A Waste Of Time with ItsTheReal

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome the Editor in Chief of Vibe, and Brooklyn's own Datwon Thomas to the Upper West Side! Day discusses growing up on Air Force bases in Japan and New Mexico before finishing high school back in Brooklyn alongside Junior M.A.F.I.A., trying to pass off instrumentals to Puff Daddy in the club, and interning at Vibe Magazine during their first website's infancy. Day shares stories about how XXL announced their launch to their competition, getting thrown in the deep end at XXL when most of the staff left to go to over to Vibe, the legendary photo shoot for the Great Day in Harlem cover, finally working for Puff, returning to Harris Publications to start KING Magazine, being tapped to replace Elliott Wilson after he left XXL, taking a gig working with Russell Simmons, and all these years later, returning to an internet-focused Vibe. All that, plus the most amazing stories including bringing Kanye West to meet Elliott Wilson, meeting Miss Info, reactions to the infamous KING cover with Brandy, where he was when Big L passed away, writing the XXL cover story on Jay-Z, Ja Rule and DMX, going to the club with Barack Obama and Chris Tucker, and much more!

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome the Ghost himself, one third of the LOX, and fellow Westchester native, Styles P to the Upper West Side! Styles talks growing up in Yonkers with a chip on his shoulder, meeting Jadakiss and Sheek Louch, spending his high school years as a gentleman and a gangster, giving college a try for one semester, putting in work on the block, in retail, and at Ruff Ryders Studios, doing a seven month stretch in jail and signing to Bad Boy upon his release, and how any rapper could get it when the Ruff Ryders met up on 127th Street and 7th Avenue. We discussed Biggie's effect on the Lox, why things didn't work out with Puff, signing to Ruff Ryders/Interscope, selling 16x the amount of records the label expected, plotting his second album singles, and threatening the executives when his plans were dashed. All that, plus DMX, Swizz, Eve, the entire Bad Boy roster, Alchemist, Mary J. Blige, Curren$y, Berner, Icepic Jay Jackson, and much more!

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome Hot 97 and Dash Radio personality Hip Hop Mike to the Upper West Side! In this hilarious and crazy episode, Mike details his parents leaving him to be raised with his grandmother in Queens, his father going to jail, becoming a stick-up kid, being sent to Florida to live with his well-to-do cousins and learning to sell weed, coming back to NYC only to get into more trouble and ending up in a group home, staying there so long he aged out of the group home, becoming a standout amateur tennis player, crashing a car on prom night, holding down several jobs, fighting with his mother and her boyfriend/Mike's tennis coach, all before he graduated high school. Mike talks about reaching out to Peter Rosenberg via MySpace, winning tickets three times from Hot 97 to see Rock the Bells, starting college for pre-med and dropping out, and linking up with Rosenberg again to offer his assistance. Mike discusses how much music changed his life, how showing up and listening changed the course of his career, and who exactly he considers family these days. All that, plus stories about Nas, Nardwuar, Lil Fame, and much more!

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome Harlem native Vado to the Upper West Side! Vado talks growing up on 142nd and Lenox Avenue, going to school with Juelz Santana, seeing Mase, Jay Z, Fat Joe, the Ruff Ryders, Aaliyah, and more come through the block, battle rapping all around Harlem, going on a ski trips with Teyana Taylor, dropping out of school, forming the UN with Cam'Ron and hitting the Summer Jam main stage. We discussed the appeal of major record labels, his meetings with Atlantic, Universal, and eOne, wearing sunglasses in clubs, what's necessary for a walk-through, and why he signed with DJ Khaled, and what they have in store together. All that, plus Angela Yee, Harlem World, Dipskate, Mavado, Jae Millz, Busta Rhymes, TI, Young Dro, and of course, his new project Sinatra 2!

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal we welcome Queens native and founder of the Brunch Bounce party series / The Greatest Day Ever, Irv Benitez! Irv details his early days wanting to be a part of the music industry, meeting Just Blaze while working at Foot Locker, interning at Roc-a-fella Records twice, and just-about giving up on college when his father unexpectedly passed away. Irv discusses diving into a career in corporate communications, riding Segways and interviewing girls for Victoria's Secret on college campuses across the country, and eventually finding his way back to New York City to work in marketing. We talk about the genesis of Brunch Bounce and how it went from a Uptown birthday party to thousands of ticket-buyers and a crowd-surfing Joe Budden to considering the USS Intrepid and Yankee Stadium as spaces for their parties to being five years in and throwing events around the world, including the biggest Greatest Day Ever yet, July 15 + 16 in The Bronx!

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome celebrated producer, satellite radio mainstay, and all-around dope DJ Statik Selektah to the Upper West Side! Statik discusses his upbringing in the Northeast, falling in love with hip-hop at a family Thanksgiving, doing Emerson radio even though he wasn't a student there, taking the Fung Wah bus down to NYC to sell mixtapes on Canal Street, and knowing when to uproot and move out of Boston. We talk Statik's work with Joey Badass, 2 Chainz, Action Bronson, Kanye West, Nas, Mac Miller, Bun B, Talib Kweli, Eminem, Sean Price and more. Statik breaks news on Joey Badass, shares the name of the 2 Chainz single off Statik's upcoming album, discusses hanging out with Puffy, Mariah, Nicole Kidman, Derek Jeter and so much more!

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome Rory Farrell (co-host of The Joe Budden Podcast and General Manager of HennyPalooza) back to the Upper West Side for his own episode! Rory discusses growing up a problem child, taking the Peter Pan bus by himself up and down the East Coast, drinking heavily in high school, miraculously receiving a college scholarship for running track, being an Irish kid in a traditionally African-American fraternity, getting kicked out of school twice, and finding himself through an internship at Def Jam. Rory shares an amazing stories about Kanye playing Def Jam My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy for the first time, the original name of the album, the original vision for the album, and his over-the-top presentation. We discuss Joe Budden's game nights, booking Drake for a college performance, sitting in an office cubicle across from Lyor Cohen, producing a game show for MTV, shooting music videos for The-Dream, Fabolous, Ludacris, and so much more!

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, one half of Run the Jewels, Killer Mike, welcomes Eric and Jeff into his Atlanta, Georgia home! In a conversation surrounding ItsTheReal's new album, Teddy Bear Fresh, which drops on May 26th, Mike talks with the brothers Rosenthal about their family, growing up on Jay Z and Biggie, diving into a career of hip-hop sketch comedy, and the persistence, focus, authenticity and sacrifices that earned them ten years in the game. Mike and ItsTheReal trade stories about entourages, co-signs, comedy, haters, drugs, label independence, Kanye West and much more! Teddy Bear Fresh, featuring appearances by Curren$y, Smoke DZA, Bun B, Michael Christmas, Tunji Ige, Jazz Cartier, Angie Martinez, Just Blaze, Combat Jack, Sway Calloway, and Scott Rogowsky will be available on all streaming services starting May 26th, and is up for iTunes pre-sale right now!

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we stop by Atlantic Records to sit down with their SVP of A&R Dallas Martin! We discussed growing up humble in Flint, Michigan, turning down the safe in-state option and going to Clark Atlanta University, promoting parties around the city and meeting Don Cannon, DJ Drama, and DJ Sense, getting an internship with the man who signed Jeezy and Rick Ross to Def Jam, Shakir Stewart, and Shakir's shocking death. Dallas talks about his recovery, his fresh start with Juelz Santana, delivering records like "Back to the Crib," getting fired from Def Jam, losing out on jobs, sinking into depression, and getting saved when an opportunity to help rebuild Warner Bros. Records came his way. We dive deep into the recording processes of Wale, Meek Mill, Omarion, and Rick Ross, which artist passed on the Mike Will instrumental that went on to become "No Lie," why Lotus Flower Bomb almost didn't make radio, how Meek's Dreams & Nightmares intro came together, where he was when he got wind of Meek's Drake texts, the major artists he almost signed, what the Atlantic Records merger meant, what Khaled is like in meetings, Ross' Atlanta mansion, and much, much, much more!

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome our hilarious friend online and IRL, Jena Luckman, to the Upper West Side! Jena talks about online dating, growing up as a competitive dancer, dumping a future poker champion, and why Flo Rida doesn't find her particularly funny. We discussed her surviving cancer, surviving getting mugged in New York City, and surviving getting catfished over and over and over again. All that, plus growing up in Boca Raton, staying with the Kardashians at Coachella, giving strippers pizza, why the police pulled her out of high school, her reality TV future with her mom, and much more!