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Da Youngstas on Nas, Almost Signing To Biggie, Naughty By Nature's Impact & Their 35-Year Return
Sep 13, 2025
Philly legends Da Youngstas—Taji “T.M.” Goodman and Tarik “Reek Geez” Dawson—sit down with AllHipHop's @ChuckCreekmur to talk origins on Pop Art Records, sparring with other kid groups like Another Bad Creation /Kriss Kross/Illegal, the convention era where Meth handed them early “Protect Ya Neck” tapes, Treach writing their classic collab "Crews Pop," DJ Premier flipping their “Pass the Mic” into Gang Starr’s “Mass Appeal,” and more. The crew's Taji lived with Mobb Deep's and they have the craziest Muhammad Ali story. Da Youngstas have a story to tell and they plan to get their respect by any means, even if it means going on without Quran, the youngest member. Will he return?
Subscribe to AllHipHop on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/allhiphoptv?sub_confirmation=1
Regardless, they are making a 2026 world run and an plan to celebrate with a 35th-anniversary project. Plus advice for young artists and love for Philly’s eternal lyricism.
00:00 Intro & welcome — Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur meets Da Youngstas
01:48 “Breakup?” — life pause, pandemic restart, Youngstas for life
02:30 Family tree: Pop Art, Lawrence Goodman, Steady B (all blood)
05:22 Debut in ’91; ABC as early inspiration
06:30 Kris Kross era; friendly sparring on wax
07:53 Remembering Mac Daddy; style vs. trends (no backwards clothes)
09:21 Kids in a grown-man world; 2AM club shows at age 13
11:03 Philly lyricism & NYC as mecca; getting signed up north
14:47 Shots from Illegal; competition with love
16:01 Why the music aged well; star-studded producers on one album
17:11 Favorite collab: Naughty by Nature; Treach’s mentorship
18:06 Treach wrote the record; matching the era’s wild energy
21:15 KG plays the “Cruise Pop” beat — “we had to have it”
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0:00
[Music] [Applause]
0:05
What's going on everybody? It's your man Chuck Creekmer aka Jigsaw and we are here with a special guest. Actually
0:12
guests plural, the youngsters. Now you may not know back in the day, back in
0:20
the day the golden era hip hop and there was an explosion across the board. But
0:26
something different happened. younger MC's were coming out and this group came
0:32
out of Philadelphia. So, welcome the youngsters. Peace. What's going on? What up? What up?
0:37
What's up? All right. Tariq and Taj. Taj. Is that right? Or Taji? Taji. All right. My
0:43
Everybody call me TM though. You heard TM. I like to call you Taj Mahal.
0:49
Word. Yeah. Yeah. So, how y'all doing? I'm doing good. Yeah. Well, welcome back, man. Welcome
0:54
back. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Yeah. First of all, the name the
1:00
youngsters, y'all clearly are older gentlemen now, right? That had to be the name was 13, 14, 15.
1:08
You know what I'm saying? So, we just took the the off and put the du on it and say, let's rock with it. I'm
1:13
saying the youngsters. How y'all feeling now? Like, as far I mean, per Well, you know what? Let's not even beat around the bush. It's a it's a
1:20
duo now, whereas before y'all were a trio. Listen, it's youngsters for life. You know what I'm saying? But we got to keep
1:26
moving. You know what I'm saying? Keep it pushing for the youngsters and for the legacy of the youngsters. You know what I'm saying? Doing this now for our
1:31
fans. We got grown kids now. So, you know what I'm saying? Want to keep it pushing, right? They the real
1:36
youngsters, right? Now, when Well, you know, youngsters for life, man. Of course. Of course. What What h what
1:42
sparked the um the the breakup, so to speak, or the or
1:48
had a breakup, you know what I'm saying? We just got all caught up in our own life things. You know what I'm saying? Family stuff, kids, colleges, and
1:55
businesses. So, you know, we just didn't really had a time to focus on the youngsters. You know what I'm saying?
2:00
So, when we was ready to work, we said, "Let's do it." So, you know, we've been rocking since the pandemic,
2:06
okay? You know, before the pandemic, then the pandemic came and kind of put a little, you know, a little boobage on things.
2:12
So, we had to keep moving and, you know, so listen, we ain't never stopping. I'm saying we're just going to keep doing
2:17
what we want. We grown so we can. And we, God willing, we'll just keep doing what we want, you
2:22
know. Okay. So let's let's well first of all y'all are all related. All of you are related brothers and cousins right
2:30
cousin first me and my brother Q. This is my first cousin Reek. You know what I mean?
2:35
All blood. So we was in you know before kindergarten kids two
2:41
three four five you know. So we we know each other whole lives all in a row. You know and our first memories is you
2:48
know seeing each other. I think our first video we had a video of us one and two. So our first birthday party was one
2:55
and two. Our birthday a day apart. We couldn't even talk birthday party. We're going to get all this dude. Now
3:02
the other part of it is your father. Lawrence Goodman.
3:07
All right. And that's my uncle. Y your What's your relationship to Steady
3:12
be? That's my cousin. That's my cousin. Steady. Right. And Steady is your cousin. Right. Right. I'm trying to
3:19
That's El's nephew. El's nephew. Okay. Okay. So, y'all have hip-hop. Basically, it's
3:25
all in the family. It's all in the blood, which is crazy to me because first of all, a lot of people don't realize how
3:31
far back, you know, the Goodman's Go in in hip-hop, pop art records, etc., etc.
3:37
84, 85, something like that. I mean, even before that, I think 82. All right. Well, I mean, as long as we can remember, we remember. Obviously,
3:45
his dad with equipment in the basement, all that. Yeah. studio set up, you know, our whole lives. He had a studio. So, he
3:51
was probably doing it decades before we even thought about it. How How was it for y'all growing up in there?
3:57
It was dope. You know what I'm saying? Just to get to see the big boys. I seen Will Smith with my I think I had like
4:02
pajamas, little, you know, must have been like seven, eight, but he was maybe a teenager, right? This is right
4:08
before they, you know, took off with um parents just don't want to stand and all that. So, seeing all that was dope. I'm
4:13
like, "Oh, okay." And I think that contributed us starting so early. just seeing it all early at an early age and
4:19
you know so it was dope. When did it click for you to start rapping?
4:24
Well, we initially it started from mentally gifted. You know what I mean? He was he was my dad was working on him
4:30
and he was like he wanted to do a song with me for some reason when we was younger. He was like I want when I do
4:37
when I work on my album I want to do a song with you. So that night that we started doing the song my little brother
4:42
Q was there. Mhm. So you know I mean Q get on it. You know what I'm saying? Now it's me and Q boy
4:48
mentally gifted and he said you know what stamina don't sound right with just me and us and two kids. Y'all should
4:55
call R up. We called him the next day he came over. He laid his joint. My dad
5:00
start riding around with it in the car and getting the feedback from kids in the neighborhood.
5:05
I mean that's how it all started. You know what I mean? We ain't I mean we wasn't planning on being rappers and all
5:11
that like you know what I'm saying? We just we was groomed to do it cuz we seen it. But that's how it started, you know.
5:16
I mean, through Mentally Gifted. Okay. We started we started the group. Now, y'all came out in ' 91,
5:22
right? Um, prior to obviously you were still rapping and everything.
5:28
Um, when y'all hit, there were other groups that were young out as well.
5:33
Uh, I think uh a group called Another Bad Creation was out. Definitely. They came out before us.
5:38
They came out before y'all. And then there was a big inspiration for us. Big inspiration. Talk about that.
5:44
Well, just seeing them on TV first. They were like the first kids. It was the boys ABC. They were like the first
5:51
kids we saw doing what we wanted to do. Like not like singing. You know what I'm saying? It look like they was on some
5:57
hip-hop street time. So that was like, oh, that's what we want to do. So they was definitely a big inspiration for us.
6:03
I be talking to one of the guys from the ABC. I always tell them like, man, we love y'all.
6:10
We saw y'all like they that made us want to like go harder. All these dudes, you know what I mean?
6:17
Listen, they they had us hype like one DMC had us hype like one like Rock Kim, you know, I mean we listen they they was
6:23
they was one of them once. So yeah, they they was definitely for sure. Now after that, Crissc Cross came out
6:30
now. They came out the same. Now that was the thing. I think we came out a few months before them around the same time. We came out the same year
6:37
though. Same year definitely. They came out months after us. All right. So, yeah. Right right around the same time we dropped. So,
6:43
okay. So, the vibration was, you know, the same one. Listen, everybody know Chris Crissc
6:48
Cross. That was the ship. You know what I mean? Everybody know it. Once that thing dropped, it was like an avalanche.
6:55
We just had, you know, I mean, we had to go and go spar with him at that point. You know what I'm saying? We weren't going to just take it. So, we had to,
7:00
you know, I mean, get in there, but it was all love. You know what I'm saying? I see you with the Philly shell. No. No. No. We had to buy, you know, dip and d
7:08
weave on them. We had to hit. It was a uh it was a good time being there. Anyway,
7:14
um now y'all did there was a little
7:19
I don't want to call it beef, but it was like lyrics. Yeah. We had to come at them. I mean, it
7:24
was like, you know, just like I said, it was an avalanche. You know what I mean? So, we couldn't just sit there and be stand by and be quiet. So, you know, it
7:31
was all music stuff. You know what I'm saying? We had to come at him. came at him on wax. Mhm. You know what I'm saying? It was off.
7:36
Did that ever come back at you? Yeah. Yeah. They came right back at us and you know, came right back at us. No
7:42
problems. You know what I mean? So, we had to take that to right on the chin, too. You know what I'm saying? You give it, you got to take it. So, you know, it
7:47
was all good, man. And listen, I think Taj even had a relationship with one of them at I talked to I talked to one of them
7:53
right before he died. We had like not the same week, but like in the time span before he died, but you know, I
8:00
mean, we talked a lot on the phone. You know what I mean? What y'all talk about? So he got to tell him hip hop and stuff like regular life and
8:05
all that. Just basic living and how you doing type what you've been doing type stuff. You know what I mean? But he was
8:11
holding on. He basic rest in peace. Chris Chris Chris Mac Daddy. You know what I mean?
8:17
Did y'all ever wear your clothes backwards? You can tell. I didn't even get that far. No.
8:22
I like the I like some of the music, but we we our style of dress we always
8:27
wanted to be I mean just be oursel just be authentic. You know what I mean? like it was regular, you know what I'm
8:33
saying? We ain't knew that later on it was going to be trends and stuff, you know? Yeah. We wore the clothes from the neighborhoods stores, you know? We would
8:39
just go get it right before video shoots or photo shoots and that and that's what everybody saw. So, we try to be original
8:47
and trendy. You heard? Now, when I uh you know went back and looked at the videos and just it really
8:55
took me back to that time. Tims with the shorts on Callart. Right.
9:01
I mean, and y'all were like right there with it. Now, some of the kid groups were literally kid groups, you know, you
9:08
could see them, but if I would argue if you didn't know and you just kind of like put that
9:16
visual to the side and just saw y'all, you might not know that you were a kid group.
9:21
No. Listen, we was in a grown man world. So, we was kids living in a grown man's world. So, we was we had to grow up
9:27
fast. And we were already kind of like fast as kids anyway cuz we kind of, you know, was in the streets, you know,
9:34
ripping and running like everybody else, playing ball, street football, basketball in the streets. You had to
9:39
get in before the lights came on, all that. So we was outside, you know, before the youngsters. So
9:44
yeah, when it came time to do that, you know, we didn't had no intimidation against anybody that was older than us at that
9:50
point. So we just act like we thought we was older than we really was. They probably was looking at us like, "Look at these little stupid little kids." But
9:57
we thought, you know what I mean? We we thought we was bigger than what we were. You know what I mean? And at that time, we had to compete with
10:03
the white. No. No. No. I mean, so we we had to do shows. All the shows we had to do was
10:10
with our pe our peers was all older than us. So we didn't have nobody our age
10:15
that we can rock with at nights in these nightclubs 2 in the morning. You know what I'm saying? So we was in there getting it in with them. And and it was
10:22
fun. It was fun. They used to be like our team and all that. You know what I mean?
10:28
special restrictions. Y'all got to be over here like, you know what I mean? So, we had to was around all them dudes. We had to
10:34
compete with the big boys at 13. You know what I mean? They 18, 19, 20 years old. We 13 holding our own with legends,
10:42
nail legends. You know what I'm saying? But back then, everybody was going for theirs. You know what I'm saying? We just wanted to be dope. That's all. We
10:49
just wanted to just be dope. That was our main thing. Just trying to be dope, man. make the
10:54
best music we can make and just keep moving. How did y'all feel about your position in terms of being from Philly? Um, New
11:03
York was New York obviously, but no, listen, I
11:08
think Philly's always had his little sweet spot and everybody kind of, you know, don't really know about it, but it's been a sweet spot for lyricism in
11:15
Philadelphia. A lot of good original artists came from Philly. So even though you know a lot of people don't know
11:21
about a lot of artists, people that are from Philly and Philly people, they adore them. You know what I'm saying?
11:27
They adore them and they do them for life. Yeah. So Philly has got like a strong rich
11:32
musical history. Absolutely. Before rap, even before rap, you know? So
11:37
yeah. Yeah. That's a fact. Even once we're all dead and going, it's going to still be going. It's just it's that strong in Philly. I don't know
11:44
where it came from, but we got the best and DJs and all that. Oh yeah. Some of the top of the best ever.
11:50
Best ever. Yeah. It's just that it ain't like no no no corporations or companies in there to
11:56
exploit the artist. So it's like damn it ain't really Most of the rappers from Philly, they got to go out of town, get
12:02
put on, recognize somewhere, then they come back now. But when they was doing the same thing that they was doing in
12:08
the town, they just went and did it somewhere else. Now they get recognized, now they come back. So it need to
12:14
No, we listen. New York is the mecca. So everybody from Philly, we look at New
12:20
York as what it is, the Mecca. So that's how we got put on. We went up New York and got our record done. I'm saying.
12:25
Yeah. So in your second album, y'all really started to collab more. Correct. Like
12:31
because we would be up there. So then working on the first album, it left us a lot of time to be up there. So that was
12:37
like our second home for a while working in the studio and being in the studio and doing all
12:42
these shows. We was collaborating with a lot of artists. So that's how they kind of like got us
12:48
in the studio with them. You know what I'm saying? We built that relationship before we got in the studio with a lot of them. Like Tre and Noy by Nature. We met
12:55
them and they helped us they told us get on a stage with them in Philly and we went to their video shoot.
13:01
So all that stuff was before we recorded with them. Right. Right. You know, and like Pete Rock, we just adored and loved him. You know what I'm
13:07
saying? He was just the best thing smoking. So we I think we reached out to him and he was like, "Let's do it."
13:13
Yeah. Let's do it. That's a lot of respect. Same thing. You know, we met a lot of we met a lot of artists
13:19
out um Cali too at conventions back conventions back a lot of up and coming.
13:25
They used to have a lot of conventions. They used to recognize it's like damn we start getting now people don't know about the
13:32
conventions because that's see that's when you know you over that's when you know you over you start talking about
13:37
the conventions. That's where we first met the Wuang G out Cali. Wow. We walked we in know we
13:43
in the same hotel like I first this one he was Prince Rocke like we seen him in
13:49
the lobby checking in you know what I'm saying then day later me and my brother we walking
13:54
down the hallway one of them dudes like yo hold on man pulled us in is uh method man Ghost Face
14:01
and all them and they're asleep. That's when Meth jump up like yo the youngsters hold up. He went over there grabbed the
14:06
tape gave us the like four tapes to protect your neck drone with the little white case. Yeah.
14:12
Oh man, back the woo. Couple like a month or two later, we we run into him again in New York like,
14:18
"Damn, what's up?" I mean, we used to be saying all them dudes on the grind. Yeah.
14:24
Out of Cali. Yeah. Bring back the convention. People can't Right. Right. People can't really visualize.
14:31
They weren't always this big celebrity. They were major. They were big things
14:36
back, you know. I know. I I'll never forget. you were on a a major record label, they made sure
14:42
you were there. They just that was like, you know, they made sure you had to be there. So, yeah, that's a fact. That was dope.
14:47
You know, I wanted to ask y'all about another group uh a group called Illegal.
14:52
And in that song, they had sent shots your way. Yeah. Everybody was blazing at the
14:58
youngsters. But no, that was that's our peoples, too. We knew them before they put out the record. Both of them? Yeah.
15:03
Well, I we knew Mr. Malik. We knew Mr. and then met Jamal later on not knowing
15:08
he was from Philly and it was all at that time that's what you did and
15:14
they was thinking like us listen these kids out here we we can do what they can do so they they threw shots at us and
15:21
you know youngsters we had to dive and weave on them but we seen them and it was all good you know what I mean so we ain't really had to
15:27
come back to them because we kind of knew what it was with them you know that's all that's our piece y'all knew what they were doing
15:33
we we yeah no yeah we kind of knew All right. You know what I'm saying? Listen, if you give it, you got to take it. Don't be
15:38
out here thinking you can diss people and you and you can't get dissed. And it don't work like that. You know what I'm saying? So,
15:44
no. Listen, when you in the rap game like that back then in the 90s, that's that's what everybody was. You know what
15:49
I mean? Everybody wanted to be the best. Shout out to Illegal. Yeah. Shout out to Illegal.
15:55
And Zeke. You heard? The thing I like about both of y'all specifically, Illegal and the
16:01
youngsters, the music age is nice. Both of y'all still sound dope when you
16:07
really listen. And I like that because a lot of stuff,
16:12
not just younger artists, but in general, it just doesn't age well.
16:17
How do you feel about that part of it? We was fortunate to work with some of the best and we sat there and tried to write the best [ __ ] that we can write
16:23
and make the best songs we could. And sometimes when you do that, it stand a test of time.
16:28
And we was the first to have a star studded album with producers. We had
16:34
Molly Maul, Pete Rock, KG, DJ Premiere, the Beat Nuts.
16:39
We had all them on one album. Like that was the first time somebody ever did that. Like, man, they got all these
16:45
people on one album. So, we just wanted to be dope. We just wanted to make the dope music.
16:50
That's why we had to get with the dope guys so we can have the dope stuff. And look, like you said, Chicago Legends to
16:56
hook us up. You know what I mean? He laced us. Yeah, he definitely laced us. He laced us. Sure. Now, uh, y'all,
17:05
who who's your favorite collaboration? Like, I know y'all had so many, but who's man?
17:11
Favorite Lambo?
17:18
I mean, I'm going go with Naughty, man. It was a special time for us. You know what I'm saying?
17:23
We love them guys to this day. Shout out to Trut, Vinnie, KG. For sure. They the Bruins forever. You
17:30
know what I mean? It was a classic moment making that song with them in that. Did Tre mentor y'all? How did how well listen
17:37
we looked up to him whether he knew it or not. You know what I'm saying? That was He was our mentor cuz we looked up
17:43
to him and getting with being able to work with him and we learned from him. You know what I'm saying? All three of them. So,
17:48
hell yeah. Yeah. Hell yeah. He actually sat down with us and
17:54
we watched we watched him make a banger saying. So, yeah. Hell yeah. So tell me
18:00
how much cuz you can hear Tre in the song. I mean he's literally on the record. Yeah. Yeah. So how much So what was the involvement
18:06
like? What was the collab like? No, he wrote it. We we wanted to be there with him, right?
18:11
We could have wrote it, but we glad he wrote it. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? That that's that's how it was. So, you know,
18:17
being 13, we had no problems with it. Hey, go ahead. Handle that. You know what I'm saying? And we'll lace it. You
18:23
know what I'm saying? You know, in a couple hours, that's what you all got. And what's funny is y'all were y'all
18:29
were so wild. So y'all were I mean I don't know what y'all were in in real life, but on that record and others
18:34
y'all were really wild. So it still fit the energy. Oh yeah. That we was you know
18:40
we was but we was a little psychopath. I don't know. No, that was real. You know what I mean? We was we had that was the energy of the
18:47
time. It wasn't just us. It was just the energy everybody had at that time. It was just like you know we was just
18:55
another three. That was, you know, we just got had to be in a position to be on TV and people got to see us. But
19:02
everybody was like that. All our friends, all our cousins, everybody, we all had the same same vibe.
19:08
And that was the second album was 94. Correct. Second album was 93. Third album
19:14
93. Right. Right. So, another 95. Who who influenced y'all? Cuz I heard a
19:20
few influences in there just a little bit. There was no I mean who who was hot?
19:26
I I felt like I heard like a little bit smoking run at time. Snoop. Snoop
19:31
banging. I heard that on hip hop. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean that's how little everything. Look, that's the
19:38
that's the funny part. Shout out to Onyx. They the bros too, but we was out before them. Like we that the first time
19:44
we saw Onyx was out Cali. Like you know what I'm saying? That's the first time we saw him. We was out before Onyx. So
19:50
people be thinking, you know what I mean? just because we younger. So sometimes a older person
19:55
could try to Mhm. Man, not the first one, man.
20:00
You know, we you know what I mean? We we love Onyx, but we we was before them. You know what I'm saying? We just wanted
20:07
the little Onyx. They call us, but we definitely was before Onyx. Like,
20:13
shout out to the first album and second album. We was before Onyx. That's a good point. That's a great
20:19
point actually. We saw them out. We seen them out Cali. What was that drone called? Um that
20:24
convention we did the Gavin. Wait a minute. It was in San Francisco.
20:30
That was first time that we first time we saw him out. No. Yeah. I mean
20:36
one of them joint. Well, you know, hip-hop is always influencing each other. So Yeah. No, listen. Anybody in hip-hop
20:43
tell you they don't, they lying. That's what it is at the time. You get influence, but you got to put
20:49
your spin on it. You got to be bring something to the table or you're just biting. You're just a copycatter and
20:55
people are feel it. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? But I'm I'm quite sure Michael Jackson,
21:01
Marvin Gay, they all had inspirations. Of course. Yeah, for sure. Down and whoever. So you ain't inspired
21:08
then. You know, something's up with you. Yeah. No, that's a fact. Real quick, back to the um Cruise Pop record. When
21:15
What did y'all when y'all first heard that beat? That's We had to have it. He played it for us on the radio about the size, you know,
21:21
like it was that big and we was in what? KG's KG. Okay. Trench on a video shoot
21:30
and he played it for us cuz we was in the process of working on our album. So he played that and we we blew our
21:37
minds. It was a couple actually, but that cruise he said right out. He said we got to have that. We we got
21:43
to do that and we got on and they said, "I'm surprised they let you have it." Hey, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. No, listen that.
21:49
But they laced it. You know what I'm saying? It was a naughty youngster collab. You know what I'm saying? They laced us. You know what I'm saying? So
21:55
KG, he was on one with that beat. Definitely. He He made a He made an alltime masterpiece with that with that beat.
22:02
So this is the type of fan I am of y'all. I even have the album y'all's
22:09
last album, I'll Make You Famous. And I like I had the single, too.
22:14
If I'm not mistaken, y'all did a single with Mob Deep. Is that correct? Or did that did that come out as a single?
22:20
No, that was not as It wasn't. So So I had the album then. All right. So I had the album.
22:26
But that album was dope, too. Yeah. No, listen, we loved it, too. It was um
22:31
But y'all were in a different space at that point. Definitely was in older. It was getting early 20s. Early 20s at that point.
22:38
Fresh out of high school. Just coming into, you know, starting to feel like grown grown-ups at that point. And you
22:44
were independent by you were back on Pop Records Pop Independently with Uncle
22:50
and you know it was a good thing. We did the video with um what's what's on ank um
22:59
music box. What's McDaniels laced us with the video I make you famous.
23:06
Shout out to Lacus and you know it was dope. Now, by that time, Kiran was um
23:12
producing more. Yep. Than he was producing before that. He did that. He did the joint with Mob
23:18
Deep. Yeah. He was there that got with him that day and made that happen. Um how was it working with Mob Deep
23:25
Havoc? We Well, we knew him before that song. So, it was dope to even get on the track
23:30
with John. So, we big fans of Ma Deep before before the infamous before that.
23:36
Hit it from the back. Hit it from the back. Another rap fact we put my beep in our in our video is
23:43
you with me when they was you know I mean before they even got big like if you go to is you with me you'll see
23:48
Havoc in the end of the video yeah I mean when they had what was it
23:54
peer pressure they had peer pressure out there you know what I'm saying that was the joint so big fans of them
24:01
before we even work with them so it was a pleasure you know what I mean a pleasure to be on be on wax with the
24:06
mob Yeah. Now I I had heard that
24:12
Taj that you lived with Havoc for a while. Is that true? How was that? What? Like how did that
24:17
happen? I'm I'm up in um like I we always like I said we had a prior relationship from earlier. One
24:25
day I'm up New York and I ran into him, you know. I mean we start kicking it or whatever. He like, "Come on, bro." Like, "Yo, man. Stop
24:32
late, [ __ ] Come hang out." You know what I mean? We need to be around each other. Get this moving. You know what I'm saying? And I'm like, "All right." You know what I'm saying? So, I go up
24:38
New York or whatever. You know what I'm saying? This was like after the time the group had disbanded or whatever. You
24:44
know what I'm saying? Have he he he liked my music like like, "Damn, man. He wanted to sign me." So, I was That's how
24:50
we ran into each other Records. I was up there one day and that's when when I bumped into him.
24:56
He like, "Damn, you politic." I'm like, "Yeah, he heard the joints like, "Yo, man, I'm signing you." So, you know what
25:02
I mean? That's when we yo, come live up here. we going to work on your joint. This was when um they was
25:08
working they just had finished Hell on Earth album. That was around the time when I was staying with him and him and his brother
25:14
Killer B. Rest in peace. That's that's my boy. You know what I mean? That that was my bro too. You know what I'm saying?
25:20
But um he uh wanted to sign me and that's how it all that's how that's how
25:25
it worked out. My pri my prior paperwork and all that, you know what I'm saying? My prior all
25:30
my prior things in the past had me bonded. So, I had to I had to wait everything out. Not only did I have a
25:37
deal with Half, I had a deal with Biggie Smalls. I had a deal with um Dallas
25:43
Austin down in Atlanta and all that. But it's just like, you know what I
25:48
mean? When you young and you get caught up in in your paperwork and all this and that, certain stuff just happen. I mean,
25:55
just had to wait it out. It ain't work out. So, you know what I mean? Shout out to all of them though. You know what I'm saying? It ain't it wasn't meant to be
26:02
at that time. I just look at it like that. It wasn't meant to be. Yeah. I mean, but we back now and you can
26:08
still make moves with all of them bros, you know? Still alive and all that. You know, that's a fact.
26:13
And having and Mob, they about to come back out. So, yeah. We just was with him down AC. Okay.
26:18
That little John, he they coming down here like in December. No, listen. Y'all going to be Mob D for
26:24
the next 100 years. That's going to be like Mozart. I was like, "All right, you know, our Beethoven's them songs going
26:30
to go for another 150 years, right?" Yeah. No, that's a fact. Prodigy. Um Yeah. Yeah. Rest in peace, Prodigy.
26:38
When uh so
26:44
uh DJ Premiere sampled y'all on Mass Appeal
26:51
by Pastor Mike. Pastor Mike. Yeah. What y'all think of that? No. What? That's That's legendary.
26:57
That's like um I mean listen I I every time I hear the song I love it. That's one of my
27:02
favorite songs anyway. So being I get to hear you know Karan or
27:08
Taji on it every time I hear it just bring a smile to my face. I love it. It's crazy because people don't realize
27:14
how hip-hop works. You know you might have one record and it might it might be for that period and
27:20
then someone else grab it and then it goes then you know what I mean? Yeah. A lot of people didn't catch Pastor the mic. So, thank God, you know,
27:27
Premiier sampled it. Then a lot of people knew about it. I mean, that was it was only our second single,
27:33
right? So, we was that was 92. 92. Pastor Mike Mic came out 92.
27:39
Yeah. No, that's that was that was legendary. I love that. another um bright spot when y'all did hiphop ride
27:47
and I liked both of y'all's verses in particular because you dropped the
27:52
ladies in hip-hop verse right and then you talked about the old old school I love the ladies verse
27:57
yeah I love the ladies verse though I ain't going to lie I ain't going to lie I was kind of wondering if you know if anything like came out of that
28:05
we got to have some more of those yo nobody got kissing and telling
28:10
I mean somebody got to come up with to the females, man. No, we had to pay homage to the whole
28:16
sisters in rap. Whole run of females. What made you go that route and and dedicate that nobody out, right?
28:23
Can't leave the sisters out. It was a hip-hop ride at the time. We going to take you on a hip-hop ride. So, this
28:28
is what's going on at the time. We got the females jumping. We got the old school dudes. We got the guys that's our
28:34
age. We wanted to combine everything. Just make it a cool song. That's basically what it was. You know what I'm
28:40
saying? We want to forget all the hot ladies. They was holding they for down in the
28:45
90s too. We had to shout them out. It was a must.
28:50
We can't go. We shot hip hop. Ladies and gentlemen, too, man.
28:56
Real. Yeah. What made you go old school? I mean, at that point, hip-hop was maybe
29:02
maybe 20. From the from the first album on, we was giving salute and props to
29:07
guys we just adored and admired. guys, brand new beans, tribe called
29:13
Quest. So, if we had a chance to get a a record and say it on it, we was going to do that, too. We had a video, we going
29:19
to do that, too. We spent our budget homage to people. You hear me? Look, we spend money on
29:25
videos being other. I can't see somebody and love them, not
29:30
tell them. You know what I'm saying? If we had to do a record, that was that was good. So, we we couldn't leave out
29:35
the old school. Yeah. Old school got us there. There wouldn't be no us without the old school. So they
29:41
they you know, everybody got to, you know, big up the old school. Old school got us all here.
29:48
Now, uh, as y'all got older, you grow, you know, it was funny. I saw a clip Ed
29:54
Lover said something funny, you know, about your name,
29:59
but it was like y'all was still mad young. No, we was crazy young bucks, man. We
30:05
We thought we was older. You didn't tell us we wasn't 29, 27. We ain't know we
30:10
was teenagers. And see, that's how I look at my kids and kids these days. When I see them, I say in their minds,
30:16
they don't think they're that young like that. They think they're older, but they're not. And that's how we were. We thought
30:21
we were older than we weren't. We were peeps. Now that we older, we still be thinking
30:28
we young some days. Yeah. Some days I look in the mirror. Oh, old is dark.
30:35
when I try to dunk a basketball, I know I get a lot of them daily.
30:42
Yeah. But um yeah, as But how so as you get
30:47
older into your n in your 20s, which is weird, but y'all had already had this long
30:53
really a for hip hop a long career. Four commercially, you know, released albums
30:58
is is a run like a real run. It felt like it. We felt like we was living out of suitcases. when it came
31:05
time for us to take a break, we kind of took it in. I'm saying it was like, "All right, we can do this." But
31:10
then that's when the family life start, kids and, you know, wives and this and that. So, we kind of
31:16
got, you know, into that more. You know what I'm saying? Responsibilities and that kind of stuff. But yeah,
31:22
man. Did you stop rapping or did you did you No, he never stopped for a date. Did you
31:29
stop for a date? Never. Not one day. They take one day off. Keep on joint. We
31:36
got joints like get it like this. Yeah. So you never stop. Yeah. No, it's something in in the blood
31:41
and for life. So even if y'all don't see us, we'll be doing it for we going to do it. We going to be doing stuff.
31:47
All right. So let's talk a little bit about where you are now. Where y'all at right now? Because
31:53
first of all, I want to just say that hip-hop is is in to me it's in a great space, right? You actually have
32:01
You actually have like almost if people won't admit it, but it's like a golden era.
32:07
Yeah. Part two. Okay. The only difference is the culture is older. So you might not
32:13
like the younger version of hip hop you but you might like the new Mob Deep
32:20
album, the new Mob Deep album, not 30 years ago. And I think that's dope.
32:25
And Right. I agree. And what I think is dope too is that you got a lot of different stuff to choose from.
32:31
Yeah. So like it it was in an infant form, infants form early on. It was just kind
32:36
of like one mix of or maybe a couple. But now if you don't like this, you can find something you like,
32:42
right? So you got a lot of different stuff. You know, you got options now. You got options now. So a ain't no need
32:47
to complain about stuff. If you don't like that, find something you like cuz it's a lot of dope stuff out there if
32:53
you look. Yeah. So, what what are y'all plan to do? Hey, staying busy forever, man. We We've
33:00
been busy for what, 30 years straight. So, we just got to keep keep it going. You know what I'm saying? We got some lot of projects coming. More
33:06
music. You know, you going to see us all on TV soon. So, we going to see the yolers. Keep seeing
33:14
doing a show in Bulgar next week. So, yeah. Still performing, you know. So, listen, we blessed and, you know, we
33:20
just um happy happy to keep, you know, keep doing it. Yeah. That's good. Especially for something that we laid
33:25
down in the 90s, you know what I'm saying? Like most people like when they came out, they music, like you said,
33:31
ain't standing the test of time to be able to something I did when I was 13. I'm
33:36
I ain't going to say my age, but you know what I'm saying? Yeah. No, listen. 49. You have to be, you know, half a
33:43
century. So, we just at a position and blessed to say we can do what we want and we want to do it. So, we we're doing it and, you know,
33:49
we're going to do it for forever as you should. Now, what do y'all feel about when you see a young rapper now?
33:57
What do you think? What do you think? A young rapper. Yeah. It bring a smile to my face, man. I love it because you ain't got to wait, man.
34:03
That was with us. If you whatever you feeling at that moment, you can pursue your dreams at any moment. You ain't
34:10
really got to wait. So, like that people was telling us when we was in school, you got to wait till you graduate. You
34:15
got to wait till you get what? What? Ain't no wait, nothing. You know what I'm saying? So that next summer we was
34:21
like we trying to be on TV like everybody else. So when I see everybody else I you know I understand I understand people just
34:28
you know you got to you got to chase your dreams man. So I I love it when people young pursuing stuff that could turn out to be
34:34
their future right. What do you think? You don't never know what's going to hit but the youngest. No I'm just like like
34:40
I said everybody can do it though. That's the that's that's what I look at it like
34:45
this. It's cool like for them to follow their dreams and all that, but certain things ain't meant for
34:52
everybody. So, you got to know, you know, I mean, you got to know your strengths or whatever like, you know what I'm saying? So, it
34:58
I mean, everybody, like I like I said, try not to put everything on, right? You got to be able to
35:03
Yeah. Have some options. Have some options. Cuz now everybody think they can do it.
35:09
It's like everybody think they could be a rapper. So, it's like No, you got a lot of competition now. back then a lot of
35:15
we need some plumbers. Shout out to the what? No, I'm not.
35:20
Shout out to the plumbers. Yeah, the plumbers were down. Long long. You know what I'm saying?
35:25
I salute the kids that's trying to you know me make good music. Long as it's good music, that's what I'm looking for.
35:31
Like I don't really like you know I mean just cuz you rapping like we critics like you know what I'm saying? We've
35:36
been doing this for 35 years. So it's like when I Yeah. No certain kids you know that's talented.
35:42
It's like you only it only take you one time to hear them and you know damn heck that's dumb. Like you live stuff you
35:49
don't got to second guess it. You going to know from the rip this the guy this the girl this is
35:55
what's jumping cuz it's going to you going to feel it like you going to feel it in your heart. But you know everybody can do it though.
36:02
But you know to the ones that are doing it and trying just keep pushing. That's all. Just keep pushing us.
36:07
Hopefully something everything will go right for you. Did y'all ever Let me ask y'all individually. When
36:14
y'all started to see people like Meek Beans and whatnot show up, did y'all
36:20
ever think about getting affiliated with them or or aligning with them? No, we probably will. We We just I don't
36:26
think I we never just bumped into them and like really you met them though, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny that you
36:32
said that, right? I just took a be a picture with beans like four days ago. It got like 80,000 views in a couple
36:39
days. I'm like, damn. I was surprised like damn hold up I mean but shout out to beans like we we was on a fall back
36:46
when they when they came out you know what I'm saying so we was basically laying load you know what I mean going
36:51
through you know what I'm saying I was at the grocery store and all of that you know what I'm saying but
36:56
I was in Lowe's we just linked up but listen I I love them I'm saying I love both of them
37:02
hot too saying shout out to Meek Mills and Seagull and the whole Philly set you heard
37:07
yeah yeah what's funny is you you know I don't know exactly how old Beans is, but it's the same range.
37:12
Yeah. No, we all around the same age. I see the same age. Meek probably younger than us.
37:19
We probably about 10 years older than me. We fans probably more probably like
37:25
Yeah. No, he definitely younger than us. He probably like 35 30
37:31
35 and under. So like Yeah. No, he held it down for the city though. Shout out to me.
37:38
Now, now Philly, it's it's changed a lot. You know what I'm saying? Um, what
37:44
do y'all feel about the Philly hip hop scene now? Now, I'll be honest. I got to get more
37:50
into it. I I just I ain't really So, I can't really say too much because I
37:56
don't really know what's going on with the Philly joints. I I got to get more tuned in to give a to give an opinion on it. I I
38:02
what I what I would assume though and guess that there's some dope stuff out there because I just I just know it's in
38:08
the water. I just gota I gotta check in more start being pop and kind of like you know
38:14
start checking for more stuff. I keep going back you know to 90s old stuff like you know every time I get in the
38:20
car I got you got to freshen it up. Got to get up. I got to get out of zone. Got to get on a new rabbit.
38:26
I got to get out of the zone. That ain't good. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely not cuz it's changed a lot. And plus, you know,
38:33
I wanted to ask y'all this. The the way you get hip-hop is different. You got the streaming services, you got Tik Tok,
38:41
you got YouTube, you know what I mean? You got a lot of different ways. What's What's your I know your preferred
38:46
You prefer YouTube, I think, cuz I feel like I be I be I be on Instagram, you mean? I
38:52
don't really got Yeah, I Instagram. I mean, I just started getting my weed up on the gram. I mean, I I was steadily
39:00
running a turtle race the whole time, building my jaw up. It's starting to break through now. You know what I'm
39:06
saying? So, I that's basically I be on the gram the most though. You know what I mean? I got a YouTube page, but it
39:12
ain't really like that mean something super light, you know what I mean?
39:17
But I be on a gram though. Yeah. Now, uh you know, I'm wearing this
39:23
hat for a reason. I'm I'm a Eagle fan. I'm assuming y'all are right. Please
39:28
don't don't tell me. Come on. What? I'm I'm just saying I've met Dallas fans from Philly. I'm out of order. Sex, but come on, man.
39:36
Come on, man. I'm just saying I know I'm out of order, but I'mma keep it. Four for four. For real. All four
39:42
flyers. Okay. Shot them all out. Phillies, sixes, and Eagles. You mean? That's a fact. I ain't going to front no like I'm a I'm
39:49
a boxer boy. You know what I'm saying? I only watch fights. I only got on the Eagles like when they start winning and
39:56
all that [ __ ] That's what I mean. I don't know none of them dudes. I don't know what they look like
40:02
under them helmets. I don't know their names and that. I just know when they winning, I'm right there like
40:08
Yeah. Yeah. Philly. All good. All good. Who's your Who's your favorite boxer
40:13
uh now? Right now, my favorite boxer, I like Crawford. I like Tank. You know what I mean?
40:18
I mean, it's a lot of it's a lot of divisions and all that, but they like my two favorites, though. I mean, Crawford
40:24
put it down this weekend. Think he's going to get it.
40:29
I think he's going to get I think he's going to get a decision. My boy said he going to get it. He going to get it.
40:35
He think he going to get him. Okay. Stop it. I want to see ball go down on the grit
40:41
now. Yeah. I think it's going to be I would like to see that, too. Definitely. Definitely.
40:46
You ever tried boxing? No. See, my grandpop and my pop and all them used to box
40:53
and all that. You know what I mean? They was boxers and all that, but backyard boxing. Backyard boxing, but no gym or nothing
40:59
like that. You know what I mean? But it's in my family blood. You mean my my grandpa on my mom's side was a Golden
41:05
Glove boxer and all that at the Executioner up in West Philly. I don't know if you know about that.
41:11
It used to be a gym on Vine Street in West Philly called The Executioner. That's where Bernard Hopkins and all
41:17
them used to be in the 80s and all that before he went to jail. So it was a it was a famous gym in West Philly 2 and
41:24
Frank Gordon. They used to run that joint back in the day. So like all my cousins and my family members used to
41:30
be in there fighting, having little local fights in the gym down there in West, you know what I mean?
41:35
Yeah, that must be where Bernard got the name. Yeah, that's where he got the name from. Right. Well, now now they closed
41:42
it down, but I mean they had the the Pac-Man drone on the side like the ghost the same drone he be wearing. That's
41:48
where he got all that from. West Philly. Legendary spot right there. Shout out to Philly.
41:53
Executioner Jim. Yeah. Okay. Well, you you you don't know when
41:58
you going to drop this album though. He's coming, man. We just got We got to make it make it, you know, make it
42:03
impactful. We just don't want to, you know, make it to make it. We want to make it, you know. We g we
42:09
going we gonna try to make a aftermath too like you know I mean we gonna try to use all them same guys from the first
42:16
joint when we come back this like next year going to be our 35th year anniversary. We going to try to do a backup joint. We going to get beating
42:23
us. We going to get all them dudes on same we going to do it again like yo cuz it ain't never been done before or
42:29
nothing like that. Like damn. As far as I know I think I think Nas might have did something like that before with one of them Jones.
42:36
But we going to do it. I mean, we going to do it again. Yeah. Y'all y'all y'all think you can
42:41
convince Karan to get back on board for this 35th. Fans get them. Fans got to get
42:48
Yeah. The fans got to get him. Little Brutal. You mean do it. We got We got We got to grab him. You
42:53
know what I mean? Tell them to come on through a few joints. It can't hurt. Can't hurt.
42:59
That's all good. Especially if he's lacing the beats. Hey. Hey. He got the bangers. Got the
43:05
bangers. Some of them. Yeah. He got the he got the he made the hits and all that you mean? He did a
43:10
drawing for Method Man and all that. He did a drawing for Nas and Slick Rick Missy all mean a Marie,
43:18
you mean? So he he more of a producer now, you mean? He don't really want to do the rap stuff though, you know what
43:23
I'm saying? But time permission and that's what he want decide to come back and do. You I mean
43:29
that's what happened. I mean me and C we keeping the torch lit until then. You know what I'm saying? Shout out to
43:35
Little Bro though. You know we love you and all that. You know what I mean? Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. How did people treat y'all when y'all
43:42
were coming up like being a young person at that time? Yeah. Know challenges, but hey, you got
43:49
that's what it is. Yeah. You know, if you're young and you you got to fight through it. So, there would
43:55
be times we had to get out of places early or get you know, hey, listen, we
44:00
grown man's world. You want to play grown man games? Yeah. We got to fight through it. grow up fast.
44:06
No sleep. Hey, you ain't get no eight hours. Two hours, three hours this week.
44:11
Ain't no sleep. You want to watch TV and ain't no TV. We ain't playing no games, none of that,
44:17
no nothing. All you going to be doing is working, right? So you you built for that, then it's all
44:23
good. And we was we love it. We like it's challenges, but you get through it. Who are your favorite rappers?
44:29
Oh, rapper. I got to go. Esco. Nah, it's big.
44:34
Jada. It's so many dope rappers. You can't just find them.
44:40
That's why I asked you top five. I just fabulous. I was going to ask you top five, but I said see I could go to the 80s. I'm like Kane
44:47
Rock, Kim G. Then I could come and then I could come to the 90s. Like it's like
44:52
it's too many. It's like it's too many. You know what I mean? It's a lot of dope dudes. Never never leave off uh
45:00
KRS Kim Kane they kind of like in their own ll they
45:06
kind of got we got to put them in like they own little bracket you know what I'm saying you can't even like
45:11
right that's like the they on the they on the long Mount Rushmore they like above the Round Rushmore kind
45:18
of like the Mount Rushmore they like before the stuff got built and all that
45:23
elite rap stars you we can't I mean Yeah. And it's classes of rappers, too.
45:28
You know what I'm saying? It's different party rappers rappers, lyrical rappers, conscious rappers, like
45:34
you said, party rappers. It's different. It's different types of rappers. So, now now in days, they'll try to compare
45:41
a trippy red dude to K one and try to put him in like how certain like like
45:48
now they be having shows where the audience don't collide. You can't have Method Man on a show with uh Lil Uzi or
45:56
somebody like that or like the the the the age difference, you know what I'm saying? So the styles, right? A whole
46:02
difference. So some things don't mesh together like I mean so it just got to everything got to make sense when this
46:09
in this rap thing [Music] and all of or it don't have to make
46:14
sense cuz sometimes it don't make sense, right? It makes sense to them. Like, damn, I
46:20
did some crazy, man. Look what happened. It popped off. But we ain't want to have no gimmicks.
46:26
We just wanted to have dope music. That was our whole thing, man. We just want to be dope, man. Like,
46:32
we just want We just want people saying, "Yo, [ __ ] banging." Like, that's all we wanted. Like, you know what I mean? We
46:38
just wanted to be dope. Like, so here's my question for you. Who was your most shocking person you found out
46:44
was a fan of yours? Oh, man. Damn. Um, we ain't got a lot of fans though.
46:51
Couple fans. Got a lot of fans. We met a lot of people though. You talking about like like a like a famous
46:56
person or just Yeah, like Selena or something crazy like you know what I'm saying? I I say Jim Carrey.
47:02
Jim Carrey. Yeah, we met and and Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali.
47:08
Sorry, Jim. No, Jim Carrey, though. That's crazy. Sorry, Jim. Okay. Wait, wait, wait. Let's pause.
47:14
Hold on. Hold on. I need y'all to talk. about the greatest. All right. Talk to me about meeting
47:20
Muhammad Ali. All right. You want to hear how I met him? All right. Boom. I'm out Cali, right? I'm in the club. Me and my
47:26
brother. I meet this girl. She like we busting it up. You know what I mean? She came back.
47:31
We chilling. She like, "Hey, Muhammad Ali. That's my my dad and all this." I'm like, "Yeah." But she wasn't that wasn't
47:36
actually his daughter. This is his daughter's best friend. But she said she grew up under him and
47:42
all that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. That's my dad. I saw man Ali ain't your thing. Get out of here.
47:47
She like all right watch. You think I'm joking? So like a week later she called me like, "Yeah, I'm with him now. You
47:53
want to meet him?" I said, "Man, yeah." I said, "Man, you ain't with Muhammad Ali." She said, "Yes, I am." I said, "Put him on the
48:00
phone." She put him on the phone. I said, "This Muhammad Ali?" She said, "Yeah." I gave him the greetings and
48:07
Islam said, "What's up, man? I'm Muslim, man. Can me and my brothers, man, we out here. Can we meet you?" He like, "Yeah,
48:12
yeah. come through. We We go to the um the Hermitage Hotel Cali. Come
48:18
downstairs. The girl in the lobby. I'm like, "Damn, he wasn't capping." She like, "Damn, come on. We going up to the floor."
48:25
Soon as he opened the door, he right there. I'm like, "Damn." But look, he opened the door himself. Yeah. Soon as he opened the door, he go
48:32
He threw two jabs. I'm like this. I'm like, "Yo." He start laughing like, "Yeah, come in." You know what I mean?
48:38
We in we in his room for like two hours talking. You know what I mean? We talking about Islam. We talking about
48:43
life. I mean, we just talked about a lot of stuff. You know what I mean? We just I was like, "Dang." He was like, "Yeah."
48:49
But, you know, I mean, he wasn't a like he he didn't really know our music, but that was like a big thing to me. Like, I
48:56
got to meet Muhammad Ali from me being a rapper from his daughter knowing who I was. So, that's
49:01
right. That's crazy. I mean, that was a big move. I was like, "Damn." Yeah. Got the flick me and my brother like
49:08
this. That's That's the most iconic photo I got in my joint right now.
49:13
No, that's crazy. Did you meet him? No, I weren't there.
49:18
That's why I said Jimmy. No, but where' you meet? Did you meet Jim Carrie?
49:24
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Was that on living color? Talk about that cuz that No, come on now. We going to have to put respect on
49:30
Jim. No, listen. Hey, we ain't know. So, we in, you know, before the show was getting wrapped up. I mean, before the
49:36
show was getting shot, we met a lot of them guys, you know. That's how we That's how we got to meet, you know, Jamie Fox and Jerry.
49:42
Yeah, I saw some of those pictures. It was dope. People vibe.
49:48
No, we was happy. We was happy to be there. The boy was on an interview on Hot 97,
49:54
the Breakfast Club, and he said when he went to Paris, Kanye West had a a
49:59
booklet with all his dressing styles. And he said the inspiration came from a group called the Youngsters. Yeah. Wild
50:05
said he really didn't know who the youngsters was, but this is where Kanye got all his inspiration for his looks,
50:12
for his He said they had a look book. He said that's where Kanye got all the inspiration,
50:17
you know, I mean, for his style of dress from the youngsters. When I heard that, I'm like, "Wow."
50:22
You mean, you know, I mean, a lot of it was crazy when we heard that. I'm like, "Okay."
50:28
And I start looking at our old pictures and stuff like, "All right, yeah, I see where he got that John from. I how he
50:34
come up with the black hoodie and the black jaw and all that. Yeah, I see it now. You know what I'm saying? At first,
50:40
damn, he right about that. He dead. You mean forangle it. But it's all good. Shout
50:46
out to Yay, too. You know what I mean? Yeah. Shout out to Yay. Shout out to Yay. That's That's why you never know, man.
50:52
What where people are going to keep check. They always watching though. And you got to know they always
50:58
watching. That's we just we just waiting for our just do. That's all. You know what I mean? We going we ain't going to wait.
51:04
We going to take our just do. We going to make our just do. You know what I'm saying? A lot of people got a lot of
51:10
stuff from us. You know what I'm saying? It's like like you said, even with the um the massive pill thing, Nas and all
51:16
them went on to uh make a label out of it. Dr. Dre made a label out of our
51:21
second album uh the Aftermath. Now we got the uh the DJ Cassidy, he got passed
51:28
the mic to you. I mean, so it's like damn all a lot of our stuff, you know. I mean, set trends and people using that
51:34
stuff, you know what I mean? That's that's a good thing, you know? Shout out to all of them though. Everybody that's, you know, got
51:40
inspiration from us. That's what's up. You know what I mean? Right. But hope we glad we inspired y'all. Karan, I saw him
51:47
on um on on on YouTube and he actually I don't know now, I'm not putting words in your
51:53
mouth, but he felt like Nas's halftime rap was coming at him a little bit. Did
51:59
you hear about that? I ain't I can't I can't I can't I can't validate that or
52:05
not. You know what I mean? I I ain't I'mma send it to you. The way he did it though was interesting because he I
52:11
forget exactly what song it was, but it definitely came out before halftime. And he stitched it up where the lyrics
52:17
sound like it's going back and forth. I'm not going to I'm just saying. I remember heard that.
52:23
Yeah, I'll send it to you. My uh fondest memory is seeing Nas get on that subway train telling us he about to drop Madic
52:29
drop a couple weeks later. Think where did we meet Nas atomic bomb Cali? That's the first time we met Cali
52:35
and Nas at the convention. He was with us the whole weekend. Like you know what I mean? We went out to dinner, stayed up
52:41
all night. We in the room shooting dice with all them dudes. Like you know what I'm saying? That's how we met Nas. So
52:47
when we came back to to the east coast, one of Nas Young boys named Shane from
52:54
Queensbridge like he was with Nasa and he he you I mean we connected with him and he like yo man we going to the
52:59
bridge. He he was one of from Nas entourage. So he came down we and we took us to the
53:06
bridge. Now we go to the bridge no security or nothing like we had everybody in Queens Bridge outside. We
53:13
just us three and my man Shane, we took the train up there from Manhattan. You know what I'm saying? We went to nice
53:19
apartment and all that. We was up there chilling with him and his brother Jungle Whiz and all of them. You know what I mean? But we met him in Cali, too.
53:27
Yo, you met everybody. We met all them dudes in Cali. So then one day we in New York and we getting on
53:32
the train. That's when we saw Nas again on the train by himself. Like, yeah, about to go to my girl crib. I'm like,
53:38
damn. But you know what I mean? We we met Nas back that was like 90 91 92 knew
53:46
that dude since then. Shout out to Esco. That's crazy. Yo, I appreciate y'all
53:52
time man. We We gonna have to catch back up when y'all drop. When y'all drop. I'mma be on you now cuz
53:59
you know we got to hear we bring that thing through. Yeah. Them grown man bars coming through. No. No. It's crazy.
54:04
Pop pop pop bars. These pop pop bars. You heard? Got little. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We We pop
54:11
now. I know y'all not grand y'all grandparents. Y'all grandparents now. Started young, man. I became pop.
54:18
Started pop. Oh, snap. My son, my son having a baby next month. My I mean my other
54:24
granddaughter, she won. You know what I mean? So, I'm about to have two granddaughters. You know what I mean?
54:30
Wait, wait. Now we got to we got to we got to talk about that. How does that feel?
54:35
Being a grandparent. Well, pop cuz I mean we don't see Listen, it's crazy. You never think it's
54:41
going to happen. When you young, you don't even think you going to get this be this age. I mean, I'm like, what?
54:46
Gray hair, 50 bald, what? Never. Ever. Never going to happen. It's a blessing, though. So, yeah.
54:52
Y'all wanted to be bald at one point. Yeah. Be careful what you ask for, kids.
54:58
Trying to preserve every little strand you can right now. You know what I mean? But no, being um All right. So, I have
55:05
two questions. First of all, just tell me about being a grandparent just in general. Tell me how.
55:10
Listen, it's a blessing to get to be a pop pop to get to see somebody as a grandfather. I mean, you lived a little.
55:17
Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So, it's a blessing. I mean, life comes, you take your head on. The same thing with us.
55:23
When we came into this world, our parents took it head on. You know what I'm saying? So, same thing with our kids. You know, they started
55:29
young just like us. Yeah. So, you know, we all bond as a family and raise, you know, raise these kids.
55:34
You know what I mean? So when I met my grand when my when I came to the hospital when my daughter had the
55:40
baby I said damn I waited all these years to meet you like I never thought I was going to meet you. I never even
55:46
thought I was going to have a grand baby a daughter nothing like I was so happy like I was had her yesterday she at my
55:53
house right now. You know what I'm saying? I just be looking at her like damn that's my daughter too. You know what I'm saying? Like it's like she look
55:59
exactly like my daughter but just another generation down. That's my daughter too. Yeah,
56:04
it's my daughter too. Like, you know what I mean? So, it make me feel good. Like, the kids saved our lives though.
56:10
You know what I'm saying? We didn't have kids and had to be stand up men that we are, you know, I mean,
56:16
everything could have went a different route. You know what I'm saying? So, God placed the kids in your life. You
56:22
know what I mean? It could be it's a lesson. It could divert you from doing other stuff. So, you know, now you got a
56:28
responsibility that you got to handle. Whereas now you ain't trying to be in a studio or hanging out doing shoes,
56:35
hanging out. Now you trying to build something. Now once you build something like we did, we got families, we got
56:41
houses, we got everything we need. Now we could come back to the do the rap. But it's like now they people trying to
56:47
do it the other way. They trying to, you know, I mean, they don't have nothing to stand on. Like once they rich, it's like, damn, how you going to get a wife
56:54
now? You rich now. You don't know if this girl really love you or not or this guy really love you. So now you don't you
56:59
ain't gonna have nothing to stand on. So you got to build a foundation. And that's what we did. Yeah.
57:05
And now the foundation caused us to be grandparents. Now it's a blessing, man. If I ain't had if I had my daughter at
57:12
that time, man, it would have been it would have been crazy. I mean, and stuff did get crazy while I did have a baby. I mean, but
57:20
definitely was a blessing. You know what I mean? I mean, I want to have more grandkids, too. You know what I mean?
57:26
I hear that. Last question. How is your family about your legacy? How do they feel?
57:33
All supportive. Everyone loves us and um good. Full support, you know. So,
57:38
we blessed to have a a good family where we come from, you know. Exactly. They always, you know, put that battery in our backs and, you
57:45
know, always pump us up and give us the support we need, you know, and that's what we do with them. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? All
57:50
their endeavors and everything that they doing. That's what family supposed to do. We just like every other family.
57:56
Yeah. without a doubt. Yeah. Family is most important. You know what I mean? That's the most important thing. If you
58:02
you know what I mean? Cuz they going to be the one to put you in that dirt. You know what I mean? So, or take care of you
58:08
or take care of you. If you don't do family right, they ain't going to take care of you. They not going to be around to put you in that
58:14
dirt. So, you better do right by your family out there. You know what I mean? Whoever watching, just make sure you do right by your family, your children, and
58:20
all that. You know what I mean? Be cool. God bless you. Any final words? Appreciate you. Listen
58:27
everybody, you going to keep seeing the youngsters all in your grill. So, hey, we coming. We coming.
58:32
2026, we world touring, you know. I mean, look out for us. You know, we dropping new music, new album coming.
58:39
Got a couple little documentaries in the work and that's going to be coming too about our legacy and all that, you know,
58:44
I mean, stuff that we did in the past. And, you know, we just going to keep doing what we doing. We got a new
58:50
artist. I got a son that rap. His name Ren. You know what I mean? He doing his little thing. We going to try to push
58:55
the new generation of music and, you know, take it take it to another level.
59:00
And that's it y'all. All hip-hop straight from the source. The youngsters. Keep it locked.
59:06
[Music]
#Urban & Hip-Hop