WEBVTT - Sheléa 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:14.840 Well, say Ja valatic, we are the authorities all things 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:20.880 R and B ladies and gentlemen, what's going on? I 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.360 am tanked Valentine, and this is the R and B 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:30.080 money podcasting authority on all things, are all things, all 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:33.680 things R and Um. We have we have a treat 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:39.080 um um, we have a vocal gift. We have elite, 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:43.320 elite company um in the building. I mean just I mean, 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:47.680 I mean listen when when they were casting for the 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:52.320 Clark Sisters. If you know anything about the Clark Sisters, 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:58.680 who are gospel music royalty, but to any singer, they 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:03.800 are royalty pure. I don't care what religion you are. Um. 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:06.320 They had to go, they had to call this young 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:10.320 Lake ladies, gentlemen. R B music community makes them no, 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:19.920 thank you, thank you that year. Oh, we're gonna start there. 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.679 We're gonna start there. We're gonna start there. We're just 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.520 gonna get We're gonna celebrate you from the moment we 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:30.120 start here. You as a singer is just something different different. 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.000 Appreciate that I really do. And I think for me 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:37.440 it's like both of you guys. Um, you might not 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:39.759 remember the first time I met you. I know, you know, 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:43.640 but you guys have been nothing but supportive and so 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:47.600 kind and just so loving and supportable of what I do, 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:50.160 and so I just I just gotta thank you guys 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.040 for that, because you guys were so instrumental in like 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.560 those earlier years. Yeah, I feel like I'm like the 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:06.360 same classes like Obama. I haven't. I haven't sang doesn't 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:09.560 call me personally. Quincy Jones. You know when I saw 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:14.720 her at Quincy Jones house, I wasn't invited, but then 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.720 you took what you took over, No, you literally took over. 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:23.200 He started doing a Quincy Jones impersonation that everybody dying over. 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.919 Can I tell a story because I'm man, I got 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:32.600 the video, I got the video. Upset um with my 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:39.359 guy you know, um uh comedian. I know you're talking about. 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:44.120 I know his name, I said, okay, Chris Tucker. Yeah, 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:49.919 just the money talks himself, Chris Tucker, who was by 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:54.200 far one of one of the greatest comedians. Absolutely, Okay, 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:57.920 so this is starting, we'll start. There's going to my story. 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:00.200 So this is the I mean, no disres back in 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:07.760 the indusries. No, I'm not just because he's a nice guy. 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.840 Mine just comes straight. Yeah, we're having a good time 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:17.040 at at Quincy Jones. Yes, it's like you know, anybody 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:20.440 who's helped forge the foundation of R and B music, 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:25.239 It's there, right there there. It's it's crazy. And so 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.040 Chris Tucker gets on the mic and he starts doing 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:35.800 this Quincy Jones impersonation and I'm sitting back cut two guys. 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.600 I wasn't there. I wasn't. I wasn't even you know, 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:43.000 it's it's fine, uh as a plus one as I was, 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.600 I'm standing in watching him do this impersonation. And mind you, 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:52.120 I have been studying Quincy and trying to do a 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:59.040 Quincy impersonation only because of Jamie Fox, who does people. 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.680 So he started made me want to learn, so, you know, 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:04.840 I would try to do my quinc impersonation and study 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.640 how Fox would do it. Liked, And so Tucker started 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:15.200 doing this Quincy impersonation that I'm not excited about. That 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.200 I am not happy with, you know, and he's better 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:22.680 than this. So it's like a Michael Jackson Quincy Jacks. 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:30.760 I don't know what he's Good's good? H It wasn't authentic. 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.760 It's a cadence to its all of that, it's all 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.240 of that and when and I was sitting at the 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:40.440 piano when this was happening. Mind you, I had I 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:42.479 don't know what if I had just sang or I 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:46.039 was about to sing, and then grab the mic and 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:48.359 grab the other mic, the other one, the one that Quincy, 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:50.800 the one that Stevie had. Nobody knew I had the mic, 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.520 and I grabbed the mic and I started talking. You know, 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:58.080 you're really not doing me in justice man, you're talking, 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:05.200 so he he said, you know, he was like, I 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:07.360 was a real quickly listen, I was a real Quincy, right, 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:10.400 So we're going back and forth. And so what happened 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:15.000 was Quincy thought when I started doing my impersonation of him, 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:20.320 he thought that somebody had started playing a recording my 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.520 you know what I'm saying, playing just in search from 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.839 Quincy Jones, because he was saying things that like Quincy 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:36.280 would say, you know, you not solid, But they don't 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:40.520 happen right so quick quin because he sits in the 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.159 same so you have to circle around and get in. 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.080 But when I got to him, he said that that 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:52.359 was you huh got that shut out? He baest that 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:59.359 shut out man associates you up. Anyway, that was you 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.520 know that was. That was that was So that was 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.840 a really great night. That was a really great night. 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:06.800 And listen, I'm for happy to be in that space. 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.680 And I know you know you you you frequent those 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:14.400 spaces because um, like you just have a different a 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:17.320 different kind of gift man, like that's just out of 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.680 this world and to you know, to the Quincy jones 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:28.839 Is and Jimmy jam and musical to some of the 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.920 biggest people who have ever ever done it on every level, 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:38.240 like they look to you, which is I mean, it's crazy. 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:42.440 So we we we like to do we like to 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:49.880 start at the very beginning, like like when did you know? 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:57.680 Or when did somebody tell you you got something? Let's 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:08.000 start there and then work our way up to yeah, overseas, yeah, yeah, 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:16.600 the White House, Kennedy forget for a couple of times. 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:19.480 You know what I have to say, that's really quick 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:21.560 because I think we, I know, we come from from 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:27.960 very similar backgrounds. I can't remember what church. I say that, 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.520 because sometimes it can be very difficult for us to 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:35.160 talk about ourselves because we feel like that's not being humble. 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.080 And that's how I think we were raised right in 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.960 a way. And so it's like I have. I had 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:45.760 to almost It took a while for me to be 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.480 able to recognize you have this God's size gift because 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:51.840 God gave it to you. So it's okay for you 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.440 to lean into it as long as you continue to 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.440 like you know, give it right back. But you can't 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:01.840 like almost diminish your gift because you're diminishing God. So 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:04.880 it's I think, Yeah, we weren't always thought to raise 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.640 our hands and yes, exact mean and so you know, 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:11.600 like this platform, like you know, this is for you 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:13.680 to raise your hand and say, yeah, this is this 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:20.200 is what I do. Okay, So White House twice. You 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:28.360 don't look at who might not me? That's fine, fine, Yeah, 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:32.440 they're gonna go through your sec yeah the first time. 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:33.959 That's why I got the White House the first time. 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:36.720 Literally why somebody else, so many people could not pass 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:41.240 the background check. That's literally how it happened the first time. Okay, 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:46.760 So black a lot of going but going to the beginning, 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.520 what do you say a lot of things soups saying, 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.720 but you have to remember at that time under Obama, 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.680 it were it's like any any little tiny thing, it's 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.480 like you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, because they were it. Yeah, 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.800 that's a whole other conversation. But but yeah, at the beginning, 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:16.080 man the beginning beginning. You know, my earliest memory is music. So, 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.439 like my mom said, like a two years old, I 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.480 was harmonizing like and to me, like when I look 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:23.600 at somebody who's two years old, I was like, that 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.040 was scary they could find harmony like that. But I 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.679 was stay on there, no, you know, I was like, 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.760 I remember this little wooden piano that that my parents 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.000 had gotten me, and you know, I'll be making little 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.080 songs from my sisters around three or four years old. 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:40.000 So my earliest memories were music. But I say all 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:44.240 that to say my parents both very musical. Um in 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.840 the church. I just only saw them use it in 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:48.760 church and that was it. So I thought that's what 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:50.800 I would do. That was that I didn't really see 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.760 any you know, me having it as a career. I 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.640 just thought I would just serving church. And it really 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:01.240 wasn't until um, when I went a way to college. 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.600 I joined this this girl's group and that was like 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.240 my first taste of just like being in the student 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:11.680 It was it was like the gospel version of uh, 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:18.559 Destiny's Child, It's called forgiven and we were all hot. Yeah, 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:21.920 what I'm saying like we were, we were cute. We 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.320 were cute. We were four cute girls. And you know, 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.880 I say, because we were packaged that way, and um 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:29.520 we were we had a little deal on the table 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:36.560 for Blackground Records. But the Lord says, anyway, but how 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.000 does how does that work in gospel? Right? Because obviously 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.240 is that a thing where you're like you said, we 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.800 were packaged as a group that could sing, but also 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:50.600 because of what the group look like, is that a 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:52.719 thing in gospel of music? It can be, it can be. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.600 And I think at that time too, it's like, you know, 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.720 that was just the and as we know in this industry, 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.719 people are always looking for the next what argument is, 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:05.560 so they're winning, we need a gospel version of that. 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:07.840 And then to me, Mary Mary came and that's what 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.120 even though it's just the two of them, it was 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:15.640 that kind of energy, beautiful, you know, vibrant, actually dressed 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.640 like sexy, which was like, you know, very difficult, so 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.320 you know, but but yeah, so that was really my 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:26.000 first taste of just being in what I would say 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.040 the industry of just going to the studio and writing 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:32.480 and producing and just that feeling just like Okay, this 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:34.960 is it, but you're not in Los Angeles at this point. No, 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:39.079 I'm going to school at this HBCU in Huntsville, Alabama 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:58.520 called Oakwood College Oakland University. Now yeah next week. They know, 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:01.160 you wouldn't want to feel out so like A and 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:05.840 M that whole. Yeah, I'm a product of the Bible Belt. 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:10.680 Wow yeah period. Yeah, yeah, that's where my career started. 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:14.160 Like promo shows, yea all through the Bible Belt in 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:19.920 a van, in a van staying at motails where you 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.559 walk into your room from outside were they're quite motels 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:25.240 or the hotels, but they don't have an hr M 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:30.880 one then you know, yeah, yeah I know the ones 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:32.880 you got you get it from outside? Yeah, you go, 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.079 you go upstairs and you yes, you get your key 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:41.160 from from your lady in the window. Yeah, even want 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:45.240 trouble there. Um. It was this the first time that 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:51.559 that you felt like you were, um being recognized on 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:54.120 that level like this, could you could have a career 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.120 in this like you were special in this place? It 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.440 wasn't so Interestingly enough, I always felt like I was special, 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.640 like my my gift was special. I knew that very 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:06.120 very young, but that didn't necessarily mean it had to 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:09.120 be a career, you know, but this was the first 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.720 time where it was like, Okay, there's nothing else I 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:17.640 even want to remotely do. This is it? And so 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.040 that was that was like a pivotal moment. But to 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:22.560 like say, like when I was more settled into like 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.800 I feel like what I can bring just this industry, 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:27.160 that was later on. I don't know if you want 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:29.240 me to skip to that moment, but that was that 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.680 was a little later on where I felt settled like 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.400 I don't care how long this takes. Already I know 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:36.360 where I'm where I'm supposed to be. But that was 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:38.160 a little later that there was. That was a pivotal 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:42.440 performance in a pivotal moment. So Forbidden Forgiven, which again 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:56.439 I like, I like forbidden Forbid Forgiven. It was four 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:05.720 and then given that's all, Hey we all got them. Um, 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:07.640 so what is it? What is in between that? Because 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:12.160 there's got to be there's a lot. It's a lot. 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:17.400 So the girls group didn't work out, you know, Um, 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:19.720 I think, you know, we were all super young and 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.280 had had different interests, and I think kind of looking 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:29.080 back in retrospect, I was I was such a intense person. 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.600 I think it was like a little overwhelming sometimes like 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:35.440 it was, Um, I was like, let's do this, Like 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:38.400 forget if I remember calling my mom my mom, and 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:40.400 I was like, I don't even want to finish college 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.040 because I already found it. Like this is it. I 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.480 don't I don't need to look any further. She was like, no, 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.520 we're not gonna do that. So I did get my degree. 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.120 I got my degree in music and this is piano. 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:58.480 I got it. I graduated kum lad from from from 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:03.920 Oakla College. Um but I you know it, I just 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.880 said this, this is it and and for me, I 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:10.400 just loved music that I kind of started more off 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:14.240 on the writing side, the writing and um so right 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.360 after I graduate, that's when I, you know, met up 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:18.360 with Jimmy Jim and Terror Lewis around the same time 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.000 that we can I'm trying to figure out how did 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.920 we connect. I'm not cusking through Harvey and Damon. Were 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:27.240 you like at the underdogs back in the day we met. 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.000 I'm not sure. I'm not I'm not all a ways sure, 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.240 but I mean it's possible because obviously I was part 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:38.720 of the underdogs with him. So but at that time, 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:42.880 I wasn't. I wasn't um, I wasn't working with him 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.000 at that time. I wasn't working with him at that No, 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:51.280 I remember you, you and Ronnie. I actually left the 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:56.200 Underdogs the second time because of Little Ronnie. Yeah, they 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:57.840 kicked him out. So I was like, yeah, I can't 0:15:57.880 --> 0:15:59.920 kick my little home ye out because it's my guys 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:04.200 two thousand four. Sorry to that. I'm like, I'm like, 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.280 if if you're gonna kick him out, he comes with me. Yeah. 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:11.640 So literally, like little Ronnie came and lived at my 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:13.560 studio house. That was my studio house that used to 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.840 come to it before, and Ronnie was because he was 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:18.840 he wasn't from l a one from California. So I'm like, 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.160 listen to you figure it out. Yeah, you're with me, 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:23.360 you're my guy. So, oh my god, what was that 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:29.400 song that we did? What? Wait? What's gonna take to 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:34.160 wake up every day to love? It? Used to be happy? 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.280 I used to love hate. I'm dreading every day so 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:44.120 something to feeling change. Can't go home this way, it's 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:49.040 not the way I wanted. Nothing. School and wrong going right? 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:54.400 What are we doing wrong? Yeah? Now you're singing that 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.800 I don't even like the Jill notes, the first funny 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:01.120 thing is she sang a song that we wrote together. 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:05.920 But what I remember the most was when you came 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:10.200 and sang for me the first time you sang in 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:15.560 dr Ready for Love. Oh my god. I never forgot 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:21.400 that because I'm like, this is amazing, Like this is amazing, 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:25.639 and did I just do it? You played, you played 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:27.879 and sang and I was like this, I ain't never 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:30.199 seen thating like this, like I don't ever sing that, 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:37.240 Sonny to bring that back back, shout out my favorite 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.080 songs of all time. And I just remember you, you know, 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.639 because that's how people that don't know the music business. 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:44.840 It's kind of how it goes when you're gonna meet 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:49.480 somebody and you know, you showing your gift, you usually 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:51.399 just you know. And I think you might have asked 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.639 me like, okay, so what do you what? What songs? 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:55.960 You know? I mean, which is a whole another cheek 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.159 code that you guys have because you both play and 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:01.239 sing to be able to kind of be a little jukebox, right, 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.560 And I was just like this is insane, Like this 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:07.960 is literally insane. I'm going to find a song. You're 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:11.000 just saying I had some magical times. I have it 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:14.560 on a drive or somewhere. Yeah, Oh my god, I 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:16.960 could literally see your place now, like I remembered the 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.440 room and everything, like how it was where we would 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.480 where we would record the vocals. Wow. And then I 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:27.200 met you around this, Yes it was it was I 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:30.080 didn't know. I don't even know that. Yeah, and then 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.960 I met you around the same time. Um, underdogs. That 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:35.840 that's the thing. The underdogs. They would always just like 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:38.720 just sick me on anybody who would come through. So 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:47.480 like he was chewing some up when I started to sing, 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:53.880 and he said, I didn't chewt this gun. And then 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.960 he had assistant and he made him spit the gover 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:05.480 in his hand. I love you some stories outside, but 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:07.840 it was, oh my god, I would I will never 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:11.680 forget those early boves Greg. You were no different. And 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:14.480 um you came in one time and they were like 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.440 saying sings onthing for tank and I did never felt 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:22.480 this way for an at night and this was this 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:34.879 was the piano intro and um, I finished singing, and 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:36.879 I will never this was like, Member, I told you 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.879 that there was this pivotal moment for me from what 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:44.720 you said and the first thing you said was you're anointed, 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.080 And I remember thinking, what a weird thing to say 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:53.280 after I seeing what I considered to be a secular song. 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:57.879 And because again like the way I grew up, everything 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:03.560 is like there's sacred and then there's secular. There's no blurring, 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.520 no what we're talking. That's what it is, sacred insect 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:12.399 and secular. Never knew that, Okay, all right, yeah, we're 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:20.880 gonna bring my strether. It's glorious to have a knacker. 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:27.000 But so for me, that was that was like, that's 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.720 when I kind of had to start that introspection of 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:36.520 realizing that my gift was sacred, not what I what 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:41.480 song I sang, period, But it was when you said that. 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.359 I was like, that's such a weird thing for someone 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:46.480 to say you're anointed after but it was like you 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:50.600 felt the God in me and that's why you said that. 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:53.000 And then I realized, okay, this is this is not 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:55.359 something where you can turn and even further chicken a 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:59.240 step further. I grew up seventh Day to where you know, 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.280 you don't sing, you know, any do anything secular, like 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:04.639 on Friday night and Saturday. So like in the beginning, 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.840 I wasn't doing shows during that time. Because of that reason, 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:12.600 I thought of a sudden no shows or any nothing shows, 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:15.399 but no anything, just anything doing sessions. I would you would, 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:17.600 you wouldn't make you would? You would make it around 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:20.280 the other days. And so that was kind of the 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.760 beginning of when I said, and Kirk Whalem also was 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:26.639 was very instrumental in that and just helping me to 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.840 see that your your gift done. It doesn't turn off 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:35.400 the period doesn't it's it's you're a vessel and it's 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:37.880 about what you bring that the light through that vessel. 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:43.920 Struggle with that early early on because because of the teachings, 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:49.520 because of it always being pushed that you know, um, 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:55.440 secular music was you know, the gateway to hell. Yeah, 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:59.240 in a sense pretty much. And here I am in 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.920 this R and B place, you know, with this annoying thing, 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:05.280 with this calling on life. What am I doing here? 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:07.760 You know what I mean? And so it took a 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:13.320 while for me to accept that this was from him 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.240 and not from anybody else. This opportunity for me to 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.760 share my gift all over the world and to in 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:25.159 essence put my life on paper and then ultimately on record, 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:29.760 and it makes room for me. You know, it provides 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:31.879 me a place to live, it it provides food for 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:35.400 my family. I was like, that can only come from 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:38.560 one place. And it took me a while. I was 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:42.440 tormented for a while, you know what I mean. People 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:44.159 would say to me, you're a church boy, like you 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:47.040 like what you're doing out here, you know what I'm saying, 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:51.320 this club, and I didn't. I didn't necessarily fit in, 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:55.200 you know what I mean. But at a certain point 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:58.480 I just stopped trying to. I just accepted exactly exactly. 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:01.240 I feel the same way becau. You almost don't fit 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:04.680 in on either side because you recognize that there's more 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:07.600 for me. It was like, there's more that I want 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:10.680 to say, Yes, there's more that I want to There's 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:14.080 there's more ways that I want to express myself. So 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:17.439 it can't only be gospel. To me. Gospel is how 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:20.160 I live my life, the way I treat people. And 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:22.560 and that would be my response to every time someone say, oh, 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:24.600 you know you make sure you never stop singing for Jesus, 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:28.760 I'm like, it's really more about me. Let me, let me, 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:35.800 let me, let me, let me, let me right. So 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:43.680 it's kind of what I'm getting my own little layman 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:50.440 terms like musically mixed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like, 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:54.080 you know, you meet somebody who has one parent that's 0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:57.920 one and whatever, and they gotta figure it out because 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:05.200 they don't true really fit either side. But when you're 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:09.719 really talented, eventually they all gravitate towards you. It's what 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:12.920 I found just watching even with Tank, where it's like 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:20.679 I'll see the church and the gospel singers and the 0:24:20.800 --> 0:24:24.880 pastors be like, yeah, so it can take come perform 0:24:24.920 --> 0:24:28.959 at the church. What would you like for him to pfor? Um, 0:24:29.880 --> 0:24:36.480 I don't know if he has that selection, but what 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:41.199 what's wild? They'll ask for the song songs, for the 0:24:41.280 --> 0:24:46.960 songs like so y'all won't win weak I've been you're 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:52.000 doing at the church banquets or where Like, it's like 0:24:52.640 --> 0:24:56.360 it's just it it's so far away from the traditional 0:24:56.400 --> 0:24:58.639 thing that has been taught, Like I feel like now, 0:24:59.040 --> 0:25:00.960 you know, especially for the pastors that I that I 0:25:01.080 --> 0:25:03.400 performed for man Keith Battles, who was a good friend 0:25:03.400 --> 0:25:06.280 of mine, and not about a pastor Gray, like they 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:09.680 understand the reality of a thing. Yeah, Like when it's 0:25:09.680 --> 0:25:13.359 time for them to lay down with their wives, Um, 0:25:13.520 --> 0:25:16.360 they're not playing for Redhand and we love, we love 0:25:17.600 --> 0:25:20.240 not for that they're not playing her. Frank, No, you 0:25:20.080 --> 0:25:30.879 know you know what they're gonna they're some Yeah, they 0:25:34.880 --> 0:25:41.359 they need you started. Yeah, And so it had to 0:25:41.359 --> 0:25:49.240 be it's understanding that makes it, yeah, practical, it's human, 0:25:49.800 --> 0:25:53.000 heavenly found that you're no earthly good understand what's happening 0:25:53.119 --> 0:25:56.640 exactly exactly. And there there's and you know, there's been 0:25:56.720 --> 0:26:00.240 so many people who have started in the church and 0:26:00.240 --> 0:26:04.040 and to your point, yes, it's kind of mixed where 0:26:04.080 --> 0:26:06.119 we're on one side and and there's another side. But 0:26:06.200 --> 0:26:09.199 then there's also the people like us were on the 0:26:09.200 --> 0:26:11.880 other side, who are people who just had the courage 0:26:12.320 --> 0:26:15.840 to do more. So we're we I still understand that world. 0:26:15.840 --> 0:26:18.360 I still very like when I played, you know, during 0:26:18.400 --> 0:26:21.840 the Clark Cole, I very much knew that world and 0:26:22.080 --> 0:26:25.719 just that whole ecosystem, you know, like it's it was. 0:26:25.800 --> 0:26:28.280 It was very real to me. But I also know 0:26:28.359 --> 0:26:32.320 the other side. And sometimes it's you having the courage 0:26:32.359 --> 0:26:34.040 to say I want to do more. And that's why 0:26:34.119 --> 0:26:37.240 I love Yolanda Adams, who she just does whatever she wants. 0:26:37.240 --> 0:26:38.879 If they asked her to do a tribute to to 0:26:39.400 --> 0:26:42.400 you know, Shaka Khan or you know she's gonna do that, 0:26:42.480 --> 0:26:44.879 she's gonna do She's gonna do the Ray Charles. She 0:26:44.920 --> 0:26:48.120 and I both did this my second White House show together. 0:26:50.600 --> 0:26:55.080 DA is just I don't have a drink because this 0:26:55.240 --> 0:27:00.360