1 00:00:04,510 --> 00:00:06,345 [Talib Kweli] Yo, I just want to say, you know, 2 00:00:06,428 --> 00:00:08,597 we're working hard, we're doing it because we love it. 3 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:10,849 You know? Niggas is trying to eat, and get paid, 4 00:00:10,933 --> 00:00:14,019 we're not trying to exploit hip-hop for the sake of doing that. 5 00:00:14,102 --> 00:00:16,980 You know? We're trying to do this because we love it. Thank you. 6 00:00:17,814 --> 00:00:18,857 There is a culture 7 00:00:18,941 --> 00:00:20,984 and we need to take it seriously for what it is. 8 00:00:23,904 --> 00:00:25,614 [laid back beats] 9 00:00:33,163 --> 00:00:34,289 [narrator] Hip-hop culture. 10 00:00:34,706 --> 00:00:35,999 That's a heavy phrase. 11 00:00:36,416 --> 00:00:39,253 Especially to those that were living and breathing it in the 90s. 12 00:00:39,795 --> 00:00:42,422 But how it was defined and who got to define it, 13 00:00:42,756 --> 00:00:43,840 that's another matter. 14 00:00:44,132 --> 00:00:45,634 Because by the mid-90s, 15 00:00:45,717 --> 00:00:48,554 hip-hop's most visible leaders had a new look for the culture. 16 00:00:49,471 --> 00:00:52,766 Foreign clothes and cars, champagne and yachts, 17 00:00:53,058 --> 00:00:55,269 shiny suits and icy chains. 18 00:00:55,435 --> 00:00:58,105 This was a shiny suit era, the "Jiggy" era, 19 00:00:58,355 --> 00:01:01,066 but not everyone was feeling it, and in response, 20 00:01:01,149 --> 00:01:04,528 alternative underground hip-hop scenes emerged across the US, 21 00:01:04,611 --> 00:01:06,196 trying to bring the culture back. 22 00:01:06,572 --> 00:01:08,323 But when you're going against the Big Willies, 23 00:01:08,407 --> 00:01:10,117 you can't just ask them to pass the mic, 24 00:01:10,492 --> 00:01:11,868 you need to take it back, 25 00:01:12,452 --> 00:01:14,079 one rhyme at a time. 26 00:01:16,415 --> 00:01:18,375 [inaudible] 27 00:01:18,834 --> 00:01:21,253 [Talib] The commercialization of hip-hop was just blatant, 28 00:01:21,962 --> 00:01:25,090 and Puff in particular was leading the charge. 29 00:01:25,424 --> 00:01:27,759 He was pulling no punches. 30 00:01:27,843 --> 00:01:29,553 It was sacrilegious to our community. 31 00:01:29,636 --> 00:01:32,055 This is a culture that you know, 32 00:01:32,264 --> 00:01:33,640 we all take personal. 33 00:01:33,724 --> 00:01:36,977 I have immense love and respect for Puffy now, 34 00:01:37,060 --> 00:01:40,606 but back then, you know, I was annoyed as fuck. [laughing] 35 00:01:40,689 --> 00:01:43,984 Hip-hop in its definition is non-commercial. 36 00:01:44,067 --> 00:01:45,068 It's counterculture. 37 00:01:45,652 --> 00:01:48,947 So, when it started becoming played on pop stations and mainstream stations, 38 00:01:49,031 --> 00:01:53,619 it's just like it's becoming diluted, it's becoming uncontextualized. 39 00:01:53,744 --> 00:01:56,747 It's becoming more digestible for the person 40 00:01:56,830 --> 00:01:59,166 who doesn't live and breathe this. At the same time, 41 00:01:59,750 --> 00:02:00,834 there was a whole community, 42 00:02:00,917 --> 00:02:03,628 that was like, "Yo, we're going to fucking raise our fist 43 00:02:03,711 --> 00:02:05,297 and keep this shit going strong." 44 00:02:05,380 --> 00:02:08,425 One of the places that was bubbling was in Washington Square. 45 00:02:14,181 --> 00:02:16,516 [narrator] Washington Square Park in New York's Greenwich Village 46 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:21,104 has long been a meeting point for NYC's merchants, artists and free spirits. 47 00:02:21,438 --> 00:02:23,815 But when clusters of MCs started to gather in the park 48 00:02:23,899 --> 00:02:27,569 for spontaneous freestyle sessions or what we call ciphers, 49 00:02:28,445 --> 00:02:31,114 no one knew that they were witnessing hip-hop history. 50 00:02:33,533 --> 00:02:37,204 And one of the best MCs to ever bless a Washington Square cipher 51 00:02:37,287 --> 00:02:40,415 a true master of the art of freestyling, is this man. 52 00:02:40,499 --> 00:02:41,333 Yes, sir! 53 00:02:41,500 --> 00:02:44,127 The aptly named, Supernatural. 54 00:02:44,252 --> 00:02:45,796 ♪ Spitting off the top of the head ♪ 55 00:02:45,879 --> 00:02:47,839 ♪ Supernatural like the dawn of the dead ♪ 56 00:02:47,923 --> 00:02:49,216 ♪ What's he got to say? ♪ 57 00:02:49,424 --> 00:02:51,551 ♪ I'm a world away And yo we love to rap ♪ 58 00:02:51,718 --> 00:02:54,054 ♪ He felt the Supernat He almost missed his slap ♪ 59 00:02:54,137 --> 00:02:55,597 ♪ Now that’s me running back ♪ 60 00:02:55,681 --> 00:02:57,307 ♪ Yeah, the way that I can spit it ♪ 61 00:02:57,391 --> 00:02:59,518 ♪ This is the way that I'm wicked When we killed the track ♪ 62 00:02:59,601 --> 00:03:00,936 ♪ Boy it's all of that ♪ 63 00:03:01,019 --> 00:03:02,187 ♪ Sit back in the seat ♪ 64 00:03:02,270 --> 00:03:04,564 ♪ And this is the way that I speak When I bring the heat ♪ 65 00:03:04,648 --> 00:03:07,442 ♪ When it comes to spitting Yo I'm never disrespecting ♪ 66 00:03:07,609 --> 00:03:10,070 ♪ There is no confusion Write the constitution ♪ 67 00:03:10,153 --> 00:03:12,781 ♪ Sitting here This is Hip-Hop Evolution ♪ 68 00:03:12,864 --> 00:03:13,824 ♪ And yo I'm still here ♪ 69 00:03:13,907 --> 00:03:15,784 ♪ And that's the way we take it It's nice ♪ 70 00:03:15,867 --> 00:03:18,495 ♪ I'm going to stop right there ‘Cause we wrecking it, right? ♪ 71 00:03:19,913 --> 00:03:22,082 [Supernatural] So that's what we used to do in the park, man. 72 00:03:22,541 --> 00:03:24,418 Washington Square was just probably 73 00:03:24,501 --> 00:03:26,628 one of the most magical places at that point. 74 00:03:26,712 --> 00:03:28,296 It was all about freestyle. 75 00:03:28,380 --> 00:03:29,798 There would be friendly ciphers, 76 00:03:29,881 --> 00:03:33,051 and sometimes there would be some battles that would ensue in the park. 77 00:03:33,135 --> 00:03:36,722 You know, that whole conquest to be the dopest you can be. 78 00:03:36,805 --> 00:03:39,891 ♪ It's me Every time I rock this is a service ♪ 79 00:03:39,975 --> 00:03:42,686 ♪ Emerge from the top Now I'm back on the surface ♪ 80 00:03:42,894 --> 00:03:45,439 ♪ Love the way I move Because I truly do this wild ♪ 81 00:03:45,522 --> 00:03:48,191 ♪ My profile Coming with the real freestyle ♪ 82 00:03:48,483 --> 00:03:51,236 ♪ Any rap, son, is a contact sport ♪ 83 00:03:51,361 --> 00:03:53,947 ♪ Rhyming in the place That they call New York ♪ 84 00:03:54,030 --> 00:03:55,824 [Mr Len] The park was where these cats got sharp. 85 00:03:55,907 --> 00:03:57,701 That's where they sharpen their swords, 86 00:03:57,784 --> 00:03:59,995 and, you know, they refine their darts. 87 00:04:00,078 --> 00:04:01,580 And they got nice with it. 88 00:04:01,663 --> 00:04:03,874 ♪ Kicking the rhyme, I'm coming in With the remarkable time ♪ 89 00:04:03,957 --> 00:04:07,002 ♪ And if you'll need to a new alignment When I started zigging up the side ♪ 90 00:04:07,127 --> 00:04:09,629 I've never actually seen the cipher start. 91 00:04:09,713 --> 00:04:11,714 Every time I walk into it, it's like, you know, 92 00:04:11,798 --> 00:04:13,675 three dragons breathing heavy, 93 00:04:13,759 --> 00:04:16,803 and everyone is spitting the hottest thing they can think off of the head. 94 00:04:16,887 --> 00:04:18,138 ♪ You fear dope lines ♪ 95 00:04:18,221 --> 00:04:21,808 ♪ Especially these, because K-Swift style Burns heads like STD's ♪ 96 00:04:21,933 --> 00:04:24,603 ♪ Let me please bless you With the best flavor ♪ 97 00:04:24,728 --> 00:04:27,272 ♪ I rip open ciphers Like they're made of wet paper ♪ 98 00:04:27,355 --> 00:04:28,398 [crowd whooping] 99 00:04:28,482 --> 00:04:31,985 [Talib] Kids were free styling in the park and gaining notoriety. 100 00:04:32,068 --> 00:04:35,822 The idea of making a record wasn't something people were striving for. 101 00:04:35,906 --> 00:04:38,492 That wasn't the goal. The goal was cultural courtesy. 102 00:04:38,575 --> 00:04:41,161 That thing that was becoming alternative to hip-hop, 103 00:04:41,453 --> 00:04:45,040 but really was rooted in what hip-hop was supposed to be from my perspective. 104 00:04:45,123 --> 00:04:48,460 ♪ Take me to a place called the BK Without pause or delay ♪ 105 00:04:48,543 --> 00:04:51,171 ♪ Get my relay Don't care what he say she say ♪ 106 00:04:51,254 --> 00:04:53,799 ♪ Ain't working for no cheap pay The Mos Def beat played ♪ 107 00:04:53,882 --> 00:04:55,300 ♪ This is what they street say ♪ 108 00:04:55,383 --> 00:04:58,929 ♪ Hey mister DJ play that double mo again That jam got me open ♪ 109 00:04:59,012 --> 00:05:01,890 [EL-P] It was this whole community that had kind of sprung up. 110 00:05:02,015 --> 00:05:04,810 There was always an explosion of ciphers. 111 00:05:04,893 --> 00:05:07,521 We were all just psyched about 112 00:05:07,979 --> 00:05:08,980 being rappers. 113 00:05:09,439 --> 00:05:12,567 That dissipated pretty quickly. Giuliani came into power, 114 00:05:12,651 --> 00:05:14,236 seized control, 115 00:05:14,528 --> 00:05:17,280 however you want to call it. How do you speak about dictators? 116 00:05:17,364 --> 00:05:20,075 He locked New York down. He locked it the fuck down. 117 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:21,618 ♪ Sadistic and I'm a misfit ♪ 118 00:05:21,743 --> 00:05:24,246 -Yo! -[police siren] 119 00:05:24,371 --> 00:05:27,749 You've got to move. You've got to move. You've got to move. 120 00:05:27,874 --> 00:05:31,127 When Giuliani became mayor, they were trying to bring more tourists 121 00:05:31,294 --> 00:05:33,171 in from the outer Burroughs and other states. 122 00:05:33,255 --> 00:05:35,423 It started with them breaking up the ciphers, 123 00:05:35,507 --> 00:05:37,759 the cops would come and be like, "There's too many of you." 124 00:05:38,218 --> 00:05:42,347 My first arrest was because of Giuliani and the Quality-of-life Crimes. 125 00:05:43,723 --> 00:05:46,560 [Jean] Things were cool, then all of a sudden, it fucking wasn't cool, 126 00:05:46,643 --> 00:05:49,271 and they were shutting down the park and horses were coming, 127 00:05:49,354 --> 00:05:52,816 police horses. You’re like, what the fuck? We can't-- we're not doing anything. 128 00:05:53,316 --> 00:05:54,693 They're just rhyming. 129 00:05:55,485 --> 00:05:57,946 I remember t-shirts about, like being anti-Giuliani, 130 00:05:58,029 --> 00:06:00,240 like when you start to crack down on culture, 131 00:06:00,657 --> 00:06:02,909 that's when we have a problem. You know? 132 00:06:02,993 --> 00:06:05,787 And he was attacking hip-hop culture. 133 00:06:05,871 --> 00:06:08,123 [man] They figure any time the darker toned, 134 00:06:08,206 --> 00:06:10,792 or just hip-hop generation, gather together, 135 00:06:11,376 --> 00:06:12,377 it's something negative. 136 00:06:12,627 --> 00:06:14,296 [interviewer] Giuliani was trying to clean up the parks. 137 00:06:14,379 --> 00:06:16,590 Did that have an effect on what was going on there, 138 00:06:16,673 --> 00:06:17,591 in terms of the scene? 139 00:06:18,341 --> 00:06:20,760 Absolutely. I mean, you know, it created visionaries 140 00:06:20,844 --> 00:06:22,512 to be like, "We're not going through that." 141 00:06:22,596 --> 00:06:24,806 This deserves a better space than the street corner. 142 00:06:25,140 --> 00:06:28,518 This deserves a better platform than just in the park, cold. 143 00:06:30,270 --> 00:06:33,440 [narrator] Among the heads in the crowd at Washington Square were two teenagers, 144 00:06:33,857 --> 00:06:35,859 Ant Marshall and Danny Castro, 145 00:06:36,026 --> 00:06:37,777 who saw the talent in the park ciphers 146 00:06:37,861 --> 00:06:40,614 and decided these backpack rocking MCs needed a venue. 147 00:06:41,156 --> 00:06:43,825 A venue dedicated to the art of rhyming. 148 00:06:46,286 --> 00:06:49,748 The first Lyricist Lounge was at its space on Archer Street, 149 00:06:49,831 --> 00:06:52,792 in Lower East Side, and it was very shitty. 150 00:06:53,043 --> 00:06:55,128 [laughing] The space was very shitty. 151 00:06:55,211 --> 00:06:57,923 But this is what underground hip-hop was really about. 152 00:06:59,549 --> 00:07:01,718 [Yasiin Bey] I remember the first Lyricist Lounge 153 00:07:01,801 --> 00:07:05,013 it was like a AA meeting, almost. You know what I'm saying? 154 00:07:05,096 --> 00:07:07,515 And I was like, "This is the most 155 00:07:07,974 --> 00:07:08,934 polite, 156 00:07:09,225 --> 00:07:13,104 well-mannered organized cipher that I've ever been to." 157 00:07:13,188 --> 00:07:15,357 And I remember leaving, being like, 158 00:07:15,899 --> 00:07:17,859 "This is never going to work." [laughs] 159 00:07:18,276 --> 00:07:21,196 We didn't even know what we were doing. Let's just put it like that. 160 00:07:21,613 --> 00:07:24,699 We would post these flyers up all over the city, 161 00:07:24,783 --> 00:07:28,370 from Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Uptown, 162 00:07:28,787 --> 00:07:29,621 and... 163 00:07:30,163 --> 00:07:32,457 it actually worked, people were coming out. 164 00:07:32,791 --> 00:07:35,085 [Ant] Once people started coming, it was overflowing, 165 00:07:35,168 --> 00:07:37,796 there was too much going on and so we ended up renting the club. 166 00:07:37,921 --> 00:07:40,715 And from there, things snowballed really quickly. 167 00:07:40,799 --> 00:07:42,467 ♪ Give it up, yeah ♪ 168 00:07:42,550 --> 00:07:45,470 [Supernatural] Lyricist Lounge was the place to be, man. 169 00:07:45,553 --> 00:07:47,138 I was totally blown away. 170 00:07:47,222 --> 00:07:50,684 Like, yo - these is cats that we all started in the park together. 171 00:07:50,767 --> 00:07:53,061 ♪ You're just a fraud, getting floored Doubt you'll recover♪ 172 00:07:53,144 --> 00:07:54,479 [rapping continues] 173 00:07:55,605 --> 00:07:58,024 [Bobbito] People, like, lined up to get onstage. 174 00:07:58,692 --> 00:08:01,861 It was like a government cheese line. 175 00:08:01,987 --> 00:08:05,740 There was just so much energy in there and it was predominantly dudes. 176 00:08:06,408 --> 00:08:07,993 It was a sausage fest. 177 00:08:08,076 --> 00:08:10,245 ♪ I don't stop Get up quick ♪ 178 00:08:10,328 --> 00:08:12,747 ♪ And you know I'm gonna kick The rough shit ♪ 179 00:08:12,831 --> 00:08:14,290 [Fat Joe] That's how I got my start, 180 00:08:14,374 --> 00:08:17,377 networking and being in all these spots and rapping and... 181 00:08:17,877 --> 00:08:19,337 Even though I wasn't the best, 182 00:08:19,421 --> 00:08:22,007 I was thinking I was the best. It was raw, 183 00:08:22,173 --> 00:08:24,259 underground, pure. 184 00:08:24,676 --> 00:08:26,720 Could you get rawer than the underground? 185 00:08:27,220 --> 00:08:29,139 That's what the Lyricist Lounge is about. 186 00:08:29,639 --> 00:08:30,849 [Rah] At that time, 187 00:08:30,932 --> 00:08:34,227 you pretty much had to battle your way through hip-hop. 188 00:08:34,309 --> 00:08:38,273 They were probably about five or six ciphers going within the venue. 189 00:08:38,815 --> 00:08:41,735 It's a hundred degrees, I'm 8 months pregnant. 190 00:08:42,444 --> 00:08:43,778 Sweating bullets. 191 00:08:43,862 --> 00:08:47,866 I got on that stage and I rapped like it was nobody's business. 192 00:08:48,158 --> 00:08:50,285 ♪ I'm badder than bougie ♪ 193 00:08:51,619 --> 00:08:53,496 [inaudible rapping] 194 00:08:58,418 --> 00:08:59,669 [crowd oohing] 195 00:08:59,753 --> 00:09:04,591 I remember at the end of the show saying, "I just got two things to say. 196 00:09:05,050 --> 00:09:08,887 I write all my own rhymes, and this is all my real hair." 197 00:09:08,970 --> 00:09:12,724 Like, those two-- I don't know what prompted me to say that but... 198 00:09:13,349 --> 00:09:15,727 ♪ I have no time to make foes With my black bros ♪ 199 00:09:15,810 --> 00:09:18,146 When my raps make stars collapse Like black holes ♪ 200 00:09:18,563 --> 00:09:20,815 [Talib] We didn't go to Lyricist’s Lounge to see nobody wack. 201 00:09:21,232 --> 00:09:23,943 Quality is still profitable, you know? 202 00:09:24,027 --> 00:09:26,196 And they developed a very quality experience, 203 00:09:26,279 --> 00:09:28,615 and that's why it kept growing and kept growing. 204 00:09:28,740 --> 00:09:32,077 It just opened up a lane for talent to be recognized. 205 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:34,788 As well as, you know, other places from across the country. 206 00:09:34,871 --> 00:09:39,417 Were you hearing rumors and whispers of, "This scene over here is really dope"? 207 00:09:39,501 --> 00:09:41,336 What else were you hearing about at that time? 208 00:09:41,419 --> 00:09:42,754 It was LA, really. 209 00:09:42,837 --> 00:09:44,881 LA was the place where I started 210 00:09:44,964 --> 00:09:48,343 to know that there was an alternative universe of New York. 211 00:09:48,426 --> 00:09:50,345 Like yo, they got some dudes out there 212 00:09:50,428 --> 00:09:54,182 that are absolute animals, too, just like us. We're not the only ones. 213 00:09:58,895 --> 00:10:01,231 [narrator] If the East Coast underground movement was a reaction 214 00:10:01,314 --> 00:10:03,108 to the commercialism of the Jiggy era, 215 00:10:03,441 --> 00:10:05,568 then the spark for LA was different. 216 00:10:06,778 --> 00:10:08,822 Out here, rappers were looking for alternatives 217 00:10:08,905 --> 00:10:11,950 to the gangsta rap scene that still defined West Coast hip-hop. 218 00:10:12,283 --> 00:10:14,410 And they'd find that in an unlikely place: 219 00:10:14,619 --> 00:10:17,956 a health food store at the edge of LA's historic Leimert Park. 220 00:10:21,751 --> 00:10:24,420 [Chali] The Good Life Cafe, it was a health food store 221 00:10:24,712 --> 00:10:28,216 in a strip mall, small little strip mall on the corner of Exposition and Crenshaw. 222 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:30,718 It was smack dab in the middle of the hood. 223 00:10:31,219 --> 00:10:34,013 You would walk in and see stuff like wheat grass, 224 00:10:34,097 --> 00:10:36,808 and things of that nature that, you know, it's foreign to us at first. 225 00:10:36,891 --> 00:10:38,059 Like, what the hell is that? 226 00:10:38,143 --> 00:10:41,604 But it was decided upon by a couple of the neighborhood elders 227 00:10:41,688 --> 00:10:46,109 who owned the health food store to make this an open mic spot, 228 00:10:46,943 --> 00:10:49,571 and a kind of a sanctuary for a lot of these rappers 229 00:10:49,654 --> 00:10:51,906 who were talented in the neighborhood and don't necessarily 230 00:10:51,990 --> 00:10:55,493 participate in what's popular at the time, which was the gangster rap stuff. 231 00:10:55,618 --> 00:10:58,830 And almost, I ain’t trying to say stoop down to the level of gangster rap, 232 00:10:58,913 --> 00:11:00,081 it's not like that, 233 00:11:00,206 --> 00:11:03,293 more like stoop to the level of trying to be something they wasn't, 234 00:11:03,585 --> 00:11:06,087 in order to succeed within the music business. 235 00:11:06,171 --> 00:11:08,339 [MC] Hey, what's happening? What happening, Good Life? 236 00:11:09,591 --> 00:11:12,427 It would be wall to wall packed. Like, you can't move packed. 237 00:11:12,552 --> 00:11:15,471 And whether you could get in there or not, it wouldn't matter. 238 00:11:15,555 --> 00:11:16,806 People would gather at the door, 239 00:11:16,890 --> 00:11:19,017 because the door was glass and they'd crack the door 240 00:11:19,100 --> 00:11:21,144 so people outside can hear what was going on inside. 241 00:11:21,603 --> 00:11:23,438 ♪ As a specimen, yes I'm intimidating ♪ 242 00:11:23,521 --> 00:11:25,106 ♪ And I'm waiting to caress and impress ♪ 243 00:11:25,190 --> 00:11:27,192 ♪ I’m demonstrating My lyrics come up pathically ♪ 244 00:11:27,275 --> 00:11:28,234 ♪ I got you fixed in ♪ 245 00:11:28,318 --> 00:11:30,653 ♪ I brag and boast and i‘m ghost Like Richard Nixon ♪ 246 00:11:30,737 --> 00:11:32,113 I'm thinking, like, nightclubs, 247 00:11:32,197 --> 00:11:34,908 that's where you want to go experience hip-hop and rap. 248 00:11:34,991 --> 00:11:37,160 It's not at a health food store. 249 00:11:37,410 --> 00:11:39,412 You know, with the fluorescent lights turned on. 250 00:11:39,662 --> 00:11:41,998 In the middle of this part of town 251 00:11:42,081 --> 00:11:43,875 where gangster rap comes from. 252 00:11:43,958 --> 00:11:46,377 How does the complete antithesis 253 00:11:46,544 --> 00:11:47,962 get born in that area? 254 00:11:48,129 --> 00:11:49,547 That's always the case. 255 00:11:49,672 --> 00:11:51,883 The antidote is always in the poison. 256 00:11:51,966 --> 00:11:55,845 [chilled beats] 257 00:11:57,013 --> 00:12:00,099 Thursday night you knew, you were going to see whoever was hot. 258 00:12:00,183 --> 00:12:04,520 You know, you had Volume 10. Ganjah K. Pigeon John. 259 00:12:04,604 --> 00:12:07,732 And it was a new way of thinking about the music, 260 00:12:07,815 --> 00:12:10,026 because you didn't have to have a deal to do it. 261 00:12:11,236 --> 00:12:14,030 [Snoop] I was just an underground rapper that heard about it. 262 00:12:14,113 --> 00:12:16,074 I didn't have no record deal, they didn't know me. 263 00:12:16,157 --> 00:12:18,785 I was just a nigga from Long Beach that just fucked it up, 264 00:12:19,244 --> 00:12:20,954 and was able to get down with them. 265 00:12:21,037 --> 00:12:25,166 And what I love about that, no two rappers sound alike. 266 00:12:25,625 --> 00:12:29,128 If a motherfucker walked up in there and sounded like another motherfucker... 267 00:12:29,462 --> 00:12:32,674 You couldn't even use a bar that was somebody else’s. 268 00:12:33,007 --> 00:12:35,176 It was niggas there bar watching. 269 00:12:36,844 --> 00:12:39,681 Like, "Nigga, hold on nigga, that ain't yours." 270 00:12:39,931 --> 00:12:41,474 Medusa, she's a myth 271 00:12:42,392 --> 00:12:45,603 But girls still clutch their pearls And make a wish 272 00:12:46,187 --> 00:12:49,565 That their man's crew Ain't on my weak delivery hit list 273 00:12:49,816 --> 00:12:53,194 [Medusa] Your word play and your rhythm play was everything. 274 00:12:53,403 --> 00:12:55,571 You really had to have some bars. 275 00:12:55,780 --> 00:12:58,449 You could not be Simple Simon rhyming. 276 00:12:58,533 --> 00:13:00,618 You have got to come original. 277 00:13:00,743 --> 00:13:05,290 You have got to come ready to smash that outside of your own box. 278 00:13:05,832 --> 00:13:09,043 If not, you got to go. We don't care who you are. 279 00:13:09,168 --> 00:13:11,045 Yo here's something real quick and get off 280 00:13:11,129 --> 00:13:13,548 before I wet my pants from being nervous up here. 281 00:13:13,965 --> 00:13:15,300 [crowd laughing] 282 00:13:15,717 --> 00:13:18,886 My first performance a lot of anxiety. 283 00:13:19,053 --> 00:13:23,016 Because of the the fear of rejection. [laughing] 284 00:13:23,599 --> 00:13:26,144 Blessed that I didn't get booed, you know, or dissed. 285 00:13:26,227 --> 00:13:29,731 It was a hard spot. This place is like Apollo. 286 00:13:30,732 --> 00:13:33,318 [Chali] If you were bad, you would lose the crowd. 287 00:13:33,401 --> 00:13:35,069 In a matter of seconds. 288 00:13:35,194 --> 00:13:37,363 [MC] Please pass the mic. Dang. 289 00:13:37,530 --> 00:13:41,451 "Please pass the mic" was a chant. If you was just whack, you'd get it. 290 00:13:41,534 --> 00:13:44,454 It would start with like one or two people. 291 00:13:44,620 --> 00:13:48,833 Then five, then 10, then 20, then the whole place. 292 00:13:48,916 --> 00:13:51,419 Then it would turn into a song. Pass the mic! 293 00:13:51,502 --> 00:13:53,921 And people would be like, "Please pass the mic!" 294 00:13:54,505 --> 00:13:55,882 This ain't my crowd. 295 00:13:55,965 --> 00:13:57,967 [crowd booing] 296 00:13:58,051 --> 00:14:00,261 [MC] Brother didn't even get to say his first word. 297 00:14:01,054 --> 00:14:03,890 That crowd was so vicious that something like "please pass the mic" 298 00:14:03,973 --> 00:14:06,309 sound like, "Shut the fuck up nigga, get the fuck off the mic 299 00:14:06,392 --> 00:14:07,810 before I fucking kill you." 300 00:14:08,061 --> 00:14:10,063 [crowd jeering] 301 00:14:13,399 --> 00:14:14,942 Fat Joe got up there, 302 00:14:15,651 --> 00:14:16,486 and... 303 00:14:17,653 --> 00:14:19,781 got booed, he got shit on. 304 00:14:19,864 --> 00:14:22,742 I don't think they even gave me a chance over there in LA. 305 00:14:22,950 --> 00:14:26,954 They just booed me. Like, "Boo!" Like, they ain't even hear me out. 306 00:14:27,455 --> 00:14:29,665 ♪ Fat Joe, you know the flavor's real ♪ 307 00:14:29,749 --> 00:14:32,293 ♪ Every time I grab the clock I flip the script and get ill ♪ 308 00:14:32,877 --> 00:14:36,339 All right. I sense jealousy in the house. Peace, we out. 309 00:14:36,547 --> 00:14:37,673 [mic drop] 310 00:14:38,424 --> 00:14:40,468 Are you fucking crazy? You're booing Flow Joe? 311 00:14:40,551 --> 00:14:42,053 You're booing Fat Joe? I'm the real. 312 00:14:42,136 --> 00:14:43,846 That's the only time I ever been booed. 313 00:14:44,847 --> 00:14:48,267 If you can get that difficult-ass bunch of people to be excited about you, 314 00:14:48,559 --> 00:14:51,270 you became part of that scene. You won. 315 00:14:51,771 --> 00:14:54,482 Freestyle fellowship is clearly an example of that. 316 00:14:54,857 --> 00:14:56,859 [jazz starts] 317 00:14:58,569 --> 00:15:00,279 [narrator] The intense open mics at The Good Life 318 00:15:00,363 --> 00:15:03,866 created some of LA's most respected and celebrated MC's, 319 00:15:04,075 --> 00:15:05,785 but one crew stood above them all. 320 00:15:06,202 --> 00:15:10,957 The fourman collective of PEACE, Self Jupiter, Aceyalone, and Myka 9. 321 00:15:11,207 --> 00:15:13,501 Better known as The Freestyle Fellowship. 322 00:15:14,252 --> 00:15:16,671 How did The Good Life help your development as a group? 323 00:15:16,754 --> 00:15:18,297 You got a chance to see 324 00:15:18,673 --> 00:15:21,467 what other people was doing on a weekly basis. 325 00:15:21,551 --> 00:15:24,554 I know me, I tried to push the bar up because... 326 00:15:24,679 --> 00:15:28,599 I had tried to have something new. I never concentrated on one style at all. 327 00:15:28,724 --> 00:15:31,769 "I'm going to be like this. I'm going to rap like this." 328 00:15:32,228 --> 00:15:34,063 I was trying to stay fresh every week. 329 00:15:34,147 --> 00:15:37,066 ♪ It's like Kool-aid Poppin a cap and lickin a fizzle ♪ 330 00:15:37,608 --> 00:15:40,236 [inaudible rapping] 331 00:15:47,910 --> 00:15:49,537 ♪ With one lump and a crumpet ♪ 332 00:15:49,620 --> 00:15:51,622 ♪ You can dump it down your throat And blow the trumpet ♪ 333 00:15:51,706 --> 00:15:52,665 [crowd erupting] 334 00:15:52,748 --> 00:15:55,251 The Good Life was instrumental. It was college. 335 00:15:55,334 --> 00:15:58,546 Every Thursday, you really had to come with something 336 00:15:58,629 --> 00:16:02,341 kind of, like, thought provoking. Witty. Peculiar. 337 00:16:02,633 --> 00:16:06,304 So you have to say something a little bit, like, way left. 338 00:16:06,387 --> 00:16:09,140 ♪ I stepped out my mother When she was asleep ♪ 339 00:16:09,557 --> 00:16:11,559 [rapid rapping] 340 00:16:16,731 --> 00:16:19,317 Freestyle Fellowship, they all had similarities, but, 341 00:16:19,484 --> 00:16:21,861 in those similarities, were so different. 342 00:16:21,986 --> 00:16:24,071 Like, Self Jupiter is totally different than Myka 9. 343 00:16:24,155 --> 00:16:26,407 Myka 9 is totally different than Aceyalone. 344 00:16:26,491 --> 00:16:30,369 But they all had unique jazz, scat style that was fresh. 345 00:16:30,953 --> 00:16:32,914 Their sort of chopping technique, 346 00:16:32,997 --> 00:16:36,417 they were trying to rap at the speed of thought. 347 00:16:36,501 --> 00:16:39,045 You could almost see the words spill out of their faces. 348 00:16:39,170 --> 00:16:40,713 ♪ Chop up another seething carcass ♪ 349 00:16:40,796 --> 00:16:43,883 [rapid rapping] 350 00:16:46,177 --> 00:16:48,846 Chopping, it was a way of expression. 351 00:16:48,930 --> 00:16:52,350 Dud-du-du, dud-du-du. [scatting continues] 352 00:16:55,102 --> 00:16:57,647 Flamboyant. You know what I mean? Just out there with it. 353 00:16:57,730 --> 00:17:00,566 [scatting] 354 00:17:02,693 --> 00:17:04,737 -[yelps] -[crowd cheering] 355 00:17:04,819 --> 00:17:06,321 It was definitely evident 356 00:17:06,405 --> 00:17:09,367 that the Freestyle Fellowship were the chosen ones. 357 00:17:09,450 --> 00:17:12,036 It was so innovative in what they were doing. 358 00:17:12,244 --> 00:17:15,039 Their talent was ahead of everybody else’s by light-years. 359 00:17:15,248 --> 00:17:16,249 And I used to be... 360 00:17:16,749 --> 00:17:19,292 trying my hardest to, like, act like... 361 00:17:19,835 --> 00:17:23,047 yeah, whatever. You know? Because-- it was my peer group. 362 00:17:23,214 --> 00:17:24,507 But I was a fan! 363 00:17:24,590 --> 00:17:27,301 Any time you got to see anybody from The Fellowship 364 00:17:27,385 --> 00:17:29,387 was special because they were the best. 365 00:17:29,804 --> 00:17:33,432 They were the best performers, the most seasoned and ready to be signed. 366 00:17:33,641 --> 00:17:37,979 And when it was their time... Man, it was pure b-boy jazz. 367 00:17:38,437 --> 00:17:40,231 ♪ Once we have ♪ 368 00:17:40,314 --> 00:17:42,358 ♪ The knowledge of self as a people We could be free ♪ 369 00:17:42,441 --> 00:17:44,443 ♪ No devil could ever Enter the boundaries ♪ 370 00:17:44,527 --> 00:17:47,029 ♪ I stand in the center around All these sounds I see ♪ 371 00:17:47,113 --> 00:17:49,657 ♪ Blessin' Allah that I found the key That's how we be ♪ 372 00:17:49,740 --> 00:17:53,536 ♪ We are by no means ashamed of our Cultural background ♪ 373 00:17:53,619 --> 00:17:55,079 ♪ Not a tad bit 'fraid of change ♪ 374 00:17:55,162 --> 00:17:57,665 -♪ Around the same old same old thang -Ay, what's going on? ♪ 375 00:17:57,748 --> 00:17:59,000 ♪ You know I can't call it ♪ 376 00:17:59,083 --> 00:18:00,751 ♪ Try to maintain Overlooking the boundaries ♪ 377 00:18:00,835 --> 00:18:04,046 [interviewer] Can you talk about the significance of Leimert Park, 378 00:18:04,130 --> 00:18:05,631 the neighborhood, the community, 379 00:18:05,715 --> 00:18:08,551 and how jazz became such an integral part of what you guys brought? 380 00:18:08,718 --> 00:18:11,220 [Myka 9] Leimert Park is around the corner to The Good Life. 381 00:18:11,304 --> 00:18:13,514 Leimert Park gave me my cultural dose. 382 00:18:14,348 --> 00:18:17,268 It's like, you know, there was a place you can go to 383 00:18:17,393 --> 00:18:20,229 without having to go to New York to experience 384 00:18:20,313 --> 00:18:22,315 jazz at its highest form. 385 00:18:22,523 --> 00:18:25,484 I would go to Leimert Park one Thursday instead of going to The Good Life. 386 00:18:25,568 --> 00:18:28,904 I would see the musicians with their saxophones, oboes, flutes, 387 00:18:28,988 --> 00:18:31,574 sitting on a bench. You know, they're just up there soloing. 388 00:18:31,657 --> 00:18:33,492 However, I want to bust my rhymes. 389 00:18:33,576 --> 00:18:35,369 I'm thinking of a rhyme I've been working on. 390 00:18:35,453 --> 00:18:38,331 So, think about the melody of whatever they are playing 391 00:18:38,414 --> 00:18:41,417 and put the melody into a syllabalization of how you are going to rap. 392 00:18:42,251 --> 00:18:43,919 And I started just straight rhyming. 393 00:18:44,879 --> 00:18:47,214 Then they started slowing down their playing. 394 00:18:48,424 --> 00:18:51,594 Then they just stopped. This guy was in the crowd, 395 00:18:51,677 --> 00:18:54,513 he was like, "Let that man finish his solo! 396 00:18:55,264 --> 00:18:56,515 He's doing nothing different!” 397 00:18:56,599 --> 00:18:59,852 So, they start picking up again and I started fucking that shit up. 398 00:18:59,935 --> 00:19:02,063 Then all the jazz people started getting up 399 00:19:02,146 --> 00:19:04,231 and getting with the hip-hop, just having a good time. 400 00:19:04,649 --> 00:19:08,069 So that encouraged me more to keep that as part of my get down. 401 00:19:08,152 --> 00:19:09,820 [Myka 9 scatting] 402 00:19:09,904 --> 00:19:13,658 ♪ Once we have the knowledge of self As a people then we could be free ♪ 403 00:19:13,741 --> 00:19:16,035 ♪ No devil could ever Enter the boundaries ♪ 404 00:19:16,118 --> 00:19:18,037 ♪ I stand in the center around All these sounds I see ♪ 405 00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:20,539 ♪ Blessin' Allah that I found the key That's how we be ♪ 406 00:19:21,082 --> 00:19:24,460 Freestyle Fellowship created a delivery and a pattern that, 407 00:19:24,752 --> 00:19:27,672 I think, was highly influential to... 408 00:19:29,006 --> 00:19:32,343 everybody after them. I heard patterns and flows 409 00:19:32,843 --> 00:19:34,762 that made me fuck with my pattern and flows. 410 00:19:35,304 --> 00:19:38,849 People were immensely proud of them and people were blasting that record 411 00:19:38,933 --> 00:19:39,975 wherever you went. 412 00:19:40,142 --> 00:19:42,895 I feel like I heard it blasting up and down Crenshaw, 413 00:19:43,062 --> 00:19:45,648 the same way that you heard the Snoop records. You know? 414 00:19:46,148 --> 00:19:48,609 Me and Warren G used to bang that shit. 415 00:19:49,151 --> 00:19:52,905 We used to bang the Freestyle Fellowship. They was hard as fuck. 416 00:19:53,531 --> 00:19:55,866 Shout out to the Freestyle Fellowship, man. 417 00:19:56,534 --> 00:19:59,245 ♪ I gotta be righteous, I gotta be me ♪ 418 00:19:59,328 --> 00:20:01,747 ♪ I gotta be conscious, I gotta be free ♪ 419 00:20:01,831 --> 00:20:04,250 Freestyle Fellowship. Are you kidding me? 420 00:20:04,917 --> 00:20:07,169 Them voices and those personalities 421 00:20:07,253 --> 00:20:11,966 were so big and they were developed out of a desire to not fit in. 422 00:20:12,758 --> 00:20:16,387 It was such a dope way to have a balance in the West. 423 00:20:17,304 --> 00:20:19,348 You had people taking pride 424 00:20:19,432 --> 00:20:22,601 and being like, "Okay, I'm underground. I'm not that mainstream." 425 00:20:22,685 --> 00:20:26,605 That opened up creativity the whole way through in hip-hop. 426 00:20:26,689 --> 00:20:28,482 [analogue radio static] 427 00:20:28,566 --> 00:20:29,525 ♪ WKCR. ♪ 428 00:20:29,608 --> 00:20:31,444 ♪ Here we are The MCs ♪ 429 00:20:31,527 --> 00:20:33,571 ♪ And nobody's hit these ♪ [laughs] 430 00:20:33,654 --> 00:20:35,614 ♪ Here's to Stretch And Bobby too ♪ 431 00:20:35,698 --> 00:20:38,159 ♪ And I'm rhyming through Your whole crew, that's true ♪ 432 00:20:39,994 --> 00:20:42,288 [narrator] From the parks, to the clubs and cafes, 433 00:20:42,371 --> 00:20:44,582 the underground scene was bursting with talent. 434 00:20:44,749 --> 00:20:47,293 But, unless you were there, you wouldn't know your Supernats 435 00:20:47,376 --> 00:20:48,711 from your Self Jupiters. 436 00:20:48,878 --> 00:20:52,590 It's going to take more than ciphers for these MCs to get recognized. 437 00:20:59,889 --> 00:21:01,390 [Stretch] The Stretch and Bobbito show, 438 00:21:01,474 --> 00:21:05,561 I didn't think that we were an underground show when we started. 439 00:21:05,770 --> 00:21:09,523 But, as hip-hop started becoming much more mainstream and commercial, 440 00:21:10,149 --> 00:21:14,153 we were aware that what we were doing, in some ways, had almost... 441 00:21:14,987 --> 00:21:15,988 greater importance. 442 00:21:16,071 --> 00:21:19,533 There was a war going on, really, for the soul of hip-hop. 443 00:21:19,617 --> 00:21:22,870 We were that alternative to the commercial stations 444 00:21:22,953 --> 00:21:24,789 that are playing mainstream music 445 00:21:24,914 --> 00:21:29,210 that happens to have its roots in hip-hop, but in many ways, isn't hip-hop. 446 00:21:29,293 --> 00:21:30,669 ♪ Ok, uh-huh ♪ 447 00:21:30,753 --> 00:21:32,546 ♪ No need to ask my initial ♪ 448 00:21:32,630 --> 00:21:34,757 ♪ Lfl-b5d most official ♪ 449 00:21:35,257 --> 00:21:37,676 ♪ Wraps fraudulent rappers Like tissue ♪ 450 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:38,886 ♪ What's the whole issue ♪ 451 00:21:39,011 --> 00:21:42,264 Having the live freestyle sessions was just sort of a part of that overall 452 00:21:42,389 --> 00:21:45,100 desire to create something that was special. 453 00:21:45,184 --> 00:21:47,770 I was trying to play music that you couldn't hear anywhere else. 454 00:21:48,479 --> 00:21:51,148 [Bobbito] We were the gatekeepers for indie hip-hop in New York. 455 00:21:51,232 --> 00:21:53,275 There was the old school, there was new school 456 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:55,319 and true school. The cats that didn't give a fuck. 457 00:21:55,402 --> 00:21:58,364 You're being true to the culture? All right, cool. You're down. 458 00:21:58,989 --> 00:22:00,866 Stretch and I used to book artists on our show, 459 00:22:00,950 --> 00:22:04,119 we didn't care if they were unsigned. We didn't care if they had a demo. 460 00:22:04,411 --> 00:22:07,248 We were the premiere, like, sort of unsigned artists 461 00:22:07,373 --> 00:22:08,666 radio showcase. 462 00:22:09,124 --> 00:22:13,295 For some MC's, their career goal was to get on our show. 463 00:22:14,255 --> 00:22:15,631 [EL-P] A radio show like Stretch and Bob, 464 00:22:15,714 --> 00:22:17,800 they were getting sent tapes from all over the country. 465 00:22:17,883 --> 00:22:20,761 And I remember being in the car with my partner Big Jus, 466 00:22:20,845 --> 00:22:24,306 parked in my mother's 1985 brown Buick, 467 00:22:24,390 --> 00:22:26,976 in a parking lot, high as fuck, 468 00:22:27,059 --> 00:22:29,019 waiting to hear our song on the radio. 469 00:22:29,478 --> 00:22:32,398 Stretch Armstrong played "8 Steps to Perfection." 470 00:22:32,481 --> 00:22:34,817 The first song, we were just like "Oh my God!" 471 00:22:34,900 --> 00:22:37,862 I could have died happy. That could have been it for me. 472 00:22:37,945 --> 00:22:39,154 I'll set it off first. 473 00:22:39,238 --> 00:22:42,741 This is how we do, worldwide. Wake Up Show. Pirate radio. 474 00:22:42,825 --> 00:22:44,743 [Stretch] The Wake-Up show, they had a value system 475 00:22:44,827 --> 00:22:47,496 that was in line with what ours was. 476 00:22:47,580 --> 00:22:49,707 We would send them tapes from our show. 477 00:22:49,790 --> 00:22:51,709 They would often play the Freestyle segments. 478 00:22:51,792 --> 00:22:53,752 There was just a synergy between the two. 479 00:22:53,836 --> 00:22:55,838 We got MCs in here serving it. 480 00:22:55,921 --> 00:22:57,756 Who's up next? 481 00:22:57,840 --> 00:22:59,842 ♪ Well I'm up, I'm about to erupt ♪ 482 00:22:59,925 --> 00:23:01,677 ♪ I deducted all this time ♪ 483 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:03,137 ♪ Just to blow your mind ♪ 484 00:23:03,220 --> 00:23:05,389 ♪ I'm grabbing the microphone To keep them swaying ♪ 485 00:23:05,472 --> 00:23:07,182 ♪ Taking, these MCs are checking ♪ 486 00:23:07,266 --> 00:23:08,684 ♪ They're getting checked and wrecked ♪ 487 00:23:08,767 --> 00:23:10,936 ♪ Manifesting, pulling cards All off the deck ♪ 488 00:23:11,020 --> 00:23:13,314 ♪ Take the bottom one, it's the ace I got them one ♪ 489 00:23:13,397 --> 00:23:15,024 ♪ I shoot 'em, shot 'em one I plot 'em son ♪ 490 00:23:16,025 --> 00:23:17,443 [Xzibit] Tek and Sway was dope, 491 00:23:17,526 --> 00:23:19,528 because it was like Gladiator School. 492 00:23:19,612 --> 00:23:23,115 They would just fill up the studio with MCs 493 00:23:23,198 --> 00:23:26,410 and we would just bust our niggas live on the air. 494 00:23:26,493 --> 00:23:28,412 ♪ They got a close ear, to the LA Style ♪ 495 00:23:28,495 --> 00:23:31,290 ♪ Watch L.A take their styles back With a real big ole smile ♪ 496 00:23:31,373 --> 00:23:33,959 ♪ Yeah, fool All that dudda dudda ♪ 497 00:23:34,126 --> 00:23:35,044 ♪ Bone thugs ♪ 498 00:23:35,252 --> 00:23:36,837 ♪ Leave that style alone, dud ♪ 499 00:23:36,921 --> 00:23:38,923 [men whooping] 500 00:23:40,090 --> 00:23:42,509 If you couldn't hold your own in that fucking cipher, 501 00:23:42,593 --> 00:23:43,552 then get the fuck out. 502 00:23:44,136 --> 00:23:47,848 It don't matter what kind of chain you had on, what kind of status you had. 503 00:23:47,973 --> 00:23:50,893 Nigga, can you rap? Can you rap? 504 00:23:52,519 --> 00:23:53,771 God damn Thunder cat. 505 00:23:53,896 --> 00:23:55,898 -[meows] -[smooth beats] 506 00:23:56,565 --> 00:23:58,984 [Danny] These underground radio stations 507 00:23:59,068 --> 00:24:02,029 were a blessing for all of these independent artists 508 00:24:02,154 --> 00:24:04,281 because they were actually getting played 509 00:24:04,365 --> 00:24:05,866 and then you also had 510 00:24:05,950 --> 00:24:10,329 these independent record labels that were kicking down the door, 511 00:24:10,746 --> 00:24:14,249 and letting people know like, "Hey, check this out. 512 00:24:14,333 --> 00:24:15,709 This is the shit right here." 513 00:24:16,627 --> 00:24:18,337 Blackstar, for an example. 514 00:24:18,504 --> 00:24:22,091 They were with this independent label called Rawkus Records. 515 00:24:22,216 --> 00:24:24,301 They were, like, untouchable at the time. 516 00:24:25,719 --> 00:24:27,846 [Stretch] I was getting records that Rawkus was putting out. 517 00:24:27,930 --> 00:24:31,016 I was getting Blackstar records, which were just really dope. 518 00:24:31,100 --> 00:24:33,686 I mean, Mos Def was already one of the most important soloists 519 00:24:33,769 --> 00:24:35,854 emerging from the 90s New York scene. 520 00:24:35,980 --> 00:24:38,357 And Blackstar was kind of an extension of that. 521 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:39,692 They're probably the group 522 00:24:39,775 --> 00:24:42,695 that was most concerned with preserving culture. 523 00:24:42,820 --> 00:24:44,363 There was a nod to the past. 524 00:24:44,446 --> 00:24:48,826 We're bringing love cuz yall Brooklyn niggas came all the way up here. 525 00:24:48,909 --> 00:24:50,869 [narrator] When Talib Kweli and Mos Def, 526 00:24:50,995 --> 00:24:53,580 two long time staples of the ciphers and open mics, 527 00:24:53,664 --> 00:24:55,457 came together to form Blackstar, 528 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:57,751 they were more than a duo with a deal. 529 00:24:57,918 --> 00:25:00,045 They were the messengers and flag bearers 530 00:25:00,129 --> 00:25:01,839 for the entire underground movement. 531 00:25:01,964 --> 00:25:04,883 ♪ The new moon rode high In the crown of the metropolis ♪ 532 00:25:04,967 --> 00:25:06,802 ♪ Shining, like who on top of this? ♪ 533 00:25:06,885 --> 00:25:09,555 ♪ People was hustling, Arguing and bustling ♪ 534 00:25:09,805 --> 00:25:12,141 ♪ Gangsters of Gotham hardcore hustling ♪ 535 00:25:12,224 --> 00:25:14,476 ♪ I'm wrestling with words and ideas ♪ 536 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,229 ♪ My ears is picky Seeking what will transmit ♪ 537 00:25:19,314 --> 00:25:20,149 Yo! 538 00:25:20,232 --> 00:25:21,650 [interviewer] That Black Star album, 539 00:25:21,734 --> 00:25:25,320 do you remember what you were trying to convey with the vibe and the lyrics? 540 00:25:25,404 --> 00:25:27,239 I think the best artists are the ones that learn 541 00:25:27,322 --> 00:25:30,200 how to take that freestyle element and use it in the studio to be free. 542 00:25:30,284 --> 00:25:33,162 I think that's what makes Black Star such an interesting dynamic. 543 00:25:33,245 --> 00:25:35,831 The subject matter on that album came directly out of those ciphers. 544 00:25:35,914 --> 00:25:38,584 And a lot of the freestyle was about preserving the culture. 545 00:25:39,168 --> 00:25:42,504 He was very very focused on where's the vinyl? 546 00:25:42,755 --> 00:25:44,673 Where are the break dancers? 547 00:25:44,923 --> 00:25:46,925 Where is the culture and where is it going? 548 00:25:47,426 --> 00:25:50,888 There's a business around this culture that says, 549 00:25:51,305 --> 00:25:53,557 if you want to succeed in this, 550 00:25:54,141 --> 00:25:55,768 then you need to be this. 551 00:25:56,518 --> 00:25:57,603 And it was like... 552 00:25:59,271 --> 00:26:00,564 that's not who we are. 553 00:26:01,273 --> 00:26:04,068 Everything else just started to feel like noise after a while. 554 00:26:04,193 --> 00:26:08,280 Puffy and Jay, and what was happening on the charts, who was popping. 555 00:26:08,363 --> 00:26:09,948 We just turned all that down. 556 00:26:10,032 --> 00:26:12,576 We was just talking to the interested. 557 00:26:12,659 --> 00:26:15,454 ♪ The beast crept through concrete jungles Communicating with one another ♪ 558 00:26:15,537 --> 00:26:18,332 ♪ And ghetto birds where waters fall From the hydrants to the gutters ♪ 559 00:26:18,415 --> 00:26:20,417 ♪ The beast walk the beats But the beats we be making ♪ 560 00:26:20,834 --> 00:26:23,337 ♪ You on the wrong side of the track Looking visibly shaken ♪ 561 00:26:23,420 --> 00:26:26,548 [interviewer] You guys represented the culture, represented the underground, 562 00:26:26,799 --> 00:26:28,926 but reached a level of success 563 00:26:29,051 --> 00:26:31,053 that some people would maybe not consider underground. 564 00:26:31,136 --> 00:26:33,472 Underground is an aesthetic. 565 00:26:34,098 --> 00:26:36,350 It's a feeling and it's a sound. 566 00:26:36,433 --> 00:26:40,187 What we considered the underground were Platinum hits. 567 00:26:40,270 --> 00:26:43,857 I'm talking about Gang Starr, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, 568 00:26:43,941 --> 00:26:45,526 all of them got platinum plaques. 569 00:26:45,651 --> 00:26:47,611 But the sound, the aesthetic, 570 00:26:48,529 --> 00:26:50,864 captures something that we call underground. 571 00:26:51,698 --> 00:26:55,869 [Mos] The only criteria is that it has to rock our world. 572 00:26:55,953 --> 00:26:58,997 It has to be something that makes us be like, "Yo! 573 00:27:00,082 --> 00:27:02,000 That shit was like--." 574 00:27:02,835 --> 00:27:04,461 That's all we're going for. 575 00:27:04,545 --> 00:27:08,674 Making money was in the car, but it wasn't the driver or the engine. 576 00:27:09,883 --> 00:27:13,595 It was maybe sitting in the front seat. With the window down. 577 00:27:13,804 --> 00:27:17,224 You comfortable? [laughing] 578 00:27:17,641 --> 00:27:20,644 If you want to make a stop, you let us know. 579 00:27:20,727 --> 00:27:23,564 ♪ Lawd have mercy All nice and peace and true ♪ 580 00:27:24,356 --> 00:27:25,816 ♪ Follow me now, we say ♪ 581 00:27:25,899 --> 00:27:28,277 ♪ Say Hi-Tek yes you're ruling hip-hop ♪ 582 00:27:28,777 --> 00:27:31,321 ♪ Say J. Rawls yes you're ruling hip-hop ♪ 583 00:27:31,822 --> 00:27:33,991 ♪ Redefinition say you're ruling hip-hop ♪ 584 00:27:34,074 --> 00:27:36,160 ♪ Say Black Star come to rock it ♪ 585 00:27:36,243 --> 00:27:39,037 ♪ From the first to the last of it Delivery is passionate ♪ 586 00:27:39,121 --> 00:27:41,790 ♪ The whole and not the half of it Vocab and not the math of it ♪ 587 00:27:41,874 --> 00:27:44,293 ♪ Projectile that them blasted with Accurate assassin shit ♪ 588 00:27:44,376 --> 00:27:46,378 [crowd cheering] 589 00:27:46,461 --> 00:27:51,300 [Rah] Black Star were definitely rock stars in underground hip hop. 590 00:27:52,050 --> 00:27:54,720 Fighting to preserve the legacies of... 591 00:27:55,095 --> 00:27:58,682 of Chuck D and KRS-One and all of these things that, 592 00:27:58,974 --> 00:28:01,602 you know, our forefathers preach to us. 593 00:28:02,102 --> 00:28:04,521 ♪ Hold your heads When the beat drop ♪ 594 00:28:06,565 --> 00:28:07,774 [crowd cheering] 595 00:28:08,442 --> 00:28:10,485 [Will-I-Am] Kweli is like one of my favorite MCs. 596 00:28:10,569 --> 00:28:11,653 Mos Def. Whoa! 597 00:28:11,820 --> 00:28:15,616 Like, I love Mos Def. That's, like, rebel music. 598 00:28:16,033 --> 00:28:19,286 The tone, the sentiment, the content. 599 00:28:19,828 --> 00:28:22,164 That's rebel music. That's thought thinking music. 600 00:28:22,247 --> 00:28:23,999 ♪ What they dealing with Is weak derivatives ♪ 601 00:28:24,082 --> 00:28:26,251 [rapping continues] 602 00:28:26,335 --> 00:28:28,503 ♪ The world that we livin in Filled with ignorance ♪ 603 00:28:28,587 --> 00:28:31,089 ♪ Belligerence Stock market dividends ♪ 604 00:28:31,173 --> 00:28:32,883 ♪ Global imprisonment ♪ 605 00:28:34,009 --> 00:28:36,011 [crowd erupting] 606 00:28:36,511 --> 00:28:39,223 [interviewer] What do you think is the legacy of that era 607 00:28:39,306 --> 00:28:42,100 and what you guys were doing to preserve the culture? 608 00:28:42,267 --> 00:28:45,938 [Mos] I wanted to be as good as anything that I've read, 609 00:28:46,939 --> 00:28:48,899 from, like, my favorite writers. 610 00:28:48,982 --> 00:28:51,860 I was like, I want to write on that level, 611 00:28:52,277 --> 00:28:53,570 in this space. 612 00:28:53,654 --> 00:28:55,697 And I think that Kweli had that... 613 00:28:56,615 --> 00:28:59,576 similar focus with wanting to be like... 614 00:29:00,369 --> 00:29:01,453 the lyrics matter. 615 00:29:01,536 --> 00:29:03,497 Because, in hip-hop, they do. 616 00:29:03,580 --> 00:29:06,792 I don't care what anybody says. The feeling, the vibe and all that, but 617 00:29:07,167 --> 00:29:08,877 when the MC's great, they're just great. 618 00:29:10,087 --> 00:29:12,256 [narrator] To the underground scenes in New York and LA, 619 00:29:12,339 --> 00:29:14,258 there was only one currency that mattered. 620 00:29:14,591 --> 00:29:15,801 Cultural currency. 621 00:29:16,260 --> 00:29:18,262 It was about getting props at an open mic, 622 00:29:18,345 --> 00:29:21,390 or landing a punchline so nasty that the whole cipher fell out. 623 00:29:25,477 --> 00:29:26,770 But what if you come from a city 624 00:29:26,853 --> 00:29:28,313 where the whole hip-hop scene can fit 625 00:29:28,397 --> 00:29:30,315 into a cipher in the back of a denim shop? 626 00:29:30,899 --> 00:29:33,568 How much is a rhyme worth when that's all you got? 627 00:29:35,404 --> 00:29:36,238 Yes, sir! 628 00:29:36,321 --> 00:29:37,531 -What's up, my guy? -Thank you. 629 00:29:37,614 --> 00:29:38,782 -How you doing? -Appreciate it. 630 00:29:38,865 --> 00:29:40,158 -Thank you for coming. -Anytime. 631 00:29:40,242 --> 00:29:43,453 The Hip-Hop Shop. What did that spot mean to hip-hop in Detroit? 632 00:29:43,537 --> 00:29:47,040 [Royce Da 5'9"] The Hip-Hop Shop, it was a known staple in Detroit. 633 00:29:47,624 --> 00:29:49,835 As soon as I graduated high school in '96, 634 00:29:49,918 --> 00:29:52,587 I started going to The Hip Hop Shop. Every Saturday morning, 635 00:29:52,671 --> 00:29:53,714 it went down. 636 00:29:56,591 --> 00:29:59,636 Right in the back of The Hip-Hop Shop, that's where battles took place. 637 00:29:59,970 --> 00:30:02,347 DJ Head is on the ones and twos, up high. 638 00:30:02,431 --> 00:30:06,310 And Proof is hosting, you've got like a few seconds 639 00:30:06,435 --> 00:30:09,187 to say the right shit to captivate the crowd. 640 00:30:09,313 --> 00:30:12,232 ♪ I'll break your neck Leave your ass broken ♪ 641 00:30:12,482 --> 00:30:14,651 ♪ Flip your fast ass in the air Like a token ♪ 642 00:30:14,735 --> 00:30:16,153 [crowd oohing] 643 00:30:16,236 --> 00:30:18,363 I've never seen people standing in front of each other, 644 00:30:18,447 --> 00:30:21,992 rapping off of the top of their head about what you're wearing and all that. 645 00:30:22,159 --> 00:30:24,828 My first time really hearing punch lines, 646 00:30:25,495 --> 00:30:26,455 on that level. 647 00:30:26,538 --> 00:30:30,083 Okay, freestyle, but you know what? Your ass is kind of big, nigga. 648 00:30:30,250 --> 00:30:32,252 [crowd laughing] 649 00:30:32,753 --> 00:30:35,213 Rappers would come to battle, in order to win, 650 00:30:35,297 --> 00:30:36,882 you had to get the crowd on your side, 651 00:30:36,965 --> 00:30:38,967 you had to say something funny or witty 652 00:30:39,051 --> 00:30:40,761 about who you were battling, 653 00:30:40,844 --> 00:30:42,637 to get everybody laughing at that person. 654 00:30:42,721 --> 00:30:44,139 And, you know, that's how you won. 655 00:30:44,723 --> 00:30:46,350 Everybody put their name in the hat, 656 00:30:46,475 --> 00:30:49,061 and you would pick two names out of the hat and they'd battle. 657 00:30:49,144 --> 00:30:51,813 That room was full of so much motherfucking talent. 658 00:30:51,897 --> 00:30:54,274 All the names in the hat are fucking fire. 659 00:30:54,649 --> 00:30:57,569 So, no matter what the combination, the two names come out, 660 00:30:57,736 --> 00:31:00,781 and the crowd is like, "Oh shit!" 661 00:31:01,281 --> 00:31:03,283 [crowd oohing] 662 00:31:03,742 --> 00:31:07,829 Fat Cat. Swifty and Beretta. Proof. Proof ran it. 663 00:31:07,996 --> 00:31:10,874 He was a ringmaster, so he wanted to bring the greatest talent. 664 00:31:11,375 --> 00:31:13,794 When Proof walked up in the shop with this white kid one time. 665 00:31:14,169 --> 00:31:16,922 ♪ Slim Shady Brain dead like Jim Brady ♪ 666 00:31:17,005 --> 00:31:18,382 And the motherfucker got on the mic 667 00:31:18,465 --> 00:31:20,592 and it was like, what the fuck just happened? 668 00:31:20,926 --> 00:31:24,513 What just happened, yo? Like, this dude was fucking incredible. 669 00:31:25,931 --> 00:31:27,933 [Royce] The first time I heard Eminem was Hip-Hop Shop. 670 00:31:28,183 --> 00:31:29,559 He was shredding this dude, bro. 671 00:31:30,519 --> 00:31:32,270 I've never seen nothing like it. 672 00:31:32,354 --> 00:31:34,439 I didn't even know white people rapped, you know? 673 00:31:34,523 --> 00:31:36,066 [both laughing] 674 00:31:36,149 --> 00:31:38,151 ♪ Talking that shit behind my back ♪ 675 00:31:38,235 --> 00:31:40,320 ♪ And telling your boys I'm on crack ♪ 676 00:31:40,404 --> 00:31:42,197 ♪ I just don't give a fuck ♪ 677 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:45,492 [Trick] I remember when I saw Eminem murder a motherfucker in there. 678 00:31:45,575 --> 00:31:49,079 I said, "Goddamn! This motherfucker is cold!" 679 00:31:49,329 --> 00:31:51,039 He crazy as hell, too, you know? 680 00:31:51,248 --> 00:31:52,541 Marshall looked like... 681 00:31:53,125 --> 00:31:55,502 He looked like he had a fucking problem. 682 00:31:55,710 --> 00:31:58,296 ♪ Any rapper saying those kinda rhymes ♪ 683 00:31:58,380 --> 00:32:00,924 ♪ In this day and age In this period in time ♪ 684 00:32:01,007 --> 00:32:02,217 ♪ Tryin' battle Eminem ♪ 685 00:32:02,300 --> 00:32:06,263 ♪ It's worse than David Starr Tryin' to battle Bizarre ♪ 686 00:32:06,346 --> 00:32:08,056 [crowd laughing] 687 00:32:08,140 --> 00:32:09,516 ♪ You acting differently ♪ 688 00:32:09,599 --> 00:32:12,227 ♪ You ain't got no style Do not deliver ♪ 689 00:32:12,727 --> 00:32:15,730 ♪ I don't need to boast Look my face is pale ♪ 690 00:32:15,814 --> 00:32:18,024 ♪ But you look like you seen a ghost ♪ 691 00:32:18,608 --> 00:32:20,152 [crowd erupting] 692 00:32:20,235 --> 00:32:23,405 [Kuniva] He said, "My face is white, but you look like you've seen a ghost." 693 00:32:23,488 --> 00:32:25,991 I don't even remember the rest of the rhymes after that. 694 00:32:26,366 --> 00:32:29,411 They were waking me up with smelling salts. Smelling salts-- 695 00:32:29,578 --> 00:32:32,914 I was like, "Cut me, Mick. Cut me!" [both laughing] 696 00:32:33,623 --> 00:32:34,666 He fuck me up. 697 00:32:34,791 --> 00:32:37,878 He gave me a proper ass whooping, but I learn from it. 698 00:32:38,086 --> 00:32:41,173 It made me a better MC and I was taught by one of the best. 699 00:32:41,631 --> 00:32:43,967 [interviewer] What about Proof's role in Eminem's career? 700 00:32:44,426 --> 00:32:45,802 [Bizarre] They grew up together, you know? 701 00:32:45,886 --> 00:32:49,181 They lived next door to each other since they was kids. 702 00:32:50,724 --> 00:32:52,601 He used to give a speech, like, 703 00:32:52,934 --> 00:32:55,270 "Y'all give it up for this-- this is my white boy." 704 00:32:55,437 --> 00:32:56,646 You know, "He's dope." 705 00:32:57,022 --> 00:32:59,566 He would get a disclaimer before he rapped, 706 00:32:59,649 --> 00:33:01,401 and getting everybody to pay attention. 707 00:33:01,485 --> 00:33:03,361 I don't think people would have paid attention 708 00:33:03,445 --> 00:33:06,364 if he was just a white boy trying to grab the microphone. 709 00:33:07,032 --> 00:33:09,493 [House Shoes] White rappers were fucking terrible up to that point. 710 00:33:09,576 --> 00:33:10,410 You know what I mean? 711 00:33:10,827 --> 00:33:14,164 Em comes in and motherfuckers like, "Yeah, he the baddest motherfucker." 712 00:33:14,247 --> 00:33:16,791 You don't understand how serious that is. 713 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,253 For a city as racially-divided as Detroit? Are you kidding me? 714 00:33:20,670 --> 00:33:23,256 But Em yo was a fucking monster. 715 00:33:24,508 --> 00:33:27,844 [inaudible rapping] 716 00:33:30,555 --> 00:33:34,059 So, the problem with The Hip-Hop Shop was that nobody was buying clothes. 717 00:33:34,643 --> 00:33:36,978 [both laughing] 718 00:33:37,062 --> 00:33:39,189 Maurice Malone closed The Hip Hop Shop down. 719 00:33:39,272 --> 00:33:41,149 Now, where were we going to go to rap at? 720 00:33:41,608 --> 00:33:43,026 They used to have battle trips. 721 00:33:43,151 --> 00:33:44,819 You know, we was going to rap conventions. 722 00:33:44,903 --> 00:33:46,905 Like, where the next battle? Okay, LA? 723 00:33:46,988 --> 00:33:48,698 Just became battle crazy. 724 00:33:48,782 --> 00:33:51,034 ♪ I'm going to tell you this for your own benefit ♪ 725 00:33:51,117 --> 00:33:54,079 ♪ Your shit was dope as hell Especially when you wrote 90% of it ♪ 726 00:33:54,162 --> 00:33:56,581 ♪ What you need to do is Practice on your freestyle ♪ 727 00:33:56,665 --> 00:33:58,917 ♪ But you come up missing Like Snoop Dog's police file ♪ 728 00:33:59,376 --> 00:34:03,255 [rapping continues] 729 00:34:03,338 --> 00:34:04,255 ♪ But it wasn't ♪ 730 00:34:04,339 --> 00:34:06,007 ♪ Could kill a dozen rappers When I'm buzzin ♪ 731 00:34:06,091 --> 00:34:08,426 ♪ Guzzlin Beat your ass like a jealous husband ♪ 732 00:34:08,885 --> 00:34:10,929 ♪ Now your boys are about to Suffer a team loss ♪ 733 00:34:11,012 --> 00:34:13,556 [inaudible rapid rapping] 734 00:34:13,639 --> 00:34:15,225 ♪ Cut the damn machine off ♪ 735 00:34:15,391 --> 00:34:18,311 ♪ Need a clean cloth To wipe this bloody video screen off ♪ 736 00:34:18,395 --> 00:34:20,272 [record scratches] Victory! 737 00:34:20,605 --> 00:34:24,818 How important do you think the battle circuit was to him 738 00:34:24,900 --> 00:34:26,235 in developing his skills? 739 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,364 Traveling from city to city, battling all of these people, 740 00:34:30,197 --> 00:34:32,867 built his confidence up to a way where he started recording. 741 00:34:32,951 --> 00:34:37,205 His confidence was so high and he was so sure about what he was doing, 742 00:34:37,289 --> 00:34:38,790 it came across in the music. 743 00:34:38,873 --> 00:34:41,585 ♪ Slim Shady Brain dead like Jim Brady ♪ 744 00:34:41,668 --> 00:34:44,504 [voices overlapping] 745 00:34:44,588 --> 00:34:47,465 ♪ I'm buzzin Dirty Dozen ♪ 746 00:34:47,549 --> 00:34:50,217 ♪ Cursin at your plans ♪ 747 00:34:50,302 --> 00:34:52,929 [beat drops] 748 00:34:53,013 --> 00:34:55,765 [rapping continues] 749 00:34:56,433 --> 00:34:58,893 [Kuniva] Em was mad, it was so many people saying, 750 00:34:59,436 --> 00:35:01,354 "You punk ass white boy, you ain't no MC. 751 00:35:01,438 --> 00:35:03,023 You just trying to be black. Blah blah blah." 752 00:35:03,106 --> 00:35:06,484 He went totally nuts and he just was like, "Man, fuck it," and... 753 00:35:07,193 --> 00:35:08,778 that's how Slim Shady came about. 754 00:35:08,862 --> 00:35:11,573 ♪ You gettin' knocked the fuck out Like Mike Tyson ♪ 755 00:35:11,781 --> 00:35:14,409 ♪ The Proof is in the puddin' Just ask the DeShaun Holton ♪ 756 00:35:14,492 --> 00:35:17,370 ♪ I'll slit your motherfuckin throat Worse than Ron Goldman ♪ 757 00:35:17,454 --> 00:35:19,331 [Kweli] Eminem was in New York, 758 00:35:19,539 --> 00:35:22,000 going to all the open mics and all the battles, 759 00:35:22,208 --> 00:35:25,962 and he had a white cassette called the Slim Shady EP. 760 00:35:26,296 --> 00:35:30,216 I remember listening to it thinking, "This is like the worst... 761 00:35:30,759 --> 00:35:32,510 most violent shit I've ever heard." 762 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:34,137 But the rhymes were so engaging. 763 00:35:34,220 --> 00:35:38,516 It was really, really, really, really really, really great raps. 764 00:35:39,017 --> 00:35:40,935 But with subject matters I couldn't relate to. 765 00:35:41,019 --> 00:35:43,980 ♪ I'm nicer than Pete, but I'm on a search To crush a milk bone ♪ 766 00:35:44,064 --> 00:35:45,023 ♪ I'm everlasting ♪ 767 00:35:45,106 --> 00:35:47,108 ♪ I melt Vanilla Ice like silicone ♪ 768 00:35:47,192 --> 00:35:49,778 ♪ I'm ill enough to just straight up Dis you for no reason ♪ 769 00:35:49,861 --> 00:35:52,697 ♪ I'm colder than snow season When it's twenty below freezing ♪ 770 00:35:52,947 --> 00:35:54,616 I would play his tape for people, 771 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,327 and they would be like, "That shit is garbage. 772 00:35:57,410 --> 00:35:58,578 Get that shit out of here! 773 00:35:58,745 --> 00:36:00,455 That's a white boy? Man, that shit garbage." 774 00:36:01,122 --> 00:36:02,290 I just be like, "Okay. 775 00:36:03,541 --> 00:36:05,043 Okay, we gonna see about that." 776 00:36:05,835 --> 00:36:07,921 ♪ Hi! My name is (what?) ♪ 777 00:36:08,171 --> 00:36:11,508 ♪ My name is (who?) My name is Slim Shady ♪ 778 00:36:11,633 --> 00:36:14,928 ♪ Hi! My name is (huh?) My name is (what?) ♪ 779 00:36:15,011 --> 00:36:16,596 [Kuniva] "My Name Is" is on TV. 780 00:36:17,222 --> 00:36:19,724 "Hi, my name is!" And it's like a dream. 781 00:36:19,808 --> 00:36:21,851 Because I'm like, this is fucking MTV? 782 00:36:21,935 --> 00:36:25,814 We just talked to him like yesterday. Why didn't he say anything? [laughing] 783 00:36:25,897 --> 00:36:26,981 It's like, what the fuck? 784 00:36:27,065 --> 00:36:29,192 ♪ Hi kids! Do you like Primus? ♪ 785 00:36:29,317 --> 00:36:32,487 ♪ Wanna see me stick Nine Inch Nails Through each one of my eyelids? ♪ 786 00:36:33,113 --> 00:36:35,490 ♪ Wanna copy me And do exactly like I did? ♪ 787 00:36:35,573 --> 00:36:37,450 No one knew Marshall got signed. 788 00:36:37,534 --> 00:36:39,160 That's the crazy part about it. 789 00:36:39,244 --> 00:36:40,870 I was in Texas. 790 00:36:41,162 --> 00:36:43,665 I was a fucking security guard at a hospital. 791 00:36:43,790 --> 00:36:46,376 My supervisor, she hit me on the walkie talkie, 792 00:36:46,876 --> 00:36:49,379 "Mr. Johnson you have a phone call in the shack." 793 00:36:49,504 --> 00:36:51,673 I was like, "Who is this?" 'This is Marshall, man." 794 00:36:51,756 --> 00:36:54,300 I'm in LA, man. I just got signed to Aftermath. 795 00:36:54,384 --> 00:36:55,802 I'm like, "Man you're lying." 796 00:36:55,927 --> 00:36:57,971 He was like, "I'm not lying bro, I'm dead serious. 797 00:36:58,096 --> 00:36:59,889 I'm going to fly you out Friday." 798 00:36:59,973 --> 00:37:04,352 Hung up the phone. Told my supervisor I quit. [laughing] 799 00:37:06,604 --> 00:37:09,190 ♪ I don't give a fuck God sent me to piss the world off ♪ 800 00:37:09,274 --> 00:37:12,610 ♪ Hi! My name is (what?) My name is (who?) ♪ 801 00:37:12,694 --> 00:37:16,197 ♪ My name is Slim Shady Hi! My name is ♪ 802 00:37:16,281 --> 00:37:19,242 Me and the homies first heard Eminem, we was like, "He dope." 803 00:37:20,034 --> 00:37:22,787 but then when we heard him after Dr. Dre produced his album, 804 00:37:22,871 --> 00:37:24,581 we was like, "Damn, he's super dope." 805 00:37:25,165 --> 00:37:27,000 And that's what Dr. Dre do for you. 806 00:37:27,417 --> 00:37:30,044 I'm pretty sure motherfuckers that heard me on cassette 807 00:37:30,170 --> 00:37:31,588 was like, "He's good." 808 00:37:31,671 --> 00:37:34,424 But then when they heard me with Dr. Dre, it was like, god damn. 809 00:37:34,841 --> 00:37:37,051 ♪ My brain's dead weight I'm tryin' to get my head straight ♪ 810 00:37:37,135 --> 00:37:39,971 ♪ But I can't figure out Which Spice Girl I want to impregnate ♪ 811 00:37:40,555 --> 00:37:43,558 ♪ And Dr. Dre said, "Slim Shady you a base-head" ♪ 812 00:37:43,641 --> 00:37:45,769 ♪ "So why's your face red? Man you wasted" ♪ 813 00:37:45,852 --> 00:37:49,105 Every line was built to make you giggle or laugh. 814 00:37:49,189 --> 00:37:51,941 You didn't really hear that kind of style pre-Eminem. 815 00:37:52,025 --> 00:37:54,903 He brought that battle rap style to the masses. 816 00:37:54,986 --> 00:37:56,905 ♪ All my life I was very deprived ♪ 817 00:37:56,988 --> 00:37:58,448 ♪ I ain't had a woman in years ♪ 818 00:37:58,531 --> 00:38:00,450 ♪ And my palms are too hairy to hide ♪ 819 00:38:00,533 --> 00:38:02,619 ♪ Clothes ripped like The Incredible Hulk ♪ 820 00:38:02,744 --> 00:38:05,497 ♪ I spit when I talk I'll fuck anything that walks ♪ 821 00:38:05,747 --> 00:38:07,665 ♪ When I was little I used to get so hungry ♪ 822 00:38:07,749 --> 00:38:08,666 ♪ I would throw fits ♪ 823 00:38:08,750 --> 00:38:11,461 ♪ How you gonna breastfeed me mom? You ain't got no tits ♪ 824 00:38:11,544 --> 00:38:14,088 [Kahn] But it was very witty, very smart ass, 825 00:38:14,172 --> 00:38:16,090 but still lyrically superior. 826 00:38:16,174 --> 00:38:17,467 This wasn't Vanilla Ice. 827 00:38:18,051 --> 00:38:20,720 It's no question, the kid is rapping his ass off, 828 00:38:20,804 --> 00:38:23,014 like-- if Dre is fucking with you, 829 00:38:24,766 --> 00:38:27,227 that's like the ultimate form of music street cred. 830 00:38:27,310 --> 00:38:29,187 ♪ By the way when you see my dad? ♪ 831 00:38:29,521 --> 00:38:32,023 ♪ Tell him that I slit his throat In this dream I had ♪ 832 00:38:32,857 --> 00:38:34,359 I didn't know that Em was white, 833 00:38:34,442 --> 00:38:36,569 and I'm listening to this shit and I am 834 00:38:36,736 --> 00:38:38,488 all the way confused. 835 00:38:38,613 --> 00:38:42,450 I was like, who brave enough to say this shit that's black? 836 00:38:43,034 --> 00:38:45,286 Because black people don't talk like this. 837 00:38:45,411 --> 00:38:47,956 Tie a rope around your dick, jump off a tree? 838 00:38:48,122 --> 00:38:50,667 Stick nine-inch nails in your eye and all this crazy shit? 839 00:38:50,750 --> 00:38:51,584 What the fuck? 840 00:38:52,001 --> 00:38:54,879 He's probably one of my favorite MC's ever to touch a microphone. 841 00:38:54,963 --> 00:38:58,675 ♪ Hi. My name is (what?) My name is Slim Shady ♪ 842 00:38:58,758 --> 00:39:01,886 ♪ Hi. My name is (huh?) My name is (what?) ♪ 843 00:39:01,970 --> 00:39:03,888 ♪ My name is Slim Shady ♪ 844 00:39:05,431 --> 00:39:07,892 [Bobbito] Eminem's success is like an anomaly 845 00:39:08,017 --> 00:39:11,396 because no one thought that there was even a window 846 00:39:11,479 --> 00:39:14,691 to sell 150 million records. 847 00:39:14,774 --> 00:39:17,318 You got to be out of your mind to think that that's possible. 848 00:39:17,443 --> 00:39:20,572 You got to be outta your mind to think this platform, 849 00:39:20,655 --> 00:39:23,616 this genre is capable of reaching that many people. 850 00:39:24,242 --> 00:39:25,368 Eminem did it, though. 851 00:39:25,994 --> 00:39:28,705 Even if he does a completely mainstream album 852 00:39:28,788 --> 00:39:30,540 with mainstream artists, 853 00:39:30,874 --> 00:39:34,419 and on some of those songs you want to hear some Slim Shady on there, 854 00:39:34,627 --> 00:39:37,255 telling you to kiss his ass some type of way. 855 00:39:37,338 --> 00:39:39,799 Because he don't care. He don't give a fuck. 856 00:39:39,883 --> 00:39:42,427 ♪ My name is Slim Shady ♪ 857 00:39:43,094 --> 00:39:44,679 [narrator] The underground movement of the 90s 858 00:39:44,762 --> 00:39:46,389 all started with the same goals, 859 00:39:46,514 --> 00:39:48,600 to take back the mic from the mainstream, 860 00:39:48,850 --> 00:39:51,269 and maintain the original ideals of hip-hop. 861 00:39:51,978 --> 00:39:54,689 While many of these MC's went on to become cult heroes 862 00:39:54,772 --> 00:39:56,190 and unsung innovators, 863 00:39:56,441 --> 00:39:59,736 outside of Eminem, few found mainstream success. 864 00:40:02,155 --> 00:40:04,824 But the message of the underground still spoke to something bigger. 865 00:40:05,450 --> 00:40:08,870 The East-West beef, the commercialization of hip-hop, 866 00:40:08,995 --> 00:40:11,205 and the rise of gangster rap and jiggy music 867 00:40:11,331 --> 00:40:13,041 had created divisions in hip-hop. 868 00:40:14,042 --> 00:40:17,295 Hip-hoppers on both coasts weren't sure what they wanted the culture to be, 869 00:40:17,587 --> 00:40:19,297 and the music reflected that. 870 00:40:19,756 --> 00:40:22,800 But all the confusion also created an opportunity, 871 00:40:22,967 --> 00:40:26,679 a chance for a new region to emerge and re-enliven the culture. 872 00:40:27,805 --> 00:40:29,682 And down South, they were ready.