ARE YOU DONE WITH THE NEW LP?
Basically. I'm just doin' this last song with Chy Skills, the guy who produced Onyx. It's called "How You Comin' Off?" I already did the vocals and hooked up the tracks-he's just gonna mix it.

1) Circa 1985. Stetson and Adidas warm-up with Run. 2) Circa 1987. Kangol riding cap and Dapper Dan Gucci jac with Davy D. 3) Circa 1990. Chrome dome with the Afros. 4) Circa 1992. On tour with Orchard Street leather bomber. 5) Circa 1993. The Hurra and 40 checkin' in with Dawn.

Elbow Room
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HOW AND WHEN DID YOU COME TO REPLACE MTV'S DR. DRE AS THE BEASTIE BOYS DJ?
'86. in the middle of the Raisin' Hell Tour. I don't know how he lost the gig. I was on tour with Run-DMC as a homeboy, bodyguard type. He kind of left them out on a limb, I don't know, but they needed a DJ, and I was the only guy around who knew how to DJ and who wasn't already busy.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO RAP IN THE FIRST PLACE?
I've always been a rapper. I was rappin' before I was a DJ. I rapped back in 1976. When Run didn't have any equipment, he used to come borrow ours so he could get on the mic at block parties.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'OURS'?
Me, Davy D and Cool T, The Solo Sounds. We were the first rap group from Hollis, Queens. Run would come to us because he didn't have a crew, he was solo. He was "Run, Kurtis Blow's Son."
YOU GUYS WERE THE SOLO SOUNDS BUT RUN WAS ACTUALLY SOLO?
Ya know?
WHAT STREET DID YOU GROW UP ON?
I grew up on Two-Fifth.
205th?
Right.
WHAT ABOUT RUN?
Joey? Where Joey grow up? Two-9th, something like that. Jay was Two-Third. D.M.C. 197th. Yo I don't wanna answer questions about Run DMC-ask them!
SORRY. SO WHAT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THAT FIRST BEASTIE BOYS TOUR?
Every night was crazy. There wasn't a show we did that wasn't crazy. For Paul's Boutique we didn't really tour, except a few places here and there, but I was there for those too.
THE CHECK YOUR HEAD TOUR DIDN'T SEEM AS CRAZY. YOU GUYS WEREN'T AT EACH OTHER'S THROATS AT THE END OF THE TOUR, PLUS YOU WERE REALLY IN SYNCH MUSICALLY:
We been together so long we don't get at each others throats anymore, and we really wanted to tour this time. Everybody's good at their instrument. I'm good on the turntables, Mike D's good on the drums, Yauch's good on the bass, the Kid's good on guitar, Eric Bobo's excellent on congas, Mark's good on the keyboard. It's not a mystery. It just gets tighter and tighter.
SO DO YOU THINK YOU'LL BE MORE INVOLVED WITH THE WRITING OF THE NEW BEASTIE BOYS ALBUM?
I already helped them do two tracks. Ya know?
WHEN YOU DID "STICK EM UP" IN CONCERT, YOU HAD THE KIDS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND. NO OTHER BLACK GUY GETS TO DO THAT WITH A WHITE ROCK AUDIENCE...
Heh-heh.
BUT YOU'RE ALSO IN A UNlQUE POSITION AS THE BLACK DJ FOR A WHITE RAP BAND. DO OTHER BROTHERS FRONT ON YOU FOR BEING WITH THE BEASTIE BOYS?
Don't nobody fuck with me, and I don't fuck with nobody. But don't fuck with me. Black rappers who know what time it is, veteran rappers like Chuck D., Run, they know the Beastie Boys is cool. It's the new kids, who don't know, that are usually the ones who try to dis. Ya know? [In the background, Cane's wife, Dawn, is scolding him]
CANE: I happen to be doing an interview right now-
DAWN: I don't give a fuck!
CANE: That's the wife! She's saying I better have the grill lit by the time she git back!
SO YOU'RE IN ATLANTA NOW BUT YOU RECORDED THE LP IN L.A. SEEMED LIKE YOU HAD A GOOD TIME IN L.A.
Definitely.
WHAT ABOUT YOUR NEW POSSE? WHERE ARE THEY FROM?
Locals, they from out there. I hooked up with 'em on the streets of L.A. Some of 'em I met in clubs, others I met through certain people. They all real cool. Coach, you know Coach? He and I talk about sports so we caught on real good.
DO YOU WANNA SHOUT OUT?
That's an idea! Coach, Bud, Lello- damn, there's so many-
CORKY NEMEC?
Huh?
YOU KNOW, THE WHITE GUY IN CROSS COLOURS WHO WAS RHYMIN' OUT BACK AT THE LAST PARTY?
Sheet! You saw that? What the fuck? Whatever. He's goin' for his, but I think my microphone skills are better.
MORE SERIOUSLY, WHAT ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM?
It's definitely something I've wanted to do for a long time. As long as I've been rappin', I've never had the opportunity to make my own record. I've always made records to please other people. Davy D's 1987 album? I rapped on that, but I rapped for him. Same thing with The Afros. I had to adjust. So with this album- huh! (He laughs). I show a little microphone skills. The street shit. The hard shit. Ya know?
WHAT'S THE RATIO OF LIVE TO LOOPS?
Bobo plays some congas, Mark plays some keyboards and flute on a coupla tracks, the Kid plays guitar on one, Mike D. hooked me up with a couple of loops.
DIDN'T MAX HOOK YOU UP?
Max Perlich? THAT LITTLE PRICK! Naw, that's my man! He played this record for me that was incredible and I used it for this track called "Tha' Hurra." You know that's what my album's called, too: Tha' Hurra. Actually I made the beat fatter than it was, but I gave Max credit. Thanks to Max, I got hooked up. "Ya know?" (Said like Sugarfoot from Ohio Players)
YEAH I KNOW [laughing]
"Ya dig?" [laughing]-Yo I can't find the motherfucking lighter fluid... So when y'all gonna be done with this interview?
JUST ONE MORE QUESTION: WHAT'S UP WITH SHAFTMAN?
On the tour, in Australia, the promoter was this guy named Pav, and when we got in his van he was playing it. And it's funnier than hell. so I was like what the fuck is this? And he says "it's Shaftman." And I said "Shaftman? Not Shaft?" l had to go to soundcheck and Mario was going to the record store, so l told him if he saw this record to get a copy for me. He did, and the cover has this white guy in a fake afro and cocaine on his nose, with three women laying all around him. So when I finally got into the studio I said "I'm gonna write fucking Shaftman!." In the song I'm actually pretending to be Shaftman, like this is what he would say. I even changed my voice a little. You gotta listen to the whole record, it's some funny shit. I don't know when it came out, but it must have been after Dolemite.
OK. OH, I UNDERSTAND DAWN IS EXPECTING.
Any day now, any day. A little boy, there's gonna be a little Hurricane running around.
NOW WHAT DOES DAWN THINK OF SHAFTMAN?
She just says I'm crazy, ya know? Or in the words of Shaftman, "I just got my dick sucked and my asshole reamed, what the fuck do you want?"

[On September 7th Hurricane's wife, Dawn, gave birth to a baby boy, Quran. Hurricane's debut solo album is tenatively scheduled for January, '94 release.]