Often found at high end events or moving around with his childhood friend JB Smoove, who’s career blasted off as ‘Leon’ from the HBO hit ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ to the Spider-Man films today, @abbutler914 would come out to find you and your family at the VIP entrance with a big smile, and whisk you in to the mix. One time, JB invited us to the set of ‘The Last OG’ where he was filming alongside Tracy Morgan. A.B. said ‘Tracy, this is my man I was telling you about.’ Tracy shook my hand and said, ‘The guy with all the comic books! You are a very important person!’. A.B. has a way of blowing you up to people to make you feel special. I’ve been planning to pay him back for moments like that one day. Today is that day.
J.E.: In 1995, you produced a Biggie concert in the federal penitentiary.
A.B.: I was ‘on tour’ when I was in prison - meaning they would ship me around to different jails. When I got off the bus in Fort Dix, I saw the gym. I was like ‘OK!’ This was an open compound. I visited the guy in the office and said I wanted to bring a show there. He started going through my photo album and he goes, ‘Do you know all these people?’ Finally, he said, ‘Alright, I’m going to give you a chance.’ I called Puff and said, “I want to set this show up with Biggie.” Puff said, ‘What day?’ My birthday is May 7th. They came in that week. That was special because being in prison, you feel neglected. Everybody knows someone - Larry Bird, Michael Jordan - but nobody gets any mail or visitors.
A.B.: The next day, everyone came to my table, including the officials. They said, ‘We appreciate what you did for the B.O.P.’ They got a chance to meet Biggie, Craig Mack and Puff. It felt good. Everyone in the fed system knew what happened. Crazy day.
J.E.: You seem like a turn nothing into something type of person.
A.B.: I had a great mother and I had a great father. I couldn’t ask for anything else. For me, personally as a child, I hated ‘asking’, so what I did - I went and got it. In sixth grade, I worked at a gas station before school. Helped out, pumped the gas. Just to get a couple of extra dollars. Well, I got quarters. A quarter took you a long way, a dollar made you a big man. I worked at the gas station, worked so hard, but they never paid me. Me working at this gas station, my life changed. I talked to my father about it. I said ‘Dad, I’m helping a man at the gas station. The man isn’t paying me’. Dad said, ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay it. It builds character.’
A.B.: You’re gonna laugh at this part right here, this is the crazy part. Just like working in the bank, you see all this money but you’re thinking, ‘I’m not getting this money’. Every night, I used to sneak out and go to the gas station. Now remember, cigarettes were where the money was at back then. What I used to do was loosen the top out of the roof, then at night, call my friends and say, ‘Yo, listen. I got some money for us.’ Every night, I knew what time the police would drive by. We called ourselves ‘The Little Rascals.’ We were bad, but ‘good bad.’ One night I had a plan. I said, ‘Everyone, wear black.’ This was in 6th grade, going into summertime, so really 7th grade. When I tell you - we cleared everything out of that gas station.
A.B.: The next morning I see the police at the gas station. I go do my normal thing. I ask them, “What happened?” The owner goes, “Someone robbed me.” I thought, “Now you know how I feel.” From that day on, me and my homies had so much money. We got fly. I had all the ladies, all the cute girls. Girls like the Cosby family - their parents were doctors & lawyers. My parents would say, “These ladies must like you, they’re buying you all these gifts.” Little did they know, I was buying things with my own money. This is how my life started. I started running around. I had money. We started going to the clubs.. in the 7th grade. I started hustling. We were going to all the hot spots in New York because I knew everyone.
J.E.: Which spots?
A.B.: The T Connection, Disco Fever, Harlem World, The Fonz. So many clubs. The Armory. The Rooftop. I looked like a baby, pulling up to these spots. From there, running into people, because I never drank, I never smoked. I ran into Kurtis Blow, Stephanie Mills, Jim McDaniels. And then, you know, it just started… middle school, high school. I’ve always been a people person since day one. My mom used to take me out shopping on Fordham Road. I always talked to people, dealt with people. I never had a problem being afraid to speak to people. And then, I knew who I was. I knew all the entertainment people you could imagine, Cold Crush, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, G-Man from the Krash Crew. Anyone back in those days, I knew. Back in those days, if you spoke about Mount Vernon, the first name that came out of anyone’s mouth from Harlem, Brooklyn, Bronx, was mine.
My man JB and I went to elementary school together. Growing up then, it was about respect. We would get beat by someone else’s parents and then go home and get a spanking. I got plenty of beatings. It’s why I never hustled in my area.
A.B.: I was hustling in high school. The principal - I don’t know what happened - but he was putting pressure on my sisters. There were 8 of us - I had three sisters. My two oldest sisters were good girls, but the principal put pressure on them. When I got up there, he tried to put pressure on me. I explained to him: “I’m the wrong one to put pressure on. I’m a little different.” He didn’t understand.. I got kicked out of my high school. I was sent to Julia Richman which was basically a “Hustler’s School.”
J.E.: And from there?
A.B.: I was arrested in Harlem and then they sent me to central booking. I had a red brand new jacket. By the time I left, that jacket was as black as a tire. There was a guy from Wall Street there. In central booking, you come the way you come. They stick you in the lion’s cage. This guy from Wall Street, he was in there, and these dudes.. I knew them from Brooklyn. I was sitting there talking to the guy. The next thing you know, they tried to run him down. I stepped in and said, “This is my man right here.” I didn’t really know him. I wouldn’t know who he is today. He would remember me because they were going to air him out.
A.B.: I was on a scooter and a car hit me. Nothing happened to the driver but I split my whole leg open. This one man was like an angel. He had a white Golf convertible, white seats, everything white. He stopped and put me in the back of his car and took me to the hospital. I could stick my hand all through the back of my knee. Never saw this man again in my life.
A.B.: In the hospital, my mom came to see me. The nurse asked her: “Who is your son? Why did so many people come to see him?” I was loved. Malcolm X’s daughter came to see me. My mom taught me to love and respect people. It took me so far. But, I came up in New York. Me being who I am, hard-headed, I’m my own man. I made a decision that I’m going to hustle. I went to DC, got off the plane. That’s where that thirty years in the penitentiary started. If I could do it all over - I would move different.
J.E.: In the movie Top Five, Chris Rock plays a comedian and JB plays his childhood friend, ‘Silk’, who looks after him. It reminded me of you.
A.B.: I loved the movie and how he played the role where he was holding Chris down, making sure everything went right. Chris didn’t have any problems, you know, he made sure that Chris never got locked up for nothing. I could relate.
A.B.: When we were shooting ‘Top Five’, I had a brain tumor. I was supposed to go on the road with JB. The next thing you know, I was seeing my eye doctor. He said, “go to the emergency room.” He said, “If you don’t go, it’s a wrap.” I went and they gave me emergency surgery. They took the tumor out of my brain. I stayed there for about two months. The doctor told me it was the biggest tumor he ever took out of a brain.
A.B.: After that, I wanted to surprise my mom. I asked my mom to walk me down the stairs one day. I said, “We’re going to get something to eat.” Danny Glover pulled up and she was so shocked, like, “Oh baby. You tricked me.” I meet so many good people. I give people the chance to meet people they admire. I did 30 years then picked up from where I left off, it’s so easy to show love. I stay my own man. It don’t matter what you did. If you can’t get that car, you shouldn’t be mad. You should be glad.
J.E.: Is there anybody else you want to shout out today?
A.B.: My cousin was Chris Lighty. He managed 50, Fat Joe, LL Cool J, A Tribe Call Quest and Mobb Deep. I was there where it all started with Kool DJ Red Alert and Violator. My birthday is May 7. Chris’s is May 8. This August will be 10 years since Chris died.
A.B.: My man is gonna put it in a book and shoot a documentary on my life. I don’t wanna rush it because the story’s not done yet. The story doesn’t end with me, because it continues on with my son.