Speaker 1: R & B money. We are. Jake. Jake Valentine. We
Speaker 1: are the authorities on.
Speaker 2: All things R & B.
Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen, this is the R & B Money Podcast,
Speaker 3: and I'm your.
Speaker 1: Host, J. Valentine.
Speaker 3: And today, man, you know what? I've been waiting so long.
Speaker 3: The people have been waiting so long for this gentleman
Speaker 3: to pull up.
Speaker 1: And holler at a player, man.
Speaker 3: I mean, I know he didn't want to be a
Speaker 3: player no more, but he had to come holler at
Speaker 3: his player partner and talk about all the things, everything.
Speaker 1: You know what? We're going to talk about power today.
Speaker 3: The power of R & B music, my brother, the
Speaker 3: voice of all voices, Joe.
Speaker 1: Motherfucking Thomas is in the building today. Yes. Appreciate you, man. Oh,
Speaker 1: my brother. Brother, listen, when I'm on this mode, but
Speaker 1: that's what's up. When I tell you the harassment. Yeah.
Speaker 4: That we receive. About Joe Thomas.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's talk.
Speaker 4: Being on the R & B Money Podcast.
Speaker 1: It's love.
Speaker 4: You are loved out here.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. You know that? I do. I do.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Because if you don't, you're going to find out. I'm
Speaker 3: talking about everywhere we go. I mean, I'm sure you've
Speaker 3: heard when people do their top five lists. You are
Speaker 3: a constant. The way we feel about you and this thing, bro,
Speaker 3: that we call R.
Speaker 4: & B music.
Speaker 1: It's love, man. It's real, brother.
Speaker 3: And I've been able to see it with my own
Speaker 3: eyes just from a fan and as a fellow brother
Speaker 3: in this game.
Speaker 1: Indeed.
Speaker 4: Side of the stage watching you, when I say cook.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir. 30 years, cook. Yeah, man. Yeah. Wonderful.
Speaker 4: How you feeling, bro?
Speaker 1: I'm blessed, man. I tell you, God is so good.
Speaker 1: You know, just the journey I've been on has been
Speaker 1: an amazing journey. It's been an amazing ride. I've got
Speaker 1: a chance to express myself in this industry.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Make a mark, you know, and that's a beautiful thing
Speaker 1: for me. You know, I love what I do. I
Speaker 1: love the music. I'm passionate about it. You know, if
Speaker 1: I see a guitar or some drums, I may jump
Speaker 1: on that thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm one of those
Speaker 1: kind of guys, those artists that's really embedded into it. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker 4: Man, so, you know, on our show, man, we like
Speaker 4: to go back.
Speaker 3: And, you know, I know you are a Georgia slash
Speaker 3: Alabama from the deep south.
Speaker 4: But Jersey.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Sprinkled in.
Speaker 3: Sprinkled in. Man, tell me the original hometown.
Speaker 1: Man, I was born in a little city called Cuthbert, Georgia. Okay.
Speaker 1: Where's that by? What's the next major city? Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: it would be Columbus, Georgia. Or maybe a couple hours
Speaker 1: from Atlanta as well. Okay. Yeah, so my grandparents, I
Speaker 1: lived there, and my father, my father's side of the family, and,
Speaker 1: you know, don't know much about the city, didn't live
Speaker 1: there or anything, so I moved from there. My father
Speaker 1: started ministering around 19 or 20 years old, married my
Speaker 1: mom a year after that, and my brother a year
Speaker 1: after that, and everything just became godly, you know? A
Speaker 1: minister at 19? Yeah, yeah, he was on. He was
Speaker 1: a crusader, man. I mean, he set up his... His microphone,
Speaker 1: his speakers, his guitar. That's why I learned how to
Speaker 1: play guitar. Got you. Got it. Yeah. He, I mean,
Speaker 1: they had me in the right environment. I mean, the
Speaker 1: church environment was the perfect place for me. I got
Speaker 1: a chance to really hone my skill. Yeah. Lock it in.
Speaker 1: All the instruments.
Speaker 3: So it was, it was never a question for you.
Speaker 3: It was, it was always, you were going to be
Speaker 3: a vocalist. You were going to sing from day one.
Speaker 1: Not really. No, not really. I remember doing a, auditions
Speaker 1: and talent shows when i was in columbus georgia once
Speaker 1: i moved and graduated high school in atlanta in atlanta
Speaker 1: diago and opelika um and i remember doing this uh
Speaker 1: showcase with babyface and and uh la reed brought my
Speaker 1: guitar and everything so you know got in front of
Speaker 1: them yeah and they passed on me at that point
Speaker 1: you know but then i a year later i moved
Speaker 1: to new jersey and Man, I just started going from
Speaker 1: church to church and playing guitar for churches, and they just,
Speaker 1: nobody knew I could sing. Yeah. I wasn't the guy
Speaker 1: trying to go for the singing status. So what were
Speaker 1: you going as? Just a musician. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: be a musician. You just wanted to play. I just
Speaker 1: wanted to play. I just wanted to do music.
Speaker 3: So when you think about it now, many moons, would
Speaker 3: you have had a past on you? Do you think
Speaker 3: you were ready?
Speaker 1: I was. You were ready, though. You feel like you
Speaker 1: were ready. I mean, well, a year later, I was already,
Speaker 1: I'm in the game, damn near. Yeah. You know, so
Speaker 1: I was there. Someone saw that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Particular point. And I never got a chance to talk
Speaker 1: to Face in LA about it. They were here about
Speaker 1: it now. Yeah, absolutely. I don't know. They watched the show.
Speaker 1: They've been on the show. Yeah, I don't know if
Speaker 1: they even remember that. But that's, you know, that's neither
Speaker 1: here nor there. Yeah. So once I got the jersey,
Speaker 1: everything just clicked. I mean, once you get around other musicians,
Speaker 1: everybody starts calling, hey, we need a guitar player. We
Speaker 1: need this. We need a writer. And I was in
Speaker 1: the mix. Making it happen. You know, path trained from
Speaker 1: Jersey to New York every day. So what got you
Speaker 1: to Jersey? From down south. Some good friends. You know,
Speaker 1: God is so good, man. He sent some good friends
Speaker 1: my way. My dad, obviously, is a minister. And some
Speaker 1: family members from down south had a church. And my
Speaker 1: dad would go to their church and minister. And I
Speaker 1: was a young kid playing the instruments behind my dad,
Speaker 1: supporting him. Yeah. And the family from up north came
Speaker 1: down from Jersey. Gosh. And they saw me, this young kid,
Speaker 1: on the keyboards. And it's like, yo, you want to go?
Speaker 1: play ball and hang out. We did that. How many instruments?
Speaker 1: I had a middle Jersey, everything but wind instruments. I'm not,
Speaker 1: not a, I have asthma. I had it all my childhood.
Speaker 1: You would not be able to tell by the way
Speaker 1: you sing, brother. I still got a pump. I carry
Speaker 1: a pump to this day. No shit. Oh yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I got to have that thing. But yeah, I enjoy instruments.
Speaker 1: Instrument is a beautiful thing. Guitar is my favorite. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I play pretty much all the, all the instruments. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So when you get to Jersey, How long does it
Speaker 3: take for you to get recognized? I'm talking about as
Speaker 3: far as either getting your first deal. Did you get
Speaker 3: a publishing or a record deal first?
Speaker 1: My first deal was publishing. Big shout out to Keith
Speaker 1: and Noel. Keith Miller, Noel Goring out of Jersey, Newark,
Speaker 1: New Jersey. Man, we got together and just put some
Speaker 1: music together and body work. Keith plays bass. Phenomenal bass player. Oh,
Speaker 1: my God. One of the greatest in the game. Noel
Speaker 1: Goring played keyboards as well. Phenomenal producers, these two. And
Speaker 1: we started a team called Black Hand Production. And we
Speaker 1: ran into a guy by the name of Vincent Herbert.
Speaker 1: I saw you guys do an interview with him. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: So were you in the barbershop?
Speaker 1: I was going to correct that. Okay, all right, because
Speaker 1: I heard you was in the barbershop, man. Yeah, no, no.
Speaker 1: I was going to ask for a fade or something
Speaker 1: while you were sitting. No, no, it wasn't a barbershop.
Speaker 1: What I worked at was a music store. It was
Speaker 1: a record store. Okay. It was on Chancellor Avenue. And
Speaker 1: anybody that's from Jersey, from Newark, know Chancellor Avenue. Valley Fair.
Speaker 1: I lived in between Lyons and Chancellor in Jersey. So
Speaker 1: I worked at the music store and Vince came in.
Speaker 1: I can't remember the conversation, but there was an invitation
Speaker 1: to a session, I believe. And then we showed up. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, one was Vanessa Bell Armstrong, gospel singer. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Doing background vocals on a song called Everlasting Love. Wow.
Speaker 1: Co-wrote that record with Vince. And then we went on
Speaker 1: to do some stuff with Tony Braxton. We don't have
Speaker 1: the credit for it, but we wrote How Many Ways
Speaker 1: for Tony Braxton. Yeah. Me keeping it well.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: All right. All right. We had our early, early hands.
Speaker 1: Army money exclusives. Yeah. Army money exclusives.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So really, really cool, man. Really cool industry that
Speaker 1: I started out in. Just on the back burner. Learning
Speaker 1: the game. Behind the scenes, learning the game, learning how
Speaker 1: to produce. Yeah. How to work the controls and how
Speaker 1: to produce, you know, how to learn, you learn how
Speaker 1: to work the drum machine.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Things like that. I really was really invested in everything
Speaker 1: when it came to the studio. The mixing, all of
Speaker 1: the above. I want to know everything. Most people don't
Speaker 1: know that about you, right? You got to really be a...
Speaker 1: Push the buttons.
Speaker 3: You got to really be a student of the game
Speaker 3: to know that you've chosen when you wanted to be
Speaker 3: or when you didn't want to be a 100%er.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Like, you're one of the guys. And it's not many
Speaker 3: of y'all. You're one of the guys. You know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying? That literally, we could all walk out this studio,
Speaker 3: leave you in here, and we'll come back and you
Speaker 3: got a record.
Speaker 1: Yeah, finished. Everything done. Yeah. Where are the instruments, by
Speaker 1: the way? I know Tink plays kicks. Where are the instruments? Well,
Speaker 1: I don't play no instruments, man. You don't play? No,
Speaker 1: I don't play. I don't play, man. So, you know,
Speaker 1: ain't no instruments here today, man. It's all good. It's
Speaker 1: all good.
Speaker 3: I mean, we probably can go find you something if
Speaker 3: you want to get out.
Speaker 1: It's all good, man. I just enjoy the music and
Speaker 1: I would love to see, you know, the industry, the
Speaker 1: music industry embrace, you know, musicians and Artists that sing
Speaker 1: and play.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's why I love Leon Thomas so much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Leon is incredible. Yeah. I mean, you don't have
Speaker 1: to do that. I mean, you know, Michael didn't play.
Speaker 1: You know, he didn't play any of Smith's, but everything
Speaker 1: was on the inside. He can articulate it.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: And he understood it. He can tell you what he want. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he can tell you exactly that.
Speaker 3: And I think that's a big thing with artists is
Speaker 3: being able to, like you said, articulate what you're looking for.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: And sometimes you just got to find the right people
Speaker 3: that can help you convey that.
Speaker 1: Pull us together. Quincy was his perfect, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: his muse. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I was
Speaker 1: so fortunate and blessed to just be able to know
Speaker 1: music in a way where I can You know, have
Speaker 1: that conversation with anybody that is a musician and say,
Speaker 1: this is what I need. This is what I want.
Speaker 1: If it's something that needs a little bit more bite,
Speaker 1: a little bit more edge, I know what it is.
Speaker 1: I can point it out. You know how to get
Speaker 1: to it. I can know how to get to it
Speaker 1: right away. Yeah. I like recording my own vocals, too.
Speaker 1: I don't like engineers and people in the room. I
Speaker 1: like to do my own thing. Okay. So, you know,
Speaker 1: my system is set up where I can just work
Speaker 1: and go for it.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: You just push record. You get to it. I just go. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Anytime of the day and as quick as I want
Speaker 1: to go. Yeah. It's fun.
Speaker 3: So before you make that jump, was there ever a
Speaker 3: point where you thought of being a gospel artist?
Speaker 1: Never. Never? Never. Our respect to the gospel singers, that's
Speaker 1: a tall order, brother. Yes, it is. That's a tall order. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is. I feel like for me, the reason why
Speaker 1: I didn't do it is because if you're going to
Speaker 1: sing about God and You know, I feel like you
Speaker 1: got to take that walk with him, too. You got
Speaker 1: to be on that same page. Yeah. And knowing that
Speaker 1: I wasn't there, you know, I felt it might be
Speaker 1: a little hippie.
Speaker 4: You had jumped off the porch.
Speaker 1: Yeah. He was like, ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the
Speaker 1: respect of it all was for me to, you know,
Speaker 1: if I'm going to do it, you better be all
Speaker 1: the way in. Got you. You got to be all
Speaker 1: the way invested. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So what leads you to your first record deal?
Speaker 1: Just playing around, man. Was it Polygram? It was Polygram.
Speaker 1: Your first deal? Polygram. Mercury Records. Polygram. Polydor was the
Speaker 1: parent company. And that's where Dave McPherson was. Dave McPherson. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Our guy. Yeah. The guy that believed in me, saw me,
Speaker 1: and took a chance. He started out first as an
Speaker 1: A & R as well. First time out. First time
Speaker 1: out for him. First time out for me. Okay. Okay.
Speaker 1: And that's just how well God works. I mean, he
Speaker 1: puts people and things in your, in your, in your path.
Speaker 1: That's going to work out for you. Yeah. You're a
Speaker 1: great artist.
Speaker 4: You're a great artist to be the first artist you
Speaker 4: go inside.
Speaker 1: We, we both had no idea what this was going
Speaker 1: to become, but hard work, perseverance and, and, and the
Speaker 1: faith and belief that, you know, things are going to
Speaker 1: work out and God put you in a situation, you know, for,
Speaker 1: for the right things. And, Just trust the process. Even
Speaker 1: with this album that I'm working on right now, it's
Speaker 1: been taking, it's taken me about 10 years to, to do. But, um,
Speaker 1: I tell my team, listen, I'm not just going to
Speaker 1: throw anything out there. Trust the process. You know, God
Speaker 1: has his hands on all of this. Trust it. You know,
Speaker 1: just let it happen. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: So when you get your first deal, does your life
Speaker 3: change immediately with the deal? Or was it, you know,
Speaker 3: cause some people got a certain bag, some people got,
Speaker 3: you know, a little bit of none, just enough to last.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Did you, did you, were you in a position now
Speaker 3: to be like, okay, I can, I can freely do music.
Speaker 1: Not at all. And I might, can buy me something.
Speaker 1: Not at all. My first deal was a publishing deal. Okay.
Speaker 1: 45 K was the check. And I had to split
Speaker 1: it with my two guys. So I spent 45. Can
Speaker 1: you dig it? Yeah. Team five or 13, something, right? You, you,
Speaker 1: you were close. The math is good. And I took
Speaker 1: that money. And I bought a recording studio. That was
Speaker 1: the first thing I bought. I bought a recording studio.
Speaker 1: And I bought a little whip. I needed something to
Speaker 1: play my music. You got to get around. Ride around
Speaker 1: and listen to music. I still do that to this day.
Speaker 1: The car test. Yeah, the car test. I can't just
Speaker 1: make music and not listen to it. And it's got
Speaker 1: to be a nice whip. I just can't do it
Speaker 1: in any kind of whip. So what was your first whip?
Speaker 1: What's your first whip, man? My first whip was a 190E. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was trying to be big dog. I see what
Speaker 1: she was doing. Without big dog money. Big dog without
Speaker 1: big dog money.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was trying to live the life. It was on
Speaker 1: the way. I was on the way.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I had to see what it felt like. But
Speaker 1: it was, it was a wonderful thing, man. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: when you dream and, and I used to play that,
Speaker 1: that's my car when I was a kid. Uh, I
Speaker 1: don't know if people in any are old enough to remember.
Speaker 1: That's my car. Absolutely. That's by you. Yes. And, uh,
Speaker 1: So when I got a chance to buy me one,
Speaker 1: it was a Mercedes. I had a Mercedes. So that's
Speaker 1: what you got with the first deal. That's right. So
Speaker 1: now you're working on that first album.
Speaker 4: What is your focus?
Speaker 3: Because when I listened to the first album, I felt
Speaker 3: like you was in the New Jack Swing stage. Was
Speaker 3: that what you were going for? Was that what the
Speaker 3: industry was pushing for at the time? Because that's what
Speaker 3: was going on.
Speaker 1: That's kind of what I was going for. And the
Speaker 1: industry was doing that as well. In hindsight, I didn't
Speaker 1: know that it was on its way out, you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of that style of R & B music.
Speaker 1: But what I really was going for was just good music, man.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to make something that felt good. Yeah.
Speaker 1: My first album, you know.
Speaker 1: Man, it's one of those critically acclaimed from the music community.
Speaker 1: Because it's one of those records when your first album,
Speaker 1: you want to just show out. You want to just
Speaker 1: go as hard as you can. You give your whole
Speaker 1: life to make it. Show people your chops and what
Speaker 1: you got. So when I did that album, I was
Speaker 1: trying to go at everybody's neck. I didn't care who
Speaker 1: it was. I felt I was a better singer than
Speaker 1: everybody out there. So I was coming at everybody with
Speaker 1: that first record. Kelly, Aaron Hall. Bobby Brown, you name him.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I was going after him. Right. Y'all ain't got nothing
Speaker 1: on me. And that was my mindset.
Speaker 4: But that has to be the mindset.
Speaker 1: It's still that way. It's still that way. It has
Speaker 1: to be the mindset. I'm sorry, fellas. Y'all my dogs,
Speaker 1: but I'm still coming at them. Like, I believe in collaboration.
Speaker 3: I believe in showing love. But there also has to
Speaker 3: be a competitive fight.
Speaker 1: Man, without that, I don't think music is going to
Speaker 1: be as exciting. Yeah. You know? And that's why I
Speaker 1: miss Kel sometimes, because he used to push me.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: That was a motivation tool for me. It's like, this
Speaker 1: dude does not miss when it comes to these. Yeah.
Speaker 4: His run was crazy.
Speaker 1: He doesn't miss. Yeah. And he's such a genius. And
Speaker 1: he got, God has his hands on always music career.
Speaker 1: You can just feel it. So yeah.
Speaker 4: How, how was that during that time where you're like,
Speaker 4: all right, man.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You got another one, dog. This shit is crazy. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you this. I mean, being on, on Mercury and
Speaker 1: he was on job records. Correct. And that's the only
Speaker 1: person I could see. That reminded me of myself. You know, self-contained,
Speaker 1: can play the instruments, sing the instruments, produce them, write them.
Speaker 1: And I watched the label. I watched Jive. I said, yo,
Speaker 1: I love what they're doing, but they understand this guy.
Speaker 1: They know what to do with his career as an
Speaker 1: R & B singer. So I said, all right. I
Speaker 1: left Jive. I mean, I left Mercury after the first album.
Speaker 1: And I was solo for about maybe a year. I
Speaker 1: didn't have a label. Then I released All the Things
Speaker 1: Your Man Won't Do on a soundtrack.
Speaker 4: So that song is released before you have a deal?
Speaker 1: Before I got a deal. Yeah. Because I was freelance
Speaker 1: after Mercury.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And yeah, they was throwing money at me. I
Speaker 1: was about to say. They was throwing crazy money.
Speaker 3: Now you was a big dog driving the big dog car.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But I didn't take the money. I didn't go
Speaker 1: for the money.
Speaker 4: So Jive wasn't, they didn't offer you the most money.
Speaker 1: I didn't go for them. No, they didn't. Nah. He
Speaker 1: took the best deal for you. I believed in them.
Speaker 1: I said, you know what? I understand it. I understand
Speaker 1: how God's system. And I know this is going to
Speaker 1: work for me because it works easily and simply for him.
Speaker 1: Just follow the same blueprint in terms of promotion and
Speaker 1: everything we need to do. This is simple. Y'all got
Speaker 1: it already.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: And they understood it.
Speaker 3: I don't want to breeze over what I consider, and
Speaker 3: I'm going to say this out loud.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think you have the greatest sophomore R & B
Speaker 3: album of all time. Wow.
Speaker 1: In my opinion. All that I am. All that I am.
Speaker 1: Thank you, sir. It is a 10 out of 10. Man,
Speaker 1: thank you.
Speaker 3: And I will fight, argue, and niggas know I like
Speaker 3: to fight, and I'm an aggressive, light-skinned nigga, man.
Speaker 1: Not you.
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 3: You look like you bruise easily. I want all of
Speaker 3: the smoke, especially when it comes to this shit. Like,
Speaker 3: I stand on what I believe in. You know what
Speaker 3: I mean? And that record, brother.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it, brother. Thank you. It felt like you were
Speaker 1: on a mission to prove something. Jive was invested in me.
Speaker 1: They understood who I was. They sent me to Nashville, Tennessee. Okay.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: I was there for two weeks. No one else comes close.
Speaker 1: Wayne Perry and Gary Baker also wrote I Swear. Oh. Right. Okay.
Speaker 1: So we sat down in this room with a piano,
Speaker 1: didn't touch the piano, just three acoustic guitars, and wrote
Speaker 1: No One Else Comes Close. That also went on to
Speaker 1: be re-recorded by Backstreet Boys.
Speaker 4: Backstreet Boys. They still perform it to this day. They're
Speaker 4: doing it at the Spear.
Speaker 1: It's a hit for them. Yeah, yeah. It's a hit
Speaker 1: for them. Yeah. And so my original song, you know,
Speaker 1: that I wrote in Nashville, Tennessee. Yeah. That's how dope
Speaker 1: job was. They understood this is a real artist. And
Speaker 1: that's what you signed up for. That's what I signed
Speaker 1: up for. I wasn't going with no gimmicks. Money will
Speaker 1: come later. I wasn't concerned about money. You know, that comes.
Speaker 1: I was a poor kid. I grew up poor. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But when God has his hands on your life, man,
Speaker 1: just step out the way. Let him work for you.
Speaker 4: But you also had a very unique.
Speaker 3: Situation that obviously like yourself, Kales, Tank, you guys controlled
Speaker 3: the budget too, though, because you guys were producers.
Speaker 1: They love us for that. What?
Speaker 4: They had to redo publishing deals because of y'all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man.
Speaker 3: They couldn't do the whole, you can have eight songs
Speaker 3: on one album thing no more. They was like, Hey man,
Speaker 3: these guys are getting through these deals too fast.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: So obviously from a business standpoint, and that's what I,
Speaker 3: you know, that those are the conversations I love to
Speaker 3: have because most people don't understand that, that an artist
Speaker 3: who is able at a high level to do that
Speaker 3: can have more control of a lot of different things.
Speaker 3: So you can say, you know what? I don't need
Speaker 3: as much advance from the artist's advance side because I'm
Speaker 3: going to get a producer's check anyway.
Speaker 1: Right. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 4: And I can get the best records I need to get.
Speaker 1: That's right. That's right.
Speaker 3: And that album, man, like, you know, I'm going to
Speaker 3: read down. I'm going to read down just so people know.
Speaker 1: All the things. Rewind me.
Speaker 4: The love scene. Don't want to be a player.
Speaker 1: Wow. Which became another double record because. That's me already.
Speaker 3: It turns into, you know, the record with you and
Speaker 3: Big Pun.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? Mega hit. Good Girls. Another one.
Speaker 1: How Soon. Wow, I should do that in the show.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. Of course, All That I Am.
Speaker 3: But I'm just going off the ones that mean something,
Speaker 3: that are a special place for me, brother.
Speaker 4: No One Else Comes Close, which is a copyright.
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. That's a copyright. That's a copyright, man. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Copywritten. Love Don't Make No Sense. Bro,
Speaker 1: what were you on, bro? You know what's crazy about
Speaker 1: that record? I didn't want to keep that record. I
Speaker 1: tell them I made that for Mary J. Love Don't
Speaker 1: Make No Sense was for Mary J. Blige.
Speaker 2: I try to make the best of a bad situation.
Speaker 2: Always gave too much, you never gave in return.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Never could convince you to meet your obligations. Guess it
Speaker 2: took me walking out before you could learn.
Speaker 1: Yo, Mary would have killed that record. Oh, my God.
Speaker 1: It reminds me I'm not going to cry and all
Speaker 1: that joy. Yeah. Did you play it for her? Did
Speaker 1: you even have a chance? No, no, I never played
Speaker 1: it for her. The label refused to let me play it.
Speaker 1: They was like, we got to have this. They didn't
Speaker 1: want to let me give it to her. They said, no,
Speaker 1: you're keeping this record. Yeah, that's what happened. It would
Speaker 1: have been big with Mary, though, in my opinion. I
Speaker 1: felt it because it wasn't meant for me. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: wrote it specifically for her.
Speaker 3: Mary, can you just remake Love Don't Make No Sense, please?
Speaker 1: That would be amazing. Love don't make no sense. I
Speaker 1: can't think in my mind. So many songs. The new album. Oh, gosh. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Speaker 1: This new album.
Speaker 4: What do you call the new album?
Speaker 1: No, I got so many titles. Dress Accordingly could be one.
Speaker 1: That song is incredible. Dress Accordingly. I don't know what
Speaker 1: I'm going to call it, man. Maybe My Name is
Speaker 1: Joe Part 3 or something.
Speaker 4: Did you get in your producer's bag again for this project?
Speaker 1: The whole album. Written, produced, yeah. Top to bottom. Top
Speaker 1: to bottom. Top to bottom. It's cold, too. This thing
Speaker 1: is cold, man. Oh, I can't. I want to play
Speaker 1: some stuff so bad. I ain't going to do it.
Speaker 1: Do whatever you want, brother. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: You can do whatever you want, man. We here on
Speaker 1: your time. Oh, man. This stuff is so good. But anyway, yeah.
Speaker 3: So now you've come back with this monster of a
Speaker 3: solo project, the second album.
Speaker 4: You've proven your point. You've proven your point.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: you start getting the phone calls as a producer and
Speaker 3: a writer even more. Like now you're working with escape. You,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying? You, you, you writing these records.
Speaker 3: And at a time, most people didn't know you were
Speaker 3: writing these and producing these records.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Was that on purpose that you were kind of keeping
Speaker 3: that on the low or was it just like.
Speaker 1: No, nobody reading, writing credits back then. Yeah. And plus
Speaker 1: I was, I was never a boastful talk your shit
Speaker 1: kind of guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, Yeah, I was always very humble about it.
Speaker 1: You know, at the same time. Like, brother, you wrote... Yeah,
Speaker 1: I did that. You wrote Softest Place on Earth. Like,
Speaker 1: come on, bro. Like... Come on, man. Yeah, that's the cut, too, boy. So...
Speaker 1: There's a glowing and a feeling. I got to escape.
Speaker 1: Let's do the thing, man. No, go ahead. I'm with you.
Speaker 1: When did you connect with Joshua Thompson? Oh, man. That was...
Speaker 1: Your partnership is.
Speaker 4: It's not spoken about enough.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Joshua Thompson, man. There's only a few, a handful
Speaker 1: of musicians, guitars, writers in, in the game. That is
Speaker 1: that good. What I've learned, that is my teacher. Josh
Speaker 1: is really my teacher. Yeah. I've learned so much, not
Speaker 1: just with guitar, but from songwriting, melody, spacing, timing. Um,
Speaker 1: this is just a gift from God for me. I mean,
Speaker 1: I met Josh. He had, when I met him, man,
Speaker 1: he barely had a bank account. Um, Sorry to talk
Speaker 1: about your personal life, Josh. You my dog, though.
Speaker 4: That made a lot of money. People need to hear
Speaker 4: your story.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm saying, man, wow. Came around
Speaker 1: with just coins in his pocket. And when I heard
Speaker 1: him play guitar, it was over. I said, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I need you. Yeah. I need you. You're going to
Speaker 1: stay here. We're going to get it together. And one
Speaker 1: of the first songs we wrote was Good Girls. Wow.
Speaker 1: Magic started happening. immediately with me and Josh because we
Speaker 1: understood each other. We spoke the same language when it
Speaker 1: comes to guitar. Yeah. So the conversation was just like, yo,
Speaker 1: that's it, play that again. As we were just jamming around, yo,
Speaker 1: play that one more time, just run that back. And
Speaker 1: then it just automatic magic happens every time. So I'm
Speaker 1: saying like this album, me and Josh. Now I have
Speaker 1: another guy that I wrote with, I want to know,
Speaker 1: Charlie and Skinner, who's out of the UK. Yeah. I've
Speaker 1: written a bunch of tunes with them. Absolutely. The three
Speaker 1: of us, you know, crafted the album together. Man. All
Speaker 1: the hits I've written with these two guys. Special. They
Speaker 1: are special. Special, bro. Yes, sir.
Speaker 3: And I mean, and that's, we'd love to highlight that.
Speaker 3: We'd love to highlight, you know, the people that are behind.
Speaker 1: Those are the guys that don't get the credit. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Not enough credit. Yeah, but. Because now, especially now, you
Speaker 1: don't have a sleeve.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you don't even have that no more. You got
Speaker 4: to go search for credits now.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate those who do. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Speaker 1: Those ones, I appreciate you guys. You stand out to me.
Speaker 1: And that means a lot for you to care enough
Speaker 1: to want to know who is behind all of this stuff.
Speaker 1: So that's right.
Speaker 3: So are you now, you're in this space, you got
Speaker 3: these hit records. Is it world tour time?
Speaker 1: Never stopped touring. I never stopped touring. COVID was the
Speaker 1: longest drought I had. Ever? Ever.
Speaker 4: So you get on a road. As soon as you
Speaker 4: get your first hit record, you're gone.
Speaker 1: Oh, man. Yeah. Before I had my first hit, I
Speaker 1: was on the road. I used to tour with, well,
Speaker 1: I started out my first tour and was with Tony, Tony, Tony. Yeah.
Speaker 1: My guys, man. They hear you. And you won't believe this.
Speaker 1: Another tour I did was with Leaders of the New School. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Busta Rhymes. He probably won't remember that. Joe and Leaders
Speaker 1: of the New School. Can you imagine?
Speaker 2: Right, right.
Speaker 4: But that's how those tours used to be back then.
Speaker 1: No, they just like, listen. Yeah.
Speaker 4: We're going to put all y'all on the road.
Speaker 1: That's right. Whatever crowd show up, y'all just got to perform. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: But you learn how to work a crowd in any space.
Speaker 1: Different energies. Old school, young school, you know, whatever culture
Speaker 1: it is. We try to make fun of every moment.
Speaker 1: Make it make sense. Clarity. Like my thing to be clean.
Speaker 1: I like my sound to be clean. Everything has to
Speaker 1: be pure and clean.
Speaker 4: Do you still rehearse?
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 4: You're a baseball player now. You just play games every day.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of retired with the rehearsing. But it is
Speaker 1: important that we... When they do audio, I'll rehearse and
Speaker 1: record all the audio so everybody has it all on
Speaker 1: the same page. I don't need to be at every one.
Speaker 1: So you don't go to soundcheck every now and then?
Speaker 1: Because soundcheck is... It can be a disappointment. It's a
Speaker 1: hit and miss. Yeah. You know, you show up for soundcheck,
Speaker 1: it sounds great. You get to the show, it's completely different.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, I usually don't go to soundcheck as much now. Yeah.
Speaker 4: How have you preserved your voice?
Speaker 1: Well, recently I quit drinking. I'm now sober for about
Speaker 1: six months. Congratulations, brother. Thank you very much. Yes. And
Speaker 1: so that's doing tremendous for me, but I think just
Speaker 1: being on the road all the time is how I
Speaker 1: keep my voice strong. I utilize it. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying? I keep it oiled.
Speaker 4: You got some tricks, man.
Speaker 1: When I'm not home, I'm recording. So I'm always singing.
Speaker 1: I'm always using my voice. So I think that's one
Speaker 1: thing that people should understand is that just play around singing.
Speaker 1: Sing all the time. Get on people's nerves singing. But
Speaker 1: it keeps your chops up. It keeps your voice strong.
Speaker 1: So the more you sing, the stronger. It's like anything.
Speaker 3: You don't have no certain like, okay, I got to
Speaker 3: have a certain tea with a ginger.
Speaker 1: No, no. You're not one of those guys? Not at all.
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: I probably drink nothing. at this point when I go
Speaker 1: on stage because. I don't know. I mean, I'm not
Speaker 1: not really. When you get in your dressing room, you
Speaker 1: got to. Some people ask for certain color M &
Speaker 1: Ms and.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not one of those guys. I keep it simple.
Speaker 1: I want to go do my job, do a great job,
Speaker 1: and get back. Yeah. And go into the next one. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Now, man, what you've been doing over these years, man,
Speaker 4: is to be studied.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it. In my opinion. You know, like it's... I
Speaker 1: stay in my lane. Yes. And I stay off of
Speaker 1: social media. I don't mess with social media. You don't
Speaker 1: do it at all. I don't touch it, bro. Why
Speaker 1: is that? I'm like Sade. Okay. All right.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: I don't like doing interviews. I'm not a big fan
Speaker 1: of doing interviews. Well, I appreciate that. I don't take none.
Speaker 1: I'm not a big fan. I'm just appreciative that you
Speaker 1: pulled up on me. That makes me feel. You're my dogs, man.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? I appreciate what y'all do.
Speaker 1: And I felt like, you know, this is a part of,
Speaker 1: this is for the culture. Yes. A thousand percent for
Speaker 1: the R & B fans. And if I don't do it,
Speaker 1: I don't really care enough in terms of, Letting them
Speaker 1: know what's going on with one of the hottest, with
Speaker 1: the hottest show. Thank you. On streaming right now. Thank you, man.
Speaker 1: Congratulations to you guys. Thank you, bro. I don't know
Speaker 1: why this dude couldn't be here, man. You know why
Speaker 1: he not here. What does he normally sit, right there?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Man, you know that brother wants to sing, man.
Speaker 1: I know. He want to sing.
Speaker 3: And I want to ask you something because there's been
Speaker 3: some controversy about the singing he's doing right now.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 4: Because he chose... to go on tour with Chris and Usher.
Speaker 1: Get that bag and be humble. And sing background. Be humble,
Speaker 1: get that bag.
Speaker 4: Would Joe sing background?
Speaker 1: I would. I love singing background. Yeah. I'd rather be
Speaker 1: the background singer than the lead singer. Oh, shit. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'd rather sit back and chill, man. You got it, bro.
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got it? You got it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Go sign them autographs. Go take them pictures, dude.
Speaker 2: Ha, ha.
Speaker 3: And I ask that question because, like I said, there
Speaker 3: have been artists who are just like, ah, I couldn't
Speaker 3: see me doing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's a bit of ego sometimes involved in that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it depends on who asks you as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Who's asking. No, it's the biggest tour in the world.
Speaker 1: It's the biggest tour. They're the biggest artists in the world. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And they're brothers, too. You know, they get along with
Speaker 1: each other. And I'm sure the bag is pretty good.
Speaker 1: Maybe even better. Who knows? Right. With that tour. I
Speaker 1: don't see anything wrong with it. I think it's a
Speaker 1: great idea.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know. So that's where our brother is. Kudos
Speaker 1: to him, man. Kudos to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get
Speaker 1: that bag, brother. He's out there.
Speaker 4: He comes out with his shirt off when he does something.
Speaker 1: Of course. I'm like, bro, you're doing some crazy, man.
Speaker 1: And I hope he's doing a couple of his songs
Speaker 1: out there as well.
Speaker 2: He is.
Speaker 1: That's another audience for him. Yep, yep. It's a good thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so him, Mario, and Eric Bellinger. Oh, I know they're
Speaker 1: killing it. Oh, they're killing it. The harmony's insane.
Speaker 4: Killing it, bro. They are, like, that's, it's an avenger.
Speaker 1: Eric B. is something special, man.
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: That kid is something special. I want to see him win, win.
Speaker 1: We all do. So humble, so kind. Great guy. And
Speaker 1: so talented.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So good. So big shout to Eric B. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So let's get back to Joe. Let's get back to Joe.
Speaker 3: Because I wanted to ask that, though, because it is,
Speaker 3: you know, it is a topic of conversation right now
Speaker 3: within the R & B world. And, you know, you
Speaker 3: are a king of R & B. So, you know,
Speaker 3: I wanted to ask you how you felt about that.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: You know, and now, like you said, I think you
Speaker 4: answered it flat out. I love to sing.
Speaker 1: Oh, okay.
Speaker 4: I love to sing.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Yeah.
Speaker 4: So now you're getting into, you know, My Name Is Joe.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: What is your mindset now that you've got to hit records,
Speaker 3: you've written records for multiple artists at this point, because
Speaker 3: now people are calling in that space. And now you're
Speaker 3: getting into this third album. What are you going into
Speaker 3: that album thinking and wanting to do?
Speaker 1: I'll do the second one.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that's everybody's mindset. It's like you want to
Speaker 1: do better every time you come out, each time around.
Speaker 1: I knew All That I Am was a good album,
Speaker 1: and it was sort of spread out in terms of styles.
Speaker 1: You had tempo, you had ballads, you had pop. But
Speaker 1: then I want to know, It came along and became
Speaker 1: something that was like, okay, well, we got a mix
Speaker 1: of R & B and... And the label didn't really
Speaker 1: understand that yet. They didn't know what that record was
Speaker 1: built like. I didn't know either, to be honest with you.
Speaker 1: And was that on the soundtrack too? That was also
Speaker 1: another soundtrack. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: I used to love that that could do that with
Speaker 3: music back then.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine having two support systems? Yes. Your label
Speaker 1: and the soundtrack. And the soundtrack, yeah. I had the
Speaker 1: best situation, man. I did a few of those records
Speaker 1: like that. Soundtracks really helped propel my career as well.
Speaker 1: But that third album, putting the third album together, man,
Speaker 1: it was like, okay, we did good on, you know,
Speaker 1: sold a few millions on album number two. Let's go
Speaker 1: even harder. How can we compete with ourselves and try
Speaker 1: to make this third album even better? Just better your writing,
Speaker 1: better your subjects. You know, talk about something super close
Speaker 1: and super deep and It's going to touch the audience.
Speaker 1: Give them what you do. Don't think too hard about it.
Speaker 1: Stay in the lane that you created for yourself, but
Speaker 1: also mess with a few other things out here as well.
Speaker 1: Touch hip-hop a little bit more. So the album was
Speaker 1: really just R & B, but it was kind of
Speaker 1: influenced by a lot of different worldly music, different genres.
Speaker 1: And that's how I like to look at it. I
Speaker 1: don't know where it's going to come from or how
Speaker 1: it's going to hit me, but if it hits me
Speaker 1: right in that moment, I got something for it. Like
Speaker 1: if it hits me, I got something for it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I felt like with that album, you were, it was
Speaker 3: time from the outside looking in.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, he want the crown. I toned
Speaker 1: it down too. I wasn't trying to overseen. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But I learned a lot more.
Speaker 3: And I think that that is, at times it's tough,
Speaker 3: especially when you come from the church to make it
Speaker 3: more commercial and to make it, you know, more digestible
Speaker 3: to the world.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Because when you are amazing singer, like you are, it
Speaker 3: gets to a point where you just like, sometimes you just,
Speaker 3: you just showing out for yourself.
Speaker 1: Cause ain't nobody, can't nobody else do that. That's tank.
Speaker 1: I feel about tank sometimes. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And we've had, and I say that because I've worked
Speaker 3: so closely with him and we've worked on those albums
Speaker 3: to a point where I'm just like, bro, like, you know,
Speaker 3: ain't nobody gonna be able to sing that.
Speaker 4: Right. I'm like, you're just getting your shit off.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I respect it. But here's the thing. Do it.
Speaker 1: Do it. Put something out of my reach. I want
Speaker 1: to be like, oh, my God, that was amazing. But
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right about keeping it simple. Everybody wants to
Speaker 1: sing along with you, man.
Speaker 4: Everybody could sing Stutter.
Speaker 1: Everybody could sing Stutter. Everybody could sing Stutter. Everybody could
Speaker 1: sing I Want to Know.
Speaker 4: And shout out to my homeboy, man.
Speaker 1: Ernest. Bishop Young Don.
Speaker 3: I had known him when he was in a group
Speaker 3: with his guys, Talent.
Speaker 1: Talent, yeah.
Speaker 4: Back in Kansas City. And I watched him catch those records.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I remember having those phone calls with him when
Speaker 3: it was all happening.
Speaker 1: Boy. Yeah. Man? He said, boy, boy, Bishop the Young Dog. Oh, boy,
Speaker 1: I'm killing the boy. He said, Joe going crazy.
Speaker 3: Y'all had a number one record in the world.
Speaker 1: He got plenty of number one records. But that was
Speaker 1: the kickoff. Get him on here, man.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm absolutely going to bring that crazy man on here.
Speaker 1: I love him, man. I got so many funny stories.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You of them.
Speaker 3: So when you got, when you, I feel like when
Speaker 3: you got that record though, it started to really truly
Speaker 3: show that, okay, it's more than just R & B.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Especially when y'all did the remix.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You were mystical.
Speaker 3: It was like, all right, this, okay. Joe is, Joe
Speaker 3: going somewhere else. He's really competing all the way around.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to be honest with you. I never
Speaker 1: wanted to just be in a ballad singer. I didn't
Speaker 1: want to just do ballads. I want to be in
Speaker 1: arenas and places where it's energy.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And you got to have tempo. Tempos.
Speaker 4: You have to have tempo. Keith Sweat always told me that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So those tempos were crucial. And I made it
Speaker 1: a point where if I did do tempos, because it's
Speaker 1: hard for R & B to have a hit tempo.
Speaker 4: Especially with a big voice.
Speaker 1: With a big voice. Let's keep it real. They tend
Speaker 1: to over sing.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So most of the guys who got hit up
Speaker 3: tempo records aren't church singers.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Just not. It reminds me of when Jamie Foxx told
Speaker 1: a story about going in with Kanye and how he
Speaker 1: wanted to. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, calm down. Calm down. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Same thing. Same exact thing.
Speaker 3: And now you're going on this mega run because, you know,
Speaker 3: it's what, triple, four-time Platinum? Like, you're in a whole
Speaker 3: different league.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Are you feeling the king of R & B conversation
Speaker 3: at this point? Was that something that ever was in
Speaker 3: your mind? Like, you know what?
Speaker 1: Nah, nah. Kels was still out there, man. Kels is
Speaker 1: one of those guys that he had the culture and
Speaker 1: he still has it really in such a lock with
Speaker 1: his music. You know, it was always Kels, to be
Speaker 1: honest with you. I mean, everybody would still to this day.
Speaker 1: Jordan run. He had the Jordan run. Yeah, he did
Speaker 1: the Jordan run. He can come back and probably three-peat again.
Speaker 1: But like I said before in an interview earlier, it's
Speaker 1: like that was a level of competition for me. Like,
Speaker 1: I'd love to see this. Couldn't wait for this dude
Speaker 1: to put another record out. Like, I'm like, all right, cool.
Speaker 1: We going to go back and back, back to back
Speaker 1: with it. Let's go with it. Yeah. So he would
Speaker 1: push me, and I felt like I was pushing him
Speaker 1: as well. Like, we was on the same label going
Speaker 1: at it. Yeah. That was fun to me. But different angles,
Speaker 1: different lanes. And I didn't want to be in his lane. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1: You know, even though when I first started, they kind
Speaker 1: of put me there. But then eventually I got to
Speaker 1: my own place. And, you know, that stuck with people.
Speaker 1: And now it's the both of us. And we're individual.
Speaker 1: I have my own individuality. Yeah. But, yeah, it was
Speaker 1: always Kel pushing me at that label.
Speaker 4: And then you became a member of G-Unit.
Speaker 1: I like how you said that, a member. Hey, bro, listen.
Speaker 1: Everybody thought that. Come on, man. You got multiple hits
Speaker 1: with those guys. Like, you was part of the unit, bro.
Speaker 1: I was a part. That's my dogs, man. That's my family.
Speaker 1: You know? Man, we had a run. Right. We had
Speaker 1: some summers going, didn't we? Man, y'all was going crazy.
Speaker 1: Get to know you. Yeah, yeah. We had some runs, man.
Speaker 1: What a good crew. What a good group of guys.
Speaker 1: 50 is such a professional. Yes. You know? And we're
Speaker 1: all Cancers. When was your birthday? July 9th. Oh, wow.
Speaker 1: He's the sixth. I know.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: We are a different breed. Hey, listen, we are a
Speaker 3: different breed, man. If we're your friend, we're your best friend.
Speaker 3: If we're your enemy, you should probably hide.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. I'm done. No, you know, I'm, I'm more
Speaker 1: of a done kind of person. Like God, like, like
Speaker 1: I always believed is that God removed people out of
Speaker 1: your lives for a reason.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: And, and don't be, don't, don't be upset with that.
Speaker 1: It's okay. It's okay. You can still be cool and
Speaker 1: cordial and you can probably still be friends. But when
Speaker 1: God is dealing with you, man, just let, if he's
Speaker 1: removing these people, let him remove them. If they're going
Speaker 1: to come back, come back. That's my boy. That's my brother.
Speaker 1: He'll always be cool. Okay. If it's that. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I'm talking about like for me, man, if, you know,
Speaker 3: if I feel wrong, I don't want no part of
Speaker 3: you ever.
Speaker 1: Like it's, you know. I still remember the nigga who
Speaker 1: promised me a bike when I was five.
Speaker 3: One of my daddy partners. You know how the old
Speaker 3: niggas be like, yeah, man. Lil Jam will get you
Speaker 3: a bike, man. Like, nigga, where my bike?
Speaker 1: Right, right. I'm down there 50. I want my bike, man.
Speaker 1: I did not forget. That's right. Never will. Never will.
Speaker 3: But the people who have done anything for me in
Speaker 3: my life, I'm always a phone call away.
Speaker 1: That's right. I always show up for them.
Speaker 3: I am the friend that will Oh, you call me
Speaker 3: at three in the morning because your car broke down?
Speaker 1: You can either use my AAA. Reliable. I'm going to
Speaker 1: come pick you up. That's good.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying? So, you know, like I said,
Speaker 3: we are a different breed.
Speaker 1: I'm glad God made me who I am, the way
Speaker 1: I am, to think differently, to be, you know, independent
Speaker 1: in everything, how I move. I'm glad I learned through
Speaker 1: the religion and church, to have the boundaries and the foundation.
Speaker 1: I would employ kids more to Learn more about God, man.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Believe in that. That's a real thing. It can help you.
Speaker 1: It's a great substance of life to have, man.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's very important. Bring that in your life, man. That's
Speaker 1: going to guide you. It's going to direct you. It's
Speaker 1: going to give you so much peace.
Speaker 3: In my opinion, I think if you don't have God
Speaker 3: in your life, you don't have a conscience.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: The people that I know that are questionable about that,
Speaker 3: I'm like, and I see their actions and how they
Speaker 3: get out. I'm like, oh, you don't really have a conscience.
Speaker 3: You don't have something in your mind that's telling you
Speaker 3: that ain't for you, man.
Speaker 1: Don't let it be too late. Don't wait until it's
Speaker 1: too late. Right. In terms of don't wait until you
Speaker 1: need God now. You start calling on God when it's
Speaker 1: like you're in trouble. Yeah. When the bank is surrounded. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you need him. Yeah. Thank God for things that
Speaker 1: you probably wouldn't thank him for, for the little things. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Very grateful. Absolutely. That's why I'm so successful and blessed,
Speaker 1: because I am grateful. Yeah. And rooted. And rooted in
Speaker 1: what you believe in. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: Now, there's no way to have the success you've had
Speaker 3: without God.
Speaker 1: Oh, no. No. Not at all. Not at all. Man,
Speaker 1: not this voice, not these fingers, this instrument, the mindset
Speaker 1: that I have. You know, he controls it all, and
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for that. I wish I could do more
Speaker 1: to show him that I love him and I appreciate him.
Speaker 1: You might have to do that gospel album.
Speaker 2: I will.
Speaker 1: I'll do something. Yeah. If I do gospel music, man,
Speaker 1: that's got to be you giving yourself completely over at
Speaker 1: that point. I don't mind doing a song or two
Speaker 1: here and there, but if I'm going to do an
Speaker 1: entire album, I'm going that direction. I'm not looking back.
Speaker 1: It's like quitting drinking alcohol and quitting drugs. Right. You
Speaker 1: don't go back. you stay on that path, you know,
Speaker 1: because that's a different journey now for you. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: Because gospel singers aren't just gospel singers. They become bishops
Speaker 3: and pastors.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, they're preaching. It's a lot of pressure, bro.
Speaker 1: About their music, yeah. That's why I didn't do it.
Speaker 1: I didn't want the pressure, man. Can you imagine someone
Speaker 1: judging you? Like, you know, you got a little wine
Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, now. Hey, now, pastor. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but that wine. Hey, bishop. You singing about God up there.
Speaker 1: That don't look right. So I want to live my
Speaker 1: life peacefully and, you know, and do what I want
Speaker 1: and do it in a respectful and, you know, pure
Speaker 1: way as pure as I can.
Speaker 3: How do you get to, obviously, you know, because we
Speaker 3: talked about it and your connection to, you know, G-Unit 50,
Speaker 3: the whole crew, but coming back around years later and
Speaker 3: doing Big Rich Town.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: What was that like for you? Did you think, when
Speaker 3: you first saw the show, this is about to be
Speaker 3: a major thing. Or was it just like, oh, this
Speaker 3: is the homie. I'm going to knock this out for him.
Speaker 3: I ain't really tripping.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what happened. Okay. I had no idea. Never
Speaker 1: seen the show or anything like that. And, you know,
Speaker 1: of course, being with Rockman 50 for all these years,
Speaker 1: I was like, yo, go get the singer. I need that.
Speaker 1: Fifth had his voice on it already. It was already good.
Speaker 1: It was already good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I was like, yo, all right, cool. I'll jump on it,
Speaker 1: add some sauce in. Next thing you know, it was,
Speaker 1: you know, the theme song. And, man, we off to
Speaker 1: the races. It's one of my favorite joints that we
Speaker 1: did out of, you know, I want to get to
Speaker 1: know you, ride with you, and all the records that
Speaker 1: we've done.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, with the unit. Have you added it to
Speaker 1: your show? Man, that shit is so funny. Every city
Speaker 1: is big. You know, every town is a big rich town.
Speaker 3: You know you caused the frenzy. I know you don't
Speaker 3: be on the internet. I know there was a frenzy
Speaker 3: when they switched the.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, yeah. There was a frenzy. Feel bad for
Speaker 1: my man, Trey, for my brother. It's our brother. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And they put him in a cold position because people
Speaker 1: were just like, hey, man. That was something 50. And
Speaker 1: I blame 50 for that because, you know, when something
Speaker 1: is good, you don't touch it. Yeah. You know, it's
Speaker 1: like when you hear the old school shows and sitcoms. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, Cheers and- You want the original cast. Yeah,
Speaker 1: them songs don't change, you know what I mean? The Cosby, well,
Speaker 1: they did switch up the Cosby show.
Speaker 4: They switched up the Cosby show. Yeah, yeah, that one
Speaker 4: got switched up.
Speaker 1: Switched up a few times. But, yeah, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: one of those things, man, that's the ID to the show.
Speaker 1: As soon as you hear it, you're like, oh.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's on the same level of cheers when everybody
Speaker 3: knows your name. Everybody knows this is a big, rich town.
Speaker 3: As soon as that starts, it's like, ah.
Speaker 1: It's the right vibe. Yeah. New York City, New Jersey,
Speaker 1: that whole area, man. Northeast is just something special. that
Speaker 1: grind is just something different. You know, the whole church
Speaker 1: scene out there, everything about it's just different. Basketball, bowling,
Speaker 1: basketball at Green Acres, you know, in the hood.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Everything is different. It makes you, it builds you, equips
Speaker 1: you with something different, man, growing up in Jersey.
Speaker 4: Did it take you a long time to adapt coming
Speaker 4: from the South?
Speaker 1: Not at all. Not at all. I had a good
Speaker 1: crew of people around me. Yeah, I was a country boy.
Speaker 1: You know, I had creases in my jeans and things
Speaker 1: like that. Yeah. I remember having a, a little snap
Speaker 1: joke with one of my own boys in the house.
Speaker 1: And I had these Jodeci boys, the men boots on
Speaker 1: with the glow, the glow bottom, the glow bottle. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The glow up bottom. Okay. Really for stage and perform,
Speaker 1: but I'm rocking them. But you're rocking them in the streets.
Speaker 1: I'm rocking them in the streets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very genuine.
Speaker 1: Our brother G would definitely rock them. Yeah, yeah. That
Speaker 1: looks like his style. I'm like, G, you just walking
Speaker 1: around with glow shoes on? Hey, you know, hey, dawg. Hey, dawg.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? When they see these, hit
Speaker 1: the lights, dawg.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Hey, trust me. That's how he won the joke. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Turned the light off on me. And there I was.
Speaker 1: And there I was. Glowing in the dark. Glowing in
Speaker 1: the dark. Oh, shit. It was over. He won. He won.
Speaker 1: But yeah, man, it's, you know, growing up in Jersey,
Speaker 1: it's just so much fun. I mean, it's the real world.
Speaker 1: It's fast paced. Yeah. You know, if you got it,
Speaker 1: you got to go get it. You know, you got
Speaker 1: to go for it. Go hard. It's cold. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a hustle. It's a struggle. You got to go
Speaker 1: for it, man. I just love that I had that
Speaker 1: opportunity to grow up in that experience in New Jersey.
Speaker 4: Because you would, I mean, When you look at it now,
Speaker 4: you're still a kid when you get there.
Speaker 1: I was a kid. You're still a kid. Yeah, You
Speaker 1: know what I mean? When I came to LA, I
Speaker 1: was still a kid. I was an infant in this industry, man. Infant, newborn.
Speaker 1: But you had to learn fast. You keep your ears open,
Speaker 1: eyes wide open, and just catch on as quick as
Speaker 1: you can. Because it's the business. If you don't understand that,
Speaker 1: it's going to be a hard struggle for you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Your talent is good. That's going to make a way
Speaker 1: for you. But man, you got to understand this business.
Speaker 1: You don't want to be working hard for the rest
Speaker 1: of your life. You want to be, make some smart decisions. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I made smart decisions when I first started going for
Speaker 1: the money. I knew that to come, you know, but
Speaker 1: it was about being at the right home. Yeah. Now
Speaker 1: you definitely, bro, you, You joined the Bulls. You joined
Speaker 1: the Bulls. I joined the Bulls. That's right. Flat out, bro.
Speaker 1: I was a free agent.
Speaker 3: You joined the Bulls, bro, because you got to think
Speaker 3: about it. I mean, if we're really talking about it.
Speaker 1: Oh, look at the roster. Hold on. Should I name
Speaker 1: them for you?
Speaker 2: Go ahead.
Speaker 1: Please. Backstreet Boys. NSYNC. Britney Spears. R. Kelly. High Five. Yes. Me. Yes.
Speaker 2: E-40.
Speaker 1: Tribe Called Quest. E-40. Too Short. Too Short. Mystical. Bro.
Speaker 1: They were an indie label. That's crazy. Independent label. That's crazy.
Speaker 1: And I learned a lot from that too. And they
Speaker 1: had everything in-house. The studio, battery studios. They had Jive,
Speaker 1: label Jive Records. They had Zamba. Zamba, a publishing company.
Speaker 1: That was my first deal. Oh, so you were. I
Speaker 1: was signed to Zumba.
Speaker 4: Before you got the job.
Speaker 1: Before I got the job. Ah, it was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,
Speaker 1: I had a real working relationship. So it makes sense, right? Right. Yeah. No, that, that,
Speaker 1: that label. I mean, then eventually Chris Brown. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: eventually Chris Brown. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Like.
Speaker 1: Man, they knew what they were doing. Yes. They understand.
Speaker 1: They understood it. So, yeah, I forgot Chris was a
Speaker 1: label mate. That's when I first met him. Uh, with, with, uh,
Speaker 1: Mark Pitts.
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1: You know. And I was in the session. He brought
Speaker 1: him in and said, we're going to meet this new kid.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, damn, he was tall as hell
Speaker 1: too back then. Yeah, yeah. 16. Yeah. 16. Excited. Excited.
Speaker 1: And that was the last time I seen him because
Speaker 1: obviously my world was here and his was there.
Speaker 4: Wait, you said that's the last time you seen him?
Speaker 1: That's the last time I seen him in person, yeah.
Speaker 3: You haven't seen him in person since he was 15,
Speaker 3: 16 years old?
Speaker 1: Yeah. Huh?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So a lot of people, I don't say, I don't
Speaker 1: get out there, man. I'm not in the... You know what, man?
Speaker 1: You are.
Speaker 3: You got some Loch Ness Monster on. You be like, wait,
Speaker 3: you saw who?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. I told you I'm like the Sade, man.
Speaker 1: You and Devontae. You and Devontae. Devontae's worse to me.
Speaker 1: Devontae's worse to me. If you do get an interview,
Speaker 1: he might say a few words.
Speaker 4: Hank saw Devontae and Devontae said he was going to
Speaker 4: pull up.
Speaker 1: He might. He might.
Speaker 4: Devontae said he was going to pull up.
Speaker 1: I like Devontae, man. That's my dog, man. Everybody in
Speaker 1: this industry I mess with.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: There's not one person I can say I don't have
Speaker 1: a personal connection that's good with.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's a lot. I mean, that's bad. Sorry. I
Speaker 1: don't have not one person I can say I have
Speaker 1: a bad relationship with. No, that's amazing.
Speaker 3: Everybody's super cool. What's your favorite song that you've written?
Speaker 1: I really don't have one yet, man.
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: No, I don't have one.
Speaker 3: Nothing that you wrote for someone else or yourself that
Speaker 3: you feel like, you know what?
Speaker 4: That's my song. That's a perfect record for me.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know. I never really thought
Speaker 1: about it like that. I just feel like I haven't
Speaker 1: written a favorite song yet. My favorite song. I don't
Speaker 1: think that has happened yet. Yeah. Because I feel like
Speaker 1: I keep outdoing myself. And I don't really judge the
Speaker 1: old stuff too much. I like to let that be
Speaker 1: what it is.
Speaker 3: How do you feel about this new age of catalog acquisitions?
Speaker 1: It's good.
Speaker 4: Because I'm sure they've been after you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's good. I'm holding on to mine. I'm holding
Speaker 1: on to it. I'm waiting for a big check. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Why not?
Speaker 4: You should get one.
Speaker 1: Why not? There should be one coming if you want it.
Speaker 1: And that's why I asked. And I got 12 albums.
Speaker 1: And that's a lot of material. Yes. But this album
Speaker 1: is the most important to me because, man, I tell you, when.
Speaker 1: I talk about God a lot because I feel like
Speaker 1: when he is guiding you and has his hands on you, man,
Speaker 1: you feel it. You feel it. You feel it a
Speaker 1: thousand percent. Everything changes. The whole world changes. It kind
Speaker 1: of slows down. You can really see and understand every
Speaker 1: move that you're making and what move you need to
Speaker 1: make before you make it. It's such a beautiful process
Speaker 1: just to do this album the way I'm doing it
Speaker 1: because I don't feel no pressure, no rush, nothing. I
Speaker 1: feel rushed, but I, you know, That's my team rushing me.
Speaker 1: But other than that, I'm like, hey, you know, this
Speaker 1: is good. I'm just having fun doing it. And the
Speaker 1: more I take my time, the better it gets. Have
Speaker 1: you found a label partner for it? Nah, nah. It's
Speaker 1: going to be me. I'm going to do it independent. Purely?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to do distribution with someone. I mean,
Speaker 1: I did it before. I did my last four or
Speaker 1: five albums. It was independent. And I did distribution through Red.
Speaker 4: Okay. Do you like that space more for you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. It's cool. It's cool. I mean, I'm in
Speaker 1: control of things. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 3: And as far as just being able to just outsource
Speaker 3: what you need to outsource.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, if you, first of all, if, if
Speaker 1: you don't need the label for anything, money wise, you okay.
Speaker 2: Good.
Speaker 4: And you have a very solid fan base.
Speaker 1: Fan base.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Are you going to do physical on this next project too?
Speaker 1: I have to. Okay. There's a lot of people that
Speaker 1: want that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. I want to do vinyl. Yes, absolutely. Physical vinyl. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Because it's, you know, it's live. I mean, it's live instruments.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm going at strings.
Speaker 4: I was at an orchestra from Budapest.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
Speaker 4: You turned all the way up.
Speaker 1: 80-piece orchestra from Budapest.
Speaker 4: 80-piece orchestra from Budapest.
Speaker 1: Everything, bro. We kill it.
Speaker 4: That's a crazy flex.
Speaker 1: We're going Prince, Michael, Stevie. Yeah. I'm trying to be, though,
Speaker 1: in that category. The greats. Oh, I love that, bro.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love that. I want it to be the source
Speaker 1: of inspiration that they were for me. Yeah. I can't
Speaker 1: wait to hear it, bro. Absolutely. Can't wait to play
Speaker 1: you some stuff. Oh, man. I'm excited. Can't wait for
Speaker 1: the fans to hear it, man. Y'all going to be
Speaker 1: so excited. I guarantee you. Is it this year? I'm
Speaker 1: going to let you down.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's this year, too. You see, I'm trying to get,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: the year's almost up. That's the only thing I'm kind
Speaker 1: of like, hmm. I mean, at least a single. I
Speaker 1: want the rollout to be nice. Yeah, at least a single. Okay.
Speaker 4: So I see you popping outside a little bit, man,
Speaker 4: over this last.
Speaker 1: Year or so. Yeah, yeah. Everybody's getting on my case, man.
Speaker 1: Tiny desk. Yeah.
Speaker 3: How long did it take them to get you to
Speaker 3: do a tiny desk? How long did it take to
Speaker 3: get you to do a tiny desk, man?
Speaker 1: I was not going to do it. I certainly was not.
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to do nothing until I had everything finished.
Speaker 1: on the project. I was going to do everything, but
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to do it yet. Bro, I was
Speaker 1: so excited. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I was so excited, bro. There are certain artists for
Speaker 4: me that.
Speaker 3: I, I step outside of me being in the business
Speaker 3: and me knowing people or me like, and you're one
Speaker 3: of those people for me, brother.
Speaker 1: Thank you, man.
Speaker 3: Always has been because of how you've carried yourself in
Speaker 3: the game and the music you've made and.
Speaker 1: You're not oversaturated.
Speaker 3: You're not everywhere doing everything.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: So when you do pop out, it's like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Speaker 1: Shot A effect. I don't know why I'm going with that.
Speaker 1: Because that's shot A's get down. Listen. I love it
Speaker 1: because when you do see her, it's refreshing. Yeah. It's beautiful. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I've never seen her in person. Me neither. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: love to meet her. I love to do a record
Speaker 1: with her. So if Sade is watching this interview, please, please, please.
Speaker 1: I got a record for you. And yeah, someone reach
Speaker 1: out to my team. I'm sure I'm easy to find.
Speaker 4: Joe and Sade would be insane.
Speaker 1: It'd be insane. Insane.
Speaker 3: He popped out for the tiny desk. And now you
Speaker 3: popping out for the versus.
Speaker 1: That's going to be fun.
Speaker 2: Hmm.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man. Me and Donnell Jones. Hmm.
Speaker 3: Who is, once again, one of the guys where I'm like, ah, man, listen,
Speaker 3: this is where I want to be, album brother.
Speaker 1: One of the greatest R & B albums of all time.
Speaker 1: Of all time. That album is special. Of all time? Yes, sir. Special.
Speaker 3: And for you guys to come together, especially just the pins,
Speaker 3: y'all pins, man, the records y'all have written for other people,
Speaker 3: the records y'all have done for y'allself, Are you breaking out?
Speaker 4: Are you, you know, cause this, this, this episode is
Speaker 4: going to come out after.
Speaker 3: Are you breaking out records you wrote for other people?
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about it. If he does it, I'm going
Speaker 1: to do it. Okay. Okay. I want him to set
Speaker 1: it off and leave it. Cause he, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't want to talk down or anything, but if he need,
Speaker 1: felt like he needs to do that, that's the best
Speaker 1: way to say it. Then yeah. You got something. I'll
Speaker 1: go there with him. I just want it to be fun,
Speaker 1: you know, competitive fun. Yeah. You know, we're brothers, we're cool,
Speaker 1: but I want this thing to feel like, yo, they're
Speaker 1: going to connect on this one. We're going to get
Speaker 1: native pictures. I mean, because you featured on that. That's
Speaker 1: my record. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's like, yeah.
Speaker 1: That's dope.
Speaker 3: That's your record and then you did another Case record
Speaker 3: that I love Missing You Missing You yeah which was
Speaker 3: Missing You from what I was told it was originally
Speaker 3: just your song.
Speaker 1: I cut it for you yes yeah but then they
Speaker 1: went Case label wanted another record so I was like
Speaker 1: well I just finished this one you know I don't
Speaker 1: mind if he Take it. So was that at the
Speaker 1: same time? Those two records now?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: No. Two different times, though. Two different times. Probably months apart.
Speaker 1: That's the same time. Months apart.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: That's... Call Joe. He got another one for us. Yeah, right. Shit. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: That was a good time. That was a good time.
Speaker 1: They was throwing some money my way at that time.
Speaker 4: I'm sure.
Speaker 1: Real nice. At what... Okay. Production money was nice. That's
Speaker 1: what I was about to ask. Yeah.
Speaker 3: What's the highest production fee you got? At the height
Speaker 3: that you were just like, yo, give me this. I'll
Speaker 3: go in with them and give me this. To walk
Speaker 3: in that studio.
Speaker 1: Probably about 350. I think I got.
Speaker 4: You got 350 for one song?
Speaker 1: Yeah. Because my average was probably around 100.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: 350 is crazy, yo. Yeah. Yeah. I see the way
Speaker 1: you got your legs crossed, man.
Speaker 3: That's the leg cross of a man who got $ 350, 000
Speaker 3: for one song.
Speaker 1: You got to wiggle the foot. Yeah, and wiggle the foot.
Speaker 1: You got to do that. Yeah, yeah. No, no, I
Speaker 1: was just joking around. No, God has been good, man.
Speaker 1: It's been a phenomenal thing. One thing about it is
Speaker 1: that when you got one hit record, right, and you
Speaker 1: produce it and your credit's up there and it clearly
Speaker 1: says that's you. Yes. Everybody wants one. Everybody wants that
Speaker 1: hit record. Yeah. So you got 15, 20 people calling
Speaker 1: you for a song. You're in high demand. Right. You
Speaker 1: can charge what you want. Yeah. Now you were going crazy.
Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough to charge what I want. Very. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And you were giving hit records. It wasn't like you were,
Speaker 3: you know, just giving B-sides.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's like, no, no, no. You get a Joe Thomas record.
Speaker 1: We'll get a single. It's out of here.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm fortunate, man. I'm so fortunate. But that's because when
Speaker 1: you put God first... great things happen. Yeah. Always remember that.
Speaker 1: Put God first.
Speaker 3: There was something else I wanted to ask you about
Speaker 3: an earlier thing. We're going to go back a little
Speaker 3: bit for you. Black men united.
Speaker 1: You will know. Man, I'm a menace. I'm a renegade.
Speaker 1: You already know what I'm about to say, man. I'm
Speaker 1: cavalier about things. Yeah, I do what I want. I
Speaker 1: do what I feel. That's a story behind that, too.
Speaker 1: With the label, though. Yeah, yeah. That was a shot
Speaker 1: at the label. But go ahead. Your question about that.
Speaker 4: That experience. All those brothers that were on that record.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And standing out on that record.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: When your part came, it was like, oh, shit. He
Speaker 3: ain't fucking around. I mean, I'm talking about immediately.
Speaker 1: Young boy. Young boy stuff. Excited. Yeah, excited. Real energy.
Speaker 1: You got Boyz II Men. You got Tony, Tony, Tony.
Speaker 1: You got R. Kelly. You got Brian McKnight. You got
Speaker 1: Gerald LaVert. You got. Young D'Angelo. You got Young D'Angelo.
Speaker 1: You got everybody, brother. You got everybody in there. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, in my mind, I was always cocky. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I can now sing everybody in this room. So that
Speaker 1: was my mindset. And then they just tried to lay
Speaker 1: it down and just. come with it. Come with it.
Speaker 1: And you did, brother. They only gave me a part
Speaker 1: and I was like, I don't care what it is.
Speaker 1: I want it. That's any situation I get myself in.
Speaker 1: If you got me there, I'm going hard. If it's sports, anything,
Speaker 1: I'm going hard. I'm trying to win.
Speaker 4: You know who I feel like is a version of you?
Speaker 1: Mario. Little bro.
Speaker 3: I feel like Mario, when I, you know, I feel
Speaker 3: like The next generation, it was Mario.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, he's incredible too.
Speaker 4: That vocal beast monster.
Speaker 1: He wanted them all. But clean. Clean.
Speaker 3: That's very hard to attain. It's hard to be a
Speaker 3: monster and clean. Most monsters, it got a little dirt
Speaker 3: on it or.
Speaker 1: It got some... Yeah. It's not as pristine. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And to be able to keep that up for decades.
Speaker 3: Because at this point, he's been in the game 20 years.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah. Time flies. What? Man, 33 years, 35, 34
Speaker 1: years I've been in this industry. What, 1993? I released
Speaker 1: my first album. I was in before that, like 92,
Speaker 1: behind the scenes. Yeah. Obviously working. But man, hey, God
Speaker 1: is that good. Yes. If you continue to do things
Speaker 1: in a positive way, opportunities will always keep coming your way. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Stay in it. Stay in the fight. Stay in it
Speaker 1: to win it. And just keep at it, man. Just
Speaker 1: don't stop. Hip-hop, don't stop. Old school. Y'all shouldn't have
Speaker 1: a chef life. No, not at all. You shouldn't have
Speaker 1: a chef life. Keep going. If it's good, everybody should
Speaker 1: be able to eat it. And we do that to ourselves.
Speaker 1: We do it to ourselves.
Speaker 4: We do it to ourselves.
Speaker 3: Nobody else does that in any other genres of music
Speaker 3: and in any other cultures.
Speaker 1: Right. They love their people.
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1: They celebrate. They celebrate their people. Yeah.
Speaker 4: And I feel like we have a moment where we
Speaker 4: come back around to celebrate.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But the middle age of it, it gets like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know if they can. Why are you questioning? Like, T.I.
Speaker 1: just had a hit record. Incredible.
Speaker 3: Tank got a hit record out right now. Joe's new
Speaker 3: album is going to be a hit album.
Speaker 1: That's right. And with hit records on it. That's right.
Speaker 4: And this is how it's supposed to be. You know
Speaker 4: what I'm saying?
Speaker 3: And I love the space that we're in in music
Speaker 3: where most of our biggest artists are grownups.
Speaker 1: Thank God. It's grownups out here. Thank God we are.
Speaker 4: Especially in this R & B space.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's just grown. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Leon's grown.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Bruno Mars grown. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's amazing because- Victoria Monet. I'm starting to find the
Speaker 1: ages of some of these people. I'm like, whoa.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Lucky day. 30s. Grownups. Yeah. Yeah. I would love to
Speaker 1: do this too. Now that I have this floor and
Speaker 1: this opportunity. Mm-hmm. I want to extend the invitation to,
Speaker 1: and I want to talk to all the male R &
Speaker 1: B singers. Okay. They listening. Just to the male R &
Speaker 1: B singers, we need to come together and do a project.
Speaker 1: We can't let it just be the one time out with...
Speaker 1: With Christian Usher. Not just with Christian Usher, going all
Speaker 1: the way back with Men in Black and all of that.
Speaker 1: And the humbleness, like you're saying with Christian Usher. If
Speaker 1: it's a background part, I'm available. I got backgrounds I
Speaker 1: would love to have on my album as well. I
Speaker 1: hope you're available. This is how we can kind of
Speaker 1: keep our thing going and embrace each other's craft and
Speaker 1: make R & B even bigger than what it is.
Speaker 1: We have to support each other when it comes to
Speaker 1: this music. So I'm excited to extend the opportunity for
Speaker 1: someone to jump on the record, jump on the album. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Just to have their voice, their presence. You know, to
Speaker 1: build this R & B experience even bigger. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: this genre even bigger than what it is. Because I
Speaker 1: think the way hip-hop has done it, that's the blueprint. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: That is the blueprint. They jump on each other's records
Speaker 1: and support them. Yeah. So I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: if we continue, if we started to do that and
Speaker 1: continue to do that, it's going to make our R &
Speaker 1: B even bigger.
Speaker 3: No, that statement means a lot. That statement means a
Speaker 3: lot because what I found, right, because I'm moving in
Speaker 3: a lot of the R & B rooms, bro, and.
Speaker 4: Just music, period. Like, last night I went to go
Speaker 4: see Will Ferrell's son.
Speaker 1: Have you seen him yet? No. Magnus Ferrell? The comedian
Speaker 1: Will Ferrell? His son. That's only Will Ferrell I know.
Speaker 4: His son is a vibe.
Speaker 1: Rapping? No. Singing. Oh, shit.
Speaker 4: And got the R & B soul running through his blood.
Speaker 1: Wow. He loves it.
Speaker 3: Young white boy having a good-ass time singing his ass
Speaker 3: off with a cold falsetto.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 4: 22 years old.
Speaker 1: He's a baby.
Speaker 4: Me and Sean Stockman went to go see him. You
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying?
Speaker 3: And what I found in these rooms is that a
Speaker 3: lot of times they don't know that you want to
Speaker 3: work with them. Because it's like They're just like, well,
Speaker 3: I never see him and I never, I can't talk.
Speaker 1: Cause I'm in the studio. Right.
Speaker 3: But, but by you making that statement on this type
Speaker 3: of platform, I'm going to also follow that up with,
Speaker 3: I'm available to help.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Cause these are my, these are, these are my folks
Speaker 3: that I deal with all the time as well. From
Speaker 3: the Kehlani's to the Victoria's to the Jadon's, the young boys,
Speaker 3: the Papa J to Jacob Lattimore, Trevor Jackson. Like, I'm
Speaker 3: talking to Chris Brown. I want to be able to
Speaker 3: have that conversation and say, hey, man, I spoke to Joe.
Speaker 1: And you see the little things. Yeah. A background part,
Speaker 1: maybe just one note. Yeah. Your voice is so unique,
Speaker 1: it's going to stand out.
Speaker 4: I mean, you on Andrew in disguise.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know? I mean, we're going to talk about,
Speaker 1: you know? That's the point. I'm loving it. Yeah. You're good.
Speaker 1: You're good. I mean, I'm just trying to do my job, man.
Speaker 1: You're awesome. You're awesome, bro. Come on, man. You know,
Speaker 1: you know. That's what it is. And I love you, man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? We know who that was. Yeah, indeed, indeed.
Speaker 1: That's Joe. So that's the point. Yes. And more of that,
Speaker 1: I think, is going to be incredible.
Speaker 3: The olive branch, man. The olive branch that, that, that.
Speaker 3: that's why we started just our company, period. Why we
Speaker 3: started R & B Money.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And then obviously creating this show because we wanted to
Speaker 3: continue to be an olive branch and continue to tap in. And,
Speaker 3: you know, even when we had Sammy on the show, Sammy,
Speaker 3: he said he's like, man, like, well, nobody's trying to
Speaker 3: put me on tour at that time. Tank took me
Speaker 3: on tour with him. And then I got on the
Speaker 3: Millennium Tours to go do my thing.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: But, you know, when we tapped in with him, it
Speaker 3: was a different time for him. He's trying to figure
Speaker 3: his shit out. But it's like, nigga, that's Sammy.
Speaker 1: Come on. Let's rock. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: And that for us, bro, is really important.
Speaker 1: That camaraderie is important.
Speaker 3: We're trying to have it as much as possible because
Speaker 3: Tank and I are kindred spirits like you of, I
Speaker 3: don't have no issues in this business.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: I have no issues in this business at all.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: So I have no problem calling the homies.
Speaker 1: Right. And say, hey, man. Yeah. And they need to
Speaker 1: know that. They need to know it's like, yo, I'm available. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, this is an accessible artist. Yeah. And I'd
Speaker 1: love to work, you know, someone with the same mindset.
Speaker 1: You know, if you got something that's incredible and you
Speaker 1: feel like just that little touch of tone would make
Speaker 1: the difference. Right. Here I am. Yeah. And it's time, man.
Speaker 1: It's time.
Speaker 3: It's like when, you know, When Kels was working with
Speaker 3: Ron Isley, Charlie Wilson.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Maxwell. Maxwell. Shout out to Maxwell. Oh, shout out to Maxwell.
Speaker 1: Our brother. Much love to you. Sheesh. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Yeah.
Speaker 3: When Babyface did the project with all the young ladies,
Speaker 3: Ladies Night Out, you know what I'm saying? Like, we
Speaker 3: got to have those things happening, man. So, listen, I'm
Speaker 3: in full support. Whatever you want, I'm on. You got
Speaker 3: my word on that, brother. Like, if I got to
Speaker 3: make a phone call, you're like, hey, yo, you know
Speaker 3: the young, you know what?
Speaker 1: I'll find his manager. Yeah. I'll call the label head. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We'll figure it out. Yeah. We need that. It's going
Speaker 1: to be a thing on the road, man, because it's
Speaker 1: a beautiful genre. Yes. Special. Yes. And we can make
Speaker 1: it bigger than what it has ever been. Yeah. Come together.
Speaker 3: So while we're talking about the genre, man, I got
Speaker 3: a special segment for this show, man.
Speaker 1: You know what?
Speaker 3: But we go into what your inspirations are. The things
Speaker 3: that pushed you to the place of the mountaintop of
Speaker 3: Joe Thomas, man. You know what I mean? And this
Speaker 3: whole R & B thing. So yeah, man, I want
Speaker 3: to get into your favorites. I want to get into
Speaker 3: your top five R & B singers and your top
Speaker 3: five R & B songs.
Speaker 1: Okay. It's going to be a struggle. It's never easy.
Speaker 1: It's never easy. It's never easy. So many of them. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's go for it.
Speaker 4: So top five R & B singers.
Speaker 1: Stevie Wonder. Come on. Definitely. Marvin Gaye. These names are
Speaker 1: here all the time. Man, I'm sorry. It's too many
Speaker 1: great singers. Jasmine Sullivan off the freaking hook. Yes. And
Speaker 1: you can go, you know, you can go Thomas, man.
Speaker 1: Kehlani is incredible. Kehlani. She's beautiful, too, by the way.
Speaker 1: Who else is it? So you said Stevie? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jasmine. Singles, yeah, yeah. Jasmine. Kehlani. Kehlani.
Speaker 1: I'll put Tank on that list. That's a bad boy.
Speaker 1: Come on, man. Come on. Come on. Put our brother
Speaker 1: in there. Tank is cold. Man, it's just, man. That's four.
Speaker 4: But you can name as many as you want.
Speaker 1: Whitney Houston, obviously. I got to say Luther because I
Speaker 1: can't leave him out. And I'm going to stop there
Speaker 1: because I'm going to keep going with Charlie Wilson. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's going to keep growing. Yeah, yeah. I'd be like
Speaker 1: James Brown singing.
Speaker 3: Listen, most people don't mention James Brown because he was
Speaker 3: so much of everything.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4: That they don't pay attention.
Speaker 1: Yeah. To what that vocal was. What he was doing. Powerhouse.
Speaker 1: It wasn't easy. It's a powerhouse. It was not easy. Timing. Tone. Yeah. Range. Oh,
Speaker 1: he cold. Okay. So we. Shout out to the Brown family.
Speaker 1: It was about a top eight, nine. Okay.
Speaker 4: Now top five R & B songs.
Speaker 1: Two Occasions. Mm-hmm. Special. Always and forever. Let's see. Insatiable Prince. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Turn the lights off. That's three. That's four. I'm sorry, man.
Speaker 1: I can't think of them all. Come on, you got
Speaker 1: to give me. I think I'm tired. One more. One more.
Speaker 1: One more. One more. Come on. One more.
Speaker 2: One more.
Speaker 1: I want you. Marvin Gaye. Yes. Yep. Because you're talking
Speaker 1: about of all time in my mind. I want you
Speaker 1: is up there. Teddy P got some joints. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I'm going to put them at the greatest
Speaker 1: of all time songs. Because I'm thinking of lyrical content
Speaker 1: and not just vibe and emotions. You got an MJ
Speaker 1: record from him? Oh, the MJ record would be.
Speaker 1: I'm reaching out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess that would be it. We'll roll with those.
Speaker 1: We'll roll with those.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: All right. Now I need... It's always tough to do those, though. Oh, very.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Very tough to do those. Now I need you to
Speaker 4: build a Voltron for me.
Speaker 1: Build what?
Speaker 4: A Voltron. A superhero....
Speaker 3: Super powered R & B vocalists, artists, somebody that would
Speaker 3: be the greatest R & B, the package of this
Speaker 3: would be the greatest R & B singer you could
Speaker 3: think of.
Speaker 1: Oh, so I got to build it, like build a bear. Yes.
Speaker 3: Will you give us the voice, the performance style, stage,
Speaker 3: the styling, the clothes, who's the flyest, the passion of
Speaker 3: this artist, And since you.
Speaker 1: Are a writer and producer, who's going to produce and
Speaker 1: write for you? I was going to say it can't
Speaker 1: be me. Why not? Why not? Because. You write them hits. Oh, well,
Speaker 1: then it's me. Okay. Who's the voice? Who's the voice?
Speaker 1: Whose voice you going with? Shit, man. Marvin Gaye's voice
Speaker 1: is the coolest, sexiest voice ever. Okay.
Speaker 4: So we got Marvin for the voice.
Speaker 1: For technique. If I had his technique, he ain't old school.
Speaker 1: He's new. But that damn Avery Wilson need to be smacked. Man,
Speaker 1: Avery Wilson is an alien. He is a technician. Yes.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: A voice. That dude can sing his behind. Yeah. Effortless.
Speaker 1: There's nothing he can't do.
Speaker 2: Agreed.
Speaker 1: Big shout out to Avery Wilson, man. Absolutely. Big shout
Speaker 1: out to that. I can't wait to hear your first single,
Speaker 1: first album.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You deserve it, bro.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Incredible. Yeah. I would need all of this chops. Style-wise,
Speaker 1: I love my style. You know, I'm definitely on my style. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm more like the Barry White, you know, with the silken. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: You might pull out a cummerbund on him. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? You might have a vest on.
Speaker 1: I've done it before. It's tailored. I'm definitely a waistcoat
Speaker 1: kind of guy. I don't even call it vest. I
Speaker 1: call it waistcoat. Waistcoat. Yeah. Who's performing style? Performing style.
Speaker 4: Who's going to kill the stage?
Speaker 1: Michael kills it every time, but James Brown is also
Speaker 1: one of those top performers. Yeah. I'm mixed between the two.
Speaker 1: First of all, Mike is another level. I'm not even
Speaker 1: going to put him in the category. I'm more of
Speaker 1: a Teddy P. Yeah. Smooth, cool. Shirt open. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying? Nice necklace. Yeah, you know, that
Speaker 1: kind of vibe. Yeah, yeah. You know.
Speaker 4: I see what you're putting down.
Speaker 1: Smooth with it. Smooth with it. But I'm shaving the
Speaker 1: chest hairs, though. I don't want the taco meat look.
Speaker 1: I don't think that was good. That was a thing, man.
Speaker 1: That was a thing. That was a thing, man. There
Speaker 1: was a time for that. That's the 70s right there. Okay,
Speaker 1: and who got the passion? With the stash.
Speaker 3: Who's the passionate artist that you're like, okay, this the one?
Speaker 1: Ooh, passion.
Speaker 4: That's going to make you feel it.
Speaker 1: Let me think about this one. Because Al Green has
Speaker 1: a passion, man. That boy was, when he hit some
Speaker 1: falsettos and go from natural to false. I love a
Speaker 1: good Al Green performance. Or Rance Allen. You ever heard
Speaker 1: of him? Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm a church boy, so I mean,
Speaker 1: I would go with the whining. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a different type of passion. Yeah, man. You're singing for
Speaker 1: the Lord. That's a different type of passion. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: But that's me on stage, too. I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: still singing for the Lord, even though I'm singing about
Speaker 1: a few other things. But it's that passion. Mm-hmm. You know,
Speaker 1: that anointment. Yes. The oil. The conviction. Yeah, that thing
Speaker 1: when you just feel it. I go there on stage. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: So to me, it's similar. Okay. You know, church, gospel.
Speaker 1: And who's producing and writing for this artist? Who's the producer?
Speaker 1: Babyface is one of them. Gambling Huff. Yes. I'm able
Speaker 1: to throw in uh doja holland doja yeah which one comes.
Speaker 3: First yeah they got a bag of song yes my
Speaker 3: brother bo doja rest in peace man so my doja
Speaker 3: son that's what's up used to be one of the
Speaker 3: producers on this show before he passed that's what's up
Speaker 3: man yeah it's my brother we came up together.
Speaker 1: Wonderful wonderful legacy legacy stuff And I try to put
Speaker 1: as many people on Doja Holland Doja as I can
Speaker 1: because they do not know the impact those two writers
Speaker 1: and producers have. It's three of those. Yeah, Holland Doja Holland. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Holland Doja Holland. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Someone was just trying
Speaker 1: to get extra credit or something. Put my name twice.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Holland Doja Holland, man. Incredible music. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Speaker 1: I mean, all the greats from back then. That's why
Speaker 1: I tell people to study history. Yeah. Like go search
Speaker 1: the first R & B song that may be considered
Speaker 1: the first R & B song. Is you is or
Speaker 1: is you ain't my baby. Yeah. Yeah. You know, go
Speaker 1: back and study the R & B history, man. You know,
Speaker 1: that's one of them ones. Do your homework. Do your homework. Yes.
Speaker 1: Do your research. And you'll find a lot of information
Speaker 1: that you may not have been privy to. Now that
Speaker 1: you're watching R & B Money, you get a chance
Speaker 1: to kind of touch on it a bit. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you guys, man.
Speaker 4: So I got one more thing before I let you go.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir.
Speaker 4: We got this very special part of the show.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's called I Ain't Say No Names. I Ain't
Speaker 1: Say No Names. Where you telling me a story. You
Speaker 1: tell us.
Speaker 3: You tell, you know, the people of the R &
Speaker 3: B money world a story, funny or fucked up.
Speaker 1: Oh, okay. I got one. Funny and fucked up. Yeah.
Speaker 4: The only rule to the game is Joe Thomas can't
Speaker 4: say no names.
Speaker 1: I don't want to call this nigga out, too. Oh, shit.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Anyway, he going to know who it is. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was in a session doing a song for this artist,
Speaker 1: and we just had mad time to kill. We just
Speaker 1: sitting around. Yeah, yeah. We in New York City. We gambling.
Speaker 1: We playing C-low. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Real East Coast shit. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Real East Coast. You play craps and South Georgia shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Y'all the Three Dice guys, man. Yeah, yeah. The East Coast. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: And I'm killing him and his manager. throwing it off
Speaker 1: the wall. Pow. Give me that. Four, five, six. Four, five, six.
Speaker 1: Give me that. Right. Took all this money. Every penny.
Speaker 1: I had, I mean, I was loaded. I had so
Speaker 1: much cash. I mean, I was just, when I was young,
Speaker 1: I was just playing around, you know, just throwing money,
Speaker 1: burning money fast. I was BMF before BMF. And so
Speaker 1: he wanted to gamble. We got time, you know. I
Speaker 1: lit him up. Did he have a bankroll to gamble
Speaker 1: with you? He had a little bag.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: He had a little bag. I took everything from him.
Speaker 1: He going to tell you the story too, probably. He
Speaker 1: going to probably come up here and tell you the story. Oh, shit. Okay.
Speaker 1: I ain't saying no name. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Every dollar. Oh, every penny. Yeah. Banks was closed. He
Speaker 1: would have got more. Yeah. I've had that experience with
Speaker 1: a young R & B fella. Yeah. I was like, listen,
Speaker 1: I need it. I need it. All of it. That's
Speaker 1: my dog, too.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Shout out to my dog. You know who you are. Hey, listen,
Speaker 1: it go down in these studios. I love it, man.
Speaker 1: It go down in these studios. Hey, you got Mad
Speaker 1: Time to Kill. You got time. I mean, he's mixing
Speaker 1: or he's doing something, the engineer. And, you know, you
Speaker 1: got to make time, make time pass. And I grew
Speaker 1: up in the studio, you can say. You know, most
Speaker 1: of my time was in these deep rooms like this, man. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love it. Yeah. Well, listen, man, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me, brother. I honor your time, brother.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you having me. You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: This is a very special moment for us here, man,
Speaker 3: and for our community and our people, man, to see
Speaker 3: us come together and for you to pop up and
Speaker 3: have this type of conversation with me, man.
Speaker 1: Y'all knew I was going to come holler at you, man. Man, listen, man.
Speaker 1: Of course. I've been, when I say looking for you, brother,
Speaker 1: I've been looking for you.
Speaker 3: So I'm glad that you're finally here, man, and I've
Speaker 3: been able to show my appreciation, man, and give you
Speaker 3: your flowers for the amazing career that you're having.
Speaker 1: Not had. Having. Thank God for that. Appreciate it. Having, brother.
Speaker 4: Still sold out shows around the world.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir. It's getting bigger. Come on, man. It's getting bigger.
Speaker 1: Come on.
Speaker 3: And that new album, whatever you're going to call it.
Speaker 1: We're looking for it. This is how God works. Yes.
Speaker 1: This is how God works. If you ain't see it,
Speaker 1: look at it in real time. That's how it works, man. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So, man, like I said, man, I just want to
Speaker 3: thank you for pulling up on me, man. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm Jay Valentine. It's the R & B Money Podcast.
Speaker 3: And this has been Joe Thomas.
Speaker 1: The legend. The icon.
Speaker 4: The voice of all voices.
Speaker 1: My brother. Pulled up on us today.
Speaker 4: I'll see y'all next week.