Speaker 1: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or whatever you may be.
Speaker 1: You are tuned in to the Vitamin Day podcast and
Speaker 1: I am, of course to your host, Dawn Day. Here
Speaker 1: to um the guys. You want a journey to knowing yourself,
Speaker 1: to living your best life, to living life on purpose
Speaker 1: and for a purpose. Now, today I've been thinking about
Speaker 1: what it means to be in the world, Like what
Speaker 1: do we bring when we walk exists live amongst others?
Speaker 1: Do we bring joy? Do we bring peace? Do we
Speaker 1: bring kindness? Do we bring mercy? Or do we bring doubt?
Speaker 1: Do we bring confusion? Do we bring negativity? Or perhaps
Speaker 1: maybe we bring something in between those two spectrums. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but it is something that we must ask ourselves. See,
Speaker 1: I asked these questions to help clarifying for myself what
Speaker 1: I bring into the world each and every day. Now,
Speaker 1: some of you may know that I have life tattooed
Speaker 1: in my mouth and it serves as a reminder of
Speaker 1: the very essence of my being, and that is that
Speaker 1: my name is Dawn Day and I speak life. That's
Speaker 1: what I do. But also every day I know that
Speaker 1: I have to make a choice in how I choose
Speaker 1: to show up in the world. I have to choose
Speaker 1: to be positive. I have to choose to be optimistic.
Speaker 1: I have to choose to be kind, I have to
Speaker 1: choose to show mercy. I have to choose to live
Speaker 1: my best life on purpose and for a purpose. And
Speaker 1: I don't saying like it's going to be easy, but
Speaker 1: when it comes down to it, we have to realize
Speaker 1: that we have the power to create the lives that
Speaker 1: we want. We have the power to create the environment
Speaker 1: that we choose to exist in. We have the power
Speaker 1: to show up, to exist, to be to floors, to ignite,
Speaker 1: to edify in our best self. But we can only
Speaker 1: do that when we choose to show up to live
Speaker 1: our best life. Okay, I know that was a lot,
Speaker 1: but I say all this to say because I'm so
Speaker 1: excited about who's coming on this episode right now. And
Speaker 1: I'm talking none other than Grammy Award winning recording artist, singer, songwriter,
Speaker 1: multi instrumentalist, author, actor Dad and I would even venture
Speaker 1: to say poet Anthony houlds and legs and gentlemen, now listen.
Speaker 1: This is a very nostalgic moment as we were going
Speaker 1: through the process of booking Anthony, because it just took
Speaker 1: me back to my days at Harvard University, and Anthony
Speaker 1: was like that sound truck. The point of it all, Charlene,
Speaker 1: it's just the big bones. Oh my gosh. So you
Speaker 1: can imagine this moment. But I also say all this
Speaker 1: because so I sat down to talk with Anthony about
Speaker 1: his latest single, Mercy, what it means to be a man,
Speaker 1: how to paint a picture with music, and of course
Speaker 1: what it means to have and to show mercy and
Speaker 1: all lives. So, without further ado, it's time for your
Speaker 1: dose of vitamin D. Get right with me and get excited. Hello,
Speaker 1: Black King, how are you en? I'm doing well. I'm
Speaker 1: doing well that I'm speaking to you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: I like the love. I like that. Stop. No, it's
Speaker 1: nothing but a reciprocal thing, because um, you were kind
Speaker 1: of the soundtrack to my year in college. Okay, how university?
Speaker 1: So this is a turn back and you know, I'm
Speaker 1: so I'm so did I say I'm so. I'm so
Speaker 1: excited to dive in to talk about this track, Mercy
Speaker 1: that're releasing to give a glimpse over your catalog. But
Speaker 1: more important, ess to Hamilson, We're going to dive into
Speaker 1: the inspiration um behind this music, because I think it's
Speaker 1: the soundtrack that I think carries your voice. You hearing me.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. I appreciate it, and I have to
Speaker 1: definitely thank Page for linking us up. And I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: So um, you're doing all right? I am. I'm good.
Speaker 1: I'm in Atlanta in the studio with Jamain de Free
Speaker 1: and uh every Bellinger came through today. Yeah, so we're
Speaker 1: here going ham. I saw your I G. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: saw your I G. And I was sitting there. You
Speaker 1: didn't tell me what you didn't tell me? You want
Speaker 1: what tell me? Anthony? Let talk about No, I don't
Speaker 1: know what you're talking about, but let's let's talk about
Speaker 1: some things that we we can't talk about. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was sitting here, I was talking to a friend
Speaker 1: and listening to your music. Uh. It reminds me of
Speaker 1: a dark liquor, a drink like maybe a Colne Yang
Speaker 1: or whiskey. How you talk about something now you're talking
Speaker 1: about it? Now? What's your drink? My drink? I like
Speaker 1: a little bob makes you do thing that the drink down? Yeah,
Speaker 1: all like a good bourbon, a good whiskey whether the
Speaker 1: American whiskey or or you know, it's something something from Afar.
Speaker 1: It's it's just a good drinking. It's a man's drink,
Speaker 1: a good old whiskey, bourbon or something. You know, talking
Speaker 1: about a bob. Oh, you saw how deep it And
Speaker 1: that's what I feel like, even when we talk about
Speaker 1: the drink. That's what I feel like your music does.
Speaker 1: It's like that that smoky, feel good, safe, sweet, I'm
Speaker 1: with my people kind of thing. Yeah, that's what it
Speaker 1: should feel like. Yeah, that's what a ship feels like.
Speaker 1: You know. I think, uh, you know, when you can
Speaker 1: resonate with things that remind you of your yourself. The dog,
Speaker 1: that dog, brown, that gravy, that that come on piece
Speaker 1: of golden corn bread, come on, that silky cat but'll
Speaker 1: you know, all that stuff just kind of sounds like music.
Speaker 1: Don't You're making me hungry? You know? That was another
Speaker 1: thing I gotta thank you. I had to come in
Speaker 1: here and adifying you because it was because of Sister
Speaker 1: Big Bombs. You told me I was beautiful, thank you
Speaker 1: and enjoying my curves. And I think that's what I
Speaker 1: love about this. And I don't know if you had
Speaker 1: a glimpse to know. But vitamin D is about that
Speaker 1: vitamin D. This podcast is about shedding light. It's a
Speaker 1: pun off of my name, Dawn Day, Okay. And so
Speaker 1: I'm going in there and I'm diving, and as I
Speaker 1: go onto the music and the lyrics, I can't help
Speaker 1: but wonder even as you're starting. Now, you grew up
Speaker 1: in North Carolina, North Calkilaki, as they say, yeah, Charlotte,
Speaker 1: North calass shot of North What made you take a
Speaker 1: chance on your dreams? I had to. It was just
Speaker 1: so deep, it was living, it was starting to live
Speaker 1: its own life inside. So I had to go with it,
Speaker 1: you know, they had to tend to it. I had
Speaker 1: to make sure that I took it to the city,
Speaker 1: to the big cities in New York City and allowed
Speaker 1: it to grow. And uh it birth the man and
Speaker 1: the music, birth some stories. So it's just it was
Speaker 1: just who else supposed to be from the beginning, from
Speaker 1: the womb, even before the womb, and I was putting
Speaker 1: the womb, I was put in there with music. Come on,
Speaker 1: and they never left. Come on, and now you're singing
Speaker 1: your song, I'm saying, So I'm not lone. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: wanted you to add that to the breaking zone, the
Speaker 1: break of do yeah, uh, thank you. And so I
Speaker 1: guess I talked about that a lot because people don't realize,
Speaker 1: you know, what the push came through. And I think
Speaker 1: this push that I'm gonna discuss is gonna lead up
Speaker 1: to the single that brought you where you are right now,
Speaker 1: entitled Mercy. But coming up to to New York, a
Speaker 1: lot of people, um don't necessary take heed to that
Speaker 1: of the plight I guess of a black man and
Speaker 1: and understanding that, you know, coming from a family down
Speaker 1: in North Karaca Lackey, you know, a farm, you know,
Speaker 1: when you really had to go out there and strive.
Speaker 1: I don't know if people oftentimes see the adjustment and
Speaker 1: the shift and understanding why some things may have seemed
Speaker 1: like a ditch or a rock or a stem in
Speaker 1: the way was actually a stepping stool or something to
Speaker 1: propel them forward. And I guess I just wanted to
Speaker 1: get some more insight as an encouragement as to why
Speaker 1: that is so in your life. You know, I've been
Speaker 1: I've encountered a lot, seen a lot of experienced a lot,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I learned to take those moments
Speaker 1: that seemed like ditches and branches and things that seemed
Speaker 1: like it was obstruction to my view. And uh, look
Speaker 1: through them there was a different color that was a
Speaker 1: different shade and huge. Um, if you use those things
Speaker 1: and I'll learned how to paint with it with my
Speaker 1: pen and uh, you know, I use it as leverage.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't allow it to create fear in
Speaker 1: a barrier between me and where I was going, you know.
Speaker 1: So I learned. I learned to use the things that
Speaker 1: that that that were tangible and sometimes would be pain,
Speaker 1: sometimes it be happiness. Uh, those things started to create
Speaker 1: a new fabric and uh that fabrary became music. Oh
Speaker 1: and the way it's knitted up and down and all
Speaker 1: the round and splashed with different colors. And like you said,
Speaker 1: that painted your life. And realize in those moments that
Speaker 1: can comfort, the camp for tactic can shield. It also
Speaker 1: is a way there to express your personality. And so um,
Speaker 1: when we're thinking about that painting the music, right, I'm
Speaker 1: wondering when you got to this point and you know,
Speaker 1: and pawing off one of your head singles, what's the
Speaker 1: point of it all? The point of it all is
Speaker 1: I love you love. It's the point of it all.
Speaker 1: That's the reason. That's the ingredient, that's the thing that
Speaker 1: sustains you. That's that's that thing that motivates you and
Speaker 1: encourage you. Um. It's the reason. It's the reason why
Speaker 1: we call and make sure you got Did you get
Speaker 1: home okay? Um? How was work? How you feel? Are
Speaker 1: you cramping bad? Baby? Is there anything I can get you? Um?
Speaker 1: You know That's what That's what it's about. That's what
Speaker 1: a man does. You know, people, he tried to do that,
Speaker 1: be that for that. And you know what I think
Speaker 1: is so amazing is that you speak so much about
Speaker 1: what it means to be a man, stepping up to
Speaker 1: be a man, being a father of six sons and
Speaker 1: even taking a glimpse. I was watching, um, your series
Speaker 1: you did with Mr Harvey from Mentoring Mondays, and you
Speaker 1: admitted to yourself that you said, wait a minute, I
Speaker 1: grew up without a father, But yet you can still
Speaker 1: stand boldly in your manhood and expressial emotions the way
Speaker 1: you do. How is that you know you can't harbor
Speaker 1: bitterness and you can't expect for someone even your father,
Speaker 1: your mother, you can't expect for them to be perfect.
Speaker 1: You can't expect for them to be what your idea
Speaker 1: of them should be. UM. People can only be who
Speaker 1: they are UM until they change. But people are always
Speaker 1: pretty much honest in their moment, you know, whether they're
Speaker 1: messed up or disconnected or just not interested, that's who
Speaker 1: they are at that moment. And uh, you know, me
Speaker 1: and my father there now really cool. We've been cool
Speaker 1: for maybe wow, maybe sixteen years. Uh soul like we
Speaker 1: talked a lot. You know, I don't hold no. I
Speaker 1: don't ask him why he wasn't what happened those moments.
Speaker 1: I could care less as long as you he said.
Speaker 1: I love him and he loves me. And you know,
Speaker 1: you go from where you go from. I like to
Speaker 1: go from where it's comfortable with, it's pure and it's beautiful.
Speaker 1: I don't have to go back to that place, not
Speaker 1: for that, not to not to have a relationship with
Speaker 1: I appreciate your birth and help to birth me, and
Speaker 1: uh yeah, you're gonna be my father. Just not holding grudgers,
Speaker 1: learning to let love uh flower your life and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people want to just hang
Speaker 1: on the stuff so they could have something to do
Speaker 1: or hang on have an excuse to to being a
Speaker 1: mood or funk or to hold something against something it
Speaker 1: find a way to love that person in spite of
Speaker 1: their flaws, um, you know. And sometimes it's not easy
Speaker 1: because each situation is differently, each everybody has a different story.
Speaker 1: Things happen to people. People are hurt, people are physically armed,
Speaker 1: and you know, so they have a different attitude and
Speaker 1: that's a different uh depth of a pain that sometimes
Speaker 1: we don't understand. So I get it. But but to
Speaker 1: the minute I can, I can choose peace. That's what
Speaker 1: I want a man, which is perfect to which we're
Speaker 1: about to segue too, because even what you said, despite
Speaker 1: that your father not being there, it sounds like you
Speaker 1: granted him a bit of mercy, right, a little mercy,
Speaker 1: just a little bit. Oh, And I love that because
Speaker 1: it's one thing to talk about something m but it's
Speaker 1: another thing to walk, to live, to truly reside in it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And to know when we understand about a backbone of
Speaker 1: what a father is and to say I'm not looking
Speaker 1: at what yesterday because it is the accepting and now,
Speaker 1: because now is what we have the gift in which
Speaker 1: we are to present it to one another. H you've
Speaker 1: allowed yourself to free up to receive exactly. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about this track mercy. You mentioned with your father
Speaker 1: that it was about an understanding of who he is
Speaker 1: right now. We are valuing now, but yet understanding perhaps
Speaker 1: what he's gone through. Talk to me about this track
Speaker 1: mercy you have mercy. Uh, it's a man who stands
Speaker 1: vulnerable and and open, not weak by no means, but
Speaker 1: it's vulnerable man who's got afraid to expose. Um at
Speaker 1: that place where he cries, where he he yearns, and
Speaker 1: he you know, and and he you know, he has
Speaker 1: fears and certain things, um, allowing people to to see
Speaker 1: that place. I think sometimes people look at a man
Speaker 1: as as just this cement shelled. Um. But we we
Speaker 1: have feelings. We we worry about things like providing for
Speaker 1: our family, um, you know, protecting our kids, um, being
Speaker 1: a husband, being a wife and father. These are the
Speaker 1: things that we we we uh, we have on our mind, alge.
Speaker 1: So sometimes we need a little mercy, Sometimes we need
Speaker 1: a little forgiveness. Sometimes we need a little love, a
Speaker 1: little more love. UM. So it speaks, it speaks from
Speaker 1: that from that perspective, and just say, you know, untie,
Speaker 1: until you walk through my shoes. You can never him
Speaker 1: sing my blue Who never sang my blues? Untie? You
Speaker 1: felt the pain of them broken. Man, Then and only
Speaker 1: then can you understand Anthony? You know what you sound
Speaker 1: like you're saying. You're asking for somebody to see you
Speaker 1: have a little meercy, have a little see. It's a
Speaker 1: beautiful record and it and it features Tamika Mallory, who's uh,
Speaker 1: who's been an amazing um just amazing soldier out here
Speaker 1: fighting for justice and being being a voice for for
Speaker 1: so many people and standing up for men and women
Speaker 1: of color. And I felt her spirit was in the
Speaker 1: place where where she could speak to me and encourage me.
Speaker 1: And that's what she doesn't begin another song, and and
Speaker 1: then it goes in children, such a beautiful testimony of
Speaker 1: a man. She says, I'm not your enemy, I'm your energy.
Speaker 1: What you know, I was in this house and I
Speaker 1: started screaming, right because I said what? And it goes
Speaker 1: back to me even falling in love with your music
Speaker 1: for all of these years, because it's just about edifying.
Speaker 1: And we talk about edifying, it's just being a reflection
Speaker 1: of the light. Yeah, and you said, we just need
Speaker 1: a little love. And I'm thinking to myself, well and
Speaker 1: listening to this track of talking about all the things
Speaker 1: that have been carried, and it's saying, hey, no, one's
Speaker 1: not saying that, oh I shouldn't be caring it. It's
Speaker 1: just saying, see me as I carry it exactly. And
Speaker 1: if I stumble, and if I'm late with the where
Speaker 1: you think I should be or or till your time.
Speaker 1: But you have been appointed to just know that I
Speaker 1: was carrying something and man stummered along the way. But
Speaker 1: don't count me out. And uh, you know understand that that,
Speaker 1: you know, being a man is sometimes he has to
Speaker 1: deviate and has to you know, to pick himself up
Speaker 1: when people don't think he should fall. Um because like
Speaker 1: I said, people picture a man. The truth meaning of
Speaker 1: a man is someone who's always strong, who's always uh brazilient,
Speaker 1: and who doesn't cry. But real man cry, real man.
Speaker 1: Uh Yeah, I crown stage. I don't. I don't hold
Speaker 1: it back. My fans know if I feel it, if
Speaker 1: it hits me, I do it right there. That's it's awful. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's powerful, it's um. It's I guess essentially it's kind
Speaker 1: of like being a light anyhow, of just saying essentially, Um,
Speaker 1: a light isn't bothered about being blocked. It doesn't matter
Speaker 1: who sees it shine. The only purpose is to be seen.
Speaker 1: And like you said, it's so easy to carry, to
Speaker 1: cover and to block, But to sit there and to
Speaker 1: expose and to stand there, that's another story, that's another dimension.
Speaker 1: And I'm just wondering, how how is it that one
Speaker 1: if you don't have a representation of a black man,
Speaker 1: how does one carry being strong and vulnerable at the
Speaker 1: same time. I think being honest in those moments, those
Speaker 1: true moments, um, you know, and being okay and being
Speaker 1: secured in those moments will help you develop, you know,
Speaker 1: the true meaning of being a man. You start to
Speaker 1: feel like, Okay, I'm vulnerable, I feel this, I'm okay,
Speaker 1: and I'm surviving through it. So that strength and surviving
Speaker 1: and making it through and you know, and you start
Speaker 1: to develop these characters and characteristics and and textures to
Speaker 1: to who you are UM. And you see yourself growing
Speaker 1: in certain ways, and when you identify your growth, that
Speaker 1: takes you to another level of becoming a man UM
Speaker 1: and then you start to be responsible and start to
Speaker 1: take care of that growth. And then as you grow
Speaker 1: more and you be more responsible. There you are, you're
Speaker 1: starting to create your own image of a man um
Speaker 1: that's true to you. Um. And then sometimes you see
Speaker 1: uncle Uncle Jr. Granddad, big big Daddy Rob like you
Speaker 1: know what, I think, I'm starting to look like him
Speaker 1: and act like him. I must be a man now,
Speaker 1: you know. It's always nice when you can see that
Speaker 1: reflection and to know that you've grown more. But it's
Speaker 1: so interesting, and I think and UM, sometimes people kind
Speaker 1: of disregarded to walk in your authority and to have
Speaker 1: dominion over your life because it's a promise that's guaranteed.
Speaker 1: But it's something that I've heard you saying countless times
Speaker 1: and interviews about knowing who you are going further and
Speaker 1: where you're going. Just like you said multiple times here,
Speaker 1: I'm not looking back, so I can't keep counting what
Speaker 1: happened yesterday, the day before that, and why that propelled
Speaker 1: or sometow handered me from going where I am going
Speaker 1: right now. But it's interesting that what I see when
Speaker 1: I see a black man oftentimes is that there's no
Speaker 1: room to be when I as a woman who I
Speaker 1: have never been in any type of trouble with the law,
Speaker 1: having gotten held back. When I can stand out on
Speaker 1: the street and I hear the police and I'm getting
Speaker 1: nervous because I'm standing next to black man. That's only
Speaker 1: one plight that one has to to carry. H And
Speaker 1: here I am because I gotta be strong to look
Speaker 1: after your back. Who do I lean on? And I
Speaker 1: think just looking at society or today, that's what I see.
Speaker 1: A misunderstanding. Yeah, yeah, being misunderstood. The black man has
Speaker 1: been misunderstood so many times. Um. And when you misunderstand something,
Speaker 1: you fear it. And uh, I think that's what the
Speaker 1: outside racist and people who don't, who don't understand who
Speaker 1: we are, um, start to fears and you know, I
Speaker 1: want to destroy, take us out, get rid of us.
Speaker 1: And then then you have been envy how amazing we are,
Speaker 1: how powerful and creative and just beautiful who we are
Speaker 1: full lips? Why those strong back? Uh. Yeah, So that's
Speaker 1: a lot. We have to That's a lot we we Uh,
Speaker 1: we have to face a lot. So what would you say,
Speaker 1: what do you see right now? We've had so much.
Speaker 1: You see the movements that Tamika Mallory is doing. We've
Speaker 1: seen the widespread of what the life of George Floyd
Speaker 1: has done. When we see the likes and the hopes
Speaker 1: of what Kamala Harris is doing in the White House,
Speaker 1: what do you see the state of America now? And
Speaker 1: what do you hope mercy brings? We have so much
Speaker 1: work to do, Kamala Harris and and uh so many
Speaker 1: others me you, we all have a lot of work
Speaker 1: to do. We have to start to create value amongst
Speaker 1: ourselves and to know that that value is just as
Speaker 1: special as any other race. I think, Uh, we start
Speaker 1: to govern ourselves and according and treat ourselves, treat ourselves
Speaker 1: with dignity and uh and not responsibility on old white
Speaker 1: men's to uh to save us. Um, to be our
Speaker 1: own savings. Um. But but this song will be the
Speaker 1: soundtrack to somebody getting to that place and where they
Speaker 1: can feel located to go there and to treat yourself
Speaker 1: with mercy. Yeah, treat yourself with mercy and and and
Speaker 1: see the value. And you camelists, it'll be nice to
Speaker 1: have someone there close too close to the home base,
Speaker 1: and somebody who can speak to talk. Hopefully she stays
Speaker 1: uh connected. Um. You know, people ridicule about her past, um,
Speaker 1: but we all you know, we've all done something that
Speaker 1: we wasn't so proud of exactly. Then we grow and
Speaker 1: so now this allows how to be in our new
Speaker 1: and our new this um maybe the song or brain
Speaker 1: peace to someone of wake something up in someone, Oh,
Speaker 1: remind somebody that you know, although I didn't see where
Speaker 1: you coming from, what you're going through, I think I
Speaker 1: understand that the song connected me to it and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe didn't play it in the White House. Why not?
Speaker 1: Why not? And that's when I look at you and
Speaker 1: I look just look at your career, I look at
Speaker 1: your messaging, and it's a career that I say, why not?
Speaker 1: Because when you talk about just being authentically you speaking
Speaker 1: to Edify, speaking to him Lift, speaking in the sense
Speaker 1: of a black man speaking as a black man without
Speaker 1: a father, you know, just more so of being a
Speaker 1: black man who understands and in many cases overstands to
Speaker 1: know where we're going, Yeah, to know how we're doing it.
Speaker 1: And so I just think it's so powerful because in
Speaker 1: this day and age, we need to understand. And when
Speaker 1: Tamika was in the beginning of this track and she's
Speaker 1: sang see me, and all that you're saying is until
Speaker 1: you see me, see me where I'm coming from, see
Speaker 1: me where I'm going, And I hope that this track
Speaker 1: becomes kind of like the the the the soundtrack to
Speaker 1: the Beating of America's heart, Because whether it's mercy for
Speaker 1: that child, whether it's mercy for that black man, that
Speaker 1: black queen you know, UM, for for the struggling cousin,
Speaker 1: uncle friend, just hold on and have a little mercy
Speaker 1: for us so that what we can see what we're doing.
Speaker 1: M h. And although we haven't necessarily got to it yet,
Speaker 1: by the time this interview was gonna be aired, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have performed at the Bounce Awards. Tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit about why your involvement is so important. You know,
Speaker 1: it's just being a representation of what I feel. Um.
Speaker 1: We are UM through my music, through the way I
Speaker 1: walk and father and cared myself. UM. It's always important
Speaker 1: to show to plan a seed for someone, for someone's child,
Speaker 1: you know, to be that father figure, to be that man,
Speaker 1: that that voice, that writer, that author. UM, it's so
Speaker 1: important to have a stage like that to share it
Speaker 1: on UM especial. You know, music connect you to people
Speaker 1: and things and and and moments and create memories and uh,
Speaker 1: maybe I can help make somebody's memory special. Well, you
Speaker 1: so dear mine many times over. And it makes me wonder,
Speaker 1: like who inspires you? Everybody? I'm I'm connected to all
Speaker 1: that's beautiful and pure. Uh and even some stuff that's
Speaker 1: not so beautiful, that's that's still something in it that
Speaker 1: I could I could appreciate. Um. Yeah, I just just
Speaker 1: waking up for gratitude. Come on, it's inspiring. Um. My
Speaker 1: kids they love on me. My friends they see me
Speaker 1: and appreciate me. But who kept you through those low moments?
Speaker 1: My lord, my Lord and my pres and you know
Speaker 1: my savior does um happen? Yeah? And I have solid,
Speaker 1: solid friends and people that I go to really understand like, Okay,
Speaker 1: even though he's just a so called entertainment, he's still
Speaker 1: a man. He still needs a place to uh, the
Speaker 1: same place to be in Land and you know they
Speaker 1: allowed me to do that, and I go in there,
Speaker 1: lay down. But you know we're here that when we
Speaker 1: talk about comfort and we talk about being. So you know,
Speaker 1: I listened to the Clark's Sisters a lot, and they
Speaker 1: have this song like no matter the winds may come
Speaker 1: your way, but I'm just resting in my father's hands.
Speaker 1: It's the same testament of your saying if sometimes you
Speaker 1: just gotta let go, black man, you ain't got to
Speaker 1: hold everything. I see you. Yeah. And and for for
Speaker 1: men to really hear that and believe it, it'll take
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure, blood pressure and everything else to
Speaker 1: go down, you know, because we feel like we have
Speaker 1: to hold it all and do it all. Why and
Speaker 1: women need to not put that pressure on a man.
Speaker 1: I think when we all hold hold up, I end
Speaker 1: the bargain and and and and and take care of
Speaker 1: what we're supposed to take care of, it balanced the
Speaker 1: weight on the other. Now what you mean that woman
Speaker 1: puts the pressure? Is there an expectation? Yeah, it's okay
Speaker 1: to have expectations. That's that's good as long as they're
Speaker 1: balanced and as long as you're not expecting something from
Speaker 1: some from from your spouse or partner that that you're
Speaker 1: supposed to do as well. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: times unbalanced expectations, uh, unhealthy and uh, you know, we
Speaker 1: put our stuff on other people, many women and uh yeah.
Speaker 1: One example is you know, I don't I'm not supposed
Speaker 1: to be your happiness. I'm supposed to answer your happiness.
Speaker 1: You need to have your own happy, and you need
Speaker 1: to have your own joy, and uh, don't expect for
Speaker 1: me to be that because you know I will never
Speaker 1: be consistent with what you feel it should be and
Speaker 1: how it should be delivered. When you have your own,
Speaker 1: you can dictate and habit and have control of it.
Speaker 1: It's yours and you share yours, and we connect ours together,
Speaker 1: small piece because we're not wasting energy on expectations. We
Speaker 1: we we have we have about to create our own
Speaker 1: um happiness. It belongs to us, so we're not looking
Speaker 1: out for it. Oh my gosh. And when you're looking
Speaker 1: through your happiness and somebody else, you become I think
Speaker 1: you've become more judgment Come on, what you're looking for?
Speaker 1: Something that point the finger that I want to be happy,
Speaker 1: but that don't look like it. I don't like that
Speaker 1: that shirt ain't. I don't like that shirt. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't like the way you said that. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't want to watch this. I don't want to
Speaker 1: do so. So you know, we saw nick nick picking
Speaker 1: and creating moments of discomfort. But when you have you,
Speaker 1: like I said, you have your own joy, you all
Speaker 1: you wanna do is be around that person and just enjoy.
Speaker 1: Come on, Wait a minute, wait, did you hear what
Speaker 1: you're just said? Hold on and wait a minute. You
Speaker 1: said you talked about the joy, right, because that's the
Speaker 1: ever blasting stay happy. It's for ever fleeting joy. And
Speaker 1: you said when you give with the other person, you
Speaker 1: enjoy them. Right. But then as a double on tundra,
Speaker 1: you're in joy. Stop playing with men? Is that what
Speaker 1: you came to do? Go ahead now on purpose? He
Speaker 1: I love that you said that because I think oftentimes
Speaker 1: when we have those expectations that you talked about, and
Speaker 1: I think it's just so on target with even just
Speaker 1: your line of music, because it's about that love and
Speaker 1: it's about that relationship right when we come in, Like
Speaker 1: you said, the expectation I'm coming to take. But what
Speaker 1: if I just came to give into Edif I imagine
Speaker 1: that light just like you said, there's no such thing
Speaker 1: as oh I have to because I'm lacking. I'm open
Speaker 1: because I'm ready to receive. I'm open because I'm ready
Speaker 1: to give. And like you even said in the song,
Speaker 1: until love, if God is loved, just the imagery of
Speaker 1: love is always open. The light doesn't try to stop
Speaker 1: where it's going to be shining. Like you said, like
Speaker 1: the synergy is like a flow, and it's like the
Speaker 1: evolution of like the sun. It's just the circular motion
Speaker 1: for me to you, you to me, and me to you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for that. Thank you, and I hope you
Speaker 1: continue and I pray that you continue. I'm lifting with
Speaker 1: your music because we need to make sure we have
Speaker 1: more artists like you on the playing field. That talks
Speaker 1: about the wellness, that talks about the vulnerability, but more
Speaker 1: important that that speaks to music that we can all feel.
Speaker 1: Because when I'm getting in smokey roots, I can taste
Speaker 1: my chicken, I can taste my corn breads, I can
Speaker 1: taste my colar grains. Get that bread and some brown liquors.
Speaker 1: But since we're talking about food, and I understand that
Speaker 1: you got a book. Yes, it's called corn Bread, Fish
Speaker 1: and Colored Greens, and uh, it goes behind the music.
Speaker 1: It tells the story of the songs and the relationships
Speaker 1: and the journey um from a young child or young
Speaker 1: boy to to a man and how these songs became,
Speaker 1: uh what they are and what you're here today. And
Speaker 1: there's some recipes, Yeah, that's recipes in the book. It's
Speaker 1: about six or seven recipes. Are you trying to feed me?
Speaker 1: Feed the hell out you? And you watch tight? You
Speaker 1: watching me tight? You know there's some recipes, there's some scriptures.
Speaker 1: There's some amazing photos, um that I took just for
Speaker 1: the book. Um, it's a really great coffee table book.
Speaker 1: It's a great read. It's a it's a short read,
Speaker 1: but it's a powerful one. It's very raw and vulnerable
Speaker 1: and as a matter of fact, it's it's it's something.
Speaker 1: So what you mentioned pictures? Are you a photographer? No? Um,
Speaker 1: you know I can't capture some stuff, but na, I
Speaker 1: have good visions. Uh, come on, and uh I see something.
Speaker 1: I know when it's beautiful. Um, I know where it
Speaker 1: should be placed. And uh yeah, but now I ain't
Speaker 1: a photographer yet becoming an entering I'm still growing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm still growing. And you mentioned scripture. I won that.
Speaker 1: I love scriptures. I love quotes. What is the scripture
Speaker 1: like my scripture that I love? I have a couple
Speaker 1: but well too, Jeremy eleven four. I know the plans
Speaker 1: I have for you as to possibly not to harm
Speaker 1: your plans, to give your hope in the future. And
Speaker 1: then I have because I actually have life tattered in
Speaker 1: my mouth. I love havocat too, death and life on
Speaker 1: the part of the time you want to say, I'm
Speaker 1: loving this moment, I do this each time. Okay, oh wow,
Speaker 1: uh so, But it's to do everything that your music
Speaker 1: does is to speak life. Yeah, what's the scripture that
Speaker 1: speaks life into you? You know? I like doing to others.
Speaker 1: I think it keeps everything and it's you know, proper place.
Speaker 1: Um and that can embody so much. You know I
Speaker 1: love you, um so then in return, you know, I
Speaker 1: have a better chance of your loving me. I feed you,
Speaker 1: so return you you'll feed, you'll feed me, or you'll
Speaker 1: feed someone else. Um. I just think. I think when
Speaker 1: when we have that power, we have access to create
Speaker 1: um an outcome and we acknowledge it. I think it's
Speaker 1: something that's so powerful people don't really hear or you know,
Speaker 1: really know how important that is? What you mean, like
Speaker 1: the power to create the life that you want? What
Speaker 1: do you ran create the life that you want, the
Speaker 1: reaction that you want, the anything anything. I think when
Speaker 1: you put good into something, it comes back. And that's
Speaker 1: what I like. I like to plant those seeds watch
Speaker 1: them grow and just keep giving and giving and giving
Speaker 1: love and giving love and giving love. I think that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that keeps me, keeps me humble. Mm hmm, yeah, it
Speaker 1: keeps me humble. It makes me feel beautiful to be
Speaker 1: able to, uh, to treat someone special, to treat someone
Speaker 1: how I treat myself, how I love me. I love
Speaker 1: you the same way. And when you talk about that,
Speaker 1: I talked about something called your life bank account, and
Speaker 1: it's it's that understanding how you are your greatest asset.
Speaker 1: And when you talk about treating, we have to define
Speaker 1: that there are deposits versus liabilities. I'm making a deposit,
Speaker 1: I'm making a withdraw. And I love what you said
Speaker 1: because you said this earlier on. You said, hey, my
Speaker 1: music depicts that of the joy, the light, but also
Speaker 1: that of the dark. But in everything you're saying, in
Speaker 1: the acceptance of now walking who you are now, because
Speaker 1: you're able to love who you are, you see the
Speaker 1: battle or not the battle, but the balance of the
Speaker 1: again in the yank, I love that you have to
Speaker 1: have it. You know, balance comes peace and uh, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of healing that can go on this feast.
Speaker 1: But it's scary, Anthony. We people say that all the time.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing that people I don't think realize. People say, oh,
Speaker 1: take a moment to heal. But just as oh, you
Speaker 1: were to fall right now, you were to scratch your leg, right,
Speaker 1: you're holding it. You remember as a little kid, whether
Speaker 1: you were out there put your nails around. So guess what.
Speaker 1: The only way that scab is gonna come because if
Speaker 1: you leave that band aid on the whole time, it's
Speaker 1: gonna stay wet. And when you take that band aid off,
Speaker 1: guess what, there's a tingling. There's a hurting sensation when
Speaker 1: it's healing right, and it hurts to move. People forget
Speaker 1: that part when they talk about healing. Yeah, yeah, you
Speaker 1: have to expose it wound like you said. And uh,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't stay at wound too forever. It does
Speaker 1: if you keep it keep it covered. Cool. Wait and
Speaker 1: what you say, mercy, you said, can you see me?
Speaker 1: Because you were uncovering. I had to bring that back.
Speaker 1: Look at you. Come on now, And you know what
Speaker 1: I also appreciate about what you said to It reminds
Speaker 1: me of quote that I've always lived by, and it's
Speaker 1: entitled what allows a diamond to shine? Are the multitudes
Speaker 1: of cuts that have been placed within it. Because just
Speaker 1: like you said, whatever wound, Like you said that there
Speaker 1: was that ditch, that was that stick, that was that
Speaker 1: muddy roll, that was that little, uh pothole in the road,
Speaker 1: you realize that's nothing but a slash is a depression,
Speaker 1: is a lack of my father? Is it obesity? Is
Speaker 1: it working? Too harrible? When you decide to uncover Hello,
Speaker 1: somebody and that diamond because all that pressures that came
Speaker 1: decides to step into the light, you better shine better.
Speaker 1: And Mr Hamilton's you're shining out here. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I hopefully keep it polished and you are and I
Speaker 1: want to thank you so much for um shutting some
Speaker 1: of your light not only about who you are as
Speaker 1: a man, but a man who is open and vulnerability
Speaker 1: and taking accountability for so many black men out there.
Speaker 1: I'm here to serve and uh hope, I hope it.
Speaker 1: It makes it makes it better, uh for so many people.
Speaker 1: So thank you for allowing me to having thank you
Speaker 1: for the platform, and uh yeah, let's do it again.
Speaker 1: Let's do it. And you know what you spoke that
Speaker 1: but it maybe sooner than later that we will actually
Speaker 1: be connecting again, I'm gonna speak that right now. We're
Speaker 1: working on a few things, so it's would be it
Speaker 1: should be amazing. So thank you so much, and uh,
Speaker 1: mercy on me. Thank you. You got it, Dawn day
Speaker 1: all day, every day. Thank you, Thank you, beautiful. I
Speaker 1: appreciate it. That was good, right. I'm so grateful for
Speaker 1: this conversation with Anthony because it's not every day, or
Speaker 1: at least for me, that I think about the complexities
Speaker 1: and the vulnerabilities of being a man, and I just
Speaker 1: keep thinking it back to the Tamika Mallory poem that
Speaker 1: opens up in the song Mercy, And you know what
Speaker 1: I think about. I think about the choice that she
Speaker 1: had to make to say that she would stand beside
Speaker 1: black men as a black woman in the space of
Speaker 1: trying to survive and thrive in this world. She even
Speaker 1: had a moment where she said, I'm not your enemy,
Speaker 1: I'm your energy. What come on? Come on? And you know,
Speaker 1: I was thinking about the choices that we all make
Speaker 1: to build and maintain our relationships and grow as people.
Speaker 1: I think about how you need to make deposits in
Speaker 1: your life bank account and then paying to others life
Speaker 1: bank account so that you can pay it forward, and
Speaker 1: so on and so on. You see how that energy go.
Speaker 1: I'm not your enemy, I'm your energy. And energy doesn't stop,
Speaker 1: it just keeps flowing. That's why you've got to let
Speaker 1: the ego. You gotta let the energy go. You gotta
Speaker 1: let the energy flow. You see what I'm saying with
Speaker 1: vitamin D. How each and every time that I uncover
Speaker 1: new things, Okay, back to it, we let that energy
Speaker 1: flow because we are all interconnected. And I'll acknowledge that
Speaker 1: there's more layers that sit on top of it, but
Speaker 1: at its base is where the pyramid is the strongest
Speaker 1: and the most sturdy. Hence the foundation. You understand the foundation,
Speaker 1: and it's creating habits of choosing to show love to
Speaker 1: ourselves and others that brings out the best and us
Speaker 1: and you and we and all together. So if that
Speaker 1: felt good, and you can even use someone Mercy in
Speaker 1: your life, make sure you keep up with Anthony Hamilton's
Speaker 1: and what he has going on, and you can do
Speaker 1: so by following him on social media at Hamilton's Anthony
Speaker 1: on Twitter and Anthony Hamilton's official on Instagram. You can
Speaker 1: catch us late at single Mercy on your favorite music
Speaker 1: streaming service. As always, you can catch us here in
Speaker 1: your phone or whichever smart defies you fancy, each and
Speaker 1: every Monday with more inspiring conversations and insights and guess what,
Speaker 1: if you are looking to get even more vitamins in
Speaker 1: your life, I want you to follow me at Dawn
Speaker 1: Day Speaks on Instagram and Twitter. And until next time,
Speaker 1: always remember you are your greatest asset.