Episode 521 w/ Rampage

0:04 Mr.

0:05 Trump!

0:06 Mr.

0:06 Trump!

0:11 And it's Drink Champs motherfucking podcast. Make some noise! He's a legendary Queens rapper. Hey, hey, Segway, this your boy N.O.R.E. He's a Miami hip-hop pioneer. One of his DJ EFN. Together, they drink it up with some of the biggest players. You know what I mean? In the most professional, unprofessional podcast.

0:29 And your number one source for drunk facts. It's Drink Champs motherfucking podcast. Where every day is New Year's Eve. It's time for Drink Champs. Drink up, motherfuckers. What it good be, homies? What it shit be? This your boy, N-A-O-N-A-A. What up? It's DJ E-F-N. And it's military crazy war. Gabby, y'all will make something! This is a brother that's a legend. Legend.

0:57 A tycoon. You know what I mean? From my era. Definitely. A person that's been stomping monkey foot and, you know, the gun under the table. The scuffed Timberlands. And your face. Representing. Yeah, yeah. We finally going to give him his flowers. Let him know what he mean to the game. Let him know what he mean to the people. Because the people got his motherfucking back. In case you don't know what we're talking about.

1:26 The one, only, motherfucking Rampage in the building.

1:31 You know something? I finally made it. Yeah, no, you've been made. Come on. Yo, man. But let me ask you off the top. Do you like the Rampage, the UFC fighter guy? Well, I'm older than he is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if he got a problem, he can handle it. You know what I'm saying? But I am the original Rampage.

1:49 I had to tell people. And he is... Rampage Jackson So big up to him But you know Rampage Jackson Jr. Or just Rampage Jackson Me? No no him He's Rampage Jackson I think Jr. Okay No his son is Jr. Oh his son is Jr. Okay But I'm the original Rampage That's right Let's make some noise for that Let's make some noise for that Ramp low. Boy Scout. Yes, yes.

2:10 I got many Elliot's. Yes, yes, yes.

2:12 So let's get into that for a second, right? Because Ramp is the last Boy Scout, right?

2:17 Yes, sir. And I'm the last to be with my crew. That's right. But I'm the first to have the deal before everybody. Wow, wow. That's before even Busta signed his deal. I was first to sign the flip mode. Okay. Busta didn't have a deal then. He was in traction going to Elektra. So no one has used the terminology Boy Scout prior to that?

2:34 Nah.

2:34 And no one has used it after that? Nah. Hey, you break down for people who don't know. What is a Boy Scout? Well, you know, a Boy Scout, you know, I earned my stripes where I'm from in Flatbush, Brooklyn. That's right. You know, putting in my due, doing what I needed to do. You know, battling special ed. Right.

2:53 Asked Little Sean. Remember, they was here telling you that I'm from the block for real. That's right. I'm two years behind all of them. Okay. Special ed. Special ed. Little Sean. Okay. Brother J. Okay, okay. Cellar Dwellers. Yeah, he lived right around the corner. So, Buzz lived on 31st. Brother J. lived right around the corner. Special Ed lived around the corner from Buzz. Wow. I live on New York Avenue. Lil Sean and Spliff live in the same area, so it's walking distance. And you know, man, Howie T.

3:21 was on Schenectady. That's our big homie. Howie T., you're looking good. You know what I'm saying? Who just passed. R.I.P. Howie T. But I'm from the neighborhood. I got my name just being a knucklehead in Brooklyn. You know what I'm saying? But I was the last to go get it. You know what I'm saying? I wasn't waiting on nobody.

3:35 I always ran with all the hustler dudes. I was just learning the business. Learning to understand about business. Because again, if we don't learn about business, we lose. Right. Okay.

3:44 So.

3:46 So how did you, the Boy Scout terminology, how did you like adapt that?

3:52 Well, my cousin again. Okay. We sitting in my room. Your cousin Buster. Buster. Real family. I like the nationality. Well, my cousin is like, you're always Boy Scouting things. You're always... Coming with knives and rocking different flags. You know what I'm saying? Just me and the knucklehead. You know, you should just take on that Boy Scout. It's official. Plus, I was watching the last Boy Scout, the movie. I thought it was dope to go with my name. And then he was like, yo, that's the move. You know what I mean? Then I went overseas. Everybody talking about Boy Scout, Boy Scout, Boy Scout. Okay, it's sticking. And then, you know, Rampage, I've always been a knucklehead. I half listen, I half don't. You know what I'm saying? Right. You know,

4:34 he was like, yo, Lampay's the last boy scout. I said, all right, let's go. So let me ask you. I want to show you a picture. Okay. And I want you to tell me what you remember these. Well, it's two pictures. Okay. Okay. Oh, yeah.

4:46 Okay.

4:46 Oh, yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah. People didn't know it was two pictures, but you knew. Okay. Okay. But now let me tell you something. His was crazy. Uh-huh.

4:56 I realize that that might be the best posse cut in hip-hop history.

5:00 Facts.

5:01 Like, listen, I got banned from TV, so I'm trying to be biased, but Flavor of.

5:06 The Year came first. You're talking about the remix. The remix. Sorry, guys. Sorry, guys. I'm talking to him like you guys are not in the room as well. I apologize. I apologize. I'm talking to him like how me and you would talk. I'm sorry. We got people looking at us. Okay. Craig Mack, Flavor of the Year remix.

5:20 All right.

5:21 Here's what's crazy.

5:23 Okay.

5:25 One of our biggest arguments that we have on Dreamcast, I know you don't like to go through this, but is the fact that.

5:33 Ice Cube against Biggie Smalls, right? Against you and Yayo, right?

5:38 And then what Yayo says is, he goes, man, you had to be there in New York City to feel it.

5:45 And I rest.

5:46 Because him and Yayo goes at it, and I kind of rest my case. But when it comes to that, too, you got to realize... New York City ran the world at that particular moment, right?

5:57 Right. But the epic center was New York City. Right.

6:03 So if you have a record that reacted in New York City, because a record can be reacted, but it's not reacting.

6:09 In New York City. Right.

6:10 This was the motherfucking time. And to hear.

6:14 People get on a record together. And that record was huge as a single by itself. As a remix. It was crazy. Yeah. Now, let me ask you, because this is something I want to know as a fan. Go ahead. Was that something that Busta pushed you on to get on that remix? Or was... How did that go? Well, Busta Pally did for me. Okay, okay, okay, okay. So, just to keep it real, I dropped Ramsack before that.

6:43 I don't know if y'all remember that. And it was on Rowdy Records. I wound up doing about 60,000 units. And, um... You know, I seen everybody blowing on Arista, Rowdy. I see everybody blowing on Bad Boy. They was all under the same distribution. But I had an underground joint that was just taking slow. And it was moving slow. I didn't like the way how it was being promoted. I don't know if it was me or it was them.

7:07 No diss to Dallas Austin. No diss to Rowdy Records. But again, it's just... It just made me angry, man. It just made me. I seen all my peers. I seen them at the lyricist's lounge. Everybody blowing. Everybody got a deal. I got a deal. You know, I got a little video popping on video music by Big Up to Ralph McDaniels. I'm in Flatbush. Special Ed and them took the torch, but it's my turn. It's here to take over. So I dropped Ramset Cool. That was that mid.

7:34 But I needed that skunk. So I was, I'm going to keep it real. I dropped the mid. But you knew who I was. But again, busters, listen, when you fall, you got to get back up. You have to get up. So I'm like, man, I don't know. He called me one day and got Craig Mack on the phone. Craig Mack said, Rampage, I'm a big fan of yours. I said, really? Okay.

7:56 This is how the process went. But is it out already? No, it's not out yet. So then Busses tells me, Craig Mack said he's a fan and he want me to jump on this record. But I don't know. I wasn't there when Buss was polying with Puff. So big up to them. But Busses said, yo, trust me. If you do this, it's gone. It's gone. Plus, he sacrificed a lot of things for me to be on it because he knew more than me. You know what I'm saying?

8:24 I'm around him since they broke up with Leaders of the New School. He had no group but me. You know what I'm saying? I was just there with him throughout this process on going to the studio, going to the record label, speaking to Chris. Like, I'm understanding him, but I'm not understanding, but I'm nice with that pen.

8:40 You know what I'm saying? And I got a whole bunch of beat tapes, and everybody and their mother was sending me beat tapes. We're going to definitely get to that. Wow. And then he called me with Craig Mack on the phone. I'm feeling like, shit. Yo, Craig Mack wants you to get on this record. And I said, nah. Because I was feeling bad about the Rampsack shit. I got this out.

8:58 You weren't feeling confident? I wasn't. I'm going to keep it real. But he was like, yo, I'm going to come get you. We're going to go to the studio. So we go to the studio. He's sitting there laughing his ass off. I'm like, why the fuck he keep laughing? So I walk in the studio. He goes to the corner, grab his pad, you know, scripping up what he do because he go last and he body shit. But he in there laughing, getting into a shit. So I sit down next to the engineer and all of a sudden I didn't actually play nothing. He played Biggie's verse first.

9:28 And he was just making sure Biggie's stuff was in the right pocket. Then he turned around and played Craig Mack's verse. Then he played LL's verse, right? So I'm listening to this shit, right? This dude, Puffy, come on. What up, Playboy? Because we never worked with each other. I knew him, but I never really had no conversation with him. Big up to Puff. What up, Playboy? What you got for this, Playboy? Bust in the corner laughing his ass off. He's still laughing. Now you know why he was laughing earlier. So again, yo, Playboy, how long is going to take you to do this verse? I don't write nothing. My process is off top of the head, but only thing I wrote was burn him in the flames.

10:06 That's why Puff ended up on the record. Burn him in the flames. That was it, because he was like, what up, Playboy? You got the first time, Playboy? So after that... He said, how long you going to take? I said, give me 15 minutes. So what can I say to be different? Because these dudes is already counterpoded.

10:22 Now it's me. I'm the new rookie. I just got to the team. I'm really about to do it. Busta's still laughing, stripping up. Hey, how you doing? You know how he do. He in his world, right? So I go in the booth. I listen to Biggie's verse one more time. Okay. To be sure. How does Biggie first go? How does it go? Niggas get mad. I get more bucks than that's trade. Fuck a fair one. I get minus the fast wave. Ski bass wave. Oh, shit.

10:50 Really?

10:53 Really? Yeah. And, you know, they never really got down with each other like that, but it's business. So I'm like, damn, Biggie is beast, and he don't really give a fuck. And he went first. I didn't know how the order was. I thought they was going to put me before Buster. But back then, if you went first....

11:11 It almost wasn't like you wasn't the man. The guy who went last was the man.

11:15 Yeah, the anchor. Which was Busta, right? Yeah, yeah, okay. So at the end of the day, to that was, Busta's still laughing. I'm in the booth. I know Puffy, I heard Puffy saying something to the engineer, or it better not be whack, or whatever he was saying, right? But see, I'm a lyricist. Let's just get it out the way. I'm a real lyricist. I battle the best of the best. It don't matter, right? I go in there, I said, play the beat two times. Play me Biggie's verse again, because I based it off of Biggie's verse, where he was at lyrically, and what he was saying, he was always saying fly shit, but immaculate shit. Right.

11:52 But he wanted to be heard. See, those are the type of records when you get on, you don't say dumb shit. You say shit that people remember. So I went, okay, 2194. Mad motherfucking hardcore. It's my time to burn the explore. The flavor in your ear is the Boy Scout. That make outs. I make all the rappers have doubts. You fucking with the wrong man and the wrong clan, that's it.

12:14 Now you got to get your dome split. I go into my knapsack with my gat. Take off my hat. Yes, I'm just cool like that. The dangerous The ruggedness From the flappish abyss BLS 97 Kiss bounce to this I'm gonna live long In this rap game Niggas know my name Yo Puffy Hold on Puff I need you to say Burn him in the flame Hold on I never knew you said Frappuccino Frappuccino Yes sir What is it Frappuccino The Dangerous, The Ruggedness, From the Flat was your bitch.

12:43 From the Flat, I didn't know. BLS, 97, Kiss, bounce to this. Why you think I said that, Nori? Because again, like you said, at that time, either you was on BLS, 97, or Kiss.

12:55 Yeah.

12:57 Right But I wanted to be heard Remember I just came off I was on that mid With the rapsack So I need to really Flex my muscles But Busta knew this But he He was like I'm telling you You put my cousin on You know Whatever the deal was You ain't gotta give me nothing That's what he That was the story So I said He was like Yo this is a perfect record To now catapult you Follow me Everything Busta This is Busta telling me Okay Trust me, cousin. I know what's good for you. Right.

13:28 I will never steer you wrong. Right. So, I laid my verse. So I seen everybody in the room with the duty face bust laughing his ass off. Because now when you're listening to all the verses, everybody always say, who got the best verse? So how would you pick the best verse? I wasn't trying to do no competition, but I was basing my rap off of how big he was aggressive. He was putting that big belly flow on it. Oh, okay, but he was being themselves. Then when I was listening to LL, he was being himself as usual, right? But they had such... star quality on it.

14:03 Everybody starred on it. I'm the rookie. I just got there. They just draft me to the Lakers. They just draft me to the Knicks, the winning team.

14:11 Right?

14:12 But Buster saw this before I saw it. Come to the studio. So if I'd have never followed the protocol to just roll and pay attention, I wouldn't be on the record. Wow. You know what I'm saying? And Puff and nobody would know me. But let me just tell you, I've been eating ever since. Wow. You know what I'm saying?

14:33 I've been eating ever since. It's nothing like a classic, right? Right. Then after that, Chris Lighty and Busta called me on the phone like, yo, Sylvia want to give you a deal. Chris got me. Chris and Busta got me. Okay, guys, when he said Sylvia, he talking about Sylvia Roan. Sylvia Roan, so big up her and Merlin Bob. Right. Oh, now I understand. Showing affiliation. You know, nah, boss, I want to do it by myself. Ramp, I'm telling you, let me do this hook. We gone. If you don't like it, just erase it. So, so keep it. We going through this again. We going through this process again. But at the end of the day, he knows. At this time, he knows. He knows me better than I know myself.

15:22 This is my cousin. I'm raised with my cousin in the same house as my cousin. In Brooklyn, in Flatbush. You know, his mom at work. My mom's is where we at, the crib. Yo, let me tell y'all what y'all don't know about Busta. He play full drums. He plays instruments. Wow. You wouldn't know that. My father plays guitar.

15:39 My father kind of influenced a lot of that. You know what I'm saying? So, again, it influenced me, but I wasn't with the instruments. But Buzz, he nice on them drums. He definitely, yeah, like, but that's what inspired us, right?

15:51 Boom.

15:51 He said, yo, cousin, I'm coming to the studio. I'm like, all right. I just finished two verses for Wild for the night. He walked in with Easy Moby and Lil Jamal from Illegal. And he said to me, yo, Them two verses is fucking incredible. Because I was chilling for two hours trying to figure out what I was going to do to the hook. Okay. He come through. But the hook is empty at this time. That shit is zero. Okay.

16:20 He comes in. I got it. And he throws the headphone on so nobody can hear what he was saying. He said, if I didn't like it, just erase it. I said, cool. This is me being hardheaded again. He puts the headphones on. He calls me in the studio, calls everybody in the studios. He's smoking on a bogey. One time, two time. I'm like, God damn. I'm seeing what's going on. He said, what you think? I said, let's roll with it. I have no choice but to roll.

16:55 I'm fresh off of Flavor in the Air. We got to keep going. We can't stop. There's no stopping. Ramp, do you see me stop? You see my plaques on the wall, nigga? This is what I do. You see me staining everything. I'm at nigga's step. Listen, follow me. If you don't listen, just follow me. See, everybody you follow, they won't drink the water. Some people are stuck in their ways, but he wasn't stuck in his ways because he didn't even have to do that. Right? I did it.

17:23 Chris Lighty call. Bus call. Sylvia was like, I got to sign you now. You hot on that flavor in your ear. You on steam. We're going to get you out this rowdy deal. No diss to Dallas Austin. I loved him. I learned a lot. No diss to Claude Austin. They were cool people. You're saying that, right? Yeah, I'm listening to Chris. Chris went back in, negotiated my contract, and got me off. Him and Buss got me off.

17:51 So thank R.I.P. Chris Lottie. Buss was getting me off. Boom, now I'm off. I walk in the motherfucking building. yo, they just hit Pete Rock with a crazy deal, production deal. I'm like, boom, hit Rashard Smith with a crazy, stupid, donkey deal. I'm like, damn, they're giving out some money, but an electric street team, Rene McLean, he's on fire. Right? Boom.

18:16 Buster was like, yo, now, within two weeks, Flex is going to have a test press record. First time I heard that record, Flex is bringing it back in New York City. Something stank like retarded. Hold on, New York City. When you get to the tunnel and this come on, I see Flatbush out there. Understand when it's coming. So this is what he did to all the killers in the hundred dollar boom. That was out. Niggas on the left.

18:43 Rap shit to death. Hoods on the right. Wild for the night. Mmm. I seen niggas in the tunnel As you go around I seen niggas face like One time Just black in the evening.

18:59 Bust is like Listen nigga This is the number one record In the motherfucking globe Chris Lighty's like Yeah Your contract is straight I got you out of that Your budgets are secure You.

19:10 Get $ 10, 000 a month. You signed for eight albums. I'm like, that's unheard of. I'm signing for eight albums. Yeah, you're going to do whatever you want the fuck to do. Chris Lighty was the best manager. He was the best dude to do that. A lot of us know he negotiated deals beyond deals. Give him his flowers. Please give him his flowers. And if he wasn't your manager, don't get mad. But damn, look where I came from. I went from flavoring your air to why for the night.

19:36 Now I'm on the woo-ha. Oh, my God. We caught another body. Crazy. Let me stop you for one second, right? Consecutive. Here's how much.

19:48 Wild for the Night was impactful.

19:52 That I would have bet you Wild for the Night came first. It did. Before Flavor In Your Air? It came after Flavor In Your Air. That's what I'm saying. I would have bet you.

20:04 Like, knowing it's you, knowing I would have bet because of how much of Wild For The Night impact was, I would have thought.

20:10 That you got Flavor In Your Air because of Wild For The Night. Nah, it's the other way around. That's just crazy. Because again... That is a genius fucking.

20:20 That's how powerful.

20:21 But that was no money. That was just.

20:23 And let me give you the second part of that. Because I want you to finish. Let me give you the second part of that. Because I know you know this, but I want to reiterate this.

20:34 Not just New York City.

20:36 You had the world fucked up whenever someone did something stupid.

20:41 Yes, sir. Or go out there and wanted to... Their excuse. Yeah. I went out for the night. And for some reason, it's like, okay... Like, you said you're wild for the night. It's like, all right, cool.

20:56 And it's like, you gave people a pass to do whatever the fuck they wanted to.

21:00 Do for at least 10 years. Wild for the night. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And back tonight, when you leave here, and you want to go do something crazy, all you got to do is say, wild for the night. I was wild for the night. That's it. Police going to let you go and everything.

21:14 Trust me.

21:14 Man, that record is incredible. Do not trust me on that part. Thank you. Yeah, I'll do the cafeteria. So, right after that, As I'm working on my album, we working on the coming. So we in Long Island. And for people that don't know, Busta produced beats. He makes beats.

21:32 Yes.

21:32 He has an Alessi's and a 950. Right. He makes beats. He wasn't waiting on nobody for no beat.

21:38 Right.

21:38 He played his beat at his studio called the Dungeon Shack. That's what it was called. Right. The Dungeon Shack. Right. So it went like this. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. That's all he had. So on the Alessis, he saved it wrong. Because we was going in the studio. Chris booked us a studio session. He saved the beat wrong.

22:01 He didn't save the sync with how it was. So when he went to load it up in the studio, it came out abandoned ship, just the way it was. So he was like, yo, what you want to do? I said, I got this. I ate off like the assassin. Now I'm blasting. I'm taking over. Stick you for your blue Range Rover. I told you, Rampage, a real live soldier.

22:22 Been in the game since the age of 13. A microphone thing, so I'm going to see my P.O. It's August the 1st, so I guess I'm a Leo. My P.O. look like Vanessa Del Rio. Then bus go, ha, ha, ha. Remember, the beat was an accident, but we saved it. You hearing it, it was no sequence. It just did it on its own, but it was so dope, and it was analogued. The way they EQ'd it, this shit was so gruddy and cruddy. Okay, now they singing that. And then we had my crib, so I would always keep a lot of beat tapes. Cats would drop beat tapes on New York Avenue. Scratch would come in the house, Saddam.

23:05 Scratch from EPMD. You know, he's the one for our Flip Mo sound. Big up to him. Baxman, who did Wild for the Night. He did that. EZ Moby used to drop beats off to the crib. Rockwalla used to drop beats off to the crib. I'm in the projects listening to Rashard Smith. He was taking care of his mother. All he had was a 950 and SB12. So I go to his crib. I see him fucking with that, I'm dropping signs. But I didn't know the record he was working for was a Biggie record. Right? So I see, uh, uh, uh, uh.

23:38 And then I hear Biggie, um, dreams of fucking them, um, the remix to that. As I sit back in that single book, I'm like, yo, you did that? Yeah, remember when I was like, damn, it's shot. Wow, you knocking out records. I was like, yo, I need another record. So he made that. Then I seen him make the Doing It record. He had all these records. I remember when he bought all the records. I went record shopping with him. I'm at his crib all the time. But he would just flood me with beats. I go back home, bust at the crib, and that day he was going to Leaders of the New School, do something with them on Yo MTV Raps.

24:16 Oh, no.

24:18 Everybody was going up there. So I was going to jump on the train and go. He caught me right at the, caught me at the, yo, don't come. I go, why? He said, don't come. I'm going to tell you later. He got to the crib later. He said, yo, leaders of the new school is no more. Wait, wait, wait, come on. So I'm at the crib chilling. He telling me don't come to the Fab Five Freddy thing because it's a waste of time. It's a wrap. And Rashad is telling you this? No, no, no. Busta is telling me this. I'm in the studio at Rashad's house about to go up there to check Busta and see Leaders of the New School, my big brothers. But Busta was like, no, fuck that. Don't come. I was like, why? He said, I'll tell you when I see you. Then I knew

25:05 it was over, over. You know what I'm saying? And so whatever the reason was, he was like, don't come. We go back to the crib. We listening to all these beat tapes.

25:14 What?

25:15 Rashard always flooding me with beat tapes. He always hit me with shit that I don't hear. So we sitting in my room and we playing this beat tape. Doom, doom, doom. Doom, doom, doom. Boom, doom, doo, doom. Then I said, boom, doom, doom. Then I said, bust. So let's do that shit. Do that shit. That Busta Rhymes shit. That Busta Rhymes. Y'all, y'all, y'all, y'all, y'all.

25:41 That's where the beat came from. Off the beat tape. I come back home. He took the beat tape. He running around in his Land Cruiser. Boom. He come back home and say, yo, Chris said the studio was booked. I said, okay, what's going on? He said, we going in the studio. We sitting on the bed. He cooking up his rhymes as usual. I turned on Hot 97.

26:06 Guess who's playing? To the book, to the book, to the book, with the back to woo-ha. Got you all in check. Oh, they got a hook right there. We couldn't bring it back because it was on the radio. I just turned on the radio, but he was like either on the phone with somebody or talking to Chris about getting his P.O. to go to the studio. But we was actually, he had the shit on pause. Then he called me in the room and was like, yo, you using this? I told him, nah, that's you. I didn't really, you know, that wasn't my, I wanted that wild for the night. I wanted to slap somebody, but...

26:42 He saw something different. Remember, he coming off that fresh shit. So right now, he got to stain the world right now. It's on his back. But I said, yo, cousin, I'm with you. Whatever you going to do, we going to go. He'll tell you this. Chris Lighty booked that studio. I seen everybody moving fast. I never seen all these people move so fast for us. And he told Sylvia, whatever he went, I went. Then we all at the crib.

27:06 Spliff come around the corner. Spliff is there. Lord have mercy. Me and Buss go to a concert. I seen this girl. Lord have mercy, the artist. Yeah, Lord have mercy. We go to this concert to go meet up with Q-Tip. So I'm still tagging along. I see this girl with this big belly, ripping niggas in the shreds, bar for fucking bar. I'm like, who the fuck is that? Q-Tip said, yo, that's Rod Digger. Then nigga Buss was like, yo, I got to talk to you. We pulled to the corner.

27:37 We need hunting flip mode. Yeah.

27:39 Yeah.

27:40 She was going... I mean, she was pregnant. Was she in The Outsiders? She was with them, but... See, I heard something different. What you heard? I heard that when Rod Digger....

27:51 Was signed to Tribe or Tip. They were going through it, him and Fife.

27:59 Oh, okay.

28:00 And this is what I heard. I heard that Busta stepped up and was like, yo, you know what?

28:05 Can I help out? However it worked out. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. However it worked out, yeah. All I know is I was sitting right there and Busta whispered in my ear and said, yo, we need to bring her in the group. And she was pregnant at the time? Pregnant, body and everybody. Bar for bar. Let's just give her her flowers. One of the best female MCs of all time and our time. Boom.

28:24 Big up, Rod. Big up, Rod. Big up, Rod. So, Spliff, me, Rod. I get a call from Cellar Dwellers. They say, yo, we got this kid, Lord Have Mercy, lived around the corner. I knew of him, but I didn't, you know, I seen him in the area. Wait, he from Long Island? No, Long Island, this is from Flappy. Okay, okay, my bad.

28:44 He's the one, and I went off.

28:46 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

28:46 You know, heavy with divorce. He comes around the corner with Phantasm from Cellar Dwellers, and they probably introduced me. So he kept coming to my house, coming to my house, coming to my house, buses in there, scripping up the album, the comment. Boom.

29:00 Boom.

29:01 I said, yo, boss, listen to this dude. So we was in my living room, and we played a couple of joints from him. The dude sound like the voice of the Ten Commandments. It was a dark night. Right, nobody understood that. But we were forming Voltron. Honestly, we was. Boom, we go to Queensbridge. I'm shooting my video, take it to the street. So the killer kids... They came across the street where I was shooting the video. Bus was outside, but I was shooting the video, so I didn't know what was going on. That's how you got Killer Shaw. Right, right, Sham. So, so, so, so, Sham is outside. He just going in with the Killer Fours, his group. Right. They all from Queensbridge. Right. But he was just sticking out a little bit more. No, just

29:48 to them, but he was really getting it. Bus was like, you in, let's go. Just like that. Now, we all got deals and individual deals. Buster's a great executor. He executes deals so well. For those who didn't stick, that's your fault.

30:04 Yeah.

30:05 You know what I'm saying? I ain't gonna lie. Either you're loyal or you ain't. I ain't gonna lie to you. Mm-hmm. I think, like, you know, as far as artists... CEOs, Bust House could be one of, like, he'll, like, like, like, like, like, for instance, like I just, like.

30:19 You just said, you just implicated that, how he put you on Flavor In Your Air.

30:23 Right.

30:24 First, and I'm telling you as a, as a fan, as a person that was a part of that, your impact was so big that I thought that Flavor, um, um, excuse me, uh, Waffle of the Night came first before Flavor In Your Air.

30:35 Right.

30:35 That's, that's how crazy, but like, you know, a lot of people who say that, uh, Signing to an artist might be an artist's demise.

30:46 There's two parts to that. So one thing I love about my cousin, my deal was separate. My deal was separate. So I was straight to a lecture, then flip mode. didn't violate a management. So if you saw the logos, you knew how the direction was going. Plus, it couldn't look like conflict of interest. So Chris and Mona was the point. Buss got me out of Rowdy, gave me my first deal. So again, Sylvia and Buss and Marilyn Ball, yo, we want Ram. How do we make this happen? He's fired.

31:28 We want him signed before you get off tour. She told Buss while we was on tour, yo, make sure Graham's contract is done by Monday.

31:36 Wow.

31:36 So it got... And Chris was... You know, Chris, once he knows the deal is there, he's going to facilitate it right now. He's not going to waste no time. I don't care if it's 6, 7 in the morning, 8 in the morning, running around. We at the studio, we eating, smoking, drinking. Chris, he just came from a meeting with Mariah Carey, somebody, Janet Jackson. Boom. Chris was the best manager to do it. That's right. Let's make some noise for Chris. Press the peace. Press the peace. So...

32:04 After that, it's off to the races. Now, I got a deal. Diggah got a solo deal. Lorde has a solo deal. Sham has the solo deal. Spliff has a solo deal. Boom. You remember what the labels of these was all on? No, it was on Elektra. Everyone was on Elektra? Yes, on Elektra. All under that one umbrella? Elektra.

32:25 Oh.

32:25 So this is before Wu-Tang. Because Wu-Tang had been kind of like- About the same time. Protecting Neck was coming. Okay, all right. All right, cool, cool. Protecting Neck was coming. Now we all on- Electra. Electra. And some of us are on Violator. And then some of us had our own manager. I'd rather Violator because Mona and Chris always kept me working. And Wild for the Night was- was, was, was, was ruthless. Like, like they were booking me shows for two years straight. Blackout season. I'll tell you a story.

32:56 I had to go do a show. I think Matt 10 or with somebody, it was somewhere. He didn't show. And they begged me not to do the song. And they paid me first and told me to go to the next state. Cause I was on the promo tour. They begged me not to perform while for the night. And I was like, I felt like I was shortchanging the fans. I don't want to shortchange. Let me, just let me say what's up to everybody. Boom. So, I said, fuck what he saying. Yo, here wild for the night. Yo, they took this fucking girl, threw her ass in the speaker.

33:27 It got brutal. They got wild for the night. No, no, no. Picked her up, literally threw her in the speaker. He was like, please stop doing this song. Here's your money. Boom. Make a long story short. You know, bus always got the plan. Yo, Paige, let's do the split mode album. I'm going to drop my joint. You come with your joint.

33:46 Diggins gonna come with your joint. But in between, we're recording a flip mode album. So in Soundtrack, you notice we had... Soundtrack, 24th Street. We had four studios on lock. Yeah. And Mobb Deep had the other studio in the corner. Yes. So anytime we walk to the bathroom, we always see Prodigy and Havage. So we all... And we on Violet. Yeah, Violet.

34:04 Everybody's Violet. If you wasn't there, you wasn't really. I seen him come through a couple of times.

34:08 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

34:09 You know what I'm saying? I had to book sessions there, too, as well. So... I always stay with some beats, right? So I had a beat called Run for Cover. Y'all know that beat? Niggas was on the flip-flop. Oh, yeah, yeah. Niggas was on the flip-flop. It was too late.

34:24 What?

34:24 I know we got a lock way out of state. What? Swiss did the beat. I'm the first one. I'm going to say it loudly. I'm the first one to buy a record from Swiss Beats on my budget. Bus ain't no Swiss. I introduced Bus to Swiss. Just Blaze, my young boy, he with me. I'm taking him to the studio. I never asked him for no beat at all. Remember, I stay with beat dudes. Dudes that just make beats on, on, on.

34:48 Just Blaze, he tell you, Swiss will tell you. I introduced Bus to, Bus ain't no Swiss. Swiss in the studio. Just Blaze come to my studio, said, I introduced them to. I was always, yo, this is my man, Just. This is my man, Swiss. Swiss, this is Just. Bus come, yo, Bus, you know Swiss? He got some fucking fire. I sent him to my studio. So the first beat I chose from his stash was a beat called Run for Cover.

35:14 I took the beat. Bus is in the room, but let me tell you how Bus was flowing, right? Let me tell you how Bus was flowing. So remember, we had four or five rooms, but he always come to the studio around 11 or whatever he come to the studio, right? But I go to the bathroom. I seen Jay Dilla in the bathroom. I'm like, hold on, fam. What's up? Man, what up? Are you here? Buzz don't tell nobody Jay Dilla's in town. He over there dumping them records. You know the records he talking about now? He over there dumping them records to A-Dads or whatever he dumping them records to. Crazy. If he said he got 300 records, I don't know if it's 300 or 1,000. Right. But I witnessed this dude is in the studio. The same

36:00 room I recorded Wild for the Night, he in there tracking just crazy records. And the first record I heard him play was, for Slum Village. I'm sitting there like, oh, my God. Then, you know, Busta got this ziggy, ziggy, ziggy, ziggy, ziggy, ziggy, ziggy. I see him actually had all four speakers on his 300.

36:22 He was the first one I seen really got dynamic on that MPC. Busses stacking up beats, getting beats from Swish. new albums almost complete. Like we would, yeah, we would never go home. Me and him, Spliff, we'll stay in the studio for days. We go home, come back for a day. Then we in the studio for the next seven to eight days. And we just, we just vibe.

36:49 It didn't matter who album was coming. We all was in room to room. Oh, this is going here. This is going here. We were very organized. Okay, cool. Yo, why did y'all stop? It's not that. Why did we stop? It's everybody had solo things going on. We had contract things we were doing. We had individual shows, right? Bus is always gone. Spliff is always with bus. Everybody bussing moves.

37:16 Nothing wrong with that. Something jump off at a lecture. I don't know to this day what happened, but we wound up getting off a lecture. But it was good because we put out about seven albums over there and we were very successful. So this is where the game... Was it because they merged? I believe it was via a lecture. No, I just think there was a lot of internal things going on over there. So when it's internal...

37:36 And you know, Chris, give us the word. It's time to roll. You know, you're never safe at these labels. Yeah, when they change the guard, everything changes. When they change the different people, the product manager, they changing this manager. It's going to change because now they got to learn you all over again. So this is what I was thinking it was, right? Then Chris broke it down to me.

37:56 He was like, yo, Ramp, you safe. So now I'm negotiating a second album because I did well. I did real well. He was like, yo, I'm going to get you this. I'm going to get you this. If you go gold, you're going to get this. If you get an award, you're going to get it. I was collecting them joints on a low low. Rod Diggins was collecting them joints on a low low. We was getting it as a unit. It might not have been loud, but we were making money.

38:20 Speaker 3: Speaker 3: Speaker 3: Speaker 3: Speaker 3: Speaker 3: Speaker 3: Speaker 3: Speaker 3: Speaker 3:

38:44 Divide and conquer. I don't play that. I'm going to tell you straight up. I'm going to tell you what I mean. I'm known as an uncle here, but I know business. I know percentage. I know points. I understand. I don't want to be robbed. I want to be confiscated for my music. Boom. We're a unit. We put the flip mode out. It did well again. Another gold one. We copped the sauce award.

39:08 You know what I'm saying? It's on the wall, but it wasn't us. I think it was internal. The label was changing. So as they was changing and new people were going in new positions, boom, it's time for us to motivate, move. Who going to go over here? Who going to go over here? Who are going? I waited to see what it really was. That's why I ain't saying nothing. Because I needed to know how the structure was going if we running this. same play or bust this one ramp to just chill and, you know, I'm on ice right now. And I'm cool with that. But being on ice, I'm learning the business and I'm understanding because I see a lot of people around us come and go. He was doing this. He was doing that.

39:44 But a lot of things wasn't really in pocket. All right. But if it ain't right, he's shutting it down off the top. That's just how he rule with an iron fist. This is when I'm learning the business. Chris Lottie was like, yo, I'm gonna do a deal for you. And every time you do a deal, always have a clause in this deal that you can always get out. If they don't promote it by a certain time, you could walk with your masters. Really? Yeah. You can walk with your masters. Mona, Ramp, you got about 700 other shows. You on the road.

40:10 So I was busy. So while they was going through transition, I'm doing shows. I'm overseas. I'm in the UK. I'm in China. They don't know you in China. They really know me in China because when I got there, they was holding up Rampage logos and Rampage flats and shorties were showing titties and all I had to do was wow for the night and they were singing it word for word and don't even speak no English. You're lying.

40:31 You're not overseas. You're not popping off. You're not jumping. I go overseas, Nori. I see them dudes selling their music directly back. Vinyl, CDs, tapes. Boom. I see everybody over at Fat Beach. I see everybody on these distribution deals. Now I'm intrigued because, again, it's been a minute for me and I want to, you know, Nori, I want to be out. I got hundreds of records. I got records with people you wouldn't even believe. Yeah. All right.

40:56 So now, today, as I'm in front of you, I'm going to get to it. Plus, I got to tell everybody this. The reason why I sat out so long, because I was going through health issues. I had two heart attacks. Let's just keep this on, keep it real. I had to, remember me and you talking in Phoenix about the health shit?

41:13 Yeah, yeah.

41:13 And you told me we was upstairs in the room. I didn't know you had two. So I had two, right? And you know what that goes for? Not paying attention to my body. Not feeding my body the right nutrients. Not. I know, sis. I know, boss. Yo, when you going to lose the weight, bro? This, you know, we got plans.

41:35 You know, Marshae and boss on me. You got to lose the weight, but I'm a knucklehead. I'm a hardhead. I'm going to do what I want to do. I want to eat everything that I want to eat. But let me tell you, when I saw you, you told me the same thing, that you was on the same weight. Right? You remember that? We was in Phoenix and we was talking about it. But you didn't tell me you had two heart attacks at that time. No, I didn't. That was afterwards. Oh, okay. Makes sense. I'm like, you would have told me that. And this is my story. I'm sitting in the hospital feeling bad for myself, bro. I didn't want to tell nobody. I didn't want to tell my kids. I didn't want to tell Buss. I didn't want to tell my sister Marcia. I didn't want to

42:07 tell nobody because I was feeling bad. I was in my own enigma. It was on me. That was me. That's the first time. Second time it happened. Yo, bro, how many times we going to tell you to lose the weight? And by the way, I lost 55 pounds. Yeah, that's it. 55 pounds. I watch what I eat. That was it. It's mind, body, and soul. But you really have to do that. Don't tell yourself, you got to go do it. Right? Boom. I go in the hospital the second time. I'm still feeling bad for myself. I don't know. First time I'm suffering from anxiety. I never had anxiety in my life. I've been in the hospital for a couple of days. Bus is talking to Marshae.

42:49 Marshae talking to Bus. They hung up the phone on me because they know that I don't listen. My sister know I don't listen. Bus know I'm a hard headed. But and Bus says this to me. Do you want to live? Everybody going through it, but do you want to live? Because I got a plan for me and you. There you go again. Yeah, I got a plan for me and you to be 60 to bust a move.

43:09 You in or you out. Flip mode album has to be completed. You in or you out. Am I lying, Marsha? He hung up the phone on me. She hung up the phone on me. They both hung up the phone on me. My mother and them hung up the phone. They were on the phone together. Because, again, before he called me, he called Marshae. What's up with Ram? He want to speak to my doctors. Hold up. Doctor was Marshae.

43:35 So peep it. In between me being in the hospital, I came out all right, all right, cool. I was chilling for a minute, but I went back to the same shit. I wanted to eat those burgers. I wanted to touch them fries. I'm like, well, I don't fuck with what they saying. I want this fried chicken wings. I want this stuff that's giving me high blood pressure.

43:53 The doctor said to me, let me tell you something. You might as well, if you, this is the last thing I'm going to tell you. The doctor said, yo, Mr. McNair, If you don't follow what I'm just saying, you might as well tell everybody bye. Damn. It's over for you. There's no shows. Ain't no family. You dead. I don't like that. I don't want to be dead. I got some things to do. So I finally listened. But you got to listen to your body. Your body will tell you.

44:26 If something's going on, please don't ignore it. Everybody who's watching this, all you music dudes, all you CEOs, a lot of these dudes drop dead in the middle of nowhere. And you be like, yo, damn, it's a damn shame. But at the end of the day, it's about what you're putting in your body. It's about what you're eating and how you're eating. We got to cut back a little bit. They want to destroy us. Right. But we're destroying ourselves, too. So it's like this. I said, fuck all that. I'm listening, boss. I'm listening, Marshae. Mm-hmm. Yo, Marshae calls me. Yo, you got three shows in Chile.

44:58 You see me in Chile? You got three shows. I'm fresh out the hospital. I have anxiety. I am nervous. No while for the night. Yo, I don't even know the words anymore. So I'm in the car listening to all my songs over and over. I get to Chile. Same thing, Nori, like you said, that record don't fucking stop.

45:19 When I tell y'all it don't stop in 2026, when you make classic records, we're going to get to that. When you make classic records, people remember. Yes, yes. You can't let these people down. Now, I'm not even in the States. I'm in Chile from the hospital because I got to prove, shout out my doctor, Dr. Abraham, who approved me with Marshae to let me go out of town to do this show. I get to Chile today.

45:47 It had to be over 10 years since I've been overseas, right? She said, yo, I got a couple of days, so I'll move on. So we get to Chile. I got nervous, you know what I mean? I ain't going to lie, y'all. I got nervous. But then the dude came in and was like, your posters are gone. Your records are sold.

46:02 Your tapes is gone. Your shirts is gone. They was walking around with Rampage hats I'd never seen before. They was walking around with cassette CDs with extra songs on them. They was traveling from nine hours to see me for this one show. I'm lying? All right. All right. Oh, now I got to perform, y'all. So over here, what time is it in Chile? I'm performing like two in the morning over here, but in Chile. Nori, I ain't even going to front to you, Nori. When I played Talk of the Town, it got brutal. When I did Flavor in the Air, it got brutal. I said, hold up.

46:34 Let me do Talk of the Town. I never do the records off my album. I just do the ones people know. But fuck all that. They said, yo, we know your records word for fucking word on some Bon Jovi shit. I said, oh, okay. Y'all know this? Then I did Abandoned Ship. Shit got brutal. Then... Once I did Flavor and Ye, the shit went up. Seen this girl disappear again. She was on the stage, Marshae, tell you, she disappeared.

47:00 Boom.

47:01 Moral story to that is... You have to take care of your health. You can't ignore it because if you ignore it, you die. That's it. It ain't no coming back. And some of us don't got insurance, my dude. We frontin', but we don't got insurance. We always got insurance on cost, some of us. But you need to have insurance on your body. You need to protect yourself. You need to take care of yourself. That's all Marsha and Busta was just telling me. And I listened to them before I listened to anybody. So now I'm back on the road, Nori. Boom.

47:35 Everybody is like, yo, when you going to put out some new music? Fuck the dumb shit. When you going to put out some new music? So this is what I want to say. Busta Rhymes, Diligence 2. It's a classic album.

47:48 Mm-hmm.

47:49 I need everybody to go support Busta. He's the only one in hip-hop that's making that shit right now. I'm going to just keep that. Not just because he my physical. Right, right. Because he puts in the work. He shows the dedication. But see, you know what's killing us? You know the biggest thing that's killing us? So I wish Chris Lighty would have told us about these futures endeavors with these companies and we making 00.100%. All that shit is fucking up the game, bro. You're not making no money. You can have the hottest record. You can do this. You can just put it out on YouTube. It's hot on YouTube.

48:25 But really, how much money are we really making? Now, let me tell you. Because we had hits, I was making my money off sync license. These commercials. People calling. Marsha, can we clear Wild for the Night? Can we clear Know What You Want? Can we clear these records? Oh, of course you can. That's how you stay in business.

48:50 That's how I was floating myself. So I take my money and I invest in myself. Notice that I say I invest in myself. You know how when people don't see you for a while, yo, that dude broke. Fuck you mean I'm broke, my bro. You seen my fucking plaques on my wall. Please don't get me fucked up. please I'm talking my shit talk your shit baby talk your shit god damn please please don't get me fucked up bro because you know what I hate the most about today's and it's just my opinion yo we support you.

49:20 We buy your album. Let me tell you something. When you go to Spotify, and I have to point this out. I'm going to say it again. But new artists, old, new school, whatever you from, right? Your project is dope, my dude. It's dope, right? But the problem is you bought a subscription to stream it live. How dare you say you support me? Think about it, y'all. How dare somebody say, yo, you listen to it all day like you're watching Netflix, but you never hit the download button.

49:47 Did everybody think that Spotify had a download button or iTunes got a download button for $ 4. 99, $ 2. 99, whatever you cost it? But if Spotify had a button, they hiding it. All right.

49:59 Oh, so you're saying most people are streaming the album, which, so when they stream the album.

50:03 You don't exactly get... Brother, you don't get paid. Holy shit, I didn't know that. That's just a different metric. Yo, my new album's coming on. You on Instagram, you blowing your shit up. You don't get paid. You're robbed. You've been robbed. Take them. Take them. Everybody who puts out music on these platforms, and I'm not going to single nobody out. I'm just telling you, be smarter. Don't work harder. Right, so now peep each other. So my cousin dropped this big banger. I'm like, this shit is smoking. But then I see him post some things about, you know, artists really need to get there, get there, just do. But again, we can talk it, bro. But at the end of the day, the thing that has to happen is one

50:49 day we should all wake up as a music community, country, whatever, and just be like, just take your music off. Let me see all those YouTube, Sony deals. All them shits will perish. Am I right or wrong? Yeah. You know, it's nothing personal, but you robbed your Nori. They've been Nori. You ever did this on Spotify? Did you ever check?

51:10 All the records that you sold just on Spotify. Did you ever have somebody do a search just to see how many millions that you moved on Spotify? Okay. No. Do that.

51:21 I have done how many streams I've done on Spotify.

51:26 You can actually sell records on Spotify? Yes, I got that. Yeah.

51:30 Right?

51:30 Regardless. Let's say you at... 300 million, Nori. Somebody owe you some fucking money. You never got that. Yeah, for sure. Drez says the same thing. Somebody owe Drez some fucking money, bro. Drez said that on his show. And I didn't even see that. Yeah, he said that on his show. Bro, I went to go check Wild. This is where I got mad, and I'm going to get off of it.

51:51 I went to go check Wild for the Night on Spotify. My brother Amadeus, Punchline Academy, he did an analysis on all the music that I was on, features, and that came to like 350,000 of all the records that accumulated. You know what I said? Where's my fucking money? All right. Who put this together? And I have the record to show you. Every record that I was, even mine. I know the billboard numbers. I want to go study it because, again, I want to understand why we are being robbed as a culture.

52:25 Right.

52:26 Who? Don't blame it on Lior. We don't ain't got nothing to do with this. Right. Who signed these contracts? Who said that? Rampage and Nori and all our classic albums. Who did that deal in the future? Because we didn't know this was coming. Who did this deal? Yeah, perpetuity.

52:43 Right?

52:44 So I said, all right, cool. Fuck the old catalog. I'm going to get the money off the sync license. Sync license, I'm getting paid. I ain't tripping. I'm 10 years learning this game, getting my health together. That's where I've been. But let me just tell you, and let's let everybody get me fucked up. I just dropped a freestyle that went viral. Yeah. I'm at 200. Am I lying?

53:06 That's crazy. It's going to get brutal for everybody. So, and we're going to see in a few minutes. Yo, Nori, for those... That turn thing back, I'm going to skin them alive. It ain't about no top 10. Don't put me in no fucking top 10. Don't put me on who the motherfucker. I don't even want to be in that shit. Because when you box them in numbers, when you box a nigga in numbers, then that's his number.

53:32 I ain't boxed in, man. I'm unique. I'm different. I come with that shit, and I'm not just going to tell y'all. We're going to get to it. Yo, call Funkmaster Flex. Tell him he need to be playing Rampage in New York City. Nori, please call Flex for me. Let's do it. Please call whoever. Let me just tell you.

53:53 I just did this digital deal with this company called H.E.R.D. You seen? I post H.E.R.D. And the base on H.E.R.D. is... Nori, you and Evan can put whatever y'all want to put out, your episodes, your movies, whatever you're thinking on this platform, and you can send it to your fans directly. Right. I think Traz told me something about this. Directly. Okay.

54:18 Hold up. I'm on the board, though. Okay, cool. Right? Now, what a lot of people don't know about me, and I got something for y'all. A lot of people don't know about me. My money, I invested it. Right. So you got to know investments to make. I'm not loud. I don't want to tell people how I'm moving because you can't teach people how to drink water. You know what I'm saying? Either you do or you don't. Boom.

54:40 That's real. 2017, I invested in this company called Soul Thing. Y'all can Google it. Soul Thing. That's like Michael Jordan buying Jumpman. I put up some of my rap money. So I invested in a sneaker company. Right. Then I turned around when COVID hit. We was fucked up. We were really fucked up. We were limited to water. We were limited to toilet tissue. I bought a toilet tissue company called Boo Boo Tish. Wow. Right. This is my rap money. This is me funding it.

55:08 Right.

55:09 My sister says to me, yo, um. Let's do this next move. I said, what move do you think we should do? Yo, I think you should go into merchandising and shirts. And, you know, when you're not moving, we need to be moving these logos. Because when I went overseas, they was wearing shirts that I didn't even approve, bro.

55:29 But the law, because I didn't see it, I said, oh, that's it. That's the answer. So I got with Herb. Now, Herb got everything for me. I could put my music out. I can service the DJ like I want to service the DJ because right now you can't service the DJ. If the DJ ain't playing you, old school, new school, whatever, you're not considered relevant. I'm going to say it again.

55:52 Not the homeboy local DJ. We talking about your DJ that's in these clubs, that's breaking records. There's DJ that's still doing it, but everybody's stuck in their ways. You know what I mean? Everybody got to get out their feelings. All right, skip all that.

56:05 Right?

56:06 So I get with her. Now... Any new... Oh, no, yeah, I got to say this. It's cool that you buy all my old stuff on Spotify or whatever. That's cool because that's an ungone fight. I'm not going to waste no attorney monies on that stupid shit. But let me just tell you, from this day on, and I'm sitting with y'all, I'm no longer... Me. I can talk for me.

56:29 I'm no longer putting my joints out on Apple Music, Spotify. Now, if I do records with people, they can do whatever they want. I'm not doing it. Because again, who likes 00.100.13? I don't know what that add up, but a lot of our people, that's forever. That's still putting out music. This shit ain't forever. You broke. If you're not doing those shows, you broke. You done. Fuck all the bullshit.

56:54 I don't care what show you on. The numbers don't add up. The shit don't add up. If you ain't got money from when we came in, you ain't got a business or something you investing in. You did it right now. I don't care what's new. I don't care who you team up with. Is your business right? This is Chris. Is your business right? What moves are you making?

57:17 You got kids? It ain't about you no more. Get out your old ways. I'm getting out my old ways. Boom, I hooked up with this company. I invested in this company. Big up to my man, Herb. Now I can put my music out. I can film television. I'm doing cartoon voiceovers. I'm still connected with a lot of people that's making movies.

57:34 If you're not connected, I'm not calling you. If you're not doing anything for the coach or anything, I don't call you, nor I don't need you. I'm good. I'm good in my skin. I got tough skin. All these guys be tough. Yo, man, what are you doing for the community? What are you doing for the community? I teach in Philly. I teach in Arizona. I teach School of Hip Hop. Big up to Camille Slag, Joe. You know, I want to give back to the community. I want to give these kids an opportunity that I got. See, we don't do that. We don't get out our feelings.

58:08 We got to get out our feelings. We can't teach grown people tricks. You want to know why they ain't coming out? That's on them. It ain't on us. You want to come on our show talking all this and that, but your thing is tango right now, bro. Your career is fizzing and out. You trying to figure it out. You can figure it out. But again, you got to go independent. You got to sell your music direct right now. Stop.

58:31 Get out your feelings. You got fans overseas. How many of us got hot singles? And then when we go overseas, don't you notice they got tape, CD, and vinyl? That's a great fucking feeling. You know what? Find a distribution company that reprints that. You got the old copyright. It's yours. Yeah. What do we do, y'all? That's where I'm at. A lot of people are remaking records doing that.

58:52 Yeah.

58:53 Don't go directly do a distribution deal. You're losing. Don't go straight to vinyl. You go digital. Because again, a lot of us, it's easy. They want to press and download. They want to press and download. They want to become a member. Make them become a member like everybody got a Netflix account. You paying them $ 9. 99. Why you can't pay red page $ 4.

59:13 99?

59:13 If you fuck with me, I know overseas fuck with me, but I own people here. I heard the album. It's dope, but you didn't support me, dude. You ain't hit no download button. You just strained me. You just pushed me to the side. And first, you didn't even give me a chance if I dropped the project. I'm going to tell you something. I just dropped the project. You just skipped to the beat or the hook that you like.

59:36 You didn't really give me a fair chance. But you heard somebody else on the page blacking out, wilding out, doing all this. Oh, this shit must be fire. But you still streaming. You never hit the download button. You never supported me. All right. I figured it out. I'm on herd right now. Anybody want anything from Rampage? When I jumped this shit off. It don't even matter. I'm not in no competition. I ain't in no rush, but I'm going to brew something. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, it's just a Titanic, bro. It's getting to this point. I see everybody doing anything big up, but this rampage shit here, you can't stop me. I'm independent.

1:00:13 So wait, what is it? Is it an app that people download? So first of all, I'm testing the waters. I'm putting out a mixtape. I'm buzzing. But I'm also servicing the record to the DJ. Right. Because you still got to service the record. There's still people that service the record. Boom. What a lot of people don't know, I'm at radio. I DJ. I DJ before I started rapping. Right.

1:00:33 I understand the structure of radio. And I build radio stations. I literally build radio stations. I can literally build y'all a radio station separated from everybody. I know how to do that. Taught myself, you know, in 10 years, I took off to learn what I want to do. I'm smart like that. I like to invest in things that's going to make me money, not tomorrow, right now. We got our bills every 30 days. Y'all stop fronting. Bills is every 30 days. What are you going to do?

1:01:01 How are you going to survive if they cut the food off? Me and my sister, we talking about, I'm getting a spot in Chile, my dude. I'm getting money out there, bro. You might as well. I'm buying a hip-hop club in Chile, bro. I'm buying me some big-ass land in Chile. I got it. I ain't broke. Y'all just want to, oh, he ain't this, he bad. Look, that's just my opinion, bro. Her, Rampage, anything from me on all my social medias, the real Rampage. Rampage The Last Boy Scout My Facebook Rampage Roger Mangan Go to my bio Tap in with your brother After I hit After I hit y'all with the heat They gon' tap in Believe that Let's do that Let's do that Y'all ready?

1:01:45 So before we get into A couple more things One of the One of the first things I noticed When you walked in Was Hold on.

1:01:55 Hold on Okay Marshae just reminded me of something So listen You always got to celebrate those that celebrate you. That's right. If they're not celebrating you, I'm not celebrating them. I'm not going to front. I'm not going to hang out with them. I really don't care. But I noticed when I came to the show, everybody talking their shit and speaking fly. But they never did this. So when I give y'all this first present, I want y'all to really look at it. Tell me what y'all think. Okay, all up.

1:02:24 All up.

1:02:25 This is yours. Really look at it. Oh. Really look at it. Fire. Really look at it. Fire. Going to EFN people. Oh, that's dope. That's fire. That's dope. I know right where I'm hanging this. What y'all see? Yeah, that's fire. You said I was appreciated. Y'all appreciated. But just know when you look in the toy crate, what's happening. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, no, this is fire. Albums, that's fire. This is dope. Thank you, man. Yeah, thank you, man. Appreciate that. And that's from the good people over at Trill. I was about to say that.

1:02:59 And I got one for y'all to sign, but those is y'all's. This is the one signed for Chuck. We'll get to that. Hold on. We're not going to stop. We don't stop. We don't stop. So now, this is from my partners over at Sofing and myself. I have a sneaker company, distribution company. So again, I like comfortable shoes.

1:03:19 I'm not Nike or nobody, but I'm moving sneakers, eBay, Amazon. I'm getting to it. You're getting to it, right. These are yours. Thank you. Appreciate that. These are my runners. I know you run. Yes, yes, yes. I support your movement. Yes. These are yours. They're your sizes. Trust me. Yes, sir. Fire.

1:03:39 Look at these. Yes, sir. Look at these, guys. Fire. Yes, sir. These are like first class sneakers. You're going to be wearing these in first class. You know what I'm saying?

1:03:49 Yes, sir.

1:03:49 Yeah, these are fire. You got the first wish.

1:03:51 Yes, yes.

1:03:51 Thank you. Thank you very much. The next ones I send, y'all going to have my logo on them. Okay.

1:03:55 Hell yeah.

1:03:56 So what made you get into sneakers? Again. Yeah, well, uh-huh. The game is fucked up. Right, okay. I'm investing in myself. I'm not waiting on nobody. So big up to Soul Fame. Big up to Chuck at Trill. I just need y'all to sign this. Absolutely. And again, I want to invite y'all to All-Star Weekend to do the show at Trill.

1:04:15 So whatever, how we got to make it happen, Chuck told me to ask you guys. And he wants y'all at the Trill store doing the show live. So let's get some money. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Absolutely. Hell yeah.

1:04:27 Well, I'm sorry to cut you off, but one of the first things I noticed, and I know you a lifetime, like me, is the Knicks hat.

1:04:36 Okay. You from my era? Yes, sir.

1:04:43 So it's been rough being a Knicks fan.

1:04:45 Right. It's been a long journey. It's been a long journey. Look at all these Miami guys looking at us right now like, ah, shit. They about to get on their New York shit. Okay. But listen... Did you ever think, all right, two things. Did you ever think the Knicks would actually win in your lifetime? That's the one part of it.

1:05:04 And then two, what was that feeling when we actually did run?

1:05:10 Oh, man. So, again, I wasn't supposed to be eating pizza, but I had pizza. Sorry, Mike. Wait, the Knicks won, you had pizza? Yes. I said, that's good. Good luck, pizza. Yeah, good luck, pizza. Yeah, good luck, pizza. Yeah, yeah. Okay. It was long overdue. Yeah. They were working. You actually saw them grind. Right. You actually saw them bronson. You saw them together. Right. When a team works together, it's never I and team.

1:05:44 Right.

1:05:44 It's always, it's we. Right. I saw we with them. Right. I saw them grinding it out. I know they had Donald Trump at one of the games. They was talking about some jubilee, whatever. But they got it done. Right. They brung it back to the city. Right. That's great for the culture. Yeah. That's great for the sports culture.

1:06:06 Who's next? I'm thinking they're going to win again. I hope so. I'm thinking they're going to win again. But then also, I see the Heat added some pieces, right?

1:06:15 Okay.

1:06:15 And also, I see the Sixers added some pieces. Yeah. The East. The East. It's going to be in the East. The East is going to be exciting. Yes. The East is going to be official. I think.

1:06:28 I didn't even think of it like that.

1:06:31 The East is on fire right now. Even Boston. Even Boston. They switching up. But it was time for them to switch up because a lot of those dudes was hurt. Yeah. Who did they get in Boston? I forgot. They just got George. Oh, okay. Paul George, right? Paul George. But y'all got Giannis. Giannis is aggressive. Yeah, Finn don't know what the fuck you talking about. I know the Miami Heat part of it. Giannis is... Giannis is aggressive. So I think New York, if I had to choose where it was going to come down to, I'm going to say New York and Sixers. I would love to see that. Oh, New York and Sixers. Oh, okay. What y'all think? New York Sixers? Because LeBron got something to prove, too. Yeah.

1:07:23 You know, he just came from that Lakers bump bump. What's going to happen when LeBron play Bronny? I think, you know, so I seen today they were like, yo, we thinking about putting Bronny on the front line. Why you think y'all going to put Bronny now on the front line? He's really good. Forget that he's his father child, but he plays. And, you know, he's being pushed. He's been groomed. Right. So let's just say this. They surround the right players on Bronny. And the Lakers come in like in fourth, fifth. They need a dude. They need a star. But then LeBron just left. He funky with the team. His son is still there, I guess. Right. Well, we're going to start the young boy. That might be ill.

1:08:06 It is going to be ill. Yeah, that might be ill. You know what them tickets in his jersey is going through? Yeah. Think about it. It's math.

1:08:11 Yeah.

1:08:12 Especially if he do halfway good without his father. Without his father, I'm like. Just halfway good? I'm just being honest, like, because no one's expecting it. Nobody's expecting it. Yeah, yeah. No one's expecting it. I thought they was going to drop him. Yeah.

1:08:24 I did, too.

1:08:24 But they didn't. They couldn't. I did, too. That would have been crazy if they would have dropped him. But it would have been bad also, too, because, again, you didn't want him to go somewhere else. Let's say he went to the Clippers.

1:08:33 Yeah.

1:08:34 And he got one. Yeah. Who's asked out? So let's get it, man. Let's get it. Well, our show is about giving people their flowers. Definitely. Where they can smell them. Definitely. Their thoughts, where they can tell them. Definitely. Their drinks, where they can drink them. Oh, we know something. Hold on, let me give you yours. We got something for you.

1:08:51 We got something for you. No, I'm joking. I got something for you.

1:08:55 Oh!

1:08:56 What's this, yo? Oh, my God. I got something. Oh, where am I? name on it. Whoa! Hold up, hold up. I'm official, y'all. Anybody who's watching this, I'm okay. Hold up. Shout out my DJ, DJ Epps. That's right, that's right, DJ Epps.

1:09:12 Oh, man.

1:09:12 Legend right there. Legend right there. Oh, my God. You know what? I love that suitcase. I got one for y'all. Okay, oh, shit. We're giving out gifts, man.

1:09:20 Oh, shit.

1:09:20 I'm going for it, man. I see you got the alligator bag. I got the tote. God damn it. I got the tote. You stay with the tote. Okay, okay, okay. Pick up the money, Green. I'll see you. I want to give y'all. I want to give the staff if I got enough. Okay, hell yeah. You know, I want people to remember me when I don't make music. Here's my gold trading card. Oh, that's fire. I'm going for trading cards. Okay, hell yeah. I'll sign it for y'all.

1:09:41 Hell yeah. Don't open it. Don't sell it. Take a picture with me. It's worth something. I got you. Yes, yes. Give everybody a trading card. If I don't got you, I'll send it to you. That's what I'm into.

1:09:52 Where's Sonny D at? Where's Sonny D at? All right, so you know this is called drinking camps.

1:09:56 It's a drinking game. You don't have to drink if you don't want. You can take a sip or something. Somebody pour me some. I'm drinking. Yeah. Yeah, so you don't have to, but we got a designated drinker. I love you, sis. Thank you, Epps. Let me tell y'all, man. My brother, DJ Epps. He putting it on the city for real, man. Oh, yeah. Everybody give him his flowers.

1:10:21 That's right. So, you know, yo, when we going to go do something, yo, you coming out here, I got you. Boom. Shout out to everybody at Shady 45. Shout out everybody at Rock the Bells. Yes, yes, yes. Shout out our brother LL. Yes, yes. Shout out everybody at the Punchline. What is that, bro? Shout out everybody at Punchline Academy.

1:10:38 That's Haitian Raps. Yeah, you got to start calling her her name, man. You can't just keep saying White Clef Sister. That shit is so unappropriate. Mel D was an artist in her own way, bro. Hey, man, Rob is brother. You know his name is Hector, man. Whatever you give me, I'm paying for it. I'm not an industry guy. That means you don't know names? Bro, you can't say Wyclef's sister.

1:11:03 It just sounds horrible. You got to say, this is Jamie, and just say, oh, by the.

1:11:08 Way, that's Wyclef's sister. You can't just.

1:11:12 What I am going to do, as long as you give me all the shots, is I'm going to just hit the whole team. Yes, please, please.

1:11:19 Those are first class sneakers, bro.

1:11:23 I'm not joining on all, but I invested in me. You know what I'm saying? Okay, so we just playing under the rules? Yeah. Okay. We're going to give you two choices. Okay. You pick one of the choices. Okay. Nobody drinks. Okay.

1:11:36 But if you say both or neither, you really don't want to answer the question or you just want to be political, then we all drink. We all take a little shot or something. That's it.

1:11:45 Okay. Okay. First one. Something's coming. Busta or Jay-Z? Busta. That was easy. M.O.P. or Mobb Deep? Both. Okay. Take a shot there. We get a chance? Yeah. We get a chance.

1:12:03 And any stories that come up with anybody we bring up is really to jog your memory about stuff. All right.

1:12:09 Pac or DMX? DMX. You got to join with DMX. Yes, sir. Let's go talk about that real quick. Me and him, the only one, we wound up doing... How many songs, Marsha, with X? Remember, y'all, when we were putting it together? You know, Marsha was managing X. What? No!

1:12:28 Yes.

1:12:29 She was managing X. And me and her was in the studio, and X was like, yo, you're the only one that I want to do a record with. And we did this record, Solid As A Rock. And it was originally my record. And I was in the studio with X, trying to help him figure out a lot of things that he wanted to do. But... One thing he wanted to do, he wanted to do a collaboration album with me. And I see a lot of people talk stories. I don't like to tell them stories because everybody be like, yo, you talking to the internet and I'm telling you facts. The name of the record is called Solid as a Rock. What year was this? What year, Marsha? 2000. 2000, okay.

1:13:03 When he first got out of jail. Yes, yes. Right?

1:13:06 Yes.

1:13:07 So me and him went in the studio. We went to work. But there was a lot of things that he had going on. So I just stepped off. And, you know, he got it. You know, X, he got to go through him.

1:13:17 But somewhere, there's some engineer somewhere that got six of those records in his hard drive.

1:13:22 But we never even got to six. We got the one. Oh. I heard the one. I wanted to go in the studio every day to work. He agreed to it. But, you know, he had other agendas. Like, you know, he was moving around. Okay. You know, who am I? You know what I'm saying? So pick up top, brother. X. R.I.P., man. That's R.I.P. Go ahead. All right. Biggie or Big Pun? Biggie.

1:13:45 Because you knew Biggie. Oh, personally. Yes, sir. Did you know Big Pun?

1:13:50 Yes.

1:13:50 Oh, okay. Okay. Yes. Better yet, both. Okay. All right. Okay. Hold up. Any story? Any good story?

1:13:59 All right.

1:14:00 Boom. I go to the Apollo. Big Pun. My first time meeting Big Pun, Joe was like, yo, did you ever meet Big Pun? I was like, no. Soon as I seen Big Pun, he was doing one of my verses off of Wild for the Night. Wow. At the Apollo. Wow. Me and him been friends ever since. Wow. Make some noise for Big Pun. And last time I seen Big Pun was in Miami at a show. He's performing. I forget what it was, but it was in Miami. All right.

1:14:29 I don't know if it was at Gland Slam. I don't remember. Was it How Can I Be Down? I think it was.

1:14:34 Yeah. That's the first time I saw you doing the hoo-ha on the beach.

1:14:38 Wow. I think it was the first time it was performed. I'm not going to lie.

1:14:41 Even though I knew you was talking about the song, but when you said the first time I seen you doing the hoo-ha on the beach, it just sounded crazy.

1:14:48 I was like, what? What?

1:14:49 Even though I knew what you were talking about, it's just the way you put it.

1:14:54 It was on the beat. The stage was right on the beat. Wow. Rod Digger or Lauryn Hill? Rod Digger. Boot Camp Click or Native Tongue? Boot Camp Click. Flip Mole or Conglomerate? Both. Both. Because I'm on both. That's right. And I'm a relevant member. Yes, yes, yes. So, DJ Scratch or Easy Moby? DJ Scratch. Chris Lighty or Irv Gotti?

1:15:27 Chris Lighty. Yeah, but loyalty is so real. I know, no hesitation. Just Blaze or Swizz Beatz? Both. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. Analog or digital? Analog.

1:15:48 Let me just make some noise for analog, god damn it. That's why the record sounded so better back in the days because you had to go in the fucking studio together.

1:15:58 Yes. Rock Marciano or Stove God Cooks? Rock Marciano. Lord have mercy or Rockness? Both. Okay. It's Brooklyn right there. Brooklyn. Split Star or Flavor Flav? Both. I need another one. I can't do that. That's family. That's interesting. Flavor is my family. I get it, though. Because Flav... A public enemy, public enemy kind of put on bus, bus kind of... Well, that's how family treats. Yes, family treats. Yes, yes, yes.

1:16:36 I come from that. Yes, yes. No, I understood. I understood it. And for those that don't know, you know, also, I'll put it out there and y'all can ask Flav. I'm his ghostwriter. I've been writing for him since I was 17. I'm a ghostwriter.

1:16:48 Wow.

1:16:50 What'd you wrote? 911's a joke? Anyway, I'm a ghostwriter. When y'all see Flav, ask Flav. Am I lying, Marsha? Yeah, yeah. I don't think Flav give a fuck.

1:17:00 Flav ain't do much yet.

1:17:04 Yes, sir. I can see it. New Jack City.

1:17:08 Who?

1:17:08 You. Anyway, let's go to the next one. I can see it.

1:17:13 Now that you said it, I can see it.

1:17:16 RIP ODB. King of New York. What'd you say? New Jack City or King of New York? King of New York. Independent or major? Independent. Independent. So you don't want to add your twist to that? I always go major, but go ahead. Sauce money or smooth the hustler? Sauce money. Last one. Loyalty or respect? Loyalty. Okay. Because you got to have loyalty to give respect. Okay. I respect that.

1:17:49 I respect that. Can I get another water? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:17:53 So.

1:17:58 That's Casa Azul or that's water? Okay. So let me ask. You can hang around, Sonny, if you want. Let me ask you. Go ahead, buddy. You're considered a lyricist, lyricist, right? Yes, sir. I'm a rapper's rapper. A rapper's rapper. Lyricist, lyricist. Right.

1:18:16 In the industry, people praise you They love you. They worship the ground you walk on. But here's my question. Do you feel like you get the props you deserve?

1:18:28 No. Okay. Why? And I was telling somebody this the other day. Every time Flavor in the Air will pop up, somebody always disclude me. Like I'm never there. They always say, yo, why are you on this? But I got tough skin. I don't give a fuck. I'm on the record regardless if you check the insert or whatever. I'm on the record.

1:18:49 But there's a lot of people they get upset because I'm on the record and I really don't give a fuck because it was classic I don't give a fuck because I was at the right place at the right time but just you know I'm one of those I read the comments fuck those people who get upset yeah that's cool because that's the opinion right but again Yo, I forgot you was on the record. No, you didn't, because I went third, bitch-ass nigga. No, you didn't. So again, let me ask y'all. On Flavor In Your Ear Remix, and we're not going to put it in categories, what verses did y'all like? I liked it every verse. Okay, cool.

1:19:24 I'm not going to lie. Every verse was different. Okay.

1:19:29 To me, a great posse record isn't about who has the best verse. It's about who the camaraderie, like the chemistry, and the chemistry fit.

1:19:38 And the fact is, I swear to God, I swear to God, Rapper. And it wasn't planned. I swear to God, I did not know you was the new guy on that record. I am the new guy.

1:19:45 It was so much embedded in my head that I thought you was already on.

1:19:50 That's how beautiful the marketing is. Beautiful the market it was That actually opened me up I know But that's That's what I'm saying That's how beautiful The market it was I was on that mid With Rampsack I was in the mid I was Between Reggie And Skunk I was that mid Right But I'ma keep it real That's the best remix Of all time And it changed my life And I'm still eating off.

1:20:12 It God damn it God damn it Incredible video Going back to I wanna go back to When Leaders was Was gone Okay What was your perspective when that movement was happening?

1:20:26 Well, I used to be the roadie. I used to carry the bags and everything for them because I wanted to be on. So I would just meet Busta all the time in Long Island. I would go from Long Island Railroad to Brooklyn. I would go travel with them. I'd be in the van with them. And I got to just to learn my brothers. And they were dope. Like, they would rip shows down. Were you already? Yeah. You were going? I was at demo stage. Okay. I was at Baxman House doing demos. I was playing my demos in the car. They all liked it. And then I ended up on that record called Spontaneous. That was my first record ever on Leaders of the New School, Spontaneous.

1:21:00 13 MCs, so big up to the New School Society. And, you know... Being with leaders of New School, I seen a lot of things, but I knew that they were brothers. And when they got on stage, regardless of what they were going through, they handled that show. They handled it. It could have been, I seen some shows with the Nubians.

1:21:18 They was fucking shit up. Nubians was fucking shit up. Against each other. Stinky Dink from DC and Ice Cube. My first tour was Ice Cube tour with Public Enemy, Ice Cube, leaders of the New School. In D.C. Wow. That was ill to me. That's a crazy lineup. That's my first tour. I'm a roadie. I'm carrying bags. I'm understanding.

1:21:40 I do whatever I need to do to travel. I had a lot of ones in my pocket. They was giving me ones, but them shit stacked up to $ 1, 500 when I got off. I didn't have to spend nothing. I was grinding. I just wanted to see it. I seen Ice Cube. I seen... Like, that's Ice Cube. That's Tupac. I got to talk to Tupac. We in the hallway of the hotel. I see Buss and Tupac chopping it up. Yo, Buss is like, yo, this is my cousin. But I'm fanning out. I'm like, yo, that's fucking Tupac. I get around you. Like, y'all ain't never seen Tupac before. He's legend in this. I mean, Humpty Hump. I'm really talking to Humpty Hump. Hold up. I'm at Everlast's house. You know, Everlast's house. And you can ask Everlast. So I walk

1:22:26 into Everlast's house. This dude had... He's the first dude I seen with glass pool balls. Glass you see through, right? But then as you go in the corner and look on his wall, this motherfucker had a million dollar fucking check. You know what that shit was from? House of Payne t-shirt that he didn't cash out on. He just put it up there. I said, God damn. That's the first time I seen rappers have... BMWs on top of their house.

1:22:56 I'm like, what the fuck is we doing on the East? We not doing what they doing. Some of our records is bigger, but nobody would see. Them dudes had houses. I'm at B-Real's house before he even puts things out. I get to meet his mother. I'm even smashing on his bus. He let me smash on his bus. Big up to B-Real. I wasn't ready. You know, on the smoking groove story, I was on that. I saw a tribe.

1:23:21 I'm talking the fight. Remember, I'm just trying to get in where I fit in, but I'm with the leaders, and I'm seeing all this things transpire. I see the Dante Rosses. I see the Chris Lighties. I seen Baby Chris. That was Baby Chris. I seen it. I'm like, damn, this is where I need to be. I'm at the right place at the right time. Well, what? I seen the Norvies. I seen the Capones. I seen the Tommy Boy to this. I saw it. Because I was at Violator.

1:23:52 Because we used to go to... Which one?

1:23:54 Oh, you're talking about that. Oh, yeah, you're talking about the old one.

1:23:59 I'm in front of the Rush office. Rush management. Pick up the Russell Simmons. I go in there. I seen Chris Lighty talking about y'all and Fat Joe. Oh, wow. Wasn't he at Relativity? Yeah, he was at Relativity.

1:24:15 He never was managed by Violator, but he was managed, but he wasn't officially.

1:24:21 I seen him do some incredible things. The Jungle Brothers, them guys, us. He was really on it. Chris Lighty was serious. But he was working for Rush. He was Russ Artist Management.

1:24:32 Which was Russell Simmons Management Company You know that Big up to Leo Yeah, big up to Leo If you wasn't a part of our family You know But.

1:24:39 What I love about Violator They kept you working Yes And if your contract was fucked up They went in there And Chris Definitely put his You better ask 50 Yeah.

1:24:48 I ain't gonna That part of me Cutting you off But that's the real Real shit about it Was like You know like We were driven off For like first weeks So if you If you don't have a first week Good sell doesn't mean that your album wasn't great. The thing is, it means that you had to grind. And that's where Violator came in. Violator would get you a tour bus and have you on a motherfucking roll.

1:25:11 But you'll be working, working. You started at the Palladium or the Tunnel. Yeah, yep. You'll be working. You leave in the next night. You ain't coming back home for the next eight weeks. Then by the time Norrie got back, that record was gold. Yes, yes. Very true. I like that. Very true. You know what I mean? So go ahead.

1:25:28 Next one. No, no. I was going to say then, now go beyond that, before that.

1:25:34 What's inspiring you before you even see it in front of you? Like before you see Leader, before that, is there anything that inspires you to be an MC?

1:25:41 Me. Because it starts with me first. Why? I got to get back to me. Remember, I had a story. You know, I came from two heart attacks. I came from not taking care of myself. I came to knowledge and understanding. I came to this. I came... This is where... It turns on for me right now. I can't live in the past. Everybody who lives in the past drown.

1:26:01 Everybody who lives in the past drown. I can't drown, bro. I got to keep it moving. I want the world to know who Rampage is. Whatever I got to do is flip mode on my chest. I don't even got to say it. It's embroidered. And me. I'm loyal to my crew. I'm loyal to my gang. I'm loyal to my family. There's nothing you can tell me, nothing about Busta Rhymes, Flipstar, Rod Digger, Lord Have Mercy. There's nothing you can change my mind or my crew. Because when we together, we form Voltron. And when we not, we stay.

1:26:33 And one thing, I need to get this shit straight, too. We all talk. We all finish the new Flipmode album.

1:26:39 Wow.

1:26:39 Let's make sure it's that.

1:26:40 Yeah.

1:26:41 So it might not come when y'all want it to come, but it's coming. It's done. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And we all talk and we get along. We ain't never had no differences. That's other groups. We just never put our business out there like that. And Buss is a great, great mentor. Busta taught me a lot about the game.

1:27:03 Busta's the reason why I'm here, so I'm going to always give him his value. And like I said, Dillinger's 2 is out right now. Yes, that's right. It's the best album in the streets right now. Everybody just support Busta, man. For real. Hell yeah. You know what I mean? That's straight up the truth. This shit is dope. No, it is dope. Big up to J Dilla, R.I.P. Big up to Mom Deuce. Big up to everybody over there. Big up everybody at Empire. Let me tell you, but this new Rampage shit? Oh! That's the whole nother shit. I know, man.

1:27:32 So what's something in the game? I need another shot. Yeah, it's right there. Right there. Okay.

1:27:38 What's something in the game that you wish, that you haven't done, that you wish you'd done it?

1:27:43 I'm going into movies and television already. There you go. I'm going into acting. Okay. I'm going into voiceovers and cartoons. Okay. I'm already in the mix. Okay. Um... You don't have to pay the money back. Okay. This rap shit, they want you to sign a 360 deal. If you my age and you signing a 360 deal, get the fuck out of here. Right, right, right. Exactly. I'm going into movies and television. Right. Rod Diggins, she's in television and movies. Right.

1:28:08 Busta's in television and movies. Listen, I'm following her. Right, right. Again. I don't care if it's a B movie, C movie, D movie. You're going to know me. But the difference between me and everybody else is I want to do action movies. I don't want to do no more street movies. I want to do action movies. I want to do shit like Bad Boys. I want to do shit like.

1:28:26 What you going to be doing in the action movies? You going to be popping shit out? I'm that dude. I'm that fucking dude. You know what I'm saying? I'm that supportive bro. Like, you know, and I know how to act. You know what I'm saying? So again, at the end of the day, I want to do movies and films. Also, I'm working on a book. Just a couple of things that I just need to do. I need to get this memorabilia out. I need motherfuckers to remember me. You want to remember me? You got a trading call. I'm on eBay. Listen. The shit happens, you need some sneakers. I got you. You need some water.

1:28:58 I got you. Toilet tissue? Yeah, these toilet tissue, boo-boo tissue. I got you. These are the things I invested. What is it, boo-boo tissue? Boo-boo tissue. Boo-boo tissue. You know, boo-boo tissue. Yeah. When the COVID happened, tell the truth. You had to go buy party tissue. Yeah, they ran out. Right. Cool.

1:29:16 So now, being that I'm an owner... I'm going to say it again. I'm the owner of Boo Boo Tish and Splash Drip Water. And I don't got homeboy water. You don't slap it on the fucking water bottle and call it water. I'm not doing no colorful water. I got 100% spring water. Big up to the good people over at Sedona Water Bottling. I'm the only one that's black that got a deal like that over there. No, I learned from Kurt Slidey. Again, it's not what you do, it's how you do it. You going to let the crisis hit you or you going to do something about it?

1:29:49 Our people need water. They trying to stop everything. Shea said, yo, let's go to Chile. We're going to go grow some food, my dude. Fuck this process. That shit is giving us high blood pressure. Get some insurance. You need some insurance. On top of that, make sure you take care of yourself. You have to take care of yourself. Regardless, nobody's perfect.

1:30:13 I was going through it, y'all. Oh, I woke the fuck up because I ain't trying to die right now.

1:30:17 All right.

1:30:18 God is so good. God's good. Let me ask you a question. Who's the best.

1:30:27 American-born Jamaican rapper ever?

1:30:33 You said rapper? Yes, rapper. American-born Jamaican. American-born Jamaican. Shinehead. I did not think he was going to go there. I thought Shia was from the yard. I'm talking about American born, though. He's American. He's American? He rocked American. You ever heard of Shia? Yeah, absolutely. He's actually rhyming in American. Really? That wouldn't open my head. Sean Head.

1:31:00 I definitely thought that was Paco. But he's also a Brooklyn native. I believe he's a Brooklyn native. Oh, wow. He's a Brooklyn native. He's the first one. He's the first one. I don't think you know anything about this. He's the first one. That does a mashup on the record. You notice that he rhyming and patois at the same time. Boom.

1:31:24 Big up to all my yacht masters in Flatbush. That's just yacht. Big up to all the yachties in Florida. Miami. Wherever you're from, you know, big up to all them Yacht Boys, and big up to you, Nori. Big up. Big up. Big up Special Ed, and big up. I see Lil Sean, so let me tell you about my brother, Lil Sean. I love Lil Sean. He gave me a lot of insight on a lot of things, and big up, and thank you. You know, he designed a lot of things for me, and I just want to give him his flowers. Again, you know, he just came home, so when I see him... Did you know Lil Sean just came home again? No, no. I thought he got locked up again. I'm like, damn. I just seen this nigga last year. But again... He gave me a lot of

1:32:04 insight on a lot of things as far as my weight and how to lose the weight. Oh, yeah. A couple of people I want to shout. Method Man.

1:32:13 Oh, by the way, let me big him up, too. Lil Sean got me on my way. I'm totally for God damn. Lil Sean, I've been to your problems.

1:32:20 My bad. You correct. Big up to Lil Sean's business. Anybody know Lil Sean? Hit him up if you really want to lose the weight, but you just got to follow it. Long as you follow it, you be cool.

1:32:30 Yeah.

1:32:31 Big up to. Busta Rhymes, the eighth wonder of the world. I say this to my heart, like, y'all can't fuck with him on Versus. Nah, no one can. No one can. Fuck that.

1:32:45 Y'all can't fuck with him.

1:32:49 I second that. You can't fuck with him. Yes, no one can. You know why I say they can't fuck with him? Think about the features he got. You got to count those. So if you got on stage with him, He could just do features alone. No, his catalog is bananas. Right? Yeah. Now, there's a couple of people that got some catalogs, but you don't remember their records. Right. You only remember them when you're playing, but you remember his.

1:33:14 Yep.

1:33:15 Right? So, again, when you're doing battles, fucking no, I'm going to just tell the truth. Let's tell the truth. I'm launching my own motherfucker TV network, by the way. Okay. Y'all inspire me. It's going to call Content TV. I'm going to take Cassidy, and I'm going to start the battle channel. Whereas you battle with a DJ and you got to come off the top of the head. You can't have no written rhymes. And you in the cage.

1:33:43 Still cage match. What? Five rounds. But when you say DJ, are you using the Jamaican term? No, I'm saying... I'm saying back to the... Because, you know, it's two different DJs. I'm saying back to the five elements. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I'm saying... You in the cage. Like, something that I always wanted to see, but I think it's going to take money. This is what I always wanted to see. Right?

1:34:08 Fuck a catalog. I want to see Kane and Rakim. Listen. No catalog. Just rhymes. Take all that catalog. Take all what you used to like. I just want to see them in a steel cage match. A DJ playing breakbeats. Five rounds. He shoot a verse. He shoot a verse. No written. Let me tell you, I did my verse on Punchline Academy. I didn't think about it. I just did it. My shit went viral. Everybody checked my verse out on Punchline Academy. Pick up to everybody over there. Listen, when you battle, you post the battle rhyme for rhyme, not catalog for catalog. KRS-One will light a motherfucker up lyrically.

1:34:59 So when you're doing catalog, it's just, yeah, you singing with him. Nah, ask KRS-One to re-battle whoever he battled word for word, bar for bar, and tell me if that's gritty or not for you. That's how the culture should be. No, let me play my hit. He gonna play his hit. Let me play my hit. He gonna play his hit. Shan, I love MC Shan. He's a funny dude. That's my big brother, man. But lyrically, he's dope. Right?

1:35:28 Chris is dope. Okay, cool. I don't care what the age group is. You still spit bars. You wouldn't want to see Rakim and Kane? Yes. Like, no catalog. Just fuck all that catalog shit. You got a DJ like Grandmaster Flash that's DJing some breakbeats. You get five minutes, he get five minutes. You don't think that would be a show? I'm going to call that shit battles. Nobody steal that from me. I think even better....

1:36:00 Not better, but even more up-to-date is like to see like a Kendrick and Drake face-to-face.

1:36:06 Real talk, but bars. Yeah, bars. Yeah, like face-to-face. You know who I really want to see? Fuck the dumb shit. And I love both of them. I want to see Nasty Nas. And Jay-Z. Barbecue Nas. And I want to see, you know, why is Jay-Z always letting them freestyles go? Okay, cool. We can get that going. It's never going to happen, but I like that idea. You know what I wanted?

1:36:26 It's like Drake and Kendrick's not going to happen. I like that idea, though. But you wouldn't want to see that? Absolutely. Bar for bar? I know your catalog, but give me the bar. I want to see Nas, Jay-Z at Nas' fucking casino in the middle. Everybody pay fucking tickets and them two get in the fucking ring and Jay-Z is already good on the freestyle. Nas got bars. What is the fucking problem, man? Fuck the catalog, man. Let's get the catalog out the way. I want to hear you raw battle. I want to hear you off the fucking top and where we know that you off the fucking top.

1:37:03 I think it's an excellent idea. And it's going to be called Battles. And it's coming for me.

1:37:08 Anybody do it, I'm suing you because it's already in. But again, I picked Cassidy because a lot of people don't know that I helped Cassidy when I'm a hustler. Oh, I didn't know that.

1:37:20 Yeah, yeah.

1:37:20 I had a lot to do with the record. And then after he caught a little bit of trouble, that's still my little brother. But again... He was going through some things, and then we figured the record out. He came to his brother, and I serviced the record to all the DJs in the country. Not the label. It was me. He'll tell you. Cassidy, him battling, I love that.

1:37:44 It shows the rawness that you can still do. It don't matter what age you are. You be popping shit about your record is the best. Let's get in the battle royal. You know how they used to do the battle royal, the four by four, come out with your mask, do what you think, get a famous DJ like Grandmaster Flash, DJ Scratch, Mel Star, big up to my DJ Mel Star, right?

1:38:04 And put him in the ring. And I would watch that pay-per-view on battle TV. Guess what? That shows you where they at with skill. That show you that they still got it. That shows you it's not just catalog. That shows that they got fans. That show everybody will make me a fan all over again. Cool. You bring back Coogee Rap and you got Scarface. We love Scarface.

1:38:24 We love Ghostface, right? But Ghostface is nice with them bars. Coogee Rap is nice. with them bars. But after Kane battled Rakim, we want to see Coogee Rap and Kane. I want to see bars. I don't want to see catalog. I think catalog is cheating. But Busta's catalog is so superior. Let me tell you something. Who do you put Busta against? Listen, catalogs? No, no, no.

1:38:48 Not catalogs. What you were saying. Five verses. Five verses with Busta? Yeah. I could see Nas. Okay. I could see Jay. Remember, they battled before. I really want to see. No catalog. Busta's nice with it. That's very true. No, he's nice with it. Jay is nice with it.

1:39:10 Shit.

1:39:11 You know, y'all giving me the catalog and everybody's hyping up by the catalog, but I think the catalog is really cheating the people, man. I think that's corny. You know what I'm saying? No diss to it. It was dope when it came out. We was all in the pandemic, but I want to see skill. I want to know where you at at 50. KRS-One is bodying niggas at 60.

1:39:29 What's the problem? He doing like one hour freestyles at a show. You are what you are. Like, the dude got, yo, listen, when I saw that battle, I thought a lot of things. He did records that he should have just did.

1:39:44 Right?

1:39:45 But, you know, I love KRS-One, but let's just say if he battled Kane really bar for bar, you would be like, damn, this dude got a lot of fucking balls. That's like me saying I want to see Curtis Blow battle Love Buck Starsky. Or Grandmaster Cash battle Curtis Blow. Or Big Back Hank, regardless of what they were going through, I want to see them battle. Because Grandmaster Cash got bars.

1:40:10 I don't give a fuck what you say. Yeah, very true. Shy Rock versus MC Lyte.

1:40:15 Yeah.

1:40:17 You don't think that's more of a... LL, hold up. I gotta say this. LL is a battle rapper. He get busy lyrically. Fuck the catalog. He's nice.

1:40:29 You don't think you excluded the new generation?

1:40:31 Nah, bro. Hold up. What I do for the new generation, this is how you gonna know the mumbo jumbo and the bullshit raps. All these motherfuckers who popping off... They put their jury up, and they got to really freestyle. If they don't freestyle, you throw their jury in the fucking trash can. They out. They out. You know, nigga, let's just say Boosie feeling really juicy, and he want to battle somebody from the East Coast. We set it up.

1:40:57 Boosie got a flow. He got his joint right. But Boosie also, you know, he got the real estate. We put him against Rick Ross. Let's see who really got the bars. They talking the same language. They putting up deeds, real estate deeds. They put their deeds up. Nobody's going to be KR. Do that make sense? That's a real version.

1:41:16 I don't see nobody putting up none of that shit, though.

1:41:19 But I'm just saying, what happened in fact could happen, right? We supposed to elevate. We don't live in the future. Everybody got bars. Everybody putting out motherfucking records, man. Wu-Tang. Them motherfuckers got bars, but fuck the music. They got bars. Every one of them. Why they can't match up with anyone?

1:41:40 It's the hip-hop business, bro. We in Russell Simmons' valley off this shit, bro. We do Rush Cards. We wasn't thinking Rush Cards. He's doing Rush Cards. We was like, why is this commercial coming on every night? You feel me? What I'm saying? Like, let's really turn it into a sport. Let's really own our sport. Everybody talk hip hop 50.

1:42:01 Let me just, I got to say this too. R.I.P. African Bambada. Because a couple of months or a year before he passed, he gave me my own chapter, which is chapter seven. So big up to chapter four. and pick up the chapter seven. I got my own chapter in Phoenix of Zulu Nation. He gave me my own card. And I don't care what anybody say. We got to reinstate the Zulu nation, man, because that's a part of the culture. We cannot forget. We can't forget the Planet Rocks.

1:42:33 We can't forget the B Street. We can't forget the Wild Style, because some of that stuff will still work, Nori. It's about how you put your spin on it. Graffiti rock. I love watching Kumo D, L.A. Sean Sean Battle run DMC. That shit was dope. Like, I'm mad that they didn't move. See, I want to see shit like that on content TV.

1:42:54 You know what I'm saying? I want people to just get raw with it. It's raw. It's like banned from TV. Right, right. And I get that from you, banned from TV. Right, right, right, right, right, right. You know what I'm saying? So, I love you guys and thank you. So, but hold on. Let me ask you this, right? God comes down. Mm-hmm. Says, Rampage, I want you to make one record. Mm-hmm. This record's going to change humanity. You get to choose. Choose. Excuse me, I said choose. I don't know. Choose. You get to choose.

1:43:24 My bad, my bad.

1:43:25 You get to choose who produces the record and who's the feature on the record. Now, Dead or Alive, who is, what producer are you choosing and what feature are you choosing?

1:43:39 Like y'all, I would choose Dr. Dre. Because nobody see Rampage in a Dr. Dre record. Okay. I can hear that, too. I can hear that, too. Yeah, that was great. And who I have smashing on the hook with me. Or verse. Snoop. That's very doable. That's very like... Dr. Dre.

1:44:00 Yeah.

1:44:01 I always wanted to record, even though I know Buss and them know Dr. Dre, I've never met Dr. Dre. Wow.

1:44:06 But.

1:44:08 Like y'all. It was the hardest session I've ever been a part of. So, so. But the greatest too. If I wanted to just do something different, I don't even want to talk to Dr. Dre. I just want to go.

1:44:19 Right.

1:44:20 He can put up whatever beat. But again. Then I want to come back with the remix with Eminem on the hook. I don't want them to do no verses. I want them to do the hook. I got that already, and I know what to say because I'm a hookster. I'm a writer, you know what I'm saying, for myself and others. You know what I'm saying? So, again, if I wanted to do a record, it would be with Dr. Dre.

1:44:40 Tell Dr. Dre, Nori, y'all need to record a single on Rampage. Let's get this money. Let's get this money, guys.

1:44:47 So before we get up out there, is there any other thing you want us to tell your fans? Man, by the way, big you up once again, man. I'm taking this home. Yeah, no, shout out to Trill, man. That stands right next to my memorabilia.

1:44:56 Big up to Trill, man. Yeah, big up to Trill. You got the Trill cards and the Trill Diallo right here. And it's only one like it. Nobody, that's the first one. Okay. So don't sell it. Nah, nah. I'm a collector of all this stuff. What's up, Masha, the EFN? No, this is not. This is not. I got you. Notice that I got all your mixtapes. That's hard. That was hard.

1:45:17 You got to celebrate those to celebrate you.

1:45:19 So before we get about that, any last thing you got to say to your fans?

1:45:24 Because there's people that are riding for you, man. New music is coming.

1:45:28 Yes.

1:45:30 Everybody that want new music from me, I need everybody to become a member of my site over at Core. That's Rampage slash, you know, slash Herd. All you got to do is hit my link. Link in bio. Just hit my link in my bio. You could plug in with me. Some of the joints you heard tonight, that Tramp Europe Express, that's coming whenever this is dropped. I'm not dropping nothing until y'all drop. Okay. Y'all going to see me again. Yes. God is good. Y'all going to see me again. Yes. Big up to the whole Flipmo squad.

1:46:03 Big up to the Flipmo. Big up to Money Green Marche. Big up to MJ, my publicist, Hip Hop Connects. MJ. Big up to good people at Trill. Pick up the good people. Just pick up God and pick up y'all. Yes, man. Thank you. Let me tell you something. DJ Epps. Yes. Epps, what up?

1:46:21 Let me tell you something, man. Me and EFM, we've been wanting to give you your flowers for a minute, man. We want you to know how important, how real you is to the game.

1:46:28 We understand. I need another shot. Yeah, please. Give me another shot. Yeah, please. Give him two more. Give him two more. Two more. Two more. Yeah, yeah. That's why. Oh, that's that barbecue. Yeah, yeah. Shout out. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. There you go. Shout out to Milky's.

1:46:43 Milky's.

1:46:44 Milky's. Milky's. Milky's. Yo, no, no. First of all, I'd like to shout out Monster. Shout out to Monster. We're going to get you a deal. I'm going on a 50 city tour and I want y'all to come out on the 50 city. Let's go get some money, man. So shout out, shout out, shout out. I know they got new money over there. I shout out to Milky Jean.

1:47:06 Milky Jean. White Clef, the whole crew. Yeah, yeah. This is what I was sipping on? No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, you were sipping on it. You were sipping on it, yeah. Let's get that check. This thing creep up on you. Shout out to all my good people at the front. Shout out to the group. Shout out to everybody. Yeah, yeah.

1:47:26 Take another shot with him. Take another shot with him. You know what? Hold on, hold on. I never asked this. Uh-huh. I always see them Dutchess Spades sitting in here. The Ace of Spades? The Ace of Spades in the joint. I'm taking me a gold bottle. Who would I tell this to? I'm not taking me a gold bottle. I see everybody. I see everybody. Please, man. I'm not going to open it. I finally got one. I see all these dudes talking trash. What's the use of celebrating when you ain't got a gold bottle? You know what I'm saying?

1:48:01 Pick up the J's. Pick up the noise. I got you, my brother. That's how, man. I love you all. Make sure you get with me on my social media. I got a lot of things coming. The 3rd of November mixtape is coming, hosted by DJ Epps, the biggest DJ in the game. I love you. Big up to everybody at Punchline Academy. If you don't know nothing about me, go to Punchline Academy. Check my freestyle that went viral.

1:48:24 It went viral. I did it off the top. It wasn't written. Shout out my dude Merkams. Shout out Felony Music. Shout out. NYC Kane Shout out Tears Shout out Big Yon Shout out Joey Major Shout out everybody That just blessed me With records man And those who didn't Bless me with records Fix your face And.

1:48:47 Let me just tell y'all Something For those that don't know Flip Bowl Squad Was like with no pun intended, like a conglomerate. So if you was affiliated to Flip Mo Squad, you would be taken care of.

1:49:01 Right.

1:49:01 And I was an affiliate of Flip Mo Squad. So I always felt, I always feel like I'm Flip Mo Squad. And I just always want to say, thank y'all Flip Mo Squad for always holding.

1:49:10 Me down and being there for me. I'm probably going to go under that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm probably going to go under that. I'm probably going to go under that. Only thing too, one more, one more. This is my last. Let's go, let's go. I'm going on a 50-city tour, Nori. Wow. And I'm coming out my pocket for it. I'm not waiting on you promoters. Rampaging friends. Nice and intimate. I ain't going to tell you who it's with, but it's something big. And I'm going city to city. I ain't been out in a minute.

1:49:33 Wow.

1:49:34 That's dope. I need you, Nori. I need you. I ain't going out. I need you to make that call to Match Reflection. Cool, cool, cool. Get him online. Let him know that I'm coming to New York, back home.

1:49:46 Yes.

1:49:47 And we're going to go through it.

1:49:49 Yes.

1:49:50 Let me also pick up Shine. Yes. Shine has a tall... Listen to me.

1:49:55 You young whippersnappers, and I'm not dissing you young whippersnappers, but what I'm trying to say is a lot of the times they'll make fun of you for being old.

1:50:03 And the thing is, you want to get to be this old.

1:50:06 Like, okay, God, you messing it up.

1:50:09 You did not help out at all. That was not.

1:50:11 No, no, no.

1:50:13 You can stay out of this one.

1:50:15 But you whippersnappers, you want to be able to get to that age where you can go and do a 50 city tour. You know what he just said? That shit is amazing. Like, no disrespect to the youngins, but you would love to do that in the upper echelons years that you are. So, stop making fun of the older people and saying, you know, because listen, you're going to want to be there.

1:50:37 So, yo, man. Take it easy.

1:50:45 Drink Champs is a Drink Champs LLC production, host and executive producers, N-O-R-E and DJ E-F-N.

1:50:54 Listen to Drink Champs on.

1:50:55 Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Drink Champs, hosted by yours truly, DJ EFN and NORE.

1:51:07 Please make sure to follow us on all our socials.

1:51:09 That's at Drink Champs across all platforms, at TheRealNoriega on IG, at Noriega on Twitter. Mine is at Who's Crazy on IG, at DJ EFN on Twitter. And most importantly, stay up to date with the latest releases, news, and merch by going to drinkchamps.com.