Even as a novice, Touré has always been audacious. In 1992, the renowned music journalist was fired from his Rolling Stone internship for listening to his Discman while handing out mail to the editors. Super bold. Yet weeks later he found himself writing reviews for the magazine, building the base of what would later become 10+ years of notable work. Touré’s career has spanned from hip-hop cultural critic and sports reporter to novelist and MSNBC correspondent. Currently the host of Fuse’s Hip Hop Shop, Honey put the journo-legend (and Twitter fiend) on the other side of the recorder to find out a few of his five favorite things. In no particular order…
INTERVIEWS
1. Tupac Shakur: I was with Tupac through his sexual assault charges that landed him in jail. No interviews set up, not like the publicist said, “Ok, you’re gonna sit down and talk.” But just when I and the other reporters could catch up with him – going to the courtroom, leaving the courtroom, impromptu press conferences. That was an extraordinary experience.
2. The Notorious B.I.G.: Sitting with Biggie in the lobby of his building in Bed-Stuy, inside his mom’s apartment and talking to him. It was right when Ready to Die was monster. This was Mr. Brooklyn, this was Mr. Hip-Hop, this was everything right there.
3. Snoop Dogg: Once, I had an incredible conversation with Snoop for Rolling Stone where I went to his man cave tree house and talked about him having been an actual pimp.
4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: I had two incredible interviews with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. I knew nothing about NASCAR and racing, but we spent great time together the first year that he was huge. Then I went back and hung out with him for a weekend after his father died and we had an incredible conversation.
5. Dave Chappelle: I had a great conversation with Dave after he came back from South Africa. They told me, “Whatever you do, don’t ask him about the show,” and it was the most delicate surgery ever. We talked about this stupid movie for twenty minutes and then it was twenty minutes of “The show was so genius. You are such a genius, can you talk about being a genius and the show?” When [you bring] massive flattery like that it turns into “Well, actually…” and he went on and on. The interview was for BET. I could strangle those people right now because [Chapelle] took the opportunity to say, “I’m going outside for a cigarette” and never came back. I was like, “You idiots.”
BOOKS
1. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison: [That book] is incredibly important to me.
2. 1984 by George Orwell: 1984 is amazing. [After] a day and a half, I was done. It scared the shit out of me. But it blew my mind. There are all these elements of the book that are constantly referenced in popular culture and you wouldn’t totally understand what people are talking about unless you read the book.
3. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: I’ve read Lolita five or six times. It’s probably for me, the greatest novel of the last century.
4. The Human Stain by Philip Roth: I pull my hair out thinking about The Human Stain – like, “Oh, my God. I should have thought to do a book that turns on the professor.”
5. Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion: Huge fan of Joan Didion and reading her work taught me how to write.
ALBUMS
1. Jay-Z’s The Blueprint: I think that’s perhaps Jay-Z’s best album. It’s soulful, honest, filled with hits. It attacks Mobb Deep and Nas, it talks about his family, it talks about who he is. It’s difficult to pick Jay-Z’s best album, but if I had to, I might go with that.
2. Radiohead’s Kid A: For a rock album there is a tremendous amount of bass and funk to it that just makes me groove like it’s futuristic R&B.
3. The White Stripes’ Elephant: I love the White Stripes. I say Elephant, but I could say any of their albums.
4. Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreak: A lot of people didn’t get it. It’s an emotional album in a way where hip-hop historically has not been. The auto-tune fits to me because he feels robotic and drained of emotion and disconnected from the world. It’s so open. Amazing.
5. Undecided: I don’t know. I could put Sly Stone, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, anything from any of them. Al Green, Michael Jackson, James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic – there are so many places you can go. I can’t just pick five.
-Claire Lobenfeld
