INTERVIEW: Inspectah Deck Reflects On Wu-Tang's Legacy & Talks 'Dragon's Breath' RZA, Diddy + More

Summary

The Breakfast Club – Interview: Inspectah Deck Reflects On Wu-Tang's Legacy & Talks 'Dragon's Breath,' RZA, Diddy + More

Date: August 10, 2026
Hosts: DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God
Guest: Inspectah Deck

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Episode Overview

This engaging episode of The Breakfast Club centers on Inspectah Deck, member of the legendary hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, as he discusses his new album 'Dragon's Breath,' his journey from the Bronx to Staten Island, Wu-Tang’s enduring legacy, the infamous “flood” that changed his solo career, dynamics within the group, industry obstacles, mental health, and personal redemption. Deck offers rare vulnerability, sharp memories, and trademark wit, weaving hip hop history with lessons learned along the way.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins & Wu-Tang Chemistry

• Deck’s Journey: Born in the Bronx, moved to Staten Island for safety. Staten Island was "its own jungle." ([04:24–05:37])
  • “Bronx is like, that's my soul. That's where I was born at.” – Inspectah Deck (04:24)
• Collective Roots: Wu-Tang’s members came from all over: “Everybody came from somewhere… only Ghost born on Staten Island.” ([05:43])
• Forming the Group: RZA’s vision unified local talents; Power provided finances. Deck details how mutual school ties and local mixtape hustle pulled everyone together. ([06:00–06:48])
  • “RZA had the ear to know, hey, put this guy behind him…” ([06:54])

2. Creative Process & RZA's Vision

• RZA’s Role: Master curator, structuring verses, and ordering MCs for maximum impact. ([06:54])
• Deck's Reputation: Known for opening many classic tracks—he explains it came from his constant readiness, always writing. ([08:37–09:38])
  • “I was just ready… throw the beat on. I’m already on the beat before you could even write your rhyme.” – Inspectah Deck (08:48)

3. Iconic Tracks and Lost Tapes

• "Cream" and "Protect Ya Neck": Deck reveals “Cream” originally had three verses each from him and Raekwon, and RZA reassembled verse segments for the final version. ([09:46–10:06])
  • “RZA took my verse... put it here... put that in the back, and it took out the whole middle. Wow.” – Inspectah Deck (10:06)
• Unreleased Verses with Tupac & Death Row:
  • Deck tells a riveting story about rapping with Meth and Red out West, delivering a fierce verse on a Daz-produced track—only for it to be cut so Tupac could use the song. His ad-libs remained. ([10:34–14:26])
  • "Corrupt saying something like, yo, that killed it... He was like, man, I want to hear that rapity rap... for whatever reason, he took it off." – Inspectah Deck (12:49)
• The Wu-Tang “Flood”: Loss of Deck’s solo material due to house flooding; he describes seeing his disk literally floating. ([14:44–15:03])
  • “If y’all saw the Hulu series… that episode when RZA opened his door and you saw the floppy disk floating… That's real.” – Inspectah Deck (14:44)

4. Solo Career, Setbacks, and the Business of Hip Hop

• Delayed Solo Debut: “Uncontrolled Substance” was delayed after the flood, label changes, and internal competition. ([15:03–17:07])
  • “By the time I actually got that album together, I felt like I had already been lapped by the crew.” – Inspectah Deck (17:07)
• Impact of Personality: Being humble and quiet hurt his visibility compared to extroverted members like ODB. ([19:07])
• Learning Business: Deck describes learning about contracts, royalties, and control, eventually gaining the “Rebel INS” spirit to do it alone. ([17:07–18:46])

5. Legacy, Lyrical Craft, & Friendly Rivalry

• Praised by Peers, Struggle for Spotlight: Deck reflects on being recognized as “the nicest, most lyrical” by Wu members, yet his career didn’t ascend as theirs did—expressing frustration and eventual acceptance. ([18:46–20:11])
• Lyrical Style: Inspired by poets like Gil Scott Heron; aimed to be Wu-Tang’s “storyteller” rather than gangster archetype. ([20:17])
• "Triumph" Verse & Lasting Impact: Makes peace with being known for certain verses—“I got a bunch of Triumphs!” ([33:48–34:18])
  • “Check my catalog, bro. I got a bunch of triumphs.” – Inspectah Deck (34:00)

6. Mental Health, Loss, and Redemption

• Music’s Double-Edged Sword: Success meant missing key family moments, e.g., missing his son’s birth while abroad. ([26:28–26:40])
• Therapy Journey: Deck discusses seeing a court-ordered and then voluntary therapist, processing childhood loss, and ongoing emotional work—e.g., performing after learning of his mother’s death. ([37:10–45:40])
  • “According to my therapist, I never processed it. My mom died. I just kept moving.” – Inspectah Deck (43:07)
  • Nas offered comfort: “Nobody can replace your mom’s man. I feel your pain.” ([43:36])

7. Group Dynamics, Industry Challenges, and Radio Blackballing

• Money & Group Tension:
  • Wu tried to split earnings equally, despite disputes; sometimes “it went left.” ([27:17–27:48])
  • "If I baked this pizza and I made the crust by hand... how do you feel you get five slices off of that?" – Inspectah Deck (27:49)
• Industry Resistance: Major labels rejected Wu-Tang’s model, skeptical of their size and sound. ([54:00–55:17])
• Diddy & Radio Suppression: Deck and hosts discuss rumors that Bad Boy blocked Wu-Tang from radio, possibly via payola, during their mutual peak. ([61:03–61:53])
  • “We was being blocked previously... we paying these people not to play y’all records.” – Inspectah Deck (64:52)

8. Longevity, Growth, and Modern Hip Hop

• Wu-Tang’s Relevance: Dismisses notion that Wu “fell off”—describes their global impact and how mainstream acceptance resulted in new, sometimes critical perceptions. ([65:32–66:55])
• Saturated Wu Universe: Discusses challenges of affiliate groups and album delays, but credits his Zarface project and creative independence for career sustenance. ([67:13–69:20])
• Ownership Lessons: Deck didn’t own his Wu-Tang music—learned value of owning creative output later. ([69:20])
  • “Ownership is big. If you're not owning what you're doing, you just out here working for somebody.” ([70:28])
• Evolving Perspective: Now does music “because I want to, not because I have to.” ([71:17])
• What’s Next and Legacy: Still writing his story via new albums, documentaries, and a forthcoming book. ([71:44–72:38])
  • “I'm still writing my chapters, man. I’m writing a book right now, doing a documentary, and I’m in search of a title.” – Inspectah Deck (71:44)

9. Humor, Individuality & Modern Commentary

• Mistaken Identity Bits: Deck jokes about looking like JB Smoove and even Ocho Cinco. ([52:14])
• Group Structures Today: Industry resists collectives like Wu-Tang now; Deck doubts a group like Wu could be signed in the modern era. ([53:14–54:00])
• Culture Critique: Deck critiques everything from “grown man” shaming trends to dance-challenge virality in modern music. ([72:40])
  • “I’m still from the masculine school of men…I'm a rebel.” ([73:08])

10. 'Dragon’s Breath' & What’s to Come

• Album Details:
  • 'Dragon's Breath' is 20 tracks, reflecting life’s ups and downs from 2015–21, blending new and old material.
  • Includes "A Day in the Life" and “Shaolin Rebel Part 2.”
  • Deck highlights supporting up-and-coming producers and lending his voice to other artists’ struggles. ([74:59])
• Continued Evolution: Deck remains active with solo projects and the Zarface collaboration.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Wu-Tang’s Formation & Unity

• "We knew the principles and the brotherhood he was trying to preach. So it was like, all right, I'm down with this—I’m running from the cops, I got two felonies at the time...makes sense to just sit down and write some rhymes." – Inspectah Deck (07:29)

On RZA’s Genius

• “RZA saw something. He definitely saw something...he had the ear to know, hey, put this guy behind him...you get a certain sound, he'll take you off the record. You could have a dope verse, you're outta here.” – Inspectah Deck (06:54)

"Cream" Genesis

• “There’s like 30, 40 more bars to that that I may release one day.” – Inspectah Deck (10:06)

On the Flood

• “I remember clearly seeing an Inspector Deck floppy disk floating by.” – Inspectah Deck (15:03)

On Missed Opportunities

• “I was hot. I can’t lie. I was, I was, I was burnt. But I didn’t know why...Me playing the background of the pictures, being humble, not talking so much in interviews, that comes back to hurt you. So I learned that.” – Inspectah Deck (19:07)

On Lyrical Style

• “I’m like the Marvin Gaye of the crew...the Langston Hughes...I study Gil Scott Heron...most powerful words but he doesn’t say a whole lot of big words and wordplay.” – Inspectah Deck (20:17)

On Mental Health and Loss

• “According to my therapist, I never processed it. My mom died. I just kept moving.” – Inspectah Deck (43:07)
• “It’s dope when you can come out of that, and you can come out of that a better person. You can come out of that with a...better mind state.” – Inspectah Deck (49:37)

On Career Perspective and Peace

• “If you ain't feeling this, check your post.” – Inspectah Deck (72:38)
• “Ownership is big. If you're not owning what you're doing, you just out here working for somebody, and it could be your brother.” – Inspectah Deck (70:28)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Intro & Deck's Beginnings: [03:01–06:48]
• Wu-Tang Formation & RZA’s Vision: [06:54–09:38]
• Backstory & Creation of Key Songs: [09:46–10:34]
• Death Row Session & Unreleased Pac Collab: [10:34–14:26]
• The Flood & Solo Album Impact: [14:44–17:07]
• Wu Dynamics & Humility: [18:46–20:11]
• Legacy, Lyrical Proof: [33:48–34:18]
• Industry & Radio Blackballing: [61:03–61:53]
• Therapy & Trauma: [37:10–46:03]
• Modern Hip Hop Critique: [53:14–54:00]
• Zarface & New Projects: [67:13, 74:59]
• Book, Documentary, and Legacy: [71:44–72:38]

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Tone & Takeaway

This episode is deeply personal, a blend of old-school grit and hard-won wisdom. Deck and the hosts trade laughs, candid confessions, and sharp opinions, all punctuated by Deck’s humility and pride in his journey. For any Wu-Tang fan, hip hop head, or aspiring artist, this interview is an unmissable deep dive into the realities of hip hop legacy, perseverance, inner demons, and the undying spirit of a true MC.

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Transcript

[Lauren LaRosa]

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[Inspectah Deck]

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[Inspectah Deck]

Hold up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Every day I wake up.

[Inspectah Deck]

Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Y' all finished or y' all done?

[DJ Envy]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne. Tha God. We are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Inspector Deck on the set.

[DJ Envy]

From Wu Tang, Inspector Deck.

[Inspectah Deck]

Welcome, brother. What's up?

[DJ Envy]

You know, this is the first time Inspector Deck has been on the show.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, yeah.

[DJ Envy]

You know, it's the first time I actually met Inspector Deck. I met every member of Wu but Inspector Deck. Wow. And when I first seen it on the screen, I thought you guys was coming. But I look, I'm like, no, Inspector Deck is coming. I'm like, damn. This is the first time I ever met you, brother. How you doing, brother?

[Inspectah Deck]

I'm good, man. It's good to be here. I'm glad y' all let me up in the building.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Of course, you got a new album called Dragon's Breath. Now, when we was coming up in the 1900s, the Dragon's Breath was not a good thing.

[Inspectah Deck]

Nah, it wasn't good.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We did not want that.

[Inspectah Deck]

It wasn't a good thing. But, no, you know, it's just. It's Dylon, you know, Spit hot fire,

[DJ Envy]

Dylon, dylon, dylon, dylon, D Line.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, it's nothing. This is. This is like a rap album. You know what I mean? It's not like trying to be Kingpin or King of New York or nothing like that. It's just more of Inspector Deck. Been off the scene for a while. I still think I got it. Still got a little something left in me. So, yeah, I had a bunch of songs. I said, I'm gonna put these things together, make these projects and put them out one by one to. To the Deck fans, you know, Because I know there's a lot of new stuff going on in hip hop.

[DJ Envy]

Can we go? I want to go back, if y' all don't mind. Respect the. This is the first time here, of course. Legendary group Wu Tang. The first album you were on that album. The second most artists on that album.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

So let's start off you being from the Bronx. How a kid from the Bronx winds up in Staten island and then getting in this legendary group. Wu Tang.

[Inspectah Deck]

Wu Tang, yeah. So, yeah, shout out to the bx. I don't rep the Bronx enough. Bronx is like, that's my soul. That's where I was born at.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The craziest people in America come from the Bronx and all of Florida.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, BX Florida, for sure. Yeah. Add some Texas to that. Add Texas to that. But yeah, man, coming up in the Bronx, it was like hardcore. 183rd Grand Concourse right there. Jerome Ave, 6 train. But it was like, wow, it was hectic up there. So my mom was like looking out for our safety, like we gonna. She wanted to go somewhere a little more peaceful. Coming from Lower east side Manhattan, you know, Staten island is just like this little cut over to the side. It's away from the city. So she felt like that was the place for us to grow up and it'd be safer. But, you know, Staten island is its own jungle.

[DJ Envy]

Could be just as bad as the Bronx.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, Staten island is the Bronx, but it's just concentrated and everybody knows each other, you know. So, you know, that little small place is where I kind of learned, you know, all my little street savviness or whatever the case. And Wu Tang was kind of like already in the making because I went to school with Ray, I went to school with Ugod, Meth. Pretty much everybody ghosts. So it was kind of like we knew each other from way, way back.

[DJ Envy]

They didn't look at you as an outsider. Cause you wasn't born and raised there. Or was it just as soon as you came, everybody, y' all just clicked.

[Inspectah Deck]

No, everybody came from somewhere. Rza, Jizza from Brooklyn, you know, Kappa, you got everybody's from Brooklyn. I'm like one of the only few. Bronx Meth is Long Island. So, you know, everybody kind of came together. Ghost is the only one born on Staten Island.

[DJ Envy]

Got you.

[Inspectah Deck]

So he was born there, but yeah, going to school, we all knew rza. RZA was the dj, had his raps, had everything going on. And, you know, Meth was somebody that was putting out tapes in the hood. Just be at people house making tapes, stuff like that. I was doing the same thing. My boy DJ Quincy. And so, you know, word gets around. Then we start mixing and mingling. I get with meth and you God first Raekwon is over here across the street with my brother Power. Rest in peace, Power. And so it just came to be like, you know, what you doing? Ray had the idea of coming to RZA Power, put the thing together. Power was the finances. Say, hey, yo, these dudes is dope. I'm gonna get behind that. And you know, kind of like it was a thousand Rappers. It was. It was as many of us.

[DJ Envy]

How did y' all break it down to that? The core? Because like you said, there was so many rappers. How was the core?

[Inspectah Deck]

That's great. That's a rza. RZA saw something. He. He definitely saw something. He had the vision of this way before any of this. And I remember him coming to me saying, yo, I'm gonna put this group together. You know, we gonna get these MCs, we gonna rep Staten Island. I ain't know it was gonna be me because I heard, you know, this guy, this guy, this guy, so many people. But he had the ear to know, hey, put this guy behind him or put him before him and you can get a certain sound, he'll take you off the record. You could have a dope verse. You outta here. His voice sounds a little better, so we gonna put him there. And that was like, oh, you know, you got, you know, ooh, what, grandma, That's get screwed. It wasn't 16, but it was a nice bridge to lead you into dirty. First things first, man. Yeah, but when we first did it, it wasn't like that. And RZA had the knack to know how to line people up and put things together. So I think that's really how it came down to who was going to be who. Because there's still dudes, like, to this day that feel like they Wu Tang on Staten island. Like, and Stapleton, Ghostface projects, they were the first ones to scream Wu Tang. I' ma shout that out. Because Paul Kill, we wasn't really. It wasn't into the karate and all of that like that. So we came down to Stapleton. They already had Wu Tang. That meant fly to them. You know, if your shoes was woo. Yo, those is woo. This is woo. That's woo. And I was like, okay, you know, we into Channel 5 karate flicks and all that. So we knew the. The principles and the brotherhood he was trying to preach. So it was like, all right, I'm down with this. You know, I'm running from the cops. I got two felonies at the time. So I'm like, it makes sense to just sit down and write some rhymes and see where it go.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So when it came to being like that mc, who would they call you? The master of the opening, opening verse, Right? That was Riz's idea to have you lead off every time.

[Inspectah Deck]

I don't know if it was really his idea for me. I was just ready, okay? Like, you know, everybody else had like a. Like a star power or Some type of aura. I was the humble, laid back dude. But I was always like, I got a book on me, or I got something where I'm writing. I'm jotting things down. So when it came down to those moments, I was always ready was to throw the beat on. A lot of cats had to write and get they stuff together, while I had, like, 10 joints that I just was on the bus stop or on the ferry ready. So that's what it came down to. Like, yo, we'll just throw the beat on. I'm already on the beat before you could even write your rhyme. So that's. I think that's what that became. And then he saw it. Then he figured out, okay, let's let that set it off. Because I. I look at it like double Dutch. It was he like, back in the days with kids warming up. That's how the beat is to me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You.

[Inspectah Deck]

You get you. Then you jump in and you do your. Do your steps right? So I always treated it like that. Like, warm up, jump in, and then get out.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Protect your neck. The first record that y' all recorded.

[Inspectah Deck]

No, we did Cream first.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wow.

[Inspectah Deck]

And Ray had three verses. I had three verses on Cream. And it wasn't structured with meth with the hook in the middle. And it was called, like, Life of a Drug Dealer or something like that. I forget what. It's on YouTube, though. You can look that up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The original version.

[Inspectah Deck]

The original.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, my God.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah. Original versions. Three verses a piece with us. Rizzo took my verse, this out. You how smart RZA is with that. He took the back end, put it here, took the front end, put that in the back, and it took out the whole middle. Wow. And then made the verse on Cream that y' all hear now. But there's like 30, 40 more bars to that that I may release one day. I may say. I mean, it's out there, but I may, like, say it on a track. I figure that's a dope thing to do.

[DJ Envy]

Now, you would talk about unreleased bars. They said that you were on a record with Pac.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[DJ Envy]

And then that record never came out.

[Inspectah Deck]

So.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Was that in the Flood?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I heard that verse.

[Inspectah Deck]

That wasn't in the flood. That was. That was an interesting day.

[DJ Envy]

So tell us about that.

[Inspectah Deck]

I went with Meth and Red Cali. They were doing a song. They were gonna be in the Montel Jordan video. This is how we do it. I'm in that video, by the way. I got my Yankee hat backwards. I'm just in the background floating around I'm happy to be there. I seen Nate Dog. You know, all the names we heard of being with Snoop and all. I see big Snoop. So I'm like, yo, I'm having fun. We on the golf course. They tore the golf course. I heard they beat the. The breaks off of people.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What?

[Inspectah Deck]

I remember seeing the fight recipes. Nate Dog, BG Knockout. They had a war going on. Me, New York. I don't know nothing about this, but I'm out there and I see it. And BG Knockouts comes with a. A golf club, swings it. Nate Dog slips. He got on shoes on the. On the grass, slips just in time. Golf cart goes clean over his head. They out there squabbling. I said they tore the golf cart apart. Meanwhile, the video's going on. I'm having fun. Cause I'm like. I'm in the Montel video.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

This is how we did.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

[Inspectah Deck]

Like, I'm telling y', all see me in the cut, two seconds, but I got a Yankee hat backwards, right? But, you know, I'm enjoying the moment. You know, Meth and Red are out there doing they thing. And after the Montell Jordan video, I'm just like, okay, I need to stay out here a little bit. It's kind of fun out here. So we going to Dad's. Yeah, we going to Daz. Yeah, I'm gonna stay a couple more days, right? So Daz is like, yo, come to my house. Meth, Red, I think lady of Rage, rbx, just all of them. You know, the whole Dog Pound, Death Row situation. And I'm like, I hear the beat. Daz makes a beat from scratch. And Meth and Red is. You know, they happy. Everybody's about to get on this. My name was never mentioned in it. So what I'm hearing, I hear meth, I hear Red. Couple people put their verses down. Corrupt, right? Okay. The mic is open, and I'm just sitting there. Like, I get to the mic, I set the mic in flames. My name's Ins the Rebel, Murder One style, Smash Mind States, the Pebbles. Like, I was War Mode. New York, we camp. I'm in Cali, Camo down first of all with Tim. So that's the mode I was in. I came in there like, oh, these dudes is. Everybody got a name. I gotta come in here and shake it up. I was here, too. That's one of my slogans. I'm here, too. So, you know, I'm here too. I'm gonna get on this mic now. I wasn't I guess I wasn't supposed to be on the record, but it was like, Rage, rbs, everybody was there. Then I heard that Pac came home, signed to Death Row. Death Row, right. This was supposed to be a Dog Pound record over here. So I didn't understand between Daz and Corrupt, how my lyrics came off, but it was a Pac thing. He said, yo, he wanted certain amount of people on the record. And I remember Corrupt saying something like, yo, that killed it. That killed it. He was like, man, I want to hear that. That rapity rap, blah, blah, blah, you know? And for whatever reason, he took it off. But I'm laughing because my ad libs.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, they kept your ad lib.

[Inspectah Deck]

I.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And that's the rebel. Like, why they keep that?

[Inspectah Deck]

I don't know to this day, it doesn't. But Daz told me, hey, that. Get your publishing. That's platinum.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

So you got your publishing.

[Inspectah Deck]

That's what I went. I went after that.

[DJ Envy]

We on lady of Rage record, too.

[Inspectah Deck]

No, I wasn't on.

[DJ Envy]

Okay. They said it was a lady already.

[Inspectah Deck]

They took Rage off, too.

[DJ Envy]

They took her off that record, too.

[Inspectah Deck]

They took everybody clean off. And those are, like, some of them. Those are their peoples. And I'm like, y' all left my lyrics on there. But, you know, I think Daz did that on purpose.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, it's interesting, right? Cause I'm a comic book guy, so I love, like, the Marvel what ifs, right? And one of the biggest what ifs is always, you know, what would that first Inspect the Deck album have sounded like? Like, have you ever gotten over the loss of the music that happened in the Wuang flood? Cuz everybody says you were impacted the most.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yo, man, if y' all saw the Hulu series, that episode when Rizzo opened his door and you saw the floppy disk floating on top of the water. That's real. Like, we came back from tour, went to his house, house was flooded. And I think I remember clearly seeing an Inspector deck floppy disk floating by.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know, we couldn't even get to the bottom of the stairs. Well, yeah, man, I. I'm not gonna say I didn't get over. Jacked me up for a minute, you know what I'm saying? Because I'm like, I had a lot. I had momentum coming into my album dropping. You know, I had the big pun. I had Gangstar. You know, it was. It was a couple of records, a couple of features that I did that set that up. And you gotta remember, Loud got dropped by bmg I believe picked up by Sony, Columbia, Relativity. All that now went from being Inspector Deck with Raekwon, Fat Joe, Mob, Deep, you know, All Allowed. I'm over here with Crucial Conflict, Gangster Boo, the Icons. You know, I'm a whole different switch.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

Shout out to Project Pat, man. Project Pat.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Project Pat.

[Inspectah Deck]

Dope, dude, man, he held me down out there in the Midwest, south, all these places where my music wasn't accepted like that. Now he told me something dope, too. He's like, yo, kick. Kick the Wu Tang stuff off other beats. So I was like, in the mix of doing my show, I would throw on. This is why I'm hot. Like, throw on Mims and kick something to that instead of. You know what I mean? Like, switching it up. But it worked. And he was just a real dude down to earth. Oh, and my man Bulldog from the Icons. Like, these are dudes that, you know, you never thought that combination would happen. But, you know, I said they held me down. And, you know, just going through that whole shift and all that. Like, the album got pushed back. Then the Flood. So it was like the uncontrolled substance that you hear now. I had to make that on the Fly on tour. You know, I don't got. I got three Rizza beats. That's going against what the formula was. If you know the formula. In the beginning, Rizza produced all the beats on all the albums. And that was like the successful formula. So I was ready. Like, okay, it's my turn now. Oh, wait a minute. Oh, Loud got dropped. Oh, wait a minute. Oh, the flood now. Now it takes me another six, six months to a year to make this album. Cause I'm all over the place. I'm going through life. So by the time I actually got that album together, I felt like I had already been lapped by the crew, you know what I'm saying? So I was like, damn, I ain't even dropped my first. You got Meth was on his second. You know, Ray and Ghost. Ray and Ghost, Drop. Now Ghost is dropping, you know, it was that type of thing. Meth is on the second. So I was just like, damn, I gotta. I gotta do something. And me in my anger, I could admit it now, man, no F everybody. I'm doing this myself, you know. And then I put it out, you know, didn't really have the. The know how to push the record. Just going off of what I've been around. And watching rza, I thought that I knew. So it's like. And then you learn the hard way, you know, You f around to find out that, yo, you. You need to. You need to understand the business game, how, how the other side of this work. Rapping is nothing. I can rap is like eggs and cheese to me, is, you know, but the business side was what you got to learn. You got to learn about returns, mechanical royalties, the difference between, you know, royalties and, and. And just. It's all hidden, type of under the table stuff that you got to learn. So once I learned a lot of that, I got out of the contracts and kind of like I tell people the rebel was born. I call myself Rebel INS that's when I felt like, yo, ain't nobody helping me. I'm out here by myself. It's like being in the jungle. You got a canteen and a radio, but you got. Nobody's in the chopper. No, there's no ground support. There's no who do I call when I get jammed up, I get pinned down. So I had to face a lot of that by myself, you know what I'm saying? And a lot of people had units and crews and cliques, and I just did it with like a two man crew.

[DJ Envy]

Did you ever feel away about that? Cause if you talk to a lot of the members of wu, they always say, when they say who's the nicest, who's the most lyrical, who gets busy, they always say deck and Jizza, right?

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

So did that ever make you feel away? Because you look at all the members and they always praise you as being the nicest, the most lyrical. But as far as career's concerned, their career took a jump from you.

[Inspectah Deck]

I was hot. I can't lie. I was, I was, I was burnt. But I didn't know why. You know what I'm saying? I didn't know why that was happening. And then when I learned, it's like old Dirty, he's so extroverted that you notice him. Even if he's quiet, you notice him. I'm the quiet one. So I didn't know that. Me playing the background of the pictures, being humble, not talking so much in interviews, that comes back to hurt you. So I learned that and I was like, okay. When I did figure it out, so, you know, I'm start stepping towards the front, you know. Now you see later on in life with the pictures, I'm like, I'm front row. Because I'm like, I'm. I'm front line. When you talk Wu Tang, I'm front line, bro, all the time. Like, no matter how many songs I'm on, it's the impact of the verses, it's everything combined, the setting it off.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's right.

[Inspectah Deck]

I said, I'm front line man, so I gotta start playing the front. And then when I changed that, I started getting a little more trajectory, you know what I'm saying? But I still, in back of my mind, was playing catch up to my brothers. I felt.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How much of that first album did we hear anything? Was there anything that you remembered?

[Inspectah Deck]

I did show and prove. Word on the street. I put out a couple of my favorite records ever, so. And then me, I rap different. I'm. I'm like the Marvin Gaye of the crew, you know, I'm like the Langston Hughes. Them type of dudes where it's more of a poetry. I study Gil Scott Heron a lot. I read Gil Scott Herman books. I listen to his music. I try to understand how he puts. He has some of the most powerful words, but he doesn't say a whole lot of big words and wordplay like that. He, you know, I can't pay my taxes, but Whitey's on the moon. You know, the impact of that, you know what I'm saying? So I was figuring how I had to learn how to write again, because I'm like, I'm not gonna be. We already got the street dudes, you know, Even though I'm from the streets to it. Six felonies, you know, six misdemeanors, two felonies. I'm from the streets, too. I don't. I don't advocate or glorify that, you know what I'm saying? I've been to jail more than anybody in my crew besides Cap. So, you know, I was like, I don't want to be that way. And Ghost got that locked, you know, meth. I'm more in the meth category and the jizzle category with styles and lyrics and just keeping it hip hop. So, you know, I said, I'm gonna be that dude. I'll be the storyteller. And I make the creams, the cold worlds different like that. But I also play devil's advocate, and I talk about the street life, you know what I'm saying? And if you really look, there's Inspector Deck, the artist. There's Inspector Deck from Wu Tang, and then there's Inspector Deck from Zarface. New crew I got. So I have three different careers in one, and that's really hard to do. I didn't know that until it dawned on me, like, yo, Zarface is suffering because you're out here on Wu Tang tour and then Wu Tang Tour, you know, is. Is taking up the time. So Spectre that can't put an album out. So it was like fighting personalities in yourself. Then I learned how to mesh them. And now I just make music for everybody and everything now.

[DJ Envy]

But you and RZA are genius the way y' all put it together. Cause even if you think about it, right, you don't do things that are supposed to be catchy, but they're just a catchy. Like, I'm just thinking abomatonically, Socrates, philosophies and hypotheses. Like, that's not supposed to be catchy, but that's the line people remember as soon as it comes on.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know, that's the lyrical miracle they call, right? That's lyrical miracle, right? Now, you know, people don't even use that many words nowadays. People ain't even trying to read a paragraph. It's too long, bro. You know what I'm saying? So I, I learned that over time now, like on Dragon's Breath. I don't, I don't. I'm not that technical anymore. And it's not like to dumb myself down. I just know that I could just talk regular because people are just like everyday conversation, everyday people. Now, it's not a whole lot of big lyrical talk. There's some people out there that get busy lyrically. Like, you know, one of my favorites is Conway, right? Conway is dope. And then there's the people that. They don't really want to hear all of that. They just want to hear how the beat sound, how the hook sound. Is it catchy? Can I dance to it? And I don't knock none of that. I just know me, I'm more of a last poet. You know what I'm saying? I. I still, I consider myself one of the last poets of today. And, you know, getting over that, that's when I finally realized that, like, bro, you're not going to catch up to a Method man. You're not going to catch up to a ghost. You're not going to do none of that. But you are just as appreciated, you're just as good, you're just as worthy. And so with that mindset, I just carry myself different now. Now, it's not a competition. It was friendly competition for a long time, but now it's not a competition. It's like, yo, brother, I saw that movie you did the other day. Dope, you know, it's like now it's super congratulatory, you know, Ghost got a video Game coming out, did a song on his video game. Can't wait for that. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, everything is now. It's more. It's a supportive role for everybody now. It's more as me. Like, well, why it ain't me, you know?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Gotcha.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Go ahead.

[Lauren LaRosa]

When did that change for you? I saw you said that you had to apologize to RZA at one point for feeling like, you know, about the

[Inspectah Deck]

music, that I blamed it on him. Like, for whatever reason. Like, yo, my. I didn't make it as far as this, or you didn't produce this many tracks on my album or whatever the case. Like, we did in the beginning. We said my seeds marry his seeds and money all in the family. You know, I'm. I'm living off of these ideals and things, but I'm like, yo, it's not happening. So what's going on? You know, then there's times where there's like, Wu Tang shifts. You know, Wu Tang's breaking up, and, you know, the money just, like, all of these things going on, and I'm like, yo, I'm still. I'm still trying to put my feet in this wet cement to make my stamp. So, you know, how do I do that? And the first thing I did was like, you know, like, owning up to it. Like, you know what? This brother helped me get out the streets. This brother saw things in me that I didn't see in myself. He gave me an opportunity to put, you know, food on the table. I thank him. You know what I mean? I appreciate him. And. And if it didn't go right for me, so be it right. You know, you. You take accountability for what you could have did. There's plenty of things I could have did better or.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Or.

[Inspectah Deck]

Or just did in general, but I was blinded by my own anger of it. Like, f this.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

F that.

[Inspectah Deck]

Rebel. Rebel. Rebel. Like, Rebel is a character I created, bro. That got in my way. It got in my way from actually seeing things clear. I'm more of Inspector, like, you know, analyze, check things out, then make a decision on it. But, you know, when you. When you're dealing with emotions and dealing with anger, you tend to just rattle off without thinking too much. And so that was that, man. I held that anger in for a while. When I apologize to rza, I let it go. You know, he. He accepted that apology, and I think it's been like a dope harmony since then. You know, he's taught me so much since then, then that, you know, that's. That's that's one of them brothers I love in the game. And, like, I learned from him each and every time I talk to him. So, you know, that was mandatory. And just in. In general, Wu Tang in general, man. Like, you know, I. Wu Tang. I blame Wu Tang for taking a lot of my life, if that makes sense.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It gave you a lot of life, too, though.

[Inspectah Deck]

It gave me a lot of life, but it made me miss graduations. It made me miss baby showers with family members. Just different things. Like, I might have been. I was in Russia when my. When my son was born.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wow.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know, heat wave. I couldn't even get back if I wanted to. There was nothing flying out. But it's like, you know, to this day, his mom. You weren't here, bro. But that's a big thing. You know, saying that's a big thing with your firstborn son. You're supposed to be there, but there's no way for me to get there. So I had to eat that. I had to hold on to that. But for the most part, how was

[DJ Envy]

the money with that? Because it's. It's so many of y'.

[Lauren LaRosa]

All.

[DJ Envy]

Right.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

So even if back then you got 50, 60,000 as a group, besides management and touring and fees, this, that and the other, y' all only making a couple of thousand dollars. So I know that must have been.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah. A difficult thing you got.

[DJ Envy]

I'm the bigger of the group. I seem to be getting more, and that's that. So how was dealing with all that you had?

[Inspectah Deck]

You had that, like, you know, Chef Raekwon, the chef is a very outspoken person. That's my brother. I love her. But Sheff might be like, yo, why he getting that?

[DJ Envy]

Damn.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know, I'm supposed to get that. He might be right. But then RZA's looking at it like, yo, you know, it's all of us. It's all of us. We split and we eating together. When he always had the righteous mind. But, you know, sometimes you got brothers say, I put in five times the work.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

I want five times.

[DJ Envy]

I gotta do 15 songs.

[Inspectah Deck]

You see what I'm saying? So that's where a lot of the confusion came in with Wu Tang. It was never like a jealousy or I don't want you to eat thing. It was just like, yo, if I baked, you know, if I made the. If I baked this pizza and I made the crust by hand, bro, and I made the sauce, like, how do you feel you get five slices off of that? Or how do you feel you get half which, you know, a lot of that was, Was righteous at the time, but, you know, we were trying to be brothers with each other. To say, it don't matter, bro, we going to split it. If it's, if it's, if it's 150. 50. I might have did 90 worth of the work, but I'm still giving you 50 because that's how we rock. And, you know, a lot of that went down with Wu Tang. We kind of just split things and, and try to take care of each other regardless. It went left, though, somewhere, you know what I'm saying? It went left by the time my album came. So I'm out here, I'm taking care of myself, you know what I'm saying? Like, in the jungle, doing what I gotta do. But I never complained. I never cried. I never came on none of these shows and bashed nobody. I just. I just, if you want to say, suffered in silence, you know, I just kept pushing. Being a part of Wu Tang, right? One of the biggest groups in music back in the day. What you think of verses would have looked like back in the day.

[DJ Envy]

And. Yeah, but like, going against like a Public Enemy wa.

[Inspectah Deck]

Or like it was other groups. Yeah, but, like, what would you think versus would look like back in the day? I don't know. I think us, we would have felt like we'd have smoked anybody back then. But, you know, I, I, NWA would have been crazy, dog. That would have been a good one. Bone Thugs, Boot Camp, Click. You know, you got to figure who got enough rappers, who. Who had at least nine men in there.

[DJ Envy]

NWA would have been dope.

[Inspectah Deck]

No women.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I love all of them groups. Wu Tang would have smoked all of that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I think so.

[DJ Envy]

It would have been good.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You can't say no Limit because no Limit was like a label. Wu Tang was a group.

[DJ Envy]

But you had a Cube, you had Dre, you had Easy. That would have been a good one.

[Inspectah Deck]

That have been a good one. Oh, yeah, all them groups was good. But I feel like it would. It would have been dope for hip hop back then. You know, like, what era, what year

[Charlamagne Tha God]

would you even do that? Like, where do you.

[DJ Envy]

Like, you can't now.

[Inspectah Deck]

95.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, please. W smokes it. 95?

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, 95. Who we got? 95. Like, you know, I feel like that regardless, like, we, we have gave anybody the business, but, you know, there's some people that would say they would have gave it to us. And however you feel is how you feel. I know back then, family outcast and outcast.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

See Those are groups like that. You're combining groups.

[Inspectah Deck]

You're saying, like. But there's no real nine member family or nwa. That's what I'm saying.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Where was that solo album supposed to fall? The original solo album?

[Inspectah Deck]

It was supposed to fall right after Rey.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wow.

[Inspectah Deck]

So. But Ray. Ray decided, yo, Ghost, come on. Like, because Ghost was gonna come like, after me or whatever the case. Like, he was just gonna go in a row. But Ray told Ghost, yo, come here. And I remember they went to Miami and wrote the whole Cuban links. Like they was really on a Scarface and Manny type of thing, you know, went south. Florida kind of just came back with all this craziness, man. When I heard MGM and all of that stuff, I gotta come with some fire. Like, you know, I'm just meth with everything that was out Drizzle with Liquid Swords. I said, yeah, yeah, my album gotta, gotta master weight. So I came with the Spider man theme. Like, we gonna come with all this, you know, inner city type. You know, I'm watching the city from the rooftops on some Spider man, like, patrolling. And. Yeah, it was like. It was a great idea. He had some good beats. Protect your Neck wound up being one of my beats. So one of the beats that I had called not yout Average Flow on that album, being that it got lost, it got revamped, brought it back, and it was. It's protecting neck and it's dirty. Brooklyn Zoo.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hold on. The flood happened before 36 chambers.

[Inspectah Deck]

I thought the flood happened after 36 happened. But that beat was. That beat stuck around for ages. I had that beat first.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[Inspectah Deck]

Before even protecting that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right.

[Inspectah Deck]

And I did the song. So it's like. There's a song called not your average Flow that we never got used. So when the flood happened, we was able to save that beat and brought it back. But Tekken X been like. There's like four different songs on Dirty's album. My album, USANG album. RZA just bought the drum.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, you had a different drum. Okay, okay. I get what you're saying. Okay.

[Inspectah Deck]

So he brought it back, you know, after the flood. But yeah, like that flood, like, I just had. I had a dream that before I retire, I'mma put that album out. Me and Riz are going to go back to the table. He's going to produce the whole thing. And we might just call it the Flood. Right? And just. Just give them what we never gave them. Yeah, that I. I've been having that vision lately to do that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I do wonder about the rhyme book Though, because you had to have a rhyme book back then.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Even though you lost the music, you didn't still had those songs, still gotta make them beats.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, yeah. I got a bunch of books in my crib right now. I don't know which ones go to which, but, yeah, all those rhymes are in there. Like, not your average flow. Had a song called Kristen, you know, just all types of music, man, that I never really got to release. So I had to go back to the drawing board, figure, how do I. How do I put this back out? And some of them. Some of them things, sometimes moments in time, you lose, man. You try to go back and get it, it ain't there no more. You just got to push forward. So I said, you know what? Let's do a future version. Can't go back and get that. But me and you, we can. We can lay down a good 10, 11 tracks and just bomb automatically. For real. That's dope.

[DJ Envy]

I just want to say I apologize, like we were talking about before about missing things. My daughter has a pageant, so I'm out of here. But thank you.

[Inspectah Deck]

Oh, thank you, brother. Thank you, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Congratulations.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I moved.

[Inspectah Deck]

Congratulations. Nah, I appreciate you, bro.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, Envy bought up. Envy brought up the triumph verse.

[Inspectah Deck]

Right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And people still talk about that verse like it's a scripture.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Do you ever feel pressure to live up to that one verse? Are you made peace with the fact that was. You were just in a different zone when you did that?

[Inspectah Deck]

Nah, I'll be like, I say, check my catalog, bro. I got a bunch of triumphs.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

100.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know what I'm saying? I. I don't make that the average song for the average person, so, you know, you might overlook it. I'm not in the strip club. You ain't playing my music. And you know what I'm saying? So, Gillich, you might overlook some things. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Gillig, crazy verse on that.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know, I gotta. I got a song where we like, you can't party your life away. Drink your life away. Because you sees grow up the same way. You know, America's dying slowly. There's so many records where I'm in that same zone, and I'm talking the same thing, but, you know, it's people like what they like. You know, you like what you like. I can't control that. But if you look at my catalog, man, I got a bunch of Triumphs. I got a bunch of creams. Cold World on just. His album is like, Cream Part two, you know, so these are things that I Do regularly. Like, if you listen to my clouds was crazy above the. Above the clouds, you know, My new single now a Day in the Life off the dragon's Breath. And I'm like, you know, fiends twitch to the beat kicks indeed I sleep with machines rip they thugging on screen ain't seen no deep. You know, these dudes ain't been through life. They ain't experienced nothing. You. Your raps come from what you've been through, you know, or even if you haven't been through, somebody close to you, something that you've seen that you can relate to. You know, you. You could rap about it. It could still be your story and. But people don't do that, man. Right now, rap is microwave. I'm still. From the grandma in the kitchen over the stove for 12 hours.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Don't.

[Inspectah Deck]

Don't touch nothing. Get out the kitchen. You can't taste it till it's done right. I'm still at that school.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's how this project starts, though. It's kind of like, stay out the kitchen if you can't handle it. If I was to really step in here, y' all wouldn't even really know what to do.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah. Or do you really know what you about to get? You about to get some healthy food, but, you know, you're looking for the grease. You're looking for all the, you know, the. The msg.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know, so I'm like, yo, I'm. We right here. Home cooking. Every song is not a party record. There's songs that take you through. You know, I got a song called Hector, which says, you know, hustle every day. Can't trust over lie. It's just an acronym, you know, just give a shout out to my Mexican people who get. They hustle on. They. They work. You know what I'm saying? He's the skit. It's like, you know, hustle every day. You can't. I got kids singing it. Because you talking to kids just gonna love that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She's married to a Mexican.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, yeah, but he black, too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yo.

[Inspectah Deck]

He black and Mexican.

[DJ Envy]

Yes, he.

[Inspectah Deck]

He black and Mexican, and he. He do be working a lot, so.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ain't his middle name Hector? What? His middle name. Not Hector? No.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yo, it's not.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah. You know, shout out to all my Hectors out there, man. And it's not derogatory. It's no disrespect.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, definitely.

[Inspectah Deck]

It's paying respect to, you know, my Mexican people that be up in the morning, hustling, getting busy, bringing the Other peoples in, you know, It'd be like 12 Mexicans on one pickup truck.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hell, yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

Making moves, you know, so that's. That's a shout out to them. And I'm telling my people, hustle, bro. Like, get up. I don't care if you got to sell. You sell biscuits online, man. Like, do something. You know what I'm saying? Hector, the.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The whole album, right, is 20 songs away. These are all, like, compiled over time or.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, some of them new, some of them old. Some of them new, some old, some. Some newer than most. Like, I went back in and did a couple of new ones, but yeah, it's just mostly like I went through a period in time, like over the last, let's say 2015, right? From 2015, about 20, 21 to the cold, whatever. Going through a whole lot like, like, like, like, you know, bad relationships, breakups, different things, things in life, financial struggles. And I went to a point where I was like, yo, I had to. My back was on the wall. You don't really have so many people to talk to. I had to. I had to go to the therapist. Yeah, I had to go to the therapist. I had a court ordered therapist, and then I had a therapist that I went to myself. And I honestly didn't know how bad I needed that. I didn't know how bad I needed to talk to a therapist, to somebody with an unbiased opinion that could tell you about you based on what you gave them.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's right.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know what I'm saying? And I. It's not personal. And so dealing with that, man and I had a very close.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hey, y', all, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa and we gotta talk. We gotta get into something. That Sprite just dropped because this is right up my alley. As somebody who's been in audio and hip hop culture for over a decade, this is exactly the kind of thing I geek out out about. Okay? It's called the Sprite living track list. Fifty tracks, handpicked, that shaped hip hop from the ground up to right now. And this isn't just a playlist to bob your head to all cute. This is designed to start real conversation, to get people arguing. Y' all know how y' all love to do about the hip hop and the list reminiscing as well, sending it to their group chats like, yo, do y' all remember when this song was it? And honestly, as a producer of content campaigns like this hit different for me. I spend my life thinking about how the perfect story Gets told how one moment in a song becomes a moment for the culture. And seeing 50 records that literally define eras of hip hop laid out like this, side by side. Yo, Masterclass. Mwah. Chef Kiss. Now, this list itself, it's incredible. You've got the foundational stuff sitting right next to the new class, real then and now vibes. My personal top picks from the pack. I gotta go with Unity, Bodak, Yellow, and who's that Girl? Child. You can't tell me nothing about that song because those are just non negotiables for me. But here's the best part. This goes way beyond the kin. Hip hop authorities and tastemakers actually break down the history and the impact behind every single track on the list. The samples, the influence, why it mattered then and why it still matters right now. That's the real story. So go run your own list. See how many of these 50 you grew up on, which ones surprised you, and which ones you're sending to your friends. First, check out the full Sprite Living track list and break down the stories behind your favorite bars@livingtracklist. Genius.com. this is the Sprite Living track list. Obey your thirst.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

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[Inspectah Deck]

Mom, are we there yet? 10 more minutes. Only 10 minutes. Can you drive slower?

[Lauren LaRosa]

What's up with them today? Lingokids, that app we downloaded last week.

[Inspectah Deck]

They love it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The games, this funny baby bot character. Kids, we're almost there.

[DJ Envy]

No. With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs, and shows, little ones can't get enough of. Lingokids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids.

[Inspectah Deck]

Why didn't we download this sooner?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Lingokids, everything kids love, download it for free. We can eradicate food deserts with this technology.

[DJ Envy]

Hey, what up, y'?

[Lauren LaRosa]

All?

[DJ Envy]

It's DHA Emmy from the Breakfast Club. And that was Jaleayah Hemmings. She and her husband created Nourish and Bloom Market, an AI powered grocery store. Scan a QR code to enter, pick what you need and walk out. Or as Jaleayah puts it, tap RAB

[Lauren LaRosa]

and go 24 7.

[Inspectah Deck]

We started to get flooded with folks saying, hey, I need you in my city.

[DJ Envy]

It became their mission to develop a store that could open within three months even without any infrastructure.

[Inspectah Deck]

And just when we were like, how are we going to accomplish this goal? We won the AT&T small business con test ramp. That 50,000 got us over the finish line where we built the first AI powered grocery shipping container in the country.

[DJ Envy]

For Jaleayah, it's about building a legacy to show the world that you can solve any problem when you work together.

[Inspectah Deck]

Having the support of AT&T, the city of Atlanta is huge. Look at how many people we've been able to help.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Connecting changes everything. AT&T,

[Inspectah Deck]

friend, that. That stuck through it with me, that held me down, made sure I was good the best way they could, you know, and, you know, thank you, V. Thank you, V. She. She definitely held me down on that. And it just helped me see things clearer. Like, yo, bro, you're your own worst enemy. You're in your own way.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

You could achieve anything you want to achieve. Just do it. Stop doubting yourself. Have the confidence, you know what I mean? And have a plan.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Was it childhood trauma or was it industry related trauma, or what was it?

[Inspectah Deck]

I think it was a little bit of everything, man. You know, my pops dying when I was six. You know, my mom's passed in 2009, I was on stage at a show in Baltimore. And according to my therapist, I never processed it. My mom died. I just kept moving. I kept, okay, I still gotta go out there and make the donuts. I still gotta take care of all these people. I gotta do this. But I never really took time to be like my mom's past, you know what I'm saying?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And you see, staying busy is a response to trauma.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah. And it is. Because as soon as you stop, it hits you. Now you. You by yourself. You know, when you're alone, it's like now you become overwhelmed. As I remember not eating, couldn't Be able to sleep. But the one thing I do remember was Nas walking up to me after that happened on stage in Baltimore. He told he had lost his mom, I think like a year or two before or something. But he was just like, yo, I understand how that feels, man. Like, nobody. Nobody can replace your mom. You know, Nas got that even kill voice. Ain't nobody can place your mom's man. Like, you know, like, I feel your pain. And, you know, like, just him saying those little words I did. That moment kind of snapped me back to earth where I was at. Like, okay, yeah, but trying to perform. Like, I know the footage is out there somewhere. I had to stop performing. Like, yo, I. I can't do it. My mom just passed. I told the crowd. I remember hearing, like, collective gasp, collective sigh in the building, like. And I walked off the stage and I just sat over there somewhere because I was like, you know, my mom. My mom was like, the hood. Everybody in the hood knew my mom. Ms. Cynthia, you know, you can come to my. If you. If you my people, you can come to my house. I ain't got to be there. You know what I'm saying? Like, she's worked in the hospital. She's a nurse. She's telling me, hey, man, your friend such and such got shot. You know, she knew everything and. But she also knew, you know, keep your head on swivel. Don't be Kenny Rogers. Don't. Don't count your money while you sitting at the table. She had all these hood jewels, like, to do, because that's how we grew up coming from the Bronx to Staten Island. So she knew the streets, and so her putting me onto that. And then, you know, when I first got a little bit of money, you know, what are you going to do with that? You're going to get, like, a retirement account. You're going to get a SEP account, an ira. My mom's was, you know, like a partner, like, telling me how to. How to make it happen. Like, what are you gonna do? What are you gonna do with this money? Because it could easily. As fast as you get it, as fast as it goes. Absolutely. And so, you know, when that happened, I, like, you know, like, I lost that person to talk to. Like, you know, just your. Your best friend.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

And I. Yeah, it's like I'm still processing it now, to be honest. Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was gonna ask you. Cause that battle between, like, I know you love music, and I know you love what you do in rap, but it seems like a lot of your trauma also Came from the life that you said it took from you, like, and missing things and just your mom passing you on stage. There has to be some, like, middle point where even when you're putting out this project, it's hard for you to still love music because you also blame music as well.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, it's teetering on both sides, but it used to be bad. It used to be bad. Like, now I believe I have that part under control because I'm back. I'm on, like a redemption tour with my family, two kids, and everybody that I wasn't around for just chasing Wu Tang, you know, I'm out in Russia where my son's born, those type of things. So now I have that chance to, like, to redeem myself with my children. And that's what I've been doing. Like, just music is my life. But I learned how to put that secondary, you know what I mean? Or put it on a scale and let it teeter.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Right.

[Inspectah Deck]

So, yeah, I'm doing better with it now. But that's a good question because I was. I was jacked up for a while with that. Like, how do you balance it?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, in a small. In a way, pieces cost you.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

I feel like as much as Wu Tang gave me, it took a lot too. You know what I mean? And it's not a bad thing. It's just there's a trade off for everything, you know, there's a give and take. So, you know, I had. I had to live with the good and the bad man. So now I'm happy that I'm coming out on the better side. I'm the phoenix coming out the ash right now. I feel like with the dragon's breath and, you know, now we just gonna remind everybody, like, bro, I've been doing this. This is nothing new. So if you feeling what's going on right now, there's more of that to come.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, sometimes protecting your peace means walking away from money or opportunities or even relationships. What. What has protecting your peace cost you?

[Inspectah Deck]

Protecting my peace cost me that. Like the friends, the relationships. You know, I live in Texas now. I'm away from a lot. I'm not in the clubs, I'm not in the strip spots I like. I don't gamble. So, yeah, it'll cost you the people you think are friends or whatever, you know, people that. That look to you for something other than what? You know, something useful or manipulative. You know, like when I backed up, I started telling people no. I started getting a lot of feedback, started Getting a lot of flack from people like, yo, he's switching up, he changing. He. He this. Nah, bro, I just. I don't see no benefit in this no more. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not. I come back to the hood, I see people I know I grew up with. I'm not gonna stand on the block with you for four hours in front of the building like we used to do, because back then I had nothing to do. So now it's too much. It's too costly for me to sit up here and get jammed up in something that you doing. So. But, ah, you. You ain't the same, bro.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm not.

[Inspectah Deck]

I'm basically not. I'm not. Yeah, I don't. I'm not gonna sacrifice myself, you know, for. For others. If I'm gonna sacrifice myself, it's gonna be for me. Definitely not for, you know, no 5 to 10 in the 20 in the pen. Not now, not if I turned 56 on the 6th. Damn, you look good at 56.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Thank you.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, I'm like, without. I ain't trying to see jail. I'm not. You know what I'm saying? You trying to be in no monkey suits chained up to nobody, bro. So it's like, now you just. You got to get out there and you got to show love, give respect, and you can hope that it comes in return because it ain't guaranteed. But you still got to go out there and walk your. And walk your path.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I love the fact that you're honest about how you felt about other group members success. Yeah, right. Because, you know, a lot of times people could be a part of a group, you know, in certain individuals in that group may have more success than others. And, you know, a lot of people don't know how to deal with that. They end up projecting, you know, their actual jealousy and envy onto them.

[Inspectah Deck]

Real feelings come out.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I ain't got nothing to do with, you know, what's not happening for you.

[Inspectah Deck]

And that's. That's. That's exactly what it is. Like, those brothers, my brothers have nothing to do with what happened or didn't happen with me. Most of my brothers supported me on my journey, you know what I'm saying? So, yeah, man, I'm, I'm just. I'm honest with me now, and it took a while to get here, you know, like, you lied to yourself, you're gonna lie to everybody else. I'm saying. So it took a while for me to get here to be so honest with myself. That it don't matter what you think, bro. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna tell you what it is. Yeah, I went through depression. I went through. Had to see the therapist, lost my family, was living in an empty house for a while, like, you know what I'm saying? I went through all them things. I went through that fire, the trials, like, but it's. It's dope when you can come out of that, and you can come out of that a better person. You can come out of that with a. With a better mind state. And I always say, like, I'm a work in progress. I'm. I'm not sitting here acting like I got it down, Pack. You know what I'm saying? Like, I just. I had a revelation, though, and it was like, yo, you are your own worst enemy, but you can change that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So when you first started this, it was like, all right, the world needs to know about my gift. Then everything happens with the flood. The rubble is born. But, like, who are you now in music? Like, what is the. You know, there's always, like, these different phases.

[Inspectah Deck]

I don't know. I just think I'm a dope artist, man. I think I'm a dope artist. I think I could do anything I want to do. I got records out there where, you know, you're not. You wouldn't even think that was me, you know, I just did a record with Nicole Buss. If y' all familiar with Nicole Buss, she has this big, strong voice. She's working with our dj. A Lot of Mathematics did a song with her called Reasons, and it took me out of my normal box to. To create something else, and I think it's a dope record. So I'm just like, yo, I feel like I'm just a. A dope artist. I'm definitely a. A creative, you know, intelligent black man on this planet. And I'm just. I feel like whatever I apply my brain to, I could accomplish it and accomplish it well. Well enough to be like, yo, he's good at that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know, and just being. Being a father, being. Being a. A good partner, you know, I'm humble, you know, but in the music game, I'm still that threat. I feel like that. Like any beat, any rapper. I'm not out here trying to cause beefs or any of that with anybody, but I feel I can go to toe with anybody, toe to toe, if my name is mentioned. You know, I'm kind of wanting somebody to mention my name, too. So I, you know, Steal some sneak. Sneak back in on some relevance right now. Wake the beast up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How often do you get mistaken for JB Smooth?

[Inspectah Deck]

All the time.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, my God.

[Inspectah Deck]

Just randomly, as a matter of fact, I need JB Smooth to pull up somewhere. We need to do something somewhere. I've heard that so many times. I even was on the plane acting like, yeah, I'm Jamie Smooth. Just to not be expected. Before that, yeah, I would love to do something where he's me and I'm him. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm trying to do comedy or he's trying to rap or, you know, that would be something dope, man. But, yeah, shout out to that brother. I get. I get him all the time. And even now I get Ocho Cinco, which is funny.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I would say trade the truth.

[Inspectah Deck]

You in Texas,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

but I see Leon from goddamn Kirby Enthusiasm, definitely. For sure. That's JP Trader True.

[Inspectah Deck]

I get that all the time, bro. To the point where I'm like, yeah, okay, you know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, Wu Tang taught us that individuality can coexist with brotherhood, right? You think in today's music business, artists know how to build collectives anymore, or is everything just too individualistic?

[Inspectah Deck]

I don't think they want collectives. I don't think the industry want the collective at that too, you know? You know, having like, Wu Tang coming today with 10 brothers who feel like, you know, they righteous, they got knowledge of self, and you coming in here trying to be your own industry, I don't even think that would work today. They probably wouldn't sign all nine of us there to try to break meth and dirty and everybody up from off top in the beginning.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And then the deal RZA did in the beginning kind of set y' all up for solo stuff, too. That probably wouldn't be as possible.

[Inspectah Deck]

That probably wouldn't be possible neither. Cause in this state, you. You probably want to keep that all in one pot, right? If. If you're going to be in control, like, the last thing you want to do is let everybody go their own way. Steve Rifkin was. Was dope for that shout out Steve Rifkin. Because nobody else was going to do that at the time. I remember going up to offices with rza, getting shot down. My boy. What's that dude's name? Pendulum Records used to have Digable Planets, right? Reuben Rodriguez. I love Digable Planets. Reuben Rodriguez. I. I remember him specifically because he was at Pendulum Records. He went up there, he told us that we should sound more like Digable Planets. We playing them same records. Protect your neck cream, all that. Oh, you guys should be like this. You know, I'm cool like that. I'm smooth like that. And no disrespect to them because I like that record, right? No, y' all couldn't do that if y' all tried. We're not from that. That's not our. That's not our lyrical genetic makeup, you know, like, we can't. We. We can't do nothing like that. But at the same time, like, you're telling us to be that at a time where KRS was like assaulting PM Dawns and all. And, you know, the hip hop, the hardcore EPMD crossover, you know, it was around those sides. So we like, we can't do that, bro. But I remember him specifically, like, almost kicking us out the office because, nah, this ain't what we want. There's too many people. How you gonna split the money? It was like, why are you worried about how we gonna split the money?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Right?

[Inspectah Deck]

It was just crazy. But I remember him in Spit in specifically because he was like, nah, that's not it. That's never gonna work. That's never gonna work. You know, you guys, it's nice talking to you. You know what I'm saying? Like, next. And just seeing him later on in life, like, you know, you never had nothing after Digable Planets. Wow. But you was telling us to sound like that. Yeah, like you trying to switch us. I was saying we like, nah, but we don't do that. But that was like the, the what we faced in the beginning, trying to even shop Wu Tang with nine mcs. And you got these songs with no hooks on a lot of them. At that time, you know, everything was so structured. So, you know, it was radio friendlies and. And you know, you had to make. You had to make records for the. The hot nine at five. The hot five and nine, the hot 12 or 12. Like, it was. It was a different scene at that time, you know. Now I don't even. I don't even hear none of that no more. Like, countdowns and this, you know, it's just dance challenges off of records, off Tick tocks. That's what you see mostly now. But I don't know, y' all can tell me better, like, how do y' all like the music? You know, Like, y' all gotta play it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, not rated, but there's a lot of dope out there. You know what I'm saying? There's a lot of dope ass lyricists, like, especially Young lyricists.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You got guys like Marco, plus you got, you know, he's from Atlanta. You got guys like Ruben Vincent from Charlotte. You got guys like Kai Cash from, you know, Brooklyn. Like, it's some really dope MCs.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But you gotta, you gotta, you gotta find it. You gotta find them.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, absolutely. I believe that. I believe that. One of my favorite. I like Cordae. I just met Cordae.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, yeah, Cordae is dope.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He's dope musically and as a person. I was just watching an interview he did about mental health and getting into that. Like, I think he's like a well rounded, like brand of an artist and that isn't as common too.

[Inspectah Deck]

It's not common. Yeah. I saw him at a Dave Chappelle concert and just kicked it with him real quick.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He be with Dave Chappelle a lot?

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, he's moving with Dave, I think.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I saw him at the Roots picnic together.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, he's a smart kid, man. Smart dude. I was like, he'd be a dope dude to do a song with as far as the young generation.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But do you think humility has helped your longevity or has it been something that kept you from like, I guess, getting your the credit you deserve?

[Inspectah Deck]

Good question. I mean it could, it could, it could teeter tot. I think it, I think it more helped me survive more than it like cut that, cut any opportunities for me because it definitely did both. But survival is key out here and you know, longevity. Survival is key to longevity and vice versa. I don't think that I saturated the game so much and put out a whole bunch of like, garbage to the point where nobody wants to listen to me now. I think I put out enough to just between my solo career, Wu Tang career and now Zarface, I think I made new fans. I think I resurrected my name a little bit. And you know, and for me, it was never the fame chase, man. Like, for me this was all about putting food on the table for my kids, getting out the hood, doing better in life and setting them up so that they didn't have to go through, you know, the pissy elevator and all that. You know, hoods on the staircase and the elevator ain't working. So, you know, giving my, giving my kids that better life was kind of my goal, my aim and to give my mom that. You know, she passed away, so I wasn't able to do that. But, you know, those are the reasons I really got into this game. And you know, struggling growing up, not having a whole lot. It's like, yo, I want my mom to be like, just wake up and go plant in the garden. Just go back and water your flowers and stuff like that. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't. I. My mom's working four, three, four jobs while I was growing up. Not that type of mother. Like, you know, you gonna eat before me. Like, if we got a sandwich, she gonna bust it down and we gonna eat, but she don't eat nothing, you know, I'm like, nah, man, here you go. You take my half back. I'm gonna go get it, you know? And that's always been my mentality, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think as a Wu Tang fan. Me speaking, I feel like Dec never got his proper shot. But being that he never got his proper shot, it's kinda hard to even rank his place because, you know, he's dope. You know, he kills features. We've heard him kill so many, you know, Wu Tang albums. But we also know that there is this masterpiece that got lost in this flood.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So where do you even.

[Inspectah Deck]

I'm like. I'm like an NBA player that made the hall of fame, but ain't get the ring.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

I didn't get my own chip.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

That's all it is. You know what I'm saying? But it doesn't. It doesn't take away from the. From the. From my stats.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, not at all.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know, or. Or. Or the work I put in, cuz that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That you're part of the wuang core. I know people say Meth and Ghost is my favorite rapper, and of course Ray and J, but you can't have that core without.

[Inspectah Deck]

And not say my name. And I'm good with that, cuz the talent is there.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And a lot of the stuff that was happening around the time where you would have came back with the album wasn't under. Like, you couldn't control that. Like, there was a lot going on that you were trying to come up within at the moment.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And. And.

[Inspectah Deck]

And add on to that, you not really knowing, like, the game like that. So you kind of like just feeling your way around in the dark, you know, until you grab something, it's like, okay. But that. That itself was one of the lessons I need to learn. Like, yo, you learn your own strength, you learn your own value out of that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That was around the time, too, when you were supposed to drop your album, when all the radio stuff was happening with y', all, right. Where they weren't playing certain songs on the radio.

[Inspectah Deck]

They Weren't playing the radio. I96. Yeah. You know, then we found out later there was forces behind that that was making that happen.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

Shadow Band.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It was Diddy for what it was. So why, though, was.

[Inspectah Deck]

You heard what she said.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Ghost said that it was because of Diddy. Is that. Was that really a thing?

[Inspectah Deck]

That's what I heard. I. I heard the Deadster Diddler.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The Diddler Bad Boy was so red hot that he just didn't want nobody else.

[Inspectah Deck]

He didn't want Wu Tang being. I guess we was in New York fight, you know, fighting for New York, whose supremacy over that. And they was. Bad Boy was dope.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know, it's like we was looking at them too. You know, Biggie with the Hypnotized Million Dollar Video and, you know, everything he was doing, like, yo, them dudes is dope. They competition if we gonna make it like that. But, you know, we didn't really look at it to say, they gonna be such a problem. We need to shut them down.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Right?

[Inspectah Deck]

Like, we gotta start paying people to not play their records. Like, that's crazy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

And then to learn that later on, like, that's the reason why. Like, come on, bro. You had. You had a bunch of hits, right? Yeah, hits. Hits after hits from total to. I mean, from Craig Mac, Biggie, everybody, right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

At 112, right? Yeah. He had everything. So little old us from Staten island, that's how we was feeling. But then, you know, we got them.

[DJ Envy]

Y' all were very impactful, though.

[Inspectah Deck]

Like, y' all had.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Man, I could see why y' all

[DJ Envy]

were competition or he would think y'

[Inspectah Deck]

all were competition, like, stick the dogs on us.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

People refer to Wu Tang as a lifestyle. At one point, like, it was a whole thing. It is really big.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. Was the whole.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I gotta. I want to ask Ghost about that, but I want to ask him, why did you still do records with them? Because, remember, Ghost was on Special Delivery Remix. Like, you know, he was. He did a couple joints with Baby.

[Inspectah Deck]

He did a couple of joints. I don't know. Yeah, you might have to ask Ghost. That one right there. I like that joint he did with gw.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, he killed Delivery.

[Inspectah Deck]

But I didn't understand why they was, like, trying to shut the. Shut the clan down. Well, yeah, later on, I could see why. Because it's like, we got meth. We got. We got different people who are, you know, in that class. And even when Ray and Ghost and Biggie and Nas, remember, they had their little thing going around, and that was that was dope, too, for me, like. Cause I'm sitting there watching all these. You know, all these. All my peoples, and they're subliminally doing this. Nobody's saying names, you know. You know, Ray and goes, they never said Biggie name on the album.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, it was so obvious on the shock.

[Inspectah Deck]

But Biggie responded that he never said Ray name, you know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, that. It wasn't the leprechaun line. What line was it?

[Inspectah Deck]

He was talking about, yo, these dudes getting money now. Like, you know, Diddy was saying it too. Like, you know, everybody who. Where they get money from, Victory or something like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know that, yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

They were all speaking to each other, but just indirectly on low key. Indirectly without saying names. And, you know, Nas was in the middle. Like, you know Nas, no Biggie, and he know where he goes. So he was just like, you know, what do I do, bro? I love all y'.

[Lauren LaRosa]

All.

[Inspectah Deck]

Like, I'm a fall back. And the Biggie got mad at Nas. And then you hear Nas on the other record talking about, you know, I had to put it in writing to keep me and Biggie. He said I had to put it in writing to keep me and Brooklyn from fighting. When he was talking about the Biggie,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

oh, just listen to that record.

[Inspectah Deck]

We will survive.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yep.

[Inspectah Deck]

So it was like, there's a bunch of records with subliminal shots going at

[Lauren LaRosa]

each other, and then they did songs

[Inspectah Deck]

and nobody really caught.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay.

[Inspectah Deck]

But for me, I'm like, this is dope, you know? And then Biggie called meth to do the what, right? So it's like, if there's beef going on, so we don't know beef. And like, you said, dudes is doing records together. I don't know.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like, you know on the bootleg Cave podcast where Ghostface said it, it was. That was in 2025. He said that Rizza had just told him that a year. Like, a year ago. So he was saying that he didn't know distinctively that that had happened until 2024. But if you're telling me what you're saying right now, it's like, y' all knew. Maybe I didn't know it was that to that extent, but there was, like, creative competition.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, we knew that part, but we didn't know till RZA told us that we was being blocked previously. Like, you know, there was payola involved, too. Like, it was we paying these people not to play y' all records.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So do you think. Because I've always heard stories about, like, around, like, 99 or something like that. Like the. There was like a. Like the fanfare around. You guys kind of started to, like, kind of lay low a bit. Was that. Is that a real thing or is that like a folktale?

[Inspectah Deck]

Like, fell off?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, but do you think that. That. What do you. Where you think. Do you think that that was orchestrated by people because y' all were really big, or do you think. I've always heard that you guys oversaturated the market, which I don't know if I feel like that's a real thing now, because now everybody idolizes you guys as, like, legends and not real people. So how.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

There was never a time where wuang fell off. Now, let's not get crazy.

[Inspectah Deck]

I heard everything, man. Wu Tang fell off. They washed. Nah, it's white people music now. Oh, you know, I've heard everything, but I'm like, white people music. White people. Like, you know, only. Only white people come to our shows and stuff like that. But I'm like, yo, there was a time where everything we did was hood. We was 100 deep in every club with Wu Tang shirts on. Right? That got it to the level of us being able to play the white venues. So then we get to that level of playing the white venues, Then we start selling out the white venues. Now the black venues are like, ah, they Hollywood now. What can you do? You know what I'm saying? Like, if we go from. If we go from Joe's Pub in the Hood to taking it to 25,000Amphitheater, that's growth and progression. That's growth and development. Like, you can't knock that. It don't matter if green people was coming to see it. I don't care if aliens come rock with us. That's who we doing it for. We're doing it for the aliens now, you know? But they'll say that we fell off because of that transition is crazy. Like, we was going on tour with Rage against the Machine. I remember, you know, when the Hot 97 thing happened. So, you know, how could you. Where does. Where's the fall off in that?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It can't be a fall off. It was Wu Tang forever. That was the mindset always. And Lawrence said 99 supreme clientele came out in 99. So supreme clientele is probably. I. I like Iron man, but it's probably one ghost's best body of work, right? So when you think about that, that's still wuang.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like, y' all people were still featured on those albums like that. Like, that was all woo to me.

[Inspectah Deck]

But I think. I think what she's talking about is, like, the. The affiliates and everything else. Like, it might be a killer army or Sons of Man or, you know, one of these groups that come under the Wu Tang flag. I felt like that, too. I felt like it's too saturated. We got a bunch of dudes coming under the name, and you're making it hard for me, bro.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was wondering how you felt in all of that, right, because you're still trying to, like, get back what you felt like hadn't happened.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, but before I could drop my album, we got, you know, Wuang Central America group dropping the album. You know what I'm saying? So it's like. And then the fans don't take to that. So now my album goes through heat coming out, you know? So I was just like, yeah, dealing with all of that, bro. I was just like, let me. And I purposely sat down for a second. I purposely sat down. I didn't put no music out. I. I felt like I had some bad contracts early on. Let me figure this out. I'm gonna do this independent. I'm not signing no more contracts. And then I started putting out, you know, Zarfa through Brick Records and stuff like that, you know, was able to eat Zar face. Kept me alive when Wu Tang wasn't working, you know? And then Inspector Deck would come out and pop out and do shows and do different things when Zarface ain't active. So I had the blessing to be able to manage those three avenues. But, yeah, man, I just trying to drop in the mix because you might remember, before I dropped uncontrolled substance, Capadonna dropped the pillage. Capadonna was locked up. So the trajectory for me was to just come right out. Cap came home and. And dropped before me. Then there was a little controversy with that. Like, how did this. And, you know, in the. In the Hulu series, you see me give Devine back the keys to the Wu Manson in Jersey. I'm out of here. That's a real story. I was like, y', all, what am I sticking around for? You know what I'm saying? I'm not. I'm not. I'm not a role player. That's how I felt like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I felt like, I can get 25 starting, but y' all want me to get 10 off the bench? Okay, I'll do that for a while. But after. After a while, you. You.

[DJ Envy]

You.

[Inspectah Deck]

Then you watching the starters. They not putting up 25 no more. So I'm like, yo, I feel like you should switch it up, switch the line up. But you know, when you, when it's a family owned business, if you ain't got the last name, don't even, don't even make a menu suggestion change, you know, like, if you ain't got the same last name as the family owned business, don't suggest nothing, man, because you can be replaced like that, you know. Oh, you don't like our menu? Yeah, you know, we had this menu here for, you know, 100 years in the family peace. So that's how, that's how things are when you don't own. You know, I, we, me personally, I never owned any of the Wu Tang music. I didn't really know the publishing game until I started putting albums outside of Wu Tang. So, like, you know, in, in the long run of things, like, yeah, ownership is big. If you're not owning what you're doing, you just out here working for somebody, Somebody. And it could be your brother, you know, at the same time, yo, bro, I'm out of this contract. Love you to death, but I gotta go. I want to build my own house. I don't want to live in your house.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But from the stories I've always heard, though, it seemed like RZA was always, and like the rest of y' all were always collaborative and open when people had pushback about things, regardless of ownership or not.

[DJ Envy]

No.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, okay, so we, we've had clashes and we've had our demonstrations, but for the most part, you know, there were stories about RZA robbing us and stuff like that. And I was saying, like, I don't have, I don't recall any personal story of, of them robbing me. Now there was times where money went here when it should have been there and things like that and all that, you know, to me got rectified. Wu Tang doesn't owe me any money and, you know, publishing or anything like that. So I'm at a, I'm at a clean slate. I got out of, I got out of the contract long time ago.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You've been out since like 2010, right?

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, I, I, I've been a free agent. I do this because I want to. And, you know, that's something Meth told me. Do it because you want to, not because you have to. And so you have to, you have to make that your priority. Like, have fun with it. If you're not having fun with it and you just do it's stressful is why do it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, what do you want your legacy to be one of the greatest lyricists, a great man, or just something else entirely?

[Inspectah Deck]

I'm still writing my chapters, man. I'm writing a book right now, doing a documentary, and I'm. I'm in search of a title, you know, I'm in search of a title that best describes this journey, you know, And I had, like, obamatomically and things like that. I don't want it to be cliche. It just. It could be like, the Life and times of Jason Hunter, like, as simple as that. Because that's what it really is. It's just describing, you know, me before Wu Tang. I'm. I'm Cynthia's son, you know, I'm. I'm born in the 70s. I'm a. I'm a child of the pro black movement, you know, I feel like my soul is still intact. I'm not walking around here like a zombie, you know? Now say, if you ain't feeling this, check your post. That's another one of my slogans. You ain't feeling this right here. Check your post, man. You might be a zombie, you might be walking dead. You know, we walk around, people don't feel things no more.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You're right.

[Inspectah Deck]

You know, another thing that I hate is. Is this. This. This grown man thing, right? When it's just like, I could do like this. How you looking at another grown man's computer? What do you put the grown man in front of me?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, you hate pa.

[Inspectah Deck]

The pause is crazy. My guy with me shout out, my bro. Hellfire. He's like Paul's king. He be catching pauses that you didn't even know existed. You know, making it extra gay.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah, like, he be catching stuff on the front end of things, like, it's hilarious. But, you know, nah, it's just the grown man. Oh, just. Why you watching another grown man's, you know, he paint his fingernails. Why you worry about another grown man fingernails? It's like. Who said I was worried? I'm just making an observation. Right, right, right. I just noticed you got the black sparkly joint on. You know, that. That's for them, man. I never painted my nails. I don't think I ever will. You know, it's just not to me. That's not masculine. Like, you know, I'm still from the masculine school of men. I don't care. You call me. People call me toxic, all that. I'm. Yeah, I'm a rebel. It's what it is. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm gonna put My foot down. You know, women nowadays, they call you sassy if you say something. Yeah, I mean, like, yeah, like, they was just talking about.

[DJ Envy]

We had a topic today.

[Inspectah Deck]

We was talking about washing your ass. Like, man, I heard y'. All. I meant to bring the 24 pack of pauses in for y'.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All.

[Inspectah Deck]

I heard some craziness on.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Can't even. You don't watch your ass.

[Inspectah Deck]

No, I do. I didn't listen to none of that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You gotta worry about another grown man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why you worry about another grown man watching

[Inspectah Deck]

old man wants his ass for. But now, you know, it's just that. That's crazy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, ain't it?

[Inspectah Deck]

That's crazy. That's the new generation, bro. I just. You know, then like you said, you got to have a couple of rags, too, you know, you don't put your body rag on your face, you know?

[DJ Envy]

Right.

[Inspectah Deck]

I get. I get where y' all coming from, but. Yeah, a lot of. A lot of people do a lot of weird stuff nowadays. You can't even gauge it, you know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, it's Inspector Deck, man. Dragon's Breath is out right now.

[Inspectah Deck]

Dragon's Breath got the single A Day in the Life out, produced by Phra. That video's out, man. It's doing real good. It's doing real nice. Got the Internet buzzing. Dropping another single Friday called Shaolin Rebel Part two.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Dope.

[Inspectah Deck]

I think that's gonna. That's gonna wake hip hop up if I'm predicting this, right? Because it's got a wuang sound. It's produced by upand cominging King Johannes. And that's another thing. When you hear my music, I don't always gotta reach for the famous names, the producers or artists. I like to give people a shot. You know, I might have met you in the train station next. You know, I got a song with you. You know, it's just more. That's my way of giving back or. Or lending my voice to somebody else's struggle, you know? And, yeah, the album, 8 7, August 7th, my son Elijah's birthday, you know, he'll be 19. And then we got knowledge born.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Inspectah Deck]

And then right after that, we got a czar face with Frankie Pulitzer. Featuring Frankie Pulitzer. If y' all know who Frankie Pulitzer is. I. You know, we can't say the name Face Puller, but, you know,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Face Puller.

[Lauren LaRosa]

See? Wow.

[Inspectah Deck]

I don't know. I don't know what's paused. Me into that. Right. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Face Puller.

[Inspectah Deck]

Face Puller. Frankie Puller. We going to call him Frankie. Frankie Puller. Face Puller.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's like soul snatching.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You see what I'm saying?

[Inspectah Deck]

Soul snatcher. That's a pause.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, not soul.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, no, no. But I'm saying, like, if you f. If you don't worry about it.

[Inspectah Deck]

Yeah. I don't know the pause laws. I'm be honest. I don't either. I don't know the laws of pa. I don't know you, man.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Damn.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's Inspector Deck. It's the Breakfast Club.

[Inspectah Deck]

Hold up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Every day I wake up.

[Inspectah Deck]

Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Y' all finished or y' all done?

[Inspectah Deck]

Dad, Disney activities are on Lingokids.

[DJ Envy]

What?

[Inspectah Deck]

Moana and Elsa and Marvel's Spider Man. All of them on Lingokids? Yes, dad, on Lingokids. That's pretty cool.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I know. You just lost them for the rest of the afternoon.

[DJ Envy]

Worth it. Full of fun activities inspired by Disney's Moana, Frozen Zootopia, Marvel's Spider man and more. Lingokids is where little ones discover more about favorite characters.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Lingokids.

[DJ Envy]

Everything kids love. Download it for free. Whether you're calling the wise women in your life, video calling your girlfriends across the country, or checking in on someone who always knows how to make you smile, Staying connected matters. Those small conversations, shared laughs and quick hellos are what keep relationships strong. Even when life gets busy. Some of the most life giving conversations start with just a phone call. That's why AT&T guarantees a network you can rely on. So you can focus on the moments and people that matter the Most. That's the AT&T guarantee. AT&T connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.comguarantee for details. Reese Witherspoon here. Checking into my favorite hotel in Paris.

[Inspectah Deck]

Bonjour. Bonjour.

[DJ Envy]

I'm traveling with my Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So I earn rewards wherever I book.

[DJ Envy]

Travel five times points with hotels, four times with air airlines, three times on restaurants and other travel and one point on other purchases.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Phew. That was a lot.

[Inspectah Deck]

I need to lie down. Is the room Ready? Visit wells fargo.com autographjourney Terms apply.

[DJ Envy]

Some people use ChatGPT to answer questions.

[Inspectah Deck]

Others use it to get real work done.

[DJ Envy]

With ChatGPT work, you bring the goal plus real inputs like briefs, notes, files, feedback, data and project plans. It can help turn them into an analysis tracker, deck, outline, prototype or workflow. You can review and keep shaping. You stay in control, giving direction and choosing the final output. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get [e-mail] by selecting work mode available on plus and Pro plans.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.