Masta Ace On “People’s Party With Talib Kweli”

In this episode of “People’s Party With Talib Kweli”, Talib Kweli sits down with rapper, writer, producer, and original member of the legendary Juice Crew:

MASTA ACE

Here’s what they got into:

• Ace’s bars exemplifying rhyme schemes that shaped Talib as an emcee
• Rakim’s innovations of rhyme patterns impacting how Ace approached writing
• How the song “Crooklyn Dodgers” for the 1994 Spike Lee joint “Crooklyn” came together
• Ace being fully immersed in the early stages of hip hop, growing up in Brownsville, BK
• Going to Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay High School and joining the football team
• Working as a HS football coach for 11 years, while keeping his identity under wraps
• Ace winning the first rap contest he entered himself in, in 1986
• How Ace landed himself a spot on the Juice Crew and the song, “The Symphony”
• A young Ol’ Dirty Bastard getting himself kicked off the Cold Chillin’ tour
• The impact of Ace’s debut, ‘Take A Look Around’ and how he feels about it now
• People thinking Ace’s voiced impression of Biz was really him on, “Me & The Biz”
• Ace’s song, “Jeep Ass Niguh”, and how it was inspired by LL’s, “The Boomin’ System”
• Hearing how much Eminem was influenced by Ace’s, ‘SlaughtaHouse’ album
• Breaking down how ‘Sittin’ On Chrome’ was Ace’s “compromise album”
• His experience with Big Beat Records and how that album fell through
• Being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and keeping it private for 13 years
• Forming the eMC crew with Wordsworth, Stricklin, and Punchline
• How his 2001 tour in the UK inspired the penning of ‘Disposable Arts’
• The honesty of “Dear Diary” and it’s pointing to where battle rap was going
• The song, “Soda & Soap”, with Jean Grae originally being written for Will Smith
• Ace and Marco Polo’s ‘A Breukelen Story’ leaning into Marco’s life
• How ‘MA Doom: Son of Yvonne’ was born from Ace’s love of “Special Herbs”
• Unpacking “Home In America” about the impact of systemic racism
• Ace’s work on a hip hop musical based on three of his albums
• What’s next for Ace?

“People’s Party With Talib Kweli” is also available to give a listen via Spotify | SoundCloud | Google Play | Apple | Luminary