On this week’s episode of “Drink Champs,” N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN were joined by legendary Hip Hop personality Ed Lover.
Lover has always been close to the art of rap music. Hailing from Queens, New York, he used to rhyme himself until the prowess of fellow natives like LL Cool J deterred him away from pursuing a career in music further. It worked out because Lover landed a role as the VJ of “Yo! MTV Raps,” along with co-host Doctor Dré (and Fab 5 Freddy). For almost a decade, starting in the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, the show thrived, featuring rap royalty like Tupac, N.W.A., and Wu-Tang Clan, among plenty of others. It became the highest-rated show in MTV history, according to Lover.
After his stint there, Lover continued his run in the world of entertainment throughout the last few decades, working as a radio host on networks like Hot 97 and Power 105.1. Elsewhere showcasing his skills as an elite orator, he played himself in movies like Juice, Who’s The Man?, and Undisputed, as well as in shows like “Moesha,” “The Hughleys,” and “The Jamie Foxx Show.” These days, he’s back on the radio, curating “The Ed Lover Experience” to the masses across the United States.
In a very thoughtful conversation, Lover opened up about his endless ties to the genre of Hip Hop and the acts within it. Nine takeaways from the discussion can be found below. And don’t forget to check out the full interview here.
1. On his famed interview with Eazy-E
During an old interview on “Yo! MTV Raps,” Lover playfully raised his hand at Eazy-E, causing many fans to speculate that the host attempted to slap the late rapper. In the episode, he cleared the air on what actually went down in that moment. “This is something that me and Stretch from Live Squad used to do to each other all the time. Put each other in the smash,” he began. “So, I was f**king with Eazy.” N.O.R.E. then asked what Eazy whispered in Lover’s ear, to which he responded, “Everybody's gonna have to wait for that f**king book to come out. That is one of the biggest questions I ever get in my life.” He went on to explain that they had a great rapport and added, “Eazy was a businessman. Eazy knows if he would've said some foul s**t to me, he would've never got another video played on MTV.”
2. On getting the job at Yo! MTV Raps
Lover detailed how he landed the role on one of the most popular Hip Hop TV shows of all time. After being brought in to audition by producer Ted Demme, Lover was tasked with recording a skit with his soon-to-be co-host Doctor Dré. “Ted had just come back from Jamaica, so he had the dreadlock wigs in there. And I was like, ‘Dre, can you speak Patois?’ He's like, ‘Nah but my father is Jamaican.’ I was like, ‘Bet.’ So we put the wigs on and we did some crazy Jamaican s**t and Ted was like, ‘That's what I want,’” Lover recalled. “MTV said, ‘We got money to pay one person.’ And me and Dre said we'll split it. And we took it. That's how we got on.”
3. On being inspired by Run-D.M.C.
Lover drew plenty of inspiration from the legendary rise of hometown heroes Run-D.M.C. He explained, “I was there when they sent the buses to Hollis Avenue and said, ‘If anyone wants to come to the Garden, you come for free.’ That's the night Run took the shoe off and held it up. They got their Adidas deal that night… That inspired the s**t out of me.” While noting Jam Master Jay’s old crab feasts, Lover explained how significant it was that “they were that close and they were touchable,” before shouting out memories of D.M.C. keeping folded-up rhymes in his pocket at all times.
4. On meeting Wu-Tang Clan
Lover was both impressed and caught off guard the first time he met the Wu-Tang Clan at Greekfest on Jones Beach in the early 1990s. As over a dozen members surrounded him, he realized that the faces weren’t all unfamiliar. “So I see the RZA and I said, ‘I know you, you're Prince Rakeem. We play your video. We love you Rakeem.’ Them n**gas lost it. ‘Nah, this the f**king RZA,’ they wasn't associating with that Prince Rakeem s**t. That s**t was trash to them. Then I recognized GZA because he was on Geffen, but they didn't really want to associate,” he said. “So, they gave me the tape and it was ‘Protect Ya Neck’ on one side and the other side was ‘Method Man.’ I remember getting in my car, playing this tape and it's the most incredible s**t I had ever heard in my life.”
5. On his radio moniker
On the subject of stealing stage names, Lover talked about the time he almost blocked an upcoming rap hall of famer for “biting” his stage name. “When I was on the radio, I almost sent a cease and desist letter to a radio personality out of Atlanta called Chris Lover Lover. I was like, ‘This n**ga is not using Lover on the radio. It's only gonna be one.’ Because I went about it the right way. I asked Scoob and Scrap could I use Lover. You don't just bite a n**ga s**t and don't ask,” he said. “And then it turned out to be Ludacris. [So] I'm so glad I didn't do that s**t. The n**ga would've been mad at me for the rest of his life.”
6. On smoking with Method Man and Redman
They say life imitates art. So is the case with Method Man and Redman’s movie How High, according to Lover. In the episode, he told the story where he was invited to kick it with them ahead of their show at House of Blues back in the day. “Why did I decide I'm going to smoke weed with these n**gas? I don't know why I did that,” he began. “We're just f**king walking out in traffic on Sunset [Boulevard], we don't give a f**k, high as f**k. We get backstage. They get ready to go on. I said, ‘I'm gonna go in the audience and watch the show.’ I went home. I was so f**ked up.” He added, “[My] f**king leg was numb. I didn't know where I was at.”
7. On being saved by Eric B. and Rakim
The real 50 Cent almost got Lover for his jewels one round, until two Hip Hop acts intervened and basically saved the day. Setting the scene, the 61-year-old recalled, “I had this Gucci link chain on. [It was] Hollow as a muthaf**ka… I'm sporting this s**t. I'm around Eric B. and Rakim, and their whole crew… And 50 Cent is with them.” Later, he ran into the infamous hustler and that’s when he found out that he was almost preyed upon. “So, the n**ga tells me, ‘You know Ed, I was gonna get you for that chain. You know how I get down. But Eric and Ra said, ‘That's my man Ed Lover. Leave him alone.’” He then thanked the duo for their services.
8. On introducing Treach and Pepa
Tri-state rappers Treach of Naughty By Nature and Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa ended up getting married and having children with one another. During this discussion, it came up that them meeting was arranged by Lover in a roundabout kind of way. “N**ga, I had a crush on Pepa. I sent Pepa a Teddy bear, flowers, all kinda s**t. She didn't like me,” he expressed. “So, we was at spring break and she was like, ‘What's up with Treach?’ And I was like, ‘Well, what's up with me? F**k Treach.’ But she liked Treach. And I was like, ‘Yo Treach, Pepa wanna holla at you.’ And then Pepa turned around and introduced me to my first wife. And me and Treach laugh all the time because none of this s**t worked out. But, we do got beautiful kids out the both of them.”
9. On beefing with Murder Inc.
On top of beefing with opposing radio stations, Lover also had beef with entire music imprints such as Murder Inc. “I had beef with Murder Inc. because one of the dudes that they had signed to the label had got shot and killed in O'Connell Park. A young dude, I can't remember his name. God rest his soul. And I said, ‘It's no disrespect to Death Row or Murder Inc., but there's a certain aura that's gonna happen when you name your company something like that,’” he stated. “They went on Star & Buc Wild trashing me. Wildin' on me.”
The New York-born host then mentioned that he tried to go into the Murder Inc. office to smooth things over, but he was advised not to avoid further escalating the issue. He concluded, “But it's all water under the bridge because Ron Gutta, who is Ja Rule's best friend, is my niece's father… Words get exchanged when they really don't mean nothing.”