WEBVTT - Work in Progress: Aloe Blacc 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:15.480 Hi everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Hello friends, 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:19.960 welcome back to another week of work in progress. I 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.880 am geeked about today's guest because I am such an 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.800 enormous fan not only of his art but his activism, 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.320 and I cannot wait to pick his brain on all 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:34.880 of it. Today's guest is Alo Black. You know him 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.720 as an American singer and rapper. You know him from 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:42.879 A Vichi's Wake Me Up and from his smash hit 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.360 I Need a Dollar. What you may not know is 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.640 that Alo never planned on being a musician. His life 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.200 kind of happened by accident. He thought he would be 0:00:54.400 --> 0:01:00.440 an academic and somehow took a left turn, and from 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:04.240 touring around the world and major stages everywhere, he has 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:09.479 managed to solidify his place in the mainstream music scene 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:14.800 while also being an incredible advocate for change. From studying 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:19.480 the methodologies of Nelson Mandela to being mentored by Harry Belafonte, 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:24.240 Alo has been involved in so many charitable causes and 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.680 in deep social justice work. He speaks out on the 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:31.399 importance and mental health awareness. He has collaborated with the 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.479 Biden administration to promote its national strategy to prevent suicide, 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:39.680 and his latest album, Stand Together, is not only a 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:43.040 beautiful musical journey that I've been waiting for for five years, 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:48.480 but every song on the album has a partnered philanthropic 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:53.920 initiative that fans can learn about. Talk about being a 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.760 true artist in every sense of the word and spending 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:00.680 your privilege and your platform for good. Hear Mallow Black, 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:12.440 Where are you today? 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:14.960 I live in LA I'm Glendale. 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:18.799 Okay. I grew up in Pasadena. Oh are you there 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.720 now or neighbors. No, I'm actually on the East Coast now, 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.239 but my folks are still there. And yeah, we were 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:30.359 like Miracle Mile kids. And then eventually my parents moved 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:31.720 to Pasadena and they're still there. 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:32.960 Oh. Crazy. 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:37.280 Normally I like to ask people about who they were 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:43.280 as kids, And so often when I'm interviewing parents that 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.959 have kids in that kind of stage of developmental age 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.480 that I know years are in, they get to kind 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:53.600 of see this mirroring of themselves as children and see 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:57.400 versions of themselves in their own children at the same time. Yeah, 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.920 and I wonder if you got to go back and 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.519 hang out with yourself as a ten year old kid, 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.000 the way you get to hang out with your kids. 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.280 Would you see aspects of the man you are today 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:10.360 in that little boy? 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:16.360 Oh? Probably not. I don't know. I don't know. I was. 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:20.400 I see my son and there are a lot of 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:25.040 similarities in him as a child compared to who I 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.320 was as a child, And I think it's going to 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:30.120 be I think he might be the same. It's going 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.880 to be like a night and day flip where the 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:41.440 kind of rambunctious, un bridled energy of youth sort of 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:46.840 meets with this this moment of change where you become 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:57.080 measured and more temperate and decisive, but no, also with 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:04.480 the ability to navigate between both personalities, the extrovert, the introvert. 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.480 The entertainer and the observer. 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:08.960 Yeah. 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:13.280 I feel like, yeah, he seems like he's probably gonna 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:19.600 flip that switch in the next seven years. 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:19.960 Probably. 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.640 Wow. And is that all right around when it started 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:25.120 to happen for you? 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:27.720 No, it happened for me earlier then. I think it 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:32.919 will happen for him. But I think that it's just 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.640 different circumstances. You know, I had I had two parents 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:41.640 that worked full time. We were a very kind of 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:50.560 middle class family. And what's different now is that there's 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:54.520 I think a lot more attention that my wife and 0:04:54.560 --> 0:05:00.040 I give to the kids, a lot more comfort and 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:05.560 intentional parenting versus fly by the seat of your parts 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:08.960 on the table and make sure the kids get to 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.359 school parenting that I grew up with. 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.359 Yeah. I talk to my friends about this all the time, 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:20.000 because we're really the first generation that has been in 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:22.960 this phase of life with all these resources, all the 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:26.360 mental health studies and all the understanding of you know, 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:31.159 communication and the value of therapy and all these things 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:36.919 that our folks didn't really have. And it's it's so 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:41.200 inspiring for me to look at parents in my life 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:46.039 and watch the way they can acknowledge where their own 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.920 parents fell short, still love them for it, and be 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:55.560 choosing to create a different pattern in real time. Yeah, 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:56.919 it's pretty incredible. 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:59.560 It is incredible. There's a lot, like you said, a 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:06.160 lot of resources. We chosen a school that has a 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:10.560 pedagogy that I think helps parents become better parents. One 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:15.040 of the really special things is that before the Surgeon 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:20.760 General's warning on social media, we were already engaged in 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:27.039 a media free campus, media free lifestyle. So you know, 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:34.320 it's very limited the amount of television or TV programming 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.960 that the kids would get and they're you know, they're 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.800 they're fine with it. They've learned to manage without it, 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:45.960 and there's no pressure coming from the school because the 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:49.800 other kids are on board with the program. So it's 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:54.640 helped us be better parents, but also just more focused 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:55.800 and intentional. 0:06:56.400 --> 0:07:01.159 Yeah, it's an interesting thing I think for people in 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.599 our lines of work to analyze relationships to media, and 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:09.239 even when you talk about how the sort of flip 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:12.680 happened in your young self, how as an adult you 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:16.400 have to hold both your performer and your introvert, you know, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:21.000 I think about that a lot, being the performer, the entertainer, 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:27.840 and also a listener who likes to be quiet. There's 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.320 then the layer of how you have to participate in 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.160 media on top of it, and when you've pursued a 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:37.960 career in it. I mean, before you became a solo artist, 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:42.280 you were part of a hip hop duo and la 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.920 in the nineties, I mean, everything about it was so 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:51.160 incredible and music was so incredible, and there's no way 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:53.720 to be a musician without being in the media, right, So, like, 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.080 at least then there was no social there was no 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.160 thumb scroll on the iPhone. What was that what was 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:02.120 that era like for. 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:03.640 It was the best era. I don't know. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.320 I don't know that we'll ever be able to have 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.600 that again. I would love to try to replicate it somehow, 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:14.040 but it would take concerned effort on everybody's part to 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:20.040 recognize that what makes it special is sort of the 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:30.200 exclusivity of the temporal exclusivity, the spatial exclusivity, and the 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.560 informational exclusivity. It's that you, if you know, you know, 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.480 and once you're there, you get to experience it, and 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:41.000 then it's word of mouth, and and if you weren't there, 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:45.600 then it's like the tail of you know, the fish 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.480 that you caught just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:50.320 so the hype gets is real. 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:52.559 So but. 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:59.560 Wow, when I was growing up and in the hip 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:05.280 hop scene, we would have access to all of the artists, 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.240 the stars nowadays, people that you kind of just look 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:12.080 at like, oh, that's a bonafide you know, superstar, billionaire 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:17.440 artist and hip hop those folks. We would literally go 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:19.440 to clubs and see them for five bucks or ten 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:26.559 bucks in LA and just an awesome time of music 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:31.800 and dance and art and culture. And I know that 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.120 it is possible, and I know that we was part 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:39.720 of our mental wellness, right. It was our own modality 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:44.960 for ensuring that we were healthy because we had a 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:47.240 community and a culture that we belonged to, that we 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:47.960 subscribed to. 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:49.880 Of course, my parents are from Panama. 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.760 There was a whole community and culture from Central America 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:57.000 Latin America that I was part of. And then my 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.760 friends that I went to school with, we had our 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.640 our own sort of you know, suburban subculture. 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.160 And then there were my hip hop friends and culture. 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.959 So I had the opportunity to choose between uh and 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:14.720 and actually code switch between a lot of different cultures. 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.160 But it's the it was the. 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:23.320 Beautiful mental well I'm gonna a kinning making it an 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.240 association with mental wellness. Now I didn't. I wouldn't have 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.800 done it back then, but now I can see that. 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.679 The fact that we were in propinquity and proximity with 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:36.240 one another, that we were engaged in physical activity so 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:41.760 it was dance or performance. The fact that we were 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:50.000 free to make mistakes without the repercussion of forever documentation. 0:10:52.559 --> 0:11:00.280 All of that combined was I think the best and 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.520 most nurturing soil to grow up in. 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.360 I love that that idea that you could be free 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.880 not only to make mistakes, but to experiment with your 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:16.280 own art, because sure, if you can make a mistake 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:22.199 in private, you can have a normally sized consequence of sorts. 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.480 To do it in public does something to I think 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.040 a tiny human brain that it's not meant to experience. 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.960 But I worry about this, everyone recording everything all the time. 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.880 I worry about what that's costing art because people are 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:45.479 afraid to have something that's mediocre go on the internet. 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.319 But you got to rehearse, you got to try things, 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:50.440 You got to see. If you're a comedian, you have 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:52.840 to see how a joke works in a crowd. Comedians 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:58.400 workshop around the country, Artists perform a new song, see 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.160 what the vibe is, realize it it's missing a synth 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:03.800 or a drum or whatever, and go back and layer. 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:07.720 And nobody wants to do that anymore. People only want 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:13.319 to give out what is perfect because it might go somewhere. 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.320 And I'm scared of the generation of art we're costing 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:19.400 ourselves because everyone's too afraid to take risks. 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:24.679 Now, yeah, that's a real concern of mine as well. 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:29.760 And I would add in the layer of algorithms and industry. 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.000 Industry is so much smarter, and now with algorithms, they're 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:43.560 even more informed about how to sell and market. And 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:46.720 what's unfortunate is that it becomes this recursive loop, a 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:51.880 reductive recursive loop that does not allow for better or 0:12:51.960 --> 0:13:00.720 more interesting or productive art. Yes, and I think about 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:07.680 how we can, you know, try to you know, go 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:09.520 back to square one. And I don't want to sound like, 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:13.199 you know, back in my day, but there was something 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:22.280 special about the garage band. Yes, And now that it's 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:29.560 more so, the discovery and engagement is online and it's 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:34.760 more insular, it's more solo than it is the group, 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:39.320 and the groups that exist are all so manicured and 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:46.920 perfect and seen that it begs the question will we 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.960 ever be able to see, you know, kids just having 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:54.200 fun for the sake of having fun anymore? Or is 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.160 all of their fun for display? And does it have 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.960 to be perfectly presented and rehearsed fun? 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:05.000 And when it works for these young artists, the blow 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.560 up is so fast. You know, It's been interesting to 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.680 watch Chapel Roone have this big year and everyone's like 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.439 good for her, and she's out there being like I'm traumatized, 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.120 like the Internet's wild. What people expect of me is 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:20.800 really hard for me to process. A year and a 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.880 half ago, nobody knew this kid's name, and I think 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:30.320 about the pressure, you know, we kind of got to 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:32.760 be out there and make a thing and have a 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:36.080 show premiere or drop an album and do the press 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:39.080 tour and then also like go home, go to the 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:43.080 bar with our friends, like not every outing was expected 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:48.600 to be chased and tailed and photographed and packaged. And 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:54.280 I think about things that are so like those moments 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:56.320 that take me back, you know, almost like an old 0:14:56.360 --> 0:15:00.320 factory hit when you smell something and suddenly you're to 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:02.920 someone you haven't seen in ages. And when I was 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.680 getting ready for today and I was thinking about all 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.080 the phases of my own life that your music has 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:12.200 been a part of. I even think about when I 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:16.200 Need a dollar, was, you know, the theme song to 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:19.400 Make It in America. And like my buddy Brian Greenberg 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:21.520 from my first show, One Tree Hill was on that 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:23.640 show and we were like, oh my god, and it 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.560 felt like this moment for us, like supporting our friend 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:28.640 and this song that was everwhere on the radio and 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:32.160 it was it was the theme song of the HBO show, 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:36.400 like the possibilities felt so big, and it was it's 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:38.800 like one of my favorite memories as a young artist. 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.360 And it wasn't even my show, but it was like 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:46.640 we all had this connection in this way and nobody 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:49.080 was expected to be and like the head to to 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.680 look by the stylist and doing the thing. And you know, 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.000 now everybody's looking at these retro photos from the nineties 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:58.080 and the early two thousands and being like, God, what 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:02.120 cool style. And it's like people were just wearing they were. 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:04.240 Just wearing what they were Yeah, what were in closet 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.760 or in the drawer? There was and there was none 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:07.960 of this. 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:10.640 Thank you for mentioning I Need a Dollar because that 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.040 was an epic moment for me as well. 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:15.600 That was exactly what you said. 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.840 I was just making music for the few fans that 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:21.960 I knew I had who would appreciate it. And I 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.280 was like, and I'll probably go get another job in 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:26.040 a couple months. 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:34.240 Yeah, And now for our sponsors, and can I ask 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:37.200 just a technical question for the timeline, how long was 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.280 this after you embarked as a solo artist. 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.480 I Need a Dollar hit in two thousand and nine 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.760 or so. I had been laid off in two thousand 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:55.040 and three, so six years of kind of solo artistry. 0:16:55.960 --> 0:17:00.880 I've always been engaged in art, doing hip hop music. 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.720 I released I think two thousand and five maybe the 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:10.440 last the hip hop album with my partner DJ Exile 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:15.200 as Eminon, and then released a solo album in two 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:16.720 thousand and six or something like that. 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:21.919 So this song hits and it's like, what, yeah, I 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.800 mean when that when that beat starts and it just 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:27.920 the loop is so good. I think about walking down 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.240 the street in New York and my bee, I don't know, 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.840 it's so it's seminole. 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:35.280 Oh my goodness. You're right. 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:43.320 It has an essence, a really really powerful emotive sound 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:45.119 to it, and it does. 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:46.520 It does make me think of like. 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:51.000 A scene, you know, scene of Staying Alive where johnsha 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:56.439 Volks was just walking down New York. But I was, 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:00.760 you know, I was at a moment where I had 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:05.640 no expectations because I've been doing music for so long 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:07.679 and music really wasn't supposed to be my career. 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:08.720 It's just the hobby. 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:10.600 And I knew that I can always go back to 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:14.240 corporate or go back to school and kind of be 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:15.560 a career scholar or something. 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:21.840 But I was lucky. I was lucky, and I've been 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:25.320 chasing this luck, writing this luck for a little bit. 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:31.040 Yeah, you said in an article. I suppose I should 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:32.960 say an interview. It was an interview that an article 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:37.480 was written from that you feel like serendipity lives on 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:38.480 your front doorstep. 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:40.320 Oh my goodness. 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.240 Can you say a little bit more about that as 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:44.760 you talk about riding this wave? 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:46.680 Yeah, I feel like it's not fair. 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.199 You know, I have a lot of friends where are 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:56.399 struggling artists who are incredibly talented but just haven't had 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:01.159 what I consider the lucky breaks that I've had, and 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:07.159 I wish that I could share, you know, the sprinkles 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:13.080 of serendipity with them. But everywhere I look, there's something 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.840 positive happening, and my goal is to just trying to 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:21.960 pay it forward as much as possible with philanthropy and 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:27.760 with message and engagement. But I was signed to an 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.040 indie label. First of all, I wasn't signed to any label. 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:35.280 In the very beginning. I was going to work for 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.240 a big corporation and they pushed my start date back. 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:44.440 And because they pushed my start date back, the opportunity 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:47.880 to go to go on tour in Europe. Opened up 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:51.280 because one of the members of this hip hop group 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:53.440 decided to stay home. So there was an extra seat 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.440 in the bus, an extra bed in the hotel rooms. 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:01.800 And the idea was that I could join the tour 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.800 if I paid my way. And I had just received, 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:09.120 you know, just graduated from college, received this like exit 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:14.679 scholarship that I don't even again. Another serendipity, right, money, 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:18.240 money on the way out, Okay, I'll take it. So 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:21.320 I had some money to pay my way on this tour. 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:25.520 Came home and started recording with the artists that I 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:31.520 had toured with, and one of the recordings peaqued the 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.439 attention of the record label that that artist was signed to, 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.359 so they ended up signing me as a singer and 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.200 not an MC. So all this time, this whole tour, 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.199 I'd done, I'm a rapper and I'm writing hip hop music, 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:47.200 and I decided to sing on one track, and the 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:51.679 labels considering me a vocalist, and now I'm signed as 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:56.840 a singer. And so I had to really like bootstrap 0:20:56.920 --> 0:21:01.280 myself to become a vocalist and a singer, trying so 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.360 many different sounds and styles over the years, and then 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:08.080 by the time I started working on my second album, 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:13.119 Good Things, which holds the I Need a Dollar song, 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.520 I kind of had figured out where the best place 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:19.639 was to use my voice. So it wasn't in power 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:24.440 and b it wasn't alternative rock. It was in this 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:28.600 kind of folk soul vocal and it ended up being 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:30.760 the mark of my early career. 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:35.760 Yeah, it's amazing, and I again I think about that thing. 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:40.000 Would you have had the time and space to find 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:45.320 the best use of your voice had that moment in 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:48.760 your early career been happening in this kind of algorithmic 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:50.800 machine we're in now, No. 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:51.720 I don't think so. 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:57.639 Yeah, I think because of my attraction to process, I 0:21:57.680 --> 0:21:59.840 would be trying to figure out the algorithm how to 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:04.200 be eat it, and it wouldn't It wouldn't give me. 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:06.760 The opportunity to be my best artistic self. 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:11.320 I'm so lucky that in high school I had the 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:16.479 chance to put in ten thousand hours of free, expressive 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:26.119 artistic creation. Yeah, without again, without the repercussions of. 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:26.200 Having to be perfect, because. 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:29.640 It wasn't going online right, it was being vetted by 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:33.840 my very close associates, and once they approved, then it 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:38.040 made it to you know, mixtapes that we then delivered 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:38.679 to more people. 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:43.159 I miss the mixtape when you talked earlier about like 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:46.680 if you know, you know, when you finally when you're 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:48.840 not a music maker but you love art, you know, 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:54.159 artist of a different vertical, like to go, oh, now, 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:56.879 now I get the heads up when the mixtapes are coming, 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:01.720 like nothing was cooler, you know, as a young person 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:05.360 finding the way in these creative scenes. I'm like, oh 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.199 my god, just to hear you talk about like you 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:10.240 workshop it, then it goes on the mixtape, then it 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:12.200 goes out, then people come to see you in the venue. 0:23:12.240 --> 0:23:14.560 It's like, I don't know if we'll get it again, 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:17.560 but I I'd be so thrilled if we could figure 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:18.240 out a way. 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:24.920 Yeah again, I'm going to try to figure out how 0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:26.000 that can be possible. 0:23:26.040 --> 0:23:27.960 I think that there is a. 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:35.200 Hunger for it, but I want to, you know, try 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:38.800 to My kids are a hop skip and a jump 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:42.920 away from high school and so maybe, you know, I'll 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:46.240 try to work shop it with them the rental venue 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:51.040 where they can go and you know, have parties and 0:23:51.200 --> 0:23:55.760 be creative and explore. 0:23:55.960 --> 0:24:01.000 But one rule is that it has to happen offline. 0:24:01.240 --> 0:24:05.679 Yeah, phone free love it. I even think about what 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:11.359 a big deal it was in that era when you'd 0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:14.159 hear about something after and then you'd see the you know, 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:18.040 the five photos that came out because some great shooter 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:21.320 was there and and but that was it. It wasn't 0:24:21.600 --> 0:24:26.520 you know, six hundred grainy Instagram videos or whatever. And 0:24:26.560 --> 0:24:30.919 there's something I think really beautiful about all of that, 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:33.760 and I do think it's why so many young people 0:24:33.840 --> 0:24:37.920 crave it. I hear from you know, my friends with teenagers. 0:24:38.200 --> 0:24:40.320 We've kind of we've kind of got two camps, like 0:24:40.520 --> 0:24:43.600 friends with little kids, like you know, five and under, 0:24:43.640 --> 0:24:46.800 and then we've got friends with teenagers. And the teenagers 0:24:47.200 --> 0:24:50.879 want to ask questions about my first show because they're like, 0:24:51.400 --> 0:24:55.240 everybody has a flip phone. They they all talk to 0:24:55.320 --> 0:25:00.080 each other about how they're feeling. No one's texting, and 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:02.400 that kind of blows my mind. These kids are like, wait, 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:04.199 we want that version of high school. 0:25:05.720 --> 0:25:08.040 Yeah. The beauty is the art of story, and so 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:09.800 what is. 0:25:11.400 --> 0:25:14.480 You know, missing, is that with all of this video 0:25:14.840 --> 0:25:18.320 and all of these photos available, for every event that happens, 0:25:18.880 --> 0:25:22.280 you end also the ability to watch and experience in 0:25:22.320 --> 0:25:26.040 real time, you lose the art of story, and so nobody, 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:28.760 nobody tells the story in a way that is compelling. 0:25:29.440 --> 0:25:32.960 You're receiving it in real time, and you get to 0:25:33.160 --> 0:25:37.640 interpret it at your own level, uh, with with your 0:25:37.800 --> 0:25:46.560 with your own you know, intellectual curiosity and your own 0:25:47.600 --> 0:25:56.880 ability to really process deeply. And we all have different abilities. 0:25:56.880 --> 0:25:59.080 But when you have a storyteller that's coming to you 0:25:59.200 --> 0:26:04.640 and dictating really what you should feel and how you feel, 0:26:04.640 --> 0:26:06.600 that's a whole different experience. And I think that's what 0:26:07.240 --> 0:26:11.040 is missing, is the Yeah, the great narrator. 0:26:12.880 --> 0:26:16.359 Yes, And what I miss about the great narrator is 0:26:16.400 --> 0:26:19.720 that it was being presented, as you said, with someone's 0:26:19.840 --> 0:26:24.560 story that also helped to encourage critical thinking and to 0:26:24.720 --> 0:26:25.960 question the story. 0:26:26.359 --> 0:26:26.439 To. 0:26:27.960 --> 0:26:31.800 Examine the facts of it, rather than just to look 0:26:31.840 --> 0:26:35.280 at one hundred images and decide you already know the story. 0:26:35.920 --> 0:26:38.520