Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Beenie Man Talks 'Eminence,' Dancehall Legacy, Love For NY, Headlining 'Wild 'N Out,' Battling Sickle Cell, Friendships + More

Transcript

INTERVIEW: Beenie Man Talks 'Eminence,' Dancehall Legacy, Love For NY, Headlining 'Wild 'N Out,' Battling Sickle Cell, Friendships + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hold up. Every day I wake up.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club. Y'all finished or
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: y'all done?
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: Morning, everybody.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: It's DJ Envy, Just Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God. We are
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: The Breakfast Club. Lon LaRose is here as well. We
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: got a special guest in the building.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, indeed. Beat him on.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: He's back. Beat him, man. What's up? Good morning. How
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: you feeling, man? I'm feeling good.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Another album out right now?
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Yes, dog.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Eminence.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Eminence, yeah.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Why Eminence? What's that mean?
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Evidence means being the leader of everything. That's really what
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: it means.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: So is it celebrating what you accomplished or just reminding
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: people who you are?
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, just reminding people who I am. And what do
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: I stand for, really.
• 0:47
  Speaker 5: Were you trying to top your other records?
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: No, I'm not trying anything. I'm just doing what I've
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: always been doing. Because, you know, you say it, Then
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: somebody give you a crown and call you the king
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: of the dance hall. Somebody call you the guys from Sugar. Somebody,
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: you know. So eminence is just like, yeah.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: High status.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, high status. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: You're superior in your field.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: Top of the food chain.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: So you know you always start, Mess, when you say,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: you know, people say, when they talk about the king
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: of dance hall and this, that, and the other. So
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: now they're going to say, but does that mean I'm
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the top of everybody in my culture?
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: I'm the eminence of dance hall. There we go. Blessing.
• 1:30
  Speaker 5: He even got a nice little twang to it, too.
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: It's very regal.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. You can't
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: be doing the same thing over and over and over
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: and over. You got to step up your game. In
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: this business, it's like a staircase. You have one staircase,
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: one step up to the top. That's the way it is.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: It's not me putting myself to the top. It's me
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: working towards it. being the top of the food chain.
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: I like the title because there's a difference between being
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: famous and being eminent. Fame is just attention. Eminence is
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: like you said, the respect you earned over time.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Which one took you longer to understand?
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: There's no longer to understand. I've been in this business
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: for 40 years. I've been there, done that. I'm still
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: here doing it. You know what I'm saying? It's just
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: you know, makes sense.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Have you seen the resurgence of dancehall and reggae music
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: on radio? Because at one time, I was talking to somebody,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I think a couple weeks ago, we would hear tunes
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: on radio, right? Labor Day in Brooklyn was one of
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the biggest parades ever. Yeah. And it seemed like it
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: took a downfall for a little bit.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: No, I was there.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Are you starting to see it come back now?
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: No, I was there.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: You was there this year?
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: I was, yeah. I was in, yeah, I was there.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Labor Day, I was there. Unchuck. Sing it. And people was,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: I couldn't see the other truck behind us. That's the
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: amount of people that was following us. So I wouldn't
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: say you take a step back. I think people just
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: want to see it the right way that it's supposed
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: to be like, you know? And I think some people
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: is not doing it like how they're supposed to do it,
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: like how it used to be done. And, you know,
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: evolution is a must. So, you know, the music step up.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: So I think people just want to see the originality,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: the authenticity of the music and all of that. And
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: that's what I gave to them. And this album, trust me,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: because I did some old school hip hop. I did
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: some old school dance. I did one of my classic
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: and this album. And yeah, it's really nice.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Did money ruin it? Because it was a time where
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: artists wanted to be at those parades, wanted to be
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: at those events. And then, I feel like it got
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: to a time where people were like, well, how much
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: are you going to give me to be at these events?
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I remember there were times where you went to every parade.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Puerto Rican Day Parade, West Indian Parade.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: West Indian Parade. African American Day Parade. Yes.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Because you wanted to be seen and heard.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: And I felt like for a lot, I think money
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: kind of ruined it.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: I think what ruined it is because I lost my
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: visa for like 13 years. So if I did have it,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: it wouldn't be like that. You'd have been in every parade. Yeah,
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: I'd be in every parade. See, then everybody will follow.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: But right now, everybody thinking about the money, the money,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: how much to make the chart, how much to pay
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: the sound system, how much the DJ get paid, how
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: much what get paid, so how much I'm gonna get paid. So,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: you see, when you make music all about the business
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: and no longer about music, I think that's what messed
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: it up. It's like some artists get a one hit
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: song and forgot that they need to go back to
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: studio to make another one. So, you know, I feel
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: that's what messed it up, really.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: You got a song called Immortal.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: Like, when you've been doing this as long as you have,
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: do you start thinking less about hits and more about
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: what survives after you?
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: No, it's not less about hit. You know, it's... Some
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: of these songs, I didn't name these songs.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: How about that? Because Jess loves marijuana and a coochie.
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: I can't wait to ask you about that.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Marijuana and a coochie.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: You name that one?
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Somebody said marijuana and a coochie. That's funny. Some of
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: these songs, I don't name these songs. These songs just
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: come with names. What do you mean?
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: The song came with Marijuana and the Coochie?
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: No, I don't know nothing about Marijuana and the Coochie.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: So you didn't name Immortal either?
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: I didn't name Immortal.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: So you have a team that you just go and
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: make the music and.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: The team just takes care of track lists.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, take care of naming the songs and doing that. See,
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: the Marijuana song, In the coochie.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Don't forget that one. Don't forget that one. It's not
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: just a marijuana song. It's in the marijuana, in the coochie.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: I don't know about that.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: I don't know about that.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Do you know who on the album with you?
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: Because you know it's a lot of big, you got
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: 16 tracks.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: Big artists. Yeah, man. I know who's on the album
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: with me, but I don't know about marijuana in the coochie.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I didn't name this song.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: This song was named by the producer, Kamal McGregor.
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: Gotcha.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah. He, He name all these songs. I just sing music.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: I go in the studio, you play the beat, I
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: put the headphone on, and I just spit. And that's it.
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: How do you go about picking beats, though? Do they
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: run beats past you?
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: No, sometimes you ask for a beat, like even the
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: Juicy beat. I definitely requested that. Because Biggie's my rapper
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: and thing, and I feel like I should do a
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: song on that beat. and true Biggie's not around anymore,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: I choose Rick Ross to put a big man and
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: a big man with him.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: That's how you decide who's going to find the biggest
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: rapper in the world.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: That's crazy. You put a big man and a big
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: man with him. That's how it goes. A few of
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: these beats, I pick it. Like even the... My mind
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: is a coochie. The beat, is the cut chip, pass
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: the cut chip on the left. So it's perfectly to
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: put a weed tune on that. So you know, those
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: are the things that I do. And sometimes you walk
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: in the studio, the producer, he got this beat ready,
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: here you go. Okay, let's do this. And then we
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: make our back, I will do anything just for you.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: And you know, These songs, and he went and get Snow,
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: then he went and get Snoop, then he went and
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: get Elephant Man, and then all these ladies. But it's beautiful.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: The album is beautiful. The music is nice. I'm not
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: telling you no joke. It's a beautiful album.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: How come you and Maya don't do more together? It's
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: like your third record together?
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because Maya is on this album.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: With the old Janet Jackson beat.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, me and Maya... We're good together. When we're
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: making music, we make proper music. And I really respect
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: her as an artist because she can dance and she
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: can sing. And she have everything what an artist need
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: to be an artist. You understand what I'm saying? So
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: she is not.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: That's how you do it.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: You couldn't even help him, so you see.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: So she got all of that. She got looks and
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: she now only Looking good, she can sing good. And
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: she can perform good, and she can dance good. So
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: artists like that, you need to be working with. And
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: I got T.I. on the album. Yeah. So, you know,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: this is a great album. This is just a great, great,
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: great album. Just it.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: You got Friends for Life.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: Who survived success with you all these years? Do you
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: have for life friends?
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: Mm, I got, yeah. Seriously, I got a few. Mm-hmm. Because,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: you know, a lot is not here anymore. God rest
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: their soul. But, you know, we've got a few.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: What does it take to survive success with somebody?
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Well, it takes you being yourself, you know, and you
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: working towards being successful and more successful and more successful
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: and to keep it. Because, you see, when you have
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: a building and nobody live in it, the tree grow
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: through the middle of the building. And if you don't
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: paint your house, you're not maintained.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: It.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: You get what I'm saying? All right. Let me give
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: you this. In Cracktown, that's the place that I grew up.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: See it? And you'd have a big house in the
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: middle of the square where people live in. And them
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: run up the staircase every day, run down the staircase
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: every day, run up the staircase every day. And one
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: day they move out. And somebody decide like, yes, we
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: got to move this house now. So we have to
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: build a park in the Miglar place. And somebody bring
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: a stone in the house and the house just goes
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: and drop a gun. So I'm like, so many people
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: used to live in that house. And people used to
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: sleep in that, run up and down the staircase, run
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: up and down the staircase. And the house was rotten.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: But when Life is in the house. The house becomes
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: a life. So this is what I'm saying. If you
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: don't keep yourself alive, then you're going to fail. And
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: you don't want to do that. You just want to
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: continuously doing what you're doing. Continuously going on tour. Doing shows.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: If you can do three shows a week, if you
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: can do Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, you're good. Trust me,
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: because that is keeping yourself alive. Because it's great to
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: work hard in the studio, but you work harder on stage.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: So people always remember you. So I'm going to say, yo,
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: being a man of a show, I'm going, because you
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: expect to get a good performance. Yeah, so that's.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: How it goes.
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: Whenever you drop music and it does things like, you know,
• 11:43
  Speaker 6: you were at the top of the US iTunes charts
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: across all genres, right?
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: When that happens, are you ever like, I mean, you've
• 11:49
  Speaker 6: transcended across all genres before, but are you ever like, man,
• 11:52
  Speaker 6: like I'm here all these years later doing it still?
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: Well, that's what I'm saying. I'm still running. I'm still running.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: You see, when you're a great runner, you don't resign.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: You don't give up the game. You just... Keep in
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: the game and keep on doing it. As long as
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: you can do it the right way, everything is great. Yeah,
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: so we got the nice, we have a right crew
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: behind us. My crew is my wife, you know? And
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: the team that produce the song, they're doing their thing.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: You see me? And I respect what they're doing, but
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: I got to do me. You get me? So me
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: have to keep me up there. So it's not like,
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: you know, them alone can do it and I sit
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: down like, Yeah, I'm the king.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: What?
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: What? Look at me. No. You got to go out
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: there and do it. Work and dig in and make
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: people know and say, yes, may I do this? Not
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: only for the family, but for the fans and the
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: well-wishers and the people out there that wish you good
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: right through your life. Yeah, so you can't let them down.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: What about when your body is asking you to slow down?
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: Because you've been battling, what, sickle cell for decades.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, that's no problem. You can't make that battle you.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: You got to stand firm and know that, yeah, yeah,
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: stand firm on your feet and be there.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Now, you know, this week is the 25th anniversary of 9-11.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Do you remember where you were when 9-11 hit?
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: Were you here?
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: 9-11, I actually left the tent. I was here. In America,
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: New York. And I leave and went back to Jamaica.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: They let the planes leave or you had to wait
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: for a while? No, the tent. The day before. Oh,
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: you left on the tent. Yeah, I left the tent.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: But I was watching, what's the name? Good Morning America. Yeah,
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: because I think I'd have something coming on on ABC
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: in the morning. And I was waiting to see it.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: Then it was supposed to come after the, we call
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: it the trading thing. When they go to the stock exchange.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: And then I saw the plane. Boom. Okay, I'm not
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: coming on TV today. And that was the day that
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: I realized that the world changed. And yeah. It wasn't
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: a good day for nobody. Trust me, it wasn't a
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: good day. And when I saw that, I realized that
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: the world changed. Because when a country like the United
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: States gets attacked, it's not like an easy country to
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: get attacked. It's not something that you expect to happen.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: America do the attack. America is the bullies. They go
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: around and like, Say something. Just say one more thing.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: And then you see America get attacked. It's like, hmm.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: And then you hear the cops died and the fireman died.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: It wasn't a good thing. People started to jump off
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: the building top and all these things. It wasn't a
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: good day. It was just a sad day. And it's
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: always sad every time you remember that. It just felt
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: like you didn't want to be there on that day.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: We talked about how it changed, like, We were telling
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Jess and Lauren that before, there was no TSA. Like,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: you walk to the gate and you get on the plane.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: You get on the plane.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there was no check.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: There was none of it. Right now, there's checkpoints everywhere.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: It's called body patrol now.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: I can't believe we ever used to live like that.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we used to live like that.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Like, why? Why did we trust each other?
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: And even, like, some of the things that you could
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: take on the plane, like cigarettes and lighters.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: Take away them.
• 15:53
  Speaker 6: Yeah, now they do.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: There's no light to allow on the plane. You can't
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: have a cock screw. No, no cock screw. Nothing that
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: you can use for a weapon. Yeah, you used to
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: have a little knife that you used to bring. We
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: call them the Swiss knives. You can't bring that on
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: the plane.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: You used to be able to smoke on a plane.
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: I just see pictures of that online. You used to
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: be able.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: To smoke on a plane. Australia on a plane. So
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: you know that they used to smoke on the plane.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: The Australian side, you go like, and you used to
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: smoke on the plane. All that changed since 9-11.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Now, you said you lost your visa for 15, 16 years.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: No, for 13 years. 13 years.
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: What was the process of getting that back? Was it difficult?
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Was the administration making it difficult?
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: No. What I did, I just wait. Because America always
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: tell you that for you to come here on a
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: visa is a privilege. They give to you. So, you know,
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: I'm not an American. I do not have an American passport.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: I have a Jamaican passport. So... When it's time for
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Dave ready to give me back my visa, it's time
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: for Dave to give me back my visa. But what
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: really happened, what that does, it give me time to
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: tour the world. So I've been all over the place.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: I've been to Australia. I've been to Africa. I've been everywhere,
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: like everywhere, all over the world. Japan, everywhere, my God. Everywhere,
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: my God. And here I am, right here, speaking to you.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: The breakfast program. Yeah.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: You just recently headlined at the Barclays, the Wildin' Out
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: live show, right?
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: What was that like? Nah, that was wicked. What? The
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: show was wicked. You were supposed to be there. My
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: flight got canceled. Your flight got canceled. Couldn't make it.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: I was in Phoenix at my daughter's dance competition.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: And Rip set it up right, though.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: He set it up.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: They had an escort pick him up from the airport,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: but I wouldn't have made it in time.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: Travel.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: They wouldn't have made it in time.
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: It's crazy.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Did Safaree come out and battle you that night?
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: No, shut up.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: Mikey didn't stop.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: I thought that was supposed to happen. I thought Rusty
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: was going to have Safaree come out.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: And battle him. Mikey don't stop. Stop. Oh, my God. Stop.
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: Now, you've been doing arenas for a long time, right? Now,
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: performing in front of a crowd like that these days
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: versus way back when, is there a big difference?
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: No, it's not a difference to me because, you see,
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: an audience is an audience. When the audience come out
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: to see music, I am there to give music. Audience
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: come out to see performance, I'm there to perform. So
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: when you come to a being in my show, I'm
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: there to entertain you. You're not there to entertain me.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: I give you my energy and you give me back
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: your energy seven times ten. Yeah. And that's what I'm
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: there for. That's why I say I work harder on stage.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: I work hard in the studio, but I work harder
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: on stage. Gotcha. Yes.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: What do you tell an artist for longevity, right? Because
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: you have a longevity. You still have an amazing show.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: You're still putting out records. What do you tell a
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: younger artist now to make sure that they still have
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: that longevity 20, 30, 40 years later?
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: Well, it's for them to know what to do and
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: what to keep yourself alive. Because I think some artists
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: kill their genre. They just kill it because they're not
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: doing the right thing. They're not doing it the right way.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: And not because you have more young people coming in
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: the world and young people coming in the world. There's
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: no old people. Everybody born one day before there comes
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: two day, before there comes three day. So what you're
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: supposed to know is to control your generation and make
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: them know that, okay, this is where I'm coming from
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: and this is where I'm going. So you bring them
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: with you. You don't lose them along the way. So
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: I think some artists, they lose themselves their generation. So
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: the generation go like this. That's it. What does he do?
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: What does he do? 95% every time you perform, I
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: think you should. You don't give 50% and expect 100%.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: like people say, yeah, I agree with you because you
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: did 50, but I'm going to give you 100. I
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: don't think that. I think if you give 97 and
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: somebody said, you deserve 100, you deserve 100. You get
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: what I'm saying? So it's not like some artists, they
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: just come out and.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Just, They're running off the stage.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Oh, that's a fart.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: That's a fart.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: Why you want this back? I'm so mad. They're running
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: off the stage. They're singing a song, and the song
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: in 40 seconds, you're, dash! Next one. Dash! Next one.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: Next one, you forgot that people sit down and listen
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: to that song for three minutes. You didn't remember that.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: All three verses people listen to. That's real. So they
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: know all three verses. So you sing from one verse
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: to the third verse. Now, if you don't got the time,
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: I understand that. Like if you get 10 minutes to
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: do 20 songs, then you do 20 punchlines. That's what
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: I'm saying. Don't get it twisted. But if you got
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: an hour and a half to perform, perform, dog. Trust me,
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: because people work hard for their money. And when they
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: come out to see you, they got to pay money.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: It's not like them just come out, I'm free, I'm nothing.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: They pay their money to see you. So why are
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: you not performing for the people?
• 21:38
  Speaker 6: I feel like with certain genres of music, like with
• 21:41
  Speaker 6: your genre of music, we expect energy and the performance
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: and the excitement. With certain genres you go, it's like
• 21:47
  Speaker 6: you'd be surprised if they say, oh, they got a
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: little one.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: Two, seven.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: True, but... All artists, I think all artists are supposed
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: to think about the people. I think you should practice
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: at home before you go out. Like, seriously. I think
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: you should enter your house and play the music and
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: stand up in front of the mirror. I think you
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: should do that. Like, seriously. I think you should learn
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: the keys. Like, when you go on stage, you don't
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: sound louder than the music. Because I... I think people
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: intend to do that. The mic is too loud, dog.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: So the people is not hearing what you're saying, even
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: though you think that you're singing loud. When you sing loud,
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: you just sound noisy.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: When you were younger, did King mean just beating everybody
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: else or being better than everybody else? And does it
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: mean something different to you now?
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: No, King mean greatness.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: Okay, okay, okay.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think you should beat up everybody. I
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: think you should bring everybody. I think everybody should just
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: roll with you. You understand what I'm saying? So if
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: you're doing great, everybody can do great if they just
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: follow you. That's what King mean to me. I don't
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: think it mean anything else. I think it mean leadership.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: You just got an official proclamation from the city of Hartford.
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: What does that mean to you? That type of recognition
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: from an actual city, from a certain city.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: Versus the industry? I've got a lot from other cities. Florida, everywhere.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: But it's a great thing when the government recognizes you.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: That means you can't get a parking ticket.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: You have a key to the city. What are you
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: talking about? Yeah, you just call the mayor. I'm going
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: to get a parking ticket. Yeah. You're still going to
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: get it, but yeah. How do you get.
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: Something like that? What do you perform in Hartford?
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: A lot?
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: Or what made them want to do that?
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: Well, I think it was the work that you did,
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: the body of work that you've been doing. They've been
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: listening to you for a long time. A lot of
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: these people were in school when Sim Simmer came out,
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: and that was their song. So they see you now,
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: and they can give you some respect.
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: Why are you still here?
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: I accept it. Yeah. This is flowers.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: You don't want nobody to give you a wreath. There
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: we go.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: You ended the album with a heavenly father.
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Why did the album ultimately end with God?
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because you got to give thanks. That's right. You
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: got to give thanks. You can't put a song like
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: that in the middle.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: And then marijuana in the coochie come on out.
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: Oh, God, it's too low with that. Just stop my
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: running the coochie.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: God, God, God. So, are we getting any music videos?
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they're working on that now.
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, to get it out and, you know, get it
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: out there.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: What is your thoughts on Masego? They say he's the
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: future of dancehall. And the record, of course, Hello, is
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: probably one of the biggest records out now. What are
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on him and his music?
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Who's that?
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Masego?
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: They tell you the future of dancehall?
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: I was about to say, Masego do dancehall too?
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I didn't know that, but Masego is actually from Jamaica.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: He's from Jamaica. Masego, yeah, he is... He was born
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: in Kingston, Jamaica, but he was.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: That I like? Yes.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: He's not a dance hall.
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: He sampled Who Am I? For Sim Simba.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for Hello.
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: So he's the future of dance hall?
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: I don't know about the future of dance hall.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Critics are saying.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: He's an R & B artist. He's an R &
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: B artist, but he also does dance hall as well.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: He just a feature.
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: You can just say he's a feature.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: He does R & B and jazz.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: He does dancehall too.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: He's born in Jamaica though.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: I just have to say congratulations because if you cover Simpsons,
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: congratulations son. Do your thing.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Well you had to clear it, right? I'm sure.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Jeremy already had to clear it. I want to
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: know too, with most.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Reggae artists, dancehall artists, they take, when they come to
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the U.S., they love Miami. But you love New York.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Why is that? Because every artist, besides you and Shaggy,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the only artists that I know will live in New York,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: will stay in New York, will eat in New York,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: will walk around. What does New York mean to you?
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: New York means everything. Because, all right, you see, I
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: think it's because the second place I came when I
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: left Jamaica. I left Jamaica, I went to Canada. Then
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: I came to New York. Brooklyn kind of changed me. Seriously,
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: Brooklyn kind of changed me.
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: How?
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: When you're in Brooklyn, it's like you're in Jamaica. It's
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: not Jamaica, Queens. Jamaica, Jamaica. When you're in Brooklyn, it's
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: mostly Jamaicans. you see people that you know for a
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: very long time and you haven't seen them for a
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: very long time. You wonder if they're dead or in prison.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: They're in Brooklyn.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Dang.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so that is it. So, you know, I think,
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: I just love New York because of New York itself
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: and the vibes and the vibration that it brings and
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: the style of the people. I love Queens too and
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: I love Bronx and I just love New York. What,
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: What am I going to do? I can't help myself
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: about it. If you want to chop my head off,
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: just drop it in New York.
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: What part of your legacy do you think people understand correctly?
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: Part of my legacy is that people understand correctly. I
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: think my work, my hard work and my work ethics.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: Because I work very hard and I don't stop. I
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: don't really stop. I can't stop. Because if Can you
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: imagine me sitting down for a month in my house
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: for a month like this? The last time I tried that,
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: I got fat. Last time was COVID. I got shoulders
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: this way. My belly got big this way. I'm like, what?
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: If you remember that verse or something. I got a
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: huge gut in front of me. Yeah, that's being in
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: your house. That's what being in your house is. That's
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: what it means to me. You just cook, eat, cook, eat, cook, eat, cook, eat. No.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: I want to work, work, work, work, work, work, work.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: Stay active.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: Stay active is not being lazy. Because, see, my job,
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: I don't have to exercise because I work on stage
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: for an hour and a half, two hours sometimes. And
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: if I feel to it, I go three. I don't care. So,
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: you know, when you have all the energy, you burn
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: all that fire off, you burn all the sweat off,
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: you got to put it on back. Then you burn
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: it off again. Then you put it on back. Then
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: you burn it off again. So when you stay active,
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: that means you're staying fit, you're staying healthy, you're staying physical. So,
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: you know, yeah.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: So what part of your legacy do you think people
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: have gotten wrong?
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: Well, people always get people wrong. Always. Because people think
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: I'm a selfish man. I only believe in myself. And
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: that is so far from the truth, but people don't
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: even know that. See, people say I don't help nobody.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: There are more people that I help in this music business.
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: It would be sad if I called out everybody's name.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: But when people brand you, they brand you. There's nothing
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: you can do about it more than laugh and just
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: know that, okay, I am this man. I am not
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: that guy. Yeah, so, you know, people always get people wrong.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: Because when people start to brand people, people just brand people.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: And there's nothing you can do about it. See, if
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: they say you don't have nobody, that's why you don't
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: do it. You don't have nobody. They say you don't
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: boss nobody, that's why you do. You don't boss nobody.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: So you don't go there and tell people, I did this,
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: I do that, I did this, I do that, I
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: did this, I do that, I did this, I do that.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: Nobody's going to believe you. Because they don't stigmatize and
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: centralize and let the people they know say, yeah, that
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: is who you are.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: And it don't matter anyway. God knows what you've done.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: That's right. Who I've done things for know what I've
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: done for them. It's for them to come out and say,
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: this man do this. But what they do, they just
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: sit back and allow it to happen. What are you
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: going to do? Fight? Nope. I'm not a boxer. I
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: sing music.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Well, let's get into it, June, off the album. What
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: you want to hear?
• 31:11
  Speaker 5: Marijuana in the coochie.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: It's coochie.
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: And it sounds like coochie. It's marijuana in the coochie.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: Get it right.
• 31:22
  Speaker 6: Coochie is different to coochie.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: What's a coochie?
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, so it's not coochie.
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: No, I thought it was coochie too. It's spelled coochie.
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: Every time we said it, she was over there like,
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: that's not what it is. Okay, marijuana and a coochie.
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: I don't even know that was my song you're talking about.
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: That's why he was confused because he's like, I don't
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: know who named him.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's like, I don't know.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: What that is. Marijuana and a coochie.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: Okay, marijuana and a coochie.
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: I don't know what it is.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Damn.
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: I was talking about burning it.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: Oh, God.
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Well, let's get into the joint. It's called Marijuana in
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: the what?
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: Kachi. Kachi. Not Kuchi.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: It's the Breakfast Club.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: Come on.