You may have read last week in xxlmag.com this post by Gooch where he interviews legendary producer Easy Mo Bee, responsible for really putting Bad Boy on the map by producing the majority of the heat on the Notorious B.I.G.'s first album, the classic "Ready To Die". In it, Gooch asks dude why he hadn't blown up after dropping such a masterpiece and Easy starts bitching about how Diddy blackballed him in the industry 'cause he didn't want to sign to Mr. Combs' production team and management and such and such types of bitchery. Now, I'm not a hater and I am in no way shitting on dude, but one thing I hate, that really gets under my skin, is when characters from the music biz with mad potential and opportunity start blaming other people for reasons as to why their career never took off, not taking responsibility for their fuck ups. So here it goes, as an obligation to the blogging community, myself, the music biz and even to Mr. Bee, I feel compelled to expose the truth of what had really happened.
It is true that after "Ready To Die", Puff was eager to sign Mo Bee to his production team. It is also true that Mo Bee declined. Was Puff sore though? Not at all. See, even though Mo Bee had heat, Diddy went ahead and put together one of the illest in-house production teams of all time. His "Hit Men" squad consisted of heat makers Deric "D. Dot" Angelettie, Ron "Amen Ra" Lawrence, Nashiem Myrick, Steve "Stevie J." Jordan", along with a host of other mad gifted producers. The Bad Boy machine was making so much effin dough that Puff didn't have enough time to even think about Easy not signing as he was too busy counting money stacks. As they say, the train left the station and Mo Bee was not on it.
What Mo Bee omitted to share with xxl is how he started acting all.... strange after "Ready To Die" dropped. And I'm talking X-Files strange. See, a few years ago, I too began to ask several cats in the know as to why dude's career floundered. What I discovered was astounding. One producer that I repp'd told me this story about how he and Mo Bee hooked up for lunch one day to discuss some projects they had on the table. In between bites, said producer told me that as they were discussing business, every time anyone would walk by, Mo Bee would nervously motion to dude to stop talking. This went on for like an hour and since they were in a crowded restaurant, no business was actually discussed. They eventually ended up in Mo Bee's car. Once in the car, Mo Bee proceeded to turn on the a.c. to full blast, cranked up the car stereo to max, and whispered in dude's ear "they're following me, so I have to be careful what I say." WTF? On another occasion, and I'm talking first hand from various trusted sources, an exec stopped by Mo's apartment to pick up some DAT tapes of songs Mo was working on. It was in the dead of winter and when the exec got to Mo's door, Mo stayed eyeballing him out through his peep hole for like 15 minutes. Then, once he figured "the coast was clear", Mo went through the process of unlocking what must've been about 12 locks before letting my dude in. Once in, the exec was strangely greeted by Mo who was wearing nothing but a terry cloth bath robe and house shoes, but sweating profusely, like he had stepped out of an effin steam room. Mo then motioned for dude to be quiet. After cranking up his stereo, and a.c., I guess to drown out any sound, Mo pointed for dude to hold their meeting in Mo's bathroom with the shower on blast and with consistent toilet flushing taking place. Mo then started whispering, nervously looking around and asking more than once as to whether my dude was followed as "they've been watching me, following me closely for some time now, and I can't really discuss shit or give you anything today, in case they try to trap me and take me away." Believe me when I believed dude that he high stepped it out of Bee's crib with the quickness. On top of the craziness of that scene, my dude told me he was also getting cold, as it was in the middle of winter, with the a.c. cranked up and what not.
Now all this could probably be summed up as hearsay, but here's where the straw breaks the proverbial camel's back. At the time, not only was Mo noticed by fans, top execs in the industry were also fawning over dude's musical talents. Apparently, short T.I. Jimmy Iovine of Interscope fame was extremely interested in luring Bee over to Interscope by offering him a multi-million dollar label deal. Of course, this was back when we was all making cake and deals like this were being passed out like free cheese. Anyways, Jimmy Iovine flies Mo Bee out to Los Angeles to discuss whether Mo would come over to Interscope, produce mad hits and in the process, transform himself from beat making producer to music industry mogul. Mo Bee gets out to L.A. and checks into his hotel room, for like days. When time for his appointment with Iovine, Mo Bee is a no show. Frustrated and really wanting to invest in dude, Iovine calls another producer legend of his, Dr. Dre to see if he could convince Mo to take the meeting and sign over to Interscope. Story goes, Dre AND Iovine drive over to Mo Bee's hotel, knock on his door, and all they get is an eyeball peeping through the peep hole and all types of whispering coming from the other side of the door. Well, after like 10 minutes of this nonsense, with Dre and Iovine knocking on the hotel door and waiting, Mo Bee eyeballing them and whispering unintelligible ish from inside, Dre was like "fuck this, Jimmy, you ain't paying me that much dough to be fucking around with crazy niggas like this" and bounced. Iovine was right behind him. Thus, after stiffing Iovine, Mo made it back to New York City, in the process killing any prospects of landing a lucrative deal at Interscope or any hopes of building any types of working relationship with Iovine and Dre.
I know also that Mo Bee pulled this type of shit with several other top uber execs in the industry including Sylvia Rhone, then top dog at Electra and Tommy Mattola who was running Sony at the time. These execs would set up meetings with dude, dude would be all like, "yes, let's make this thing here happen", then like.... nothing. No show. Not even a call back with any types of lame excuse. So looking back on all this, did Puff black ball Mo Bee? Fuck yeah. So did like every other effin exec in the industry. Think I'm lying or making this shit up for purposes of blog hits? Do the research your damn self, go out there and ask any credible exec who was in the game during the mid to late '90's as to Mr. Bee's ... strangeness. If I'm lying, I'm dying. To this day, if I were to be working on a project and needed beats, and Mo called me offering shit for free, I'd think more than twice about working with dude. I'm not sure where his mind state is today, but if it's anything like it was then, I sure hope he gets himself checked out, and soon. That peep hole shit is played out.
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Fucking fascinating.
ReplyDeleteWhat's crazy with this is I knew people affiliated with him growing up in the early 90's and what they said about him seemed to indicate he was a normal cat.
I don't know anybody in touch with him these days, for obvious reasons.
Great Post. This is the kind of shit we all dreamed of reading in a Combat Jack blog. However, you must learn to hotlink my dude!
ReplyDelete^hotlinks coming up!!! Love all the advice I'm getting!!!
ReplyDeleteYo man I used to be the pizza delivery guy to bad boy, and I heard Craig Mack and Puff put a hit out on him. Thats why he was always scared cuz dudes in the hood was looking to get a rep.
ReplyDeletePosts like this are why this spot will win in 09.
ReplyDeleteLOL.
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious, man. I always wondered what happened to the guy. He's on a buncha popular stuff throughout the 90's and now, he's nowhere to be found.
I recently watched a documentary on BIG and the bits with Easy did seem a bit off. He talked in a low tone voice and kinda slow.
I don't care, your "sources" are prolly little dudes on your shoulders talking ish. You write a blog... Mo produced hits. Get off this ish and show the world what type of hits you make.
ReplyDeleteBeing a blog writer for anything is a waste of time and how is Mo supposed to respond to this ish??? Get at him for the news idiot, if your not scared...
I never believe a rumor unless I hear it from the source... that source would be Mo, Jimmy, and Dre. Did you talk to them??? Or were you having your wet dream again and you thought the knock on the door was Jimmy when it was Dre's Nuts bangin your chin.
You people really believe this ish?? Where has Hip Hop gone... it used to be "Word is Bond" but you blog people and those that believe him have very little lives...and jealous ones envy.
ReplyDeleteI saw this blog on a production site I belong to and Mo Bee is a legend.
Glad to see no one will stick by "dude" so here I am.
I am Hip Hop.
your a blog... which made the most impact in the world?
Blogs or Hip Hop?
Gary
Hey Gary, thanks for your comment. Like you, I am Hip Hop, and not to get too full of my self, I'm a legend as well. Ask about me. The real me knicca. Thanks
ReplyDeleteCJ! Welcome to le old blogosphere, officially at least.
ReplyDeleteI'm kinda hurt (pause) that you didn't shout me out as one of your influences to blog. You don't recall tearing me a new one (pause) when I recalled shrooming and crying to some random Tupac song in old Bronco?
Twas hilarious my dude.
I see the haters have found you already. the only thing certifiably lower than a blogger is a blog commenter. And right below that is an annonymous blog commenter.
I guess "dude" doesn't know your backstory (pause).
I see on rhymes w/ snitch that jimmy and juelz are buying out a theatre in Harlem today to screen Notorious. Wish I was in NY. Maybe pass the word on to ye old DP. But he stay knowin about all the "Obamas", so nevermind.
anyway, loving the blog, you write well like BC, so it's mad interesting reading your posts.
I may even be so inclined to get back on my grizzly/blogging steez.
Shouts to gabe rocka, DP, cornBolio, etc...
^Dame, whaddup my dude!!!! Been a while and a knicca was rusty (4 effin YEARS!!!), so no offense dukes. Just glad to have you back. No worries about hater comments, just focused on entertaining and seeing all my blog fam make money this year!
ReplyDeleteGary sounds like a bitter old head. Did you make any money in the mid-late 90s? You mad because you weren't breaking bread and someone is throwing their 2 cents about the fuckery that goes on?
ReplyDeleteYou can't believe EVERYTHING you read...especially when it's interviews. People paint pictures to make themselves look good and to bridge a gap, that if obviously were to be reviled would herb them. I should know because I do this shit for a living.
Gary,
Unless YOU have something credible to donate to CJ's table [II] to challenge this or anything else, then you need to sit in the backseat somewhere. Trust me, most of those people in those XXLMag comment section under those blog drops are some industry heads. CJ been dropping hits like this peppered throughout a 4 year time span. Don't you think someone would have outted son if he lied?
And if you havent noticed, He's showing his face putting his cred on the table. If 60 yr old Ernie Paniccioli can read a blog every day, so can the rest of the old heads [and their coke carriers] in the game.
But what do I know... my mom gave birth to me last week.
good post...very interesting
ReplyDeleteEven if this is true I think you should hold it back out of respect.
ReplyDeleteIf it were some dude just randomly being a dick, I'd understand, but if all this is true he's got some issues to work out that are somewhat beyond his control.
Keep your head up Easy.
Wow, I can't believe I'm responding... but here it goes.
ReplyDeleteOk CJ, Break it down. I'm unsure of who you are. Forgive me.
Mo, you can check this also... thanks.
I've been Hip Hop since '83 and consider myself an historian of the culture (38 and bitter). (Not trying to justify... just showing you I understand)
Look, I have no idea what went on in Scott La Rock's life when he was shot... but I do know his beats cause I still bang BDP CM on the regular. After all of these years if I saw homeboy in a certin condition I wouldn't say ish, I'd help the man if I could or he would let me... But I respect what he made and what he made me do when he entered my head... and to tell the world that he may be odd or a little off is not right. Let the man have his however it is.
Picasso, H.R.Giger, Dilla, name your favorite artist and chances are he/she's a bit off some how some way. Even you with a blog... "gotta get that info out there babe!" Huh?? any way. I see Mo Bee as a rapper, producer, artist, legend... shoot, I still bang "That DooWoo Sound" 12" when I reminisce and spin.
I don't subscribe to Hip Hop magazines (past 10 years) any more cause they're not covering Hip Hop... only the "Entertainment Tonight" and "Hollywood access" side of things. This blog's obviously is on that same path.
Help change it by incorporating a B-Boy's true love or stay "Hollywood"
I'ma go back to my production site now and will let you have yours again. But look forward to your info. Cause if I could wright about the Hip Hop that I love and respect I guess I would blog... But it's not worth it to me to throw out the laundry of other people that I resect just to get someone to read what I'm trashing. I'd rather the thought/memory of how it was camp out in my head and stay where it is TRUELY appreciated.
xPEACE goes out to the both of you.
Have a great 2009.
Peace,
Gary
wtf? him and keith were prob keyed up...
ReplyDeleteGary,
ReplyDeleteI find that most self proclaimed "hip-hop historians" are discontent with music right now. Frankly, all of you self proclaimed "hip-hop historians" I respect...deeply. There aren't many people my age who contain as much knowledge and information about music than you guys and, to be honest, I agree with you about the "entertainment tonight" type of coverage on music right now for that same reason--lack of deep knowledge about the subject matter.
Not to discredit any great journalist out there, but what sell aren't jogs down memory lane unless you're interviewing Shock G talking about Tupac. What sells is that nitty gritty, the juice, the exclusive. Some of this shit is disgusting, but that's what the demand calls for and it speaks stronger than the bitching and complaining hip-hop heads like you and other people speak out on.
However, I always appreciate the otherside of the story. I've learned (through analyzing religion) that you shouldn't take everything for face value and challenging the information is how you truly obtain true knowledge. So although you favor opting out of defending your culture through your viewpoint as the self proclaimed "hip-hop historian" that you are [and I redundantly say that out of respect], bitching and complaining doesn't contribute to depreciating the information CJ has provided to challenge Bee's interview.
And, again, if this story was faker than Lil' Kim's make-up tone I strongly believe someone would be under Anonymous throwing that "true story" BS in this here part of the blog. And even if this was fake, CJ has a way of painting a picture that just fucking hilarious. I can't be mad at that during jacked up times like this.
Sidebar: Peace to Dart Adams--a hip-hop historian who blogs that real hip-hop shit.
Dammit man, it's about time you started a blog! I've heard similar shit about Mo Bee...his Odyssey album was delayed hella long for reasons I could never get a straight answer about except for stories about him acting all weird. I never heard all of these detailed accounts before because around 1998-2000 no one would go into detail, mind you.
ReplyDeleteI've heard crazier stuff about your favorite artists & producers and occasionally seen shit that made me go Huh? What? © Joeski Love over the years so don't be so quick to discount this story.
I see you , Mo! Good looks on the shout.
One.
dope cj. I need more posts like this in my life
ReplyDeleteone
Several of the beats credited to Easy Mo Bee on 'Ready To Die' (including 'Warning') were originally produced by an English producer called Dominic Owen who also worked with Lil' Kim, Special Ed and Rakim in the mid 90s. Puffy brought in Easy to re-do them so he didn't have to pay Owen. The only track he ended up getting credited for was 'Things Done Changed' because Easy didn't know the Main Ingredient joint he'd sampled. Easy Mo Bee is a real dope producer but he doesn't deserve credit for those beats. Hell knows how many other cats got jerked by Puffy like that.
ReplyDeleteyo mo bee keith and a lotta others were on drugs and shit back then. mo admitted this himself. paranoid and stuff. theres something you might not know or realize. also with all the beef sorrounding bad boy and death row one might wonder how early this beef may have started. he may have had death threats and shit. lotta haters out there. ive been a fan of mo bee since ultra mag. there rhymes sucked but the beats were always ill and ghetto. he is a legend and creative in his talents. even the old music legends had issues with drugs and booze. coming up poor with sudden success on gets confused easily. plus everything around puffy gets tainted some way or another.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I have a lotta respect for Mo Bee. RTD was the soundtrack to my life for many years. I even dug his work with Rapping Is Fundamental and loved whenever I'd see dude rolling through BK. Based on his interview at xxlmag.com, I just felt like I had to set the record straight. Being in the music biz for so long, seems like whenever shit in an entertainer or producer's career went south, they'd be ready to put that on Puff. Now Puff ain't my dude like that, but being associated with him opened up mad opportunities for me. Shit, still does. But that whole "my record ain't selling b/c of Puff.", "I can't get signed b/c of Puff", "My car got re-poed 'cause a Puff", "My girl left me cause a Puff", "My kniccas think I'm gay cause'a Puff", yo that shit is TIRED!!!! Mo Bee is a LEGEND, and dude has way more opportunities b/c of his past handiwork that I do. Dude is recognized for his shit WORLDWIDE. I'm just saying, stop bitching about imaginary excuses from the past, man up, especially if your shit is clean, and make that paper yo. It's a new effin day, and blaming Diddy is played out like Kwame and them effin polka dots! Black men need to pull they pants up, plus, I love seeing the underdogs rise to the top. So for all offended, sorry if I cut too deep, that's just how CJ gets down, but really, AND I HOPE MO BEE READS THIS: please grab life by the horns my dude, you deserve all you aim for. I remain mad grateful for the musical joy you blessed us with. Just cut it out with your bitchering, aiight?
ReplyDeleteI'm done with this post.
damn homie in the 90's, you was the man homie...
ReplyDeleteIn hindsight this story seems to stick, Mo bee should have blew up, beyond the status he has in hip hop now. Me against the world and Ready to Die? If that happened in todays market he'd be made president of some subdivision of defjam, lol.
Salutes CJ.
911.
what was he on?
ReplyDelete^ lol.
ReplyDeleteInteresting shit, and I have mad respect for his work.
ReplyDeleteLest it go unsaid, Mo Bee was the first and only hip-hop producer to work with the great Miles Davis.
Mo Bee is weird,
ReplyDeleteHe drove around Brooklyn in '92 with friend Chris Wallace a.k.a. Biggie Smalls playing cassettes of the Last Poets, Biggie one up'd Mo Bee, got weirder and sung the Last Poets for the hook of "Party & Bullshit" later that day.
Tupac, friend of Mo Bee & Chris at the time, told people that when he first heard that song he rewound it endlessly over and over, while driving on a road trip down the west coast,
Very weird, after what tragically happened to both of them years later.
Mo Bee provided Tupac the music to the album "Me Against The World", a pretty paranoid album title,
Mo Bee helped Gza & the Rza with early production, which helped them believe the strange idea of the Wu-Tang Clan had a chance.
Antonio Big Daddy Kane Hardy felt confident to start his early career with Mo Bee's production, not that weird.
Mo Bee successfully introduced jazz master and known lunatic Miles Davis to the hip hop world in 92, a risky honor.
Craig Mack's Flava in Your Ear & the album Project: Funk Da World was also another successful sound of sonic strangeness for the summer of 94.
Paranoia is seriously weird and not to be taken lightly, but not as weird as two long time friends like Chris Wallace & Tupac, with Mo Bee, the only producer to ever work with both of them in the studio together at the same time, get murdered back to back and the killers never ever being brought to justice.
More than anything, that is still hard to live with, and very weird.
Also, for the record Lord Finesse could be strange too, He has said that Puffy blacklisted him in '93 after he remixed an R&B song for MCA/Uptown artist Jeff Redd.
Diddy felt it went out outside of his contract with Finesse at the time.
Puff got weird himself and tried to take Lord Finesse's production off Ready To Die.
Ready to Die would have been pretty strange without "Suicidal Thoughts".
Biggie thankfully demanded to keep "Suicidal Thoughts".
Puffy did manage to take off the Finesse production "Come One" feat. Sadat X.
But here is what the weirdest thing to me,
in 2009, father of four, representing the same borough of Brooklyn as Biggie & Mo Bee, and participator in this hip hop community, chooses to slander out a brother of the same color, who chose a noble and successful path in life, for his words in an interview voicing his own, and sadly the the all too familiar story for black musicians in the American music industry, and Puffy, even by default, sadly participates in the wrong side of that machine.
and then adding some bonus "he say she say" about Mo Bee.
If B.I.G. (RIP), D-Dot, EZ Elpee, Nashiem, Ron Amen-Ra & Rashad Smith we're given the same questions, I bet most, if not all of them, would have similar feelings about makin moves with Puff.
By the way, If you do talk to Diddy ask him to cut the Last Poets a check.
& if you see Mo Bee, tell him that cutting up doubles of Black Sabbath "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is just plain crazy.
this is a great post, keep em coming. i photographed Mo Bee couple years back, cool dude. a lot of your 90's producers are artists, not careerist or opportunist. Dre had his ass handed to him twice, so he learned quick. also he had the luck of always having dope artists around him, so he could always rebound. that's the key, have a compelling artist, with hot tracks, and its a lock.
ReplyDeleterich....too marley didnt learn that. he could of made the money dre was made and had all the queens artist. instead he was jerking pause kdef and j force.
ReplyDeleteJBX went all the way around the block, caught two connecting busses, hopped a cab, and walked a few more blocks just to throw the craziest guilt trip on you that I have ever seen.
ReplyDeleteThis post just re-proves the whole saying about opinions and assholes.
Kudos to the comments here being so well thought out; I can't wait until the career racists start coming out though, Byron Crawford style (sarcasm).
dameSTATUS
Funny! Mo Bee produced a lot of hits, his album was dope as well.
ReplyDeleteI was kicking it with him at the Notorious after party. He seemed very bugged out asking me for weed and shit. He was very humbled when I said I was a fan of his work and album.
Yet it doesn't hide the face that he seemed a little off. Cool dude though. This post makes a lot of sense now.
This is my first time reading your blog, I like it a lot. Now I am back tracking like a mutha. Keep up the good work.