JayQuan : What year did the Treach
form & how did you meet each other ?
L.A. : Well , Moe Dee & myself
grew up on the same block , we knew each other since elementary school . K went to Norman
Thomas high school with Moe . We hooked up in ' 77 or ' 78 . That was during the time when
everbody had a Dj on their block. We were one of 3 Dj crews on that block . Our
nieghborhood was a 3 - 4 block radius , and its like a hole in the wall , seperate from
the main strip . Its called the Hill . The Hill is up from a park from St Nicholas Ave ,
which is a main street . In order to get to it you have to go through the park , so you
cant just accidentally just turn and drive there. You would have to go 23 blocks in either
direction to get up on that hill. Its like a world of its own. Within that radius you had
3 or 4 little Dj groups , but at the time it was relatively new to everyone . We all
latched onto different cats , Moe Dee latched onto Easy Lee , I latched onto Reggie
Reg and eventually the 2 Djs combined and put their equipment together , and we formed a
group called the Fantastic 4 . 
That
was our first name . Spoonie G & Lee were like brothers , but
Spoonie was always scared to rap , but after seein me & Moe he came around and started
rappin' . It was me , Moe , Spoonie and the 2 Djs . We got another Dj - Crazy Eddie who
got down with us . We ened up havin' 3 Djs & 3 Emcees . We transformed to the
Treacherous 3 when the record thing started . Spoonie made his record & spun off
, he was still a member of the Treach . Once his record blew up it became Spoonie G &
the Treach 3 'cus Spoonie had a name .
JQ : So your first official record
together was New Rap Language / Love Rap ?
L.A. : Yes
JQ : Who was the person the
influenced you to Emcee ?
L.A. : Hollywood....I saw him at
the Appollo at the intermission of a Whispers concert , I always was into R & B more
than rap , and I still am . So I was enjoyin the Whispers , and at the intermission the
spotlight went to Hollywood , off to the side of the stage . He threw on Apache ,
and I was done . And the response that he recieved made me say wow . If I had not seen
that , I may have still gotten into it , because we were rappin' but not seriously . I was
baby Hollywood - that wasnt my name , but I did whatever I saw him do .
JQ : Was there any beef or
rivalries with other crews ?
L.A. : We had a competition thing
with Furious 5 , because they were top notch & sellin' a lot of records . I think they
viewed us as their competition , I dont know if they would admit that or not .They used to
just shit on us for no reason -" Treacherous 3 , them niggas aint shit , they from
Manhattan , we sold way more records than them niggas " - just outta the blue for no
reason . When somebody is that way you obviously are a threat .
JQ : Did you sense that any other
crews felt that you were less authentic because you were from Harlem ?
L.A. : We were the first cats from
Harlem to represent on the mainstream , you had Crash Crew , Masterdon and all them cats ,
but we were of the upper echolon in rap early , but being that it originated in the
Bronx - even though thats a stones throw away from Harlem , we were viewed as different .
We were recieved , but im sure the Emcees were like they aint got it . Bronx
attitudes were different from Manhattan attitudes , almost like night and day . We won
them over and proved ourselves .
JQ : Did your Enjoy deal come about
as a result of Spoonie being Bobby Robinsons nephew ?
L.A. Yeah, Bobby has been in the
business all his life . Once rap started being recorded he was looking for groups that
could rap - and it just happened to fall in his lap . He already had Furious & Funky .
The fact that the biggest Manhattan group happened to be his nephews group , it was just a
no brainer . The prerequisite was that we do one side with just Spoonie . New Rap Language
didn't get play much because it was the flip side of Love Rap , which was one of the most
infamous records in Hip Hop history . Every Dj had two copies and it became a breakbeat .
You're not considered a Hip Hop Dj if you dont have it . When I count the platinum records
that I sold , but can't prove - thats one of 'em .
J.Q. : Where did the fast rhymes
come from ?
L.A. : That was Moe . It came from
him & Special K competing all the time in school . It was friendly competition , but K
used to walk around the halls rhyming ,and at lunch time they would go back and forth and
K just spit out a fast rhyme & blew it up . The next day K came with his fast rhyme .
JQ : Before rap records were made ,
what was the cultural climate like in the jams ?
L.A. : It wasn't wild and ra ra
, it was laid back . The 5 % were representing an awful lot , the Zulus were reppin
an awful lot , the whole aura was just a party . The thuggest of the thugs were just
sweatin' bullets partyin' .
JQ : What was your honest opinion
of Rappers Delight when it came out ?
L.A. : I was mad , they didn't
deserve that shit . I wasnt envious , but I felt the same way about them that I did about
Run & them - you're taking somethin' that aint yours and calling it yours . I don't
blame them for being in the right place at the right time - they both helped take the
culture to another level , but when you get there you aint supposed to perpetuate the myth
and misconception. Instead of saying "if y'all only knew"...they said
" yeah w'ere the best we started it " .
JQ : On Enjoy did you have a lot of
creative control ?
L.A. : Yeah we did it all ,
although the record may say produced by Bobby Robinson . We weren't very musically
inclined , but we told the musicians what to play . Like with "At The Party" -
it was the bassline to 7th Wonder , but we changed it to avoid lawsuits . " Body
Rock" had the bassline to Freedom , basically slowed up.
JQ : When you did Body Rock , did
you look at it like you were makin the first rap/rock song ?
L.A. : Not really , we knew
we were doing something that had never been done . The cat playin guitar , we let him go
where he was goin . It didn't sound like rap , but it was fat . Because of that record ,
we did shows with the Clash , we played the Mud Club and other places that we would never
have played.
JQ : What was your favorite Enjoy
release by Treacherous ?
L.A. : At The Party....Heartbeat
blew up , but I got tired of it .
JQ : Was Heartbeat your most
succesful record according to Enjoy ?
L.A. : Yes other than Love Rap. I
was in the Enjoy warehouse looking thru old records and stuff & I came across platinum
records of Love Rap. The records werent in the casings , but it had the serial number . It
said double platinum .
JQ : Did you see royalties from
that ?
L.A. : Nah...we got paid in a brown
paper bag . We got $3000 a piece once and we were cool . It was a lot of money back then.
It sounds corny , but we weren't in it for the money . If we had enough to but new outfits
we were cool.
JQ : I noticed that most groups
went from Enjoy straight to Sugarhill , were your contracts sold ?
L.A. :
Ours were , only
ours...everyone else was swooned over there . They were on tour buses ,they had big houses
and pools , one hundred dollar bills spread out . Enjoy was in Harlem , we had Chinese
food when we had our meeting , they ate at fish houses over at Sugarhill . Sugarhill was
the first time that I saw tour buses . At Enjoy Bobby rented a station wagon , with our
equipment and clothes .
JQ : Was the financial situation
any better at Sugarhill ?
L.A. : It was really about the same
, but we were at Enjoy for a shorter stay. After awhile I became a rebel , I was already
street ; Moe was more college and K was educated , but I was on my own since I was 14 .
Well after awhile I knew that a lot of money was being made , but we weren't seeing any of
it . I literally told Joe Robinson (co founder of Sugarhill) that I had to leave a meeting
because I was about to invite his wife somewhere that she didnt want to go . It got to the
point that when I came to the building , they were announcing that I was on the lot . I
actually had to bring some of my boys up there . Thats why I stopped making
records...I was gonna have to hurt somebody .
JQ : I noticed on the Treach 3 lp
on Sugarhill , that you had a gash on your forehead , then on the Old School Flava lp you
had a song called True Story , where you described getting injured - is that actually how
that gash came about .
L.A. : Actually I have 2 now . The
one on the Sugarhill lp came from me falling when I was four years old . The second one on
Old School Flava actually happened in a club like the song says.
JQ : Why weren't you on Grafitti
Rock with Moe & K ?
L.A. : That was during the time
that I wasn't in the group , I left the group because of her (Sylvia) .
JQ : To your knowledge what
prompted Moe Dee to go solo ?
L.A. : We did Gotta Rock , and the
flip side was Turn It Up . I told them that I wasnt makin no more records . Moe was live
or die Hip Hop at the time , and he was well recieved at Sugarhill . He wrote some stuff
for Sugarhill Gang. They told him that he could go into the studio whenever he wanted . So
he did Turn It Up solo. There was no animosity between us at all , in fact when he did
shows I was right there , and I did choreography on all his videos . Special K didn't
appreciate the fact that Moe went solo and didnt take him along . Not in defense of Moe
but , me & Moe grew up together , and I was doing all the dance steps . Even in the
Treach days I brought the dancing and stage show aspects to the table . K was odd man out
'cus he couldnt dance , and there was no room for another Emcee .
JQ :
How did you get selected for
Beat Street .
L.A. : Steven Hager is the person
who wrote Beat Street . It was originally gonna be a book . They contacted me , I was like
the spokesperson for the group . It blew up real quick , it went from the book form to a
movie in a year . By the time it gets to Hollywood its retold , rewritten etc . The 3
names for the main characters came from us . Double K was Special K , Ramo was Moe &
Charlay was L.A. . They just twisted it and made it more universally Hip Hop. We laugh
about it now , the book started about us and ends up with us in this little part in the
movie .
JQ : Sylvia gets production credit
for many Sugarhill releases , was it that she just had a good ear for what breakbeats the
band should play ?
L.A. : Yes , she knew what she was
doing , and how to make a hit .
JQ : Did you ever think that Hip
Hop would be anywhere near as big as it is now ?
L.A. : Never . Moe knew that it was
gonna be big . I never thought much about it back then . I never really rapped because I
thought that I was good at it . I could do it , but it wasnt something I loved. I liked
performing more . I wasnt as much into the writing , it comes through if you ever hear a
tape or see me live - my rhyme may not be as good as everyone elses , but my performance
would make you think that it was.
JQ : Im gonna name some Emcees ,
rate them from 1-10 , 10 being the highest .
Caz - 9 (only because im reluctant
to give anybody 10)
Rakim - 8
T La Rock - 7
Moe Dee - 9
Special K - 8
LL Cool J - 9
Lil Rodney C - 7
Nas - 7 (I have never seen him
perform - just what I know of him)
Kid Creole - 7
Rahiem - 8
Cowboy - 7
Scorpio - 6
Run - 7
Chuck D - 8
DLB - 8
Busy B - 9 (because of his
showmanship)
Doug E Fresh - 9
Jay Z - 7
Ice Cube - 7
Ice T - 8
G.L.O.B.E - 9 ( I wish that I had
made Play That Beat)
Big Daddy Kane - 9
KRS - 9
Kool G Rap - 9
Shan - 7
JQ : I heard that you had some beef
with Cowboy back in the day , was that Hip Hop related ?
L.A. : At first , like I said they
never really liked us . What happened was - we were playing ball at the
entertainers tournament . Someone kicked some paper on the court , and I kicked it off .
It hit his shoe and he went off . I mean he took it to another level - took his watch off
and threw it up in the mountains. I was a jokester , so I was like "see you threw
your watch - now you dont have a watch and we are not even gonna fight". He was
threatening to kill me & everything . It turned out that he liked this girl that
wasn't giving him any play . She wanted to get with me .
© 2002 JayQuan Dot Com . No part
may be reproduced without authors consent
*Thanks to Troy L Smith....good lookin out
again bruh !!!!!!!!*
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