INTERVIEW: Memphis Bleek Turned Down $75K To Sign With Jay-Z, Talks Roc-A-Fella History, New Podcast + More

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Breakfast Club – Interview with Memphis Bleek Episode Title: INTERVIEW: Memphis Bleek Turned Down $75K To Sign With Jay-Z, Talks Roc-A-Fella History, New Podcast + More
Release Date: June 16, 2025
Host: Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Envy, Lauren LaRosa
Guest: Memphis Bleek

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1. Introduction and New Podcast Announcement

The episode kicks off with DJ Envy introducing Memphis Bleek as a special guest. Charlamagne Tha God highlights Memphis's new venture, the Rock Solid Podcast, part of the Drink Champs Black Effect Podcast Network. Memphis expresses enthusiasm about stepping into the podcasting space, aiming to share authentic stories from his extensive career in hip-hop.

[02:06] Memphis Bleek: "I feel like my podcast. I want to be like the sitcom when we was younger... get back to your sense of humor."

2. Loyalty to Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella History

A central theme of the conversation revolves around Memphis's unwavering loyalty to Jay-Z and the Roc-A-Fella empire. Memphis recounts how he turned down a lucrative $75,000 signing bonus from Capitol Records to remain with Jay-Z, believing in Jay's vision and the potential of Roc-A-Fella.

[13:24] Memphis Bleek: "I remember my manager, Biha. He ain't gonna like that I'm telling this story. We had an offer from Capitol Records... $75,000 signing bonus. And I was like, nah, they don't want it."

Memphis emphasizes that his decision was rooted in trust and familiarity, choosing to invest in a relationship with someone he knew rather than taking a significant financial gamble with an unknown entity.

3. Turning Down $75K Signing Bonus

Delving deeper into the pivotal moment when Memphis declined the Capitol Records offer, he explains the rationale behind his choice. The offer, although substantial, came from a source he didn't personally know, leading him to prioritize loyalty and long-term potential over immediate financial gain.

[13:24] Memphis Bleek: "I'd rather roll with Hov and this. Before Jay, it was no Roc-A-Fella. He was still... Jay warned, 'What if Roc-A-Fella is a dream of Jay?' And I was like, then it'll never be no Bleak. I'm cool with that."

4. Reflections on Early Career and Missed Opportunities

Memphis shares anecdotes from his early days in the music industry, including missed opportunities that he now reflects upon with a mix of regret and acceptance. Notably, he mentions being present during iconic moments but not actively contributing, such as not writing his verse for a legendary Clue tape.

[19:02] Memphis Bleek: "On a Clue tape... Jay like, 'You gonna give up an opportunity? You got a shot right now.' And I was like, I ain't got it... I missed that opportunity."

He also touches on his extensive collaborations with Jay-Z, boasting about the numerous features they've done together—approximately 30 to date—which underscores the depth of their professional relationship.

[21:35] Memphis Bleek: "I think we have about 30."
[21:36] DJ Envy: "30. Okay, so in the accumulation of all those 30, your go to. What's your favorite one of them."

5. Impact of Roc-A-Fella on His Life and Legacy

The discussion highlights how Roc-A-Fella significantly shaped Memphis's career and personal growth. He credits Jay-Z, his manager, and others in the Roc-A-Fella team for instilling important business acumen and integrity in him.

[12:00] Memphis Bleek: "Jay taught me. I'd learned everything from him. One of the main things I learned from Jay is stay on top of your business."

Memphis also reflects on the collective effort of the Roc-A-Fella team, acknowledging that without their support, his trajectory in the music industry might have been vastly different.

6. Pressure, Expectations, and Defining Success

Addressing the pressures of being labeled as Jay-Z's protégé, Memphis discusses the expectations placed upon him and how he navigates maintaining his identity amidst such scrutiny. He emphasizes that success, to him, has evolved from material gains to personal fulfillment and legacy.

[39:21] Memphis Bleek: "But me now, success to me is what I have. Love in the household, healthy family, your health."

He contrasts his definition of success with his younger self, who was more focused on tangible symbols of wealth like cars and luxury items.

7. Stories of Fellow Artists and Their Potential

Memphis sheds light on lesser-known artists from the Roc-A-Fella era who never fully realized their potential. He expresses admiration for artists like Hosta Ripper and Petey Crack, highlighting their talent and explaining the circumstances that prevented them from achieving greater fame.

[56:54] Memphis Bleek: "I had to get my guy. Hosta Ripper. ... Now he changed his life. Like, you know, he's a big preacher. He got a church out here in Jersey."

Memphis emphasizes the importance of dedication and hard work, noting that many artists fell short due to distractions and a lack of commitment to their craft.

8. Personal Growth and Current Perspectives

In the latter part of the interview, Memphis discusses his transition from active music production to focusing on his podcast and business ventures. He underscores the importance of genuine relationships and staying true to oneself in an industry often driven by superficial gains.

[41:17] Memphis Bleek: "But I'm better than Hov. He know that. He don't want to battle."

He also touches upon the passing of Clark Kent, a pivotal figure in his life, and the impact it had on him, reinforcing the value of health and personal well-being.

[46:26] Memphis Bleek: "He always told me, I just cherish him, man. ... people say 45. Do it at 35 if you can. It's never too early, but it can be too late."

9. Future Endeavors and Legacy

Looking forward, Memphis is optimistic about his new podcast serving as a platform to share untold stories from the Roc-A-Fella era and beyond. He aims to preserve the legacy of his peers and provide insight into the authentic experiences of artists from that golden age of hip-hop.

[48:17] Memphis Bleek: "So after I did the first couple of interviews... this is needed. People did need to hear this, man."

He hopes that through his podcast, listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the true dynamics and personal stories behind the success of Roc-A-Fella artists.

10. Conclusion

The interview concludes with Memphis reiterating his commitment to authenticity and legacy. He emphasizes the importance of staying connected with genuine relationships and continuing to influence the industry positively through his new ventures.

[65:54] Memphis Bleek: "That's all you could do, man, is pray and keep killing. That's it, man."

Memphis Bleek leaves listeners with a sense of his enduring passion for music, business, and storytelling, solidifying his role as a key figure in the hip-hop community.

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Notable Quotes:

• On Turning Down Capitol Records:

  [13:24] Memphis Bleek: "But my dice is with somebody that I know rather than roll on somebody I don't."

• On Roc-A-Fella Legacy:

  [12:00] Memphis Bleek: "Jay taught me. I'd learned everything from him. One of the main things I learned from Jay is stay on top of your business."

• On Defining Success:

  [39:21] Memphis Bleek: "But me now, success to me is what I have. Love in the household, healthy family, your health."

• On Missed Opportunities:

  [19:02] Memphis Bleek: "So if anything would be that, it was... I could have been a part of it."

• On Personal Growth:

  [46:26] Memphis Bleek: "...people say 45. Do it at 35 if you can. It's never too early, but it can be too late."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and narratives shared by Memphis Bleek on The Breakfast Club. It offers listeners a detailed glimpse into his career decisions, loyalty to Jay-Z, reflections on the music industry, and his aspirations for his new podcast—all enriched with direct quotes and timestamps for reference.

Transcript

[DJ Envy]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Memphis Bleek]

Panoramic moonroof, ambient lighting, bows and massaging leather appointed seats are optional features.

[Katherine Townsend]

Over the years of making my true crime podcast Hell and gone, I've learned no town is too small for murder. I'm Katherine Townsend. I've heard from hundreds of people across the country with an unsolved murder in their community.

[Memphis Bleek]

I was calling about the murder of my husband. The murder is still out there.

[Katherine Townsend]

Each week I investigate a new case. If there is a case we should Hear about, call 678-744-6145. Listen to Helen Gone Murderline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever your.

[Alive Again Host]

Podcast what happens when we come face to face with death?

[Charlamagne tha God]

My truck was blown up by a.

[Memphis Bleek]

20 pound anti tank mine. My parachute did not deploy. I was kidnapped by a drug cartel.

[Alive Again Host]

When we step beyond the edge of what we know clinically died, the heart stopped beating which I was dead for 11.5 minutes.

[Memphis Bleek]

In return, it's a miracle I was brought back.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Alive Again.

[Alive Again Host]

A podcast about the strength of the human spirit. Listen to Alive Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[BI N News Host]

Stay informed, empowered and ahead of the curve with a BI N News this hour podcast updated hourly to bring you the latest stories shaping the black community. From breaking headlines to cultural milestones, the Black Information Network delivers the facts, the voices and the perspectives that matter 247 because our stories deserve to be heard. Listen to the BI N News this Hour podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Wake that ass up early in the morning.

[Memphis Bleek]

The Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yep, it's the world's most dangerous morning show. The Breakfast Club. Charlemagne the God, DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Envy had to bounce, but Lauren LaRosa is in and we got a special guest in the building, man. He's got a new podcast called the Rock Solid Podcast on the Drink Champs Black Effect Podcast Network. Memphis Bleak as hell, you know what I'm saying?

[Memphis Bleek]

Blizzle in the building. What's up, ladies? That's my guy right here. I never met y ladies before.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You never met Justin Lauren?

[Memphis Bleek]

No, no, I just met her on ig.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, okay.

[Memphis Bleek]

You know what I mean? I seen you show some love. I show love back.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You know what I mean, man, listen, your ass don't age when I say you look good. You look good when I was younger. You look good now.

[Memphis Bleek]

Thank you. I'm trying to win. I'm trying. You hear that, wifey? You better watch out. You better watch out, girl.

[DJ Envy]

I know you getting into this personality blogger space now you my age, it's stressful.

[Memphis Bleek]

I know, right? I'm not trying to get into the controversy of the blogger space. I'm trying to some jokes. I want to be like. I feel like my podcast. I want to be like the sitcom when we was younger. You know, you had your smack DVDs, your wild moments. But then you could go in the crib and watch some Martin. You go in the crib and watch some Fresh Prince and, you know, get back to your sense of humor. I feel like that's what my space. I want to be just enjoying. I don't want no clickbait.

[Charlamagne tha God]

It's interesting, though. Most people who actually have gotten active in the street don't want problems.

[Memphis Bleek]

No, no, no. I love this life I live. I don't gotta watch my back. I don't need no strap. I good.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I love it because I. I even seen people say things about you on social media and bleak. You just. You just laugh it off.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah. Hell yeah. Because it's like I'm from the era, you know, in the hood, they like. The more anger you show, the more laughter comes to follow. So I really learned that young is like, you don't show. You can't show people that they even penetrate the. The armor you wear, anything. So I' ma always laugh it off, even though I might be pissed. But you'll never see that.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You know, most people start a podcast, I guess, to build some credibility. You already got credibility. So what do you want to say on the podcast that you haven't said on records or an interview?

[Memphis Bleek]

I feel like people don't know my personality. Like, you know, back in our day, you could be whatever you wanted because all they know was a source magazine picture. They see you on BET or mtv, your video, buy your album, and that's all they knew of you. They like now on Instagram, people get to see your everyday Life. So if you're a cornball, you're a cornball for real.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Memphis Bleek]

So it's like now on the podcast, what I want to let people know is the personality and just some of the stories behind the things that we done that you might have been questioning. How did that happen? Why did this happen? Why wasn't Bleak involved in this? Or why wasn't Beans or this person involved? So we had to answer those questions, you know.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You know, you've been in rooms with some of the biggest names in music, right? But on Rock Solid, are there stories you finally feel comfortable telling now that you couldn't back then?

[Memphis Bleek]

No, I don't think I ever played that role in the game. Like, I never. We never came in the game as a crew with images to upheld. We always were just who we were and believed in integrity was gonna take you as far as you needed to go. So it was never no rap image I portrayed or something. But it's just things I can't talk about now. Cause the big homie married. We married. So you know those hard knock life talk.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Oh, my God.

[Memphis Bleek]

You know, I gotta PG it. I can't X rate it. Like, so.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yo, have you.

[Memphis Bleek]

Damn.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Have you and your wife ever watched backstage together?

[Memphis Bleek]

No, I could never watch that one. No way. I have to tell that wasn't me. The guy she know today, that's not him on backstage.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yo, there's a parting backstage where one of y' all. I think it's you.

[Memphis Bleek]

A whole.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You'd be like, I done half. I done all of Texas or something. I done half the country or something.

[Memphis Bleek]

Flipped it and reversed it. Yeah, I was on some shit. We was battling and not records neither. We had verses for real.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So any upcoming guests that you are? Any. Any. Is it out yet?

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah, we just dropped the first episode with Ja Rule yesterday.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay.

[Memphis Bleek]

So that. That did really good. A lot of people didn't know me and Ja had that relationship. So that's the things, like, I want people to understand, like, behind the scenes, behind the music, we real regular people. Like, my first friend in the music business was Ja Rule. Oh, wow. You know, people from the outside would think it was Beans or Freeway or somebody from Rockefeller. The first person I met hanging out, riding around with was Ja. Like, people don't know. Even Nick Cannon. Nick Cannon used to be in Marcy with us.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, God, why you didn't never help him, right?

[DJ Envy]

Why are you laughing so hard?

[Memphis Bleek]

It's crazy. You said. Because my friend, this kid from Project's name Clap Rest in peace. He actually used to write for Nick. Like, we all was managing by the street. He wants that credit.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Producer.

[Charlamagne tha God]

He don't want that credit.

[Memphis Bleek]

I mean, same manager, you know, Biha J cousin was managed all three of us. Nick, me, and Klepp, you know, so he used to spit.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Bija used to manage Nick Cannon.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

He never told me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Nick Cannon must not have been a priority.

[Memphis Bleek]

Nah, he was. He was. He was always talking about going into show biz back then, too. Like. Like, music was never his thing. So to see where he took it and what he do is like, it's dope. You lit. Like, I just seen him at the Super Bowl, February, you know, And I'm like, I need to get on that show. Cause y' all out there freestyling, battling, dissing. That's. That's my. That's my area. So, you know, I'm gonna go do that. He definitely gotta pull up to the podcast.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So what was Nick doing in Marcy?

[Memphis Bleek]

Just chilling.

[Charlamagne tha God]

No, Nick can fight, though. I don't know if y' all know.

[Memphis Bleek]

Just regular stuff, like, you know, he was a regular dude. This before the fame, before any of this, the kids and all of that crazy crap, this was regular Nick on the block, hanging out. He just wanted to be in the hood. Like, a lot of people that met us back then was on some. Yo, you from Marcy. I want to go. Cause you couldn't go to Marcy back in the day. Yeah. If you didn't know somebody or go with somebody. Certified wasn't a walking through Marcy. So a lot of people, they want to experience it now.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Well, y' all made it sound fun. Y' all did make Marcy sound like Cancun a little bit.

[Memphis Bleek]

A little bit. You know, a little bit. For us, it was because we. We the guys, but anybody couldn't do that.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So your man used to ghostwrite for Nick Cannon.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah. Yeah, man.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So he get royalties off Gigolo. Like, what. What record was it?

[Memphis Bleek]

I don't know. I don't know if it was those records, but it was, like, his demos to help him get a deal. Like when he first was rapping, first doing this thing, like, yeah, Nick was in the studio with us and all of that, man.

[Charlamagne tha God]

He was nice.

[Memphis Bleek]

I always thought he was talented.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I ain't say that. I said you thought he was as nice as a rapper.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yo, I always thought he was talented. Yo, yo.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Damn.

[Memphis Bleek]

It been a couple times you give the guys. Yo, that ain't. Yo, you got a classic with my business. Nah, that Ain't. I think that's the fear of every artist. Like, yo, they gonna rock with me. Or somebody gonna be like, dang, Nick.

[DJ Envy]

I mean, especially being around y' all, though. Like, that's a different. Y' all are very different rappers than a Nick Cannon.

[Memphis Bleek]

No, but it was. It was rough, like, growing up. Like, just even being in the Rockefeller camp. Baseline Studios, Remember, we only had two rooms with 14 artists, so it's like, you couldn't be in there playing with bars. You had to get out. If you was laying something that wasn't rocking, they. It's time to go. We got six people waiting for that space.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah. So salute to Nick, though. We got love.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Definitely not his rap, but we gotta love.

[Memphis Bleek]

You.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Speak about Baseline, you were the first artist to be called the head to Jay Z's throne. Like, Jay called you the head to the throne. What's something you learned about pressure and expectation that took. That took some time for you to.

[Memphis Bleek]

Understand it's not reality. Like, people will put limits and expectations on you that you don't have for yourself or even see. Like, when Jay said that, I was like, I'm the new improve. What? Since when? Who told you? They didn't tell me that. So it was like, oh, word. So it's like, you know, you gotta do your thing and write and try to better yourself, learn the game, learn perfect your role. But the dominoes don't always fall the way you hope. You know what I'm saying? Of course I wanted to be the biggest one to be this. But unfortunately, I grew up with the sun, and it's like any fire I put out, he burned out. So it was nothing I could do. I just accept my spot. But he was capping.

[Charlamagne tha God]

He might have saw something you that you didn't see in yourself.

[Memphis Bleek]

That's what I. He definitely did it. To this day, like, you know, Jay pushed me to do. I send him music. It's so weird because I got a new project coming out right on the 20th called Apartment 3D. It's probably like my third album I recorded since my last studio album. The first two, he done shut down. So when I started sending them records from this one, and he like, this is it. You doing your thing. I'm like, what changed? I, I, I'm still trying to figure out what changed, because now it's like you rocking with all the joints.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What happened?

[Memphis Bleek]

I think, you know, it's just where you at in your life and what you talking about.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So you was apartment 3D, and they were apartment Fosse. And see, that's what I like. People always know you from the music with Jay, right? They like, oh, that's Jay's protege. But, yo, y' all grew up together in the. In the trenches.

[Memphis Bleek]

But that's the thing we. We grew up to not together. People think that, like, they gotta remember Jay is like the big brother, like, the uncle. Like, I was the kid, like, one of his nephews on the block. He didn't hang with me. He came and got me, like, seen me doing reckless stuff. He, you know, put me on the right track, correct me, give me game. But it wasn't no hanging out. It was like, all right, I see you. That's Jay. What up, fam? I see you. So the day when I seen her with Clark Kent, Rest in peace, it was like, man, he always pulling up with the illest cars, the baddest joints. Man, I gotta get on this boat. I gotta find out how to be a passenger on that boat. So I just shot my shot, and it worked.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What was something he taught you during that era that fans wouldn't know that we might hear on the Rock Solid podcast?

[Memphis Bleek]

Man, everything you see, man, just the life I live, the man I am, like, Jay taught me. I'd learned everything from him. Biggs, dang. My manager, Biha. I could say it was a collective thing, because without them, who knows where I'll be in life right now. But one of the main things I learned from Jay is stay on top of your business, man. Don't like. You got managers, lawyers, all of that, but nobody know what you want but you and what you gonna get with but you. So, yeah, stay on top of your business. That's why I just had to talk with him this morning, because, you know, with the Rock Solid podcast, we had the. The Rock logo on the podcast. But of course, you know, people wait till the last day to try to get you to handle business. So I'm like, yo, I can't put that pressure on Jay right now. He on tour with his wife. He doing, you know, I don't want to be talking business, so. But I did send a message, so we talked about it today. And he like, yo, bro, I don't just be licensing my logo and my likeness out to anybody. And I'm like, I've been in this game forever. What makes you think I don't? I own my show. Like, this ain't going to nobody else. And he like. I'm like, I learned from the best. Nobody owns anything you do. And why would I give away anything I do, right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Memphis Bleek]

So it was.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Do you think as an artist, right? Cause I know you said you learned a lot from Jay business wise, right? Do you think as an artist, if you would assign to somebody else, you would have been a bigger artist?

[Memphis Bleek]

Nah, I'd probably be. I probably wouldn't be here. Cause, you know, you get your one and done your two albums, you done. That's what made me. It's so weird. All right. That's what made me sign with Jay. I remember my manager, Biha. He ain't gonna like that I'm telling this story. We had an offer from Capitol Records, right? They wanted to give me 350 with a $75,000 signing bonus. And I was like, nah, they don't want it. And he like, yo, you know what $75,000 could do for you? It'd change everything in your household. Like, these was Marcy struggling days. And I'm like, I feel you. But that $75,000 come from somebody I don't know. So the day my train slipped, they not going to invest back in the train to get me back on track. So I'd rather roll with Hov and this. Before Jay, it was no Roc A Fella. He was still. This was Reasonable Doubt on Priority. Jay. And he was like, yo, but what if, you know, Roc A Fella is a dream of Jay. What if it never manifests? And I'm like, then it'll never be no bleak. I'm cool with that, you know? But my dice is with somebody that I know rather than roll on somebody I don't.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Was this after Reasonable Doubt?

[Memphis Bleek]

Oh, this was during Reasonable Doubt. Cause, man, Reasonable Doubt came out on Priority. A lot of people think it came out on Def Jam, but it didn't.

[DJ Envy]

I was literally gonna say, people talk so much about your loyalty, and that story speaks to it, right? How has your loyalty had to change as y' all grew? Cause you've known him for so. You've known Jay Z for so long. Like, it's been. It's so long at this point.

[Memphis Bleek]

Excuse me. It's weird seeing what people. What I always saw in him, because to me, he was always larger than life. Some kids grow up looking at sports players, movie stars. My next door neighbor was my inspiration. I go outside, he has the cars nobody had. I look at his neck. He wearing Jury no one in the projects can afford. You know, he's flying, traveling places. Remember, Jay got a picture in London in the BMW. It's like 1993. It's like 92. Like, nobody wasn't traveling like that back then. So he was my inspiration to get money. So to watch the world see him as the billionaire, he always been that to me. So I don't think anything changed. Because the day I decided to be like, yo, I want to get money, I knew I want to get money. Like, them, him, tata and all. Oh, my God.

[Charlamagne tha God]

It's funny, even, you know, not the Lawrence question, sort of kind of. But, you know, you see people online saying things like, bleak, too loyal to Jay. Like, how is there such thing as being too loyal to somebody?

[Memphis Bleek]

I don't know.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Especially if it's reciprocated.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah. Like, how can you be too? I don't know no other way. I don't know no other person. Like, what I'm supposed to do, what they wanted me to do. I don't know who I was gonna get a deal with, what artist. I'm gonna go sign with another artist and be like, yo, I'm this crew now. That'll never happen. So it's just like when Roc A Fella died. That's why I didn't chase music. Cause it's like, what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna be G unit. I'm gonna go be this guy over here. Never. If it ain't Roc A Fella, it ain't nothing.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You know, it's funny, right? You are one of the few artists from that era who seems like you never chase clout when things slowed down.

[Memphis Bleek]

Oh, no.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Was that a conscious decision or just your character?

[Memphis Bleek]

We always been lit, like, since a kid. We always been lit, like, you know, growing up, man, in Brooklyn, Brooklyn was. You got to remember Brooklyn is as big as the city. We bigger than Actually bigger than Manhattan, if you think it's a borough. So in Brooklyn, once you was known in the star. Crown Heights, Coney Island. You move, man. You ain't. You didn't need nothing else. Like, so this industry fame. A lot of these people, I feel like, become who they always wanted to be. With rap fame, I've been who I was and just got rap thing, you know what I'm saying? Like, I didn't have to portray any type of. That's what I mean, that we didn't portray. This guy's always been me. Like, anybody that know me know, yo, bleak. Been the same guy since day one. Where you could look at a lot of these rappers and you could see, man, he acted. Once the act stopped, the career stop. And that's how. So for me, I Ain't chasing no clout. Cloud is fake. It don't really. It's a made up. It don't mean anything.

[DJ Envy]

What was your first thoughts, like, when things were dissembling, Right? Like, what's your first thought? Go to wise. Like career wise. Like, what are you. Because now you, y' all there, y' all establish, people know y' all, you've been, who you've been.

[Memphis Bleek]

Oh, I had no clue. I had no clue. That's why I give all my, My wife all the credit, because she really put the pieces together, helped me see the vision again. Because to me, it was over. I didn't know what to do, what direction to go. And when I met her, she was just like, you tripping. This is what we need to do. Boom, boom, boom, boom. And we put it together. Here we are.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And that's interesting because it's not like you didn't have people.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah, no, And I had peoples. But it's still like, when you do something and that's all you know? Like, remember I never had a job. Like, never had to fill out a resume. I. I got a deal. I was 15 years old. Like, I never had to work, ever. My work was rap. So when it was over, it was like, what I'mma do? I don't do construction. I don't sweep. I never swept. Like. So it was like, what I'm gonna do? And then my wife was like, you bugging your homie own 90 businesses, go figure out a way in one. And that's how Doucet came apart. It's like, okay, I'm the liquor man now. I sell drugs again.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Listen, I wanna ask you, like, if you could go back to one session from the early rock days, not to change it, but just to relive it, what would it be and why?

[Memphis Bleek]

See, I'm gonna tell you another story people don't know. On a Clue tape. I remember it was Jay Z and Source Money. My first time meeting Clue. They invited us to the studio. Jay and Source Money, they murdered a verse. Now, mind you, I'm 15 years old sitting there like, and y' all want me to rhyme after these two guys? I don't think it's gonna happen. Include like, yo, go ahead. So Jay like, yo, you gonna give up an opportunity? You got a shot right now. You better write something. And I'm looking at him like, I ain't got it. After what y' all said, I don't think there's nothing I could say. So I missed that opportunity. And when that tape Came out. It was like one of the biggest freestyles in Marcy. Everybody playing it, going crazy through Brooklyn. And I'm like, I was right there. I could have been a part of it. So if anything would be that. And on the JR Kelly album, Best of Both Worlds, if you listen to it, he was like, if. One of the songs. I think it was somebody girl is at this party song. If you listen to the beginning, he say my name, M. Extra money, let's go. And I never wrote my verse.

[DJ Envy]

Why?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Why?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Ain't a little scared ass, man.

[Memphis Bleek]

No, no, no, no. See, we had a thing in Rockefeller. It wasn't scared. It was called bullshitting with balls. When you think you too late, you out here doing too much that you ain't got time for the balls. It wasn't this clue tape was shookness. The R. Kelly was. I was lit. I'm outside the Thotty's on me. I'm lit. I ain't got time being the studio. That's how I got clipped on Volume one, too. By thinking I was too lit. And they left me. Went on a tour with Bad Boy Biggie and them. I missed it. Missed the whole tour.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What in my lifetime? Volume one. What you was doing, though?

[Memphis Bleek]

I was. I was lit in Brooklyn. I had. I just bought a truck from skein. I got TV, 26 is on it. I'm 16 years old. I'm at every high school in Brooklyn blasting music. That's what I'm doing. I thought I made it. I didn't know it was the rest of this. I just thought being known to. All right, I'm lit.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is it. And then got left off.

[Memphis Bleek]

Bad bougie. And that's the time Jake came to the crib and gave me a tour. I spoke about this on Drink Champs when he was like, yo, dawg, I'm rich. I'm trying to make you, like, put your family on. Like, I don't need you, you need me. And that was the last time I missed anything.

[DJ Envy]

I was. I was gonna ask you because I watched Drink Champs and I saw that. But you also have crazy amounts of Jay Z features. It's like 24, 25 of them. How many?

[Memphis Bleek]

I think we have about 30.

[DJ Envy]

30. Okay, so in the accumulation of all those 30, your go to. What's your favorite one of them.

[Memphis Bleek]

Hypnotic. Hypnotic. Cause I could say the way that song came about, Jay wasn't supposed to be a part of it. He thugged his way on that one. Like, you know, Bings was the one who came up with the whole concept. We were supposed to do the Beans and Bleak album in Miami, but we was bullshitting with bars, like I said, going to the club. So I come to the studio Guru and bings in there. The studio dark. These niggas got incense playing, blasting all type of shit. And I hear this song, and I'm like, what the hell is the Beans? Like, yo, I just caught this vibe, and I'm making this record, and I'm like. He like, yo, you should put a verse on it. I'm like, all right. And then we get back home, we playing the joint for Jay in the office. He like, where my verse go, yo? Go extend that beat. And then the record came out, and nobody. And then we ain't know what album to put it on because nobody album was coming out at that time. So that's how it ended up on my album. So I could say that's one of my favorite go to records because it's the least expected record from all three of us. Like somewhere we all a lane none of us ever touched before.

[DJ Envy]

We gonna get a Jay Z Bleak sit down. On the podcast, people say, I want.

[Memphis Bleek]

To, but not right now. Because Jay, he like. What people don't understand is, no matter how old I get, Jay ain't gonna let me be the businessman sitting there. Like, I could really conduct the conversation with him. Like, yo, so you know, we did. It's never like, this will be the hardest interview to do. Like, because he's gonna diss me the whole interview.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You gotta prepare for that.

[Memphis Bleek]

Do I want people to know he talked to me this way? Do we say certain things? Do we talk to each other? Like, he might not even want people to know how. I talk to him all the time. Like, you know, like, even with the Ja Rule Jay, funny, because the Ja Rule interview come out. He hit me, yo. That wasn't me. Who said no? Who was it?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Did you ever find out who was it?

[Memphis Bleek]

No, man, I think. I don't know, man. You know? I don't think nobody said no. I think it was just two camps moving too fast. Like I told Ja, Ja blew up astronomically, man. Before we talked about doing an album together. We were both nobodies. We were both features on the Jay Z tour.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I was there. My first concert ever was the Hard Knock Life Tour. That was 2000 in Charleston, South Carolina. He bought you and Jao just to freestyle?

[Memphis Bleek]

Yep. No. Beans and job.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Beans and jive.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah.

[Memphis Bleek]

And then I came out on this. All right. That's what the Single I had out the time. But after that, tours like Jai was 4 million. Sold everything he dropped. I seen him in the mall, 100 crips and bloods with him. Like, oh, he ain't the same. My guy. He on. He out there, man. So that's what I think it was. I mean, two crews that two superstars, man, in no time. You know what I'm saying? It ain't like it was malice involved. It's just we get into this money.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I'm glad that you got a podcast, though. Cause I feel like there's a core of Roc, A fella, all that crew that gets talked about, but they don't ever respond. Like, Jay gets talked about all the time. You get talked about all the time. Emory gets talked about time. And it's a whole gang of y' all old friends and stuff that's always talking about y' all, but we don't ever hear the other side.

[Memphis Bleek]

Because it's too much to cover. It's too much. Like, I go, yo, I go on Twitter. Roc Nation is blank for everything. We the reason why people in J hell. We the reason why you get guns. Like, I don't know why did rock since when Roc Nation have all this influence? We could influence people in other countries to lock people up when they land. Like, if we had that much power. They need to clear some of this red tape for me and my GS, because I got dude still on parole. Why? Why I can't get them off, then if we can put you in, why I can't get somebody off?

[Charlamagne tha God]

No, y' all, Rock Nation has definitely become the evil Empire.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yo. It's crazy. I don't know why, but. But, you know, it's the thing in our community, when you make so much money, it gotta be some type of evilness to it. But my thing is, why didn't I get the evil spell or potion there? They just left me out the whip out there. When they went and did the ritual, I just wasn't invited.

[Katherine Townsend]

You was lit.

[Memphis Bleek]

You said you was lit in Brooklyn. No, that's true, though.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Did it ever bother you that it was like you had the hand to the thrown, then it was like. It's like that narrative got past the Kanye, then Cole. It's like they skipped over bleak and went. Went straight to the next chapter.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah, I. I love it, though, man. When it came down to Kanye west, man, if you look even on Kanye documentary, I told him, yo, dog, you nice. You gonna be one of those guys. But as you can see, man, this fame, it's like the illest drug, man. It really is, man. Some people get this high, and they can never come down. They're gonna chase it for the rest of their lives. And it's sad to see, man, but Kanye is a musical genius. The person he is today, I don't get into that. I leave that. That's him. He gonna have to find some healing with that. You know what I mean?

[DJ Envy]

Are you somewhat sometimes when you look at Kanye, what he's going through, happy that your career is where it's at, where you have a little bit more solitude and peace versus him.

[Memphis Bleek]

I'm never happy to see one of my friends going through anything, you know? So it never makes me happy or compare myself to them. It's just. I don't want to see it, you know, I turn it off. I try. I hear about it more than I see it, because I can't watch my friends spiral out of control, bro.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Memphis Bleek]

You know what I mean? Like, it's just whack to me.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Another thing that they was. Was going around. Dame started it. He said, you don't write your own rhymes. He said, you used to write for you. And then. And I heard Beanie say that, too.

[Memphis Bleek]

On I want to know why I never went triple platinum then. Why I ain't follow up them J cells. If Jay wrote these records, why the. Why the publishing checks come to me? I should have ass caps in these people. My record breakdown, they could see that. 475 records in all the splits. And now understand, like, on title, it actually shows credit. If somebody. If I wrote something for somebody, even if you my man. Nah, dog. I need my PC. Jay wrote Coming to age 1. Coming age 2. I had no input at all on those records. When I showed up, it was a piece of paper. Remember this? Do your thing. It's like, okay, cool. You go through them records, you're not going to see my name. You go to any other record that I'm. Malik Cox is on, the real MC is involved. So I don't know where that narrative came from. Beans is the main one that got me. Like, fam, you doing that much drugs, you don't remember being in the studio with me? Are you set? You bugging like. Dame was never in the studio with us, so he wouldn't have a clue. Beans, come on. You was in the studio with us every single day. We spent about 20 years in baseline, and Jay wrote my rhymes. But you never saw it. That's.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Come on.

[Memphis Bleek]

I saw a ghost once, too. Then.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But when he. You said he wrote Coming to age one and two.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Okay, so did you ever want him.

[Memphis Bleek]

To write for you right now? Give me a verse right now. Put me back on, baby. Let's get lit. Kidding me, man. Like when you. When you want somebody to do something for you or ask for that you're giving away, it's the same thing as giving away your money. Like you're publishing. That's the only way we really made money. A lot of us rappers never recoup the budgets we spent on these albums. So your publishing is the only way you make money. And Ja taught me about publishing. So if Jay wrote my rhymes like I said, I wouldn't be receiving no publishing checks. It don't make no sense. The rhymes he write I get paid for.

[DJ Envy]

How well when things like this happen, right? Cause like Charlamagne said, people.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Oh, Jess. Gotta go ahead, Jess.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I do real quick. Before I know, are you gonna have beans on as a guest? I know y' all got crazy ass stories.

[Memphis Bleek]

Hell yeah, I need to have beans up there. Cause we gotta get a. We gotta get this settled and then talk about, you know, the life we live.

[Charlamagne tha God]

It's like I haven't even spoken since he said that.

[DJ Envy]

No, that's exactly where I was going it all.

[Memphis Bleek]

Okay.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That was my question.

[DJ Envy]

Cause love you, yo.

[Memphis Bleek]

Love you too. Good luck on the. You know what I mean? Make it happen on the audition, you know?

[Charlamagne tha God]

And I guess that's the thing I love, man. Like, we always hear about these studio moments, but, like, what's a non music moment with anybody from Rockefeller that really.

[Memphis Bleek]

Just sticks with you through the years, man. You know what? One thing that always bugged me out? Busta Rhymes. I love Buster. Split stardom. My bros, I love them. But I remember one time, I think it was Jay called Bus to the studio to do a song with him. And Buster showed up to baseline with a bulletproof vest on. It blew my mind. Like, who wants to bust the rhymes? Yeah, like Busta got beat. Like, it's why they try to kill Busta Rhymes. We gotta go get them, man. Y' all bugging. This is a New York staple. And that really had me, like, I don't find out what Busta into. What the hell he walk around with a vest for. And you know, just one of those moments I never forget. And now I ain't gonna put nobody on the bus. You know, a lot of people married, so I ain't gonna say, yo, I saw this guy with this girl. I could.

[DJ Envy]

We wanna know.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Did you ever feel like behind the scenes? Well, I'll say this. At any one point, did you feel like Jay was drifting too far from the crew? And if so, how do you even address that? When he's not just your big homie, but also, like, the boss?

[Memphis Bleek]

I knew he had to for Jay to be where he at. He couldn't be around us every day. We couldn't be. I'm a liability. Like, you know me now. Being married, being a businessman. Of course things has changed. But the reckless, bleak. You couldn't be around us. Anything could happen. And then it spills right back to you. So once Jay started doing these billionaire deals, basketball teams, moving teams from here to Brooklyn, you automatically knew the distance was warranted. It's not that he don't rock with you or don't rock with us. Hey, dawg, I'm over here. Getting to these millions. Y' all still in the club popping bottles. I don't need that look.

[DJ Envy]

How did you.

[Memphis Bleek]

Hey, what up, y' all?

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[Memphis Bleek]

Panoramic moonroof, ambient lighting, bows, and massaging leather. Appointed seats are optional features.

[Andrea Gunning]

I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the podcast Betrayal. Police Lieutenant Joel Kern used his badge to fool everyone. Most of all, his wife, Caroline.

[Memphis Bleek]

He texted, I've ruined our lives.

[Katherine Townsend]

You're going to want to divorce me.

[Andrea Gunning]

Caroline's husband was living another life behind the scenes. He betrayed his oath to his family and to his community.

[Memphis Bleek]

She said you left bruises, pulled her hair, that type of thing. No.

[Andrea Gunning]

How far would Joel go to cover up what he'd done?

[Memphis Bleek]

You're unable to keep track of all your lies, and quite frankly, I question how many other women may bring forward allegations in the future.

[Andrea Gunning]

This season of Betrayal investigates one officer's decades of deception, lies that left those closest to him questioning everything they thought they knew. Listen to betrayal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dan Flores]

The American west with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network. Hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores and brought to you by Velvet Buck, this podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and best selling author and Meat Eater founder Stephen Rinella.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll say, it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves.

[Dan Flores]

So join me starting Tuesday, May 6, where we'll delve into stories of the west and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today.

[Alive Again Host]

Listen to the American west with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts.

[Memphis Bleek]

Or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Katherine Townsend]

Over the past six years of making my true crime podcast Hell and Gone, I've learned one thing. No town is too small for murder. I'm Katherine Townsend. I've received hundreds of messages from people across the country begging for help with unsolved murders. I was calling about the murder of my husband.

[Memphis Bleek]

It's a cold case. They've never found her, and it haunts me to this day. The murderer is still out there.

[Katherine Townsend]

Every week on Helen Gone Murder Line, I dig into a new case, bringing the skills I've learned as a journalist and private investigator to ask the questions no one else is asking.

[Memphis Bleek]

Police really didn't care to even try. She was still somebody's mother. She was still somebody's daughter. She was still somebody's sister. There's so many questions that we've never gotten any kind of answers for.

[Katherine Townsend]

If you have a case you'd like me to look into, call the Helen Gone murder line at 678-744-6145. Listen to Helen Gone Murderline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[DJ Envy]

You understand something like that though. But like a beanie didn't.

[Memphis Bleek]

Try to tell These guys, that's the thing. If you really sit down, see, a lot of people, when they get these cameras cut on, they got an image. They gotta, you know, they gotta keep it up. I'm this guy. I can't let nobody. But if they really, really sit down and have a real, real conversation with the reality pills on the table, not the other drugs, the reality pills, they'll tell you, I told these guys this was coming because I used to get the word from big homie, yo, don't ship up. They don't. They don't act right. We gonna do this. We're gonna. Nice to be telling these guys, yo, it's only a matter of time for it's over. We got to get this right. And they used to look at me like. And whatever. Like, I remember a time, right? Beans had his clothing line State Property. We used to get clothes boxes of state property. So I'd look in state property and say, manufactured by Rockerware. So I'm telling him as a brother, yo, bro, check your contracts and all that. Make sure everything right. Like, because I see it's manufactured by Rockaway. I don't think Rockaway was making their own clothes. So how they making your clothes like this? As a businessman, this was, like, didn't seem right. And this was at the time when he was saying, yo, I'm going to jail. I' ma sign Freeway and Young Guns, the Rockefeller. When I come home, they gonna give them back to state property. And I'm just sitting there like, oh, you think business work like this? So I'm trying to tell them these things. Like, he looked at me. This is when I knew me and Beans wasn't. It wasn't. The relationship wasn't same. Because he was like, yo, it sound like you hating on me, fam. And I'm like, what you mean? He like, yo, if Jay your man, like, you say, why you ain't got no record label? Why you ain't got no clothing line? Dang, My man, he taking care of me all this. And I'm like, I feel you. But you know why I don't have those things? Because my bro would never exploit my ideas for him to make a bag.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Damn.

[Memphis Bleek]

That's what you need to realize. They're taking your ideas. And then when he came home from jail, what he said, Damn. Only 2 million. Should have listened to Blizzle. But like I said, jay not my man, though.

[DJ Envy]

What was getting to the bottom of the manufacturing? What ended up being behind that? What was the story?

[Memphis Bleek]

That was his business I never got into it just was a red flag to me. Like, if I'm gonna do a deal with you and you gonna make my clothes, I need to know who the manufacturer is. It's just like I did a deal with Drink Champs, right? I know Drink Champs, y' all. Y' all had to deal with somebody. Y' all starting y' all network. I need to know who the plug is. Black Effects. Like, I can't just be. We need to know what's going on here. You know what I'm saying? Like, I can't just rely on you when you relying on somebody else. I need to know all the moving parts. And that's as. As any businessman should. You want to know the moving parts. You don't just want to receive the checks because one day they gonna stop. Then you don't know how to pick them back up. Is insane.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's real. You know, I named We We. I named it Black Effect because of Jay Z song Black Effect.

[Memphis Bleek]

Wow.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I reached out to him to get the blessing to call it Black Effect. And the logo was. Was Emory's guide that designed it. I said, y' all want something like the paper planes log logo and hammering.

[Memphis Bleek]

In with these people, Yo, God bless. Because when I found out, man, I've been hearing it forever. And when they said, yo, Charlemagne, whole black event, I'm like, yo, he is destroying the game. Yo, God, that's right, bro. That's all you could do, man, is pray and keep killing. That's it, man. They only get one shot at this thing. A lot of these guys think it's all about the glitz, man. You could keep the glam and the glitz. Give me the check. Like I tell people, credit, don't spend money, do. I don't want the credit.

[Charlamagne tha God]

How do you define success now? And is it different from 15 year old bleak, how he would have defined it?

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah, 15 year old me was the Porsche on the wall Stadmin house. You know what I'm saying? Rich girl like Oprah, just letting me be Stadmin out here. That was me as a kid, you know. But me now, success to me is what I have. Love in the household, healthy family, your health. So you could be, you know, you be thankful for the things you have and the things you don't is like, don't matter no more. Like, my goals now are to leave a legacy for my children. Like, before, it was, y' all gotta go to the tunnel in the Bentley. Now it's, nah, I gotta make sure my daughter don't ever, ever turn her head when the horn honk when somebody honk the horn she don't ever.

[DJ Envy]

Not even off instinct?

[Memphis Bleek]

No. Better be watching traffic. That's it.

[DJ Envy]

What was it that. That moment for you where that Bleak entered the world?

[Memphis Bleek]

I think it was right before I got married, man. Because it was at a time when, you know, like he said, I was the. I don't know how it happened, but I became, like, the brunt of Roc. A fella, like, out of nowhere. I'm the wackest rapper on Rockefeller. Like, oh, word. So the. So the three Go albums and one platinum didn't matter. Like, okay, I take it I'm the wackest one. So it was like at a time when you feel like you. You just all alone, man, and it's like you have nothing. All you have is family. Like, money don't buy happiness. Money buy you things that make people envious more of you. So if you think about it, money is the root of all evil. But I feel like love is. Is. Is all you need, man. If you got the right people around you with no. No intent, no negative intentions. Everybody just pulling the same strings and want to see everybody do good. That's the success right there.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I don't think there was ever a conversation that Bleak is whack. It was just that Jay set the bar too high.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

When he says, just the new, improved Jay Z, everybody waiting for that. So you don't appreciate Bleak for what bleak is.

[Memphis Bleek]

But I'm better than hov. He know that. He don't want to battle. I tried to battle Sauce one time. I thought I was better than Sauce. Like Sauce. Money don't want no smoke. This is my hood. I'm the new young sheriff in town. I seen them come. We was in the project. Seen them coming through your source. What up? It's Battle. That's when he spit that line to me, man. Think they Chinese the way they duck sauce. That's it. I'm done. You got it. I don't want no more smoke.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Damn.

[DJ Envy]

What about. I know you were signing artists at one point, too.

[Memphis Bleek]

Oh, yeah.

[DJ Envy]

I'm done with that.

[Memphis Bleek]

I'm done. Artists.

[DJ Envy]

Cash was the last one that you had, right?

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah. Cash. Shout out Cash. Free cash, man. But I'm done.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Manolo rolls too, right?

[Memphis Bleek]

Manolo? These artists don't listen like you. All I could do is tell them. And I feel like me getting out the game and trying to be behind the scenes and teller artists, they more looked at it as, man, I'm more lit than you. What you talking about? You don't know. Now, if you do all this, you would be lit. And it's like, fam, I'm not rapping because I chose not to. My last album went gold, don't forget. They didn't exit me out the game off a 50,000 pack. I left with a gold record, which is cool. I'll take that. And they just. I just felt like the artist just thought, man, you don't really know what's up, man, Let me holla at Jay. And it's like, you're never gonna get that. He's never so. You know, and they. They want it too much, too fast. Like, they don't understand it takes time. You have to work, work, and work more.

[DJ Envy]

I watched an interview with Casanova where he talked about you. Actually took him to the office. I sit down. I think it was with Tai. Tai. To tell him to kind of relax.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

And chill out. And it still didn't work.

[Memphis Bleek]

It was him.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, that was here. Okay.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yep. That's when Cass. You know, it came a time when Cass was, you know, the scrub to employee, and he wanted direct access to the nation. And me, I'm not a gatekeeper. I'm never gonna hold nobody from their goals, their dreams or whatever. If you believe the grass is green over there, I'm gonna put you over there. But then when we get to that ROC Nation brunch and you ain't got them tickets, you know, why you over there now, fam. They only got one in the pack. If you was over here, I got that four pack.

[DJ Envy]

It'll never get on your nerves, though, that people kind of underestimate your contributions to, like, music. And you're so humble with it.

[Memphis Bleek]

But what can I do? I can't argue against the masses. I'm one small voice. So it's like, how mad can I re. I could be mad internally, but no one cares. They don't care, man. Like, people love turmoil. They want to see you do bad or see you angry or see you upset. And it's like. Like to see a smile on your face, it hurts the hater's heart. It hurt them bad. They don't want to see you smile.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You said something earlier that let me know you really a real friend, though, because even if you and your homie ain't talking, you know, that's your man.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yes.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You ain't got to talk to him for a couple of months or whatever, even a year, but, you know, that's your man. You see him over there doing, that's my guy. I know when we see each other, it's gonna pick up right where it left off.

[Memphis Bleek]

That's a fact. That's why I tell people, man, if you and somebody got a real genuine relationship, not based off some type of business, intriguing or. Or whatever y' all doing is just genuine friendship. It can never die unless somebody break the bond. Like, I even say it in one of my songs, man, I'm a. I say I'm a friend for life Once you link with me. I'm a friend for life Once you link with me, we tight until you break the bond Then it's long kiss good night like. And that's true. I'm a hundred percent that I don't care. I got friends like my dog Rob Kelly in Dublin. I don't speak to him every day, but when I pop out in Ireland, he right there at the airport to get me all my friends. Any country I touch down, whether I'm in London with my guy, Clue, grease, sniper, my guys is there. And he's been my friends for the last 20 years. You know what I mean? I'm often. Am I in London?

[DJ Envy]

I was gonna ask, what's your relationship with Dame Dash?

[Memphis Bleek]

It's cool. I spoke to Dame. Like, we agreed upon, you know, to keep things respectful because I felt like things was going a little bit too far, especially, you know what I mean, When. When the legal acquisitions was going around and people leaning on that, like, you really don't know people. Integrity, that's what rubbed me wrong. It's like, you was there with us, fam. You gonna act like you don't know the integrity. We went outside with, man. Like, people was playing that game. We don't play that kid game. And. And that rubbed me wrong. So I had to reach out to Dame, and it was a respectful conversation.

[Charlamagne tha God]

The wildest thing about that is when. When all of that went away and everybody. First of all, you knew it was bullshit from the beginning, but when everybody realized it was bullshit, it was crickets.

[Memphis Bleek]

Crickets.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Nobody said no.

[Memphis Bleek]

No. They. They wanted. It's like people want Jay to be guilty of some. Some bull. And it's like, yo, fam, we were who we were before we got here. Like, we didn't become who we are in this industry. So the things you see that a lot of these people took advantage of, their stardom, their fame. That's not us. We've been lit. Like. I don't know why people think the rap game made Jay Z, who He is. He came in this game up, Trust me.

[Charlamagne tha God]

How did the passing of Clark Kent impact you?

[Memphis Bleek]

That was real devastating, man. Like, Clark played a major, major role in my, you know, my upbringing. My first album, like, even putting together the record we recorded Coming to Age in his bass.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Wow.

[Memphis Bleek]

At his house, like, he made the beat on the spot, and we recorded it on the spot. So just knowing the contribution he put into music weighed in into my life, the game, the goals. He always told me, I just cherish him, man. And it's just so sad to see him go that young over something that was preventable, like us as young black men, man, please go get tested. All health, physical, colon, all that, man. Do it. People say 45. Do it at 35 if you can. It's never too early, but it can be too late.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I went and got mine at 44.

[Memphis Bleek]

I went and got mine at 40, and then did it again like a year ago. And they told me I don't gotta come back for another seven. I'm like, oh, they told me.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Cause you got a history of it in your family.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yes.

[Charlamagne tha God]

They tell you to go to go early.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yep.

[Charlamagne tha God]

We both got birthdays coming up.

[Memphis Bleek]

That's right. Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You 6 23, right?

[Memphis Bleek]

Yep. 29.

[Charlamagne tha God]

29.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah, man. Cancer. Gang in the building.

[DJ Envy]

Wow. Two way different personalities. You're so sweet and humble.

[Memphis Bleek]

He is, too. He cool.

[DJ Envy]

He all right.

[Memphis Bleek]

He just got that. Yo, he know how to throw that whip out real quick. Hit you with that.

[DJ Envy]

Yes, you the. My friends are always my friends, and I let. He is. Hell.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So you ain't heard the Bleak running down on people's stories? That's what I'm saying.

[DJ Envy]

I watch Drink Champs.

[Memphis Bleek]

I've heard similar stories, but that's what my friends say. They always be like, yo, you meeting Bleak right now. You still ain't met Malik. Malik the businessman. That's when it's serious happening. Gloves off, no playing.

[DJ Envy]

Talk about your relationship with Nori. Because, like, for me, sitting and watching you on Drink Champs, when I saw the podcast, I was like, this makes so much sense. Because when he's interviewing, it's just so good. You're so into it.

[Memphis Bleek]

Nori gassed me up to do this. Just FYI, I did not want to do the podcast. Nori gassed me. I ain't gonna say he begged me, because you don't beg nobody. But me and Nori relationship started. This started before I even knew him, man. When I bought the. The well, I would say first album, Capone and Noriga, the War Report album. I knew right there, when I get my album, when I get my deal and my chance to make my album, I need this guy on my album. Cause he talked that life that I talk. So when I met him and we did the record, what you niggas wanna hate for. Yeah, like. And I'm like, wait up. He really like me. And he from Left rack. That's right there over the bridge. I be at left rack playing ball. The Kenny Anderson tournaments. Like. Like, that's my guy. Then from there, the relationship just brew. And when we did the Drink Champs interview, he called me again, like, bleak. I'm telling you, people rock with you. They with you. Like, you need to do something. And I'm like, yo, bro, I'm not a journalist. I don't. I could care less what a person Mind State was working on their project. I don't care. I don't want to find that out. And he like, yo, you don't have to interview people. People want to know about what you think in your history. Rockefeller stories. He like, you literally could just talk Rockefeller in it. And I'm like, all right, let's see. So after I did the first couple of interviews, like, you know, I got Guru, Just Blaze, Freeway, Young Chris, I got a couple heavier. There's Lenny Ass. And after I got a few and started realizing where it was going, I'm like, this is needed. People did need to hear. They need to hear this, man. Because I think a lot of these young guys, they think it's one way. If you not a killer, you can't be a rapper. Like, they really gotta kill on YouTube and drop the video the next. That next minute. Then they go platinum, and it's like, yo, fam, where's the cool people? Where's the regular guys? That's what we represented. Nobody at Rockefeller was the ultimate killer. We just was hustlers who got money, right? And I feel like that has died. That image died in music. So. So to bring that back through the podcast, I think people listen more than watch.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So that's why I think y' all need a platform, man. Cause I. I say it all the time. The. The Roc Nation, that core of people, they're the most normal people I've ever met in this business, in my life. We know the weirdos and that. They're the most normal people.

[Memphis Bleek]

Nah, that's a fact, man. Like, it's no. It's no. If you was a weirdo on Rockefeller, we got you out of there early. We. We. The strainer was out earlier, we. We shook the loose ends out of there. So when it comes down to the Emery's man, like, Emery is the og, I tell him he's the definition of an OG to me. Like, when people talk about an original gangster, not just an old guy original gangster, his picture need to be there, because that's what he is. He's the epitome of that. Just if you know his story, his history, how he. How he laid down on the sword for the team, and then you come home to reap the benefits of it. It. Like, I don't think no man walking right now would ever try to even repeat that. I don't think we'll ever see it done again.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Nah. And then his vision, like, I remember being in the office with Bihar when Emory had just came home, and he was. He literally had folded up a piece of stationary and was throwing it around the paper plane. He was like, that's gonna be the next shit.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Like, I remember that. So it's just like, when you see somebody have a vision like that and see what it's become now, it's like, come on, man.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah. No, Emery always been and been the super flyest dude I know. Coming from. You know what I mean? Baltimore dmv. I respect Emery. I would love to have him on the podcast. Like, a person like Tata. But I know Tata never come. Never.

[DJ Envy]

I thought Emery was a given, though.

[Memphis Bleek]

I got a kidnap Tata to give on a podcast.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But don't you feel like they gotta tell their story at some point?

[DJ Envy]

I feel like it's a given. It has to happen with.

[Memphis Bleek]

I would hope they would want to tell it with me, but knowing Tata, no, they can't talk to me. They not gonna do. Tata cannot him. Jay. Emory might. Cause I feel like Emory and Juan, they. They give me that. All right, Bleeca og, He one of us. Tata and Jay is like, nope, you still a little dirty kid from Marcy. I can't get out of here. I don't wear nothing.

[DJ Envy]

But I think even seeing that would be good for people, too, because we don't get to, like. I'm literally. I'm sitting here listening to y' all talk right now, and I'm like, man, I can't imagine what it was like being around during all these people are so great to us, but they're normal people to y' all. People might need to see the personality a bit.

[Memphis Bleek]

They definitely do, man. Like, Tata is funny, man. Like, he run from the camera, so that's how I know if I did an interview with Tata. I'd have to be over the phone. Like, he locked up. We have to act like he phoning in, but he not gonna get on. I know him, man. It's been years. He's not gonna to do it.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But that's what make y' all so solid, though. Because nobody wanted to be anybody. Like, hov is that guy, you know? You know how hard that is for a bunch of men, especially to get behind one guy and say, that's the guy. He's going to help change all our lives.

[Memphis Bleek]

Because you knew it, man. Like, you knew it. Yo. You knew it. See, from back then, you knew. You could see the ray of light in the clouds with Jaywalk. Like, I tell people I was there from the beginning. I could tell you the cars they drove, the clothes they wore, the malls they shopping, the kind of women the liquor they drunk, the food they ate. And your results won't be the same. I could put you on the same path, tell you everything they did. I remember us sitting in the house making gift baskets to send the power and hot just to get the DJs to play his record.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Power wasn't even around back then.

[Memphis Bleek]

No, it was. Yeah, it was really hot. But sending gift backing gift baskets with Cristal and all these different trinkets in there just to get DJs. The play Jay record. Like, I remember us grinding. And then when it clicked, it was like, it's over. And he said, I'm never gonna stop.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Angie was the first person to play it, I think.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yep, Angie was the first person to show love. That's why Angie down with the team. To this day, she's Angie. I feel like back then it was Ms. Jones. Wendy was really popping like Flex. Always been there enough, man. Radio station. That's when it was. It was impactful then, man. Like now, today. Like, I heard the homie right before me talking about artists. They lost love for the radio. They just believe in streaming. Me, I love radio. I feel like this is the way to reach the masses. Like, yes, on the Internet, you have to really sit there, click it, watch it, watch an ad, watch this. It's like, nah, I'd rather just get it one time and I'm done.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's why I love watching Lauren and Jess, because, you know, they 33, right? 33 years old. They came up in the Internet era, but now they on the radio every day and they see, oh, my God, it's so crazy.

[DJ Envy]

I'm like, I never want to hear somebody say, the radio don't matter like this. I've been on television in different markets, big markets. This changed my life. Like, honestly, like, radio. And I can't believe it when I say it, but yes. And people get to know you personally?

[Memphis Bleek]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

A lot differently than it is when you just post something on Instagram or whatever the case may be, but.

[Memphis Bleek]

Cause you could edit that. This is straight like it is.

[DJ Envy]

Yes.

[Memphis Bleek]

It's no filter, no editing, no nothing. Like, this is what it is. And, like, it's. As a fan, I listen to y' all every morning. You know what I'm saying? It's nothing else to listen to. I wake up, even my daughter, she like, who done the day today, Daddy? I don't know. We gonna find out, though.

[DJ Envy]

I was gonna say, when I was watching the first episode with you and Ja Rule, y' all talking about the Hard Knock Life tour, it seemed like there was, like, college for him and for a lot of y' all. Oh, yeah. Like, the learning lessons. What was the biggest lesson you took away from the tour?

[Memphis Bleek]

The biggest lesson I took being a good performer. Cause DMX used to go out there and destroy. Then you had Redman and Method Man. Remember they used to do How High? And fly through the scratch, through the crowd. And. And everybody on that show held their own. And remember, I was the newcomer, and it was like, damn, when I get my shot, this is how it's gonna be. This so that right there and then I remember Jay. They didn't let me smoke before the shows. Like, every day before the show. Like, two hours be high. He would come, take all my weed and my dutches and everything. Like, you can't smoke to after the show. Just to be a professional, like, just to be ready and on time, like. And that tour told me, if you ain't 15 minutes early, you 15 minutes late.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Wow. What's one Rockefeller artist you think never reached their full potential?

[Memphis Bleek]

Signed or unsigned?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Both. I don't know.

[Memphis Bleek]

I gotta get my guy. Hasta Ripper them flowers. A lot of people probably don't even know who has the Ripper is. He's from New Jersey. I'm telling you, him and Beanie Siegel are the only two people I ever seen touch the stage with no beat and spit a verse that no one ever heard and have the crowd go crazy Now. I mean, Hosta Ripper was shutting venues down, opening up for Jay. He was signed, yes, he was down with us, but he just. He. It. It never manufactured into a album or single or anything. And. And. And now he changed his life. Like, you know, he's a big preacher. He got a church out here in Jersey and all that. And I was telling my homie, yo, I gotta bring him on the show, man. Cause. Because I want to know his story, and I want people to appreciate and know what his contribution was to Roc a fella. Because without him, I probably wouldn't be the artist I am. Because I remember being so jealous. Jay bought him out on the tour with Biggie and them, and he shut it down, spitting. And I'm like, I don't like this guy. That's supposed to be me up there. And it's like. But then I knew I wouldn't be able to do that. Look what he's doing. You kidding me? No way.

[DJ Envy]

He was the opening artist on the Reasonable Reasonable Doubt tour. Why don't people talk about.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I never heard him.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah, Hostile Ripper, man. I'm telling you, was ill. You can look him up. He got YouTube videos where he's shutting content. He did the Tunnel with us one time. He did a couple venues with us. And he is. His pen game to me back then was like, it's the nicest kid I ever seen.

[Charlamagne tha God]

What about somebody we know?

[Memphis Bleek]

All right, like, who then? Petey Crack.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Oh, yeah, Yeah, I can see that.

[DJ Envy]

I'm from Delaware, so we a lot of Petey Crack.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah, Petey Crack. I feel like Petey had a lot of gems. He just was in his own way, you know what I mean? A lot of our artists that happened to, like. I feel like at Rockefeller, when you came in, whether you had a record or not, you got a chain using baseline. Every day. We all travel in the world. We on tour buses, we flying. So a lot of these guys felt successful before actually being successful, so they forgot to put the work in.

[DJ Envy]

I felt like with Petey Crack, Oskino, like, it was like, hot so fast. And then it just stopped.

[Memphis Bleek]

Cause that's what I'm saying. They was out there running around with the thotty bodies. They forgot about the work. The body of work. Like, you gotta go to the studio. Like, I think Chris said something on one of these interviews where he said they had an opportunity to go to the studio after a show, but they wanted to go party with Rihanna. So they didn't go to the studio with Jay. Jay was mad.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I heard that.

[Memphis Bleek]

That was young Chris. I don't know who he was talking to, but I can see that happening because it's been times with Jay like, yo, hey, they do this and whatever, and nobody show up. We be sitting there like, what happened?

[Charlamagne tha God]

We said what? Oh, that was you? Yeah, I'm saying that was y' all talking.

[Memphis Bleek]

Oh, that was me, yeah. Oh, look at me forget. See, that was y' all talking. I'm like.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I remember hearing that conversation.

[DJ Envy]

Do you feel like too at that point? Because it was. Now it's like, once you get to, like. Like, Chris Neef and Oskino and Petey Crack, there's so many different people involved versus when you're there, right? Jay Z's like, right there with you. Like, no, put the blunt down.

[Memphis Bleek]

No, I was only at the shows, okay? He was never there in the studio. That's why I don't understand where the narrative came from that Jay wrote for me. That's why I can't wait to the Guru interview, drop Lenny s interview. Because then they gonna really hear the stories on the work and how hard it was for us to even get them to acknowledge us. Because when Beans got his deal at Rockefeller, man, I was the first artist. Everything was Memphis bleak. When Beans came, it was ice cold for me. Everything was beans, even in my eyes. Like, they put us in the studio to even try to test, to see who we gonna rock with. And that's when we did crew love. You hear Beans rhyme on there, I knew, like, this guy's what I'm gonna do. I gotta step it up. So while the parade was running that way, Lenny was the only one who locked in with me. And we went and made Coming To Age album. We did the whole album by itself. Nobody even heard it. That's why, if you listen to what you think of that J verse, don't even go with the song. Because he wasn't there with us. He was like, yo, what song am I gonna rhyme on? And I'm like, put a verse on this one. And he just put whatever he wanted on that. On that particular song. That's why he ain't even getting the video with.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So he didn't rap on the song. It was like a verse you already had sitting around.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah, he ran and he spit it on. What you think of that? Yeah.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Wow.

[Memphis Bleek]

But, yeah, Jay wasn't like, we did that whole album by ourself. Like, no input, no nothing. Now, on the second album, I can see why you might think that, because I got an alley OOP with a record.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Is that your chick?

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah. Like, that was on his London record. But it's still like, yo, bro, I got a hook. I got a beat. Write a verse. We gonna shoot a video. Cool. That's not you writing for me, you just gave me an idea. You know what I'm saying?

[DJ Envy]

Beanie Siegel said that it was because it was. It was three. How you said it was a three of y' all. That basically Jay Z had to cheat for you because it was a three y' all. And that's where the writing came from.

[Memphis Bleek]

He just don't want to admit I smoked him. That's. That's it. That he must have felt I had the best verse. And he like, only way that could happen. Jay had to give him some bars. So I don't know if you. If we all in the studio writing. How fast is Jay writing that you didn't see him write for me? Like, it's impossible.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Is he only right?

[Memphis Bleek]

Exactly. You didn't see him tell me some bars. You ain't never hear a reference track like, where's the reference tracks? Like, go leak those now.

[Charlamagne tha God]

There's a lot of history, man. I would like to see you talk to Jim Jones. You and Cam.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yo, Cam ain't gonna come. Cam too lit. Now the podcast, you know, they lit him and May stay up there suited and booted, baby. Getting to that chick gone. So I don't think Cam will sit down.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Maybe you go to. Is what it is to promote Rock Solid.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah, I go up there. I go up there. I definitely pull up on Cam. We had a relationship. That's why I my podcast to showcase that I have a lot of relationships with a lot of people in this business that people don't know. Like, the world didn't know Sean Price was related to me. People don't know Steel from Smith and Wesson is my cousin. Like, you don't know. I grew up in the Duck down household like I was supposed to. I could have been ducked down, you know what I mean? Before Rockefeller. Like, people don't know I went to Staten Island. No. Shaheem and Ghosts and all of them from Stapleton before the rap game. Like, Joel Ortiz from Cooper was in the rap group with my artist Living Proof, as a kid. I knew him since he was probably, like, 10. Like, a lot of people don't know these things. So I feel like my podcast is gonna showcase.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah, you couldn't be on Duck Down. You grimy, but not Duck Down.

[Memphis Bleek]

Grimy.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Salute.

[Memphis Bleek]

Yeah, I couldn't see. I tried back in the day. They was like, nah, you gotta come up. And ironically, I made a song called Coming Age.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah, listen, Bleak, man, do you ever wake up sometimes just be like, yo, we changed the world, man.

[Memphis Bleek]

Nah, man, I wake up sometimes. And hope I did enough. I say that. That I hope I made my mark. I did my thing, that I ain't disappoint my friends, my family, or my fans or people that, you know, rock with me. And sometimes I wake up and don't feel I didn't enough. Like, that's why, you know, I feel like. Like my partner Cheech, he made it make sense to me. Like, you know, I stopped rapping. I didn't care. Like, I said, I left with a gold album. So rap, I didn't care. Like, I a feel like I left anything on the table. And when me and him started working with the warehouse movement and doing everything we doing with the mind, right? And all of that, and he like, yo, bro, I was a real fan, and you left me hanging. You didn't give me no closure. You just left. Wine didn't left. Like, how did what you think the people who really, really rock and was rooting for you feel? You didn't give us no explanation, no exit, no nothing. And I'm like, damn, he right. And those guys are like, me. We're grown now. I'm pretty sure it's hard for them to find a playlist or something to really get into. Because me, I find myself listening to Sade now. Ain't really too much I could get into. That's. That's talking about what I live. So that's what made me make this album. And trust me, it's for us, man. It's. It's a doubt. I don't have one gun on me on this project because I don't live that life. It's literally for us. And I. And I told him, if I'm gonna make music, I want to give these guys some type of game, some type of hope. Because as a teenager today, to look at a guy 50 years old still doing the same thing you doing today, what hope does that give, right? You gotta see somebody that you'll be like, yo, okay, it is light at the end of the tunnel. A person who came up like me, right? And that's what I want to be, man.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And when now I'm driving.

[Memphis Bleek]

June 20, 6:20. We outside with it again called apartment 3D. Just the closure from 534. That's the address, 534, apartment 3D.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And the rock Solid podcast is available everywhere. You listen to podcasts on the Drink Chance, Black Effect, I Heart Radio Podcast Network, Bleak. Always a pleasure, man.

[Memphis Bleek]

Always, man.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Glad to see you in this space. Glad to hear these stories being told.

[Memphis Bleek]

My brother Appreciate you, Laura. Nice meeting you.

[DJ Envy]

Nice to meet you too.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Wake that ass up early in the morning.

[Memphis Bleek]

The Breakfast Club.

[Katherine Townsend]

Over the years of making my true crime podcast Hell and Gone, I've learned no town is too small for murder. I'm Katherine Townsend. I've heard from hundreds of people across the country with an unsolved murder in their community.

[Memphis Bleek]

I was calling about the murder of my husband. The murderer is still out there.

[Katherine Townsend]

Each week I investigate a new case. If there is a case we should Hear about. Call 678-744-6145. Listen to Helen Gone Murderline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Alive Again Host]

What happens when we come face to face with death?

[Memphis Bleek]

My truck was blown up by a 20 pound anti tank mine. My parachute did not deploy. I was kidnapped by a drug cartel.

[Alive Again Host]

When we step beyond the edge of what we know clinically died.

[Memphis Bleek]

The heart stopped beating, which I was dead for 11.5 minutes. In return, it's a miracle I was.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Brought back alive again.

[Alive Again Host]

A podcast about the strength of the human spirit. Listen to Alive Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[BI N News Host]

Stay informed, empowered and ahead of the curve with a BI N News this hour podcast. Update it hourly to bring you the latest stories shaping the black community. From breaking headlines to cultural milestones, the Black Information Network delivers the facts, the voices and the perspectives that matter 247 because our stories deserve to be heard. Listen to the BI N News this Hour podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Memphis Bleek]

I think everything that might have dropped in 95 has been labeled the golden years of hip hop.

[Andrea Gunning]

It's Black Music Month and we need to Talk is tapping in. I'm Nyla Simone. Breaking down lyrics, amplifying voices and digging into the culture that shapes the soundtrack of our lives.

[Memphis Bleek]

Like that's what's really important and that's what stands out, is that our music changes people's lives for the better.

[Andrea Gunning]

Let's talk about the music that moves us to hear this and more on how music and culture collide. Listen to we need to Talk from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[DJ Envy]

This is an iHeart podcast.