Osten Harvey, Jr. is the hip-hop producer responsible for hits like Craig Mack's "Flava In Ya Ear" and a slew of favorites by Biggie Smalls, but we all know him as the great Easy Mo Bee. The Bed-Stuy native who was involved with Bad Boy Records during its prime sat down with us exclusively to discuss the lack of diversity in today's music and untold stories of the Notorious B.I.G. before he got his infamous title.
Easy Mo Bee remembers the day when Sean "Puffy" Combs was just an intern and asked that Easy play some music for his new artist with Andre Harrell. "Come to find out this new artist they wanted me to play music for is the same dude that months and months before DJ Mister Cee [played for me]," Easy recalled. "The new artist was Biggie...He wasn't even Notorious yet."
The two then went on to collaborate on countless Biggie hits, including their first track "Party & Bulls***." "Our chemistry was good so Puffy kept it going," which resulted in Easy Mo Bee producing "Warning," the title track and three other songs on B.I.G.'s debut studio album, "Ready to Die." "There's a bunch of unreleased stuff that never saw the light of day, too," he later admits.
Hear what original songs were never made public, as well as, a couple of stories of Easy Mo Bee's personal encounters with Biggie in this intriguing clip - Easy even has a few words for the upcoming artists of today. Remembering a time where "you could almost go boutique shopping for music" he encourages artists out now to "not just ride trends and just go with your heart." "Do what your insides are telling you to do, because that right there will definitely contribute to the diversity which we need right now - we need a lot more of that," he concluded. Press play for more.
