Downloaded from YTS.MX
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
(record scratching)
(light music)
(soft music)
♪ I've raised hell with supreme clientele ♪
♪ When I first came to reverse, spells ♪
Wait, wait, shit.
Uh, look...
- Are we done? - Yes.
- [Cameraman] Okay.
- Turn it up right here? - Yeah.
- What's good? - There you go, yeah.
- Yo, yo, yo.
- Can't be having no shortage in the wires, feel me?
That's how much fire.
- [Engineer] Yeah, right there, bring it back.
(dramatic music)
- Sunz Of Man absolutely gave birth
to an entire genre of music.
- Sunz Of Man was giving you that raw hip hop
but it was beautiful, you know?
- They was using more biblical terms.
They wasn't using the average street metaphors.
- I would tell Jay-Z, and I'm like, "See him?"
Seems like one of the greatest.
♪ Put the heaters to they face and give 'em some sideburns ♪
♪ They got they shine on, now it be our turn ♪
♪ He just a clone from a sample of my sperm ♪
♪ These old rappers washed up and they got worms ♪
- All us together was crazy, unstoppable.
But him going on his own and starting his own movement,
he blew the shit up, man.
♪ Have you heard praise son and bags of merch ♪
♪ Countin' Euros in Hamburg Germany dough ♪
♪ You know power, respect, pussy, and fast cars ♪
♪ With our loyalty you ain't making it that far ♪
- His evolution was definitely like on another level.
♪ But when I die on this earth I'm on a universe ♪
- [Interviewer] Tell me a little bit about
what part of New York you guys are from
and how you first got exposed to hip-hop music.
- Well... - Hey.
- Wow, well... - That goes back.
- I mean, it go back, man. - Better day.
- For New York, started from like block parties.
- Mm-hmm, Coffey Park.
- You know what I'm sayin', it started from jams
and block parties, that's what we know.
You had a DJ that was in the park.
- DJ Laz. - Straight up.
- You had the mic, you had the rope.
- Don't even come near that rope if you ain't nice.
- You lookin' at all the people,
so that energy give back, you gotta give it back.
You got Queens day, you got Brooklyn day,
you know what I'm sayin', we got Red Hook day.
All our projects got they days.
Roseville day, Brownsville day.
Everybody got they days, you know what I'm sayin',
and that's what we remember hip-hop as.
- [Shabazz] Yeah, that day represents
the essence of where it started from.
- [Razah] That's where we came from,
you know what I'm sayin'?
- [Shabazz] That's the New York I remember.
- Yo, this is Coffey Park right here man.
Yo, we got the projects over there on that side.
Yo, when they used to jam out here
you just see crowds of people just comin' down.
They just comin', walkin' from that area.
Let's go down here where they used to set it up at.
Yo, believe it or not, they filled,
the whole entire park was full.
They would get this box off.
They would take a thing and screw this off.
Inside of there's wires with like a lightbulb kinda thing.
That's where they would get they power from.
And you'd just walk through the projects,
go to the next one, there's girls, there's everything.
It was like a party, man.
When I was a kid I didn't know nothin' about a club.
And this was Hell Razah stage, this was Shabazz stage.
Yo, this was our stage.
(groovy music)
- The crack epidemic era came out here
and destroyed everybody, and what it actually did,
it made people write stories about that.
It's tellin' the story of what was goin' on.
And they'd make stories about it,
and they took it out of Red Hook and they traveled with it.
- Red Hook is the far end of Brooklyn.
That's where all the dots is at.
So to survive back up in there,
you had to come with somethin.'
It's like they fought they way through to come out.
- A successful writer is one who suffers.
That's all we do, man, we suffered a lot.
We suffered before we got in the game,
we suffered in the game,
so we always got a lotta good substance to write about.
- So yo, if I wanted to get Razah
and didn't want to walk up the stairs or whatever,
I would call Razah from the window.
Razah window is up there where that air conditioner is.
Right next to the air conditioner,
that was Hell Razah's bedroom.
Actually, his sister still lives there,
so if I was to call his name
somebody probably would look out the window
and think I'm goin' crazy.
- Tell Ronnie I said what up.
Red Hook miss him.
- I remember this clearly.
He comes, knock on my door.
Him and 7th Ambassador.
And Razah comes in, I'm like oh,
and he come in, I say "Have a seat man, what's up?
"Why'd you come by?"
"Yo, we got a problem, I got beef.
"Can I hold a gun?"
And they sittin' there, and they a little nervous.
So I'm like, "What you need a gun for?"
"I was sellin' crack.
"Dude told me that I couldn't sell.
"And he pulled out a gun on me
"and told me I couldn't sell on the block."
That's how it was.
Now if you don't go back with a gun, either you stop.
Everybody look, even though you still back down,
the guy that pulled out the gun,
like oh now you scared of me.
He go to keep messin' with you regardless.
So I'm like, damn.
He's on my block.
To get to his block is a long walk,
and the people he got in beef
with might shoot him on the way back.
So I can't see that happen, so I'm sittin' there.
I'm that guy, not the guy, but I had a gun.
And I had an extra one to spare,
and I'm willin' to go out on the street,
and I'll take care of business if I have to.
So I'm like, man, I'm lookin' at this dude,
I'm like, dude, how can I help him?
And it just hit me.
I looked at him, I said, "Yo Razah."
I said "I'll do a deal with you."
I said "I'll walk you home and squash your beef
"if you sit down and write a rhyme to this beat
"that I'm gonna make."
"Word, yo!"
I said "Let's do it right now."
And then when it was time to go home, I'm like "Y'all ready?
"Come on, let's go."
All I did is seen the person, like "That's him?
"Yo, that's my cousin, leave him alone.
"He's done, leave him alone.
"If you mess with him, you gotta deal with me now."
And that was the end of it.
That beef was squashed just like that,
and they was comin' to my house every night.
♪ I'm livin', I'm livin' like a villain ♪
♪ I wouldn't give up and that's how the hell I'm livin' ♪
♪ Yeah, I'm livin', I'm livin' like a villain ♪
♪ I wouldn't give up, and that's how the hell I'm livin' ♪
♪ I'm livin', I'm livin' like a villain ♪
♪ I wouldn't give up and that's how the hell I'm livin' ♪
- Me and Razah been rhyming since like the age of nine.
Like I told, I came up to his house one day
'cause his moms lived like two floors above me.
My grandmoms lived on the fourth floor,
he lived on the sixth.
So I would just go up there, me and him would chop it up.
And one day, I don't know, it was just like yo man,
'cause I was already like feelin' the whole hip-hop game,
you know, that's when it was fresh and was early,
you know what I'm sayin', and I was like, yo man.
You know, I started writin'.
Was like "Yo, why don't you write?
"You know, we both write together.
"Let's write rap songs or somethin.'"
Know what I'm sayin', like this
is like nine, 10 year old kids talkin'.
- Raz was incredible man.
Like at the age of 13, 14,
Raz was a beast on the mic.
Like the stuff he was sayin',
like even from new hip five block angels.
You know what I mean?
♪ My mind is rejected from hell ♪
♪ But they say my spirit is accepted to dwell ♪
♪ I'm reality ♪
You know what I mean?
Like this is 1991, and he's sayin' this at 14.
So he was already gifted and chosen.
(hip-hop music)
- Right here is Da Last Future on Nocturnal 7 Records.
There's the beginnin'.
Before the Sunz of Man, this is the beginnin'.
Got Hell Razah, 7th Ambassador, Prodigal Sunn,
Killah Priest, Shabazz the Disciple, right?
I produced it.
- Well, originally, first startin' off,
you know what I'm sayin', was just me and Razah.
We was Da Last Future.
- As a crew, we was Da Mad Mob.
- [Ambassador] You know, they would all go to Preme house
and lay down cuts, some bad cuts too.
- Supreme was more listening for storytellin' type sounds.
You know what I mean,
because that what we tell a lot on his tracks.
There's always a concept,
so he looked for those sentimental sounds.
- That man Dirty, you know,
we grew up together, so, you know what I mean,
like we'd hang out and we would find ourselves battlin'.
Just goin' around, just battlin' everybody.
- The way we battled each other, man,
it wasn't about just fightin' and guns and all that.
We battled each other with words.
Who could out-talk the person the best?
- You know, sound travels 1,120 feet per second.
So you know, the word got around.
- Me and Bazz happened to meet RZA through his cousin.
He would come by and say "Yo man, these in Staten Island!"
Kept tellin' me "These guys in Staten Island
"doin' the same thing you doin', 'Preme!
"The same thing y'all doin'.
"They got a whole group of people and they makin' music!"
This and that.
- You say Wu-Tang you think of martial arts,
you think of mathematics.
You know, you think of a group of guys
that came from nothin' that made a voice
that nobody could deny.
- Now he comes out, he's like
"Yo man, like y'all stuff.
"Man you make the beats, I like that."
All these dudes is there.
RZA, Meth, the whole entire Wu is there.
And when we walked in, he was like
"Yo y'all, this is Supreme, this Shabazz,
"they from Red Hook.
"I'm thinkin' about puttin' them down with the whole thing."
And everybody introduce each other, we shook hands.
- So we had that connect, man, that aspect of just...
We was young and we was really fuckin' revolutionist.
You know, rebels.
And then it was just a bunch of groups, man.
It's just like Motown, man.
You know, how Donald Ross was in one group
and then next thing you know, he got with the Supremes.
You know what I mean?
- I mean, when I was comin' up and goin' through my process
they was comin' up and goin' through the same process as me.
You know, all my Wu-Tang affiliates,
we came up together on that same musical vibe,
that same street mentality,
get paper by any means necessary, hustle, groceries.
You know, we do what we had to do.
And then that process, you know,
rap was another form of communication for us.
It was somethin' that kept us together.
- Now, I'm making music in my house,
but every other day we gettin' calls from RZA and 'em.
We in Fire House Studio.
We been goin' to studio maybe a year with RZA and 'em.
So I'm like let's record a record in this same studio.
So I booked time.
- One day, we all got to the Fire House.
All of us was there, you know.
And we was all just spittin', 'cause that's kung fu.
Everybody fightin', showin they skills.
- When this dropped, soon as this came out,
I didn't have a deal, I'm lookin' for a deal.
I give it to RZA, RZA hears it.
"Oh man, that's hot!"
- It wasn't like a put-together group.
It was like more like a family.
- We he hear them on it, he's like
"Man, they sound good together."
- They came to me with a unique style of lyricism,
and I gave them a record deal.
Wu-Tang Records, one of the first artists that I signed.
- Sunz of Man got signed to Wu-Tang
because Wu-Tang, they loved our music.
- I remember walking up to the studio,
they outside of the building, and they standing there
with grins on they face, smilin.'
"Dig ol' 'Preme, yo, what's up?
"Yo, we got the name of the group."
I'm like, "What's the name?"
"Sunz of Man."
♪ Lord in Heaven ♪
♪ It ain't blood without hate ♪
♪ It ain't no peace without war ♪
♪ It ain't no madness without the sadness ♪
♪ So tell me, where's the love, peace, and happiness ♪
♪ My arrival to this planet ♪
♪ I was entitled to be physically stranded ♪
♪ Mentally free now, this be the sound, I travel ♪
♪ Unravel, you babble, my head is the castle ♪
♪ Mind is the king, swords be the words ♪
♪ When I swing, attack you ♪
♪ Like a guillotine that's trapped you ♪
♪ Pass through the heavenly atmosphere, where I stare ♪
♪ At those who fear the truth, now interfere with lies ♪
♪ Our black nation must rise, worldwide like the third eye ♪
♪ I be the law breaker, life or death maker, Heaven Razah ♪
♪ Traitor, eliminator ♪
♪ Wicked disintegrator, lyrical earth-quaker ♪
♪ Absorb me, shining light is mandatory ♪
♪ I got knowledge of my self explanatory ♪
♪ Of course we be the Sunz of Man, deeper than quick sand ♪
♪ Expand like gases on our masses of our land ♪
♪ Oh bring me back ♪
♪ It ain't no love without hate ♪
♪ It ain't no peace without war ♪
- The beginning of Sunz of Man
was basically Shabazz, 60 Second Assassin,
Hell Razah, Prodigal Sunn, and Killah Priest.
Gravediggaz was this, horrorcore.
Sunz of Man was holycore.
'Cause we was talkin' about the Bible,
the Quran, the Apocrypha,
talkin' about all the great books.
And we read 'em, and we studied 'em,
and we knew what we was talking about.
And from a group of guys comin' from the slums of Brooklyn,
and Staten Island to be speakin' these type of words
and these type of songs, you know, it was just...
At that time it was unheard of.
- The Sunz of Man brought it
to even more of a spiritual realm.
You know what I'm sayin', where...
And it wasn't even one religion or anything like that,
and it just showed that all these religions
is one and the same, you know,
and really all it is is it brings people together
and gives them a proper way to live life.
It's a map, it's a road map of where to go
and where to walk, and how to walk.
And that's what I feel like Sunz of Man kinda did.
- I remember at this moment the Clan was big
in '93 and '94, you know, they were blowing up...
- An executive of mine named Mark Levy
was kinda like this nerdy white guy
who just loved hip-hop.
Very early on loved hip-hop and was really
in the streets all the time, and you know,
he ran a street team.
- We met these people that's gonna offer us a deal,
and they called Red Ant.
What?
- Wu-Tang had what call we call
in the business, massive coattails.
And they had a huge fan base,
and that fan base gravitated to anything
that got the Wu-Tang stamp of approval.
So yeah, that was a big motivating factor
to wanting to sign them, and we made a almost unprecedented
huge deal for them at the time.
- A million dollar deal, you know, that was like...
It's unheard of.
I ain't hear nobody gettin' no million dollar deal!
- After we left Wu-Tang Records,
this was the record we did with Red Ant.
And this record consisted of only four of us,
which was Razah, myself, 60 Second, and Killah Priest.
You know what I mean, that was the four
that signed that deal with Red Ant,
and that's who the world knew as Sunz of Man.
- The Sunz were very musical.
I mean, there was the hardcore street stuff
but there was also the big hooks and the melodies
and stuff like that, which made them so interesting,
that coming from their background
they embraced that kind of music.
And then there was so much musicality
that putting them together
with Earth, Wind & Fire was a no-brainer.
To me, it was magic when you put them together.
- This is history right here.
This is a real historical moment.
♪ When you wish upon a star ♪
♪ No matter who you are ♪
♪ Shinin' bright to see ♪
♪ What you could truly be ♪
♪ Uh, ayo, this masterpiece be exclusive and fascinating ♪
♪ Street knowledge education ♪
♪ Teach the seeds, son, no procrastinatin' ♪
♪ Ghetto learnin', graduatin' ♪
♪ Blessed be the ones with patience from the ancient ♪
♪ God bless the child that could hold his own ♪
♪ Little shorties, don't trust a soul ♪
♪ It's all globe control ♪
♪ Earth, Wind & Fire, Sunz of Man and Wyclef ♪
- We put a gold record out, yo.
And I think a gold record is a dream for a lotta MC's.
- It was incredible, man.
We comin' outta Brooklyn, you know, cold as shit.
You know what I mean?
We get the Marina Del Ray, we seein' palm trees.
We in the Oakwoods, Cheesecake Factory.
Motherfuckers surfing.
You know, we like "Yo, we in heaven!
"I'm in paradise!"
- I thought we was gonna be big time.
They was on doin' they tour and they shows.
They was on BT.
They was doin' they thing.
So I thought we was supposed to be famous.
I thought we was supposed to go platinum, you know?
I was devastated.
- They didn't have a great organization around them.
I think if they had a bigger management company
with more opportunity and stuff like that,
and then, you know, at the time too, we were a small label
in a big company, so I didn't have a button I could push
that would automatically make them a priority.
- You know, then next minute somebody gives me a call
to say "Yo man, y'all in the news.
"Like in The Wall Street Journal."
And it was over, just like that.
They folded.
- It was good and terrible, you know what I mean?
'Cause we was bouncin' from house to house.
You know, they had us at Polygram.
We was like 800,000 preorders or something like that.
And we went over to BMG,
and then it dropped down to like 500,000.
- Basically they said, "You know what,
"the Sunz of Man, they didn't work."
Or "We did as much as we could do."
Now we get a chance to go do our own thing.
- It was just the moves that was made
that caused us to go our different ways.
To each his own.
- Since things happen, and so much stuff happen,
everybody felt the need to wanna just--
"Ah, I gotta do what I gotta do now."
- The Sunz of Man was Hell Razah,
and the Hell Razah solo, that was a change
because his vocabulary, his grammar...
He had the wisdom of a elder.
He had the knowledge of somebody that was in they 40s
when we was in our 20s.
So I used to look at him like "Wow!"
You know?
It was light, you know, it was an enlightenment.
I always got inspired by Hell Razah.
- If you look at the resume right now with Sunz of Man,
Razah's been workin', man.
- Hell Razah, he definitely chimed in a group.
You know what I mean, him being the youngest,
I just think that hip-hop is young.
I think the young creates hip-hop.
- Razah's the best outta this whole group.
To tell you the truth,
I think Razah is iller that all of us.
That's what I think.
- And when you become a rapper's rapper,
that's when you've kinda made it as a creative,
you know what I mean, in hip-hop.
- But then he dropped Renaissance Child.
Totally changed the game, I'ma be honest with you.
I just think the way that it was formatted,
you know, with the whole thought process
and the studies and everything that went behind it
made it an instant classic.
♪ A and R's wanna hate, try to tell me to wait ♪
♪ Without a mixtape, don't make me spit in your face ♪
♪ Put this 40 to your head, make you dig in the safe ♪
♪ I'm the great Constantine, I carve the kings ♪
♪ I'm a Renaissance Child from my father's genes ♪
♪ Like Joseph interpreting a Pharaoh's dream ♪
♪ Man, business affairs better have my cream ♪
♪ Now the white man plan is to have my queen ♪
♪ I seen bosses with Maybelline on ♪
♪ Got sick of hearing Brooknam need a good theme song ♪
♪ I'm reborn, I'm back now, getting my eat on ♪
♪ It's Heaven Razah so be gone ♪
- We just had Renaissance Child.
Do you think you had an impact with that album
that you wanted to have?
- I think I better had a impact
'cause I put a lotta concentration into that album
so, you know what I'm sayin', every project
that come out from us from now on
is gonna be followin' the same procedures,
you know what I'm sayin', so it's gonna continue.
That's not the end, you know what I'm sayin'?
- Me, Hell Razah, Shabazz, we were doin' a lotta stuff.
Then the last time I seen 'em, we was in the studio
and we in there, they recordin' Hell Razah, Bazz recordin',
I film, and everything was good.
But next day, somebody said "Yo, Razah's in the hospital."
- My oldest brother Curtis, he called
and he was like "Hey, this just happened
"to Ronnie on the job."
He said he had a bad headache, real bad.
And he just passed out,
so we had to take him to the hospital.
- He's got a headache,
like he never experienced this type of headache before,
like, you know what I mean, and it's serious.
He just collapsed on 'em.
You know what I mean?
Like, it was serious to the point, like,
he was tryin' to tell his brother,
like he was really in pain.
Understand?
And his brother was thinkin' like
it was just a sit down thing,
like just sit down and relax.
He was like "No, I'm in pain, yo!"
(intense whirring)
- You know, he's in the hospital.
He just suffered an aneurism.
Mind-blowing.
I already said I just spoke to him two days ago.
I'm like, "Huh, what do you mean?"
You know, he was in critical condition.
At that point it's like everything just stopped
and it started going in slow motion.
- Yeah, I couldn't believe it, man.
I was just like, an aneurism?
That just took somethin' outta me,
'cause that's like my little brother right there.
He was the baby of the family, you know what I mean?
And put all the energy in,
he's pretty much the inspiration, you know.
So when I heard that, that shit just, you know...
It was crazy, man.
- I seen him in the hospital, man.
He had all that shit wrapped on his head,
and he was just, man, that shit looked crazy horrible, man.
- Was tellin' the doctors,
like it's not looking good, such and such.
He's not gonna be the same,
he's not gonna function the same,
he's not gonna walk the same, he's not gonna talk the same.
One side of his body's gonna be totally different.
- It was life and death, he was in the hospital.
But I heard about it right when it happened.
I was just like, "Damn, man, this is crazy, man."
Like, how, I was just trippin' man.
Like how the fuck that happen?
That's all I could think.
Like, how did that happen?
- When you in the hospital,
sittin' there in the waitin' room,
everybody lookin' at each other,
you know shit's gonna be different after this situation.
Like, everybody knows it's not gonna
be the same, you feel me?
So, I knew this dude from the jump.
Soon as I knew he was in the hospital sitting there waitin'
I'm like "Oh shit."
Shit is crazy.
- An aneurism ruptured, and when it ruptured,
he had a bleed which led to a stroke.
- All them days I was like prayin',
'cause you know, they say a lotta people
don't make it outta that, you know what I'm sayin',
like prayin' for my brother.
- They didn't even know if he was gonna come out the coma,
then one day his fuckin' pinky moved.
(dramatic music)
- Right now we goin' to my occupational therapist.
See, when I had this brain aneurism,
as you can see, my head, where the surgery.
This is where it was done.
So this side was where the surgery was done.
So your right side of your brain
controls everything on your left side.
And it works vice versa.
Then I get home.
I don't even know what to say,
'cause I'm still tryin' to figure out
what the hell happened to me.
And, um...
My son come and hug me.
And then cryin' a lot.
Like, "Daddy, we love you."
I'm like, shh.
I go to touch myself, and this is there.
And then I go to touch this, and I feel like...
I'm like, "What the hell is goin' on now?"
I do this, and then I'm like "Oh shit!"
I feel a whole thing, I'm like
"What the hell happened to me, man?"
Like, in the beginning, I couldn't talk,
I couldn't walk, couldn't do shit.
I couldn't even sit on the bed.
I couldn't even sit in a chair, couldn't do nothin.'
Like I would lean forward to the side.
I can't use my left side.
My left hand.
I can't do what I could used to do with it.
I had to learn everything.
I had to learn how to dress myself, put my shoes on,
brush my teeth, wash my face, do all that simple shit
that you do everyday that you would never think
that you would have to learn these things.
Now, we in 2012, with the two years that went by already,
and each year I gain somethin' back.
I worked at it though.
The hardest part is remembering everything,
because I actually...
You do these things off instinct naturally,
but I have to learn it again and remember it.
'Cause I had to take memory therapy too.
Because they was afraid that my memory would be affected.
- It's a big battle between mentally, emotionally,
and physically, but they all kind of work together.
So I find that if you work--
In physical therapy obviously
it's a little bit more physical
but if you work on those physical challenges
it also helps emotionally and mentally as well.
- Yeah, this a new therapist,
because I had just moved to North Carolina,
because it was too much distraction
and there was too much chaos where I was at.
And I had to focus on getting better.
My recovery...
Plays with, a lot of it is how serious I take it right now.
- The doctors said he has every way to make himself better.
He can come back 100 percent, but it's all up to him.
- That's another reason why I had to get out of New York
and Pennsylvania, because too much...
How it could be hurtful sometimes.
So you gotta learn to do these things on your own.
Like, I was in a wheelchair,
so everywhere I wanted to go somebody was moving it around.
- It bothers him a lot
that he's in the condition that he's in.
It bothers me, because I know that wasn't who he was.
He was moments where he gets really mad
and frustrated at everybody,
and then he can say, like, nobody cares about him
and stuff like that.
I'll tell him sometime, like, "Ronnie, you're scarin' me.
"I don't want you to scare me."
But we tell him all the time, you know,
"Ronnie, we're there for you no matter what."
- I was born October 1st, 1976 Chron Smith.
- Curtis is the oldest, then you have Cheri,
and then you have Trey, then you have myself,
and then you have Ronnie.
- [Chron] Friends and teachers had a problem
with my name, they couldn't pronounce it.
- [Charlene] We never called him Chron.
For some reason, we never called him that.
- Family would just call me Ronnie.
My father owned a garage in Raleigh.
My mother sold clothes, too.
She was very good with that.
My mom's a very loving person.
She cared, she made sure that we were stable,
that we went to school, did our homework.
- My mother, she was highly spiritual, so therefore, Ronnie,
he was like right under her all the time.
He was the youngest kid.
So, therefore, he did everything with her,
going to church with her, and stuff like that.
- My father, he's done a lotta things.
I've worked with him.
We had a garage over here across the street from PS 15s.
I used to hang out over there with the cars,
and I used to wash the cars and stuff.
Make my little pocket change, you know.
- In my era, you didn't have a lotta parents
that was with their mother, you know, together.
It was like a separate, the mothers was raisin' everybody.
You would go home in the middle of the night,
three o' clock in the mornin' because you had
no mother or father in the house.
But then they had Mrs. Smith
and Mr. Baker, my father here,
few fathers that raised the village.
Mrs. Smith was one of the ones who did that.
- My mother passed away.
I can't actually remember what age Ronnie was,
but I'm gonna say he was maybe about 12 or 13.
I'm just doin' an estimate right now.
But he was very young, and we were very worried
that he was the age that he was.
My moms passed from a cancer.
And she never smoked a cigarette a day in her life.
That's what destroyed me.
'Cause I'm like "What is this world dealin' with man?
"My mom died from cancer
"and she never smoked a damn cigarette!"
And, um...
My father passed from...
They robbed his garage, they break into it to steal things.
They beat him with his own tools,
inside the garage, the things that he had in there.
And he had survived for a long time after that,
but then, throughout the time of his recovering season,
he went away.
(somber music)
- My dad was the best dad in the world,
and he's highly missed.
- I didn't have my parents.
And I was hurt from that, too.
- It was just us five, that was it.
We was like, "Look, hey, this is just us.
"We gotta do this together."
So we knew we had to protect Ronnie,
because he was the youngest.
- I had got arrested, when I was young,
in the streets, sellin' drugs, and got caught for it.
I had to go to jail for it.
And when I was in jail, I'm sittin' in there
and I'm like, what am I doin' here?
And I can't believe that I'm goin' through this right now.
Why am I puttin' myself through this?
And I said, "When I get outta here I never will return."
And I went harder with my music when I got outta there.
- You know, the beginning stages.
And it's like he saw the light.
"No, I shouldn't go this way."
- Throughout that season of time,
things started happenin'.
- 36 Chambers went platinum, right?
A Gravedigga album was already out.
- Shabazz The Disciple, he left the group
because around the time when we was doin'
our demo deals with Sunz of Man and all that,
one of my good friends, he worked at a company
called Global Terrain, which later became Penalty Records.
- Shabazz was with Sunz of Man,
and then it came to a point
where once that fame came from all that other stuff,
he went and...
- Across the street from Fire House Studio
is Penalty Records, and every time we outside,
it was a ant off across the street,
and he would always come outside
and come across the street and talk to us.
He was from Penalty, he's like,
"Yo, you know I got a Penalty Records
"right here in the buildin'.
"Yo, come over here and get a deal."
We said "Nah.
"We already, we were movin'."
- Shabazz behind the group went back alone.
- [Supreme] They offered Bazz the deal.
Then Bazz did Death Be The Penalty.
- I came with him.
So now I'm stuck alone now.
He done took off and left,
and I'm standing here with people that I just met now.
Around the time Shabazz went solo,
he recorded a verse on a Gravediggaz album.
But eventually RZA moved on from those side projects.
Over the years, some members of the Wu-Tang spin-off groups
that didn't make it began to feel cheated outta success.
Soon, Shabazz began to resent RZA.
Got back together, we was talkin' about
this is what we shoulda been doin' from the beginning.
We started talking about being bein' a group now,
and that was the launch, the birth of the T.H.U.G. Angelz.
Now I was livin' in Pennsylvania,
travelin' from Pennsylvania to New York to go to the studio.
And then would get up and go to work the next day.
So I was doin' a lot.
Now I would drive from PA to New York two hours every day.
Go to the studio, and then spend another two hours there,
then leave the studio, drop my partner off in Brooklyn,
and then get on the road and drive back to PA.
While I'm in New York with my partner,
ridin' back and forth to the studio,
alls I hears about was how much RZA did us dirty,
and he hates this, he hates that.
All this kinda shit that, I was still like,
"Damn, I gotta hear this story?"
It's like a repeated story over and over again.
And it's to the point where like,
you know what is gonna be said before it's said.
And then I drive him, drop him off,
get on the road, drive back to Pennsylvania.
I get a phone call at work tellin' me
that the Gravediggaz is comin' back.
And Shabazz is in it.
I'm like, "What, wait, I just left him.
"Are you serious?"
I'm at work, and I'm hearin'
the person I just let out my car
got a whole 'nother plan, goin' a different way
from what he was tellin' me the whole time we was on tour.
I couldn't believe it.
I wasn't supposed to know all that.
It was like supposed to be a secret kept from me.
Because if it wasn't, I woulda been told face-to-face
what was gonna be done.
When I called him with that, it turned into a argument.
Yellin' and all that kinda stuff.
So I threw the phone, I was at work.
Threw it, I can't take this.
And I was hurt by that.
'Cause I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute, every day...
Like, I'm workin' hard doin' this shit,
and it's like every day I with my partner,
alls I hear is how much he hate these people,
and he's with them.
And didn't even have the kindness
to tell me he was gonna do that.
Like, that shit shocked me so bad
that it ruptured a blood vessel, pop.
And I'm lucky, 'cause I was workin' with my brother.
My brother rushed me to Bellview Hospital in time.
They had a neurologist there at the time I got there.
He clipped it.
He clipped it in time.
He caught it before,
the bubble woulda got to, popped everything.
- I mean, at a certain point, you gotta learn to forgive.
You know what I'm sayin', cause you know,
holdin' onto that anger could be detrimental within itself.
You are controllin' you.
Like, God gave you another chance.
- Ronnie probably was under a lot of stress.
I'm sayin, hangin' out to do music,
like in the studios overnight,
then you goin' to work, you know,
doin' all of those things can become stressful
and you don't realize it.
Then you add frustration on.
I think all of that took charge
and probably caused that to happen.
- Time is your friend in these kinds of things,
meaning that you have to have patience.
You have to be patient with these things,
because individuals that have had aneurism ruptures,
the first key is surviving.
I mean, if you are able to survive,
then you have at least a fighting chance
at functional recovery.
He's already made significant gains.
And I think the other thing is that
because he was a high level musician and an artist,
I personally believe that that will help him out.
That his language skills,
his recovery will probably be better
'cause his brain was not functioning
at the level of an average or normal human.
It was already actually exceeded,
the capacity of his brain had exceeded that
of what most normal people do.
- You know, it's...
For me this shit is an experience.
For all kinds of shit that...
I'm just on an adventure right now.
I wasn't expecting adventure.
Just all of a sudden, like, you here now.
(light music)
It seemed like it was takin' forever to get to walkin' again
and I was gettin' frustrated.
But then I heard about this doctor
who had this special brace in the workout program
that he said would get me walkin' again in no time.
You like to listen to hip-hop?
- Yep.
- You got YouTube?
- Mm-hmm.
Oh, I can catch you on YouTube?
- A lotta videos on there.
- Good.
That means I could charge more for the brace then, right?
Nah, I'm just playin' with you.
I'm all into taking a nonfunctional limb
and providing function back.
This increases independence on the patient,
and also advances their recovery for rehab.
How this works is a patient that can't hardly even advance,
when you take a step down, okay,
this locks and stays locked.
Okay, as they come over in a normal function,
what it does is that it releases.
Every time you go to a therapist,
you're there three days a week for an hour.
This, you put this on,
you're having therapy all day long.
And it's really isolating on the muscles
that have gotten weakened because they're not being used.
And if you notice, when he walks, he does this.
He steps forward and then stops.
This brace allows him to take a step
and come all the way through and walk normal.
- Kevin seems like he knows what he's doin'.
It's not like "I think this and I think that."
The confidence I see from him triggers mines.
'Cause maybe listening to all that stuff
destroys my confidence.
Just show me what I gotta do.
I'm a doer.
- There's a chair right there.
- Wait, wait, somethin' wrong. - Mm-hmm.
- Ah! - All right, lift up.
- The brace?
- Somethin' won't let me sit down.
- If you had this brace from the beginning,
like, let's say you just got out of rehab.
Your leg was a lot better in 2011 than it is now.
So it's been what, four years?
Basically five years?
- Yeah. - Okay.
- But you're doin' good.
- Um, music not payin' none of my bills for this.
And it's not in a recording contract
we gotta pay your medical bills if somethin' happen to you.
You know, that's not
in no recordin' artists record contract.
- The ultimate thing, it relies on you.
Okay.
That's it, my friend.
- My future, and what I'm hopin'
what I can see as for me, what Kevin has done,
is that there is some bright light at the end of the tunnel.
I was so happy after the doctor left.
I really thought I was goin' to be walkin' again soon.
But he never came back.
After a few weeks, I called the hospital
and they said he was let go.
They said he was over-recommending
his physical therapy services for the brace,
so they fired him.
I couldn't believe it, I was heartbroken.
Eventually I moved in with my oldest brother.
It was like I had to start all over again.
I felt so alone.
I pray for God to deliver me an angel
after being beaten down for so long.
I just wanted some love back in my life,
but instead of a angel, he brought me a queen.
- For about 10, 15 years, I've always worked
in social services in some way, shape, or form.
I've worked with a lot of at-risk youth,
individuals with developmental disabilities
and similar service needs.
I met Razah because he found me on Twitter.
Before I ever released a piece of my own music
I had built a very strong social media presence.
- When I sent her my link for my album, she was helping me.
I didn't even really ask her to do all that.
- I had no idea who he was,
and he just kept sending me his music in direct messages.
So then I was like, "Listen, if you want me
"to put your music on my blog,
"send it to me in an email like a normal person."
And when he did, his bio came with it,
and then I had to Google him.
And I was like, "Oh, okay."
- And I said "Send me some music."
And she sent it to me, and I liked the song.
- As soon as I gave him my phone number,
probably about a week after we were interacting on Twitter,
he texts me maybe two times.
And then my phone rang, and it was him.
He doesn't know what the proper, you know,
what the protocol is, is that you're supposed to text first
before you call, and he skipped right to calling.
But the first thing he said when I picked up the phone,
I immediately started to laugh, 'cause I was like,
"Okay God, now what do I say to this guy?"
He said "I know you."
He said "You're that woman from Proverbs 31."
He said "You're flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone."
- I told her she was a Proverbs 31:10.
Which is "Who can find a virtuous woman?"
In the Bible.
A virtuous woman is like, the real Wonder Woman.
- We were on the phone for four and a half hours.
He was telling me basically
everything that had happened to him.
He was explaining to me that he was at his brother's...
- And me and Queen the Prophet...
We was gone, our adventure began from that.
- I just felt really compelled to help him,
because how do you listen--
Like, unless you're a soulless human being,
how do you listen to a story like Razah's
and have the ability to help somebody, and not do it?
He just kinda said "You know what,
"I've been praying for you, and God sent you."
And I was like, "Well, okay, crazy guy!"
Like, you know, you just...
When somebody says something like that to you,
you kinda, you know, you're like "Yeah, alright, whatever."
But, stayed Friday, Saturday,
and on Sunday we were having breakfast,
and I said "Are you ready to go?"
And he said "No, I'm not leaving."
And I said "You're not leaving?"
And he said "No, I'm gonna stay."
And I said "Well, don't you have to, like,
"make a moving checklist?
"You have, like, therapy that you go to, and these scars."
He said "When God sends you what you asked for,
"you don't give it back."
- I said "No, there's no way."
There's no way I'ma ask for somethin' and get it
and turn my back on it, that's not the right thing to do.
- He's very special.
Like, the beginning of our relationship was like a blur.
Um...
I'm sorry. - It's okay.
(sighing)
- I'm really sorry, I don't mean to cry.
Okay, um...
(sighing)
When our relationship started,
the whole thing was like an out-of-body experience,
because the whole thing was like, super surreal to me.
- Once I started doing the speech therapy,
it made me comfortable with talkin' again.
And I wasn't ashamed to talk to nobody.
'Cause before I just used therapy where they said
"Why don't you just say what you wanna say?"
I'm like, at first it was not that easy for me.
- Your speech was never that bad
when I talked to you, though.
You were more scared of it being bad than it was.
I didn't even notice until you told me
that you had a brain aneurism.
- Man, we didn't come this way.
- [Queen] Yes we did, shift step.
Can I have a smile?
I wanna send this to Boss
and show everybody how good you're walkin'.
Oh, now we got a smile?
See, why is it when everybody say--
- How you doin', good mornin'!
- Good mornin'! - Enjoy your day!
- You ruined the video. - What you mean?
- [Queen] You ruined the video.
- I didn't know I was on video.
'Cause I gettin' regular!
- If I had to define love...
Love is definitely an action word.
It's a selfless thing.
Um...
It's more than words.
Some people need to hear "I love you", auditory.
But that doesn't prove what love is.
To me, love includes long suffering,
and, you know, love knows no bias.
It just is, and if you're lucky enough to find it,
you've gotta protect it,
because there's so many people in this world
that they don't ever get to experience what real love is.
- [Razah] She became everything that I lost.
She became everything that I lost.
- I want Raz to focus on himself
and get himself together,
physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Raz has to learn how to put Raz first.
And I want him to find a reason to...
He needs to find a reason to live
when it's just him and God.
- There was times I couldn't even
be five minutes without her,
where I would feel like, "Wow, where am I at?"
And we started to become like one person.
- Two years ago, in May, Raz moved up here.
We lived in North Haven.
And I had a one-bedroom unit
and it was in a very nice part of town,
and Raz was going to therapy.
Lo and behold, in October of this year,
there was a fire at our building.
Not in our unit.
There was a fire in our building.
- Lightning struck, and it hit
the power structure of the buildin'.
Blew out all the lights and everything.
Everything where we was livin' in North Haven
was controlled by electricity.
So it's like, we can't stay here.
We can't even, refrigerator goes, microwave,
everything was done.
We like "What we gonna do?"
The fire was the last straw.
It just felt like the universe was out to get me.
Every time I took a step forward,
I would get slapped back to the ground.
I didn't know how we was goin' to survive this one.
We lost everything.
And I started praying.
I'm like, "Lord, please just send us Your help.
"Because I can't trust my own heart anymore.
"And I don't even wanna get burnt again.
"So could You please send us some of Your help this time?"
- Where do you go?
Anyone that was family didn't have room
to accommodate not only me, but Raz's home during the day.
You know, is there a house handicap accessible?
It was very scary to exit a house with Raz
and get him up the stairs by myself,
in the middle of the night, it's pouring rain, you know?
And I'm like "Come on, we gotta go fire fast."
And then it's like "Well, where are we gonna stay?"
And we don't know how long this is gonna happen.
We're gonna be somewhere.
That was actually the best thing
that ever coulda happened to us.
- Next thing you know, she like
"We gotta go meet the pastors."
I almost passed out hearin' that.
I'm like "What?
"Are you serious?"
She like "Yeah, we goin' to the pastor house."
I'm like "Oh my God."
There's no other answer prayer than...
If I ever heard one, that's like direct call!
(laughs) Like, I think I got God's phone number!
I think I got His personal number,
'cause he saved my life first time,
and then I'm like "Wow, this just don't stop now."
- I met her a year ago.
I started working for this elderly and disabled building.
She was a resident service coordinator,
and so I'm having Bible study.
That's where it started, in that building.
So she was finding resources
to bring into the building for the elderlies.
Course, with Queen the Prophet, then came Chron,
and that's how we all connected,
all four of us connected.
- We ended up staying with Pastor Zenad and Pastor El-O.
And let me tell ya, I was trying to go anywhere but there.
You know, it's kinda like when you feel God nudging you
to come on, come on back home, get it together,
and you're like "No, I'm not ready, I still wanna do me!"
And we ended up staying there for two months.
- [Zenadia] We're just givin' back what we have received.
We give by grace what we have received by grace.
- We got so close with their family,
and so many things came together for us in our own life.
- This is where this connection came in
where I was able to sit down with him and talk to him,
and for him to come to a place of understanding on what his,
you know, based on his life and everything
that has happened in his life,
just to bring some enlightenment to him,
just to bring some type of hope to him.
It's sad that this happened to him,
but it's not over for him either.
I believe that this could be the beginning
of something great for him in his life.
- And we were able to get out of the unit
that we were staying in.
We got to break the lease, we got to not pay rent,
and we got to get a new place which ended up being,
we're now 40 minutes closer to New York.
It's right down the street from our church.
- We wanna see them progress, we wanna see them achieve
and to reach the goal that God has set out for both of them.
I got to meet the true Chron.
And I love him like a son.
I really do, he's a phenomenal young man.
Broken, yes.
But in the process of being restored in Christ,
I believe that with all my heart.
- That's why you're here today,
because of the purpose He has.
How is God gonna give you somethin'
if you're bitter and you're resentful?
You don't even love yourself.
God needs to actually break your life
so He can build it again.
In order for things new to come, you need to be new.
(light music)
- Somehow, some way, I guess the hands of God
put him in my parents' house.
And one day I showed in there,
and I just seen her, I seen them
and I met them for the first time,
and it was just like we kinda knew each other forever.
And it was just like a natural bond.
And I was able to be myself around him.
You know, very welcoming.
- We actually ended up being able
to hire three of our pastor's sons,
and they are absolutely our backbone.
They are for me especially, with running the household,
Jose, EJ, and Emmanuel.
- At this point she was real comfortable with us.
You know, we were just like a family,
like brothers and sisters.
And at that point I took on that responsibility
because even when he was at the house
I would always serve him.
I would always cook for him
and I would always treat him with that extra care, you know?
I try to make him feel as comfortable as he can,
because he's not, ain't nothin' wrong with Raz, you know?
He's all there.
I don't like him to feel like there is somethin' wrong,
you know, 'cause there isn't.
And Raz, there's somethin' about Raz, he love to eat.
Raz got like a endless stomach.
Just doesn't stop.
- People don't, they really don't understand
unless you've lived with someone
that needs special accommodations.
They don't know what that's like.
And it can be exhausting, but I'm very thankful
that we have help now.
- I talk to Queen almost every day,
if not every day, like every other day.
And not only is she helpin' him in the recovery,
she's helpin' his self esteem
and she's helpin' his happiness.
- She's just basically the one that keeps him in check.
You know what I mean, she'll be like
"Oh, you actin' up now, now you gotta...
"I'ma tell you this, I'ma tell you that."
And that's what she is.
She loves me though.
- It takes a team, man.
You know, even when I was growin' up,
the elders always say it takes a village to raise a child,
you know what I'm sayin'?
Raz is not a child, but it still woulda take a village
just to help get him back to the place that he once was.
- The heart always needs love, man.
You know what I'm sayin',
whether it's brotherly love, sisterly love...
And I know it feels good to him to know that.
He got people who are here mostly all the time
and do love him, do support him,
and are interested in the better of him, you know?
- [Interviewer] Can you rap?
- Up-tempo was harder for me.
The fast club up-tempo stuff...
When I try to do it after this, it was harder.
Before I could do it just playin' around.
But after the aneurism, when I tried to do it,
it was like, wait, I gotta practice doin' this
over and over a thousand times again.
- That's what he was left on.
Before the aneurism, you know, was music.
You know, so that's like embedded in him,
and it's in his head, that's his life.
- In the case of a rapper, in wouldn't surprise me at all
that if the machinery by which you verbalize is altered,
that your brain can't prime your vocal apparatus,
your lips, your tongue, to get ready to know
how to produce what it wants to produce.
- Rapping, okay, you're really telling,
you're a storyteller.
And you have to be able to do it quick.
Your cadence and all of those things
that make a hip-hop record a hit record.
And the images you create verbally and stuff like that.
If he can't do that, it must be very frustrating for him,
and I think the best thing anyone could tell someone
who can't achieve that same level that they were at
at one time in their lives, look, we all get older.
Anyways, is to move on and to do other things
and use your skills in other ways.
- I would have to probably, if I perform,
probably be seated in a chair.
'Cause I stand with a cane, and I can't move mics
and do all that kinda stuff.
My fans remember for a certain way,
so I'd rather return like that.
I don't wanna return...
I don't want them cryin' and hurtin'
and feelin' sorry for me when they see me.
'Cause I'm workin' hard like I'm doin' now
to get back to where I was.
- [Queen] He had so start, to relearn everything over,
you know, how to walk, how to talk, how to eat,
just things that we take for granted every day.
And to come from where he was, like I said, this artist
that was so powerful onstage,
his stage presence was just everything.
- [Randy] It will be a dream unfulfilled
if you can't function at the same level you did
when you were at the peak of your performance.
- As artists, we use our brain mainly.
You know what I'm sayin', that's like...
When we wake up in the mornin',
we start creatin' in our mind.
You know what I'm sayin'?
And we wanna put those creations,
we want those to come to fruition,
and we wanna put action behind 'em,
and to have somethin' trying to block,
to have some sort of a blockage
where you can't fully put every creative idea that you have
into action how you used to be able to
is like some fucked up shit, to be honest, man.
- He gonna come back, he gonna recover.
He been in recovery since shit happened, like,
he was not ready to lay down for nobody or some shit,
so it's not over.
- He's active, man.
He's more active than a lot of dudes with complete skills.
You know what I mean?
He still pushin'.
I see mixtapes and stuff all the time.
(laughs) It's like, yo.
It's like, you know, you not stoppin' that dude.
- I listen to his stuff.
I don't know whether did he put out stuff
that he did before he got the aneurism
or is this new stuff he puttin' out
is what he did after the fact.
- Mixtape stuff too, I get that done,
but a lotta that work I already consistently
stacked up bunches of music already.
'Cause that's what I used to just love to do,
just for sparring, not as much as practicing.
And I would just record in the house,
just constantly, constantly, constantly do things.
- Raz probably has 10 to 15 albums
that we have in the stash that are unreleased.
- [Razah] Now I just organize the stuff,
start to organize it and start puttin' it out.
- I actually just mastered an album for him.
Basically gave me a couple of tracks,
some stuff that he did in the past
and stuff that he did prior,
and basically he just put it all together.
There's probably at least over 50 tracks we've done.
- Far as Raz rapping, and on his road to recovery,
the only thing that is standing in Raz's way is Raz.
And his stubbornness around certain things.
Raz had an awesome physical therapy team
where we used to live, and one of the exercises
that his speech therapist did with him
is she would play for him one of his old videos,
and he would listen, and she would stop it
and she would tell him to rap it.
And she'd time him.
And one of his exercises that he does practice at home
is bringing his speed up.
And that's why you hear such an improvement
over the last couple years in his speech,
because that's what he's been practicing.
- I'll have to do, some certain times, some punch-in.
Because it's a little harder for me.
And then my speech therapist would talk to me,
and would always tell me like "This gonna help you for this
"'cause you do music, right?"
They would give me things to do, and I would do it.
I started to see the development from it,
and then I got back comfortable
with bein' able to talk again.
- The way I work with him, I do punch-ins.
That's the way we work.
It's a lot easier for him to get the words out,
so what I do with him is,
if I hear something that went wrong in the recording,
I'll just basically stop him, say "You mumbled here,
"you did this wrong, we'll go back
"and we'll just punch-in where we left off."
♪ Paper chasin' leads to you stressin' ♪
♪ Even if you're takin' antidepressants ♪
♪ Drinkin' hard as hell ♪
♪ About my vain cartel ♪
♪ I got gamblers on the boardwalk ♪
Wait, wait, wait.
Hard as hell about my bankin' cartel...
Bring me after antidepressants.
(recording whirring)
Before that.
- Fuck it, man, you know, wacker MC's are doin'
like one bar at a time, it's ProTools now.
So I would say fuckin' do half a bar.
You know what I'm sayin'?
Get that shit. - Cut and paste?
- Cut and paste it, fuck it.
I mean, wack people are doin' it, and they have no excuse.
You know what I'm sayin'?
- Ronnie should do what he loves to do
because that music is what made him happy,
and I don't think nobody should take that away from him.
Because that's what's making him happy,
that's what's keepin' him goin' and alive.
- When somebody comes in for a therapy,
we establish goals, not only as his therapist
but with the patient.
So when Chron came in for therapy,
I remember him saying "I wanna be able
"to walk without a cane, I wanna do this on my own."
Nice.
Can you get your head in line, too?
Lot to think about, your knee and your head and your speed.
- [Razah] 'Cause I see that thing comin' close to my knee.
- Oh, don't worry about that.
Here, I'll twist it so you don't have to worry.
There you go, keep goin'.
Better? - Yeah!
- All right.
Keep that knee in.
Chron is a lot of fun to work with.
We laugh every time he comes in,
but he's a really hard worker,
and he'll try his best at anything I ask him to do, always.
- This is working your whole butt,
but also the outside of it as well.
So there's a few different muscles in your bottom.
- Back too. - And your back as well.
- Do you feel it on the side of this leg?
- Mm-hmm. - Little bit?
- It's hard to keep that leg out towards me, right?
- That's why I was wigglin'.
- Exactly, that is why it's wiggling.
It's a little weak, so it's hard to do that.
You ready? - Mm-hmm.
- Okay, leg out towards me.
Good, hold it there.
Hold it right here.
Good, and raise your bottom up.
And down slow.
So go ahead, I'm gonna stay right here.
Push down, and bring it up, and down.
Don't let the right leg do all the work.
Straighten the right leg.
Good, together you're gonna do it.
So you're gonna push down...
Keep your butt on the ground.
Butt on the ground, good.
Push down with your heels.
Good, now bend your knees.
Push with this one still.
Good, both legs out.
Chron walked with a four point small base quad cane.
It's called the four.
And then we worked a lot on,
for him to get to the smaller cane,
it was working a lot on balance
and trusting that left side.
And once he was able to do that,
we were able to get to a smaller cane.
And the more trust on that left side,
and strength and balance that he built up,
then we were able to progress to
not walking with a cane at all.
(bright music)
(laughing)
Relax that right arm, relax it down.
Quiet step on the right.
There we go, looking up.
Don't go for that wall, you don't need it.
Small step, quiet on the right.
Nice one, looking up.
Perfect, let's turn around and go back,
then we'll be done, okay?
Quiet landing on the right.
Nice job man, great job.
Let's head back to that mat where we started.
- Sorta like that? - Yeah.
- This is like the,
what was it I called this place one time?
The Hall of Justice? - Torture chamber?
- This is like the Hall of Justice.
I would come in here,
and then they'd test me, doin' the...
Then I get the, how she'd make me walk there with no cane.
I'm like "Oh I can do this!"
When I was walkin' nobody
was expectin' that to even happen.
And I was in a wheelchair thinkin' like,
"I will never walk again, what's gonna happen?"
And when I started to do therapy
and they got me walkin' around places,
I'm like this stable.
That's the feelin' I have with that.
It can be done.
- I was talkin' to Raz last week, man.
I know that he's basically really on the point
of wanting to improve, you know,
to get back on the stage, man.
So I heard that he had this show comin' up with Priest
in October, so I told him that's a good look,
because it'd help you get back into the feel.
The feel is the people, the feel is what brings you back.
- When you on stage, there's two, three,
four thousand, 50 thousand people in the audience.
The energy they give you is contagious.
You know what I'm sayin', so if they givin' you the energy,
you can feel it and recipitate that and give it back.
- It will be so powerful, I think,
if he was able to get on that stage and perform.
I think the crowd will go crazy
because that will be such a powerful moment.
This will be it, where you say "Wow, he's back!"
- We need inspiration and motivation as a culture,
and watching people overcome trials and tribulations
always provides motivation for us to do what we gotta go
for the next rapper that's up-and-comin'
and is facin' obstacles and adversity.
To see a moment like that happen,
he will be responsible for a huge wave of inspiration.
And I think that's what hip-hop always needs.
So if he gets up there, the energy is gonna be crazy.
And that shit would be epic.
- Him gettin' on stage is perfect,
because it'd give him that motivation here.
Just to bring him back to when he was doin' that,
his body might just say "Yo, fuck that shit!"
You know what I mean?
(laughs) I'm back, you know what I mean?
- Hi, nice to meet you finally.
- Yeah, my pleasure, my pleasure.
This is the nights of all nights
that me you and Priest was able to be together.
You know what I mean?
- Yeah, yeah, baby!
What's good, you here! - You better believe that.
- Yeah man, what's good? - I love you man.
- I love you too, brother.
Word, we out, man.
Man yo, bring it in here bruh, word.
This is my beginning,
and this is everything to me.
You know what I mean, to have my family on stage with me,
it's just like the best that...
This how we started.
(laughing)
- His energy alone, just the fact
that he's able to pick up that mic at this time,
it will bring tears to my eyes, honestly.
- He better get on that stage and talk to the people.
Like he knows how to talk to them people,
and them people better listen.
- He try to make this sound big,
sound real good for the fans out there
that's been with us for years, you know what I mean?
It's gonna be beautiful, man.
♪ I'm still tripping off of Bishop, when he shot Raheem ♪
♪ I pop off sixteens, like Glock sixteens ♪
♪ Bank stop the guap that's mine for the taking ♪
♪ My team all gunners, we whip four runners ♪
♪ We wild out, pull out the Nick Cannon on you ♪
♪ I warned you, my Killa Bee Gang niggas ♪
♪ We outlaws, who don't give a fuck about the mayor ♪
♪ Block rebels coughing on sour ♪
♪ The mighty dollar is the power ♪
♪ Blackout, goons come in all different shapes ♪
♪ Orangutan gorilla niggas beat up apes ♪
♪ Old school, new school, man, I dropped out ♪
♪ I learned when that van come around, they hop out ♪
♪ I been iller, I send killas with chinchillas ♪
♪ Then laugh at it, back at the crib, like Ben Stiller ♪
♪ Killa bees on a motherfuckin' swarm ♪
♪ Ah, killa bees swarmin' MC ♪
(mumbling) (crowd cheering)
- Where the hell Raz at, man? - Raz, where you at Razah?
- 60 Sec, let's go.
(crowd cheering)
- Ay Raz. - Yo Razah!
- Yo, where you at Razah?
- Yo, can you please come on, man?
- Get on stage! - Come on Raz!
- There you go.
♪ It's 96, beware of bio-chips ♪
♪ Or shy lips harder than slave whips ♪
♪ Like you ready to give ♪
♪ From Egypt to sea ship to bein' chased ♪
♪ By New York cops on the precinct ♪
♪ If words is bricks we build the projects and pyramids ♪
♪ Evil kids I'll destroy your eyes like London Bridge ♪
♪ Smoke trees and weed, take off the leaves, out the twigs ♪
♪ Paratroopers, when I got to give a lot to live for ♪
♪ You ain't rich before poor, it ain't peace without war ♪
♪ How would you steal without a floor under, over ♪
(crowd cheering)
- Come on!
(crowd cheering)
- I got my batteries back.
Yes!
Renaissance Child is back.
- Sounded good tonight, bro. - That shit was hard, man.
- [Crowd] Wings up, wings up!
Wings up, wings up!
- This is crazy, man!
Wu-Tang forever, man.
All them brothers, Sunz Of Man, Killarmy, Wu...
Crazy, crazy.
- [Razah] For a long time after the aneurism,
I felt embarrassed to let my fans,
and even some of our friends, see me.
But once I felt the energy from the crowd,
I knew I had nothin' to be ashamed of.
Now it's time to go home and see my people.
It's the end of the summer, and Old Timer's Day
is comin' up in Red Hook.
I can't miss that.
- Old Timer's Day happens the second week in August,
on the weekend.
It's a three day event, it's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
That's Old Timer Day.
It's real big.
It be in the news and all of that stuff.
- Old Timer's Day started about 15 years ago.
And it gave a opportunity for people
who moved outta Red Hook
to come back to visit and to have
like a barbecue to come together.
- Old Timer's is lit, they play the old-school music,
get the old-school people back, you know what I mean?
They be lit on stage, doin' they thing.
- Red Hook is in his DNA.
You know, it's a lotta history with Red Hook.
- So my plan is this year I'm gonna call Razah.
Yo Razah, Old Timer's Day, you have to come.
- Memories, a lotta memories.
A lotta people out there see when I was younger.
People that was in jail or somethin', locked up,
I didn't see in I don't know how long.
(party music)
- He made history.
Him, Bazz, 'Preme...
- He's one a the ones that came up from out here.
Believe it or not, Hell Razah used to be a break dancer.
They used to call him Little Spin.
Used to wear big pants with the colorful socks, all of that.
Remember that, son?
Yo, don't even laugh, nigga!
You was his partner, don't try to front!
- For me, Sunz Of Man was definitely a life lesson.
It was an education on track.
- His lyrics brought science, and brought the math,
and brought everything together.
The culmination of knowledge itself.
- Razah was the bomb!
(laughs) Is that old-fashioned?
But he was.
- Red Hook always had a lotta talent in it,
but I don't think it had the courage to step up.
A lotta times peep rappers and even producers,
they think it's easy just to do what you do,
but he had the courage to bring it to life.
And I think that's what he did, he gave it heart.
You know, everybody got the talent,
but it's the difference of takin' the talent
and exposin' it out, and that's what he did.
He had the courage to do it.
- When's the last time y'all seen each other?
- Man, right? - It's been a while, man.
- [Supreme] I wanted to ask you,
how much hard rap are you doin' now?
You doin' a lot, or you gettin' back?
- [Razah] Well you say that, uh...
- The reason why I'm askin'
is 'cause you got so many goddamn songs out,
I'm tryin' to figure out what songs
are you actually rappin' on,
or is you usin' stuff from the past?
- I just released an album on Easter, it was.
I did some new songs on that.
- I'm listenin' to you talkin', you mad clear, man.
It's like I'm sittin' here, and you teachin' me shit.
I'm like, what the fuck?
You know, you flowin'.
So I'm like...
- My therapist helped me with that.
That shit was really hard. - Word?
- I didn't realize how important this shit was
until they was teachin' me again.
I was sittin' there like, wow.
And I was sittin' there,
when I'm hearin' other patients sayin' to me,
like "Hey, you comin' back kinda fast."
I'm like "What you mean?"
"No, 'cause the last time I seen you,
"you couldn't do this, you couldn't do that.
"And now you movin' around like that now."
I'm like "Well, you know what?
"These people gettin' paid a lotta fuckin' money
"from my insurance to help me do that,
"and I ain't here to play around."
("Return Of The Renaissance" by Hell Razah)
♪ Yeah, Renaissance Child ♪
♪ Heaven Razah, y'all do it like this with me ♪
♪ Renaissance '76, some say heavenly sent ♪
♪ My pitch got my enemies sick ♪
♪ Now I'm back independent as Prince ♪
♪ A young black industry pimp ♪
♪ That'll flip more money that's spent ♪
- I think it's possible that the Sunz Of Man
could come back together.
Prodigal right away hit me up.
"Yo 'Preme, I been talkin' for the long, let's do it."
♪ Clubs and parties, the project Marcus Garvey ♪
♪ Turn the hood to the woods or a dark safari ♪
- As awful as it is what happened to Razah,
the brother, he'll tell you himself he's blessed
because he's coming out of it.
He can talk, he can walk, he can eat, he can rap.
♪ I slept with the Tec in my Polo vest ♪
♪ Go back like a Memorex tape cassette ♪
- And we lived right down in that house,
112 Whitman Avenue right there.
You know, the house right there where the fire escape is at.
We're next door to it.
(crashing)
Oh wow!
Accident.
Oh, let's get the accident.
This is the block right here!
All kinds of stuff happenin'.
So we gettin' it live, you know what I mean?
We in the heart of Beth Stavenson right now.
You know what I mean, and accidents happen...
But anyway, let's get back to the point.
♪ Father forgive us ♪
♪ 'Cause we all have sins ♪
♪ T.H.U.G. Angelz ♪
♪ This is a prayer for the thugs ♪
♪ I don't care if you Damu or Cuz because it's God's love ♪
♪ This a prayer for the thugs ♪
♪ I don't care if you Damu or Cuz because it's God's love ♪
♪ Do you believe in the prophecies ♪
♪ That the Messiah gon' free our seeds ♪
♪ To bring the truth back to Tel Aviv ♪
♪ True indeed, we've been all deceived ♪
♪ Now America is under siege ♪
♪ Even the citizens overseas ♪
♪ Chemtrails in the air we breathe ♪
♪ At 13 and can barely read ♪
♪ But he can sell crack and roll weed ♪
♪ Niggas acting like they don't bleed ♪
♪ Till is IV's and respirators ♪
♪ The board of ED can't educate us ♪
♪ Too many federal investigators ♪
♪ I left hell in the elevator ♪
♪ Next stop is the Heaven Razah ♪
♪ To every bomb there's a detonator ♪
♪ Is every traitor part of Al-Qaeda ♪
♪ Or is it greater if it's legislator or a slave-trader ♪
♪ Either way they all need a prayer ♪
♪ Look at my logo and the moon crater ♪
♪ You can't hide behind ya top layer ♪
♪ This is a prayer for the thugs ♪
♪ I don't care if you're Damu or Cuz because it's God's love ♪
♪ This a prayer for the thugs ♪
♪ I don't care if you're Damu or Cuz because it's God's love ♪
♪ This a prayer for the thugs ♪
♪ I don't care if you're Damu or Cuz because it's God's love ♪
♪ This a prayer for the thugs ♪
♪ I don't care if you're Damu or Cuz because it's God's love ♪
♪ I'm the old serpent dragon slayer ♪
♪ Spitting lasers at space invaders ♪
♪ Keep an eye out for tomb raiders ♪
♪ We cry out to the true savior ♪
♪ Another victim in the newspaper ♪
♪ I wonder why when the baby cry ♪
♪ Is his visions of the most high ♪
♪ Or is there archangels close by ♪
♪ 12 tribes be the lost bride ♪
♪ Until then she a black widow ♪
♪ A young mother staring out a window ♪
♪ On a soft pillow, more tears ♪
♪ Dear Lord you're the one I fear ♪
♪ I say it loud and clear ♪
(dramatic music)