WEBVTT - Questlove Can't Take a Compliment 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:05.000 Hello, it's Alec Baldwin. We're going to rebroadcast an episode 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:08.559 from our archives this week. You'll hear my conversation with 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:11.840 Quest Love. His band The Roots as a fixture on 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:16.480 late night television, but the iconoclastic artist has recently added 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.799 film producer to his bio with the release of the 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:23.200 movie Summer of Soul. Will have new episodes of Here's 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:27.240 the Thing beginning March. Until then, enjoy my talk with 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:32.040 Quest Love. This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:38.000 Here's the Thing. His family and folks close to him 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:42.000 call him a mere. That's a mere Khalib Thompson, but 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:46.720 you probably know him as Quest Love, Philly native music 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.800 history savant and drummer and music director for the Grammy 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:55.560 Award winning hip hop group The Roots. When The Roots 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.480 aren't in the studio or out on tour, they're backing 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:01.360 up Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. But dude, I 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:03.200 gotta say, any one of the hardest working guys ever, 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:04.600 we love you so much, you know, and you and 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:08.560 the guys is the coolest. We've been doing this together 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:12.520 for what like seven years and years he's been called 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:17.920 America's bandleader year old drummer is also a DJ, and 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:20.160 he's been a caterer. He just came out with a 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:24.320 book about food this year. Quest Love is constantly creating, 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.560 trying to do the many things he loves seemingly all 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.800 at once. But one thing quest Love doesn't do well 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:34.959 is take compliments, which explains his reaction to a very 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:42.399 flattering profile in The New Yorker. I was pleased you were. Yeah, 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:47.680 I don't know. I've been taught to not relish and 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:52.000 celebration of of press stuff because I do so much. Um, 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:55.160 you can't let him matter. I mean, after a while, 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.200 it's just like, okay, I'm it's like now, I don't 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:01.600 think I've watched tonight show episod like two years. You 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:03.640 haven't watched your show unless it's super epic. I mean, 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.560 if it's like Phil Collins, then I'll watch it to 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:12.320 make sure. Have we firstly started? We started? Okay? Um? 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:16.359 I read this piece in the New Yorker, and I mean, 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.480 just from my money, I mean, these press things aren't 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:22.840 that important. You're right, but this piece is very complimentary 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.560 and real and honest, and I'm thinking, what do you 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:27.720 miss about them? What do you miss? About Philly is 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.760 its street, stage, Avenue, Sage Avenue, Mom and Dad, the drums, 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:33.840 the basement. What do you miss about back before you 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.760 made it? You know what? You know, it's weird. Um. 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:40.480 My sister always rags me about this. Um. And this 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:44.280 will probably mark the first time that I haven't made 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:49.040 a pilgrimage. Um. There's certain luminaries in hip hop that 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:52.160 will go back to the old hood. And I'm like, 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:55.480 dog like, why are you? Why are you driving up 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:57.320 Bentley through the projects? You know what I mean? Like that, 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.440 having that moment, I'm in minds the exact opposite because cars, 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.320 like I'm still driving my first car, which is still ding. 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:07.040 I'm never going to give it up. I mean, I 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.080 have other cars, but my scion Is is my baby. 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.799 But um uh, I don't know like I have this, 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:21.600 I often have this craving to drive back, just drive 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:26.919 back and look for old ghosts. Um. It's it's weird. 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:31.440 It's it's even uh even like with with food, like 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:38.440 I'll question why am I sticking to a certain diet 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.880 from my childhood? Am I hoping to to find old ghosts? 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.880 Or I don't know what it is, but a diet 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.360 from your childhood. I mean, I'm in a place now, 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.280 in a position in which I could be at the 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.520 prime healthiest of my life if I chose to. And 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:57.960 you know, as I speak to you, I'm back on 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.000 that bandwagon in the piece you talk about a green 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:03.120 chorus of health people around you, whatever, they're back. They're 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:07.640 back of this singing louder than ever because you asked 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:10.000 for it, because I let two thousand sixteen be two 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.000 thousand and sixteen, and it's you know, it took a 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:17.000 toll on me. So I decided after Thanksgiving, I'm going 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:21.800 back to you know, to to fight for my life again. Um. 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:28.960 And I think during Thanksgiving, I don't know, I was 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.920 just thinking about those psychological process and I'm like, well, 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.360 you know, what is it when you taste these college greens? 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.880 What is it when you when you eat this particular 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:43.200 type of soul food? Like are you missing memories of 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.960 of of grandmam On on a Sunday? Like food was 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.960 a very big part of our my childhood. And uh, 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.520 I'll say, like the process would start on Thursday. I'd 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:56.840 stay at my grandmother's house and it was always like 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:01.279 it was an event and Thursdays like okay, she and 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:05.320 her sisters would start the process of cooking Sunday dinner, 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:10.680 so Thursdays, Friday's, Saturday's even like while watching Soul Train, 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:14.120 I'd help with snap beans. Uh. They're the type of 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:17.960 people that would like start a cake on a Monday 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:22.279 and drown it in uh brandy for about three weeks, 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:23.920 don't touch that can come here and you know that 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.160 sort of thing. Uh. So it's like always a big 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.839 process for this sprawling Sunday dinner. Like every Sunday was 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:36.719 like Thanksgiving. Every Sunday was Thanksgiving and special. Yeah, it 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:41.160 was special. So I don't know, maybe I'm looking for 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:50.840 my identity now that I've been sort of uh, I 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:53.600 don't want to say misplaced or you know, I've I've 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.640 transitioned to another life, another lifestyle which I'm kind of 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:03.120 separate from my childhood memories, which probably explains the Soul 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:07.000 Train obsession, which explains like now now that I've I've 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.240 had time to really think about it, and especially in 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:14.000 the last week, it's it's making sense. Like I don't 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:19.720 think I'm collecting seven episodes of Soul Train because I 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:21.560 really think that's an awesome show. Of course, I think 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:23.800 it's an awesome show. But you know, in my mind, 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.640 I'm thinking, yeah, in my mind, I'm thinking, Okay, the 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:30.839 Frankie Valley seven episode of Soul Train, my sister and 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.920 I almost burnt down the house using the Jiffy popcorn 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:37.960 on the stove. Uh. The Johnny Guitar Watson episode of 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.839 Soul Train, I remember, like cutting my hand on the 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:47.240 the no frills Ravioli from path Mark. Uh. The seventy 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.000 nine episode of The Jackson's Remember stubbing my tail in 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:53.120 the coffee Like there's there's certain childhood memories that are 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.839 associated with every episode of Soul Train. So I think 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:01.479 that's why I hang onto it um and plus like 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:05.480 being part of a uh, you know, being in the 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:10.800 quote unquote hip hop generation, a culture that celebrates youth 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:19.320 so much. Um. I think just the idea of transitioning 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:25.320 or metamorphosis or even just vanishing, which I think I 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:30.680 think the idea of vanishing is what's really controlling a 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:35.520 lot of Americans thoughts in two thousand sixteen. The idea 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:39.400 of not mattering old traditions leaving the idea of change, 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.800 The idea of it is related to the election or 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.040 not know, just every yeah, everything it could be the election, 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.760 it could be me personally. I think they have a 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:59.440 sense of somethings vanishing. Um yeah, I think just in general, 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:03.400 there's something about two thousand and sixteen that is transitioning 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:08.360 more than anything. I for one, UM, as a musician 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:13.200 and a lover of the arts. Um, you know, this 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:19.000 is the the largest amount of I mean this yeer 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:25.480 volume of people dying in two thousand and sixteen. Um, 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:29.920 it's for me, this is this is uh a message. 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:32.720 I feel more of my childhood being I feel more 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:37.240 me being stripped away than just like oh, Natalie Cole died, Oh, 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:42.200 Mauric's White died, Prince died, Oh, Like you know, it's 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.840 it's up to l twenty three key members of my 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.440 life that you know, shape my life are like now 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:53.120 going in this year, this year, dude, I mean my 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:57.760 It's to the point that even when I was writing 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:05.800 um on my Instagram the there's a well known, well 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:11.320 loved house singer named Colonel Abrams, I was hesitating to 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.280 write a tribute to him on Instagram because now, like 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:16.560 it was to the point where people were like, oh, mirror, 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.840 you're just the the obituary historian, like your Instagram has 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:25.120 come become nothing, but these long two paragraph tributes to 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.280 that of I was life like. It's it's almost like 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:32.200 a joke down and that's that's where it's come to. 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.720 But I think more than that, it's just I think 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:41.559 that all of us right now are fearing a transition, 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.120 if you will. So you know, when I when I 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:47.240 do drive back home and you know, sit there in 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.720 the parking lot, and and he here at the house 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:54.960 and everything, I don't know. I think I'm maybe in 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:59.800 my mind, I'm Jacob Marley looking for my younger seven 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:03.040 year old self on going to school or something. You see, 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:04.280 this is the thing I want to get to, which 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.360 is when I read the article, and I don't want 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:09.720 to keep referencing that article, but when I read the article, 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.320 it's like you kind of get the sense of, like 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:14.280 how much longer are you going to do this? That 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.120 this is gonna be enough for you, meaning music will 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:18.800 be in your life maybe in some other way. Something 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:22.240 tells me your love, your worship, music being in your 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.080 DNA in the way it is so completely from what 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.640 I read. I mean, you being people, you're like some 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:33.679 combination of like, uh, you're like Mozart and Alan Turing. 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.400 You know this savantage freak in a good way about 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.640 music and souf an entertainment for that matter. But I'm wondering, 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.640 so I assume you'll have someplace in your life where 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:47.680 do you think it's weird, Because since that New Yorker 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:54.400 article came out, um, it is blastom and bloomed tenfold 0:10:55.160 --> 0:11:00.280 um to the point where I guess at that time, Uh, 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:08.880 I had let's say, I had maybe eight jobs, um 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:15.760 up until early January. I mean I had six sixteen jobs. 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:19.480 Like I just decided maybe a month ago to not 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:24.080 return to n y U to teach, um because what 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:28.240 were you teaching there? Um? I taught music history. I 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:32.320 taught h at Clive Davis Music School. Me and Harry Wagner, 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:38.840 who controls all of Universal Music's reissues. So anytime you 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.559 get like he's the guy that has to sit back 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.360 and figure out how to resell you Marvin Gaye's box 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:48.400 set or anything from Motown or anything from the Rolling Stones, 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:53.200 anybody Universal related on that label. So he and I 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:59.000 taught at n y U for the last five years, um, 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:04.880 and mostly we we I like that experience. Uh it 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:09.440 got scary the last year because suddenly I realized, I mean, 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:13.080 I mean you you you have children, so I'm sure 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:15.320 that there's a point in your life where you just 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:21.839 a sentence started with millennials like you know, I go there, right, 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:28.160 And it was frustrating. It's it's it's an amazing mystery 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:34.760 because no, I mean, some some are I mean some 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.839 are well to do. I've realized that some came from 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.280 the lineage of oh that's your father, you know that 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.400 sort of thing. Um. But it was to the point where, 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:51.439 because the information is so abundant now, I actually caught 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:57.160 myself wanting them to teach me as I was. I mean, 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:01.640 the questions they were asking about, uh uh, like the 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.440 production methods of Michael Jackson's thriller, Well, you know, on 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.520 human nature. Uh here a fairlight synthesizer. But what do 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:15.199 you think that was the eighty two module or the class. Yeah, 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:19.080 that's using that class that It got scary for a minute. 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:24.360 But um, what what I specifically taught about was, um, 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:28.000 the departure record. I'm really I'm really obsessed with the 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.880 idea of self sabotaging. Um. There's a movie that came 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:38.000 out by comedian Mike er Biglia called Don't Think Twice 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:44.760 and actually UM coming up. The follow up to Whiplash 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.319 is the film call UH Land of La La with 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:53.240 Emma Stone La La La La. I'm sorry, I'm getting 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.679 that uh La La lamb with Emma Stone and um 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.240 Ryan Gosling, which sort of UH deals with the same 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:07.000 UH premise, which is, have you seen Don't Think Twice 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.480 or heard about this film? Okay? So Don't Think Twice 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:16.360 is a film about um a groundlings or UH kind 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:21.360 of a comedy troupe UM you CBS comedy troupe of 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.720 like seven people UM who are really like at the 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:27.680 top of the game with improv and then one day 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:33.520 a Steve Higgins figure UH comes in and changes one 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.680 of their lives by offering them a spot on an 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:44.640 snlish type of platform and UH one of them, one 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.840 of the seven that have been tightened it forever will 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:52.800 clearly be a star. UM. And of the seven, you know, 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:59.000 it's like it's how they deal with the idea of 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:04.800 again set operation and and it's it's just an amazing 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.600 two hour exercise and self sabotage. So how it relates 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:11.880 to the class that I teach, UH, I teach about 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:17.480 departure albums. Uh. In other words, uh, okay, So the 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:19.880 Beatles got tired of being the Beatles. They got tired 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:23.080 of playing in stadiums in which they couldn't hear themselves 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:25.440 of the screaming and yeah, yeah, you know the story. 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:28.320 Assuming that you're in love, love love, assuming that your 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:35.240 your listeners are on your i Q level uman I 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:37.960 trust Okay, So they get a sha stadium. After that, 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.400 they pack it in right. Then they decide, we're tired 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.080 of being the Beatles, so let's just make uh you know, 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:48.800 a psychedelic record and Timpanaley references and and we'll stop 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.720 being the Beatles. And then it backfires. It really makes 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:56.200 them like the greatest band of all time. So speaking 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:00.240 of Sergeant Peppers, that's an example. Or the opposite is 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:07.360 sly Stone, whom uh after having a massive like one 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:11.880 single hits off of his records, finally hits jackpot in 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.240 uh nine nine with the stand album and then a 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:22.400 very you know uh uh a victorious uh uh run 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:27.400 at at Woodstock uh leaves his audience like just you know, 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.760 begging for more and whatever his follow up records is 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.080 going to be, like, you know, it's it's the ultimate 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.000 Alley you set up. Someone just shot at alley you 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:38.560 and all he has to do is run to the 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.640 to the rim and dunk it. And what does he do? 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:48.920 He makes one of the most depressing let's go get that. 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.560 What is that's called there's a riot going on? Now? 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:56.000 The thing is that, yeah, family affair. Here's the thing, 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:58.760 there's a riode going on. Leaves a lot of people 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:06.199 and conflict because it's essentially the first Funk record. But 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.439 what I try to explain to the class is the 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.320 equivalent of you know, how like your first okay, not 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.840 for you personally, but how a person in two thousand 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:19.720 and six, how their first instinct will be to pull 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.440 out their cell phone. If a car accident happens, they 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.320 pull out their cell phone. Oh, fight happens, I'm gonna 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.400 pull out my cell phone to watch it. What there 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.520 is the right going on is is really you're you're 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:36.399 watching in real time a human being having a meltdown 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:43.679 on wax and it's it is it's like, do you know, personally, 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.000 why was he melting down? Well, that's the thing. There's 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:52.800 there's survivor's guilt that people don't talk about, especially with 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.600 black people. The idea of like you reference in the 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:57.560 article where you say the thirty three kids, and this 0:17:57.600 --> 0:17:59.320 one's dead, this one's in jail, this one's right, and 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:03.120 you made it do survivor's guilt. Survivor's guilt is real. 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:06.680 Where is he from. He's from the Bay Area, Oakland. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:11.119 So I mean there's the pressure of staying true, staying 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:15.080 true to yourself, not not selling out. Uh, the just 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:20.000 the pressure of having to now deal with be careful. 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:21.920 You know you here all the time. Be careful of 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:26.560 what you asked for. And I feel as though in 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:31.280 those two years of of the pressure of now I 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.080 have to live up to the expectation and the brilliance 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.639 that people expect of me. And what does he do? He, 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:41.720 I mean, Slim and Family Stone was in the age 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.080 of Martin Luther King, the the utopian dream. It was 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.119 a group of black and white musicians, a male and 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:51.520 female musicians. I mean, it was the utopian poster idea 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:55.040 of what Martin Luther King's dreams should have been. And 0:18:55.800 --> 0:19:00.880 he just piste on the legacy. In turn, he also 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.760 gave us funk music. I mean, you know, historians will 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:05.639 be like, oh, you know, it's the first time a 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.600 drum machine was used, and it's the first time, you know, 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:10.720 the E cord was used on a on a base 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:13.439 for funk reasons. So it's like, what's the big hit 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:15.480 that comes out before this album? What's he riding the 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:19.760 wave on? What song? Uh? The the hit before was? Uh? 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.960 I mean the album before was stand Now to sort 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:27.760 of stall for time, Epic Records put out the Greatest 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.200 Hits album and put three other songs that weren't associate. 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.560 So thank you for myself, thank you for letting me 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:40.120 be myself hot fun this summertime. Everybody's like, even even 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.480 the throwaway singers were like, yes, we're waiting, We're waiting 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.560 for this big statement and he pisses all over it. 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:50.159 But you know, it's the same for you know, Michael 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:54.880 Jackson wanting to escape the family and be his own man. 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:57.520 Like making Off the Wall was it departs record the 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:01.800 Beastie Boys not wanting to be known as these these 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:06.800 party frat guys and want to make a serious, uh 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.320 piece of art with Paul's boutique the follow up to 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:13.399 License to Ill. So what I basically do is I 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:20.479 take eight or nine records of Departure Records. Some of 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:23.119 them they were all made with the premise of I 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:25.600 need to throw away and run away from what I 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.600 once was. Some of them made a more successful a 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:31.840 lot of the Beatles, Uh, some of them were complete bust. 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:36.399 I mean, there's the jury still out on Satanic Majesty's 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:41.600 request by the Stones. But you know it's it's you know, 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:44.359 it's it's it's the Stones were never gonna get Beatles 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.040 love and they know it well. They tried. I mean, 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:48.640 you know, I have to give it to them. They tried. 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:55.440 So it's really it's really just about examining the psychological 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:59.960 process of of making music and why we run away 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.359 from success or the idea of doing it. Did you wait, 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:05.280 let me ask you, because this did you? Did you 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:10.600 run away from success? Um? Okay, So the Roots were 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:15.679 everyone's favorite underground secret. Like you know, that's if you 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.359 ever meet a music snob and there's like that that 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:21.680 one thing that you know, there's the band that they 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:23.920 know about that you don't know about, and that makes 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:26.760 them cooler than you, and then suddenly you discover it 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.920 and then everyone discovers it, and then it suddenly it's like, uh, 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:34.320 like everyone has my toy now in the pool. Yeah, 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:36.760 we were that for a lot of people. And then 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:41.280 with our fourth record, suddenly we hit jack pop because 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:47.040 we realized what the formula was to not to monetize, 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:52.399 but to too two gain acceptance. We realized what the 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:56.080 formula was, but acceptance with what you say. It seems 0:21:56.119 --> 0:21:59.280 to me you wanted acceptance with something else, meaning something 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:03.800 tells me. Because you're so acute about music, you didn't 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:05.800 have a number one single. This is what you're gonna 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:07.480 learn about me. And you could and you could have 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:09.960 sat down and something tells me. And I'm not saying 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:11.800 this to be kind. You could write a number one 0:22:11.800 --> 0:22:14.240 single in the car on the way to the office 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:16.760 right now when you leave here, and you didn't do 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:37.080 that because fear fear. We'll be back in a minute. 0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:43.840 This is what happens. Okay. So when we started in UM, 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:48.160 the idea of the roots, the idea of we would 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:50.960 be pegged into alternative hip hop. Now, when we first 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:53.439 came out, they were like, or they asked jazz. It 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:57.200 was like, basically, if you weren't, if you weren't holding 0:22:57.200 --> 0:22:59.880 your middle finger out to the camera, you know it's 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:02.840 singing straight out of Compton. If you weren't in way 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:08.159 you weren't the status quo of what people perceived to 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:11.480 be as hip hop. Um. But again, like for people 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:13.720 that are not immersed in hip hop culture, and when 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:17.560 they just turn the channel and just see no no bitches, no, no, no, 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:19.600 no no no, then they just think, oh, that's all 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:22.200 it is, um, which it isn't. Like hip hop is 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:25.639 a wide array of art and it just so happens 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:29.399 that the five percent that catches on is what's in 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:33.600 embroidered people's minds as what it is. But emotionally violent, 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:36.240 that's what they think it is. But it's so much 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:41.320 more than it is. So I came into uh metaphorically speaking, 0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:44.479 we got to the train platform as the first wave 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:48.840 of alternative hip hop. Uh train was leaving. You know, 0:23:48.920 --> 0:23:50.560 like when you run for the train and the doors 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:52.920 closed and you see the train leaving, you have to 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:55.000 wait for another twelve minutes for the next train to come. 0:23:55.600 --> 0:23:59.160 That was the roots. The first train was the Jungle Brothers, 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:05.120 a tripolic Us de las soul. Uh. It kinda uh 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:08.600 ended with arrested development like a nine one, like they 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:11.560 won like four Grammys. They were the darlings of you know, 0:24:11.680 --> 0:24:15.080 finally hip hop as in art, like you know, people 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:21.040 were were exclaiming that like our new savers, and then 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:25.480 the backlash happened, like imagine that being the Obama era, 0:24:26.000 --> 0:24:29.040 like finally a new beginning. And then suddenly the next 0:24:29.040 --> 0:24:32.120 train comes in and tonight Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg 0:24:32.160 --> 0:24:35.560 coming in with guns and bitches and ship and people like, no, 0:24:35.680 --> 0:24:38.359 this is what we want. So imagine this election, like 0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:41.679 how can we go twelve steps back? And that was 0:24:41.720 --> 0:24:44.640 the mentality, and so we had to wait it out 0:24:45.400 --> 0:24:49.400 and waited out and literally embraced for it's a tsunami. 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:52.400 We just said we're gonna pull a Hendricks. We're gonna 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:55.879 leave America. We're gonna move to London as a hub, 0:24:56.640 --> 0:25:02.200 find refuge in in in London. Uh, get our musicianship together, 0:25:02.280 --> 0:25:04.720 get our show together, get our songwriting together, get our 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:09.600 production here. Uh. We got a record deal in ninety two. 0:25:09.840 --> 0:25:17.840 We exiled in um three years when three years you 0:25:17.880 --> 0:25:21.399 live we were on. We were on Geffen Records, and 0:25:21.560 --> 0:25:28.560 In Records had so much money, Guns and Roses, Nirvana, Uh, 0:25:28.600 --> 0:25:32.480 Aaron Smith. They made so much money that Geffen was like, yo, 0:25:32.640 --> 0:25:35.600 let's start a black music department where rock label. We 0:25:35.640 --> 0:25:38.080 have no black acts, and you know, we want to 0:25:38.119 --> 0:25:42.880 cash in on on, you know, the craze. And so 0:25:44.720 --> 0:25:49.000 because you just stayed well, there was a d G C. 0:25:49.800 --> 0:25:55.000 But um, we were basically kind of their guinea pig experiment. 0:25:55.480 --> 0:25:58.600 Um they were like, you know, we'll build the staff eventually, 0:25:58.640 --> 0:26:02.119 but for now, just keep the receipts. Here's the credit card. 0:26:03.200 --> 0:26:07.560 Like that's what we did. And then, um, anybody married 0:26:07.560 --> 0:26:09.040 back then with kids that they had to pull over 0:26:09.080 --> 0:26:11.880 there or no, everybody was single. We were all single, 0:26:12.040 --> 0:26:14.400 were all out of high school and college and everything. 0:26:14.800 --> 0:26:18.200 And so what winds up happening was when we first 0:26:18.280 --> 0:26:22.520 signed Aerosmith announced we're gonna leave Geffen. Remember Pump came 0:26:22.520 --> 0:26:24.239 out and it was like really big seller. So they 0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:27.600 went back to Sony and so I was like, all right, whatever. 0:26:28.040 --> 0:26:30.639 And then a little bit later it was kind of 0:26:30.640 --> 0:26:33.040 obviously like Guns and Roses was not going to have 0:26:33.040 --> 0:26:36.040 a follow up to use your loosing one and two, 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:39.440