Speaker 1: Quest Left Show is a production of iHeart Radio. Ladies
Speaker 1: and gentlemen, Welcome to the Quest Loft Show. I cannot
Speaker 1: come up with enough superlatives to describe.
Speaker 2: The gift that our guest today possesses.
Speaker 1: Occasionally, in private, I will rant about my disdain and
Speaker 1: dissatisfaction with the state of what we.
Speaker 2: Call music today.
Speaker 1: But in twenty twenty two, when I received my Grammy ballot,
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm looking at names of people that
Speaker 1: I know personally, people that I've played with, people that
Speaker 1: I'm friends with, Anita mar Apollo, Dommy and j D. Beck,
Speaker 1: Lotto Man, Skin Money Long, Toby in a wigway, Molly
Speaker 1: Tuttle wet Leg named them all. However, I chose the
Speaker 1: right option when voting for the Best New Artist award,
Speaker 1: and that is our guest today.
Speaker 2: Welcome miss Joy to the show. How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm well, walk with me just five minutes before when
Speaker 1: you know your cat? Do you know who's like presenting
Speaker 1: your category?
Speaker 2: Like are you aware of these things? Oh? So you
Speaker 2: had no idea, like when it's coming up in the.
Speaker 3: And I was just coming from the red carpet, and
Speaker 3: so I was a little disheveled because of what happened
Speaker 3: earlier in the day. I had to change my outfit.
Speaker 3: I had my little brother with me as my date,
Speaker 3: and wait outfit was wearing. That was my second outfit.
Speaker 3: It was only for the pretail, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: It was only for the live stream portion, right, and
Speaker 3: it had to change, you know, until five minutes before.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to get my seat and all these seat
Speaker 3: fillers in my seat, So I couldn't really hate that
Speaker 3: I couldn't get to my seat until the next commercial break.
Speaker 3: But me and my little brother. Of course, it was
Speaker 3: the anniversary, fiftieth anniversary a hip hop. I think that for.
Speaker 2: Me really, that was a nightmare for me together, Okay, Rhymes.
Speaker 3: Is on stage quienla tifa? It was, I mean it was.
Speaker 3: We were having so much fun. So five minutes before
Speaker 3: I was just like, there's no way this night is
Speaker 3: even happening, Like this is amazing.
Speaker 2: So you walked in right when the metal was happening.
Speaker 3: No, I was like a couple of minutes before a
Speaker 3: couple of minutes Okay, there was still some other awards
Speaker 3: being given out, so yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Was real for you.
Speaker 1: I was there at the very beginning when I believe
Speaker 1: Bad Bunny started the the telecast and he's dancing through
Speaker 1: the audience and if you saw the layout of the
Speaker 1: you know they have these like elegant cocktail tables.
Speaker 3: With didn't really eat.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she came, I don't know, like it was given that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're trying to write exactly, and so somehow the
Speaker 1: producer of the show, Jesse Collins, Now as you explained,
Speaker 1: it was, you know, hip Hop's fiftieth anniversary and the
Speaker 1: Roots put together.
Speaker 2: This eleven minute presentation. The thing is is.
Speaker 1: Because the the elaborate, sort of sprawling arrangement of the
Speaker 1: whole thing, it's not a thing where it's just like
Speaker 1: a band playing something and we can make adjustments later.
Speaker 1: Like we're on a clock, like the the light people
Speaker 1: have their cues for how it's going to go, the dancers, everything,
Speaker 1: so everything's on a clock. And you know, I'm sitting
Speaker 1: there watching Bad Bunny before him and my phone's going
Speaker 1: off and it's like literally like nine one one, like
Speaker 1: and I'm looking and I'm being told that Lil Wayne
Speaker 1: has just dropped out.
Speaker 2: Of the performance. No way, he just took his ball
Speaker 2: and went home.
Speaker 1: He had an altercation between some security person whatever.
Speaker 2: It was like, well I'm going.
Speaker 1: Home, damn, and like Barack Obama couldn't make him turn back.
Speaker 1: And the thing is is that now I'm sitting in
Speaker 1: the audience and bad bunnies like dancing on all the
Speaker 1: dancers and everything, and so I can't get up with
Speaker 1: less than an hour on the clock to figure out
Speaker 1: what plan B is going to bring. Because it's a
Speaker 1: live show, somebody has to let the light person know
Speaker 1: that whatever we have designated between four minutes and twenty
Speaker 1: seconds and six minutes and five seconds has to be edited,
Speaker 1: like you gotta go to the teleprompter person. You gotta
Speaker 1: go through like five different people.
Speaker 2: We fixed that. So no, Millie, We're fine.
Speaker 1: And then Future decides to drop out no because he
Speaker 1: lost Album.
Speaker 2: Of the Year to Kenchrick Labarn geez.
Speaker 1: He's like I'm going home, and it's like, dude, you
Speaker 1: got jeez. And this is with like mere seconds left.
Speaker 1: So right now I will say getting through that nightmare
Speaker 1: seeing you when Best New Artist, which yes I voted
Speaker 1: for you, but I kind of felt like it was
Speaker 1: a hell Mary throw from all the way in and
Speaker 1: a miracle might happen because you know, you had a
Speaker 1: stiff competition there, but I couldn't have been more happy
Speaker 1: as if it happened to me.
Speaker 2: So for you, though, like were you in your right mind?
Speaker 2: That day was?
Speaker 3: It was just it was just such an emotional weekend.
Speaker 3: This is my first time at the Grammys, and so
Speaker 3: I naturally brought my entire family what felt like, and
Speaker 3: we stayed in this Airbnb right across the way from
Speaker 3: Quincy Jones's house. So we felt very much fresh, Prince
Speaker 3: of bel Air, very you know, we feel very It
Speaker 3: felt like such a very special and I got the
Speaker 3: chance to perform and be in LA and being all
Speaker 3: these Circle See artists I only ever seen on TV.
Speaker 3: So yeah, the whole the whole weekend was insane, and
Speaker 3: so being there with my family, with my little brother,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I wasn't expecting it. I know everybody
Speaker 3: probably says that, but I really wasn't because all well,
Speaker 3: I just I had just released the album that I
Speaker 3: was nominated for that day two months prior, two and
Speaker 3: a half months prior, I had just signed with a
Speaker 3: big label, and so there were a lot of things,
Speaker 3: there were a lot of firsts, and so I wasn't
Speaker 3: expecting that to be one of them, the nomination much
Speaker 3: less the the win. So it's just I'm just grateful
Speaker 3: for it.
Speaker 1: Were you kind of on the impression that no Morton
Speaker 1: would know who you were or like not really familiar, see.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, because I was just starting. I mean yeah, up
Speaker 3: until up until that point, I only had two albums.
Speaker 3: I had never you know, it was my first tours,
Speaker 3: first performances, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: So yeah, but you gotta look at the totality of
Speaker 1: this situation, like you're saying, I was just starting, like
Speaker 1: kind of like a first time house painter, like you know, well,
Speaker 1: I was just doing that, but you're sort of forgetting
Speaker 1: what gift you're bringing to the table, which.
Speaker 2: Kind of leads to my next thing.
Speaker 1: You know, as a New Yorker, I will say that
Speaker 1: ninety percent of the time. All right, this is the
Speaker 1: worst one percent humble brag I'll ever say.
Speaker 2: I'm always driving in New York. I'm not a.
Speaker 1: Subway in New Yorker, so people don't see me as
Speaker 1: a real New Yorker until I'm a subway.
Speaker 2: Okay, so good.
Speaker 1: So the thing is is that I'm always listening to
Speaker 1: Wbgoye and that's our beloved local MPR jazz station for
Speaker 1: the tri State and some other parts of the country
Speaker 1: that can get it syndicated. And I always joke with
Speaker 1: my high school buddy, Christian McBride. Yes, Christian has always
Speaker 1: been seventy years old, even imagine a fifteen.
Speaker 2: That's what you two have in common, both of you.
Speaker 2: Both of you have.
Speaker 1: Ancestors trapped inside you, some epogenetic thing. And usually if
Speaker 1: something moves me, I will exam it. I have no
Speaker 1: shame whatsoever mine. I will exam everything, because that's how
Speaker 1: you learn something new.
Speaker 2: This is weird.
Speaker 1: On the pop side of things, it's always Bieber Oh,
Speaker 1: Like I'll be in CVS at two in the morning
Speaker 1: and then like, oh this is cool and I.
Speaker 2: Look damn right.
Speaker 1: So on the jazz side of things, literally like after
Speaker 1: the eighth time.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, Chris, I'm like.
Speaker 1: Yo, that like, if ixam eight songs, then that means
Speaker 1: I really must be a fan of this person.
Speaker 2: Yo.
Speaker 1: They love you and that's how why I love you.
Speaker 1: So basically, like I had a whole narrative in my head.
Speaker 1: I was like, wait a minute, so one named samar Joy.
Speaker 1: She has a voice sounding like this, how come this
Speaker 1: person had to been singing for at least forty years,
Speaker 1: so I kind of thought we were in the same
Speaker 1: age bracket.
Speaker 3: Internally.
Speaker 1: Literally in my mind, I was like, Wow, she's easily
Speaker 1: forty five forty, Like I really thought there was a
Speaker 1: five on the left digit of your age, right, there's.
Speaker 3: The two in front of it. That's that's the only difference.
Speaker 1: When I'm gonna tell you a level of depression four
Speaker 1: days ago, when I really wanted to, like, I mean,
Speaker 1: I knew everything. I knew all the music and all
Speaker 1: that stuff, and so I just wanted to do general
Speaker 1: brush up things that I didn't.
Speaker 2: Know, like oh, where's she born? And all that stuff.
Speaker 1: And so when I went to Wikipedia and I saw
Speaker 1: that my first five albums are older than you, oh
Speaker 1: my god. It's a level of depression I never felt before,
Speaker 1: but also a level of ease because I was absolutely
Speaker 1: certain that anyone I tag gen Z or Jen Alpha
Speaker 1: just has an absolute disdain for anything in the rearview
Speaker 1: mirror of music. How at what age did you notice
Speaker 1: that your voice isn't like anyone else's.
Speaker 2: When did this voice first materialize?
Speaker 3: I guess I started singing and imitating what was already
Speaker 3: around me. My family is from Philly. They have many
Speaker 3: roots in Philly. My dad to Overbrook High School and
Speaker 3: Strawberry Mansion. My mom is from South Philly, and my dad,
Speaker 3: my grandfather, you know, they started. My grandfather and my grandmother,
Speaker 3: Eldergowyron Ruth mclein did started a group called the Savettes
Speaker 3: of Philadelphia and so hearing their recordings from nineteen sixty
Speaker 3: two nineteen sixty six on albums like the Sensational Savettes
Speaker 3: and Mercy Hearing my dad in his home studio writing
Speaker 3: songs from its very beginning to when it was finally finished,
Speaker 3: Singing to and from school, listening to my mom's music,
Speaker 3: Luther Vandros and Stevie Wonder and you know, all of
Speaker 3: these different influences. My dad is a bass player too.
Speaker 2: Could they trick you into the family business?
Speaker 3: It was definitely, you know, I was absorbing what was
Speaker 3: around me. You know. I listened to the Brothers Johnson,
Speaker 3: I listened to the Spinners and the Whispers and all
Speaker 3: this kind of so all of this I was kind
Speaker 3: of I don't know, I was just absorbing it. And
Speaker 3: I think because of that, maybe I just had a
Speaker 3: certain ear, certain.
Speaker 1: Obsession maybe with the reason why I'm asking that is
Speaker 1: because Okay, so I too grew up in a similar situation.
Speaker 1: My dad was an oldies duop singer from the fifties,
Speaker 1: and when I was in first grade, I went to
Speaker 1: a performing arts high school and our homework assignment, we
Speaker 1: all had to purchase songs in The Key of Life
Speaker 1: came out the week that I started first grade. So
Speaker 1: we all it was like, have your mommy and daddy
Speaker 1: buy you this record, and we brought the record. We
Speaker 1: all brought it in the next day, and for music
Speaker 1: appreciation class we read the liner notes. You know, this
Speaker 1: is the first time you saw like sprawling liner notes
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. And so the thing is, the
Speaker 1: next homework assignment was bring your favorite forty five in
Speaker 1: and your favorite single. And you know, the kids in
Speaker 1: my class are bringing.
Speaker 2: In stuff of the day.
Speaker 1: I come in with like Frankie Lymon and the teenagers
Speaker 1: like Wider Fools fall in Love from like nineteen fifty something,
Speaker 1: and I, honest to god, thought it was new music,
Speaker 1: like my parents. My dad tricked me to thinking that
Speaker 1: do wop and early rock was new. So I'm a
Speaker 1: six year old that knows who chuck berry Is and
Speaker 1: Bo Diddley and all this stuff in the way that
Speaker 1: my teachers laughed like they were so amused, like.
Speaker 2: Oh, no, this is music. Well, we were.
Speaker 1: Kids a mirror and were feeling like, oh, they're bringing
Speaker 1: in disco ducking y'all making me bringing like I was
Speaker 1: angry at my parents for tricking me, like I later
Speaker 1: found out, like, oh, there's old music, and there's my music.
Speaker 1: And then finally my sister started feeding me what new
Speaker 1: music was. But so for you though, like just typically
Speaker 1: that is what was heard in the household or just okay, and.
Speaker 3: Then what was whatever was on the radio. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think because my family, at least they made it
Speaker 3: look so easy. When I was younger, I just wanted
Speaker 3: to be able to harmonize with anything, imitate any run
Speaker 3: or riff or anything like that. And I also have
Speaker 3: to slide this in my uncle. I forget how how
Speaker 3: we're related. My uncle in law produced the album Suddenly
Speaker 3: by Billy Ocean. He like wrote the whole thing Keith Diamond.
Speaker 3: So I was just listening and absorbing and.
Speaker 1: Keith Diamond, Yeah god damn, okay, I know shit, Okay.
Speaker 3: So I was listening to his music. I was listening
Speaker 3: to my dad's, my grandparents, so a combination of that
Speaker 3: and whatever was popular, so you.
Speaker 1: Lived in a gospel Christian household that did not penalize you.
Speaker 2: For listening to secular music.
Speaker 1: I always wanted to meet the generational chain breaking because
Speaker 1: for a lot of other artists born in the seventies,
Speaker 1: and I mean the Clarksist is probably the best example
Speaker 1: where they're literally making up p funk songs and Stevie
Speaker 1: Wonder songs because they can't listen to that in their
Speaker 1: own households. And so you know, I always wondered, and
Speaker 1: I asked them, like when you guys are doing an
Speaker 1: overdose of the Holy Ghost, Like do they not know
Speaker 1: that's Doctor Funkenstein by Parliament?
Speaker 2: Like no one in your church is like objection, they're.
Speaker 3: Not listening to that. So you know, if they knew
Speaker 3: what it was, then maybe it would cause a problem.
Speaker 1: But I always wondered if there is ever going to
Speaker 1: be a day in which a Christian.
Speaker 2: House is not going to be somewhat overbearing in what
Speaker 2: you receive. And so okay, I think my yeah.
Speaker 3: My dad definitely broke that because he was a bass player,
Speaker 3: so he was just you know, He's born in nineteen
Speaker 3: sixty and during the seventies he's learning how to play
Speaker 3: bass and listening to all these things on the radio,
Speaker 3: trying to learn the song before it goes off and
Speaker 3: before his parents get home. I think he also tells
Speaker 3: a story of how he was in church playing for
Speaker 3: the first time and he played a Rick James bassline
Speaker 3: and the drummer was, yo, you gotta stop playing that man.
Speaker 2: I played right right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got in trouble many times, like me coming
Speaker 1: to the age of hip hop and drumming in my church.
Speaker 1: If I start playing like top Building by the audio too,
Speaker 1: or you would know as the drum beat is Real
Speaker 1: Love by Mary J. Lodge or whatever like, then the
Speaker 1: elders would start if the kids would start doing the
Speaker 1: whop or whatever, like start dancing, and the elders look
Speaker 1: at me like you're playing secular music, and I just
Speaker 1: had to sort of morph back into a boring drummer.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So I would like to talk about the Ellington Festival
Speaker 1: competition at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Can you walk me
Speaker 1: through that? What song did you sing? That Wild Christian?
Speaker 1: And who else was part of the Do you know
Speaker 1: who was part of.
Speaker 2: The that one.
Speaker 3: It was actually I know what you're saying there. I
Speaker 3: actually did an essentially Ellington side thing when I was
Speaker 3: in high school. The competition that Christian McBride was a
Speaker 3: part of was the Syrevon competition, and that was when
Speaker 3: I was junior in college, Okay, And during the Seravon competition,
Speaker 3: McBride was a judge. Monifa Brown I think from WBGO,
Speaker 3: Dede Bridgewater, Jane mon Height and my former a producer
Speaker 3: and my former manager was a part of the judges
Speaker 3: in the lineup. And that was my first competition ever. Definitely,
Speaker 3: I was definitely nervous because I had only just started
Speaker 3: learning about jazz when I got to college, so I
Speaker 3: didn't feel that I was I didn't feel like I
Speaker 3: was ready yet, you know, like everything that I was
Speaker 3: learning didn't necessarily come out at the same time. Like
Speaker 3: it took a lot of I don't know, I don't
Speaker 3: know the right word ingestion is probably not the right word,
Speaker 3: but it just took a lot of learning and a
Speaker 3: lot of listening before it would actually become a part
Speaker 3: of who I was, like become a part of my
Speaker 3: language and my musical identity. But I tried anyway, and
Speaker 3: thankfully McBride in them saw a potential.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's go to that. Let's go to two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine when you're ten. Okay, have you ever
Speaker 1: been to karaoke night?
Speaker 2: No? Not?
Speaker 3: At that point was yeah, no, no no.
Speaker 2: But I just mean, like, do you have.
Speaker 1: A brush in the shapur no everyday person voice?
Speaker 3: Oh, I would say, so I would say it was
Speaker 3: a little underdeveloped because then I was still trying to
Speaker 3: copy my dad and my my parents and my my grandparents.
Speaker 2: I meant.
Speaker 3: And at that point, I think two thousand nine was
Speaker 3: when Michael Jackson died, so I was like just becoming
Speaker 3: obsessed with him. And uh yeah, I was just starting
Speaker 3: to get into musical theater in school too, and performing
Speaker 3: in front of people, being in choir. So I was
Speaker 3: doing that kind of thing, you know, just trying to
Speaker 3: trying to sing at every at every possible opportunity, right.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying that when you're emoting down or whatnot,
Speaker 1: not like, are you not noticing people or like.
Speaker 3: My dad definitely. I remember he called his brother and
Speaker 3: my uncle one day and he was like, she sang
Speaker 3: for me, my daughter sang for me. You got to hear,
Speaker 3: and so I think I sang his eyes on the sparrow, and.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, Dad put in a classic. Wait, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna tell you something. I'm gonna tell you something.
Speaker 1: The number one clause at my will don't say that,
Speaker 1: So I do not want his eyes on the spat.
Speaker 1: Can I tell you how many funerals I've been to,
Speaker 1: even a non Christians like Yore's.
Speaker 2: There's I'm not even having a funeral. That's how many
Speaker 2: times I've heard his eyes on his barrel.
Speaker 3: It's a classic, I know, but Laura Hill brought it
Speaker 3: to a new generation. Now everybody you know, including myself,
Speaker 3: tries to sing it like her.
Speaker 2: So we have sister act to to blame for this.
Speaker 3: No, I mean not to blame. I think I think
Speaker 3: it should be credited it.
Speaker 1: I did not see his sister Act too, so thus
Speaker 1: I didn't realize that. That's why I made it come back. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's a long story. I'm sorry I didn't see.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of things you don't like. We need
Speaker 3: to know everything.
Speaker 2: I'm plus love. My name is love. My name is love. Ok.
Speaker 3: You know his eyes on this barrow? Got it?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: So in case I passed before. If they come to you,
Speaker 1: someone's trying to control.
Speaker 3: Me, You're come in a white robe and just descend
Speaker 3: upon the building.
Speaker 2: At the age of three or four. It wasn't like this, my.
Speaker 3: Dad Okay, sorry, sorry, my dad does have a recording,
Speaker 3: a recording of me on cassette singing you don't have
Speaker 3: to call by usher, But that was just because it
Speaker 3: was on the radio.
Speaker 1: I guess were you matching his tone? Like were you
Speaker 1: always this out?
Speaker 3: Definitely wasn't saying the words, but I think I was
Speaker 3: an altoe got it?
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: I think around ninety seven is when the roots started
Speaker 1: this idea of doing jam sessions in my living room,
Speaker 1: and you know.
Speaker 2: The first generation of like I think like eleven.
Speaker 1: To twelve record deals were born out of that first gathering.
Speaker 1: Like this is where Kendrick the Family Soul, Jazzy Fat Nasties,
Speaker 1: Jill Scott who's working in retail Blao was in the
Speaker 1: eighth grade music worked at the pizza shop. Like I'm like,
Speaker 1: we're letting the pizza guy get on the microphone now,
Speaker 1: Like this is what.
Speaker 2: We're show time, Apollo, this is what we're doing. Wow.
Speaker 1: But at one point my boy was like, Yo, you know,
Speaker 1: my daughter's best friend has a voice like you.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't believe and da da da da da. But she's like,
Speaker 2: you know, eight, like nine years old.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, we can't have nine years
Speaker 1: old like in this environment or in the nightclub or whatever.
Speaker 1: But sure enough, like four years straight, Jazmine Sullivan's dad
Speaker 1: would drive her to the five spot or to Wetlands
Speaker 1: or to my crib. She'd sleep in the back of
Speaker 1: the car, and when it was the time first singing
Speaker 1: three songs, he come in, but with that voice with
Speaker 1: like nine years old but be an adult voice. And
Speaker 1: so I'm so amazed that when people get that gift early,
Speaker 1: do you have a ritual in taking care of your instrument.
Speaker 3: I learned that in college. I think that because it
Speaker 3: was my first time learning jazz. It was also my
Speaker 3: first time kind of taking professional voice lessons. So honestly,
Speaker 3: I just I look up different voice exercises ranging in difficulty,
Speaker 3: and I decide what I want to work on, whether
Speaker 3: it's intonation, whether it's breath support, whether it's flexibility, and
Speaker 3: I just I do that, you know, and then if
Speaker 3: I want to work on any other areas like my
Speaker 3: piano like harmony or you know, things like that. I'll
Speaker 3: study it, but it's usually just voice exercises to strengthen
Speaker 3: any weaknesses I might have that I'm working on. That's
Speaker 3: kind of how I maintain.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, speaking of Michael Jackson, have you ever gone
Speaker 1: on YouTube to listen to his vocal warm ups with
Speaker 1: Seth Riggs.
Speaker 3: I don't think I have. I've heard like isolated tracks
Speaker 3: and stuff like from his studio sessions, but I never
Speaker 3: get his warm ups.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, literally, I believe on Is it still there?
Speaker 2: Yes it is.
Speaker 1: It's thirty minutes long and it's literally Michael Jackson two
Speaker 1: seconds of it. So you can literally train with Michael Jackson.
Speaker 1: He's training with and doing like all those like do
Speaker 1: you have a actual vocal trainer or do you just
Speaker 1: do this on your own?
Speaker 3: Not at the moment, but everything that I learned about
Speaker 3: vocal maintenance I learned while I was in college from
Speaker 3: my two teachers. I had a classical teacher and a
Speaker 3: jazz voice teacher.
Speaker 2: Okay, so I'm still.
Speaker 1: Processing that you discovered jazz in college. So how old
Speaker 1: were you when music hits you? Not jazz, but music
Speaker 1: like just in general, like what's your first musical memory.
Speaker 3: My dad got me an iPod nano and he uploaded
Speaker 3: it with all of his music, just like right, And honestly,
Speaker 3: it was a bootleg one. I don't even think it
Speaker 3: was a real Apple product. I think it was like
Speaker 3: when you get from the corner store or something.
Speaker 2: Like Kobe, like the Kobe brand or.
Speaker 3: Oh no, it's literally just a little orange, you know.
Speaker 3: He just he downloaded so much music. My uncle too,
Speaker 3: he's a music fanatic, and he had an iPod filled
Speaker 3: with so much stuff, and so he just he just
Speaker 3: put a whole bunch of music on my iPod nano
Speaker 3: and I was listening to it, and I feel like
Speaker 3: that's when I really started noticing how the instruments interact together,
Speaker 3: especially the bass. Obviously because of him, but I was
Speaker 3: listening to people like George Duke for the first time.
Speaker 3: The song called Images of Us. I can remember being
Speaker 3: on the bus, you know, on the way to school
Speaker 3: or from school, and just wereplaying it over and over again.
Speaker 3: Same with the Luther Records, Kiki Sheard I used to
Speaker 3: listen to all the time. Shaka Yeah, I just I
Speaker 3: listened to all of them.
Speaker 1: So if you're discovering jazz in college in your senior
Speaker 1: year of high school, What do you think you're going
Speaker 1: to go to college for?
Speaker 3: I mean, I knew I wanted to sing, and so
Speaker 3: at the time, I didn't have the money to go
Speaker 3: to any of the big expensive schools, and obviously there's
Speaker 3: not a where did you go gospel program? I went
Speaker 3: to a state school called Sunny Purchase, and I didn't know.
Speaker 3: I mean, the only programs, at least from what I saw,
Speaker 3: that were available were either jazz voice or classical voice.
Speaker 3: And I definitely didn't have the training to be a
Speaker 3: classical vocalist. So I decided to just audition, you know,
Speaker 3: for as many jazz voice programs as I could, and
Speaker 3: a couple of schools. I also because I did this
Speaker 3: program after school where they helped us, and so we
Speaker 3: had to choose like six QUNI schools and four Sunnis
Speaker 3: and like two private programs, and I just wanted to
Speaker 3: make sure they had a vocal program, you know, even
Speaker 3: if I didn't end up doing that, if I went
Speaker 3: into business or you know whatever.
Speaker 1: So so you just wanted vocal as like an elective
Speaker 1: or just like a SID.
Speaker 3: To have, just to have because I didn't know. I
Speaker 3: didn't fit into I guess a specific lane or esthetic.
Speaker 3: I loved R and B, I love gospel, I love
Speaker 3: so like, but I just I didn't know if I could,
Speaker 3: if I had the I don't know if it's strength
Speaker 3: of its tenacity, if it's anything. I just didn't know
Speaker 3: if I could really pursue a career in doing this
Speaker 3: because I don't know. I just didn't feel like I
Speaker 3: had the guts. So I'm glad that I went to
Speaker 3: the vocal program at Sydney Purchase because they helped me.
Speaker 1: Okay, So at what point did you feel comfortable in
Speaker 1: knowing that one I landed in the touchdown zone and like,
Speaker 1: this is this is where I belong and I have
Speaker 1: a gift in zero to sixty.
Speaker 2: Don't even give me that I'm still deciding.
Speaker 3: No, I think I think my sophomore year of college, honestly,
Speaker 3: because I auditioned with Blessed Assurance, and I think Route
Speaker 3: sixty six because those are the only that was like
Speaker 3: the only jazz song I knew at the time. I
Speaker 3: didn't I hadn't heard Ella, I hadn't listened to Sarah,
Speaker 3: I hadn't listened to Bird or did or anything. So
Speaker 3: I was very new and very fresh, but I wanted
Speaker 3: to learn. And I think my goal when I was
Speaker 3: a freshman was like, even if I don't pursue jazz,
Speaker 3: even if it doesn't end up being a career, I
Speaker 3: still want to immerse myself in it and honestly just
Speaker 3: be the best student I could be. But my sophomore year,
Speaker 3: I had met so many other peers who were showing
Speaker 3: me records, my teachers who were so passionate about it,
Speaker 3: and who were playing on the scene. I started getting
Speaker 3: like little gigs here and there, and so that's kind
Speaker 3: of when I realized, like, Okay, I think I can
Speaker 3: do this. I think I can be a part of
Speaker 3: this world without letting go of what has you know,
Speaker 3: formed me and informed my music and my voice. All
Speaker 3: this time, I'm just adding another layer onto my identity
Speaker 3: as an artist. So I think that's when I was like,
Speaker 3: you know earlier to start studying and.
Speaker 1: Want listening me and the world, and like, we're grateful
Speaker 1: that you made this eleventh hour decision for your life
Speaker 1: to change all of our lives. So that said, I
Speaker 1: want to give you sixty seconds to convince fewtre Samaraw
Speaker 1: Joyce out there to really pursue their dream because I
Speaker 1: also believe that as black people.
Speaker 2: And it's changing.
Speaker 1: I think it's really changing with your generation more than me.
Speaker 1: Even though I was brought into a world of creativity,
Speaker 1: most of us are sort of placed in fight or
Speaker 1: flight scenarios where it's like survival. I mean, I've come
Speaker 1: from hip hop.
Speaker 2: Hustle is our.
Speaker 1: Favorite word, and hustling basically means like anything to survive.
Speaker 1: I don't hear what it is, and we're just never
Speaker 1: given the opportunity to dream and really think what is
Speaker 1: it that I want to do and make last minute
Speaker 1: decisions like.
Speaker 2: Most of us.
Speaker 1: I think the reason why I'm so like mind blown
Speaker 1: that you made this pivotal decision at such a late
Speaker 1: stage in life is because, I mean, literally, by the
Speaker 1: age of four, I'm already in the family business, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's more of a survival thing, you know, And
Speaker 1: even as a teenager, I gotta get my family.
Speaker 2: Out of here. I gotta get Hooker Crook. I got it.
Speaker 2: I have to, and I manifested it.
Speaker 1: But I would like you to convince because I'm certain
Speaker 1: that there's someone on the edge of all right, let
Speaker 1: me go to business school because you know, I can
Speaker 1: make it a cushy six figure your job there, or
Speaker 1: I could take a risk and really do something that
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: I'm talk to me as if I'm on.
Speaker 3: The Okay, sixty seconds you.
Speaker 2: Say, Oh, it doesn't take that long.
Speaker 3: Word let me see. Okay, I know you've been thinking
Speaker 3: about this for a while. Yes, and I think the
Speaker 3: fact that you wake up thinking about music, thinking about
Speaker 3: your art is a sign that you should keep going
Speaker 3: and keep investing in it. And just remember that it
Speaker 3: takes time to be great. It doesn't take that much
Speaker 3: time to be famous and get your little spotlight, but
Speaker 3: it takes time to actually be great and invest in
Speaker 3: yourself and develop your weaknesses into strengths and become a
Speaker 3: complete person, a whole person, so that you can be
Speaker 3: a whole artist. So don't shortcut, take your time, have experiences,
Speaker 3: meet people who are either of the same mindset or
Speaker 3: can help you elevate. And always remember, if this is
Speaker 3: what you're waking up thinking about, going to bed thinking about,
Speaker 3: then this is what you need to do by any
Speaker 3: means necessary.
Speaker 2: Oh I'm not allowed to bast the table. Yes, I
Speaker 2: appreciate that. Thank you.
Speaker 3: I feel like you're going to grow up and pursue your.
Speaker 2: Dreams now, I absolutely am, Yes, I do.
Speaker 1: No, I'm serious, like I think it's important for all
Speaker 1: of us. Like to me, that's the business that I'm
Speaker 1: in right now in this part of my life, is
Speaker 1: to make sure that that happens, that people understand that
Speaker 1: their dreams are way more important than safety. We've done
Speaker 1: safety for centuries. Let's try dreaming a little bit. So
Speaker 1: you definitely feel like you made the right decision.
Speaker 3: Yes, okay, absolutely, beauty, because I feel like I'm comfortable
Speaker 3: singing this music and interpreting it in my own way.
Speaker 3: But I also feel like I have so much growing
Speaker 3: to do, gotch and so much to explore. And we
Speaker 3: get the benefit of seeing artists that we love and
Speaker 3: seeing their entire discographies in front of us and seeing
Speaker 3: their journey and seeing what's possible. So I'm looking forward
Speaker 3: to seeing what's possible and how I can take it
Speaker 3: even further.
Speaker 2: God, do you have a morning routine?
Speaker 1: No, or what's what's the what's the first thing you
Speaker 1: did with the first thirty minutes of your day today?
Speaker 3: The first thirty minutes of my day today. I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna lie to snooze my alarm like like at least
Speaker 3: four times. But after that, you said an hour early,
Speaker 3: just so, just because by the time I actually do
Speaker 3: wake up, I'll be ready.
Speaker 2: Gotcha.
Speaker 3: Then I like to stew apples and put it over
Speaker 3: yogurt because I'm trying to get on my on my
Speaker 3: healthy kick after being on the road for the past year.
Speaker 2: Got it.
Speaker 1: Hotel room, serious, spaghetti bowl names too much.
Speaker 3: For me, and I just I put on my music
Speaker 3: and get ready pretty much.
Speaker 2: Okay. What is the greatest cereal of all time? Hmmm,
Speaker 2: I told you it's rapid fire time.
Speaker 3: When I was growing up, it was honey bunches of oats.
Speaker 3: You could not tear me away. Oh and uh Captain
Speaker 3: crunch and corn pops. That was my joint.
Speaker 2: You said the magic word. What is your favorite album
Speaker 2: that you ever purchased?
Speaker 3: Oh my god, I don't think I've purchased you. I
Speaker 3: will say.
Speaker 1: You started with I was born When I was born
Speaker 1: in ninety nine, I know, I know, okay.
Speaker 3: Loud, okay, the first. I haven't purchased an album at
Speaker 3: least I don't think. But one of my dad's friends
Speaker 3: gave me a bunch of his vinyl and uh, what
Speaker 3: was it? It was an Algebra record. It's pink, I
Speaker 3: can't remember. Well, yes, that was like one of the
Speaker 3: first records I started. I played and George Benson Love
Speaker 3: Times Love, Give Me the Night.
Speaker 2: Nice? Okay, okay, Well that was my next question.
Speaker 1: What was the album that someone put you onto that
Speaker 1: you otherwise would have known about?
Speaker 3: An album that somebody put me onto that nobody else?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 3: Voodoo?
Speaker 2: Really? Yeah? Okay, I didn't know.
Speaker 3: My brother started very late.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was about to say, you were We were still
Speaker 1: finishing when I was born.
Speaker 2: We started when your parents were dating. Like, that's how
Speaker 2: long the Angelo takes.
Speaker 3: No, my brother was listening to it and I still
Speaker 3: didn't really get put on until a couple of years
Speaker 3: after that.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, so what's the bravest thing that you've
Speaker 1: ever done?
Speaker 3: I went parasailing?
Speaker 2: What is that? Like?
Speaker 3: It was insane because I think we were in the
Speaker 3: south of France, was an off day from tour, and
Speaker 3: I was like, let's just do it. And I was
Speaker 3: up there and I was like, I really hope I
Speaker 3: don't fall because I cannot swim, but this is a
Speaker 3: beautiful view. I can't swim. I don't have a license,
Speaker 3: like I have a lot to do this winter. I
Speaker 3: have a lot to accomplish. Oh man, these are goals.
Speaker 3: Once I'm home, once I have a solid five weeks,
Speaker 3: I'm going to do everything I can to improve.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, south of France.
Speaker 1: When I went to Nice for the first time, I
Speaker 1: didn't go to parasaling, but I went Jesky not for you.
Speaker 2: Wait, you want parasaling.
Speaker 3: I need about seven life jackets because I promise I
Speaker 3: will not make it well.
Speaker 1: This is next year, because you're going to be on
Speaker 1: the circuit for a long time.
Speaker 2: So okay. When you sing who is your north Star?
Speaker 2: Who do you channel?
Speaker 3: It can be a combination of things from phrase to phrase, honestly,
Speaker 3: Like sometimes I want to sing really legato and dramatic
Speaker 3: and sort of operatic, and so think of Sarah von
Speaker 3: or somebody like Jesse Norman. If I'm thinking more on
Speaker 3: the on the powerful side, I think Aretha Franklin or
Speaker 3: Mahelia sophisticated and elegant. Maybe Nancy Wilson and Abby Lincoln
Speaker 3: and Betty Carter.
Speaker 2: Sorry, the gods, I got it. The god. What is
Speaker 2: the first song that you ever committed to memory.
Speaker 3: I think O Happy Day, probably because we had to
Speaker 3: sing it in church for Easter.
Speaker 2: How a were you?
Speaker 3: I might have been like seven years old and you
Speaker 3: were singing lead? Yeah, I had a verse.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you had a deep, rich voice even at
Speaker 2: the age of seven.
Speaker 3: I mean I could say yes right now. But if
Speaker 3: they found a recording.
Speaker 2: You weren't sing you were singing in you.
Speaker 3: But I wasn't down low like Luthor either.
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 3: I was somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So no, okay, I got all right. So you're gonna
Speaker 1: make me a mixtape for road traveling? What five songs
Speaker 1: are you choosing?
Speaker 3: What five songs? Okay? Who do you Love? By Bernard Right,
Speaker 3: Carmen McCrae's version of sprinking really hanging up the most?
Speaker 2: Um, yeah, you should be making beats.
Speaker 3: What's the third? What's the third? What was the third?
Speaker 3: Maybe Miles Davis. He has a song called the Maids
Speaker 3: of Cadiz on an album with Gil Evans. That's really good. No, no, no,
Speaker 3: it's it's I think it's called Plus nineteen. No, it's
Speaker 3: called Miles Ahead. I think ahead, Okay. The fourth would
Speaker 3: be Grooven High by by bird By Charlie Parker, okay,
Speaker 3: and the fifth would be I Know you, I Live
Speaker 3: you Chaka Khan.
Speaker 1: So wait, as a jazz student, was it required of
Speaker 1: you to memorize the entire fake book?
Speaker 3: No? No, no, no, no, I just listened to records.
Speaker 1: All right, Wow, you're just a sponge all right, people.
Speaker 1: I love this discussion with Samara Joy so much that
Speaker 1: we ended up talking for nearly two hours. So as
Speaker 1: we ease into the new year, we're breaking the conversation
Speaker 1: into two parts. No I Know could have went on forever,
Speaker 1: so be sure to come back next Wednesday for part two,
Speaker 1: and make sure you're subscribed to our YouTube channel. Please
Speaker 1: subscribe where you can find out all of our video conversations.
Speaker 1: All right, Happy New Year.
Speaker 2: Everybody. Quest Love Show is hosted by Me Mirror Quest
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Speaker 1: Benjamin and Jake Payne.
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