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first took this brother serious on his tribute to his cousin and Dj -
Hitman Howie Tee called “Dj Innovator”. At a time when a lotta rap
cats were tryin to be hard this dude had a very comical vocab &
delivery. After copping the first lp I noticed that the Chubbster was a
witty cat, who no doubt had lyrics!!! When Hip Hop heds talk about
lyricists, too often they neglect to mention the Chubbster. Its my
pleasure to talk to the Joker – Chubb Rock…. JayQuan:
What’s up Chubb when are you gonna hit us with somethin’ new? Chubb:
Im finishin’ up now. I would have to be realistic and say the end of
the year. JQ:
What year did you start rhymin’ , and who or what did you see or hear
that made you want to be an Emcee? Chubb:
My cousin Howie Tee who is
my producer and who really got me in the game and showed me I began to learn and watch what he was doin’, and at the
same time they had the New York Rap Awards at the Roxy. Chuck Leonard
who was a well known radio personality during that time was the host.
Masterdon , Fearless 4, Disco 4 and CD III were all on the show. That
show changed my life. I was always tall so I was able to get in – I
might have been 14 or so. That was the first time that I saw Dougie
Fresh – he didn’t have any records out. He had on a lumber jack
jacket and he was doin’ the beat box and people were losin’ their
minds. That was also the first time that I saw what later became the
Force Mds. It started as just the 2 brothers. (T.C.D. & Stevie D).
All this blew my mind. I went with my best friend Rob & my friend
Doug. Me & Rob are still close till this day. When we were riding
the train home we were like “that was incredible those guys are just
like us , and they are making records”. By this time Run Dmc had videos out and they were like stars.
These guys on this show didn’t have videos , so even Run DMC status
was far fetched. When we got home we started comin with rhymes. Not too
long after this the Fat Boys came out , and they were important because
they were from Brooklyn just like us. Once they started getting fame, it
was like yeah this is really attainable. This guy in my nieghborhood
named Dave showed me how to make pause tapes and he would pause Good
Time for like 300 bars , and use the other channel from his reel to reel
to record vocals. So he was like the first technological / engineer type
guy that blew my head open. Everyday after school we would write and
practice. Howie was getting more into producing , and he hooked up with
Full Force and made the Real Roxanne joints like Romeo and Bang Zoom. He
did a lot of production for UTFO , and I became real cool with DR. Ice
and that’s when things started to happen. Howie and Doc put together a
record called Rock & Roll Dude and gave it to me. Doc shopped it to
the label that he was on , which was Select and then it just started.
Howie & Kangol formed a group called Whistle , then I was signed to
Select. All of a sudden we put out the single and it did really well
underground We were asked to do an album and that’s when we did DJ
Innovator.
JQ:
So you are from Brooklyn – what part? CR:
Flatbush… JQ:
So you did the remix to “Caught Up”. That was my sh*t as well as the
original. The “Ants In My Pants” James Brown break set it off !!!! CR:
Yeah Man that was my first production ever , so I was nervous. That
record took me a long time to put together , ‘cus I was adamant that
it had to have all these elements. I didn’t want people to be like
ahhh let Howie keep doin the production. But Howie was the one pushin’
me to get into production. He had my back and he loved the remix. A lot
of people supported that record , like Biz was the man at that point ,
and that was his favorite record. In Jersey at this club called
Sensations , Biz told the owner you gotta get Chubb up in here to do
that Caught Up record. We ended up doin’ Sensations like 4 or 5 times
, cus Biz was a real cheerleader for the record. Kane was also big , and
he told me that he played the album all the time , so that was good
inspiration I felt like I must have been doin somethin’ right. JQ:
On the sample tip y’all rocked a few joints first. Like “Rockin
Chair”. Y’all killed that on Dj Innovator before Blazay rocked it
for “East is In the House”(Danger). CR:Yeah
we did the Luther Vandross sample (Don’t You Know That)
way before Teddy Riley , Strawberry
Letter 23 before dudes took it , The Debarge sample before Biggie took
it….a lotta cats studied them records , but if you’re not a
historian with records you don’t know. People say that Kanye is the
first to do a Hip Hop record from a gospel perspective with “Jesus
Walks” , but I did “I
am What I Am” before that. If you don’t know those records ….its
like I talk to Mele Mel all the time and we laugh at how people hear
Puffys record ( Cant Hold Me Down) , and don’t realize that he just
sampled the Message. It’s the Christopher Columbus syndrome
like I discovered America , when it was cats already here!!! The same
thing happened to us , people would say Caught Up is dope – but its
James Browns record!!! It goes both ways in different generations. Like
we all liked Rappers Delight , but you cant forget that’s Chics
record. JQ:
Along those same lines how do you feel about Rap cats suing each other
for sampling each others voices. Like I know that Public Enemy used
“Rock N Roll Dude” in the hook of “Rebel Without A Pause”. And
of course you used Flava Flavs voice on “Caught Up”. That was a very
routine thing back then, but today you have to get clearance. CR:
I don’t understand that. I was one of the first, as you said to sample
Flav with the Rock That Shit Homie on “Caught Up” , It would gas us
up back then , cus it was like if P.E. is scratching our record that
means that they actually heard it. That was an honor because me &
Howie would get a Public Enemy album and just study the production. Its
almost like if Kiesha Coles heard Patti Labelle sing one of her songs.
Imagine the honor in that!!! But back in the days the labels never
played those games with sueing for using each others voices , but now
these big labels have destroyed it and destroyed the essence of what it
is. And they have made a big business out of it. Its terrible.
JQ:
Exactly! I bug out when I hear people say that. Isaac Hayes just came
out and said how he never got paid for his stuff on the Stax label. He
just won a lawsuit to get his money from 40 years ago!! CR:
Right , they gas you with
“the artists are not getting paid”. They are not getting’ paid
anyway!! At the end of the day DOWNLOAD AND LIVE!!! Because downloading
doesn’t stop a person from buying a record if they really want it. You
can download Low End Theory , but if you're a fan you will go buy it. JQ:
And you probably bought it already anyway!!! On every format. Look at
Thriller by Michael Jackson. I have purchased it on vinyl , cassette and
cd basically every format , just like many others have , but Epic/CBS is
still saying that he only sold 40 million records on Thriller. He sold
40 million just on vinyl !!! CR:
Yeah at one time it was on mini disc. So at the end of the day its all a
gas. Its all mirrors to make you think that the artist isn’t getting
paid because of whatever. The artists weren’t getting paid REGARDLESS.
I always tell cats that if
you're not getting paid from your art , then you're buggin’. You better
bootleg your own shit. If it came from your mouth and your pen its
yours!!! At the end of the day its slavery all over again.
JQ:
Right , we had local personalities from our communities that addressed
local issues. Now we are force fed whatever Radio One , Clear Channel
and whoever else says. CR:
Yes , and whatever label gives them millions of dollars to be part of
their clique. Then Clear channel owns the venues to. Its like wait you
own the station and the means of performing too?? How does the
independent radio guy eat? JQ:
He don’t. CR:
That’s right he don’t!!! At the end of the day you cant get Black
people and Hip Hop people to starve. Once they realize that you are
gonna block the way , they are gonna go through you and its beautiful to
see it!! JQ:…getting
back to the interview , because me & you are cut from the same cloth
and we could talk all day and not get no Chubb Rock questions answered.
What happened to your boy Domino from “Rock N Roll” and “This Is
So Hard”? CR:
He wasn’t really down like we were a group. He was down with a group
that started with Howie called the Sure Shot 4. And he came on my single
because we created the song together. He was like a shy dude that wanted
to be behind the scenes. He would get on the record , but not wanna do
any shows and stuff. He was real close with us though. JQ
:You said earlier that Dr. Ice and Howie already had Rock N Roll Dude.
Did they write the lyrics as well or just the hook & beat? CR:
They had the music and “Rock N Roll Dude” was a saying that they
always had amongst each other. So they had the music , and I said lets
make the hook that thing that y’all always say to each other. JQ:
We used to bug out from your inflections , and just the way you would
say stuff. Like on the original Caught Up , or most anything on the
first lp you were purposely trying to be comedic , and you even had a
song called ‘The Joker”. Were you like a class clown type of dude
growing up?
JQ:
It was cool that at one point in the so called Golden Era you had KRS
who was serious , Biz who was a clown all the time , then Slick Rick who
was the story teller. Now everybody is pretty much the same. CR:
Its only one recipe. JQ:
That’s one thing I liked about Kanye West before he became big. He was
just a regular Black dude , who wasn’t claiming to be a hustler , pimp
or whatever. We need more of that kind of balance….. CR:
Yeah , that’s how we came in. We didn’t claim to have terrible
childhoods , I had a great childhood. What happened was it became
popular because its popular in movies , and always has been. Hip Hop has
a lot in common with movies. Everybody loves a rags to riches story ,
and after awhile that’s what happened with Hip Hop. And its cool that
could be a story , if that’s your story. But what happens if you came
from parents who had their shit together – middle class or lower
middle. Everybody cant be like the Good Times Tv show , and that’s
what Bill Cosby had to show people. Why cant we live on Park Ave. like
the Jeffersons or own businesses…that don’t exist? It damn sure
does. JQ:I
respected the fact that you as a proclaimed Joker talked heavily about
the Gulf War back in ’91 or so , and here we are with a bullshit war
and I haven’t heard a peep from the thug rappers. CR:
As far as they’re concerned it don’t affect them. The labels already
gassed them and told them if they want to continue to get the 600,000
budgets that they better keep the same formula, and it’s turned into
the WWF. Its all fabrications , made up beefs and stuff. One of the
biggest things that im gonna ask on my album is if everybody is a
gangster where are all the punks at? And what's crazy is it shows no sign
of stopping. JQ:
People like to compare so called gangsta rap with the blaxploitation era
of films, but that era lasted less than 10 years. We have been stuck in
the same mode since ’88 or so when NWA started getting big. I always
say that recorded rap changed totally every 3 years. From 79 – 82 you
had the Disco rap records , from 83 – 86 was Run DMC and the drum
machine era. 86-89 was the golden Era with Rakim , Public Enemy and them
cats. But after NWA we got stuck and we are still there. The subject
matter is still “im from here , I get women , I got a gun bla , bla
bla”. CR:
Yes , and the music started to mimmick the era of the kids. In New York
about the time that PE started getting big in ‘87 or so everyone was
wearing African Medallions and garb and it was cool to have pride in your
culture. Then came X Clan and Tribe Called Quest and that movement. That
was real and the music mimicked it!! Once the N.W.A thing came and we went
down that road the state of some of the kids changed. Gang violence
spread – not just in L.A. but all over. H.I.V. in teenagers went up.
Drop out rates for teenagers went up. Teen age pregnancy went up.
Teenage incarceration rates for male & female went up. The state of
the kids got to these ridiculous numbers and they go hand in hand. Now
if you go up to a young girl talking about the new record from whatever
group that is on a Public Enemy level today , she don’t wanna hear it.
She wants to hear about brand names and Benzes and a dude callin’ a
girl a ho , shorty or whatever. That’s what they can relate to. Sellin'
drugs , getting high and spendin’ 80,000 on an earring. Thats what
goes on. B.E.T. don’t have no more Teen Summit. The only time you'll
see someone tryin' to get some chicks that are wild on the right track is
10:00 in morning on Maury Povich when the kids are in school. Its
crazy…. JQ:
I remember that on your “And The Winner Is” Lp on the back you said
“to crack and all crack dealers fuck you”. With drug talk as
prevalent as it is today to you still feel that way? CR: Yes and no. I say no because I have realized that as I said earlier you cant blame a man for doing what he does when he is hungry and feels desperate. It’s the many dudes who aren’t and weren’t doing it for survival that I was speakin' on. Those doing it for the newest cars and clothes….I still hold that attitude towards.
END OF PART 1. ©
2006 JayQuan Dot Com. No |
CHUBB
ROCK – THE BIG MAN PT.1 By JayQuan 2006
a lotta things. He was in a group called CD III , they had a hit record
called Get Tough. Howie is my first cousin , his mom is my favorite
Aunt. I was a young boy when that record came out , but I was blown
away!! The first drum machine that he ever had – for those that know
drum machines and the history was a Roland 303. It had a bassline unit
called Drumatix and he created that whole record with it. He traded up
to a 808 and gave me the 303 with the Drumatix.
These
labels are goin' belly up everyday. We used to always say 15 years ago
that these independent rap labels are gonna go out of business because
they will take the money that these majors offer them and that will be
it. Look at Tommy Boy records , they were the most brilliant label in
Hip Hop at one time. He doesn’t even exist anymore!! He is doin’
dance records!!. Look at Select and all those artists that they had like
Whistle , Utfo , Kid N Play , Me , Amg , M.O.P. etc etc - he has nothing!!
Sleeping Bag that had EPMD , Mantronix , Just Ice – GONE!!!! They lost
their minds messin’ with the majors like they were better than them ,
and they weren’t!! The majors knew that they couldn’t sell Bob Dylan
records forever , and they said we better mess with these Niggas !!!
They knew their time was comin , so they scooped these labels up , and
they own a catalog that they will forever sell. Check out the roster on
these labels. They don’t even have r&b sections anymore! Patti
Labelle just got dropped , how can you drop Patti Labelle!!! Its only
Hip Hop on these labels. There is no independent radio personalities
anymore , now its radio companies.
CR:
Me & my group of friends just had a funny sense of humor , and we
never took rap as something that was supposed to be so serious. Unless
it was something that bothered me , like on the second Lp I had that
song called the Grammys because we weren’t getting Grammys , but even
that had a funny vibe to it.