Long Live the Kane

Big Daddy Kane takes a couple of deep breaths backstage at The Railyard in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he’s performing a free show as part of Raashan Ahmad’s Wonderful Fantastic Hip Hop Festival. A revolving door of fans are hounding him for photos and he respectfully obliges, although it’s clear he’s trying to get into show mode. 

With the swagger of a seasoned vet, Kane calmly saunters up the stairs and on to the stage as his live band ushers him in with an instrumental version of Isaac Hayes’ “Walk On By.” He proceeds to effortlessly command the crowd with songs like “Ain’t No Half Steppin’,” “Long Live the Kane” and “Smooth Operator,” bringing everyone to cheers. 

Seeing a hip-hop show in New Mexico is transcendent. The culture is alive and well, fully represented by all elements. Graffiti artists paint murals in the background, a B-Boy circle forms to the side and the DJs and MCs lead the audience in a call-and-response routine, almost like a scene straight out of Krush Groove. And there’s no doubt Kane feels it, too. 

At 57, the Juice Crew alum has paid his dues and then some. Along with his standout verse on the Marley Marl-produced hip-hop classic, 1988’s “The Symphony,” solo albums such as Long Live the Kane (1988), It’s a Big Daddy Thing (1989), and Taste of Chocolate (1990)—all on Cold Chillin’ Records—established himself among the upper echelon of MCs. 

Now, with LL Cool J, Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes’ encouragement, he’s working on his first album since 1998’s Veteranz Day. Posted up at a Santa Fe hotel, Kane talked to SPIN about the forthcoming record, ageism in hip-hop and the new virus destroying the culture. 

You’re working on your first new album in decades. Why now?

Busta Rhymes been trying to get me to do a new project since 2013. 

What, just chirping in your ear or what? 

Nah, I mean he sent me tracks. He had been including me on the new songs that he do. Like telling me, “Yo, you need to do this, we need to do this.” He almost had me at one point. Then I just, you know, I just was like, “Hmm.” But then right when LL was dropping his album, he played it for me and then he kept talking about, “Right now is the time.” But LL talks funny. He don’t talk directly to the point. He wants you to figure it out. So LL talks like, “Now’s the time B, now’s the time B. We all can do this right now.”

When I heard his album, I was so blown away because it’s like that was my first time ever, like, hearing LL just be super lyrical on every song. I’m used to him giving us, like, maybe one or two songs when he’s lyrical and the rest be everything in song format, like “Mama Said Knock You Out.”

Or “Around the Way Girl.”

Yeah. But on this one, he’s just super lyrical on every single song. The way he did his thing with Eminem, the way he murdered the track with Rick Ross and Fat Joe, you know, I was like, “LL is in his zone.” I feel like Q-Tip challenged him, too. I feel like “Proclivities” is probably the only one normal LL track. Everything else is stuff that LL would never use—and he bodied it. This is not stuff I used to hear LL on, but he did his thing on it.

He probably wanted to go harder with Q-Tip behind the board. I would think that would inspire you.

Absolutely. So after LL played me his stuff and he kept talking about, “Now’s the time,” I started really giving it heavy consideration. Then Tip called me and he was saying that, “Yo, you should talk to LL about getting on a remix of…I forgot which song it was. He was like, “What you going to do?” He was like, “Let me start sending you some stuff.” So Tip sent me like two beats, and I was just really motivated. I’m like, “Let me get on my A game.”

Because here you have one of the best producers hooking you up.

Yeah, so I just sat down and really tried to figure out what I wanted to do, where I wanted to go, how I wanted it to sound. One day I just sat and I listened to LL’s album, Rakim’s album, MC Lyte’s album, and Common and Pete Rock’s album.

Now Public Enemy’s got a new album, Slick Rick has a new album—I feel like we’re in an unprecedented time right now with hip-hop because all the OGs seem to be coming back. Do you think it’s because fans are missing hip-hop at its root? 

When we talk about hip-hop from a business perspective, I think it’s very important for labels and managers to keep hip-hop young and keep young artists away from us. That’s why you get all these titles like “old head,” “unk,” and “old school.” You get all these titles to separate and cause division because a younger artist talking to me? I’m gonna give him the game. I’m gonna tell him what happened to me. How I got jerked. How I saw this person get jerked, what to look for, how my deal was for five albums—not just one. They don’t want us giving them that game. They want to catch them young and dumb, so they can jerk them and do them greasy. We should be able to have access to talk to them, give them game. That’s what we’re dealing with right now. And then also it’s where they would prefer to have an artist blow, sell a bunch of records and then move on to the next one as opposed to having to give him all this money all over again for another album.

That’s why we have this revolving door of artists. They’ll have one song blow up and then they’re gone like the next year. We just see it happening over and over again.

As they try to keep hip-hop young, they also try to keep us out by labeling us. But I believe that artists from my era, even the generation after me, are starting to realize and understand. I’ve been saying this all along that Bruce Springsteen still tours, the Rolling Stone still tour.

Paul McCartney still tours. He’s 83. 

See what I’m saying? They still tour, Patti LaBelle still touring, Ronald Isley, the O’Jays, they’re still touring. And it’s not “old school legend Patti LaBelle.” It’s not “old school rocker Bruce Springsteen.”Why is it that hip-hop artists get treated like that? If hip-hop just turned 50, then that means that there are 70 year olds in hip-hop.

I just interviewed Grandmaster Flash. He’s 67. Flavor Flav is 66.

DJ Hollywood just turned 70.

Flavor Flav is stage diving.

Flav is a whole different type of breed. He’s a special one, man.

Do you feel that after Hip Hop 50, you’re kind of getting more respect? It feels like something shifted. 

I feel like there was an acknowledgment, and some people are feeding off of that, some people are latching to it and it’s going well. It’s just a matter of the fan base respecting it. We have to stay focused. The fan base has to really stay focused because right now, there’s a whole new virus that’s destroying us.

What’s that?

The whole “give me your Top 5” thing. Kendrick or Drake? Nas or JAY-Z?

To me, it’s just so subjective that it’s the dumbest question in the world. 

It’s creating divisiveness and it’s not a good look right now for where we are.

You made a lot of records, but then you kind of stepped away. Not that you ever put the mic down, but why did you stop making albums?

Hip-hop had changed so much. When the whole gangster hip-hop came in, it was something I just didn’t want to do. I love listening. I watched Kool G Rap do it on a daily basis. I love G Rap talking his shit. I love Snoop Dogg. I love Geto Boys. I love Ice Cube, Onyx, M.O.P., Mobb Deep, you know, the cats that was talking to gangsters. I was loving it, but it just wasn’t my thing. 

What did you think of the D.A.I.S.Y. Age, when De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and the Jungle Brothers were leading the alternative hip-hop movement? 

Me and the Jungle Brothers started it. It basically starts from the Jungle Brothers, and we all started at the same time. We were all in Latin Quarter together.

Oh really? I’ve heard so many people mention Latin Quarter.

Afrika Bambaataa, Mike G…this is when [late hip-hop executive] Chris Lightly would be there with Q-Tip helping DJ Red Alert carry his records. I seen these dudes from the beginning. I watched them grow into amazing artists. I thought they had a very, very unique style. 

What do you love about being part of this culture, and especially for so long?

What I love the most is the freedom to express yourself. I think that’s probably the thing that I really enjoy the most. Whether it be through lyrics, art, dance or fashion, you know, just the freedom to express yourself.

Why do you suppose songs like “Smooth Operator” and “Ain’t No Half Steppin’” have stood the test of time?

What was happening during that time period was artists being creative, innovative, and trying something different. What was coming from the heart was felt and touched people. It wasn’t the type of thing where, “OK, this is how music sound today, so let me try to do what everyone else is doing. Let me fit into this algorithm.” We were trying to create original pieces, stuff that defined us, stuff that we felt related to the people we wanted to talk to.

Absolutely.

And it did, it spoke to them. 

What can we expect on the new Kane album?

I’m working hard on it now and I think I’m pretty much past the halfway point. And I love the direction, I love the sound. The main thing that was important to me is how do I make mature hip-hop? I don’t want to sound like a 20 year old. At my age, I don’t need to be talking about bagging chicks. I don’t need to be talking about up in the club. I need to be talking mature stuff but at the same time I don’t need to be talking about back pain or my knee hurts today [laughs]. So it’s like, “OK, what’s good, fun stuff that an adult wants to talk about, wants to discuss, wants to hear about?