Club Shay Shay - Big Daddy Kane Part 1

If you're waiting for your AI to turn into ROI

and wondering how long you have to wait,

maybe you need to do more than wait.

Any business can use AI.

IBM helps you use AI to change how you do business.

Let's create Smarter Business, IBM.

Download the ParkWiz app today and save every time you park.

If you're a custodial supervisor at a local high school, you know that cleanliness is key and that the best place to get cleaning supplies is from Granger.

Granger helps you stay fully stocked on the products you trust, from paper towels and disinfectants to floor scrubbers.

Plus, you can rely on Granger for easy reordering so you never run out of what you need.

Call 1-800GRANGER, clickgranger.com, or just stop by.

Granger for the ones who get it done.

Every day has a to-do list, but adding Enjoy Belveda to yours can help you knock out the rest of it.

Belveda breakfast biscuits are a tasty and convenient breakfast option when paired with low-fat yogurt and fruit that provide steady energy all morning.

While Belveta Energy snack bites give you the perfect mid-morning refuel, best part, they both taste great.

So make the most out of your morning with a bite of Belveda.

Pick up a pack of Belveeta at your local store today.

Adobe Acrobat Studio, so brand new.

Show me all the things PDFs can do.

Do your work with ease and speed.

PDF spaces is all you need.

Do hours of research in an instant.

Key insights from an AI assistant.

Pick a template with a click.

Now your Prezo looks super slick.

Close that deal, yeah, you won.

Do that, doing that, did that, done.

Now you can do that, do that, with Acrobat.

Now you can do that, do that with the all-new Acrobat.

It's time to do your best work with the all-new Adobe Acrobat Studio.

Biggie was 24 when he passed.

Park was 25 when he passed.

Given what they were doing, how big do you think they would have been?

Let's just say they live another 10 years, another 15, another 20 years.

Park would have probably been the Michael Jackson of hip-hop.

Hello, welcome to another episode of Club Shay Shay.

I am your host, Shannon Sharp.

I'm also the proprietor of Club Shay Shay.

Stopping by for conversation and a drink today

is an OG original.

A master wordsmith, a hardcore word assassin, a Grammy Award-winning artist, one of the greatest rappers of all time.

He helped shape the way hip-hop is viewed worldwide.

He defined the term lyricist.

He sold over 500,000 albums before CDs, streams, and social media.

A pioneer from the golden era.

He transformed live performance.

He revolutionized hip-hop fashion.

A legendary entertainer, actor, songwriter, producer, and a model.

One of the most influential and skilled respected MCs ever.

He's been active for over 40 years.

An icon, a Hall of Fame, a royalty, Brooklyn Barn, a key to the borough.

Here he is, one of the greatest lyricists of all time.

Big Daddy Kane.

Kane,

my brother.

When you hear me read off those accolades after being in the business for 40 years, what are you thinking?

What am I thinking?

I guess main thing that come to mind is it's only been 37.

i gave i added three extra years to that thing huh yeah yeah but it's all good i take it man i take it i mean you know this is just something that you know i started doing as a kid and realizing that i have a voice and people want to hear it i've tried to do the right thing with it and um you know promote the right message so you know all these you know decades later to have people you know you know giving you accolades and flowers and things of that nature.

I think it's a blessing, man.

When you got started, I mean, in the very, because this thing goes back, what, DJ Hurt?

Cool Hurt.

DJ Kool Hurt.

In the Bronx, and you got

Melie Mail.

They started this thing.

So that was, is that when you got hooked?

Because prior to that, there was nothing else.

So how did you, like, you know what?

This is what I want to do.

Well, you know,

back when Herc and Africa Bambada and Grandmaster Flash Notem started, you know, I was probably about five years old.

Right.

You know, so I was really, you know, playing with toys and things of that nature.

It wasn't until 1977

I heard a DJ in Brooklyn by the name of Master D.

Okay.

And he threw on

Love is the Message by MFSB.

And I seen the craziest thing in the world.

I just seen all the mature teens and adults line up by the DJ booth.

Okay.

And they all just rhyme, they're getting on the mic, you know, dip, dip, die, socialize, the age one.

And like, I'd never seen nothing like that before.

That was 77.

So hip-hop had already been going on in the Bronx.

But this was in Brooklyn, my first time really seeing it.

And I was like, all right, I don't know what that is, but I want to be a part.

I want to be a part of it.

So you're right.

Yeah, yeah.

Kane,

how did you find your voice?

Because how did you find like, okay, this is kind of

the message that I'm going to deliver?

Because you're great with wordplay.

And, you know, you KRS-1, we're going to get through the backdrop of that.

But how did you decide to say, you know what, this is kind of the direction I want to go?

Well, you're talking about lyrically?

Yes.

Well, you know, I'm from Brooklyn.

So as a kid, you know, it's nothing like like, yeah, you want to play outside and have fun.

But, you know, when you see a Coupe de Ville, El Dorado, or a Deuce in a Quarter pull up, you know, and one of the pimps and the hustlers get out, you know, you rush over there.

Right.

Because you know they're going to give you like a dub.

They're going to give you like a 20 spot just to run to the store to either get them a bill or a Lucy and tell you to keep the change.

You know, so you're around that type of element.

And then you're hearing them talk.

And the way they talk, and everybody just fascinated,

oh, maybe they stand there.

I remember one of my first rhymes, I used something I heard one of the

older hustler dudes say.

You know, one of my first rhymes, I said, I know the tricks, I know the trades, and I'm sharp as a motherfucking razor blade.

That was something an older dude would say.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

And I'm a kid putting that in the rhyme.

You feel this, see?

So it was like, that was, I'm like, you know, I just want to have that slick talk, you know?

Yeah.

Brooklyn, you mentioned Brooklyn.

What is it in the water?

What is it in the soil?

Yourself, Biggie, Jay-Z, Kim, Foxy, Mo's, Death, Buster, Foul, Pop, Smoke, Joy, Badass.

What is it about that burrow that's been able to produce this?

I think

that quality of uniqueness, you know, like I just think that Brooklyn just got their own way of doing things.

We have our own way of doing things.

You know, I just, you know, think that that plays a major part, you know, from what we've seen in the streets in Brooklyn and how it impacted us in a way where this is what we want to talk about.

Okay.

You know.

Were you the first mainstream from brookly

no houdini

oh

okay houdini first mainstream first hip-hop sex symbols houdini yeah i remember in 1986 i saw houdini

i saw run dmc

i saw the fat boys

i saw

I saw about five groups at the Savannah Civic Center.

I'll never forget.

1986, and it was unbelievable.

And now that you mentioned, I was like, I did not know they were from Brooklyn.

Yeah, Houdini's from Brooklyn, Fat Boys.

Yeah.

I think if I'm correct, I believe the first MC to have a recording deal from Brooklyn was Jimmy Spicer.

He had a song called Super Rhymes and

Dollar Bill, y'all.

But Houdini were like the first to impact.

Knowing what you know now, is that when you look back at it and you didn't know that there were going to be so many more to come after you?

But did you feel like an obligation, like, okay, I'm from Brooklyn, you know, Houdini, but the first to like get on there individually and do your thing.

Did you feel like you had to start this thing off, hold it up because they were going to be coming after you, or did you not think that far in advance?

I felt like I wanted to try to help other talented artists

get established.

That's what I felt because that's how I got on.

You know, I mean, mean, I started rapping in 82.

Okay.

I was making demos and things of that nature.

And no one was checking for me.

I couldn't get a record deal to save my life.

Then in 84, I met Biz Marquis.

Is that where y'all started for?

The Juice Crew?

Well,

Juice Crew was

before Biz.

That was with Mr.

Magic.

You're right.

Yeah, Mr.

Magic, you know, Fly Tie and Autumn.

You know, Roxanne Shantae was the first artist.

MC Shan, was it?

Yeah, Roxanne Shantae was the first artist, then Shan, Craig G,

and then Biz, I believe.

But

Biz, I met him before he even had a deal.

Okay.

And I met him.

We battled.

Yeah.

We battled.

And after the battle, you know, he says, yo, you dope.

You should get down with me.

You know, I do a lot of shows and make a little bit of money, and I promise you, I'm going to get you a record deal.

So that's who believed in me.

That's who took me up.

put me on the stage for the first time.

Okay.

So, I mean, with everything that Biz did for me, you know, once I, you know, got out in the public, I wanted to try to do that for other artists.

Okay.

So you each one teach one, and someone gave you an opportunity.

So now naturally, you feel it's Kane's job to give back like somebody gave to me.

Everybody don't look that way.

A lot of times people get put on, realizing someone helped cut them on.

Now I'm going to pull the ladder up because I don't want nobody else to get on.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a lot of selfish thinking.

I've seen it.

I've experienced it.

But, you know, that's not my style.

Right.

This episode is brought to you by Prize Picks.

You and I make decisions every day, but on prize picks, being right can get you paid.

Don't miss any of the excitement this season on prize picks, where it's good to be right.

Week three of football was very entertaining.

Those block field goals that led to touchdowns, both by the Jets and the Eagles, were crazy.

Jalen Hurts and the offense really showed up too.

And don't get me started on Jonathan Taylor and the Colts.

They had a date.

Making picks on prize picks is simple.

Be sure you download the app for the upcoming games.

Which players are going off?

Which players aren't.

Prize picks is the best way to win cash this football season.

Make your picks in less than 60 seconds.

Prize picks is the best place to win cash while watching sports.

Join millions of users and sign up today.

Download the app today.

Use code Shannon to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.

That's code Shannon to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.

Prize picks.

It's good to be right.

You were Biggie's favorite rapper.

Did you have, you met Biggie?

Yeah, yeah.

I've been around Big twice,

but we had

three phone calls.

It was always funny, you know, too, because

we didn't have a direct connection.

It was my DJ, Mr.

C,

who would call and put us on the phone together.

And when, you know, when he clicked Big In,

first thing he say, ah,

the real B.I.G.

that's the first thing we and we just laugh and whatnot then he tell me what's on his mind you know but you know but i mean he was someone that i had so much respect for man and i thought was super talented because i've seen a lot of mcs you know develop you know their style and become better

throughout the years

i saw biggie do this In like a year.

Yes.

In like one year, I seen him go from here to here lyrically.

You know what I'm saying?

So I was like, had he lived, I think he would have probably been the

greatest MC ever.

Wow.

Did you know that he had that ability?

Because, like you said, it wasn't long.

It wasn't like he had a five-year or 10-year career.

It like he blew up and then it was gone.

Just like that.

I mean, it's the type of thing where back then when Mr.

C was trying to get him a deal,

C would be like

yo he don't remind you of you like nah

and then he came out with um i believe party and bullshit you know he rocking and he's like party and yeah

and he's asked me again he's like yo you don't

because see biggie talked about stuff i didn't talk about correct see what i'm saying so i'm like nah i don't see it Then when he came out with the remix for one more chance, you know, and when I'm like, however, I stayed coolie down to the socks.

I called C that time.

All right, my bad.

I see it now.

I see it.

I see it.

I was like, yeah, I was like, yeah, I was like, yeah, he's a monster.

Biggie invited you to one of Tupac shows.

How did you and Tupac get?

I was performing at Madison Square Garden for the Budweiser Superfest.

Okay.

And Biggie wanted to come.

Okay.

And I was like, yeah, you know.

And Biggie was hanging with Pac because he was in New York filming Above the Rim.

Okay.

So he asked, could Pac come?

And I was like, absolutely.

Because I knew Pac when he was dancing for Digital Underground.

Yeah.

You know, because they, like, they were the opening act on my first tour.

Wow.

So I'd known Pac for that, you know.

So I was like, absolutely.

Yeah, bring him.

So when they brought him, I just, I called them, you know, both on stage and let them freestyle.

You know?

Damn.

Yeah.

How often does that happen that someone of your ilt caliber invites somebody on stage, y'all go ahead and freestyle there?

Well,

the reason I really, I mean, I do it a lot, but the reason I really wanted to do it that particular night is because when I first got on, Bobby Brown did it for me.

Oh,

you know?

Yes.

Because this is when they wasn't really letting hip-hop in the garden like that.

You know,

I think maybe the last ones to be there might have been like Rundy MC or LL.

So, like, Bobby Brown had a show, you know, his first solo album, and he let me get on and rock with him and perform one of my songs.

So, I, you know,

here's Biggie, a new up-and-coming artist.

Here's Pac, you know, he's filming a movie.

Fat Joe also,

I ran out of time.

I couldn't let Joe on.

Right.

But they was telling me five minutes left.

But

I was like, y'all come on, you know, rock.

You know, Joe go tell that story.

Joe go say you had 25 minutes left.

You know, Joe go, Joe go add some yeast to that thing so that thing grow now.

No, listen, let me explain something to you.

Ain't nothing better than watching Pajocchio do his thing.

Pajocchio, come on, K.

Which?

When he getting to his elements.

I love it.

I love it.

I love it.

But I'm going to let the world know straight up.

He telling the truth when he say that he was there and was supposed to get on that particular night at Master Square Garden.

Joe telling the truth.

Because you know people say,

man, you were supposed to go on with K.

Kay wasn't about to let you off.

Nah, nah, he's telling the straight up truth.

And in all honesty, it was something that, you know, really bothered me.

Right.

Because, you know, because he was a new artist at the time.

So that would have been a good look for him.

But they were like five minutes, and I still hadn't done Warm It Up Kane or Ain't no Half Second, so I didn't have no time.

You have no time to get him on.

Were you, did you ever get in the studio with Pac?

Do you ever see Pac in the studio?

We worked together.

Before, like a year before he passed,

Suge Knight wanted to start Death Row East.

Right.

And, you know, he invited me out.

We went out to a Tyson fight.

And,

you know, we talked about working.

And then we left Vegas and flew right back to LA.

I went in the studio and I recorded a song called Wherever You Are with Pac.

I wrote a song for Hammer called What You Gonna Do for Me.

And me, Pac, and Hammer, all three of us did a song together called Too Late Player, all in the same night.

Wow.

Yeah.

Shuge offered you an opportunity.

Did he try to sign you to Depth?

Death Row East, yeah.

Yeah.

Why you didn't assign?

It was like he asked me, what did I want?

I said,

$400,000 an album.

I didn't, because I'm checking the temperature, because at that point in time, no one was really trying to sign me.

So I'm trying to check the temperature in the room.

So I didn't want to go hard.

So I said, $400,000.

He was like, that's a strange number.

$400,000, why wouldn't you just simply say $500,000?

Okay, $500.

and he like man you big daddy cane man

he was like i have to make um

uh

the dog pound i have to make i forgot what other artists he mentioned i have to you know make them you already an established name i would be insulting you to give you less than a million okay

cool

And I mean, I thought we had a deal.

Right.

But then he said,

look, I don't know about your financial status right now, but if you need a little something, I can, you know, give you a little hundred thousand right now, you know, to take with you, you know.

And that's what made me uncomfortable.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

You felt if you took that hundred thousand, you was going to be indebted to this man.

Yeah, and all of a sudden that that just felt like a gangster move.

And I was like, you know, like, parking shouldn't slow you down.

ParkWiz gives every driver a shortcut.

Book ahead, save up to 50%, and skip the hassle of circling the block.

Park smarter, park faster, park whiz.

Download the ParkWiz app today and save every time you park.

Drew and Sue and Eminem's Minis.

And baking the surprise birthday cake for Lou.

And Sue forgetting that her oven doesn't really work.

And Drew remembering that they don't have flour.

And Lou getting home early from work, which he never does.

And Drew and Sue using the rest of the tubes of Eminem's Minis as party poppers instead.

I think this is one of those moments where people say, it's the thought that counts.

Eminem's, it's more fun together.

Keeping your pet healthy can feel like a lot sometimes, but PetSmart makes it super simple.

They've got food tailored to your pet's needs, supplements so you can stay ahead of any issues, and even prescriptions that show up right at your door.

And here's the hack.

Set it all up on AutoShip.

It just arrives when you need it.

Plus, you save 35% on your first PetSmart AutoShip order and 5% on the ones after that.

You can stay on top of your pet's healthy routine without stressing.

Order what they need and set up AutoShip at PetSmart.com.

You probably think of Michelin as a tire company and I mean it is but it's really an innovation company and that's why their tires are as good as they are.

It started in the 1800s making brake pads for horse-drawn carriages.

Later, Michelin basically invented the modern tire with the first steel belted design.

That innovation has never slowed.

In fact, it's only accelerated.

See what I did there?

These days, through its Michelin in Motion Vision, the company is expanding into healthcare, energy, and even aerospace.

Seriously.

For instance, they're developing an airless wheel for lunar exploration.

It's got to deal with vast temperature swings, radiation, and the rough terrain on the moon, and maybe one day on Mars.

I mean, this is more than just some sort of vanity project.

It showcases Michelin's broader shift from tire manufacturing to high-tech, durable mobility solutions.

It's about the same exact thing that led to those horse-drawn carriage brake pads well over a hundred years ago.

It's about innovation.

Learn more at michelinman.com/slash y-michelin slash innovation.

Michelin, motion for life.

Today, we're exploring deep in the North American wilderness among nature's wildest plants, animals, and

cows.

Uh, you're actually on an Organic Valley dairy farm where nutritious, delicious organic food gets its start.

But there's so much nature.

Exactly.

Organic Valley's small family farms protect the land and the plants and animals that call it home.

Extraordinary.

Sure is.

Organic Valley, protecting where your food comes from.

Learn more about their delicious dairy at OV.coop.

Nah, I'm good, man.

I'm good.

And I didn't do it.

Yeah.

Biggie was 24 when he passed.

Park was 25 when he passed.

Given what they were doing at the time of their...

untimely demise.

How big do you think they would have been?

Let's just say they live another 10 years, another another 15, another 20 years.

I think that Pac would have probably been

the Michael Jackson of hip-hop.

Wow.

You know.

Because you got to understand,

not only

did women love Pac, men love Pac.

Yes.

You know what I'm saying?

Men,

like women wanted to be with Pac, men wanted to be like Pac.

You know?

So, I mean, he was a very, very powerful figure.

You know, anytime

you pass away and people have sightings of you, that's when you're a bad dude.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

You know?

True.

True.

Like, people still see Michael, swear out that Michael Jackson is still alive.

People still swear out Elvis Presley is alive.

Right.

People doing that with Pac.

You know.

Right.

How much do you think

him him being something that he's not played a role?

Because a lot of people say Pac wasn't what he was rapping about, what he was pretending to be.

You know, this thug life, and he had California, you know, tatted on him.

He wasn't that.

Do you think that played a role in his demise?

I think that Pac had...

A lot of hood ways in him.

I think that Pac was a real dude.

I think that Pac was was a good dude.

I think that the bad thing was just that he was easily influenced.

You know, I'm not going to sit here and say that he wasn't about it.

He wasn't real.

I think that he was just easily influenced.

He was a chameleon because he get with executives, be it TV or music execs, and he was charming.

He was charismatic.

Now, all of a sudden, he gets with people that live that lifestyle.

He could convince you that he's about that lifestyle but you see you gotta understand

when he was a dancer for digital underground yeah

i don't know how many nights there would be where i would have to sit him

and it was him and um money b yeah

money b wasn't doing that right pac and my dancers scoob and scrap okay i'd have to sit them down like yo why are y'all fighting at an after party Why are y'all, you know what I'm saying?

So I've seen that side of Pac

before he was Pac.

Right.

I've seen that side.

I've seen him, you know, get into it and romp with cats, you know, after a show or backstage.

I've seen that side.

What was that about, though, Kane?

Because you're like, he's up and coming, and then he is at an after-party, he's squabbing at an after-party.

Why?

You don't have to do that.

We all did that dumb shit, man.

I mean,

you can't just put that on fire.

Right.

We all did that.

Right.

You know, there's things you're going through.

I mean, I mean, you think about it, he passed at 25, so he had to be, what, a late teenager, early 20s?

You ain't never had a fight at an after party?

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

Come on, Shannon.

Nah.

I ain't never had no fight at no after party.

Well, then again, you're a big-ass dude.

So yeah,

they probably ain't want that smoke.

Let me ask you this, though, Kane.

If you could go back and do anything different in your career, what would it be?

If I could do anything different.

I don't know.

That's a dangerous thing to do.

You know, I don't know if I really want to.

You ain't trying to rewrite history.

Yeah, I don't think I want to mess up what I have.

Yeah.

Yeah,

I don't think I want to do that.

The money.

Was money.

I mean, look, there was no internet.

There was no streaming.

You were selling hard copy albums.

Mm-hmm.

And CDs.

And CDs.

So you had to.

To have somebody go wait in the line for this drop

and the line be around the building.

That was a powerful thing back then.

Yeah.

Now, I used to love stuff like that.

Like, I remember on me and Al B.

Shore, we dropped around the same time.

So, Warner Brothers had us out on promotional tour.

And every day, you know, we just did clowning and joking and having a good time.

And to like come in a record store and see the line, like you said, wrapping around the corner.

Oh, man.

Beautiful thing, man.

I sit there and start acting silly and whatnot, you know, as they start coming in.

You know, me and Al sitting there, I'm like, all right, all the light-skinned fans on this side, dark-skinned fans over here.

You know.

Do you think it'll ever be?

Will it ever be like that again, Kane?

Will music ever sell like that?

Will people ever line up to want to hear a record to go purchase a physical copy of a record or CD?

Will it ever be like that again?

Or we relegated to streams and and other forms of receiving that?

I think that it's like that right now, just not as strong.

You have artists that are selling vinyl for like $250 a copy,

you know, and people are buying it.

They're purchasing it, you know.

So it's happening.

It does exist.

But will it be at the forefront like it was before?

I doubt it.

Because

the world has pretty much become, you know, a fast food.

It's the world is fast food now.

So it's going to be really, really hard.

People ain't trying to wait on nothing, Kane.

Nah.

I mean, hey, they don't want to go at the grocery store.

They call somebody, they call somebody to shop for them.

They call Uber East.

They call DoorDash.

They call.

No, no, no, no, no.

Hold this one.

People don't even want to wait on the truth.

Wow.

It's not about, you know, getting the story right.

It's about getting the story first.

First.

Yeah, you know?

So, yeah.

Kane, what have you learned about money?

Well, I learned about money.

I mean, you know, for one, you know,

you have to protect it.

You have to protect it and spend it wisely, you know?

And.

But how does a young man that's coming into a large sum of money coming up from the background a lot of us came up from, impoverished background, maybe it wasn't a two-parent home, it was a mom or a grandmom.

And you've never had, and you get this sum of money, and all the things that you've ever wanted as a child or as a young man, you get an opportunity to get it all at once.

You can get whatever you want, as much as you want.

How does one refrain from being reckless?

Because when we get money, Kane, and we're in our 20s, we think we're going to be getting money like this in our 30s, 40s, 50s.

So it ain't going to end.

That's the mentality.

But, you know, you have to understand that, you know, there was always someone before you.

Yes.

You know what I'm saying?

There was a Rundi MC before me.

There was a Mellie Mel before me.

You know?

There was

a Jim Brown before you.

Yes.

You know what I'm saying?

Mm-hmm.

So yeah, you have to understand there was someone before me.

Right.

You were, but to see rappers, what they become, they fly private They got I mean I saw Drake Dread.

I was like whoa man.

That yo got a 767

Decked out

These guys, you know

30 40 50 60 million dollars nothing for these guys now here

Kane probably looking back like damn I'm just 40 years too soon

Well said man

well said but you know I

am so happy for these cats.

Like, you know, when I see that, you know, when I hear about

Drake's success,

Jay-Z's success, you know,

I love hearing those stories because I know

how difficult, especially with Jay-Z.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because this is someone who I tried to get a deal for in the early 90s.

You know what I'm saying?

And no one was receptive.

So to see this dude become a billionaire, I'm like, in their face.

Yes.

You know,

I love it.

Right.

You know, and that goes for the rest of them as well.

You know.

Kane, what is the biggest difference

with the rap when you was coming up and moving it to the forefront?

Let's just say when you first started and then say the first 10 years versus what you see now in the rap game?

Well, I mean.

I have this conversation with a lot of people all the time when they're against certain things that artists of today do.

I try to explain to them that, you know,

when we were doing it, you know, like the first rap song came out in 79.

Sugar Hill Gang?

Yeah.

The Rap of the Light?

Yeah.

That's 79.

Yeah.

I got a deal in 88.

That's nine years later.

Correct.

Even at that point, hip-hop wasn't respected as a music genre.

You know, we wasn't really acknowledged.

Nope.

And damn near couldn't really get on the radio.

No.

Even at that point.

Even TV.

MTV didn't really play y'all like that.

and you didn't get the Grammys, didn't acknowledge you until 92.

There you go.

So, it's like it's the type of thing where I try to explain to a lot of artists, you know, from my era, it's like

you got to separate the culture from the genre because now hip-hop is a genre, it's a music genre, just like RB, just like rock, you know, just like pop.

And

let's just look at RB.

Two of the greatest RB vocalists ever.

Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandros.

Two of the greatest ever.

Both of them had writers.

So you see, like an artist of today, you'd be like, yo, so he's not even writing his own stuff.

Yet.

He ain't hip-hop.

It's like,

culturally speaking, that's we don't nah, we didn't do that.

I still don't do that.

I'll let someone write a hook, but not my verse.

Okay.

You know, that's because I'm a part of the culture.

I'm from that era, right?

From that cloth.

But artists today, they're coming out in this thing as it's a hip-hop genre.

So they're looking at themselves as artists, not as MCs.

So, you know, it's different to them.

And some of it is still hardcore because I hear that, man, he don't even write.

He got ghostwriters, he got this.

But I never heard anybody say, well, Whitney can't sing because she didn't write the song.

Mariah can't sing because she didn't write the song.

I never hear that with

other genres

except rap.

That's because it's like it's people that understand the culture, to understand hip-hop culture.

You know, because like

what we called

Biting, today they call paying homage.

Okay.

You see what I'm saying?

So it's like, it's just, it's just, it's just different.

Like, I mean, even like

what we called a freestyle.

in the 70s and 80s.

Today they call it a a written rhyme.

Right.

Yeah, because

freestyle, I'm thinking, okay, they say, hey, coming to the, my, hey, to freestyle this, it's Kane.

Okay, they start playing a beat.

You going through, okay, how you want to, you know, and then you go.

If you already got the song in your head, you already know what you're going to say, and they drop a beat.

That ain't a freestyle.

A freestyle means you got to come up there and give it to them free.

No, no, that's today's definition.

You know?

no, no, you're not wrong.

Okay.

You're not wrong.

Okay.

Because that is today's definition.

Okay.

But back in

the 80s, we said off the dome.

Yeah.

70s, they said off the top.

Right.

Today they say freestyle.

With us, if you write a rhyme and it's not about a girl, it's not about poverty, you know?

It's not no gangster stuff about, you know, who you shot up.

It's just a rhyme just bragging about how dope you are.

That rhyme that you wrote, that's what called a freestyle because it's free of style.

Right.

You're not talking about no specific subject matter.

Oh, okay.

So that's what a freestyle is.

That's what a freestyle is back in the day.

Free is that you're not talking about anything specific.

Right.

Yeah.

Off the dome.

So you going up, so you just going up there and you just talking about.

What they call freestyle now is what we called off the dome back in the days.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

You just say the first thing come to mind and make it rhyme, you know?

Right.

But what happened to the lyricists?

Where did they go?

Did all y'all retire at once, Kay?

Did all y'all leave?

Did all y'all, hey, I'm up out of here.

I'm up.

Maybe when you leave it, I'm leaving.

Where are they now?

You know, the story that used to come on TV, like the athletes or whomever, the entertainers, where are they now?

Where are the lyricists now?

Kendrick Lamar

is a great lyricist.

Okay.

J.

Cole.

Conway the Machine.

Okay.

Is a great lyricist.

Benny the Butcher.

Oh, okay, beauty.

Great lyricist.

Okay.

Lady London is a magnificent lyricist

J.

Cole is my favorite of this era really

my favorite okay great lyricist so they're there they're there they're there it's just that uh music is going through this phase where it's you know the fans ain't really focused on the lyrics When you like you talk to someone, you ask them about a song, the first thing they say is, yo, yeah, that's a vibe.

You know, like the disco era.

Yes.

You know, as long as you can hear that.

Yeah.

You didn't care what the body was singing.

You know what I'm saying?

It was a vibe.

That's true.

You know.

Streaming now.

Where are you on streaming?

You cool with it?

Well, I mean, I don't have no new music out.

So, you know, it is what it is.

I wish it was different because I understand that, you know,

artists are not getting the money that they're supposed to and they're being being paid less for streams

than they would a hard copy.

Yeah, physical.

So, I mean,

I'm sympathetic, you know, for the younger generation that's coming out trying to make music if that's what they plan to do for their livelihood.

Right.

You know, because it's going to be very difficult, you know, depending on streams.

Right.

You know.

Kane, when you sold 500,000 copies, did you realize what a feat,

what you had accomplished?

Did you understand at that moment what you had done?

I mean, yeah, they gave me the gold record, so I knew what I did, but it's just that that's never been my mentality.

Right.

You know?

My Grammy, I didn't, let me see, I got it in 90, maybe, 91.

I can't remember what year it was.

I mean, I never put it up until like 2000.

You know,

my whole thing was this.

What meant the most to me was someone coming up to me saying, yo, man your music got me through high school your music got me through college right your music got me through desert storm

that's what meant those were the rewards right that those were the most important things to me because i'm doing this for my fans you know what i'm saying not not not for a grammy or a soul train award or you know

if i get it oh you're appreciative of it but yeah yeah yeah i'm appreciative but that's not what i you know what i set out to do that's not why i made music you know your catalog you have you own your catalog not yet.

But you're going to get it.

A lot of willingness.

That's willing.

I mean, a lot willing.

I hope so, man.

Prince, he really, he never let anybody sample his songs.

But you got one.

How?

I don't know.

Somebody told me, somebody told me that Prince liked me.

I mean, musically.

Yeah.

Somebody told me that because we met

and, you know, he was cool and

when I wanted to use pop life you know he was with it you know he even other than that when he did the the Batman soundtrack

he did a song called Bat Dance and he asked Benny Medina you know to have me you know rap on it and I put a verse on it

And with us both being Warner Brothers, you know, we thought everything was cool because Batman was coming out on Warner Film.

Yeah.

It was in 1989, wasn't it?

I can't remember.

I can't remember.

But even though Warner Brothers Records had rap artists, Warner's Film didn't want nothing to do with hip-hop, so they took my verse off.

Oh, but Prince had me on his own, you know?

Yeah.

Wow.

Where are you on sampling?

You let people say, let me, because I ask LL, I ask a lot of people.

A lot of people say, yeah,

I'm not really big on sampling.

To talk to Bobby Brown, had him on.

He's like,

I don't really want to mess it up.

But you know what?

If it's the right person and I hear it first, somebody comes to Kane and says, you know, they want to sample something.

Do you need to hear it before you let them put it out or you just sign off on it?

I'm going to be honest with you.

I think I would probably rather not hear it.

Really?

I would rather not hear it.

Yeah.

Because you hear it don't like it.

You ain't going to let them put it up.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to not like it and then be like, nah, I don't,

you know, it's like, if this is an opportunity for you to shine and, you know, become successful, I'd rather, you know, you just do you because I'm from that era that's that's all we did you know because you have to understand Shannon you know when hip-hop started you know you can't say so what's the origin of hip-hop music people can ask that about country people can ask that about rock people can ask that about jazz you can't ask that about hip-hop

because the origin of hip-hop music is a DJ cutting up somebody else's music.

See what I'm saying?

So there is no origin.

Like, like Grandmaster Kaz, he said it best.

Hip-hop didn't invent anything, it reinvented everything.

Those are the words of Grandmaster Kaz.

Wow.

You know?

So the musically, you know, that's all we did: rhyme over other people, the break part of other people's songs.

So somebody young, that's what they want to do.

Yo, that's hip-hop to me.

You know, do you.

It's Mama Wildie Music Publishing, but do you.

You know?

Studio.

Parking shouldn't slow you down.

ParkWiz gives every driver a shortcut.

Book ahead, save up to 50%, and skip the hassle of circling the block.

Park smarter, park faster, ParkWiz.

Download the ParkWiz app today and save every time you park.

Keeping your pet healthy can feel like a lot sometimes, but PetSmart makes it super simple.

They've got food tailored to your pet's needs, supplements so you can stay ahead of any issues, and even prescriptions that show up right at your door.

And here's the hack.

Set it all up on AutoShip.

It just arrives when you need it.

Plus, you save 35% on your first PetSmart AutoShip order and 5% on the ones after that.

You can stay on top of your pets' healthy routine without stressing.

Order what they need and set up AutoShip at PetSmart.com.

Today, we're exploring deep in the North American wilderness among nature's wildest plants, animals, and

cows.

Uh, you're actually on an Organic Valley dairy farm where nutritious, delicious organic food gets its start.

But there's so much nature.

Exactly.

Organic Valley's small family farms protect the land and the plants and animals that call it home.

Extraordinary.

Sure is.

Organic Valley, protecting where your food comes from.

Learn more about their delicious dairy at ov.coop.

You probably think of Michelin as a tire company.

And I mean, it is.

But it's really an innovation company.

And that's why their tires are as good as they are.

It started in the 1800s making brake pads for horse-drawn carriages.

Later, Michelin basically invented the modern tire with the first steel belted design.

That innovation has never slowed.

In fact, it's only accelerated.

See what I did there?

These days, through its Michelin in Motion Vision, the company is expanding into healthcare, energy, and even aerospace.

Seriously.

For instance, they're developing an airless wheel for lunar exploration.

It's got to deal with vast temperature swings, radiation, and the rough terrain on the moon, and maybe one day on Mars.

I mean, this is more than just some sort of vanity project.

It showcases Michelin's broader shift from tire manufacturing to high-tech, durable mobility solutions.

It's about the same exact thing that led to those horse-drawn carriage brake pads well over a hundred years ago.

It's about innovation.

Learn more at michelinman.com/slash y-michelin slash innovation.

Michelin, motion for life.

guys, the grand opening for my children's boutique is coming up, gay.

Um, but I am struggling to get my

ducks on a row.

What gave it away?

Don't worry, we can help you with everything from signage to get the word out, custom printing to show off your unique selection,

branded products you can customize on our website.

And of course, affordable flat rate shipping.

So you can get your ducks back in a row.

And start growing my business.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Just another day at the office.

Bear of a task?

You're up next.

When you're going in there like, okay,

I'm just trying to figure out how Kane got himself.

Because, like, before a game, I'm getting myself, I'm getting in a train of thought.

Okay, I'm going to go play in these.

They call this play and this down and distance.

We get this defense.

I need to be ready, blah, blah, blah.

What's going through when you go into the studio?

What is Kane thinking?

Well, it depends on what I'm trying to do musically, okay?

Because I'll sit and listen to a beat.

come up with a concept,

meaning what I want to talk about, and then I shut the beat off and go somewhere else with it.

Like if it is something, I want to talk about something sad, I turn the beat off and throw some Otis Ritten on or some David Ruffin and zone out.

Zone out.

Like, you know, how can I, you know, interpret this in today's slang?

Like what Otis is saying, what David Ruffin is saying.

How can I, you know, say that in today's slang?

I want to say something sexy, turn it off.

Throw some Marvin Gaye on.

Throw some Osley Brothers on, you know?

Mm.

Your ass smooth, you you know are you a writer because you know I listen to people say like like Hove and Lil Wayne and there are guys that don't write down anything hove they and they tell the great story like hove hear a beat and he bobbing his head up in the corner

and then he'll go in there and he'll just

lay his track are you a writer do you like right

yeah um

I love to think of myself as an artist.

When I say artist, I don't mean musical artist.

I mean artists, like I'm painting.

So it's like I like to take my time and

paint a portrait just right.

Even if I have to walk away from it for a couple of days and come back and finish then, I like to take my time so I can paint it just right.

Because from that first line to the very last one, I want it all to make sense and connect.

Tied up.

Everything ties together.

It has to have a meaning.

Yeah.

You've been in the studio with Teddy Riley, Patty LaBelle, Barry White, Cube, Hammer, Buster Rhymes, UGK, 36 Mafia, you the game.

Like when you go in the studio,

is there a different Kane?

Is there a different mindset according to who you're going in studio with?

No, no, no, no.

Oh, you try, let's just say.

I'm one of the dope rappers.

I'm one of the top five rappers out right now.

And I say, Kane, I want to get you on this track.

You coming in there, there, you trying to destroy me?

You start to say, hey, the man invited me on the track.

Let me do my thing and get up out of here.

You trying to outshine me?

It depends on

how you address me.

If you ask me to do the song with you, spread love,

then

I want you to shine.

Okay.

I'm going to do something to make my presence felt, but I'm not going to overdo it.

I want you to shine.

Okay.

If you like,

all right, you know, Kane, I need you to be spitting hard.

You know what I'm saying?

Don't come up in here, none of that sexy shit, man.

I need you to.

A word?

Okay.

Got you.

That's what you own?

Got you.

No problem.

Yeah.

Now I'm going to eat you up.

Yeah.

But

when we were talking about, to go back, when we talked about the lyricists, and you mentioned like some of the lyricists now, Kane, bro, it's like every other artist was a lyricist in your time.

I mean, they were tremendous with words.

They did not play.

I mean, you look at KRS-1, you look at Kumo D, you look at Jill Yourself, you look at Molly Ma.

I mean, you get,

bro.

Back then, it was very, very, you know, important.

And I feel like...

People that were getting an understanding of hip-hop, that's what they were looking for.

Right.

You know, they were looking for lyrical mcs right and then especially after um like 86 when when when when rockim came out yeah um

i think that like a lot of labels were really starting to look for lyrical mcs because prior to that were they looking for that i think that um

during the run dmc on up to the salt and pepper era they were looking for people that could have party songs

okay you know party songs, you know, songs that bang in the club and, you know, you could, you know, dance to.

I think that they were looking more for that.

Right.

You know.

But then 86, you know,

you had Rock M, you had KR S1.

And I think they started really looking for more lyrical stuff.

Right.

And then in 87, you had myself, Coogee Rap,

you know, and that was just pretty much, yeah.

You got to be like this to get up to get on to get a deal.

But did you, but did you guys guys come from battling backgrounds?

Is that where the lyricists, yeah, the real, the true, because they have a little bit of it now, but not like then.

Because you guys had like groups, and you guys would go, and you guys would battle.

Mm-hmm.

And I was doing research for this thing, Kane.

Man, y'all beefed all the time.

It wasn't, everything was a beef.

Here, I am thinking, like, man, these guys beefing out.

No, no, y'all,

Juice crew and the boogie and the boogie down production

yeah there was there was um you know um there was um yeah mc shan and karis one you know they had you know the juice crew right boogie down productions um beef um mc light and antoinette yeah um ll cool j and kumo d yeah you know yeah yeah it was

so this thing go People look at it now and think, okay, and obviously the big one,

Drake and and and and kendrick lamar

but then you know people forgot then like okay well big and tupac had a thing going yeah and then nwa ice cube when he left he came out with no vaseline yeah and they were going back and forth jay-z and nas jay-z and nas uh even um

even though ll and kumo cool the l and kumo d but he had one with fab

When you go back and look, say like from 85 to like 90,

bro, y'all stayed into it.

Yeah.

Y'all stayed.

Okay.

Y'all stayed into it.

I mean, well, you got to keep in mind, we were all very, very competitive.

Yes.

Very, very competitive.

Yes.

You know, I mean,

like,

I've had, like, I've had Run, Reverend Run,

come to me in my dressing room and tell me, how dope of an MC I am, how much he loved me.

I go on stage, do my thing, rip it down, run DMC, come on after me, and run up be like, you know, like,

you know, so Kane came up here and did his thing, you know, but we had a lot of superstars in this house tonight, but I want you to know this is my M and F, MF in the house, you know, like, whoa, whoa, bro.

Like, you know, I mean, this is stuff I've seen, you know, stuff where like Eric B is at my house on a Thursday night.

Right.

We sitting there laughing at our fathers.

He brought his pops over and we sitting there laughing at our fathers trying to look at Luke Skywalker videos.

And what I mean Eric's sitting there like, look at them.

They dirty old asses, man.

We laughing.

Friday night, we got a show together.

Eric will walk right past me like, you don't know me.

You know, because I mean, we were very competitive like that.

It's time to lock in now.

Yeah, yeah, you know.

But it was love.

It was love.

It wasn't no real beef.

Right.

It was like, I got to have it tonight.

That's all.

I got got to have it tonight.

You weren't the Grammy with Quincy Jones, who was the greatest producer of all time.

What made Quincy so special?

Quincy, man.

Like,

Quincy is one hell of a producer.

Quincy has an amazing vision.

The ear man.

You know.

How do you go Ray Charles to Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson to...

Yeah, nah.

I mean,

with me knowing this dude don't really know hip-hop like that.

I'm like, yeah, you made the dude, but, you know, okay.

You know,

I'm in the studio, and he's like, what you know about Sarah Vaughan?

Nothing.

You know, what you know about Ella Fitzgerald?

She'd be scatting.

You know, you know, he's asking,

he had someone bring, I didn't even know this existed.

Did you know that back in the 90s they had black encyclopedias?

No.

Neither did I.

They brought like about 20, I don't know, 20, 30 books in, black encyclopedias.

And we're going through and looking up Sarah Vaughn, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald.

And as I'm looking, he's like, oh, you know, me and Miles Davis, we used to call each other such and such.

You know, Ella,

and he's telling me all these stories.

And he's like, that real fast thing, can you keep it going?

Because like it reminds me of Ella Fitzgerald when she does her scatting, when you do that real fast rap.

And I think it would really complement the trap.

Like this is Quincy talking to me.

And I'm like, yeah, all right, whatever you want.

And so, I mean, it's like he's given me direction as a hip-hop artist, how to rhyme on a jazz record.

That's how bad he was.

Wow.

Yeah.

Do we appreciate him properly?

Quincy?

Yeah.

I think that real music fans do.

Real music fans know the importance of him.

You know, know the impact that he's had, what he's done for

people, you know, like myself,

I'll be sure, Barry White, you know, what he's done for Michael Jackson, what he's done for Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, and so many others, so many soundtracks.

I think, you know, people that really appreciate music.

Yeah.

And I mean, he,

I think he did the thing for Sanford and Sun.

So many of the jingles for the these sitcoms.

Yeah.

He wrote, he wrote those.

Oh, yeah.

No, amazing.

Have you ever been starstruck in your for in your 30s, 37 years, I said 40.

In your 37 37 years, have you ever been starstruck by someone?

Maybe in the earlier days.

I mean, now you can.

Everybody knows who, you know, you're one of the greatest lyricists ever.

Yeah, I think the first time I met Barry White, first time I met Barry White, it caught me off guard.

I was like, oh.

You know, you know, yeah.

Barry White, yeah.

Yeah, that one, you know, really had caught me off guard.

And that was at Quincy Jones' house.

Really?

Yeah.

A cookout.

Yeah.

How do you determine who you're going to collab with?

People come in, they call you, like, okay, we, you know, we want to ride, we want to, we want to jump on something with you, want you to jump on something with us.

How do you determine?

Have you ever said no?

Would you say no?

No, I've said no.

I've said no.

to a lot of people.

Sometimes it's like,

I don't like the direction of the song.

Okay.

And there's been times where it's like,

I don't really see how I can sit in this.

Right.

You know, and I mean, that happens with stuff that I do.

A track that I'm trying to do just by myself.

I write something to it, and once I say it, it ain't sitting right.

Nah, this ain't, you know, so, you know, there's been situations like that.

Is it hard?

It's what hard?

Is it hard for you to turn somebody down?

Nah, nah, because I mean, in the end, you want it to be right.

Right.

And even though, you know, in your mind, you may think that that it's going to be right just because I'm on it, I'm telling you, this ain't going to be right.

This ain't it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know.

You did a song with Tito Jackson.

How did you, how does

Kane do a song with Tito Jackson?

Well, that came through my management.

You know, like my manager, Saquon, had told me about it.

You know, I was like, you know, I grew up listening to Jackson 5.

I'd love to.

So then they sent the song.

And I heard the singing and I called my manager back and I'm like, man, this ain't no goddamn Tito Jackson, man.

They're trying to get us.

See if we can get Tito on the phone.

And then he set up a call and Tito got on the phone.

He was like, hey, hey, hey, what's happening, baby?

What's happening, man?

I thought, oh, yeah, that's him.

I was like, yeah.

Yeah, what you want?

Right.

Because

if you didn't know, because the only really voice you ever heard was Michael's.

Well, now I've heard Tito sing.

Right.

And he has more of a blues feel.

So like when I heard this,

it had that poppish, Justin Timberlake feel.

So I'm like, this ain't ain't no damn Tito Jackson right this somebody trying to use his name you know this ain't Tito Jackson but um then when I talked to him on the phone I'm like nah that's definitely Tito right

you've culminated a lot of relationships in this business

you

ODB

how did you guys how did you guys meet

I had a show with Wu-Tang at Newark at Newark Symphony Hall in New Jersey.

Okay.

And that was my first time ever seeing him.

So I, you know, I stood up in the balcony and watched them.

And then I told my road manager, yo, do me a favor.

Get the old dirty bastard dude and get the girl with half her hair braided and bring them upstairs.

I want to meet them.

And then he brought them up.

And

because I couldn't really see, see, because I was way, way up.

So when he brought them up, he was like, yo, you're here.

But he's like, that's not a girl.

That's a little kid.

Dude named Shaheen.

i'm like oh okay my bad and they came in and i told them how dope they was and from that moment we clicked and old dirty and shaheen hung out with me that night right we went to a party in queens and we hung out and we was tight ever since then

how soon can you tell

somebody's really good

you know sometimes you can meet someone

and

it just you know it just feel that way um you know like off the cuff.

You meet them and it's like, you know, like, I love this person energy.

Sometimes you can meet someone and you can't really figure them out.

You have to really get to know each other because it's like

you've seen them on TV.

That image, you know, you created a perception.

But that's not a great representation.

You need to see somebody in their natural element to get a real sense or a true feel of who and what they really are.

Yeah.

So you figure you get, hey, hey, let's go break bread.

You come to my house.

I come to your house.

We get into the studio.

and to get a sense of who you are as an individual yeah like i've i've done that with a lot of people you know because um you know sometimes

people trying to read me

so you know it's like

let me talk you know let me let me vibe with you first let's see where we at right you know

and you know i mean i think that's important i mean

I felt like Quincy Jones did that.

Okay.

We worked together.

I felt like he did that when we worked together.

Because it was like me, Melie Mel,

Kumo D, and Ice T.

We all in the studio.

And then he like, what you doing tomorrow?

Can you come by?

Like, yeah.

I come by.

And

we just talking.

We just sitting there talking.

Then we went in

and he was doing something to the Secret Gardens track.

Yeah.

James Ingram and Debard.

But just, it was just, I didn't, I didn't hear nobody vocals.

It was just the beat playing.

Okay.

He was messing with some EQs or something to that.

And then we talking about this and that.

And he was feeling me out.

And then that's when he asked me, what do I know about, you know, Sarah Vaughn?

You know,

so you know, he has all these black encyclopedias and we chopping it up.

Ralph.

You mentioned something earlier about Bobby Brown did you a solid.

And there was really at that point in time, there were not a whole lot of mixing.

I mean, he was an R ⁇ B and he brought a rap artist on and gave you 5, 10, 15 minutes to do your thing.

Yeah, like 10 minutes, yeah.

Did you realize how impactful that was and how that was going to change your life?

Yeah, I mean, I mean, I dreamed of playing the garden.

And, you know,

it was like, if I never get to,

I did it at one time.

Yeah, you know, yeah.

And, you know, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby was my boy.

Like, that was my dude.

Like, I never forget back in, I want to say, hmm,

maybe

early 2000s, I was hanging out in St.

Louis with Bobby Womack.

Okay.

And he was telling me these stories about what him and Wilson Pickett used to do.

And, you know, I'm taking it in, absorbing it, and I'm laughing.

But the whole time I'm listening to the stories, saying to myself, yo, he's sitting here describing me and Bobby.

Right.

Like everything he's saying is the crazy shit me and Bobby done did together.

You know, I'm like, wow, this is amazing, man.

Another

lyricist was slick Rick, but you all didn't always have the best relationship.

How does beef

develop between artists?

If we were to take women out of the equation, because we know women can, you know, he was dating her and blah, blah, whatever the case may be.

But how do beefs develop between artists?

Sometimes beef can develop, you know,

over, you know, you know, status, ranking.

I'm better than you, you better than me.

Yeah, sometimes

it can be because of that.

You know?

My claim, look, if you got something that I want and I need to get it, I need to get at you then.

Yeah.

Have you ever done that?

Like, okay, he on top of the mountain, so let me go at him.

And then even if I don't get him, at least I'll get his audience's ear.

And now they they know about me.

Because I tell people that all the time, a lot of time in this industry, in the podcasting industry, sometimes when you're higher up, people that are a little lower on the podcast, as far as subscription, views, whatever the case may be, they might take a shot at you

just so if you respond,

your listener's ear,

now they got it.

Yeah, no, that's what a lot of people do.

A lot of people do that.

I mean, me, it was never that type of situation.

Okay.

So you didn't have no beef with Slick?

Me and Slick, we had an issue during the LL tour, but we resolved it.

Right.

Yeah, we resolved.

Y'all was on tour together?

It was an LL Nitro tour.

How the hell did that go with?

Y'all got to get along because y'all going to be on that thing every night.

Exactly.

So, like I said, we resolved it.

We resolved it and continued to finish the tour and make money, man.

Cohen, I mean, he was a big, prominent

during that time.

He was, I'm trying to think who's the equivalent of him now in today's industry Lord

who Lord Coyne Leo Coin

who's the equivalent of him right now

I don't know

I don't know because in the 80s and 90s that's the only name that you really heard

Maybe this maybe the Steve Stell cat, but you know, he's I think that he do it, he moved more quietly.

Yes, yes.

Parking shouldn't slow you down.

ParkWiz gives every driver a shortcut.

Book ahead, save up to 50%, and skip the hassle of circling the block.

Park smarter, park faster, ParkWiz.

Download the ParkWiz app today and save every time you park.

Keeping your pet healthy can feel like a lot sometimes, but PetSmart makes it super simple.

They've got food tailored to your pet's needs, supplements so you can stay ahead of any issues, and even prescriptions that show up right at your door.

And here's the hack: set it all up on AutoShip.

It just arrives when you need it.

Plus, you save 35% on your first PetSmart AutoShip order, and 5% on the ones after that.

You can stay on top of your pet's healthy routine without stressing.

Order what they need and set up AutoShip at PetSmart.com.

So, what do this animal

and this animal

and this animal

have in common?

They all live on an organic valley farm.

Organic Valley dairy comes from small organic family farms that protect the land and the plants and animals that live on it from toxic pesticides, which leads to a thriving ecosystem and delicious, nutritious milk and cheese.

Learn more at OV.coop and taste the difference.

You probably think of Michelin as a tire company.

And I mean, it is.

But it's really an innovation company.

And that's why their tires are as good as they are.

It started in the 1800s making brake brake pads for horse-drawn carriages.

Later, Michelin basically invented the modern tire with the first steel-belted design.

That innovation has never slowed.

In fact, it's only accelerated.

See what I did there?

These days, through its Michelin in Motion Vision, the company is expanding into healthcare, energy, and even aerospace.

Seriously.

For instance, They're developing an airless wheel for lunar exploration.

It's got to deal with vast temperature swings, radiation, and the rough terrain on the moon, and maybe one day on Mars.

I mean, this is more than just some sort of vanity project.

It showcases Michelin's broader shift from tire manufacturing to high-tech, durable mobility solutions.

It's about the same exact thing that led to those horse-drawn carriage brake pads well over a hundred years ago.

It's about innovation.

Learn more at michelinman.com/slash y-michelin/slash innovation.

Michelin, motion for life.

Ducks on a rail?

What gave it away?

Don't worry, we can help you with everything.

From signage to get the word out, custom printing to show off your unique selection,

branded products you can customize on our website, and of course, affordable flat-rate shipping so you can get your ducks back in a row and start growing my business.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Just another day at the office,

bear of a task.

You're up next.

The Mike Tyson story of

you and Mike was cool.

Oh, yeah.

I love Mike, man.

Because

how long have you known Mike?

I knew Mike,

you know, since the late 80s when I came out, we met, you know, we just bonded and we was cool.

So it was like anytime we see each other, we pretty much hanging the rest of the night.

Right.

You know.

Mike tell the story that you, you know, you, you good with it.

You good with these things, though, Kane.

That what Mike said.

I mean, I'm 56 years old, man.

I ain't fighting nobody.

Nah, he ain't talking about now.

He talking about back then.

I mean, you know.

People tried the young Kane.

People try everybody, Shannon.

They do.

People try everybody, you know.

You know.

I try to stay out their way, Kane.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's the best thing to do, you know.

Yeah, bad.

Yeah, cuz you done move somewhere nice and quiet.

Ain't no rumblings.

I mean, you hear the birds chirping, the crickets, and the wind the wind rustling that's all you hear now yeah

i mean but you know in all actuality it's like i i don't think that even when i was younger that's what i i i wanted

you know because i mean

i'm i'm from the hood and

Through my career, you never really heard me glorifying it or talking much about it.

Right.

I talk about the come up.

So it was the type of thing where I wanted a better life.

And when I became successful, I went back to the hood, grabbed cats from, you know,

from off of Lewis Avenue, from where I live, grabbed cats from, you know, on Brookline projects, Brevoy projects, LG projects, took them on the road with me.

You know, not to show off,

but so they can see what I'm doing to be inspired.

Right, right, right.

You understand what I'm saying?

I want to try to help them to try to figure out a way to get out the hood.

What you think about, what you're feeling, what you want to do.

But you know, sometimes when you do that, Kane, people be thinking you be trying to show, you be trying to help somebody, and people think you're trying to show out.

You're trying to shine on them.

That's the motherfucker that you left on the block.

That's who says that.

You know what I mean?

The one that you took, he gets it.

He appreciates it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What do you think?

The dopest song you ever wrote?

Um,

I would say

the dopest rhyme I ever wrote was on a song called Mortal Kombat, where I said, none of her in front of, because every one of my adversaries lack you little son of obituary columns of read your name.

If you ever try to step to the big deck, I think that was my dopest line.

Right.

My dopest song, I believe, was a song on,

I forget the album, I think it might have been Taste of Chocolate,

called Mr.

Pitiful because it was heartfelt right it was me talking about

personal stuff that I was going through at the time

you know what I'm saying and I'm not used to doing that I'm not comfortable doing that so I think that's the dopest song I ever wrote but my most motivational song is for my first album set it off right

I normally perform it first or second in my stage show because you know it could be nights where you know

ankle hurting you know i have arthritis in my back my back you know messed up soon as i hear that

all the pain goes away i'm you know i'm 20 years old again i'm 19 years old again you know everything is back to normal right that just just that song just motivates me yeah

do you still write today absolutely

you writing for you or you writing for someone else

um for me mainly for me mainly.

Yeah.

You looking to put something, you looking to put something out you going to do or you just like.

Yeah.

I let

LL Cool J and Q Tip convince me to do new music.

So.

Yeah, L say he'll, excuse me, I had LL on about a year ago.

LL say he gonna be on the stage like Mute Jagger.

LL L L L say L say he gonna be out there like 70, 80.

I mean,

I think he can do it.

You know, that title, that title, The GOAT, I think he deserves it and he wears it well.

You know, because I mean,

I don't see nobody else that can actually say that, you know, they've charted for, what is it, like

four different decades?

80s, 90s, 2000.

He had five decades.

Five.

Five, yeah.

Charted for five decades.

You know, nobody else in hip-hop can say that.

His longevity is like, yeah.

Is he as appreciated?

Is he as respected as he needs to be?

Because LL, really, LL brought the women because he was the first one to start rapping about women when I'm alone in my room.

I think that, you know, I think that true hip-hop fans understand and respect L.

It's just that he's become such a big movie star.

Outside of music.

Yeah.

It's kind of like Hove.

Hove got his start in music, but Hove ain't really doing anything.

He's a mogul.

He doing.

Yeah, but I think they still respect

Jay-Z as

a lyricist, as an MC.

You know what I'm saying?

It's like he's recent.

Because it's like everything that he does outside of music is business.

Yes.

L,

Queen Latifah, what they do is film, Hollywood.

Yes.

So they're seen more as movie stars

than MCs.

Yes.

But, you know,

you can sleep if you want to.

LL Cool J and Queen Latifah will drop a hot hot 16 on you and murder the mic at any given night.

Latifah definitely don't get what she deserved.

Yeah.

Because when they start talking about women and rap and they go to all these and that's not to minimize anybody name that they mention, but y'all forget about the queen.

Yeah.

And it's like you can't do that because she did so much for the culture.

Yes.

And for female MCs.

Right.

She broke down so many doors.

Your song Raw, did you take, because Eddie Murphy had a tour.

raw?

Is that where you got the title from or you just did that on your nah?

Just on just on my own, just on my own, you know.

You know, it was just really just

slang, right?

You know, you know, like, you know, oh, nah, this is gonna be raw.

Right.

We're gonna write, no, this is gonna be something raw.

Because it was, when we did that song, it was like I had been feigning for months to put a song out by myself.

Okay.

My very first song was me and Biz or Just Rhyming With Biz.

And it was getting airplay.

The problem was no one was booking me for shows because all the promoters thought it was a new Biz song.

Right.

So even though I have a song out and it's playing on the radio, I'm not making no money.

I'm sitting at home broke.

You know what I'm saying?

Like we had to

walk to the Corner Bulldegger and steal canned shrimp and Mrs.

Paul's fish sticks for dinner while my song is playing on the radio.

You know, we stealing food to eat for the night.

So I'm going to the person that owned the label, Fly Ty Williams, like, yo, can I please put something out with just me?

And he's like, yo, we still got life in this song.

We need to let it.

Yeah, but I ain't got no food in my stomach.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And no money in my pocket.

Yeah.

Then finally, I guess he got tired of me ass.

And then, you know, he was like, you know, you know, yeah, go and record something.

We'll see.

That's why the very first thing I say on the song is, Here I am, R-A-W,

because I felt like, okay, finally, I get to be me.

Do me.

When you get that opportunity, you know you got to come with it, Kane.

You know, you got to murder this.

Because this is your opportunity because, like you said, you got a song on there, but they think it's an ODB song and not you.

And so now this is your opportunity.

And like M said, hey, if you had one chance, one opportunity,

would you capture it?

Did you know

this is my opportunity and I got to do this?

With Roy?

Absolutely.

Like I said, I was home broke with a song playing on on the radio, so I knew that, okay, this is this is it, right?

This is it, this is do a dive, you know.

Was that common?

Was that common, Kane, to have guys have songs on the radio and they still ain't really got no money in their pocket?

Yeah, yeah,

yeah.

How is that possible?

Well, I mean, I want to say that my first show I ever did was probably for

$750.

$750?

$750.

I think my first, very first performance was for $750.

Did you have to pay to get to the show?

I don't remember.

No, we probably used a, well, we probably used a limo.

Yeah.

We probably used a limo and I had to pay the limo driver.

Yeah.

So yeah.

Well, damn.

Yeah.

So you guys, I think the thing is, because a lot of people do this.

You look at and you look at the athletes back in the 40s and the 50s, 60s, 70s, and they're like, damn, they made good money by standard.

But now they look at the athletes in today's time and they see guys got 60 million, 70 million, 80 million dollar contracts.

They're making 30, 40, 50 million off.

You looking at right like, man, I did my first show, $750, and you see Kendrick making $13, $14 million a show.

Yeah.

Like, damn.

I used to tell my mom, I said, mom, you couldn't wait 10 years.

That's all you got to do.

You wait 10 years.

You and Dad wait 10 years and your boy in the money.

You know, I mean, I'm going to be honest with you, man.

It's like,

had it happened that way, financially, I would probably

be so much more better.

But

would the legacy be the same?

You know what I'm saying?

Would the legacy be the same?

Like, I believe that the Big Daddy Kane legacy will be here when I'm long gone.

You know?

Yep.

And you,

what you rapped about then versus what they rap about now

I Think what you rapped about then had staying power because it wasn't girls or getting the bed or what X Y and Z well rapped a little about the girls

But I'm look I'm thinking can I'm like well damn how did you come up with the name Big Daddy Kane?

Where did that come from?

Well, it was really just MC Kane.

Okay.

Like, yeah, it was just MC Kane.

And I used the name Kane from

the Kung Fu?

Yeah, David Carradine,

Kung Fu.

You know, we outside, you know, we playing tag or Coco Levio, red light, green light.

You know,

three o'clock on Saturday,

I'm gone.

Right.

Game over.

I got to go watch, you know, Kung Fu Theater.

Right.

I'm out.

So they'd be like, all right, we just lost Bruce Lee.

All right, we just lost Young Grasshopper.

We just lost Kane.

So when I decided to change my rap name, I was like, yeah, I like Kane better than Young Grasshopper.

You know, so I just MC Kane.

But I would use the term Big Daddy a lot in the rhyme.

Right.

And Biz was the one that told me, now you need to just put that all together.

Put that together with Big Big Daddy Kane.

Yeah.

Not MC Kane.

Yeah.

Because there were a lot of MCs back then, too, though.

Oh, yeah.

So you, and now Big Daddy Kane stands apart.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, that's like,

it's funny to me because like to see that a name like that could actually have state power

because very few names that really have that.

Right.

Big Daddy Kane, Dougie Fresh,

you know, you know, Scarface, you know, because like there's some names like like like

if your rap name would have been Shannon D

You know what I'm saying?

That thing ain't nobody any

it's like certain names

remember that.

Yeah, you know, it's certain names that you know didn't have that state state power.

You know, so I mean, that's definitely a blessing that, you know, it don't sound corny today.

You riding around in your car today, who you listening to?

Same person I've always been listening to.

Willie Hutch or David Ruffin.

Oh,

so you don't listen to Red,

you listen to old school.

Yeah.

But I mean, as far as the new artists,

when I do listen, I listen to new artists mainly in the house.

Right.

Lady London,

Lady London, Conway the Machine.

Those are probably the main two new artists.

I love the new

Tyler the Creator.

My son turned me on to

Tyler New Album is fire.

Okay.

Yeah.

When you listen,

I'll give you an example.

When I watch a football game or I'm watching a sporting event, I'm critiquing.

I'm analyzing, okay, man, they're in this coverage or they're in this formation.

It's this down and distance, this area of the field.

This is what I think they should be doing.

This is what I think the defense should be doing.

When you listen to a new artist, when you listen to rap, are you dissecting it like that or are you just?

I've always done that.

I've always done that.

And not only have I always done that, sometimes I linger around the artists.

hoping you know that they ask me for my point of view.

You know, like I hear something that I could have took it to the next level, you know, while everybody else zoning out, like, yeah, that's fire, that's fire.

I'll be up close to the artist, like this here, like just waiting, you know, just patiently waiting.

Like, you know, just ask me, just yeah, just ask me,

you know, because I mean, you know, I want to see everybody shine, man.

I want to see everybody shine.

If you could jump on the track with somebody today, give me, give me four or five artists you'd like to jump on the track with today.

Right now, today,

I'm

J.

Cole, of course.

J.

Cole, Lady London,

um,

CeeLo Green, Anthony Hamilton.

Um

I would have never put you, I'd have never put you and Anthony Hamilton and then CeeLo together.

I'd have thought you'd have like, you know, okay, obviously J.

Cole because you say he's a he's your favorite today because he's a, you know, he's a lyricist.

I would have think thought you'd have say maybe somebody like a Wayne or, or you know whoever you know

i would i would have never i would have never put you with ceilow and anthony hamilton ceilo a slick talker man he is he is select talker man yeah the dungeon yeah yeah he he he is select talker you know

what you want to do you want me to run through with my gun drew this nigga undo something that he can't undo and anybody that's with him they deserve one too like

yeah i love ceiling man but people don't realize but he has a tremendous voice also yeah yeah yeah and anthony hamilton you know it's like, it's like, I love soul music.

Yes.

And we don't have too many,

you know, soul singers

left.

No.

You know.

You know, I mean, we have, you know, we still got

Al Green, the OJs, Ronald Isley.

But I mean, like, from the younger,

well, I mean, from our generation.

You know,

you know, Anthony Hamilton, Casey Haley, Dave Hollister, Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson.

Right.

You know, there's not too many soul singers

left.

It's a different time.

And I don't know if it's ever going to be like what it once was with the soul singers when you

mentioned

you had Barry White and you had Marvin Gaye and you had Hathaway and you had Freddie Jackson and you had Teddy Pendergrass and you had Marvin Gaye and you had this one.

You had 10, 15, 20.

Oh yeah.

And you had 10, 15, 20 women.

Oh yeah.

Absolutely.

Because, and a lot of times

I've asked artists that I've been fortunate enough to sit down and,

is hip-hop dead?

Is RB dead?

Maybe in that format?

Maybe as we saw it when we were growing up, Kane?

I think that

it doesn't have a strong presence in mainstream.

Okay.

But it's still there.

It's still there.

Because

you got to think,

even when we had artists like the OJs,

Isaac Brothers, Teddy Pennegrass, Hattie LaBelle,

in mainstream,

Stephanie Mills.

We had all of them in mainstream.

Yes.

We still was able to find artists like Lenny Williams.

Yes.

You know what I'm saying?

We still was able to find artists like

Sam and Dave.

Like there was artists that wasn't

in the mainstream like that,

but soulful artists.

Right.

You know what I'm saying?

That we had to search for.

Right.

You know, and that's what it is today.

You just have to search for them.

You know, only thing is just that there's not any in the mainstream like there was then.

Are we ever going to get another Sam Cook?

Are we ever going to get another Marvin Gaye?

Are we going to ever get another, you know, Barry White?

Are we going to ever going to get another

Aretha?

I hope not.

Whitney.

I hope not.

Damn, come on, Kane.

Don't you?

No, no.

I want them to be in the class by themselves.

I don't want another Sam Cook.

I want to hear someone that might remind me of Sam Cook, but got their own lane.

Right.

Got their own style.

Okay.

You know what I'm saying?

Because,

nah, because

I don't want nobody trying to replace Sam Cook Legacy or Marvin Gaye Legacy.

You know, I mean, like,

I like October London.

Okay.

You know, what he does in the Marvin flavor.

But, you know, he got his own thing.

He got his own thing.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

So, I mean.

let me ask

J.

Cole, there is this, I guess it started out exposed, and Kendrick said, they're talking about the big three, it's just big me.

And Cole started on this journey, like, nah, I'm off.

And I've talked to a lot of people that say, look, if somebody called you out, you got to jump off the porch.

I know Kane would have jumped off the porch.

You're goddamn right.

I'm going to tell you something.

I remember talking to Papoose about it.

And then Cole pulled the song back and said that he not there.

And I was mad.

Really?

I was mad.

I'm like, no, come on, brother.

Man, call you out.

You got to come back.

Yeah, I was mad.

But then, as I watched the Drake and Kendrick battle unfold, I had so much respect for Cole's decision.

I respected his decision so much more.

Because

it was like, I don't feel like the fans were enjoying the battle.

I think the fans were taking too much time trying to fact-check what they're saying.

Right.

You know, it's like it's a battle.

Right.

So whether it's true or not,

well, I mean, if you dissing someone,

it's a 50 to 75% chance that you're going to lie about some shit.

You know what I'm saying?

I mean,

when LL went at Hammer, my old gym teacher ain't supposed to rap.

When was Hammer ever LL's gym teacher?

You know it ain't true, but the line was funny as hell.

Exactly.

You see what I'm saying?

Yes.

So, I mean, it's like, you know, just enjoy the battle.

And I don't, I just feel like, I don't think, I don't think the fans would have really appreciated it.

I don't think that it would have had the impact.

that the Jay-Z and NAS battle had.

That the

Tupac Biggie.

Yeah, Shan, Shan and KRS.

I don't think it would have had the type of impact, you know.

Yeah, right.

This concludes the first half of my conversation.

Part two is also posted, and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listen to part one on.

Just simply go back to Club Shete profile, and I'll see you there.

Parking shouldn't slow you down.

ParkWiz gives every driver a shortcut.

Book ahead, save up to 50%, and skip the hassle of circling the block.

Park smarter, park faster, park whiz.

Download the ParkWiz app today and save save every time you park.

So, what do this animal

and this animal

and this animal

have in common?

They all live on an organic valley farm.

Organic Valley dairy comes from small organic family farms that protect the land and the plants and animals that live on it from toxic pesticides, which leads to a thriving ecosystem and delicious, nutritious milk and cheese.

Learn more at ov.co-op and taste the difference.

If you're going to the moon and need a specialized airless wheel for the next-gen lunar rover, who would you turn to?

Well, the powers that be turned to Michelin.

And for good reason.

Not only are they the tire people, they're also the innovation people.

You wouldn't believe everything they're into.

Healthcare, energy, and yeah, aerospace.

This rover wheel has to deal with temperature swings, radiation, and rough terrain on the moon.

So going to the tire/slash innovation guys makes sense, you know?

Learn more at michelinman.com slash y-michelin slash innovation.

Michelin, motion for life.

At T-Row Price, our experience helps us see investment potential differently.

Instead of fast answers, we understand the true road to confident investing is curiosity.

It's what drives us to ask smart questions about our ever-changing world.

Like, how can clean water transform farmland?

Can healthcare innovations create a healthier world?

How will AI be a part of a new tomorrow?

Our curiosity runs deep, and with it comes the power to help you invest more confidently.

Better questions, better outcomes.

T-Row Price.

Invest with confidence.

Learn more at t-roprice.com slash curiosity.

Considering an ERP, think about this.

58% of growing businesses say rising costs are the greatest challenge for their business, which leads to missed expectations and operational chaos.

Don't risk it.

Intuit Enterprise Suite is a smarter choice.

It's a modern AI-powered alternative designed for growing businesses.

By seamlessly integrating your financial operations, people management, payments, and marketing, you get ERP power without the ERP headache.

Grow with confidence.

Learn how Intuit Enterprise Suite can power your business.

Visit Intuit.com/slash enterprise.