Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, O my voice, I'm back. I'm black,
Speaker 1: but brown. Ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition. Child. Let me
Speaker 1: tell you some mean it's not here on this dude today,
Speaker 1: but it's me, Tiffany the Virginista, and uh, I went
Speaker 1: to go see Lauren Hill last night. So my voice
Speaker 1: is a little so a little backstory, don't come from me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she was late, let's just even start right there. Yes,
Speaker 1: she was late. You knew she was gonna be late
Speaker 1: two hours, two and a half. But Lauren Hill was
Speaker 1: born and raised in Essex County, North New Jersey, well
Speaker 1: not Newark. I'm South Orange, New Jersey, which is, you know,
Speaker 1: a stone's throat from the new Ark where I live.
Speaker 1: And I grew up like, you know, she's only like
Speaker 1: a year older than me, maybe two, but I grew
Speaker 1: up knowing a lot of people who knew her. And
Speaker 1: my best friend Linda actually went to the same high
Speaker 1: school as Lauren, I think, at the same time. And
Speaker 1: like she's got this great song like called like every Ghetto,
Speaker 1: every city of New Jerusalem, right where she says, drill
Speaker 1: teams on Month Street. I'm like, I know mine. Remember
Speaker 1: when Halfer and Chancellor had beef. I'm like, I know,
Speaker 1: Chancellor author, I mean, Lauren is very Jersey Jersey Jersey.
Speaker 1: So I love me some Laurn Hill. And on top
Speaker 1: of that, she's just super talented, super talented. Was singing
Speaker 1: down Mike was on wrapping down like she you know.
Speaker 1: So even though she was you know, she was at
Speaker 1: the Prudential Center, it was packed because for one, she
Speaker 1: was in her hometown. So it was a mashup between
Speaker 1: twenty five years of miseducation of Lauren Hill and the Fujis.
Speaker 1: So the first half was Lauren. She sang almost all
Speaker 1: the songs, which I'm surprised. I don't think she sang
Speaker 1: New Jerusalem, which is like the Jersey song, which I'm shocked.
Speaker 1: And the second half was the Fujies and like I'm
Speaker 1: a foodie, stand down, Why how many mics do you
Speaker 1: rip on the daily? Say me say Menny money, say
Speaker 1: me sayn n Mini. Okay, what you know about that?
Speaker 1: It was about had a good time past being the annoyed.
Speaker 1: When I say annoyed, we was all like child You
Speaker 1: just see everybody's face was like, I guess she's gonna
Speaker 1: come whenever. But when she finally got on she you
Speaker 1: know she from what I understand. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's like for fact for sure, but I remember reading
Speaker 1: somewhere you know, Lauren had owed all these back taxes,
Speaker 1: and in an effort to remedy owing back taxes, something
Speaker 1: about her catalog, so she can't perform it like verbatim.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know if she sold it or whatever,
Speaker 1: So I'm assuming she probably because you can own the copyright.
Speaker 1: So for example of my book, why do you see
Speaker 1: behind me? Al hey mayor right? So for example, from
Speaker 1: my book, I own the copyright to the words, but
Speaker 1: I don't own the publishing right. Basically I can't republish
Speaker 1: it wherever I want. So I think maybe that's kind
Speaker 1: of the same. Like Lauren might own the copyrights to
Speaker 1: her words because she wrote them, but doesn't own the
Speaker 1: musicality behind it. I'm assuming so, like I said, I'm
Speaker 1: big assuming. I just remember reading when like reading that
Speaker 1: you know that she this is as a result of
Speaker 1: owning back taxes and having to use her catalog in
Speaker 1: some sort of way to help run you that anyway,
Speaker 1: it was later supporting and that you know she did
Speaker 1: like she did her songs, but it was like a
Speaker 1: different mashup. But when they did the Fuji songs, they
Speaker 1: did it like the album and I was like, hay,
Speaker 1: so that's just like a little you know, like that's
Speaker 1: a lot of money's will have been you know that,
Speaker 1: like your finances will follow you no matter how big,
Speaker 1: no matter how small. That you know, getting your financial
Speaker 1: life together is a critical component of life, whether you're famous,
Speaker 1: whether you're a teacher, whatever that looks like. But all
Speaker 1: in all, you know, I had a really good time.
Speaker 1: And something else that I really took away from watching
Speaker 1: Lauren on stage, especially when White Cleff come out. You know,
Speaker 1: they all grew up in Jersey together, although I think
Speaker 1: why Cliff and Prize might have grow up in Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: but you know, I know that they used to play
Speaker 1: at it like a Prize and White Cleff used to
Speaker 1: play at a church in I think Irvington, New Jersey together.
Speaker 1: So one of the things that really struck me like
Speaker 1: watching Lauren perform and on stage with Proz on stage
Speaker 1: with Why Cleft. Like so many groups, they had, you know,
Speaker 1: a falling out for whatever reason. We know what reason
Speaker 1: child the drama, but we're not it's not a gossip site,
Speaker 1: but if you don't know, google it. So they fell
Speaker 1: out and to see them all together twenty five, twenty
Speaker 1: six years later. She even said, so many people thought
Speaker 1: this could never happen, including some people on the stage,
Speaker 1: And here we are and one of my social media friends, Hey,
Speaker 1: friend Demetria, she's got an awesome podcast called Ratchet and Respectable.
Speaker 1: Demetria would always say, I think it was her grandmother,
Speaker 1: either her grandmother or grandfather, maybe her mom or dad.
Speaker 1: But there is a piece of advice that that one
Speaker 1: of the elders in her life gave to her, and
Speaker 1: this was a testament, and I'm gonna share that advice
Speaker 1: with you. She said, Like, you know, sometimes these big,
Speaker 1: gargantuan things are happening and it seems like they'll never
Speaker 1: be a remedy. And this elder would always tell her
Speaker 1: just keep living. And when you're young, you're like, what
Speaker 1: you talking about, girl, Like I'm sixteen and I got pregnant,
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Yeah. And then when you're thirty something
Speaker 1: years old, it's not the big of a deal. You
Speaker 1: got a kid, Just keep living, you know. It's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not talking to my sister, you know, she, you know,
Speaker 1: never told me that she saw my boyfriend cheating on me,
Speaker 1: and I'm so mad at her, you know, it's like
Speaker 1: so fresh, and I didn't speak her in ten years.
Speaker 1: And then you find out your sister is sick and
Speaker 1: you go to see her and you reconcile. Just keep living,
Speaker 1: you know, just like your person, you know, and you're like,
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm gonna be able to make it. It's
Speaker 1: just too much, and you know, and then one day
Speaker 1: you have your first laugh, like genuine laugh, and you
Speaker 1: realize that there is still joy left in this world
Speaker 1: and two things can be true, and you realize that, like,
Speaker 1: I think I want to experience some of this joy
Speaker 1: because I do believe one day you do see your
Speaker 1: loved ones again. Just keep living. And so last night
Speaker 1: that was the big takeaway. I mean, I just had
Speaker 1: an amazing time. Like like like the mis Education Lauren
Speaker 1: Hill is basically a perfect album. It is a perfect album.
Speaker 1: Every song ain't no skips, ain't no skips. And another
Speaker 1: lesson takeaway because I saw a lot of people online
Speaker 1: saying like, oh, that mis Education Lauryn Hill. That was
Speaker 1: a fluke that album because she never did nothing else
Speaker 1: after that. Here's the thing that I feel sad that
Speaker 1: not enough people understand about life that sometimes you create
Speaker 1: something or you do something and it goes really really well,
Speaker 1: but the cost of that thing was time, family, energy, sanity,
Speaker 1: and you determine, although I can have more money and
Speaker 1: more claim, I've decided that cause Lauren has four babies,
Speaker 1: four kids, I've decided that this is what's more important.
Speaker 1: And there will be people who will say you gave
Speaker 1: up and instead you gave you know, your living, and
Speaker 1: so that's what like, you know, especially Western culture will
Speaker 1: teach you that to quote unquote when at life is
Speaker 1: to win externally. And I challenge people to realize that.
Speaker 1: It sounds like to me that Lauren decided to win internally.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not saying how life is perfect obviously,
Speaker 1: but you know, like one of the beautiful components of
Speaker 1: the of the show was that she sang different songs.
Speaker 1: She had like home videos and pictures. When she's sang Zion,
Speaker 1: I almost wept. Now the joy of my world is
Speaker 1: in Zion. It was like one spotlight her with a
Speaker 1: guitar and all you see all these beautiful baby photos
Speaker 1: of Zion and coming up. There's this one line where
Speaker 1: she said oh, she said like she said, like, oh,
Speaker 1: it was basically they told her to abort Zion and
Speaker 1: they said, she's like, how beautiful more then two way
Speaker 1: a zign. So no, I've never been in love like
Speaker 1: this before. She was like, it's basically someone it's like,
Speaker 1: Lauren baby, use my head, but I forget, like, oh, oh,
Speaker 1: it's a good part. I wish I could remember the
Speaker 1: damn lyric, but basically it's a lyric where let me
Speaker 1: see if I can look it up, because I think
Speaker 1: it's just that important. Hold on, Lauren, I know some
Speaker 1: of you guys are dying right now because you know
Speaker 1: right now you first war. It's hilarious because y'all know that,
Speaker 1: like I'm the worst with my memory, and Mandy probably
Speaker 1: like girl laurin Zion lyrics. There you go, because you
Speaker 1: need to hear it. Okay, let me see me say it.
Speaker 1: Anthimina manchild will be born? Will this crazy circumstance. I
Speaker 1: knew his life deserved a chance, but everybody told me
Speaker 1: to be smart. Can you imagine to be smart when
Speaker 1: it came to life? Look at your career. They said,
Speaker 1: Lauren baby, use your head, but instead I chose to
Speaker 1: use my heart. I just and now she's got this
Speaker 1: amazing grown sun. You know that I think he performed
Speaker 1: last night because the name that was that she said,
Speaker 1: this is my baby, like I'm one of her kids
Speaker 1: performed like a song last night, a reggae song last night,
Speaker 1: And I wasn't sure if it was Ziona, it was
Speaker 1: one of her other kids. But can you imagine, look
Speaker 1: at your career. I'm all for, you know, choice, So
Speaker 1: like you know, I believe that women should have a
Speaker 1: choice to live their own life, to choose what they
Speaker 1: want with their body. But to make a choice, you know,
Speaker 1: like from a place of like do I have this
Speaker 1: baby that I actually want? Or do I advance in
Speaker 1: my career? And for people to try to enforce that
Speaker 1: kind of choice on you, it's wild to me, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like, like I said, I believe
Speaker 1: that women should be able to make whatever choices they
Speaker 1: want for their own body, you know. And you know,
Speaker 1: and certainly you know the fact that women be like
Speaker 1: I do want to have a baby, but what will
Speaker 1: it do for my career? That should not be a
Speaker 1: choice that a woman has to make. It's one thing
Speaker 1: to say, like I don't want to have kids, okay,
Speaker 1: but not I do want I have kids, but dag
Speaker 1: on this career like that is crazy to me. And
Speaker 1: I just thought to myself, as I was like watching
Speaker 1: Lauren and listening to Laurena and for a long time,
Speaker 1: how she kind of disappeared from public life, and how
Speaker 1: it was so clear by the pictures that were so
Speaker 1: full of love and family and connectedness that I could
Speaker 1: tell it was such a new Jersey house and it
Speaker 1: wasn't some old, big, old fancy mansion. I could tell
Speaker 1: that she had spent a lot of time loving and connecting, familying,
Speaker 1: and I love that for her, you know, I did.
Speaker 1: And you know, any people can say like, oh she
Speaker 1: fell offt she whatever, She was just as talented for
Speaker 1: as ever, her voice was amazing. She, like Laurda, is
Speaker 1: one of the few artists out there that could wrap
Speaker 1: you down right, sing you down, act you down. Face.
Speaker 1: Card never declined she had all the things, and she said,
Speaker 1: all the things are inside my home and that's where
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be. I love that for hu, you know,
Speaker 1: And so I don't know, it was like such a like.
Speaker 1: Although I enjoyed the concert, there was just a lot
Speaker 1: of like lessons taken away lessons about money, because like,
Speaker 1: if you're not about your business, your business will be
Speaker 1: about you. And that like not being able to fully
Speaker 1: express your art because of the business, you know, choices
Speaker 1: that were made. You know. That's why even if you
Speaker 1: hire somebody for your taxes and finances, and it is
Speaker 1: so important that you're on it, you're asking questions like,
Speaker 1: for example, I'll give you an example. I just got
Speaker 1: a tax bill from the street of New Jersey that
Speaker 1: freaked me the hell out. It was for fifty I've
Speaker 1: got it right here because y' don't know I'd be
Speaker 1: open fifty six thousand, two hundred and eighty six dollars
Speaker 1: and seventy nine cents. I said, say, well, no, why
Speaker 1: would I own New Jersey that much? You know what
Speaker 1: they said? They said that I underpaid taxes by thirty
Speaker 1: six thousand dollars to thirty six thousand, three hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: And then they said I did not follow up. This
Speaker 1: is why I knew. I was like, something's wrong. You
Speaker 1: don't want to know what the late filing penalty. This
Speaker 1: is why I tell y'all frial taxes, like all your
Speaker 1: business owners file even if you don't have the money,
Speaker 1: file your taxes. The late filing penalty was fourteen thousand,
Speaker 1: two hundred eighty three dollars, fifteen thousand dollars in damn
Speaker 1: near in late filing penalty, and then interest three thousand,
Speaker 1: one hundred eighty dollars, and then installment interest, which I
Speaker 1: don't even know what the hell that is two thousand
Speaker 1: and twenty two thousand, five hundred and thirty two dollars.
Speaker 1: So what would have been taxes old at thirty six
Speaker 1: thousand is fifty six thousand additional twenty thousand dollars. But
Speaker 1: I said, not me. You want to know why because
Speaker 1: I don't play that. I pay my taxes quarterly. So
Speaker 1: I was like, so confused. So I was like, let
Speaker 1: me send this some my account. And then as I
Speaker 1: was looking, it said you have been and you have
Speaker 1: been charged installment interest because you did not make the
Speaker 1: following requirement payments. And I looked and I was like,
Speaker 1: I do pay quarterly. I'm looking like I paid. Oh,
Speaker 1: then I remember this is just like a great tax lesson.
Speaker 1: So this paper from the state of New Jersey actually
Speaker 1: says Tiffany E. Liche and Jerrell Smith my late husband,
Speaker 1: and he is no longer here, and so when I
Speaker 1: used to file tax I did our taxes, you know,
Speaker 1: through our accountant like I would file. I'm not really
Speaker 1: sure why they do it this way, but I think
Speaker 1: it's because I honestly, I don't know why. But when
Speaker 1: you're filing taxes as a married couple, there is one
Speaker 1: person's social Security that you file taxes under and then
Speaker 1: it counts for both of y'all. So when Jerell was here,
Speaker 1: I used to file taxes under his social Security because
Speaker 1: we were married, and for whatever reason, that was the
Speaker 1: social Security that they assigned to both of us, you know,
Speaker 1: social Security number. And so this is the state of
Speaker 1: New Jersey once again. Because the only reason why I
Speaker 1: know is because they forgot they did this last time.
Speaker 1: After he passed away this and my accountant figured out
Speaker 1: the issue. They are still looking for me paying under
Speaker 1: Jurell's social but I now pay under my social Security
Speaker 1: number because he's not here. And so because I was like,
Speaker 1: I absolutely paid these, So I'm going to give it
Speaker 1: to her, she's gonna hit up di Ars and say
Speaker 1: again you need to merge Tiffany's tax account with this one,
Speaker 1: because this is the new social Security numbers that she's
Speaker 1: gonna be filing under. So they're just looking at it
Speaker 1: from the two years ago when he was here. So anyway,
Speaker 1: I just say all that to say, imagine, look what
Speaker 1: happens when one you don't file how much money a
Speaker 1: fifteen thousand dollars penalty and then interest on top of
Speaker 1: another five thousand dollars worth of interest, and so like
Speaker 1: hiding and burying your head in the sand and not
Speaker 1: doing your taxes and not being on top of your
Speaker 1: finances is so expensive. Like I said, thankfully, for me,
Speaker 1: this is a mistake because I know because I've been
Speaker 1: here before, this like the second time they've done this,
Speaker 1: and it's annoying. But I know I don't own the
Speaker 1: by No. Fifty six thousand dollars because your girl be
Speaker 1: on top of her finance. I wasn't always, but that
Speaker 1: is critically important. So that was a lesson, like being
Speaker 1: on top of your finance is critically important because it's
Speaker 1: affecting her ability to be her full creative self on
Speaker 1: stage because like I said, I read this article that
Speaker 1: was like she wasn't able to perform her music the
Speaker 1: way it initially is intended because of this tax issue.
Speaker 1: That she's had and having to pay it back and
Speaker 1: this is part of that. So that's one. Two, just
Speaker 1: keep living. That was a huge lesson and that even
Speaker 1: through trauma, drama, over like experiences that seem above and
Speaker 1: beyond what we're capable of navigating and managing. That like
Speaker 1: time smooth so many things, doesn't always heal, but time
Speaker 1: can wear a way and wear down so many things.
Speaker 1: Just keep living. And three, you know, like choosing life,
Speaker 1: like life is not just what's displayed externally. That the
Speaker 1: most important parts of life on what happens when nobody
Speaker 1: else is around, Like I'm talking about the world at large.
Speaker 1: You know, like Lauren did decided to turn inward, have children,
Speaker 1: leaning to her family. It seems like she just I mean,
Speaker 1: I know pictures don't tell everything, but you know, just
Speaker 1: even from hearing her talk through like the choices that
Speaker 1: she'd made and the family that she decided to have
Speaker 1: and and so like she's chosen that. And you know,
Speaker 1: y'all know, after Gerll passed away, I've really been focused
Speaker 1: on what does it look like to have enough? And
Speaker 1: I mean I travel more this year than I have
Speaker 1: I don't know since Like I've been to Egypt, Kenya, London, France, Paris, France.
Speaker 1: I'm off the coast. I just got back from Atlanta, DC, Maryland, Detroit. No,
Speaker 1: that wasn't this year, Detroit. But I can't even keep
Speaker 1: track of all the places that I've traveled to this year,
Speaker 1: and you've seen like none of it on online. I
Speaker 1: have just been internally enjoying my life, internally enjoying my friend.
Speaker 1: And there's nothing wrong we're posting online, you know, if
Speaker 1: I so choose, But I purposefully have been challenging myself, like,
Speaker 1: can I lean into the joy without having to share
Speaker 1: with everyone? Like it is it just as joyful? And
Speaker 1: it is. And if I decide to share, great, If not,
Speaker 1: you know, but I just love that and I love
Speaker 1: that and I want that for you too. So those
Speaker 1: are the three lessons I took away from the Lauren
Speaker 1: Hill Show. And so if you're gonna go see her,
Speaker 1: chall go ahead and be an hour late because she
Speaker 1: ain't gonna be there on time, but it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a showdown. Hopefully that was helpful, maydy something. Hopefully we'll
Speaker 1: be back on the next show with me. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I'll see you hopefully for ba Qa, where we answer
Speaker 1: your business questions, your finance questions, your money questions, and yeah,
Speaker 1: until until Friday, by y'all,