DJ Clark Kent says that LL Cool J passed on two beats that The Notorious B.I.G. later went on to use on classic tracks. Appearing on the second episode of Warner Music Group’s Iconic Records podcast series, Clark Kent explained that the beats for “Sky’s the Limit” and Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s “Player’s Anthem” were originally in LL Cool J’s possession.
“[‘Player’s Anthem’] rings off in the Tunnel,” Clark Kent began. “[Kap] plays it like 10 times in a row. Now, me and Biggie are standing against one of the walls in the Tunnel. LL COOL J’s walking by and the club’s going crazy. I’m like, ‘Yo, wassup?’ And he goes, ‘Yo, what is this?’ I was like, ‘It’s the new joint with Big and his crew.’ He was like, ‘Who did this?’ I was like, ‘I did.’ He was like, ‘Yo, dawg, I need a joint like that.’ I said, ‘Well, remember that tape I gave you with the silver label on it? That was the first one on the tape.’ And he was like, ‘This?!’ I was like, ‘Yeah, you had it first.’ ‘You had it before [JAY-Z], you had it before all the guys that you had any rivalries with. You had it first. I shouldn’t have gave it to you but I did. But you had it first and you didn’t pick it. So now you hear it in the club.’ And he was just like, ‘Damn.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, listen to the tape.’”
DJ Clark Kent In New York City
“The next track on there was ‘Sky’s the Limit,’” he said. “He missed that. LL had ‘Player’s Anthem’ and ‘Sky’s the Limit.’ And then it was magical because the Tunnel was upside down that night. And I was just like, ‘We did this yesterday. This shit shouldn’t even be playing.’ But it’s me, Big and Un. Un’s like, ‘Yo, this gon’ be the first single!’ And Big’s like, ‘I told you so, I told you.’ And I was just like, ‘Okay, you told me.’”
Clark Kent went on to praise Biggie for his ability to recognize and incorporate a good beat into his songs. He felt that LL Cool J, on the other hand, didn’t “listen to it properly.” He explained that not all artists can hear an entire composition when they listen to a beat. “Most people hear the track and they think, ‘How do I rhyme to it?’ Biggie’s like, ‘Oh no, there’s a whole song here,’” the DJ said. Check out the second episode of Iconic Records below.
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DJ Clark Kent On “Iconic Records
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