Latest / Teach Me Something Hosted By DJ Prostyle & Penny Dellas / Legacy & Authenticity with Darryl "DMC" McDaniels (Part II)

Transcript

Legacy & Authenticity with Darryl "DMC" McDaniels (Part II) · Teach Me Something Hosted By DJ Prostyle & Penny Dellas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's up?
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: This is DJ Pro Style.
• 0:02
  Speaker 3: And this is Penny Delos.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: And this is Teach Me Something.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: Brought to you by Berklee College.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Here's part two of our DMC episode.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I won't stop rocking until I retire. So we do
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a video for it called The King of Rock with
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Larry Bud Melman from the David Letterman Show at the
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: front door of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: museum going, it was racial and it was also racist. Artistic.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: You guys can't come in here because you're black and
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: you guys can't because you're hip hop. You're not even
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: real music. What, motherfucker? I'm the king of rock. So
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: we go in and crash the video. So that worked, too.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I'm like, whoa. And what was funny around that time,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: it was people like Lou Reed and the Ramones and
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: all the rock guys. We love forget what the critics
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: are saying. We love you because we had a rock
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and roll attitude. Oh, you don't like the way we dress?
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: We're going to dress more that way. You don't like
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: what we're saying? We're going to make more. The same
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: punk rock attitude and stuff like that. So it worked.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: So now 1986 comes along. Me and Run, we're going
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: to take the toys in the attic. We're going to
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: take the album with the toys on the cover number four,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and we're going to make a song out of it.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: So originally, it was the eight-bar loop with eight-bar guitars
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: in and out. Like a DJ would spin it. Do-do-do-do-do.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: So it was a loop of that. But working with
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: this young man named Rick Rubin at the time, who
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: was the DJ and producer for a punk rock group
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: called the Beastie Boys, who were huge hip hop fans
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: interested in making a hip hop album. So Rick Rubin
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: sticks his head in the studio. Hey, guys, I'm Rick Rubin.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I represent the Beastie Boys. Can I hang out? Come
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: on in. We sitting around. Rick is telling us what
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: they do. He's watching what we do. Like I said earlier,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: we realize it's the same thing. We're just making songs.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Only different with us, we don't got a band. If
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: you ask us where our band was.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: The DJ.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: But like you said earlier, we still need the music. Yeah, yeah.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: So Rick sees we're going to sample this record. He goes, nah, nah, nah,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: don't sample it. He said, do it over like the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: man originally did it. Jay, rest in peace. Oh, my God,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: that's going to be a great idea. Me and Run
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: hated it. Why? Because I still remember crying because D
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: got rhymes.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: Then you got Ron.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Originally, it was a loop, eight bars, and it went
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: like this. We came out in 83. It's 86 now.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: They told us year after year we wouldn't be here.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: So my rhyme was DMC over the walk this way.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: DMC and the place to be, the best MC in history.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: There will never be an MC better than me. That's
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: why you call me K-I-N-G. And then Ron, you come
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: with him, Ron, DMC stuff. DJ Ron here to have fun,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: get it done. It was like that. Rick says, no, no, no.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Do the record over the way the band originally did.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Me and Run didn't want to do it, but we
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: was reluctant to do it because Jay and Rick, you know,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Jay was like, if you don't do it, I'm going
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: to go upside your head. Okay, Jay.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: So while we was doing it, here's the brilliance of it.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: That's why I said there's no such thing as a
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: generation gap. Rick knew, okay, we could do this record over,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and Run DMC does Walk This Way over Aerosmith. While
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: me and Run was learning all the lyrics on the
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: original song that we cared nothing about because we just
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: wanted the beat, Rick calls Boston where Aerosmith was. And
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: working on that new album, I forgot what's in that album.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Dude looks like a lady.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. How big was that?
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Phenomenal. Here's the problem with them. They were so far gone.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Because drug problems, messed up shows. I mean, they were gone.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: They were so gone. I noticed this. They could have
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: literally made a record with God, Jesus, and Moses, and
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: nobody would have cared. I'm telling you. Aerosmith, nobody cared.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: But they were humble enough when Rick calls, hello. My
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: name is Rick Rubin. I know you know who Run
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: DMC is. They're doing your record. Oh, but do you
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: want to do it? Who is this on the phone?
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: My name is Rick Rubin. I know you do. You know,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: because we was buzzing. I know you know the kings
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: of rock do. They're doing your record. Do you want
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: to do it? Steve, Joe, there's some guy, Rick Rubin,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: saying Run DMC wants to do it. Oh, yo, this
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: is Steven Joe. Yo, those guys are cool. Rock guys.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: The world is telling us y'all ain't music, just empty rock. No,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: those guys, we like what they do. Let's do it.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: So Rick brought them with us. We did the record,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: and then he did the video because he wanted the
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: world to see us together. That was the game-changer.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: The video was so dope.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so to answer the question, no.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Breaking that wall down was like breaking the barrier down.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Ah, literally, and that was the idea. We got Randy MC,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: you know who they are, and Aerosmith, you know who
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: they are. They got this record called Walk This Way,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: and they just told the director for the video that he...
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: he saw that this is what's happening. This ain't just
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: some music industry stuff. This is some game changer stuff.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: This is something bigger.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: So we didn't know. And that goes back to what
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Run DMC was able to do. It wasn't because of us.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: It was for all the boys and girls before Rapper's
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Delight who sacrificed their existence. When they were rhyming in
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: them streets, when they was rhyming in them dark parties,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: when he was rhyming on them block parties, we were
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: already on stage at Madison Square Garden. Yeah. You know this.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: If you listen to all of the hip-hop records, and
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: if you listen to all of the hip-hop before Rappers
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: of Light, Funky 4 Plus 1 said it, Treacherous 3
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: said it, Cold Crush 4 said it, Fearless 4 said it,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Fantastic 5 said it, Furious 5 said it, sequence set
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: at Sugar Hill Gary. Shocking, amazing, make you feel shame.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: One day my name will be found in the Hall
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: of Fame. It was prophecy. We were just the vehicles
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: for it to manifest into. So I had no idea
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: all of this was going on because we were just
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: having fun. But there had to be something globally and
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: universal phenomenal because we took all our lessons from people
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Curtis Mayfield and James Brown
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: and Marvin Gaye. We were little kids. It was G.I. Joe,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Bugs Bunny, but it was them too. It was their example.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: So we knew, oh, shoot, they're going to let us
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: in the studio. There comes a responsibility with that. And
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: that was forsaken along the way because, like I said earlier,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: the music business only cares about selling records. So they
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: want the record. They know 5 million people going to
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: buy that record with the bitch hole. Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: But Ice-T said, yo, Run DMC, man. Y'all make positivity gangster.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: When I rap, I'm DMC and a place to be.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I go to St. John's University. Since kindergarten, I acquired
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the knowledge. After 12th grade, I'm going straight to college.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: The same way somebody talks about shooting a gun or
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: taking drugs like that. So many people say, yo, when
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: you rap that thing, it make college cool. So just
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: to be hip-hop. They started going to school because now
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: DMC made it part of the culture, like you said, community.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Community creates culture. So in the beginning, like I said,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: it was 9 to 25 years old. I tell the
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: kids now, hip-hop didn't just create rappers and producers. It
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: created journalists and filmmakers.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Lawyers, doctors, physicists. It made you go, I have to
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: do it. You had to do something other than sell drugs.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: And I come from a generation where if the drug
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: dealers and gangbang knew, if they knew you could DJ,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: they would tell you, you're pro, get off this corner, man.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: You don't need to be here. But now a lot
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: of rap encourages it like it's cool. Now, the streets,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: you got to understand, the streets has, since the black
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: exploitation movies of the 70s, Shaft, Superfly, Hell Up in
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Harlem and all, Pam Graham movies, you know what I'm saying?
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Heroin and titties and chewing and stuff like that. The
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: perception is the streets is that. No, the streets is
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: also the kids over there playing double dutch. The kids
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: over there playing skelly. The kids over there taking milk
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: crates and making basketball stuff. That's the streets. But for
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: some reason, people want to leave that out. So me
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: coming into it, my thing was like, Oh, everybody rapping
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: about the death, darkness, and destruction in the streets. But
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: right along with the death, darkness, and destruction is the
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: kid over there collecting comic books. Every neighborhood and every
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: community has the kids. You know they going to jail
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: just like that finally. Like in my neighborhood, it was like,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: you can let Tyrone and them in the backyard, but
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: don't let them boys in my house. But my mother
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: gave them something to eat and stuff like that. But
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: you had Tyrone and them, you know where they going.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: There's nothing you can do about it. But then you
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: had the kid that you know, yo, he going to
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: make it to college. Then you had the other kid,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: he's going to be the athlete. Then you had the
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: other kid, oh, he's the guy that was working out
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: when he was eight. Oh, he's going to be the...
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: So all the potential... was always in our streets. It's
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: just that we allow, we step back, and we allow
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: somebody giving us the chance to dictate what should and
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: what not should be seen. So my DMC's saying, no,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: we're going to make the rock records too. So Walk
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: This Way gives birth to, and everybody knows it, Korn,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Wind. So my thing is,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: what I represent wasn't just for me. It was so
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: you could see your greatness and do it too. I
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: didn't rap, I'm DMC in a place to be, just
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: for me, like it was a new thing. No, somebody
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: else did it and set the example for me. Once again,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: his name was Kool Moe D. Before he went solo
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and battled LL, those phenomenal, when you hooked up with
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Teddy Wright, Kool Moe D, and this was 1984, they
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: had a song called, no, they had a song, yeah,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: they had a song called Yes We Can Can. where
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: they sample the Pointer Sisters. I know we can make it.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: I know that we can. I know darn well that
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: we can work it out. Yes, we can. Remember the
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Pointer Sisters? So our mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: listened to that music. And hip-hop, Grandmaster Kaz, shout out
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: to him, he said, hip-hop ain't invent anything. It reinvented everything.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: So on the treacherous street, they took the Pointer Sisters song.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: So I'm sitting there listening to Moe D rap. Everybody
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: knew Moe D was the Jay-Z, Eminem of our generation.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: But when Moe D spoke, he didn't just talk about
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: his money and his cars and how good he was.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I'm listening to this record. It was called Yes We Can, Cam.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: And you had heard Moe spit on the mic. Moe
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: would boast, yes, I go to college, in the middle
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: of his rhyme while battling you. And everybody respected that.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Even the gang. Yeah, most in school. Everybody knew that.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: So that was a title. The same way we looked
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: at the drug dealers. Yeah. All of them, because there's
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: a lot of them. But there was a lot of
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: people going to school, but they wasn't bold enough to
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: speak it. So Moe D, they did this record called Yes,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: We Can't Care. And it starts, evil destruction, tax deduction,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: price inflation rocks the nation and unemployment is on the rise.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: It's hard to find a compromise. And if it lasts
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: like this for a long enough time, we'll need nothing
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: but a higher level of crime. So we say, and
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: then they go into this record. Now, everything I just said,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: could you apply that to right now? Oh, yeah.
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%.
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: So every record with these rappers, there was a part
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: where you wait for your favorite rapper to have his
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: bars alone.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: So you wait for Modi, you wait for Sunshine, you
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: wait for Special K. So when Mo's turn came, He
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: did something that was phenomenal. He said, once a nobody
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: from the neighborhood, I took a hop to the top
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: because I knew that I would excel over the rest
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: because I make progress. I don't consider it luck because
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: I'm not blessed. I got my life all together. Love
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: the way that I live. Go to school. Know I'm
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: cool and I think positive because it's a right to
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: have fun, lots of pleasures and joy, the money, the car,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: but it's a brain that separates the men from the boys. Classic. Whoa.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: That's a 20-year-old.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: It's been knowledge.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? So Run DMC, we knew
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: we had a responsibility. So we said, yo, we got
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: to show the world, okay, you're saying we ain't rock
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: and roll, but we're using rock and roll. Right. So
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: doesn't that make us rock and roll?
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: And it did. And look at where that legacy has
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: brought us.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: You got to represent.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Hip-hop is about keeping it real. So this is the
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: keeping it real of it. You can't just make a
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: billion dollars record companies off of seller records talking about
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: the shooting. All right, put the single out about the
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: shooting and getting high and all of that. But also,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: with the budget that you just made off of that,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: put out the record and put the money behind it,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the song that talks about not shooting it. Yeah, yeah.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: You talk about strip clubs and the Bs and the Hs.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: What about the songs with the fully clothed woman doing
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: something great? We need to... It's art form, so it's
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: not about censorship and freedom of speech. Just like with
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: all forms of expression. But the problem is, our young
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: girls in the past... 30 years, they need to see
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: fully clothed women like Moni Love putting down. They need
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to see more women calling themselves queen like a Latifah.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: They need to hear more from the queens like Lauryn
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Hill and Bahamadia. MC Lyte wasn't a female rapper. She
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: was a dope rapper that made dudes go home and
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: pull out their pen. So we know You're coming with
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: the deaf, darkness, and destruction, but you got to bring
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: the light. So Run DMC, we learned from what was
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the dichotomy of the industry. But we was always at
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: a point where, because I studied Tony Starks and Professor
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: X and Reed Richards, we got to get in there
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: and then unleash the power. So my blueprint, Run DMC's blueprint,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: was the message. Broken glass everywhere. That was a message
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: to the world. It was a cry for help. Once
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the message was out, we didn't just sit there and
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: hope for a savior to come. Reaganomics was killing us.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: So Afrika Bambaataa, rest in peace, and the Soul Sound
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: of Force did a record called Planet Rock, saying, we
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: know a place. But we all eat and we're not
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: fighting no more. Rock, rock to the planet, rock. Listen
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: to that record. That record is better than 99.9% of
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: all the rap records out right now. Powwow, Mr. Biggs
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: and Globe, they say, the soul sonic force. Mr. Biggs,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Powwow and MC Globe, we emphasize to show we got ego.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Make this your night, rock it by day. As the
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: people say, live it up. Shucks, no work or play.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Our world is free. Be what you want, just be.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: He was telling us, be something. You ain't got to
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: be a rapper. You ain't got to be a drummer.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Be something.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: My mom would always say, go to school and learn something.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Going to school, it's true. A lot of the curriculums
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: don't teach our kids what they should learn. But it
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: does teach us how the world operates. Even Jesus said,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: you're so busy mad at the evil people, do what
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: they do, but just do good and watch what happens.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Jesus said, even the evil killer people, Attila the Hun
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: loves his children. He's just using the thing that's before you.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: So I was like, okay, here's what we're going to do.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Instead of doing one record that's positive, one record about
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: the bad stuff, and one record about the good stuff,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: we're going to do his record about us like that
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: and put it both in there. You listen to it
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: like that. Wars going on across the sea, but you
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: can also, you can be a lot in this lifespan.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: But see, hip hop always did that. Once we got
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: into the music business, it was like, Don't play no
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: more of those positive records because the kids are going
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: to school now. Don't play no more of those positive
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: records because the kids ain't. Now, Snoop gets high, but
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: he don't promote that he gets high. Because Snoop and
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Willie Nelson both get high together. Willie Nelson always got high.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? But they don't promote it. Right. So,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: you ain't got to be, you don't. Chuck D, I remember,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: it was Run DMC, EPMD, Eric B and Rakim, and
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: I forgot who else was on the tour. So we
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: on tour, and Rakim is on stage. And Run DMC,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Chuck D, and EPMD are watching Rakim, the God MC,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: drop all that knowledge. And we the headliners. So King Run,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Kings of Rock, Public Enemy No. 1, and EPMD. You
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying? We're watching Rakim, and we're going, yo, man,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: we can't do that. But he's inspiring us, but we
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: all together. And on the side of the stage, a
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: conversation comes up. I'll never forget this day. I think
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: we was in Hampton, Virginia. What makes hip-hop so cool
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: right now for all of us? So automatically, the first
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: thing you go to is, you know, we're getting record deals,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: we're getting sneaker deals, like running them, doing with Adidas,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: we're selling out the venues, this and that. Chuck goes, nah, uh-uh,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: he says. And Chuck, he's the oldest on the road,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: but he's only like 23 years old. So he goes,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: the most powerful thing about this, there's always a speaker,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: there's always a mic in front of us, and now
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: they got us on camera. Time for us to deliver
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: the thing that we got us here. And I remember
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Chuck going, we started to, yeah, man, I mean, we
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: had coke, weed. We used to fill the bathroom tubs
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: with ice and cases of Old English and all that.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Johnny Walk and all that. And I'll never forget the
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: day Chuck, young man, said, I never got high a
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: goddamn day in my life. And me, I went back
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: to my room and I was so naive. I thought
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: you had to get high to be in hip hop.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: So the examples are always there. The thing that we
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: did was, all right, if you want to be like
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Freddie Mercury, do like Freddie Mercury would do, but don't
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: do him. So like Cass said, we didn't invent anything.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: We reinvented everything. And not just the showbiz part of it.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: You see how Stevie carries himself. Think about that, how
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Stevie wanted to carry. You could sit there and have
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: a conversation with him. And he'll tell you, man, most
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: of my family was pimps and pushers and stuff like that.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: But when I got this gift, I can't even see,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: but I got the gift and I was able to
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: change the world with it. And that's the most important
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: thing about it.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: And you did change the world. Look at what your
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: music has done, what your legacy has provided, all of
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: the paths you've opened, right? Pro said he started his
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: career because of yours. And it's such a privilege to
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: have you in the studio with us.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: And We need like four episodes.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: We need like four episodes. We didn't get to your memoir.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: We didn't get to all of the foundations you work
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: with for mental health and what started that and the
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: education you gave to our students at Berkeley College. And
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: at Berkeley College, we always say your potential is our promise.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: And that really sums up what you've said here from
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: what the Barrett family. you broke to the message and
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: the culture that you created and the community that continues
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: to transcend over legacy. And we appreciate you.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: My problem is this.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: My problem is the, because I wanted to be a
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: rock star. So my problem is a good problem. It's
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: a Rolling Stones and Aerosmith problem. If you sit down
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: with Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones and do an interview
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: about them, both of them, Stephen Tyler, Joe Perry, Keith Richards,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: and Mick Jagger, they will spend the majority of the
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: interview talking about the black blues artists that influenced them.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Muddy Waters, Alan Moore. So with me, I know that
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: every time they're going to, yeah, Walk This Way was cool,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Adidas was cool, but let me tell you why I
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: was able to do that. So once you know, oh, shoot.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: So hopefully people will go back and, Melly Mel rhymes
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: like me and Run, but he's just known for the message.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Melly Mel would be, I'm the M-E-L-E-M-E-L from the top
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: of the world, trades to the depths of hell with
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: like everything that me and Run did. So I'll definitely
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: come back.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: We have to have you come back. Pro has been
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: so enamored. We've just been like, wow, he's teaching us.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: He's teaching us. It was great.
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: It's so amazing to listen to for me because I've
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: played all these records that you're talking about, but to
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: understand now where you are at mentally and you know, spiritually,
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: and what made you make the records. And that's what,
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: when it comes to all the artists, that's the thing, like,
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: what were you thinking about or what were you going
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: through when you did that record? And maybe some people
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: just put records out to put them out and to
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: fill that, you know, blank or that void. But with you,
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: you always had a message and you have a reason
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: behind each, a purpose behind everything.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: And now when you listen to those records, it's like,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: now every time I play.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: Them, I'm going to know.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Where you were at when you made it. I know
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: why he made that record.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: I have to represent all the nerds who was getting
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: called four-eyes.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: That's a D for doing it all of the time.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: It's so awesome. We love this. We love it. So
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: fast forward, author, entrepreneur.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: We have some cookies here for those of you that are.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: ASMR DMC coolest cookies in the universe so we're going
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: to try these Darryl.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Makes cookies is what DMC also stands.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: For thank you for bringing us these sweet treats and
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: let's drop the book where can they purchase the book oh.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: The book you can it's by Harper Collins you can
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: get it at any bookstore it's called 10 ways not
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: to commit suicide so I know what's that about it's
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: about the greatest thing that I've done you know, the
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: records and all that was cool, but I'm living, breathing
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: proof that you could beat and defeat whatever it is
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: that you're struggling with. So the DMC King of Rock
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: thing was the setup for what I was really put
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: here to do. So 10 Ways Not to Commit Suicide
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: is about, I am an alcoholic, suicidal, metaphysical, spiritual wreck
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: who found out at age 35 that he was adopted
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Jam Master Jay got shot and killed, and my father died.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Just like that. But I'm still here because I found
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: this gangster thing called therapy. So that's what the book
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: is about. I also have a comic book company, comic
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: book series, where in the alternate reality, DMC's not a rapper.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: He's a superhero with superpowers running around beating the bad guys.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: And I was like, what else could I do this DMC? Oh,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: I've been sober for 22 years now. So I can't drink.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: So I got to find something to do. I was like,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: you know what? I'm going to make cookies. Everybody likes cookies.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: And cookies is something that the kid can sit there
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: with their mother.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Cookies makes everybody happy.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we love cookies here on the pod.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Yes. Cookies bring joy to the world.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: They do.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: They really do.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: But the most important thing is what we really, really
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: need is podcasts like this. Not about drama and gossip
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Yeah. We need conversation.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: So the elders and the OGs and the up and
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: comers can get together and realize that we have the
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: power to solve every problem and not worry about if
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: an administration or whatever doesn't do it for us. We
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: don't need them. Yeah. We are already in heaven. We
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: don't need nobody to tell us we are.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, bro, you're in heaven sitting next to me every Tuesday.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this has been a heavenly pod for sure. This
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: has been amazing.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much for having me and I'll
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: definitely come back. Thank you for blessing us and for
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: being part of our Teach Me Something podcast community. I
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: learned so much today.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: No, I definitely did. This is like mountains. This is definitely,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: if not my favorite, one of my favorites for sure already.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: Before we even air.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because it's as.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: A DJ who's been DJing and who did it Not
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: for any reason other than the passion.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: And the love I have for the music.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: Hearing all the artists he mentioned, obviously, you know, like,
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: first of all, I learned how to scratch over the
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: Curtis Blower. Going back and forth and doing all, you know,
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: and breaking, and breaking.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: It's connecting to you.
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: So then hearing you speak, you know, being such a
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: legend and a pioneer in it and understanding why you
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: made the record.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: I started as a DJ. And I mean, it's just incredible.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: I was grandmaster get high. Because you didn't need reefer,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: not chronic. Back then it was reefer. I was grandmaster
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: get high in my basement because you didn't need reefer
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: or alcohol because my music would intoxicate you. So you're
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: serving a purpose. DJs make the world go round like
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the turntable. For sure.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: You make my world go round, bro.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: I'll never repeat it, but you heard it once.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Like the Terminator said, I'll be back.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: You heard him. He'll be back.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: All right. We're locking it in. Listen, he's booked and busy.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: It took us a couple months.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: To figure this out.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: We'll figure it out.
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: So we'll figure it out. But thank y'all for joining
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: us today. I think this is going to be a
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: part two.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: I hope so because there's so much we haven't got to.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: So much.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you for taking time out, man.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Everything you're doing, I know. We're right down the block.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: No, of course.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Come across the bridge and we're right here in New York.
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Well, it was a pleasure, man.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: In one word, what would your legacy be?
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Inspiration.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: We love that.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: There you go.
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: Be inspired. Your potential is our promise. Thank you for
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: tuning in to Teach Me Something Podcast. Follow us at pod.teachmesomething.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: Presented by Berkeley College iHeart Podcast, 103.5 KTU.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: That's right. Thank you, DMC, of course, for taking time
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: out to be with us. I am Pro Style.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: I am Penny Dulles.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: And we'll see you for the next one.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Bye, guys.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: Hey, thanks for listening. Tune in next week.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: For an all new episode of Teach Me Something.
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: Brought to you by Berkeley College.