country, you see exactly why America is hated the way it's hated.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Your education stores. On some straight Malcolm X shit, that's when your education stores. Get your passport if you can. Absolutely. Go travel. Go see something else. You can.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

A lot of people don't have the privilege to travel, but if you can, if you can figure it out, that's the best education you're gonna get. Go travel. I done been to school, I done been all over the world, and going to school is admirable and it's good. You can learn a lot. And I encourage people to go to school, but you don't get the education that you need just going to school. You got to travel.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

For sure. You gotta be able to compare what you know to something else. You know what I mean? That's that's how for me, and and going seeing like, damn, we the only country everywhere. Like on the setup tip, like when I was saying earlier, the bully tactics, like everybody else ain't doing that. So it's it's it you can see how we could be viewed a certain way. Now, everything we do entertainment-wise, sports-wise, all of that, they love that. Yeah, man. They love all of that. But just the ways of the uh of I think the way this place is ran. You know what I mean? Get a passport. Yeah, man. Best advice I could give you, get a passport.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

Yeah, man. Yeah, speaking of entertainment-wise, part of your story that makes you so intriguing is that when it comes to the hood, places like Harlem all over the world, it's well known that the quickest ways to really get yourself up out of those situations is either the sports, the music, or the streets. And you are someone who put a foot in all three worlds. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 19:39

He called me last week and said, This nigga's good at all of them.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

Some of us had to work.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

He said he's good at everything that could have got you out the hood.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

I said, Davies is good at everything. I got it. I never look at it like that. Everything that could get you into it. He's like I'm trying that shit. Something gotta work. Something gotta work. You know what I'm saying? Not out of real. But describe for us being a uh a shorty with that mentality in Harlem, looking at people like Dipset and looking at what they was doing and how they was impacting the game. Because I imagine, like, like being from Harlem, how that shit must have felt during that time.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Nah, it was dope. But at the same time, I wasn't even thinking about rap. Right. When that, when that when that movement was killing, like, you know what I mean? And you would see them so often, it was almost like you we knew they were stars and all that, but like I would see Jim all the time, like, all literally all the time. Like, so it kind of like, I could do that. You know what I mean? But in high- You sound like the niggas in St.

SPEAKER_03 20:40

Louis you was talking about.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

I'm thinking about it, like, even though I wasn't into even trying to do no music at that time, I might have been writing little rhymes in my notebook or whatever. But I had hoop dreams. Like in my mind, I was listening to that music to warm up for the basketball game. Like, that was my my thing with that. But being able to be around them and see it firsthand, it definitely put me in a position mentally, like, I could do some shit like that one day. Like, you know what I'm saying? I don't I don't know how I'm gonna do it. It might be the ball, it might, it might turn into the music. I don't know. But it definitely put that battery in my back. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 21:16

I got a question about basketball. I know I don't follow basketball that often I don't know too much about it. When I was coming up, I played baseball. I used to watch basketball with my pops, the Knicks during the Patrick Ewan era. I used to watch a lot of them games. Starks. You know, Stark, John Stark's uh era. But um, I saw this video, right? It was an AI video of AI. It was an AI video of Alan Iverson.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Okay. And that's the only AI I know.

SPEAKER_03 21:41

AI always said AI no Iverson. Right. And it had him saying some shit that when I read the comments, they was like, this nigga never said this shit. Yes, it was AI. But this is what he was saying. He was like, um, this is a conversation around LeBron and MJ and Kobe and who's the GOAT, right? And he was like, the A. AI, AI said I played with all of them. And when it comes to a skill level, they all have great skills. Right. And they all could compete with each other on a skill level. But the reason why there's even a debate around it is because MJ played for the Bulls most of his career and got his rings with one team. One team, okay. Lakers, Kobe played his, played and got his rings with one team. LeBron, when there's valleys and peaks, with what the what the character was saying on AI is that he'll go to a different team when shit get low and try to get rings there. And that's why there's even a debate about whether or not he's on the GOAT level. I want to get people who watch basketball opinion on that.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

I think basketball is like rap, it's generational. So I'm sure Elgin Bale and all those guys from that era, I'm sure they look at the new game and you know what I mean? I'm sure they got a lot of problems with how the game is played. But um, real shit. But I think um with that, I think LeBron is is of this generation, our generation. So who's to say why he couldn't do that? Like that's some trendset and shit. Like I win a ring on this team and I go to that team and win a ring. Like, right. He really the first I really seen in the position he was in to do some shit like that. Now he caught a lot of a lot of hate for it. But who else doing that? Yeah. Besides like Robert Ory and shit, like.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

And I was saying that even the notion of raising that is kind of like an old head point, old head basketball point. Right, right, right. These kids nowadays ain't seen nobody stick with one team, like ever. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 23:36

You ain't used to that. So I foot, exactly. I think he's more of this era, and he he did it at the highest level you could do it. It ain't like you saying he he he only could win on this certain team. He's showing you I can win with these guys. That's the counter argument I would say. And I could go win with those guys. Like, that ain't some easy shit. Championship teams take time to build. You can't just get traded, go to the next spot, and get it. You know what I mean? Like, so I I I salute Braun.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

That's indeed. You know what I mean? That's indeed. Yeah, I agree, man. Like, and then even when you look at the super teams of the past, people be like, yo, the Bulls had bombs. The Bulls ain't had no bombs. You tripping like they had killers on the squad. You know, they went, they got Tony Kuko from overseas because he was so nice over there. They wanted to see if it worked in that system. So every it takes a super team to win that type of consecutive level of championships.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Every generation, they gonna get a little faster, a little stronger, a little, I mean, jump a little higher. Like each, each, you know what I mean? That's just how it goes. So I feel like people that was growing up in the 90s, watching that Bulls team, you ain't feel like there was no bums on that squad. You didn't. You know what I mean? But now looking back and the way people, how the game is played now, this generation could look at highlights and be like, oh, they just had Bill Willie, too. Yeah, Judd Bushler and this guy, like, nah, he put that was a squad, bro. That was not that that was hard to beat. Like, you know what I'm saying? You wasn't just beating Chicago, like, you know what I mean? And it wasn't only Mike. Facts. As great of a player as he was, it wasn't just Mike doing that shit by himself.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Uh, they had some provocative conversations about the all-time top five Knicks.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Top five Knicks? Yeah, but Nar King on there.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Okay. I was hoping you was gonna say that.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Put Mello on there. Yeah. Put Pat Ewan on there. Yeah. Anthony Mason. Okay.

unknown 26:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

God bless him. Okay. Uh Spreewell. Damn, that's a okay. The trail spree well. I'm rocking with that.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

That's a good five.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

I'm rocking with it.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

That's a good five, Aaron. That's a good five? He a diehard Knicks guy. Say that.

unknown 26:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Me too, but it's so hard, man. It'd be it'd be hard, man. It'd be hard. We looking good right now, though. We've been looking good for the past.

SPEAKER_03 26:29

See, he was out here uh Pee-wee Kirkland in it. Like Legend of Two Games. Pee-wee, man. Pee-wee.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

My pops knew Pee Wee. Oh, were? Mm-hmm. No, break that down. He just used to tell me the illest stories ever. Like, man, I niggas used to come in Rucker and a brand new pair of sneakers, play the game, and throw the sneakers in the trash. Right, right, right after this, step them in the garbage. And whoever, the kids, whoever run an MA and grab a stick. It's like fly, fly old stories and shit like that. Pops tell me and shit. Sick. Old Harlem shit.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

Yeah, man. This project you had, um, I don't want to mispronounce it, Kyrie.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Kyrie. Kyrie. Chanel, yeah. That's my firstborn, my daughter. Kyrie Chanel. It's a beautiful name.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

Thank you, bro. Yeah, man. Um, there's a lot of beautiful records on there. That's like a classic. That's a Davies classic. Early, early, early. Early Davies. Um, you got this record off there. Um, because you know, you went, you had your situations and you were able to see the system from the inside out. Mm-hmm. And um from the heart.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:37

It's an important record.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Yeah. You know what's crazy about that record? Um, my cousin, he's still, he's still um incarcerated right now. So yeah, free, free scrap for sure. Yeah, man. You make real music.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Well, hold on. Before he before you go to that one, I want to, I got another question about this. So on that record, you speak directly about why it's important to stay in touch with people who are locked up and how much that means to them. And how a small gesture could mean so much to someone who's locked up. Um, you know, uh, rest of peace, John Forte, uh, that's a good friend of mine. He's the one who put me in the game, actually. Not more than a good friend like my mentor or my partner and my brother. And um I, when he was locked up, I would go visit him and um he would tell me about how my visits to him would help the other inmates. Right? And in the abstract sense, I didn't really, I wasn't able to really receive that fully when he said it to me. Because I don't know them.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03 28:34

I wasn't there to visit them. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, yeah, that sounds good, but I'm not really seeing what that means.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Right.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

And then um, when he passed and they had his his home going ceremony, I went, and some of them dudes was there. And they came up to me and they like, yo, when you used to visit John. They didn't never forget it. Yo, the way, the way that he came and how he felt, and it used to lift all of us up. And that shit put it for me in a very real context. And I feel like you're capturing that on that record.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

You know why? Because people, um, and I'm I'm just speaking from my own experience, and I didn't do years and I mean, I ain't do no real heavy time or nothing like that. But I have been incarcerated, and I know how easily forgotten you are from a day-to-day thing. You know what I mean? Like, when you out in the world, you out in the world. So you could you could get up with people, you could, you can stay in contact with people. But once they tuck you away in one of them facilities, the world's still rolling. People still got things they gotta handle. So you can easily get forgotten. Ease, very, very, very easily be forgotten. And uh, like my cousin, we we we speak on the phone all the time. And like what you just said, just the fact that he might pass the phone the three, four years that I don't know them from nowhere. Yo, this is the homie from such and yo, this da da da da. And I chop it up, yo, hold your head, my home, da da da da. You know what I mean? Like, that's doing a lot for them, and I don't even know them, but I'm in a position where um I can motivate, I could inspire. We coming from similar backgrounds, if not the same background. Um, I'm somebody that been locked up and figured it out when I came home. So I feel like, like what you was just saying, with them guys seeing you, how that might have, they might have not had nobody come and see them. You know what I mean? Or they might have not had the energy that you might have brought when you came. You weren't there to see none of them, you was there to see um your man. But at the same time, that that it get lonely in there. Like, you know what I'm saying? For real. It gets lonely. And to know you got somebody that is a a celebrity or whatever that is, you know what I mean? Like, I don't really get into all that. But to go out their way and still be in tune or dedicate a whole record to you that you they playing that in the jail. Like, and and and I know in in in jail you get bragging, it's bragging rights, like, hey, you talking about me, nigga. You know what I'm saying? Like all that. That becomes currency. That's heavy in there. Yeah. That's heavy in there. So, yeah, a thousand percent, bro. That's that's one of my favorite records I did.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

Well, yeah, my older brother, man, shout out Rashim Money, he's doing 17. He should be coming home soon, though. That's what scrap got. 17. Uh man, how important is it to speak to the trenches in real music? I think you made some deliberate decisions where other people haven't. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 31:24

I'm still around it. Like, it wasn't my goal to get rich and move to Calabasas or you know what I mean? That wasn't my, I wanted to get out the hood, but not get all the way out. I didn't want to leave the world. Like, you know what I mean? And I'm still, I still got younger friends, I still got guys that got nine to fives, I got guys that trap, I got guys that do, I mean a bunch of different hustles that are my friends. Like, just cause I became Davies or whatever happened with me, that doesn't stop the friendship. So um I think there's ways you do it. You know what I mean? I don't, I don't sleep there no more, you know what I mean? But at the same time, I could still go get my inspiration, still go get a sandwich or something I got a taste for. I ain't had in a while. Like, I feel like the energy that made me, that's where it came from. So I always gotta go tap back in. Like, you know what I mean? Might go travel for a month. I'm gonna go right back to the block, see who I see, you know what I'm saying? Like, cause it just brings me back to earth, it brings me back to who I am, keeps me humble, you know what I'm saying? And at the same time, I feel like I'm doing so much. I like to have them conversations with my younger homies, like, you know what I mean? And letting them know, man, I was just over here with this. That's dope. It's not bragging to me. I don't feel like I'm bragging, it's more like, nigga, we all can do this shit too. Like, right, it's inspirational. Like Les Brown type shit. Look what I got, look what I'm doing with this shit. Like, you know what I'm saying? Motivation. It be more that, like, look what I'm doing with this shit. You know what I'm saying? Like, and you know me, so you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 32:58

I noticed you like that too, Talib. Is that a uh a real nigga New York trait?

SPEAKER_00 33:04

I feel like it's a real nigga trait no matter where. Everywhere, bro. Most people gonna be in their hood some some kind of way, unless that ain't really their hood. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, I mean, they a lot of rappers might paint a picture of their hood.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

I agree, but surprisingly, man, when you meet a lot of a lot of uh cats in the game, they got no association with the actual community. You know what I'm saying? Surprisingly, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 33:24

I mean, look at Nip. Like when you when you said there's somebody to motivate you, like my favorite song from Nip is uh motivation with him and CeeLo Green. CeeLo, my dog. Yeah, that's that's my joint, you know what I'm saying? Um and with him, he he was he was in the hood for better or for worse. Yeah. Doing it for the people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

And he lost his life doing it. Everything I'm talking about right now, he lost his life doing that. So that's why I said it's is is his ways, is, you know, God bless his soul. That was my brother. But it's is his ways, you know, you you you you don't want to be a prisoner of your fame for one. You don't want to be like, oh, I can't go nowhere. I don't wanna, if I don't got 10 security guards, I'm not, I'm not getting out the car. Like, I never wanted to be that guy. I still want to be able to jump out the call, my daughters, and go in the movie theaters. It's shit I still wanna do as a normal person that I understand I can't do as much. But the hood is tricky. Because as much as you're trying to show love and give back, they'll kill you. They'll rob you, they'll do everything that you know they'll do to you. Yeah, you're right. But something about it, that's where you're from. So you're gonna go back. If that's if that's really you. You get what I'm saying? I I couldn't imagine not going through Queensbridge or not being in Harlem for the next 20 years. Like, oh, I'm done, I'm done with that. That was my past life. I'm in Miami now. You know what I mean? I just couldn't and never slide back through. Like, I just don't, you know what I mean? That's that's I'm not cut like that. I mean, yeah, I remember. Maybe it's good, maybe it's bad, but for me, it's more like just keep your eyes open. You know what I'm saying? Like I was saying earlier, certain things happen for you to tighten up. I'm just, I'm, I'm mad it had to go like that with bro. But some sometimes things happen for you to be like, oh, can't I can't move like that. Right. They'll do it to him like that. Right there. I've been right there where that happened with him mad times. Like, yeah. Honestly. And I saw the love he got over there.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Honestly, man. I seen it. So it was like, yeah, do that right there. My example like that is my dog Darren Seals uh from St. Louis. Uh Ferguson activist, hip hop artist. Um, he got killed, you know what I'm saying? And he was a known factor in the city, known factor in the community, known factor, period. You know what I'm saying? And I remember during the we was basically at war with the police, basically. And I remember it was getting hot for all of us in different ways. And man, that situation did teach me how to move differently. You know what I'm saying? Like how to conduct myself, and even how to respect people, because knowing people might know who I am in the community before I walk in the room. I don't want niggas being like, damn, he talked to people however the fuck he wants to talk to. We treat people higher than treat them. Yeah. Because all that comes back to you when you at the gas station pump, nigga catch you lacking, like, damn, dog thought it was sweet talking to me crazy, because he know it could all end over something that's petty, you know what I'm saying? That's for real.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

And you can't, you know what's crazy? It's it's easy to speak about it after the fact. But in the moment, even myself, when I'm hot or something is right in the moment, it takes a whole lot, bro. To, you know what I mean? Yeah. Since I had my kids, that's helped me. I really think about I don't know if I should go that route. Because I know I'm, I know I'm gonna be the person responsible for taking myself out of their life. I don't wanna do that.

SPEAKER_03 36:35

Yeah, if you know what I mean, if you have any sense of decency, having kids ultimately makes you a better version of yourself. It should. It should. It should. Yeah. Um, this song Keisha, you got on that same album. Keisha. Did that really happen?

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Not to me. Is that somebody else's story? Yeah, that happened. Not to me. I think that was more like an awareness joint, man. I feel like that's when I first was getting some real money. Like, you know what I'm saying? I was being, I was able to go cop jewelry and all this type of shit. Like, that wasn't what I was doing before.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

That shit happened to me, but not with no jewelry. Yeah. That shit really happened to me. Song Keisha is a song about he meet a girl, and he in the club, and they bubbling, he goes to the hotel with the girl, he wake up, all her shit is gone. Everything gone, right? Pockets, every pockets been ran. With me, I I've never been a jewelry type dude. I when I was, I was I was wearing fancy watches, but I was traveling so much I would lose some shit. So I stopped doing that. Um You had the cassette, the platinum cassette. I did. I had I was fucking with um, okay. Pull up the Googles.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

I know he got some, I know he got some baby subs out here.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

Yeah, no, I had some shit. But uh, you know, I yeah, that was never really me. But um, I had a girl walk out my hotel room with my baseball hat and my cologne. And I remember like, but I caught her.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Right.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

I caught her in the parking lot on the way because I remember, where my shit at?

SPEAKER_00 38:05

And I went.

SPEAKER_03 38:07

I fitted and my cologne. And I ran downstairs and I seen her in the parking lot, and I ran up on her and made her give me my shit back. But when I heard that song, I was like, man, that shit be happening. Like, that's a rite of passage for a new artist on the road.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

That was uh we on this record. Need to sit niggas down to play that for him.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

That was that was she don't laughing because he probably got got for some shit. You know what it is? I know how I feel to be the young guy that just you got the bag, you getting booked, you in these cities, taking shots with the guys, you see the pretty girl from she from another city, da-da-da. You don't know who she what's she up to. Yo, that's that shit that happened to the nigga.

SPEAKER_03 38:44

What was she up to? The nigga hitmaker. That's what happened to him. He had the girl over his crib, and then they see niggas running around on the security cameras while he's chilling with the girl. And then she get up and she punch him in his face. That shit be happening.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Damn, dog. You don't, you don't, you don't know who you're bumping into with this.

SPEAKER_03 39:01

They don't just be bringing girls over to your hotel and your your house.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Can't just be forgotten. And it's look, that's that's I'm telling you. You should never be so comfortable where you falling asleep around strangers.

SPEAKER_03 39:11

Listen, it's harder, it's easier to do than it might seem. It's harder to resist than you might think it is. What, falling asleep around? Yes, no, just being in that situation. Like you when you travel the world when you're young and you first get on the road and you start meeting girls, it seems, it seems like a great idea in the moment. It do. It seems like the best idea. It seems like, why wasn't I living like this before? That's what it feels like. Then you wake up in the morning with your shit gone, and it's like you don't have you don't have the prior knowledge to say, let me get my man on my shit before I go chill.

SPEAKER_00 39:43

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, you don't even think when you're thinking on that level. Yeah, you're not so that was yeah, Keisha's more.

SPEAKER_03 39:50

I don't know why you're sitting there acting like you don't know what we're talking about, Tef.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

Awareness joke.

SPEAKER_03 39:53

We got got a couple times.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

I got jumping to you for, man. I got got in Hawaii.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

I it's adorable. There's some chains I lost in Hawaii that I didn't lose. You know what I'm saying? Uh you know, I'm awesome, but I ain't losing. You know what I'm saying? Bro, listen.

SPEAKER_03 40:09

I was, man, listen, my first trip to Miami ever. I lost a Cuba to Miami. You lost it or you got got.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Nah, I I I I I lost it.

unknown 40:19

I lost it.

SPEAKER_03 40:20

My first trip to Miami, I was into I was into jet skiing, right? So I was I was staying at one of them little cheap ass hotels. Well, you was living on the edge. On ocean, on ocean, right? You know the cheap shits. You know what I'm saying? Right in the mix. Right in the mix where you don't belong. Right in the mix. Step out, step out. And you in the mix.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

You're in the loop.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

I'm staying on one of those and I walk on the beach and I see this girl arguing with this dude, talking about, you promised you was taking me jet skiing. You ain't got no money to take me jet skiing and he's like, oh, I said it. So you didn't dirty mac the nigga, you took his. Listen, dirty maxed. Listen. I was like, they had. Listen, I did. I was like, well, I'll take you jet skin. You wild, Paul. I'll take you jet skin. Man, I took her jet skin. This is young boy shit. This is young boy shit. This is teenager. I'm just being here as a teenager. I thought I was up. I got her on a jet ski. I don't even know. I don't even know why I even started this story. I shouldn't even be telling a story in a podcast. First of all, you the dirty man.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

Dirty man, so you gotta finish it.

SPEAKER_03 41:16

Come on, we need to be on the back of the jet ski now. Come on, you gotta finish it. All right, we out in the ocean. And she's like, yo, we should have sex right here. And like you got the jet ski? I'm on the jet ski in the middle of the ocean. The dirty middle. So now you I had the devil on my shoulder, like, nigga, you were never gonna get an opportunity like this. You should do it.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

This is once in a lifetime, right here.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

I had the angel on my shoulder, like, there's sharks in the water. If you fall off, it's gonna be an issue. I was like, listen. Who you listen to, the angel or the devil? I said, I made a compromise. I said, my hotel is right there. I can see it right there. Look, we can do this. Let's get out the water. Yeah. Right? We go to the hotel, we run in, she throw me on the couch, she took all her shit off, and she was like, that'll be $200. Oh my God. That shit had never happened to me in my life. You came in too turned up. I was like, ma'am, you were smashing the money from the rip. Ma'am, ma'am, excuse me. Um That'll be 200. I don't, that's not what I do. You know what I'm saying? I've never, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't do that. I didn't want to do that. And she came in with the couple of things.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

She put her shit back on and she left. I think it's a situation. You came in looking like so, so you pulled her from the from the table.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Dirty max away to the water. And she said, I'm charging this nigga for that. Shit me. She said, Oh yeah? Got one.

SPEAKER_03 42:35

I'm charging him for that one.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

Oh, shit, man. That's wild.

SPEAKER_03 42:39

Yeah, man. That was uh that was a very important lesson for me as a young man that I learned.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

So kids. Keep your eyes open, man.

SPEAKER_03 42:46

Stay off them jet skis with them Miami hoes.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

And that ain't just rappers, that's athletes. Anybody, any young, are you a young dude, you get into a couple dollars, bro. The money attracts usually the wrong things. Yeah. Usually. You know what I'm saying? It can attract some good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:02

But money, you gotta use it as a tool for good. Yeah. It's a tool that could be very seductive and it could change the whole shit. You can't chase the bag. If you're out here chasing the bag, that's where you're fucking up at. You gotta let the money, you gotta be creative and add in so much beauty to the world organically that the money is just attracted to you.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

That's the best way you could. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

That's a metaphor. You just you need to write a book on that philosophy, my dog.

SPEAKER_00 43:27

Chase your chase your passion. Yeah. You know what I mean? If you're gonna chase something, chase that. Chase what you feel like is gonna be the thing that changes your life. Chase that. Or chase the bread that you think you're gonna get from it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 43:39

Because chasing bread or have you in nothing, but transactional relationships with women or jet skis. It's some dirty Mac em see now. If we clip this up, it's gotta be called Dirty Mac.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

This is a dirty Mac episode. Hold on.

SPEAKER_03 43:56

Don't just straight admit the dirty Mac and don't care.

SPEAKER_00 43:59

No, so. You know what? I didn't really know I'll be honest.

SPEAKER_03 44:02

I didn't know there was a term for it, but that sounds that's exactly what the fuck I did.

SPEAKER_00 44:06

Sometimes you don't think you're a hater or a dirty macker until you telling your story. And then somebody else went back to the back. And then you start telling your story, then you be like, oh, you was hating, bro. You was definitely dirty macca.

SPEAKER_03 44:17

I thought I was coming up doing for self. Anytime. I thought that's due for self. The perfect opportunity. Homie had a bread. I had it.

SPEAKER_01 44:24

I mean you bounced the dribble off another man's deficiency. And you use it to your benefit.

SPEAKER_03 44:29

I mean, you know.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

That was a dirty mat.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

That was a DM.

SPEAKER_03 44:33

Niggas be DMing in the DMs.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Oh Lord, man. You evolved people. Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 44:41

Yeah, I don't know how much of that story is gonna make it on the final cut of this episode, but uh, it happened.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

Let the people see the real you, Tuller.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

Well, you know, so back to the interview. You know what I'm saying? All of us do shit that we receive karma for. And you have a mixtape series like Dirty Mackin. And you have a mixtape series. That was that was your karma for Dirty Mackin.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

$200. $200. That was Dirty Mac tax. She put the tax on the Dirty Mac.

SPEAKER_03 45:10

Immediate karma. $200 cash. So you you I really love these karma mixtapes. I got it. Um, karma three, I mean, the karma mixtapes show that you are forced to be reckoned with in the in the industry in terms of your relationships. Like, people really fuck with you. Even if the fans and the consumers have not had the access to your music that I feel like it deserves and it gives you an underrated title. If you listen to the work you do with other artists, so many artists that have so much great respect for you. Right. You know what I'm saying? And it's the way that you move, the way that you carry yourself, um, your passion for the music, you stay in the studio. Right. You know what I'm saying? And like, like, man, I just appreciate the musicality of these projects. On this project, particularly, me being a Brooklyn dude, you being a person who has parents from the Caribbean, you lean into your reggae bag.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 46:01

Tell me about your relationship with reggae music.

SPEAKER_00 46:03

I love it, man. That's that. You see, I got Bob on my leg. Yes. That's um, that's another, that's a that's a that's a music that was played in my household growing up. Peter Tosh and The Wailers, Bob, all of that. My pops was playing all of that in the crib. So, um, and then me tapping just into my own Bayesian background, and you know what I mean? Like me being a fan of that music. Um that was dope. I was able to tap in with with PopCon like that. And then go out there and Junior Reed too. Go there, yeah, Junior Reed. You know what I mean? Like classic. Shout, shout, shout.

SPEAKER_03 46:39

And PopCon is, man, that guy, I don't know what kind of like magic he got.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

He gave me a different tour of Jamaica than I had ever had. I've been to Jamaica a few times.

SPEAKER_03 46:48

Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_00 46:49

Yeah, that's crazy. Unruly. Unruly. Unruly. They move around like uh they just got it out there, bro. Like, you know what I'm saying? I watch the police. Everybody, they just know who they are, like, and they and respect them. They got like that's the first popcorn, the first nigga I know, they got their own river. Like, took me to a river, that's they shit. Like, that's where they hang out. They be at, they be at the river. Like, I ain't never chilled in no river. Like, but that my the my experience with them was so dope. You know what I mean? Or all the men cook, like that was dope. Like Popcorn, he cooks, like he cooked for us a few times. Um, but just being able to be, I feel like it's like being in Brooklyn with you or being uptown with me. Like, when you go somewhere where that person is from, or they they really know the ins and out, in ins and outs of that place, you have a, you, you really enjoy it. I had a great time in Jamaica, bro. Great, great time. That's one of my favorite places. Great time in Jamaica. Went through the hood, Tivoli Gars, Kingston. We he took us through every area. Tivoli Gardner, yeah. We went through the trenches and then we went to the beautiful shit, then back to the trenches, and like it was an ill mix. Like, you know what I mean? Well, big shouts to Popcorn and Kobe, Skilly Bang, all of them. You work with young Dolph on that record too.

SPEAKER_03 48:08

Ah, Dolph. Rest in peace, too. God bless his soul, man. One of the dog. Tell us about that record, hooking that up.

SPEAKER_00 48:14

Uh, so I'm in LA at on my man King Louis, King Louis Studio in LA. And DJ Paul was in LA. And we had been talking. We actually had a record before I did a drink for him. I think he was working on Sunday. I had done a drink with him. We shot the video and all that. But me and DJ Paul was in LA together. And I thought, I said, Yo, come in the studio. You know what I'm saying? And I'll never forget my man King Lou. He had a he had a um a bottle of Louis XIII in the studio. You know, they say that shit like a thousand hours a shot or some shit like that. And I always used to see Dolph like fronting with that. Like he be on his on his live, whatever, like, y'all, y'all rappers ain't drinking this, da-da-da-da. So I FaceTime him while I'm in the studio with DJ Paul. DJ Paul got the beat, loaded up. That shit sounds like some old 3-6 mafia shit. Fuck that shit. That's what it reminded me of. Yeah, fuck that shit. I said, give me some, I said, I need some 3-6 sound in, you know what I'm saying? I FaceTime Dolph. Uh, and I got the bottle of Louis XIII. He was like, oh, what you know about that, bro? I'm like, yeah, nigga, I'm about to send you one I'm in here with, and I showed him Paul. I'm like, that's Memphis, nigga. They like, oh no, I'm sending right back. So that's how that's how that record came about. I was in the studio with DJ Paul. FaceTime Dolph. Shout out to DJ Paul. That's Chino's favorite rapper right there. Big shouts to DJ Paul. Yeah. Dolph? Oh yeah. That's how that's how I was able to get Key Glock on Calm Before. Okay, okay. That's that's my connection. I mean, that's how me and me and Glock got cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

Um, I want to ask a question. Rest in peace to Dolph, man. Rest in peace to Dolph. Less in peace to MTown. For sure. Me being from the Lou, y'all already know I've been listening to Dolph for years. Uh I want to ask a question about um, I feel like you have played a role in unifying East, West, South in the new era, even Midwest, uh, in a way differently than we've seen newer East Coast rappers do. Right. I agree with that. Has that been uh pressure on your shoulders? Because in some sense, you kind of like a representative movement in a sense. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 50:24

I wouldn't say no pressure. I just I fuck with who I fuck with. And if I'm a fan of your music and your movement, my ego, I don't have the ego to, I don't have too much ego to not tell you that. You know what I mean? I feel like a lot of people in this game, they might, you might be their favorite, but it's gonna be low. Like they don't want, you know what I mean? Like they're not gonna, they're not gonna um praise you until you're praised by everyone, like type shit.

SPEAKER_03 50:47

You and me don't got no records together, but every time that I seen you in history throughout your journey and our journey, it's been the type of love where I know that I could immediately get what you want to join. Anytime I know I can get you on the phone, it's that type of respect and love that I feel like you approach artists, people that you respect with.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

But I know I know the work you put in way before I was even thought of in this shit. So my respect for you, I I appreciate you, you, you um giving me my flowers, but I ain't I haven't put in the time and the the pain you didn't put in over the amount of years. So automatically is like I saluted. It's somebody that inspires me, somebody that is from a cloth. Um, you know what I mean? Like, so that's why that was an automatic, like, what? I'm gonna pull up, you know what I mean? But musically, nah, I appreciate it. That's you had a shit. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm shit.

SPEAKER_03 51:38

I gotta think about which, which, which, which Dave each chamber I want to go to, because there's so many different chambers. This is what I was thinking, though. Are you familiar with a producer named Dave West? No. Okay, see, I'm about to put you on. No. Dave West is one of my favorite producers. I haven't worked with him in years. Okay. But he did joints with me early, but um he has done some really big records. I'm gonna Google right now. He's done some really big records for um for De La Soul, right? Well, even on the new De La Soul album, which is like my favorite album right now. Um like Nas is the one that just didn't do it. Nas is on and you mean shit. Dave West might be on, he might have done the Joy Nas is on. Um, but he's done a lot of shit with De La Soul, but I was thinking maybe a Dave West, Dave East album. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 52:28

That might uh ring to it.

SPEAKER_03 52:30

Yeah, man. Like that's I don't know where if I can follow. Here's his website. Hold on. His discography is this is a whole different Dave West. I heard it. Kanye West. Right. Chad West. This is a whole different Dave West. This is some other nigga named Dave West. But he you you said he did some some joints for you. He's done joints for me. Me and him got a joint called Flash Gordon from way back in the day. He got, we got, we got a couple other joints, but really his Day Lot joints are are my favorite. Uh his Day La Soul joints. In New York? He's based in New York? He's from New York, he's from Queens. He used to fuck with Q-tip. Okay. Um he lives in Atlanta now. Okay. But I think when he first came out, he was in a group that was managed by Q Tip. I I could be wrong about that, but I think he's from Queens. And he and he's like a part of, I feel like he's integral to the second era of De La Soul production sound.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 53:28

So people were fans of De La Soul music. You know what I'm saying? Like, they'll they'll know his tracks, but he got some shit. He's a he's a he's an incredible producer. I got a head. Uh-huh. Definitely got a head. Yeah, the production on that new. Yeah, this this Dave West production credits. The production on that new. Super Dave West. That's what uh All Good with Shaka Khan. Um the uh uh uh dun dun that shit. The pain with Snoop Dogg, their memory of with Estelle, the drawing. Um oh, he did my song Ghetto show with me, Anthony Hamilton, and Common. That's on his credits. I forgot that he did that shit. Um The Grind Date, De La Sole Grind Date, that shit's crazy. Um Genesis, yeah, man. Um he comes with De La Sol and Ghostface. The Cabin Talk is the one with um I gotta tap in. Yeah, he did my song, Won't You Stay. Yeah, we got a lot of baby fat with Yummy. Oh shit. The Remove 45, me and De La Sole and Styles P did a song, anti-Trump song. He did that one. Um, there's a lot of shit that Simply, Watch Out, Bionics. Yeah. He did Beats Rhymes and Fife for Fife Dog. A lot of shit. Hot night with Michelle and Deggy Ocello, which I'm on, I'm on that song. Shit. We have got a lot of work together. Thank you, Gina. Yeah, man. Uh this music for you is not just um not just fun and entertainment. I feel like it's spiritual for you.

SPEAKER_00 55:04

Yeah, man, it it it it it definitely is my way of um venting. It's my way of um dealing with some traumatic shit. Like it's just things that I've seen and witnessed and had to get over. Music has been my outlet.

SPEAKER_03 55:24

You said on one of these recent songs, when you just said that a lyric popped in my head, you said uh uh I'm paraphrasing, uh you can tell I have some some trauma, you can see it in my eyes. Mm-hmm. You see it right when you look in my eyes, man.

SPEAKER_01 55:37

That's a deep lyric. I relate to that. So you relate to that? Yeah, I use that. Cause like coming from my town, it's in the odds. You know what I'm saying? Like you can see if somebody playing, you can see if they really been through it, you know, it's in the eyes.

SPEAKER_00 55:49

Before somebody speaks to you, they, you know what I'm saying? Yep. First thing you see is their eyes. If they look, you know what I mean? Yeah. I was taught to look a man in the eyes, so I feel like uh I could see I I can see it sometimes. Like I see certain shit in people's eyes. Like, uh, even when it's damn the female, you gotta see that shit in the eyes, man. Like this might be a keisha.

SPEAKER_03 56:14

That might be another keisha. Um both of y'all got something in common. What's that? Uh a relationship with Islam. Um, you said Islam really brought a discipline to my life that I didn't really have before. That's a quote I read from you.

SPEAKER_00 56:28

Yeah, it brought a, it brought a discipline to my life that I had on my own. Okay. So I had a, I had a um, I always compare it to um, not really compared, but you know when you're a kid in the crib with your parents, and that's that's like that's your basis for discipline. Like, I don't want to get in trouble, I gotta be home by this time, or I don't wanna do this, or I gotta clean up, or I'm gonna get in trouble. Cause you know your moms or your pops gonna be on your ass, type shit. Yeah. I feel like once I left my parents' crib and became my own man and went through what I went through and was living on my own, Islam did that for me. You know what I mean? Was that was that other voice in my head, like, you know what I mean? Slow down on this or slow down on that, or just certain shit. I'm not a perfect Muslim, of course, but certain things, it definitely sharpened up how how I viewed uh the world. And I think it helped me um become a follower, a better follower. Break that down. I feel like I took my shahada the year, either the year before I had my daughter or the year I had her. 2014, no, like 2014, I think I took my shahada. Kyrie was born 2016. So by the time she was born, I was I was easing off a few drugs. I was getting, I was kind of backing up on for certain things. And I think Islam had a played a it played a role in that, you know what I mean? Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 57:54

Yeah, man. I I I took my Shahada 2019 when my pops passed.

unknown 57:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 57:59

Uh he named me Kareem Farrakhan. So I always had some type of correlation to it, but I wasn't really raised in it, you know what I'm saying? And I started traveling, and I've been to Palestine, I've been to Egypt, I've been to all these crazy kind of war-torn countries in different situations in North Africa, Jordan. And I started seeing how the most marginalized folks was praying in a particular way. Even the Christians, they prayed a particular way. So I was just magnetized to it, you know what I'm saying? Through that, through wanting to be in alignment with the most marginalized, you know what I'm saying? Right.

SPEAKER_00 58:35

I was raised, I my father was Catholic. So I grew up, I went to Calvin school, I went to, you know what I mean? Uh I went to Catholic church. I did too. I went to Catholic Church. As a kid, um that's how I was raised, but as I as I got older, um Yeah, I was I was influenced by a few different people that was Muslim, you know what I mean, and I I was around a lot of the time, and and I think um a lot of their views and their um discipline to towards the religion made me want to, you know what I mean, say I'm gonna do this, like, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 59:12

What do you think the uh biggest thing that had that has thrusted the pause, thrusted the maturation of that? I don't like that word. Me neither. I'm sorry, let's take that out.

SPEAKER_03 59:25

We was in a pause-free zone yesterday because we recorded the podcast in New Jersey. I was like, we ain't got to do it. I'm gonna use it. Outside of New York.

SPEAKER_00 59:33

Nah, still, it's still holds, man.

SPEAKER_01 59:36

No, you're right. What is the biggest thing that is motivated the uh maturation of Davies, you think, man?

SPEAKER_00 59:43

Uh just see how far I can take it, bro. Like, you know what I mean? Like, not and and and not being in a rush. Like, I'm not speed, I'm not trying to speed to where I'm trying to get. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I feel like I'm I like the the grind of seeing my fan base expand and seeing me tapping to different things, and now you know me because I do this. Right. You know me because I do that. Right, right. I like seeing that. Like, you get what I'm saying? Because it's almost like the the the time I spent and the the years I put into it, it wasn't it wasn't a waste. Like I actually, I'm actually getting back the time I put in. And it's I feel like it's no better feeling. But any job, like, or any any career, any passion you have, once you feel like you're getting back the time you put into it, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:32

I saw you on the uh fourth rope performance, man. Yeah, shout out to my boy Westside, man. Uh how's it how important it is to merge sports and hip hop like that? And that's a new thing that ain't never been done, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:44

Yeah, I'm a wrestling fan. You know what I mean? I grew up, I think Sting was my favorite wrestler. You know what I mean? Like, but I always loved wrestling. Me and my little brother, that was I used to get in mad trouble practicing moves on this nigga, like, you know what I'm saying? But um, when I seen West Side Gun, and shouts to the home team, home turf, smoke dizzer, shout out to Disney. Um, I seen them connected with that, and I'm like, oh, they mixing the rap with the wrestling. I never saw that shit before. You ain't seen it yet, but it's crazy. So for me, and it's not like it ain't no amateur shit, bro. It's like official, official, like a wrestling, like some WCW shit going on, but then there's rappers coming out performing. This nigga right here love wrestling, so I've been trying to get him to check it out. You know what I mean? Imagine you go to a wrestling, um, a wrestling match, and and and between the the different fighters coming out, the different wrestlers coming out, two or three of your favorite rappers pop out and perform. And then they dip off, and then the the fight goes on. Like that's that's super salute them for that shit.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:48

I seen West Side Gun perform and bring wrestlers out during the performance. He got wrestlers signing him.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:55

He got his own net. He got his own wrestlers. I think that's that's a um, I like shit that's trend setting, bro. I don't like shit that everybody do, everybody did. Like, I like I like the ones that come through this shit and put their own spin on it. You know what I'm saying? Like put their own spin to of course it's what's already going on, but you put your own spin on it. So I I I definitely uh I definitely was at the fourth rope shit rapper for sure. That shit was dope, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:21

I was in the building. That shit was dope. I said, damn, these niggas thugging out wrestling, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, it was amazing to see it. Man, that podcast you're doing seems fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:30

Let's rap about it. It seems like a good time, bro.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:33

My guys, yeah. Um, how did that form? Honestly, um just us hanging out, man. Like, from the we first first we was fit lit. Like, we was at a gym, like, you know what I mean? We was we was linking up three, four days out the week, working out. That's really how the I feel like the barn really got as tight as it got. But I got separate relationships with all them dudes. I knew Jim since I was like 18, 17.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:57

What dudes you have music with throughout your career the whole time?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:00

Early on, Fab, Main, Main, I I knew Maine since probably 2014, 15. Main come to Harlem, chill with me. Fab always showed the exact same love from the from the the day we got together. He always was like a uh like the like the cool big bro, like the cool older homie, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, never weird, never, I could always ask him for advice. You know what I mean? Just regular life shit. Our kids is cool, you know what I mean? Like, so I think all of that turned into a same, you know, like really it was it was Capo's idea. He put it together. But we once we all got on the same page, it was like, this is some dope shit, because we gonna do this anyway. We might not be in the club or the gym talking about these topics, right? But we still got this same camaraderie. Like, we still got this same, so why not? This is what's going on in the world today, why not? You know what I mean? And the shit moving. Everybody, everywhere I go now, I'm getting podcast love. Like, that's the thing I was saying, as far as I like people to know me for different shit. I got fans that run down on me or supporters. I'm not gonna say fans, but people that support what I'm doing. They know me for being Method Man. That's dope. They might not even know the Davies music and all the other shit I got going on. Like, now people running down by the podcast. So it's almost like, cool, know me for what you know me for. You know what I mean? Like, once you put it all together, that's all under my brand.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:21

Like, that happened to me when I first started doing the People's Party joint. It was like, for me, it was like people knew me from Get By. They knew me from Blackstar, they knew me because Kanye said my name in a lyric, or they knew me from the podcast. Right. They knew me from Twitter. You know what I'm saying? Like people would, there's different eras of of what they know you for. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:39

It's dope. I think I call it recreating yourself. No matter, no matter what's going on. And you could still, I'm a I'm still dropping albums, I'm still dropping music. Constantly. You don't see that. That don't, I'm not slowing that part of it up. It's not like I jump into something else that I you can.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:52

I think that's important to note though, because that's the one if there's one criticism, and I have many, but if there's one criticism, criticism I could share about musicians in the podcast space, is I just as a fan of the genre and as a fan of all these dudes who's doing these podcasts, I want to see the bars still coming with I I don't like it when you do a podcast and then I'm not hearing the music no more. You know what I'm saying? Like I want to see the podcast and I want to hear the bars. I want, but that's just that I'm not, that's just how I feel. You know what I'm saying? That's just subjectively me as a fan. You know what I'm saying? That's why I'm glad that you're still doing that.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:29

You gotta put the music. You know why? Because I feel like the music is what keeps the boat flowing for me. Like, that's this, that's this, and not even speaking money wise. Right, I know what you mean. I'm just speaking vibrations, energy wise. I love the always. When I go to the spot, I got new music. I got something new for the DJ to play. I got something that the fans can look forward to. A new merch about to come with this new project and new tour. I'm about to go hit a new city. Like, that's a part of what I like to do. Yeah. Everything else is like extracurricular. Like, I. That's what we got going on. I'm free on them days. Let's do that. Let's do that. But the music is first. I'm back in the studio. I'm back trying to get new producers. I'm back locking in with the producers I've been working with. Like that part of it, I feel like that's what got me in the space I'm in. So I don't want to neglect that. I mean, it slow up here and there based on what I be doing. But if I can, like now that I'm indie, I'm dropping. Dropping. Them labels hold you up to maybe one or two projects a year. Now I'm if it's a collab tape, put it out. If it's a tape I did, put it out. If it's a mixed tape, put like, because what am I sitting on the music for? I get that uh element of surprise and man, I'm not. I don't think I don't feel like I'm one of them artists. You know what I'm saying? Like, put my shit out. Like, I like my music out to keep listening to my shit. Yeah. You know what I mean? You ain't like that tape. Oh, here, I got another one. I got another one. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not that, oh, we're gonna bank, we're gonna put everything up behind this one project. And nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Let's keep making music, bro. Let's get back in the studio. Let's let's talk about something else. Let's get some new beats. Let's try a new flow. That just been my whole thing, like, since I came in this shit. And I think that's what really keeps my energy how it is. Like, it keeps me active. Like, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:12

I'm gonna quote you again. Said the biggest fight I had is with my own emotions. Gemini shit. Gemini shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:20

Big fat.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:20

And um that quote made me think about how you move with all like the drama surrounding the uh created online dramas around and trolling and and 50 Cent and y'all podcasts and this and that. Like you really uh shouts to 50, man. I don't even count. You that's I heard that he said that he said you don't count.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:42

Nah, shouts to 50.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:45

Um, I feel like from my perspective, I think it's entertainment. It's all entertainment. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. It's like it's like stories for niggas. Yeah, it's entertaining. Like, you know how you you know how your girl be like, I'm gonna watch my stories. We don't watch stories. It's entertainment. We want to know what niggas who look like us is talking about. So it's like we watch and we get it entertained by that. You know what I'm saying? But I think that um, with from my perspective, um, this is the part of it I did want to talk about, because it is all entertainment. But I feel like 50 had and Tim Jones have had issues with or without y'all podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:17

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:17

Right? And it seemed at first like they was going through their little thing, but he didn't really start making comments about the rest of y'all until there was a conversation about the documentary. And I think the documentary, it's I find it difficult to speak about that documentary in public with what Tef Poe calls civilians. People who are not behind the scenes in the industry, people who don't do what we do.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:42

That don't know what's really going on. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:43

People who don't know these people personally. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm you've been in the industry for a long time. When I watch that documentary, well, I know everybody in that moment. You know what I'm saying? Like, I know what I'm saying, like right. So it's like it's my my lens on it is different. And I think the the nuanced point that y'all, this is just me sharing my opinion. Nuanced point that y'all was trying to make on that clip that we all was talking about, and I'm bringing it up because I feel like you introduced the conversation. You know what I'm saying? The point that went missing is that in this space, I'm doing real journalism work at this point. Right. When I bring you on my podcast, it's a safe space for you. I'm not trying to do gotcha journalism. I'm not trying to be like trying to look for clickbait and trying to say shit that make you feel uncomfortable. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:27

I already knew that. That's why I wasn't, I didn't even ask you, yo, what you gonna be asking me?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:31

Right. I already knew the. You know what it is. But I see myself as a real journalist, and I try to remove my bias from my journalistic approach. Right. Right? And I feel like a documentary like that, it's very clear that there's a bias involved. And it's not just straight ahead journalism. And so I think when you're watching it, you gotta watch it knowing it's entertainment. And I think that's the there's a nuance there. Right. I think when you try to make that nuance point, people might mistake it and be like, you trying to defend what he's doing. It's like, no, we talking about this product. We talking about making art and making a documentary. Right. And um, and 50 Cent, it makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:13

That wasn't, but to be real with you, of course, it seemed that wasn't even like a direct at him. That was really a general question about how would you, how would somebody feel if this was happening to you? Of course, it it might have been, it might have derived from what was going on with that, but that wasn't like a direct, you know what I mean? That was more like, all right, if this happened to you, how would you feel about that? You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, but you my opinion on it, I'm just two grown niggas. Like, I don't got shit to do with it. They was who they was long before you ever heard of a Dave East. Like, right. So that ain't really my space or my energy to be, you know what I mean? Like really thinking about that shit. Like, I got three daughters, a son, like I got shit going on. I got my own shit. So, as much as um I could troll back. Like, we we, you know, the internet is it's a troll space, like, you know what I mean? But it's like for what? It ain't, it it does nothing for me personally. Like, you know what I'm saying? I can't speak on that. I can't speak on everybody, but for me personally, it don't do nothing for me. And I know it ain't really aimed at me. Right. You know what I mean? Directly. So it is what it is. Because if it was, you would count. I would count, I would, I would definitely count.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:28

If I don't count, I don't count. That's definitely a very trollish thing to say. You know what I mean? Yeah, man. Um, you spoke about meth earlier, man. Like, yeah, shouts to meth, man. You've done such a great job. Done such a great job capturing his essence. Thank you, bro. And like, it's like, like, do people who know him like that pick you up?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:50

Yep. That must feel good. And that's what did it for me. Mathematics, shouts to mathematics, he'd be on set with us. Like, yo, remind me of Meth. Like, the niggas that I knew was with him. They be like, yo, the way you did that, though. With certain outfits I would wear, or I would walk, certain, just little. So yeah, I definitely got uh even Rizza. Riza was like, yo, you really look like that nigga right now. Like, like certain shit, certain scenes and shit, like, you know what I'm saying? So that definitely was kind of uh boosting my ego in that role, and you know what I mean, just giving me a little more confidence. And like the first season, we we actually shot in Park Hill. Like we went over there and shot in their projects. So the hood, the people that lived, they still was there. They just had to be like across the street type shit. And even a few of the older people, women, uh, some of the guys over there from the from that era, it was like, oh, I already know you, Meth. Like they were, you know what I'm saying? Like, they already tall as shit. They didn't even have to, like, you know what I'm saying, figure that out. They was like, oh, that's that gotta be Method Man. So yeah, that was um that whole experience to me, uh, one, Wu-Tang is one of my favorite groups ever. Absolutely. Two, Method Man is one of my favorite rappers, actors. How could he not be? Ever. You know what I mean? So to even be able to be put in a um a position like to to to reenact that. I could I could never be meth, but to reenact it. You know what I mean? That was dope.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:11

One of the greatest uh one of the greatest performances in a career we've seen is Method Man's transition from the nigga who didn't want to be seen as the sex symbol to the nigga who's is starring in a movie with Kelly Rowland. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, like a friend of like Tiffany was like she was like, yo, you seen Kelly got a new movie with Meth. I was like, Kelly who? Kelly from the office? What Kelly are you talking about? She was like, Kelly, Kelly Rowland. I was like, man, you can't just say Kelly. You know what I'm saying? Like there's too many Kelly's. You know what I'm saying? But shout out to Meth. Meth is, he's on Meth is on that album with uh Large Professor.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:54

And uh this is what I want to ask you. When Meth Man first came out, he used to like the nigga used to just do all types of shit to make himself look dusty and grimy on purpose because he didn't want to be seen as the ladies' man out of the Wu Tang. And did it didn't matter. Right. The women was on him anyway. The nigga was had his hair crazy, he had his eye flipped up, eyelid flipped up. It didn't matter. The nigga was like, yo, blowing smoke in your face. It was like him. Right. You know what I'm saying? You are someone who has a large female fan base. So you could probably relate to meth on the house.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:32

I went through that early. I will I ain't want to take my hoodie off. Okay. Like certain shit, you know what I mean? Like um, people was telling me, take your hoodie off. You know what I mean? Like, but I never uh even even now, like I embrace it a little more now because I'm starting to just I see it everywhere. But I never view myself like, you know what I mean? Like I don't I ain't no fucking sex symbol. Like I don't be, I don't think of myself like that when I walk out the crib, like, yeah, I know I'm like, nah. I'm I've been I'm regular to me. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:03

I'm regular.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:04

I'm regular to me. I'm mad normal. Like I'm regular, but it is, you know, people see what they see. It is what it is. I'm not mad at it. I'm not shying away from it. I accept it. I think it's uh um, I think it's dope. I would, I would, I would much, how can I say this? I definitely uh prefer the women being in tune. Or them not being in.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:27

I mean, if you had a choice, you know what I'm saying? If this option is on the table, I'll take an option B every time.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:32

If I got it, yeah, man. Uh something I wanted to ask you, bro. Um Nip had a quote in an interview where he was saying they had obviously called him to play Snoop and he turned it down. He didn't want to be viewed in history as Snoop. You know what I'm saying? Were you worried about some of that? That's how Nip felt. I was, you know. What was some of your psyche going into playing Snoop?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:56

I'm about to be Method Man. You shouldn't mean? I'm about to be Meth. I'm about to be Method Man. Say, I'm about to be Method Man. Like, y'all fuck with it, man. Yo, so you doing that rap. Everybody different, bro.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:11

You rapping too, right? Like y'all rapping on the show, right? I'm doing a whole different thing. You're doing the whole shit. Was that difficult for you to capture the bars? Because, yo, you said.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:22

Some of his flows. Okay. Some of his flows. Cause some of his flows was um some of the flows I had to do not on a beat. I had to do on my capella, because it was like me and uh Shamik that played Raekwon. Yeah. We was like battling and shit.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:36

Yeah. So We was just watching listening to Shamik on that Spider-Man.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:40

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's my dog. A few of the a few of them scenes I had the uh like when we do the what they call, what's that? 80 ADX or AD ADR. What is it? When you go to this, what is it?

unknown 1:16:51

ADR.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:51

ADR, ADR. So before the engineers, thank you, bro. A few season really? Oh my I didn't even know. I didn't even know, bro. To you, cousin.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:04

That's why he knew the word. He knew the word, exactly. ADR, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:08

I knew what I was trying to say. No, it's okay. We needed that input, bro. We needed that. But like, of course, like the All I Needs and the M E T H all of them was like, I knew them records already. So when reading it in the script, I'm like, oh, I know this shit. But then a few of them flows was like, I gotta catch this flow. Like, you know what I'm saying? But mathematics helped me out a lot. Like, with just, you know what I'm saying? I did a lot of punching in and we'd do one verse, sit back, listen to it. How'd that sound? We'll go back, play the meth version of it, compare the two. I'll be like, all right, bet we got that one. Let's go on in the second verse. So that was that part of it was fun. Because it was really like me being somebody else. Like I was for for that three seasons, I'm I'm still Dave East. I dropped survival, all kinds of shit during that time period. But for those three seasons, I had to report as meth man. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like to wear my beard like meth. So even when I'm not on set and I'm not filming, I'm still meth. Like, so that was a that was an ill three years, bro. But I think it's something that's um, it's a part of my legacy and something that's that's that's gonna be here. Like, I think that's gonna be around.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:18

That protect your neck episode was amazing, bro. Yeah. That shit looked like a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:22

All of them episodes, man. Like, we had we had Van Peebles directing.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:27

For a shout out to Mario, motherfucker. You gotta understand that's New Jack C. That's legendary, bro. That's a different thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:34

And I'm getting to be with him. Yeah. Like, talk with him. Yo, how did I do it? And he's giving me like shouts to him, bro. A lot of that right there, I learned a lot in a in a small amount of time.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:44

So very thankful for that role. You also played a role and basically kind of reintroducing Wu to a whole nother generation of kids. That wasn't right there. Yep, yep. That was major for me, man. I loved every aspect of that dog, straight up.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:57

And that's the answer.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:58

That's what it is.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:59

Brooklyn and Harlem are vying for the top spot, I think, at all times.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:02

And I'm a I I lived in Queens for mad. I grew up over there as well. But shout out to Queens. Big shouts to Queens.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:07

You definitely represent for Queens Bridge. Shout out to Shango. I know that's your people.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:12

All of that. That's all. Every, every, every, all of the Long Island City Astoria. My father's from Corona. So I gotta real, real, real ties to Queens. But if I had to compare any other part of New York as far as like attitude, uh energy to Harlem, I would, I would say. Yeah, I always give Harlem. And not the whole Brooklyn. I would say like the star, certain parts of Brooklyn. I can't say the entire Brooklyn.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:39

Wow, that's okay, okay. I never heard that that version before. Because you gotta think about it. I hear what you're saying. Brooklyn has got Brooklyn have got gentrified. Harlem got gentrified too. But Harlem is one neighborhood. Brooklyn is several neighborhoods. You're right, you're right. I never thought about it like neighborhoods. And there's a lot of neighborhoods that got mad gentrified. My dentist is actually in Brooklyn.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:59

Yeah, like I go to Brooklyn to keep this smile.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:04

Cipher Sound said uh you come across the bridge and they be like, excuse me, can I interest you in a in a vegan uh gluten-free unicycle? Going to Brooklyn? Yeah, Brooklyn is mad gentrified. Yeah, man. But yeah, I always give Harlem cats a chance to beat on their chest for that because Harlem is Harlem is the only place besides Brooklyn where people who are not from there, when you shot out it in the party, they act like they from there.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:29

Right. Right, right. We just I think we we we set trends for generations and and and gonna continue to set them. So I'm gonna, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:39

Well, this Brooklyn Harlem connection. Yeah, we like Rockefeller and this motherfucker to be on this podcast. You know what I'm saying? Davies, thank you for being on the podcast. I appreciate you. No doubt. And we I'm gonna send you some shit too. Ah, come on, man. That's overdue. The business is surviving to be living. The business is surviving to be living enough. The business surviving to be living. The business surviving to be living enough. The business is surviving to be.