WEBVTT - Rico Love 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:13.840 Money. We all take valiche. We are the authority on 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:20.799 all things. Ladies and gentlemen. My name is Tank and 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:26.360 this don't be money podcasts. Well, we are the authority 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:32.800 on all things. And the lights, the lights, all the 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.000 lights on. They're okay, okay, because when when you talk, 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:38.559 when you talk this talk, the lights gotta be all 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:44.280 you know there there there are some individuals, right, and 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:46.720 when you are working with these individuals, when you are 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:49.040 in the presence of these individuals, you just shut the 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.360 funk up and do what they tell you to do. 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:56.680 Because it's rare. But there are those people, and one 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.560 of them is here today, our brother Mr Rico Love 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:07.800 What out? What up? Listen? It's it's it's very I 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:13.080 can count on one hand the people who have vocal 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.840 produced me, and I can count on an alien hand. 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.120 What are the three fingers? And then they got four 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.720 because they counted force the count of threes. The threes, well, 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:30.000 I know another alienation. That's why I'm going four by 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:37.000 eight bytes. Yes, alien talk, three binary code micro chips talk. Um, 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.720 it's it's rare, and and not even just from a 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:47.160 vocal production standpoint, but um just an overall understanding and 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:53.600 idea of where a song should go, and to be 0:01:53.720 --> 0:02:00.720 able to sit up under you, pause and and take 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:06.559 those notes and instructions word for word, line for line, 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.799 like I felt great in that space, man, you know 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.400 what I'm saying. I felt I felt like I felt 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:15.200 like I was in school and I was learning something. 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:17.000 And at the end of this, at the end of 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.240 this semester, I was going to graduate. You know. It's 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.000 crazy was when I when I started the session with you, 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.120 after I wrote the song, I was about to step 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.640 out you and but he said are you going? You 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:31.280 said where you going? You're like, nah, no, and then 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:33.600 you just let me leave. That was amazing. That was 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:35.640 a great, great moment for me. Just so you know, 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:41.160 I mean, it's it's Harvey Mason JR. Oh yeah, you 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:46.440 coop When Jay is not poll j Jye Vocal produced me, 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:50.200 run the proteols, be watching NBA and on social media 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:54.320 all the same. I don't know how he does just 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:59.639 the time to say that ain't the chief JQ. Jake, 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:01.639 Jake was really dope, and you've done a lot of 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.040 work together. But in terms of me just getting to 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:05.920 where I know I need to go, I know how 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:09.240 to get there. But there are just some guys who 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:13.800 just hear things away. I want to hear them and 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.480 and make things away that I want to make them. 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.000 And I'm like, whatever you're doing, you want the record 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:21.680 to feel like that demo you heard, and then give 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:26.639 me that. Give me the suit that you're wearing, give 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.040 it to me. Just cut a little bit offsides and 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:30.880 you know what I'm saying, the tail of the arms, 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:33.160 maybe cut the sleeves off. I'd like to show my ship. 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:38.080 But that's like, that's an amazing gift that you have, 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:40.040 you know what I'm saying, And so I just wanted 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.760 to start there and say thank you, um, and give 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.400 you all the respect and love, you know what I mean. 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.320 They call it flowers or whatever else they want to 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.400 call it, but you know that's a respect thing. And 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:53.040 you're from the house, yeah, man, from the mill. You 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:54.960 know what I'm saying. And I know what kind of 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.200 guy you are. You don't know, it's in your blood, um. 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:00.560 But we always like to go to the beginning, you 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:01.880 know what I'm saying. We like to start at the 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.760 very beginning of of of where it happened for you, 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:09.880 where you felt like or somebody felt like you had 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:14.040 something different and something special to off crazy because I 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.120 started off as a rap artist and a lot of 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:22.680 people may have Yeah, yeah, so I started off as 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:24.680 a rap artist and I was signed as a rap artist. 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:31.440 I should just label us records and you slash slap record. 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.960 I remember all part of that. Remember performing for Clive, 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:38.360 because that's when you you couldn't just get up straight. 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:42.200 I want to you want to see him, and I 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.560 remember Clive standing up and clapping at a rap performance 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:47.840 of mine. So, but yeah, I signed to us you 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.080 as a rap artist. But I always thought, you know, 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:51.839 you have to understand, well, I sure put you on 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.360 TV with him as a gift in the curse, So 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:56.320 I thought I signed with him. He put me on 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.760 How I'm Living, and he put me on Diary, MTV Diary, 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:00.840 and I was just in the house. He introduces me 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:04.279 on Diary, introduces me on b TE How I'm Living. 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:06.960 So what happens is your family thinks, oh, he's got 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:11.719 a million dollars like he's This is before social media, 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.680 and this is social media exposed too much, I think, 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:16.960 maybe too much of what the business is to way 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:19.400 it eliminated the mystique. But that's a whole other conversation. 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.880 Hope believe we get it into that later. But the family, 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:26.240 my mom, I said, everybody thought is really up. So 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:30.160 everybody's just calling we need this, you know, grandmom and everybody. 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.680 So I remember thinking to myself, Yo, I'm entirely too 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:37.400 broke to have a record, dude, this is crazy. Had 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:39.040 to deal, Yeah, I had to deal. I hadn't did 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.400 We had performed for Clive, but we hadn't did the 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.360 actual deal with Jay Records. We had just did the 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.479 deal with US Records. So I did that deal. I remember. 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.600 So I remember going to Usher's office like every day, 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:52.919 just waiting, you know what I mean. I don't know 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.360 bully Ship, just waiting like where is he? Oh, he's 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:59.800 not here today. I'm like wait because I need some money. 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:04.000 So these people on my back exactly exactly. So I 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.200 showed up one day and he said us not here, 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:07.479 and I was getting ready to leave and he pulled up. 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:09.440 I never forget. He had a box to He had 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.080 this box to Porsch and he had on a yellow vest. 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:14.720 Remember the vest of people were and they were the 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.520 polo under it. He had the yellow vests. I never forget, 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:19.680 like the cloth and I just remember thinking himself at 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:21.800 that time, it just looks so rich, and I just 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:24.360 got angry. I'm like, I need some money, man, what's 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:26.520 going on? Because so I go there and my set bro, 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.520 I need some money, like we signed, I I need 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:31.640 some bread. He said, all right, listen, come here, come 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:33.600 and come in his off and he made a blank CD. 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.080 Made it, took a blank CD put in the record. 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.000 He had Terrence Carter burn this CD and he said, 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.960 here's a beat. We've been trying to write to this 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.240 beat for a very long time. We had everybody tried. 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.240 Nobody can nail the song for this. So what I 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:47.400 want you to do is I want you to write 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:49.960 a song for me. And his exact words to me, 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.320 the level of confidence was write a song for me. 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:59.160 You'll be good. I'm a cell ten million. So I said, 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:03.360 all right, I take the track and I got a tacke. 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:08.600 You have a lot of diamonds on it. He said 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:12.240 that to me. He said it with in those exact words, 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.040 I'm a Shelton million, you know what I mean. So 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:19.360 I was like, okay, I took the track. Um sitting 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.160 in a parking lot of red Zone studios, those don't 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.760 know the Red Zone. So you understand. I came up 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.600 in the community of writer's creators, rappers. It was myself 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.000 in one room. Dream was in another room. Nobody knew him. 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:33.520 Carry Holston would be in one of room. Sierra would 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.040 come down and from high school, drive down and work 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.400 in the studio. She was signed the Jazz Faye. It 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:40.080 was a whole community of us. I used to run 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.000 into a little young jock and t like we were 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.600 all trying to make it in the business. And I 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.160 sat in Red Zone parking lot because all the studios 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.080 were booked. Me and the corner boys had a room 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:51.800 in the back right. Shout out to the corner boy, 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.040 and I had a flip phone and I sang to 0:07:56.160 --> 0:08:00.560 the beat and the beat was, uh, just blaze, You're 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:04.360 gonna want me back? And I sang throwback in the 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.920 phone and saved it on the on the notes, and 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.320 I tried to get Pierre mcdual. My brothers shout, I gotta, 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:12.120 I gotta give him shift for this. But I tried 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:13.560 to get Pierre to do the demo for me. He 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.880 didn't just didn't have time. So j Q was just 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:20.000 walking through the halls and he said, you need, you 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.880 need somebody to demo something, I'll demo it for you now. 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:24.920 Now I'm gonna tell you the truth about everything. I 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:26.760 don't like to leave things out. I don't want to 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.800 make sure everybody gets their credit. JQ demoed the song, 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.560 and although he didn't write lyrics on the song, he 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:35.400 did an ad lib on the song and said, I 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:37.440 wish I could throw it back to the way it 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.360 used to be. That was the ad lit that he added. 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:42.920 And he said to me, I was thinking because he 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:44.400 sent me he gave me the CD back after he 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:46.240 cut it, and he said, I was thinking, by the way, 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:48.120 we couldn't say we had to see me to give 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:53.640 me this. So he said, I was thinking that you 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.240 should call a song throwback at that time, two thousand 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:00.720 and three throwback jerseys, you know, And so I was like, 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.679 why does genius? So we called a song throwback and 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.000 heard that them when I played it for us, Terence 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.640 called a loss is my mark, pits loss my Usher, 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.080 loss is mine and the rest of just history. He 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:13.000 cut that record and it changed my life. That's how 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.840 my career started as a songwriter. So even when Usher 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:18.960 got rid of his label and moved on to other things. 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:23.079 He blessed me with something that nobody could ever take 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.560 away from me. He he unlocked something in me that 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:27.640 I didn't know existed. So I just kept right enofter that. 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:30.160 So that's why when people, you know, if you ever 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:32.040 been around me here, somebody talk bad about us, it 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:37.040 gets really bad for them. I just don't lie. I 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:40.719 just don't allow it. But that's how it should be, 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.200 you know what I mean, When when somebody gives you 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:47.559 those type of opportunities, you have to always stay loyal. 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:49.760 You know what I'm saying that. Now you may have 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.040 your own little personal things, yeah, we go, we go through, 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:57.120 but when somebody gives you that type of opportunity to 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:00.720 change your life, you gotta go with the And also 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:03.640 out of Usher had an R and B group signed 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:08.000 to him. One chance incredible, he had one chance on him. 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.240 But he would take me everywhere with him. It's the 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:14.040 craziest thing in the world. Usher would call me and say, 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:16.679 get on the plane. I'm gonna get a ticket for you. 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:18.840 Just bring an empty bag and the will fly to 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.040 l A. He was here for American Music Awards and 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:22.640 he would just take me shopping while I was like 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.760 there's like a real little brother. We just always connected. 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.120 We always have great talks and and I would give 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:29.920 him advice. He would give me advice, you know. He 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:32.160 always said, bro, you're so wise, like what you're thinking 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:34.480 about this the high level ship and he would just 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.880 put me on. So we would always hang out. When 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:38.880 he did the press run, he did read Just and 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.040 Kelly and did all those shows. I was with him 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.200 when he was going to do BT Awards. He would 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:45.840 just say, come with me and it would be myself, 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.439 Keith Thomas, and Usher and we would just hang out 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.000 and I'd be like, obviously, I felt so blessed. And 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.400 later on I realized that, you know, it's something special 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.920 in in in certain people that stands out and others 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.120 recognize that. So the gift of recogniz eysing something special 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.719 and another individual is a gift that I don't think 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.360 it's enough credit. Because he saw something incredible in me. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:08.160 He helped me learn a bit, and he took me 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:11.199 on tour with him. Mind you. I rapped on Throwback 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:13.240 on the original version, but on the album version it 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:15.320 didn't make the album, you know what I mean, And 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:19.719 it was political. Jada Kiss was going to remix and repackage. 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:21.959 But I went on a tour with him, and I 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.040 would wrap my verse on tour in front of sixteen 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.240 thousand people every night on tour for two and a 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.120 half months. So it was a life changing experience. It 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.760 was like seeing the world from the lens of a 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:35.880 number one superstar in the world, so that I can understand. 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:37.840 I think God was just preparing me, like, Yo, we're 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:40.160 gonna get you to this level in some capacity. I'm 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.400 just gonna show you it from here. You know, So 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:44.880 is your is you coming up as a rapper? That's 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.680 your first You know that that that's your main state, 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:49.360 that's what you think you're getting ready, That's what I 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.240 thought I was gonna you had you ever thought about 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:56.240 writing R and never before that point, never to that day. 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.440 So that day that I wrote that song, I would 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:00.960 write hooks for myself. I write a song and write 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.240 an R and B hook type thing. But I never 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.280 ever had written a song. And my dad used to 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.040 tell me all the time, you could sing, why don't 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:10.240 you sing? And I was like, WHOA, I'm not no singer, 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.439 you know what I mean? Because it was a whole 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:14.200 thing about R and B back in the day. It 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.160 was like that false idea of what an R and 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.160 B artist was, even though the details and so many 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.040 R and B artists were contrary to that, you know 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:24.120 what I mean. They were the toughest guys in the 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:27.040 whole musical community. But I just was like nah. And 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.600 then I remember, and to skip away ahead, I remember 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:31.959 when Drake first came out and I had I had 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.000 been done being an artist at that point. I've already 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:36.080 been a successful as a writer. And when Drake first 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:37.720 came up, my dad called me and said, I told 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:42.320 you because singing rapped, you know what I mean? So yeah, yeah, 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:47.480 but I was originally a rapper. Wow, So because I'm 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:51.640 we're not gonna We're gonna stay here for man, because 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:56.080 there's a record that is my favorite song on that 0:12:56.120 --> 0:13:00.480 project that you wrote that's purely not like I could Okay, 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.320 I could see a rapper coming in and writing to Throwback. 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:05.840 I can see that, right, great record, But I can 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:11.320 see a rapper right now Seduction. Yeah, but that's that's 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.560 myself and jam and Lewis and Usher of course, but 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:21.079 that's still a rapper in the mix writing Sduction like right, 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:25.480 like this is just my my opinion, Usher to me 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:32.240 was never fully a sex symbol until he had seduction. 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.319 You think, in my opinion, this is my opinion nicest slow, 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.320 but Nice and Slow was young. Nice and Slow was young. 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:44.000 Was a nice record, was a nice record and an 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:48.240 amazing record, but it was it about fucking no no no, 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:54.720 Nice and Slow, about nice and Slow as a love song. Yeah, 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.880 give me what you got whatever whatever you look at 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:03.400 a woman and that. Yeah. I watched Terry Lewis produced 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:07.800 that that vocal and he was feeding at lives like 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:10.760 that record, bro throwing out your best, get you out 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:21.800 of control, baby, And I was like, yeah, to beat, 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:26.680 I'm gonna be honest. And I came to that session late. 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.560 They had already been deep into the record. They allowed 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:31.520 me to add on to that record, you know what 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:33.600 I mean to They allowed me in that room to 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:36.720 add elements to it. And I think that it's a 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.080 learning opportunity to be in the room with Terry Lewis 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:43.120 producing the vocal and company vocal and you and you 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.320 learn how to write a song and you almost have 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.560 to keep up with his float. And if you don't 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:50.360 keep up, you really got to get out that room. 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.560 So I was able to kind of follow follow suit. 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.520 But honestly, like I said, when you have something in you, 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:57.640 it was kind of like something that was naturally in 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:00.280 me because I didn't realize was there. I was always 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.880 a humongous fan of R and B. Like even as 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.480 a rap artist, I always listened to mostly R and 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:09.240 B records. I was a student. I studied Luther, I studied, 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.560 you know, but I even studied like um um James 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.920 Taylor and just those soul full bluesy folk you know, 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:19.200 Jim Crazy, you know, and studying Carol King, and you know, 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.200 I just always loved great songwriting, the great singing, you know. 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:24.320 And I didn't even realize it, didn't even realize it. 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.720 And so then when it became my opportunity. But I 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:28.640 have to take it back one second. I have to 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:30.880 take this all the way back. When I first came 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.040 to Atlanta to try to make it in music, I 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:38.520 was living in Jagged Edges House in Cayl Norman's house, 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:41.560 and I remember the house was called the Corner. It 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.640 was a memorial drive. They called the house to the Corner. 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:46.440 That's where the Corner Boys were birth. They called the 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:48.880 Corner because that was the house. It was called the corner. 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:50.720 Everybody would pull up and it was like pulling up 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.680 to the corner. The corner boys were birth from the 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.920 corner right. So I would sleep on the couch at 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:00.600 the corner and Brandon and Brian would come to the 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.160 studio and I'm not exaggerating at eight in the morning 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.000 every day and they would write songs till six o'clock, 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.160 get something to eat, smoke, go back down, write something. 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:11.960 And if anybody knows what I mean by Brandon the Brian, 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:17.000 that's Jacket as twins from jacketas the legendary. The work 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.600 ethic was insane. They never wrote anything down. They went 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.480 in the booth and they would just right right all day, 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.240 right all day, some great songs, some not, so it 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:27.120 don't matter. Every day they were writing right and after 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:29.480 they wrote they would get in the car go to 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:34.920 Strokers in Atlanta. They would they would go to strokers, 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.360 hang out all night, sleep for two or three hours, 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.200 and go back to the studio. So the work ethic, 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:43.920 and then what I was told was that was how 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:46.680 Jermaine worked. Every day, early in the morning, get to 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:48.480 the studio, work all night through the week. I was 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.240 sleep for a few hours and then go back to work. 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.840 So that was a culture I was I was breeding into. 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.760 So when I got with Usher the idea of understanding 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:59.360 how to formulate a song, I had already been absorbed. 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:02.880 There your knee, guys. So when I got my opportunity, 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:06.040 it felt natural. It felt in. It felt like, you know, 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:08.320 like an instinct in me that I didn't even realize 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:10.040 what was there until it happens. It's like if somebody 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:13.159 swings at you and you just automatically, you just instinct, 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.639 you just know it's there. So I think that that 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:20.800 that school of you know, because you weren't signed to jack. 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.159 I was not signing Jack. I was begging Jackets to 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:25.879 sign me, and you were that was a rapper. I 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:27.800 wanted them to sign me as a rapper and they 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:29.920 always would say they would, but they just never got 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:33.520 around to doing it. And then uh Me and Cayl 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:35.919 got into a situation we got we fell out. So 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:37.520 then I stopped being able to come over to the 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:39.919 corner for a while, but then the corner boys allowed 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:41.840 me to come and I would sleep on their couch. 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:48.560 You're just gonnach couch, the couch whore straight or so 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:50.399 you fresh out of college. At this I was in 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:52.479 Are you still in school? I'm still in school. Told 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:56.080 catch the bus to Atlanta every weekend from Tallahassee from 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:00.000 fam you, So I would catch the bus to Atlanta 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.520 to every single weekend. So I would on Friday nights, 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.720 I didn't go to Cappa lou Al. I've never been 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.840 to uh Gorilla Thriller And anybody from family knows what 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:09.680 I'm talking about. I had never attended any of these 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.080 events because on the weekends, I was like, I'm going 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.720 to Atlanta because I gotta make it right. I would 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.560 always tell everybody this, y'all, I'm not gonna graduate. I'm 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:21.080 going to get a deal journalism. But I didn't even 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.080 get into journalism. I gotta I was in general studies. 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.119 I had never even made it to journalism yet, because honestly, 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.080 I was just like, I'm just here. Yeah, I'm just 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:32.280 taking liberal arts math, and but I was taking a 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:36.320 bus on Friday nights. I would take the bus to Atlanta. 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.679 Actually a Friday nights, it would be a flight a 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:41.680 bus that would take you five or five in the morning. 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:43.720 So I say, Saturday morning, I would take a bus 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:45.560 to Atlanta for seven hours. Because you had to stop 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.160 in between all these cities Greyhound bus. I would get 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:51.200 there Saturday, I would work all day. Sunday. I would 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.440 work all day Sunday night, I would get on the bus, 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:55.160 go back to school. I had a three point eight 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:57.800 g p A in college. Still I would go back 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.080 to Atlanta and we go back to tallas See, do 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.879 my school work, have good time, do the talent shows 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:04.440 at Lee Hall, go to the snake pit with a 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:06.320 little Steve and do all the little stuff. And then 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.400 I would get back on the bus every Friday going 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:11.560 to Atlanta to make it. People invite me to things, 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:13.320 don't come to this. I'm like, I'm going to Atlanta. 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:15.399 Then I found friends who would drive me there. My 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.400 man and Chad Roper would just drive me every weekend 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:20.439 and I would be going to Atlanta to make it. 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:22.480 That's all I wanted. So if I had gas money, 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:24.360 they'd be like yo. So I got a credit card. 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:26.919 They used to give out credit cards on campus too. 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.240 As soon as you get eighteen. I got a credit card. 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:31.560 I maxed out the credit card because I was like, 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:35.240 that's my bus trips and money to you know, get 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:37.399 to Atlanta. It was a limit and I think that 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.200 lasted me a few good good a good little while, 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:42.000 and I would go. So let me tell you the 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:45.800 crazy part about it. I get back to school one 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:49.600 week and they tell me you're no longer registered here, 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:53.119 your your financial aid is not was not accepted. And 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:55.560 I was like, yes it is, you know, you know, 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:57.400 And I called my mom and say, yoh, they're saying 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:59.639 I'm not in Roding school. My mother who I like, 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.600 my mom is my best friend, but at this time 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:03.800 it was a you know, she was a little angry. 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:06.440 She said, you're you're playing games. You don't want to 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:08.320 go to school, and you think you're you're playing because 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:09.879 I am looking at the paper right here. How are 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:11.960 you going to tell me? And I'm like Monty saying 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:13.760 I'm not in Rolling school. So what I used to 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:16.320 do each semester They would have my paperwork not ready, 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:17.760