The Musical History of Tariq Snare

The Musical History of Tariq Snare

Carmelo Castro Netsky

Tariq Snare

Carmelo Castro Netsky

Tariq Snare

DreamYard Project 1085 Washington Ave. Bx, NY 10456

Transcript:

CCN: My name is Carmelo Castro Netsky and we are interviewing…

TS: Tariq Snare

CCN: and this is for (Dis)placed Urban Histories, Professor Rebecca Amato, 2017.

TS: We started um… like September and October like the end of September was our first like workshop. So what, what M.B.P. is Morrisania Band Project um… brings any musicians that respond to the ad the ad was on craigslist and um… and it was on Facebook so we got a lot of responses from a lot of people in the neighborhood like uh musicians in the neighborhood like you've seen, a lot of these cats are from the Bronx from this area from Melrose from Morrisania um… from Castle Hill um a lot of Bronx natives responded. So you know uh everybody’s just showing their musicianship and sharing their musicianship uh, you know in Morrisania with this program which was started by Elissa, Elissa Carmona she’s, she's a definite Morrisania, Melrose native. She was born and raised here and uh she was interviewed as well by another one of your colleges I know thats gonna be a good interview because she's she's a die hard melrose person you know and she connects her music she has a love for music she has a love for her neighborhood and uh… I, I think she was born in Staten Island and she grew up here you know so uh her and her daughter you know they they love the bronx man. She's part of the Bronx Council of the Arts uh, which we have uh a couple of performances coming up and uh, she's just very active in the community and uh, I wish she was right here with me so she could give me some information for you and stuff but um…

CCN: Through this project what’s the… what’s the goal, what’s the….

TS: The goal of this project is to give musicians a platform to uh… to work on their craft to go out to make a living as a musician you know um… basically its its its a place to conglomerate with other musicians and share and do jam sessions and uh… you know get your workshop on it’s a workshop so we work on our shop you know so we can um… so we can go out in the field a lot of these musicians are musicians that don't have gigs that do want gigs and uh we encourage uh, getting their resume together on who they’ve played with and uh… you know working on specifics. Like we have uh… we have a vocal coach that comes out and uh, teaches, teaches vocal lessons and its any level of musicianship you don't have to know all your chords and all your everything we have a lot of beginners and they're getting a lot better already you know, so the Morrisania Band Project the main goal is to give musicians a platform to strive in their instrument and to meet other musicians and you know to act as uh, uh, a workshop and a network. A network for musician to get gigs you know, because we really so far we've had since we've been together since October we've had about four shows, we've had about four performances where uh musicians that wouldn't have had a gig before now they have a gig because of Elissa’s project M.B.P and I just think it’s a positive thing. I'm her musical director so I, I try to bring my expertise, uh I'm graduate from Music and Art High School which was in Harlem…

CCN: Yea, yea… take, take me through your your history

TS: Okay, Okay I could do that. Right I graduated from Music and Art High School in Harlem uhh… I traveled from Brooklyn um… for the first time to go to high school, you know, on the train and everything um… to the specialized high school where you have to take a test, and a lot of my friends who were musicians in Brooklyn they didn't get in. So when I got in I had to make a whole group of new musician friends but it was amazing, because you had musicians from the Bronx, from,Manhattan, from Queens, from Staten Island, from everywhere you know and um… I joined this crew my first year as a freshmen I joined this crew called the Five Borough Crew, now Hip Hop was uh… just being born when I was in high school

CCN: You… 80’s right?

TS: Yea, yea like in in the… in the early 80’s, in the early 80’s when I was in high school

CCN: Yea, it was just starting to pop

TS: It just started Hip Hop, uh… I’ll tell you a couple of people that were in my graduating class was Slick Rick, Dana Dane these are uh, pioneers of Hip Hop um… in the Five Borough Crew we, we had uh, people from every borough and in every, during every, for every weekend we would go to a different borough and a different party and a different borough and different party one weekend, but it was 60, 70 of us getting on the train at one time going to this party so we, we would like take over the train, you know, and we came down the street it was like, it was amazing it was nothing but rappers and musicians and artists so it was it was a very artistic uh… kind of time of my life. You saw the movie fame? I don't know if you, a lot of the people saw the movie fame and it was based on uh the school I went to it was Laguardia High School of Music and Art. So Music and Art was one school of Laguardia and Performing Arts was another school of Laguardia, but now they have a new building where they've both came together where they've come together, and people like Alecia Keys have gone to the school um… Nas’ ex wife, what’s her name? Kelis, I used to play with Kelis as well. Alright, I’ll tell you a couple of people I used to play with over the years too… uh, I played with Keith Sweat, P.M. Dawn, Kool & The Gang, Queen Latifah, umm… Amel Larrieux, Groove Theory, Ledisi

CCN: Wow.

TS: Yea, I've been, I’ve been around for a minute. With P.M. Dawn was one of the uh… biggest groups I've ever played with. We went on a tour with Peter Gabriel, it was a world tour, he has a world tour called W.O.M.A.D. it’s World of Music Art and Dance and there was Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, Sinead O’Connor, Ziggy Marley, Lenny Kravitz, um… Youssou N’Dour, and P.M. Dawn and we went… it was like for about 9 months we just went everywhere we went to so many continents, so many cities that was the biggest time of my life man, you know…

CCN: Yea

TS: So from that, coming from P.M. Dawn, uh, you know…

[Distant singing from Mike Abner, frontman for M.B.P.]

TS: Yea

MA: Oh, excuse me

TS: Nah we good, it’s all good brother

MA: what’s happening Tariq?

TS: Mike, Mike, Mike

MA: My brother… whats going on man

TS: My brother, this is my brother the singer Mike, Mike, Mike

MA: (incomprehensible audio)

TS: (chuckles)

MA: Let me in over there…

TS: He’s the, one of the main singers in M.B.P. and he’s from the Bronx

MA: Yea, from the boogie down…

TS: He’s from the boogie down Bronx, and he knows the importance of music in Hip Hop and R & B and the roots of Hip Hop and R & B in the Bronx…

MA: That’s cause…

TS: Cause if it wasn't for the Bronx the Rap would be gone with it… wouldn't be going on

MA: Exactly!

TS: So tell me where you're from?

MA: I’m an O.G. from Patterson Projects South Bronx

TS: (chuckles) … right

MA: The South, South Bronx

TS: Right

MA: Uh, same, the home of uh, Nate Tiny Nate Archibald

TS: Right, Nate Tiny Archibald no doubt

MA: You know, the home, the home, of Iran Barkley

TS: Right, okay…

MA: You know, the boxer, you know we all came up together… and I'm a O.G., I know I look good for my age…

TS: (Laughs)

MA: I’m an O.G., Baby…

CCN: I’m not even going to ask you how old you are

MA: I’m sixty, I’m sixty three years old

TS: Wow.

MA: And I'm still out here doing my thing thanks to guys like this here

TS: Wow.

MA: This guy is one of the best drummers I've ever played with and I've played with a lot of drummers…

TS: Thanks brother, appreciate it…

MA: And I’ve… eyy no, this is true this aint no I aint stroking his ego none of that I'm telling it like it is. this boy is, is, is dynamic. Now, I'm a member of the legendary Escorts we've had bands through the years… and drummers and, and, and, and guitar players and all… this guy here… is like he, he, he, is like the, the, the truth. You know when guys say this guys the truth… this guy here is the truth…

TS: He gassing it up a little bit

MA: You know, no seriously!

TS: But I think a little bit…

MA: No, no, no you know why, you know why I say that Ima tell you, I've been in the game long enough to say that…

TS: (Laughing)

MA: You know, I know when guys… you know the great ones you know what they do…? They do what they do, he do stuff I a’int never see him do before… just… ah

CCN: It’s natural…

MA: You know, he a’int a show off, you know, a guy that a’int that good you know what he do? The best thing he can do, he gonna show you right away I do this “rrrrrrrraaaahhh rrrrrrrr wen ding dingy ding ding ding brraahhhh tat bruhh brudududum brum”… and you go, okay what else you got? And, and, and you know its like, its like, its like [laughing] somebody say is that all you got? Yea nigga thats about it

TS: (Laughing)

MA: You know

TS: (Laughing)

MA: This guy comes out with something new every, every, every rehearsal, every… showtime is his time that’s when he really shines and I hear it and I know what I'm listening to. Is a lot of people, 80 percent of the people around probably a’int on what I’m, what I know when I'm listening to him…

CCN: And he brings up everyone with him too…

MA: You know…

CCN: What I saw out there.

MA: And thats what he does…

CCN: Yea.

MA: He’s, he, he, he’s the, he’s the like the

CCN: The orchestra… he's the orchestrator.

MA: The meat in our sandwich!

TS: (laughing)

MA: He’s the meet in our sandwich, you see what I'm saying

CCN: Yea.

MA: I’m serious and this guys so, he's so, then, you know what, you know whats cool when you good or you great… but you are humble… about your talent… that makes your talent come across even more so. He's humble with his talent he's not one of these dudes thats, thats… I play with some drummers that think they're the baddest drummers that ever lived… and not that they, they don't suck, they are good

TS: (Laughing)

MA: They are good but they blow their own horn… so when you blow your own horn you, you, you give expectations people are going okay show me what you've got…

CCN: Mhmm…

MA: He never does that… I, I still don't know all of what he got cuz every time we do a show I see more, he’ll show me something different he’ll show, and other people don't see it, all they hearin’ is a drummer, they know, they know they cant see his hands… when they moving so fast but they say okay we've seen that before… but no, its called, rudiments right?

TS: Rudiments, of course man

MA: Rudiments that he does… are so precise and so on point, and unexpected, that it makes everything else sound better you know what I mean?

CCN: Mhmm

MA: It puts everything else in perspective… you know what I mean? its like… its like… if you have a sandwich and you put like mayonnaise on it…

TS & CCN: (Laughing)

MA: And you eat it, it tastes delicious right?… he’s miracle whip doe

TS: (Laughing)

MA: When you put miracle whip on a sandwich it go “BOOWW!” I love miracle whip!

TS: Its cause of my love, you love miracle whip. I love music I have a love for the game of music…

MA: I already know…

TS: And being a musical director and pulling things together and just giving my ideas and my experience man, yo, I've jammed with Paul McCartney on stage at the, at, at Earth Day in Los Angeles. I've jammed with Stevie Wonder on stage at the Cellar Restaurant, he loved coming to the Cellar Restaurant back in the day, and I could just say that I've jammed with these people man and I could see how they handle themselves up there and I’ve, I've learned a lot man I've learned a lot…

MA: See…

TS: So I’m…

MA: See …

TS: So I’m passing it on, I'm just passing it on…

MA: See what he just said…

TS: Passing it on…

MA: Now I’ve, now I’ve, I've performed on the same stage as with The Temptations…

TS: No Doubt.

MA: With the, with the, with, with, with Ray Goodman and Brown…

TS: Mmmm…

MA: With the, with The Stylistics…

TS: Mmmm…

MA: With “The Delfinates”…

TS: Mmmm…

MA: With The Intruders…

TS: Mmmm…

MA: With, with, with, with, with, uh Peaches & Herb…

TS: (Laughing)

MA: With uh, these are all of the, all of the people that I’ve, that I’ve actually worked with been in the same…

TS: Pioneers…

MA: Dressing rooms, you know we talkin’…

TS: Pioneers…

MA: I’ve got pictures to show, but… that’s not to say, anything about, you know, like, like name dropping or anything like that. But that’s just to say that when you're around greatness it’ll, it'll rub off on you…

TS: Mhmm…

MA: If you, if you're talented enough to absorb… their, their, their gifts. You feel what I'm saying?

CCN: Mhmm…

MA: You know some time you have to, some time you have to, its not about you all the time its about what you can do or what you can, what you can share with somebody else

CCN: It’s a, it’s a chemistry

MA: You know…

TS: It’s a chemistry, that’s the word…

MA: Like, he’s, he’s actually playing with, with artists that are lesser than him. I know that he know that, I'm saying what people they, you know, that I'm not saying… they can sing! You know…

TS: It’s not about them being lesser it’s about them having determination to be greater and I just want to share what I can and help them out…

MA: No, no what I'm saying, I don't mean lesser I take that back…

TS: I try and push…

MA: I’ll take back the lesser…

TS: I know what you mean…

MA: I take back the lesser thing…

TS: Less experienced.

MA: Less experienced, they don't have the experience, they don't have the knowledge, they don't have the, you know, the, the, the, the tools that he has, you know, or the reach, he can reach back and, and, and, and, and pull something from something he’s already done. Been there done that type thing a lot of them cant do that… but now they can say… playing with a guy like this they say I played with Tariq, you know, I played with Tariq. And y'all don't know.. this, there’s some, I did some drummers out here that I know, that he knows, people that I know thats good… he already knows them, he already knows them. Everybody, seems like everybody I know, that I say yo lets see how good… he says you talking about so and so…

TS: (Laughing)

MA: He done already played with them, but anyway I'm gonna let your interview go on man…

TS: Yea thanks I appreciate that man…

MA: God bless you brah…

TS: No doubt…

MA: And you the best…

TS: You about to be out?

MA: Yea, I'm out of here…

TS: Okay, alright, I’ma hit you up during the week man…

MA: Okay… okay….

TS: It was a nice show tonight man…

MA: No you did that, you did your thing man like always…

TS: We all did our thing, we all did our thing…

MA: Yea we did man… you know.

TS: We did our thing.

MA: You know…

TS: And it’s gon… the video is going to come out nice enough for you, us to use, and to put on YouTube so the rest of the world could see, and they could hire us you know what I mean… The Morrisania Band Project up in melrose, thats how we do it…

MA: Trust and believe what I tell you man…

TS: No doubt.

MA: You the meat in this sandwich man.

TS: Alright man.

MA: Alright.

TS: Keep, keep that, keep telling everybody that so they…

MA: You know I tell…

TS: (Laughing)

MA: As-Salamu Alaykum.

TS: Laikum-Salaam… (Laughing)… Peace brother, peace … Yea thats cool, now what he just said um with all these musicians coming together… like back in the day when I learned my essence of playing when I was like 16, 17, 18, I was coming to Melrose after school on a daily basis. This is where, Melrose is where I call Melrose the South Bronx cause Melrose is part of the South Bronx right, so I know South Bronx is made up of a bunch of different communities and Melrose is one of them and I used to definitely come up here… this is where I met Keith Sweat, this is where I met Johnny Kemp, this is where uh.. I met GQ. These groups, all off these groups and artists I've played with are from the Bronx. GQ uh… one of their big hits was Disco Nights, when disco was big like in the 80’s. This is where they're from man that was a huge hit, it was a multi platinum single and uh Raheem was the lead singer and he's definitely a Bronx, Melrose, South bronx native and I learned a lot of my stuff from him. So um.. everything I have with me now, uh, it started in the Bronx man, it started in Melrose.

CCN: What, what is it from the Bronx, what is it from this area that, that was able transpire into the music that created…

TS: The street’ness… the street’ness of the Bronx man is, is, like people that have like… no money… don't know where their food is coming from for the next day, they have this inner talent where when they sing or when they play their instrument those blues and that hunger just comes out. And when I was up here it was about Hip Hop and R & B, was on its way up and uh, so many artists like Grandmaster Flash and, and uh, Kurtis Blow all these guys from the Bronx… it just, it developed Hip Hop the Bronx is the, the, the mecca of Hip Hop is the birthplace of Hip Hop. So, um, after high school when I, when I was deep into Hip Hop with the Five Borough Crew and Slick Rick and Dana Dane and all these guys who were in my class in my school um I graduated and I went on to L.I.U. At L.I.U., at L.I.U. that was a different change Long Island University that was in Brooklyn, I know Prince, Prince started getting big at that time and Hip Hop was taking on another you know taking another realm of positive Hip Hop and… you know, uh, fight the power Hip Hop with Public Enemy and stuff and then there was another realm of R & B and Pop with Prince, you know, he was fusing the Rock and the genre of the you know kind of sexy and funky and all that stuff together and that had a lot to do with me too you know so my styles were gelling over the years and just intertwining with R & B, Soul, Hip Hop and when I went to L.I.U. I started learning Jazz. So I started playing Jazz more uh a lot of my professors cause my major was Jazz and Classic I majored in Classical and Jazz at L.I.U. So after I graduated from L.I.U. thats when I started touring you know uh P.M. Dawn, Kool & The Gang. After Kool & The Gang kind of split up from J.T. Taylor was the lead singer for Kool & The Gang, Kool & The Gang went this way J.T., I went with J.T. I was playing with J.T. Taylor for a few year after they split up and uh… but right now recently, most recently I've been the musical director for Native Dean. Native Dean is a Muslim Hip Hop group you know, I hope you can look it up, just go NativeDean.com

CCN: No I, I definitely, I definitely…

TS: Oh you did…

CCN: I have some paperwork I…

TS: Oh thats good…

CCN: I wanted to ask…

TS: Yea…

CCN: Specifically um being that they’re, being that they're a Muslim group

TS: Yea…

CCN: Did you grow up Muslim, or did you convert?

TS: I converted, I converted to Islam, yea I converted to Islam after 9/11. Like in 2003, uh… cause one of the members of Native Dean is married to my cousin and um my nephews are his father, right so, he's one of the members of Native Dean so I was around, around Islam a lot and with, uh, after 9/11 everybody was like what is this Islam and what are these Muslims, uh, hating America so much why 9/11 had to happen at all and I just did my own research and I found that it was nothing about uh, Islam and these, these are just terrorists it had nothing to do with a religion, it had nothing to do with a religion, these are just terrorists in my opinion, uh, terrorism is an act of gaining power, and gaining money through fear and violence

CCN: Mhmm…

TS: You know what I mean… people been doing that for years since the Nazi’s and since communism and before that…

[Short Interruption by Elissa Carmona M.B.P Founder]

EC: Sorry to interrupt…

TS: Yes…

EC: Im gonna walk um Ron to my house to drop his key board so you're by yourself here i’ll be right back…

TS: Oh you're coming back …

EC: Yea …

TS: And you're gonna you're gonna close the door, the front door right …

EC: Yea…

TS: And lock both of those doors …

EC: They’re gonna be locked …

TS: And nobody’s gonna be here, nobody else is gonna be here…

EC: No…

TS: Is that room locked, is the um, the office locked?

EC: I’m locking it when we put everything away…

TS: Okay great, great, did y'all take those tables, did y'all put those four tables back out?

EC: No.

TS: Alright…I’ma, I’ma

EC: I can't do the tables…

TS: I’ma handle that when I finish this…

EC: Okay.

TS: Alright thanks.

CCN: Thank you.

TS: Alright so what was your question specifically…?

CCN: So Native Dean being, being um, being a, a Muslim group…

TS: Yea..

CCN: And, and spreading the word of Islam…

TS: Right…

CCN: When you joined, when you converted to Islam…

TS: Yea…

CCN: Did that affect your Music, did that change the, the way you were going?

TS: Definitely it added, it added a whole n’other genre and realm to my music, to my style of playing because Native Dean travels to the Middle East a lot, like we've gone to Kuwait, we've gone to uh…

CCN: Is that how you've ended up at these, at these, um, at these, uh, where you’re, where you're teaching, you're teaching…

TS: Oh my workshops…

CCN: Drumming… exactly, workshops thank you

TS: Um…kind of, yes, kind of, yes, uh, because the State Department, Native Dean was working with the State Department. The State Department has a cultural affairs section that shares their culture shares the American culture with other countries and thats the uh, you know thats the trade off…

CCN: Mhmm…

TS: Um… we have embassies, we have U.S. embassies in like every major country every country in the world except a couple like Iran, a couple that are hostile countries that are hostiles to us for whatever reasons like Iran, North Korea, and maybe a couple of others but every other country has a U.S. embassy and they also have a cultural affairs section where part of having the embassy in their country you agree to share cultures and you agree to share a lot of things so as I was as I'm working with the State Department with Dative Dean they like what I was doing cause I work with kids a lot and I have a book called, Kids Can Play Hip Hop Drums, I can show you the book…

CCN: Okay…

TS: Uh-huh… yea, this is the book that I wrote, wrote and illustrated, uh, this is not the best copy this is getting kind of worn cause this is my promotional copy that I show a lot, and its called, Kids Can Play Hip Hop Drums, and this is volume one the snare drum its written and illustrated, self published by Tariq Snare and its basically a simple book for kids, and it shows, it, it encourage, it encourages them to learn how to uh, tune their snare drum how to play the snare drum and it has a urban figure, you know, that they can relate to and uhh, and some of the kids are as young as these, these are some of my students…

CCN: So will… will you bring these to the, to the countries you go to?

TS: Of course I’ve, I've sold hundreds, not even sold the State Department buys hundreds of my books and I give them out at the workshops…

CCN: I love the art…

TS: Yea, thanks man, thanks man… this is uh, show you how to hold your drumsticks there two ways to hold your drum sticks, boom, match grip like this, traditional grip like that, you know, and uh… it shows them how to read notes…

CCN: So what what is, I'm very curious…

TS: Stuff like that…

CCN: I’m very curious, what is it that they ask you to share in terms of culture with these countries?

TS: Um… Hip Hop music is an American art form…

CCN: Right…

TS: Because it was uh… it was born and raised in America right, so, I'm from New York they know that the Hip Hop was from New York so they figured out I knew something about Hip Hop because in my solo shows I do old school Hip Hop beats I call it beats and rhymes live. Right, I do old school Hip Hop beats where I rap and play beats at the same time, and they love it man every time, every time I've done it I get more gigs and they they encourage me to go to different countries uh, the State Department to share what I have and what I do is I, uh… fuse genres I fuse the genre and the instrument of the country I go to with American Hip Hop, so well have djembe’s and sitar’s and all kinds of foreign instruments playing with Hip Hop and everywhere we go there are Hip Hop artists like in Indonesia, in Egypt they're rapping in Arabic, in Indonesia they are rapping in Bahasa, you know, in their language so uh… it it was so successful so successful I even when to Iraq, I went to Iraq…

CCN: Wow…

TS: Iraq was in 2014 thats, thats right before they took over a lot of like Mosul and started moving into Bagdad and taking over, you know, because things started getting messed up. I went right before that, and uh one of the pictures I sent you is from one of the posters and uh you know went to a lot of schools there they have a school for Ballet and Jazz and stuff like that in, in Bagdad its just so sad that a lot of the things had to be broken down you know but um…yea so…

CCN: How does that, how does that incorporate back to coming back to the Bronx and spreading music here?

TS: Well um, when I come back here I share my experiences I share my experiences with my students, with my workshops I do workshops here in New York too I do workshops up and down the East coast. Um… I'm always doing workshops when I travel with Native Dean cause Native Dean um… when they do their shows its mostly family orientated shows, its not like a club, like when I was younger I used to do a lot of clubs and a lot of concerts there would be no kids there…

CCN: Mhmm…

TS: You know, there would be alcohol, they would sell alcohol and you know, it would be more like a concert, like you know people were coming to drink have fun enjoy the music like a regular Rock concert

CCN: Mhmm

TS: You know thats what I grew up playing. But after, after I took Jihad after I accepted Islam the shows that I play now more family, family orientated, whole families come to these shows and thats why I wrote this book because the kids always look at the drums, kids always love drums and they are like this, and there is always a group of kids at our shows and I give workshops before the show and I sell drumsticks after the show and I give like little lessons to the people that buy the, the drumsticks and it just it stuck with me you know like tomorrow I go to D.C. and I my, I sell drumsticks after the show and the kids that buy the drumsticks are the ones… that get like free workshops right…

CCN: Okay…

TS: Yea, so these be the drumsticks that go with the book like this, so this is like, this is just part of my self publication…

CCN: Yea…

TS: You know, cause, I’m, I'm self funded you know so I'm just looking for people that donate and help me out so I'm raising money to write volume two ,this is volume one, actually its a book series, down here it says book series, so this is volume one, volume two is gonna be, I'm working on that now its gonna be kick, snare, and hat…

CCN: Okay…

TS: Volume one is just the snare drum concentrating on the rudiments and the snare drum. Volumes two is gonna be kick drum, snare drum, and a high hat. So basically what I do when I go on these tours I come back with what I've learned and share it at my workshops you know, and uh my connection to sharing it in the bronx is what I'm doing right now. Like the show we just did tonight here in the South Bronx uh… there, there are some kids upstairs that heard it and they just came down and two of them happened to be drummers one did, they're two brothers, one is 8 and one is 12 and I fixed their drums for them, you know, I fixed their drums for them now they're upstairs playing drums and they were broke for a long time so now I have new students you know I gave them a pair of sticks and stuff so, um…

CCN: I wanted to go back to, to the, the, your history…

TS: Yes

CCN: We kind of, we broke that up for a second…

TS: Okay, okay…

CCN: when you were in university at I.U., was it?

TS: L.I.U. Long Island University right, okay, uh, what’s your specific question?

CCN: Just where, where did that go, to where you are now?

TS: Right, after I graduated from L.I.U. um… actually I became a teacher in the uh, Board of Education in New York City. I was teaching language arts and social studies so I got my bachelors degree in Music and my ultimate goal was to become a music teacher like in, you know, Brooklyn or the Bronx or Manhattan, anywhere, but each school only has only one music teacher they have like a band teacher and a vocal teacher and its hard to get a position, but they have a bunch of language arts teachers a bunch of math teachers so I ended up being a language arts and social studies teacher on the junior high school level. That was like uh for about 5 or 6 years after, right after L.I.U. so thats what I did with my bachelors degree, right. But in the mean time at nights I was playing gigs, you know, as a, as a musician in the clubs like Cafe Wow I was doing, the Blue Note I was playing, um… you know, The Apollo Band I played with The Apollo Band the showtime at The Apollo with Ray Chew uh, for a while too and um… it just started I, I, couldn't even teach anymore you know the gigs just started piling up cause my love for music was showing through my hands you know and I was just getting better and better cause of my love for music so um, then I just started like I said before I went on tour with P.M. Dawn thats when I was in my mid 20’s, you know, world tour this was so big we had like three tour busses every country we went to we had new tour busses and we just driving and we had our own TV’s and VCR’s in our bunks it was just such an amazing experience man, you know…

CCN: Yea…

TS: Seeing Lenny Kravitz… seeing Lenny Kravitz doing soundcheck is one of the most ex, most, biggest experiences that I’ve, uh, learned in the music business you know, seeing how he, he works on each instrument at a time and each instrument, each instrument has their own tech like a bass tech, and a guitar tech, and they get that sound right then that sound then two of them play together then three of them and I, I just learned so much and thats what I do thats what I'm sharing things that I've learned like on tours with Lenny, Ziggy and stuff like that…

CCN: So we are getting towards the end…

TS: Yes, cool…

CCN: I want to know for you, this a… deep question but what does music mean for you, what does music mean to you?

TS: To me music is life, music is my life anyway, um… you know, uh I've been, I've had chances… to destroy my life you know, uh… cause in New York in the 80’s and the 90’s at the same time that Hip Hop was coming up something else was coming up too it was crack, crack and drugs, coke, hard rock cocaine hit New York City really hard, and all these people that had no money no jobs no education all of a sudden the driving, driving Mercedes, BMW’s, buying brown stones and this is all from selling drugs on consignment they were giving them these drugs I saw it, I saw it. These people from wherever it was coming from I’m telling you I don't know where it’s coming from but it was being fizzled down to the community where these young boys were selling these drugs on consignment and then they would owe the person, that uh, that they were getting the drugs from and half the time they were getting shot up and just turf wars or getting arrested. Right, so that like killed a lot of the community like in the hood, in the Bronx, in Brooklyn, in Queens you know, I just saw it really tear up and I got caught up in that too I got caught up in wanting to make money, money, money all this money making five thousand dollars a night and stuff and uh… you know, being arrested, being arrested was part of my history on learning the ropes of the streets and uh… basically I learned my lesson, by being locked up I learned my lesson on leave that stuff alone and to focus more on my music career and thats exactly what I did… yea

CCN: and so…

TS: I didn’t, I didn't see, I didn't see that actually…

CCN: Oh you didn’t…

TS: Nah, nah…

CCN: It just says don't incriminate yourself…

TS: Oh, okay okay okay…

CCN: Yea, yea just in case…

TS: Oh, okay, alright, yea yea, thats cool…

CCN: Um… so music became your life…

TS: Music became my life…

CCN: It pulled you out of everything, it pulled you out of the negative…

TS: It pulled me out of the negative man, I had nothing, I had no rope I was being swallowed up by all of these people with these material things and all this power, all this respect, all the girls, all the girls were looking at people with cars, brothers with cars and with gold chains and with nice clothes and the only way they were getting that they weren't college graduates they weren't doctors and lawyers they were street drug dealers you know what I mean and they were making this money but they were getting their respect and everything and I wanted the respect too I was, I am just a human being. So, um… but the music was the rope that pulled me out of that I had nothing, I had no other rope, I had nothing else going on, so the music, my love for the music and sticking with it you know I got, ended up getting my degree, doing positive things, being a teacher. I love working with kids man, so um… music really saved me, and uh, I tried to live I tried to live in L.A. I moved to L.A. for a while you know when I was going back and fourth a lot, um… when I was doing when I was playing with P.M. Dawn and Amel Larrieux and Groove Theory I had a chance to play on television a lot. I did uh, The Tonight Show, I did Jay Leno, Jay Leno twice with P.M. Dawn, I did Arsenio Hall with P.M. Dawn, uh… I did a few B.E.T. things with Amel Larrieux, but a lot of people saw me on TV and stuff and that just made me feel even better like yo I have to stay with this music cause it has a future so, I never went back to anything negative, you know and uh…

CCN: Mhmm, after we, after we end…

TS: Yea…

CCN: Or before we end excuse me…

TS: Yea…

CCN: Um… is there anything you want to say, anything you want to wrap up on, or…

TS: Yea, I just want to let anybody who’s listening know that, no matter how old you are, how young you are, if you have a intrinsic love for music and just that, “ahh I used to play, nah I don't play no more I just have a job,” it’s never too late to just go and pick it up, even if it’s not for audience, even if it’s just for yourself its therapeutic man, music is therapeutic theres something so… so special about, I cant even find the world…

CCN: I say magical…

TS: Magical, yea but, but yea its definitely magical and its a universal magic. Because the music that I play I meet so many people that don't speak the language, never saw me in my life but when they hear me play… you know my stuff on the drums, I get their attention and they want to learn how to do what I do you know what I mean so, um… music is life man, music is my life, music is my life.