Culture Blues

Around Town: Noisemakers with Pete Rock

#1 Soul Brother

When I saw a “night of music and conversation with Pete Rock” advertised at 92Y Tribeca with radio DJ Peter Rosenberg, I was intrigued. Pete Rock is a legendary hip-hop producer, universally recognized as one of the greatest and most influential of all time. I certainly haven’t followed his career closely, but there are some Pete Rock songs every rap fan knows. But what was I to make of a hip-hop night of music and conversation featuring a legendary producer? Led by some radio personality I'm not familiar with? Would this actually be worth going out on a weeknight for? In Tribeca no less, the desolate land of dress shirt-ed assholes. Well, there was only one way to find out.

The relatively small venue is packed with chairs, maybe 200. DJ Quiz spins records as people mingle and settle into their seats. Once showtime arrives, the house band The Noise led by drummer Daru Jones plays a lengthy medley of Pete Rock beats. The combination of live drums and trumpet is perfect for Pete’s soul-heavy melodic yet rough tracks. And hearing that trumpet blast out the Shut Em Down remix live is, quite simply, sublime. The Noise comes back on later to perform during a short intermission and after the show. After 15 minutes or so, Rosenberg comes out and introduces his guest and we are quickly off and running. So far, so good.

Any concerns I had about a boring, dry or awkward talk are quickly put to rest. Rosenberg and Pete are both articulate, charismatic and involved. Rosenberg wisely frames the conversation as a journey through Pete's career, starting at the beginning and taking care not to jump ahead too quickly, even when the conversation seems to be going that way. They make all the major stops: how Pete got into music, his career with partner C.L. Smooth, his many, many remixes ranging from notable to legendary, the origin of the landmark They Reminisce Over You, and his more recent success as a solo artist and superstar producer.

Pete’s recollections of his childhood paint a picture of a nurturing environment and a seemingly innate obsession with music. He explains that his father introduced him to soul and jazz, and would come home to find Pete digging through his albums even at a young age. He recounts a very early brush with greatness as his mom got him backstage at a James Brown concert at the age of 7.

One of the most interesting aspects of anything like this is the behind the scenes stories. Pete's industry stories aren't terribly salacious or slanderous, but he's open and honest about a career that brought him in contact with just about every major hip-hop personality of the past 25 years, and he has no problem naming names, good and bad.

Thief

He reveals that Q-Tip shouts him out on the A Tribe Called Quest track Jazz (We've Got) because it's based on work that Pete did and was never credited for, something that bothered him for a long time and affected his friendship with Tip. He's more forgiving of Puff Daddy. Pete claims that Juicy, possibly the only song on Biggie's debut Ready to Die that EVERYONE loves, is based on a demo of his that Puffy lifted. Pete says he doesn’t even care how it came about, he’s just happy to have had Big in his life. When asked if there are other songs produced by him that we don't know about, Pete responds that there are, that he was a "ghost producer," but he won't get specific. It seems we'll still have to wait longer to learn the full extent of his contribution to hip-hop. Wendy Williams gets a shout out for breaking The Creator (complete with Pete’s Wendy Williams impression). Sylvia Rome and Dante Ross get slightly less favorable mentions.

Through the whole evening, Rosenberg does a great job hosting. His prepared introduction is appropriately reverent and places Rock's career in the proper historical context, even though he acknowledges that this is a "nerdy, artistic, legit hip-hop crowd." It's the last time we see Rosenberg read as he conducts the whole interview without any notes. He's engaged in the conversation the whole time, seeming as interested as the audience. It fits his "music geek made good" image.

Rosenberg allows Pete's narrative to take center stage but isn't afraid to wander into personal anecdotes or pause and let the DJ play part of a track being discussed. He allows the conversation to develop in an organic yet still focused way. I was particularly impressed early on when Rock glossed over something interesting and Rosenberg immediately jumped in and asked him to elaborate.

Playing music throughout the night is a relatively small thing, but it's important. It’s a reminder for fans, and it allows the uninitiated to better appreciate the conversation. It breaks up the monotony of two guys talking and it’s a chance for everyone in the room to reconnect with the subject matter. And when the two of them are both up there, heads nodding emphatically to the beat, you can’t help but get the feeling this is just two guys sharing something they are both very passionate about.

Cheapskate Fuddy Duddy

The night had more than enough humor. My favorite was probably Pete's run in with rock greatness:

Rock claims that Mick Jagger once called him and asked him to do a remix for some Rolling Stones project. As Rock tells it, he had his standard "remix fee," and Mick Jagger came with “that 70’s fee.” That’s right, Mick Jagger lowballed Pete Rock, and Pete Rock subsequently said “no, thanks” to the Rolling Stones. Fantastic!

I wasn’t familiar with the Noisemakers series before this. Previous guests have included Raekwon, Bun B, Q-Tip and DJ Premier. It's Storytellers and Inside the Actors Studio for people who are passionate about rap music. And it's less stuffy and contrived than those, and more earnest.

As hip-hop has gone global, it hass been placed in increasingly intellectual circles. It’s taught in college courses, it’s discussed at pop culture conferences. None of that will give you a better understanding of the culture and what it means to people than a first hand account like this. After two hours of “music and conversation,” I walk out as excited about rap music as I've been in a while (it helps that Pete announced he is working on a full album with Smif-n-Wessun – are you kidding me?!?!). I’ll be attending all the Noisemakers events I can in the future, and if you’re at all interested in rap music, or contemporary music in general, I suggest you do the same (or at least watch them live on jewstream.tv – no typo).