WEBVTT - Kawan KP Prather 0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:14.360 And money. We take we are the authority on all 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:19.560 things R and Ladies and gentleman. My name is Tank, 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:21.640 I'm J Valentine, and this is the R and B 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:26.000 Money Podcast, the authority on all things R and P, 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:34.479 Ladies and gentleman. There are people who exist in many rooms, 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.639 speak on it, speak on it, many rooms, many a room, 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:42.599 many a room, at a high level in all of 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:47.080 these rooms, make the records. What else he do? DJ 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:49.839 the rack? What else he do? You wanted to rap 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:54.000 on the do it all? I mean, I've seen this 0:00:54.080 --> 0:01:00.360 man everywhere being responsible for something, making sure that something 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.080 went down the way it was supposed to the right way. 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:13.800 Kawan KP breakthrough. That was thank you, thank you, um 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:19.280 first of all, thank you, welcome, appreciate your love. And yeah, 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:22.160 we don't take this lightly, man. We we we we 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:27.000 are observing people. And we see that those braids, okay, 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:33.240 those are fresh, those are fresh. That that that that 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.839 when you want braids like that, you know what I'm saying, 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.720 that's gonna cost you a little something. Yeah, yeah, it's 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.360 gonna cost you some time and somebody, yeah, or some 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:52.200 good relationships. You know what, you know what, because that 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:57.520 is exactly what and who you are brother. You are 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:03.400 walking representation of great relationships. Man. I appreciate that. Thank you. 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:06.920 And that's something that's I don't always know that very 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.520 tough to attain in this business, is to really have 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:15.040 great relationships. Everybody knows each other in some way. Everybody 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:20.240 don't everybody can't have everyone just pick up that phone call. 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.040 I'm grateful and blessed with good intentions when you call me, 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:26.720 I pick up. I picked up my phone call with 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.079 good intentions. People's cracking down. Well, you know, I appreciate 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:31.639 that because that's the point, like I want to call 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.560 with good intentions or with something that's either mutually beneficial 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:37.519 for us or just or I'm calling and really check 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.120 on you and the name to go with it, good 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.519 credit to go along with it. Thank you again. What 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:45.240 I'm saying, we know a lot of guys. You know, 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:53.080 I didn't know how to do the wiggles, but every 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:57.200 everything around your name, it's solid. Man. I'm grateful. Yeah, 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:00.320 and so we're we're we had those do were those 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.720 guys trying to follow in that same space to make 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.960 sure that even if it's the long way, we're just 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:08.760 going to do it the right way. The long way. 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.480 I mean, it's absolutely the long way, but it's you 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:14.040 learn more that way, like the long you know, Like 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.760 I like my career the way it is. It's like 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:18.919 I've been in it long enough to learn a lot 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:24.480 almost generationally. That's a part for me. Let's take a 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.799 journey on you getting to this place where you are 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:31.359 now where you know, I mean some sometimes we can flex, 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:34.560 sometimes we can floss. Where everything's v I p. Is 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:42.600 that where the bubbles come. I heard about just your 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:48.120 intro into this space, um into the music space. Okay, 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:52.200 so two ways. Well, day one. Day one is watching 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.320 my mom and her aunt and my aunts get ready 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:56.080 for like to go out to the club and ship, 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.200 and like I get to play records and I just 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.720 remember putting on a Need a Need Award play. Yeah, 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.800 I would just be shout out on five six. I 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:08.600 don't know, but but I remember seeing this record with 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:10.360 just like palm tree on it, and I put it on. 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:12.920 It was ringing my bell and I saw them lose 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:15.600 their ship and I'm like, okay, something to this like 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:17.800 and I played some more ship and they would you know, 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:19.520 it's almost like they were late for the club a 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.520 little bit and in my head as a as a kid, 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:26.520 I'm like this made my mom happy, Like I like this, 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:28.960 I like this feeling. So it was like, you know, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:30.920 I saw music do that. I didn't know I was 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:33.159 gonna be a DJ and no ship. But I was 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.239 at the airport hustling, like you know, the little cards, 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.880 like I told the story something else, but the carts 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.200 at the airport. Like back when I was when I 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.400 was eleven, there was an there's an arcade in Hartsville, 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:46.800 and what we would do is go take these cards back. 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.320 You put them back in the stall came out. So 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.320 we were running around and just trapped all day and 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:54.400 then go end up at the arcade. I'm sitting there 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.360 playing the game. Dude comes in play and starts playing 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.360 like he had some jury that would seem odd. Asked 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.720 him about it. He said, yes, ll cool J, what's 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:04.480 up short? He cannot play this game with you. You know. 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:06.880 It was like weird, right, But at the time, he 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.960 had to be sixteen, So he's a kid too at 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:13.360 the time who had to be sixteen. I think it 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:17.320 got cracking family like fifteen yeah. So yeah, so it's 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:19.479 like I'm just playing a video game with an older kid, 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.400 but then he said somebody but he got jewels, got 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.520 jewelry and the name and um, and I'm like, how 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:27.600 you get that? And he was like, yeah, I'm here 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.400 doing the show and he's in my head. The voice 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:34.560 is still your shorty. Um, you know it's still yeah, 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:36.520 sure you're doing the show here and you know, and 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:38.920 it's it's that. But he was doing to show at 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:42.400 this club called the Phoenix, and he back then you 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.760 didn't have to go through t s A. So he 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.919 took me back to see like his DJ and the 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:50.039 people who with him, like the Beastie Boys and ship 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.159 and it was like weird, but at the same time 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.960 it was like one of those these kids are just 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:59.719 going places because they were all kids. They weren't so 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:01.800 are away in age for me, but it was like 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.080 it was interesting and then that again. Then that Christmas, 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:10.680 my mom got me turntables and I got two. Started. Yeah, 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.360 I started doing the high school parties, talent shows, doing 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:17.880 mixtapes for like dance groups, you know, like just so 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:19.839 they can perform to like so when it broke down 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.839 into moments and love like on Beaten like, so I'll 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:29.280 make show tapes and how old are you at this point. Yeah, 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.760 I want to go back to something. Um is there. 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.760 There's an arcade and it used to be used to 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:40.240 be Yeah, you're looking for it right now, take right now, 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:45.920 because I'm always in that airport, always connected. Man, listen now, 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.400 it used to be there, but you know, then things 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:50.520 got dangerous in Atlanta, so you know you couldn't have 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:56.080 airport video games. But he come up missing. Yeah, so 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.360 it's your DJ, and you're going mix tape, have before 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:02.240 mix tapes? Well you know, I don't even want to 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.000 call it mix tape. I will make tapes for a 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:07.640 couple of people, like you know, because in eighth grade 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:09.520 I came up on Luke Scott Walker. So I was 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.360 trapping like the dirty tapes I had too short because 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:15.760 you can't just get those. They don't understand. You just 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:20.200 couldn't get the freaky tails. You couldn't get me like 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:24.120 your ship. Yeah, because they had they had that that 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.760 sticker on it. They hadsory sticker. I was a church 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:34.760 so don't know about Hey we also fun so I 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:38.440 know about it. I know of it. Learned later in life. 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:42.160 Just used to use the words that they changed. I sang, 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.080 I sang all the cleans and all my friends and school, Like, 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.239 that's not how that got it all. Like the Lord's version, 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:54.040 I knew every name that too Short said on Freaky Tails, 0:07:54.800 --> 0:08:00.160 you probably knew someone man, right, it was so so 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:03.920 I was doing you hustling, You're hustling the dirty types. Yeah, absolutely, 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:06.320 and and and you know, and then I ran into 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.280 um a friend of mines, well not even at the time, 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:13.000 like I was DJ and the Talent show. This dude 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:14.840 comes up and it's like, yo, my brother nam wrapped. 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.000 They're looking for a DJ. It was Big Recent Mellow. 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.480 Well at the time it was my cousin. It was 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.400 my homeboy Corey, but we called called each other cousins. Um. 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:28.320 So Corey's brother was dating Tien t Boss from TLC, 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:34.400 So all of us ended up all being cool. Yeah, 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.440 everybody home me. So which fast forward, That's how my 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.800 group Parental Advisory we got signed at the Baby Baby 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.880 Baby video shoot audition because what yeah, we got signed 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.000 because Tian was like, come down to our video shoot, 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.480 pebbles down here, we're doing the audition, bring your bring 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.160 your equipment and ship. So I picked up Recent Mellow. 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.160 I had this little white trans am put on my 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.520 ship in. We got down to the rehearsal spot and 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:01.560 I brought my ship into the rehearsal spot like I'm 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:03.720 setting up and she's like whoa, yeah, what do you 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:08.280 do with pebbles from the base. She's like, whoa, what's up? 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.720 I'm like Tian said, and she was like, well, before 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:14.319 a matter of fact, you're gonna be in a video. 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.080 You're gonna be Chili's boyfriend. And I'm like what And 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:18.760 she was like, well, if you want to use my time, 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.559 I'm auditioning to people for a video. And so I 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:24.760 ended up being in the video because of that, but 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.640 she also gave us a deal after we performed. Damn, 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:29.880 I gotta go back and look at that video that 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:34.720 all three of us have been video homes. Video You 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.559 was a video hole too. No no, no, no, don't 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:42.480 jump out. He should call for me, TLC for him 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.000 and SHARRISA for you. Don't try to get out of 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:53.160 this brother with us. Welcome too. Shout out to Brice 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:59.000 who my guy. Bryce. I had to sneak in on Bryce. 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.160 He wasn't doing the right thing. Yeah, but he don 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:05.720 want convinced me to do the Keysha video. Yes, Okay, 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:07.439 this is that one of those like what do you 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:11.599 call it Kevin Baking moments? Right? So Bryce was the 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:15.280 homie and I ended up getting face too right to 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.319 one of his beats. That's how you're making me high? 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:21.480 I came out no way, what yeah, yeah, this is 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.320 this is this is how it goes. The relationships. Wow. 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:27.440 And he beat them like yo, this your hard and 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.320 I was, and you know, I was like, it'd be 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.480 crazy if Tony Braxton was on this ship and the 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.600 versus history, remember like it was yesterday, and that's what 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:38.840 you call hand on. Yeah, that's that's that's what you 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.600 call han on. So y'all get the deal. You know, 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.640 we get a deal. So y'all signed face signed. We 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:45.840 signed a little face first, we signed to a pebbletone 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.600 the face. So we're actually the first rep REP group 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.800 to get signed. But our crew was a Dungeon family, 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.240 so I'm like, we got our own producers. And because 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:56.600 at the time they were like you should work with 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.960 KG from by Nature, um, like you know New York. 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.280 He was having his run to he was him and 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.720 Dave dropped a load on him like going in and 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.000 but I was like, now we got our folks Meanwhile, 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:13.760 they organized North's had met he was in l A 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.280 before through TLSE. They did a remix for what About 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.400 Your Friends? They have been trying to get down but 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:21.319 it just hadn't happened yet. But we got an idea, 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.200 were like, these are producers. So they did our first album. 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:27.800 And what I learned was I was doing and R 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:31.160 then because l A was like, yo, um you telling 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:34.040 us who's gonna producer our record? I was learning that 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:38.280 these opinions people get paid for that ship So you know, 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.200 we we we did our first album, We did a couple. 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.000 We did like three albums. But on the road when 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.800 we would go out, I'd be meeting people like like 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.680 q Tip or Quess Love or like we were on 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:53.240 the road with the Roots and I meet q Tip. 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.040 We get him and Dilla to do a remix for 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.440 Elevators because I'm like l A, these try called crest 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.959 producers and hot sets like it's like and I didn't. 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.000 I wasn't working then. I was just like yeo, I met. 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:08.760 I just met these guys and they do that too. 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:12.320 They want to produce. That's the other part and how 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:16.080 the labels work. People don't understand that l A read 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.400 who is the head of the label. He's not going 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.480 to be on the road every day, but he's not 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.320 going to know who the new young dude is. Someone 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.959 has to introduce that, and you can get paid for that, 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:31.160 especially if you do it with consistency and taste. I 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:33.200 think that's where me and l A clicked. It's like 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.560 I was, I'm am in Atlanta, dude, like that's who 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:42.600 I am, but I understood like outside of like just 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.720 the area because I was a DJ, So I you know, 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:47.679 I knew what New York hip hop founded, Like I 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.320 knew what Michael Jackson sounds like. I know what these 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:52.720 records do in a place. I know what Stevie Wonder 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:56.480 does if you play you know as or another star, Like, 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:58.960 I know what these moments look like. So I'm always 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.000 kind of looking for those moments with records and artists 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:05.000 who can deliver that. So l A me and him 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.720 just click because Pebbles was like, yo, y'all need to connect, 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:12.360 like really, Pebbles put me in it, like across the board, Wow, 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.000 shout out to the band. Yeah, because I think that 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.720 I've always felt like DJs like or even like the 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:25.240 dopest producers just because of their the amount of information 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:31.520 that they understand, and you musically instant either gratification or 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:33.840 you know, you got to change the record immediately, you 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:35.920 know what's going to see it Like when you see 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:38.280 like real time, in real time, when people are dancing 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:41.560 and then they stopped, that's your fault because you played 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.920 something that didn't keep the energy. So it's like it 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:48.160 makes you pay attention to what causes their energy, like 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:52.480 which sounds feel away, you know, and I think that 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:56.400 you know, yeah, that's my um. I don't know. I 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.720 don't know, like the secret sauce, but that's sauce. Yeah, 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:01.600 So like I get to like, it's why I like 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:04.360 DJ and Steel because I'm like, you can't tell me 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:06.200 this ship is jam and when I saw it not 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.720 work right, Like I don't care about what your streams 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.559 look like. I know what it looks like when people 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.280 when it when it hits people like and that's more 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.640 important because I'm like the organic field, Yeah, the actual 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.160 because people will people will actually raise you up. Yeah, 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:28.000 that's the foundation you need. The programming side of it, 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.560 the number side of it is just whatever. But if 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.200 you can build a swell of a good amount of 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.920 people organically, that's something completely different. Yeah, that's what you 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:39.840 get paid for it. Like that's I mean, that's when 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.680 you get paid. You can be talented. But if you're 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:47.440 going talented with no proof that someone cares, you know, 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:49.440 it's like then it's a gamble. But when you go 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.720 in and even when it's something small at a time, 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:54.880 like when it's like consistently selling out two hundred people 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:56.920 in a in a club, right, if you can do 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:00.520 that ship for two three months, that means some of 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:02.920 those people are coming back. That means they're affected by you. 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.160 So if you put more on, it's like if you know, 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:08.360 if you whip the thing on up just a little 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.680 bit more, Yeah, it's like just keep and keep whipping, 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:14.640 and it's like and that's that's like when it's you know, 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.320 no punt attend, that's when it's dope. You know, it's 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.880 like it's it's actually affects people in a way that 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.840 they want it. Like dope sell itself for sure. Like 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:27.000 it ain't a lot of commercials for no Dope. I 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:30.440 haven't seen anything, you know, I've seen Billboard now and 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:35.760 maybe setting out. I've seen down with dope like they 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:39.600 had to do campaigns against dope again, which goes into 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.480 our music and ship too. Though it's like you can 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:44.920 watch when it's when it's dope, there's always a campaign 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.640 against it on some level where it's like this alternative 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.880 to it, like this version of it. So what makes 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:55.640 you transition? I mean, obviously I know that it's being identified, 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:59.200 it's being identified early, But what makes you say, you 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.360 know what? I like the rap group thing. I like 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.560 being on a road, but you know what, I want 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:08.600 to make records? Well, two things, right, I was learning 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:13.400 how to make records and our group got signed to DreamWorks. 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.240 Um so after the face, after the face, So after 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.600 the face, Pebbles took us to m c A. Because 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:20.960 she got a situation the m c A. Gerald Busbey. 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.920 Oh my god. We made a record there, did okay, 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:28.680 but then her thing somehow another wasn't there anymore, right, 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:31.000 So we ended up getting a deal at dream Works 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:37.920 and went wrong with you. Oh man, what two nineteen 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.760 ninety nine? Maybe nine nine nine? It was like it 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:45.160 was ninety nine. Yeah, absolutely, um, because I think the 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.440 album came out in two thousand, because yeah, I was around, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.280 I was, I was heavy at DreamWorks. Then it was 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:53.800 a great place to be UM. But but while we 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.880 were there, I started the mold and and everybody and Michael, 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:00.560 Michael Austin would speak to me about the route. And 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:02.680 we had a manager. Blue was our manager at Tim 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.920 Blue Williams. And but Blue is also managing like he 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.960 was he was busy. And because I worked with Blue 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:13.639 oudcast yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah, a little group on 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:19.320 the outcast UM. So obviously we were not UM. But 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:21.959 I would I would form me. I would get these 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.320 relationships because I would talk because I wanted information. So 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.280 you know, Michael Austen became like an ally for me, 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:30.240 like just to understand what was going on in the 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:33.600 in the building. And and eventually they started talking to 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:36.720 me all the time. And so one day I get 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.480 a call is the group and management and they're like, 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.640 kype man, we gotta figure out something because like you're 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:44.840 talking to them. But I'm like, you know, you're not 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.160 necessarily the leader of the group. I'm like, okay, fair enough, 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.240 but like it's working, like we had gotta we just 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.600 started producing. We had a publishing deal, like I got 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:56.679 us a publish deal with hit Co, but like a 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:58.760 real check, like we might have got more than some 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:02.639 of the bigger producers in Atlanta at the time. And 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.720 I was like me being me talking is work. Yeah, 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:09.160 I'm like, well, you know what at well, I hear 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.720 y'all what I'm gonna do. Then l A offer me 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.560 this gig for real, I'm gonna take this so that 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.120 way our friendship can be intact. Like I don't want 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:21.320 to funk off the energy. That way y'all can run it. 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:23.800 And then I went to work. Like you mean you 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:27.160 walked away from the group. Yeah, well, I mean I 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:28.600 I don't want to make I don't know dramatic like 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:33.360 you take a job. Well, I had an option, like 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.359 you know, I had the option. And again I was 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:39.280 looking at like, bro, we're friends, Like I don't like this, 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:43.080 felt this call feels weird. All this is weird. We 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:46.000 ain't got to do this. And I took the job. 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:47.480 And then I went to work. But I but I 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:55.959 went to work like heavy, heavy work. I think I 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:59.280 did this remix for this group called a Few good Men, 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:01.520 and it was they had this ballot call have have 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.120 I ever? And it was a ballot, but I had 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:06.399 um met the sixty nine boys on the road. So 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.920 we did a bass remix of it and that ship 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:12.680 went up and I was like, oh, okay, okay. He 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:14.960 was like okay, damn, that was cool. How you do that? Like, 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:16.919 but to me, that's something we did in Atlanta, like 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:19.320 taking bass records like Miami based records, putting them on 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:23.640 the Keith Sweat, you know, just making an ignorant um 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:27.280 and asked me to help out Usher after his first 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:29.920 album came out, so he was like I was trying 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.720 to figure it out, and you know, he was like 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.399 close in a close enough in age for me to 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:39.080 understand why why not just taking to Jermaine like domain 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.119 good with kids making right and Jermaine's southern that's just 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:47.520 from Tennessee. As cool as it is that he got 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.320 the swag from New York, you kind of can't overshoot 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:53.800 swag if you're fourteen, someone can't you get with it. 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:57.920 It's just a sexual thing. It's like you, well, then 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:01.160 I can't drop my daughter at at that show. So 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:05.679 we just made it kind of more age appropriate and 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.359 with Southern swag like where it's like it's it's a 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:11.359 gentleman doing it, so you're there for you make me 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:14.080 wanna yeah all of it? Yeah, yeah, you made me 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:17.560 want to like the beginning, you made me well no, 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:19.800 now you maybe one of was literally the end like 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:25.560 where like I remember having like the night the hook 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:27.679 Jermaine wrote the hook, and I called l A. I 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:29.720 was like, yo, you should come out of Jamaine's house. 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:31.439 It might have been like forty five minutes to an 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.360 hour away, and he was like what. I'm like, yeah, 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.040 you should do that for this one. He drove out, 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:39.960 came out. I was like, okay, ship, what the rest 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:43.840 of it that? And I was like, oh, ship, you 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:45.960 haven't drive off for one song off a hook for 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:49.679 a hook? Yeah, ship, But I'm like you maybe like 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:51.520 it's like you don't hit it. Like I'm like, I'm 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:54.240 losing my ship, just like this might be like two 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.200 or three o'clock in the morning, by the way, which 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:01.080 lets you know him being about to smoke, like all 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:04.159 right and gotten this portion drove over the next morning, 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:06.480 you know, after you know we finished it and brought 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:08.760 it back, he was like, okay, a man. You know, 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:12.000 he wasn't mad for the drive because it was like that, 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:14.720 but it was that kind of it was that energy 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:18.680 that was happening like in l A was absolutely about 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:22.760 the song. Smoke. That was a game changer. But that's 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:28.760 that's also while we're so adamant about creators also being 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:34.160 owners and label heads, because a guy who has never 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:38.320 created anything like that of his own, he don't understand 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:40.240 that at two or three in the morning, that moment, 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:44.040 especially even if he's just coming to Cheerley, what the 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:47.640 young fellas is doing just to keep him going understand 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:50.520 how to Chile and understanding how to Cheerley to not 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:52.960 getting the way of that, not getting away or discourage 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:55.920 something that might be different, because I think that's where 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:57.960 a lot of it happens, is like the fear of different. 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.119 Like being in Atlanta, we didn't necessarily have to worry 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:03.400 about it because we didn't have people on our next 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:05.919 about what this was because no one knew yet nobody 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:08.800 knew what it was, so we were blessed in that way. 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:12.560 That's that's just an amazing feeling to have that and 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:16.160 to be around creatives. Like I said, you know, yes 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:19.320 we have as creative as we have our things that 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:22.720