Taken from JRE #1939 w/B-Real:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SrcVcnSVT74zXk38H0VH3?si=1e782be390c341ec

How many times the dude come up to you went insane in the membrane?

Oh, man Almost almost where everywhere we go if I catch eye contact And sometimes if I don't catch eye contact, they'll wait for me to walk by and then they'll sing it.

That's been my name in New York for a long time.

Cause sometimes they don't know all of our names, but they know what group we're in so you know They won't say be real or dr.

Man I remember when you guys first came out I was like this is a totally new kind of sound you guys had a totally new kind of sound I remember I found out about it like I wasn't even into weed back then I was like why is this weed symbol everywhere What are these guys doing these rappers with weed what the hell's happening over there, but I remember listening I'm like this is it you guys had a completely different kind of sound

Yeah, you know the thing was is that mugs was from New York is from flushing so a lot of his influence Was from New York you know his favorite production was like the bomb squad which were producing public enemy and all their shit They had like some of the most complex Production at the time with bridges and breaks and these crazy sounds and stuff like that So you know that's What mugs got down with now when he moved out here, and we start hanging out He's introducing us to New York music You know hip-hop music that we we heard we heard some of it via the radio on KD Ayy am station it was playing a lot of hip-hop in the mix and some of it Mixed with R&B and soul throughout the day So this is where we got our first introduction to hip-hop But mugs being from New York whenever we'd go back he'd come back with new records And He'd introduce us to stuff like that.

And so when it came time to to to working on an album He had all that influence and you know being from New York and absorbing all that culture It sounded sort of like New York style production mixed with a little bit of LA influence, especially with what Sen and I were kicking in terms of vocals, because we were using a combination of LA and New York slang merged as 1.

So that's why a lot of people were confused, like where are these guys from?

They thought we were from East, New York, and they were from Cypress Hills, New York and People that that were from LA they were like well wait a minute.

They kind of sound West Coast ish I think they're from out Here, but they didn't really know until we came out and said you know yeah, we're from La our Boys from New York, and we're sort of a bridge.

You know between La and New York with the sound so yeah, it was always a New York influence Sound because I mean that's where he was from but I think that that's what added to us being different because Most things that were coming out of Los Angeles in that time or Southern, California sounded like gangster rap sounded like you know a version of NWA or Compton's most wanted or something like that and We didn't we wanted to be different.

You know we felt that was their lane We need to make our own so we didn't want to sound like Anything else that was in Cali we didn't get signed by a California label like whether it was Sony or any of it We got turned down here because we didn't sound like we were from from California.

We did so funny Yeah, and how Short-sighted people are

and it turned out that like our our our Well, we call him uncle Joe Joe the butcher who was based out of Philly He had it, you know his label with rough house with Chris Schwartz He had Worked with mugs on a on an album that when mugs was in a group called 783 he knew mugs is potential He liked mugs.

He saw that you know he was evolving as a producer He heard about our thing and he wanted to take a chance on us Where we were getting turned down from every goddamn label in LA.

They said, you guys are talking about weed?

We're sitting there, they're eating lunch, listening to a song about getting high they're like what the fuck is this Or no, we didn't even have that song yet.

It was that we were talking about it was the Get High song on there was Light Another and something else, but Light Another was the main 1.

And we're talking about, that's 1 of the demos that played.

You could see the execs just scratching their head, like what do we do with this?

Isn't it funny that everybody wants everything to be cookie cutter Yeah, like the idea that rap didn't even exist a few decades prior, right?

It wasn't even a common thing and now all of a sudden it's huge and they can't see that Maybe there's another branch of this that could I mean it's funny that they wouldn't be they wouldn't recognize how good it is That's what's weird

what it is is as they don't want to take a chance on trying to develop it because if it fails It's on their back.

Yeah, you know what I mean, so they want something.

That's easy that oh like oh It's this sounds like this We can market it in this lane.

And fortunately, you know, when we got assigned to Rough House Columbia, we had the power of Columbia backing us up because they sort of believed in what we were doing.

Well, they not sort of believed, they believed in what we were doing and got behind it and allowed us to be as creative as we wanted to be and and and pushed us and and You know along with having Joe and Chris on our side Creatively like pushing our line and saying hey what these guys are doing great.

We don't want to intervene and You know change anything they're doing just let them fucking go I mean that was everything because you know most the time they want an easy layup, so if Let's just say you know there's a group over here.

Hey, how come Why don't we make a record like this over here?

It's like, well, why don't you go sign that shit over there?

So, you know, they want you to make it easy, but realistically, nothing good is ever easy.

And fortunately, you know, we got on the team that that believed in that and man it was the biggest fuck you To all those that turned us down and didn't get what we were doing They got it now y'all got it now right you got it now Try it now.


Speaker 0: The Joe Rogan experience. How many times the dude come up to you went insane in the membrane?

Speaker 1: Oh, man Almost almost where everywhere we go if I catch eye contact And sometimes if I don't catch eye contact, they'll wait for me to walk by and then they'll sing it. Or they'll call me Cyprus. Yo, Cyprus! That's been my name in New York for a long time. Yo, Cyprus!

Cause sometimes they don't know all of our names, but they know what group we're in so you know They won't say be real or dr. Green. Yo Cyprus that's cracking

Speaker 0: That's kind of awesome though.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I got a lot of names

Speaker 0: Man I remember when you guys first came out I was like this is a totally new kind of sound you guys had a totally new kind of sound I remember I found out about it like I wasn't even into weed back then I was like why is this weed symbol everywhere What are these guys doing these rappers with weed what the hell's happening over there, but I remember listening I'm like this is it you guys had a completely different kind of sound

Speaker 1: Yeah, you know the thing was is that mugs was from New York is from flushing so a lot of his influence Was from New York you know his favorite production was like the bomb squad which were producing public enemy and all their shit They had like some of the most complex Production at the time with bridges and breaks and these crazy sounds and stuff like that So you know that's What mugs got down with now when he moved out here, and we start hanging out He's introducing us to New York music You know hip-hop music that we we heard we heard some of it via the radio on KD Ayy am station it was playing a lot of hip-hop in the mix and some of it Mixed with R&B and soul throughout the day So this is where we got our first introduction to hip-hop But mugs being from New York whenever we'd go back he'd come back with new records And He'd introduce us to stuff like that. And so when it came time to to to working on an album He had all that influence and you know being from New York and absorbing all that culture It sounded sort of like New York style production mixed with a little bit of LA influence, especially with what Sen and I were kicking in terms of vocals, because we were using a combination of LA and New York slang merged as 1.

So that's why a lot of people were confused, like where are these guys from? You asked people in New York. They thought we were from East, New York, and they were from Cypress Hills, New York and People that that were from LA they were like well wait a minute. They kind of sound West Coast ish I think they're from out Here, but they didn't really know until we came out and said you know yeah, we're from La our Boys from New York, and we're sort of a bridge. You know between La and New York with the sound so yeah, it was always a New York influence Sound because I mean that's where he was from but I think that that's what added to us being different because Most things that were coming out of Los Angeles in that time or Southern, California sounded like gangster rap sounded like you know a version of NWA or Compton's most wanted or something like that and We didn't we wanted to be different.

We don't want to be in that lane. You know we felt that was their lane We need to make our own so we didn't want to sound like Anything else that was in Cali we didn't get signed by a California label like whether it was Sony or any of it We got turned down here because we didn't sound like we were from from California.

Speaker 0: We did so funny Yeah, and how Short-sighted people are

Speaker 1: and it turned out that like our our our Well, we call him uncle Joe Joe the butcher who was based out of Philly He had it, you know his label with rough house with Chris Schwartz He had Worked with mugs on a on an album that when mugs was in a group called 783 he knew mugs is potential He liked mugs. He saw that you know he was evolving as a producer He heard about our thing and he wanted to take a chance on us Where we were getting turned down from every goddamn label in LA. Not funny. They just didn't understand us. They said, you guys are talking about weed?

How does this make sense? You got any other songs? We're like, no, we're cool. And yeah.

Speaker 0: I want to get high.

Speaker 1: So high. We're sitting there, they're eating lunch, listening to a song about getting high they're like what the fuck is this Or no, we didn't even have that song yet. It was that we were talking about it was the Get High song on there was Light Another and something else, but Light Another was the main 1. And we're talking about, that's 1 of the demos that played. You could see the execs just scratching their head, like what do we do with this?

Speaker 0: Isn't it funny that everybody wants everything to be cookie cutter Yeah, like the idea that rap didn't even exist a few decades prior, right? It wasn't even a common thing and now all of a sudden it's huge and they can't see that Maybe there's another branch of this that could I mean it's funny that they wouldn't be they wouldn't recognize how good it is That's what's weird

Speaker 1: what it is is as they don't want to take a chance on trying to develop it because if it fails It's on their back. Yeah, you know what I mean, so they want something. That's easy that oh like oh It's this sounds like this We can market it in this lane. This is already a successful template. Let's use this.

Oh, they're not using that shit. We can't do nothing with it. So, you know, like it's the development. And fortunately, you know, when we got assigned to Rough House Columbia, we had the power of Columbia backing us up because they sort of believed in what we were doing. Well, they not sort of believed, they believed in what we were doing and got behind it and allowed us to be as creative as we wanted to be and and and pushed us and and You know along with having Joe and Chris on our side Creatively like pushing our line and saying hey what these guys are doing great.

We don't want to intervene and You know change anything they're doing just let them fucking go I mean that was everything because you know most the time they want an easy layup, so if Let's just say you know there's a group over here. That's doing well. Hey, how come Why don't we make a record like this over here? It's like, well, why don't you go sign that shit over there? This is not who we are.

So, you know, they want you to make it easy, but realistically, nothing good is ever easy. You gotta work toward it and develop it. And fortunately, you know, we got on the team that that believed in that and man it was the biggest fuck you To all those that turned us down and didn't get what we were doing They got it now y'all got it now right you got it now Try it now.

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