a16zWhy the People Who Built Hip-Hop Ended Up With Nothing
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
50 min read · 10,362 words- 0:00 – 1:00
Intro
- BHBen Horowitz
I think in life it's impossible to do anything great if you start with what's possible. You have to start with what's right. Hip-hop's not that big. Like, the guys who made the art form are not that many, and so why can't we honor them?
- SSSteve Stoute
Acknowledging and celebrating, and then bringing this group of people together is something that the industry should have done a long time ago. When people see me and they see my passion, "This nigga still got it. He's still doing it." Because I have to. Hip-hop don't have Social Security. You have to work. The whole thing about hip-hop is about to grow, to be better, and I think we are living our lyrics with Paid in Full. I want everybody to know around the world what Grandmaster Caz looks like and to celebrate him and applaud this man for what he's done, and celebrate Roxanne, and celebrate Melle and the D.O.C. and everybody else who's had these achievements. The thing is the honor. The thing is putting you in the light that you deserve to be in. If you're watching this and love hip-hop.
- 1:00 – 1:43
Meet the Paid In Full Foundation
- ETErik Torenberg
So this is the first time this group has gotten together to publicly talk about the Paid in Full Foundation. Guys, welcome to the podcast.
- SSSteve Stoute
Thanks.
- BHBen Horowitz
Thank you. Yeah.
- ETErik Torenberg
So Ben, why don't you introduce the, the, the foundation and maybe let's get into the origin story, as, as, as, as far back as you want to go as to how, how this came to be.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah. So Paid in Full is an organization meant to honor, uh, the legacy of the, of the people who created, uh, one of the most important musical art forms of all time, hip-hop, and, uh, make sure that they're paid in full financially, uh, spiritually, and culturally. And, uh, the idea kind of started, um, with, uh, me, Steve, and
- 1:43 – 9:49
The Origin Story: $5M in Value, $10 for the Album
- BHBen Horowitz
Nas. So I had... It always bothered me that, you know, that I bought, uh, Paid in Full, the album, for $10 and I got, you know, in my career, and those of y- you know, people in tech know this, I probably got at least $5 million worth of value out of that record. Uh, but there was no way to pay it back. Um, and it needed to be paid back. And so I had the idea originally, and I called Steve. Um, uh, you know, Steve and I have been friends for many, many years. And I said, "Steve, I have this idea. Uh, what do you think?" And he said, uh, "Well, it's not only a good idea, but it's a very timely idea, 'cause people are talking about this right now, and but they're not doing anything." So, like, if you listen to the podcast, people are saying, "Oh, these rappers, you know, th- these old guys, they don't have any money. They're dusty. They're this, they're that," you know, and all these kinds of things. And these are very, very important guys. Uh, but nobody's doing anything. And so I thought, "Well, let's do something." And then the next call [laughs] I made was to Nas, and Nas had a great insight, 'cause, uh, s- a lot of the concept, uh... Our dear friend, all of our friend, Quincy Jones, had a thing called the Jazz Foundation where he would get money to the old jazz guys. And, you know, I, I told it to Nas, and Nas said, "You know, that's not gonna work that way in hip-hop, because in hip-hop you can't just give somebody money. You, you... It has to be more than that. It has to be a recognition, uh, of what they did and who they are." And so that's, uh, when we got the idea of, well, let's have a big awards show, have this idea of the Grand Master Award for the true greats of hip-hop, and, uh, kind of, and then invite everybody to honor these guys. And we started off with, um, two all-time greats, uh, Scarface and Rakim.
- SSSteve Stoute
Before we even got to the, the first show, it was also timely, because Scarface was going through a medical condition.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yes.
- SSSteve Stoute
And I remember I was in south of France, and I f- called him, and he needed to get, uh, his kidney. He had to get his kidney from his son. Uh, a kidney transplant. And it wasn't the right doctors and it wasn't, you know, um... Obviously there was a, there's a lot of care and concern on that anyway, but more specific was the money and the doctor who was performing it, the surgery. And I called him, and I've known Scarface for years, but, like, when I called him literally from the south of France in June and he got that phone call from me about what we were gonna do, he was in shock. I mean, just imagine just a phone call comes randomly from a guy you hadn't spoken to in two years, and I'm calling you about your medical condition and I'm telling you that we got you financially.
- BHBen Horowitz
Wow.
- SSSteve Stoute
We're gonna help you. And I remember calling Ben after that and saying, "Look, I spoke to Scarface, man, and he, he was in, he was in disbelief." In fact, s- early on, people were in such disbelief they didn't believe that it was real. [laughs]
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
And we had a hard time-
- BHBen Horowitz
They thought it was a scam. They did, yeah
- SSSteve Stoute
... we had a, we had a, we had a hard time, that we had a hard time, we had a hard time actually helping people-
- ETErik Torenberg
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
... 'cause they didn't believe it.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah. W- I have some stories [laughs] on that of, I, I don't even know if I can mention the names.
- SSSteve Stoute
[laughs]
- BHBen Horowitz
But we had people who literally didn't get the award, 'cause they thought it was a scam.
- SSSteve Stoute
Yeah.
- ETErik Torenberg
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
They just, they didn't wanna mess with it. So, um... And, and, and, and that's actually what reinforced the belief that if you celebrated the artist and it didn't feel like you were giving them something like reparations, but you were actually celebrating them and, and give them the honor and dignity they deserve that they had not received properly, then it, that would be the way, um- That it would be accepted and celebrated. And it wasn't until we did the first one, and it was, you know, we, you know, like any other startup, use duct tape and-
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs]
- NANas
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
Right? You, it's, uh, whatever we gotta do to get this thing going. But we had Scarface and Rakim. And then obviously, you know, the support of the, the board and, and having Nas on the board, and that all, all helped. And then it w- started to go through the community. You know, there is something that's happening, and that's when it w- it, it worked. But literally was disbelief from the initial phone calls and, and just initial reach out, like, "W- why would anybody do this?" That's how fucked they've been for so long. Like, why would anybody come look and try to help us now?
- NANas
Yeah, and how fucked, uh, the rap community has been, like, to not show love. You know, to be so divided, to act like, you know, it's every man for himself. You know, rap is competitive, but at some point we gotta bring it around to what it's supposed to be. And it was, it was funny, like, nothing like this e- ever existed. Um, it's sorta like when you were talking to me, I was like, "Why hasn't this happened?" Like-
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah
- NANas
... we're, I'm in the right circle of people to be talking about the right thing, and it was almost like, um, it was, it was daring for us to even, to do something like this.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah. Well, it, it's one of those things where, um, I think somebody gotta step up at some point. And, and th- that's the thing about history in general, is people act like things are inev- inevitable but they're not. Like, somebody's gotta do something, and that, you know, that's been the thing that's... You know, once it's done it's very obvious, but until somebody steps up, it doesn't happen. And actually, it was a, a... You know, I met Caz, uh, in New York, um, uh, kinda right around the first year. And I remember, 'cause, you know, w- we had a great conversation, but then kinda going back and re-understanding how important Caz was. Like, Steve, let me ask you this. In a different circumstance and a different kind of timing, how big would've Caz been?
- SSSteve Stoute
You know, Caz, I talked about you after I met you. I speak about you, I... The fact that you are so charismatic, still, right now-
- NANas
Hmm.
- BHBen Horowitz
Right now. [laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
That you hold no bitterness in your heart, and you present yourself as a star. I mean, it's clear. If you would've been, if, I mean, 12 years later, I mean, just forget it. It, it... By the way, if, if you would've actually just got the credit you deserve from the beginning-
- BHBen Horowitz
For his song
- 9:49 – 17:16
Grandmaster Caz & the Rhymes That Became Rapper's Delight
- SSSteve Stoute
I mean, Caz s- wrote the rhyme that became Rapper's Delight. I mean, those were his rhymes.
- BHBen Horowitz
With his name. [laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
With his name in the rhymes.
- NANas
The first hit, yeah.
- SSSteve Stoute
And it was sto-
- BHBen Horowitz
First hip hop hit
- SSSteve Stoute
... yeah, the first hip hop hit was stolen from him, and he didn't get what he deserved.
- NANas
Mm-hmm.
- SSSteve Stoute
And everybody knew it, but no one ever did anything about it, never said anything about it, didn't give a fuck about it. It just... When we were get, when we were having our board calls and we were thinking about who we were gonna honor, I mean, one of the privileges of having this group of people, looking at the cases and deciding who we're gonna give the award to, you say certain people's names and it's unanimous. [laughs] It's like, it's like-
- NANas
Yes
- SSSteve Stoute
... it's like everybody, it's like, yes.
- NANas
Mm-hmm.
- SSSteve Stoute
And then everyone's arguing why their yes is more yes.
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs]
- NANas
Right.
- SSSteve Stoute
It's, it, it's like-
- NANas
Yeah
- SSSteve Stoute
... yo, Caz, yes.
- NANas
Yeah.
- SSSteve Stoute
But you don't understand why I said yes.
- NANas
Right, right, right.
- SSSteve Stoute
Because everybody's so delighted that we nailed the person.
- NANas
Mm-hmm.
- SSSteve Stoute
And then you meet the person.
- NANas
Mm-hmm.
- SSSteve Stoute
And then they're so beautiful when they walk in the room.
- NANas
Right.
- SSSteve Stoute
And I, like, w- we've been blessed, um, to have honored people who not only deserve it, but when they got the phone call, they didn't come in with, "About time," or-
- NANas
Right
- SSSteve Stoute
... you know, any of that kind of energy.
- 17:16 – 25:08
What This Foundation Actually Does for Its Honorees
- SSSteve Stoute
it, it, it's, it's, it's, it, it, it's just a wild... It's, it's, it's, it's wild that it took this foundation to bring these type of people together.
- NANas
Mm. Yeah.
- SSSteve Stoute
And the bond is that strong. The bond is so strong that 25, 30 years removed, Dr. Dre with all of his glory and success is like, "Man, could you, could you please introduce me to Slick Rick and Kool Moe Dee?"
- NANas
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
But at the same time, that it took this celebration in order to bring these legends together in the same room-
- NANas
Agreed
- SSSteve Stoute
... to, to create that moment.
- NANas
Yeah. I think the industry itself like separates us, you know, by success, status. You know what I mean? Who's hot, who's signed.
- SSSteve Stoute
Yeah.
- NANas
Who, who this and that, you know what I mean? So I re- I haven't s- if I see Nas, it's like by s- by happenstance or something. All these years, you know what I mean? Mutual respect, you know what I mean? But I don't see him all the time. If he reaches out or something as he's did in the past and done a project and say, "Yo, Caz, I want you to be a pa-," I'm, I'm on it automatically. I ain't gotta see him or, or none of that. Just say it and I'm there. You know what I mean? Now I see him every year. I can call him on the phone. Steve Stoute, you hear about Steve Stoute, big businessman, he done made this person rich, he done...
- SSSteve Stoute
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a special moment that is growing every year.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah.
- SSSteve Stoute
I- it's growing every year, and to Caz's point, this idea of separating artists.
- NANas
Mm.
- SSSteve Stoute
I'm not sure why that happened. I'm not sure if it was the industry doing, the industry's doings on purpose, or was it just the fact that rap was broken into, like, old school, new school, this, that, and the third, so they just... It, it, it was just no connection. But the truth of the matter is that the real artists have respect for the person that they had their poster on their wall.
- NANas
Definitely.
- SSSteve Stoute
The first CD they bought or the, the first CD, the first tape that they bought, and that respect that inspired either, um, me as a businessman or Nas as a artist or Ben as a businessman, whatever it is, that'll never, ever go away. Like sports heroes, nev- it never goes away.
- NANas
Yeah.
- SSSteve Stoute
And so the foundation acknowledging and celebrating and then bringing this group of people together-
- NANas
Mm-hmm
- SSSteve Stoute
... is something that the industry should have done a long time ago. And, like, there's been attempts, like the VH1 thing.
- NANas
Yeah, the V... Yeah, Hip Hop Honors.
- SSSteve Stoute
Hip Hop Honors.
- NANas
Uh-huh.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah.
- SSSteve Stoute
And it's cool. It's not... It's putting a light on it on these artists, but it's not putting anything in their pockets.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah.
- SSSteve Stoute
It's not, it's not investing in the artist. It's not making them feel like they've gotten acknowledged for everything that they contributed. That was, that was a point... It was two things. It, it was starting Paid in Full, but also Ben investing in United Masters. The idea was like, how do you contribute so much culturally, but yet the financial take is so meaningless? How does, how do you put s- pour so much in-
- NANas
Right
- SSSteve Stoute
... and get so little out?
- 25:08 – 33:05
Celebrating the Legends: Melle Mel, Roxanne, D.O.C.
- SSSteve Stoute
At the same time, um, I feel like I want everybody to know around the world-
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah
- SSSteve Stoute
... what Grandmaster Caz looks like and, and to celebrate him and applaud this man for what he's done and, and celebrate Roxanne and celebrate, you know, Melle and, and, and, and the D.O.C. and everybody else who's, you know, had these achievements, these achievements that they've done and contributed so much to their culture that they get a chance to, to, to see their heroes on the, on the platform that they respect. I think when you do something big and important, not only in hip-hop but in anything, people are gonna emulate it, people are gonna wanna follow. If they see a formula that works, [laughs] Ben, you're a testament to this, you know what I mean?
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
See a formula that works, you want in, and you're gonna wanna try to, you know, do something. And, and a lot of people lost, uh, uh, I, I don't know, face or whatever because all of these ... Nobody did it yet.
- BHBen Horowitz
And I, y- Steve and I have conversations about this kind of thing all the time, but I think in life it's impossible to do anything great if you start with what's possible. You have to start with what's right. And if you start with what's right, then you have a ch- it may not be possible, but at least you have a chance to do something great. And so, th- you know, that's always how I came at it. I was like, "Look, we ought to be able to figure this out. It's not ... H- hip-hop's not that big. Like, the guys who made the art form are not that many, and so why can't we honor them?"
- SSSteve Stoute
Mm.
- BHBen Horowitz
Li- like, it just, it didn't make any sense to me. And then, by the way, I mean, you guys were very kind saying, [laughs] you know, I wasn't a beneficiary. I'm a big beneficiary of Caz and Nas and Rakim in that they were, you all were the inspiration to my career, and one what got me through like a very, very difficult times in business, so hard that I wrote [laughs] like a best-selling book about how hard it was. Uh, and in the book, you know, I had the rap lyrics, which ... But, uh, in Silicon Valley, I, I actually got a lot of criticism for it, 'cause like, "What are you doing with hip-hop?" You know, "Is that some kinda gimmick?" And so forth, and then I was like, "No, this is credit where credit is due." The ideas that I had in business came from those lyrics, and that's why the chapters, that's why the idea started with the lyric, 'cause that's where the idea started, and it was just credit where credit was due. And so it was my, y- you know, my chance to, in my mind, just do what was right and pay it back. And, uh, you know, look, I'm an entrepreneur. I, I know how to build things, so, y- you know, building a foundation didn't seem that hard. [laughs] Yeah, no, I haven't ... I, I, uh, if I got pushback or, like, people talked about it bad, I don't lis- I can't even hear it.
- SSSteve Stoute
No, he doesn't, he doesn't hear it.
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
And y-
- BHBen Horowitz
All right
- SSSteve Stoute
What you do, you bring people, you invite people who would probably be like, have no interest in this topic [laughs]
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah.
- NANas
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
And you, and you bring them there.
- NANas
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
And you know what they do? I've seen it convert.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah.
- NANas
Yeah.
- SSSteve Stoute
Where they, they go there and they're like-
- NANas
On their feet
- SSSteve Stoute
... "I, I, I'll go t- I'll go for Ben. I mean, whatever. I'll go for Ben. Fuck it."
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs] That's a lot of the tickets.
- SSSteve Stoute
"It's Ben." Then they go there and they're like, "Oh, shit."
- NANas
On their feet.
- SSSteve Stoute
"I didn't even even know-"
- NANas
Right, right, right
- SSSteve Stoute
... "this, that, th- I didn't know that." And it, and it connects a lot of dots, and there's obviously a lot of empathy. How do you not feel empathy for somebody who's invented something-
- NANas
Right
- 33:05 – 40:05
The Quincy Jones Award & Annual Tradition
- SSSteve Stoute
And now it's part of-
- NANas
Mm
- SSSteve Stoute
... what we do in the foundation on an annual basis. That's love.
- NANas
Can we say who the new, uh, recipient of the Quincy Jones Award is? Yeah, uh, we gotta let Steve say it.
- SSSteve Stoute
No, no.
- NANas
'Cause he worked so hard on it.
- SSSteve Stoute
No, no. [laughs]
- NANas
[laughs] Such a funny story, right?
- SSSteve Stoute
We're not, we're not gonna get into the details of that story.
- NANas
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
But, um, I mean-
- NANas
But, but who?
- SSSteve Stoute
Nile Rodgers, man.
- NANas
Yeah. Yes.
- SSSteve Stoute
How do you not... Nile Rodgers.
- NANas
Yes. Yes.
- SSSteve Stoute
This is a great. Nile Rodgers, who-
- NANas
Yes
- SSSteve Stoute
... came up with a p- [laughs] a guitar lick-
- NANas
Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun
- SSSteve Stoute
... that's been used, that's been used-
- NANas
Good Times.
- SSSteve Stoute
By the way, he... I mean, hip hop.
- NANas
Ba, dum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.
- SSSteve Stoute
Dance.
- NANas
Bum, bum.
- SSSteve Stoute
That's just the hip hop connection. That's his hip hop connection.
- NANas
Look at Ev- look at Chic.
- SSSteve Stoute
It's... Oh, God.
- NANas
Look at all o- of Sister Sledge. Look, I mean-
- 40:05 – 45:21
Grandmaster Caz: "Hip Hop Don't Have Social Security"
- GCGrandmaster Caz
end here. I don't want it to end here. And, um, it, it didn't, and it's not.
- BHBen Horowitz
That's amazing.
- GCGrandmaster Caz
You know what I mean? I got a nice house in Pennsylvania. You know what I'm saying? Me and my wife and, um, my life has improved drastically. I, I got a comfort. You know, I got, like, a, a cushion.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah. [laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
[laughs]
- GCGrandmaster Caz
That I, that I never had. You know what I mean? Everything was day to day. Everything was run out, grind, hustle.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah.
- GCGrandmaster Caz
And when people see me and they see my passion, they see my... You know what I mean? This nigga still got it. He's still doing it because I have to. I, I didn't have no, no, you know what I mean... Hip hop don't have Social Security. You know what I mean? Hip hop don't have no, um, uh, health benefits or none of that. You have to work. You gotta stay out there. For me anyway, I gotta keep working. So when you see me on, on the radio, you see me doing park jams, you see me doing Hip Hop Sightseeing Tours and all, all that was to maintain, to keep me up and at it. And I think my attitude, that went along with it.
- SSSteve Stoute
Yeah.
- GCGrandmaster Caz
And the way that I deal with people kept me in people's consciousness, you know what I mean? Which I'm so fucking grateful for. You know what I mean? And like I said, uh, I can't speak for everybody, but I'm sure what, what it's done for me, it's done for everybody. You know what I mean? I know one thing I wanna say, and I don't wanna say which person, but we was talking about some people didn't know if it was a scam or whatever. You know, a c- a p- a couple people thought it was like, "Yo, I don't, I don't need this. Like, I'm good." You know what I mean? I don't, you know.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah.
- GCGrandmaster Caz
Like a handout. Like, I don't need nobody to give me n-... Nah, it's not about that. It's not all about that. That ain't about that. That's, that's a part of it. You know what I mean? The thing is the honor. The thing is putting you in the light that you deserve to be in. And I gotta salute LL Cool J for that, too. You know what I mean? He, he put us, me, he put Sha Rock on the radio when, um, he didn't have to. He didn't have to, and he created a whole lane. He's like, "Now, that's y'all. Go. Monday through Friday, y'all are on the air." You know what I mean? So that kind of recognition, it resonates. And when people see important people giving you your props, they feel obligated, like... [clapping]
- BHBen Horowitz
Yo, I gotta say that what this does is what, how you just ended it, is it brings recognition, and that's the gift that keeps giving.
- GCGrandmaster Caz
Yes, indeed.
- BHBen Horowitz
Because it, it's, it's, it's done out of love, and...
- NANas
It, it kinda inspires more people to think that, you know, we can do things like this, too. We can ... W- we gotta remember, let's take care of each other. I'll say this. I was getting reached out to by a few h- hip-hop artists f- for a while, uh, probably the later end of the '90s on, and I would do things for different artists and won't say it, I won't even mention the names, even up to someone who passed away recently, um, a musical hip-hop, uh, producer and whatever. Like, I was there. And, you know, I wonder how many more of us were doing that, but it's on the low. This is on the high.
- SSSteve Stoute
Right.
- NANas
This is on the high on a even bigger level, in that, that it's ... You can show it. You can show the world w- we're taking care of our own. We're taking care of the thing that took care of us. Where in Ben's book, he has pieces of lyrics, uh, in one of his books, he has pieces of lyrics, um, that inspired him. These things are important because if we forget, if we don't, if we sweep it all under the rug, if you don't know that Puba took Hilfiger to a-
- SSSteve Stoute
[laughs]
- NANas
... another level, if, if you don't know-
- SSSteve Stoute
Sprite
- NANas
... Sprite.
- BHBen Horowitz
Son of a-
- NANas
He, what he... W- say this. Come on, man. No, no.
- BHBen Horowitz
Oh, the fashion, the fashion industry, period.
- SSSteve Stoute
I mean, that-
- BHBen Horowitz
You know what I mean?
- SSSteve Stoute
By the way, that, that, that's exactly why I wrote The Tanning of America, was specifically-
- BHBen Horowitz
Right
- SSSteve Stoute
... so that all of the things-
- 45:21 – 50:48
Tommy Hilfiger, the Culture & Who Owes Back
- SSSteve Stoute
I love Tommy Hilfiger. Tommy Hilfiger's a great guy. He's done a lot, um, with, uh, artists. He should be part of, you know, contributing to Paid in Full. If it wasn't for-
- NANas
Uh
- SSSteve Stoute
... hip-hop, for sure he was dead in the water. They were selling ties.
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
I mean, he, he, he, he, he says that. They were actually sell- he was selling ties. He was trying to be Ralph Lauren, and they were like, "You're not Ralph Lauren, dawg."
- NANas
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
And on his way, and listen, on his way home-
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
... 'cause he lived in G- uh, Greenwich, when you leave the, when you leave the s- uh, leave the city, you can obviously, you can get to Greenwich by the traditional way, taking the highway, or you can cut through Harlem and get up to Westchester. So he's cutting through Harlem, and he's seen everybody wearing their pants low and their Calvin Klein, top of the Calvin Klein briefs showing, and literally that's where he got the idea to make underwear and use that, where with Calvin Kle- the, the, the-
- NANas
Tommy
- SSSteve Stoute
... the top. Yeah.
- NANas
Yeah
- SSSteve Stoute
... he put Tommy there. Whatever the, the, the top of the underwear, whatever the, the, this shit is called.
- NANas
Yeah, the, the waistband.
- SSSteve Stoute
The elastic.
- NANas
Elastic.
- SSSteve Stoute
The, the, the, the elastic band, and he put Tommy Hilfiger there and made the waistband bigger, thicker, so that you could, it was, it was-
- BHBen Horowitz
So you could
- SSSteve Stoute
... you could really see it.
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs]
- SSSteve Stoute
And that's how the whole thing got going, seriously. That's literally ... And he talks about, and he'd seen it driving through Harlem.
- NANas
That's crazy.
- SSSteve Stoute
And that's h- and that's when the brand took off and went from, you know, selling ties that wasn't working to now selling streetwear, the hottest fashion trend in the world, streetwear that Louis Vuitton sells, [laughs] designed by Skateboard P. Y- you know what I'm saying?
- NANas
Yeah.
- SSSteve Stoute
God bless. And Virgil. Like, and these, these are the things that these guys have been a part of contributing-
- NANas
Right
- SSSteve Stoute
... that they never got their fair share of. And by the way, what we're doing is a s- we're just trying to get momentum. We're not trying to solve-
- NANas
Right. Right
- SSSteve Stoute
... the, the, the world's problem here.
- NANas
Right, right, right.
- 50:48 – 56:15
How Ben, Steve & Nas Became Friends for Life
- ETErik Torenberg
Uh, Nas, Steve, I'm c- I'm curious if you could talk about w- when was the moment you knew that you and Ben were gonna be friends for life?
- NANas
Uh, Steve invited me to a dinner a few years ago.
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs] That's a crazy story.
- NANas
And, uh, we're... I'll tell. [laughs]
- BHBen Horowitz
[laughs]
- NANas
Oh, yeah. It was some g- an interesting room of pe-
- BHBen Horowitz
That was great
- NANas
... people, right? It's, he put together a great room, great restaurant.
- SSSteve Stoute
We w- it was, it was Mr. Chow's downtown.
- NANas
That's where it was?
- BHBen Horowitz
Mr. Chow's.
- SSSteve Stoute
Yeah.
- BHBen Horowitz
Top of my party. Yeah.
- NANas
So this room was dope, right?
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah.
- NANas
And he put this together. And I heard about Ben through him, and I met Ben right there. And, you know, just our love for music and, and love for food-
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah
- NANas
... was, uh-
- BHBen Horowitz
It was it
- NANas
... was a thing that kinda, that connected me, me and Ben at that point. And, um, we just, we've just been cool-
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah
- NANas
... since then.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah, we're, uh, some of my best times listening to Rakim with Nas. By the way, Nas hears things in Rakim's songs that nobody else hears.
- SSSteve Stoute
[laughs]
- BHBen Horowitz
It's cr- it, it is, like, unbelievable. And then listening to Prince, we listen to Prince together.
- NANas
Yeah.
- SSSteve Stoute
Yeah.
- BHBen Horowitz
And then doing-
- SSSteve Stoute
We break it down.
- BHBen Horowitz
Yeah, and going to visit Triple OG, Quincy Jones together. But, uh-
- 56:15 – 56:50
PaidInFullFoundation.org: How to Get Involved
- SSSteve Stoute
Paid in Full.
- BHBen Horowitz
PaidInFullFoundation.org.
- SSSteve Stoute
.org.
- BHBen Horowitz
All your money goes directly to the artists. Uh, it's-
- SSSteve Stoute
Two and a half times.
- NANas
Put up that bread
- BHBen Horowitz
... two and a half, we match them two and a half times to one, and it is, um, everybody who's ever been to it will tell you it's the greatest charitable event in the world. Like, there's nothing like it. It's, you will-
- SSSteve Stoute
Facts
- BHBen Horowitz
... I guarantee nobody's ever gone and not had a great time. Uh, and a, and a time that's will be a memory for the rest of your life.
- SSSteve Stoute
Oof. Ooh, ooh, right. That's a fact.
- NANas
Let's wrap the night up. Facts.
- SSSteve Stoute
All right.
- NANas
Believe.
- ETErik Torenberg
Thank you, guys. That was great.
Episode duration: 57:02
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Transcript of episode ZO6VyDvysxY
