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 and that made these interviews possible.

Check out STORYTAPE ’95 if you missed it HERE.