Good morning! We’ve backed off the brink from sub-zero temperatures to just zero, which is something worth celebrating, I guess. And what better way to keep the good times rolling than with one of the coldest dudes we know: Yonkers’ own Tony Moxberg. Sheek’s road dog, Styles’ sparring partner and Eric’s couch-mate, Mox shines bright on every 2J3BD episode he sits in on: maybe he’s fighting an uphill battle in defense of his legendary R&B playlists, maybe he’s inspiring Kiss to chant “GLUTEN GLUTTON,” maybe he’s correctly guessing how many people are on the “One Blood” remix. Sheek has always said Mox doesn’t watch movies and has no interests. That can’t be true, can it? So, let’s find out what makes Mox tick!
We watched This Is The End this week.
Never even heard of it.
You’ve never heard of it?
No, is it good?
Jesus, Mox. Yea, it’s with Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera…
Is it on Netflix or in the theatres?
(laughs) It came out thirteen years ago.
(laughs) Oh. Nice! I’m gonna watch it. I’m definitely gonna watch it.
Sheek says you haven’t been to the movies since you were a kid. How do you want to respond to that?
Tell Sheek to mind his business! I actually went — I hadn’t went in a very long time — but the last time I went was to go see that movie we rated, the one with cowboys, oldie zombies and shit.
Sinners?
Sinners, yea. That movie. Sheek was like, go to the movies and watch it. So I went and watched it before we went and did that the next day.
We appreciate your service.
Thank you, thank you. I almost fell asleep but I stayed up.
What is the biggest or funniest argument you’ve had with The LOX?
To be honest, it’s usually all three of them trying to jump me. Sometimes Sheek just sits back and laughs. One of the good ones was, we finished a show in Texas. And every time we go to Texas, I make sure I hit the BBQ spots, the trucks and all that. I get two plates — I ended back at the hotel, in the lobby, eating. Kiss and Styles walked in, they sat down next to me and drove me fucking crazy for an hour, an hour and a half straight.
Over what?
My face had BBQ sauce on it, my fingers had BBQ sauce everywhere. They were just yelling at me: “Why are you eating pork ribs? Why are you eating this late? Who’s all that food for? What are you doing?” For an hour and a half! And you know, cause they don’t eat!
Yea, explain that to people who don’t know what it’s like to be around them.
It’s like an unwritten rule: when we check in somewhere, me, Sheek and Tech will meet in the lobby and get something to eat. We’ll Google the area, we have places to eat in every single state. But…they don’t do that. Styles will find a vegan spot and have it Ubered to him.
And Kiss doesn’t eat.
Kiss won’t eat all day until right before showtime, and then he’ll complain he wants something to eat. Or sometimes we’ll go to Ruth’s Chris, and his order there is calamari — but extra crispy, to the point that they’re like potato chips; a Caesar salad and he’ll try to get some extra shrimp but they have to be black, black, black.
Is that a safety thing?
I don’t know what it is, I’ve been trying to figure that out for 20 years!
ERIC: Going back to them yelling at you, I feel like it’s like sparring and you’ve gotten to the point where you’re a heavyweight — cause you just know what direction they’re gonna come from. And you know how to counter and block and punch.
The whole time they were arguing with me, I was just sitting there smiling. Licking my fingers! I sat there for an hour and a half, everyone else got up and left — you had to see it. It was insane! I loved it. They think I’m gonna take all my food and throw it away, that’s not how I work!
ERIC: You enjoying it is like a counterpunch in itself!
(laughs) Them knowing I’m not getting upset about it gets them more angry. They start cursing me out and going crazy!
ERIC: I hope people realize that them cracking jokes is their love language. That they wouldn’t do this to them, to you, to each other if they didn’t love all of us.
Of course! It’s never like that. We joke around — when the cameras are off, you guys know, but when the cameras are off, we joke around the exact same way. Every single day. I’m gonna pass by the studio later, and I’m sure me or Jazz or Dayzel is gonna get it when we walk in. It’s all jokes, especially when Sheek is in the room. That guy is like a fucking comedian. When him and Kiss are together? Holy moly! Styles? It’s like, everyone’s finished. But yea, they do it out of love.
For people who don’t know, how do you know The LOX? Or rather, how do they know you?
Well, they went to school with my older brother and my cousins. They were in school, on the block, this and that. Then they found out I made music and rapped and all that. They invited me to the studio — and I would have to wait for all three of them to record, they only had one room at the time. This was at least 20 years ago, I was in college. They would record, I would wait until 1am when they were done, Poobs would record me until 5, 6, every single night. Little by little, I’d have records. Styles was the first to get on a song with me. Then Jada, then Sheek. We just got closer. I never bothered them for anything, I would always do my own thing. And I think they liked me more for that, I was never the needy person. I just was around and absorbed it all. Then they were going on tour, and I said, “Can I go on tour too? I just need 5 minutes onstage. You don’t have to pay for anything.” And they said, “Yeah, come on.”
Have you always been closest with Sheek?
I’m closest with all of them. But Sheek and I probably have the most in common. We like to eat. The other guys don’t.
Okay, this is a movie showcast at its core, so what’s a movie you love?
Donnie Brasco. It’s just a Mafia movie. Al Pacino played a great role, Johnny Depp. It was just interesting just knowing how they went about things, how they set up Lefty (Al Pacino), how the feds went in and did a whole bunch of crazy shit. Johnny Depp was doing knee-deep in the game, to the point where he was committing crimes just to catch them. I think they ended up finding Sonny Black or Sonny Red’s hand chopped off in Orchard Beach, which is close to us — so that was pretty cool. I’m into all those mobster movies.
What’s a popular movie you’ve never seen?
They’re gonna kill me for this one: The Godfather.
Wow! You just said…?
I know! One day, Sheek tried making me watch it, we had a long Sprinter ride to somewhere in Pennsylvania — it was like 6 hours away. He’s like, “You know what? We’re gonna watch it.” I fell asleep for the whole movie. I’ll watch it soon, though.
What’s a good date movie?
The Notebook. My ex would make me watch it every weekend with her. I don’t know what I did wrong in life, that that was my karma. It was cool, though.
What’s a movie you could talk about for two hours?
Shawshank Redemption. I love that movie. Was that based on a true story?
I don’t think so. I think that there are stories like it, but it’s not ripped from someone’s life. (EDIT: It’s based on a Stephen King book.)
What’s your ideal movie snack?
The nachos with cheese and popcorn, extra butter. I’m bringing those, a hot dog from the stand, a few things. A large fruit punch, whatever I can get my hands on.
Is there an actor or actress you’d see in anything?
Yea, Robert Deniro or Al Pacino.
Except for The Godfather.
Exactly. So Robert Deniro.
What’s the best movie to have on mute in the studio?
Probably Menace II Society. I would say Juice too, but we just reviewed Juice. I don’t get bored of it, I just am able to look at the screen and know what’s going on, still able to listen to beats and whatever. I kinda grew up in those same environments, so I can sorta relate to the storyline, so that’s probably why I like it. And I watched it growing up as a kid.
Yea, but you also watched Frog & Toad as a kid.
(laughs) When I was a little older, Menace II Society.
Would you rather stream a movie or go to the theatre?
Probably go to the theatre.
Interesting! But do you watch movies at home?
Not really. Honestly, I’m really just watching sports. Basketball. Football. But I have Netflix and all those apps, I guess it’s all for nothing. I’m gonna start soon though.
You’re just supporting the bottom line, that’s kind of you. What’s a good movie person run-in you’ve had?
I ran into — at Joe’s Pizza, in Manhattan — what’s the guy from New York Undercover? Malik Yoba. I ran into him, and then I ran into the guy from The Wire, Michael K. Williams. Me and Kiss were at some awards show on the West Coast, in a hotel lobby and we saw him over by the bar. We hung out with him for a while. It was pretty cool.
Sinners or One Battle After Another? I’m gonna guess Sinners, I don’t think you’ve seen One Battle.
I’ve never even heard of One Battle After Another. I have my own battles to deal with. Probably Sinners, Sinners is cool.
Well, to close out with a battle: what’s an R&B record that would instantly win in a playlist battle against Styles?
I would say…see, that’s tricky. But I would probably say Maxwell’s “Fortunate.” You know what I’m saying? Add a little spice.
Okay! Unexpected.
Why? I was gonna say “Nothing Can Change This Love” by Sam Cooke, but then when Styles hears about this, he would say, “You don’t even know Sam Cooke!” He’d start flipping, so I didn’t even want to go there. I put on a really good playlist.
I really thought you were gonna say like, Lil Baby.
(laughs) Nah, nah, definitely not. Shouts to Lil Baby though!
You made it to the end! Thanks for reading. Let us know who else you’d want us to talk to, in the comments! And as always, you can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Instagram, TikTok and right here, for our weekly newsletter. Also, here’s our merch shop!
If you like this, check our previous interview with Bun B.
I wanna go eat with this guy. He got the good spots for food!
Y'all inserting a copy of how to Fight Off Multiple Opponents is funny.