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Jay Smooth interviews Mr. Magic and Mister Cee - 1995
Part Two: Why We Dissed KRS.
back to part one
| JAY: | How did the battle start between KISS and BLS? |
| MAGIC: | It was just natural because we were the first ones to play rap, and we was just crushing them in the ratings. So . . , crushing them, I mean doing them bad. Cuz when I first went there KISS was like real hot, cuz KISS used to be 99X. They changed their format. So they was doing good. Crocker called me, so we started killin' 'em. So they had to offset the fact that I was playing rap cuz at that time rap had really started becoming hot. So that's how they got Red Alert. And so automatically it was just a battle type of thing. |
| CEE: | The battle between KISS and BLS, that's was just because KISS was hot at the time, and y'all came in and y'all just crushed them, and it just started from there. |
| MAGIC: | It's a normal thing to battle, though. It got to be personal at one time, but you know we all grew out of that. You know, it's like, in basketball. You could have two brothers, but if one's playing against the other one, he wants to be the best. |
| MAGIC: | It's just a normal thing, it's not like, you know people take it out of context, that's why we went and did the Old School battle to show how it is. At the time we'd just battle them with lyrics and skills and stuff like that. It wasn't like, a real physical battle. Although we did have a couple of confrontations while we was on the road, you know. Taking people's, pulling people's plugs out and getting they records, and the whole nine, you know. But it was cool. Kept it interesting. |
| JAY: | So who won the battle? |
| MAGIC: | We definitely won. (Laughter) |
| CEE: | You know, a lot of people be asking me that, "Who really won that battle with the Juice Crew and Boogie Down Productions?" I think about that a lot, especially when people ask me, and one thing that I do have to say. KRS One is an incredible rapper. He's a dope incredible rapper, but . . . what would his career be if he didn't make an answer record to The Bridge? That's the only thing that I can say about that. And nobody would know the answer unless they was to actually happen. If they had actually happened, nobody would know the answer. Because the whole battle thing, correct me if I'm wrong, the whole battle thing started off with KRS ONE and Scott La Rock doing a record which was on Sleeping Bag Fresh Records; and I think it was called "Success Is The Word". And they wasn't called the Boogie Down Productions; I think they was called "1241" or; . . . they had a number as a name. And they got the record to Magic, Magic dissed the record, "Wack, Wack, Wack, Wack", and then the Bridge came at that same time; that's when Kris did "South Bronx". |
| CEE: | I just wonder what would Kris' career be like if, let's say if Magic would have loved the "Success is the Word" record. You know what I'm saying? What if he would have played it, then what? |
| MAGIC: | See, the thing bout what I did, I always gave everybody a chance, so it wasn't so much that I didn't like the record; it was just wack! That's all. The same thing that happened with UTFO, you understand. But see, I was the type of person, I would always take it because I've got a lot of mouth. And plus, with Flavor Flav, I broke his record on the air. |
| CEE: | Yeah, Public Enemy. |
| JAY: | Which record was that? |
| CEE: | It was "Public Enemy No. 1". |
| JAY: | Really? |
| MAGIC: | You know, but that kept it interesting, cuz you've got to have controversy. |
| CEE: | I think what it was was that, cuz you know, me being a listener at the time, listening to all that going on, I think I was like, all them records that was coming in, like Public Enemy, like KRS ONE, they was different records. So it was hard to accept something that was totally different. Like the Public Enemy record was very noisy, and it was just very, . . . |
| MAGIC: | It was ahead of its time. |
| CEE: | It was ahead of its time. It was very out of the ordinary coming from the KRS, the "Success of the Word" record was, the beat was kind of wack or whatever, but the lyrics was there, you understand what I'm saying? So it was like, good lyrics with a wack beat. So that was like, out of the ordinary, you know? So, I think what it was was they was just coming totally different, and it wasn't as easily accepted. Just like how De La Soul wasn't at first easily accepted. So Magic at that time was known to have a mouth . . . |
| MAGIC: | (Laughter). |
| CEE: | You know, he said what he wanted to say; he did what he wanted to do; and he didn't give a fuck, you know what I'm saying? |
| MAGIC: | Still like that sometimes . . . |
| CEE: | So he didn't give a fuck, and to this day that's what really a lot of people respect about Magic, the fact that even though there's people that say that, "Damn, Magic, back in those days, yo he was dissing niggers" and at the same time people liked that, cuz they was listening, and they was like, it was just amped. |
| MAGIC: | And that'll make you better too. |
| CEE: | It was like an amp type of situation. |
| JAY: | Seems like that would inspire them. |
| CEE: | You know what? It was like, he was saying stuff that a lot of fans wouldn't say, or a lot of people wouldn't say. I mean, you look at the Wendy Williams right now, you look at all these other radio personalities that have that same type of sassiness. That all came from Magic, man. To me. Magic was the originator of coming on the air and saying anything, knowing about gossip, saying "You know, I heard such-and-such got punched in the nose . . ." |
| MAGIC: | (Laughter) |
| CEE: | Magic was the originator of that. So now, and now look at it. It's even on the talk show issue, you know what I'm saying? With Ricki Lake and all that. And I'm not saying that Magic just brought it out like that, but I mean as far as radio, he was the first motherfucker, I don't give a fuck what nobody, he was the first motherfucker to just be like, "Yo, yo, such-and-such is wack." on the air, and didn't care. "Yo, I heard such-and-such got beat up." (Laughter) "Yo, why the fuck . . . " He was the first person to do that, and now you've got the Wendy Williams and the you know, well, Wendy is like the only one really doing it now, but I mean, even like the Howard Sterns and the Eds and the Dre's, you know what I'm saying? But it all originated from Magic, I feel. |
on to part 3
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