MC Shan said in his classic song The Bridge, "This is the place where stars are born." There is no denying the talent that has flourished from the largest housing development in America. When you think of Queensbridge, artists such as MC Shan, Roxanne Shante, Tragedy, Craig G, Marley Marl, Nas, Mobb Deep, Blaq Poet, etc. comes to mind. Queensbridge is not only famous for hip hop but has also produced mainstream success stories such as Doctor Bob Lee, Vern Fleming, Lamar Odom & Ron Artest. However, there is one individual who not only grew up with the names that I have mentioned but was involved in the glory years of hip-hop from living through the Bridge wars and playing at the park jams in River park. His name is James "Jae Supreme" Loving from the 40th side of 12th Street. I had an opportunity to catch up with Jae Supreme as we discuss his early years coming up in hip hop, his time with Cold Chillin Records, working with DJ Hot Day, and his new label Boom Bap Digital.
Sincere: What inspired you to get involved with hip-hop at an early age?
Jae Supreme: Watching my father spin records on his two turntables set up back in 1975 and hearing my first mixtape in like '80/'81 Cold Crush Brothers.
Sincere: What are your weapons of choice when you are working on a track?
Jae Supreme: It used to be the MPC, but I changed religions a couple years ago to the MASCHINE..lol
Sincere: Marley Marl is an inspiration to a lot of producers in hip-hop. When you was growing up was it Marley that showed you how to mix down a track?
Jae Supreme: Nah Marley didn't show me how to mix tracks, but he did drop a jewel on me when I was around 14. My engineer mentor MIT (Thomas On Time Stevens) was one of Marley's best friends. He took me to Marley's crib one day when Marley still lived in the Bridge. I went to a lot of jams Marley did in the park, so I was hype to meet him in person. Marley was working on a song at the time. If I remember correctly, it sounded like Marley scratch. I was asking mad questions.....lol I asked what he was doing and he said he was recording tracks for a new song. I asked why he wasn't doing that in a studio. He said he didn't need a studio because he had one right here. That's when he told me, "never let nobody tell you what you need for a studio - the engineer is the one that makes records sound good." I kept that jewel with me until this day and that shit helped me a lot.
Sincere: There is a video of you djing for Roxanne Shante at the RapMania show in the Apollo Theatre. Did you feel that this was the beginning of better things to come and did you contribute to Shante's "Bad Sister" album?
Jae Supreme: Rapmania was around the time I got my deal with Cold Chillin' around 89/90. I've been Shante's tour DJ for at least a year now. I was working on my album and still djing for her then. I also contributed a song to her album titled "Feelin Kinda Horny." Initially, that was a song on my demo tape that I gave to Tyrone Williams. He liked the song but he wanted Shante to rhyme on it instead, so I sold it to them and got my production credits.
Sincere: Thomas On Time and yourself were known as the group 2Deep and were signed to Cold Chillin/Warner Bros. These labels were ripping off a lot of artists during that era, as they didn't understand the business. What have you learned from your experience signing with Cold Chillin' and are you in still in contact with Thomas On Time?
Jae Supreme: My Cold Chillin' deal was the best and worst thing in my career. I was grateful for the opportunity Ty and Lenny gave me, but I wish I would have known more about the business at that time. I made a lot of stupid mistakes in respects to that deal. I am glad that everything transpired the way it did though, cause that experience, made me the savvy businessman I am today. Also, I am still in contact with Mit (Thomas on Time). I still give him mad props for teaching me how to engineer and getting me my first recording studio job: PRIME CUTS
Sincere: Artists usually have a funny studio story to tell. Do you have any crazy studio stories that you would like to share with us?
Jae Supreme: Me and Mit were working on the title track to the 2 Deep album. Back in those days some artists would have a complete instrumental track as an intro, so I got on the MPC to create one. I gotta say that was one of the dopest tracks I have ever created (Syl Drama as my witness). The kicks and snares was on point and the 808s was crazy, keys, samples = everything perfect. We was in the studio [Prime Cuts] playing that shit loud as fuck,,, hyped up dancing around and shit...then it happened. I kicked one of the power strips by mistake!! The MPC cut off and all that. I never got a chance to save the beat so it was gone. I tried to recreate it the same way after that but it was never the same. One of my homeboys, Kevin Perez wound up producing the intro for us.
Sincere: Can you tell the fans how did you hook up with Nas to produce the unreleased demo "I'm A Villain" in 1991?
Jae Supreme: I met Nas through my cousin Syl Drama. Nas was his homeboy. They were younger than me, so I didn't run with their crew. Being my blood cousin, Syl Drama was always at my studio recording songs. He would let Nas and his other people hear the joints and that's what prompted Nas to ask Syl if he could come to the studio with him. Syl told me he was ill, so I said bring him through. Nas loved a lot of the James Brown samples I would use, so I took one of the loops from a song I did for myself called "Swinga", and made a different beat with it for him. He went into the booth and spit that rhyme in one take. I was impressed and I gave him a copy of it. That was basically it and I really didn't think about that song too much until I heard him on Live At The BBQ. I was like oh shit, that's the kid Nas my cousin brought to the studio. He was working with Large Professor by that time and I guess that is where the confusion came in with everyone thinking Large Professor did the "I'm A Villain" track. I honestly didn't think the song would get that much love, until I saw it circulating around the internet. I'm glad I got to do a few joints with Nas before he really blew up.
Sincere: Mixtape DJs from Doggtime, Ike Love, Ron G, Grandmaster Vic, Clue, etc. was killing it during the 90s. However, you and DJ Hot Day made your mark with the constant releases. Your "Best Of" mixtapes really took off especially the Best of Queensbridge tapes. What have you learned working with a mixtape legend like Hot Day?
Jae Supreme: I learned about consistency with DJ Hot Day. Hots was a workaholic and that shit rubbed off on me. I used to be a lazy bastard...lol
Cormega and Nas freestyle from The Dream Team In The PJs mixtape (Courtesy of Tapemasta..classicmixtapes.blogspot.com)
Sincere: Did the both of you experience any issues leaking new music to the masses before the release date?
Jae Supreme: A few people was salty when me and Hots released the Best Of Biggie Pt 1 the day after he died. As soon as we heard the news we got to work. Now that I think about it, that was kind of foul to release it that quick, but we was thinking like businessmen, and had to get the jump on the other mixtape DJs. Mister Cee was really mad at us. He made Beat Street records in Brooklyn take our Biggie mixtapes off the shelves, but they put them back up about a week later because it was selling too well. That was one of our top selling mixtapes. Hots and I would say..."we went platinum on the streets"...lol
Sincere: I am pretty sure the Bad Boy camp wasn't thrilled either. I can honestly say the Dream Team wasn't afraid of ruffling a few feathers. Were the both of you ready for industry retaliations?
Jae Supreme: We didn't think there would be any. It really wasn't that serious. Mad DJs dropped Biggie dedications a day after us and the whole week after. We were just the first to do it.
Sincere: You have produced a few tracks for Cormega "Are You My Ni@@a", "Glory Days", "A Beautiful Mind", "Dead Man Walkin'" (co produced with Hot Day). Have the both of you ever thought about doing a whole project together?
Jae Supreme: We talked about it a few times, but Mega's schedule is so busy, not to mention he lives far away. We haven't got around to it yet. It's also because I will only record in my studio. Every song I have recorded since '98 (including R U My Nigga) has been in my studio THE GATE (for gatekeepers of course...lol) hopefully in 2015 you will hear a Cormega/Jae Supreme project.
Sincere: You are the CEO of Boom Bap Digital. Who is on the roster and when can we expect to hear some new material?
Jae Supreme: The ITUNES release roster as of now is Nas, Nature, myself, King Com (Marley Marl's nephew). I have a couple more songs with Nas on it that might be on my discography album and we're going to release an EP for King Com (pending title: reALEXty) sometime in 2014.
Sincere: Your new album "LIFEWORK" will be released in April 2014. Can you elaborate on who will be on this project?
Jae Supreme: That is my discography album of songs and demos that I have produced in the past and it will have a few new songs on it. The following artists will be on it. Nas, Cormega, Nature, MC Shan, Roxanne Shante, Capone N Noreaga, Screwball (KL R.I.P), Killa Sha (R.I.P) Infamous Mobb, Syl Drama, King Com, Crhyme Fam and a few others.
Sincere: You are working on your autobiography about your life in hip hop and growing up in Queensbridge. What is the name of your autobiography and has a release date been set?
Jae Supreme: I can't give the name yet until it's legally registered (too many biters out there....lol) I might release it with the album as a bonus or release it digitally on ebooks. I might not do physical copies.
Sincere: What are your thoughts about the current state of hip-hop?
Jae Supreme: If you would've asked me this six months ago, I might of given an angry answer, but in the past couple of months, I have seen signs of real hip hop coming back and it couldn't have happened at a better time. This could definitely be a boost for the label BOOM BAP DIGITAL.
Sincere: Who do you feel is a great artist from Queensbridge that the fans should check for?
Jae Supreme: I have two...Syl Drama and King Com
Sincere: Peace to Syl Drama and Saiku. You put out a white label with Chico Son, Syl and Saiku titled "Love Life" as they were known as The Sons Of Light. I have the white label in the crib. Any plans of hearing a new joint with all of them on a track?
Jae Supreme: I got a couple of joints we did a while ago "HOLD ME DOWN" and SLASH DOT COM that was on their cd "THIS AIN'T LIVIN'". Both are gonna be on my discography. Hopefully, I can get everybody together to do some new stuff soon.
Sincere: If you were a betting man, who would you bet on if these 2 heavyweights battled during their prime. Krs-One or Big Daddy Kane?
Jae Supreme: KANE
Sincere: Bill DeBlasio is the new mayor for the City of New York. However, he said he would end the stop and frisk program but hires William Bratton as the NYPD police chief which is an oxymoron. Do you see changes being made or will it be the same structure but under a new boss?
Jae Supreme: That all remains to be seen. I don't trust politicians LOL
Sincere: Before we wrap things up. I would like for you to participate in a word association game. If you can describe in one or two words the artists you have worked with. What would it be? Marley Marl?
Jae Supreme: Genius
Sincere: Nas?
Jae Supreme: Talented
Sincere: Cormega
Jae Supreme: Real
Sincere: Tragedy?
Jae Supreme: Innovator
Sincere: Roxanne Shante?
Jae Supreme: Good Friend
Sincere: Thanks for taking the time to have this interview with me. How can someone get in contact with you if they want to conduct business?
Jae Supreme: Boom Bap Digital is looking for talented rappers and producers to work with, but only that BOOM BAP shit...lol Hit us up at the website www.boombapdigital.com and cop the joints we got out, if you don't already have em. Peace.
Jae Supreme (Booty Beauty)
PURCHASE ON ITUNES
Nature (World Go Round)
PURCHASE ON ITUNES
Nas (Villain)
PURCHASE ON ITUNES
KING COM (GET IT STARTED)
PURCHASE ON ITUNES
ALL PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF BOOM BAP DIGITAL
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