WEBVTT - Teedra Moses 0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:04.640 R and B Money. 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:05.720 We are. 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:14.360 Than take valotized. We are the authority on tall thing 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:15.600 R and B. 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:18.759 My name is Tank Valentine. 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.040 This is the R and B Money Podcast. 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:22.720 Why are you doing? 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:25.880 I don't know, I under saying the authority on all 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:31.400 things R and B. You're about to be acted. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:33.000 Let's seehere this is going. 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:40.519 We got some of that, yes in the bills. You know, 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:44.199 when it gets elegant, it's very you know when it 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.680 gets sexy and saxony, you know what it gets. 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:54.400 Brown Claire is here, so pro woman in the building. 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.160 You're the set. I'm saying, real singing. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:02.240 Yeah, real black woman, real writing. Yeah, huh yeah. 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.080 I don't want to label before you long or no 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.520 intro because I want to talk to teacher about because 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.759 I want to talk to I want to talk to him. 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:14.720 Ship. 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:27.360 Yeah, you're going to turn it on even Thursday quick. 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.080 I just think I just think that you're just dope. 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:40.720 I think that you're just awesome, and I think that 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:46.240 you're it's I don't even think you even have to 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.000 do anything. I think you just have a presence about 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:53.640 you and a disposition that it's. 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:54.080 Just like. 0:01:56.320 --> 0:02:03.800 Yeah, that's that's what it's supposed And it's like when 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:10.280 those comparisons happened from the tiny desk, it was like, oh. 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:13.000 Do you see that? 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:14.480 What? 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:15.320 I don't see it? 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:17.720 You don't see it, not at all. 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:18.639 Yeah. 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:21.160 They used to tell my mother she looks like Claire 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.359 hu It was like, what. 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:30.440 If Claire Huxtable could say Claire, probably can't you think 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.440 about it? Probably Claire is probably in the choir. 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:36.040 Yeah, she has songs out. 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:41.000 You know what fair comparison? Listen it was, it was 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:42.080 it's a. 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:46.000 Thing, but we all have someone that people think. 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:48.600 But again it goes back to that energy. 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:52.480 Yes, that's the thing. It matches. 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:58.360 It's all that you're doing right now, Claire. 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.440 But we're not about just Claire Hexley. 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.959 Let you talk about Shah. Yeah. 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.160 First of all, you know, I'm I'm sure they didn't 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:12.520 whooped a couple of girls from them too, But. 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:16.480 Don't do that. 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.400 Yeah, you don't tell somebody something about themself. I know, 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:23.760 I know what you don't do. Let's go back to 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:25.920 the beginning. Can we go back to the beginning, of course, 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.600 can we like get into where where where all this starts? 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.680 Fatigra Moses? Who who points this out? Who tells you 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.720 or affirms you if you have a gift. 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:40.840 You know, my mama did. My mama used to and 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:42.880 I wasn't even thinking about singing. My mother used to 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:45.760 tell me these songs I should sing when I make 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.680 my album, you should cover this song. Or she would say, 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:50.760 you know, make sure you don't get all those cavities 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:52.720 in your mouth, because it is so disgusting when those 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.440 ladies be on camera and they's singing and opening mouth 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.720 and all that black stuff is in them mouth. I 0:03:57.760 --> 0:03:59.440 wasn't thinking about any of this stuff. 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.280 I wanted to rap. I wanted to be a rapper. 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.160 But I think a lot of the greatest songwriters they 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:09.560 have that, especially of our era, have that thing in 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:11.200 them where you kind of like can just come off 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:12.640 the top of you here. So I wanted to rap, 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:15.720 and when I first started doing music, I wanted to 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:18.640 do it more aggressively than what actually came out. 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.240 But shout out to Paul PAULI he just smoothed it out. 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:23.159 He smoothed it all out for me and made it 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.560 a little bit more sensual and less raw as I 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:27.640 actually was at that time. 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.520 So who does where's your discovery moment? Where? Because I mean, 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:33.279 I'm obviously singing in church. 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.800 No, I missed all of that. My mother's sing gospel. 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.039 Yeah, but I was like too shy, you know, in 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:40.159 a Southern Baptist church. 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:40.680 If you not. 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:45.320 Belting out and like really getting busy still, I don't 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.719 even think you can sing, you know. And my voice 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.159 was a little too sweet. I just kept it to myself, 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:52.000 sing in a shower. 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:51.880 You know. 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.360 But then I met a guy by the name of 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.000 Paul Pauli who produced my first album, majority of it 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:03.240 with me, and he was a producer for my children's father, Razkaz, 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:08.599 and he he introduced us and we just kind of 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.680 crafted this sound. I came in with crutches. He was like, 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.440 where is she going? She has crutches, she got a 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:14.960 broken leg. 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:16.880 What are we gonna do with this? 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:18.520 I came to the studio and crutches. 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:18.919 How did you. 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:21.320 I had? 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.120 I used to do wardrobe styling. So we were on 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.920 a set up a video and I was going down 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:28.560 the hill, just you know, going down the hill, and 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.360 all of a sudden, the momentum started building and I'm 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:33.160 going and I'm going, I'm going, and I jumped over 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:35.200 a boulder and my female bone just. 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:40.960 Breaks you jump over because I mean, yeah, it was 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:41.320 taking me. 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:42.800 You're young, you just got jump. 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.640 I'm gonna politely just jump it. 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:47.800 And so this is this is where my knee is, 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:49.880 and this is what my my leg is doing. 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:51.159 And so it was all broken. 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.880 And after that, I couldn't do wardrobe style anymore because 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:56.400 that wasn't my thing anyway. So it's like it's time 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.280 for me to figure out this music thing. And I 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:02.520 asked my children father to introduce me to producers. One 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.960 was a guy by the name of Khalil Khalil that 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:06.560 produces here in Los Angeles. I can't think of his 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:10.159 last name, and really dope and Paul Pauli. And Paul 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.440 Pauli lived in Glendale, I lived in Pasadena. Great little 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.360 you know. Yeah, So we just started cooking and that's 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:17.919 what happened. 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:25.720 And is it the music that that creates the discovery 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:28.839 on the next level or are you performing somewhere? 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.360 Are you starting to You had done no shows, nothing, 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:34.400 You just like, you know what, I. 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:34.760 Want to do it? 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:36.880 I want to do it. I was like I always 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:37.440 liked as. 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.080 A rapper as a singer at this point. 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:41.920 Initially it was like I used to do. 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.400 Like talent shows, rapping. My mother would take me to 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:47.520 the clubs and all these different stuff. 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.240 You know, this is New Orleans, this was. 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:51.279 I was in LA by the time I became an artist. 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.760 I moved to Los Angeles area about fourteen, originally from 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:57.680 New Orleans, Louisian an area called Kenna right outside of 0:06:57.800 --> 0:06:58.120 I hear. 0:06:58.160 --> 0:06:58.960 So many things. 0:06:59.240 --> 0:06:59.720 What you hear? 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:04.080 Yeah, it was the thing. 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:05.000 I was from New York. 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:06.440 I was just about to say, you got some New 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:07.440 York on you. 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:09.880 Yeah, because once I got here it started shaving up. 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.400 But I'm living back in New Orleans again, so scrabably 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:14.920 coming back out of me more. But yeah, like when 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.440 I first got here, I started, you know, just kind 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.240 of like dibbling and dabbling. But I didn't do my 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:23.320 first show until I already had an album. I was 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:24.760 signed to TVT Records. 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.920 So hold on, hot, how do you skip these steps? 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:32.119 How do you get straight from demo to deal to show? 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:35.560 I don't know. I just was honest at the time. 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:36.720 I was just so honest. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:38.400 I just was doing what I could, you know what 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:40.200 I mean, Like it was just pouring out of me. 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:42.520 And believe it, my first show, if I was to 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:44.920 show y'all video. I had so much energy how you 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.880 was talking about genuine jumping out there, That's how it was. 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:50.760 My energy was so on tin and I had to 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:52.880 like hone my energy in and learn how to really 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.600 perform because I was just hella excited. 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:57.760 But you know, we smoothed it out. 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:02.600 And what was so in your mind? Like if in 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:04.840 your mind at that time when you were like, this 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.960 is the artist I want to be right, what did 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.720 that feel like like if it's if it's comparing to 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:12.239 anyone or never thought. 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.880 About it, never thought about it. All I wanted to 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:16.400 be was tjer. I wouldn't even put weave in my 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:18.400 hair in the beginning because we had hair. You know, 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:20.720 I'm from the South. We pride ourselves for having hair 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:22.800 and all these things. So I didn't even put weave in. 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:26.360 Then I tore my hair up and have to start. 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.920 But yeah, like I we just were very natural girls. 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:31.560 I didn't want to do anything that wasn't the One 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:33.040 thing I knew in my mind is I wanted to 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.520 be relatable. You know, we come from an era of 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.880 like big stars. I didn't really want that vibe. I 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.280 wanted to be touchable. I wanted to be somebody that 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.959 was extremely relatable. So I that's all I had in mind. 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.040 And when I made an album, I wanted. 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.400 To feel like Aliah's Rockaboat. That's what I wanted. 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.520 Album itself to feel like that record. Yes, that's a 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:55.199 great start. 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:55.679 Gray Star. 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:57.760 Yeah, I wanted it to be something that and cause 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.880 I love eighties R and B was just always so 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.960 sensual and like, you know, grown, and that's what I 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:05.800 wanted my my album to be on. But as far 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:07.559 as what kind of artists I wanted, I didn't know 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:09.319 how I wanted to dress anything. I just wanted to 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.520 be myself and I hone that over time, and that's 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.120 why I'm glad that that big thing that happens for 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.760 people didn't happen for me right away because I probably 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.160 wasn't ready because I didn't even know what I wanted 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.079 to present to you because I was just being myself. 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:24.280 I didn't want to become anything. I just wanted to 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.400 be myself. And as I grew as a person as 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:29.440 an artist, I became more clear on what that was, 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:30.120 what that was. 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.960 So you were signed to T TVT in the beginning, Yes, 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:36.360 that's like the label they had, like Little John right. 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:41.400 Yes, little John ying Yan twins people and me and 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:42.840 I used to roll with them too. 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.640 Of course, because that's how that goes. Though people don't 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:47.000 know that. 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:49.959 Like right too, you know what I mean. I'm I'm 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:54.640 I can be around men drinking and smoking and I 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:59.240 can play those games. 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:03.920 I can play those games and walk out with my heels. 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:08.400 And yeah, tell me, I see it. I see It's 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.679 okay your first album. As you're going through these motions, 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.200 what are some of the things that you're discovering that 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:19.560 you know early on and just from your experience, like 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:21.679 the things that hit you immediately that you were like, oh, 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:23.920 I don't know that. I got to figure this out. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:24.960 Here's the thing. 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:30.440 I was blessed to have Neo in studio every day 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:34.040 as I'm recording these songs, and I think that he 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:35.479 is one of the greatest. 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:35.680 Of our time. 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:36.920 You said Neo Neo. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.400 I called him chaffer at the time, but he became 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.920 near absolutely, and he is one of the greatest vocal 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.280 producers of our time. And I was blessed to have 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:49.680 that when I knew nothing about this. All I knew 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:53.320 about was singing my lead lines, and I put a 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:55.400 little you know, three part harmony here and there. 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:57.080 And he taught me how to paint. 0:10:57.840 --> 0:10:59.960 He literally taught me how to paint with my vocal 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.600 and I think that was the first thing I realized, 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.080 I have to tighten up here. This is where I 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.720 have to learn to really make complete records. That's the 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.720 first thing I thought of. My writing came natural. It's 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.400 more so like it would just pour out of me. 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.800 I have never taken a pin in written anything down, 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:19.840 because I don't think that's how it goes for me. 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.680 I just kind of stand in the mirror and look 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:25.040 at myself and start singing to myself, you know, and 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.000 it starts to pour out whatever's going on. It starts 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:28.800 to pour out. I just sing it over and over again. 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:30.800 But I would find when I go to the studio, 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:32.280 I would get stuck when. 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:34.200 It was time to paint the vocals. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.240 And that was the first thing I realized, I have 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.440 to get very strong at that. And I've gotten much 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:39.560 better over that time, you know. 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.160 Oh yeah, so he worked on the whole first. 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:44.400 Yeah. 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:49.960 The only song that he didn't vocal produce and arrange 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.360 vocally arranged was Caught Up. That was the first song 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:57.760 I ever wrote in my life. Ever recorded, ever did 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.120 ever and that one was he but then we got 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:02.800 to the next one. I was just getting stuck. So 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.520 they called him because we want the same production company. 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.440 I think it was called Bridge Kid. We were both 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.280 stigned to the same production company and we would cook 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:11.600 every day, me Pauli and Neo. 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:17.040 That's crazy, that's really great because I remember early Neo Yeah, yeah, 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.600 me too, least work with Vig Tang. Yeah. And he 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:21.760 was like, I'm telling you, this kid is dope. Man, 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.079 Like you got to go. And I went over there 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:27.640 and they started playing songs. I looked at this little 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:32.800 nigga said, I said, I wanted yeah, yeah, he had 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:38.920 a smash for me. That that Uh, this is the 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:44.040 first time that I had heard that a writer wanted 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:45.680 in advance. 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.520 Okay, okay, gold Neil. 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:52.200 And I was like, I was like, get a nigga 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:56.599 the money. Well, my label was I was like, no, 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:00.440 we don't pay no writers. I'm like this, listen to 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:01.280 the song. 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.600 The song, and let's say this too. 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:10.520 A lot of these tracks without the song, it's just 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:15.720 and then you put that personality, you put that that 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:18.360 you put the record on the record, Yes. 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:20.520 And why you're not gonna pay that person. Why would 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:21.120 you not pay. 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:27.040 Because traditionally the advance was always allotted to the. 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.920 Producer, So why wouldn't the producer? I got bills to pay. Baby, 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.400 My kid's tuition is to you can't throw me something. 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.199 Because in our genre of me, not even just our 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.240 genre of music, but our sector of music and black music, 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.520 it became where we just had more beat makers more 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.000 than even producers, because a producer could have been either 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:49.079 side of that in the beginning, right, and then they 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.520 share the wealth as they see fit if they didn't 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.280 pin the record or they didn't do the beat. But 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.439 then when you said that a beat maker was the producer, 0:13:59.600 --> 0:13:59.880 it just. 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.000 Side you know what I'm saying. And they were like, oh, ship, 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:05.360 that's that. 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:05.920 That's they. 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:11.520 They said, I'm just I'm the producer because I've been doing. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:18.720 Cool. The first person I ever heard of like kind 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.960 of taking that energy back was Missy Elliot. 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.800 Absolutely, yep, Absolutely, she. 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:28.680 Was a person where it was like she's like, I'm 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:33.200 taking this from Okay, you brought it the beat, which 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:38.360 which takes us from A to maybe G but from 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:42.960 g on that's me, that's right, And without g on, 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:48.240 that's sitting on the CD. I'm the producer and this 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.720 is my fee. And so, like going back to Neil 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:56.080 early in his like this is before he's neo. I'm like, 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.600 pay this kid. I don't know he's getting ready be neo, 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:02.560 but I know this right here what he's doing and 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:07.160 special and we need to figure that out. And you 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:10.440 know it wasn't figured out. We didn't figure it out. 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.440 He didn't he didn't sign with us, I didn't get 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:17.040 the record. Next thing, you know, so Sick is out 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:19.960 and I told you. 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.520 No, next thing, you know, what's the Mario record? 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:30.600 You should yea and just went so disrespectful. I feel so. 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:32.880 It happens. 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:35.120 I saw one day. I was like this, I got 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:40.400 one one, Neil. I've known you for so long. One 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.160 please sure God damn. 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:51.040 Next day, when we see the nigga and you produce, we. 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.440 Jumping on eat you seed you to start it? You 0:15:54.560 --> 0:16:00.560 just did you? Did you? Did you know that you 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.200 were you? You were in a space style wise that 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.320 was very unique when you were when you started creating 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.680 with me and all these guys, and you started hearing 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.480 the product, like once you started listening to the body 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:14.800 of work and listening to your voice and how you 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:16.200 how you? Uh? 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:19.560 I didn't think I could sing very well. You don't 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:23.640 have to remember I came from Southern Baptist church, you 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:25.720 know what I mean. The girls in there sound like. 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:27.720 Franklin. 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:28.840 Yeah, you know. 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.040 So I didn't think I could sing very well, and 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:33.200 it took a while for me to like it. It 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:35.040 took a while for me. I think once people started 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:36.040 liking I gave myself great. 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:38.280 I was about to say, what was the yeah, what 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.560 was that moment or in terms of, like, you know, 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:44.640 the validating moment in a sense to where you you 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:48.000 you you finally accept Yeah. I think it. 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.520 I think when people and this crazy thing is I 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:52.960 don't need people to validate. That's not my personality. But 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:55.440 I think at the time, I just it was new. 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:56.720 I was extremely new. 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.600 Like most people had a lot of things that they 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.920 did before they started. I was extremely new, so I 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.040 was kind of insecure in the sense of like, I 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:05.920 don't know what I'm doing. 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:07.560 I would always tell them I don't know what I'm doing. 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:09.280 But even in me not knowing I was doing, I 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:10.720 was gonna stand on what I like and what I 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:12.800 didn't like, you know. And I think that by the 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.800 time I started going out on the road. That's I 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.760 think for any artist, that's the validation when you realize 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:21.320 you got something because you start seeing the energy that 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:23.040 it brings out of people. And I think that's when 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.920 it happened. It took me getting on the road and 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:27.400 seeing people sing my songs. 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.720 Did you did you immediately have good reactions. 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:37.639 On the road, Well, immediately, there was no one there first. 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:37.439 You know. 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:40.720 It was the first tour I went on was a 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.840 Seagums Gen tour and it was myself, Tweet and Sel, 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.280 which is a really great show, but they weren't there 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.959 for me to like about somewhere around Houston and it 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.520 was like two people and they were rocking. This is 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:55.320 why now to this day, I still turn around and 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.200 play with my band like we jam out together, because 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:01.200 I start off with nobody there, so we get into 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.520 each other, two people. Then it started going and going 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:05.879 and going, and it eventually happened, but it started with 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:09.000 nobody and we were just rehearsing them and listen. 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:11.080 And it's a real thing because as a as a 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:14.879 new artist, you have to decide how you're going to 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.800 approach that moment if you really want. 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:21.360 This, because if you're doing it just to see them 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:23.520 do that and nobody's up there. Are you just gonna 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:25.680 be like up there just bullshitting you know, because nobody's 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:26.040 up there. 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:27.080 No, you're gonna go. 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:29.159 You're gonna still give that energy because you're enjoyed it 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:31.800 with your band at this point and from that day 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:32.600 till now. 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.080 I love when people out there enjoy it. 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:37.240 You know, it's a totally different thing now everybody's enjoying it, 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:38.679 but we're enjoying it. 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:40.720 There it is, we connected, we locked it. 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:46.160 Yeah. I've had many a show where I can't tell 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:52.000 you what we call the shows trick, I'll tell you 0:18:52.119 --> 0:19:03.400 all five uh many a show where fine, okay, let's 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:12.000 eat because I had never imagined that I would be there. 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:18.160 Like when I started singing backgrounds for Genuine, I thought 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.600 in the LEADU, I said, oh d I'm doing this 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:25.639 forever Genuine I was like, no, no, you gotta go 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:29.120 do your thing. I said, no, I don't. 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:29.920 This feels good. 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:33.240 I can see, yeah, this is great. I see backgrounds 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:34.960 with you. You take your shirt up, then I take 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:38.639 my shirt off, and then like this is this is great? 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.480 So why would I want to leave? You know what 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.480