Yes indeed! My latest interview mixtape, STORYTAPE #3 – Posse Cuts, is finally here. Listen to a collection of some of the most legendary posse cuts in rap history while you read the stories behind them, featuring interviews with ten undisputed hip-hop legends I had the honor of speaking with back in the ’10s. It’s the third release from my STORYTAPE archival series. Let’s go!

SIDE A

Wu-Tang Clan “Protect Ya Neck”

Raekwon: That one right there is definitely a classic song. It’s one of my favorites. That’s really my first time of hearing eight cats on one record, number one. That’s the introduction of our careers right there. That record definitely made the biggest statement for us.

That record was put together crazy. When we got in the studio it’s like we were rhymin’ to another beat. That’s how RZA works. He may think of something right after he makes the beat and go back and re-tweak the beat though. I didn’t rhyme to that part of the beat when I was rhymin’. It was just a different bounce, but at the end of the day, it was definitely just one of the illest songs ever made in my eyes.

It wasn’t no order. When you hear us say we witty and unpredictable it’s for reasons like that. Only because, we understand RZA’s a beat maker, but at the same time RZA is a composer, so he was just playing with things and trying different things. So that was really scrambled together as a record. Like, probably the only one that was there with him helping him co-produce at the time was Dirty if I’m not mistaken, ‘cause Dirty had a lot to do with the production back then off the first album.

Being from Staten Island, the forgotten borough, this is what gets us excited. This is what makes us feel like we underestimated or underrated, so it was about smashing anything and everything that come in our way, but we definitely wanted to be heard the right way.

Main Source ft. Nas, Joe Fatal, and Akinyele “Live At The Barbeque”

Large Professor: I always had that drum loop, the “Nautilus” drum loop. People sampled that record a lot, but to be right there with it, and just get the drums out of it without all of the bells and all of that, at that time, it was amazing. Like, “Oh shit, you got just the drums out of ‘Nautilus’?” It was tough.

We had recorded all of the album. The album was done. And we had this last song to do. It was the last session. This was it. We had tried to hook it up other times. Nas said a rhyme on it when we were at another studio, but it just never really came together. There was another studio that we were working at, and it was like we were trying to get a little extra in at the end of a session, and I threw it up, like, “Yo Nas, see if you got anything for this.” So he put something down, and I’m sure it was tough, but the whole idea of it just didn’t come together.

But this session, I threw the bassline in the beat, and we were all there. Times before, it was like, we were just practicing when I would throw that beat up, because it was just the drums. This time, it was like, “This gotta count.”

I wrote my verse right there. Fatal had a combination of dudes collaborating with him on his verse. Ak was always ready. And Nas, he always books and books of rhymes. So he took this piece of this rhyme, and that piece of that rhyme, and put it all together.

We used to wild in the studio. G Rap kind of started that with us. In the studio in general, dudes used to be on some real wild shit, getting their puff on and drink on, partying, the damn speakers blaring loud. That’s where that chorus came from.

It was crazy with “Barbeque” because, that was the last song, and so like a month or two later, the album was out. There was no in between time. It wasn’t like I had time to go around the way and play it for people. It was like, “We got it in the can, it’s good.” As soon as we finished that, we were mastering, and then it was like, it went straight to the radio. We were like, “Yo, this is it!”

For all of us in general when the album came out, it was crazy. And Nas was like a huge highlight on that joint. And then he started getting his shine on, with Bobbito and Stretch Armstrong, going up there and gettin’ busy.

I met Nas through Joe Fatal, and he had a friend named Melquan that he was getting up with. Nas wanted to record a demo for himself. His mother was funding him to go record a demo. And at that time, my name was kind of ringing bells, like, “Yo, there’s this dude out in Flushing that’s making these crazy beats.” Fatal was putting that out there. So I had to show and prove.

One day, Melquan and Fatal set it up, and I was coming out of high school, coming down the steps. And them and Nas came by in the cab, like, “Yo, we’re gonna make that happen.” So we jetted back to the crib, I got my machine, and jetted all the way out to some studio Sty In The Sky Studios in Coney Island, Brooklyn. I made the beat right there, and we recorded the demo. I forgot the name of it, but it was dope though. We had other demos from that time too that were ill, like “Top Choice of the Female Persuasion,” and “550 Fahrenheit.” But they never came out.

EPMD ft. Redman and K-Solo “Head Banger”

Erick Sermon: I made “Headbanger” for Ice Cube. But I never got the chance to give it to him. That was the last song before “Crossover” was made. 

We were in the studio one day, and we needed a crew record. So I threw the beat on. And we started yelling. The session just went that way. The beat made you amped. I was just so aggressive. I was thinking about The Bomb Squad when I made that record.

We had it set up like a Temptations thing, with the four mics set up. Just screaming. It was hard to EQ that record because you had the leakage like back in the day. But we did it that way, and it came out fine and made it very exciting.

That studio’s not there anymore, Dave’s Rockin’ Reel. But we thought the album was done because we thought we had the single before “Crossover,” so we recorded that and just wilded out, thinking it was our last record. I don’t know where that came from. We were just yelling, and thinking about Onyx too. 

Russell and them wanted to put that out as a single. That record was huge. Because once the album came out, that was the record that was picked up. Plus, it was Redman. Reggie was the excitement. His “Headbanger” verse was like, “Yo, who is that?!?” 

Run-D.M.C. ft. Pete Rock & CL Smooth “Down With The King”

Pete Rock: That was a great opportunity. I thought I was dreaming actually, because I used to be a big fan of Run-D.M.C. I remember buying their records when I was only eleven years old. When the opportunity came about, I thought it was a great idea to help get those guys back on the charts. That’s what I did.

Jam Master Jay, R.I.P. man. He was the realest cat. He would show up at my mother’s house, unannounced, and when I would go to the front door and see it was him, I really, really, literally thought I was dreaming. He’d be like, “Come on Pete, let’s go finish working on the song.” I would hurry up and get dressed, brush my teeth, wash my face, comb my hair, and go across to the basement and start making music.

A Tribe Called Quest ft. Sadat X, Lord Jamar, and Diamond D “Show Business”

Diamond D: Skef Anslem was an engineer at Jazzy Jay’s studio on Allerton Avenue in the Bronx. That was home base. Jazzy Jay’s the one who put me on. I call Jay the teacher. I would just go up there and be up under him. He had all the breakbeats and original shit, and I was a beat head. So just to watch him put together beats here and there, it made me want to get my money up and get a sampler. 

I met Tip at first up there. We sat and talked about beats, and just connected. I told him I liked his music, and he said he was feeling my shit. We were both in Zulu Nation too, so it was that whole umbrella.

Somehow I wound up at Battery Studios that day. I didn’t come down there to work on the song, I just came through to hear them working on the new album. This was around that time where Grand Puba and Lord Jamar started having their friction, and I think Puba didn’t show up for the session. Tip said, “Yo D, if you got something, you can jump on here.” And I wrote it right there on the spot, and I kept my verse within the concept that Tip had on the hook.

Shout out to Stu Fine from Wild Pitch. I had a little gripe with Stu, but looking back on it, I should have been on top of my paperwork. Now that I’m older and wiser, I see that. But I definitely threw a rock at him on that.

It was definitely a good look. I already had my deal, but being on that album helped people know who I was. 

Lord Finesse ft. Sadat X, Large Professor, and Grand Puba “Actual Facts”

Large Professor: That was dope. Yeah, Finesse called me up, he was on Penalty. We were cool, we were always cool. He said, “Yo, roll through to the studio, I wanna put you on this joint.”

I came through to the studio, and Sadat was just finishing up his verse. Finesse was sitting there, and was like, “Yo, jump on this. You can write right now.” So I wrote my joint up, got in the booth, knocked it out. And I was like, “You like that joint right there? That shit was aiight?” And everybody in the room was like, “Hell yeah!” And I was like, “No doubt.” Nas was the king of that. He would be like, “Yo man, that was aiight?” And we’d be like, “Hell yeah!” We’d always be buggin’ even if he wasn’t sure if we would like it.

Then, Finesse dropped his rhyme. Puba wasn’t there, which is why I was like, “He’s probably somewhere out in Aruba.” He was always missing. That was a little inside joke.

Then, we did the video. That was nice, man. That was a booster for me, because that was in between projects, right when I was getting that Geffen project together.

D.I.T.C. “Day One”

Diamond D: That was a beat I had, and Show liked it. Then I played it for everybody, and everybody liked it. It was something we all agreed on. I don’t think everybody was there at once. It was built together in pieces. I do know I laid my verse first—next time I heard it, it was basically done.

The last time Big L came to my house, he had a magic marker, and he did a quick “Big L – 139th Street” graffiti throw-up on my wall. A week and a half later, he was murdered. So I cut it off the wall and framed it. Common signed it, and Hank Shocklee’s signature is on it too. That’s real special to me.

When any family member passes, there’s a lot of pain. I really don’t talk about it. But dude was one of the brightest stars. It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to see his record go gold.

Del The Funky Homosapien ft. Souls of Mischief “Worldwide”

Del The Funky Homosapien: That was basically like one of them joints where everyone gets a chance to spit. A lot of times, we’d be making shit, and there’d be hella heads there, and everybody would want to get on it. So we’d make room for everyone to rap on there.

Anything we were doing on the album was just a translation of what we were really doing, outside of making records. That was just a representation of what we did. We made hella joints like that, but that was just one that got out to the public. The job of recording shit is to capture what’s really there. So that’s really what we would be doing. And that wasn’t something we had before. We made that in the studio, even though we made it like we weren’t in the studio. It just happened to be that we were making a record at that time. 

I don’t think that much thought went into it. We were happy that we were making records, but we did it the same way as when we were making demos. We knew it was going to be for the album, but so what? We treated it the same way as if we were making a demo. But it was great that we were getting paid for it now. “For doing this shit? We do this all the time.”

Busta Rhymes ft. Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and Roc Marciano “The Heist”

Large Professor: My boy Rashad Smith, he came to me one day, and this was right after my father had passed away. And he said, “Bust wanna see you in the studio tomorrow.” I guess he had told Bust that my Pops passed. Everyone was cool with my father, because when they would come through to the crib, he would be there. Like he’d even be puffin’ Ls—you know, come in the room like, “What you boys doing?”

So Bust was like, “Yo, Rashad told me everything that was going on with you. Play me some tracks.” And that’s when he had the Wall Street studio, under the Brooklyn Bridge. And he would be going in between rooms, and I was playing beats, and he’d have one ear to that. He was truly multi-tasking.

So I played the beat for “The Heist.” And Roc Marc, who was Bust’s man from L.I., was sitting there with me like, “Yo, that shit is dope.” Roc kind of spearheaded using that beat for “The Heist.” He was like, “Yo, play that when Busta comes in.” Then Bust came in, and he was like, “Yo, play that shit again!” And I played it, and Bust was like, “Yo, lay that one.”

It was crazy, because there was an MTV Cribs where they were doing Wu-Tang Clan in Cali, and Bust is a visitor. And he’s playing “The Heist” beat. He’s like, auditioning it for them. Because when he first heard the beat, he was like, “Yo, I’m gonna get Ghost and Rae on this. Watch.” So I saw the Cribs shit, and he’s playing “The Heist” beat, and this is before the shit was done, so I’m like, “Oh shit. This is crazy.”

Next call was like, “Yo, come to the studio to mix this joint down. I got the vocals.” And that was it. To hear that, being such a Wu-Tang fan, it was crazy.

Heavy D & The Boyz ft. Kool G Rap, Grand Puba, CL Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, Pete Rock, and Q-Tip “Don’t Curse”

Pete Rock: That’s family. That’s where I got my start. Heavy D is my cousin, this is where it all began, ever since I was nine, ten years old. I’ve been DJing since I learned how to scratch at seven years old. My cousin Floyd, Hev’s older brother, taught me. 

They had a little crew called Classy Rock Crew, and I was the youngest DJ, but you know, I couldn’t really go out to the parties they were doing late night. But you could catch me in their basement trying to turn on the equipment and practice DJing. Me and my homie “Easy” Lee Davis, he would help me perfect my scratching, be on time, and make sure I knew the speed.

It was Hev’s idea to make that type of song. He used to make those type of fun songs. We used to always play around in the house and rap. But we had perfected our craft to a point where Hev was getting signed to major labels and putting records out. Hev came up with the concept, and it was his idea to get the people on it. He went out and got Kane, Q-Tip, all the people that were basically hot and on top at that time. He thought it was a great idea to engage them on the beat.

That was actually the first time I rapped on a record ever. I never used to write at all. I wrote “Don’t Curse” myself, but I didn’t consider myself a rapper. I didn’t feel I did too bad of a job writing that.

SIDE B

Ghostface Killah ft. Inspectah Deck, Raekwon, RZA, and Masta Killa “Assasination Day”

Ghostface Killah: I was going into a slump during Ironman. I found out I was a diabetic around that time, and I was just stressed out. My mind wasn’t all the way there. Certain joints I couldn’t really catch. Like the one I had with Masta Killa and Deck and RZA and them on, “Assassination Day.” I couldn’t catch it. I let it live, but like, “Fuck it, I’ll back out of that one,” and kept it moving.

To me, Ironman is dark. “After The Smoke Is Clear,” and the last couple songs at the end. Even the Mary joint. It’s down. Even “Assassination Day.” They’re dark. And I was mad as a motherfucker, but I couldn’t do nothing about it after it was wrapped up. They were like, “Yo put it out there.” Then Nas came with I Am.. after that, and he had nice, colorful joints. But it was what it was.

LL Cool J ft. Keith Murray, Prodigy, Fat Joe, and Foxy Brown “I Shot Ya (Remix)”

Fat Joe: That shit was the craziest collabo. LL Cool J was my idol. He was working in the next room with the Trackmasters. This is when I was doing my second album. And Tone from the Trackmasters came to my session, and heard my second album with “Fat Joe’s In Town” and all that. And he was like, “Oh shit, you’re killin’ it. I’m doing this remix for LL, you wanna jump on that?”

He played me the beat, and I was like, “Oh my God. What the fuck?!?” I just went crazy on it. And LL Cool J was the biggest nigga on earth, so I was hoping he kept my verse on there.

That song was legendary, because that was the first time anyone heard Foxy Brown. Her swag was out of control, with the “ill ta-tas” and all that shit.

Everyone was together at the video. It was incredible. And I had Pun on the left of me, and Armageddon on the right. That was the first time the world ever saw Big Pun.

That beat was so hard, and it was LL. At the end of the day, with no disrespect, it could’ve been just me and him. But nah, Keith Murray was the hardest nigga out. Prodigy killed it. It was stupid.

LL Cool J ft. Method Man, Redman, DMX, and Canibus “4,3,2,1”

Erick Sermon: That record was originally done by Trackmasters. But I didn’t like that beat. The beat was a club record. So I said to Kevin Liles, “Give me the record. Let me do something with it.”

Nobody was in the studio when I made that record. The rhymes were already down, but the order of the rhymes was wrong. I put Red and Meth together, then DMX afterwards.

I used the same beat as Busta Rhymes “Put Your Hand Where My Eyes Can See.” All I did was change the bass line. The shaker, the high hat, the kick, the snare is all “Put Your Hands.” Everything was moving the same way. None of the Trackmasters beat is in mine. Their beat was a loop of an old ’80s record.

Then, after I remixed it, and LL heard Canibus’ verse, he did a different verse. He had another verse before that. That was part of the record, as far as them battling, but I just put it together how I thought it should sound. And it became a smash hit record.

DMX was dangerous. I heard him already on the Cam’ron record. I knew him, but I met him and Ja Rule afterwards. I knew Canibus, because he wanted to be Def Squad. He used to say “Def Squad” in all his interviews. He was down with us. He’s on Murray’s album. Before he got with Wyclef, he was with me. But it never went. The Lost Boyz had him under contract, and there was a whole big thing. But he was shouting Def Squad for a long time in the beginning.

*IP Note: Master P appears in the video version as well.

DMX ft. The LOX and Jay-Z “Blackout”

Jadakiss: We were heavy Ryders now. We got off Bad Boy, we’re home sweet home with Ruff Ryders, able to ventilate, say anything we want, comfortable in our skin. We were going to Cali for a month, or a few weeks or so, for a video or something. I know we were going to be over there recording. And that was the first song we got in there.

Once we put the beat up and we’re writing, it’s whoever. I may have finished first and said, “Let me go in.” That always brings inspiration in case someone can’t finish, or they’re stuck in the middle. After I lay it, that usually gets the kinks out for the other two or whoever else is on the song. We’re able to generate and make the chemistry like that. 

When I like the beat, I write on the spot. Sometimes if don’t really like it, or it ain’t clicking, it may take me a few. But for the most part, for the last ten years, everything you hear came right there.

Hov was moving around touring. If you hear his verse, he was kinda sick. We were catching him in transition before he went to London. And X was already in beast mode. Second album right? Yeah, he had the fire under his ass.

Jay-Z ft. The LOX, Sauce Money, and Beanie Sigel “Reservoir Dogs”

Erick Sermon: Well, my boy Pop had the idea to use the Isaac Hayes record. He took the record to Rockwilder, and Rockwilder put whatever he thought was dope on there. Then, they brought it to me. Then I went to Mirror Image and did my beef-up to it too. So, the original came from really all three of us. 

I was in the studio across the hall from Jay-Z. My boy Bernard went over there and said, “Yo, Erick made something for you last night.” Just lying to him, whatever. And there were two records of mine that he did. 

One was a Maxwell beat that was looped, and that one. He rhymed on both of them. The other one never came out because Maxwell didn’t clear the sample. So there’s a record out there that’s dope that we never heard before. I don’t have it, because that studio—I forget what studio it was, but it’s shut down. Doesn’t exist anymore.

I was there for the session. That’s why he’s saying at the end, “Put some more beat on that joint!” But the song was already five minutes long. Nobody makes records like that anymore.

I didn’t know everybody. I didn’t know The LOX, or any of those people like that. But it sounded dope the way that it came out. They just kept playing it over and over and over again. I didn’t see everybody rhyme, just Hov. 

Nobody knew that was going to be a big album. Nobody. People were very skeptical about that record blowing. Hard Knock Life blew Jay. But Jay even said on the intro that he was going to pass the torch to Bleek. Hov was already frustrated about what happened to his last album. He was mad. So that Hard Knock Life record took him to where he’s a billionaire now.

“Reservoir Dogs” is phenomenal as far as posse cuts. And “4, 3, 2, 1.”

Jadakiss:  We were just flying in from a LOX show and we landed at LaGuardia or Newark or something, and they called us like, “Yo, Jay-Z wants y’all on his album.” We went to the studio with our luggage. That’s when we first met Sigel. He said, “This is Beanie Mac” and told him to rhyme for us. So we smoked some weed, listened to him rhyme for a while, then laid “Reservoir Dogs.” At that point, we were really feeling ourselves, like we them cats. We were expecting calls.

There’s always competitive air in the room, but the peculiar thing about that was that only me, Beanie, and Sheek laid our verses. I’m not sure if Sauce Money did. But Styles came back the next day or the day after, and I don’t know whenever Hov laid his verse. So it’s never all the way fair unless everybody lays it right there. There’s some sort of cheating going on. But it’s all good.

Fat Joe ft. Nas, Big Pun, Jadakiss, and Raekwon “John Blaze”

Fat Joe: That was a classic collaboration. It was around the time when everyone was getting together. N.O.R.E. came after that with “Banned From TV,” and his shit was crazy too. I just wanted to get the nicest niggas in the game.

Also, Pun was behind that. Pun was like, “We gotta get Nas and me on the same track.” He wanted to get his favorite rappers on a song and go crazy. So we had Jadakiss, Nas, and you know I always got Rae. We all got together.

To me, Pun had the most legendary verse. “Even if I stuttered, I would still sh-sh-shit on you.” That shit was crazy! Everybody was in the studio. Nas was there. I think Busta Rhymes was there, just hanging out. It was fun.

We’ve always been fans of Jadakiss. He’s hot now. I just dropped a mixtape with a song with Jadakiss. He’s one of the best that ever did it. We got him on board, the young gunner. And he went crazy.

Then Raekwon starts off his shit like, “My sons cool out, don’t beef yo….” Rae was like, “It sounds like everybody’s battling on this song.” That’s why Raekwon came on like, “We all family. Why is everybody sounding like they’re taking this personal?” 

Nas did change his verse like two or three times. But I never heard it again. I never thought anybody ever heard that. I thought that shit was like, lost. We flipped the beat too. We wanted to change it up.

N.O.R.E. ft. Big Pun, Cam’ron, Jadakiss, Styles P, and Nature “Banned From TV”

Jadakiss:  I think N.O.R.E. or somebody from his camp reached out to me for that. Sheek was in Puerto Rico at the time, and me and Styles just went down there and did the in and out thing.

I write it and get the topic or whatever, and then we lay it with blanks. He’ll go in or I’ll go in first and lay it with spaces, like I’m spitting a rhyme with holes in it, and then he goes in and finishes it. We perfected that now. We used to go in there with two mics set up and rock it like that. Now we leave the spaces, because we don’t have the flexibility to just hook another mic up.

It had that feeling. The Swizz beat was up-tempo, and you already know N.O.R.E. is a ball of energy. You know, Nature, N.O.R.E., Pun, The Lox, Cam, you can’t really lose. I listened to all of their music, but yeah, Cam is my homeboy, Pun was my homie, Nature, all of them. That was just easy. It always makes it easy to work when you got a relationship.

Pete Rock ft. Prodigy, Ghostface Killah, and Raekwon “Tha Game”

Pete Rock: That was from me being on the label, on Loud, and everyone hanging up at the Loud office. Up there, there was a lot going on. Pun, Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang—it was actually the best rap roster at that time. And I was grateful to be a part of that. I used to always be up at the Loud office. 

One day, Raekwon was up there, and we just kicked it. I played a couple of beats, and we figured out that I would use him, Prodigy, and Ghostface on the song.

There’s not really a story behind the beat. I just heard the loop real quick and put it down. Everybody killed it, nobody more than anyone else. That’s why the song is so historic. Everyone is on one level. People were blown away.

Prodigy, KRS-One, Method Man, and Kam “Bulworth (They Talk About It While We Live It)”

Muggs: Bulworth approached me to do something for the movie, and they wanted a posse cut. And they were like, “Who do you want?” And I was like, “Why? I can get anybody?” At the time, we were getting $100,000 for a song. The budgets were ridiculous. So I was like, “Prodigy I’m feeling. KRS-One for sure. And Method Man.”

Prodigy wasn’t in the studio, so I sent the reel to him. Method Man and KRS-One recorded the same day in New York. KRS ripped it. Then Method Man came in and sat down and did his vocals. That was the first time I saw someone do that, sitting on a high-ass stool, spitting.

The last verse was supposed to be somebody else. I can’t remember who it was. But we ended up getting Kam, a west coast cat to kind of juxtapose it. He came to New York and did the vocals. It ended up working out really well.

I did a remix that didn’t end up coming out, but it was sick. They changed the song title, because originally it was called “Fuck a Rap Critic.” The label was scared to do it. So we called it, “They Talk About It While We Live It.” Method Man said that line on “How High”—it was a good line.

The Notorious B.I.G. ft. The LOX “Last Day”

Jadakiss: We were still pretty much in the hood, probably like a nice day like today, chillin’ on the block. We get the call, “Yo, y’all gotta go down to Daddy’s House, B.I.G. want y’all on his album.” Everybody’s looking around like, “What?!?” I guess we hopped in a cab, or whoever was driving, however we had to get there. 

The whole Junior M.A.F.I.A. and B.I.G. was there. It was a beat produced by Havoc, so the beat was already knockin’. B.I.G. was like, “What y’all wanna do with it?” We just sat there, smoked, drank, and it came out. 

I had another rhyme before the actual one that was on there. I said it to B.I.G., he was like, “Nah, I need you to come harder for me.” Alright. Went in there, and wrote that right there, and that was it. It was beautiful being in the studio with B.I.G. And then to actually be able to record with him for his album was like a super honor.

That was a self-accolade for us. We felt we made it once B.I.G. told us we were nice anyway. Like, “Yo, y’all got it.” That was the push out to the world that we needed.

Special thanks to all the artists and publications that made these interviews possible.

Check these out too: STORYTAPE #2 – Fly Features and STORYTAPE ’95.

Yo! I’m back with a brand new STORYTAPE, baby. This interview mixtape features a crazy collection of hip-hop legends sharing the stories behind some of the most classic guest appearances on rap records of all-time, as told to me between 2011-2019.

Enough setup. Let’s get into it. STORYTAPE #2 – Fly Features!!

SIDE A

Jay-Z ft. The Notorious B.I.G. “Brooklyn’s Finest”

DJ Clark Kent: Basically, I was an A&R on Reasonable Doubt. We all were. That was our album. We all did it together. It wasn’t a credit or anything that I got. It was a team of people making records. You would go to every studio session. So when Premier’s doing a record, you’re all at D&D. I think it was more for the amazement factor than it was like, “Oh, we need to be here.”  It was more like, “Wow, he did it again. Look, I’m telling you, he’s the greatest!” Plus, we were a crew, so we just went everywhere and did everything together. 

Yeah, so B.I.G. wanted the beat, but I said it was Jay’s. He was like, “Nah Clark, I want that record, that beat is for me! You give everything to this nigga!” That was his favorite words. But I’m like, “He’s my artist. What do you want me to do? You’re not my artist, you’re Puff’s artist.”

So B.I.G. knew I was going to the Jay-Z session after the Mad Skillz session which was when he first heard the “Brooklyn’s Finest” beat. So I’m like, “Just come to the studio and wait downstairs.” He wanted to be on it, and I wanted him on it, but they’re not friends yet. They don’t know each other. But I’m going to make this work somehow.

I go upstairs, and I record the track. And Jay goes in, and he does his verses. I remember the name of the record originally being “Once We Get Started.” Jay says it was “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” but he remembers the words “once we get started” involved in it. I think that was what the record was supposed to be called.

So he records it, and he comes out of the booth, and I go, “Yo, maybe you should put B.I.G. on it. And he’s looking at me like I’m dumb, like, “Why didn’t I say that from the beginning?” But his reaction was also like, “I don’t know homie, so how am I going to put him on the record?”

But then Dame is like, “We don’t know him, and I’m not paying Puff. Fuck that nigga.” And I’m like, “You know I’m DJ’ing for him, you know he’s my man, you know what time it is.” So Dame’s like, “Well, if you can get him, and he’ll do it for free, it’s all good. But if not, we ain’t paying Puff no money, fuck Puff.” So I’m like, “Yo, I gotta go to the bathroom.”

I go downstairs, and I bring B.I.G. up. I’m like, “B.I.G., Jay. Jay, B.I.G.” And everyone in the studio is looking at me like, “Oh, you’s a funny nigga. How you got the dude downstairs waiting?” But I knew Jay would be quick in the booth, so I knew he wouldn’t be waiting long.

Understand, when we were doing “Brooklyn’s Finest,” we were mid-album, so I was playing B.I.G. shit Jay had done way before so he could see how ill he was. So once he got to the point where he knew how crazy Jay was, he was like, “Yeah, I’d rhyme with this guy.”

So Jay was like, “Yo, play it.” And once we played it, Jay was like, “Yo, you down to get on this?” And B.I.G. was like, “Oh yeah, I’ll get on it.”’ So Jay says, “Yo Clark, let it play.” Then Jay walks in the booth and changes everything. Jay goes in the booth and does all of his verses differently. Some new, some different, but he left the spaces. Imagine him going in there going, “This is where I’m going to stop, and this is where I’ll pick it up.” And B.I.G. is there while he’s doing this. And he comes out of the booth and goes to B.I.G., “Are you ready?” And B.I.G.’s like, “What? No, I’m not ready. I need to take that home.” 

So he took the song home with the spaces in them, and two or three months later he came back and did it the same day I was mixing it. But we’re in the studio, and no one wants to do a hook. There’s no hook. And Jay is there too. And I’m like, “Jay, I need a hook.” And he’s like, “Just scratch something. Either you get it done or we don’t use it.” I’m like, “What do you mean? This has to get done. This is phenomenal.”

So I’m trying to scratch everything in the world that says Brooklyn. But it just didn’t sound right. The beat is five bars, and on the fifth bar of the hook, it goes, “Brooklyn, Brooklyn!” So I wanted to scratch that all the way through, but it just didn’t sound good. So I just used it for that part. But I had to think of different things to go in the four bars before it.

So Jay goes, “I’ll be back.” An hour goes by, and he doesn’t come back. Then B.I.G. disappears. Now it’s just Dame sitting in there. And I’m like, “What the fuck am I going to do?” So I just let the record play and play and play, and I start writing down lines to try to come up with a hook. And I did. So I went in the booth, and said the hook, and then I tried to make the engineer change the way my voice sounded as much as possible so it wouldn’t sound like me. It still sounds like me, but me personally, I hate the sound of my voice on the mic, so I wanted it to not sound like me. And I didn’t want to get ridiculed by Jay, because he’s going to kill me if I’m rapping on the song. 

So we go to mastering, and it’s done, and they listen to it one time and they go, “Yo, this shit is crazy! Yo, who’s on the hook?!?” And I’m like, “That’s me.” They’re like, “That ain’t you.” I’m like, “Okay.” But I’m lucky. There was dumb pressure, and I wrote the hook, and everybody loved it.

The sample is a song called “Ecstasy” by the Ohio Players. It’s my favorite song in the universe. I flipped it once before for Dame’s group The Future Sound. It was the remix to their first single, but it was just a one bar loop. It was good, but it didn’t feel like that. Plus, The Future Sound wasn’t Jay and B.I.G.

The song itself was a song that I made Dame and Jay and everyone in our crew like, because I played it every night. When I would DJ, I would play the whole original song. So one day Dame goes, “Yo, you should flip that shit again.” So I flipped it again. And that’s why he says he produced it and took a production credit. It was a great idea, it’s just you didn’t do shit. Get the fuck outta here. But I love Dame though. I want that to be clear. That is my ace.

Big Pun ft. Fat Joe “Twinz (Deep Cover 98)”

Fat Joe: I knew I had to do a song with Pun on his album. I also knew the world was bigger than New York, so we had to do a track that I knew they would play on the West Coast. When Snoop first came out, and him and Dr. Dre did that “Deep Cover,” that was the hardest shit. And nobody had fucked with it. 

So I said, “Yo Pun, let’s go back and forth on this bitch so I can introduce you to the game.” So we sat down and wrote it. Back and forth, we’re going in. Hard. We wrote it together. 

I ain’t bug out when he first said the “Dead in the middle of Little Italy…” rhyme. What happened was, that wasn’t even a rhyme. He used to play around and say that shit, just like he used to walk around going, “Packin’ the Mac in the back of the Ac, packin’ the Mac in the back of the Ac.” These were like jokes to him.

I had to argue with him to put ‘Dead in the middle of Little Italy…’ in the song. I was like, “That’s the hardest shit on Earth.” He was like, “Are you crazy? That’s a fuckin’ joke. Niggas will laugh at me. Are you serious?” Then he did it, and it was the illest shit.

Snoop gave us his blessing and came and did the “Deep Cover” video. And no disrespect, no one can ever say anything about that song. That shit is a body. Get the white sheets out. There’s no way around it. That’s a historic track. Legendary forever.

Mobb Deep ft. Cormega “What’s Ya Poison”

Cormega: I almost was on Hell on Earth, but the song didn’t make the album. It was called “Crime Connection.” That was a dope joint, but I don’t think they could clear it. So when the opportunity came for me to be on Murda Muzik, Havoc had a crazy beat, and I just made sure that I was gonna make the cut this time. It wasn’t gonna be my fault, because I was gonna go as hard as I possibly can. So I spit my verse, and I dug it.

I still didn’t know if the song was gonna come out, because, people don’t know, Mobb Deep makes numerous songs before they put out an album, and then some of them don’t make the cut. That’s why they got so many unreleased gems. So when it made the album, I was proud. Being on a Mobb Deep album was something I wanted to do at that time. The feedback that I get from that at shows—that’s one of the songs I still perform, and when I do that, people lose their mind.

There was an acapella with Prodigy talking to me, and then I just start spitting in the car. It was on the bootleg, but it didn’t make the album. But the song did, so I was happy about that. It was called “Deer Park” at one point, then “What’s Ya Poison.”

One of my favorite songs I ever did is “Killaz Theme” with me and Mobb Deep. Like, I can’t listen to that song once. That’s Havoc. That’s what you call producing. If you play “Killaz Theme” right now I’m gonna rewind it. And I don’t even like listening to my own shit. But that song is like, “Whoa.” 

A Tribe Called Quest ft. Large Professor “Keep It Rollin’”

Large Professor: That’s when Tip had his equipment in Phife’s basement. We used to just go through records. We would go record shopping, go to Phife’s basement, throw the needles on the records, whatever. So we would go through our batch of the stuff we got that day.

So there was this joint, and I looped it up. And my boy Tony Rome, and Yusef, they had looped it up a while ago, and I was like, “Yeah, that shit is hot.” But I never really knew what it was. But when I threw that record up there, I was like, “Oh shit.” Then Tip was like, “Yo, that’s dope!” Then I threw the drums to it, and it was cool.

I didn’t think they were gonna use it. It was crazy. He was like, “Yo, I’m in the studio, and I got that joint that you looped up. Come on, let’s rhyme over it.” And you know, we were going record shopping together while he was working, so it was like, I would hear the work he was doing in his sessions. He’d come through like, “Yo, check this out,” and play me “Lyrics To Go,” and I’d be like, “Yo, that shit is crazy.”

So I rolled through the studio. And I think at that time with Tip, he knew it was right when all the Main Source shit disintegrated. He was like, “Yo, just get it out. We got your back.”

Because I was really, at that time, going through a whole lot, with the breakup of the group, and just myself growing as a person, and now Nas is doing his thing, and like, “Oh shit, now I’m a solo artist.” So Tip was like, “Yo, just come roll with us for a moment.” That’s why all throughout that album he was kind of biggin’ me up, trying to get me to straighten up.

I was torn up over that Main Source shit. I hadn’t planned on being a solo artist. I was the one saying the rhymes, but it was still like, “Yo, scratch this,” or, “Yo, scratch that.” So “Keep It Rollin’” was nice, because it was pretty much like, “Yo, keep it rollin’, man.” For real.

That brought me to a whole other level. A lot of people were like, ‘Who is this guy?’ And then they’d go back to my Main Source stuff. 

I like The Low End Theory. I just like that time better. That’s when I was out in Jersey, and I’d be with the girls or whatever. And the girl, she would be driving me around. And I’d be like, “Yo, you ain’t got that A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory?” Next day, she’d have that shit like, “Yo, yeah, this shit is so dope!” All the girls I would be coolin’ out with, I’d be like, “You gotta get that A Tribe Called Quest shit.” That was a nice time.

And then musically, it had a lot of them “rock you to sleep” loops. “Verses from the Abstract” with the live bass. It was real ill. And then, even “Butter.” They were still tricky in Midnight Marauders, but The Low End Theory—and I was kind of involved in The Low End Theory,  because that’s when we really first started clickin’. He would let me hear stuff. I was there when he just had the drum loop for “Check The Rhime.” And he threw the other loop in there, and I was like, “Yo, that’s crazy!”

The Fugees ft. Diamond D “The Score”

Diamond D: Basically Wyclef reached out to me, and I gave him some beats, and that was one of the ones on there. I went out to New Jersey, and that was recorded in his grandmother’s basement. Him, Pras, and Lauryn, they were all downstairs. I laid the beat down, hung out for a little while, and then the next time I heard it, when I came back, it was recorded. And that’s when, at the end of the song, I got on there and spit my couple of bars. They asked me to spit eight bars. I felt like Pras, how he always has eight bars on their songs. Other than that, it was all love. 

They were humble, and they just came off of their first album which was considered a flop. But they had that big single “Mona Lisa,” so that kind of saved them, and they were able to finagle that into a second situation. On a bright note, it just goes to show that if your first joint doesn’t really do what it’s expected to do, if you stay focused, and keep your eyes on the prize, shit can happen for anybody. 

I love that Cymande album. I made those dudes half-a-millionaires from sampling that record. It was up until the paperwork got sorted out, and Cymande got their cut, rightfully so. When it was recorded, Wyclef didn’t clear the sample. So they came after us, and it was a big mess, but everything is sorted out now. I don’t even really like talking about it. Working with them was a cool experience, and I’ll just leave it at that. 

I definitely meant it when I said, “I’m the best producer on the mic.” There’s a few out there. I like Dilla rhymes, Black Milk, Pete Rock, Havoc, Alchemist, or of course Lord Finesse. I could go on and on. But, I mean, what MC doesn’t feel they’re number one anyway? I never heard anyone get on the mic and say, “I’m number two, I’m number two!” 

EPMD ft. LL Cool J “Rampage”

Erick Sermon: Parrish did that. I wasn’t there. I was sick. I wasn’t around though anyway, because Parrish and LL were friends, so sometimes they would hang out without me. And they happened to be in the studio that day, and they were in there rockin’. There are versions out there with them going back and forth without me on it. But the “Rampage” title came from Scratch. He thought the “Rampage” sample would be dope in there.

Russell Simmons told LL Cool J to get with EPMD. He was on, but Russell felt that he needed to be with EPMD. That’s why he came with us and got his swagger back. Nobody knows that part. But LL was on another way, and Russell felt he should be over there with somebody hot, and that was EPMD. So he befriended us, got out and used us, and then came out with Mama Said Knock You Out, and the album was phenomenal.

I think “Rampage” was dope. It was a record where LL and Parrish were secretly battling. People talk about that a lot. LL is a subliminal shot thrower. It turned out to be a great record. I wish I was feeling better. Even Lyor was like, “You sound horrible on that record.” But Parrish was like, “No, fuck that man. We keepin’ that record like that.” I was sick. The beat was up-tempo, so I should’ve been more like I was on “Headbanger.” 

We never performed that. The first time we ever performed that with LL wasn’t until 2009 at Hammerstein Ballroom for the Jam Master Jay memorial thing.

Gang Starr ft. Nice & Smooth “DWYCK”

DJ Premier: Nice & Smooth did a record called “Down the Line,” and they wanted to use the “Manifest” sample. So we did, and hung out with them at Power Play Studios. That’s how we met Bas Blasta, and everybody that was there that day that was on that record. So we said, “Let’s do one in return.” And we needed a b-side for “Take it Personal,” because doing records that weren’t on the album was a big deal back then. Public Enemy was doing it, Ultramagnetic was doing it.

But when we did it, we didn’t know it was gonna be such a big hit. That summer, it was running things! Daily Operation was already out, so the label was like, “Let’s add it on to the album and rerelease it.” We remastered it, added it onto the album, then they reneged and said, “We’re gonna pass on it and leave it as a b-side.” So we were pissed because mad people were buying Daily Operation looking for “DWYCK.” And it was only on 12”. People were like, “Fuck, I bought the album for that song.” I was like, “Damn, you don’t like anything else?” But that’s what they wanted.

So to fix that, when this album came out, we were like, “Let’s make it available this time so if anyone’s ever looking for ‘DWYCK’ on any of our albums, there’s an album that has it.” It wasn’t like, “Let’s capitalize and get rich off it now.” And where you put it is always important. I sequence everything. That’s my DJ mind. 

We made it in 1992. WC was here from L.A. And Don Barron from the Masters of Ceremony was here, because he was cool with Greg. I remember everybody laid their verse. Guru was wasted, and at first, we were like, “He’s gotta say his verse over.” Because he was just saying anything. “Eenie meenie miney mo.” “Lemonade was a popular drink…” “What the?” He was just all over the place. We were like, “His verse is the weakest.” And now when you hear it, everybody loves it!

I’ll never forget, Smooth B kept going, ‘‘Yo Keithie E. I left my Phillie at home.’ ‘Hold on, stop it. Okay, I’m ready.’ ‘Yo Keithie E. I left my Phillie at home.’ ‘Hold up, run it again.’ ‘Yo Keithie E. I left my Phillie at home, do you have another?” He didn’t even have the “I wanna get blunted my brother.” We did probably like twenty takes of that same line, then we were like, “Yo, why don’t you just come back tomorrow?” And he came back, and laid it in one take. And we were like, “Yo, we got a jam.”

We didn’t even have a title at first. But “DWYCK” was a thing everybody used to do, Biz Markie was very big on it. It’s like catching you with your pants down. You would mumble to somebody to get them to go, “What?” So you’d go, “Hey, did you see that dadadada?” And they’d go, “What?” And you’d go, “My dwyck!” [while you grabbed your dick]. So we just called it “DWYCK” because we had no title. Back then, everyone had t-shirts that said, “My Diiiiiiiiiiick.” That was the thing, so that’s how it came about. Flat out.

Black Sheep ft. Q-Tip “La Menage”

Dres: I thought it was so cool that Tip jumped on that with us, and I can definitely say that had much more to do with him and Lawnge’s relationship. Him and Lawnge were pretty tight at that time, and I think Tip was pretty impressed with Lawnge’s ability. 

Little known fact, Lawnge did the cuts on “Buddy.” And just on the strength, Lawnge also gave Tip a couple of beats that Tip wound up using. I’m not exactly sure at this point what records they were used on. They definitely went beat shopping together, and would exchange things, like, “Yo, check this out.” And I know that Lawnge hit him with a couple beats that found their way to records. 

They were much cooler than me and Tip were. I was kind of the outsider. I met everybody through Lawnge, but Lawnge met everybody through Red Alert years prior. Lawnge would come up to New York in the summers, and he met Red Alert. So Lawnge was in the studio with the Jungle Brothers during the making of their first album, and all kinds of cool stuff before me and Lawnge got back together. So Lawnge had a rapport with everyone already, and everyone was just getting to know me. So I’m not sure if Tip would’ve done it if I asked him, but Lawnge asked him, and he checked the track and the track was great.

When we were young in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, it was almost a form of a sexual revolution. It wasn’t as brash as it is today, where everything is, “Fuck fuck, suck suck, dick, pussy.” So it was kind of like we were walking on uncharted grounds to a degree, for us. And we were at a point where girls had a lot to do with our every day, back then. This is before cell phones, when you had to write down a phone number. So if you could get three, four, five phone numbers in a day, you were the man! You come out the club with five pieces of paper, and it was like, “You did your thing.”

So when we did this record, we were definitely trying to push the envelope, without question. And we were speaking to the fun times that we were having, even if it wasn’t a literal record. It was where our heads were at, like, “We are having so much fun in the pursuit of.” I’m not sure if anyone of us had a ménage at that point, but the thought of it was pretty dope. 

It’s funny, it seemed like the nastier a record was, the more the girls liked it. We thought we were pushing the envelope like, “Oh, girls are gonna have a hard time with us.” The girls were all over it, and we were like, “Wow!” I remember that. It resonated with women. It would be funny to guys, but girls were like, “No, I like that.” It was an awakening of sorts. Even to this day, the worse a song is, that’s the song the girls love. 

Pete Rock & CL Smooth ft. Grand Puba “Skinz”

Pete Rock: The last record we did for the first album was “Skinz.” It was the very last song. That completed the album. We walked out of the studio and it was snowing, and we were on videotape saying we finished the album.

Grand Puba’s family. When it’s family, it’s just a meeting of the minds. Like, “Let me get on that!” “Go ahead!” We were label mates. We were both on Elektra Records. He was right next door to Mount Vernon. We used to hang out in Lincoln Park, we used to be in New Rochelle a lot, in the projects, going to the football and basketball games. I used to do parties in the New Rochelle High School gym. 

Puba wrote my first two raps. We did “The Creator,” and he wrote “Soul Brother #1.” I got inspired to write hanging out with Grand Puba and Brand Nubian. He used to gas me up. We also did a couple basement demos that never came out in my house.

Outkast ft. Raekwon “Skew It On The Bar-B”

Raekwon: That right there really opened up the door for the South to come in hard body if you ask me. Like, when we made that record I can literally say nobody was listening to the South up in New York. Up in the East Coast period. When we did that record and they was playing it on the radio, everybody loved the combination factor that was there. And me, why I done the record anyway from the door was because I get a lot of love from the South, too. Wu-Tang gets a lot of love in the South, so for me to be fans of these cats and they kinda got their own style, I kinda like appreciated them a lot. 

One day I was walking through the mall and I seen Big Boi. I think we both were going to buy some jerseys or something. We were in Atlanta and we both bumped into each other at the jersey stand. So it’s like, “Yo, whattup kid?” “You live out here?” “Nah, I’m just visiting. But, I got a little something out here.” He’s like, “Yo man, we need to get up. Let’s do some things.” I’m like automatically, “No problem.” I’m in your city. You’re inviting me to come do something with you that’s not a problem. The love is there.

Then, once we got in the studio and I heard that beat and Andre 3000 went first I was like, “Yeah, my kinda shit!” And next thing you know we just went in and we just aired that shit out.

They already had the hook and all that so all I needed to do was just come in where they said, “Come in right here.” And, that was another quickie. “Deliver this through your audio…” You know what I mean, like, it was just flyin’ out and shit. And, once that record reached New York it opened up the door for the South.

I don’t even think when they made it wasn’t something that they was banking on like, “This is the way we gonna win New York.” That wasn’t the plan. It was a coincidence record, and it took off because they was doing pretty good where they was at anyway. So when that record came, all it did was it just showed a connection, and it really made me look real big.

That shit blew me the fuck up in the South. When I tell you everywhere I go, clubs, everybody? Everybody in the South knew that record, and it wound up being a situation like Nas being on “Verbal Intercourse.” Now Rae is on “Skew It On The Bar-B” in the South. So, while they blew up, I blew up too. So everything looked like a real chess move, but it was still coming from the heart. It was nothing that was premeditated.

Ghostface Killah ft. Jadakiss “Run”

Jadakiss: I was working on my album. They told me Ghost wanted me to be on his song. I was like, “Cool.” When I heard the beat, the beat was crazy. And then they told me RZA did it, you know, that’s always good for your resume, to bless one of the iconic producer’s tracks. So that was like a no-brainer too. It wasn’t about the money, it was about the legacy.

That’s where our relationship with Wu really started. It worked out good. The video was cool. Ever since then, we good. Right now Sheek and Ghost are working on an album, Wu Block.

I definitely have memories of being young running from the cops. I got memories right now of running from the cops! Last week! Nah, but that verse really came from me watching and having knowledge, just being able to put personal experiences and stuff that I’ve seen growing up in the hood into a sixteen bar verse that you can visualize.

Jay-Z ft. Memphis Bleek “Coming Of Age” 

DJ Clark Kent: Jay knew Memphis Bleek as a little dude in the projects, but he didn’t know he was a rhymer. Jay had this song all ready, and now he’s looking for the rhymer to go on it. It was going to be Lil’ Shyheim, that’s who he was going to get. Then someone told Bee-High and Jay that this little dude Malik—Bleek came from Malik—was spittin’. He was little, but we wanted to hear him because we wanted someone to be on this song.

So me and Bee-High sat with him in the projects and made him rhyme all day like, “Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, say another one, say another one.”  We wanted to believe he was actually an MC before we were like, “Here’s this song, get on it.”

Jay had the whole song laid out already of how he wanted it to be, and told him what he was supposed to do. Jay referenced it already, so he just had to do it. It’s just that he did it so perfectly.

It’s like he did it for cheeseburgers. He ate like twelve $1 cheeseburgers from Wendy’s. We were in my house, and he just keeps eating these cheeseburgers. We’re like, “Where you putting them? You’re like a buck o’ five.”

He was excited to be on the song, but once it was done, it’s like, “You’re here now.” You’re with us, you’re in it, you’re a part of it. Before the album came out, we were performing the shit. We took him everywhere. “Do these shows.” “Why?” “Because you gotta do this song.” And his parents were like, “Only if he’s with you.” We had to take care of him.

Large Professor ft. Nas “One Plus One” 

Large Professor: It was sad, man. It was sad for me. I kind of knew that they were getting ready to drop me. We were starting to go from different studio to different studio. They were like, “Well, maybe it’s the studio. Maybe it’s the engineer.” But it was like, “Nah, I’m good. I’m just recording my shit.”

So we were going to different studios, and that day I was at Battery. I was actually getting ready to record that, and then, all of a sudden, Nas pops into the studio. And I’m like, “Oh shit. What’s up?” He was really good at that point. That was right after It Was Written and everything, so he was good.

So he was like, “Yo, I’m here, man, what’s up? Let me hear what you’re working on.” And I was kind of like, “Yo, who told you to come here? What’s going on?” But either way, I’m like, “Yo, bust what I’m working with.” So I played it, and he was like, “Oh, that’s hot. I gotta write something to this.”

So he sat down and wrote. And I had my rhyme already, and was like, “Yo, this is the kind of shit that I’m talking about.” He was like, “Aiight, cool.” Then he laid it down, and it was me, him, and Grand Wiz in there. And I was like, “Yo, that shit is crazy.”

But that song is really sad to me, because I knew they were getting ready, and I was alone. Before Nas and Grand Wiz came in the studio, I was alone. I was for self. It was just crazy where I was. When I started working, I had a lot of people around. And it seemed like the people were slowly fading away. And now, I’m not at my studio, I’m at this other studio. It was kind of on some problem shit. Then Nas comes in, and he’s problem-free, like, “Yo, smoke heavily..” and that type of shit. And I’m sitting there ready to get dropped from the label! I was on some other shit.

That was a sad time for me, man. I love the song now, when I listen to it, and think about how I survived the times. But it always brings that back fresh. I know the listeners, they don’t know that part of it. But for me personally, that’s a sad one. But it was a nice joint.

SIDE B

Big L ft. Fat Joe “The Enemy”

Fat Joe: That’s one of my proudest songs ever. Big L was like my little brother. He was a member of the Diggin’ In The Crates crew. He was our baby brother. Finesse brought him in. Me and Big L spent a lot of time together, telling jokes, a lot of chilling. I used to mentor him.

Every time you’re rapping with somebody, it’s like a competition, but it goes without being said. I had just went Gold on Don Cartagena, and he was like, “I need you on my record, and I want you to know, I’m gonna rip you down, and take all your fans.” No one ever put pressure like that on me on a song! I’m like, “What, L?” He said, “I’m gonna take all your fuckin’ fans. You went Gold. I need them niggas.” I put my heart, and my best effort into that song. I tried my hardest, because Big L was basically like, “I’m gonna destroy you on this record.” 

Big L would have been a giant in the game. He was one of the best, most lyrical rappers. He was charming, witty, smart—a handsome kid. Real intelligent, an entrepreneur. He was about to get his own label deal. There ain’t no telling what it would have been for him. The sky’s the limit for him. 

Gang Starr ft. Jadakiss “Rite Where U Stand” 

Jadakiss: That was epic. I thought I was just going down to D&D to lay my verse. I got there, I end up laying the verse, then Preem was like, “Where you going man, I need you to do the hook.” I was like, “Come on Preem, I don’t be doing hooks like that.” But he was like, “Nah, I know you can nail it, just sit there for a minute and think about something.” So I went in there and did it. When the beat is knockin’, it really ain’t that hard. Plus he had the concept. He already told me, “The name of this song is ‘Rite Where U Stand.’” before there were any words. It was just a beat and Preem telling me the name.

I was cool with Guru. He wasn’t actually there, I think he was doing some other work at the time, because they were completing their album. But, it’s always an honor to be in the room with Premier. He’s a master, a jack of all trades. He’s a DJ first, a producer, but also just a hip-hop connoisseur. And when he tells you something, you gotta listen.

We did that on Conan O’Brien. Who’s the tall one? Yeah, we rocked Conan. It was cool.

Jeru The Damaja ft. Afu-Ra “Mental Stamina”

Jeru The Damaja: I don’t even know why Guru wasn’t on the album, to be honest. But at that time, you didn’t just make records with everybody. It was just with certain people. Now, the whole album be features. Dudes probably write one verse for every song. 

But back then, it wasn’t like that. It was about showing your merit. It’s my album. And Afu was just my right-hand man, that’s all. He was my sidekick. He wasn’t even rapping at first. I taught him how to rap. 

I got that idea because one of my favorite groups ever is EPMD. And they used to bounce back and forth. I was like, “Yo, I wanna do something like that.”

I’m still into all that. I’m a scientist, to this day. I’m a nerd. I’m just a tough nerd. Math, science, literature. I’m a fan of learning. When computers came out, I put computers together, all types of shit. Any type of knowledge out there, I wanna know.

To get the Rhyme of the Month in The Source?! Come on. That was props. It meant a lot. Every accolade I got meant a lot. As an MC, that’s what you wanted. The Source was the hip-hop bible. The Source meant more than Vibe and all that. If you had Rhyme of the Month in The Source, every MC, producer, record company person—they all knew about it. 

Erick Sermon ft. Redman “Freak Out”

Erick Sermon: Is that beat crazy or what? That shit is phenomenal! Yo, Double or Nothing is one of those records that people in hip-hop say, “Yo Erick, Double or Nothing was my favorite CD of yours.” Because those drums are real. Redman was like, “Boogie boogie to boogie to bang, boogie to back…” He was going in.

Cocoa Brovaz ft. Raekwon “Black Trump”

Raekwon: That’s my Brooklyn boys right there. I’m a big fan of the Cocoa Brovaz, Black Moon, all of them. I love their style. We all came in around the same time, too. And for me, for some reason I guess I was just the people’s choice. They called me in, “Yo Chef, could we get that?” “Of course, y’all Black Moon. Y’all Cocoa Brovaz, Smif-N-Wessun.”

So, we went in and we did that track. They had the name, the title. They called it “Black Trump” ‘cause I guess they felt like they were in their “Scarface” chamber and that was the part they liked, “Guess who’s the Black Trump.” They turned it into a hook so they felt like, “Aiight, if that’s gon’ be the hook then let’s get the Don on it.”

I just went in there and milked it. I loved where they were going with it, and I still feel like they were one of the best duo groups out there representing New York, and I was just excited to be a part of the movement. And, the record wound up coming out hot. We was flowin’ back and forth. It was a Brooklyn and Shaolin thing right then and there.

O.C. ft. Big L “Dangerous”

O.C.: We was in the click together, obviously. D.I.T.C. L was in between deals too at the time. Show and ‘Nesse had got him a deal with Columbia in high school, that’s when he put out Lifestylez. And after he graduated, things didn’t go the way they should have. Or maybe he was destined to be on that label. 

I seen this dude progress. He was in high school when he got his first deal. He was still a kid. So he graduates, his album comes out, gets a little fan fare or whatever. I seen him evolve from “Devil’s Son” to being on the radio spitting with Jay with Stretch and Bobbito. I’m like, “Yo, dude is a problem.” Lyricists know each other. And you can’t sit in a room with Jay, if he opens his mouth, and rock with him if you wasn’t on top of your shit. But that’s the cloth we was cut from. Everyone had a book of rhymes, everybody could execute. 

But L, he was a problem. When he did “The Enemy” record with Joe, he said, “Yo, I’m gonna kill you on your own shit.” I seen him find his pocket, I seen him evolve. But now that I think about it, it makes sense. He was young, man. 

So anyway, I had to chase him around. “Yo, I got an idea.” He’s like, “I’ll be there, I’ll be there, I’ll be there.” He’s running around, doing things, starting Flamboyant. “Yo L, I got a check for you.” He’s like, “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” He’s funny like that. He was coming anyway, but I’m like, “Nigga, I got some money for you.” And he was there in twenty minutes. He’s like, “You got that in check or cash?” He was funny, arrogant, he’d get on your nerves, push your buttons. But we laughed, he came in, and did his part. 

He was on his grind. He was running out to Queens, chasing money. So I had to wait on him until the next day to do our back and forth parts. But the shit was magic, B. I was like, “You gotta come back.” And I lied to him and said, “I got some more bread for you, too,” just to make sure he’d come back. He came through on time, and stayed a little longer and did the back and forth shit. He was a quick writer. He was quick on his feet, on some Mayweather of rap shit. 

The original breakbeat I think is by Seventh Wonder. It’s a normal record that the DJs would play in the park jams. And I’m one of the cats that grew up on it. I loved it. I brought it to the crew, them niggas laughed me out the studio. “Get outta here with that shit. We D.I.T.C. We dig, we chop, we sample.”

Did the same shit with Walt, and he did the whole Santa Claus laugh with me too. And I’m like, “Oh word?” So I wrote him a check. Then he was like, “So when we going in?” I’m like, ‘‘Ohhhhhh.” But Walt is straightforward. He’d shatter your whole shit. He’s like, “I still don’t like the record.” I’m like, “I’ll rip the check up then.” He’s like, “Nah, nah, nah, nah. We gon’ make it work.”

And, like the dude he is, he didn’t take credit for it, but Preem did the scratches on that. Preem was a pivotal point on that record. 

That record got a lot of radio burn. “Dangerous” was on primetime radio. Fat Boy was like, “Yo, you need to do a video. What are you doing? You’re stupid, O. You have to do it, you have to maximize.” I’m like, “I’m not doing a video, Joe. I got no bread for it.” He’s like, “I’ll do it.” He was a con artist. He could talk a whale out of water. I should’ve listened to him, he was right. It would’ve maximized the album.

The Beatnuts ft. Large Professor “Originate”

Large Professor: Those are my dudes. I love The Beatnuts. We were in there just hangin’ out, going through beats and records. I was like, “Yo, y’all gonna be in here tomorrow?” And they were like, “Yeah.”

So I brought in that beat, and played it for them. They were like, “Aiight, cool.” So I laid it down, and we just bugged out on it. I was reminiscing on the days when we would be nabbing records from the record shops. A record would be like two million dollars, and we would just take it. That was kind of the subject matter, just the dudes that make the ill beats. I’m really happy with how that turned out.

Cormega ft. Large Professor “Sugar Ray and Hearns”

Cormega: I remember that, that’s fresh in my head. It was off the Legal Hustle compilation album. I was in The Cutting Room in Manhattan. J-Love played me the beat, and I’m the type of dude who likes to have my beats in advance. If I’m gonna work with your track, you’ll know, because I’ll have the beat way before I go to the studio. 

So I was in the studio, and I was knockin’ that out. And I told Large, “Yo, you need to get on this.” Large had just produced on my True Meaning album, but he didn’t rap on it, and I was hoping he would. I was like, “Yo, I want you to rap on this. People be forgetting you’re an MC too.” He was like, “Word Mega?” And I was like, “Word.” So we did it. He got on the joint, and it was short, and it was sweet, and people gravitated towards that, and it became what it is. 

Slick Rick ft. Raekwon “Frozen”

Raekwon: That beat was crack right there. Word, I think Rick let me pick that beat, too. This is definitely one of my idols so you know I’m a little nervous. I’m like, “Damn, I’m about to do a joint with one of my favorites!” So, I’m in the studio in the city reminiscing like I’m a little kid again.

I think he played a couple of beats and he’s like, “Yo, which one you think?” I’m like, “Yo, this nigga giving me the opportunity to pick the beat?” So I’m like, “I like that one a little bit better.” He had all kinds of beats. He had Tarzan-sounding kinda beats where he was just doing his voices.

I’m really in there studying this cat like I wanna see how he does this shit. And it was kinda like to me paying homage to one of my idols real quick. And we just went in there and we decided to go back and forth, ‘cause I like shit like that.

When you doing shit with artists that you fuck with, you tend to try to do something different. So we basically were just rhyming, and I was more or less being a fan in the mix of doing what he wanted me to do. To be able to sit there and watch Slick Rick work, it was more of just an experience for me.

He was like, “Yo, just do eight real quick, and then I’ma come back and do eight, then you come back.” I’m like, “Word, that’s how you want it? Aiight, let’s do it like that.” So I had to make sure there was a certain bar that I had to stop at and then he was gonna come in and do his thing.

I was just groupied out right then and there. I’m not even gonna front. I’m like, “Yo, I’m with my nigga.” So while I’m focused on the song I’m thinkin’ about, “Damn, I went to Union Square and heard ‘Mona Lisa.’” That’s what was going on then. It was a fun time.

That record allowed me and Rick to become real good friends. To this day me and Rick still keep in touch. That’s my dude. Just recently he had a birthday party and they called me and I came out and brought the cake to him. Good brother.

EPMD ft. Redman “Hardcore”

Erick Sermon: I met Reggie at Club Sensations in Newark, New Jersey. Reggie was DJing for DoItAll from Lords Of The Underground. And DoItAll rhymed. And he said, “My DJ rhymes too.” And Reggie said one line—“I float like a butterfly, Sting like the rock group.” And I put him on stage that night. I already knew there was something spectacular about him. Right off the bat. The next day, we talked. And within the next two or three months, he moved to Long Island, to my crib. He moved right into my apartment.

Parrish really liked Reggie too. That’s why he was on the album twice, on “Hardcore” and “Brothers On My Jock.” People thought that our voices were similar, and some people didn’t know that was him on “Brothers On My Jock.” Even when Redman got signed, Lyor Cohen said, “Well, he sounds too much like Erick.” And I was like, “I’’m nice, but I ain’t that nice!” But I guess it was the tone.

I was already making songs for Whut? Thee Album, but “Hardcore” was the first record we recorded with Redman for EPMD. Reggie’s thing for “Hardcore” was that all the rappers down with EPMD had a lot of style. Das EFX was with us too at that time, but you wouldn’t know that. And Redman had heard K-Solo with “Spellbound” and he wanted to do something in that realm, doing the thing with the letters.

That’s how “Hardcore” came. It was for him to do that monumental verse. With Das EFX and K-Solo doing them, he had to come with something. The record was for EPMD, but we ended up doing a teaser for his album with his “Hardcore” verse, which got people amped because it was the first time they saw Reggie by himself.

Scratch did the cuts on “Hardcore,” but Redman did the cuts on “Manslaughter.” The first time we ever performed “Hardcore” was this past Friday night at the Hit Squad Reunion show at Best Buy Theater. That’s why that show was so exciting. I don’t even wanna brag about it. It was fantastic.

Ice Cube ft. Das EFX “Check Yo Self”

DJ Muggs: I had done a couple songs with Cube, “We Had to Tear This Mothafucka Up” and “Now I Gotta Wet ‘Cha” in L.A. And I was in New York, and he was here, and wanted to record. So I was like, “Cool.” And he was like, “I got Das EFX, they’re gonna kick the chorus.” And I was like, “Word?” Das EFX had just dropped, and they were sick.

Cube picked that beat, and that was supposed to be an interlude on the Funkdoobiest album. But he called me, and was like, “Yo, you got any beats?” So I just put everything on a cassette and went over there. And you know, when you’re playing someone beats, and you don’t like one, you hear the two first bars and start to fast forward? And he goes, “No, what’s that? Go back.” And I’m like, “You sure?” He’s like, “Yeah.” I’m like, “Alright.” But in my head I was like, “This beat is wack! He’s trippin’. Fuck!”

So even when he spit on it and I heard it, I liked the song, but I didn’t like my beat. But it fuckin’ blew up. Then he did the remix with ‘‘The Message,’’ and it went to another level. The song ended up becoming a #1 record, a fuckin’ Platinum single.

Then it was funny, Salt-N-Pepa used it a couple years later on “Shoop.” When I heard that, I was like, “Oh, it must’ve been a good sample then.” But the difference is, I sampled it on the SP-1200, where you only have 2.5 seconds on each pad. So I would have to sample it on 45, and then slow it down. But when you slow it down, that’s what makes it all dirty. My shit is all dirty and dusty. Theirs was all clean and concise.

Prodigy ft. Roc Marciano “Death Sentence”

Roc Marciano: Pee was out there working with Al, and I swung through. And he had some shit up, and was like, “Yo, if you wanna get on, get on.” And I was like, “Alright, absolutely.” So we just worked on the song right then and there. Knocked that shit out. We were done in about an hour. The song is fire. I can’t wait ‘til we can get on stage and give that to the people live. 

I’ve been on other songs with him, but I’ve never been in the studio with him working. But it was just like recording with one of the homies. Pee’s a Hempstead nigga, he’s from my neck of the woods. I’ve been hearing them brothers come up. We used to record in 510 Studios. That was Public Enemy’s studio. The Bomb Squad and all them worked out of there. And as kids, we were all working out of there. I knew this dude who was an apprentice to the Bomb Squad, and he was making Mobb’s beats, and beats for me and my man. And they had a deal back then, so I used to see them back then. So we know each other from the hood.

Mac Miller ft. Jay Electronica “Suplexes Inside of Complexes and Duplexes”

Mac Miller: Jay Electronica may or may not be a real person. He might be just an energy. He might be invisible. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s just a spirit. We all have a little Jay Electronica. 

He sent me the verse two hours before I went in to master it. The album was done, and I was like, “Bro, the album is done. Tell me now if you’re gonna do this. No hard feelings if you can’t, I completely understand.” He was like, “I promise you.” And he would be sending me texts just randomly throughout the whole album process, like, “Don’t turn your album in without me.” The whole time, we’d been talking about doing this record.

It was dope because, I sent him a couple options. Three tracks. And the one that I produced, he picked that one, which is just a simple canvas. But it’s crazy. He was like, “I got you, I promise.”

Then, he sent me an email with the lyrics he was about to spit. I was like, “This verse is about to be insane!” It was very interesting, and artistically punctuated. The punctuation in the email was crazy. Next level. Then, he sent the verse as I was basically on my way to mastering. I got it just in time. 

I knew he would, though. I’ve waited on verses from people that didn’t send them, and I always had that feeling like, “He’s not gonna send it.” But I always had that feeling with him like, “He’s gonna send it.” And he did. It was the same thing with Wayne on Macadelic, because Wayne fit the vibe of that project perfectly. And that’s kind of like Jay Electronica with this project.

RIP DJ Clark Kent and Mac Miller.

Here’s the STORYTAPE #2 – Fly Features playlist:

Special thanks to all the artists and publications that made these interviews possible.

Check out STORYTAPE ’95 if you missed it HERE.