1 00:00:17,392 --> 00:00:19,060 Video Music Box is the place to be. 2 00:00:19,102 --> 00:00:20,895 And you can see they got it going on. 3 00:00:20,937 --> 00:00:22,480 I'm VJ Ralph McDaniels doing my thing. 4 00:00:28,570 --> 00:00:31,406 Recorded live from Miss Jones' birthday party, 5 00:00:31,448 --> 00:00:33,783 Nas and Biggie Smalls getting wrecked. 6 00:00:50,008 --> 00:00:54,095 So what happened was somebody... They was fighting behind me. 7 00:00:54,137 --> 00:00:55,805 - Yeah. - And stuff flew. 8 00:00:55,847 --> 00:00:58,183 And my boy tried to be smooth with it in wiping me off. 9 00:00:58,224 --> 00:01:00,435 They say, "Yo, why is he touching your head like that?" 10 00:01:04,606 --> 00:01:06,107 And me and Big were starting a crew 11 00:01:06,149 --> 00:01:07,776 called The Goodfellas at the time. 12 00:01:07,817 --> 00:01:09,861 That... That's why we said that, Goodfellas. 13 00:01:09,903 --> 00:01:11,905 When I look at clips like that, 14 00:01:11,946 --> 00:01:15,617 I'm, like, it's, like, a miracle that someone knew 15 00:01:15,658 --> 00:01:19,079 that they should be taping that. 16 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:21,122 Those are lost moments, you know? 17 00:01:21,164 --> 00:01:23,625 They could easily be forgotten moments forever 18 00:01:23,666 --> 00:01:26,086 if nobody had a camera. 19 00:01:26,127 --> 00:01:28,963 But Ralph McDaniels and Video Music Box 20 00:01:29,005 --> 00:01:31,925 were there, capturing it. 21 00:01:31,966 --> 00:01:35,637 I go back in a time where there being a chance 22 00:01:35,678 --> 00:01:40,016 to get seen, get noticed, be heard. 23 00:01:40,058 --> 00:01:42,018 That was big. 24 00:01:42,060 --> 00:01:44,604 This is a story that needs to be told. 25 00:01:44,646 --> 00:01:47,315 A story that I've always wanted to tell. 26 00:01:47,357 --> 00:01:48,501 Hey, you know, everybody is talking 27 00:01:48,525 --> 00:01:50,110 about the good old days, right? 28 00:01:50,151 --> 00:01:51,986 Everybody, the good old days, 29 00:01:52,028 --> 00:01:53,780 the good old days. 30 00:01:53,822 --> 00:01:56,866 Well, let's talk about the good old days. 31 00:01:56,908 --> 00:02:00,120 Come to think of it as bad as we think they are, 32 00:02:00,161 --> 00:02:03,998 these will become the good old days for our children. 33 00:02:11,172 --> 00:02:13,174 Backstage, Spitkicker's tour. 34 00:02:13,216 --> 00:02:14,175 Mos Def, what's up, baby? 35 00:02:14,217 --> 00:02:15,677 What's up, Ralph? 36 00:02:15,718 --> 00:02:17,113 Now what were you saying about Dream? 37 00:02:17,137 --> 00:02:20,181 Shit. I'm on Video Music Box. 38 00:02:20,223 --> 00:02:23,309 Fuck everything.- 39 00:02:23,351 --> 00:02:25,854 This is a magic moment. 40 00:02:25,895 --> 00:02:27,272 Like fireworks and shit 41 00:02:27,313 --> 00:02:28,982 - should be going off. - You just arrived. 42 00:02:29,023 --> 00:02:31,025 Oh, man, I'm here. 43 00:02:31,067 --> 00:02:32,545 - Hey, look, man. - I want give a shoutout. 44 00:02:32,569 --> 00:02:35,488 - Oh, shit! - Yes! Go! Go! 45 00:02:37,907 --> 00:02:39,701 Video Music Box got it going on. 46 00:02:39,742 --> 00:02:40,743 We in here at the Ark. 47 00:02:40,785 --> 00:02:42,203 We got some shoutouts. 48 00:02:42,245 --> 00:02:43,997 - How old are you? - I'm 22. 49 00:02:44,038 --> 00:02:46,332 Just got off the plane from LA. 50 00:02:46,374 --> 00:02:49,210 Praise God I made it without crashing. 51 00:02:49,252 --> 00:02:51,588 It's Greg Nice and Scooter D And we came to rock a spot. 52 00:02:51,629 --> 00:02:53,173 So won't you take our advice. 53 00:02:53,214 --> 00:02:54,215 And turn to the box. 54 00:02:54,257 --> 00:02:56,384 - Go, Biggie. - What? 55 00:03:03,057 --> 00:03:04,726 Yo, what's up? We're Run-D.M.C. 56 00:03:04,767 --> 00:03:06,561 When we ain't chillin' in Jamaica Park, 57 00:03:06,603 --> 00:03:08,438 we chillin' out looking at Video Music Box. 58 00:03:08,479 --> 00:03:09,898 - Word. - Word. 59 00:03:09,939 --> 00:03:11,733 Yeah, to all the killers. 60 00:03:11,774 --> 00:03:13,735 And a hundred dollar billas. 61 00:03:13,776 --> 00:03:15,504 What's up? This is 50 Cent on Video Music Box, 62 00:03:15,528 --> 00:03:16,654 the number one video show. 63 00:03:16,696 --> 00:03:18,573 Bet, take that. What! 64 00:03:18,615 --> 00:03:20,742 I'm just an addict addicted to music. 65 00:03:20,783 --> 00:03:22,911 Maybe as a habit, I gotta use it. 66 00:03:22,952 --> 00:03:24,245 Coming home, racing home, 67 00:03:24,287 --> 00:03:25,580 and getting in there and hearing 68 00:03:25,622 --> 00:03:26,831 that opening theme song... 69 00:03:33,463 --> 00:03:35,423 It's like you look up. 70 00:03:35,465 --> 00:03:36,674 Video Music Box is on. 71 00:03:36,716 --> 00:03:37,860 And then, you know, that's it. 72 00:03:37,884 --> 00:03:38,884 You're shutting down. 73 00:04:14,254 --> 00:04:15,630 Give you a little history 74 00:04:15,672 --> 00:04:18,132 about television in New York. 75 00:04:20,510 --> 00:04:22,303 We didn't always have cable. 76 00:04:22,345 --> 00:04:25,974 There was Channel 2, Channel 4, Channel 5. 77 00:04:26,015 --> 00:04:27,976 7, 9, 11. 78 00:04:28,017 --> 00:04:29,435 13, educational. 79 00:04:29,477 --> 00:04:30,895 And then for some reason, it jumped 80 00:04:30,937 --> 00:04:32,897 from 13 to 31. 81 00:04:32,939 --> 00:04:34,732 Nas, why did you do it? 82 00:04:34,774 --> 00:04:36,317 You know you got the mad fat fluid. 83 00:04:36,359 --> 00:04:38,069 When you rhyme, it's halftime. 84 00:04:38,111 --> 00:04:39,821 And the U Channel, whatever that meant, 85 00:04:39,862 --> 00:04:41,656 you go to the other knob 86 00:04:41,698 --> 00:04:43,741 and find these outer space channels 87 00:04:43,783 --> 00:04:45,910 that don't... just white noise. 88 00:04:45,952 --> 00:04:48,454 - Empty channels. - They were empty channels. 89 00:04:48,496 --> 00:04:50,957 Dance, get up and get with it. 90 00:04:50,999 --> 00:04:53,334 Shante is here to take care of business. 91 00:04:53,376 --> 00:04:55,670 So plug up the mic and stack the dough, yo. 92 00:04:55,712 --> 00:04:57,005 It's almost like cracking a safe. 93 00:04:57,046 --> 00:04:58,965 When you finally get that right 94 00:04:59,007 --> 00:05:00,591 little combination, you be like, 95 00:05:00,633 --> 00:05:02,302 "Don't touch it. 96 00:05:02,343 --> 00:05:03,821 So this way when Video Music Box comes on, 97 00:05:03,845 --> 00:05:05,680 we can see it clear. 98 00:05:05,722 --> 00:05:08,099 I got it made, I got it made, I got it made. 99 00:05:08,141 --> 00:05:09,392 You'd pick up the telephone, 100 00:05:09,434 --> 00:05:10,476 "Yo, Video Music Box. 101 00:05:10,518 --> 00:05:13,396 Channel 31 on the UHF dial. 102 00:05:13,438 --> 00:05:15,440 He's playing music videos right now. 103 00:05:15,481 --> 00:05:17,161 He's playing hip-hop." We were going crazy. 104 00:05:17,191 --> 00:05:18,234 We were losing our minds. 105 00:05:18,276 --> 00:05:20,236 You was fly once. 106 00:05:20,278 --> 00:05:21,505 Now you're losing all your fronts, yeah. 107 00:05:21,529 --> 00:05:22,822 Started off light. 108 00:05:22,864 --> 00:05:24,198 On the tip of woolie blunts. 109 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:25,533 But now you get a stripe. 110 00:05:25,575 --> 00:05:26,868 Graduated to the pipe. 111 00:05:26,909 --> 00:05:29,037 Took a long pull, hype, yeah. 112 00:05:29,078 --> 00:05:31,706 You started off, R. Kelly produced you. 113 00:05:31,748 --> 00:05:34,375 And you got out there. 114 00:05:34,417 --> 00:05:36,145 And, I mean, he's produced a couple of projects this year 115 00:05:36,169 --> 00:05:38,338 but yours was the most successful outside of his own 116 00:05:38,379 --> 00:05:39,505 that he's done.- 117 00:05:39,547 --> 00:05:41,174 And, of course, you know, 118 00:05:41,215 --> 00:05:43,217 there was some controversies going on, 119 00:05:43,259 --> 00:05:44,903 so I'm gonna cut to the chase and we're gonna get it off. 120 00:05:44,927 --> 00:05:46,721 I know everybody asks it. 121 00:05:46,763 --> 00:05:48,723 What is the situation 'cause we don't know? 122 00:05:48,765 --> 00:05:50,725 Okay. Well, I'll let you know... 123 00:05:50,767 --> 00:05:54,228 To let you know... no.- 124 00:05:54,270 --> 00:05:55,831 But, no, really. I wanna let everybody know 125 00:05:55,855 --> 00:05:57,023 that it's not true. 126 00:05:57,065 --> 00:05:59,233 I'm Aaliyah, not Aaliyah Kelly. 127 00:05:59,275 --> 00:06:02,570 Video Music Box in the '80s was must-see TV. 128 00:06:02,612 --> 00:06:05,198 - You made an appointment. - You watch Video Music Box. 129 00:06:05,239 --> 00:06:07,450 You watch Ralph's interviews. 130 00:06:07,492 --> 00:06:09,827 LL Cool J. Well, LL stands for ladies love, 131 00:06:09,869 --> 00:06:11,496 legend in leather, long and lean, 132 00:06:11,537 --> 00:06:13,623 love of ladies, last of the red hot lovers. 133 00:06:13,664 --> 00:06:15,750 Looking for little, level-headed leader. 134 00:06:15,792 --> 00:06:17,877 And you watch the videos. 135 00:06:17,919 --> 00:06:19,504 And then he gets into parties. 136 00:06:19,545 --> 00:06:22,340 Video Music Box broadcasting live 137 00:06:22,382 --> 00:06:24,485 from the Peppermint Lounge in East Orange, New Jersey. 138 00:06:24,509 --> 00:06:25,551 I'm Wendy Williams. 139 00:06:25,593 --> 00:06:26,677 You can see the parties. 140 00:06:26,719 --> 00:06:28,596 ...in full effect. 141 00:06:28,638 --> 00:06:30,240 And you know where you wanna be the next week 142 00:06:30,264 --> 00:06:31,724 if you can gain access. 143 00:06:31,766 --> 00:06:34,268 Mr. Lover lover. 144 00:06:34,310 --> 00:06:37,188 Mr. Lover lover. Oh 145 00:06:37,230 --> 00:06:40,024 Mr. Lover lover. Hmm. 146 00:06:40,066 --> 00:06:41,275 Sexy mothafucka. 147 00:06:43,111 --> 00:06:44,404 She call me Mr. Boombastic. 148 00:06:44,445 --> 00:06:45,905 Tell me fantastic. 149 00:06:45,947 --> 00:06:47,532 We've been in the gutters together. 150 00:06:47,573 --> 00:06:48,967 - Exactly. - It's nice to do all of this. 151 00:06:48,991 --> 00:06:50,118 And now we back up in here. 152 00:06:50,159 --> 00:06:51,953 I did a song called "Big Up". 153 00:06:51,994 --> 00:06:54,247 And that's how I got the whole idea for "Big Up" 154 00:06:54,288 --> 00:06:56,040 by everybody going on the mic saying... 155 00:06:56,082 --> 00:06:58,126 Big up. Big up. Easy. 156 00:06:58,167 --> 00:07:00,211 This just came together like my man, Doug E Fresh. 157 00:07:00,253 --> 00:07:01,772 And all of the beautiful women out here 158 00:07:01,796 --> 00:07:03,589 who came together just to have a good time, 159 00:07:03,631 --> 00:07:05,067 celebrate the overweight lovers' party. 160 00:07:05,091 --> 00:07:06,050 We out. 161 00:07:06,092 --> 00:07:07,510 Actually seeing people 162 00:07:07,552 --> 00:07:08,845 that look like you, 163 00:07:08,886 --> 00:07:12,390 unapologetically hip hop 164 00:07:12,432 --> 00:07:14,350 and, and Black, 165 00:07:14,392 --> 00:07:17,311 it empowered the whole, you know, culture. 166 00:07:17,353 --> 00:07:19,581 We got the Wu right here, my man Raekwon up in this piece. 167 00:07:19,605 --> 00:07:21,190 Peace. Peace. What's poppin'? 168 00:07:21,232 --> 00:07:22,876 - Good to see you, brother. - He had perfect pop. 169 00:07:22,900 --> 00:07:24,026 He's the first uncle. 170 00:07:24,068 --> 00:07:25,194 Everybody thought hip-hop 171 00:07:25,236 --> 00:07:26,779 wasn't really gonna do nothing. 172 00:07:26,821 --> 00:07:28,132 They thought it was just going to be a phase, 173 00:07:28,156 --> 00:07:29,866 like, "Man, it's over with." 174 00:07:29,907 --> 00:07:33,369 No, Ralph carried it on his back like Santa. 175 00:07:33,411 --> 00:07:35,329 Heavy D and The Boyz. 176 00:07:35,371 --> 00:07:37,165 I'm rough and tough and all that stuff 177 00:07:37,206 --> 00:07:38,308 I'll make you dance and prance. 178 00:07:38,332 --> 00:07:39,834 As a rapper, you had to get 179 00:07:39,876 --> 00:07:41,669 your videos on his show. 180 00:07:41,711 --> 00:07:43,588 If you didn't get on there, you didn't matter. 181 00:07:43,629 --> 00:07:45,423 Sucker you missed I put feelings aside. 182 00:07:45,465 --> 00:07:47,842 I know who I am My name is Lyte. 183 00:07:47,884 --> 00:07:49,510 Is your name Sam? 184 00:07:49,552 --> 00:07:50,654 My earliest memories of hip-hop 185 00:07:50,678 --> 00:07:53,681 are frankly from Ralph McDaniels 186 00:07:53,723 --> 00:07:55,600 and Video Music Box. 187 00:07:55,641 --> 00:07:57,810 And he was playing music 188 00:07:57,852 --> 00:07:59,770 that we couldn't get our hands on. 189 00:07:59,812 --> 00:08:01,731 I try to explain this to my kids 190 00:08:01,772 --> 00:08:03,625 that we didn't have everything at our fingertips. 191 00:08:03,649 --> 00:08:07,195 We all knew there was no coverage 192 00:08:07,236 --> 00:08:09,322 of our rap heroes. 193 00:08:09,363 --> 00:08:14,076 And that if they would just give us five seconds 194 00:08:14,118 --> 00:08:18,206 of The Fat Boys on... on national television, 195 00:08:18,247 --> 00:08:20,374 we were waiting, I was waiting. 196 00:08:20,416 --> 00:08:22,251 Somebody had to start it. 197 00:08:22,293 --> 00:08:25,421 It's like Moses and the apostles. 198 00:08:25,463 --> 00:08:27,673 Video Music Box has that impact. 199 00:08:27,715 --> 00:08:31,969 It's that biblical for us, you know? 200 00:08:32,011 --> 00:08:36,474 These legends that gave birth to a whole world. 201 00:08:36,516 --> 00:08:39,310 Summer Jam, really, you need to be like... 202 00:08:39,352 --> 00:08:41,229 To have like the records ready. 203 00:08:41,270 --> 00:08:44,398 It just always kept its credibility. 204 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:46,025 Welcome to Video Music Box. 205 00:08:46,067 --> 00:08:47,401 Today a special show 206 00:08:47,443 --> 00:08:49,403 recorded at Rahway State Prison. 207 00:08:49,445 --> 00:08:52,573 It was always authentic. 208 00:08:52,615 --> 00:08:56,827 Whatever was happening in the neighborhood 209 00:08:56,869 --> 00:08:59,080 was gonna happen on Video Music Box. 210 00:08:59,121 --> 00:09:02,083 Video Music Box to me is an underrated piece, 211 00:09:02,124 --> 00:09:04,001 not just of the story of hip-hop 212 00:09:04,043 --> 00:09:06,170 but of the story of American culture. 213 00:09:06,212 --> 00:09:08,089 Like that, I gotta like that. 214 00:09:08,130 --> 00:09:10,049 I need it like that, I love it like that. 215 00:09:10,091 --> 00:09:12,093 I made it like that, I know it like that. 216 00:09:12,134 --> 00:09:14,220 I don't feel like that, I hide it like that 217 00:09:14,262 --> 00:09:15,864 I'm rockin' like that, I'm feeling like that 218 00:09:15,888 --> 00:09:17,557 I'll take it like that, yeah. 219 00:09:17,598 --> 00:09:20,351 Yo, you're looking at the best MC in the world. 220 00:09:20,393 --> 00:09:22,186 - You know what I'm saying? - Yo, what's up? 221 00:09:22,228 --> 00:09:24,480 This is Kool Keith from the Ultramagnetic MCs. 222 00:09:24,522 --> 00:09:25,982 And I'm with my main protégé. 223 00:09:26,023 --> 00:09:27,567 - Money D. - You know what I'm saying? 224 00:09:27,608 --> 00:09:29,694 Yo, this is my man Craig G. 225 00:09:29,735 --> 00:09:31,153 And this is DJ Mister Cee. 226 00:09:31,195 --> 00:09:32,572 He DJs for Big Daddy Kane. 227 00:09:32,613 --> 00:09:34,740 - Hello, everybody. - My name is Doug E. Fresh. 228 00:09:34,782 --> 00:09:37,118 - And we are... - The Get Fresh Crew. 229 00:09:37,159 --> 00:09:38,536 Yo, I'm Teddy Ted. 230 00:09:38,578 --> 00:09:40,204 And I'm Special K of the Awesome 2. 231 00:09:40,246 --> 00:09:41,598 And we're chilling with triple number one. 232 00:09:41,622 --> 00:09:42,873 This my man Steady Pace. 233 00:09:42,915 --> 00:09:44,417 And this my man, Masta Ace. 234 00:09:44,458 --> 00:09:46,919 I'm MC Shan, the crowned prince of rap. 235 00:09:46,961 --> 00:09:49,505 And I'm the royal microphone, Lord Big Daddy Kane. 236 00:09:49,547 --> 00:09:52,133 And I'm Cutmaster Cool V and you know I do damage. 237 00:09:52,174 --> 00:09:53,801 And we're rocking with the box. 238 00:09:53,843 --> 00:09:55,636 When we ain't out cooking hibachi... 239 00:09:57,263 --> 00:09:59,557 With Barry Manilow...- 240 00:09:59,599 --> 00:10:01,976 And stealing gummi bears from grocery stores. 241 00:10:02,018 --> 00:10:03,811 You are watching Video Music Box 242 00:10:03,853 --> 00:10:06,397 with Ralph McDaniels and the VidGrownup. 243 00:10:08,024 --> 00:10:10,234 It basically became a religion, all jokes aside. 244 00:10:10,276 --> 00:10:11,628 It was something that we couldn't miss. 245 00:10:11,652 --> 00:10:13,654 You turned Video Music Box on, 246 00:10:13,696 --> 00:10:15,489 you was like, "This happened Saturday. 247 00:10:15,531 --> 00:10:17,408 That happened Friday. This... ". 248 00:10:17,450 --> 00:10:20,119 And then he was there and they was there. 249 00:10:20,161 --> 00:10:22,330 It was revolutionary. 250 00:10:22,371 --> 00:10:24,123 It was revolutionary. 251 00:10:24,165 --> 00:10:26,292 - You know we didn't have WHT... - That's right. 252 00:10:26,334 --> 00:10:28,145 Well, Mecca Home Theater for you... for you guys 253 00:10:28,169 --> 00:10:29,479 - that don't remember that. - That's right. 254 00:10:29,503 --> 00:10:31,964 And HBO. You know we had Ralph McDaniels. 255 00:10:32,006 --> 00:10:33,633 That's the only thing we had. 256 00:10:33,674 --> 00:10:35,193 - You know, Video Music Box. - The VidKid. 257 00:10:35,217 --> 00:10:36,510 I'm VJ Ralph McDaniels. 258 00:10:36,552 --> 00:10:38,012 And I'm the VidKid. 259 00:10:38,054 --> 00:10:40,181 Right here where you keep the music at. 260 00:10:40,222 --> 00:10:42,850 - Video... - Music Box. 261 00:10:42,892 --> 00:10:46,479 Ralph McDaniels and his partner, visionaries. 262 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:49,690 Man, I guarantee you, they had no idea where this would lead. 263 00:10:49,732 --> 00:10:52,526 There was something divine speaking through them. 264 00:10:52,568 --> 00:10:54,362 Yeah. Video Music Box doing it up, 265 00:10:54,403 --> 00:10:56,906 backstage at the Spitkicker's tour. 266 00:10:56,947 --> 00:10:58,383 It's going down like that. My man Black 267 00:10:58,407 --> 00:10:59,992 - throwing the place. - What's up, baby? 268 00:11:00,034 --> 00:11:01,553 - What's the word? - What's the word, baby? 269 00:11:01,577 --> 00:11:03,287 Video Music Box started with Ralph. 270 00:11:03,329 --> 00:11:05,331 - It was Ralph's idea. - It was Ralph's baby. 271 00:11:05,373 --> 00:11:08,376 Three, two, one. 272 00:11:08,417 --> 00:11:11,379 New York City, in the place to be. 273 00:11:11,420 --> 00:11:13,881 Hi. I'm your VJ, Ralph McDaniels. 274 00:11:13,923 --> 00:11:18,052 Tonight, Video Music Box kicks it live from the South Bronx. 275 00:11:18,094 --> 00:11:20,721 It's the 10th anniversary of the Disco Fever. 276 00:11:20,763 --> 00:11:23,391 So if you're ready, let's get busy. 277 00:11:26,268 --> 00:11:27,728 State your name, gangster. 278 00:11:27,770 --> 00:11:29,647 Ralph McDaniels, 279 00:11:29,689 --> 00:11:34,235 R-A-L-P-H M-C-D-A-N-I-E-L-S. 280 00:11:39,073 --> 00:11:41,784 I was born in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Hospital, 281 00:11:41,826 --> 00:11:43,703 in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. 282 00:11:43,744 --> 00:11:45,287 My parents are from the... 283 00:11:45,329 --> 00:11:47,289 One is from the Caribbean, Trinidad, 284 00:11:47,331 --> 00:11:50,376 and one is from down south, American Indian. 285 00:11:50,418 --> 00:11:52,545 We live in Brooklyn, baby. 286 00:11:52,586 --> 00:11:54,755 Brooklyn was rough. 287 00:11:54,797 --> 00:11:57,091 A lot of people talk about the '60s 288 00:11:57,133 --> 00:11:59,427 as though it was all hippies and love. 289 00:11:59,468 --> 00:12:02,930 Nah. That never reached to where we were. 290 00:12:02,972 --> 00:12:04,515 There was no hearts and flowers 291 00:12:04,557 --> 00:12:07,768 and girls with long hair singing... no, no. 292 00:12:07,810 --> 00:12:10,104 It was... It was rough. 293 00:12:10,146 --> 00:12:13,107 Totally different from what it is today. 294 00:12:13,149 --> 00:12:16,777 You know, you had a lot of heroin back then. 295 00:12:16,819 --> 00:12:20,614 In the projects, it was pretty intense. 296 00:12:20,656 --> 00:12:22,032 A lot of street life. 297 00:12:23,993 --> 00:12:25,870 My grandmother and grandfather 298 00:12:25,911 --> 00:12:27,872 owned the house that we lived in in Brooklyn. 299 00:12:27,913 --> 00:12:29,540 A brownstone. 300 00:12:29,582 --> 00:12:31,268 Everybody that lived in our house was family. 301 00:12:31,292 --> 00:12:33,461 You know, a cousin lived on the top floor. 302 00:12:33,502 --> 00:12:35,546 My uncle lived on the second floor. 303 00:12:35,588 --> 00:12:37,357 You know, everybody had their own entrance and everything. 304 00:12:37,381 --> 00:12:39,008 But we knew each other. 305 00:12:40,843 --> 00:12:44,972 My mom is born in the United States. 306 00:12:45,014 --> 00:12:46,432 She's the first generation. 307 00:12:46,474 --> 00:12:48,476 Everybody else came from Trinidad. 308 00:12:48,517 --> 00:12:51,979 She's like a hard worker. 309 00:12:52,021 --> 00:12:55,816 Trinidadians have 20 jobs, if you don't know. 310 00:12:55,858 --> 00:12:57,735 - I'm a Trinidadian. - I have that in me too. 311 00:12:57,777 --> 00:13:00,196 I have 20 jobs all the time. 312 00:13:00,237 --> 00:13:02,114 My grandmother's house is also the spot 313 00:13:02,156 --> 00:13:03,633 where if you're coming from the Caribbean, 314 00:13:03,657 --> 00:13:05,785 you can use our address. 315 00:13:05,826 --> 00:13:07,620 So... 'cause you had to, "Where you going?" 316 00:13:07,661 --> 00:13:09,347 You get to the Immigration, "Well, what's the address 317 00:13:09,371 --> 00:13:11,141 - that you're going to? - You need an address." 318 00:13:11,165 --> 00:13:14,585 So all of these people were coming from Trinidad. 319 00:13:14,627 --> 00:13:16,086 One of them is Geoffrey Holder. 320 00:13:16,128 --> 00:13:17,505 Never had it, never will. 321 00:13:17,546 --> 00:13:19,965 - Why? - Why? 322 00:13:20,007 --> 00:13:22,176 Why? Good question. 323 00:13:27,014 --> 00:13:29,809 My cousin Geoffrey came to New York, 324 00:13:29,850 --> 00:13:32,019 - and where was he going to stay? - At Uncle Johnny's. 325 00:13:32,061 --> 00:13:34,855 And that was, you know... he lived with us for quite a while. 326 00:13:42,238 --> 00:13:43,823 He's in the Bond movie. 327 00:13:43,864 --> 00:13:44,925 He's in... He's in, you know, 328 00:13:44,949 --> 00:13:46,534 all of these different things. 329 00:13:46,575 --> 00:13:48,869 And it's like Geoffrey's a big deal, man. 330 00:13:48,911 --> 00:13:50,246 Like he's a painter. 331 00:13:50,287 --> 00:13:51,747 He's a writer, you know? 332 00:13:51,789 --> 00:13:54,208 And he's become this New York socialite. 333 00:13:54,250 --> 00:13:57,378 And that's, you know, my mother's cousin. 334 00:13:57,419 --> 00:14:00,047 And I think that that's where I got 335 00:14:00,089 --> 00:14:02,883 the idea to wanna do TV. 336 00:14:04,718 --> 00:14:07,179 So my dad worked at the shipyard in Brooklyn, 337 00:14:07,221 --> 00:14:10,057 the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and he drew the drafts of them, 338 00:14:10,099 --> 00:14:14,478 the schematics of, you know, of... of the aircraft carriers. 339 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:16,730 You know, those are pretty decent jobs 340 00:14:16,772 --> 00:14:19,191 for Black folks around that time, you know? 341 00:14:19,233 --> 00:14:21,360 We weren't rich, but we had enough money 342 00:14:21,402 --> 00:14:23,028 to have something in the refrigerator 343 00:14:23,070 --> 00:14:25,573 and I had, you know, some decent sneakers 344 00:14:25,614 --> 00:14:27,575 - at the time, you know? - So we were cool. 345 00:14:27,616 --> 00:14:28,993 The Jackson 5. 346 00:14:29,034 --> 00:14:30,536 So let's have a fine welcome. 347 00:14:34,748 --> 00:14:36,584 As a kid I watched... Of course, 348 00:14:36,625 --> 00:14:38,085 everybody watched Ed Sullivan. 349 00:14:38,127 --> 00:14:39,587 That was where the music was at. 350 00:14:39,628 --> 00:14:41,422 Please, please, please... 351 00:14:41,463 --> 00:14:43,048 I love James Brown. 352 00:14:43,090 --> 00:14:46,218 - I love the soul. - I love the way he danced. 353 00:14:46,260 --> 00:14:49,054 And James Brown was considered like rebellious back then. 354 00:14:49,096 --> 00:14:50,657 - You know, like, "Say it loud. - I'm Black and proud." 355 00:14:50,681 --> 00:14:51,825 People were like, "Oh, oh, oh." 356 00:14:51,849 --> 00:14:53,267 And then Dick Clark, 357 00:14:53,309 --> 00:14:55,102 American Bandstand, I watched that. 358 00:14:55,144 --> 00:14:56,663 People all over the world are just beginning 359 00:14:56,687 --> 00:14:58,188 to talk about The Beatles. 360 00:14:58,230 --> 00:14:59,440 Dick Clark was like amazing. 361 00:14:59,481 --> 00:15:01,233 He knew all this information. 362 00:15:01,275 --> 00:15:03,694 I was like this guy is cool and he's smooth as hell. 363 00:15:03,736 --> 00:15:05,112 We saw The Jeffersons. 364 00:15:05,154 --> 00:15:06,989 We saw Good Times. 365 00:15:07,031 --> 00:15:10,117 But we didn't see too many people that, 366 00:15:10,159 --> 00:15:12,620 that looked like us on television. 367 00:15:12,661 --> 00:15:16,248 Anytime there was a, a Black person on a show, 368 00:15:16,290 --> 00:15:18,042 we'd be like, "Oh, shit. Aretha Franklin 369 00:15:18,083 --> 00:15:20,127 - is gonna be on tonight. - Yay." We'd be happy. 370 00:15:20,169 --> 00:15:21,378 Stand up and take a bow there. 371 00:15:21,420 --> 00:15:23,213 Diana Ross.- 372 00:15:23,255 --> 00:15:25,799 We saw The Supremes, a lot of Motown, 373 00:15:25,841 --> 00:15:27,468 The Temptations, 374 00:15:27,509 --> 00:15:29,470 Ellis Haizlip who had this show called Soul! 375 00:15:29,511 --> 00:15:32,306 Which was amazing to me. 376 00:15:32,348 --> 00:15:33,658 Live and in color from of New York... 377 00:15:33,682 --> 00:15:35,142 But then later on, 378 00:15:35,184 --> 00:15:36,936 I started to get into Soul Train. 379 00:15:36,977 --> 00:15:38,938 Always in parting, we're gonna wish you love, 380 00:15:38,979 --> 00:15:41,440 peace, and soul. 381 00:15:41,482 --> 00:15:43,460 Black people was having a good time on the Soul Train. 382 00:15:43,484 --> 00:15:45,945 I'm like, "What club is... What club do they go to? 383 00:15:45,986 --> 00:15:47,613 They look mad happy." 384 00:15:47,655 --> 00:15:49,406 'Cause you didn't see it too often. 385 00:15:49,448 --> 00:15:51,048 There wasn't too many Black people on TV. 386 00:15:53,869 --> 00:15:57,039 We moved into Queens when I was 11. 387 00:15:57,081 --> 00:15:59,750 We wanted a different environment to raise him 388 00:15:59,792 --> 00:16:00,936 and we felt that moving to Queens 389 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,212 would be a nice surrounding. 390 00:16:03,253 --> 00:16:04,672 The idea of going to Queens 391 00:16:04,713 --> 00:16:07,800 was that Brooklyn was kind of crowded. 392 00:16:07,841 --> 00:16:09,343 Let's go to Queens where we can have 393 00:16:09,385 --> 00:16:10,928 our own home, first of all. 394 00:16:10,970 --> 00:16:12,638 They didn't have their own home. 395 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:14,181 Better schools in Queens. 396 00:16:14,223 --> 00:16:15,766 The education is gonna be better. 397 00:16:15,808 --> 00:16:17,088 The community is gonna be better. 398 00:16:19,561 --> 00:16:24,191 In the '60s, early '70s, there was a lot of movement 399 00:16:24,233 --> 00:16:27,486 as African Americans made more money 400 00:16:27,528 --> 00:16:30,030 or had better jobs. 401 00:16:30,072 --> 00:16:31,699 They were looking to purchase homes. 402 00:16:31,740 --> 00:16:33,033 When it comes to Queens, 403 00:16:33,075 --> 00:16:34,702 you can literally find someone 404 00:16:34,743 --> 00:16:36,537 from everywhere in the world. 405 00:16:36,578 --> 00:16:38,706 And we've always been very accepting. 406 00:16:38,747 --> 00:16:41,792 - Queens was nice, man. - It was residential. 407 00:16:41,834 --> 00:16:43,961 - It was a neighborhood. - It was a community. 408 00:16:44,003 --> 00:16:48,632 Everybody on the block knew each other type of thing. 409 00:16:48,674 --> 00:16:52,386 When we get to Queens, there's not a lot of people 410 00:16:52,428 --> 00:16:54,805 that I see that look like me. 411 00:16:54,847 --> 00:16:58,017 In fact, we're the third Black family on the block. 412 00:16:58,058 --> 00:17:00,894 In the early 1970s, a few middle-class Black families 413 00:17:00,936 --> 00:17:03,063 with very much the same idea in mind 414 00:17:03,105 --> 00:17:04,732 began to move too. 415 00:17:04,773 --> 00:17:06,734 The Whites saw their coming as a threat. 416 00:17:06,775 --> 00:17:08,861 - All right. No big deal. - I'm gonna get on my bike 417 00:17:08,902 --> 00:17:11,530 and I'm gonna ride around and we're gonna have fun. 418 00:17:15,034 --> 00:17:17,327 So I'm riding and this White kid, 419 00:17:17,369 --> 00:17:19,079 sitting on his stoop, 420 00:17:19,121 --> 00:17:20,765 and it's him sitting there with his mother. 421 00:17:20,789 --> 00:17:23,083 And the kid goes, "Look, Ma. A nigger." 422 00:17:23,125 --> 00:17:25,002 And I looked at him and I... 423 00:17:25,044 --> 00:17:26,962 Now, I've never been called a nigger in my life 424 00:17:27,004 --> 00:17:28,464 up to that point, 425 00:17:28,505 --> 00:17:30,549 and I didn't even know it was bad. 426 00:17:30,591 --> 00:17:32,342 I just knew that it wasn't good. 427 00:17:32,384 --> 00:17:33,969 - We don't want that. - We want to keep 428 00:17:34,011 --> 00:17:35,429 the neighborhood the way it is. 429 00:17:35,471 --> 00:17:36,614 - We love our neighbors. - We're all... 430 00:17:36,638 --> 00:17:38,265 We're very, very close. 431 00:17:38,307 --> 00:17:41,268 So I was like, "Okay." I kept riding. 432 00:17:41,310 --> 00:17:43,103 Came back to the crib, told mom, 433 00:17:43,145 --> 00:17:45,105 "The kid down the block called me a nigger." 434 00:17:52,488 --> 00:17:54,865 We were riding down this block and, and these white people 435 00:17:54,907 --> 00:17:57,076 started saying, "Get out of here, niggers." 436 00:17:57,117 --> 00:17:59,620 And my mother looked at me like, 437 00:17:59,661 --> 00:18:01,705 "We come all the way from Brooklyn 438 00:18:01,747 --> 00:18:03,248 for a better life." 439 00:18:03,290 --> 00:18:06,543 At that time, I was... My concern was 440 00:18:06,585 --> 00:18:11,298 did we make the right move moving here to Queens Village 441 00:18:11,340 --> 00:18:13,884 because now he's exposed to a different environment 442 00:18:13,926 --> 00:18:17,054 than he was exposed to when we lived in Bed-Stuy. 443 00:18:17,096 --> 00:18:18,764 I just wanted a White neighborhood. 444 00:18:18,806 --> 00:18:20,849 No Blacks at all. 445 00:18:23,268 --> 00:18:25,813 - We lived here. - There was a Black family. 446 00:18:25,854 --> 00:18:29,233 My friend Dawn and her family lived over there, and ♪. 447 00:18:29,274 --> 00:18:31,026 Maybe one other Black family down there. 448 00:18:31,068 --> 00:18:32,444 It was all White people. 449 00:18:32,486 --> 00:18:35,447 Within 10 years, it was all Black. 450 00:18:35,489 --> 00:18:37,032 White people probably was like, 451 00:18:37,074 --> 00:18:38,826 "Damn, why did all the White people leave?" 452 00:18:38,867 --> 00:18:40,536 But that was it. 453 00:18:40,577 --> 00:18:41,829 They was outta here. 454 00:18:41,870 --> 00:18:43,288 - White flight. - White flight. 455 00:18:43,330 --> 00:18:44,832 There was some people that you saw 456 00:18:44,873 --> 00:18:47,292 that were blatantly racist. 457 00:18:47,334 --> 00:18:49,670 And then there were other people that were White people 458 00:18:49,711 --> 00:18:52,172 that were like the connection was the music. 459 00:18:55,551 --> 00:18:57,362 Me and Lionel, we used to go buy records together. 460 00:18:57,386 --> 00:19:00,973 That's how we started our relationship as friends. 461 00:19:01,014 --> 00:19:03,034 - He'd buy a certain amount. - I'd buy a certain amount. 462 00:19:03,058 --> 00:19:06,103 We'd be like, "Yo, I need a second copy of that. 463 00:19:06,145 --> 00:19:07,896 You know, you can hold mine." 464 00:19:07,938 --> 00:19:10,190 - I was just buying records. - That's all I was doing. 465 00:19:10,232 --> 00:19:13,193 And I see this guy next to me 466 00:19:13,235 --> 00:19:15,154 when you're going to pay for it 467 00:19:15,195 --> 00:19:18,031 and I have a stack of records literally about this thick. 468 00:19:18,073 --> 00:19:20,576 We've created a DJ group 469 00:19:20,617 --> 00:19:23,579 and it was called The Brothership Connection. 470 00:19:26,665 --> 00:19:28,542 New York late '60s, early '70s 471 00:19:28,584 --> 00:19:31,128 was a hotbed of, of music 472 00:19:31,170 --> 00:19:33,463 like Parliament-Funkadelic 473 00:19:33,505 --> 00:19:36,258 and Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown. 474 00:19:36,300 --> 00:19:38,010 Then, of course, you had the music 475 00:19:38,051 --> 00:19:40,846 out of Philadelphia, The Delfonics. 476 00:19:40,888 --> 00:19:44,057 And then you had the Latin fave man, 477 00:19:44,099 --> 00:19:46,727 Joe Cuba, Joe Bataan, 478 00:19:46,768 --> 00:19:49,271 you know, the Jimmy Castor. 479 00:19:49,313 --> 00:19:51,982 So we were very plugged in 480 00:19:52,024 --> 00:19:53,775 with music across the board. 481 00:19:55,569 --> 00:19:58,530 So my Uncle Michael is my hero. 482 00:19:58,572 --> 00:20:00,991 He's the guy who got me started in this whole music thing. 483 00:20:01,033 --> 00:20:05,746 And he would buy vinyl, 45s, LPs. 484 00:20:05,787 --> 00:20:09,082 So there were all these cool clubs he used to go to. 485 00:20:09,124 --> 00:20:13,670 One summer, he said, "We're going to Riis Beach," 486 00:20:16,256 --> 00:20:17,716 which is in Brooklyn. 487 00:20:17,758 --> 00:20:20,719 And there was an outside jam 488 00:20:20,761 --> 00:20:23,430 and a basketball tournament going on. 489 00:20:23,472 --> 00:20:26,600 And you got like pro players there like Clyde, 490 00:20:26,642 --> 00:20:28,727 Frazier's there, Earl Monroe is there. 491 00:20:28,769 --> 00:20:30,979 You know, I'm like, "This is amazing." 492 00:20:31,021 --> 00:20:33,732 But more amazing to me than that was 493 00:20:33,774 --> 00:20:35,984 there was a guy playing music and he had crates 494 00:20:36,026 --> 00:20:40,322 of records, speakers, and turntables, and these amps. 495 00:20:40,364 --> 00:20:42,491 I was just like, "What is this?" 496 00:20:42,532 --> 00:20:45,160 I heard records I never heard in my life. 497 00:20:45,202 --> 00:20:47,579 And the crowd is going crazy. 498 00:20:47,621 --> 00:20:49,414 Especially if you play Love Is the Message. 499 00:20:55,170 --> 00:20:57,839 Love Is the Message by MFSB is like the song 500 00:20:57,881 --> 00:20:59,383 that will never go away. 501 00:20:59,424 --> 00:21:02,886 And back then, you know, party's poppin' 502 00:21:02,928 --> 00:21:05,138 and then, boom, comes Love Is the Message. 503 00:21:09,142 --> 00:21:10,936 And the place goes nuts. 504 00:21:10,978 --> 00:21:13,897 And I'm like, "That's what I wanna do. 505 00:21:13,939 --> 00:21:15,732 I like that." 506 00:21:15,774 --> 00:21:18,151 I want to make the people go nuts. 507 00:21:21,029 --> 00:21:22,829 There was a club in Queens called the Blue Ice 508 00:21:22,864 --> 00:21:24,658 where Ralph started. 509 00:21:24,700 --> 00:21:26,511 And all I could tell you, like, it was amazing. 510 00:21:26,535 --> 00:21:29,663 It was a little bar, a corner bar. 511 00:21:29,705 --> 00:21:32,666 It was always crowded, and, uh, and we were playing, 512 00:21:32,708 --> 00:21:35,794 like, disco, RandB. 513 00:21:35,836 --> 00:21:37,629 Ralph was playing the RandB, 514 00:21:37,671 --> 00:21:39,315 some of the dance records that were happening, 515 00:21:39,339 --> 00:21:40,882 coming out of the '70s. 516 00:21:40,924 --> 00:21:43,635 And in the '80s, we had the Furious Five, 517 00:21:43,677 --> 00:21:46,221 Spoonie Gee, and Donna Summer records. 518 00:21:46,263 --> 00:21:48,056 Whatever was hot, he was playing it. 519 00:21:49,933 --> 00:21:51,518 As a matter of fact, a lot of the rhymes 520 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,062 that people were doing in the streets 521 00:21:54,104 --> 00:21:57,065 were off the beats of these big street bands. 522 00:21:57,107 --> 00:21:59,109 Ralph shined like nobody else. 523 00:21:59,151 --> 00:22:02,946 I mean, I've just never seen a guy command a room 524 00:22:02,988 --> 00:22:04,698 the way Ralph commanded a room. 525 00:22:04,740 --> 00:22:06,491 People always talk about Studio 54 526 00:22:06,533 --> 00:22:08,368 in that particular time and I'm like, 527 00:22:08,410 --> 00:22:10,221 "Oh, they were Black discos." Like there were like... 528 00:22:10,245 --> 00:22:12,873 There was a whole Black disco scene where like... 529 00:22:12,914 --> 00:22:15,876 Like if you like Chic, Chic came out of that scene. 530 00:22:15,917 --> 00:22:17,544 And those people weren't going... 531 00:22:17,586 --> 00:22:19,463 They weren't even allowed to go into Studio 54. 532 00:22:19,504 --> 00:22:22,215 Like, if we went to Studio 54, we weren't getting in. 533 00:22:22,257 --> 00:22:24,217 Steve Rubell was not checking us right now. 534 00:22:24,259 --> 00:22:27,387 He was like, "You all definitely at the wrong club." 535 00:22:27,429 --> 00:22:29,139 And then slowly but surely rap started 536 00:22:29,181 --> 00:22:31,308 to come into the picture. 537 00:22:31,350 --> 00:22:34,895 Every disco that died turned into a hip-hop club. 538 00:22:34,936 --> 00:22:37,022 - Hip-hop here. No, no! - Don't Close the venue. 539 00:22:37,064 --> 00:22:39,107 - We'll take that over. - Set the DJ up. 540 00:22:39,149 --> 00:22:41,610 Russell Simmons and I became friends 541 00:22:41,651 --> 00:22:44,404 because I was into the music, playing music. 542 00:22:44,446 --> 00:22:46,198 He was into giving parties. 543 00:22:46,239 --> 00:22:48,241 And Russell had already went up to The Bronx. 544 00:22:48,283 --> 00:22:50,285 He saw what hip-hop was all about. 545 00:22:50,327 --> 00:22:52,871 I remember he gave me a record with somebody rapping on it. 546 00:22:52,913 --> 00:22:55,374 "Yo, Ralphie, play this." And I was like, 547 00:22:55,415 --> 00:22:58,710 "So why would people buy this record?" 548 00:22:58,752 --> 00:23:00,379 He said, "What do you mean?" I said, 549 00:23:00,420 --> 00:23:02,839 "We, we rap in the park for free every day. 550 00:23:02,881 --> 00:23:04,508 Like why are people gonna buy these? 551 00:23:04,549 --> 00:23:06,069 They can just come and hang out with us." 552 00:23:06,093 --> 00:23:07,445 He stood there for a minute, he looked at me, 553 00:23:07,469 --> 00:23:09,054 and he was like, 554 00:23:09,096 --> 00:23:11,431 "Everybody is not coming to the park." 555 00:23:11,473 --> 00:23:14,518 And I said, "Oh." 556 00:23:14,559 --> 00:23:17,354 You mean that this is happening in other parts of the world 557 00:23:17,396 --> 00:23:19,439 or could, could potentially be happening 558 00:23:19,481 --> 00:23:21,191 in other parts of the world? 559 00:23:21,233 --> 00:23:23,402 I didn't even imagine that that could happen. 560 00:23:26,488 --> 00:23:29,074 Flash and, and Bambaataa, and, and Herc... 561 00:23:29,116 --> 00:23:31,618 - Gotta talk about Herc. - Can't leave him out. 562 00:23:31,660 --> 00:23:33,954 - Herc's the godfather. - But everybody 563 00:23:33,995 --> 00:23:35,872 had their own little crews. 564 00:23:35,914 --> 00:23:37,791 So the MC was on the mic. 565 00:23:37,833 --> 00:23:42,421 The MC was really the one who got the party hyped. 566 00:23:42,462 --> 00:23:44,589 Everybody starts going to, to this dance 567 00:23:44,631 --> 00:23:45,841 called the freestyle. 568 00:23:47,676 --> 00:23:49,469 In The Bronx, they called it breakdancing. 569 00:23:49,511 --> 00:23:51,346 In Brooklyn, they called it freestyling. 570 00:23:51,388 --> 00:23:53,390 So that became the new thing. 571 00:23:57,018 --> 00:24:00,063 Then everybody started wanting turntables 572 00:24:00,105 --> 00:24:02,023 at that point, but everybody couldn't 573 00:24:02,065 --> 00:24:05,318 afford turntables until we had the '77 blackout. 574 00:24:07,904 --> 00:24:09,406 Once the blackout happened, 575 00:24:09,448 --> 00:24:11,533 my brothers came home with turntables, 576 00:24:11,575 --> 00:24:13,201 speakers, you name it, 577 00:24:13,243 --> 00:24:15,662 and we had our DJ equipment. 578 00:24:15,704 --> 00:24:18,748 The b-boy was the kid who may not have had shoestrings. 579 00:24:18,790 --> 00:24:22,085 They may have had some fly slip-on sneakers. 580 00:24:22,127 --> 00:24:24,796 Some may have gloves on for like a spin and... 581 00:24:24,838 --> 00:24:26,673 It's like a crew, 582 00:24:26,715 --> 00:24:28,800 Rock Steady and all these guys. 583 00:24:31,344 --> 00:24:33,680 Back then, like I said, it was territorial. 584 00:24:33,722 --> 00:24:35,348 The streets was buzzing. 585 00:24:35,390 --> 00:24:37,100 The home of hip-hop was in The Bronx. 586 00:24:37,142 --> 00:24:40,187 And, um, and then it moved around 587 00:24:40,228 --> 00:24:41,980 to, you know, other parts of the city, 588 00:24:42,022 --> 00:24:43,690 Queens, Long Island. 589 00:24:43,732 --> 00:24:45,442 And then it branched on. 590 00:24:45,484 --> 00:24:47,486 Listen, if you're... If you're a hip-hop guy, 591 00:24:47,527 --> 00:24:51,865 the majority of the guys that engaged in this music 592 00:24:51,907 --> 00:24:55,202 at that time are criminals, of the criminal nature. 593 00:24:55,243 --> 00:24:56,578 It's just the tough era. 594 00:25:00,749 --> 00:25:04,002 You know, we were sort of like influencers of that era. 595 00:25:04,044 --> 00:25:06,671 When rap really started to become popular, 596 00:25:06,713 --> 00:25:09,591 we were kind of, like, the supporters and sponsors. 597 00:25:09,633 --> 00:25:13,261 Back then, you know, we was rich, you know? 598 00:25:13,303 --> 00:25:15,388 Why were you guys rich? 599 00:25:15,430 --> 00:25:18,391 From that street entrepreneurship, you know? 600 00:25:18,433 --> 00:25:21,186 And so one thing about us, we're not braggadocious. 601 00:25:21,228 --> 00:25:23,897 We don't kind of glorify our past history, 602 00:25:23,939 --> 00:25:25,690 but, you know, for folks that's viewing, 603 00:25:25,732 --> 00:25:27,234 I would say just Google us. 604 00:25:30,237 --> 00:25:33,532 A big misconception is that hip-hop 605 00:25:33,573 --> 00:25:35,867 was always nice guy music. 606 00:25:35,909 --> 00:25:37,744 You know, every block party I went to 607 00:25:37,786 --> 00:25:39,829 ended up with violence. 608 00:25:39,871 --> 00:25:42,082 Somebody got robbed, they turned off the music, 609 00:25:42,123 --> 00:25:44,334 or some shots in the air. 610 00:25:44,376 --> 00:25:46,419 The Feurtados, they weren't flashy at all. 611 00:25:46,461 --> 00:25:47,897 They weren't... you know, there was some people that, 612 00:25:47,921 --> 00:25:50,257 you know, they had all the flash, fly gear. 613 00:25:50,298 --> 00:25:52,759 They was regular dudes, but they were everywhere. 614 00:25:52,801 --> 00:25:54,594 - Serious business. - Serious business. 615 00:26:04,312 --> 00:26:06,815 By the time I got to my first year of college, 616 00:26:06,856 --> 00:26:08,567 they had this internship program. 617 00:26:08,608 --> 00:26:10,235 One was communications. 618 00:26:10,277 --> 00:26:12,362 - I said, "I'll take that. - What does that mean?" 619 00:26:12,404 --> 00:26:14,948 "Oh, you might get a job at a... a TV station." 620 00:26:14,990 --> 00:26:17,492 - "- Oh, sounds exciting. - Yeah, I'm down for that." 621 00:26:17,534 --> 00:26:20,620 And so my first internship was at this company 622 00:26:20,662 --> 00:26:23,290 called Manhattan Cable TV. 623 00:26:25,333 --> 00:26:28,003 It was on 23rd Street and I would go there 624 00:26:28,044 --> 00:26:29,546 two or three times a week. 625 00:26:29,588 --> 00:26:31,798 And there was all these little monitors. 626 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:33,925 And my job was every hour, 627 00:26:33,967 --> 00:26:36,136 there's a microphone there and you say, 628 00:26:36,177 --> 00:26:37,887 "Hi. You're watching Manhattan Cable 629 00:26:37,929 --> 00:26:39,472 and it's 6:00 PM," 630 00:26:39,514 --> 00:26:40,908 or, "You're watching Manhattan Cable 631 00:26:40,932 --> 00:26:42,100 and it's 2:30 AM." 632 00:26:42,142 --> 00:26:43,935 And I was like, "I talk? 633 00:26:43,977 --> 00:26:46,229 Ooh. Nice. 634 00:26:46,271 --> 00:26:48,148 Nice. I get to talk on a mic." 635 00:26:48,189 --> 00:26:50,275 And there were shows like The Robin Byrd Show. 636 00:26:50,317 --> 00:26:53,737 If Santa can't come down your chimney, 637 00:26:53,778 --> 00:26:55,822 you just may be able to see me. 638 00:26:55,864 --> 00:26:57,657 It was like porn. 639 00:26:57,699 --> 00:27:00,076 And I was like, 640 00:27:00,118 --> 00:27:02,579 "Yo, this is dope." 641 00:27:02,621 --> 00:27:04,789 And what you do is, you light up your hash pipe 642 00:27:04,831 --> 00:27:06,291 and get it going. 643 00:27:06,333 --> 00:27:07,792 Al Goldstein. 644 00:27:07,834 --> 00:27:09,961 Fuck you, Carlyle Hotel. 645 00:27:10,003 --> 00:27:11,522 - Oh, man. This is crazy. - We don't have this 646 00:27:11,546 --> 00:27:13,131 on my regular TV. 647 00:27:15,342 --> 00:27:17,260 It was enlightening because I realized 648 00:27:17,302 --> 00:27:20,513 there were other things going on outside of Queens, 649 00:27:20,555 --> 00:27:22,182 'cause I was in Manhattan every day. 650 00:27:22,223 --> 00:27:23,492 - I'm in 23rd Street. - I'm getting 651 00:27:23,516 --> 00:27:25,101 on a train, getting off. 652 00:27:25,143 --> 00:27:26,728 I'm looking at different people. 653 00:27:26,770 --> 00:27:27,729 People come from different places. 654 00:27:27,771 --> 00:27:28,813 They look different. 655 00:27:28,855 --> 00:27:30,440 They... They act different. 656 00:27:30,482 --> 00:27:31,792 You know, and I'm at the age where I'm... 657 00:27:31,816 --> 00:27:33,777 I'm... I'm... I'm able to get it. 658 00:27:37,822 --> 00:27:39,991 Channel 31 was my third internship. 659 00:27:40,033 --> 00:27:42,452 A bunch of Black folks are now starting to get hired 660 00:27:42,494 --> 00:27:45,830 at networks, ABC, NBC, CBS. 661 00:27:45,872 --> 00:27:48,208 Oh, I met Ralph, 662 00:27:48,249 --> 00:27:50,335 back in the early '80s. 663 00:27:50,377 --> 00:27:53,296 We was just two young brothers 664 00:27:53,338 --> 00:27:54,673 trying to figure out how... 665 00:27:54,714 --> 00:27:56,800 After graduating from college, 666 00:27:56,841 --> 00:27:59,886 how we was gonna get a job in this TV industry. 667 00:27:59,928 --> 00:28:02,430 One day, these tapes came in from a... 668 00:28:02,472 --> 00:28:04,391 And it said Sony or something on it. 669 00:28:04,432 --> 00:28:06,101 I said, "Yo, Ed, let's put this in. 670 00:28:06,142 --> 00:28:07,852 Let's see what we got here." 671 00:28:07,894 --> 00:28:09,288 - Ed puts in it. - And it's all of these groups 672 00:28:09,312 --> 00:28:11,231 performing in a sound stage. 673 00:28:11,272 --> 00:28:13,274 Now, I'm starting to see MTV. 674 00:28:13,316 --> 00:28:15,985 But I realize that they don't play any Black music 675 00:28:16,027 --> 00:28:18,279 other than Michael Jackson. 676 00:28:18,321 --> 00:28:20,949 I was like, "Why don't we just play this on TV?" 677 00:28:20,990 --> 00:28:24,577 Ralph would sit down and write a little script 678 00:28:24,619 --> 00:28:26,913 of what he was gonna be saying. 679 00:28:26,955 --> 00:28:31,042 And basically it started out where we had the videos... 680 00:28:31,084 --> 00:28:33,044 And we put it together, and like, 681 00:28:33,086 --> 00:28:35,046 like we were making a mixtape, really. 682 00:28:35,088 --> 00:28:36,774 That's what we thought we was doing. But it was for video. 683 00:28:36,798 --> 00:28:39,300 So it was really a, a video mixtape in the beginning. 684 00:28:39,342 --> 00:28:41,720 I was like, "Boom box, 685 00:28:41,761 --> 00:28:44,431 music, video. 686 00:28:44,472 --> 00:28:46,391 We're gonna call it Video Music Box ." 687 00:28:46,433 --> 00:28:48,768 And everybody looked at me like, "You sure?" 688 00:28:48,810 --> 00:28:50,186 I'm like... 689 00:28:50,228 --> 00:28:51,771 "Sure it's not Music Video Box?" 690 00:28:51,813 --> 00:28:54,357 - "- Nah, son. - It's Video Music Box ." 691 00:28:54,399 --> 00:28:56,943 - And that's it. - It's a big boom box 692 00:28:56,985 --> 00:28:59,487 and it shows videos." And that's what we're gonna do. 693 00:28:59,529 --> 00:29:01,364 And that's when Video Music Box was born. 694 00:29:10,915 --> 00:29:12,959 Hello, Video Music Box. 695 00:29:13,001 --> 00:29:16,129 We keep it on the block, the house, yo. 696 00:29:17,714 --> 00:29:19,716 Yo, kid, it's about that time. 697 00:29:19,758 --> 00:29:22,010 - Whose time? - Box time. 698 00:29:22,051 --> 00:29:24,262 Lionel didn't wanna do the video thing either. 699 00:29:24,304 --> 00:29:26,014 Half of Video Music Box. 700 00:29:26,055 --> 00:29:28,095 He didn't want to be on screen or nothing like that. 701 00:29:30,393 --> 00:29:33,813 He brought me in to, uh, kind of check out what was going on. 702 00:29:35,940 --> 00:29:37,609 When I went to the station WNYC, 703 00:29:37,650 --> 00:29:39,444 it was on Channel 31, 704 00:29:39,486 --> 00:29:42,489 that was the first time that I ever was in a TV studio. 705 00:29:42,530 --> 00:29:44,532 I saw the monitors, the waveform monitors, 706 00:29:44,574 --> 00:29:47,160 - cameras, and I was hooked. - I was like, "Wow." 707 00:29:47,202 --> 00:29:49,621 Lionel was getting ready to go to the service. 708 00:29:49,662 --> 00:29:51,307 He didn't figure... He was trying to figure out 709 00:29:51,331 --> 00:29:53,166 - what to do with his life. - And I'm like, 710 00:29:53,208 --> 00:29:55,335 "Yo, you might wanna mess around with this TV thing. 711 00:29:55,376 --> 00:29:57,170 It's kind of like deejaying, but it's video." 712 00:29:57,212 --> 00:29:59,172 Everything was like deejaying to me. 713 00:29:59,214 --> 00:30:00,673 It's crazy where hip-hop, 714 00:30:00,715 --> 00:30:02,175 you can say it started with a DJ. 715 00:30:02,217 --> 00:30:04,344 - Yeah. - And video shows 716 00:30:04,385 --> 00:30:06,513 for hip-hop started with a DJ too. 717 00:30:06,554 --> 00:30:08,306 - So it's, it's attached. - Yeah. 718 00:30:08,348 --> 00:30:09,849 And the way the show ran 719 00:30:09,891 --> 00:30:11,434 - was like records. - Right. 720 00:30:11,476 --> 00:30:13,144 You know, Video Music Box 721 00:30:13,186 --> 00:30:15,855 brings you the best and the latest first. 722 00:30:15,897 --> 00:30:18,775 Here's Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime." 723 00:30:18,817 --> 00:30:22,529 And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack. 724 00:30:22,570 --> 00:30:25,698 Basically, he was playing music videos 725 00:30:25,740 --> 00:30:27,534 and he was doing a voiceover. 726 00:30:27,575 --> 00:30:29,202 I never wanted to be on camera. 727 00:30:29,244 --> 00:30:30,912 I didn't wanna be a celebrity. 728 00:30:30,954 --> 00:30:32,205 I didn't wanna do none of that. 729 00:30:32,247 --> 00:30:33,498 I just want it to be my voice. 730 00:30:35,375 --> 00:30:38,211 It's gonna be, like, a video radio show. 731 00:30:46,261 --> 00:30:48,596 - What's up, man? - Nice to meet you. 732 00:30:48,638 --> 00:30:49,889 Hi, Video Music Box. 733 00:30:51,766 --> 00:30:53,852 How you doing, Music Box? I'm with Salt-N-Peppa. 734 00:30:53,893 --> 00:30:55,120 This is Salt and this is Peppa. 735 00:30:55,144 --> 00:30:56,813 You got Sandy D right here. 736 00:30:56,855 --> 00:30:58,815 We used to hold the mic like this. 737 00:30:58,857 --> 00:31:00,668 So we hold the mic out and... To the artists we would talk to. 738 00:31:00,692 --> 00:31:02,318 So you never saw the person. 739 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:03,736 You just saw the microphone 740 00:31:03,778 --> 00:31:05,572 and the artist, like, saying whatever. 741 00:31:05,613 --> 00:31:07,424 Yo, The Afros are gonna tell us what the next video 742 00:31:07,448 --> 00:31:09,868 is gonna be on Video Music Box, show what they wanna see. 743 00:31:09,909 --> 00:31:11,911 Believe that, baby. 744 00:31:11,953 --> 00:31:13,764 I was like, "Well, why don't we get in the shot 745 00:31:13,788 --> 00:31:16,416 with them and hold the mic and stuff like that." 746 00:31:16,457 --> 00:31:17,876 And the camera person was like, 747 00:31:17,917 --> 00:31:20,086 "One, two, three." And Ralph said... 748 00:31:20,128 --> 00:31:21,438 Video Music Box in full effect. 749 00:31:21,462 --> 00:31:23,006 I'm VJ Ralph McDaniels... 750 00:31:23,047 --> 00:31:25,758 And I was like, "Uh." I just, like, froze. 751 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:27,427 I had no idea what to say. 752 00:31:27,468 --> 00:31:29,554 I pulled out the sunglasses, put them on my face. 753 00:31:29,596 --> 00:31:30,823 - I said, "All right. - Let's do it again." 754 00:31:30,847 --> 00:31:32,265 He goes, "I'm VJ Ralph McDaniels." 755 00:31:32,307 --> 00:31:33,808 And I said, "And I'm the VidKid." 756 00:31:33,850 --> 00:31:35,643 - And I went like this. - And I said, "Word." 757 00:31:35,685 --> 00:31:37,788 That's right. Keep on rocking with the Box with yours truly, 758 00:31:37,812 --> 00:31:39,397 VJ Ralph McDaniels. 759 00:31:39,439 --> 00:31:42,609 - And, of course... - The VidKid. 760 00:31:42,650 --> 00:31:44,277 And that caught on. 761 00:31:44,319 --> 00:31:46,279 And that's how VJ Ralph McDaniels 762 00:31:46,321 --> 00:31:48,239 and the VidKid was born. 763 00:31:48,281 --> 00:31:51,826 Ralph on camera comes across like your brother 764 00:31:51,868 --> 00:31:53,661 or your uncle, Uncle Ralph. 765 00:31:53,703 --> 00:31:57,790 He didn't come across like a, uh, a media personality. 766 00:31:57,832 --> 00:32:00,585 The term uncle mean another level 767 00:32:00,627 --> 00:32:03,421 where you're elder to them, 768 00:32:03,463 --> 00:32:05,214 but they look at you as you're cool, 769 00:32:05,256 --> 00:32:07,634 you're hip, you impact it with them. 770 00:32:07,675 --> 00:32:09,052 But you have a respect. 771 00:32:09,093 --> 00:32:10,553 And I start calling Ralph that 772 00:32:10,595 --> 00:32:12,388 because I saw how people was taking to Ralph. 773 00:32:12,430 --> 00:32:15,475 Ralph was the one who took uncle and made it mean something. 774 00:32:15,516 --> 00:32:17,435 Ralph became Uncle Ralph for real. 775 00:32:17,477 --> 00:32:19,237 And he deserved that because that was a title 776 00:32:19,270 --> 00:32:21,314 of endearment, for sure, and respect. 777 00:32:21,356 --> 00:32:23,816 I like to say what's up and peace to Uncle Ralph first. 778 00:32:23,858 --> 00:32:25,318 - Video Music Box. - Uncle Ralph. 779 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,111 - Uncle Ralph... - everybody love y'all. 780 00:32:27,153 --> 00:32:29,405 From our reggae spectacular, 781 00:32:29,447 --> 00:32:32,617 he is Moja Nya with Rise Up. 782 00:32:34,494 --> 00:32:36,162 There were certain videos that we played 783 00:32:36,204 --> 00:32:37,830 that you didn't see anywhere else. 784 00:32:37,872 --> 00:32:40,166 We were exposed to other cultures. 785 00:32:40,208 --> 00:32:42,126 Ralph used to play the Caribbean stuff, 786 00:32:42,168 --> 00:32:44,837 the... the... the reggae stuff before we even knew Jamaicans. 787 00:32:44,879 --> 00:32:46,839 I would see Jimi Hendrix, 788 00:32:46,881 --> 00:32:50,343 - Madonna, Run-DMC. - We saw Whodini. 789 00:32:50,385 --> 00:32:51,737 Of course, we know what they look like 790 00:32:51,761 --> 00:32:53,554 but we never seen them like in, 791 00:32:53,596 --> 00:32:56,724 in... in physical form performing and stuff like that. 792 00:32:56,766 --> 00:33:01,229 You gots Tha Chill, Big Daddy Kane, and Rob Base. 793 00:33:01,270 --> 00:33:04,023 It takes two to make a thing go right. 794 00:33:04,065 --> 00:33:05,608 I remember just being in my room, 795 00:33:05,650 --> 00:33:07,068 going back and forth, 796 00:33:07,110 --> 00:33:08,569 trying to learn the choreography. 797 00:33:08,611 --> 00:33:10,363 The first artist I saw on the Box 798 00:33:10,405 --> 00:33:13,199 was probably the Force MDs, Force MCs, 799 00:33:13,241 --> 00:33:15,451 Roxanne Shante, UTFO... 800 00:33:15,493 --> 00:33:17,370 Gizmo's scratching Milk Dee's rhyming. 801 00:33:17,412 --> 00:33:19,038 Milk is chillin', Giz is chillin' 802 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,666 Milk and Giz all day, MC Lyte. 803 00:33:21,708 --> 00:33:25,003 It was just amazing to watch all these new artists. 804 00:33:25,044 --> 00:33:26,963 There wasn't enough hip-hop videos, 805 00:33:27,005 --> 00:33:28,065 so I had to fill up the time. 806 00:33:28,089 --> 00:33:30,133 I was on six days a week. 807 00:33:30,174 --> 00:33:32,051 - Say... - Tell me what you want... 808 00:33:32,093 --> 00:33:33,737 We would say, "Okay, let's play Hall and Oates 809 00:33:33,761 --> 00:33:35,572 because that's some funky soul, White boy shit, 810 00:33:35,596 --> 00:33:37,056 but we love it," you know? 811 00:33:37,098 --> 00:33:38,808 We... We... We loved that right there. 812 00:33:38,850 --> 00:33:40,977 "Or let's play Bernard Wright, Who Do You Love." 813 00:33:41,019 --> 00:33:42,395 Who do you love? 814 00:33:42,437 --> 00:33:43,563 Girl I'm in love with you. 815 00:33:43,604 --> 00:33:44,897 Are you for sure? 816 00:33:44,939 --> 00:33:46,566 Sure as the sky is blue. 817 00:33:46,607 --> 00:33:48,568 So all of these things was coming into my head 818 00:33:48,609 --> 00:33:50,945 as I was putting the show together. 819 00:33:50,987 --> 00:33:53,239 And I think we gathered that from being DJs. 820 00:33:55,116 --> 00:33:56,701 Are you ready to go 'cause... 821 00:33:56,743 --> 00:33:59,203 The streets dictated to what we were doing. 822 00:33:59,245 --> 00:34:01,223 The streets would tell you if you're playing something wack 823 00:34:01,247 --> 00:34:02,915 on the radio or on the television, 824 00:34:02,957 --> 00:34:04,876 "Yo, that shit is wack, son. 825 00:34:04,917 --> 00:34:06,753 What you doing?" 826 00:34:06,794 --> 00:34:08,504 So one day, I'm on the train 827 00:34:08,546 --> 00:34:12,216 and these dudes are, like, grilling me on the train. 828 00:34:12,258 --> 00:34:14,177 Like, like, you could easily get jumped 829 00:34:14,218 --> 00:34:16,763 on a train like quick. 830 00:34:16,804 --> 00:34:20,099 So I'm like, this is going to be a problem, you know? 831 00:34:20,141 --> 00:34:23,019 And as I'm about to get off the train, 832 00:34:23,061 --> 00:34:24,771 the dude goes, 833 00:34:24,812 --> 00:34:28,066 "You're the dude on that show that played the videos?" 834 00:34:28,107 --> 00:34:29,442 And I'm like, "Yeah." 835 00:34:29,484 --> 00:34:30,777 "Yo, we like that shit." 836 00:34:30,818 --> 00:34:33,071 And I'm like, "Damn, man. 837 00:34:33,112 --> 00:34:35,406 We sat here for 10 stops. 838 00:34:35,448 --> 00:34:36,967 Like, I thought it was about to go down... 839 00:34:36,991 --> 00:34:39,285 Why you ain't say that 10 stops ago?" 840 00:34:39,327 --> 00:34:41,454 And so that's when I knew that the streets 841 00:34:41,496 --> 00:34:42,622 was checking for me. 842 00:34:45,416 --> 00:34:47,752 Big gettin' wide Gettin' money up in honies. 843 00:34:47,794 --> 00:34:49,921 Not funny, you're my sonny Or your honey. 844 00:34:49,962 --> 00:34:51,964 - We're getting large. - On Video Music Box. 845 00:34:52,006 --> 00:34:54,133 - With Ralph McDaniels. - And the VidKid. 846 00:34:54,175 --> 00:34:56,761 Ralph stayed steadfast his commitment 847 00:34:56,803 --> 00:34:58,030 that this is what he is going to do. 848 00:34:58,054 --> 00:34:59,722 Because once you are visionary, 849 00:34:59,764 --> 00:35:01,450 you can see things that you really don't realize 850 00:35:01,474 --> 00:35:03,726 that's in your psyche until it manifests. 851 00:35:03,768 --> 00:35:06,604 That this is gonna be something that's gonna not only set 852 00:35:06,646 --> 00:35:08,564 the world on fire but it's gonna get people 853 00:35:08,606 --> 00:35:11,150 who look like me a fair opportunity 854 00:35:11,192 --> 00:35:14,195 to get into the world and make some money. 855 00:35:14,237 --> 00:35:16,072 Video Music Box doing it right. 856 00:35:16,114 --> 00:35:18,157 Got my man Funkmaster Flex in the house. 857 00:35:18,199 --> 00:35:19,784 I remember when everybody was dying 858 00:35:19,826 --> 00:35:21,244 to get on Video... Video Music Box. 859 00:35:21,285 --> 00:35:22,846 Like if you heard it was gonna be filming 860 00:35:22,870 --> 00:35:24,664 somewhere at a club, everybody went to go. 861 00:35:24,705 --> 00:35:25,849 They'd look for that bright light 862 00:35:25,873 --> 00:35:26,934 and wanna get right over there. 863 00:35:26,958 --> 00:35:28,751 Why? Because you knew 864 00:35:28,793 --> 00:35:30,513 everybody's gonna know you was at the party. 865 00:35:30,545 --> 00:35:32,356 Now, the same effects happen to people who don't want 866 00:35:32,380 --> 00:35:33,857 people to know that they was in the motherfucking party. 867 00:35:33,881 --> 00:35:35,174 That's what he brought to 868 00:35:35,216 --> 00:35:36,676 even the darkest times of hip-hop. 869 00:35:36,717 --> 00:35:38,636 He brought that bright light. 870 00:35:38,678 --> 00:35:40,471 And now you see me jiggy, you puzzled. 871 00:35:40,513 --> 00:35:41,824 He ain't sellin' no records, is he? 872 00:35:41,848 --> 00:35:44,642 That nigga gotta hustle. 873 00:35:44,684 --> 00:35:46,537 It's super important, you know, for us to be seen in, 874 00:35:46,561 --> 00:35:50,148 in a light by someone who truly understands us, 875 00:35:50,189 --> 00:35:51,983 you know, 'cause once we're in the room, 876 00:35:52,024 --> 00:35:53,877 then we... you know, we're gonna... we're gonna... 877 00:35:53,901 --> 00:35:55,921 We're gonna navigate that and do what we have to do. 878 00:35:55,945 --> 00:35:59,031 - Hey, man. - This is Ralph McDaniels. 879 00:35:59,073 --> 00:36:00,616 And everybody's on pins and needles 880 00:36:00,658 --> 00:36:02,743 for what you're about to introduce next. 881 00:36:02,785 --> 00:36:04,495 And this is... And we didn't know, 882 00:36:04,537 --> 00:36:06,122 we just have to sit here and wait, 883 00:36:06,164 --> 00:36:08,541 and then you would introduce us to new videos. 884 00:36:08,583 --> 00:36:10,626 ...with Kool G Rap and DJ Polo 885 00:36:10,668 --> 00:36:12,753 and the all-stars from Cold Chillin'. 886 00:36:12,795 --> 00:36:14,755 And then you would do all the shoutouts which... 887 00:36:14,797 --> 00:36:17,550 You brought... You brought the radio to TV. 888 00:36:17,592 --> 00:36:19,177 - Yeah. - You start to get... 889 00:36:19,218 --> 00:36:20,404 I don't think anybody else did shoutouts. 890 00:36:20,428 --> 00:36:21,804 No. No. 891 00:36:21,846 --> 00:36:23,431 I wanna give a shoutout to all my family 892 00:36:23,472 --> 00:36:25,808 - and all my true friends. - Love you, Janet. 893 00:36:25,850 --> 00:36:28,102 I'd like to give a shoutout to my daughter, Ratisha. 894 00:36:28,144 --> 00:36:30,313 Big shoutout to my moms, my girl, my son, 895 00:36:30,354 --> 00:36:33,566 - my nephew, my brother... - Yeah! 896 00:36:33,608 --> 00:36:35,568 Everything originates from the hood. 897 00:36:35,610 --> 00:36:37,403 The shoutout, it's all of that. 898 00:36:37,445 --> 00:36:39,530 - Happy birthday, Jennifer. - I love you. 899 00:36:39,572 --> 00:36:41,240 - Yo! - Shoutout to every nigga 900 00:36:41,282 --> 00:36:43,218 that came from the projects that's behind the wall 901 00:36:43,242 --> 00:36:45,036 in Rikers, we love you. 902 00:36:45,077 --> 00:36:48,414 Whatever that is, that resonates and moves through the city. 903 00:36:48,456 --> 00:36:50,416 And it touches down and lands. 904 00:36:50,458 --> 00:36:52,098 I wanna give a shoutout to the Bronzeville 905 00:36:52,126 --> 00:36:54,045 south side posse. 906 00:36:54,086 --> 00:36:56,422 Yo, I'd like to give a shoutout to everybody's girl. 907 00:36:56,464 --> 00:36:57,715 It's priceless. 908 00:36:59,133 --> 00:37:00,426 ...working out of Rikers Island. 909 00:37:00,468 --> 00:37:02,303 - Yo, my name Monique. - I'm from AC. 910 00:37:02,345 --> 00:37:03,488 I'd like to give a shoutout to everybody at Rutgers 911 00:37:03,512 --> 00:37:05,264 and New Brunswick! 912 00:37:05,306 --> 00:37:07,892 Yo, I wanna give a shoutout to lockdown brothers, word up. 913 00:37:07,934 --> 00:37:10,019 Sea-cacus, Yards-ville. 914 00:37:10,061 --> 00:37:12,730 - Motherfuckin' Northern State. - All that good stuff. 915 00:37:12,772 --> 00:37:14,190 That's our world. 916 00:37:14,232 --> 00:37:15,983 Sometime when you get a shoutout from my... 917 00:37:16,025 --> 00:37:19,278 My husband in C76 or whatever it may be, 918 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,323 or he might be upstate, somebody in Green Haven, 919 00:37:22,365 --> 00:37:24,617 Comstock, that makes them feel good, 920 00:37:24,659 --> 00:37:26,303 makes them feel like someone's thinking about them, 921 00:37:26,327 --> 00:37:28,412 especially if they're... They doing time. 922 00:37:28,454 --> 00:37:31,999 Say peace to my cousin, Jazzy, back in A Town. PA. 923 00:37:32,041 --> 00:37:34,502 I'd like to give a shoutout to my daughter, Janika, 924 00:37:34,543 --> 00:37:37,088 my moms, my pops, and the 40 Crew. 925 00:37:37,129 --> 00:37:38,923 Everybody in Flatbush, yo. In the house. 926 00:37:38,965 --> 00:37:42,051 Video Music Box shoutout is your moment, 927 00:37:42,093 --> 00:37:43,636 is your moment in the sun. 928 00:37:43,678 --> 00:37:45,304 ...Akeem, Ameen, my boyfriend, Hale. 929 00:37:45,346 --> 00:37:47,640 Growing up and being able to see images of myself, 930 00:37:47,682 --> 00:37:50,393 especially on Video Music Box was a blessing, 931 00:37:50,434 --> 00:37:52,561 'cause you didn't see too many kids 932 00:37:52,603 --> 00:37:54,313 who looked like me. 933 00:37:54,355 --> 00:37:56,482 I'm, like, really not too much of a partier anyway, 934 00:37:56,524 --> 00:37:58,985 so, you know, it was the Box was perfect for me 935 00:37:59,026 --> 00:38:00,504 so I could just watch it, you know, say, 936 00:38:00,528 --> 00:38:01,964 from the comfort of the home and just be like, 937 00:38:01,988 --> 00:38:03,990 "Okay, yeah." Feel like I'm there. 938 00:38:04,031 --> 00:38:07,326 I'm in the middle of thousands of people sometimes 939 00:38:07,368 --> 00:38:08,786 with the camera. 940 00:38:08,828 --> 00:38:10,579 They grabbing at the camera. 941 00:38:10,621 --> 00:38:13,833 They... everybody was just trying to get on film and... 942 00:38:13,874 --> 00:38:15,602 - Lot of classy people in here. - I'm feeling it. 943 00:38:15,626 --> 00:38:17,712 - All right. I'm feeling it. - I'm feeling... 944 00:38:17,753 --> 00:38:19,380 I'm feeling you out, for truth. 945 00:38:22,174 --> 00:38:25,303 So you're just standing here, making a fashion statement, 946 00:38:25,344 --> 00:38:27,680 interrupting the flow of the party. 947 00:38:27,722 --> 00:38:30,599 It was just an exciting part of what we did, 948 00:38:30,641 --> 00:38:33,352 which is the core of Video Music Box. 949 00:38:33,394 --> 00:38:36,856 "Let's go to France, Egypt where we came from!" 950 00:38:36,897 --> 00:38:40,026 Crazy Sam was doing this thing called the Uptown Comedy Club. 951 00:38:40,067 --> 00:38:42,695 Went up there, I ain't hear no comedy. 952 00:38:42,737 --> 00:38:46,615 And then finally, Crazy Sam came out and he just talked. 953 00:38:46,657 --> 00:38:48,034 And people would laugh. 954 00:38:48,075 --> 00:38:49,785 I wanna give a shout out to my man, 955 00:38:49,827 --> 00:38:51,620 you know who you are. 956 00:38:51,662 --> 00:38:53,497 I like when y'all say that shit, 957 00:38:53,539 --> 00:38:55,541 "And you know who you are, nigga. 958 00:38:55,583 --> 00:38:58,002 All six of y'all." 959 00:38:58,044 --> 00:39:02,506 And he did these characters, Billy Strong Boy, 960 00:39:02,548 --> 00:39:04,759 and this lady, the Spanish lady on the bench 961 00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:06,635 who talks about everybody. 962 00:39:09,555 --> 00:39:11,015 He was a character. 963 00:39:11,057 --> 00:39:13,184 Best way I can describe him is like, 964 00:39:13,225 --> 00:39:16,103 what Flava Flav is to Chuck D and Public Enemy, you know? 965 00:39:16,145 --> 00:39:17,945 And... And that was something interesting too, 966 00:39:17,980 --> 00:39:19,523 for the fans, you know, they liked it. 967 00:39:19,565 --> 00:39:21,150 He became his own personality 968 00:39:21,192 --> 00:39:23,277 and he developed on that show. 969 00:39:23,319 --> 00:39:27,073 I come from a family of religious gangsters. 970 00:39:27,114 --> 00:39:29,492 I mean, I buy crabs for, like, a whole city block. 971 00:39:29,533 --> 00:39:32,453 You got crabs, you got lobster, you got everything out there. 972 00:39:32,495 --> 00:39:35,122 Welcome to Nervous Thursdays. 973 00:39:35,164 --> 00:39:36,832 Where everything is nervous. 974 00:39:36,874 --> 00:39:38,584 Started out as alternative videos, 975 00:39:38,626 --> 00:39:41,712 and he was so hot that he was like, 976 00:39:41,754 --> 00:39:43,714 "Why are you giving me the wack videos?" 977 00:39:43,756 --> 00:39:45,174 He was like, 978 00:39:45,216 --> 00:39:46,675 "Ralph, I need the good videos." 979 00:39:46,717 --> 00:39:49,428 Welcome. I am here with my home boys. 980 00:39:49,470 --> 00:39:51,013 And we're all chilling. 981 00:39:51,055 --> 00:39:53,224 We would send him out with a... with a camera, 982 00:39:53,265 --> 00:39:55,726 and he'd just come back with the craziest shit ever. 983 00:39:55,768 --> 00:39:57,228 Oh, I don't like the wind. 984 00:39:57,269 --> 00:39:59,271 It's strong, it's going... 985 00:39:59,313 --> 00:40:00,856 He was a nutcase. 986 00:40:00,898 --> 00:40:03,734 - This lady right here. - She's so short. 987 00:40:03,776 --> 00:40:06,278 Don't get me upset or nervous. 988 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:08,614 Uh-huh. Uh-huh. 989 00:40:08,656 --> 00:40:11,075 - Tim Dog. - Tim Dog's in the house. 990 00:40:12,827 --> 00:40:14,787 Hello. 991 00:40:14,829 --> 00:40:17,623 We're Five Star and you can see our video. 992 00:40:17,665 --> 00:40:21,252 "All Falls Down" on Video Music Box. 993 00:40:21,293 --> 00:40:24,630 Video Music Box continues with a hot one 994 00:40:24,672 --> 00:40:27,133 from Billy Ocean "Mystery Lady". 995 00:40:28,509 --> 00:40:30,136 Na, na, na, na, na, na. 996 00:40:30,177 --> 00:40:32,263 I actually met Ralph on a blind date. 997 00:40:32,304 --> 00:40:33,639 I don't think he'll remember this, 998 00:40:33,681 --> 00:40:35,307 but he came, like, with a teddy bear. 999 00:40:35,349 --> 00:40:38,144 And we met, 1000 00:40:38,185 --> 00:40:40,604 and then my cousin left, 1001 00:40:40,646 --> 00:40:42,815 and he left... They left us by ourselves. 1002 00:40:42,857 --> 00:40:44,984 And then the rest is history, 1003 00:40:45,025 --> 00:40:46,569 Thirty-five years here together. 1004 00:40:48,821 --> 00:40:50,448 Three, two, one. 1005 00:40:50,489 --> 00:40:52,867 No, this is not... ugh. 1006 00:40:52,908 --> 00:40:54,952 Three. 1007 00:40:54,994 --> 00:40:58,497 - Rolling. - Three, two, one. 1008 00:40:58,539 --> 00:41:02,001 No, this is not MTV, it's Video Music Box. 1009 00:41:02,042 --> 00:41:05,671 A great program with positive informa... sorry. 1010 00:41:05,713 --> 00:41:07,673 No, I'm gonna do something else here, hold up. 1011 00:41:07,715 --> 00:41:10,676 I'll tell you when to start then I'm just gonna turn to you so. 1012 00:41:10,718 --> 00:41:12,428 Go. 1013 00:41:12,470 --> 00:41:14,930 We take the beat to the street with the top 40 sounds 1014 00:41:14,972 --> 00:41:16,849 of Madonna, New Kids on the Block, 1015 00:41:16,891 --> 00:41:18,642 and Bruce Springsteen. 1016 00:41:18,684 --> 00:41:20,019 Let's do another one. 1017 00:41:20,060 --> 00:41:22,688 It was just in the midst of the beginning 1018 00:41:22,730 --> 00:41:26,192 of Video Music Box, so he prepared me for it. 1019 00:41:29,528 --> 00:41:30,863 Red, how'd you like the party? 1020 00:41:30,905 --> 00:41:34,200 Yeeeeeaa, what's up? 1021 00:41:34,241 --> 00:41:36,052 - You know what? - This is a spectacular party. 1022 00:41:36,076 --> 00:41:37,745 I enjoyed it very much, 1023 00:41:37,786 --> 00:41:39,556 and, you know, I hope things keep on going strong. 1024 00:41:39,580 --> 00:41:41,999 And you guys, y'all are the best. 1025 00:41:42,041 --> 00:41:44,043 Video Music Box continues 1026 00:41:44,084 --> 00:41:48,923 with Boogie Down Productions featuring KRS-One. 1027 00:41:48,964 --> 00:41:50,883 To let us into your skin. 1028 00:41:50,925 --> 00:41:52,426 Why? 1029 00:41:52,468 --> 00:41:54,428 'Cause then you'll begin... 1030 00:41:54,470 --> 00:41:56,263 - Yeah. - ...To master. 1031 00:41:56,305 --> 00:41:59,266 Rhymin', rhymin', rhymin' 1032 00:41:59,308 --> 00:42:01,894 Criminal minded, you've been blinded. 1033 00:42:01,936 --> 00:42:03,395 Lookin', for a style like mine. 1034 00:42:03,437 --> 00:42:05,231 You can't find it. 1035 00:42:05,272 --> 00:42:07,399 They are the audience, I am the lyricist. 1036 00:42:07,441 --> 00:42:09,860 Sometimes the suckers on the side gotta hear this. 1037 00:42:09,902 --> 00:42:12,530 Page, a rage and I'm not in a cage. 1038 00:42:12,571 --> 00:42:15,366 Free as a bird to fly up out on stage... 1039 00:42:15,407 --> 00:42:17,201 - Oh, man. - The live performances 1040 00:42:17,243 --> 00:42:20,412 on Video Music Box were like a treat. 1041 00:42:20,454 --> 00:42:22,665 Yo. The Jazzy Jeff 1042 00:42:22,706 --> 00:42:24,833 and Fresh Prince early joint at 1043 00:42:24,875 --> 00:42:26,585 uh, Union Square. 1044 00:42:26,627 --> 00:42:28,921 Music, and make parents and children. 1045 00:42:28,963 --> 00:42:31,423 All sit down and they both be willing to... 1046 00:42:31,465 --> 00:42:33,592 These are memorable moments 1047 00:42:33,634 --> 00:42:37,763 for like New York hip-hop dudes. 1048 00:42:37,805 --> 00:42:39,473 - Yo! What's up? - I'm The Fresh Prince. 1049 00:42:39,515 --> 00:42:40,992 And this is a brand new group coming out of Philly 1050 00:42:41,016 --> 00:42:42,601 called 2 Too Many. 1051 00:42:42,643 --> 00:42:44,603 And here's their video. 1052 00:42:44,645 --> 00:42:46,647 - Where's the party? - Y'all took too long. 1053 00:42:46,689 --> 00:42:48,449 All right. Go ahead, do it again. Take seven. 1054 00:42:50,484 --> 00:42:52,403 - Yo! What's up? - I'm The Fresh Prince. 1055 00:42:52,444 --> 00:42:54,631 And there's a brand new group coming out of Philly called... 1056 00:42:54,655 --> 00:42:56,282 ...2 Too Many. 1057 00:42:56,323 --> 00:42:57,575 I don't like that. 1058 00:42:57,616 --> 00:42:59,493 I don't like that. 1059 00:42:59,535 --> 00:43:01,328 We didn't make no money off of the TV show 1060 00:43:01,370 --> 00:43:03,056 because we was non-commercial. It was a non-commercial station. 1061 00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:05,207 If it became money, it would turn into something else 1062 00:43:05,249 --> 00:43:06,959 that I wouldn't have control over. 1063 00:43:07,001 --> 00:43:08,794 And I liked the idea that I could play 1064 00:43:08,836 --> 00:43:11,130 what I wanted to play and not have to worry about it. 1065 00:43:11,171 --> 00:43:13,132 I said, "We'll, make money somewhere else." 1066 00:43:13,173 --> 00:43:15,718 The only way we made money was doing the parties. 1067 00:43:15,759 --> 00:43:17,428 I love New York. This is the... 1068 00:43:17,469 --> 00:43:19,072 I mean, no place parties like New York, baby. 1069 00:43:19,096 --> 00:43:20,139 I'm ripped for real. 1070 00:43:22,016 --> 00:43:23,892 These promoters was out here. 1071 00:43:23,934 --> 00:43:25,787 And we're seeing... We were doing the math like, 1072 00:43:25,811 --> 00:43:28,147 you know, "Wait a minute, they charged $20. 1073 00:43:28,188 --> 00:43:30,482 It was a thousand people in that was $20,000. 1074 00:43:30,524 --> 00:43:32,318 Oh, let's do that, we could do that." 1075 00:43:32,359 --> 00:43:34,111 And so we started doing the parties. 1076 00:43:34,153 --> 00:43:36,614 All right, y'all ready for Tribe Called Quest, 1077 00:43:36,655 --> 00:43:38,490 - New York City? - Put your hands together. 1078 00:43:38,532 --> 00:43:39,968 I did go to the parties that Ralph promoted 1079 00:43:39,992 --> 00:43:42,953 and they'd always be packed. 1080 00:43:45,372 --> 00:43:47,541 Right now is about New York. 1081 00:43:47,583 --> 00:43:50,127 And that's what we... you know, we all about New York right now. 1082 00:43:50,169 --> 00:43:52,129 You could see the Wu Tang Clan over there. 1083 00:44:02,181 --> 00:44:04,183 Tribe Called Quest over there... 1084 00:44:04,224 --> 00:44:06,161 Well, can I get a level on the bass and on the treble. 1085 00:44:06,185 --> 00:44:08,479 Footin up and down like a UNLV Rebel. 1086 00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:11,440 The answer be amongst us cause we rarely dig acoustics. 1087 00:44:11,482 --> 00:44:13,567 Can't be too much flackin', not too much packin' 1088 00:44:13,609 --> 00:44:15,545 You must container that at least to dip your hand in rap. 1089 00:44:15,569 --> 00:44:17,613 Foxy Brown getting ready to warm up over there. 1090 00:44:26,330 --> 00:44:27,831 And a few White people were in there, 1091 00:44:27,873 --> 00:44:29,291 like, you could feel them 1092 00:44:29,333 --> 00:44:32,169 trying to steal our flavor again. 1093 00:44:32,211 --> 00:44:33,545 You could feel it. 1094 00:44:33,587 --> 00:44:35,673 Black comedy is blowing up. 1095 00:44:35,714 --> 00:44:37,567 - You know, what I'm saying it's blowing up, word up. - Def Jam. 1096 00:44:37,591 --> 00:44:39,218 We got the power, we got Uptown Comedy. 1097 00:44:39,259 --> 00:44:40,803 You know what I'm saying? 1098 00:44:40,844 --> 00:44:42,155 And there was a lot of Black comics out there 1099 00:44:42,179 --> 00:44:43,239 that's just as good as me, man. 1100 00:44:43,263 --> 00:44:44,723 We need places to work out. 1101 00:44:44,765 --> 00:44:46,141 Please look out for us, man. 1102 00:44:46,183 --> 00:44:49,061 Check us out and support Black comedy. 1103 00:44:49,103 --> 00:44:51,271 And I got Beast over here hiding. 1104 00:44:51,313 --> 00:44:52,856 Beast found this man for me 1105 00:44:52,898 --> 00:44:54,608 'cause it was hectic to get to them. 1106 00:44:54,650 --> 00:44:56,443 Beast was, uh, the head of our security. 1107 00:44:56,485 --> 00:44:59,238 And, um, we had a team called the Gorilla Force. 1108 00:44:59,279 --> 00:45:01,448 And it was a no nonsense crew. 1109 00:45:01,490 --> 00:45:02,991 So artists would come, 1110 00:45:03,033 --> 00:45:05,744 we were able to get A-list artists 1111 00:45:05,786 --> 00:45:07,454 to come even to Brooklyn. 1112 00:45:07,496 --> 00:45:09,581 Ooh, la, la, la. 1113 00:45:09,623 --> 00:45:12,501 It's the natural law that the refugees bring. 1114 00:45:12,543 --> 00:45:16,630 Ooh, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la la, la, lah. 1115 00:45:16,672 --> 00:45:18,799 - Sweet thing. - Yeah, yeah. 1116 00:45:18,841 --> 00:45:20,259 - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, yeah. 1117 00:45:20,300 --> 00:45:22,219 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1118 00:45:22,261 --> 00:45:23,929 Yeah, in saloons we drink Boone's. 1119 00:45:23,971 --> 00:45:25,681 And battle goons till high noon. 1120 00:45:34,398 --> 00:45:37,192 So when you see like the Fugees and Lauryn Hill 1121 00:45:37,234 --> 00:45:39,611 and Wyclef perform, 1122 00:45:39,653 --> 00:45:41,447 again, it's breathtaking because, remember, 1123 00:45:41,488 --> 00:45:44,241 you were in a neighborhood that people don't expect 1124 00:45:44,283 --> 00:45:46,577 nothing to come out of a neighborhood like this. 1125 00:45:46,618 --> 00:45:48,245 We never had any casualties. 1126 00:45:48,287 --> 00:45:50,456 People had a great time and a great experience. 1127 00:45:52,249 --> 00:45:53,917 Oh, yeah, Video Music... 1128 00:45:53,959 --> 00:45:55,794 This is the guy on TV. 1129 00:45:55,836 --> 00:45:58,464 Like, how many times do you see the guy from TV, 1130 00:45:58,505 --> 00:46:00,007 let alone the number one show? 1131 00:46:00,048 --> 00:46:01,842 Video Music Box, Pete Rock, CL Smooth. 1132 00:46:01,884 --> 00:46:04,344 And he's in your neighborhood hosting the party. 1133 00:46:04,386 --> 00:46:06,680 - We're in the inner city. - We're poor as hell. 1134 00:46:06,722 --> 00:46:08,932 - We're watching TV. - This is the guy. 1135 00:46:08,974 --> 00:46:11,018 Guess what, he's in the spot down the block. 1136 00:46:11,059 --> 00:46:13,812 We going. 1137 00:46:13,854 --> 00:46:15,415 You know there's some old people sitting out there 1138 00:46:15,439 --> 00:46:17,041 watching going, "How can that young man now 1139 00:46:17,065 --> 00:46:19,026 wear that thing around his neck like that?" 1140 00:46:20,986 --> 00:46:23,447 - He's just fulfilling his dreams. - That's all, you know. 1141 00:46:23,489 --> 00:46:26,158 Video Music Box definitely was very, 1142 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:28,660 very influential in terms of fashion as well. 1143 00:46:28,702 --> 00:46:30,662 You'll see a certain artist, 1144 00:46:30,704 --> 00:46:31,931 you'd be like "Yo, what's that hat right there? 1145 00:46:31,955 --> 00:46:33,165 Oh, I wanna get that hat. 1146 00:46:33,207 --> 00:46:35,083 You know, I wanna get that jacket." 1147 00:46:35,125 --> 00:46:37,628 We saw everything from the jewelry 1148 00:46:37,669 --> 00:46:40,422 to, you know, Ghostface in his robes 1149 00:46:40,464 --> 00:46:43,008 to, you know, Mary with her hair pulled out 1150 00:46:43,050 --> 00:46:45,636 - of the top of her hat. - And we were all doing that. 1151 00:46:45,677 --> 00:46:48,347 Well, hip-hop started on independent labels, 1152 00:46:48,388 --> 00:46:51,350 you had all these local hits. 1153 00:46:51,391 --> 00:46:54,311 It went from that to more serious deals 1154 00:46:54,353 --> 00:46:55,938 with better labels, 1155 00:46:55,979 --> 00:46:57,523 it became more normal 1156 00:46:57,564 --> 00:46:59,691 to see the artists that you were buying, 1157 00:46:59,733 --> 00:47:02,236 put out videos with those albums. 1158 00:47:02,277 --> 00:47:04,571 Now, we know there's no reason 1159 00:47:04,613 --> 00:47:07,282 these records can't reach the masses anymore. 1160 00:47:09,868 --> 00:47:11,537 Up the block from me were these guys 1161 00:47:11,578 --> 00:47:13,288 named Full Force. 1162 00:47:13,330 --> 00:47:16,375 And Full Force was a group that came out early days. 1163 00:47:16,416 --> 00:47:19,127 And they knew where I lived so, 1164 00:47:19,169 --> 00:47:21,547 they would come and knock on my door in my house, 1165 00:47:21,588 --> 00:47:24,216 I'm like, "How did you guys even get in the building?" 1166 00:47:24,258 --> 00:47:26,760 - And I'm like, "All right. - What's about to happen?" 1167 00:47:26,802 --> 00:47:29,388 And so, "Did you get our video, Ralph?" 1168 00:47:29,429 --> 00:47:31,265 And I'm like, "No, your record company 1169 00:47:31,306 --> 00:47:33,392 is not giving it to me because they want me 1170 00:47:33,433 --> 00:47:35,894 to pay for it." "We'll fix that". 1171 00:47:35,936 --> 00:47:38,230 The next week, the woman from the record company 1172 00:47:38,272 --> 00:47:40,649 calls me, "Hi, Ralph, I'm gonna send you 1173 00:47:40,691 --> 00:47:42,317 all the videos that we have out." 1174 00:47:42,359 --> 00:47:45,237 And that's how my relationship got better 1175 00:47:45,279 --> 00:47:48,031 with the labels and as well with the artists, 1176 00:47:48,073 --> 00:47:51,201 because now, we were working hand in hand with each other. 1177 00:47:52,953 --> 00:47:54,246 Ah, yeah. 1178 00:47:54,288 --> 00:47:55,914 When I say "Can I kick it?" 1179 00:47:55,956 --> 00:47:58,333 I want everybody to say "Yes, you can!" 1180 00:47:58,375 --> 00:48:00,460 One, two, three, go. 1181 00:48:00,502 --> 00:48:01,962 - It's like that, y'all. - What! 1182 00:48:02,004 --> 00:48:03,630 It's like that, y'all. 1183 00:48:03,672 --> 00:48:05,215 It's like that, y'all. 1184 00:48:05,257 --> 00:48:06,675 It's like that, y'all. 1185 00:48:06,717 --> 00:48:08,218 It's like that, y'all. 1186 00:48:08,260 --> 00:48:09,386 It's like that, y'all. 1187 00:48:09,428 --> 00:48:11,179 Come on, come on. 1188 00:48:11,221 --> 00:48:12,973 - Can I kick it? - Yes, you can! 1189 00:48:13,015 --> 00:48:15,267 - Can I kick it? - Yes, you can! 1190 00:48:15,309 --> 00:48:17,811 - Can I kick it? - Yes, you can! 1191 00:48:17,853 --> 00:48:20,397 - Can I kick it? - Yes, you can! 1192 00:48:20,439 --> 00:48:22,232 Can I kick it? 1193 00:48:22,274 --> 00:48:24,443 This is the Video Music Box collection, 1194 00:48:24,484 --> 00:48:26,445 You know, this is where we keep everything. 1195 00:48:26,486 --> 00:48:29,156 This is what we used at TV stations back in the days. 1196 00:48:29,197 --> 00:48:31,158 And this is how I did Video Music Box 1197 00:48:31,199 --> 00:48:32,659 most in the '80s, that's... 1198 00:48:32,701 --> 00:48:34,578 classic Ralph with the... with the high... 1199 00:48:34,620 --> 00:48:36,288 With the high-top 1200 00:48:36,330 --> 00:48:38,749 talking to the legendary Dizzy Gillespie. 1201 00:48:38,790 --> 00:48:41,793 What influence did Charlie Parker have on you? 1202 00:48:41,835 --> 00:48:44,463 The greatest influence. 1203 00:48:44,504 --> 00:48:48,050 The biggest influence on my playing. 1204 00:48:48,091 --> 00:48:50,427 And how do you feel about the music business now, 1205 00:48:50,469 --> 00:48:52,137 in general right now? 1206 00:48:52,179 --> 00:48:55,641 In comparison to before when you first started? 1207 00:48:55,682 --> 00:48:57,935 Well, there's much more respect. 1208 00:48:57,976 --> 00:49:01,772 They respect it as an art form now. 1209 00:49:01,813 --> 00:49:03,607 How, what were the feelings back then 1210 00:49:03,649 --> 00:49:04,983 when you first started? 1211 00:49:06,610 --> 00:49:08,320 Nigger music. 1212 00:49:09,988 --> 00:49:12,366 It's not hot tracks or U68. 1213 00:49:12,407 --> 00:49:14,534 It's a video show that we think is great. 1214 00:49:14,576 --> 00:49:16,703 - Fresh... - Fresh out of the pack... 1215 00:49:16,745 --> 00:49:18,348 - From eight to nine... - Video Music Box. 1216 00:49:18,372 --> 00:49:20,958 It will blow your mind. 1217 00:49:20,999 --> 00:49:23,919 Good evening and welcome to Video Music Box. 1218 00:49:23,961 --> 00:49:26,421 Tonight, Fresh Fest 85. 1219 00:49:26,463 --> 00:49:28,757 Taped live at the Nassau Coliseum. 1220 00:49:28,799 --> 00:49:31,218 It was the Fresh Fest tour 1221 00:49:31,259 --> 00:49:34,054 that put us in the big coliseums 1222 00:49:34,096 --> 00:49:36,431 and once again, 1223 00:49:36,473 --> 00:49:38,266 Ralph was the only camera in the room. 1224 00:49:41,603 --> 00:49:43,480 Him filming 1225 00:49:43,522 --> 00:49:46,066 the Fresh Fest in Nassau Coliseum. 1226 00:49:46,108 --> 00:49:48,151 Run-DMC, 1227 00:49:48,193 --> 00:49:50,362 18,000 people. 1228 00:49:50,404 --> 00:49:52,114 It was crazy. 1229 00:49:52,155 --> 00:49:54,032 Everybody in the world was there. 1230 00:49:54,074 --> 00:49:56,034 I think that's the first press conference. 1231 00:49:56,076 --> 00:49:57,387 - I ever went to in my life. - Run-DMC, you guys 1232 00:49:57,411 --> 00:49:58,829 got anything to say to the...? 1233 00:49:58,870 --> 00:50:00,038 And we get there and we see 1234 00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:01,540 all the different cameramen. 1235 00:50:01,581 --> 00:50:03,500 I mean, like, national networks. 1236 00:50:03,542 --> 00:50:05,711 And we just set our cameras down right there. 1237 00:50:05,752 --> 00:50:07,671 We just fit in, like that's the thing 1238 00:50:07,713 --> 00:50:11,008 that Russell and Run-DMC did, they brought every new first, 1239 00:50:11,049 --> 00:50:13,176 a press conference you know, 1240 00:50:13,218 --> 00:50:15,804 a press pass to be backstage, 1241 00:50:18,765 --> 00:50:20,642 The Fresh Fest was amazing. 1242 00:50:20,684 --> 00:50:22,602 - Come on, clap your hands. - Come on, clap. 1243 00:50:22,644 --> 00:50:25,272 Kurtis Blow, Fat Boys, 1244 00:50:25,313 --> 00:50:26,898 Whodini, 1245 00:50:26,940 --> 00:50:28,734 they had these break dancers. 1246 00:50:28,775 --> 00:50:31,236 Chad and Jermaine Dupri were breakdancers. 1247 00:50:31,278 --> 00:50:33,739 This is my brother Dynasty... 1248 00:50:33,780 --> 00:50:36,533 We had a good time. 1249 00:50:36,575 --> 00:50:39,411 They was like, probably 10, 11 back then. 1250 00:50:39,453 --> 00:50:43,749 But that tour went shit, like, 40 some cities. 1251 00:50:46,126 --> 00:50:48,628 Grandmaster Flash is on the turntables. 1252 00:50:48,670 --> 00:50:51,798 This is actually the first time I seen him. 1253 00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:53,884 Like I see him on the album covers 1254 00:50:53,925 --> 00:50:57,429 but I never seen him DJ. 1255 00:50:57,471 --> 00:51:00,057 And he had a dude next to him, he was going like this. 1256 00:51:02,225 --> 00:51:04,436 While Flash was cutting and scratching. 1257 00:51:04,478 --> 00:51:06,354 That was epic to me. 1258 00:51:06,396 --> 00:51:08,440 From Hollis Queens, 1259 00:51:08,482 --> 00:51:10,442 Jam Master Jay 1260 00:51:10,484 --> 00:51:15,363 and Run-DMC! 1261 00:51:15,405 --> 00:51:17,407 After I saw the Fresh Fest. I was like, 1262 00:51:17,449 --> 00:51:19,910 "Oh, White people are into this hip-hop thing heavy." 1263 00:51:19,951 --> 00:51:21,912 Because I went to Fresh Fest in Long Island. 1264 00:51:21,953 --> 00:51:23,413 And it was mixed. 1265 00:51:23,455 --> 00:51:25,624 And everybody knows the lyrics the same way. 1266 00:51:31,797 --> 00:51:34,466 - "- Oh, this is crossover. - This... This... This has... 1267 00:51:34,508 --> 00:51:35,943 No, there's no color on this anymore. 1268 00:51:35,967 --> 00:51:37,844 - This is just rap. - This is just hip-hop." 1269 00:51:40,806 --> 00:51:42,516 So, went to MTV. 1270 00:51:42,557 --> 00:51:44,309 I said, "I got to get Video Music Box on, 1271 00:51:44,351 --> 00:51:46,645 it's time for a hip-hop show." 1272 00:51:49,147 --> 00:51:50,690 "You don't understand, Ralph. 1273 00:51:50,732 --> 00:51:53,610 Middle America's not ready for no hip-hop." 1274 00:51:53,652 --> 00:51:55,821 And I said, "What are you talking about? 1275 00:51:55,862 --> 00:51:57,322 I just came from... 1276 00:51:57,364 --> 00:51:59,199 Let me show you the footage of Fresh Fest. 1277 00:51:59,241 --> 00:52:00,408 Let me show you this." 1278 00:52:00,450 --> 00:52:02,494 White kids are singing, Asian, 1279 00:52:02,536 --> 00:52:04,830 - Latino, Black. - We all together. 1280 00:52:08,625 --> 00:52:11,586 And they said "Nah, you don't understand. 1281 00:52:11,628 --> 00:52:13,171 - That's in New York. - That's not how 1282 00:52:13,213 --> 00:52:14,965 the rest of the country works." 1283 00:52:15,006 --> 00:52:17,342 - I don't know about that. - These dudes is on tour, bro. 1284 00:52:17,384 --> 00:52:19,028 They're going on... Ain't just in New York, 1285 00:52:19,052 --> 00:52:20,804 they're doing these shows, they're touring." 1286 00:52:20,846 --> 00:52:23,473 - "- Nah. Not ready. - I don't want to scare nobody." 1287 00:52:23,515 --> 00:52:25,035 And I was like, "I think you're wrong." 1288 00:52:31,398 --> 00:52:33,275 - Yo! - A year later, 1289 00:52:33,316 --> 00:52:35,902 they came out with Yo! MTV Raps. 1290 00:52:35,944 --> 00:52:38,572 Their blueprint was Video Music Box. 1291 00:52:38,613 --> 00:52:41,032 Video Music Box was the essential show 1292 00:52:41,074 --> 00:52:42,826 for hip-hop on television. 1293 00:52:42,868 --> 00:52:44,744 A lot people want artists to live up 1294 00:52:44,786 --> 00:52:46,329 to a certain standard, you know, like, 1295 00:52:46,371 --> 00:52:48,206 be role models and all that kind of stuff. 1296 00:52:48,248 --> 00:52:50,208 I'm sure, that's put on you all the time. 1297 00:52:50,250 --> 00:52:52,002 Yeah. But it's kinda hard, I mean... 1298 00:52:52,043 --> 00:52:55,046 It was... It was never a competition 1299 00:52:55,088 --> 00:52:57,382 with MTV with Video Music Box 1300 00:52:57,424 --> 00:53:00,177 because Video Music Box was its own thing. 1301 00:53:07,893 --> 00:53:10,729 You know, just the love of the art, 1302 00:53:10,770 --> 00:53:13,523 and it was still important and needed, 1303 00:53:13,565 --> 00:53:15,233 the job wasn't done, 1304 00:53:15,275 --> 00:53:16,568 You want to know the star status. 1305 00:53:16,610 --> 00:53:18,904 When I walk in the studio. 1306 00:53:18,945 --> 00:53:20,756 Mic's there, tracks spare, and I'm ready to do me some. 1307 00:53:20,780 --> 00:53:22,908 You know, new artists needed to be put on, 1308 00:53:22,949 --> 00:53:24,910 people that don't get the chance 1309 00:53:24,951 --> 00:53:27,495 - even before YouTube. - You know what I'm saying? 1310 00:53:27,537 --> 00:53:30,165 To really get a light shined on them. 1311 00:53:30,207 --> 00:53:31,166 We're getting ready to steam roller, 1312 00:53:31,208 --> 00:53:32,751 so here we go with Ice-T 1313 00:53:32,792 --> 00:53:35,045 and High Rollers on Yo! MTV. 1314 00:53:35,086 --> 00:53:37,839 The difference is Video Music Box 1315 00:53:37,881 --> 00:53:39,549 was us showing us, 1316 00:53:39,591 --> 00:53:41,635 and MTV was them showing us. 1317 00:53:41,676 --> 00:53:43,428 That's the bottom line difference. 1318 00:53:43,470 --> 00:53:45,239 That's a different vibe sitting there watching it. 1319 00:53:45,263 --> 00:53:46,890 So I'm not worried about it, you know. 1320 00:53:46,932 --> 00:53:48,475 I'm like, "Nah, we good." 1321 00:53:48,516 --> 00:53:50,936 So finally, now, they're getting speed. 1322 00:53:50,977 --> 00:53:52,729 I can see they getting comfortable 1323 00:53:52,771 --> 00:53:54,582 with they doing what they do, they getting better 1324 00:53:54,606 --> 00:53:57,484 - at Yo! MTV Raps. - So I'm watching it, and I said, 1325 00:53:57,525 --> 00:54:00,612 "Okay, we got to go deep, deep, 1326 00:54:00,654 --> 00:54:03,073 deep to the underground." 1327 00:54:03,114 --> 00:54:06,034 And we start pulling out all these underground artists, 1328 00:54:06,076 --> 00:54:09,704 guys that nobody's heard of, Jay-Z. 1329 00:54:15,460 --> 00:54:17,254 When I first got my little interview, 1330 00:54:17,295 --> 00:54:19,047 - I was happy as hell. - It was like a, 1331 00:54:19,089 --> 00:54:20,966 you know, a badge to get that Ralph interview. 1332 00:54:21,007 --> 00:54:23,802 I know you got new thing going on with a new label. 1333 00:54:23,843 --> 00:54:25,470 - Yeah. - Production's growing, huh? 1334 00:54:25,512 --> 00:54:27,806 Yeah, yeah. We doing the same thing as these cats. 1335 00:54:27,847 --> 00:54:30,558 That's why I came down, you know, I mean, represent them. 1336 00:54:30,600 --> 00:54:32,060 They did a priority thing, 1337 00:54:32,102 --> 00:54:33,895 we doing that too Roc-A-Fella Records 1338 00:54:33,937 --> 00:54:35,772 on their priority also, you know? 1339 00:54:35,814 --> 00:54:37,816 G Rap. 1340 00:54:37,857 --> 00:54:39,985 To be a billionaire takes hard work for years. 1341 00:54:40,026 --> 00:54:41,963 Some nights I shed a tear while I said my prayers. 1342 00:54:41,987 --> 00:54:45,824 The most incredible hip-hop artist to me ever. 1343 00:54:45,865 --> 00:54:48,451 You know, we're looking for that dope shit 1344 00:54:48,493 --> 00:54:50,495 that's in the clubs, that's in the street 1345 00:54:50,537 --> 00:54:52,622 - that we hear in the cars. - Luke... 1346 00:54:52,664 --> 00:54:54,165 Doo Doo Brown Doo Doo Brown. 1347 00:54:54,207 --> 00:54:55,875 Doo Doo Brown Doo Doo Brown. 1348 00:54:55,917 --> 00:54:57,544 Doo Doo Brown Doo Doo Brown. 1349 00:54:57,585 --> 00:54:59,462 Doo Doo Brown Doo Doo Brown. 1350 00:54:59,504 --> 00:55:01,923 You know Miami bass music. 1351 00:55:01,965 --> 00:55:03,883 Nobody's playing Miami bass in New York. 1352 00:55:03,925 --> 00:55:05,427 Nobody was playing our videos. 1353 00:55:05,468 --> 00:55:07,178 Oh, it's too much ass. 1354 00:55:07,220 --> 00:55:08,888 Oh, too many crotch shots. 1355 00:55:08,930 --> 00:55:11,057 Well, Ralph was not playing the same videos 1356 00:55:11,099 --> 00:55:12,434 that MTV was playing. 1357 00:55:12,475 --> 00:55:14,185 Straight outta Compton! 1358 00:55:14,227 --> 00:55:16,062 Crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube. 1359 00:55:16,104 --> 00:55:17,981 From the gang called Niggaz With Attitudes. 1360 00:55:18,023 --> 00:55:20,066 Like, by '88, we're playing N.W.A. 1361 00:55:20,108 --> 00:55:22,277 Nobody... Who the hell is N.W.A. 1362 00:55:22,319 --> 00:55:24,321 and why are you playing that in New York? 1363 00:55:24,362 --> 00:55:28,616 So we're... we're going after hardcore music 1364 00:55:28,658 --> 00:55:29,868 that's for the ghetto. 1365 00:55:29,909 --> 00:55:31,161 All night-a. 1366 00:55:31,202 --> 00:55:32,370 All right-a. 1367 00:55:32,412 --> 00:55:33,621 All night-a 1368 00:55:33,663 --> 00:55:35,373 Ay, sing with it. Ay! 1369 00:55:35,415 --> 00:55:37,375 Oh! Give it up. 1370 00:55:37,417 --> 00:55:39,210 What people don't realize 1371 00:55:39,252 --> 00:55:41,379 is because it's a show, 1372 00:55:41,421 --> 00:55:42,839 they really made me... 1373 00:55:42,881 --> 00:55:44,466 It really made New York 1374 00:55:44,507 --> 00:55:46,217 my number one selling market. 1375 00:55:46,259 --> 00:55:48,636 I don't really play no keyboards and instruments. 1376 00:55:48,678 --> 00:55:50,638 My man, I'll hum him song things. 1377 00:55:50,680 --> 00:55:52,557 He'll come with ideas, we work together, 1378 00:55:52,599 --> 00:55:54,893 we make hits together, we make money together. 1379 00:55:54,934 --> 00:55:58,104 The first video that I begged Ralph to play 1380 00:55:58,146 --> 00:56:00,940 from Bad Boy was Craig Mack "Flava In Ya Ear". 1381 00:56:00,982 --> 00:56:04,110 Just like Uniblab, robotic kicking flab. 1382 00:56:04,152 --> 00:56:05,904 My flavor bidder badder chitter-chatter. 1383 00:56:05,945 --> 00:56:07,697 Madder than the Mad Hatter. 1384 00:56:07,739 --> 00:56:10,575 You know, on that day, it broke the video. 1385 00:56:10,617 --> 00:56:12,702 And that video and that piece of art 1386 00:56:12,744 --> 00:56:14,871 was so impactful 1387 00:56:14,913 --> 00:56:16,831 that it launched Bad Boy. 1388 00:56:16,873 --> 00:56:18,458 Have you forgotten 1389 00:56:18,500 --> 00:56:19,643 that once we were brought here, 1390 00:56:19,667 --> 00:56:21,586 we were robbed of our name? 1391 00:56:21,628 --> 00:56:23,838 Why did you care so much about community? 1392 00:56:23,880 --> 00:56:25,840 Because, you know, it was violence 1393 00:56:25,882 --> 00:56:28,510 going on in our community. 1394 00:56:28,551 --> 00:56:30,345 Here it is. Bam! 1395 00:56:30,387 --> 00:56:32,222 In your face goddamn. 1396 00:56:32,263 --> 00:56:33,932 This is the dope jam. 1397 00:56:33,973 --> 00:56:36,393 Crack tore the neighborhood to shreds. 1398 00:56:36,434 --> 00:56:37,953 - A lot of gun violence. - You know, it was... 1399 00:56:37,977 --> 00:56:39,854 It was tough times and times, You know I mean. 1400 00:56:39,896 --> 00:56:42,190 Some of us, we sold the drug 1401 00:56:42,232 --> 00:56:44,776 and some of us was victim to the drug. 1402 00:56:44,818 --> 00:56:48,071 But the drug made you do things for $5 1403 00:56:48,113 --> 00:56:49,739 that you wouldn't do for 500. 1404 00:56:49,781 --> 00:56:53,284 So because Ralph had complete editorial control, 1405 00:56:53,326 --> 00:56:55,912 in between the videos, he could drop some knowledge. 1406 00:56:55,954 --> 00:56:57,640 You know we're here to talk about... we're gonna have, 1407 00:56:57,664 --> 00:56:59,791 you know, like a conversation, on what I think 1408 00:56:59,833 --> 00:57:01,751 is probably one of the major problems 1409 00:57:01,793 --> 00:57:03,837 is young Black men killing themselves off. 1410 00:57:03,878 --> 00:57:06,047 And, uh, I wanna first talk to you Guru 1411 00:57:06,089 --> 00:57:08,216 about the, uh, the video that you have out, 1412 00:57:08,258 --> 00:57:09,843 it's called "Just to Get A Rep". 1413 00:57:09,884 --> 00:57:12,137 And this is how the story goes. 1414 00:57:12,178 --> 00:57:14,347 Brothers are amused by others brother's reps. 1415 00:57:14,389 --> 00:57:16,599 But the thing they know best is where the gun is kept. 1416 00:57:16,641 --> 00:57:18,601 Young brothers are just, like, 1417 00:57:18,643 --> 00:57:20,162 everybody's frontin' on each other. Everybody... 1418 00:57:20,186 --> 00:57:22,147 Like, it's a lack of self-esteem. 1419 00:57:22,188 --> 00:57:23,982 And to gain esteem, 1420 00:57:24,023 --> 00:57:25,668 they want to take something from the next man. 1421 00:57:25,692 --> 00:57:27,068 Bring him down so, 1422 00:57:27,110 --> 00:57:28,945 to gain more respect, to gain a rep. 1423 00:57:28,987 --> 00:57:30,864 I believe it was Ralph that came up 1424 00:57:30,905 --> 00:57:32,991 - with Word. - Word. 1425 00:57:33,032 --> 00:57:34,909 That's what they were saying on the street. 1426 00:57:34,951 --> 00:57:36,661 That's what we was saying, "Word?" 1427 00:57:36,703 --> 00:57:39,456 Behind that slang, 1428 00:57:39,497 --> 00:57:41,916 came information. 1429 00:57:41,958 --> 00:57:43,793 If I'm real sad, I just cry about it. 1430 00:57:43,835 --> 00:57:46,171 Just get it all out, you know, my system. 1431 00:57:46,212 --> 00:57:49,007 I think crying is a good way to get a lot of things out. 1432 00:57:49,048 --> 00:57:50,675 So we... we... we would drop 1433 00:57:50,717 --> 00:57:52,510 in stopping teen pregnancy. 1434 00:57:52,552 --> 00:57:55,346 It was important for me to get information across 1435 00:57:55,388 --> 00:57:57,807 in the show like edutainment. 1436 00:57:57,849 --> 00:57:59,809 You know, it was like, we can educate you 1437 00:57:59,851 --> 00:58:01,078 at the same time as entertain you. 1438 00:58:01,102 --> 00:58:04,439 He also was the voice of kind of reason 1439 00:58:04,481 --> 00:58:06,316 and bringing to you social issues, 1440 00:58:06,357 --> 00:58:08,985 very... not as speaking down to you, 1441 00:58:09,027 --> 00:58:11,154 speaking with you and just kind of sharing 1442 00:58:11,196 --> 00:58:13,239 with you what's going on. 1443 00:58:13,281 --> 00:58:15,283 And I think he's probably the only person 1444 00:58:15,325 --> 00:58:16,951 we trusted about what's going on. 1445 00:58:16,993 --> 00:58:19,496 - It's Uncle Ralph. - He was Uncle Ralph, 1446 00:58:19,537 --> 00:58:20,914 he was bringing it to you. 1447 00:58:31,007 --> 00:58:34,677 I would say that 10% for me 1448 00:58:34,719 --> 00:58:38,932 of Video Music Box at the time was artists. 1449 00:58:38,973 --> 00:58:41,392 The other 90%, 1450 00:58:41,434 --> 00:58:43,853 we were in the community or doing an event. 1451 00:58:43,895 --> 00:58:45,915 I live in Brooklyn, people from outside Brooklyn say, 1452 00:58:45,939 --> 00:58:47,833 - "- Our Brooklyn niggas is wild. - Them niggas is just crazy." 1453 00:58:47,857 --> 00:58:49,400 - Now, we ain't wild. - Why is that? 1454 00:58:49,442 --> 00:58:51,152 Because every time something bad happened, 1455 00:58:51,194 --> 00:58:52,755 - they put it on the news. - But when something happens in 1456 00:58:52,779 --> 00:58:54,590 other places, they don't bring it out like that. 1457 00:58:54,614 --> 00:58:56,991 Video Music Box is based on family. 1458 00:58:57,033 --> 00:58:58,910 It might've really come from my parents. 1459 00:58:58,952 --> 00:59:00,578 You know, they were really active 1460 00:59:00,620 --> 00:59:02,705 in community-based issues. 1461 00:59:02,747 --> 00:59:04,374 Families is... is bigger... 1462 00:59:04,415 --> 00:59:06,376 Is a bigger word than business to him. 1463 00:59:06,417 --> 00:59:09,128 Well, I think, um, the security is good. 1464 00:59:09,170 --> 00:59:11,089 I think everybody feel more safe 1465 00:59:11,130 --> 00:59:13,216 and they need to just leave those guns home 1466 00:59:13,258 --> 00:59:14,801 and, you know, just chill. 1467 00:59:14,842 --> 00:59:16,636 Get their education so they can get there 1468 00:59:16,678 --> 00:59:18,118 and make something out of their self. 1469 00:59:21,933 --> 00:59:25,144 Via survival, you have become a victim. 1470 00:59:25,186 --> 00:59:26,896 A war victim. 1471 00:59:26,938 --> 00:59:29,649 They're not even being respected 1472 00:59:29,691 --> 00:59:32,527 under the guidelines of wartime. 1473 00:59:32,569 --> 00:59:35,363 So we would go to Rikers Island all the time. 1474 00:59:35,405 --> 00:59:38,032 You know, we had relationships with corrections, 1475 00:59:38,074 --> 00:59:40,076 and they would let us come in 1476 00:59:40,118 --> 00:59:42,054 because the inmates watched Video Music Box all the time. 1477 00:59:42,078 --> 00:59:43,788 They would... uh, the correction officers 1478 00:59:43,830 --> 00:59:45,540 that I knew would be like, "Yo, 1479 00:59:45,582 --> 00:59:47,250 when Video Music Box comes on, 1480 00:59:47,292 --> 00:59:49,711 - no stabbings, no nothing. - Nothing's going on." 1481 00:59:49,752 --> 00:59:51,462 Soon as it's over, it's back to business. 1482 00:59:51,504 --> 00:59:53,047 Everything's crazy again. 1483 00:59:55,008 --> 00:59:57,302 Prosecutors say they were part of a gang 1484 00:59:57,343 --> 00:59:59,804 of about 30 youths, so we're on a wilding attack 1485 00:59:59,846 --> 01:00:01,598 in Central Park last April. 1486 01:00:01,639 --> 01:00:05,101 Korey Wise, when this thing comes out 1487 01:00:05,143 --> 01:00:07,645 about these guys the Central Park Five, 1488 01:00:07,687 --> 01:00:08,813 you got some five Black kids 1489 01:00:08,855 --> 01:00:10,398 and you got one White woman 1490 01:00:10,440 --> 01:00:11,733 and it's just... You can't win. 1491 01:00:11,774 --> 01:00:13,651 These Black kids are gonna lose, 1492 01:00:13,693 --> 01:00:15,337 it's not gonna... it's not gonna work out for them. 1493 01:00:15,361 --> 01:00:17,322 Later on in life, I'm watching this tape 1494 01:00:17,363 --> 01:00:19,490 of Korey Wise talk 1495 01:00:19,532 --> 01:00:23,536 and he's in... he says "I was in, um Rikers Island 1496 01:00:23,578 --> 01:00:25,538 and watched Video Music Box." 1497 01:00:25,580 --> 01:00:27,832 So I'm like, "What did he just say?" 1498 01:00:27,874 --> 01:00:31,336 After I found myself, uh, becoming incarcerated, 1499 01:00:31,377 --> 01:00:33,546 that's when I found myself embracing... 1500 01:00:33,588 --> 01:00:35,381 Embrace the Video Music Box. 1501 01:00:35,423 --> 01:00:38,384 Video Music Box, it just... It just... 1502 01:00:38,426 --> 01:00:41,137 It spoke to my soul. 1503 01:00:41,179 --> 01:00:44,057 I guess it helped raised me. 1504 01:00:44,098 --> 01:00:46,559 "Video Music Box would like to thank the staff 1505 01:00:46,601 --> 01:00:48,895 at Rahway State Prison for allowing us 1506 01:00:48,936 --> 01:00:51,189 to come in and do this story." 1507 01:00:51,230 --> 01:00:52,857 Rahway prison used to write me. 1508 01:00:52,899 --> 01:00:54,376 The guys used to write me all the time. 1509 01:00:54,400 --> 01:00:56,569 And then they got a record deal. 1510 01:00:56,611 --> 01:00:58,863 And... And traditionally, over the years, 1511 01:00:58,905 --> 01:01:00,948 people have come out of Rahway with record deals. 1512 01:01:00,990 --> 01:01:03,368 With a charge and our system locked. 1513 01:01:03,409 --> 01:01:05,286 When you don't wanna live. 1514 01:01:05,328 --> 01:01:07,014 And they had a record deal when I was a kid. 1515 01:01:07,038 --> 01:01:08,873 I used to listen to their records. 1516 01:01:08,915 --> 01:01:10,309 It would say "Recorded in Rahway State Prison." 1517 01:01:10,333 --> 01:01:12,043 We call this the house of pain. 1518 01:01:12,085 --> 01:01:13,628 Because prison is about suffering, 1519 01:01:13,670 --> 01:01:16,547 it's about living in pain 24 hours a day. 1520 01:01:16,589 --> 01:01:18,383 And it was the real deal. These was lifers. 1521 01:01:18,424 --> 01:01:20,551 Like, these was cats that they wasn't getting out 1522 01:01:20,593 --> 01:01:21,593 no time soon. 1523 01:01:24,889 --> 01:01:27,058 Yeah, the Rahway presentation 1524 01:01:27,100 --> 01:01:30,728 was particularly searing, 1525 01:01:30,770 --> 01:01:33,189 because it was sort of an indication 1526 01:01:33,231 --> 01:01:35,692 without being lectured to, 1527 01:01:35,733 --> 01:01:39,070 you probably wanna avoid going down this path. 1528 01:01:39,112 --> 01:01:40,214 Because this is a circumstance 1529 01:01:40,238 --> 01:01:42,031 that you may find yourself in, 1530 01:01:42,073 --> 01:01:44,909 if things go the wrong direction. 1531 01:01:44,951 --> 01:01:46,762 I'm trying to make babies, I'm trying to raise babies 1532 01:01:46,786 --> 01:01:48,746 with a strong mother and a strong father figure, 1533 01:01:48,788 --> 01:01:50,307 and I can't do that when you're behind bars. 1534 01:01:50,331 --> 01:01:51,290 - Go ahead. - So respect. 1535 01:01:51,332 --> 01:01:52,917 But I need you here, too. 1536 01:01:52,959 --> 01:01:54,770 So, maybe you recognize the fact that I need you, 1537 01:01:54,794 --> 01:01:56,271 - if you know what I'm saying? - To build our young 1538 01:01:56,295 --> 01:01:57,755 and create that army. 1539 01:01:57,797 --> 01:01:58,899 If we don't make it this generation 1540 01:01:58,923 --> 01:01:59,942 but the next generation will. 1541 01:01:59,966 --> 01:02:01,551 We tried to find a balance 1542 01:02:01,592 --> 01:02:04,762 in presenting Video Music Box over the years. 1543 01:02:04,804 --> 01:02:07,265 You know, we can get as hood as you wanna get, 1544 01:02:07,306 --> 01:02:09,100 we can give you some knowledge 1545 01:02:09,142 --> 01:02:10,893 in between there, you know, 1546 01:02:10,935 --> 01:02:13,438 - and we can have some fun. - However, you wanna mix it up. 1547 01:02:13,479 --> 01:02:15,189 I mean, Ralph, we come from an era 1548 01:02:15,231 --> 01:02:17,400 where it was really a dream to get on at this time. 1549 01:02:17,442 --> 01:02:18,943 - Yeah. - You know? 1550 01:02:18,985 --> 01:02:21,446 You know, to become and maybe get some love 1551 01:02:21,487 --> 01:02:23,906 from Rey, get some love from you, you know. 1552 01:02:23,948 --> 01:02:25,575 That was a part of the dream, right? 1553 01:02:25,616 --> 01:02:27,256 - That's right. - Just to make it that far 1554 01:02:27,285 --> 01:02:29,245 and just have a record in the neighborhood, 1555 01:02:29,287 --> 01:02:31,080 who would've thought it'd be a major 1556 01:02:31,122 --> 01:02:33,291 business conglomerate like it is today. 1557 01:02:35,460 --> 01:02:38,004 - Rap has arrived! - The music and the culture 1558 01:02:38,045 --> 01:02:39,797 has been absorbed into many parts 1559 01:02:39,839 --> 01:02:41,466 of mainstream America. 1560 01:02:41,507 --> 01:02:43,426 Rap music and hip-hop culture 1561 01:02:43,468 --> 01:02:45,011 have gone from being an inner city 1562 01:02:45,052 --> 01:02:47,764 homeboy lifestyle to a popular music. 1563 01:02:47,805 --> 01:02:49,682 Craved even by suburbia. 1564 01:02:49,724 --> 01:02:51,934 At this school, the kids learn the four Rs, 1565 01:02:51,976 --> 01:02:53,936 reading, writing, 'rithmetic, and rap. 1566 01:02:53,978 --> 01:02:56,647 Most of the expressions here make quite a bit of sense. 1567 01:02:56,689 --> 01:03:00,526 Fat cables for example means big gold chains. 1568 01:03:00,568 --> 01:03:03,863 Full moon, that's a large back side. 1569 01:03:03,905 --> 01:03:05,406 I think the corporations started 1570 01:03:05,448 --> 01:03:07,617 to see the change, the prospect of making 1571 01:03:07,658 --> 01:03:10,161 a lot more money and being in more control. 1572 01:03:10,203 --> 01:03:12,246 You saw the money grabbing 1573 01:03:12,288 --> 01:03:14,165 and... and the opportunity for individuals 1574 01:03:14,207 --> 01:03:18,753 like myself, uh, coming from these areas. 1575 01:03:18,795 --> 01:03:21,297 Uh, the... the lane started to kinda get 1576 01:03:21,339 --> 01:03:22,673 a little bit more narrow. 1577 01:03:22,715 --> 01:03:24,675 Everything in the world 1578 01:03:24,717 --> 01:03:27,678 has some hip-hop tied to it, 1579 01:03:27,720 --> 01:03:29,430 and corporations are making 1580 01:03:29,472 --> 01:03:32,683 an absolute killing off of it. 1581 01:03:32,725 --> 01:03:34,185 Once the inner city got you, 1582 01:03:34,227 --> 01:03:36,646 then the outer city wanna get involved, 1583 01:03:36,687 --> 01:03:39,190 the Whites, whatever, the other people that's living outside. 1584 01:03:39,232 --> 01:03:41,084 They say, "What the hell are all those niggas doing?" 1585 01:03:41,108 --> 01:03:43,236 - It's gotta be something. - Let's get involved. 1586 01:03:43,277 --> 01:03:45,196 That's the money we can make out of this. 1587 01:03:45,238 --> 01:03:47,865 All these black motherfuckers jumping around and shit. 1588 01:03:47,907 --> 01:03:49,384 How can we make some money out of that? 1589 01:03:49,408 --> 01:03:52,245 And I am Cash Money, the number-one stunna. 1590 01:03:52,286 --> 01:03:54,997 - I'm the Birdman Jr. - Weezy, baby. 1591 01:03:55,039 --> 01:03:56,249 I mean, hip hop in the '90s, 1592 01:03:56,290 --> 01:03:57,375 we got rich. 1593 01:04:06,342 --> 01:04:07,510 We started to know our worth. 1594 01:04:07,552 --> 01:04:09,345 You know what I'm saying? 1595 01:04:09,387 --> 01:04:12,431 So, you know, you... You started to have people 1596 01:04:12,473 --> 01:04:15,685 that actually, you know, became millionaires. 1597 01:04:15,726 --> 01:04:18,020 I'm a capitalist 1598 01:04:18,062 --> 01:04:20,690 and I'm about making money, 1599 01:04:20,731 --> 01:04:24,652 but definitely, uh, when a corporation comes in, 1600 01:04:24,694 --> 01:04:28,239 that's when the manipulation comes in. 1601 01:04:28,281 --> 01:04:30,992 And I'm happy for everybody getting money, 1602 01:04:31,033 --> 01:04:32,660 but it corrupts the system. 1603 01:04:37,748 --> 01:04:40,543 You know, my era came in with a sense of-of, 1604 01:04:40,585 --> 01:04:42,420 "We're not going to work for you. 1605 01:04:42,461 --> 01:04:44,171 We're going to own our own shit,". 1606 01:04:49,468 --> 01:04:51,280 And we had to figure it out because there was a lot 1607 01:04:51,304 --> 01:04:53,055 of trickery in these contracts 1608 01:04:53,097 --> 01:04:55,558 and a lot of shit like that. 1609 01:04:55,600 --> 01:04:58,644 Yo, show time, let's go! 1610 01:04:58,686 --> 01:04:59,770 What? 1611 01:05:04,901 --> 01:05:06,360 When you first start, you know 1612 01:05:06,402 --> 01:05:08,112 you're doing it because you love it. 1613 01:05:08,154 --> 01:05:09,506 - It's something new. - You're trying something, 1614 01:05:09,530 --> 01:05:11,032 and then it became something epic. 1615 01:05:11,073 --> 01:05:13,492 Ralph McDaniels went from becoming, 1616 01:05:13,534 --> 01:05:15,328 you know, somebody that was doing this shit. 1617 01:05:15,369 --> 01:05:16,996 It was a great idea. 1618 01:05:17,038 --> 01:05:19,206 And then, now he's an activist for the culture. 1619 01:05:29,675 --> 01:05:31,552 Everybody deserves a shot. 1620 01:05:31,594 --> 01:05:33,780 - He gave people that chance. - He gave people that shot. 1621 01:05:33,804 --> 01:05:35,598 That was part of the building blocks 1622 01:05:35,640 --> 01:05:37,475 to get us to where we needed to go. 1623 01:05:37,516 --> 01:05:38,893 Video Music Box, all right. 1624 01:05:38,935 --> 01:05:41,062 We're here, I'm in 125th Street. 1625 01:05:41,103 --> 01:05:43,481 Broad Money about to drop this Tuesday. 1626 01:05:43,522 --> 01:05:45,316 I'm taking it's kinda like... You know, 1627 01:05:45,358 --> 01:05:46,835 to the subways today, that's kinda crazy right now. 1628 01:05:46,859 --> 01:05:48,486 Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying, 1629 01:05:48,527 --> 01:05:50,071 ain't no artist get on the train 1630 01:05:50,112 --> 01:05:51,781 since MC Lyte, you know what I mean? 1631 01:05:51,822 --> 01:05:53,282 - So... - MOP up in the place! 1632 01:05:53,324 --> 01:05:54,825 It's going down like that. 1633 01:05:54,867 --> 01:05:56,327 I can't find someone else 1634 01:05:56,369 --> 01:05:58,663 outside of our immediate family 1635 01:05:58,704 --> 01:06:01,415 that's in the business that supported MOP 1636 01:06:01,457 --> 01:06:04,377 as much as Ralph McDaniels and Video Music Box. 1637 01:06:04,418 --> 01:06:06,754 - How about some hardcore? - Yeah, we like it raw! 1638 01:06:06,796 --> 01:06:09,507 - How about some hardcore? - Yeah, we like it raw! 1639 01:06:09,548 --> 01:06:12,093 - How about some hardcore? - Yeah, we like it raw! 1640 01:06:12,134 --> 01:06:14,136 You never would think that your video 1641 01:06:14,178 --> 01:06:15,721 is coming up next, 1642 01:06:15,763 --> 01:06:17,390 and he's gonna actually say your name, 1643 01:06:17,431 --> 01:06:19,892 and he's gonna be excited about your song. 1644 01:06:19,934 --> 01:06:21,852 - He didn't care. - He's just doing a video. 1645 01:06:21,894 --> 01:06:23,229 The whole neighborhood is hyped. 1646 01:06:23,270 --> 01:06:24,480 So we basically did 1647 01:06:24,522 --> 01:06:25,722 the video for the neighborhood. 1648 01:06:27,233 --> 01:06:28,710 The reason why we started making videos 1649 01:06:28,734 --> 01:06:31,112 is because I said sometimes, 1650 01:06:31,153 --> 01:06:33,197 "I don't like the videos that we get that we play 1651 01:06:33,239 --> 01:06:34,365 on Video Music Box." 1652 01:06:34,407 --> 01:06:36,158 Sometimes it just doesn't work. 1653 01:06:36,200 --> 01:06:38,011 I always want the video to take it to the next level. 1654 01:06:38,035 --> 01:06:40,538 So, your movement can only be, like, right here, 1655 01:06:40,579 --> 01:06:42,289 you come back this block. 1656 01:06:42,331 --> 01:06:43,725 Me and Lionel was sitting down one day 1657 01:06:43,749 --> 01:06:45,143 and we came up with an idea of a name 1658 01:06:45,167 --> 01:06:46,877 of a company called Classic Concept. 1659 01:06:46,919 --> 01:06:48,188 Then, we started, like, really producing 1660 01:06:48,212 --> 01:06:49,714 and shooting our own stuff. 1661 01:06:51,882 --> 01:06:53,801 Well, my name is Roxanne, and don't ya know. 1662 01:06:53,843 --> 01:06:55,720 - Roxanne's Revenge. - Roxanne's Revenge. 1663 01:06:55,761 --> 01:06:57,406 Right. That's the first hip hop video we ever made. 1664 01:06:57,430 --> 01:06:59,849 We shot it in Queens, Queens and Brooklyn. Yeah. 1665 01:06:59,890 --> 01:07:03,144 And I remember Ralph, you know, doing his directing, 1666 01:07:03,185 --> 01:07:05,604 and Lionel Martin, and he was like "Yeah." 1667 01:07:05,646 --> 01:07:07,040 And I was like, "Oh, these are professionals 1668 01:07:07,064 --> 01:07:08,583 - with three cameras. - This is great." 1669 01:07:08,607 --> 01:07:10,087 We weren't really in it for the money. 1670 01:07:11,694 --> 01:07:13,529 Ralph's perspective is like, 1671 01:07:13,571 --> 01:07:15,298 - let me get to know you. - What do you like, 1672 01:07:15,322 --> 01:07:16,824 let me hang around your neighborhood. 1673 01:07:16,866 --> 01:07:18,301 Let me see how you eat, how you move, 1674 01:07:18,325 --> 01:07:19,994 - how you walk. - Ralph did everything. 1675 01:07:20,036 --> 01:07:22,997 MC Ren, we had MC Rail, Steady B. 1676 01:07:23,039 --> 01:07:25,374 We shot music videos for all these artists 1677 01:07:25,416 --> 01:07:27,251 and we made them matter. 1678 01:07:27,293 --> 01:07:28,586 I grew up on the crime side. 1679 01:07:28,627 --> 01:07:30,129 The New York Times side. 1680 01:07:30,171 --> 01:07:31,922 You know RZA was like, "Yo, 1681 01:07:31,964 --> 01:07:33,316 I got a song that's called C.R.E.A.M. 1682 01:07:33,340 --> 01:07:35,342 I want you to do it." And I said, okay 1683 01:07:35,384 --> 01:07:37,094 and I... I listened to it, I was like wooh. 1684 01:07:37,136 --> 01:07:38,888 Cash rules everything around me 1685 01:07:38,929 --> 01:07:40,264 C.R.E.A.M., get the money. 1686 01:07:40,306 --> 01:07:42,266 Dollar dollar bill, y'all 1687 01:07:42,308 --> 01:07:43,726 I'm telling him things, like, yo, 1688 01:07:43,768 --> 01:07:45,895 - catch the trees. - Catch the rocks. 1689 01:07:45,936 --> 01:07:47,605 - Yeah. - He was just like, "Say less, 1690 01:07:47,646 --> 01:07:48,957 - I got it under control." - He did what he had to do. 1691 01:07:48,981 --> 01:07:50,775 He made that shit match the song. 1692 01:07:50,816 --> 01:07:52,193 - Yeah. - When I was starting, 1693 01:07:52,234 --> 01:07:53,778 you gave me my visuals 1694 01:07:53,819 --> 01:07:56,238 to show me to the world. 1695 01:07:56,280 --> 01:07:58,282 Sparkle like a diamond, sneak a Uzi on the island. 1696 01:07:58,324 --> 01:08:00,117 In my army jacket linin' 1697 01:08:00,159 --> 01:08:01,952 Hit the Earth like a comet, invasion! 1698 01:08:01,994 --> 01:08:03,788 Nas is like the Afrocentric Asian: 1699 01:08:03,829 --> 01:08:05,623 Half-man, half-amazin'... 1700 01:08:05,664 --> 01:08:07,458 I saw us as a renaissance 1701 01:08:07,500 --> 01:08:09,460 of young Black filmmakers. 1702 01:08:09,502 --> 01:08:11,295 The buddha monk's in your trunk. 1703 01:08:11,337 --> 01:08:13,214 Turn the bass up not stories by Aesop. 1704 01:08:13,255 --> 01:08:14,882 Place your loot up, parties I shoot up. 1705 01:08:14,924 --> 01:08:16,926 Man, Ralph played a... a big part 1706 01:08:16,967 --> 01:08:18,677 in Nas' rise because he did 1707 01:08:18,719 --> 01:08:20,763 the press kit for Illuminati. 1708 01:08:20,805 --> 01:08:22,556 The 20 year old Nas is a product 1709 01:08:22,598 --> 01:08:24,100 of one of the largest and toughest 1710 01:08:24,141 --> 01:08:25,601 housing projects in New York City. 1711 01:08:25,643 --> 01:08:28,187 Queensbridge Houses, AKA The Bridge. 1712 01:08:28,229 --> 01:08:31,690 It's full of crime, full of all this crack, drugs, 1713 01:08:31,732 --> 01:08:34,151 - all of that. - Just like every other ghetto. 1714 01:08:34,193 --> 01:08:37,446 You know what's funny? Is, like, when we did your EPK, 1715 01:08:37,488 --> 01:08:39,341 - I don't know if you realize... - That was huge for me. 1716 01:08:39,365 --> 01:08:41,158 Right. Right. 1717 01:08:41,200 --> 01:08:43,828 I don't know if I ever saw one of those done... 1718 01:08:43,869 --> 01:08:46,163 - Right. Did not. Not on TV. - ...for anybody else. Nah. 1719 01:08:46,205 --> 01:08:49,166 Because nobody played them on TV. 1720 01:08:49,208 --> 01:08:51,502 They just used to give him to the... 1721 01:08:51,544 --> 01:08:52,837 you know, TV stations. 1722 01:08:52,878 --> 01:08:54,630 - "Oh, this is Nas... - Yeah. 1723 01:08:54,672 --> 01:08:56,298 ...the new artist." They'd look at it, 1724 01:08:56,340 --> 01:08:57,859 "Oh, this is cool," but they never put it on TV. 1725 01:08:57,883 --> 01:08:59,426 - Right. - I was like, 1726 01:08:59,468 --> 01:09:00,970 "I'm gonna play it on the TV." 1727 01:09:01,011 --> 01:09:03,889 Before even Sony even said it. 1728 01:09:03,931 --> 01:09:05,599 You know, we was in... We was like this, 1729 01:09:05,641 --> 01:09:07,059 it was like, "Oh, shit, bro. 1730 01:09:07,101 --> 01:09:08,477 We're, uh... 1731 01:09:08,519 --> 01:09:11,272 We're about to be... Yo, we made it." 1732 01:09:11,313 --> 01:09:13,357 He has a lot of style, you know what I'm saying? 1733 01:09:13,399 --> 01:09:17,153 He... not only lyric-wise, you know like, his person. 1734 01:09:17,194 --> 01:09:19,155 I don't even know if you remember, 1735 01:09:19,196 --> 01:09:21,049 when they got me on the phone with you, and I was like, 1736 01:09:21,073 --> 01:09:22,634 "Well, what's your idea? What do you want it to look like?" 1737 01:09:22,658 --> 01:09:24,338 And you said, "Just like Video Music Box, 1738 01:09:24,368 --> 01:09:26,179 like what you normally do." So, I said, "Oh, okay. 1739 01:09:26,203 --> 01:09:28,497 We could do that." And that was all I needed to know. 1740 01:09:28,539 --> 01:09:30,791 So, I said, "We gon' do that, we might as well play it." 1741 01:09:30,833 --> 01:09:33,169 I'm a product of hip hop, you know what I'm saying? 1742 01:09:33,210 --> 01:09:35,296 I'm a product from... Of the old school 1743 01:09:35,337 --> 01:09:37,173 and the newest of the new. 1744 01:09:37,214 --> 01:09:40,050 Ralph had his eyes on everything that was moving, 1745 01:09:40,092 --> 01:09:42,386 so he knew who I was 1746 01:09:42,428 --> 01:09:45,097 even though I wasn't anybody at that time. 1747 01:09:45,139 --> 01:09:48,184 But it's Ralph, so he knows what's going on. 1748 01:09:48,225 --> 01:09:50,686 Thank God. 1749 01:09:50,728 --> 01:09:52,062 It was simple back then right? 1750 01:09:52,104 --> 01:09:53,248 Some of the things that you see here, 1751 01:09:53,272 --> 01:09:54,899 I guess, are some of your items. 1752 01:09:54,940 --> 01:09:56,543 I don't know if you have everything here today 1753 01:09:56,567 --> 01:09:58,336 but just give us the idea or the audience an idea 1754 01:09:58,360 --> 01:09:59,546 of some of the other items you might have 1755 01:09:59,570 --> 01:10:02,364 or the items in general. 1756 01:10:02,406 --> 01:10:04,158 Well, for... as for right now, 1757 01:10:04,200 --> 01:10:06,243 we, uh... we're testing the New York market... 1758 01:10:06,285 --> 01:10:08,913 I tracked Ralph down all the way into Virginia. 1759 01:10:08,954 --> 01:10:10,599 I saw him and I gave him a couple of shirts. 1760 01:10:10,623 --> 01:10:12,333 Then, he did this interview with us, 1761 01:10:12,374 --> 01:10:14,585 and he was the one who, kind of, anointed us 1762 01:10:14,627 --> 01:10:17,379 right there and said, "Check them out. 1763 01:10:17,421 --> 01:10:19,006 Good clothes. 1764 01:10:19,048 --> 01:10:21,926 And, you know, you need to know who they are." 1765 01:10:21,967 --> 01:10:24,929 The phone the next day was ringing off the hook. 1766 01:10:24,970 --> 01:10:27,473 Ralph started to put out something called Fat Fashions. 1767 01:10:27,514 --> 01:10:28,950 - A fashion show. - I didn't have any money. 1768 01:10:28,974 --> 01:10:30,809 He said, "No problem. 1769 01:10:30,851 --> 01:10:32,937 - You can just show in the show." - Please give it up 1770 01:10:32,978 --> 01:10:35,105 for Team FUBU. 1771 01:10:35,147 --> 01:10:37,483 So, when I approached NLL 1772 01:10:37,524 --> 01:10:40,277 or I approached anybody else, 1773 01:10:40,319 --> 01:10:41,654 Ralph had already basically 1774 01:10:41,695 --> 01:10:43,614 whispered in their ear due to me airing. 1775 01:10:43,656 --> 01:10:45,407 He opened the door for those artists 1776 01:10:45,449 --> 01:10:47,618 to believe in me, and I don't care 1777 01:10:47,660 --> 01:10:49,286 what artists they are today, 1778 01:10:49,328 --> 01:10:52,498 they owe a large part of their career to Ralph. 1779 01:10:53,874 --> 01:10:56,543 In 1998, or before 1998, 1780 01:10:56,585 --> 01:10:58,879 Giuliani decides that he was gonna get rid 1781 01:10:58,921 --> 01:11:00,965 of some of the assets the city had. 1782 01:11:01,006 --> 01:11:04,551 And one of them became the city TV station, NYCTV. 1783 01:11:04,593 --> 01:11:07,554 Video Music Box. Ruff Ryders, this is how it's going down. 1784 01:11:07,596 --> 01:11:09,306 My man, DMX, in the place, 1785 01:11:09,348 --> 01:11:10,742 it's a beautiful thing man to see you, man. 1786 01:11:10,766 --> 01:11:12,160 - Once again, congratulations. - Yeah. 1787 01:11:12,184 --> 01:11:13,644 Thank you very much to all. 1788 01:11:13,686 --> 01:11:15,312 And I don't think they really understand 1789 01:11:15,354 --> 01:11:16,915 - how beautiful it is. - You know what I'm saying? 1790 01:11:16,939 --> 01:11:18,607 'Cause for me, being a dawg, lock down, 1791 01:11:18,649 --> 01:11:19,918 - you know what I'm saying? - Watching you on the Box, 1792 01:11:19,942 --> 01:11:21,127 - you know what I'm saying? - And now, 1793 01:11:21,151 --> 01:11:22,820 - being a part of this? - I knew... 1794 01:11:22,861 --> 01:11:24,172 I just did what I had to do. You know what I mean? 1795 01:11:24,196 --> 01:11:25,572 And, and I'm glad to be here, man. 1796 01:11:25,614 --> 01:11:27,214 - I am the streets. - I will be the force 1797 01:11:27,241 --> 01:11:28,659 of the streets till I die. 1798 01:11:28,701 --> 01:11:29,827 You have a fan out here. 1799 01:11:29,868 --> 01:11:31,453 - Thank you very much. - For real. 1800 01:11:31,495 --> 01:11:33,181 - Video Music Box. - You know what I'm saying? 1801 01:11:33,205 --> 01:11:37,126 You know I'm with it, the branch, whatever... 1802 01:11:37,167 --> 01:11:40,045 Channel 31 was the biggest outlet we had. 1803 01:11:40,087 --> 01:11:43,674 Everyone got to see Video Music Box on channel 31. 1804 01:11:43,716 --> 01:11:46,510 So when they decided to sell it, 1805 01:11:46,552 --> 01:11:48,846 it was a big loss for us... 1806 01:11:48,887 --> 01:11:50,723 I gotta stand right here, man. 1807 01:11:50,764 --> 01:11:53,183 Sixteen years, I had been doing Video Music Box. 1808 01:11:53,225 --> 01:11:54,369 Can you get this in the background? 1809 01:11:54,393 --> 01:11:56,186 So, when that day ended, 1810 01:11:56,228 --> 01:11:57,980 and we got all our tapes, and we went, 1811 01:11:58,022 --> 01:11:59,690 put them in storage, did whatever we did. 1812 01:11:59,732 --> 01:12:02,109 Video Music Box doing it behind the scenes and... 1813 01:12:02,151 --> 01:12:03,711 And I went home and I had nothing to do. 1814 01:12:05,821 --> 01:12:08,532 Oh, this is real, like it's really not happening 1815 01:12:08,574 --> 01:12:10,367 no more, like. 1816 01:12:10,409 --> 01:12:13,287 And, you know, we were still doing music videos 1817 01:12:13,329 --> 01:12:16,874 but Video Music Box was me. 1818 01:12:16,915 --> 01:12:18,334 I remember Ralph was very upset 1819 01:12:18,375 --> 01:12:19,960 because it was like, now it's... 1820 01:12:20,002 --> 01:12:21,521 - I got to start from scratch. - All the relationships. 1821 01:12:21,545 --> 01:12:23,213 I developed, all of this stuff 1822 01:12:23,255 --> 01:12:24,340 and everything like that. 1823 01:12:25,758 --> 01:12:28,135 And now you got to start all over again, 1824 01:12:28,177 --> 01:12:30,304 on a political side as far as getting himself in. 1825 01:12:32,598 --> 01:12:34,767 It was like an empty hole. 1826 01:12:34,808 --> 01:12:36,244 - I was like, "Okay. - What can I do? 1827 01:12:36,268 --> 01:12:37,353 Should I go to MTV again?" 1828 01:12:37,394 --> 01:12:39,355 I go to BET. 1829 01:12:39,396 --> 01:12:41,231 Maybe there's another channel that's out here 1830 01:12:41,273 --> 01:12:43,108 that would take our show. 1831 01:12:43,150 --> 01:12:44,377 You know how like you right here, 1832 01:12:44,401 --> 01:12:46,278 you was... you was hot. 1833 01:12:46,320 --> 01:12:48,739 It wasn't like we did anything wrong, like we fell off. 1834 01:12:48,781 --> 01:12:51,075 We was hot when we fell off that channel. 1835 01:12:51,116 --> 01:12:52,743 Come on, man.- 1836 01:12:52,785 --> 01:12:55,287 And I was like, "Damn, dudes is going 1837 01:12:55,329 --> 01:12:56,789 to be playing me when I come up 1838 01:12:56,830 --> 01:12:58,916 and start trying to get a job over here. 1839 01:12:58,957 --> 01:13:00,542 They're gonna handle me." 1840 01:13:01,960 --> 01:13:03,962 My pride got in the way. 1841 01:13:04,004 --> 01:13:06,090 Like, no, I ain't asking nobody for that. 1842 01:13:06,131 --> 01:13:08,425 - We're gonna wait it out. - And I just waited it out, 1843 01:13:08,467 --> 01:13:10,010 and waited it out, and waited it out. 1844 01:13:10,052 --> 01:13:12,012 It wasn't Ralph's fault that the channel 1845 01:13:12,054 --> 01:13:13,782 was closing down. He had nothing to do with that. 1846 01:13:13,806 --> 01:13:16,350 So, he was like, "Okay, it's happening". 1847 01:13:16,392 --> 01:13:19,019 This is Ralph, Ralph was like, "All right, no problem. 1848 01:13:19,061 --> 01:13:21,939 We're gonna figure it out." 1849 01:13:21,980 --> 01:13:24,441 And I remember crazy Sam calling me. 1850 01:13:24,483 --> 01:13:26,193 What you think the next move is? 1851 01:13:26,235 --> 01:13:28,695 I said, what the fuck you mean what the next move is? 1852 01:13:28,737 --> 01:13:31,240 Hey, Ralph, you want me to go in the streets 1853 01:13:31,281 --> 01:13:32,950 and promote this shit everywhere, 1854 01:13:32,991 --> 01:13:35,077 every record label, every fuckin' place 1855 01:13:35,119 --> 01:13:36,620 that moves, barbershops? 1856 01:13:36,662 --> 01:13:39,456 He said, "Nah, I'm gonna lay back,". 1857 01:13:39,498 --> 01:13:40,975 I said, "What are you gonna lay back for?" 1858 01:13:40,999 --> 01:13:42,501 I wasn't even going out. 1859 01:13:42,543 --> 01:13:44,128 I didn't even want to talk to nobody. 1860 01:13:44,169 --> 01:13:45,647 I was like, no, I gotta figure this out, 1861 01:13:45,671 --> 01:13:47,107 - I gotta figure it out. - Don't talk to me. 1862 01:13:47,131 --> 01:13:50,759 And crazy Sam's, "Yo, come on, nigga, 1863 01:13:50,801 --> 01:13:53,303 come outside. Come outside." 1864 01:13:53,345 --> 01:13:54,930 And I was like, "Fuck it." 1865 01:13:54,972 --> 01:13:56,473 So, let's see what's going on. 1866 01:13:56,515 --> 01:13:58,142 And we're gonna proceed on, all right? 1867 01:13:58,183 --> 01:14:00,769 But it didn't keep Ralph from not taking 1868 01:14:00,811 --> 01:14:02,396 his show elsewhere. 1869 01:14:02,438 --> 01:14:05,482 It took a lot to search, but he never gave up, 1870 01:14:05,524 --> 01:14:07,734 and he made sure that he found an outlet 1871 01:14:07,776 --> 01:14:09,027 for Video Music Box. 1872 01:14:09,069 --> 01:14:10,779 And it was this other station, 1873 01:14:10,821 --> 01:14:13,449 - which was like channel 31. - It was channel 25... 1874 01:14:13,490 --> 01:14:14,992 He went down for a little while. 1875 01:14:15,033 --> 01:14:16,344 But then when he popped back up again, 1876 01:14:16,368 --> 01:14:17,786 it was just like he never left. 1877 01:14:17,828 --> 01:14:19,788 I'm that same brother, you know, 1878 01:14:19,830 --> 01:14:21,498 Untouchables, hunny-sixth. 1879 01:14:21,540 --> 01:14:24,585 I'm with Uncle Ralph on Video Music Box. 1880 01:14:29,715 --> 01:14:31,300 You know who this lady is? 1881 01:14:31,341 --> 01:14:33,177 She goes by name of Keyshia Cole. 1882 01:14:33,218 --> 01:14:34,858 You know, I prepare for the worst and wish 1883 01:14:34,887 --> 01:14:37,139 for the best, you know? 1884 01:14:42,561 --> 01:14:44,038 Can you introduce yourselves, real quick? 1885 01:14:44,062 --> 01:14:45,939 - I'm Beyonce. - I'm Kelly. 1886 01:14:45,981 --> 01:14:48,734 - Hello, I'm Michelle. - And we're Destiny's Child. 1887 01:14:48,775 --> 01:14:50,652 It's getting hard for me. 1888 01:14:50,694 --> 01:14:56,366 And I don't wanna leave. 1889 01:15:01,455 --> 01:15:02,956 I said you're the only guy 1890 01:15:02,998 --> 01:15:04,458 that I haven't seen before live. 1891 01:15:04,500 --> 01:15:06,084 And when, when you got on stage I said, 1892 01:15:06,126 --> 01:15:08,086 "This is incredible, man." 1893 01:15:08,128 --> 01:15:10,255 That'll be the same day I give the game back. 1894 01:15:10,297 --> 01:15:12,466 You know the next question dog "Yo, where Dame at?" 1895 01:15:12,508 --> 01:15:14,593 This track the Indian dance to bring our reign back. 1896 01:15:14,635 --> 01:15:16,386 Yo, go to the studio right now. 1897 01:15:16,428 --> 01:15:19,181 I got the legendary cats out of Houston, Texas. 1898 01:15:19,223 --> 01:15:21,892 They go by the name of the Geto Boyz. Check it out. 1899 01:15:21,934 --> 01:15:23,995 When these people's mind stop playing tricks on them. 1900 01:15:24,019 --> 01:15:25,854 You got that right.- 1901 01:15:25,896 --> 01:15:27,540 Every time you're think you notice something, you know 1902 01:15:27,564 --> 01:15:30,234 no matter what your endeavor, it is that you do. 1903 01:15:30,275 --> 01:15:33,403 - I hated going on radio. - I hated the radio. 1904 01:15:33,445 --> 01:15:35,906 We played the same music over, and over, and over again. 1905 01:15:35,948 --> 01:15:37,824 We're doing the... the radio show right now 1906 01:15:37,866 --> 01:15:39,493 for my people out there that's listening. 1907 01:15:39,535 --> 01:15:40,929 But at the same time, I got my video cameras 1908 01:15:40,953 --> 01:15:42,412 in here for my video show. 1909 01:15:42,454 --> 01:15:44,206 Yeah, coast-to-coast hip hop countdown. 1910 01:15:44,248 --> 01:15:45,916 Your uncle Ralph... DJ Ralph McDaniels. 1911 01:15:45,958 --> 01:15:47,584 Westside connection in the building. 1912 01:15:48,919 --> 01:15:50,754 You needed rotation. 1913 01:15:50,796 --> 01:15:52,565 And people only listen for a certain amount of time. 1914 01:15:52,589 --> 01:15:53,942 They wanna hear hit records, and that whole concept. 1915 01:15:53,966 --> 01:15:55,592 I understood what they were saying, 1916 01:15:55,634 --> 01:15:57,445 but I felt like people still wanted more variety. 1917 01:15:57,469 --> 01:15:59,113 And we could throw in and make the playlist 1918 01:15:59,137 --> 01:16:00,722 a little bit bigger, and they go, "Nope. 1919 01:16:00,764 --> 01:16:02,204 It's only these songs and that's it." 1920 01:16:03,267 --> 01:16:04,935 And I just felt 1921 01:16:04,977 --> 01:16:07,145 like I was trapped in that space. 1922 01:16:07,187 --> 01:16:09,648 That's when the... the whole hip hop world shifted. 1923 01:16:09,690 --> 01:16:12,734 Pioneering music retailer, Tower Records, 1924 01:16:12,776 --> 01:16:16,530 one of several chains closing its doors nationwide. 1925 01:16:16,572 --> 01:16:19,074 The internet destroyed, the computer destroyed 1926 01:16:19,116 --> 01:16:20,951 the music business to me, I think... 1927 01:16:20,993 --> 01:16:22,828 The main culprit in the decline of the brick 1928 01:16:22,869 --> 01:16:25,872 and mortar record store, online music. 1929 01:16:25,914 --> 01:16:29,376 I watched how it destroyed first of all the recording studios, 1930 01:16:29,418 --> 01:16:31,253 a lot of them all went out of business, 1931 01:16:31,295 --> 01:16:32,796 ain't too many left. 1932 01:16:32,838 --> 01:16:34,423 The quality of music got horrible, 1933 01:16:34,464 --> 01:16:36,300 you know what I mean? 1934 01:16:36,341 --> 01:16:38,760 The record stores dwindled, and the people that I knew 1935 01:16:38,802 --> 01:16:41,930 that was getting those six figure jobs lost their jobs. 1936 01:16:41,972 --> 01:16:43,616 There's a new artist every time you turn on 1937 01:16:43,640 --> 01:16:46,059 your phone and you really can't get into anyone. 1938 01:16:46,101 --> 01:16:47,728 Okay. So, we'll put up some information, 1939 01:16:47,769 --> 01:16:49,771 uh, as well as online information, so people... 1940 01:16:49,813 --> 01:16:51,733 'Cause everybody is online right now. The game... 1941 01:16:51,773 --> 01:16:52,733 The game changed a little bit, right? 1942 01:16:52,774 --> 01:16:53,984 Yeah, yeah, for sure. A lot. 1943 01:16:54,026 --> 01:16:56,653 Well, it... it changed because now, 1944 01:16:56,695 --> 01:17:00,157 we are part of the entertainment 1945 01:17:00,198 --> 01:17:02,492 exploitive monster. 1946 01:17:02,534 --> 01:17:05,245 In my day, I had to give out flyers that said, 1947 01:17:05,287 --> 01:17:07,748 "Hey, I'm Fat Joe," at the train station. 1948 01:17:07,789 --> 01:17:09,916 I'm on the thug, but never the drugs though. 1949 01:17:09,958 --> 01:17:12,002 When all the kids said that they hated me, Fat Joe. 1950 01:17:12,044 --> 01:17:16,131 At night, we would put up paste posters, glue. 1951 01:17:16,173 --> 01:17:18,842 I would go to the clubs and give the DJ the vinyl. 1952 01:17:18,884 --> 01:17:22,012 It was just a real process to really promote yourself 1953 01:17:22,054 --> 01:17:23,639 and get out there. 1954 01:17:23,680 --> 01:17:27,184 Now, you just press send and it's in the air, 1955 01:17:27,225 --> 01:17:29,645 and whoever likes it likes it. 1956 01:17:29,686 --> 01:17:32,898 In one way, the internet is a fantasy for a lot of us 1957 01:17:32,939 --> 01:17:36,735 because we get worldwide recognition in minutes. 1958 01:17:38,737 --> 01:17:41,031 So, yes, there's some bad that came out 1959 01:17:41,073 --> 01:17:44,201 of the internet into hip hop, but there's some damn good 1960 01:17:44,242 --> 01:17:47,037 that came out of it and went into hip hop. 1961 01:17:47,079 --> 01:17:48,830 Man, The Boogie Down Bronx is in the house. 1962 01:17:48,872 --> 01:17:50,308 Brooklyn's in the house, Queens is in the house. 1963 01:17:50,332 --> 01:17:51,958 We got it going on. 1964 01:17:52,000 --> 01:17:54,211 It gave Video Music Box a different life because. 1965 01:17:54,252 --> 01:17:57,839 Video Music Box has what, 30,000 hours of footage. 1966 01:18:03,804 --> 01:18:05,597 Video Music Box, I won't say it lost 1967 01:18:05,639 --> 01:18:07,432 - its audience. - Its audience shifted... 1968 01:18:07,474 --> 01:18:09,935 - Yup, come on. - It's Video Music Box. 1969 01:18:09,976 --> 01:18:12,479 We out here at Webster Hall right now, for the launch party. 1970 01:18:12,521 --> 01:18:15,065 It's really, really, really packed, turned up here... 1971 01:18:17,859 --> 01:18:20,070 - We're in punk Brooklyn! - Brooklyn! 1972 01:18:20,112 --> 01:18:21,363 We're from the Bronx. 1973 01:18:21,405 --> 01:18:22,989 - Cali! - Commack, Long Island. 1974 01:18:23,031 --> 01:18:24,157 Victor from Jersey! 1975 01:18:29,538 --> 01:18:31,665 Ralph was dedicated 1976 01:18:31,707 --> 01:18:35,627 and focused on his goals and his main objectives. 1977 01:18:35,669 --> 01:18:38,797 That's where the love of what I'm doing, 1978 01:18:38,839 --> 01:18:41,883 not knowing where it's gonna go played a major role. 1979 01:18:41,925 --> 01:18:44,428 Yeah, Video Music Box backstage, Summer Jam '06. 1980 01:18:44,469 --> 01:18:46,346 I mean, this is real exclusive. 1981 01:18:46,388 --> 01:18:47,907 And I mean, for, like, six weeks we've been talking 1982 01:18:47,931 --> 01:18:50,183 about how this guy was coming to New York, 1983 01:18:50,225 --> 01:18:51,893 and then he did it tonight. 1984 01:18:51,935 --> 01:18:54,271 - Jamie Foxx, come on, man. - Oh, man, I had a blast. 1985 01:18:54,312 --> 01:18:55,957 You know, ultimately, it's a family business 1986 01:18:55,981 --> 01:18:58,567 and we just like love to contribute to it 1987 01:18:58,608 --> 01:19:00,110 and see it grow and prosper. 1988 01:19:00,152 --> 01:19:01,629 And I think, when we talk about family, 1989 01:19:01,653 --> 01:19:03,488 we're talking about the fans as well, 1990 01:19:03,530 --> 01:19:05,133 because they've been on this ride with us the whole time. 1991 01:19:05,157 --> 01:19:07,033 Check it out. 1992 01:19:07,075 --> 01:19:08,177 ATL make some motherfucking noise 1993 01:19:08,201 --> 01:19:09,911 B-I-G-G-I-E 1994 01:19:09,953 --> 01:19:11,496 AKA B-I-G 1995 01:19:11,538 --> 01:19:12,956 Get it, Biggie. 1996 01:19:12,998 --> 01:19:14,708 It's the 20th anniversary 1997 01:19:14,750 --> 01:19:16,460 of Christopher Wallace's passing, 1998 01:19:16,501 --> 01:19:19,713 and I said I'm going to the floor of the house 1999 01:19:19,755 --> 01:19:24,468 and I'm going to give a tribute to Biggie Smalls. 2000 01:19:24,509 --> 01:19:26,261 It was all a dream. 2001 01:19:26,303 --> 01:19:28,555 - I used to read Word Up! - Magazine. 2002 01:19:28,597 --> 01:19:31,183 Salt-N-Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine. 2003 01:19:31,224 --> 01:19:34,102 I think in many ways, you know, hip hop's journey 2004 01:19:34,144 --> 01:19:37,773 has been the journey of the African American community 2005 01:19:37,814 --> 01:19:39,483 over the last 50 years. 2006 01:19:39,524 --> 01:19:42,694 And as a result, I think, you know, 2007 01:19:42,736 --> 01:19:44,464 the journey of this country, because the African-American 2008 01:19:44,488 --> 01:19:46,448 community is so intimately connected. 2009 01:19:46,490 --> 01:19:50,285 And President Obama's rise and his election, 2010 01:19:50,327 --> 01:19:54,998 his cultural fluency, his engagement with artists, 2011 01:19:55,040 --> 01:19:57,667 it was just an indication for me as to how deeply 2012 01:19:57,709 --> 01:20:00,420 his election had penetrated into the streets. 2013 01:20:00,462 --> 01:20:04,591 Because of what it represented, not just in the suites. 2014 01:20:04,633 --> 01:20:06,259 But who would've ever thought, 2015 01:20:06,301 --> 01:20:08,428 whereas Christopher Wallace said, 2016 01:20:08,470 --> 01:20:11,264 "You never thought that hip hop would take it this far." 2017 01:20:11,306 --> 01:20:13,642 Now I'm in the limelight 'cause I rhyme tight. 2018 01:20:13,683 --> 01:20:15,018 Time to get paid. 2019 01:20:15,060 --> 01:20:16,686 Blow up like the World Trade. 2020 01:20:16,728 --> 01:20:18,980 I like to give a shoutout to my fellow nominees. 2021 01:20:19,022 --> 01:20:21,233 Shoutout to a very special visitor. 2022 01:20:21,274 --> 01:20:23,193 Shoutout to team USA... 2023 01:20:23,235 --> 01:20:25,487 And again, it's how hip hop brings 2024 01:20:25,529 --> 01:20:29,032 to you parts of, you know, civic life 2025 01:20:29,074 --> 01:20:32,035 in ways that you may not have even had any understanding. 2026 01:20:32,077 --> 01:20:35,163 With that, I just have two more words to say... 2027 01:20:36,623 --> 01:20:39,042 "Obama out." 2028 01:20:39,084 --> 01:20:41,378 I think that for the first time, 2029 01:20:41,419 --> 01:20:45,173 kids of all colors revolted within the system. 2030 01:20:45,215 --> 01:20:47,884 I think because they understood that this was a true 2031 01:20:47,926 --> 01:20:50,053 president of the people, this was a hip hop president. 2032 01:20:50,095 --> 01:20:54,391 It's undeniable that hip hop culture changed the lens 2033 01:20:54,432 --> 01:20:56,327 for a lot of people in this country of who we look at, 2034 01:20:56,351 --> 01:20:59,563 who we see, who we listen to, 2035 01:20:59,604 --> 01:21:01,815 and to understand the cultures, 2036 01:21:01,857 --> 01:21:03,817 to understand the challenges, 2037 01:21:03,859 --> 01:21:06,570 to understand the triumphs, and the heartbreak. 2038 01:21:08,530 --> 01:21:12,659 And to me Video Music Box and Ralph McDaniels 2039 01:21:12,701 --> 01:21:14,578 were pioneers in, sort of, 2040 01:21:14,619 --> 01:21:16,913 planting this seed of hip hop culture 2041 01:21:16,955 --> 01:21:19,082 that is so ubiquitous now. 2042 01:21:23,461 --> 01:21:24,921 We're back in Coney Island. 2043 01:21:34,264 --> 01:21:36,808 This is Brooklyn right here. 2044 01:21:36,850 --> 01:21:39,644 Boss shit, your Lordship. 2045 01:21:39,686 --> 01:21:42,314 Niggas talkin' yachts since I'm on shit. 2046 01:21:42,355 --> 01:21:44,816 I used to run the block, now I'm corporate. 2047 01:21:44,858 --> 01:21:48,236 Hoppin' out, you know it's Son when the doors lift. 2048 01:21:48,278 --> 01:21:50,405 Whole squad hide the burners. 2049 01:21:50,447 --> 01:21:51,573 Mets hats in the sky like... 2050 01:21:54,826 --> 01:21:56,953 Put your face on the TV screen. 2051 01:21:56,995 --> 01:21:58,973 - Put your ear on the speaker. - He gonna tell you what it is. 2052 01:21:58,997 --> 01:22:00,624 I love my brother right here, yo. 2053 01:22:00,665 --> 01:22:01,958 Peace and love. 2054 01:22:03,835 --> 01:22:06,630 If you love hip hop music, if you love RandB music, 2055 01:22:06,671 --> 01:22:08,311 make some noise up in the piece right now. 2056 01:22:09,633 --> 01:22:11,718 I grew up in, uh, projects 2057 01:22:11,760 --> 01:22:14,054 in Brooklyn and we didn't have outlets 2058 01:22:14,095 --> 01:22:15,388 where we really got to see 2059 01:22:15,430 --> 01:22:17,432 our own community perform 2060 01:22:17,474 --> 01:22:19,434 or have videos. 2061 01:22:19,476 --> 01:22:22,812 And Ralph McDaniels Video Music Box provided that for us 2062 01:22:22,854 --> 01:22:24,648 and let us know that we have the opportunity 2063 01:22:24,689 --> 01:22:27,233 to go out there and do these same things. 2064 01:22:36,076 --> 01:22:38,828 He made us take a look at our superheroes. 2065 01:22:38,870 --> 01:22:40,497 - Yeah. - And really understand 2066 01:22:40,538 --> 01:22:42,332 who they are, 2067 01:22:42,374 --> 01:22:44,060 and what they bring to us, and with what they was bringing 2068 01:22:44,084 --> 01:22:47,963 to us was knowledge, wisdom, you know what I mean? 2069 01:22:48,004 --> 01:22:49,339 Understanding, everything, just... 2070 01:22:49,381 --> 01:22:50,632 - The culture. - It's an honor. 2071 01:22:50,674 --> 01:22:53,301 This is Killah Chuck, right here. 2072 01:22:53,343 --> 01:22:56,012 I think Chuck got a couple of bars, too. 2073 01:22:56,054 --> 01:22:57,514 He might have some bars for us. 2074 01:22:57,555 --> 01:23:01,518 Ralph knows this, the history of hip hop 2075 01:23:01,559 --> 01:23:03,186 started in the Bronx, 2076 01:23:03,228 --> 01:23:05,313 now it's all over the whole world! 2077 01:23:07,524 --> 01:23:09,192 He's got the Mary J Blige 2078 01:23:09,234 --> 01:23:10,318 when she started. 2079 01:23:10,360 --> 01:23:11,861 Heavy D when he started. 2080 01:23:11,903 --> 01:23:13,863 LL Cool J when he started. 2081 01:23:13,905 --> 01:23:16,533 The number one rap song, Video Music Box. 2082 01:23:16,574 --> 01:23:18,493 He was there when they were nobodies. 2083 01:23:18,535 --> 01:23:21,204 So, he... So, he ate, drank 2084 01:23:21,246 --> 01:23:23,456 and slept it, still to this day. 2085 01:23:26,501 --> 01:23:28,128 I started working at the library maybe 2086 01:23:28,169 --> 01:23:31,464 like five years ago, as a Hip Hop Coordinator 2087 01:23:31,506 --> 01:23:34,175 and I wanted to see, like, hip hop in institutions. 2088 01:23:34,217 --> 01:23:37,178 In Queens, there's 65 different libraries. 2089 01:23:37,220 --> 01:23:38,680 - Right. - And I was like, 2090 01:23:38,722 --> 01:23:40,724 if we can get in these communities 2091 01:23:40,765 --> 01:23:42,559 and do something, and put hip hop in there 2092 01:23:42,600 --> 01:23:44,769 just like they have other cultures, 2093 01:23:44,811 --> 01:23:46,271 that would be kinda dope. 2094 01:23:46,312 --> 01:23:48,064 We have events in the libraries 2095 01:23:48,106 --> 01:23:49,375 where we actually bring in some of the people 2096 01:23:49,399 --> 01:23:51,735 that were involved in hip hop, 2097 01:23:51,776 --> 01:23:54,446 and not just musically, people that are writing books, 2098 01:23:54,487 --> 01:23:58,575 documentaries, and we show that to the kids there. 2099 01:23:58,616 --> 01:24:02,704 So, in the last five years, I've done over three hundred programs 2100 01:24:02,746 --> 01:24:04,956 with all types of different people here. 2101 01:24:04,998 --> 01:24:09,085 We still keep our core of what we've been doing, 2102 01:24:09,127 --> 01:24:11,629 because it's been working since 1983. 2103 01:24:11,671 --> 01:24:13,757 We also have evolved with things. 2104 01:24:13,798 --> 01:24:15,675 We're on social media. 2105 01:24:15,717 --> 01:24:16,777 New York's number one video show, Video Music Box. 2106 01:24:16,801 --> 01:24:18,261 I'm DJ Ralph McDaniels. 2107 01:24:18,303 --> 01:24:19,512 Yeah. I gonna have Money Love. 2108 01:24:19,554 --> 01:24:20,614 She's gonna check in with us. 2109 01:24:20,638 --> 01:24:22,098 My girl from across the river. 2110 01:24:22,140 --> 01:24:23,701 First of all, thank you for taking the time. 2111 01:24:23,725 --> 01:24:25,769 I know you was on the radio today. 2112 01:24:27,145 --> 01:24:28,730 Oh, please, that's nothing, man. 2113 01:24:28,772 --> 01:24:31,107 Like, you're just... Who can say no to you? 2114 01:24:31,149 --> 01:24:32,901 The hardest working man in hip hop. 2115 01:24:32,942 --> 01:24:34,694 - Like, who can say no? - Like... 2116 01:24:34,736 --> 01:24:36,446 We're in the Smithsonian. 2117 01:24:36,488 --> 01:24:40,617 In Washington, DC, where our mic is in the museum. 2118 01:24:40,658 --> 01:24:42,118 So, it's like an artifact. 2119 01:24:42,160 --> 01:24:44,079 I think that young people need to see 2120 01:24:44,120 --> 01:24:46,581 this is all part of us and this is where we came from. 2121 01:24:46,623 --> 01:24:48,124 That's amazing, man. 2122 01:24:48,166 --> 01:24:49,602 I love what you're doing, Ralph, like, 2123 01:24:49,626 --> 01:24:51,294 this is what it's all about. 2124 01:24:51,336 --> 01:24:53,797 The next generation, them having a better chance. 2125 01:24:53,838 --> 01:24:56,674 We have Video Music Box Collection, 2126 01:24:56,716 --> 01:25:01,679 which is the digitizing of videos of artists 2127 01:25:01,721 --> 01:25:05,183 from when they first began that have been 2128 01:25:05,225 --> 01:25:08,686 in our basement for so many years. 2129 01:25:08,728 --> 01:25:12,315 - Man, Brooklyn. - Oh, yeah. Sup? 2130 01:25:12,357 --> 01:25:14,275 Okay. 2131 01:25:14,317 --> 01:25:16,778 Coming in our woods Say rhymes that I invent 2132 01:25:16,820 --> 01:25:19,155 I'm about to recollect, and inject. 2133 01:25:19,197 --> 01:25:20,990 And knock you out your socks. 2134 01:25:21,032 --> 01:25:23,326 This is full classic concept. 2135 01:25:23,368 --> 01:25:25,286 Video Music Box. 2136 01:25:25,328 --> 01:25:28,414 We're trying to put them in schools and colleges. 2137 01:25:28,456 --> 01:25:29,999 They can see, "Okay, 2138 01:25:30,041 --> 01:25:31,519 this was what was happening in the '80s." 2139 01:25:31,543 --> 01:25:33,002 Or "This was happening in the '90s." 2140 01:25:33,044 --> 01:25:34,921 Man, I would love to see a Video Music Box 2141 01:25:34,963 --> 01:25:38,466 educational curriculum that's been placed 2142 01:25:38,508 --> 01:25:40,009 in different junior colleges, 2143 01:25:40,051 --> 01:25:41,427 colleges, or high schools. 2144 01:25:41,469 --> 01:25:43,847 When I started Revolt, I had called, 2145 01:25:43,888 --> 01:25:46,182 you know, Ralph to tell him, you know, 2146 01:25:46,224 --> 01:25:48,768 thank you for just being such an inspiration. 2147 01:25:48,810 --> 01:25:50,687 I wanted to be Video Music Box. 2148 01:25:50,728 --> 01:25:53,523 I want to be unapologetically Black, do whatever we wanna do, 2149 01:25:53,565 --> 01:25:56,860 say whatever we wanna say, be whoever we wanna be. 2150 01:25:56,901 --> 01:25:59,529 Oh, yeah. Yeah. 2151 01:25:59,571 --> 01:26:02,198 But it started with Video Music Box. 2152 01:26:17,881 --> 01:26:19,567 The Ave has always been important, you know, 2153 01:26:19,591 --> 01:26:21,092 because that's where we got our gear. 2154 01:26:21,134 --> 01:26:23,595 You know, Shirt Kings was down there. 2155 01:26:23,636 --> 01:26:25,180 Yes. 2156 01:26:25,221 --> 01:26:27,849 The Shirt Kings, the mighty Shirt Kings. 2157 01:26:27,891 --> 01:26:29,184 Um, Eddie Gold Caps. 2158 01:26:29,225 --> 01:26:31,978 - Yes. - Barbershop. 2159 01:26:32,020 --> 01:26:34,480 - Uh, Benny the Jeweler. - Yup. 2160 01:26:34,522 --> 01:26:37,066 You know what the beauty of Ralph is, 2161 01:26:37,108 --> 01:26:39,319 Ralph doesn't demand respect. 2162 01:26:39,360 --> 01:26:40,904 He commands respect. 2163 01:26:40,945 --> 01:26:43,656 And that's truly respect. 2164 01:26:43,698 --> 01:26:44,991 Love, man. 2165 01:26:45,033 --> 01:26:46,093 Everybody grew up on you, Ralph. 2166 01:26:46,117 --> 01:26:47,744 I know. 2167 01:26:47,785 --> 01:26:48,888 One of the things that brought us together, 2168 01:26:48,912 --> 01:26:50,246 honestly, was hip hop. 2169 01:26:50,288 --> 01:26:51,515 We're right here at the Coliseum. 2170 01:26:51,539 --> 01:26:53,666 Jamaica Coliseum. 2171 01:26:53,708 --> 01:26:55,710 You know, hip hop was the culture 2172 01:26:55,752 --> 01:26:59,923 that allowed us a space to communicate with each other 2173 01:26:59,964 --> 01:27:02,425 without being extremely judgmental. 2174 01:27:04,219 --> 01:27:05,595 - What store is it? - Which one? 2175 01:27:05,637 --> 01:27:06,780 - I'll be back. - We'll come back. 2176 01:27:06,804 --> 01:27:09,098 - We'll come back. - Yeah. 2177 01:27:10,725 --> 01:27:12,810 - This is a vibe, though. - Right. 2178 01:27:12,852 --> 01:27:15,063 - I'm Mike Tyson. - I'm kicking everybody's ass. 2179 01:27:15,104 --> 01:27:16,314 I'm the world's greatest. 2180 01:27:16,356 --> 01:27:18,858 But I wouldn't be who I am now. 2181 01:27:18,900 --> 01:27:21,236 It will be a little different without hip hop. 2182 01:27:21,277 --> 01:27:22,546 - Different cultures. - This is what... 2183 01:27:22,570 --> 01:27:23,780 - What's up, Nas? - Hey. 2184 01:27:23,821 --> 01:27:25,740 Everything is all about. 2185 01:27:25,782 --> 01:27:28,243 And I love the fact that we are able to reach these heights. 2186 01:27:28,284 --> 01:27:30,870 Now, we're looking beyond that. 2187 01:27:30,912 --> 01:27:33,122 You know, how you feel about the effects 2188 01:27:33,164 --> 01:27:35,291 of these systems that kept us from the money. 2189 01:27:35,333 --> 01:27:39,212 And create systems that's gonna bring us to the money 2190 01:27:39,254 --> 01:27:40,713 because we're gonna need that money 2191 01:27:40,755 --> 01:27:42,966 to build our communities. 2192 01:27:43,007 --> 01:27:44,425 - Yes, sir. - Peace to The God. 2193 01:27:44,467 --> 01:27:46,803 - Peace, peace. - I love you... 2194 01:27:46,844 --> 01:27:50,306 And I think hip hop culture has been incredible 2195 01:27:50,348 --> 01:27:52,308 in contributing to the Black community. 2196 01:27:52,350 --> 01:27:54,811 Ralph McDaniels, Video Music Box, 2197 01:27:54,852 --> 01:27:56,646 this is what it's all about. 2198 01:27:56,688 --> 01:27:58,332 We're with the people right here on Jamaica Avenue, 2199 01:27:58,356 --> 01:28:00,316 - Queens, New York. - You dig me? 2200 01:28:00,358 --> 01:28:02,068 Turn around and see the people, man. 2201 01:28:17,250 --> 01:28:18,584 - All right. - Oh, wait, wait, 2202 01:28:18,626 --> 01:28:21,796 Oh, yeah. 2203 01:28:21,838 --> 01:28:24,132 - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Like, like Uncle Ralph's joint. 2204 01:28:24,173 --> 01:28:26,175 - Shout out... - You wanna give some shout outs? 2205 01:28:28,845 --> 01:28:30,430 I give a shout out to my mom. 2206 01:28:30,471 --> 01:28:31,865 I wanna give a shout out little thing. 2207 01:28:31,889 --> 01:28:33,558 Shout out to... 2208 01:28:33,599 --> 01:28:35,977 Yo, shout out my first wife, shout out my second wife. 2209 01:28:36,019 --> 01:28:37,270 I wanna shout out... 2210 01:28:37,312 --> 01:28:38,938 All you beautiful people out there. 2211 01:28:38,980 --> 01:28:41,524 Oh, shout out everybody from hip hop in Queens. 2212 01:28:41,566 --> 01:28:43,877 - I wanna give a shout out... - Well, let me give a shout out. 2213 01:28:43,901 --> 01:28:45,695 Fredro used to cut my hair. 2214 01:28:45,737 --> 01:28:47,780 And the pioneers of hip hop 2215 01:28:47,822 --> 01:28:49,866 that made this possible. 2216 01:28:49,907 --> 01:28:51,117 Shout out to Kool Herc. 2217 01:28:51,159 --> 01:28:52,452 - Yeah, yeah. - I wanna give 2218 01:28:52,493 --> 01:28:54,579 a shout out to Lauryn Hill. 2219 01:28:56,247 --> 01:28:57,874 I'm in the gym. 2220 01:28:57,915 --> 01:28:59,876 - I wanna give a shout out... - Shout out. 2221 01:28:59,917 --> 01:29:02,462 I give a shout out to my family that have been supportive of me 2222 01:29:02,503 --> 01:29:04,630 since day one. 2223 01:29:04,672 --> 01:29:06,608 I'm the nut that'd be standing on the side of the stage... 2224 01:29:06,632 --> 01:29:08,426 - Lauryn, I love you. - I'm sorry. 2225 01:29:08,468 --> 01:29:09,927 Did I make a confession? 2226 01:29:09,969 --> 01:29:12,764 - Um, okay. Yes, I did. - All to Brooklyn. 2227 01:29:12,805 --> 01:29:14,349 My partners in FUBU. 2228 01:29:14,390 --> 01:29:15,933 Big shout out to my moms. 2229 01:29:15,975 --> 01:29:18,144 - LL. - Buy my first turned tables. 2230 01:29:18,186 --> 01:29:20,730 - The Rock. - -And for keeping me off the street. 2231 01:29:20,772 --> 01:29:23,441 - Onyx and Mr. Cheeks... - Alala. 2232 01:29:23,483 --> 01:29:25,735 Alala. What's up, Alala? 2233 01:29:25,777 --> 01:29:27,403 Shout out to Ralph McDaniels. 2234 01:29:27,445 --> 01:29:29,197 Word, and the Vid Kid. 2235 01:29:29,238 --> 01:29:33,034 - And the whole squad. Crazy Sam. - My man Tuffy. 2236 01:29:33,076 --> 01:29:35,578 All... All the whole crew that helped Video Music Box. 2237 01:29:35,620 --> 01:29:38,498 And us down all these years, man. 2238 01:29:38,539 --> 01:29:41,042 All right. I'm sorry about the baby shower. 2239 01:29:41,084 --> 01:29:44,045 For what's-her-name, 'cause I didn't give her the 10,000. 2240 01:29:44,087 --> 01:29:47,882 'Cause I don't think no baby should get $10,000 2241 01:29:47,924 --> 01:29:49,050 for baby shower. 2242 01:29:49,092 --> 01:29:50,343 Unless he's my own baby. 2243 01:29:50,385 --> 01:29:53,346 - To my husband. - To my mom. 2244 01:29:53,388 --> 01:29:57,558 To the fans that have devoted themselves 2245 01:29:57,600 --> 01:29:59,018 to Video Music Box. 2246 01:29:59,060 --> 01:30:00,770 I wanna give a shout out to my dad. 2247 01:30:00,812 --> 01:30:02,438 You are awesome. 2248 01:30:02,480 --> 01:30:04,273 I love you and I'm forever proud of you. 2249 01:30:04,315 --> 01:30:06,192 I wanna give a shout out to you, Ralph. 2250 01:30:06,234 --> 01:30:08,403 - Love. - A shout out to Ralph. 2251 01:30:08,444 --> 01:30:10,780 Thank you for pushing the culture forward 2252 01:30:10,822 --> 01:30:12,532 and preserving the culture, man. 2253 01:30:12,573 --> 01:30:15,118 To my husband Ralph McDaniels. 2254 01:30:15,159 --> 01:30:19,247 You have done an amazing, amazing job. 2255 01:30:19,288 --> 01:30:21,457 I'm going to spiritually say it, it's for me, 2256 01:30:21,499 --> 01:30:23,835 and I want to give a shout out to Biz Markie. 2257 01:30:25,378 --> 01:30:26,671 We love you, Biz. 2258 01:30:26,712 --> 01:30:28,756 Forever. 2259 01:30:28,798 --> 01:30:30,299 Alicia Keys. 2260 01:30:30,341 --> 01:30:33,010 Um, God, I'm so proud of you. 2261 01:30:33,052 --> 01:30:34,971 Shout out to Alicia Keys. 2262 01:30:35,012 --> 01:30:37,265 Okay. Shout out to her crazy husband 2263 01:30:37,306 --> 01:30:40,268 for giving us DMX and all the other shit that he did. 2264 01:30:40,309 --> 01:30:41,853 And the new thing that they doing 2265 01:30:41,894 --> 01:30:44,188 with the DJ thing and all that shit is awesome. 2266 01:30:44,230 --> 01:30:48,484 And Marky D, of course, and Spider D, and all the D's. 2267 01:30:48,526 --> 01:30:51,154 - Big shout out to my wife. - You know, she holds me down. 2268 01:30:51,195 --> 01:30:53,257 You know, this is not easy, this is a family business. 2269 01:30:53,281 --> 01:30:54,907 This is what we do. 2270 01:30:54,949 --> 01:30:56,593 - Video Music Box for Life. - Thank you, honey. 2271 01:30:56,617 --> 01:30:58,161 Mwah. Love you. 2272 01:30:58,202 --> 01:31:01,372 I wanna give out a shout out to Ralph. 2273 01:31:01,414 --> 01:31:03,749 Thank you for everything you've done for me. 2274 01:31:03,791 --> 01:31:05,626 And for the hip hop community, 2275 01:31:05,668 --> 01:31:06,961 for the culture. 2276 01:31:07,003 --> 01:31:09,422 For New York City, for the world. 2277 01:31:09,464 --> 01:31:12,508 Um, thank you, man.