Chill Rob G – The Unkut Interview, Volume Two

While I was staying in New Jersey mid 2013, I attempted to shoot some footage of the original Flavor Unit crew. As it happened, I only managed to get Chill Rob G on film, and after watching the video back I’ve decided that this plays better as a written piece. While some of the same stuff from our 2006 conversation is covered, Rob also went into a lot more detail on some topics, making it a worthwhile piece on it’s own. Not to mention that Ride The Rhythm still stands as one of the strongest and most original releases of 1989.

Robbie: You mentioned that you went through a few different names when you were younger?

Chill Rob G: When I first started I had an identity crisis, I had a bunch of different names. It was Jazzy B, it was Bobby G, it was Killer B – cos my name was Robert. I was down with a couple of different crews too. I was down with The World Rap Crew and I was down with the Dignified Almighty Magnificent MC’s – Those D.A.M. MC’s. When all of that fell apart I just kept rapping on my own. I used to practice with my man Michael Ali, be up at his house every single day, making tapes. When I said that on the record it was true!

Were these beats that he’d made?

He tried to make beats but they was [blows raspberry]. I would just rap over popular rap records. He would try to cut the break. He wasn’t really that good a DJ either – but that was my man back then. [laughs] We would make tapes and try to get it out to the drug dealers, cos they’d be out all night. They would play that music and people would get a chance to hear me rap.

Were you selling these tapes?

I would try to sell them but they wasn’t really buying them, man. I wasn’t getting no money for them, I was just happy they were taking them and riding around.

Were you trying to get them to any record labels?

It was in the back of both of our minds but we wasn’t really acting on it, and thoughts without actions? That’s not going anywhere. I did keep on rapping, and I ran into my man Latee – who I knew from high school – in Irvington, and he was telling me about The 45 King and I should come through and check out some of the beats. Maybe Mark will hook me up with something. He knew I used to rap in high school. In the cafeteria everyone’s banging on tables, everybody’s rapping.

What was The 45 King doing at the time?

Mark had a few people he was working with, he had been a DJ for a while already. Obviously he was plugged in with Red Alert, and Red Alert used to play his beats with nobody rapping on it. It was a little special segment he did during his radio show. When I got a chance to rap for this dude, I didn’t really realise that’s who he was, at that moment. I was just down there with Latee and we were all rapping. While we were down there somebody said, ‘Yo Mark, you should record this and give it to Red Alert!’ I was like, ‘Oh, it’s THAT dude!’ I was down there chilling with him for two hours before I knew who he was. The next day he called me up. ‘Yo, that shit you was kickin’ was dope, man. We should make a record.’

So you went back over there and chose some beats to use?

He didn’t play me no beats. It ain’t like I’m gonna choose no beat – he’s gonna give the beat. I’m just some kid. He said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’mma bring a beat.’

What was the first beat he gave you?

The first beat he gave me was the ‘Dope Rhymes’ track. That’s the first thing we recorded. It wasn’t even like he gave me a beat to listen to. He said, ‘Come to the studio, bring your $30 for the hour,’ Cos I’m paying for an hour, he’s paying for an hour. ‘Have your rhymes ready.’ I showed up at the studio with some lyrics I hoped that would fit whatever track he played. It all worked out. Back then I had notebooks of rhymes, and I emptied all that out. I said all that stuff. I didn’t really understand song structure, I just knew it had to be sixteen bars because I listened to other rap records and I counted it. Otherwise I had no idea what I was doing when I got to the studio. But it was cool, it all worked out.

How long did it take to get that first single released?

We recorded ‘Dope Rhymes’ and ‘Chillin” the same night at Vaughn Mason‘s studio and got the deal with Stu Fine maybe three weeks later. I knew it was a little rinky-dink label nobody had ever heard of, so I did the song ‘Wild Pitch.’

This was back when they only had LeMonier on there?

I was laying in my bed one night listening to Special K and Teddy Ted on radio. Was it them? It might’ve been the Hank Love Half Pint radio show, and they played this record from this kid LeMonier [‘The Hardest Beat Around’] and the shit sucked! That kid was wack! I was laying there thinking, ‘Wow, he made a record? There’s no way I’m not making a record now!’ Interestingly enough I ended up on that kid’s label and he’s off the label after I got there. I hated him so much I got him booted off his label. Y’all are welcome!

How did you connect with Stu Fine?

I didn’t send Stu Fine anything, we gave our stuff to Red Alert cos 45 King had that plug in. He handed that to Red and he played it, that was really cool. The whole Flavor Unit was together before – I was one of the last people to come. Me and Lakim were the last few members to fit in because my man [The Ruler Lord] Ramsey had the little Ramm Enterprises thing jumping off. Ramsey’s African, and I don’t mean no disrespect at all – but he was real enterprising like that. You see these African dudes out here with blankets on the street? Ramsey had that kinda mind set. He wanted to work to make something pop-off some kinda way, so he had Ramm Enterprises. He didn’t have a lot of talent, but he had talented people around him. ‘We’re gonna do fashion shows and you’re gonna do deejaying!’ That’s what they were doing before I came along, and when I got here they were really focusing on music and I got in that wave.

What are your best memories of those basement sessions?

We made a lot of tapes, a lot of video tapes, just rhyming. A lot of people came through, Biz Markie, a bunch of different people. I knew Biz from way back when he first started, he used to be Jersey City all the time, beatboxing.

Do you like you got dragged into the radio wars between Red Alert and Mr. Magic?

Mark would try to gas you up when you were in the booth. ‘You know Kool G Rap gonna hear this shit. Don’t be no sucker in there!’ He’d walk off and you’d be like, ‘Yeah, Kane and them might listen.’ And you’d try to bring it to make sure you don’t sound wack when they hear it.

Who were some of the other Flavor Unit members who didn’t release anything like Taheed?

Taheed used to rap, me and him were gonna be in a crew together but that never materialized. Taheed liked to have fun, he was just floatin’. Whatever we were doing, If he could come he would come. Markey Fresh took a long time to get his deal, but it did pop off.

Did you consider Markey a core member?

That seemed to be a choice he was making. Markey Fresh used to hang out with Mark, he was one of the guys that was first there when I met Mark. He was cool with me, I never had no beef with Markey Fresh.

Why weren’t you on that ‘Flavor Unit Assassination Squad’ record?

When we was in the studio they were like, ‘We might have to clear this with Stu Fine, we don’t wanna deal with Stu Fine!’ So me and Latee was off that record. We was both there. Before they recorded that record we were just whylin’ in the booth, we didn’t record it. We should have recorded that, that woulda been a hot record!

You also toured overseas with Dave Funkenklein at one point?

We went to Japan with David Klein and it was 45 King, Chill Rob G, Queen Latifah and Latee. We were out there for like a week. It was surprising that they were packing all these shows and really rocking with us. ‘Y’all really don’t speak English.’ They couldn’t understand us. But they was into it, man! Music is universal, plus that energy that we had. We went to Tokyo Disneyland while we were out there, I went to Magic Mountain. It was crazy!

How many tracks did you record before you completed the Ride The Rhythm album?

There was no throw-away records. Whatever we were gonna go in and did, that’s what we were gonna do. The Flavor Unit was a lotta MC’s, so the competition was really healthy and it was always present, so you don’t want to waste no time or appear like you don’t know what you doing! Other rappers is watching you, man! You got Latee and Apache standing right there! And they nice! So don’t be going in there acting like you a sucker!

What’s your favorite song from that album?

I really like ‘Court Is In Session,’ because I was sick when I was doing that. My voice was all raspy, I was late coming to the studio, I was feverish, I did not feel good. But the record came out good!

The accapella on that single also became part of an international dancefloor smash hit, right?

We had a 12″ we put out, ‘Court Is In Session’ / ‘Let The Words Flow’ – I had a dark side and a bright side on everything – and the vocal on that with the accapella got chopped up by these kids in Germany calling themselves Snap. They threw in a bunch of different elements from different records; it’s a remix, that’s what you do. It’s basically ‘Let The Words Flow’ lyrics with a Jocelyn Brown singing riff in it. They handed it out to club DJ’s, started playing it on the radio, they was loving it, so they got this dude to come out and start performing the record, which didn’t make no sense to me. Why wouldn’t you contact the artist, man? You could have contacted me, you would have had the genuine article. It boggles the mind. Then theses dudes did a video! I was shocked.

Did Wild Pitch try to sue them?

They didn’t really step to the plate. In order for me to get the lawsuit off I had to go through Wild Pitch, cos that’s where my deal was at. I got caught in the mud.

And then you did ‘Power Jam’?

Wild Pitch went in and did a remix to the remix and put out the song called ‘Power Jam’ and had this other female come in and try to sing the Jocelyn Brown part.

Was that the straw that broke the camel’s back between you and Wild Pitch?

The real end was when we went it to negotiate the second album. I wasn’t happy the way things were going with Wild Pitch anyway. I couldn’t get no tour support from them, I wanted to get out on the road and do my thing and I was getting booked shows left and right. I need a tour bus, I gotta get on the bus with Kane! I’m spending my own bread! I was doing all of the hustling, they wasn’t really doing nothing. We were negotiating the second record, Stu Fine offered me this mad low number. I was insulted, I was like, ‘Nah, you crazy? I ain’t doing it.’ I walked off on him, that was it. When I left that restaurant? It was done.

You had a meeting in a restaurant?

They always had meetings in restaurants. Try to give you a cheeseburger to think he’s gonna get you to sign. ‘I ain’t signing for a cheesebuger this time, Stu! I was hungry that day, but today? I ain’t hungry!’ I’m just playing.

Where were the rest of the Flavor Unit at by this stage?

At that point the Flavor Unit was getting kinda small. Latifah was making her own moves, she was doing really well. Apache had his record coming out, Treach was making some moves. Lakim was doing his thing over at Tuff City, I think he was on his way to Egypt at this time, to shoot that video. I was talking to Kid ‘N Play about it and they were like, ‘Yo man, you should go and do the next record.’ I was like, ‘Ehhh…’ I didn’t wanna do the record, cos I’m gettin’ beat! I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Did you talk to any other labels?

The low-ball deal came around the same time as my brother dying, my cousin had died just a couple of years earlier, and my best friend had died also. Those two guys died in the same week. I’m having problems with the girl I was living with, so I’m moving. Wild Pitch were not acting right, I was trying to get out of the contract – I was just getting fed up.

Were you there when Latifah trademarked the Flavor Unit name?

I was on the road somewhere at the time, and when I came back, Latee and Mark and Apache were in the basement and they were talking about how Latifah and Shakim came and told them that they incorporated the name Flavor Unit. I said, ‘Word? So what did y’all say?’ They said, ‘We’re gonna rock with it, cos it’s gonna end up to everybody’s benefit. They gonna have the company name but we’re all gonna share the profits.’ I was like, ‘So where do we sign? Did everybody sign deals that said that?’ They like, ‘Nah, we didn’t get to that part yet.’ I guess they signed some agreement – I never signed that agreement.

Do you have any thoughts on the later incarnations of the crew?

The Flavor Unit was a beautiful thing when it happened, but it’s over. The Juice Crew was great when it was jumping off, that’s done. We were all trapped in that little bubble right there and blew-up out of it. Great memories and good friends left over.