The Big Lip Bandit Morning Show has been running for the past four years until now. Predominantly the most listened to morning show in Miami was just recently canceled due to radio politics, that unless you’re in your radio yourself, will never truly understand. For eight years the Big Lip Bandit himself has been heard on Miami’s 99 Jamz, and the listeners grew to respect and dedicate their nights and then their mornings to his shows. By 2004 with the assistance of Supa Cindy and Benji Brown, they were able to create the most humorous and interesting show on local radio. Dedicated listeners would tune in each and every weekday morning just to hear what lively treatments and news they have prepared for that day. That segment always kept people entertained at work or in the car. Supa Cindy kept you up to date on the latest gossip and news that just occurred in the industry. As you already know, Benji and his voices kept you laughing for hours.

On June 18th 2008, 99 Jamz under Cox Radio abruptly canceled the show and left listeners baffled when the next morning it was a totally different host and segment. Big Lip and Supa Cindy did their last show for 99 Jamz that day. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the Big Lip Bandit to finally get some closure on what exactly happened to his most highly rated show. Let Big Lip, himself, tell you why he did not let radio define who he is and who he wanted to be. This is an exclusive interview with the Big Lip Bandit for 24hourhiphop.com.

24: First off, how is everything with the infamous Big Lip Bandit?

Big Lip: Everything is good, if it got any better I might have to jump off a bridge, no but honestly everything is good, I’m maintaining you know since everything has happen with me exiting 99 Jamz. A lot of people have been showing me love; surprisingly a lot people who I didn’t even know had love for me like really just slipped up and really just like gave me a lot of support.

24: Before we get into the radio politics, let’s get into your history; I know the fans would like to know where it all began for you in radio?

Big Lip: Well, it all began for me back in, well first off I mean I’m 33 years old the first time I got on the air was in Novemberof 1992 I came on as a mixer on Power 99 in Philly, so pretty much what DJ Khaled and DJ Irie does. I was like that mixer, but I was young they used to call me the youngest in charge because I was DJing the traffic jam at Power 99 and I was 17. So from there I went to college on a football scholarship, but I still maintained like my little radio gig because where I went to school it was like 30 miles south of Philadelphia a college called Cheney, so I still did my radio, my football thing, and everything else. Once I graduated in 1997 I stayed home for a year and I was doing a lot of clubs and all the rest of that stuff and I had jobs to go to like different companies and stuff like that, but that wasn’t what I really wanted to do I always wanted to be in radio and maintain myself in radio. In 1998 I pretty much jumped ship and went to Gainesville, Florida to work an overnight air shift because no PD (Program Director) would ever give me a chance to talk over the air, so I jumped ship and I went to Gainesville for $250 a week overnight air shift that’s what the pay was and I was making $1,500 a week in Philly doing clubs, but that’s what I wanted to do. I mean you know there’s no substitute for happiness I can mix until I’m blue in the face, but I wanted to be on the air. So went and I was on the air for about 3 months there in Gainesville and I got in trouble, I said something stupid on the air, whatever lost my job and went to Jacksonville with my boy because my boy got a job at 92.7 The Beat and he was supposed to hook me up there and he wasn’t able to get me a job, so I wind up living off the fam selling AT&T door to door. I was so broke you have no idea, I’m talking about damn near ready to sleep in the car broke. There were times I went home and I didn’t even have any lights man and no lie that’s the god honest truth. I slept in a completely dark house because I had no electricity; I mean that’s how bad I was struggling. So one thing led to another I was kind of down on my luck and I got into a little situation, I went through some legal stuff because I pretty much snapped out somebody that’s a long story we don’t have to get into, so I wind up moving to South Carolina. While I was in South Carolina with my family because I’m originally from Philly, but my whole family is in South Carolina and I couldn’t go back to Philly for a whole bunch of other reasons. When I got to South Carolina, a radio station came on the air Hot 103.9, I’m like Hot 103.9, alright so I call up the radio station and ironically the program director of that radio station is the guy who gave me my first job in radio. I’m like cool, you know great let’s do it, so he gave me the job and whatever and I started off as mixer, of course. So one day the announcer didn’t show up and he’s like can you talk and I say, “Yeah, no problem.” So I got on the air I ripped it up, boom, now I’m an announcer ok I’m on there for a few months I’m doing the weekend air shift a consultant heard me on the air and ironically they got me a job in Greensborough, North Carolina. I’m in North Carolina and here’s the craziest story ever on how I ended up at 99 Jamz. I was in Greensborough, North Carolina for 6 months and mind you one of my homeboys was supposed to take the night time gig, his name is Bobby Holiday, they didn’t get back when Bobby turned down the job, he called me and he said, “Well, why don’t you call Carmen Hope?” Carmen Hope worked at sales at 99 Jamz. Follow the story I called Carmen, Carmen says, “Hey, you know what, send me your info and I’ll see if I can get you the job.”No problem, so that Friday I shipped out Fed-Ex my air check. Your air check is basically what you sound like on the air so now everything is everything. I called on Monday morning, well actually let me back track a little bit that Saturday I sent it off that Friday, Cedric Holiday, who I did not know, was the PD at 99 Jamz, his daughter was going to school in North Carolina heard me on the air and called Mr. (Jerry) Rushin and said, “I think we found our night time jock, this dude is fucking hilarious.”This was in 2000 so he said, “This dude is fucking hilarious.” So he said when I get back to Miami I want to call him unannounced to me, I had already sent my air check out and it was sitting on his desk when he got in on Monday morning, he said I was just listening to this dude and boom I ended up on 99 Jamz I been here 8 years, August will be 8 years to today.

24: How long did the Big Lip Bandit Morning Show run for and who structured the whole premise of the show with Benji Brown and Supa Cindy?

Big Lip: Four years, I mean you have to realize, people don’t realize this, Cindy is like my best friend/sister, like everything. Cindy, basically, was my quote, unquote, producer when I was on at night eight years ago. I put her on the air, I was like, “Can you do entertainment news?” And she was like, “Yeah, I guess.” So we just, I lie to you not, one day I just cranked the mic and let her do her thing and then that was it, it was history. We always saw Benji around and I always thought he was hilarious so once we moved to mornings, actually before we moved to mornings, we use to bring Benji in at night and Cindy came up with the idea she was like, “You know Benji would be good.” And I said, “You know what, you’re right.” So I talked to the PD, we bought him in there at night, he did a couple little funny things and he actually got hired and went to the Rick Party Morning Show, after the Rick Party Morning Show, he pretty much just got out and just bounced and hit it. So after he did that, after Rick Party did that, they moved us to the morning show. So once they moved us to the morning show and it was just like gravy because we had already worked with Benji so that pretty much was that and to be very honest with you, people are like, “Well, why did you go to mornings, why did you go to mornings?” It was two reasons why I went to mornings because I gave up a lot of money, a lot of street money, it’s easy to make over one hundred grand a year in street money when you on at nights, easily cash club money. Seriously I gave it up for two reasons and two reasons only, one so I can spend more time with my kids, because I never got a chance to see them and I’m a single dad you know so and the second reason is because Khaled came to me man and he said to me, he said, “Lip, what do I have to do man you’re my brother I need to get on man, what do I have to do?” So I went to management and when they came to me with the morning show I said, “The only way I would take mornings is if you give Khaled the night time slot.” I didn’t have to leave nights I was comfortable, yeah I said, “You give Khaled a shot, you give him nights.” They said, “Ok, no problem we’ll give Khaled nights.” They promised me that and that’s what they did and low and behold he got nights. Yeah so that’s how I ended up on the morning show ain’t nothing everything’s been good, everything’s good.

24: We listened to many great moments on the show, whether it may be controversy or just very exciting news and situations, can you think back and give us an idea of what moments you will remember the most?

Big Lip: My two favorite moments, one is where we interviewed Lionel Richie because I felt like a groupie because he’s such, a yeah he’s Lionel Richie, dog. I sat there with Lionel Richie and he’s on my morning show and I’m like, “Wow, unbelievable, unbelievable.” The other most funniest moment that I had was when Foxy Brown got her ass beat by Jacki-O and she called up the radio station like we were the best of friends, oh my god man, like I would of been fine if Foxy Brown hadn’t ever spoken to me, like seriously she called, “Hey Big Lip, hi Supa, how are you?” Oh yeah just acting all chipper and fuckin’ happy and we were laughing so hard and then Jacki-O called up talking about how she beat her ass and the interview was just so funny that that was played as one of the funniest moments on the show. And oh the last thing the other top funniest moment is when my car broke down at the radio station last year and I was in the middle of a break and I was like, “Oh shit,” but I didn’t get in any trouble or anything I kind of, you know, edited myself on the air before it you know, but those were like the funniest moments I had on the air.

24: So now the most listened to morning show on Miami radio was just abruptly canceled leaving dedicated listeners asking why, can you give us the full story on what exactly occurred over at WEDR?

Big Lip: Alright let me break it down for you alright I’m be very honest and forward straight I’m going to get all the rumors out the way first and foremost. We weren’t being sued by the FCC for playing a call that we weren’t supposed to play, that’s a rumor, and we didn’t get fired. Well, first of all we didn’t quit, we didn’t resign, our contract was not up, ok all of those are rumors and it wasn’t because of ratings because we do have the number one show. Another rumor was that Benji Brown got us fired so he can take over the morning show that’s not fucking true by any means, what else happened, oh here’s another beautiful one man, the other one I got last week you got to hear this one is that E-Class and DJ Khaled got me fired because they have a movement and then DJ Khaled, E-Class and Derrick Baker are taking over the radio station and I was going to blow the whistle to corporate so they had to get me out of the way, that’s the bullshit that I have to hear every day, it’s like a different story about why I got fired. Listen here’s the story about why I got fired to be honest with you. I really don’t know what happened, one day, last Wednesday actually on the 18th of June, I will never forget the day after I got off the show. Derrick Baker pulled me in the office and he said, “Your jobs as of today are terminated, we’re moving in a different direction,” you know that is the firing line in all corporate world, “we’re moving in a different direction,” yeah and we had a great show, too, that’s the crazy thing and you know, it hit me like a brick because you know we were doing so well. He said, We’re moving in a different direction here’s your paperwork if you have any questions call Mr. Rushin.” They never really gave a meaning, I mean a reason, they never really gave a reason why. Now as days went on, it’s no and listen when I say, I have no animosity I have no animosity towards Derrick Baker or Mr. Rushin, the only reason why I had a problem is that it was just the way that it was done. I didn’t have the opportunity to say good bye to my listeners, you know so and that hurts, dog. When people depend on you and you’re on the air for eight years and then you totally one day just poof, just disappear off the air, you don’t get like for instance, if they would’ve had the conversation with me like, “Hey we’re moving in a different direction, the new morning show is coming in, why don’t you welcome these guys in this that and any other way I guess.” There’s nothing I could do about that I would’vefelt good I would’ve been straight but it’s just the way it was done I know it wasn’tall their decision with the way that it was done because I know a lot of that came from corporate but the reason why we were let go the only thing that I could really think of is, budget reasons, they get to pay a syndicated showwhich is the Rickey Smiley Morning Show, they get to pay that show pretty much just a portion of what they would’ve paid Cindy and I over the next year because what happens is with a syndication you get to save a lot more money. Ok so it was really about revenue more than anything else and I know that Mr. Rushin probably had the final say so, but you know when you have corporate and there pressuring you to make a decision and your back is up against the wall you know especially when it comes to money how much longer could Mr. Rushin avoid it. I just wish I was given the heads up because you know it’s a hard thing when you know you create a life in South Florida you know you have kids and everything else. I’m a single parent and it’s like they just didn’t give me time to prepare, don’t get me wrong, Cox (Radio) took care of me to make sure that I’m ok for the time being so it’s like now I really have to probably uproot my family to go to a different market, but that’s something else. I’m fighting today because I really don’t want to leave South Florida, so I’m trying to do some things so I can maintain and stay here.

24: I guess as listeners and fans, we will never fully understand the whole politics of radio and how it actually works, but what part about the whole situation angered you the most?

Big Lip: You can never understand because it’s here today and gone tomorrow that’s why you have to put your faith in god not man, sometimes man makes certain decisions and you can depend on somebody to protect you in the corporate world, but sometimes when there back is up against the wall they can’t always protect you, especially when it comes to dollars and cents. That’s why I think that one mistake that I’ve made in radio was I put too much faith in other people instead of just putting that same kind faith in god and I allowed man to make decisions that could totally affect my life and you know so you just really have to understand the business man and no matter what kind of situation you’re in when you’re in the corporate world especially when you’re dealing with a contract situation. You have to always make sure that you are protected and that’s a lot of things that people don’t do sometimes. We’re so eager to get into the music business and to get into the radio world that we’re so happy that we don’t even give a fuck about the fine print, we don’t contract here yeah sign it there you go then we want to sit down years down the lineand complain about how we had it structured but that’s our fault that’s our fault. You have to know what you’re doing all the time and don’t get me wrong man, I’m not mad, you know I have no problem with Cox or 99 Jamz there’s just certain things business wise that I should’ve handled to prepare myself for this situation

24: Now I know this isn’t the last time we will hear from the Big Lip Bandit, can give us an idea of what brief projects you working on and if we will ever have the same staff on deck as we all grew up to?

Big Lip: Oh yeah, listen, I’m still working on my artist Cracker Jack.

He’s the illest white boy on the freaking planet something serious, I mean we’re still grinding, things are going to happen. It’s not even a situation of, “if,” it’s just when I’m still working on that, I’m still hosting my parties, I got my marketing company, I own a construction company, too. I’m grinding with that, I’m doing a lot, I don’t sleep, I don’t sleep, you know I still coach football I’m the head coach over at Miramar West Optimist Program so you know I’m still doing the community thing. I’m doing something with the City of Opa-Locka on August 7th,giving away book bags and stuff like that, so I’m giving back to the community, I’m still doing things even though I’m not on the air. See a lot of problems with DJs are when they lose their jobs you have to realize this, don’t ever let radio define you, you define radio and that’s very, very important like even though I’m not on the air with 99 Jamz, don’t define me to what my life outside on the street is going to shut down. I’ve been working more since I’ve been fired then when I was on the air, I mean yeah I have more time, but who still books radio DJs when there fired, who does that? See the thing is I have such a strong marketing campaign and e-mail list that people just still want to fuck with me and I’m loyal to people. And let me tell you something, speaking of loyalty and there’s something else I want to get into, there is so many people out here in the street like people in this world don’t realize that you don’t find out who has your back until you go through times of adversity. As long as things are going good you will always hear from people, when things are going bad they disappear, there are so many people who I didn’t even know had love for me who came out of the wood work to support me once I got fired and then there’s people who I even worked with over the last 8 years or even the last 4 years or whatever man that have not even picked up the phone to give me a phone call to say, “Hey, how you doing,what’s going on, how you holding up?” I don’t need any money, I don’t need a handout, I don’t need anything, but it’s just the principle, because see I’m a very loyal dude like I’m that dude that you can call at 3’o clock in the morning to go to fucking war and I’m ready like seriously. Anybody who knows me knows that you can call me for anything I will always pick up my phone, I will always get back to you, but you don’t realize that see. What is happening right now is that I’m getting set up for something better, how do I know, because I just feel it in my heart and it’s ok and everything comes full circle. When I get back on anybody who did not have my back on my downtime I promise you I’m going to fucking shit on them because everything comes back full circle when I say everything, everything comes back full circle and it’s not even for me to be vindictive I just know they’re going to be knocking at my door. It’s just certain clubs, I mean I have all of my clubs except for one and I’m going to tell you, talking about loyalty man, there’s a certain club as soon as I lost my job they’re like, “Alright Big Lip, we don’t need you anymore,” but the crazy thing is that they didn’t even advertise every week at all, but I promoted through my email, I promoted through my text messagingover 15 thousand people sending out those ads, of course there wasn’t 15 thousand people in the club but you know sending out those ads making phone calls every week. Even when they weren’t advertising over the radio and was able to keep the momentum up of the club but it’s amazing that the minute I lost my job it was like they just look at you like your just a radio host they don’t understand how you went out above and beyond. It’s like you know what fuck you, like listen that’s because they believe that radio defined meand it doesn’t don’t get me wrong, I’ve made over a million dollars at 99 Jamz since I’ve been thereyou know I mean it sounds like a lot of money but shit it’s spread out over 8 years that averages out to about a hundred and something thousand a year. It is more than what most people make, but I’ve made, if not two million dollars, I’ve made between a million and a million in a half since I’ve been at 99 Jamz that’s with street money, hustling, and everything you know what I mean I’m very, very blessed. Trust me, Miami don’t owe me nothing especially with all the pussy I got you know Miami owes me nothing, when I say nothing, nothing dog. I am so grateful for this city and so many people down here, you know, I will not, I cannot, I will not disappear. No station will ever define me that is why I still will always be Big Lip period end of story.

24: If the fans and dedicated listeners wanted to get in contact with you, how would they go about doing that?

Big Lip: Go to myspace.com/biglipmiamievent and my email is biglip99@gmail.com.

24: Thank you for providing 24hourhiphop.com with this long overdue exclusive, do you have any last words for all your present fans?

Big Lip:Just something I always end my show with man, “Live everyday like it’s your last because one day it’s going to be right, make the most of everyday.” I’m going to give you a perfect example last Wednesday on June 18th when we lost our jobs at the radio station, me and Supa Cindy, I didn’t treat that show like it was my last, I had a great show and we had fun, but I didn’t treat it like it was my last and you have to treat life the same way. You don’t know when it’s your last day that’s why you have to make the most and capitalize in with every opportunity and every situation that you come across because you never know what tomorrow is going to bring. That’s it!