Slick Rick
As part of the Red Bull Music Academy World Tour 2011, five hip-hop legends – each representing one of the five boroughs of New York, the birthplace of hip-hop – took to the couch over five days, discussing five legendary albums. In this session, the Bronx’s Slick Rick talked about his inspirations, playing characters on record, and making his seminal album The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick.
Hosted by Jeff “Chairman” Mao Ladies and gentlemen, won’t you please join me in welcoming the one and
only Slick Rick. [applause] Slick Rick Check, check. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO How’re you doing today, sir? Slick Rick I’m all right, Jeff. What’s up? JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO It’s a great honor to have you here in the Bronx, where I do believe it’s said
the people are fresh. Slick Rick Yeah. OK, all right. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Tell me what the Bronx means to you. You were not born in the Bronx, however,
this has been your home for some time. Slick Rick The Bronx is like, the birthplace of hip hop, it’s a multicultural place. A
lot of Latins, mixed with blacks, you know what I mean, and we just had fun.
Breakdancing, doing our thing, growing up. Hip hop became a toy for us,
instead of graffiti and all the rest of that stuff. So, we just worked it to
where it is now. I mean, it’s a cultural thing. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO What’s your first memories of encountering hip hop as a kid living here,
moving here from England? Slick Rick I guess it was the big boomboxes, the older brothers that had the big
boomboxes, and they would be playing breakbeat records, “Daisy
Lady,” “Impeach The
President,” and whatever was
happening before mixing and like that. On the back of the trains, and stuff
like that. And it was just very stimulating, it was like meat and potatoes. So
pretty much it was like taking wack records and taking the meat and potatoes
and then keeping it moving like that, and then rapping on top of it. There
used to be a group called Daisy Ladies, I remember them, they used to be hot,
‘cause females, you know, the whole tomboy look was hot back then. Everything
was flavor, you know? So, if you’re in a small community, where you have
little options, you get to drawing on the walls, doing little things with your
body to make yourself different from everybody else or whatever, your raps,
whatever’s clever. So, it was a fun time for us, yeah. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Where’d you grow up in this area? Slick Rick I grew up, 233rd Street, 241st Street, it’s a little further up, all the way
in the north, but I used to play around here, ‘cause it’s more stimulating,
you know? [laughs] JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Now, you’ve obviously inspired many people to pick up the mic and become MCs.
Who were some of the people who inspired you back then? Slick Rick The Cold Crush Brothers inspired me the most, ‘cause they had good routines,
and they picked good records to rap on. They pretty much come from the Bronx,
so they did their things in the schoolyard, so it’s all free, so we’d get to
see a lot of stuff or hear a lot of stuff loud, which is also very
stimulating. You hear the whole thing real loud in the streets. It was a lot
of fun. So, Cold Crush Brothers I’d have to say was one. I’d have to say Busy
Bee was one, you know, with his “Bah-diddy-bah-do-bang-do-bang.” And that was
pretty much it for me, for the Bronx. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Perfect that you should mention those guys, because anybody that studies music
and knows the history and knows your catalogue can sort of see some of that
influence, from, say, a Cold Crush, and their singing routines, or Busy Bee or
Grandmaster Caz, with his storytelling. Now, you know him for storytelling,
for a lot of us, hip hop storytelling is divided between before Slick Rick and
after. So, how did that develop for you, the signature sort of style of yours? Slick Rick Well, when I was going to high school, English was probably my favourite
subject, so you know, you study essays, how you write an essay. You have your
beginning, then you have your body and your end, like “Teacher, Teacher.” So
that’s pretty much what rap was, it was like three verses, story-style. You
start with a beginning, what you’re going to talk about, then you get the body
is what the, you know, the whole thing, and then the end is, even “The
Message,” Melle Mel’s “Don’t push me ‘cause I’m close to the edge,” or
whatever. You know which one I’m talking about. So, pretty much it was like an
essay. I write like essays, stories, mostly positive endings or whatever the
case like that. That’s pretty much my style, like that. And humor. Throw in
some humor, you know, kids, you know how it goes. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Always humor, yeah. Tell us a little bit about the Kangol crew, for those who
may not be aware of who those folks are and how that crew formed. Slick Rick The Kangol crew was basically a high school group, Dana Dane was one of the
members. We didn’t have turntables and mixers, none of that stuff. We was
poor. So, we just banged on the desk and made up cute routines and vibed with
the whole school with our routines. We went to music and art, multicultural
school, you know? And then we used to wear the hat, Kangol, because Kangol was
part of the fashion of the game. Anything to make you, anything to sell
yourself, you know, sexy, whatever. So we had the Kangol’s and the suit
jackets and we used to just play around like that. Then when we got famous we
took it to the TVs. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Now, was Dana Dane rhyming the way he’s known to be rhyming, I mean that seems
like you’re an influence on him, because he’s from Brooklyn originally, right? Slick Rick Yeah, Dana’s from Fort Greene. Dana didn’t use to rap like that, it was the
industry that pushed him to sound like something that sells already. They
said, “If this sells, then you should sound similar, with an English accent.”
So, he did what he had to do to get his foot in the door. Whatever’s clever
like that. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO What was the first reaction from folks when you started rhyming back then,
even before records, with your voice sounding the way it sounds, so unique. Slick Rick Well, before I had a high-pitched voice like a girl, because the voice didn’t
change yet, so nobody wasn’t checking for a kid like that. It was like, it’s
cute, whatever, but as you grew, after high school and the accent, the
maturity in the voice came out with the English accent or whatever’s clever,
it all worked together like that, you know? JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Yeah, I mean, exactly what you mentioned. I’m thinking, early ’80s, it’s more
like the old school flow, like [Grandmaster] Flash and them. And then, like ’83, we get to a
more aggressive style. But you were able to find your place. What was the
turning point, you think? Slick Rick I think it was more stories and humour and knowing how to pick the right
records to rap on, and fashion, you know, you gotta have the fashion mastered.
Like I said, the Kangols, the Clark Wallabees. Before the Clark Wallabees and
Kangol’s, it was Adidas and Pumas and um, Pro Keds. Mock necks, silver
medallions and stuff like that, and then the Bronx moved on, or really
Brooklyn too, with the Jamaican, the Clark Wallabees, and the whole suit pants
and the slacks and the shirt, it was just a mature look, so it looked good on
a young person, ‘cause you know, you look better when you’re young trying to
look old than when you’re old trying to look old. So, it looked slick to see a
young kid wearing shoes and slacks and dress shirts with a little stylish
piece of jewelry here and there and a little Kangol, and a little glasses to
sell yourself. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO You rocking the sunglasses back then? Slick Rick I used to wear like a contact lens, anything that camouflaged the eyes, ‘cause
the eyes is kind of messed up, and I was wearing Ray-Ban’s for a while. Then
after I while I just said, “I’m just gonna wear the patch.” And then the patch
seems to have caught on. So, I just stuck with the patch. Sometimes I wear the
glasses, but most people prefer the patch. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO How did you meet Doug E Fresh? Slick Rick I met Doug E Fresh at 170th Street on Jerome Avenue, at this rap battle they
was having over there. They used to have these rap contests in the Bronx,
where they would get all the people together to see who was the best, and
whoever win gets $1500, and a little recognition. Doug was already
established, so he was one of the judges, so me and this other kid from my
school named John Porterfield, he died, God bless him, he was in the contest
and I just went to play around. He invited me on stage with him and we just
did our thing, know what I mean, Cold Crush did that thing, too, man. So, we
did our thing and we got recognition, and Doug E said, “Yo, we should do
something together.” I was impressed with him long before that, but wasn’t
paying no attention. Like I said, he was already established, he had records,
so he would go and perform, and do his little thing. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Right. He had records on Enjoy, I think, at that time already, right, “Human Beat Box” and “Just
Having Fun” and stuff like that. Slick Rick Yeah, right. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Do you remember what you kicked that day that impressed Doug E.? Slick Rick Ooh, not really. It might have been a piece of “La Di Da Di” or something
like that. I can’t recall too clearly, but whatever it was, it made an
impression. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO So, once you guys formed together Get Fresh Crew, just tell us a little bit
about how that came together, leading up to the single you guys recorded. Slick Rick Well, Doug used to carry me around with him, when he was doing his shows,
highlight me or something on the show, like he does with Lil Vicious and
stuff. So, I would just come out and do my little “La Di Da Di” or whatever,
some small routine that made the crowd… first they would look at you like,
“Skinny nerd trying to get put on,” but then when you kicked the humor and
they got to laughing and enjoying themselves, it sold itself. So, it’s like,
“Yeah, it’s an asset.” I became an asset to Doug’s show, you know? Yeah. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO How long was “La Di Da Di” the first routine that kinda became a signature
thing for you guys, or was there something else you guys worked on? Slick Rick Yeah, we did other things, like, other little routines, but it was pretty much
“La Di Da Di” and “The Show”, you know what I mean, so “La Di Da Di” went
around, before it became a record it was already a mixtape, it was all over
the place, which surprised both of us, because it was just like a record that
wasn’t out but everybody had it on a cassette, you know what I mean, from
going to his shows. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Just from a live recording, right? Slick Rick Right. And then, I guess once his label saw the popularity of this cassette
all over the streets, they decided to make it into a record, which turned it
global. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Now, “The Show” and “La Di Da
Di,” two huge, classic hip hop
singles. How was that experience for you? I mean, you went basically from
this, what you said, a skinny kid, people looking at you funny, like, “Who is
this guy?” All of a sudden, you’re internationally known. Slick Rick Well, like I said, back then it was a hard rock thing. You had to be able to
shake or move in the hood. You know, slim guys, you don’t get much respect
unless you’re packing, you know, no disrespect or nothing. So, you know how
that goes. So, it was a nice experience, you know what I mean? I used to work
at Lehman Brothers, and places like that downtown, as a mail clerk. So, once
Doug E put me on, the difference in the finance... I used to make like $520 a
month! And that’s working every day, too. Five days a week. After taxes, $260
every two weeks, and my rent was $350. So, you can figure out, 520 minus 350
leaves how much for food and tokens, and floss and fun, and whatever? Old
English or whatever, you know what I’m saying? JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Tough to make that stretch. I always like to ask people what it’s like when
they had their day jobs, like before they blew up. Was there any cross overlap
between when you were still at Lehman Brothers and when the record was coming
out and all the buzz was starting to grow? Slick Rick Yeah, well, I was still working when the record was taking off, so it got to
the point where it was like, “You gotta leave now, kid,” you know what I’m
saying? It’s a wrap, because $260 compared, at first I was getting like $300
just to perform with the kid, and that was like, I’m doing $260 every two
weeks, after taxes, and eventually, when it just kept going and going, Madison
Square Garden-type tip, it was like, doesn’t make sense to stay at your job,
when you know you could be getting $300 a show, whatever. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO What would you say is the apex, the high point, for you and Doug E and that
original Get Fresh Crew team? What experience, what moment? Slick Rick The highlight, I guess, would be travelling overseas. We went to England, to
the BBC, to what they have over there, their Soul Train. We went to Holland
and different places. So, it was big like that for us, you know what I mean,
so it was a big experience to go across seas, to other countries. See, I’m
from England, so to go back to England, like that, you know what I’m trying to
say, is a big thing. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Did you see family when you were over there? Slick Rick Yeah, I saw a bit of family when I was over there. I mean, they don’t remember
me, I was 11-years-old when I left. I mean, they know me because they know my
parents, know what I’m saying, whatever’s clever, we grew up a little
something. But now I’m like 19, so I guess that’s like eight years later, you
know how it go, but we still had some family ties. I went back to where I used
to live, just to see the old buildings, all that kind of good stuff. And, you
know, the people treated us like celebrities, for that time. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO And you were how old around this time, then? Slick Rick I’m like 19. 19, 20, like that. 19, 20, 21, like that. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO So why did the Get Fresh Crew break up, then? What happened at that point? Slick Rick Well, it was a finance thing, you know what I mean? Because, like I said, we
was, not to blow up the kid’s spot, you know it’s his ship, so I was an
invited guest, and we just had a situation with the finances. Like, if you do
a show for, I don’t know, six grand, and you’re only getting 300, you don’t
try to say you’re starting to get crazy. You know what I’m trying to say, not
to rock the boat or nothing, so I kinda said, “Yo, I kinda need to make moves.
I don’t want to destroy your ship.” So whatever’s clever from there. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO So, you leave the Get Fresh Crew, this is around when, maybe, ’86, ’87? Slick Rick Yeah, ’87. ’86, ’87. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO And this album we’re here to talk about today comes out in ’88. So, what was
happening in those two years, in the interim? Between leaving Get Fresh Crew
and releasing [The] Great Adventures [of Slick
Rick]. Slick Rick Well, between that I was with Def Jam, so it was a new experience for me. I
had to make my own album by myself. I had to make the records, I had to make
the music, the cuts, like I told you about the essay, the whole layout of
things. And I had to make sure that I had tracks that would sell myself,
because relying on producers, well, this is my theory, because sometimes you
don’t get lucky. A lot of them producers, to make you famous, don’t always
work, know what I’m trying to say? So, I had to put my own stuff together and
make sure it sounded like a record and from scratch. And then you gotta deal
with a lot of politics with people needing to produce they records. I don’t
think they should have put out “Teenage Love” first. I think they should have
put out “Children’s Story” or “Mona Lisa,” but they put out “Teenage Love”
first. That was like trying to kill a n---a career. [laughter] You know what I’m saying? [laughs] You got Big Daddy Kane out
there, you got Rakim with
the nice fast joints. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO: So, whose idea, who can we blame? Slick Rick Well, I’m just saying it was bad. If you own a label where you’re trying to
make money, you put out your best foot forward, you know what I mean? Then you
can slow down once the cat got recognition or whatever, has built up some fan
base or something, you know what I mean? So, but other than that it was just a
learning experience. So hey, I made “Children’s Story”, I made “Mona Lisa”,
“Hey Young World”, and you know, the rest of them I made, too. But I wasn’t
too crazy about the music, except for “Lick The Balls.” [laughs] No
disrespect, and so I had to sell myself, you know what I mean? I pushed those
records and those are the ones that people remember the most. The other ones,
they were OK, but the public don’t really remember the other ones as much as
they remember the ones that I made myself. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Well, we’re gonna go through these records, so maybe we can do that now. We go
track by track, if that’s cool. All right? We’re gonna play a little piece of
each one of the songs of The Great Adventures of Slick Rick. First track we
gonna hear a little something from. (music: Slick Rick – “Treat Her Like a Prostitute” / applause) Slick Rick All right. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO All right, the song starts, “Here’s an oldie but goodie,” so what’s the
history of that? Where did that come from? Slick Rick I guess that was a humorous thing I used to do with Doug E., before we made
records. It was just something to make the crowd laugh, you know what I mean,
pretty much like that. And basically, that’s pretty much how I was playing
around back then. To make the people laugh, you know what I mean? It wasn’t no
disrespect to women, ladies and all that stuff, don’t take it personal, but it
was just something humorous, to humor people, you know what I mean. And
stories to go beside it too, to make you reflect on why the person feels so
negative towards the situation. Humor and a cute story and there it is, you
know what I mean? JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO If I remember correctly, is there like a mix that’s like a beatbox mix, on the
12? Slick Rick That was Doug E. Fresh. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Beatbox, yeah. Slick Rick That was probably a cassette, long time ago, yeah. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Now, you did the production on this track? Slick Rick Did I? No, I don’t think I did, no. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO OK. It’s funny also, I think people remember you did this song in Tougher Than Leather, a
film at the time. Slick Rick Yeah. See what I mean about selling yourself? They took it and ran with it,
and I got in their movie, so whatever’s clever. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO What are your sort of comedic influences as well, though, because these
storylines are so classic. They’re funny, but they’re raw. Did you listen to
comedy records or anything like that back in the day? Slick Rick I did listen to comedy records, but it didn’t really inspire me to do it. I
was really just being myself. I think that’s just my nature. If you study like
Cinderella and the Seven Dwarves, you’ve got one happy, one grumpy, one sad
one, Doc, and I think I fell into the happy, you know what I mean? And that’s
how humans are for real, too. There’s some people that are like happy all the
time and there’s some people that are grumpy all the time, they can’t help it,
or whatever’s clever, you know what I mean? And there’s some people that are
like Doc, always want to give you advice. No disrespect, Fab. I think I fell
in the category of happy, so I just gave off a happy ambience. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Yeah. I think it’s funny too because there’s one part in this song where you
use unique words as well, in your songs. There’s this one part, I can’t
remember which part it is, but it’s like the husband and the wife. It says,
“He calls you Twinkles and she calls you Rover.” [laughs] Slick Rick Yeah. All right, that was just to make people laugh. Yeah, you got it. Anyway,
yeah, that was just a kid growing up, you know what I mean? No disrespect to
the faith, it was almost like being Moses before Moses was Moses. Just take a
big draw, like treat yourself good. A lot of people keep forgetting the next
line is, “Don’t treat nobody well until you’re sure of the scoop.” See,
everybody beats you up with the lie, you know, about prostitution or, “Yeah,”
you know what I’m saying, but it wasn’t really coming that harsh. It was just
coming from a naive kid that looked at life like, “Well, better get mine
before I get played the fuck out.” I’m just playing, I’m just playing.
[laughs] JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO That said, there is a lot of balance, I think, on this record, which we’ll get
to as we go through the songs. Slick Rick Yeah. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO OK. Let’s go on to the next track, all right? Slick Rick Yeah. (music: Slick Rick – “The Ruler’s Back”) JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Give some applause. Come on, please. [applause] That’s one of my favorite songs you’ve ever done. Slick Rick Thank you. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Jam Master Jay produced this record, is that correct? Slick Rick Um, no. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO His name is on that record? Slick Rick It’s on there, but you know, whatever. No disrespect. God bless the dead, you
know? JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO What do you think when you hear this now? What was going through your mind
when you were creating this? Slick Rick Just having fun, you know what I mean? Like I said, this is between when I
left Doug E. and the Get Fresh Crew and I was on Def Jam, they were taking
forever to put out a single. I don’t know they were taking so long, you know
what I mean, so I went and snuck to Red
Alert and I gave
him a cassette. I said, “Red, play this cassette, because I don’t know if
they’re sleeping or if it’s just put a n---er on the shelf shit.” No, but,
“Play this and see what the public say,” you know what I mean? Red Alert
played it and the public liked it and then I guess they finally stopped
playing games and took everything off the shelf, you know what I’m saying?
Whatever’s clever from there, yeah. I gave it to Red Alert. Red Alert put it
out on the street as a cassette, because it was just a cassette. I gave it to
him directly, because Red Alert was like [Funkmaster]
Flex is today. He ran the radio back then, you know what I mean, so he was a good
guy. I gave him the record, he played it for me, and then the public liked it.
I think I fed that Slick Rick hunger, or whatever’s clever, you know what I
mean? It is kind of boring and slow with the sound now. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO It doesn’t sound boring and slow at all. Slick Rick Yeah. Depends on what speed you put it on. [laughs] JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO It’s funny because in the production on this record, it has that shuffle,
which is kind of a continuation of like “The Show” in a way. Was that a
conscious sort of thing, to try to keep that thread? Slick Rick Not really, it just worked, you know what I mean? It’s like, if you find the
shaker and the shaker works and you can use it again, you use it again. If it
don’t, then it don’t, you know what I mean? It was pretty much “Impeach the
President” played by instruments, you know what I mean? “Impeach the
President” was an old breakbeat record, so old beat records always worked. If
you listen to most hip hop records today, you’ll see that the blueprint is
like the drum pattern of an old breakbeat record pretty much. As another
jewel, you just follow the pattern that already works. Like Missy [Elliott]’s flow and Timbaland, their style is like a “Children’s Story,” “The Show” sample.
[beatboxes drum pattern] That works for Missy, you know what I mean?
Timbaland, if you really listen to a lot of Timbaland tracks, that is the
bloop, the bottom drum pattern, and then you decorate it, you redecorate it,
any old which way you want, you know what I mean? And it works, so whatever’s
clever. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO I think one of the things lyrically that stands out to me, that’s on full
display on this record is your style being so unique for the time. It’s like
you said, there’s a sort of thing in hip hop where everybody’s super aggro or
whatever. You diss people on this record subliminally, but you do it in a way
that’s so, ‘I’m just gonna do this, but I’m not gonna act like it’s really a
diss.’ You know what I’m saying? Would you say that’s accurate? Slick Rick Well, my style was never really battling, you know what I mean, that was
pushed upon me. I was just a happy little humorous rapper, and all these angry
motherfuckers start coming at n---as with their angry shit, you know what I’m
saying? So, like, pushing confrontational situations in front of you, so
that’s why I say, like, I’m not the type that disrespects just to earn
respect, but I can’t get conquered in my style of rapping, you know,
whatever’s clever. You know, just gently doing my little, whatever you call
it, wise as an owl, soft as a dove-thing. It’s really like that, they’re not
gonna stop, they just keep coming. So, you make your mark and then you try to
give yourself some space in between all the ruckus, and if you’re able to make
space for yourself then you’re fine. (music: Slick Rick – “Children’s
Story” / applause) JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO “Once upon a time not long ago, when people wore pajamas and lived life slow,”
all right? Where did that come from, first of all? Slick Rick It’s like a bedtime story, so if you’re talking to little kids, you’re
visioning like you’re talking to little kids. So you’re telling them that once
was a time not long ago where they had pajamas on like you got on right now,
and lived life slow, you know what I mean? Whatever’s clever like that. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO The details in this story are the things, obviously, “Dave the dope fiend,
shootin’ dope,” everyone knows these parts to this song. Where do the details
come from when you’re trying to put together a narrative? Slick Rick I guess it’s imagination, mixed with your reality, your ambience, your radar
or whatever, you know what I mean? At the time, heroin was on its way out, it
wasn’t totally out, but it was on its way out, you know what I mean? We just
basically saw a couple of cats with the big hands, you know what I mean, and
125th Street by the train station because it was like a methadone clinic or
whatever, you know what I mean? You see the fat hand cats, you know what I
mean, and the nodding and stuff, you know what I mean? You watch the movies
from that time, from the late ’70s, and you see the whole ghetto ambience, so
you just incorporate it to make the story a little richer or realistic or
whatever. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO If it was your choice, this would have been the first single, the first song
released? Slick Rick Yeah, it would have been the first. That or “Mona Lisa.” JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO It wound up doing OK? Slick Rick: Yeah. It’s doing OK, yeah. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO OK, let’s keep going. (music: Slick Rick – “The Moment I Feared” / applause) Slick Rick All right. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO All right, this is a lot of people’s, one of their favorite songs off of this
record. Slick Rick OK. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO I think for the fans who maybe go beyond just the radio hits or the very
popular club songs, you know what I’m saying? Slick Rick OK, all right. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO But this story goes everywhere. It goes from what you were talking about as
far as like somebody being picked on, it goes to the day from back then,
Latin Quarter, seeing Boogie Down performing, to all kinds of other wild stuff. The
episode with the girl, what did they find in the boyfriend’s fridge or freezer
or whatnot, and then the end, which is crazy. How did this come together this
way? Slick Rick Once again, imagination and stories you hear from other people. You know how
kids are, we tell fantastic stories of what we saw or what we did, or somebody
with a crazy reputation, so you just incorporate it all into a story and make
it seem dramatic and realistic. We was just kids at the time. We don’t know
nothing about no big drug dealers owning and having nice cars and pretty girls
and blow in the freezers. Not heads in the freezers, blow in the freezers, you
know what I’m saying? We’d just use our imagination and make the story drastic
for our environment. Our environment doesn’t really get portrayed too greatly
on TV and different places, you see what I’m saying? Especially now. It’s like
a modern day Shaft or a modern day Across 110th Street. Like that, you
know what I mean? It’s not really a movie, but you could vision it like a
movie, you know what I mean? Pretty much like if you was to take that song and
turn it into a movie, it would have been a pretty good movie too, you know
what I’m saying? It’s just imagination and the whole shebang, yeah. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO The other thing about it is where the song ends, and if you don’t know, go
back and listen to it later. It’s pretty raw, how it ends, and yet I don’t
think a lot of artists at the time would have gone there with the narrative,
you know what I mean? They wouldn’t have been that courageous or daring or
inventive to think of that. It’s humorous, but it’s also telling a moral too. Slick Rick Yeah. Like I said before, a lot of brothers was into battling, you know what I
mean, so when I was doing my thing, that would be like a distraction. Coming
at you like this while that’s not your niche, to battle. Your niche is to tell
stories and humor and whatever like that, you know what I mean? I guess
everybody has their niche. Some people are great at battling, some people are
great at love songs. Some people, their niche is to tell stories with humor or
whatever. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Uh uh, OK. (music: Slick Rick – “Let’s Get Crazy”/ applause) Classic breakbeats in there. Slick Rick Yeah. Well, that was just the album filler. That shit’s garbage. I’ll tell you
myself. That was an album filler, you know what I mean? What are you going to
do? JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Really? There’s no merit in that one at all? Slick Rick Nah. The record label said to do it. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO When you’re in a situation like that and they tell you to do this, and you
know... Slick Rick You’re an outsider looking in, you know what I mean? This is their toy and
they tell you this is what they want. It’s like a give and take. You’ve got to
give a little, so you give a little. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO That’s what I meant. It’s like how do you navigate that, because it must be
tough. Slick Rick Yeah. Like I said, if you don’t sell yourself, you know what I’m saying, you
rely on A&R and producer and record label opinions, then that’s what
you’re going to end up with as your first single. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Right. OK, moving on. We’re going to get into a song. (music: Slick Rick - “Indian Girl (An Adult Story)” / applause) Slick Rick OK. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO It’s very hard not to actually let the songs play all the way through, but in
the interest of time. This song, you spoke a little bit about earlier, about
“Treat Her Like A Prostitute,” and getting some flak over that. What was the
reaction to this song when it came out? Slick Rick Nothing, really. It was just like another using your imagination. I guess with
children who grow up in that age, cowboys and Indians, whatever’s popular for
our age group, you know what I mean? It was just using your imagination and
talking about cowboys and Indians, and meeting an Indian girl. You know how
kids are, it always leads to sex sooner or later, so there it is. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO It’s funny because I remember years later, coming from the music journalism
world and people talking about music and analyzing it and stuff like that,
people drawing a parallel between the story in the song and what the pioneers
in this country did to Native Americans. [laughs] Did you ever hear that? Slick Rick Well, everybody knows the history, like Thanksgiving, but you don’t want to
touch on subjects that’s going to get everybody upset, you know what I mean?
Just keep it moving like that. Cowboys, Indians, pretty Indian girl with the
little feathers, the little outfit, you know what I mean? Whatever’s clever. I
didn’t do it. I’m the black guy, remember? [laughs] JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO All right. This was, as we mentioned earlier, the first single from this
album, “Teenage Love.” (music: Slick Rick – “Teenage Love” / applause) Slick Rick Thank you. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Now, the video for this song, you mentioned you had [Big Daddy] Kane in the
video. It was like a whole sort of drama that was played out and everything.
You were conflicted at the time of releasing this, how do you sort of like go
into going through the whole process of putting this out as a lead single?
Because it still to me, I understand where you’re coming from, and I think
everybody in the room understands, but at the same time it still sounds really
good. Maybe not as the first single from that time, coming off of your career
with the Get Fresh Crew right into Def Jam, but your thoughts on that. Slick Rick I wrote the song. It was a nice song, but like I said, I would have put out
“Children’s Story” first, you know what I mean, or “Mona Lisa.” Yeah, it was
basically just talking about a love story from a young man’s perspective, you
know what I mean? “Don’t hurt me again,” and all that type of stuff, so I was
just trying to catch the essence of myself as a youth going through the whole
mating experience, you know what I mean? Everybody falls in love and gets
their heart broken once, you know what I mean, and then you toughen up and
whatever’s clever from there. It was basically a story about going through
those type of channels, you know what I mean, and saying, “Don’t hurt me
again.” Whatever’s clever like that. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO What was the Bomb Squad’s role in either this or any of the other songs on
this album, because they have some production credit here and there. Slick Rick What’s the Bomb Squad, now? JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Hank Shocklee, Eric
Sadler and those guys. Slick Rick I guess at the time they were Public Enemy’s producers, so I guess the record
label suggested that we work with the top producers for that day. That’s why
you probably see their names around on the album. That’s why they’re there
too, yeah. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Any other thoughts on working that process or anything like that, or did you
just feel self sufficient, like you could just do your own thing? Slick Rick No, I couldn’t do my own thing, you know what I mean? It takes a team. Two
heads is better than one. Each one teach one, so that’s pretty much how I
viewed things. I guess each one teach one, so you’ve got to work with what
you’ve got, you know what I mean, and that’s how that goes, so boom. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Right, OK. I think we all know this one too. (music: Slick Rick – “Mona Lisa” / applause) Slick Rick Thanks. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO It’s funny because, even just sitting here playing these songs, “Children’s
Story” and this, these are storylines that have no chorus in the middle of
them at all. They don’t break up into verses. Slick Rick Yeah, sure thing. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO That was pretty unique at the time, or pretty unique now, I’d say, even more
so. Slick Rick OK. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Two voices. You’re adopting two voices, playing characters. Was this something
you were doing from back in the day, from early on, or was it something you
developed later? Slick Rick It was something I developed after Doug E. Fresh. It was just something fun.
It was a nice essence to get from two people passing a mic back and forth,
like the Cold Crush Brothers or whoever, so I figured I could play both parts
at the same time, you know what I mean? You record one and you rewind it, and
then you record the next one answering it. And it just worked. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO How did you wind up doing the voice at the end, where her voice is singing? Is
that you? Slick Rick Well, you just pretend to be a girl. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Was it pitched up or something? It sounds like you had to do something to your
voice. Slick Rick No, no, no. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO That’s just you, without any... Slick Rick You just change it, like... [sings] Whatever works. Thanks. [applause] JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO All right. We’re going to move on to “Kit.” (music: Slick Rick – “Kit” (What’s The Scoop) / applause) For those who may not know, what’s the premise of this song based on? Slick Rick It was based on Michael Knight and KITT, the car. I watched the show and I
incorporated it into a song. I just pretended that I was Michael Knight and
the car, and I was on an adventure. Get kidnapped and the car comes to get me,
and the whole Michael Knight thing. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO You never met David Hasselhoff at any point in your career? Slick Rick No, no. Never, no. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO No? OK. Just wondered if there was any kind of reaction for that. Again, two
voices. The same sort of approach to this, more or less? Slick Rick Yeah. It’s like a story, so one person is calling the next person and he
responds, and exactly like that. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO I want to get to this, because this is definitely one of everybody’s
favorites, “Hey, Young World.” (music: Slick Rick – “Hey Young World” / applause) “Hey Young World” is totally dedicated to a pretty positive message. What was
your mindset going into creating this? Slick Rick I guess it was just, again, seeing life from my eyes at that age, and you
know, me having a job and everything, seeing the mistakes that others may fall
into, you know what I mean? So it was just writing a rap from my perspective
as a person with a job and a high school diploma, or whatever’s clever. Not to
knock nobody else that find it hard to get that high school diploma or because
it’s a different struggle, you see what I’m saying? And basically just telling
the story like that, don’t blame society, hold your head and all that type of
stuff. Not trying to be too rough, you know what I mean, just relate from my
point of view in my environment. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO But it’s simple, but it’s you know, so effective. Is there a favorite jewel or
line that stands out to you after all these years? Slick Rick Oh, I guess it would have to be, “If you smoke crack, your kids will smoke
crack tomorrow.” So yeah, stuff like that, you know, whatever’s clever like
that. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO And this also has, to me, an interesting vocal arrangement, because like, the
background vocals are doing half the rhymes, and then you’re answering them. Slick Rick Yeah, I got that from those little squirrels guys, I don’t know what they was
called. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Chipmunks? Slick Rick Yeah, so I was just pretending to be the chipmunks and that guy, talking back
and forth to each other. It didn’t really sound like them, but that’s what I
was going with. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO OK. I didn’t realize that, and we learned something, that [Alvin and] the
Chipmunks actually had a big influence on “Hey Young World.” (music: Slick Rick – “Teacher Teacher”) (music: Slick Rick – “Lick The Balls” / applause) Slick Rick All right. Thank you. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO You mentioned [“Lick the Balls”] earlier in the conversation, you mentioned this song
specifically. What stands out to you about this? Slick Rick It was a good track. It was a good track, you know what I mean, so it had
electricity. It was stimulating, and it helped me write the rap, you know what
I mean? That was good work from the Hank Shocklee crew. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Yeah. You say that like it sounds like you’re not satisfied with a bunch of
the other tracks, but how can that be? These are... Slick Rick Because I got perception, muthafucker? [laughs] No, I’m just playing.
Basically, you can hear the difference. That one has soul, and the other ones
ain’t got no soul, so it makes it hard to make them joints work. You don’t
have no drive to make them work, so you just do what you’re told. As long as
you’ve got like four or five, at least four hits, guaranteed hits, then you’re
OK for an album, you know what I mean? That was a good one that Hank Shocklee
did. That was the best one they made on the album, so I give them props for
that one. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO OK. Just sort of sitting back now, we’re here celebrating this piece of work,
this album of yours. After all these years, what do you think? What do you
think about this album? It’s a classic album that people revere. It set a bar
for storytelling, it set a bar for some of these great party tracks, it set a
bar for “Hey Young World,” with certain jewels being dropped in different
lyrics. What’s your perspective now, these years later, we’re here talking
about this, celebrating it? Slick Rick I’m glad that it was made in those days, because the market is pretty tight
right now. We’re like the golden age of hip hop, so we’re like the Patti
LaBelle and Gladys Knight of hip hop, you know what I mean? We always get a
show, you know what I’m saying? Gladys over here, Gladys getting her money in
Vegas, you know what I mean? She don’t really got to work no more, you know
what I mean? Her joints is from the ’70s, you know what I’m saying? Luckily
for us, we made it to the golden age of hip hop, so we could still make a
living, you know what I mean, doing shows and stuff like that. I’m glad it’s a
classic, a classic album. I appreciate all that stuff. Like I said, the market
is very tight right now. It’s very controlled, so it’s hard to open up
people’s eyes to the vets’ place in hip hop, you know what I mean? The vets
are supposed to run record labels and do certain things that incorporate your
culture. No disrespect to nobody, but I can’t be Bruce Lee, so how can I teach
you karate, you know what I mean? How can somebody else give you a perspective
of what hip hop’s supposed to be if you’re not from that culture, per se? [applause] You’ve just got to open up a couple eyes, and it lets you appreciate a
person’s experience, and whatever’s clever and open up the door. If you watch
106th and Park right now, it’s very young, you know what I mean? Very, very
young and very wack. Audience Oh, stop it. Slick Rick I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I guess you n----rs ain’t got perception. [laughs] I’m
just fucking with you. The shit’s straight garbage. They’re our kids, we’ve
got to support them. They’ve got to eat, they’ve got to follow the rules, and
I’m going to tell you there’s rules to this thing, kid. They say you rap on
this, you’ve got to rap on it, you know what I mean? You’ve got to make it
sound like the joint’s on fire. You’ve seen the award shows. You see what I’m
saying, kid? Now, let’s say there was a brother that was in charge of the
music industry, what we call the black part of the music industry. What you
think he’s going to say? He’s going to be like, “Come on. You’ve got to step
it up like James Brown. You’ve got to be like Rick James. You’ve got to step
it up. You need soul. You need meat and potatoes.” You know what I’m saying? [applause] JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Well, that’s certainly what this record and all your recordings have. Usually
we do take questions, but I’m told that we do have to wrap things up today,
unfortunately, but we’re going to have a little bit extra something right
after this. Before we go, let me just say thank you and show your appreciation
one more time. The great Slick Rick. Thank you, man. Slick Rick Thank you. Thanks, all. No disrespect, just playing. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Thank you for being here. Are we going to take a pause? Rick has got to get
ready for tonight, so he’s going to do his thing, and right now we’re actually
going to bring in another guest to speak for just a few more minutes. You all
know him. He is the ruler of the airwaves of New York City and has been for
many years. He is from this very borough, and he’s been so gracious to just
take a few minutes today to talk a little bit about hip hop in the Bronx and
his experiences, so please welcome Funkmaster Flex. Have a seat, sir. Do you
have a microphone there, or do you need one? Funkmaster Flex That was so cool, listening to that whole album, to hear Slick Rick’s
perspective and what he was thinking about at the time was amazing. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Yeah. That’s what we try to do at these sessions, is just go through the
thought process and the creative process of the people and how they did it.
Now, you, sir, this is your old stomping ground. You were from the Bronx.
Where did you grow up? Funkmaster Flex Actually, De Reimer Avenue in the Bronx, which is I guess, northeast. My
heaviest influence was the Cold Crush Brothers. Grandmaster Caz, J.D.L., Easy
AD, KG, Charlie Chase, Tony Tone, that’s my biggest influence for the music. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO We’re here, we’re celebrating each of the five boroughs. What to you is the
essence of the Bronx in terms of hip hop? It’s the foundation, but what else
is it to you? Funkmaster Flex Without giving up my age, something that was key is kids that were older than
me used to play tapes, and we used to hear routines. You used to hear
Grand Wizzard Theodore, Fantastic Five. I believe it was the L Brothers at
first and the members changed. You’re going to hear me say Cold Crush Brothers
a lot today, because for the Bronx, Grandmaster Caz was the first one I ever
saw wear a hat like this, and stand a certain way and be the leader, and that
was very slick, and he was fly. I used to sneak out to parties, and I didn’t
know what Grandmaster Caz looked like, but when I was at a party where they
were, you would see each rapper slowly go over and say hi to him, so I knew he
was either Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, or [Afrika] Bambaataa or something of that sort,
so then you’d figure it out. That was what was key for me. I used to go to the
Skate Key on Allerton Avenue. How many people have been to the Skate Key
roller rink? That was where the artists used to perform, at least that I could
go to and I was allowed to go to. This might be ’81, ’82. Once again, I’m not
giving up my age, but I was there. The tapes I used to listen to were from the
park. I remember 100 Park. I never went. I wasn’t at Valley Park. There was a
lot of robberies over there and I didn’t want to get robbed, but Jamaican
music ruled the land. I’m Jamaican and my parents are Jamaican, so a lot of
people from West Indian heritage gravitated to the northeast Bronx. The
Jamaican kids allowed the hip hop to play. When they were tired of the hip hop
noise, there was usually a couple shots that rang off and then we’d clear it
up. I didn’t know how influential the Bronx was when I was a kid, until you
started to ask other people, and then I’d ask a kid from Queens. “There’s this
group, the Cold Crush Brothers,” and they’d say something and I was like,
“I’ve never heard of them.” They’d say who was from their town, but they knew
who was from my town. The DJing aspect was always cool to me. Grandmaster
Flash was very cool to me, the way he would throw the record in and the swag
that he had. People always talk about Melle Mel, but I want to say it was
Cowboy, who passed away, just his swag, and that wasn’t the word we used back
then, but cool, his cool or what he was about. Those guys were who I looked up
to and who I wanted to be like. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO How do you put it into terms that people who weren’t there can sort of
understand, the level of importance that these guys were? As an example, who
would be a Flash or a Caz? They were superstars to you guys. Funkmaster Flex The equivalent of when you see Puffy come in a room, if you saw one of these
guys, or Jay Z. I always compare a record to “It’s All About the Benjamins,”
to me, back then. I think a neighborhood celebrity, that you could touch,
reach out and touch and see, was important, and that’s what... everybody just
did it. I just wanted people to know I DJed. I didn’t care if I made a penny.
I didn’t care, I just wanted somebody to say to me, “You DJ, right? You DJ?”
That’s all I wanted, and that’s what those guys fought for. They weren’t
fighting really to make records and record deals. Look, Busy Bee, Bambaataa
and Jazzy Jay was very talented. There used to be a club on Gun Hill Road called the T
Connection, and Ritchie Tee I think used to do the sound system. I was never
there. I just had the tapes. I don’t want to come up here and start lying. I
just had the cassette tapes, but that’s how I look at pioneers, you know how
like you have a baseball card or an important baseball card? If you had tapes
of crews and what crews were important, it was your hot commodity. Cold Crush
was a hot commodity, and that’s what you traded. Is everyone in here
originally from the Bronx? Who’s originally from the Bronx? I’m going to tell
you how this used to work. On Thursday, you used to ask someone, “Where’s Cold
Crush Brothers playing?” If you had a boombox, you always had to have the
latest Cold Crush tape, and people always knew who did not have the latest
Cold Crush tape. The person who had the latest was the coolest n----r on the
block for that weekend, because you had the new routine, the fresh Duracell’s
in the boombox, and you were the man. It’s still that concept now, like having
the new Nike’s or whatever. It was about the new Cold Crush tape, and the
reason why is just they were the flyest, and that was what you patterned
after. I told you you’re going to hear that name a lot from me tonight, man.
That’s what I grew up on. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO What was your first jam like, when you got to finally get out there and play
for the neighborhood? Funkmaster Flex What was the street? It must have been like Murdock Avenue, I went to school
over there. Slick Rick was talking about a record called “Impeach the
President,” and that was a hot record because, when the Cold Crush was setting
up, the DJ would always rub that record, so you would always associate it
with, “Oh, my God, something’s going to happen.” “Impeach the President” was a
hard record to get on vinyl, so since I had the record, you were allowed to
kind of get... like if a kid had turntables, I would mention that I’ve got
“Impeach the President.” That got you like a [carte blanche]. “OK, I’m going
to go into the house.” Sometimes there was four or five MCs, so if you start
cutting up and you’re catching it on time, then if an MC grabs the mic, that
means you’re official. It was about DJing for MCs when I grew up, and the
party thing did come afterwards. When I was growing up, DJing for the MCs was
cool and being on the radio was corny. That’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to
have MCs. I wanted to be Jam Master Jay, becomes Funkmaster Flex. I used to
carry records for Chuck Chillout, who was a legendary DJ from the Bronx, and
he was on 98.7 KISS at the time. I used to drive him around, and if you were
the driver, you were guaranteed to hit all clubs. I used to drive Chuck
Chillout, hoping... is Chris
Lighty here? Where’s Chris Lighty?
Did he leave? He could tell this story. I hung out, I drove Chuck Chillout all
week, so I could go to a club called Latin Quarter. Not the Latin Quarter on
96th Street. It was in Manhattan, it was in the 40s, and Red Alert used to
play there. Red Alert used to have on burgundy Lee’s, suede Adidas, a T-shirt.
His hair was cut perfectly, and he had on jewelry. This to me was the epitome
of fresh. I’m sorry, he had on shell toe Adidas with the burgundy stripe. I
remember it well. This particular club was where you saw Eric B. and Rakim. I
want to tell the story right. There was a club before that that Red had. It
was called the Roxy, where Bambaataa and him used to play. That’s one thing,
but Latin Quarter, I don’t know if anyone here has ever been to the Tunnel
nightclub. I patterned that whole thing off of Latin Quarter. Chris here,
Chris Lighty used to be there too. It was a club where you could see the
rappers, and their jewelry was glistening. I used to see Dana Dane. I saw
Slick Rick coming in one time with so many jewels. It was so amazing to me.
Red Alert was playing these records, but it was just something about that
room, man. When he’s rubbing those records, and those artists are coming in
and they’re going in to him and saying what’s up, at the time I was working at
the Marriott, frying french fries and cooking burgers. I used to try to get
off there early to go to the Latin Quarter. Everyone’s aware who KRS-One is,
right? I saw KRS-One battle Melle Mel, which was amazing. I saw KRS perform
another time, and Biz Markie... KRS-One was on the bill, and Biz Markie got on
the stage and said, “That was great, but I’m going to be here next week,” and
threw on “Nobody Beats The Biz,” and started dancing, and sent that place so
crazy. I patterned my whole movement off of the Latin Quarter. It was about
trying to get in free, girls trying to see you get in free, because then
they’ll think you’re somebody, even though you’re a biscuit. Then you have to
get to the bar and hopefully have a drink ticket, because you had no money,
because money you had in your pocket was to get the car out the lot. That
whole experience. I saw MC Serch in there. Are people familiar with who MC
Serch is? 3rd Bass? He sold four million, five million records. This guy was a
different type of biscuit in Latin Quarter. Chris, do I lie or not? Listen.
Listen, I was a bigger biscuit than him. Remember, I’m in there smelling like
cheeseburgers and fries, so I’m not even on his biscuit level. I’m carrying
records and that’s it. It’s unfortunate that there’s no video, I don’t think,
of this place, but there’s photos, right? Paradise was key. Every rapper. Eric
B. used to drive a Rolls Royce. Listen, I know there’s people out here right
now with the Phantom’s and all of that. He was driving a Rolls Royce back
then, ’86, and it was parked in front, roped off. Rakim never came out, it was
always Eric B. The biggest star I ever seen come in there was DMC at the time
when “My Adidas” was out, and he was standing in the booth. The whole
nightclub stared at him the whole night, and they never... it didn’t matter.
That was what was instrumental for me. That was my life, after that club. I
knew that’s what I wanted to do. I want to do this. I want to be like Red
Alert. I want to be in the booth and I want to play music, and the Tunnel, my
dream came true. That was my chance to have my Latin Quarter. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO If anything, what did you pattern your radio show after? Funkmaster Flex I’m like Chuck Chillout, Red Alert, Marley, Mr. Magic. I’m a
very big Kid Capri fan. Everyone is
aware of who Kid Capri is, right? I don’t have to break that down for you? Kid
Capri is the greatest DJ to ever touch down on Earth, ever. [applause] OK? OK. All of those people, I was listening to and admiring. I never had hate
in my blood when I was coming through, right, Chris? You know how some people
are envious. I was amazed to see Kid Capri and Red Alert. I never thought I’d
make it. I never even figured what it would be like to make it. I never
figured what it would be like to have more than a hundred dollars in my
pocket. I just loved what they did, so that’s who I patterned afterwards. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO What do you want people to take out of this talk here tonight, as far as the
Bronx, as far as just everything we’ve heard tonight, from you, from Rick? Funkmaster Flex The Bronx is sometimes overlooked, because sometimes we’re not always current
with the artists of the moment all the time. There’s a lot of artists that
came out of the Bronx, but people always scream Brooklyn. But Brooklyn is like
50 times bigger than the Bronx, so of course there’s going to be more rappers
out of Brooklyn. People never do the math. Kool Herc is instrumental, from the breakbeats and what things came about. Man, if
there’s anything I can say about the Bronx, it’s always remember the person,
not so much taking the break to the beginning, but finding a funky break, was
Kool Herc. I mean, am I saying this right, Chrissie? He’s unknown to man.
There was always people who were a little bit prior, but they didn’t have that
vision. Kool Herc was proud to make noise and be noticed with a particular
breakbeat. I know there’s some young people in here that probably know me for
just playing Lil’ Wayne records, but prior to that, prior. That was what I was
about and what it was about and what it went to, and so if there’s anything I
want people to remember about the Bronx, it’s that Kool Herc liked something,
and it’s where it is today. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Anybody who was here earlier, it’s still what you’re about. You were rocking
breakbeats, double copies, back and forth here for everybody. Funkmaster Flex Once again, I know sometimes you hear me on that box and I’m like maybe
playing records back and forth, but I’m nice when I set. When it comes to
rubbing and getting it in, it’s something. I was going to say, I would listen
to the Slick Rick album, like “Lick The Balls.” I know that sounds just crazy.
Pause. The record he’s scratching in the hook, “Kool is
Back,” with the “Ooh, so fine.”
Who made that? Howard Johnson, “So
Fine.” The fact that he’s
scratching that in the hook back then, when that record dropped, was sending
the place... that “Kool is Back,” that was hip hop at its finest. Some of the
records that Slick Rick was saying was album filler, man. “Teacher, Teacher,”
that loop was what it was in the club. [sings] If you was a DJ and you
couldn’t catch that, you was getting booed out of the club. He had another
record that he said was album filler for him which we had sampled, scratching. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO “Let’s Get Crazy”? Funkmaster Flex Right. Yeah, scratching, Jazzy Jay made that record legendary. For Slick Rick,
it’s just natural to him, it’s not just his lyrics that makes that record so
crazy. It’s the fact that he was injecting every piece of the moment, from
talking about clothing, the samples he was using and the storytelling, and
even the robberies, because in Latin Quarter, that was what you was afraid of,
man. You did not want to get robbed in front of no one you knew. Anybody here
from Brooklyn? Brooklyn was so legendary and ornery when they came in the
club, making it be known. You just didn’t want a problem, and look, Slick
Rick’s a cool cat, and he’s talking about he didn’t want to get robbed. Once
you went to Manhattan, that’s what you thought about. But if people could
remember Kool Herc, it would be a great thing. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Yeah, I hope so. Do you want to take a question or two? Is that cool? Funkmaster Flex Oh, I’d love to. Anybody have a question? JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Can we get one or two questions before we wrap up with Flex, because he’s got
to get going. Funkmaster Flex Stand up, I couldn’t hear you. Audience member [inaudible] Funkmaster Flex Was that David Letterman? JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO The radio promo. Funkmaster Flex “Hard to get a ticket.” Who’s the young lady that used to dance on... a
Spanish girl? She used to dance. Who was before Jennifer Lopez? Rosie Perez.
Rosie Perez had came to The Palladium the night before she went to David
Letterman. She was on the show and she had said, “Yeah, I went to The
Palladium, and it was on Funkmaster Flex’s night,” and he was like, “Oh, sure.
Bet it’s hard to get a ticket to that one,” but he was really clowning me.
Someone had sent it to me, and then I edited it. This had to be when I first
got on the radio, and then that lives today. That’s 20 years ago. Yeah, 20
years ago. I hold a title in this town, yes. That’s it, right there. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Anybody else? One more? Audience member Do you ever dance? Funkmaster Flex I’m sorry? If I ever dance? Anyone who becomes a DJ, it’s because you can’t
dance. [laughter] I’m dead serious. DJing is always like the fourth or fifth choice. You
try the microphone in the mirror and you’re like, “Damn, this ain’t working.”
Then you try to breakdance and spin, “Damn, this ain’t working either.” You
work down the line, and then you go, “Damn, this frickin’ thing right here
with the spinning, I’ll just do that.” That, I could do, and then you’ve got
to learn to throw on the right records, but I never could dance. I was big on
Rock Steady. Let’s not worry about my age, but the second time around, which
was ’83 ’84, because it was early ‘80s and then it was like again, when it
became big in every video, like when you watch the Herbie Hancock video, I
believe, it’s in it. Dancing, to be honest, the MCing and the dancing, I hope
I’m saying this right, Chris held the same weight, back in the days. It’s only
now it’s not at the forefront anymore, but that was equal weight. Usually,
when someone was rocking the mic, there was someone dancing, or a crew
battling. JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Anyone else? One more, last one. Last call. You’ve got it. Audience Member [inaudible] Funkmaster Flex Chris, help me with this. Chris got me a couple of those checks. I’m going to
be honest about those. Do you want me to be honest? Want to be honest today,
Chris? He wants to say, “If there’s one day this n----r’s going to be honest,
be honest today,” right? I never really enjoyed making the albums. I was
always about marketing and promotion, and I always wanted to be known out of
state and not just local. At the time, that was the best way to do it, which
was albums, because the label would then market you out of state, other
countries. You’d do videos, you’d go do publicity. I hated being in the
studio. I hated the room, I hated being in there, it drove me nuts, to be in
there 20 hours. It didn’t really reflect me. Right, Chris? It was all right. I
sold a lot of albums. I had a couple platinum, a couple gold, so a lot of
people ask me how come I don’t do it anymore. The radio was always my love.
That was always the thing that I loved the most, and to put those albums out
were always at holiday time, so I’d have to leave my family and then kind of
travel to go promote it, so I’m done with those, forever. I like making
mixtapes sometimes, and kind of toss them out there, let people have them, and
the game has changed. Slick Rick talked about a lot of things today, and it’s
hard to always keep doing the same thing you’re doing. It’s hard, so you have
to do things and reinvent and try to make moves and try to do different
things, so I didn’t want to stay there too long. I had about six albums. I
didn’t want to stay there too long. You know, I’m into the cars. If anybody is
here and you’re thinking about the music business, it’s a great business, but
I keep referring to Chris Lighty because Chris Lighty has had ten different
careers and, I’m sorry, fifteen. I don’t want to shortchange you today, man. I
don’t want to shortchange you, Chris. I’m not here 20 years later because I’ve
been doing the same thing. You have to reinvent yourself, and you don’t
necessarily have to go with the times, but you have to figure out how you get
your niche. I’m sure there’s people who have never heard me on the radio, but
you might follow me on Twitter or you might go to my website, or you might
have come to a car show tour I’ve done or a party. Twenty years ago, I could
say something on the radio and you’d hear it in L.A., you’d hear it
everyplace. I’m not afraid to say in this room, the radio is not really
considered the coolest thing anymore. It’s an avenue to hear music, it has its
place. I’ve created a website where I get a million visitors a month and 8
million page views, and for you digital guys, you know what I’m talking about,
and a Twitter page where I can speak to 300,000 people, with the radio. The
game has changed a lot, so for those of you who are thinking about getting
into the business, you have to think of it from all angles, from digital to
being creative to being talented at doing what you’re doing. If you make
music, the days of rhyming and giving out a tape and hopefully getting signed
are gone. It’s paying that attention to yourself and making it happen, so I
just thought that I would share that, because you triggered me when you said
how come I don’t make the albums anymore. [applause] JEFF “CHAIRMAN” MAO Funkmaster Flex. Funkmaster Flex Thank you, Jeff.