Aries Spears on Ice Cube & 50 Cent beef, T.I.'s comedy, Jay-Z & DMX impressions

Summary

Podcast Title: Joe and Jada
Episode: Aries Spears on Ice Cube & 50 Cent Beef, T.I.'s Comedy, Jay-Z & DMX Impressions
Release Date: August 12, 2025
Hosts: Fat Joe and Jadakiss
Guest: Aries Spears
Platform: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume

---

Introduction and Guest Welcome

The episode kicks off with Fat Joe and Jadakiss introducing their special guest, comedian Aries Spears. The hosts express genuine admiration for Spears, highlighting his contributions to comedy and hip-hop culture.

Notable Quote:
Jadakiss [02:55]: "You gotta let me have a second to geek out for a minute... every time I do Vlad or any kind of show where I talk hip hop, I go my top five."

---

Impressions and Comedic Talent

Aries Spears delves into his repertoire of impressions, particularly focusing on iconic figures like Ice Cube, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, and DMX. He shares anecdotes about developing these impressions and the reactions they've garnered from audiences.

Notable Quote:
Aries Spears [04:09]: "It was comedically on point... I never knew Joe was built like he was in there."

Fat Joe [04:10]: "He got different walks."

---

Addressing Beef in Hip-Hop: Ice Cube and 50 Cent

The conversation shifts to the ongoing beef between Ice Cube and 50 Cent. Aries clarifies his stance, emphasizing that his comments were never personal attacks but rather comedic critiques of their artistry.

Notable Quote:
Aries Spears [07:10]: "I never attacked Ice Cube the man. My whole point was... unless you have an opinion that's favorable, you're a hater."

Fat Joe [07:15]: "You know, I saw T.I. do some comedy. He was actually pretty good. Okay, don't go there."

---

T.I.'s Foray into Comedy

Discussing T.I.'s attempts at comedy, Aries highlights the challenges rappers face when crossing over into different entertainment genres. He underscores the importance of humility and the unique skill set required for stand-up comedy compared to rap.

Notable Quote:
Aries Spears [08:58]: "If you're gonna step into another genre, you gotta humble yourself."

Fat Joe [09:05]: "Yeah."

---

Hip-Hop Culture and Competition

Fat Joe shares his observations on the competitive nature of hip-hop, emphasizing the shift from battling peers to fostering a more collaborative environment in podcasting and media.

Notable Quote:
Fat Joe [09:53]: "A lot of people always go, man, you should be bigger. You should this."

---

Evolution of Hip-Hop and New Generations

The hosts and Aries reflect on the evolution of hip-hop, comparing the originality and lyrical complexity of past legends like Big Pun and Nas to the current generation. Aries criticizes the newer artists for lacking the same level of potency and cultural depth.

Notable Quote:
Aries Spears [30:49]: "I'm not a rapper, but I can do some lyrics... I'm better than this new generation."

Fat Joe [34:47]: "This is exactly what I'm thinking of while I'm explaining it to you."

---

Battle Rap vs. Studio Success

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the dynamics between battle rap and mainstream studio success. Aries and the hosts debate why many talented battle rappers struggle to transition into successful recording artists, attributing it to differences in skills and industry gatekeeping.

Notable Quote:
Fat Joe [79:34]: "You gotta understand these guys got these type of like, egos where they're not trying to take no type of L."

Aries Spears [77:36]: "They possess a special thing with that... they might be able to make classic albums if pushed."

---

Comedic Experiences and Anecdotes

Aries shares humorous and sometimes intense experiences from his career, including encounters with celebrities like DMX and Mike Tyson. These stories highlight the unpredictable nature of live performances and interactions within the entertainment industry.

Notable Quote:
Aries Spears [53:19]: "Joe Torre is one of the... digital fingers."

Fat Joe [54:04]: "That's a little bit too much."

---

Maintaining Authenticity in Hip-Hop and Comedy

The trio discusses the importance of staying true to oneself in both hip-hop and comedy. They emphasize the need for authenticity and the challenges of adapting to changing audience expectations without compromising personal style.

Notable Quote:
Aries Spears [32:03]: "Look, our heroes... Lil Uzi, Satchels and purses."

Fat Joe [33:02]: "It was always like that, right?"

---

Closing Remarks and Future Discussions

As the episode wraps up, Fat Joe proposes future topics, including a discussion on Will.i.am's comments about Jay-Z and Black culture, signaling ongoing dialogues about respect and competition within the industry.

Notable Quote:
Fat Joe [83:44]: "You got to fight your way to where you got your spot. We still fighting."

---

Conclusion

This episode of "Joe and Jada" offers an engaging blend of humor, insightful commentary, and personal anecdotes. Aries Spears provides a unique perspective on the intersections of comedy and hip-hop, while Fat Joe and Jadakiss contribute their legendary industry insights. Listeners gain a deeper understanding of the complexities within hip-hop culture, the challenges of genre crossover, and the enduring importance of authenticity and respect among artists.

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Note: The timestamps referenced in the notable quotes correspond to the transcript provided and serve to highlight key moments in the conversation.

Transcript

[Joe Crack]

Jake.

[Jake Hofer]

I'm Jake Hofer and this is back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access?

[Jada Kiss]

Should you? That's what the real question is. Stand without good access is not a good stand.

[Jake Hofer]

Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Joe Crack]

It's Black Business Month and Money and wealth podcast with John Hope Bryant is tapping in. I'm breaking down how to build wealth, create opportunities, and move from surviving to thriving. It's time to talk about ownership, equity and everything in between. Black and brown communities have historically been last in line. Let me just say this AI is moving faster than civil rights legislation ever did. Listen to Money and Wealth from the Black Effect podcast network on iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or where you get your podcast.

[Bob Crawford]

I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, a different type of podcast. You, the listener, ask the questions.

[Joe Crack]

Did George Washington really cut down a cherry tree?

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

Were JFK and Marilyn Monroe having an affair?

[Bob Crawford]

And I find the answers.

[Joe Crack]

I'm so glad you asked me this question.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

This is such a ridiculous story.

[Bob Crawford]

You can listen to American History Hotline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

If you're looking for another heavy podcast about trauma, this ain't it. This is for the ones who had to survive and still show up as brilliant, loud, soft and whole. The unwanted sorority is where black women, femmes and gender expansive survivors of sexual violence rewrite the rules on healing, support, and what happens after. And I'm your host and co president of this organization, Dr. Lea Tritate. Listen to the unwanted sorority. New episodes every Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Aries Spears]

Congratulations, homie. 1.1 million in a short week. So I'm working on it. I'm working on it.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, what up, y'? All? This is Joe Crack the Dawn.

[Jada]

Your boy, Jada. You know what? It is the Joe and Jada show. And we have a very special guest. You know, we like to. We bring variety of guests, but they all golden individuals. And today we have a very golden individual. Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for our brother with his phone ringing and all that. Erie Spears. Make some noise.

[Aries Spears]

Yo, what up, what up, what up?

[Jada]

What's up, my brother?

[Aries Spears]

You gotta let me Have a second to geek out for a minute. Cause, you know, like my best friend over there, you know, we came up on y', all, man. You know, in the hip hop thing. And, you know, I ain't know until I found out Joe hit me up, was like, yo, I need you to do me a solid and do the intro for my upcoming album. I was more than happy to do it. One of my favorite rappers. But I never met you until today. And I'm telling you, I'm fucked up, because I'm literally sitting next to, hands down, one of the greatest MCs of all time, like you, in my top five, dog. And every time I. Every time I do Vlad or any kind of show where I talk hip hop, I go my top five. No particular order.

[Joe Crack]

This guy ain't shit, man.

[Jada]

I always see him show me love, though, this guy.

[Aries Spears]

I say, Jada, Hov, Nas, Biggie and Rakim.

[Joe Crack]

Nah, nah, nah, we ain't going for that.

[Jada]

You want to shoot me down?

[Joe Crack]

Let me tell you something. The reason I love Jada the most is because it locks. Is unity. They there for each of this guy is diabolical. He been sitting next to me in this show. I start watching old clips of the show, and I said, holy. He go flaming me. Euro step.

[Jada]

Yeah, but listen.

[Joe Crack]

No, that is die up.

[Jada]

No, it went viral. But if I listen to the. The way I scripted it.

[Joe Crack]

Oh, you.

[Jada]

I told them.

[Joe Crack]

Can you listen?

[Jada]

A legendary coach in the ruck. Legendary coach in New York City. You won plenty of tournaments. You got a listers out there wazoo on your roster. Now, if you was to happen to play. I'm just saying the way it golden the legs that been to the eighth wonders of the World and all of this. If you was to hit them with the year, you know, the Euros 3 movements, boom, boom, boom. But if you was to hit him with the.

[Joe Crack]

When you saw that what you did the layup.

[Aries Spears]

If you be unstoppable like it, fuck. Fuck me up. Cause for a dude that is a.

[Jada]

Rapper, and I don't be shooting that.

[Aries Spears]

It was comedically 100 million.

[Jada]

What you talking.

[Aries Spears]

It was comedically on point.

[Joe Crack]

What?

[Aries Spears]

Cause I didn't even know you had the Kenny Smiths.

[Joe Crack]

You ain't even know it.

[Aries Spears]

So I saw a picture one day and I saw the knees.

[Joe Crack]

He was moving like.

[Jada]

Yeah.

[Aries Spears]

And I was like, oh, I didn't know Joe was built like he was in there.

[Jada]

You know what it is? Me sensing, me doing business with him and being with him. He got a few different walks I don't know if it's depending on his mood. I don't know. Depending on. I mean, he might got a good call this day. Nice super bags coming in, right? Might have been, you know, Might be one of the days. Yeah. Some days he got.

[Joe Crack]

He got different walks.

[Jada]

Can you agree with me, man? You got different box.

[Joe Crack]

In the house. I got the Sherman Helmsley.

[Aries Spears]

Oh, oh, you do the.

[Joe Crack]

No, no, for real, though. Like in the house, I'm walking to go eat some or go see the movie. I got the Shelman Hemsley. That's. That's in the crib.

[Jada]

Shelman Hemsley.

[Joe Crack]

The Sherman Helmsley.

[Jada]

How you gonna do George Jefferson like that man called Shelman Hemp.

[Aries Spears]

He was calling me ahrii.

[Joe Crack]

Yeah, I'm fried, man. I'm fucked up from the language to the legs. Listen, listen, let me tell you something. Let me tell you. Aries. Let me tell you, Aries.

[Aries Spears]

Yes.

[Joe Crack]

Me and Spain, son to you, you're one of the funniest guys in the world. I appreciate all your contributions. Everything you do, I believe is hip hop, right? You always represent hip hop culture.

[Aries Spears]

That's a feast. Culture, culture.

[Joe Crack]

We gotta fix the Ice Cube borderline violation, right? Because Ice Cube here in this show, this is the love of the culture. This is the preservation. This is like the national preservation forest of hip hop and whatever that means. And you know, Ice Cube, living legend. Do you ever. Is it just jokes with you or do you ever feel like.

[Aries Spears]

Listen, let me be clear.

[Jada]

Did I miss something?

[Aries Spears]

Let me.

[Jada]

Yes, we skipped the whole thing.

[Joe Crack]

No, but we trying to. I'm doing the J to kiss right now to fix this.

[Aries Spears]

Let me be clear here. First and foremost, I never attacked Ice Cube the man. I never attacked his character. And first of all, my whole point was this word hate is being so overly abused and thrown around now that unless you have an opinion that's favorable, you're a hater. No, I'm opinionated and I'm. And then sometimes in my delivery, comedically, I'm be a little bit brutal. But at the end of the day, I never question his man, his character. I never questioned him as a man. And listen, I even gave him his flowers and said, yes, he is a pioneer, a trailblazer, an icon in hip hop, especially with the West Coast. I'm just not a fan of his artistry. And by that, I'm just simply meaning, listen, man, for me, my musical palette, my hip hop palette, I'm an East coast dude, man. But I like snoop, I like pot, who technically is from the East. But nonetheless, just because I'm not a fan of that does not mean that I'm a hater. And if I'm being really specific, what I was really speaking to was comedically acting wise. Because I just feel like. And listen, I know it's all about getting the bag and the money. And, you know, I just feel like with sometimes artistry, a rapper can't do comedically what a comedian can, because that's a muscle. That's an instinct. That's in our blood. We eat, sleep, shit, breathe comedy. No more than I can go in the booth and do what you can. Better than you.

[Joe Crack]

You know, I saw TI do some comedy. He was actually pretty good. Okay, don't go there. Your opinion.

[Aries Spears]

It's your opinion.

[Joe Crack]

My opinion.

[Aries Spears]

But the comedy community will tell you otherwise, because here's the problem. There's a problem. If you gonna step into another genre, you gotta humble yourself.

[Joe Crack]

And T.I.

[Aries Spears]

Approaches comedy with the same bravado. He approaches rap. That's a different aesthetic.

[Joe Crack]

Yeah.

[Aries Spears]

Humble yourself.

[Joe Crack]

I agree with you. I thought TI Was funny, right? And I'm. And I. I may die one day after.

[Jada]

Niggas die one day.

[Joe Crack]

No, no. But I may die one day of laughter. I don't know if nobody.

[Aries Spears]

Well, then I'm gonna be the one.

[Joe Crack]

To kill you of laughing, because I'm the guy. They do. They threw me out the movie theater. Eddie Murphy, raw. I went over there with the whole projects. Out of the whole projects, the security came, was like, you're an asshole. You're the one that gotta go. I'm the one making the most noise in the movie theater. They threw me out the movie. I am a sucker for a laugh. Like a sucker for a laugh. So I thought CI was funny, but.

[Aries Spears]

There'S levels to this shit.

[Joe Crack]

Well, I. I even. I'm gonna admit something here, too, that. That I've been noticing, I've been looking to insert, you know. You know, in hip hop, it's all about competition, right? So you gotta convince yourself you're better than every other rapper, whatever the case may be. And so there's a bit of delusion or whatever. And so we start the podcast, and the first thing I do is start shooting. You know, like, I want to smoke with all the podcasters. And I realized I gotta humble myself a little because we just started this, even though we the rookies of the year. But I could see where people could look at it and be like, yo, this guy, you know, but this just. My heart. I've always been Like a warrior, a gladiator to come out there for the smoke. But I realized the podcast is a different space. It's like everybody's smiling at each other. Nobody got smoke with each other. So I'm thinking, top five dead or alive, who want to jump out? Where's the smoke? Who we got? But that ain't what it's about. It's about having an opinion and bringing something to the people. So I get what you're saying with. With the well ti. Go ahead, kiss me.

[Jada]

I mean you right and wrong. It's different kind of. It's different kind of smokers like behind the scenes. It's behind the scenes hate and smokers with this. But I don't think for one, this ain't even. We just. We ball in this space. Well, at least I am. I mean, if you tell me podcasting or rapping, ladies and gentlemen, this is our last show. I like it, but you know what I mean, as long as you could do both. You know, people start thinking you taking their jobs.

[Joe Crack]

I don't. So you've been feeling a little hate behind the scenes.

[Jada]

You don't. You just being boisterous. I'm just watching them from the side.

[Joe Crack]

Have you ever dealt with this? Because you're one of the most liked MCs of all time. Have you ever dealt with this?

[Jada]

I am, but I ain't. When it's time to go 300 Spartan, I'm not that liked as I am.

[Aries Spears]

And just so you know, outside of the. It wasn't just Cube that jumped on me. 50 jumped on me too. Cause of that. Because the joke I made about 50. I mean, see, but 50 in them.

[Joe Crack]

They'Ll beat you up. Aries. I'm just keeping it real. Maybe Ice Cube is regular. I'm. You know, what's wrong with you? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm keeping it a buck. You run into them guys in the airport, they might do something to you. I had beef with them.

[Aries Spears]

Well, that's cool.

[Joe Crack]

So I know what the beat. I know what the beef is. Is it one thing for us to just like certain guys you don't play with? Because they're gonna come up.

[Aries Spears]

Listen, I love the comedians.

[Joe Crack]

I'm like, there's no thing with Gibson.

[Aries Spears]

I don't ever pretend to be something I'm not. You know, I ain't an Evans. I'm a Huxtable. But best believe I keep some dudes with me too.

[Joe Crack]

They gonna have to jump. I'm telling you, a team of Jews.

[Aries Spears]

And I'll sue a in a minute.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, Fendi, Fendi. We got royalty in the building. I ain't no Fendi. Snuck in there, he got his trump pad.

[Jada]

We got a studio audience.

[Joe Crack]

We have a studio audience. But Aries, I'm just trying to. I gotta be honest with you. Cause you're my guy. You're on my album. I with you.

[Aries Spears]

Yeah.

[Joe Crack]

You know, I advocate for you every time I can. Cause I think you're hilarious. But I do know where that could go wrong.

[Aries Spears]

Well, of course.

[Joe Crack]

That one, the Ice Cube, you know, it is everybody. That one could go wrong. I'm promising you.

[Jada]

You know, you put hands and feet on people, too. Why you. Why you just act like. He don't do that.

[Joe Crack]

That's the story.

[Jada]

It is not about that comedian.

[Aries Spears]

Listen, let me tell you the joke. It was almost harmless. I was talking about how, you know, anytime they make a brother playing a movie where he's a scientist or a computer tech, like 50 did in the movie with Stallone. I don't know what it was called, but they was in some prisons and glass cubes. And I said, you know what the difference between 50 the rapper from 50 the computer tech. I'm a computer tech. I work with computers. I do computers. I'm a computer tech. Glasses. Clark Kent, Superman. If you're a great actor, don't need the glasses. Just do the performance. So that was the joke.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, but let me tell you something, right? I've been such a fan of comedy where I believe comics should never and could never be canceled. So, like, the moment they fake canceled, Dave Chappelle, which I don't think is. I started going in his shows to perform at his show. Yo, Dave, you in town? I want to come out, do a couple. Because I believe comedy is the one sweet spot in life, whether white, black, Asian, whatever.

[Aries Spears]

Yeah.

[Joe Crack]

Should be where they could talk about whatever the fuck they want to talk about. Like, you know, that's how I feel about comedy. And so that's how you must feel about it, too, huh?

[Aries Spears]

Listen, three of the greatest quotes ever. Dave Chappelle. You don't know where the line is in comedy until you cross it. George Carlin. You should know where the line is in comedy and deliberately cross it. Patrice o', Neill, God rest his soul. Great comedy leaves half the audience laughing, the other half horrified. Wow. So that's the credo. That's the Creto I live by. Yeah, man.

[Joe Crack]

And you, from the clothes, man, who you. Who would you say ushered you into the game? Who Was like a mentor.

[Jada]

This guy came in the game at 14. That's his. I think that's the. He made history. There's nobody else. Who else?

[Aries Spears]

Def Jam 16, Showtime at Apollo 17.

[Joe Crack]

So what I'm saying is who.

[Aries Spears]

I was an 80s, baby. So in that era, you know, prior to the explosion of Def Jam, Hollywood only allowed one nigga per decade. So it was like, you know what I mean? It was like, definitely rich, red, 60s and what's my man name? Dick Gregory. Really? In the 60s, prior in the 70s, Eddie in the 80s. And then by the 90s, Def Jam hit. And now black comics was everywhere. But Eddie was my dude, was my, like, my inspiration. Because I know he started at 14. So I was like, if he did it, I'm.

[Joe Crack]

How does it go with comedy? Is it like rap or whatever? Like, how do they determine who's gonna get the bag right? Because there's so many funny comedians. Like, I did Hollywood. What did I do?

[Jada]

Hollywood Squares.

[Joe Crack]

Not Hollywood Squares. What's your man? Family Feud.

[Jada]

Oh, I wanna go on Family Feud.

[Joe Crack]

You should take your family man on there. Or D Block.

[Jada]

Let's go.

[Joe Crack]

You should. We should set that up. So we go on there. They got Fluffy, right?

[Aries Spears]

Oh, Gabriel.

[Joe Crack]

And Spanish guy.

[Aries Spears]

Yeah.

[Joe Crack]

I didn't know much about him. And then they turned around and said, you know, this guy sold out Dodger Stadium.

[Jada]

Yeah.

[Joe Crack]

So who determines who's going to be a big boy? Who's going to be the underground? Who's going to be, you know, in rap music, some guys choose to be underground when they're like, yo, I don't want to hit. You know, I just want to be the purest. And then some people like me, you know, commercialize. Some people might call that sellout. When I have a record, like, what's love? Who determines?

[Aries Spears]

Well, in terms of. If you talking about just straight movies and tv, the gatekeepers to those is, you know, white folks, they run that. You know what I mean? If you talking about more like stand up in the grind, that's on you, you know? And a lot of people always go, man, you should be bigger. You should this. Listen, my mouth is my biggest attribute, but it's also my biggest detriment, you know what I mean? So it's like, I say a lot of shit that sparks controversy. I'm a hater. I'm this, I'm that. So, you know, but it works for you. It's working for me, but it ain't.

[Joe Crack]

Who took off that you was like.

[Aries Spears]

You know, listen, I don't know who.

[Joe Crack]

Took off that you was like, why.

[Jada]

Are you lying in the mouth?

[Joe Crack]

No, I'm not lining them up. I'm. I'm just. Who took off?

[Aries Spears]

There's some dudes where you just go. You know, I just don't understand, like. Like, there's no sense in this game. You know what I mean? There's no. There's no logic to none of this shit. You know, the people that are where they are deserve to be there. Kevin Hart deserves to be there. You know, Mike Epps deserves to be there. But, you know, at the end of the day, you just got to play this bullshit game, man. You know, I feel like if I put it in boxing terms, you know, let me put it like this. I got Michael Jordan dreams, but Dennis Rodman habits, you know what I'm saying? I'm saying I should be Madison Avenue. Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. But I like porn stars and liquor. So, you know, I got a list talent, but my behavior and some of the things I do and say might be, you know, like I said, my biggest detriment.

[Joe Crack]

Like, me and you, we gotta talk maybe in the next podcast about Will I am and what he said with Jay Z and Black. Like who?

[Jada]

I mean, I'm staying out of that.

[Joe Crack]

Yeah, but you gotta.

[Aries Spears]

You.

[Jada]

I mean, gotta stay out of that area. You get into this.

[Joe Crack]

No, I'm going. I'm gonna. Definitely got something to say about that.

[Jada]

I don't.

[Joe Crack]

You ain't got nothing to say about that. But my point is, them guys became huge, right? They beat me for the Grammy. All black. They beat me for what's Love. What's Love is like number one in the country. They beat me for the Grammy. This is before Fergie, right? Once they get Fergie, they start making world music and all this shit, and they take everything right? But those are guys that went out there that surprised me when they were selling 10 million, 20 million. This, that. Not saying the music ain't good, but that's what I mean. Like, you seen somebody leak through, and you was like, whoa. But to just give you some gems or some knowledge right now, because we talking, even though this is funny, but we talking about some serious shit. I think you figured out everything. You just answered it. I think if you analyze this video, you can make certain changes to catapult you to the next level. Just look at the words you said and just make some adjustments, you know.

[Aries Spears]

I think part of what puts me or what's going to put me on this path is doing stuff like this, you know what I'm saying? Like, for once upon a time ago, I was against the whole social media putting stand up clips out. I was against that. But then I was like, you know what, man? I took a page out of Matt Rife book and was like, let me hire a videographer and let me, you know, pay to play. And because I did that, I went from, I mean, within the course of three months, I went from 300,000 Instagram followers to 1.4. You know, my, my Facebook jumped from 300,000 to 1.8. So, you know, and people, it's funny, like I always say, people are. Most people are fucking idiots because people will say shit online. Like, man, all he do is crowd work. Do we ever tell a joke? And I said, listen, man, you don't give the key of cocaine away for free. I'm giving you a sample of the product. Once you like the sample, now come to the show and pay for the key. I gotta tell you this, I gotta cut up your food for you to eat like your mother did when you were a toddler so you don't choke. Certain things is common knowledge. But I gotta tell you this, that's crazy, man. He funny. All he does is impressions. So I'm 36 years in this game and all I know how to do is dunk, man.

[Joe Crack]

I sit, I sit down in the studio sometimes, like I heard some shit. Somebody said, you definitely don't want no part of this. What I'm about to say, he's not responsible for the next line. But somebody said, they not like us. I forget who it was. Said that it wasn't mixed right. Somebody said, yo, that, that wasn't mixed right. Right. I forget who. James, look that up right now, because that's important. Somebody said, yo, it wasn't. The music wasn't mixed right, Right. And then some people agreed with the person, Rodney Jenkins, Jerkins. Somebody agreed with him and said, yeah, you know, it could have been mixed better, right? But all we know is that they not like us is a smoker. That shit tilted the whole hemisphere, right? And so when I get in the studio with producers and they start to talk about a smash hit record, they be like, the snare wasn't right. The 808 could have kept. I'm like, yo, bro, no one gives a fuck about what it should have been or how professional it is. The record's number one, it's a hit. And I've been in there in the studio with producers. This guy didn't use the Tinkerbell Right. He didn't. Yo, my man. Who gives a. This is number one. And so who was that? DJ Vlad said, what?

[Aries Spears]

Well, listen, Vlad.

[Joe Crack]

But the engineers agreed with him. They said Kendrick sent that shit in and said, I want it out in a half an hour. So the engineer was like, yo, I couldn't even mix it. It was just. It was a good. It was a smash hit. He did the best he could and that shit went out there. So he actually was right. I didn't hear it like that. When I hear that shit going crazy in the club, in the stadium and everything going crazy, I'm like, yo, Zain. Yeah.

[Aries Spears]

I didn't know how we was supposed to.

[Joe Crack]

Impersonation? No. Because why did I come up with that scenario? You know, I'm fried. I keep telling you, showing me. No, no, no, I'm fried.

[Jake Hofer]

I'm Jake Hofer and this is back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eater's podcast network. Each episode, I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the first farm with less than ideal access?

[Jada Kiss]

Should you? That's what the real question is. Stand without good access is not a good stand.

[Jake Hofer]

Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Jeff Pearlman]

The summer of 1993 was one of the best of my life. I'm journalist Jeff Pearlman and this is Rick Jervis.

[Rick Jervis]

We were interns at the Nashville Tennesse Inn. But the most unforgettable part, our roommate, Reggie Payne from Oakland, sports editor and.

[Jeff Pearlman]

Aspiring rapper and his stage name, Sexy Sweat. In 2020, I had a simple idea. Let's find Reggie.

[Rick Jervis]

We searched everywhere, but Reggie was gone. In February 2020, Reggie was having a diabetic episode. His mom called 911. Police cuffed him face down. He slipped into a coma and died.

[Joe Crack]

I'm like thanking you, but then I see my son's not moving.

[Jeff Pearlman]

No headlines, no outrage, just silence.

[Rick Jervis]

So we started digging and uncovered city officials bent on protecting their own.

[Jeff Pearlman]

Listen to finding Sexy Sweat on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Mark Lombardo]

What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison and. Or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth. Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced.

[Jada]

He said, you are a number, a New York state number, and we own you.

[Mark Lombardo]

Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short Term highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs. Mark had one chance to complete this program and had no idea of the hell awaiting him the next six months.

[Jada]

The first night was overwhelming, and you don't know who's next to you, and.

[Jada Kiss]

We didn't know what to expect.

[Jada]

In the morning, nobody tells you anything.

[Mark Lombardo]

Listen to shock incarceration on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or radio, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jada Kiss]

A foot washed up, a shoe with.

[Jada]

Some bones in it.

[Jada Kiss]

They had no idea who it was.

[Jake Hofer]

Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire that not a whole lot was salvageable.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA using new scientific tools. They're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it.

[Jada Kiss]

He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors, and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at othram, the Houston lab that takes on the most hopefully hopeless cases to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's crime Lab on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jada]

What do people ask you to do? What's your most successful impersonation?

[Aries Spears]

Oh, would you say?

[Jada]

I know they all.

[Aries Spears]

They all are, but they like to.

[Jada]

Tell everyone that people always ask you to.

[Aries Spears]

They like the Tony Soprano.

[Joe Crack]

Oh, yeah, you'd be killed.

[Aries Spears]

Meadow and A.J. it's going down to the audience. Got the Metagoppa to go gravy. All my kids love it. Meadow and Asia, my sister Janice and Johnny Shaq.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, that is crazy to me. That is.

[Aries Spears]

I don't know.

[Joe Crack]

My voice might be in the Italian spot of all Italian joint. And you start talking like that, the whole place, and look at you, right? They be like, yo, what the.

[Aries Spears]

They love it. And when I do it at the show, it's like the Italians go, go.

[Joe Crack]

You know that one guy, he does a good Denzel.

[Aries Spears]

Oh, C. King.

[Jada]

Yeah.

[Aries Spears]

Let me tell you something. Of all the dudes that did Denzel, me, Godfrey, my man Reggie, Reg out of Chicago, C. King and Dean Edwards. And again, this plays to people going, man, you a hater. You don't give it up to other people. I said, listen, C. King was. Is so cold with it. I stopped doing it because I felt foolish. He's dead the fuck on. And every chance I get to promote him, I tell people. People still hit me up and go, yo, you're Denzel C. King. He got the crown, man.

[Joe Crack]

He got that.

[Aries Spears]

He got the crown.

[Joe Crack]

Yeah. It's cold with that. It's like that sometimes, you know, you gotta beg some. Sometimes somebody does something so good, you don't wanna fuck with it.

[Aries Spears]

Well, you know everybody. Like, there's certain impressions that everybody owns. Like, you go, Frank Caliendo owns Madden. C. King owns Denzel. Jay Farrell owns Will Smith. So for me, it's like Tony Soprano, Shaq. You know, as long as I score 28 10, I'm gonna dominate. If you don't score 28 10, you ain't gonna dominate. I get a ball on inside, inside, outside game. You gotta get a big dog the ball, man.

[Joe Crack]

Why you gotta put the eyes.

[Aries Spears]

That's the comedic. That's the whole comed.

[Joe Crack]

Why you making it look like he in the back of the bus, man?

[Jada]

Just like that.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, he sound just like. But you ain't see the eyes. He was doing the real. Shaq loves it. In the yellow bus. Shaq loves it.

[Aries Spears]

He loves it. He was on drink.

[Joe Crack]

Hey, I love Jadakiss, but he really me up with this Euro step. No, no, no. You being a comedian, you seen that shit. You. You thought somebody helped. Did anybody threw the battery in his back for him to hit me with that. That was too. Yo, that shit was too good. He said that.

[Aries Spears]

I can't keep fighting you for verbal rebound position. Listen, rappers and comedians have a little bit. A little bit of.

[Joe Crack]

Cause.

[Aries Spears]

It's wordplay, it's jokes, it's metaphors, it's punchlines. So that's not. That's not a spot. Listen, I can rap, but I'm not a rapper. But I can some lyrics. Facts. Let me. I don't want to embarrass myself, but. Because I tried to do a Biggie impression and it was awful. But I wrote the lyrics where I said something about the Biggie. Baby delivers cold like the shivers talk slick shit spit game is vicious malicious how I roll through you like a cancer doc speak bleep talk about your chances Seem to work slow the chemo flesh to the bone marrow fife went on that road Fuck sorrow, fuck beef make peace with your priesthood Least nigga think about tomorrow Papa Spotcha Biggie B done dropped You, Chris, keep it real, keep it Frank. Like Sinatra, something like that. So I'm not a rapper, but I. You know what I mean? And I'm better than this new generation.

[Jada]

These n is using it bi voice.

[Aries Spears]

A little bit, but I don't really have it like that.

[Joe Crack]

How you feel when you go into Ian? Enough people have jacked Biggie's voice that he don't have to be that accurate. Like, you know. But when I did, every fat dude came up to me with Biggie voice. Yeah, I personally. No disrespect, guys, let me. If you want to learn something right now in hip hop, I think I've been in it for a long time as a fan, as a rapper. Don't jack nobody. Their style, their voice, their swag. You're wasting your time. Do you know how many guys I met that were fucking dead nice? That all they had to be was dumb and they might have been a superstar, but when they come on and they. They doing the voice, I don't like nobody sounding like nobody.

[Aries Spears]

That's why when I. When I get called the old head for going, yo, why don't you like this new generation? All you niggas sound the same. The same melodies, the same cadence, the same flow. There's all you did. All you niggas sound the same.

[Joe Crack]

But it was always like that, right? No, no, no, no. You have. Listen, if you trek in the 90s, tretch was rhyming like this, dude. Y' all niggas. It's crazy. If you look at every video at that time, every rapper from anywhere was doing whoever's been popping. They've been jacking these people. If DMX Stretch had that move. If DMX was. You know how many guys I've seen come in the studio with a dog thinking they hurt?

[Aries Spears]

And those guys didn't last.

[Joe Crack]

No at all.

[Aries Spears]

So originality was a thing back then?

[Joe Crack]

Oh, no. Very, very.

[Aries Spears]

But now it's commonplace to be the same.

[Joe Crack]

It's crazy. But I do believe that this new generation is. Is a lot different from my. And I'm not trying to hate on them or talk them down. I just say that they're looking more for the bag or the lit. It ain't so much culture, it ain't so much yo.

[Jada]

This was the legend they like.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, for some reason, everybody. I don't know if it's like that in comedy, but everybody think they could be a rapper. They think this is the easiest job in the world. Everybody. The guy at the target target, the guy who works the front desk in this building, the guy at the deli, the dudes on the corner, everybody think that rap is just the easiest shit in the world. And it could become successful.

[Aries Spears]

But a lot of people feel like today it is because it's garbage. Shit is just not as potent as it used to be. It's garbage. So the dude at Target can be a rapper is stepped on baking soda. I'm telling you, if I really wanted to, I could do this shit. But my passion for excellence won't allow me to sound like garbage.

[Joe Crack]

I try to tell, like, guys similar. I try to. We're not so offensive. But I try to tell, like, my nephews or whoever try to rap and all that. I be like, yo, it's so much easier for you now. We had to guard. Rock him, you know, Even Fat Joe. I discovered Big Pun, but I went to the school of Big Pun. Meaning we double platinum and the party's outside and we the hottest. And he be like, fuck that. We writing bombs today there's 90 degrees and everybody coming in the Benzes in the truck. Yo, we going to Orchard Beach. We like, fuck all that crack we writing. And so I went to the school of Big Pump with He will bust your bubble like the way we used to rhyme when Big Pun was alive. It's not even healthy for your brain. Like, you find a way to put 50 words in one loose leaf.

[Aries Spears]

That thing, one of the most classics ever. That diddly, diddly, diddly.

[Joe Crack]

This is exactly what I'm thinking of while I'm explaining it to you. Right? It's like, when we did that song, it was like so much pressure to put every word together, everything together. And now you gotta have some swag, some melodies, something. It's definitely easier now.

[Aries Spears]

Listen, man, I sent out a post one time where I said biggie's Niggas Bleed should be a tutorial for anybody trying to rap. Because with that picture he painted with the melody and the pace of the song, you thought you was looking at a scene in a Martin Scorsese film. I mean, it was vivid. And I'm like, that should be. If you're gonna be a rapper, you have to. You should have body.

[Joe Crack]

But in real life, I can't say much. Yeah, in real life, I can't say as much as him. Cause they was actually part of the team. But, you know, Biggie was my man. And I seen the Scorsese picture in real life, you know, I was in his house hanging out with him in Brooklyn. And this. He just got lit But I mean, like, just got lit. He was like, yo, Joe, come to my show. I think it was Roseland at a Palladium. I got a show tonight, this and that. And Biggie was like, us hockey shirt, shorts, whatever. This, this, this. And, man, when I seen the pictures of that party where he had the salmon suit on with the gators with the. I seen him transform into that character. Not saying he ain't the real deal, but I seen it with my own eyes. It shocked me. I knew him and I couldn't believe it. Like, he did so much for the culture of, you know, taking. You know, if you think about Biggie, everything was underground before that. Like, so a song like Mass Appeal, there was straight hardcore beats, primo and lyrics from Guru Rest in Peace, that was a hit and that was playing on every radio station. And it was like hardcore shit was the hit. And then Biggie turned it into, like taking old samples and making it a super hit, right? So his vision to rap on those beats and to take it to another level, everything about him, it still pause. Blows my mind every time I listen to Biggie because I just can't believe he was that good. Like, and his cadence and his flow.

[Aries Spears]

It's funny. Cause again, when people go, yo, what's your top five? And I say it, and I seen this online where people go, I don't know how people put big in they top five. He only released two albums. And I'm going, listen, how much evidence do you need to see to tell that somebody is special? So what do you think? That if he was alive, he would have just fell off? It was gonna get better. I don't need eight albums to know what you worth. You showed me the first time. So come on, man. That's why I'm telling you, man. I. People are fucking stupid. Most people are fucking stupid. Like, you really don't see it.

[Joe Crack]

You don't understand it.

[Aries Spears]

And because I'll say that. Oh, this here what, you want me.

[Joe Crack]

To stay true to your. To your opinion and you voicing your opinion? I don't disagree with you. I've had young kids tell me that Biggie sounds like to the hip hop to them right now with the way they rap. Yo, you know, the youth is crazy.

[Aries Spears]

Look, our heroes, well, my heroes, like I said, I grew up on Y'. All Rakim, KRS1, you know what I mean? Biggie, they heroes is Lil Uzi. Satchels and purses.

[Joe Crack]

I can't disrespect Lil Uzi on here. That's Your opinion?

[Aries Spears]

I'm just.

[Joe Crack]

He's my guy and I love him.

[Jada]

What was your experience like on Mad tv? Cause when I saw you on there.

[Joe Crack]

It was like you was fucking lit beyond.

[Jada]

It was like one of the first black people on Mad tv for me.

[Joe Crack]

Yeah.

[Aries Spears]

Yeah.

[Jada]

Were you?

[Aries Spears]

No, actually before that was Orlando Jones, Phil Lamar and Deborah Wilson. I came in season three. He was one of the Livingston man. You know, again, if I could have had it my way, I would have loved to have taken the path of Eddie Murphy. You know, a couple years on SNL and then to the stratosphere. But I didn't get a chance to play in the NBA. I played in CBA or the aba. You know what I mean? Mad TV just wasn't snl.

[Joe Crack]

Let me tell you something. But they always got that little white affiliation. But no disrespect to my white brothers and sisters, but they always got like, JB Smooth, he's pretty much a black Jew. Like they he with that Larry David. He must be performing at every bar mitzvah. JB Smooth is Jewish. Don't get that up. You know, they got that. Once you get that little baby Eminem co sign. I'm telling you, that's my man. They love him. The Jews love him. He's down with Larry David. That's his crew. Like Tracy Morgan. Tracy Morgan, keep it all the way. Hip hop, big gold chase. Like, I'll be working. No, I'll be bumping into Tracy Morgan's one guy. I bump into the hood in a million dollar Lamborghini. Any other day with the top off. I don't know what the fuck he doing there. He driving by himself. No security. He's all the way hood. But for some reason, the white people really love Tracy Morgan.

[Aries Spears]

I mean, he hit all the right notes, you know what I mean? Saturday, live, 30 Rock, you know what I mean? So he hit all the right notes. And listen, I've worked, so there is.

[Joe Crack]

A truth to that.

[Aries Spears]

Oh, absolutely. And listen, Tracy, man, you know, I love you, we comedians, but I always go, tracy Morgan sounds like a New York City drag queen. Oh, yeah. Tracy, how you doing? That's comic banter, man.

[Joe Crack]

It's got on all my items, huh?

[Aries Spears]

But that's what comics do, man.

[Joe Crack]

If he.

[Aries Spears]

If he was here, he'd hit me back. Yeah, I'm Tracy. Tracy caught that bag too.

[Joe Crack]

That got too much money. Every time I see him, yo, can I invest? He don't even know what he want to invest in. Yeah, every time I want some money. Can I invest like, yo, Tracy, I don't need no money now that got the super bag. You know, he told me, he said if he dropped, could we live in the same neighborhood. His shit is bigger than mine. Don't get it up his house.

[Aries Spears]

That 30 Rock money, I think it.

[Joe Crack]

Was that Walmart money.

[Aries Spears]

I'm sure that made the bag heavier. But NBC, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock, prime time.

[Joe Crack]

I'm sure he had the bag, but the bag. Cause you know, when you lawsuit, it's like, you don't get no taxes on that or nothing. You get the whole. Whatever you get. But he said he called the cops on his. If he sees his brother and sisters in that neighborhood. Cause they don't belong there, he'll call the cops like, yo, they outside.

[Aries Spears]

That's hilarious. That's hilarious.

[Jada]

Yo, how does you. How does it work when you try some material and they don't land? How you expect it would just throw it out or.

[Aries Spears]

No, you just go back in the lab and rework it. And, you know, I always say a joke is never done because you don't know at what point. At any point at night, you on the stage and you say one word that takes it from here to hear. So a joke is never done.

[Joe Crack]

You know, Big Pun was real funny. And I grew up with some funny guys.

[Aries Spears]

Yeah.

[Joe Crack]

And I had this one friend, and maybe you. This. What you talking about. If he gets you laughing, he will double, triple, quadruple, five times, double down. Like, he'll just keep on with the shit where you can't. You know, when you got cramps and shit, like, you just can't take it no more. He's like a real assassin, you know, he's like the movie killer or some shit like that. He really trying to kill you with the shits.

[Aries Spears]

That's my approach on stage, man.

[Joe Crack]

Like, if you got him, you like, oh, no, I'm gonna finish this guy.

[Aries Spears]

This guy. My approach is, I'm Mike Tyson in the 80s. We ain't going two rounds. I'm trying to tear your head off. That's why I'm glad I came up when I did, man. I got these T shirts I'm gonna drop that says built 80s, tough. Cause the shit we did back then, kids don't do now. And I think it's kind of made them a little soft.

[Joe Crack]

When you went to show. What show? Well, one of the shows you went to where you was on the lineup, and it was some other people on the lineup say, like, for us, it's a summer Jam or something like that. And you like, yo, I'm gonna smoke this. And you walk outta there, you know, Top Dog, you know that night. What? Who else was on the lineup?

[Aries Spears]

It was the after Def Jam exploded. It was the first DEF Jam tour, and it was Adele Givens, Reggie McFadden, me, Bill Bellamy and Bernie Mac and Bernie. Step your game up he let that bitch up Step your game up Every.

[Joe Crack]

Time I got a concert, Fabulous wants to perform after me. I don't know why we gotta ask Fab when he come here. Because I've watched him sit in the car like the lineup says Fabulous and Fat Joe and Nelly or something like this. The man find a way all the time to perform after me. Fendi here. Yo, Fendi. Why does Fabulous want to perform after Fat Joe in every show? Like, did you ever see out of Washington? I'm going to ask him when he comes on the couch, but I'm just trying to tell you, is there anybody like that that you just like? Oh, he trying to like. Because Fab is particularly the one that he want to perform. I mean, you're up anywhere. I don't care if I got the number one song in the world. He gonna find a way to come late to perform after.

[Aries Spears]

But why is that, you think? Is it because. Is it.

[Joe Crack]

We gotta ask him Because I'm confused. Because he's my friend, he's my buddy.

[Aries Spears]

Do you. I'm asking you, do you think it's a thing where it's like he doesn't want to follow you or he wants to.

[Joe Crack]

I'm confused. I keep telling you, I'm confused. We done did everything from stadiums to little low budget. You know, every last minute, you know, it's a nice winter day, they call you and they'd be like, yo, somebody's having his birthday party. We got Lil Bag pull up and it's me and Fab. And I watch him in the car like this, waiting for me to go on perform. The minute I'm on stage, I see Fab come in. He grabbed the mic after me, you know, I don't know what it is. I don't know if he does that to everybody. He does it to me. Who does that to you?

[Aries Spears]

Nobody. Really? Cause, you know, whenever I would do, you know, theaters with four or five other comics. Your placement was your placement.

[Jada]

I want to go before rap. I want to go early anyway and rip the Gizatrons off and leave you with no Gizatron. I don't want to go after. I want to make it Pause hard. I don't want to go after.

[Aries Spears]

It's a super pause.

[Joe Crack]

But let me. Let me tell you something. I feel the same way. I got no problem at certain places where I go, if they'll be like, yo, Joe, you got a half an hour. That's even easier for me. That's hit mania. I just keep bang, bang, bang till they dizzy, and I'm mad at it. You made a mistake. If you wanna perform after me, especially if they say, yo, Joe, just a half an hour, 45. I'm just coming with straight hits.

[Aries Spears]

Let me. You know, you said earlier that, you know, you're a fan of.

[Joe Crack]

They did something to me last week. They didn't do nothing to me. While I'm out in la, I got a concert and I knew it was a mistake. So I. Like, they put me before somebody, and I was like, oh, this is a mistake. I said, Cause I'm about to tear the pain off this bitch so bad that this next person who perform after me, and they're legends. And I was like, this is a mistake. Like. But I ain't saying nothing, you know. You know what? Talking to him is like playing double Dutch Facts.

[Aries Spears]

You gotta try to jump in. Because even when I started the stasis.

[Joe Crack]

He went back to nah. You said verbal. You said verbal.

[Aries Spears]

Rebound position, either or.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, me and Nori, if we go.

[Jada]

On vacation, feel what I'm dealing with over here.

[Aries Spears]

Cause I clearly was off the Runway and that said.

[Joe Crack]

And then here's the thing.

[Aries Spears]

So let me. You earlier said you love to laugh and you take a joke and all.

[Joe Crack]

That all the time.

[Aries Spears]

Does anybody ever. Comedians do. You, like, don't with, like. You know what I'm saying? If somebody tried to with you, would that bother you?

[Joe Crack]

No.

[Aries Spears]

Okay.

[Jada]

That's the job.

[Aries Spears]

I wouldn't, because I wanted to say, man, you got the blackest fingers I've ever seen. You got Trick daddy fingers.

[Jada]

They similar to the paint under the eyes.

[Aries Spears]

Okay, there you go.

[Jada]

We might be cousins.

[Joe Crack]

Got me stereotyped. I can't walk with the Euro. He got the diabolical. I know when it's premeditated.

[Jada]

That was it. That was. That was.

[Joe Crack]

That's. That's only in the back of me. He said, you know, whenever you want to use the Euro or Joe, it's over. Like, yo, y' all plant that one. That was too.

[Jada]

Anybody ever disagree with the Euro?

[Joe Crack]

Like, no, I agree with you. I. Yo, that was crazy.

[Aries Spears]

My.

[Jada]

Set up a celebrity game just to see if you can hit somebody.

[Jake Hofer]

I'm Jake Hofer and this is back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access?

[Jada Kiss]

Should you? That's what the real question is. Stand without good access is not a good stand.

[Jake Hofer]

Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Mark Lombardo]

What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison and or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced.

[Jada]

He said, you are a number, a.

[Aries Spears]

New York State number, and we own you.

[Mark Lombardo]

Shock Incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short term, highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor and rehabilitation programs. Mark had one chance to complete this program and had no idea of the hell awaiting him the next six months.

[Jada]

The first night was overwhelming and you don't know who's next to you and.

[Jada Kiss]

We didn't know what to expect in the morning.

[Jada]

Nobody tells you anything.

[Mark Lombardo]

Listen to Shock incarceration on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or radio, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Crawford]

American history is full of wise people.

[Aries Spears]

Walt Whitman said something like, you know, 99.99% of war is diarrhea and 1% is glory.

[Joe Crack]

Those founding fathers were gossipy AF and they loved to cut each other down.

[Bob Crawford]

I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, the show where you send us your questions about American history and I find the answers, including the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer.

[Joe Crack]

Hamilton pauses and then he says, the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary, this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator based on corruption.

[Aries Spears]

My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said. It would have been harder to fake it than to do it.

[Bob Crawford]

Listen to American History Hotline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jada Kiss]

A foot washed up, a shoe with.

[Jada]

Some bones in it.

[Jada Kiss]

They had no idea who it was.

[Jake Hofer]

Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire, that not a whole lot was salvageable.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

These are the coldest of cold cases, but everything is about to change. Every case that is a cross cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A Small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA Using new scientific tools. They're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it.

[Jada Kiss]

He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah. Gotcha.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors, and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at othram, the Houston lab that takes on the most hopeless cases to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Joe Crack]

Harry, All I care about besides God and family and health. So even if I gotta laugh my way at myself to the bank, I laugh it. And to answer you, I went to the Beacon Theater. I'm sure you. You. You've been there before, right? And it was. I think it's Joe Tory. But I was late, and the worst thing you could ever do is walk in a comedy show late. And the man caught me, and he wouldn't let go. He was like the pit bull. He was like, yo, that's one of my worst.

[Jada]

That's one of my worst fans, though, like, to be. Put the spotlight on you like Reggie and Nutty Professor, Yo.

[Joe Crack]

This guy tore me up in real life.

[Jada]

Yeah.

[Aries Spears]

You talking about Joe Torre?

[Joe Crack]

Yeah. The back of my neck has got franks.

[Aries Spears]

Joe Torre is one of the.

[Joe Crack]

He got a good 10 to 20 on me, and I'm still sitting down trying to play it off, laughing, and the whole fucking beakman is laughing at me. He kept.

[Aries Spears]

Joe's one of the dudes. Him and D.L. hughley, who I studied, in terms of going, all right, telling jokes is one thing, but there's certain aspects to the game, crowd work, and Joe is vicious. Joe once told a dude, he said something about his mother, and the guy goes, hey, man, don't talk about my mother. She dead. And Joe said, I don't give a fuck. I'll dig the bitch up, prop up against a tree so I can talk about her some more.

[Joe Crack]

Oh, my God.

[Jada]

Whoa. It was in his hometown. Yeah. I mean, it's tripville to say some shit like that.

[Joe Crack]

That's a little bit too much.

[Aries Spears]

Listen, when some. When a heckler. When a is drunk and heckling you, there's no such thing as too much because drunk people turn into suicide bombers. They not afraid to die. So it's gonna be you and me.

[Joe Crack]

I mean, man, that's. That's a lot of humor right there to handle, bro. But he Me up. He said he could squeeze the donut out my forehead. He was going crazy.

[Aries Spears]

Damn.

[Joe Crack]

Front of the whole.

[Jada]

And you just stayed there for that?

[Joe Crack]

I had to, man. I gotta be a good sport. If I walk out, that's. That's like the guy, you know the guy, the CEO guy who's with the side piece up at the cold plate. If he don't run away and he stands up.

[Jada]

They caught him like that in the cooking. He might as well just finish the concert off like.

[Aries Spears]

No, no, no.

[Joe Crack]

He's supposed to just sit.

[Aries Spears]

It was obvious because he panicked. Exactly.

[Jada]

He was there like he was having a work meeting Sunday. He fucking.

[Joe Crack]

Would have been. A normal white guy with a normal white girl would have stayed there.

[Jada]

It would have been better than him trying to duck. And the whole stop.

[Joe Crack]

He his own up.

[Aries Spears]

He panicked.

[Joe Crack]

That's what I'm trying to say, Joe. Tory got me. Oh, you saying rapid fire. Rapid fire, everybody. You gotta handle the sit down, you know? Yeah, you fat brother. This.

[Aries Spears]

No, Tori, you can't.

[Joe Crack]

You run.

[Jada]

Yeah.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, Jada, you run out of that.

[Jada]

Your is even worse.

[Joe Crack]

You right done.

[Jada]

What happened? They said you had an encounterment with the dog backstage in la. Bmx.

[Aries Spears]

Oh, shit. Oh, man. Yeah. This was back when, you know, comedy albums was a thing. So I went to the Jay Z concert at the Staples center and everybody in the back, you know, bust the rhymes, Snoop. And I was trying to get people to hold up the album, be like, yo, support my man, da da, da da. So I saw X and I was like, yo, Az, a dog, let me holler at you. And so I go into the living, into the locker room, and there's one entrance in, one entrance out. About 15 came in there behind them. And then the security comes in, slams the door and stands in front of the door and I'm like, hey, I was just wondering if you could do some joint, dog. My voice, I don't know, I heard you and I mean my voice, honey. Let me hear it. If it's good, yeah. If it's not. And let me tell you something, man. I've been black my whole life. I grew up, you know, I didn't grow up in the projects, but I grew up poor. And this how I knew where my level of blackness ended. This nigga was talking to me and at one point he pulls the razor blade out from under his tongue. And that's the first time I saw that. And I'm like, how is this nigga talking? Not cutting himself. And I went, yeah, my nigga Them ends there.

[Jada]

Yo, my nigga.

[Aries Spears]

I'm black up to a point. That was it.

[Joe Crack]

Let me tell you something. Your man dmx. The stories I got about dmx, he probably got more. He was down with him. But yo, dmx, man, he was the trip. He was the real, real trip.

[Aries Spears]

He did mad tv.

[Joe Crack]

He was the real deal.

[Aries Spears]

Dmxv, yeah, I played his mother. We did a skit where he came off the road. And I'm in the granny outfit with the gray hair and the glasses with the chain with Timbs on. And so he's like, yo, Ma, these bitches, you know what I mean? They don't love me for me, Earl. You know what I mean? And I was like, yo, son, relax. We gonna talk about these hoes. So it's just me and him going back and forth like, yeah, I thought.

[Joe Crack]

Of this crazy story, right? It's gonna lead to a question for me, right? This is crazy. It's insane. This is an insane one, right? But it's the truth. It's uncappable, right? So I got a friend, right? He passed away. We used to call him Joe Bentley. Cause he owns so many Bentleys. When we go to Miami, we used to have all these drop top Bentleys. This guy had too many Bentleys. Like a Italian dude. Too much, right?

[Jada]

He died.

[Joe Crack]

You said he died, right? But I'm just telling you this story. Cause I thought about it on the way here. I was like, who would be. But anyway, so this guy must have been the original capper. Cause you know, everything I say is true. These people just ain't have an incredible life like me. So they can't. They can't comprehend the shit I be saying, right? So this man was the bigger capper than me. So every time, he was so rich. But every time he would tell me stories, I'd be like this full of shit. Told me he used to fuck, sit, share. One day, he picks me up in my house in Miami. Pulls up to Star Island. Cher opens the door on the bustier and this walks in. Shit you can't believe, right? So the man tells me that when O.J. simpson was in the Bronco, he was in the airport with the private. That O.J. simpson is his man, right? He was the one waiting for him for him and AC Green to come on a private break out. This guy, he's telling me, I'll count. But the point is, the man telling me all this the whole time. I know, yo, Fendi, I know he's. I know he's my man. He filthy witch. But the he was telling me, I could not believe, right? So one day, it's his wife's birthday and he says, yo, we throwing. His wife is named Nicole. Joe Bentley, his wife is named Nicole. So he says, yo, we throwing her birthday party in my other house, up in, like, where Trump lives, Palm beach or some shit. We pull up this got white horses. It's just the guy had too much money, right? I go with the terror squad. It's me, Remy, Pistol Pete. This is why I got witnesses with this one. We going there. O.J. simpson is in the house. So Remy and Pistol start smoking blunts with him. They having the best time with O.J. simpson.

[Jada]

O.J.

[Joe Crack]

Was smoking, smoking blunts with Remy and Pistol, right? Remy said she even got a picture of that, right? So I go like this.

[Aries Spears]

If you can murder two people, smoking blunts is easy.

[Joe Crack]

Yeah.

[Jada]

You right. You absolutely.

[Joe Crack]

The moral to the story is when it came down to cut the cake, Happy birthday, Nicole. Joe Bentley puts the machete in OJ's in OJ's hand. He said, you did it, you did it. And OJ start chasing him around the house with the knife somebody got.

[Aries Spears]

Y' all gotta get an animator and turn these stories.

[Joe Crack]

Shout out to Mr. Commodore.

[Jada]

That's what we need.

[Joe Crack]

Mr. Commodore just already start. You seen the shit he did? He did like when I robbed the gym, he played it over. He's white face with blonde hair, fat belly out. He's doing the Charlie Murphy. But listen what I'm saying. OJ starts chasing him around the house with the knife. You say, you did it, man. You did it. The who would be the O.J. simpson of 2025 if somebody killed their wife or something like that?

[Aries Spears]

Who are you the.

[Joe Crack]

Talking about? Who would stop tv? What? They was in the white Bronco chasing them. They might have allegedly killed their wife in 2025. Who's the celebrity?

[Aries Spears]

Any celebrity.

[Joe Crack]

Any. No, no. That's.

[Aries Spears]

That's murder and fame.

[Joe Crack]

So you think any celebrity would have the TV going crazy?

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

Yeah.

[Joe Crack]

So you ain't got one pick.

[Aries Spears]

OJ wasn't even a big celebrity when that shit happened. He just was oj.

[Joe Crack]

My pick is Tiger woods because you got a white girl. It gotta be a white girl, right? To make this shit go crazy and white people.

[Jada]

Where did this come from? I thought he had a question for you.

[Joe Crack]

I do. Here's the question. The question is, I was setting them up. Who's the OJ of 2025? If a celebrity did some allegedly did some shit like that, who would every channel turn on to?

[Jada]

Everybody that killed two people.

[Aries Spears]

But when you say that element, now, you talking about the white girl. Does it have to be that element?

[Joe Crack]

No, I'm just thinking about how crazy it could get.

[Aries Spears]

Will Smith from Slap the Murder.

[Joe Crack]

Will Smith running this crazy?

[Aries Spears]

Are you kidding?

[Joe Crack]

Oh, no, you might be.

[Aries Spears]

Jessica, Jeff is driving.

[Joe Crack]

Jassy Jeff is.

[Jada]

And he got the orcs caught.

[Aries Spears]

He DJ driving.

[Joe Crack]

He's djing while he's driving and as he's driving.

[Aries Spears]

It's in West Philadelphia, born and raised.

[Joe Crack]

Oh. Cause I'm thinking Tiger boys got the white wife. He's golf. The white people watch golfing. Cause the white people love O.J. that's what made it so crazy. Right?

[Aries Spears]

But it's 20, 25. Black men murdering white women don't have the same cachet. Yeah.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, yo, yo. The views of this ain't. Yo, this is out of control.

[Aries Spears]

Let me tell you one of the funniest stories I ever heard. When you did the Mike Tyson Eve at the awards, and you was like, yo, you gotta take the bass out the boys.

[Joe Crack]

Chill, Mike. Chill, dad.

[Aries Spears]

Shit. I told him that story. What's that story?

[Joe Crack]

I don't know that story. No.

[Jada]

One day, Mike was talking crazy to Eve.

[Joe Crack]

Like what?

[Jada]

Crazy out of this world.

[Aries Spears]

Like, picture, I'll eat your kids and I'll fuck you in your ass.

[Joe Crack]

Not like that.

[Aries Spears]

Not like that. But yeah.

[Jada]

No, he was saying. He was saying that crazy shit.

[Aries Spears]

To him, he must have looked like.

[Jada]

A steak instead of. You know when you see something, he.

[Joe Crack]

Thought he was gonna fuck you up.

[Jada]

Listen.

[Aries Spears]

Listen to the story.

[Jada]

Know when you see something and you say something in your mind, he was doing that, but it wasn't in his mind. He was just. Whatever he was thinking, he was saying it. And me, Styles and Luch is like, somebody gotta. Somebody gotta be the crash dummy. Then we gotta hawk. Somebody gotta get their whole feather, and.

[Joe Crack]

Then we gonna hawk them.

[Jada]

After that, we did 21st fingers about 20 million times. Nobody wanted to take the first. Yeah, but Mike was telling it like crazy shit. I want to tell you. I wonder if he was saying that crazy shit to her.

[Aries Spears]

And we, like, you know, he did.

[Joe Crack]

That to Remy, but we was in his house.

[Jada]

That's after she shot the girl. Before.

[Joe Crack]

That's. That's after she. That's before she allegedly shot the girl. He opened the door, asked naked, man.

[Jada]

Jerry, she can't do.

[Joe Crack]

You opened the door, asked naked, and I was like, your mic.

[Jada]

I'm hearing that.

[Joe Crack]

No, no, I said, your mic is on that. Yo, you gotta have heart to tell Mike Tyson, like, yo, my man, throw the towel on, man. Like, and I'm with some. Allegedly.

[Jada]

You got his house, though.

[Joe Crack]

Yeah, I'm with some alleged. He was like, yo, Joe, you know, this is the boxes we. Yo, my man, you gotta stop. Then we go inside. And the type of things he was telling Remy, ma, I felt pussy if I didn't, like, address it. Like, I had to be like, yo.

[Jada]

Mike, oh, that might have to be around the same time some horny dick.

[Joe Crack]

He was losing his fucking mind. Yo, I might just crazy. He was like, yo, Joe, you know, he showed me a brand new Benz. It was like a 500, some brand new, never drove. He was like, yo, you just leave her here. You got the bends, you know, the was crazy. Like, I was like, yo, my man.

[Jada]

Oh, just leave her here and think.

[Joe Crack]

Yeah. Like, Remy was looking at me. Remy's eyes looked at me. Her eyes opened so big. She was like, nigga, you better not leave me in this place. I think her brother was with us too. Everybody was looking like, yo, like, we. We gonna have to like, pound Mike Tyson out we get. We have no pause, no choice. We gonna have to like, it's nothing we can do. Like, he was like, yo, showed us the brand new. Ben was like 150, 200. Nobody even had that shit right then. They still had to stick. It was like, nah, we. She gotta go with us, Mike.

[Aries Spears]

Manners.

[Joe Crack]

No, that shit was crazy, man. Oh, it takes a lot of courage. It's almost like a guy at the movies with his girl and they rap it to his girl and they disrespect his girlfriend. They tend deep, you know you're gonna get your ass whipped. A lot of these guys are cowards. They won't defend their wife or they girl or shit like that. But the guy that does, he gets the beats.

[Aries Spears]

Well, sometimes the girls are the reason why they get in the situations. Cause she get mouthy and start doing a whole bunch of extra shit.

[Joe Crack]

Ooh, ooh.

[Jada]

Did you beat that?

[Joe Crack]

Let me tell you something. My wife used to force me. This is when we used to have 100 guys. You're a real nigga. Take me to the club tonight. By yourself? You don't need the crew. This, this, that. I go to the club, I see the guys we beat up the night before 100d, and I'm like, there you go. You got it. It's the shit you wanted. Remember I told you about the shit happened Yesterday that stung 100D. You want it. Your man's the realest. There you go. You got it, mama. No problem. This, this, that, then we always got away from that. But, you know, she used to test me like that. You know what I'm saying? Like, yo, you got to come up in there by yourself. This, this, that, you know? Yeah, the woman could definitely talk you into some shit.

[Jada]

What's up with your podcast?

[Aries Spears]

It's called Spears and Steinberg. Available on all streaming platforms.

[Joe Crack]

There you go. You got a Jewish guy. Which one?

[Jada]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Aries Spears]

Playing the game Money.

[Jada]

The money.

[Aries Spears]

Check out the YouTube channel. Spearsberg pod. Hit like. And subscribe. And I always tell people, look, we like 679 episodes in, but start from the beginning. Cause when you. It's like, you know, you get a chance to hear the jokes, the evolution of the characters. I do. You know, the callbacks. And it's like masturbation and potato chips. Once you start, you won't stop. Binge.

[Joe Crack]

Yeah.

[Aries Spears]

You know what I mean? Just binge, man.

[Joe Crack]

That's the. You know who I hear is making big money with this shit? Is the country Wayne, they said on Facebook. Yeah, he got a choke hole over there. Remember I called you that time? Dov is here. She does my social media. And I called her and I was like, yo, I heard that dude is. Is clearing checks over there in Facebook.

[Aries Spears]

Yeah. I mean, you know, this. This. If you know how to finagle this, there's money in it, so. And I'm. I'm kind of just on the cusp of figuring that out. You know, when you get it, though, that is a. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So. And also slide into my DMs and Instagram and I'll chop it up with you and send you the links. Spears and Steinberg.

[Joe Crack]

I like that. And you on tour right now too, right?

[Aries Spears]

Yeah, all year round. I hardly ever get a break, but. Me too, man.

[Joe Crack]

What about you? Work a lot, too. Like, I find myself not being able to truly enjoy my piece. Cause I'm always thinking about, all right, Thursday we out to Vegas. Then Saturday we in Canada. Like, how do you do it? Is the same way through your week or you don't care.

[Jada]

You just go, no, that shit's on your mind. You gotta. It's constantly thinking about.

[Joe Crack]

You can't really just chill.

[Jada]

Huh? I read some shit today that said you gotta make time for yourself. You gotta make. Gotta make some time.

[Aries Spears]

But wherever you go, sometimes is it like. Because for me, it's like, sometimes if I go, if I'm going to Miami. I'm going to Vegas. New York, that's like a vacation. But if I got to go to Mississippi. Oh, straight word, man. I just like niggas that read.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, listen, man, I went to North Dakota last week. Oh, you've been to North Dakota?

[Jada]

Yes.

[Aries Spears]

Value go down in certain parts of the country. I don't even call Miami Miami. I call it me mommy.

[Joe Crack]

But I got that on the calendar.

[Aries Spears]

I'm going to Me mommy. Florida, baby.

[Joe Crack]

Me mommy Florida.

[Aries Spears]

Them women out there dress like they don't like their fathers.

[Joe Crack]

One thing in Miami is they in shape. Yeah, they in shape. And everybody works out over there, like, everybody. So the minute you drive it down the street, it's like no other place. The minute you driving, you know, everybody got their workout clothes on. The dudes just cocked diesel. They running around like, you know, Miami is definitely all about their appearance and stuff like that. So, you know, my mommy, my mama's all mommy, baby.

[Jake Hofer]

I'm Jake Hofer, and this is back 40, a limited series show on Wire to hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode, I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access?

[Jada Kiss]

Should you? That's what the real question is. Stand without good access is not a good stand.

[Jake Hofer]

Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Jeff Pearlman]

The summer of 1993 was one of the best of my life. I'm journalist Jeff Pearlman and this is Rick Jervis.

[Rick Jervis]

We were interns at the Nashville Tennesse Inn. But the most unforgettable part, our roommate, Reggie Payne from Oakland, sports editor and.

[Jeff Pearlman]

Aspiring rapper, and his stage name, Sexy Sweat. In 2020, I had a simple idea. Let's find Reggie.

[Rick Jervis]

We searched everywhere, but Reggie was gone. In February 2020, Reggie was having a diabetic episode. His mom called 911. Police cuffed him face down. He slipped into a coma and died.

[Aries Spears]

I'm like, thanking you, but then I.

[Joe Crack]

See my son's not moving.

[Jeff Pearlman]

No headlines, no outrage, just silence.

[Rick Jervis]

So we started digging and uncovered city officials bent on protecting their own.

[Jeff Pearlman]

Listen to finding Sexy Sweat on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Jada Kiss]

A foot washed up, a shoe with.

[Jada]

Some bones in it.

[Jada Kiss]

They had no idea who it was.

[Jake Hofer]

Most everything was burned up pretty good from the fire, that not a whole lot was salvageable.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

These are the coldest of cold cases. But everything is about to change. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA Using new scientific tools. They're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it.

[Jada Kiss]

He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors, and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at othram, the Houston lab that takes on the most hopeless cases to find finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Crawford]

American history is full of wise people.

[Aries Spears]

Walt Whitman said something like, you know, 99.99 of war is diarrhea and 1% is glory.

[Joe Crack]

Those founding fathers were gossipy AF, and they love to cut each other down.

[Bob Crawford]

I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, the show where you send us your questions about American history. And I find the answers, including the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer.

[Joe Crack]

Hamilton pauses, and then he says, the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary, this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator based on corruption.

[Aries Spears]

My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said. It would have been harder to fake it than to do it.

[Bob Crawford]

Listen to American History Hotline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Joe Crack]

I'm gonna ask you one last question. When's the one time you stepped in and you just said, holy comedically?

[Aries Spears]

Oh, that's easy. We ended the first that Def Comedy Jam tour at the Garden. And at that time, before the clip that I did, eventually, that went viral. 14 million. I was at a radio station in San Francisco, and I did.

[Joe Crack]

So it went viral back then?

[Aries Spears]

No, no, no, no. I'm talking about later, after this moment. And I did Jay Z, dmx, Snoop rapping, and it went viral. But before this, the Garden. I didn't write. I didn't write it down. I just thought, I'm gonna wing it and I'm gonna just go off the head. And this is why you go, you have to have respect for what you do. I bomb so horrifically. And as I'm walking past Kid Capri's table, two dudes are standing over there at the DJ booth, and one of them goes, I don't know if they said it on purpose, so I can Hear it? Or just the timing.

[Joe Crack]

He was like, man, that nigga was bobbing.

[Aries Spears]

And I had to walk back from the Garden to the Hotel Sheridan on 57. I felt like Will Smith and I am legend. There was no cars, no people. It was just lonely. It was me by myself. It was the loneliest walk.

[Joe Crack]

I was like, chains gonna come.

[Aries Spears]

So then that's when I went, you know what, dude? You gotta respect this shit. So I smoked the blunt and I wrote. And I just. I wrote the lyrics out and cut to. That's when I did it at the radio station. And it went viral.

[Joe Crack]

Yeah, you know what? He just reminded me this podcast, there's certain guys, you can't really big up like that, right? So there's some people I big up and they. And they try to diss me, like, kick a free. I call him one of my top five. It wasn't good enough. He's on his Instagram. We gotta discuss this. This, this. I seen him at Ray Dejan's funeral. I said, yo, kid, I came to big you up. Like, I can't even big you up. Calling you my. The number one on my top five. And you still got a problem with it. You on your Instagram, like, yo, we gotta talk about the. I'm like, yo, yeah, I can't. It's certain guys, I'm realizing on this podcast that you can't even big them up. Cause somehow that turns into how we gonna turn this into some other shit, right? I mean, I gotta.

[Aries Spears]

Because now it just hit me, I gotta ask you a question. So when most people go, there's dudes that do battle rap, like Loaded Lux and Murder Mook. For some reason, a lot of battle rappers can't make successful albums. And then I'm going. And they also go, well, a lot of guys that are successful at making albums can't battle rap. And I go, when you think about a guy like Jada, one of the hardest MCs ever, if you had the battle rap, like, you know, I can't do that shit for real.

[Jada]

I think I could, but I can't. They possess a special thing with that. That's what. That's. They. And I mean, matter of fact, I might could, and they might be able to make classic albums. It's just once the people start saying, yo, know, the battle rap niggas can't make good albums or, you know, the regular thing is can't be battled. I maybe can if you push me to the limit. Or the bag was out of. Because they never say who win? Whoever you just. The win or the loser is up to the individual's ears. Like they never just put a thing up every 50 rounds. Kiss. Three rounds. It just. If you was there or you watch the link, you come outside, your man might think you won, other man might think I won. So if the baggage right, there's no. All you gotta do is win a good round and a half.

[Joe Crack]

I think that was. I think that was the first.

[Jada]

You get a round and a half, you could be. How many rounds is it? Three.

[Joe Crack]

Three.

[Jada]

But is. It's really all of that shit. It can keep starting over in order to come back with the. I don't. That should take a lot of practice. I would have to go to the. I would have to go in the camp of.

[Aries Spears]

See from the outside looking in. And just as a fan, you just.

[Jada]

Go, you know, I could do it. I probably could. But I ain't gonna just step out there and say.

[Aries Spears]

And then my question to you, Joe, is.

[Joe Crack]

I wanna help answer that too.

[Aries Spears]

Okay, but let me ask you this. I would think, like, if there's so much potential money in what if they were to set up like a pay per view and go. We would love to see Eminem versus Jada Fabulous versus another mc. And that never happens, really. Except with the versus thing that just happened because of COVID The thing I'm.

[Joe Crack]

Trying to tell you is to be careful with 50 Cent in them. Is. I'm just trying to tell you.

[Jada]

Where did we talking to Are you here?

[Joe Crack]

This hip hop thing, right, Is. Well, the guys that get the most respect, they have unscathed resumes. So nobody ever robbed Fat Joe. Nobody ever beat Fat Joe up. Nobody. With all the guys I ever beefed with, they never got one up, right? 50's part of that frame of thought where no one gets one up on him, right? So you gotta understand these guys got these type of like, egos where they not trying to take no type of L. So with the battle rap, ain't no professional rapper like a perfect. You might find a fragile star, you might find one of them. You ain't gonna find a top tier rapper trying to battle for any amount of money. Jada against Eminem, this is. They're not doing that because nobody wants that blemish on a record, you know. And it's the same way street wise with rappers. Once you catch that L and you on video, look, they. Look, they were terrified at midnight till they seen him get beat up one time and they had him on film. After that, they was Trying to rush him everywhere he went. Arizona, these people were so terrified of him. So once they see you catch that l somewhere, whether it's battle rap or whatever the case may be, good luck walking around the same way you walk around now. Let me go back to that original question. The truth is, there's a lot of artists out there that don't know how to make a hit record. Don't ask me why. There's a lot of artists out there that don't know how to make a hit hook. Don't ask me why. There's a lot of artists out there that don't know how to change their flows. There's a lot of artists out there that's considered the greatest lyricist of all time that never could pick a good beat. Don't know why. It's like, when you. You come to comedy, they gotta be like a chamber. Does he rock the crowd? Does he say funny shit on the spot? Does he have premeditated shit? This. There's a. There's a criteria. For some reason, everybody's not born with that chamber. With every single chamber. And I watched it. I mean, the greatest, you know.

[Aries Spears]

If.

[Joe Crack]

You want me to say a name which is not right, but there's been some of the greatest guys that we consider the greatest rappers of all time that didn't know how to pick a beat or didn't know how to really make a hit. And so some of them hid under the cloth of. I'm underground. You know, I'm underground. I don't really want to make a hit. You know, I don't really want that kind of success. I don't. I don't this. But at the end of the day, I think rappers like, I started out underground, digging in the crates. I think it shows growth if you're able to make a song like who shot you? And then do what's love? You know what I mean? And me, I used to tell all my crew digging in the crates, I used to tell them all, yo, I came in here to be a superstar. I did not come in here to just be underground. Not pointing them out in any way, but just saying there's artists that just can't do everything. And there's some artists that haven't had the luck like, you. You beyond talented. Everybody knows you beyond talented. You just ain't have no Adam Sandler in your corner. You just ain't have no like. Like that, you know, Dust, you ain't have somebody with that type of power to say, this is the guy, you know. So you similar to us. You got to fight your way to where you got your spot. We still fighting.

[Aries Spears]

One of the greatest lyrics from you that I loved. It was at that time when you said, what's everybody so mad at the Southfall. Switch up your style, Switch the southpaw.

[Joe Crack]

I was thinking about that today. That was me.

[Aries Spears]

And he borrowed me.

[Joe Crack]

I was.

[Jada]

Jada. I was listening. That was my original. That's my Google.

[Aries Spears]

Yo, Jad. We'll be right back after this commercial break.

[Joe Crack]

Hold on, I follow.

[Jada]

Everybody so mad at the southpaw. Learn how to switch your style up and go southpaw.

[Joe Crack]

Let me tell you.

[Jada]

Say it.

[Joe Crack]

What?

[Jada]

You open your mouth for better reason for me to just open your scalp more, Man. That's me, man. Let's not get this. I mean, we ain't got old timers.

[Joe Crack]

No, no, no, no. But I gave you that shout out. No.

[Aries Spears]

Yeah.

[Joe Crack]

On a super smash hit record.

[Jada]

Yeah, but that's his original, came from Thug It Out. Then he threw it on me.

[Joe Crack]

Once again, the crossover. Let me explain something to you, right? The point I was making, right, is at that time, everybody borrowed.

[Jada]

No, I didn't. I'm just making sure he got to know where it came from.

[Joe Crack]

He might have set me up with that, too.

[Aries Spears]

I swear to God.

[Joe Crack]

I swear to God, you were the.

[Aries Spears]

Only person that I heard say that.

[Joe Crack]

Well, his shit was a little underground.

[Jada]

Yeah, his song was.

[Joe Crack]

My shit was smashed. No, but I still gave him the props. Jada, I was listening.

[Jada]

I don't care.

[Joe Crack]

All right?

[Jada]

But it being a bigger song, I just don't. You're not gonna deprive me of being.

[Joe Crack]

A part of it, that's all. But I did big. He gave me these.

[Jada]

I love you.

[Joe Crack]

That's a big record, bac. But let me explain something to you, right? I traveled around the whole country. I did this thing. I think it was for Bud Light. And in every city, the star of the city basketball player would come out, right? So if it was Memphis, it was Zach Randolph at the time. If it was L. If it was Philly, AI. And we would host everyone. What? I noticed that the whole entire country, from the east to the Midwest to the west to the south, were only playing down south music in the club. One time, New York created hip hop that was no longer. We was not running the game. The west took it. We wasn't running. The south took over the game to the point of I got to be deaf, dumb and blind to be sitting in the hottest club with the hottest ball playing. Not to notice this shit done changed on us. You can't come with the boom back and think you're gonna pop one off. It just wasn't working at that time. The DJ gotta spend with fluid, Fluidity. The same shit. That's Rocket. So the DJ playing nothing but the down south shit. So I'm in Memphis and the guy goes and says, let's throw it back. He throws on the rock Building's at the building tonight. Oh. The problem with that was that was actually number one at that time. He said, the throwback. The throwback of the day. Rock building in the building tonight is because they're so used to hearing nothing but the dirty south winning all day, that even though that record was the hottest shit out, they called it the Throwback. Same with New York. New York was really, really cocky. I remember there was a time when New York, you listen to Hot 97 and they'd be like, yo, what's playing outside of the five boroughs? And they'd be like, these are my confessions. They had that shit in the choko to where they wasn't playing that. So according to the line, why you bad at the city? You got to switch to South. You know how many New York rappers.

[Jada]

Was which they switched? He didn't.

[Joe Crack]

No, no, because at first they get mad at you. You figure it out. They get upset. Yo, he getting to the bag. Nigga made it down south here. That's what's ringing right now. So all my New York colleagues, furious. I'm reading the Source magazine. Oh, how could he rhyme on something like this? This next thing I know, Everybody's. Everybody's the 808 rocking like this. But they was dumb mad at me. When I first did make it rain, they were like, yo, how you can rap on that? And then everybody is just a new norm. Then New York starts sounding like the dirty south, to be honest with you. If you gonna keep it a buck. Because they were like, yo, we gotta make one of these.

[Aries Spears]

So in other words, being that he was the originator, it's like you. Elvis Presley did it, but he was Big Mama Thornton, I guess.

[Joe Crack]

So I bigged him on you know who.

[Aries Spears]

Big Mama Thornton. No, she wrote Nothing but a Hound Dog Black woman.

[Jada]

Wow.

[Aries Spears]

And then Elvis took it and made it, you know, but no, she's the.

[Joe Crack]

Real but he spit a bar. You didn't write my song, brother. He clear spit a bar, you know, and that went right, you know, make it Rain. One of them classic codes. Don't get it up. This is crack.

[Jada]

It is the first line of the first verse, though.

[Joe Crack]

Jada kiss. I'm gonna hire a comedian. Behind the scenes, I might hire you. Give me some Jadakiss jokes, because this guy. Oh, you tried. And you.

[Jada]

I thought we was partners.

[Joe Crack]

You tried 48 hours. You was unsuccessful. You tried. You talking about how black as is you got the baseball.

[Aries Spears]

That was a draw. That was a draw.

[Joe Crack]

That was more than one. But that was off the top.

[Aries Spears]

I would never ask you for directions. I asked you to get to the Bronx. You sent me to Kentucky. The way you all over the place, man.

[Joe Crack]

No, he said, I'm fried. But let me tell you something, he hit you with that shit, right?

[Aries Spears]

I said, touche, man. He gave me my fried.

[Joe Crack]

I thought that was a great one, dude.

[Aries Spears]

Sometimes when you speak in your regular voice, especially if I've been smoking a lot, drinking rasp, I get a little raspy. I've been working on it, but you know, let's get it, baby. Congratulations, homie. 1.1 million in a short week. So I'm working on it. I'm working on it. Let me see if my hold up and I ain't animated like say a busta rhyme the real shit you get when you break down my line had that to the falcon plat a bunch of time time zapper my influence on pot couch I supposed to be number one on everybody list. Hope.

[Joe Crack]

I love you, Tony Soprano. I used you on the intro to the album.

[Aries Spears]

Fuck, of course you did. You know the Dale, all the guys in the fucking Italians. You know what it is. I seen you with the euro step. You're pretty good.

[Joe Crack]

Yo, this is Joe Crack.

[Jada]

JD Kiss. Another episode of the Joe and Jada show. Make some noise for our brother, Aries Spears. You heard me.

[Joe Crack]

That was beautiful.

[Aries Spears]

Appreciate it.

[Joe Crack]

Foreign.

[Jake Hofer]

I'm Jake Hofer and this is back 40, a limited series show on wire to Hunt, part of meat eaters podcast network. Each episode I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access?

[Jada Kiss]

Should you? That's what the the real question is. Stand without good access is not a good stand.

[Jake Hofer]

Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

Every case that is a cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime on the new podcast America's crime Lab. Every case has a story to tell and the DNA holds the truth.

[Jada Kiss]

He never thought he was going to get caught thought, and I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha.

[Joe Crack]

This technology is already solving so many cases.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

Listen to America's Crime Lab on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jeff Pearlman]

I'm Jeff Perelman.

[Rick Jervis]

And I'm Rick Jervis. We're journalists and hosts of the podcast Finding Sexy Sweat.

[Jeff Pearlman]

At an internship in 1993, we roomed with Reggie Payne, aspiring reporter and rapper who went by Sexy Sweat a couple years ago.

[Rick Jervis]

We set out to find him, but.

[Jeff Pearlman]

In 2020, Reggie fell into a coma after police pinned him down and he never woke up.

[Joe Crack]

But then I see my son's not moving.

[Rick Jervis]

So we started digging and uncovered city officials bent on protecting their own.

[Jeff Pearlman]

Listen to Finding Sexy Sweat on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Crawford]

I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, a different type of podcast. You, the listener, ask the questions.

[Jada]

Did George Washington really cut down a cherry tree?

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

Were JFK and Marilyn Monroe having an affair?

[Bob Crawford]

And I find the answers.

[Joe Crack]

I am so glad you asked me this question.

[Dr. Lea Tritate]

This is such a ridiculous story.

[Bob Crawford]

You can listen to American History Hotline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.