0:03
hey guys how you doing my name is Chuck
0:05
creeker I'm the CEO co-founder of
0:16
everything everything's going on it's
0:18
great to see you guys working on this
0:20
Amazing Project Warriors legendary film
0:27
obviously I wanted to ask you why this
0:33
medium um the shortest answer um is this
0:38
movie is my most watched movie I saw it
0:41
like most 80s kids on a friend's VHS
0:44
when I was too young to see it and um
0:48
and have enjoyed the fact that it is
0:51
like a a totem of hip-hop um ever since
0:54
like I I I gasp every time an MC
0:57
references it so I gasp pretty often
0:59
from from ODB to Common to LL just two
1:03
weeks ago with the new album opening
1:05
track Spirit of Cyrus um and I think I
1:08
think part of the power of the movie and
1:11
and its hold on hip hop and and the
1:13
culture is that it doesn't judge its
1:16
characters yeah it's like it just puts
1:18
us in the situation like every gang in
1:21
New York's going to the Bronx with the
1:22
promise of peace that promise is
1:24
shattered the Warriors are blamed and we
1:26
just got to get back home and I think
1:30
that's a very Universal beautiful clear
1:33
story um and you know in so it's been in
1:37
my head for a long time I knew that I
1:40
needed someone smarter and cooler than
1:42
me who's been making hip-hop theater
1:44
longer than me uh and so I called Issa
1:46
to work on it with me and we've been
1:47
working on it for the past few years
1:49
yeah and this medium was really dope
1:51
because we got to work with Mike alzando
1:55
producing and of course you know we all
1:56
know Mike alzando from his iconic work
2:01
Eminem um with bust 50 you know um and
2:08
he's someone who like us you know has a
2:11
very I want to say like widespread uh uh
2:17
like appreciation of music like he loves
2:20
every single genre that there is as we
2:23
do and we got to put pretty much all of
2:26
those on the album you know and we got
2:28
to work with him in his Studio outside
2:30
of Nashville with a band right to just
2:33
really make the sound um something that
2:36
we thought maybe someone will sample
2:38
this someday you know um it was just
2:41
really exciting to be able to do that on
2:43
an album in a way that you would never
2:44
be able to do on yeah I could never
2:46
imagine remaking the movie so we made a
2:49
musical love letter to the movie yeah so
2:52
the obvious question is Stage
2:55
production I know at one point you
2:58
didn't feel like it would work but what
3:02
are your thoughts now well I think that
3:06
I think that musically exploring it this
3:08
way cracked it for us because my big
3:11
thing was like action movies and
3:13
musicals are always fighting for the
3:14
same real estate right in an action
3:16
movie when you can't talk anymore you
3:18
fight when you can't sing when you can't
3:19
talk anymore in a musical you sing and
3:22
so that's a tricky divide but the fun of
3:25
doing it as an album is we score it and
3:28
you create the action sequence in your
3:30
head and we kind of did every approach
3:32
like there's songs where by the end of
3:34
the song they've won the fight there's
3:35
songs where you hear the fight in Vivid
3:37
detail where we dilate a moment and
3:40
you're hearing every blow land um and so
3:43
in in doing lots of different approaches
3:45
on the album I think we've made it
3:47
easier for someone to one day down the
3:49
line stage it because we've given them
3:52
the blueprint but but just we just sort
3:54
of forgave ourselves for like we we
3:56
don't have to Stage a fight and write a
4:00
let's just write SS that tell story as
4:03
and this is something you know that when
4:05
ly was working on Hamilton originally
4:07
that was going to be just Hamilton
4:09
mixtape first right and then a show so
4:13
in some ways you know this is like being
4:15
able to do that right was is to have the
4:18
album first um and yeah who knows what
4:21
this show will be it's it's question
4:24
we're not being koi we don't have like a
4:25
secret director producer I will tell you
4:27
nas can't wait for the show
4:31
like he was he came aboard because we
4:33
told him we were working on this and
4:35
that's his favorite movie and he was
4:37
like I I I can't wait till I can watch
4:40
this every night so um you know he's
4:42
he's been a big cheerleader and advocate
4:44
in terms of getting the album M and I
4:46
think you know we really just wanted to
4:48
make the album it's an oral experience
4:50
but you really are it you're supposed to
4:53
be Imagining the entire world so it's
4:55
just very visual in terms of what all of
4:58
the lyrics are you know and the sound
5:02
yeah absolutely we've seen some of these
5:04
types of albums in the past um Prince
5:07
Paul most recent well thieves yeah ABS
5:11
yeah classic legendary class so you're
5:14
you're very aare steady
5:18
slobin hip hop and theater is an
5:21
interesting Rel you know they it's
5:23
there's an interesting relationship I
5:24
think Hamilton absolutely really broke
5:27
down a lot of walls and barriers what
5:30
are your thoughts on the relationship
5:32
and and how it's matured or
5:35
evolved well listen I mean you're
5:36
talking to one of the architects of it
5:38
because you know Issa wrote an amazing
5:41
play called Angela's mixtape that does
5:44
that she's a Pioneer in hip-hop theater
5:47
and um you know existed long before I
5:49
was writing anything um I remember Danny
5:52
Hawk coming to speak at Wesleyan the
5:54
year I was writing in the Heights my
5:56
sophomore year and will power I mean
6:00
there's a whole world of amazing hip-hop
6:02
theater practitioners proud to be a part
6:04
of that um and you know I think the for
6:09
me what they share is is is placing
6:11
storytelling first and foremost and and
6:14
the fun has been in um really like again
6:19
like getting our arms around all of it
6:21
like we get to tell you the story of
6:23
Warriors but we also get to have an MC
6:25
from every burrow represent their
6:27
Burrows um in that opening number um so
6:31
it's for us it's just like yes and yeah
6:35
I think with hip-hop theater um which
6:39
I've long been an advocate of as Lynn is
6:41
saying you know there's a really really
6:43
strong lineage it's I think that theater
6:47
has can have hip-hop in it and Hip-Hop
6:50
can have theater in it if you think
6:51
about you know all the storytelling of a
6:53
Slick Rick for example you know or you
6:55
think about again you talked about
6:57
Prince Paul or like all the day last
6:59
skits right so it can be right there and
7:02
and I think theater is just broad enough
7:04
and is a mother art and it can hold all
7:07
of these different genres can hold all
7:09
you know music visual Traditions from
7:12
everywhere you know so I think that
7:14
they're they're beautifully matched you
7:16
know um people always talk about like
7:19
Shakespeare being like you know a
7:20
hip-hop you know MC you know what I mean
7:23
and something that actually goes to this
7:25
particular project is that one of the
7:27
very first pieces of hip-hop theater I
7:29
ever saw was something called Club 12
7:32
which was a hip-hop version of 12 night
7:34
that Miss Lauren Hill was in and what's
7:37
even Wilder is that I was working at the
7:40
time for Craig colan who you know runs
7:44
Atlantic but this is back when he had
7:46
his house label Big Beat Records so it's
7:48
just all been really incredible the
7:51
Serendipity of this project um but yeah
7:54
I think you know there's there's so many
7:56
different you know people like um um
8:00
what was the the Tupac show do you
8:03
remember that if you hear me holla if
8:04
you hear me um you know up against the
8:07
wind was another one that had Anthony
8:09
Mackey in it um you know I mean there
8:12
there's just such a strong strong
8:14
tradition of hip-hop theater and it it's
8:17
not as unexpected a collaboration as you
8:20
would think I'm definitely going to send
8:22
both of you some information on um
8:24
Master Ace's new film falling teas and
8:27
out oh we're we're we're going to see it
8:29
we're just wait we' just been trying to
8:30
line up dates yeah with Master Ace but
8:33
we're in touch with him oh good I sent a
8:35
a word through my my man Rigs and I know
8:37
you know yeah yeah yeah yeah rigs has
8:39
been trying to set it up we just got to
8:40
get on the other side of the press tour
8:42
and we're gonna watch I can't wait to
8:43
see I love long longtime fan M days yeah
8:46
and I think I think I used to work for
8:49
rap sheet if you remember rap sheet oh
8:51
I'm a journalist heck yeah yes so I
8:54
worked for rap sheet in La um like my
8:57
first interview was diable planets when
9:00
they were guests on In Living Color it
9:02
was also their first interview Chate to
9:05
my and like was in the studio when like
9:08
Dre was recording The Chronic with Snoop
9:10
so it was such an amazing time it was
9:13
such an amazing time and you know that
9:16
always even if I'm not working on
9:18
something that's hip-hop that time just
9:20
like informs my work always we're
9:24
Kindred spars my first Was A Tribe
9:26
Called Quest and and black sheep Black
9:29
Sheep so yeah yeah great great times
9:32
great times now Lauren Hill as Cyrus
9:35
you're reimagining some things can y'all
9:38
talk about that a little bit just the um
9:41
yeah we had no plan B for Cyrus like
9:44
Lauren Hill was the only MC we could
9:46
imagine that would unite everyone in New
9:48
York like it's at midnight and it's in
9:50
the South Bronx it's Lauren Hill we got
9:52
to go um so again like I think it's a
9:55
testament to her work that all these
9:58
years after missed a we still talk about
10:01
that as one of the greatest hip-hop
10:02
albums of all time and and there's an
10:04
authority that comes with that songw
10:07
writing and her spirit that made her the
10:10
most credible unifying force uh for uh
10:14
our album in particular especially with
10:16
our female warriors being like if
10:18
they're going to leave the safety of the
10:20
neighborhood they've made their own like
10:22
it's to see Miss Hill as Cyrus uh in the
10:26
South Bronx and you know me texting
10:29
every week for a year until we got a
10:32
Dropbox with these incredible vocals um
10:35
and um it's amazing we we never had a
10:37
plan B for that totally yeah okay what
10:41
um will there be any other changes um to
10:44
the story line that we can talk about or
10:48
it depends when's your piece
10:49
running uh when you want it to
10:52
run CU I think after the album comes out
10:54
I think it's all fair game but like I
10:56
will say that like I think one of the
10:58
things Issa hooked in into when when she
11:00
came aboard was there's this promise of
11:03
peace that gets everyone to the South
11:05
Bronx in the first place and in the
11:07
movie that really shatters as soon as
11:09
Cyrus is assassinated um and Issa
11:12
without spoilers if this runs beforehand
11:15
has found a way to bring that promise of
11:17
peace throughout so that it doesn't die
11:19
when Cyrus dies um in a way that I think
11:22
is really powerful and also organic to
11:25
the story like it was always in the
11:26
movie it just it wasn't it wasn't like
11:29
brought to the Forefront so I think that
11:31
you know with me having seen that movie
11:33
when I was four and having no critical
11:36
distance from it it's just my most
11:37
watched movie um to Issa who came in
11:41
with with and and latched onto certain
11:43
things like what we've created together
11:44
or something neither of us could have
11:45
created alone yeah because I think you
11:48
know the assassination of that Cyrus
11:51
character you know um it creates this
11:54
chaos right but it also I think goes
11:58
back to this question that we can always
12:01
look at when it comes to you know how
12:03
assassinations have changed our history
12:05
in this country is what was the message
12:09
what was the message of the person who
12:11
was taken out and that that is something
12:14
that never dies it's like Martin Luther
12:16
King's dream Never Dies Malcolm X's
12:18
dreams they don't die and that's what we
12:20
wanted to you know make sure was
12:22
manifest in this album okay can I okay
12:25
this is a tough question but can you
12:27
guys give me maybe a joint top five that
12:30
are alive are you guys a Miss Lauren
12:32
Hill is one of them she's on mine yeah
12:35
um I actually I have pun on mine
12:39
thrilled we have Chris rivers on on our
12:41
album I I put I I put also
12:46
like Andre 3000 we have a yes Andre 3000
12:51
and I that also goes for guest versus
12:53
he's in my top five I have an album of
12:55
just I have a playlist that's just his
12:57
guest versus in my in my playlist cuz
13:00
that's like that's damn near two albums
13:02
worth of material since uh since Outcast
13:05
I also have to add Chuck D i course the
13:08
power is in my type right NASA's in mine
13:11
you're also GNA see a little west coast
13:13
East Coast divide here just from the bay
13:16
um how many do I have uh I know I just
13:19
said two or three three I think I mean
13:24
God it's it's so tough when you always
13:25
say the top five because they they just
13:29
I also want to put in kind of combined
13:31
is de la fair enough of course you know
13:35
combined yeah like including and then
13:38
just because it's the first songs I
13:39
learned growing up is krs1 oh yes I mean
13:43
that's so bdp was like oh my gosh bdp
13:45
the songs I learned on the bus like beef
13:48
what a relief right oh my God I'm gonna
13:52
put my throwback uh playlist on
13:55
yeah hey guys I just wanted to say thank
13:59
last question uh and you answer quickly
14:02
because they're on me um streaming
14:05
albums you know albums are not a thing
14:07
anymore you know it's single based um
14:10
can you quickly discuss the the the the
14:14
putting together of an album a body of
14:16
work versus singles and um the the the
14:20
the consumption of today well yeah I
14:23
mean it's just you know we wrote it as a
14:25
narrative so that you know every single
14:27
point is connected like all the dots are
14:30
connected and we want that entire Arc to
14:32
be something that people will listen to
14:35
so it's just kind of like you know a a
14:37
turbo version of an album a concept
14:40
album right it's that every single track
14:43
you know affects the others and that's
14:46
why it's important to listen to the
14:47
whole thing and not put it on shuffle
14:49
you know and not listen to it as a
14:50
single but the whole of it and we know
14:52
folks love to read along still even if
14:55
it's a single because when Kendrick came
14:57
out he broke genius.com for 20 minutes
15:00
we were together when that happened we
15:01
were like where are the lyrics you broke
15:04
it so you know our hope is that people
15:07
listen to this and read along you know
15:10
you can go to your website of choice
15:11
we're going to make a PDF downloadable
15:13
available even for streamers so that
15:15
even if you didn't buy the vinyl you can
15:17
download like all the lyrics and read
15:19
them the way we formatted them and
15:21
edited them yeah um uh but yeah that's
15:24
our hope is that people people come back
15:26
to 79 with us and read along yeah thank
15:28
you I salute you both continue thank you
15:32
so much great to talk to you you too
