Okay, so that one is about C Mar from GNL Auto. This was years ago. I had a crappy Subaru station wagon, but I had a really nice sound system in it. I just paid for the system, put it in, and someone stole it. You know how it goes, with those hot boxes and all. I installed a big speaker system in the car. I remember he was hanging around, working for them, and smoking cigarettes. We had a little conversation outside. The next day, the system was gone. The radio was missing from my car. It was at the garage getting the brakes fixed, and the system just never showed up again. You know what I’m saying? But I let it slide.
Years later, he won the Boston Music Award. He got really popular, there wasn’t much we could do. But we were mad. We had just been dropped from the label and lost at the Boston Awards, which we had won the first time. The second time around, we smashed it, but it was all in the newspaper because Mary Mark won. We were angry, so we were just acting wild. Then, this guy says he’s going to perform at the Arsenio Hall show in Boston. I was like, oh hell no! No, no, no!
We got on the phone and told Donnie, “Yo, Donnie, tell that guy he can wear anything-Celtics, Red Sox, Patriots-but don’t wear Chicago stuff because that was our thing.” At that point, Boston was all ganged out. Everyone knew that. We were always in black and gold. If you look back at pictures, I always wore Bruins and gold gear, all the way up until Made Men.
Donnie was like, “Yeah, man, I’m trying to talk to him, but he’s hard-headed.” So we found out where he was practicing-down by Fenway Park, across from the ballpark at Mike’s. We pulled up, and there were a few people downstairs because he had a band. The Funky Bunch was with them. We ran up on them, and a couple of people got put in the hospital. All you heard was “Get Mark out of here!” They got him out through some back trap door. They rushed him out of there. He went on Arsenio Hall wearing Chicago White Sox gear, minus a few band members.
After that, his manager, Dick Scott-this major black mogul, in his 70s or 60s-stepped in. He reminded you of a character from 1970s black exploitation films. He was a fly guy and Mark’s manager. He got him the Calvin Klein deal and blew Mary Mark up. He lived in a big mansion in Englewood, New Jersey. Everyone knew him.
I found out he was gay. That was the first time I realized it. He wanted to talk to me, so we met and had a long conversation. At first, nothing about him said “gay.” Even the way he talked, nothing hinted at it. But he was cool. He started telling me, “Look, I can get you a tour bus. You can do so much more, but you have to handle things differently.” I was amazed by what he was saying. He was smart, and I shut up and listened. He got us a tour bus and even gave me about $15,000. He let my entire crew-13 of us-stay at his mansion. He had like eight bedrooms, each with a jacuzzi. The next morning, we hit the road for the tour.
After that, I stayed in touch with him, and we got close. But then he passed away after having triple bypass surgery. I wanted to go to his service but didn’t for some reason. Rest in peace to Dick Scott. He was a great guy.
Mary Mark went on to become a huge star, and I respect that. He’s from Dorchester, from the Bean. Even though we went through all that stuff as kids, that’s in the past now.
At the 1995 Source Awards, it was a legendary night. Suge Knight’s infamous speech, tension with Outkast and others–what a night. That was the moment when hip-hop truly exploded. Before then, it was mostly New York running things, but by ’95, hip-hop was coming from everywhere-West Coast, Midwest, down South. New York had to take a step back and acknowledge the rest of the country. That night, you had all these major artists seeing each other in one room for the first time.
