Speaker 1: You know, Dash Run Dancer, Rance to Fixing comment and
Speaker 1: Cuban and Donna indiction. Here's my question. When you watch
Speaker 1: movies about Santa Claus, you never see Rudolph. I'm just
Speaker 1: watching the Christmas Chronicles with Kurt Russell. Rudolph wasn't there, guys.
Speaker 1: And then I was watching Noel with Anna Kendrick and
Speaker 1: Bill Hayter. Rudolph wasn't there. So it's Rudolph real or
Speaker 1: not in the grand scheme of realness of all of this.
Speaker 1: Is Rudolph reel or not? Or did someone just write
Speaker 1: that song? And then everyone else in the Christmas communities
Speaker 1: like you can't just add a reindeer guy, especially well
Speaker 1: with plutonium on their nose. These are the things that
Speaker 1: I think about. This is what goes through the old noggen,
Speaker 1: and I'm not proud of it, but it just is
Speaker 1: what it is. Last show before Christmas, which is crazy, right,
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas everyone out there, Happy Holidays, all that stuff.
Speaker 1: I hope everyone has an amaze sing Christmas. I hope
Speaker 1: your family doesn't start a crazy fight on Christmas night.
Speaker 1: It's filled with amazing presence and a stimulus package, I suppose,
Speaker 1: and a vaccine. That's what I hope everyone gets. I
Speaker 1: have a present for you today. I will say that
Speaker 1: pumped for today's guest. And normally I kind of tease
Speaker 1: the name of the guest, but I'll tell you we're
Speaker 1: gonna have Egbert Nathaniel Dokins the third You know who
Speaker 1: that is, maybe saying no, Well, I have no, I've
Speaker 1: never heard of that name. That sounds like someone who
Speaker 1: probably signed the Declaration of Independence, and you would be wrong. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: let me just say this. American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer,
Speaker 1: philanthropist hit songs like I Need a Dollar, the Man,
Speaker 1: Awake Me Up with a VICI starting to get it here.
Speaker 1: Super Smart Cat graduated high school with a perfect four
Speaker 1: point o g p A, went to USC double major,
Speaker 1: was thinking about going back for his master's when he
Speaker 1: got kind of fired, We're not sure about that, and
Speaker 1: then said, you know what, I'm gonna pivot. I've become
Speaker 1: a singer, dude, almost one mass singer last week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was the mushroom. One of the nicest guys in
Speaker 1: the world, one of the most talented guys that I've
Speaker 1: ever had the pleasure of interviewing. On the Wells Cast today.
Speaker 1: It's Alo Black. Seriously this one, guys, do not miss
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Also, just for Rudolph. All right, welcome
Speaker 1: back to Wells Cast. Very excited to have on the show.
Speaker 1: The one, the only, the man, the myth, the legend,
Speaker 1: the guy that wears hats better than anybody else in
Speaker 1: the world. Aloe Black. How are you, buddy? And I'm good,
Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for having me. You know, I watch
Speaker 1: Mass Singer. Here's my thing number one. They've really upped
Speaker 1: the celebrity level this season. I feel like I'm very
Speaker 1: impressed with who's showing up to this thing. And I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna go ahead and say it. I can't believe
Speaker 1: you didn't win, dude. Well, you know what, I'm happy
Speaker 1: I got as far as I got, and I'm really
Speaker 1: happy for Leanne Rhymes winning the Mass Singer. She's an
Speaker 1: amazing person. Don't give me the can pr thing. You're
Speaker 1: pissed just like I am. Dude, you got robbed. This
Speaker 1: is ridiculous, you know what. Look, this is a it's
Speaker 1: actually such a dope show when you think about it.
Speaker 1: There's no there's no real you know, competition going on.
Speaker 1: It's an entertainment show. Like, really, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, you're not competing for how well you could sing.
Speaker 1: It's like you're competing for like how well you play
Speaker 1: a character. And it's not even a competition. It's just
Speaker 1: let's let's have fun and see how far we can get.
Speaker 1: That's what I was trying to do, just see how
Speaker 1: far I could get and fool people. That was my
Speaker 1: whole mission was how can I throw my voice in
Speaker 1: different ways to make sure that the panelists don't guess
Speaker 1: who I am and so that the rest of the
Speaker 1: home audience doesn't guess. I was shocked. I have to
Speaker 1: be honest with you. I did not think it was
Speaker 1: going to be you. Did you have any idea or
Speaker 1: did you just you didn't know? I just had I
Speaker 1: had no clue. My fiance when I told her I
Speaker 1: was interviewing you, she was because she hadn't seen the episode.
Speaker 1: She was like, oh, he's the mushroom. That makes total sense.
Speaker 1: But the way you walked threw me off. I didn't
Speaker 1: think I thought you were going to be like a
Speaker 1: Broadway guy or like a dancer. The whole the whole
Speaker 1: character and the whole stee was just me embodying the
Speaker 1: spirit of my daughter. When I put on that mushroom costume,
Speaker 1: it had a skirt as the stem, so it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm picturing my daughter and dressing up in her princess dresses,
Speaker 1: dancing and singing around the house. And that's ultimately what
Speaker 1: I was reflecting through the mushroom costume. And then I
Speaker 1: chose songs that were all female power ballads so that
Speaker 1: I could just like way throw my voice in a
Speaker 1: whole different corner that nobody would guess. We've got a
Speaker 1: good friend who is a choreographer on that show, and
Speaker 1: you know, she always tells us how absolutely bonkers it
Speaker 1: is backstage, like no one you're like always wearing a mask,
Speaker 1: and so I guess my question is, is how much
Speaker 1: does that suck when you're just like constantly being like covered.
Speaker 1: So when I'm in my trailer, I don't have to
Speaker 1: wear the covering. I'm good. When I'm backstage in my
Speaker 1: green room, so to speak, I don't necessarily have to
Speaker 1: wear the mask because no one can see me until
Speaker 1: I walk through the hallways. Then I have to put
Speaker 1: on the mask and it gets really hard to keep
Speaker 1: you know, to make your steps in this very narrow corridor.
Speaker 1: Somebody has to have a flashlight for you. You're wearing
Speaker 1: this visor that's tinted. Um. All of that makes it
Speaker 1: really complicated. But at the end of the day, it's
Speaker 1: such a fun show. Like those things don't even you
Speaker 1: don't even remember them, you know, after you get off
Speaker 1: stage into your performance, like whatever par for the course.
Speaker 1: Were you wearing the hat underneath the mask the entire time?
Speaker 1: There's no way. I switched the hat. As soon as
Speaker 1: I took off the mushroom helmet, I put my signature
Speaker 1: hat on. I was wondering. I was like, damn, dude,
Speaker 1: I don't even know how that fits in there. But
Speaker 1: all right, it makes sense like a split second where
Speaker 1: you get to see my receding airlines. Do you have
Speaker 1: a favorite judge or panelists whatever you call him? Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I have a favorite. Um. I
Speaker 1: really really dig Robin Thinks music. He's an amazing singer,
Speaker 1: amazing singer and a great songwriter. Um I I kind
Speaker 1: of missed out on the whole Pussycat Dolls thing. It
Speaker 1: wasn't my wasn't my steevee When I was a kid,
Speaker 1: When I was younger um more of a hip hop
Speaker 1: and soul artist guy. But Nicole's comments were so um,
Speaker 1: you know, so gracious to me that, you know, I
Speaker 1: think she's definitely one of my favorite. And then Ken's
Speaker 1: were just off the wall. I like Ken because he's
Speaker 1: great TV. This is a great TV. You know, he
Speaker 1: knows what he's doing there. I love Ken, but sometimes
Speaker 1: I'm like, maybe, Ken, did you take some mushrooms before this?
Speaker 1: Like I don't even know what you're talking about. It
Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense. Prescription but cabinet. I also, every
Speaker 1: time I look at Can, I think I've seen you
Speaker 1: run around naked on the Hangover and I just can't
Speaker 1: get that vision. You should stop thinking about that. Of
Speaker 1: all the songs you sang on the show this season,
Speaker 1: did you have a favorite. I think my favorite was
Speaker 1: singing Valerie. The version that I sang was the Amy
Speaker 1: Winehouse version. It was Amy Winehouses back to Black. That
Speaker 1: kind of opened the door up for this new era
Speaker 1: of soul music. And I came right after that with
Speaker 1: I Need a Dollar and the Good Things album, so
Speaker 1: I wanted to sort of tip my hat to h
Speaker 1: to Amy Winehouse with that performance, and at the end
Speaker 1: A little beatbox because I know she was a hip
Speaker 1: hop head as well. I know that masked dancers coming up?
Speaker 1: You're gonna do that next? Or you are you done
Speaker 1: with the masks shows? What kind of question is that?
Speaker 1: How does that even make sense? Why would I say
Speaker 1: that I'm gonna do it? If I was gonna do it?
Speaker 1: You know, you know the bis smart man. Well, it
Speaker 1: was so much fun watching you on the show. Sarah
Speaker 1: and I were rooting for you, like I said, and
Speaker 1: then opening the show, I thought you got robbed. I
Speaker 1: thought Leanne was fantastic and Nick was was really really good,
Speaker 1: but I don't know. Something about your vocals got her
Speaker 1: Billie Eilish song her uh cringe because I love you
Speaker 1: bah blah blah blah. She killed every performance, And you
Speaker 1: know I was. I was trying to play the game
Speaker 1: so hard that I was just trying to hide my
Speaker 1: voice in different places. I think I would have been
Speaker 1: found out first episode if I had to use my
Speaker 1: regular voice like buster rhymes, like if you're Wendy Williams
Speaker 1: and your bust of rymes, you can't hide your voice.
Speaker 1: It's there. It's like slapping everybody in the face. So
Speaker 1: I figured I didn't want to come in, you know,
Speaker 1: like feeling my way through there with the rasp and
Speaker 1: the gravel and all that stuff. I just really try
Speaker 1: to keep it, you know, way way different. Well, it
Speaker 1: was fun to watch you man. What's next? What's going
Speaker 1: on with you? Post mass singer? Well? I released my
Speaker 1: album in October. All of everything. I've been UM doing
Speaker 1: some virtual concerts and stuff online to promote and share it. UM.
Speaker 1: But there's this remake UM of one of the songs
Speaker 1: on the album. Steve Aoki heard my way and so
Speaker 1: we collabed on a new version of it and that's
Speaker 1: dropping UM in in a in a week. And I
Speaker 1: love this new version of it. I think Steve, you know,
Speaker 1: he did his thing and it's gonna it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a bot for people. That's kind of an m for you.
Speaker 1: Is uh is getting big massive hits with like really
Speaker 1: well known DJs. Is that something that you've always kind
Speaker 1: of like gravitated towards what you know? I never I
Speaker 1: never expected it to happen. And you know, God rest
Speaker 1: his soul. A VICI was, you know, the opportunity that
Speaker 1: basically keeps UM you know, showing and blossoming. It's the
Speaker 1: flower that Keeps Blooming. UM My song with him, Wake
Speaker 1: Me Up ended up introducing me to a lot of
Speaker 1: the dance music world and and these DJs. But um,
Speaker 1: about ten years ago, twelve years ago, I was in
Speaker 1: the middle of Siberia doing a concert and I was
Speaker 1: at the pub with with the promoter, and I saw
Speaker 1: on TV this huge concert in a stadium and there
Speaker 1: was one guy standing at turntables and I was like,
Speaker 1: who is that and how does he get to do that?
Speaker 1: What's going on? And he was like, Oh, that's Tisto.
Speaker 1: He's a you know, he's a trance dance DJ. And
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm gonna do that one day. That's
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do that. I'm just gonna figure this out.
Speaker 1: So I went home and started trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how to be a dancey J. I didn't go it
Speaker 1: didn't go far. It really didn't go far. But I
Speaker 1: think the next best thing was getting in the studio
Speaker 1: with Tim and riding Wake Me Up and sharing that
Speaker 1: with the world. You know, Yeah, that was the I mean,
Speaker 1: that was the first time I was introduced to you,
Speaker 1: uh years ago, back on my radio days, and I
Speaker 1: remember hearing that in a music meeting being like, whoa,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a big one. So I'm glad
Speaker 1: you're still uh, you're still doing it, and I'm excited
Speaker 1: for this new release. Um with Aoki. Um, is there
Speaker 1: anything that we didn't talk about that you want to
Speaker 1: talk about before I switched gears into like what this
Speaker 1: show is? I think we got it. Well. I don't
Speaker 1: know if anyone told you, dude, but I'm kind of
Speaker 1: obsessed with people's origin stories, like how they got to
Speaker 1: where they are, what their roads success was, what's the
Speaker 1: blueprint for them for their fame and fortune? And I'm
Speaker 1: so excited to talk to you because I know, like
Speaker 1: I said, I came from the radio world, So when
Speaker 1: I do actors or reality TV people, I really don't
Speaker 1: know their background. But I do know a little bit
Speaker 1: about your background just from working in radio and needing
Speaker 1: to have like good bits in between songs. So I'm
Speaker 1: so pumped to talk to you about where you came from.
Speaker 1: Quick break we come back. Can we find out where
Speaker 1: the hell Halo Black came from? We can do that. Yes,
Speaker 1: let's do that back in the Welles cast. So excited
Speaker 1: to have well one of the guys who was top
Speaker 1: three on the Mass Singer but Huge hit Maker Amazing
Speaker 1: Singer radio topper Alo Black on the show I want
Speaker 1: to find out where you came from and how the
Speaker 1: hell you got here. You weren't born Aloe Black, though,
Speaker 1: were you? No? No, no no. I I have a
Speaker 1: very colonial name. Um My my legal name is Egre
Speaker 1: Nathaniel Dawkins, the third. It comes from Jamaica. Um, my
Speaker 1: great grandfather moved to Panama, had my grandfather than my
Speaker 1: dad and my they you know, we all got the
Speaker 1: name and I'm the third. But because I grew up
Speaker 1: making hip hop music, like I started writing rhymes at
Speaker 1: nine years old, I thought I was I thought I
Speaker 1: was the the the answer to um to the West
Speaker 1: Coast version of L cool J. Basically when I was
Speaker 1: nine years old and I started writing hip hop music
Speaker 1: and rhymes, and then by fifteen I was recording and
Speaker 1: I chose the name Alo because I felt like my
Speaker 1: whole style was so smooth like lotion that that Alo
Speaker 1: was the best name for me. And you know, fortunately
Speaker 1: or unfortunately, it followed me into my singing career. This
Speaker 1: is uh, this is the name I've chosen A flyer
Speaker 1: or saying kids that's the one. What does your family
Speaker 1: think about it? Because obviously you know you're being a
Speaker 1: third that is an important thing. So do they like
Speaker 1: that you a stage name where they like you are
Speaker 1: always going to be Edburgnette Daniel Dawkins, the third. Never,
Speaker 1: they've never really said anything about it. I think I
Speaker 1: think they get it. They understand that as as an artist,
Speaker 1: you have this artist name in pseudonym persona UM. So
Speaker 1: they're cool about it. There's no other restrictions. When I
Speaker 1: named my son UM, there was a bit of a
Speaker 1: conversation of whether I'd name him the fourth. Nah, we're good,
Speaker 1: We're good. We we took it far enough. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: start a whole new legacy now. He talked about Panama
Speaker 1: and South America. But were you born down there? Were
Speaker 1: you born in the States. I was born in southern California,
Speaker 1: so I've lived in southern California my whole life. I
Speaker 1: don't do snow and I try not to do the desert.
Speaker 1: He tried to keep it as as simple as California weather.
Speaker 1: And do you have siblings. I have two sisters, an
Speaker 1: older sister a younger sister. My older sister was the
Speaker 1: singer of the family. I wasn't supposed to be singing,
Speaker 1: turned out this way, and now she's she's managing lawyers.
Speaker 1: If you're the singer of the family, I got to
Speaker 1: hear this chick's voice. That's ridiculous. And I have a cousin.
Speaker 1: I have a cousin who has my middle name, Nathaniel,
Speaker 1: who graduated from Harvard, who is one of the most
Speaker 1: amazing voices I've ever heard. And boy, if if I
Speaker 1: don't write an album with him or do something, then
Speaker 1: I've failed my family legacy because his voice is literally
Speaker 1: his voice is a hundred times better than my beautiful
Speaker 1: piano player, great songwriter. His name is Nathaniel Maynard and
Speaker 1: just and and he's and he runs a church, runs
Speaker 1: a church out in Boston. So I was reading up
Speaker 1: on you. There's some story about a trumpet. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I started playing the trumpet when I was nine years old.
Speaker 1: I guess the story on on Wikipedias that it was broken,
Speaker 1: but that was like a bad translation from you know,
Speaker 1: a German interview. It was just a rented trumpet and
Speaker 1: it's not broken. I still have it. Actually, it broke
Speaker 1: recently and I had it fixed, but it wasn't broken
Speaker 1: back in and I played trumpet up until high school
Speaker 1: marching band because I wasn't down with the marching band
Speaker 1: suit anymore. And I was too cool because I was
Speaker 1: making hip hop music and changing my name to Alo Black. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you're nine years old, you're writing hip hop tunes
Speaker 1: and into high school you're, you know, playing trumpet and stuff.
Speaker 1: Were you also learning other instruments? No, back then, I
Speaker 1: wasn't learning other instruments. I mean, everybody does the recorder,
Speaker 1: but that's that's the other thing. One I got into college, Um,
Speaker 1: I would come home on the weekends and my dad
Speaker 1: but had bought a piano. So that's when I started
Speaker 1: playing piano. And I took a course at the university
Speaker 1: for one semester of piano, and then I took one
Speaker 1: semester and then he bought a guitar, so then I
Speaker 1: stole the guitar and I took a semester guitar just
Speaker 1: so I could learn. Because I'd seen this TV commercial
Speaker 1: with Cat Stevens playing guitar and singing and the look
Speaker 1: on his face was just so real. He just looked
Speaker 1: so passionate about what he was saying. I felt it.
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know if I've ever made
Speaker 1: anybody feel this way with my rap songs. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna try to sing now. And I got a guitar
Speaker 1: and tried to try to sing. Were you good at
Speaker 1: first or did it take some time? I was not
Speaker 1: good at first at singing. I still I'm still working
Speaker 1: on it, trying to figure it out. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: selling records, but you know, I'm doing my thing. I
Speaker 1: think I can write a better song than I can sing,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what ultimately is is. Um the
Speaker 1: saving grace in my career is that I can write
Speaker 1: what works for my voice and uh and you know,
Speaker 1: you'll see, we'll see where it goes ultimately. Like I'm
Speaker 1: not going to be the best piano player or best guitarist.
Speaker 1: I have musicians and friends that are way better, and
Speaker 1: that's that's what they focus on. I like to focus
Speaker 1: on the words, the letters, the writing, because that's what
Speaker 1: I was trained in as a hip hop artist, just
Speaker 1: writing with no music, just coming up with great ideas,
Speaker 1: great concepts, and pulling and pushing on emotion and language.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're obviously a smart guy. I was reading
Speaker 1: up that you had a four point oh in high
Speaker 1: school that earned you a scholarship. Where did you go
Speaker 1: to college? I went to the University of Southern California.
Speaker 1: I got a full tuition academic scholarship because I was, um,
Speaker 1: really really into school, you know, I wasnto into hip
Speaker 1: hop as well. Like my I did so well in
Speaker 1: school that my parents were like, do whatever you want,
Speaker 1: so I'd go and I'd go to clubs on weeknights,
Speaker 1: come home to three in the morning, um, and then
Speaker 1: get to zero period, you know, at seven am the
Speaker 1: next day and still be you know, up for the
Speaker 1: challenge of doing well in school. But that was in
Speaker 1: high school. That was in high school, and then when
Speaker 1: I got to college. I still continue to make music,
Speaker 1: but I focused way more because I didn't want to
Speaker 1: lose my scholarship. So I focused way more on academia
Speaker 1: and UM and study communication. And I wanted to do
Speaker 1: a neuroscience minor, but they didn't they didn't have it,
Speaker 1: so I had to kind of like piece together my
Speaker 1: own minor of or a double major actually of linguistics psychology.
Speaker 1: So I ended up doing a bunch of you know
Speaker 1: what they call the dry side of neuroscience. West Side
Speaker 1: would be opening brains. Jesus dude sucking smart man. Okay,
Speaker 1: so so you graduate, You graduated like, Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go I'm gonna go play music. Now I could be
Speaker 1: a neuroscientist, but now I'm gonna go play music. No. No.
Speaker 1: I graduate, And while I was at university, every summer
Speaker 1: I had an internship with Ainsteon Young. So every summer
Speaker 1: I was in either Chicago or I was in Phoenix
Speaker 1: or here in l A doing an internship. And when
Speaker 1: I graduated, I walked straight into a job basically UM.
Speaker 1: But music was always tugging on me. It was, you know,
Speaker 1: my passion, it was my past time, it was my hobby,
Speaker 1: it was my expertise. That's where I had ten thousand
Speaker 1: hours already devoted UM to learning and practicing something. And
Speaker 1: there was this um new higher hazing that they did
Speaker 1: at one of the quarterly meetings where the new hires,
Speaker 1: the new associates had to do some sort of talent
Speaker 1: sing say a poem, or do an interpretive dance, or
Speaker 1: draw a picture or something in front of you know,
Speaker 1: the entire company. I decided to sing a song that
Speaker 1: I wrote, and when I got off stage standing ovation,
Speaker 1: and one of the partners came up to me it
Speaker 1: was like, you might be in the wrong business, and uh,
Speaker 1: I was there. I was there for two years before
Speaker 1: they let me go and then I went to just
Speaker 1: focus on music. So do you get fired? I don't
Speaker 1: know if I want to call it fired or made redundant,
Speaker 1: reduction of force. There's a lot of euphemisms. But I
Speaker 1: I just said, yeah, I was fired. You know, if
Speaker 1: they wanted me, if they really wanted me, if I
Speaker 1: was worth what they were paying me, they would have
Speaker 1: kept me. I'm glad that I left because now I
Speaker 1: probably make more than most of the partners. So you're
Speaker 1: doing business consulting, you leave there, or you get into music.
Speaker 1: You're a guy who had a four point oh g
Speaker 1: p A. You had a scholarship to USC, you were
Speaker 1: double major. You're like, all right, you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna do I'm gonna become a musician. Now are your
Speaker 1: are your is your family like wait? What? What? Hold
Speaker 1: on a second? Kind of yeah. My mom was like,
Speaker 1: why aren't you gonna get a job? You know? She's like,
Speaker 1: you know, and my dad was like, you know, music, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not really a career. UM, and there was you know,
Speaker 1: there was a good span of time between leaving the
Speaker 1: corporate world and having my first hit. It was a
Speaker 1: good span of time. So I was even getting colfie.
Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, I'm gonna just go
Speaker 1: and take this uh this little g r e here.
Speaker 1: See if I'm gonna go to graduate school because I
Speaker 1: might have to go teach somebody something. I had signed
Speaker 1: a deal with an indie label called Stone's Throw where
Speaker 1: I got to uh make this transition from making hip
Speaker 1: hop music too singing and then release an album called
Speaker 1: Good Things, which was a soul throwback soul album that
Speaker 1: had I Need a Dollar on it. I Need a
Speaker 1: Dollar became a huge hit because it was synked to
Speaker 1: the theme for How to Make It in America, a
Speaker 1: TV show UM that didn't make it in America, and
Speaker 1: um it became really popular in France and Germany and
Speaker 1: England because people were illegally downloading it. Remember lime Wire
Speaker 1: and they the radio station started playing I Need a
Speaker 1: Dollar out in Europe. So I flew out to Europe,
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time doing a lot of press
Speaker 1: and promo and concerts, and major labels out there started
Speaker 1: asking about me and wanting to sign me, and that
Speaker 1: that really led to you know where I am today,
Speaker 1: just the success If I need a dollar, He's that
Speaker 1: how your relationship with a Vici came about. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm certain that you know. Avici had a huge hit
Speaker 1: with the song called Levels where he sampled at A
Speaker 1: James's voice, and that was for for him. I think
Speaker 1: was an experience that made him think, I want to
Speaker 1: work with soul vocalists. I want to work with another
Speaker 1: soul vocalist or something like that, and I ended up
Speaker 1: getting signed to Interscope. And Avici had befriended Neil Jacobson,
Speaker 1: one of the best and our guys in the business,
Speaker 1: one of the most honest and real guys in the business,
Speaker 1: um who was like, you know what, I know Avicci
Speaker 1: has something, there's something here, but Interscope didn't want to
Speaker 1: sign him at the time. The leadership at Interscope was like, Nah,
Speaker 1: we're not gonna sign him. But Jake Neil Jacobson was like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to help this guy anyway. I'm gonna see
Speaker 1: what I can do to help his career. So he had,
Speaker 1: you know, this idea to put me in touch with Tim,
Speaker 1: and Tim was looking for a soul vocalist to do
Speaker 1: some songs with, so we connected in the studio and
Speaker 1: you know, the rest is history. Was it an immediate
Speaker 1: chemistry between you two or was this something that you
Speaker 1: guys kind of had to work on. I think it
Speaker 1: was immediate chemistry from a very focused and high endurance
Speaker 1: music standpoint, Like we we met in in the in
Speaker 1: the place of mine where we're giving a tent to
Speaker 1: everything we do, and we're both really good at what
Speaker 1: we do, so we're not going to fail each other. Um.
Speaker 1: And you know, the first song he had me saying
Speaker 1: was one that was written by Mac Davis, who um
Speaker 1: was one of the you know, big songwriters for Elvis
Speaker 1: and in the country world. And then I was like,
Speaker 1: let's try to write something together. And immediately, like the
Speaker 1: the song and the idea just kept growing and building
Speaker 1: and it it just felt so awesome. But we never put
Speaker 1: it out. It ended up. I think the reason why
Speaker 1: Tim never put it out was because it wasn't necessarily
Speaker 1: a style that he wanted to promote yet forever. If Ever,
Speaker 1: it was more of a of a like a dub
Speaker 1: step feel and vibe UM, and you know, that's that
Speaker 1: wasn't what he was known for, and obviously there were
Speaker 1: other artists who were really known for that. So maybe
Speaker 1: he was testing me. I don't know, but we had
Speaker 1: a really cool bond on that situation on that session,
Speaker 1: and then we had another session booked, but he double
Speaker 1: booked and he was in the studio with Mike Einzinger,
Speaker 1: and Mike Einingger was like, Yo, if you have a
Speaker 1: session with Ala, just let's all make a song together.
Speaker 1: Have La come over. So when I got to Mike's house,
Speaker 1: they already had the chord progression on the guitar for
Speaker 1: Wake Me Up. I had these lyrics that I wanted
Speaker 1: to share because I I always walk into the session
Speaker 1: prepared with something. I never wanna come in empty handed.
Speaker 1: And I started singing these lyrics to their to their
Speaker 1: guitar part, and we're all like, yeah, this is it.
Speaker 1: Let's recorded. We did when that song was released, obviously,
Speaker 1: like I Need a Dollar was kind of like the
Speaker 1: first big milestone of your career. But was Wake Me
Speaker 1: Up the thing that you were like? I made it? Wow?
Speaker 1: You know? Wake Me Up was a Vichy song, right,
Speaker 1: it was his release and so for me that I
Speaker 1: made It moment was right around that time I had
Speaker 1: finished my album. John Eman was my A and r
Speaker 1: his um in the in the chain of command. Next
Speaker 1: was Larry Jackson, who had brought John Eman over to Interscope,
Speaker 1: and Larry Jackson was Jimmy Ivan's right hand man. So
Speaker 1: Larry Jackson is at Jimmy's house playing him the new
Speaker 1: album and there's a song called The Man on it.
Speaker 1: Jimmy called, Larry calls me. He's like, I got Jimmy
Speaker 1: on the phone. He wants to talk to you me.
Speaker 1: He's like, hey, hallo, I heard the song The Man.
Speaker 1: I want to use it in my Beats by Drake commercial.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, I hope he's not asking me because
Speaker 1: the answer is yet, There's no way I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: no here. So they end up using the song for
Speaker 1: the commercial with Kevin Durant and with Colin Kaepernick um.
Speaker 1: And I felt like that was that was my made
Speaker 1: It moment. I had no idea how much more of
Speaker 1: them I made it moment Wake Me Up was gonna be.
Speaker 1: It just kept growing and growing and growing to the
Speaker 1: point where like it became, you know, the basically the
Speaker 1: biggest song during that time, and it's gonna be an evergreen.
Speaker 1: It'll be it'll be around forever. Last question, what's one
Speaker 1: piece of advice you can give people out there striving
Speaker 1: to do whatever they want to do and attain their dreams.
Speaker 1: And piece of advice that you give them or something
Speaker 1: that you live by. Yeah, I mean easy for me
Speaker 1: to say, but you know, when you are trying to
Speaker 1: achieve your dreams, do not base your success on how
Speaker 1: much money you make. Do not base your success on
Speaker 1: how famous you get. Really, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: success is about the quality and craftsmanship you put into
Speaker 1: the work that you do. I have tons of songs
Speaker 1: that I believe are the biggest songs in the world
Speaker 1: that basically didn't make a blip in the in the marketplace.
Speaker 1: And I have tons of songs that I have never
Speaker 1: released that I feel like, are you know, a real
Speaker 1: testament to craftsmanship that I hope to release one day.
Speaker 1: Those are the things I'm most proud of. I'm happy
Speaker 1: that I got some money in the bank, don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong, but I feel really strongly about that because
Speaker 1: I have friends who are amazing artists and they understand
Speaker 1: the value of what they do, and they may never
Speaker 1: make a dime um, but they're still way better than
Speaker 1: a whole lot of people who are on the top
Speaker 1: of the charts, And I think that's what matters the
Speaker 1: most real quick for I let you go. You got
Speaker 1: time some rapid fire questions? Oh yeah, for sure, Let's
Speaker 1: do it all right. Wrap the fire questions with Alo Black.
Speaker 1: What was the first concert you ever went to? The
Speaker 1: first concert I went to was Wu Tang Clan. That's
Speaker 1: a good one. Who's your first kiss? First kiss? What's
Speaker 1: her neighbor? Rebecca Greenwood? Shout out to Rebecca Greenwood? What
Speaker 1: was your first car? Making model? First car? Oh, my gosh,
Speaker 1: My dad had so many cars and I borrowed all
Speaker 1: of them. But the one he bought for me was
Speaker 1: a Geo Metro red. We called it the Peanut eminem
Speaker 1: what's your biggest pet peeve? Oh, biggest pet peeve? Inconsiderate people.
Speaker 1: You gotta just, you know, be considerate. It was the
Speaker 1: first record, cassette or CD you bought? First record? Because
Speaker 1: the first cassette I bought was nas Illmatic. I remember
Speaker 1: buying it on Santa Monica board. On the Santa Monica board.
Speaker 1: What what's one thing it's always in your fridge, Always
Speaker 1: in my fridge, Um coconut water. Who's your childhood hero?
Speaker 1: Childhood hero? Sorry that one is escaping the childhood hero.
Speaker 1: It wasn't he man. I was more into the uh,
Speaker 1: into ThunderCats, so it was come raw. Who's your clevety crush?
Speaker 1: When I was really young at the babysitter's house, she
Speaker 1: used to play shod A and I fell in love
Speaker 1: with Shod's voice. But I also fell in love with
Speaker 1: Anita Baker's voice, so it's a tie. Last one, you
Speaker 1: can you can record with anybody alive or dead, work with,
Speaker 1: right with, perform with who is it? Quincy Jones? For sure?
Speaker 1: I mean the best producer and best human being in
Speaker 1: the music business, I think, Ali Black. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for being on the Welles cast. Dude, your story
Speaker 1: is amazing. You're a wonderful dude. I'm still pissed at
Speaker 1: Leanne Rhymes, but whatever. You can't win everything, I guess,
Speaker 1: and uh, I'm gonna write a letter into some television producers.
Speaker 1: But thank you so much man for being on the show.
Speaker 1: Right on. Thank you, it's been a pleasure. Take care
Speaker 1: well that was awesome. All Black is The man also
Speaker 1: wrote a song called Them and for a song called
Speaker 1: I Need a Dollar, which I do need a dollar
Speaker 1: like everyone in the country needs a dollar right now? Lost,
Speaker 1: all right, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go try to
Speaker 1: wrap some gifts in a terrible manner because men can't
Speaker 1: wrap gifts. It's just a fact. We are bad at it.
Speaker 1: I'm a bad guy. I'm a bad guy, guys, Just
Speaker 1: so you know, I'm a bad guy. I get whatever
Speaker 1: I get, and I put it in a bag and
Speaker 1: I throw it some tissue paper and being bout a boom,
Speaker 1: bout a bang. You got yourself a gift wrapping stuff
Speaker 1: ridiculous takes forever. Find yourself a bad guy. All right,
Speaker 1: I'm out. I gotta go to CVS and buy some
Speaker 1: more bags. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to everyone out there. Listen,
Speaker 1: this year is I'm gonna safe. Locking sucked, all right,
Speaker 1: it did, but we're here. Must be thankful for that.
Speaker 1: Hopefully is better. I don't know, I mean, really, low bar.
Speaker 1: Shouldn't be hard to be better than that, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Rate and review on the Apple and
Speaker 1: play Store. It helps the algorithm. I guess if you
Speaker 1: like what I'm doing. Tell your friends and family all
Speaker 1: that stuff. Be safe on Christmas and New Year's. Try
Speaker 1: not together with people you don't know, because you know COVID. Alright,
Speaker 1: I wanna go. We'll get some back to see you later.
Speaker 1: Subscribe to Wealth cast on I Heart Radio, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or anywhere you get your podcasts. It's the internet line.