Chatting it up with beatmaker and blogger J-Zone

We have a special guest for this week's edition of "Here Listen To This." This time we check in with J-Zone of Jamaica, N.Y.

At one point, J-Zone was the Tom Jones of rap, the Bobby Brown of hip-hop, the Redd Foxx with the boom bap.

Nowadays, he's turned in the microphone. He still makes beats for many of hip-hop's elite (from Del The Funkyhomosapien to the CunninLinguists). And he's found a new love: blogging.

J-Zone pontificates on everything from NBA trash talk to interviewing his grandma, who he lovingly refers to as "Evil-E."

Check out his blog at danteross.com/blogs/jzone.

Gnarls Barkley, 'Who's Gonna Save My Soul'

Meeting Cee-Lo was a trip. Danger Mouse and I have been homies since 2000. We go back a long time and been collaborating since then. So when he told me Cee-Lo was a fan of mine, I bugged out because I've always been a Goodie Mob fan.

When I met him, he knew all my albums, because Mouse had been playing them in the tour bus. But what killed me is their favorite album of mine was "Go-Rilla Pimp$," an off-kilter parody side project I did with my R&B singing partner, $tallion.

The album didn't have a fraction of creativity, it was just 30 minutes of drunken baiting, funk loops, "American Pimp" samples and Too $hort hooks. It was never even commercially released, but Cee-Lo and Mouse have the same twisted sense of humor I do! They just can't let it out fully because they're huge pop artists.

They both joined me on stage for my retirement show in 2006. It was technically my seventh-to-last show, but I never performed in New York again after that night. It was the best night of my life. I was supposed to produce some songs for Cee-Lo, but he's a busy dude and I respect that. Gnarls is family, no doubt.

SEE IT ONLINE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhxK2IOywVE or use the keywords "Gnarls," "Barkley" and "Soul."

Mr. T, 'Mr T's Commandment'

I wrote an article about Mr. T on my blog recently. In my opinion, he was the greatest entertainer of the '80s outside of Michael Jackson. People are biting his style today, and giving him no credit.

I refuse to listen to any artist with a mohawk until he's paid a minimum of $500,000 in royalties and damages. He's also a better MC than 98 percent of these dudes out now.

"Treat Your Mother Right" is his best record, the snare on that is way too hard, it can shatter glass. He was the best character to ever appear in a "Rocky" movie, too. "Rocky 3" was fixed, Mr. T would've whooped Rocky in a fair one.

SEE IT ONLINE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPZ3kaXfwXQ or use the keywords "Mr.," "T" and "Commandment."

Johnny Cash, 'Folsom Prison Blues'

If Johnny Cash were a rapper, he'd be harder than just about everybody in the game. Johnny is way too real.

SEE IT ONLINE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsuVuw5JO4 or use the keywords "Johnny," "Cash" and "Folsom."