WORDS WITH WORD$ AT HARVARD PT. 2
INTERVIEW #33
Yo, it’s the Pope, 1000WORD$. Welcome to WORDS WITH WORD$.
The following conversation is a roundtable interview recorded at The Harvard Crimson on April 8, 2023 for Hip-Hop’s 50th Birth Year. This was the second Harvard campus visit hosted by WORDS WITH WORD$, following up our February roundtable with Rome Streetz.
During the roundtable, we discussed hip-hop’s history, the genre’s undeniable impact on culture, and the power of music to change lives. Thank you for reading and subscribing.
FEATURING: 1000WORD$, CHASE FETTI, PRO DILLINGER, MICKEY DIAMOND, XP THE MARXMAN, MICAH WRITE, SMOKEINTHEYE, SPANISH RAN, TREE MASON, RIM, EDDIE KAINE, BUDA, ALIST, MIKE KUZ, RYAN KIM, AND SAM BUCK.
1000WORD$: Hey, what's going on man? So we at the Harvard Crimson building man, I'm sitting right here to my left. I got my man, Ryan who's a writer for The Crimson. You want to start this off with you, bro. How do you feel interviewing all these artists that you listen to? And how did you discover some of these artists?
Ryan Kim: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm really happy that everyone's here today. Thank you guys. It's like my playlist is alive right now. But I don't know. I'm from LA originally. So I came out here for school. I knew who Westside Gunn was who like Conway and Benny were and then it was really just going to shows. My friend was randomly walking around the streets of Boston and ran into -- Al.Divino --, like, that's how I got that interview. That's how I met 1000WORD$. And it was just kind of like, actually being around and outside and just going to places where I knew cool stuff was happening and just meeting the right people.
1000WORD$: What has hip-hop done for you?
Ryan Kim: It did this, you know, it's introduced me to people, people like you. People I work with now. And friends as well. It's amazing.
1000WORD$: Yo Pro. So your name Pro Dillinger, right?
Pro Dillinger: Yes, sir.
1000WORD$: What's hip-hop done for you, my brother?
Pro Dillinger: Changed my life. Honestly, like from the start. Immediately soon as I started rapping, I didn't immediately started making money. But I knew that when I had a purpose, that was what I was going to do. You know, I mean, I figured that out pretty early. And I stay fairly consistent. I stopped a few times and whatever like I'm sure everybody else in this room did. You know we all older heads? So it's like for a second it felt like what am I doing this for? I'm not making no bread. And then I kept, I kept moving forward kept moving forward. I didn't want to be in the streets no more I kept going, kept going. And then I started making bread and I just stopped, you know what I'm saying? This shit changed my life. I feed my family off of this. All my brothers, like all the people I do music with and affiliate myself with, they all get money also, you know? On some able to be comfortable shit, you know what I mean? I'm not a rich man by any means. But I'm comfortable. I don't have to worry about nothing, you know? So I'm very very grateful and appreciative for that. You know what I mean?
1000WORD$: Yo, Dot Demo what about you my brother? What shit popped off for you bro?
Dot Demo: It made me appreciate where I'm from. I'm from the Bronx, Soundview, you know what I'm saying? I come from every place on another shit. I look at that shit like a fucking stronghold now. You know what I'm saying. There's a point in time when Bronx to me was like a shithole. You know what I'm saying and everything bad that in the world that could ever happen can happen right then and there. And then just you know to see what it does to people and bring it back home. It just makes it look more beautiful to be back there. So made me appreciate where I'm from.
1000WORD$: What about you Chase Fetti? What shit popped off for you, bro?
Chase Fetti: It definitely gave me a different way of living. You know what I'm saying? It gave me hope you know what I'm saying? Like for a long time I never thought I was gonna do nothing with myself. You know like going to LA or like I was doing a show in North Carolina, bro, I saw this fan was just rapping my shit so thorough. I forgot my lyrics because I like start chiming in on em. I'm like, and I'm like, “Is this shit real?” This shit dead real, my n***a. You know I'm saying like, this shit dead make a n***a emotional sometimes thinking about this shit. Like, I'm from nowhere. You know what I'm saying. Fucking fans are writing me from South Africa and Australia. And it's like is this shit real. Music, man, it give a n***a hope.
1000WORD$: Word. What about you, XP The Marxman, what shit popped off for you?
XP The Marxman: Coming from LA and growing up around the gangs and shit, and my family you know, Mexican gangs shit, you know I mean? I had a really, you know… it gave me an identity. Because coming from where I'm from. I don't speak my native tongue. So I had to find my identity because my people didn't want me. I go to Mexico you know they ain't fucking with fools from LA you know I'm saying. That's a no no. And then obviously, I'm a Mexican in America homie and they ain't fucking with me either. So hip-hop gave me an identity homie and gave me a home. It gave me a way to really hone in on some shit that I felt like if I'm gonna be good at one thing on this earth. I know I can be a good father. I know I can be, you know, a brother, a son, you know, whatever, but when it came time to make some bread I felt like this was what I was good at. I wasn't gonna be a mechanic. I wasn't gonna be at no fucking, you know, cubicle and the streets really, it gave me the utilities to work in this field you know I'm saying because I don’t have to pull from an imaginary resource, you know what I'm saying. It all appears, all the shit I been through, it's me and my homies. It gave me an identity, real shit. Facts.
1000WORD$: ---DJ Anthony Mace --- motherfucking legendary man. What's going on my brother? What's hip-hop done for you my brother?
DJ Anthony Mace: It got me in Crimson Harvard
1000WORD$: Yo, Deadass
DJ Anthony Mace: I ain't even sign up for no college and so to be in here...It's like, it's like wow, but it's amongst people like you guys. And when I was growing up, you know, all I had was Thug Paradise on a CD and my boys, MCs that weren't really that good but they try their best. And we used to we used to just rock out and you know I mean just make believe. And it was like yo one day could this be and it was like, Yo, it was like, it gave me a sport to play that I knew I loved and I knew I was good at.
1000WORD$: Rim the Villain, What up man. What's hip-hop done for you RIM?
RIM: Hip-hop made me respect. Like, I already knew words is powerful man, but you know I mean like when I started rhyming and hip-hop, I realize how powerful words could be. Like how far words can reach. You know what I'm saying, and I don't even mean reach as a business, it could be business too, but like reach a person, you know I'm saying. This reaches a certain number, you know what I'm saying, certain individuals and shit and it made me really like respect the words. It's like respect words. Respect for like everything could be worded in way that you would not in physical. You know what I mean.
1000WORD$: Eddie Kaine, what's hip-hop done for you my brother?
Eddie Kaine: It did everything for me. See me growing up with all these siblings, as the youngest hanging with a bunch of older dudes when I came outside. I was forced to battle when I ain't even know what to say. You know what I mean. At school rapping and ciphers and stuff. I did pep rallies, talent shows, open mics, all of that, you know? So there's living my life experiences and learning how to incorporate it to that music is what made me leave but I was hip-hop before I knew I was hip-hop. Doing my household with my other brothers, you know what I'm saying. hip-hop is all for me, brother.
1000WORD$: Fire. Codeine. Wassup, my bro, what's hip-hop done for you my brother?
Codenine: It was a fucking opportunity for me. I grew up in household that was a homeless shelter. So I had to get that. Older brother hippie with the shit. I went to school by myself, by my lonesome. Didn't have no cousins, nothing like that. So I had, it gave me opportunity for like a community. You know, I'm saying like, connected to the scene when I was like 13 and the older guys there were doing it. So it was now meeting your purpose. I go I walk around the city all the time. You know, motherfucker grew up in 40th 50th street. Selling drugs. Don't know what we doing, and they just wait till the day where either something happens, or something happens. And that's it. I'm not trying to be nothing. If I didn't have this, I could've been selling. Or doing 35. We don't matter, if we don't prep. We're not taught at 15, 16, 17 to prep. Okay, time living on credit. Not even getting a sense of purpose or community or opportunity.
1000WORD$: smokeintheye, what up man, what's hip-hop done for you?
smokeintheye: Shit. I'm not gonna lie. I'm kind of like an anomaly. It's like, I'm from the suburbs. I come from a place where nobody really knows hip-hop. But I fell in love with that shit like really, really long ago, like, I was eight when I first started listening to Eminem type shit, like all the greats type shit. You already know, and I started rapping, right after that, but me and my boy, he was like in my grade and he rapped too. And we just rapped together like everyday type shit and I never stopped and that shit turned into like my therapy, you know what I mean? That shit like really gets me through the day like, I can't go a day without listening to rap, trying to write a verse, like that shit is truly what I feel like I was put on this earth to do. Real shit.
1000WORD$: Micah Write, what up bro? What's hip-hop done for you?
Micah Write: Bro, a lot. I feel like hip-hop has educated. And it kept me from dabbling. I mean, like, I grew up in the hood. So I dabbled in the street, but I'm not a street dude. And you will never hear me profess those sorts of things. I'm not. And I know people that I mean, really out here like that. You know what I mean? I had a little taste. I was like, “I'm good.” And it was because of hip-hop. I'm a big Saigon fan. You know, I don't know if anybody remembers that Brother. You know, that music changed my life forreal. It made me.. it made me feel, it made me feel confident in taking the stance on like, I'm not gonna do no street shit. I'm not gonna fuck around. I could. This is here I'm from I'm from the South Bronx, I'm from Jersey City. It's there, I was always there. But for what, you know what I mean? I learned, I learned a lot of shit, even like Prodigy, you know what I mean. hip-hop has a lot to teach. I feel like I was educated by hip-hop. It provides me a sense of direction, you know what I'm saying, I feel like my life purpose is directly tied to the art that I create. This is all art to me. I'm saying like, you know, I'm not necessarily writing about all my life experiences. I'm a private individual, but I like to create art so for me this is all art. And that shit provided a habitat for that. I get to be amongst people that are way more established. You know what I'm saying, to me that's cool. I never thought I would be in the circle like that.
1000WORD$: Tree Mason, man. What's hip-hop done for you?
Tree Mason: This shit made me. This shit raised me. This shit gave me my style. Like XP said my identity type shit. I had all older brother. Also, I'm the youngest, as Eddie was saying like, my influences come from everything around hip-hop. I wanted to dress like Dipset or I wanted to sound like Styles P so this shit is open doors that I never thought it would ever open and I get to rap with some of these elites that are in the same room that I respected and just as much as my shit. And to know that now I could do a project, my vinyl flips for a same price as a zip, my n***a. It's lit. It's lit.
1000WORD$: Tell em.
Tree Mason: I'm living Bro.
1000WORD$: Facts.
Tree Mason: Shit gave me everything. I'm nothing but thankful for hip-hop. Thankful to be in a position I'm in. Forreal.
1000WORD$: Spanish Ran, what about you my G? What has hip-hop done for you?
Spanish Ran: It's a way of life. You know what I mean, it's culture. It changed my life. It put me in rooms I never thought I'd be in. You know what I'm saying, like, I've been in a lot of rooms and I don't know how the fuck I got here. I come from the Bronx, you know, that shit was crazy. It was like watching a superhero on TV. Remember watching [Big Pun] for the first time coming down in a BMW giving kids ice cream and money to buy ice cream. He's at a barber shop and I was one of the kids who he gave a haircut, like, he like got my hair cut. And I'm saying like I'm 13 or 14 years old. So it always showed me that as a kid. Like it's kind of far reaching cause they're superheroes but it's also attainable because they're right in front of you. Then being the fact that getting older, later on, not only changed my life and helped change other people's lives too. Gotta pass that down. When you know that I'm able to help somebody in a position to grow and become something. Especially when you see talent from the very start early. For me, it's just a way of life man. It's not far fetched when you tryna live your dream.
1000WORD$: What about you Homie? Say your name.
Mike Kuz: Mike Kuz, What's up everybody? I feel like hip-hop has blessed me my whole life honestly. I feel like as when I was young it gave me perspective. You know, I'm saying because I'm from like a quiet town in Connecticut. You know, I mean, so being able to hear them stories and to have... to be developing role models that was different from me, to have different types of stories, like gave me perspective, you know what I mean? And it made me curious, you know what I mean? As far as the art form, I feel like it gave me an outlet to tap into my full potential because I did a lot of stuff when I was young, you know what I'm saying. I used to draw.. I used to, you know, you a kid you're doing all type of shit but hip-hop was the only shit that made me want to continue like I'm gonna keep getting better at this art form, you know what I'm saying? I want to level up and then into my adult life making it my career. Having it put me in positions where I'm working with some of my idols. Making music that spins, that I feel like you know, that is something that I needed too, you know what I'm saying because like I was raised to kind of be quiet and out of the way. With this shit really I feel like helped me tap into my full potential, so it's been a lifelong thing.
1000WORD$: Buda, what up man?
Buda: What's going on brother?
1000WORD$: What's hip-hop done for you, my bro?
Buda: Hip-hop is a way of life. It's a universal language. It took me out my bedroom all the way around the world and back here working with legends in the making. From helping develop future iconic artists to working with some of the best of them to actually teaching at schools. Shit, working with legends, producing for people. Superbowl commercials. All types of shit that I'd never thought I'd do.
1000WORD$: Legendary shit, man.
Buda: Word. I grew up watching Biggie, and all of em coming up and then my parents both of them sold drugs. My pops was in the feds forever, got deported, and passed away. So that shit kind of raised me. Kept me out of trouble. Definitely had me like not wanting to sell drugs. you know I'm saying like I've seen my parents do that shit. To the point where I've got a studio downtown. I'm saying I just got an honorary doctorate. I never finished school so to even be here at Harvard chilling with the n****s I worked with like --- Fetti, Dot, Ran --- I've done seen -- Ran -- with all types of n***as and it wasn't no school for this shit. You just had to figure it out. So to be able to, amongst all of them circumstances like coming up in the Bronx, Kingsbridge, and then you doing some shit that there's no school for. You just got to figure it out. You got to MPC, you figuring it out. You get a laptop, you figure it out. Then it just created more ways for you to believe in yourself to the point where like corporate n***as got a respect it.
1000WORD$: What about you my brother? Say your name?
Alistfame: Alistfame. So yeah, man It's beyond giving me purpose. hip-hop to me opened up the world creatively. The way I think, the way I do things, the way I appreciate. It opened up the world physically as well you know some of the things I seen in my life because my music brought me there. The people. Producing for my favorite artists. That shit is like, I can't think of anything else that would have gotten me to do things beyond hip-hop. Some of the best relationships I've ever made. The greatest people I've ever met. Again, hip-hop is something that raised me. Something that fed me, fed my family. So it's like without its existence it's like who even am I? You understand what I'm saying. I share that sentiment with everybody here. You know man I went to college because financial aid was available.
1000WORD$: You went you had a good time.
Alistfame: I did but I went for six months. I went to college in New Jersey so this shit got me out of there.
1000WORD$: Mickey motherfucking Diamond, man, What's hip-hop, done for you, bro?
Mickey Diamond: I'm gonna keep it all the way live. Bro, I got a two part answer. When I was young, hip-hop gave me an opportunity to shine, you feel me, like I was young. I didn't know I was gonna be good at rapping that I was and n***as used to be like, Yo, bro, you shoulda done it. You know, I'm saying and I ain't believe in myself like I should have when I was young, because when I graduated in 2003. I'm 37 years old. So this internet shit, how we eat now, and all this shit. This shit was not around. Nobody. There was no room. If you didn't have a bag behind you or you were born into dead gems. You wasn't getting heard. You know what I'm saying? Or you had to do crazy ass shit. Run up on the DJ and all that, you feel me? So for some reason or another, it just felt like no matter what I do, I get drawn back to it and something that pushed me to just feel like okay, I'm getting a step closer, I'm getting a step closer. I'm getting a step closer. Mothers like get a job. I get a job. You feel me? And then I get a job and you there and nothing. Now I'm relying on a fucking paycheck that's only gonna keep me so far bro, you get what I'm saying? It's like, keep believing. Keep going. Keep going. And then as of 2000 when the pandemic hit y'all. Check this shit out. This is my god honest story as of right now. I was fucked up, owed mad child support, had a new baby, I got four kids type shit, and we was getting unemployment checks, you feel me? This was through the pandemic and we got our last one. They told us that they would stop shit. My girl came and said "So Im finna get a job. What you finna do?" and it was like the room went blank bro and I was just in that motherfucker by myself like I stepped outside of myself and just saw myself sit. I'll probably got like $500 to my name type shit and I said "Imma rap" and she was like "You gon rap? Aight." She said kind of like small like aight. You feel me? Bro from that day forth, we already know. If you know you know. Real shit. When I was a kid, I used to be like I want to make a comic book. I used to draw and shit. I want to make a comic book. I want to make an action figure. I just did this shit last year when no other avenue or book rep would allow me to do that shit because what the fuck am I making an action figure for? You feel what I'm saying? Rap got me the opportunity to come up with the idea. To do some other shit. You feel me? I kill two birds with one stone bro. Now, the second part of the other shit is I know we keep going with the… Oh n***a we at Harvard and all that shit. The fact that we here. We all know we're not supposed to be here. Mindblown, for sure. But better than that shit bro is the fact that every.. I just told him.. I told him.. I was like this is the internet in this fucking room. This is the internet right here, you get what I'm saying? There some n***as missing but for the most part, if you would have had the n***as from the last panel and this one right here with us right now. This is the internet. These are the names you go and see if in the underground hip-hop without looking for em. They gon will pop up. The YouTube algorithm won't recommend motherfuckers to you, you get what I'm saying? So at the end of the day, pat yourself on the fucking back because you know how many n***as this has drawn in this kind of rap who are not getting heard. You know how many n***as will see the picture on Monday when we pose for this shit like fuck I'm supposed to be there.
Pro Dillinger: Fucking Mad as a motherfucker.
Mickey Diamond: When you did the first one, when you did the first one, what hear you saying?
1000WORD$: N***as weren't answering man.
Mickey Diamond: We supposed to be there, bro, you feel me? Fuck, I wanna be at Harvard, too.
1000WORD$: Y'all didn't believe in me, man. Y'all don't be patient, man.
Chase Fetti: I seen a post today that shit said 38 million tracks on streaming services were played zero times. You heard, my n***a. That shit crazy. n****s throwing music out there for no reason. 38 million tracks never got heard.
Mickey Diamond: This how amazing this shit is.. I go to my PayPal right now and show you a n***a that just pay me $1,100 for pre vinyl. You get what I'm saying? This shit pays my bills. Feeds my kids. It took the worry away from being under the thumb and a fucking working man and just trying to figure out life. If you start getting some money in the shit, if you start buzzing in this shit and n****s start paying you money save all that shit. This what I'm telling y'all n****s. Save all that shit. This how I started.
Pro Dillinger: N***a the internet is tomorrow. Yo, hold on. Let me pose a question to the whole group. You know I mean and we don't gotta go around and you know whatever, whatever. Everybody in this space right now right in the next five years it ain't nothing but up if we keep doing the right thing the trajectory is up right. So in five years when we come back to Harvard and we all sitting here with jewelry, pocket full of money, shit like that, and n****s done bought houses and we made our families comfortable, and shit like that. Is what we do still going to be considered underground? As far as like the… you dig what I'm saying? Like that's the label that our genre is giving, you get what I'm saying? That's the label that our genre is given.
Mickey Diamond: Everything in this room got some form of a classic record or classic project or something of that art. You get what I'm saying?
Pro Dillinger: So take the word underground out of it. Let's take the word underground out of it. Just in our circle, right, in this corner hip-hop that that we perform in, right. Will it still be considered that in five years when we up? Or are we gonna be the n***as who's the new n***as look at and be like "Ah them n***as that ain't that." Five years when we up compared to what it is right now.
Mickey Diamond: I never met this n***a and I know that's Dot Demo. I never met this n***a in his life and I know that's Chase Fetti. This is my first time meeting this n***a but I know that's --XP the Marxman-- you get what I'm saying? That's RIM, That's Eddie Kaine, That's Tree Mason. That's Micah Write. That's smokeintheye. You get what I'm saying? These are n****s you see. That's how you know a n***a really tapped in and really fuck with. You see a n***a off Facebook and it feels like you've already known the n***a because I know your rap, because I watch you grow. We watched each other grow. We growing together bro, you get what I'm saying? Like think about it we cooked this shit for 10 years, 15 years and now n****s gonna start getting old things, n***as gonna start passing away. Shit will be like a family reunion. The times will go way deeper than just this music shit. You heard such and such, you get what I'm sayin? It's gonna be like damn like now you ain't seen n****s in 10 years because n****s been successful but we all gon come back because somebody in this bracket or something, you get what I'm saying? And that's what will always bring us together, bro. This shit is a family bro and doggy put the family tree together. You know the family reunion with the shirts on a motherfucker? Doggy put the shirts together, you feel what I'm saying?
1000WORD$: N****s ain't believe it.
Mickey Diamond: No corny shit I would have never had a reason to be at Harvard so let's give it up to my n***a, 1000WORD$. This man a legend. Look n***as got bills. N****s pay money just to be here. You feel what I'm saying? Like, it's fucking Harvard.
1000WORD$: The difference is, you know what I mean, I'm a real fan of hip-hop. I grew up collecting mixtapes, CDs, posters, everything. Like I do now. You know what I'm saying? I've never signed up to be a photographer. Nobody ever wanted to give me a media pass or none of that shit. I was ready to wait outside. Everything man. You know what I'm saying and look where we at. Our children, Every single one. Look I've been in your hood. I haven't been to your hood yet but we've been in plenty of hoods. I've been to your hood, your hood, your hood, your hood, and your hood. Dolo.
Mickey Diamond: That's a fact.
Pro Dillinger: Sam Buck’s been in my shit Dolo.
1000WORD$: I ain't look at you. You never invited me n***a. No, you have, you have.
Pro Dillinger: But what I'm saying is this shit started five years ago so to see the humble beginnings of that and then where are we at now? It makes me think about what the next five years is going to bring. The promise of the next five years of what we build in here, you know what I'm saying and been building you know what I mean.
Mickey Diamond: We just gotta keep the shit pure, bro. As long as n***as keep the support, bro. So when we was growing up you know what made hip-hop live? Is that it was 50 different n***as and they're all their own n***a, you get what I'm saying? That's what makes this shit dope.
Chase Fetti: You know what's crazy? That's why I can't jack a lot of this shit now because n***a when we grew up like Prodigy ain't sound Hov. Busta ain't sound like Q Tip. They get beat up if they did.
Chase Fetti: I don't know no n***a sounded like nobody, n***a. So me playing ball, right. I've been in all the states right? Back in the day, my n***a, you tell somebody you from Jersey, they automatically on your dick. We don't got that no more.
Mickey Diamond: In the underground circuit, you do.
Chase Fetti: Everybody is sucking so much dick. Ain't no sound in New York. Ain't no style in New York. Ain't no style in Jersey.
1000WORD$: But that's what's making y'all n****s shine, bro. Cause y'all got the essence.
Chase Fetti: “Oh, I got on G-Fazos.” Bitch, you ain't never been to Chicago. Shut the fuck up. I ain't be jacking none of that shit.
Mickey Diamond: You're talking about culturally.
Chase Fetti: I don't be jacking nothing that's not from the fucking east coast, my n***a. Straight up, that shit weird. They love us
Mickey Diamond: They didn't grow up on that though. This is a new generation of n***as. Think about it. Everybody in here who old as shit. Everybody in this in the 30s right. That's why, you feel me? They didn't come up on that. Bro you gotta think if you came up if you was born five years younger, you'd be on Soulja Boy and shit.
Pro Dillinger: No, because everybody went to jail. Everybody died. There's no OGs no more. Even with the gang shit. These lil n***as is moving reckless. How you blood but you from this hood. So you've banging this hood? And everything's all fucked up boy. These little drill n***as don't give a fuck about no flags. No nothing. There's no respect. There's no respect no more. These values aren't taught no more because there's no more fucking OGs. There's no more big homies. A lot of n***as lost their fathers and uncles, and shit like that. Motherfuckers was raised by the grandparents who couldn't do much. You outside. Both my parents worked. I was outside.
Mickey Diamond: I was a latchkey kid, man.
Pro Dillinger: I was after school program, n***a. You know what I'm saying?
1000WORD$: I tell you man, my mom used to give me my house keys and say ride with somebody that live close to you, man.
Pro Dillinger: Don't lose your house key, n***a.
1000WORD$: Definitely don't lose your house keys. But yo. Back to the whole circle shit. Yo, how much have you sacrificed?
Pro Dillinger: Amen. For me, personally, of course money but to me it's like money you can always make back right? What you can't make back it's time. I've sacrificed time with my children, my family, from working a job, you know, personal time for myself to do the things that I like to do. I've been I've been going so hard the last couple of years with just this music shit. I don't even know what the fuck I like to do no more. That when I get out in the world, and I'm not doing music, I feel weird. You know what I'm saying? Like deadass bro. That's real shit. If I go if my shorty be like, yo, let's go to eat when we sitting down to be somewhere. I'd be like this. I'd be feeling.. I feel.. Yeah, I feel weird because I'm out of my element. I'm always in my basement recording myself, smoking trees, my shorty come out says I'm drunk, my kids is around. They playing downstairs. Like that's my environment, bro. That's my natural habitat. And I'm saying like humans can adapt to anything but when I'm doing some shit that don't got nothing to do with music I feel weird as fuck.
Chase Fetti: It is some shit that has to do with like a vacation or something, you shooting a video. Always working.
1000WORD$: Motherfuckers see a palm tree and start recording.
Pro Dillinger: Because shit got to move. You can't stop. Like we not in a space where n****s could stop doing music for six months and still be hot. No n***a.
Chase Fetti: I was just arguing with my girl yesterday. She's like all you worry about is what you worried about. Bitch what else am I supposed to worry about? Like I really just went through that shit.
Pro Dillinger: Worry about. Cmon bro. That's why she'll never be here sitting at Harvard, my n***a. Like you in the lab just hanging out?
1000WORD$: Yo Dot. How much have you sacrificed my brother?
Dot Demo: Aw man. I think he answered that.
Chase Fetti: You know being... I've been on 3 tours. Being away from my kids for two months. Like I had my daughter since she was eight months. My daughter is about to be nine. She lived with me. We got a different relationship. So being away from my kids for six days. That shit fucks with my mind, my n***a. A piece of my brain feels like “Damn, yo, like, am I doing the right thing?”
Pro Dillinger: You feel selfish?
Chase Fetti: Yes. Yes.
Pro Dillinger: I feel selfish for being here right now.
1000WORD$: Y'all I haven't seen my daughter in two years, yo, and I literally cry sometimes randomly. Because like that's some shit that I wish I could do, you know I'm saying?
Mickey Diamond: You're doing what you're supposed to be doing. You're leaving a legacy. When she get to eat the apple off this tree that you planted, my n***a. That's all that's going to matter. You're sacrificing the now for the later, my n***a. It's tough though.
Pro Dillinger: Stand on that, n***a.
Chase Fetti: I ain't gon lie. N****s about to make my eyes tear up.
Mickey Diamond: That's the thing I love about the rap bro. I work from home. I'm with my kids 24/7. I be with my kids so I don't feel bad when I'm like, go sit down or something because I'm always with them, you get what I'm saying? Working. Doing my shit right with my son in my arm. Making Cheerios. I'm on the phone with this n***a and this n***a, you feel me? Everytime you talk to me, where am I at?
1000WORD$: At the house with the babies.
Mickey Diamond: With my babies, you feel me? Every project y'all seen me drop. Every idea, every CD, every album, I was with my kids, right there
Pro Dillinger: I done recorded projects with my son in my arms. Most foul, two foul projects with my little n***as in my arms. When he was a baby, bro. That's just every time I wrap this little n***a come from downstairs and just sit in a basement on the floor.
Mickey Diamond: If I had no family to do this shit with, I would have no fun doing it. That's the only thing that makes me. You feel me? Because I'm not just rapping to get money so I can be flexing against you. I'm taking this shit n***a. I make 2000 a day. I'm sending 500 to my daughter just because you feel me? She 20. Go have fun, you feel me? Shit I couldn't have done if I didn't have this shit.
Pro Dillinger: I know ultimately, everybody in this room, they do this shit not only for ourselves.
Mickey Diamond: That's what we're doing it for. We not doing it for us.
Pro Dillinger: We sacrificing us.
Mickey Diamond: You the vessel, my n***a.
Pro Dillinger: So we can make a yellow brick road for them.
Chase Fetti: I just told a n***a yesterday that with me doing this shit… Nevermind my kids. My daughter is my best friend. No matter what. My daughter gone be alright. n***a I was talking to my homies and I was like yo n***a like if I don't help somebody obtain something or live out their dreams, then what the fuck?
Pro Dillinger: What would you do it for?
Mickey Diamond: It's part of your responsibility as an artist, bro. n***as use that art, they use that music, you provide a soundtrack to people's lives, right? So when God gave you that gift, you got to spread that shit. If not, he gone take that shit away.
Pro Dillinger: Right. But not only that, right? It's like the.. like the n***a around you. Like who can you appeal a little bit of knowledge to that will actually hear this shit. You know what I'm saying? Because you be around n****s in the hood all day. Not everybody tapped into the fucking underground. I'll be telling my n****s like bro, you could make a living off the shit, n***a. Look at me, n***a. Look at bro.
Buda: See, you inspiring them though. And we hip-hop. So n****s got an ego. A lot of n****s ain't gonna tell you that you inspire them too. So you still got to push yourself to do it, bro.
Pro Dillinger: Yeah. I want to help the n****s around me.
1000WORD$: Can I ask y'all something? How do you feel about like major labels and things like that?
Pro Dillinger: We don't need them.
1000WORD$: Why don't you?
Chase Fetti: N****s don't need them but you will get you some deals. It's a balance. You got a good lawyer. And your shit is together. Like I’m gonna use Chief Keef, for instance, right? Now Chief got that little bag from Jimmy Iovine. Whoopty Whoopty Woo, right? And then you know, this is a reckless n***a. So whenever he got that little chicken, they done ran that n***a through the machine. He said "N***a, fuck y'all. I'm making 40,000 on my own now."
Pro Dillinger: That little motherfucker rich as hell.
Chase Fetti: A n***a run through that machine for 12 months. He understood the system. Now you think about how we came up. N****s came up last. n****s came. Everybody does this shit on they own. So, with a little bit of help.
Buda: I also say it's a balance. My fault to cut you off. Because some of the superheroes that we grew up loving came on a major. If they wasn't on a major, you probably wouldn't have been influenced by that artist, too. So I feel like it's a balance.
Pro Dillinger: A lot of them n****s got worked over too. Even a lot of the underground n****s that we all know were on major labels first. Roc Marciano was with Flipmode. A lot of these n****s with somebody.
Buda: Everybody fell in love with this shit and had nothing to do with bread, right? So when you bring bread into the equation. Just add that, that has nothing to do with hip-hop. That's the rap business, n***a. Like the money, the block parties, all that shit. n****s wasn't paying you to go to that. You had an addiction to the culture. You was a fiend for hip-hop. So to the point you became a nerd, right? And now you you push out art, like the shit is work. Now you make a living off of it. But that wasn't the initial motivation for you to become the superhero that you are today. So you monetize it in low level? Also, remember that the passion had nothing to do with bread. You use a fan. So gotta you gotta pass that down.
1000WORD$: You know what I feel like? I feel like how can somebody tell you about the culture? Right? Because I don't think I had to study the culture. Like I was born in that shit, you know what I'm saying? Like, how can you tell me about some shit that I was born in? Everybody in my building was poor. Everybody has section eight. Everybody was growing up face to face. Everybody's parents was not sending their kids to school because they spend the money on the first. You don't know if you're gonna starve next month? You know what I'm saying like, how you have.. like people that wear fucking streetwear clothes, right? That never been in the street, Bro. They think because you bought a $300 shirt like you can't get punched in your face. You know what I'm saying?
Mickey Diamond: You know what's dumb about that? That's the fucking bravado and incompetence that hip-hop damn gives n****s.
Dot Demo: Yeah. N****s start rapping to feel tough, you feel me?
1000WORD$: You can't. You can't wear Pelle, Pelle.
Mickey Diamond: I hate that. They're taking it. n****s rapped about his real shirt. Your whole T-shirt wrinkled. If you made your kids rap about that. Like imagine rapping about that shit. It's gonna be good for so long but n***a, you know what I mean?
Chase Fetti: I caught this one n***a like three times, right. This n***a older than me, right. He always got the best of me, right. n***a in 2017, I worked that n***a. I'm talking about I'll beat the shit out of that n***a. He used to always pick on me when I was little. When I was small I was soft. This n***a like four or five years older than me, you feel me? Bros, word to mother, I hit that n***a because I was tight, n***a. That n***a dropped. He was just trying to take advantage of me because I was small. We both grown now. Times change, n***a.
1000WORD$: How did everybody sitting here feel like when you saw your first album or any album you had pressed on vinyl for the first time? And knowing it wasn't from no record label or anything like that. It was just from like damn this shit coming in the mail in six months and when that ship got there... How did that feel, man?
Pro Dillinger: Yo when Frank's vinyl was the first company that gave me a Vinyl deal you know I mean? But you know at the time it wasn't fuck site. Site gave me I swear to god bro he gave me six racks. I had to put none up. He was like yeah. It was an EP five songs. When them shits came in the mail bro and I opened that shit up I was like damn yeah like this is really happening. Like a lot of n****s I fuck with never seen a Vinyl record before in they fucking life. Or they seen it with they parents and I'll be showing the homie that shit and they'd be like damn blood n****s still listen to this shit. n****s still play these. Word to my mother. Yo, hold up. Yo-- ram--. The other day my bro, yo, the bro asked me he was like "Why you selling tapes bro? Who buy tapes?" I'm like what? Are you dumb?
Chase Fetti: My first vinyl I ever did was Mandatory Respect. Yeah, so I remember like when that shit came like you know? I just sat there for a second because I'm like is n****s gone buy this?
1000WORD$: That's how you felt? That shit sold out.
Chase Fetti: Because I'm thinking about us in like real time.
Pro Dillinger: You thinking about us in real time. Lil n****s in high school, they not bumping that shit.
Chase Fetti: You get what I'm saying? But then motherfucker gets on Craiglist or Amazon and see one of my shits up there for triple the money.
Pro Dillinger: Resellers be wilding. This shit like drugs, if you create a market for yourself. People be putting that shit on their wall. But yo to see it in the flesh, bro, with your tracklist on the back, and your n****s featured on that.
1000WORD$: Be flexing with your shit. And be flexing with your shit.
Pro Dillinger: Then you pulling up at the shows and n****s is popping out with your shit like markers. Where you get a marker from bro?
Chase Fetti: Yo, I got off the stage in Chicago, right. n***a ran up on me, son, with a scale, dusty. That n***a said yo I've had your shit since I was 16.
Pro Dillinger: I'm signing it right now.
Chase Fetti: What? I put a heart on that motherfucker. n***a I love you, n***a.
Sam Buck: I don't even make music like that's not who I am, but I cried when I heard my voice on a Conway the machine song. Like I cried when I heard that shit. I just I love this shit
Pro Dillinger: That was your I made it moment.
Sam Buck: I don't know there hasn't been one. You think you had your I made it moment yet?
Pro Dillinger: Hell nah. I'll never feel like I made it, you know what I'm saying? Once you feel like you made it, you stop being hungry. Even when you make it, I don't never feel like I made nothing, n***a. I'm not rich yet. I haven't bought my house yet. My mother still work.
1000WORD$: When 38 Spesh, called me like , yo, 1000WORD$, I got a few vinyls your shits came in. I was like yo I was calling n****s like yo y'all gotta take me to judge and n****s done told. We done told that's so crazy man. 15 bucks. I ain't even have 15 bucks. Let's go man. Let's go man. We went. I saw that shit, man. I saw the vinyl. I saw the names that participated in that and you know the journey that I've been through a lot of y'all see me you know bouncing around and shit. First thing I do is I take it to my mom's because my mom's had vinyls and shit, you know, and I showed it to her and she was like, like you got to sign it for me but she did that as a joke. She was like not really wanting me to sign it. Spesh the realest, bro.
Chase Fetti: I learned mad shit, you know like Spesh got a weird personality too because if you don't really know him, he like quiet.
Mickey Diamond: He quiet as hell
Chase Fetti: You know what I'm saying? So think about this my n***a I did that whole top of the red like damn near in silence. Like at that n****s house. Like he put the beat on, I wrote and recorded but we didn't have no interaction. You know what I'm saying? Our chemistry. But then once he started talking, and it was like, that n****s started dropping hella game on me, my n***a. Like, Spesh that's a smart motherfucker.
Pro Dillinger: Free game is the best, too.
Chase Fetti: You could just look around and see that You feel me? Just make music for n****s like you. Bro like I was just at that n****s crib last week, we was just doing some new shit. But I don't be going over there for nothing other than the conversation now because it'd be like he always dropping gems on a n***a, you know what I'm saying? Like nah Chase don't do it like this, do this shit like this this time? It's gonna be more effective. Like when I when I finished the project for him like I didn't know about primary artists tags, all that shit. I just dropped that shit. Right? Knowing that I didn't know that, you know, like a motherfucker pull up to search this shit, his name and the tape supposed to pop up and I ain't know about all that shit, n***a. I was just rapping. But that n***a was like nah, n***a. That n***a said Yo, listen check this out. It's a million n****s on this planet just like me and Chase, make music for them. I was like damn. That's the most simple shit in the world. As soon as I've just started just doing that.
Pro Dillinger: Cause it's n****s like us making the music.
1000WORD$: One of my friends pops bought the Violator plaque right? From a fiend for 50 Cash. So we was hanging it up in his room. And I was like, Yo man there ain't no more compilations like that, you know what I'm saying? So I hit up Spesh. You know, I was jumping out the window like Yo, man, I got this idea. If you want to lay down a verse for me. He was like I'll do something better, I'll produce the whole shit.
Chase Fetti: Why you say it like that? N***a jumped into character.
1000WORD$: We in Harvard. We working on a second one. And it sounded crazy already with the help of the homies, you know what I'm saying? But yeah, man, I think this is good. I think we got enough. We're gonna walk around and take some pictures. Solidify this. Yessir.