Inside the secret summit that hoped to end 1990s rap wars | Global News Avenue

Before the East- and West-Coast rap beef boiled over in the 1990s over the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., legendary producer Quincy Jones held a secret meeting to call for an end to the violence.

When hip-hop emerged from the streets to the mainstream in the ’90s, the budding rappers and hustlers had few role models who had traveled the road before them.

However, there is one man who has been there and done just about everything.

Quincy Jones, a former gang member who was stabbed as a seven-year-old in 1930s Chicago, later became famous for his roles with Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Michael Michael Jackson and other legendary figures have become an important force in the American music industry.

He was at the heart of the jazz, swing, soul, funk, disco and pop revolutions – but one aspect of his career has received little attention When he died last week, he was 91 This is his place in hip-hop.

Jones is respected in all areas of music, including rap. Unlike most conservatives and the media, he immediately recognized the artistic and cultural importance of the scene.

Hip-hop reminded him of the bebop of his youth. “I felt a sense of kinship there because we went through a lot of the same things,” he said.

“Quincy got it and got it right away,” says pioneering artist, rapper and host Fab 5 Freddy.

Jones collaborated with leading rappers in the ’80s, and in the ’90s he recognized the risks, including the volatile rivalries that began to erupt between competing record labels and stars.

So he convened a secret summit of artists, executives and black American politicians in 1995, hoping it would be a turning point.

The East Coast is hip-hop’s spiritual home. In 1992, Sean Combs (then known as Puffy, later known as P Diddy) launched his Bad Boy Records label in New York, working with artists including Notorious BIG (aka Biggie Smalls).

Meanwhile, across the country, Los Angeles was becoming the capital of gangster rap, led by dangerous tycoon Suge Knight’s Death Row Records, which owned Dr Dre and Tupac.

In 1994, Tupac was shot and killed during a robbery in the studio lobby. He later suggested that his former friend Biggie may have known about the attack in advance. Biggie later released the song Who Shot Ya?, which Tupac believed was about him.

The feud continued at the Source magazine awards show on August 3, 1995, when Knight goaded Combs and Bad Boy Records on stage.

Jones, who has his own magazine, Vibe, held the summit three weeks later.

The brewing East-West beef wasn’t the only reason Jones named it—it was primarily to discuss the current state of hip-hop and allow a new generation to hear the life and business advice of a group of highly successful black executives.

But rap’s negative image and rising tensions became a hot topic.

“He knew it was a bubbling issue, so his idea was to hold a workshop,” says Fab 5 Freddy, who hosts Yo! MTV Raps at the time was the host of the event.

“What really pushed me to say now is the time to focus on Tupac,” Jones said at the summit.

However, Tupac disappeared – he was in jail for sexual assault at the time. Sugar and Dre were there, too, as was Combs and Biggie.

Jones also had a feud with Tupac – the rapper criticized the producer for marrying a white woman on a 1993 version of “Source.”

“We finally connected, even though it was tense at first,” Jones said at the event.

“We finally talked to each other and he said no one had ever spoken to him like this before.

“I said, I can’t take it anymore. Because we can’t be apolitical anymore and I’m talking to hip-hop country right now.”

There were approximately 50 influential artists and executives in the room, including Public Enemy’s Chuck D, members of A Tribe Called Quest, MC Lyte, Kris Kross, Jermaine Dupri and Boyz n the Hood filmmaker John Singleton.

“I have always worried about the potential for unstable diversity in a group that has never been in the same room together,” Jones wrote in his now out-of-print 2001 autobiography.

They were joined by veteran executives Clarence Avant and Ahmet Ertegun, as well as former national security adviser and U.S. military chief Colin Powell Powell, who later became the first African American Secretary of State.

Powell has presidential ambitions — which is why the summit was held in secret. Jones wants Powell to be spared the negative publicity associated with rap music.

He changed the venue at the last minute to get away from the press and confiscated the recordings.

“Please be assured that my discretion is based on my deep respect and valued friendship for you,” Jones wrote to Powell in an unpublished letter preserved by the University of Indianapolis Library.

“I know we’re going to make a difference in this meeting. Thank you for the way you handled this situation. Maybe we can turn the battleship an inch or two.”

Jones later wrote in his book: “Some of the younger rappers didn’t even know who he was.” While addressing some of the more confrontational comments, Powell maintained a South Bronx demeanor and authoritative cool. “

“Fab 5” Freddy remembers an exchange between Powell and Knight. “One time he (Knight) had something to say and Colin Powell responded.

“Here’s a four-star general talking to Knight Sugar, and he pretty much puts Sugar in his place.”

Jones eventually released footage of the event in a 2018 Netflix documentary about his life.

“We have to have a serious discussion about what you’re dealing with,” he told the gathered attendees.

“They’re not playing around, there are real bullets out there, trust me. Maybe literally and figuratively.

“It’s a very emotional thing,” he added, his voice cracking. “I’d like to see you live at least as long as I am.”

“Quincy was really emotional,” Fab 5’s Freddie recalled, “because he had a premonition of what was going to happen.

“Unfortunately, the worst does happen.”

Jones eventually reconciled with Tupac. After Tupac made his comments in 1993, Jones’ 17-year-old daughter Rashida, who later starred in US sitcom The Office, wrote an angry letter to Source attacking the rapper.

When Tupac bumped into Jones’ other daughter, Kidada, he thought she was Rashida and apologized to her. But Tupac and Kidada hit it off immediately and began a relationship.

“Although we had a rocky start, as I got to know and feel for him, I saw tremendous potential and sensitivity in him as an artist and as a person,” Quincy Jones wrote.

There were also claims that Tupac planned to leave Death Row for Jones’ record label.

But in September 1996, a year after the summit, Tupac was shot and killed.

Former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis was charged with murder last year. He pleads not guilty.

In 1997, Notorious BIG was shot and killed outside a party hosted by Jones’ record label and magazine. No one has been charged.

Meanwhile, Knight is in jail today on a hit-and-run charge, while Coombs awaits trial on racketeering and sex-trafficking charges, which he denies.

Fab 5 Freddy said violence in the 1990s was “unnecessary” and was caused by “wannabes and gang-related troublemakers” on the fringes of the music industry.

“Also, the East/West Coast beef was largely fueled by jealousy. It was an ashtray fire that was fanned into a major incident by the media that resulted in the murders of Biggie and Tupac.”

Despite his high status, Jones was unable to change the forces of power and pride at play and stop the bloodshed.

However, Freddy believes there are lessons learned at the summit that deserve a place in hip-hop history.

“It was incredible and exciting to be in that room.

“It was an exciting moment. And then it became even more legendary because it was never released, so the only people who really knew about it were the people who were there.”