DJ Pooh & Lil Duval Pull Up on Drink Champs! Comedy, Hip-Hop & Friday Stories | Full Episode

TL;DR

DJ Pooh and Lil Duval discuss their independent stoner comedy film Grow House, Friday origins, and hip-hop history on Drink Champs.

Key Points

• 1.DJ Pooh and Lil Duval connected on MySpace 10 years before making Grow House together. Pooh messaged Duval saying he was funny and wanted to collaborate — a decade later the film was made.
• 2.Lil Duval only started smoking weed a year and a half ago despite being synonymous with stoner culture. He smoked fake weed during Grow House filming, with Pooh joking he felt ripped off.
• 3.DJ Pooh co-wrote Friday with Ice Cube, with both writing separately then collaborating. Pooh insists the film's magic came from their joint effort and neither could have done it alone.
• 4.Grow House is an independent film featuring Dwayne Davis, Martin Starr, Malcolm McDowell, Raquel Lee, George Wallace, and Snoop Dogg. Pooh chose independence despite distribution challenges, noting he has never made a film that lost money.
• 5.DJ Pooh wrote and directed Three Strikes and The Wash (starring Snoop and Drake) before Grow House. He also contributed music and production to Boyz n the Hood, including the drive-by scene audio.
• 6.Pooh helped write stories for Grand Theft Auto video games and produced music for Ice Cube's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, King T, Lynch Mob, and NWA-era projects after Dr. Dre taught him to use a drum machine.
• 7.The LA LA song beef with New York was a misunderstanding — Pooh says it was meant as homage, not a diss. Prodigy even removed his verse from the video after tensions escalated during a Red Hook, Brooklyn video shoot.
• 8.Lil Duval got into stand-up comedy specifically to follow Chris Tucker's path from stand-up to film after seeing Friday. He believes comedians make the best actors, citing Jamie Foxx, Robin Williams, and Tom Hanks as examples.
• 9.Both guests criticized Percocet and lean culture in hip-hop, calling it a form of heroin. They blamed their own generation for dropping the ball as OGs and failing to properly guide younger artists.
• 10.Pooh's favorite self-produced record is 'No Idea' from his album Bad News Travels Fast, featuring West Coast Cam, Computer Love's Roger Troutman, and Charlie Wilson — a record he says most people have never heard.
• 11.The entire podcast appearance was unplanned — N.O.R.E. spotted Pooh and Duval outside their hotel and recruited them on the spot. Pooh emphasized he operates on handshakes, preferring direct relationships over manager intermediaries.
• 12.Both agreed the 1990s were hip-hop's golden era of full album artistry versus today's single-driven culture. Pooh compared mumble rap to James Brown's screaming, arguing it's more about vibe than lyrics, similar to jazz.