Speaker 1: R and B money.
Speaker 2: Honey, we are.
Speaker 1: Thanks take volatility. We are the authorities on R and B.
Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen. My name is Tank and this is
Speaker 3: truly the R and B money pocket. This is the
Speaker 3: authority of all things.
Speaker 4: R and B.
Speaker 1: Yell like a motherfucker. You know what.
Speaker 3: Let me, let me, let me switch, Let me switch
Speaker 3: to a more prestigious tone, because we have tone and accent. Yes,
Speaker 3: we have in the building. We have a master craft,
Speaker 3: for sure. We have deity uh in the building.
Speaker 4: His uh.
Speaker 3: His work is biblical. It is etched in stone a
Speaker 3: book of songs, just as the Ten Commandments that is
Speaker 3: etched in stone. I speak of a man who spans
Speaker 3: decades of R and B excellence. He sits on the
Speaker 3: board of the R and B Elders Association. He is
Speaker 3: a rule maker in all things that are decided in
Speaker 3: terms of what R and B is and how R
Speaker 3: and B lives. This man is cultivated farms of produce
Speaker 3: that continue to serve and feed.
Speaker 1: The R and B community. Ladies and gentlemen, we are talking.
Speaker 3: None are then, His Excellency, Lord Troy Taylor. Wow, Lord,
Speaker 3: I have never Taylor Lord himself. As you can tell
Speaker 3: by the bed. That is a lord's beard. Thank you, brother,
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: For having me.
Speaker 4: Welcome bro.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Long time coming, Yes, sir, Yes, we've
Speaker 1: been waiting on this.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been waiting on it. Actually, we can't wait
Speaker 1: to really talk the ship.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, because because you know you
Speaker 3: are truly like your wingspan in this ship is crazy.
Speaker 1: It's deep, deep. We don't have to pause that. We're
Speaker 1: gonna keep that. Oh yeah, technically okay, yeah, this fuck that,
Speaker 1: it's real. So first of all, thank you for coming.
Speaker 3: You are brother, you know what I'm saying, like your family,
Speaker 3: so that that goes without saying you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But you know, we thank you for giving us your time, man,
Speaker 3: and giving us the in depth of the things we
Speaker 3: are all we're getting ready to talk about. Yes, I'm excited.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry. Just you know, it's feeling good about myself today.
Speaker 3: This is you know, not this is the Army Money podcast.
Speaker 3: This is one of those moments where they are yes,
Speaker 3: where you know, let's let's to destroy because you were
Speaker 3: once a lad. You once a lad, and you were
Speaker 3: once an aspiring lad. Yes, you aspire to be something
Speaker 3: within your aspirations. There had to be some confirmation somewhere
Speaker 3: as a as a young boy where someone said, ah,
Speaker 3: it is on you, you have that keep pushing, or
Speaker 3: where you identified at yourself and said, you know what,
Speaker 3: I'm kind of that boy.
Speaker 2: Definitely, Definitely, after church, we go over to the piano.
Speaker 2: I'm like eleven, twelve ish, and I had this I
Speaker 2: had this notion that the piano was easy, like it
Speaker 2: seemed easy until I went over and hit the keys
Speaker 2: and it wasn't easy. And at that point that's when
Speaker 2: I it became a challenge. I want to learn. I
Speaker 2: want to learn how to do this, because it's how
Speaker 2: do they do And from there I just started off
Speaker 2: like self talk, self taught.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 2: Just working it out. And then a couple of friends
Speaker 2: would show me chords and I would work on those
Speaker 2: chords and work on those chords until it was fluent.
Speaker 2: And then basically through our high school just in bands,
Speaker 2: you know, in groups and stuff like that. And then
Speaker 2: at the end of high school, my music teacher, oh, no,
Speaker 2: excuse me. My mom told me that I needed to
Speaker 2: get a job or go to school. And I don't
Speaker 2: like school. I don't know the idea of graduating and
Speaker 2: going back to school was like, why would I do that?
Speaker 1: I tried it.
Speaker 2: So so so my music teacher, mister Bowie suggested because
Speaker 2: I told him what my mom said, and he said,
Speaker 2: I have this school in Harford that you should check out.
Speaker 1: It's a two year program because.
Speaker 4: You're from Connecticut.
Speaker 1: I'm from New Haven, Connecticut.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir, jumping up to Hartford now, yeah, And it
Speaker 2: was a two year program. So it's simple to two years,
Speaker 2: get your diploma, and you out. So I thought that
Speaker 2: was a great compromise. So my mom, Okay, I'll do
Speaker 2: that because two years I'm done.
Speaker 1: That's it for me.
Speaker 2: But within that two years, that's when I it was
Speaker 2: jazz and record jazz theory and record production, Jazz.
Speaker 1: Theory and re record production.
Speaker 2: So in that school is where I would learn two
Speaker 2: five to one. Once I heard what it sounded like,
Speaker 2: I was able to, oh, that's what it's called. You know,
Speaker 2: my whole life, I hear it. You hear it in
Speaker 2: Steven Wonder. You hear it, You hear the turnarounds, but
Speaker 2: you don't know what it's called. And then through that
Speaker 2: going to school, I learned what the language four coord
Speaker 2: the three chord, the six chord, the two you know,
Speaker 2: and the record production. They were a little they were
Speaker 2: a little behind on technology, so I didn't really learn
Speaker 2: too much about that. I had already had my eight track,
Speaker 2: you know, I was already ahead of them. But the
Speaker 2: jazz theory is what clicked for me. And after that
Speaker 2: I hit the streets.
Speaker 4: Really, did you finish the two years?
Speaker 1: I did finish the two years.
Speaker 2: I graduated and then after it was after that that
Speaker 2: I realized, oh no, no, this is what I want to do.
Speaker 2: Of course, I was an artist first while in college. No,
Speaker 2: I was an artist that all the way up to.
Speaker 1: Twenty two. So after college, I was still in the group.
Speaker 1: I was still in the group. When you get in
Speaker 1: the group, I was in the group do our Hearts
Speaker 1: I high school. What was the name of the group? Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: So the first group I was in was called Sweet Attraction.
Speaker 3: Sweet Attraction.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's absolutely armed, very very very arm b.
Speaker 5: And then baby, very baby sweet attraction.
Speaker 4: Think of sweet attraction like La and baby Face.
Speaker 3: It was breed, it was curls ball was yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: I did that.
Speaker 1: I from jail.
Speaker 2: I had I had a little Jerry Carl yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: And then I was in a band too. I can't
Speaker 2: think of the name of the band, guys don't kill Me.
Speaker 2: I can't think of the name of the band, but it.
Speaker 1: Was just me.
Speaker 2: I was a keyboardist and we had a bass, guitar,
Speaker 2: guitar player, drummer.
Speaker 1: Thing. I forget, uh the name of the group.
Speaker 2: And then I was in my last group before I
Speaker 2: went on my own, with Shamari.
Speaker 1: That's the name of the group.
Speaker 3: Yes, it was like.
Speaker 1: Word, what does that mean? I don't remember. I know,
Speaker 1: I know it's yes. I was in Shamari and just was.
Speaker 4: Just in Africa so with somebody.
Speaker 2: We've been waiting so so I got When I got
Speaker 2: out of that, that's when I went on my own,
Speaker 2: and being so anxious, I ended up signing this.
Speaker 1: Record deal that was horrible. It was the horriblest deal
Speaker 1: you could ever see, like a local records to New York.
Speaker 4: Well, i'll tell your label, Indy.
Speaker 2: It was an independent label. I'll tell you one thing
Speaker 2: that made it so bad. I signed my publishing away
Speaker 2: for the rest of my life. Sure what, that's how
Speaker 2: bad it went ourpetuity period. I was anxious. I didn't
Speaker 2: get an attorney to look at the deal because I
Speaker 2: was anxious. I was twenty years old and I was
Speaker 2: trying to leave. I was trying to get out of
Speaker 2: New Haven. I was trying to.
Speaker 4: And do you remember how much money they gave you
Speaker 4: for this?
Speaker 2: I don't remember. But it wasn't a lot of money.
Speaker 2: It was a horrible deal.
Speaker 4: It was just enough to get out.
Speaker 2: It was enough to leave. I don't even remember getting paid. Actually,
Speaker 2: I tell this story because I like to tell people
Speaker 2: so that they can know being anxious is.
Speaker 3: Not rushing bad place to make a decision.
Speaker 1: Rushing being anxious and being like.
Speaker 3: It's almost under your own drest right if you put
Speaker 3: this pressure on yourself, Yes, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: you back yourself up against the wall in a sense
Speaker 3: to where anything looks good to get off this wall
Speaker 3: and to get out of this corner.
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So throughout my my teenage years, I did record stores.
Speaker 1: I worked at record stores, and.
Speaker 2: I felt like, you know, if I'm going to get
Speaker 2: a job, I'd rather work at a record stores, keep
Speaker 2: me close to music, but I will recredits all the time,
Speaker 2: because you know.
Speaker 1: That's a that's an art in itself.
Speaker 2: Yes, And there would be one name that I would
Speaker 2: always see that I would always see and it seemed
Speaker 2: like every time I saw his name, it was attached
Speaker 2: to something I liked. And his name was Timmy Register
Speaker 2: m HM, and so that name always stuck in the
Speaker 2: back of my head. So let's fast forward to this
Speaker 2: record deal. I'm I'm signed to this label now and
Speaker 2: they asked me for my single. Who did I want
Speaker 2: to get to mix the single? I said Timmy Register,
Speaker 2: not knowing that they would know him, and it said, hey,
Speaker 2: get Timmy on the phone, like what what? So long
Speaker 2: story short of course, fast forward, I'm going to meet
Speaker 2: Timmy Register. I'm going to meet tim Registrate. So they
Speaker 2: scheduled the mix. I think it was on a Monday.
Speaker 2: I came up with this plan, this plan to play
Speaker 2: three tracks, three beats that I did have songs to them,
Speaker 2: but I won't play that. I'll play the music, hoping
Speaker 2: that he will say where's the song. Then I would
Speaker 2: say I have the songs, and then he would say
Speaker 2: let me hear the songs, and I would say, I
Speaker 2: don't have them with me, but I can come back.
Speaker 1: To get a meeting. Well, that was in my head.
Speaker 2: So through the mix, during the inter the break he
Speaker 2: broke for to get something to eat for lunch, and
Speaker 2: so when he went to the lounge, I asked him
Speaker 2: if I could play him some more music. First of all,
Speaker 2: I thanked him for, you know, doing the mix, and
Speaker 2: I said, can I play some music? I had the
Speaker 2: boombox you know, you know when that was with the
Speaker 2: cassette that you know, And so he said yeah, he
Speaker 2: was eating and I played him.
Speaker 1: I gave him the cassette.
Speaker 2: He put in. He got in the middle of the
Speaker 2: second beat, and he was like, where's the song? So
Speaker 2: I'll have songs todays.
Speaker 1: Let me hear.
Speaker 2: I don't have them, but I can, you know, I
Speaker 2: definitely can come back. I can, you know. He was like, okay,
Speaker 2: and you scheduled a meeting for Wednesday at Motown because
Speaker 2: he worked at Motown. He was a Motown executive and
Speaker 2: R did.
Speaker 4: You not know this yet or you did know?
Speaker 2: I did know, but I didn't pay attention to that
Speaker 2: because I was just looking at the fact that this
Speaker 2: is timmy register, whose name is on the back of
Speaker 2: so many things at Motown, and I didn't think about that.
Speaker 2: And so I came back Wednesday, took the train, came
Speaker 2: back and UH had a bag full of cassettes and
Speaker 2: I played him all my music. He got so into
Speaker 2: the music and so into me as an artist that
Speaker 2: he bought me out of that contract what and signed
Speaker 2: me to Motown.
Speaker 5: Wow, and and this and this turnaround for let's just
Speaker 5: you know, said indie label.
Speaker 4: How long was that?
Speaker 2: It was only about It was a little under a
Speaker 2: year because I wasn't on it long now during the
Speaker 2: course of this horrible deal. The reason why I found
Speaker 2: out how bad this deal was because at that time
Speaker 2: I was working with who would then become my partner,
Speaker 2: Charles for our m H. I met him at this
Speaker 2: horrible label. He was just there using the phone. What
Speaker 2: he was just there using the label to use the
Speaker 2: phone and do meetings. He didn't use the phone, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: because he would just go there to to you know,
Speaker 2: have meetings and stuff just to use He knew the
Speaker 2: people there, so he would just use the office phone
Speaker 2: and you know meetings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's popping.
Speaker 5: Yeah here it's new kid pulled out. We them so
Speaker 5: so so so.
Speaker 2: One of one of the persons that did actually work
Speaker 2: there was his friend. That's how he you know, And
Speaker 2: so it was him who has suggested to Charles, Hey,
Speaker 2: why don't you have this kid who came up here,
Speaker 2: you know, you should have him play keys for you.
Speaker 2: And so Charles got my number and called me and
Speaker 2: asked me to come to New York to do keyboard work.
Speaker 2: I didn't really know him, but he paid me, so,
Speaker 2: you know, and then I would do that a few
Speaker 2: times before I realized, like, dude, what do you want?
Speaker 1: What is it that you want?
Speaker 4: But are you on Motown at this point?
Speaker 1: Ya? I went back.
Speaker 2: I went back a y'all. I went back on y'all
Speaker 2: because I went back to how I got out of
Speaker 2: the deal. And so by the time I ended up
Speaker 2: signing that deal because I didn't know him enough. You know,
Speaker 2: when we started working, it started becoming regular. I started
Speaker 2: getting on the train a lot more, and so he
Speaker 2: was the one that had the contract looked at, and
Speaker 2: he was the one that told me how bad.
Speaker 1: The deal was.
Speaker 2: The that's how I found out. So in the course
Speaker 2: of that we became the characters. And yeah, that's how
Speaker 2: I introduced the characters.
Speaker 1: Became the characters.
Speaker 2: And so by the time Timmy signed me to Motown,
Speaker 2: we were, you know, we were kind of together.
Speaker 4: And he just bought you completely out.
Speaker 2: He brought me completely out. I got my master's back,
Speaker 2: I got my publishing back.
Speaker 3: Everything.
Speaker 1: Well, y'all know that was God. Nothing But yes, that
Speaker 1: don't happen, not at all, not at all.
Speaker 2: So the testimony of that and being anxious, rushing and
Speaker 2: you make a mess, still, God can get you out
Speaker 2: no matter how deep that is, because that's deep that
Speaker 2: signed up.
Speaker 1: The publishing was done.
Speaker 2: It wasn't no reversion, reversions or revisions or nothing.
Speaker 1: It was done.
Speaker 2: It was like, because you know, you gotta get your
Speaker 2: attorney to negotiate that, there was no attorney to negotiate nothing.
Speaker 2: So my publisher was done. So yeah, gesus, I tell that.
Speaker 2: Now I'm on motown the name why the characters?
Speaker 1: Okay, So.
Speaker 2: When I was on that label, I was with a
Speaker 2: rapper who I produced him. It was because of him
Speaker 2: that we even got to that label in the first place.
Speaker 2: I was the producer, but I had sang backgrounds on
Speaker 2: a couple of his songs, and so they kept gravitating
Speaker 2: towards the person singing. So that's how technically we both
Speaker 2: got signed. And then we came up with I came
Speaker 2: up with the name smooth characters. So when I got
Speaker 2: out of that deal, both of us got out of
Speaker 2: the deal, the rapper and I. When me and Charles
Speaker 2: became the partners, I dropped this move and just said
Speaker 2: the characters.
Speaker 1: That's pretty much how it all began.
Speaker 3: That's wow, because.
Speaker 2: You know, of course my idols Jam and Lewis, l
Speaker 2: A and Face Yeah, gambling huff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So that's that's that was the that was the vision.
Speaker 2: That was the vision, and so that was the motivation.
Speaker 2: So the characters I thought it was. I thought it
Speaker 2: was you know, it rang, Yeah, it had a ring
Speaker 2: to it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I heard about y'all in church.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was still in church, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: and just hearing about producers that was doing what they
Speaker 3: were doing. Yeah, yeah, your name was was the characters?
Speaker 4: The characters?
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, that's what we want to be.
Speaker 1: Lain, Face, yeah, Jam, Lewis, Yeah, gambling huff.
Speaker 3: So what was your what was your first moment as
Speaker 3: the characters? Now you're this this group, you're signing the Motown.
Speaker 2: I'm signing the Motown and I'm working on my album.
Speaker 5: You're working on your album, and are they letting you
Speaker 5: guys do the album.
Speaker 1: Yes, Timmy, Timmy was everything. Timmy was.
Speaker 2: I've mentored and I still mentor a lot of people,
Speaker 2: and people often ask me, Troy, have you ever had
Speaker 2: a mentor? And I have to say, you know, Timmy
Speaker 2: was my mentor. He was the one that taught me
Speaker 2: song you know, how to make the song pop out,
Speaker 2: the verses, pop out, the hook nah, change that change
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. He was the one that
Speaker 2: kind of like taught me how to make a good song,
Speaker 2: what a format a good song. So I have to
Speaker 2: say that that was then, and within that time he
Speaker 2: already heard all my music. So he trusts me, so
Speaker 2: he let me. He let me do the songs that
Speaker 2: I wanted to do and make the album and everything.
Speaker 5: So you made it full the album while you're there,
Speaker 5: I was making the full album, okay.
Speaker 2: And then he took some of my songs. Wat's this
Speaker 2: and he had a meeting with Cheryl Busby who.
Speaker 1: Was the president. Was the president already you already because
Speaker 1: she was Jael Bobs. Yeah, So.
Speaker 2: Gerald came in. Timmy played Gerald some of my songs
Speaker 2: and Gerald took a pad, sat on the couch, kicked
Speaker 2: the shoes off and he would write the names of
Speaker 2: the songs down because they had groups and they have
Speaker 2: people other artists. So if I'm not keeping it from
Speaker 2: my self, who did a lot of songs, right, And
Speaker 2: at that time, I did a lot of harmonies. I
Speaker 2: was known like you listened to my music, it was
Speaker 2: all harmonies. You thought it was a group anyway, but
Speaker 2: it was all me. So that's what gave Timmy and
Speaker 2: Gerald like, yo, these songs are yo you you know what?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So you did a list and it was this
Speaker 2: two groups that they had signed there. So Gerald came
Speaker 2: up with four songs for this group and four songs
Speaker 2: for this group out of my kettle mm hmm yeah
Speaker 2: for this and for this They had these kids that
Speaker 2: were there for about a year or so and they
Speaker 2: hadn't recorded yet. So Timmy told Gerald, like, this would
Speaker 2: be good for these kids, and Gerald agreed, so he
Speaker 2: wrote down the four songs. He worked down three songs.
Speaker 2: The fourth song that Timmy played, I had to interrupt
Speaker 2: and say, hey, this one's for me, this this is mine.
Speaker 4: They can't can't You had your artist moment?
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: And he was making a cassette for Gerald at the time, so,
Speaker 2: you know, so he had to rewind the tape to
Speaker 2: take it off and put it and cover it with
Speaker 2: another song.
Speaker 1: And so that's what he did.
Speaker 2: And so now it came time to meet these groups
Speaker 2: and you know, to set up a meeting to work
Speaker 2: with them.
Speaker 1: So first came the kids.
Speaker 2: The kids. The kids they did. Yeah, I would go
Speaker 2: down and meet these kids. Came back to Motown. They
Speaker 2: were in the conference room and it was four of them,
Speaker 2: and the youngest one was fifteen, and then the other
Speaker 2: one was sixteen, and then two of them were seventeen.
Speaker 2: So I sat down and they were very excited and
Speaker 2: they were telling me the songs that they really liked.
Speaker 2: And the youngest one he said he liked a song,
Speaker 2: but he didn't know the name of it. And so
Speaker 2: I'm like, what.
Speaker 1: Do you what do you mean I didn't hear all
Speaker 1: of it. I'm like, what do you mean? Didn't hear
Speaker 1: all of it? Yeah, we just caught the end of it.
Speaker 1: What is he talk like?
Speaker 2: I didn't understand what he was talking about. I said,
Speaker 2: did you remember any of the words? He's like it
Speaker 2: was like your love or something like that.
Speaker 3: I said, Oh, piece of the joint was still on.
Speaker 2: They caught the end of it because the song that
Speaker 2: they the song that they covered it with, it wasn't
Speaker 2: long enough and so I was like, oh your love, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's that's from my album. And it went quiet a
Speaker 2: it was kind of awkward. So I saying, hey, hey,
Speaker 2: you guys sing sing something? And they sang. Now, I
Speaker 2: tell this story a lot, but when I said, they
Speaker 2: sang about seven or eight seconds, I mean it before
Speaker 2: el oh, oh oh stop. Oh yeah that's and I
Speaker 2: looked at the young this one. I said, you can
Speaker 2: have the song, I swear to you. They just started singing.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you what they sang. They sang, oh Mary,
Speaker 2: don't you eat?
Speaker 3: Take six.
Speaker 1: I guess you could tell who I'm talking about.
Speaker 4: That's my joint.
Speaker 2: I was like, y'all can have a song. But they
Speaker 2: were sitting there looking at me like because I interrupted them,
Speaker 2: So they kind of was like, what's wrong. I was like, no, no,
Speaker 2: y'all gotta kick you don't.
Speaker 1: I'm good.
Speaker 2: And so they were like, one guy, one particular guys,
Speaker 2: can we finish?
Speaker 1: I said, sure, go ahead. They finished and they killed it.
Speaker 2: I mean it was so god forsakenly great that I
Speaker 2: really didn't need to hear anymore. But if you're gonna go,
Speaker 2: go and do it. But I'm done, I'm ready. Like
Speaker 2: and we went in and we did those. We did
Speaker 2: four songs.
Speaker 1: He listed to say a year later, these kids was
Speaker 1: known all over the world as boys to men. You
Speaker 1: rocket because you came up.
Speaker 4: I mean like I came out the gate gate.
Speaker 3: So your name is in every record company's rolodex.
Speaker 1: That's how.
Speaker 3: That's yeah, we need them, and that is getting up
Speaker 3: from that and trying to take a moment to do
Speaker 3: anything else.
Speaker 1: It's just yeah.
Speaker 4: So this motown.
Speaker 5: Cuff y'all, do they say, hey, you know, we're gonna
Speaker 5: kind of a sense make y'all staff producers, staff writers.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, he didn't. He didn't do that.
Speaker 2: But I will say I did work with a lot
Speaker 2: of Motown artists, right. Timmy was he was just great man.
Speaker 1: He was just great.
Speaker 2: He didn't have have the mentality of if I'm gonna
Speaker 2: do this for you, then you need to sign this.
Speaker 2: He didn't have that mentality. He just he just he
Speaker 2: was just straight up and wherever he needed to say,
Speaker 2: you know, fix this or do this or that, Da
Speaker 2: da da da, he just did it.
Speaker 1: It wasn't. It wasn't strings attached to it.
Speaker 5: But he also understands, and I love that you said no,
Speaker 5: it was no strings attached, because that, in turn is
Speaker 5: actually the best attachment.
Speaker 3: Yes when it's just good business.
Speaker 4: Yes, when it's just good business.
Speaker 5: And I can call you and say, hey, Troy, at
Speaker 5: your height, of your height.
Speaker 4: I need you.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, And how you treat people, I would learn
Speaker 2: that over the years I had the and even to
Speaker 2: this day, you know, I have a lot of I
Speaker 2: have a lot of protegees and people like did you
Speaker 2: sign him?
Speaker 1: No? So so so so you you you working with them?
Speaker 1: You da? And you sharing your platform? Da da d da?
Speaker 1: Did you sign him? No?
Speaker 2: Why we're working, We're working. Whatever we do, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: get what I need to get. Why do I need
Speaker 2: to sign them? And it was a point where I
Speaker 2: did I've jeopardized that and I did go against, go
Speaker 2: against what I know, and I did, you know, end
Speaker 2: up signing some artists, I mean some artists and producers
Speaker 2: and writers. So I did do it at one point,
Speaker 2: but in the course of me doing it, it brought
Speaker 2: me back to why I don't why.
Speaker 1: I didn't do it?
Speaker 2: I learned this so reminded me of why I do this.
Speaker 2: There's so much, there's too much involved, Like and as
Speaker 2: far as contracts, people look at it as sign this person.
Speaker 2: You gotta be careful who you sign. You don't know
Speaker 2: who you sign it. And it goes both ways. Some people
Speaker 2: you don't want to sign and you don't know that
Speaker 2: because because you don't know that. Yeah, and it's according
Speaker 2: to the industry you're supposed to sign.
Speaker 1: You better be careful who you signed.
Speaker 2: The people are crazy and you don't know that you
Speaker 2: signing a schizophrenic until they use the contract against you.
Speaker 2: My contract says you you're supposed to do da da
Speaker 2: da dah, and you didn't do that.
Speaker 1: So what like, you still got work to do? You
Speaker 1: why are you?
Speaker 3: You're not even ready at that point of the contract.
Speaker 2: You're even ready for this, but they you know, people
Speaker 2: start talking to them. You should have gotten this, they
Speaker 2: should have done this to you, but you're not ready.
Speaker 1: No, but still you you you're old. You know you're
Speaker 1: really old.
Speaker 2: This So I'm like, what if I've worked with you
Speaker 2: with no contracts, then I could take my time. If
Speaker 2: you act silly, do something stupid, I can lay back
Speaker 2: off you. I ain't got no contract to remind me
Speaker 2: that you're my writer or my artist or and I
Speaker 2: you know, so that's signing mentality. Nah, y'all can have that.
Speaker 2: Miss me with that. There's a lot of attachments to that.
Speaker 4: You're just going to do the work. Yeah, and you
Speaker 4: get paid for your work, yes, sir, I respect that.
Speaker 1: I started songbook not too long after.
Speaker 2: Mister Songs got caught in the middle of this thing
Speaker 2: because I met Trey through Charles. Charles went to high
Speaker 2: school with Trey's stepdad.
Speaker 4: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: So Trey's stepdad asks Charles if.
Speaker 2: You could listen to my son. He says he wants
Speaker 2: to sing. He raps, but he says he wants to sing.
Speaker 2: And Charles, being you know, the business side of it,
Speaker 2: like to send him to Troy. So Charles asked me
Speaker 2: to do a favor and just say, can you listen
Speaker 2: to Kenny's son, Man, just listen to him. Tell me
Speaker 2: what you think. So I can tell Kenny, you know,
Speaker 2: give him some advice something there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And so.
Speaker 2: This kid comes over, skinny kid, big head, big feet, skinny, skinny,
Speaker 2: big big What was the chiefs? I think it was
Speaker 2: a chiefs jersey or it was a it was a
Speaker 2: you know, it was a hockey jersey. It's big and
Speaker 2: he comes over on his bike and I'm looking outside.
Speaker 1: Sad.
Speaker 2: Really didn't want to do it, and so he comes down.
Speaker 2: He comes downstairs, and so so you want to you
Speaker 2: wanna you want to sing? He's like, yeah, yeah, he's
Speaker 2: only fifteen, he said fourteen, but I think he was fifteen.
Speaker 1: I said, okay, well sing something.
Speaker 2: So he sang Donelle Jones where I Want to Be,
Speaker 2: And he did a pretty good job. It was one
Speaker 2: thing that I listened for. And y'all know exactly what
Speaker 2: I'm talking about. You know, the longer someone sings, just
Speaker 2: singing with no music or whatever, just stand there singing,
Speaker 2: how they drift into another note paying attention up or
Speaker 2: down because they're not paying attention. He didn't do that.
Speaker 2: He stayed writing key the whole time. So that's the
Speaker 2: first thing I noticed.
Speaker 1: His tom was cool. So, okay, he's young. He don't
Speaker 1: know what he's doing. So that's the thing.
Speaker 2: He don't know what he's doing. He's just singing, so
Speaker 2: we don't know. And you know what you can and
Speaker 2: I'm looking, I'm.
Speaker 1: Looking, I'm listening to I'm like, okay, okay, so so
Speaker 1: you you okay.
Speaker 3: I can work with that.
Speaker 1: It's August. He's about to go back to school. He
Speaker 1: lived in Virginia. I lived in Jersey, and.
Speaker 2: I reported back. I think I think he got something.
Speaker 2: I think he got some. His mom called me screaming, oh.
Speaker 6: My god, played me the song because I let him,
Speaker 6: you know, I put the song on CD and let
Speaker 6: him take it.
Speaker 1: And she heard it and she said, what do I
Speaker 1: have to do? Well? What does he what does he
Speaker 1: need to do?
Speaker 2: I said, oh, well, we just keep in touch, and
Speaker 2: you know, school breaks or whatever. He can come back
Speaker 2: and I'll continue to work with him. Get him a
Speaker 2: Skytae pager so we can keep in touch. They had
Speaker 2: a Skyteale pager in school. He's the only kid in
Speaker 2: high school with a Skytale page.
Speaker 1: You know. He ain't had it a two way pager.
Speaker 1: So that's how we kept kept in touch.
Speaker 4: And so.
Speaker 1: The breaks he would come back.
Speaker 2: He would come back during the breaks and stuff like
Speaker 2: that and just hang out with me, go to the
Speaker 2: studio with me, and then another break, and then the
Speaker 2: summer he spent you know.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 2: His stepdad lived eight minutes away from me, So he
Speaker 2: stayed with his stepdad for the summer and then he
Speaker 2: would just come with me everywhere. And then he went
Speaker 2: one year back to school again and he graduated and
Speaker 2: his mom gave him approximately one year to apply to music.
Speaker 2: So he had one year and within that year that's
Speaker 2: where no before that, that's where I left where I
Speaker 2: left characters. So he got caught right.
Speaker 1: In the middle. And so me being loyal, I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know what I met.
Speaker 2: You through Charles. Stay with Charles. You know, I'll still
Speaker 2: work with you, but you know, Charles could get you
Speaker 2: a deal. I don't want to interrupt that. Besides, I
Speaker 2: don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I've never been on my own before.
Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm doing before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I I never stop at I never been on
Speaker 2: my own, you know what I mean. I started with Charles,
Speaker 2: Yeah what I mean. So I've never been by myself,
Speaker 2: So I don't know. And you know, I'm in the
Speaker 2: studio with my head down, like working. I don't know
Speaker 2: nothing about I know the business, but I didn't have
Speaker 2: to worry about that part. So as I as I'm gathering,
Speaker 2: like what I want to do, who I want to be.
Speaker 2: That's what songbook comes up.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Songbook is inspired by talking book Stevie Wonder being one
Speaker 2: of my and so, yeah, that's how that started. And
Speaker 2: once I realized what I wanted to do, he got
Speaker 2: caught in the middle and he was given a deal,
Speaker 2: an agreement or no.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Charles made him a deal, like you do sixty songs
Speaker 2: and then I'll start shopping you a deal.
Speaker 1: And trade was only sixteen.
Speaker 2: Sixty sixteen of sixteen Songska no, no, No, Trede was sixteen.
Speaker 4: But he's he wanted sixty songs though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he said, if you do like sixty songs, then
Speaker 2: we'll start shopping.
Speaker 1: You a deal. Now, like dude, I keep it. Boy,
Speaker 1: I don't even know. He's still know how to do
Speaker 1: They don't even know how to make music.
Speaker 2: So he would go in every day and he would
Speaker 2: you know, he would do that, and then after he
Speaker 2: would leave the studio because I don't I'm not there anymore.
Speaker 2: He would come to my house and then we would
Speaker 2: go bowling or movies, and you know, he would sit
Speaker 2: and watch me work on music. I sang still and
Speaker 2: did songs. Then I still wrote songs and demoed them.
Speaker 2: That's how John Tay learned, That's how Carl Thomas learned,
Speaker 2: and now Trey.
Speaker 1: So they watched me.
Speaker 2: I don't do that anymore, but you know, and so
Speaker 2: during that time, it was like, I'm going to Carl
Speaker 2: Thomas session. He's on his second album and I'm just visiting,
Speaker 2: just chilling with him. And we were at a Electric
Speaker 2: Lady studio downstairs and you know, when you go downstairs,
Speaker 2: there's no signal. I come back up and all my
Speaker 2: all the messages are coming in from what I didn't hear,
Speaker 2: and there's a bunch of Trey songs messages. Yo, call me, man,
Speaker 2: call me Lol, call me yo.
Speaker 1: I'm like, Yo, what's going on?
Speaker 2: He's like, Yo, man, your boy kicked me out of
Speaker 2: the studio. Tell me I can't come back. I was like,
Speaker 2: what are you talking about? Yo? He said, I couldn't
Speaker 2: come back to the studio no more.
Speaker 1: I was like, what did you do? I ain't do nothing.
Speaker 1: He said, do sixty songs.
Speaker 2: I did, like sixty five songs, sixty two, sixty three songs.
Speaker 2: So so I did what I was supposed to do,
Speaker 2: and I just you know, didn't go in as much
Speaker 2: and so he got mad because I didn't come in.
Speaker 1: So he told me, you.
Speaker 2: Know, it's real cold outside and it's mighty toasty in here.
Speaker 2: I said, oh, he gave you the it's toasty in here.
Speaker 1: He had his. He had his saying he had a
Speaker 1: it's toasty. It's very cold out.
Speaker 2: It's mighty cold out there, but it's nice and toasty
Speaker 2: in here, and you're going to see how cold it
Speaker 2: is out there.
Speaker 1: That was his.
Speaker 2: And when he said that to me, I was like,
Speaker 2: oh yo, he said that to you, you messed up.
Speaker 2: Nah nah, because now I don't have to go in.
Speaker 2: He's laughing the whole time. I'm like, okay, okay, oh, okay, okang.
Speaker 2: Because during the course of that, when I had to
Speaker 2: sit down with his mom and tell him and his
Speaker 2: mom that listen, I'm leaving the characters and I don't
Speaker 2: know what I'm going to do yet, Trey wanted to
Speaker 2: come with me, and his mom was like, well you know,
Speaker 2: and I'm like yeah, no, no, no, no, I don't know
Speaker 2: what I'm gonna do yet, and his mom was like,
Speaker 2: you'll be fine, You'll be fine.
Speaker 1: I wasn't confident. I really wasn't.
Speaker 2: And she's like no, but you'll be listen, you will
Speaker 2: be fine, Like we can come with you and you'll
Speaker 2: be fine.
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, just you know, because of how you met.
Speaker 2: Me, just just he could still work with me. I
Speaker 2: still work with him, no problem. But they believed that
Speaker 2: I could do it before I believed that I could
Speaker 2: do it on my own. So when it all came
Speaker 2: down to it, I said, you know what, trace team.
Speaker 2: By this time, I said, you know what, I know
Speaker 2: everybody he knows. What it did was it made me
Speaker 2: raise my head up, It made me step up.
Speaker 1: Now you got to play both roles.
Speaker 2: Now I have to get up and look around and
Speaker 2: make calls and exercise those relationships that I do know.
Speaker 2: But it just didn't talk about that with them. I
Speaker 2: talked about it and this is.
Speaker 4: Just a different responsibility, Yes, totally.
Speaker 2: And so I accepted that, and so I said, you
Speaker 2: know what, dude, I got you don't worry about it.
Speaker 2: So I did a ten song demo, straight up ten
Speaker 2: song demo. And at that time, Delante got wind of
Speaker 2: the characters breaking up, and so Delante wanted to have
Speaker 2: a meeting with me. I didn't know him, know him.
Speaker 2: I met him in passing. So I knew of him,
Speaker 2: but he called me, so he did have my number
Speaker 2: and he wanted to talk. And he felt like, you know,
Speaker 2: I heard that you guys broke up, So you know,
Speaker 2: I I like to, you know, help you out and
Speaker 2: see if fucking you know, manage you.
Speaker 1: Excuse me what?
Speaker 2: He worked at foot locker on thirty fourth Street manage me. Yeah, no,
Speaker 2: I feel like I can you know I can help out.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 2: I really wasn't sure. I didn't really, but he was confident,
Speaker 2: and so I made him a deal. And long story short,
Speaker 2: I said, Okay, anybody you introduced no anything you get that,
Speaker 2: I already know. Anybody you take me to that I
Speaker 2: already know fifteen percent. Anything you introduced me to me,
Speaker 2: that's a new twenty percent that makes them, you know.
Speaker 1: Deal. We never signed the deal. We never did a contract.
Speaker 2: That was just our word, me and me and Charleston
Speaker 2: never signed the contract. We just you know, I'm loyal
Speaker 2: like that, dude. If I say I'm gonna do it,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 3: Period.
Speaker 2: And so Delante uh became my manager and while I
Speaker 2: was making Trey's project.
Speaker 1: I gave it to Delante to say, show me what
Speaker 1: you could do.
Speaker 2: And so he went out and started shopping the deals
Speaker 2: and they they they we got We got back where
Speaker 2: we got back on on on this young tray Is.
Speaker 2: He sounded like a broke down mister sir. I want
Speaker 2: to be mister sir. Those who who know mister sir is,
Speaker 2: we don't need to say. And so it was like
Speaker 2: funny because he was he's a big fan, so he's
Speaker 2: that problem with that, like.
Speaker 1: That sounds up. That means I'm on, I'm doing good.
Speaker 1: But they didn't think so.
Speaker 2: And so it came all the way down to two
Speaker 2: labels that were interested after everybody passed, Dave mcpherrison being
Speaker 2: one of them that passed on it. And I said
Speaker 2: him because you know, I had already had a relationship,
Speaker 2: so you know, I'm gonna go back to my relationships.
Speaker 2: And he didn't see it. He didn't get it, and
Speaker 2: he felt like, you know, I actually took it to
Speaker 2: him first, and this is cool. It's a cool boom.
Speaker 2: Dream Works, Brian Postell, Brian p and Atlantic Records. Those
Speaker 2: it came down to them, and Brian was so cool man,
Speaker 2: he was so cool.
Speaker 1: He really liked Trey.
Speaker 2: He really genuinely saw the vision and he flew us out.
Speaker 2: We had a great meeting, the whole staff, everything, everything
Speaker 2: was there, and Trey was excited. So in Trey's mind,
Speaker 2: he wants to go to dream Works and me and
Speaker 2: Delantae are like, the money's good, but that deal is
Speaker 2: needs to be worked on a little bit.
Speaker 1: We need to but Atlantic wasn't as much money, but
Speaker 1: the deal was good, yeah, the overall deal.
Speaker 2: So Trey was still he was Brian Postell. He was
Speaker 2: a fan of Brian Postel. He felt like, you know,
Speaker 2: Brian gets it and Da da da Dame, and we
Speaker 2: understood that. But me and Delante were still like thinking
Speaker 2: about the deal, and so we decided to pray and
Speaker 2: fast on it.
Speaker 3: Us three.
Speaker 1: That's you know, you gotta go there.
Speaker 2: You go there, and I remember being in La and
Speaker 2: after that, I remember being La because me and Delante
Speaker 2: we knew it needed to be Atlantic. We knew, but
Speaker 2: we you know, he's the artist, so it's his career.
Speaker 2: How are we going to convince him? He's really stuck
Speaker 2: on going to DreamWorks? And so when we prayed him
Speaker 2: fast about it, I remember walking down the street.
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 2: I was out here in La I was walking down
Speaker 2: the street going to Tyle Records, and Delante called me
Speaker 2: and he said, did you hear? I was like, here,
Speaker 2: what They shut DreamWorks down the label department? So what
Speaker 2: you mean the record label, the whole Steven Spielberg dissolved
Speaker 2: the record company of DreamWorks. I was like, yo, he said, yes,
Speaker 2: how trade did that deal?
Speaker 1: He'd be stuck. WHOA?
Speaker 2: So I guess atlantic it is right, and Mike Karen
Speaker 2: Delante sent it to Mike Karen. Mike Karen heard it
Speaker 2: and he got it. He understood what it was.
Speaker 1: He brought it to Craig. Now I was.
Speaker 2: I knew Craig for years. I didn't know Mike, but
Speaker 2: it was Mike's signing. And so by the time Craig
Speaker 2: found out that this kid was my artist, it all
Speaker 2: came together because this whole staff Ronnie Johnson rest in Peace,
Speaker 2: moo Landy morrise landy Uh, they all got into it.
Speaker 2: They all was the staff, Deanni, they all all into it.
Speaker 2: And so by the time Craig came in the whole,
Speaker 2: he saw his whole staff was already close. And yeah,
Speaker 2: it was already rocking, and so we went on with it,
Speaker 2: and that's how it all all began.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Atlantic Records, Atlantic Records. Mister Karen, now you have
Speaker 6: some you know, you had a little, you know, a
Speaker 6: little turmoil up there. Yes, wasn't It wasn't easy.
Speaker 3: No, no, Yeah.
Speaker 1: My relationship was with Craig. I know, R and B.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is this is this is two thousand, two
Speaker 2: thousand and two. Yeah, this is two thousand and three.
Speaker 2: By the time Trey got his deal with two thousand
Speaker 2: and three, I know what I'm doing. I don't need
Speaker 2: to be told how to make a song R and
Speaker 2: B somewhere.
Speaker 1: I could do this whole project. I mean, I did
Speaker 1: the whole demo. That's what got you into it. What's
Speaker 1: what's the problem? Some reason I'm fighting.
Speaker 2: How to make an album R and B album with somebody.
Speaker 2: I didn't feel R B was R and B not
Speaker 2: to me anyway, you know, not better than me, bye bye.
Speaker 2: But but but but he was the powers that be
Speaker 2: and I had to do, you know, keep peace and
Speaker 2: keep it going because it's not my career at the
Speaker 2: end of the day.
Speaker 3: And so it was.
Speaker 1: It was. It was rough, It was rough, It was rough.
Speaker 1: Gotta Go.
Speaker 2: Was done and inspired by you Don't Have You Don't
Speaker 2: You Don't Know My Name that was out at that time. Again,
Speaker 2: you can if you're a DJ, you can mix that too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I heard it absolutely, the sample, the whole thing.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 1: Cheat on You. That was inspired by You're Gonna want
Speaker 1: to throw Back? Mm hmm, I should throw back? That
Speaker 1: was inspired.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: I did all those songs while those songs were fresh.
Speaker 2: The project didn't come out to two years later, so
Speaker 2: Gotta Go all these songs they sounded dated, and so
Speaker 2: everybody was like, Oh, Troy's gonna mess that boy's career up.
Speaker 1: He got him sounding old. I'm like the album was done.
Speaker 4: It was, it could have, but it wasn't moving that fast.
Speaker 2: I was battling. I was battling this person who is
Speaker 2: challenging me to do something that I do in my sleep.
Speaker 1: I didn't understand. Like we were good.
Speaker 4: And then.
Speaker 1: As we were just about that, we just got the
Speaker 1: release date. Oh yeah, Craig decided to sign Baby Grime me.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and we had to swap dates with them
Speaker 2: because they had the song was already on the radio.
Speaker 1: Was going cracking, It was cracking. It was it was cracking.
Speaker 2: So Craig asked me to if we could swap the
Speaker 2: dates and so, because they're ready.
Speaker 1: And you guys are not, and I felt like where
Speaker 1: we are? Yeah, man, you know, but we.
Speaker 2: Swapped the dates and and Delante came up with the
Speaker 2: uh just got to make it uh video, which was
Speaker 2: genius Trey's video of him, you know, not wanting to
Speaker 2: go into work and just you know, going to the.
Speaker 1: Back of the barbershop and work on music.
Speaker 2: I'd be the executive that would call and that, you know,
Speaker 2: give him the record deal and everything that was it
Speaker 2: was it became an icond of kind of for the
Speaker 2: culture kind of an album U and that video pretty
Speaker 2: much became I'm the I'm the.
Speaker 1: Record executive that called him.
Speaker 2: A lot of people didn't notice because I got two
Speaker 2: flashes quick quick, but it worked. It worked, It worked,
Speaker 2: and needless to say, it got a little even more
Speaker 2: rough the second album because then.
Speaker 1: The new people came in. The new people came in,
Speaker 1: and so.
Speaker 2: Then it's like I had to play another politic political
Speaker 2: game with that album.
Speaker 3: Those regime regime changes, yes, it can be. It can
Speaker 3: be the death of those already pre existing deals and
Speaker 3: artists and agreements. We had a like when a new
Speaker 3: coach comes in, Yes, yeah every time with a new
Speaker 3: plan and you were getting playing time with this new coach.
Speaker 1: We had a system.
Speaker 2: We had a system, uh Me, Delonte, Bob Fish, we
Speaker 2: had a system. When Trey did his mixtapes, Bob Fish
Speaker 2: hit the streets, he knew exactly what to do with it,
Speaker 2: and Delonte be and him, and it was like a
Speaker 2: thing whereas once the music, once I say the music
Speaker 2: is ready, and once me and Trey are done with
Speaker 2: what we want to do, I then put it into.
Speaker 1: It's like a relay with the race.
Speaker 2: Put it in, and then Delante goes and and him
Speaker 2: and Bob Fish and they come up with a plan
Speaker 2: or do it to take it to the you know.
Speaker 1: And we had that system and it was good.
Speaker 3: It was good.
Speaker 2: It was good until the powers that be came and
Speaker 2: then they didn't understand what we were doing. The R
Speaker 2: and B kid doing mixtapes. The rappers do that, you know,
Speaker 2: R and B don't do that. And it was it
Speaker 2: was something that Trey he really had down pack. He
Speaker 2: knew what he was doing when it came to the mixtapes.
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 2: Came to that third album though, even though I can't
Speaker 2: skip over the fact that, you know, when when John
Speaker 2: Tay came in with that can't help but wait, yeah
Speaker 2: it's a joint.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah. Now I always say this, Trey listened
Speaker 1: to everything that I said to do. He never argued
Speaker 1: with me. I never had to yell.
Speaker 2: And remember how hard I said I was on people,
Speaker 2: never had to be hard on Trey ever, because he
Speaker 2: trusted anything I said and he did everything.
Speaker 1: I said to do up until this point.
Speaker 2: He was mad because they said they were going to
Speaker 2: really push Wonder Woman. Remember he raps and he really
Speaker 2: believed in that record, and he felt like, yo, you
Speaker 2: said you were going to push this record.
Speaker 1: Well, the record wasn't doing too well. Well.
Speaker 2: It was weird because it was kind of like dated
Speaker 2: because Danger Hands did it, and he was this is
Speaker 2: Danger Hands without Timberling, so that that pocket wasn't going anymore.
Speaker 2: So it was kind of hard to mix the record
Speaker 2: in with other records because it wasn't and so was stalling,
Speaker 2: and so we had to we had to do something else.
Speaker 2: We had to get something going because it wasn't looking
Speaker 2: too good and that John te came with that record,
Speaker 2: did you.
Speaker 1: Produce no stargate so so so so so.
Speaker 2: The Latte called me, what you think? Oh, it's crazy,
Speaker 2: it's crazy. Good luck with a with A with Trey.
Speaker 1: Uh, well you don't think he gonna like it? Oh no,
Speaker 1: he gonna like it. He gonna love it. But he
Speaker 1: ain't doing it.
Speaker 2: Why he's not because, dude, man, he still he still
Speaker 2: messed up on that promise they promised him. They promise
Speaker 2: that he would do to get that wonder woman. And
Speaker 2: then he knows that if he puts his voice on this,
Speaker 2: that's going to give them a reason yeah.
Speaker 1: To not do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they promised stronger, what's gonna work?
Speaker 3: He did?
Speaker 4: And then he went on Twitter.
Speaker 8: The mm.
Speaker 1: Thank you for your one on my facet songs. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's a crack. People don't understand the lyrics. The lyrics.
Speaker 3: I took a dollar bill into the booth, Yes, and
Speaker 3: I told you no, I told the dollar bill to
Speaker 3: sing through me. Yes, don't understand, tell me, tell me
Speaker 3: what you've been through. Yes, I told the dollar bill
Speaker 3: to tell me.
Speaker 1: Tell your story. Don't tell your story. They don't get
Speaker 1: to tell your story. They missed it.
Speaker 3: They missed they missed it.
Speaker 1: They missed it. That was too deep. It was too deep.
Speaker 4: It had been between some cheeks somewhere exactly.
Speaker 5: I need to know exactly what cheeks. Hey, listen, kids,
Speaker 5: you get money, watch it first. Don't touch your face
Speaker 5: after you touched that.
Speaker 4: You don't know where it's been.
Speaker 1: Thank you for lost it all.
Speaker 3: You know. And in your travels and your journeys throughout
Speaker 3: the animals of time, you've studied, You've curated lot of
Speaker 3: army music, and somewhere, I'm sure you've figured out your HM.
Speaker 1: Top five, your top five, top five. You're top five
Speaker 1: on the.
Speaker 2: Doll ma you so.
Speaker 3: Tt you. I know that you have I know that
Speaker 3: you see.
Speaker 1: I know you know this party your top Yeah, yeah, sack.
Speaker 3: Your chop.
Speaker 1: Top five. Okay, all right, it's on.
Speaker 4: It's a.
Speaker 1: Top five, true Taylor. We want to know.
Speaker 3: Your top five R and B singers.
Speaker 2: My top five singers goes as such, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Wow,
Speaker 2: Marvin Winings, Kim Burrell mm hmm, and Karen Carpenter.
Speaker 1: Oh, and I have reasons for each one.
Speaker 3: You don't have to you don't have to tell nobody nothing.
Speaker 1: I'm just you know, you know, I'm a teacher. Until
Speaker 1: nobody ship. Yeah, your top five R and B songs.
Speaker 1: This is tough.
Speaker 2: This is definitely tough because again I have many, many,
Speaker 2: many many, but I have to go as the ones
Speaker 2: that uh inflected my life or affected my life. And
Speaker 2: you and I Stevie wonder mm hmmm.
Speaker 3: What a song.
Speaker 1: That's a craft of a song. What a song. And
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna I'm gonna.
Speaker 2: Twist it over here and go. I wish I could share.
Speaker 2: I wish this too could share because it's the same artists.
Speaker 2: If it could, it would be question is slash, ain't
Speaker 2: no need to worry? It's still under Marvin Wine. It's
Speaker 2: you know, yes, yes, So that's that's the one.
Speaker 3: Just sing that as a group as a kid.
Speaker 1: Yeah, question is, and it ain't no need to worry?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, okay, okay, all right. For the love
Speaker 2: of you the Isley Brothers. Ron's voice is golden. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna have to change up a little bit on your
Speaker 2: your format because this one is rain danced by Jeff Flober.
Speaker 1: There's no vocals, It's just a jazz record. Groove me yeah,
Speaker 1: Teddy Yeah. Shout out to the shoulders his viral shoulders
Speaker 1: on groove me. I gotta say that because.
Speaker 4: Hall Brothers, Man, this is my guy.
Speaker 1: Grove Me changed everything for me. Man, he changed everything
Speaker 1: for me because that was like Google.
Speaker 2: It made your face crinkle all the way up and
Speaker 2: it's just so those those are there was a part
Speaker 2: of mine.
Speaker 1: I gotta say that because it's I go deep.
Speaker 4: Where is I think we asked that before?
Speaker 5: And I just I just want to know though, is
Speaker 5: is Aaron Hall the first person to really sing like
Speaker 5: hard hard sing up temples?
Speaker 3: Who Charlie Wilson, Yeah, yeah, volt tr on time. We're
Speaker 3: gonna build your perfect R and B artists. Okay, I
Speaker 3: want to know. I want to know where you get
Speaker 3: the vocal from for this artist, Where you get the
Speaker 3: performance style for this artist, where you get the styling
Speaker 3: for this artist, and where you get the passion for
Speaker 3: this artist artist? And I'm gonna throw a wrinkle in
Speaker 3: that for you. I'm gonna throw a wrinkle in that
Speaker 3: for him. And who produces and writes for this art Like, okay,
Speaker 3: so who you getting a vocal from?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 1: The question is is the artist a male artist, a
Speaker 1: female artists? Whatever you want the artist, It's a hybrid,
Speaker 1: Ain't no question it's a like a mix.
Speaker 3: Whatever you want get the vocals, getting the vocal from
Speaker 3: I'm getting what's the artist that got that vocal?
Speaker 4: Vocal?
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: The vocal I'm getting from Beyonce ship. People do not
Speaker 2: recognize the beast that she is.
Speaker 1: They don't. No, I argue with people online all the
Speaker 1: time doing that.
Speaker 8: Again, why are you arguing with those people? Because some
Speaker 8: things need to be talked about and fought for. Executioner
Speaker 8: what Beyonce? You should not be listening to me.
Speaker 3: Somebody should cut your ears off and solder your ear
Speaker 3: drums if you can't hear what Beyonce is vocally.
Speaker 1: Performance.
Speaker 2: The performance I'm gonna get taken from Michael. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: take it from Michael on that you're going Beyonce vocal
Speaker 2: Michael performing. I'm gonna take the finesse and charisma, finesse
Speaker 2: and charisma of Usher mm hmm.
Speaker 3: Who you're getting the styling from the drip.
Speaker 1: I'm going to take the drip.
Speaker 2: Of Pharrell, the passion of the artist, the heart of
Speaker 2: the artist, the heart of an artist. I'm still I'm
Speaker 2: still can I you can double It's gonna be. It's
Speaker 2: gonna be Michael. It's gonna be Michael again because Michael
Speaker 2: and that passion and that heart when it came to music,
Speaker 2: you ain't messing with that.
Speaker 1: I'm good, I'm sorry.
Speaker 7: I ain't saying no name, saying no names. Saying no names.
Speaker 7: What you did, and I ain't saying no name.
Speaker 4: That nigga had energy, but he came back perfegetting you
Speaker 4: for this segment.
Speaker 5: Talk to him this segment. I ain't saying no name.
Speaker 5: Tell us a story, funny and fucked up. Funny and
Speaker 5: fucked up. The only rule to the game. She can't
Speaker 5: say no name. So right now, this is Troy Taylor
Speaker 5: the song book himself. As you could see chapters to
Speaker 5: this day chapters. The only difference in this book is
Speaker 5: you can't say no name. Troy Taylor.
Speaker 1: It was his time that I did a record.
Speaker 2: And pitched it to a movie for a movie on
Speaker 2: a soundtrack. This might not be juicy enough, but.
Speaker 1: And we got it. But I ain't saying no names.
Speaker 1: Someone came in.
Speaker 2: Replaced that record, my record with another record. Even though
Speaker 2: I was the one that brought the situation to the situation.
Speaker 2: They used that and replaced the record with the record
Speaker 2: they wanted to do it with, and I never got it.
Speaker 2: That's one I ain't saying no names. I ain't saying
Speaker 2: no names.
Speaker 3: But I was.
Speaker 1: In the hallway.
Speaker 2: Of No No, No, No No, not the hallway. It
Speaker 2: was a time where I was in the studio. I
Speaker 2: was asked to remix this record, reproduce the record. The
Speaker 2: artists knew that it was being done, so I felt
Speaker 2: like I did a version that was good enough for
Speaker 2: what it needed to be.
Speaker 1: But this artist came in.
Speaker 2: But the worst attitude ever did not cooperate at all,
Speaker 2: totally was being a dick. I got it done, however,
Speaker 2: I had to put it together because they didn't want
Speaker 2: to give me the additional vocals I needed.
Speaker 1: That same person who I then saw in the hallway.
Speaker 2: Of award show I ain't saying no names, saw me,
Speaker 2: and because that happened, I didn't speak to him. He
Speaker 2: called my name and I ignored him because of that moment.
Speaker 2: And then that same artist saw me again somewhere and
Speaker 2: I got a chance to tell him.
Speaker 1: The dick that he was for what he did? Is
Speaker 1: that good enough? Really?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: You would never know who it is. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: care what nobody say. You will never figure it out
Speaker 2: and would ever figure it out because even if I
Speaker 2: even saying him, you still wouldn't know who was because
Speaker 2: then you think you had it. You would not believe
Speaker 2: this person, how they treated you, how they treated me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, nah, not cool, last but not least. Okay.
Speaker 2: I ain't saying no names, but I produced this artist.
Speaker 2: I'm going to say that because I want to say
Speaker 2: iconic artist. She's iconic artists. I was asked to reproduce
Speaker 2: the vocals on this artist. I did an amazing job.
Speaker 2: I know that I did an amazing job. The record
Speaker 2: got voted for Grammy Best Grammy A Best Traditional Vocals
Speaker 2: by a Female got nominated. The producer of that record
Speaker 2: was mad at me for doing this song and it
Speaker 2: working because the producer didn't want it for that artist,
Speaker 2: so he was mad at me for going in and
Speaker 2: executing it. But when that artist got nominated for Grammy
Speaker 2: and one, I never spoke to that producer to say, now, what, nigga.
Speaker 2: That producer went on to act like celebrated, as if
Speaker 2: they were down for it all along. After it won,
Speaker 2: we never talked. I ain't saying no names, but the
Speaker 2: only name I'm saying is a Grammy.
Speaker 3: We got three guys. I don't know if this is
Speaker 3: the first three. I ain't saying no names.
Speaker 2: I just had to do that because I had, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: this is through the life of Troy Taylor. There's a
Speaker 2: lot of like eighty two more.
Speaker 1: This game is terrible, y'all.
Speaker 2: I have been blessed to last and sustain myself through
Speaker 2: the grace of God because it's no joke, not joke
Speaker 2: at all, and I don't it's not for the it's
Speaker 2: not for the week at all, for the week, for
Speaker 2: the week at all.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, brother Troy Taylor, Troy Taylor University, Uh, songbook elder, scholar, theologian.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're you're you're you're him. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3: We appreciate your We appreciate your greatness, We appreciate your
Speaker 3: your dedication to the craft, maintaining a standard yes of excellence,
Speaker 3: which I pray will infiltrate everything that's done within our
Speaker 3: black entertainment community, that that excellence will be Uh what
Speaker 3: do they say.
Speaker 1: When you catch it like a flu or contagious contagious.
Speaker 3: Pray that that that that your desire for excellence, continued
Speaker 3: excellence will be contagious in this conversation that we're having
Speaker 3: right here as it goes out into the airwaves and
Speaker 3: into the youtubes and all of these things that they
Speaker 3: would get that from your episode. We need a standard,
Speaker 3: We need more excellence, sure share, We need it, and
Speaker 3: and you are responsible for that. Thank you, And I'm
Speaker 3: going to make you even more responsible for it. You
Speaker 3: have to be somewhere in charge of it, not just
Speaker 3: you know, in your own space and your you're not
Speaker 3: just not just where it's comfortable for you. I get it.
Speaker 3: But behind enemy lines is where we need you. That's
Speaker 3: where we need you. That is my charge to you.
Speaker 2: And definitely it absolutely definitely it's too many fakes, too
Speaker 2: many fakes just playing music industry, playing music industry, really
Speaker 2: literally playing as soon as they leave the office. They
Speaker 2: don't talk nothing music, they don't eat sleep music, They
Speaker 2: just play executive.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I've seen so many, still seeing them. This is
Speaker 1: why music is too many fakes, too many impostors.
Speaker 3: Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Taken, I'm je
Speaker 3: all in town. This is the R and B Money Podcast,
Speaker 3: the authority on all things ry big.
Speaker 1: You just saw. I don't have to say anything else.
Speaker 3: Troy Taylor R and B Money.
Speaker 4: R and B Money is a production of the Black
Speaker 4: Effect Podcast Network.
Speaker 5: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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Speaker 5: at the Real Tank. For the extended episode, subscribe to
Speaker 5: YouTube dot com, forward Slash, R and B Money