Speaker 1: Why were you two minutes ago when they got to
Speaker 1: be out of character? Now you're telling me all this
Speaker 1: because I definitely let somebody get me out of my
Speaker 1: career today. And what I'm not gonna call me the
Speaker 1: unbothered kid. I have to bother ka.
Speaker 2: I was bothered all my life, grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle,
Speaker 2: pet price, one slice, got the brother of geist swap
Speaker 2: all my life. I've been grinding all my life, all
Speaker 2: my life, the grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle, bag price,
Speaker 2: one slice, Dtor brother of geist Swatch all my life.
Speaker 2: I've been grinding all my life.
Speaker 1: Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Sha Shay. I
Speaker 1: am your host. I'm also the proprietor of Club Shasha.
Speaker 1: And the guy that's stopping by for conversation on the
Speaker 1: drink today is a Grammy nominated artist, a multi talented
Speaker 1: pop culture icon, multi platinum singer, songwriter, producer, actor, dancing composer, author,
Speaker 1: megastar and one of the guys responsible to make your
Speaker 1: R and B. Isn't dead or isn't dying? O? Marion? Oh,
Speaker 1: what's up? Rock Man?
Speaker 3: Happy to be on club but I'm happy that you
Speaker 3: for having me.
Speaker 1: I'm happy that you gave me a little bit of
Speaker 1: your time, but I know you visit so I appreciate
Speaker 1: your stopping by.
Speaker 3: Man, it's love.
Speaker 1: Let's go back. Let's get to where it all started
Speaker 1: from Inglewood. Yes, growing up in Inglewood. You're the oldest
Speaker 1: of six. What did Marion want to be when he
Speaker 1: was growing up?
Speaker 3: Well, my mom was a young mother, a kid having
Speaker 3: a kid, both my mom and dad. She had me
Speaker 3: when she was sixteen, you know which, I would say
Speaker 3: that gave me a really big advantage, you know, aside
Speaker 3: from all of the other kids, because my mom allowed
Speaker 3: me to really just be myself, try things. You know,
Speaker 3: I definitely was interested in sports, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I did that for a little while. She supported me
Speaker 3: in acting and essentially, you know what I mean, she
Speaker 3: just gave me the free range too, you know, just
Speaker 3: be myself. This was you know, during the time when
Speaker 3: kids would play outside, you know, walk everywhere. You know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, you know, you know,
Speaker 3: me as a kid was just an explorer, a discoverer,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. I would say I was
Speaker 3: like a type of rough kid. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: I love to, you know, play sports fight.
Speaker 1: You know. So what was your sport? Football? Basketball, you soccer, baseball?
Speaker 1: What was your sport growing up?
Speaker 3: Baseball? Basketball, and football. My mom didn't really let me
Speaker 3: play football, you know what I mean. But a lot
Speaker 3: of the neighborhood kids, they were on the Pop Warner team,
Speaker 3: so you know what I mean. They would bring their
Speaker 3: paths and I was able to fans that way. Okay,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that your mom had you at a very
Speaker 1: young age. She was sixteen. So would you say your
Speaker 1: mom did she Was she like mom's son or was
Speaker 1: she like more mother friend?
Speaker 3: A little bit of both. You know, I would say she, uh, definitely.
Speaker 3: As I grew as a young adult, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, she became more like a friend. But you know,
Speaker 3: she still was a parent, you know. And I definitely
Speaker 3: got a shout out by Nana, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: because she spoke over my life before I even you know, came,
Speaker 3: you know, which was we don't kill our babies because
Speaker 3: a lot of the time, when you know young kids
Speaker 3: are having kids, they're like, yeah, you need to exactly.
Speaker 3: But you know, I come from a strong lineage of
Speaker 3: you know women, and I'm so grateful, you know, because
Speaker 3: they taught me a lot about style and taste and
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. It's why I, you know,
Speaker 3: have a big fan base full of women. You know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying, You know what I mean, So shout
Speaker 3: out to the ladies.
Speaker 1: But you mentioned your grandmother that I was gonna get
Speaker 1: to that you were very very close with your grandmother.
Speaker 1: How did that impact your life in her passing? What
Speaker 1: did that do to a younger Mario?
Speaker 3: Well, I think it helped me just realize that we
Speaker 3: all have a really short time, you know, and it's
Speaker 3: important to you know, love each other. It's important to
Speaker 3: have you know, unders and you know it's i it's
Speaker 3: important to just spend that time, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And you know, having my nana as a supporter, you know,
Speaker 3: she helped me really un understand the importance of expressing
Speaker 3: my emotion, kay. And you know, she really introduced me
Speaker 3: to culture. You that they there used to be this
Speaker 3: thing in La called the African Marketplace and a lot
Speaker 3: of her friends, you know, we're in the conscious community
Speaker 3: as what they would call it now, but back then
Speaker 3: it was just culture. You know what I'm saying, I
Speaker 3: learned about you know, can't take cloth and oils and
Speaker 3: you know hair because my nana was uh a hairstyle
Speaker 3: and she actually used to have a shot back in
Speaker 3: the day. Right, So that's why my hair has always
Speaker 3: been my hair, you know what I'm saying, Because because
Speaker 3: of the ladies, because of my manner. Yeah, so I
Speaker 3: would say, you know, she just really you know, uh
Speaker 3: poured into me. You know, the importance of showing up
Speaker 3: and being a man, you know, because I didn't really
Speaker 3: have that growing up, you know what I mean. I
Speaker 3: have a great relationship with my father now, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, but it wasn't a lot of men,
Speaker 3: you know, so essentially being the first born, you know,
Speaker 3: I kind of took on that persona and that responsibility
Speaker 3: of looking after everybody and you know, being a man.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that your you and your father have a
Speaker 1: great relationship. Now, I Don'm not sure how much he
Speaker 1: was around then, but did you is there something that
Speaker 1: you felt that you missed? You mentioned that how strong
Speaker 1: your mother was, how strong your grandmother was, and you know,
Speaker 1: being raised by strong black women, how did that shape you?
Speaker 3: It shaped me, I think in a great way. But
Speaker 3: you know, there was you know that avoid that that you.
Speaker 1: Know, things that only a man can teach a man exactly.
Speaker 3: And also you know, in understanding a woman, I mean
Speaker 3: because it was a lot of emotions, you know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying. So it's like I kind of got that
Speaker 3: too from women. You know, I would say, I'm aware,
Speaker 3: you're aware, Okay, yeah, because you know, sensitivity is just
Speaker 3: hiden awareness.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, you know what I'm saying. So I'm like, hey,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. I could feel it too,
Speaker 3: your feel me wave man, hold on, what's going on?
Speaker 3: Because women have that, you know what I'm saying. And
Speaker 3: you know that was a gift that only a woman
Speaker 3: could really give you being around a whole bunch of
Speaker 3: emotional women. But for my for my dad, you know,
Speaker 3: my dad was around, you know what I'm saying. He
Speaker 3: definitely uh, like I don't want to say like he
Speaker 3: wasn't there. You know, he he was able to be
Speaker 3: there as much as he could, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: And that's why we have a great relationship now because
Speaker 3: I understand in the grand scheme, it's like we all
Speaker 3: are working from a place that like, you know, we
Speaker 3: can only work from you know, from what we were taught,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. And that's why we have
Speaker 3: a great relationship now, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 3: it was important moments like you know, throughout my career.
Speaker 3: You know that he wasn't just able to be present
Speaker 3: for it. You know that that was really important. And
Speaker 3: also you know the attitude and business and understanding you know, uh,
Speaker 3: that good balance between you know, emotions and you know, professionalism.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You're the father of three to two? Yeah, how different?
Speaker 1: How was how did your father you have in the
Speaker 1: relationship growing up with your father? How has that impacted
Speaker 1: how you raise your kid?
Speaker 3: I think that uh, you know, we are essentially you know,
Speaker 3: like you know, wanna become what we're what we feel
Speaker 3: like we lack ya you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 3: I feel like it made me step into the role more,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. And and again I will
Speaker 3: say that it wasn't that My dad wasn't that you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. He was definitely present as much
Speaker 3: as he could be. You know what I mean. He
Speaker 3: cut my hair, you know, he always you know, bought
Speaker 3: me things and you know, supported me the best way
Speaker 3: he could. And it's funny. I shared this, uh little
Speaker 3: story with you recently, maybe like two years ago. He
Speaker 3: was like, he was like, son, I ran into your
Speaker 3: old coach, your old basketball coach, and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh for real, And he was like, you know what,
Speaker 3: I realize, Like I never came to none of your games.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, son, you know what I'm saying. And that
Speaker 3: was really powerful, you know what I mean, because I
Speaker 3: had forgot about that, you know what I mean. I
Speaker 3: wouldn't holding that against them, right, but you know, those
Speaker 3: are the things that's like, you know, as a man,
Speaker 3: you really realize, like when you have your own kids
Speaker 3: start really looking at your parents and seeing like, oh, well,
Speaker 3: my dad's you know what I'm saying, Yeah, yeah, an
Speaker 3: And he didn't really have this, so how could he
Speaker 3: give that to me, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 3: it wa It was definitely a a full circle moment,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. So I I definitely don't
Speaker 3: blame my father, but as far as me being a
Speaker 3: parent in my kids, you know, because my mom is
Speaker 3: such a cool mom. You know, she introduced me to
Speaker 3: all of the great music. You know what, I mean,
Speaker 3: my style comes from my nana and my auntie and
Speaker 3: my mom. So you know I I do the same
Speaker 3: for my kids. You know one thing that we do
Speaker 3: when we uh uh cause I take them to school.
Speaker 3: I'm a very ye yeah, I'm involved that. You know
Speaker 3: when I when I take them to uh school in
Speaker 3: the morning. You know, I showed them all right, I
Speaker 3: show them samples. You know, songs that you know, come
Speaker 3: from back in the day that people sample now and
Speaker 3: they just love you know, those little nuances and things.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, Like, you know that only
Speaker 3: only your parents can really show you.
Speaker 1: You know, who you actually are. They like that. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I took Mega for his uh for his seventh birthday
Speaker 3: to go see Usher okay yeah, down in Vegas and
Speaker 3: it was such a great experience for him. Usher shadowed
Speaker 3: him out and was like, we got a birthday boy, Mega,
Speaker 3: So he gets it, he's like, you know. And also
Speaker 3: my daughter, she was mad about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she wants to be Beyonce. Ok yeah, yeah, she
Speaker 3: wants to be Beyonce. So we're working on that.
Speaker 1: Yeah she does come. I think it's up at the sofa.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so were gonna pull up, pull up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna pull up all right, but you hope
Speaker 1: you can make that happen.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned you've played all the sports. But obviously
Speaker 1: you you're entertainer. You're a singer, started saying you started singing?
Speaker 1: When did you know you could sing? And this was
Speaker 1: the path that was gonna take you to where you
Speaker 1: wanted to go.
Speaker 3: Well, my mom was uh a dancer okay, yeah, uh
Speaker 3: she was a ballet dancer okay. And she loved hip
Speaker 3: hop so a lot of the times. And and she
Speaker 3: was a hairstylist, so a lot of the times when
Speaker 3: she was you know, you know, doing hair for uh,
Speaker 3: you know, Kurt Franklin, God's Property, she did Usher's hair,
Speaker 3: she did Jermaine Dupriez here. I will always be around, right,
Speaker 3: So entertainment was very easy, especially coming up in you know,
Speaker 3: Los Angeles, California. My mom used to work at this
Speaker 3: shop call Afro's of Hollywood on a Hollywood and Vine.
Speaker 3: So I'm very much like a entertainer kid, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. I grew up you know, entertaining, so,
Speaker 3: you know, because she allowed me to kind of just
Speaker 3: roam and figure out what worked for me. You know,
Speaker 3: I I really have to give the credit to her,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying for uh, you know, me
Speaker 3: finding my purpose because you know, essentially, you know a
Speaker 3: lot of the time, you know, parents they want you
Speaker 3: to do certain things, you know what I mean. But
Speaker 3: my mom was like very much so like, oh, this
Speaker 3: is what you wanna do. Okay, well, this is how
Speaker 3: you do it, you know. Or you know, you wanna act,
Speaker 3: Let's take acting class. You want to dance, somebody, let's
Speaker 3: take a dance class, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 3: shout out to mom's she she was, she was, she was.
Speaker 3: She really helped me, you know, find my way. I
Speaker 3: actually was a rapper before I was a singer. Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 3: well I did this song called I Wanna Be Like Puff,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Yeah, back when Diddy was
Speaker 3: really popping, and my sister's father he was very much
Speaker 3: so in the music industry as well. So, yeah, music
Speaker 3: was just my thing. You know. Music really helped me
Speaker 3: express myself in a creative way, and it also was
Speaker 3: the junction for acting and for you know, all of
Speaker 3: these creative things in expression.
Speaker 1: So you started out in a group, yeah, and when
Speaker 1: you're in a group, there are a lot of moving parts.
Speaker 1: I mean, somebody could do this, somebody can do that,
Speaker 1: but when you go solo, you're the only moving part.
Speaker 1: You're the only thing that they see. Were you nervous?
Speaker 1: Were you apprehensive about going solo because you had had
Speaker 1: such success in a group?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that journey was really interesting because you know, it
Speaker 3: was a lot going on with the group at the time,
Speaker 3: and you know, essentially we separated and it was never
Speaker 3: my plan to quote unquote go solo the way. Really, yeah,
Speaker 3: it wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't in my plan. You know,
Speaker 3: a lot of things were happening so fast, right, and
Speaker 3: it was like, all right, well, oh you know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying, like you going solo, and I'm like I am.
Speaker 3: So it was nerve racking, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: But it was again, very natural for me to step
Speaker 3: into that that space. You know, even though it wasn't
Speaker 3: a plan. You know, the universe has an interesting way, yeah,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, I have an interesting way
Speaker 3: of constructing things. And even though it felt like I
Speaker 3: was being ripped apart from my group because you know,
Speaker 3: we were essentially you know, brothers, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: creating a bond, spending so much time together doing artists development.
Speaker 3: When you spend that much time, you know, just like
Speaker 3: a team. Yeah, I'm saying those those.
Speaker 1: People with those guys, you actual family.
Speaker 3: Exactly, you know what I mean. So the transition, I
Speaker 3: would say was nerve wracking, you know, but essentially, you know,
Speaker 3: when I find my footing and you know, I regained
Speaker 3: the confidence because I remember my first show that I
Speaker 3: had to do without the boys, and I was like,
Speaker 3: I was so nervous. I even may even shed a
Speaker 3: little tear, you know what I mean, because I was
Speaker 3: just not prepared mentally, you know what I mean. But
Speaker 3: I stepped into the spot, and you know, the success
Speaker 3: of everything definitely made it all right. Yeah, we dripping still. Okay,
Speaker 3: I got to work with some of my favoriteroducers, you know,
Speaker 3: uh for real Williams, you know what I mean, Uh, Timberland,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Like, so it wa it
Speaker 3: was a kind of meant to be kind of thing,
Speaker 3: even though it was like, oh my god, I w
Speaker 3: I'm not ready for this, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you a question. So when you say, okay,
Speaker 1: whose decision was that. Did you talk to your mom
Speaker 1: or was it a a manager does like, you know,
Speaker 1: you can do this on your own. Did you sit
Speaker 1: down and talk to your mom? Mom? They think I
Speaker 1: should go solo? What do you think? So? Who do
Speaker 1: you bounce that off of?
Speaker 3: Yeah? So at that time, you know, it was so
Speaker 3: so much you know, drama going on with the group
Speaker 3: and the separation between you know, teams, and essentially it
Speaker 3: was like I kind of found out on the spot.
Speaker 3: It was Yeah, it was like okay, yeah, uh oh,
Speaker 3: Marian is going solo. I would say. The lead up
Speaker 3: to that was on the Pandemonium album and B two
Speaker 3: K we all had our individual albums, which was kind
Speaker 3: of like, you know, like alright, you know, this person
Speaker 3: has this separate fans. Everybody loves this group member. Everybody
Speaker 3: loves this group member. So it was cool, but it
Speaker 3: was like the idea was kind of being introduced to us,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. One of the other members
Speaker 3: was being presented with an album, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: And it was kind of like we were all getting
Speaker 3: in that mindset.
Speaker 1: Of that everybody you know, you see like Jeffrey Osbourne Ltd.
Speaker 1: He goes solo, Philip Bailey Earth Winning Fire, he does solo.
Speaker 1: We see some of the guys that were from big
Speaker 1: groups do a solo project, but damn, it seemed like
Speaker 1: everybody had a solo project, right.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, being you know, the young you know,
Speaker 3: the youngest you know black boy band out there. You know,
Speaker 3: we did all have our own little set of fans,
Speaker 3: and everybody that may have loved this member loved this member.
Speaker 3: So yeah, even though I think that it was indicative
Speaker 3: to groups, like we were so young, we weren't even
Speaker 3: thinking about that. You know, we weren't even thinking in
Speaker 3: the head space of you know, what is the future
Speaker 3: hole like I want to be a solo artist. Think
Speaker 3: we were just really you know, being present, you know,
Speaker 3: trying our best to be present because our schedule was crazy.
Speaker 3: It was like, okay, you know, I'll never forget this schedule.
Speaker 3: When we dropped our album, we did all of the
Speaker 3: Burroughs in New York, and we started in the morning
Speaker 3: and we ended up, you know at night, you know,
Speaker 3: doing this big performance. So I don't think that we
Speaker 3: were even thinking about that, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: We was just like having fun performing and being.
Speaker 1: Kids, right, did you, did you see it? Because you
Speaker 1: look at I don't know how I know, you're familiar
Speaker 1: with new addition and you see Bobby Brown does his thing,
Speaker 1: and now Transvant does his thing, and Ronnie Bobby they
Speaker 1: go out and do their thing. Did that thought ever
Speaker 1: cross your mind? Like, well, damn, you know, because everybody
Speaker 1: loved new additions and then eventually guys did their own
Speaker 1: thing and you see them, we see them back together now.
Speaker 1: But did that cross your mind? Did you think that
Speaker 1: might happen to you guys?
Speaker 3: No? I didn't. I didn't. I didn't know how things
Speaker 3: would happen, especially because we were like huge fans of
Speaker 3: five Heartbeats, so that was like one of our that
Speaker 3: was like one of our go to movies throughout And
Speaker 3: it's just so interesting how life is, you know, just
Speaker 3: stranger in fiction because it's essential. I mean essentially we
Speaker 3: kind of went through our own little version of that,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. And I think that when
Speaker 3: you know, we're talking about kids in the entertainment business,
Speaker 3: you know, unless you really have a strong foundation, you're
Speaker 3: really subjected to, you know a lot of things. You know,
Speaker 3: we see so many you know, child celebrities that go
Speaker 3: through so many things when they don't have strong foundations.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, I have to again, you know,
Speaker 3: shout out my mom's and my foundation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it seemed like your mom was always a
Speaker 1: mom and never a fan. Because sometimes they can get
Speaker 1: seduced by all the money that's coming in and they
Speaker 1: forget but that's my child, Yeah, and he's going astray
Speaker 1: or he's not getting proper guidance because of the money
Speaker 1: that's coming in, and they become a fan and they
Speaker 1: get subduced to the star of the limelight. But it
Speaker 1: seemed like your mom was always a mom. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And she was actually one of the few parents that
Speaker 3: were able to be there because she was the hairstyle
Speaker 3: as fuck for the group too. Okaka, you know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying. So my mom, Yeah, my mom was always
Speaker 3: with me. You know what I'm saying. My mom would
Speaker 3: always you know, do our hair. So yeah, I did
Speaker 3: have that other kind of support system.
Speaker 1: Were you shocked? I mean, you look at your debut
Speaker 1: album debut number one on the Billboard chart, you go
Speaker 1: platinum Grammy nomination. Second, I mean, were you surprised that
Speaker 1: how well you did out the gate?
Speaker 3: You know, I didn't even think about it like that.
Speaker 3: You know, I didn't even you know, it's crazy to say,
Speaker 3: you know, and now looking back on it in hindsight,
Speaker 3: everything was going so fast, right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So I wasn't able to really essentially appreciate those feats,
Speaker 3: you know, I was. I was, you know, built as
Speaker 3: a workhorse. So it was like, oh, okay, that's cool,
Speaker 3: what's next? You know what I'm saying. So looking at it,
Speaker 3: and you know, looking back at it, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm like wow, you know what I mean, Like that
Speaker 3: was cool to be experiencing at such a young age,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. But yeah, nah, I wasn't
Speaker 3: even tripping off of it. I was just like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm me. I'm showing up, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: What's next?
Speaker 1: You're sitting the charts of the R and B pop, right,
Speaker 1: You're like like yeah.
Speaker 3: And also coming from you know, the B two K.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, Like it, you know, it
Speaker 3: felt real easy, you know, it felt like that's how
Speaker 3: it was supposed to be, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Given the success of your first album album, how much
Speaker 1: pressure did that put on you? The second second album
Speaker 1: coming out, because you know, everybody wants to do better
Speaker 1: than the first and you want to prove that the
Speaker 1: first wasn't a fluke, that this is it. I'm legit right.
Speaker 3: Well, the second album, you know, still being able to
Speaker 3: work with you know, mega producers like Timberland and for real,
Speaker 3: you know, I felt like I was in good company.
Speaker 3: And actually that second album, you know, was probably of
Speaker 3: the most I ever got paid in an advancement, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, being under Donnie Iinor and Lisa Ellis.
Speaker 3: So I was really starting to essentially step into more
Speaker 3: of a business mindset. Yeah, and so looking at that
Speaker 3: second album, I was just like, oh, okay, yeah, this
Speaker 3: is how it's supposed to be, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And also it was the transition that I figured out,
Speaker 3: you know, the importance of having champions inside of certain companies,
Speaker 3: because this is when the music business changed too, you know,
Speaker 3: after that album, you know, Ice Box still you know,
Speaker 3: being one of the biggest records you know that I
Speaker 3: had to date, you know, outside of oh in touch,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Like when Donnie Ironor and
Speaker 3: Lisa Ellis no longer worked for the company, that was
Speaker 3: like oh you know that was a big yeah, a
Speaker 3: big learning experience for me and also essential to growth,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, because life is not you know,
Speaker 3: just full of grand successes, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Life is ups and downs and like, what's a story
Speaker 3: you know without ups and downs? You know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So while my second album was still a major, major success,
Speaker 3: I was beginning to experience, you know, the challenges of
Speaker 3: you know, not having champions in you know, in the building. Yeah,
Speaker 3: in my corner, you know what I mean. And again
Speaker 3: it was so essential to my growth. You know, any
Speaker 3: artist that tells you that's always good, it's like that's
Speaker 3: that's fake r. You know what I'm saying. So, you know,
Speaker 3: while this that was a successful album, it was also like,
Speaker 3: oh wow, I gotta switch things up, you know, I
Speaker 3: need to do different things. So great learning experience.
Speaker 1: But it seems to me that you've always stayed true
Speaker 1: to who you are and what you are. You haven't
Speaker 1: tried to follow a trend. You're like, I'm a Marion,
Speaker 1: this is who I am, this is what I do. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I always try to show up in you know, spaces
Speaker 3: that way, because you know, we're all you know, individually
Speaker 3: going you know, on our own personal walks, and a
Speaker 3: lot of the time the industry and also you know,
Speaker 3: my peers, they like to you know, compete, you know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying. But the thing about competing in the
Speaker 3: music business is not the same as football. It's not
Speaker 3: the same as basketball, you know what I'm saying. Like
Speaker 3: we're you know, or even boxing or UFC, you know
Speaker 3: where it's like, all right, I want to fight and boom,
Speaker 3: we can shake hands, you know what I'm saying. It's like, no,
Speaker 3: you know, whoever's having the biggest year is having the
Speaker 3: biggest year, and it's like salute, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: And you got to stand in that line until you
Speaker 3: figure out when it's your time again, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. So I always like to show up as
Speaker 3: an individual and contribute what I can as an artist,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying, Because again, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, Like everybody's here to give something different. Everybody
Speaker 3: has their own experience and their own walk, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. And I've always stayed true to that,
Speaker 3: you know what i mean, realizing that, you know, my
Speaker 3: experience is different from everybody else's.
Speaker 1: Did you look across the bowl and like, wow, Okay,
Speaker 1: he really blowing up man doing his thing, and heap
Speaker 1: doing his thing. You're like, hey, I need to really
Speaker 1: get on my grind because hey, yeah, I'm still old.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean I've always been inspired, you know, by
Speaker 3: my peers, you know, to just you know, keep pushing
Speaker 3: that line and growing as an artist. And that's the
Speaker 3: that's the cool thing that I love about, you know,
Speaker 3: being a musician or an entertainer and you just in
Speaker 3: totality is it doesn't have to stop. You know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying, Like you can have a big success and
Speaker 3: you know, you could take a break and then you
Speaker 3: can come back. You know what I'm saying. That's what's
Speaker 3: different from sports. And I think that that's also what
Speaker 3: you know, attracted me to entertainment, you know what i mean,
Speaker 3: because you know, it's like the loving the game. You know,
Speaker 3: it's like why do you have to give it up?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? And that's why I love seeing,
Speaker 3: you know, people in sports be able to take on
Speaker 3: different positions and sharing and helping people. And you know,
Speaker 3: Deon Sanders is one of my favorite players. You know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying, watching what he's doing it's like, you know,
Speaker 3: as as someone that loves what they do, it's like, yo,
Speaker 3: you know, who tells you got to quit or who
Speaker 3: tells you you can't have another hit at fifty?
Speaker 1: You try to be like Tom Brady, So you try,
Speaker 1: you try to do you be able to stay in
Speaker 1: fifty sixty five?
Speaker 3: Well, somebody got to show him how to continue to
Speaker 3: grow through this, you know what I'm saying. And a
Speaker 3: lot of my you know, favorite performers and dancers, you know,
Speaker 3: like Jimmy Slide and Nicholas Brothers. You know, they still
Speaker 3: enjoy themselves later in the latter part of their life.
Speaker 3: And it's like, that's that's what I want to do
Speaker 3: because I truly love entertaining. I truly love performing. It's
Speaker 3: really a gift.
Speaker 1: You still at a high level. But when you look back,
Speaker 1: is there something? Is there one or two things that
Speaker 1: you like? Man, I wish I could have done that differently,
Speaker 1: or I should have done that differently. Do you ever
Speaker 1: look back, although you're continually continuously still doing performing at
Speaker 1: a high level, Well, do you look back and says
Speaker 1: wish I could do this over again?
Speaker 3: Sometimes I think we all feel that way, you know,
Speaker 3: but it's like essentially it's like, ah, man, this is
Speaker 3: this was for you. You know, this was you know,
Speaker 3: I look at a lot of the the champions, you
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying, Like one of one of my
Speaker 3: well two actually two of my favorite UFC champions, you know,
Speaker 3: kamarow Uzman and what's my man name? Out of signya.
Speaker 3: It's real, out of science, you know what I mean. Like,
Speaker 3: you know, defeat teaches you so much. It shows you
Speaker 3: so much about you know, the things that you maybe
Speaker 3: need to sharpen, you know what I'm saying. So it's like,
Speaker 3: you know, in those moments that I felt defeated or
Speaker 3: if I felt like I would have changed anything, essentially,
Speaker 3: you know, it sharpened me essentially, it showed me what
Speaker 3: I needed to improve in. So you know, while it
Speaker 3: didn't feel good in those moments, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: It's like, essentially it pushed me. It propelled me to
Speaker 3: get more into my craft, to become stronger, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, Because like I said, life is for
Speaker 3: the ups and downs, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 3: a champion is a person that you know, takes you know,
Speaker 3: those moments and they continue to push forward. You know
Speaker 3: what I mean, It makes them better. So you know,
Speaker 3: I'm unstoppable in that way, you know, mentally, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, like nothing can stop me. You know,
Speaker 3: even a proverbial loss, you know, which I call a lesson.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, It's only helped me become better.
Speaker 1: When did you become this? Man? I mean, I get
Speaker 1: voice mails from you, I get text and it's always
Speaker 1: blessed day, Brother shah Man, and it's always so positive,
Speaker 1: so uplifting. When did you evolve into this? Mario?
Speaker 3: Well, I had to go through a lot. I had
Speaker 3: to go through a lot and essentially, you know, and
Speaker 3: I covered this in my book Bothered The Power of
Speaker 3: choosing joy, you know, this life experience. You know, essentially,
Speaker 3: being happy is our choice. It's no one else's choice.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying. It's not you know, up
Speaker 3: to any outside forces to you know, make you want
Speaker 3: to be happy, you know what I mean. So moving
Speaker 3: about the world in a positive way is something that
Speaker 3: I choose to do. And it's something essentially you know,
Speaker 3: if you if you talk if you talk to any
Speaker 3: of you know, my family or people that have known me,
Speaker 3: you know, I've always been this way. I've always you know,
Speaker 3: wanted to interject some positivity and love and good energy
Speaker 3: anywhere I go. So I would say this is just
Speaker 3: an evolved version of you know, the lil O Mari.
Speaker 1: You know, how hard is it to stay positive in
Speaker 1: such a negative world, especially now we have social media
Speaker 1: and it seems like anytime you do something good, there's
Speaker 1: fifteen people on there saying you did something bad, And
Speaker 1: anytime you do something positive, there's always a negative. How
Speaker 1: have you been able to stay so positive when everything
Speaker 1: seems to be around you that's so negative.
Speaker 3: I think is important to be able to recognize, you know,
Speaker 3: where you know that energy is coming from. You know,
Speaker 3: I think it's important to be able to take constructive criticism,
Speaker 3: you know. And also, you know, everybody's not gonna like
Speaker 3: what you do always, and they're not going to have
Speaker 3: the information to understand why, you know, you make those choices.
Speaker 3: So essentially, you know, I just drown out that noise
Speaker 3: and I continue to show up as myself, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. It's annoying to some people because you know,
Speaker 3: negativity is such an easy thing to do. You know,
Speaker 3: it's easy to be you know, low vibrational, you know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying, and it actually takes effort to be
Speaker 3: positive and to like you said, yo, yo, what up,
Speaker 3: big brother Shannon? You know how you feeling that? You good?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Like you know, that's an everlasting feeling, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, When it's time for us to all go
Speaker 3: away from this experience, that's the type of effect that
Speaker 3: I want to have on this point.
Speaker 1: What's been the most difficult part of.
Speaker 3: Dealing with things and not understanding why you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, certain pain and certain hurt and
Speaker 3: not really understanding like why am I going through this?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 3: You know, that has been not only essential to my growth,
Speaker 3: but also to my understanding you know what I mean
Speaker 3: as as a you know, very important people in my
Speaker 3: life would say, and also Jay Z said said this
Speaker 3: too is it's things is not happening to you, It's
Speaker 3: happening for you, right, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 3: I really live by certain philosophies and I really believe that,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. It's like if you really
Speaker 3: think about, you know, some adverse experiences, it's like it's
Speaker 3: information in there for you to get right. You know
Speaker 3: what I mean, like, why are you going through this?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: Okay, you need to you know, think about what you're doing.
Speaker 3: You need to maybe not let certain things go, you know,
Speaker 3: you need to stand up for yourself. And essentially that's
Speaker 3: what you know, all my lessons in life a have
Speaker 3: uh showed me.
Speaker 1: What's been the most gratifying part about this evolution?
Speaker 3: I think, you know, not knowing how you affect people.
Speaker 3: You know. It's been so many times when people have
Speaker 3: uh come up to me and they just they like, yo,
Speaker 3: I don't know what i'm'a see oh again, but yo,
Speaker 3: I have to just tell you, like, you know, you
Speaker 3: helped me go through this break up, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean? Or you helped me get through this. I
Speaker 3: think that sometimes you don't really realize how much you
Speaker 3: can affect people, you know what I mean, until that
Speaker 3: person comes up to you. And it's sometimes it's so random,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. I I remember I was
Speaker 3: in uh the UK, Uh, I was in London, and
Speaker 3: I just I was about to walk into this place,
Speaker 3: but I I wanted to, you know, just take a
Speaker 3: beat real quick, you know, and I just walk down
Speaker 3: this random, you know, side street and it was like,
Speaker 3: come down like six girls and they like, is that
Speaker 3: a warrion? Oh my god, we about to go to
Speaker 3: such and such and we love you. Can we take
Speaker 3: a picture. And it was just so random And it's
Speaker 3: just like I find that, you know, when you share
Speaker 3: certain energy with people, that energy it comes back to you,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, in the most prolific ways.
Speaker 3: And you know, I'm not somebody that is always happy,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. I have my moments, but
Speaker 3: those moments, you know, definitely boost me and made me
Speaker 3: feel like all of the work that I'm doing. It
Speaker 3: actually makes sense.
Speaker 1: You grew up in Inglewood. I don't know how many
Speaker 1: of the friends that you grew up with that you
Speaker 1: still currently have. But how hard is it to grow
Speaker 1: apart from people? How hard was it for you to
Speaker 1: grow apart knowing right that the evolution that you must
Speaker 1: go through. Everybody can't come along with the Maria.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it has at times, you know, felt lonely, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. But essentially you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: because you know that's my favorite word. Essentially Essentially, you know,
Speaker 3: those that are meant to, you know, go on the
Speaker 3: journey with you. They'll grow with you. You know what
Speaker 3: I mean. And I made peace with that very early
Speaker 3: on because I started so young, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I only got to experience you know, a childhood, did
Speaker 3: you Yeah, I mean tenth grade. You know, I was
Speaker 3: out of school, you know what I mean. I went
Speaker 3: to Hamilton High. Shout out to all the Hamilton alumnis,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. After tenth grade, I was
Speaker 3: on the road, you know what I mean. So I
Speaker 3: didn't have so many friends. I do still have my
Speaker 3: my one best friend, uh from third grade, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. Yeah, so you know he's stuck with me,
Speaker 3: and I stuck with him, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So family has always been the nucleus for me, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. So I never had to experience
Speaker 3: too many you know, people that were along my journey
Speaker 3: that's like no longer here. The people that are are
Speaker 3: here still, they're supposed to be here.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you missed out on anything in
Speaker 1: your childhood, because really you have to be a you
Speaker 1: really have to be an adult because now all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, like you're saying, from the tenth grade on,
Speaker 1: you're on the road. I understand you're a child in age,
Speaker 1: but you're really not a child in occupation. You're actually
Speaker 1: you know, you bringing an income and people are depending
Speaker 1: on you for their livelihood because your success is tied
Speaker 1: to their success.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean yeah, yeah, I mean yeah. Man, you know,
Speaker 3: it's a trip. It's a trip, you know, my whole experience.
Speaker 3: But I would say that, you know, early on, being
Speaker 3: you know, in such a supportive environment, I was able
Speaker 3: to find my purpose, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 3: you know, when I'm looking back, I'm like, wow, I'm
Speaker 3: so happy that I was, you know, so very young
Speaker 3: in my experience because now, you know, that has put
Speaker 3: me in a position to really realize why I still
Speaker 3: put music out. You know, I'm not sure why you know,
Speaker 3: others do things, you know what I'm saying. But if
Speaker 3: you're not tied to you know, purpose, and you don't
Speaker 3: have intention, then you can't you can't essentially whether the storm,
Speaker 3: you know, whether the storm of what people deem as unsuccess,
Speaker 3: you know, being unsuccessful. You know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 3: you know, you have to weather that. You know, this
Speaker 3: is this is a you know, a good and bad experience.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That people refer to you as the unbothered King, So
Speaker 1: you've learned I determine my success. I don't let the negativity.
Speaker 1: I don't let you say people say, well, that wasn't bad.
Speaker 1: I feel good when I was making this album. I
Speaker 1: feel good when I was making this song. So Okay,
Speaker 1: everybody's not gonna like it, but I felt good when
Speaker 1: I do when I put things out like this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I have intention, you know, and my intention
Speaker 3: is to, you know, make someone else feel good, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. And you know, whether that's one
Speaker 3: person or a billion people, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: My intention still reigns.
Speaker 1: Bro, how do you say? So? Look, we all, like
Speaker 1: you said, we we we all get upset, we all
Speaker 1: get angry. But it seemed your calm demeanor is like
Speaker 1: you really never get outside of Oh yeah, Have you
Speaker 1: always been like that or that was? Is that a
Speaker 1: work in progress, that that's an ongoing work that you
Speaker 1: had to work on? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think I think it's a little bit of both,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. It's something that I've had
Speaker 3: to work on because certain situations has you know, called
Speaker 3: my emotions to heighten to a level that I wasn't
Speaker 3: prepared for. You know what, I'm saying, but essentially it
Speaker 3: still goes back to choice, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And I'm choosing to show up in the world this way.
Speaker 3: And you know, like I said, not everybody you know
Speaker 3: understands it, you know what I'm saying. Some people feel
Speaker 3: like it's unauthentic. You know. After the fans dub me
Speaker 3: mister unbothered, it was like people wanted to.
Speaker 1: Try to put you in a situation to get you
Speaker 1: by you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: They would have, you know, mess with me more. You
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying, and you know, having emotional intelligence,
Speaker 3: and this is what this is how I look at
Speaker 3: being you know, dubbed mister Bob. It's like, when you
Speaker 3: really think about it, at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: you know, when someone is you know, has the intent
Speaker 3: to pull you out your space, like you're gonna give
Speaker 3: them that power, you know what I'm saying, You're gonna
Speaker 3: really give up that power to allow somebody to, you know,
Speaker 3: make you turn into.
Speaker 1: Something that when they got me out of character. Now
Speaker 1: you telling me all this because I definitely let somebody
Speaker 1: get me out of my character. Damn, I need to
Speaker 1: hear this conversation. Two months ago.
Speaker 3: No, I said. I seen that clip and I was like, whoa,
Speaker 3: that's a lion on them court hold man, hey, get somebody.
Speaker 3: They can't even hold it. Wait a minute, I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna call me the bother king. I have to Bob,
Speaker 3: I would bothered.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: I seen that and I was like, whoa, whoa? Hold on?
Speaker 1: What's going on? I said the same thing, like who
Speaker 1: is that?
Speaker 3: Dude?
Speaker 1: I'm like, but I'm looking at some of your ice Box,
Speaker 1: produced by Timberlin, peaked that number twelve on the Billboard,
Speaker 1: your most successful solo single to date, Will Smith is
Speaker 1: produced one of your music videos. What is it like
Speaker 1: working with some of these? I mean Tim, we know
Speaker 1: what Tim is the beat guy. Working with Will Smith,
Speaker 1: we know what he is as a as a rapper,
Speaker 1: as an actor, as an entertainer, producer, working with some
Speaker 1: of these all time great guys. So when you go
Speaker 1: into the studio or you go into it, you know
Speaker 1: you're gonna do the music video. What's on Amarion's mind?
Speaker 1: And does it always mess with what's on their mind?
Speaker 3: Yeah? For me being able to you know, brush arms
Speaker 3: with the Grays, I'm always trying to learn, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. I'm always like, okay, so well, okay,
Speaker 3: that's what he did. Okay, Oh he's using that machine. Okay, okay,
Speaker 3: Will did it like this?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying. So I've always essentially been
Speaker 3: a sponge and that's something that I've carried with me,
Speaker 3: you know what i mean. So to be able to
Speaker 3: work with the greats, you know, is an honor, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. But I always I'm always in
Speaker 3: a space of learning, you know what i mean.
Speaker 1: So you I mean, you had a record with Chris Brown.
Speaker 1: Where's Chris Brown rank on the R and B charge?
Speaker 3: Oh man, He's he's top level. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3: He's he's high level. You know, maybe a little bit
Speaker 3: too late that, Yeah, I mean, you know, all of
Speaker 3: my peers, you know what I'm saying outside of whatever
Speaker 3: you know, personal things, you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 3: we can't we can't never take the talent and skill
Speaker 3: and focus and ability away from him. So you know,
Speaker 3: C b Usher, you know, I would I would consider us,
Speaker 3: you know, in the class of Michael and James Brown's sons.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, because you know, essentially we
Speaker 3: do the song and dance and the performing. You know
Speaker 3: what I mean. So, uh yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So and in the ranking, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Usher definitely is a solo artist, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Then I would come come after that and then you
Speaker 3: know c B. You know, as far as timeline wise goes,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at you guys. I mean, what type of
Speaker 1: physical conditioning must you be in to not only sing
Speaker 1: but dance for two hours? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, you definitely have to be a
Speaker 3: freak of nature. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: GM, You're working down a cardio every day.
Speaker 3: I just I just bunched down my twenty one days, yep,
Speaker 3: the day before yesterday, I finished my last twenty one days.
Speaker 3: But I'm constantly in the gym. You know, I'm constantly
Speaker 3: you know, still taking vocal lessons. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: I'm still in the studio every day, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. Like glowing.
Speaker 1: I feel, even though you've reached a certain level, you
Speaker 1: still feel that Amarjan can get better.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, y'all haven't seen the best. Y'all haven't seen
Speaker 3: the best. You know what I mean. I'm going to
Speaker 3: continue to grow as an artist and that as an individual.
Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, y'all haven't seen the best.
Speaker 1: Who's on your current list of active R and B
Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore active active?
Speaker 2: Hmm.
Speaker 3: That's a hard one because you know, I listened to
Speaker 3: a lot of past music. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You want to do? You want to do a Mount Rushmore,
Speaker 1: You want to do a just go ahead and says, okay,
Speaker 1: my Mount Rushmore of R and B singers are okay,
Speaker 1: all right?
Speaker 3: Mount Rushmore of R and B singers, Donnie Hathaway, Frankie Beverly,
Speaker 3: mays Well, Frankie Bevery, Frankie Beverly, and Marvin Gaye. You know,
Speaker 3: Michael Jackson R and B a pop uh, He's definitely
Speaker 3: R and B. You know, you know pop music, you
Speaker 3: know it's been convoluted, but really pop music is popular music,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. And Michael Jackson is one
Speaker 3: of the most popular artists of all time, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. So he's definitely R and B. Stevie
Speaker 3: wonder you know what I mean? How many is that five?
Speaker 1: That's Rushmore? Got like six? Okay? Okay?
Speaker 3: Michael? And who who could be the last one? Who
Speaker 3: could be the last one.
Speaker 1: You got Usher, you got Chris Brown, of course, pend
Speaker 1: the Grass I'll beat up of.
Speaker 3: Course all of those guys. Harry Right, what about my man,
Speaker 3: Charlie Wilson. Yeah, what I'm saying, Yes, that's a great Okay.
Speaker 3: What about female female? Definitely Franklin Beyonce, who else?
Speaker 1: Anita Baker, Anita.
Speaker 3: Baker for show, Anita Baker? Who else? Who else touched
Speaker 3: my song? Whitney Kimbarell. Yeah, Maria's up in there too. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So you signed to a few rappers label and I
Speaker 1: mean you Lil Wayne Young Money Tamberlain moses the music.
Speaker 1: Is it hard to sign with a label when the
Speaker 1: label head is still produced putting out music, because it
Speaker 1: seems to me that while they're still trying to do
Speaker 1: their thing, they don't have the kind of time to
Speaker 1: focus and give you that what you need. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, you know with Young Money, you know, and uh
Speaker 3: shout out to uh Lil Wayne. You know what he
Speaker 3: was creating at the time, you know, which essentially we
Speaker 3: see now, you know, with Drake and Nikki and all
Speaker 3: of the other artists, was really just a artist haven
Speaker 3: to be able to do what you wanna do, right
Speaker 3: cause cause essentially, you know, real creative artists, they just
Speaker 3: need support, right, you know what I'm saying. And you
Speaker 3: know that's what my thought process was, you know. With
Speaker 3: you know, aligning with Young Money was not just you know,
Speaker 3: being able to go to you know, another artist and
Speaker 3: say like, yo, this is what I need. You know,
Speaker 3: can you do this business wise? Like Wayne was very
Speaker 3: much so like hey you wanna do that? Oh here,
Speaker 3: go to the check do this? You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Same thing uh with with Mayback music, right, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. Essentially it was just the artist supporting
Speaker 3: the artists, you know what I mean, and you feel
Speaker 3: the connection. You feel like there's a bridge between you know,
Speaker 3: an artists understanding that it doesn't always work out because
Speaker 3: there's some selfish ass artists out here. Oh yeah, they
Speaker 3: don't want you to be hotter than them. There's some
Speaker 3: artists out here that you know, they won't allow you
Speaker 3: to flourish like that, you know what I'm saying. But
Speaker 3: you know, the people that I've been able to associate
Speaker 3: myself with people.
Speaker 1: Realize that how much money is out there and there's
Speaker 1: enough for everybody to get some of it.
Speaker 3: I don't know if they do all of the time. Oh,
Speaker 3: I don't know if they do all the time. I
Speaker 3: think some people want to hog the limelight, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. But you know, as Jay say, sometimes
Speaker 3: people don't realize it's not about that white hot light.
Speaker 3: I mean white hot light, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: It's essentially about you know, creating things, you know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying, and having different businesses. You know, And he's
Speaker 3: definitely showed us how important it is to not just
Speaker 3: be an artist to do.
Speaker 1: They I'll just read he worked two point five b
Speaker 1: and if were net worth is double since twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: So shout out to you.
Speaker 3: Hold yeah, for real?
Speaker 1: So what did you learn? I'm working with so many
Speaker 1: different music labels.
Speaker 3: That it's up to you. You know, you need to
Speaker 3: actually you know, have a team that makes checks and
Speaker 3: balances and that you know, communicate with people. Essentially the
Speaker 3: businessman that I've become to today. You know, all those
Speaker 3: experiences showed me that it's like, it's not up to
Speaker 3: anyone else, no outside energies. You know, it's up to me, right,
Speaker 3: you know, And because I started so young, I haven't
Speaker 3: always been able to do that. You know, There's always
Speaker 3: been you know, managers or certain people in the way
Speaker 3: right of that connection, you know what I mean. So, yeah,
Speaker 3: they just showed me, you know, like, hey, it's up
Speaker 3: to you, Oh right, it ain't up to them.
Speaker 1: You see, Like you look at a Michael Jackson, you
Speaker 1: look at a Chris Brown, you look at a Beyonce, yourself,
Speaker 1: people that started out as child entertainers and then have
Speaker 1: this long career as adults, how have you been able
Speaker 1: to maintain or manage that?
Speaker 3: I think by not being pigeon held by you know, uh,
Speaker 3: having one hit, you know, or having hits. You know,
Speaker 3: they call those legacy artists now you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: certain people that ever go on tour and do songs
Speaker 3: that they did in the past. Right While I think
Speaker 3: that that's important, I think it's it's it's even more
Speaker 3: important to continue to grow as artists, you know. And
Speaker 3: when I look at my predecessors and people that I
Speaker 3: look up to, like Michael Jackson and Marvin Gator, you know,
Speaker 3: when I realize how dope you know Stevie Wonder was,
Speaker 3: it was like it was immediate, you know, and now
Speaker 3: today's climate, you know, I think, uh, people that are
Speaker 3: born you know in my year, like Lebron. You know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying. We both eighty four babies. It's like
Speaker 3: we've seen him just grow, right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And I think that that's what's so cool about now
Speaker 3: is that there's no limits, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: You can just continue to get better, try different things,
Speaker 3: do different things. And I think that that is what
Speaker 3: is been, you know, essential to my success and staying
Speaker 3: relevant is I'm a fi I'm not afraid to to
Speaker 3: do new things, right, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: What are some of the advice you would give the
Speaker 1: young and up and coming artists if you could sit
Speaker 1: down and there's some artists like, oh, w you know,
Speaker 1: we're new to the business, give us some advice. What's
Speaker 1: some of the advice that you would give a new,
Speaker 1: up and cooming artist.
Speaker 3: I would say, for perfect your craft, you know, don't
Speaker 3: put yourself in a box, don't allow others to put
Speaker 3: you in a box. And uh yeah, just try new things,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. And also it's very important
Speaker 3: that you know whoever is representing you, you know, is
Speaker 3: representing you in the way you wanna be represented. Yuh,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. I think that It's so
Speaker 3: important when we're talking about business. You know that people
Speaker 3: uh honor fairness, you know, because we as you know,
Speaker 3: this business isn't fair. Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And people always want things from you when you hot,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. So realize you know that
Speaker 3: this is a up and down experience. This is a
Speaker 3: motion experience. This is not just a flatline, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. And just continue to grow. Oh, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. Perfect your craft, love what you do,
Speaker 3: find your purpose in it, and have intention.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: That is really what saved me from feeling like I
Speaker 3: wanted to quit or feeling like I wanted to, you know,
Speaker 3: give it up, you know, like, oh can he have
Speaker 3: anoether hit? I don't know why. It's like, you know,
Speaker 3: the public puts that on you. They put that on you.
Speaker 3: They put on you like oh he's old, or you
Speaker 3: know like, oh, well we've seen him do this before.
Speaker 3: But it's levels to this, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So continue to grow and yeah, do your best, show
Speaker 3: up as your best.
Speaker 1: What are some of the benefits and the drawback of
Speaker 1: social media Because not everybody's a producer, everybody is a songwriter,
Speaker 1: everybody has an opinion and it somebody says this, it
Speaker 1: can go viral in fifteen seconds, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden you're being talked about when what's your qualifications
Speaker 1: to judge what I did or who I am? Right?
Speaker 3: I think the pros of social media is that you know,
Speaker 3: it can get hot overnight, you know, And that was
Speaker 3: different from the time in which I entered into the
Speaker 3: music business, which was or the entertainment business, which was
Speaker 3: like you actually have to do the work, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. But you can also burn out fast,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean? You can you can be hot.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's so many what do they call them,
Speaker 3: socialized social media personalities, your influencers that have been successful
Speaker 3: at one thing and then they disappear, and then you
Speaker 3: find them and then you see them on the street.
Speaker 3: You'd be like, oh what happened?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean. So I think that, you know,
Speaker 3: there are some good things about social media and then
Speaker 3: there's some adverse things. You know, I won't say bad
Speaker 3: if you know how to navigate, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But you know, I think, you know, being intentional is important.
Speaker 3: You know, I couldn't believe that the o Marion challenge
Speaker 3: you know, came from you know, six years ago, this
Speaker 3: performance you know that I did. And then it was
Speaker 3: like you know, football players was doing and when they
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Like, so you can have
Speaker 3: some incredible success from from you know, the internet, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, But you can have some adverse
Speaker 3: things too, you know what I mean. You don't want
Speaker 3: no sex tape out there, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: You want your ass out on it on the internet
Speaker 3: because they never go away, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: So you know, I would just say, you know, be thoughtful.
Speaker 3: But I think that that is the good and bad thing.
Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned social media being catfish. There was someone
Speaker 1: that got catfish that went on Doctor Phil and say
Speaker 1: they were married or they were getting married to you
Speaker 1: and so the real own right catfish. So when you
Speaker 1: see that, you're like, man, come on, why would somebody
Speaker 1: do this?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I think that it's you know, the internet is
Speaker 3: you know, to certain people that don't. I heard Prince
Speaker 3: say this, he said, use the Internet, don't let the
Speaker 3: Internet use you, you know what I mean. And sometimes
Speaker 3: people are so gullible, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 3: it was really unfortunate that they young lady thought we
Speaker 3: were in a relationship. She was about to send this
Speaker 3: other person money. It's like, you know, I think we
Speaker 3: live in an age where you have to be mindful,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. And it was real sad,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying, Like who wants to get
Speaker 3: taken advantage? So being catfish? And then also that show,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, like that show coming into existence,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying, where you know, you think
Speaker 3: you're getting to know someone and you know it's they're
Speaker 3: not who they say they are. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: Like it's just whack. You know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 3: you know, all the people out there on the internet,
Speaker 3: don't be naive, y'all. Okay you're not talking to Oh
Speaker 3: if you don't see the blue check, Okay, if you
Speaker 3: ain't see the blue check, I hit you with the
Speaker 3: slide in the DM, which I don't do too often,
Speaker 3: you know, Nah. I mean I mean, if you're looking good, Nona, No,
Speaker 3: I try I try to. I try to, you know way, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think I think you know you have to kind
Speaker 3: of you know what I'm saying, have the boundary, Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 3: have boundaries, you know, because you can have a good
Speaker 3: conversation online, yes, you know what I mean, but you
Speaker 3: need to meet them and that that needs to translate
Speaker 3: to you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So you got punk by Badwow. So which was so
Speaker 1: being punked on national television or being catfished?
Speaker 3: I think being punk because that's that's quicker than being catfished.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm just saying.
Speaker 3: You could be talking to you know, you could be thinking.
Speaker 3: You could be thinking that you're talking to Mary j
Speaker 3: Bos and it's scary j Block. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: You thought you fall and fell in love with JB
Speaker 3: and you got scary JB. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: So you got to be mindful people, you know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So you are kid star, mean because you've always been
Speaker 1: to live like you were in commercial for I think
Speaker 1: corn Pops and you had another commercial. So when you
Speaker 1: were like six or seventy and you're doing all these things,
Speaker 1: how are your friends reacting to you?
Speaker 3: Well, my friends with my family and because you know,
Speaker 3: I was so uh you know young, with my mom
Speaker 3: having a child, I was already famous. Oh that's so
Speaker 3: Mari you know what I mean. Oh, they're all right there,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. So I always feel like
Speaker 3: I was essentially famous my whole life.
Speaker 1: So you've always lived quote unquote a fish bowl. People
Speaker 1: have always looked at you because you had this unique talent.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and energy and personality, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I was definitely that kid you know that brought my
Speaker 3: teacher flowers. You know what I'm saying, Oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that wash.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Miss Chase, shout out, Miss Chase. She was fine,
Speaker 3: And I knew that as a kid. I just didn't
Speaker 3: know what to.
Speaker 1: Do with it. You know what I'm saying, Old, you're
Speaker 1: looking at the teachers.
Speaker 3: She was fine. She had that smile. I was like, Hey,
Speaker 3: it's Chase. He goes some flowers.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come back about ten years. Do you believe
Speaker 1: Do you believe Bow? Do you believe Bob gets the
Speaker 1: credit that he deserves, because I've seen on the internet
Speaker 1: people trying to clown him, pretending like he only had
Speaker 1: one or two hits, and Boo was like that he
Speaker 1: I mean, he was in movies. I mean he was
Speaker 1: obviously I haven't seen many movies lately, but he was
Speaker 1: at the top of the charts for a period of time.
Speaker 1: But he's he did that music. No matter what you
Speaker 1: think about it, he did that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean everyone that comes from you know, my era,
Speaker 3: you know of music, the stream tour, you know, c
Speaker 3: B Bow Wow like you know, unfortunately nowadays, you know,
Speaker 3: people like to chip away at artists, you know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying. I seen him chipping away at Usher too,
Speaker 3: and he's That's what I'm saying. But he's one of
Speaker 3: the few artists that has like a Diamonds certified album.
Speaker 3: So I think essentially it just comes with it, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. It comes with being an artist
Speaker 3: and putting yourself out there. You know, I think the
Speaker 3: only now even yeah, even Beyonce has to go through it,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. Like it's just a part
Speaker 3: of it, you know what I mean. But everybody in
Speaker 3: their own right, you know that has had major success,
Speaker 3: you know, definitely deserves a salute and some respect, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, because this is not easy.
Speaker 1: You know, your life, you've i mean, like you said,
Speaker 1: from a child star to now who you are, so
Speaker 1: you've always been in the eye. What made you do
Speaker 1: reality TV?
Speaker 3: So my thought process, you know what Reality TV was
Speaker 3: two things, and that was one at that particular time.
Speaker 3: And I've shared the story many times. My record company
Speaker 3: wasn't supporting supposed to be, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And this was also a part of my growing as
Speaker 3: a businessman too. You know, I invested my own money,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean into supposed to be you know, uh,
Speaker 3: shout out Jenai Eko and Chris Brown because you know,
Speaker 3: this is one of my biggest songs to date, right,
Speaker 3: you know, four times platinum and I saw him in
Speaker 3: the chart it might be at seven million at this point. Wow, Yeah,
Speaker 3: we gonna confirm them numbers, but I know it is
Speaker 3: at four million, right, but yeah, uh, you know, my
Speaker 3: record company wasn't supporting me. So I was like, Yo,
Speaker 3: how am I gonna be able to you know, be visible?
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying? How am I gonna be
Speaker 3: able to you know, not only be visible, but you know,
Speaker 3: show people that I'm growing? Right, And you know, Reality
Speaker 3: TV gave me an opportunity to kind of step out
Speaker 3: of that space, you know, cause I come from the
Speaker 3: class of mystique, right, you know that doesn't exist anymore. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but you know, you know, being being you know, coming
Speaker 3: from that class and you know, adapting to the new reality.
Speaker 3: You know, I feel like it would be a great
Speaker 3: opportunity for me to promote my music, and essentially it was.
Speaker 3: You know, I was able to show my growth on
Speaker 3: that show, you know what I mean, having a girlfriend
Speaker 3: and you know, bringing my my child, you know, into
Speaker 3: this world on reality TV. So it did exactly what
Speaker 3: it was supposed to do. But again just brings me
Speaker 3: back to intention. I wasn't just on TV to be
Speaker 3: on TV, you know what I mean, Like I had
Speaker 3: it was a purpose, you know what I mean, and essentially,
Speaker 3: you know that purpose carried out. It wasn't for me,
Speaker 3: you know, and you know in a long term situation
Speaker 3: just because you know it did. But scripture reality is
Speaker 3: just not for me, you know what I mean. Like
Speaker 3: I'm not a person that you know, wants to shoot
Speaker 3: in you know, February and going through something very tough
Speaker 3: to go through, you know, with a camera in front
Speaker 3: of my face, and then the show don't come out
Speaker 3: till November, and now I gotta go back through it
Speaker 3: right with the public, right, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: So when I realized that, I was like, yeah, this
Speaker 3: is not for me. This is not for me.
Speaker 1: You were in a very public relationship, and you've been
Speaker 1: a very public person. How does O find the perfect
Speaker 1: I don't know if there is such thing. It's perfection.
Speaker 1: People strive to achieve it. But how does he find
Speaker 1: the ideal woman? Given who you are, Given that any
Speaker 1: potential dating candidate knows who you are, how do you
Speaker 1: find that person?
Speaker 3: Well, she finds me, you know what I'm saying. It's
Speaker 3: been a while since I've actually been in a you know,
Speaker 3: quote unquote girlfriend boyfriend type relationship. You know, But I
Speaker 3: think a private life is a happy life, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. But I believe that she finds she
Speaker 3: finds me, But they don't know. I'm just saying, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, And it might be she's you
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying. Yeah, I'm just saying she's might
Speaker 3: find me. Yeah, plurals, you know what I'm saying, She's
Speaker 3: like that. No, I'm just saying, like, you know, if
Speaker 3: I if I really thought about my lifestyle and being
Speaker 3: with me, like the pressure of being with me, you know,
Speaker 3: and it just being one woman, I don't know if
Speaker 3: that I don't know if that is it might take
Speaker 3: more than it might, because you know, I might need
Speaker 3: her to be a businesswoman on Monday and then we
Speaker 3: might get freaky on Tuesday. I'm just saying it might be.
Speaker 3: It might be, it might be. You know, I don't
Speaker 3: come from a traditional you know, uh standpoint. You know,
Speaker 3: I feel like I've definitely tried the traditional way, and
Speaker 3: I don't know if that's for me. You know, again,
Speaker 3: I'm still I'm single.
Speaker 1: You know, Are we really meant to be that? Are
Speaker 1: we are men really meant to be in a monogamous
Speaker 1: one on one situation?
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't know. I really don't know. I
Speaker 3: think that you can find someone that makes you feel
Speaker 3: like you don't want to be with anyone else, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. There might be a woman out
Speaker 3: there that can fill that voice. But you know, if
Speaker 3: if we're talking just strictly nature, you know what I'm saying, No, No,
Speaker 3: I don't think so, you know, I'm you know, it's
Speaker 3: very far in between it. I've seen a man and
Speaker 3: he just like, yo, I just love this woman like
Speaker 3: it's you know what I mean, it's it's it's very rare,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, And especially being in my industry,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, but you know, just being fair,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying, Like I'm I'm definitely open
Speaker 3: to love, and I really feel like love is acceptance,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. So if there is one woman, cool,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. If there's two cool, If
Speaker 3: there's three cool, But after three, I'm gonna have to
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You tried to be a king? What's going on?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Well, you know what they
Speaker 3: say about two women, you know, and a man.
Speaker 1: They say, got double problems.
Speaker 3: You gotta be double a man.
Speaker 1: I ain't got to do overtime. So we saw I
Speaker 1: saw this on the internet, you and and Neil Long
Speaker 1: and there's a vast age difference. And she's like, that's
Speaker 1: my nephew. Got y'all they blow up everything on there?
Speaker 3: What is it?
Speaker 1: Yeah? She said, y'all good. Yeah, we're cool. Yeah, Ben,
Speaker 1: that's not ain't a relationship.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no. But I mean, you know I wouldn't.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't skim over it, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: You know, if there was you know, a conversation and
Speaker 3: you know, because I've never you know, got to know
Speaker 3: who she is. You know what I'm saying. I don't
Speaker 3: know her, so I wouldn't completely take it off the table,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. We might be on the
Speaker 3: we might be on the same level. I don't know.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean. It's possible. Anything is possible.
Speaker 1: You you're just putting beings in everything.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, you never know where it comes from.
Speaker 3: You got to be open to receive, to see you
Speaker 3: know what's meant for you.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying, I'm just trying to figure out
Speaker 1: why the internet do stuff like that. I had candy
Speaker 1: on and people say, man, unk trying to palmer. But
Speaker 1: the woman man, right right right, even like that right.
Speaker 3: Right right right, yeah, yeah, no, I understand. And you know,
Speaker 3: I don't know when she when she grabbed my hand.
Speaker 3: I mean I was like, oh, you know what I'm saying, but.
Speaker 1: You're going through something. Oh you don't take advantage of
Speaker 1: a woman that's going at that time.
Speaker 3: No, that's true, that's true. I won't never take advantage
Speaker 3: of a woman. You know you want to give it said.
Speaker 1: Okay, what about you taking that advantage of the situation.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't do that. I feel like, yeah, you know,
Speaker 3: I think It's important for a person, you know, to
Speaker 3: have the option to choose, you know, which way they
Speaker 3: want to rock. You know what I'm saying. And I'm saying,
Speaker 3: I'm just a flexible person, you know where if you
Speaker 3: want to rock a certain type of way and I
Speaker 3: agree with you, then let's rock. You know what I'm saying. Nil,
Speaker 3: if you wanted to rock, you know, we can. I
Speaker 3: don't want to rock, I just want to.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 3: But but ma respect, but respect, you know, to to her.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, because I got a lot
Speaker 3: of energy.
Speaker 1: You do know like at some point in time you
Speaker 1: can have to have some very very difficult conversations with your.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, no doubt and and honesty is the key.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, Honestly is the key.
Speaker 1: So I saw you at the HBCU Mental Health Tour.
Speaker 1: Why was that an important initiative for you?
Speaker 3: So, you know, I dropped my book uh un Bothered
Speaker 3: The Power Choosing Joy and along with you know, just
Speaker 3: speaking about the importance of mental health. You know, I
Speaker 3: wanted to share some of my methods that essentially helped
Speaker 3: me navigate some of you know, my public tumultuous situations.
Speaker 3: And you know, that involved breath work, that involved meditation.
Speaker 3: And you know, when I realized that, you know, a
Speaker 3: lot of these kids in college, you know, they're just
Speaker 3: figuring out their way. They're just leaving from their parents home.
Speaker 3: You know, they don't have no idea the importance of breathing, right.
Speaker 3: You know, through these situations, you know this person they're like, well,
Speaker 3: I want to go to school from here, you know,
Speaker 3: mid school. They like, I'm changing my you know, I'm
Speaker 3: changing while I'm here. You know, I feel like that
Speaker 3: there was a really big need for that, and you
Speaker 3: know it's not it's not a lot of artists that
Speaker 3: are are you know, out here to share you know
Speaker 3: what essentially keeps them saying. So you know, I felt
Speaker 3: that that was a void that I could feel, you know,
Speaker 3: and a responsibility that I could take on. So it
Speaker 3: was amazing shout out to all of the HBCUs that
Speaker 3: I were able to go. You know, I didn't myself
Speaker 3: go to college, you know what I mean experienced that No, no, no, no, because.
Speaker 1: You know we put that thing down yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: no period.
Speaker 3: Yeah no, I know, it's an experience. But you know,
Speaker 3: because I started so young, and because I was traveling
Speaker 3: and when I think about school and when I think
Speaker 3: about you know, like wellow work. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 3: probably would have like for turn, you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 3: you know, I think that because I started so young,
Speaker 3: Like when I look at that experience, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 3: that would have been easy for me, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. But yeah, it's not something that I felt
Speaker 3: like I missed out on, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: There's a docum docum series.
Speaker 3: Yes, Omega, The Gift and the Curse.
Speaker 1: What can we expect from doctor Well?
Speaker 3: The docu Omega, The Gift and the Curse is my
Speaker 3: journey of my group coming back together in twenty nineteen
Speaker 3: we started the Millennium Tour and you know, I haven't
Speaker 3: really spoken on my perspective. You know, there's always been
Speaker 3: so many different storylines, and the documentary really restrate from
Speaker 3: my perspective, from my perspective, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And you know it's an unbiased one, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. I tell my personal truths, you know, I
Speaker 3: share my perspective. And it's such a great docu. You know,
Speaker 3: y'all check it out. It's on all Black and man,
Speaker 3: it's great.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I definitely would advise you, you know what I mean, big
Speaker 3: brother Shannon, to check it out because it really shows
Speaker 3: you know, the journey and you know the current state
Speaker 3: of you know, why things are and as far as
Speaker 3: you know, what I experienced in my group, and I
Speaker 3: think that being able to tell that story really sheds
Speaker 3: light on you know, the experience of growing up in
Speaker 3: this industry. Right.
Speaker 1: We know, alcohol and tobacca and heroin, all these cocaine
Speaker 1: and marijuana if you want to say, marijuana is grug okay,
Speaker 1: But now fame attention might be more dangerous than any
Speaker 1: of those facts. Facts. How have you been able not
Speaker 1: to succumb to those?
Speaker 3: My foundation? I really have to, you know, salute, you know,
Speaker 3: just being a decent person, realizing that you know, everyone
Speaker 3: struggles with different things, right and that you know, you
Speaker 3: gotta really be careful. You gotta really be mindful you
Speaker 3: know about you know, uh, the things you intaking to
Speaker 3: your body, your health, your your mindset. You know, I've
Speaker 3: been able to navigate it because you know, I had
Speaker 3: a loving mother, I had people that loved me. I
Speaker 3: have people that hey, oh don't don't do that, Oh
Speaker 3: you know that would tell me, you know, when you know,
Speaker 3: shout out to to my brother Anthony Martinez. He he
Speaker 3: essentially was uh a very key person on my journey.
Speaker 3: My best friend from from third grade.
Speaker 4: Yeah he he he got put in jail for uh
Speaker 4: attempted murder and he was in jail for twelve years.
Speaker 3: He just got released two weeks ago. And his attitude,
Speaker 3: you know, when I would tell him, you know about
Speaker 3: certain things and I'll be like, yo, yo, bro, you
Speaker 3: know this person is doing this and I yo, and
Speaker 3: he like, oh, you don't want to end up in here, man, right,
Speaker 3: you don't want your freedom taking away?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So those voices, you know, that support has really helped
Speaker 3: me navigate, you know what I mean, and not falling
Speaker 3: into those you know, those pits of disparity and depression,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Like I said, my life
Speaker 3: hasn't always been just all smiles, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But having those voices and having that love you know
Speaker 3: ha has essentially you know, saved me from it, right
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: But oh uh, a lot of times the dynamic change
Speaker 1: because okay, there's a there's a there's a parent child relationship. Yeah. Uh,
Speaker 1: the the parent is the provider the child is the child.
Speaker 1: But when the roads flip, Now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the child is the provider. Yeah, And a lot of
Speaker 1: your friends that are around you, they're able to go
Speaker 1: into clubs and be in these clubs and said that
Speaker 1: bottle service yea, and talk to all these women because
Speaker 1: of you. Now, if I tell Oh, I know, Oh's wrong.
Speaker 1: But if I tell Oh, he's wrong, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, he stopped the bus and I gotta get off.
Speaker 1: Ain't no more fancy clubs, no more bottle service, no
Speaker 1: more being in a situation where I can talk to
Speaker 1: some of the most beautiful women in the world. How
Speaker 1: have your friends and your mom like mom got a knight,
Speaker 1: I like that, tell oh he doing wrong? How have
Speaker 1: they been able? How have you been able to navigate?
Speaker 1: And your friends that have been your friends say, oh,
Speaker 1: you're wrong, Bro, you do that? Your mom say, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm ari y'all. You know, I'll raise you better than that.
Speaker 1: How have they have been able to stay steadfast and
Speaker 1: you listen to what they say?
Speaker 3: I think, you know, having those strong conversations is so
Speaker 3: you know important, you know what I mean? And accountability
Speaker 3: is big in my world. You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Because I'm not always right and other people aren't always right,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. So communication is a big
Speaker 3: thing in my family, and yeah, you know I haven't.
Speaker 3: I haven't always you know, tried to you know, remove
Speaker 3: people you know from my space and you know, the
Speaker 3: the success the sir, the s the circle of success
Speaker 3: r you know what I mean. I always have tried
Speaker 3: to push people forward. And I think because I've had
Speaker 3: that attitude, you know, with with I would say outside
Speaker 3: of maybe a few people, you know that it has
Speaker 3: been adverse and that don't deserve to be around me,
Speaker 3: that don't deserve certain opportunities. I think just being real
Speaker 3: with myself and realizing where people are has you know,
Speaker 3: kept me from you know, having to experience that on
Speaker 3: you know, on such a a bad level. But I
Speaker 3: will say I have I experienced it, uh you know
Speaker 3: in a way that was like who A big lesson, right,
Speaker 3: A big lesson? You know what I mean. So you
Speaker 3: know I take the good with the bad, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. But I've been able to navigate because
Speaker 3: you know, I keep it real with myself, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean.
Speaker 1: Why do you think it's so hard for certain situations
Speaker 1: to stay private. It seems like we become a very spiteful,
Speaker 1: very we pray for other's downfall. Someone is going good,
Speaker 1: and like, man, I don't because and I was reading
Speaker 1: the quote the other day and it says jealousy. And
Speaker 1: people used to think jealousy was always about someone wanting
Speaker 1: something that you had, But sometimes jealousy is about they
Speaker 1: don't want you to have it. Dude, got fifteen grammars
Speaker 1: and you don't want me to get one. You got
Speaker 1: one hundred million, you don't want me to get five?
Speaker 1: Come on?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean people like that.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't vibe with people like that. You
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying, How.
Speaker 1: Can you can?
Speaker 3: You?
Speaker 1: But sometimes you don't know until it's too late.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: It's not too late to the point that you know
Speaker 1: you can't make anybody. But you start to see and
Speaker 1: you start to hear about things that were said and
Speaker 1: things that were done that was trying to prevent oh
Speaker 1: from getting to a certain level. All they they've already
Speaker 1: reached that level.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I know so many people like that,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean? You know some people in
Speaker 3: the industry that are that way. You know, what I mean.
Speaker 3: But I think that it's just important to make sure
Speaker 3: that you're align with the right people, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, Because again, you know, you got to kill
Speaker 3: that outside noise, because there's always going to be someone,
Speaker 3: you know, especially when you're in the entertainment business, in
Speaker 3: the limelight that's praying for your downfall, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. And it sucks that it has to be
Speaker 3: that way. It sucks that somebody could look at you
Speaker 3: and be jealous and be like, I don't want him
Speaker 3: to have that, or you know what, I'm gonna make
Speaker 3: sure these two people don't meet, you know what I mean. Yes,
Speaker 3: why it's whack, you know what I mean. But you
Speaker 3: can't can't. People can't stop what's truly yours, and people
Speaker 3: can't take away from the hard work that you put in.
Speaker 3: And I'm a firm believer that you know, what's mine's
Speaker 3: his mind and what's yours is yours.
Speaker 1: I'm a firm believer. Oh I believe when God said
Speaker 1: a plan in motion, you can't even stop it if
Speaker 1: you wanted to. That's let alone the outside person trying
Speaker 1: to stop it.
Speaker 3: That's fact.
Speaker 1: So if he close the door, can't no one open
Speaker 1: it and if he opens it, can't anyone close.
Speaker 3: Its fact.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get you out and talk about your touring.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two, you had a very successful tour
Speaker 1: R and B Top Tour, Wrap, Top Tour Rap twenty
Speaker 1: twenty Music Billboard Music Awards. What is it about touring
Speaker 1: that you love so much?
Speaker 3: I love that you actually get to see the people
Speaker 3: and touch the people, you know, And because entertainment has
Speaker 3: always been a strong arm in my you know, entertainment career.
Speaker 3: You know, a tour is a is a ritual, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean? And that is all right, y'all.
Speaker 3: We put our new music which, by the way, we
Speaker 3: put out Big Vibes.
Speaker 1: Today here, okay, you got a right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, got a new single. It's called Big Vibes. You
Speaker 3: know it's a self explanatory, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Whenever you are having a great time, put this song on.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, is the soundtrack to a
Speaker 3: big vibe. It's coming. Uh, my new album is coming.
Speaker 3: It's titled Full Circle, which is which is a oh
Speaker 3: you know what I mean? Five to five, So everybody
Speaker 3: get prepared for that. But yeah, touring allows me to
Speaker 3: you know, put out new music and actually perform it,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. So touring has always been
Speaker 3: essential to my career and it's something that I want
Speaker 3: to continue to be able to do.
Speaker 1: There are some when you look back at your career now,
Speaker 1: there are some women that kind of grew up with
Speaker 1: that that like you, that's probably of grandmother's and there
Speaker 1: are some that are just mothers and now you got
Speaker 1: their grands or their daughters. I mean that's a big
Speaker 1: I mean, like, are you surprised that you've been able
Speaker 1: to have so much stay in power with the women?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I'm not really surprised, but I'm happy. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, because I do it long. I'm just saying
Speaker 3: I do it long and strong. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: I'm in for the long haul, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: So yeah, No, it's funny when you know we're doing
Speaker 3: meet and greets and you know the mom will come
Speaker 3: and you know what. You know, there's this young woman
Speaker 3: I forget her name, but her first concert was one
Speaker 3: of my concerts and her mom passed away. So it's
Speaker 3: like a personal ritual of her every time when I
Speaker 3: you know, come to perform, to make sure she comes
Speaker 3: to the show, So you know, you never really know,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, Like when it's time for tour,
Speaker 3: while everybody's coming out there, you know, of course people
Speaker 3: want to get out and you know, be in that
Speaker 3: atmosphere and perform and watch a show, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. So touring has always been important. And shout
Speaker 3: out to the grandmas. Shout out to the grandmas, the mama,
Speaker 3: the daughters, the babies, bring them all. It's a family,
Speaker 3: a fair right.
Speaker 1: So what are it like performing overseas? I mean, because
Speaker 1: I mean it seems like when I look at the
Speaker 1: crowds and I see American performers performing overseas, it seems like, man,
Speaker 1: they're in these stadiums and there's fifty sixty seventy thousand people.
Speaker 1: If everybody's saying, I'm like, hell, I don't even know
Speaker 1: the words in America and you know the words to
Speaker 1: every soul.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I don't want to say unfortunately, because
Speaker 3: you know, American artists definitely support and love their American artists,
Speaker 3: but the appreciation level outside of this place is massive,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. You know, anytime I perform overseas,
Speaker 3: the love is just so crazy. I was just over
Speaker 3: there last year. I was just in Paris, not even
Speaker 3: in the capacity of performing, even though we did do
Speaker 3: what was that?
Speaker 1: What was it?
Speaker 3: We did? We so we sold our Old two arena.
Speaker 3: The Millennium Tour did sell out the Old two arena.
Speaker 3: But the appreciation level is just different. I mean, when's
Speaker 3: the last time you've been. I'm telling you, when you
Speaker 3: go out there, oh my goodness, they're gonna be like
Speaker 3: Shannon Shannon. The love is next level, you know. And
Speaker 3: I think it's because you know, they don't get to
Speaker 3: see us, you know, all the time, you know. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's not somewhere where we're just walking down the street
Speaker 3: all of the time.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's overseas, but I've only been
Speaker 1: to Vegas in Atlanta from I don't know you consider
Speaker 1: that overseas, But that's not that far as far as
Speaker 1: I say. You, uh, perform with Usher's lovers and friends? Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: what was that experience?
Speaker 3: Like? No, well, actually it's coming up this year. Yep,
Speaker 3: it's coming up. What's the date on that? May six?
Speaker 3: May six? So you know it is so loud or
Speaker 3: otherwise I will tell everybody to come out. But it's
Speaker 3: gonna be amazing.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean they still if enough people not not
Speaker 1: gonna get the tickets, maybe y'all add a second date.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's facts, that's facts. Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: The lovers and friends of franchise is always awesome. It's
Speaker 3: a land you know, between nostalgic and new, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. So, uh, new music. So I'm excited.
Speaker 3: This is gonna be my first time performing, you know,
Speaker 3: outside of the you know, Millennium Tour brand, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. Of course, I plan on going on
Speaker 3: my own uh solo tour this year as well to
Speaker 3: promote the Full Circle album and all of the new music.
Speaker 3: So yeah, you know, lovers and friends, y'all be looking
Speaker 3: out for some new tour dates, new music, uhh uh
Speaker 3: Omega The Gift and the Curse. And I also got
Speaker 3: I can't speak too much about you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: but uh, I gotta I gotta show. Yeah, I got
Speaker 3: a new project coming, so y'all stay tuned. But you know,
Speaker 3: all things entertainment, your boy o Marion has got his
Speaker 3: foot on the game, and you know we're gonna continue
Speaker 3: to flourish.
Speaker 1: Acting. Yes, you were a lot early on You know,
Speaker 1: you got served doing a lot of more. Is that
Speaker 1: something you want to get back to.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's something that you know I will be doing
Speaker 3: this year, So y'all can definitely be ready to see
Speaker 3: me on your TV or your big screen for sure.
Speaker 1: Who hasn't A Marion performed with be it on stage
Speaker 1: or on an album that he would.
Speaker 3: Like to well, I would. I would definitely love to
Speaker 3: do a collaboration with Beyonce. You know, she brought me
Speaker 3: out to the UK for the first time, you know,
Speaker 3: when I was in the group, So it doesn't seem
Speaker 3: like it's unlikely, you know what I mean. I would
Speaker 3: definitely love to do a song with her. I would
Speaker 3: love to do a song with Jill Scott.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I would love to do a song with a Dell too, Yes, amazing.
Speaker 1: I saw her a couple of years ago when she
Speaker 1: first on American Soil, when she came back at you
Speaker 1: at the Observatory amazing es. Yeah, yeah, powerful, I was
Speaker 1: in the Crime Get This tape.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, and I think a slew of other people.
Speaker 3: I definitely would love to, you know, do something with
Speaker 3: Chris Brown and Usher together all theo all three of us,
Speaker 3: you know, what I mean, whether it be performance or
Speaker 3: a song.
Speaker 1: May not gonna go on for about a hour a
Speaker 1: half cause y'all gonna be up to y'all to dance here, y'all,
Speaker 1: y'all are gonna want to usher, and I dance y'all,
Speaker 1: but that thing gonna be that'ld be lit. Let me
Speaker 1: ask you a question. Is there celebrity that someone in
Speaker 1: the in the business that you met and you like,
Speaker 1: I can't believe I'm talking to I'm in the presence
Speaker 1: of this person.
Speaker 3: Michael Jackson and Prince I got to meet them. You know.
Speaker 3: I think that artists, you know before my time, gave
Speaker 3: me that energy and that feeling. Now I would say,
Speaker 3: you know, when I meet, you know, my fellow peers,
Speaker 3: it's kind of like, oh, yoh, like you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, it's nice to see you, but that feeling
Speaker 3: that kind of like you know, star like you know
Speaker 3: shock I met. I met Michael Jackson on the set
Speaker 3: of You Rock My World. Shot was heating, he was
Speaker 3: he floated towards him, He floated towards me and then
Speaker 3: he bowed and he was like and he was like
Speaker 3: old Rodney. He was talking to Rodney and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: he different. And then when I saw Prince it was
Speaker 3: a It was at the House of Blues, and it
Speaker 3: was like he had this u he had this like
Speaker 3: disappearing effect, you know what I mean. He walked in,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, he was like he was
Speaker 3: behind me and I was like, oh, that's Prince. Then
Speaker 3: I looked back and he was gone, you know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying. So, yeah, those are the two people that
Speaker 3: I've met that have kind of had that like starstruck
Speaker 3: you know, effect on.
Speaker 1: But being from LA, are you a Lakers fan?
Speaker 3: Of course?
Speaker 1: So who So Lakers are your favorite team or do
Speaker 1: you have any favorite players?
Speaker 3: My new favorite player is jam Morant. Okay, that's my
Speaker 3: new favorite player. But definitely I mean Lebron the Lakers,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I mean I used
Speaker 3: to be a super big sports fan, not so much anymore,
Speaker 3: but you know, definitely Kobe, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: But yeah, those are my favorite Alan Iverson you know.
Speaker 3: Of course, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Oh, appreciate your stopping my club shape giving me a
Speaker 1: few members of your time.
Speaker 3: Bro.
Speaker 1: All the best movies for.
Speaker 3: Love, Yeah, I gotta pack for you. Man, I got
Speaker 3: a gift for you. You know, I personally signed this book.
Speaker 3: I got you. I got you this essential oil that
Speaker 3: I have. Okay, it's called Unbothered. Okay, okay, and here
Speaker 3: you man.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Yeah. Are you selling this oil?
Speaker 3: Not just yet, not just yet, but you of the book, Yes, sir,
Speaker 3: Unbothered the Power Choosing Joy.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And if you, you know, are not inter reading, you
Speaker 3: can definitely catch it on audience. You know what I mean,
Speaker 3: because I did it.
Speaker 1: But I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Yeah. Is this
Speaker 1: a blanket in here? Or is a hoodie? Yeah?
Speaker 3: That's a hoodie. Hopefully it's the three acts.
Speaker 1: I can work with you. That's where I can definitely.
Speaker 3: Wear that because you know you oh goom, but I'm trying.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna drop a few pounds here, old goom bro.
Speaker 3: Hey, thank you man.
Speaker 2: Love Yes, all my life and grinning all my life. Sacrifice, hustle,
Speaker 2: pay the price. Wanta slice? Got to brow the dice,
Speaker 2: the squad all my life. I've been grinding all my life,
Speaker 2: all my life and grinning all my life.
Speaker 3: Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Want a slice? Got to
Speaker 3: brow the dice.
Speaker 2: Squaw all my life. I've been grinding all my life.
Speaker 3: M hm