Here's How N.O.R.E. Became a Podcast King - XXL
N.O.R.E. is one of the most interesting men in hip-hop and he’s got the O.G. credentials to prove it. For 20 years, he’s been destroying the game and kept his name in the mix for the better.
As a member of Capone-N-Noreaga — better known as C-N-N — he released The War Report in 1997, one of the most influential hip-hip projects of all time. The group would go on to drop four more albums. As a solo artist, P.A.P.I. has released a ton of hits in hip-hop (and reggaeton) such as “Superthug,” “Banned from T.V.,” “Nothin’,” “Oye Mi Canto” and “Mas Maiz,” plus a number of albums and mixtapes. To say he’s contributed to the culture is putting it kindly.
However, these days, the charismatic hip-hop legend from Queens has found a way to profit off his personality outside of hip-hop. Between 2009 and 2011, Noreaga and DJ EFN hosted a satellite radio show for Sirius XM called Militainment Crazy Raw Radio that was both outrageous and addictive. The duo, along with guests of the show, would drink and tell stories of some of the crazy things they’ve witnessed both in and out of the rap world.
When the show ended, N.O.R.E. found his calling after his interview on Rap Radar’s popular hip-hop podcast went viral. On the show, N.O.R.E. shared a story of the time he heard NBA G.O.A.T. Michael Jordan say “fukk rap” at a Def Jam holiday party. Noreaga claimed M.J. only listens to Jay Z while the famed basketball player’s team refuted the rapper’s story. But there wasn’t much left to say when the Melvin Flynt – Da Hustler creator provided photographic evidence that he wasn’t lying; the internet went nuts.
That moment for N.O.R.E. cemented the idea he should create his own podcast and in March, Drink Champs was born. Drink Champs immediately became one of the highest rating podcasts under the CBS umbrella and continues to make headlines quite frequently when guests share big announcements. On the first episode of Drink Champs, Fat Joe revealed the title of his joint album with Remy Ma, just to give you an idea of what he’s working with.
Now with over 30 episodes in, N.O.R.E. sits down with XXL on the roof of the W in midtown New York to discuss his rise in the podcast game, why he’s venturing outside of hip-hop and reaching the youth.
Your podcast is one of the best out right now. How did Drink Champs start?
It’s a long story but we got time. What happened was my partner DJ EFN, we had Militainment Crazy Raw Radio, which was on XM Radio and then XM and Hip Hop Nation became one corporation. I think we could of kept the job but we had to move to New York and at the time I was moving from New York. So I wasn’t willing to go back. We deaded the radio show. Podcasts started blowing up and EFN had been on me, “Yo, let’s do this podcast.”
There was this dude name Taxstone and Tax was calling out rappers, “I’m going to run down…” When you say you’re going to “run down” on somebody, it could be playing, it could be cool but it could also be serious. So he had used my name but he didn’t at me [on Twitter]. He bigged me up but he said he was going to run down on me. So I found out who Tax was and found out what he was doing and I did Tax’s podcast. But what I did was, I didn’t want to do it on his turf. So I made him come to New Jersey where I was at the time and I booked the studio. I wanted to know if you could have a podcast that’s portable. Jay Z had actually called me about the interview I did on Taxstone so I started to pay attention. It was the day after Thanksgiving that Jay Z called me. I’m not calling anybody the day after Thanksgiving unless they got money for me or I’m trying to close a deal.
I still didn’t take it serious until when I did Rap Radar podcast. I did Rap Radar the week before our podcast debuted. I was promoting my Drunk Uncle mixtape. [After the Rap Radar podcast], Michael Jordan responded to me, himself. Even though he dissed me, he shytted on me, said he didn’t know me, which proved he doesn’t know nothing about hip-hop. But [comedian] Alex Thomas told me [Jordan] came up to him and said “Tatalalicious.” Alex Thomas obviously did that in my video [for “Nothin”]. Michael Jordan responded and said he wasn’t at this party I mentioned [in the podcast]. I proved he was at the party and I became an underground hero.
That was huge; the internet went nuts after you proved that.
From there, I started to take the podcast serious. Every other format is for the new artists. There’s no platform in music, period, that salutes artists that have over 10 years in the game. If you think I’m hip-hop, you got to meet DJ EFN. He still believes in vinyl. We’re really like the rapper and DJ combo like Eric B. & Rakim. You go out to one of his events and he’s deejaying, he makes people go out and get vinyls. He won’t be digital. He believes in the real essence of hip-hop. So with his heart and my connections and our passion together, that’s what we wanted to do.
I didn’t want to be the No. 1 podcast. I didn’t know my stories were retarded. Me and Nas, I was filming a documentary called What What. Nas told me one day, “Someday these people are going to pay us for our conversation.” I don’t know if Nas is a real genie, man, because he said that to me 10 years ago, before the internet is poppin’. People said to me, “N.O.R.E. does the best interviews.” But I don’t ever benefit from my interviews. They love that story more than [me] because I’m going to go on and do something else. I have to figure out a way where I can benefit off of me.
Power 105’s [The Breakfast Club] is No. 1 all the time. But it doesn’t help [me] that every time I go to 105 [to do an interview] they hit No. 1. I’m not saying I helped do that — they No. 1 when I’m not there. But the thing is, how the fukk do I capitalize off of that? They are getting paid from iHeartRadio. Their bag is secure. So I wanted to secure a bag for me and have a life outside of hip-hop. I wanted to benefit off of me.
It’s wonderful that I can do interviews and people love my energy but how do I benefit off of that. One time I went to Canada for like seven days and I couldn’t tell if The Breakfast Club owed me money or if I owe them money. Everywhere I went people were like, “Breakfast Club,” I’m like nikka I’m not a member. But out of the country, they live off of YouTube only. I know Switzerland, if you don’t have a video to [your song] they don’t hear the record. I’m like, Damn, the world is changing. How do I change with the world? I don’t want to be the old nikka that want to reminisce about the time. It’s wonderful to not never disrespect those times but live in the here and now. That’s what I wanted to do with the podcast.
Our competition is Elliott Wilson [with his Rap Radar podcast]. There’s no way I can compete with this guy, and he made himself compete with me. He’s a good friend of mine but I tell this to everybody. He called me one day; I was beefing with a rapper. He said, “You got to watch out with whom your opponent is because you’ll be linked to him for life.” I don’t know if he ever knew this but that shyt fukked up my whole day because he was absolutely right. I had so much material that I wanted to do to this artist but I had to stop because I don’t give a fukk how better Floyd Mayweather is than you, if he fights you, y’all on the same level that night. So when Elliott kept poking fun at me like, “This guy is our competition.” It’s like being fat but you know how to workout and get busy. Your man keep asking you to come to the gym and you’re looking at him like, nikka, I’ll out-run you. Then one day you’re going to finally come to the gym. That’s what happened.
It’s friendly competition. We’re both signed to CBS and he made me better by him putting me on his level. He got 20 years of journalism. I got 20 years of fukkery in hip-hop. There’s no way I can compete with him in all actuality. It’s like him trying to out-rap [me]. I can never be a journalist like that. I took journalist classes; I didn’t pay attention to it. I paid attention as much as I can to can to be entertainment. Nowadays, the people who are more successful as journalists are the people who make themselves a part of the story; it’s when you get on camera. Your brand can get old, your brand can stop. But if your brand is a part of something, you’re making a different part of history.
