DJ Clark Kent Tells All: The Stories Behind His Classic Records (Part 1)

DJ Clark Kent talks about producing joints for Biggie, Jay-Z, Lil' Kim, and many more.

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Image via Complex Original
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DJ Clark Kent has been in this game for years. He started off in the '80s as the DJ for legendary Brooklyn rapper Dana Dane, while also rocking sets on NYC radio and in the most popular nightclubs around the five boroughs. He continued to build a name for himself in the music industry by remixing hit R&B and rap records (in addition to working as an A&R for Atlantic Records), becoming one of hip hop’s early taste-makers and most trusted ears.

After befriending both Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. (yes, he’s the guy who introduced them to each other), he went on to produce some of their biggest records, including three tracks on Jay-Z’s magnum opus Reasonable Doubt, Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s break-out smash “Players Anthem”—featuring a never-before-heard Lil’ Kim—and The Notorious B.I.G.’s acclaimed Life After Death single “Sky’s The Limit.”

Many readers may have heard of DJ Clark Kent through his various sneaker features with Complex (he’s a renowned sneaker-head), but with so many classic records in his production discography, he was long overdue for a visit to our office to break down the stories behind them.

DJ Clark Kent (don’t forget the DJ in his credits or he gets pissed) came through the ‘Plex pad, and over lunch he brought us back to the first time he heard a teenage Jay-Z spit, the night “Players Anthem” was recorded and then spun hours later, and how Jay-Z forced rappers from Biggie to Big Daddy Kane to step up their style.

And that ain’t the half of it. In fact, this is only part one of a two part series. DJ Clark Kent is still busy making hit records for megastars like Rick Ross (he produced ‘Super High’ but thinks it’s too new to talk about), and has more heat on the way in 2012, but we had to talk about the classics first. So grab ya dicks, and rub ya titties, because if you love hip-hop, this one's a must-read.

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As told to Daniel Isenberg (@stanipcus)

Audio Two "Top Billin' (Clark Kent SuperMix)" (1988)

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Audio Two "Top Billin' (Clark Kent SuperMix)" (1988)

Album: “Top Billin’” (Single)

Label: Atlantic

DJ Clark Kent: “I was working in Atlantic Records in the A&R department. The record came out and it was doing what it was doing, and they were about to drop their next single, and [Atlantic] was like, ‘Let’s do a remix.’

"Considering that I was freshly [known] as ‘the remix guy’ around town [after producing a successful remix for R&B group Troop’s ‘Spread Your Wings’], they gave me the ability to do it.


 

In the United States [the original version] was on its way down, but after the remix it picked back up around the world. If you went to Japan or Europe, the remix was played more than the original.


 

“I did it. It came out the way it came out, and funny enough, in the United States [the original version] had probably been on its way down, but after the remix it picked back up around the world. The remix kind of went crazy. If you went to Japan or Europe, the remix was played more than the original.

“The reason why is because here, we know the original, so we play the original, because the original was the one. But then when you go overseas and you play the original, they’re looking at you like, ‘Yo, where’s the remix? That’s not the one we know. Play the one we know.’ It worked. They did a remix video also, which is kind of ill.

“They were friends too. I knew them for years. MC Lyte is their sister, and I did her demo in my house. And then she got signed to Atlantic Records where I was working.”

Chubb Rock "The Chubbster (Remix)" (1991)

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Chubb Rock "The Chubbster (Remix)" (1991)

Album: The One

Label: Select

DJ Clark Kent: “Trackmasters did the [original version], but the remix is the one that worked. It was the one that went to video, and that hit the clubs real heavy. I did two versions of it, a hip-hop version and a house version.

"It’s funny because the house version was extremely big, especially in house clubs. But then again, back then, you could go to a club and hear all kinds of music. So when you got to a house version, it wasn’t confusing to kids, because they heard house music in the party anyway.


 

What they’re doing now is not really remixing. If they’re not changing the music, that’s just re-vocaling and throwing [guest verses on the song].


 

“Back then, they didn’t re-verse, they re-mixed. We had to go in to the studio and make the whole record over with the vocals that were given. It wasn’t like, ‘Chubb Rock, come to the studio and make these new rhymes.’

"They gave you the multi-track, and you did what you could. What they’re doing now is not really remixing. If they’re not changing the music, that’s just re-vocaling and throwing [guest verses on the song].

“Chubb Rock was dope. We were friends since before he made records. Most of the rappers who came out of Brooklyn or who came out period, they would go to clubs and get to know people. So I practically knew every rapper before they made their records because they wanted to be familiar with the DJs and what was happening in hip-hop.

“I was happening in hip-hop. I was one of the more premiere club DJs. If you went in to a hip-hop club, I was one of the ones who was playing most of the time. Me, Red Alert, Chuck Chillout, we were playing the clubs. So you had to get to know us.


 

[In terms of him talking shit about New Kids On The Block], I think every rapper had an anti-establishment view. When you’re doing this rap thing and all of a sudden these five white kids are moving rap music out of the way, rappers are going to feel a certain way.


 

"We had to want to play your record. Then, I was on the radio, so you really wanted me to know you and to play your record. Plus, in Brooklyn, I was the one. So I knew every artist that was coming out of Brooklyn anyway.

“[In terms of him talking shit about New Kids On The Block on the song], I think every rapper had an anti-establishment view, and I don’t think it was particularly just him. When you’re doing this rap thing and it’s blowing up, and all of a sudden these five white kids are making these records and they’re moving rap music out of the way, rappers are going to feel a certain way.

"What rappers aren’t remembering is that they moved everything out of the way for them when they dropped. Things happen in cycles. The good part is that rap actually stayed. But Chubb was a very conscious rapper with serious skills. It wasn’t like he was preaching. He was saying really good stuff, really well. He was very, very good.”

Original Flavor "Here We Go" (1992)

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Original Flavor "Here We Go" (1992)

Album: “Here We Go” (Single)

Label: Atlantic

DJ Clark Kent: “Ski was in a group called The Bizzie Boys, and I was Dana Dane’s DJ. This is like, forever ago. We did a show down in North Carolina, and they opened the show, and I thought he was dope. So I was like, ‘Keep in contact.’ And I would play his record. He had a record with The Bizzie Boys that was real dope, and I would play it on the radio in New York.

“I always would tell him that if he came to New York, we would figure something out and we’d do something. And he moved to New York, so I signed his group, and I told him he really needed to be a producer.


 

I taught [Ski] how to be a money-making producer. I never taught him how to work a machine. I just taught him how to be a producer, as in selling records and making records for artists. I pushed him to make records. ‘Be a producer, don’t be a beat maker.’


 

"I taught him how to be a money-making producer. I never taught him how to work a machine. The boy was a genius. I never taught him how to produce. I just taught him how to be a producer, as in selling records and making records for artists. I pushed him to make records. ‘Be a producer, don’t be a beat maker.’

“He came to me with [Original Flavor], and the group was dope, so I signed them. I loved them. Plus, he’s a producer. And I believed in empowering producers. And he wanted to empower the music because he was a rapper as well. And he came to me with stuff that was dope. So I signed Original Flavor because of Ski.

“I didn’t make that beat though. Ski made the beat, and I mixed the song. I executive produced the album, which is probably why I got a producer credit.”

Hi-Five f/ Jay-Z "She's Playing Hard (Clark Kent SuperMix)" (1992)

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Hi-Five f/ Jay-Z "She's Playing Hard (Clark Kent SuperMix)" (1992)

Album: She’s Playing Hard To Get (The Remixes)

Label: Jive

DJ Clark Kent: “I got asked to remix the song, and my remix was pretty good. But at that precise moment, I wanted everyone to know Jay-Z, so I wanted to put him on every record. And I wanted to put Ski on the record because they knew who Ski was [from Original Flavor].

"So I thought if I put Ski on the record, and Jay, they’d have no choice and they’d have to take it. So there’s a version with Ski and Jay on the record, then there’s a version with just Ski, and just Jay. And they ended up putting them all on the promo single.


 

Jaz-O comes over, and he has Jay-Z with him. And Jay-Z is dumb young. He might have been 15, maybe 16. They started rhyming together and he was insane. And I just kept saying, ‘This is the best rapper I’ve ever heard.’ And they’re looking at me like I’m crazy.


 

“The good part is that the Jay one was the one that everybody took to. The remix was good, and Jay was going crazy on the record. It was simple to do because I liked the [original version]. When you like a record, it makes it easy to do a remix.

“What companies were looking for when they would come to someone like me for a remix was for me to ‘make it so you would play it.’ Make it for DJs. And the way that I laid the record out was perfect for DJs. That was my thing. I wanted to make it so that the DJs wanted to play it, and that it sounded perfect for DJs to play. The way the drops happened, the speed, everything.

“Jaz-O was a rapper around Brooklyn, and his producer was Fresh Gordon, and me and Fresh Gordon were tight. Fresh Gordon was this rapper who actually knew how to make music. We would be in his crib, and Jaz-O would come over and he would make Jaz-O’s records.

“One time I’m at Fresh Gordon’s house, and Jaz-O comes over, and he has Jay-Z with him. And Jay-Z is dumb young. He might have been 15, maybe 16. They started rhyming together and he was insane. And I just kept saying, ‘This is the best rapper I’ve ever heard.’ And they’re looking at me like I’m crazy.

“Then one day I’m in Marcy with Jaz, and Jay is there, and he raps again, and I’m like, ‘No, he’s really the best.’ But [that thought] never left me. They went on to do ‘Hawaiian Sophie’ and do shows and all of that, and every so often Jaz would ask me to DJ for him for his shows. And every time we did shows in New York, Jay was always in the show. And I would go, ‘This guy is really, really the best.’


 

Big Daddy Kane changed his style after he met Jay-Z. He started to rhyme differently after he met Jay-Z. 


 

“Then Big Daddy Kane hears him and falls in love with him, and everybody thinks he’s incredible. But nobody is doing what they need to be doing for him as an artist. They’re just sucking the talent out for the moment that they’re in. They were just using him for the talent that he was.

“What was happening at that time in rap was that it wasn’t empowering rappers to empower other rappers, it just was helping them empower themselves. They didn’t have the enterprising wherewithall to say, ‘I’m going to make this guy the next guy.’

"Plus, in the world we live in, who wants to sign somebody who’s better than them? Honestly, if you’re a rapper, how are you going to sign someone who’s going to be a better rapper than you?

“As soon as I got a job in the music business, the first person I wanted to sign was Jay-Z because I just thought he was the best. He was saying everything. He was doing quick flows, regular flows. He just had so much flow, and so many rhymes that were so far above what the average rapper was saying. He was so young, but so perfectly timed with the way he said his rhymes, and he was crystal clear.


 

B.I.G.’s first album was great, but his second album was unbelievable. Why? He was friends with Jay-Z and Jay-Z is forcing him to say better rhymes.


 

“His rhymes were just better than everybody else’s. Like, head and shoulders above. When he rhymed with Kane, who I totally respect, Kane changed his style after he met Jay-Z. He started to rhyme differently after he met Jay-Z. That doesn’t happen unless you’re going, ‘Oh shit, this guy’s incredible.’

“Everyone who’s been around him gets better because it’s like you’re forced to stay around him. B.I.G.’s first album was great, but his second album was unbelievable. Why? He was friends with Jay-Z and Jay-Z is forcing him to say better rhymes. It’s not even a spoken word, it’s just something that just happens.

“I believed that the best MCs should have deals. Not rappers. The best MCs should have the ability to become rappers. And he was, and still is, and probably will still be if he chooses to rap, the best MC ever.

"So I wanted to sign that guy. Plus he was my man, and we were cool, and he was from Brooklyn. You can’t be in the A&R business and not want to be the guy who signs that talent.


 

Jay-Z had too much paper to care, and he thought that rappers were clowns. They were trying to be him. When you hear rappers talk about the things they did in the street, he would go, ‘Well, no, that’s not exactly how it would happen because I’m doing it.’


 

“The one thing that made me want to sign him even more was that he didn’t give a damn about it. I was like, ‘I just have to do this just because he doesn’t care.’ He had too much paper to care, and he thought that rappers were clowns.

"They were trying to be him. When you hear rappers talk about the things they did in the street, he would go, ‘Well, no, that’s not exactly how it would happen because I’m doing it.’

“I begged him to come to New York and make demos. And [the Hi-Five remix] was the first record I had the ability to put him on. I had the ability to put him on a Troop remix before that, but he was in Virginia. With Jay, he was the one I wanted to put on everything.

"If you do the math, I probably put him on ten records. And, I had him writing artist’s records that I was producing. We didn’t even call it ghostwriting. It was more like, ‘Write the god damn records because they’re wack.’ He was the best to me, so you go get the best if you want it to sound right.”

Vicious "Nika" (1994)

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Vicious "Nika" (1994)

Album: Destination Brooklyn

Label: Epic Street

DJ Clark Kent: “That was his biggest record. Saleswise, it was [bigger than ‘Freaks’]. He was very young, and his manager was Donovan Thomas, who was a cat I knew from the streets. But he was also Doug E. Fresh’s artist, who was a good friend. Doug E. is still my man.

“I got asked to do a record by Vivian Scott, who was an A&R over at Epic. She said, ‘I need you to produce a record on this guy Lil’ Vicious, the guy from ‘Freaks.’ Donovan’s his manager, and Doug E. is your man, so you gotta do it.’ So I was like, ‘Okay.’


 

That sample would cost people like $30,000, but we might have paid $2,500, or something stupid. We got it damn near for free. And we got some publishing off it, which was crazy, because you don’t get publishing off The Isley Brothers.


 

“I was fucking with the Isley Brothers [‘Between The Sheets’] sample, and I played the track for Vivian, and she was like, ‘That’s dope.’ And [she knew] she wouldn’t have a problem getting it cleared because we were cool with Ron Isley.

"See, that’s what you do back in the days, you go meet the artists. That sample would cost people like $30,000, but we might have paid $2,500, or something stupid.

We got it damn near for free. And we got some publishing off it, which was crazy, because you don’t get publishing off The Isley Brothers. Having relationships like that made it easy.

“Then, we get in the studio, and the first thing he came up with [was the hook]. It was some old reggae record’s melody, and he just freaked it over a new joint. And he was like a little writer, so he wrote the song. He wrote that. But he wasn’t as little as you thought, though. He just looked young. He might have been fifteen, but he looked like a baby.

“So he wrote the song, and it came out good. It wasn’t that confusing. It was more like a reggae chat over a really good beat. It didn’t take long, but I made him do it until he perfected it. It was probably the first time someone forced him to do what he had to do. He had to nail it.


 

When you get asked to produce a record for someone, it’s like an honor. Yes, you might have had some success on your own, which is why they’re coming to you. But you have to remember, they don’t have to come to you.


 

"It might have been 30, 40 takes to get it right. To me, it had to be right. He wasn’t necessarily [a seasoned studio artist], but by the end of the record, he was good.

“It worked for him. When you look at a record like that, all you want is for the record to work for him. That was my mission. When you get asked to produce a record for someone, it’s like an honor. Yes, you might have had some success on your own, which is why they’re coming to you. But you have to remember, they don’t have to come to you.

"So you want to do something that works for the artist so it’s not like they’re spending their money in vain, and one day they go, ‘Man, we wasted our fuckin’ money working with this guy.’ You want them to [use the record like they did, as a single], and say, ‘If there ever comes a time that we’re doing another album, we’re gonna go find him, the guy who gave us a hit record.’”

Jay-Z "Can't Get Wit That" (1995)

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Jay-Z "Can't Get Wit That" (1995)

Album: “In My Lifetime” Single

Label: Payday

DJ Clark Kent: “That was the record he felt the best about to the point where he wanted to put it out. If you look at the logo, it’s says Jay-Z featuring DJ Clark Kent. It’s hilarious to think that’s what it was. It was like DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, because we believed the DJ was important.

"I’ve got records with Jay, at least three records, where all he’s talking about is his DJ. And they’re crazy. People will never hear them, but still, that’s what it was about: us making these records.


 

Jay-Z had this notebook that had like a million rhymes in it. It’s funny because, the way he wrote them back then, no one could have read the rhymes anyway. I don’t know if he could look back and read the rhymes. [Laughs.]


 

“That was made at my house. Practically everything after a certain point was made at my house, because I had a studio at my house.

"I made a beat, that I didn’t think he would want, and he walked in and heard it and said, ‘Yo, let that play.’ He sat around, bobbed his head, walked out of the room, came back, and was like, ‘I’m ready, let’s do it.’

“At that point he wasn’t writing nothing. I don’t remember him writing since he was 15, 16. He had this notebook that had like a million rhymes in it. [Laughs.]

"It’s funny because, the way he wrote them back then, no one could have read the rhymes anyway. I don’t know if he could look back and read the rhymes. [Laughs.]

“He was saying things that people couldn’t fathom, and he looked like people couldn’t fathom. They were like, ‘He’s talking about being a millionaire. We’ve never heard of this dude, and all of a sudden he’s talking about being a millionaire?’

"With rap, it’s like people almost have to believe you. So when you’re talking about being a millionaire, they’re like, ‘Nah.’ And then, your rhymes are just so out of this world that they’re not even understanding you. So I think people just missed it.

“But when people look back at ‘Can’t Get Wit That,’ they go, ‘He was going crazy with his rhymes!’ He was spitting retarded on there. He was spitting on [Original Flavor] ‘Can I Get Open.’ He was nuts on ‘Can I Get Open.’


 

With rap, it’s like people almost have to believe you. So when you’re talking about being a millionaire, they’re like, ‘Nah.’ And then, your rhymes are just so out of this world that they’re not even understanding you. 


 

“We used to ride around listening to 2Pac, B.I.G., N.W.A., Ice Cube, UGK, Nas, AZ, Slick Rick, we just used to listen to whatever was happening. Driving around, in the burgundy Acura, just listening to it. His songs came from wanting to be way better than them.

"He thought, ‘From the beginning to the end, this song has to be a cohesive thought so that everybody gets it by the time it’s over.’ That’s why his songs are really, really, somewhere else.

“Back then, he was saying shit like, ‘I press more skirts than the cleaners.’ Like, who the fuck is saying that? He was saying incredible shit. And then, his two best friends, Jaz-O and Sauce Money, were insane lyricists, so he had to be good. These were the dudes that were on his neck all day.

"We were a group at one point called The Hard Pack—no homo. Me, Jay-Z, Sauce, and Jaz were The Hard Pack. And they were insane. Some of the best rhymes I ever heard came out of that stuff.


 

We used to ride around listening to 2Pac, B.I.G., N.W.A., Ice Cube, UGK, Nas, AZ, Slick Rick, whatever was happening. Driving around, in the burgundy Acura, just listening. His songs came from wanting to be way better than them.


 

“It’s funny because ‘Can’t Get Wit That’ came out way before ‘In My Lifetime.’ And then they re-packaged it with ‘In My Lifetime.’

"That was Lil’ Shawn’s white Lexus in the video, who actually was the person who took Jay-Z up to Hot 97 and introduced him to the Program Director so he could get his songs played on the radio.

“[He was rocking the Reggie Miller jersey in the video] because he liked Reggie. And be clear, I’m in that wearing a Cleveland Indians jersey, and that was way before the jersey thing. We were just sports fanatics.

"We loved sports, we loved sneakers, we loved getting fresh, we loved music, and we loved money. That was our shit. What you see in the video was us. This is how we do, daily.”

Mic Geronimo "The Natural (Clark Kent’s Remix)" (1995)

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Mic Geronimo "The Natural (Clark Kent’s Remix)" (1995)

Album: “The Natural (Remixes)” 12 Inch

Label: Blunt

DJ Clark Kent:“Mikey’s my man. I don’t even call him Mic Geronimo, I call him Mikey. I know him like that. But I had a relationship with the people at his label, and they asked me to remix it. So I did. And Mic loved it, and the label loved it. This was just as the album was coming out, and ‘The Natural’ was going to be his single.


 

I did two versions, which is something that people don’t know. One version is super hard and guttery, and most people didn’t hear that because it never came out. But then somebody was like, ‘Put it on the bootleg version of the record.’ So it’s out there.


 

“And I put this chick Nneka on it, who was an artist who I thought was a dope singer that was signed to Island. I put her on a lot of records, because she was incredible. Her album came out, but it wasn’t hard R&B. Shit was more smoothed-out. Like, you had to be grown to fuck with it heavy.

“I did two versions, which is something that people don’t know. One version is super hard and guttery, and most people didn’t hear that because it never came out.

"But then somebody was like, ‘Put it on the bootleg version of the record.’ So it’s out there. But it was like, ‘How the fuck did you get that?’ But the version with Nneka singing on it is beautiful.

“I don’t think people were consciously [coming to me for a specific sound]. I think it was that I made the [Troop ‘Spread My Wings (Remix)’], which was a smash, and they believed I could make an R&B record sound hip-hop, and a hip-hop record a little bit smoothed-out R&B.

“My mission was to try and get records on the radio. I wanted everybody to want to play it, and not be scared of it. I wanted records to be bigger. I wanted records to sound big.”

Junior M.A.F.I.A. "Player's Anthem" (1995)

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Junior M.A.F.I.A. "Player's Anthem" (1995)

Album: Conspiracy

Label: Undeas/Big Beat

DJ Clark Kent: “I knew B.I.G. before he made records because of the neighborhood he was in, and I was cool with people in the neighborhood. I was very cool with Lance ‘Un’ Rivera, and Justice, Gutter, D-Roc, Daddy-O, all of them. I was cool with 50 Grand, who was his DJ, and who was Dana Dane’s DJ before I became Dana Dane’s DJ. And I was B.I.G.’s DJ too after 50 Grand. That’s crazy, right?

“I would hear B.I.G. and be like, ‘This guy’s incredible. He’s dope.’ His manager Gucci Mark [Pitts] grew up in my neighborhood, and I was practically like a big brother to him. When it was time for B.I.G. to do shows, they were like, ‘We need the best show DJ. Clark’s the best show DJ.’

“The first time he came to my house [to put his show together], we clicked instantly, because we were already cool. I was there when he was making records. I gave him one of his first shows to perform.


 

We come back on the tour and I’m playing beats, and Biggie's like, ‘We’re gonna use that for Junior M.A.F.I.A.’ And he makes up that hook as soon as that beat comes on in the bus, and I’m like, ‘Oh shit, this is gonna be dumbness.’


 

"I had a birthday party, and I was like, ‘Yo, come to my party and do a show.’ And he came and did ‘Party and Bullshit,’ and had the fight scene on stage and everything. It was at The Shelter. It was absolutely insane.

“So Ready To Die comes out, and we’re on tour, and he just decides he’s going to make Junior M.A.F.I.A. records. One day on the bus, he’s like, ‘Yo Clark, play me some beats.’ So we go home, and we come back on the tour, and I got beats.

"So I’m playing beats, and he’s like, ‘We’re gonna use that for Junior M.A.F.I.A.’ And he makes up that hook as soon as that beat comes on in the bus, and I’m like, ‘Oh shit, this is gonna be dumbness.’

“In my mind, I’m like, ‘Do that for yourself!’ But we’re on the tour, so we’re just going to do whatever is happening. And every beat that was chosen for that album was a joint effort between me and him and sometimes Lance and sometimes Jacob, which is why I got executive producer credit on it. We all had to agree that those beats were going to go on that album.

“That was the first time you heard Kim. She bodied it. She wasn’t on tour with us at that point. Lil’ Cease was on tour because he was one of the hype men.


 

That record was done instantly. As soon as all the verses were done we mixed it and made an acetate, and took it to the club. We went to The Tunnel and were like, ‘Yo, play the record.’ And niggas was like, ‘What do you mean, ‘Play the record’?’ And we were like, ‘Play the fucking record.’


 

“That record was done instantly. As soon as all the verses were done, without them even being chopped up or edited at the end properly, we mixed it and made an acetate, and took it to the club.

"We went to The Tunnel and were like, ‘Yo, play the record.’ And niggas was like, ‘What do you mean, ‘Play the record’?’ And we were like, ‘Play the fucking record.’

“It was me, and B.I.G., and Un, and Just, and we were standing next to the wall, like, ‘Wait ‘til you see what happens when this comes on.’ And Big Kap is like, ‘New Biggie and Junior M.A.F.I.A.!!!’ And Kap put the record on, and motherfuckers went crazy. [When the song started] in The Tunnel, that shit sounded like a movie.

“And we’re just standing there, not even flinching, and the chorus comes in, ‘Grab ya dick if ya love hip-hop.’ And people are like, ‘What the fuck is going on here?!? What is this?!?’ Then Lil’ Cease comes in. Then B.I.G.’s verse comes in, and once B.I.G.’s verse hits you, it’s like, ‘Oh no, this is really ill.’ And then the chick starts rapping! And niggas is like, ‘What the fuck is that?!?’

“We’re in the club, and that’s the first reaction, in The Tunnel, with nine million motherfuckers in there. They brought it it back a thousand times, and played that shit over and over and over. And we’re standing there, and I’m looking at B.I.G. like, ‘I told you son. We’re good money.’

"Un is like [imitating him in a high pitched voice], ‘Yo B.I.G.! We good B.I.G., we good. This shit crazy. Yo Clark man, me and you, we’re gonna be...’ [Laughs]. That shit was fucking hilarious. But that’s what it was.


 

That’s the first reaction, in The Tunnel, with nine million motherfuckers in there. They brought it it back a thousand times, and played that shit over and over and over. And we’re standing there, and I’m looking at B.I.G. like, ‘I told you son. We’re good money.’


 

“But that record was so crazy because it was instant. It did so well in the club, that it wasn’t like we just gave it to the mixtapes. Motherfuckers had test pressings a week later, and then everybody had it.

“This is how much I respect DJ Premier. [When Premier flipped the same sample for Jeru The Damaja’s ‘Ya Playin’ Yaself’] it wasn’t no sideways shit. He liked the sample, so he was going to use it also. What are you going to say to Preemo? ‘Yeah, you murdered it Preem.’

“[The stuff between Biggie and Jeru], that’s MC shit. That’s the Brooklyn bullshit. He liked a couple of Jeru records, but you know who B.I.G. really liked? KRS-One. He thought KRS was the shit. And one time, KRS said some sideways shit about him, and he was like, ‘What?! I think that motherfucker’s dope!’

“No one really cared about [the Jeru record]. It wasn’t beating ‘Players Anthem.’ That record was like, ‘Hold on, everyone is doing fine? Get out the way for a second. I’m going to put this record out with my crew and shit on things.’ And it really did. It moved everything out of the way, and set them up so ill.

“And the video was kind of crazy too, with the planes and all kinds of surveillance. People were like, ‘Damn, how’d they get all that already?’ We had a good budget over there. Those were the good days.”

Junior M.A.F.I.A. f/ Aaliyah "I Need You Tonight" (1995)

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Junior M.A.F.I.A. f/ Aaliyah "I Need You Tonight" (1995)

Album: Consipiracy

Label: Undeas/Big Beat

DJ Clark Kent: “Faith Evans was on the song at first, but we got Aaliyah involved because she was young. Faith sang the hook first, but it kind of didn’t make sense to have all these young kids on the record with this grown woman singing. We got Aaliyah on the record. Plus, Aaliyah was on Atlantic Records also, so it wasn’t like we had to get her cleared. It made sense, and it felt right.

“I worked at Atlantic Records, so I knew Aaliyah since she was crazy young. When she was 15 and signing record deals, I knew her. It was perfect to work with her. It was simple, because she was too talented. ‘Here’s the hook, sing it again.’ And she sang it again. She was dope.

“That was Biggie’s idea to use the Lisa Lisa record as the hook. He knew exactly what he wanted to hear.”

Junior M.A.F.I.A. "Realms Of Junior M.A.F.I.A." (1995)

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Junior M.A.F.I.A. "Realms Of Junior M.A.F.I.A." (1995)

Album: Conspiracy

Label: Undeas/Big Beat

DJ Clark Kent: “That was probably like the last record we did for the album. It was some fun shit. Biggie wanted to rhyme to an old school beat. So I sampled the ‘UFO’ record and put drums under it, and made it play out properly. And I did it, and we went in the studio, and it was done.

“B.I.G. liked Lil’ Jamal [which is why he was invited to rap on the song]. He was ‘Lil’’ too. We’re looking at him like, ‘You’re practically Junior M.A.F.I.A. to us.’ And that’s what happened. Lil’ Jamal with all the ‘Lil’s.


 

I was playing B.I.G. Jay-Z's music, and I’m telling him, ‘Dog, my man’s the best.’ He’s going, ‘Clark, you’re crazy.’ ‘Dead Presidents’ comes out. He’s like, ‘He’s saying it, but...’ Then ‘Dead Presidents II’ comes out, and he goes, ‘Alright Clark, you got it. Dude is crazy.’


 

“There’s another song on that album, ‘Oh My Lord’ with Kleptomaniac, that he went crazy on too! [People missed these songs] because they didn’t pay attention to the whole Junior M.A.F.I.A. project.

“I was in the lab for every record on that album, because I was A&R’ing that album. That verse on ‘Realms of Junior M.A.F.I.A.’ was the one that had me going, ‘Are you hearing this shit?’ We were on tour, and I was playing B.I.G. Jay-Z music, and I’m telling him, ‘Dog, my man’s the best.’ He’s going, ‘Clark, you’re crazy.’

"‘Dead Presidents’ comes out. He’s like, ‘He’s saying it, but...’ Then ‘Dead Presidents II’ comes out, and he goes, ‘Alright Clark, you got it. Dude is crazy.’ Then Un calls up, and he’s like [imitating his high-pitched voice], ‘Yo B.I.G. did you hear this [Jay-Z] shit? This shit is crazy!’

"So now B.I.G. is giving it up. Meanwhile, I’m on the bus with Junior M.A.F.I.A. and all his crimeys, and they’re like, ‘Yo, you better stop saying this motherfucker is better than B.I.G.’ But me and B.I.G. were tight. And I’m going, ‘He’s iller than you B.I.G.’ And B.I.G. is mad now.


 

So now Biggie's motivated, and then he came with [that verse on ‘Realms Of Junior M.A.F.I.A.’ And that was motivated by dudes saying Jay was nice. He was like, ‘Oh really, he’s nice? I’m coming for his ass.’


 

"So we go off tour, and he goes home, and he goes right to do ‘Who Shot Ya.’ ‘Who Shot Ya’ was done a long time ago, when [the beat] was on Mary J. Blige’s album, but there was only one verse on it. So he goes to the studio to do the whole version, and he adds that second verse.

“We go back to get on tour, and we’re at the airport, and they’ve got a big radio. Click, ‘Who Shot Ya’ comes on. I’m like, ‘I heard this already, nigga.’ He’s like, ‘No you didn’t.’ The second verse comes on and I’m like, ‘Wow.’

"He’s like, ‘You want to tell me I’m not the hardest nigga out Clark?’ And I’m like, ‘You’re definitely the hardest nigga out. But Jay’s nicer than you.' [Laughs.] That was the argument all the time with us.

“So now he’s motivated, because he’s hearing Jay-Z. And then he came with [that verse on ‘Realms Of Junior M.A.F.I.A.’ And that was motivated by dudes saying Jay was nice. He was like, ‘Oh really, he’s nice? I’m comin’ for his ass.’ But by that time, ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ was recorded, and they were friends.”

Mad Skillz "Move Ya Body" (1996)

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Mad Skillz "Move Ya Body" (1996)

Album: From Where???

Label: Big Beat

DJ Clark Kent:“He added the [Biggie sample] hook when I made the beat. He wanted to use that sample on a record. It’s funny though, because the day after I gave it to Mad Skillz, Biggie heard it, and was like, ‘Yo, I want that beat.’  


 

Biggie was like, ‘I want that shit! That’s mine! That better be my record!’ And I was like, ‘Nah, that’s Jay’s record. I’m gonna do that after I do this record.’


 

"I was like, ‘Nigga, I just gave it to Skillz yesterday.’ He said, ‘Fuck that, take it back, it’s me!’ I’m looking at him like, ‘Yo, you’re crazy. I got paid already. I can’t just take it back. It’s already a done deal.’

“And, when I played it, I walked back to the studio lounge, and when I came back, the beat ended, and the beat that came on next was ‘Brooklyn’s Finest.’ And he was like, ‘I want that shit! That’s mine! That better be my record!’  

"I was like, ‘Nah, that’s Jay’s record. I’m gonna do that after I do this record.’ He heard the Mad Skillz joint, then the ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ joint right after it. They were on the same DAT. And that was the same day that [I introduced him to Jay-Z].

“I still have the DAT. I think about the fact that these two records were right behind each other, and he wanted both. What if I had gave them to him? What if I was like, ‘Fuck these dudes.’ I look at the fact that if I had said that, [maybe] he’d be alive. Because every different move changes the next move. Every step you take changes the path of the rest of your life.


 

I think about the fact that these two records were right behind each other, and Biggie wanted both. What if I had gave them to him? If I had, [maybe] he’d be alive. Because every step you take changes the path of the rest of your life.


 

“Think about it. ‘Move Ya Body’ would have been enormous for him. And he wouldn’t have used that sample. It would have been a singing hook. And that’s what Mad Skillz was trying to do. He was trying to get a record [like Biggie would make with that smooth, hard shit]. That’s what he wanted. And it was a single.

“Mad Skillz was my boy, though. I knew him from all the DJ and MC battles, and he was doing well or whatever, and [we became cool]. So he’s in my crib, and Jay’s coming to the crib. And I’m like, to Skillz, ‘Yo, by the way, this is the best MC in the universe.’

"That’s how I would introduce Jay to people. And they would be looking at me like, ‘What kind of introduction is that?’ So, he got to firsthand witness Jay’s records way before they were dropping.”

Lil’ Kim "Time To Shine" (1996)

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Lil’ Kim "Time To Shine" (1996)

Album: Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (Soundtrack)

Label: Island

DJ Clark Kent: “Damn, I forgot I did that shit. Yeah, she was asked to submit a song for the soundtrack, and Un asked me to do it. She was big already off ‘Get Money,’ but her album wasn’t out yet. She was huge.

“We were on tour. Junior M.A.F.I.A. didn’t go out [on tour] by themselves, they went out with B.I.G., [and I was the tour DJ]. And he would incorporate them in to the show. There wasn’t a bunch of records they were doing. It was ‘Players Anthem,’ ‘Need You Tonight,’ and ‘Get Money.’ It was crazy to see it. You just had these little people on tour. It was dope, B.


 

B.I.G. wrote some [of Kim’s raps]. He didn’t write everything, but he wrote enough. [In the sessions] there was beef, happiness, getting high, getting drunk, everything.


 

“B.I.G. wrote some [of Kim’s raps], but he didn’t write everything. But he wrote enough. He would be there, yeah. [In the sessions] there was beef, happiness, getting high, getting drunk, everything.

“Doing those sessions, you don’t think about what happened until you are asked back about them, and then you realize it was basically chaos. Un, Just, and everybody would be in the sessions. B.I.G.’s in there smoking weed around motherfuckers who don’t smoke. All of Junior M.A.F.I.A. would be there. Lil’ Kim would come in with two of her girlfriends.

“And it was only monster studios. It was Quad, Hit Factory, Unique, Sony. Everything was a huge production. You were in the best studios all the time.

“Kim was focused sometimes, and sometimes she wasn’t. She’d be beefin’ with B.I.G., or beefin’ with Un, or sometimes she just didn’t want to do it. My shit was to massage their shit, because the record had to get done. I’m getting a check, so you motherfuckers better get to rapping. Matter of fact, or don’t. I cashed the first half of my shit already.”

Jay-Z and Biggie "Brooklyn's Finest" (1996)

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Jay-Z and Biggie "Brooklyn's Finest" (1996)

Album: Reasonable Doubt

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Priority

DJ Clark Kent: “Basically, I was an A&R on Reasonable Doubt. We all were. That was our album. We all did it together. It wasn’t a credit or anything that I got. It was a team of people making records. You would go to every studio session.

"When Premier’s doing a record, you’re all at D&D [Studios]. I think it was more for the amazement factor than it was like, ‘Oh, we need to be here.’ It was more like, ‘Wow, he did it again. Look, I’m telling you, he’s the greatest!’ Plus, we were a crew, so we just went everywhere and did everything together.


 

B.I.G. wanted the beat, but I said it was Jay’s. He was like, ‘Nah Clark, I want that record, that beat is for me! You give everything to this nigga!’ That was his favorite words. But I’m like, ‘He’s my artist. What do you want me to do? You’re not my artist, you’re Puff’s artist.’


 

“Yeah, so B.I.G. wanted the beat, but I said it was Jay’s. He was like, ‘Nah Clark, I want that record, that beat is for me! You give everything to this nigga!’ That was his favorite words. But I’m like, ‘He’s my artist. What do you want me to do? You’re not my artist, you’re Puff’s artist.’

“So B.I.G. knew I was going to the Jay-Z session after the Mad Skillz session [which was when he first heard the ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ beat], so I’m like, ‘Just come to the studio and wait downstairs.’ He wanted to be on it, and I wanted him on it, but they’re not friends yet. They don’t know each other. But I’m going to make this work somehow.

“I go upstairs, and I record the track. And Jay goes in, and he does his verses. I remember the name of the record originally being ‘Once We Get Started.’ Jay says it was ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy,’ but he remembers the words ‘once we get started’ involved in it. I think that was what the record was supposed to be called.

“So he records it, and he comes out of the booth, and I go, ‘Yo, maybe you should put B.I.G. on it.’ And he’s looking at me like I’m dumb, like, ‘Why didn’t I say that from the beginning?’ But his reaction was also like, ‘I don’t know homie, so how am I going to put him on the record?’


 

Dame’s like, ‘Well, if you can get Biggie, and he’ll do it for free, it’s all good. But if not, we ain’t paying Puff no money, fuck Puff.’


 

“But then Dame is like, ‘We don’t know him, and I’m not paying Puff. Fuck that nigga.’ And I’m like, ‘You know I’m DJ’ing for him, you know he’s my man, you know what time it is.’ So Dame’s like, ‘Well, if you can get him, and he’ll do it for free, it’s all good. But if not, we ain’t paying Puff no money, fuck Puff.’ So I’m like, ‘Yo, I gotta go to the bathroom.’

“I go downstairs, and I bring B.I.G. up. I’m like, ‘B.I.G., Jay. Jay, B.I.G.’ And everyone in the studio is looking at me like, ‘Oh, you’s a funny nigga. How you got the dude downstairs waiting?’ But I knew Jay would be quick in the booth, so I knew he wouldn’t be waiting long.

“Understand, when we were doing ‘Brooklyn’s Finest,’ we were mid-album, so I was playing B.I.G. shit Jay had done way before so he could see how ill he was. So once he got to the point where he knew how crazy Jay was, he was like, ‘Yeah, I’d rhyme with this guy.’


 

Jay goes in the booth and does all of his verses differently. Some new, some different, but he left the spaces. Imagine him going in there going, ‘This is where I’m going to stop, and this is where I’ll pick it up.’ And B.I.G. is there while he’s doing this. And he comes out of the booth and goes to B.I.G., ‘Are you ready?’ And B.I.G.’s like, ‘What? No, I’m not ready. I need to take that home.’


 

“So Jay was like, ‘Yo, play it.’ And once we played it, Jay was like, ‘Yo, you down to get on this?’ And B.I.G. was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll get on it.’ So Jay says, ‘Yo Clark, let it play.’ Then Jay walks in the booth and changes everything. Jay goes in the booth and does all of his verses differently. Some new, some different, but he left the spaces.

"Imagine him going in there going, ‘This is where I’m going to stop, and this is where I’ll pick it up.’ And B.I.G. is there while he’s doing this. And he comes out of the booth and goes to B.I.G., ‘Are you ready?’ And B.I.G.’s like, ‘What? No, I’m not ready. I need to take that home.’

“So he took the song home with the spaces in them, and two or three months later he came back and did it the same day I was mixing it. But we’re in the studio, and no one wants to do a hook. There’s no hook.

"Jay is there too. And I’m like, ‘Jay, I need a hook.’ And he’s like, ‘Just scratch something. Either you get it done or we don’t [use it for the album].’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean? This has to get done. This is phenomenal.’

“So I’m trying to scratch everything in the world that says Brooklyn. But it just didn’t sound right. The beat is five bars, and on the fifth bar of the hook, it goes, ‘Brooklyn, Brooklyn!’ So I wanted to scratch that all the way through, but it just didn’t sound good. So I just used it for that part. But I had to think of different things to go in the four bars before it.


 

I went in the booth, and said the hook, and then I tried to make the engineer change the way my voice sounded so it wouldn’t sound like me. I hate the sound of my voice on the mic, so I wanted it to not sound like me. And I didn’t want to get ridiculed by Jay.


 

“So Jay goes, ‘I’ll be back.’ An hour goes by, and he doesn’t come back. Then B.I.G. disappears. Now it’s just Dame sitting in there. And I’m like, ‘What the fuck am I going to do?’ So I just let the record play and play and play, and I start writing down lines to try to come up with a hook. And I did.

"So I went in the booth, and said the hook, and then I tried to make the engineer change the way my voice sounded as much as possible so it wouldn’t sound like me. It still sounds like me, but me personally I hate the sound of my voice on the mic, so I wanted it to not sound like me. And I didn’t want to get ridiculed by Jay, because he’s going to kill me if I’m rapping on the song.

“So we go to mastering, and it’s done, and they listen to it one time and they go, ‘Yo, this shit is crazy! Yo, who’s on the hook?!?’ And I’m like, ‘That’s me.’ They’re like, ‘That ain’t you.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ But I’m lucky. There was dumb pressure, and I wrote the hook, and everybody loved it.

“The sample is a song called ‘Ecstasy’ by the Ohio Players. It’s my favorite song in the universe. I flipped it once before for Dame’s group The Future Sound. It was the remix to their first single, but it was just a one bar loop. It was good, but it didn’t feel like that. Plus, The Future Sound wasn’t Jay and B.I.G.

“The song itself was a song that I made Dame and Jay and everyone in our crew like, because I played it every night. When I would DJ, I would play the whole original song. So one day Dame goes, ‘Yo, you should flip that shit again.’ So I flipped it again.

"That’s why he says he produced it and took a production credit. It was a great idea, it’s just you didn’t do shit. Get the fuck outta here. But I love Dame though. I want that to be clear. That is my ace.”

Jay-Z f/ Memphis Bleek "Coming Of Age" (1996)

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Jay-Z f/ Memphis Bleek "Coming Of Age" (1996)

Album: Reasonable Doubt

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Priority

DJ Clark Kent: “Jay knew Memphis Bleek as a little dude in the projects, but he didn’t know he was a rhymer. Jay had this song all ready, and now he’s looking for the rhymer to go on it. It was going to be Lil’ Shyheim, that’s who he was going to get.

"Then someone told Bee-High and Jay that this little dude Malik—the name Bleek came from Malik—was spittin’. He was little, but we wanted to hear him because we wanted someone to be on this song.


 

Bleek did it for cheeseburgers. He ate like twelve $1 cheeseburgers from Wendy's. We were in my house, and he just keeps eating these cheeseburgers. We're like, 'Where are you putting them? You're like a buck o' five.'


 

“So me and Bee-High sat with him in the projects and made him rhyme all day like, ‘Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, say another one, say another one.’ We wanted to believe he was actually and MC before we were like, “Here’s this song, get on it.’

“Jay had the whole song laid out already of how he wanted it to be, and told him what he was supposed to do. Jay [referenced the verse already], so he just had to do it. It’s just that he did it so perfectly.

“It’s like he did it for cheeseburgers. He ate like twelve $1 cheeseburgers from Wendy’s. We were in my house, and he just keeps eating these cheeseburgers. We’re like, ‘Where you putting them? You’re like a buck o’ five.’

“He was [excited to be on the song], but once it was done, it’s like ‘You’re here now.’ You’re with us, you’re in it, you’re a part of it. Before the album came out, we were performing the shit. We took him everywhere. ‘Do these shows.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because you gotta do this song.’ And his parents were like, ‘Only if he’s with you.’ We had to take care of him. [But he was never reckless], he just wanted to do it.

“I’m pretty sure [Jay was very happy with the outcome of the song.] He’s a very calculated dude. That was his best album.”

Jay-Z "Cashmere Thoughts" (1996)

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Jay-Z "Cashmere Thoughts" (1996)

Album: Reasonable Doubt

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Priority

DJ Clark Kent: “‘Cashmere Thoughts’ was almost like a joke. You hear the way we’re talking back and forth on that record? That’s me and him talking pimp shit, because we did that all the time. ‘Cashmere Thoughts’ is from the name Cashmere Jones, which was Jay’s pimp name and alias. We were just bugging. [Laughs.]


 

‘Cashmere Thoughts’ is from the name Cashmere Jones, which was Jay’s pimp name and alias. We were just bugging.


 

“It was just one verse. So when he comes back in and goes ‘The ghetto’s, Errol Flynn...’ it’s because I was like, ‘Yo, give me some more. Let’s make this a whole song.’ He was like, ‘For what?’ I said, ‘Because it’s crazy, that’s why! It screams that you have to do the next verse.’

“‘I talk jewels and spit diamonds, all cherry like a hymen, when I’m rhymin’ with remarkable timin’.’ There’s two meanings. He’s the double-entendre king. The cherry always goes on top, so he’s saying, ‘I’m on top when I’m rhymin’ with remarkable timin’.’ But the cherry is pussy that’s never been touched, that means it’s unfucked with. That means, ‘I’m unfuckwittable.’ Come on, B.

“See, people don’t get how stupid that rhyme is. The people at The Source [that gave him the ‘Rhyme Of The Month’ for that verse] didn’t get how crazy that rhyme is. Nobody got that rhyme. But I did. I know what it means, because we talked about what he was saying.

"We talked about his raps. You don’t know how many conversations we had about the rhymes. That’s what me and him talked about the most. [That’s what the whole Decodedbook is]. It’s him being like, ‘You didn’t understand any of this, so let me help you with it.’


 

I said, ‘Yo dog, how do you maintain being the best?’ And Jay said, ‘Well, I think of Nas, and all these dudes that we think are the best, and I think about what they will say, make sure I don’t say it, and then say what they can’t say.’


 

“Only me and Jaz and Sauce Money really understood how he remembered his rhymes. He couldn’t write them, because he was on the move. So he remembered his rhymes by the rhythm that he said them in. From the flow. He would get rhythms from drum rolls in records.

“One day, we were in the burgundy Ac, and I said, ‘Yo dog, how do you maintain being the best?’ And this is before these records were out. He said, ‘Well, I think of Nas, and all these dudes that we listen to and think are the best, and I think about what they will say, make sure I don’t say it, and then say what they can’t say.’

"That’s putting yourself in their place, thinking their rhymes before they think them, and making sure you don’t say what they’re going to say, and then saying some shit that [they could never think of that’s better].

“[The way he picked tracks was] he would say, ‘I got an idea, this is the name of the song, do you have something for that?’ Or you would sit there and play tracks for him until he liked something. It’s funny because, once he liked something, the whole song was done.”

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