At 49 years old, Todd Gaither — known to the Hip Hop world as Sauce Money — shows no signs of slowing down. And, like most old people, Sauce Money last gave a fuck sometime around the Nixon administration, so he’s neither afraid — nor ashamed — to put everyone’s business out there.
Sauce Money got his start laying down tracks with Hova back in the day, and was also featured on the classic “Show N’Prove” track with Big Daddy Kane. But he’s, perhaps, best known for two songs: the Biggie-eulogizing “I’ll Be Missing You,” which he co-wrote with Puff Daddy, and a 2008 track called “Listen 2 Me,” which sampled the Oompa Loompas from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, and was prominently featured on MySpace.
For whatever reason, Sauce Money stopped by VladTV to reminisce about his past, and the end result was a six-part, half-hour long interview that spilled all the tea in all the flavors.
We sat through the six-part series so you didn’t have to, and are here to present all the brilliant, surprising, and yes, messy gems from Sauce Money’s dime-dropping session lovely afternoon spent with DJ Vlad.
AD LOADING...
Growing Up in Marcy, Meeting JAY-Z at 13, Rapping Together
Start at the beginning, and see where you can go from there, right?
AD LOADING...
AD LOADING...
AD LOADING...
Working With JAY-Z On Reasonable Doubt; Rapping on Bring It On
AD LOADING...
AD LOADING...
AD LOADING...
Doing “Face Off” & “Reservoir Dogs” with JAY-Z & How “Streets is Watching” Saved Hova
AD LOADING...
AD LOADING...
Big Pun Kidnapped DJ Whoo Kid Over His Alleged Diss Record
Nothing makes for good copy quite like ratchet tales of the tape, and few stories could be funnier than DJ Whoo Kid’s 150 lb. self managed to get snatched up by a half-ton rapper that went by the name of Big Pun.
AD LOADING...
This entire segment is dedicated to the set-up of this epic kidnapping, so it will be broken down in summary format. By the time JAY-Z’s third album, Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life, was released, Sauce Money and Hova were “barely talking.” Sauce Money, however, blames his conflicts with Hova’s then-business partner, Damon Dash. Out of nowhere, Wendy Goldstein called Sauce Money to tell him he was no longer a part of “the group.”
At the same time that Roc-A-Fella was on the rise, Fat Joe and Terror Squad were also coming into their own. At one point, a sample of Joe’s voice was used on a diss track (that wasn’t really a diss track) called “Bring It On,” produced by DJ Premier.
So, by the time Sauce Money came out with Middle Finger You, Big Pun took it as a direct slight to him. This was a curious matter, since Sauce Money said he’d never even spoken to Big Pun, and as such, “wouldn’t know him to call him out.”
Regardless, Pun took the “I’m the fattest, nicest nigga you ever heard” line as a direct slight against him. We then cut to Cuban Link snarking about the time Big Pun kidnapped DJ Whoo Kid over the album, though Link insists he “wasn’t there for that one.”
AD LOADING...
Sauce Money confirms the story, saying he’d heard it about it directly from Whoo Kid himself. Years later, before Pun passed away, Clark Kent got both Sauce Money and Big Pun on the phone, and they squashed the beef.
JAY-Z Beef With E-Money Bags; E Getting Killed Over Supreme Beef
AD LOADING...
AD LOADING...
Writing Puffy’s ‘I’ll Be Missing You,” Sting Taking Most Of The Money
Let’s call this section, “Sauce Money didn’t know how copyrights and royalties work.”
AD LOADING...