It’s always nice to hear a bit of hip hop history, and this story comes courtesy of Public Enemy icon Chuck D. He’s recently made headlines over his hoax-non-hoax with Flavor Flav, revealing to People’s Party with Talib Kweli that their recent Bernie Sanders controversy wasn’t real. Also during the talk with Talib Kweli’s podcast, Chuck revealed a few tales about the early days of Tupac Shakur and Naughty By Nature rapper Treach, and how they began as good friends on the road working for other artists as they awaited their big breaks.

“Tupac was like a little brother with us,” Chuck D said. “He was the dude carrying bags for Digital Underground, but also, Shock G would let him get a little rhyme time if they expanded the show out. Remember, Public Enemy, our responsibility was to bring other cats on the show. So, on that tour in 1990, it was us and Heavy D bringing everybody around.”

“Pac and Treach were both carrying bags for [Queen] Latifah and Digital Underground,” the rapper added, noting that he was first introduced to Treach by Latifah as “Treacherous.” Chuck said he would tell Pac and Treach not to “f*ck up” because “we ain’t coming to save your ass.” Later, Tupac got his big break when he finally got a verse on Digital Underground’s classic hit “Same Song.”

“It was a wonderful joy seeing them young men enjoying their coming out,” Chuck D continued. “These guys were going to be stars, and they were buddies, that’s why what happened to Pac, it seriously affected Treach. They were rookies and the next years they were stars. That was a joy.” The Public Enemy icon appreciated watching these two hip hop legends build their careers from nothing as they worked their way up the ranks. 

Sadly, we all know that Tupac Shakur would never reach his full potential as he was gunned down in 1996 at 25-years-old, but his imprint on the music industry as a whole refuses to be ignored. Check out Chuck D chatting about the early days of Tupac and Naughty By Nature rapper Treach below.

Public Enemy has been making headlines for less than favorable news as of late. The iconic rap group was reportedly at odds over a performance that was to be held at a Bernie Sanders rally. After it was announced that Public Enemy would be taking to the stage, Flavor Flav came forward to denounce the show. A war of words between members Chuck D and Flav ensued, and news was shared that Flav was no longer in the group.

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The exchange between the longtime friends and collaborators came off as bizarre to fans who couldn’t believe that they were breaking down, but Chuck D told People’s Party with Talib Kweli that it was all staged to prove a point. “The murder of Pop Smoke, man, to see that, it was like the flashback to Nipsey Hussle last year,” Chuck D said. “It got to be like, do rappers need to be killed to get noticed in hip hop? And this whole thing  of bad news is the news and making people like—my daughter Dominique, who runs my company, she’s often like, ‘Dad, that’s not a good look.’ And I’m like when the f*ck does the good look get acknowledged because the bad look got an elevator and a rocket to it.”

So, because Flavor Flav has been taking a few hits in the media lately and his “stock was low”, they concocted a storyline that would grab the attention of the masses. “Flav doesn’t know the difference between Bernie Sanders, Barry Sanders, or Colonel Sanders. He don’t give a f*ck,” Chuck D joked. He explained how they came up with the plan behind the scenes. “I’m not saying it’s a hoax. I’m saying the original intention was to get your attention and not play attention, get you to pay attention.”

Flav can’t be fired, anyway, because Chuck says “he’s a partner.” Listen to Chuck D speak about the importance of Flav in Public Enemy and explain his plot below.

One of the memorable highlights from the first season of Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow came from a moment between the season’s winner, D Smoke, and rap icon Snoop Dogg. Following D Smoke’s performance, Snoop, along with the other judges, critiqued his performance. When it came to the Doggystyle rapper’s turn to speak, he put a little pressure on D Smoke when he asked him where he was from. “I’m from Inglewood,” he answered. Snoop pressed him again with the same question. D Smoke was unmoving and gave the same response.

That moment may have been seen as a tense exchange, but it was a lesson that Snoop wanted to give from one fellow Californian rapper to another. While chatting with People’s Party with Talib Kweli, D Smoke expounded on the significance of that much talked about Rhythm + Flow encounter with Snoop Dogg.

“Let’s start by saying, Snoop didn’t ask everybody that,” he began. “I think, before I said I was from Inglewood, I think he already wanted to ask. And I think it speaks to the energy and, to use your word, the authenticity behind what I presented in my art, in my performance. Snoop, he didn’t ask anybody else that, which means he was moved in a different way.”

“I think I’m an intersection of all that sh*t in the same box. Like, church, street, music, art, you know what I’m saying, fightin’,” D Smoke continued. “I think Snoop saw that and I think it was a line—I didn’t mean to look at Snoop but I think I looked at him when I said, ‘If you don’t like it then fight me /  go meet the heel of my Nikes.’ I think part of it could have been like, ‘Okay, he got that energy.’… I don’t know if that part made the cut but he said, ‘I can tell you got that energy.'”  He also said that Snoop has been a major supporter of his career ever since.

The rapper added that the way Snoop approached the situation was an “L.A. thing” and he was more than familiar with what was going on. Check out his full interview with People’s Party with Talib Kweli below.

Although he’s hailed as a rap icon, the late Biggie Smalls only has two albums under his belt. The slain rapper lost his life to a drive-by shooting back in 1997, and his family, friends, and loved ones are left to speculate a life and career that could have been. On his second and final album, Life After Death, Biggie collaborated with his fellow Bad Boy artists The Lox to deliver the classic track “Last Day.” Over the years, The Lox member Jadakiss has shared stories about his times with Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace, and he recently bestowed a few more memories with People’s Party with Talib Kweli.

“We would just go inside his session and pick his brain,” Jadakiss recalled. “Ask him mad questions, just ask him about all type of sh*t. Ask him what was he thinking when he wrote certain verses. Ask him what to expect. He told us Puff was gonna do a lotta things we didn’t like, but he was gon’ make us stars. That was actually a reality.”

Jadakiss added that Biggie was a big supporter of The Lox and admired their work ethic. “He had big plans for us working together,” the rapper added. “As you can see, we was one of the only rare features on the Life After Death project. Wasn’t too many. For us to be young, new artists, to be on that album was a big thing for us.”

Biggie told Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Styles P to always be hungry in the rap game and to “never take no days off.” Jadakiss also said that after Big performed at the Apollo Theater with Mase and Junior M.A.F.I.A., the late rapper told him that he needed that show because he only had $200 to his name.

“That’s one thing I might do. Sh*t come across the table that other artists might not do and if it ain’t too much going on, Imma take it,” Jadakiss said. “I always remember him saying that.” Check out the clip of Jadakiss talking with People’s Party with Talib Kweli below about being in the studio as Notorious B.I.G. recorded his classic and final album Life After Death.

“Now, what y’all wanna do? Wanna be ballers? Shot-callers? Brawlers?” You don’t have to be a fan of hip hop to know where those lyrics are pulled from. “It’s All About the Benjamins” dropped way back when in 1997, but it’s still a relevant hip hop, party jam. The Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie-produced classic had multiple versions that featured Diddy, Notorious B.I.G., Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Lil Kim. Diddy’s bars are some of the most memorable from “It’s All About the Benjamins,” and Jadakiss talked about penning Puff Daddy’s lines during a recent visit with People’s Party with Talib Kweli.

According to Jadakiss, he was just minding his business, spittin’ a few bars when Diddy overheard him. “I already had that rhyme,” the rapper said of Diddy’s verse. “He heard it and was like, ‘Nah, that’s me. Let me get that rhyme right there. He took that and put that on ‘Benjamins.’ Me and [Sheek Louch] didn’t like the ‘Benjamins.’ He almost forced us to record the verses that we have on there. We didn’t really understand what that beat…it [didn’t] grasp us at the time. We wasn’t eager to just record it.”

Yet, Diddy had a vision and knew it would be a hit. “That’s what makes Diddy Diddy,” Jadakiss added. “That really was like, our first commercial and ‘hood hit that catapulted us besides the mixtape stuff that we was doing.” Diddy’s final “All About the Benjamins” verse wasn’t how it was initially penned, because Jadakiss also revealed that the rap mogul “did about four versions of it.”

Check out what else Jadakiss had to say below, including bits about Mase writing for Kanye and how he felt about being mentioned in Yeezy‘s 2005 hit “Touch the Sky.”

As MC Eiht matures and evolves, fans aren’t going to hear the same subject matter that he rapped about early on in his career. The legendary emcee once had a longstanding beef with fellow Compton rapper DJ Quik as the two traded vicious bars on wax. The feud didn’t dissipate until fellow West Coast artists like Snoop Dogg and Daz Dillinger stepped in to mend fences. Afterward, Quik dropped songs that talked about making peace, but fans weren’t as accepting of his tracks because they were used to a more gangster rap persona.

During his talk with People’s Party with Talib Kweli, MC Eiht shared that he receives that criticism from some longtime fans as well. “I’m like, dude, it’s 2020,” Eiht said. “You want me to rap about drive-by killings and jumping in a six tre with my pistol and hittin’ corners? I’m like, dude, I’m beyond that.” The seasoned rapper said artists try to please their fans, “but there comes a time when you as an artist and a mature artist, you feel like, let me try to transition into some different music that’s not about” the gangster lifestyle.

“I am no longer thinking like I did when I was 18-years-old, still hanging on the block making rap records,” MC Eiht added. “Now, I’m about peace, I’m about trying to stack money, invest, and still have a good time. So, let me try to figure that out for my fans to enjoy. For people like Quik, myself, and in that arena that we came from, it’s like a tightrope you’re walking.”

The rapper also said that fans not only want for him and other veteran gangster rappers to continue on with their street life message because it’s familiar, but because there was an authenticity attached to it. The lifestyle wasn’t something manufactured that they created and rapped about; it was something that they actually lived, unlike many artists who attempt to mimic the style without truly going through that struggle. Check out Mc Eiht’s clip from People’s Party with Talib Kweli below.

In an alternate universe, Tupac Shakur starred in Menace II Society. In our real world, however, the late rapper didn’t make an appearance. The classic film is a favorite to millions, and during a talk with People’s Party with Talib Kweli, MC Eiht shared that early on, Tupac was hand-picked for the role of Sharif. The part would later go to Vonte Sweet, so Eiht explained why Tupac was booted from the film.

“The Hughes brothers worked all of Pac’s earlier sh*t,” Eiht said. “‘Brenda Got a Baby,’ all that sh*t. So they knew him [and] knew he was difficult to work with, but I think New Line [Cinema] wanted him in the movie. Juice, Poetic Justice, you know, and y’all have a relationship with him… We want him. So, who knows what happened, but, okay. We’ll get him in the movie. I don’t think it was the plan to keep him in the movie. We all know Pac, very vocal. Very outspoken.”

According to MC Eiht, Tupac questioned why he was cast as Sharif when everyone else got to be gangbangers. The rapper wanted the movie producers to give his character more of a backstory so that the audience knew why he was the “voice of reason.” The film’s production team didn’t have time for that. Tupac in turn, allegedly, made the table readings difficult because he wouldn’t participate. Soon, Vonte took his place.

MC Eiht said that he thinks Tupac was given the role of Sharif because they knew he would fight it and they’d have a way to get rid of him. Check out the full clip of MC Eiht chatting about Tupac Shakur on People’s Party with Talib Kweli below.  

There’s a deep mutual respect between Rapsody and Kendrick Lamar. The two artists have worked together and made musical magic in the past, and during her chat with People’s Party with Talib Kweli, the North Carolina native shared why she connected with Kendrick on a creative level from the moment they met. 

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“Anytime I need advice, I always hit him,” said Rapsody. “Even though we kinda came up in the early days together, he skyrocketed. He’s experienced so much that I haven’t, so he’s someone that I know that I can look to for advice just to kinda gauge on what I should do.” The rapper said when she works on projects, K-Dot is one of the few other artists she sends music to because she trusts his musical judgment.

“I trust his ear,” she added. “You hear stories of Primo and how he would play records for Dr. Dre, just to get his ear. Kendrick is in that peer group for me of my peer’s ears that I trust… I have so much love and respect for him as a person.” The southern rapper also gave a shout out to DaBaby, calling her fellow North Carolina native “explosive.” 

“When he came out, it had the same energy as when Get Rich or Die Tryin came out,” Rapsody said of the comparison to 50 Cent‘s classic record. “He just came in with a whole different force. It’s aggressive but it’s fun at the same time and funny. That’s what 50 was.” Check out the clip below and see what else she had to say about her chuckle-worthy moment in the office with Jay Z as he rode around on a bike “air-dunkin’ on people.”

The tragic passing of Mac Miller was a shock to the hip hop community. The 26-year-old passed away from a drug overdose in 2018 and since that time, the beloved rapper has been remembered by both the industry and fans with kind words. Eve rapper Rapsody had a close personal and professional relationship with the late star, and she reflected on Mac’s respectable character with People’s Party with Talib Kweli.

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“Every legend he sought out,” said Rapsody. “You, DJ Premier, didn’t matter. He came in and respected the culture and what it was and made sure he did it the right way.” Talib added that Mac was one of the “rare white emcees to speak openly about black issues.” Rapsody agreed and added that after meeting her once, he added her to his tour. 

“I think I had maybe one mixtape out. Didn’t know me from Adam and was just like, ‘I like you, I like your music, I wanna help you come on tour with me. Straight like that,” she said. “And I know I’m not the only one. I’m one of many artists that he’s done that for and it speaks to his character and at the end of the day, he didn’t come in the culture feeling like he was owed anything or I can be here ’cause I wanna be. He was like, no, I understand this culture and who created this culture and where it started. Some people say white people are guests in hip hop…he entered it like he was that. And he did it the right way. It was respectful.”

Rapsody added that even when Mac was “going through dark days,” he was still a “light and a joy” to people around him. “He was about love, and at the end of the day, that’s what humans are put here to do: Love. And he embodied that.” Check out Rapsody on People’s Party with Talib Kweli below and listen to her talk more about Mac Miller and collaborating with Nipsey Hussle.

Movie star Michael Rapaport is often unfiltered. The entertainer doesn’t believe in censoring his thoughts for anyone, and in our social media-driven culture, Rapaport’s comments regularly find themselves as the subject of headlines. During the actor’s recent visit to People’s Party with Talib Kweli, Rapaport took the time to speak openly about his controversies, including his internet war with Real Housewives of Atlanta‘s Kenya Moore and the alleged doctored racist photo that was attributed to him.

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In 2018, Rapaport made a comment about Kenya having “ashy ankles” while they were trading verbal insults on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. People called his remark racist, and soon an alleged screenshot from Rapaport’s Instagram surfaced. It showed a side-by-side photo of Kenya with a screaming ape and Rapaport became the racist villain of the internet. 

However, according to Rapaport, the picture was a fake. Kweli’s People’s Party co-host Jasmin Leigh attempted to call him out on it, but Rapaport wasn’t having it because he said it was a lie. “It is f*cked up. You know that place, The Root?” he asked regarding the publication. The Root shared a scathing report about the actor at the time titled, “The Worst Type of White Man.”

“I told them they could suck my f*ckin’ d*ck, too,” Rapaport angrily said. “You’re trying to make it seem like I f*ckin’ posted a picture of a black woman next to an ape? Suck my f*ckin’ d*ck! And you might have ashy ankles, too!… When people are trying to come at you like the way this bullsh*t publication The Root… whether they photoshopped it they didn’t [photoshop it], suck my f*ckin’ d*ck.” The discussion begins around the 1:15:00 mark.