Hip-Hop had to fight to get here. There was a point in time when there was so much of a divide that radio stations would say “We’re having a ‘No Rap Workday.’” They wanted to put us in just the “rap show” like “Friday Night Future Flavors” and “The Street Beat With Lady B.” Then you’d get the stations like KDAY in Los Angeles that just started playing Hip-Hop all day long, and it became the biggest station in L.A. And that’s what forced people to recognize they couldn’t really deny it.

And it wasn’t just going on in radio. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince would do these KMEL Summer Jams and we’d be the only rap group. We’re doing this shit with The Pointer Sisters and Kool & The Gang. And, no disrespect to them, but we would blow them off the stage. They’ve got full bands and they’re trying to sing “Celebration.” Will and I are going out there doing “Nightmare On My Street” and “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and telling everybody to “throw ya hands in the air!” You couldn’t match that energy. But we felt like we had to go extra hard because they were pushing extra hard in the opposite direction. A lot of those R&B acts would look at us and turn their nose up. “What the fuck are you doing on this show?” A lot of people still believed Hip-Hop wasn’t going to last, even by that point.