Speaker 1: Well, we are the authority, ladies and gentlemen. MY name
Speaker 1: is Tank and this is the arm by Money podcast.
Speaker 1: The authority. I say that strong today. The authorities from
Speaker 1: all things are interviews. They can't get, they can't get people,
Speaker 1: they can't talk to. See this. This is not this
Speaker 1: is not This is not a songwriter, this is not
Speaker 1: a producer, This is not an artist. This is an entity. Yes,
Speaker 1: this is This is a musical entity that we have
Speaker 1: on the pot today, A family member, a friend, most
Speaker 1: of all, an inspiration, true story to all of us.
Speaker 1: Mr Harold, Harold Lily, come on man, come on man,
Speaker 1: come on man, come on man. To to kick this off,
Speaker 1: I first want to say thank you. This is my
Speaker 1: first podcast past ever in life. It may be my
Speaker 1: first interview on camera ever in life. True story, and
Speaker 1: I would like to start it off with something I wrote,
Speaker 1: m hmmm, dear mama, you raised the son of a gunner,
Speaker 1: hot cold, can't feel the sun in the summer, too
Speaker 1: bold to be himself in a Honda ninety five on
Speaker 1: ninety five headed the Chippingham listening the Lonnie B. I
Speaker 1: met him at Cool Lane. What the funk you telling me?
Speaker 1: I met stars and stars told me I was gonna
Speaker 1: be a king at fifteen because I had a record
Speaker 1: with the king at fifteen. True story. I ain't lying,
Speaker 1: seen Bubba tell Earl. It was over true story. I
Speaker 1: ain't lyne seeing skill shock the world. It was over
Speaker 1: true story. I ain't lying. Being in l a too
Speaker 1: long twenty years writing songs, I ain't lying. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about it all. Yeah, yeah, you hear you, Lily, Yes, yes, girl, Lily.
Speaker 1: That is called son of a gunner. Yes, so here
Speaker 1: I am. Uh, gentlemen, this is fantappulous. First of all, congratulations.
Speaker 1: I have to let your audience know how I was
Speaker 1: introduced to you guys. Kick it all just really quickly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm a child and I'm watching television and I don't
Speaker 1: see the screen, and I hear a voice of a
Speaker 1: child if Ale you knew the way I feel about you,
Speaker 1: and I call it's not Michael. I don't know this voice.
Speaker 1: Then it goes into the hook. My heart beats for you,
Speaker 1: and I go I can't see the screen. Then it
Speaker 1: comes back around, But it comes back around not after
Speaker 1: the second verse. It was the bridge. Oh I knew this.
Speaker 1: I know this, and Tank I hear it again. If
Speaker 1: only you knew, I go, I would follow this voice
Speaker 1: to the gates of all who's this singing? Then at
Speaker 1: the end of the song, I hear an ad lib.
Speaker 1: Oh god, Ja Valentine, you have to know this. My my,
Speaker 1: my mind, my mind, me, my my heart beach. I said,
Speaker 1: I'll follow that voice into a dungeon. That's how I
Speaker 1: was introduced to Jay Valentine. Now you, sir, oh, I
Speaker 1: see a video of you at the e of my
Speaker 1: studios in Santa Monica, California. It was it was bombs Wow,
Speaker 1: you did a back flip. Do you know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about? Okay? I said, this is an arm by
Speaker 1: superhero like I've never I've never seen. I just got
Speaker 1: I had just got from Richmond, Virginia. You know. I
Speaker 1: see it and I go, wow, I'm never seeing this.
Speaker 1: Then he plays me of record and the ad libis,
Speaker 1: oh yeah. I said, would you mind if why didn't
Speaker 1: they do that one? And then they did that. We
Speaker 1: had no choice, bra and then and then twenty years
Speaker 1: passed and I see what you guys have done. I'm
Speaker 1: proud of y'all. Man, I was. I mean, I'm being honest.
Speaker 1: I heard your voice as a child, I met you
Speaker 1: coming into your lionhood and now I'm on R and
Speaker 1: B Money podcast. Ah, it's too marvelous to understand. Yeah, okay, man,
Speaker 1: I'm here. I'm here, brother. Yes, First of all, thank
Speaker 1: you for our flowers. Um, thank you, brother. You've you
Speaker 1: been our brother and family for many moons and you
Speaker 1: know you've uh, you've earned You've earned our respect and
Speaker 1: our reverence completely, period, point blank. So for us, like
Speaker 1: you know, as we may appear the same in age,
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of this thing, you are elder
Speaker 1: to us than Yeah. Got busy, yeah by brother, I'm
Speaker 1: just noticing how busy right. And when you said that,
Speaker 1: like you said earlier before before the cameras came and
Speaker 1: he said, I just realized what I've been doing for
Speaker 1: tuny something. I just I just looked up long enough.
Speaker 1: I peeked out of the woods, just long enough to
Speaker 1: actually see the acres of land in the buildings. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: which is we're gonna get to because what I tell
Speaker 1: most artists is do the work. Just do the work.
Speaker 1: Thank you for telling them, and you'll wake up one
Speaker 1: day and you won't be on the floor. You'll be
Speaker 1: in some presidential suite. Hey man with security waiting for
Speaker 1: you at the front door, saying, the cars downstairs, sir,
Speaker 1: whenever you're ready. You're like, how in the fund did
Speaker 1: I get here? The work? So we want to start?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, this is gonna be a goal. When
Speaker 1: started at the beginning? Okay, grassroots? When did when did
Speaker 1: somebody say, boy, you something? Or when did you feel Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's a calling. Okay, okay. I'm from Richmond, Virginia.
Speaker 1: Virginia is the first state, and I'm from the capitol.
Speaker 1: I was born there interesting place and on the land.
Speaker 1: Before I was born, there was Harold Spencer Lily, my
Speaker 1: father in Richmond, Virginia. His name is bigger than mine.
Speaker 1: Here it's it's my father was the guy for sixty
Speaker 1: years sixty Yeah, so that's my father. My mother as
Speaker 1: a master teacher in the Richmond Public City school system,
Speaker 1: who when she sang, I saw some interesting things happened,
Speaker 1: you know. So if I tell the truth for shame
Speaker 1: the devil bro I've really had no choice. I can
Speaker 1: do other things, but in the city of Richmond, Virginia,
Speaker 1: I'm the junior, I'm the second one. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And so I didn't know him that well.
Speaker 1: I was always told stories about him through the city. Wow.
Speaker 1: So if I'm in class, JA, yeah, her her, her,
Speaker 1: Lilio daddy. Wow. Yes. And then the next na na
Speaker 1: in the next seven minutes is about how he made
Speaker 1: them feel when he played the organ. At least seven minutes. Oh,
Speaker 1: your daddy played at my mama funeral. Your daddy came
Speaker 1: to the old folks home and played him. Uh, your
Speaker 1: daddy played in my way, and uh, this is this
Speaker 1: is my life growing up. So when it came to music,
Speaker 1: I thought everybody knew how to do it like that. Okay, Um,
Speaker 1: So I had no choice. Grew up in church and
Speaker 1: everybody in church did it. You know. Uh. I had
Speaker 1: basketball dreams. I had. I had hoop dreams. And one
Speaker 1: day I'm trying out for a basketball team and I
Speaker 1: do a move that that gardener's respect from my peers.
Speaker 1: And after I do the move, the coach his name
Speaker 1: was Frank Three's John Marshall High School, legendary figure. He
Speaker 1: blows the whistle and he says, Lily, get over here.
Speaker 1: I'm waiting for him to he praised upon me for
Speaker 1: the move that I just did. In the gym and
Speaker 1: he says, Lily, you know what you're gonna do. I said,
Speaker 1: what he said, You're gonna do music, because you ain't
Speaker 1: gonna be doing that ship on my court. I don't care.
Speaker 1: I don't care. I don't care what you know. You
Speaker 1: won't do that on Mike. You're gonna do music. Don't
Speaker 1: your dad to do music. You're gonna do music. And
Speaker 1: I said, well, uh, I'm not alan. I I waited who,
Speaker 1: by the way, it is Bubba in my hoem Okay,
Speaker 1: I saw Bubba tell Earl it was over true story.
Speaker 1: I ain't lying. Uh. He's a young kid. Uh. Douglas
Speaker 1: Wilder has to free him from joh My High School.
Speaker 1: John Marshall High School played his high school, Bethel in
Speaker 1: a state championship. There is no social media. For all
Speaker 1: we know, Bubba Chuck is eight ft tall. We walked
Speaker 1: through the gym and we see just a man until
Speaker 1: it's the fourth quarter of the game and him and
Speaker 1: Tony Rutland start to do things that were you know,
Speaker 1: that allowed them to win the game. But it was
Speaker 1: their guys. I gotta be honest, I've seen somebody win
Speaker 1: the States in that sweat. He was a sweating. I
Speaker 1: saw he wasn't sweating, And on the way home, I said,
Speaker 1: you know what will come easy to me, like I
Speaker 1: wnna do what I'm gonna do. Yeah, will come easy
Speaker 1: to me like athletics come to him because he was
Speaker 1: not He wasn't sweating. He wasn't sweating. And I said, oh,
Speaker 1: it's music. I sing in the Talent show. What great
Speaker 1: is this? Maybe ten? And it's intentional. Before I was
Speaker 1: always singing, but it wasn't intentional. I'm in an R
Speaker 1: and B group. Uh in high school? Thank you Gerard,
Speaker 1: thank you Antoine, thank you Tony Cosby. We are we sing?
Speaker 1: Oh do the the the females and the audience they
Speaker 1: start to scream. And I'm a young lad at the time,
Speaker 1: and I feel electricity. Yeah, come upon me. And I've
Speaker 1: been bitten ever since. Oh my god, bro, it's electricity
Speaker 1: electric Still. I must admit you, gentlemen, I don't know
Speaker 1: how you are able. There there are gifts. We all
Speaker 1: have our graces. And I remember Jamie Fox took me
Speaker 1: on the road with him for Unpredictable. He said her,
Speaker 1: you have to see what this song is doing on
Speaker 1: the road. I agree. The cities were Miami, Atlanta, Atlanta,
Speaker 1: M and I don't know what other city after that.
Speaker 1: I left immediately. I looked backstage and I said, oh,
Speaker 1: what what attention? What attention? M You know, I would
Speaker 1: sit with you guys in studios and then I would
Speaker 1: go home. I wouldn't have to engage with the world.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Missy Elliott, Melissa Elliott, thank you, Missy Elliott.
Speaker 1: I met Missy Elliott through Nicole Ray. Nicole Ray was
Speaker 1: coming to Richmond, Jaan to do songs at my one
Speaker 1: of my teachers. His name is Gerard Thomas, his house. Okay,
Speaker 1: she comes to the studio. Oh uh. And this is when, probably,
Speaker 1: like all of us, I don't know, we had young
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs in the city, uh, funding our dreams. Okay. And
Speaker 1: these are master master mathematicians, master philosophers, and yes, politicians,
Speaker 1: and they were sending us to Jack the Rapper. I'm
Speaker 1: watching Puff walk around with a with a with a
Speaker 1: flag and a big and all of these things. And
Speaker 1: I'm fifteen years old and I record a song with
Speaker 1: Biggie Smalls. That's why I said in the story. M hmm,
Speaker 1: I had a record with the King in fifteen Yes,
Speaker 1: so surely I'm going to be famous because I hear
Speaker 1: juicy as I walked to you crops after school, and
Speaker 1: then I started to go home just because I got
Speaker 1: a song with biggest smalls. That don't mean I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be famous. How does this work? Yes? So how do
Speaker 1: you get this song with with Biggie? Why are the
Speaker 1: heroes in my neighborhood? They knew heroes and other neighbors
Speaker 1: yea connected connected, These are legendary figures. Oh my goodness. Yes,
Speaker 1: so uh we do it at Master Sound Studios, Rob
Speaker 1: ohsh who Master Sound Studios then becomes the studio where
Speaker 1: the neptunes. Um. So is this the studio that Teddy Riley? Alright?
Speaker 1: That was future. Yes, that was two different studios. I
Speaker 1: remember driving from Richmond, Virginia, because we heard Teddy Riley
Speaker 1: was on the land and we just looked. We looked
Speaker 1: through a fence at a tour bus and I said, Wow,
Speaker 1: this piece of my love is this is what it
Speaker 1: gets you? So missing Elliott, here's the song? Um and
Speaker 1: she supports it's me. I go to New York. I'm
Speaker 1: in a session. I see a young Jay Brown, a
Speaker 1: Sylvia arrona Merlin, Bob, I see all these people, and
Speaker 1: I'm singing on a piano for these people, and I go,
Speaker 1: this is interesting. They seem excited. I do this every day.
Speaker 1: This is ah ah. One of the songs on a
Speaker 1: demo tape ends up in the hands of Big John Platt. Hm.
Speaker 1: I think, John, here's the song. He identifies a great song,
Speaker 1: one song out of the three hundred that he may
Speaker 1: have heard that day, and he says, Hey, what was this?
Speaker 1: Who was this Blue? Where Williams Blue? Williams tells him, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna find out, Nicole. Who is this guy? Nay
Speaker 1: harl or literally from James Are you're singing at demo too? Yes?
Speaker 1: It was. It was so. It was a duet called
Speaker 1: talk with Time uh, and nobody never heard okay, which
Speaker 1: is why songwriters, young songwriters can I look in this
Speaker 1: charactere hey man, just because it's not placed doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that it's not supposed to place. You. He hears the song,
Speaker 1: he calls. He calls his best friend Treat in Denver.
Speaker 1: Treat called his his wife at the time new Uh
Speaker 1: was from Virginia. I think she calls him at it
Speaker 1: in Virginia and say, hey, I'm looking for a guy
Speaker 1: named her Lily. It just so happens that the person
Speaker 1: around knew the name. Of course, of course, and I
Speaker 1: know I know his son, I know his son. I
Speaker 1: get a phone call from Felicia Sanderva or no, Big John. Actually, hey,
Speaker 1: my name Big John. I've been looking for her Lily.
Speaker 1: I want to do a publishing deal. I hang up
Speaker 1: the phone. Why I thought it was my friends plan.
Speaker 1: This is a true story. He calls back. Hello, Hey man,
Speaker 1: this Big John. Um, I'm looking for her old Lily.
Speaker 1: This is him. I'm working at Stanley's Hardware. I'm making
Speaker 1: brackets on doors. I can always find a bracket in
Speaker 1: the room. All right, So I'm working. I get off
Speaker 1: l A. I get a phone call from from l
Speaker 1: A number three one old number. I ain't they're playing.
Speaker 1: This is Antoine Whitley playing with me. He's one of
Speaker 1: my best friends. The next thing, you know, bro, he
Speaker 1: calls back. He said, this is real. This is real.
Speaker 1: This is real. He said, just throw my name around
Speaker 1: and to see if this is real or not. I said, okay,
Speaker 1: I never had anyone tell me that before. Tank. I
Speaker 1: go to a session one day and uh, I say, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: we all playing Sega, Uh Madden. I was electric. We're
Speaker 1: playing Sega and Uh, I said, hey, guys, it's some
Speaker 1: guy named Big John Man. They called me talking about
Speaker 1: he wants sign me and they looked at me like
Speaker 1: I had five hands j J. I said, yeah, May called.
Speaker 1: He called me the other day. I see people running
Speaker 1: to me to grab my phone. You've real what you lie?
Speaker 1: Take my phone? I have no reason. You don't know
Speaker 1: who it is. I have no clue. So then I
Speaker 1: I decided to I then had like four four publishing
Speaker 1: deals on the table. At that time, guys people used
Speaker 1: to sign people of Can I talk to the chemra
Speaker 1: more time? A while ago, A and RS and public
Speaker 1: creative people used to sign other They would identify talent
Speaker 1: and sign it off gut no algorithm necessary, none, not one. No,
Speaker 1: they didn't have of it. I believe that he's the guy.
Speaker 1: John Platt is one of the best in the game,
Speaker 1: hands down. It isn't even And when you're the first
Speaker 1: black anything, you must get grace. It's a lone man,
Speaker 1: the first black chairman. If you're the first black anything,
Speaker 1: that's a line. So his community supports him, you know,
Speaker 1: And so he put me in the game. Man. And
Speaker 1: I've worked with UM everybody. I work what everybody if
Speaker 1: they are original and you love their music and they
Speaker 1: mean something to your family, I've worked with him one
Speaker 1: way or another. Yes, I working both of y'all definitely. Yea. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What was the first the first wild moment for you?
Speaker 1: Where where something that you created, like made it made
Speaker 1: a difference in a way that you've never seen or
Speaker 1: even expected. Okay, I had UM. I signed with E
Speaker 1: M I and I gotta check. They came to my
Speaker 1: house at the time, seven Hawthorne Avenue in Richmond, Virginia,
Speaker 1: and I had never I had never seen UM. Like
Speaker 1: a FedEx like I had never seen it before. Okay,
Speaker 1: like a package, yea certified package. Got sign for Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've never seen that. I've never seen that. The bad
Speaker 1: it comes up. My uncle Bobby get to get the thing,
Speaker 1: he said her, you gotta sign for something, my sign
Speaker 1: for it. I opened it. There's a check for thirty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Ja Tank. I took my whole family to
Speaker 1: them all. How much was maybe four hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: seven dollars every Friday? Yeah, yeah, the whole family to
Speaker 1: them all. I said, everybody, let's go eat. We pound
Speaker 1: up in a Plymouth villager, villager, Mercury Villager, or something
Speaker 1: like that. I tried to go cash the check. The
Speaker 1: lady at Crestar Bank on Azaia Avenue, she says, this
Speaker 1: isn't real. I said, oh my goodness, could it not
Speaker 1: be real? Perhaps? Perhaps perhaps I've been hanged. We all
Speaker 1: go to the check cashing place and let me tell you.
Speaker 1: I they gave me twelve thousand dollars, but I had
Speaker 1: to pay back hard money loan. And I said, gladly,
Speaker 1: show me where to say. I took my family to
Speaker 1: Virginia Center Commons Mall and I said, hey, man, y'all
Speaker 1: get what y'all want. Man, all right, but what'd you get?
Speaker 1: I don't think I got anything. Same thing, same thing,
Speaker 1: same thing. I couldn't even spend it. My first year,
Speaker 1: I couldn't spend it. I went to the mall with
Speaker 1: the cash and I still had the City National Bank envelope.
Speaker 1: You didn't find anything. I like, I got money. I
Speaker 1: found a bunch of stuff. What did you It was
Speaker 1: a breakda? I found strippers, okay? You found yeah, found
Speaker 1: strippers who needed the money? Okay, okay? I found also
Speaker 1: in that same place. There were crab legs and shrimp
Speaker 1: the size of your back. Yes, I needed those. Were
Speaker 1: you still living in Okay? Okay? It was used to
Speaker 1: be Mirage Nightclub, but then it became Nexus Gold Club.
Speaker 1: I found a gun Okay, I purchased. Who was your
Speaker 1: first check? My first check was was seventy five dollars.
Speaker 1: My first artist check wasn't it? Wasn't it? And then
Speaker 1: my publishing My first publishing check was a hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Oh you was bad, you know my twenty five small
Speaker 1: sets small set. My deal was for more. But the
Speaker 1: first check as an adult, like, yeah, my kid career
Speaker 1: or whatever. My daddy got that he did with you know,
Speaker 1: he got that my first adult check, my first publishing
Speaker 1: deal at Warner Chapel. Shout out Denise Weathers. Be shout
Speaker 1: out Denise Weathers for believing in the young player. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The first money, the first part of the advance was
Speaker 1: k the bank held it. They held they had to
Speaker 1: hold it for it. See that's that's the difference. You
Speaker 1: was in Richmon, so they made you got to check that.
Speaker 1: They knew mine was real because you were in I
Speaker 1: was in Los Angeles at the time. But they were like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hold it for seven days because you have
Speaker 1: a new account, we're gonna give you undred. Can we
Speaker 1: say something, Can we just go back to the past
Speaker 1: and talk about the holding the holding of And then
Speaker 1: they went to seven days, you get one piece. The
Speaker 1: up of seven, you're gonna get the next piece. And
Speaker 1: I would sweat bullets while that's seven or fourteen days.
Speaker 1: I need my money, Yes, I need all of it,
Speaker 1: to look all of them to hit. Asked me how
Speaker 1: fast I went through that money fast? I don't know,
Speaker 1: too fast. I was blowing money fast way before being
Speaker 1: all right. So so this is the good thing. So
Speaker 1: johant head is set up to where the structure of
Speaker 1: the deals were. You get half upfront and yes, as
Speaker 1: you go m Drnimum delivery required. Talk about say that again,
Speaker 1: minimum delivery required commitment. Oh I whatever that number was
Speaker 1: for me, I would want to obliterate it because it
Speaker 1: seemed like that number stood in between me and food shell. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: So I said, let me get rid of that number.
Speaker 1: And uh, look, man, I moved from Los Angeles to Richmond,
Speaker 1: I mean Richmond to l A bro You talk about
Speaker 1: off the first thirty coaches. Shot, well, I was here
Speaker 1: for a year. I was here for a year, and uh,
Speaker 1: I never forget John was telling me, her Man, you
Speaker 1: might want to move him. Man your rod to account
Speaker 1: getting up there. You're standing in the motels. You were
Speaker 1: in them cars because he was flying me out and
Speaker 1: it was putting me out, you know. And he said, Harry,
Speaker 1: won't you just move? And I'm like, these people are
Speaker 1: strange here. I will stay, i will work and I
Speaker 1: will go home and I'll never forget it. One day
Speaker 1: we do take you out for Luther Vandro come on,
Speaker 1: come on, because he was just gonna say it like
Speaker 1: it was just he was gon skip by. He almost
Speaker 1: whispered it. Yeah, you know you're not gonna do that
Speaker 1: true story tank. Oh god, I'm talking to the man
Speaker 1: and and in the bowling alley, me and Warren and
Speaker 1: John Jugu Smith. Let's get first. I was introduced to
Speaker 1: Warren Campbell Baby Baby Baby dub Warren Campbell through John
Speaker 1: playing Okay, I the first time I meet Warren Campbell.
Speaker 1: They're celebrating him and Mary Mary's success for Shackles being
Speaker 1: the biggest song in the world. On my first introduction
Speaker 1: to him, on a trip on my first trip to
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. Uh, layover with Chris Henderson from Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 1: This is interesting. So anyway, as a man named Mr
Speaker 1: Clive Davis, he started a new label, UM, and it's
Speaker 1: called Jay Records. And you know when you started record label,
Speaker 1: you gotta go get a big artist at everybody. No, first,
Speaker 1: let's just grease the gears here so this thing can
Speaker 1: go easy. Luther Van Drass is the one of the
Speaker 1: artists that decides to work with Clive Davis. And they're
Speaker 1: looking for songs. I see a beat tape. Uh, John
Speaker 1: Jubu Smith and Warren Baby Dup Campbell. Uh, they have
Speaker 1: some music. They're working on music. I take a tape home.
Speaker 1: I was staying at the Best Western on the four
Speaker 1: or five of the full or five and Santa Monica meets.
Speaker 1: I wrote, I wrote People's Childhood and the hell town
Speaker 1: in my head, yeah, right across you from the from
Speaker 1: the gas station. Yeah, and so I wrote take you out.
Speaker 1: I think nothing of it because I don't know how
Speaker 1: this works. One day, me and Warren go to a
Speaker 1: bowling alley. The phone rings. Warren looks at me, he goes,
Speaker 1: he's right here, but Warren looked like he's seen a ghost.
Speaker 1: Well he looking at me like I got five heads.
Speaker 1: He's right here, Harles Luther Van draws. No, I said,
Speaker 1: m I'm twenty two years old, and look at that.
Speaker 1: Warn Campbell is telling me God is on the phone,
Speaker 1: the Lord. I get there. I get the phone and
Speaker 1: I go hello, and he says, hold on, hold on,
Speaker 1: hold on, and I hear so amazing to be I
Speaker 1: follow you to the I go. He has his own
Speaker 1: old music. Wait wait wait, no, no, no, no no,
Speaker 1: I think you just hear that in your head. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: he has whole music. Yeah, yeah, yeah he when he
Speaker 1: puts you on hold, you heard his music. I gotta
Speaker 1: be honest. This, this conversation set up to set up
Speaker 1: the next This conversation set up the framework of my career.
Speaker 1: He gets back on the phone. He says, yes, uh uh,
Speaker 1: who am I talking with? This is her? This is her?
Speaker 1: Litly Okay, good, um, Look, you gotta hit You're welcome.
Speaker 1: Oh it's gonna be a smash. You're welcome. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: use your backgrounds. You're welcome, all right? Whoa, This is
Speaker 1: a lot of energy. He's telling me you're welcome. And
Speaker 1: I haven't even said thank you. What's happening? What's happening here?
Speaker 1: And then I say, okay, thank you. He said, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm in the studio. And he said, the first verse
Speaker 1: I need in the new first verse. He said, your
Speaker 1: first verse is very gender specific. You're you're talking too small.
Speaker 1: You need to think bigger. Luther's bigger than women. Luther
Speaker 1: is bigger than men. Luther's biggest love. And I said okay.
Speaker 1: I said, well, I'll get it to you, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: in a couple of days. He said, oh, no, I'm
Speaker 1: at the studio now. I said, well, I'm at the
Speaker 1: bowling alley. He said, oh, you're at the bowling alley. Okay,
Speaker 1: he said. I have a lot of cars. I go, oh,
Speaker 1: where is this going. What does automobiles have to do
Speaker 1: with a verse that needs to be rewritten? He said,
Speaker 1: I have a Jaguar, have a Rolls, I have a Cadillac.
Speaker 1: I have many many cars. What if I took one
Speaker 1: of my cars to a mechanic shop and I need
Speaker 1: a new spark plugs and they told me, oh, we
Speaker 1: can't get your spark plugs today. What am I gonna
Speaker 1: do with the car? I said, you're gonna take across
Speaker 1: the street. Do you want me to take your song
Speaker 1: across the street? No, sir, I'll have it done good.
Speaker 1: I feel like I've aged seventy eight years on this
Speaker 1: particular call. Then he tells me the most amazing thing
Speaker 1: he said, and another thing said, Yes, sir, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell everybody I wrote it. I said, well, this is
Speaker 1: too much to understand, ship, but let me submit my
Speaker 1: will and my I did just get here from Richmond, Virginia.
Speaker 1: Uh I, I was making brackets about three months ago.
Speaker 1: Or yes, sir, would you like to know why? Yes?
Speaker 1: He said, well I'm gonna go on Oprah. Oprah is
Speaker 1: gonna ask me a question. The way I answered that
Speaker 1: question can make you more money. So what's the question?
Speaker 1: The question is, oh, Luther, all right, I want you
Speaker 1: to tell my studio audience and the millions watching how
Speaker 1: you came up with this song. The first answer is, oh,
Speaker 1: a guy named her a little from Richmond, Virginia wrote it.
Speaker 1: I said, hmm, that doesn't seem exciting. He said. The
Speaker 1: next way I can answer that question is, Oprah, I
Speaker 1: want you to take all of my songs so amazing
Speaker 1: in our house is not a home power love never
Speaker 1: too much, roll them into one and introduced it to
Speaker 1: a new generation. That's how this song came together. He said,
Speaker 1: which answer is gonna make you more money? I said
Speaker 1: the second one. I don't know. Listen, I don't know
Speaker 1: how much y'all be on it of there, but you
Speaker 1: know I'm tapping here there And there is of me
Speaker 1: in a video of a man from the Bay Area saying,
Speaker 1: you gotta you're think it's too small? Big, big big.
Speaker 1: That was the That was the conversation ever since. The
Speaker 1: guys I've said nothing. I've said nothing. I've said nothing.
Speaker 1: And the people who needed to know, they know, and
Speaker 1: they know. The people who needed to know, they they
Speaker 1: I talked to them often. Now recently, I am submitting
Speaker 1: to the information age. I feel like now the age
Speaker 1: demands the information. If you have information, the age will
Speaker 1: receive it. Why in your phones is your birthdate and
Speaker 1: your social in your credit card? And the age it's
Speaker 1: gonna get that information. And I have a company. I
Speaker 1: have a I have a place where there are children
Speaker 1: doing some immaculate things that come out of the speakers,
Speaker 1: and they're telling me, Harry, can you say something. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Why would I do that? God told me
Speaker 1: not to. This is about hard that was you as
Speaker 1: a songwriter. You're not you're not. You got people here,
Speaker 1: and I go, I do live in Los Angeles. It
Speaker 1: is storyline. If you tell the story in Los Angeles, guys, uh,
Speaker 1: you kind of tell it everywhere. It's the third largest
Speaker 1: economy in the world. I'm like, damn, man, we gotta
Speaker 1: there's a lot of names. Brove, I've been blessed. Bro
Speaker 1: I've been blessed. But then I go, well, maybe I
Speaker 1: should start talking now, maybe say something. Maybe I should.
Speaker 1: And the irony My first Grammy was a song called
Speaker 1: you Don't Know My Name irony of I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: say your name. Yes in your first Grammy being you
Speaker 1: don't know my name? Uh, Alicia Keys is coming off
Speaker 1: ten million real album so like this is ten million
Speaker 1: real albums, so real. Yeah. Yeah, like no, she's coming
Speaker 1: yeah physical, she's coming off of so you got to
Speaker 1: pick the plastic off of these Yes, yes, And then
Speaker 1: there's some tape, Yes sir, Yes, sir, you gotta undo
Speaker 1: to take. You're gonna see Uncle Bobby's name when you
Speaker 1: when you open up. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I seen it, yeah,
Speaker 1: and so guys. I but again it was work man,
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't. I see Kanye, I see Alicia.
Speaker 1: He plays beats. That was meant for Blueprint. We was
Speaker 1: at qualit that day. We did uh m hmm. You
Speaker 1: don't know my name and Unbreakable. I was like, but
Speaker 1: it was to me it was a job. So I
Speaker 1: gotta I go, I gotta, I gotta do this tomorrow.
Speaker 1: So it's I gotta. You know, my bird saying this
Speaker 1: used to do something. Definitely, here's the very same. You
Speaker 1: didn't walk away though you walk away the game. Oh no,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm actually no mm hmm. I was. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: when you write songs for a living, you have to serve.
Speaker 1: Can I talk to the listen writers? Your job is
Speaker 1: to serve the artist. Uh, it is not your session,
Speaker 1: it is not your album, it is not your budget,
Speaker 1: but it can be your vision. Okay, and so please
Speaker 1: understand that you're there to serve. Okay, got that on
Speaker 1: doing so, I've been serving in these studio sessions. Hey man, Uh,
Speaker 1: we've abbing out with Jamie. Jamie wanted to talk his ship.
Speaker 1: Be Jamie deserves and should talk every amount of ship
Speaker 1: that he wants to talk. If I'm in the room,
Speaker 1: if if if Warren called me he needs a song
Speaker 1: for the Soul Secret, let's go back. If Jamie wants
Speaker 1: to talk his ship, Yes, you should be able to
Speaker 1: talk to ship, and I should be able to serve
Speaker 1: that as a song. Where as you serve that, Yes,
Speaker 1: what do you do? What do you serve? Unpredictable? He's
Speaker 1: coming off of ray. Uh, he just want an oscar
Speaker 1: talk about it and it was the hottest project to
Speaker 1: get on at the time. Clive Davis was holding Bungalow
Speaker 1: meetings for the songs. You know material, Can I say another?
Speaker 1: You have to bring it the writers. If you can
Speaker 1: read it, it'll probably sing even better. Okay, I go
Speaker 1: to the place he tells me about Jamie. He's like,
Speaker 1: he's And all I know at the time is it
Speaker 1: was just if you That's all I know. That's all
Speaker 1: I know at the time. And I know he's a
Speaker 1: dynamic actor, and um, it's the biggest project to get on.
Speaker 1: Brian Prescott talk about it the Guy with the King,
Speaker 1: but for the new ones. Yeah, Brian Prescott calls me
Speaker 1: and says her out of hit boy, I out of
Speaker 1: hit I'm trying to take now. Prior, prior, our first
Speaker 1: record together was Brother by Andrew Stone. This is the
Speaker 1: second one, he says. He says her, I got a
Speaker 1: record it's crazy Big d and Jim Johnson, and I
Speaker 1: was fans of theirs. I was fansy Big Things. Okay,
Speaker 1: it was cooking. Oh that was cooking. He sends me
Speaker 1: the Unpredictable track, so dry and ruinated. Baby, Baby, time
Speaker 1: write a song, Okay, Boom, send it back. It's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be the s We're getting this, you know. Brian
Speaker 1: starts to Brian, I go, oh, chamber records it. We
Speaker 1: go down and I forgot what movie he was filming. Okay, yep.
Speaker 1: And the the engineer of Unpredictable was a man by
Speaker 1: the name of Camel, and he was on his way
Speaker 1: to be the like you know he would have like
Speaker 1: Manny and Jason and all of those guys. Now he
Speaker 1: was that's where he was headed. One of the best
Speaker 1: guys ever met. He passes away, right, And so when
Speaker 1: he passed away, I said damn, because he called me, said, yo,
Speaker 1: I've been New York Baby Unpredictable going crazy? Oh hey, baby.
Speaker 1: A couple of weeks. He's gone. Best guy ever met
Speaker 1: at that point in my life. He was younger than me,
Speaker 1: and uh I named my son after him. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean one of the best guys I ever met. Man,
Speaker 1: And so all these records Man Tray songs just gotta
Speaker 1: make it. I gotta stay it, unpredicted, ok. I gotta
Speaker 1: stay there because I was there. Yeah, you were there.
Speaker 1: We did a song called three Letter Words. I was
Speaker 1: there and I remember I said, Tank is here here.
Speaker 1: I can get Tanked to sing on one of the
Speaker 1: songs that I was able to remember. It would be legendary.
Speaker 1: It's a tank. You think you can sing on this song? Oh?
Speaker 1: Come on, man, whatever Tank goes in the booth. Ah
Speaker 1: and I hear Tank, Dude does Tank? My life is
Speaker 1: into it. I'm Sarah lily As. You've been reading um
Speaker 1: as you're a scholar on the subject. He's about Yeah,
Speaker 1: doctor it over doctors probably. Yeah, I've heard it other
Speaker 1: about this here. Yeah, we we need we need some
Speaker 1: information from me. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're
Speaker 1: gonna pick at your rm B mine. Okay, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: you know you got it? Yes, sure, I need to
Speaker 1: know top five R and B singers from any time,
Speaker 1: male or female, Male or female female, Top five all Time,
Speaker 1: Your Carotti, Aretha Franklin. Yeah, you're gonna start there. Wow,
Speaker 1: Sam Cook, I'll see where you going. Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston,
Speaker 1: Michael Land, Prince. I'm sorry. Who was my top five?
Speaker 1: And I and I and I didn't even mention Marvin
Speaker 1: and Barry Whine because it gets crazy kids, So I
Speaker 1: have to talk about our mothers and our fathers before
Speaker 1: I talk about the children. Wow. I like that. Top
Speaker 1: five R and B songs. Who you are a songwriter? Man?
Speaker 1: Tender Lover by for sim God. What a song. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's number one. What a song? Jeez, Louise My who
Speaker 1: wrote that? Who wrote that? Jamm and Leuis thank you?
Speaker 1: They wrote it from from my You're standing Yeah, love
Speaker 1: so tender. I love tender no more. They don't They're
Speaker 1: not tender no more. Joy and Pain by Frankie Beverly
Speaker 1: and Maids. Yeah. Yeah, sold out Arena's worldwide. It's like
Speaker 1: going R and B, R and R and B Top
Speaker 1: five greatest songs. Mm hmm okay Piece of My Love
Speaker 1: by Come on guy, come on? Huh Huh, you gotta
Speaker 1: have all of it, but you get a piece of it. Huh.
Speaker 1: Four has to be Oh buddy, mm hm hm m
Speaker 1: hmm Forever My Lady by joviash Don't Hold It, Oh Goodness,
Speaker 1: Oh goodness. And then number five oh man m h okay.
Speaker 1: There's a song by Stevie Wonder. It's called Seems So Long.
Speaker 1: It's off the Music of my Mind album. This is
Speaker 1: when he's allowed to produce his own album. Before this,
Speaker 1: he had done maybe eleven or fourteen albums where he
Speaker 1: had to do what Barry said. You know, Barry basically said, no,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna write anything. You're gonna learn from the
Speaker 1: best writers, producers, arrangers. And it's a song on his
Speaker 1: album called Seems So Long Music of My Mind is.
Speaker 1: It's phenomenal, It's phenomenon And this is one of the
Speaker 1: first songs he's ever written. Well it was it was
Speaker 1: on his album that he got to create creative control.
Speaker 1: He had creative control. Man, it seems so long. It
Speaker 1: one of my favorite songs. Bro so the theme today,
Speaker 1: I have to go look at us. It seems so long.
Speaker 1: Steven wanted to brow it up. Yeah, I listened to
Speaker 1: this song and that I listened to that song and
Speaker 1: that Okay, we're gonna we're gonna build an R and
Speaker 1: B singer. We called this the R and B voltron.
Speaker 1: Who are getting the vocals from? Who you're getting the
Speaker 1: performance style from, Who are you getting the st from,
Speaker 1: and who are you getting the passion from the heart
Speaker 1: of the artists. Let's start with the vocals. Whose vocals
Speaker 1: are you grabbing to build your artists? Aretha Franklin, I mean,
Speaker 1: why not? Why why not? Why not? It has to
Speaker 1: be We're gonna be on the mountain. Performance style, James Brown, this, this,
Speaker 1: this person is already wonderful. Oh my god, like what
Speaker 1: you really think about it's wonderful, Oh my goodness? Who
Speaker 1: unfolding ones, unfolding majesty. The vocals of Aretha, the performance
Speaker 1: of James okay with us? The styling okay, looking like,
Speaker 1: oh this is gonna be interesting. Um, this is styling
Speaker 1: has really not been. But I know every time I
Speaker 1: saw Prince, the intentionality seems so inality, it seems so
Speaker 1: worri intentionality. Yeah, it seems so real, like, wow, us
Speaker 1: that your pants, You're really gonna have you do this?
Speaker 1: This was intentional? This was intentional until I mean the
Speaker 1: the outfit, the shoes, the silver shirts, to makeup, the hair.
Speaker 1: It was a movie. Oh my good Yes. And then
Speaker 1: he made him, Yeah, a movie. Every time I've seen him,
Speaker 1: him and Michael looking. You can't mistake somebody being Prince
Speaker 1: for Halloween, you can't exactly. Yeah, even when it was
Speaker 1: a bad it's a prince. Fix your hair, it's prince
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, Prince started. And you know, even Diana
Speaker 1: ross Man, she looked like a walking, living, breathing queens
Speaker 1: like black elegance and excellence all and like di was
Speaker 1: some girls from Detroit talking to queens and kings. Yeah, talking, yeah,
Speaker 1: carrying themselves. Come on, man, royalty Okay. And this is
Speaker 1: and this is the power of this music. This is
Speaker 1: the power of the people that do this thing called
Speaker 1: R and B. Come on, man, come on man. So
Speaker 1: I got them my three? You got anywhere? Yeah, you
Speaker 1: don't got something else? One more thing, who are you
Speaker 1: getting the passion from? Whose heart? Whose heart and soul
Speaker 1: you're putting into this artist? Mm hmmm hmm. It has
Speaker 1: to be mine. It has to be mine. It has
Speaker 1: to be it has to be But I've ever met
Speaker 1: anyone more passion. I don't. I don't think i've met them.
Speaker 1: I'm fighting, never met. I'm introducing myself to myself. And
Speaker 1: this is why I'm sitting on the couch. It would
Speaker 1: it would have to be. It would just have to
Speaker 1: be I know, close, yeah, yea, eat, sleep, breathe bleed
Speaker 1: the music. Yes, I'm no corporate person, and I'm I'm
Speaker 1: seeing now that whole I'm dealing with corporations. I never
Speaker 1: professed to be a businessman, but now I'm dealing with
Speaker 1: business people all because I closed my eyes and go
Speaker 1: into a room and sing in a microphone. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: It would have to be met. That is the front.
Speaker 1: It would have to be me. It would have to be.
Speaker 1: It would have to be. So yeah, yeah, I agree. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, I haven't agreeance. Yeah, I'm gonna jay
Speaker 1: do the rest. I'm talking because we got a special
Speaker 1: part for you too, alright. You know that's really important
Speaker 1: to this showy alright, yeah, and I know you know,
Speaker 1: I know you watched the show. I know you tune
Speaker 1: into your brother. Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes sir. I
Speaker 1: ain't saying no names. I ain't saying the name. And
Speaker 1: as you know, this portion of the show can be
Speaker 1: either funny or fucked up. Are funny and fucked up?
Speaker 1: The only rule is her literally ain't saying no name. Okay.
Speaker 1: The year doesn't matter, the place doesn't matter, the scenario
Speaker 1: I don't think matters. But let's say this. I have
Speaker 1: been holding on to a promised favor for twenty years.
Speaker 1: M hm, yes, promised favor. And the person who promised
Speaker 1: me said favor is um I'm sure as a person
Speaker 1: of their word, okay, And I am expecting my favor.
Speaker 1: H that's all. I'm expecting it, and it's gonna be marvelous.
Speaker 1: The give back it's gonna be marvelous. So that's that's
Speaker 1: probably all I can say. Uh. I mean, can you
Speaker 1: imagine a twenty year favorite? Can you imagine it? There's
Speaker 1: a lot of interest in that favorite. If I could
Speaker 1: be honest, the favor actually propelled me into the unknown
Speaker 1: just so I could make sure I would get my favorite,
Speaker 1: because you can't just tell me anything. You know, your
Speaker 1: new name is the Riddler, right, you know? Ler. It's like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: do you know you told me something a long time ago?
Speaker 1: And I hope you didn't forget because I didn't no,
Speaker 1: I think now it was a good time. Um for
Speaker 1: the favor, whatever that may be. I don't even know
Speaker 1: what it is, but I was promised and I shall
Speaker 1: get my favor. It's taken me many places, but it's
Speaker 1: like you said something to me, and I know you
Speaker 1: were going to fulfill your word. I was a child,
Speaker 1: I still am in a lot of ways. But um,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying any names, but I want my favorite.
Speaker 1: Give that man his favorite. Please. You know who you are,
Speaker 1: you know who you is. Just you know what? You
Speaker 1: know what The story reminded me of. Uh, it reminded
Speaker 1: me of what's my John Wick reminded me of John Wick.
Speaker 1: And when he went to john Wick to collect on
Speaker 1: the favor, which was in blood, he said, he said,
Speaker 1: I need my favor. John said, I I'm out. I'm
Speaker 1: not in no more. I can't give you that blood
Speaker 1: right here. Yes I need my favorite? Yes, yes, And
Speaker 1: John Wick reluctantly yes. After many fights and shootouts, he
Speaker 1: had to pay his debt. Did you just tell her
Speaker 1: to get it back in blood? No? No, No, what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is what I'm saying is for man or
Speaker 1: woman put their word in we have it might as
Speaker 1: well be in blood, so we have. I was a
Speaker 1: young kid man and I had no clue. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: things happen in this business. Uh. And guess what. I'm
Speaker 1: glad everything happened the way it did, if I could
Speaker 1: be honest, because it calls me to say, Hey, who
Speaker 1: I am is so much bigger than what I do. Okay,
Speaker 1: who I am will be bigger than all of it,
Speaker 1: you know, hurlet Maybe this favor is actually worth um.
Speaker 1: Maybe this favor is worth more than money. Um, but
Speaker 1: make sure that you receive it. Yeah. So, but I
Speaker 1: ain't saying on that. The wonderful, the masterful man, thank you,
Speaker 1: the highest level of this song writing. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell him. I don't know if I've
Speaker 1: ever taught my favorite songwriter. Thank you, harl Lily Jr.
Speaker 1: Hey man, thank you brother, Thank you man. That means
Speaker 1: that Lily Jr. The original, Yeah, the original man. Yeah, man, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: because you know, but you really about to say, I
Speaker 1: know what the name means Richmond, Virginia. Yeah, let me
Speaker 1: tell you there's a place called the world, Craig, Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: the world. I took that name something. Yeah, facts, it's
Speaker 1: been beautiful, man, I, and I'm still wrapping my head
Speaker 1: around it. Time to be honest with you, bro. I
Speaker 1: heard on I heard talk about our love the other
Speaker 1: day and I said, man, Brandy was singing on that
Speaker 1: jung mhmm. My sister sent me a video of a
Speaker 1: man's choir in Richmond, Virginia singing It's all God. I said, Wow,
Speaker 1: I can't even believe it. They're singing my song on
Speaker 1: third Sundays across the nation, Men's Men's Quiet. Then trade
Speaker 1: the men's choir, you gotta you gotta record. They don't
Speaker 1: have many songs Man's Quiet, a few selections, and they
Speaker 1: don't sing them. Same song that that that song going
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be gone. They're gonna be singing this song.
Speaker 1: So my sister sent it to me. I said, man,
Speaker 1: I've never engaged with it. Um, I just never engaged
Speaker 1: with it. And so now I think it's okay to
Speaker 1: engage with it. And you tap into a flower. Thank you, bro,
Speaker 1: just because because the truth for the matter that those
Speaker 1: that know you, yeah, we love you, and those that
Speaker 1: just know your music, they love you, and they don't
Speaker 1: even facts. They love you, and you should you should
Speaker 1: receive that love. Yes, sir, and we're here to put
Speaker 1: you on this platform so more people can put the
Speaker 1: face with the name, with the sound. Thank you, with
Speaker 1: the feeling, with the feeling. So thank you, brother, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you man. I mean, listen, listen. I'm Tank.
Speaker 1: This is the arm by Money podcast, the authority on
Speaker 1: all things R and B. And this has been incredible
Speaker 1: to say, the police and listen. If you're gonna look
Speaker 1: up incredible in the dictionary as a brother sitting there
Speaker 1: just chilling, looking really inconspicuous, not bothering nobody in his
Speaker 1: hands like this, ya do your history and that and
Speaker 1: that's his picture. His name is Harold Lenny Money. R
Speaker 1: and B Money is a production of the Black Effect
Speaker 1: podcast Network. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe to
Speaker 1: and rate our show, and you can connect with us
Speaker 1: on social media at Ja Valentine and at the Real Tank.
Speaker 1: For the extended episode, subscribe to YouTube dot com, forward Slash,
Speaker 1: R and B Money