Bill Adler

The next man up for the 11 Questions is one of the nicest fellas i’ve met so far, Bill Adler.  I recently got the chance to meet with Bill and talk to him about hip hop past present and future.  He also told me that the music that sticks with you is what you’re listening to between the ages of 15-30.  I agree with that as that’s what i’m listening to as well as that’s what the Manifest brand is built off of.  I have seen Bill on countless tv shows, magazines and websites over the years.  Anyone who needs to know anything about hip hop, they come to Bill.  He is the official walking hip hop encyclopedia.  He is also a genuine person and true to what he does.  Just take a look at the photos above and that will tell you he’s been in the game since day one.  The black and white photo on the left is Bill with LL Cool J and Fab 5 Freddy at LL’s mom’s house in St. Albans, Queens in 1988.  We were there to shoot an early episode of “Yo! MTV Raps.”  Like i said… since day one.  The second photo was taken in 2007 and features Bill with legendary Public Enemy frontman, Chuck D and Cey Adams, the co-author of DEFinition – The Art and Design of Hip Hop.

Bill Adler has devoted the last 25 years to a career in hip hop during which he’s worked as a journalist, critic, publicist, biographer, archivist, label executive, curator, editor, film documentarian, and teacher.  When Russell Simmons hired him as Director of Publicity for Rush Managment and Def Jam Recordings in 1984.  Bill became Russell’s second full-time employee.  During the next six years he worked with Kurtis Blow, Whodini, Run DMC, Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, Stetsasonic, De La Soul, The Jungle Brothers, 3rd Bass and others.  Pretty amazing huh?

Bill opened the Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery in the spring of 2003.  During the succeeding five years he curated or co-curated one-man shows showcasing the work of the painters Jackson Brown and Sacha Jenkins and the photographers Michael Benabib, Al Pereira, Ricky Powell, Ernie Paniccioli, and Harry Allen, as well as group shows celebrating Run DMC, women in hiphop, dancehall reggae, southern hiphop, and skateboard art.   Although Bill had to close the Eyejammie gallery in November of 2008, the gallery’s website is still in effect.  Among other things, Bill is also co-author of the book, DEFinition – The Art and Design of Hip Hop with Cey Adams.  Sounds like a very impressive career so far.  Now on to the questions!

1. What do you do and where do you do it?
I’m a hustler of culture.  What’s been constant in my life is a love of music and the ability to write.  During the last 35 years I’ve worked as a record store clerk, disc jockey, critic, publicist, biographer, editor, label executive, book publisher, museum consultant, art gallery owner and curator, film documentarian, and adjunct professor.  I’m delighted to say that I’ve lived in New York City since July 1, 1980.

2. Name a defining moment in your career.
Meeting Russell Simmons in the early Eighties.

3. What is your biggest inspiration and who/what inspires you today?
I’m always inspired by expressions of intelligence, humor, and hope for a better tomorrow.  I was inspired today – this very day – by Ray Charles singing the hell out of “The Night Time is the Right Time.”

4. What have been your biggest struggles?
I try to arrange it so that the only work I do is work of my own choosing with colleagues of my own choosing.  Every so often I find myself on a project with people working at cross-purposes with the rest of us.  That tends to result in big struggles.

5. Sum up your style in 3 words.
“Silence.  Exile.  Cunning.”  No?  You’re right.  How about “Always merry and bright?”  It’s four words, not three, but I dig it.  Shout out to Henry Miller.

6. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
Working as VP/Publicity at Island Records in 1991 was pretty fucking grim…although even there I had some laughs and made a couple of very good, lifelong friends.

7. Name 3 things you can’t live without.
I’m not really so big on things.  I couldn’t live without my wife.

8. What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?  And where?
Sly & the Family Stone, Cobo Hall, Detroit, 1974.

9. Name your top 5 favorite hip hop albums of all time.
Albums?  I don’t know.  Singles?  Here are the first seven that leap to mind:  “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel,” Spoonie Gee Meets the Sequence’s “Monster Jam,” Rob Base & DJ Eazy Rock’s “It Takes Two,” Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise,” Run-DMC’s “Beats to the Rhyme,” Beastie Boys’s “Paul Revere,” Eric B & Rakim’s “Follow the Leader.”

10. Tell us what you’re working on next.
A treatment for a movie about the life and career of Jackie Wilson.  It’s a gangsta flick.

11. Do you have any last words for anyone who wants to do what you do?
Follow your heart. 

List any websites we can find out more about you and what you do.
eyejammie.com
defbook.com

And last but not least, any good words for the Manifest crew?
Hip hop is always so focused on what’s next that hardly anyone has the time or inclination to celebrate the culture’s history.  Manifest does.  That’s huge.  I thank you.