WEBVTT - Montell Jordan Meets World 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.400 Will you're shopping on eBay? Tell me when I shop. 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:22.520 Shopping on eBay, I'm shopping on eBay. Well, I go 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:24.840 through spurts with eBay like I don't, and then I'll 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.000 forget that that eBay is a great place to buy stuff, right, 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:30.160 and then I'll find eBay again, and then. 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:31.920 This is not an ad, by the way, this is 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:33.840 literally just talking about shopping. 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:35.040 This is so dangerous. 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:36.840 I feel like you are going to have to buy 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:39.440 a whole storage unit just for what you want to 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:42.839 collect on what I'm being careful. 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.159 So I found it years ago when I decided that 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:48.120 I was going to be the person who collected all 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.319 the original Mash toys, because they made Mash toys. So 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:58.320 there's like, you know, playing cards and. 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.240 Exactly what I want them. 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:04.880 I So when I was about I don't know, eighteen 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.280 or nineteen seventeen, eighteen nineteen, when I was dating love, yeah, 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:09.880 I wanted to find. 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:11.080 The perfect cologne for me. 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:12.679 So I was never a cologne guy, and I wanted 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.080 to find and I found this amazing cologne, Ascotta. It 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:20.280 became like my smell and for ten years I wore 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:23.440 a Scotta and then one day they went no or 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:25.479 in Italian, because I think it's got is Italian. No, 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:29.240 but with an Italian accent. We're not making this anymore. 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:31.960 And they just stopped. And I've smelled bad ever since, 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.560 and so for the heck of it. The other day, 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.240 I was like, I wonder if I go on the. 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:40.319 eBay, the eBay, right, because you're if. 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:43.880 There's if there's any there, And I see one small 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:48.280 little bottle it's like this big, and I order it 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:50.640 and then it sends me down the rabbit hole of 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.360 there's a bunch of these for sale on eBay. 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:55.840 And h one is twelve hundred dollars. 0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:01.400 No, they're they're certainly not cheap, but it's they're also 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:02.240 it's not ridicted. 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.520 But now I'm starting to chilled up it is. I've 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:06.920 got four of them. 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:08.959 Now for like some of this big, some threat, some 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:12.600 are factory sealed, some or not. And so I have 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:14.320 found my smell again. 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:15.440 After so many years. 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.239 Cologne expires. Have you have you smelled it? Does it? 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:18.919 Do? 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:20.560 It smells exactly right? 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:21.399 Okay, that's good. 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.720 Colone doesn't expire, doesn't a fine wine where it just 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:27.960 continues to the bouquet continues. 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.919 And I know it does because I have a very 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.440 my grandmother, My mom's mom died when I was two, 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:35.720 and yet somehow I haven't. 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:37.440 Because she put on expired cologne. 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:41.880 That's where the. 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:43.520 Not magic. 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:47.840 I've been searching eBay for my grandmother. 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:51.639 My grandmother so much. There's one in Idaho pre owned. 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:56.160 It's just so expensive, but I think it's worth it. No, 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.160 I I have a memory of my my grandmother. She 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.240 wore Chloe Chloe perfume, and she had Chloe cream, like 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.840 the like scented lotion that went with it. And she 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.440 used to let me go into her beautiful little vanity 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:12.040 and stick my chubby, little two year old finger in 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.400 her Chloe cream. And I loved it and like the 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:17.720 smell can just bring me back to that memory. And 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:23.079 so I also purchased some Chloe perfume and when it arrived, 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:33.560 I was like this rancid smell. No, Chloe delicious. It 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:37.000 also like changes color and so anyway, I mean. 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.240 It looks good, it smells good. I've now I've got 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:43.000 like three bottles of it. And Sue asked me, because 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:44.320 my birthday's coming up, like what do you want for 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:45.840 your birthday? I was like, let's keep let's go, let's 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:49.160 keep on this eBay colooney trick. But she doesn't know 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:51.880 the eBay, so I might have to buy it for 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:52.440 in surprise. 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:57.480 You guys, know, like old book smell like how the delightful? 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:02.200 So apparently it's a glue. Over time, as books age, 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.080 the glue lets out a vanilla smell, so it's actually 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.640 a vanilla ish flavors from the. 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:09.200 Dust in dust. 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:11.120 Yes, yes, oh, but I love it. 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.440 I do too. I have had an eBay account since 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.360 I don't I think ninety nine. I think eBay started 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:18.880 in ninety five. I've had an eBay account since ninety nine. 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.960 And when I first started, I became obsessed with nineteen 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:29.480 twenties tea sets plus Yes, I went, where did this 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:30.080 come from? 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.040 What nineteen twenty t set did you swim? Or like 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:34.120 this is my thing. 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.280 When you were seventeen, like now that I'm making tea 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:42.400 set money. Yeah, I was making the big bugs on boy. 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:43.599 Yeah no I was. 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:45.520 You know. My family were very into tea, and I 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.960 used to drink tea every single day, every single day 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:51.919 at four pm, three pm or four pm, I would 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:56.320 make English breakfast tea with evaporated milk and sugar and 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.039 it was like it literally every day without fails, seven 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:00.960 days a week. It was my afternoon pick me up. 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.400 And I got very into like Art Deco style stuff, 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.080 and I used to host a lot. I used to 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.640 entertain at the ripe old age of eighteen, and I 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:11.920 would want to I would buy like a tea set 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.400 for twelve. Well, then, like Ryder said, I got to 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.159 a point where then I started buying like Art Deco 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.120 lamps on eBay, and I like, I was like, where 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.599 am I going to put all this stuff? And anyway, 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.400 Now I just buy shoes and vintage shirts and purses 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.000 and watches on eBay. Now those are the things I like. 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.840 Okay, just this is stuff A crazy memory that I've 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.760 not thought about. I started drinking tea on the set 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.599 of Boybet's World, because I would drink coffee all morning, remember, 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.440 and I would be so chised out to the. 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:42.359 Coin of phrase, and. 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.560 Then I would I would have to stop drinking coffee, 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.240 but I would want more caffeine, and so Dede started 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.160 bringing me tea while we were shooting, and she couldn't. 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:53.880 I was just like, I just give me lyptin because 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.280 I just want the caffeine. And she was like ugh. 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:58.960 So then it became hard thing. She'd be like, lip 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:01.080 you want some lip, Let's go. 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:03.440 So whatever. 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:05.359 I'd be like in a scene, I would just have 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:06.640 this memory of d D coming on me. 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.239 Yeah, you should go get me lipped in tea. 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.320 Well, I mean, this was not an ad for eBay, 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:15.080 but now it's definitely. 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.320 I Scotta though, I got it. It's an ad for 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.320 a Scotta and vintage tea sets. 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.800 Welcome to Pod Meets World. I'm Danielle Official. 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.640 I'm right or Strong, and I'm Wilfredee. 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.120 Oh my gosh, am I ever excited for this episode today? 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:45.599 Guys this you know, we all have our things, we 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.360 all have our things. This person. 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.760 Did you sleep last night? I was curious. I thought 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:52.520 about it. I was like, I wonder if Danielle's even 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:53.440 asleep last night? 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.600 I was up later than usual and I was up 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:56.520 earlier than usual. 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.040 Way, I was unclear. Have you met him before? 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:04.120 Never? Never? No, I have never. I have never never 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.000 met this man before. And I am literally jumping out 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:10.240 of my skin today because when we recently posted a 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.520 picture of me at my fourteenth birthday party, I was 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:18.120 smiling ear to ear holding up my newest prize Possession. 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.800 My most beloved gift of that year, the debut studio 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:24.480 album of my favorite R and B singer, in the 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:28.120 form of a new technology called a compact disc. A 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.320 young Danielle would play it front to back, over and over, 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:34.400 most likely while calling Andy and telling him about my 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.680 first period or writing in my diary about how fat 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.360 I was. It was as much of my childhood as 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.760 counting crows was to writer or smoking was to will 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:49.480 And today we will speak to that musician whose first single, 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:53.280 the undeniable timeless bop This Is How We Do It 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.000 was number one on the Billboard Hot one hundred for 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:00.560 seven consecutive weeks, sending his debut album to platinum status, 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:04.560 selling over a million copies, and earning him a Grammy nomination. 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.080 It's worth noting that his second single, Something for the Honeys, 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:11.840 is also a jam he'd performed with TLC and Boys 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.840 to Men, while also writing and producing songs for artists 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:19.160 like Cisco, ninety eight Degrees, Christina Milion, and Lomo. He 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:22.120 was also seen in the movie The Fighting Temptations alongside 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.440 Beyonce and Cuba Gooding Junior, and he has a cameo 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.520 in the nineteen ninety six, The Nutty Professor. 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:29.800 He's great. 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.600 Some small trivia about that movie, Montel is the only 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.280 character in the film who is not played by Eddie Murphy. 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:42.440 So that's a movie starring Eddie Murphy and Montel John. 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:45.199 That is pretty crazy. 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.920 Wait, so does Eddie Murphy also played Jada Pinkett Smith 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:48.400 in that movie? 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:50.480 Because she's in that movie as well. So I think 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.240 Ednie Murphy plays He knows that she's a lot of interesting. Yeah, 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.440 So I think Eddie Murphy plays Jada pattas Mo. Yeah. 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:01.920 Seven albums later, fourteen singles released, and over ten million 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.960 records sold worldwide. He walked away from the world of 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.600 R and B in twenty eleven to follow his faith 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:09.960 and return to the church, a place where he first 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.959 learned to play music. Now as a minister at Victory 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:16.320 World Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He and his wife, who 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:20.079 has been his partner and his manager since his first 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:24.360 record deal, are still married and they recently wrote a 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.079 book about what makes a successful marriage and now they 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.800 are proud grandparents. You have recently seen him on the 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.319 Mass Singer He was the panther if you were wondering, 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.640 and he competed on Special Forces for Fox in twenty 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:40.400 twenty three, which I am definitely going to talk to 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.440 him about. This week, we are very happy to welcome 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:47.120 six ' eight he stood it's my favorite nineties singer 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:48.280 Montel Jordan. 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:54.760 Oh my gosh, reunited. 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:00.319 I mean it feels like that. I just I am 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:04.199 so excited that you were here. I know you had 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.080 seen the picture of me holding your CD like I 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.040 had just been given the key to the city. 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:11.280 You were. 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.640 Yes, That's how I felt. And now here we are 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:16.840 thirty years later, and I'm just as excited. 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.160 I'm fan guying out right now. 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:24.560 Oh So, I love you guys, super super excited for 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:28.040 what you're doing, and really really glad that a random 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:32.840 post on a social media platform could lead to a 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:34.400 family reunion life. 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.360 I have to tell you, we were all shocked that 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.560 you even knew who we were when you followed us 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:43.640 when we posted the picture. First of all, I was like, 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:46.680 what what do you mean now? Yes, I was so excited, 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:48.880 And then to hear that you were excited to come 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.160 on the pod, I'm just I'm flabbergasted. 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:53.600 Absolutely. 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.600 I mean a lot of times I think so For 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.800 me as a musician, I'm always shocked maybe at times 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:03.160 to figure out that people actually know your music or 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:07.040 are familiar with my music. And so I don't I 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.480 think you guys should know by now how huge you 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:15.079 are for not just a time period, but you literally captured, 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:18.160 you know, almost a decade of people's lives that were 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:23.280 vested in your characters. And now it's a blessing right 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:25.680 that even after a time period has gone, that people 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:27.040 who are still kind of vested. 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.560 In your life, in who you are out of character, 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:30.440 which is pretty cool. 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.600 Yes, we feel exactly the same way, So yes, I 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:35.360 thank you for that. 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.120 By the way, For the record, I don't think I've 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:39.880 ever seen Danielle. 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:45.040 This exciting once or twice maybe in the entire thirty 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:46.400 some odd years i've known her. 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:49.959 This level of excitement. I can say she's literally holding 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:50.400 it together. 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:51.040 I can tell you. 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.520 Well, our listeners know my love for you because when 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.640 we were asked by fans many many, many episodes ago 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.880 our favorite ninety song was, I had absolutely no hesitation 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.160 when I answered, this is how we do it like 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.280 it was just it came right out. I knew exactly 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.760 what it was. It's it's truly my favorite ninety song 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:14.160 and that's hard, you know, because there were some good 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:17.320 stuff that good stuff out there, and yet I knew 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:17.880 right away. 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.400 So you know, you made a good, hard choice right there. 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.840 I am grateful for that. 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:28.760 So we are going to get to that album later, 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.400 but let's start with how music entered your life. Okay, 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:35.400 so you're from South central LA and your parents were 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:39.760 both deacons. So and I know that Montel made no 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:41.880 money and life sure was slow, but I have to 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.840 assume the church was a major entry point for your talent. 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:48.120 Yeah, for sure. So yeah, my. 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:53.160 Mom really was the church goer as a kid, and 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:57.640 she kind of eventually forced my dad to go. I 0:12:57.720 --> 0:12:59.640 was brought up in church, and so in the same 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:04.000 way that a lot of a lot of professions kind 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:06.920 of have like a G League or something like before 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:08.800 you get to the NBA or before you get to 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:13.720 the NFL, I felt like the the Baptist Church was 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.680 kind of the G league for the music business. A 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.960 lot of musicians came from church, a lot of artists 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:21.440 I came from church. 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.199 You want to talk about the Aretha Franklin's the Raid, 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.120 Charles is like the it doesn't matter you go through 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.600 at Leasting. Yeah, yeah, it. 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:34.080 Was it was there you go, there you go. It 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.200 really was kind of like a training ground for the 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:38.319 music business. 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:39.160 Uh. 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.400 And so from that standpoint, that was kind of my 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:47.960 my upbringing with having been brought up in church like 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:52.560 almost six days out of every single week, and finding 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.480 a love for music outside of the church and inside 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:56.800 of the church, and then trying to figure out how 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.720 to make those two worlds meet, uh, to eventually find 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.199 my voice in music. So I don't know if that 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.640 answers that question. I kind of went off on a 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.640 little tangent right there. So I'm fifty five. I can 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:09.800 do that every now and then. 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.080 So did you start with did you start with singing 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:14.880 or was it playing an instrument? 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:19.920 That's a that is a great question. I actually started 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.440 with just being a musician. I played the piano. My 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:28.080 friend Shep Crawford played the oregon in church, and we 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.800 were really cool. We were kid musicians. And the beautiful 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.360 part of how I came to sing, and the tragic 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.960 part at the same time, is growing up in south 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:44.000 central Los Angeles. There was high gang activity in my neighborhood. 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:48.560 You know, we're talking the you know, the late seventies, 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:52.400 early eighties, and at that time period, a lot of 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:56.960 the older young black males that I looked up to, 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.840 some of them were in carcerat, some of them got 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:07.320 addicted to substances. And I kind of got into singing 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.880 by default because at some point the older guys who 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:14.200 I looked up to, they weren't there anymore. You know, 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:19.280 just from a statistically, I was not supposed to live 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:23.200 to see eighteen years old growing up in south central 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.680 Los Angeles. That was like a literal statistic that a 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.800 young black man in south central Los Angeles is not 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.880 supposed to live past eighteen. So on my eighteenth birthday, 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:35.040 we celebrated, like, yeah, he's alive, but you know it's 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:40.000 supposed to he's eighteen. So yeah, so that's you know, 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:42.920 part of that journey right then. So music for me, 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.440 Singing for me came out of necessity. I did not 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:49.600 want to sing. I was just a musician. I was 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.640 comfortable with that and the discomfort of not having other 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:55.960 people there to actually be male vocalists. 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:58.480 I had to take that position by default. 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.560 Wow, so as this is how we do it. Told 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:06.280 us you are six foot eight inches. Did people just 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:08.280 clown on you when you were growing up for not 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:09.320 being good at basketball. 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:19.080 That was the worst, Danielle. It was the worst. I Okay, 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:23.360 So here's here's two instances of how bad that that was. 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.800 When I was in middle school and I was in 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:32.720 the ninth grade, I ran in the yearbook, you know, 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:37.080 how to have the prettiest best dress. I ran for 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:41.520 tallest and I lost to a guy who I was 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:42.720 two inches taller than that. 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.200 Okay, so to give it to you. 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:52.040 In middle school, I was six two and a guy 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:56.240 who was six feet I ended up losing to him. 0:16:56.360 --> 0:17:00.560 So that's the first instance. The second instance is because 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.960 I grew up musical and I didn't really play basketball 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:06.840 by the time I get to high school. I'm now 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:09.800 in the tenth grade. I show up to this high 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.080 school where I am now six ' four and my 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:18.879 last name is Jordan, so and this is nineteen, you know, 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:23.840 and so naturally, yeah, they are like, oh my god, 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:28.480 we got a six foot four Jordan coming to our school. 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:30.800 And I could not play a lick of basketball. And 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:33.359 it was just it was so I. 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.480 Still think I'm traumatized a little bit by that, but 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:38.080 I'm going to recover it. 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:39.399 Though, I'm going to recover it. 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:47.880 You were like, could I play you the piano. And 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:50.800 so then you graduate high school and you end up 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:54.960 attending Pepperdine to become a lawyer. Why did you pick 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.439 Malibu as your next destination. 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.119 I think a part of my journey was h I 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.480 grew up, you know, like I said, in South central 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:07.600 Los Angeles. Things can be really compartmentalized in you know, 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:10.160 depending on where you where you grow up. UH And 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:13.840 so you know, I grew up in South central, I 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.520 went to UH. I lived kind of in a black 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.600 a black neighborhood with black family. I lived, went to 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:24.760 a black church, went to a predominantly black school. Like 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.240 so everything in my life was like just super you know, 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:29.280 super urban. 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:30.680 That was that was my upbringing. 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:31.560 UH. 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:35.360 And I remember there was a teacher who's I think 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:39.080 a judge now, a guy by the name of Craig Mitchell. 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:43.159 Craig Mitchell was an amazing guy in my life. He 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.480 was one of the guys that pushed us the hardest. 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:46.880 You know. He would have us. 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:50.359 Reading you know, two hundred pages, three hundred pages of 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:52.840 you know, of you know, one hundred pays of a 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:54.840 book a night, and like he was like this the 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.960 real hard ass regarding you know, academics, but I loved 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.639 him for it. And I remember him asking me about 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.440 where I wanted to go to college, and because of 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.239 my life, I thought, well, I'm naturally going to go 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.080 to you know, an HBCU. I'm going to go to 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:14.480 a historically black college university. I'm going to go to Morehouse. 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:16.560 I'm going to go somewhere in the South. And that 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.960 was just, you know, a different world. The Cosby Show. 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:23.080 These were shows in addition to you know what later 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:24.720 I would be watching with y'all, but these were the 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:27.520 shows that I was growing up on. And so because 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:29.760 of that, when I told him, yeah, I'm going to go, 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:30.960 you know, I'm going to go to the South and 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.480 I'm going to go to all black college and he said, 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:35.800 why would you do that? And I was like, well, 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.920 that's what I'm supposed to do. And he said, what 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:42.399 has what have people told you your entire life? 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:44.120 I said, what do you mean? 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:47.160 He's like, is there something that you have heard repeated 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:51.240 to you your entire life? And I said, well, I've 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:55.960 always been told that in order for a black man 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:58.439 to be successful in the world, he's got to be 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.080 twice as good at so thing as a as a 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:05.479 white person and accurate or no, this is this is 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:07.240 what I was told growing up. You got to be 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:09.880 twice as good, twice as smart, twice as this, work, 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:10.760 twice as hard. 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:11.600 Uh. 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:14.120 And so he said to me, if that is, if 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:18.000 that's accurate, then why would you go and compete against 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:21.960 other black students opposed to competing against other people who 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:24.160 you say you need to be twice as good as. 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:28.280 So when he told me that I sought out the 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:38.560 widest college in America that it was, it was Perdine University. 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:42.800 It was like point oh two black people and it 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.159 was only like forty five minutes from South Central but 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:48.000 it's a whole nother, whole other world up. 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:49.359 The Pacific Coast Highway. 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.679 But but no, I went there and I did well, 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.160 and I competed well, and I loved well and I 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:56.040 was loved well. 0:20:56.560 --> 0:20:56.679 Uh. 0:20:56.760 --> 0:21:00.480 And have nothing but great uh, but but great intimates 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.840 about my experience as a wave. And let me just 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:07.040