Lyor Cohen Talks Migos Issues with 300 Ent, Kanye West + more!

[Music] you're watching The Breakfast Club [Music] morning everybody is dej envy Angela Yee Charlemagne the guy we are The Breakfast Club you got a special guest in the building yes as soon as he sat down he said I hope you all are more prepared for me than y'all were for Takashi 69 and I think we know a little bit about hello hello hello welcome sir good morning I'm so happy to be here I feel honored and and privileged to be here with you guys I was happy to have you to have you you're YouTube's global head of music now I didn't sleep last night did you why anxiety a lot of anxiety I I don't ever remember doing a radio interview this is really strange I'm usually sitting at the you know watching my artists talk but this is a different thing so last night I was trying to figure out what in the world do they want to talk about with me so everything I was confused I was really confused so I was waking up in the middle of the night just like trying to figure out what was the best interviews that I saw who gave the best interviews and I my burnt my mind went blank none of ours came to mind none no Chuck D always comes to mind Chuck D always comes to mind let's go ahead what do you want to add let's start from the beginning how did Leo Cohen get into hip-hop well unbeknownst to many of you including yourselves not true I know the first all rap station was not in New York City it was 1580 KDAY in Los Angeles okay and there was a DJ clique called uncle jams are me and uncle jams army used to take out the Sports Arena downtown and they had no talent they just had great beats and it was just at the end of disco and kind of lakeside bar-kays you're too young you don't even know who they are it's okay it's a okay it's okay the Gap Band okay so that that was that scene right there right and I was just driving around Los Angeles and I would see these gigantic posters uncle jams Army Pacific Arena and the date so I just said I have no idea what this is I'm gonna go find it and I went and I walked in and there was an arena full of people enjoying the breakbeat and it was fascinating to me and I actually was introduced to the beat about six years earlier because my brother was a woodshop teacher in Thurmond a high school now vermin day was known to have the best basketball team in the country private school in watts or Compton and he would always take me down to the games and every chance they had they went with a base and a couple of drums and you know I heard the funky drummer you know it was just amazing to me I was never a b-boy I was always me I always remain my most authentic self there are unfortunate moments of of you know big chains but that was just a like uncomfortable moment there are photos floating around I really don't like it but I always try to stay the most authentic me did you ever try to get an athletics cuz you are at 6'5 man I could take you out on the basketball court right now old man me and and embarrass you I fell in love with I fell in love with yeah I fell in love with it it was it fell in love with me too so I have a theory that I want to love those that love me back you know that's how I played radio stations too if they didn't love my artists to me I didn't love them you know how did you know you wanted to be an executive and not an artist though because you know that I guess most people get the bug to be in front of the camera I had no interest in um being an executive or an artist it was remember we did everything back then we were making it up understand when I came I had a hole in my shoe I didn't know that snow melted and that the snow would come up and into my shoe and then though it got so cold and I came in 1983 in the winter and my first job was to take Run DMC to Europe and literally my first job I I didn't even get to stay one night in New York because they couldn't find their road manager he was on a binge and I was the only one with the passport so that's how I started beating the road managers I was just making it up I had no experience I had no understanding I had no money I had nothing well how did you did you know Russell Simmons or how did you just become Run DMC's so I threw a show so I was a financial analyst I was making fourteen thousand dollars a year I had no windows kind of like this um and it wasn't fun I worked for the National Bank of Israel my mom found me the gig and my friends were throwing parties and they're having the best times had the best girls the best drugs everything and I was just like you know my mom got me the job I just have a degree in international finance and marketing I better stick this thing out but I was doing really nothing it was horrible I was I'm dying and my friends were encouraging me to throw a party and I said I don't want to just throw any type of party I want to throw something interesting and they said well tell me what interesting is and there was a bunch of unsigned Hollywood bands at the time and at that time uncle jams army would start bringing New York rappers to their parties but since they're at a government facility they timed out at 11 o'clock because they didn't want you know 17,000 black kids running around downtown so um late at night so I just figured man maybe I could hire one of their rappers that they were bringing from New York to play at my after our spot gotcha so I threw a show with the Red Hot Chili Peppers fishbone Social Distortion um the Circle Jerks starring Run DMC I borrowed $700 from my mom and made 36 G's that night well I was short $700 it was nothing they were all unsigned right and I put it together it was a very unique moment in a lot of people's lives including myself and you know only problem I had that night was Joey came off the stage before he performed I said I'm not sure what you're doing but there's a whole audience out there waiting for you and he says and they're not waiting for me you didn't see what just happened I said what happened and he said you know those little white kids who came on stage and they they wanted to attack me was basically all-white and I realized these this was stage-diving they were all coming on stage and dancing with him and then throwing themselves up jumping off and I said that's what they you know they're doing they're it's an they're having a great time it's a sign of affection and he looked at me and he said I don't know why I trust you but I'll go out there okay and do this and the rest of the night he was flinging little white kids off the stage came offstage and said I like you man I'm and and that's how it happened they invited me they told Russell about me you know I went through a tragedy because I thought I was so slick that I feel another show with Houdini you don't know who because you guys are so [ __ ] young excuse me okay just checking I know you guys hard that Takashi update and everything you guys keep it fresh up here I'm 40 40 yes all right you should get in health care products okay so so yeah so I lost all my money there it goes I've been running from that feeling so at the Run DMC show with the Chili Peppers I stood out you know it was it was like oh it was a Late Show no one was there and then all of a sudden I went outside and people just exploded hmm so I thought I would select that the Houdini show I was just gonna wait for the explosion the people they never came and that feeling below my heart and above my stomach is something that I feel today right now doing interviews like now right now like this is one of the things that motivate me I never really want to feel that feeling ever again I never want to stand outside that door waiting for a walk-up hmm so anyhow I'm in New York City I'm doing my thing we're all doing our things and and we're having a great time and I'm learning a lot and I feel so privileged to be here you know I got by the way my friend who is running Columbia University's TV station let us rehearse the Beastie Boys ll run names he will Brokeback then we had no money for rehearsal halls and he said take the Columbia University TV station little did I know he was filming it I have 17 hours it devolved 1983 rehearsals Beastie Boys LL Cool J Run DMC now No now I know a lot of people don't know when they see that footage they're gonna know who said whose house Ron's house I'm ma you made you okay yeah we're rehearsing and I said you know you came up cheapest Lea and said this is their Baba and I had to I had to check Joey and say this is your house and and and and we rehearsed it it's all there one day I'll come out how do you that's right thank you YouTube on YouTube I always wonder about that like how did y'all find that crop of artists so early of course we know Run DMC but the Beastie Boys LL Cool J because you kind of set yourself up for one with those it wasn't it was genius it was all Rick Rubin he's a mastermind genius period tell us about Rick Rubin Rick Rubin loved strippers and and wrestlers he was all in there and he had a vision that he armed he protected so strongly I still remember going to his dorm room and he was in pain hunched over in pain because he was looking at colors now you guys respond to that Def Jam sleeve in such a positive way that man spent days hours minutes painting over the precise colors and the relationship of those colors and the font size and I looked at him and I said whoa I'm going to take a mental note this guy's attention to detail and that's what that was such an important lesson for me because I pay attention to the details because I saw my man early on paying attention to he was in pain searching for those right colors it didn't happen by chance how many how many times have you felt that feeling that you said you felt in your gut after the Houdini show it doesn't seem like you felt it too much no I haven't felt it that much but I run away from it you know and and and I work super hard to avoid it um it's not that I don't put myself in risk I'm in risk all the time I'm reinventing myself all the time I'm trying to figure it out all the time I'm not complacent I think the Houdini move was a complacent move I had Red Hot Chili Peppers Social Distortion the Circle Jerks fear starring one DMC I made 36 G's I was on it and then I got lazy and thought that I could you know double down triple down I I slept I got hit by that blind spot in the rear view mirror of greed and lack of focus please you're not gonna find me doing that ever okay that's why I'm sitting here today why why you guys want to talk to me is because I didn't get lazy or get hit by that blind spot because I know that when I got when I got hit by that blind spot man I had spent what do you do when you're 21 years old and you've got thirty six thousand dollars in cash go buy some more dope you I'm thinking for my stay and what else you try to flip it and make more make some more money the show it worked that way yeah you exactly but but but you know when you're broke and you got 36 G's you do all the above and [ __ ] it off blow up yeah okay exactly exactly man I learned so many lessons that day you know one of the problems out here is that people are winning in many ways too easily mm-hmm and part of the artist development there's people development like people development man you have to hit your head and get back up and recognize you know what what just happened um I feel bad for those people you know I had roommates too I was 33 years old everybody look at me like oh man that's New York Cohen he's been balling all his life I had roommates too I was 33 years old really okay I was the mayor of Alphabet City nothing moved without me okay so these kids I think they have it kind of slippery and kind of easy and um I think that there's call things that we lost in the last decade as artists development but we also lost mentorship mm-hmm can you tell me you tell me I want to hire right now I want to hired YouTube music the dopest executives on the planet you know how long that list would be so short because we haven't mentored anybody so our bench is very very thin oh man oh boy what's always been around yeah oh yeah yes you know what I think happens to what I notice as far as what you said about developing artists and mentoring people somebody goes viral right they can do one song they go viral and then the labels are offering millions of dollars for somebody that has one record one record so my belief is that with 47 years 44 years into this hip-hop game hmm you understand that now hip-hop is not just you know something to piss your parents off because your parents are listening to it too it's a problem and then you get it this this this like day-trading of rappers it's the worst thing that could happen for our culture all those labels that are day trading should be embarrassed and ashamed of themselves because they are going to be the reason why things um come to an end I believe that it's like that's I do like I wouldn't invest in artists like them so they show me that they're gonna be around exactly listen I never signed an act because I was afraid of losing them I only signed an act because I wanted them on my label different mentality these days I don't I never signed an act because man when one act says to me or another labels interested in me I said go ahead with yourself I'm not interested in you anymore so we drink with you I heard you all but had drink in the bag and then drink um um the truth is Drake shook my hand and said it was a done deal shook my hand and this woulda been a Def Jam I 300 Def Jam son you see I already shook your hand it was a done deal and you found out he wasn't signing that an award so everybody had on the Cash Money shirts or something like that yeah it doesn't matter it doesn't matter he didn't stop the party I'm happy for him and I'm happy for his fans it's all good did I hurt your feelings though didn't hurt my feelings but you know I'm old-school you know I come from a different thing you want to fight what means you want to fight you know I'm not interested in fighting hmm you know he only tell you why you know I really don't spend time backwards okay it's like I keep moving what advice would you give to an artist now if they want to sign somewhere but they don't know what to do let's say they don't have a team and they're from a city where maybe they don't have access to what we have access to in these major cities what would you tell them as far as where should I sign and what kind of deal should I sign I think they should focus on YouTube music the way you see it that ass I think that they have the ability to touch all these a in our people and state authentic and true to themselves they need to upload and understand YouTube I met a woman last night Queen Naja incredible oh my god oh my god let me just tell you something she was an expert number one expert I met on the YouTube hustle her whole thing was built on YouTube and understanding YouTube and so what I think you used to be have to be in New York or LA San Francisco Miami sometimes to be signed Chicago um but now you could be anywhere living in the projects yes you could lean on you you could create your own channel that's all right there looks cutting down Times Square look where yes did I hit oh she left me and went straight there wait down we had a few a couple weeks ago he's a superstar she's she's amazing but she also understands YouTube how to UM touch that algorithm okay how to affect okay we have one point nine billion customers one point nine billion customers it's a largest platform bar none and where could you upload something yesterday and have distribution throughout the world it's just it's a fascinating opportunity and I really believe that at the end of the day a label has to say what is a label today what is the value proposition of a label today if you're the same label that was handling um Teddy Riley um that and in yard and guy and and and jealousies bandy Jodeci when of the greatest labels of all time of all time but if you add that now you out of position so what I would say to an artist is ask the label what is the definition of a label now if it's simply capped just sign a deal with your eyes wide open you're giving something your signature and your rights mm they're supposed to give you something so you have to ask them what is it that you're giving me what is a label of the 21st century a label in the streaming society the world I'm shrinking what does that label look like what is the functionality of that label what could I rely on you and I think that's the very important place to start by the way any artists that ever asked that question will get 40% more immediately because labels also want to sign smart people you know there's tired of the ignorant now being a music executive do you understand why labels and owners who are in the same position that you were in then feel like they're getting the worst end of the deal and negotiating on you too so um I really don't understand that I think there's a lot of misunderstanding the the when you talk about the short end of the stick or or the controversy which is by the way I don't know if you hear about it anymore because I've been there for a year and four months and we've really went to work to work closely with the labels closely with the label groups and the publishers we treat them like clients now it used to be that Google will come sign a contract and go back to San Francisco and imagine what the music business needed come back three years later and try to get a renewal now in the last 20 years you know which way the business has gone for the labels straight down you know which way the business has gone up for the go straight up so there's misunderstandings now you're going straight up I'm going straight down you know we're not very sophisticated I said the music industry right but we could look at a chart you know what I'm saying we understand when the records got a bullet right and moving up the arrow is pointing that way same thing in business they knew the arrow was pointed down in the Arab pointing out and the fact that there was no dialogue between the company and the labels we are only negotiating with the label groups the corporate people go away for three years come back and try to get a renewal so right now we've built an infrastructure to service the labels to understand what they need what's important to them how we could be helpful my first thing when I see a label head is how could I be helpful how could you tube helped you if anybody knows you should know yeah it's different you're coming from the labels now yeah and so they feel good about that you know I'm gonna um when I first came on you know the news I never pay attention to new news I never paid attention to and what anybody ever said about me hmm uh and they said it was a hard choice for me to run this company but I didn't think it was in our choice because I feel the pain of how difficult it is to break an artist breaking an artist is complex and really difficult it's impossible and so what I wanted it's so hard you've done it so much though it's so hard I've been lucky I've been in it a long time even the broken clock is Right twice a year used to be it's it's it's maybe not harder but it's more complex if if you're and if you didn't chiropractor yourself if you didn't get yourself ready for this new period um then it's harder if you if you're just trying to get a radio ad you got a problem if you oversaturated I feel like now we didn't have the choices yeah that back then there's so many different ways to consume music so many different artists that are able to upload and not have to be signed to a label it used to be you had to watch you know Ralph McDaniels on video music box and that's where you saw a video that's why you're so rich because you guys become really critical curation remember be careful for what we wish for we wanted democracy and powd the levee broke and now there's a billion bands swimming around our ankles but what made you leave 300 cuz that was your baby you know that was 300 still my baby and it's not a baby anymore okay so when I started 300 I was scared of two things remember below the heart and above the stomach right the two things were no hits and that there could be a runaway where there's only two distributors Spotify and Apple mm-hm and it scared me because if there's no diversity in distribution they will capture all the money if there's four players then all the money goes back to the labels in the artists mm-hmm so we started having hits and my partner Kevin said to me and I was telling him that they kept calling me wanting me to take this job and I kept telling them I'm not interested Kevin one day said you know now we got hits maybe you could help bring Google and YouTube into that race to help bring diversity because the healthy climate we need is Spotify Apple Google YouTube and Amazon remember 35 years ago some crazy man could go and say you know let me rent the warehouse buy a bunch of records and put Tower Records on the top can't do that anymore you have to have a global footprint you have to have a bunch of engineers and you have to have a grip of money not too many people putting their hands up to do that or qualified to do that so Google and YouTube was a natural the world's most consumption of music happens on YouTube and so they should be able to participate in a healthy way and if I could help bring the industry and Google and YouTube together it would be the greatest gift that I could give to an industry that has let me live the way I live my kids went to college on sucker MC think about that whoo - I live a incredible life and you know most people live in incredible lives their finance would work for a bank or a lawyer that I'm living an incredible life because it's my thing I mean come on you know I got a country club I'm playing golf and I'm playing with a bunch of finance people you know I work for JP Morgan I work for Merrill Lynch I work for um you know Citibank what do you do yeah how'd you get here I said sucker MC Wooden and they're like wow brass monkey hmm so correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like the disconnect between YouTube and the labels of the labels thing to pay off they're too low so here's a here's a situation so when the most most media businesses that are mature it's a combination between subscription and advertising okay hmm we are at this point we thought we are solving the most complex problem and that is getting people to pay with their eyeballs okay and build a global platform what we didn't do which we should have done and we're doing now is layer a subscription service now let me ask you a question that kid 15 years old out of um north of Milwaukee parents are a struggling middle-class family is she important that fifteen-year-old girl that is consuming an enormous amounts of music she can't get a job she can't legally get a job and her family can't afford 120 dollars a year in the subscription is she important I think so yeah she's so important and what we figured out is how to get her to pay with her eyeballs hmm okay so when you pay with your eyeballs especially when you're inventing something okay when you're inventing something paying with your eyeballs to CPMs them the what the advertisers pay for that is still lower than it will be tomorrow every day you're watching your kids moving away from television to on-demand viewership on their phone right mm-hm every day and guess what every day it's getting more and more expensive for McDonald's to hit up your kids they're not there they're gonna segue away from traditional media and they're gonna move to on-demand YouTube and at that point um the artists were beginning and the labels were beginning more money but there'll be getting more money also by virtue of us building a subscription service so we should be able to get those people who can't afford and they're willing to suffer through advertising and and pay with their eyeballs and then we'll build a very healthy subscription business it's hard to get people to see that vision oh and you know I'm pronouncing his name wrong but Irving Azoff he says the YouTube rates are a threat to artists livelihood so he's still throwing pigeons out the window okay to communicate so listen it's an old-school way of thinking and I really appreciate here means done a lot of nice things for a bunch of important artists but you know time will prove itself that advertising and subscription together are the way for the industry to get healthy and to grow um remember let me ask you a question in the Philippines you think there's a booming subscription business in the Philippines I have no idea the country still has to clothe feed and house themselves before they go start and charging enormous amounts of money to for subscription so my feeling is that um those markets will be first to pay with their eyeballs but they also have to develop the marketplace they those advertisers have to understand how to connect with them and they have to build a middle-class and that's how advertising CPMs grow and and artists and and labels will be getting more money here's the thing we are here to partner and work with the industry it's in so important we can't do this alone but we have to do it together in order to build a healthy business we have to do it together we got a bunch of great engineers I know these people's hearts are in the right place otherwise I'll just go straight back to 300 they're waiting for me well technology is inevitable and sometimes it's hard for people to see what's coming in the future especially if they're very traditional in the way that they think like some people thought cassette tapes will be here forever then they thought CDs would be here forever then we moved to streaming services you had some foresight early on to know that it was something to embrace because a lot of people were not embracing that at first what did you see and what do you see for the future so I feel so happy to be liberated from the CD the CD was so costly just Birnam and throw a great party and and get some square footage back in your apartment well they're so costly oh my god they were so expensive to make more than tapes and records though they were so expensive you have warehousing you have trucking you have obsolescence you have returns you have transportation the the floppy disk math you know pretty inexpensive but when you build all the costs around the physical expense of it it's the reasons why the industry had a walled garden because distribution was so expensive it kept it was very hard for us to penetrate so I'm so happy that CDs are finished and the physical expense is finished I love the idea of recording you last night and putting you up immediately around the world at almost no expense that's a liberation that's music from leaking as well so many things got solved would you ever blend the best of both roads and sign artists directly to YouTube I think labels are super important I think labels that that are asking themselves the question what is our value proposition like what we started off this morning talking about artist development people development I think there's a real important role for labels and you know what's solving a global platform 1.9 billion people getting them to subscribe getting them to pay with their eyeballs we got our hands full so I I suggest that the labels are an or an important part of the ecosystem I just want labels that have slowed down for hot minute and ask themselves what value proposition do we represent now and please stop day trading and get back into artist development I felt like y'all was day trading a little bit at 300 though we offer a sunny out right with them it worked out for me goals but initially they thought y'all would date trainers like who these guys they sign I think I think stuff that buzzes here buzzes in other places like in Atlanta they were a lot bigger than you might have realized by the time they got up here so so be clear that um I spend I love artist development I actually spend less time with broken eye artists and I do with artists that are on the verge of breaking that's what I'm interested in my perverse interested interest all my life has been the moment an artist crosses that line from obscurity to celebrity hmm that's interesting to me and I've seen it go so haywire so many times that I like to be there to help them understand what's important like you understand there's a lot of evil forces out here for young kids that are just got on like I'll give you an example I think touring is really important especially in this age of the internet because you could fake your way to celebrity and gaining status when you're on that stage there's no internet it's mono to Mono fans that's why it's so critical for fans to come out because that they've been so surprised so you know they've been sold a bill of goods so many times that their best way of peeping what's real is going to a show and so to me this force of the brown paper bag and jumping up for a song at strip clubs and in clubs no value destructive before young kid oh they can all they need to do is go to X Club in Atlanta and get a bag for 20 G's is you know they don't have to UM think about their show they go and you know everybody's you know competing against everybody that's how that clubs winning because they got the hottest new act to jump up and do a couple songs but to me that's destructive in the most critical part and that is developing your audience and your show and so many many times have had to talk to the artists and say you keep taking those brown paper bags you're not building um a hard ticket I can't demonstrate that you're worth a thousand seats in Baton Rouge because you've been going for the last two years and been taking brown paper bags and jumping at every strip club there is so I mean it's difficult because that's they got a record on the radio a lot of times they're broke and now they get your calling yeah absolutely money Adam they gotta take it you know they don't have time to wait a lot of us don't want to wait exactly and so that's what I love doing some time they listen to me sometimes they don't with every time I know at 300 at the start where it looked rough with you know cuz I know it was hard to break the migos I know it was very hard to break Fetty it's rough everyday they laughed at me like hyenas when I started 300 like why isn't the old man just go away laughed at me like hyenas there hasn't even been reading any of the news music business is over he's gonna start a record company yeah right of course it's hard it's hard everything I did was hard nothing came really easy to me and I don't want easy I want hard and yes it was scary um but I knew that as long as I had a runway they couldn't stop me my guns off safety when I walk in the club if I want the Act I go home with the act all the other late have their gun on they don't even have their gun on they're not allowed to carry the gun they have to check with their boss and the boss has to check with their boss and the boss at bar by the time they checked with the boss's boss's boss you know I already signed the act when we sign Fetty um every label president Caldwell he was in my office and I could have signed them I said but you didn't because your guns on safety or you don't even had carry a pistol so you know that's the liberation at 300 was I got back to doing what I wanted to do and when I walked into a club if I wanted the act I signed the act okay let's talk about a former actor yours yes he was amazing when he put the picture out with the maggot hat on I didn't put that picture he put it up yeah I had no idea I had no idea what that didn't see that come on leo I didn't see the Hat I was so mesmerized by I'm being invited I brought my crew we just flew down from San Francisco we're in Calabasas you know Kanye is a beautiful host we walked into his gorgeous place where he does the clothing and sneakers and the sneaker nobility it was you know I was bringing my colleagues from the from San Francisco so and nobody noticed a black guy in the mag was I was your bro you couldn't cut me off or what um so I'm here having an incredible time being with him and and he was obviously interested you know when Kanye is interested in having you you know you feel like you're in that moment and then he goes you want to hear some music so we went in listen to music so no I didn't look at his hat at all I didn't see his hat I was fully immersed in in the experience um and I was so honored again to be there like wow I mean listening to this music I'm here with my colleagues my colleagues see that have a direct connect with some Kanye and we're mesmerised so no the answer is no a long way of saying no after what's the point after the picture came out and you saw the Hat did you did you have any thoughts so this is the crazy stuff I had to run to the airport so I had to go and I ran to the airport as I'm running like um like an Avis commercial through the airport everybody's saying yo what's up with the hat what's up with that and I didn't know what I'm talking about cuz I'm trying to make the flight I finally get to the gate and I came with a few minutes to spare my phones blowing up and in and you know Julie Kevin my Kaiser Jay everybody's blown my [ __ ] up like bro what's going on and that's when I realized what happened it was so fascinating to see I literally we're talking more than 40 people so imagine I'm in Calabasas snap get in the car 35 minutes I'm running through the airport over 40 people shouting at me through the airport let me ask you this if an artist is talented right but you don't agree with their personal views does that matter is it all about talent no it's all about talent um I respect their personal views but I can never be silent I've never been silent and that's why I've touched more rap music than everybody combined never had a security guard okay because one I tell bad news faster than good news okay and I tell people when they ask me exactly how I feel like you can't be a rapper and have a cup in front of me I tell you that's liquid heroin your junkie your junkie you any rapper come right now they come a thing I have to tell them because to me I don't want to be I feel my silence would be complicit with all orders that you work with I think that's really it doesn't matter if I work with them or not if they got a cop I'm gonna tell them their junkie and they're hooked on liquid heroin as real um would it concern you enough to not work with someone if they were say they were in the middle of negotiating with you yes go ahead what I can do this deal what if you felt like they had a drug problem no no no no no it it's part of the math in my brain oh nothing good happens with junkies okay because remember junkie the definition of junkie means you have to hit a wall to get better now there are many people who have been able to hit the wall and and walk away mmm a lot of them don't so you know I don't like giving up people I don't love I don't want to give up on people one of the biggest artists you have had a real bad drug problem DMX I'm so sad um DMX there's two people inside of him and the the Earl is one of the nicest people I put him up in the Lake George Earl loved being silent with a fishing pole I [ __ ] you not he just would stay on that dock hours and hours and hours and hours yeah very very sad um you know it's I think the opiate problem the syrup problem is the biggest problem that I've ever seen and I've ever faced and been a part of and I can't be I can't [ __ ] with it you know the crack thing was devastating but at least the rappers were bringing a spotlight to you becoming a fiend okay and I thought that that was that spotlight had crackhead crack arm helped even though it was harsh and really harm really rough particularly on women but I think it helped change the course of the crack epidemic I don't know what's this opioid thing man is crackhead wasn't cool now it's they seem like they're they're making it cool to be drinking lean and syrup in it's the most dangerous it's the most dangerous thing that's facing our society are you so why sign artists that would promote it um because I already answered that question you weren't paying attention um she asked me talent or issues and I said talent but I I have to I can't give up on people those things have a critical aw yeah I got I got people to feed I got a business to run you're gonna make damn - take this clip and call you a coach a vulture whose theme - you brought him up I don't even know him I don't even know him so you bring him his name up I don't even know him so yeah I made a lot of money together made a lot of money I'll do that to him I don't know him I really thought so I don't know what to tell you I won't be complicit but I will you know if a guy's super talented I'm I'm I'm hopeful I believe that with my help um my efforts I could help they told me when I'm professor Griff when nuts um in Montreux Switzerland um talking about the caucus and mountains and monkeys and everything like that they tell every single executive Jewish executive told me the drop Public Enemy and not work with them you know what I did I brought Chuck to the Holocaust Museum so no I don't problems is problems I try to fix problems I try to sign great talent and then help them honor the culture was government say yes now how do you respond to because people have called you a culture vulture before I'm 37 years doing this so there's good you know hoo boy so when you're 37 years and continuously inventing yourself and winning people don't there's a small subset of people that don't like those people that their fortunes may not have they may not have reinvented themselves um that are upset but like I said I don't really pay attention to them you know the first time that I ever heard the Dame - had an issue with me was my daughter called me up and asked me who's Dame - I don't pay attention people feel like you you broke up Rockefeller that's that's what they say you got in Jays ear and told him get away from Dan I think you got to talk to to Jay and and Damon and and big Tata you know I you know I don't know what to say to that so I always have an expression you and you you you say we're friends mm-hmm I said man you gave gave a Shh shitty interview and you said man I thought we're friends we're no fret we're not friends any longer you know what I say we'll never friends in the first place if that can't we can't survive that 100% so if their partnership couldn't survive then what's you know how if if if it was me or anybody else no outside influence you'd be able to now where do you see the future of music going music I was never a weather vane person I don't predict III I look at a look at wow I could get out from underneath this expensive cost that are hurting everybody and making someone because the wall the barrier is so Hall Hawk I could make someone rich because they had access and I didn't so that was I don't really predict culture I predict armed economic you know structural changes but in terms of words rap going or or what kind of rap I never paid attention to that you think streaming will ever be free like the premium services or you think it's always gonna have to be a paid subscription because the only thing that kills me is paying for different subscriptions for all of these different services and like this person has this released exclusively and they don't have this music horrible horrible for the consumers is these exclusives we don't believe in exclusive thank you for bringing that up we want to just um um win because we've built something that we could feel really proud of and by the way I really hope that you're using YouTube music and if you don't we're gonna hijack you out there with a give you the experience it's really incredible it's incredible um so I know am I done no okay so let me just tell you that I've I've launched our service now in 17 countries you know what makes me so proud I was like I'm so proud right now I'm proud of the product but more proud of that rap music is 40 percent of Russian market 40 percent of Poland 40 percent of France rap music is taking over and when I tell you they finally liberated themselves they're not rappers trying to pretend like they're from the US and rapping like us people they're rappers that are just rapping with their own identity it's so sick I could show you [ __ ] that will blow your mind the biggest artists in France is Pia now it's amazing these two guys amazing you know what's happening with the afrobeat explosion love it it's exploding out of Nigeria right into Europe we're gonna feel remember my hands that's my hand you're gonna feel you're gonna feel a feeling I don't know you're gonna really feel it like they're bringing melodies but they're bringing that Fela feeling it's just so it's gonna be so fun what's their overall mission for YouTube in the industry um I don't I couldn't overall mission for YouTube is that more artists could feed their families and more songwriters could feed their families when when when those artists are at the kitchen table and saying to their parents that I'm skip college and I'm just gonna be an artist um they could make an informed decision unlike the last 20 years that it sucked me it was hard I'm telling your parents I'm gonna be an artist write that every headline was the music business is over mission of of YouTube music is that more artists could make a really healthy living from being an artist and songwriters and and and yeah that's it have you spelled the wrist a kid recently no he's pretty upset with you guys mm-hmm have you heard of no no he just posted a comment that said uh [ __ ] 300 and he feels like you guys have not really helped his career out too much [ __ ] 390 ENT y'all suck listen they're not living at this damn contract I wanna be with y'all no [ __ ] more I told y'all I get y'all dealing this money back I don't wanna be with y'all label no more y'all suck y'all is trashed listen young independent artists do not sign with you hundred NT there's the worst worst label ever let me know I'm gonna pay out its money back lame-ass [ __ ] and look if y'all want respect for go tell 300 is that a question I don't feel good about I'm hearing that but it sounds like he's a clown maybe it's a late night something um you know here's the thing I give money early I sign the contract early right that's what what about a contract money doesn't mean anything these days okay so I don't know what his problem is you should call me as my number look do you see if it calls me do you ever read a contracts like of course I redo contracts like okay you know my whole life I'm redoing contracts contracts are meant to be renewed and um yeah why not mm-hmm I don't I don't do how about this he's gonna have a hard time because we don't we don't play that little and he said they felt like 300 held them back a little bit yeah if y'all wouldn't let me put out music for 18 months they said so listen I just been doing it for 37 years I don't think I have all the answers I don't even think that I have all the right answers but I do believe that focus and attention in creating an artwork a moment in time I want to UM I'm in the champagne business not the water business I'd like to make something special if it's everywhere all day every day I don't know why that's special so I'm sorry it was simply listen if they put a bunch of music out I I make more money right more music more money since that's how it works that's the algorithm but I wanted them to make what I thought they could make you didn't want there to be day traders basically and and by the way um you know I'm not trying to open up a controversy but how do you feel about culture one and two what's what's the word out there coaching one who's been what coach one was about 300 AD coaching one okay not quiet it's all coach to just say go to one was a better project that's a fact okay I think that's the general consensus okay so you taking the credit for that I'm not taking the credit yeah why am I taking the credit well I asked a simple question was culture one better than culture to those simple question I thought we did a really really good job they did a magnificent job and my hats are off to pee and coach you know these are hardworking creative executives that are in the cut now I believe we're about to enter the Golden Age of the music business fortunes are going to be made fortunes are going to be made the problem with the last 20 years as the business is shrunk the empezar Rios either sold their company or got out in order to realize what's about to happen where fortunes could be made we need them pasar iou's back the unemployable the people that aren't taking a job the survivors of the last 20 years are career employees I have nothing against them but I want some flavor out here and when I see P and coach doing their thing they're the ones gonna make fortunes fortunes you know so I invite you know right now the capital the money is going to team up with these impresarios and there's real fortunes are gonna be made and they're gonna unlock the Golden Age Leo Cohen ladies and gentlemen s we appreciate you for joining us I'm so thrilled to be here our position I'm thrilled to be here I bet you you get an audience of two and and yeah thank you I'm pretty sure this is gonna make some noise um listen the one thing that I I can say is back in the day in the 80s we used to celebrate each other little independent sleeping bag profile all these little companies Tommy Boy Records all of them we used to get our gigs and then meet late night in the East Village and we used to celebrate each other winning doesn't mean that someone else has to lose and that's a problem here the problem is that we got to celebrate more and I and I I asked you guys in your own way I know that controversy um brings viewership and and listenership but I want you to also understand that you have the mixing board to also celebrate great things that happen okay and let's do that look what LeBron did last night did you talk about him this morning so thank you very much I just feel like um I like consistent greatness oval controversy I don't think there's no value in shock okay thank you guys thank you for what you've done to keep the engine flowing um I it's hard doing what you do every day you know lots of people think that's you come in here gift of gab you drive out with your chauffeur limousines and everything's hunky-dory I know how much work this is and how difficult it is and I applaud you for building this business I just wish you guys were on YouTube uplift The Breakfast Club channel um I'm really honored to have been here this morning Thank You Leah Leo Cohen is the Breakfast Club good morning [Music] you

Channel: Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM

Views: 1,829,566

Keywords: the breakfast club, power1051, celebrity news, radio, video, interview, angela yee, charlamagne tha god, dj envy, Lyor Cohen

Id: sitMVitcB8c

Length: 66min 21sec (3981 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 01 2018