Transcripts For ALJAZAM The Stream 20130919

Rock fusion, Award Winning group, run dmc proved to be a tend setting force in hip hop. 30 years later, fonding member, Darryl Mcdaniels is still using his music as a political tool. Dmc joins us now on set. By the way were going to call you d daryle, because thats what you asked. Yes, please. We are so excited to have you here. I used to torture my grand pashth parents listening to your music. But i loved it. Yeah, it was a good time, a good era. Somebody told me today, man, i was 3 years old sitting there listening to my fathers cassettes. I was rocking oshkosh bah gosh instead of adidas. When you say that run dmc is here, we got a whole bunch of community. And were joined today with four hip hop enthusiasts. Loyal stream team as you know you are the third member of the show. D there seems to be a lot of nostalgia for Old School Hip hop, like it was the real deal. And you are part of that. Yeah. Give us some of your most vivid memories. Well, it was a unique time because everybody except the industry was really into us. Like when we did those early shows, we used to have to knock on the doors of venues. Could we get on stage, were run dnc. And there was no videos or album covers, so the records was playing in the streets, but nobody knew who we was, and they would shut the doors on us. And people thought hip hop was a fad, but the funny thing about that, the very industry the labels really didnt want to give us these deals. The radio really didnt want to play us, but it was the punk rockers, debbie harry who made a rap song, lou reed, the ramons, it was the rock and rollers and punk rockers, that embraced us. They saw themselves in us, but in the early days it was we wasnt a force to be reckoned with. We wasnt believable. People thought we would be here probably two or three years and it would be over. So you mentioned you werent on mtv, and then you went on, was there a moment where you felt the shift and you thought thanks are changing . I think the reason we were able to get into mtv and get into the living rooms across the nation, is i have always believed it was about hip hop and rock and roll, whether you are in the dirtpoor ghetto or in beverly hills, when you hear a hip hop song that is truly that official hip hop, its going to be something that you can relate to because of what we talk about. A kid in the ghetto and a kid in beverly hills, we all got the same issues, peer pressure. I hate my teacher, i love that girl, i hate my mother. I want to go to the mall. I want to do this. Hip hop was that one form of art unification, right . Right. That brought people together. Here is our community. And speaking about old school jams, we have google plus hang out. And im going to go to a music blogger and attorney. Peter you have a question or d. Hi, d, my question is coming from your background where music commentators in this day and age overwhelingly agree that you and run dmc ushered in a new age of profoundly different hip hop including pushing the genre in a different music direction, as well as up ending the existing culture of the genre, do you see music today as specifically hip hop and rap continuing to do those same things . Do you think that hip hop in 2013 still is able to do the same things, and push those same boundaries . Yeah, i definitely see hip hop doing what it always did, the problem is you dont get it on mtv or the radio. What you get on the radio and mtv now is basically what what sells. Ice tea told me a long time ago, the Record Companies is only in the business to sell records, so if the worst record ever made sells and people are going to buy it, they are going to forget about what is important. They are going to forget about what is creative, and what is revolutionary and ground breaking, because to the Record Company its a business. But i always say this, with or without the Record Companies there is going to be hip hop. Hip hop started before we was able to play on radio and get record deals. And when you heard mc before he was called rap rap was what we did, but the whole thing was we were mcs and our job was to be responsive to the audience. The thing that separates this old school from the new school the difference from my generation and my era of hip hop, run dmc, krs1, ll cool j, the beasty boys, these difference between those young rappers now, and the rappers back then. Is he didnt throw responsibility to the side, and those records that have the capability of doing what we did, they are out there, but they are not part of the music business. After the break were going to get you to weigh in on the corporations on hip hop, and how Darryl Mcdaniels is using his voice as much for kids as music. Keep tweeting your questions to d. Im a recording artist, and i am in the stream. On august 20th, Al Jazeera America introduced a new voice in journalism. Good evening everyone, welcome to al jazeera. Usa today says . Writes the columbia journalism review. And the daily beast says quality journalists once again on the air is a beautiful thing to behold. Al jazeera america, theres more to it. Product placement in music, you guys would have taken the award for that. My adidas was one of the first big endorsement for hip hop artists. That said it all. Yeah. But how has that changed . When we made that record for adidas, we didnt do it to get an endorsement deal or for the money, we was just rhyming about so many thing goods that we said what can we do next. Oh, lets make a record about the sneakers that we love. And i think what happened is that that was the first time people saw the relationship of a music entity could be huge as as sports. It was the first time that a nonathletic entity was able to get a sneaker endorsement. The problem now is this, we did it. It was good. It was sincere. Nowadays, people will search for the deal first and not be responsible with the music that they put out. The reason why it worked for run dmc is it was positive, it was good. We didnt make a record saying i got more sneakers than you, or i got more cars than you. Our sneakers that song about our sneakers wasnt about the material it was about where those sneakers been. Stepped on stage, all the people gave and the poor got paid. Right away we had global appeal. Our sneakers walked down the hallways of st. Johns university. The reason we did the record first is because there was a stereo type of yo those kids with the gold chains, and the adee does suits and hats those are the bad people of our society, and which was true. The first thing you did when you got money if you sold drugs, was to go get some fresh scare. So at that time in the 80s who was fresh was stereo typed, he is just a drug dealer. So we made that record to say oh, no, i went to st. Johns university. I have a high school diploma. The problem now is were endorsing artists who is negative, who doesnt project anything positive to the audience just to sell their product. But if they are a good artist and making money, and making money for the Record Companies, do they have the responsibility to do the right thing . They are still going to sell their music, dont they . Yeah. But its about that responsibility. Our generation made records about being a drug dealer. We told our story, but at the end of that record, we said, but yall, you younger guys, you know, the younger people, yall dont have to do this. Nowadays in america, the guy tells his story about being a drug dealer like its good. Right. And then america celebrates it just because he is make money. We created hip hop so we didnt have to have more drug dealers and gang bangers. We created hip hop so that the Younger Generation that would listen to an mc or rapper, wouldnt think its cool to name his self after scar face the movie or to name himself after the gangsteres. When we created this positive music, we told the stories but also gave positive alternatives. I was on a radio one time, and a guy calls in, and said yo, d man, just for you saying what you say on your records, will cool go to school, i go to st. Diops university, after 12th grade i went straight to college. He called in and said yo, d when you said that you gave me a good problem. I had the adidas i had the gold chain. I had the money. My bag of weed, my bourbon and my vodka and stuff like that, but here goes my idol dmc saying school is cool. He said i had everything material, but i didnt have an education or a high school diploma. I was gang banging and selling drugs, and when you said that rhyme, i stopped gang banging and selling drugs. I got my ged, i got my adee does suit and my car over here and now i got my ged, and then he said with this ged i was able to take College Courses at the community college. He said when i walked in the doors of the community college, i saw a whole world that i didnt know exists. Im sitting here in houston, texas in a 3 million house with five whips outside and im lawyer. Thats powerful. Thats the type of corporate excitement that we want to generate. Our association with these Record Companies and these big corporations, what is it going to do for our communities . What is it going to do for our nations . Thats what we saw as young people, and people always say, yo, dmc, what you are saying at 40 years old, you are just saying because you where wiser and more mature, and i say thats true, but everything i have been saying now, i have been saying since i was 15 years old. D i want to get some community here. All right. Speaking about relevance, rod stars you are a member of the hip hop trio, rebel diaz, i know you have a question for d go for it. What up, d . What is up. This is crazy cool [ inaudible ] just showed up in my crib. Oh, my god. He started it all. Im in the house. Peace out. What is up, cool hurt. Im the illusive one. We got a question, though. Yeah. I was never a good math student but i got some numbers lately. In 1973 there was 400,000 people in jail in this country. In 2013, 40 years later, which is the pretty much the life span of hip hop, we have approximately 3 Million People in jail. Thats crazy. If you include the number of people on parole, on house arrest, and immigrant Detention Centers or probation, that number is about 12 million. Right. So what is your you on on this process of mass incarceration through this private prison complex, what is your view on that especially being there in the beginning of hip hop and how we have seen a whole generation hip hop generation get put behind bars. Its interesting that you say that. Because just like we were saying at the beginning of this discussion, you had all of these young people that were responsible, knew, i can tell this story about a drug dealer or being a gang, but we didnt celebrate those negative things. And i think one of the biggest problems that we have with this is if these young people turn on the radio, and they turn on mtv they see profanity, negativity, and violence celebrated in hip hop like its cool without realizing it was young people who created hip hop so we didnt have to do these things. Cool hurt knows this. Africa bimbada knows this. When we started doing this hip hop thing we started putting an end to all of the violence. If im making money but my whole neighborhood is falling apart, thats wrong. And the mcs and d. J. S in the beginning of hip hop we knew we had an obligation. When you look at hollywood and the movies, you never see a positive hip hop movie about a guy who doesnt want to be in gangs, but he wants to be a rapper. And you have america celebrating this fact. You have radio stations that play the same eight records every 20 minutes and every one of those records is, im selling drugs, and im shooting, and im killing, and im disrespecting women, and its good. No, the records are supposed to be saying here is what this is, and this is not a good thing, and here is what were going to do. These little kids used to look at a rapper and Say Something positive and say i dont have to do this. Now if they look at these rappers and mcs and producers and d. J. S, and say thats what they do to get famous, well, thats what im going to do. The music doesnt cause the problem, but the music at one time was a solution to the problem. And our music, our images, our concepts, the words that is coming off of these rap songs is not good for our public and our communities. Speaking of that, d you talk to a lot of young people who seek your advise, when we come back, i want to talk about how you discovered your true self and passions long after you stuck gold in the music business. And as we go to break here is a couple of stories that we are following. Were back with Darryl Mcdaniels of run dmc, better known as d. D you have a lot of young people ask you for advice, what was your advise to them in 1988 and how is it now . Its really no different. I speak from experience, what i have seen. One of the things i say to the young people is the reason why hip hop is so successful, is because we listen to our elders. [ laughter ] we listen to our elders. We listen to what the eld elders would tell us. We applied it to the world were living in now, and put that total experience of their knowledge and wisdom on a record. So if im 18 years old, speaking at 18 what the elders gave me, and then 17 to the age of 2 hears me on the rap song speaking all of this knowledge of wisdom, that kid who is it a years old, hearing meat 18, by the time he gets 18, he is highly evolved. We dont have that anymore. When i was 16 years old, and i went into a room with 18 year olds, i left with something valuable. When i was 18 and sat in the room around 22 and 25 year old people, i left with something valuable. The problem now is i can sit there and talk to the Younger Generation, because im not talking to them at 49 years old. Im talking to them at hip hop, so they can relate. Mani, im going to have you guys ask questions. Mani you go first. Hi, i just wanted to say i have loved you since i was 10 years old. Thank you. But im really impressed at how you have managed to raise social consciousness with the work you do at camp felix. I was wondering how fining out you were adopted so late in life has formed our activism with these kids. And marcus go ahead. You were talk about giving kids the wisdom about the game, but the internet that allows kids to just be able to create music and put music out there without necessarily having the access to the wisdom from artists like yourself, or just from people of the older generation. We have about two questions. I found out i was adopted at the age 35 after i did all of the hip hop and run dmc stuff. And i got the answer when i asked that question i got the answer. Yes, you are adopted. Then i found out i was a foster kid. I was given hip hop for a greater purpose than just the guy that was the first to go gold and platinum. For me i was given hip hop for a mission so i could continue to what so many did to me when i was 12 years old with a record. The question about the internet. The internet created a bad problem for hip hop, because first of all everybody wants to be a rapper, first of all everybody wants to be a rapper, and it can be the crappiest rap with no wisdom or vision and its the worst thing ever, and theres so much bad stuff out there, that everybody thinks its good. Thats the problem with the hip hop. All right. Darryl on that note we are unfortunately out of time, but thank you so much for joining us tonight. And thanks to everyone in our google hangout, and thank to our amazing Online Social Community for all of the tweets. Until our next program, we will see you online. Hello and welcome to al jazeera, im john than betz live in new york. Sarin was used. Sarin killed. The Security Council must be prepared to act next week. Secretary of state john kerry urges un action against syria. And now the Syrian Government admits neither side can win its bloody civil war. 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