Rapsody talks NEW ALBUM & reflects on Kendrick & Cole collaborations, Lauryn Hill & state of rap culture

0:00Yo, you know what's crazy, man? It's hip-hop fans will argue about anything. I'm talking best rapper live, best era, best album, but nobody gets started on best verse. Don't even get me started on best verse. That's a fact. And now Sprite got y 'all debating something new. It's called the Sprite Living Tracklist 50 Records That Really Shaped the Culture. That's crazy. We talking legends, we talking icons, and yeah, new artists carrying the torch right now. present day. But it ain't just songs, though. It's the stories behind them. The lyrics, the moments, what those records meant when they hit.

0:37Yo, go check out the full Sprite Living Tracklist and get into the stories behind your favorite bars. I like that. At livingtracklist.genius.com. This is the Sprite Living Tracklist. Obey your thirst.

1:00answer questions. Others use it to get real work done. With ChatGPT work, you bring the goal, plus real inputs like briefs, notes, files, feedback, data, and project plans. It can help turn them into an analysis, tracker, deck outline, prototype, or workflow you can review and keep shaping. You stay in control, giving direction and choosing the final output. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting work mode, available on Plus and Pro Plans. This is Daniel Cormier from The Daniel Cormier Show. This podcast is sponsored by Total Wireless, the official wireless partner of UFC.

1:36Power doesn't wait in the octagon or outside of it. You either make the move or you miss the moment. That's why you need a network that's just as powerful as you are. With Total Wireless, you get unlimited 5G data keeping you in the action from the walkouts to the knockouts. Now that's a Total Power move. Make your Total Power move today. Visit TotalWireless.com or stop by your neighborhood Total Wireless store. Additional terms apply. See TotalWireless.com for details. Amazon Health AI presents Painful Thoughts. Why did I search the internet for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores in various stages of ooze.

2:21I can clear my search history but I can never unsee that Don't go down the rabbit hole Amazon Health AI gets you the right care fast Healthcare just got less painful It's just so sad that it's so hard to find music to stimulate you, man and just make you feel like I feel like going to the studio tonight That record made me feel like spitting some shit Like, it's just so hard to find that shit. 2026. Sorry, we're going to re-EQ this whole thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw you shooting niggas while you was listening to it. Oh, no, no. Just that.

3:13Yo, what up, y 'all? This is Joe Crap, the dog. You know who it is, your boy Jada, Joe and Jada. Every show legendary. Every show iconic. Today is very much both of them words with a lot of culture, a lot of love, a lot of grace in today's episode. With that being said, when you think of today's guest, you think, bars. A plethora of, for not just bars, for the moment. You think substance, black womanhood, culture, storytelling, and somebody who's consistently put pen to paper at the highest level. She is a Grammy Award winning MC. One of the premier lyricists in this game. and an artist whose catalog has always had intention.

4:17From the idea of beautiful, Layla's wisdom, to Eve and Please Don't Cry, she is given a skill, honesty, concepts, and records that stay with them. They stick. Now she is stepping into her next chapter with her fifth studio out. The title was Crazy. Y 'all ready? God got an Afro and gold hoops. North Carolina is in the building. Please welcome the one and only Rats in it.

4:55Yo, Rats in it, so you think God is a woman, is a female? I think God can be anything. And that's the message. When I look in the mirror, I got it like this, but I saw a fro and I wear gold hoops. I had to see God in myself. you know I work better with the ladies I'm going to be honest with you guys you know we might get we might if this is a female waiting out there I got this man you know all the ladies love me man but uh yo Rhapsody man you've been holding the torch you've been holding it down for the female lyricists in hip hop we've always seen you command a certain type of respect and integrity and so uh we appreciate that about you Now, what's that like when you could, could you came in swimming in the middle of an ocean that was looking like, if it ain't this, you ain't eating.

5:51So what's that like? What's that courage like to say, fuck that, I'm staying true? I saw y 'all do it that's that's what the culture was always for me like everybody I looked up to everybody that opened the door paved the way pillars in the culture they always showed up as themselves so when I came in it was like I gotta respect the culture respect self you know do it for the for y 'all like y 'all are kings in this I couldn't ever imagine y 'all coming out and just biting and just being a cookie cutter than anybody else. So I'd already seen it done before, you know, and I knew the ones that were still doing it and did it for a long time, did it that way.

6:34People come in, of course, the culture is a space for everybody, do your thing, but everybody don't last in it because if the foundation is a little shaky and weak, then, you know, so I wanted to stand on that. It was a long game for me. You know, I knew if I showed up as myself then and put my head down and just bull through it, you know, it'll be there. That's right. I just seen some earlier, a clip on a gram of you saying, I was, it's like a little crazy and weird for you trying to promote your new album. It's all of these platforms you really don't like most of them. Right. You still got to do your content.

7:13You still got to do all this other stuff. I really felt that because it does get mind boggling for artists. You're trying to do all of these things and the world is in a weird space. And how do you get all this stuff across? We just want to do the art, do the voice for ourselves. I'm like, man, it's all about entertainment. But sometimes you just want to be real. I don't want to entertain you. I just want to get up and talk to you. And I'm learning that the same way the culture is, that's how you got to approach it. And I think that's what cuts through. Yeah. I think when you say true to self, that's what cuts through.

7:50like Fat Joe. I don't give a fuck, man. I'm the same guy you see on this camera show that I am behind the scene in a cafeteria or fucking Chippy. I don't give a fuck, man. I'm going to be me. You either like me or you don't like me. And I agree. It's pretty horrible out there what's going on with me. It's even worse. You're a female trying to uphold a female. I'm a man that remember men. Like, I don't know these men now on Instagram and all that shit. These ain't men. And so I'm looking at this shit, and I'm like, yo, and I see all these things these people do. I don't know. We've been famous a long time, so you a lot longer than me.

8:35Yeah, all right. But I mean, yeah. He said, hold on. The flyest old motherfucker you ever seen in your life, man. Don't do that to yourself like that. But let me explain something to you is every time I can't answer the question. Every time I'm like, yo, why is this guy doing this? Somebody will come to say the clown. The clown, yeah. I'm like, clown? The clown got him in a chokehold right now. But the clown? Like, I'm looking I'm like, what clown can you possibly get for clowning yourself, your family name, your existence? Like, what could you be actually getting for like a one minute of fame or something.

9:19Like, I don't understand. What are you getting from being a meatball? Exactly. Besides a pot of spaghetti. And you understand because I happen to be brothers with a young lady that spits. When I met Ram, Pam brought her to me. She rapped for like 20 minutes straight. Yep, I've heard this story. She won't stop. She just kept, kept, kept, kept. When we in the studio, say we got a new song to give on the album. Remy made the album. And I almost told her like, yo, you rapping like an MC. Like, just tell a story, Remy. Like, you going, she going, I'm the nicest. I'm the, like, she going like MC. I'm like, yo, let's, you know.

10:08But the point is, so I've had one of those for 20 years. and I remember even Rem, who's a beautiful young lady, whatever have you, she was nervous about the fucking atmosphere. Everybody was shaking their ass, twerking, pussy music. Let's just call it what it was. It felt like 99.9 % of the female rappers was doing that. And you kept it real with yourself. And that's why we love what you did. And so how hard was that? Like, he sweat. Y 'all sweat. I love you, brother. I'm sorry, I'm sweating. I'm shooting the TV. I'm shooting the episode, man. I'll call you back later. I love you, sweat. We love you, sweat.

10:56We love you, sweat. We love you, sweat. We love that suit. Jaded Kiss. Everybody said they love you. You heard me? I step on stage. Girl, scream like I'm Keith. God damn it. Nobody. Tell them again. Who can do it better than me, Keith? No, thanks.

11:17I'll call you later. I'll call you later. Yeah, that boy. Oh, no, he crazy. He knows. You know, I love that video you did a while back where they had the Habaya on in there. And were you shot in Harlem or something? Oh, you talking about Eve the Hodge with GZA and D 'Angelo on the hook? Yeah, we was in Harlem. Oh, fire. I love that joint right there and so what has been what is your best thing because we always talk about negativity what is your best thing about your career music and what do you think is the greatest thing that it's brought you being an artist a place to express myself to say the things that I think need to be said that people want to feel, that I want to share to be an example of how to show up as yourself, that there's space for that, that you don't have to be a cookie cutter version of everyone else.

12:24The family and the relationships I've built, like all of those things are positive for me. Like every bit of the struggle, the challenges is all worth it, you know, for those reasons. The fans that you meet and like, yo, your record changed my life. Your record saved my marriage. Like that part, that's the currency, you know, that's that's the gold and silver. Fine. Yeah. You know what I've learned? The things that really matter. You can't rush them. Facts. You can't rush the sauce. You can't rush the music. You can't rush relationships. And you definitely can't rush great tequila. That's why 1800 tequila stands out.

13:02The name goes all the way back to the 1800s when the Beckman family started making tequila. And that patience, that attention to the craft has been passed down through more than 11 generations. That's legacy. Sometimes you just got to let something cook. Juan Beckman Vidal aged 1800 and Neo longer than he even had to because he knew it wasn't ready yet. I respect that. Don't put it out just because you can put it out. Put it out when it's right. That applies to a record, a conversation, a mood. You're making, and clearly, a bottle of tequila. Once you get it right, you share it with your people.

13:41That's always been part of the story. Good tequila, good conversation, and the people around you really appreciate both. Passion, hard work, honesty. Those words are written on every bottle of 1 ,800. And honestly, that's the foundation for anything built to last. So take your time with what you're creating, and when the moment is right, share it with your people. 1 ,800 tequila. Good stuff takes time. And the best stuff's meant to be shared with your people. Who's some of your influences coming from NC? Who helps you shape your sound? And we know Knife. Shout out to Knife. Yo, Knife, boy. My brother.

14:21Yo, that's a legend. You talk about Icon. Knife Wonder, man. He's phenomenal, bro. He's phenomenal. He's my brother. Who's some of you here? A lot of New York, man. MC Light made me want to rap. Queen Latifah, of course. Lauryn Hill's the biggest inspiration. Jay-Z. The Lox. Everybody from New York. Missy. The Soul Aquarians. D 'Angelo. Michael Jackson is up in there. You know. Yeah, like Outkast. Those be the ones. The greats, man. Tupac. For all the real ones out there We keeping it 1800 What is a studio session Like what is your essentials What do you need to have like a Perfect studio session Yo um I need watermelon I gotta steal that With the black seeds please Gotta be shout out to black seed brothers You gotta have black seeds in your watermelon Are you not There's white seeds in watermelon Yeah.

15:34They got watermelon. Like, lab diamonds, they got lab watermelon. Facts. Facts. That was a black season. Somebody tell me. If it ain't got black seeds, it's not a black seed. No, I go to the black seeds in Harlem and Boston. That was the meaning? Yeah. I swear to God. I was today's years old. They got fake watermelon. You ain't from the country, you don't know. It's going to be fake. Yeah, it's going to have like a tan color seed. Oh my God, I never knew there was fake watermelon. That shit is great. No wonder I go to Harlem and get my watermelon, man. They got everything in the supermarket. You gotta read.

16:14It's made. It's lab dining. Surprise style. Spie ain't teach me this. He don't eat plants. He don't gotta get certain stuff in it. He's a plant, bitch. They got everything. So we got watermelon on the menu. What else? Hold on. the fish eat because this is serious. Put the knowledge on. There's no seeds in the fruits in the supermarket. Got no seeds. When you grew up, every grape, orange, everything you ate, got a seed. Joey, don't swallow the seed. There's no seeds in none of the fruits. They're all fake. They don't want us to grow out from the lab fruit. You over here thinking you're doing the right thing eating these fucking fruits.

16:55You got to save the seeds when you get the seeds. Y 'all like to think I'm smart. I like to think I'm intelligent. You are. I feel really dumb right now that I didn't know they got fake fruit. It's just a win. I swear to God. I swear. I never knew that. Two-time felon. I love him to death. All of them's fruits is fake. It's not his fault. It's only what they got at the store. He can't make the fruit. He just making the store run. Two-time felon. One of them fruits is real. That lamb Pete store. Yo. Hold on. Hold on. Go ahead. Thank you for that. I can't. I spark. It's a bunch of fruits. It's watermelon.

17:32It's cherries. It's dried mangoes. I need some water. And I need incense and candles. That's it. That's all I need. What fragrance? I like a vanilla, lavender, something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm spilling a little bit. I don't want my candle to smell like food. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Just clean, clean, clean. You know, I need weed in the studio. Word, okay. You don't smoke. You just like the aesthetic of it. I just need that shit there. You know what I'm saying? What does that do for you, Chuck? You know what I'm saying? I smoke some shit. They're like, no. It made me feel tough for something.

18:10Shit. I'm up in there. I'm like, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the smoke. I always said I'm going to jail for weed, but I don't smoke. Every night I leave the studio, I smell like a giant blunt in the car. You cannot convince the police I ain't smoke 100 blunts every night I'm in the studio. You wearing it all. I'd rather smell like a hundred blunts than a hundred Newports. All day. All day. Then you lose me on the thing. Which one you rather smell like? Weed. You know what I need in the studio? What you need? A broom. You need a beer? A broom. A broom? Yeah, I got to sweep. I sweep. You sweep? Before I did your aroma verse, I swept.

18:56I got to sweep. Before you shut this shit down like that. No, that's with everything I get. I got, when I come in, it's like, I got a tradition. I got some type of something. I don't know what it is, though. Even if you don't see nothing? Everything got to be in the right. Yeah, it could be. It's the practice of it. I got a cleaning lady, so I don't got no trash. I know. But I still, I get a little bit of residue for maybe some backwoods. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got a sweep. Word. Dust pan it up. Put it in the trash. put the thing back. Then I got to sit in this chair. I got my D-block chair and I load up the beat and I got to...

19:36Then I get in my zone. I need some stuff. You know, all the stories... Yeah. All the stories... That's... I never... I got a sweep. I don't know. All the stories you hear now like on the show and all that and they say Joe got stories. That's how I start every studio session for 30 years. You absolutely... I've not done anything with you and you didn't start with a story. I'm talking shit for two hours, getting emotion. I start telling them stories, then I'm like, all right, yo, throw the beat up. And it gets, you know, because you're in it, yeah. I've been rich a long time. Yeah, but what I'm trying to tell you is that I gotta get back in there.

20:13You know what I'm saying? So when I start touring them stories and, yo, the time at the McDonald's when I had the this, this, this, this, I remember myself. And then I throw the beat on and then I go because at this point right now, rap music is strictly for entertainment for me. It's not about making money. It's not about nothing. It's about why you laughing? No, because I like that. I'm happy today I'm able to say it's not about making money. For me, if I drop an album, if I drop, I am dropping an album, but when I drop an album, it's for the fans to hear where I'm at mentally right now. My shit is straight Martin Scorsese.

20:57I give out food every month. I'm a family man on this. Absolutely. Don't come to this album if you don't want violence. If you think you're going to catch the guy sitting in the front row of the Knicks and Timmy Chalamet, that shit out the window, Mr. Tolan. Don't listen to this album. It's just scary. Put him in the van. I turn into a murderer the minute I hear the beat. But what if they want to hear what life is like for you so they know what they can aspire like? It's not boring. It's boring. For me. He's got his own stereotype of himself. I think we all do. I think we all do. I think we all got like a lane that we're comfortable in or we think we cover that lane and anything else is foreign.

21:47You know what I'm saying? So if you ask Fat Joe from digging in the crates, was he ever going to make a record like What's Love or something like that? Absolutely not. The first thing I ever did was on Diamond D's album. I'm like, I will not commercialize. Death to the commercial. Dude, we in an underground show. Everybody felt like that at once. You never thought about evolving? Yeah. Like, life is... You can still be a killer. In a different way. Let me tell you something. Kill. I am Martin Scorsese. I am Brian De Palma. I would have made Scarface. That's it. You come to me for violence. You know what I'm saying?

22:25You see Rhapsody, she's going to give you that education. I am Don Puso. Huh? Don Puso. You see? You are Don Puso. Mario Puso. And you know, I think we all understand, right? So say somebody, just saying it, you don't have to answer this, but somebody like Young Miami who came here and she debuted a song that was the number one song of the summer. Want my plaque? the kid and the plaque but it's the number one song in the country and I've seen some people talking about oh I don't know if she should rap about that this this that my approach is let everybody entertain and be art if I want to hear the positive sister this this that I'm throwing on a rhapsody and believe me I do when I want that I tune in when I want in the IRE I tune in when I want Erykah Badu I tune in every day is different you know I like Rick Ross new album like so every time I just I turn some shit on and I think that hip hop has always been so colorful because everybody brings their own thing to the table absolutely and I and that's how I feel about I want everybody to be down I don't got I put a hug against anybody she just choose to choose to choose what she choose but when we just talking about if we just all had to wear the same clothes and do the same thing it's just beats she coming out we eating she elite it's exactly that it's art like I don't judge anybody if your truth is your truth if that's the experience you live if you walk out your door and the homies are doing that they scamming and record that you know what I'm saying?

24:16Like that's your that's your lived experience. I think the issue is we've tried to make the artist the villain and the artist is not the villain. You know, it's the system that is the villain. Talk to these people with you. So it's like what is being pushed to the front front and in our face is no harmony. We want harmony as artists. We want that to exist. We want everybody in the spectrum of the art to exist. But it's not we point fingers at the artist but it's not the artist. They need you and what they want. Exactly. Exactly. They want to hear you more, they EQ and that. Everything's there for you.

24:48We can EQ it all equally, but they know what they're doing. We point our fingers at the artist, but I don't think it's the artist. I think it's way bigger than that conversation. And then there are things, you know, where like you want people to evolve, but hey, your truth in your story, you want to make movies? You want to kill everybody on set and hey, make your art. You know what I'm saying? Steven Spielberg does. I don't like the comparison how they give her flack for that. But somebody can make a same, a spin that shit movie and you give kind of awards, you know, red carpets, you this and that.

25:28But then they're saying this song is making the kids. What about the movies? What about the commercials? What about the TV show? You look at this life, right? A lot of people be hypocrites. And just not just the subject again. They're like that. People, they just be hypocrites. And it's like, they be pointing their fingers at people when they got shit in their own closet. So, you know, I always say, don't throw stones while living in glass houses because that shit come back, return to sender. So, you know, it is what it is. And I've seen the people I see this in like a Young Miami song, I'm like, I don't know.

26:08I look at it differently. Most of the time, I just be like, yo, this is crazy, right? Because we've been spitting the worst shit ever heard in history. Well, you want to pick on this young lady for saying that? Like, I mean, everybody is talking whatever they want to talk in this game. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, why are you going to single somebody out? You know, when the whole game is fucked up, if we're going to look at it like that. But what they got to understand and what I constantly keep trying to tell everybody is that This is entertainment. This is art. You know, it's different.

26:45You know, when I go home, I'm a big movie guy. I go in my theater and I'm watching funny movies. I'm watching fucking love movies. I'm watching gangster shit, war shit. Everybody got something for them.

27:04Yo, you know what's crazy, man? It's hip hop fans will argue about anything. I'm talking best rapper live, best era, best album, but nobody gets started on best verse. Don't even get me started on best verse. That's a fact. And now Sprite got y 'all debating something new. It's called the Sprite Living Tracklist 50 Records That Really Shaped the Culture. That's crazy. We talking legends. We talking icons. And yeah, new artists carrying the torch right now, present day. But it ain't just songs, though. It's the stories behind them. The lyrics, the moments, what those records meant when they hit.

27:42Yo, go check out the full Sprite Living Track list and get into the stories behind your favorite bars. I like that. At livingtracklist.genius.com. This is the Sprite Living Track list. Obey your thirst. Yo, I was scrolling through the Sprite Living Track list the other day and immediately started arguing with myself. Arguing with yourself? I'm serious. It was wild because records like California Love, Still Not a Player, back then, those aren't just songs. Nah, those are moments, memories, snapshots of where hip-hop was and where it's going. Exactly, and that's what Sprite gets. They've spent over 40 years celebrating artists who really defined the culture.

28:27And now they flipping it, letting the fans be part of the conversation. Which is where it gets interesting, because the real debate is why. Like, why did that song matter? Why did that line hit? Why did it change hip-hop forever? I can't promise you we got the answers. But you're definitely gonna have a good time figuring it out. Go check out Full Sprite Living Tracklist. And break down the stories behind your favorite bars. At livingtracklist.genius.com. This is the Sprite Living Tracklist. Obey your thirst.