Speaker 1: R and B Money.
Speaker 2: We are.
Speaker 1: Thanks take vologized.
Speaker 2: We are the authority on all things R.
Speaker 1: And B, ladies and gentleman.
Speaker 2: My name is Tank and this is the Army Money Podcast,
Speaker 2: the authority on all things R and B. Ah, My, my, my,
Speaker 2: my my on today. If you are struggling in your
Speaker 2: vocal dexterity, Uh, there's a man. You're singing from the
Speaker 2: wrong place. If you are singing from the wrong place,
Speaker 2: If your lyrics are malnourished and have no meaty depth
Speaker 2: to them, if your production needs spiced so that the
Speaker 2: masses can cater to that, what you do.
Speaker 1: If you need a man to get you on a level.
Speaker 2: Amen, whether it be gospel, whether it be R and B,
Speaker 2: whether it be.
Speaker 3: Pop Katie pop, pop.
Speaker 2: Poppa Diddy pop, pop rocks, whatever it is, We've got
Speaker 2: a man and his name as Eric.
Speaker 1: Wow Wow talkings.
Speaker 2: All I got to say is, I don't think I've
Speaker 2: ever in my fifty plus ears hurt somebody intro me
Speaker 2: like that. Ever, I know you, brother, Ever, I know
Speaker 2: you and uh you know we we we family, you know, you.
Speaker 1: Know trenches.
Speaker 2: Over and I'm talking like you know this this for
Speaker 2: me goes back, you know, to being a kid and
Speaker 2: listening to you and your brother Wow, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, and studying.
Speaker 1: And like what is that?
Speaker 2: Who is that?
Speaker 1: And studying that voice? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2: And and then to to one day finally meet you,
Speaker 2: and and then for it to go even further to
Speaker 2: us to begin to have a working relationship with then
Speaker 2: the brotherhood.
Speaker 1: It's been. It's been pretty awesome.
Speaker 3: Bro.
Speaker 2: I want you to know that, you know that is
Speaker 2: not taken for granted. You know, I always call you
Speaker 2: my sense you know what I'm saying, Like we we
Speaker 2: always used to get in there and shad and go
Speaker 2: vocal for vocal and then everybody everybody ain't able.
Speaker 1: Yeah everybody.
Speaker 2: Well, you know at my album release party, you you
Speaker 2: you definitely you know, you know, showed up as the teacher.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. I mean, it's my album release.
Speaker 2: It's a backpack on show with a backroom. Man, I
Speaker 2: got this my album release.
Speaker 4: I got more of my.
Speaker 1: Back ye, nigga, I'm backpack. Keep it back. You know,
Speaker 1: the shine is supposed to be on me.
Speaker 4: Some people keep a pistol, a bag of people, keep.
Speaker 2: A vocal.
Speaker 1: A bag of Keep listen when I say you kicked
Speaker 1: our ass that night.
Speaker 2: It was so crazy because I think Jamie knew you
Speaker 2: could sing, but I don't think he knew that you
Speaker 2: were going to do all of that.
Speaker 4: You know, some niggas take an injury.
Speaker 1: He put his hamstring drunk.
Speaker 2: Don't give me in like, I don't think, well, like this,
Speaker 2: Jamie pulled the hams drag everybody on that line.
Speaker 1: It was like this, I don't, I don't know, I'm
Speaker 1: not doing another.
Speaker 2: And it was just like it was one of those
Speaker 2: moments where I was just like, man, listen, I'm I'm
Speaker 2: humbled all the time. Like I don't think I've ever
Speaker 2: gotten used to people giving me that, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, And that just comes from my upbringing. But
Speaker 2: and it's because singing is what I love to do,
Speaker 2: is my passion, It's my gift. And the definition of
Speaker 2: a gift is something that you give away. So me
Speaker 2: giving it like that, it is just like that's what I'm.
Speaker 3: Giving these singers, these vocals business.
Speaker 2: But no, it's that that's just you know, and then
Speaker 2: being being in I will say this and covenant with
Speaker 2: with people like you that that I know I can
Speaker 2: share with whenever we're together. It's the iron sharpens iron
Speaker 2: as long as it touches like we were that. So
Speaker 2: I appreciate you for being being who you are.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And this guy, you know, I I met Jay
Speaker 2: before I met all, y'all. I met him at the
Speaker 2: barber shop. Yeah, Kenny was cutting his hand like this
Speaker 2: is pretty nigga. We just waved and pretty on.
Speaker 1: This nigga, don't nigga, ain't got no clippers though.
Speaker 4: Set the sars out.
Speaker 2: Her was ollive oil and glistening on man man. Kenny
Speaker 2: introduced us and and told me who he was. I'm like,
Speaker 2: that's what's up like, and we like from that moment,
Speaker 2: like we didn't see each other for a minute, but
Speaker 2: whenever we did reconnect, I went back to that moment.
Speaker 1: It was like this was he was a real real
Speaker 1: down brother something. You know.
Speaker 2: It was all from then and we've been family from
Speaker 2: day one. So plus yeah, we twenty plus that's crazy.
Speaker 2: I met you at the fred Hammer Concept con at
Speaker 2: Faithful Central when I was at the forum, like I
Speaker 2: was fanning out, like I didn't want to say nothing,
Speaker 2: like yo, that's tank, let's take right there.
Speaker 1: I mean, we ended up meeting them like.
Speaker 2: Let's take you take take it.
Speaker 4: It's crazy.
Speaker 1: The hints of time.
Speaker 2: Well the first time, you know, I love this question.
Speaker 2: Somebody said to you, but you said to yourself, Oh
Speaker 2: I got some.
Speaker 1: It was you know.
Speaker 2: Me and Anson wrote and co wrote like three songs
Speaker 2: on Commission number seven.
Speaker 1: No Way the.
Speaker 2: First the first song on the album second Chance, and
Speaker 2: me and Anson wrote that song as we were driving.
Speaker 1: Are getting on My Nerves?
Speaker 2: No, literally we were now we were driving to act
Speaker 2: for a concert. I just worked out to the seventh album,
Speaker 2: maybe like two weeks ago. We were driving literally driving
Speaker 2: to Achering for Commission concert and we we had done
Speaker 2: the track. We've done the track, and I did the
Speaker 2: track and of course Fred you know he does his
Speaker 2: stuff on top of it.
Speaker 1: That was my track, like.
Speaker 2: And he he did his Fred Hammon things. Look yeah,
Speaker 2: oh my godness, I.
Speaker 1: Was fucking question. Second you are crazy dead Seriously.
Speaker 2: We wrote it on the way to achron like it
Speaker 2: was a two hour drive from where we lived, and
Speaker 2: wrote the lyrics and then the second song, the crazy
Speaker 2: part was answering used to be the lyric guy with
Speaker 2: me and like I would do the tracks, answer, We'll
Speaker 2: come up with the lyrics. Because that's just what he did.
Speaker 2: So we're going into the studio to do number seven
Speaker 2: with him, because we're singing on the whole thing, like
Speaker 2: background and everything. And I brought a track that they
Speaker 2: loved and Fred was like, Okay, go ahead and write it. Like, no,
Speaker 2: I don't, that's not that's not that's not for me
Speaker 2: answering rights to the lyrics. She's like, no, man, you
Speaker 2: can do it. And I literally, to this day, I
Speaker 2: give Fred Hammond credit for me being the lyrical guy
Speaker 2: that I am because he pushed me.
Speaker 1: I had.
Speaker 2: I might give answered a couple of ideas, but sitting
Speaker 2: down and pinning a verse or a hook that was
Speaker 2: my thing. I was like, let me just let me
Speaker 2: make the track hot, and so he put me in
Speaker 2: this room. I was scared out of my mind, like
Speaker 2: what am I gonna do? Studio A in Dearborn, Michigan.
Speaker 2: And so what I did because I was so afraid
Speaker 2: of it being not accepted. I didn't want to be rejected.
Speaker 2: They already loved the track, so I knew the track
Speaker 2: was gonna be whatever it was, and I can't.
Speaker 1: I wrote like two different.
Speaker 2: Versions of this song, and I said, let me sing
Speaker 2: them the one I feel like it is the dumbest,
Speaker 2: so they don't take it and just let answer do it.
Speaker 1: I came out.
Speaker 5: Here the lean I've been thinking about you and the
Speaker 5: way you make me feel inside, and that in that
Speaker 5: the moment feel that I can't a high.
Speaker 2: That song turned out to be I Can't Live without You?
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me? Literally?
Speaker 1: I can't live without you?
Speaker 2: I can't live, I can't live.
Speaker 1: I can't live y'all? Yeah, that was that was the song.
Speaker 2: I was twenty I just turned twenty one, but the
Speaker 2: track was like, you know, I was on my Roger
Speaker 2: Troutman kidding and what gave me the inspiration? We used
Speaker 2: to fun fact come when we toured. The tour busses
Speaker 2: that they used were the Troutman's buses. It was too big,
Speaker 2: blue and this maroon bus and one of them had
Speaker 2: like some studio equipment on it whatever and fly busses
Speaker 2: back then.
Speaker 1: M C.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So yeah, me and Ansen we toured with Commission.
Speaker 2: Like when Fred heard our demo, he hired He literally
Speaker 2: hired us on the spot. We were at Fred's house
Speaker 2: in Detroit. Somebody took us over there and we played
Speaker 2: a demo that we had done and we were just
Speaker 2: like we just thought we was gonna do a record
Speaker 2: or whatever. He's like, I need y'all to be in
Speaker 2: the band, So he hired us, and this this might
Speaker 2: be even a little messy. He hired us without talking
Speaker 2: to the other guys, like I'm playing keys and answers,
Speaker 2: playing the drum machine and programming stuff for the show
Speaker 2: because uh, Max, Max Frank was he was m drums,
Speaker 2: Mike William, Mike William yeah, yeah. And then we had
Speaker 2: we had a couple of the keyboard players, Eddie Howard,
Speaker 2: who was a phenomenal keyboard player. He was one of
Speaker 2: the keyboards. So it's me Eddie Howard and Max. I
Speaker 2: was doing oxkis like just you know, filling in here
Speaker 2: and there whatever and singing background. So we sang like
Speaker 2: on the road. We were part of the part of
Speaker 2: the vocals for the band. When what year was from
Speaker 2: ninety to like ninety four?
Speaker 1: Wow, yeah, we were on the road with him.
Speaker 2: I had to have seen you because meantime, y'all, you
Speaker 2: used to come to evangel Church in in DC.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but yeah, we toured.
Speaker 2: With them for like the better part of three years,
Speaker 2: and that gave us our start, like.
Speaker 1: He was the first person to tell you, guys, he was.
Speaker 2: That was That was where we we figured it out
Speaker 2: because we had a couple a couple of bands that
Speaker 2: we sang in locally in Ohio that they were they
Speaker 2: were cool with being local or even regional, but we
Speaker 2: had we had other other ideas. Our vision was a
Speaker 2: lot bigger than Ohio. So we killed those two groups.
Speaker 2: Was like, we'll just do it ourselves. And Fred actually
Speaker 2: wanted us to be a part of a four a
Speaker 2: four person group like two girls and two guys. And
Speaker 2: if you know what Fred's company is called face to face.
Speaker 2: Face to face was the name of our group. It
Speaker 2: was me answering these two.
Speaker 4: Girls and the company the group.
Speaker 1: No, it was the name of the group.
Speaker 2: First first we didn't have the company, so the group
Speaker 2: situation didn't really pan out, so it just ended up
Speaker 2: being me and answer. And so he took the names
Speaker 2: like she call y'all something else. And Fred actually the
Speaker 2: one that came up with Dawkins and Dawkins Wow, and
Speaker 2: it's stuck, like so Fred can he can be credited
Speaker 2: for discovering Dawkins and Dawkins like that is that is
Speaker 2: Fred is my sensey, Like I tell people all the time,
Speaker 2: Fred is that's who I studied. Fred put me on too,
Speaker 2: Donnie at the way, So I started studying Donnie. Of
Speaker 2: course I loved Charlie Wilson, you know, but I get
Speaker 2: my bass. It's Fred Handy. Yeah, I can see that.
Speaker 2: That's my base because you can sound like you can.
Speaker 2: You can him in front of him, and it kind
Speaker 2: of one time. I think it annoyed him because he
Speaker 2: had to look on his face like I did so well, but.
Speaker 4: You're in the band wood if you listening to every day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's when he has a weird gift to
Speaker 2: where he can just do not like him. No, you guys,
Speaker 2: y'all here, ya can recreate bro. I'm listening to Tyree's demos.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I know exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah. And I'm literally looking at Tyr like I'm like,
Speaker 2: so when, so when are you not singing? Or when
Speaker 2: is Eric singing? Or so you can and He's like,
Speaker 2: I didn't see any of the Eric, and then so
Speaker 2: I would start listening really hard for for the cuts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, in the movements.
Speaker 2: That's that's the only way that's the difference, because you,
Speaker 2: I mean when you're when you're dead on him, you'll
Speaker 2: you'll you'll try to slide like.
Speaker 1: Him a little bit. But you can't help. I can't
Speaker 1: help being. I can't help being.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. You can't help. You can't
Speaker 2: you can't help. You know what I'm saying. That's what
Speaker 2: you can't do that. It's crazy, He'll He'll tell you.
Speaker 2: I can say this. There's some records that are out
Speaker 2: right now that you you don't even know where. I'm
Speaker 2: still singing it. I can believe it. Yeah, just certain
Speaker 2: certain little things, certain little things.
Speaker 1: Sauce job easier.
Speaker 2: No, we're going to keep that, he says.
Speaker 1: We do duets anyway, Like he tells, I have.
Speaker 4: One duet with him.
Speaker 1: You got one? Just I like him?
Speaker 4: Girl. That's that.
Speaker 1: Listen to do it. Put me on the tyres no
Speaker 1: lie like that joint. Yeah, that's that's one of that.
Speaker 1: When he came out with that record, I was like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, think.
Speaker 1: He's a guy who was on the motorcycles.
Speaker 6: Okay, okay, y'all all the background here, y'all like this feature.
Speaker 2: Said that those those experimental like voice moments are like
Speaker 2: really the collaborative voice moments. I think those those are
Speaker 2: really dope. That because even when you put sing on
Speaker 2: my wrap like I need talkings on there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're just two.
Speaker 4: We sung background together, we.
Speaker 2: Was on even when we did when I did Birthday,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. I said, you sound nice.
Speaker 3: I was like no, because those vocals were from the demo,
Speaker 3: purely just the demo, us, just us writing and vibing out.
Speaker 3: And he's like, no, Chief, I'm keeping these. If it
Speaker 3: were like no, bro, let me sing that again.
Speaker 2: It works if it were gonna mess up the vibe.
Speaker 2: But treat you like Puff. It's it's the energy Faan
Speaker 2: like you gotta love on you. It's the love on
Speaker 2: im like Puff. But that's out of scale. It don't matter.
Speaker 1: Do you feel it frustrated? You feel bad about it?
Speaker 1: Is that frustrating you? When you hear something, you know
Speaker 1: what it is, you know?
Speaker 2: And I had to learn this from Jay. Right, sometimes
Speaker 2: when it's wrong, it's right. It just it just I
Speaker 2: don't know why, but it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Puff called me in to do this vocal on Jamie
Speaker 2: and he's like, I just you know, just put him
Speaker 2: in the right space, right. And so when he turned
Speaker 2: the track on and I'm hearing the guy singing. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: I see where it's going. I said, but he's completely
Speaker 2: singing out of scale. In the right key, but completely
Speaker 2: out of scale. I was like, I mean, fix that
Speaker 2: because I don't want my boy Jamie out here and
Speaker 2: makes my ears hurt. Oh man, it makes me so
Speaker 2: I wanted to I want my boy to go out bad.
Speaker 2: Let me fix it. So I fixed it, makes the adjustments.
Speaker 2: Jamie comes in. I'm like, let's go start vocal producing them.
Speaker 2: Puff comes back and he's listening. He's like, stopter four second.
Speaker 2: He says, so, what are you changing it? I was like,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not changing it. I was like, I'm
Speaker 2: just fixing it. And he's like, what do you What
Speaker 2: did he fixing? I was like, well, it's out of scale.
Speaker 2: He's like, I don't even know what that means, play boy.
Speaker 2: I'm just said, I said, well, it's out of scale
Speaker 2: as a singer, like, I mean, if it's A.
Speaker 1: It's a major. He's singing. It seems singing in the minor.
Speaker 1: I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I was like, I was like, he's it's a he said,
Speaker 2: he said, I hear you taking that, but you know,
Speaker 2: it's not like you're trying to make him sound like
Speaker 2: you like I need I need him to sound like
Speaker 2: just like play the original and the original came on
Speaker 2: and you know how like something when you really like
Speaker 2: you like, really danced it. He's like you feel that
Speaker 2: it's got to be that. And I'm listening like this,
Speaker 2: I'm like, you want that exactly said I want that.
Speaker 2: I just want Jamie on it, Like, just get Jamie
Speaker 2: on that. And I was like, okay, okay, okay, I'll
Speaker 2: be right back.
Speaker 1: Throw up.
Speaker 4: You never came back. And I don't know this story,
Speaker 4: but I knew he didn't. I knew he didn't go.
Speaker 2: But I have a similar story. I didn't know how
Speaker 2: how to have coached that. I have a similar story.
Speaker 2: They called me in to do vocals for Cardi B.
Speaker 2: He called me in to do vocals on be careful
Speaker 2: with me. First of all, it was like one o'clock
Speaker 2: in the morning, so I'm trying to I'm trying to
Speaker 2: get her to sing as as good as she can.
Speaker 2: She's not singing, but I gave her melodically what she
Speaker 2: could do with her voice, and the producer was like,
Speaker 2: I kind of wanted to sing closer to what the
Speaker 2: demo was doing, but the demo was in a male register.
Speaker 2: Like I said, well, first of all, she's not gonna
Speaker 2: sing that low. So if you think you can.
Speaker 1: Get her to sing that low, be my guest. But
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know how to give you her singing that.
Speaker 2: And literally I just I did the same thing you did,
Speaker 2: Like I don't know what. I don't know what to
Speaker 2: do with this. I'm just gonna go I'm gonna let
Speaker 2: y'all have it. And I literally left the studio and
Speaker 2: didn't come back because literally I don't necessarily know how
Speaker 2: to operate my ear won't really do it.
Speaker 1: We have people tell us that.
Speaker 2: Our record save it from commit suicide. Just one of
Speaker 2: those stories makes everything we went through worth it. Like literally,
Speaker 2: like a guy out of San Francisco now San Francisco,
Speaker 2: San Diego said his roommate was going through a divorce,
Speaker 2: it lost his job and was just he just fell
Speaker 2: into this dark place and he locked hisself in his
Speaker 2: room and would not come out for days. And so
Speaker 2: he said, I slid one of you guys CD under
Speaker 2: the door and told him just listen to this, and
Speaker 2: literally he put that CD on and kept it on
Speaker 2: repeat and ended up coming out of the room and said,
Speaker 2: this CD saved my life. Like I was literally in
Speaker 2: here trying to think of how I could end my
Speaker 2: life and do when it. When I heard that, I
Speaker 2: was like, yo, if I don't do another another song?
Speaker 2: That right, there was the gratitude success. That's success. That's
Speaker 2: definitely success, and we answering. He says it so well.
Speaker 2: He used to tell people because they would ask us like, like,
Speaker 2: do you guys, what do you guys consider success? He's like,
Speaker 2: we don't measure our level of success by what we
Speaker 2: have or what we you know, what we've accumulated. We
Speaker 2: measure our level of success by our obedience to God.
Speaker 2: If we're doing what he asked us to do or
Speaker 2: what he told us to do, that's successful to us
Speaker 2: because it ain't about the cars and the houses and
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff, because none of that stuff
Speaker 2: is is eternal. So for us, it's never been about
Speaker 2: the awards, the money, none of that stuff, obviously, because
Speaker 2: you know, you're not getting rich off of doing gospel
Speaker 2: if you're not really.
Speaker 1: Doing you know, some other stuff. I'd say that, but okay, yeah.
Speaker 4: All right, all right, you know because use it.
Speaker 3: It just would be the point where I ask, I'm
Speaker 3: a mom of business.
Speaker 1: No it's not.
Speaker 2: It's not everybody, but there are you know, there are
Speaker 2: some some gatekeepers that you know people talk about. I've
Speaker 2: never experienced anything, but just from what people say, there's.
Speaker 4: They're not doing gospel business.
Speaker 2: It's questionable. But you know, to each his own, we
Speaker 2: me and what.
Speaker 3: They said about Big Reds books and the five Harties
Speaker 3: about his questionable practices.
Speaker 2: Question, that's funny, the five heart beats reference. But no,
Speaker 2: we we just we really pride ourselves on being as
Speaker 2: authentic and just us as we can be. Like we're
Speaker 2: not we're not following the trends. We're not trying to
Speaker 2: listen to what's going on now and make a record
Speaker 2: that sounds like that. We've just always been like if
Speaker 2: music makes us feel good, then we're good. But I
Speaker 2: think also too, like you know, you guys are you
Speaker 2: guys were so open, so good and so inspirational to
Speaker 2: so many people that you know, even though even those
Speaker 2: artists that do come after you, that have those opportunities
Speaker 2: because of what you guys went through, you know, you're
Speaker 2: able to hear that first hand. Yeah, you're able to
Speaker 2: get those handshakes and hugs beat. They definitely say it
Speaker 2: to us. I mean, and I think one of the
Speaker 2: probably one of the first moments that I had that
Speaker 2: made me realize, oh so we were really making some noise.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget. We were on the third floor underdogs.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 2: Teddy Riley came came to the studio. I never met.
Speaker 2: Teddy Riley came to the studio. He's showing Dame is
Speaker 2: something on some new keyboard thing. And as he's coming
Speaker 2: off the elevator, I'm going out the door, and I'm like, oh, snap, yo,
Speaker 2: Teddy Riley's one of the moment.
Speaker 1: It's like that.
Speaker 2: And and I went to introduce myself, like I'm Eric Dakers.
Speaker 1: He's like, oh, I know who you are. I was like,
Speaker 1: you know whoever?
Speaker 2: Like yo, Me and my boys we listened to you
Speaker 2: and your brother and Commission and the winers on our
Speaker 2: tour bus all the time. That's all we listen to
Speaker 2: on tour. I literally like, oh, okay, I'm.
Speaker 1: Gonna go home now. Nothing else.
Speaker 2: If I'm good for life, I'm good like That was
Speaker 2: one of the biggest compliments, Like to know that cats
Speaker 2: like that listen to us and like he was a fan,
Speaker 2: like a for real fan, And me and Teddy are
Speaker 2: friends to this day from that moment, like like what
Speaker 2: do you mean? You know, like literally Dawkins and Dawkins
Speaker 2: Commission and the Winers was all they would listen to
Speaker 2: on their tour bus when they tour. You can hear
Speaker 2: that same thing from from Boys to Men told me
Speaker 2: my dad put him on to Dawkins and Dawkins, like
Speaker 2: he listened to Dawkins Dawkins as a kid, Like you know,
Speaker 2: y'all are like the goats, your gospel legends.
Speaker 4: Like like that's incredible, that's incredible.
Speaker 2: To O Marion talking about, Yeah, my mom used to
Speaker 2: play y'all stuff when she be cleaning up the house
Speaker 2: like I've been. I've been a fan of y'alls for years,
Speaker 2: Like I was like baby, actual baby, Like that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff.
Speaker 1: Hearing that they.
Speaker 3: Realize how many how many people music touch and people
Speaker 3: in other other spaces and other genres of music.
Speaker 2: Or not even the music. I heard this one blew
Speaker 2: my mind. Chante Moore a dear friend of mine, Now
Speaker 2: she was married before like years we were. She she
Speaker 2: would come hang out sometime when we come out here
Speaker 2: with commission. So she's hanging out with one time and
Speaker 2: her and her her former husband, they had a record store.
Speaker 2: They on the record store and she told me that
Speaker 2: were her husband at the time. He told me that
Speaker 2: Wesley Snipes came in their store and bought like fifteen
Speaker 2: of our CDs because he was a fan and he wanted.
Speaker 1: To give Blade.
Speaker 2: That's why I said, what dude, Wesley Snipes? It was
Speaker 2: a Dawkins and Dawkins fan. You just never know, you
Speaker 2: never know, you never know. I don't even get I
Speaker 2: don't even get that when you know, when we don't
Speaker 2: get the accolades and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And that was like we're moving in some areas in
Speaker 1: different spaces. Yeah, So.
Speaker 3: Did you make the decision or did someone grab you
Speaker 3: from the R and B world that that put you
Speaker 3: into space where you know, you became this very sought
Speaker 3: after vocal producer, producer, and ultimately you know, king songwriter
Speaker 3: Like like like was it you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Like you know you had already did your thing in gospel.
Speaker 3: You were all you know, you had, you had your
Speaker 3: footprint in gospel.
Speaker 2: It's this story goes back to when I lived in Detroit,
Speaker 2: Me and a friend of mine named Chaka black Man. Okay,
Speaker 2: he had he had a he used to do beats
Speaker 2: and stuff in Detroit, and so I met him through
Speaker 2: some mutual friends in Detroit. I think Marcus Divine introducers, Yeah,
Speaker 2: the heat Miser. He introduced us and Gerald hadn't like
Speaker 2: we were all we all ran together, Gerald Ditrich and
Speaker 2: they all from Detroit.
Speaker 1: All from Detroit, Okay, so they they.
Speaker 4: They have amazing singers, Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 2: So they introduced me in Chaka and and they were
Speaker 2: doing stuff with Chaca. But Chaka he took a liking
Speaker 2: to me. Like we started collaborating on stuff, and one
Speaker 2: thing led to another.
Speaker 1: We ended up he was doing R and B.
Speaker 2: He wasn't doing no gospel. So I'm kind of literally
Speaker 2: like kind of sneaking doing this, like writing love songs
Speaker 2: that you write love songs, that's what you're doing. And
Speaker 2: so I tried my hand at it and it was
Speaker 2: like it it worked. So we ended up doing I
Speaker 2: think one of the first R and B groups that
Speaker 2: I worked with. You probably never heard the song was Brownstone.
Speaker 2: Brownstone and a group called Solo. They did this this
Speaker 2: wedding song that we wrote, So we ended up going
Speaker 2: to Philly. We were at what's the the Main Well.
Speaker 2: The popular studio there at the time was Will Smith
Speaker 2: and all them cats. What I Forget Overhea Overbrook. We
Speaker 2: worked out of Overbrook Studios. Did this duet with them.
Speaker 2: That was my first ever R and B. I was
Speaker 2: I was probably maybe twenty two, cause this is after
Speaker 2: I moved to Detroit. So we traveling and doing stuff.
Speaker 2: We travel to New York working with some other groups
Speaker 2: and stuff. So that's when I really started doing R
Speaker 2: and B. Probably ninety maybe ninety two, ninety three dish
Speaker 2: cause I was still with Commission and doing stuff with Chaka.
Speaker 2: So cut to like ninety five. Started having little little
Speaker 2: issues with my first marriage, and uh then decided to
Speaker 2: leave Detroit cause I was like, I got to get
Speaker 2: out of here. I need a different a different scenery
Speaker 2: because it's gone. I felt like it was gonna take
Speaker 2: away take away who I was musically if I stayed there,
Speaker 2: just because even the mentality in Detroit is crabbing a barrel.
Speaker 2: Like not a lot of cats want to help each
Speaker 2: other to get out. They trying to get out. But
Speaker 2: everybody's me, me, me, every man for himself. But when
Speaker 2: I found Chaka, he was like, hey, man, like, whatever
Speaker 2: I'm working on, like you can work on with me,
Speaker 2: And he had connections out here, so we ended up
Speaker 2: coming out here, and after saying I would never move
Speaker 2: to California like California New York, I was like, nah,
Speaker 2: I'm good. Came out here going through the separation, divorce
Speaker 2: or whatever, came out here in ninety six and never
Speaker 2: looked back. Oh man, first deal I did out here,
Speaker 2: we did a production deal me, Chaka and another friend
Speaker 2: of our, Stephen Brown, did a deal with John McClain
Speaker 2: a and M Records. That was our first production deal.
Speaker 2: So I was here like and from then that led
Speaker 2: to us working with Christine Aguilera on We ended up
Speaker 2: co writing come on over Really Yeah, I correct?
Speaker 3: You know, you know, you know when you meet somebody
Speaker 3: and the other person that's like the introduce, the introducer
Speaker 3: or I don't even know.
Speaker 4: That's the actual work makes the uh.
Speaker 3: That's for people that don't know in this industry, when
Speaker 3: somebody's making an introduction, they're also giving off credits.
Speaker 4: So it's like, oh yo, this is my god such
Speaker 4: and such, who did you.
Speaker 3: Know what I'm saying even even if they're even even
Speaker 3: before if you don't hear them, or do hear them
Speaker 3: when they just know they ran off your credits.
Speaker 4: Because that's absolutely what my guy Ken.
Speaker 2: Kenny through Chocka though, because Ken you to cut his hair.
Speaker 2: That's how I knew Kenny. And so that whole connection,
Speaker 2: like from Christina, like her first the Christmas record, I
Speaker 2: did like five joints on the air and you beats
Speaker 2: singing on Angels we have heard on high on that record.
Speaker 2: And from there she wanted me to do all her
Speaker 2: vocals for the Stript Records, So I did every song
Speaker 2: that Scott Storch produced. I did the vocals for Christina.
Speaker 2: And that's that's what got me into the pop world.
Speaker 2: Ron Fair, Ron Fairs, He's He's the reason for me
Speaker 2: being the pop pop guy. Like and that lasted for
Speaker 2: a few years and then ran into Damon Met Damon
Speaker 2: and from there went into the whole underdog situation.
Speaker 4: What year did you start writing without it all?
Speaker 2: It was two thousand, like two thousand and one. I
Speaker 2: believe it was the year that how Are You Gonna
Speaker 2: Act Like That? Came out?
Speaker 4: That's when I you first got there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the first R and B song that
Speaker 1: I wrote, like that got.
Speaker 4: That, that's your first R and B hit, first hit?
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh wow after two thousand and two thousand and two.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, in two thousand and two.
Speaker 3: But in two thousand and one, I was also on
Speaker 3: the next album after the album with I like them
Speaker 3: girls on it. They're not on the same album two
Speaker 3: thousand and one.
Speaker 1: It was next.
Speaker 4: This was the next album after that.
Speaker 3: So no, no, it's interesting, man, because how all of
Speaker 3: our paths crossed through that, Like obviously we had met
Speaker 3: you know, you know before at the barbershop, and then
Speaker 3: you had met Tank through you know, Commissioner, we said,
Speaker 3: said having but obviously the way we truly connected and
Speaker 3: our and we really created our brotherhood amongst us three
Speaker 3: through the Underdogs.
Speaker 4: Right, So the Underdog starts.
Speaker 3: In ninety nine, Yeah, somewhere around in ninety eight, ninety nine,
Speaker 3: and obviously we all know it starts with Damon Harvey
Speaker 3: and myself. Interestingly enough, it turned into something later when
Speaker 3: I left the first time where it became this super team.
Speaker 3: When I came back and I meet you, I meet you.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, It had become this like
Speaker 3: Voltron you know what I'm saying, and this, you know,
Speaker 3: this transformer of just amazingly talented guys that I could
Speaker 3: have never imagined.
Speaker 4: That's what it was going to turn into, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean?
Speaker 3: Because you know the the the initial startup was.
Speaker 4: Dark Child. It was Rodney Freddie and Lashawn Damden. Harvey
Speaker 4: were Rodney and Freddy and I was Lashawn Daniels. You
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, that's literally what the.
Speaker 1: That's that's a great analogy.
Speaker 3: I mean, because that's exactly what it was. You know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying, Like, because I mean, because you know,
Speaker 3: Harvey had come from Dark Child, so this is a
Speaker 3: because it was of his mind of what we were
Speaker 3: going into. Me and Damon were already working together. We
Speaker 3: were already working together, and this you know, when Harvey
Speaker 3: came to play basketball and then Damon stolen pretty much
Speaker 3: That's how I looked at it. I was like, Yo,
Speaker 3: he stole Harvey. Was like, I didn't even know Harvey did.
Speaker 3: I didn't even know what Harvey did. Later on I
Speaker 3: find out that Harvey kind of stole us, you.
Speaker 4: Know what I mean. Harvey came with the Dark Child sounds.
Speaker 2: It's really great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, now and now we was cracking.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying because I like them girls?
Speaker 4: Is one a Dark Child.
Speaker 2: Record, absolut that funny story. Before you finished, I walked
Speaker 2: into the studio Freddy and Lashawn were working on a
Speaker 2: record with Destiny's Child for this some soundtrack, and y'ah
Speaker 2: it's like, yo like them girls. That joint is sweet.
Speaker 2: Promise on everything.
Speaker 1: We were at.
Speaker 4: I know the whole movie switched.
Speaker 1: And listen ready at this at the console. Now were
Speaker 1: boys like we family for years. They both looked like.
Speaker 2: We didn't do that song, like sure did that's that's
Speaker 2: yah sound y' y'a didn't do that. They was like, no,
Speaker 2: we didn't do that. That's that Harvey Harvey and Damon.
Speaker 2: I was like, no, that sounded like dark Child.
Speaker 1: I would being petty, like, no, that's dark Child all day.
Speaker 2: It sounds like guitars, the drums, like the all the
Speaker 2: all has all the all the Dark Child elements. And
Speaker 2: they was they knew somebody didn't know. So I was
Speaker 2: like wow, because and I love the song like it was,
Speaker 2: didn't take away.
Speaker 4: From it was very low key until it wasn't.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, because that record, that record, that record steam
Speaker 3: rolled the music business and not not this is before
Speaker 3: the record ever comes out. That record steam rolled the
Speaker 3: music business. Multiple people bought that record, multiple people sang
Speaker 3: that record, you know, and it was just it was
Speaker 3: one of those things where it went to the highest bidder.
Speaker 3: Tyres ended up being the highest bidder at the end
Speaker 3: of the day. And but it was it made waves
Speaker 3: like what is this because and this is something that
Speaker 3: was different in that song too, was that Lashawan and
Speaker 3: I were very different writers.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we come from very different places.
Speaker 4: Our mindsets were very different.
Speaker 3: So it was a dark Child record with a very
Speaker 3: aggressive top line. If you listen to that record, I'm
Speaker 3: literally saying parking lot pimping, Like I say that, I
Speaker 3: say that on an R and B song, you know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying. So it's like, you know, I'm like,
Speaker 3: it's gonna be straight parking lot of pipping. So that
Speaker 3: in itself too, made it like, Yo, this is way
Speaker 3: more aggressive because Dark.
Speaker 2: Child they were clean.
Speaker 3: They were clean, and that's why they were so amazing too,
Speaker 3: because it was like, yo, they're getting it off. They
Speaker 3: are getting it off, and it can go in so
Speaker 3: many places because it's so clean.
Speaker 4: This was aggressive you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I like them girls was aggressive and it just gave
Speaker 3: a different, you know, a different styling to loved it.
Speaker 3: But they were, you know what, they had already done
Speaker 3: love record. But we were absolutely stealing for sure. That's
Speaker 3: a I mean, but that's a dark Child record.
Speaker 1: But I mean, no, ain't no. But it was definitely.
Speaker 4: I'm in there dancing.
Speaker 2: Child.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: It was definitely the best has the best, but it
Speaker 2: was it was still a great song.
Speaker 4: Like yeah, I know, people loved it. People loved it.
Speaker 2: It's hard to like, stealing is one thing. Doing a
Speaker 2: good job is another's another. It's definitely another that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I did a good job at that stealing.
Speaker 4: It worked out.
Speaker 1: It definitely worked out.
Speaker 2: I got attracted to the movement with how You're Gonna
Speaker 2: Act Like That? A lot of people tell me that
Speaker 2: that's that's what That's what was part of me coming back.
Speaker 2: That's what brought me to the book. Like that How
Speaker 2: you Gonna Act Like That came out and me and
Speaker 2: my guys are sitting there listening to him, like who
Speaker 2: is that? He's like you think of Ciscoms, Like, nah,
Speaker 2: it ain't Cisco. He ain't that clean and it was like,
Speaker 2: it ain't a vun. I'm like, who is it? Somebody
Speaker 2: was like, it could be Tyrese. I was like, nah,
Speaker 2: terre saying nice like that. Then somebody said it is
Speaker 2: tyr is it?
Speaker 1: Who are you working with? How do you get that?
Speaker 2: The sound was so y'all had Tyresse is such a
Speaker 2: crazy space. Then I was like, because I've alread been,
Speaker 2: Terry said already, you know we had already you know,
Speaker 2: went back and forth with each other, had already.
Speaker 1: Jumped on him. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I was like, I know what he can do, e Coal.
Speaker 2: He can't do this weird competition eat like me.
Speaker 4: Though, but now he had just hit a game.
Speaker 1: When he just hit how you gonna act like that?
Speaker 7: It took him up. That's definitely. I was so mad.
Speaker 7: I was like, who did it?
Speaker 1: Who did it?
Speaker 3: And that was also the establishment of what that sound became.
Speaker 3: That was like that record established, Oh the Underdogs sounds different. Yeah,
Speaker 3: when you brought me fully out of retirement and you said, Jay,
Speaker 3: yeah you have to do the song with me at
Speaker 3: the awards, Yeah, it's like showed up, showed up to
Speaker 3: my house and my broke knee yeah, yeah, yeah, and he.
Speaker 4: Was like, all right, Jay, go through it. A couple
Speaker 4: of times. I am here. I just needed you to say.
Speaker 2: You're gonna be fine. Yeah, like pick your breathing spots.
Speaker 1: You're good, like.
Speaker 3: No, Bro, Thank you though, yeah, thank you though. Because
Speaker 3: you are, I should save you under confirmation. There is
Speaker 3: no seriously, bro, your confirmation for a lot of things
Speaker 3: and a lot of people than you. And I'm sure
Speaker 3: you don't always hear that.
Speaker 1: I think that's the first time.
Speaker 3: Well you've heard it today on today like it, So
Speaker 3: y'all better call him the confirmation.
Speaker 1: So I'm doing it.
Speaker 4: That's what you are, man.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: That's what you are for for so many of us,
Speaker 3: in so many If it's a song somebody plays you,
Speaker 3: if it's the vocal that they think they're about to
Speaker 3: go up there and sing for somebody, if you say
Speaker 3: it's good, we're rolling, that's what's up.
Speaker 4: So thank you, bro, that's what's up.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Anytime you already know.
Speaker 4: Do you like the piano that he's playing.
Speaker 1: It's pretty stingy, pretty.
Speaker 2: He is.
Speaker 4: He as terrible as you were in London.
Speaker 3: He's playing like you don't hear me talking.
Speaker 1: It's not anywhere near the terrible.
Speaker 4: I was like, don't you agree?
Speaker 1: Yah?
Speaker 2: He ate.
Speaker 4: Showing up? Okay, Dame Dame, he's a day.
Speaker 6: Time as a top five.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm your top five? Oh, your top five.
Speaker 2: Top five?
Speaker 4: I gotta find my white man beer.
Speaker 1: Yes, I can't. Got Eric Talkin's top Heavy Talkinstopper, seas.
Speaker 8: So Joe top top top five, Rick Taucus.
Speaker 4: Who you like?
Speaker 1: Who are you like? Who you like already?
Speaker 3: Who you like?
Speaker 2: Who?
Speaker 1: Your top five? Your top five? Top God?
Speaker 2: Oh man, Wow, that's definitely not to put that inn
Speaker 2: put that in five.
Speaker 1: That's my bottom.
Speaker 2: The bottom ships.
Speaker 1: Your top five R and B.
Speaker 4: Song have to wipe his.
Speaker 1: Man, that was funny. You made me sweat. I'm on
Speaker 1: past it. Yeah, I got here my pastor rag just
Speaker 1: in case, Just in case.
Speaker 2: My top five R and B songs.
Speaker 3: Yes, m we're going songs that we're gonna singers. Which
Speaker 3: songs in their Yeah, we're going songs the first time
Speaker 3: because everybody else gotta go singers first.
Speaker 1: But you got songs.
Speaker 4: You a man of the songs.
Speaker 1: Top five R and B songs.
Speaker 2: Past, present, and future, whenever you went your world future
Speaker 2: mind your uh, I'll go ribbon in the sky. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: You gotta stay in my old, my old school bag,
Speaker 1: song for you that you.
Speaker 2: Have the way, Yeah, mm hmm, earth winding Fire, after
Speaker 2: the love is gone.
Speaker 4: You going there? Yeah, you're going there.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I gotta give these These are foundational,
Speaker 2: they are building blocks. They are cornerstones of all R
Speaker 2: and B today two more uh and this is probably
Speaker 2: it just had some sentimental value to me. Algebra after all,
Speaker 2: hm hmmm, after all. Yeah, I won't be the one.
Speaker 2: I don't be the one the hold you in my
Speaker 2: in my I just it's something about that record. It's
Speaker 2: nostalgic for me. So anytime I hear it, I literally
Speaker 2: transport back to you. The first time I heard it,
Speaker 2: And yeah, I was making out with the older woman.
Speaker 4: Ah my, hey yeah, hey, lift this off right now.
Speaker 4: Was she quite a cougar?
Speaker 2: She was? She wasn't even she wasn't that much. She
Speaker 2: was probably she probably had me by like seven years,
Speaker 2: seven eight years, But I was. I was a teenager,
Speaker 2: So that's that's yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 1: Yea, yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 4: Did you have a car?
Speaker 1: I did, but she did. As long as she did,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: She got more respected, you know, because guys had a car,
Speaker 3: come pick me up.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can do a guy. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. For the world.
Speaker 2: That the word for the world and everything.
Speaker 1: You had a curl too, no, not to hang.
Speaker 2: I had the curl on top of my commission days.
Speaker 2: It was curly on the top fade. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I was official. I got to see those photos. You
Speaker 2: got number five, number five, hm hmm. It's so hard
Speaker 2: because I love so many songs. But and and this
Speaker 2: this will be after preface this one. Get here if
Speaker 2: you can, Leader Adams.
Speaker 1: Up ball.
Speaker 4: That song is incredible.
Speaker 1: I have a.
Speaker 2: Story and she's not even the original one. Brenda Russell
Speaker 2: did that first. Alida covered it, but her version of it,
Speaker 2: just like Olida Adams called me her vocal mate.
Speaker 4: Hmmm.
Speaker 2: And it it changed. It changed my life to hear
Speaker 2: her say that to me, Like I did a song
Speaker 2: with her on this gospel record that she did called
Speaker 2: come and Walk with Me on the Water, And I'm
Speaker 2: singing on the song with her on her record and
Speaker 2: she called me her vocal mate. So yeah, wow. And
Speaker 2: I was a fan of verse from that Get here
Speaker 2: if you can, and so meeting her was one of
Speaker 2: those moments. But that song is it's another one that transports.
Speaker 2: So okay, all right, Yeah, you're Top five R and
Speaker 2: B singers, Top five R and B singers, Stevie Wonder Yeah,
Speaker 2: Charlie Wilson, mhm, he.
Speaker 4: Like my daddy, take that.
Speaker 2: Take that? Oh Joe mm hmm, love Joe, just clean.
Speaker 4: Your kind of get mentioned enough.
Speaker 1: Definitely Bestow.
Speaker 4: When he go to the upper room too.
Speaker 2: Oh it's lights out that he's singing in his natural
Speaker 2: naturally y.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was like, I was like, bro, are you
Speaker 1: really going to do right?
Speaker 2: Are you going to do that tonight? He said, I
Speaker 2: gotta do it. Move like that.
Speaker 1: That's it in full voice.
Speaker 8: Bro.
Speaker 1: Hate him?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, the real bad He's made it.
Speaker 1: Man, listen you old man.
Speaker 2: You're on my list. Thank you, brother, You're definitely on
Speaker 2: my list. Number five, she's not well, I mean, Brandy
Speaker 2: gotta be Brandy. I gotta put her in my top five.
Speaker 3: It's Brandy as as as two young men who grew
Speaker 3: up in the church.
Speaker 4: Is Brandy the closest thing to church?
Speaker 3: And R and B for y'all, for y'all, no, no,
Speaker 3: because I feel like I'm gonna tell you who.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, okay, it's two of them. It's two fantasi
Speaker 2: for sure, and jazz them. Yep.
Speaker 1: The closest thing to church, and it starts with Aretha Franklin.
Speaker 1: Definitely choice.
Speaker 2: But there there today there descendants of their direct descendants
Speaker 2: of the Franklin.
Speaker 1: They can do everything.
Speaker 3: Because I feel like I feel like the church vocalists,
Speaker 3: the true church vocals. They always mentioned Brandy, She's always mentioned. Yeah,
Speaker 3: like even just in conversation, I forget our show, just
Speaker 3: in conversation that when when you start talking about the
Speaker 3: vocal that they will never.
Speaker 4: Leave, say, Brandy is the RS.
Speaker 1: She's the R and B version of Kim Barell.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she started patting herself after Kim.
Speaker 1: That's what she is.
Speaker 2: So for anybody was listening to R and B, you
Speaker 2: had never heard Kim Barell before in your life, you
Speaker 2: didn't know where those patterns were coming from me, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. So Brandy was where people were
Speaker 2: getting those undescribable, unrecognizable alien type patterns.
Speaker 4: I heard Brandy before I heard Kim Barrell.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, Brandy came out before I heard Kim Barrell,
Speaker 2: before I heard Kim Berrell trading. I heard Kimbrell first
Speaker 2: and then and then overlapped with Brandy, and I was like,
Speaker 2: so as I'm learning Kim Burrell learning how to do
Speaker 2: it down in that trinity, I'm looking at him like
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, I said, you got it. I just
Speaker 2: listen to Brandy every day. Yeah, literally every definitely, yeah,
Speaker 2: I said, oh yeah. And then the production so the
Speaker 2: Crouches was on something. It was definitely on something was
Speaker 2: it was on there. I didn't really like the song
Speaker 2: that Damon did though, I ain't go I ain't on front,
Speaker 2: what's on with that?
Speaker 1: What's over that?
Speaker 2: Because it was one that was the scale was a
Speaker 2: little different the way she was singing against what he
Speaker 2: was playing.
Speaker 1: So I didn't really I remember that was that was
Speaker 1: her my least all the funk on that album.
Speaker 9: And some of the people and some of the peoples
Speaker 9: and fuzzy yeah arrest, so that thank.
Speaker 2: You.
Speaker 1: That was the old funk. When I talk about band work,
Speaker 1: it is still all of that.
Speaker 4: I can see that.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it was her vocal mixed with that.
Speaker 1: Nobody was doing that.
Speaker 2: So crazy, like if you hear her vocal on that,
Speaker 2: like when she's singing it live. I met Brandy when
Speaker 2: she was she was on tour Boys Men and Warren
Speaker 2: was playing. He was in the band, and he introduced
Speaker 2: me to Brandy. We were in Milwaukee. He was doing
Speaker 2: a play and here they were playing, like maybe two
Speaker 2: blocks away from where we were playing.
Speaker 1: So I went over there.
Speaker 2: D Lo was playing drums, Corne on bass, Dave forming
Speaker 2: on guitar.
Speaker 1: This band was crazy.
Speaker 2: They was done.
Speaker 1: So took me over there.
Speaker 2: And you know, Brandy, she's a she's a singer junkie,
Speaker 2: like she loves somebody that could sing. So one was like,
Speaker 2: it's my boy air DWK. It's like he sings and stuff,
Speaker 2: and he's in this play down the street. She was like,
Speaker 2: for real, sing something. You know, she's young, Brandy, like
Speaker 2: she's all getting She she says, sing something. I sang
Speaker 2: a song for you. When I tell you, Brandy almost
Speaker 2: busted my lip.
Speaker 1: Running at me like, oh my god, you're so dumb.
Speaker 2: So from that moment we became like really close, Like
Speaker 2: she gave me her number. We would call and call
Speaker 2: each other. And she came to Detroit doing the State Fair,
Speaker 2: and so I went and hung out with her and stuff.
Speaker 2: So I went took her to her hotel to get something,
Speaker 2: and as we were walking down the hall, she was like,
Speaker 2: I need to do something. I need some different stuff.
Speaker 2: Give me something to sing on on the baby, Baby Baby.
Speaker 1: It's like so one of the verses.
Speaker 5: Like come to my mind.
Speaker 2: Something something like that, like to change up the way
Speaker 2: she sings. And I kept singing it over and over
Speaker 2: to her. So literally, every time I would see her
Speaker 2: singing that song, like when she was on TV, she
Speaker 2: would do that part. And she'll tell you to this day.
Speaker 2: Whenever she sings it, she does those little things that
Speaker 2: I gave her back in ninety four ninety five. You
Speaker 2: got a little you got a little intricate detailing. It's
Speaker 2: just a little thing. It's a little thing that's changing
Speaker 2: of when you do it. It's timing and placement. It's
Speaker 2: so meticulous, bro, It's it's pretty stupid. That's my girl.
Speaker 2: Let's get to your vote, true man, We're gonna field
Speaker 2: your R and B artist. You're perfect R and B artist. Okay,
Speaker 2: Where you gonna get the vocal from the performance style,
Speaker 2: from the styling and the passion of the artist. Let's
Speaker 2: start with the vocal. Vocal mm hm, you can pick
Speaker 2: yourself too.
Speaker 4: If you want to R and B singer.
Speaker 2: Basically, I mean I I I didn't want to. I
Speaker 2: didn't want to say it, but since you said I could,
Speaker 2: I was gonna pick somebody else. But I would absolutely
Speaker 2: have to be the vocal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can have an ego sometimes.
Speaker 1: Listen, I ain't nobody saying nothing.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't even I don't call it ego.
Speaker 2: I just I'm really confident in what I do.
Speaker 3: I feel like everything I got versus the same, on
Speaker 3: a versus note fight. That man got that man got
Speaker 3: tone to that man got patience.
Speaker 4: He can sing a verse, he can.
Speaker 1: Sing a verse.
Speaker 3: All you great singers, you see what my finger just
Speaker 3: did doing all the foolishness.
Speaker 4: Can't get through the verse. You gotta be able to
Speaker 4: get through the verse.
Speaker 2: Story.
Speaker 1: Talk to the story. He knows what's about the story.
Speaker 3: And he ain't gonna miss and if he do miss,
Speaker 3: he gonna bring it back around like.
Speaker 1: We almost recover.
Speaker 4: I wanted to tell him he missed.
Speaker 1: I wanted to tell him.
Speaker 2: You missed right there. You are human, human, Absolutely get
Speaker 2: take the vocal. You understand I'm gonna take it.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: Performance style, performance style on stage mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Usher mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I should be getting usher cutting a rug any
Speaker 2: roller skate yeah you can?
Speaker 1: Can you sing and rollerskate?
Speaker 2: Never never tried it, but every time I see it, I'm.
Speaker 1: Like, fool up there, roller skating singing like it's nothing.
Speaker 4: Getting busy though, like it's regular like getting busy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, USh is great usher styling the drip. Let
Speaker 2: I just put that on for you styling.
Speaker 4: Hm, it's.
Speaker 2: Probably I'm so not a suit and tie type guy,
Speaker 2: but somebody that's clean every time they perform its.
Speaker 4: Neo lell be flying flying suits, he getting busy.
Speaker 1: Getting I like.
Speaker 2: I like the way he I mean, he's so confident
Speaker 2: about everything that he does when he's I think when
Speaker 2: he looks like that, it's like his hat, his brim
Speaker 2: is right, and the suit he does.
Speaker 4: Is very fly. Yeah, it's very Vegas.
Speaker 1: It's very Vegas. It's very shell. It's very shell.
Speaker 2: I like that. The passion of the artist heart regret
Speaker 2: mm hmm, you sweat mm hmm, or shall I shout
Speaker 2: hold on a few people coming to mind? And I
Speaker 2: guess because of how I feel her when she sings,
Speaker 2: it's Jasmine Sullivan like mm hm, oh yeah. The passion
Speaker 2: she sings with like you. You believe she's gone through
Speaker 2: everything that she's singing every ounce of it.
Speaker 1: Since she's no.
Speaker 2: You still yeah, she's I believe everything she sings. I
Speaker 2: love that.
Speaker 1: Vout Trump, Yeah, I love that. That is.
Speaker 2: My vote. Try that sword.
Speaker 4: My piano player gotta get got it, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean? My organ is in st quiet an organ.
Speaker 1: But I'm nervous. I'm saying no names, lady, no names.
Speaker 1: I'm saying no name, say no name, but you did.
Speaker 1: Don't say she no name, saying no.
Speaker 4: Saying so beautiful, don't you?
Speaker 1: You got themes on for every segment that is amazing.
Speaker 1: This guy's great man. You just take that on the road.
Speaker 1: This guy's great man. Oh sho oh man.
Speaker 3: You know what that leads to the You know that
Speaker 3: I ain't saying no names part of the show, the
Speaker 3: portion of the show, the portion you know where the
Speaker 3: story can be funny, are fucked up?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Are funny and fucked up?
Speaker 1: You hear me?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: And your and it can be from your gospel day,
Speaker 3: it can be from the R and B day.
Speaker 1: You got days, you got days? Okay, you could be
Speaker 1: from the soundtrack day, you got days. Maybe you got
Speaker 1: days for days. You got days for days.
Speaker 4: The only ruling I can't say no, I can't say, well,
Speaker 4: let me know when you're read.
Speaker 2: They leave that story out.
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 2: Said who you was? We she can't say that that
Speaker 2: what you did.
Speaker 4: I can't say no that.
Speaker 2: If I said, you don't know who it is, I
Speaker 2: mean anybody, I don't know what it's called.
Speaker 4: You ain't say no, no, you put no face with
Speaker 4: the case, so.
Speaker 1: Saying you can get it off.
Speaker 4: Let me know when you're ready, you let me.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 4: You're the proper introduction.
Speaker 2: Okay, you're ready. It's just this just be a funny one, okay.
Speaker 3: Okay, So right now, this is Eric Dawkins of Dawkins
Speaker 3: and Dawkins. You know what, his brother might not like
Speaker 3: the story he gonna tell because he ain't had to
Speaker 3: do with it, because we ain't saying no names. But
Speaker 3: it's still Eric Dawkins of Dawkins and Dawkins, the underdog himself,
Speaker 3: here to tell us an amazing story.
Speaker 4: But he does not say anything. He doesn't Eric Dawkins anyone.
Speaker 2: So I used to be a part of a group,
Speaker 2: a group of guys, and we had this little game
Speaker 2: that we would play. First of all, you don't never
Speaker 2: want to be the first one to walk in the
Speaker 2: building when the group of us is together, because ultimately
Speaker 2: somebody's going to yell something out and hide behind the corner. So,
Speaker 2: oh whatever they say, it's all you when you come
Speaker 2: in the building. And normally it's the lobby is full
Speaker 2: of people. It has to be somewhere that's crowded, so
Speaker 2: you gonna get that look like either you're crazy or
Speaker 2: or they think you about to shoot up the place
Speaker 2: or something. It's always always a game. So it's one
Speaker 2: particular time we were at a at a show and
Speaker 2: I'll i'll give you some some examples of how the
Speaker 2: game goes or and you really it's just you saying
Speaker 2: the craziest thing, and they don't have to be walking
Speaker 2: into the building, but just just saying the craziest thing,
Speaker 2: like and putting putting everybody in a really funky situation.
Speaker 2: So this one particular guy who was walking on the
Speaker 2: beach in the Bahamas. So this yoked up guy who
Speaker 2: was you know, doing some some workout, and so he
Speaker 2: walks up to him and he's not he ain't cut
Speaker 2: up or nothing, but he walks up to this guy
Speaker 2: and it's like, y, you work out a lot high,
Speaker 2: you're pretty big, and he was like yeah, it's like
Speaker 2: how much you how much you bench? I don't know,
Speaker 2: three fifty four hundred, Like really, hm, I whooped your
Speaker 2: butt all up and down this beach. And the guys
Speaker 2: were like and the guy looked at him like oh really.
Speaker 2: So he starts getting this up together cause you think
Speaker 2: you know, and he's like, nah, man, I'm just playing.
Speaker 1: I'm just playing and playing.
Speaker 2: So that kind of stuff just out of the out
Speaker 2: of the blue, just say something the craziest thing you
Speaker 2: was say or do something. So this particular time, we're
Speaker 2: at a show and I ain't gonna say no names,
Speaker 2: but one person who kind of self proclaimed as the
Speaker 2: king of the game, uh, was leaning over a balcony
Speaker 2: you could see over into the lobby of the venue.
Speaker 2: Lobby was feeling up cause it was almost sheltered. So
Speaker 2: he's leaning over his balcony and if you look up
Speaker 2: you can see him. So he was kind of not
Speaker 2: trying to be too seen, but kind of seen. So
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, oh my god, this is the perfect opportunity.
Speaker 2: I am about to let him have it, and I'm
Speaker 2: looking around for the other fellas nobody is anywhere to
Speaker 2: be found, and I think I gotta do this before
Speaker 2: he moves because I missed the moment. So I sneak
Speaker 2: up behind him and he's leaning on the on the
Speaker 2: banister and with all my weight, I wasn't too much,
Speaker 2: I wasn't that big, but I leaned on him and
Speaker 2: in the most obnoxious imitation of his voice I could do.
Speaker 2: I said, in my amrody may the bolted, not gonna
Speaker 2: say no names. But this person literally fell back, almost
Speaker 2: choked laughing. Of course, the people looked up at him, like.
Speaker 1: Why would you.
Speaker 2: I ran back to the guys like I am truly
Speaker 2: the king of this game from this day. For he
Speaker 2: walks in the room like you got me, you have
Speaker 2: the crown. Now you are to this day Like if
Speaker 2: I mentioned it, I'm the reigning king of the game
Speaker 2: with guys, and.
Speaker 1: So you have to embarrass them. I had to.
Speaker 2: You have to embarrass the person. A couple of guys
Speaker 2: were put out. They they took themselves out of the
Speaker 2: game because it was getting too bad for super embarrassing.
Speaker 2: I think answer was the first person that took himself
Speaker 2: out of the game. Were so this, uh, this one
Speaker 2: person took themselves out of the game. This one, this
Speaker 2: one guy took himself out of the game because we're
Speaker 2: in Minneapolis and we go into this restaurant, a famous
Speaker 2: restaurant in Minneapolis, and he's hungry.
Speaker 1: So he's trying to like get.
Speaker 2: Off the bus, I'm ready to eat, opens the door
Speaker 2: and walks in and somebody yells, hey, y'all, I'm hungry.
Speaker 2: Like there happened to be two police officers right there
Speaker 2: and they turn around, look and literally had the hands
Speaker 2: on it. Like he said, Okay, I'm I'm done. I'm
Speaker 2: done with the game. Don't don't play that with me.
Speaker 2: The second one, which was funny, we had a rest
Speaker 2: stop somewhere on the turnpike, and the way to get
Speaker 2: over to the rest area that the like the store
Speaker 2: or whatever, there's a walkway over the freeway. It's kind
Speaker 2: of a nice little walk. So one one guy in
Speaker 2: the band, he had to go to the bathroom like
Speaker 2: really bad, like, so he had a little we called
Speaker 2: it a scootie walk, like you kind of clinching. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The turtlehead man.
Speaker 2: So he there's these two older white people that are
Speaker 2: coming towards us, so he's in a hurry. He walks
Speaker 2: through the door and somebody else move out my way.
Speaker 1: I got a doodo.
Speaker 2: These two old people literally stopped and man.
Speaker 1: He got back on the bus. I'm out the game.
Speaker 2: The idea was to swell somebody so bad that they
Speaker 2: get out the game. So I think I was the
Speaker 2: last one to actually do. I was the one to
Speaker 2: swell the person who I won't say what name it is,
Speaker 2: and that kind of ended the game for that where ended.
Speaker 2: I came out on top trumpet. Good job, Eric, I
Speaker 2: ended the game. Name starting it around here. Yo. It's
Speaker 2: really funny though, like you're doing right. You're just so
Speaker 2: anxious to go into a building and you didn't. You
Speaker 2: ain't paying attention. You just walk in and somebody throw
Speaker 2: that voice out with you. Yeah, that's excited. My name
Speaker 2: is myrtle, some foolishness. It's fun Eric Dawkins, my brother, comrade,
Speaker 2: my teacher.
Speaker 1: Familia, familia.
Speaker 2: We thank you, man, absolutely, thank you man. You You
Speaker 2: know I can't I can't say enough good things about you.
Speaker 2: I don't have one bad thing to say about you ever,
Speaker 2: not a one.
Speaker 1: I love y'all.
Speaker 2: Cast man, brother. This is the way the way I
Speaker 2: was raised. Yeah, yeah, folks, they did a really good job. Amazing,
Speaker 2: amazing job. It's so funny. I told him one time.
Speaker 2: It's when I was getting a little, a little bold
Speaker 2: and on my own.
Speaker 1: I'm grown.
Speaker 2: I called my mom and dads like, you know what,
Speaker 2: y'all did a hell of a job raising me. I
Speaker 2: said that to the to the bishop wife, and it's like, well, wow, okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: thank you. They didn't know I responded that, but I
Speaker 2: meant it just like that. That's how I had to
Speaker 2: tell them, because you know, I'm out here in Cali.
Speaker 2: I'm doing my thing. I ain't in trouble with with nobody.
Speaker 2: Ain't got no enemies. I'm just, you know, based on
Speaker 2: how they raised me and my brother, Like, I just
Speaker 2: love people, So I make it a point to be
Speaker 2: as consistent and open honest with everybody, Like you don't
Speaker 2: have to wonder what I think about you, Like good,
Speaker 2: badd and different. You're gonna know, but I'm always gonna
Speaker 2: be the same, the same.
Speaker 3: Yeah no, And why while we're here, man, I want
Speaker 3: to I want to say thank you to both of y'all.
Speaker 4: For two things.
Speaker 3: One making me better singer, and y'all know I you know,
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm not the singer singer like I sing
Speaker 3: because I have a gift and I love to sing,
Speaker 3: but I'm not like a singer singer.
Speaker 4: But being so, I don't sing a lot. I don't.
Speaker 4: You'll never just catch me walking down the street singing.
Speaker 4: It's not me.
Speaker 3: But being around y'all, working with y'all, it made me
Speaker 3: perfect my craft. It made me to work on my
Speaker 3: craft and even care about it to be like, you know,
Speaker 3: these niggas are so good.
Speaker 2: I got it.
Speaker 3: You know that's a chopping So I thank y'all for
Speaker 3: that one and two for singing at my father's funeral.
Speaker 3: You you speaking at the funeral, You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: and that like obviously you know most people be like Bro,
Speaker 3: we brothers, and but that's still a thing man, where
Speaker 3: it's like you have to sit back and truly appreciate
Speaker 3: it and say thank you because it really meant a
Speaker 3: lot to me and my family.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate y'all more than more than Welcome bro.
Speaker 3: And thank you for coming and doing the podcast with us,
Speaker 3: and you know, anointing us. You know what I mean,
Speaker 3: we probably selling cuss words on here because we didn't
Speaker 3: cuss when I was here.
Speaker 4: But I don't do R and B.
Speaker 1: You do R and B.
Speaker 3: You with us, y'all know I can't. I kept it
Speaker 3: fully clean. Well, Ike was here, but you do R
Speaker 3: and B. So you know you know I bout a
Speaker 3: cus't gonna do it.
Speaker 2: You save, you saved. My name is Valentine and this
Speaker 2: is the Army Money podcast. Their hold all things R
Speaker 2: and B.
Speaker 1: And this has been our brother man.
Speaker 2: This has been one of the most amazing human beings
Speaker 2: to emigrade the universe. Man. And and that's how I'm
Speaker 2: gonna leave me, mister Aaron Thumpers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, your favorite singer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, R and B Money.
Speaker 3: R and B Money is a production of the Black
Speaker 3: Effect podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 3: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 3: favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe to and rate our show,
Speaker 3: and you can connect with us on social media at
Speaker 3: jy Valentine and at the Real Tank. For the extended episode,
Speaker 3: subscribe to YouTube dot com, forward Slash, R and B
Speaker 3: Money