Interview with MC Kool Zay (The Untouchables)

                                                Interview with MC Kool Zay (The Untouchables)

                                                               

MC Kool Zay (The Untouchables)

                                              conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders/Germany)

SIR NORIN RAD:"When and where were you born?"

KOOL ZAY:"I was born in the early 1960ies in Harlem, New York."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did you grow up at? Like on which street..."

KOOL ZAY:"I grew up on 119th Street between St. Nicholas and 8th Avenue. It's currently called Frederick Douglass Boulevard."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When you think back to your childhood days to what kibd of music were you exposed back then?"

KOOL ZAY:"I had older siblings, a mother and a father. They were both music lovers. They were not musicians but they were music lovers. My father exposed me to a lot of Jazz and Latin music. My mother was a big Soul music lover. She loved Soul and Rhythm and Blues. My older siblings liked the Motown sound. So we had a lot of different types of music being played in the household  and early on I got exposed to a lot of other Pop music because all we had was AM radio. Transistor radios is what we listened to. So I listened to the Rock music that was coming out. Easy listening music."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Are you of Puerto Rican descent?"

KOOL ZAY:"Black and Puerto Rican. My mother is Black and my father is Puerto Rican."  

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was it like to grow up in Harlem during the 1960ies and the early 1970ies?"

KOOL ZAY:"Harlem was an incredible place! Even going back there today I cam still feel this energy. It's hard to describe the energy that you feel when you go back to New York City. Harlem was a place that was filled with culture. It was a neighbourhood in the true sense of the word where we had neighbours. Kids spent a lot of time outside in the streets...playing, learning. Harlem was a very educational place in which the Nation of Islam was a big part of that. You had the Black Panther Party whose headquarters was just a block away from where I lived.  So there were a lot of street preachers and educaters that were in the neighbourhood. Lots of bookstores with African-American education. It was just a vibrant city. The neighbourhood was vibrating and creative. So it was inevitable that something like Hiphop would flourish in a place like Harlem."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which schools did you go to?"

KOOL ZAY:"I attended William J. O'Shea and I went to Brooklyn Tech." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was your first encounter with Hiphop culture? Did you carry a Uni Wide marker with you and bomb the trains as a young teenager?"

KOOL ZAY:"Yeah, I would always run into Writers like Tracy 168, P-Nut or Jester. We had all city! My partners and I we were Writers and we were in every borough. We were tagging, carrying a Mini Wide or Uni Wide marker or a Pilot marker. Then we would also be racking up and hit the train yards. We would mostly hit the 3 yard. So I got down with 3YB (3 Yard Boys). I gravitated more to the 3 yard 'cause it was easier to get in and get out and it was closer to home. And we had places where we could observe our pieces when they would come out of the tunnels. We had a friend who had an apartment....from his window we could actually watch the trains come out of the tunnel so we could  see our artwork in the daylight.  So yeah, we hit different train lines."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What did you write?"

KOOL ZAY:"I wrote DO 2. I was 12 or 13 when I started tagging. Initially, it was just tagging but then we did pieces, too. So the more I got involved into Writing, the better I became at it. I was always artistic, I could always draw and paint. So it was only natural to fall into Writing as an art. We did throw-ups, pieces even burners." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"What made you pick the name DO 2?" 

KOOL ZAY:"That's a good question! It's something I thought about. I don't remember. DO 2! I wanted something quick and easy to tag. So I didn't  really wanna use a long name. I wanted to be DOC but somebody else was already using DOC.  So then I just shortened it to DO 2."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What are your first recollections of DJs playing breakbeats in a park or a schoolyard?"

KOOL ZAY:"Alright! My first influence was DJ Hollywood. DJ Hollywood played in Harlem a lot. He played block parties and things of that nature and I was sort of mesmerized by the way DJ Hollywood would mix records and also talk over the records and get the crowd going. So DJ Hollywood was my first influence in the mid 1970ies. There were other local DJs that started to spring up and all of a sudden we were hearing the breakbeats coming out of the Bronx and we were purchasing those records like "Bongo Rock". I had another friend by the name of Andre....not Mixmaster Andre. He was also a DJ and he was battling a DJ in the neighbourhood named DJ Rob Shock. DJ Rob Shock had an MC named Prince Delight. Andre didn't have an MC so he asked me if I would MC for the battle. So DJ Rob Shock battled the other DJ Andre...which was Andre Bryant. They went at it. I MCeed. Prince Delight did his thing for DJ Rob Shock but we weren't actually battling as MCees. We were just supporting our DJs at the time. This meeting between me and Prince Delight was what prompted us to get together and start writing rhymes together. But in high school I met a guy that I became best friends with, a guy from the Bronx who happened to be dating Kool DJ Herc's younger sister. To this day they're still married. So all of my influences were pretty direct and pretty sudden when they happened. So I started hanging out in the Bronx and my friend....we called him Junior but his real name was Phil...he lived in the same building as Kool DJ Herc. He's from 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. So I would go to Kool DJ Herc's parties and one of my first memories of going to a Kool DJ Herc party was in a park. Cedar Park to be exact and I just remember approaching the park from a distance and hearing the rumbling of the bass. I couldn't wait to get to the park, to be inside, to be a part of that crowd. Hearing beats like "Apache", "The Mexican", "Planetary Citizen"....you know, songs that Kool DJ Herc was dropping. Watching the B-Boys breakdancing...it was just a whole experience. That was my first experience of Hiphop and extending the beats. But my first influence was DJ Hollywood. I then became a freelance MC."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did that battle between that other DJ Andre and DJ Rob Shock take place at?"

KOOL ZAY:"Actually, it was in a pool hall. It was between 119th & 120th Street on 8th Avenue. It was called Jeff's Pool Hall. At night time...they had juke boxes in there where they would play music but then at night the DJs would play."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Were these DJs already using that Bronx formula of rocking breakbeats?"

KOOL ZAY:"Yup! Yup! I remember they were playing songs like "Groove To Ge Down" by T-Connection and "Scratching" by The Magic Disco Machine."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So this must have been around 1978 'cause that's when "Groove To Get Down" by T-Connection came out."

KOOL ZAY:"Probably, yes."

SIR NORIN RAD:"MCing wasn't really technically advanced at that time, right?"

KOOL ZAY:"It was very elementary in the beginning. Highlight the people that came in the place, give a shoutout, make announcements and say stuff like,"Yes, yes y'all!!! To the beat y'all!" It still took a certain skill set though. To be an MC...a Master of the Ceremonies you had to be able to...as Rakim said...move the crowd. Not everybody could get up on the mic and rhythmically talk or rhyme and get the crowd interested in what they were saying. MCing started out as just slick talk and rhyming became a natural progression. There were rhyming influences such as Muhammad Ali. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!! Things like that influenced MCing." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who won that battle between that other DJ Andre and DJ Rob Shock and how was the winner determined?"

KOOL ZAY:"By crowd participation....You know, I don't recall who won that battle. I think it was really close. Andre was probably the better DJ. They were both good though and they were both from the same neighbourhood so it was kinda hard. Everybody had their friends there. It was pretty close competition.But what I remembered most about it was that I got an appreciation for the MCing I did. Prince Delight was like, "Wow, we live across the street from each other. We need to get together and do something!"There was a friend that lived in Prince Delight's building named Selwyn and he was friends with the Untouchable Crew's managers which were their older brothers Lonnie Love and Randy. And there was T & T who was also a DJ in the Untouchables with DJ Mixmaster Andre. He said they were coming up to Harlem to play a block party. It's gonna be on a 118th Street & St. Nick (St. Nicholas Avenue), between 118th & 119th Street and St. Nick. He brought them up. They set up. We got introduced to them. We rocked the first party with the Untouchables at a block party on my block."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where were the Untouchables from?"

KOOL ZAY:"They were from Downtown..Douglass Projects. Douglass Center was their homebase."

Frederick Douglass Houses

SIR NORIN RAD:"What exactly do you mean when you say Downtown?"

KOOL ZAY:"Okay, Harlem is considered Uptown which is the higher numbers and DJ Mixmaster Andre lived on 102nd Street Central Park West. I grew up on 119th Street, so he grew up 17 blocks away. The Douglass Projects are a couple of avenues over....like between Amsterdam Avenue, Columbus Avenue....in that area."

SIR NORIN RAD:"There is this famous song by Bobby Womack "Across 110th Street"..."

KOOL ZAY:"110th Street..yeah. That's the separation. Harlem starts at a 110th Street."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of neighbourhood was Douglass Projects? Was it a predominantly Black neighbourhood?"

KOOL ZAY:"Very mixed. Mostly Blacks and Hispanics."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please elaborate on how you got down with DJ Mixmaster Andre & The Untouchables!"

KOOL ZAY:"Like I said was freelancing up in the Bronx, doing stuff there but I became dedicated to the Untouchables the day of the block party. At that stage Prince Delight and I we were practicing together. We were already writing rhymes and rap routines together. So when we got on with the Untouchables that day it was made official that day. We became members of the Untouchables family."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please name the locations where the Untouchables would play at!"

KOOL ZAY:"One of our staple places was a place called Mr. Souls on 115th Street. We played a lot of outdoor events like Schomburg. We played the P.A.L...the Police Athletic League on 123rd Street. Randy's Place in Harlem on 125th Street. The Celebrity Club.....Harlem World became like one of our home spots where we competed in a lot of the DJ / MC battles. Just a lot of different spots, indoor and outdoor. Oh Central Park & 110th Street by the pool. We would set up out there and that's where a lot of members from other crews would get down with us like Johnny Wa and Rayvon from The Magnificent Seven. Those brothers would always get on with us.  Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde used to get on with us. Silver Fox used to get on with us when he was up and coming. He was a little older than us. "

January 23rd, 1981: Mixmaster DJ Andre & The Untouchables are rocking at Douglass Center 

SIR NORIN RAD:"I saw an interview with Kool G Rap in which he stated that Silver Fox was his main influence when it comes to rhyming."

KOOL ZAY:"So was LL Cool J. LL Cool J was influenced by Silver Fox." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did he already stand out to you back then?"

KOOL ZAY:"I wouldn't say that he stood out to me because I thought that the Untouchable MCees were already at a higher level. I guess it was his placement, where he was hanging out and who he took under his wing. Like when he took LL Cool J to places like Joe Grants. Silver Fox would bring his own microphone around with him. He was hungry. As an MC he was hungry and he got skills. Not taking anything away from him. He still has skills."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How would you decribe your own style of MCing?"

KOOL ZAY:"I was more a lyrical guy. Lyrical and voice wise. MCees back then really had to have a voice of what we considered a good voice. I had a good voice and I had great rhymes. I was also a storyteller. A little crowd participation but I would say  for me the king of crowd participation was Busy Bee Starski. Busy Bee moved the crowd like no other!!!!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"That's why he was called the Chief Rocker!"

KOOL ZAY:"The Chief Rocker Busy Bee!!! But these are all guys we did parties with. Busy Bee, The Treacherous Three, Spoonie Gee....these are all my homies."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which DJ/MC crew had the most profound influence on you when you started MCing?"

KOOL ZAY:"The Furious!!!! It would be the Furious! Melle Mel of course is a stand out to me. His voice and his delivery and his lyrics. He was an MC that was actually saying something. He wasn't just Yes Yes Y'alling us to death. He had something to say and he said in a very powerful way. So yeah I was always impressed with Melle Mel. The Furious Five....I liked their showmanship. They added a different element to MCing. They made it a show. They had presentation. So did the Cold Crush Brothers. I liked watching them. They were a bit more raw but I liked watching them and I liked the storytelling of Grandmaster Caz. He had humour built into his delivery. The GMC was tight!!! And the Fantastic Romantic Five they turned it into a performance, too! I was actually one of the people that was instrumental in putting on the Force MCees. They came over from Staten Island. They actually auditioned for me outside of Harlem World. Stevie D and Mercury. So I'm the first one to put them on in Harlem World. They actually came from Staten Island to perform with the Untouchables. We did a block party together at the same place where I met The Untouchables. We played there with the Force MCees."

                                                    

March 13th, 1981: DJ Mixmaster Andre & The Untouchables are rocking at Harlem World. 

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did they know about you?"

KOOL ZAY:"They took the ferry. They would come up to Harlem World and they basically would see if they could get in. I don't know if they were too young to get in or what it was but they wanted to get in. So I was hanging out with Prince Delight's cousin Rick. We was sort of like running things at Harlem World during that time. You know, working with DJ Randy and Son of Sam and Charlie Rock and the Harlem World Crew.  So I was chilling outside with Rick while Rick was taking a smoke break outside and I heard Stevie D and Mercury doing some rap routines and singing and I was like, "These kids got talent! These kids are doing something I never heard before in Hiphop." I was like, "We gotta put them down! We gotta put them in a show!" So we got them in Harlem World. They did their thing and the rest is history."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I love to listen to their live tapes. They're truly outstanding to me."

KOOL ZAY:"Their routines were incredible. Using theme songs from Gilligan's Island and the Brady Bunch. Yeah, they were very creative and they could sing and rap! They were a crowd favourite! They stepped up to the big leagues real fast. So at one of the competitions we had at Harlem World DJ Mixmaster Andre actually DJed in place of DJ Dr. Rock (the DJ of the Force MCees) for the Force MCees."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who were the MCees of the Untouchables? I have seen numerous different line-ups so far."

KOOL ZAY:"The Untouchable Crew consisted of several MCees and amongst the several MCees was a female MC who became more popular after joining the Death Committee."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Pebblee Poo"

KOOL ZAY:"Pebblee Poo. Pebblee Poo was down with the Untouchables!!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"And she was also down with with Kool DJ Herc & The Herculords, wasn't she?"

KOOL ZAY:"She was down with Kool Herc, too. So we were like moving in the same circles. Pebblee Poo and I but we became Untouchables around the same time. So we would practice down at Andre's and practice routines for battles. The usual battles would take place at Mr. Souls and I mean we competed against crews ike the Treacherous Three. The Untouchables..we were killing them!!! That's when Doc Ice came to us. It was Burt B, Pebblee Poo, Kool Zay, Prince Delight and Doc Ice. And Monrock who was from the Lower East Side I think. We had routines and it's funny because Pebblee Poo who went to DJ Master Don & The Death Committee carried some of those routine styles over to the Death Committee. So we had sing songy type rap routines utilizing the Jackson Five....stuff like that.We had rap routines, creative wordplay, bouncing back to back like the other MC finishing the sentences and adding emphasis. At the time I left New York we were on the rise. We were the guys to beat in Harlem. I joined the navy and left New York City. I'm from the True School of Hiphop. Performance mattered, you know? Crowd participation mattered. Creative wordplay mattered. Great voices mattered. Great DJs mattered. Great B-Boys and B-Girls mattered. So coming from that to watching the decline of Hiphop has occurred." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe the strengths of each MC that was down with the Untouchables!"

KOOL ZAY:"Prince Delight he was also lyrical and he had many creative ideas as far as how we should do the rap routines. Pebblee Poo she had a decent singing voice. She liked to do the sing songy type stuff. Burt B was an MC who had energy to get the crowd participation going. Doc Ice had the baritone voice. He didn't have as many rhymes as the rest of us 'cause he was coming more from a DJ background initially and became an MC and Monrock was an MC with good rhyme patterns."    

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did your crew feel when Pebblee Poo left for the Death Committee Crew and took some of your routines with her? I once read that actions like that could lead to beef back then. Like when Boo Ski left the G-Force Crew in order to join DJ Master Don and his Death Committee Crew his old comrades wanted to beat him up for that."

KOOL ZAY:"We weren't upset about it. We just came up with some new stuff. I actually liked the Death Committee Crew's MCees because of Boo Ski. I liked his rap style and his singing. He could actually sing, too. Boo Ski he was pretty tight."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe the practice sessions of the Untouchable Crew!"

KOOL ZAY:"Girls did not hang out with us when we were rehearsing. We took practice seriously. We recorded a lot of our rehearsals. There were moments when we would actually write routines on the way to a performance and practicing while walking to the performance and we would lay it down! That is like a lost art I don't see anybody doing stuff like that anymore. The Untouchables we could actually write routines on our way to a party!! We would have like a intro before the DJ would drop the beat. Like,"Gentlemen and ladies! Ladies and gentlemen you're about to witness the sound of the Devious Five MCees!"Or whatever, you know? "Mixmaster DJ Andre, go one for the treble,  two for the time!Come on, Andre! Let's rock that!" He would drop the beat! Yeah, we would write stuff like that on the way to the party and we would get there and we would have a whole rhyme routine that was written while in transit whether on the subway or by walking."

SIR NORIN RAD:"That's that true Hiphop!!!"

KOOL ZAY:"That's true Hiphop! It wasn't about the fame, it wasn't about the money. We were just doing this because we loved it, nobody was recording this on camera. Nobody even thought about it."

December 24th, 1980: The Untouchable Crew is rocking at the legendary Harlem World Club.

SIR NORIN RAD:"How important was it to look fly as an MC in your era?"

KOOL ZAY:"Yeah, we were fly. I was a fly guy. You would  save your money and then you would hit up A.J. Lester's on 125th Street. You got your mocknecks and your A.J Lesters, your Marshmallow Shoes, British Walkers. Back then..the Applejack Hats. That's before Kangols were out. So gear was definetely an important part of Hiphop.  And it's funny because when you're doing it, you're doing it because that's what you do.We were not trying to set a trend or anything. We just liked what we liked. I saw some of the gear that you posted, Norin, and I was like,"Man! He is true to the game! He's true to it!" But yeah, I loved the fly gear. You know what's weird about growing up in Harlem back then? You would actually get ridiculed if you were wearing the cheap stuff. So it would behoove you to save up your money, make your money and buy the good stuff. I made a lot of money hustling in pool. I played billiards or pool and that's where I spent a lot of my time. Hanging out in pool halls, making money that way. I also did little jobs."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was it like to have such an iconic store like A.J. Lester's in your neighbourhood?"

KOOL ZAY:"In my neighbourhood I was drawn by A.J. Lester's all the time. You know, of course if you're on the street there you're window shopping most of the time anyway. So just the display in the window of A.J. Lester's was enough to make you wanna go in there and it was the same with British Walkers. Like,"Oh, man! They got the new British Walkers out! I gotta get some of those!" So everything was right there in Harlem!"  

SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you agree that the original MCing was not only about presenting the crowd with fresh rhymes but also about giving them something spectacular to look at? Like choreographies?"

KOOL ZAY:"That's true. Like I said the people who lead the way in performance had to be the Furious Five, the Fantastic Romantic Five and the Cold Crush Four. They lead the way as far as performance, then later on the Treacherous Three."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who were the best DJs in Harlem back then?"

KOOL ZAY:"The top DJs during that time in Harlem were DJ Master Don....he was young, innovative and had a high skill level on the turntables just like DJ Mixmaster Andre, DJ Disco Wiz Mike Dee and DJ Spivey of the Magnificent Seven. What was unique about Andre is they put together this console that they had on wheels and they would wheel that console up to Harlem and we would play over in Grant Park, in places like that and we would have a battle in Grant Projects against DJ Krazy Eddie and his crew and they were supported by The Fearless Four." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"What were your favourite breakbeats to rhyme over back then?"

KOOL ZAY:"Oh man! "Take Me To The Mardi Gras!", "Scratching" and it was a song by Brooklyn Dreams called "Music, Harmony And Rhythm". Those were my joints and of course "Bounce, Rock, Skate". I love stuff with basslines."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who came up with most of your routines?"

KOOL ZAY:"Prince Delight and myself were the ones who wrote most of the routines. I called Prince Delight the "Master Planer" 'cause he would write down every detail. He was very detail oriented guy. So he would write when the DJ would come in with this beat and at this point he gonna change the beat and come in with this next song. Very meticulous planning! He was the master planer when it came to DJ/MC routines. This is what I really enjoyed about being with the Untouchables. It wasn't just MCees saying,"We gonna get together and practice our routines." No, we got together with a DJ. We practiced DJ and MC routines."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who were DJ Mixmaster Andre's DJ partners?"

KOOL ZAY:"Initially, it was DJ Disco Wiz Mike Dee. He is longer with us. Mike Dee was incredible. So the combination of DJ Mixmaster Andre and DJ Disco Wiz Mike Dee was untouchable, pun intended. Then there was also DJ Slick who was DJ Andre's younger cousin. Andre lived in a building that had a doorman and everything downstairs but upstairs the apartment was a pretty large apartment but we would all be crammed up into his room in which he had a lot of DJ equipment  and his bed. We would all be sitting on his bed or stand up. It was a crowded room with all the equipment and all the MCees. We were drinking Kool Aid usually. That was the cheapest thing they could give everybody. Keep it coming or we would just bring our own drinks up. Andre's family was very tolerant 'cause the soundsystem was cranking in his room! So when we recorded our rehearsals it was on point."

DJ Disco Wiz Mike Dee (The Untouchables) cuttin' it up

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did he also have a strong soundsystem? I have been told by many DJs and MCs that at least during the 1970ies it was mandatory for DJ/ MC crews to have that."

KOOL ZAY:"Definiteley. So yeah, that battle I was referring to up in Grant / Manhattanville Projects we won because we had the loudest soundsystem, too. When we kicked on that sound we pulled the crowd from the other DJ's setup. They all flocked over to us. Sound quality had a lot to do with it!!! You'd get send home if your soundsystem couldn't compete. Andre wheeled up there with that system he had put together. He had crew of guys just pushing stuff. You know, roadies. All by street! He couldn't even get on the subway with all that stuff." 

SIR NORIN  RAD:"Please explain what the breakbeats mean to Hiphop!"

KOOL ZAY:"The breakbeat represents energy. I mean if you think about it every breakbeat became popular for a reason. It was that where everybody would dance the hardest. It's the part that would get the B-Boys out there. They would be waiting for that breakbeat to come on before they even hit the dancefloor. So just the whole concept of keeping that beat going was the icing on the cake when it came to Hiphop. It's the foundation of Hiphop. So the breakbeat represents energy and Hiphop is energy whether it be in Writing, B-Boying, MCing or DJing.It is an energy that is tangible when you're confronted with it."

SIR NORIN RAD: "Crazy Legs from the Rock Steady Crew would meet the members of the Manhattan Chapter of his crew at Rock Steady Park which is on West 98th Street & Amsterdam Avenue. Did you know them?"

KOOL ZAY:"You know, who was DJing for them down there? That was DJ Mixmaster Andre 'cause that's where Douglass Projects is! I can't say we were close but B-Boys like Prince Ken Swift, Doze they were always around." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"What did take back then to become an outstanding MC?"

KOOL ZAY:"The ability to rhyme ON BEAT!! Cadence mattered. It seems to be missing in a lot of raps that I hear now.They don't care about the beats anymore.So you had to have a pocket. The pocket has to be rhythmic. It took mastery and uniqueness. Now everybody wants to sound the same. Back then you stood out if you were different. You had to have your own lyrics. You didn't want to be a biter. Being a biter was bad thing back in the day. Now it's okay to recycle someone else's lyrics. That was not a cool thing to do back then. Pretty much that's it. Great rhymes, great stage presence, being direct with the crowd, being able to look the crowd in the face and command the crowd. If you couldn't do that, they would turn their back. They would start talking to each other. They wouldn't even start paying attention to you. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did MC battles go down back then? Did you threaten or insult your opponenents like it's usually being done today?"

KOOL ZAY:"No, no. Battles were a friendly thing, you know? It was a friendly competition. If we lost a battle, we lived to see to battle another day. We would be like,"Man, we could have done better." or ,"They just had too many people there."You know, you'd make up excuses why you lost. (laughs) We appreciated the other crews who did their thing. I was happy for the Crash Crew when they had their local success." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"So what were the top 3 DJ/MC crews coming out of Harlem back then to you?"

KOOL ZAY:"The Untouchables, the Magnificent Seven and the Fearless Four."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you like to give some shoutouts at the end of this interview?"

KOOL ZAY:"I definetely would like to shout out the Mighty Untouchable Crew! Mixmaster DJ Andre! The late Disco Wiz Mike Dee! MC Burt B! MC Prince Delight! MC Pebblee Poo! MC Monrock! Kool Zay signing off!!" 

SIR NORIN RAD:"I want to give a shoutout to my Intruders Crew (Scarce One, Krwizard, A.G., Akira), to all the true pioneers of Hiphop and to Sureshot La Rock (thanks for the Napalm), Input MZK, Kenny IB, Profowon: Ukubambisana!!!!  Shoutouts to Pluto 7, Mr. Wiggles RSC, Andre Wilson and Troy L. Smith as well as to Pete Nice. Shout outs to my man Dwayne Moore from Liliuglychu !! To Princess Teela I'm coming home! 3996!"