All language subtitles for Stretch.and.Bobbito.Radio.That.Changed.Lives.2015.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.DD+5.1.H.264-monkee

Stretch, my brother,
what's good, man?

Wanted to learn a little bit
more about you,

and I want you to learn
a little bit more about me...

- Of course.
- And our background, so...

(Both laughing)

I wanna say what's up to
John on 105th St

and Trevor, and, uh--
(Man laughing)

He's a ball watcher.

Why you all up on my--
my lambus?

You lambus stackus, B.

(Radio tuning)

(Hip-hop beat playing)
Jay Z: Oh, yeah, yeah
it's in some stores,

but once we lock
this distribution thing down,

it's gonna be in all stores.

- Yeah, just got
rap pick of the week.
- Bobbito: On what label?

Jay Z:
Roc-A-Fella Records.

Bobbito: We gonna go with
a little premiere.

This is the B.I.G.

KRS-One:
This is all live, New York.

(Radio tunes)
Nas: Yeah, the album's getting
ready to come out in January,

the name of that
is "Illmatic."

(Radio tunes,
O.C.'S "Time's Up" playing)

O.C.: Time's up.

♪ You lack the minerals
and vitamins ♪

♪ Irons and the niacin,
fuck who that I offend ♪

♪ Rappers sit back,
I'm bout to begin ♪

♪ Bout foul talk you squawk,
never even walked the walk ♪

♪ More less destined
to get tested ♪

♪ Never been arrested,
my album will manifest ♪

♪ Many things that I saw, did
or heard about ♪

♪ All told first-hand,
never word of mouth ♪

♪ What's in the future for
the fusion in the changer ♪

♪ Rappers are in danger ♪

♪ Who will use wits
to be a remainder ♪

♪ Of course we gotta pay rent,
so money connects but, uh, ♪

♪ I'd rather be broke and have
a whole lot of respect ♪

♪ It's the principal of it ♪

♪ I get a rush when I bust
some dope lines I wrote ♪

♪ That maybe somebody'll quote ♪

♪ That's what I consider real
in this field of music ♪

♪ Instead of puttin' brain cells
to work, they abuse it ♪

♪ Non-conceptual,
non-exceptional ♪

♪ Everybody's either
crime-related or sexual ♪

♪ I'm here to make a difference
besides all the riffing ♪

♪ To traps I'm not sticking ♪

♪ Rappers stop flipping
for those who pose lyrical ♪

♪ But really ain't true
I feel ♪

♪ Their time's limited
hard rocks, too ♪

Das EFX: It's like that, boy,
it's like that, bust it.

And I'm gonna come like this.
Check it.

♪ It's like eenie meenie,
none of y'all can see me ♪

♪ 'Cause yo, I disappear
and reappear like I'm a genie ♪

♪ It's the lunatic so bust the
tourniquet it's just a warning ♪

♪ 'Cause I could go from
am to pm like dawn and ♪

♪ I'm wicked, kick it,
stick it in your brain ♪

♪ Like it's a tumor
I roll with PMD, ♪

♪ So motherfuckers
kill the rumor ♪

♪ Y'all can never stop my flow,
there ain't nobody looser ♪

♪ I turn more kids to stone than
that chick they call Medusa ♪

♪ When I wreck shit
I'm on some next shit ♪

♪ Because I'm quicker, son,
I turn more rappers to the ♪

Word up.
Check it out.

Word 'em up, word 'em up,
Bobbito, Stretch Armstrong.

(Voices fade)

It made sense that it was like
a radio station

that you just couldn't
go to really fast and find.

You had to go through static.

You go too far this way,
you're gonna miss it.

You gotta come back,
so it felt like you guys

were an island
on this whole planet.

Where all these big giants
were walking around,

a new island you had to find
with your radio.

What's it-- transistor--
whatever that shit's called.

You guys had opened
the door in New York

for us, the next generation,
to come through.

We're here on
the Upper East Side.

I actually grew up in that
building, 60 96th Street.

It's kind of like almost
the stereotypical,

you know, fancy neighborhood
in Manhattan,

but we're on the edge of that.

This is like the last street
of the Upper East Side

where the Upper East Side ends
and Spanish Harlem begins.

So it's sort of a culturally
mixed up place.

Our family lived in Douglass
projects on the Upper West Side.

We moved to Westgate,
that building right behind us

on 97th Street.

The building that I lived in
was mixed-income.

So we had people on welfare,
food stamps

who were neighbors
to city councilmen,

lawyers and professionals.

I had really liberal parents.

They liked me to hang out
with different types of kids.

When I was really young
and afraid

to go to those neighborhoods,
he would make me go there.

He would actually be like,
"You're going--

you're going
to your friend's house."

I'm like-- (Stammers)
Not so crazy.

Like, my man Ivan Rivera
liked on 109th and Park.

And I loved Ivan.

I was genuinely afraid
of hanging out there

'cause the kids,
they were rough.

I stood out crazy.

They used to chase me
two blocks home, chase me,

try to beat me up,
and they couldn't catch me.

I had the nickname for like
three months, I was O.J.

- Word?
- O.J. 'Cause I was like...

My dad was actually
a Latin jazz musician.

He played the vibraphones.
My dad was really
a classical music aficionado.

Bob played piano
at the age of 3.

What you don't know
is he's a good piano player.

- Aww.
- Mmm.

Ma, you're being kind.
I sucked.

(Laughter)

I played drums all my life
so that sort of helped me,

you know, in terms of rhythm
and coordination,

independence with your hands
and stuff like that.

By the time he was 11 or 12,
he had a whole set.

We had to negotiate
with the neighbors

about when he could play
and when he could not play.

There was a lot of music
in the family all the time,

from Bach to drumming.
I got into hip-hop
because I went

to this school on 96th Street.
Called Manhattan Country School.

It was like
this utopian school with kids

from all over New York City,

and everyone paid according
to how much the family made.

So it was like you had
rich kids, poor kids,

kids from the projects,
kids from Park Avenue.

And there were a lot of kids
from the Bronx who one day,

came into school, and they were
all rapping "Rapper's Delight."

Everybody, you know--
whatever-- Puerto Rican kids,

white kids, Asian kids,
they're all--

everyone just started getting
into "Rapper's Delight."

It was like the thing,
and it stuck to some people.

It stuck to me, and that's when
I started buying rap records.

In 1977, I was classmates
with a cat named Craig Raddix,

otherwise known as the original
Rocker Crazy Craig.

And he was like, "Yo, I want
to show you a dance move."

And he went down,
and I was like, "That's cool."

I had never seen anybody dance
and go to the floor.

I grew up listening
to Red Alert, Marley,

you know, on the radio,
staying up on the headphones

and it wasn't till I was
a senior in high school

that I really wanted
to start DJing.

I never had like
a visual reference.

All I ever knew about was
listening to DJs on the radio.

And that's all I knew.
I didn't know any DJs.

First DJ that I ever knew
was Clark Kent.

I am God's favorite DJ.

(Laughter)
I remember meeting you,

and I remember liking
you out the gate.

You seemed to care
about the thing

that we were putting together,

so it made
listening to you right.

(Hip-hop music playing)

I saw Stretch
before I met him.

I had went to Mars.

I saw Stretch when he was
Adrian B. At the time.

Mars was popping back then.

One night, I come downstairs
to the basement,

and there's a tall skinny
white dude,

and he's playing g rap,
"Road to the Riches."

(Rap music playing)

And I'm like, oh, I'm in it!
Like, word, okay!

I'm dancing.
I was dancing back then, too.

I was a dancer.

(Rap music playing)

Shortly after,
I'm at Def Jam.

(Hip-hop music playing)

I distinctly remember
him walking down the hallway

and being like, oh, light bulb,
yo, that's home dude

I saw rocking at Mars,
and he's nice.

The moment
that I saw Bobbito,

I experienced a sense of relief
that I'm in the Def Jam office

and there's someone
I can actually talk to.

From second one,
me and Stretch clicked.

Bobbito: First time I met you
and we go walking around,

you're like,
"I gotta go meet my girlfriend.

She works at Ben & Jerry's
down the block.

I thought you looked
a little foolish back then.

(Laughs) You still
wanted to be my friend.

I did want to be your friend!
I just thought you were cool.

You exuded this air about you,
and then we met

your girlfriend at the time,
she was beautiful.

Yo, this dude was bonkers.
How did he pull that?

I guess he got something
special, you know...

I guess--
I don't know.

Maybe I should hang
around him more often.

It's a pretty short amount
of time between meeting Bobbito

at Def Jam, developing
a really close friendship

really quickly,
and then maybe a year later,

Bobbito, Nick quested and I
become roommates.

(Rap music playing,
indistinct conversations)

Stretch: I actually
came up to Columbia

the summer
before I went to school,

I went to WKCR because I was
like, they have a radio station.

That'd be so cool
to get on the radio, whatever,

and I spoke to somebody
and said,

"I'm gonna be a student
here in the fall.

I'd love to do a hip-hop show,"

and they just played me so hard.

They were like, "A hi-- (Laughs)
He wants a hip-hop show!

Hey! Hey! Vanessa!
He wants a hip-hop show!

Get the--"

I mean, it was like an emphatic
"Never gonna happen."

We were just like talking
out of the blue, like, yo--

just fantasizing.
Fantasizing!

You were like,
"Wouldn't it be cool

if we got a radio show
together?"

And I was like,
"Yo, that'd be crazy!

I could host,
and you could DJ."

(Scratching record,
rap music playing)

I got the show, I was like,
"Yo, Bob, let's rock."

I didn't want to be the white
boy talking on the radio.

Just wanted to play the music.
I'm shutting the fuck up.

Bobbito: We had flyers
for our show,

and I was taking the flyers
and going on the 1 train uptown

taking the local on purpose
and going car by car

left, right,
here's a flyer, boom,

any kid that looked like
he remotely liked hip-hop,

yo, bong, bong,
bong, bong, bong.

I could clearly, clearly
remember you telling me, like,

"Yo, Bob,
let's take a mic break."

It's on you.
And this is our first mic break
of our first show.

I don't even know how far
to bring the level.

All of a sudden,
it just went through my head,

"Oh, my God, there are prison
inmates listening.

There's like the hardest
hardrock stickup kids listening.

Who am I to be on the mic
for a hip-hop show?"

And I was just like,
"What's up, New York?!"

And then I put
the mic back down.
(Laughs)

WKCR, 89.9 FM, many calls,
many requests, many shout-outs.

DJ Premier: The first record
I hear y'all play,

it was a B-side
of Tribe Called Quest,

and then, you know, most people
didn't play the B-sides,

and it wasn't the album cut.

It's just a record
for a 12-inch.

♪ Yo skinny bonz
give me the track ♪

♪ That's right
coming off dope ♪

♪ Guaranteed to be rough ♪

♪ I'm showing Busta Rhymes
never bluff ♪

♪ Huff puff
like a magic dragon ♪

Then the next record comes

and it's something
I've never heard before.

If I haven't heard it
and it's from my era,

already, I'm like, who is that,
and what's happening?

And y'all took that chance.

♪ Can I kick it JVC force
intro to dance ♪

(Laughter)
A new jam.

I found out about
the show just because.

The talk was stupid
all the time.

Every time y'all came on,
we knew what was coming.

So all we would do is just wait.
They on, they on!

In the '90s, major radio
stations wasn't the shit.

It was all about
college radio.

DJ Premier:
You were on so late.

Not an hour, not two hours.
You were on till 5:00.

Lord Finesse: Y'all had like
the late-night, late-night.

Call your show
like The Blade Show

for Vampire Listeners,
you know?

Stretch:
That's the graveyard shift.

I would literally be
on the radio

in the middle of the night

and I would have you
and Stretch on

a little radio on the side,
so technically,

I was on the radio listening
to you on the radio.

And it really put me
in a zone, like, you know,

it made em feel like
something was happening,

there was energy in the city.

Woman: Stretch Armstrong may
look like an ordinary guy,

but he and others like him
are preserving

a nearly extinct piece
of American culture.

Man on telephone:
And I like Stretch Armstrong!

(Laughter and shouting)

I think he's
a nice white guy.

(Laughter)

DJ Rob Swift:
I knew Stretch was white.

I didn't know, but I pictured
a white guy for some reason.

I didn't think that white kids
listened to hip-hop

or that they were interested
or cared about it.

It wasn't like, oh, my God,
Stretch Armstrong

is the white DJ,
and that's why I'm listening.

That wasn't it,
but there was no doubt

either consciously
or subconsciously

where that was, like,
a component.

There was an openness
and an invitation

to just be yourself.

Battle Sounds: What do you know
what to look for right now?
The label.

What's the label?
That's the first priority.

Step up front.

Stretch:
For me the motivation

was really about having tons
of music that I was nuts about.

I just created this network
that was independent

of the record labels,
getting demos and remixes

from producers to feed
the show new music

you couldn't hear anywhere.

We changed what a mix show
could be.

We were being broadcast
into your homes,

but really, you were coming
into our world.

♪ I don't know is where
you ran or came ♪

♪ I know your vain,
I hate your name ♪

♪ Your shame playing the game
that drove you insane ♪

♪ You walk around puddles
smelling the rain ♪

♪ With a cane nothing
to gain but shame... ♪

Y'all didn't give us no limit
on how long we could black out.

If you had bars,
y'all just let niggas go.

♪ Why's my name
the Large Professor ♪

♪ Cause I milked your cow,
so go ask your heffer ♪

♪ Don't talk about
how you can break Rambo ♪

♪ That's just a bunch
of mambo you hambo ♪

♪ Propaganda,
save it for Savanda, ♪

♪ Joe and Amanda,
Zach and Alexandra ♪

♪ I'm high potent
devoting much time ♪

♪ Into one rhyme, every line
of mine is worth quoting ♪

♪ I'm like a college dorm ♪

♪ People will swarm
for knowledge ♪

♪ Applicants chill out
and fill out a form ♪

♪ Forget about the rest yo,
the East is the best ♪

♪ When it comes to a battle,
yo, the Jorge will never fess ♪

♪ Or front, I smoke blunts,
line up the stunts on the wall ♪

♪ And then I give it my all ♪

♪ That means I bend them over
with the quickness ♪

♪ and then I drop the lyrics
with the slickness ♪

♪ Cause Jorge will never front
off the top of the head ♪

♪ And when it comes
to the skeezers ♪

♪ I take them to the bed ♪

♪ So what is the science
as I kick the appliance ♪

♪ coming off dope
as I form the alliance ♪

♪ Feminine fat coming
nice and rough ♪

♪ I am the man showing
you that I'm tough ♪

♪ Indeed I like the girls
that do not lick the crack ♪

(Fades) ♪ She signs for her
life that old fat contract ♪

We had niggas coming to school
that recorded that episode

of Stretch and Bobbito
freestlying on the box,

and niggas
was dick-riding pause.

Confession--
niggas was scared to death

'cause I didn't want
to fuck up.

Even though
we knew we had to freestyle.

I would have been fine
with y'all

forgetting to ask us to do it.

(Hip-hop music playing)

Stretch: The only reason
why you could hear KCR

in the tri-state area was
because we were being broadcast

from the top
of the World Trade Center,

so that signal would travel,
but it was a little signal

on a little rinky-dink
fucked up station

with a board from the '60s.

Sometimes the left channel
would drop out,

and I would have to punch the
console, and it'd pop back up.

This guy is answering the doors,
answering the phones,

opening the mailbox, making sure
no one's doing graffiti,

Yo, what's up?
Can I have my marker?

Yo, sh--
(Laughter)

Fucking graffiti, man!

They're gonna kick us off
the air 'cause of this shit.

I'm there making music,
go from 1:00 to 5:00.

No commercial break.
I can't go to the bathroom.

(Laughs)
I never thought about that.

It was hectic, man,
or I did, I had to--

(Rolls tongue,
imitates peeing)

Did you ever wash your hands
though between?

I still don't.
What's up?

(Rap music playing)

(Man laughs)

When I got to WKCR,
we were in a station

that hadn't been renovated
since it started.

We were in Ferris Booth Hall.
It was pretty grimy.

It was pretty nasty
to sit on a couch.

You weren't sure
what you were gonna sit on.

You weren't sure
what had happened there.

A lot of people
slept in the studio

and probably did
a lot of other stuff.

You prayed that the machines

and the consoles
would actually work.

For literally decades,
nothing had been touched.

For our listeners,
it was a community.

Most of them didn't even realize
they were listening

to a station that was run on
the Columbia Campus by students.

Zuhirah: The coolest thing
about the school

was that you guys were here.

Right outside my dorm room,
Fat Joe was rolling up.

Fat Joe: I remember
walking in and out of here

and I would just bump into
whoever was the hottest nigga

in the world, like,
yo, what's up, y'all?

Oh, you going in?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We gonna go rhyme and shit.

This is Fat Joe in the house.

I gotta say peace to the whole
boogie down Bronx,

know what I'm saying?

I used to hear this rap station
out of nowhere.

I used to be like, you know,
just fine-tuning.

You know you turn
your radio real slow

like you out in the desert,
you trying to find the station.

'Cause I used to look for rap
on them stations

that barely could come in
the frequency, like,

you know, you be turning
and it's like--

(Imitates static)

You know, you had to s--
do the eye

to get the dial
tuned right on it.

Make you sure you move
your antennas the right way

and stuff so you get it in.

DJ Premier: You got it.
In New York, you got it.

And it was a beautiful thing.

Riggs: There was a kid in
my class that was coming in

with all the exclusives.

I was like, yo,
can I listen to it?

He really got stingy with 'em.
Yo, where'd you get it?

You could tell
it wasn't a mix tape.

He was like, yo, 89 tec 9, man.
Kid of brushed me away.

I was like, yo,
fuck you, bro.

(Laughter)
Is that how you're doing this?

So did my little research,
89 tec 9.

That's all you knew it as.

Stretch:
Even if you're listening
to community or college stations

there's a certain blueprint
that they follow.

If it's commercial,
it's very slick and confident

and well-produced.
Stay hot-97 weather.
Kind of high clouds today.

Our show ended up being
none of those things.

♪ It's like that and-ah ♪

♪ JVC can rock a party
without a band and-ah ♪

♪ Step up, you get dissed
in a rude manner ♪

♪ And I'm the a I talk more
than Rosanna Danadana ♪

♪ And I'm the B I wet your
whistle like tropicana and-ah ♪

♪ And he's the C,
let him learn ♪

It was uncensored, you know,
so for the first times,

you heard the curse words
on the records,

and I'm like, yo, they're not
gonna edit that shit?

I got a lot of cursing.

Yeah, that's all right.
Bring it.

♪ This is for my niggas who
ain't fuckin' with the system ♪

♪ Tired of arrest,
doing the best ♪

♪ To try to dick 'em
up the ass with no grease ♪

♪ The fuckin' police gots
to go ♪

♪ Niggas feel the same
from Maine to Chicago ♪

♪ California to New York,
gotta warn ya bout the pork ♪

♪ They be
on the fuckin' hawk ♪

♪ Lookin' for a nigga
so they can dig another grave ♪

♪ My big brother was a slave
but I'm like nat Turner ♪

♪ With two burners
bustin' back 'cause I'm black ♪

♪ Now you learn
a lesson on how to act ♪

Black people have not been
given the chance

to express joy or anger.

So rap music
is the expression of both.

♪ Then I peed on niggas,
came the absolute worst ♪

♪ I lost compassion for humans,
and then smacked up they moms ♪

♪ Fan and got the arms
from under my mattress ♪

♪ My little man Satan
got somethin' in his jacket ♪

Stretch:
I've got a handful of records.

The idea was to match a beat
to the artist

that would elicit
the most inspired

and enthusiastic performance.

♪ The man on the mic
when I kwon be ♪

♪ Ripping it and a dip
to get her ass bursted ♪

♪ Cash is first with enough
skill and I bust ♪

♪ Still she gotta thrust
to-o-o my hotel ♪

♪ I told the bitch
you know Cash and you know Del ♪

♪ And we gonna kick it ♪

♪ Don't even trip
'cause I'm wicked ♪

♪ I love this track,
and so I'm gonna stick ♪

Stretch: I come from
the school of never wanna hear

the same record twice at a gig
or on a radio show.

Lord Finesse: The craziest thing
you wanna do

is be the last person
up on something.

Like, yo, Stretch,
you played this joint!

Rob: If you fell asleep,
you would hope

that when the tape deck stopped,
it would wake you up

to flip it to the other side.

Gotta get your tapes ready,
tape deck, sound checks.

I used to have this stack system
directly to my right

so I was able to manipulate it
while I was laying down.

(Laughs)

Manipulate the tape deck
while I was laying down.

And I couldn't set alarms
to keep me up.

(Laughs)

Why you gotta be stupid for?

Busta Rhymes: I would play shit
so much, the tape would bust

so I could get the steak knife,

and I would turn them screws
until I got the frame open, bro.

And I'd get a scissors,
and I would just cut

a little edge
off the fucking scotch tape.

I matched that bitch back up,
put the frame.

I would wind the reel tight

to save my Stretch
and Bobbito tape.

The Friday morning was
you missed your first period,

so I almost failed out of gym.

Mrs. Vega, my Spanish teacher,
she even commented a few times,

"Every Friday, you come in
looking like a mess."

- Did you give her a tape?
- No, I never gave her a tape.

I would go to school
and front.

You want this tape?
$5, nigga.

(Laughs)

Bobbito:
You used to sell our tapes?

I sold y'all tapes.
I made money.

That shit was drugs, B.

Thursday nights,
I got no ass.

That was straight up
Stretch and Bob's night.

Girls would beep me.
It was beepers back then.

"No, no, I'm listening
to the radio," like, "What?"

Greg nice would call me, "Yo,
Tupac's over here, we'll hang."

KRS-One is coming over,
"Which was a big deal,"

if KRS was coming
to your house."

You know what I'm saying?
Yo, I'm on my way.

What street?
I'll be right there.

We'd listen to y'all all night
until it went off,

every fucking week.

I vividly remember
staying up late

listening to 89 tec 9.

You know, cassette in place
powered and batteried, right?

Record.

It was like capturing
pieces of history.

El-P: All of a sudden it
was like all us weirdoes

who were obsessed
with this music,

we have a place to be,
and we don't know each other,

but we know that we're all
sitting somewhere

late at night listening
to this music together.

So it was like the collective
consciousness of artists,

the kids who would become
the next generation of rappers

all were being educated by you
guys at the same time.

When I started working with MOBB
and working with Nas,

I was thinking about making shit
that would sound good

on your show specifically.

You weren't on Stretch and Bob,
it wasn't official, flat-out.

The '90s was just like we was
outer space with it

'cause it was like the colorful
sounds from the records,

filtered bass lines, crazy--
(Imitates bass)

It just did something to our
soul, you know what I mean?

It made us want to be
a part of the culture even more.

This was freedom, man.
This was freedom.

This wasn't the bureaucratic
bullshit of, like,

you know, other stations.

We can't play that.
We got a playlist here.

We were the playlist,
you know what I'm saying?

The playlist came
through the door.

(Rapping indistinctly)

It was just like rap-a-palooza.

First you was nice
on your block.

Then it was nice
in your neighborhood.

Then it was nice in the park,

and then you got to go
on Stretch and Bob.

Busta Rhymes: It didn't matter
how many battles

you had in the street.

It wasn't deemed official
by you coming up

to Stretch and Bobbito's show
and doing your dance

on that mic live
with a freestyle?

You wasn't really no real mc,
and that was the status quo.

We wasn't on
that cool Fonzie shit

these niggas are on nowadays,
shit.

We wanted to the fuckin' world
know we was nice.

♪ I have to win,
I'm 100% masculine ♪

♪ Standing tall like Christopher
Reeve before the accident ♪

Bonz Malone: When I wasn't here,
I'm tuning in Thursday night.

You crazy, who's there?
It's jeru.

You know, it's MOBB deep.
It's Nas, it's Wu, it's Big.

Yo, it was everybody
who wasn't signed yet, man.

That was crazy.

You'd have everybody
who was anybody on.

I'd hear somebody on your show,

and I'd wanna give them
a record deal

it was uncanny.

♪ Shimmy shimmy ya,
shimmy yam shimmy yay ♪

♪ Gimme the mic
so I can take it away ♪

So I heard that.

I was in my house
listening to that.

Something went off.
I was like, oh, I gotta get him.

♪ Wu-Tang killer bees
on the swarm ♪

♪ Rain on your college-ass
disco dorm ♪

♪ For you to even touch
my skill ♪

♪ You gotta go
through one killer bee ♪

♪ And he ain't
for the kill now ♪

I called up and I said,
"Yo, I'm coming up."

♪ I get psycho,
killer, Norman Bates ♪

♪ My producer slam
my flow is like bam ♪

♪ Jump on stage
then I dip down ♪

Old Dirty Bastard,
Wu-Tang Clan coming at you...

I came up to sign
Ol' Dirty Bastard.

I ended up signing him,
and he went on to sell

millions of records
and be a legendary character,

and I would never
have signed him

if I didn't tune in that night.

Hearing that changed my life.

And I signed him before
the Wu-Tang album came out.

The first time I heard "Protect
ya neck," on y'all's show

I might have jumped
half my height.

Y'all just threw it on--
(Grunts)

Once I heard that,
turned it up.

(Backbeat playing)

When you from the projects,
you don't think that far

like you gonna be able to be
heard on the radio.

The radio was like, oh, shit.

All we know every day is seeing
fiends in our faces

and holding guns and we
stashing shit in the bushes

and all that.

At nighttime,
that was the time

where we wanted to be rappers
because y'all show came on.

These niggas is co-signing it,

and they playing it like
it's the truth,

it's almost like
getting that pass.

And y'all's show defined
who was getting that pass.

You know, West Coast artists
weren't really getting

too much love on the radio
back there on the East Coast.

Especially us because
of our marijuana issues

that we bring up.

You know, we've sold close
to 20 million records.

And you guys were the guys
who lit the fires for us.

We're making it on the west,
but this is where it comes from.

Anytime you have an artist
people just don't care about,

they need that one thing
that gives them that pop,

that credibility.

That's something that we were
really missing with the Fugees.

I said, "Stretch,
I really want to have

the Fugees come up
to the show."

And he was like,
"Yeah, no, we're good.

Not gonna happen, but you can
bring Big L and Nas."

After some strong negotiation,
you relented.

♪ Yo, I and I is one
and I and I is two ♪

♪ But I and I makes three ♪

♪ When you're fucking
with the Fugee crew ♪

♪ I move like the phantom ♪

♪ They stalking like the beast
I rise in the east ♪

♪ And if you fuck with me
you'll be deceased ♪

Lauryn and Clef got on the mic
and killed it.

And that's when Bobbito
turned around,

and he was like...

And then I remember
Stretch was like...

♪ Pump your first
as I persist to diss ♪

♪ All of them critics that try
to predict the Fugees shit ♪

♪ But hit or miss hit or miss
just like my clitoris ♪

(Rapping fading)

For the Fugees to be able
to not only get on the show

but then kill it,
you guys are like star makers.

Tonight, something special
happened.

The Fugees are on the map.

I remember KRS-One
came up here one night,

and he was rhyming about
the British troops in Angola.

♪ On January 30th, 1906 ♪

♪ 3,000 Africans were killed
by some Brits ♪

♪ They don't quit British
troops to be exact, ♪

♪ It's called
the Bambataa Massacre ♪

♪ This took place
in South Africa ♪

♪ May 4th, 1978,
they still killing ♪

♪ 700 African men,
women and children ♪

♪ Tell the world I told ya ♪

♪ This particular killing took
place in Cassinga, Angola ♪

And I went and talked to a
professor about it

the next day, like, yeah,
trying to represent hip-hop.

"Hip-hop talks about history,
and KRS was rhyming

about British troops
in Angola,"

and she was like, "The British
were never in Angola.

It was the Portuguese."
(Laughter)

You must learn.

(Humming)

(Laughing)

Y'all guys
are real hilarious.

Stretch,
say something on the mic, kid.

Halalulu, hobbits.

Stretch: Pretty early on,
Bobbito was the voice,

and I was the silent DJ.

Funkmaster Flex pulled me
to the side unprompted

and said, "yo, Stretch,
you're the DJ.

This is your show.
DJ to DJ, you need to talk."

Reggie was at my house.
And, uh, he didn't ask me.

He just went--
he was there for a long time.

He was smoking a lot of blunts
and went to brush his teeth.

He used a toothbrush.

He used the old
"Clean the sneaker" toothbrush.

(Laughter
and overlapping voices)

It's hard to get sleep
when you're laughing.

You ever laugh and sleep?
It's kind of difficult.

♪ Breath hangs the rest ♪

♪ Your breath smells
like burning flesh ♪

♪ And Lord Sear's left breast ♪

Ah, yeah, uh, it's like that.
Uh, like that.

(Laughter and hooting)

Lord Sear's left breast.

You told me, yo,
good friend of mine,

Stretch, on that show,
Columbia University.

I know you like rap,
and I know you like food.

You like soda.
It's all there. Come through.

(Laughter)

"I'll go!"
I became the resident jokester.

- Rosario, do you drink?
- No, I'm not old enough.

You smoke?
How old are you?

20.

You don't smoke
no crack or nothing?!

What's your problem?!

No, baby, I'm clean, yo.

You could lick this.

(Laughter)

Y-y-y-y-y-yo.

(Rap music playing
in background)

Man on telephone:
This is Ralph, man.

Bobbito: Where you calling from,
Ralph?

From D'agostino's, man.
D'agostino's?

(Laughter and fart noises)

Crazy Legs: That was different
because normally,

people didn't get snapped on.

That was very different.

Then Lord Sear came up with
"AKA Jennifer Beals"

because I double for
Jennifer Beals in "Flashdance."

(Laughter)
You know, it's good.

Ciao, baby.

This is Rosie Perez, how y'all
doing out there tonight?

You enjoying the show?

Yes, I am.

Hello? Hello?
Am I here?

- You're here.
- You did that so exquisitely.

I just would like to comment
on the haircuts

that I'm peeping tonight.

- Uh-huh.
- You guys use the same bowl?

(Laughter and shouting)

Oh, my gosh.

Remember there was this guy
who did a poem

about "cungalingus"
on your show,

and he dedicated it to me.

He was saying
about the "cungalingus."

- Yeah.
- You don't remember that?
To me?

- Yeah.
- He caught me totally off-guard.

That's the best kind
of cunnilingus.

(Laughter)

What the--

Damn! Stretch and Bobbito
show's incredible!

We had a snap battle
with Lord Sear.

I remember big pun when he had
the white doo rag

and a white t-shirt.

He looked like an overweight
nurse back then.

Sear told Pun that he lived
on the second floor

of a White Castle and he had
a slide goes straight down the--

I walked in,
I had shorts on.

The old-school shorts where it
was like they were too long.

They looked like fake capris.

I'm like, "Yo, Pun, what's up,"
and he's like,

"What's up with them midget
cowboy shorts you have on?"

The midget cowboy jeans.

Yo, they was going at it.
Hard!

So I was like, "Yo,
look at your forearms."

They were all fat and hairy.

I said his forearms look like
an overweight pitbull's stomach.

(Laughter)

Just with a hand.

A hand and a pitbull's stomach
with no tail.

I said, "Ruff."

(Barks)

He said, "You're so fucking fat
I could squeeze

a jelly doughnut out
your forehead."

Niggas was just going at it.

It remind a lot of cats
who are right here in Harlem,

like, what it's like when
they out on the corner

just shooting the shit
with their homeboys,

laughing, looking at what
somebody wearing, snapping.

Y'all had the corner in a box.

You'll be on in a second.

Dude, you're on, like, now.
Dude, you're on.

- Mr. Bobbito, my man,
I'm sorry.
- You're on.

It's the Joe Cocker
of hip-hop.

There was a time when you guys
used to do something

called the Dick Olympics,
do you guys remember that?

(Laughter)

- No.
- You don't remember
the Dick Olympics?

Where it was Benji and Sear
and they would talk about

all these different type of--
I'm dead serious.

All these different type
of olympic events

where somebody
was using a dick.

Like hurdling over dicks,
pole vaulting with dicks.

- The javelin.
- The javelin.
You remember.

Mimi: Truth be told,
as much as I love you guys,

I wasn't really into
the humor so much.

- Oh, my God.
- Yeah, not really.

Press the eject button.
(Imitates spring)

(Laughs)
A lot of boy humor.

Zuhirah: Being a woman in the
'90s into hip-hop wasn't easy.

The culture was so exciting
and important

that I sort of looked
at the misogyny

as something
that comes along with it.

I never felt like,
"They're not talking about me."

I always took it
somewhat personally.

Random rappers being like,
"Come sit in my lap."

A lot of the guests kind of
thought you were there

for their amusement,
so, you know,

you develop a thick skin,
but you always treated

me and my friends respectfully

and sort of took us under
your wings in a way,

and so other people treated us
with respect because of that.

What the culture did offer
sort of outweighed the bad.

I was just such a hip-hop fan.
Like, I loved hip-hop so much.

Just everything about it,
the music, the rhyme,

just the energy,
I just realized you know what?

I want to hang out at the show
and what I did specifically

was open the door
because at the time,

they would ring the bell,
we would hear it,

and somebody had to go
downstairs and open the doors.

Like, hi, welcome to the show.
We'll be with you in a minute.

Come upstairs. Follow me.
That was literally what I did.

If they were on the list.
If they were on the list.

Bobbito: Please don't
come by unannounced.

We got too many people
to deal with as it is.

Mimi just stepped into the house
and we got some other guests.

We expecting the Wu-Tang Clan.

Man: Y'all was like the first
ones to really be like,

yo, we want to see y'all,
we want to meet y'all.

I remember going downstairs
and opening the door,

and it was probably
about 20 guys, maybe 30.

Raekwon: We here, man,
we in the building.

All got masks on.
Whoa, whoa.

Hold on, hold on, wait.
Who's on the list?

20 of us,
we just up in there.

Peace, everybody,
Wu-Tang Clan representing,

baby, representing.

Specifically it was Method Man
who just started breaking,

screaming, we on the list,
we on the list,

we going upstairs, move out
the way, move out the way.

I was irate.
They violated you
and called you the b-word.

I just told Meth,
yo, B, that's our peoples.

Her role is to regulate
the people that come in.

When he got on the air,
that's when he apologized.

We want to apologize
to this girl

that was down at the front door.

It was a little
misunderstanding,

so I'm going to apologize
to her on the air

and all that 'cause
she got kind of offended.

Enough respect, baby.

I was still pissed off, but...

Let's get him on the phone.

1-800 Method Man.

Hey, Method Man!
Method Man!

Is that Method Man?
Method Man!

I eventually had to deal
with Method Man and Wu-Tang

just as an editor at Vibe,

so it was always funny to me
that they became so big.

Hey! Hey!
What, what.

I got to get it going on.
Yeah. Down the stair.

♪ Hey, hey,
I swing funky rap routines ♪

♪ And tap the jaws
spot you 20 points ♪

♪ And you still can't score ♪

♪ Fresh out the toilet,
I got my shit together ♪

♪ When I'm good, I'm good,
when bad, I'm better ♪

♪ All on my name
but you can't pull my file ♪

♪ You don't know me,
and you don't know my style ♪

♪ Remember that there like that,
there, yeah ♪

♪ Even Grizzly Adams
couldn't bear ♪

Ghostface Killah:
Yo, check it.

Fresh joint from out the stash.
Yo, yo.

♪ First of all son,
peep the arson ♪

♪ Many brothers I be sparkin'
and bustin' mad ♪

♪ Light inside the dark
and call me dough snatcher ♪

♪ Just a brother for the rapture
I hang-glide ♪

♪ Holdin' on strong,
hard to capture ♪

♪ Extravagant,
RZA bake the track ♪

♪ And it's militant
then I react ♪

♪ Like a convict
and start killin' shit ♪

♪ It's 9th chamber, you get
trapped inside my hallway ♪

♪ You try to flee but you got
smoked by the doorway ♪

♪ While I'll be trapped
by sounds, locked behind loops ♪

♪ Throwin' niggas off airplanes
cause cash rules ♪

♪ Everything around me
black as you can see ♪

♪ Swallow this number-one
verse like God degree ♪

♪ And analyze my soundtrack
for satisfaction ♪

♪ And you adapt like
a flashback chain reaction ♪

Method Man: Can't nobody,
can't nothing come after that.

Ghostface blew up the spot.

Hip-hop was on KCR.

This was unsigned masterpieces,
man.

We listen to the demos,
me and Stretch.

And if we like them,
then we play them on the air.

Bonz Malone: If you could
get on the train

and get down here in time,
we could battle right here.

Bob I remember
having this idea

that we would have
the demo battle.

This is one of my most
favorite memories

about being involved
with the show is this battle.

The Bronx Zu versus
The Notorious B.I.G.,

and the Bronx Zu won.

♪ This is a recording,
this is ain't a recording ♪

♪ Just a funky party
to defeat the boredom ♪

♪ Lou Tan, Lou Tan
get in to my mood swing ♪

♪ Oh, it's just my man,
just a Bronx Zu thing ♪

That early in the show,
a Bronx or Uptown artist

might have a home team
advantage.

Bronx Zu:
Who's running shit?

Men:
176th! Ho!

He was tight.
He was tight.

Came in here talking
about the Bronx Zu,

how,
"They ain't better than me."

You'll hear some of it
on the tape.

That's the weird thing
about this night is that--

No one taped it.

Dude, like, me and Stretch
used to tape

at least, you know,
every other show.

It's the craziest thing that
the most important artists

that came through
these doors--

y'all ain't tape it 'cause
you ain't know who Big was.

No, we knew who Big was.

We didn't know who he was
gonna become.

Well,
I know who did record it.

Let's do it.

It ain't got the date on it.
But that's just 23 years ago.

Wow.

Bobbito: We got Notorious B.I.G.
in the house.

- So what's up?
- B.I.G.: Ain't nothing large.
I'm just chilling, you know.

Bobbito: So what's up, yo?
You rolled up here.

You know what I'm saying?
You ready to rep?

B.I.G.: I was looking
for them Bronx Zu brothers,

you know what I'm saying?

Niggas think they came off.

I just came to set
the record straight.

(Speaking indistinctly)

All right, B, well, yo, you here
to show and prove--

He was 16.

♪ Mumblin'
and whisperin' is what I hear ♪

♪ When B .I .G. appear
on the scene ♪

♪ Niggas get scared, why?
I'm not the stick-up man ♪

♪ I don't want the rings
on your hand ♪

♪ I don't understand ♪

♪ When I come through the avenue
I must know voodoo ♪

♪ Cause all eyes are on
you know who ♪

♪ And my so-called friends
beg for ends for me to lend ♪

♪ But this bankroll,
they won't spend ♪

♪ Open your eyes and realize
ain't no sugar in my tank ♪

♪ Out of all my friends there's
just one I want to thank ♪

♪ My man big d taught me
a lesson that was great ♪

♪ That good things come
to those who wait ♪

♪ And we've waited through
the suffering and pain ♪

♪ And bitches ride
the dick like the a-train ♪

♪ That's why I flip
keep a burner to my hip ♪

♪ Take a hooker to the crib,
you know she got to strip ♪

♪ Stay dipped,
take out-of-state trips ♪

♪ Don't drink a lot of Hennessy,
I only take a sip ♪

♪ I'm not a paper gangster
of no sort ♪

♪ I do smoke Newports ♪

♪ When I get stressed
I grab my vest ♪

♪ Damn, tried to give you
the warning sign ♪

♪ When I said "chill,"
I wasn't saying ll's rhyme ♪

♪ I was telling ya
not to tear up ♪

♪ 'Cause he will rip tear up,
I'm telling you not to erupt ♪

♪ 'Cause he's just as corrupt
as a DJ should be ♪

♪ 50 grand,
and I'm the B.I.G. ♪

(Laughter)
23 years in the making.

(Shouts)
1991.

You are the man!

89.9 was our radio signal,

and 89 tec 9 became
like our catchphrase,

and the tec in that
was for techniques

like techniques on the
turntables, skills on the mic.

Pharoahe Monch: If you were
coming up in New York City

that's the way you had to go.

It's either that
or "Da-ha, da-ha."

(Laughter)

♪ One nation under
this rap shit indivisible ♪

♪ Never mess up-up
anymore ♪

♪ Pharoahe the crit-ically
acclaimed rap professional ♪

♪ Keeping computer digital
but hark the best be ♪

(Laughs)
♪ This expert who could
keep niggas alert ♪

♪ In a school for narcolepsy ♪

♪ When I'm in a innovative state
of mind, I'm innovative ♪

♪ Never been afraid of rocking
a microphone ♪

♪ I'm prone to be eliminating ♪

♪ Sing a song of six pence,
it makes sense then sing along ♪

♪ Cling on to my nuts, if you
got guts then bring it on ♪

(Laughter and clapping)
Stretch:
Watch out, he's coming!

I'm clinging to his nuts!

- Bring it on.
- 25 years!

It was like the highlight
of hip-hop at the time

as a lyricist,
you know what I mean?

And come there and freestyle

and realize that the city

is listening to you right now
in the moment.

This is different
from the stage.

This is different from your room
where you're writing

or the lab or the basement.

This is like broadcasting
on air lyricism.

Just go?

Yo, this is Large Professor,
Extra P.

I remember asking y'all,
saying to one of y'all,

"Yo, I'm going to bring
the drum machine.

Yo, we should get busy,"
and it was like,

"Yo, all right, cool,
bring it through."

Bobbito:
Large brought up his sampler,
so guess what?

I think peoples need
to get home right now,

get your tape decks ready,
because we got some shit

for you tonight,
that's word to my mother.

What radio show does that?

Lets a dude set up
a SP 1200

and then has dudes rhyming
over programmed beats?

What radio show
is doing that now?

- Bobbito: Had you done
that before at a radio station?
- No, no.

I don't think anyone really
had ever done that before.

My name is Bobbito.

(Drum machine playing randomly)

Yo, yo,
this is Stretch Armstrong.

Stretch: Yeah, most definitely
the Stretch Armstrong.

(Voices playing on sampler)

That was the large p beat,
he had the sp up there.

♪ O.C., boy how you be-- ♪

He was right next to me
saying this.

♪ Niggas can keep the booyaka ♪

♪ I call it the clod
that's anonymous ♪

All right,
this brings back memories.

♪ I'm reigning dominant
over niggas that's rated raw ♪

♪ I figured they less, so hey,
takes four metaphors ♪

♪ Peep lines out, I preach
rhymes out my larynx ♪

♪ Use insight to invite
what I'm slammin' next ♪

♪ Bickery, MC's
gettin' off the trickery ♪

♪ tme will tell who will shine
like Jew-els from Tiffany's ♪

♪ Those few who are chosen'll
shine crystal ♪

♪ Let's go back to old slang
like a pist-al ♪

♪ Thou fate shall
go back to the prey ♪

♪ And I don't need effect
to be like echo and decay ♪

♪ And my skill is pure,
down deep from the root ♪

♪ At the same time I'll jam
a microphone ♪

♪ Up like soot in your pipe ♪

♪ My poetry shows
are right ♪

♪ Fuck hype from a promo
or some ill ass snipes ♪

♪ I go raw dog, always on
my off and defense ♪

♪ Workin' good with the two,
leavin' niggas in intense ♪

♪ If O.C. lay low
like ooh-la-la ♪

♪ You'll French kiss
with my fist shooting a diss ♪

♪ Pass me the apparatus ♪

♪ Let me show you how to work
a verse ♪

♪ The scientist,
the mad scientist will first ♪

♪ Give a grammatical example,
a sample of truth ♪

♪ Soon to be a mega legacy
for all of you ♪

♪ Listen the lyrical physician
is back, black ♪

♪ With stacks of props
and outfox and mop ♪

♪ Niggas'll flop
who's in town ♪

♪ Defend your title,
bring it to me ♪

♪ The organism will bring
your rhyme time to an end ♪

♪ Zone is called desert
I resurrect ♪

♪ Intellect surrounds
boundaries when I'm present ♪

♪ In Queens County still,
trying to pursue ♪

I don't even need
to hear no more, man.

Like, now I remember it.
That's crazy.

It was like he threw me
the rock,

and I almost fum--
know what I'm saying?

♪ Look what the night bought,
this is night court ♪

♪ You charged with misuse
of a mic like you're nice ♪

♪ Step into the o-zone ♪

I was nervous, and I didn't want
to mess up in front of him.

That was the main thing
on my mind.

I don't want to mess up
in front of Large Professor.

I'm just going to take
a bass note.

I was playing the bass then
just making these cave beats,

and I just wanted
to play it live.

And that's really where I was
at my pinnacle

of just wanting to get busy.

Y'all caught me, like,
really feeling it, like,

yo, I'm just going to be
freestyling now and buggin'.

Regulation status,
you know what I'm saying?
(Laughs)

I appreciate the art of being
able to just go off the top,

interacting with everybody and
saying, "We all a part of this."

♪ On the mcrophone,
I'm the kid plus the wiz ♪

♪ Got the brother Bobbito,
I'm in like cognito ♪

♪ around the way, ha,
just like Carlito ♪

♪ Plus Stretch Armstrong,
I got the comm song ♪

More versus than a Kramer,
go off like a pager

skills uglier than Craig Mac,
in your ear, I'm the flavor.

My old girls say--
I'm gonna update it.

My old girls say,
"Boy, you got flows."

I'm watching the Dulls again
'cause they got D Rose.

A million black men
walking in one direction.

The cream of the planet's
resurrection.

(Laughter)
I got goosebumps.

I'll give you the written,
and I'll give you the freestyle

that's like a player
that's got real game

that can go
to the dunk contest, too.

I like being able
to just say something

that just happened right there.

♪ With slur style, word,
I'm gonna kill ya ♪

♪ Feel ya to the cemetery ♪

♪ Then that's very,
'don't grab my hood ♪

♪ Yo, I stabbed you good,
it's how I'm rapping ♪

♪ Yo, I smack men in the face
like a mack do ♪

♪ Straight
from East Oakland ♪

♪ Yo, I'm not gonna say
smoke men ♪

♪ 'Cause the other MC
said it ♪

♪ But we didn't read it ♪

♪ We made it up
right here and now ♪

♪ WKCR, hey,
we are the MCs ♪

♪ And nobody tempt these ♪

♪ Peace to Stretch
and Bobby too ♪

♪ And I'm rhyming through
your whole crew, that's true ♪

Dante: It's one of the craziest
freestyle sessions ever.

They just fucking killed it,
like killed it.

Just so you know, we
made it up right here.
Right here, right now.

I remember just fucking
taping it and listening to it

the next day going,
"Why am I not signing them?"

For us,
it was important

to encourage cats
to come up, rhyme.

Didn't matter if it was off
the top of the head, written.

We didn't care if you
were signed or unsigned.

Just create something
that's special

because this isn't
for the record sales,

this isn't for the charts.

This isn't for your
album-release party.

This is hip-hop.

Black thought:
One, two, one, two, okay

♪ No need to ask my initial ♪

♪ Illafifth P 5 D
most official ♪

♪ Rip through fraudulent
rappers like tissue ♪

♪ What's the whole issue?
Don't mean to diss you ♪

The best part of this culture
is freestyle.

The best part of hip-hop is
an artist being put on the spot

and dropping those lyrics
right then and there.

Through all the bullshit
and through all the politics,

the artists that really shine
are the ones

that just speak from the heart.

Hip-hop is the consciousness
of oppressed people.

Hip-hop
is the blues music

on a hyper-faster scale.

Attempting to conquer
the problems that happened

throughout the course
of the last week,

whether it was my homelessness,

whether it was this one
that just lost his job.

By the time you get
to this microphone here,

you want to express
how you conquered your problems,

grabbed your woman,
made love,

and came back and did it again.

I'm gonna play you something.
Sure.

Put your headphone on,
all right.

(Rapping indistinctly)

♪ Damn, it feels great
to feel the wheels rotate ♪

Oh-h-h-h!
♪ with the 4-5-6 ♪

♪ Fantastic take as I ride
through the avenue ♪

♪ Ooh, in the funky new ♪

Yo, I need a copy of this.
Yo!

♪ Suckas so jel
they just wanna flip ♪

♪ Freestylin'
in the back seat... ♪

♪ Broke bitches on the dick
'cause now I'm the shit ♪

♪ I'm grand ghetto on the mic
just havin' a fit... ♪

Oh, shucks.

Yo,
I made this up on the spot.

♪ ...because you ain't
no drug dealer ♪

Blues.

Those feelings were created

through experiences
that I acquired

going through such situations
in order to hustle

to pretty much keep going
in spite of homelessness.

You gotta realize there's no
such phrase as homelessness.

You are never less than the home
that you make for yourself.

Old School Ran-Dee:
I remember first
listening to you guys' show,

I was in Fort Bragg.
I was in the army at the time.

And I was getting ready
for Operation Desert Shield.

North Carolina back then
was like,

♪ Yippy-ay-ay ♪
on the radio, you know?
(Laughter)

I called my cousin,
I said, "Yo, man,

you need to send me a tape,"
and that tape circulated

throughout my whole unit.

Everybody there was like,
"Yo, my God, this is crazy."

You know, it was a rough day,
stuff happened,

people were injured,
killed,

I could always
just go back to my room

and play a tape
and return back to my room,

my kitchen in the Bronx,
and I would escape that.

You guys were an outlet,
definitely.

It's like family.

A lot of people don't deal
with that.

So when you have something
that can bring you home,

it's a big thing,
it's a big thing.

People have pictures,
recordings,

of their children
or wife or whatever.

I had a cassette.

Bobbito: That's why we
would read the letters on air

from the dudes inside.

We would constantly be told,
like,

"Yo, you're helping me
get through

and keep a piece of sanity,
a piece of outside."

In 1991, I was involved
in a contract murder.

And I got sentenced to 15 years
in federal prison.

They would sell walkmans
with no cassette, just radio.

So you got the little radio
dial on it.

During the times I tuned in
to the Stretch and Bobbito Show,

it provided me
an intimate comfort

to just venture into myself
to explore

the ranges of possibility
artistically.

I would write poetry,

and this is one of
the poems that I wrote.

"The diamonds in her eyes
cuts me at the glance.

Her feminine stance
sets the trance to begin.

Her skin shines with the feline
type of mesmerizing

kind of sublime
reflecting within the mind.

Flashes of her occur
too short to grasp

and too clear to blur.

The mixture of her stir
soothes my jagged edges.

Yes, a whisper coming in clearer
and crisper in wedges

between memories of
a femininity and lucidity.

The edges of her peaks
are layered with streaks

of mystifying mysteries
captivating me.

Her affluence is tremendous,

balanced by super-stupid
stpupendous sentiments.

The flavor of her taste

is the taste
of the ultimate experience.

This is a rhyme that I wrote
listening to this radio program.

(Jazz music playing)

Fat Joe: I was like
this big-time street guy,

you know, in the Bronx
and in Harlem,

and I'm telling everybody

I'm retiring
from the street business.

Now you got every drug dealer
coming out of jail

with an artist.

I was the first Master P.

♪ I'd rather be feared
than loved ♪

♪ Because the fear
lasts longer ♪

♪ These bitch-ass niggas know we
stronger than these weaklings ♪

♪ Seeking for respect
that ain't there ♪

♪ Knuckleheads beware
there's mad tension in the air ♪

That verse right there
changed my whole life.

The first time anybody ever
heard pun live

was here as well.

♪ So big dog
on the M-I-C ♪

♪ Represent
for the terror squad ♪

♪ Off the T-O-P ♪

Pun: ♪ Brothers are rappin'
like Iraq and soldiers ♪

♪ Actin' like
they crackin' boulders ♪

♪ Wouldn't pack a cap gun
or attack a blowfish ♪

♪ Always talkin' shit,
players that rather balk ♪

♪ Than pitch
and often counterfeit ♪

♪ Kings of New York
on Mr. Walken's dick ♪

♪ You make me sick to my stomach
you don't really want it ♪

♪ Riffin' like you sniffin' coke
to scare me ♪

♪ But you barely blunted ♪

♪ You really done it now,
you got me mad ♪

♪ Boricuas be like,
"Papi's bad," ♪

♪ Makin fakers caqui
when I'm droppin' math ♪

(Laughter,
music continues)

Pun, he was crazy, huh?
Yeah.

(Fades) ♪ You don't ever wanna
clash again with big dog ♪

♪ The master hand
will never last ♪

Every day they come to me
on Twitter

talking about do I have
a Pun verse

that no one ever heard?

By the way, you got one.

Now I know all Pun versus.

Yo, my man,
I know all Pun versus.

I listened to that shit
right there,

I was like what the fuck--
I didn't even know

I was in the background,
I was like, "Yo,

I never even heard this shit.
This nigga's killing it."

In Miami, they got this festival
they call Calle Ocho

I hear this little kid
like four years old,

and some people
are selling t-shirts.

And the little kid
is tapping his father,

he says, "Papi, papi
that's the legend.

That's the legend,"
and I'm looking,

and he's pointing
at a fucking Pun shirt.

I was just like fucked up.

I was like, yo,
that shit crazy, man.

He's a legend, man.
He started here.

Taste:
That shit is two hours old
for the Bobbito show only.

What's up?
Yo, the Bobbito show, though?

I mean Stretch Armstrong
and Bobbito.

Yo, what's your name?
Stretch? Nah.

It was Stretch's show,

but people kept calling it
"The Bobbito Show."

I wanna say what's up
to my man Bobbito.

He's up in here.

So unless you live
under a rock,

you know what I'm saying,
you've seen or heard

the flavor from my man Bobbito
you know what I'm saying,

and his DJ Stretch Armstrong
on the radio.

Stretch: Naturally,
this didn't sit well with me.

If neither of us is getting
any recognition, that's fine.

But if props
are being handed out,

I want some of them.

We became "The Stretch Armstrong
Babbito show,"

and then about six months
after that,

it became "The Stretch Armstrong
Show Hosted by Bobbito"

'cause there
was a lot of confusion.

This is "The Stretch Armstrong
Show," my name is Bobbito-o!

It's definitely our show,
but he gets top billing.

In hip-hop, the DJ is the most
important component.

(Record scratching)

Yo, awe were like these dope
DJs,
practice every day

really innovating
the whole style

of making music with turntables

as opposed
to just playing a song,

we were in this really
small subculture

of DJ nerds that knew
about us,

but the rest of New York
really didn't know.

(Records scratching)

(Crowd shouts)

(Crowd shouts)

( Cheers and applause )

So we get to WKCR,
we walking in,

and it was just dope because
it's like "I'm here, yo."

I've been listening to the show
every Thursday religiously,

and now I'm not home listening.

Like, I'm here at the show

and someone's
gonna listen to me,

and someone's like
with their cassette tape

about to press record and play.

And it was
just the illest feeling.

We were just so ready
to get on the turntables

and just get busy.

(Records scratching)

(All shouting and cheering)

These were cassette tapes
that were being recorded,

so someone in New York
that had a friend in L.A.

Was dubbing it, mailing it.

Talib: Those tapes,
analog tapes,

made it all over the world.

Somebody in Sweden or Amsterdam
or Japan could tell you about

something that happened
on Stretch and Bob last week.

It was like you guys created
your own Internet

before there was one.

Rob: We went from there
to like touring the world

working with groups
like Aerosmith, Linkin Park,

appearing in GAP commercials,
and it's just so ill

when you think about
just our humble beginnings

and how for us,
being on the radio

was like the end all,
be all to, like, exposure.

I had a kid call up one night

and tell me
that he shot somebody.

I picked up the phone,
and he was like,

"Yo," like, "What do I do?"

And I talked him through it.

There was another letter
that I received

one time from New Jersey
where the kid was like,

"Yo, I'm Puerto Rican.

There's no one in my town
that's graduated from college.

I really look up to you.

You mentioned on the air
that you play basketball.

You graduated from Wesleyan.

You don't smoke.
You don't drink."

When he wrote that,
I was like, oh, snap, like,

there's a little bit deeper
responsibility

to being a public figure now.

We're creating a platform
to change people's lives.

I'm trying not to suck
y'all off or nothing right now,

but motherfuckers, really,
you know, we, like,

really respected and idolized
what y'all were doing

because we used to sit
on the west coast

scratching our heads like,
"What are these guys doing?

Are we doing
what we're doing correctly?"

I say it helped inspire up
in many ways

just to be brave and not
be afraid to play artists

who you know probably
are only gonna appeal

to, like, 50 people,
but they're dope.

So dope should be heard.

Bobbito:
Introduce yourself, yo.

Nas: Yo, this is the big
motherfuckin Illmatic nas.

Know what I mean?

Yeah, the album getting ready
to come out in January.

The name of that is "Illmatic,"
know what I'm saying?

Wow, I'm going to Bobbito
Stretch Armstrong Show.

I made it.

By far, "Illmatic"
was the most anticipated

album of the decade.

Cats were fiending
for the release.

♪ The smooth criminal
on beat breaks ♪

♪ Never put me in your box
if your shit eats tapes ♪

You wound up playing
like the world premiere

of that night.

You world premiered--
you remember what track?

I don't remember shit.

♪ Nas will rock well
it ain't hard to tell ♪

(Repeating)
♪ Nas Nas Nas... ♪

At that point in time,

your show was
the most important show.

In the world.

I wrote a lot of my first album
listening to your show.

And when you would play a beat,
I would dub it.

I remember being
behind this board

and Stretch
a little reluctantly

passing the headphones to Nas
being like, "Yo,

what do you think of this beat
to rhyme over?"

I don't even think you told him
it was your beat.

No, I didn't, of course not.
Why would I do that?

"Yo, yo, yo,
it's my beat, man."

But then nas was like
bobbing his head.

He was like, "Yeah,
I'll rhyme over that."

And I remember
your face lit up.

You were like--
that's when you were like,

"That's my beat."
(Laughter)

Nas:
♪ How should I start this? ♪

What beat is this?

♪ To send, grab the microphone,
and my rhymes'll win ♪

♪ Wheel of fortune
spin around ♪

♪ Check it out,
I'm not a rap clown ♪

♪ Get smacked down by the
fuckin' 4-pound in your dome ♪

♪ Hit you with
the nick-plate chrome ♪

♪ Queensbridge,
that's my motherfuckin' home ♪

♪ Off the top of my head,
yo, I'm a blunt head ♪

♪ Police,
police want a nigga dead ♪

There was no down the road.

There was no lanes really open
for this next generation.

It wasn't promised
that I would make it.

I see you guys as like
the ones that just like

threw me out there, like,
"Here, let's go."

♪ Check it out now,
one for the money ♪

♪ Two for pussy
and foreign cars ♪

♪ Three for alizé niggaz
deceased or behind bars ♪

♪ I rap divine gods
check the prognosis ♪

♪ Is it real or showbiz? ♪

♪ My window faces shootouts,
drug overdoses ♪

♪ Live amongst no roses,
only the drama ♪

♪ For real a nickel-plate
is my fate ♪

♪ My medicine is the
ganja here's my basis ♪

♪ My razor embraces
many faces ♪

♪ Your telephone blowin' black
stitches or fat shoelaces ♪

♪ Peoples are petro ♪
♪ dramatic automatic
fo'-fo' ♪

♪ I let blow and back down po-po
when I'm vexed so ♪

♪ My pen taps the paper
then my brain's blank ♪

♪ I see dark streets ♪

♪ Hustlin' brothers
who keep the same rank ♪

♪ Pumpin' for something,
some will prosper, some fail ♪

♪ Judges hangin' niggas,
uncorrect bails ♪

♪ For direct sales
my intellect prevails ♪

♪ From a hangin' cross
with nails ♪

♪ I reinforce the frail,
with lyrics that's real ♪

♪ Word to Christ,
the disciple of streets ♪

♪ Trifle on beats
but chill ♪

♪ Bless the microphone
and say peace ♪

You still make beats?

(Stretch laughs)

So why don't you show us
some of your tapes?

Explain, uh--
show us what's in your box.

This is the night Big L
and Jay Z went up,

and it's actually both sides
because the tape ended

in the middle of one
of Big L's verses,

then had to flip the tape over.

Big L: Check it out.
Check it out.
Bobbito: Yeah.

Uh-oh.

You wanna put your man on, too?

You can do it together.

Big L: I'm gonna set it off
like this, check it out.

♪ Yo, check it,
yo I got slugs for snitches... ♪

I listened to this
the other day.

♪ Putting thugs in ditches
when my trigger finger itches ♪

♪ I got a rep
that make police jet ♪

♪ Known to get a priest wet
I never beg for pussy ♪

♪ Like Keith sweat
is Big L slow, hell no ♪

♪ Bitches get fucked
on a roof ♪

♪ When I ain't got
no hotel dough ♪

♪ I'm known
for yokin' jacks ♪

♪ And beating 'em
with smoking gats ♪

♪ Leaving token blacks
with broken backs ♪

♪ And open caps
so with that bullshit ♪

♪ Step to the rear, son,
the last thing you want ♪

♪ With Big L is a fair one ♪

♪ 'Cause in a street brawl
I strike men like lightning ♪

♪ You seen what happened
in my last fight, friend ♪

♪ A'ight then ♪
♪ A'ight then ♪

♪ All through high school
I had braids ♪

♪ I kept mad blades
stabbing teachers to death ♪

♪ That gave me bad grades ♪

♪ I cook the mic like
a beef steak ♪

♪ 'Cause my technique's great ♪

♪ And I'm the nigga police
hate in each state ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm the
neighborhood lamper ♪

♪ Punk brother vamper
fuck around ♪

♪ You'll find my silk boxers
in your mother's hamper ♪

♪ Cops drop when my glock
makes a pow sound ♪

♪ I'm from a wild town
you know my style clown ♪

♪ So bow down... ♪
I was playing this
the other day.

Turn on the mega bass.

♪ I got my man Jay-Z here ♪

♪ Brothers can beg and borrow,
still feel sorrow ♪

♪ When Jay, Z like Zorro,
get in that ass ♪

♪ Better luck tomorrow,
I'm too much nigga ♪

♪ So never should you rush ♪

♪ You need to slow down
or get your ass tore down ♪

♪ Check it out,
I'm too cocky to stop me ♪

♪ You gotta kill me
and when I'm gone ♪

♪ You can still feel me,
on the real, B... ♪

That's a pretty good pocket,
Jay Z.

♪ Even if they won't let me
in heaven, I raise hell ♪

♪ Till it's heaven recognize ♪

♪ The black cat
with the nine lives ♪

♪ Get up off me nigga,
it's bad luck to cross me ♪

♪ I'm popping crystal,
shooting game like missiles ♪

♪ As projected all ho's
affected by this style ♪

♪ I mack like Goldie,
go back like the oldie ♪

♪ But the goody pulling
R&B bitches wearing hoodies ♪

♪ They don't be knowin'
the way I be flowing ♪

♪ When I be going ♪

♪ I be running the track
like Jesse Owens ♪

♪ Enticing when slicing through
tracks you're screaming ♪

♪ Jesus Christ he's back
and God knows he can rap ♪

♪ Me and l put rhythm on the map
so give him his dap and me ♪

♪ I just take mine,
gimme those, ♪

♪ Gimme this, gimme that,
fuck that ♪

You'll never get this verse
but on Stretch and Bobbito.

I raise hell till it's heaven.
Pretty good verses.

(Laughter)

You know, I didn't realize
that that was a thing

until, like,
people kept bringing it up

and, like,
talking about it,

and I was like,
yeah, the Big L thing.

It's like, no,
the Big L thing--

which I didn't even realize
was happening

till years later
we were in one of those moments

that people would talk about
in hip-hop lore.

I was just happy about,
you know, I'm on the radio.

The fact that you still got
these tapes is fantastic, man.

Where do you keep 'em?

- Nah, I got 'em in--
- Just in your bag?

Bobbito: Right here on WKCR
89.9 FM in Nueva York.

And we got my man Ease
and Case 2.

- Yo, yo!
- Yo, yo! Yo, Ease!

Yo, you know
I'm chilling, baby!

- No, no, you're not "cheeling."
- Are you "cheeling"?

- I'm "cheeling."
- "Cheeling."

I'm "cheeling."
Going wild up in here.

He's like chilling on ice.

Do you have the vicious style,
homeboy?

I have the best.
That's more than the vicious.

I'm the super-duper nutritious.
Of what you say, the vicious.

There is nothing better
than my deli-icious.

Your deli-icious.
That's right,
super deli-icious.

Without the tuna fish.

I appreciate you
coming through.

For you, you're my man,
come on, Bobbito.

You know how we get down.

Back in the days when I was up
north and on the island.

I used to y'all gettin' illy
on the station,

so I'd say one day I'd be home,
in the free cypher,

I'd get my turn.

I am the creator of graf.
Know what I'm saying?

My brother Phase 2 was one
of the first that did it

from back in the '70s,
'71 and '72.

And from what he elevated
into one thing,

I elevated into another,
and I made it

to what it's modernly
known as today.

I want people to know
when I made the trademark

King of Style back in 1976,
I am that true person.

- King of Style, not Style--
- King of what?

King of Style.
You already know.

Louis 167: And I'd roll around
with some quarters,

yo, pull over,
I'm on the pay phone,

like, we're bombing
in Brooklyn right now.

Give us a shout-out.

Bobbito: Also want to give
a shout-out to my man Louis 167.

He wants to give a cookie puss
shout-out to Stretch Armstrong.

Being able to call up and
actually talk to someone,

you know, get that shout-out,
it was real.

Riggs: At the source, my job
was to document the culture.

You guys were the Bible.

Raekwon: When it came to knowing
the right sneakers,

going to the right spots,
the right jams,

the latest news,
we had to have disciples

that really knew hip-hop
talk about that,

and y'all
was the face of that.

(Indistinct conversations)

Bobbito:
We gotta be here in peace.

The last time we did this,
everything was straight.

Let's all be in this together
and cool out, man.

Yo, Stretch, cut the music!
Yo, yo, chill, man, what's up?

(Woman screams)

Security to the back
of the club, please!

Pharoahe Monch: That's hip-hop,
that air and that energy.

It is kind of dangerous
to go to a hip-hop show,

and it was also,
"Don't step on my sneakers."

It was danger.

It was a violent thing
to it as well.

A certain type of vibe
or song,

could set something off.

My life has been threatened
by artists, you know,

that I'll leave unnamed.

Stretch has been stepped
to a couple of times.

You know, so even
by the hip-hop community,

you know, we've had
our little squabbles,

you know, which, um, I tend
not to really, uh, dwell upon.

It's negativity, there's no need
to speak on it

um...

(Farts)

B-Real:
When we won the Billboard
Awards, we were surprised.

We were stoked about it.
We didn't expect it.

You stepped up to the mic,
and you made the point

of saying, "I just wanna
say right now

on national TV that Cypress Hill
would not have happened

if it wasn't for New York DJs
Funkmaster Flex,

Stretch Armstrong,
and Kid Capris."

When I heard about that
after the fact,

I was dancing around the
apartment for like three days.

Fat Joe:
Ar-r-r-senio hall!

(Lively music playing)

We went to Arsenio Hall,
and that's at his prime.

Like, that was
when he was poppin'.

I was the musical guest,
the sit-in DJ for the week.

I knew you were there.

Backstage, I see Arsenio.

I was like, yo, Fat Joe,
new rapper from the Bronx,

he's on Relativity,
he's in the audience.

Just want to let you know,
you wanna shout him out.

I didn't know
he was gonna bring you out.

This is Stretch Armstrong.
Anybody from New York?

( Cheers and applause )
Yeah. Yeah.

Yo, that's, uh, that's Fat Joe.
What's up, man?

( Cheers and applause )
What's up?

Shout out, Fat Joe!
Come on, give it up!

What's up?

Arsenio Hall!

- Yo. Yo. Yo.
- Yo!

He was like, "We got a guy
in the house, Fat Joe."

- I'm like, "What the fuck?"
- Yeah.

I went in the studio audience,
wait on line to see Arsenio.

As a fan, that was the biggest
shit in the world.

Forget it, I might have fucking
bust 72 nuts.

I gotta say what's up to
my main man, Arsenio Hall, man.

(Laughter and hooting)

That's my main man.

Stretch: This the first time
you been up here

- since we were on the show?
- Yeah, yeah.
(Laughs)

(Men speaking indistinctly)

Yo Joe we gonna cut you off
cause we wanna get to...

♪ New Jack,
steppin' in the area ♪

♪ Kind of reminds me of Eddie
Murphy, Coming to America ♪

Rosie: I was perceived to
always be on the cutting edge.

You know, back in L.A.,
they thought I was a genius.

And I would tell them, no,
it's Stretch and Bobbito,

and you guys were just
doing it for fun.

You know, whether
you were doing for props--

I know on that radio station
you weren't doing it for money.

Oh! (Laughs)

Talk about no budget.

(Rap music playing,
shouting)

Bobbito: In 1996, HOT 97
invites us to be on the air.

That's the number one commercial
radio station in New York.

Q-Tip: Really wanna congratulate
you guys on going to HOT 97.

(Laughter)
Bobbito: Thank you.

(Backbeat playing)

♪ Stretch Armstrong
12 dawn son let's get it on ♪

♪ Tobacco Cuban shit
straight from Castro ♪

♪ E-bliss, glamorous,
move cautious ♪

♪ Jose Luis puff la in a leaf ♪

♪ Golden teeth with Bobbito
Cuban nino ♪

♪ Sunday, same day
as the tunnel day ♪

I wondered how you would adjust
to having to not curse.

This is a big company.
It's a different kind of animal.

Jay Z: Brooklyn, huh.
Marcy, what?

Represent.

I'll try not to curse
on this one.

On the other show,
y'all let me go.

I ain't gonna lie.

Bobbito: We got a red light
on this one.

Oh, this was when
y'all couldn't curse.

Y'all start blowing up?
(Laughs)

You're on like big radio now?
Yeah.

Stretch: I always
had aspired to be

as recognized a DJ as possible,
and I felt

if I could get onto HOT 97,
I could champion good music.

I knew there were new ears.

Bobbito:
Hot was odd at first

because there was a lot of
resistance from our audience,

our die-hard
Thursday night audience

who were like, yo,
they're our secret.

I began to see
a possible demise

because whenever you see
corporations

get their hands on anything,
they pervert it,

and this was a perversion.

Bobbito: The fact that we
were gonna get

on a bigger platform,
a better time slot,

it crossed people funny styles.

When you guys went and moved
over to HOT 97,

which to me was
the epicenter of evil,

it broke my heart.

The first thing I did was
I just wrote this long rant.

So Stretch and Bob, personally,
I don't think that it's fair

that all these fucking
guidos and hoodlums

who think they
are hip-hop heads

don't know the first thing
regarding the art of DJing

as well their lack of interest
in hip-hop to such an extent

that they are too lazy to stay
up until 5:00 am.

I have nothing against HOT 97

but something
against your decision.

I'm shaking my head
in discontent

of such a corporate whore
such as yourself.

(Laughter)

Bobbito: People had this idea
that if you were in hip-hop

on camera or on radio,
you were making big-time money.

We got on HOT 97,

and now we get paid to do
something that we love,

but even if we weren't,
we would still be here, and--

plus the paychecks are--
they're not whoppers.

(Laughter)

I think people confused
our move to HOT

as it being part of
the destruction of our show.

I think the music
from '96 to '98

played a bigger role in that.

(Hip-hop music playing)

We were trying our best
to still present

the best quality program
for two hours on HOT

and four hours on KCR,
but we were only good--

as good as what
the music could be.

Eminem: Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo,
keep the same beat.

Keep the same beat.
Keep the same beat.

Yes.
It goes like this, yo.

♪ My attitude is worse
than NWA's was ♪

♪ I'll battle you
over stupid shit ♪

♪ And diss people who ain't
have shit to do with it ♪

♪ Like Cool J does ♪

♪ You see me standin'
outside of your building ♪

♪ Screaming Puffy is good but
Slim Shady is for the children ♪

♪ I look at my life
in a new light ♪

♪ Fuck it, give me two mics,
I write songs for me ♪

♪ You probably
hear me rap half-hearted ♪

♪ 'Cause I don't
like rap anyway ♪

♪ I'm just trying to get
my porno career started ♪

For me to even be able
to go to New York

was, like,
just mind-blowing.

Coming from Detroit, we always
have felt like underdogs,

and Stretch and Bobbito,
that was our dream.

The fact that we had a chance
to be on it was so crazy.

Bobbito: Em coincided
with the end of an era

for college radio,
underground radio

being like the incubator
and feeder

to commercial rap success.

That was certainly
a highlight and a boost

for not only obviously
my career and everything

that was happening at that time

but my self-esteem
and everything.

You know what I'm saying?
It was like, yo, we--

it felt like we made it,
like this was it.

♪ Mama, don't you cry,
your son is too far-gone ♪

♪ I'm so high I don't even
know what label I'm on ♪

♪ I'm fucked up, I feel just
like an overworked plumber ♪

♪ I'm sick of this shit, what's
Jack Kevorkian's phone number? ♪

(Laughs) What?

That era was the last
of the underground artists

that could be commercial 'cause
we were fully prepared.

I rapped with Big L
and rapped with LL Cool J

and Busta Rhymes, I rapped
alongside of these guys,

so it was like sparring
and boxing.

When I was ready for my closeup,
there was no stopping me.

With the introduction
of the Internet,

there is no rite of passage.

Everybody just throw things
on there,

and that's why you guys were
so important as gatekeepers.

There's a curation to that
process that's really missing.

Talib: If there's no community
for the passing

and sharing of ideas,
the art is gonna wither and die.

Stretch: I kind of attribute
the beginning of the end

of our show to me
losing the passion

that I had for the music.

It's hard to be one of
the torch bearers for hip-hop

and then start to feel like

you don't even really
love this shit anymore.

As my commitment
to the show was waning,

Bobbito filled in that void
by playing more music,

playing more demos and then
eventually actually DJing.

Stretch Boogie's
not showed up yet,

but, uh,
this is Kool Bob Love.

(Rap music playing)

Bobbito: There was
a constant, like,

I don't know what's going on
with this dude.

I can't completely rely on him.
He started not showing up.

I'm exhausted.
I'm just not gonna go.

You take the good with the bad.
He was unreliable.

The question, how do you tell
your wife you love her

but you're not in love
with her?

I loved Stretch in the '90s.

I didn't hire Bobbito
to do the show.

We started it together,
and it became this great thing

that was great because of what
we both brought to the table.

I didn't like what Bob was
doing, but I couldn't fire him.

I would intentionally
play records that I knew

Bob would be annoyed by,
and he would do the same thing.

We had this music war
on the radio.

Ladies and gentlemen,
it is thug Thursday.

Thug Thursdays.
We got Big Gus.

Thug Thursday.

Explain what-- what--

(stammering)

I understand Bob's beef with
some of the music I was playing

topically and lyrically,
it was thuggish.

♪ Eruptin',
plug bustin' ♪

♪ All fat MC's
that be tryin' to test ♪

♪ But my Smith and Wes glock
splays rapidly ♪

♪ Yo,
how rapidly do it spray? ♪

♪ Ay yo,
it's like rapid-fire glocks ♪

♪ My shit don't stop ♪

Lord Sear: Bob was bringing in
like weird lyrical MCs.

You want to abuse this beat?

I like how, I like pow.
Out with the freestyle.

You're off like a whole mile
killing me this killer.

I'm iller than Barney Fife,
Barney Rubble

plus Barney Miller,
even that purple motherfucker.

I ran circles around
a motherfucker.

Wear out the grass
in your ass--

(Stammering)

Yo, yo.

Lord Sear:
It was just too lyrical, yo.

Whoa, may I have
an excedrin?

Stretch: Lord Sear,
he straddled the fence.

If Bob and I were salty
with each other,

it really helped
having Sear around.

I remember I used to make fun
of you, shut the fuck up.

Shut the f-- and I'd be like,
Bob, I mean,

listen to the beat,
just listen.

My lyrical content in fours--
much fours-- of s'mores--

I'd be like, Bob, listen.

Stretch: It led to a really
passive-aggressive situation

I would say
on both of our parts.

Bobbito: He would come up
but he wouldn't greet me.

He wouldn't talk to me
until we turned the mic on.

Stretch: We never addressed what
was going on between us.

In my head, I'm like, "Yo, B,
how you gonna walk in here,

you're late," now we get
on the mic, it's fake.

Like, everything is cool,
but everything isn't cool.

(Jazz music playing)

Fat Joe:
It was ground zero for hip-hop,

so I was like, yo,
how the fuck they gonna leave?

What happened?

We were on air here at 97
on a Sunday.

Stretch:
Dealing with this thick tension
between us in which

we were really not even treating
each other like friends.

And at 1:00 am
when our show finished.

Stretch: Bobbito came up to me
and basically broke the ice

- and said, yo--
- Bobbito: Doesn't seem like
you wanna do the show

- with me anymore.
- You're not happy.
I'm not happy.

Bobbito:
Do the show by yourself.
It's all good.

You wanna do HOT 97?
You can have it.

- I ain't trying to hold you back.
- As far as KCR,
we can alternate week to week.

- It's cool.
- Cool?

Cool.

To hear that there
might have been problems

or tension or issues
and that the show was ending...

It was heartbreaking.

There was no check
and balance anymore.

You know, I was upset with y'all
when y'all left the show

because you probably felt--
why did y'all leave the show?

Bobbito: By the mid '90s

I felt like a lot of stuff
that Stretch was playing,

it didn't speak to me

because I didn't care
about the topic

'cause I was paying attention
to the lyrics.

I'll just try to be different.

At least what they were saying
wasn't offensive to me

and some of the listeners
that I had

that were more
socially conscious.

That sucks.

Stretch: I was always much more
beat-centric.

The topics and lyrics
was almost secondary to me.

The best records sonically,

the ones made by the best
producers were topically

and lyrically derivative,
antisocial,

even offensive, they were
a far cry from the records

that we both loved in '90,
'91, '92.

By '96, '97, my ability
to fill an entire show

with music I loved started being
more and more challenging.

In '98, '99,
I was kind of lost.

I was completely uninspired,

could not find music
that I loved.

That's when I knew for me
it was time to call it quits.

(Jazz music fades)

Ramona: I used to have this man
who used to come and do my lawn.

One day, I received
a box from Bob.

He seen the name "Bobbito,"
and he says,

"You-- Bobbito
is sending you stuff?"

I says, "Yeah, that's my son."
He goes, "no way!

When I was incarcerated,
that was the light of the day.

Every Thursday,
we used to stay up

and listen to Bobbito
and Stretch Armstrong."

He was so excited.
He got me and hugged me.

Like, if I was you, and then
he did my lawn for free.

I went to buy
on Broadway someplace,

some sneakers, and there
are a couple dudes,

I'm seeing they're really having
a very difficult time finding

sneakers because they are
so busy talking about music.

So I said, "You know
Stretch Armstrong?"

And said,
"Oh, Stretch, my man."

They said, "Can't be."

I said, "No, he's my son."

And some of them were Polish.

And then I said, "And Stretch
is partly Polish."

"Wow, wow," he just like
jumped to the ceiling.

As parents were so proud
of you guys.

You know,
I praise you both

for what you have done
for our community.

Stretch, I don't think we talked
for a couple years.

I really don't remember,
but there was like

a clear, like--
cooling.

Yeah, a cooling down of the--
(Laughs)

Bobbito:
Stretchy!

Boobie!

(Indistinct conversations)

This is the Stretch Armstrong
and Bobbito reunion.

If you don't know,
it's 89.9 FM.

So this is actually
the 20th anniversary

of us doing a show--
let's do a round of applause.

First time.
First time, you know?

When I proposed that show
and I arranged it,

- you were down,
you were like whatever--
- Yeah, oh, yeah.

We're doing the show.
Sear's in, I'm in.

You're like, "I'm down with it,
but you know,

let's just do 1:00 to 3:00,"
I'm like, "No, no."

(Shouting and laughter)

"Let's just do 1:00 to 3:00."
I'm like you know what?

You can go home, me and Sear
are gonna go till 5:00.

3:00 comes around,
you're like--

4:00 comes around, 5:00.

We asked the station manager
can we keep going?

We went till 6:00.
You were there the whole time.

Bobbito: My head space,
like, I could feel 1991.

(Chattering, laughter)
(Repeating) Yo-yo-yo-yo...

Biggie Smalls came onto our show
before he was signed,

but years later,
he saw you on the sidewalk.

Stretch: And I see taking refuge
from the rain

cease and big in a doorway,

and they see me
crossing the street,

and as I'm like 10 feet away,
Big goes, "Yo-yo-yo-yo-yo..."

That's 95,
so I'm like, wow.

He's still listening.
That's crazy.

Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.

He got over it.

Nobody was rich yet
or nothing like that.

So nobody had an attitude.

You put Jay Z to wait
in the hallway for 30 minutes,

he waited for 30 minutes,
then he came in here

and rapped his ass off
for free.

That was the first spark of just
getting that recognition.

From there,
things start happening.

Bobbito: You got a new joint out
we should talk about real quick.

Stretch: I'm about to throw
both of those on.

Bobbito: Is it available
in the stores for people to buy,

this independent joint?
Jay Z: Yeah, yeah,
it's in some stores,

but once we lock
this distribution thing down,

it's gonna be in all the stores.
It's called In My Lifetime.

Bobbito: On what label?

- Roc-A-Feller Records.
- Roc-A-Feller Records.

Jay Z:
It's doing real good.

Bobbito: Support Jay Z.
He's one of the originators.

Jay Z: Yeah,
yeah, I do that.

Bobbito: Come on, baby.

Yo, play the Nas freestyle.
That's my favorite.

Nobody talk to me right now.
I wanna listen to this.

Nas: ♪ Nasty Nas
conducts a raw note ♪

♪ My vocal chords
can repel a sore throat ♪

♪ My domain is like
Dracula's castle ♪

♪ Rhymes are psychic,
brain cells a hassle ♪

♪ I provoke your instinct
not to think ♪

♪ Enter your brain and drain
till your mind is blank ♪

♪ My microphone... is on,
and that's my word is bond ♪

I just wanna say L
was a real cool dude.

He was actually
ridiculously quiet.

A lot of people don't realize
what a just laid-back cat--

'cause, you know, he was so
outlandish with his rhymes.

Big L: ♪ My crew be delivering
hot lead ♪

♪ When gats are clenched
rappers I jack and lynch ♪

♪ Nobody can fuck
with the way I be killing ♪

♪ The shit in rap events
Big L is the nigga you expect ♪

♪ To catch wreck
on any cassette deck ♪

♪ I'm so ahead of my time,
my parents haven't met yet ♪

Jewlz: He literally lived
the MC shit

where we could be cool
but once we get in that booth,

fuck you, fuck you.

I'm trying
to tear your head off.

That what was l lived to do.

(Jazz music plays)

It makes people wonder
what could have been.

Here it is, this somewhat
virtually unknown artist

giving this great big artist

that everybody is so aware
of now a run for his money.

DJ Premier:
He's a double-platinum respected
guy that never went platinum.

Fat Joe: I got a cousin,
he's from the Bronx, young.

He says, "Yo,
I wanna play you something."

And it's a cd of Big L
on your show with Jay Z.

He was like, "Yo, I caught
this shit off the Internet."

I'm like...
(Laughter)

"That was really your man?"

I'm like, "Motherfucker,
I was there.

Like, what the fuck
are you talking about?"

"No, man, this shit is crazy."

Big L came up there
and did the disintegration,

what I was dreaming
I could have done.

Every punch line was sick.
I ain't gonna front.

That was one of those moments
on my tape

that made me a lot of money.
I owe a lot to y'all.

A whole lot of pairs
of Pumas and Addidas and Nikes

and Timberlands that I was
buying came from them tapes

selling a whole lot, bro.

When I was around niggas
that was hustling,

I was too scared
to give it a shot,

so the Stretch and Bobbito
hustle was a lot safer for me.

(Laughter)

Fuck that.

Hold on, before we get to that.
This 89.9 FM.

Yeah, your voice
sounds great, Stretch.

No, no, I had to fix it.

No, I'm saying,
but your voice sounds great.

- Well, thank you.
- Good to hear your voice
in the headphones.

I'm getting sentimental
right now.

You sat here and you watch a
bunch of motherfuckers get rich

while you broke 'em and you blew
'em up, right or wrong.

You still love hip-hop.

Did the show for eight years
absolutely free.

And you watched motherfuckers
turn around and get rich.

- I spent money
making that show.
- Yeah, yeah.

We lost money doing the show.

Nah, you ain't lose money
because it's priceless.

I owe a lot to you guys,
and we all do.

All the guys from my generation,
they know what's up.

I'm glad to see you guys
are still cool.

You don't hate each other.
(Laughter)

You know what I'm saying?

(Telephone rings)
Lord Sear: Who is it?!

(Laughter)
Bobbito: Our first phone call.

Wait, wait, wait,
hold on, hold on.

Lord Sear:
See who it is.

(Laughter)
Oh, my God.

Man:
Oh, my goodness.

Yo, this is so much fun!

- Keep it real.
- Yeah, what?

When we stopped doing
the show together,

when we started alternating,
it wasn't as fun.

- No.
- I love you, man.

- Love you, too.
- All: Aw!

(Laughter)

What should we do?

Le hugs.

(Laughter)

Le flowers.

Le candy.

We were right here on this
corner, 104th St. and Broadway.

We created our own reality by
putting it in the universe.

- Manifest.
- Manifest right here
on this corner!

Here! Aqui!

The Stretch and Bobbito Show
was the number-one,

absolute best hip-hop radio show
ever, period.

I know.
You know how?

'Cause I was there, son, yeah!

What up, baby?
What up, baby?

20 years and up!
Hey, yo!

Y'all niggas know
this song right here!

(Shouting)

Yeah. Yeah.

♪ To all the killers
in the hundred dollar-- ♪

♪ Uh-oh, uh-oh. ♪

♪ Cash rules everything
around me. ♪

♪ Dolla dolla bill, y'all! ♪

♪ Cash rules everything,
C.R.E.A.M. Get the money! ♪

Crowd:
♪ Dolla dolla bill, y'all ♪

♪ I grew up on the crime side,
New York Times side ♪

♪ Staying alive was no jive
at second hands ♪

♪ Moms bounced on old man
so then we moved to ♪

Crowd:
♪ Shaolin land ♪

♪ But it was just a dream
for the teen ♪

♪ Was a fiend
started smokin' woolies ♪

♪ And running up in gates,
doing shit for high stakes ♪

♪ Making my way
on fire escapes ♪

♪ But no question I would speed
for cracks and weed ♪

♪ Combination made ♪
♪ My eyes bleed ♪

♪ But no question
I would flow off ♪

♪ Try to get the dough all ♪

Crowd: ♪ Sticking up white boys
in ball courts ♪

♪ Man my life got no better,
same damn 'lo sweater ♪

♪ Times is ruff and tuff ♪
♪ Like leather ♪

♪ Figured out
I went the wrong route ♪

♪ Ao I got with a real ass-- ♪
New York!

♪ Catchin' keys from across seas
rollin in MPV's every week ♪

Crowd:
♪ We made 40 G's ♪

♪ Yo my nigga respect mine,
here go the tech nine ♪

Crowd:
♪ Pow, move from the gate now ♪

Stop that shit.

I ain't even know that shit
blended like that.

Oh, shit!

I ain't even know that shit
was gonna blend like that.

Hey, yo, I love y'all, man.
Word up, man.

Salute the motherfucking
presidential--

presidential candidates of rap.

Yo, give it up for Raekwon,
people.

- Love y'all niggas, man.
- All right, love you too,
my brother,

Crowd chanting: Wu tang!
Wu tang! Wu tang!

Wu tang! Wu tang!

Raekwon: High school reunion
shit of hip-hop niggas,

and you know authentic niggas
that made stars

out of dudes today by just
co-signing them.

It was just an honor to be
there, man.

I wouldn't have missed it
for nothing, B,

because it's like, yo,
y'all the ancestors of hip-hop.

Stretch: The '90s were a really
special period in hip-hop.

They were a transition
from the innocence

and discovery of the '80s
into the commercialization

and globalization
of the 2000s and beyond.

I played a big role
in establishing the blueprint

for the best kind of hip-hop

which to this day
is still valid.

Bobbito: We had a voice
as a radio show

that was a little bit deeper
than entertainment music.

We were in this little box,
and just the impact

that all that's had
on such a personal level

for me and for the people
that we touched is--

I still can't really grasp it.

All I could take
is kind of like these

personal relationships
that we've made.

We've become lifelong friends.

There's like these
satellite people

that we're both
bonded too as well,

and I'm just--
I'm thankful for that.

(Jazz music plays)

I wish we could go back then
just for a day

just to fucking see it again.

Yeah, I might have
to freestyle tonight.

Del the Funkee Homosapien:
This is one of the dopest shows,
I have to say

I appreciate that.
We appreciate that.

This is the Stretch
Armstrong Show.

My name is Bobbito
on the ill tip, and, uh...

We ou-u-u-t.

(Hip-hop music plays)

Should I lean forward as well?

No, lean back.
(Laughter)

Yo, what's up,
this is DJ run.

What's going on?
This is DMC.

I go by the name of Jam Master J
from around the way,

and when I'm around the way,
I listen to my man

Stretch Armstrong
on 89.9 WKCR.

Peace.

Bobbito: KCR,
live on the air.

Man: Yeah, what's up, kid?
It's Bolo Brown.

A bowl of brown shit.

Lord Sear: A bowl of brown shit.
Boston baked beans.

(Laughter)

Man: Check, check,
wanna give a shout out

to y'all,
know what I'm saying?

- All right?
Yo, and yo.
- That's great.

- Yo, Bobbito, you coming
with the camcorder?
- What happened?

You coming with the camcorder
to the parade?

No, no, no--

Lord Sear: (Mocking) Yeah,
we come with the cam-quarter

to the pa-wade.

(Laughter)
Cam-quarter.

Gonna watch the parade
with a cam-quarter.
(Laughter)

No, I'll bring the camcorder
to your girl's house.

(Laughter)

While you're at the parade.

(Laughter)
Okay, camcorder.

(All speaking at once)

- Much love to 'y'all, yo.
- All right.

Yo, yo, Stretch,
I don't forget,

you look like that guy
from "The Real World."

Man: Yo, Monique.
Yo, what's up, baby?

Monique:
What up?

Yo, I got one hand
on my left nut.

(Laughter)

Bobbito:
And what else?

I got a naked Barbie doll
in my butt.

(Laughter)

Bobbito: Stick a Ken doll
in there, too.

(Laughter)

Make them buns each other
in your crack hole!

Kool Keith: My work ethnics
was so much greedier.

Bobbito:
Your work ethnics?

My work-- my work--
you know, my work--

- Ethic.
- Ethic, ethic.

Yeah, my work ethnic was so--
no.

We gotta cut that
right there.

There's no New York rappers
no more.

I went to a show a year ago.

And they had all these rappers
from the Bronx.

"Yeah!"
(Imitates beat)

I'm like, how is this guy
from the Bronx?

He was dressed in orange
and neon yellow and lime green

and glasses this big.

You know,
like, what happened?

Stretch: At what point
did the show for you turn--

(Farts)

Yo, who was that?

Who do you think?
Really? Really?

You gotta ask?
Come on, bro.

Why can't you go that way?
It's good for the camera.

- Wow.
- Some things never change.

I don't wanna breathe your
fucking anal molecules, bro.

I had a smell flashback.

(Laughter)

The incarcerated population
of the tri-state area,

they know who we are.

How would we fare if we got
locked up for something?

Didn't Big Graveyard
write you a letter?

We got a letter
from Big Graveyard saying,

"I'm in Rahway doing like a,
I don't know,

10-, 15- year bid.

When I get out,
you guys need me for anything,

I got you."
(Laughs)

That just stuck in my head,
to this day.

Big Graveyard,
if you're out there...

Thank you.

Hit me up on instagram.

I was tempted to eat
your blueberries.

- Yo, get busy.
- Word?

I'm a eat some of them shits
when we done.

When I cut the lime,
he said, "Busta Limes."

(Laughter)

Yo-- (Laughs) Yo.

Sear, me and Stretch
are proud of you, bro.

- Thank you.
- For real, man, rocking
on Sirius Satellite FM,

Monday through Friday
4:00 to 8:00.

I need a copy of this.
Can you give me a copy?

You can put it
on an mp3 file?

(Laughs) All right.

On recording:
♪ I provoke your instinct
not to think ♪

♪ Enter your brain ♪
♪ And drain
till your mind is blank ♪

Both: ♪ My microphone...
is on ♪

♪ And that's
my word is bond ♪

(Jazz music playing)

Stretch and Bobbito!
(Sings notes)

Man: Rolling.

Stretch:
Hello, WKCR.

Man: Yo, yo, y'all gonna play
that new joint by um--

(All shouting, laughter)

- This show is over.
- Show is over, baby, sorry man.

Man: Y'all not coming back on
in about half an hour?

- No!
- No, no, no!