Questlove Interviews Music Guru Shep Gordon About Rap's Breakthrough

Questlove continues his journey through music’s rich history on “Questlove Supreme.”

Following last week’s Q&A with James Brown insider Alan Leeds, Alice Cooper’s longtime agent Shep Gordon joins the Pandora show as this week’s guest. In this episode, the man Questlove calls “the textbook guru of all gurus” talks about his history, but also about hip-hop’s rise.

“There was this great moment,” he recalls. “I built my life with Alice by trying to get parents to hate him. That was my goal. Now, it’s 10 or 15 years later, I have these four kids, they’re young, and they’re staying in the bedroom next to me at my house.

“I come walking by and I hear hip-hop for the first time,” he adds. “I open the door and I go, ‘What is this shit you’re listening to?’ As I say it, I realize, ‘Oh my God.’ … I knew it right then. When those words came out of my mouth, I said, ‘The music business is changing. If I can’t stand it, it’s gonna be the biggest thing.'”

Gordon has worked with a series of legends, including Teddy Pendergrass and Luther Vandross. He was the focus of 2013’s Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, which Questo’s a big fan of. The film features several stars praising Shep, including Fab Five Freddy, Michael Douglas, Steven Tyler, Mike Myers, Sammy Hagar, Sylvester Stallone, and of course, Alice Cooper.

Questlove keeps the music education rolling. Fans can join the Quest every Wednesday at 1 p.m. EST on Pandora as the legendary drummer gets more rich stories from some of music’s most dynamic personalities.