Speaker 1: And money. We all take val we are the authority
Speaker 1: all things R and B. Ladies and gentlemen, what's going on?
Speaker 1: I am tank and this is the R and B
Speaker 1: Money Podcast, the authority all things and be sil silky. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I ain't buy myself. No, you ain't by yourself. No
Speaker 1: more quality for man hand quality. You've got to rub
Speaker 1: your hands together for you, for you gotta you gotta
Speaker 1: brother arms. This man is I mean, listen, before before
Speaker 1: the cameras came on, we were talking about the difference
Speaker 1: between an R and B singer, an R and B artist,
Speaker 1: and a recording artist. He's all of them. He's a
Speaker 1: monster and I got a bone to big pick with him.
Speaker 1: But we'll get there. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up.
Speaker 1: Mr Kenny yea, all right. So we're gonna circle back
Speaker 1: to this because we we we love and are probably
Speaker 1: we started the beginning. We go. We are informative. We
Speaker 1: want to see where it came from, how it grew,
Speaker 1: how it got here, and all of that stuff. But
Speaker 1: I have to have to pick this bone with you first.
Speaker 1: He picked this with you, okay, is I love you.
Speaker 1: But there's a small plate of beef get called the
Speaker 1: singer of this wedding. You know it well, it wasn't
Speaker 1: quite tank yet, still the real I love it. I said,
Speaker 1: once your singing out, wed and wants you to sing
Speaker 1: the song by Kenny A. Lottamore for you said that
Speaker 1: should that should be easy to do that not a
Speaker 1: lot of vocal uh acrobatics in that one, very straight ahead,
Speaker 1: spare them sed that out. I got the words, wrote
Speaker 1: the worst out label. All right, it's a lot of words,
Speaker 1: a lot of words words. Try the first verse at home,
Speaker 1: Try the first verse. Oh yeah, I can knock this out.
Speaker 1: All the words kind of go the same. I'll figure
Speaker 1: it out on the spot. Get to the wedding and
Speaker 1: start singing this song. This is the first selection. You know,
Speaker 1: as the bride and groom look at me, they're already
Speaker 1: posted the families looking at me outside wedding. And as
Speaker 1: I'm getting through that first hook, I'm just feeling slightly
Speaker 1: a little bit beat up. After the first first hook,
Speaker 1: this man vocusing ain't vocaling right? My standing strong. As
Speaker 1: I go midway through the second verse, I'm losing it.
Speaker 1: I am losing My vocal is getting weary, vocal cords
Speaker 1: are getting tired, completely my vocal cords are getting so
Speaker 1: tired that I had the words right in front of me,
Speaker 1: I start to go blind. I cannot read the words.
Speaker 1: To save my life, I can't see them. I'm sweating now. Okay,
Speaker 1: by the second hook, I'm trying to get through the hook,
Speaker 1: I just start to add libing freestyle he doing in
Speaker 1: that movie Welcome to the Candy Shop. I started candy
Speaker 1: shopping your record. I didn't know. I had no idea
Speaker 1: what it took to sing that song. And I thought,
Speaker 1: I knew it's a difficult song. And so you're okay, no, no,
Speaker 1: because you can do so. But he could have put
Speaker 1: all you could have put a warning leg on the record.
Speaker 1: I know you're not, but don't try to try this
Speaker 1: at home first before you do it at the way.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna tell you though, I was the same
Speaker 1: way when I first got the song. One of my
Speaker 1: buddies wrote this. It was literally his wedding song. Kenny
Speaker 1: larm a very unassuming an incredible but incredible songwriter. Um, Kenny,
Speaker 1: I got this song because I'm getting married to Ellen.
Speaker 1: You know, I love her so much, and I wrote
Speaker 1: the song for I was like, okay, okay, so he says,
Speaker 1: hear the words first fidelity. Uh what I mean? It
Speaker 1: was like these big words and that was and I said, wow,
Speaker 1: I don't know how I'm going to sing these words.
Speaker 1: So then he went back like a day later he said,
Speaker 1: this is how the melody goes. And when he when
Speaker 1: he sang the melody, I was like, wow, this is brilliant.
Speaker 1: I mean, I get it. I gets Then it was
Speaker 1: going into the studio being the recording artist, I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm glad I didn't have to sing it live like
Speaker 1: straight down first, because how would have fallen apart? Too?
Speaker 1: I was like, where's the breath? Okay? I got all
Speaker 1: that out? You know, where are all of these nuances
Speaker 1: gonna come from? And how do I take? Once I
Speaker 1: got to the ridge, I was like, whoa, I don't
Speaker 1: even know. We had to really work it out. And
Speaker 1: once we did, though, the great Barry Eastman produced it.
Speaker 1: And once we worked it out, then I still had
Speaker 1: to figure out and this isn't every song for me live?
Speaker 1: Where does it fit in my body? I don't know
Speaker 1: if you ever feel that way, like where does it fit?
Speaker 1: Because it's something different when you're moving and breathing and
Speaker 1: doing everything all at once and delivering a song, and
Speaker 1: you wanted to sound like people remember it sound. So
Speaker 1: I had to really grow into it. And uh, thank god,
Speaker 1: it's been the saving song. I haven't had any crashing
Speaker 1: burns on it. I should have had one crashing burn.
Speaker 1: I'm just giving y'all some some real R and B stuff.
Speaker 1: I was on tour with Barry White when I first
Speaker 1: came out, and I was like constantly on the first tour,
Speaker 1: I was Verry White, so I'm taking notes because the
Speaker 1: maestro was coming out giving it to him. Every night.
Speaker 1: He had this way of he'd walk out real slow
Speaker 1: and he said good evening, and and Ecstacy was playing
Speaker 1: in the background, so if you can imagine ext is dumping,
Speaker 1: but he's walking out real So I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do that. I'm gonna do that. O't cay, I'm
Speaker 1: taking this. I'm taking that note. But it's right right,
Speaker 1: so everybody right out there right right. I got stuff
Speaker 1: from him too, Yeah, definitely, But it was crazy. I
Speaker 1: was working so hard that I remember my manager and
Speaker 1: the label said, we want you to do for you
Speaker 1: for a for the executives, the black executives, and at
Speaker 1: that time. It was black, I mean powerful black executions.
Speaker 1: We get in this room and it was the first
Speaker 1: time that I ever was completely burned out and I
Speaker 1: didn't know what was happening. So you're talking about I
Speaker 1: was like, for you give a like I was. I could.
Speaker 1: I could barely say anything, like literally, I could not
Speaker 1: produce a note. And I never felt that way in
Speaker 1: my entire life. And I'm in front of the biggest
Speaker 1: executives in the industry. It works, Yeah, but in a way,
Speaker 1: I'm feeling like I'm glad I was in front of
Speaker 1: them instead of the audience. They were forgiving, and I
Speaker 1: think they understood what I was going through as a
Speaker 1: new artist coming out more than like, Oh, it would
Speaker 1: have been crazy if it was somebody, but it was
Speaker 1: somebody in the marketing department, Like yeah, you know he's
Speaker 1: been on tour. You know he's starting nice in they're
Speaker 1: covering it up. You just you have a um, you
Speaker 1: have what I like to call a classic voice, and
Speaker 1: it's a voice that it's it's it's straight ahead, it's
Speaker 1: doing everything it needs to do straight ahead. Like you know,
Speaker 1: Luther didn't have to do anything. He'll throw you some
Speaker 1: we whoo whoo, he'll throw that in there, he'll get
Speaker 1: that to it, you know, and that's exciting. But straight ahead, yeah,
Speaker 1: spons he you have that kind of voice which is
Speaker 1: straight nothing else, pure tone and broader richness like uh,
Speaker 1: like a Josh Grobin, Like just straight ahead is enough,
Speaker 1: like yours is. Yours isn't a tuxedo or or some
Speaker 1: jeans and a polo shirt like it can It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter like you've and you've and you've done it with
Speaker 1: the textures of music or the sonics of music that
Speaker 1: you've performed on where you go as as a as
Speaker 1: a for you or I'm not too pity or you
Speaker 1: when you prove it, like yeah, I appreciate it. So
Speaker 1: let's go back. Okay, okay, I really appreciate that. Let's
Speaker 1: start at the beginning. Right when did somebody say my boy, nice? Right?
Speaker 1: Did that boys? Or when did you in your mind
Speaker 1: have the moment where you were like, oh, you know what,
Speaker 1: my mom you know a lot a lot that's how
Speaker 1: your mother is like, oh my baby can sing. And
Speaker 1: so you know, my mom was like, hey, was that
Speaker 1: you singing? She just heard me around the house one
Speaker 1: day and she just said, do you want to take
Speaker 1: voice lessons. I didn't know what voice lessons was. I
Speaker 1: was like, but whatever it is, as long as I'm
Speaker 1: not in trouble. Yeah, yeah, why not? Twelve twelve years old?
Speaker 1: Now I had sung, like the first time I remember
Speaker 1: singing in front of people. I was ten and I
Speaker 1: was in the neighborhood. One of my friends, Andrea, was like,
Speaker 1: Kenny can sing or they call me Kenneth kennething like yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So she got all the girls in the neighborhood together
Speaker 1: and she asked me to sing a song. And I
Speaker 1: sang a little song. I don't know. I think I
Speaker 1: was singing like the emotions. Remember the emotions. They used
Speaker 1: to have a bunch of harmony and stuff from high voice,
Speaker 1: you're walk in the line, you turn un for. I
Speaker 1: just started singing this falsetto kind of stuff tie yeah,
Speaker 1: and the girls started screaming yeah. I was like wow,
Speaker 1: you know. But it was my mom who said, do
Speaker 1: you want to take voice lessons? And it took everything
Speaker 1: to another level because she felt like I had something
Speaker 1: different and I didn't think I was in different that
Speaker 1: everybody sang, you know, my family members saying my sister
Speaker 1: and my my grandfather sang. I used to be intimidated
Speaker 1: to singing from my grandfather though, because he had one
Speaker 1: of the big, heavy voices and he'd rolled his arms
Speaker 1: when he sang in the church because mainly his church stuff.
Speaker 1: So um. She had me start doing voice lessons and
Speaker 1: I sang songs like I Left my Heart in San
Speaker 1: Francisco upon a hill, it called to me. So I'm starting. Yeah, nice,
Speaker 1: it's way too easy. Bro. If you did, like, uh,
Speaker 1: what's my vegus guy said, Vegas? If you did, Frank
Speaker 1: so not working on it now? I record soon. The
Speaker 1: how's the next month? It's next month. I start next
Speaker 1: month on the orchestra. Bro, you go big band, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. So but we're gonna do a little We're
Speaker 1: gonna do a combination. We're gonna do some American song
Speaker 1: book like that, because that's how I started. I'm with
Speaker 1: some classical because I did the classical and the languages
Speaker 1: and all that. But I'm also gonna you're gonna hear
Speaker 1: never too busy with the orchestra. So yeah, I need
Speaker 1: you invite me. I need to put my clothes will
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you all know when things happen just
Speaker 1: in case, I know you got busy scatters, We're going
Speaker 1: to okay, So classes, you're you're learning, your your your perfecting.
Speaker 1: And I felt like I didn't want to be a
Speaker 1: singer with any boundaries. Um, I think Marvin from a
Speaker 1: young age, at a young age. Once I sang I
Speaker 1: left my heart in San Francisco and unforgettable and all that,
Speaker 1: I started going, I wonder what else I can do? Um,
Speaker 1: I was definitely shy growing up. Music saved my life.
Speaker 1: I was definitely shot, Like I'd be very uncomfortable having
Speaker 1: this conversation back then as a as a young kid,
Speaker 1: and but music gave me purpose, Like people could see me,
Speaker 1: they could see me if I sang. So when I
Speaker 1: heard myself eventually recorded and all that, I was like,
Speaker 1: what else can I do? So I started singing chamber
Speaker 1: music and I was singing classical and I want a
Speaker 1: scholarship for in the Maryland schools. I was a Maryland
Speaker 1: Distinguished Scholar for singing. He can grow And if he
Speaker 1: had a loan as lead, he had a loan asleep,
Speaker 1: he could and you know at me like I was
Speaker 1: gonna know, Hey, I don't know, I don't so I
Speaker 1: went to I went to Morgan State, Yes, which represented
Speaker 1: the US and classical music. Yeah, and I got a
Speaker 1: scholarship because he just thought I was He described me
Speaker 1: as a major talent. He said, just come, I said,
Speaker 1: who do I talk to? You just talked to Dr
Speaker 1: me He just talked to him. And I get to
Speaker 1: class first day of school and they passed everybody this
Speaker 1: sheet these sheets. Oh boy, and Dr Conway, who was
Speaker 1: playing the piano, comes kicks him up. Dr Carter says, okay,
Speaker 1: we were grunt like this, but he had perfect pitch.
Speaker 1: So I like that perfect pitch. Looked like James Brown
Speaker 1: for everything, the jacket of the boots who So he
Speaker 1: talked like Bishop he know, he talked like a combination
Speaker 1: of Bishop Koonya and Grover. But he had imagine perfect
Speaker 1: pitch in this. You know, I don't I need to
Speaker 1: be on the side of you that you you stop it,
Speaker 1: stop it right? He was that, and he said, and
Speaker 1: everybody said, yeah, man, dividating. I thought y'all thought I
Speaker 1: was king. I am not well all because I can't
Speaker 1: I can't see y'all or y'all flip the page. Alright, alright,
Speaker 1: so when you start saying that like I get it,
Speaker 1: but I never got it. Oh man, I understand, I understand,
Speaker 1: and I feel like I was okay. I'm an okay
Speaker 1: sight reader. But because we didn't have we don't have
Speaker 1: to use it as you got the tone you figured,
Speaker 1: thank you, but you know I had. They kicked my
Speaker 1: out went to Howard. You know they kicked my behind.
Speaker 1: I went to Howard and I studied with Dr Leroy
Speaker 1: Dorsey who taught roberta Flag and Donnie Hathaway, and I
Speaker 1: was pushed all of him. And when you're talking about
Speaker 1: that instructor, he would grandma throat. If I start singing
Speaker 1: my throt he grandma throat. He's really flamboyant guy. He'd
Speaker 1: be like, get off. I'd be singing drink to me
Speaker 1: only withnine eyes. And he was like really hardcore about
Speaker 1: things being perfect. But he said, I'm gonna work with
Speaker 1: you because again somebody affirmed me and said you know
Speaker 1: something about you, and each instructor that I had did
Speaker 1: something different. It was a woman named Janet Helms, who
Speaker 1: I love dearly, who also was from Howard. She taught
Speaker 1: me regularly, like how to really be grounded as a singer.
Speaker 1: Leroy Dorsey taught me power. There's another instructor, James Holliday
Speaker 1: who taught me falsetto. He he was fascinated with. He
Speaker 1: was like, I want you to be able to go
Speaker 1: up and down from your falsetto and back without hearing
Speaker 1: a break. So at some point in my life I
Speaker 1: was able to do it, but it was like each
Speaker 1: person found something different to challenge me on. And in
Speaker 1: addition to all of that, I just kept feeling like
Speaker 1: I don't I want to be able to sing any
Speaker 1: type of music at any point and be really good
Speaker 1: unless I'm not good. So they were training. They were
Speaker 1: training your voice the same way that athletes are training
Speaker 1: in their sport, like shooting coach or hitting coach, or
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like they were literally breaking
Speaker 1: your voice down. Absolutely amazing, because you don't you don't
Speaker 1: find that in many singers where they their story goes
Speaker 1: back to literally somebody picking it apart and building it up. Obviously,
Speaker 1: because you just name what five or six different teachers
Speaker 1: who taught different things completely and the first person my
Speaker 1: first vocals in trunth to Maryland Morris, it was just
Speaker 1: breathing and they focused and focus on my breathing. That
Speaker 1: was the basics. You know. She was my first vocal instructor,
Speaker 1: but each one, definitely they gave me something different until
Speaker 1: I got to the point where I could combine it all.
Speaker 1: But it was the classical technique that helped me survive
Speaker 1: because I sang in bars and clubs too. I was
Speaker 1: in a group called Mannequin when I was back at
Speaker 1: home in d C. And we were signed to Epic Records.
Speaker 1: Man we would do five and six forty five minutes
Speaker 1: sets per night in bars and clubs. Totally one more time.
Speaker 1: Today people are saying five and six forty five minutes
Speaker 1: sets her night doing covers and I didn't have to
Speaker 1: sing every single set, every single song. But I'm sank.
Speaker 1: So even if you broke it down to like three
Speaker 1: minutes sets, the extra while he was in this group,
Speaker 1: which he did, he did, he was out of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: do you remember to the extreme cry no More? That
Speaker 1: was my joint. That was my joint. And Johnny brother
Speaker 1: Randy was in there that I didn't know it was
Speaker 1: in Yeah, yeah, I didn't know that. So our DC
Speaker 1: thing was was really special. Uh, And I feel like
Speaker 1: I was really blessed because I did get a chance
Speaker 1: to meet like Stacy Lattison and Johnny and all, and
Speaker 1: they're all still everybody still close, and you know, um
Speaker 1: Tony Braxton. I remember Tony Braxton coming into a mannequin
Speaker 1: session because she was a fan of mannequin when I
Speaker 1: was in there, and she was like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: people say that sound like a boy because my voice
Speaker 1: is you know, lower as rich as her voices. And
Speaker 1: she said, but there's this new lit this is this show,
Speaker 1: how long ago this was, but this this new lady
Speaker 1: out and the name A need a Baker. And she
Speaker 1: got on the piano she started singing and the sweet
Speaker 1: Love and was playing and I was like, wow, I
Speaker 1: would pay to see her singing for sure. Ya got killers.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something, as we said, I need
Speaker 1: a Baker, I need to baker is anointed. It just
Speaker 1: stops absolutely absolutely right there, right, no question. I heard
Speaker 1: her sing no question happy Birthday the other night at
Speaker 1: the Usher concert and I and I my body, I
Speaker 1: felt it in my body like her tone and she
Speaker 1: she just went there just just for one note, and
Speaker 1: I said, oh my god. And she was a person
Speaker 1: who people said she wasn't a good thing. Oh absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 1: because it's a style, it was something perfected through the year,
Speaker 1: and because I'd say because I remember her in chapter eight, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to go way back right. Chapter eight was
Speaker 1: a group she was in and she may have had
Speaker 1: another one before. I know the people in L A,
Speaker 1: No and d C because they played on the Quiet
Speaker 1: Storm a lot. Um. I just want to be your
Speaker 1: girl if I find oh way, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you ever hear I'm definitely yeah when you hear all that.
Speaker 1: Because I studied the women too, and that's one thing
Speaker 1: I talked about it in my show Phillis him in
Speaker 1: um Anita Baker a lot of my I found that
Speaker 1: when they were perfecting my falsetto in my lessons and
Speaker 1: all of that, I was like, oh, what else can
Speaker 1: I do? So I would harmonize with them and I
Speaker 1: would try to keep my falsetto in the shape where
Speaker 1: when I got into the studio I could sing the
Speaker 1: women parts too. So when I was in my own
Speaker 1: backgrounds and stuff, I'm never too busy and I'm not
Speaker 1: too busy. You know, as a recording art you you
Speaker 1: learn your mic technique to get in, but you gotta
Speaker 1: be able to produce that sound, So I would, you know,
Speaker 1: think of Anita Baker. Sometimes I would think of other
Speaker 1: Stephanie Mills, and for holiday, I would think of a
Speaker 1: lot of the different women who had big voices and
Speaker 1: imitate their sounds to create my background. So people would
Speaker 1: be like, who's singing your background? I'd be like me.
Speaker 1: They be like, okay, but um, I got lost. I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm just having a good count were in it
Speaker 1: with you, bro, like you know, just and and I
Speaker 1: started thinking about all the greats that event. When did
Speaker 1: you get When did the epic thing happened for you? First?
Speaker 1: You had Howard. At this point, I was at Howard
Speaker 1: and it was in my first year and I got
Speaker 1: sad and I came out of Howard and I started
Speaker 1: hitting the road. I was an architecture and planning and
Speaker 1: I was like, I can't. There's no way I'm going
Speaker 1: to be able to do architecture and planning. So I said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to drop out of school. And they
Speaker 1: said no, we want you to just stay um and
Speaker 1: we want you to just go to Fine Arts to
Speaker 1: take some classes in fine arts. And I was like okay,
Speaker 1: And I tried that, which kept me in school a
Speaker 1: little long and still didn't wasn't able to stay. But um,
Speaker 1: I remember Denise Williams came to the school, um and
Speaker 1: she was like teaching. She had people from commercials, Darryl Tooks,
Speaker 1: she had engineers come in and all that, so that
Speaker 1: we as students would not just see ourselves as artists
Speaker 1: because a lot of times we you know, young black
Speaker 1: kids coming up, all you can see is I gotta
Speaker 1: be the star. And it's like, but there's so many
Speaker 1: other things out there, and she said, there's nobody that
Speaker 1: can be a better you. I definitely took that home,
Speaker 1: and she made me want to be like Luther and
Speaker 1: Patty Austin and all that who could change their voices
Speaker 1: and they could sing these commercials. And I got a
Speaker 1: chance to do Folgers, I got a chance to do
Speaker 1: um wow, Verizon you know sing James. That stuff hard? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that stuff is really hard because you can think, oh,
Speaker 1: i'll I have to do is sing this melody, and
Speaker 1: then it's like they want to hear the melody some
Speaker 1: kind of way that that you it's unbelievable, like they
Speaker 1: actually it's not even like musical in a sense. What
Speaker 1: they want to hear what they're asking you for. Ye
Speaker 1: Sometimes they don't even know and you have to just
Speaker 1: keep producing that they're searching for an algorithm, you know,
Speaker 1: which which is which is the word now? But back
Speaker 1: then when I was like even like doing soundtracks and stuff,
Speaker 1: it's like these guys that aren't like super musical, but
Speaker 1: they're like, no, there's a thing that you should be
Speaker 1: right here. And then right after that thing, we can
Speaker 1: roll over into any like and they know when they
Speaker 1: feel like they know it when they're here and they're like,
Speaker 1: there it is. You do that again, we think, but
Speaker 1: there is something there that that I always say, sometimes
Speaker 1: people who are not as musical as we are can
Speaker 1: just hear it a different way, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: And there's value. There's there's value in what they're hearing
Speaker 1: because they're they're completely outside looking in and they're able
Speaker 1: to see something that we some but sometimes we're blind
Speaker 1: to it. YEA. One of the value valuable moments I've
Speaker 1: had this similar to that is with Matt Jones, who
Speaker 1: was the n R guy who's who's found me and
Speaker 1: brought me to Columbia Records. Um. When I first started,
Speaker 1: I wanted to sing soft like melodies over hard hip
Speaker 1: hop beats. I knew it was something about that they
Speaker 1: hadn't been done. And uh, I remember going into Dave
Speaker 1: Dave Hall and all these producers that we were trying
Speaker 1: to do all this stuff, and thank God for faith Evan.
Speaker 1: She had come out and she had she had already
Speaker 1: been in the direction. And I was like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: so a lot of the producers I think that she
Speaker 1: worked with they had me going and work with. But
Speaker 1: Matt came to me one day he said, you know
Speaker 1: that that soft, like that falsetto kind of thing that
Speaker 1: you have. I want you to because I was doing
Speaker 1: something I was Aaron Hall in it and and Charlie Wilson. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because that's like that's how I used to sing over
Speaker 1: up to exactly. And then he was like, no, we
Speaker 1: want you to stand out. We want you to be
Speaker 1: different from everybody else. Oh how affirming that was to
Speaker 1: you know. I needed all of that to round out
Speaker 1: who I was going to be, because I didn't know
Speaker 1: who I was as an artist. You know, when I
Speaker 1: did my first album, I was just a singer and
Speaker 1: I felt like, I think I'm a good singer, and
Speaker 1: you just go in and you do the best you
Speaker 1: can and you see what happens. And um, I didn't
Speaker 1: think I was a great writer, never thought that. And
Speaker 1: I got a publishing deal before how did Matt find you? Group?
Speaker 1: Matt was this is? This is years later? Actually I
Speaker 1: had recorded, I had written for Glenn Jones and John
Speaker 1: Lucy and I had done all kinds of things before
Speaker 1: my solo deal came. And I think people probably thought, Oh,
Speaker 1: he's gonna he's not gonna do this solo thing. He's
Speaker 1: just gonna stop there. And I was like, no, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna keep on rolling. And um So I
Speaker 1: did this demo tape and I gave it to a
Speaker 1: friend of mine who uh was my manager for years
Speaker 1: after that great friend of mine, Colin Gale, and I said, Colin,
Speaker 1: this is what I think I should sound like. Now
Speaker 1: it's a longer story. I guess I don't. The longer
Speaker 1: story is when I was in d C, I felt
Speaker 1: like God said to me, your producers in New York,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna have to leave DC to go to
Speaker 1: New York. And I said, okay, I'd never Nobody would
Speaker 1: ever tell YO Kenny's coming to them talking about God
Speaker 1: said anything. I wasn't that person, but in that moment,
Speaker 1: I said, no, God saying to go to New York.
Speaker 1: My producers there. So I went and I started telling
Speaker 1: people and some people were like, you know, okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: And even the church I was going to and all that,
Speaker 1: they were very supportive though, and they said, well, if
Speaker 1: you're leaving, we're gonna We're gonna give you some money
Speaker 1: to go. We're gonna give you all this stuff. That
Speaker 1: put some pressure on me. I was like oh, and
Speaker 1: they were like, we're gonna send you off. I had
Speaker 1: done a hole that was gonna send you off to
Speaker 1: the secular world. They were sending me to the secular
Speaker 1: because my pastor at that time said, it's nothing in
Speaker 1: scripture that that will say anything bad about a love song.
Speaker 1: You can't go lift the standard. So if you can
Speaker 1: imagine when you yeah, say yeah, and I hope you fail,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I can imagine come back to God,
Speaker 1: because where you're getting ready to go, yeah, God ain't there.
Speaker 1: You see. Mine was like take God there, and I
Speaker 1: thought I was taking God there and it was a
Speaker 1: hard that's a hard place the Lord, you know, but
Speaker 1: I did. I said, I'm gonna go. I wanted to
Speaker 1: be like B, B and C C Whinings. Actually, I
Speaker 1: was really coming from a gospel thing. I didn't understand
Speaker 1: the R and B thing fully. Uh, And I had
Speaker 1: a lot of problems in d C. I think because
Speaker 1: people have vision and they say, oh, this is what
Speaker 1: you look like, this what you sound like, this is
Speaker 1: how we can market you. I never saw myself the
Speaker 1: way other people saw me. So and they kept saying,
Speaker 1: all the women are gonna do this, and the women
Speaker 1: are gonna do that, and I was thinking to myself, really,
Speaker 1: I just I really did not see myself. I never
Speaker 1: grew up with people saying you're handsome and you're he's
Speaker 1: fine and blah bla blah, what you know all this
Speaker 1: all the stuff that I got later on when I
Speaker 1: became Kenny Lattimore. I did not grow up like that.
Speaker 1: So I never took it seriously. I'd be like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's cool, that's really cool. So I went to New
Speaker 1: York and um, I went to just pursue so I
Speaker 1: get the support because my pastor and my mom at
Speaker 1: that time said go lift up a standard. So if
Speaker 1: anybody wants to know, why are his lyrics like you know,
Speaker 1: for you, I give a lifetime of stability, Never Too Busy.
Speaker 1: Can we find forgiveness in the throws? If I misunderstanding,
Speaker 1: what is the point of all that? Because r Kelly
Speaker 1: was the hottest thing ever during that time period, and
Speaker 1: it was you know, and I was in a whole
Speaker 1: different area area, so it was like, how do you
Speaker 1: how do you even fit into what's going on in
Speaker 1: the world when you're kind of like, not really gospel,
Speaker 1: but you're almost so um. That caused a lot of
Speaker 1: problems for me. Actually, um, even with the even with
Speaker 1: the beginning with Never Too Busy, Even in the beginning,
Speaker 1: it was a lot of people that were like, I
Speaker 1: don't get it. I don't get it. Now when Never
Speaker 1: Too Busy hit being, everybody understood. Everybody was like, we
Speaker 1: kind of get it. But still meeting me, I was
Speaker 1: the nice guy who came in. I think they wanted
Speaker 1: me to be a bad boy more. That was just
Speaker 1: the image as a black, young black guy in the nineties,
Speaker 1: the being, you know, having my hair braided, thug out.
Speaker 1: That was what was happening. And I was I kept
Speaker 1: fighting because I was like, but Whitney Houston exists. I
Speaker 1: was like let me be a male version. And I'm
Speaker 1: not comparing my voice or anything to her, but let
Speaker 1: me be a male version of what she's representing because
Speaker 1: she comes from the church too. That was, but I
Speaker 1: wasn't out campaigning, like at every interview going I'm Church
Speaker 1: that I was. I was just behind the scenes going,
Speaker 1: y'all kind of get it? Do you kind of get it?
Speaker 1: And it was difficult. So when I did my second
Speaker 1: project and it was more of the same, I think
Speaker 1: people were just like, Okay, okay, we have to figure
Speaker 1: it out. But by then I did have an audience
Speaker 1: who immediately came to the table when from the solo
Speaker 1: man my second project came and we developed from there.
Speaker 1: But it was difficult to be seen differently as a
Speaker 1: black man, as a young black man at that time period,
Speaker 1: and to say why can't we be all of these things,
Speaker 1: you know, as opposed to being one image or like
Speaker 1: a caricature or cartoon. Why why aren't we all these
Speaker 1: So What's for You? First hit record? No, Never Too Busy,
Speaker 1: Never Too Busy was the first single, and then I
Speaker 1: had a song called just what it Takes that great
Speaker 1: time recording you Keith for You Yes and Um and
Speaker 1: I'm this is one of the few platforms I'm really
Speaker 1: throwing out names and stuff because we know that come on, appreciate,
Speaker 1: I appreciate. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what do you feel an
Speaker 1: immediate shift? Because Never Too Busy was one of my
Speaker 1: favorite records. Uh the sonic on it. Like, I'm a
Speaker 1: producer too, So when I made Dave oh Man, I
Speaker 1: was like, I was like, who's doing that? It's pitch
Speaker 1: bending right there. That's that's not cool. It was that there.
Speaker 1: I'm like, it was haunting lutely so because when we
Speaker 1: finished recording it not to because I want to hear
Speaker 1: you your whole It felt like, Okay, I didn't want
Speaker 1: to sound like anybody else. We didn't want to be
Speaker 1: and this is something. This is different. It's haunting, like
Speaker 1: those the voicings in the track alone, and then you're
Speaker 1: dancing the way you're dancing and like none of it
Speaker 1: is interrupting. It's all complimentary placement. All the placement is great.
Speaker 1: I'll say thank you for them because they really great record.
Speaker 1: Do you see the shift then, or do you see
Speaker 1: the shift? And for you in terms of the size
Speaker 1: of the artists that you are in the response to
Speaker 1: you Wow. When Never Too Busy came, I think I
Speaker 1: had my first glimpse of fame because I remember going
Speaker 1: to um a store or something and I walked into
Speaker 1: the store and this this young lady was standing there
Speaker 1: and she just went and I was like again, because
Speaker 1: I never took anything seriously, I laughed. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's really sweet. And I went and I hugged her
Speaker 1: start screaming and she started screaming, and she screaming. She
Speaker 1: kept screaming, and I was thinking to myself, Okay, now
Speaker 1: I'm geting ready leave you alone because they arrest me.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be like something he's doing, you know, so
Speaker 1: you have, we're gonna take you away. So I um,
Speaker 1: and I thought to myself, wow, um, something has changed.
Speaker 1: And then I got a call to when Never Too
Speaker 1: Busy came out from Michael Jordan's and so to Michael, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're just gonna get you know, because we've seen the
Speaker 1: last dance. But yeah, I know you was yeah, but
Speaker 1: our shoes. He's never called, but I was really like
Speaker 1: he called because he wanted Never Too Busy to be
Speaker 1: the theme song for the Michael Jordan cologne. Do you
Speaker 1: remember the yes, Yeah, Michael everything, Yeah, everything, because I
Speaker 1: didn't write that song. Yeah, Mike, Mike, that's why I
Speaker 1: won't call your right there, the Big James out, you know,
Speaker 1: the Big James. Come on, man, he got a lot
Speaker 1: of money. Put it all in Big James. I maybe
Speaker 1: there's boot cut and then there's Michael Jordan's cut. Come on, Jordan,
Speaker 1: come on, black Cat with your What are you trying
Speaker 1: to hide? Okay, you got all the nice shoes. Why
Speaker 1: wouldn't you want to put a slightly skinny gen, you know,
Speaker 1: so you can show the shoe you wear. Get out?
Speaker 1: All right? So I call you He's he starts with
Speaker 1: the first album, the first album, yet I didn't write
Speaker 1: the song. Publishing so no, this isn't even about Kipper
Speaker 1: and Dave Hall. The publishing company turns it down and says, no,
Speaker 1: good job. Yeah. I was like, whoa, what just happened
Speaker 1: to me? So I thought, oh, I'll never well never
Speaker 1: see him, like I just thought, hey, that's you know,
Speaker 1: and yeah it was as a new artist, it was
Speaker 1: kind of devastating, like, but at the same time, I
Speaker 1: was very optimistic that I'm just starting my capering from
Speaker 1: I think, because now this I'm I'm totally speculating when
Speaker 1: I say this. So I think that any time anybody
Speaker 1: said Michael Jordan's name and meant money, yeah, obviously it
Speaker 1: was the feat whatever. So they're not thinking, but this
Speaker 1: is not Michael Jordan's man. This is a business that
Speaker 1: is one of his separate holdings, and that budget may
Speaker 1: not be You can't look at that that company and
Speaker 1: say it's the same as whatever he's making to do it.
Speaker 1: It's not Nike. It's a totally different business. Um. So
Speaker 1: they turned it down and they used something else. Um. Now,
Speaker 1: as years later we can go into this story. Years later,
Speaker 1: you know, continue to be called to do um launches
Speaker 1: for the shoes and you know, different kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: That's how that whole thing started. But it started with
Speaker 1: that song and They'm too Busy became a he was
Speaker 1: a fan, man. I was like, wow, So to have
Speaker 1: somebody that he wasn't just a fan, but he was
Speaker 1: somebody who went through the industry, Like y'all heard this
Speaker 1: Kenny Latimore record, but just like he like he was
Speaker 1: promoting me. I read it Charles Barkley one time. He
Speaker 1: was like, you know who was single handedly promoting you
Speaker 1: in the in the whole N B A. And I
Speaker 1: was like, you say it because he was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: m JA man. I said, wow, I didn't know that
Speaker 1: he really had talked to as many people about the music,
Speaker 1: but that he was into it is an R and
Speaker 1: B guy. Yeah, but that's what this music does though.
Speaker 1: That's music does it. It gets to people, and it's
Speaker 1: and when somebody can promote you, yeah, that's a whole
Speaker 1: another thing. It's one thing to like something, but it's
Speaker 1: another thing to be like have you heard? Yeah? You
Speaker 1: know what I mean. That's when somebody really invested. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's when it really invested in what you're doing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I thought, I thought, well, maybe he likes for
Speaker 1: you and he likes you know, and I prepare to
Speaker 1: set because he had me sing at a luncheon one
Speaker 1: day and the first time I sang and he was like,
Speaker 1: you know what my song really is, it's um Forever. Okay.
Speaker 1: I was like, if you know forever, you can you
Speaker 1: put an album because you really really do those album
Speaker 1: He was like no, no, no, really, I really love
Speaker 1: the album. And Barry Eastman happened to be with me
Speaker 1: on that first time meeting him and singing for him
Speaker 1: and I was like, Barry, how can we even pull
Speaker 1: this off? Because do you know forever for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: Barry knew they read he didn't produce that song, and
Speaker 1: I guess he was just listening to the album and
Speaker 1: he knew the progressions and all that. And Mike Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan was like, I want to bring my buddy and
Speaker 1: mad Shot in and I just want you to sing
Speaker 1: it for us, just right now. And I said, okay,
Speaker 1: this is this is something else, this is something on
Speaker 1: some other levels. The King and his friend. That was it.
Speaker 1: I did the v and then he said, then everybody
Speaker 1: else can come in and you can. You can sing
Speaker 1: for the most of them. So that's at this point
Speaker 1: for you, like you said, for you is out and
Speaker 1: you're starting to really receive that admiration. Yeah that this
Speaker 1: is from the world now. Yeah, like wow, have you
Speaker 1: have you embraced it though? Because I'm remember you going
Speaker 1: into the shy thing and not really understanding the compliments
Speaker 1: or so to speak, and like, that's cute, but are
Speaker 1: you embracing it? Are you starting to uh own it
Speaker 1: as we are? And b cats sometimes sometimes we do
Speaker 1: that song I got control it and have you heard
Speaker 1: it right? It's the choirboy moment for five parties. I know,
Speaker 1: the part did you start having? Do you ever have
Speaker 1: that moment where you're like, Okay, I've arrived. I don't
Speaker 1: think so. No, I don't think so. Even now, I
Speaker 1: go like, as I'm sharing these stories, it makes it
Speaker 1: like whoa, Yeah, that did happen. Wow, that happened. I
Speaker 1: can tell you another thing that happened to me huge,
Speaker 1: probably the biggest thing that happened to me. All of
Speaker 1: this was happening kind of around the same same time too. Um.
Speaker 1: I get a call and social media and websites and
Speaker 1: stuff is new, and I'm one of the first artists,
Speaker 1: maybe the first R and B artists, if not Maxwell
Speaker 1: macbel might have been or me doing social media at Sony,
Speaker 1: and um, we start getting messages from South Africa and
Speaker 1: I'm like, what is this we're reading? Somebody goes, oh,
Speaker 1: Kenny Latin was one of my favorite artists, Whitney Houston,
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson, and Kenney Lattimore, And I'm going, how how
Speaker 1: did I get into that? You know? And my mother
Speaker 1: had a huge affinity with Africa. We had we had
Speaker 1: African borders growing up where she would have them live
Speaker 1: with us and teach how to become acclimated to America
Speaker 1: and things like that. When she's an educator and she
Speaker 1: worked at Howard and she worked at Lincoln University, and
Speaker 1: she did not live. That's the one thing I didn't
Speaker 1: say so far as my mom passed. Also during the
Speaker 1: time that Mannequin's album during during the time I actually
Speaker 1: arrived at recording and having something on a label, my
Speaker 1: mother passed, But she had put so much in me,
Speaker 1: so much love for me, my character, um for people,
Speaker 1: all of that. So I arrived in South Africa and
Speaker 1: it's like I set foot on the continent as a king,
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking to myself, what is really going on?
Speaker 1: They had promoted this music so much, and there was
Speaker 1: a political thing going because as an American artist, most
Speaker 1: of us can step foot on the continent of Africa
Speaker 1: or particularly South Africa, They're gonna love you because they
Speaker 1: love R and B. They love it. But when I
Speaker 1: got there, men were being told that they could rape
Speaker 1: a virgin and be cured of AIDS. So, if you
Speaker 1: can imagine, that was a myth in South Africa and
Speaker 1: night if you rape a virgin you could be cured
Speaker 1: of AIDS. So this is spreading AIDS rapidly through the country.
Speaker 1: And then I set foot on this continent and and
Speaker 1: and I'm all nostalgic thinking about my mom and all that,
Speaker 1: and everything was so much bigger than me. They needed
Speaker 1: the guy who was saying for you, I give a
Speaker 1: lifetime of stability. The women needed to hear me say
Speaker 1: these words to them. So it was like a political
Speaker 1: movement around the record, around the record. So I was
Speaker 1: there to sing for Nelson Mandela's eightieth birthday. So of
Speaker 1: course you did. Of course you did. So it was
Speaker 1: a it was it was a very powerful and it
Speaker 1: was it was other great artists. I'm Drew Hill was
Speaker 1: with the Shaka Khan, Steve you Wonder was with us
Speaker 1: Um Nagi was with us Um. But I just was like,
Speaker 1: I want to go everywhere, and I want to see everybody,
Speaker 1: because if this is how this music is actually affecting people,
Speaker 1: it has to I have to be everywhere. I have
Speaker 1: to use my It was like I had a superpower
Speaker 1: that I didn't know. You just stayed over there. I
Speaker 1: stayed over there as long as I could, and I
Speaker 1: frequently went back. I convinced Anthony Hamilton to go for one.
Speaker 1: He's like huge, huge over there now. But I remember him.
Speaker 1: We went over together for his first visit, and you
Speaker 1: go and you do stadiums and you do you know, um,
Speaker 1: the people are crying. It was the whole Michael Jackson,
Speaker 1: the thing that you associated with Michael Jackson. I was
Speaker 1: kind of happy to see what that was like early
Speaker 1: in my career. It's like, Oh, this is what it's
Speaker 1: like to not be able to go out of your room.
Speaker 1: People are I mean, these women are coming to my
Speaker 1: room and just crying. I mean they're just you know,
Speaker 1: if they knock and they can see me, they're just crying.
Speaker 1: And it was it was overwhelming. I was getting some
Speaker 1: of that in the US, but over in Africa it
Speaker 1: was on a whole different level. Um. But then I
Speaker 1: felt like, okay, I'm really famous. Messed my head up
Speaker 1: a little bit. The next stop, I was going to
Speaker 1: Amsterdam and then through Europe, and I wasn't singing because
Speaker 1: I wasn't promoted. That's a whole different story, was not
Speaker 1: promoting Europe. But I got to Europe and they were like, um,
Speaker 1: get out the way, move out, And I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm back down to earth. Now. But it was an
Speaker 1: extreme just like that that I needed. I needed that
Speaker 1: because one thing one of my aunts, my my blessed,
Speaker 1: my my aunt told me who I love so much, gosh,
Speaker 1: my auntiebe. She said, everybody's not gonna like you. She
Speaker 1: told me that before Never too Busy came out and
Speaker 1: I used to feel like, why why are you telling
Speaker 1: me that? You know? But it was it was a reality.
Speaker 1: You know that every everybody's not gonna like you, so
Speaker 1: just be humble and enjoy the ride, enjoy the experience.
Speaker 1: And then in that moment, going from King to nobody
Speaker 1: knowing me again was a sense of reality and grounded
Speaker 1: nous and I was like, you know what, let me
Speaker 1: take a deep breath and pull my pants up like
Speaker 1: everybody else and start walking. And I got a lot
Speaker 1: of work to do, so I never felt like I
Speaker 1: arrived musically, I and I've been affirmed by some of
Speaker 1: the greatest artists in the world. But it's just and
Speaker 1: I always was just grateful. So here we go, Mr
Speaker 1: King More. You do a lot of you do a
Speaker 1: lot of history talking when you talk. I said, you
Speaker 1: draw a lot of historical names when you talk. We
Speaker 1: want to know your top five R and B singers
Speaker 1: male or female. Your top five. I know it changes
Speaker 1: that fluctuates, depends on the day. And now you can
Speaker 1: I can I put mail in a different category it
Speaker 1: used to be today with separated and I know the
Speaker 1: Grammys don't separate. Yeah, yeah, they don't separate this stuff.
Speaker 1: The more like, it was very hard to compare women's
Speaker 1: voices and men's voices for me, but I'll try. If
Speaker 1: it's your top five, I just said it could be
Speaker 1: a list with men and women. But if, however, you
Speaker 1: want to do five, UM, let me give you my guys. Um,
Speaker 1: I can't not in this order, in particularly Stevie's there,
Speaker 1: Luther Van Drosses, Marvin Gaye's voice. It's gotta be gotta be. Um,
Speaker 1: you know what. I gotta give people rices. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I only have one more that I just to put
Speaker 1: in the mix. Um, Teddy Pendergrass. And the reason why
Speaker 1: I think all those five is because they had the
Speaker 1: ability to do so many different things with their voices.
Speaker 1: They could caress a song and they can blow a
Speaker 1: song out so much versatility. And that's that's not all that.
Speaker 1: I'm an honorable mention. This is on the gospel side,
Speaker 1: somebody I listened to quite a bit who is amazing
Speaker 1: and who totally shaped my idea of singing. And as
Speaker 1: Daryll Coley, I was getting ready to say you are
Speaker 1: from the tribe of Daryl Coley, and I'm sorry I
Speaker 1: didn't say Donny had the way either. Okay, oh god,
Speaker 1: he's going And I got because I just started started
Speaker 1: looking into the tribe of Darryll Coley and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: there's Joe, there's Mario. And then when you were just saying,
Speaker 1: I was like, you got a lot of Darrell Koley
Speaker 1: only man. I mean his control was nice. Yeah. He
Speaker 1: was the first on demand singer i'd ever seen, absolutely
Speaker 1: just on demand dial up whole and just break out
Speaker 1: of going to chamber music. Like you know what, that's
Speaker 1: just not being afraid. Even if I had cracked or
Speaker 1: whatever it is, when you get to a certain time
Speaker 1: in your life, it doesn't matter. It's like a human.
Speaker 1: MoMA Shaka was like that in Echoes of an Era
Speaker 1: in the eighties. I remember reading a liner note where
Speaker 1: she said, I want people to hear my voice crack.
Speaker 1: I want them to hear the wrongness of my voice.
Speaker 1: And at that particular time. I think it was very important.
Speaker 1: I listened to that, and that also made me not
Speaker 1: care as much because we're human. Listen, uh. J Blige
Speaker 1: made me is that what we're doing right? Okay, we
Speaker 1: don't give it all no matter what got it. She's
Speaker 1: she's the queen of I'm giving you everything I got
Speaker 1: very true. You're gonna like it. And that's what That's
Speaker 1: what the originators did. That's what the James Browns of
Speaker 1: the world did. They went there. Yeah, James, man, I mean,
Speaker 1: think of all the stuff he could do with his voice.
Speaker 1: I mean, we know him. He was a monster. We
Speaker 1: know yeah, because we know the You don't, but he's
Speaker 1: a monster. It's the same way they don't give Rick
Speaker 1: James his credit. Oh monster vocalists super talented. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: top five R and B songs. Man, you get tricky,
Speaker 1: go back to the guys and go as for Stevie. Yeah, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say because the song was translated many times,
Speaker 1: the House is not at Home because of its ability
Speaker 1: to be transformed as well. Songs though great songs Purple
Speaker 1: Rain Um shout out to Kenny Burns inviting us to
Speaker 1: we were able to go to the page. You know,
Speaker 1: very simple but great song that's been covered so much
Speaker 1: to love valid Jeffrey Come on Jail, but I think
Speaker 1: think of his um and another. These these are cover
Speaker 1: songs because I gotta go back to Donnie Hathaways. A
Speaker 1: song for you, A great song straight ahead, Yeah, straight
Speaker 1: a has simple Those are the Simple for You by
Speaker 1: Kenny Lero. Yeah. The Kennys did it, didn't want honestly,
Speaker 1: one of the most brilliant songs I've ever heard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so did you sing it at their wedding too? Yes?
Speaker 1: I sang it at their reception. Actually they're Catholics, so
Speaker 1: you couldn't sing it in the church. At least back
Speaker 1: then you could. But I sang it at their reception.
Speaker 1: And this is before it ever comes out, before it
Speaker 1: ever came out, And I asked him, I said, could
Speaker 1: I could I put this on my demo? I was like, yeah, sure.
Speaker 1: But we were in that kind of uh space anyway,
Speaker 1: writing and we we were trying to make it together.
Speaker 1: And my mother used to say it. She said, something's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. It's gonna be glad of more Ly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she said that, So it's so it's it's true. If
Speaker 1: someone tells you, you know, I was at this reception
Speaker 1: back in the day, and you know I told him,
Speaker 1: and then they go to you know they do the
Speaker 1: lebron thing. Well, I told him, and I knew already
Speaker 1: that it was gonna happen before it happened. So they
Speaker 1: really did, really did you really did sing this song
Speaker 1: and somebody's reception, which makes it authentic and just different.
Speaker 1: We can sit down and go, you know, let's come
Speaker 1: with a with a wedding song. It's gonna make us
Speaker 1: a bunch of money. And it wasn't that, it was
Speaker 1: just true sentiment. It was literally, okay, um, we're gonna
Speaker 1: do R and B voltron. Okay, we're going to create
Speaker 1: your perfect R and B singer. We're gonna ask you
Speaker 1: where you want to get who you would get the
Speaker 1: vocals from, who you would get the styling from, who
Speaker 1: you would get the performance style from, and who you
Speaker 1: would get the passion from. Let's start with the vocal
Speaker 1: Who are you Who are you getting the vocal from?
Speaker 1: To build your R and B artists. Wow, I would
Speaker 1: start with the voice of m hmm. Okay, let me
Speaker 1: let me think. Let me go outside of the where
Speaker 1: I've been We'll start with you ask me, Sullivan, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take her. It's a whole lot of those qualities
Speaker 1: that are all in her. I know what you're saying,
Speaker 1: Like all the pieces that are coming for her are
Speaker 1: more already there into her. Okay, okay, but um the
Speaker 1: next was the next one was performance? Now no next
Speaker 1: one as well? We can go performance stuff okay, performancetyle
Speaker 1: meaning stage stage Eric fearless and the crowd Eric about
Speaker 1: to controls the crowd even when she's not on stage. Opener,
Speaker 1: And it seemed like they were told or they knew
Speaker 1: not to like me, not to like anything happening until
Speaker 1: she came on stage. I'm sweating. I know, I'm singing great,
Speaker 1: great at the hips they're like that, ain't it. You
Speaker 1: ain't got no instance, chap. And she walks out there
Speaker 1: with with with with some says Bernie. It starts pulling
Speaker 1: her tea and they go yeah, turns them out. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, the confidence owns it. She owns it.
Speaker 1: Jill Scott has the same it's the same kind of
Speaker 1: it's the same kind of standard and look you in
Speaker 1: your face like here and it's like no matter how
Speaker 1: many thousands of people it is. It feels like they're
Speaker 1: looking you right in your face. Yeah, it's very personal,
Speaker 1: very personal, very personal love. Yeah, you know that. That
Speaker 1: microphone video she did was very personal. I watched I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, this is great, this is great. Um styling.
Speaker 1: Who do you want your artists to look like? But
Speaker 1: they're putting on? Who? Who put that thing on? Shot?
Speaker 1: We're gonna keep it just clear, clean, bull clean, sexy.
Speaker 1: It's just it's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, it's always beautiful. It's
Speaker 1: a ponytail. Yeah, it's a ponytail. Yeah, it's not. It's
Speaker 1: never too much, never too much. Yeah, it's always right.
Speaker 1: How did she do that? Always right? I've never seen
Speaker 1: shot out of pocket? Yeah, have you seen in person?
Speaker 1: I have not. I got I got something over, yeah,
Speaker 1: one thing. I got one thing. I felt like, I'm like,
Speaker 1: is he searching? He's killing? Like nine one? All right? Um?
Speaker 1: Now who you getting the passion from the heart of
Speaker 1: the arts? Mhmm. I think the passion has got to
Speaker 1: come still. I think I'm thinking the passion has got
Speaker 1: to come from an older artist like Aretha who argument
Speaker 1: and that? Yeah, who is another who would leave it
Speaker 1: all on the floor too, like it was like Mary.
Speaker 1: That's why they comparison. I believe that she was a killer, yeah,
Speaker 1: ahead of her, so far ahead of her, and could
Speaker 1: do everything anything a killer though you could like there
Speaker 1: are certain singers that can sing and that will do
Speaker 1: what they can do, you know, performing the shows and
Speaker 1: do all this. But I always got the sense that
Speaker 1: A Wrentha was making sure you knew this is different. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: I don't know who what what? What? What? The mother?
Speaker 1: People do this right head different differently, and I think
Speaker 1: she was that way all the way to the end,
Speaker 1: all the way yep, crazy, I like, I like, I
Speaker 1: like what you did though, you know he used all
Speaker 1: the male top five male and then he went back
Speaker 1: to because it's like if you want to compare men
Speaker 1: and marmoted voices, because there's so many different nuances and
Speaker 1: I have to give some honorable mentions. This person had
Speaker 1: the passion, the look, the uniqueness, fearless Phillips Simon and
Speaker 1: was so studied. And when she did jazz she was
Speaker 1: just impeccable. And when she did R and B she
Speaker 1: was I mean just another like monster, like when you
Speaker 1: just sit back, but then you want also I got
Speaker 1: the one gospel person at least and put Karen. Karen
Speaker 1: Clark shared in just to Say Fearless Mama. I saw
Speaker 1: her an interview. She said, Mom told me to just
Speaker 1: bust that place wide open every time my song. That's
Speaker 1: the kind of passion that she had every time because
Speaker 1: we come from that gospel route, a lot of us,
Speaker 1: did you know, the gladdest nights and so many people
Speaker 1: that um, when you think of why people can flatfoot
Speaker 1: stand there, everybody has a story, you know, everybody has
Speaker 1: as a great story too. But I think it the
Speaker 1: fearlessness right it. I was watching an interview with with
Speaker 1: a man Schumper and he was talking about Carmelo Anthony
Speaker 1: and he was like, man, I'm I'm I'm I'm yelling him.
Speaker 1: I'm like, bro, I'm wide open. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: They're collapsing two on you. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: and you you just you're shooting the ball. And he's like,
Speaker 1: he's like, he's like and he's in. Carmelo looked at
Speaker 1: me and said, listen, I work on that. Mm hm.
Speaker 1: He trained for those difficult moments. So you're fearless because
Speaker 1: you work on impossible things. You're at the house pushing yourself.
Speaker 1: You're pushing the boundaries and and and and continuing to
Speaker 1: push the line of what of what of what even
Speaker 1: what you think you're capable of. So by the time
Speaker 1: you get in front of an audience, doesn't matter, It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. Oh can I say a man's wife. Tiaa
Speaker 1: a full talent, full gift, special little flex though, and
Speaker 1: she grew up as my cousin. Look that's family. That's family,
Speaker 1: but through marriage and our families are not connected in
Speaker 1: the same way that they were. But I got a
Speaker 1: chance to see her from the beginning, and to see
Speaker 1: her from the beginning. Um, she's the same. It's like
Speaker 1: she came into the world. Yeah, she just like she
Speaker 1: came in. I was at her showcase. Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: at her first showcase in l A, the one down
Speaker 1: in Santa Monica. Yeah, she's done. Google me baby, and sometimes, UM,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know if you got it.
Speaker 1: Definitely she needs to tell her story about how to
Speaker 1: manage artistry because to be associated with some of the
Speaker 1: huge giants and craft a career, and it was at
Speaker 1: a strange time when when her career was starting. Um,
Speaker 1: and I can't. I can't really tell her her story
Speaker 1: anything like that, but it would be interesting. I should
Speaker 1: probably be asking these questions, like when I think about
Speaker 1: new artists coming. Um, she was just a force, I think,
Speaker 1: a force that could not be stopped. Yeah, and she
Speaker 1: still is so everything she touched, everything she did. I
Speaker 1: think people understood that this isn't a true influencer and
Speaker 1: it's organic again. And we're in that age where artists
Speaker 1: have to be that where I didn't have to be
Speaker 1: that necessary. I guess I did. We had time to
Speaker 1: grow into it. We had listen. We were the last
Speaker 1: generation where it was kind of served up to us. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: here's your here's your directors, pick one. Yeah, here's the treatment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he tells out here she is the stylist. She's gonna choose.
Speaker 1: You know, this is the right person. And Brown and
Speaker 1: that those alien kids, they're just different. Yeah. And I
Speaker 1: and I love him to death. My baby's right there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love him absolutely, get him. I know he got something.
Speaker 1: I know he got something. I want to see. If
Speaker 1: he's gonna go there with us, don't go there. Believe
Speaker 1: we got a segment of the show, very important segment.
Speaker 1: Important man it's cart I ain't saying no names. Yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know it's it's it's a story.
Speaker 1: It can need to be funnier, fucked up, funnier, fuck up. Okay.
Speaker 1: The only rule to the story and the game is
Speaker 1: just can't say the name. You can't. You can't say
Speaker 1: who's with you. You can't say who's with you. You
Speaker 1: know who was against you, whose house it was, who
Speaker 1: shoot program? It was a part of none of that.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, right now we're gonna introduce it.
Speaker 1: This is Kenny Lattimore's I ain't saying no names. Oh boy,
Speaker 1: m HMMI many nots wrong with that. It's a veteran
Speaker 1: takeas time modeling over his trying to keep it classy.
Speaker 1: Let's see him names. You know, technically you might not
Speaker 1: even be man. I'm really thinking, y'all really really trying
Speaker 1: to We're here, baby here, do you want to jogle
Speaker 1: out me? He might be like, oh that happened? Oh
Speaker 1: whoa um, I gotta give you something simple. I give
Speaker 1: something simple. Let me thank you. This was a funny
Speaker 1: moment for me. This may not be Yeah, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep it simple. This is a funny moment for me,
Speaker 1: but it's an early moment this person, if they if
Speaker 1: they realize who they are. I love you. I love
Speaker 1: you tremendously. But this really did happen. A person is
Speaker 1: sound checking and they don't want anybody to look at them.
Speaker 1: M hm. Why they're sound checking because I think they're
Speaker 1: still evolving. This person is an amazing artist too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I and somebody who I'd love to work with.
Speaker 1: But they didn't want people to look at them. So
Speaker 1: we're sound checking and we're sitting and the persons like,
Speaker 1: m M, I don't want people looking at me, because
Speaker 1: you know, you want There's a group of people traveling together.
Speaker 1: Can you lower the lights? And the lights go down
Speaker 1: to maybe like where they are now, and the person
Speaker 1: is still not comfortable, and they're like, can you lower
Speaker 1: the lights more? And the sound people get upset, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, boom, the whole places pitch black
Speaker 1: and we all are just sitting there and pitch black
Speaker 1: darkness in an arena, and then lights come back on.
Speaker 1: Of course, the person like just walks off the stage.
Speaker 1: So do they sing when it goes pitch black? Are
Speaker 1: they don't sing thing either? No, they're pissed. They're pissed.
Speaker 1: It's like you just embarrassed me in front of everybody,
Speaker 1: just determined, but as opposed to just making a sensual
Speaker 1: and they just shoot and they're gone, and it's like
Speaker 1: next and we're all like like whoa, oh, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: and this is the only business you can get away
Speaker 1: with that. You can't get away with that anything. I
Speaker 1: want my shoot around in the dark, yea. But but
Speaker 1: the but the sound stuff and the lighting people. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying no names. I'll give you one more. I'm
Speaker 1: out on a tour and I'm helping to promote some
Speaker 1: new accent around Columbia. And we're touring and one of
Speaker 1: the acts decides to choke out the sound man. Mhmm,
Speaker 1: choke out the sound man. Okay, don't playing with my
Speaker 1: don't play with my sound. And of course it's kicked
Speaker 1: off the tour. And but it's always interesting when somebody's
Speaker 1: advertised and all the kind stuff you gotta come in.
Speaker 1: You can't really say what happened, You can't really, you know,
Speaker 1: And all we can do a smile, and you just
Speaker 1: the show must go on, and you go on and
Speaker 1: you do what you gotta do. Yeah, so we got
Speaker 1: the lights off. Oh yeah, we got the lights off
Speaker 1: and the choke out ke out. Those are my my
Speaker 1: arm being, you know, my nice This is crazy. How
Speaker 1: artists be like like don't look at me, or clear
Speaker 1: the hallways or clear the hallwaysays, clear the hallways is
Speaker 1: hilarious and I'd be like, what what why? I think
Speaker 1: I feed off of people in the energy I'm walking
Speaker 1: to the stage like it's like but even seeing the
Speaker 1: other artists that are on you know that are on
Speaker 1: the bill, like what what you killed? I'm gonna try
Speaker 1: to do a little something. I heard you what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: I'll see you. I'll see like all of that energy.
Speaker 1: I think it's so dope and needed. But you know,
Speaker 1: I guess, you know, maybe people getting in their zone.
Speaker 1: It's just yeah, everybody's own is different. I can't be mad.
Speaker 1: But um, this is my brother, Mr Kielletta more. Um,
Speaker 1: You're awesome, brother, Thank you. Both of you are awesome.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you having me. Let give me a voice
Speaker 1: to well you deserve that. And you know, there are,
Speaker 1: of course more than you know, people who look up
Speaker 1: to you, people who respect you, and people who want
Speaker 1: to hear from you, right. I was. We were talking
Speaker 1: to Mike City the other day and we were like,
Speaker 1: we were like, the information that we have is so necessary. UM,
Speaker 1: it is necessary to preserve UM the art form. It's true,
Speaker 1: It's very true, and so we have to be proactive
Speaker 1: with making sure that information in those teachings continue. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. My son wants to be
Speaker 1: a part of this industry and will and it is
Speaker 1: a part of it actually already because I've given him
Speaker 1: the opportunity to work professionally in it and everything. UM.
Speaker 1: But I agree with you because one he has the
Speaker 1: benefit of me. But I still don't just put him on.
Speaker 1: I want to see do you have the passion for this,
Speaker 1: because a lot of times people don't really have the
Speaker 1: passion for this. And the first little thing to happen
Speaker 1: is I'm tired, I'm this, I'm gonna and and the
Speaker 1: respect of what we've done through the years and what
Speaker 1: we've sacrificed UH is so important. I think that some
Speaker 1: of the talent shows UM have been rough to as
Speaker 1: much as they've made some identified some really amazing are
Speaker 1: just like American Idol and stuff like that. Identified some
Speaker 1: amazing artists. Um, all those other people that didn't make it,
Speaker 1: that may have gotten some television exposure or what have you.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I think some of them, not all of them,
Speaker 1: of course, have come in a little jaded that this
Speaker 1: is gonna be my instant. It's been a part of
Speaker 1: that instant thing. And um, and I don't take my
Speaker 1: son through unnecessary things, but in order to teach him,
Speaker 1: I tell them, struggle will make you stronger. If you
Speaker 1: don't exercise muscles, if you're not pushing against anything, your
Speaker 1: muscles will be weak and you're not going to be
Speaker 1: ready for what the world gonna throw at you because
Speaker 1: there will be opposition. Absolutely absolutely Well, listen, man, we
Speaker 1: love you, appreciate. I am Tank, I'm Jay Valentine. UM.
Speaker 1: And this is the R and B Money Podcast, the
Speaker 1: authority on all things. I've been waiting to say that,
Speaker 1: and we have living proof right here and Mr Kenn Money.
Speaker 1: R and B Money is a production of the Black
Speaker 1: Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe
Speaker 1: to and rate our show. And you can connect with
Speaker 1: us on social media at Ja Valentine and at the
Speaker 1: Real Tank. For the extended episode, subscribe to YouTube dot com, Forward,
Speaker 1: slash r and b Money