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!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome longtime music scene photographer Johnny Nunez! Johnny talks getting Warren Buffett to throw up the Roc, traveling the world with Dame Dash, getting chased (at different times) by Ol Dirty Bastard and Colin Powell, and sneaking into Nelson Mandella's house. We discussed the racism Johnny experienced as a child in Brooklyn, his family's escape to Long Island, getting kicked out of medical school just short of his graduation, living out of his car and on the verge of selling drugs for an old high school classmate, until he saw a vision that led him into a career in photography. All that, plus witnessing Suge Knight and Jimmy Henchman's beef, shooting Sting, Mick Jagger and Harvey Weinstein in Cannes, watching Kid Rock throw someone off a yacht, and much more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome singer/actor Mack Wilds to the Upper West Side! Mack talks growing up on Staten Island, meeting future co-star of The Breaks, Method Man, at his father's barber shop, commuting to Manhattan for casting calls, landing a Spike Lee TV series as a freshman in high school, and promptly leaving high school to work on The Wire. We discussed Mack's trip to Skywalker Ranch to meet with George Lucas, moving to Los Angeles to star in the CW remake of 90210, writing and recording and crate-digging with legendary producer Salaam Remi, and what it was like for Mack to receive the phone call informing him he was nominated for a Grammy. All that, plus working with Will Smith and Queen Latifah, studying turntablism with DJ Babu, starring in Adele's music video for Hello, Mack's new album After Hours, and much more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we finally welcome former publisher of Grantland and The Awl, as well as our great friend, David Cho to the podcast! David talks being in the studio with Justin Timberlake, Pharrell and Timbaland, listening to Kanye complain about his dentist, playing Jenga with Jay Z, and going to dinner at Tyrese's personal backyard Benihana. David discusses growing up as a Korean child in Tennessee, meeting CollegeHumor founder Ricky Van Veen in college and moving to NYC, starting Gawker competitor The Awl with no financial backing, building the network, and right when it started to turn a profit, leaving for a dream job: building Bill Simmons' sports and pop culture site with ESPN, Grantland. All that plus getting confused with the artist David Choe, awkward handshakes, Pepsi's Kendall Jenner commercial, throwing yourself a birthday party, and much more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.