← The Right Time with Bomani Jones
The Right Time with Bomani Jones
DJ Wally Sparks on When Rap Had Regional Identity, The Rise of Southern Singles, Bone Thugs Underrated? | 02.17
01:07:33
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We heard you.
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Nine years of bring back the snack wrap and you've won. But maybe you should have asked for more. Say hello to the hot honey snack wrap.
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Now you've really won.
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Go to McDonald's and get it while you can. Ugh. You said you were over him, but his hoodie's still in your rotation. It's time. Grab your phone, snap a few pics, and sell it on depop. Listed in minutes with no selling fees. And just like that, a guy 500 miles away just paid full price for your closure. And right on cue. Hey, still got my hoodie? Nope. But I've got tonight's dinner paid for. Start selling on depop. Where taste recognizes taste list. Now with no selling fees, payment processing fees and boosting fees still apply. See website for details. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Right Time, a Wave original. My name is Bomani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, subscribe. Like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. It is Time Machine Tuesday. We have got our second installment on our series on the year 1996 in hip hop. My man Jason England joined us for episode one. He'll be back for two more episodes. We got six on the book so far. If we think of more, we may do more. But joining me for the other half of it, check my man out him out on Twitch. Twitch tv. DJ Wally Sparks. He is in fact my favorite dj, as the shirt may indicate. Wally Sparks from Atlanta. Well, from Chattanooga, coming to us live from Atlanta. What's going on, brother?
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A
What's happening?
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B
What's going on? So first of all, I want to make sure everybody knows this. W's been a member of this community. Now, man, it's about 15 years. We go back Morty Jones. Time w was Big Crits 2 Turin DJ. You can catch them all over social, whatever. It is one of the most, first of all, cold ass dj, but also one of the most knowledgeable people that I know when it comes to music. Big picture and small, how it works in like actual application, big theory type stuff, all of that. So I'm glad that we got this opportunity to jump on here, man.
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A
I'm happy to be here, bro. I mean, you know, this. This is the first time we get to do this in this kind of setting. But you know, men, you. We talk about music like this all the time, bro. Yeah, right, right.
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B
What? Normally, one big conclave once a year. You Know what I'm saying?
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A
Yeah.
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B
Post up and go through it. So now this is. This is going to be good. In this episode I've been looking forward to, because I think there are three years in particular that when people talk about, like, great years in the history of rap, the three that typically jump out are 88, 94, and 96. There are others certainly, like, in doing this, what I realized was 95 and 97 really underrated because 96 is in the middle and 94 is on the front end. Right. But when we do that, we typically think about it in terms of albums. And you can go through and run through all the great albums that came out. 88. And talk about Takes the Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Straight out of Compton, Great Adventures of Slick Rick, you know, more than you can get to. But that's the way that we typically do it there. 94, you talk about Illmatic, you talk about Ready to Die. You talk about the Diary, you talk about There's a Dark side. You got all those to run through 96. It's a zillion of them that we're going to get to in later episodes. But what is often lost when we do this is 96 was a year for bomb singles. And very often singles from people whose albums were not going to talk about that much in the series. Right. So there's going to be some overlap in that, certainly. But when I went through 96 and I started like you typically would, I started going through the albums, and then I was going through the albums and being like, okay, I didn't love this album, but, oh, this one got a jam on it. Oh, this one got a jam on it. And you still work in the trade, you still in the trenches. You actually still know who the young people are. But you tell me if I'm wrong here. I feel like. And this is not, like it was better in my day thing, this is really more of a kind of structural assessment of the game, that the role of a single is completely different. Right. Like, we gonna talk about people that only got one song that you've ever heard of. And I don't think anybody could really break through with just one song like that anymore.
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Yeah. So singles back in those days in, like, the mid-90s in particular, they were kind of utilized as a tool to sell an album. You know what I'm saying? Like, an album wasn't going to. Might not even get made if the single didn't perform the way it needed to. So, in effect, the way that singles were utilized as sort of a tool back then is completely different from how it is now. Like now a artist can throw 10 songs, just 10, just random songs on the Internet until something sticks, you know what I'm saying? And that wasn't the case, you know, and the way music is made now versus then, the consumption of time and effort that it took to make records and actually put them out back then versus the speed and ease of how it can be done now is completely different. So, yeah, I mean, singles don't even really function in the way that they used to now. You know, a single was. Was meant to be sort of a introduction and. And singles back then, bro, you had. That had to be your best song, yo, your best foot had to come forward. Nowadays you can just make you. You could make a song today, say, my name is Bomani and I like to rap and put it on the. Put it on the Internet and somebody might like it, you know what I mean? And you can. And you can in effect, you know, use that to become a recording artist. And that's just, you know, that wasn't the case back then. You know, it was. It was a completely different ball game back then.
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B
And it was a different presence and role of various levels of gatekeeping. And in this case, I mean gatekeeping in a very positive way, right. The radio had not yet be fallen under the control totally of the record labels and the companies that ran like, it was not payola's always been in effect in some level in radio, but it was it what it is now and what it has been really for, I would argue the last 15 to 20 years, it was not there. Like the role of the DJs role was to reinforce the single. And the role of media, of radio as a platform also became a reinforcement of a single, which then became something that people generally shared. And this is a very important point. It wasn't required to jump off immediately and everywhere. Immediately you had a slow burn of how things went. You had things that some of them went national, some of them didn't, right? But it could be a big enough hit in one place that it might turn up in a DJ set at a club somewhere else. And you're like, oh snap, what's this? Also an entity that I don't think we talk about nearly Enough, which is BET's Rap City. We talk a lot about the history of Yo. MTV Raps. But BET Rap City was every day and became a radio station of shorts with all the stuff that quite honestly, you couldn't even necessarily hear on the radio, but reinforce the singles as they were coming out.
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Yeah, I mean, the way. The way Rap City was moving back then, it kind of even forced MTV to start doing a daily rap show. Cause, you know, you know, we had, um, TV raps this the Saturday, you know, you know, a show, for lack of a better term. But then all of a sudden we had yo on TV raps today. You know what I mean? And I think because Rap City was, they were sort of ahead of the curve and giving a national spotlight to things that were outside of the typical New York or LA based hip hop music. So, you know, that kind of, in effect, forced the rest of the country to wake up to what was going on. Like, and they being bet, were sort of acting like tastemakers and, you know, like, hey, we've gone to these places. And, you know, bet, especially back then when it's based in D.C. was like, very, very heavily entrenched into, like, HBCU culture, right? And as you know, most HBCUs are concentrated in the southeastern part of the United States, right? So BET would, you know, send people out to all these, you know, these schools, and they would hear these records that are going crazy in, you know, Atlanta and Alabama and Mississippi that no one's ever heard of. But all. All of these, all of these kids know it, know these records, they know these songs word for word. And they clearly are effective in there. That something, something. There's something to it. So we gonna go back and we gonna tell the world, hey, this is what's going on for the rest of the country. And that was a way for. To make singles, you know, be stronger, you know, and yeah, man, it's just. It was a good time to be, you know, a music fan. And just regional music is just was. It was. It was way different back then than it is now.
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B
Yeah, I was gonna say it was. This is kind of a sweet spot here because it's really right before, the idea of, like, going national meant, I feel like 97, 98 is when this really starts. Like. Like what. What your potential was for getting large. Not like, obviously Hammer had sold a gazillion records already, right? Dre and other. It's not that people had not sold records, but. But it was still a regional game, by and large, right? Like, now where you're from doesn't mean anything at all. I don't think in terms of where your music is going or whatever else it didn't require. People were still products of scenes, right? Like, like, this is what we doing. Over here, this is what the stuff sounds like. And you would know about stuff because your cousin from wherever happened to come back with something, right? Or bet, which kind of nationalized the platform in a lot of ways. Like, I'm from Houston, why would I ever hear a mob deep record?
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A
Why? You know where I was?
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B
Right, right.
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A
Who.
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B
Who's doing this? Who's doing this? And then on the other side, why do you know anything? Like the ghetto boys got nationally famous because they became controversial. Right. And then they became a thing that, you know, that everybody knew. But otherwise why would you know who these people were? Right? There was no reason. Like Scarface was a really big deal among people who knew. But still. But he belonged to us still. And I think that it was something dope about the fact that in all these places there were still very distinct different sounds that existed. Not just for regions, not just for states, cities, even neighborhoods like Houston. Houston. By the time you get to the end of the decade, the north side and the south side have their own sounds and scenes. Right. And they get national as it goes. And so that's the, that's the environment that we're describing here.
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And you know what, you know what's another thing about that? The artists themselves did not want to do anything outside of the scene that they were in.
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Yes.
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You know what I mean? That's the thing. Those artists that were making all this music typically didn't have any desires to be. I mean, sure, everybody wants to be famous, everybody wants to rule the world, as Tyr Sophias would say, but a guy that's making bass music wants to make music for the people that like bass music. And if it goes national, great. But if it don't, I'm fine. You know what I mean? And that is a complete difference about the way things were in the. In back then in the mid-90s versus how they are now.
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Yeah. And so with that as the backdrop, it was a lot of cold ass songs that came out in 1990s. Right. And it was interesting because when I did this, I hadn't thought about this. You started like actually DJing in 97, but like you don't. Just also being a DJ was not quite what it is right now. Oh man, I'm just going to be a DJ and see how it goes. Was not really the. You had to, you had to make a significant, multiple significant capital investments.
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A
Yeah, yeah. Heavy equipment investments. The real investment was time. That was the real investment. Because one, you gotta, you gotta save. You gotta do something to save money. To get the gear, you got to get the gear, you got to learn the gear. And if the only thing you can do, the only thing you can do, the only way you can use the gear, pardon me, is to go buy a bunch of vinyl. So you gotta go shop for a bunch of vinyl and then you gotta, you know, you gotta, then you gotta learn the music. It was, it was a, it was a, it was a full on investment. Like back then, if you wanted to. There was no, there was no, like, you know, hey, you know what? I think I want a DJ. It looks cool on TikTok. So I'm just gonna go buy me a $300 controller and find somebody to give me a hard drive full of music and I'm a DJ. No, sir, that was not the case in 1997. Like, if you, if you, if that was something that you really wanted to do, you had to be like, I really, really, really want to do this. Cause this is about to, this is, you know, this is going to take some serious, a serious, serious commitment. Especially back then, man, like there were multiple steps that, that needed to happen in order for you to even, even become a hobbyist, not even just a professional. You know what I mean?
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B
Right.
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A
You had to, you had to really want to do it.
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B
Now I'm curious because you were in Chattanooga and I am curious as to like what sounds and scenes were getting to you because like, I feel like in Houston a lot of Louisiana stuff would get to us. A bit of. There's always been an interesting Houston, Memphis interplay there in terms of stuff that got there. But like, I guess I'm asking in the context of beyond what was on big national radio that everybody would hear. Like, Chattanooga seems like the sort of place that would get a lot. Like my boy makes the point about Memphis, that. Not Memphis, about Jackson, that Jackson is maybe like the one place in the south that got a piece of everything because of his. Because it was so centrally located that they got a bit of everything. Chattanooga feels like heavy Atlanta, Heavy Memphis.
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A
Yeah, that's pretty much. Those are the two, the two main ones. But we, we got a little piece of everything too. Like. But the direct influence just by via geography was Atlanta, because Atlanta's about 88 miles away from Chattanooga. Chattanooga's right on the Georgia line, the Tennessee Georgia line. But Memphis because was a really, really heavy influence on what music came through Chattanooga because of a few things. There was. There was a pipeline of kids in Chattanooga that got sent to Job Corps and Job Corps was in Memphis. And they would go to Job Corps and they would bring back the DJ Squeaky, the Skinny Pimp, the early, Early Ball and G, you know, the Scarface, Al Capone, all that kind of stuff. They bring all that stuff back. And then, you know, we had people in Atlanta, the people that were actually making that music, when they were making their rounds, trying to go promote, they would always come to Chattanooga to promote their. Promote their music. And one that we had a record store that I actually used to work in place called Cats Music. They were one of the. They were one of three independent music retailers that had deals with these two distributors, Selecto Hits and, uh, smd Southern Music Distribution. And almost every independent album from the south that came out from like the 90s up until maybe. Maybe into the early to mid 2000s was it was either distributed by Selecto, his or Southern Music Distribution. And I'm talking about all of them. So that all that music was always coming into Chattanooga because all those people were trying to sell it outside of their. Whatever their locale was. So. And then the Florida stuff, a lot of. A lot of that would creep into Chattanooga too. Like, you know, especially when the bass scene base, I mean, like car base. So like the DJ Magic Mice and the MC 80s and all that kind of stuff, that stuff would find its way to Shadow, Nuba 2, Gotcha and.
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B
Atlanta, they listen to everything. I think that's a very difficult thing to explain to people that it is, especially considering it's such, like, it's its own hub or whatever. But like, I think in part because of the location of the colleges, everything. Everything makes a run through Atlanta. Like, I got to Atlanta in 97, and that's a hard. I had to be a hard place to dj, man, because you got to have a little of everything prepared. Where my people from Colorado at, I mean, they weren't going that specific, but you needed to. You need to make sure that you was holling at everybody. And all these cats were starting to move to Atlanta now, like the actual factual rappers, right? Like, that's where it's going. And I want to start. I want to start kind of talking about that Atlanta area in this. And there were so many songs. I remember getting to Atlanta in like 97 and being like, oh man, there's a lot of one off just fun at the party songs that I had never given a whole lot of thought to. But I feel like 96 in some ways is kind of the end of the era where like various bass scenes just kind of existed by themselves. There was no expectation that anybody had to be a great rapper. But, like, as you and I were going through and listening songs from this time, we like Freak Nasty to Dip. That was the jail, right? Like, that was the thing. That was the thing in Houston too. But, like, you don't really have songs like that quite pop up that much after this, but it's a significant part of the fabric of the year 1996.
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A
Yeah, man. Like, records like that and records, you know, that was the year that the first so. So Deaf Bass All Stars compilation came out. I know we'll talk about albums later on, but one of the big records from that compilation was a free kit by this dude named Lathan, who kind of got pigeonholed into a bass artist. And he. He kind of wanted to be like he was. He was a really. A neo soul artist.
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B
Oh, I did not know that.
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A
Yeah, and he did for a long time. For a long time. He. He kind of, you know, kind of resisted the freaky record because the record got so big and people just kind of, you know, typecast him as a bass artist and he was not. His album's actually pretty good if you ever get a chance. I mean, it's gonna be hard to find, but it wasn't that bad. Anyway, the bass music of that time, it was a time period where those records still meant something and they served a purpose, you know, that is party music. And it's intended to be party, too. And it still served its primary purpose like that, but it was also kind of transitioning out because, you know, by this time, Freaknik had kind of changed, you know what I'm saying? And the music that was a freaknik was that type of the, you know, the bass booty shake type joints, you know, the 130BPM records or whatever. And as Freaknik was changing, that music started to kind of fade out. And then there was like a. There was. I think I graduated high school in 96 and a big transition from that time from, like, the, you know, the Dip and, you know, Daisy Dukes and all those records from that era. This is when Lil John first kind of came into, you know, his first, like, record as a solo act. Well, I mean, with the boys or was who you with came out in 96. And that was like a sort of like a disruptor because it did what bass records already had done. It served the purpose of cranking the party up. But it was not a bass record by any means. It was way slower, but it still was fast enough to be danceable.
- [19:59]
B
Yeah, Memphis has Entered the chat, you.
- [20:02]
A
Know what I'm saying? And you know, you got, you know, it was, it was, it kind of held the same energy. It had the same energy as the Dip, but it also had the same energy as Ted Club up, you know what I'm saying? And it was like this whole, this like Hodge, this hybrid, this hodgepodge of these, you know, completely different types of music, like conversion into this one thing. And the Little John version of Krunk music kind of started right there in 19. Kind of. This is like the foundation of it actually. Got this, I got the cassette single, you know what I'm saying?
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B
Yo, and I just want to run through some of the songs that fit this description. Like just kind of in this zone, right from 96. Freak Nasty Dip came out in 96. Leth the Freaky came out in 96. Scarred by Luke comes out in 96. The introduction to Trick Daddy, which honestly took me years to recognize that that is what had happened there. Quad City DJs come on ride To Trade came out that year. Now, look, they not all my favorite songs, but I do know that once I started going to parties where they was playing them, I started to appreciate them in a slightly different way. No, but like, the song that exists strictly for the party really phases out as we get to the end of the 90s, right? You didn't even have to stay in the south to talk about things that fit this description. DJ cool, let me clear my throat. That you have. I feel like I heard at every party that I have ever been to. And by the way, I guess, like, if that's what we doing, right? Cool, throw it up there. But it goes and it works every time. I can only put it in your mouth, which I don't think is necessarily in the same category, but it kind of is.
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A
Yeah. Cause that, that you really, you rarely hear that record outside of a party, right? Ain't nobody just jamming that, you know what I'm saying? Like, who you just gonna be riding around talking about, you know, put it in my mouth. I don't know about that, homie, you know what I'm saying? But if you hear, you hear it in the, you know, you hear it through some loud ass speake in a club and see what the women doing, you'd be like, okay, all right, I can accept it in this scenario. Hold on now.
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B
Not simply what they doing. The beauty of that song is it smokes them out. There are songs that come out every now and then that smoke them out, right? Like you don't really know what time it is. You don't know what she about. And if you pay enough attention, it's going to smoke them out. It is not simply with that song about if they getting down with it or dancing, you know, it's about is, is, is that girl's part, your part.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And if it is, she's been smoked out.
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A
Yeah, yeah. We, we. We done learned something about you. Yep.
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B
Yep. But, like, I can't think of one time in my life that I've heard that song anywhere other than the club. And every time. And it's wild because it's like, he sound. Like he sound. It's not like this is some super duper, like, danceable beat, whatever it is, but it existed strictly for the club.
- [23:00]
A
Mm. I, I, low key think that record, I think DJ has just kind of started playing it. I, I don't know this, I don't know this to be a fact, but I just think DJ just started playing that record because it was so outrageous, you know what I'm saying? And, and then it kind of took a life of his own, you know, because as you just, as you just, you know, mentioned, that record should not work in the club. Shouldn't. But it does, you know, but, but, but who knows, man? Like, you know, it's, it's, it's everything about that record and what you would think a club record be would be is completely different. You know, it's a old soul sample. The drums are rim shots. You know what I'm saying? It's this, it's this. It's this dude gargling on the song, you know what I'm saying? And there's a woman singing for, you know, a whole verse about, you know, what she's singing about. And then, you know, it just like, it seems like that song should not work, but, man, does it work. Like a charm.
- [24:02]
B
Like a charm, like a charm. And I think when I read through that list, I may have skipped it, but the ghost town DJs my boo came out that year too. And that the, the Internet gave that a resurgence. It feels like six or seven years ago. But I remember when that came out, I was like, ooh, this is perfect.
- [24:18]
A
Yeah. Yeah, this is one of the ones where you hear it. You immediately know, like, this record is going to be around forever, you know what I'm saying? As soon as you hear it like this, this record is never going away. And that's just like one of those perfect storms where, you know, it was an immediate feeling. I Remember, I remember the first time I heard that song. I was like, yep, this, this, this record is going to be a gigantic smash. And it was. And it wasn't like. Cause it eventually became like a big record and it got a lot of love nationally via radio. But that record was around. It took a while for it to break nationally. But where it came, where it, you know, where it started, it was immediate. You know, as soon as people heard it, they was like, oh, I remember one of my cousins, first time she heard it, she was like, oh, this is probably. This is my new favorite song. Like immediately, you know what I'm saying?
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B
And also talking about the south stuff separate from club stuff. Also, this was. This is when the south, like people still hadn't got wise. They had gotten wise to a couple of camps, right? Like, people were obviously very aware of what rap a lot was talking about. People had become aware of the Dungeon family. But by and large though, the south was still kind of a untapped situation and still really did not have any like grand ambitions for national stardom. That was not in the cards. It was served the audience that you have, right? We make these songs for each other. They don't even respect us like that. No way. 96 is the year and like look like Elevators comes out that year. And I think we'll talk more about that when we get to Outkast, right? So like there was a. It was a wide range of what the south was bringing. But that's also the year that when you get out here, you getting stuff like mysticals. Here I go. Tila's shown up. Eight ball, mjg, space age pimping, right? Like it was you and lv. Drag him in the river. Like, yeah, yeah, that's. That's the, the cash money breakout for us before it gets to everywhere else like this, the south was. We're gonna do an episode later about what the south was becoming in an album standpoint. But it feels like as not just little different dots on the map. Like truly regionally, the south was really, really starting to take shape and form when we get to 96.
- [26:45]
A
Yeah, I mean, I agree that was. That was definitely. It was definitely sound like a foundational time. And to your point where a lot of these recording artists were super serving their audience and weren't really particularly keen on trying to make things that were going to break out nationally. I think that is a. Is a, is a lesson like a foundation lesson in marketing. Like, bro, find the people that with you and give them what they want. And they, they will, they will. You will have long time support. That's. That's the key to longevity, man. You find, you find out what, you know they buying what you selling. Keep selling it. Jack.
- [27:29]
B
Well, so, so like this is a run like 96. We'll talk later about riding dirty when that comes out. But that's like album three of UGK super serving the audience. They have that like that being the big example. Obviously that jumps out to people. Master P who turned, basically he turned the west coast operation into a down south operation in terms of singles in 96 that I think are important. Break them off. Something is so important because look, bite it by it. I don't know what it was for everybody else in the world, but bout it about it. The world was one way and then Body Byted came out and then the world was a different way. Right? Like. Like there was I. We never heard anything that sounded like that was the. Yo, have you heard this song? Like it was like people try to.
- [28:11]
A
It was that beat.
- [28:12]
B
Yeah. Like it wasn't as completely different as like Bombs Over Baghdad was where I spent days trying to figure that out. But that beat, and it starts immediately, like there's no buildup into it. That synthesizer goes right off the top and you're like, yo, what's going on? But I didn't give no thought to whether or not those people were making any more music. Like that was right, right. Like that wasn't. They didn't make me want to hear more. It was just like, wow, what an amazing song. They have Ice Cream man album, which I don't with, but it has Break Them off something which I do with.
- [28:43]
A
Yeah, that's. That's a great record. That's one. That's one of the best. That's one of Pimpsy and Bun B's best verses. It's probably P's best verse too, actually. You know what I'm saying?
- [28:53]
B
Yes.
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A
Just from. Just from PP as a rapper, you know, think what you will of him as a rapper and you know, people have thoughts, you know what I mean? But as far as. As far as him actually, you know, like rhyming on the song. That's probably one of his best performances as a rapper. That. That song is like. Is. Is a damn near perfect song, bro. You know, it's. And again, that's one of those songs that when you hear it, you understand it immediately. You know what I mean? So it was. It's. It's great to. It's one of those things that Stands out. Even now, like, you know, 30 years later, when I'm out and I'm in front of people, you know, from my era or that are familiar with, you know, that time period when I play that song, the reaction is same as it was way back when. You see, as soon as you hear that baseline, everybody's like, hell, yeah. And then when P come in, everybody knows hustler, baller, gangster, who I be. And everybody knows. Everybody know who he is. Yep.
- [30:07]
B
And I. And also, it is important to note that Ice Cream man comes out three months before Riding Dirty comes out. The reason I said he think Break.
- [30:17]
A
Them Off Something might have been a ride dirty throwaway. It wouldn't shock me, you know. You know, Pete, I mean, PIMC produced Break Them off something. Yeah.
- [30:26]
B
The reason I. And it does not fit on Riding Dirty.
- [30:28]
A
N. That's true.
- [30:29]
B
Right? Like, there's not. There is not. Yeah, there's not a space on it. But the reason I bring that up is. And again, we'll talk more as this goes on. But like we did our episode 96 is the year of Tupac. Tupac was the MVP of 1996. But if we treated this like. Like football. You got the mvp, you got the offensive player of the year. I feel like Black Thought and Bun B were in a serious battle. At the very least. Bumby came in, Bun B won the most improved player of that year, and that was that. That verse right there was. Was the first sign that, oh, this is gonna be better. This is gonna be something different. Cuz, you know, that's how these GS be. We three, me seeing masterpiece sipping all. Which, by the way, sounds disgusting.
- [31:17]
A
Jenny Kiwi. That might not be. That might not be what you want, brother.
- [31:20]
B
He ripped that verse. Like I say, everybody has an iconic verse for who they were in the game and in the space, you know, AKA hit the wall to stuff it out the bed. Okay?
- [31:32]
A
That man said, tomorrow I got caught. I ain't gonna go like, what are you talking about, brother?
- [31:39]
B
Coming off the rip. Let me sit this straight. Talking. Don't have to snooze.
- [31:49]
A
Okay. Boy, you can't beat that with a bat, man. I'm telling you. That's what I'm saying.
- [31:52]
B
So this is like assault. Like, that just drops. And the thing about that is you ain't getting. Nobody was really playing the Masterpiece stuff on the radio, right?
- [32:00]
A
No, no.
- [32:01]
B
You see the videos, right? But it built and it got around. And I think that where you would hear something like that on the radio is where Some dude got a show Saturday night from 10 to 11, and you were like, yo, he'd be over there playing some jams. I check him out when I'm on my way to work or whatever. Like, you had these different avenues. You had fewer avenues, but also more avenues for finding stuff because since it was fewer, it was navigable. And he didn't just get overwhelmed by what all the stuff was, but like, all these songs that we talked about here popped in different places, but we all got them somehow.
- [32:37]
A
That's the, that's the thing, the cool thing about retail back then, because even if you didn't know it, it was in the store.
- [32:44]
B
Yes.
- [32:45]
A
I'm saying it was all. Everything was in the store. Which I think, you know, back then, the music Bond public were better music fans because they had access to all of this stuff.
- [32:58]
B
Yeah.
- [32:59]
A
And it was all. There was all. There was one place where you could go find it all. Whether. Whether. Whether your bag was, you know, the roots of Dos Effects or Mobb Deep or who have you, or if it was, you know, Spice One, Richie Rich or if it was Masterpiece Ukk, they were all in the same place. And you could. You could go.
- [33:16]
B
You, You.
- [33:17]
A
You were more. You were more willing to and. And had more access to explore what was going on.
- [33:23]
B
Well, also, there's a dude behind the counter. You'd be like, yo, how's this one? He'd be like, yo, you should check it out.
- [33:28]
A
Chase Makers, bro. That they don't exist anymore.
- [33:30]
B
Curators and gatekeepers were important, and I get why people don't like the idea of the gatekeeper because they. It's associated with somebody to try to keep you out. Right. But no, no, no. Somebody need to. There's a reason why you got a gate, right? No matter who you are, There's a reason why we have a gates. The reason why we have this curation.
- [33:50]
A
We.
- [33:50]
B
But look, we got a lot more. We going to get to more from the best singles in 1996 with DJ W. Sparks coming up next. Want to know why betting the Winter Games on FanDuel makes sense? From game lines to medal counts to finding your angle on the events you care about most, FanDuel gives you more ways to stay connected to the action the Winter Games are on. And there's no better way to follow them than with a bet on fan duel. Curling matches that start slow and somehow get tense fast. Speed skating decided by inches. Hockey games that feel different from the opening face off and so much more. FanDuel play your game 21 and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and present in D.C. kansas, Wyoming. Opt in requirement awards are non withdrawable restriction supply including bonus and token expiration leg requirements and max wager amount eternal sportsdual.fanduel.com gambling problem call 1-800- gambler or visit rg-help for.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chatincut visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-87-HOPE NY or text hopeny in New York. Right now get up to 20% off.
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Home depot.com how doers get more done My day kicks off with a refreshing Celsius energy drink, then straight to the.
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Gym pre K pickup back home to.
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B
Meal prep time for my fire station shift. One more Celsius. Gotta keep the lights on when the three alarm hits. I'm ready Celsius Live Fit. Go grab a cold refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now@celsius.com all right, we are back with DJ W. Sparks talking about the singles in 1996, I realized that I skipped over a very, very important single from the year 1996 from the South. Forgive me Houston. That is the year to pimp the pen. DJ Screw and Lil Kiki comes out and that is Look, My Mind's Playing Tricks on Me is the best song that ever came out of Houston full stop. Like we don't. There's, there's no. It's kind of like when they, when they have the hall of Fame arguments. They're like, oh, Drew Brees. Okay, we don't need to waste our time talking about that one, right? Like, okay, that one set. But I would argue I saw what's his name, Jermaine Dupre once argue that the that the most foundational of the Houston Screw records was the Jew 27 freestyle. No, no, no, I disagree. It's this one. It Pimp the Pin Is to me, that's the one everybody knows the words to. That's the one that immediately starts. It goes. And that's to that like the first legitimate screw single to me.
- [37:07]
A
Yeah, that. That, you know, from. From that era. Like the, the. The actual screwed up click.
- [37:13]
B
Yes.
- [37:13]
A
You know, as a, as a. You know, that was an actual song, not just. Not just the, you know, a bunch of guys freestyling and screws basement while he's playing whatever instrumental he was playing.
- [37:22]
B
Right.
- [37:22]
A
You know, and not to say that that those were. Those. Those songs aren't great. They are. But Pimp the Pen was like, all right, we making records now.
- [37:34]
B
Yes.
- [37:35]
A
I'm saying we making legitimate songs.
- [37:38]
B
And this dude can rap.
- [37:40]
A
Yep. Yeah, man. A lot of people, man, Kiki is a very underrated, you know, underrated. I mean, he gets the respect that he gets and where he's from in Houston. But I think in large part, Kiki is a lot more influential than people may realize.
- [38:00]
B
Yeah. I think that the. I think the influence of Houston rap, like pre 04,04, was the year that like, everything got a little bit different. But the influence of Houston rap kind of goes in a radius of sorts. And if you did not get in that geographical radius, you probably weren't gonna pick that up again. The Houston, Memphis back and forth is something that. To be studied, man.
- [38:20]
A
You know who Kiki kind of reminds me of in a analogous way to a athlete, kind of like Rod Strickland, where everybody knows. Yeah. That this dude is super nice, but for some reason people. The rest of the people don't know.
- [38:36]
B
But it's kind of like if Rod Strickland like just only play playground ball.
- [38:41]
A
There you go.
- [38:41]
B
Like Houston's. Houston is a world in and of itself.
- [38:44]
A
Yeah.
- [38:44]
B
Like what is, what is outside? Look, it's the people that can't give you nothing outside the loop. It's the people that can't give you something outside the beltway. Right. Like within it. It is a. It is an insular, self contained world. And that. That whole world, all those cats that blew up in 04 were all like, yeah, but we. We coming back to Houston, like, you want to put out. You want to put this. You want to put this album out for me nationally, for real, that's fine. But I do this here.
- [39:09]
A
Yeah. That. To your point, the. The Memphis similarities, man. You know, you got a guy like, like Tommy Wright iii, for example.
- [39:17]
B
Yeah.
- [39:18]
A
You know, where Tommy Wright iii, he's had large scale influence on culture over time. But Tommy Wright III made Music for people in Memphis.
- [39:31]
B
Yes.
- [39:32]
A
You know what I'm saying? That was it. You know what I mean? So. But yeah, you know, and it's just back to what we were speaking about earlier, about the staunch regionality, about how things were back then. You know, everyone. Everyone had their identity, and they were comfortable in the identity that they, you know, were in. You know, we. We do this. We do this, and we do this for these people. That's just a shame that, you know, music has. I don't want to say regress, because I don't think it has regrets. I just, you know, it's in music's evolvement, kind of, you know, push that kind of originality to the side.
- [40:18]
B
It's just. It's. Music is better when it's regional.
- [40:20]
A
I 100 agree.
- [40:21]
B
It's just like everybody chasing the same thing takes away. There's. There's less innovation when that happens, right? It's like. It's like everybody know the answers to the test, and so they try to write to the answers to the test. And it's a little. When you play. When you play a regional game, it goes a little different. Now, something else that happened in 96 that is interesting is Chicago enters the chat.
- [40:41]
A
Oh, yeah, Pope.
- [40:43]
B
And we get two. We get two Altimers in 96 out of Chicago, right? I'd say one is better than the other, but both is a lot of fun. The one that is better than the others do. Do a die Pope Pimp because Tongue Twister had existed prior to this and people were aware of him, right? Not. It's like. Not like that. And like, we had heard Bone. This was. This was not that, like, Bone is kind of singing, kind of rapping. You know, it's like. It's a melodic. This dude was rapping. I never heard nobody rap like that.
- [41:11]
A
Rapping, like. Like rapping, rapping, you know what I'm saying? So. But yeah, man, that. That song. That song, bro, when it. When it. When it hit, man, and that was. That was a song like, like, others that, you know, came into where I was in Tennessee and like, literally was the biggest record of the time where I was at, you know. And I think because of the sound you know, we had by this time, you know, we had been fully ingratiated into the UGK A Ball mjg, you know, syrupy, you know, pimped out type vibe or whatever. So the way Pope Pimp sounded was already a little familiar to, you know, people like me, but. And even the Dungeon Family stuff, too. To a certain extent, they had, like, you know, all that live instrumentation, like, real. Like somebody actually playing the bass, you know what I'm saying, on this. And sounds like someone's actually sitting behind a kid playing drums. But when Pope Pip came out and it sounded the way it sounded, and Twisted Twister is clearly the highlight of that song with that incredible, incredible verse. Yes, but the other two dudes weren't no slouchers either, man.
- [42:32]
B
They were fine.
- [42:33]
A
You know what I'm saying? And it was like, bro, what. Like, what is this? Like, they. They. You can actually rhyme this fast and still, you know, have some kind of. Some kind of semblance of eloquence. It was. It was amazing, man. And, you know, the ultimate barometer is do a jam. And bro in jam like a motherfucker.
- [42:56]
B
Hey, man, I went to Bun B's night at the rodeo last year in Houston. They played that joint and it still went. I got a video of me rapping it, dog, Like. Like, it's still wet. The other Chicago song that came out, hey, in the Middle of the Barn, came out that summer.
- [43:12]
A
I got that single, too. I figured, you know what I'm saying?
- [43:14]
B
That's a look. That's an alltime fun reaper carol right there.
- [43:20]
A
Yeah, man. That with a.
- [43:22]
B
With a. With a slow down, delic sample. They took a Funkadelic ballad, slowed it down. Got this real interesting drum pattern on it, too. That's just kind of like, hey, in.
- [43:33]
A
The middle of the bar.
- [43:38]
B
But it was time to come back. Like, if we was losing in the game, it was time to get it cracking.
- [43:42]
A
That was a turn up.
- [43:43]
B
Yes.
- [43:44]
A
Did you know Fab five Freddy directed that video?
- [43:47]
B
I did not.
- [43:48]
A
I think they were signed to him. I think they might have that. That could be wrong.
- [43:51]
B
No, no. I'm looking at it on the Wiki right now. He's the executive producer. Producer of that album.
- [43:56]
A
I knew he. I knew he was involved. You know what I'm saying?
- [43:58]
B
Yeah.
- [43:59]
A
I just didn't know at what capacity, which is crazy to say, but, bro, that how you feel today? Fine.
- [44:09]
B
Golden Dandy. You know what, though? They was. They were one of those groups. I'm trying to think of another example. I can't. We get off the top of my head where it's one dude that could really rap and the other dudes just kind of like the Fugees.
- [44:24]
A
The Bush babies are like that too, kind of.
- [44:26]
B
Yeah, yeah. There's one person that can really, really rap. Jim Crow got the one dude. Yeah, you're really really rap. And then the mother cats be on the beat and it's fine, you know, it'll work.
- [44:35]
A
Yep.
- [44:36]
B
It'll do. But the dude that did the last verse over here in the middle of the bar was rapping his ass up.
- [44:40]
A
He was going crazy, you know what I'm saying? He was definitely going crazy.
- [44:44]
B
And we had not. We had not heard Chicago. Chicago, not a rap city like that. I mean, eventually, obviously, it became one.
- [44:50]
A
Yeah. Cause people. I mean, people might push back at that and say, oh, a comment was there. But people didn't necessarily.
- [44:56]
B
But he stood out exactly for that reason.
- [44:58]
A
I mean, they didn't really associate him as a Chicago rapper, you know what I'm saying? He's more like. Especially in the 90s, I think people viewed him as like, not a New York rapper or New York rapper, but a hip hop guy.
- [45:11]
B
Yes.
- [45:11]
A
You know what I'm saying? Yes. And that was the do or die and crucial conflict. I think that might have been more in line with what, you know, Chicago actually. You know, I won't say actually was, but no, no, no, no to the.
- [45:26]
B
Locale a little bit sonically. Like, I think it would be fair to raise the question as to whether or not they were more representative of what the scene was at the time. No ID beat. So it's not like he was getting a producer that was not from Chicago. Right.
- [45:39]
A
They were just making the music they was making, you know.
- [45:41]
B
Yeah, yeah, but the music they were making was. It was in line with a different sound.
- [45:46]
A
Yes, it was.
- [45:47]
B
Than these other cats. Who you think. Look, man, people tell you this. Everybody from Chicago, from Mississippi was something that didn't. It. It feels. It doesn't feel the same now as it did then, but they hadn't been gone from Mississippi for long. Yeah, like, it's Chicago and the song is called hey, in the middle of the Barn. They in a barn is Chicago. Like, like, that's, like, that's. That's. That's what a lot of us really learned. Like, oh, this is what Chicago is about. Because at that time, when a new city would pop on the scene for the rest of us, like, oh, so that's what they do over there. Why would we know? Right? Like, we were. We were learning the map all at one time when they came out. And so, yeah, when those dudes came around, it was more like, my brother rolled with a bunch of dudes from Chicago in college because he went to Southern in Baton Rouge, and a lot of people moved to Chicago, and then they send their kids back to go to Southern. Right. Common sounded like the music that my brother listened to, but the other dudes that dropped felt like the cats that he was introducing me to.
- [46:46]
A
Yeah.
- [46:46]
B
From Chicago.
- [46:47]
A
Yeah, I can see that. That definitely tracks now.
- [46:52]
B
East coast single world was really interesting, right? It was all so one thing, I think about it, and I think that we. We focus it on jams right now.
- [47:04]
A
You know what I mean? Right?
- [47:05]
B
Like, yeah, but 96. And it's something I'm g. Talk with Jason about a little more, is there was less of an expectation in the construction of an album or the decision to put an album out or sell it or whatever it was that you had to have. Like, you wanted a single, but it didn't have to be, like, a club single. Right? It didn't have to have. It didn't have to be something that had some measure that had, like, pop expectations, but there would always be some dudes that was grimy as. But also, like, understood this and had a hold of it, or it would be something that jumped off, and it was just so jamming that you just had to be like, this is what it is. So, like, for me, I. I don't know if 96 had a better single than Lucidi by Kevlo. I. Bro, I keep trying to, like, it's hard for me to come up with songs that are better than Lucidi and, like, people be like, I don't understand what they talking about. No, you don't know what they say it. Yeah, you know what they talking.
- [47:59]
A
You know what they're talking about.
- [48:01]
B
Like, the vibes are through the roof, bro.
- [48:06]
A
I remember exactly where I was when I first heard that song. So I told you I graduated 96, and I was in my first semester of college. So the year was still 96, but freshman year at 97 at Lane College, we had, like, a common area that had, like, a TV on the cart, you know what I'm saying? Where, you know, they would play. We pretty much kept it on BET all day. And I was coming back from class or whatever, and the TV was just on, and I was getting ready to walk back to my dorm, and I walked past, and I heard that Dynasty sample them horns. I said, what is that? You know what I'm saying? And then I look and I was already familiar with Camp Low because of Cooley High previously, the single prior to Luchini. And I was already. I had already been blown away by that because the same thing you said, no one understood what was going on, but you kind of knew what was Going on the same thing could apply to Cooley High. And that was another crazy beat. It was a crazy beat. Shout out to Ski Beast, man. Because, you know, he did that. He did both. He did the whole album, actually. But. But those two, man. But Luccini, bro, Bro, by the way, have is maybe only two. Maybe only maybe two rap songs in my lifetime that I have been completely knocked over and, you know, blown away by. Luccini's one, Bonds over Baghdad, his daughter. Yep.
- [49:47]
B
By the way, Wiki says that this came out January 21, 1997, which sounds like 1996 to me. We're just going.
- [49:54]
A
You know what I'm saying?
- [49:55]
B
Closing.
- [49:56]
A
The video was being played in 96.
- [49:57]
B
That's all I need right there. Like, that's what we got. We got the vibes. That is the. I could go on this forever. But that is the coolest sounding album I feel like that anybody ever put out. Like it is. It is such a vibe. And I don't even talk like that.
- [50:11]
A
It is.
- [50:12]
B
It is all of that. Like, that is that. And it was, by the way, a group that didn't put out another record for, like, 10 years. Like, this could just happen. A group like this could have an album or have a sound and it drops. And I don't feel like. Like it wasn't like it was dominating on the radio.
- [50:26]
A
No. I used to hear it in music beds. Like when, you know, when the. The radio DJ needed to, you know, tell. Talk about the weather or whatever. I used to hear. I used to hear that beat and be like, bro, man, y' all should play. Play the song.
- [50:42]
B
Yes, yes. It's oh, so good. Also interesting of that year, I was talking about grimy dudes with a knack for the singles. The Lost Boys, two of the singles came out in 95, but music makes me high. Renee came out in 96. I promise you, every Lost Boy song that I liked, Beats for the east, is the only one that did not become a single. Otherwise you turn on a Lost Boys album and be like, nah, this ain't it. But it got them four songs that was hitting on the radio.
- [51:10]
A
Yeah, man. Shout out to Easy Mo B. Cause he's. He had. He got them. He got them right?
- [51:14]
B
Yes.
- [51:15]
A
I'm saying he got. He got them all the way right. You know, Renee was. Renee was super crazy. You know what I mean? Yeah. But that music makes me high with them crazy hard drums. Sound. Sound like. Sound like that. That record almost sounds like west coast ish. A little. You know, it's gotta it gives me a West coast vibe when I hear it. Yeah, Just the way the movement of the drums are going, bro. It makes me feel something. I don't know if, you know, it definitely makes me feel something when I hear it, but it is a preposterous.
- [51:53]
B
Story, by the way. It is a. He is a. It's the voice all star, if there has ever been one. Like, Renee, don't think about it too much. Like, you start following the law with the studio. You just be like, so why did she get shot, right? Like, was it a mass shooting? Did somebody shoot up the whole law school, bro?
- [52:15]
A
You know, what I appreciate about that song is Mr. Cheeks, you know, commitment to making sure we understood what he said, because he's like, hey, she went to law school and she studied law. You know what I'm saying?
- [52:30]
B
She studied law. Hey, man, let me tell you this. I know the homie Dottie listen to this joint. When he called up, did you hear the show we had with Dot? Called up and talked about how he was dating Regina hall back in the day.
- [52:42]
A
Oh, man, what a. What an incredible story.
- [52:44]
B
Yeah, but so, like, I think Regina hall was at NYU at the time. And I feel like Renee is an archetype that these rappers knew, which is she's up here living very professionally in New York City, and then the real was pulled up, and now she kicking with us.
- [53:00]
A
That story doesn't tell tale all the time, man. Who you telling?
- [53:07]
B
Also that year, you and I talked about this as we were getting ready for the show. And we ain't gonna. You know, we gonna miss a couple. It happens. But Shaquille O' Neal had a really dope single in 1996.
- [53:20]
A
Yeah. With the notorious B.
- [53:22]
B
Audit UK. You can't stop the Raid was monster in.
- [53:27]
A
In the grand contest thing. How ridiculous does that sound? You know what I'm saying? It happened. It happened, and it was awesome.
- [53:35]
B
By the way, that's his third album.
- [53:37]
A
Oh, I know.
- [53:38]
B
The first two went platinum.
- [53:40]
A
Yeah. You know, Shaq. Shaq as a. Shaq as a record, Shaq had a better rap career than a lot of rappers.
- [53:48]
B
And they were real albums.
- [53:49]
A
It wasn't. He wasn't faking at all. You know what I'm saying? He was. He was. He was completely serious.
- [53:55]
B
They were real, actual, factual albums. I was also thinking about this in terms of talking about saying. Because I meant to bring this up. Hey, in the middle of the barn, my homeboy John, rest in peace. His argument was, hey, in the middle of a barn. Became a hit. Because we got tired of which the song that probably by number was the biggest song of 1996, the Bone Thugs Crossroads remix.
- [54:21]
A
Yeah, yeah. Because a lot of people don't realize that. That the version that we all know is. A lot of people don't realize that was a remix.
- [54:29]
B
So there's Crossroads, which is on East 1999, Eternal. And there's the Crossroads, which is the Bone. Bone, Bone, Bone, Bone. Yeah. Why did I miss my Uncle Charles?
- [54:43]
A
The original. The. The original Crossroads that was dedicated to their friend named Wally.
- [54:49]
B
Oh, even though you gone. First of all, what a ridiculous way to pay tribute to your man. Even though you. Oh, no, it's right. Even though you gone, you still got loan love from Bone. I was thinking, he was like, even though you gone, you still got love for Bone, which would be rather presumptuous.
- [55:03]
A
Yes, it would be.
- [55:05]
B
Right? Like, you still love us, though, don't you?
- [55:08]
A
Don't you?
- [55:09]
B
But that was everywhere.
- [55:11]
A
Yeah.
- [55:11]
B
Like, the funeral dirges, man. They did numbers.
- [55:15]
A
That was a. That was a smash. Speaking of. Speaking of. Speaking of, like, records that. That kind of turned, like, that started one way and ended up another way. That's. That's a. That's a glowing example of a record that. That started out as, you know, just a remix to an album cut. Because, you know. You know, they had their unfortunate, passionate uncle and their mentor, Eazy. You know what I mean? And that record just. It just took off, bro. Just took off out of nowhere.
- [55:47]
B
Did you see that video of Klay Thompson rapping with Megan Thee Stallion?
- [55:52]
A
Oh, cat Bone perform for him.
- [55:53]
B
Book Bone for his birthday. Cause he died.
- [55:55]
A
What a life he living.
- [55:57]
B
Oh, dog, what a life he living Jack. And you see, he didn't go to the game on the day after. Just like, I don't know why he go to none of them games, bro.
- [56:08]
A
We got, what, four championships, you know, Got super maxed out.
- [56:13]
B
I don't. I remember the last time I was in love on that level. And it was hard to go to work, boy. Hard, hard to go to work. But what was so funny about that to me is Klay Thompson from Newport beach, wherever you from, in Orange County. And I feel like if Bone was your favorite group like that, you could have either turned into that, or you could have been hanging with the white boards or black fingernail polish. Like. Like, that's. That. That lane is the same, like, is black goth, highly dramatic music. Like, that's where they were. And they were really big deals, and they were a very controversial topic at the time. In terms of how good they were, how hip hop they were, so forth and so on. Like, they. I did not love them, but I think historically speaking, it's unquestionable that they are underrated.
- [56:59]
A
Underrated. They might be the most underrated rap group of all time.
- [57:02]
B
Right. And it doesn't matter how you feel about the music. The influence was indisputable.
- [57:07]
A
Yep, indisputable. And, and. And they got the. They got the. They put numbers on the board, bro. They got the numbers to back it up.
- [57:13]
B
They did.
- [57:15]
A
They put, they put. They put numbers on the board.
- [57:18]
B
Huge numbers. I want to get to a couple more things before we get out of here. One, as we were compiling the list of this, we both put down a couple of the Busta Rhymes singles. And Busta Rhymes, to me, I argue Busta Rhymes is maybe the best rapper without a classic album. Right. Like, you could have your favorite Busta Rhymes album. Like, for me, it's extinction level event. But I'm being honest with myself. This close, not quite. Right? He's got it like Big Bang. This close. Not quite. But what he did though, in 96 was he became a video superstar.
- [57:51]
A
Yep.
- [57:51]
B
Right. Like those. The influence of Busta Rhymes was with the visuals, like, woohah. I got you all in check. It's a cool song. It's a great video that just changed everything.
- [58:02]
A
Amazing. Like, the visual component is another thing that was sort of driving singles that you don't. Did. You don't get with music in today's thing. Like today's music, you rarely see if it's a video of somebody that shot it with a handheld, whatever camera they got, or maybe shot it on an iPhone. But back then, like, visually, the way you presented a single was. Especially if you were going to be operating on the level that say a Busta Rhymes was, where they kind of knew what they had with him immediately because Busta Rhymes was a star from the minute he showed up. Right. He was. You know, regardless, I have my own personal feelings about Mr. Smith, but be that as it may, Busta Rhymes has always been someone that once he shows up.
- [58:59]
B
Yes.
- [59:00]
A
The attention naturally gravitates right to him. Yes. And the, the you, you know, being. Being a visual star in the era of singles was. Was. Was a big thing for people like him. You know what I'm saying? He was, he was, he was. He was definitely like the, you know, the standout rap artist that, you know, I want to see him on television, you know what I mean?
- [59:29]
B
It's kind of a precursor to what? Missy Elliott. Yes.
- [59:32]
A
He was became.
- [59:33]
B
Right. You know, very simple, working with the same people, making product, you know, in production and stuff like that. But, like, it's a. A multimedia star, I think, is the way that we could describe it. Speaking of Mr. Smith, by the way, you know, we wasn't really with him when he was doing this kind of stuff, but LL Co. He gave the world. He gave the. He. He. And it was comeback number two.
- [60:01]
A
Yeah. Because this is. This is. This is after 14 shots of the dome.
- [60:04]
B
After 14 shots to the dome. And you and I were also talking about this. We're like, old school Mr. Smith. I mean, old head. LL Cool J. He was 26, 27, or maybe.
- [60:17]
A
He.
- [60:17]
B
Was the old head. He's the old head. He. He had already put up a whole career, right?
- [60:24]
A
Yeah, man.
- [60:25]
B
Like nothing.
- [60:25]
A
LL A hall of fame career, Right.
- [60:28]
B
He does not have a classic record after 1990.
- [60:31]
A
Right.
- [60:31]
B
Mama said knock you out. He's got three of them. He did. Nothing he did after 1990 matters, but he actually consistently did things after 1990. But the Mr. Smith album, you know, he's got I shot you. Right? He would always pop back up and let you know that he could still do the thing.
- [60:48]
A
I got. I got it in the chamber, homie. Don't. Don't play. Just because I've been working all. Working out all day thinking about her, don't think I ain't got it. I ain't got it back in the chamber, dog.
- [60:59]
B
But he gave up on us. He decided that we were not gonna buy no records.
- [61:05]
A
Yeah.
- [61:06]
B
He just. He just did it all for them.
- [61:07]
A
Like, you're working out all day thinking about you. That is absurd.
- [61:14]
B
Look at his lips with that one pant leg up. Just like. Like, you know what he. You know what he is? He's. He's low key. What Drake was trying to pull off.
- [61:23]
A
Yeah.
- [61:24]
B
Except when it came time to do I shot you, Drake can't. Couldn't really, like, give you that. And also, he just wasn't LL Cool J.
- [61:33]
A
You know what I'm saying, man? LL was in. Speaking of visuals from that time, that man was in. In these videos, pouring chocolate syrup on people's knees.
- [61:42]
B
It was ridiculous. Like. Like, there was just. It was always so frustrating because it was like, partner, you don't have to do it, right. Go look at Method Man. He's the proof that you don't have to act like this. All you got to do is pull up.
- [61:57]
A
Yeah. Be LL Cool J.
- [61:59]
B
They are not, like, Right. You've Already done the hard part, right? The hard part just Bll. Cool J, you. You've. You've already managed to pull that off, right? Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
- [62:14]
A
Too.
- [62:16]
B
Here he go. Dips all out and shit.
- [62:19]
A
Just too much, dog.
- [62:21]
B
Oh, man. Like, it got to a place where you couldn't even tell people you liked his music.
- [62:25]
A
Yeah. Because they look at you crazy. They like you. You jam LL Cool J, you might.
- [62:30]
B
As well just play actual slow jams. How about that?
- [62:33]
A
There's far.
- [62:34]
B
There's far more dignity in that sort of behavior if that's where you wanted to go. But, man, that's 96. Like, we got so much more that we could have gotten to, right? Like we say, we talked about tila right fast. When we get to the albums, that's what we'll get deeper in some of these. But sure enough, man, that was the one, bro.
- [62:54]
A
Man, shout out to Ricky Smiley for forever immortalizing that. The intro, the baseline intro to that song and his stand up special because, man, that's one of them things. I like a lot of these songs that we've spoken about today. The reaction to when it starts is immediate. Everybody gonna be like, It takes you to a place, man. It takes you to a place. Shout out to Jazzy Faye on that beat. Yeah.
- [63:28]
B
Also shout out to Ghetto Mafia straight from the deck, which was a really big deal, but, boy, that was a. What are you, Atlanta? What do you Atlanta people do? Like, that was one of those, like, what are you guys up to down here, bro?
- [63:42]
A
You know, I can't recall who it was, but it was somebody. It was somebody that you would associate with, like the. The whole backpacker hip hop. It was an artist from that. It may have been. It was like a Pharaoh Monch type. I can't recall who exactly it was, but they were on an episode of your own TV raps Today. During the interview portion, they were being asked what they would listen to and they both said, bro, there's this record called Straight from the Deck by these cats called Ghetto Mafia. It's the greatest thing I ever heard. And that was like a signifier to me that, oh, you know, other the people. The what? I think that what I. What I think of them might. They might. They might not be thinking the same of me. They might actually like the stuff that we doing down here. I. I didn't think that. I just. I. I was always the type of fan that, like, if I like, I like the whole. I like, I'm a hip hop fan. So I loved a bunch of New York music and especially the. The backpack type. I'm. I'm a low key backpacker nerd, to be honest with you. But I like all that. I like all that stuff. But I used to think that they would. No way. They would like something like Ghetto Mafia. And when I heard that person say that, I was like, oh, it's okay to like everything. You know what I mean? Because I was. You know, I was a young man back then. I was fresh out of high school or whatever, and I had my own preconceived notions about.
- [65:07]
B
Let me tell you, your preconceived notion was correct.
- [65:10]
A
Came up, came down, stay down, play round. Hey, man, that's a good flow though, man. You know what I'm saying?
- [65:17]
B
Yeah, but I tell you, maybe I need to go back. I heard that, like, it's super churchy. Yeah, man, look, I heard that like three times when it came out. And I was like, look, I don't know what they doing over there on the east side of this city, but these rap, these rappers I hear from the south and the west, they're. They're doing things. I don't know what's going on over there at the cater.
- [65:34]
A
That song was just blessed assurance and gangster form.
- [65:37]
B
Yeah. I tell you this, boy. Them boys love being from Decatur. Cause the joy indicator was the jail.
- [65:43]
A
Yeah. 100%. Shout out, shout out to the east side. Yeah, man.
- [65:47]
B
Look, man, it's DJ Wally Sparks. Check him out, Twitch TV. DJWiley Sparks. Just look him up. DJ Wally Sparks. You can find his stuff whenever he goes on Twitch. He's jamming. He do parties in Atlanta. Whole nine. Check it out. And he'll be back with us as we continue this series. My brother, I appreciate you.
- [66:03]
A
Thank you for having me, bro. This is fun. I mean, you know, like I said, we do this all the time, but. So it's always fun for me. Me.
- [66:09]
B
Hey, man, all good. Ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here. On the Right Time. We do this four times a week. Ryan Brumley handling everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Hit the voicemail line. 323-59-67767. Remember, follow the Right Time. Subscribe like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We'll talk to you guys in a couple of days. Take it easy. Spring break isn't what it used to be. It's better this spring. Stay three nights and get a $50 Best Western Gift.
- [66:49]
A
Card.
- [66:49]
B
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