WEBVTT - Kenny Lattimore 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:13.160 And money. We all take val we are the authority 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:18.920 all things R and B. Ladies and gentlemen, what's going on? 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:22.599 I am tank and this is the R and B 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:33.880 Money Podcast, the authority all things and be sil silky. Yeah. 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.400 I ain't buy myself. No, you ain't by yourself. No 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:41.520 more quality for man hand quality. You've got to rub 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.000 your hands together for you, for you gotta you gotta 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:51.080 brother arms. This man is I mean, listen, before before 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:53.599 the cameras came on, we were talking about the difference 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.840 between an R and B singer, an R and B artist, 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:02.360 and a recording artist. He's all of them. He's a 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.040 monster and I got a bone to big pick with him. 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.039 But we'll get there. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up. 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:14.040 Mr Kenny yea, all right. So we're gonna circle back 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:16.559 to this because we we we love and are probably 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:18.720 we started the beginning. We go. We are informative. We 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.160 want to see where it came from, how it grew, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.640 how it got here, and all of that stuff. But 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:25.440 I have to have to pick this bone with you first. 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:29.160 He picked this with you, okay, is I love you. 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:33.520 But there's a small plate of beef get called the 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:40.400 singer of this wedding. You know it well, it wasn't 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:45.160 quite tank yet, still the real I love it. I said, 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:47.040 once your singing out, wed and wants you to sing 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:51.920 the song by Kenny A. Lottamore for you said that 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.480 should that should be easy to do that not a 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:58.880 lot of vocal uh acrobatics in that one, very straight ahead, 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.320 spare them sed that out. I got the words, wrote 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.040 the worst out label. All right, it's a lot of words, 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.960 a lot of words words. Try the first verse at home, 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:09.000 Try the first verse. Oh yeah, I can knock this out. 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.160 All the words kind of go the same. I'll figure 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:15.280 it out on the spot. Get to the wedding and 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.160 start singing this song. This is the first selection. You know, 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:19.880 as the bride and groom look at me, they're already 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:23.320 posted the families looking at me outside wedding. And as 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:27.560 I'm getting through that first hook, I'm just feeling slightly 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:31.560 a little bit beat up. After the first first hook, 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:38.320 this man vocusing ain't vocaling right? My standing strong. As 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:42.600 I go midway through the second verse, I'm losing it. 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:47.040 I am losing My vocal is getting weary, vocal cords 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.840 are getting tired, completely my vocal cords are getting so 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.000 tired that I had the words right in front of me, 0:02:54.120 --> 0:03:00.280 I start to go blind. I cannot read the words. 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:04.600 To save my life, I can't see them. I'm sweating now. Okay, 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:07.640 by the second hook, I'm trying to get through the hook, 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:13.720 I just start to add libing freestyle he doing in 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:20.520 that movie Welcome to the Candy Shop. I started candy 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:28.079 shopping your record. I didn't know. I had no idea 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:33.400 what it took to sing that song. And I thought, 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:39.400 I knew it's a difficult song. And so you're okay, no, no, 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.760 because you can do so. But he could have put 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:46.400 all you could have put a warning leg on the record. 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:49.960 I know you're not, but don't try to try this 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:53.560 at home first before you do it at the way. 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:55.400 But I'm gonna tell you though, I was the same 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:58.320 way when I first got the song. One of my 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:00.880 buddies wrote this. It was literally his wedding song. Kenny 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:07.480 larm a very unassuming an incredible but incredible songwriter. Um, Kenny, 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.040 I got this song because I'm getting married to Ellen. 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:11.880 You know, I love her so much, and I wrote 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.640 the song for I was like, okay, okay, so he says, 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:23.479 hear the words first fidelity. Uh what I mean? It 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.400 was like these big words and that was and I said, wow, 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:28.320 I don't know how I'm going to sing these words. 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:31.520 So then he went back like a day later he said, 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.520 this is how the melody goes. And when he when 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:36.800 he sang the melody, I was like, wow, this is brilliant. 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.560 I mean, I get it. I gets Then it was 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:44.360 going into the studio being the recording artist, I was like, 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:47.640 I'm glad I didn't have to sing it live like 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.200 straight down first, because how would have fallen apart? Too? 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.280 I was like, where's the breath? Okay? I got all 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.800 that out? You know, where are all of these nuances 0:04:57.800 --> 0:04:59.400 gonna come from? And how do I take? Once I 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.560 got to the ridge, I was like, whoa, I don't 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:04.479 even know. We had to really work it out. And 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.160 once we did, though, the great Barry Eastman produced it. 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.679 And once we worked it out, then I still had 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.240 to figure out and this isn't every song for me live? 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.520 Where does it fit in my body? I don't know 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.280 if you ever feel that way, like where does it fit? 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.880 Because it's something different when you're moving and breathing and 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.360 doing everything all at once and delivering a song, and 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.680 you wanted to sound like people remember it sound. So 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:35.800 I had to really grow into it. And uh, thank god, 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:37.760 it's been the saving song. I haven't had any crashing 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.800 burns on it. I should have had one crashing burn. 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.320 I'm just giving y'all some some real R and B stuff. 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.119 I was on tour with Barry White when I first 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.719 came out, and I was like constantly on the first tour, 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.159 I was Verry White, so I'm taking notes because the 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:55.520 maestro was coming out giving it to him. Every night. 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.279 He had this way of he'd walk out real slow 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:05.480 and he said good evening, and and Ecstacy was playing 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.039 in the background, so if you can imagine ext is dumping, 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.600 but he's walking out real So I was like, I'm 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:12.200 gonna do that. I'm gonna do that. O't cay, I'm 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:16.280 taking this. I'm taking that note. But it's right right, 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:27.000 so everybody right out there right right. I got stuff 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.160 from him too, Yeah, definitely, But it was crazy. I 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.039 was working so hard that I remember my manager and 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.640 the label said, we want you to do for you 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:42.080 for a for the executives, the black executives, and at 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:45.960 that time. It was black, I mean powerful black executions. 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:47.880 We get in this room and it was the first 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.479 time that I ever was completely burned out and I 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:54.880 didn't know what was happening. So you're talking about I 0:06:54.960 --> 0:07:00.760 was like, for you give a like I was. I could. 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:04.359 I could barely say anything, like literally, I could not 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.039 produce a note. And I never felt that way in 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.679 my entire life. And I'm in front of the biggest 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:15.240 executives in the industry. It works, Yeah, but in a way, 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:17.200 I'm feeling like I'm glad I was in front of 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:20.280 them instead of the audience. They were forgiving, and I 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.880 think they understood what I was going through as a 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.560 new artist coming out more than like, Oh, it would 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.200 have been crazy if it was somebody, but it was 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.840 somebody in the marketing department, Like yeah, you know he's 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:37.280 been on tour. You know he's starting nice in they're 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:42.280 covering it up. You just you have a um, you 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.120 have what I like to call a classic voice, and 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:51.520 it's a voice that it's it's it's straight ahead, it's 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:56.040 doing everything it needs to do straight ahead. Like you know, 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.440 Luther didn't have to do anything. He'll throw you some 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.960 we whoo whoo, he'll throw that in there, he'll get 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:08.000 that to it, you know, and that's exciting. But straight ahead, yeah, 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.760 spons he you have that kind of voice which is 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:21.400 straight nothing else, pure tone and broader richness like uh, 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:27.360 like a Josh Grobin, Like just straight ahead is enough, 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:31.640 like yours is. Yours isn't a tuxedo or or some 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.560 jeans and a polo shirt like it can It doesn't 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:38.040 matter like you've and you've and you've done it with 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:40.400 the textures of music or the sonics of music that 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.719 you've performed on where you go as as a as 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:47.400 a for you or I'm not too pity or you 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.880 when you prove it, like yeah, I appreciate it. So 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.480 let's go back. Okay, okay, I really appreciate that. Let's 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:59.760 start at the beginning. Right when did somebody say my boy, nice? Right? 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:03.000 Did that boys? Or when did you in your mind 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:07.600 have the moment where you were like, oh, you know what, 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:09.760 my mom you know a lot a lot that's how 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.480 your mother is like, oh my baby can sing. And 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:16.440 so you know, my mom was like, hey, was that 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:18.360 you singing? She just heard me around the house one 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:22.480 day and she just said, do you want to take 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.080 voice lessons. I didn't know what voice lessons was. I 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:26.880 was like, but whatever it is, as long as I'm 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:33.080 not in trouble. Yeah, yeah, why not? Twelve twelve years old? 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:35.600 Now I had sung, like the first time I remember 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.280 singing in front of people. I was ten and I 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:42.040 was in the neighborhood. One of my friends, Andrea, was like, 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:49.840 Kenny can sing or they call me Kenneth kennething like yeah, exactly. 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.920 So she got all the girls in the neighborhood together 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.120 and she asked me to sing a song. And I 0:09:58.160 --> 0:09:59.800 sang a little song. I don't know. I think I 0:09:59.880 --> 0:10:02.000 was singing like the emotions. Remember the emotions. They used 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:03.920 to have a bunch of harmony and stuff from high voice, 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:09.320 you're walk in the line, you turn un for. I 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:13.760 just started singing this falsetto kind of stuff tie yeah, 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:20.880 and the girls started screaming yeah. I was like wow, 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:22.800 you know. But it was my mom who said, do 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:24.680 you want to take voice lessons? And it took everything 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.160 to another level because she felt like I had something 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.599 different and I didn't think I was in different that 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.680 everybody sang, you know, my family members saying my sister 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:36.280 and my my grandfather sang. I used to be intimidated 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.640 to singing from my grandfather though, because he had one 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.760 of the big, heavy voices and he'd rolled his arms 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:45.920 when he sang in the church because mainly his church stuff. 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:50.600 So um. She had me start doing voice lessons and 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:55.640 I sang songs like I Left my Heart in San 0:10:55.760 --> 0:11:05.320 Francisco upon a hill, it called to me. So I'm starting. Yeah, nice, 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:13.840 it's way too easy. Bro. If you did, like, uh, 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:18.880 what's my vegus guy said, Vegas? If you did, Frank 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:26.800 so not working on it now? I record soon. The 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.240 how's the next month? It's next month. I start next 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:35.440 month on the orchestra. Bro, you go big band, Okay, 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:37.120 I'm sorry. So but we're gonna do a little We're 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.280 gonna do a combination. We're gonna do some American song 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:41.959 book like that, because that's how I started. I'm with 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.960 some classical because I did the classical and the languages 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:47.679 and all that. But I'm also gonna you're gonna hear 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.080 never too busy with the orchestra. So yeah, I need 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:55.200 you invite me. I need to put my clothes will 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:57.400 I'm gonna let you all know when things happen just 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.840 in case, I know you got busy scatters, We're going 0:11:59.920 --> 0:12:06.839 to okay, So classes, you're you're learning, your your your perfecting. 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:09.040 And I felt like I didn't want to be a 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.600 singer with any boundaries. Um, I think Marvin from a 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.000 young age, at a young age. Once I sang I 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.960 left my heart in San Francisco and unforgettable and all that, 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:23.360 I started going, I wonder what else I can do? Um, 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.160 I was definitely shy growing up. Music saved my life. 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:29.960 I was definitely shot, Like I'd be very uncomfortable having 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.680 this conversation back then as a as a young kid, 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:38.200 and but music gave me purpose, Like people could see me, 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:41.960 they could see me if I sang. So when I 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:45.520 heard myself eventually recorded and all that, I was like, 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.160 what else can I do? So I started singing chamber 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:52.160 music and I was singing classical and I want a 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:56.240 scholarship for in the Maryland schools. I was a Maryland 0:12:56.320 --> 0:13:04.120 Distinguished Scholar for singing. He can grow And if he 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:08.319 had a loan as lead, he had a loan asleep, 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.240 he could and you know at me like I was 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:17.520 gonna know, Hey, I don't know, I don't so I 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:23.000 went to I went to Morgan State, Yes, which represented 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:28.040 the US and classical music. Yeah, and I got a 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:32.760 scholarship because he just thought I was He described me 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.600 as a major talent. He said, just come, I said, 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:37.679 who do I talk to? You just talked to Dr 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.760 me He just talked to him. And I get to 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:47.199 class first day of school and they passed everybody this 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:52.679 sheet these sheets. Oh boy, and Dr Conway, who was 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:58.480 playing the piano, comes kicks him up. Dr Carter says, okay, 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:01.200 we were grunt like this, but he had perfect pitch. 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.080 So I like that perfect pitch. Looked like James Brown 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.440 for everything, the jacket of the boots who So he 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:11.960 talked like Bishop he know, he talked like a combination 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:16.000 of Bishop Koonya and Grover. But he had imagine perfect 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.360 pitch in this. You know, I don't I need to 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:22.120 be on the side of you that you you stop it, 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:28.120 stop it right? He was that, and he said, and 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:38.720 everybody said, yeah, man, dividating. I thought y'all thought I 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:43.560 was king. I am not well all because I can't 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:47.280 I can't see y'all or y'all flip the page. Alright, alright, 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.720 so when you start saying that like I get it, 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.360 but I never got it. Oh man, I understand, I understand, 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:57.480 and I feel like I was okay. I'm an okay 0:14:57.520 --> 0:14:59.440 sight reader. But because we didn't have we don't have 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:01.400 to use it as you got the tone you figured, 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.160 thank you, but you know I had. They kicked my 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.000 out went to Howard. You know they kicked my behind. 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:13.280 I went to Howard and I studied with Dr Leroy 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.080 Dorsey who taught roberta Flag and Donnie Hathaway, and I 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:20.200 was pushed all of him. And when you're talking about 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.000 that instructor, he would grandma throat. If I start singing 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.680 my throt he grandma throat. He's really flamboyant guy. He'd 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.680 be like, get off. I'd be singing drink to me 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:34.960 only withnine eyes. And he was like really hardcore about 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.440 things being perfect. But he said, I'm gonna work with 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:41.040 you because again somebody affirmed me and said you know 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.840 something about you, and each instructor that I had did 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:46.760 something different. It was a woman named Janet Helms, who 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.200 I love dearly, who also was from Howard. She taught 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.800 me regularly, like how to really be grounded as a singer. 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:57.960 Leroy Dorsey taught me power. There's another instructor, James Holliday 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.440 who taught me falsetto. He he was fascinated with. He 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:02.440 was like, I want you to be able to go 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:04.640 up and down from your falsetto and back without hearing 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.240 a break. So at some point in my life I 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:11.840 was able to do it, but it was like each 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:16.800 person found something different to challenge me on. And in 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.400 addition to all of that, I just kept feeling like 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:22.040 I don't I want to be able to sing any 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.000 type of music at any point and be really good 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.040 unless I'm not good. So they were training. They were 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:32.040 training your voice the same way that athletes are training 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:36.080 in their sport, like shooting coach or hitting coach, or 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:40.040 you know what I mean. Like they were literally breaking 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:45.760 your voice down. Absolutely amazing, because you don't you don't 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:49.240 find that in many singers where they their story goes 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:56.440 back to literally somebody picking it apart and building it up. Obviously, 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.480 because you just name what five or six different teachers 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:03.680 who taught different things completely and the first person my 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:05.600 first vocals in trunth to Maryland Morris, it was just 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.359 breathing and they focused and focus on my breathing. That 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.720 was the basics. You know. She was my first vocal instructor, 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.359 but each one, definitely they gave me something different until 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:18.879 I got to the point where I could combine it all. 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:21.560 But it was the classical technique that helped me survive 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.840 because I sang in bars and clubs too. I was 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:26.639 in a group called Mannequin when I was back at 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.480 home in d C. And we were signed to Epic Records. 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.600 Man we would do five and six forty five minutes 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:40.000 sets per night in bars and clubs. Totally one more time. 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:44.520 Today people are saying five and six forty five minutes 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:49.439 sets her night doing covers and I didn't have to 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:53.040 sing every single set, every single song. But I'm sank. 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:55.639 So even if you broke it down to like three 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:58.600 minutes sets, the extra while he was in this group, 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:00.600 which he did, he did, he was out of that. Yeah, 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:05.000 do you remember to the extreme cry no More? That 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:12.440 was my joint. That was my joint. And Johnny brother 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.280 Randy was in there that I didn't know it was 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:20.760 in Yeah, yeah, I didn't know that. So our DC 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:27.320 thing was was really special. Uh, And I feel like 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:29.160 I was really blessed because I did get a chance 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:32.199 to meet like Stacy Lattison and Johnny and all, and 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.000 they're all still everybody still close, and you know, um 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.600 Tony Braxton. I remember Tony Braxton coming into a mannequin 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:40.800 session because she was a fan of mannequin when I 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.919 was in there, and she was like, well, you know, 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.120 people say that sound like a boy because my voice 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:50.520 is you know, lower as rich as her voices. And 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:52.640 she said, but there's this new lit this is this show, 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:54.800 how long ago this was, but this this new lady 0:18:54.800 --> 0:19:05.040 out and the name A need a Baker. And she 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.639 got on the piano she started singing and the sweet 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.920 Love and was playing and I was like, wow, I 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:17.359 would pay to see her singing for sure. Ya got killers. 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:20.200 Let me tell you something, as we said, I need 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:24.239 a Baker, I need to baker is anointed. It just 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:28.120 stops absolutely absolutely right there, right, no question. I heard 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:32.840 her sing no question happy Birthday the other night at 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:37.600 the Usher concert and I and I my body, I 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:42.520 felt it in my body like her tone and she 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:45.760 she just went there just just for one note, and 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.800 I said, oh my god. And she was a person 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:54.040 who people said she wasn't a good thing. Oh absolutely, yeah, 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:59.920 because it's a style, it was something perfected through the year, 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:04.880 and because I'd say because I remember her in chapter eight, Yeah, 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:06.920 I want to go way back right. Chapter eight was 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:08.280 a group she was in and she may have had 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:10.359 another one before. I know the people in L A, 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:12.119 No and d C because they played on the Quiet 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.160 Storm a lot. Um. I just want to be your 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:19.199 girl if I find oh way, I don't know if 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:25.040 you ever hear I'm definitely yeah when you hear all that. 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.159 Because I studied the women too, and that's one thing 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:29.480 I talked about it in my show Phillis him in 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.000 um Anita Baker a lot of my I found that 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.720 when they were perfecting my falsetto in my lessons and 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:38.560 all of that, I was like, oh, what else can 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:40.080 I do? So I would harmonize with them and I 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:43.920 would try to keep my falsetto in the shape where 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.679 when I got into the studio I could sing the 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.440 women parts too. So when I was in my own 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:52.800 backgrounds and stuff, I'm never too busy and I'm not 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:55.440 too busy. You know, as a recording art you you 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:58.400 learn your mic technique to get in, but you gotta 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:01.320 be able to produce that sound, So I would, you know, 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:05.080 think of Anita Baker. Sometimes I would think of other 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:08.240 Stephanie Mills, and for holiday, I would think of a 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:10.439 lot of the different women who had big voices and 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.920 imitate their sounds to create my background. So people would 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:16.080 be like, who's singing your background? I'd be like me. 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:21.880 They be like, okay, but um, I got lost. I'm 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:26.639 just I'm just having a good count were in it 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:28.639 with you, bro, like you know, just and and I 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:30.719 started thinking about all the greats that event. When did 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:34.080 you get When did the epic thing happened for you? First? 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:37.960 You had Howard. At this point, I was at Howard 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:39.840 and it was in my first year and I got 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:43.919 sad and I came out of Howard and I started 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.840 hitting the road. I was an architecture and planning and 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:49.399 I was like, I can't. There's no way I'm going 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:52.040 to be able to do architecture and planning. So I said, 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:54.320 I'm gonna have to drop out of school. And they 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:59.000 said no, we want you to just stay um and 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:00.760 we want you to just go to Fine Arts to 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:03.840 take some classes in fine arts. And I was like okay, 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:05.680 And I tried that, which kept me in school a 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:08.760 little long and still didn't wasn't able to stay. But um, 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:12.040 I remember Denise Williams came to the school, um and 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:17.159 she was like teaching. She had people from commercials, Darryl Tooks, 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:19.920 she had engineers come in and all that, so that 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:23.280 we as students would not just see ourselves as artists 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:26.240 because a lot of times we you know, young black 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:27.840 kids coming up, all you can see is I gotta 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:29.960 be the star. And it's like, but there's so many 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:34.119 other things out there, and she said, there's nobody that 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:36.560 can be a better you. I definitely took that home, 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:41.040 and she made me want to be like Luther and 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.800 Patty Austin and all that who could change their voices 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:46.720 and they could sing these commercials. And I got a 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:49.800 chance to do Folgers, I got a chance to do 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:57.600 um wow, Verizon you know sing James. That stuff hard? Yeah, yeah, 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:00.800 that stuff is really hard because you can think, oh, 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:03.239 i'll I have to do is sing this melody, and 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:05.480 then it's like they want to hear the melody some 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:09.480 kind of way that that you it's unbelievable, like they 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:14.800 actually it's not even like musical in a sense. What 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:17.639 they want to hear what they're asking you for. Ye 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:21.840 Sometimes they don't even know and you have to just 0:23:21.920 --> 0:23:26.639 keep producing that they're searching for an algorithm, you know, 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:28.880 which which is which is the word now? But back 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:31.720 then when I was like even like doing soundtracks and stuff, 0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:34.760 it's like these guys that aren't like super musical, but 0:23:34.760 --> 0:23:36.919 they're like, no, there's a thing that you should be 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:39.880 right here. And then right after that thing, we can 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:42.919 roll over into any like and they know when they 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:45.480 feel like they know it when they're here and they're like, 0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:53.040 there it is. You do that again, we think, but 0:23:53.080 --> 0:23:59.600 there is something there that that I always say, sometimes 0:23:59.640 --> 0:24:04.760 people who are not as musical as we are can 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:08.320 just hear it a different way, you know what I mean, 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:12.000 And there's value. There's there's value in what they're hearing 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:16.040 because they're they're completely outside looking in and they're able 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:19.040 to see something that we some but sometimes we're blind 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:22.720 to it. YEA. One of the value valuable moments I've 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:25.640 had this similar to that is with Matt Jones, who 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:28.560 was the n R guy who's who's found me and 0:24:28.600 --> 0:24:33.600 brought me to Columbia Records. Um. When I first started, 0:24:33.680 --> 0:24:38.600 I wanted to sing soft like melodies over hard hip 0:24:38.600 --> 0:24:40.639 hop beats. I knew it was something about that they 0:24:40.680 --> 0:24:44.359 hadn't been done. And uh, I remember going into Dave 0:24:44.680 --> 0:24:46.880 Dave Hall and all these producers that we were trying 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:48.720 to do all this stuff, and thank God for faith Evan. 0:24:48.800 --> 0:24:51.480 She had come out and she had she had already 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:54.280