WEBVTT - Harold Lilly Jr. 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:17.400 Well, we are the authority, ladies and gentlemen. MY name 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:22.000 is Tank and this is the arm by Money podcast. 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:28.680 The authority. I say that strong today. The authorities from 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:36.640 all things are interviews. They can't get, they can't get people, 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:40.239 they can't talk to. See this. This is not this 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.320 is not This is not a songwriter, this is not 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:48.120 a producer, This is not an artist. This is an entity. Yes, 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.720 this is This is a musical entity that we have 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:57.200 on the pot today, A family member, a friend, most 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:01.279 of all, an inspiration, true story to all of us. 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:07.560 Mr Harold, Harold Lily, come on man, come on man, 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.880 come on man, come on man. To to kick this off, 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:14.480 I first want to say thank you. This is my 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:19.600 first podcast past ever in life. It may be my 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:24.880 first interview on camera ever in life. True story, and 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:27.839 I would like to start it off with something I wrote, 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:34.800 m hmmm, dear mama, you raised the son of a gunner, 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:39.479 hot cold, can't feel the sun in the summer, too 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:44.200 bold to be himself in a Honda ninety five on 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:48.600 ninety five headed the Chippingham listening the Lonnie B. I 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.240 met him at Cool Lane. What the funk you telling me? 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.120 I met stars and stars told me I was gonna 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.360 be a king at fifteen because I had a record 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.520 with the king at fifteen. True story. I ain't lying, 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.240 seen Bubba tell Earl. It was over true story. I 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.320 ain't lyne seeing skill shock the world. It was over 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.480 true story. I ain't lying. Being in l a too 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:23.160 long twenty years writing songs, I ain't lying. Let's talk 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:36.480 about it all. Yeah, yeah, you hear you, Lily, Yes, yes, girl, Lily. 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:40.680 That is called son of a gunner. Yes, so here 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:46.600 I am. Uh, gentlemen, this is fantappulous. First of all, congratulations. 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.120 I have to let your audience know how I was 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:55.399 introduced to you guys. Kick it all just really quickly. Yeah, 0:02:55.800 --> 0:03:01.880 I'm a child and I'm watching television and I don't 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:05.400 see the screen, and I hear a voice of a 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:13.359 child if Ale you knew the way I feel about you, 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:23.040 and I call it's not Michael. I don't know this voice. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.959 Then it goes into the hook. My heart beats for you, 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:33.040 and I go I can't see the screen. Then it 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.680 comes back around, But it comes back around not after 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:40.560 the second verse. It was the bridge. Oh I knew this. 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:45.040 I know this, and Tank I hear it again. If 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:50.000 only you knew, I go, I would follow this voice 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:56.400 to the gates of all who's this singing? Then at 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.280 the end of the song, I hear an ad lib. 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:04.600 Oh god, Ja Valentine, you have to know this. My my, 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:09.600 my mind, my mind, me, my my heart beach. I said, 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:16.200 I'll follow that voice into a dungeon. That's how I 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:22.520 was introduced to Jay Valentine. Now you, sir, oh, I 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:24.599 see a video of you at the e of my 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:33.240 studios in Santa Monica, California. It was it was bombs Wow, 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:38.280 you did a back flip. Do you know what I'm 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:46.520 talking about? Okay? I said, this is an arm by 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:50.880 superhero like I've never I've never seen. I just got 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:56.279 I had just got from Richmond, Virginia. You know. I 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.000 see it and I go, wow, I'm never seeing this. 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:03.920 Then he plays me of record and the ad libis, 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:14.880 oh yeah. I said, would you mind if why didn't 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:19.320 they do that one? And then they did that. We 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:26.239 had no choice, bra and then and then twenty years 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:30.240 passed and I see what you guys have done. I'm 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.120 proud of y'all. Man, I was. I mean, I'm being honest. 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:37.479 I heard your voice as a child, I met you 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:41.359 coming into your lionhood and now I'm on R and 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:51.400 B Money podcast. Ah, it's too marvelous to understand. Yeah, okay, man, 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:55.560 I'm here. I'm here, brother. Yes, First of all, thank 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.840 you for our flowers. Um, thank you, brother. You've you 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:04.320 been our brother and family for many moons and you 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:13.159 know you've uh, you've earned You've earned our respect and 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:19.800 our reverence completely, period, point blank. So for us, like 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.120 you know, as we may appear the same in age, 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.680 you know, in terms of this thing, you are elder 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:33.400 to us than Yeah. Got busy, yeah by brother, I'm 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:36.880 just noticing how busy right. And when you said that, 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:39.280 like you said earlier before before the cameras came and 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:44.320 he said, I just realized what I've been doing for 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:48.160 tuny something. I just I just looked up long enough. 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:53.640 I peeked out of the woods, just long enough to 0:06:53.800 --> 0:07:02.120 actually see the acres of land in the buildings. Yeah, man, 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.440 which is we're gonna get to because what I tell 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:16.240 most artists is do the work. Just do the work. 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.640 Thank you for telling them, and you'll wake up one 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:28.240 day and you won't be on the floor. You'll be 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.400 in some presidential suite. Hey man with security waiting for 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.680 you at the front door, saying, the cars downstairs, sir, 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:40.560 whenever you're ready. You're like, how in the fund did 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:44.360 I get here? The work? So we want to start? 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:48.400 Oh my god, this is gonna be a goal. When 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:55.520 started at the beginning? Okay, grassroots? When did when did 0:07:55.600 --> 0:08:06.320 somebody say, boy, you something? Or when did you feel Oh? Yeah, 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:12.040 there's there's a calling. Okay, okay. I'm from Richmond, Virginia. 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:19.600 Virginia is the first state, and I'm from the capitol. 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:31.520 I was born there interesting place and on the land. 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:38.679 Before I was born, there was Harold Spencer Lily, my 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:44.480 father in Richmond, Virginia. His name is bigger than mine. 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:52.920 Here it's it's my father was the guy for sixty 0:08:53.160 --> 0:09:00.520 years sixty Yeah, so that's my father. My mother as 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:04.360 a master teacher in the Richmond Public City school system, 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:09.400 who when she sang, I saw some interesting things happened, 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.600 you know. So if I tell the truth for shame 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:20.280 the devil bro I've really had no choice. I can 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:27.199 do other things, but in the city of Richmond, Virginia, 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:34.280 I'm the junior, I'm the second one. You know what 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:39.000 I'm saying. And so I didn't know him that well. 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:44.280 I was always told stories about him through the city. Wow. 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:51.760 So if I'm in class, JA, yeah, her her, her, 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:58.840 Lilio daddy. Wow. Yes. And then the next na na 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.680 in the next seven minutes is about how he made 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:11.440 them feel when he played the organ. At least seven minutes. Oh, 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:16.080 your daddy played at my mama funeral. Your daddy came 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.640 to the old folks home and played him. Uh, your 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.600 daddy played in my way, and uh, this is this 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.040 is my life growing up. So when it came to music, 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:33.760 I thought everybody knew how to do it like that. Okay, Um, 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.880 So I had no choice. Grew up in church and 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:44.320 everybody in church did it. You know. Uh. I had 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:52.120 basketball dreams. I had. I had hoop dreams. And one 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:57.080 day I'm trying out for a basketball team and I 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:02.800 do a move that that gardener's respect from my peers. 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.160 And after I do the move, the coach his name 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:15.560 was Frank Three's John Marshall High School, legendary figure. He 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:18.800 blows the whistle and he says, Lily, get over here. 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:24.280 I'm waiting for him to he praised upon me for 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:28.920 the move that I just did. In the gym and 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:33.600 he says, Lily, you know what you're gonna do. I said, 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:37.760 what he said, You're gonna do music, because you ain't 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:42.320 gonna be doing that ship on my court. I don't care. 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:44.840 I don't care. I don't care what you know. You 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.520 won't do that on Mike. You're gonna do music. Don't 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:53.360 your dad to do music. You're gonna do music. And 0:11:53.400 --> 0:12:02.240 I said, well, uh, I'm not alan. I I waited who, 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:08.480 by the way, it is Bubba in my hoem Okay, 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:12.160 I saw Bubba tell Earl it was over true story. 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.960 I ain't lying. Uh. He's a young kid. Uh. Douglas 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:22.439 Wilder has to free him from joh My High School. 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.280 John Marshall High School played his high school, Bethel in 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:29.120 a state championship. There is no social media. For all 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:33.600 we know, Bubba Chuck is eight ft tall. We walked 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:38.240 through the gym and we see just a man until 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.720 it's the fourth quarter of the game and him and 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:47.200 Tony Rutland start to do things that were you know, 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.800 that allowed them to win the game. But it was 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:55.360 their guys. I gotta be honest, I've seen somebody win 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.599 the States in that sweat. He was a sweating. I 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:02.880 saw he wasn't sweating, And on the way home, I said, 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:08.640 you know what will come easy to me, like I 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:11.760 wnna do what I'm gonna do. Yeah, will come easy 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.960 to me like athletics come to him because he was 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:21.719 not He wasn't sweating. He wasn't sweating. And I said, oh, 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:27.080 it's music. I sing in the Talent show. What great 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:33.640 is this? Maybe ten? And it's intentional. Before I was 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.480 always singing, but it wasn't intentional. I'm in an R 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.400 and B group. Uh in high school? Thank you Gerard, 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:44.959 thank you Antoine, thank you Tony Cosby. We are we sing? 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:54.520 Oh do the the the females and the audience they 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:59.760 start to scream. And I'm a young lad at the time, 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:10.800 and I feel electricity. Yeah, come upon me. And I've 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:23.560 been bitten ever since. Oh my god, bro, it's electricity 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:28.960 electric Still. I must admit you, gentlemen, I don't know 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:34.200 how you are able. There there are gifts. We all 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:38.360 have our graces. And I remember Jamie Fox took me 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.440 on the road with him for Unpredictable. He said her, 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.120 you have to see what this song is doing on 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:54.000 the road. I agree. The cities were Miami, Atlanta, Atlanta, 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.400 M and I don't know what other city after that. 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:05.040 I left immediately. I looked backstage and I said, oh, 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:14.080 what what attention? What attention? M You know, I would 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:17.480 sit with you guys in studios and then I would 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:22.200 go home. I wouldn't have to engage with the world. 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:27.680 Thank you, Missy Elliott, Melissa Elliott, thank you, Missy Elliott. 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:32.560 I met Missy Elliott through Nicole Ray. Nicole Ray was 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:37.400 coming to Richmond, Jaan to do songs at my one 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:42.080 of my teachers. His name is Gerard Thomas, his house. Okay, 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:47.160 she comes to the studio. Oh uh. And this is when, probably, 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:48.800 like all of us, I don't know, we had young 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:54.440 entrepreneurs in the city, uh, funding our dreams. Okay. And 0:15:54.720 --> 0:16:04.640 these are master master mathematicians, master philosophers, and yes, politicians, 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.840 and they were sending us to Jack the Rapper. I'm 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:13.240 watching Puff walk around with a with a with a 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:18.600 flag and a big and all of these things. And 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.480 I'm fifteen years old and I record a song with 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:26.640 Biggie Smalls. That's why I said in the story. M hmm, 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:31.040 I had a record with the King in fifteen Yes, 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.400 so surely I'm going to be famous because I hear 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:42.080 juicy as I walked to you crops after school, and 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.440 then I started to go home just because I got 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:47.240 a song with biggest smalls. That don't mean I'm gonna 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:52.640 be famous. How does this work? Yes? So how do 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:57.560 you get this song with with Biggie? Why are the 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.960 heroes in my neighborhood? They knew heroes and other neighbors 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:09.280 yea connected connected, These are legendary figures. Oh my goodness. Yes, 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:14.439 so uh we do it at Master Sound Studios, Rob 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.800 ohsh who Master Sound Studios then becomes the studio where 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:25.960 the neptunes. Um. So is this the studio that Teddy Riley? Alright? 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:30.679 That was future. Yes, that was two different studios. I 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:36.119 remember driving from Richmond, Virginia, because we heard Teddy Riley 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:43.400 was on the land and we just looked. We looked 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:47.639 through a fence at a tour bus and I said, Wow, 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.359 this piece of my love is this is what it 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:58.760 gets you? So missing Elliott, here's the song? Um and 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:05.639 she supports it's me. I go to New York. I'm 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:10.200 in a session. I see a young Jay Brown, a 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:14.919 Sylvia arrona Merlin, Bob, I see all these people, and 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:18.280 I'm singing on a piano for these people, and I go, 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:26.000 this is interesting. They seem excited. I do this every day. 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:34.800 This is ah ah. One of the songs on a 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:40.280 demo tape ends up in the hands of Big John Platt. Hm. 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:48.160 I think, John, here's the song. He identifies a great song, 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.560 one song out of the three hundred that he may 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:56.600 have heard that day, and he says, Hey, what was this? 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:03.320 Who was this Blue? Where Williams Blue? Williams tells him, Hey, 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:09.560 I'm gonna find out, Nicole. Who is this guy? Nay 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:13.400 harl or literally from James Are you're singing at demo too? Yes? 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:15.960 It was. It was so. It was a duet called 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:21.920 talk with Time uh, and nobody never heard okay, which 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:25.280 is why songwriters, young songwriters can I look in this 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:33.320 charactere hey man, just because it's not placed doesn't mean 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:46.520 that it's not supposed to place. You. He hears the song, 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:51.560 he calls. He calls his best friend Treat in Denver. 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:57.200 Treat called his his wife at the time new Uh 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.320 was from Virginia. I think she calls him at it 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.359 in Virginia and say, hey, I'm looking for a guy 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:07.639 named her Lily. It just so happens that the person 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:13.320 around knew the name. Of course, of course, and I 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:19.000 know I know his son, I know his son. I 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:24.000 get a phone call from Felicia Sanderva or no, Big John. Actually, hey, 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:27.320 my name Big John. I've been looking for her Lily. 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:29.399 I want to do a publishing deal. I hang up 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:32.920 the phone. Why I thought it was my friends plan. 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:38.960 This is a true story. He calls back. Hello, Hey man, 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:42.280 this Big John. Um, I'm looking for her old Lily. 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:48.639 This is him. I'm working at Stanley's Hardware. I'm making 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:52.840 brackets on doors. I can always find a bracket in 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:59.280 the room. All right, So I'm working. I get off 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.439 l A. I get a phone call from from l 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:06.399 A number three one old number. I ain't they're playing. 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.159 This is Antoine Whitley playing with me. He's one of 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:14.400 my best friends. The next thing, you know, bro, he 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:16.680 calls back. He said, this is real. This is real. 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:20.080 This is real. He said, just throw my name around 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:25.640 and to see if this is real or not. I said, okay, 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:29.800 I never had anyone tell me that before. Tank. I 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:34.359 go to a session one day and uh, I say, hey, guys, 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:42.080 we all playing Sega, Uh Madden. I was electric. We're 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:45.720 playing Sega and Uh, I said, hey, guys, it's some 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:49.040 guy named Big John Man. They called me talking about 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:52.520 he wants sign me and they looked at me like 0:21:52.560 --> 0:22:03.200 I had five hands j J. I said, yeah, May called. 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:07.000 He called me the other day. I see people running 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:16.840 to me to grab my phone. You've real what you lie? 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:23.840 Take my phone? I have no reason. You don't know 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:30.400 who it is. I have no clue. So then I 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:34.880 I decided to I then had like four four publishing 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:39.040 deals on the table. At that time, guys people used 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:41.160 to sign people of Can I talk to the chemra 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:46.600 more time? A while ago, A and RS and public 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:52.000 creative people used to sign other They would identify talent 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:59.199 and sign it off gut no algorithm necessary, none, not one. No, 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:03.960 they didn't have of it. I believe that he's the guy. 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:07.000 John Platt is one of the best in the game, 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:12.000 hands down. It isn't even And when you're the first 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:18.840 black anything, you must get grace. It's a lone man, 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:26.200 the first black chairman. If you're the first black anything, 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:33.119 that's a line. So his community supports him, you know, 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:36.760 And so he put me in the game. Man. And 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:42.760 I've worked with UM everybody. I work what everybody if 0:23:42.880 --> 0:23:52.160 they are original and you love their music and they 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:55.040 mean something to your family, I've worked with him one 0:23:55.040 --> 0:24:05.520 way or another. Yes, I working both of y'all definitely. Yea. Yeah. 0:24:05.960 --> 0:24:10.440 What was the first the first wild moment for you? 0:24:11.320 --> 0:24:17.600 Where where something that you created, like made it made 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:22.320 a difference in a way that you've never seen or 0:24:22.359 --> 0:24:32.200 even expected. Okay, I had UM. I signed with E 0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:37.240 M I and I gotta check. They came to my 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:42.560 house at the time, seven Hawthorne Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, 0:24:43.400 --> 0:24:46.480 and I had never I had never seen UM. Like 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:50.800 a FedEx like I had never seen it before. Okay, 0:24:51.960 --> 0:24:56.680 like a package, yea certified package. Got sign for Yeah, 0:24:56.720 --> 0:24:59.920 I've never seen that. I've never seen that. The bad 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:03.439 it comes up. My uncle Bobby get to get the thing, 0:25:03.480 --> 0:25:05.400 he said her, you gotta sign for something, my sign 0:25:05.480 --> 0:25:08.200 for it. I opened it. There's a check for thirty 0:25:08.400 --> 0:25:17.639 thousand dollars. Ja Tank. I took my whole family to 0:25:17.680 --> 0:25:27.760 them all. How much was maybe four hundred and eighty 0:25:27.840 --> 0:25:32.800 seven dollars every Friday? Yeah, yeah, the whole family to 0:25:32.840 --> 0:25:35.639 them all. I said, everybody, let's go eat. We pound 0:25:35.720 --> 0:25:39.480 up in a Plymouth villager, villager, Mercury Villager, or something 0:25:39.520 --> 0:25:43.720 like that. I tried to go cash the check. The 0:25:43.880 --> 0:25:48.040 lady at Crestar Bank on Azaia Avenue, she says, this 0:25:48.080 --> 0:25:51.679 isn't real. I said, oh my goodness, could it not 0:25:51.800 --> 0:26:04.320 be real? Perhaps? Perhaps perhaps I've been hanged. We all 0:26:04.400 --> 0:26:13.200 go to the check cashing place and let me tell you. 0:26:14.080 --> 0:26:19.680 I they gave me twelve thousand dollars, but I had 0:26:19.720 --> 0:26:26.280 to pay back hard money loan. And I said, gladly, 0:26:27.920 --> 0:26:33.159 show me where to say. I took my family to 0:26:33.320 --> 0:26:37.240 Virginia Center Commons Mall and I said, hey, man, y'all 0:26:37.280 --> 0:26:41.320 get what y'all want. Man, all right, but what'd you get? 0:26:41.720 --> 0:26:44.400 I don't think I got anything. Same thing, same thing, 0:26:44.800 --> 0:26:46.680 same thing. I couldn't even spend it. My first year, 0:26:46.720 --> 0:26:50.160 I couldn't spend it. I went to the mall with 0:26:50.200 --> 0:26:55.080 the cash and I still had the City National Bank envelope. 0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:58.800 You didn't find anything. I like, I got money. I 0:26:58.840 --> 0:27:03.359 found a bunch of stuff. What did you It was 0:27:03.359 --> 0:27:06.840 a breakda? I found strippers, okay? You found yeah, found 0:27:06.840 --> 0:27:12.600 strippers who needed the money? Okay, okay? I found also 0:27:12.640 --> 0:27:14.919 in that same place. There were crab legs and shrimp 0:27:15.200 --> 0:27:18.199 the size of your back. Yes, I needed those. Were 0:27:18.200 --> 0:27:21.520 you still living in Okay? Okay? It was used to 0:27:21.560 --> 0:27:24.280 be Mirage Nightclub, but then it became Nexus Gold Club. 0:27:25.520 --> 0:27:34.560 I found a gun Okay, I purchased. Who was your 0:27:34.600 --> 0:27:40.560 first check? My first check was was seventy five dollars. 0:27:41.119 --> 0:27:43.680 My first artist check wasn't it? Wasn't it? And then 0:27:43.680 --> 0:27:46.920 my publishing My first publishing check was a hundred thousand dollars. 0:27:47.000 --> 0:27:51.719 Oh you was bad, you know my twenty five small 0:27:51.840 --> 0:27:58.080 sets small set. My deal was for more. But the 0:27:58.119 --> 0:28:03.040 first check as an adult, like, yeah, my kid career 0:28:03.119 --> 0:28:06.240 or whatever. My daddy got that he did with you know, 0:28:06.440 --> 0:28:10.840 he got that my first adult check, my first publishing 0:28:10.880 --> 0:28:15.080 deal at Warner Chapel. Shout out Denise Weathers. Be shout 0:28:15.119 --> 0:28:20.960 out Denise Weathers for believing in the young player. Yeah. 0:28:21.840 --> 0:28:24.800 The first money, the first part of the advance was 0:28:25.520 --> 0:28:28.320 k the bank held it. They held they had to 0:28:28.320 --> 0:28:30.119 hold it for it. See that's that's the difference. You 0:28:30.240 --> 0:28:32.879 was in Richmon, so they made you got to check that. 0:28:33.000 --> 0:28:35.679 They knew mine was real because you were in I 0:28:35.760 --> 0:28:39.120 was in Los Angeles at the time. But they were like, yeah, 0:28:39.160 --> 0:28:41.800 we're gonna hold it for seven days because you have 0:28:41.840 --> 0:28:45.120 a new account, we're gonna give you undred. Can we 0:28:45.160 --> 0:28:47.840 say something, Can we just go back to the past 0:28:48.240 --> 0:28:56.480 and talk about the holding the holding of And then 0:28:56.520 --> 0:28:59.680 they went to seven days, you get one piece. The 0:28:59.800 --> 0:29:02.239 up of seven, you're gonna get the next piece. And 0:29:02.320 --> 0:29:07.720 I would sweat bullets while that's seven or fourteen days. 0:29:08.440 --> 0:29:11.560 I need my money, Yes, I need all of it, 0:29:11.600 --> 0:29:14.440 to look all of them to hit. Asked me how 0:29:14.480 --> 0:29:17.320 fast I went through that money fast? I don't know, 0:29:18.600 --> 0:29:22.240 too fast. I was blowing money fast way before being 0:29:22.960 --> 0:29:24.760 all right. So so this is the good thing. So 0:29:25.400 --> 0:29:28.600 johant head is set up to where the structure of 0:29:28.640 --> 0:29:33.800 the deals were. You get half upfront and yes, as 0:29:33.840 --> 0:29:39.320 you go m Drnimum delivery required. Talk about say that again, 0:29:39.560 --> 0:29:46.000 minimum delivery required commitment. Oh I whatever that number was 0:29:46.080 --> 0:29:50.040 for me, I would want to obliterate it because it 0:29:50.040 --> 0:29:57.160 seemed like that number stood in between me and food shell. Okay, okay, 0:29:57.400 --> 0:29:59.000 So I said, let me get rid of that number. 0:30:00.160 --> 0:30:05.200 And uh, look, man, I moved from Los Angeles to Richmond, 0:30:05.280 --> 0:30:08.720 I mean Richmond to l A bro You talk about 0:30:09.080 --> 0:30:12.080 off the first thirty coaches. Shot, well, I was here 0:30:12.080 --> 0:30:15.320 for a year. I was here for a year, and uh, 0:30:15.360 --> 0:30:17.000 I never forget John was telling me, her Man, you 0:30:17.040 --> 0:30:18.680 might want to move him. Man your rod to account 0:30:18.680 --> 0:30:21.640 getting up there. You're standing in the motels. You were 0:30:21.680 --> 0:30:25.640 in them cars because he was flying me out and 0:30:25.640 --> 0:30:28.440 it was putting me out, you know. And he said, Harry, 0:30:28.440 --> 0:30:32.000 won't you just move? And I'm like, these people are 0:30:32.000 --> 0:30:36.760 strange here. I will stay, i will work and I 0:30:36.760 --> 0:30:39.840 will go home and I'll never forget it. One day 0:30:39.920 --> 0:30:44.560 we do take you out for Luther Vandro come on, 0:30:44.680 --> 0:30:46.520 come on, because he was just gonna say it like 0:30:46.560 --> 0:30:49.720 it was just he was gon skip by. He almost 0:30:49.720 --> 0:30:53.040 whispered it. Yeah, you know you're not gonna do that 0:30:53.120 --> 0:30:56.440 true story tank. Oh god, I'm talking to the man 0:30:56.960 --> 0:31:01.920 and and in the bowling alley, me and Warren and 0:31:02.120 --> 0:31:08.720 John Jugu Smith. Let's get first. I was introduced to 0:31:08.760 --> 0:31:14.200 Warren Campbell Baby Baby Baby dub Warren Campbell through John 0:31:14.360 --> 0:31:18.120 playing Okay, I the first time I meet Warren Campbell. 0:31:18.360 --> 0:31:22.760 They're celebrating him and Mary Mary's success for Shackles being 0:31:22.800 --> 0:31:26.120 the biggest song in the world. On my first introduction 0:31:26.240 --> 0:31:29.560 to him, on a trip on my first trip to 0:31:29.600 --> 0:31:35.760 Los Angeles. Uh, layover with Chris Henderson from Dallas, Texas. 0:31:35.560 --> 0:31:40.640 This is interesting. So anyway, as a man named Mr 0:31:40.680 --> 0:31:43.680 Clive Davis, he started a new label, UM, and it's 0:31:43.720 --> 0:31:46.960 called Jay Records. And you know when you started record label, 0:31:46.960 --> 0:31:49.880 you gotta go get a big artist at everybody. No, first, 0:31:51.320 --> 0:31:57.240 let's just grease the gears here so this thing can 0:31:57.280 --> 0:32:01.080 go easy. Luther Van Drass is the one of the 0:32:01.280 --> 0:32:05.480 artists that decides to work with Clive Davis. And they're 0:32:05.480 --> 0:32:09.640 looking for songs. I see a beat tape. Uh, John 0:32:09.720 --> 0:32:14.480 Jubu Smith and Warren Baby Dup Campbell. Uh, they have 0:32:14.600 --> 0:32:18.800 some music. They're working on music. I take a tape home. 0:32:19.800 --> 0:32:24.000 I was staying at the Best Western on the four 0:32:24.080 --> 0:32:26.840 or five of the full or five and Santa Monica meets. 0:32:27.800 --> 0:32:32.560 I wrote, I wrote People's Childhood and the hell town 0:32:33.120 --> 0:32:35.920 in my head, yeah, right across you from the from 0:32:35.960 --> 0:32:39.400 the gas station. Yeah, and so I wrote take you out. 0:32:40.600 --> 0:32:43.600 I think nothing of it because I don't know how 0:32:43.640 --> 0:32:46.680 this works. One day, me and Warren go to a 0:32:46.720 --> 0:32:54.480 bowling alley. The phone rings. Warren looks at me, he goes, 0:32:54.520 --> 0:32:58.280 he's right here, but Warren looked like he's seen a ghost. 0:32:58.480 --> 0:33:00.959 Well he looking at me like I got five heads. 0:33:04.320 --> 0:33:09.160 He's right here, Harles Luther Van draws. No, I said, 0:33:10.240 --> 0:33:15.040 m I'm twenty two years old, and look at that. 0:33:15.280 --> 0:33:17.720 Warn Campbell is telling me God is on the phone, 0:33:18.440 --> 0:33:24.160 the Lord. I get there. I get the phone and 0:33:24.240 --> 0:33:28.000 I go hello, and he says, hold on, hold on, 0:33:28.040 --> 0:33:32.720 hold on, and I hear so amazing to be I 0:33:32.960 --> 0:33:35.440 follow you to the I go. He has his own 0:33:35.520 --> 0:33:38.800 old music. Wait wait wait, no, no, no, no no, 0:33:38.840 --> 0:33:41.080 I think you just hear that in your head. No, no, no, 0:33:41.280 --> 0:33:51.160 he has whole music. Yeah, yeah, yeah he when he 0:33:51.200 --> 0:33:56.680