Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: What's Up? What's Up? What's up? Y'all?
Speaker 3: This is Questlove. Welcome to another Quest Love Supreme. As
Speaker 3: you know, we're doing these special episodes of which each
Speaker 3: team supremember in abuse of person their passionate album Sugar.
Speaker 4: Steve sort of kicked it off with a two part incredible.
Speaker 3: Two part conversation with one of his musical heroes, Elvis Costello,
Speaker 3: that we did at Electrically Studios, and Corus Fonte again
Speaker 3: his special solo session with singer songwriter Eric Roperson and
Speaker 3: these men are friends. They made an album together and
Speaker 3: it's an excellent look into the lives of two artists.
Speaker 3: And if you haven't heard part one, please check it
Speaker 3: out because this is part two from Fonte and Eric
Speaker 3: to Hilario only on Quest Love Supreme.
Speaker 4: All right, y'all enjoy it.
Speaker 5: What was the record for you that as an independent artist,
Speaker 5: you know, because you have you have your moments, so
Speaker 5: you have some records that like will go all all
Speaker 5: the way off, and then you had some to.
Speaker 2: Just be like, all right, this did cool.
Speaker 5: What was the record for you that like kind of
Speaker 5: was the one where you was like Okay, I think
Speaker 5: I got it because I can tell you what it
Speaker 5: was for me as a fan, but I don't know
Speaker 5: what it was like for you on the business side.
Speaker 4: For me, it was Left.
Speaker 5: And I ain't even saying that just because I was
Speaker 5: on it, but like Left, I mean, I got Vault
Speaker 5: one point five. That was the first record I ever
Speaker 5: bought of yours. I actually got that one before I
Speaker 5: got Esoteric. I was in I was in Chicago. We
Speaker 5: was on a Little Brother We was on a Little
Speaker 5: Brother tour stop and we went to it was that
Speaker 5: Virgin Mega store that used to be uh in Chicago,
Speaker 5: like that that big Virgin Mega store, and I just
Speaker 5: saw you.
Speaker 4: I just saw your joint, Eric Robson, and I knew
Speaker 4: you from.
Speaker 5: The Jazzy Jeff album and so I was like, I
Speaker 5: was like, oh, he got an I was like, oh,
Speaker 5: I caught this, and I bought that and I played
Speaker 5: you know the first record you know is you know
Speaker 5: is she couldn't hear me over the music, and I
Speaker 5: was just like, oh my god, and like I ran
Speaker 5: that whole record. That record got me through that tour,
Speaker 5: you know what I'm saying. And so that was the
Speaker 5: first one and then when I saw that one and
Speaker 5: I saw it was produced by Redhead Kingpin, I was like, what, like,
Speaker 5: how did that come about?
Speaker 6: Months first, Red had one of the most talented producers, visionaries.
Speaker 6: I've ever even been in a room with Right and
Speaker 6: I'm honest that they even allowed me to do that
Speaker 6: song with him, But I would tell you couldn't hear
Speaker 6: me all the music was probably the song that probably
Speaker 6: like changed everything, and then from there it was able
Speaker 6: to grow Right So here everyone's like Eric, that's Eric
Speaker 6: was in a songwriter and truth be Told Even before that,
Speaker 6: like when I was doing songs off fatic and off
Speaker 6: of like when I was doing the Vault album, a
Speaker 6: lot of the times played when I played the songs,
Speaker 6: when people heard the songs, they were like, can we
Speaker 6: buy them? So that was so the left the Vault
Speaker 6: was was a heavy draw the line in the saying
Speaker 6: I'm not selling these songs like it was like you know,
Speaker 6: and and truth be Told off.
Speaker 2: So it's Vault Volume one point five. Why is it that?
Speaker 6: Because Volume one had hold On, which eventually went to
Speaker 6: dwell a.
Speaker 5: Yo, yeah, I want to ask you to yeah, like
Speaker 5: so that because I love that fucking song. Dwayne Bay,
Speaker 5: what's the what's the deal with him?
Speaker 2: Like, how did you guys know what the college together? Man?
Speaker 2: We met.
Speaker 6: I was walking into the Drew Hall at Howard University
Speaker 6: freshman year with a keyboard under my arm. He was like, Yo,
Speaker 6: you do music, and I was like, yeah, I do too,
Speaker 6: and he came my room and I think he was
Speaker 6: my room freshman. Like it was just like I had
Speaker 6: this little small room by the size of this chair
Speaker 6: I'm sitting there, and it's like everybody saw me walk
Speaker 6: into that that dorm room with a keyboard and like
Speaker 6: some little minuscule equipment and it was like what's on
Speaker 6: and popping in this room?
Speaker 2: Like my room was never empty. People would just work
Speaker 2: on music.
Speaker 6: And guess what, it is an honor that there's still
Speaker 6: a lot of Dwayne on my new album that we
Speaker 6: just put out, and you know, with Jermaine mob Lea
Speaker 6: and you know, so many, so many brothers, Tracy Lee,
Speaker 6: so many cats I met when I got there and
Speaker 6: just started bonding with that. We still do do music,
Speaker 6: you know, to this day. But yeah, that was that
Speaker 6: was just right right with homies. But the first album
Speaker 6: eventually had to be changed because, yeah, I was heavy
Speaker 6: in the songwriter Carl Thomas I wrote Reround was on Rebound,
Speaker 6: so it was like, okay, let's change this up one
Speaker 6: point five and then from this point on like this,
Speaker 6: this is this is it Now I'm not selling anything.
Speaker 2: You're not gonna hear no problems, no whatever whatever.
Speaker 6: I think Volume one had one time with with Jill
Speaker 6: Scott on it and stuff like that, so it was like,
Speaker 6: so the boom, but then it.
Speaker 4: Was previous was previous catch? Was that on the vault?
Speaker 6: No, previous cats was I never I had never released it,
Speaker 6: previous catch I had just played for I wrote it
Speaker 6: in college with Jermaine Mobley, but I played it for music,
Speaker 6: just a demo of it, and interesting enough before he
Speaker 6: ever had a record deal, and he was like, I
Speaker 6: want that for my second album. I was like, like, what,
Speaker 6: you ain't even sign on your first album yet, Like
Speaker 6: he gets signed. It was like, yeah that previous catch, No, no,
Speaker 6: that's my second album, all right, cool man, shoot your shot.
Speaker 2: He puts the album out.
Speaker 6: Of course he comes music soulcha and then and then
Speaker 6: sure enough he called me like, hey, I'm started my
Speaker 6: second album. You still got that previous cat song. I
Speaker 6: was like Yo, you different, man, you different. I was like, yeah,
Speaker 6: we recorded, but I don't know why I never put
Speaker 6: that song because me and Jermaine Mobley worked on a
Speaker 6: lot of records. He's on that, he's on that Vault album.
Speaker 6: But for some reason, uh, I think you know what
Speaker 6: real talk. By the time I'm starting to release the records,
Speaker 6: and I think that's the song right in me. Like
Speaker 6: once music said I liked the song even if I
Speaker 6: wanted my an album, I was like, this is.
Speaker 2: For music now.
Speaker 6: I like, probably I've never even considered it for myself,
Speaker 6: which is probably why it was not on the Vault record.
Speaker 4: Or no, it's funny you say that. I'm the exact
Speaker 4: same way.
Speaker 5: Like for me if someone is speaking for it, like
Speaker 5: our mentality in our campus that there's always another song.
Speaker 5: So if someone if we write something and they like, yo,
Speaker 5: I want it, it's like, all right, cool, it's yours
Speaker 5: and we're just city. It's whenever you're ready for it,
Speaker 5: because we can always make something else. So the Vault
Speaker 5: one point five that was you know, you say that
Speaker 5: was the one that kind of you know, that was
Speaker 5: kind of line in the sand and.
Speaker 4: Then left for me, that was the moment.
Speaker 5: When I saw because you know, I was, I mean,
Speaker 5: I was just a fan. So when you hit me
Speaker 5: that night when you came to Jersey we went to
Speaker 5: your crib, I was just like, all right, I'm just
Speaker 5: kicking it one of the homies. Like I was not aware.
Speaker 5: I mean I knew your catalog, I knew like you're
Speaker 5: writing and stuff. But you know, I'm just like, man,
Speaker 5: I'm just kicking it this this big bro, I'm just
Speaker 5: kicking it. But when Left came out, and when I
Speaker 5: saw the response that like being in love and I
Speaker 5: saw it was people hit me.
Speaker 4: Like, yo, you I heard you on Arrow Eric Rob
Speaker 4: was the new album, and I was.
Speaker 5: Like, oh like this dude, like oh wow, Like he
Speaker 5: got people like really out here.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: That was that was just that was from my experience.
Speaker 5: That was you know, from my vantage point. When that
Speaker 5: record came out, I just saw, you know, just the
Speaker 5: people that were hit me.
Speaker 2: I mean it was.
Speaker 4: It really put a lot of eyes on me that
Speaker 4: I did not expect at all.
Speaker 2: Well probably vice versa.
Speaker 6: I think, you know, our relationship just in general, every
Speaker 6: time we did a song, I think it ith it
Speaker 6: definitely boosted me and if it if it boosted you,
Speaker 6: that was great idea, it did, you know, I think
Speaker 6: left everything was a growing lesson.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: Right after that we did music fan first, and we
Speaker 6: getting That's when we studied nominating for Grammys and stuff
Speaker 6: like that.
Speaker 5: So we and must we have to know because all
Speaker 5: our listeners, Aero and I have the honor of losing
Speaker 5: the same Grammy to Indian.
Speaker 6: Right, thank you for submitting your song and uh beating
Speaker 6: out me both asses to the crib right right. So
Speaker 6: you know, it was just different. Everything was just different levels.
Speaker 6: It was like it was constantly growing. It was just
Speaker 6: like you know, for me and and I'll be honest
Speaker 6: with you, I mean I probably kept my head down
Speaker 6: and just worked so much. I probably didn't spend much
Speaker 6: time like acknowledging the groundwork that was being laid in,
Speaker 6: like how much things were moving.
Speaker 2: You know. I just remember being a struggling artist and
Speaker 2: then one day not struggling. One day, like you know.
Speaker 5: Man, listen, I remember I remember us having that conversation
Speaker 5: during Tigularro where it's just like, listen, man, I'm finally
Speaker 5: at the point in my life where I'm making the
Speaker 5: music I want to make and I'm not fucking broke.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, like that's I mean, that's it.
Speaker 5: You know, whatever you get on top of that is gravy,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. But I remember, I certainly
Speaker 5: remember those conversations when when you did uh it was
Speaker 5: it was a music fan first the box album. I
Speaker 5: want to specifically ask a boy that one you did
Speaker 5: a record which is like still like one of my
Speaker 5: top five eer Row record, it might be top three,
Speaker 5: I don't know, but your record with the just imagine
Speaker 5: with King, Oh my god.
Speaker 4: I was so mad when I heard that. I was like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, please talk about Paris and Amberg. Man.
Speaker 5: I just love them to death. And you know we've
Speaker 5: all been long time supporters of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we know.
Speaker 6: I want to make sure I say it on this
Speaker 6: platform too, because it's very important something I've been talking about,
Speaker 6: especially with my students.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: I teach at Berkeley College of Music in Boston, and
Speaker 6: one of the things I learned when I got there
Speaker 6: was like, how how many female musicians or female artists
Speaker 6: have been talked out of their greatness out of ignorance
Speaker 6: of men, out of ignorance of just surroundings of just
Speaker 6: like the fact that like that, we should be shocked
Speaker 6: that a female could make a dope beat, right, Like, how
Speaker 6: insult the right you make that beat? Like, yo, you female,
Speaker 6: you made a beat like that. It's almost kind of
Speaker 6: like it's the ignorant statements.
Speaker 4: That he speaks so well or some shit.
Speaker 6: It's like.
Speaker 2: A black person, what.
Speaker 6: Do you mean you know so so so Like I'm
Speaker 6: I'm really dedicated to try to change that character that
Speaker 6: the situation. But let's say, even before I learned of
Speaker 6: the ignorance, I was always one If you dope, you dope, right,
Speaker 6: and male females look at the history of my work,
Speaker 6: whether who's been on stage with me, who I've done
Speaker 6: songs with, whatever, whatever.
Speaker 2: If you dope, you dope, whether you a female, male whatever.
Speaker 6: Right. I was in LA just my my wife had
Speaker 6: got tickets with her girlfriend to go see Oprah's last
Speaker 6: you know, her last show or whatever. You was in
Speaker 6: LA and they got tickets at LIC So we had
Speaker 6: just had my first son.
Speaker 2: I'm in LA.
Speaker 6: We had some Mexican restaurant. I'm really just babysitting. I
Speaker 6: got my kid and my my wife and this young
Speaker 6: lady walked up and goes can I take a picture,
Speaker 6: you know, a big fan of your music.
Speaker 2: I'm like, no problem, yeah, sure, So we take a picture.
Speaker 6: And then while we're taking the picture, she says, you know,
Speaker 6: I just did an album with when my sister and
Speaker 6: a good friend of mine and I produced it and
Speaker 6: mixed it.
Speaker 2: And I was like, I was like, oh.
Speaker 6: Word, okay, cool. I said, can I buy it? Can
Speaker 6: I buy it from you? And now she's not give me no, no, no, no,
Speaker 6: I'm gonna buy it from you. And she gave me something.
Speaker 6: I gave her a twenty dollar bill and she gave
Speaker 6: me and then I noticed it was only three songs,
Speaker 6: and I said, damn, I just paid twenty dollars for
Speaker 6: three songs, right, And I was like, it's all good.
Speaker 2: It's all up.
Speaker 6: That's the track source prices, right. But I was like cool,
Speaker 6: but just in just basic. I was like, I was like,
Speaker 6: what's your name is?
Speaker 2: Said? She said name was Paris and I was like,
Speaker 2: all right, cool, group's named King.
Speaker 6: I was like, all right, cool, this is great, yo,
Speaker 6: listen my information this that is that just just sowing
Speaker 6: into it, like yo, this seems dope.
Speaker 2: Like the other album cover.
Speaker 6: Whatever, we get in the car and The first song
Speaker 6: has this like drum beat intro, and I went, whatever
Speaker 6: it did, and I paused it exactly when I even
Speaker 6: came in. I stopped it, and my wife will tell
Speaker 6: you I looked at it. I said, this is about
Speaker 6: to be incredible. Just off the intro to get to
Speaker 6: I stopped it. I was like, get ready because I
Speaker 6: just realized this is something different here, this is.
Speaker 2: I said, this is about to be incredible.
Speaker 6: So we press play, and I mean, I could not
Speaker 6: stop listening to this music for like it was just
Speaker 6: the soundtrack for whatever.
Speaker 2: So I call her back like, oh my god, who
Speaker 2: are this is incredible?
Speaker 6: And then I remember Prince calls and Eric aba Do calls,
Speaker 6: and I remember like just hearing her going, oh my god,
Speaker 6: beget these calls and then boom.
Speaker 2: Now we all know Kings as King and.
Speaker 6: It's an honor that I called her and was like, yo,
Speaker 6: I want you to produce a song on my album,
Speaker 6: like I want you to not not because you're dope
Speaker 6: female and not whatever whatever you dope period period, and
Speaker 6: I want y'all on it, like I want I want
Speaker 6: y'all on it. And I think the world knows King
Speaker 6: clearly now.
Speaker 2: But I was.
Speaker 6: I was honored to be like, yo, everybody, this is King,
Speaker 6: like you know, like you know, I want you all
Speaker 6: to shine some light on this and I want you
Speaker 6: to write a check.
Speaker 2: To this young lady.
Speaker 6: Let's talk about who's wearing this hat as a producer
Speaker 6: on my record, Like you know, it was like let's
Speaker 6: let's let's redo it, and and it came out as
Speaker 6: a killer song just imagine as well as I keep
Speaker 6: it really one hundred. It's one of the rare songs
Speaker 6: on one of my albums I did not write, if
Speaker 6: not the very first one. Like like she wrote it,
Speaker 6: she produced it. It was like no, like like and
Speaker 6: I it's like it wasn't a statement. It just it's dope.
Speaker 6: It's like listen, I don't need to write it's fire
Speaker 6: to track fire.
Speaker 2: I was like, this is I want this, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean?
Speaker 6: So uh And that she's still like still one of
Speaker 6: my favorite producers.
Speaker 4: Oh man, yeah, I man, I love that to death.
Speaker 5: Like I was so happy to see them, like you know,
Speaker 5: playing with with cold Play. It was just like what
Speaker 5: the fuck are you kidding me? Like, I mean so
Speaker 5: so happy for them, man, big ups the King. I
Speaker 5: wanted to talk to you about go back to Picture
Speaker 5: Perfect because I will never forget. At that time, it was,
Speaker 5: you know, kind of going back to the you know,
Speaker 5: with the label things happening, that record was about to
Speaker 5: be out of here, and then what happened.
Speaker 6: Uh, so we we we got distributed through E one
Speaker 6: and that's when Shadow was there. So Shadow was like
Speaker 6: the main radio and the main reason I think, you know,
Speaker 6: we're going from music fan first to like, all right,
Speaker 6: how do we follow up like these the Grammy nominations
Speaker 6: that were losing in India, the second one I lost,
Speaker 6: the selot shout out to Sea Lo and uh and
Speaker 6: it was like, well, why don't we do this situation
Speaker 6: at that point, you know, you did the record with
Speaker 6: Anthony David and Algebra, that joint went crazy, you know
Speaker 6: record yeah, evermore And it was like it seemed like
Speaker 6: a good spot.
Speaker 2: And then.
Speaker 6: It's just once again, my whole thing is like just
Speaker 6: stay on your path, man, Like, just stay on your path,
Speaker 6: keep doing. And then so here we go doing this
Speaker 6: thing because it seemed like with this Shadow and radio
Speaker 6: and stuff like that, Shadow leaves and it just like
Speaker 6: there was no momentum. There's no momentum, but mind you
Speaker 6: even with that picture. Purple was a huge record for me.
Speaker 6: It was a it was a it was a really
Speaker 6: impactful moment to me. But it was also a moment
Speaker 6: where I was like it really anchored us into like
Speaker 6: like we we really don't need these other companies, like
Speaker 6: we probably would have made Peter Purple would have probably
Speaker 6: arguably been bigger if we just did everything ourselves. It
Speaker 6: was completely one hundred percent ourselves, Like you know, we're
Speaker 6: coming off this thing, and so it was the only
Speaker 6: time where I technically had muscle, if you want to
Speaker 6: call that muscle, and it was like if we actually
Speaker 6: did less than what I think my my actual team
Speaker 6: would have done, if we if we controlled the whole thing,
Speaker 6: you know what I'm saying. But it was, like I said,
Speaker 6: it was, it was still a I can't get off
Speaker 6: stage without singing the song.
Speaker 5: You know, Oh yeah, no, you ain't making it all
Speaker 5: the building, if you know what I'm saying, that it's
Speaker 5: not happening.
Speaker 6: But yet when you look at like the album Afore
Speaker 6: that which we which we put everything together for, you know,
Speaker 6: we can't get off stage out singing, dealing. We can't
Speaker 6: get off stage singing, you know, So certain things. So
Speaker 6: it was one of those things where it's like, yo,
Speaker 6: you're doing all right, like stay on your stay.
Speaker 2: On your path, you know.
Speaker 6: And uh, you said something not too long ago on uh,
Speaker 6: I think you're just doing you was talking on ig
Speaker 6: and I think you were like it never goes wrong,
Speaker 6: like when when when it's like when it's just me
Speaker 6: doing it, when I like when wet on yourself, it
Speaker 6: was like it was just like it was just anchoring
Speaker 6: in it. It's like, man, you know, I'm fine, Like
Speaker 6: mind you. I always tell everybody completion is the most
Speaker 6: important word in music business. It's like it's it's it.
Speaker 6: It's the difference between who wins and who loses, you know,
Speaker 6: my company and now we are celebrating twenty one years now.
Speaker 4: Right talk that sh bro Yes, yes, and.
Speaker 6: We're not celebrating it because we've we successfully did everything right,
Speaker 6: We completed everything we tried.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and the thing, let's be clear up something twenty
Speaker 5: one years. So I want to make this you know,
Speaker 5: this specification twenty one years as independent r and b
Speaker 5: artists like people have no idea, you know, like when
Speaker 5: when Dame Dash when he was like years you know,
Speaker 5: decades ago, when he was like, you know, selling rap
Speaker 5: is like selling crack, but like selling R and B
Speaker 5: is like selling coke. It just requires a different you know,
Speaker 5: when he was talking about you know, the Christian album
Speaker 5: and why it didn't really go on Rockefeller and you know,
Speaker 5: and I listen, I've never sold drugs a day of
Speaker 5: my life. But I understood what he was saying when
Speaker 5: I got into the business because I can be you know,
Speaker 5: hip hop, like I'm sitting right here at my hoodie
Speaker 5: and in like sweatpants. I can take a selfie right
Speaker 5: now and be like this is the cover of my
Speaker 5: new album and as long as I'm spitting on it,
Speaker 5: like no one will care. But R and B you
Speaker 5: do not have that at Liberty, Like the look gotta
Speaker 5: be right, Like R and B is a money game, bro,
Speaker 5: and to do it for twenty one years, I mean
Speaker 5: that really is is a testament. And I want you
Speaker 5: to speak to just the challenges of that, just so
Speaker 5: some of our listeners and something, because we have a
Speaker 5: lot of a lot of artists that listen to the
Speaker 5: show and kind of tap in just for you know,
Speaker 5: for different game. So just talk to them about your
Speaker 5: you know, how you're able to make it work without
Speaker 5: having that, you know, one hundred thousand or whatever to
Speaker 5: spin on a video or just to be frivolous. You know,
Speaker 5: how do you make that work?
Speaker 6: I think the difference really comes down to is the
Speaker 6: first thing that separates in R and B was quality.
Speaker 6: So the first the first opscole we had the show
Speaker 6: was that, yo, this is of the same quality. Right,
Speaker 6: So immediately think acts hip hop independently or major is
Speaker 6: to say it wasn't looked at you if you could
Speaker 6: spit the best fire, it's cool. We accept it. With
Speaker 6: R and B and soul music. If it wasn't a major,
Speaker 6: you for some reason looked at it like this is
Speaker 6: this is less, this is not effort was put in you?
Speaker 4: Like no, no, you could tell.
Speaker 5: You could tell, like you could always see that artists
Speaker 5: where like, Okay, they have a major album and it's like, okay,
Speaker 5: this is the major album. But then they get off
Speaker 5: the major and they put out something theyself and like
Speaker 5: the cover looked like fucking clip art.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. It sounds like just it's
Speaker 4: just the presentation is just all the way, it's not
Speaker 4: up the par you know.
Speaker 6: I think I think one thing that I've been very
Speaker 6: fortunate also, and I got to say that is that
Speaker 6: you know, we got Drey and Vidal on records when
Speaker 6: they're working on Usher and music and Jail and they're
Speaker 6: working on my record. We got Rich Harrison, he's working
Speaker 6: on Beyonce, but yeah, he's worked on my record, you
Speaker 6: know what I mean, as well as mixed with my
Speaker 6: brother b Jazz and and you know, just Aaron Harden
Speaker 6: for my band. It's different people. But again, if you're dope,
Speaker 6: you're dope, whether you're a super producer, Grammy Award, whatever,
Speaker 6: or you just a homie I met in the house
Speaker 6: band in Florida.
Speaker 2: If you're dope, you're dope.
Speaker 6: I have no no problem with working with whoever right
Speaker 6: and but yet at the same time, it has to
Speaker 6: has to move like that. That whole thing chasing goosebumps
Speaker 6: means everything. Like for me, that's the only rule in
Speaker 6: the studio. Does it give you goose bumps? But that
Speaker 6: same thing with the album covered, the album cover gotta
Speaker 6: make you go, oh my god, that's crazy. I wish
Speaker 6: I thought of that all. You know, that's crazy.
Speaker 5: You know, So the first man speaking of album covers,
Speaker 5: I just before we cannot forget. Man, we lost a
Speaker 5: mutual friend the past year in a Fave you know
Speaker 5: what I'm saying. Yeah, Fave is the brother he did
Speaker 5: to mister Nice Guy album cover. He podcaster, singer, producer.
Speaker 5: Fave had a hot sauce.
Speaker 4: Like Fave, y'all Renaissnce Man. He had a multi company.
Speaker 6: Bota company, No dude was It's crazy because you know,
Speaker 6: and it was tough. That was tough losing Fave and
Speaker 6: we missed him truly. But he's been a graphic designer
Speaker 6: for me. And it's crazy because like he did the
Speaker 6: Mister Nice Guy album cover.
Speaker 2: Uh, he designed multiple T shirts.
Speaker 6: I put out a Christmas card every year, like a
Speaker 6: growing Christmas card, animated christ Yeah right.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: And then but then he also produced a music for me.
Speaker 6: He's shot photography. I mean, he's he's won so many hats.
Speaker 6: He's been a part of my team and as well
Speaker 6: as the entire movement. He's won so many hats of
Speaker 6: like like I said, whether it's the sauce he was
Speaker 6: cooking with with a bow tie company, you know, and
Speaker 6: and even that it was like when he made the
Speaker 6: bow tie, like that was Demo's laying demo was the
Speaker 6: bow tie guy, so out of respect was like, yo,
Speaker 6: I'm pass that off the DV. You rock with that,
Speaker 6: but the bow ties was killing, Like so he's won
Speaker 6: so many, so many hats, and you know this is
Speaker 6: this was tough, like you know, uh, I lost a
Speaker 6: lot of good friends and during the pandemic that were
Speaker 6: very intricate to like what what we do. And Fave
Speaker 6: was one of the people. Man, we're like, you know,
Speaker 6: this Christmas was this last Christmas was tough because guess
Speaker 6: what he was in this Christmas card. And then as
Speaker 6: we're going into the album and figuring out how we're
Speaker 6: going to make the new T shirts of the graphic,
Speaker 6: he's the first call.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: And and and in a big up you know, I
Speaker 6: will say this. I make sure I say it because
Speaker 6: Jarell was our point person between that like Drell is
Speaker 6: always the one who was sitting with Fades and make sure.
Speaker 2: My wife would be happy with how she was drawing
Speaker 2: or whatever this and.
Speaker 6: That, you know, and and and he really, you know,
Speaker 6: he really he really lost a partner in that way.
Speaker 2: But Fave was a solid dude man, and.
Speaker 4: We tried to beautiful brother man, beautiful guy.
Speaker 6: Like that was one man, but he was one, but
Speaker 6: he was one of the people who you know, up
Speaker 6: two o'clock, three o'clock in the morning making slight changes
Speaker 6: so that when people see it, they see the effort,
Speaker 6: they see the quality. And I think at the end
Speaker 6: of the day, it just comes down to that, like
Speaker 6: I want you to put my album next to Whoever's album,
Speaker 6: D'Angelo usher, whoever, faith whatever, I want you to put
Speaker 6: against the best album that year, and whether it's better
Speaker 6: or not, I'm not here to say it's better. I'm
Speaker 6: here to say it's gonna be all the same quality.
Speaker 6: Guess what, we just go with the same mics we
Speaker 6: shot out with the same type of photographers we were.
Speaker 6: We are investing in in our and it doesn't have
Speaker 6: to be that it's a five hundred thousand dollars budget.
Speaker 6: You know, guess what, We all are operating on million
Speaker 6: dollar budgets. Whether whether you got a million dollars anb
Speaker 6: we all putting our best foot forward. Takeile were putting
Speaker 6: our best foot forward, you know, writing weld challenge each
Speaker 6: other and you.
Speaker 5: Know, I mean that was so even to the Leo.
Speaker 5: Even that was like the way the cover art and everything.
Speaker 5: It was just I mean that was because at the time,
Speaker 5: you I think you were on tour or you know
Speaker 5: where you had, you know, your kids, and then I
Speaker 5: was on tour. So we never had a real photo
Speaker 5: shoot for that album. We never had a photo shoot.
Speaker 6: No, but let's find a dope picture. Let's figure out
Speaker 6: dope way to put it together that could that could
Speaker 6: tell a story. And to this day, I mean, it's
Speaker 6: it's one of the it's so it's like a minimalist,
Speaker 6: simplistic album, but it's so and you ran point more
Speaker 6: on that one real talk, but we are from the
Speaker 6: same place like these, uh these album covers tell a
Speaker 6: story and there's a reason why this picture is this
Speaker 6: way or whatever.
Speaker 4: And yeah, that was the thing because I saw the joke.
Speaker 5: We had the picture and I was like, all right, Well,
Speaker 5: my whole thought was I'm like, okay, we got these
Speaker 5: pictures of us live and they did a mock up
Speaker 5: of us like singing.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: There was some pictures from our Chicago show at the Shrine, Rest.
Speaker 5: Of the Beasts, you know what I mean, we did
Speaker 5: them shows at the Shrine and uh we brother it
Speaker 5: took him.
Speaker 4: I cannot remember his name.
Speaker 5: Please forgive me, but I got something from him and
Speaker 5: he had him and I was like, all right, this
Speaker 5: is dope. And we did a couple of mock ups
Speaker 5: with my man, my man Chris Charles and so. But
Speaker 5: when I showed it to everyone's independent Soul and our
Speaker 5: butter and so bounce all.
Speaker 4: Right, but yeah, shout out, shout out to.
Speaker 5: The buttress in red velvet, uh Susan. But I sent
Speaker 5: her a mock up of it and she was like, Yo,
Speaker 5: this is dope, but it looks like a live album
Speaker 5: and I was like, oh nah, like that. So that's
Speaker 5: when I got that there. I was like, Okay, if
Speaker 5: I drop it down where it's just our faces like
Speaker 5: covering over, it'll look like the King of Rock cover,
Speaker 5: you know what I'm saying, the run DMC. And then
Speaker 5: if we put the titles on the front with the
Speaker 5: bar code, that's a call back to Urban Haynes Sweet.
Speaker 5: So it's like the double It's like, that's that to
Speaker 5: me was what Tigolo represent. I'm like, we are two
Speaker 5: hip hop dudes, like without a doubt, but you know,
Speaker 5: also with soul and shit worked.
Speaker 6: But think, like I said, we're taking Run DMC and
Speaker 6: Maxwell and put it together. That is tigolero, you know
Speaker 6: what I'm saying. So it's like it was all it
Speaker 6: was all playing and all well thought out. But that's
Speaker 6: to talking about like it ain't just no, we ain't
Speaker 6: just throwing this together. It's putting some f for a
Speaker 6: time and like a science behind it, and it makes
Speaker 6: it makes sense. And every album cover I've seen you do,
Speaker 6: every song I've seen you do, it's the same effort,
Speaker 6: and I feel like the same.
Speaker 4: Thing we do for you. You be kicking my ass.
Speaker 4: I'd be like, damn, Arrol got another album.
Speaker 5: I'm like, man, you got you did? You came to
Speaker 5: hear from here? I was like, damn, we ain't been
Speaker 5: in the house for two months. This nigga got album already.
Speaker 6: I'm like, damn, that's what that's Because I was scared
Speaker 6: and I was like shows getting canceled.
Speaker 2: I'm not going back to teaching. I'm like, what is happening.
Speaker 2: I was like, give me the pen real quick.
Speaker 6: Let me you know, for me, whenever, whenever I feel
Speaker 6: I mean I mean that like.
Speaker 2: Music for me is like my ass friend or whatever.
Speaker 6: Like when I when Fave passed, when Paris Bowen's passed,
Speaker 6: when Chadwick, Chadrick Boseman pay, when any of that stuff.
Speaker 6: The first thing I did was I turned the equipment on,
Speaker 6: you know, not like, oh, it's just that's when when
Speaker 6: the pandemic started, I turned the equipment on. It's like,
Speaker 6: for me, my whole view on creativity, my whole view
Speaker 6: on art, my whole view on.
Speaker 2: All of it is different.
Speaker 6: And I'm a I have a album called music Fan First,
Speaker 6: and it means I'm the fan of it first. First thing.
Speaker 6: It's the soundtrack to my life. It's what brings me
Speaker 6: peace and what brings me ease. So on my worst day,
Speaker 6: I'm picking a pin up. On the worst day, I'm
Speaker 6: picking a guitar worst day. On my best day, I'm
Speaker 6: doing it as well. So so yeah, it's not like
Speaker 6: I'm like I'm racing. I'm making the first pandemic album.
Speaker 6: It's like, nah, gonna beat everybody to the punch. It
Speaker 6: was just more like, so.
Speaker 2: What mortgage is doing? You know who's sick? Oh my god,
Speaker 2: let me just write.
Speaker 6: And I just started recording, like you know what I mean,
Speaker 6: I didn't know any anybody. It's crazy. I've done two
Speaker 6: albums during the pandemic. But but I just couldn't start writing,
Speaker 6: you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: I wanted to talk to you when you speak on
Speaker 5: as well, Man, you you know I met through you,
Speaker 5: you know kind of you know, through you Anakin Invader Man.
Speaker 5: These brothers are just amazing. Shout out to them, like
Speaker 5: those my.
Speaker 2: Guys, amazing brothers man.
Speaker 5: Man, And you brought them on to executive produce your
Speaker 5: new album, Lessons, which is you know again, just great record, man,
Speaker 5: like just that, can't you know, to the top to bottom,
Speaker 5: just always consistent.
Speaker 4: How did you link up with them?
Speaker 5: And what was the decision to make Lessons kind of
Speaker 5: the first single?
Speaker 2: So meeting them goes back a while.
Speaker 6: And this is a lesson for people just to shoot
Speaker 6: your shot, right.
Speaker 2: So you know.
Speaker 6: Now, I got three kids, and usually when I do
Speaker 6: a show, now I'm catching the first thing smoking to
Speaker 6: get back home, right. So a lot of times you'll
Speaker 6: find me at the airport five o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 6: you know, right after the show that dog tired walking
Speaker 6: through all like a zombie, and I was at an
Speaker 6: airport and I was just trying to stay awake. I remember,
Speaker 6: I was just like trying not to fall asleep. So
Speaker 6: I was like just scrolling through Instagram whatever I could
Speaker 6: do to keep myself occupied, and I saw somebody attack
Speaker 6: me on something and the name was Anakin Invader, and
Speaker 6: I was like, did.
Speaker 2: Y'all name me yourselves? After Star Wars feelings?
Speaker 6: That's the first thing caught my attention, like like, it
Speaker 6: isn't dar Vader, isn't Anakin. I was like, that's interesting,
Speaker 6: so click. I clicked it because it caught my attention
Speaker 6: and it was showing up. It was like Skywalker fighting
Speaker 6: Darth Vader with like a hip hop beat under it,
Speaker 6: and I was like, oh, that's dooke okay, next one,
Speaker 6: and then it was like Princess Leiah like kissing Hans Solo.
Speaker 2: With like.
Speaker 6: And I was like, y'all kind of got that off,
Speaker 6: so that's what y'all doing. And it probably like ten
Speaker 6: like I went through that page. I probably spent like
Speaker 6: ten minutes on that page, and then I hit them back.
Speaker 6: I said, yo, you got my attention, what's up? And
Speaker 6: then like before the plane could take off, I remember
Speaker 6: like within ten minutes, it was like as if they
Speaker 6: could see that I was looking at their page or whatever.
Speaker 6: I don't know, but as soon as I said, you
Speaker 6: got my attention, what's up? A dropbox link?
Speaker 4: Clean?
Speaker 2: It came right back.
Speaker 5: They stay ready Like Jared Broke, he would hit me like, man,
Speaker 5: I don't want to overwhelm you, like he would send
Speaker 5: you a pholto with like one hundred joints, and it's just like,
Speaker 5: bro Like those dudes are animals.
Speaker 4: Man, love those dudes.
Speaker 6: And I really yeah, I was like, did you just
Speaker 6: send me a dropbox link? And then before the plane
Speaker 6: could take off, I like open the dropbox link, downloaded it,
Speaker 6: and I had like five songs written before the plane landed.
Speaker 2: Like it was just like who are y'all?
Speaker 6: And it's been a great friendship, great partnership since then.
Speaker 6: We've been working NonStop. And they sent me the Lessons track,
Speaker 6: which got to think at that point, I'm not even
Speaker 6: it's not on my radar to make another album.
Speaker 2: I just did hear from here.
Speaker 6: I'm not even like, Okay, I'm kind of good and
Speaker 6: we're kind of stealing the whole pandemic. But I knew
Speaker 6: the record was like this is a special track, this
Speaker 6: one is killing, And immediately immediately I was, yo, can't
Speaker 6: have it, Like we write a check for it. Whatever, like,
Speaker 6: what's up with this track? And he was like, yo,
Speaker 6: my bad. I did send it out just all transparency.
Speaker 6: I sent it out to like another artist first, can
Speaker 6: we like just wait and see what they say first?
Speaker 6: Since I just sent it them first, I didn't respect them.
Speaker 6: I'm like, no problem, let's listen. No problem. And then
Speaker 6: about three days later they said, we haven't heard back
Speaker 6: from them. So if you if you still want it,
Speaker 6: shoot your shy on. Most definitely still want it. And
Speaker 6: I'm going down the studio right now, like I'm going
Speaker 6: down and like before it to remove all that all doubt.
Speaker 6: And what happened was what's interesting though, was when I
Speaker 6: went down there. Now it's like two o'clock in the
Speaker 6: morning of my anniversary, right and I think if I
Speaker 6: wrote the track, if I wrote to the track the
Speaker 6: first day they gave it to me, I don't wrote
Speaker 6: a different song.
Speaker 2: But I think when I went down there.
Speaker 6: You know, it's my anniverse.
Speaker 2: Okay man, it's still in this pandemic.
Speaker 6: You know, lost a few friends and y'all me and
Speaker 6: with kids every healthy parents, I was, you know, just
Speaker 6: started thinking just that while I'm just loading everything up.
Speaker 6: It was I was just kind of thinking. You know,
Speaker 6: for me, I'm one who wants to figure out who
Speaker 6: do I want to be in a song and try
Speaker 6: to define that person as much as possible and then
Speaker 6: just hit record. That's how like if I if I
Speaker 6: cut out all things, I don't have to say, there's
Speaker 6: only things left is this, and then just make it
Speaker 6: rhyme and that's gonna be a song. And that was it,
Speaker 6: and it just happened. I like, I had a camera
Speaker 6: set up for some thing I did the day before
Speaker 6: in the room and I was like, let's turn this
Speaker 6: on and let us hit record.
Speaker 2: God, that's a funny way showing.
Speaker 6: And it was like after that was like and that
Speaker 6: was really like, let's transfer this my phone, post it,
Speaker 6: go to bed, and just go to bed.
Speaker 2: I wasn't even like thinking nothing of.
Speaker 6: It at all and walk up to like just what
Speaker 6: is going?
Speaker 2: What are you doing? What is this?
Speaker 4: This is great?
Speaker 6: You know, and it was like, Okay, let's uh, I
Speaker 6: might want to finish this.
Speaker 2: You might want to finish this up. I want to
Speaker 2: be this one done.
Speaker 6: And I probably went I probably went, honestly, and I
Speaker 6: probably never said this before. I probably went to bed
Speaker 6: kind of hesitant to post it because I was like,
Speaker 6: I didn't look at the beautiful beauty of like how
Speaker 6: transparent it was and how many people could relate to it.
Speaker 6: I almost was worried a little bit that it was
Speaker 6: kind of like a jab and like all the ex girlfriends,
Speaker 6: which I didn't want it to be everyone who let
Speaker 6: me down led me to you. But it is true.
Speaker 6: I mean, guess what, every failed record deal, every everything
Speaker 6: that happened in my life had to have happened for
Speaker 6: me to have the kids here, you know what I mean.
Speaker 6: It wasn't really like a you know, guess what. I
Speaker 6: had to do that for you for you to be
Speaker 6: where you at too. And uh but I kind of
Speaker 6: I think that was my last thought of the night.
Speaker 2: Was kind of like tomorrow changed that line because that
Speaker 2: was a little a little heavy, you know.
Speaker 6: But then when I woke up the next day and
Speaker 6: I was like, this is my song and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 6: we're not changing that line. Had to eat that one.
Speaker 2: Ben you.
Speaker 5: We was laughing about this the other day on the
Speaker 5: phone with Jared from Any Innovader.
Speaker 4: He described us.
Speaker 5: He was like, yeah, working with y'all man, he was like, Arrow,
Speaker 5: he's a show pony, but.
Speaker 2: You a racehorse.
Speaker 5: I was like, dude, that is so fucking I was like,
Speaker 5: our dynamic, that's that's our dynamic. That is out that
Speaker 5: like arrow, Like he's gonna show up, he's gonna be
Speaker 5: dressed to the fucking nines, Like he's gonna have the
Speaker 5: hat like you know, just you know, And that was
Speaker 5: the thing I will say. I know, just I picked
Speaker 5: up from you just kind of you know, going out
Speaker 5: on tour and just watching you. You know, everywhere you go,
Speaker 5: you always look like Eric Robson. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 5: Always like dressed to the nines is always if if
Speaker 5: we damn Chick fil A, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 5: a chow can breakout, I'm gonna be ready to give
Speaker 5: a show. And you know, and that was just something
Speaker 5: that was always you with me. I'm just like, look,
Speaker 5: I'm showing up. The day of the race. Showed me
Speaker 5: who ass I'm beating. I'm running my race. I'm beating
Speaker 5: your niggas ass, and I'm going home. I'm not staying
Speaker 5: after for autographs. I don't want to talk about the race,
Speaker 5: like I don't want to. I did my job, you
Speaker 5: know what I mean.
Speaker 2: You know what's funny even talking about that our shows.
Speaker 6: You're actually right, I got a hat on a suit,
Speaker 6: a blazer at least or something like that, and you
Speaker 6: have on a black hoodie and it worked.
Speaker 2: It worked. It wasn't like, well, why he got a
Speaker 2: suit on one? He got a hook?
Speaker 6: It actually no when you see the pictures, it works,
Speaker 6: I guess. But it's like that, that might be that,
Speaker 6: that might be. The next album is like the race course.
Speaker 6: That's all I do.
Speaker 2: Take a fist. I gotta be a bag on pony,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm.
Speaker 4: Saying, Hey, what's on shared? Right? Right? Why can't I
Speaker 4: be a thoroughbred? Respect on my name?
Speaker 2: I need to be I'll be it.
Speaker 6: But but but once again you're talking about too you
Speaker 6: know three because Anakin Evader is actually a three three group,
Speaker 6: absolutely solid brothers man, solid solid brothers, life changing man.
Speaker 6: Once again, you know, we can go on here and
Speaker 6: talk about so many amazing people we talk about and
Speaker 6: we're gonna miss so many names. And I apologize because
Speaker 6: I work with so many great people. But definitely, you know,
Speaker 6: meeting those guys, it has, it's definitely made me.
Speaker 2: Better, you know what I mean, Definitely made me back
Speaker 2: wise and I really do. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Lastly, man, I wanted to just touch on because this
Speaker 5: is something that me and you we talk about, you know,
Speaker 5: from time to time, but just like you know, just
Speaker 5: for our listeners, just man, I just want to talk
Speaker 5: about just you know, how you balance just like I mean,
Speaker 5: you have three boys, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: I mean I have two boys, My boys.
Speaker 5: I mean they're you know older now my boys are
Speaker 5: twenty one and sixteen, so yeah, they but but you
Speaker 5: have like, you know, young kids, and uh, I.
Speaker 4: Just wanted to, you know, talk to me about like how.
Speaker 5: Do you you know, balance you know, being in business
Speaker 5: for yourself and you know, being a husband, being good
Speaker 5: a father and and not just being a husband father
Speaker 5: and just like I just pay for shit and you know,
Speaker 5: go to my the basement, but you know, actually being present,
Speaker 5: you know in you know, being present for your family
Speaker 5: in that way.
Speaker 4: How do you manage that?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 6: First, you know, it's funny, my whole theory on balance
Speaker 6: is different, right, Like the fact there's like I don't
Speaker 6: there is no balance right.
Speaker 2: Right, It's like how do you balance it? Right? For me?
Speaker 6: We talk about the word process, right, so I practice
Speaker 6: this thing called process over product. Like everything is, it
Speaker 6: is connected to the process, this very conversation we have
Speaker 6: right now. I can't worry about how many listeners will have,
Speaker 6: or how in tune would people be, or was it
Speaker 6: a great interview or whatever. I could just be that,
Speaker 6: you know, I'm talking to my brother, and how connected
Speaker 6: can I be in this conversation. The same way as songwriting,
Speaker 6: you know, it's probably strengthened through songwriters, strengthened through music.
Speaker 6: Every time I sit down to write a song, I
Speaker 6: can't think about the last song. I can't think about
Speaker 6: the successes or the failures. I can only think about
Speaker 6: what I'm doing.
Speaker 5: Yo, Bro, that's so crazy you say that. That's the
Speaker 5: same thing. Like I take that. It was like a
Speaker 5: my football coach in high school. He was like, you know, look,
Speaker 5: you gotta have a bad memory. Like talk about quarterbacks.
Speaker 5: He was like, quarterback, you gotta have a bad memory
Speaker 5: to be a quarterback. You know what I'm saying. If
Speaker 5: you can't think about if you fumbled on second down, hey,
Speaker 5: look bro, that shit over it.
Speaker 4: You know you got another down.
Speaker 6: But you also can't think about the touchdown. You can't, right,
Speaker 6: you can't think these of it. You got to think
Speaker 6: about the play you're doing and just put all the
Speaker 6: confidence that it will work out, whether it will or
Speaker 6: will not, that's product, right.
Speaker 4: Because that's the only play you got.
Speaker 6: It's only play you got this very second, right now,
Speaker 6: this minute we talking right now, this is this is
Speaker 6: the only minute right The next MANU ain't guaranteed in
Speaker 6: any forum fashion. So why not just trust this minute
Speaker 6: that we in right now, right like, enjoy the sixty seconds.
Speaker 6: So for me, now, process over product transfers to different
Speaker 6: things that how do I practice process or a product
Speaker 6: with my marriage? How do I practice processing product over
Speaker 6: product in my as a parent? Who are friendships or whatever?
Speaker 6: So guess what I mean, really what I tour schedule,
Speaker 6: with our teaching schedule, with our studio schedule, with all
Speaker 6: that stuff like that. I mean I respectfully to say
Speaker 6: that there's not enough time to be the best friend
Speaker 6: to every friend. I have to really be the best father, debate,
Speaker 6: best husband. I'm gonna try my best to be that.
Speaker 6: What it is is really how connected can I be
Speaker 6: with you in the time that we have?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 6: So if I only have an hour in the studio,
Speaker 6: can I get lost in the studio for fifty nine minutes.
Speaker 6: I can't walk in the studio going damn money, got
Speaker 6: an hour time. It's like, no, I'm gonna kill this hour.
Speaker 6: I got in here and the same same thing as
Speaker 6: I go upstairs, and I know I'm leaving on Friday,
Speaker 6: but you know, I can play with the kids all
Speaker 6: day day. Let's just get lost, Like how much can
Speaker 6: I can't worry if you're gonna be a doctor or
Speaker 6: this and that, this and that.
Speaker 2: What's crazy? Literally from this podcast.
Speaker 6: Just before I came here to do this podcast, my
Speaker 6: kids are on spring break, and I was like, man, today,
Speaker 6: today's busy, right, and it Wednesday's busy, and this is
Speaker 6: I looked at the schedule. So yesterday, like I was
Speaker 6: just telling my wife, I said, I'm just taking the kids.
Speaker 6: We going to Pokonos. So I just grabbed them, throwing
Speaker 6: the car. We just balled out for like twenty four hours.
Speaker 6: Just went to a water park and just kids. Stayed
Speaker 6: up till like four o'clock in the morning, got up,
Speaker 6: got went back in the water, literally got out the water,
Speaker 6: put clothes on, and drove back here just to get
Speaker 6: on this microphone and talk talk with you. And it's
Speaker 6: like Yo, guess well, we only had twenty four hours,
Speaker 6: but guess what, we just gonna ball out for twenty
Speaker 6: four hours. And that's balance is how much can you
Speaker 6: be in tune with what time you have?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: So yeah, no, I know I completely relate to that.
Speaker 5: I kind of look at it like, you know, to
Speaker 5: your point, when people think of balance, they think of
Speaker 5: just like, oh, I have the exact amount of time
Speaker 5: to do this and the exact amount.
Speaker 2: To me.
Speaker 5: In my career, balance has always kind of been more
Speaker 5: so an oscillation between two extremes, right, So, like when
Speaker 5: I'm locked in the studio, like like when we was Tickilero, right,
Speaker 5: it's like, Okay, I'm locked in.
Speaker 4: I just have to It's the.
Speaker 5: Word that just my mind always is just surrender, Like yeah,
Speaker 5: I just have to just surrender. It's like, bro, this
Speaker 5: is not gonna make no sense. I'm about to be
Speaker 5: up for like you know, thirty six hours. I'm about
Speaker 5: to like my sleep sched's about to be shit. I'm
Speaker 5: about to eat like shit for like a month, Like
Speaker 5: you just know. It's just like there's no run, Like
Speaker 5: if you try to make sense of this shit, you're lost.
Speaker 5: So you just got to give in. But then once
Speaker 5: the record is done, and once the work is done,
Speaker 5: now for the next you know, month, for the next
Speaker 5: two months, I'm just playing PS five and that's it,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. So you kind of have
Speaker 5: those you know, those kind of two extremes, And that
Speaker 5: has been the closest I've been able, you know, to
Speaker 5: get to balance. You know, that makes you know, the
Speaker 5: most sense for my life. But I've always been curious
Speaker 5: as to how you you manage it with all the
Speaker 5: things you have going on.
Speaker 6: What I'll tell you is that music, and I say
Speaker 6: art in general, is the most selfish thing I've ever
Speaker 6: seen in my life. Music wants everything out of you.
Speaker 6: It wants to brother everything, It wants all your time
Speaker 6: in a moment that like.
Speaker 4: And it will test you in every way.
Speaker 6: Guess what the biggest, the biggest show offer you're gonna
Speaker 6: have every year is your kids on kid's birthday, the
Speaker 6: biggest you know, the promoter's gonna call you with that
Speaker 6: bag of bags.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be your.
Speaker 6: Kid's birthday, on your anniversary or some like the first three, right,
Speaker 6: you know, it's like, you know, our wives already accept
Speaker 6: Valentine's Day, Go get that money, go get that right,
Speaker 6: right right?
Speaker 2: But like why does the show always have to land
Speaker 2: on their birthday? Right?
Speaker 4: Or Christmas Eve, New Year's like any of the.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's like, but that's the take. Are you gonna
Speaker 6: take it? Are you gonna take the show?
Speaker 2: You? You know what I mean?
Speaker 6: And it's like, but that's that's this that's this craft
Speaker 6: and it and like as soon as I'm supposed to
Speaker 6: turn the equipment off and go upstairs and kind of
Speaker 6: check in, here's the next idea pops in your head,
Speaker 6: You're like, oh my god, that's a crazy idea, and
Speaker 6: then you turn it equipment.
Speaker 2: So it's like it is the most but you know.
Speaker 5: Because it's elusive, like I think like when you you know,
Speaker 5: when you say like because I bro I feel you
Speaker 5: like when you bought to go to bed. And you know,
Speaker 5: Quincy Jones is like he thought we had him on
Speaker 5: the show like years ago, and he was talking about
Speaker 5: just kind of that alpha state, you know he calls
Speaker 5: the alpha state when your mind is just you know,
Speaker 5: it's three four in the morning and you're not thinking,
Speaker 5: you're just doing, you're just existing.
Speaker 4: And so it's like you.
Speaker 5: Know that four in the morning where you have that time,
Speaker 5: and it's like, man, I really know. I know I
Speaker 5: got to get up and be in the car pool
Speaker 5: line in three hours.
Speaker 4: But if I go to sleep, I could lose this.
Speaker 5: Moment and I'll never be able to recapture it, you
Speaker 5: know what I'm saying. And it's just it's that elusive
Speaker 5: thing that you're chasing, and so when you catch it,
Speaker 5: it's just like, yeah, it's like catching a fucking shooting star.
Speaker 5: You're like, man, I just got to hold onto this,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean, and keep some of this
Speaker 5: magic for myself.
Speaker 6: So I'm gonna tell you what's interesting. This is what
Speaker 6: I like, I said, my whole few on creativity is
Speaker 6: different now and I'm one now where I can I
Speaker 6: can turn the equipment off in that moment, right, And
Speaker 6: it's more because I'm at the realization now and I
Speaker 6: feel like truth be told. And I say this before
Speaker 6: we say this statement, I feel like my pen is
Speaker 6: stronger than ever right now, right, I feel like that
Speaker 6: it's our connection whatever. But creativity is often some we
Speaker 6: treated like a best friend we don't deserve, right, So
Speaker 6: in a moment where we should turn the equipment off
Speaker 6: and go upstairs, it's like when it shows up, we're like,
Speaker 6: oh my god, you showed up.
Speaker 2: Help my wife, help my kids, right right right, Creativity,
Speaker 2: come come on in, come on in, have see have
Speaker 2: a see what you gotta tell me, you know. And
Speaker 2: that's how it was.
Speaker 6: Like I was probably that way for like the seventy
Speaker 6: five percent of my life, Like I would, I would
Speaker 6: leave the Christmas table, I would leave the middle of
Speaker 6: making love. Wow, idea pops in like you know, softest Lips.
Speaker 6: I can say now like softest Lips happened, like the song,
Speaker 6: the idea of the song happened while kissing somebody and
Speaker 6: I stopped. I remember, like I stopped doing what I
Speaker 6: was doing to write the song.
Speaker 4: You know, and it's never been devoted there gro.
Speaker 2: Look coming you have wants to be that devoted, you know.
Speaker 6: But but what happens is like yo, but we have
Speaker 6: to realize that creativity needs us just like it needs
Speaker 6: we need it. And like Quincy Jones was so worried
Speaker 6: over what was it? Was it Michael Jackson, Prince said
Speaker 6: he couldn't leave the creativity alone because he was worried
Speaker 6: they would go visit Michael Jackson, Right, So yeah, but
Speaker 6: I'm I'm I'm satisfied with now telling creativity.
Speaker 2: I'm busy right now. Can you come back?
Speaker 6: That sounds crazy, That sounds crazy, but it's almost the
Speaker 6: same thing of like if.
Speaker 4: You confidence, it sounds it sounds like confidence, but.
Speaker 2: It's confidence, it's trust. Right. So it's like, I'll give
Speaker 2: you the anledgy of this.
Speaker 6: If you called me and I was like, let's say
Speaker 6: I'm in the middle of just like a super game
Speaker 6: with my kids right now, and you called me, was like, Yo,
Speaker 6: I need to rap with your minute. I was like, Yo,
Speaker 6: all right, hold up, I'm give me two seconds. I'm
Speaker 6: in this crazy battle with my kids and this that
Speaker 6: we having fun whatever whatever, or we are the pool.
Speaker 6: Let's say we're the pool. Give a couple hours. I'm
Speaker 6: gonna call you back, you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Like cool?
Speaker 2: Cool?
Speaker 6: And then we come in the pool or whatever whatever,
Speaker 6: And I call you back three hours later and I'm like, Yo,
Speaker 6: so what's up?
Speaker 2: And You're like, man, I can't even remb what I
Speaker 2: was what I was calling you about, right, But I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, that's cool. What's you up to now?
Speaker 6: First of all, just knowing you and we friends and
Speaker 6: we have talked we've chopped it up, We've had deep,
Speaker 6: deep conversations because of who we are for each other,
Speaker 6: that next conversation might not be what you initially called it.
Speaker 6: It's gonna be great to the problem is we go
Speaker 6: into it like the quarterbacks still thinking about the last
Speaker 6: touchdown or last interception.
Speaker 2: So I'm so worried about, like, can you remember what
Speaker 2: you was gonna tell me? I can't lose it, lose it.
Speaker 6: That we not being natural, We're not treating creativity like
Speaker 6: it really it just wants to be invited.
Speaker 2: It just want to kick it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 6: So it's like, allow creativity to show up and be
Speaker 6: what it's gonna be, and guess what. Sometimes it's gonna
Speaker 6: we already know. Listen, Sometimes it's gonna be great. Sometimes
Speaker 6: it's not. How many times that we've written a song
Speaker 6: and thought it was this is the one. I'm buying
Speaker 6: my Bentley, I'm paying my mama house there, and it's
Speaker 6: straight crickets right off, the most fire thing you thought
Speaker 6: you ever did.
Speaker 2: And it's straight crickets. And it hiss this.
Speaker 5: Wondering on your phone, You put on your phone and
Speaker 5: wake up the next morning, and that.
Speaker 6: She was a nothing of it, and now that this
Speaker 6: is the joint that now you got a toil for
Speaker 6: two years. You can't never get off stage without saying
Speaker 6: you know what I'm saying. So, so why are we
Speaker 6: prejudging creativity at the end of day, when it shows
Speaker 6: up and you have time for it, then treat it
Speaker 6: treated like it's supposed to be. And if you don't,
Speaker 6: then then put the time in other in other areas.
Speaker 6: And and going back to even the balance thing, my
Speaker 6: wife has to feel seen sometimes more than music. She
Speaker 6: has to feel like I chose music over sometimes my
Speaker 6: kids as well. My kids have have literally been raised
Speaker 6: watching me in the studio and sometimes they have to
Speaker 6: see me turn the equipment off for them, you know
Speaker 6: what I mean. They have to they have to see that.
Speaker 6: So oh, you have to be there, and I have
Speaker 6: to trust that. Like I feel like my music's gotten
Speaker 6: better the more I've been like, nah, let me live,
Speaker 6: oh man.
Speaker 5: Cause you got if you don't live, ain't gonna have
Speaker 5: shit to write about. Like what am I gonna sing about?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: And it was you know, and for me it was
Speaker 5: you know, with your boys. You know, your boys are
Speaker 5: really young. You know what I'm saying. And for me,
Speaker 5: you know, my boy I had you know, kids like
Speaker 5: super young, and so it kind of worked out in
Speaker 5: a good way because when I was when they were young,
Speaker 5: and you know, they you know, they really just.
Speaker 4: Wanted to be around their mama all the time.
Speaker 5: So I was touring this stuff, you know what I mean,
Speaker 5: I was out really getting it. But then by the
Speaker 5: time they got the teenageers, that was when you know,
Speaker 5: I kind of transitioned into fie, like we start our label,
Speaker 5: so I could actually be around for those years with
Speaker 5: like they really it's like, okay, no, we need dad,
Speaker 5: like you know, it's you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 5: it kind of worked out for me in that way,
Speaker 5: and I was thankful to have that. But but nah, man,
Speaker 5: that is uh, that is really sage advice. I the
Speaker 5: equipment for me. What has been my life savor like
Speaker 5: that has saved me, you know, from stand up to
Speaker 5: the crack of dawn has been just having voice notes
Speaker 5: like I have I have a I have Emancipation triple
Speaker 5: disc albums on my voice note because I just have
Speaker 5: to just get it down. And if I can just
Speaker 5: get that down, I would know to come back to it.
Speaker 5: But I have to have just some kind of bookmark
Speaker 5: and then I can cut the equipment off.
Speaker 6: But my you know, our voice notes if we dare shit,
Speaker 6: it's probably my biggest pro possession as well as just
Speaker 6: the note to my phone. Well, I'll tell you I
Speaker 6: don't write in the studio, but I'm always writing. I'm
Speaker 6: always writing, always staying staying in shape because I think,
Speaker 6: really we're just trying to find an inspiration, like we
Speaker 6: know how to write songs. So now I'm just constantly
Speaker 6: collecting things that take my breath away. Somebody says a statement,
Speaker 6: I go, oh my god, that's that's crazy, right, I'll
Speaker 6: just documented someone see something and like how do I
Speaker 6: transfer that into words? So I mean, yeah, it's like
Speaker 6: it's endless. It's endless just collections and some of what
Speaker 6: I use and pull from it whatever. But yeah, we
Speaker 6: are constantly We're constantly with the collect But that does help,
Speaker 6: like the fact that we can document a moment.
Speaker 2: But then for me, like when I go in.
Speaker 6: The studio, it's like, how, like I said, locked in,
Speaker 6: can I be you know, and the trust the product
Speaker 6: will work out, like you know, trust the product that
Speaker 6: it will take care of if I stay focused on
Speaker 6: the process.
Speaker 2: The product will work itself out.
Speaker 4: I love it. Man.
Speaker 5: Well listen ero bro man, this has been, you know,
Speaker 5: a long time coming. I guess the conversation we need
Speaker 5: to have. I didn't think we'd be having it in
Speaker 5: front of thousands of strangers on the fucking internet. But
Speaker 5: but nonetheless, but U but nah, seriously, man, I just
Speaker 5: you know, I've told you this, you know, time and
Speaker 5: time again, but I just really just want to just
Speaker 5: thank you, you know what I mean for just really uh,
Speaker 5: just showing up in my life and in my career
Speaker 5: in a way that really, you know, for me, just
Speaker 5: showed me the importance of mentorship, you know what I mean,
Speaker 5: And you know, you really just everything from the business
Speaker 5: to like the show presentation, because I mean I was like,
Speaker 5: I'm straight rapped, dude, So going into R and B,
Speaker 5: I had no fucking clue what that well, I'm like, yo,
Speaker 5: what what is that?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 5: And you definitely were a huge you know, mentor and
Speaker 5: model and just you know, big homie and the whole
Speaker 5: nine man. And you know, my my career would not
Speaker 5: be where it was where it is, you know, without
Speaker 5: just your influence and just your God, it's just taking
Speaker 5: time just to holler at me whenever I had questions
Speaker 5: and just put me up on game. So, nah man,
Speaker 5: this conversation was a dream come true, brother, and I
Speaker 5: just wanted, you know the world to hit this, you know,
Speaker 5: and just to hear your journey and you know, really
Speaker 5: just you know, give you that respect. Man, twenty one
Speaker 5: years doing this shit independently. Bro, Hey, this ship will
Speaker 5: break big niggas with muscles.
Speaker 4: This shit ain't sweet, bro. So, nah man, I just
Speaker 4: want to just give you a flowers, just thank you.
Speaker 4: I love you. Man. Man.
Speaker 2: You know, it's been on a pleasure.
Speaker 6: It's been on a pleasure to watch your dream consistently
Speaker 6: come true.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
Speaker 6: I think one of the pleasures that I've had is
Speaker 6: watch a lot of people's dreams come true. And you
Speaker 6: not only being one of the most prolific people I know,
Speaker 6: one of the greatest voices I know, so the voice
Speaker 6: being utilized in so many the ways. I can't tell
Speaker 6: you how proud I was just just when you joined,
Speaker 6: when this quest love Supreme and you were on it,
Speaker 6: I was like, yo, this first of you also are
Speaker 6: the most knowledgeable. I always say this, you don't hear
Speaker 6: this for the first time. I've never ever told you
Speaker 6: of a record or a producer or a.
Speaker 2: Song that you did not more than not one time
Speaker 2: have I ever?
Speaker 6: Yo?
Speaker 4: It was one Yo.
Speaker 5: It was one time you got me, and it was
Speaker 5: a big one too. It was the night we went,
Speaker 5: the night we did been in love.
Speaker 4: Bro.
Speaker 5: I don't even know if I told you this. You
Speaker 5: were the first person to put me on to Todd Rungnger.
Speaker 2: Wow, wow, Like he.
Speaker 5: Was one of those artists. I always saw his name
Speaker 5: and like I would see him. I knew who is
Speaker 5: associated with, but I didn't really know. And so then
Speaker 5: I think you played me. I saw the life and
Speaker 5: I was like, oh my god, that's Todd Runger, Like
Speaker 5: I've been hearing that song forever.
Speaker 2: Why you put me on?
Speaker 4: Like the all we ran through to something anything album.
Speaker 2: That's one time.
Speaker 6: One, like the entire I was like this joint from
Speaker 6: nineteen seventy two, b side this record, like, oh, that's
Speaker 6: such and such and that's why they ain't playing tellow
Speaker 6: on it. No, that's killing I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 6: here's this new indie artist. I'm at the Bay Area
Speaker 6: killing it. They selling independent records in the flea market.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, that's such and such and such. Yeah I
Speaker 6: got that record.
Speaker 2: I won't we link you up? How do you know?
Speaker 2: All of this stuff is really mind blowing. Man.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna just say this, and I gotta say you know,
Speaker 6: first of all, you know you my brother, and I
Speaker 6: love you, love you, love it.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 6: You're so true to your art. You're so true to
Speaker 6: your craft, to your friendship and to who the person
Speaker 6: who you are. You know what's so funny. You are
Speaker 6: the first person like to curse in front of my
Speaker 6: mom and she didn't even like hesitate.
Speaker 5: What like yo?
Speaker 2: You know, listen, you know you are a cursor, right,
Speaker 2: it is, it is, It is fine, it's.
Speaker 6: So you. And like you know, at that time, my
Speaker 6: studio was in my parents' house, right, so we did
Speaker 6: my parents and just even with my dad. It wasn't like, oh,
Speaker 6: this is how he talked to me, and then this
Speaker 6: is how he talks to my mom and dad. It's like, no,
Speaker 6: this is how he talks and whoever the around want
Speaker 6: to accept this and love him. And my parents loved you.
Speaker 6: It was like who this guy you brought in the
Speaker 6: house to this party? They were like, no, we love
Speaker 6: Fonte bring him as many times he wants. But it
Speaker 6: was like it was I remember watching like the Dynamic
Speaker 6: you talk into like my parents, and it was still
Speaker 6: the same way. It was like the MFS and where
Speaker 6: and I was like, yeah, that's how he really he
Speaker 6: really fired off. But it was but guess what it
Speaker 6: was like genuine is love and it's like a genuineness
Speaker 6: behind it. It ain't like some shock value whatever, Like, Yo,
Speaker 6: you're just a true brother, you like for real, like
Speaker 6: for real, for real, anyone who knows you know you're
Speaker 6: just a true brother. And it's like just mad, I
Speaker 6: got mad respect for you. You already know, like like
Speaker 6: anytime you call, like y'all need you to break dance
Speaker 6: in this video or like this melody this joint on
Speaker 6: his like just singing the background vocals on the joint.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm like, all right, let's let's do it man.
Speaker 5: You know likewise too, and everybody has a TICKULARI to that,
Speaker 5: like when y'all doing it, get like we're gonna do
Speaker 5: it again.
Speaker 4: I'm I'm definitely I would certainly love to do another week.
Speaker 5: You know, it's just hopefully we can do it at
Speaker 5: a time where like people ain't dying and you having kids,
Speaker 5: and like you know, we have more order in our
Speaker 5: life this time around.
Speaker 6: You know what I'm saying right right, I'm looking forward
Speaker 6: to it, but I just need to let you know, man,
Speaker 6: I appreciate you having me on and I love you
Speaker 6: brother and look forward to doing more with you.
Speaker 2: Love you too, bro.
Speaker 5: For real, man, well listen on behalf of Unpaid Bill Shit,
Speaker 5: Steve a Mere, Oscar winning a mere, my work wife
Speaker 5: like Iah, this has been quest Love spring. I'm not
Speaker 5: quest Love, I'm Fontelo. But no, man, thank y'all so
Speaker 5: much for tuning in. We'll catch y' all on the
Speaker 5: next go around. Tap In with Eric Robinson is the
Speaker 5: album Lessons out right now on our platforms. Go get it,
Speaker 5: and yeah, we'll catch y'all on next one.
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