00:00I might be biased, Wall-O, but nobody does it better than the South.
00:05That's all I got to say.
00:06We got a New York legend in the building as well.
00:09We're talking about 50 years of hip-hop.
00:12You cannot talk about the greatest entertainer ever who killed the stage last night, too.
00:17Dougie Fresh in the building, my friend.
00:19The legend.
00:19You already know.
00:20It is so good to see you.
00:21The legend.
00:21The legend.
00:22Appreciate y'all.
00:22Appreciate y'all.
00:24Y'all are doing it, doing it, looking good up here, you know?
00:28Just got to make sure I feed y'all.
00:30I got to feed y'all a little something.
00:31Yeah, we got to get it done.
00:33We got to get it done.
00:34We're famished.
00:34We're famished right now.
00:35But first of all, let's talk about your performance last night.
00:39Yes.
00:39How did it feel, the Essence crowd?
00:41This isn't your first rodeo here at Essence, but it's such a special time.
00:45Yes.
00:45What makes Essence different from any other performance that you do?
00:48Well, I always say Essence is the essence of black excellence from the perspective that
00:56it shines, we shine the light on ourselves, and we show the best of ourselves, and when
01:03we come, we want to look the best of ourselves.
01:06We want to think the best of ourselves.
01:08We want to present the best of ourselves, so you can't come to the Essence Festival and
01:14not bring the best.
01:16And it makes you think different.
01:18It's not like a normal concert.
01:21You know where you're at, and you're in the N-O.
01:25That's right.
01:26New Orleans.
01:27It's major here, man.
01:28Oh, my God.
01:29This is my city, man.
01:30Yes.
01:30It's poppin'.
01:31Look, me and the N-O is like this, but then you got everybody from all over.
01:35So, for me, I felt that I wanted to bring something that would represent hip-hop in its purest form
01:44and the evolution of it for the 50 years to explain it without talking about it, just
01:50showing you.
01:52What do you think about all of the love and the shine that hip-hop is getting right now?
01:56Because, of course, we are celebrating 50 years of hip-hop.
02:00I mean, it's a beautiful thing for me to see, like, the legends are working.
02:03Everybody is booked and busy this year right now.
02:06Yes, yes.
02:06I love it because I'm able to bring a lot of work to the legends.
02:12For example, nobody didn't expect the Sugar Hill Gang because I brought them personally.
02:18Nobody expected to see Melly Mel and Scorpio from the Grandmaster Flash and the Virgin because
02:24I brought them personally.
02:26I brought Bone Crusher personally.
02:29Amazing.
02:30Little Vicious personally.
02:31So, yeah, I feel like it's beautiful that everybody's getting to work, especially after
02:37what we've been through several years ago, and we're trying to erase that and replace it
02:43with this kind of energy, the unity, the excitement, and economically, brothers and sisters are making
02:50money.
02:50I mean, New Orleans is making more money this weekend than probably they would make in six
02:57months.
02:58Yes.
02:58You know what I mean?
02:59One of those, like an Uber driver or anybody, you know, the money you can make, the economical
03:04power that we're bringing to the city and all of the vendors.
03:09See, so I don't look at it as just from the perspective of the artist performing.
03:13I'm looking at it as how many jobs we've given.
03:17See, and that's the piece about hip-hop that I think people don't understand.
03:21Hip-hop has created billions of dollars in jobs for us to just act like us.
03:28Yes.
03:29Think about what I'm saying.
03:31You don't have to be different.
03:33All you have to do is be you.
03:37From the bottom of my heart, Doug, I want to thank you with everything in me.
03:42I appreciate that.
03:43Because you, not only did you help create something that so many of our families was able to eat
03:47off, but you got to understand, you played the major part into the soundtrack of the struggle
03:51that was taking place in America in the 80s and all that would come through where you might
03:55ain't had no food in your house, but you could play that music.
03:58That's right.
03:59And you could escape the reality of the struggle that we was going through.
04:02Right.
04:02So, and I also want to thank you for never letting go.
04:06Because you never let go, you kept yourself, you're looking healthy, you look like you're 20.
04:10The energy.
04:11I feel like it.
04:12Every time you got on the stage and you came with all the energy, you came with the great performance,
04:16you came with the great execution, you connected with the people, you always reminded them
04:21that it's not just me, it's a crew of people that came when I came, they need a shot too,
04:25they need to be on stage, they need to be, you know, getting booked.
04:28And because of you, you kept this thing alive, man, and I respect you, man.
04:31No, I appreciate it.
04:32I appreciate it.
04:32And I truly appreciate it, and I thank you so much.
04:36And, you know, the reason why, it's like at the end of the show, I brought all of the
04:41artists to the front of the stage, and I wanted everybody to see that it's a collective
04:46effort.
04:47Like, all of y'all, this is how we win.
04:50You know, if everybody does a little, nobody got to do a lot.
04:54That's what it's about, man.
04:56Tonight, you had your show last night.
04:58Tonight, we're talking about the iconic Missy Elliott.
05:02I mean, everybody always talks about the top five.
05:04We got to ask him his top five, too, because it's only fair.
05:06Oh, that's going to be hard.
05:07It's only fair, because he going to make some people mad.
05:10But Missy Elliott, and what does the birthday girl mean to this culture and to hip-hop?
05:16You know, what's interesting about the birthday girl, when she first came out with her first
05:21single, and she was on a remix, and she said, hee-ha, hee-ha.
05:27She had this little part of a rhyme that she was doing.
05:31And then, so, she came to the Apollo to perform.
05:34I was hosting the Apollo, so I brought her out, and we met.
05:38That's the first time we met.
05:40And I told her, I said, you're talented.
05:42I said, I love your stuff.
05:44And, you know, she was heavier, and she was just getting on, and she was doing her thing.
05:49And I see Missy as one of our beautiful sisters, man.
05:54One of our beautiful, powerful, creative sisters that have evolved throughout this time.
05:59And she deserves these flowers because of her writing, her producing, as well as the energy
06:07that she puts into this show.
06:09When I came in, I was rehearsing.
06:11I heard her rehearsing.
06:13So, let me tell you, what you're going to see tonight is part two of what you seen last
06:19night.
06:19So, Missy is one of my favorites.
06:22I can't wait.
06:23I got to.
06:23And I'm not lying.
06:25I don't lie about hip-hop, especially about hip-hop.
06:27That's a blessing.
06:29How do it feel to see so many sisters?
06:32They're not playing.
06:33They're making it happen.
06:34Not at all.
06:34They're not playing no games.
06:36You better stay out of their way, or you won't get ran over.
06:38How does it feel to see so many sisters making it happen?
06:41Brother, it's so beautiful.
06:42Before you go into that, for so long, it only could be one.
06:45It only could be two.
06:46Now it's five, ten, fifteen.
06:48There's so many of them, and they're crushing the game, man.
06:50How did that feel to see that?
06:51I personally know that they have always crushed the game, whether directly or indirectly.
06:57Our mothers crushed the game.
06:59Yes.
07:00Speak on it.
07:00Let's keep on it.
07:01Let's keep it a hundred.
07:02Yes.
07:02Our mothers cold crushed the game.
07:05And then when you look at it, I go back to the first MC female, which is Shy Rock.
07:11And then you got Pevely Poop.
07:13And you got a series of MCs that came a long way.
07:17Lisa Lee.
07:18All of these people.
07:19And now when you see what it's become and how powerful the women has become, see, they
07:24carved out their own way.
07:26At one time, the women used to try to rhyme like the men.
07:29And then they removed that whole style, found their identity, and just did what they do.
07:35And Missy is at the pinnacle of what women have done.
07:40She didn't have to sell her soul to be creative and to make hit records and see everybody came
07:47out to see her.
07:47Exactly.
07:48All right.
07:49Before we let you go, your top five MCs.
07:52I got to hear it from you, Dougie.
07:53Oh, please.
07:54That's not a question you can actually answer.
07:56That's a loaded question.
07:57It's impossible.
07:58Like, let me say it this way.
08:00I've been here.
08:01I've been doing this since 81.
08:03Like, I was on Harlem Rale stage in 1981.
08:07Right?
08:07As a kid, 13.
08:09So now, I know rappers from then till now.
08:14So top fives come in generations.
08:17So if you count from 81 to 2023, somebody who's in this age era is going to pick who they think
08:25is the greatest.
08:26You know what I mean?
08:27But so the origin of styles on where most of these styles came from, if I got to pick
08:33the top five, I got to go back to the original.
08:36Like, I can't give y'all credit without giving your mother and father credit.
08:40Or your grandmother and your grandfather credit.
08:43How can I say you're great and I don't give your mother credit or your father credit?
08:49That's disrespectful.
08:51See what I'm saying?
08:51So if I go from the origin and the root, you have Shy Rock, who is the first MC.
08:57Okay.
08:57You have Grandmaster Kaz, who multiple styles came from.
09:02You have Grandmaster Melly Mel, who multiple styles came from, even the style you see too.
09:07You got Kumo D, and you got this one last guy named DJ Hollywood.
09:13These five people embody the style of hip hop that you see that's happening now.
09:20Quick little thing to tie it up.
09:23It's equivalent to saying we're here in America, right?
09:27But our roots go back to, let's say, Africa.
09:32And let's say someone came from Ghana.
09:34Some of us came from Nigeria.
09:36Some of us came from Senegal.
09:38All of these different people.
09:40So the bloodline that we carry is royal.
09:44We just don't know it.
09:46You see what I'm saying?
09:46Some of us just don't know it.
09:47So in hip hop, there's bloodlines in hip hop that these styles come from.
09:52They don't know that the style come from it.
09:55Like me, I'm the beginning of the beatbox.
09:58I'm the fifth element in hip hop.
10:01I'm the beginning.
10:01So some people may do it, but they don't know it was me that did it.
10:06But if you do the Dougie, you don't know I did it.
10:09And now that's why when little kids come with me, they be like, that's you?
10:13I'll be like, yeah.
10:14I say, your mama used to Dougie with me, too.
10:16Your mama used to Dougie with me, too.
10:19So, you know what I'm saying?
10:20My point is, I always say this.
10:23I got love for the artists that are here today.
10:25But I respect the pioneers that paved the way.
10:29I respect you for being here.
10:31We love you.
10:32We love you, too.
10:32Waldo gave you a hug.
10:33You know, you're my girl.
10:34You know how hard we go.
10:34Me and you go so far back.
10:37It's just like, ugh.
10:38I could listen to you talk all day long.
10:41But we only got so much show.
10:43So me and you are going to get up later on.
10:44You already know.
10:45You already know.
10:45We're going to talk later.
10:46And New York missed you, by the way.
10:48Oh, I miss New York City, too.
10:49I'll be back.
10:50I'll be back.
10:51All right.
10:51Don't go anywhere because the beautiful Jill Scott is going to take us, you know, maybe
10:56on a walk through a park.
10:57You never know.
10:58Okay?
10:58That's my girl.
10:59She's going to be hitting the stage right after this break.
11:02Let's get it.
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