WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Fatima Robinson 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.000 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:13.119 Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to West Love Supreme. 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.680 Your host, Quest Love and with Me is the award 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:18.599 winning team inst of all the teams. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:19.840 How else it going? 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:20.079 Like you? 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:21.800 You look awfully glowy tod that. 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:24.320 Oh yeah, I'm on I'm on the new fancy camera 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.000 excuse so I'm feeling I might be feeling myself quite 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:27.440 a little bit. 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:27.680 Yeah. 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:29.680 I was about to say, you got that Lenny Kravitz 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.480 on the show, A little bit about yourself today? 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:34.159 What is it? 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:36.960 I knew Fatima was gonna come on here looking correct, 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:38.440 so I had to make sure I was, you know, 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:39.640 far with my sense? 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:45.080 Okay? And what are you wearing this evening, Steve? 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:47.800 I'm wearing pretty much the same thing as Fatima the time, 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:49.919 but you have to. 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:56.240 Take it off the shoulders, oh God, like the surface 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:58.200 of the shoulder. 0:00:58.320 --> 0:00:59.680 Thanks for tim yea. 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.960 By the way, Steve, my older family members you can 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.280 tell they're older because of what they told me. 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.279 They was like, Yo, how come that boy always smokes? Reefer? 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:13.720 Wait what was your response? 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:14.120 No? 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:15.679 I was laughing at. 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.800 Them because I was like, you didn't tell was good? Once? 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:21.000 Some Yeah, I was like, wait to hear about me. 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.920 Good to see you in your uh your old spot, Bill. 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.200 Yep, I'm back in the studio. I'm I'm wearing Stitch fixed. 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:30.360 Thank you very much, little proud from stitch Ficks. I 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:32.440 don't look like Fatima, but that's okay. 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:33.360 Uh. 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:33.880 I'm good. 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:35.080 I'm happy to be home. 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.479 I was waiting for how you doing. I'm great, you. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.520 Know, happy anniversary? And Mirror have you anniversary? 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:45.160 You and Fante and all the okay players have you anniversary? 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:49.160 That's right, big twenty five. We are twenty five years old. 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.440 Font Tikolo, okay, you got your try sweater on? I 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.440 see yeah, man, yeah, I have to for the tribe. Man, 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:57.760 we in the present sorority tonight. 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:01.800 Right, I see? So, speaking of which, ladies and gentlemen. 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:06.240 Similar to the LL cool J episode in which I 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:11.799 admit it that maybe I purposely slowed down the pursuit 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:17.040 of real camaraderie because I knew I wanted my first 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.840 real conversation to be on this platform, you know, And 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.200 that's just not for self serving purposes. I just I 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:27.200 know that the first month and a half of a 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:30.760 friendship with me with a fellow industry, peer person is 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.680 kind of going a result to a lot of weird, 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.480 nerdy questions, and I've been told it's rather annoying. So 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:42.160 that's why this platform exists, and today our guest is 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:43.160 no exception to that. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.399 I will say that there's. 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:51.080 Literally no human being in this industry that I personally 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.440 am curious about the path of their. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:03:00.400 Journey from soup to nuts that they've taken. Tactically. 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:05.720 Every iconic video worth its grain of salt that has 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:10.720 been on MTV or BT or you know, now YouTube 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.360 is how we get it has either been you know, 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:16.120 blessed by her presence. If we're telling back in the 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:21.640 day later with her expertise in choreography. Later as she 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.960 pivots into directing not to mention any wild moment that 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.480 we've seen with dancing, nine times out of ten you're 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:34.040 either watching her personal blueprint or I'm almost certain that 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:38.440 her disciples have you know, have carried the baton. 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.240 I would be remiss if I didn't say. 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.760 That a lot of the praise and the credit that 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:50.280 I've personally been getting for the Hip Hop fifty celebration, 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:52.880 things that happened, that the Grammys, and that happened again 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:56.000 with the special in December. I'm telling you right now, 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:00.360 our guest today was show enough the anchor or a 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:02.880 lot of that, Like I got the glory of just like, hey, 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.400 this song and that song and call this guy up 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:06.480 and clear that sample. 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:10.560 But in terms of just like dealing with the headaches 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:11.520 not only. 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:16.120 As a creator and running her own squad, but you know, 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.520 she damn near had to be a life coach just 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.800 to keep certain group members from corn at each other's throats, 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.680 because you got to understand, like, you know, a lot 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.440 of these group members broke up. You know, most groups 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:35.040 don't last forty years. So I have so many questions 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.080 to ask our guest today. Please welcome to quest of 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:39.720 Supreme Fatima Robinson. 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:47.680 Finally, Oh yes, exactly, all right, I'm gonna ask you 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.719 the question now without giving it all away. 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.839 Yes, I've been kind of open on this platform. 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:57.840 You know, I mean, nothing I say winds up being 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:00.719 headlines in any of the blocking sphere whatever. So we're 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.400 even though we're award winning, like we're not gotcha journalism. 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:10.080 But I've talked about how stressful these situations can be, 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:13.719 and I've only had to deal with two of them, 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.920 which you know, of course the Hip Hop fifty things, 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:20.200 But you, on the other hand, have to deal with 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:22.880 you know. I meant, Lord knows how many Super Bowl 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.800 halftimes you've been involved in every award show that we've seen, 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:31.560 and walking away from Hip Hop fifty, in which I 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:36.200 will say that watching it on television, I said to 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:47.120 myself like, oh. 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:48.279 But being there that night, it's intense. There was look, 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:49.960 I'm about full transparency. 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:55.080 I personally was sort of a block away from depression 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:59.120 really well, because the thing was, it was like I 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:03.640 vowed to never subject myself to that level of stress 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.720 ever again in this lifetime. The first time doing the 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.320 fifteen minute Grammy thing, when I landed it in New York, 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:12.800 I lost a tooth fell out. I went straight to 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:18.240 the dentist, and part of my resistance to coming back 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:22.039 to it for a two hour version was no, like, 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.080 why would I ever want to do that to myself? 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:26.720 But the thing is is that I only have to 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:30.160 experience that twice. I'm almost certain you have to deal 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:35.000 with that eight to nine times a year. Yeah, Ward 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:40.919 show every So my first question to you why even bother, like, 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:42.479 why why do you do this? 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:47.960 Why my gosh, no, it's the best. I love finding 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.640 the solution to the problem. I get off on that. 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.440 So because I get off on that, I'm like, bring 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:56.960 it to me, Like I love when it's like a 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:00.400 fire and I'm like, oh, put that fire out, fire 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:04.480 another fire, put it out, put it out. I love it. 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:05.479 I live for that. 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.280 I was going to say, And I've shared the story 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:14.840 about us having an emergency some six minutes oh yeah, 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:19.920 six minutes before we're live on the air and everything's 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.680 falling apart, and I looked at you and you just 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:26.640 you did the zen thing that I've never seen before, 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.880 and I was just like, I gotta know what Fatima 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:34.280 is doing in her life because I was having a 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:37.040 pan even after it was over. I had a minor 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:41.160 panic attack at the end of the first Grammys thing. 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:46.040 Because I was unaware that Uzzi came on and saved us. 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:48.800 Yeah, so well he didn't, Yeah he. 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.120 That was I mean not he put a nice cherry 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.560 at the end of the But you really. 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.160 Fought for that moment to happen, which was really great, 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:00.880 And you know the other moments I had ever experienced 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:04.760 something like that, someone dropping out on live TV while 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.960 we were actually in the moment of it that was 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.680 new to me. But at a certain point it just 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.400 with hip hop, nothing is surprising. And I have to 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.960 tell a lot of these executives, like, you know, they'll be, 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:19.600 oh my god, this is happening, and this is happening, 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:22.240 and I'm like, it's hip hop. It's gonna be okay, 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:24.960 just give it a moment. We're gonna figure it out, 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:29.240 you know. And it's just I grew up with hip hop. 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:33.280 It's what I know. It's how I've been trained, and 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.680 you know, we always figure it out. 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.080 Can I just ask out on a number sense? We're 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.880 talking about how many artists and how many dancers for 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:43.640 the Hip Hop fifty fifth the Grammy. 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:46.520 I only had to deal with the artists. She has 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:48.080 to deal with the artists and the dancers. 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:54.160 That's why I'm asking artists, dancers, managers, wardrobe, lighting, production design. 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:56.439 I gotta answer all the questions. 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.479 Oh so that's hundreds of people, Okay, yeah, Yeah. 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.120 Started at the beginning. Where are you from? Where were 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:02.600 you born? 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:07.440 I was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and I moved 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:09.959 to LA when I was five years old. Oh wow, 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:13.520 yeah wow, Little Rock, Arkansas. And every summer I go 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.480 back to Little Rock and be with my family there. 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:18.280 What part of LA did you move to? 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:22.079 I lived everywhere we first landed in Compton. I lived 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:25.840 in Inglewood, in Harthorn and El Segondo and San Pedro, 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.960 and I lived all over the place in La. 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:31.520 See, I thought you straight up Brooklyn. 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:36.760 Everybody. Everybody thinks I'm from New York, but no, and 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:40.160 I really not. Until like five years ago, I really 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.080 rode for LA. But now I just ride for California 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:47.800 because I love Ohi and I'm just out of city. 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:49.440 Can you sell me on that? 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:51.800 Because a lot of my friends are moving to Ohi 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.840 and I want to know what's up there before. 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:57.959 It's light over there? Is that what you're about to say? 0:09:58.000 --> 0:09:58.720 That's what it looks like. 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:00.480 I was going to take you guys out to look 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:02.920 at the mountains, and I was checking to see if 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.200 the sunset, But the clouds are really low right now, 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.480 they're covering the mountains. It's beautiful here, and it's just 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.720 a wonderful war text of good energy. 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:14.320 You know. 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.160 It's called the Valley of the Moon, and the moon 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:21.880 hits really beautiful here. It's not that far from La 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.560 only an hour and a half, but it's in nature 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:27.000 and it's just gorgeous. 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:27.920 See. 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.400 My only concern is that as a person who insisted 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:33.600 on getting on the first flight, and most of my 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:34.400 flights are. 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:36.880 Five am flights. 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.080 Yeah, and that basically means that I would have to 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.560 leave your house at like one in the morning just 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:43.960 to get the Lax by three. 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:45.079 Is that your airport? 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:45.600 That's not right? 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:49.800 Well, there's Santa Barber Airport, but there's not as many 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.679 flights out, a lot of more connections, you know, so 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:53.920 it's easier to just go out of. 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:55.880 Lax sacrifice the peace. 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:58.160 We in the peace time of life. 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:00.520 All right, you're selling me on it. Yeah. 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.920 A lot of my friends just up and left New York, 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.960 LA and they all went to OHI, And I'm like, 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:09.280 what the hell is that OHI that I don't know about? 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.920 Is it like more like a hippie commune or no? 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.200 I mean there were a lot of hippies that came 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.080 here back in the day. It's really changing over there's 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:23.800 really great restaurants and stuff. It's just you know, you 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:28.040 it's it's just being in the country. But there's also 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:31.240 really amazing people here. So you have really great dinner 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:35.680 parties at friends' houses and you know, you can you know, 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:40.120 see horses walking down the street and go on hikes, 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.640 and it's just a better quality of life, you know. 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.160 I would like to know if you can remember this, like, 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:56.560 what is the first creative thing that you remember putting together? 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.839 The first creative thing I remember putting together. It would 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.680 probably be I have two younger sisters, and so when 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:10.199 my mom would have guests over, we were the entertainment. 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.800 So I would put together dance moves on my sisters. 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.200 And that was probably the first creative because I would 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:22.320 you know, I would dress us and we would put 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.840 towels on our head because I thought I was Darsel 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:25.959 from Solid. 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:30.440 Gold Away day. 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:34.520 You couldn't tell me nothing, you know, so we get 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:36.800 in her heels and we were the you know, the 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.840 whole performance. And that when I did Dream Girls, it 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:43.200 was such a trip because I felt like I was 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:45.280 doing the poses that I used to do with my 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:46.520 two younger sisters. 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:49.360 Yoh, that's so interesting. You just gave me a whole 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:54.160 memory of like little Girls. We used to choreograph things 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:58.280 on the playground, like I remember steps doing things to 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.280 like Lisa Lisa and colch Jam and that was like 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.600 the thing that just hit me with a memory. 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:07.560 That's yeah, totally that that was it. 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.720 This this is the third time that someone's randomly dropped 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:12.800 Darcel Wayne's name. 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:15.079 You gotta find this woman. 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.400 Because I'm in contact with her. 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:19.200 What of course you are? 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:21.400 Oh, I can't wait to get to this list of 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:22.760 dancers she's still in contact with. 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:23.640 Yes, I know that. 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.000 You know, we we hold Sheryl's song of Soul train 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.880 up in high honor, but you know we we also 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:35.360 had Darcel Wayne too, And she doesn't get enough props 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.040 because she definitely carried all of solid gold on her 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:39.600 back for a number of years. 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:44.040 Yes, they even got a second black dancer, so they. 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:48.720 Actually created the in sag they created the principal dancer 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:53.280 because of her. Oh, and principal dancers get paid different 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:57.600 than the and so because she was so amazing and 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:01.040 such an individual, and they kept giving her solo, they said, 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.400 we have to figure this out, and she's she created 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:04.440 the principal dancer. 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:09.880 Yeah, not knowing that you're from California, I want to 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.200 know what your life and dance was before you became 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:17.360 a professional dancer. So yeah, you basically just walk us through, 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.000 like where would you hang in California, Like, were you 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:23.280 an Uncle Jam person? 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:24.280 Where you like? 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.000 Definitely I was too young for Uncle Jam's army, but 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.840 I listened to all that Egyptian lover and all of that. 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:37.880 I would go to, you know, at every high school 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.320 they had dance competition, so I would enter the dance 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.640 competitions and win there. But what really did it for 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:47.720 me is I graduated high school at sixteen and I 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:51.040 started going to this club Paradise twenty four where they 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:56.520 would have dance contests and one year, girls from who 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:58.880 danced for BBD straight Ahead they won. It was a 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.360 five thousand dollars damce, so everybody would enter the next 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:08.600 year it was it was they were called gt I 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.520 at the time, and that was far side. Later on 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:16.720 we won, We won my dance tree called a Feminine Touch. 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.600 We won that year and that's where John John Singleton 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.760 saw us when that year and came backstage and was like, 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:24.920 I'm gonna put you all in my movie. I'm gonna 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.520 put you all the movie. We were like, yeah, whatever, 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:30.320 and he ended up putting us in Boys in the 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:31.479 Hood Is Extras. 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:32.320 What scene? 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:32.680 What was it? 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:33.680 What's scene? 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:35.160 The barbecue scene? 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:41.360 Ah, Okay, yeah, okay, So the relationship with John obviously 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.960 let you remember the time later on correct, correct. 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:47.600 When he kept asking for choreographer. He kept coming up 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.320 with my name and he's like, I know that girl 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:52.640 and call for that. 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:56.160 Yeah, And had you ever choreographed anything prior to that? 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:56.800 Oh? 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.240 Yeah. So when back in the day, when you hooked 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:03.000 up with the hip hop artists, you naturally just made 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.960 up their steps. We didn't know that there was an 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:10.640 actual job called choreographer. We you got with Big Daddy Kane, 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.480 like I used to dance with him with Scooba and scrap, 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.680 you know, we and we would we would kind of 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:19.840 we had the market locked down because it was Big 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.000 Les and Josie in New York and it was me 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.160 and Titi in l A. And so they would call 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.520 us be like, oh heavy d you looking for dancers. 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:29.680 So we would fly out on fake tickets and then 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:35.520 land in New York and then dance for he Fake 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:39.280 tickets is when you didn't have to have and show 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.800 an ID and you can just be you can that, 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:47.840 said John Moses, and you give them the ticket. Oh, 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:49.520 back in the day, you guys didn't know that. 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:58.120 Forget Huey Lewis once told us about just like sneaking 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.000 on the plane and like, well. 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.360 I mean everything was hand written back then too. 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:06.679 So everything. Yeah, we you know somebody there was a 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.320 guy who had a credit card scheme and we'd pay him, 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:11.320 you know, one hundred dollars, he'd get us a ticket. 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.280 It was just a whole It was the wild wild 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:17.120 West back in the day. But we would land there 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.800 and then we'd dance for heavy and then we call them, 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.359 you know, hey, so and so is looking for dancers 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.240 in LA, and then they do the same thing and 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:26.159 come to La. 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.840 So wait, so let me was this no conversation You 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:30.960 said you guys didn't know you were doing choreography, but 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:33.840 like even for like the R and B videos with 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.320 some of those choreographers, there was no conversation about in 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.080 between the No. 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:44.439 They would literally I remember, like you know, when I 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:46.879 danced the big Daddy came, we'd stay at his house 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.080 and the bodyguard would come and come on. It's rehearsal. 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.840 We rehearsed his basement and you know, and we'd make 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.719 up the routine and we'd go on stage and you know, 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.480 we would do our number and we were happy, and 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:04.359 no one questioned where the dance was supposed to come from, 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.240 because there was no place for it to come from 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:09.760 other than us, Because there was no unless you were 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:11.680 in the clubs. You didn't know how to dance hip 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:17.280 hop unless you were watching MTV or video jukebox and 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.160 recording the steps and like learning at home. Like there 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.760 was no place there was. All the choreographers were jazz. 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:28.520 That was Michael Peters and Debbie. They weren't mess That's 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:33.640 what I was wondering. They were not messing with us. Okay, No, 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:36.920 it was just two different worlds. So by the time 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.280 I got to Michael, he was so excited about this 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.639 hip hop dance he had been seeing and hearing about. 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:45.960 He was like, I want to learn it all. 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:47.800 So dope. 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.679 I sort of correlated with video directors. I mean, I 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:57.680 would say that maybe Lionel Martin was the kind of 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:02.240 the first generation of hip hop directors that would feature 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.440 dancers and whatnot. So like we take it for granted 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.640 now where I mean, it's not that I see dancers 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:12.639 all that much in this environment, but who, in your 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:18.600 opinion like really kickstarted the concept of like, okay, I 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:21.959 need two dances in order to make my package complete, Like, 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.080 as far as you're concerned, Yeah, I don't. 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:29.320 Know who who first did it. You know, it was dance. 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:33.080 Was just part of the culture, like everybody had two 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:35.840 dances with them. And let me tell you my Lionel 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:39.520 Martin story. I auditioned for him and it was here 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:46.800 in La and it was at his hotel. And when 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:50.879 I got there, there were two girls there. One's mother 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:56.040 had talked her and to being the choreographer, and you know, 0:19:56.280 --> 0:20:02.880 he explained the treatment to us. He then went, she said, well, 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.240 let me see you guys dance, and one girl kind 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.040 of complained about the carpet and stuff, and another girl 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:12.359 complained about the tape. Player was like, sped the song 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:14.639 up and she said, oh, it won't be so fast. 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.760 And I got up and just bust whatever I knew, 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.159 and he stopped the music and he pointed at me 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:24.639 and said, you're going to be the choreographer and you 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:27.040 two are going to be the dances because you adapted 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:31.080 to the situation the best. And I was like okay. 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:35.439 And literally Rosie Perez had to tell me how she poked. 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:38.520 She called me out the blue and was like, you 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:41.320 have to call your sofa a choreographer and you have 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.280 to charge for that, and I'm just like ah, So 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.040 I went and looked up how to spell the words. 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:48.159 I didn't even know how to spell it. 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:52.080 Did she helped me figure out how much to charge. 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:54.800 Well, then I got an agent to help me. 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:04.600 How hard was it to navigate toxicity treatment in the 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:09.680 late eighties and early shit, if I really want to 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.720 keep it a butt, maybe up until until twenty nineteen, 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:19.240 now twenty three, yesterday, yesterday, tomorrow and tomorrow. 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:23.120 Okay, yeah, I mean it was tougher when I was younger. 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:27.199 You know, I got my shirt snatched off from a 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.320 rapper while I was on tour with Big Daddy Kane 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:32.880 and jay Z at the time was his hype man, 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:35.560 and he had to calm me down and you know, 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:41.520 make sure I was okay. So it was wild, but 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:45.760 most guys, you know, most guys were respectful. I think 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:50.119 when alcohol too much, alcohol and drugs kind of got involved, 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:52.400 and that's where you just had to watch the room. 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:53.040 You know. 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:55.880 It was all fun and games until you know, someone 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:58.199