Mike Tyson & L.L. Cool J (1990 interview swipe)
johmbolaya
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And another, from the same issue of Spin==begin swipe==SPIN:Talk about the similarities between hip hop and boxing.L.L.: The only similarities, as far as I see, between boxing and rapping is...Tyson: ...competition.L.L.: When you comin' up, they say, "Yo, make it, I wanna see him make it, I wanna see him make it." But...TYSON: ...once you at the top they all yell, "Your head is big." When you get to the point where they wished for you to get to, they want you to fuckin' drop. You go back in the neighborhood, and because of your schedule, you can't hang out with them. And then they can't relate to you no more. They say, "Well, he's changed, he's flipped on us,and he's a sel??out now." I mean, you still love 'em and everything, but every time you come home you gotta give out a coupla hundreds here, a hundred there. There's like fifteen-thousand people asking for a hundred dollars or a coupla thousand. You'reall screwed up. I love Brooklyn. You try and do as much as you can, but, you know, you can't feed the whole nation of poverty. The country can't even do it.L.L.: They could, but they won't.SPIN: Do you think it's important for both boxers and rappers to keep in touch with their neighborhoods? Isn't that where they get their initial inspiration?L.L.: The thing that the best rappers and the best boxers have in common is not their color or whatever. It's poverty. They're all broke, and there's no money. So, everybody's hungry. I mean you wanna be the best.SPIN: But there are a lot of middle-class rappers nowadays.L.L.: Personally, I didn't come from complete poverty, but I mean, it was like a ghetto situation. In my neighborhood, some were robbing because they had to, but others were robbing because it was fun. Like, I'm gonna rob this guy and take his money, and it's funny.TYSON: You get no worse than that where I come from in Brooklyn. Brownsville. I was talking to my friend today, man. He's a suburbanite from Albany, New York. He was saying, "Yeah, I just got out a month ago. I just finished 11 years." And we were discussing it like he'd just had a drink of water, or come out of a country club. And he was saying he was in for murder and in the same breath he said, "Man, it's crazy out here. Everybody's killing everybody." What the hell is he worried about? He just came out of prison for killing somebody.SPIN: Has it gotten worse since you were there?TYSON: I don't believe it's gotten worse, it's justthat...LL.: ...you're outside of it, looking in.TYSON: I'm outside being very objective. Now, I understand about things. Whoa! What's this? Seen the shit they got? I mean, see what's happenin' down there. It's a way of life, man.L.L.: I know.TYSON: And it's that way because what society did to us over four hundred years. You know what I mean. They have you hating yourself. Once you don't have no respect for yourself, anything's bound to happen.L.L.:Hmmm.TYSON: That's why I'm a rap fanatic. People say, "Why are you pro-rap when you have so much?That's violent music." I tell them, "We grew up on rap for one reason. The only way you can understand the message is if you live it. We live it. We say fuck the police, because we're frustrated at them when we're with our girls, and they call us 'boy.' We're frustrated at them when they search and humiliate us." Like, sometimes I'll get mad when I get pulled over. The cop wants to be a wise ass because of who I am. He says, "You might have a lot of money, Mike Tyson, but I'm the boss here." You know he got that attitude. You know, if you you're going to give me a ticket, give me a ticket. Don't give me a ticket and a lecture. As soon as he leaves, I put on N.WA's "Fuck tha Police"-"fuck the police" comingstraight from the underground. You know, fuck that shit, man.SPIN: There's a track on L.L.'s new album called "Illegal Search" which is precisely about that.L.L.: It's just a track that deals with the fact that you can't ride around in a nice car. Can't a young black man, you know, make money anymore? Not all police officers - I don't wanna stereotype 'em-but certain police officers, you know, abuse their position. They just wanna rip you out of the car.TYSON: Embarrass you. Because a guy's Italian or wears a silk suit doesn't mean he's a gangster. Because a guy's black and has a nice car doesn't mean he's a drug dealer.L.L.: And then they try to tie in the fact that there's violence at rap concerts. And what I tell 'em is, "Look, you know, the reason why there's no violence at classical music concerts is because the type of crime these people commit is white collar crime."TYSON: They're embezzlers.L.L.: They do their crime at work. Then they go to the concert, calm as a motherfucker. They're also crooked as a motherfucker. What I'm saying is the kind of crimes that a lot of the urban audiences commit is like, "Give me your jewelry, give me your money," -- right here, this particular money right here. They don't know, you know, the routine and the paperwork and all the procedures to go through to steal money from the bank. SPIN: Both of you are young black male millionaires. What's that like? It doesn't happen to many people in your positions.TYSON: I don't think so, no. It's a great position. But when you got a lot of money, you got a lot of problems.L.L.: My problem's taxes.TYSON: Yeah,I hate taxes. More than anything they can take your money and all that stuff. But you know what they do? They humiliate you. Like, I can handle being broke, but it's just the fact of being humiliated.SPIN: Both of you have been criticized for your attitude toward women.L.L.: Well, one thing a woman can never say: that I disrespect women. Because I made records like "I Need Love." So that shows you right there that I definitely have the utmost respect for women 'cause my mother's a woman! I love my mother, my grandmother. I respect women.TYSON: I'm not a rapper and I can't put my feelings across about how I feel about women. But, uh, any woman that ever was involved with me left with more than what they came with. (Laughs) You know what I mean? They got the better end of the deal. I love women. I like to be around as many as I possibly can.SPIN: Have either of you got plans to make any movies?L.L.: I just made a movie with Michael J. Fox and James Woods. It's called The Hard Way.TYSON: James Woods is a deep brother.L.L.: Yeah. I play an undercover cop. It's cool! It's cool.SPIN: You're gonna do more of that?L.L.: Well, I'm not acting. I'm for real, and the only reason I'm in the movie is just so people can see me one-to-one and maybe think I'm funny and get into my music. See what I'm sayin'?'Cause, yo, I still wanna make records.TYSON: A lot of people offer me money to do movies. But I'm a fighter. You know what I mean? I'm not someone to spread around.L.L.: You ever hang out after a fight? Like right after, go right out?TYSON: Usually, I wanna make love (laughs).SPIN: You don't do it before the fight? You don't have sex.TYSON: Sometimes, depends. When I was married I'd do it up to the day of the fight. It's really psychological. If I'm not married, I don't wanna bring no girls up here. Because if I bring one girl then I wouldn't mind bringing another one. And then my mind just gets all confused. You know what I mean?SPIN: Are you looking to get married again?TYSON: It's crazy to get married. I'm thinkin' about all the money that I have and I think, How the hell would a 21-year-old guy get married with all of that cash? I must have been out of my fuckin' mind. SPIN: You were saying in a recent interview how people in boxing don't like you, Mike, and it's been said that some people in hip hop don't like L.L. Any comparisons there?L.L.: People in basketball, some don't like Jordan, from what I hear.
I mean, people don't like when you do well...TYSON: You got five dollars. The other man got four dollars. The guy with four dollars is gonna be mad. Especially if he's a competitor. L.L.: Just like [M.C.] Hammer. A lot of people don't like Hammer. Personally, I respect Hammer. I respect what he's doin'. And you gotta God bless, and let him get his. He's dancing and he's successful at it, and I can't disrespect him for it because he has aformula and it's working. SPIN: Let's go back to comparisons. Hip hop: a lot of people in music don't like it. Boxing: a lot of people in the sport industry don't like it. TYSON: Because boxing is the only sport where you can be a tenth-grade dropout, practically an illiterate, and still make a hundred-million dollars and surpass socialites. Guys that have been rich all their lives. You know, quasi-bourgeois types that go to Harvard, Cambridge, Yale, and they say, "Oh my God, how dare they ... "L.L.: I hate it when people talk about Mike, and say shit like, "Yeah, you know, but does he got a brain," and I say, "How the fuck can he do what he does if he hasn't got a brain?" You got to be a genius to be a champion. You've gotta be a genius to constantly win, because you got to remember all the movements, and all the four-five shit. All that is mental. With boxing, the physical part is only half the fight, then you got to have your mental act together. Fearless, quick, reflexes-you got to be a genius to do it.TYSON: I'm not a fucking neurosurgeon or anything, or a fuckin' physical scientist, I'm a goddamn fighter, who, thank God, is capable of dealing with such people. When I hang out with my friends I'm not out here, "Theoretically speaking, you know." I'm like, "Ooh, I'm going to tear that ass up when I see it. Let's make this money. Let's go." We still shoot dice. I'm still winning money, I don't give it back. We still play. That will never change.SPIN: How do you think people would react differently to you if you were a white fighter?L.L.: He'd be the best. The best ever. I'm telling you the best ever.TYSON: It'd be different. It's tough for me to say that, because if you're white and they don't think much about you, they'll be the first ones to kick your ass, like they did to Gerry Cooney.SPIN: How would you be different, L.L.?L.L.: If I was white? I'd probably be four or five times bigger. Look at New Edition and New Kids on the Block. New Edition is a hot group. New Kids on the Block, they're white, they blew up. They got bubble gum. New Edition don't have fucking bubble gum. You know what I'm saying?SPIN: Aren't you both as popular with white people as black people?L.L.: Oh, no question. But I've always said, that's why when people say, "L.L., hey, like, on the last album, you sold out," I say, "Yo, can I ask you a question, Mike Tyson sell out?" "No, he's a brother." I say, he's a crossover artist. He went pop. You know what I'm saying? I mean, the rap audience can be a selfish audience, they have to understand that their music is for all people. Me personally, I don't think it's about being black or white; I think it's about everbody being all right.SPIN: Do you both believe in God?L.L.: I believe in God.TYSON: I'm a believer. I've been baptized. I've experienced a lot of bad shit, I've met a lot of bad preachers. Hey, look at my man, caught jerking off, what's his name, Swaggart? Jimmy. Now if that was Jesse Jackson, they would have nailed that nigger to a cross.L.L.: Personally, I think you got to have a personal faith between you and God. You don't have to worry about the evangelists on TV saying, "Send me six??fifty, and get this pamphlet." You got to do your own personal thing.TYSON: You got to do your thing. Because when white people first came to Africa, we owned the land and the white man had the Bible. And when they finished, they had all the land and we had the Bible. So if there is a God up there, he don't like niggers.SPIN: Do you really think that?TYSON: Yeah!L.L.: I believe in God completely. Maybe the people who suffer now will get rewarded later, you know? He likes black people, I guess, because the slaves got free. And things eventually get better over time. Maybe not in our lifetime we won't see a black president, but all those things will eventually come. TYSON: Yeah, when there's a black president, he'll still be kicking niggers in the ass.L.L.: Yeah. Well, that's the nature of people.TYSON: People are basically evil. People basically suck. The people that are not evil because there are some people that are gentle at heart, those people will be taken advantage of.L.L.: What do you think they mean when they say, "God bless the child that has his own"?TYSON: You got to go out there and get yours. Sometimes when you're white you get ahead, and I'm not talking from a racist perspective. I was raised by white people, you know what I mean? Know your language, I'm a brother to a bone. And white people told me, "Because you're black, you're going to be treated in a different way." And you know, deep down inside, being black is tough. You're going to be shit on.SPIN: Rap is under attack from the censors at the moment. Why is that happening?TYSON: Why? Because rappers are niggers making money. You know why people don't like hip hop? It's because they're making money. Why do you think black businessmen don't get corporate loans, how come they don't get 200 million dollars to run a corporation? No way. Before, they said that black people didn't have the intellect. But when they integrated,that broke down that shit. Now we're mentally equipped, give us the loans. Like they gaveDonald Trump too many loans. I can take a black guy with a Ph.D. or M.BA. from Cambridge or Harvard, a bourgeois black guy, he lucked out. And he's talking to black people and he's saying, "C'mon, put our money together, let's do this." People will be looking at him saying, "Nigger, you crazy?" On the other hand, I can get a drunk homeless white guy, shave him down, wash him up and put him in a Versace or Armani suit, and have him say, "Give yourmoney to me," and all these niggers will give their shit to the white boy. That's because they think niggers can't do shit on their own, only the white man can give them their freedom.LL: My father said that the black woman was a sucker for a white man in a suit. Like they believed, "Don't worry mama, I'm going to take care of it."TYSON: Yeah,that's true. I'm not saying all white people are fucking bastards. It's just that, when you have the power to do something, you shit on people. That's the way people are. You have to be a very different kind of individual not to be that way. You know why the black people love the white man so much? It's because they promise us everything, butgive us nothing. As long as you've got the faith??" Oh yeah, we're gonna get it." Then you go, "God damn, we almost had it." (Laughs) Fuck that! I want everything, man. I want it all. I won't stop 'till I get it, man. I'm a serious brother. My money better mean something to you, motherfucker, 'cause a lot of others don't have it! I don't want to be around nobody who says, "I don't like money." If you don't like money, I can't relate to you. A banker once told me, "Money is the report card of life."===end swipe===
I mean, people don't like when you do well...TYSON: You got five dollars. The other man got four dollars. The guy with four dollars is gonna be mad. Especially if he's a competitor. L.L.: Just like [M.C.] Hammer. A lot of people don't like Hammer. Personally, I respect Hammer. I respect what he's doin'. And you gotta God bless, and let him get his. He's dancing and he's successful at it, and I can't disrespect him for it because he has aformula and it's working. SPIN: Let's go back to comparisons. Hip hop: a lot of people in music don't like it. Boxing: a lot of people in the sport industry don't like it. TYSON: Because boxing is the only sport where you can be a tenth-grade dropout, practically an illiterate, and still make a hundred-million dollars and surpass socialites. Guys that have been rich all their lives. You know, quasi-bourgeois types that go to Harvard, Cambridge, Yale, and they say, "Oh my God, how dare they ... "L.L.: I hate it when people talk about Mike, and say shit like, "Yeah, you know, but does he got a brain," and I say, "How the fuck can he do what he does if he hasn't got a brain?" You got to be a genius to be a champion. You've gotta be a genius to constantly win, because you got to remember all the movements, and all the four-five shit. All that is mental. With boxing, the physical part is only half the fight, then you got to have your mental act together. Fearless, quick, reflexes-you got to be a genius to do it.TYSON: I'm not a fucking neurosurgeon or anything, or a fuckin' physical scientist, I'm a goddamn fighter, who, thank God, is capable of dealing with such people. When I hang out with my friends I'm not out here, "Theoretically speaking, you know." I'm like, "Ooh, I'm going to tear that ass up when I see it. Let's make this money. Let's go." We still shoot dice. I'm still winning money, I don't give it back. We still play. That will never change.SPIN: How do you think people would react differently to you if you were a white fighter?L.L.: He'd be the best. The best ever. I'm telling you the best ever.TYSON: It'd be different. It's tough for me to say that, because if you're white and they don't think much about you, they'll be the first ones to kick your ass, like they did to Gerry Cooney.SPIN: How would you be different, L.L.?L.L.: If I was white? I'd probably be four or five times bigger. Look at New Edition and New Kids on the Block. New Edition is a hot group. New Kids on the Block, they're white, they blew up. They got bubble gum. New Edition don't have fucking bubble gum. You know what I'm saying?SPIN: Aren't you both as popular with white people as black people?L.L.: Oh, no question. But I've always said, that's why when people say, "L.L., hey, like, on the last album, you sold out," I say, "Yo, can I ask you a question, Mike Tyson sell out?" "No, he's a brother." I say, he's a crossover artist. He went pop. You know what I'm saying? I mean, the rap audience can be a selfish audience, they have to understand that their music is for all people. Me personally, I don't think it's about being black or white; I think it's about everbody being all right.SPIN: Do you both believe in God?L.L.: I believe in God.TYSON: I'm a believer. I've been baptized. I've experienced a lot of bad shit, I've met a lot of bad preachers. Hey, look at my man, caught jerking off, what's his name, Swaggart? Jimmy. Now if that was Jesse Jackson, they would have nailed that nigger to a cross.L.L.: Personally, I think you got to have a personal faith between you and God. You don't have to worry about the evangelists on TV saying, "Send me six??fifty, and get this pamphlet." You got to do your own personal thing.TYSON: You got to do your thing. Because when white people first came to Africa, we owned the land and the white man had the Bible. And when they finished, they had all the land and we had the Bible. So if there is a God up there, he don't like niggers.SPIN: Do you really think that?TYSON: Yeah!L.L.: I believe in God completely. Maybe the people who suffer now will get rewarded later, you know? He likes black people, I guess, because the slaves got free. And things eventually get better over time. Maybe not in our lifetime we won't see a black president, but all those things will eventually come. TYSON: Yeah, when there's a black president, he'll still be kicking niggers in the ass.L.L.: Yeah. Well, that's the nature of people.TYSON: People are basically evil. People basically suck. The people that are not evil because there are some people that are gentle at heart, those people will be taken advantage of.L.L.: What do you think they mean when they say, "God bless the child that has his own"?TYSON: You got to go out there and get yours. Sometimes when you're white you get ahead, and I'm not talking from a racist perspective. I was raised by white people, you know what I mean? Know your language, I'm a brother to a bone. And white people told me, "Because you're black, you're going to be treated in a different way." And you know, deep down inside, being black is tough. You're going to be shit on.SPIN: Rap is under attack from the censors at the moment. Why is that happening?TYSON: Why? Because rappers are niggers making money. You know why people don't like hip hop? It's because they're making money. Why do you think black businessmen don't get corporate loans, how come they don't get 200 million dollars to run a corporation? No way. Before, they said that black people didn't have the intellect. But when they integrated,that broke down that shit. Now we're mentally equipped, give us the loans. Like they gaveDonald Trump too many loans. I can take a black guy with a Ph.D. or M.BA. from Cambridge or Harvard, a bourgeois black guy, he lucked out. And he's talking to black people and he's saying, "C'mon, put our money together, let's do this." People will be looking at him saying, "Nigger, you crazy?" On the other hand, I can get a drunk homeless white guy, shave him down, wash him up and put him in a Versace or Armani suit, and have him say, "Give yourmoney to me," and all these niggers will give their shit to the white boy. That's because they think niggers can't do shit on their own, only the white man can give them their freedom.LL: My father said that the black woman was a sucker for a white man in a suit. Like they believed, "Don't worry mama, I'm going to take care of it."TYSON: Yeah,that's true. I'm not saying all white people are fucking bastards. It's just that, when you have the power to do something, you shit on people. That's the way people are. You have to be a very different kind of individual not to be that way. You know why the black people love the white man so much? It's because they promise us everything, butgive us nothing. As long as you've got the faith??" Oh yeah, we're gonna get it." Then you go, "God damn, we almost had it." (Laughs) Fuck that! I want everything, man. I want it all. I won't stop 'till I get it, man. I'm a serious brother. My money better mean something to you, motherfucker, 'cause a lot of others don't have it! I don't want to be around nobody who says, "I don't like money." If you don't like money, I can't relate to you. A banker once told me, "Money is the report card of life."===end swipe===
Comments
Haha 16 years later.. that doesn't hold up. Hell, 5 years later that didn't hold up.
- spidey
Holds up as well as his version of "Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf".