A Reaction To The Maseo Episode Of The Questlove Show

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Questlove Show is a production of iHeartRadio.

00:00:10
Speaker 2: What's going on, everyone? This is Cousin Jake, producer of the Questlove Show. Back with my friend, my homie, my colleague, Open Mike Eagle on another QLS Mini Man. How are you today?

00:00:26
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm tired, but I'm good. just want to be honest with you jay no you know but i'm.

00:00:33
Speaker 2: Good well in the quest love school in the quincy jones school tired can sometimes yield the greatest results you know like so i don't know if that's true of something like this but maybe you know if you're making some art today or doing some otherwise creative i hope that works to your advantage.

00:00:49
Speaker 1: I'm doing a lot of yapping kind of like this so uh what i have noticed is that you know the lips tongue teeth that whole those are Those have been getting jumbled a bit. I'll warn you ahead of time.

00:01:00
Speaker 2: All right, good. Well, between that and my Pittsburgh accent, we're all right, man. Funny enough, when I looked at this on our calendar, I was like, yo, I had not fiscally yet supported Doomed. So fun fact, you are my first CD purchase of 2026. That's sad. We're in September. I know. But you heard the part, CD.

00:01:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right. Exactly.

00:01:23
Speaker 2: And it's funny because I wanted a tangible good. I get a lot of PTSD buying records right now because I currently have them. I accumulate them. I enjoy them. Well, maybe that's the thing. I don't get to enjoy them enough.

00:01:35
Speaker 1: I feel you. I feel you.

00:01:36
Speaker 2: I'm trying to redo the stereo and kind of update things a little bit so I'm not enjoying them. And every record I buy.

00:01:43
Speaker 1: It's just sitting there.

00:01:45
Speaker 2: Exactly. And I'm not with that. Furniture aspect. What was the last CD you bought?

00:01:50
Speaker 1: Last CD I bought new. Oh, my God. Jake, we might be talking about years here. I can't like the last CD I bought new. I don't even know. I feel like the last CDs that I bought were like in Amoeba and they were like used. And that was years ago. And I couldn't even tell you what those were at this point.

00:02:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like buying used CDs too. There's a phenomenal chain. It gets a little less phenomenal every year called the Record Exchange, which is in the Midwest. I don't know that they made it as far as Chicago, but definitely Cleveland, Columbus.

00:02:30
Speaker 1: I haven't heard of them, but I don't know from where.

00:02:33
Speaker 2: Every dollar I made between the ages of 12 and... Into my 20s. Instead of doing responsible things. And sometimes I buy the flip, but I love these days if I'm in there, I have a few people in my life that are still exclusively tangible media enjoyers. So I like giving gifts to CDs and they're certainly easier to carry.

00:02:54
Speaker 1: I gotta say, this year on tours doing merch, there's been a serious uptick in CD interest. Like, serious. Where I thought Oh, that's cute at first, but then it's like, now it's getting to the point where when I do shows and I'm selling merch, if I don't have any CDs, there are people who walk away disappointed because they're expecting it. I'm like, really? When did that happen?

00:03:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I know, I mean, that happened with tapes, what, like 10, 15 years ago? Everybody wanted cassette tapes.

00:03:27
Speaker 1: But even the tape thing, the tape thing was like, oh, this is cute. I like this. I'm going to buy it. But everything was still kind of vinyl. I am seeing people now that are like, I don't buy vinyl. I buy CDs. And I'm like, why? What do you listen to this on? And people are buying old stereos. What it sounds like to me in talking to people, because I really got confronted with this on the last tour I was on, that it really is about finances with people. They want to have something that they can play that's um yeah it's not cumbersome and it's cheaper you know.

00:04:09
Speaker 2: Yeah and also i mean i feel like people you know want to especially in the show environment you want to show the artist or take that next step you know become not just a listener become a member like you know doing that thing and you know that's always been true like you know the other day like i already had a copy of fab five freddy's book but he came through philly and did a speaking thing that was free. And I went and I'm like, I'm gonna buy another copy of the book and give it to somebody because you're not out here for nothing. And, but it's funny that the CD is making a comeback. Cause I was just thinking that like I do. And you're of all the people, the person to talk to, I do have a boom box that I still play my CDs and tapes off of, but that is like the only place currently. Right. My neighbor has been in a, he sometimes listened to the show.

00:04:57
Speaker 1: What up Curtis?

00:04:58
Speaker 2: He's been overseas for a number of months and he's left me, in charge of moving his cars every so often off the street. And it was funny. I've been moving his car, and my wife is in the shop, so we're a one-car family right now. And she gave her mine, but he has the... What was Slick Rick's comeback album? I bet it was a storytelling... Oh, yeah, okay.

00:05:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, the third album.

00:05:22
Speaker 2: That's in his car, and I've been enjoying that. But I also am like... yo, man, depending on when I receive my copy of Doom, that is going in one Subaru station wagon. All right.

00:05:33
Speaker 1: Hey, I love that. I love that the CD is going to be playing in a Subaru. I love that.

00:05:38
Speaker 2: Well, you know, perfect segue because, you know, when I'm talking about buying CDs for a lot of years, I would buy anything from De La Soul to give it to people when it was not available on your phone or, you know, in a way that benefited the group. And That was my thing, and then that had its own sub-market in general, and now it really does due to, you know, just the minor differences from the legitimate reissues. But you and I are here today to talk about the Questlove Show episode with Maceo.

00:06:10
Speaker 1: What an amazing conversation.

00:06:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. Amazing is not hyperbolic in this sense. What did you and I, both being the fans that we are of De La and Native Tongues, what jumped out to you on your listen?

00:06:23
Speaker 1: God, so... many things. One thing that always kills me in these daylight conversations is to have one of them explain the influences that created a song that I never would have thought of in a million years. Like, Dudu Brown being the inspiration for Feel Good Incorporated. And I love the detail of Dave not usually being a weed smoker, but he decided that day to smoke. What a weird decision to make. Like, I don't usually smoke but we're in the studio with, with, with Damon from gorillas. Let me, let me pick this day of all days to smoke weed, you know? Um, and it's wow. Like, yeah, you say something like that about that cadence and it's like, Oh wow. I never would have thought that in a million years, but now I'll never be able to unhear that, you know?

00:07:15
Speaker 2: Yeah. That blew my mind. It was funny too, because I don't think it's, it's one of those things that, you know, what's the word I'm looking for? Like, it's not like a, uh, you know, a Sam Smith, Tom Petty thing where you would never know that other than, you know, Mase gives you this reference. You're like, Oh, I can kind of hear that. But I love that. It's just this ecosystem of things. And that was incredible. And it was also really interesting just on the subject of that, you know, to know that De La and the gorillas are like figuring each other out. I love the fact that Clint Eastwood and the Dell song was the Genesis.

00:07:47
Speaker 1: And him really loving the record and not just like, Oh, we need to work with them. It's like, no, He just loved that song a lot. Yeah.

00:07:56
Speaker 2: To be truthful with you, I had never purchased the Blur album until the Gorillaz came out. And I just, to me, I was an Automator fan of Handsome Boy Modelings. But that, Clint Eastwood to this day is still my favorite Gorillaz song. And the fact that Mace looks, it's like, they're messing with Del. And there's this other person in Damon's ear, like, you got to get with De La. But what I started to say is I love the fact that These artists, true artists, were in a place enough, the original song that they were going to collaborate on, they were in a place to say no.

00:08:26
Speaker 1: Right.

00:08:27
Speaker 2: And one of the things that I love hearing about, and probably you do too, is in a different era of generation, when all of this money, all of this infrastructure is involved, and people get in the studio, sometimes they make the song, and for whatever reason, just creatively, it's decided to say no. Yeah. Because that is artistic integrity.

00:08:46
Speaker 1: I'm glad that they... had the integrity or had the conversation right there in the studio because i feel like what happens more often than not is because these are two different groups and two different ecosystems and probably getting them together was not the easiest and somebody's paid for the studio time typically people just end up going ahead with whatever the plan was and then Later on, it's like, oh, that song's cut from the album or something, you know, because you never had a chance to have a conversation about it. And everybody just went through with it. And at the end of the day, it didn't stand up with the rest of the material. So I was just really glad that they were able to. Well, that Mase was able to be honest about how he felt it was going. And obviously, Damon had to not be thrilled with it, too, to stop the session and even ask the question, you know?

00:09:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that was extremely cool. The other thing that I really appreciate this is like. And you and I talked a few months ago about a one-on-one this season, or this year rather, with Amir and Pasanus. And the one-on-one member of the group interview is really special. because, and, and, you know, I really appreciated the BC boys book when it came out and I did the audio book version of that. Cause you start to understand the different personalities of the three members and true of tribe. And it's true of, you know, so many great bands, but I think I know a lot about day law. I've listened to them for, you know, two thirds of my life. at a high level. But even in that conversation, you start to learn the things that make mace mace and the things that make pos pos and his personality and his journey coming from Brooklyn and long Island, I thought was just so fascinating. And I, somebody even on YouTube in the last 24 hours had mentioned the vulnerability and the humor of this episode, having those things side by side. That's what I love in any type of interview.

00:10:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was, it was really amazing. I think that, Amir has a unique rapport. I've seen with both, both of these day last so episodes, just because like, he'll tell you how much he exists because of them.

00:11:04
Speaker 2: Right.

00:11:06
Speaker 1: But he's also completely his own thing. So there's such a mutual respect there, you know, that, even though Amir is asking questions as a fan, he's being met with real stories, real vulnerability, uh, real personality. It's not like, like I know as a person who has some fans, right? Sometimes if you're being asked questions by a fan, the dynamic of the conversation becomes very like sort of one way, you know what I'm saying? Like, you just, you're just giving insight on this thing people are interested in or this person's interested in, but you're not really making a connection. But in this sense, it's like, Oh no, these are two artists that really respect each other. And it just happens to be one of their platforms. So he's guiding the conversation based on the things he's actually interested in. But these are two human beings connecting. And it's amazing.

00:12:05
Speaker 2: I agree with you. And honestly, I mean, in this, the fact that you're saying it means a lot. I think that, There is something that two creative peers can extract from each other that, you know, for me, I'm 25 years in this, but I'm not, you know, I haven't made a beat in, you know, over 25 years and I haven't, God forbid you get me freestyling.

00:12:27
Speaker 1: It's one of my goals now.

00:12:28
Speaker 2: It's bad, but. There's something to be said for people that truly know. And even DJ Muggs actually made that point in his conversation. Like, I'm kind of done talking to people. And Amir always makes the joke about those Chris Farley SNL where he sat down with Paul McCartney. You remember when you were the Beatles? That's so cool.

00:12:45
Speaker 1: That's so cool.

00:12:47
Speaker 2: And that becomes maybe a little bit of what you're talking about, but between two people that know what's being said and also what's between the words of what's being said. Not that everything is salacious, but that's always going to make, and that's, I mean, not to make it, a backpack fest, but that's what I love about what had happened was because you know how to ask the questions as somebody on the inside.

00:13:12
Speaker 1: It's amazing to even have that podcast associated with a conversation like this. I think it's really awesome. I'll tell you this just from the inside of what had happened was every person I talked to, and I talked to them for so long because it's a whole season, everybody's personality is very different, but it's so... all about this person's work and my pure love and interest in it that I often forget I'm an artist when I'm in those conversations, you know, like some of my curiosity is from a place of understanding how the business works a little bit or, or being curious about how it was different then compared to now. But man, like, I don't, I don't even think of myself as a rap musician when I'm having them conversations, you know?

00:14:01
Speaker 2: Interesting. Well, also, I mean, you're very intentional. And one of the reasons why I try, I don't, I don't do much. I do a lot of press bios. I do a lot of like, not respectable journalism, but very functional industry journalism.

00:14:15
Speaker 1: The business to business side of journalism.

00:14:17
Speaker 2: Because a, somebody's always going to pick up the phone. You're not chasing, but the thing of it is, is you've got to do research. And, you know, I always appreciate when people do a lot of research and then let the conversation go where it's going to go anyway, like have a game plan and, and then be willing to throw it out. And I think the fact that you're saying you forget, you're always locked in and are able to do it. Getting to the Maceo thing, were there things you learned? I mean, apart from the doo-doo brown, which is a great example that you did not realize or imagine or that really blew your mind.

00:14:57
Speaker 1: I was really tripping off of the fake MC Shan conversation too. Fake MC Shan. And he said fake BDP, but it was just somebody who was lying about being down with BDP. But that, like, that's one of those things that take you back to a different time when it was easier to do stuff like that. Like, I know we just had, there's a, there's like a major sports story right now about a guy who was pretending to be professional football player on the 49ers right so you know but that's just creating a whole bunch of you know metadata basically right like it would be so difficult to pretend to be a famous person and it's in a legit way now as compared to then when you know less cameras less self you know what i'm saying like there's just like you know so much is happening by phone and you know you don't have all of these access to photos of people because it wasn't an internet like wow, what'd you think of the BS that people were trying to get away with in the mid to late eighties?

00:16:00
Speaker 2: Right.

00:16:00
Speaker 1: And I'm like, yo, what was this person's goal?

00:16:04
Speaker 2: I mean, was it money? Was it romance? Was it like, what were you trying to do? And there was, so that moment was funny. So this, you know, for those that watched on YouTube, we shot it in I heart has a special studio. That's kind of like a birdcage where literally you'll see people walking by. And we did this one in that. And there were certain things that needed to be said in this conversation, just certain earmarks because it was also a branded episode. But I love the fact that it's a branded episode that you would, I mean, feels looks.

00:16:37
Speaker 1: Yeah. Honestly, I, I didn't know until I got to the end that it was that. And I was like, I didn't know what made it that. You know what I'm saying? It was such an organic conversation.

00:16:49
Speaker 2: It's cool on all sides, but it's funny because that's not where we usually record and I'm not in the room. And Amir and Mace have such chemistry, as you suggested. And Mace threw that out. There was a moment of some other talk and then I had to go into the room to remind them like, yo, you got to pay off on that. You need to elaborate on fake MC Shannon, fake, I think it was Scott LaRock. And I knocked over a light going in. And then like three minutes later, everything needed reset. But I'm glad he told that story. I didn't know. So that's a good one. The Bushwick Bill thing was really interesting.

00:17:20
Speaker 1: I thought that was interesting, too.

00:17:22
Speaker 2: It was a brief time in my life 20 years ago where I got really close with Willie D and Bushwick Bill just by the phone. You know, met Willie in person. I never met Bill in person, but I loved Bill. I loved his personality. And I knew he had East Coast ties. But to know De La Soul and the Ghetto Boys, two groups I hold. Isn't that crazy? you know, have overlapping history. I never knew Mace worked with, um, Mark Morales, Prince Marky D.

00:17:44
Speaker 1: Right.

00:17:45
Speaker 2: He didn't mention that.

00:17:46
Speaker 1: And I wasn't aware of that either. Um, it was fascinating. You know, sometimes I, um, I watched Willie D's YouTube channel sometimes. So I, it's funny. I just heard his voice like last week talking about something, but, um, The Bushwick Bill thing blew my mind too because I never put that together. I've been hearing that name my whole life, Bushwick Bill, but I never actually associated it with Bushwick in Brooklyn. That never occurred to me.

00:18:12
Speaker 2: Right, right.

00:18:14
Speaker 1: That his name was referring to the area of Brooklyn. And it also just made me think about how some of us have the fortune of growing up alongside people and you just never know what people are going to go on to do, you know? And, you know, it was interesting to later when Mace was talking about the tour with NWA and LL and them, and he just casually was saying, yeah, the ghetto boys were on there too. And I'm like, yo, that's crazy though. That, that the guy you used to, that, that was around when you had the fight over centipede, you know what I'm saying? Y'all are doing arenas together in different groups. Like that's wild.

00:19:02
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, cause that's one of those things of like, you hear, you know, slick Rick and Dana Dane went to school together. Keo told us that in our, on our mini with Amir, like that they were lunchroom battles. And then, you know, the Busta Rhymes and Biggie and Jay all had, I don't know if they were in the same grades.

00:19:16
Speaker 1: But they all went to the same high school. I think.

00:19:18
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. And just the, these overlapping histories. And, and I know you and I've like, you're a comic book guy. Like, I love the origin stories and the intersections of it all. And I agree with you. And I was imagining like, and it's so cool that after, I mean, I won't pass by a Maceo interview. There's not that many of them solo. I didn't know that.

00:19:39
Speaker 1: Yes, I didn't. It took me a second to realize that when I was listening to it. I'm like, wait a minute. I don't know if I've ever heard a Maceo interview solo before this one.

00:19:49
Speaker 2: He was the first. member of De La I ever spoke to. This would have been about 2011 for a Brooklyn hip hop festival. We used to speak to the headlining talent and only Mace was doing the press and I connected with him then. But I got to say Maceo for me, just being in the room, that was a very stressful day for for reasons we just alluded to, but Maceo and Paz are great examples of meet your heroes. I love that when you can have a meaningful conversation or connection, albeit quick, but people are everything you want them to be. And I got to see those guys at the Roots Picnic too in Philly, and it just meant a lot. I'll tell you one other little fun fact of the story because Mace references it in the conversation So again, we're not in our usual tape spot. We're on a different floor, and there's just a lot of immovable parts. My hairline was challenged by several inches that day. And I walk into the lobby, and I see DMC, Daryl McDaniel, sitting in the lobby of iHeart.

00:20:55
Speaker 1: I did hear Mace talk about seeing D.

00:20:57
Speaker 2: And I go upstairs, and I see Mace was there, and Amir's getting there unpacked. I was like, yo, you guys cool? I just saw D is.

00:21:06
Speaker 2: Can he hang with us? Like, this is each other. Like you're, this is my rap fantasy. Wow.

00:21:10
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:21:12
Speaker 2: So I was like, yo, D and D was like, yeah, man, I'm really early. I don't have anywhere to be. I was like, yo, come hang out. And then I'm remembering you and I talked about this, you know, obviously it's, it's all, but I'm remembering in the posthumous episode, there's some overlapping history with run DMC and De La Soul. Yes. But DMC and Mace and Amir just sitting in a room as a fly on that wall was amazing. DMC is going to come on, um, the quest love show very, very soon. But even I gave space as one should to let Maceo and D have conversation. And then to learn that there's this incredible moment, you know, just about losing bandmates.

00:21:49
Speaker 1: Right.

00:21:49
Speaker 2: And truly like this interview got me choked up. Like, real time and then listening to it after of just like how vulnerable and how real Maceo was. And I love, I mean, this is true of just so many great artists. You can, you can be laughing hysterically one minute and get a very raw emotional minute the next. And that's the music I love. And it's damn sure an interview like this.

00:22:14
Speaker 1: Hell yeah. And it's kind of like what he was saying too, about when they made me, myself and I, and that's when Mace knew that their humor was going to show through the music. I was hearing Mace's humor and his joy through this interview. And I've only really experienced it from the music, but it was so interesting to actually hear from the man.

00:22:35
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I really believe when we look back at this season of some of our milestones, this is one of them. I'm so, so incredibly proud and grateful. And yeah, and Maceo to this day has... the crispest scratches on any rap record to me are keeping the faith over the Bob James part. I just love that. And, uh, I tell him that every time I see him and it was just a great reminder to, uh, to kick it with those guys, man. Any parting shots?

00:23:04
Speaker 1: I think it's really interesting to think about the stuff that us as whatever, whatever job we do in creative that only we know about. And so I was, I was just thinking about the thing with him and, and, at soundcheck bounce around on the floors to try to figure out where it would make the turntable skip and having to have a conversation with the dancers beforehand about where it can't go and i'm like that's the part of being a creator that people will never understand like you go see a show and you just think about the show and you just have no idea the layers of care and quality control that goes into all of this stuff that we do you know whether i mean i I could imagine you as a podcast producer, there's so much you do that people have zero idea about, you know? And so that was fascinating to me too.

00:23:55
Speaker 2: I agree with you. And just to put a button on it, like Amir has been asking people, not every interview, but a lot of interviews lately, like what's the part of your job that nobody sees? And he'll usually qualify with the worst or the hardest. And it's such a good question of just like the next time I sit next to somebody on an airplane or a diner or a bar or whatever, That is just a question of, you know, I want to ask anyone that for the reasons you just laid out. So to everyone out there rocking with us, please check the episode. You probably already have if you made it this far. Hit us with questions. You know, go to questlovesupreme.com, DM the QLS, IG, Facebook, whatever. But this is a living, breathing aquarium. So. Help feed the fish. Let us know what you want us to talk about, whether it involves Mike and I, Mike and Amir, any of these amazing configurations. But with that said, peace. Peace.