IamA Fresh Kid Ice, Co-Founder of 2 Live Crew AMA!

What is the preferred position for a sexual partner during intercourse?

I like getting head better, and head in the bed is the best

Dang, I was hoping for Face Down Ass Up! Haha thanks for answering dude! Your music turned me on my ear when I was young (and I turned out totally well adjusted, fuck pmrc)

Hahahaha thank you!

Another question for you, Kid, What did you think of the 2 Live Jews and their song Oy! It's So Humid! ?

To me it was cool because I knew those guys yknowmsayin cause they recorded under Hot Productions which was Henry Stone's label and one of the guys was Henry Stone's son so they were cool with me.

The Notorious B.I.G. or Tupac?

Tupac. to me he was real. He put women up on a pedestal with brenda got a baby, keep ya head up, dear momma, that type of stuff. and he was real. I drank a couple Heinekens with him at a Splashdown concert at Virginia Key Beach in Miami when he had his first deal

Drinking Heinekens with Tupac? I'm mad jealous thats awesome, good point about Tupac though thanks for the answer.

Fo sure. We was jus chillen and he was comin up to perform so i wanted to watch the performance and they had nothin out there for him to drink so we had cooler full of beers and we shared some with him. It was cool seein him right after he was with Digital Underground on his first solo album

What song was the most fun to record?

Basically all our studio sessions were fun. It would be just me Marquis and Mixx in the studio. We just lock in there with an engineer and go for broke. And whenever we need Luke to do anything we'd just call him in when it's done

Do you have any thoughts about the over-sexualized content that's played on the radio? I have no problem with the music itself and grew up on you guys and Akinyele and gangsta rap, but now that I'm older, I think of my nieces and think they should be able to at least listen to the radio without being exposed to it. Not sure if you have kids, but obviously with the content of a lot of your records, would love your opinion.

To me the music today is basically repetitious and a lot of the groups have no personality. A lot of the music of today has a lot of sexual overtones while back in the 80s and early 90s most of the stuff, most of the music were groups for different genres. 2 Live Crew is more sex, NWA was more gangsta, Kid N Play was more bubble gum. The girls and the models thats what they see. I think it's good but there should be some kind of limits. You dont want kids like 12 and under to be singin sexual songs. They should be singin like Hannah Montana and Nickolodeon type stuff. I have 4 kids and 3 grandkids. Thats why theres clean versions of almost all 2 Live Crew songs so they can identify with some of the stuff and as they get older they should be able to listen to the music in its true entirety.

Thats why theres clean versions of almost all 2 Live Crew songs

I won't tell your mama if you don't tell your dad

I know he'll be disgusted when he sees your pussy busted

Won't your mama be so mad if she knew I got that ass?

I won't tell your mama if you don't tell your dad

I think he'll find upsetting you can't wear white at your wedding

Won't your mama feel regret when she sees your goals unmet?

Hahaha wow. exactly. Basically when we did clean versions it was like recording a whole new song. We didnt do punchout outs we reworded the whole song to make it clean. Basically we came up with that cause when people started getting arrested for selling our music to minors we decided to give them another option. You just wanna sell to 18 and over or the clean versions to the younger kids....so we decided to sell clean too. The 18+ can go gold, but we can sell another 200,000 or 300,000 records if we just make clean versions. It was a marketing technique. We all agreed to do it. At that time we voted on everything

Can you talk about what Luke did for the group both coming and leaving? He obviously took the role as front man, after the group was established, but was there more too it. Was his business side super strong as well? Or was it a right place right time for him? Is there any bad blood?

There is animosity between members of the group. He came in as a hype man. And then a lot of people fail to realize, the label was started for 4 people. He started as our manager. Later. As in the first album he was the manager, on the album cover where it says Fresh Kid Ice - MC, Brother Marquis - MC, Mr MIxx - DJ, Luke Skyywalker - Manager. And in 88 he became part of the group as hype man. The group wanted to concentrate on msuic and let him handle the business part. And by him handling the business part it went from our company to "My company." The first 3 albums was recorded without a contract. And the contracts didnt come in until 1990. So in ways he used friendship to gain trust and escalated himself in other ways. So thats why when people say what broke up 2 Live Crew, it was basically business, because our end, he didnt take care fo the group like we took care of the company by investing all of our money into the company. The company went bankrupt because of his decisions and the way he played it. A lot of the stuff was handed to him, a successfule group was handed to him and he bankrupted the company. And people always say did each memeber want to be like Luke? No. Each member had their own identity. We each only wanted to be ourselves and be a unit to create music and he just used it in a way by not paying royalties and not doing this and that and he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar by the judges. So thats how the company went under. We were livin basically normal lives, nothin lavish, jus regular homes. He wanted the big house, the clubs, the great cars. We was just surviving off of our show money and investing the record sales back into the company. When you have Gold Records and took our money out of it, 1/4th woulda been for each member. When we had 2 gold records, a double platinum album, and sevreral goold and platinum singles, if we had took out our money he wouda had nothin to work with. First MC Shy D it's public record what the judge said about him when he ruiled against Luke. So....that's life, and that's why there's animosity between group members and so forth. More of this can be read about in my book "My Rise 2 Fame" find it on Amazon.

How do you stay fresh and kidlike at your age? Cryogenics?

Hahahaha My kids and grandkids

I wanna first say thanks for getting me slapped upside the head by my mom countless times as a kid. She hated you guys and hated me listening to you even more. Anyway, here's my questions. Did you get a lot of people hating on you for being an Asian rapper back then? Who came up with the idea to sample the Chick from Full Metal Jacket? Thanks for doing this AMA.

I never got flakk for bein an rapper of Asian descent cause it was before videos. People got used to my voice before even seein me. We had a few 12" records that did well. People knew the group. I never went on the Asian thing cause I wanted yto be recognized as an MC first. I think the Full Metal Jacket came up with Brother Marquis. He came up with the idea and Mixx already had the track kinda done with the Firecracker sample so it went from here

I just wanted to say that I was a huge fan of your group back in my high school days. I was fascinated how a small music act could be figuratively crucified because of the content on a music tape. I know that along the way, you guys faced a TON of situations that put you in risk of arrest/incarceration, but was there ever one time that made you seriously reconsider the road you guys were on, and question if it was worth it at the time?

Basically the road we were on was considered party rap, just like Red Foxx, Dolemite, Leroy Skillet, Richard Pryor, Lawanda Page, that was the orad we were on. Takin rap into the locker room for guys thats why we had the things that guys talk about behind closed doors in the lockerroom. We never questioned if it was the right path. Other people went before us in ways. Blowfly and he rest. We didnt think anything wrong cause other people did it before us. The thing we did was put it to a beat. We took different elemenets from Laugh Records and stuff like that and Mr Mixx would take that and make the record talk to you to make it funny. So we always felt we were doin the right thing. And if anybody else say different, they're lying. All that came to pass with "Throw The D," before Luke joined the group, we already had it figured out whre we were goin. Only question was who were gonna travel with We chose to start a new label in Miami. thats' why we left the west coast for Florida, to start a new label.

Thank you for the answer. Good luck with the new book and I look forward to reading it!

Thank you

One of the fascinating things about the book, is the details you went into about how different music influenced 2 Live Crew, and the amount of artistry that you guys put into developing your sound. I feel like this type of dialogue is important because hip hop naysayers like to ignorantly dismiss rap as "not real music." You mentioned that over time, you figured out what type of sounds made your voice sound the best. Can you give some specifics about this?

Uhmm, basically we used to experiment with different sounds and so forth. We did the hip hop thing. We have hip hop songs on each album. We have vibin sounds. We experiement with reggae, blues, jazz, and so forth, and put it together and see what mixes up in the pot like gumbo yknow, and see what sounds good and all the different elements that make us a unique group cause we vome from different parts of the country. Mixx is California bred. Marquis is born in Rochestert, his mom wqs out in Claifornia but he have Alabama roots. And myself was born in Trinidad with the Brooklyn accent after moving tehre as a kid. And Luke was Miami. And that what uniqye abotu 2 Live CRew, different elements fromn around the country and world and create the group where every memeber is different . Like me, being Asian and so forth, my grandad was full Cantonese. It shows that peopel of any country can do hip hop and its something that back then we were tellin people. When they say its a fad like disco, in and out, we wree like the different thing about hip hop is you can take any kind of music and make it your owbn. The first era was like plain old beats and instrumentals, Like the Sugarhill Gang. That whooe thing, that whol jndelrining track came from Good Times by Chic. So it shows that it could take disco and make it into hip hop. Right after that, the Planet Rock era came, and from the Planet Rock era it grew into doifferent things. Then came a different type of Party Rap and other types of music. Thats whne you have songs that incorporate the like Exposes and Shanins', the dance era, so all that stuff is still a form of hip hop that came around the same few years. Roxannae Roxanne, The Lissa Lisa Cult Jam, all that is hip hop...

Did suge knight kill Tupac and biggie?

I have no idea. Only the lord knows that

How did other rappers react to the outright banning of your guys' record back in the '90s? And also, how good did it feel to have the obscenity decision overturned?

Back in 1990, there was mixed emotions by other rappers and so forth. Some were for it and some were against us. Some peopel liked us and others thouguht we weere a fluke. Some thought we were just assholes or whatver. But when everything was overturned in court it was a big relief to know youre not gonna be prosecuted or go to jail for this. That was first on our mind not to be prosecuted and later on we figured out what really happened, what could have happened if we lost , and they would have went after other groups later on ;like they did Ice T and the federal govt did to NWA and so forth.

What was the inspiration for your seminal 1990's classic, "The Fuck Shop?"

All the fuck shops in Miami. When we first moved to the city in in 1986 we lived in a neighborhood full of them. And the song is really inspired by all the fuck shops hotels on SW 8th street in Miami

What are your thoughts on Ice Soap?

Ice Soap? I have no idea. hahaha. Whats that. If anybody wanna take my sperm and sell it that could be the next big thing.

U guys back in miami now? Glad u have book..touring ..and performing..ultimate bad boys with talent.

Once I moved here to Miami in 1986, i never moved away! The book is a must read. Tells you a lot about 2 Live Crew, Fresh Kid Ice, and hip hop in general

Is she still horny after her promise of loving you for a long time?

Hahahaha I believe women are always horny

You know, I wrote a story about that once. Feel free to check it out. It's intensely NSFW.

Damn, a 31 year old man with a 91 year old woman, doin porn.... Gottdamn bitch shoulda been dried up by now

Find something you love and you'll never work a day in your life.

Correct. I seen a lot of different things over the years on the road. When we played some sex parties we performed at where we seen people switching up and having sex in the open and just walked through, but my favorite part of the job is entertaining people. Gettin smiles on their faces and having them live through our music

Who is your greatest music inspiration, in rap and in other genres?

Bob Marley overall. In rap back in the day Jimmy Spicer he had the record "Adventures of Superrhymes," for rock Motley Cru cause of the energy of the music and they like singin' about girls. And late 70s music like James Brown, some of the disco stuff like BeeGees and stuff like that, the songs are like part of my childhood.

No one can deny Boogie Shoes!

or KC and the SUnshine Band!

It's funny that you said Kc and The Sunshine Band! I have a funny story about that song "2 Live Party," which featured KC and The Sunshine Band.

Right around the time you guys came out with that album, I had just put some Kicker 12s in my Thunderbird, and that song really pounded something serious. Well, one night, I was leaving a Denny's in Winter Haven, Fl, and had that song bumping. I was waiting to pull out onto the road, and a cop comes up to my window and says "I can ticket you if I can hear your radio from more than 100 ft. I was well over 100 ft away, was inside the restaurant, and the salt shakers on my table were moving around." So, he went back to his car to write me a noise ticket, and my homeboy and I just started cracking up. Well, he came back and they had some BS warrant on me that I didn't know existed. It was nothing serious, and I got it taken care of, so I guess what I'm trying to say, is thanks for helping me get the most out of my speaker system, and also for helping me realize that I had a BS warrant to take care of!

Hahahahaha. Oh man, wow. What a story. The bass we always made sure we had extra kick, extra 808 and when we take it for mastering we lower it some more so that it vibrate through the floors. Thats why you can feel it in your chest and comin from underneath also

Are you currently working with any artists that you think could be the next Flo Rida? In terms of breaking out, not necessarily style.

Fame Faiella a young artist from around Ft Myers area that signed to my label Chinaman Records, check out http://www.chinamanrecordsllc.com

Hey Fresh Kid Ice,

It's crazy but your guys' court case is in my media law textbook. When the case was happening did you guys know you were taking part in a case way more important than people immediately realized? It was a huge step towards the freedom of creative expression.

We didnt' really understnad until after the case was over. All we knew was we were fightin for our freedom, freedom of speech. Basically we didnt understand what would come of it until later on, until i sit back and look on it, then you realize what you done for freedom of speech

Did any of you guys get head on stage or pussy?

In Japan. But we had some dancers that would do all kind of crazy stuff that would perform certain things to different people in the crowd and stuff like that. Couple professionals. Let's just say our rider had whipped cream, bananas, all kinds of stuff. It was a party on stage

How do you feel about Richard Cheese's cover of Me So Horny? Could you dig it, or was it just too absurd?

Richard Cheese? I don't think I heard it. but the name is funny

http://youtu.be/NbJIv6-yTKo

Give it a listen

Hahaha. Sound like a Vegas lounge act. This rock band covered Me So Horny in 1990 or 91' and got arrested at the same club we did. i forgot the name of the band but its in the newspapers. So tell Richard Cheese watch out for the cops lol

if you had to estimate, how many individual booty cheeks (one person = 2 individual booty cheeks) do you think you've slapped in your lifetime?

Wow. Probably a couple thousand, probably more than that. Cause I used to spank girls on the butt with my microphone at shows too. Just, I only had one arm to use so used my microphone to slap em. I turn the mic over and hit em with the other end, Not the part by your mouth, the other side. I started that like in 1988 after my car accident

To this day how do you feel about being associated with certain Supreme Court rulings and how do you feel those experiences impacted your career?

Im proud of em due to the fact that we stood for something by being associated with it. The group stood for something. We went through the freedom of speech in court together. We were all on the line yknowmsayin. We coulda went to jail if we had lost. So by being associated with that it was a great fight and it impacted music. And from that it helped other things come to pass like the Rock The Vote type stuff, and it kinda put musicians to the forefront of politics in ways. It shows the influence of musicians on politics

Hey FKI, now that you're a grandfather, how would you complete this lyric from back in the day: "Somebody say 'He-e-e-e-e-y! We want some ________!'"?

Hehehahha. Thats a song that can never be changed. It was never a clean version to that

What was the inspiration for the Fuck Shop? Real place?

I grew up in South Florida in the 80s and 90s. Thanks for the education.

Real place. Southwest 8th Street. Those little side motels

I have the CD Banned in the USA, which was my first 2 Live CD. What were the names that were edited out when Luke did I Ain't Bullshittin 2? Do you still talk to the Crew? Any ideas on you guys will do a new album or a collab?

There was always an I Aint Bullshittin on most the albums, i cant remember i gotta listen to the track. Yeah I still tak to the crew we do reunion shows together. We just played LIV at The Fontainebleau last week. Marquis and myself have a new 2 Live Crew album and a couple of albums in the can

I remember the Fountainbleu from The U documentary on ESPN! Do you have any stories hanging out with the Miami Hurricanes?

Yeah they used to have the top level. and then they used to have the ballroom every summer back in the 80s. The players from the U would throw a party and Ghetto Style DJ's would DJ. And then most the players would be in the suites. Somebody would rent out the penthouse. A lot of the first round players would come there, be there for the summertime. And then one time i was inNew Orleans with Bret Perriman when he was playin for the Saints (he was at the U before), and Bustdown was performing at some club during the BRE conference, and that's where I got the idea for the Pop That Coochie cause the girls was poppin that thang, and peopel were all talkin bout pop that pussy, and that's where I got the idea for that song. A few of the U players traveled with us before while they were in college, I dont wanna say their names, they would fly around the country with us. We would go to the games like when the U played Florida State up in Tallahasee we went to that game. They used to say we were like kinfolk to some of the players and theyd have us in on the guest list. Tht was the year that Bratton and Tolbert Bain played, that was who got bombed by Flutie. I think that's when they were like freshmen. Either freshmen or second year player. A couple of the hurricanes like Melvin Bratton came and visited me when I got my car wreck. Bratton was on his way to the Broncos and Tolbert was tryin out for the Steelers. They were fans. They used to go to Strawberry's, they used to go to Manhattan's. Highsmith and Michael Irving. Everybody used to go to these clubs. Then Inferno on Saturday sometimes when they in town. The Crew and The U were friends. thats' where their hip hop swag came from eacho ther. The U had a swagger due to the fact they never lost. And then I remember when Jerome was still alive when they went up to Arizona with the military outfits on. A lot of them looked up to us. We had our swag cause we was like the south vs everybody else and they was like the U vs everybody else.

When you were making the album, did you guys know what controversy it would cause? Thanks!

No. No idea. We were just makin music thats all

Your music was widely decried by the "think of what you're doing to the children" set when it came out. Now that "the children" are in their 20s and relatively normal (and the music scene of today has a lot more artists who make not very child friendly content), how do you feel about that whole controversy?

Well we stood up for what we believed in knowmsayin and the people who listen to our music right now are from their late 20s to their 50s so we raised a generation of doctors lawyers and professional people

Your aspiration to become rapper is good but it doesn't give ever ending life. Isn't it?

Huh? Due to my accomplishments in music the name 2 Live Crew and as a member of 2 Live Crew we will live forever. Cause we already in the history books. People study us in college and so on and so forth and as hip hop becomes bigger and bigger, we will become an area of study soon