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Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, DJ Drama, And More Featured In Mixtape Doc By Kim Osorio and Malik Buie
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Jun 7, 2024
Legendary journalist Kim Osorio and legendary producer/filmmaker Malik K. Buie join forces for a new documentary called "Tale of the Tape." Cast: DJ Envy, DJ Clue, DJ Drama, DJ S&S, DJ Kid Capri, DJ Doo Wop, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Combat Jack, Mobb Deep Many may find it hard to believe, but there was a time when Hip Hop music did not dominate all the charts as well as have artist cross over to pop status. Long before the days of platinum and gold success, a rapper’s worth was in the DJ’s placement within his mix. As the art form fought for legitimization, DJs were recording their performances and customizing music mixes for their loyal fan base, not only to make financial ends meet, but to also laying the groundwork for the street-based culture. Ultimately, it would be the growing popularity and increased necessity of The Mixtapes created by DJ’s that would serve as the lifeline to Hip Hop, as it grew into the most celebrated art form. For more, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSN3i3ueTi4 Subscribe to AllHipHop on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/allhiphoptv?sub_confirmation=1 Check out more of AHH here on social media: https://allhiphop.com https://twitter.com/allhiphopcom https://facebook.com/allhiphopcom https://instagram.com/allhiphopcom Executive Producers: “Grouchy” Greg Watkins and Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur AllHipHop.com, a powerhouse in the Hip-Hop world, was established and brought to life in 1998 by the visionary CEOs "Grouchy" Greg Watkins and Chuck "Jigsaw" Creekmur. Over the years, AllHipHop has solidified its position as an invaluable hub for all things Hip-Hop on the web. With its daily dose of news, exclusive interviews, in-depth reviews, multimedia content, a newly-minted expanding community, and a treasure trove of other engaging material, it has garnered immense praise and a dedicated following.
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0:00
Hi, I'm Kim Osorio
0:09
What's up, I'm Malik Bui. And we are the producers of a new documentary, Tale of the Tape
0:15
How the mixtape revolutionized hip hop. You like my background singing. I like that
0:19
I like that. I like that. Make sure you check it out on Amazon, Verizon, and Spectrum
0:25
Check it out on Red Summer TV as well. Thank you, allhiphop.com. So All Hip Hop is in the building with two legends, Malik Bui and Kim Osorio, who I have
0:34
had relationships with for a very long time. Much respect. I'm glad you're on the platform
0:41
I always wanted to get the both of you here, live and in person
0:45
It's like a dream come true. Right. Thank you. It's a dream come true
0:49
Thank you, Chuck. You are here promoting a documentary called Tale of the Tape. Yep
0:54
I don't know if you're going to give us the full title, but tell us about this documentary
1:01
what started it, what prompted it, and how long it's been in the works
1:06
Tale of the Tape. How the mixtape revolutionized hip hop. Man, we've been working on this for a long time
1:14
Long time. It's been a minute. It's been a minute. I can go back
1:18
I can remember 2016, I feel like we were working in the edit or something
1:25
Yeah, we were in the edit by that point. But yeah, look, mixtape culture has influenced hip hop infinitely
1:35
The biggest artists today, the greatest DJs ever, mixtapes are the connective tissue
1:42
And through my years of storytelling, it always kind of just came up and I was like, I have
1:46
to tell this story. It has to be told our way. And that's what sparked it
1:56
So tell us who's in this documentary. You have a lot of superstars, some of which, maybe a little bit before they were megastars
2:04
but not only the DJs, but there's a lot of notables. Yeah
2:09
I mean, to me, it's always cool when you're able to have a great relationship, rapport
2:14
with these artists when they're on the cusp. It's when you get, you know, their really true and unfiltered self
2:22
So from early Kendrick, Cole, you know, Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, Future
2:30
That Future interview was the first time Future had ever been his first press date
2:34
He was sober as hell. He was really sober. I'm not joking
2:39
He was a creeper in the background. He was mad clear. Like, I'm not trying to be funny, but it was before this thing that we see now
2:47
Before he blew up. It's funny because I interview him maybe three years later
2:52
He's a huge superstar. He walks in a room, shades. I'm like, Future what up? Right. Yeah
2:59
A whole different person. All good, though. All good. I was going to say, I think that's the thing about storytelling and being a storyteller
3:04
in this culture, right? One of the things we know is like how valuable content is. Right
3:10
Like, you sitting here today with this interview. Yeah. Tomorrow, I could, you know, be accepting my Oscar. Yes
3:17
And I have this interview. Yeah. But, you know, I think that's something we tried to do really early on. Right
3:24
Getting in with people, making sure. And as you can see, a lot of the interviews we got, you know, even some of them I go back
3:29
go back like over 10 years ago. Definitely. Right. And so like throughout the years, just continuing to have this conversation with people and
3:35
get them on, you know, get the footage, get them on tape and then be able to build the
3:40
story afterwards. Yeah. I can honestly say I'm proud to be in this documentary
3:46
I was glad to see me and I sound. I was glad to see me
3:51
I was. I was glad to see me. Make sure you check out TaylorTaylor.com
3:57
I'm in it. You are in it. But you're a voice of the culture. After
4:01
Look, I ain't gonna lie. After seeing the celeb status, all these major heavy hitters, I was like, yo, I'm not going
4:10
to be I'm gonna be in there for like two seconds. So to get some time, you were in there longer than you were in there
4:16
Let me tell you why you in there longer than you want. I learned early on in my career when I first started doing interviews in television is
4:22
that producers, when they're shaping these stories, can't shape the story that they want
4:27
to tell with celebrities. That's just the truth. Right. So you you get somebody in a chair, you do an interview and you're like, let me ask them
4:36
the questions and they got to promote stuff and you can put it together. But when you're actually writing, because I wrote the doc. Right
4:42
So when you're actually writing and you're putting the story together, you need people that are going to bridge the story. Right
4:49
But by helping you tell it and convey what you want to convey
4:55
So journalists, we are we are storytellers. And a lot of times producers are pulling interviews that we're doing because we're providing
5:09
the backbone to the story. So that's why the way you speak, you're speaking, you know, I'm not going to say as an outsider
5:16
because we're very, very integrated into the culture, but not someone who's hands on
5:21
It's one of the reasons why we decided to partner up with DJ Envy for the documentary
5:25
because we wanted to make sure even in our storytelling that we had someone on the inside
5:30
that was actually a part of the mixtape culture. Like we're fans of the culture, but he was actually hands on as a DJ and coming up, you
5:39
know, we've seen him kind of grow into his career. So it was the reason why we decided to collaborate with Envy. Yeah
5:46
And, you know, speaking of that, the the fight for legacy is always present
5:54
And I feel like journalists can tell it maybe more objectively than others
6:00
There were some points where I was like, is that, you know, is this the truth
6:04
Is that the truth? How much were you guys fighting to for people jockeying for position, you know, as the first
6:13
to do this or, you know, whatever? Look, we let people express themselves however they were going to do that
6:21
You know, there's a point in the documentary where SNS says, you know, Clue took my whole
6:27
style from me. Right. Now, I'm sure Clue hears that and is like, what
6:32
That's not what happened. But that's OK. Right. You know what I mean
6:36
All these guys really were an integral part of the culture, really important for what
6:41
they did to help push the music forward. All of them were pretty much like use the other one as a, you know, launching pad or
6:50
you know, basically, you know, grabbing some knowledge from the other one. Right
6:56
You know what I mean? And pushing it forward. You know, Brucey B. being one of the first, he may not be the first, but he's definitely
7:01
one of the first. You know what I mean? Brucey B? Brucey B. Yeah
7:06
And then, you know, all the way up to a guy like Drama, who, you know, now has this amazing record label with super success, etc
7:12
It all traces back to that. Yeah. One of the things that I've learned is that if you aren't going to tell your own story
7:21
somebody is going to tell it for you. So the next time we call you for interview, come do the interview because you will have
7:28
to have, you know, it's better to have your own voice, right, to be able to say what your
7:33
piece is. And I think that that's part of that's just part of storytelling
7:37
A lot of times it's hard, right? Access to celebrities or people in the culture can be hard
7:44
People want to get paid for interviews. I'm not saying that was the case. Nobody go crazy
7:48
I'm just saying these days and what we do, the game has changed
7:52
So this is a project that was a labor of love that we poured our own time and money into
7:58
And, you know, we kind of go out just with our relationships and try to pull people in
8:02
so we can tell the story. Because I think us telling the story is very, very critical because if we don't tell it
8:09
somebody's going to tell it for us. Who didn't you get that you wanted to get or that said no or didn't make time
8:15
I think there were a lot of people that we went after. I'll let Malik speak because he did the interviews primarily and I don't have firsthand knowledge
8:22
of I know who wasn't in there where I might have been like, what happened to so and so
8:26
or this? And I was a very big I was very big on make sure we have women speaking and that was even
8:33
harder. Right. Because the representation of women just across the board of hip hop is always very low. Right
8:40
I think that's one of the first things I told you. I was like, what women do over and over again? Yeah
8:45
You said, where are the women? Where are the women? And he said, over and over. And that's true
8:49
That was that was one of my big questions. Thank you, DJ Diamond Cut. She was the first woman interview we did
8:55
Also Vashti. Thank you, Vashti. Vashti. Karen Civil. Karen Civil did an interview as well
9:00
So we did have like, you know, some voices from women in the culture. Yes
9:06
Shout out to the to the ladies. And Jazzy Joyce. Jazzy Joyce
9:11
Jazzy Joyce. I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. It's to who we didn't get
9:16
I mean, we went out to everybody. We really wanted to get Ronji. We weren't able to get
9:21
I was going to say, yeah, we really wanted to get Ronji. No, I don't know what you want
9:25
I don't know what you want. Yeah. But we don't know. Yeah
9:29
He's a big, big part of the story that we didn't get. Youngest in charge. Yeah
9:34
You know, look, man, Ron is super talented. He was, you know, I want to say started the blend mixtape, you know what I mean
9:42
And then was producing for other artists. Regardless of whether or not he was going to come through and do an interview, we were
9:48
going to speak to him. We were going to cover it. And we did. You know, it's still covered in the documentary, I think, from Other People's POV
9:56
Why aren't there that many women mixtape DJs? I mean, there are some, but it's..
10:04
Why aren't there that many women CEOs? Or you know what I'm saying
10:10
It's not the same though. Well, I know what you're saying, but... It's not quite the same
10:14
I feel like we as women are always fighting to be heard
10:18
And I believe that I'm sure there are a lot of, well, mixtapes
10:24
The way you define mixtapes is different these days, right? So like, I'm thinking of back then
10:30
I remember being at the Source magazine and, you know, having the front desk call me and
10:36
say, Lazy Kay is here to see you. And I'm like, I don't know Lazy Kay
10:40
And her crew came in, like, you know, like demanding to be covered in the magazine
10:45
Not demanding, I shouldn't say it like that, but just kind of like we want to be heard, right? Why
10:50
You know, this is one of the only representations of female mixtape DJ out
10:55
And, you know, I thought that was commendable. I was like, oh shit, you know, I appreciate that. I respected that
10:59
So I feel like it's just always been an uphill battle for women. Yeah
11:03
By the way, I used to love the Murder Mommies. They weren't only DJs, but yeah, I used to love them
11:08
Lady L, right? Lady L? Yes, yes. They gave me a jacket and everything
11:12
I still got the jacket. I still got the jacket in my basement. You gotta wear that next interview
11:16
That's funny. So what was y'all's favorite mixtape era? So there's the early mixtape era, then there's sort of the golden age and, you know, the
11:30
rapper mixtape era, then there's even internet mixtape. Like what was your favorite
11:37
Mine was probably golden era, 94 to 97. Doo Wop. Doo Wop 95 Live was my favorite mixtape period, right
11:49
It was one of the first mixtapes I had. Stars from every borough together on one
11:53
You know, Doo Wop, he's dope lyricist. His crew, the Bounce Squad, can spit
11:59
You know, they would come down Morgan State, do TTC parties. Like amazing
12:03
You know what I mean? So that's my favorite era. I think my favorite era is early 90s, right
12:10
When I was out there going to buy the mixtapes as they came out, listen to music first
12:15
But then I don't want to show my age, so yeah. I think my favorite, honestly, as crazy as this might sound, is the very beginning of
12:22
the internet era. Really? Yeah, because they were doing stuff I couldn't do
12:27
Like, I named Dirty Harry when we talked to Envy. Dirty Harry was putting these incredible, I guess, based in the early computer era
12:38
and his mashups or whatever were like, I can't do that. I could blend back in the day and stuff
12:46
I couldn't obviously get certain rappers on tape, but yeah, Dirty Harry is probably
12:52
one of the unheralded heroes. Queens is like a breeding ground for mixtape DJs
13:01
It's kind of like football players in Florida, Texas. They all come, a lot come from Queens
13:08
Like Envy said, J.Dell and Rello, and a bunch of other guys
13:13
You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. So what do you guys want people to take away from this documentary
13:20
I almost want to call it a mixtape, because it's like, you guys put together a pretty
13:24
impressive ensemble of people. What's the takeaway? I mean, I want them to understand and appreciate the legacy and the history of what mixtape
13:35
DJs have contributed to the culture. That's number one. I want them to understand that, you know, your biggest artist, your favorite artist
13:44
this is truly where they come from. I would say, I really want people to start getting into the nuances of storytelling in
13:52
hip hop, right? Going deeper into the history of the culture, into people that aren't as celebrated, but
13:59
that were really the foundation of what we see is a billion dollar business today
14:07
Is there going to be a part two of Tale of the Tape? Yes. Tale of the Tape
14:12
There is, definitely. Yes. We want to keep this going. You know, and I think that there are definitely all of these genres that we can explore beyond
14:22
just the mixtapes, beyond DJing, right? But there's so much going on
14:28
There's so many little pockets of hip hop, right? And right now in this day and age of social media, I feel like everything is so like everyone
14:39
is just following the same story, right? You wake up, what's the story of the day
14:43
And it's just there. And then it's like we're programmed to follow that
14:48
But I want to start getting deeper into the layers of it all. Yeah
14:52
One thing I noticed that it wasn't as much representation of the South and West Coast
14:59
I feel like I'm back at the source when you asked me that question. Why? Because I'm from New York
15:03
I'm from the Bronx. But I dealt with that when I was at the source, right
15:09
It was always, hey, why are you not representing these other cultures, right
15:16
I feel like as you expand and as you grow, kind of like when I think of a mixtape, I think of it starting here in the five boroughs
15:22
But right as you expand and grow, you start to add people that come from those other regions
15:26
to help you define that story. Because I could never tell you what was going on in West Coast
15:30
Not me. Yeah. You know, maybe a little bit of the South
15:34
But as a storyteller, isn't that your... Absolutely. That's what I'm saying
15:38
I always like to make sure that the story I'm telling is very authentic
15:43
So I dive into the story. I'm going to go get the interviews. But I like to partner with people who are actually from within there
15:49
So I feel like that's what we want to grow into, right? We want to be able to expand
15:53
And I'll let Malik continue on that as well, just because I don't want to like... That was a defensive..
15:57
Yeah, it was. Because... Yeah, it was. It was because, you know, I have often had to be defensive in that argument when it comes
16:09
to the representation of what we did back then at The Source in hip hop, right
16:14
You hear it all the time. And I kind of came into my position there in the year 2000
16:21
So even though I was writing for the magazine before that, I took over in that position
16:29
around the time where the South was dominating. So I had to make it my business to find that, because, you know, my preference is always
16:39
you know, my hip hop expertise comes from here. But I had to go into the South and really make sure that we were representing where
16:48
hip hop was going, because it moved to Atlanta back then, and I ain't seen it since
16:52
No, I'm kidding. Dude, you know what I'm saying? You're right, though. You're right
16:56
It moved to Atlanta. I mean... Everyone lives down there. The whole New York is in Atlanta
17:02
They have Queens Day in Atlanta. I'm like, what the hell is that? They got Bronx Day in Atlanta. Yeah
17:06
When you're in Atlanta, they have like... I'm like, what's happening? That's crazy
17:10
Can I go in? No, I'm not going into Atlanta to go to Bronx Day
17:14
That's crazy. But there will be other places. You're going to Queens Day? No, no
17:18
I'm from Brooklyn, but I will go and hang out, because I know a lot of friends there
17:22
They don't have Brooklyn Day in Atlanta? Not yet. Not yet? It's coming
17:27
It's coming. But no, there will be other parts where we explore Southern DJs, DJs from the West Coast
17:32
et cetera. I think that's part of the expansion, too, as we continue to tell these stories
17:37
My homie, Mr. Glass, said they had crazy tapes on the West Coast
17:42
Crazy tapes. I believe it. But that's what I'm saying. I didn't..
17:46
I wasn't out there. Yeah. That's not an excuse, Kim. No, it is an excuse
17:51
It's only one hour in this documentary. Right. That's a fact. It's one hour
17:56
So we have to start with the foundation, and then we're going to go from there. I still love the L.A. version
17:59
Yeah, there you go. They're going to love it. Who's your favorite rapper mixtape artist
18:04
Or rapper mixtape? Which is kind of touched on in the doc, but it's not fully..
18:12
That could be a whole hour in itself. I'll tell you mine
18:20
Well, okay, 50 Cent was... Let's just put 50 to the side. Right. Okay
18:26
I'm going to go with Mood Music, the first one. For me, I'm going to go Big Sean in the Finally Famous series. Okay
18:35
I'm going to plead the fifth. Plead the fifth? Why? Because I might have a favorite, and I might not want to say their name and shout it out
18:41
Because I just don't feel like it today. Okay. All right. They'll be like, did you see that? Okay. Okay
18:48
She bigged that person up. Not today. All right. Tomorrow. All right. Tomorrow
18:54
That's my Gemini energy. What's next for y'all, and what do y'all want people to walk away from this doc
19:03
So again, what's next is there will be several other documentaries in the same..
19:08
For the series, the Tale of the Tape series. Okay. Right. Straight up
19:13
I want people to follow Red Circle TV, follow Tale of the Tape on IG. Okay
19:19
And you'll get a lot of behind the scenes footage, and you'll see what's coming up next in our projects. Okay
19:25
So Kim, back to you. Was it Kanye West? Somebody said... This interview is brought to you by Chuck Creekworm, allhiphop.com. Nevermind. Nevermind
19:36
All right. All right. What's next for you, Kim? Always grinding. I am still kind of heavy into the television world
19:44
So I'm working on a proof of concept right now for a particular network. And a lot of people know me from some of the shows that I've just recently produced, Impact
19:51
in New York being one. So it's just really being able to put our own time into the projects that we love to do
20:03
So I have a couple... It's hard for TV, because with TV, you can't say what you're working on. Right
20:09
So a lot of the stuff that I've worked on that has been on air recently, I did two years ago. Right
20:17
I mean, this one is 10 years old. But when you're in it and when you're working on it, you can't put it out there
20:24
A lot of times when people say, what's next for you? I'm like, oh, I'm working on this project that, you know, it's very secretive
20:32
It's a lot. He said NDAs. So last question. Who won the battle
20:38
J. Cole, Drake or Kendrick Lamar? I think that's an easy question
20:44
Well answer it then. I mean, it was obviously Kendrick. I told you he was my top artist for the last two years on Apple Music
20:52
So still, I'll tell you this. Over the last year, I have had to call people to get my 17 year old daughter tickets to
21:06
the Drake concert. Right. Because she's big on Drake and Kendrick. And then after Not Like Us, she was in my car and she was rapping the records
21:18
And I tried to put on a Drake song and she said, no, we don't do Drake anymore
21:25
And I was like, oh, wow. These kids are really serious about this
21:31
So that already made me say like, OK, he clearly won. Things changed
21:39
Yeah, the kids are riding with Kendrick. At least from what I'm seeing
21:43
That's listen, I've before you answer, because I still want your answer
21:47
I've got a friend from Canada who speaks at high schools. He's a rapper who speaks on the high school level in Canada, in Toronto
21:57
Let me specify. He said every high school he went to since this whole thing started has said Kendrick won
22:06
Hands down. It was mind blowing. I talk to kids. They get in my car
22:10
I'm like, this is, you know, I mean, I think he won, but this is what the kids are saying, too. Yeah. Right
22:18
And by the way, a certain influencer business person said still says Drake won
22:22
And I was like, I, homie, I don't know what you're trying to
22:26
The person I was just in here. Accomplished. No, someone else. Oh, I was like, um, yeah, I mean
22:35
People are going to. Pick sides. Yeah. And be on the side they want to be on
22:39
But I think it's very obvious. OK. Yeah. I mean, the last song by Drake
22:46
Not like us put it over the top. Right. I was actually impressed by Drake's record before that
22:54
It was like seven minutes. If he didn't do like a little singing and family, he should not have done the singing
23:00
and addressing Ross and A$AP Minerva wouldn't straight at Kendrick. I think we I think we're speaking differently. Yeah
23:08
I'm going to go with Kendrick all day. J. Cole wanted to bow out
23:12
And that's totally fine. Yeah. If we're talking like basketball terms, he reminds me like Kevin Durant
23:16
I can't. Durant don't really want to. He can be the man. But he don't want to be the man. Yeah
23:22
He's like, he's fine with that. We know he's talented. We know he's dope. And that's fine
23:26
Plus, Kendrick is in a Tale of the Tape documentary, so we can't get a PSA and Cole
23:31
That's right. It's a shout out to them. It was good seeing J. Cole with a fresh Caesar
23:36
Tobias Harris. That's what they say. They call him Tobias Harris. Tobias Harris look
23:40
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Definitely. All right. Thank you for joining us at All Hip Hop
23:44
Y'all are two legends who we will have individually in the near future. Thanks Chuck. Thank you for having us.
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