WEBVTT - Raheem DeVaughn

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<v Speaker 1>Quest Love Show is a production of iHeart Radio.

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<v Speaker 2>Ladies and gentlemen, what's up? This is the Quest Love Show.

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<v Speaker 2>This is the Double Love Show. I guess where this

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<v Speaker 2>is the love I mean, yeah, I'm meeting the love

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<v Speaker 2>Kate right now. We're talking to the Love Kate. What

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<v Speaker 2>can I say, Ladies and gentlemen from the d m V.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, So, whenever I mentioned the d m V,

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<v Speaker 2>it's like, only DMV people know what that means.

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<v Speaker 3>Anywhere else that's the department vehicle.

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<v Speaker 2>But I'm like, is it a thing where it's just like,

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<v Speaker 2>is that really your tri state area?

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<v Speaker 1>Like do people call that area of the d m V.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but I would never say it on the record.

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<v Speaker 2>God, because everyone thinking of the Department of the got

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<v Speaker 2>you got.

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<v Speaker 3>The DMV for life?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, our guest today is a singer, songwriter, activists,

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<v Speaker 2>a legendary radio show host. I'm an hr I'm I'm

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<v Speaker 2>secretly jealous when I heard you got that gig man.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm like, he has worked with a lot of our favorites,

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<v Speaker 2>of course, start with Jazz, Jeff Body, James, Jill Scott,

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<v Speaker 2>my own band The Roots. Actually, you're the last voice

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<v Speaker 2>on the last official Roots album so much. Of course,

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<v Speaker 2>we know him as the Love King, so I respect

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<v Speaker 2>that title. His latest EP, of course, is The Quiet

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<v Speaker 2>Storm Lover Own. Yes, right now, he's a part of

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<v Speaker 2>what I'm am sure is going to be like one

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<v Speaker 2>of the top tickets of twenty twenty six they say

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<v Speaker 2>Yes tour with Flower Tree and Teacher Moses representing the

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<v Speaker 2>Department of Motor Vehicles to the fullest right here, welcome,

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<v Speaker 2>all right.

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<v Speaker 1>So I have to ask you this question. What is

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<v Speaker 1>love truly?

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<v Speaker 4>Oh man, I'm gonna ask you a lot of weird questions.

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<v Speaker 4>It's a connection spiritually with the Creator. It's God for me.

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<v Speaker 4>It's a connection to community. It's random acts of kindness

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<v Speaker 4>in it's prayers form when nobody's watching. Besides this, you

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<v Speaker 4>know the universe and the Creator and got that part. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 4>When it's not performing, it's not When it's not performative, yeah,

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<v Speaker 4>you know, it's painful. It's a brutal truth and looking

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<v Speaker 4>yourself in the mirror, diving deep within.

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<v Speaker 2>You're saying that to the dark places.

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<v Speaker 3>In your mind and shadow work and a lot of things.

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<v Speaker 1>All right.

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<v Speaker 2>So yeah, again, you're you're taking the Love King title

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<v Speaker 2>because I think there's too much pressure on me. But

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<v Speaker 2>to be the love king, I think that one should

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<v Speaker 2>be able to name for me five songs that must

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<v Speaker 2>be on every mixtape. Like for me, my first job

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<v Speaker 2>as like a mixtape master is the roots tour bus,

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<v Speaker 2>especially in the lean years when like nineteen of us

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<v Speaker 2>had to be on a tour bus really just made

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<v Speaker 2>for like thirteen again, I'm talking about like us living

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<v Speaker 2>on the road. The mixtape was always just like the

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<v Speaker 2>moment of relief. Initially, Hub, our bass player, was the

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<v Speaker 2>king of what we called the mellow tapes, where he'd

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<v Speaker 2>be the first on the bus and he would have

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<v Speaker 2>like at least six or seven ninety minute tapes of

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<v Speaker 2>like what we call the Sunday afternoon cleaning music Royers

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<v Speaker 2>Steve like the usual Suspects and whatnot. And then like

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<v Speaker 2>I took over once I realized, like, oh well, I'm

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<v Speaker 2>tired of hearing everybody that was sunshine every time I

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<v Speaker 2>get on the tour bus. So what five songs do

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<v Speaker 2>you think must be on every mixtape of love?

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<v Speaker 3>Stevie wonder?

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<v Speaker 2>What's on ass as?

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, you're going fast? Are we going faster? Slow?

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<v Speaker 4>Let's lets let's go, Let's go, let's go slow, let's

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<v Speaker 4>go Joinie. I get five sons to Stevie wanted to

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<v Speaker 4>joy inside my tears. Shot a cherished today, okay. Marvin

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<v Speaker 4>Gaye distant Lover.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, that's my that's three three.

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<v Speaker 3>And three, Luther van Dross.

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<v Speaker 2>Which one house is not a home?

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<v Speaker 1>Okay? All right? And I got my one?

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<v Speaker 4>I got my one left right, yep, I'm gonna go

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<v Speaker 4>with uh Prince Darling.

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<v Speaker 1>Nikki. Damn what that's the record?

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<v Speaker 2>Scrashsmas, my camera, touch yourself?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I was not expected.

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<v Speaker 2>In my mind, I'm like, okay, well he scandalous when

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<v Speaker 2>you are in love or do me?

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<v Speaker 1>Baby? You went there? All right?

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<v Speaker 4>Of course I have to have some other things there

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<v Speaker 4>to make it, to make it, to make it click,

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<v Speaker 4>to make it all work.

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<v Speaker 2>You see what happens, It happens, all right. So what

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<v Speaker 2>was your first musical memory in life?

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<v Speaker 1>Oh?

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<v Speaker 4>Man, it was Green Hill Preschool and there's this photo

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<v Speaker 4>of me conducting. I think it was like it was

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<v Speaker 4>like the kids choir.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it was.

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<v Speaker 4>So it's just like this photo, this nostalgica photo of

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<v Speaker 4>my mother, you know the photos we have on the wall, right, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 4>you know it's like twenty photos of it in.

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<v Speaker 1>The whole wall.

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<v Speaker 4>Okay, yeah, so I would probably say that. And then

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<v Speaker 4>my dad was always on the road. So there was

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<v Speaker 4>one night he was like in town. I literally got

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<v Speaker 4>to see him for like five minutes. It was like

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<v Speaker 4>the beast five minutes of my life. See my dad

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<v Speaker 4>every day, So different household, but my life. And he

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<v Speaker 4>was actually on tour with Stevie this particular time, and

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<v Speaker 4>I just remember like, ooh, this is amazing, like the

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<v Speaker 4>concert and walking into this concert hall, Camember we were

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<v Speaker 4>we went in DC. If this is in DC, like

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<v Speaker 4>around nineteen eighty an he wanted was he on tour

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<v Speaker 4>Gil Scott heron or because I know that he did

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<v Speaker 4>a series of shows in d C.

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<v Speaker 3>Gil might have been on that show.

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<v Speaker 2>So initially, the whole history of Master Blaster Jamming is

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<v Speaker 2>that Stevie was a big giant Bob Marley fan, and

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<v Speaker 2>they decided in nineteen seventy nine, after like the Secret

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<v Speaker 2>Life of Plants sort of settled now it's hotter than

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<v Speaker 2>July time, and him and Bob Marley going to go

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<v Speaker 2>on tour together and Bob had cancer complications and whatnot,

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<v Speaker 2>and so then Gil Scott Heron filled in for him,

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<v Speaker 2>but I know he did a slew of a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of shows in the DMV era, mainly to garner up

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<v Speaker 2>support for King's birthday. Like, so your father is a

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<v Speaker 2>do Okay, the cellis yep Okay.

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<v Speaker 1>Who else? Do you know who he played with.

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<v Speaker 4>Or Julius Hempfield, A couple of different I know he

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<v Speaker 4>played with David Murray, all different different trios.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, give me your your fondest memory of growing up

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<v Speaker 2>in d C.

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<v Speaker 4>Probably just hearing like the Go Go, Like Go Go

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<v Speaker 4>was always in the midst of things. But I wasn't outside,

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<v Speaker 4>you know what I mean, Like as you know, I

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<v Speaker 4>was outside as a kid, But like you know, I

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<v Speaker 4>didn't jump off the poort. I didn't go to my

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<v Speaker 4>first go go to. I was like maybe like twenty twenty,

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<v Speaker 4>twenty one, nineteen, you know what I mean. So I

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<v Speaker 4>didn't get the experience like going to the Go Go

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<v Speaker 4>at fifteen fourteen, sixteen seventeen, you know.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, So I caught rare essence.

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<v Speaker 2>We just we happen to be in DC one night

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<v Speaker 2>and it was like a three show thing we were doing,

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<v Speaker 2>and like we were there for four days, so we

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<v Speaker 2>had like one of these nights off and I realized

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<v Speaker 2>I'd never been to a go go show before. And

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<v Speaker 2>I was like, all right, well, let me go to

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<v Speaker 2>my first go go experience because my manager went to

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<v Speaker 2>college and the DMV area, you know, Layah, like we

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<v Speaker 2>know everyone in the you gotta go to a go

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<v Speaker 2>go show. And this is this is definitely after the pandemic,

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<v Speaker 2>so maybe like twenty twenty one. Oh wow, okay, and

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<v Speaker 2>so there's this new wave of go go like whatever

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<v Speaker 2>trap and drill are to boombat hip hop, Like it's

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<v Speaker 2>a whole nother bounce beat. The bounce beat, Yeah, it

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<v Speaker 2>was a whole nother rhythm, and like I didn't realize

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<v Speaker 2>that the heartbeat of go go, which you know hates

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<v Speaker 2>when I say this because we always argue. I argue

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<v Speaker 2>and say that, you know, go Go's based off of

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<v Speaker 2>Grover Washington Juniors, mister Magic Dun Dunk Dun Dunk, Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>And I would say, where's that from? Layah? Anyway, So

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<v Speaker 1>the whole.

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<v Speaker 2>Point is they didn't play that bounce Like I was like, wow,

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<v Speaker 2>I never went to a go go show, which just

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<v Speaker 2>the prime rhythm of go go was never played, like

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<v Speaker 2>it was a whole another and I was like, oh, okay,

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<v Speaker 2>so now there's a transition period where that rhythm where

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<v Speaker 2>they slowed it down way down, almost like halftime exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>So like when did you go to your first go

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<v Speaker 2>go show?

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<v Speaker 4>And my first go go experience was Rare Essence at

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<v Speaker 4>the time. I was a writer at that period of

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<v Speaker 4>my life and Droopy Rest in Peace, Droopy and he

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<v Speaker 4>had his hit or Sam. They took me to my

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<v Speaker 4>first rare essence go go experience.

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<v Speaker 1>Miss Kim was in the.

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<v Speaker 4>Band at the time, was there? It was I think

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<v Speaker 4>Mickey was there at the time. They were taking me

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<v Speaker 4>to me white Boy and to write for you know,

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<v Speaker 4>white Boy took a liking to me and my penmanship,

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<v Speaker 4>and the goal was for me to write for Kim

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<v Speaker 4>and write records for the band. But that was my

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<v Speaker 4>first experience. I think it was that. I think we

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<v Speaker 4>did the Black Hole. Okay, maybe black Hole or Tunnel.

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<v Speaker 4>I can't remember what venue was, but I just remember

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<v Speaker 4>like going and instantly being like it was turned out.

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<v Speaker 2>Can one make a good living as a go go

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<v Speaker 2>musician playing in the absolutely?

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<v Speaker 4>I mean it was you got to remember at this

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<v Speaker 4>stage it was already a national, global thing, you know

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<v Speaker 4>what I mean, because you know.

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<v Speaker 2>But for the most part, I know that they stick

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<v Speaker 2>to DC. Yeah, I mean, I mean maybe Virginia, Yeah yeah, yeah.

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<v Speaker 4>But like you talk about the success of of EU,

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<v Speaker 4>you know, school Days and that whole movement on top

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<v Speaker 4>bands making seven figures six figures a year, not having

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<v Speaker 4>to leave the city or leave it, you know. Besides,

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<v Speaker 4>when you want to do a destination trip or you know,

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<v Speaker 4>what's unique about the go Go community is that your

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<v Speaker 4>super fans they follow you. So you have go go

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<v Speaker 4>live in Miami. You got you know, there are annual

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<v Speaker 4>trips that have been happening for.

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<v Speaker 2>So they do come outside.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, it's been I mean, they have a go Go,

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<v Speaker 4>Go Go night in Japan. I went to my first

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<v Speaker 4>time going to what my first time going to Japan

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<v Speaker 4>as Raheem Devna Artists. We were coming in and I

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<v Speaker 4>ran into Sweet Shari and Chuck Brown, like Chuck was

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<v Speaker 4>leaving Japan from playing and had been there maybe two

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<v Speaker 4>three weeks. Sold out every night, Like it's a phenomenon.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, Go Go.

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<v Speaker 4>I would say, go Go is equivalent to what for

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<v Speaker 4>DC to what you know, Big Trombone Shorty is to

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<v Speaker 4>New Orleans, you know what I mean? And to see

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<v Speaker 4>how you know some of these bands been together, you know,

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<v Speaker 4>rare essence is what fifty years and maybe you know

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<v Speaker 4>Backyard Band with Big G.

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<v Speaker 3>I think they got thirty forty years in now.

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<v Speaker 2>Like So as far as like music venues are concerned, yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>like right now, would you say that DC is still

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<v Speaker 2>strong in the game as far as having music outlet

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<v Speaker 2>because the thing is is that the reason why the

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<v Speaker 2>Roots really existed, or at least to the to the

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<v Speaker 2>the fast lane that we got ushered in on, was

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<v Speaker 2>that there were no music venues in Philly. So it

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<v Speaker 2>was like you had the creative, let's go on the

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<v Speaker 2>streets now. I meant, had the Roots come out fifteen

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<v Speaker 2>twenty years later, we would have probably been like, all right.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's get a YouTube page and do that.

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<v Speaker 2>But you know, we only played the streets and busks

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<v Speaker 2>because there was no place to play. And only then

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<v Speaker 2>people were like, you know, they did did the whole

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<v Speaker 2>thing like, well, you know, you know, we're not into

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<v Speaker 2>rap music, but we like you guys, and we were

0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.079
<v Speaker 2>suddenly like the first rap group to play like all

0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:50.600
<v Speaker 2>these if we were a rock band.

0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.160
<v Speaker 4>Y'all to hip hop rolling Stones and me, oh man,

0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.240
<v Speaker 4>thank you, like straight up, like I appreciate, Like this

0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:56.880
<v Speaker 4>is you know, before the world knew my name. I

0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:58.800
<v Speaker 4>was at the nine to thirty Club in the front

0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.439
<v Speaker 4>row at the Roots con service. I remember the night

0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:05.280
<v Speaker 4>where y'all came out with the what was it, the

0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:09.080
<v Speaker 4>mister Miyagi joints and like walk through the whole crowd

0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:13.240
<v Speaker 4>like yeah, so you know what I mean? So like that,

0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:15.600
<v Speaker 4>you know, I was at the Black Lilies and the

0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.080
<v Speaker 4>Cut with nobody, you know, just just you know, it's

0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:18.839
<v Speaker 4>part of my story.

0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:20.320
<v Speaker 1>I talk I talk about it often.

0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.240
<v Speaker 2>You know, DC is our number one market.

0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:25.920
<v Speaker 4>Yeah yeah, And the reason why DC loves you guys

0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:29.240
<v Speaker 4>so much is the connection of like live music and

0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:33.120
<v Speaker 4>what it's the live exchange of energy live like there's

0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.880
<v Speaker 4>nothing like it. There's nothing like seeing your top go

0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.880
<v Speaker 4>go bands in DC or anywhere and hearing the music

0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.000
<v Speaker 4>is nothing like a roots experience, you.

0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:44.640
<v Speaker 1>Know, thank you. I appreciate that.

0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:50.160
<v Speaker 2>Is there any unspoken pressures as a native.

0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:56.840
<v Speaker 1>There to represent go go or nah? Not at all?

0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:58.920
<v Speaker 4>I mean you know it's funny man, you know now

0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:03.319
<v Speaker 4>and that half a century living out my childhood, drunitless

0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.480
<v Speaker 4>like my bucket list stuff like I'm you know, from

0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:08.880
<v Speaker 4>doing a Choiet Storm to I have a go go band.

0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:12.200
<v Speaker 1>It's called the Crank Crusaders. I didn't know this.

0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:12.640
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:12.920
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:15.720
<v Speaker 4>We do a First Sunday's event at the conver Station

0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.600
<v Speaker 4>Tavern every first Sunday unless I'm on the road, you know,

0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.360
<v Speaker 4>on tour, and we'll kind of either navigate around and

0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.280
<v Speaker 4>take the month off or you know, pick another Sunday,

0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:26.960
<v Speaker 4>which we may be increasing the Sundays.

0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:28.600
<v Speaker 1>Right, you know, but I've been in a go go band.

0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.720
<v Speaker 4>We've been you know, shout out to Bootsy Vegas, Yazra

0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:36.400
<v Speaker 4>who I know, you know, yaz was on the front line,

0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:38.360
<v Speaker 4>you know what I mean, like all the rest of

0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.360
<v Speaker 4>the guys in the band, and it's been an experience

0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:44.160
<v Speaker 4>like the first this band has actually been together since

0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:50.120
<v Speaker 4>like twenty nineteen. You know, we've talked about principal members

0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:54.160
<v Speaker 4>and going through different you know, musicians. Our big show

0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:56.920
<v Speaker 4>was like twenty nineteen at the Kennedy Center. It was

0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:01.560
<v Speaker 4>it was Raheem DeVaughn and Backyard Band right New Year's Eve,

0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:05.000
<v Speaker 4>And I use that as an opportunity to introduce Crank

0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:06.840
<v Speaker 4>Crusaders to DC.

0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:08.880
<v Speaker 3>You know, and then boom covid hit.

0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:10.920
<v Speaker 1>So that was your last creative product.

0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:12.040
<v Speaker 2>I was so said I was the last.

0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:15.800
<v Speaker 4>We were still figuring out the records and creating and

0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:17.800
<v Speaker 4>you know, and you know, we're building a catalog or

0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:19.680
<v Speaker 4>we haven't put out official album yet, which is in

0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:22.480
<v Speaker 4>under the you know, in the works right now, and uh,

0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.680
<v Speaker 4>you know, we just lost one of our main producers.

0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.800
<v Speaker 4>Rest in peace that I can and uh, you know,

0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.680
<v Speaker 4>but from the minute I saw a rare essence, I

0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:32.760
<v Speaker 4>always wanted to be part of.

0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:33.720
<v Speaker 1>A go go band, you know.

0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:37.440
<v Speaker 2>Okay, So, and I'm mainly just I'm not even asking

0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:41.760
<v Speaker 2>us for interview, like because I just I'm so obsessed.

0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:42.080
<v Speaker 1>With that culture.

0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.520
<v Speaker 2>But I wouldn't even know I'm gonna get us. I

0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:49.000
<v Speaker 2>see it almost like as akin to jazz or another

0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.880
<v Speaker 2>genre where a lot of times, I mean I've.

0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:55.040
<v Speaker 1>Seen cats, I've seen non jazz cats like Okay, well,

0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:56.400
<v Speaker 1>I can sold it good, so let me.

0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:58.880
<v Speaker 2>But there's there's a whole nother nuance that you have

0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:02.240
<v Speaker 2>to know about that culture. And for go go at least,

0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:06.840
<v Speaker 2>I know, it's it's groove, its format, it's cover songs,

0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:08.280
<v Speaker 2>it's a lot.

0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:08.720
<v Speaker 1>Of those things.

0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:12.040
<v Speaker 4>So when you are and it's letting the beat ride,

0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.200
<v Speaker 4>Like that's what That's what I want to know. How

0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:16.000
<v Speaker 4>do you know one of the main things I had

0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:17.520
<v Speaker 4>to learn and I'm still and it's still a learning

0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.920
<v Speaker 4>process for me. Like like sometimes my you know, my

0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:23.400
<v Speaker 4>my band members, you know, my front line member, he

0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:27.560
<v Speaker 4>gets pssed with me because you know me because he's like,

0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.080
<v Speaker 4>I'm so used to being a conductor, right, and being

0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.600
<v Speaker 4>the orchestrator and being the leader. What I do love

0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.000
<v Speaker 4>about being part of the Crank Crusaders is and being

0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:38.760
<v Speaker 4>in this go Go band is like, you know, the

0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.400
<v Speaker 4>pressure is not on me to always lead, and it

0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:43.240
<v Speaker 4>puts me in a position to follow, which makes me

0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:47.480
<v Speaker 4>a student to have to learn, you know where we're

0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:53.120
<v Speaker 4>in rehearsals and you know, we rehearsed once a week literally.

0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:54.760
<v Speaker 1>Like you know what I mean.

0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.240
<v Speaker 4>Like it's just it's just a discipline, right, and uh

0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.840
<v Speaker 4>so we're always experimenting with the different you know, whether

0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:04.879
<v Speaker 4>it's bounce beat or you know, the first time I

0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.040
<v Speaker 4>heard them saying like, all right, we're gonna do this record,

0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:09.800
<v Speaker 4>and Bootsy's communicating with like the drummer he's like and

0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:11.840
<v Speaker 4>they're saying Oh yeah, we're gonna do the mister Magic beat,

0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:13.640
<v Speaker 4>or we're not gonna do the mister magic. Like, let's

0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.159
<v Speaker 4>do the mister magic. I didn't get it, now, you know,

0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:18.200
<v Speaker 4>right high sight twenty twenty.

0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:19.639
<v Speaker 2>Now I get it. So when you said it, I

0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.199
<v Speaker 2>just kind of like chuckle. But in other words, like

0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:27.320
<v Speaker 2>I listen to mixtapes and the leader won't say anything

0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.440
<v Speaker 2>for like thirty two bars and just let the beat right.

0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.240
<v Speaker 2>And I'm trying to you know, I'm not watching on videotape,

0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:34.760
<v Speaker 2>but I'm just imagining, like, so what does the rest

0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:36.480
<v Speaker 2>of the band do? They just what you know, what

0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.840
<v Speaker 2>it is, But it is to be in the room

0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.000
<v Speaker 2>and the experience, because what you're probably hearing is a

0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.640
<v Speaker 2>lot YEA. Remember you're probably hearing a live recording aka

0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.359
<v Speaker 2>to PA tape right right, And what's happening in that

0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:52.359
<v Speaker 2>moment is the walls are sweating, it's packed wall to wall.

0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.679
<v Speaker 4>The ladies, you know, are doing a thing. You know,

0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.600
<v Speaker 4>it's it's a party, man, it's a vibe. It's not

0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:03.639
<v Speaker 4>it's not just you're hearing the after effect of a

0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:06.879
<v Speaker 4>night that can't be duplicated, you know, thinking, you know,

0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:11.880
<v Speaker 4>I will compare it to like a theater theatre of Broadway, right,

0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.880
<v Speaker 4>versus doing film and television, which I've done both right,

0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.880
<v Speaker 4>and theater is very improvisational. Like theater is very much

0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:24.160
<v Speaker 4>read the room in the moment, because I remember resting

0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:28.080
<v Speaker 4>the Love Jones musical years back, and literally a fight

0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:33.960
<v Speaker 4>broke out because there was some guy there on a

0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:41.080
<v Speaker 4>date with his wife. When his lady came in, he was,

0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:42.639
<v Speaker 4>he was on a date, he was, you know what

0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:48.280
<v Speaker 4>I mean. It was a situation and I think you're so.

0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.000
<v Speaker 2>So we're doing light and so MC light is.

0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.000
<v Speaker 4>Doing your line and we're doing our lines, and literally

0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.480
<v Speaker 4>a fight breaks out or something, and it's just like

0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:00.440
<v Speaker 4>it became and we turned it into a moment because

0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:01.320
<v Speaker 4>the show bus go on.

0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:15.320
<v Speaker 1>What is your shout out getting? Like? Because I know

0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:19.520
<v Speaker 1>that any effective go go vocalists has to know all

0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:20.440
<v Speaker 1>the areas.

0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.840
<v Speaker 4>Yet I get to be a team member and not

0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:24.399
<v Speaker 4>have to, Like you don't have that pressure.

0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:26.800
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so you know Boosey does. He's a lead talker

0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:27.520
<v Speaker 3>of the band.

0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.720
<v Speaker 4>So it's just his job is to conduct the band,

0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.040
<v Speaker 4>communicate with us, lead us. You know, read the room,

0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:36.400
<v Speaker 4>know who's in the room. Sometimes you know, you work

0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:38.879
<v Speaker 4>the room before you get to know your fans. I mean,

0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:41.040
<v Speaker 4>I'm sure that even if you don't know the names,

0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.760
<v Speaker 4>I'm sure that that with the super fan cult following

0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:48.080
<v Speaker 4>Basic y'all have, like you, it's people that y'all have

0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.840
<v Speaker 4>been coming to see y'all for since the beginning. Like

0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:52.320
<v Speaker 4>you know what I mean, you don't there's no way

0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:54.800
<v Speaker 4>you don't, you know, unless you just in it for

0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:57.639
<v Speaker 4>the wrong reasons that you don't connect or no, you know,

0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:00.560
<v Speaker 4>and you have boundaries. But sometimes that's that's right though,

0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.359
<v Speaker 4>no doubt, because you have to have you know, their boundaries.

0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:03.600
<v Speaker 1>You know.

0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.000
<v Speaker 4>Fan is short for fanatic, you know what I mean.

0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:11.480
<v Speaker 4>So you know, but I watched like the communities and

0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.399
<v Speaker 4>all these bands have different communities, which is you know,

0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:16.840
<v Speaker 4>you have some of them where they share certain communities, right,

0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.199
<v Speaker 4>but Backyard has a very distinct crowd that comes to

0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:23.360
<v Speaker 4>see them, right, right, and they might come to see

0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:25.520
<v Speaker 4>them four or five nights a week. And that's what

0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.200
<v Speaker 4>the vibe is, you know, It's all I've never seen

0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.600
<v Speaker 4>anything like it, you know what I mean, other than

0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:35.080
<v Speaker 4>you know, how I would describe you know, say, like

0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:38.720
<v Speaker 4>social media now or Instagram, right how you know, we

0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:42.000
<v Speaker 4>build these communities and people support them, and you know,

0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:44.200
<v Speaker 4>they can never get enough of what you put out.

0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:47.159
<v Speaker 2>You know, I'm asking a lot of this simply because

0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:50.760
<v Speaker 2>for those that you know don't get access to the

0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.880
<v Speaker 2>roots as much as you know, we went from two

0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:57.719
<v Speaker 2>hundred nights on the year. Yeah, we do normal now

0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:00.520
<v Speaker 2>we probably do maybe fifty shows a year like a

0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:04.560
<v Speaker 2>regular group. But a lot of these gigs we've been doing,

0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:06.159
<v Speaker 2>we've been on the jam band circuit.

0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:08.560
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, And for me, like I know that Go Go

0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:11.439
<v Speaker 4>is Black people's jam band circuit.

0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:15.000
<v Speaker 2>And a lot of these like especially in the Northeast,

0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:20.439
<v Speaker 2>like above Connecticut, above New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts and

0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:22.879
<v Speaker 2>Maine and whatnot, Rhode Island.

0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:24.360
<v Speaker 1>They have like a lot of these.

0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:30.440
<v Speaker 2>Festivals, like hippie festivals for jam bands all day long.

0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:34.439
<v Speaker 2>And for me, I don't know how it's going to happen,

0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:37.280
<v Speaker 2>but I'm trying to figure out, like between New Orleans

0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:41.920
<v Speaker 2>and d C. Wondering how come the two worlds have

0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:43.240
<v Speaker 2>never collided to at.

0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:47.439
<v Speaker 4>Least it's happening organically. And that's why why you know,

0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:50.840
<v Speaker 4>we we know myself in Bootsy. First of all, this

0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:53.320
<v Speaker 4>is it's a little it's more personal for us. Bootsy

0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.040
<v Speaker 4>was experiencing you know, he was he had a he

0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:59.720
<v Speaker 4>had a death date, like stage four cancer and it

0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:02.439
<v Speaker 4>was a phone conversation like, hey man, you beat the cancer. Man,

0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:05.000
<v Speaker 4>You're gonna start a gogle band. And he's been cancer

0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:07.280
<v Speaker 4>free for some years now, and he was like I

0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:09.159
<v Speaker 4>remember when he rang the bell and I'm like, all right,

0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:12.000
<v Speaker 4>well time start the band. Figure ot, we're gonna name it.

0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:15.119
<v Speaker 4>And you know here we are the crank Crusaders.

0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:18.280
<v Speaker 1>You know, so ill to see this. I can't wait

0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:18.679
<v Speaker 1>to see this.

0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:21.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, speak of which, what was the first live show

0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:22.680
<v Speaker 2>that you ever attended?

0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:27.800
<v Speaker 3>Okay it was New Year's Eve? Okay, Whitney Houston.

0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:29.600
<v Speaker 1>That's impressive.

0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:32.800
<v Speaker 4>Wait was Whitney there? Did she perform? I feel like

0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:34.840
<v Speaker 4>she performed. I can't remember she was on a ticket,

0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:37.520
<v Speaker 4>but Bobby was there. I think maybe it's a new addition.

0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:39.360
<v Speaker 4>I know it was Whitney.

0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:40.399
<v Speaker 1>Bobby.

0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:43.840
<v Speaker 2>Wait, it became an item in ninety one. Well, you

0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:44.800
<v Speaker 2>were like twenty when.

0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:48.639
<v Speaker 4>You saw your first contract, so it had this is

0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:51.639
<v Speaker 4>like maybe they weren't a thing then, Okay, you know

0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:53.800
<v Speaker 4>what I mean. But it was it was like, uh,

0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:57.840
<v Speaker 4>when you leave in DC, which is also like kind

0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:00.960
<v Speaker 4>of destination. Definitely a teenager though I was in high

0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:03.000
<v Speaker 4>school because I remember miss pat was the one that took

0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:06.159
<v Speaker 4>us to see this particular concert. Really yeah, she was

0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.160
<v Speaker 4>like the neighborhood mom. You know what was the impact

0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:11.960
<v Speaker 4>of you seeing this concert. It's one thing to I

0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:15.760
<v Speaker 4>guess hear the music live and hear the records and

0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:17.680
<v Speaker 4>you know, and sing them in the shower, And there's

0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:20.360
<v Speaker 4>another thing like to see the artist. So the only

0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:22.879
<v Speaker 4>thing I probably could have wished for was better seats.

0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:25.800
<v Speaker 4>But like tripping off that as a kid, you're like

0:23:25.880 --> 0:23:27.120
<v Speaker 4>at the concert, you know what, I'm.

0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:27.760
<v Speaker 1>Happy to be there.

0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:33.399
<v Speaker 2>I always ask what television show or movie would you

0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:37.840
<v Speaker 2>say best describes what your childhood experiences were like growing up?

0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:41.359
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, man, I can't say that. I can't

0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:44.200
<v Speaker 3>say that there was one really yeah.

0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:46.880
<v Speaker 1>All right, there's no character that you wish you were

0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:49.040
<v Speaker 1>like watching TV or any of those things.

0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:49.840
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely.

0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:52.119
<v Speaker 4>I mean I would probably say good times because I

0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:53.920
<v Speaker 4>spent the school years with.

0:23:53.960 --> 0:23:57.520
<v Speaker 1>My mom did the DNVA my dad was in.

0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:01.320
<v Speaker 4>My dad was in Jersey in Newark, Jerseys between East

0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:04.040
<v Speaker 4>East Orange and Newark, so when he was in it

0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:06.440
<v Speaker 4>but he was in the Newark Okay, so it's kind

0:24:06.480 --> 0:24:09.000
<v Speaker 4>of like I should just say middle class, you know.

0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:11.000
<v Speaker 4>But I would go spend time with Dad and it

0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:13.240
<v Speaker 4>would end up in backsin terrist projects. So I got

0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:16.560
<v Speaker 4>a chance to see like which was like walking distance

0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:20.000
<v Speaker 4>from the Colonnades where when he moved back into Newark, Like,

0:24:20.200 --> 0:24:21.679
<v Speaker 4>you know, I spent a lot of time. Even when

0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:23.159
<v Speaker 4>he lived in East Orange, we spent a lot of

0:24:23.240 --> 0:24:25.280
<v Speaker 4>I spent a lot of time with my cousins. And

0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:28.360
<v Speaker 4>you know that's in the housing projects. Yeah, so so

0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:31.880
<v Speaker 4>you know I saw that whole crack era. I saw light,

0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:34.000
<v Speaker 4>you know what I mean, eighty eight or I would

0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:37.320
<v Speaker 4>see you know, you see different you see different rappers

0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:40.159
<v Speaker 4>and you know Caine and you know back then you

0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:43.239
<v Speaker 4>know coming through you know what I mean. And I

0:24:43.240 --> 0:24:46.520
<v Speaker 4>saw my first shootouts there, you know, as a kid,

0:24:46.600 --> 0:24:48.120
<v Speaker 4>you know what I mean. But most important, I saw

0:24:48.119 --> 0:24:50.760
<v Speaker 4>a lot of love in those housing projects. I saw

0:24:50.800 --> 0:24:52.840
<v Speaker 4>a lot of love. I saw a family, you know,

0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:54.840
<v Speaker 4>and it's and it's something I just always look forward to,

0:24:55.600 --> 0:24:56.919
<v Speaker 4>you know what I mean. So it wasn't nothing to

0:24:56.960 --> 0:24:59.639
<v Speaker 4>play hoop hoops on the I mean I played basketball

0:24:59.720 --> 0:25:01.800
<v Speaker 4>on the regular basketball court. But when we were when

0:25:01.840 --> 0:25:03.840
<v Speaker 4>I was there, we played the hoops on the crates.

0:25:03.880 --> 0:25:05.240
<v Speaker 2>The crates.

0:25:04.880 --> 0:25:09.399
<v Speaker 4>They try to take the crates right, cut the bottom

0:25:09.480 --> 0:25:12.640
<v Speaker 4>out real good, you know, and then you know.

0:25:13.040 --> 0:25:14.480
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna create. I'm gonna creat Master.

0:25:14.680 --> 0:25:17.200
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, you know you're Michael Jordan at that point.

0:25:17.600 --> 0:25:21.320
<v Speaker 1>Can you name me three albums that changed your life?

0:25:21.960 --> 0:25:26.399
<v Speaker 4>Quincy Jones, it's Cusey Jones' album Saved the Which album

0:25:26.960 --> 0:25:29.359
<v Speaker 4>was that, Marvin's album or Quincy's Save the Children?

0:25:29.400 --> 0:25:29.719
<v Speaker 1>All right?

0:25:29.760 --> 0:25:33.880
<v Speaker 2>So Save the Children was a It's funny you mentioned this, yeah, because.

0:25:33.720 --> 0:25:35.639
<v Speaker 1>I don't think the world news about it.

0:25:36.160 --> 0:25:39.240
<v Speaker 2>For all of you that have showed me love for

0:25:39.320 --> 0:25:45.560
<v Speaker 2>Summer Soul, there's a film that was directed by sons

0:25:45.600 --> 0:25:49.960
<v Speaker 2>father Stan Lathan, and it's called Save the Children, and

0:25:50.000 --> 0:25:57.560
<v Speaker 2>it's basically Jesse Jackson's operation Push Expo in Chicago. This

0:25:57.640 --> 0:26:01.760
<v Speaker 2>is nineteen seventy two, and pretty much all the luminaries

0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:05.760
<v Speaker 2>were there, the Jackson five, Marvin Gay. There's a very

0:26:05.760 --> 0:26:11.200
<v Speaker 2>curious moment where you know, times haven't changed much. Sammy

0:26:11.280 --> 0:26:14.760
<v Speaker 2>Davis Junior decided, I guess the mind stage. James Brown

0:26:14.800 --> 0:26:16.760
<v Speaker 2>did the same thing, like they were coming from the

0:26:16.800 --> 0:26:18.879
<v Speaker 2>mind state of like, Okay, well we're trying to get

0:26:18.880 --> 0:26:22.680
<v Speaker 2>a seat at the table, so let me endorse Nixon

0:26:23.280 --> 0:26:28.440
<v Speaker 2>so that way I have I can have influence on him.

0:26:28.440 --> 0:26:30.119
<v Speaker 2>And you know, I mean, their intentions were good, but

0:26:30.240 --> 0:26:34.960
<v Speaker 2>it's also like, clearly that was just for the other side.

0:26:34.960 --> 0:26:36.879
<v Speaker 1>It was for the photo op of it and got it.

0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:39.880
<v Speaker 3>That's when they label him to uncle Tom right exactly.

0:26:40.080 --> 0:26:46.360
<v Speaker 2>And so Sammy Davis Junior shows up and I'm telling you,

0:26:46.520 --> 0:26:50.240
<v Speaker 2>that was the most I mean, the way he ate

0:26:50.320 --> 0:26:52.360
<v Speaker 2>that bullet, like imired him for it.

0:26:52.560 --> 0:26:54.359
<v Speaker 1>That was the hardest seven minutes to watch.

0:26:54.920 --> 0:26:57.840
<v Speaker 2>He walked on that stage and like the Jackson five

0:26:58.000 --> 0:27:00.239
<v Speaker 2>just came off and they are losing and everything, and

0:27:00.280 --> 0:27:02.560
<v Speaker 2>so you know, and then I remember that and he's

0:27:02.640 --> 0:27:04.560
<v Speaker 2>like he let it calm down, and then he and

0:27:04.560 --> 0:27:07.199
<v Speaker 2>he's and then he's sing the most defiant version of

0:27:07.240 --> 0:27:08.040
<v Speaker 2>I Gotta be Me.

0:27:09.320 --> 0:27:11.399
<v Speaker 1>And it kind of went from this.

0:27:13.040 --> 0:27:17.080
<v Speaker 2>To this too, like he he really sold it. But yeah,

0:27:17.160 --> 0:27:21.280
<v Speaker 2>Saving Children was It was on Motown, so that's yeah,

0:27:21.320 --> 0:27:22.560
<v Speaker 2>it was. It was a great live.

0:27:22.400 --> 0:27:27.639
<v Speaker 4>Record, I would say, Saving Children Michael Jackson thriller album

0:27:27.800 --> 0:27:30.720
<v Speaker 4>and a two way tie self titled earth Wind and

0:27:30.720 --> 0:27:34.280
<v Speaker 4>Fire album, Okay, And I wasn't supposed to be listening

0:27:34.280 --> 0:27:37.679
<v Speaker 4>to it, but Prince Purple ring, I would think I

0:27:37.720 --> 0:27:41.159
<v Speaker 4>was just drawn to to the movie, to the film,

0:27:41.240 --> 0:27:42.760
<v Speaker 4>to the like you know.

0:27:42.760 --> 0:27:44.720
<v Speaker 3>It was there were things that they were.

0:27:44.600 --> 0:27:47.200
<v Speaker 4>Going on that what I was seeing as a child,

0:27:47.240 --> 0:27:49.520
<v Speaker 4>that I could identify to you know, that that he

0:27:49.600 --> 0:27:50.959
<v Speaker 4>was going through as you know.

0:27:51.600 --> 0:27:53.320
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it was just it was just everything to me.

0:27:54.160 --> 0:27:57.040
<v Speaker 2>Like you know, so as far as singers are concerned,

0:27:57.280 --> 0:28:00.399
<v Speaker 2>who's your north star? Who is the singer for which

0:28:01.280 --> 0:28:04.159
<v Speaker 2>you I want to know the moment that it was

0:28:04.240 --> 0:28:07.359
<v Speaker 2>like the calling of this is what I want to do?

0:28:07.440 --> 0:28:10.280
<v Speaker 4>Three way time Marvin Princeton and Michael Jackson right around

0:28:10.280 --> 0:28:14.520
<v Speaker 4>at nineteen eighty four eighty five, Yeah, you know what

0:28:14.560 --> 0:28:18.520
<v Speaker 4>I mean, Like I remember seeing the Award Show and

0:28:18.680 --> 0:28:22.439
<v Speaker 4>just like definitely Michael and seeing him on when in

0:28:22.440 --> 0:28:26.720
<v Speaker 4>American Musical. Yeah, and like that's what I got the

0:28:26.720 --> 0:28:29.760
<v Speaker 4>bug I want to do that, Like I could not

0:28:30.000 --> 0:28:33.520
<v Speaker 4>remember where I was, what I had on, you know

0:28:33.560 --> 0:28:34.000
<v Speaker 4>what I mean?

0:28:34.119 --> 0:28:36.040
<v Speaker 3>And that's where I caught the like the bug.

0:28:36.080 --> 0:28:38.200
<v Speaker 1>All right, So this is what I'm curious about.

0:28:38.320 --> 0:28:42.600
<v Speaker 2>So my early friendship with DiAngelo was based on the

0:28:42.680 --> 0:28:46.440
<v Speaker 2>trauma that we had over Marvin Gay. So you know,

0:28:46.520 --> 0:28:50.720
<v Speaker 2>before April first of eighty four, I pretty much you know,

0:28:50.760 --> 0:28:55.959
<v Speaker 2>I lived in a very large record house, and Dad's

0:28:56.000 --> 0:28:58.520
<v Speaker 2>records was just old people's stuff, and my records was

0:28:58.560 --> 0:29:01.880
<v Speaker 2>the cool stuff. And so I always looked at Marvin

0:29:02.680 --> 0:29:05.400
<v Speaker 2>kind of with an eye roll like old people like

0:29:06.120 --> 0:29:08.440
<v Speaker 2>aunt comes over and start playing the OJ's and Marvin

0:29:08.480 --> 0:29:13.280
<v Speaker 2>Gay and stuff, and I'm just like And when he

0:29:13.520 --> 0:29:16.600
<v Speaker 2>passed away, when he was murdered by his dad in

0:29:16.680 --> 0:29:20.000
<v Speaker 2>eighty four, I mean, one of that gave me nightmare

0:29:20.040 --> 0:29:22.440
<v Speaker 2>effects because I'm twelve at the time, and I'm trying

0:29:22.440 --> 0:29:25.440
<v Speaker 2>to wrestle with the fact that, like, wait, your.

0:29:25.560 --> 0:29:28.440
<v Speaker 1>Father's allowed to kill you? Like I didn't learn about

0:29:28.480 --> 0:29:28.840
<v Speaker 1>that part.

0:29:28.880 --> 0:29:29.760
<v Speaker 2>I was heartbroken.

0:29:30.320 --> 0:29:32.000
<v Speaker 3>I remember that. I remember it distinctly.

0:29:32.400 --> 0:29:33.840
<v Speaker 1>I want no, no, no, no, but go ahead.

0:29:33.880 --> 0:29:36.120
<v Speaker 2>But I want to know what was it about, because

0:29:37.360 --> 0:29:40.200
<v Speaker 2>when I finally came to Marvin, there was a lot

0:29:40.200 --> 0:29:45.640
<v Speaker 2>of fear there, you know. And how did you come

0:29:45.680 --> 0:29:48.320
<v Speaker 2>to Marvin, Like was there any fear or knowledge of

0:29:48.360 --> 0:29:49.840
<v Speaker 2>like what happened to his life or.

0:29:49.920 --> 0:29:54.680
<v Speaker 4>Oh absolutely again, parallel things that I saw, you know,

0:29:55.280 --> 0:29:59.760
<v Speaker 4>one degree separation in my family that I've experienced as

0:29:59.760 --> 0:30:02.680
<v Speaker 4>an adult now, you know, from childhood into adulthood.

0:30:03.520 --> 0:30:05.800
<v Speaker 3>But I just revered them. I like, I thought it

0:30:05.840 --> 0:30:07.120
<v Speaker 3>was just so brilliant how.

0:30:07.000 --> 0:30:10.840
<v Speaker 4>He could go from the from the bedroom to you know,

0:30:11.400 --> 0:30:14.800
<v Speaker 4>speaking as a you know, social activist, you know, musically,

0:30:15.360 --> 0:30:17.000
<v Speaker 4>I was drawn to him. I was drawing to Bob

0:30:17.040 --> 0:30:18.720
<v Speaker 4>Miley for the same reason, you know, knowing that he

0:30:18.760 --> 0:30:22.720
<v Speaker 4>started out as a top forty artist and then transitioning

0:30:22.760 --> 0:30:26.720
<v Speaker 4>into strictly socially conscious music. It's something earlier in my

0:30:26.760 --> 0:30:29.240
<v Speaker 4>career that I just proud of myself in doing and

0:30:29.280 --> 0:30:32.240
<v Speaker 4>saying that that's what I would I had to do that,

0:30:32.360 --> 0:30:34.640
<v Speaker 4>you know. I remember the night that Marvin Gaye passed.

0:30:34.640 --> 0:30:38.120
<v Speaker 4>I remember the night that melvill Linzy like announced it.

0:30:38.160 --> 0:30:40.720
<v Speaker 4>I remember being heartbroken. I remember that defect the Red

0:30:40.760 --> 0:30:42.880
<v Speaker 4>Fiat that I rode in with my mother. We were

0:30:42.920 --> 0:30:45.400
<v Speaker 4>just leaving the movie theaters. I can't remember what we saw,

0:30:45.960 --> 0:30:48.000
<v Speaker 4>but coming out of the movie it was it was it.

0:30:47.920 --> 0:30:48.800
<v Speaker 1>Was an eerie night.

0:30:48.920 --> 0:30:51.960
<v Speaker 4>It had rained, had just finished raining, so there was

0:30:52.000 --> 0:30:55.360
<v Speaker 4>a light rain and it was just like hearing Melvilenzi

0:30:55.400 --> 0:30:57.640
<v Speaker 4>say it on the airwaves, like I'll never forget it

0:30:57.720 --> 0:31:03.720
<v Speaker 4>like you know, and during COVID kind of giving you

0:31:03.760 --> 0:31:07.600
<v Speaker 4>an exclusive here me. During COVID, me and Kenny Dope

0:31:07.680 --> 0:31:11.560
<v Speaker 4>Cazales came up with the craziest idea to remake the

0:31:11.760 --> 0:31:16.320
<v Speaker 4>entire to remake an entire Marvin Gaye album, which which

0:31:16.360 --> 0:31:17.880
<v Speaker 4>will be coming out.

0:31:19.920 --> 0:31:21.560
<v Speaker 3>I want to say, we.

0:31:21.480 --> 0:31:24.760
<v Speaker 4>Have remade an entire Marvin Gaye album. I sang all

0:31:24.760 --> 0:31:27.520
<v Speaker 4>the vocals over. And this was during COVID, So this

0:31:27.600 --> 0:31:31.000
<v Speaker 4>was my first time. So imagine COVID going on and

0:31:31.040 --> 0:31:34.600
<v Speaker 4>then taking your first ride to the studio and being

0:31:34.680 --> 0:31:37.360
<v Speaker 4>outside and getting gas.

0:31:36.720 --> 0:31:39.000
<v Speaker 3>And like being living.

0:31:39.920 --> 0:31:44.000
<v Speaker 4>Yeah yeah, like you know, being super annoyed about what

0:31:44.120 --> 0:31:47.760
<v Speaker 4>you're touching, and then going and being around like shit

0:31:47.880 --> 0:31:52.040
<v Speaker 4>down and other human people, like a cough is like

0:31:52.080 --> 0:31:54.880
<v Speaker 4>a gun. Yeah, I remember, this is like a uzzi.

0:31:55.240 --> 0:31:57.880
<v Speaker 4>Like my first interaction and hugging. So I hugged someone

0:31:58.320 --> 0:32:00.960
<v Speaker 4>and then being like it was intense, you know what

0:32:00.960 --> 0:32:03.600
<v Speaker 4>I mean. Shout out to Raquel rob Brown that you

0:32:03.640 --> 0:32:06.400
<v Speaker 4>know we we she came to the studio and it

0:32:06.440 --> 0:32:08.600
<v Speaker 4>was like we're not supposed to hug, right, but I

0:32:08.600 --> 0:32:12.640
<v Speaker 4>remember like a freedom in doing that, right and and yes,

0:32:12.920 --> 0:32:15.440
<v Speaker 4>over the course of a few days. It was deep

0:32:15.520 --> 0:32:19.080
<v Speaker 4>man to remake these records and to because you know,

0:32:19.120 --> 0:32:22.400
<v Speaker 4>we didn't have all the masters. You know, we didn't

0:32:22.400 --> 0:32:25.200
<v Speaker 4>have everything's not split up, you know, but you know, yeah, yeah,

0:32:25.240 --> 0:32:27.520
<v Speaker 4>there's a lot of masters and things floating around out

0:32:27.520 --> 0:32:30.040
<v Speaker 4>there there. So so Kenny gave me what he had

0:32:30.080 --> 0:32:32.640
<v Speaker 4>access to and then the master master. Yeah, and then

0:32:32.640 --> 0:32:34.080
<v Speaker 4>I had to do all of these things. I had

0:32:34.120 --> 0:32:36.040
<v Speaker 4>to do this shiit off the ear, you know what

0:32:36.080 --> 0:32:41.480
<v Speaker 4>I mean. And in that process of recording it, it

0:32:41.600 --> 0:32:46.000
<v Speaker 4>was like wow, like I felt like I said, I

0:32:46.040 --> 0:32:49.680
<v Speaker 4>would never say this publicly, but I felt like it

0:32:49.720 --> 0:32:51.320
<v Speaker 4>was left behind for me to do it.

0:32:51.880 --> 0:32:55.360
<v Speaker 1>Like in the moment, it was like really like like eerie,

0:32:55.440 --> 0:32:57.520
<v Speaker 1>you know, what did you learn about that process?

0:32:57.680 --> 0:33:02.640
<v Speaker 2>So even even in listening to some of the reels

0:33:02.640 --> 0:33:05.000
<v Speaker 2>that I got probably the best example. I don't know

0:33:05.000 --> 0:33:06.880
<v Speaker 2>if you have access to any of the Hear My

0:33:06.920 --> 0:33:12.080
<v Speaker 2>Dear reels, but you know, we acknowledge that Marvin's like

0:33:12.200 --> 0:33:17.320
<v Speaker 2>the well the someone will say the background master. I

0:33:17.320 --> 0:33:19.920
<v Speaker 2>will actually say he's the master at hiding plaining sight.

0:33:20.400 --> 0:33:25.280
<v Speaker 2>Oh absolutely. And when you listen to if you ever

0:33:25.320 --> 0:33:28.240
<v Speaker 2>get a chance to hear Sparrow.

0:33:29.160 --> 0:33:29.760
<v Speaker 1>A cappella.

0:33:31.320 --> 0:33:35.840
<v Speaker 4>Once you take the music away, I'm like, wait, this clashes.

0:33:36.360 --> 0:33:39.680
<v Speaker 4>But he is a very unique way his time. His

0:33:39.840 --> 0:33:44.680
<v Speaker 4>timing is crazy. Yeah, it's correct. Like his timing was crazy,

0:33:44.920 --> 0:33:49.320
<v Speaker 4>Like I have no formal training, right, and I remember

0:33:49.360 --> 0:33:51.680
<v Speaker 4>I did. It was a record I did in particular

0:33:52.200 --> 0:33:57.160
<v Speaker 4>with Frederico from DC I want Butcher of Frederico's last name,

0:33:57.640 --> 0:34:01.800
<v Speaker 4>but it's this record we did called Never Never Land

0:34:02.280 --> 0:34:05.520
<v Speaker 4>right ever And he says to me, like, yo, how

0:34:05.520 --> 0:34:08.680
<v Speaker 4>did you do what you did on this record? The

0:34:08.719 --> 0:34:11.480
<v Speaker 4>way he was explaining it was like scientifically or like

0:34:12.040 --> 0:34:15.600
<v Speaker 4>musically as it relates to like musical theory, it ain't

0:34:15.600 --> 0:34:18.160
<v Speaker 4>supposed to be able to be done or feel like

0:34:18.200 --> 0:34:20.719
<v Speaker 4>the way it feels. Like the timing and just like

0:34:21.160 --> 0:34:24.239
<v Speaker 4>my choice of where I laid the vocal and what

0:34:24.360 --> 0:34:26.759
<v Speaker 4>I heard over top of it, And I thought I

0:34:26.920 --> 0:34:31.919
<v Speaker 4>was the ship until I set out to remake these

0:34:31.920 --> 0:34:37.160
<v Speaker 4>songs and like start listening to the timing and wanting

0:34:37.200 --> 0:34:41.120
<v Speaker 4>to honor still making it mine, you know what I mean,

0:34:41.200 --> 0:34:45.160
<v Speaker 4>and breathing life into it right in hopes that you

0:34:45.200 --> 0:34:48.560
<v Speaker 4>know it'll be received. How that was received, But it

0:34:49.239 --> 0:34:54.360
<v Speaker 4>just man the timing and then the relevancy more importantly

0:34:55.080 --> 0:34:57.840
<v Speaker 4>of where they've been, meaning you know, our parents and

0:34:57.840 --> 0:35:01.560
<v Speaker 4>our grandparents and where we y are now and at

0:35:01.560 --> 0:35:04.000
<v Speaker 4>the stage we were when I we made these songs,

0:35:04.160 --> 0:35:05.759
<v Speaker 4>you know, at the stage of where we were when

0:35:05.760 --> 0:35:08.640
<v Speaker 4>I set out to do my version of a uh

0:35:08.680 --> 0:35:10.920
<v Speaker 4>you know, of a socially conscious record, and you know,

0:35:11.080 --> 0:35:14.759
<v Speaker 4>like like bulletproof, you know, and how I fought for that.

0:35:15.280 --> 0:35:15.520
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

0:35:15.600 --> 0:35:17.960
<v Speaker 4>I think that there are certain things that there are

0:35:17.960 --> 0:35:20.640
<v Speaker 4>certain records that are out there that shouldn't be touched.

0:35:20.640 --> 0:35:22.399
<v Speaker 4>And then I think that there's certain things that are

0:35:22.440 --> 0:35:25.279
<v Speaker 4>like left behind for us to make sure that we

0:35:25.360 --> 0:35:27.879
<v Speaker 4>breathe life into them so that it's never a race

0:35:27.920 --> 0:35:28.520
<v Speaker 4>from history.

0:35:28.840 --> 0:35:31.040
<v Speaker 1>When do you think the project will be finished?

0:35:31.360 --> 0:35:34.600
<v Speaker 4>The project is finished the right time. It's going to

0:35:34.640 --> 0:35:37.759
<v Speaker 4>be coming out on bbe okay and I'm in it

0:35:37.840 --> 0:35:41.960
<v Speaker 4>talks about some visual stuff with Cootie and cheek, you

0:35:42.040 --> 0:35:42.480
<v Speaker 4>know what I mean.

0:35:42.560 --> 0:35:55.279
<v Speaker 1>So, what was the.

0:35:55.320 --> 0:35:59.399
<v Speaker 2>Journey that led to you getting a record deal on Jive?

0:35:59.520 --> 0:36:00.840
<v Speaker 2>Like getting inside the system.

0:36:01.320 --> 0:36:05.200
<v Speaker 3>I always wanted to be a artist, you know.

0:36:05.239 --> 0:36:08.120
<v Speaker 4>I always found myself wanting to be part of things, right,

0:36:08.520 --> 0:36:10.880
<v Speaker 4>So I did different groups and things that was part

0:36:10.920 --> 0:36:12.200
<v Speaker 4>of they swing.

0:36:12.400 --> 0:36:15.280
<v Speaker 3>All in the Mind was the first group.

0:36:15.760 --> 0:36:17.279
<v Speaker 4>All in the Mind was the first group that was

0:36:17.360 --> 0:36:20.560
<v Speaker 4>kind of formed out of like comp and State University.

0:36:20.680 --> 0:36:22.719
<v Speaker 4>So we're taking you back to like nineteen ninety three

0:36:22.840 --> 0:36:27.279
<v Speaker 4>and like going to Coppin and ninety three summer.

0:36:27.000 --> 0:36:28.760
<v Speaker 1>Of ninety three. Where'd you go to high school?

0:36:28.800 --> 0:36:30.720
<v Speaker 3>I went to High Point in Beltsville, Maryland.

0:36:30.800 --> 0:36:33.760
<v Speaker 2>You're the first DC person that I know with talent

0:36:33.840 --> 0:36:36.640
<v Speaker 2>that didn't say Duke Ellington, Oh wow, yeah, did you

0:36:36.680 --> 0:36:37.279
<v Speaker 2>want to go there?

0:36:37.400 --> 0:36:39.680
<v Speaker 1>Or like, were you pursuing music in high school?

0:36:40.160 --> 0:36:41.000
<v Speaker 3>I totally didn't.

0:36:41.400 --> 0:36:43.839
<v Speaker 1>Wait, you didn't have what did you realize we had

0:36:43.840 --> 0:36:44.720
<v Speaker 1>a voice? I was.

0:36:44.840 --> 0:36:47.240
<v Speaker 4>I realized I had a voice in the elementary school.

0:36:47.280 --> 0:36:49.040
<v Speaker 4>But I was just you know, there was ever things

0:36:49.080 --> 0:36:51.880
<v Speaker 4>going on. Life was life, and I was very shy,

0:36:52.239 --> 0:36:55.840
<v Speaker 4>you know, stand offish, and I mean, of course like

0:36:55.960 --> 0:36:57.879
<v Speaker 4>once I'm like, man, if I know what I know now,

0:36:57.920 --> 0:37:01.000
<v Speaker 4>and I would been singing in high school. So no church,

0:37:01.120 --> 0:37:05.279
<v Speaker 4>no little church background, but definitely had the voice. I

0:37:05.320 --> 0:37:10.919
<v Speaker 4>remember I remember distinctly being sixth grade, Calventon Elementary. Don't

0:37:10.920 --> 0:37:13.879
<v Speaker 4>remember the music teacher's name, but we were having one

0:37:13.920 --> 0:37:16.560
<v Speaker 4>on one she was going up the scales, and she

0:37:16.760 --> 0:37:18.840
<v Speaker 4>just was like, Yo, your voice, you're special.

0:37:19.560 --> 0:37:23.080
<v Speaker 1>You're gonna do something one day. But did your family

0:37:23.120 --> 0:37:23.880
<v Speaker 1>know you other voice?

0:37:24.000 --> 0:37:28.200
<v Speaker 4>Nah? When I when I when I told my dad

0:37:28.239 --> 0:37:30.360
<v Speaker 4>and my mom, you know, first year of college that

0:37:30.400 --> 0:37:32.680
<v Speaker 4>I'm dropping out after three semesters, They was like, you're

0:37:32.680 --> 0:37:33.200
<v Speaker 4>doing what?

0:37:33.560 --> 0:37:35.600
<v Speaker 3>Like what like you're going to do music?

0:37:35.680 --> 0:37:35.880
<v Speaker 2>You know?

0:37:35.920 --> 0:37:38.399
<v Speaker 1>Do we have the same story, Like you're gonna do what?

0:37:38.960 --> 0:37:40.880
<v Speaker 4>I mean, it was a whole thing, Like I couldn't

0:37:41.000 --> 0:37:43.920
<v Speaker 4>you know, it was a whole thing, dude. I retreated

0:37:43.960 --> 0:37:49.200
<v Speaker 4>to grandma's. Grandma, Yeah, Grandma's gonna God blessed her soul.

0:37:49.200 --> 0:37:51.560
<v Speaker 4>But that you know, I didn't. And I slept on

0:37:51.560 --> 0:37:55.759
<v Speaker 4>some couches too, because you know, I grew Grandma's you

0:37:55.840 --> 0:37:56.319
<v Speaker 4>know what I mean?

0:37:56.880 --> 0:37:58.160
<v Speaker 1>You know this audience knews.

0:37:58.560 --> 0:38:00.680
<v Speaker 2>The inside joke is my dad didn't know about the

0:38:00.760 --> 0:38:02.200
<v Speaker 2>Roots until our second album.

0:38:02.760 --> 0:38:05.560
<v Speaker 1>Wow do you want more? Because look, my dad was

0:38:05.600 --> 0:38:09.439
<v Speaker 1>like a singer. I think we've had the same Yeah.

0:38:09.520 --> 0:38:12.560
<v Speaker 2>Man, it's crazy that we're just chopping it up now

0:38:13.080 --> 0:38:14.400
<v Speaker 2>after like being in circles.

0:38:14.440 --> 0:38:18.319
<v Speaker 4>But so I drop out in the process of like

0:38:18.440 --> 0:38:21.600
<v Speaker 4>being there for three years. I befriend people in because

0:38:21.640 --> 0:38:23.640
<v Speaker 4>I was going to Coppon State. So I'm in Baltimore City,

0:38:23.640 --> 0:38:27.000
<v Speaker 4>so I'm in the war working baker. I'm like spending

0:38:27.080 --> 0:38:29.120
<v Speaker 4>time like a couple of blocks down from the school,

0:38:29.239 --> 0:38:32.279
<v Speaker 4>and had a buddy that wrapped and we would we

0:38:32.320 --> 0:38:33.520
<v Speaker 4>had to make shift studio.

0:38:33.640 --> 0:38:35.600
<v Speaker 3>We're doing the tricks with the.

0:38:35.560 --> 0:38:40.360
<v Speaker 4>Tapes and just all the things that drop out.

0:38:40.800 --> 0:38:42.759
<v Speaker 3>Moved back to Grandma's in Hyattsville.

0:38:43.520 --> 0:38:46.919
<v Speaker 4>Always was a kid though in high school that would

0:38:46.960 --> 0:38:48.160
<v Speaker 4>read the credits and stuff.

0:38:48.400 --> 0:38:51.000
<v Speaker 3>So I'm singing around the house and that type of thing.

0:38:51.080 --> 0:38:56.560
<v Speaker 4>So I'm a huge fan of Chuckie Thompson, like I like,

0:38:56.800 --> 0:38:58.239
<v Speaker 4>and then when I found out he was from DC,

0:38:58.640 --> 0:39:00.439
<v Speaker 4>I'm like, I gotta, I gotta. I got to find

0:39:00.480 --> 0:39:05.320
<v Speaker 4>him right all right, and ended up infiltrating chuck Life.

0:39:05.440 --> 0:39:05.600
<v Speaker 1>You know.

0:39:05.880 --> 0:39:08.160
<v Speaker 2>There was some girls I used to hang out with

0:39:08.320 --> 0:39:09.600
<v Speaker 2>that went to Howard University.

0:39:09.920 --> 0:39:11.040
<v Speaker 1>They went, you know, they went to.

0:39:11.000 --> 0:39:15.760
<v Speaker 3>Howard McDonald, right. They had a crib at this time.

0:39:16.200 --> 0:39:20.600
<v Speaker 4>By Dude's album just hits, right, So yeah, yeah, so

0:39:20.760 --> 0:39:24.560
<v Speaker 4>her album just hits. That's like the whole Like I'm

0:39:24.640 --> 0:39:27.000
<v Speaker 4>kind of hanging out this crib. One of the girls

0:39:27.040 --> 0:39:31.200
<v Speaker 4>happens to work as an intern at Chuck Life at

0:39:31.280 --> 0:39:33.560
<v Speaker 4>Chucky Studio, which he has in Southeast at the time,

0:39:34.320 --> 0:39:39.440
<v Speaker 4>and I get over there one day and never Guru

0:39:39.600 --> 0:39:42.960
<v Speaker 4>was there at the time, Young and Google's there kind

0:39:42.960 --> 0:39:48.200
<v Speaker 4>of you know Tracy Leaves popping Nonchalant early in my

0:39:48.880 --> 0:39:52.520
<v Speaker 4>you know, songwriting career, and like Nam was one of

0:39:52.560 --> 0:39:53.960
<v Speaker 4>those people who took an interest in me.

0:39:53.960 --> 0:39:55.839
<v Speaker 3>I used to roll with not like heavy shout out

0:39:55.840 --> 0:39:56.600
<v Speaker 3>to Nonchalant.

0:39:57.880 --> 0:39:59.839
<v Speaker 4>We just kind of just like we like reached out

0:40:00.120 --> 0:40:02.960
<v Speaker 4>recently on like social media. But she was just like

0:40:03.640 --> 0:40:05.879
<v Speaker 4>somebody was just like always in my corner, would pick

0:40:05.960 --> 0:40:09.440
<v Speaker 4>me up and dropped me off, and she had access

0:40:09.520 --> 0:40:12.399
<v Speaker 4>to studios, let me come in there and record, and

0:40:12.840 --> 0:40:15.319
<v Speaker 4>but I was over there where Chucky was at and

0:40:15.960 --> 0:40:18.480
<v Speaker 4>just like just engulfed myself in that situation.

0:40:18.800 --> 0:40:20.839
<v Speaker 2>How were you trying to enter the game as a

0:40:20.840 --> 0:40:22.279
<v Speaker 2>songwriter as a singer.

0:40:22.600 --> 0:40:26.680
<v Speaker 4>As a songwriter first to then get in there as

0:40:27.200 --> 0:40:28.560
<v Speaker 4>the singer, right, gotcha?

0:40:28.760 --> 0:40:31.120
<v Speaker 3>Always part of different little quirky groups and things.

0:40:31.120 --> 0:40:32.920
<v Speaker 4>And then I went to a place called bar Nunne

0:40:32.920 --> 0:40:36.399
<v Speaker 4>one night, okay, and bar nunn changed my life because

0:40:36.440 --> 0:40:38.400
<v Speaker 4>that's where I started to go in bar None was

0:40:38.440 --> 0:40:41.239
<v Speaker 4>our version of Black Lily, but it happened like once

0:40:41.280 --> 0:40:45.640
<v Speaker 4>a week, okay, right, and bar none. The list was

0:40:45.719 --> 0:40:50.200
<v Speaker 4>ran by Roquel rob Brown, who's a poet who I

0:40:50.400 --> 0:40:54.880
<v Speaker 4>reconnected with Sacksville, Philly, and I reconnected with her a

0:40:54.880 --> 0:40:57.839
<v Speaker 4>few years back and she's, you know, to to say, hey,

0:40:57.880 --> 0:40:59.719
<v Speaker 4>like you need to do your first album, and you

0:40:59.719 --> 0:41:02.960
<v Speaker 4>know he's often doing her thing now, right, Yeah, So

0:41:03.440 --> 0:41:07.800
<v Speaker 4>I do part none. I end up winning this contest.

0:41:08.080 --> 0:41:10.680
<v Speaker 4>In the process, I've become part of a group called

0:41:10.760 --> 0:41:14.440
<v Speaker 4>Urban AF thirty one, which was like we put out

0:41:14.600 --> 0:41:16.520
<v Speaker 4>that was my first official album. It's a project out

0:41:16.560 --> 0:41:18.719
<v Speaker 4>called The Healing that You Can Find, and then we

0:41:18.760 --> 0:41:21.760
<v Speaker 4>did a follow up project called The Antidote. I connect

0:41:21.800 --> 0:41:26.120
<v Speaker 4>with Hilton Felton's son, w Ellington Felton, you know West.

0:41:26.440 --> 0:41:28.799
<v Speaker 4>Some of us call him dub l. He has many

0:41:28.960 --> 0:41:32.719
<v Speaker 4>many attributes. We form a group called The Crossroad. So

0:41:32.760 --> 0:41:35.440
<v Speaker 4>now I'm in like two groups in DC. I'm in

0:41:35.480 --> 0:41:39.320
<v Speaker 4>the Urban AF thirty one is like DC Wu Tang

0:41:39.600 --> 0:41:43.600
<v Speaker 4>kind of vibes, but very high level socially conscious. It's

0:41:43.640 --> 0:41:47.680
<v Speaker 4>like a fusion of like Dad preis Wu Tang and

0:41:47.719 --> 0:41:52.160
<v Speaker 4>I'm like the only singer and these guys which is

0:41:53.600 --> 0:41:57.960
<v Speaker 4>some of the members of that group. They went on

0:41:58.040 --> 0:42:03.560
<v Speaker 4>to be a man shout out to why you Diamond?

0:42:03.760 --> 0:42:07.280
<v Speaker 4>Yeah is that Yeah? So he's one of the original

0:42:07.280 --> 0:42:11.000
<v Speaker 4>members of They had their whole crew called the Remains

0:42:11.040 --> 0:42:13.360
<v Speaker 4>Super Talented man. It's just you know, we didn't have

0:42:13.360 --> 0:42:16.000
<v Speaker 4>the outlets in the city. Bar None is another place

0:42:16.000 --> 0:42:19.400
<v Speaker 4>where I met. Two guys pulled up on me one

0:42:19.480 --> 0:42:21.440
<v Speaker 4>night by the name of keV.

0:42:21.320 --> 0:42:24.480
<v Speaker 1>Brown and Cy Young, legendary keV Brown.

0:42:24.520 --> 0:42:27.120
<v Speaker 4>So keV Brown and so Young put me to the

0:42:27.160 --> 0:42:30.320
<v Speaker 4>sign and say, hey, we want to take to Philly

0:42:30.360 --> 0:42:31.840
<v Speaker 4>to meet DJ Jazz Jeff.

0:42:32.080 --> 0:42:33.040
<v Speaker 1>That's tally made.

0:42:33.200 --> 0:42:35.680
<v Speaker 4>And now now, prior to that, I got so englfed

0:42:35.680 --> 0:42:38.960
<v Speaker 4>in the open mic scene. I would do none on

0:42:39.000 --> 0:42:42.839
<v Speaker 4>Monday nights. I would do warm Wednesdays in Baltimore. And

0:42:42.880 --> 0:42:44.960
<v Speaker 4>then I found out about Black Lily, so I'd come

0:42:45.000 --> 0:42:46.719
<v Speaker 4>to Black Lily because I feel like Black Lily was

0:42:46.760 --> 0:42:48.920
<v Speaker 4>like once a month or I could only get out there.

0:42:48.800 --> 0:42:49.319
<v Speaker 3>Once a month.

0:42:49.800 --> 0:42:52.360
<v Speaker 2>No, we were weekly, but it was something that was

0:42:52.400 --> 0:42:53.919
<v Speaker 2>it was like, well, there was a New York one

0:42:54.000 --> 0:42:55.760
<v Speaker 2>and a Philly one. I was coming to the Philly

0:42:55.800 --> 0:42:56.920
<v Speaker 2>one at the five Spot.

0:42:57.080 --> 0:43:00.960
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, and it was just like, oh man, it was like, hey, okay,

0:43:01.000 --> 0:43:04.400
<v Speaker 4>so let me I want your perspective this all right.

0:43:04.280 --> 0:43:06.680
<v Speaker 1>This is you're saying this, yes.

0:43:06.960 --> 0:43:10.200
<v Speaker 2>Because for me this two Faces of Black Lily pre

0:43:10.320 --> 0:43:14.719
<v Speaker 2>things fall apart Black Lily, which was basically in my crib.

0:43:15.440 --> 0:43:18.200
<v Speaker 1>And yeah, pretty much every one in that room eventually

0:43:18.200 --> 0:43:21.480
<v Speaker 1>got a record record deal. Like you know, Jasmine was like, yeah,

0:43:21.560 --> 0:43:24.320
<v Speaker 1>nine years old. Hell's this nine year old game my crib.

0:43:24.960 --> 0:43:28.080
<v Speaker 2>And you know, by the time Malik started bringing beans

0:43:28.080 --> 0:43:30.799
<v Speaker 2>in them around like my bucks, burning beadies on my

0:43:30.840 --> 0:43:33.520
<v Speaker 2>couch and whatever, and beer on the floor whatever, Like

0:43:33.560 --> 0:43:34.000
<v Speaker 2>I was like.

0:43:34.040 --> 0:43:34.520
<v Speaker 1>Get out.

0:43:34.640 --> 0:43:37.840
<v Speaker 2>So then that's how once it came to the five spot,

0:43:38.800 --> 0:43:43.040
<v Speaker 2>we had to go on tour and just basically fund it.

0:43:44.280 --> 0:43:46.440
<v Speaker 1>But occasionally if we're home.

0:43:46.360 --> 0:43:49.000
<v Speaker 2>Or whatever, play a song or two whatever, just to

0:43:49.280 --> 0:43:53.640
<v Speaker 2>you know, keep up appearances. But I mean, for the

0:43:53.760 --> 0:43:57.880
<v Speaker 2>outsider coming in, is this like a game of double

0:43:57.960 --> 0:43:59.840
<v Speaker 2>Dutch in which you're trying to figure out it was

0:43:59.880 --> 0:44:02.080
<v Speaker 2>like game with Thrones?

0:44:02.560 --> 0:44:05.400
<v Speaker 1>Okay, tell me it was. Everything was cutthroat.

0:44:05.800 --> 0:44:06.200
<v Speaker 2>Oh man.

0:44:06.280 --> 0:44:09.760
<v Speaker 4>It was just like, first of all, it's very intimidating

0:44:09.800 --> 0:44:12.960
<v Speaker 4>to be out of your element, right, I'm like jumping

0:44:13.000 --> 0:44:17.480
<v Speaker 4>on the Amtrak hiding in the restroom to get.

0:44:17.280 --> 0:44:18.560
<v Speaker 1>Everyone, hides in the restaurant.

0:44:18.640 --> 0:44:21.000
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I mean ship man, That's how he did it.

0:44:21.160 --> 0:44:23.759
<v Speaker 4>You know, you did what you had to do. And

0:44:23.800 --> 0:44:25.799
<v Speaker 4>then you know, finding my you know, I'm in I'm

0:44:25.840 --> 0:44:28.040
<v Speaker 4>out of my element. I'm in Philadelphia, like you know

0:44:28.080 --> 0:44:31.680
<v Speaker 4>what I mean. But I found the spot. This is

0:44:31.680 --> 0:44:35.400
<v Speaker 4>a nostalgic spot. Then the getting in and then and

0:44:35.440 --> 0:44:38.239
<v Speaker 4>just the vibe. But like I think I might have

0:44:38.360 --> 0:44:41.000
<v Speaker 4>got on the mic once or twice, but it would

0:44:41.000 --> 0:44:45.880
<v Speaker 4>be like at the end people walking now like like

0:44:45.960 --> 0:44:49.040
<v Speaker 4>who are you? Like? But it was, oh, every time

0:44:49.080 --> 0:44:51.520
<v Speaker 4>I went, it was like something nostalgic happening. And it

0:44:51.600 --> 0:44:53.600
<v Speaker 4>was like and then and then if you're lucky you come.

0:44:53.719 --> 0:44:55.640
<v Speaker 4>I come on a night like you're there, or like

0:44:56.400 --> 0:44:58.640
<v Speaker 4>some of the guys from the band are actually there,

0:44:58.760 --> 0:45:01.759
<v Speaker 4>or like I remember hearing Jasmine there for the first time.

0:45:01.800 --> 0:45:03.960
<v Speaker 4>I want to say, like she was like how did

0:45:04.000 --> 0:45:04.879
<v Speaker 4>she even get in the club?

0:45:04.960 --> 0:45:07.720
<v Speaker 2>She used to sleep in the back of the car

0:45:07.960 --> 0:45:10.000
<v Speaker 2>with her dad, and it's time for her to do

0:45:10.040 --> 0:45:10.680
<v Speaker 2>her three songs?

0:45:11.040 --> 0:45:13.520
<v Speaker 3>And yeah, and then like how does how does this?

0:45:13.640 --> 0:45:14.879
<v Speaker 3>Who is this little girl?

0:45:14.920 --> 0:45:17.440
<v Speaker 4>And how would she who ends up being my label

0:45:17.480 --> 0:45:20.759
<v Speaker 4>mate later on Jive Records, and like, you know, I

0:45:20.840 --> 0:45:22.560
<v Speaker 4>knew her mom, her first manager.

0:45:23.080 --> 0:45:24.000
<v Speaker 2>It was just dope.

0:45:24.120 --> 0:45:26.959
<v Speaker 4>Like I remember seeing Kendrick there for the first time.

0:45:27.840 --> 0:45:30.760
<v Speaker 4>It was a lot of talent man and you know, again,

0:45:30.800 --> 0:45:32.760
<v Speaker 4>I was one of those guys that was like reading

0:45:32.800 --> 0:45:35.080
<v Speaker 4>the credits. I was a Roots fan anyway, so I'm

0:45:35.160 --> 0:45:37.719
<v Speaker 4>like it was it was a vibe, you know, so

0:45:37.840 --> 0:45:41.000
<v Speaker 4>when you're there, are you like, who do I connect

0:45:41.000 --> 0:45:42.160
<v Speaker 4>with to get to the next time.

0:45:42.520 --> 0:45:44.359
<v Speaker 3>I'm totally just trying to figure it out.

0:45:44.480 --> 0:45:46.480
<v Speaker 2>It was a it was a meat market because literally,

0:45:46.960 --> 0:45:50.160
<v Speaker 2>once it really started to catch on, like it started

0:45:50.160 --> 0:45:53.000
<v Speaker 2>getting ridiculous where like one night, like Janet would come

0:45:53.200 --> 0:45:55.759
<v Speaker 2>with her musical director, Yeah, and then we come back

0:45:55.840 --> 0:45:58.680
<v Speaker 2>the next week and like, oh, seven musicians aren't here,

0:45:59.160 --> 0:46:02.160
<v Speaker 2>and then someone else comes, yeah, and they take three

0:46:02.239 --> 0:46:05.960
<v Speaker 2>musicians yeah, Mary J. Block Like literally started becoming like

0:46:06.080 --> 0:46:07.200
<v Speaker 2>almost a market.

0:46:07.520 --> 0:46:10.200
<v Speaker 4>So what ended up happening was because I had the

0:46:10.320 --> 0:46:12.719
<v Speaker 4>Urban AF thing, Urban AF thirty one thing going on

0:46:13.120 --> 0:46:16.279
<v Speaker 4>that started to kind of like really start thanks to

0:46:16.320 --> 0:46:19.160
<v Speaker 4>d Chase and started get popping and move around doing colleges,

0:46:19.480 --> 0:46:23.759
<v Speaker 4>and my end for Philly was Jen Bragg and what's

0:46:23.800 --> 0:46:26.560
<v Speaker 4>the brother her part They to do a lot of parties.

0:46:26.640 --> 0:46:30.360
<v Speaker 4>It was Jen and uh ah man, forgive me forgiving

0:46:30.400 --> 0:46:32.560
<v Speaker 4>a name. That's where I started to kind of like

0:46:33.440 --> 0:46:34.239
<v Speaker 4>learn like.

0:46:34.440 --> 0:46:37.440
<v Speaker 1>Philly, you know what I mean. And because actually I

0:46:37.520 --> 0:46:38.840
<v Speaker 1>thought you were from Philly.

0:46:38.960 --> 0:46:39.200
<v Speaker 2>Nah.

0:46:39.320 --> 0:46:42.560
<v Speaker 4>I was going to Philly and Baltimore. And like I said,

0:46:42.560 --> 0:46:46.120
<v Speaker 4>I was doing that circuit so much Monday's bar none

0:46:46.320 --> 0:46:50.400
<v Speaker 4>Wednesdays Wednesdays in Baltimore and Philly that people started to

0:46:50.440 --> 0:46:52.200
<v Speaker 4>think that I was from Philly. People thought that I

0:46:52.239 --> 0:46:55.680
<v Speaker 4>lived in Baltimore. But when I met keV Brown and

0:46:55.760 --> 0:46:59.799
<v Speaker 4>Cy Young that night and they took me to Jeff Morpheus,

0:47:01.320 --> 0:47:05.760
<v Speaker 4>Jeff Morpheus Professor X, you know, like that's.

0:47:05.560 --> 0:47:07.520
<v Speaker 1>Where it all opened up, you know what I mean.

0:47:07.600 --> 0:47:09.920
<v Speaker 4>That's where he had the studio for Fourth Street and

0:47:10.800 --> 0:47:13.799
<v Speaker 4>you know all the rooms going. That's where I met

0:47:14.040 --> 0:47:16.600
<v Speaker 4>Eric Roberson for the first time. You know, he has

0:47:16.640 --> 0:47:18.880
<v Speaker 4>this story he tells where he feels like I was

0:47:18.920 --> 0:47:21.759
<v Speaker 4>writing the songs with the two pins, but I didn't

0:47:21.840 --> 0:47:22.239
<v Speaker 4>use a pen.

0:47:22.400 --> 0:47:24.520
<v Speaker 3>I was just doing everything off the brain, and.

0:47:24.480 --> 0:47:25.680
<v Speaker 2>It was just it was like a kid.

0:47:25.719 --> 0:47:27.360
<v Speaker 4>It's just a kid in a candy store, you know,

0:47:27.400 --> 0:47:29.720
<v Speaker 4>at that point, I haven't physically sat down and written

0:47:29.719 --> 0:47:32.960
<v Speaker 4>a song pinned the paper in a very in decades.

0:47:33.080 --> 0:47:35.360
<v Speaker 2>That's literally was my next question. I was like, what

0:47:35.440 --> 0:47:38.759
<v Speaker 2>is your songwriting process? Yeah, it's just to sit there

0:47:38.800 --> 0:47:39.520
<v Speaker 2>and channel with it.

0:47:39.600 --> 0:47:42.440
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, it's improvisational, like I sit there and it's having

0:47:42.440 --> 0:47:45.080
<v Speaker 4>a great engineer, you know, shout out the face.

0:47:45.760 --> 0:47:45.920
<v Speaker 1>You know.

0:47:45.960 --> 0:47:48.759
<v Speaker 4>I prefer to like record one place or you know,

0:47:48.920 --> 0:47:51.360
<v Speaker 4>or I've grown into the understanding like the vibe is

0:47:51.400 --> 0:47:52.680
<v Speaker 4>in you. You should be able to you know, if

0:47:52.719 --> 0:47:54.080
<v Speaker 4>you have people that are there in the room that

0:47:54.120 --> 0:47:56.360
<v Speaker 4>are professional and know what to do, the vibe is

0:47:56.360 --> 0:47:58.920
<v Speaker 4>in you. So I'll meet an engineer in LA and

0:47:59.600 --> 0:48:02.840
<v Speaker 4>like insane, Okay, like I'm he reminds me of my engineer,

0:48:02.880 --> 0:48:04.360
<v Speaker 4>and we'll lock in and then when I need to

0:48:04.400 --> 0:48:07.560
<v Speaker 4>do things in LA, I'm known for doing recording after

0:48:07.680 --> 0:48:12.080
<v Speaker 4>concerts and going to the studio and.

0:48:10.920 --> 0:48:12.000
<v Speaker 1>And vibing out right.

0:48:12.120 --> 0:48:17.239
<v Speaker 4>And but yeah, my process is very improvisational. I would

0:48:17.239 --> 0:48:20.080
<v Speaker 4>describe it as like a you know, it's like a download.

0:48:20.280 --> 0:48:23.520
<v Speaker 4>You know, it doesn't necessarily come I've heard Al Green,

0:48:23.880 --> 0:48:26.080
<v Speaker 4>I think describe it the same way, where it doesn't

0:48:26.080 --> 0:48:30.000
<v Speaker 4>come from me. But through me, and I just I

0:48:30.000 --> 0:48:32.880
<v Speaker 4>honor it. To borrow a quote from Eric robertson, you know,

0:48:33.000 --> 0:48:35.160
<v Speaker 4>I know that every time I write a song, I

0:48:35.200 --> 0:48:37.040
<v Speaker 4>know that God is real.

0:48:37.800 --> 0:48:40.280
<v Speaker 3>Is this, you know, the Creator is as a real.

0:48:40.120 --> 0:48:43.080
<v Speaker 4>Thing, and it makes you really want to respect the

0:48:43.120 --> 0:48:45.399
<v Speaker 4>gift even more so to make sure that you use

0:48:45.440 --> 0:48:47.600
<v Speaker 4>it for the right reasons.

0:48:47.880 --> 0:48:48.080
<v Speaker 1>You know.

0:48:48.560 --> 0:48:51.200
<v Speaker 2>So there's a real I forget what song that Stevie

0:48:51.280 --> 0:48:55.800
<v Speaker 2>Wonder is doing, but because he doesn't traditionally write lyrics

0:48:55.800 --> 0:49:00.279
<v Speaker 2>down or whatever, usually when he's tracking, so you listen

0:49:00.280 --> 0:49:03.480
<v Speaker 2>to like some of those reels or whatever, he'll get

0:49:03.520 --> 0:49:06.080
<v Speaker 2>to the end of the song and then it's always like,

0:49:06.239 --> 0:49:09.319
<v Speaker 2>oh garyl keep the tape rolling, and he'll just sit

0:49:09.360 --> 0:49:11.960
<v Speaker 2>there and he'll be on the roads, and then suddenly

0:49:12.040 --> 0:49:13.040
<v Speaker 2>you'll hear things like.

0:49:19.640 --> 0:49:22.879
<v Speaker 1>You got it, you got that real quick.

0:49:22.960 --> 0:49:23.920
<v Speaker 3>Another one comes to me.

0:49:24.440 --> 0:49:27.279
<v Speaker 2>You always hear like a sparkling like keep the tape on,

0:49:27.360 --> 0:49:34.440
<v Speaker 2>I got an idea like it's But I admire that

0:49:34.560 --> 0:49:38.480
<v Speaker 2>process more than anything because and I do think that

0:49:39.040 --> 0:49:42.439
<v Speaker 2>writing on the spot is probably the most honest way

0:49:42.480 --> 0:49:46.160
<v Speaker 2>to channel what you feel. So you'll say that eighty

0:49:46.280 --> 0:49:49.400
<v Speaker 2>ninety percent of the time it's yeah, ninety nine percent.

0:49:49.560 --> 0:49:52.760
<v Speaker 4>You know, there's records where different stages of my career

0:49:52.760 --> 0:49:55.880
<v Speaker 4>with somebody delivered me a record like a neo record

0:49:55.960 --> 0:49:58.520
<v Speaker 4>and that you know that I love and traditional. Yeah,

0:49:58.520 --> 0:50:00.160
<v Speaker 4>I'm like, I want to cut this, you know, I

0:50:00.160 --> 0:50:03.799
<v Speaker 4>mean right, but and even then, like you know, they're

0:50:03.840 --> 0:50:05.319
<v Speaker 4>not there, so I got to do it off the

0:50:05.360 --> 0:50:08.680
<v Speaker 4>ear and and and figure it out.

0:50:08.840 --> 0:50:12.480
<v Speaker 2>That said, because I think anyone else would have just

0:50:12.600 --> 0:50:16.440
<v Speaker 2>chosen the number ten. How hard was it to construct

0:50:16.600 --> 0:50:17.360
<v Speaker 2>the twenty.

0:50:17.160 --> 0:50:18.080
<v Speaker 1>Lessons of Love? Then?

0:50:19.280 --> 0:50:22.120
<v Speaker 2>What in terms of well, I mean, because the thing

0:50:22.239 --> 0:50:26.080
<v Speaker 2>is is that you're giving twenty lessons of love. But oh,

0:50:26.239 --> 0:50:27.960
<v Speaker 2>it was just a concept thing.

0:50:28.440 --> 0:50:31.959
<v Speaker 4>So twenty Lessons of Love came about, you know, shout

0:50:31.960 --> 0:50:35.200
<v Speaker 4>out to my business partner, Tone Walters back and forth

0:50:35.239 --> 0:50:36.399
<v Speaker 4>talking and you.

0:50:36.320 --> 0:50:38.200
<v Speaker 1>Know, I know too in a long time, you know.

0:50:38.280 --> 0:50:41.880
<v Speaker 4>He Groove Gumbo is where we first like met, right,

0:50:42.000 --> 0:50:45.400
<v Speaker 4>and we were bouncing ideas for the tour, and he

0:50:45.440 --> 0:50:47.799
<v Speaker 4>said at this point, I'm like, you know, I'm at

0:50:47.800 --> 0:50:50.080
<v Speaker 4>a stage in my life where I like input and

0:50:50.960 --> 0:50:53.719
<v Speaker 4>I've realized you can't do it all and figure out everything, right,

0:50:53.800 --> 0:50:55.600
<v Speaker 4>So he's like, yo, twenty lessons of love and I

0:50:55.640 --> 0:50:57.279
<v Speaker 4>was like, yo, I love that because you know, he

0:50:57.360 --> 0:50:59.839
<v Speaker 4>was coming off the twenty year anniversary of The Love Experience. Yes,

0:51:00.080 --> 0:51:01.759
<v Speaker 4>and I said, the only thing is missing is not

0:51:02.000 --> 0:51:03.160
<v Speaker 4>it's not there's no record.

0:51:03.320 --> 0:51:03.880
<v Speaker 1>I got to do that.

0:51:04.200 --> 0:51:06.399
<v Speaker 3>That's an ill record right there, you know. And that's

0:51:06.400 --> 0:51:07.040
<v Speaker 3>how it happens.

0:51:07.280 --> 0:51:10.160
<v Speaker 4>Once that right one thing, Now, Nah, once that happens,

0:51:10.440 --> 0:51:12.200
<v Speaker 4>I'm a hell been on getting it done. So I

0:51:12.200 --> 0:51:15.800
<v Speaker 4>immediately called my man KP from the colleagues, who's in Atlanta,

0:51:16.200 --> 0:51:19.400
<v Speaker 4>and said, Hey, I wanted to feel like this, you know,

0:51:19.440 --> 0:51:21.440
<v Speaker 4>I want to honor I feel like the nineties for

0:51:21.560 --> 0:51:23.280
<v Speaker 4>R and B was the best, one of the best

0:51:23.360 --> 0:51:25.799
<v Speaker 4>errors ever. Maybe it's just because that's where I you know,

0:51:26.160 --> 0:51:28.440
<v Speaker 4>I feel like that birthed me, It raised me, you know,

0:51:28.600 --> 0:51:31.360
<v Speaker 4>so many ways, right, And I told him what I

0:51:31.360 --> 0:51:34.360
<v Speaker 4>wanted it to feel like, and he sent me the track.

0:51:34.400 --> 0:51:38.040
<v Speaker 4>And you know, we communicate well together musically, so he

0:51:38.120 --> 0:51:40.000
<v Speaker 4>sends me the track, and like once he sent it,

0:51:40.040 --> 0:51:41.759
<v Speaker 4>I went to the studio and just like it just

0:51:41.840 --> 0:51:43.759
<v Speaker 4>it really came out. I probably cut that record in

0:51:43.840 --> 0:51:47.560
<v Speaker 4>like three four hours and then like revisited, you know

0:51:47.560 --> 0:51:48.840
<v Speaker 4>what I mean, And then I'll be on to the

0:51:48.880 --> 0:51:51.200
<v Speaker 4>next thing, or you know, I'm definitely in a space

0:51:51.239 --> 0:51:54.839
<v Speaker 4>of like being a perfectionist at what I do now,

0:51:55.000 --> 0:51:57.000
<v Speaker 4>where you know, I can walk away from it and

0:51:57.120 --> 0:51:59.840
<v Speaker 4>go back to it and hear it, and you know,

0:52:00.239 --> 0:52:03.640
<v Speaker 4>try different things, and you know, ask myself what's missing

0:52:04.120 --> 0:52:04.959
<v Speaker 4>or what's too much?

0:52:05.520 --> 0:52:06.520
<v Speaker 1>Right? Great?

0:52:06.600 --> 0:52:09.799
<v Speaker 2>Good at editing, Oh yeah for sure, Yeah that's what

0:52:09.920 --> 0:52:10.399
<v Speaker 2>where I'm weak.

0:52:10.440 --> 0:52:12.160
<v Speaker 1>I got to have everything but the kitchen sinking.

0:52:12.200 --> 0:52:14.640
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, you're so dense, yeah yeah, yeah, so so so

0:52:14.719 --> 0:52:17.479
<v Speaker 4>and just you know, and just understanding sound and where

0:52:17.480 --> 0:52:20.560
<v Speaker 4>I am as where I've grown and continue to grow

0:52:20.560 --> 0:52:23.080
<v Speaker 4>as a vocalist and as a writer. But even like

0:52:23.360 --> 0:52:26.600
<v Speaker 4>back when I really started locking in with Jeff before

0:52:26.640 --> 0:52:31.760
<v Speaker 4>the deal at Jive, I just realized that how important

0:52:31.760 --> 0:52:35.319
<v Speaker 4>time is, and it's nothing. There's no worse feeling than

0:52:35.400 --> 0:52:37.840
<v Speaker 4>being an artist and wanting to be in the studio

0:52:38.360 --> 0:52:41.440
<v Speaker 4>and knowing you have to leave because your time is up.

0:52:42.400 --> 0:52:45.319
<v Speaker 3>Right, you know what I mean? Like that right there?

0:52:45.360 --> 0:52:47.799
<v Speaker 4>So I always told myself and have myself had it

0:52:47.840 --> 0:52:51.360
<v Speaker 4>in my mind that like whenever the opportunity presents itself,

0:52:51.400 --> 0:52:54.000
<v Speaker 4>that doesn't have to be like that, that I'll just

0:52:54.040 --> 0:52:55.920
<v Speaker 4>be in there as much as I want, you know,

0:52:56.000 --> 0:52:57.400
<v Speaker 4>so by the time, you know, when I got to

0:52:57.400 --> 0:53:01.120
<v Speaker 4>deal with Job Records back in two thousand and you're like, I.

0:53:01.080 --> 0:53:01.600
<v Speaker 1>Did that right.

0:53:01.680 --> 0:53:04.800
<v Speaker 3>I'm just finishing answering your question when I got.

0:53:05.960 --> 0:53:06.759
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, you know.

0:53:06.800 --> 0:53:08.600
<v Speaker 4>So when I got the deal back in two thousand

0:53:08.640 --> 0:53:11.680
<v Speaker 4>and two, I had so much going on Urban after

0:53:11.680 --> 0:53:16.360
<v Speaker 4>thirty one, the Crossroads with West Felton. At that stage,

0:53:16.400 --> 0:53:19.880
<v Speaker 4>the Magnificent had already came out from meeting Jazzy Jeff,

0:53:19.920 --> 0:53:22.839
<v Speaker 4>I met Kenny and Louis for the first time. We

0:53:22.840 --> 0:53:24.640
<v Speaker 4>were working on V's album at the time.

0:53:25.280 --> 0:53:25.839
<v Speaker 1>You know what I mean.

0:53:26.440 --> 0:53:28.359
<v Speaker 4>Jeff sent me out on a mission to go work

0:53:28.400 --> 0:53:30.319
<v Speaker 4>with Kenny to write a record for V. It was

0:53:30.360 --> 0:53:32.759
<v Speaker 4>like a house record that I did and went to

0:53:32.800 --> 0:53:34.680
<v Speaker 4>just make, you know, just kind of produce the vocal

0:53:34.760 --> 0:53:36.840
<v Speaker 4>on it. And then I'm like working with V and

0:53:36.880 --> 0:53:39.400
<v Speaker 4>I'm like, man, he don't need me to do nothing.

0:53:40.960 --> 0:53:43.000
<v Speaker 1>Is just dope, right.

0:53:43.280 --> 0:53:46.640
<v Speaker 2>And Kenny, that's my big bro, Like we got what

0:53:46.760 --> 0:53:49.400
<v Speaker 2>was it like working with Kenny. He's so legendary.

0:53:49.520 --> 0:53:52.520
<v Speaker 4>Kenny and his guys at the time diego with them.

0:53:52.960 --> 0:53:56.080
<v Speaker 4>Kenny was the first person to show me my worth

0:53:56.480 --> 0:54:00.440
<v Speaker 4>and value. Okay, as an artist and where I went

0:54:00.480 --> 0:54:01.759
<v Speaker 4>to go. You know, I went out there to go

0:54:01.800 --> 0:54:04.560
<v Speaker 4>do the thing that Jeff sent me out there to do.

0:54:04.800 --> 0:54:09.080
<v Speaker 4>And then he was like blown away and was just like, yo, yo,

0:54:09.160 --> 0:54:10.760
<v Speaker 4>you just did that at the top of your head

0:54:11.440 --> 0:54:13.399
<v Speaker 4>and da da da da, and he was like yo.

0:54:13.680 --> 0:54:15.960
<v Speaker 4>He pulled up some stuff and was like, yo, can

0:54:16.000 --> 0:54:17.920
<v Speaker 4>you I think it was kind of like let me

0:54:17.960 --> 0:54:19.000
<v Speaker 4>see what you do with this.

0:54:19.120 --> 0:54:21.440
<v Speaker 3>And it was like oh, and I was like boom,

0:54:21.440 --> 0:54:22.799
<v Speaker 3>and I was like you got another one?

0:54:23.080 --> 0:54:24.799
<v Speaker 2>And then you know what I mean.

0:54:24.840 --> 0:54:26.719
<v Speaker 4>And then we started it and I started to go

0:54:26.800 --> 0:54:30.080
<v Speaker 4>back and forth and do things. And the first the

0:54:30.120 --> 0:54:31.759
<v Speaker 4>thing I did for him I came up with it

0:54:31.880 --> 0:54:35.120
<v Speaker 4>was but he was like, yo, how much you need

0:54:35.280 --> 0:54:37.480
<v Speaker 4>for this or whatever? And I probably was like give

0:54:37.520 --> 0:54:42.600
<v Speaker 4>me like two three hundred or whatever. And Kenny was

0:54:42.640 --> 0:54:46.120
<v Speaker 4>like nah be he was like and he set me

0:54:46.200 --> 0:54:48.120
<v Speaker 4>down and the like, I feel like he was the

0:54:48.160 --> 0:54:51.440
<v Speaker 4>first one, one of the first to it was like

0:54:51.560 --> 0:54:52.719
<v Speaker 4>three maybe three.

0:54:52.520 --> 0:54:53.560
<v Speaker 1>Four five bands.

0:54:54.160 --> 0:54:54.680
<v Speaker 2>You know what I'm saying.

0:54:54.719 --> 0:54:56.239
<v Speaker 4>I ain't never seen that, and I ain't never had

0:54:56.239 --> 0:54:59.799
<v Speaker 4>nobody like sit me down and like and it wasn't

0:54:59.800 --> 0:55:01.560
<v Speaker 4>like I'm giving you three four bands and I'm finna

0:55:01.600 --> 0:55:04.359
<v Speaker 4>take advantage of you or hey, along with just three

0:55:04.400 --> 0:55:06.600
<v Speaker 4>four bands, I need you to sign this paperwork right here,

0:55:06.680 --> 0:55:09.359
<v Speaker 4>and they taking half of your publishing. And just like

0:55:09.840 --> 0:55:11.799
<v Speaker 4>it was, it was just never no weird business. It

0:55:11.880 --> 0:55:15.319
<v Speaker 4>was just like big homie brotherhood love and the same

0:55:15.360 --> 0:55:16.560
<v Speaker 4>thing with Jeff, you know what I mean?

0:55:16.600 --> 0:55:18.640
<v Speaker 1>And why got all this going on?

0:55:18.760 --> 0:55:21.879
<v Speaker 4>I still got managers down and I have already been

0:55:21.960 --> 0:55:25.840
<v Speaker 4>on the road and left and quit from working with genuine.

0:55:25.880 --> 0:55:30.480
<v Speaker 4>Genuine was my first introduction to the industry in terms

0:55:30.520 --> 0:55:35.359
<v Speaker 4>of superstar status, like and this.

0:55:35.280 --> 0:55:38.040
<v Speaker 1>Is a songwriting with them or singing background, singing.

0:55:37.800 --> 0:55:41.399
<v Speaker 4>Background, okay, you know which he had this? I met

0:55:41.400 --> 0:55:43.319
<v Speaker 4>Cliff and Jerry. So because I was still in DC

0:55:43.440 --> 0:55:45.440
<v Speaker 4>and I still was doing things, I still was working

0:55:46.160 --> 0:55:49.719
<v Speaker 4>on wanting to be that independent artist. But there's all

0:55:49.719 --> 0:55:52.080
<v Speaker 4>these part of different things. I just had multiple things

0:55:52.120 --> 0:55:52.600
<v Speaker 4>going on.

0:55:53.239 --> 0:55:55.400
<v Speaker 2>So what was that like in your version of twenty

0:55:55.400 --> 0:55:57.480
<v Speaker 2>Feet from Stardoms? So do you learn?

0:55:57.520 --> 0:55:59.920
<v Speaker 4>So I got these managers, is in my ear who

0:56:00.560 --> 0:56:02.600
<v Speaker 4>who I'm loyal to at this point? And they and

0:56:02.640 --> 0:56:05.960
<v Speaker 4>they you know, and they're actively shopping a record deal

0:56:06.040 --> 0:56:09.040
<v Speaker 4>for me with these records that I've done with Jeff

0:56:09.440 --> 0:56:12.440
<v Speaker 4>Right Records, I've done with them right stuff I've done

0:56:12.480 --> 0:56:17.840
<v Speaker 4>with Kenny Right. But they're also kind of like probably

0:56:17.880 --> 0:56:20.200
<v Speaker 4>on pins and needles because they've had other artists that

0:56:20.200 --> 0:56:23.359
<v Speaker 4>they've worked with who are not loyal, Like I.

0:56:23.360 --> 0:56:24.879
<v Speaker 2>Am gotcha, you know what I mean.

0:56:24.920 --> 0:56:27.920
<v Speaker 4>So I'm going, I'm going like so I think I'm

0:56:27.920 --> 0:56:30.080
<v Speaker 4>probably you know, maybe every time I go to Philly

0:56:30.080 --> 0:56:31.759
<v Speaker 4>out of New York, they don't know if I'm going

0:56:31.800 --> 0:56:33.759
<v Speaker 4>to you know, it gets a little convoluted.

0:56:33.840 --> 0:56:35.200
<v Speaker 1>I got all this going on.

0:56:35.200 --> 0:56:37.560
<v Speaker 4>And what are you doing with the you know, you're

0:56:37.560 --> 0:56:41.400
<v Speaker 4>doing the head wrap stuff? It's the Urban A thirty

0:56:41.400 --> 0:56:43.960
<v Speaker 4>one and you know heving help us all.

0:56:44.080 --> 0:56:47.000
<v Speaker 2>And you know, for us it's always the backpack versus

0:56:47.200 --> 0:56:48.879
<v Speaker 2>ya in commercial so.

0:56:49.320 --> 0:56:51.000
<v Speaker 4>And my thing it's like I do it, and my

0:56:51.040 --> 0:56:52.680
<v Speaker 4>thing is like I do it all. You know, I

0:56:52.719 --> 0:56:53.560
<v Speaker 4>had to figure it out.

0:56:53.680 --> 0:56:55.520
<v Speaker 2>You know, are they looking down on head wrapping? Like

0:56:55.640 --> 0:56:58.120
<v Speaker 2>I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm gonna say they're looking

0:56:58.160 --> 0:56:58.719
<v Speaker 2>down on it.

0:56:58.719 --> 0:57:02.000
<v Speaker 4>It's just like it's that era where that's where you know,

0:57:02.040 --> 0:57:04.879
<v Speaker 4>I think me and West with the Crossroads was made

0:57:04.920 --> 0:57:08.040
<v Speaker 4>us so unique is that you know we would come

0:57:08.120 --> 0:57:10.920
<v Speaker 4>up with different turn jiggy conscious or you know what

0:57:11.000 --> 0:57:12.759
<v Speaker 4>I mean. It's like, you know what I'm like, Why

0:57:12.800 --> 0:57:16.800
<v Speaker 4>can't I have my v's on and my you know,

0:57:17.400 --> 0:57:19.720
<v Speaker 4>my role like that my mama gave me.

0:57:19.800 --> 0:57:20.439
<v Speaker 2>You know what I'm saying.

0:57:20.880 --> 0:57:23.240
<v Speaker 4>Why can't I have a love for R and B

0:57:23.400 --> 0:57:25.560
<v Speaker 4>the same way that I do for soul music right

0:57:26.040 --> 0:57:28.560
<v Speaker 4>or rock? And you know when you listen to my

0:57:28.600 --> 0:57:30.960
<v Speaker 4>first album, it's a fusion of a lot of different things.

0:57:31.000 --> 0:57:32.600
<v Speaker 3>It's kind of fast forwarding.

0:57:32.640 --> 0:57:35.280
<v Speaker 4>I knew that the love experience could be received a

0:57:35.360 --> 0:57:37.440
<v Speaker 4>lot of different ways and it could be confusing. And

0:57:37.480 --> 0:57:39.680
<v Speaker 4>that's where really the R and B Hippie Do Soul

0:57:39.760 --> 0:57:42.520
<v Speaker 4>rock Star title came from. And they when people I

0:57:42.960 --> 0:57:47.000
<v Speaker 4>came up with that because I knew that if I

0:57:47.040 --> 0:57:50.880
<v Speaker 4>couldn't explain it or formulated into words, and I didn't

0:57:50.880 --> 0:57:52.960
<v Speaker 4>just want to be like neo soul like I knew

0:57:52.960 --> 0:57:55.480
<v Speaker 4>where that came from. And it was nothing wrong with that, right,

0:57:55.920 --> 0:57:58.360
<v Speaker 4>but I knew that that was like I come from

0:57:58.400 --> 0:58:01.960
<v Speaker 4>an era of like and grew up like where you

0:58:02.000 --> 0:58:06.919
<v Speaker 4>don't bite somebody's titles or you know what I'm saying

0:58:06.920 --> 0:58:11.360
<v Speaker 4>phrases you know or sound right. So I feel like

0:58:11.400 --> 0:58:13.160
<v Speaker 4>there was a time period with that started. I'm not

0:58:13.160 --> 0:58:14.760
<v Speaker 4>gonna say who I feel like started that, but.

0:58:15.200 --> 0:58:18.840
<v Speaker 3>It was that was it, But it was.

0:58:18.920 --> 0:58:21.840
<v Speaker 4>And I sample things too, So I love sampling, right,

0:58:22.280 --> 0:58:27.520
<v Speaker 4>But there's nothing more dope and original than like original music,

0:58:28.080 --> 0:58:31.280
<v Speaker 4>gotcha right? And I was drawn to both, right, So

0:58:31.760 --> 0:58:33.960
<v Speaker 4>I figured out a way to diffuse it too. So

0:58:34.040 --> 0:58:36.080
<v Speaker 4>being on the road with like Genuine, which is more

0:58:36.160 --> 0:58:41.000
<v Speaker 4>like a conventional R and B but also futuristic. You

0:58:41.040 --> 0:58:44.680
<v Speaker 4>gotta remember G's first two three albums like he was

0:58:44.720 --> 0:58:47.440
<v Speaker 4>part of He was part of a movement that changed

0:58:47.520 --> 0:58:51.200
<v Speaker 4>music sonically. That don't happen every day, right, that don't

0:58:51.240 --> 0:58:54.760
<v Speaker 4>happen every decade. Yeah, you know what I mean. So

0:58:54.920 --> 0:58:58.320
<v Speaker 4>like that whole Missy player, you know what I mean.

0:58:58.320 --> 0:59:00.080
<v Speaker 4>So I was getting I was in the best of

0:59:00.040 --> 0:59:03.960
<v Speaker 4>worlds because I get to be kind of like underneath

0:59:04.000 --> 0:59:08.520
<v Speaker 4>that experience that and sing the songs that you know

0:59:08.680 --> 0:59:10.800
<v Speaker 4>that I loved singing, and you know that I was.

0:59:10.840 --> 0:59:12.919
<v Speaker 3>I was a genu Wine fan when I got the gig,

0:59:13.400 --> 0:59:13.520
<v Speaker 3>you know.

0:59:13.840 --> 0:59:15.640
<v Speaker 4>And you know, he don't get the credit and the

0:59:15.720 --> 0:59:19.080
<v Speaker 4>roses and his prom and I think he was like, yeah,

0:59:19.120 --> 0:59:21.680
<v Speaker 4>all the all them cats was like wanted to beg

0:59:22.040 --> 0:59:24.400
<v Speaker 4>or if they never said it or whatever, but like

0:59:25.040 --> 0:59:27.480
<v Speaker 4>before there was a Chris Brown, before there was you know,

0:59:27.640 --> 0:59:29.680
<v Speaker 4>and and while there was this they were like, but

0:59:29.760 --> 0:59:31.960
<v Speaker 4>G was like that guy, like I was. I was

0:59:32.000 --> 0:59:34.760
<v Speaker 4>there before differences, I was there after. I was there

0:59:34.880 --> 0:59:38.440
<v Speaker 4>you know when before he met so late after like

0:59:38.880 --> 0:59:41.320
<v Speaker 4>on tour with him with Janet Jackson and Backstreet Boys

0:59:41.320 --> 0:59:43.320
<v Speaker 4>and in sync, Like what's bigger at the time?

0:59:43.920 --> 0:59:44.720
<v Speaker 1>What was that like?

0:59:44.960 --> 0:59:46.520
<v Speaker 3>Oh, it was crazy.

0:59:46.720 --> 0:59:48.640
<v Speaker 4>It was crazy, like it was it was It was

0:59:48.680 --> 0:59:51.960
<v Speaker 4>like it let me know that I had to quit

0:59:52.000 --> 0:59:54.160
<v Speaker 4>because I could. I had to make a decision because

0:59:54.160 --> 0:59:57.320
<v Speaker 4>I would you know, people give their lives to artists,

0:59:57.560 --> 0:59:58.840
<v Speaker 4>you know what I mean, Like, you know a lot

0:59:58.840 --> 1:00:00.800
<v Speaker 4>of times we don't look at the fact that the

1:00:00.840 --> 1:00:05.680
<v Speaker 4>people who helped be helped shape it right. And so

1:00:06.120 --> 1:00:08.200
<v Speaker 4>although I enjoyed that and I loved that, I remember

1:00:08.560 --> 1:00:11.040
<v Speaker 4>distinctly like the last gig I did was in Vegas,

1:00:11.040 --> 1:00:13.160
<v Speaker 4>and I made a decision on that ride back that

1:00:13.320 --> 1:00:15.880
<v Speaker 4>like I wanted to be, I wanted more. I knew

1:00:15.880 --> 1:00:17.800
<v Speaker 4>that it was out there was something out there, There

1:00:17.840 --> 1:00:19.960
<v Speaker 4>was a driving force still was out there for me.

1:00:20.280 --> 1:00:24.320
<v Speaker 1>A lot of people would get stuck. We comforted living and.

1:00:24.280 --> 1:00:27.320
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, so I was actively, you know, always coming back

1:00:27.360 --> 1:00:29.760
<v Speaker 4>and forth to New York and doing showcases and things

1:00:29.800 --> 1:00:32.880
<v Speaker 4>like that, and Cliff Jones Jerry Vonn shout out to

1:00:32.880 --> 1:00:36.920
<v Speaker 4>Cliff and Jerry Cliff was shopping songs and shopping artists.

1:00:37.000 --> 1:00:39.720
<v Speaker 3>He went into Job Records to shop.

1:00:39.480 --> 1:00:42.360
<v Speaker 4>A totally different artist that he was hell bent on

1:00:42.680 --> 1:00:45.480
<v Speaker 4>getting in the record deal for and played a couple

1:00:45.480 --> 1:00:47.600
<v Speaker 4>of my records and they were like, what's that?

1:00:47.960 --> 1:00:49.920
<v Speaker 2>Go back to that, who's that whatever?

1:00:50.320 --> 1:00:52.840
<v Speaker 4>And then you know, they started doing their homework and

1:00:53.480 --> 1:00:56.120
<v Speaker 4>I had a buzz and we got They said they

1:00:56.120 --> 1:00:58.240
<v Speaker 4>wanted me to come to Jive Records to do a showcase,

1:00:58.560 --> 1:01:01.600
<v Speaker 4>which was supposed to be for fifteen minutes and it

1:01:01.680 --> 1:01:03.320
<v Speaker 4>ended up being like an hour and a half that

1:01:03.360 --> 1:01:06.880
<v Speaker 4>I performed and yikes, they were, you know, this is

1:01:06.920 --> 1:01:10.960
<v Speaker 4>this is like this is right after like the whole

1:01:11.680 --> 1:01:14.640
<v Speaker 4>r Kelly and the Olympics and the tape and you

1:01:14.680 --> 1:01:17.240
<v Speaker 4>know what I mean, And this is kind of the

1:01:17.480 --> 1:01:20.120
<v Speaker 4>kind of like everybody's wasn't there but everybody Pete at

1:01:20.120 --> 1:01:21.920
<v Speaker 4>THEIA Parry might have.

1:01:22.720 --> 1:01:25.000
<v Speaker 2>But no, no, no, I mean physically there was He's still

1:01:25.440 --> 1:01:27.520
<v Speaker 2>it was oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

1:01:27.560 --> 1:01:31.400
<v Speaker 4>So I remember feeling like though in the process, you know, Jeff,

1:01:31.440 --> 1:01:34.400
<v Speaker 4>this was Jeff's old label though, right, and I feel

1:01:34.400 --> 1:01:36.920
<v Speaker 4>like I was concerned about it, like sucking up the relationship,

1:01:37.080 --> 1:01:37.720
<v Speaker 4>you know what I'm saying.

1:01:37.760 --> 1:01:39.080
<v Speaker 3>I had a lot of respect for him.

1:01:39.240 --> 1:01:41.400
<v Speaker 4>He told me to What I don't think he knew

1:01:41.440 --> 1:01:44.120
<v Speaker 4>was that he had equipped me for to kind of

1:01:44.160 --> 1:01:45.840
<v Speaker 4>go in there to know what I needed to do.

1:01:45.920 --> 1:01:47.360
<v Speaker 4>So I already knew I was going to be there

1:01:47.480 --> 1:01:50.760
<v Speaker 4>for a good time, not a long time, gotcha, right,

1:01:50.920 --> 1:01:53.280
<v Speaker 4>And you know high Sight twenty twenty, I was, you know,

1:01:53.840 --> 1:01:56.480
<v Speaker 4>I was only I did my first deal in two

1:01:56.520 --> 1:01:58.520
<v Speaker 4>thousand and two. The album came out in two thousand

1:01:58.560 --> 1:02:01.720
<v Speaker 4>and five. That right there, that three year span showed

1:02:01.760 --> 1:02:06.920
<v Speaker 4>me everything I needed to see to know. Okay, because

1:02:06.960 --> 1:02:08.240
<v Speaker 4>you get the deal and then you get in the

1:02:08.240 --> 1:02:11.040
<v Speaker 4>building and then you realize, like, oh then it starts.

1:02:11.600 --> 1:02:13.360
<v Speaker 4>This is just the this is just the start.

1:02:25.520 --> 1:02:28.400
<v Speaker 2>Once you knew you were getting a deal, how long

1:02:28.600 --> 1:02:32.800
<v Speaker 2>was it before you realized, Okay, now this ship is real.

1:02:32.960 --> 1:02:35.640
<v Speaker 2>Because there was a point where for us, you know,

1:02:35.680 --> 1:02:37.720
<v Speaker 2>we got our advanced and started acting.

1:02:38.480 --> 1:02:39.880
<v Speaker 3>It was real when I got the advance.

1:02:39.960 --> 1:02:42.440
<v Speaker 4>But I got the advanced, and I ain't tell nobody

1:02:43.200 --> 1:02:45.200
<v Speaker 4>first move I made. Somebody put me on the Tarry

1:02:45.240 --> 1:02:48.520
<v Speaker 4>Reid hmm. And I got with Terry Read and I

1:02:48.560 --> 1:02:50.680
<v Speaker 4>put the money up or whatever. But then, but what

1:02:50.720 --> 1:02:53.760
<v Speaker 4>I would do, though, is I would always go to

1:02:53.800 --> 1:02:56.000
<v Speaker 4>the like I was. I had that club, like going

1:02:56.000 --> 1:02:59.440
<v Speaker 4>to the club, and like I started and started to

1:02:59.520 --> 1:03:02.600
<v Speaker 4>deal with trying to dibble and dabbling bottle service and

1:03:02.600 --> 1:03:05.560
<v Speaker 4>how fast were you broken? Oh man, nah, it ain't

1:03:05.560 --> 1:03:08.800
<v Speaker 4>get not because I did have some put up over

1:03:08.800 --> 1:03:10.880
<v Speaker 4>there with Terry, like it ain't you know what I mean.

1:03:11.320 --> 1:03:12.800
<v Speaker 4>Like I was able to hold on to what I

1:03:12.800 --> 1:03:14.240
<v Speaker 4>got for the you know, a couple of years. But

1:03:14.320 --> 1:03:15.280
<v Speaker 4>it was just it was, you know, I had a

1:03:15.480 --> 1:03:18.440
<v Speaker 4>I had a little green camera ninety six camera that

1:03:18.520 --> 1:03:20.920
<v Speaker 4>I bought. I didn't like, I didn't realize, like you know,

1:03:21.320 --> 1:03:23.680
<v Speaker 4>back then, I really had to. I had a financial literacy,

1:03:23.720 --> 1:03:27.800
<v Speaker 4>so I didn't know about you know, the taxes and

1:03:27.920 --> 1:03:30.440
<v Speaker 4>all like you know, and or to get the car,

1:03:30.600 --> 1:03:33.080
<v Speaker 4>like I remember Cliff and Jerry telling me like man,

1:03:33.120 --> 1:03:35.360
<v Speaker 4>you gotta you gotta you can't be riding around here

1:03:35.400 --> 1:03:37.880
<v Speaker 4>and that you gotta look you gotta look the part,

1:03:37.960 --> 1:03:39.160
<v Speaker 4>you know what I'm saying. And that's when I went

1:03:39.200 --> 1:03:41.400
<v Speaker 4>and got like a truck, like we got my avalanche.

1:03:41.440 --> 1:03:45.919
<v Speaker 4>But like that three year span out went through two

1:03:46.160 --> 1:03:49.200
<v Speaker 4>mergers and one selling of the company, you know what

1:03:49.240 --> 1:03:51.920
<v Speaker 4>I mean. So just just that boom that happens right

1:03:51.960 --> 1:03:52.840
<v Speaker 4>after I do the deal.

1:03:53.280 --> 1:03:54.160
<v Speaker 3>So you don't even know.

1:03:54.280 --> 1:03:57.640
<v Speaker 4>So you hear the whispers, but you don't know if you're.

1:03:57.520 --> 1:03:59.120
<v Speaker 3>Gonna even stay, you know what I'm saying.

1:03:59.440 --> 1:04:01.439
<v Speaker 4>And if you got to management or teams like keeping

1:04:01.440 --> 1:04:03.040
<v Speaker 4>it funky with you, they gonna let you know, so

1:04:03.040 --> 1:04:04.920
<v Speaker 4>they which they did, you know, and they let me

1:04:04.960 --> 1:04:07.280
<v Speaker 4>know and then and then and then they had a split,

1:04:08.160 --> 1:04:10.160
<v Speaker 4>you know, the managers had to split and not like

1:04:10.240 --> 1:04:12.120
<v Speaker 4>right after you know what I mean, Like I had

1:04:12.120 --> 1:04:14.720
<v Speaker 4>to just choose a side. I had to pick a

1:04:14.800 --> 1:04:17.120
<v Speaker 4>side that which which I had never been in that

1:04:17.200 --> 1:04:21.160
<v Speaker 4>situation before things, you know, learning about loyalty, you know,

1:04:21.520 --> 1:04:25.320
<v Speaker 4>being paranoid about the money and not at how it

1:04:25.360 --> 1:04:27.520
<v Speaker 4>can change you or change the people around you.

1:04:28.040 --> 1:04:29.120
<v Speaker 3>It was like bet on you.

1:04:29.480 --> 1:04:32.040
<v Speaker 4>And that's you know, that's where I started doing the mixtapes,

1:04:32.640 --> 1:04:34.200
<v Speaker 4>you know what I mean. And I was the first

1:04:34.280 --> 1:04:38.160
<v Speaker 4>you know, the first singer soul, R and B singer

1:04:38.200 --> 1:04:40.680
<v Speaker 4>to make to make to make mixtapes. And I did

1:04:40.760 --> 1:04:44.200
<v Speaker 4>that because of that's coming back and forth in New

1:04:44.280 --> 1:04:47.480
<v Speaker 4>York seeing what fifty was doing with g Unit, right,

1:04:48.080 --> 1:04:50.960
<v Speaker 4>and that's where I got the whole blueprint, watching fifty

1:04:50.960 --> 1:04:53.480
<v Speaker 4>with g Unit and watching Mike Jones, and I had,

1:04:54.000 --> 1:04:56.160
<v Speaker 4>you know, and the mixtapes with is what you know

1:04:56.240 --> 1:04:59.439
<v Speaker 4>and getting them out to the DJs, and then got

1:04:59.440 --> 1:05:03.560
<v Speaker 4>the burner and burning and burning the tapes and selling

1:05:03.560 --> 1:05:05.640
<v Speaker 4>them out the trunk and out the north face and

1:05:05.680 --> 1:05:07.320
<v Speaker 4>the winter and going in the club.

1:05:07.400 --> 1:05:08.640
<v Speaker 3>It was a period of time. I go in the

1:05:08.720 --> 1:05:10.000
<v Speaker 3>club and like you.

1:05:10.040 --> 1:05:13.640
<v Speaker 4>Got Gilbert's arenas by getting a couple and throwing me

1:05:13.680 --> 1:05:14.440
<v Speaker 4>a stack.

1:05:14.440 --> 1:05:15.800
<v Speaker 3>Real quick, you got you know what I mean.

1:05:15.880 --> 1:05:18.440
<v Speaker 4>I leave the club with like like a dope man,

1:05:18.720 --> 1:05:21.400
<v Speaker 4>like the dope man with you know, five six, you know,

1:05:21.920 --> 1:05:24.439
<v Speaker 4>thousand dollars like and not in in a half an hour,

1:05:25.040 --> 1:05:26.600
<v Speaker 4>I just posts up at the bar and you got

1:05:26.600 --> 1:05:29.080
<v Speaker 4>that value one, you got that value two. I didn't

1:05:29.120 --> 1:05:30.720
<v Speaker 4>realize what I was doing at the time, but I

1:05:30.760 --> 1:05:33.040
<v Speaker 4>was creating my own destiny. I was creating an ownership.

1:05:33.760 --> 1:05:36.360
<v Speaker 4>I was doing album I was doing Street Team promo.

1:05:36.880 --> 1:05:39.240
<v Speaker 4>I didn't realize that, you know, I was providing. It

1:05:39.280 --> 1:05:41.320
<v Speaker 4>was like, you know, merch in its own cool way.

1:05:41.800 --> 1:05:42.440
<v Speaker 3>But I learned that.

1:05:42.480 --> 1:05:44.160
<v Speaker 4>I mean, I learned that from like bar None and

1:05:44.280 --> 1:05:46.560
<v Speaker 4>and like my guy Wes Felton, you know what I mean,

1:05:46.600 --> 1:05:49.520
<v Speaker 4>and seeing him have something that was you know, I

1:05:49.600 --> 1:05:53.440
<v Speaker 4>realized early I'm doing open mics. People want to take

1:05:53.480 --> 1:05:56.919
<v Speaker 4>you home with them. Have something that that people can

1:05:57.320 --> 1:05:58.080
<v Speaker 4>that's tangible.

1:05:58.840 --> 1:06:02.120
<v Speaker 2>So that lead me to like at the time when

1:06:02.160 --> 1:06:06.160
<v Speaker 2>I was on a major, like I would have nightmares

1:06:06.560 --> 1:06:09.840
<v Speaker 2>about us getting dropped and no, I'm not going back

1:06:09.840 --> 1:06:12.560
<v Speaker 2>on to my mama, you know that whole thing, which

1:06:12.720 --> 1:06:16.520
<v Speaker 2>I'll say that a lot of that sort of just

1:06:17.400 --> 1:06:20.400
<v Speaker 2>the fear of getting dropped back when you just have

1:06:20.560 --> 1:06:22.840
<v Speaker 2>one thing to do, which you know, now I have options,

1:06:23.040 --> 1:06:26.000
<v Speaker 2>So like I'm now creating from my heart and not

1:06:26.120 --> 1:06:31.800
<v Speaker 2>from out of fear. How liberating did it feel or

1:06:31.840 --> 1:06:35.920
<v Speaker 2>how frightening was it once you were without the backing

1:06:35.960 --> 1:06:39.520
<v Speaker 2>of a major and now you're deciding I'm gonna do

1:06:39.560 --> 1:06:41.800
<v Speaker 2>this on my own as an independent.

1:06:41.680 --> 1:06:44.040
<v Speaker 3>That started in twenty ten, and it was cool. It

1:06:44.160 --> 1:06:45.960
<v Speaker 3>was never no fear factor.

1:06:46.000 --> 1:06:48.000
<v Speaker 4>It was the fact that I already at that stage,

1:06:48.000 --> 1:06:49.840
<v Speaker 4>I already knew I had built something. I had already

1:06:49.840 --> 1:06:52.800
<v Speaker 4>built something prior to getting signed a job.

1:06:53.000 --> 1:06:54.160
<v Speaker 1>Yay, like you know what I mean?

1:06:54.760 --> 1:06:56.920
<v Speaker 4>So you know I mean, I guess that's why I

1:06:56.960 --> 1:06:59.240
<v Speaker 4>worked the way that I work now. I never want

1:06:59.280 --> 1:07:01.760
<v Speaker 4>to go back to that that fear, like it's still lingers,

1:07:01.920 --> 1:07:03.760
<v Speaker 4>like you know what I mean, especially if you don't

1:07:03.800 --> 1:07:08.280
<v Speaker 4>have like the financial literacy and to know, you know,

1:07:08.680 --> 1:07:10.560
<v Speaker 4>it's one thing to make the money, it's another thing

1:07:10.600 --> 1:07:12.520
<v Speaker 4>to know how to you know, be able to touch

1:07:12.520 --> 1:07:15.400
<v Speaker 4>it when you need it. And then you know, wise

1:07:15.920 --> 1:07:18.720
<v Speaker 4>manager once told me, when you make the decision based

1:07:18.800 --> 1:07:22.200
<v Speaker 4>upon money, you're going to always make the wrong decision

1:07:22.240 --> 1:07:26.320
<v Speaker 4>typically you know you know so. But yeah, I feel

1:07:26.360 --> 1:07:28.440
<v Speaker 4>like at that point I had the matrix figured out.

1:07:28.440 --> 1:07:29.920
<v Speaker 3>I got out of my deal. I didn't get dropped.

1:07:29.960 --> 1:07:31.560
<v Speaker 4>I got out of the deal because they didn't want

1:07:31.560 --> 1:07:33.840
<v Speaker 4>to honor the next period that I would have been

1:07:33.880 --> 1:07:36.120
<v Speaker 4>going into, which would have been a seven figure period.

1:07:36.640 --> 1:07:37.680
<v Speaker 1>You know, if you.

1:07:37.640 --> 1:07:40.880
<v Speaker 4>Talk about the advance and then the promo budget and

1:07:40.920 --> 1:07:43.760
<v Speaker 4>the album budget and all the things. And I distinctly

1:07:43.760 --> 1:07:46.840
<v Speaker 4>remember Peter Thea sitting me down and saying like, hey, like,

1:07:47.280 --> 1:07:50.200
<v Speaker 4>we're not selling the records we used to sell it anymore.

1:07:50.480 --> 1:07:51.479
<v Speaker 1>If we got our.

1:07:51.400 --> 1:07:54.720
<v Speaker 4>Hands on you five years prior to when we did,

1:07:55.560 --> 1:07:58.360
<v Speaker 4>you would be huge. You would be a household name

1:07:58.520 --> 1:08:02.160
<v Speaker 4>more than what you are now, Like you would be huge.

1:08:02.880 --> 1:08:06.360
<v Speaker 4>But the reality is people aren't being by records like

1:08:06.400 --> 1:08:06.920
<v Speaker 4>they used to.

1:08:07.560 --> 1:08:09.000
<v Speaker 3>The business model is changing.

1:08:09.560 --> 1:08:12.320
<v Speaker 4>I know we're supposed to do give you this, and

1:08:12.360 --> 1:08:14.960
<v Speaker 4>do this, but did you think you could do an

1:08:14.960 --> 1:08:17.840
<v Speaker 4>album three hundred thousand And I'm sitting across from them,

1:08:17.840 --> 1:08:20.639
<v Speaker 4>like absolutely I could do that. You know, I probably

1:08:20.640 --> 1:08:24.280
<v Speaker 4>just might do the whole album for twenty bands fifty bands,

1:08:24.280 --> 1:08:27.360
<v Speaker 4>and then use a portion of it to get the

1:08:27.479 --> 1:08:29.800
<v Speaker 4>radio record going and you know what I mean, and

1:08:29.840 --> 1:08:32.479
<v Speaker 4>all the things. But it was like, nah, I want

1:08:32.479 --> 1:08:35.000
<v Speaker 4>which I was supposed to give me though, right, like right,

1:08:35.400 --> 1:08:37.160
<v Speaker 4>And it was just that thing like, well, we can't

1:08:37.160 --> 1:08:41.240
<v Speaker 4>do that, so we'll give you to December thirty first, two.

1:08:41.000 --> 1:08:42.519
<v Speaker 3>Thousand and nine to this side.

1:08:44.160 --> 1:08:46.360
<v Speaker 4>But I think I told them, like, I'll give you

1:08:46.360 --> 1:08:50.320
<v Speaker 4>to the side and if it don't play out, then

1:08:50.400 --> 1:08:51.400
<v Speaker 4>I'll go my separate weight.

1:08:51.479 --> 1:08:53.160
<v Speaker 3>I mean, they gave me a release and then you

1:08:53.160 --> 1:08:53.519
<v Speaker 3>know what I.

1:08:53.400 --> 1:08:55.800
<v Speaker 4>Mean, and I think the biggest lesson in that was

1:08:55.840 --> 1:08:58.240
<v Speaker 4>not being prepared and not having a plan, like, well,

1:08:58.560 --> 1:08:59.439
<v Speaker 4>what's gonna be my plan?

1:08:59.560 --> 1:09:03.639
<v Speaker 3>So I kind of like dormant for three years.

1:09:03.760 --> 1:09:07.080
<v Speaker 4>I started doing what was a podcast before it was

1:09:07.120 --> 1:09:10.080
<v Speaker 4>called the podcast where I did the Raheem Devan Show

1:09:10.080 --> 1:09:13.479
<v Speaker 4>every Sunday and that like blew up. But the business

1:09:13.560 --> 1:09:16.920
<v Speaker 4>wasn't right on that and in terms of the monetization

1:09:17.040 --> 1:09:20.040
<v Speaker 4>of it for me. But I sat down with everybody

1:09:20.080 --> 1:09:24.000
<v Speaker 4>from Kendrick Lamar to t I, the Bony James too,

1:09:24.520 --> 1:09:28.280
<v Speaker 4>you know, Marsha came through Spike Lee. I mean like

1:09:28.360 --> 1:09:30.840
<v Speaker 4>it was, it was. It was an incredible time. And

1:09:30.880 --> 1:09:34.320
<v Speaker 4>so now when I see like the podcasting and I'm like, wow, man,

1:09:34.360 --> 1:09:36.479
<v Speaker 4>I was I've been a blueprint for a lot.

1:09:36.560 --> 1:09:39.040
<v Speaker 3>I didn't understand it. It didn't click.

1:09:38.920 --> 1:09:43.920
<v Speaker 4>Until after I left one of those Jazzy Jeff Secret retreats. Yes,

1:09:44.000 --> 1:09:46.840
<v Speaker 4>one of the playlists, Yes, one of I was like

1:09:46.880 --> 1:09:49.920
<v Speaker 4>an early playlist attender, and he has me on this

1:09:50.560 --> 1:09:53.599
<v Speaker 4>my trailer that was staying in in my trailers. Dj

1:09:54.760 --> 1:09:59.840
<v Speaker 4>Z Trip, yeah, the cat who started GoPro and dj Eddie.

1:10:01.040 --> 1:10:04.920
<v Speaker 4>Oh you know how Jeff like labels names that I

1:10:05.000 --> 1:10:08.439
<v Speaker 4>should said the blueprint nice, but I didn't. It ain't

1:10:08.479 --> 1:10:12.120
<v Speaker 4>clicked to like years later, like right, and I started

1:10:12.120 --> 1:10:14.920
<v Speaker 4>thinking about like the innovative stuff that i've you know,

1:10:15.080 --> 1:10:16.679
<v Speaker 4>done or been part of, you know what I mean,

1:10:16.720 --> 1:10:20.000
<v Speaker 4>from being you know, doing the mixtapes or you know,

1:10:20.120 --> 1:10:23.439
<v Speaker 4>to having a podcast before the podcast, you know, from

1:10:23.479 --> 1:10:26.240
<v Speaker 4>twenty ten to twenty thirteen. But I needed that time

1:10:26.600 --> 1:10:30.640
<v Speaker 4>to grow, to learn to you know, end up, you know,

1:10:31.040 --> 1:10:34.080
<v Speaker 4>changing management. You know, we all grew the relationship, but

1:10:34.120 --> 1:10:36.600
<v Speaker 4>were still the best of friends and do business. You know,

1:10:36.640 --> 1:10:38.280
<v Speaker 4>I can put them on the business moves now, they

1:10:38.280 --> 1:10:40.519
<v Speaker 4>can put me on the business moves now, but I

1:10:40.600 --> 1:10:41.400
<v Speaker 4>never stopped.

1:10:41.760 --> 1:10:46.679
<v Speaker 2>What's the process now? Okay, so if you're as an independent, yeah,

1:10:47.840 --> 1:10:48.799
<v Speaker 2>what are.

1:10:48.760 --> 1:10:50.320
<v Speaker 1>The new rules?

1:10:50.360 --> 1:10:53.360
<v Speaker 2>What's the new lay of the land as far as

1:10:54.520 --> 1:10:58.080
<v Speaker 2>knowing how to successfully roll out? You know, the thing was,

1:10:58.120 --> 1:11:00.320
<v Speaker 2>for a long time, I still thought you were on

1:11:00.400 --> 1:11:05.240
<v Speaker 2>a major because, like you one of these video of

1:11:05.320 --> 1:11:07.640
<v Speaker 2>rollouts you had was was crazy and I was just

1:11:07.680 --> 1:11:10.120
<v Speaker 2>like damn, like I'm want a major and they're not

1:11:10.160 --> 1:11:11.200
<v Speaker 2>even rolling out like this.

1:11:11.600 --> 1:11:14.000
<v Speaker 1>Maybe you were just in my algorithm like crazy.

1:11:14.080 --> 1:11:17.160
<v Speaker 3>What's the rules? The first rule is you gotta be

1:11:17.200 --> 1:11:18.479
<v Speaker 3>prepared to spend your own bread.

1:11:19.000 --> 1:11:21.240
<v Speaker 4>You gotta you know what I mean, yourself. You gotta

1:11:21.280 --> 1:11:23.800
<v Speaker 4>bet on yourself. You gotta you know, know not. You

1:11:23.800 --> 1:11:25.679
<v Speaker 4>gotta be self contained. You gotta be able to spend

1:11:25.720 --> 1:11:28.280
<v Speaker 4>your own bread, you know, and and and then and

1:11:28.360 --> 1:11:30.719
<v Speaker 4>allow of times to do that. As an independent artist,

1:11:31.520 --> 1:11:34.600
<v Speaker 4>you you may find yourself and you have to be

1:11:34.720 --> 1:11:38.120
<v Speaker 4>uncomfortable in other areas. You gotta have to sacrifice in

1:11:38.200 --> 1:11:38.839
<v Speaker 4>other areas.

1:11:38.880 --> 1:11:39.080
<v Speaker 1>You know.

1:11:39.680 --> 1:11:41.800
<v Speaker 4>As an ending, you can hire the same team that

1:11:42.479 --> 1:11:44.800
<v Speaker 4>the major's higher. It ain't, but there's so many people

1:11:44.800 --> 1:11:49.000
<v Speaker 4>that they can use for you know, radio promotion, it's

1:11:49.040 --> 1:11:49.519
<v Speaker 4>not so many.

1:11:49.600 --> 1:11:51.439
<v Speaker 1>It's radio still priority to you now.

1:11:51.560 --> 1:11:56.560
<v Speaker 4>Absolutely radio still pays the biggest payout. Radio is relevant.

1:11:57.080 --> 1:12:00.840
<v Speaker 4>Who cares about radio Live Nation? No, who cares about

1:12:00.960 --> 1:12:05.479
<v Speaker 4>radio Black Promoter Collective. And I know this because that's

1:12:05.520 --> 1:12:07.280
<v Speaker 4>where they where they're going to go to do the

1:12:07.320 --> 1:12:10.080
<v Speaker 4>advertisement for the show you ain't popping on the radio

1:12:10.200 --> 1:12:11.960
<v Speaker 4>and they got an ad running for you the radio

1:12:12.120 --> 1:12:13.960
<v Speaker 4>for people to come see you, like, who's going to come?

1:12:14.040 --> 1:12:14.760
<v Speaker 1>Who? You know?

1:12:14.760 --> 1:12:17.120
<v Speaker 4>You know what I mean? Now, do you need radio

1:12:17.200 --> 1:12:21.400
<v Speaker 4>to create a movement? Absolutely not can be you can be.

1:12:21.560 --> 1:12:22.120
<v Speaker 1>You know, if you.

1:12:22.080 --> 1:12:26.400
<v Speaker 4>Look at one of our hometown heroes, Brent Fires for example, right,

1:12:26.400 --> 1:12:29.320
<v Speaker 4>who's from PG County, Right, huge fan of what he's

1:12:29.320 --> 1:12:31.720
<v Speaker 4>done with his movement. If you look at like an

1:12:31.800 --> 1:12:34.920
<v Speaker 4>artist like logic, who I discovered by the way, and

1:12:35.040 --> 1:12:36.479
<v Speaker 4>drop the ball on that right?

1:12:39.200 --> 1:12:42.519
<v Speaker 1>Wait what I was about? Seriously?

1:12:42.720 --> 1:12:50.080
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, explain previous manager still big homie. Jerry Vons reaches out. Well, actually,

1:12:50.400 --> 1:12:54.200
<v Speaker 4>Jerry and my previous partner Dreda Mayor. You know, I

1:12:54.200 --> 1:12:56.000
<v Speaker 4>had a label at one point three since say music

1:12:56.040 --> 1:12:59.240
<v Speaker 4>group say, oh we got this kid, and you know

1:12:59.360 --> 1:13:01.720
<v Speaker 4>at the time, we didn't know he was you know,

1:13:02.160 --> 1:13:05.280
<v Speaker 4>he's a black wizard. Yeah, it was a wizard, right right,

1:13:05.360 --> 1:13:07.320
<v Speaker 4>And and so they're like, we got this white boy

1:13:07.400 --> 1:13:11.720
<v Speaker 4>we want you to meet. And I instantly fell in

1:13:11.720 --> 1:13:14.040
<v Speaker 4>love with him as an artist, like he reminded of me.

1:13:14.240 --> 1:13:15.000
<v Speaker 3>He reminded me.

1:13:14.960 --> 1:13:18.599
<v Speaker 4>Of me so much, like like his passion for it,

1:13:19.040 --> 1:13:22.719
<v Speaker 4>his hunger for it, his humility, you know, not knowing

1:13:22.840 --> 1:13:26.280
<v Speaker 4>how dope he he always knew he was dope, but

1:13:26.479 --> 1:13:29.000
<v Speaker 4>just to see him growing to the confidence. And you know,

1:13:29.120 --> 1:13:33.320
<v Speaker 4>ultimately we didn't sign him to our label because we

1:13:33.400 --> 1:13:35.840
<v Speaker 4>had an artist that we you know, we felt like

1:13:36.680 --> 1:13:39.120
<v Speaker 4>when my partner had an artist that we felt like

1:13:39.640 --> 1:13:41.600
<v Speaker 4>it was too you know, it was it was in

1:13:41.640 --> 1:13:45.360
<v Speaker 4>the same space we'd be you know, yeah, and we

1:13:45.479 --> 1:13:47.840
<v Speaker 4>you know, it wouldn't be fair to our artists, you

1:13:47.880 --> 1:13:50.000
<v Speaker 4>know what I mean. But I can wholeheartedly say it.

1:13:50.000 --> 1:13:51.600
<v Speaker 4>It's not the first time I would say it or

1:13:51.600 --> 1:13:55.360
<v Speaker 4>the last that had we done that, it might not

1:13:55.400 --> 1:13:57.719
<v Speaker 4>even pad out for him the way it was supposed

1:13:57.720 --> 1:13:59.599
<v Speaker 4>to play out. It played out how it was supposed

1:13:59.640 --> 1:14:02.320
<v Speaker 4>to play out for him, and I'm like super proud

1:14:02.320 --> 1:14:05.719
<v Speaker 4>of him and happy for him, you know. But yeah,

1:14:05.880 --> 1:14:07.920
<v Speaker 4>I got stories like that for days, you know what

1:14:07.960 --> 1:14:10.960
<v Speaker 4>I mean of like different you know, hey, can you

1:14:10.960 --> 1:14:13.120
<v Speaker 4>pull up to the radio station. We got somebody we

1:14:13.160 --> 1:14:17.120
<v Speaker 4>want you to meet and just kind of like put

1:14:17.120 --> 1:14:19.920
<v Speaker 4>some words of encouragement on them. Looking back on it,

1:14:19.960 --> 1:14:22.479
<v Speaker 4>I could have been involved while a you know what

1:14:22.520 --> 1:14:26.200
<v Speaker 4>I mean, like different things, you know, But again, everybody

1:14:26.280 --> 1:14:29.280
<v Speaker 4>has their their path and the course to take, you

1:14:29.280 --> 1:14:32.800
<v Speaker 4>know what I mean. So I've always taken even now,

1:14:32.960 --> 1:14:35.960
<v Speaker 4>like the big homie approach in terms of like like

1:14:36.160 --> 1:14:40.120
<v Speaker 4>Jazzy Jeff and what Kenny and them have like you know,

1:14:40.280 --> 1:14:42.280
<v Speaker 4>taught me and and you know the Cliff Jones and

1:14:42.360 --> 1:14:45.840
<v Speaker 4>jer like anybody who's ever been like I take the good,

1:14:46.000 --> 1:14:48.960
<v Speaker 4>the bad, the ugly and and and be able to

1:14:49.000 --> 1:14:52.240
<v Speaker 4>apply that to you know, that next artist out there

1:14:52.320 --> 1:14:55.439
<v Speaker 4>that is I want to come up that you know

1:14:55.560 --> 1:14:58.960
<v Speaker 4>that I repost or they I slide in the DM

1:14:59.080 --> 1:15:00.439
<v Speaker 4>just to say, hey, you're dope.

1:15:01.320 --> 1:15:03.800
<v Speaker 2>Who is there an artist right now that we might

1:15:03.840 --> 1:15:05.880
<v Speaker 2>not be aware of that we should be looking out

1:15:05.960 --> 1:15:07.800
<v Speaker 2>for someone that's bubbling under.

1:15:08.840 --> 1:15:10.280
<v Speaker 1>I mean there's so many.

1:15:10.400 --> 1:15:12.519
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's so many. Man, I want to get you

1:15:12.520 --> 1:15:13.880
<v Speaker 2>in trouble because if you name one, like what did

1:15:13.920 --> 1:15:14.559
<v Speaker 2>you No? No?

1:15:14.640 --> 1:15:14.680
<v Speaker 1>No?

1:15:15.120 --> 1:15:19.120
<v Speaker 4>I mean of course, like I'm gonna always shout out

1:15:19.200 --> 1:15:21.280
<v Speaker 4>you know my you know people that I work with

1:15:21.320 --> 1:15:24.760
<v Speaker 4>in real time. You know like Yasarah, Who's who's on

1:15:24.840 --> 1:15:26.320
<v Speaker 4>another run right now?

1:15:26.800 --> 1:15:27.240
<v Speaker 2>Grenek?

1:15:27.680 --> 1:15:31.360
<v Speaker 4>You know who put out a project on Grenek. We

1:15:31.360 --> 1:15:33.600
<v Speaker 4>did a project. Chose the collaborators. When you do like

1:15:33.640 --> 1:15:37.720
<v Speaker 4>collaborative records, usually like it's friends, man, it's friendships. Its

1:15:38.400 --> 1:15:40.360
<v Speaker 4>organically happens, you know what I mean. Like I don't

1:15:40.400 --> 1:15:43.400
<v Speaker 4>really push you know what I mean. Shout to Brendla

1:15:43.439 --> 1:15:47.400
<v Speaker 4>McKinney in Houston, Neptune twenty one, Who's Crazy Neptune?

1:15:47.400 --> 1:15:49.000
<v Speaker 3>I introduce you to Neptune.

1:15:48.880 --> 1:15:52.320
<v Speaker 4>When we did the rehearsal for oh okay, yeah, yeah, yeah,

1:15:52.320 --> 1:15:55.679
<v Speaker 4>she's Yeah, she's super dope. She currently lives in Philly,

1:15:55.720 --> 1:15:58.400
<v Speaker 4>but it's originally from you know, from the DC area. Gotcha,

1:15:58.479 --> 1:16:01.439
<v Speaker 4>it's so many man, Kennedy ryne In who I'm a

1:16:01.439 --> 1:16:04.719
<v Speaker 4>super fan, you know. Shout to her and her manager,

1:16:04.840 --> 1:16:07.719
<v Speaker 4>like they get it obviously. You know, I've been following

1:16:07.760 --> 1:16:10.200
<v Speaker 4>and watching Larrussell for a very long time. I started

1:16:10.280 --> 1:16:15.240
<v Speaker 4>using even do biz directed Consumer because of Larussell. Okay, right,

1:16:15.439 --> 1:16:17.479
<v Speaker 4>and you know, yeah, those are the artists. And to

1:16:17.520 --> 1:16:20.760
<v Speaker 4>bring it full circle, like be willing to spend your

1:16:20.800 --> 1:16:24.519
<v Speaker 4>own bread, you know, be frugal about it. You're gonna

1:16:24.560 --> 1:16:26.880
<v Speaker 4>need a team. You know, it's gonna be a lot

1:16:26.880 --> 1:16:30.080
<v Speaker 4>of You're gonna have to work ten times. It's harder, right,

1:16:30.600 --> 1:16:34.080
<v Speaker 4>and understand that we are in a director consumer era now,

1:16:34.160 --> 1:16:35.720
<v Speaker 4>you know what I mean? Like, you know, this is

1:16:35.760 --> 1:16:38.080
<v Speaker 4>an NFC card right here, like on the back, it's

1:16:38.080 --> 1:16:40.600
<v Speaker 4>got like the stats and that's that's you.

1:16:40.680 --> 1:16:42.280
<v Speaker 3>By the way, you can do it? Yeah, I was like,

1:16:42.320 --> 1:16:43.040
<v Speaker 3>oh yeah, you can.

1:16:45.280 --> 1:16:47.320
<v Speaker 4>You tap that to your phone, unlock your phone and

1:16:47.400 --> 1:16:50.160
<v Speaker 4>just tap it and you can pull up literally and

1:16:50.360 --> 1:16:54.360
<v Speaker 4>enjoy the entire album. You know, on even die Biz,

1:16:54.360 --> 1:16:58.000
<v Speaker 4>you know I did. We're approaching like forty thousand mark

1:16:58.120 --> 1:17:00.920
<v Speaker 4>right now on even Do Big is. You know, the

1:17:00.920 --> 1:17:04.120
<v Speaker 4>first three weeks of me putting out the album, from

1:17:04.360 --> 1:17:08.200
<v Speaker 4>three four weeks from February thirteenth into you know, rolling

1:17:08.240 --> 1:17:10.479
<v Speaker 4>over into the you know, the fourth week, I did

1:17:10.560 --> 1:17:14.200
<v Speaker 4>over twenty five thousand Director consumer you know, only a

1:17:14.200 --> 1:17:16.760
<v Speaker 4>little over six hundred fans at the time had supported

1:17:17.400 --> 1:17:20.559
<v Speaker 4>the platform. When we do our roots album, I know

1:17:20.600 --> 1:17:23.879
<v Speaker 4>you guys, when we do our roots album Manifest, Yeah, yeah,

1:17:24.280 --> 1:17:26.920
<v Speaker 4>the Roots featuring Rye. When we do the album, let

1:17:26.920 --> 1:17:31.280
<v Speaker 4>me just say this man, as a diehard, I'll stand

1:17:31.320 --> 1:17:34.800
<v Speaker 4>on this ten toes down. The roots are the are

1:17:34.840 --> 1:17:37.799
<v Speaker 4>the hip hop rolling stones, and we want more music.

1:17:37.840 --> 1:17:40.120
<v Speaker 2>We want more albums. I promise you and.

1:17:41.880 --> 1:17:45.879
<v Speaker 4>You guys would do very well in the director consumer space.

1:17:46.640 --> 1:17:48.360
<v Speaker 4>You know what I mean, y'all would do very well

1:17:48.400 --> 1:17:50.840
<v Speaker 4>the director consumer space. Like you know, it's so many

1:17:50.880 --> 1:17:53.200
<v Speaker 4>things that you can do. You know, I'll give you

1:17:53.240 --> 1:17:55.160
<v Speaker 4>all this one for free. Just do the album and

1:17:55.320 --> 1:17:57.840
<v Speaker 4>just put it on vinyl. Do an album where you

1:17:57.880 --> 1:18:00.439
<v Speaker 4>can only get it on vinyl, like every this should

1:18:00.439 --> 1:18:02.360
<v Speaker 4>be doing. I'm going to do it. Do it, run

1:18:02.439 --> 1:18:04.240
<v Speaker 4>with it. Can everybody can do it? Like you know

1:18:04.280 --> 1:18:04.639
<v Speaker 4>what I mean?

1:18:04.920 --> 1:18:07.120
<v Speaker 2>Like Vinyl is back, take Cassetta back.

1:18:07.520 --> 1:18:08.040
<v Speaker 1>Yes they are.

1:18:08.120 --> 1:18:09.120
<v Speaker 2>They just did it.

1:18:09.400 --> 1:18:12.120
<v Speaker 4>Vinyl just did a billion dollar evaluation this year, like

1:18:12.240 --> 1:18:14.120
<v Speaker 4>you know what I mean, Like just in Vinyl, like

1:18:14.360 --> 1:18:16.840
<v Speaker 4>if I never went away though, you know what I mean,

1:18:17.120 --> 1:18:19.679
<v Speaker 4>I'm just finding I just ordered a batch of heavy

1:18:19.760 --> 1:18:23.679
<v Speaker 4>you know, CDs as you know, and recently and bought

1:18:23.720 --> 1:18:27.439
<v Speaker 4>burners and all the things right and disc Makers, which

1:18:27.479 --> 1:18:31.080
<v Speaker 4>is right there, and what's like right outside Philly. They've

1:18:31.120 --> 1:18:33.640
<v Speaker 4>been in business for eighty years. I get on the

1:18:33.680 --> 1:18:35.280
<v Speaker 4>phone and get to talking to the guy on the

1:18:35.280 --> 1:18:36.599
<v Speaker 4>phone and he's like, yeah, I've been here.

1:18:36.720 --> 1:18:37.280
<v Speaker 1>I've been here.

1:18:37.520 --> 1:18:40.280
<v Speaker 3>He's been there longer than I've been on job, you know, like.

1:18:40.160 --> 1:18:41.000
<v Speaker 2>He's been there before.

1:18:41.040 --> 1:18:43.560
<v Speaker 4>I was with Job Records, right of us, and I

1:18:43.560 --> 1:18:45.800
<v Speaker 4>said and I said, I said, hey, are you seeing

1:18:45.800 --> 1:18:48.680
<v Speaker 4>a resurgence? And he was like in CDs and he

1:18:48.760 --> 1:18:52.519
<v Speaker 4>was like yeah, I said, I'm thinking it's like right now.

1:18:52.720 --> 1:18:54.519
<v Speaker 3>He's like, oh no, it started during COVID.

1:18:55.120 --> 1:18:58.240
<v Speaker 4>We had to literally make space and create another room

1:18:58.280 --> 1:19:00.320
<v Speaker 4>where we could to be able to do with the

1:19:00.360 --> 1:19:01.400
<v Speaker 4>supply and demand of.

1:19:01.439 --> 1:19:03.759
<v Speaker 2>CD CD collecting.

1:19:04.840 --> 1:19:07.080
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, CDs are I just yo, it's crazy.

1:19:07.439 --> 1:19:10.080
<v Speaker 4>I just did a show prior to going, you know,

1:19:10.360 --> 1:19:11.800
<v Speaker 4>last one of the last shows I did.

1:19:12.479 --> 1:19:14.120
<v Speaker 3>It was the last show I did for twenty Lessons

1:19:14.120 --> 1:19:16.480
<v Speaker 3>of Love tour in Augusta.

1:19:16.400 --> 1:19:20.160
<v Speaker 4>And literally I was the headliner, so I only had

1:19:20.200 --> 1:19:23.559
<v Speaker 4>like this very small window of time to do meet

1:19:23.600 --> 1:19:27.519
<v Speaker 4>and greet like literally five to ten minutes, and we

1:19:27.600 --> 1:19:32.400
<v Speaker 4>did like six hundred dollars in like CDs like that quick.

1:19:32.920 --> 1:19:34.799
<v Speaker 3>And I'm like, ah, man, if we was out.

1:19:34.640 --> 1:19:37.240
<v Speaker 2>Here for a good hour, yep, oh, it'd.

1:19:37.040 --> 1:19:41.240
<v Speaker 4>Been crazy, you know. And cassettes. This project is out

1:19:41.320 --> 1:19:45.200
<v Speaker 4>right now. Quad Storm lover to may own dm me

1:19:45.320 --> 1:19:47.240
<v Speaker 4>if you want, I'll send you personally, send you the

1:19:47.280 --> 1:19:52.960
<v Speaker 4>link all right on Instagram, Uh, Facebook, hit me up.

1:19:53.560 --> 1:19:57.800
<v Speaker 4>That's that's my version of j Cole being outside, right, Yeah,

1:19:57.840 --> 1:19:58.799
<v Speaker 4>I'm outside digitally.

1:19:58.800 --> 1:20:00.679
<v Speaker 2>I mean I'm in that. I'm I'm in the DMS.

1:20:00.720 --> 1:20:14.720
<v Speaker 2>I'm heavy, you know what I mean. Oh, I mean

1:20:14.760 --> 1:20:18.280
<v Speaker 2>you talked about CDs having a resurgence during COVID twenty

1:20:18.320 --> 1:20:21.519
<v Speaker 2>twenty was definitely a Mason Dixon line if you will. Yeah,

1:20:21.720 --> 1:20:27.400
<v Speaker 2>of life lessons, we either that's involved or devaulved.

1:20:27.479 --> 1:20:29.000
<v Speaker 1>What did you learn in twenty twenty?

1:20:29.000 --> 1:20:32.400
<v Speaker 4>That's where director consumer began, right, I learned to stay

1:20:32.439 --> 1:20:34.080
<v Speaker 4>ready so you don't have to get ready.

1:20:34.400 --> 1:20:34.639
<v Speaker 1>Man.

1:20:34.720 --> 1:20:38.320
<v Speaker 4>I did WRINT parties. I did mortgage parties during you

1:20:38.400 --> 1:20:42.240
<v Speaker 4>did Good Times WRINT parties. But I did online mortgage

1:20:42.280 --> 1:20:45.040
<v Speaker 4>parties during COVID, you know what I mean? That was

1:20:45.040 --> 1:20:48.120
<v Speaker 4>my stage it it was it was a platform called

1:20:48.120 --> 1:20:50.840
<v Speaker 4>stage it okay, and I found out about Yeah, I

1:20:50.840 --> 1:20:54.120
<v Speaker 4>would do it. I would literally do a concert on

1:20:54.200 --> 1:20:56.559
<v Speaker 4>stage it. It still exists agent dot com.

1:20:56.560 --> 1:20:56.920
<v Speaker 2>You can go there.

1:20:56.960 --> 1:20:59.920
<v Speaker 4>You can literally set up in here, put a concert

1:21:00.120 --> 1:21:03.599
<v Speaker 4>up on stage and set a date. They can pre

1:21:03.680 --> 1:21:09.719
<v Speaker 4>sell tickets the whole thing and do a concert and

1:21:10.040 --> 1:21:12.519
<v Speaker 4>you know, be safe and not have to worry about contact.

1:21:12.560 --> 1:21:14.320
<v Speaker 3>That was you know back then, that was the thing.

1:21:14.479 --> 1:21:16.559
<v Speaker 1>The first time you did the rollout, Like what was that? Like?

1:21:17.120 --> 1:21:19.959
<v Speaker 4>I mean, it's always a nervousness of like, is anybody

1:21:19.960 --> 1:21:23.120
<v Speaker 4>going to like trust the process of this? And then

1:21:23.200 --> 1:21:25.320
<v Speaker 4>you start seeing people buy tickets and then you know,

1:21:25.360 --> 1:21:27.960
<v Speaker 4>you do you know I'm in there doing everything myself

1:21:27.960 --> 1:21:30.559
<v Speaker 4>because it's COVID, so I'm you know, I'm like down

1:21:30.600 --> 1:21:32.719
<v Speaker 4>to the you know, troubleshooting they got, I got somebody

1:21:32.760 --> 1:21:36.800
<v Speaker 4>on the phone. I'm doing the whole thing, and then

1:21:36.800 --> 1:21:39.320
<v Speaker 4>it's a countdown the show's about to start, and then

1:21:39.439 --> 1:21:40.400
<v Speaker 4>boom and then I'm.

1:21:40.240 --> 1:21:41.400
<v Speaker 3>Like ticking the tracks.

1:21:41.439 --> 1:21:44.000
<v Speaker 4>And I would do that like once a month, and

1:21:44.000 --> 1:21:45.760
<v Speaker 4>it was like, you know, it's my sanity.

1:21:45.400 --> 1:21:47.840
<v Speaker 1>And are they're giving you live feedback as yeah, you're there.

1:21:47.760 --> 1:21:49.760
<v Speaker 3>In the chat. They can tip. It's a tip, they

1:21:49.760 --> 1:21:50.400
<v Speaker 3>can tip you.

1:21:51.080 --> 1:21:53.040
<v Speaker 4>So I already bought a ticket, So you got like

1:21:53.080 --> 1:21:55.479
<v Speaker 4>five hundred people in there who bought a you know

1:21:55.640 --> 1:21:58.600
<v Speaker 4>ticket for twenty dollars, right, and then they tip you

1:21:58.640 --> 1:21:59.280
<v Speaker 4>on top of that.

1:21:59.640 --> 1:22:00.680
<v Speaker 2>And then after you.

1:22:01.320 --> 1:22:06.680
<v Speaker 4>Log off the after parties on Instagram and then and

1:22:06.680 --> 1:22:09.559
<v Speaker 4>I'm playing and I'm playing music, you know, like d Nights,

1:22:09.560 --> 1:22:11.680
<v Speaker 4>but I'm not I'm not DJing. I'm just I'm just

1:22:11.720 --> 1:22:14.400
<v Speaker 4>triggering songs. Like I didn't realize that when I was

1:22:14.439 --> 1:22:18.200
<v Speaker 4>doing you know, mixtape Mondays or Woke Wednesdays or sage

1:22:18.200 --> 1:22:21.639
<v Speaker 4>and slow jams on a clubhouse before it was public

1:22:22.120 --> 1:22:24.640
<v Speaker 4>that I was preparing myself to have the number one

1:22:24.680 --> 1:22:27.320
<v Speaker 4>night time music show, the original choirt story that Melvillnzy

1:22:27.400 --> 1:22:27.760
<v Speaker 4>used to do.

1:22:28.320 --> 1:22:29.280
<v Speaker 1>That's what I'm leading to.

1:22:29.520 --> 1:22:33.400
<v Speaker 2>What is it like to inherit such a like a

1:22:33.520 --> 1:22:37.200
<v Speaker 2>landmark institution as the Quiet Storm.

1:22:37.280 --> 1:22:41.080
<v Speaker 4>It's I'm humbly saying this like I didn't feel any pressure,

1:22:41.680 --> 1:22:44.640
<v Speaker 4>but it is a lot of pressure though, Like it's

1:22:44.640 --> 1:22:48.160
<v Speaker 4>like I know what's on the line, so I respect it,

1:22:48.200 --> 1:22:48.880
<v Speaker 4>I honor it.

1:22:49.720 --> 1:22:54.520
<v Speaker 3>I always try to move with authenticity.

1:22:54.360 --> 1:22:55.479
<v Speaker 1>Of what it means.

1:22:56.000 --> 1:22:59.000
<v Speaker 3>Gotcha what it means to the d m V Right.

1:22:59.200 --> 1:23:02.960
<v Speaker 4>I respect what it means because I grew up listening

1:23:02.960 --> 1:23:05.840
<v Speaker 4>to it. It's the most trippy thing to be able.

1:23:05.840 --> 1:23:07.559
<v Speaker 4>I mean, I'm sure it was your first day like

1:23:07.920 --> 1:23:12.240
<v Speaker 4>taking the rings. Oh man, it was just like I cried.

1:23:11.800 --> 1:23:15.320
<v Speaker 4>I cried when I saw my contract. I had my

1:23:15.360 --> 1:23:18.680
<v Speaker 4>holy ghost moment in the car, you know. I went

1:23:18.720 --> 1:23:21.360
<v Speaker 4>to my mama's crib to go listen to it, you know,

1:23:21.520 --> 1:23:25.080
<v Speaker 4>the first night. And yeah, man, I never take for

1:23:25.160 --> 1:23:28.040
<v Speaker 4>granted even this moment right here, because I'm a huge

1:23:28.160 --> 1:23:28.719
<v Speaker 4>roots fan.

1:23:29.040 --> 1:23:31.680
<v Speaker 1>You wouldn't know if you know, you're not specificated.

1:23:32.640 --> 1:23:35.040
<v Speaker 4>And so I remember getting a call one time for

1:23:35.160 --> 1:23:40.840
<v Speaker 4>my manager that it was almost opportunity where I don't

1:23:40.840 --> 1:23:42.680
<v Speaker 4>know if it was like Martin Luther was going to

1:23:42.720 --> 1:23:45.080
<v Speaker 4>sit it out or Belloud was going to sit it out.

1:23:45.439 --> 1:23:47.880
<v Speaker 3>Remember this, and I was supposed to go. I was

1:23:47.880 --> 1:23:49.479
<v Speaker 3>supposed to go overseas with y'at.

1:23:49.720 --> 1:23:52.840
<v Speaker 4>I remember I've been singing all the singing prods and

1:23:52.880 --> 1:23:54.400
<v Speaker 4>then it fell through it.

1:23:54.360 --> 1:23:55.439
<v Speaker 1>The loud was crushed.

1:23:55.760 --> 1:24:00.400
<v Speaker 4>Sorry, man, I was like, but but yeah, like to

1:24:00.439 --> 1:24:03.839
<v Speaker 4>break it full circle. There's moments that you have where

1:24:04.040 --> 1:24:06.880
<v Speaker 4>you're blessed if like the people who who you like

1:24:06.960 --> 1:24:10.880
<v Speaker 4>grew up listening to they become like your friends, are

1:24:10.920 --> 1:24:14.880
<v Speaker 4>your associates or your mentors, you know what I mean.

1:24:15.120 --> 1:24:17.880
<v Speaker 4>And you know when that happens, it's just like ah, man,

1:24:17.920 --> 1:24:20.960
<v Speaker 4>it's just like so cool. That's what I you know,

1:24:21.080 --> 1:24:23.479
<v Speaker 4>that's the feeling of like being at HU. I had

1:24:23.479 --> 1:24:26.400
<v Speaker 4>to go by there, you know, yesterday obviously I'm in

1:24:26.439 --> 1:24:29.160
<v Speaker 4>New York, so I pre recorded my show for tonight,

1:24:29.280 --> 1:24:32.439
<v Speaker 4>right and I'm pre recording doing a tour, and you know.

1:24:32.520 --> 1:24:33.960
<v Speaker 3>Like that's the other thing.

1:24:34.000 --> 1:24:36.120
<v Speaker 4>I haven't missed a beat, like you know what I mean,

1:24:36.240 --> 1:24:38.599
<v Speaker 4>Like I'm you know, I'm hey, I'm live, I'm remote

1:24:39.160 --> 1:24:42.720
<v Speaker 4>from from this spot and that spot. And it's interesting

1:24:42.800 --> 1:24:44.920
<v Speaker 4>man to see that this is overwhelming, like to be

1:24:45.000 --> 1:24:47.200
<v Speaker 4>able to I've done numbers, and I've been you know,

1:24:47.320 --> 1:24:49.559
<v Speaker 4>number one, and like I went from having the number

1:24:49.560 --> 1:24:52.240
<v Speaker 4>one urban show to the number one night time show

1:24:52.280 --> 1:24:56.559
<v Speaker 4>and like time with like white contemporary Christian radio or

1:24:57.000 --> 1:24:59.680
<v Speaker 4>talk radio, like things that they told me, like it

1:24:59.680 --> 1:25:00.360
<v Speaker 4>would happen.

1:25:00.920 --> 1:25:04.200
<v Speaker 2>Right Because I don't live in the DMV area, I

1:25:04.200 --> 1:25:04.800
<v Speaker 2>haven't heard it.

1:25:04.920 --> 1:25:05.639
<v Speaker 1>The cool thing is.

1:25:05.560 --> 1:25:07.360
<v Speaker 4>They got to have a free app, you know for

1:25:07.520 --> 1:25:10.960
<v Speaker 4>Android iPhone, just download the ninety six point three w

1:25:11.160 --> 1:25:12.880
<v Speaker 4>h U R app and you know tap in.

1:25:13.200 --> 1:25:16.200
<v Speaker 2>So format wise, do you ever say and the songs

1:25:16.240 --> 1:25:17.720
<v Speaker 2>that are chosen, I actually do.

1:25:17.920 --> 1:25:21.080
<v Speaker 4>Like It's it's cool, like to be able to make

1:25:21.120 --> 1:25:23.880
<v Speaker 4>suggestions and they actually be honored or to be able

1:25:23.920 --> 1:25:26.320
<v Speaker 4>to be like they actually loved with us saying, Hey,

1:25:26.320 --> 1:25:26.679
<v Speaker 4>I got.

1:25:26.600 --> 1:25:28.600
<v Speaker 3>A record I did last night. Can I just play it?

1:25:28.600 --> 1:25:31.320
<v Speaker 2>I was gonna say, can you can you? It was

1:25:31.439 --> 1:25:34.320
<v Speaker 2>there was a point where I think when Busy Body

1:25:34.439 --> 1:25:38.760
<v Speaker 2>came out, Luther Vandros would do a tour. He would

1:25:38.800 --> 1:25:39.439
<v Speaker 2>do w D A.

1:25:39.640 --> 1:25:42.720
<v Speaker 1>S Howard state, he would do all the black.

1:25:42.479 --> 1:25:45.880
<v Speaker 2>Stations and sing live on the air, like three songs

1:25:45.880 --> 1:25:49.080
<v Speaker 2>each now, haven't I haven't took it there yet. I've

1:25:49.120 --> 1:25:49.759
<v Speaker 2>had guests.

1:25:50.200 --> 1:25:52.599
<v Speaker 4>You know, people already know what I do when I'm

1:25:52.640 --> 1:25:54.639
<v Speaker 4>not on air. So my thing is, like I want

1:25:54.640 --> 1:25:56.639
<v Speaker 4>to church and state. Yeah, it's cool to be able

1:25:56.640 --> 1:25:58.760
<v Speaker 4>to break the Kindred record though, got you what I'm

1:25:58.760 --> 1:26:01.160
<v Speaker 4>saying last year, you know what I mean? Or like,

1:26:01.520 --> 1:26:03.679
<v Speaker 4>you know, to break the new Eric Roberson record Every

1:26:03.680 --> 1:26:07.240
<v Speaker 4>Sunshine Sweeter than You, Like I broke that record in DC.

1:26:07.640 --> 1:26:10.880
<v Speaker 4>It's what Melvin was known for doing, so, you know, traditionally,

1:26:11.240 --> 1:26:12.639
<v Speaker 4>and you know, it's one of the things I love

1:26:12.680 --> 1:26:15.240
<v Speaker 4>about being at h u R, you know, in particular

1:26:15.320 --> 1:26:18.640
<v Speaker 4>because the legacy, you know, fifty years plus of what

1:26:19.479 --> 1:26:21.680
<v Speaker 4>they've created. And of course we got to give the

1:26:21.760 --> 1:26:24.280
<v Speaker 4>legendary the Queen, you know, Kathy.

1:26:24.040 --> 1:26:26.160
<v Speaker 2>Hughes or Roses, Yeah, for being.

1:26:25.960 --> 1:26:29.840
<v Speaker 4>The brainchild of you know, having a vision and you know,

1:26:29.880 --> 1:26:33.040
<v Speaker 4>and whispering that into breathing life into Melvin like that.

1:26:33.120 --> 1:26:35.400
<v Speaker 4>You know, It's been great, man, and it's a new

1:26:35.439 --> 1:26:37.200
<v Speaker 4>career path for me. I know at some point I

1:26:37.240 --> 1:26:41.280
<v Speaker 4>will be syndicated and we need that.

1:26:41.520 --> 1:26:43.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, like when I was of course, like you know,

1:26:44.120 --> 1:26:46.080
<v Speaker 2>Philly had quiet storm like when I was like ten

1:26:46.080 --> 1:26:49.000
<v Speaker 2>eleven twelve and I wasn't in the slow jams at

1:26:49.000 --> 1:26:52.040
<v Speaker 2>ten eleven twelve, but now I can appreciate it.

1:26:52.479 --> 1:26:55.160
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, it needs to be sitting there.

1:26:55.360 --> 1:26:56.240
<v Speaker 2>It's interesting.

1:26:57.800 --> 1:27:00.320
<v Speaker 4>I get stopped in the street at that venue, in

1:27:00.760 --> 1:27:03.960
<v Speaker 4>the grocery store and just like different places. And it's

1:27:03.960 --> 1:27:06.920
<v Speaker 4>not about being Rahiem Devin the artists. It's about being

1:27:06.960 --> 1:27:10.960
<v Speaker 4>Raheem Devine the radio guy and radio to rest. Your

1:27:11.120 --> 1:27:14.880
<v Speaker 4>radio will always exist, it will always matter.

1:27:16.160 --> 1:27:16.360
<v Speaker 1>One.

1:27:16.400 --> 1:27:18.200
<v Speaker 4>It's free, you don't have you don't need a subscription

1:27:18.479 --> 1:27:21.439
<v Speaker 4>right right and it just connects you to community in

1:27:21.479 --> 1:27:24.160
<v Speaker 4>a different way. With all this going on in the world,

1:27:24.320 --> 1:27:27.800
<v Speaker 4>in the country, on the planet, Monday through Friday, from

1:27:27.840 --> 1:27:32.200
<v Speaker 4>seven thirty to midnight, it's my opportunity to remind people

1:27:32.280 --> 1:27:36.000
<v Speaker 4>that you know that five twenty eight mega hurts.

1:27:36.560 --> 1:27:40.080
<v Speaker 3>Energy is a real thing. It's a frequency. Love is

1:27:40.120 --> 1:27:40.679
<v Speaker 3>the answer.

1:27:41.439 --> 1:27:43.800
<v Speaker 4>You're not alone, even if you are if you feel

1:27:43.800 --> 1:27:47.040
<v Speaker 4>like you're alone, no matter you know what you went

1:27:47.040 --> 1:27:50.440
<v Speaker 4>through today, Like this is a safe space to unplug

1:27:51.080 --> 1:27:53.519
<v Speaker 4>and the hill and to just you know, and just

1:27:53.960 --> 1:27:56.960
<v Speaker 4>and just be on the vibration of what we all love.

1:27:57.240 --> 1:27:59.920
<v Speaker 4>You know, good, bad, are and different. We got to

1:28:00.000 --> 1:28:04.200
<v Speaker 4>slow jam for every occasion and it's great man, you know.

1:28:04.240 --> 1:28:06.679
<v Speaker 4>And I'm doing serious XM on the weekends now too,

1:28:06.880 --> 1:28:07.080
<v Speaker 4>you know.

1:28:07.640 --> 1:28:07.840
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

1:28:08.000 --> 1:28:11.840
<v Speaker 4>H U R h U R Voices Channel one forty one. Yeah,

1:28:11.840 --> 1:28:15.680
<v Speaker 4>from ten from ten pm to twelve midnight. It's a

1:28:15.720 --> 1:28:16.879
<v Speaker 4>quick two hour show.

1:28:16.720 --> 1:28:19.240
<v Speaker 1>Thing, you know. Wow, you are the love king.

1:28:19.439 --> 1:28:21.559
<v Speaker 4>Thank you, my brother, Thank you you are quest Love.

1:28:21.600 --> 1:28:22.960
<v Speaker 4>Thank you so much man, thank you.

1:28:22.880 --> 1:28:25.479
<v Speaker 1>For us showing us love, brother, and I appreciate it. Wait,

1:28:25.760 --> 1:28:26.759
<v Speaker 1>I have one question.

1:28:26.920 --> 1:28:27.200
<v Speaker 2>What's that?

1:28:27.920 --> 1:28:28.000
<v Speaker 1>So?

1:28:28.120 --> 1:28:30.160
<v Speaker 2>When I first met you and I know you get

1:28:30.160 --> 1:28:31.200
<v Speaker 2>this a lot, I don't know if you get this

1:28:31.240 --> 1:28:35.080
<v Speaker 2>a lot. I just naturally thought the way that epigenetics work.

1:28:35.200 --> 1:28:37.040
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I was like, oh.

1:28:36.960 --> 1:28:40.599
<v Speaker 2>That must be William Devon's son or nephew. How many times?

1:28:40.800 --> 1:28:42.800
<v Speaker 2>How many times do you get that? But more importantly,

1:28:43.000 --> 1:28:45.840
<v Speaker 2>have you ever covered be thankful for what you got?

1:28:45.880 --> 1:28:46.280
<v Speaker 2>I get it?

1:28:46.320 --> 1:28:47.160
<v Speaker 3>I get it a lot?

1:28:47.960 --> 1:28:49.040
<v Speaker 1>Okay say that for us?

1:28:49.200 --> 1:28:49.519
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?

1:28:49.640 --> 1:28:50.519
<v Speaker 1>Where your band for that?

1:28:50.600 --> 1:28:53.559
<v Speaker 4>But hey, say say say say no more. Let's let'st

1:28:53.640 --> 1:28:55.160
<v Speaker 4>the circle we got We got a lot of work

1:28:55.200 --> 1:28:55.439
<v Speaker 4>to do.

1:28:55.560 --> 1:28:57.679
<v Speaker 1>Got you for sure? Well? This is a Quest Love show.

1:28:57.680 --> 1:28:58.920
<v Speaker 1>And I'll see our next go around ya.

1:29:06.240 --> 1:29:09.719
<v Speaker 2>Quest Love Shows hosted by me Amir quest Love Thompson.

1:29:10.640 --> 1:29:14.479
<v Speaker 2>The executive producers are Sean g Brian Calhoun and Me.

1:29:16.080 --> 1:29:21.360
<v Speaker 2>Produced by Britney Benjamin and Jake Paine. Produced for iHeart

1:29:21.800 --> 1:29:27.320
<v Speaker 2>by Noel Brown, Edited by Alex Conwoy. iHeart Video support

1:29:27.400 --> 1:29:32.960
<v Speaker 2>by Mark Canton, Logos Graphics and animation by Nick Lowe.

1:29:34.600 --> 1:29:39.360
<v Speaker 2>Additional support by Lance Coleman. Special thanks to Kathy Brown.

1:29:40.840 --> 1:29:45.639
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1:29:45.760 --> 1:29:49.560
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1:29:49.840 --> 1:29:54.840
<v Speaker 2>make sure you follow us on social That's at q LS.

1:29:56.240 --> 1:29:59.400
<v Speaker 2>Check out hundreds and hundreds of QLs episodes, including the

1:29:59.479 --> 1:30:02.240
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1:30:04.760 --> 1:30:17.680
<v Speaker 1>Mustlam Shows. The production of iHeart radioh