thank you you know I always look for interesting ways to start off these episodes and what are you going to give knives back he's looking for pack your [ __ ] man so here's the truth right the truth is first things first I sold my share which is two percent two percent that's all it was I'm the executive producer that's it I'm entitled to sell my share right I offered it back to NAS gets it back in seven years anyway so he was like oh go get your money two percent and I don't own NASA's
publishing never did so when when when Jay-Z says he was [ __ ] with him I know who I told my publishing so here's here's the truth about that story right I was the head of promotion CHR promotion at Def Jam we're about to put out Reasonable Doubt and big stain and Jay came to me and they said hey we got to clear the sample on Dead Presidents come out for presidents who represent me on filmatic so I say that it's not a problem give me a check for 2500 and I'll clear it it's not
a problem that was like that was it yeah I said that's it went to zombo I saw the president Richard Blackstone I said hey this is what we're going to take I said but we'll take 50 of the publishing so now it owns yeah so what I love to say is while Jay likes to say that Nas owns Jay's publishing Jay does not own NASA's publishing exactly right I made that deal wait a second so when Jay drop reason without again in 2005 right that was 2005 when he did the thing any any printing of
any printing that says dead president Nas owns 50 of that song and I own none of it I administer so what I do is being in the administrator right because I just sign and approve it and for that I get five percent yeah I don't own anything one-time fee or yeah for life but I just yeah up until you sold [Music] I was in I'm sure there's a lot of artists there's a lot of aspiring label owners a lot of people who want to be in in the music industry they want to understand the worth
of the business as well as how the business works yeah what was that two percent worth it was a nice check but it was also a check that I ate off of for 27 years so here's here's if if you want to get deep in the Weeds on this because I here's what I honestly believe people don't want to really understand the business they just want to make money in the business right they don't really want to understand the business that's the fact they just want to make money right but if you really want to
understand the business artists receive their rights back after 35 years it's called a 35-year rule right so the original recordings revert back to the artists that recorded the artem so for example Third Base will receive all of the cactus album in derelicts on December 1st of this year I will own all of my original recordings all of that all of them because Def Jam hasn't released the record in two and a half decades and I've never seen a royalty check ever from Def Jam ever ever I got a check when I signed and when I
did derelicts I got another check and that was it so I will make whatever I make on the records that I will now own same thing for Nas so Nas will have all of his rights revert back to him on Illmatic and it was written in seven and nine years so my share is two percent that's it all right it's never been more it's never been less well what was that two percent worth it was worth a lot of money fluctuates with the album with with the album so yeah so the album does about what
between it it was written and Illmatic it does a couple of 100 million streams a year so so if you can equate 100 million streams is worth can you get the two percent of that yeah it's not so much what is it worth right it's the true value of what it gave me right so it gave me and my family a great deal of freedom it gave me and my family a reason that I didn't have to chase anything right when I had Ebbs and flows in my personal life I didn't have to worry about
a check every month because it came in right you know right and most importantly and this is to me the most important thing whether I'm giving Nas his [ __ ] backwards is I mean not as a millionaire the first week his album came out because I made sure all of his legal was done properly he never had a sample clearance issue he never had a rights issue he never had to sell his publishing he never had to do anything except make music I took care of all the business and that first week that album
did 165 000 albums he was a millionaire and he never looked back so while all the [ __ ] trolls want to say the [ __ ] [ __ ] yeah I'm Gonna Keep It of being with you that's awesome is the j-line the only reason why people think yeah should I see businessman is no I think I think the overarching ilk of how Executives treated black artists before me give the misnomer that I'm a sheisty businessman before during and after but that wasn't me you actually now here's well stop the cat on the cactus
album you were actually warning about the evils of Executives in a couple of your records you did a whole video you know you get a box of Nikes and Puma sweats like you would you box of Newports people you were talking about how people would get done dirty right I mean I I was raised around a lot of Five Percenters you know a lot of my friends who were named Julius became Lord duquan a lot of my friends who at Thomas became understanding mathematics so I was even more than going to synagogue I was going
to Mecca on 125th Street and it was very clear to me when I was coming up before there was a culture or before there was a business that I was allowed to watch but I couldn't participate that this was black music a black art form and it wasn't for me so I had to prove myself right so I wrote Rhymes every day and then I started battling you battled a lot battled a lot yeah he challenged me yeah when was that how did that come about last week last week it was like 1998 or something
oh no no no no he was in his prime no it wasn't that no no we felt like you got a shot I write ROMs every day I just put out a record last week yeah yeah I just put out a record all right Rhymes I write four or five bars every day um every day every day all right Rhymes every day I owe this culture I tell anyone that ever meets me if I wasn't if it wasn't because of this because in this thing that we got the only time you would meet me is
with your lady coming into Nordstrom and I'd be like did she want a seven or eight in brown or black you know I'd be a Salesman you know um so everything I have I owe to hip-hop I would everything do you feel like you was more informal with music as far as informing the artists or do you feel like you're more informal with business yes I don't think there's one or the other yeah I think it's both okay I think because this is the great prophet Mill says there's levels to this [ __ ] [Music]
got bars I can hang with the Backpackers [Music] [Applause] got your baby mama [Applause]
