WEBVTT - QLS Classic: LA Reid Part 3

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<v Speaker 1>Questlof Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. What's Up?

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<v Speaker 2>This is Sugar Steve from questloff Supreme. Anybody who knows

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<v Speaker 2>this podcast is well aware that our interviews can last

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<v Speaker 2>for hours, so often we split them into two parts.

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<v Speaker 2>It also gives listeners a suspenseful reason to come back

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<v Speaker 2>next week or check their podcast feed for more episodes.

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<v Speaker 2>Back in twenty twenty two, we sat down with La

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<v Speaker 2>Reid for what became a rare three part interview. The

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<v Speaker 2>third and final part of La Read's epic QLs interview

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<v Speaker 2>covers the founding of La Face Records and some rarely

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<v Speaker 2>discussed history surrounding outcasts and TLC. Please rate, like, and

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<v Speaker 2>subscribe to this on your podcast feeds, check back for

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<v Speaker 2>new episodes, and follow our new YouTube page at QLs.

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<v Speaker 3>At the time in eighty eight eighty nine, I wouldn't

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<v Speaker 3>have thought, Hey, Atlanta is a great place to build

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<v Speaker 3>my empire. What did you see in Atlanta that we

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<v Speaker 3>didn't see? Because at the time, the only artist I

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<v Speaker 3>knew that lived in Atlanta was People Bryson.

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<v Speaker 4>And then you changed everything. You changed the whole culture

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<v Speaker 4>of a city.

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<v Speaker 3>So why did you choose Atlanta and how did you

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<v Speaker 3>choose Atlanta?

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<v Speaker 1>Why and how?

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<v Speaker 5>It was a combination. It was myself, Babyface and Pebbles.

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<v Speaker 5>All three of us were in the studio on Kwanga Boulevard,

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<v Speaker 5>in a studio called Ilumba, and we collectively decided that

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<v Speaker 5>we wanted to leave. We wanted to move out of

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<v Speaker 5>LA for various reasons.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, why.

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<v Speaker 4>One was we're concerned.

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<v Speaker 5>About earthquakes seriously, and that sounds kind of crazy, it's real.

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<v Speaker 5>We were concerned about cost of living and we had

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<v Speaker 5>just started to make some money and we wanted to

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<v Speaker 5>know how to stretch that right. And so the idea was,

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<v Speaker 5>let's and we just come off tour, like we just

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<v Speaker 5>finished that last tour and we've been all over the country,

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<v Speaker 5>and we didn't think La was like the only place

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<v Speaker 5>on Earth. So we had a conversation about moving. So

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<v Speaker 5>we put a map on the wall. We had a

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<v Speaker 5>very serious conversation about.

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<v Speaker 1>Boo, yeah, that's what to say. You put a map out.

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<v Speaker 4>Very serious conversation.

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<v Speaker 5>We put a map on the wall, a map of

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<v Speaker 5>the United States, and first we looked at everyone's hometown.

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<v Speaker 4>Where should we go? Should we go to the Bay

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<v Speaker 4>Area where Pebbles is from she was from Atlanta, She's

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<v Speaker 4>from the Bay.

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<v Speaker 5>We were like, nah, wow, the Indianapolis where babyfaces from

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<v Speaker 5>Cincinnati where I'm from.

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<v Speaker 4>Nah. Then we were like New York and then Kenny.

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<v Speaker 5>We thought about our experiences being in New York and writing,

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<v Speaker 5>and we were like, we don't write that well in

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<v Speaker 5>New York.

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<v Speaker 4>Now we got it.

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<v Speaker 5>Dallas, big homes, big great lifestyle. One of us, and

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<v Speaker 5>I don't remember who said Atlanta, and all I remember

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<v Speaker 5>all of us saying yes, because Atlanta. If you're on tour,

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<v Speaker 5>when you go through Atlanta, it's like the Mecca.

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<v Speaker 4>Right.

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<v Speaker 5>Everything was like upscale. It was like everything from the

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<v Speaker 5>pre Olympics. Oh yeah, this is eighty eight eighty eight Yeah,

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<v Speaker 5>I mean Olympic they didn't have skyscrapers.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean you guys and Bobby Brown, I'll never understand,

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<v Speaker 3>Like we all like, why would y'all do that?

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<v Speaker 5>We picked Atlanta because we knew we could live. Well,

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<v Speaker 5>I'm being honest, right, we just knew we could live.

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<v Speaker 5>We went down looked at some houses and the house prices,

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<v Speaker 5>the real estate prices, like, we were like.

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<v Speaker 4>We can live, we can live well down here.

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<v Speaker 5>This place is dope, So we I called Irving Azof

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<v Speaker 5>who was running MCA at the time, who we thought

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<v Speaker 5>we were going to make the La Face deal with.

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<v Speaker 4>And I said, Irving, I have an idea. That what's

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<v Speaker 4>the idea?

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<v Speaker 5>I said, how's the South motown up the South the

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<v Speaker 5>Face Records Atlanta, Georgia, And he said, where do I sign?

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<v Speaker 5>And that's how it started. And he gave us the

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<v Speaker 5>seed money to move, booked the planes, booked.

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<v Speaker 4>The hotels, found us a lawyer, found us a real.

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<v Speaker 5>Estate agent, and we went down and we literally stayed

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<v Speaker 5>there until we found homes.

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<v Speaker 1>And where did Clive Davis come in the picture?

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<v Speaker 4>Irv Irving's quit working at MCA. Oh, he left the company? Right?

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<v Speaker 5>So enter Clarence Avon, Yes, godfather, So Clarence Avon who

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<v Speaker 5>had always been there, right. Clarence says, well, if you're

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<v Speaker 5>not doing it with Irving, then I'm going to introduce

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<v Speaker 5>you to Jerry Moss, David Geffen and all of the

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<v Speaker 5>various players. And we met everybody, and everybody was interested.

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<v Speaker 5>Moe Austin, I met everybody.

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<v Speaker 1>How did you get out the contract though you signed

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<v Speaker 1>on the dotted line.

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<v Speaker 4>No, no, we didn't sign anything.

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<v Speaker 5>We just got producer advances because we made all of

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<v Speaker 5>our hits at MCA, so we had a lot of

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<v Speaker 5>money in the pipeline. So he just basically gave us

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<v Speaker 5>the money that we were Oh.

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<v Speaker 1>You didn't have to recoup it back or repay back or.

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<v Speaker 5>We never signed one thing. No, wow, No, we didn't

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<v Speaker 5>sign anything. We just and it was a lot of money,

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<v Speaker 5>you know, especially at that time, I can imagine, yeah,

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<v Speaker 5>you know.

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<v Speaker 4>So Clams introduced us to everybody.

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<v Speaker 5>And when I was eighteen years old, I read this

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<v Speaker 5>book by this great record executive, Clive Davis, the Yellow Book,

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<v Speaker 5>and I don't even know why. I don't even know why,

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<v Speaker 5>eighteen nineteen years old, why am I reading about a

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<v Speaker 5>record executive. I didn't even know why. But there was

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<v Speaker 5>a photo of him sitting at the Beverly Hills Hotel

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<v Speaker 5>pool slide in the family with sliced stone, and I

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<v Speaker 5>was like.

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<v Speaker 4>I want to be that guy right, not sly, I

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<v Speaker 4>want to be the guy sitting next. This is a lot, right, So.

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<v Speaker 5>This is my big opportunity to meet the great Clive Davis.

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<v Speaker 4>And Clarence set it up.

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<v Speaker 5>We walked into the bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel,

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<v Speaker 5>to meet Clive Davis, and my mind was already made up.

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<v Speaker 5>I was like, I'm doing this with Clive, but I

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<v Speaker 5>couldn't say that. I couldn't play, I couldn't show the hand,

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<v Speaker 5>and I didn't actually know how Face felt about it

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<v Speaker 5>at the time. You know, a New Face really wanted

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<v Speaker 5>to work on Whitney, so it just all felt right.

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<v Speaker 5>We thought we were going to do it with David Geffen,

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<v Speaker 5>who said yes to our deal, and then he came

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<v Speaker 5>back and said, actually, no, I don't want to do it.

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<v Speaker 5>And his reasoning was, I'm not committed to the genre.

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<v Speaker 5>It wasn't bad at all. It was very honest. He

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<v Speaker 5>was like, I'm a rock any waste that time. He's like,

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<v Speaker 5>that's right.

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<v Speaker 1>He wasn't.

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<v Speaker 6>That's what I was thinking.

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<v Speaker 3>I was like, oh wow. Now I'm just thinking like, wow,

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<v Speaker 3>I could have signed to the label. I could have

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<v Speaker 3>signed a Little Face in nineteen ninety three Wendy Goldstein.

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<v Speaker 3>It just went to like, now I magine the alternate

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<v Speaker 3>lifetime where outcast needs help and the roots are the

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<v Speaker 3>world my god, and the roots are the one that's hot.

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<v Speaker 4>That's actually really hot, that's home.

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<v Speaker 7>Man.

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<v Speaker 1>I have a while.

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<v Speaker 7>We all have a very specific Outcast question.

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<v Speaker 8>So I want you to talk about the differences in

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<v Speaker 8>working with between Dre and Big Boy.

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<v Speaker 7>I really study. Big Boy is somebody that I really look.

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<v Speaker 8>At, and I look at a lot of the moves

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<v Speaker 8>in his career and they seem to be a direct

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<v Speaker 8>reflection of you know, you know, his relationship with you.

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<v Speaker 8>So I wanted to know he talks, He's always spoken

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<v Speaker 8>very highly him and stuff much, you know what I mean? Yeah, So, like,

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<v Speaker 8>how have you how's that relationship between those two guys

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<v Speaker 8>over the years, how's that developed?

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<v Speaker 4>It's always been really good.

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<v Speaker 5>And the truth is, I think it might have been

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<v Speaker 5>one of my better relationships because I didn't know their

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<v Speaker 5>music as well, Like like I couldn't.

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<v Speaker 4>Tamper, do you know what I mean?

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<v Speaker 5>Like if usc makes a record, I have a very

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<v Speaker 5>strong opinion about it, or anybody you know usher makes

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<v Speaker 5>a record, I have a very strong opinion about it.

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<v Speaker 5>But with Outcast, there were such originals that if they

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<v Speaker 5>felt passionately about it, my job was to be a

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<v Speaker 5>servant leader instead of being instead of meddling.

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<v Speaker 3>I have a question, Okay, am I the only one

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<v Speaker 3>that thinks this fonte as much as I love Elevators. Okay,

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<v Speaker 3>dude in nineteen ninety six, to make your first single

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<v Speaker 3>a very slow temple song that's like eighty eight bpms,

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<v Speaker 3>not not conducive to what I believe dance culture was in.

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<v Speaker 7>But that was in the South Atlanta.

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<v Speaker 1>That yeah, that was such a song South.

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<v Speaker 7>For us, man, that was nah with shit, it wasn't

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<v Speaker 7>missed for us. We ran the fuck out of Elevators,

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<v Speaker 7>like immediately.

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<v Speaker 3>Because when I got that, like by that point, I

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<v Speaker 3>was like getting serviced by DJs and whatnot. And yes,

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<v Speaker 3>as a as a as a Northeasterner like I was,

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<v Speaker 3>I was in the groove of where hip hop was

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<v Speaker 3>in that period between like ninety two bpms and one

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<v Speaker 3>hundred bpms, like very fast pitt And when I put

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<v Speaker 3>Elevators on, I just stared at the record, like, you know,

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<v Speaker 3>this is so slow and space.

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<v Speaker 1>And how am I gonna wake make this work in

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<v Speaker 1>my DJ sets?

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<v Speaker 3>And yet y'all went with it like there was no

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<v Speaker 3>fear whatsoever.

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<v Speaker 5>I actually didn't know one way or another, like to

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<v Speaker 5>be honest with you, right, Andre and Big Boy Enrico Way,

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<v Speaker 5>they came to the.

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<v Speaker 4>Office and they were like, this is it? This is it?

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<v Speaker 4>This is it? And I knew Andre.

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<v Speaker 5>What I did know is that that Andre verse was

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<v Speaker 5>we all knew that. I mean that was like seriously, like, damn,

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<v Speaker 5>he's good. He's really good. But as a song I

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<v Speaker 5>probably had the same opinion you did. I was like,

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<v Speaker 5>this is a little slow. It's not that clear either,

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<v Speaker 5>you know, like it wasn't it wasn't. It wasn't sparkling.

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<v Speaker 5>It was dark, right, And so I had the same

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<v Speaker 5>could But I really believed in I really believed in

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<v Speaker 5>Rico way like Rico Waite was the leader, and he

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<v Speaker 5>was he was my ears, my eyes and my ears

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<v Speaker 5>to everything that we were doing in that world of outcast,

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<v Speaker 5>the goodie mob and even you know, parental advisory is yes, right,

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<v Speaker 5>they were in the crew as well. So I just

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<v Speaker 5>listened to Rico and it worked. And after it worked,

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<v Speaker 5>my relationship with them was you guys, make your own decisions.

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<v Speaker 5>If you want my opinion, I'll give you my opinion,

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<v Speaker 5>but I'm not giving you my opinion unless you ask me.

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<v Speaker 8>Yeah, is that still your relationship would be? Boy, y'all

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<v Speaker 8>still to this day do what he says.

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<v Speaker 3>Okay, So, without Rico's presence on speaker box. How do

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<v Speaker 3>you trust your instincts? I mean, by this point, they're

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<v Speaker 3>they're now a marquee act, they're you're a listers and

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<v Speaker 3>without the muscle of organized noise sort of under them.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, even though they're there somewhat, How shaky was

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<v Speaker 3>it to navigate a double album of clearly two different

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<v Speaker 3>sides right, and not only make it work, but make

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<v Speaker 3>it one of their most and to take them on stage.

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<v Speaker 3>I was there that night. I couldn't believe that shit.

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<v Speaker 3>How hard not hard, or how worrisome were you to

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<v Speaker 3>like go with your gut being the I'm assuming that

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<v Speaker 3>you're now manning the ship for at least that album,

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<v Speaker 3>that you didn't have to go there to guide you.

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<v Speaker 5>So things that kind of changed. They really grew intoday.

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<v Speaker 5>They really had grown into it. I mean this was

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<v Speaker 5>after Stink On YOUA, right, and which was a massive

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<v Speaker 5>success for them, And I mean the real story was

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<v Speaker 5>it was big boys solo album, right, and it was

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<v Speaker 5>complete and it was done and I heard I like

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<v Speaker 5>the way you moved, so I felt confident that we

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<v Speaker 5>had like a big single. And Andre called because they

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<v Speaker 5>weren't working together. I mean, this is fairly common knowledge.

0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:45.040
<v Speaker 5>I think they weren't working together. And Andre called the office,

0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:49.199
<v Speaker 5>read when you're dropping Big Boys album.

0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:51.320
<v Speaker 4>I gave him the date.

0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:56.959
<v Speaker 5>He's like, so, if I want to drop an album

0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:57.439
<v Speaker 5>with that.

0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:00.920
<v Speaker 4>How much time do I have? And I think I

0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:02.439
<v Speaker 4>told him, you got three weeks.

0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.800
<v Speaker 7>He was like three weeks.

0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.320
<v Speaker 4>Okay, what wait?

0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:11.800
<v Speaker 1>So we don't know.

0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.920
<v Speaker 5>I didn't know what he had recorded because he wasn't

0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:21.160
<v Speaker 5>really talking about it at all. He wasn't talking about

0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:23.800
<v Speaker 5>making a record. Big Boy was gone solo. We've already

0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.760
<v Speaker 5>done a photo shoot, we've picked a single, we've put

0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:28.440
<v Speaker 5>the date on the calendar.

0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:29.960
<v Speaker 4>We're moving forward.

0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:32.959
<v Speaker 5>And then I get that call from Andre and he says,

0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.120
<v Speaker 5>you know, how much time do I have? And that

0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.760
<v Speaker 5>was the first time I had an indication that he

0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.520
<v Speaker 5>wanted to make an album. We not talked about it

0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:45.440
<v Speaker 5>at all. And I told him three weeks and I

0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:50.600
<v Speaker 5>just remember him saying okay, and he hung up.

0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:52.120
<v Speaker 1>He was probably done already.

0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:58.120
<v Speaker 5>All I remember is that on the night that we

0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:01.280
<v Speaker 5>had to like turn the album in for parts so

0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:05.839
<v Speaker 5>we can manufacture. Andre has studios going everywhere, He had

0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:08.400
<v Speaker 5>mastering going on, He had a couple of mixed rooms

0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:12.280
<v Speaker 5>going on, he had, He had an ensemble of studios

0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.040
<v Speaker 5>going to make the deadline.

0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:15.720
<v Speaker 4>He was working his ass off.

0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:19.200
<v Speaker 5>I went to the studio to visit and heard some

0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:24.240
<v Speaker 5>of the material, but uh, he finished it and sat

0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.480
<v Speaker 5>down and played it for me, and I was I

0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.000
<v Speaker 5>could not believe what I was hearing man, and and

0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:35.320
<v Speaker 5>he played me hey, y'all, and I was like, oh

0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.760
<v Speaker 5>my god. And I didn't try to say well, I

0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.040
<v Speaker 5>didn't try to go into the like okay, yeah, this

0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.280
<v Speaker 5>is a smash that. That wasn't how I reacted. I

0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:47.400
<v Speaker 5>was more blown away that you actually did this in

0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.400
<v Speaker 5>three weeks. And I felt like you did, like you

0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.080
<v Speaker 5>must have had this. There's no way to do this

0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:53.600
<v Speaker 5>in three weeks.

0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:56.320
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Has a theory though.

0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:58.520
<v Speaker 3>When Pete Rock was telling the story of how he

0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.880
<v Speaker 3>made public, Getnay shut him down in ten minutes, and

0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:06.320
<v Speaker 3>one of y'all said, like because of the pressure, Like

0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:07.880
<v Speaker 3>he didn't have time to overthink it.

0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:12.400
<v Speaker 7>You're not thinking it, You're just doing Yeah. That's also Quincy.

0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.480
<v Speaker 8>He talks about the alpha state, like he talks about

0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:16.680
<v Speaker 8>that just recording.

0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:18.080
<v Speaker 1>Rolysis through analysis.

0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.520
<v Speaker 7>Yea, yeah, just going you're not thinking about it, you're

0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:21.520
<v Speaker 7>just creating.

0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:25.480
<v Speaker 3>Right, you will presented with the scenario twice, and I

0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:31.560
<v Speaker 3>always wanted to know how far did TLC get And

0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.280
<v Speaker 3>going with that initial thing where I believe Lisa suggested

0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.440
<v Speaker 3>all three of us should make solo records and.

0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:42.120
<v Speaker 4>Oh, not very far.

0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:48.320
<v Speaker 5>Okay, honestly, not very far at all, because Tea Boys

0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.080
<v Speaker 5>have made a couple of solo songs that for a soundtrack,

0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:55.280
<v Speaker 5>I could have. Remember, the soundtrack is to Touch Myself record,

0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:56.520
<v Speaker 5>I Touched.

0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.120
<v Speaker 4>Myself, That's the song. I remember that.

0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.800
<v Speaker 1>I was thinking about the that rug wrecks thing, but no,

0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:03.440
<v Speaker 1>that was that.

0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:04.160
<v Speaker 4>Would have been after.

0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:08.280
<v Speaker 5>But so she did it, and it was pretty clear

0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.840
<v Speaker 5>to me that it was the ensemble that was the magic.

0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.800
<v Speaker 4>Right. And I love t bos like I mean, I

0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:15.880
<v Speaker 4>loved all of them.

0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.760
<v Speaker 5>But I had a particular love for her style, that

0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.760
<v Speaker 5>raspy voice, her kind of her. She kind of approached

0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:24.840
<v Speaker 5>it like a guy. She was the only girl I've

0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:28.000
<v Speaker 5>seen approach it like a guy. But but and I

0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.640
<v Speaker 5>just I thought she was so dope. But it was

0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.680
<v Speaker 5>the ensemble that was the real winner there. And then

0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:38.600
<v Speaker 5>Lisa made a solo album before she passed away, made

0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:41.720
<v Speaker 5>she rest in peace. I miss her so much, she

0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:46.680
<v Speaker 5>made a solo album, and I I wasn't blown away

0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.080
<v Speaker 5>by it. I didn't think it was incredible at all,

0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:52.480
<v Speaker 5>you know, and it was and it was. It was

0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:57.080
<v Speaker 5>the kind of music I should I should have loved

0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.360
<v Speaker 5>it if it were good. It wasn't like side of

0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:02.800
<v Speaker 5>my thing, the way I sort of described Goodie Mob

0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.840
<v Speaker 5>as outside of my thing. So I got to defer

0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:09.040
<v Speaker 5>to them. This wasn't outside of my sweet spot. But

0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.440
<v Speaker 5>I just didn't think it was great. And Chili never

0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.680
<v Speaker 5>actually tried to make a solo record that I can

0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:19.520
<v Speaker 5>remember until many many years later, So that one didn't

0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:20.840
<v Speaker 5>get that one didn't go very far.

0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.000
<v Speaker 8>How did you balance, you know, a record like crazy

0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:27.359
<v Speaker 8>Sexy Cool, where it's on your label but you're also

0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:28.480
<v Speaker 8>writing and producing.

0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:32.920
<v Speaker 7>I didn't write, you know, you didn't do baby Face together.

0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.679
<v Speaker 5>That was when that was the last time that I

0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:41.600
<v Speaker 5>was a writer producer was seven whole Days, Tony Braxton.

0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:43.760
<v Speaker 4>It was the last time.

0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:46.320
<v Speaker 5>And after and I did and then I did a

0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.320
<v Speaker 5>song that never made never started, Light of a day

0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:53.600
<v Speaker 5>with Elton John that Elton called and asked me to produce, right,

0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:58.720
<v Speaker 5>and it was for a a Curtis Mayfield tribute record.

0:17:58.800 --> 0:17:59.800
<v Speaker 5>Wasn't commercial at all.

0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:03.439
<v Speaker 6>Was spending time in Atlanta. For a minute, I was like,

0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.600
<v Speaker 6>were you the reason time a lot?

0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:06.880
<v Speaker 7>Yeah?

0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:07.680
<v Speaker 4>But I stopped.

0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.800
<v Speaker 5>I stopped, and Kenny and I stopped working together, and

0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:14.520
<v Speaker 5>I started spending too much time on the phone. I

0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:16.800
<v Speaker 5>was transitioning into being an executive.

0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:17.600
<v Speaker 4>I was.

0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.639
<v Speaker 5>I was learning how to how independent promotion worked. I

0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:25.080
<v Speaker 5>was learning how marketing worked. And I was so intrigued

0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:27.360
<v Speaker 5>with the stuff I didn't know. And people were coming

0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:30.560
<v Speaker 5>in and telling me about like Janet Jackson's marketing plan.

0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.600
<v Speaker 5>I was like, what's a marketing plan? So I became

0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:37.520
<v Speaker 5>curious about everything, and and I was hearing words like

0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:39.000
<v Speaker 5>they shipped a hundred thousand?

0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:39.399
<v Speaker 1>What's that mean?

0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:40.320
<v Speaker 7>Shiped a hundred thousand?

0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:44.720
<v Speaker 5>I just became curious about the business. I think I

0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:48.280
<v Speaker 5>sort of fell out of love with producing and writing.

0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:50.520
<v Speaker 5>And I was never a great writer. Kenny was a

0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:52.960
<v Speaker 5>great writer. I was a good producer, but Kenny was

0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:55.919
<v Speaker 5>a great writer. And I was a collaborator, and I

0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.560
<v Speaker 5>filled in some blanks and had some concepts here and there,

0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.399
<v Speaker 5>but he was a great writer. So it was easy

0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:05.480
<v Speaker 5>to sort of step back because I didn't consider myself

0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:07.720
<v Speaker 5>great at it. In the first place, I felt I

0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.320
<v Speaker 5>felt very lucky.

0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:18.919
<v Speaker 8>So if the label were was that primarily you running

0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:22.840
<v Speaker 8>the label and Face just doing the music or was

0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:24.800
<v Speaker 8>he involved on the label side as well?

0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:26.960
<v Speaker 5>Now I think if you ask him he would say

0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.400
<v Speaker 5>that He's always said that the label.

0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:30.320
<v Speaker 4>Was kind of my thing.

0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.200
<v Speaker 5>Because I liked the idea of signing talent and doing

0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.800
<v Speaker 5>all that stuff, you know, and picking songs and you know.

0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.359
<v Speaker 8>So for so for a record like a crazy sexy

0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.639
<v Speaker 8>cool where you know, Babyface is doing like a digging

0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:44.400
<v Speaker 8>on you or whatever.

0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:45.400
<v Speaker 4>Right, yes, is.

0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:47.120
<v Speaker 7>There no conflict of ventures.

0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.000
<v Speaker 5>I actually had all of the producers competing and they

0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:56.879
<v Speaker 5>didn't really know it. Like I had Dallas working on

0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:00.440
<v Speaker 5>it first he was the architect. Then I go play

0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:02.800
<v Speaker 5>it for Jermaine Dupre and be like, I know you

0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:07.480
<v Speaker 5>can beat this, and then I and then you know,

0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.080
<v Speaker 5>then Kenny is competitive. You don't have to you don't

0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:12.440
<v Speaker 5>have to put a battery in Kenny's back. He's so competitive.

0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:15.560
<v Speaker 5>So he sent his songs in and then I went

0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:19.080
<v Speaker 5>to Rico way last and said here's what everybody else

0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:22.280
<v Speaker 5>gave me, what you got and he came over with waterfalls.

0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:24.240
<v Speaker 7>Wow.

0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:29.160
<v Speaker 4>So according to according to.

0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:36.920
<v Speaker 5>Executives at Arista outside of Outcast, they considered crazy sexy

0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:41.520
<v Speaker 5>cool my first time as an A and R executive.

0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:45.760
<v Speaker 5>That I wasn't the writer, I wasn't the producer. Uh,

0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:49.480
<v Speaker 5>and that was that's and if it was my first

0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:50.879
<v Speaker 5>I didn't see it that way. But if it was,

0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:52.080
<v Speaker 5>I did okay.

0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:58.240
<v Speaker 3>With with no input from Clive at all, Like, hey.

0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.359
<v Speaker 5>Clive, not Once it was done, Clive had opinions about

0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:05.320
<v Speaker 5>the singles and uh, and we had you know, Creep

0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:07.480
<v Speaker 5>was the first single. I love Creep by the way,

0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:11.840
<v Speaker 5>man off. So we shot a video for Creep. Wasn't

0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:12.679
<v Speaker 5>very good.

0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.159
<v Speaker 4>I'm damn. So we shot a second video for Creep.

0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:20.560
<v Speaker 4>Oh again, wasn't very good. I'm like, fuck, no trouble. Yeah.

0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:22.600
<v Speaker 5>We shot two videos and they weren't good that the

0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:27.000
<v Speaker 5>world never saw them, and so I was embarrassed.

0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:30.440
<v Speaker 4>So I switched singles. I said Creeps no longer.

0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:32.000
<v Speaker 5>The single we're gonna go with this song called kick

0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:33.520
<v Speaker 5>Your Game that your MANE d pre did.

0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.240
<v Speaker 1>Clive was likeld hold it, hold on, why are changing?

0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:39.159
<v Speaker 4>What is this?

0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:41.040
<v Speaker 1>What's behind this? You have to.

0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:44.320
<v Speaker 5>Explain, right, And Dallas Austin called like, yo, I know

0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:46.800
<v Speaker 5>you're not like not putting my single out like he

0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:49.119
<v Speaker 5>knew he had a great record, and so I had

0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:51.199
<v Speaker 5>to come clean and say, well, truth be told, like

0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:53.000
<v Speaker 5>I made two horrible videos.

0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:56.160
<v Speaker 4>And I'm just too embarrassed to tell everybody. So Clive says,

0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:58.400
<v Speaker 4>get it right. He said, get it right.

0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:03.280
<v Speaker 5>So I'm with Diddy one day at the at the

0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:04.880
<v Speaker 5>Helmsley Palace hotel in New York.

0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:05.760
<v Speaker 4>I'm sitting with Diddy.

0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:10.600
<v Speaker 5>I play him the TC video that's not good, and

0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:11.280
<v Speaker 5>he looks at me.

0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:12.760
<v Speaker 4>It's like, oh my god, like.

0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:16.720
<v Speaker 5>This is horrible, and he does not make me feel

0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:19.760
<v Speaker 5>any better about it. Right while I'm showing him the

0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:22.639
<v Speaker 5>video on one television because I used to have with

0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:24.960
<v Speaker 5>this road case that I carried around with speakers and

0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:28.159
<v Speaker 5>monitor and every cord like office in a case.

0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:30.880
<v Speaker 4>I was extra. While I'm playing it.

0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:36.680
<v Speaker 5>For him on the television, there's a video with InVogue

0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:38.160
<v Speaker 5>and Salt and pepper Coat.

0:22:38.240 --> 0:22:38.680
<v Speaker 4>What a man?

0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:39.520
<v Speaker 6>What a man?

0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:42.400
<v Speaker 4>And I look at that video. It looks way better

0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:46.760
<v Speaker 4>than our video. I'm like, who directed that is you? Roston? Yeah?

0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:50.199
<v Speaker 5>So I called Matthew Rosston and I asked him to

0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:54.240
<v Speaker 5>do creep and we got it right, the third time.

0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:56.119
<v Speaker 4>But we threw two videos away to get to the

0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:56.560
<v Speaker 4>good one.

0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:59.040
<v Speaker 1>I will do anything to find those original videos.

0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:01.920
<v Speaker 6>In a situation like that, though, when when TLC got

0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:03.760
<v Speaker 6>to repay the money back, do they gotta pay for

0:23:03.800 --> 0:23:05.720
<v Speaker 6>all three of those versions or do they just pay

0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:06.840
<v Speaker 6>for the one that made it.

0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:13.080
<v Speaker 4>Let's look at it like this. You sell ten million albums.

0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:20.240
<v Speaker 6>Okay, I don't know.

0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:21.280
<v Speaker 1>I love it.

0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:22.520
<v Speaker 6>That's all I wanted to hear.

0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:26.240
<v Speaker 1>That's all I got because I know, you know what.

0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:29.520
<v Speaker 4>Went on to make the great record. Trying to make

0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:32.320
<v Speaker 4>the great video. I'm spending people's money and not.

0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:36.000
<v Speaker 3>Real I'm even with anger because to sit in the

0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:39.800
<v Speaker 3>geff and offices and be told your videos are one

0:23:39.840 --> 0:23:43.160
<v Speaker 3>and done, like there is no going back. I can't

0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:45.080
<v Speaker 3>believe that. I'm hearing stories.

0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:48.360
<v Speaker 1>Of we didn't think video. We'll take it back, and.

0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:50.400
<v Speaker 3>Then we'll take it back again, and then we take

0:23:50.400 --> 0:23:53.320
<v Speaker 3>it back. I hear Mariah made four videos for Vision

0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:54.440
<v Speaker 3>of Love, and I'm like.

0:23:54.480 --> 0:23:58.080
<v Speaker 7>That's a very old school thing, though, man, that's our.

0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:03.000
<v Speaker 3>Label convinced us that, like because we hated our videos.

0:24:02.720 --> 0:24:05.880
<v Speaker 4>And literally you couldn't do anything about it.

0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:10.640
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, like you were stuck either video or no video, Like,

0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:12.359
<v Speaker 1>oh my god.

0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:14.120
<v Speaker 6>Videos, weren't you memorable?

0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:17.200
<v Speaker 1>That's why I hate making videos.

0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:21.040
<v Speaker 5>That's being mean to you.

0:24:21.480 --> 0:24:22.360
<v Speaker 4>Are not too memorable.

0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:23.040
<v Speaker 1>That's meaning.

0:24:25.359 --> 0:24:27.200
<v Speaker 6>The reason that I am here is because I'm the

0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:28.160
<v Speaker 6>roots largest fan.

0:24:28.240 --> 0:24:30.040
<v Speaker 4>So I can say a couple of truthful things. I'm here.

0:24:31.280 --> 0:24:35.360
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I'm neither not bothered either way.

0:24:35.400 --> 0:24:36.840
<v Speaker 1>So okay.

0:24:36.920 --> 0:24:40.280
<v Speaker 3>I was always curious the call the night that left

0:24:40.280 --> 0:24:43.679
<v Speaker 3>eye burnt the house down, like, were you worried?

0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:45.480
<v Speaker 1>Not worried about stopping the bag?

0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:50.119
<v Speaker 4>But it was morning. First of all, it was early morning.

0:24:51.160 --> 0:24:53.960
<v Speaker 3>Oh wow, it was early we were We lived in

0:24:54.000 --> 0:24:55.880
<v Speaker 3>the same night time crime, not a day.

0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:59.520
<v Speaker 5>No, we lived in the same subdivision. We both lived

0:24:59.520 --> 0:25:04.200
<v Speaker 5>in Country of the South. My housekeeper at the time

0:25:04.440 --> 0:25:07.040
<v Speaker 5>was taking my son, Aaron. She was taking him to school.

0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:11.280
<v Speaker 5>He was in the kindergarten all right, or maybe preschool.

0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:17.000
<v Speaker 5>But and she called. I want to say, I don't

0:25:17.040 --> 0:25:19.960
<v Speaker 5>know if Pebbles was not home or I don't know.

0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:22.359
<v Speaker 5>For whatever reason, I answered the phone. She said, I

0:25:22.440 --> 0:25:25.280
<v Speaker 5>just drove by Lisa house is on fire. So I

0:25:26.400 --> 0:25:31.560
<v Speaker 5>look outside, I see helicopters from me. I'm like, oh shit,

0:25:31.760 --> 0:25:35.200
<v Speaker 5>So I just start trying to find Lisa. I just

0:25:35.240 --> 0:25:38.040
<v Speaker 5>start trying to find her and I found her right.

0:25:38.119 --> 0:25:41.399
<v Speaker 5>I called every number I had, everybody I knew, and

0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:43.199
<v Speaker 5>I found her and she said she was okay. She

0:25:43.280 --> 0:25:46.720
<v Speaker 5>said she didn't get hurt. She was okay, and she

0:25:46.800 --> 0:25:49.000
<v Speaker 5>told me it wasn't on purpose, it was an accident.

0:25:49.880 --> 0:25:55.480
<v Speaker 5>And I immediately went to protect her. And I have

0:25:55.640 --> 0:25:58.399
<v Speaker 5>friends in the police force there, Like the chief of

0:25:58.440 --> 0:26:01.639
<v Speaker 5>police was a friend, and I just asked him, like,

0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:04.040
<v Speaker 5>can you just help me to protect her, like I

0:26:04.040 --> 0:26:06.240
<v Speaker 5>don't want her to be arrested, I don't want anything

0:26:06.280 --> 0:26:06.760
<v Speaker 5>to happen.

0:26:07.520 --> 0:26:08.800
<v Speaker 4>So he helped me.

0:26:08.800 --> 0:26:12.000
<v Speaker 5>We gave her an entire floor at the Swiss hotel

0:26:12.000 --> 0:26:15.919
<v Speaker 5>and bucket and with police no one could get on

0:26:15.960 --> 0:26:19.239
<v Speaker 5>the floor and she stayed there until she had to

0:26:19.280 --> 0:26:23.840
<v Speaker 5>go to court for it and then you know, but yeah,

0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:27.280
<v Speaker 5>I didn't think about anything except her safety.

0:26:27.200 --> 0:26:32.880
<v Speaker 3>Okay, ninety four ninety five, especially ninety six ninety seven,

0:26:33.920 --> 0:26:38.760
<v Speaker 3>it's probably one of the most tumultuous times.

0:26:37.960 --> 0:26:40.240
<v Speaker 1>In black sec.

0:26:41.600 --> 0:26:45.159
<v Speaker 3>Yes, and you know, all right, The thing is is

0:26:45.200 --> 0:26:48.080
<v Speaker 3>that we lived in Europe during this time period, so

0:26:48.160 --> 0:26:51.680
<v Speaker 3>we really were sort of out of the literal crossfire.

0:26:52.160 --> 0:26:53.520
<v Speaker 4>You lived in Europe at that time.

0:26:54.080 --> 0:26:59.240
<v Speaker 3>We we The shortest story is that basically we realized

0:26:59.320 --> 0:27:06.120
<v Speaker 3>Richard Nichols was intuitive enough to the day that God

0:27:06.200 --> 0:27:11.399
<v Speaker 3>Rest his soul, Kurt Kobaine committed suicide. Rich said, the

0:27:11.480 --> 0:27:14.280
<v Speaker 3>label's gonna drop us because by this point Aerosmith that

0:27:14.359 --> 0:27:17.600
<v Speaker 3>went to Sony Guns n' Roses wasn't coming up with

0:27:17.640 --> 0:27:21.560
<v Speaker 3>another album, and now Nirvana's gone, and literally, like those

0:27:21.600 --> 0:27:24.359
<v Speaker 3>three Acts and all the billions that they made enable

0:27:24.560 --> 0:27:27.720
<v Speaker 3>geffen'da have a black department, and we were there first

0:27:27.840 --> 0:27:32.359
<v Speaker 3>acts and rich sort of have the spidy sense that

0:27:32.800 --> 0:27:35.480
<v Speaker 3>everybody's going to get the Acts, so we better just

0:27:35.560 --> 0:27:39.520
<v Speaker 3>grab our publishing money, run to Europe, get a flat

0:27:39.720 --> 0:27:43.639
<v Speaker 3>and then just become like the black version of the commitments,

0:27:43.840 --> 0:27:47.160
<v Speaker 3>like get a tour bus and just tour all over Europe.

0:27:47.200 --> 0:27:51.280
<v Speaker 3>So we just lived there for like three years straight working,

0:27:51.400 --> 0:27:55.080
<v Speaker 3>so we were really we hadn't met none of our peers,

0:27:55.160 --> 0:27:57.080
<v Speaker 3>none of that stuff, like we come back to record

0:27:57.200 --> 0:28:00.240
<v Speaker 3>new albums, see our families. But for the most part

0:28:00.240 --> 0:28:03.240
<v Speaker 3>of like six months touring in Europe and spot dates

0:28:03.320 --> 0:28:06.600
<v Speaker 3>like all over the United States touring. But for the

0:28:06.640 --> 0:28:12.400
<v Speaker 3>most part we had missed a lot of the stories

0:28:12.440 --> 0:28:17.879
<v Speaker 3>that we heard between like what was the trouble brewing

0:28:18.000 --> 0:28:21.439
<v Speaker 3>between like executives and you just knew, you knew how

0:28:21.520 --> 0:28:27.479
<v Speaker 3>toxic that environment was, how frightening was it being a

0:28:27.520 --> 0:28:28.440
<v Speaker 3>black executive?

0:28:28.480 --> 0:28:31.720
<v Speaker 1>And more important, how did you avoid getting.

0:28:31.520 --> 0:28:37.919
<v Speaker 3>Sucked into just the toxic mis of it all where

0:28:38.480 --> 0:28:42.080
<v Speaker 3>beef is now like a regular thing between executives.

0:28:42.480 --> 0:28:47.479
<v Speaker 5>You know, Yeah, that's a great question. And I have

0:28:47.560 --> 0:28:51.040
<v Speaker 5>to tell you, like, I was really concerned. I was

0:28:51.120 --> 0:28:55.320
<v Speaker 5>really concerned about it. And because I was, I was

0:28:55.480 --> 0:29:00.240
<v Speaker 5>very close to Puffy, right, and I helped start Bad Way,

0:29:00.480 --> 0:29:02.720
<v Speaker 5>you know, I helped helped get him the deal for

0:29:02.800 --> 0:29:05.120
<v Speaker 5>Bad Boy, and very proud of that, by the way,

0:29:06.600 --> 0:29:08.800
<v Speaker 5>because I actually wanted him to be an A and

0:29:08.880 --> 0:29:10.720
<v Speaker 5>R guy at LA face And after one meeting, I

0:29:10.760 --> 0:29:13.520
<v Speaker 5>realized that this is this is nobody's employee.

0:29:13.560 --> 0:29:17.120
<v Speaker 4>This guy's this guy special, you know. Uh.

0:29:17.320 --> 0:29:19.680
<v Speaker 5>And yeah, I was concerned about it, man, because I

0:29:19.720 --> 0:29:24.960
<v Speaker 5>felt I felt like Atlanta wasn't the East or the West,

0:29:25.080 --> 0:29:29.360
<v Speaker 5>so we were kind of we weren't viewed as the

0:29:29.360 --> 0:29:32.920
<v Speaker 5>competition for either the East or the West. Right, whatever

0:29:32.960 --> 0:29:36.240
<v Speaker 5>we were doing in Atlanta, even though like we were,

0:29:36.280 --> 0:29:38.160
<v Speaker 5>we were we were having hits.

0:29:37.880 --> 0:29:42.960
<v Speaker 4>But culturally, the impact of the West Coast was.

0:29:43.240 --> 0:29:46.520
<v Speaker 5>Really huge, right with Snoop and Dray and Park and

0:29:46.560 --> 0:29:49.760
<v Speaker 5>all that, and then the Bad Boy on the East Coast.

0:29:49.800 --> 0:29:52.920
<v Speaker 5>Those things were like very front facing, and what we

0:29:53.000 --> 0:29:55.920
<v Speaker 5>did at La Face wasn't as front facing like our

0:29:56.040 --> 0:29:56.640
<v Speaker 5>artists were.

0:29:56.760 --> 0:29:59.120
<v Speaker 4>But Kenny and I weren't like that. We weren't. There

0:29:59.160 --> 0:30:01.680
<v Speaker 4>was no change, No, you know, we weren't like that.

0:30:01.800 --> 0:30:02.200
<v Speaker 4>You know so.

0:30:02.640 --> 0:30:05.680
<v Speaker 3>But I can only imagine that the more success you got,

0:30:05.800 --> 0:30:09.960
<v Speaker 3>the more it puts you out front to become sucked

0:30:10.000 --> 0:30:12.400
<v Speaker 3>into that because I don't think I don't think that

0:30:12.440 --> 0:30:15.320
<v Speaker 3>there would be a bad Boy death row thing if

0:30:15.400 --> 0:30:21.080
<v Speaker 3>Puffy were releasing records produced by me. I mean not

0:30:21.160 --> 0:30:24.640
<v Speaker 3>to be self deprecating, but I'm just saying that obviously

0:30:24.680 --> 0:30:28.360
<v Speaker 3>there's a competition thing on what label's gonna wind up

0:30:28.400 --> 0:30:33.080
<v Speaker 3>on top, and you're actually selling more units than both

0:30:33.120 --> 0:30:34.280
<v Speaker 3>those labels, at least for.

0:30:34.240 --> 0:30:37.440
<v Speaker 4>Their artists alive, right, right, right.

0:30:37.280 --> 0:30:40.480
<v Speaker 1>I mean you could have been an easy target.

0:30:40.720 --> 0:30:43.440
<v Speaker 5>I thought I was avoiding it. Man, It's best I could,

0:30:43.480 --> 0:30:44.600
<v Speaker 5>and I knew everybody.

0:30:44.760 --> 0:30:48.560
<v Speaker 1>I mean, relationships with Sugar and you have relationship with Ruffy.

0:30:48.360 --> 0:30:52.960
<v Speaker 4>And yes, yes, and I didn't know. I did not

0:30:53.200 --> 0:30:54.080
<v Speaker 4>know Biggie and.

0:30:54.040 --> 0:30:57.160
<v Speaker 5>I did not know Tupac, right, I never I can't

0:30:57.160 --> 0:31:00.600
<v Speaker 5>say I knew either of them. I probably had one

0:31:00.640 --> 0:31:04.760
<v Speaker 5>handshake with each person and in a sort of passing,

0:31:05.000 --> 0:31:09.120
<v Speaker 5>but I didn't know them. And yeah, so I have

0:31:09.320 --> 0:31:12.200
<v Speaker 5>I tried hard, and I won't kid you. I am

0:31:12.240 --> 0:31:16.720
<v Speaker 5>nobody's tough guy. I tried desperately to avoid ever being

0:31:16.840 --> 0:31:17.440
<v Speaker 5>in the room.

0:31:17.960 --> 0:31:19.120
<v Speaker 4>I wouldn't even go to.

0:31:19.200 --> 0:31:21.160
<v Speaker 1>Would you go to Jack the Rappers and all those

0:31:21.200 --> 0:31:22.080
<v Speaker 1>things before?

0:31:22.120 --> 0:31:22.480
<v Speaker 4>I would?

0:31:22.800 --> 0:31:26.120
<v Speaker 1>But there was important? Was that important to go to

0:31:26.280 --> 0:31:27.520
<v Speaker 1>or was that just a vanity thing?

0:31:28.160 --> 0:31:28.440
<v Speaker 4>You know what?

0:31:28.440 --> 0:31:31.760
<v Speaker 5>It was important because all the DJs were there, like

0:31:31.920 --> 0:31:34.080
<v Speaker 5>all the dj and at that time, DJs could make

0:31:34.080 --> 0:31:37.640
<v Speaker 5>a decision about which records they played right before before

0:31:37.640 --> 0:31:41.040
<v Speaker 5>the conglomerates took over, you know, DJ's had some say

0:31:41.280 --> 0:31:42.680
<v Speaker 5>they had to say and what they played.

0:31:42.720 --> 0:31:43.960
<v Speaker 4>And so we did.

0:31:44.080 --> 0:31:48.440
<v Speaker 5>And all of the labels competitors were there. You got

0:31:48.440 --> 0:31:51.479
<v Speaker 5>a chance to see what the other label had, what

0:31:51.520 --> 0:31:53.520
<v Speaker 5>they had coming, and if you needed to go back

0:31:53.560 --> 0:31:57.640
<v Speaker 5>and do better or find another song or find another act.

0:31:57.720 --> 0:32:01.720
<v Speaker 5>So and it was it was good camaraderie. It was

0:32:01.760 --> 0:32:05.120
<v Speaker 5>really good until it wasn't. When it got bad, it

0:32:05.160 --> 0:32:08.760
<v Speaker 5>got bad, and that's when I stopped going, you know.

0:32:09.120 --> 0:32:11.760
<v Speaker 5>But I just tried to avoid it, man, and just

0:32:11.800 --> 0:32:15.280
<v Speaker 5>stayed to myself as much as I could, and trying

0:32:15.360 --> 0:32:21.960
<v Speaker 5>to sort of diminish my presence. As crazy as that sound, right,

0:32:22.000 --> 0:32:25.400
<v Speaker 5>I didn't want to be you know. We didn't even

0:32:25.400 --> 0:32:28.040
<v Speaker 5>have photo we didn't take pictures of nothing. We just

0:32:28.200 --> 0:32:30.040
<v Speaker 5>stayed in the background as much as we could.

0:32:30.400 --> 0:32:33.760
<v Speaker 3>Was there an act that you kind of purposely passed

0:32:33.760 --> 0:32:39.040
<v Speaker 3>on signing just because like, uh, this might cause smoke

0:32:39.120 --> 0:32:40.000
<v Speaker 3>for the label.

0:32:39.800 --> 0:32:43.040
<v Speaker 4>Or probably like I don't remember a name.

0:32:43.680 --> 0:32:47.600
<v Speaker 5>But I didn't actively look for artists in New York

0:32:47.640 --> 0:32:49.360
<v Speaker 5>and LA.

0:32:49.480 --> 0:32:52.560
<v Speaker 4>I didn't. I really didn't. I didn't. I ain't even

0:32:52.560 --> 0:32:54.760
<v Speaker 4>gonna lie, right, I did not actively look.

0:32:55.280 --> 0:32:59.320
<v Speaker 5>And so I was getting chatt at newgou Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia.

0:32:59.680 --> 0:33:03.080
<v Speaker 4>You know you know what I mean, des Moines, Iowa.

0:33:03.680 --> 0:33:03.920
<v Speaker 7>I was.

0:33:05.440 --> 0:33:08.720
<v Speaker 3>Speaking of chattan New good Tennessee. Can we finally settle

0:33:08.760 --> 0:33:09.560
<v Speaker 3>this once and for all?

0:33:10.240 --> 0:33:16.160
<v Speaker 1>Can you please tell us.

0:33:16.480 --> 0:33:19.920
<v Speaker 5>No I saw I saw, I saw what I saw

0:33:19.960 --> 0:33:22.960
<v Speaker 5>What Tevin said I never had to say in that

0:33:23.000 --> 0:33:25.440
<v Speaker 5>because Kenny wrote that song and he produced it on

0:33:25.520 --> 0:33:28.280
<v Speaker 5>Tevin Campbell and that was it. Like there was never

0:33:28.400 --> 0:33:30.760
<v Speaker 5>like a conversation like should we give it the Usher

0:33:30.920 --> 0:33:31.880
<v Speaker 5>or should I.

0:33:32.000 --> 0:33:33.360
<v Speaker 4>There was never a conversation.

0:33:33.800 --> 0:33:38.280
<v Speaker 5>Ken and I were not working as writer producer partners

0:33:38.320 --> 0:33:41.120
<v Speaker 5>at that moment. That that he did completely on his

0:33:41.160 --> 0:33:44.960
<v Speaker 5>own and gave it to Tevin, Tevin saying the hell

0:33:44.960 --> 0:33:47.080
<v Speaker 5>out of it, uh, and it worked.

0:33:47.120 --> 0:33:50.400
<v Speaker 4>So there there was never any back and forth.

0:33:50.720 --> 0:33:55.280
<v Speaker 3>So you never had a sick, griffy moment where like

0:33:55.880 --> 0:34:02.239
<v Speaker 3>The Face gave a song to someone that you know

0:34:02.320 --> 0:34:04.400
<v Speaker 3>you could have used that song for your artist, and

0:34:04.440 --> 0:34:07.080
<v Speaker 3>it's like, yo, come on dog, like I could have

0:34:07.160 --> 0:34:08.759
<v Speaker 3>used that. I asked you last week if you had

0:34:08.760 --> 0:34:10.440
<v Speaker 3>something for TLC and you said.

0:34:10.239 --> 0:34:16.400
<v Speaker 4>No, no, No. It wasn't really like that. And I

0:34:16.480 --> 0:34:17.480
<v Speaker 4>was also very.

0:34:17.360 --> 0:34:21.200
<v Speaker 5>Clear about Kenny's ambitions as a writer, right Kenny wanted

0:34:21.239 --> 0:34:24.000
<v Speaker 5>the greatest artists possible to sing his songs.

0:34:24.400 --> 0:34:26.480
<v Speaker 4>And it wasn't about for him.

0:34:26.520 --> 0:34:28.960
<v Speaker 5>It was never about whether it was on the Face

0:34:29.080 --> 0:34:31.920
<v Speaker 5>or whether it was on Arista or Epic or He

0:34:32.040 --> 0:34:34.239
<v Speaker 5>never thought about it that way. He thought about it

0:34:34.280 --> 0:34:38.480
<v Speaker 5>as like the song girlfriend that Pebbles got, the reason

0:34:38.560 --> 0:34:40.840
<v Speaker 5>she got it is because he thought her voice was

0:34:40.840 --> 0:34:43.239
<v Speaker 5>the right voice for the song. It was originally for

0:34:43.440 --> 0:34:49.040
<v Speaker 5>Vanessa Williams right, and he thought, he said, it's not

0:34:49.200 --> 0:34:52.520
<v Speaker 5>right for Vanessa because he listened to as a as

0:34:52.520 --> 0:34:55.160
<v Speaker 5>a musician, as an artist, as a writer, producer, he

0:34:55.200 --> 0:34:58.120
<v Speaker 5>listened to the voices and he made his decisions based

0:34:58.120 --> 0:34:58.920
<v Speaker 5>on the voices.

0:34:59.160 --> 0:35:00.359
<v Speaker 4>And how do you argue with that?

0:35:00.880 --> 0:35:05.960
<v Speaker 3>There's definitely a big difference between the pink that signed

0:35:05.960 --> 0:35:10.000
<v Speaker 3>to Lea Face first few records and the artists that

0:35:10.040 --> 0:35:14.279
<v Speaker 3>she morphed into. So how what what's the what's the

0:35:14.320 --> 0:35:16.919
<v Speaker 3>conversation and the metamorphoses where.

0:35:18.080 --> 0:35:20.720
<v Speaker 1>You know, there's a beginning.

0:35:20.800 --> 0:35:24.680
<v Speaker 3>And then there's definitely a separation from what she was

0:35:25.200 --> 0:35:27.520
<v Speaker 3>and you were You're part of that process, So like, yes,

0:35:27.640 --> 0:35:31.040
<v Speaker 3>at what point do you realize maybe I should loosen

0:35:31.080 --> 0:35:34.520
<v Speaker 3>the strings somewhat and see where they go with it?

0:35:34.960 --> 0:35:35.160
<v Speaker 4>Right?

0:35:35.680 --> 0:35:39.200
<v Speaker 5>So first album, she did that album as a member

0:35:39.239 --> 0:35:44.120
<v Speaker 5>of the group Choice, and then they disbanded and we

0:35:44.239 --> 0:35:48.000
<v Speaker 5>continued the process, and some of the songs that were

0:35:48.160 --> 0:35:51.840
<v Speaker 5>made for Choice she kept them. But we struggled in

0:35:51.880 --> 0:35:54.880
<v Speaker 5>the beginning. We really struggled because she was still growing,

0:35:55.120 --> 0:35:57.600
<v Speaker 5>she was very young, and she was still finding herself,

0:35:57.640 --> 0:36:01.840
<v Speaker 5>finding her style, and so we the first album we

0:36:01.880 --> 0:36:04.399
<v Speaker 5>did the best we could do right. It was called

0:36:04.440 --> 0:36:07.919
<v Speaker 5>Can't Take Me Home. Loved her concepts, loved her how

0:36:07.960 --> 0:36:10.400
<v Speaker 5>she thought about it, and I loved her voice and

0:36:10.440 --> 0:36:14.040
<v Speaker 5>her energy. She was incredible musically. It was a little

0:36:14.040 --> 0:36:16.919
<v Speaker 5>bit undefined and all over the place when it got

0:36:17.160 --> 0:36:20.520
<v Speaker 5>so but we had We had a hit with with

0:36:21.280 --> 0:36:24.680
<v Speaker 5>there You Go and Uh, and she had a second

0:36:24.719 --> 0:36:26.759
<v Speaker 5>hit called most Girls, not as big a hit, but

0:36:26.800 --> 0:36:29.759
<v Speaker 5>it did really well. So when it came to her

0:36:29.800 --> 0:36:34.680
<v Speaker 5>second album, she hooked up with Dallas Austin, her and

0:36:34.760 --> 0:36:39.440
<v Speaker 5>KP basically oversaw it, and then she hooked up with

0:36:39.520 --> 0:36:43.840
<v Speaker 5>Linda Perry. And when she first brought it to me,

0:36:44.840 --> 0:36:48.520
<v Speaker 5>I was like, wait a minute, you're abandoning like the

0:36:48.680 --> 0:36:52.600
<v Speaker 5>urban thing that you started on your first album. Be

0:36:52.719 --> 0:36:57.040
<v Speaker 5>sure about that. And she was like, yeah, I'm not

0:36:57.040 --> 0:37:00.279
<v Speaker 5>trying to repeat that. I'm onto something really special. And

0:37:00.320 --> 0:37:05.600
<v Speaker 5>I was like, okay, I don't know. I was like,

0:37:05.640 --> 0:37:08.200
<v Speaker 5>I'll tell you what. If you feel passionately about it,

0:37:08.239 --> 0:37:11.000
<v Speaker 5>I'm gonna step back do your thing right.

0:37:11.400 --> 0:37:14.120
<v Speaker 4>And my exact words to her was because I was

0:37:14.840 --> 0:37:15.360
<v Speaker 4>I got.

0:37:15.160 --> 0:37:16.880
<v Speaker 5>This from Dick Griffy. I said, I'm gonna give you

0:37:16.880 --> 0:37:18.239
<v Speaker 5>an opportunity to fail.

0:37:20.080 --> 0:37:20.440
<v Speaker 1>Yourself.

0:37:20.480 --> 0:37:23.360
<v Speaker 5>Okay, yeah, I said that, and I ain't really know

0:37:23.360 --> 0:37:25.600
<v Speaker 5>what it meant, but I said it because Dick Griffy

0:37:25.640 --> 0:37:26.720
<v Speaker 5>said it anyway.

0:37:28.160 --> 0:37:29.120
<v Speaker 4>And so she did it.

0:37:29.680 --> 0:37:33.880
<v Speaker 5>She came back and she played me get the Party started,

0:37:34.680 --> 0:37:37.840
<v Speaker 5>eighteen Wheeler, and she played me all those songs, and

0:37:37.880 --> 0:37:38.640
<v Speaker 5>I was like, oh my.

0:37:38.600 --> 0:37:39.640
<v Speaker 4>God, this girl's made up.

0:37:39.719 --> 0:37:45.080
<v Speaker 5>She made a real album and we went to work

0:37:45.640 --> 0:37:47.680
<v Speaker 5>her throw up with Dave Myers. They made a great

0:37:47.760 --> 0:37:52.000
<v Speaker 5>video and she was off to the races after that.

0:37:53.280 --> 0:37:57.840
<v Speaker 5>When it came to her third album, I wasn't involved

0:37:57.920 --> 0:38:00.880
<v Speaker 5>at all. I was involved at all. She got a

0:38:00.920 --> 0:38:04.200
<v Speaker 5>new manager, Roger Davis, very famous manager who also mat

0:38:04.320 --> 0:38:07.799
<v Speaker 5>just TEENA Turner. Yeah, Roger Davis, Roger Davies. So her

0:38:07.840 --> 0:38:10.319
<v Speaker 5>and Roger kind of they did it all and just

0:38:10.360 --> 0:38:12.839
<v Speaker 5>turned it in like. I wasn't involved at all. And

0:38:12.880 --> 0:38:16.520
<v Speaker 5>when it was done, I didn't think it was particularly good, honestly,

0:38:16.680 --> 0:38:21.520
<v Speaker 5>and I left the company right as it was time

0:38:21.600 --> 0:38:25.480
<v Speaker 5>to release it. So and it didn't do that great.

0:38:25.880 --> 0:38:31.360
<v Speaker 3>I don't understand when La Face just amalgamates into Arista,

0:38:32.280 --> 0:38:36.600
<v Speaker 3>but do I recall when you actually went back to school.

0:38:37.320 --> 0:38:39.799
<v Speaker 1>I did because Swizz did the same thing, Like what

0:38:39.960 --> 0:38:40.279
<v Speaker 1>is this?

0:38:41.440 --> 0:38:47.520
<v Speaker 5>So what happened is I got contacted by the Birtlesman,

0:38:47.600 --> 0:38:53.560
<v Speaker 5>the company that owned the aristag BMG. They had a BMG,

0:38:53.880 --> 0:38:57.719
<v Speaker 5>visited me, came to Atlanta, visited me. This was early too, man,

0:38:57.760 --> 0:39:01.960
<v Speaker 5>This was like probably ninety four, and that early on

0:39:02.080 --> 0:39:04.759
<v Speaker 5>they said we would like to We want you to

0:39:04.800 --> 0:39:09.840
<v Speaker 5>prep yourself because at some point we want you to take.

0:39:09.680 --> 0:39:11.480
<v Speaker 4>Over aris to records.

0:39:11.760 --> 0:39:14.640
<v Speaker 5>And I was like, yeah, right, that's what I thought

0:39:14.680 --> 0:39:16.879
<v Speaker 5>to my I don't even believe it.

0:39:17.120 --> 0:39:19.000
<v Speaker 4>Ninety four Okay.

0:39:19.200 --> 0:39:23.920
<v Speaker 5>So a couple of years ago by and they call again,

0:39:24.600 --> 0:39:28.080
<v Speaker 5>and instead this time they don't say aris that. They said,

0:39:29.000 --> 0:39:30.680
<v Speaker 5>we would like for you to go back to school.

0:39:30.880 --> 0:39:33.200
<v Speaker 5>We would like you to go to school. We can

0:39:33.680 --> 0:39:37.560
<v Speaker 5>get you enrolled in a program at Harvard. You'll have

0:39:37.680 --> 0:39:39.919
<v Speaker 5>to go and stay on campus. You got to stay

0:39:39.960 --> 0:39:42.399
<v Speaker 5>for ten weeks. You cannot run the company. You can't

0:39:42.440 --> 0:39:44.720
<v Speaker 5>talk to your artists, you can't talk to your executives.

0:39:44.920 --> 0:39:47.439
<v Speaker 5>You can talk to your family, but we need you

0:39:47.520 --> 0:39:49.839
<v Speaker 5>on the campus and we need you to put in

0:39:49.880 --> 0:39:54.000
<v Speaker 5>fifty to sixty hours a week doing case studies and

0:39:54.120 --> 0:39:59.480
<v Speaker 5>living on the campus and really studying international business.

0:40:00.880 --> 0:40:02.880
<v Speaker 1>Okay, it's like a jail sentence.

0:40:03.360 --> 0:40:05.440
<v Speaker 5>I liked the idea of it because I didn't go

0:40:05.480 --> 0:40:08.279
<v Speaker 5>to college, and I regretted not going to college because

0:40:08.320 --> 0:40:10.440
<v Speaker 5>I opted to be a musician. I opted to go

0:40:10.480 --> 0:40:12.440
<v Speaker 5>on the road that was college to me. So I

0:40:12.600 --> 0:40:16.719
<v Speaker 5>liked this idea. So I went and I stayed there

0:40:16.800 --> 0:40:21.680
<v Speaker 5>for my ten weeks and it was really hard, because

0:40:22.320 --> 0:40:25.000
<v Speaker 5>it was really really hard. So I got kids on

0:40:25.040 --> 0:40:28.640
<v Speaker 5>the campus to tutor me and helped me get through it.

0:40:28.680 --> 0:40:31.319
<v Speaker 5>And I made friends with other people in that were

0:40:31.320 --> 0:40:34.719
<v Speaker 5>in my in my dorm, so it was like the

0:40:34.760 --> 0:40:36.120
<v Speaker 5>students were teaching each other.

0:40:36.280 --> 0:40:38.680
<v Speaker 3>So you really had to go to Harvard and stay

0:40:38.719 --> 0:40:41.200
<v Speaker 3>at Harvard. And do you had to do that?

0:40:41.280 --> 0:40:41.680
<v Speaker 1>Yeah?

0:40:41.760 --> 0:40:44.160
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, I lived on campus and I'm a and at

0:40:44.200 --> 0:40:45.680
<v Speaker 5>this point, like i'm a.

0:40:47.080 --> 0:40:49.439
<v Speaker 4>I live in Atlanta, I'm I'm I'm a.

0:40:49.480 --> 0:40:54.000
<v Speaker 5>Musician's half musician, half executive. You know, I'm a hybrid.

0:40:54.200 --> 0:40:56.360
<v Speaker 5>I'm a very weird hybrid. I don't know how to dress,

0:40:56.480 --> 0:40:57.680
<v Speaker 5>I don't know how to walk, I don't know how

0:40:57.680 --> 0:40:58.040
<v Speaker 5>to talk.

0:40:58.080 --> 0:41:01.520
<v Speaker 4>I don't know which handshake do you. I'm like completely confused.

0:41:01.520 --> 0:41:04.360
<v Speaker 5>I'm gonna fish out of water in the greatest institution

0:41:04.640 --> 0:41:06.200
<v Speaker 5>in the world apparently, right.

0:41:06.680 --> 0:41:10.680
<v Speaker 4>Uh So it was very intimidating. Everybody seemed so smart.

0:41:11.120 --> 0:41:14.839
<v Speaker 5>I mean the accents you know when you hear when

0:41:14.880 --> 0:41:17.320
<v Speaker 5>you hear when you hear guys with Indian accent talking

0:41:17.320 --> 0:41:22.000
<v Speaker 5>about ebitda, it sounds smarter. You know, guys from the UK,

0:41:22.360 --> 0:41:25.239
<v Speaker 5>they always sound smarter than we do, right, right, So

0:41:25.320 --> 0:41:27.000
<v Speaker 5>it's just all very intimidating.

0:41:27.120 --> 0:41:28.320
<v Speaker 4>And then I found my group.

0:41:28.719 --> 0:41:31.920
<v Speaker 5>Right around halfway point, I started to find my groove

0:41:32.120 --> 0:41:35.560
<v Speaker 5>and and and figured it out. And at the end

0:41:35.600 --> 0:41:38.520
<v Speaker 5>of it, I graduated, And I didn't know if I

0:41:38.600 --> 0:41:40.120
<v Speaker 5>would What were.

0:41:39.960 --> 0:41:41.840
<v Speaker 7>Some of the things you learned from that program? Like

0:41:41.880 --> 0:41:42.319
<v Speaker 7>how did that?

0:41:42.760 --> 0:41:44.319
<v Speaker 4>We really studied businesses.

0:41:44.480 --> 0:41:47.680
<v Speaker 5>We studied things like things that you would love, like

0:41:47.760 --> 0:41:50.200
<v Speaker 5>we studied decisions that Phil.

0:41:50.040 --> 0:41:52.120
<v Speaker 4>Nightmaye to make Nike a success.

0:41:52.440 --> 0:41:55.239
<v Speaker 5>We discovered you know, things like that, like and we

0:41:55.280 --> 0:41:58.600
<v Speaker 5>would take it in steps, like they would present us

0:41:58.680 --> 0:41:59.160
<v Speaker 5>a case.

0:41:59.239 --> 0:42:01.799
<v Speaker 4>They would show us the dilemma or.

0:42:01.719 --> 0:42:05.439
<v Speaker 5>Where the company could go one way or another, and

0:42:05.480 --> 0:42:08.640
<v Speaker 5>then they would test us basically basically like what decision

0:42:08.640 --> 0:42:11.799
<v Speaker 5>would you make here? And then we would go to

0:42:11.840 --> 0:42:16.040
<v Speaker 5>the next sort of chapter of the story. And it

0:42:16.080 --> 0:42:19.920
<v Speaker 5>was just basically case studies, studying each person's case not

0:42:19.960 --> 0:42:23.920
<v Speaker 5>only in entertainment but or or in apparel, but everything

0:42:23.960 --> 0:42:28.840
<v Speaker 5>from public utilities to you know, hospital to grocery stores

0:42:28.920 --> 0:42:35.400
<v Speaker 5>to automotive, Toyota to Disney. We'd study we studied businesses.

0:42:35.840 --> 0:42:39.080
<v Speaker 3>There's of course a famous book out now called the

0:42:39.120 --> 0:42:43.279
<v Speaker 3>Harvard Report where they first did a case study of

0:42:43.400 --> 0:42:48.080
<v Speaker 3>Clive Davis, Yes, embracing black music. Were they still using

0:42:48.200 --> 0:42:49.240
<v Speaker 3>that book as.

0:42:49.040 --> 0:42:51.920
<v Speaker 4>A No, we never got there.

0:42:52.280 --> 0:42:55.680
<v Speaker 5>But they have so many like they collect case They

0:42:55.760 --> 0:42:59.000
<v Speaker 5>collect case studies from all over the world, and each

0:42:59.080 --> 0:43:02.439
<v Speaker 5>professor would let the cases that he wants to use

0:43:02.719 --> 0:43:06.759
<v Speaker 5>in UH, in his classrooms. But there's no there's no

0:43:07.000 --> 0:43:10.520
<v Speaker 5>set stories. I knew about the Clive. They actually did

0:43:10.600 --> 0:43:14.560
<v Speaker 5>one with me about UH. It was like the study

0:43:14.560 --> 0:43:17.040
<v Speaker 5>of black music, right, and.

0:43:19.280 --> 0:43:21.239
<v Speaker 4>They did. I know a lot of people that they've

0:43:21.239 --> 0:43:22.280
<v Speaker 4>actually done the reports.

0:43:22.320 --> 0:43:25.880
<v Speaker 5>They don't publish them all, they don't actually use them all,

0:43:26.320 --> 0:43:30.560
<v Speaker 5>but they just basically collect information and and and they

0:43:30.640 --> 0:43:32.640
<v Speaker 5>teach it and and it's good. The way we went

0:43:32.680 --> 0:43:37.000
<v Speaker 5>about it, it was intimidating at first, UH, until I

0:43:37.040 --> 0:43:39.040
<v Speaker 5>got my groove and realized that there were things I

0:43:39.120 --> 0:43:41.040
<v Speaker 5>knew that some of the people in that they didn't know.

0:43:41.680 --> 0:43:44.120
<v Speaker 4>Once I got that confidence, I was like, okay.

0:43:44.320 --> 0:43:46.200
<v Speaker 7>Because they studying business that you've been running on.

0:43:46.920 --> 0:43:53.840
<v Speaker 1>Yes, okay, I have one confession's question.

0:43:54.960 --> 0:43:59.319
<v Speaker 3>I kind of consider Confessions the end of the parentheses

0:44:00.600 --> 0:44:01.560
<v Speaker 3>of whatever.

0:44:03.080 --> 0:44:03.359
<v Speaker 1>I mean.

0:44:03.520 --> 0:44:06.040
<v Speaker 3>I really can't tell, Like what the first mega album

0:44:06.200 --> 0:44:09.279
<v Speaker 3>maybe Carol King's Tapestry. It was like one of the

0:44:09.320 --> 0:44:14.319
<v Speaker 3>first mega selling records, but you know us there's Confessions

0:44:14.360 --> 0:44:19.680
<v Speaker 3>comes at a time when streaming culture is about to

0:44:20.680 --> 0:44:23.279
<v Speaker 3>confuse the whole entire industry.

0:44:23.160 --> 0:44:27.600
<v Speaker 1>Where buying a tangible record is a vote. So this

0:44:27.719 --> 0:44:30.319
<v Speaker 1>is kind of a part one and part two thing.

0:44:31.239 --> 0:44:35.200
<v Speaker 3>When when Confessions was said and done, did you realize

0:44:35.200 --> 0:44:41.080
<v Speaker 3>then that there will never be another mega selling album

0:44:41.239 --> 0:44:44.600
<v Speaker 3>of this nature again in the music business.

0:44:44.640 --> 0:44:45.080
<v Speaker 1>Wow?

0:44:46.120 --> 0:44:49.680
<v Speaker 4>No, I ain't thinking that's incredible that you should say that.

0:44:49.719 --> 0:44:53.160
<v Speaker 1>But no, Confessions is the like after that.

0:44:53.120 --> 0:44:56.120
<v Speaker 4>Then that's the last. That's the last, like diamond album.

0:44:56.440 --> 0:45:00.560
<v Speaker 3>Yes, literally, because after that streaming comes in ruins it.

0:45:01.120 --> 0:45:06.480
<v Speaker 3>But I was asking that only because of his Atlanta roots.

0:45:06.520 --> 0:45:09.080
<v Speaker 3>I always wanted to ask a CEO at least what

0:45:09.120 --> 0:45:14.480
<v Speaker 3>their feelings of what streaming was threatening to be, and

0:45:14.560 --> 0:45:17.520
<v Speaker 3>of course you know there there's the napster situation that

0:45:17.600 --> 0:45:20.880
<v Speaker 3>sort of confused people and have them in their feelings

0:45:21.239 --> 0:45:26.759
<v Speaker 3>and then accepting iTunes and whatnot, even down to DJ

0:45:26.920 --> 0:45:30.759
<v Speaker 3>Drama's arrest, Like, could you talk about what the what

0:45:30.800 --> 0:45:34.560
<v Speaker 3>the at least the scary environment for what music was

0:45:34.600 --> 0:45:35.920
<v Speaker 3>about to become?

0:45:36.880 --> 0:45:38.520
<v Speaker 1>Now somehow you managed.

0:45:38.200 --> 0:45:41.320
<v Speaker 5>To There was a piece in the between that which

0:45:41.360 --> 0:45:46.360
<v Speaker 5>was downloads, and downloads, while they weren't physical, were still

0:45:46.560 --> 0:45:51.040
<v Speaker 5>a la carte. There was still like sales. So the

0:45:51.200 --> 0:45:56.520
<v Speaker 5>next the next chapter of successes were measured through downloads, right,

0:45:57.800 --> 0:46:01.839
<v Speaker 5>some physical not that much, you know, but CDs were

0:46:01.880 --> 0:46:06.240
<v Speaker 5>dwindling badly, Vinyl was completely out of out of the count, uh,

0:46:06.280 --> 0:46:09.160
<v Speaker 5>and downloads with a thing, so we still had.

0:46:09.440 --> 0:46:12.080
<v Speaker 3>But as president, did you feel the pressure that I

0:46:12.120 --> 0:46:15.800
<v Speaker 3>got to figure out something quick? Like all my record

0:46:15.880 --> 0:46:18.800
<v Speaker 3>all my label, like my artists went from ten million

0:46:18.840 --> 0:46:22.359
<v Speaker 3>to now to sell three million is an.

0:46:22.280 --> 0:46:25.880
<v Speaker 1>Achievement, although it's not your fault per se, just right, right?

0:46:26.560 --> 0:46:29.480
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, how are you dealing with that as a CEO

0:46:29.840 --> 0:46:31.120
<v Speaker 3>like and as an executive?

0:46:31.520 --> 0:46:33.880
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, the idea was just to not bottom out the

0:46:33.960 --> 0:46:38.800
<v Speaker 5>idea was, yes, the sales are dwindling, and it's across

0:46:38.800 --> 0:46:41.279
<v Speaker 5>the board. It's not one company that's dwind it's not

0:46:41.440 --> 0:46:45.360
<v Speaker 5>one artist that's that sales are dwindling. The entire industry

0:46:45.600 --> 0:46:50.640
<v Speaker 5>is going down the tube. Napster's introduced the download, so

0:46:50.640 --> 0:46:53.279
<v Speaker 5>we're fighting piracy and at a rate that we've never

0:46:53.320 --> 0:46:55.319
<v Speaker 5>had to fight piracy, at least that we know of.

0:46:55.800 --> 0:47:01.719
<v Speaker 5>So with that being the reality, it was just get

0:47:01.760 --> 0:47:04.759
<v Speaker 5>the best artists and the best records you can and

0:47:04.840 --> 0:47:08.240
<v Speaker 5>do the best you can. And I never really measured

0:47:08.239 --> 0:47:10.120
<v Speaker 5>it against Like. I didn't even know that fact.

0:47:10.160 --> 0:47:13.520
<v Speaker 4>I didn't know that Confessions Like was maybe the last diamond.

0:47:13.600 --> 0:47:15.960
<v Speaker 3>I didn't even know that Confessions and speaker Box were

0:47:16.000 --> 0:47:16.839
<v Speaker 3>the last of the movie.

0:47:17.800 --> 0:47:20.040
<v Speaker 5>I didn't even realize that, So I didn't I didn't,

0:47:20.080 --> 0:47:21.839
<v Speaker 5>in my mind, compete with it.

0:47:22.200 --> 0:47:23.319
<v Speaker 4>I didn't think of it that way.

0:47:23.400 --> 0:47:28.040
<v Speaker 5>I thought of it more as meaningful bodies of work,

0:47:29.000 --> 0:47:32.359
<v Speaker 5>which I felt Kanye made as an example right, And

0:47:32.480 --> 0:47:35.719
<v Speaker 5>I was really proud of everything for the time I

0:47:35.840 --> 0:47:38.480
<v Speaker 5>was around him. I was proud of those records and

0:47:38.520 --> 0:47:41.440
<v Speaker 5>I felt that they were I felt they measured up

0:47:41.440 --> 0:47:44.680
<v Speaker 5>to whatever we did at with Outcasts, whatever we did

0:47:44.719 --> 0:47:48.879
<v Speaker 5>with Usher, And I also had like Mariah Carey's Emancipation

0:47:49.000 --> 0:47:50.560
<v Speaker 5>of Me Me Right, and.

0:47:51.000 --> 0:47:53.879
<v Speaker 4>That felt like the for me, that felt.

0:47:53.560 --> 0:47:57.600
<v Speaker 5>Like the follow up to Confessions Right, some of the

0:47:57.600 --> 0:47:59.160
<v Speaker 5>same kind of sounding records.

0:47:59.200 --> 0:48:00.000
<v Speaker 4>That's how I looked at it.

0:48:00.280 --> 0:48:01.839
<v Speaker 5>But I didn't look at the sales, and I didn't

0:48:01.880 --> 0:48:04.360
<v Speaker 5>look at the challenge that we had as an industry

0:48:05.080 --> 0:48:05.880
<v Speaker 5>as a threat.

0:48:06.320 --> 0:48:08.279
<v Speaker 4>I looked at it more as, yes, we need to

0:48:08.320 --> 0:48:09.040
<v Speaker 4>figure this out.

0:48:09.200 --> 0:48:13.480
<v Speaker 3>And once you come to death Jam, like you kind

0:48:13.480 --> 0:48:15.200
<v Speaker 3>of have to start all over again, Like what is

0:48:15.239 --> 0:48:19.399
<v Speaker 3>it to meet your especially coming from where they came

0:48:19.400 --> 0:48:22.520
<v Speaker 3>from as far as like the the era of Julie

0:48:22.760 --> 0:48:27.279
<v Speaker 3>and and le or yeah, like to come in there

0:48:27.320 --> 0:48:29.520
<v Speaker 3>and to be the new guy, like was.

0:48:29.480 --> 0:48:31.400
<v Speaker 1>It crazy eyes?

0:48:31.480 --> 0:48:34.319
<v Speaker 4>And oh my god, man, it was crazy? It was.

0:48:34.440 --> 0:48:35.440
<v Speaker 4>It was crazy.

0:48:35.520 --> 0:48:36.319
<v Speaker 1>It was nice to you.

0:48:36.960 --> 0:48:37.320
<v Speaker 4>Crazy.

0:48:37.360 --> 0:48:40.719
<v Speaker 5>Wasn't there when I got there? Okay, she came once

0:48:40.960 --> 0:48:45.000
<v Speaker 5>once Jay was president, right, but man, it was it

0:48:45.080 --> 0:48:48.120
<v Speaker 5>was scary because it was a real. First of all,

0:48:48.160 --> 0:48:52.200
<v Speaker 5>I didn't realize. Here's the thing about Death Jam, Like,

0:48:52.400 --> 0:48:55.360
<v Speaker 5>if you're part of that culture, you realize how important

0:48:55.400 --> 0:48:57.640
<v Speaker 5>that culture is. If you're not a part of it,

0:48:57.719 --> 0:49:00.320
<v Speaker 5>you don't really know. So it's crazy as this sound.

0:49:00.800 --> 0:49:03.359
<v Speaker 5>I didn't know that it was what it was like.

0:49:03.520 --> 0:49:05.920
<v Speaker 5>It wasn't that to us in Atlanta. I mean, it

0:49:05.960 --> 0:49:08.840
<v Speaker 5>was a successful company. It was big. We respected. We

0:49:08.880 --> 0:49:11.960
<v Speaker 5>knew Russell, we knew Rick Rubin, we knew le Ric Cohen,

0:49:12.000 --> 0:49:14.200
<v Speaker 5>we knew Chris Leidy, we knew cool j.

0:49:14.360 --> 0:49:14.880
<v Speaker 7>We knew it.

0:49:15.280 --> 0:49:20.040
<v Speaker 5>But we didn't think of it as the institution that

0:49:20.120 --> 0:49:20.680
<v Speaker 5>it was.

0:49:21.200 --> 0:49:22.319
<v Speaker 4>We didn't see it that way.

0:49:23.360 --> 0:49:26.799
<v Speaker 5>So when I walked in, I was shocked by I

0:49:26.880 --> 0:49:27.759
<v Speaker 5>was shocked by it all.

0:49:27.800 --> 0:49:28.960
<v Speaker 4>I was shocked by.

0:49:29.320 --> 0:49:32.760
<v Speaker 5>The voice of the community and their opinions about anything

0:49:32.800 --> 0:49:35.840
<v Speaker 5>that happened. I didn't realize that theft jam belonged to

0:49:35.880 --> 0:49:38.799
<v Speaker 5>the streets. It belonged to the people, like you know

0:49:39.360 --> 0:49:42.080
<v Speaker 5>it funk Master Flex had to say, and every I

0:49:42.120 --> 0:49:44.840
<v Speaker 5>mean just making up named anybody right, everybody had a

0:49:45.000 --> 0:49:47.880
<v Speaker 5>say in it. So when I came in as a

0:49:47.960 --> 0:49:52.000
<v Speaker 5>new chairman of the company, coming from my background, I

0:49:52.160 --> 0:49:57.640
<v Speaker 5>was immediately made to feel uncomfortable. Right executives were taking

0:49:57.680 --> 0:50:01.799
<v Speaker 5>out articles in the newspaper and magazine talking about how

0:50:01.880 --> 0:50:05.000
<v Speaker 5>I wasn't fit for it and how you know, how

0:50:05.040 --> 0:50:07.799
<v Speaker 5>would I know how to go talk to DMX like

0:50:08.280 --> 0:50:12.160
<v Speaker 5>you know it was and I felt it. I really did.

0:50:12.239 --> 0:50:15.200
<v Speaker 5>I felt it. And I didn't feel welcome at all.

0:50:16.680 --> 0:50:19.600
<v Speaker 5>And I loved Julie. I think she's one of the

0:50:19.640 --> 0:50:22.880
<v Speaker 5>most remarkable executives in the world. I love Kevin. I

0:50:22.880 --> 0:50:25.360
<v Speaker 5>think he's one of the most remarkable executives in the world.

0:50:25.840 --> 0:50:29.720
<v Speaker 5>Nither of them made me feel welcome. And and oh wait.

0:50:29.560 --> 0:50:32.400
<v Speaker 3>So they Kevin and Julie were still there when you came.

0:50:32.920 --> 0:50:35.080
<v Speaker 3>Oh I kind of thought they all left together.

0:50:35.480 --> 0:50:38.520
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, they they were there when I got there, only

0:50:38.600 --> 0:50:42.200
<v Speaker 5>le Or had left. And I didn't feel very welcome, right,

0:50:42.239 --> 0:50:45.319
<v Speaker 5>And I didn't feel welcome.

0:50:45.080 --> 0:50:48.600
<v Speaker 4>By the artist either. The artists at that time.

0:50:48.719 --> 0:50:55.359
<v Speaker 5>You know, I loved them, right method Man, Redman, ghost Face, Ello,

0:50:55.520 --> 0:50:59.080
<v Speaker 5>cool J the only one, and jay Z was like

0:50:59.160 --> 0:51:04.520
<v Speaker 5>on semi Retireronment Rockefeller. And the artist that embraced me

0:51:04.800 --> 0:51:09.000
<v Speaker 5>was Kanye West. Wow, that was the one that embraced me.

0:51:09.080 --> 0:51:09.200
<v Speaker 7>Right.

0:51:09.280 --> 0:51:09.760
<v Speaker 1>That helps.

0:51:10.400 --> 0:51:11.319
<v Speaker 4>That helped a lot.

0:51:11.840 --> 0:51:14.399
<v Speaker 5>And this is early Kanye before he released his first

0:51:14.440 --> 0:51:18.040
<v Speaker 5>album right, although it was already done and slated to

0:51:18.080 --> 0:51:21.239
<v Speaker 5>be released when I came to the company. But I

0:51:21.320 --> 0:51:25.879
<v Speaker 5>met him and he said to me, because you understand outcasts,

0:51:26.040 --> 0:51:29.279
<v Speaker 5>you'll probably understand me. And that's how that was the

0:51:29.280 --> 0:51:30.960
<v Speaker 5>first conversation we ever had.

0:51:30.840 --> 0:51:32.759
<v Speaker 4>And I locked in with him.

0:51:33.200 --> 0:51:36.320
<v Speaker 5>And then Mariah called, and because her and I wanted

0:51:36.360 --> 0:51:38.279
<v Speaker 5>to work together for years, I tried to sign her

0:51:38.320 --> 0:51:41.920
<v Speaker 5>at Ariston when she first left Sony and so I

0:51:41.920 --> 0:51:48.640
<v Speaker 5>had Mariah embracing me, but no one else. So Mariah says,

0:51:49.800 --> 0:51:51.879
<v Speaker 5>I'm on the phone with Mariah. This is really good,

0:51:51.880 --> 0:51:54.120
<v Speaker 5>and she says, you know how you can put the

0:51:54.120 --> 0:51:57.720
<v Speaker 5>fire out? I was like, how she said, make Jay.

0:51:57.600 --> 0:52:03.120
<v Speaker 4>Z the president? Oh man, No, that's Mariah. You don't

0:52:03.200 --> 0:52:03.880
<v Speaker 4>like that idea?

0:52:04.840 --> 0:52:06.760
<v Speaker 6>No, Well, are you asking the wrong person?

0:52:06.800 --> 0:52:08.240
<v Speaker 1>I'm kind of overprotective.

0:52:08.440 --> 0:52:09.080
<v Speaker 6>I mean I was.

0:52:09.440 --> 0:52:10.959
<v Speaker 4>I was way overprotective of the ruse.

0:52:10.960 --> 0:52:12.799
<v Speaker 6>I had a whole conversation with Jay on the radio

0:52:12.840 --> 0:52:14.840
<v Speaker 6>about the way he was handling his presidency and the

0:52:14.840 --> 0:52:17.080
<v Speaker 6>way he was handling all the Philadelphia acts at the time.

0:52:17.160 --> 0:52:17.759
<v Speaker 1>So no, as a.

0:52:17.840 --> 0:52:20.600
<v Speaker 6>Radio person and for the Philadelphia person, I was not

0:52:20.640 --> 0:52:22.240
<v Speaker 6>feeling that. But the artist, he's.

0:52:22.040 --> 0:52:26.080
<v Speaker 5>Great, Oh yeah, okay, anyway, But but you know what

0:52:26.120 --> 0:52:29.600
<v Speaker 5>when I when I so Mariah put the idea in

0:52:29.640 --> 0:52:33.480
<v Speaker 5>my head, I presented it to Jay didn't get an

0:52:33.520 --> 0:52:37.880
<v Speaker 5>answer right away. Eventually we were able to come to

0:52:38.040 --> 0:52:41.680
<v Speaker 5>terms and he became the president of Death Jam and

0:52:41.920 --> 0:52:45.680
<v Speaker 5>at that point that made the peace and everybody left me.

0:52:45.640 --> 0:52:51.000
<v Speaker 6>Alone and Method but Method, man, I wasn't happy those face.

0:52:50.920 --> 0:52:55.319
<v Speaker 3>Wasn't that's that's something I did not know.

0:52:55.920 --> 0:52:56.200
<v Speaker 1>Wow.

0:52:56.360 --> 0:52:58.960
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, And a lot of the artists, like I met

0:52:59.000 --> 0:53:02.359
<v Speaker 5>a few artists that that have said to me that

0:53:02.520 --> 0:53:06.200
<v Speaker 5>they because it's two way street. When you become you're

0:53:06.200 --> 0:53:08.000
<v Speaker 5>the head of a label and you come in to

0:53:08.080 --> 0:53:12.920
<v Speaker 5>an established company, you're auditioning for them. It's not the

0:53:13.000 --> 0:53:15.279
<v Speaker 5>other way around. It's not the artists need to prove

0:53:15.360 --> 0:53:18.120
<v Speaker 5>to you. You need to prove to the artists, right.

0:53:18.200 --> 0:53:20.319
<v Speaker 5>And many of the artists were like, we're not even

0:53:20.320 --> 0:53:22.880
<v Speaker 5>gonna give you a chance because A we think you

0:53:22.960 --> 0:53:24.920
<v Speaker 5>might be r and b B we think you pop

0:53:25.000 --> 0:53:27.759
<v Speaker 5>either way, we don't think you're hip hop, so I

0:53:27.840 --> 0:53:31.719
<v Speaker 5>might be coming to your office, right. So so that

0:53:31.840 --> 0:53:33.160
<v Speaker 5>was a very difficult thing.

0:53:33.239 --> 0:53:35.640
<v Speaker 4>And I was like, yo, okay, I hear y'all.

0:53:35.680 --> 0:53:38.319
<v Speaker 5>I still have the biggest selling hip hop album of

0:53:38.320 --> 0:53:38.759
<v Speaker 5>all time.

0:53:38.840 --> 0:53:40.680
<v Speaker 4>Do I get a do I get do I get

0:53:40.719 --> 0:53:41.960
<v Speaker 4>a meeting?

0:53:43.080 --> 0:53:45.840
<v Speaker 5>Because you ain't beat to speaker box a lot below yet,

0:53:45.920 --> 0:53:47.600
<v Speaker 5>so can I at least get a meeting.

0:53:49.280 --> 0:53:51.040
<v Speaker 1>I can't even believe that you would have to beg

0:53:51.080 --> 0:53:51.600
<v Speaker 1>for a meeting.

0:53:53.320 --> 0:53:54.200
<v Speaker 4>I was not embraced.

0:53:54.200 --> 0:53:56.640
<v Speaker 5>It's okay though, Like I'm not saying that, Like I

0:53:56.640 --> 0:53:57.240
<v Speaker 5>I was cool.

0:53:57.760 --> 0:54:00.279
<v Speaker 4>Uh, And I just embraced those that embraced me. We

0:54:00.480 --> 0:54:01.279
<v Speaker 4>and we ended up.

0:54:01.560 --> 0:54:04.799
<v Speaker 5>We created a different kind of label as Chris Light

0:54:04.920 --> 0:54:06.080
<v Speaker 5>he made he rest in peace.

0:54:06.160 --> 0:54:09.920
<v Speaker 4>I loved him. He said, this is a face jam.

0:54:09.960 --> 0:54:11.000
<v Speaker 4>This is not deaf jam.

0:54:14.160 --> 0:54:18.200
<v Speaker 3>One very unusual deaf jam signee at the time that

0:54:18.239 --> 0:54:21.000
<v Speaker 3>I considered, can you talk about what it took to

0:54:21.120 --> 0:54:23.520
<v Speaker 3>market and break Justin Bieber?

0:54:24.280 --> 0:54:24.640
<v Speaker 4>Oh?

0:54:25.040 --> 0:54:28.960
<v Speaker 5>Yes, So I love that. That was a that was

0:54:29.239 --> 0:54:30.400
<v Speaker 5>that was a gift from Usher.

0:54:31.440 --> 0:54:34.439
<v Speaker 4>Right. Usher came in, he said, I have a gift

0:54:34.480 --> 0:54:36.560
<v Speaker 4>for you. He came in. I thought he was gonna

0:54:36.560 --> 0:54:39.040
<v Speaker 4>bring me cigars or something. I love the story. I

0:54:39.080 --> 0:54:43.080
<v Speaker 4>love the story. Yes, I love it. That was a gift.

0:54:43.280 --> 0:54:46.640
<v Speaker 5>Yes, And he walks in with fourteen year old Justin Bieber.

0:54:47.440 --> 0:54:50.680
<v Speaker 5>Justin cames in, comes in, and he's beating on the table, right,

0:54:50.760 --> 0:54:52.799
<v Speaker 5>and he's playing the piano, he's playing the guitar, and

0:54:52.800 --> 0:54:55.680
<v Speaker 5>he's singing, he's jumping around, he's talking, he's a mile

0:54:55.800 --> 0:55:02.560
<v Speaker 5>a minute, and I'm just staring at him like this star,

0:55:02.840 --> 0:55:05.000
<v Speaker 5>Like I mean, I got my star hat on. I'm like,

0:55:05.080 --> 0:55:08.359
<v Speaker 5>this is a this dude, this is star. I'm telling

0:55:08.400 --> 0:55:11.520
<v Speaker 5>you guys. I thought I I ain't gonna lie. I

0:55:11.560 --> 0:55:12.759
<v Speaker 5>thought I met Elvis.

0:55:13.480 --> 0:55:14.120
<v Speaker 1>Wow.

0:55:15.000 --> 0:55:17.480
<v Speaker 5>I seriously, I was like this dude right here. Because

0:55:17.520 --> 0:55:20.359
<v Speaker 5>the girls all talked about how pretty his face was.

0:55:20.760 --> 0:55:23.600
<v Speaker 5>Not not pretty like in a negative way, but in

0:55:23.719 --> 0:55:26.960
<v Speaker 5>a way that they loved him right. All the girls

0:55:27.280 --> 0:55:31.680
<v Speaker 5>loved him. And then artists that not all artists, but

0:55:31.719 --> 0:55:36.320
<v Speaker 5>many artists like kind of liked him. And so we

0:55:36.560 --> 0:55:40.960
<v Speaker 5>went about making the record, and the first record with strategy.

0:55:41.040 --> 0:55:43.919
<v Speaker 5>You want to do strategically. I have this theory that

0:55:44.600 --> 0:55:48.640
<v Speaker 5>Blue Eyed Soul is the music that has the greatest

0:55:48.680 --> 0:55:54.279
<v Speaker 5>opportunity for global success. That's that's my opinion. So we

0:55:54.320 --> 0:55:57.160
<v Speaker 5>put him on black radio first thing out, put him

0:55:57.200 --> 0:56:00.680
<v Speaker 5>on V one o three and it was wow. That's

0:56:00.680 --> 0:56:02.919
<v Speaker 5>where it started. He had a song called one Time

0:56:02.960 --> 0:56:05.839
<v Speaker 5>Before Baby, we put we put it on V one

0:56:05.880 --> 0:56:09.040
<v Speaker 5>o three and and we that's what we did, man.

0:56:09.080 --> 0:56:12.640
<v Speaker 5>We we went black first mm hmm. And then we

0:56:12.680 --> 0:56:14.520
<v Speaker 5>put it on read them and then we crossed it over.

0:56:14.719 --> 0:56:17.399
<v Speaker 5>But we wanted to we wanted to give him, uh

0:56:17.800 --> 0:56:21.080
<v Speaker 5>some black foundation. And he had he had the check,

0:56:21.360 --> 0:56:24.960
<v Speaker 5>the endorsement because of Usher and Me, so he had

0:56:25.040 --> 0:56:28.760
<v Speaker 5>real and and and Dreaming Tricky were making his records,

0:56:29.160 --> 0:56:31.040
<v Speaker 5>so he had he was covered.

0:56:31.960 --> 0:56:34.040
<v Speaker 6>Well, he could have went the other way because wasn't

0:56:34.080 --> 0:56:37.080
<v Speaker 6>it a battle between Usher and was it justin because

0:56:37.080 --> 0:56:38.720
<v Speaker 6>they both.

0:56:38.560 --> 0:56:44.520
<v Speaker 5>Wanted him and and then and after that, uh, then

0:56:44.640 --> 0:56:48.520
<v Speaker 5>Kanye embraced him, you know, and it.

0:56:48.600 --> 0:56:51.600
<v Speaker 4>Just everyone felt like everybody else, Yeah.

0:56:51.560 --> 0:56:54.400
<v Speaker 3>All right, I'm gonna slowly wind this down, okay, and

0:56:54.440 --> 0:56:56.440
<v Speaker 3>we I can't believe that at this point.

0:56:56.520 --> 0:56:59.600
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god, it's like the old school here.

0:57:00.680 --> 0:57:01.640
<v Speaker 7>We're not gonna fe.

0:57:01.800 --> 0:57:03.360
<v Speaker 1>This might this might be three episodes.

0:57:03.440 --> 0:57:05.439
<v Speaker 4>My sisters just smiled when you say we're gonna wind

0:57:05.480 --> 0:57:05.799
<v Speaker 4>this down.

0:57:06.480 --> 0:57:07.000
<v Speaker 1>I've seen her.

0:57:06.960 --> 0:57:09.120
<v Speaker 6>Walk past about three four times, like I'm not I'm

0:57:09.120 --> 0:57:10.080
<v Speaker 6>just saying, I ain't saying.

0:57:11.160 --> 0:57:14.880
<v Speaker 3>I mean, at this rate, where you've worked at labels

0:57:15.000 --> 0:57:18.480
<v Speaker 3>and whatnot, do you believe in the theory that I

0:57:18.520 --> 0:57:20.720
<v Speaker 3>hear people say all the time, like it's going to

0:57:20.800 --> 0:57:23.439
<v Speaker 3>be the end of labels, no more labels if it

0:57:23.520 --> 0:57:26.600
<v Speaker 3>is going to be the end of labels, what will

0:57:26.600 --> 0:57:29.760
<v Speaker 3>happen to music next? Because I do feel like something

0:57:29.880 --> 0:57:33.120
<v Speaker 3>is going to eventually give. Like I feel like this

0:57:33.120 --> 0:57:36.320
<v Speaker 3>this decade that we're in the twenties, everything is giving.

0:57:37.040 --> 0:57:42.720
<v Speaker 3>So should music follow suit? Are you I don't, Are

0:57:42.760 --> 0:57:44.760
<v Speaker 3>you prepare to aid in the next step of it?

0:57:44.880 --> 0:57:48.480
<v Speaker 3>Or is it sort of like, all right, I've done

0:57:48.480 --> 0:57:49.720
<v Speaker 3>my bit, I'm gonna sit out.

0:57:50.680 --> 0:57:55.120
<v Speaker 4>I'm definitely not done. First of all, I ain't said nothing. Man,

0:57:55.160 --> 0:57:56.640
<v Speaker 4>they got to they gotta.

0:57:56.520 --> 0:57:58.920
<v Speaker 5>You know, they try to take my head off. I

0:57:58.920 --> 0:58:04.120
<v Speaker 5>still got my head, so sorry. So I don't believe

0:58:05.040 --> 0:58:07.840
<v Speaker 5>in that. I think that labels have historically not been

0:58:07.840 --> 0:58:11.520
<v Speaker 5>well loved, well liked, and for for for the right

0:58:11.560 --> 0:58:16.240
<v Speaker 5>reasons probably, but throughout time people have not record labels

0:58:16.280 --> 0:58:19.600
<v Speaker 5>do not have a great public perception, no matter what

0:58:19.760 --> 0:58:22.840
<v Speaker 5>it is, no matter you know, culturally maybe so like

0:58:22.960 --> 0:58:25.720
<v Speaker 5>people like Deaf Jam or people like bad Boy or

0:58:26.040 --> 0:58:29.280
<v Speaker 5>a Motown or whatever, right, but culturally it may have

0:58:29.600 --> 0:58:32.480
<v Speaker 5>a lot of impact, But the public perception are that

0:58:32.560 --> 0:58:34.440
<v Speaker 5>record companies are generally.

0:58:35.480 --> 0:58:39.840
<v Speaker 4>Brooks, not upstanding people. Uh So, people have always wanted

0:58:40.240 --> 0:58:42.440
<v Speaker 4>to see the demise of record labels.

0:58:42.680 --> 0:58:45.680
<v Speaker 5>I think that, And so now we live in an

0:58:45.720 --> 0:58:50.080
<v Speaker 5>era of independence, right where, And that's good in that,

0:58:50.120 --> 0:58:52.920
<v Speaker 5>and there's bad in that, right The bad in that

0:58:53.240 --> 0:58:57.600
<v Speaker 5>is that there is no barrier to entry, there's no filter.

0:58:58.680 --> 0:59:04.320
<v Speaker 5>So every thing is out, Everything is on Spotify, everything

0:59:04.360 --> 0:59:08.640
<v Speaker 5>is on Apple, everything is on SoundCloud, everything everything like,

0:59:08.720 --> 0:59:12.440
<v Speaker 5>there's no filter for it, right, And so now we're

0:59:12.520 --> 0:59:17.120
<v Speaker 5>leaving it to the editorial people or the music editors

0:59:17.160 --> 0:59:21.680
<v Speaker 5>to make the decisions about which songs are good enough

0:59:21.720 --> 0:59:23.760
<v Speaker 5>to be on the world's biggest playlist.

0:59:24.560 --> 0:59:26.880
<v Speaker 4>But they're picking from sixty thousand a day.

0:59:27.640 --> 0:59:28.120
<v Speaker 6>I like it.

0:59:28.720 --> 0:59:32.320
<v Speaker 5>So I don't see that as I don't see that

0:59:32.360 --> 0:59:37.480
<v Speaker 5>as great right at all, because I like the idea

0:59:37.680 --> 0:59:46.720
<v Speaker 5>that taste makers, curators of music, passionate music people make decisions.

0:59:46.080 --> 0:59:49.720
<v Speaker 4>About what they love based on their.

0:59:49.600 --> 0:59:52.960
<v Speaker 5>Experiences, and those things get a shot, not that the

0:59:53.040 --> 0:59:56.320
<v Speaker 5>other things shouldn't get a shot. But I don't like

0:59:56.400 --> 0:59:59.240
<v Speaker 5>the idea that it's a free for all, And there's

0:59:59.280 --> 1:00:03.600
<v Speaker 5>a fallacy there that you can be chance the rapper,

1:00:03.960 --> 1:00:05.640
<v Speaker 5>and you can be independent and make it all the

1:00:05.680 --> 1:00:08.480
<v Speaker 5>way to the top. But as I understand it, he's

1:00:08.520 --> 1:00:10.760
<v Speaker 5>probably got fifty like employees and a lot of money

1:00:10.800 --> 1:00:13.000
<v Speaker 5>and all kinds of stuff. That's not exactly the same

1:00:13.040 --> 1:00:15.680
<v Speaker 5>thing as being just a starving kid in Columbus, Ohio

1:00:15.720 --> 1:00:17.800
<v Speaker 5>who wants to be independent, right, That's not the.

1:00:17.680 --> 1:00:19.240
<v Speaker 1>Same as he has money.

1:00:19.480 --> 1:00:22.000
<v Speaker 5>So if you're a kid, if you're a fifteen year

1:00:22.000 --> 1:00:25.440
<v Speaker 5>old kid in Columbus, Ohio, and you don't have a

1:00:25.480 --> 1:00:27.160
<v Speaker 5>record label and you're told to do it on.

1:00:27.160 --> 1:00:29.160
<v Speaker 4>Your own, man, you don't know what to do.

1:00:29.400 --> 1:00:31.520
<v Speaker 5>You do not know what to do, right, So that

1:00:31.640 --> 1:00:35.480
<v Speaker 5>means that you're gonna put your music out. It might

1:00:35.480 --> 1:00:37.600
<v Speaker 5>get wasted, You're gonna waste a lot of time, You're

1:00:37.640 --> 1:00:42.040
<v Speaker 5>gonna get discouraged, and we might actually not see the

1:00:42.080 --> 1:00:44.480
<v Speaker 5>next star because you've been discouraged before you get an

1:00:44.520 --> 1:00:47.200
<v Speaker 5>opportunity to come out of the gate. Whereas if someone

1:00:47.240 --> 1:00:49.400
<v Speaker 5>embraces you and put their arm around you and says,

1:00:49.600 --> 1:00:51.960
<v Speaker 5>you know, I believe in you, and oh, by the way,

1:00:52.000 --> 1:00:53.560
<v Speaker 5>I'm leaving out something very important.

1:00:54.320 --> 1:00:55.200
<v Speaker 1>You're you're a.

1:00:56.680 --> 1:01:03.600
<v Speaker 5>Highly trained, wildly successful, massively talented musician, and you respect

1:01:03.680 --> 1:01:05.560
<v Speaker 5>people who put the time in that you put in,

1:01:06.040 --> 1:01:08.400
<v Speaker 5>whether you like their music or not like their music.

1:01:08.480 --> 1:01:10.960
<v Speaker 5>You respect the fact that all of you guys are

1:01:11.280 --> 1:01:15.880
<v Speaker 5>seasoned executives and seasoned professionals, and you respect people who do.

1:01:16.640 --> 1:01:18.800
<v Speaker 4>There's something to be said for the people who are

1:01:18.800 --> 1:01:21.520
<v Speaker 4>just doing it as a hobby, who aren't serious, who

1:01:21.600 --> 1:01:24.040
<v Speaker 4>are as serious as you are, who are as talented

1:01:24.040 --> 1:01:27.600
<v Speaker 4>as you are, who are who haven't been challenged the

1:01:27.600 --> 1:01:30.000
<v Speaker 4>way you have, who have never been on stage. Right,

1:01:30.160 --> 1:01:33.320
<v Speaker 4>there's something to be said for the fact that we

1:01:33.440 --> 1:01:37.520
<v Speaker 4>need the music infrastructure as a training ground.

1:01:38.920 --> 1:01:41.880
<v Speaker 5>Right, somebody needs to know what it's like. I mean,

1:01:42.080 --> 1:01:45.000
<v Speaker 5>that's so anyway, my feelings about it are. I'm very passionate.

1:01:47.080 --> 1:01:50.480
<v Speaker 5>It's not it's not actually gone. Record labels make more

1:01:50.480 --> 1:01:50.959
<v Speaker 5>money than.

1:01:50.840 --> 1:01:51.640
<v Speaker 4>They ever made?

1:01:53.280 --> 1:01:53.800
<v Speaker 1>Is that true?

1:01:54.440 --> 1:01:57.240
<v Speaker 3>Record labels make more money than they ever made? Are

1:01:57.320 --> 1:02:00.600
<v Speaker 3>truly we thought that record labels were kind of on.

1:02:03.400 --> 1:02:06.600
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, No, record labels are killing it.

1:02:07.200 --> 1:02:12.560
<v Speaker 5>Universal Music is worth over fifty billion dollars bro a

1:02:12.720 --> 1:02:15.840
<v Speaker 5>music company. I'm not talking about film or TV or tech.

1:02:15.880 --> 1:02:19.400
<v Speaker 5>I'm talking about music content that you created.

1:02:19.480 --> 1:02:23.440
<v Speaker 6>Right, But Universal at this point owned so many properties

1:02:23.440 --> 1:02:26.000
<v Speaker 6>in that way, right, Like not it's not as many individuals.

1:02:26.000 --> 1:02:28.320
<v Speaker 4>I mean, they've been they've been gobbling up labels for years.

1:02:28.320 --> 1:02:32.120
<v Speaker 5>But the point is that they are making the record

1:02:32.200 --> 1:02:37.520
<v Speaker 5>labels are making an absolute fortune, Okay, an absolute fortune,

1:02:38.440 --> 1:02:39.560
<v Speaker 5>and I don't begrudge it.

1:02:39.560 --> 1:02:40.200
<v Speaker 4>It's beautiful.

1:02:40.240 --> 1:02:40.440
<v Speaker 1>You know.

1:02:41.000 --> 1:02:42.960
<v Speaker 5>I wish I was right there getting bonuses right now,

1:02:43.040 --> 1:02:45.160
<v Speaker 5>and I'm not mad at it. But the point of

1:02:45.200 --> 1:02:47.800
<v Speaker 5>it is that the infrastructure hasn't died. It takes a

1:02:47.880 --> 1:02:51.160
<v Speaker 5>record label to say, okay, hey, little Naz that's an example,

1:02:51.680 --> 1:02:54.960
<v Speaker 5>Little Naz X. He comes out with his old Town Road,

1:02:55.040 --> 1:02:57.880
<v Speaker 5>it becomes some kind of a phenomenon independently by the

1:02:57.880 --> 1:03:00.240
<v Speaker 5>way it gets picked up by a major label. This

1:03:00.360 --> 1:03:02.840
<v Speaker 5>is an artist like him or not. This is an

1:03:02.880 --> 1:03:06.800
<v Speaker 5>artist that has a massive creative vision right and it

1:03:06.920 --> 1:03:11.160
<v Speaker 5>needs to have the kind of financial support that he

1:03:11.240 --> 1:03:15.919
<v Speaker 5>can he can get that off. He can't do that independently.

1:03:16.240 --> 1:03:20.040
<v Speaker 5>Those ideas are too big, honestly, those I just those

1:03:20.080 --> 1:03:22.919
<v Speaker 5>ideas are very expensive. Otherwise we get a we get

1:03:22.920 --> 1:03:25.360
<v Speaker 5>a fraction of who this artist could be if he

1:03:25.480 --> 1:03:28.280
<v Speaker 5>wasn't signed to Columbia Records. I'm saying that he would

1:03:28.320 --> 1:03:30.240
<v Speaker 5>be a success, but he'd be a fraction of the

1:03:30.320 --> 1:03:34.880
<v Speaker 5>artist that he could be because now he has the infrastructure.

1:03:34.200 --> 1:03:35.520
<v Speaker 4>To really get it off.

1:03:35.840 --> 1:03:37.919
<v Speaker 7>He's an artist that fits in that mold.

1:03:38.000 --> 1:03:40.200
<v Speaker 8>I mean for me, when I talk young artists coming up,

1:03:40.600 --> 1:03:43.200
<v Speaker 8>my thing is just if you're gonna sign to a label,

1:03:43.400 --> 1:03:45.680
<v Speaker 8>if you're gonna do that, my advice is, if you're

1:03:45.680 --> 1:03:47.560
<v Speaker 8>gonna do it, you might as well play big.

1:03:47.600 --> 1:03:49.320
<v Speaker 7>You might as well swing for the fences. Like that's

1:03:49.320 --> 1:03:50.320
<v Speaker 7>the only reason to do it.

1:03:50.840 --> 1:03:53.120
<v Speaker 8>That's the only reason if you just want to, if

1:03:53.120 --> 1:03:56.400
<v Speaker 8>you're just truly an independent person, not just as a label,

1:03:56.440 --> 1:03:58.720
<v Speaker 8>but just as a creator, you know what I mean,

1:03:58.760 --> 1:03:59.880
<v Speaker 8>if you just want to look, I just want to

1:03:59.880 --> 1:04:01.560
<v Speaker 8>do ship when I feel like it, put it out

1:04:01.600 --> 1:04:02.960
<v Speaker 8>when I feel like it.

1:04:02.960 --> 1:04:06.400
<v Speaker 7>It's great. But a major label is not for you, Like,

1:04:06.480 --> 1:04:08.080
<v Speaker 7>that's not what that is.

1:04:08.560 --> 1:04:11.000
<v Speaker 4>It's not for everybody. But to me, the game is

1:04:11.000 --> 1:04:11.840
<v Speaker 4>not for everybody.

1:04:12.880 --> 1:04:14.720
<v Speaker 5>That's what I'm trying to say, is that it's not

1:04:14.800 --> 1:04:17.360
<v Speaker 5>for everybody, and it shouldn't be so easy to get in.

1:04:18.560 --> 1:04:18.960
<v Speaker 4>It's hard.

1:04:19.000 --> 1:04:20.720
<v Speaker 5>It takes it's harder to You can't just get in

1:04:20.760 --> 1:04:23.720
<v Speaker 5>the NBA because you like basketball, it's right.

1:04:24.000 --> 1:04:25.959
<v Speaker 6>Can there be some gray in between what you're saying

1:04:25.960 --> 1:04:27.800
<v Speaker 6>and what's going on right now? Is there more gray

1:04:27.880 --> 1:04:29.200
<v Speaker 6>than your mate?

1:04:29.440 --> 1:04:32.880
<v Speaker 4>Possibly? I'm open minded, that's quite possible.

1:04:33.200 --> 1:04:35.280
<v Speaker 5>But what I'm but but what i'm what I am,

1:04:35.520 --> 1:04:40.240
<v Speaker 5>what I am a strong advocate of, is are you

1:04:40.320 --> 1:04:41.360
<v Speaker 5>serious about the game?

1:04:41.520 --> 1:04:42.560
<v Speaker 4>Are you serious about this?

1:04:42.760 --> 1:04:46.040
<v Speaker 5>Because ship I don't like the idea like this is

1:04:46.040 --> 1:04:47.480
<v Speaker 5>not this is not for hobbyists.

1:04:47.600 --> 1:04:50.520
<v Speaker 4>Serious don't mean what it used to mean. Serious I know,

1:04:50.840 --> 1:04:51.800
<v Speaker 4>and that bothers me.

1:04:53.200 --> 1:04:56.040
<v Speaker 6>Serious don't mean trade, reading your trades and reading all

1:04:56.040 --> 1:04:57.640
<v Speaker 6>your books that don't.

1:04:57.720 --> 1:05:00.160
<v Speaker 3>But are you the last of the Mohicans? Like I

1:05:00.200 --> 1:05:03.120
<v Speaker 3>know there's you, I know there's Sylvia. I don't know

1:05:03.120 --> 1:05:04.840
<v Speaker 3>if Doug Marris is still in the game or not,

1:05:05.040 --> 1:05:09.240
<v Speaker 3>but you know, like someone else is running that. I

1:05:09.240 --> 1:05:14.720
<v Speaker 3>don't know who's running Death Jam now, but someone that.

1:05:15.080 --> 1:05:20.960
<v Speaker 5>Yes, And he's really talented and and I'm happy, I'm proud.

1:05:21.280 --> 1:05:25.040
<v Speaker 5>I will support and promote and and do anything. He

1:05:25.200 --> 1:05:30.120
<v Speaker 5>is really talented. And he's about that music. He's about culture.

1:05:30.680 --> 1:05:35.000
<v Speaker 5>He's bringing African culture into the country. He's looking forward,

1:05:35.160 --> 1:05:38.160
<v Speaker 5>and he's doing it based on talent. He's doing it

1:05:38.200 --> 1:05:42.560
<v Speaker 5>based on qualification. And he's not just looking at at

1:05:42.680 --> 1:05:45.439
<v Speaker 5>data and saying I should sign this because extremely he's

1:05:45.480 --> 1:05:47.240
<v Speaker 5>looking at and he's listening to the me.

1:05:48.400 --> 1:05:50.400
<v Speaker 8>It was very much it very much reminded me his

1:05:50.480 --> 1:05:53.200
<v Speaker 8>trajectory was very much like you in the sense that

1:05:53.720 --> 1:05:55.920
<v Speaker 8>he cool was like his face.

1:05:56.120 --> 1:05:58.560
<v Speaker 7>So yeah, you know, I mean, and then you know

1:05:58.600 --> 1:06:01.640
<v Speaker 7>he came and they brought him in run. Yeah.

1:06:01.680 --> 1:06:04.320
<v Speaker 5>By the way, like I don't know what the roots

1:06:04.640 --> 1:06:08.440
<v Speaker 5>are exactly up to recording artists wise, if it was

1:06:08.520 --> 1:06:12.800
<v Speaker 5>me as a music curator, now, deaf jam is the

1:06:12.840 --> 1:06:14.760
<v Speaker 5>perfect place, man.

1:06:15.480 --> 1:06:16.520
<v Speaker 1>Well guess what.

1:06:17.920 --> 1:06:22.000
<v Speaker 3>We you know, you know the thing where like I

1:06:22.040 --> 1:06:25.720
<v Speaker 3>don't know the movie or the the sitcom example of

1:06:25.800 --> 1:06:29.160
<v Speaker 3>like when you think you're you're like that's your last

1:06:29.200 --> 1:06:31.960
<v Speaker 3>statement and you like burn the house down, or like

1:06:32.200 --> 1:06:34.800
<v Speaker 3>you're the father, like and I'm leaving the family and

1:06:34.840 --> 1:06:36.560
<v Speaker 3>you leave and then you come back because you forgot

1:06:36.600 --> 1:06:37.120
<v Speaker 3>your keys.

1:06:38.200 --> 1:06:38.520
<v Speaker 1>Uh.

1:06:38.920 --> 1:06:42.360
<v Speaker 3>We just got reminded by deaf Jam. Oh by the way,

1:06:42.520 --> 1:06:44.800
<v Speaker 3>I remember what we said, but you guys actually do.

1:06:44.880 --> 1:06:46.000
<v Speaker 3>Oh it's one more record.

1:06:46.120 --> 1:06:49.880
<v Speaker 4>So it's like, I think this.

1:06:49.880 --> 1:06:53.400
<v Speaker 5>Is a great thing because because I think that I

1:06:54.480 --> 1:06:57.800
<v Speaker 5>I know that he loves you. I know that he

1:06:57.840 --> 1:07:03.040
<v Speaker 5>loves the roots and understands it. And it's also possible

1:07:03.040 --> 1:07:05.160
<v Speaker 5>that he might make a suggestion or two that you

1:07:05.240 --> 1:07:07.840
<v Speaker 5>might like write about try this to try that, right,

1:07:08.320 --> 1:07:09.480
<v Speaker 5>I think it's that to.

1:07:09.480 --> 1:07:12.560
<v Speaker 3>Me, literally all the signings I feel like are the

1:07:12.640 --> 1:07:13.560
<v Speaker 3>Rooge's grandchildren.

1:07:13.640 --> 1:07:15.880
<v Speaker 1>So yes, all right, oh they are.

1:07:16.080 --> 1:07:18.320
<v Speaker 5>That's what I'm trying to say. That's exactly what I'm

1:07:18.320 --> 1:07:22.200
<v Speaker 5>trying to say. Right, that one to me, you know,

1:07:22.920 --> 1:07:28.280
<v Speaker 5>as someone you didn't ask, right, that's.

1:07:28.480 --> 1:07:31.800
<v Speaker 1>That works. I got no man, I know you.

1:07:32.120 --> 1:07:33.680
<v Speaker 8>I just want to say this, man, you played a

1:07:33.880 --> 1:07:35.960
<v Speaker 8>very and I'm so happy we're having a chance to

1:07:35.960 --> 1:07:38.320
<v Speaker 8>had this conversation. Uh, you played a part in my

1:07:38.440 --> 1:07:41.400
<v Speaker 8>career that I'm sure you have no idea he did it.

1:07:41.440 --> 1:07:43.959
<v Speaker 7>But this is back in like two thousand and seven.

1:07:44.000 --> 1:07:46.400
<v Speaker 8>You had a group on your on def Jam Player

1:07:46.400 --> 1:07:47.840
<v Speaker 8>Circle that they were through DTP.

1:07:48.200 --> 1:07:51.160
<v Speaker 7>And so my man did not poor. He hit me

1:07:51.240 --> 1:07:52.360
<v Speaker 7>to do some records.

1:07:52.360 --> 1:07:54.160
<v Speaker 8>He was like, yo, man, I'm burnout. I need just

1:07:54.200 --> 1:07:56.800
<v Speaker 8>some look ideas whatever. And I was like, all right, cool, whatever.

1:07:57.080 --> 1:07:58.800
<v Speaker 8>So I just referenced a couple who got this for

1:07:58.880 --> 1:08:00.120
<v Speaker 8>him and send them off. And I ain't think that

1:08:00.240 --> 1:08:03.840
<v Speaker 8>knows of it. And so the song that I did

1:08:04.200 --> 1:08:06.640
<v Speaker 8>it was a song called paper Chaser, and I just

1:08:06.680 --> 1:08:08.760
<v Speaker 8>sang it as a reference and so the.

1:08:08.800 --> 1:08:09.680
<v Speaker 7>Joint ended up.

1:08:09.840 --> 1:08:12.280
<v Speaker 8>I didn't find out until like later that the song

1:08:12.320 --> 1:08:15.440
<v Speaker 8>actually made the record, and so I ran into Titty

1:08:15.480 --> 1:08:17.360
<v Speaker 8>and Dollar. We was at BT boards and O seven

1:08:17.760 --> 1:08:19.400
<v Speaker 8>and uh Me and Dalla was talking.

1:08:19.520 --> 1:08:21.280
<v Speaker 7>He was like, oh my god. I was like, gonna

1:08:21.280 --> 1:08:21.679
<v Speaker 7>find tape.

1:08:21.680 --> 1:08:21.800
<v Speaker 4>Man.

1:08:21.840 --> 1:08:23.640
<v Speaker 7>He was like, oh yo, what's up? And I'm like,

1:08:23.640 --> 1:08:25.840
<v Speaker 7>what the hell? And he said, man, the thing with

1:08:25.880 --> 1:08:26.400
<v Speaker 7>that record?

1:08:26.479 --> 1:08:29.639
<v Speaker 8>He said, we sent it in and he said we

1:08:29.640 --> 1:08:31.960
<v Speaker 8>was thinking about like getting ACN on it because Akon

1:08:32.120 --> 1:08:33.040
<v Speaker 8>was going up at that time.

1:08:33.360 --> 1:08:34.519
<v Speaker 7>He was like, we was thinking about getting like a

1:08:34.760 --> 1:08:36.320
<v Speaker 7>kN or somebody went on it, he said.

1:08:36.320 --> 1:08:36.760
<v Speaker 1>But l A.

1:08:36.840 --> 1:08:39.599
<v Speaker 8>Reid was like, Yo, who's the dude the singing on it?

1:08:39.720 --> 1:08:41.920
<v Speaker 8>I like him just it sounds good like that. Just

1:08:42.000 --> 1:08:44.600
<v Speaker 8>keep it, you know what I'm saying. And I just

1:08:44.560 --> 1:08:44.880
<v Speaker 8>want to.

1:08:44.840 --> 1:08:45.400
<v Speaker 7>Say thank you.

1:08:46.280 --> 1:08:50.000
<v Speaker 8>Really that really put uh you really gave me just

1:08:50.120 --> 1:08:52.120
<v Speaker 8>a lot of confidence and believe I'm like, yo, this dude.

1:08:54.960 --> 1:08:58.200
<v Speaker 7>I was like, Yo, that's just thank you. Thank you

1:08:58.240 --> 1:08:58.760
<v Speaker 7>so much for that.

1:08:58.800 --> 1:08:58.960
<v Speaker 5>Man.

1:08:58.960 --> 1:08:59.720
<v Speaker 7>That really meant a lot.

1:09:00.240 --> 1:09:02.599
<v Speaker 4>Thank you. That's great. I'm so happy to hear that.

1:09:03.080 --> 1:09:05.439
<v Speaker 4>We thank you, guys, thank you, thank you.

1:09:05.720 --> 1:09:09.880
<v Speaker 8>I appreciate this on behalf of every quick Thank you

1:09:09.880 --> 1:09:11.679
<v Speaker 8>for putting out splack of belly by pressure.

1:09:12.360 --> 1:09:15.080
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

1:09:15.479 --> 1:09:20.160
<v Speaker 5>By the way, mir you are like you like you're

1:09:20.200 --> 1:09:23.040
<v Speaker 5>the dopest dude in this business. Man like just that's

1:09:23.040 --> 1:09:25.799
<v Speaker 5>I just I really love and appreciate you. Man like you.

1:09:25.800 --> 1:09:28.280
<v Speaker 5>You just Yeah, you make me proud to be a

1:09:28.280 --> 1:09:29.120
<v Speaker 5>part of this thing.

1:09:29.600 --> 1:09:29.800
<v Speaker 1>Well.

1:09:30.479 --> 1:09:33.439
<v Speaker 3>I think represent us well. And I appreciate you for

1:09:33.560 --> 1:09:35.360
<v Speaker 3>not not dropping me on my birthday.

1:09:36.280 --> 1:09:37.639
<v Speaker 1>I'll never forget, I think.

1:09:37.880 --> 1:09:40.120
<v Speaker 5>By the way, I don't think that's the truth, but

1:09:40.160 --> 1:09:41.120
<v Speaker 5>I'm gonna let you have it.

1:09:41.840 --> 1:09:43.800
<v Speaker 6>I was trying to get him a finished that.

1:09:44.000 --> 1:09:44.559
<v Speaker 1>What that was.

1:09:44.880 --> 1:09:46.120
<v Speaker 4>I don't even know how you do that.

1:09:47.400 --> 1:09:48.960
<v Speaker 1>I called you on my birthday.

1:09:49.120 --> 1:09:49.760
<v Speaker 4>I remember that.

1:09:50.720 --> 1:09:51.360
<v Speaker 1>I remember that.

1:09:51.439 --> 1:09:56.000
<v Speaker 3>But anyway, half of Bill and Sugar, Steve, sorry, Steve

1:09:56.000 --> 1:09:58.120
<v Speaker 3>Week once again hogged all your questions.

1:09:58.560 --> 1:10:01.599
<v Speaker 2>I've been reading my a recent episode of Black Beat

1:10:01.640 --> 1:10:02.519
<v Speaker 2>Magazine the whole time.

1:10:02.600 --> 1:10:05.040
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, you tap, you tapped out on your show, Sugar,

1:10:05.240 --> 1:10:06.080
<v Speaker 5>you tapped out on me.

1:10:06.120 --> 1:10:07.400
<v Speaker 4>But it's all good, all right.

1:10:07.520 --> 1:10:09.880
<v Speaker 3>On the Apple Light, Ya and fant Ticcolo in the

1:10:09.960 --> 1:10:13.960
<v Speaker 3>Great La Reed. This iss Love Supreme and We'll see

1:10:13.960 --> 1:10:15.040
<v Speaker 3>you on the next go round.

1:10:27.040 --> 1:10:27.280
<v Speaker 1>West.

1:10:27.280 --> 1:10:33.240
<v Speaker 3>Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts,

1:10:33.240 --> 1:10:36.840
<v Speaker 3>from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts,

1:10:37.240 --> 1:10:38.920
<v Speaker 3>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.