Positive K, known for his gold-certified release The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills, as well as his duet with MC Lyte “I’m Not Havin’ It,” recently spoke with Unkut regarding a variety of topics, including his time at First Priority Music, where label acts Audio Two and MC Lyte were releated to the owner.
“It was definitely favoritism. That’s why I subsequently left First Priority,” explained K. “With the help of Big Daddy Kane I was able to do my own thing independently, but I appreciate everything they did for me, it was a good start. It really helped when I did the independent thing, ‘cos I’d seen it from them. When I had my own studio, Giz came and worked with me after he left. He’s one of the top engineers in the business. My first record was on a compilation album called Fast Money – I was on the the A-side and Rob Base was on the B-side – so I was always in independent situations”
Positive K elaborated on Big Daddy Kane’s influence, stating that Kane was the one who taught him how to perform. “Daddy-O taught me how to work in the studio, but Kane taught me how to work on stage. We went everywhere together, he took me on all shows and exposed me to his fanbase. Things took off for me after I started working with a major label, everything was kinda easy after that.”
In fact, Positive K’s path crossed with two other artists BDK was reputed to have brought up: Jay Z and Sauce Money. “Kane brought a lotta people in – he brought me, then he brought Jay Z in, then he brought in Sauce Money. It was four of us – me, Kane, Jay Z and Sauce Money. That was a mean team right there! Kane would bring us out in the middle of his show, and me and Jay would go into a little freestyle thing. That was always fun.”
Positive K also explained how he met Big Daddy Kane in the first place. “A friend of mine who manages M.O.P, Laz-E-Laze, him and Kane and Scoob [Lover] used to be roommates, so brought me around Kane. We were just acquaintances at first, but then we were doing a show in Philadelphia for Lady B at a club called After Midnight. There was a bus ride going up there, and Ultramagnetic were snapping on everybody!”
The bus ride apparently turned into a battle that would become a Hip Hop historian’s dream. “At that point they were really hot, ‘MC Ultra’ was going crazy. A little battle jumped off on the bus – it was Kane and Kool Keith, it was me and Tim Dog and it was G Rap and Ced Gee. That’s when I first heard Kool Keith say, “Change my pitch up, smack my bitch up!” I was like, “Wow!” That was before it was on record. That’s when Kane first said, “Put a quarter in ya ass, cos you played yourself” And I was like, “Wow, that was crazy!” That’s when I first heard G Rap say, “My rhymes burn ya mouth like hot sauce”. The lisp was in full form and everything! After me and Tim Dog went at it, Kane was like, “Yo! You get in him!” Me and Kane was tight after that.
In a 2008 interview with HipHopDX, Big Daddy Kane listed Positive K as one of the artists he helped mentor early in their careers.
