WEBVTT - Kenyon Dixon 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:05.000 R and B Money. 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:06.120 We are. 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:10.120 Thanks take valoti. 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:16.080 We are the authority on R and B. 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:18.680 Ladies and gentlemen. 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:22.360 My name is Tank and this is the Army Money Podcast, 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:23.120 the authority. 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:25.919 Come on on all things, come on, come R and B. 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:28.560 Fix your beanie, man, your beanie not coming out. We 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:30.120 got my line of beanies is coming up. 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:31.240 Blax. 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:32.760 You know what I said. We've been working on this. 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:35.120 We got an R and B. 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:42.040 Singer Huh in the house, songwriter, songwriter, vocal production producer, 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:50.040 put it together. Performer RTIs artist huh cut himself. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:52.720 I always got on some cool pants to always keep 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:57.120 a cool pant, lonely and a cool shade. 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.440 One of the most talented brothers I've I've ever come across. 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:03.480 Man, Please we got him here. 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:08.880 Ken Yeah, get out my goddamn comments. 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:11.720 I had. 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.640 I would be rich a dollar. But every time somebody like, 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.840 when are you doing it? But they was doing it 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.640 like we don't know you Like I'm like, you do 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:26.720 know that. I heard of a guy you got to 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:30.360 love him trying to hit us over the head with. 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:36.200 If y'all was a real pod, y'all would have Keny 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:40.680 Dixon wrote, you know what right? No, I love it though. 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:41.640 That's real support. 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.520 That's the ship that we need as an independent artist 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.680 as well as Tyree would say, you know, because I'm 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:52.040 I'm I'm independent. Indeed, Yeah, that's right there. You at 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:54.400 the right level to with the deepens is not. 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:58.720 Indeed, he got marble behind it. You got marble. 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:15.400 Transforming twenty seven, he furious talking about. Indeed, stop this ship, man, Kenya. 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:17.440 We've been doing this for a long time, man. We 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:19.919 we've we've been on the road together, We've been in 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:29.079 a studio together. He got T G T story as 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.520 as you were kicking ass on stage during and during 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:36.200 that tour. Let's just throw that out there. But you 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:37.640 know how we do you know what I'm saying, like 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:41.840 we we we love to go back, you know to 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:45.560 the beginning as we were talking our Church stories before 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:47.840 you know, before the camera came on. We're not going 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:49.680 to tell you all all the stuff we was talking about. 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:53.240 Just know Church was in trouble. Where does it all 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:55.600 start for Kenyon Dixon? Man, where does it all start? 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:58.639 Where you identified that you know. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:00.120 It? 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:05.480 I got something in Church? Probably not where somebody said 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:11.600 you know that yd damn boy right there? Man? Uh yeah, 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.519 church man, I'm born and raised in church, Ko koch kid. 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:19.560 My mother is like still right now, like a district evangelist, 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:24.680 like district, Like yeah, serious. 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.120 So it's a government in the sense you say district. 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:32.400 It's like I'm thinking of jurisdictions. Yeah, no, it's like congress. Yes, essentially, 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.760 in local government. That's what's the president of the church. 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:39.040 There are just the president. 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:44.520 There's there's no one one president. But there are guys 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.600 who are powerful that sit on the board up top, 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.480 you know what I'm saying, Bishops and Patterson and Blake 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:53.600 and yeah, okay, yeah. 0:03:53.640 --> 0:04:00.400 You're saying, you know, I ain't ain't ko no, but 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:04.600 that was my upbringing. But yeah, man, in church, my 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:09.520 super musical family. I'm the youngest of seven in total. Shit, 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.680 six of us grew up in the same household. Everybody's 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:17.200 musically inclined to some extent. My pops guitarist, quartet singer. 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:21.960 My mother she sing so like it started in church 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.200 for sure, man, singing in the youth choir and like, 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.800 you know, leading songs. When was your first solo? Well, 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:31.520 what was your first song? The song was? I just 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:33.960 I remember the lyrics. It's like you say that you 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.039 are my sheep, why aren't you following me? I can't 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:38.160 think of what the name of the whole song is. 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.640 That was my first solo. But you know, crazy enough, 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.480 even though it started in church and it was genetic, like, 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:47.960 I didn't love it singing in church. It wasn't like 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:50.680 because I had a family full of singers. So me 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:52.680 being the youngest, I'm like, I don't want to like 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.479 singing ain't really cool like that, like y'all all do it. 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.760 I gotta find something that you know, I can do 0:04:57.880 --> 0:04:59.839 myself that y'all can't do, because that would make me 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.159 feel better. So I think I didn't really like develop 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:07.480 that love for singing until I was able to like 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:09.800 step back from church a little bit and started like 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.760 exploring on my own. That's when when I really like 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:14.440 fell in love with music. 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.000 I would say, do you think like I mean, as 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:20.360 most of us in church, you know, it starts off 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:25.400 as very much a requirement, like you know, a role 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.320 of the house. This is where you will be on Tuesday, 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.039 this is where Wednesday, this is where you will be 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:31.599 on Saturday. 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:33.520 Yeah, and this is where you will be on Sunday. 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.520 Yep, it was a and do you think that that 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:41.080 contributed to not feeling so great about it because it's 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.520 just like I gotta go to church, man. 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:47.520 Yeah, that I would say it did, man, because my 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:50.279 parents were like, you know, they were also preachers, so 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.400 they were heavily involved in the church. So my mother 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.680 was like teaching Bible studies. She was teaching YPWW and 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:02.520 YWCC all like the little program for you know, and 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.680 we were at quir rehearsal. Like, so I was at 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.560 church like Monday through Sunday pretty much like doing homework 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.320 on the pews, sleep in the back in the back 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:11.760 of the church, like you know what I mean. And 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.560 so I think it was also grew up in a 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:18.920 project so very different dynamic from the church setting number one, 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.240 So like what was happening outside and what I was 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:24.880 exposed to church just wasn't cool. That was just what 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.880 I knew because yeah, yeah, born and raised in Jordan 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:33.000 Dann's so like it wasn't it wasn't cool necessarily, and 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.839 not cool at school either, Like school culture was a 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.800 lot different. You know, like the amount of kids that 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:40.920 were okay with talking about that they went to church 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.960 like very small, but you're you kind of just listening, like, oh, 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:45.760 I identify, but I'm not going to tell y'all that 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.039 like this is this is my life. So I think 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:52.560 for a long time, yeah, it I would say it 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:56.159 contributed to it because I felt like this wasn't cool 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.120 like outside of here, like nobody, the majority of the 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:02.560 people around me and my daily life don't share this experience. 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:05.320 Like I'm seeing what they're doing. I'm seeing their parents 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:09.720 pull up playing uh all of the music I want 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:11.400 to listen to, you know what I mean, Your your 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:13.440 parents pull up, you get in the car and they 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:17.160 got John p Key on, Like it's like it was different. 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:18.840 It was different culture, you know what I mean. So 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.680 I think when I yeah, when I got the opportunity 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:24.640 to step away from it, I was I was like 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:26.800 happy because I felt like, all right, cool, now finally 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:28.760 get to like do what I want to do. Find 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:29.080 some of. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:33.400 Your household like canes and minister society. 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.920 So I mean, it's George Down's. 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:43.320 They shot in the project and he had the grandfather 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:44.520 that was you know. 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:52.680 Have you ever given any. 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:51.280 Man? 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:56.840 It was again that that outside dynamic was definitely like comparable, 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.520 but inside of the house, like like my mother used 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.080 to make us like pray as a family before we 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.880 left for school in the morning, Like I had the 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.840 most coaching parents. Yeah, like you could ever have, you 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:11.920 know what I mean. And so like yeah, they they 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:14.480 cracked the whip in the house as soon as as 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:16.720 soon as you walked out that door. I'm a different 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:18.640 person because I've been to your projects before. 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:24.560 Yeah, I don't care how much church you go to. 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.560 Yeah, it's a whole world. And it had it had 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:30.520 to be too because they think about it. Like I mean, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.360 you know, like from the hood, so gang culture is 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.520 you know what it is. Once you're especially in like 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.480 middle school, you kind of got to roll with your 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.520 people because also, like what's interesting you you was coaching 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:44.440 cuz from. 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:50.240 I'm changing, I'm changing all my handles. 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.800 I've been known to make up names that I'm rolling 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:01.720 one I'm rolling with coach cuz. But the the unique 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:04.920 thing about Watch is that you know, there are like 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:08.839 four different like main projects, yes, that share a lot 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.199 of the same spaces. Like one of the high schools 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:15.439 is Jordan High is connected to my projects. Like so 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:17.800 we had middle schools like I went to mark them 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:19.959 for a second, and that one you got people from 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.200 every hood like going to the schools. So the crazy 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:24.800 thing about like growing up in the hood is like 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.520 when you went there, they had to know like where 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:29.240 you were from because you had to kind of like 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:33.199 roll with your people the school. Did everybody at the school, Yeah, 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:34.600 like they kind of had to know, like, oh, you're 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.080 from this area because if not, you get back home, 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.320 you're gonna have trouble in your own neighborhood because everybody 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:42.640 is kind of prison. Yeah. 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.120 Yeah, that's actually is exactly if you think about it, 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:49.760 that's exact. So they were preparing some of these students, yeah, 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.959 for what they would have to do at reception. That's 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.959 the that's the school. The prison pipeline too, right, that's 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:57.720 where that's where it starts. And most of us don't 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.800 even think of it in those ways, but that's literally 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:02.160 already programming yep. 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.319 Literally on the yard and you're with you stay in 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.000 your corner with your people, you know what I mean. 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:09.720 And it was just like it was like an unspoken 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.319 territorial thing because it's like where you're from over here, 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:16.319 just naturally you don't talk to them lunches for you, 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:21.959 so tables, yep. But the whole time, I'm a church kid, 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.040 So like imagine that I'm here, like, yeah, I'm from 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:28.000 my area, but like it's like I can't even listen 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:29.760 to the music y'all listening to and I'm over here 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.040 like having to, you know, say like yeah, this. 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.920 Is my area, which is was there anyone else even 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.280 just not even at school, but even in the Jordan 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:43.640 Downs that went to church with y'all? Are we y'all 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:44.920 literally in the church house. 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.920 We were we were for sure the church house. Yeah, 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.800 we were for sure the church house. There was a 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:57.000 there's also our church wasn't in the neighborhood though, So 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:58.840 I went to church, grew up in the church called 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.400 Great Shop on eighty fourth and away and so whole 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.680 different hood. By the way, that also translates gang cultures. 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.480 Gang culture, it don't matter where you are. So also 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:11.760 going to church over there a lot of activity because 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:14.200 you're in a completely different hood. So you have people 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.320 from everywhere coming to church, but you got to still 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:22.960 watch your surrounding. So like crazy, it's crazy. So that's crazy. 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:27.360 There was a church called Holy Tabernacle that was like 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:29.760 the project church. That's the church all the game angers 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:31.319 will go to on Sunday. But like you just go 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:34.120 because you know on Sundays, you're supposed to go. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:36.800 To church, you know what I mean. So everybody there 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:40.880 was a gang. There's a gang church every hood. That 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.280 one just yeah, because this one was right. This one 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:46.040 was right on the side of the projects, like in 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:47.199 the in the backstreets. 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.360 It was right there. So it was like and then 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.199 you know, like we talked about this off camera, but 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:59.240 ministry and outreach then was going into the neighborhoods. And 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.959 so that that's how everybody knew to come to these churches. 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:03.439 It's like, yo, if y'all ever want to come and 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:05.839 have a different experience, this is the church over here. 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:08.959 But see, like we didn't need that because I was 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.319 born and raised in the church. Yeah. So it's like 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:17.080 even for the people in my neighborhood that went to church, 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:19.959 their experience was still very different. They walk out of 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:22.160 the church in their back too, you know what I mean. 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.960 You in it the Monday through Sunday, like I couldn't. 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.240 Even when people say, like, growing up in church, you 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:31.760 can listen to R and B Like I mean, like 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.439 I would get like whoopings for listening to R and 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:38.040 B music, Like if my mom found CDs that we 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.719 got from anybody else. I remember she found like a 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:43.400 tape from like when the box was cracking, Like you 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.000 had the box and somebody made my sister a tape 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:48.920 of a whole bunch of videos. My mom found that 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.920 and like went crazy, Oh my god, it's VHS tape, man. 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:57.360 And so they were tough, but I think, you know, 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:02.599 the underlying is always when your parents see kind of 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.360 the possibility of what can be created in those type 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.760 of environments, they think that that's what offsets it. Let 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.480 me be extremely tough on you to make sure that 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:13.640 you stay away from this because I don't want you 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:14.480 to be anything like it. 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:15.079 But they don't know. 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:17.840 Like a lot of times that creates more interest because 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:19.880 you want to know, like what am I missing? Because 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:22.800 it looks more fun on the outside, Like church doesn't 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:23.400 look fun. 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:24.760 You're just in it. 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.040 So what's the first secular I'm sorry, bro, what's the 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:29.760 first secular record you heard? 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:34.120 Where you was like, what's that? I found it? 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:34.880 Man? 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:42.000 You know, it's like there's like parts to it. So 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:46.920 I remember listening to Anita Baker at a young age 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.640 because I had an older sister who by the time 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.240 she got out of the house, she was already into 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:54.160 like because you know, Anita Baker is like, if you 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:58.160 grew up in the church, you easy, that's easy. I'm 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.600 not just gonna tell me you heard pretty Ricky. I'm 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:07.000 not in the morning. It was like I need hey, 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:11.040 that's why I said. It's part too, you know. 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:13.920 But She's like, that's like church adjacent because its soul 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:14.920 still in his love. 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:15.760 So like. 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:20.360 Like all of those side a sister who you know, 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:22.080 that's what she was listening to. So when I would 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.440 go and hang with my sister, I was able to 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:29.000 hear like stuff like that. And then Tyrese Is ironically 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:33.680 being from Watch he came and did it's like maybe 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.360 like a giveaway at will Rogers Park, and I had 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:41.080 to you know, I was like probably like twelve or something, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.680 maybe even younger, and he gave away his CDs and 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:46.840 like you know, he performed. It was right at the gym, 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:52.040 and that was something like Tyese's music, ironically was some 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:54.960 of the first music that I remember listening to, which 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.960 was also interesting. And then find out my taste in 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:00.960 R and B once I got into it because it 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:03.960 was the same people. It was y'all, it was the underdogs. 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:05.400 It was you know what I mean. And I was 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.320 listening to Dawkins and Dawkins as a kid, so I 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:12.000 didn't even realize that that's what formed my my taste 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.240 in R and B music. To come to find out 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.200 it was the same people that was doing you know, 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:18.920 those records. So yeah, I remember a lot of his music, 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.920 and I got a little My mom gave me a 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.960 little room for it because it was like he was 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:27.480 more visible. This is somebody from the neighborhood. It seemed 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.800 like more of it seemed more inspirational than it did. 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:35.840 You're listening to second music. Yeah, so yeah, man, I 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:39.080 guess I still started off kind of on the safe 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.000 side of R and B, but but I was dancing too. 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.280 That's a whole other side to the thing. Because we church. 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:54.600 They think that because we're from church. Yeah yeah, yeah, here, 0:15:55.160 --> 0:16:01.600 you know what I'm saying. We'll get all of it, bro. Yeah, 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:03.560 that's you know, that's LA culture. And I grew up 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:05.600 that was prime time, bro. I grew up like in 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.160 the middle of the battle zone that travels is it 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:13.440 Tommy Clown? That's so that was that was like my 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.480 middle school experience. Bro. That's when everybody was into like 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.360 clown dancing, and so that's when I got exposed to 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:27.040 the music that that was ying and everything. So that 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:29.800 was different. But my mom still, like I think she 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.680 kind of started accepting my interest, but it was church. 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:36.760 Parents are like, if that's what you're gonna do, find 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.960 somebody that's basically gonna look after you, because I don't 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.600 want no parts of it. And that's what happened. Like 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:47.360 I had like basically a chaperone who was responsible for 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:50.360 me in any space that wasn't that wasn't church, and 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:52.920 she would have to like who was that? It was 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.200 my godmother, Jacqueline Sims, And she used to work at 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:58.600 the gym and the projects and the Jordan Downs. She 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.360 would see me dancing. She saw that I had, like 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:03.680 you know, she felt like I had more potential than 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:07.000 the what was what could be cultivated in the environment. 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:08.960 Basically it's like I want to take you over here. 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:11.399 She took me to a real dance studio. I still learning, 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:15.080 but my mom because it wasn't church, it wasn't gospel, 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.680 it was like she got to do it. Like my 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:19.840 mom didn't really she didn't come to no shows, no, 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:25.400 like she was very very strict church KOJK, like they're 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:28.760 not having it. So but she still allowed you to 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:30.800 do it, She allowed me to do it. Yeah, I 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:34.560 just basically had to make sure I don't want to 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.239 say it wasn't visible, but basically like non existent to her, 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:37.960 you know what I mean. 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.800 So or there was probably framed a certain way. Yeah, 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:46.680 just so that you know, even if she wasn't so much, 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.239 you know, rooting for it. Yeah, yeah, she could at 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.240 least respect it against it. 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.359 Yeah, And it's really it's all about like optics too, 0:17:55.440 --> 0:18:01.680 and perspective, because you know, church people are like extremely judgmental. 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:04.639 I've never I've never talked to my mom about this, 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:06.920 but I would bet that a huge part of the 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:10.840 reason was because of what she thought other people would think, Like, 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:12.560 are you're letting your kids be out here? 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:13.000 You know what I mean? 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.920 That's church culture the best exactly. So to a certain degree, 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.520 you are heathen. Oh absolutely, just for to go dance. 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:22.760 And complete rebel. And I was cool with that. I 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.680 was cool with it. Yeah, I knew. I knew, Like 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:30.760 once I got my first real taste of R and 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.960 B music, I'm like, oh no, this is me screen different. Yeah. Yeah, 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.199 I'm like I'm not I'm not supposed to do gospel, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.200 and that's such a tricky thing because you know, in 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:43.439 the church, they believe you're not even using your gifts 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.720 unless you are contributing to gospel. So that was also 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.399 like a weird space to have to work out of 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:54.000 because it's like, here's something that I feel I'm like 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:58.120 super purposeful in and there's a lot of connectivity here, 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.000 and I'm battling with having to convince myself that i 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.919 should be doing it because based on what y'all are 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:07.560 telling me, this is something that I shouldn't even have 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:12.160 interest in. So it was it was crazy dynamic. 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:12.440 Man. 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:13.240 It takes like. 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:18.240 It has taken some time, and it's still taking, I 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:26.119 think time for church people to understand that God is 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:33.280 not just in church and that the opportunities that that 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:39.480 God awards you, yeah, they're not just in church, you know. 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:39.880 What I mean. 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:45.600 Like the idea that this song about my life is 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:50.680 changing my life, my family's life, the life of people 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:52.000 who are listening to it. 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:53.960 I'm getting I'm able to. 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:57.399 See the world as a result of this song that 0:19:57.560 --> 0:19:59.959 I've written and sang with the gifts that God has 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:04.680 given me. Yep, somehow especially back then with the days 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:08.159 we're talking about, that's not of God. Yeah, and it's 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:14.800 a total contradiction to everything that God represents in terms 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.680 of how I know, you know what I'm saying, like 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.040 the gift was given to me for a reason, right, 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:25.399 and so for me, like it's always, it was a 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:27.600 it was a it was a battle at first because 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.680 it was just like I was. I was so I 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:32.560 won't say beat over the head, but I was just 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:38.159 so it was it was preached into me that unless 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:40.680 you're doing it for God, yeah. 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:57.760 It means nothing. Nothing. Yeah, let's talk. When was the first. 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:00.720 I want to know, I want to know your first 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:06.080 like real R and B upper level professional experience. 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:12.399 Man, let's see, I take you back to the beginning. Man, 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:17.399 my first like professional gig, first ever, because you know, 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:20.639 I got into the game background. I was singing background 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:24.040 for DJ Quick and it was like me Teres Martin, 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:28.240 my sister was singing with me, h D. Halloway on drums. 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:30.600 It was like a big like La squad. And so 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:37.440 that was my first most talented people of man. Yeah, yeah, literally, man, 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:42.240 that was my first like yeah first and I was 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:43.920 like right out of high school. So it was also 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:46.159 crazy because I had just decided that like all right, 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:48.360 I'm gonna do music for real, like I want to sing. 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:51.840 So I started there and I felt like my next 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:55.159 gig that kind of then opened up the portal. I 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:57.920 started singing with Tyresse. That was my first So you 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:01.159 went from quick to Tyresse. Yeah, so like and I 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:03.399 still you know what I mean, I still and the 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:07.399 introm was still doing like kangeroom Man, like Cozies and 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:09.360 like you know what I mean, I still did all 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:14.080 of our spots and had the proper progression to prepare 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:19.840