R&B MoneyPart 2 of the BEST of 2024 is HERE! DJ Quik, Warren G, Mario, and Case. You know the vibes. Tap in now!
Piece of the plane in Charlamagne to God here and as we come close to the closing out this year, I just want to say thank you for tuning it into the Black Effect podcast network. There have been so many great moments over the past year. Take a listen to some of those captivating moments in this special best of episode.
Who told me that I was ready?
Nobody told me because you know, just looking at it as in terms of being a man. You know, it's about how girls see you. When I was coming up, it was nerdy shit. You know, I was nerd whatever I was. You know, it was a geek like like nerdy show, like putting bikes together and putting hooking up, you know, fixing equipment and shit and playing music, playing records and you know, and just chilling and bitches didn't fuck with me. I was too square. My mixtam came out, My mixtape came out, and bitch just heard my voice. They gotta start getting pussy. That's what told me I was ready. Not no record company, not even Courtney. It was because I was fucking dju fucking I was getting pussy.
Motherfucking right, validates you they getting holds.
I was knocking bitches down you did, getting the holds, getting the whole movie. Unfortunately, as soon as that shit happened in our era, as luck would have it, HIV became a thing should hit Playboy magazine. We all read Playboy magazine was scared. We didn't look at the naggad. But it was like, this is good.
I'm non sexually active and this happens.
I just got some pussy.
Just that's over.
So but before that little eighty six to eighty nine motherfucker, Jack.
Told you pussy.
Okay, So I was about to go there with you. Here's another question I want to ask you about that I think is vital to the production side and the producers out there. You start talking samples, because samples were managed one way when you first started and then graduated to a whole different space managed now yeah right, yeah, yeah, So you were able to in your early days grab them samples.
Ship before.
Before they got the legislation right and then we EXI all that ship exactly yea, But yeah, it was up until that point there it was a it was a green, it was a great area, but samples was the biggest move.
So I had to sample.
I was, you know, I was finding like rare little blowfly and you know I was one of the first people on tonight's The Night God Rest is Sold Johnny J would you know knocking the boots?
But to put Betty right in.
Your record like this was. You know, these records that we heard in the people dance to in our face. That's what we want to put on our records because I want people to dance. I want them to think about you know, the play and you know how hard it is to get a job in Long Beach and competent no fuck that listen to these records. You feel me like this record made me feel good. I'm gonna put some shit on the wrap about you niggas because we all in the same mother fucking situation. I'm just gonna talk about what's going on in my neighborhood, niggas. I know who am putting it over beats that we all used to listen to, Like I got that from Mixed Master Spade wrapping over Genius A Love, You know what I mean? The Profile Records version of Genius A Love with Doctor Jako, mister Howe who was Andre Herrel who ended up being one of my label mates. I ended up signing the profile saw sixty degrees of separation, but fuck it's money.
We did that.
So how did did it come back around? Though?
As far as like where you had to redo the split on the older songs.
Yeah, how did that go?
The nigga we was rich? Give them what the fuck they want to, give them what the fuck they want. I'm going to go buy a Porsche, give them what they want. I'm going to go buy a fucking Porsche or accurate nssex.
I don't give a fuck. I made it.
I wasn't even supposed to make it out of Compton. I'm supposed to be dead, and here I am buying Bentley's and ship and I'll give off.
Fuck I'm on my soapbox. Suck my dick.
I'm dope. And if y'all don't like it, fuck you take my records back.
Bitch. See if you get a refine.
Fuck y'all.
I make it just uncomfortable, just make it really like comfortable.
No words, no word.
Nobody nobody said ship the kid isn't rare for him tonight.
We're letting you get your ship.
I'm just talking ship.
It's like, but think about it.
You you the negative press used to kill me. Like I look back at the Source magazine, I'm the first nigga in l A outside of n w A to go golden platinum, right outside of CMW and and King T. Right, We're all factors at that point, Like you know, successful guys that got labels, you know, they got the major labels, and from Compton right off from Compton. Fucking the Source magazine. Race is dirty ass, low key, backhanded. And I came to compliment that interview like Quick is slick with his you know, saying talk about the Jerry Curl and all this shit. So you see all the endu Windo just clown to me, It's like, what the fuck's so success? It's different if they like you then if they don't. But they gotta you know, you know, the media was playing a cold game, you know, they was that shit was cold. So I stopped doing interviews for a long time. I'm like, oh, I see y'all do y'all twist up what we say, y'all take it out of context. I had to learn that you gotta control your own narrative, you know what I mean? So I just stopped doing interviews, and I was imploring my homeboys to stop doing them too, Like, man, don't talk to these people. They turn in with y'all, say around, they trying to lessen y'all sales on the next record, And what makes you think this record is good?
Did you rush it? You know?
It's what the fuck are you talking about? If I got m the Prince could put out five albums a year and they're all great. His record company was like, no, we can't market all of them, like slow down. Prince is like, if I slow down, I'll die. My vault is full. What the fuck do you want from me?
You know what?
I wanted him in that deal longer exactly.
And he ended up coming back to Warner Brothers too. It's another story.
But yeah, back when you was an.
R, Yeah, had been Virginia's dog.
Because I forgot.
I forgot to mention that when I when I was my biggest flag, Yeah, yeah, I forgot. I forgot to mention that when I was the Black Bugs introducing you.
You see your Black Bugs, the Black Bugs, Bunny. You had a t n e up there get it man, yet a lot of credit like let's go. I didn't waste their money either, like we did. I did what I was supposed to do.
Do you feel like.
For y'all it was more of a reality because you had a brother who was already doing it.
Was that always kind of in the back yard.
At all. Yeah, little family fund that drag snoop and rap man. You need to listen. And we got a group called two one three check us out. Yeah okay, yeah, yeah, Like damn, he ain't fucking with us. So he never was fucking with us. He was cool with us, right, we're fucking with us like when it's family. Wasn't when it's family, it's like.
Yeah, it's too it's too close for you to really see.
If it's real or not if yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean but we kept we kept working for some years. Yeah, we wasn't. Yeah, well we was older, like seventeen eighteen, seventeen eighteen. Around that time, we was, uh, we wasn't even chiming in with him no more.
So.
We were just doing our thing in the streets. And like I said, we formed a group called two one three, which was our area code for all of California, like the southern California then. But we was inspired by four one five from the Bay Richie Rich, Yeah, Richie Rich.
Which is crazy because the same thing happened with them.
Where four and five the area coast our area coades split up in the Bay. Yeah, four and five only end up being San Francisco. And obviously then five one oh became Oakland, y'alls became Long Beach.
Yeah, three one three one oh was a round. Let me three one oh. It was before two one three was it? It was three to one oh, but it was l A was always known it was all, but then it switched to two one three, and uh so we we we took on that that whole, like we represent for everybody, comped and washed Long Beach, La Carson, San Burns, wherever the mass circle, and uh we just started doing demos and just recording them and passing them out to everybody like we would let people. They hear like that ship dope, So we dub it. You know, you had the double, except we double them boom, give them a tape, duble, give them a tape. And then Roger Clayton from Uncle Jam's Army gave us to start giving us a shot to get down in his club called the toe Jam. So we kept we used to go to the toe jam and just have a have a ball. Just he'd let us get on the mic. I'd get up there and start d jamming. I'll be up there like you drink whiskey, I drink wine. Come on, everybody's gangs to the time. Boom boom, boom boom, snoop star busting, but wama did it start busting? And uh, it was it was, it was live. We had so much fun. Uh, y'all on eighteen years old at this point, Yeah, seventeen eighteen right and up right around there. And we just kept just pushing all of them. And Quick inspired us as well. DJ Quick, So we was trying to get mixtapes out to push like he was doing. That's that's why we had a mixtape or a demo called A Long a Motherfucker. It's pretty much a mixtape. So we just gave that to everybody. So it started bubbling, like every everywhere like bubbling, and we just we just wasn't getting a chance from nobody. So just on a humbug. I hadn't seen Drey in it like in a while, like it was a long time, so I hit him up. You know, I was like cause I used to hang. I used to kick it with him, you know when in the n w A days, I'd go hang out at the studio with him and everything and watching them work and uh, and I'd be right back to doing what I'd do back over here. Uh. Or was that after let me see No, No, that was that was that was around that time, And so I asked him one day, you know, I became tight with with uh with uh l A well, actually I called Dre and he he was like, hit l A Dre. I'm having a bachelor party. So I hit l A Dre and he told me how to get there. I think it was at the Bonn Event trip. I'm not mistaken. So I went, me and my homeboy gangster Ride and uh Kenny Mack. We had all we jumped into r X seven and I had one person had the ride in the hatchback. So we mashed up to the uh to the uh the bachelor party. Uh in the bachelor party every day playing some dope music, and it kind of like started getting like like they was running out of music. So I told Dre. I told L A Dre, I said, can I pop this tap? And he was like, go ahead, some music. Go ahead, so I popped it in and he played it when he and when he played it, everybody started dancing and was bobbing and ship. He was like, damn, this ship is dope.
Who was this?
And I was like, that's me Snoop and my homeboy Nake Dog. He was like, damn this ship bang. He said, have you let Dre hear this? I was like no, so he called Dre over. It was like, Dre, you need to listen to this ship. So when he came over and he uh Drake came up with listened. He's like, damn that shit hard. He was like, that's y'all. I was like yeah. I was like I was saying to myself, nigga, I've been trying to tell you that that were hard with Vicious, but you don't want to listen. So so he was like, y'all come to the studio.
Was immediate.
Yeah, he said, y'all come to the studio on Monday. Actually he said come to the studio on Monday. So at that time, I was pissed off of Snoop because he would go work with all these off brands instead of meet him and Nate work and he'd be doing shit on his owner. It was pissing me off. So we was kind of at it at that time. So I called him anywhere. I was like, Snoop, I just talked to Dre and he wants to come to the studio on Monday. He was like, nigga, fuck that shit.
Nigga boom.
He hanged the funnel because he had a Snoop had a nasty ass attitude back then. He'll make you want to socking and uh, he'll hang up on you like this motherfucker. So I called him again and uh he answered and and uh he was like, uh, nigga. I said. I said, Snoop, just please just chill. Just let me call him on the three way. So I called him. I called Dray on the three way and Dre was like what's up? I said, Dre, would you tell Snoop that you want to succumb to the studio on Monday. He was like, yeah, I want you to come to the studio on Monday. He was like, who was this? He he's like this doctor Dre. When he said that, this doctor Drake, because you know that's it, that's the he was like, oh ship. He was like Dre. He was like, oh, ship. He was like, it's like yeah, like we'll be there. So that Monday, we uh with my homeboy Rump. We jumped in his his bucket. You know one of the time where you get to the light and you got to put it in apartment.
Yeah.
Yeah, we got to the light.
We got to the light man. So we did that all the way to Hollywood. We didn't even get on the freeway and uh.
Hell long beach to Hollywood.
Yeah, the streets, the streets, it was cool. Easy, it was easy, routes all the way up.
I'm gonna be a hundred, keep it a hundred.
Working with Warren and Harold was like working with like Beg cousins. Yes, working with the underdogs was like working with It was more. It felt a little more corporate, it a little more.
It was like, ok, it was yeah, you know what I'm saying.
I was like, we're still making great music, but it felt more mechanical.
But it was still great, you know what I mean.
Shout out to those guys, you know what I'm saying, and what they've contributed to the passion, the pain and the pleasure of.
R and B.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
But yeah, man, it was that was you know, this was like artist development for me.
You know, I may work with all those great people because it's like you, you're.
Working with the great.
Remember I remember singing Troop records in middle school, you know what I'm saying, And working with Little Steve on those records was I didn't even know at the time, like I'm working with little Steve. I didn't learn that until later two three years later. It was just like my life. I'm like, this is it's like a great Gaspie. This is like a fairy tale, but it's so real, you know what I'm saying.
It was crazy.
I think from the outside looking in when you first came into the business, I feel like you put niggas on notice because there was a gap with especially young artists. Yeah, singing the way you came out singing, it tripped. It tripped us out in the industry because by the time, because you when you crack two thousand and.
Two, two thousand two the first time.
By that point, I'm already established a rider. I'm already in the game. We're doing what we're doing. Shit, we've already done that. We already started the underdogs. So we're seeing everything that's coming through you know what I mean, because that's the other side of the business, right, Most artists just look at it like oh yeah, I'm such and such. But it's like, you know, I just sell ten of y'all.
Right, right, like literally that system right, it's like yeah, y yeah, yea, you good little nigga.
But records.
But but when we saw you, when we saw you, this is real shit, bro, When we saw you as like, oh shit, they really signed little niggas that can really sing, man, right, Like that was that was.
You know, I mean, I'm a grown man at this point. I'm already you know. I mean, I'm twenty twenty one, so I'm like, yo, that little nigga. I was like, Okay, I see the other team that we just did them little privleged songs on.
He's sanging though, thank you, bro, right, And I think that was something that I and I'll say shout out to Clive and shout out J Records for letting you still be a singer for sure, and then Harald and Warren finding the space of you making young music that was classic though. That was right, It was like because the original that's the thing that happens when you see the young artists, You're like, fuck, okay, what are they gonna sing?
Right?
Where are they gonna sing too? I mean, but you how does it not be just popcorn?
Right right, right, facts facts?
But it was also though that I was also very authentic and I had like I had real edge, like there was and which it was like you didn't have to make up the soul, you didn't have to make up the pain, like sometimes it take pain to really have that.
So you know what I'm saying.
I think that that was what and that is what makes my voice special when I'm on the right songs right because I cut a lot of different records, but the right songs with the right writers and the right producers like it just there's something that cuts through that's more authentic. And I feel like that's a import in for for for labels today to understand like where is the artist creating from? Where are we creating from with this artist? How do we When we went back and did justin Friend and I put that fifty two jersey on with ray Lewis, it was like a real thing for me. It was like no, this, I gotta wear this one where I'm from you know what I'm saying, I gotta wear this, but it has to be baggy, and I have to have on baggy pants and I have to have on air force from you know what I'm saying. And it was like I wasn't in And I think that over the time, that's that got lost, you know, with me being signed, because it was like, okay, now it turned more manufacturing.
Yeah, and you know what I'm saying.
We still made hits, We still but it was like I start feeling myself not feeling like, Okay, this is not me no more. It's like it's not now. It's like, Okay, how do we dress them for this? How do we It's like damn, Like that got lost over the course of every album, the next album, because then they started shifting because.
Coming in as a child star, there's a lot of questions because a lot of people don't cross that transition. What they don't cross from from being a boy perfect, right, Like that is it?
That is?
That is that's the That's the greatest way to say it. Yeah, a lot of people get stuck facts. So trying to figure out, Okay, well, who is this young man? Now we signed a young boy got a young boy. Yeah, okay, yeah, you got your bagg of this, and but you don't live in Baltimore no more either at this point.
And now it's like, okay, you've been moving.
Back though lead you on my second After my second album, I moved back, Yeah for sure, but it wasn't he but it never left me.
Bro Like, I get what you're saying.
You're right, but I think what happened is that there was a lot of changes in the building and what it was like after my first album. That's like early two thousand, so really technically it still feels like it's late nineties right to.
A certain degree.
Music they still they still think tank it the nineties.
It's like.
It's crazy.
It's like, nah, nigga, that's not what's going on right now.
Beyonce in the video, Yeah, but.
See nobody knew who she was, didn't really they were. They was new right right right now. It's a stroke of brilliance. Yeah, that was a stroke of braids. But for me, we wanted we wanted somebody for the video. If you remember back then, people had.
Known people videos.
He's like, who could we get like and that that's everybody was in somebody else's video, so I wanted somebody knew.
So it's like, Nia long know she's in there. So we're going through the list. We're like, we got to figure out something.
And I was in JoJo's office and BT, one of BT shows was on and the video with wy Cleff came on. I'm like, who's that, Jake, I don't know, we'll find out, go get her. And that's how it happened. So we called called down there. They wanted to hear the song, played the song and he's like, I bet she came up her her mom and pops a launch and Kelly.
Matter of fact, we had a three days shoot.
It was cool to three day shoot, three days shoot, three days, three day shoot.
I shot slowly, Yeah, for two and a half. Spent on the slowly video about seven hundred eight hundred yeah.
Them long how much she spent happily ever after, I don't even know. I think it was about six something like that.
You know, it was seven six when I was talking about six thousands, about seven thousand, six thous talking about tape.
Yeah, tape, nothing digital, it's all tape. Yeah, you gotta pay for the actual tape.
The tape was running. Yeah, we blew up a building a whole bit. Reason, what do you mean?
I was actually he was slowly, why would you blow up? Because I was saying, he wrote slowly, Yeah, we blew it up.
We used the stunt man from the Matrix.
Yeah, the actual stunt men almost cut my finger off with the wire, the hanging wire when I.
Need my Ninja kick kicked me.
I'm hanging med air balentine in the middle of a warehouse.
I was like, okay, go listen to the lyrics so slowly, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and didn't think about all.
The dumb shit fucked up this was going on.
Don't lose her fingers slowly, that's fucked up. Take off your medication.
That look at my hand, she ain't is gone.
You're gonna join in on this ship.
It's easy, a whole bunch of roses.
Yeah, hero.
Right, cool.
It was part of a real it was part of my real.
It don't worked out, though it works out.
And.
Now he wanted to know why I ain't never seen the royalty. Not for that. No, I'm saying, you know I'm seeing royalties.
Now, you know.
That's all the matters those days were just wow that you were like, it was normal, customary. Absolutely if you if.
Your video wasn't at least a quarter million, they didn't care about you.
Right, And then it got to a point where people was trying to top each other.
Right once Missy came with the million dollars her and Buster ryans million dollar videos.
I remember I was on the set for Buster when he did the video with Janet Yeah, and we was like, it's like, yo, this video costs.
I think it was like two million and something crazy, like wow.
Wow dollars, two dollars dollars and I think touch Me Teach Me video only costs maybe maybe a hundred and Brett Ratner shot it. Brett Ratner was directed to touch Me TV. It didn't cost it cost nothing because it was real simple, right, But yeah, we were spending money on it. In hindsight that I guess it didn't make too much sense, but it made so much sense at the time.
But then this was part of making the star.
Yeah, this is part of it.
It's like we're making movie stars entertain it's necessary.
Video move the needle. Yes thanks to Michael Jackson.
Yeah, yeah, you had a fire video that could change the complexion of your song at radio and all.
Of that, and just in general just for the consumer, because there isn't plenty of times I saw I heard a song and I was like, you see the video, Like now, wait a minute, this is kind of you know what I'm.
Saying that and that happened. That happened sometimes, So how.
Was it being signed to a rap label?
Yeah, as an R and B R because yeah, you can.
Say, okay, yeah, they was talking about the R and B d and makes it, but you're still an R and B singer at the end of the day.
And this is historically very much so.
It was. It was.
It has some trying times because the sensibilities between hip hop and especially a hardcore hip hop label and R and B. Sometime they didn't get it and sometimes you can't really explain it to them. Other times they would listen to the people that they had in place that did get it. But there were there were definitely times when it was stuff that we I think, I feel like we should have did things that we could have done that didn't happen because they didn't get it. They didn't get it, Yeah, and that that's the only downside to something.
Did you did you find you know, because Tank talks about this because you kind of have one of those names too, even though your real name is actually Case, you have a name.
That is not.
R And either way it can go.
You know what I'm saying, Like, you don't know if Case is a rapper, you don't know if are So did you have that early on too where they were putting you on these shows, especially because your first record came with a rapper too, Yeah, where you're like the only R and B guy and it's you method man, and you know what I'm saying, Like.
But yeah, because I think we did a lot of the nutty professor stuff together, so Me, Foxy, jay Z, State Property, all of all of them dudes, and it was it was, it was the worst I see. I remember one time we had a show in at the Paramount Theater. You might have been there. It was Little Kim Biggie, somebody else, Me and Aliyah and I'm.
Like, who did this?
I'm like it was probably like this is like ninety six Nope, okay, I'm like who did this?
Like, I mean it was all rapless, like it might have been like mob Deep. I'm like, who put me in? The le on this show, yo.
Like so it was a lot of that, Like we would do like homecomings like Delaware State and stuff, and it's all them homecomings. Yeah, we did all them, super wrapped out, super wrapped out.
Once again, thank you for tuning into the Black Effect Podcast Network. Seeing you in twenty twenty five for more great moments from your favorite podcast.
