00:00:00 Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. 00:00:09 Speaker 2: What up, y'all is Layah from Team Supreme. Okay, So it's June, and you know it is Black Music Month. Now, This month and its cause was started by my godmother, Dianna Williams, the legendary Kenny Gamble, and the great and right back in nineteen seventy nine after being invited to the White House along with the Black Music Association. Now, the Black Music Association was a group of black folks that were the best of the best of the music industry. I'm talking record execs, I'm talking radio people, I'm talking artists. I'm talking to everybody from Clarence Avon and Frankie Crocker to Percy Sutton, everybody in the middle right. So they all get invited to this big party on the White House lawn June seventh, nineteen seventy nine. And before the performances started, President Carter said many things addressing and reminding people of the importance of Black Music Month, and one of the things he said was end quote in many ways, the feelings of our own black citizens throughout the history of our country has been accurately expressed in the music, and it presents a kind of history of our nation when you go back and see. 00:01:09 Speaker 3: The evolution of black music words. 00:01:13 Speaker 2: So we've spoken a lot about Black Music Month on Questlove Supreme, and this June we are running a different episode from the QLs archives every single day in the name, Spirit and Cause of Black Music Month. We're kicking things off with the Godmother, herself, mine and yours. I'm talking about Miss Dianna Williams. 00:01:33 Speaker 4: Now. 00:01:33 Speaker 2: This is from our twenty nineteen conversation live in person at Larry Gold Studios. 00:01:40 Speaker 5: Enjoy Suprima Sun Sun Supremo Role called Subprima Sun sub Prie Mo Role call Supremeau Sun Suprema roll call Supremo Sun Sun Up Breme my roll. 00:02:04 Speaker 4: What's love in the place? 00:02:06 Speaker 2: Yeah? 00:02:06 Speaker 4: With the end and the fan Yeah, is that so cool? 00:02:10 Speaker 6: Yeah? 00:02:10 Speaker 4: I am Supreme, Roll came up, Brave Up Supremo role. My name is Fante, Yeah, and I can say our hung Yeah with that beautiful lady. Yeah from Unsung Roll Up. 00:02:29 Speaker 5: Brave Son Supreme roll called Suprema Sun Sun. 00:02:35 Speaker 7: Supreme A roll call. 00:02:36 Speaker 8: My name is Sugar, Yeah, and I hope that one day. Yeah, I can be a guest. Yeah on Soulful Sunday Up. 00:02:45 Speaker 5: Brave Supreme Roll Supreme, Supreme Role. 00:02:52 Speaker 9: My name is Bill, Yeah to the extreme. Yeah, oh well that's with Yeah every moonbeas. 00:03:01 Speaker 4: Suprema Son Supremo. 00:03:03 Speaker 5: Roll called Suprema Son Son Supremo. 00:03:07 Speaker 4: Roll called Bill. 00:03:10 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:03:10 Speaker 4: And here's the thing. 00:03:12 Speaker 8: Yeah, last night, Yeah, too many Chicken. 00:03:19 Speaker 4: Supremo. Roll call Suprema So Supremo. 00:03:23 Speaker 3: Roll call. 00:03:24 Speaker 2: It's like yeah, and my god mother Dianna, Yeah mother black music mom. 00:03:30 Speaker 3: Yeah, nobody knows it better. 00:03:31 Speaker 5: Roll call Suprema Son Sign Supremo. Roll call Suprema Son Son Supremo. 00:03:39 Speaker 9: Roll call. 00:03:40 Speaker 10: My name is Dianna, Yeah, not Banana. Yeah, light skinning like one. Yeah, but I'm Danna. 00:03:47 Speaker 5: Roll So Supremo, roll Suprema So So Suprevo. Roll call Suprema Son Son Supremo. 00:03:59 Speaker 4: Roll Nice, nice one. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to another episode of Questlove Supreme. We are officially back home. We are back home, Steve. We are back Steve, back where we below? How do you feel to be bad? 00:04:24 Speaker 10: Ladies? 00:04:25 Speaker 4: We are live, okay, we are recording right, We are recording right now at Milk Boy Studio formerly known and still sort of conduct currently known as the Studio. We are actually in the room where the lyrics of You Got Me, the Song that Changed My Life was was recorded. The vocals were done all the things while a part vocals were done here, as subsequently every Roots album afterwards, from Phrenology on down to Rising Down. But we are in studio A a lot of a lot of Philadelphia history. Wow. Yeah, in this room smells like yeah PTSD Steve Man. 00:05:07 Speaker 8: I'm telling you, it's gritty here, it's got the grit. 00:05:13 Speaker 9: And this is one of the places that Rich made me cut vocals like verse like thirty damn times. 00:05:17 Speaker 4: Like it was. Yeah. I told like this it's all Rich Nichols here. 00:05:21 Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, this is this is the spirit of the Rich. 00:05:25 Speaker 2: Nichols episode showed me poring in the room. Next you're first born, not my first, but my first Rich Nichols. 00:05:32 Speaker 7: Oh no, wow, okay, Nate Saturday morning. 00:05:42 Speaker 4: Can we do this right now? We have yes in the room. 00:05:49 Speaker 7: Oh wait a minute, would you like the honor? 00:05:54 Speaker 2: Ya? 00:05:55 Speaker 10: Don't do that to me. 00:05:56 Speaker 3: You prepared and you wrote it down. 00:05:57 Speaker 4: I'd have to see. 00:05:59 Speaker 7: I'll come like like, uh what do you call it? 00:06:02 Speaker 10: Uh, you can do the cleanup? 00:06:04 Speaker 3: Can I do it? 00:06:04 Speaker 10: But you have to do the No. 00:06:05 Speaker 4: I think this. I think it's only apropos and and for you, I agree to introduce our guest today. Okay, if i'm if, i'm if I'm based on you're talking, I feel like I feel like this is the chip off the old block here. 00:06:23 Speaker 3: So yeah, it's a it's a small chip of a big block. 00:06:27 Speaker 10: How about it. 00:06:27 Speaker 2: I'm the small ship of a blick box. You're gonna make me be boxes, all right? So, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. The woman who wait, you know what it is, Deanna. 00:06:38 Speaker 4: You have a way. You have a way to make everyone who lose their cool. Yo, I'm good over here. 00:06:53 Speaker 3: What it's just me and a mirror. 00:06:55 Speaker 4: I'm literally I feel I can be in the room with any human being and just be like, no big deal, President Obama, Michael Jordan's whatever, Stevie and I'll be down on the second like. But with Deanna, there's there's a very regal like I always sit up stravery regal collegemen. All right, So that yeah, this this we we are in the presence of royalty right now. This is gonna be the longest introduction ever, the most eloquent when I've ever done in the. 00:07:38 Speaker 7: History of the show. Yes, exactly from the No. 00:07:47 Speaker 4: Seriously, this woman has history in the city of Philadelphia. I've I'm in my career took uh uh a. I can't even talk. It's hard to describe. Have some barriers and relax, listen, start with your you can start with that way. I will. Yeah, I will say that I first, my my first real entrance into the non nepotism Le Andrews world that I came from, really started with I am and interning. 00:08:24 Speaker 2: And network International Association of African American Music. 00:08:27 Speaker 4: Yes, she wow, she is about No one know what I am. You're talking about NAS album? 00:08:33 Speaker 7: Yes, where is this going? 00:08:38 Speaker 4: Oh my god, I'm not gonna let it be ten minutes before I say, Ladies and jon. 00:08:46 Speaker 10: I'm thrilled and honored to be with you and Radio Legend officially welcome you to the city of brotherly love sisterly affects. 00:08:54 Speaker 3: So she also coined that term. 00:08:56 Speaker 2: I forgot to mention that the sisterly affection part. Yes, animations and things like that. 00:09:02 Speaker 10: Yeah, inclusion right, women have been part of the fabric of Philadelphia and everywhere every place for as long as. 00:09:11 Speaker 7: I've listened to Philly radio. Right now, her voice is very soothing. 00:09:15 Speaker 4: Yeah it is. 00:09:17 Speaker 7: I feel like she's going to turn around and interview us any moments. 00:09:22 Speaker 10: It's discourse, it's conversation with human exchange. 00:09:26 Speaker 4: Always spoke. I was about to say, the one area that you have not affected is because sometimes you clean up for a company and then you're like the Lenny Kravits episode, which yeah, god for we did get which we did that one episode. 00:09:45 Speaker 7: You cleaned up nicely, you know. But I'm just saying that. 00:09:49 Speaker 2: It was. 00:09:52 Speaker 6: Right. 00:09:53 Speaker 10: Sound like whatever I raised right there, she. 00:09:58 Speaker 4: Knew when when this voice come to be? When did you? I feel like you're always in regal honey milk. I feel like the term honey milk or whatever. 00:10:12 Speaker 10: No, that's not what my lover says when we're fighting, not at all. 00:10:19 Speaker 2: No. 00:10:21 Speaker 10: I grew up, first of all. I'll take you back to the beginning. I was born in Queens, raised as a small young girl in the Bronx and ten my family moved to Puerto Rico. My mother's Puerto Rican. I'm half Puerto Rican, so my mother was a college professor So we moved to pr to bayamong which is where a lot of my family is, and I spent two years perfecting my non Spanish, my new Yurekan Spanish. 00:10:50 Speaker 4: So you had a new Yurekan voice. 00:10:52 Speaker 10: Uh well, well no, just no accent if you're talking about I read it, write it, and speak it. And I learned to do that. I learned how to speak it. I learned Spanish before I learned English because my mother was in school, my father was working, but my grandmother, who spoke no English whatsoever, was my caretaker. So I learned Spanish before I learned English, or probably simultaneously. And it's mom, my mother's mom. My maternal side of the family is Puerto Rican. My father's from Culpeper. My father has transitioned, but my people were from Culpeper, Virginia. So yeah, Spanish, English, but New York. And then when we moved back to the States, I grew up in Harlem as a teenager. So I was informed by this amazing upbringing that I had in New York, a cosmopolitan city with people from all you know, spectrums, all parts of the world, and all social economic backgrounds. So my, when I consider my formulation, my development. It's as a result of being in this gumbo of humanity in New York City. 00:12:04 Speaker 7: You were how old when you came back to I was about. 00:12:07 Speaker 10: Twelve twelve, So I spent my formative teenage years in Harlem, the Schomberg And I have a. 00:12:14 Speaker 4: Question the hollow. Yes, okay, I'm curbly I have I'm currently working on a project right now that I didn't even know existed until about a year ago. But the world doesn't seem to know. 00:12:35 Speaker 2: That. 00:12:36 Speaker 4: On the summer of nineteen sixty nine, a festival was thrown in Harlem with I mean, in short, we called it black Woodstock. It was Nina Simone, sly On, the Family Stone, the Stables, singers, Jesse Jackson. Literally like when you see the footage, it's forty thousand people in a Harlem park in the summer of sixty nine. 00:13:01 Speaker 10: Was it Mount Morris Park? 00:13:03 Speaker 4: Yep? 00:13:03 Speaker 10: Mount Morris Park? 00:13:04 Speaker 4: Yes, okay, I recollection of Mount Morris Park that period. 00:13:09 Speaker 10: And well no, sixty nine, No, but Mount Morris Park absolutely, because I spent many times there for free concerts. Really yeah, absolutely? 00:13:20 Speaker 4: What was the environment musically in Harlem? Like, because I mean as much as I hear about the folklore of Harlem, not even in the jazz since but post jazz, I don't have a feel of what the culture was like it was. 00:13:41 Speaker 10: I mean, we're talking about the birthplace of the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem has always been a capital, a mecca of music and culture. So I grew up hearing music everywhere in Harlem. It was blasting out of people's radios, in their cars and their homes, the free concerts. I had a program in Harlem called Jazzmobile that was founded by are you familiar with this doctor? Billy Taylor was the founder of Jazzmobile and it provided free lessons to inner city youth. So for me, I studied the flute and my teacher was the legendary Jimmy Heath. What yes, Yes, Jimmy Heath was my flute teacher. And ironically, years later I ran into him in Saint Louis. He was with his brothers, the Heath brothers. Yeah, and he was We were in the Ritz Carlton. I was there to attend Steve mckeever's wedding. Steve mckever, the founder of Hidden Beach who signed Jill Scott and many others from Philadelphia. 00:14:44 Speaker 4: Kindred such a radio person, I wouldn't have trying to get you there. 00:14:48 Speaker 10: That's okay. So anyway, I saw Jimmy, and Jimmy calls me over and he says to his brothers, Deanna was my best student. 00:14:57 Speaker 2: I wanted to bore a whole go through the floor because I am so bad, horrible, talent less. You probably was the prettiest, well lovely, but honey, I could not. You know, you have to be able to improvise, and I just did not have those skills. 00:15:13 Speaker 10: I had an appreciation of sensitivity, a passion for the music, but I just don't have any talent. 00:15:20 Speaker 7: So I always hear about. 00:15:23 Speaker 4: Maybe like from the generation that came before I came up, and I guess, like, I'm I'm one of the last people that like the idea of like music appreciation and who knows what this uh instrument it is? And oh, I want to try that a viola, you know that sort of thing. But was it just expected even if you didn't have musical talent. Was it just expected like for a non musical person you just saw the flute and was like, okay, No. 00:15:52 Speaker 10: Actually, my first boyfriend that I lost my virginity too, from Brooklyn, Lethal he played the flute. So as a result of being around him in intimate circumstances, one day I just picked up his instrument. I'mad and I. 00:16:13 Speaker 3: Started remember super class and. 00:16:26 Speaker 10: I'm telling you what happened anyway, That's how I came to study the flute. Yeah, but interesting, So to your question, a mirror the question about music. Music and Harlem was everywhere, and even people who did not have talent or could play an instrument had an appreciation. We used to when we got music, we would sit together in a group and devour an album. We would read the liner notes, because back in the day everybody did liner notes for their music. We would read where it was recorded, who was the engineer, where everything, all of the details the minutia of a record. Not just did we absorb the music. Of course, we were smoking weed at that time, okay, all right, yeah, and we would just we were very knowledgeable when it came to music. That was expected of us, especially growing up in Harlem. That was the expectation that you were down whatever was new coming out, that you were going to their shows, that you were up on what was happening musically. 00:17:34 Speaker 4: Do you have any siblings. 00:17:35 Speaker 10: I'm an only child. 00:17:37 Speaker 4: What yeah, cousins. 00:17:43 Speaker 10: Exactly, I've got tons of cousins. 00:17:45 Speaker 4: So how did now this is unusual because usually, uh, it's the trickle cultural trickle down, a system of the older sibling puts the youngest one onto something and you absorb it. So who was your jaddy? 00:18:00 Speaker 8: My father? 00:18:03 Speaker 10: My father played the radio all the time. We listened to w ABC, the good Guys, and we also listened to w w r L, which was the African American AM station. So I grew up hearing, you know, all the mixed sounds because back in the day when I grew up, they played black and white artist on w ABC. But then wwr L only all black music. So that's where I got my ears. My daddy big on music. 00:18:32 Speaker 2: But the only all black station was the AMWWRL, Yeah, the AM station. 00:18:37 Speaker 11: Who were the personalities of the day, Well, Enoch Gregory, just you know, the good guys. 00:18:45 Speaker 10: I can't remember all the names, cousin Bruce. I mean, there were a ton of radio personalities. But the first woman that I ever heard on the radio, Vy Higginson. Vy Higginson, Well, she was on WBLS. Frankie Crocker and we're talking early seventies because I graduated from high school seventy one, the year that Marvin Gay released What's Going On That That is the soundtrack to My Life. That's the musica Franklin. 00:19:16 Speaker 7: That's what I just came out as you regret because that was yeah, yeah, yeah, it did. 00:19:20 Speaker 10: That's when it came out. 00:19:21 Speaker 4: Can you imagine going out into the world and wow. So yeah. 00:19:29 Speaker 10: Then w l I b FM became WBLS and that's where I heard Vy Higginson. And when I heard her, I just fell in love. I was enamored with her voice, her her style. It sounded like you were in her bedroom. It sounded very intimate, and that's what I went back to. Absolutely absolutely she. 00:19:49 Speaker 4: Was on air personality. 00:19:50 Speaker 10: Like she was an on air personality. She's still on the radio now on the station that's online in New York and what but she was Doris Troy's sister her and she did the play Mama I Want to Sing. That's by Higginson who produced it, and Doris Troy just well and look that was her sister Higginson. Okay, yeah, And Frankie Crocker. I'm a graduate of Frankie Crocker University, but I kind. 00:20:18 Speaker 7: Of want to go to school the Frankie Crocker School. 00:20:22 Speaker 4: Okay, So besplaying the magnitude of the power that Frankie Crocker had on New York and nationwide. 00:20:30 Speaker 10: Frankie Crocker was a radio personality and a programmer. I would say he was the dean of FM Black Radio at its at the beginning, and he programmed WBLS one oh seven point five in New York and later other stations around the country. But he had the most effortless style, very commanding presence on the radio, and he introduced New York audiences to Barry White disco, the sound of Philadelphia. But he would all so mix and maybe he would throw in some Frank Sinatra. He could do that because he was the program director. But it was an eclectic sound, and he said it was three hundred and sixty degrees of the total experience of black music. So Frankie Crocker hired me after I spent two years in Washington, DC at w h u R ninety six point three, which is also a very important radio station in the history of music and black radio because it was the home of the original Quiet Storm as created by Kathy Hughes, who is my best friend. Also the founder of Radio one, TV one Interactive one Urban one. Melvin Lindsay was He wasn't the first host, but he became. Yeah, there was some. 00:21:44 Speaker 2: There were I think two other hosts. Yeah, also from BT exactly Video Soul, like our. 00:21:49 Speaker 3: First black celebrities who passed from HIV exactly. 00:21:53 Speaker 10: That's very true, Layah. But Melvioyn was also my protege because he was a student. Howard University owned the radio station, but it was a commercial outlet in the middle of the dial, and Frankie Crocker liberally borrowed from what we were doing in Washington d C. Okay GC, Yeah, that's true after a while, but that's where I started as Ebony Moonbeams at w h U R and d C. I did not go to Howard. I was very very silly. I was very caught up. I was hired on the eve of my nineteenth birthday by a gentleman named Bob Nighthawk Terry, who's also another legendary if you saw the movie Talk to Me Labasaid's character. But that was the gentleman who hired me and gave me my break in radio in d C. So two years after being Ebny Moonbeams and being in DC, I got a call on the hotline from Frankie Crocker offering me a job first in Saint Louis. That didn't work out too well. I went to Saint Louis. In all due respect to Saint Louis, it was just too small for me. Okay, it just wasn't. 00:23:03 Speaker 2: Man. 00:23:03 Speaker 10: My mama went with me and she was like, oh, not too much culture here. We gotta go. We have to go someplace else. It's true, it is. My mom is from there. 00:23:11 Speaker 3: I used to get my Oh my god, no Jerry Curls until like two thousands. 00:23:16 Speaker 10: Yeah, that wasn't That wasn't working for me. And then he offered me a job in Chicago. That didn't work either because the owners called me and said the money that mister Crocker offered you, we cannot afford to pay you. And I was like, okay, deuces. And then he called me again on the hotline at w h R. At this point I was doing mid days and he said, come come to New York, come come to be La, come home, come home. 00:23:39 Speaker 4: Wow, this is this is the episode I've been waiting for and all the questions I've had about every city, Can you explain why DC is such an important mecca for black music and being the Chocolate City and even even now to day like shows that we do in DC are way different. Maybe Detroit comes in a comes in a close second, But what is it about d C? So I'm assuming that the musical diet that the city is raised on that determines the the caliber of artists that. 00:24:25 Speaker 7: That come through the city. 00:24:26 Speaker 4: Am I correct? 00:24:28 Speaker 10: Yeah, you mentioned Chocolate City. It was definitively Chocolate City when I was there. It's been ultra gentified gentrified now, so it is no longer Chocolate City. But the DC that you're referring to, you know, it's the DMV, so it's the district of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland. But this you had the migration. 00:24:47 Speaker 2: You have people coming from the South, even the Midwest, moving to d C for government jobs. 00:24:52 Speaker 10: It's a government city. It's the you know, the nation's capital, largest black middle class in the country. There you go, So it created this middle class, but it people who had disposable income, and you know, music is at the core of our DNA for black folks, all due respect to everybody else, but for us, I think we're born in our DNA with a sponge that can absorb all the genres of our creation. And so in DC you had this middle class, You had people who had disposable income. They bought tickets to every show, they went to the clubs. You know, it was just part of our culture to embrace music and the artists that came through town. Not to mention Go Go, well, Go Go of course the genre that was born exclusively in DC and Chuck Brown, all of those people were my friends. 00:25:43 Speaker 4: Can we finally have this conversation about go Go? Yes? 00:25:47 Speaker 12: Yes, yeah, you know what point I'm about to bring up? Well, I just wanted to what year would you say was the origin the beginning of Go Go? 00:25:55 Speaker 10: Early seventies. By the time I got to d C in nineteen seventy three, when I got there, it was in full swing. Trouble fun, all of that was in full swing. 00:26:06 Speaker 4: I think the thing is is that, Okay, I know that early soul searcher forty five's I have for more breakbeat, traditional, right and all that stuff that that Chuck Brown did before. 00:26:18 Speaker 7: Like, Okay, this is authentic Go Go. 00:26:21 Speaker 4: However, I truly believe and this is where this my This is a very unpopular take on the history of Go Go, but I believe the DNA of Go Go starts with Grover Washington Junior's Mister Magic. 00:26:42 Speaker 7: I've heard that. 00:26:43 Speaker 4: I've heard that before. I've heard that before. The rhythm palette of Go Go is. 00:26:50 Speaker 3: Ye, Mister Magic seventy three, And so. 00:26:57 Speaker 4: I'm just saying that I I would assume that with that sort of backdrop, we definitely played it a lot. Fact, many bands have played it and played it and played and put it into the repertoire. 00:27:17 Speaker 3: Yeah, it was about ship in DC. 00:27:20 Speaker 4: So I wonder if any DC music historians will back me up in the fact. 00:27:30 Speaker 2: That they're gonna do what I did with it. I started in seventy two, right there, that's possible. But when I got there in seventy three, it was it was everybody everywhere. I mean, you could not go to a club and not hear Go Go music. 00:27:49 Speaker 3: It was just so could they have been an influence on him? Could possibly? 00:27:53 Speaker 4: You know what I mean? 00:27:53 Speaker 10: In the reverse though? 00:27:54 Speaker 4: I okay, I'm just saying that most Go Go that I know of, like The first example that it was truly played to me was around seventy eight, seventy nine. But I've investigated, I've investigated many of those DC funk bands and all my record collections, and that kind of the music was still post soul, post p funk ish, that sort of thing. And so I'm just saying I'm putting it out there. I'm going to find somebody the best. 00:28:29 Speaker 10: But we're also talking about the home of Marvin Gay, Boom drop to Ellington, Duke Ellington. 00:28:36 Speaker 4: I mean, just ye, that's right, when Marvin Gay got his band, Who do you come to Philadelphia again? 00:28:44 Speaker 3: But when you want to play weekend shows? 00:28:46 Speaker 10: Where you go DC? 00:28:47 Speaker 4: When you want to do a Saturday and a Sundakay, Okay, okay, I'm I'm not going to find anybody back up this argument. So of your formative years, what city, what city do you feel I had the most culture as far as impact in richness in black music? Is it DC? Is it New York? 00:29:13 Speaker 10: Philadelphi is a combination. So again, I grew up in Harlem, I spent radio formative years in DC in Chocolate City with black folks, and then I came to Philadelphia and Philadelphia at the point when I came to Philadelphia, I came because I started dating Kenny Gamble and instantly fell in love with him. So when I came to Philadelphia, the sound of Philly was in full throttle, and we're talking Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. Teddy was still in the group when I came. He started as the drummer and then moved into the lead position. But it was Patti LaBelle and the People's Choice and the tramps and the Delphonics and the stylistics and all of that was going on when I initially came to Philly in the mid seventies, And the first time I really came here was with Gene Karn, who is the godmother to my oldest son, Khalif Jane was about to sign her deal with Gamble. But I had met Gamble a year earlier in DC when I was hosting an OJ's concert and we formed our friendship. But when I first visited Philadelphia, international was with Gene when she signed her deal. 00:30:26 Speaker 4: Was it always on three thirteen Broad Street? 00:30:28 Speaker 10: It was three or nine? 00:30:30 Speaker 4: I'm sorry, Yeah, three thirteen was my high school. Oh, okay, performing arts. 00:30:36 Speaker 12: Yeah, just to go back to the Chuck Brown, go go, mister Matcha think I found a quote from Chuck Brown about that. Yes, and he basically admits that he got it from Grover, but says it Grover they both got it from somewhere else. And the quote is all I did was break the beat in half. I got it from Grover, for sure, but we really both got that from the spirit from gospel. It's an old church beat. 00:30:57 Speaker 10: Oh sucks, look at that. 00:31:00 Speaker 7: I'll give you half a Okay, all right, okay, I'll let. 00:31:07 Speaker 4: That one go. 00:31:09 Speaker 10: Thank you for that clarificationtimes. 00:31:11 Speaker 4: Yeah, I gotta get the truth out there. 00:31:13 Speaker 7: Yeah, So Philadelphia in in the well really at the height of it. 00:31:26 Speaker 4: First of all, do you credit Gamble and Huff for being the proprietors of disco? Many have said that absolutely. Well, Isaac started first because he had strings, and very white because he's the first to go to one hundred and twenty and b bms. But you know, as far as the thechine and the class, and plus you know young Earl, young young, I don't get you. 00:31:54 Speaker 10: Earl will not let you get out of a room without giving him his pops the drum to the second it was very second and forever and Earl Young the founder of the Tramps and the drummer but also the studio drummer for many, not all, of the Gamble Hooff songs. So I definitely give them credit acknowledge he did. He played with everybody, but he was a primary drummer for many of the Gamble Hoff sessions. So yeah, So when I came here, initially it was hetty because there was all kinds of music. It was jazz. It wasn't just Gamble and huff on what they were doing. It was you know, I knew of the tradition of great gospel artists, the Dixie Hummingbirds. I met Ira Tucker when I first moved here. Ira Tucker Senior. You know that we're talking about the Ward Singers, all of that. Rosetta Thorpe, you know, Fonte and I were talking about that yesterday. Rosetta Thorpe, the mother of rock and roll here Philadelphia. 00:32:54 Speaker 4: Really, yes, did not know that what no I help inducted in a rock and roll I did not know that, don't you know? King Britt and he was on his Big Sister. 00:33:05 Speaker 10: Yeah project project on. She wasn't born here, but she lived here lived, she lived here, and she died here. 00:33:14 Speaker 4: So yes, each one teacher, while we're at it, to the person that keeps on putting Beachy Thompson from the Dixie Hummingbirds as my great grandfather, he is not true, and I'm the one that keeps erasing it. So yeah, Like, I just want to put that out there too, Wikipedia, because every journalist is like, you know, three generations and I'm like, no, Beachie Thompson is not my grandfather. 00:33:45 Speaker 7: So I just want to put that out there. That's important. 00:33:51 Speaker 4: So any like, are there any notable historical Philadelphia h musical stories that you've seen firsthand? That so many? Oh? 00:34:15 Speaker 10: Well, Teddy was my neighbor. He was my physical borrow cup of sugar neighbor and also one of my closest friends to his transition. In fact, I delivered the obituary at his memorial watching Teddy Pendergrass leave the situation with Harold because they were fighting. They were duking it out. I mean, they were having physical fights. It was abusive and out of control by the time he left the group. But to see Teddy Pendergrass go from being with the group and then becoming one of the biggest artists in soul music and and he was crossing over pop. He was going to become a movie star. He had a Teddy Jeans line. Gambell, Yes, Teddy Jeans. But to witness that was pretty spectacular. Just to see the energy that happened as a result of the sound of Philadelphia worldwide, that was pretty heady. I mean, I have tons of stories with the jelly artists. 00:35:14 Speaker 4: Did you have any influence in getting him to finally settle down with a natural as opposed. 00:35:19 Speaker 10: To what Teddy? No, absolutely not. Teddy had many hairstyles during the duration. Yeah, that was before me, And had I known him at the time, I would have said, your hair prettier than mine. 00:35:36 Speaker 4: You need to all that. 00:35:38 Speaker 10: No, Teddy, Teddy was quite something, quite extraordinary. You met him a mirror. Yeah, yeah, you were in the room with him. You know, he had a magnetic energy unlike which same thing that Marvin had. There's only a few people. Sam Cook had it that, that Jennison Qua, Miles Davis had it. Miles Davis, my good friend, Miles Davis. He definitely hasty. Okay, okay, we're talking early seventies when I was in d C and am to May who is a beloved of mine, a connection another Heath. Well, that's how I met him through his father, Jimmy Heath. But he was playing percussions. He was playing conga's with Miles and they came to d C and I was on the air at w HR. He said, come by check out the show. So after the set, he introduces me to Miles and he says, Miles me Deanna. Deanna, meet Miles, and Miles says, marry me. I'm standing there looking at him like no, and he says, well why not? And I said, because I just met you. I don't know you like that. But I had on this long white dress and a white gaylea my head wrap. And he says to me, but you look like a motherfuck can bribe. So from there we developed a very dear friendship and went on for years until I started dating Kenny Gamble and Gamble was like, I'm not having Miles Davis around my woman, and it's not happening. It's not going down like that. So but we we stayed friends for years. 00:37:25 Speaker 4: You were the original coffee shop check. That's what what is that? The the the the the Nubian goddess that we would think of head wraps and since Yeah, but she was ne It was like me, but I was after. It was a mirror. 00:37:50 Speaker 10: It was the post civil rights era. It was say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud. So that, Yeah, it was that period of awakening with black folks when we were like, you know, no more, no more dogs biting us, no more. It was past Montgomery and the boycotts where we were like, we recognize our economic power and our beauty and strength. We know whence we came from. 00:38:13 Speaker 4: But once the Nixting era sort of set in, and you know the leaders were killed in sixty eight, a lot of that just cools off. And you know the seventies was mad hedonism. 00:38:25 Speaker 10: Oh I. 00:38:29 Speaker 4: Disagree. 00:38:29 Speaker 10: It was Mina Simone, Aretha Franklin, say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud. That happened in the seventies. James Brown, All of that was the seventies. 00:38:39 Speaker 7: So you know my uncle Butcher who stole my Grandma'm Stevien. 00:38:44 Speaker 10: Yeah, but here we go. You had you had brothers coming back from Vietnam. Okay, they were distressed, and many of them came back with habits heroin. I mean you know, so we were starting to deal with the crack and all of that happening in our communities. So it was a lot going on. 00:39:03 Speaker 4: Were you discouraged at all with as I will say that afro centricity had its second way eighty six eighty seven with the hip hop generation. But was there a period between yeah, seventy nine eighty post disco, between eighty and eighty five where you just felt like, oh, okay, we're we're done this and now we're bourgeois, we're getting jobs, we're perming our hair, nose stopping now. Yeah. 00:39:40 Speaker 10: No, because I recognize that we're not monolithic. We're all we're shades and variations, We're not all one thing. 00:39:48 Speaker 2: So and Deana's always been this black so I know, I mean black music moms started in the seventies and it continues on. 00:39:55 Speaker 10: So that's a whole you know, that's a yeah, not the thing. No, we're not monolithic. So I saw all type Some folks were bougie, some were still wearing their hair natural, some were wearing braids. It was a whole lot of stuff going. 00:40:06 Speaker 4: On, right, But I'm just saying that you are unapologetically black, and what else could I be. 00:40:11 Speaker 7: But that's the thing for some people to. 00:40:16 Speaker 4: Kind of spook that sat by the door their way into society. They might have to change clothes a little bit. 00:40:25 Speaker 2: Now. 00:40:25 Speaker 10: First of all, remember so for me, I talked about graduating from Frankie Crocker University. But then I was greatly influenced by one of the blackest people I know, Kenny Gamble. He was my man. So I was raised up as a woman by a strong black man. That was my education. And then again my parents, my family. I'm very clear where I come from and who I am and so, and it was very black. And my mother, although she was poored, she recognized that she's an African woman. First time I went to Africa, I went with my mama. We went to Senegal to Ghana, and my mother disappeared one day and we were like, where's Nancy, where's Nancy. Well, my mother went to the marketplace and got her garb, she got some sisters to meet, and she came back garbed up okay, and had several outfits. And my mother was like, yo, I'm an African woman. I know this, And that's the spirit in which I was raised. I was raised with a great deal of consciousness and exposure to black folks. So growing up in Harlem, for me, it was the Schomberg, it was Langston Hughes, it was the Negro Ensemble Company. It was all this great energy about blackness around me. 00:41:43 Speaker 2: Do you think that's a little bit of a some Northeast privilege when it comes to black folks in a way too to be able to continue that because I see what Amir is saying, and sometimes it depends on. 00:41:51 Speaker 10: Where you are too physically. 00:41:54 Speaker 2: Possibly, Yeah, I mean me and have that black conversation all the time about the difference between the South and the Northeast, And no. 00:42:00 Speaker 10: There are differences, were definitely, but I celebrate our commonalities. I recognize the differences. But you know, I just came from a wellspring of black culture growing up in Harlem and the Bronx, the home of hip hop a rap, so you know for me early so let me tell you this too. Also, when I was a teenager, I met Royeers. I met a woman named Myrna Williams who managed Royers. So I was fifteen meeting Royeers and hanging out with people like Royeers and then Jimmy Heath, who I mentioned to you, and then when I was about seventeen, a girlfriend of mine named Brenda introduced me to Stevie Wonder. So I met Stevie. I call him Stevelan. I met Stevelan before I even got into radio, and he invited me into the studio. He was doing music of my Mind. Yeah, music of my Mind. So I was exposed. 00:42:56 Speaker 4: And then I. 00:42:57 Speaker 10: Mentioned the flute. I decided to take flute lessons because I still was trying to trying to develop my talent as a musician, and I met Bobby. I met Bobby, but then I approached a gentleman to take flute lessons. And his name is Hubert Laws all the greatest floutest of all time. I will tell you that I never got a flute lesson, but he taught me a lot. So I started dating Hubert laws and as a result of that relationship, I was exposed even greater too. He would take me to Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Jersey. I was signed to c t I at the time. So who did I meet? 00:43:51 Speaker 7: My favorite? 00:43:51 Speaker 10: You love Pree Taylor. So I met Cree Taylor, Rudy Van Gelder, Hank Crawford, Esther Phillips, Grover Washington Junior Freddie Hubbard, right, and they performed with each other, they recorded with each other, So I would go with Hubert to the sessions. But one of my favorite sessions I think you can all appreciate this is one day Hubert said he had a session and he took me, deposited me in the control room. And who was in the control room Quincy Jones and Donnie Hathaway. Wow, so it was my first time meeting Donnie and Charleston Blue is what they were recording. And Hubert was on that session. So I sat in the control room with them, and of course at that point I knew who Donnie was. He was very shy, demure, quiet, and Quincy calls Aretha Franklin and introduces Donnie to Aretha on the phone and he tells Aretha you got to hear him, you know, Donnie Hathaway. And of course he was signed to Atlantic Records. So yeah, at this life, these things aren't phasing you like I'm young. I'm young. I'm taking it. 00:45:00 Speaker 4: All in righteous Forrest Gump. But you know what I say, it set the bar for me. 00:45:07 Speaker 10: It set an appetite for me because what I have discovered over time is that I am most intrigued and attracted to the exceptional. And that's what I have had all of my life. I have been involved friendships, romances with people who are supremely gifted. I would say, that's what I like. 00:45:30 Speaker 4: I've to hear your opinion on life in twenty nineteen. 00:45:37 Speaker 10: And where music is going, well, I say, never a dull moment. That's how I approach life daily. 00:45:43 Speaker 4: With human beings. 00:45:44 Speaker 10: There's seven billion of us, right, Fante. We were talking about this last night, but sliin the family Stone said, everybody is a star. We all have our unique shine, we have our individuality. We contribute to this energy that keeps our planet around. 00:46:00 Speaker 8: The song, I don't have to tell me I'm sugar, Steve. 00:46:04 Speaker 2: You know that sugar and that Deanna is already You're already forced to listen to everything from twenty eighteen and back because she's a media coach. 00:46:13 Speaker 4: So when you are going to say are you going to be blue faces media, you know, it's like she walked out on ya. 00:46:21 Speaker 10: I did not so what so what was well? He was disrespect You're still doing media coaching? 00:46:26 Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's hardest development. 00:46:29 Speaker 9: Yes, can you talk about that all entails because I don't think a lot of people know. Could you teach I had this this? 00:46:36 Speaker 4: Okay, you just didn't you? 00:46:38 Speaker 7: I got media coach? 00:46:40 Speaker 2: Uh? 00:46:43 Speaker 10: Did they not keep yourself in the mouth? 00:46:49 Speaker 7: Yeah, because I was. 00:46:50 Speaker 2: I was. 00:46:50 Speaker 6: I did this thing for NBC, uh Sunday morning and then immediately there afterwards. 00:46:59 Speaker 7: But they told the guy. 00:47:00 Speaker 4: He told me it did a good job. 00:47:01 Speaker 7: But it's it's a lot. I'll be honest with you guys. 00:47:06 Speaker 4: After episode ten, was like, nah, man, you say it too much like Obama. I'm gonna get you. You were you were, you were so like there was there was actually a point back then when I was editing out all of the us. 00:47:20 Speaker 10: Those are called fillers. I call those fillers. They're all part of natural conversation. But yeah, the overuse of it is like all of us. 00:47:28 Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying interesting because it's not a lot of media coaches. I'm like, dang, who'd you get great guy? 00:47:33 Speaker 10: Mother? 00:47:33 Speaker 3: Because really there's it's a handful of people who do. 00:47:35 Speaker 10: It's a very niche part of the industry, but I do. I call it artists development, human development with an emphasis on media. But for me, it's I get a lot of young artists, so I'm schooling them on what I feel are the rudiments of things they need to know. Going to Kanye's tea teach Kanye, Kanye, Kanye was one of your students. She had to lead that one too. Yeah, that was. 00:47:58 Speaker 4: That was. 00:47:59 Speaker 10: I was approached by Lee or Cohen called me directly after the Taylor Swift incident and asked me. He said, my friend needs help. Can you meet with Kanye. This was months after he had already gone to Hawaii he was recording. He came back and I met with him at his home in New York, and he really didn't well. First of all, I was approached to coach him when his first album was coming out, and he didn't want any coaching. And I ran into him someplace and I said, I was supposed to coach you. He says, Oh, I know how to handle the media. 00:48:29 Speaker 2: I know what to do. 00:48:30 Speaker 10: I got this. I don't need any any I was like, I'll do this back, brother, I love your music, piece and blessings. But later I went to his home and spent the afternoon with him and we talked about Taylor Swift. We talked about life in general. I took him a black obelisk and I gave that to him as a gift, and he was like, well, what is this? I said, it's an oblisk and it's Egyptian and you'll see it in Rome, and you'll see it in Europe, in South America, you'll see it everywhere. But it's Egyptian. 00:48:56 Speaker 7: I'm looking at up right now. 00:48:57 Speaker 10: The obliss. Yes, okay, d C. Washington Monument. 00:49:03 Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, like symbol, it's a fact. 00:49:08 Speaker 10: But we wound up not working together. He really did not want it. It was le Or who wanted it for him and felt that he needed it. But Kanye is the type of artist you don't. He's yeah, you don't, right. 00:49:19 Speaker 4: All right, so can you give us? 00:49:20 Speaker 2: Uh? 00:49:22 Speaker 4: What do I do? Never does this? But I hope you do. Yeah, because even now I still feel like an amateur and doing this. We're gonna have to give her a check after we'd done. 00:49:35 Speaker 7: You know that, right, thank you. It's like a mere drum on my record for free. 00:49:43 Speaker 4: I do that. 00:49:44 Speaker 7: I never charged for drummy. 00:49:45 Speaker 4: Oh for really, you shouldn't have said that on the end. Come on, my son, I literally. 00:49:48 Speaker 10: Don't what do you whether is there something else you charge for walking in or not? 00:49:52 Speaker 4: I mean when you I'm at a place now where you know, like druman is my passion, DJing is my passion showing. Won't let me dj for free? But like you know, if I like the person, I'll drummer. And I think about it. 00:50:05 Speaker 7: Okay, what am I going to do with the two thousand bucks? 00:50:08 Speaker 10: Like, yeah, two thousand bucks for the average person, there's a whole lot of money in there. Thinking about it, I see. 00:50:23 Speaker 4: What he said. Let's also say that half of my salary and this show is going to the staff. 00:50:27 Speaker 7: So I'm huge just saying. 00:50:30 Speaker 9: I like, for you, that would not be a lot of money, but to the person that's giving it, it would be a lot. So it's like, yeah, I just keep your money. Yeah, I get I'm saying, But so, what would be a better way Deanna to clean that up? 00:50:45 Speaker 4: It's already done. 00:50:46 Speaker 2: Diana worked with t I since the beginning, so I know you know how to clean after the fact as well. 00:50:52 Speaker 10: It's different with every artist. It's different. I tailor. I have a program. I call it the influence system, and it's influenced, meaning the ability to prevail upon the thoughts and feelings of others, and that's what artists do. And I don't just work with artists. I've also worked with athletes like Alan Iverson, heavyweight boxer Roy Jones Junior. I worked with executives. I worked with Michael Vick as well when he came out of prison, and that was t I called me one day and had Michael Vick on the phone and said, Deanna is my person. You need to get with Deanna. But Michael was not very happy when he came out of jail because everybody kept asking about the dog fighting and he was like, look, I just served two years in jail. I don't want to talk about this anymore. And I was like, Michael, let me bring you to reality. You will be talking about this for the rest of your life. It doesn't matter even though you went to prison. This is part of your story now. And you know people are very attached to their dogs, and you were involved in the situation. 00:51:53 Speaker 7: I hate dogs. 00:51:54 Speaker 10: People. One of the many so different people Taylor, for instance, I'll give you the Little Kim story. So Little Kim was on the red carpet and Howard Stern asked her what was it like to have sex with a big, fat, ugly guy like big and small. 00:52:17 Speaker 4: Now Kim is from the Brooks. 00:52:20 Speaker 10: She wanted she just wanted to fight him, but she was on the red carpet. It was I think the MTV Music Awards, and so she kept it moving, but she was very upset, very angry. At this time. She was signed to Atlantic a little later and they said, you have to do Howard Stern. This is when he was still doing terrestrial radio before Sirius XM. And Kim didn't want to do it, and they said, okay, we've got the perfect person to help prep you for the interview with Howard Stern. I went to the Trump Tower. She was getting her face beat at five in the morning, and we sat and worked on how to approach Howard, what to say me anticipating the questions that he would ask her, and and also I protected her. I was like, if we're not going to let him ask you about Biggie, you're going to bring up Biggie before he does, providing control the narrative and providing the strategy and how we were going to deal with that. So very early in the interview, she says to Howard, you know you and Biggie would have been boys. I think y'all would have been friends. And he says, really, like, why why do you say that? And she said, because you have a big personality, and so did it big and I could see the two of you being boys. So at that point she disarmed him. Yeah, he did not say anything negative about him, and that was her concern because she was like, if he attacks my man one more time, we're going to be fighting up in that studio. And she just took control of the interview and the narrative and she just had Howard Stern purring and in the palm of her hand. That's because we prepared for him. In fact, on that particular album, she had done a song where she shouted him out and she said, Howard, you paid the way for me as an artist who deals with sexual issues. You paid the way with your fights with the FCC, talking about sex all of that. So Howard, thank you. That is part of how we prepped. And when we left, I was in the green room, Kim came in, hugged me high five. She was happy with the results. Atlantic was happy. She was pleased Howard also, So yeah, so it depends when Charlie Wilson came out of rehab. I worked with him on how to talk about the rehab experience and his path moving forward. Usher I only worked with him on he wanted to talk about being dyslexic. He had never discussed it publicly. Yeah, and that's what we worked on. He was a big star at the point where I worked with him, So it varies. But I also work with new up and coming emerging artists, and they don't know anything about how to go to radio, how to go to television, they don't know. They know how to create, they know how to perform, but oftentimes they can't talk about what they do. So back to your question, there was a woman at Motown named Missus Powell, Missus Maxine Powell. She did the artist development at Motown and Barry Gordy, right, Barry Gordy's sisters recommended her because she had an etiquette charm school in Detroit and prepared people to be models and what have you. But remember many of the artists that Barry Gordy signed out of Motown came straight from the hood, from the projects, and they didn't know which fork to use. They didn't have any idea of what to expect especially with Barry taking them all over the world. So Missus Powell prepped them, so I consider her the mother of artist development and coaching. And then Suzanne DePass came in later and took over from Missus Powell, and she worked on prepping the Jackson five specifically, So I also credit Suzanne to pass as being another mother of artist development. So I studied everything that they did. 00:56:14 Speaker 4: Who do you feel your greatest student was. I'm really impressed with Yeah, that's where he got. I'm very impressed with. 00:56:28 Speaker 10: Tip. But I give Tip a lot of credit. I mean, he we worked together for eight years. Anytime he released a record, anytime he did a book, a film, TV show, whatever, he would call me go to Atlanta to his home. We would lock up, or I'd go on the road wherever he was and we would sit lock up talk and just what I do what I did with Tip is I would give him language and thoughts. I would let him talk to me first express how he felt about whatever it was, the music, the book, the film, and then I would give a some language and ways to discuss what he had done. 00:57:03 Speaker 2: Because you're also proud of the Dave Matthews work too, right, But I didn't work with Dave. 00:57:07 Speaker 10: I worked with the band. I worked with the rest of the band. Yes, they do talk. And this was in preparation for the Sunday Morning show that you did CBS Sunday Morning. They were doing a special one of their members had died in a tragic accent. Remember that they did not know how to talk about the passing of their member even with each other. They had not discussed the death with each other. So when I came in, I've met with the members individually and then collectively. So yeah, and so it varies. 00:57:41 Speaker 9: What is something that you would say to an artist that is an absolutely like talking dues and don'ts of interviewing or whatever. What are the things that you would say to artists like okay, absolutely, like do not. 00:57:53 Speaker 10: Do this, Yeah, don't be on your phone, don't be disrespectful, don't make do not not make eye contact. First of all, I encourage my clients to do their homework, just like I did with you, guys. I read up on you individually. 00:58:07 Speaker 7: No, what did you find on. 00:58:10 Speaker 10: You know, I'm scared, No, nothing to be scared of. But you know, you do your homework. That's the beginning. And that's the first tenant that I teach his preparation. So do your homework, know where you're going, know who you're speaking with. I'll listen to what they've done. If they're a print journalist, read something they've written. So I give them basic humnn ectquette and respect. 00:58:31 Speaker 7: So how do you did? 00:58:31 Speaker 12: You pretty much prepare for your first meeting with a client the same way you do. You do your research, you know, find out everything, you watch old interviews and like do you come up with like a list of you know, I saw this interview, I didn't like what you said here. 00:58:43 Speaker 10: Yeah, I'll sit with them. It depends on how many interviews they've done. Some artists i'll sit For instance, bow Wow bow Wow started, as you know, as a teenager. Chat He started as a teenager, and by the time his mother, who was his managed and his publicist, Patty Webster at the time, brought me in. He was angry with Jermaine Dupree and every interview that he was doing he was hostile, angry, upset, and so they brought me in to calm him down and to give him a way to express his disappointment and his love for Jermaine so initially he was like, I don't need I'm a star, I don't need any coaching. The very first time I went to his home and he just wasn't in the frame of mind. So I won't work with someone if they're not willing, if they're not open to the process, and so I left. However, the next time I saw him was up at the Sony Building, and when I got off the elevator, he was standing there and he ran away. I never had a man run away from me. But when he came back, I said, give me fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes and then you can leave. And I had ordered all of his interviews, and we sat and watched his interviews, and I said, all we're gonna do today is count how many times you say you know what I mean, you know what I'm saying, and then. 01:00:09 Speaker 7: Watch a video of yourself. 01:00:11 Speaker 10: There you go. 01:00:12 Speaker 6: Because when I did the media training, he made me watch me. He filmed me having an interview with this guy, and then we watched it, and it's really uncomfortable and it's really hard to watch yourself. And then you stop because I kept on like not dropping my eyes and like playing with my hands and looking like an idiot, and I was like, oh, I look like an idiot. 01:00:29 Speaker 10: Yeah yeah, So watching yourself, hearing yourself you're absolutely correct, allows you to. But Rome wasn't built in a day, so you don't change overnight. But mindfulness, being aware of your tics, of your body language, of your lack of eye contact, whatever it is, So studying it, if you really applying yourself, will help. So that day we watch, I said, just count. That's all I want you to do is count how many times you say you know what I mean, you know what I'm saying. And of course when he counted up to about fifty after watching all of these things, that was right minutes, he turns around and says, okay, Deanna help me. He recognized at that point that he had a problem and an issue, and he was amenable to the process issues. 01:01:16 Speaker 4: Valid question, Yes, how did you get into doing this? 01:01:20 Speaker 10: Well, my background is radio. As I said, I started, what was the is it? 01:01:28 Speaker 4: Because rappers are known as rappers. 01:01:33 Speaker 10: I've worked with heavy metal artists. I've worked with pop artist I mean, I worked with Justin Bieber on his first album. I worked with Rihanna on her very first album. So I've worked with artists and all genres. Yeah, we all, I mean we all need help you. Influence Entertainment is my company, and it is me. I am the one that does the coaching. People are hiring me for my expertise and my ability and must success getting people to be better. I am about inspiration. I am constantly drawing inspiration everywhere, and I like helping people be their best because that's what I aspired to be. 01:02:13 Speaker 2: But follow up on what Bill said. What was the moment though, god mother, because even I don't know when you were like, I'm. 01:02:19 Speaker 10: Going to do this all right? So I was managing an artist named Gary Taylor. He's a songwriter, just gets better with That's right exactly. I was managing asshole Gary. 01:02:41 Speaker 4: Gets the fact that in the coolest manner, I'm just being. 01:02:54 Speaker 10: Yeah, I. 01:02:59 Speaker 7: Want to be your friend. 01:03:00 Speaker 10: Okay, we can work. 01:03:03 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right. 01:03:04 Speaker 10: I offered to appreciate your wedding. I've officiated two weddings, so yeah, well, well. 01:03:12 Speaker 4: Get married. 01:03:14 Speaker 6: A ride or die ceremony, not to get meiciate our rider. 01:03:22 Speaker 2: Yeah. 01:03:23 Speaker 10: So where were we helped me? Although you know I will tell you. So I managed him and I got dragged into managing I don't like management. It's just not my skill set is not you did Carol. I managed Carol Ritick as well Philadelphia's own Carol Ritick. But with Gary, it was just hard talking with him. In fact, we were in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the back of his limousine on a promo tour. We couldn't afford a road manager road manager, so I went out with him and he was so difficult the entire trip. And I said to him, you know, Gary, you write these great love songs. Part of your problem is you you need good love. 01:04:03 Speaker 4: You need some loving. 01:04:04 Speaker 10: You need somebody to you really. 01:04:07 Speaker 4: Do, because you're lacking asshole. 01:04:12 Speaker 10: And you're an asshole. And you know how, He goes to the record label says, I don't want to work with her anymore. She reminds me of my ex wife all stuff. I'm like, okay, well, I don't want to work with you either. And furthermore, here's the number four, not a psychologist, but a psychiatristic medicine. And then my partner at the time plays a tape for me. Gary sent this to you. He wants to make up. And she puts a cassette in the car and it's Anita Baker. 01:04:44 Speaker 8: Good Love Wow. 01:04:46 Speaker 10: And he wrote the song inspired by me telling him because in the song he says, I want to know what good love feels like, good love, good love, good morning to night. So yeah, Gary Taylor, but he was signed to Virgin Music. I'm sorry Virgin. 01:05:04 Speaker 4: Yes. 01:05:04 Speaker 10: And the woman who was the head of the Black music division, Sharon Haywood, why. 01:05:09 Speaker 7: Do I know that? 01:05:12 Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, I think that. 01:05:17 Speaker 10: Encyclopedia. Sharon Haywood takes me to lunch one day and she says, this is after the Gary Taylor debacle. She says, you get along with artists, you overstand them. Well, I use the word overstand. She said, you get them, they get you. You should do artist development. I have never considered it until that day when Sharon says to me, you should do that. And I was like, my first job Jimmy jam and Terry Lewis. I worked with a group called Solo, So Jimmy and Terry Vertical hold Stone, and my third was D'Angelo. 01:06:04 Speaker 4: Wow. 01:06:05 Speaker 10: I coached D'Angelo. He was my third artist and he remains to this day my most precious person. Yes, yeah, so that's how it started twenty five years ago. So I've been coaching twenty five years. 01:06:22 Speaker 7: Wait, we didn't even bring up the origins of black music. 01:06:28 Speaker 10: We skipped the seventies, but we went in the seventies. 01:06:30 Speaker 4: Let's go back in time. Okay, So you are the proprietor, the inventor of black music. 01:06:36 Speaker 10: Month Gamble Okay, ed wright myself. 01:06:41 Speaker 4: So why did you feel that it was necessary? And when when was it first officiated? 01:06:48 Speaker 10: Or nineteen nineteen seventy eight nine? We went to the White House, We petitioned the White House to President Jimmy Carter was in the House. White, Yeah, black music then, yes, Georgia, Georgia Farmer and so Gamble had gone to Nashville and was very impressed with Music City and the power of the CMA and what they were doing. They literally had established a geographic region and made music the core of what was going on there. So he said, we need to do that in the black music industry. So that was the beginning of the BMA, the Black Music Association, And part of that endeavor was to have a period of time where we celebrate the outstanding contributions of people in the past, this generation and ones coming up. So it was really Gamble's Brainchild, and then you know, we were together at the time, I think we were on baby number two. We'd been together for years and there were local chapters established around the country. But what happened was some years later when I was producing I am that you referenced earlier mire the International Association of African American Music, which was it is a non UH, non membership advocacy organization dedicated to the preservation promotion of black music worldwide. So I wrote President Bill Clinton asking him to host a reception very similar to what Jimmy Carter had done on the White House lawn where we had Evelyn King and tons of people. I want to do to break down that date, took some historic photos Ronla, Evelyn Champagne, King Berry, Chuck Berry was there as well. Williams was there. It was an interesting. 01:08:36 Speaker 9: I felt Williams Rezai yeah, yeah, yeah, it's. 01:08:53 Speaker 4: Got to be the same guy. 01:08:54 Speaker 5: Yeah. 01:08:55 Speaker 10: So anyway, I went to Clinton. I wrote the White House and asked them to hold us some reception, and they said, well, we see where Jimmy Carter held this reception back in the seventies, but he did not sign a presidential proclamation. So just go get some legislation, come back to us, and we'll do stuff in the White House and recognize June Black Music Month. So it took me a few years. I had Senator Arlen Spector, who was a Republican from Pennsylvania. I had Congressman Shaka Fatah. I literally put my most comfortable pair of shoes, not these manolos, and walked around. 01:09:33 Speaker 2: Capitol Hill and petitioned and bagued and you know, brought statistics about the power of black music. 01:09:41 Speaker 10: That we're a multi billion dollar entity, not just feel good. You know, it's a business, it's an economy. And took a few years, but we got legislation passed saying June is Black Music Month. And then I went back to the White House. And at that point I had several private meetings in the Oval Office with Bill Clinton and took delegations of people in the industry, artist as well as executives to the White House. And so yeah, so Gamble and I and we worked together even after we separated. We are partners in life. We have three kids, we have a grandson. He's the head of my family, the love of my life. And this was part of our mission in our work. We are about making people aware of black music and its potency not just economically, but how it informs everything and everybody change your life. 01:10:44 Speaker 9: How about that I want to ask you was in regards to unsung because that was how I first came about your work, and I told you about it when we were speaking last night. How I just kept seeing you pop up in every unsung and I was like, Wow, I gotta figure out who she is. Yes, she was the Unsung lady. 01:11:01 Speaker 7: That was really well. 01:11:02 Speaker 4: I was like, oh, yeah, that's the Unsung lady. 01:11:03 Speaker 9: So when we first met at World Cafe Live after Things after Foreign Shange show and Nick brought you backstage, I was like, oh it's done, Sung lady. 01:11:11 Speaker 4: Oh shit, so one thing, yeah. 01:11:15 Speaker 9: Right, so it's even crazy one thing and every unsung like every every storyline and unsung is and then hip hop they were doing so great and then hip hop. So what were your personal feelings and when rap started, you know, dominating? Uh, what was your personal feelings on on rap music and how did you make that transition? Whereas maybe some of your other peers was just like, ah, this is this is bullshit. You seem just from you know, our conversations, you seem to be really open to not just working with rappers, but also just really embracing the culture and you know, and accepting it. 01:11:59 Speaker 4: So what was like for you. 01:12:00 Speaker 10: I grew up in the Boogie Dann Bronx. I come from where rap music was born, and furthermore, growing up in the late sixties seventies in New York in Harlem. Who did I hear? I heard the last poets. I heard the last poets. 01:12:18 Speaker 2: And for folks who are not up on the last poets, listen to them and you will hear the seeds, the. 01:12:24 Speaker 10: Beginnings Nikki Giovanni. 01:12:28 Speaker 2: That's what I grew up on, in addition to hearing rap in the Bronx and then of course the Sugar Hill Gang. 01:12:35 Speaker 10: That was revolutionary. So I embraced it, and as it evolved, as a rap evolved, I kept up with it. 01:12:44 Speaker 2: And a lot of the people that I worked with in the industry came out of rap. They came out of that, so it was never difficult for me. And as far as Unsung is concerned, it started in two thousand and eight. 01:12:56 Speaker 10: The first season was the Donnie Hathaway Phyllis High, then the Clark Sisters. I didn't do the Clark sisters, but I did the other ones. Well. First of all, I knew Philip Symon, I'd met Donnie Hathaway. I played his music from the beginning of him releasing music. So oftentimes in these stories that are shared on UNSUNG, I have first hand knowledge of these people, and I'm able and many of them my friends. 01:13:20 Speaker 3: Philip Symon was there, Mr. She was there to year you intern and I am. Do you remember that? Do you remember seeing Philip Symon walking around? 01:13:27 Speaker 7: I remember, yes, that was ninety one. 01:13:31 Speaker 10: Yeah, ninety one is when we did the first I AM celebration. Yeah, what were your remembrances? What are your recollections of me in ninety one? Amir umm? 01:13:40 Speaker 4: Because I was frantic to see everything I learned early. Well, now I kind of make the I always used the Ray Kroc Ronald McDonald example of Ray Kroc is the power behind the movement, whereas people knew Ronald McDonald and think that he runs McDonald's, but it's really the person in power. So I knew you were the person in power. And I've just always been one to observe from afar. 01:14:13 Speaker 7: So I was about to say, this is. 01:14:15 Speaker 4: Probably the most we've ever been in a room together speaking in our decade's history. 01:14:24 Speaker 10: So usually. 01:14:32 Speaker 4: Hands down, you scare the ship out. 01:14:39 Speaker 10: No, I. 01:14:41 Speaker 4: Study people. I'm getting truth be told. I'm working on that. I'm so insular and in my shell that I don't even with Stevie one. I mean, they're they're luminaries who like, hey, let's go out to dinner, let's hang it. I'm like, I'm cool. 01:15:00 Speaker 3: I'm cool. 01:15:01 Speaker 4: I've been that way for a long time. I'm just slowly getting out of that that that that Rapunzel protective phase of my life. 01:15:10 Speaker 7: So but no, back then, I. 01:15:15 Speaker 4: Used it for everything it was worth. I mean I made I think that was the day that I became friends with Chuck and Hank Uh Chuck d and Hank Shockley of Public Enemy Public. 01:15:29 Speaker 10: I am yeah, oh really I was off. Yeah, okay, yeah. 01:15:36 Speaker 2: I tried to explain that because Meir, you like what every year I am, you like evolved and matriculated like you was intern one year, then I remember you did like the Showcase. Another year you went the Roots. Yeah, and then next year you did a tribute to like Jazzy Jeff or something. 01:15:48 Speaker 4: Yeah. 01:15:48 Speaker 10: You remember when when I had the Roots at the Kennedy Center. 01:15:52 Speaker 4: Do you remember, Yes, I remember that was speaking to a group. 01:15:55 Speaker 10: You performed and talked to a group of kids. 01:15:56 Speaker 4: I think that was the Public Enemy performing thing. Yes, I remember all four of my I ams. They were crucial. I will say, probably the greatest night of my life. Okay, I've seen you. 01:16:12 Speaker 10: And where did you meet? Where did you meet? In my in your penthouse suite? And was on the piano. It was post an event that I honored. 01:16:21 Speaker 4: I was going to say that was probably the first magical night for for a career at that point where it was sort of like, uh, I don't belong in the room, that sort of thing that was. That was a moment where the best part of that night was sitting with Andre Fisher UH drummer of Rufus and uh married and then later Nat he was there with Natalie, so I sat. I basically had my first quest love Supreme with Andre Fisher and Natalie Cole while Stevie Wonders is casually going through his calvic o hits in the in the in the piano in this week it was like three hours, like to the point where you go all the boy like, hey, he's doing creeping when you go sit down. When I come back, maybe he'll. 01:17:13 Speaker 10: Be on the sirt Duke, and I think we should explain. 01:17:16 Speaker 8: I am did. 01:17:17 Speaker 10: I produced an annual music celebration, a conference that had panels, luncheons, and gala, a gala where we honored everybody from Little Jimmy Scott to Shaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, Babyface La Read New Edition, tons of people and this went on for sixteen years. 01:17:39 Speaker 4: I gotta ask, Okay, how hard is it to organize? Because I don't feel like you're the peron. I don't feel like you're the Ray Crock in the position of they got this. I feel like your hands on you talk to people, I mean you talk to us, and we were not through, you know, like then, so I felt as though you had your imprint on literally every aspect of from the smallest talking session to the networking part of the night to the big gallad dinner. How hard was it to manage, micromanage whatever? How hard was it to organize that event? 01:18:24 Speaker 10: It was challenging, but I also had a lot of energy and again the passion and commitment to preserve and promote our music. And like you said, I wasn't even aware that Hank Shockley was there. 01:18:35 Speaker 2: I mean there was so everybody came, Teddy Wiley, every Jimmy Caster, everybody came. 01:18:41 Speaker 10: It was just the magnet for artist. And again because of me being on the radio one two, because of my relationship with Gamble three. My partner at the time also had a lot of relationships, so it facilitated. And I'm a passionate letter writer. I'm a letter writing motherfucker. Okay, So my letters just again the passion that I have for our culture music. So I got all those people. I paid no one. All the years that people came in and distributes, I did not pay anybody. 01:19:18 Speaker 4: Is it important to remember names and make connections? 01:19:22 Speaker 10: Absolutely, it's you know this, it's a relationship business. Think of all of us. It's all about your. 01:19:28 Speaker 2: Relationships and how you connect with people. It's a give and take. 01:19:32 Speaker 9: So relationships can get you places sometimes where even money can't. 01:19:36 Speaker 10: Absolutely, at the end of the day, it is how you feel about another. 01:19:39 Speaker 4: You don't want to fuck with somebody, it don't even matter the check is so good. 01:19:42 Speaker 10: So with for instance, with the Roots, I mean, you know, and you know, Rich was a tough one, but I went passionately, and I thought you guys were very talented. I recognize that's the other thing. I have a good year, and I for talent. Back to m two May, who I know that you guys have had on the show, and too. May introduced me to Spike Lee. We were at a party in Brooklyn. He had just finished shooting She's Got to Have It Wow, just finished and I met Spike and I love cinema, so immediately I was interested in his film and him, and that's when we started developing our friendship. And then at one point he's like, you and Stevie Wonder are friends. I was like, yeah, he said, I would love to meet Stevie. 01:20:26 Speaker 4: You hook him up. 01:20:27 Speaker 10: He wrote about it in his books. I introduced Spike Lee to Stevie Wander, I wrote, Stevie and I said, I called him. I said, Steve Lan talented filmmaker. I think he is going to be one of the most brilliant directors of our time. And of course that has come to pass. So yes, I'm very proud of that introduction. 01:20:45 Speaker 4: So you are a bridge. What other bridge connections have you? 01:20:49 Speaker 10: Many? Many, many many many? Really, I mean, I'm I want I just I like us connecting. I like us being productive from the energy that we create. I love that. Like I said, I think what makes me a great artist development coach is that I'm interested in seeing people reach their maximum potential. So a lot of connections. I mean, I feel, as I mentioned earlier in our conversation, I am attracted to the gifted. I am attracted to the talented. Tenth I'm attracted to people who are exceptional, and I have been blessed to have had relationships with these people through the course of my experience, and it feeds me. It gives me the energy to propel me further to help others. I believe I was put on this planet to inspire. I'm amused. I'm real clear on what I am. I am immused. 01:21:49 Speaker 3: Somebody Donald Doland, baby, what does that well? 01:21:51 Speaker 10: I've been told that that was written for me. 01:21:59 Speaker 4: That's the version of. 01:22:05 Speaker 10: Just crushed a lot, Yeah, yeah, lots of songs. I mean, George Cables wrote Ebony Moonbeams. He's a piano player, and I was told that he heard my saw my my show and wrote it. And then Bobby Hutchison recorded Ebony Moonbeams, and then Freddie Hubbard, who was a friend recorded Ebony Moonbeams. So, uh yeah, so where's that name Moonbeams come from? I was walking down the street in New York. I was starting a TV show while I was at City College in New York. I went in as a major. Had to change that real quick, I told you, because that wasn't working. And I saw a spotlight going through the moon and I needed a name for my show, and I was like, ooh, there's a moonbeam, and everything at that time was black, right ebony, So I just put Ebony Moonbeams together and that was the birth of my radio handle while I was in DC, and it's just kind of followed me all my life. In fact, Gamble calls me Moonbeams to this day, so that's kind of like his name for me. But yeah, and you know, I always wanted and I've met presidents and leaders and all manner of celebrity and people, but the person that I wanted to meet the most was Gordon Parks. As a young girl, I saw an exhibition called Harlem on My Mind at the Metropolitan Museum and that just I saw the photographs of Gordon Parks for the first time, and James Vandersey and I just became totally enamored with their narrative and how they document it, not just black people, but people period. And so for me, my mission became meeting Gordon Parks. And I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out who I knew, who could introduce me to him and what have you. And I was not very successful. Yes, yes, absolutely absolutely did you ever get to meet him? Well, again I told told you I'm a passionate letter writer. Yes, I kept writing him. I kept writing until one day he had a vicious gatekeeper. Her name is Joanna Fiora Fiori. She is a photographer, but she was his assistant as well, and she was like, well, mister Parks is busy, mister Parks is sick. Mister It was always an excuse. And then finally one day, because I never stopped writing him, kept writing him, telling him how his photography, his art. For many who do not know, Gordon Parks directed Chaff The Learning Tree. He's he was a great director in addition to being a fabulous photographer and a writer. And then one day I got the call, mister Parks would like to invite you to his home for lunch and so, needless to say, the day he opened the door and I saw him just is pinching myself. 01:24:51 Speaker 3: And wearing a white button down as she sure was. 01:24:54 Speaker 10: Yeah, he sure was. His shirt was kind of open. He was just looking real sexy. 01:24:59 Speaker 2: And we became really good friends, to the point where the day of his memorial service, I went and his daughter came over to me and said, you know, my father spoke very fondly of you, and that meant everything to me because he was very dear to me. 01:25:14 Speaker 10: We were very very close friends. 01:25:16 Speaker 4: Gordon Park's hip hop historians. You shouldn't know that Gordon Parks shot the Great Day in Harlem. 01:25:24 Speaker 3: Yes, did he shoot you All Remix? No, was the Double Remix? 01:25:29 Speaker 4: Yeah he shot that. 01:25:30 Speaker 10: Wow, that one he did. 01:25:33 Speaker 7: Yeah, that was wow. 01:25:34 Speaker 4: That was his shot. It was really weird, like it was that day September twenty eighth, nineteen ninety eight, the whatever a Kum and I Day, Black Star, Black and Love movement, Like that day was such a surreal day in hip hop history, and he just stayed he first of all, I think the camera at the time. Sheena Lester was still editor at Double Excel, so you know, again you want to mean miss wart No, I just want to watch him. So I just like watched him from Afar and it was so chaotic that day because that was really the day that classic hip hop and kind of current hip hop was meeting for the first time. So you're watching like rock him, rock Him losing over Tarik was one of the weirdest things in my life ever seeing and like the Locks meeting, like all these grand Master Flash and all them. But he just stood there so cool and behind a camera that was easily I forget, I forget what Brandon was like. 01:26:54 Speaker 10: That's what I was just about to say. 01:26:55 Speaker 6: I like her. 01:26:56 Speaker 7: Yeah, it was a seventy one. 01:26:58 Speaker 10: I believe it was large format, yeah camera, and. 01:27:02 Speaker 4: He just he took eight shots and then walked. He packed his things and walked off in the sunset. 01:27:10 Speaker 10: He was one of the most humble people that I ever met for being put him in the genus category for real. I mean he could play the piano, he did, he did orchestrations, wrote symphonies. 01:27:21 Speaker 4: What was it about his work that attracted you? 01:27:23 Speaker 7: Because in what particular area? 01:27:25 Speaker 4: Because he did so many things. 01:27:26 Speaker 10: Photography again, I saw Harlem on my mind as a young girl the photographs captured what I what I knew, what I could relate to seeing our people. I just think he had a tremendous eye for capturing the pain, the sorrow, the love, the tenderness, all of that I just got from him. It was just so black, you know, just so black and so Yeah. 01:27:51 Speaker 9: One question I had, going back to just your artist development work, how in twenty nineteen with Twitter? 01:28:00 Speaker 4: Who how do you manage that? 01:28:03 Speaker 9: It being a time where artists can literally I can be three o'clock in the morning, drunk off my ass at home in my. 01:28:10 Speaker 4: Not me personal get drunk. Well, let me be let me good. 01:28:14 Speaker 7: I ain't gonna get drunk. 01:28:15 Speaker 4: And go on Twitter. 01:28:16 Speaker 7: Let's say that. 01:28:16 Speaker 10: There you go. 01:28:17 Speaker 9: But you know where people can artists can literally get canceled, say what they want and get canceled with no filter, and there's a direct line from them to the rest of the world. 01:28:27 Speaker 4: How do you manage that in twenty nineteen? 01:28:30 Speaker 9: And what is your advice to artists in this era where one tweet can get your shaky down? 01:28:36 Speaker 4: You ot it? 01:28:37 Speaker 10: Yeah, I review my client's Twitter, their's social media before I work with them, and I'll go in very early and say to them, you need to stay off of social media. I had to do that with Nikki Gilbert. She was doing the show and she was fighting with everybody. It was a constant fight in her social media, and I said, you need to stay off social media thirty days. That's all I'm asking is stay off. And she she later told me, she said, thank you for that. You saved my life because she was so stressed out fighting with people and bickering and arguing. So I'll review. Some people are really good with their social media, but I warned them, and I tell them, as you just said, Fante, you can ruin your career in one tweet. So when you write it, look at it. I've had to do that many many times, haven't you. Where you write something and you're like, what are the implications or consequences? You end up not hitting sins. I don't just delete that shit. Soy ya. 01:29:39 Speaker 6: Wow. 01:29:39 Speaker 2: Speaking of twenty nineteen, that's where we are. I was going to ask you about being in a me Too era, current Joe Biden era, where you have relationships with men of all different kind of eras and for women, I was going to ask you advice on that, because especially post Joe Biden where we're trying to figure out what's appropriate. Yes, yeah, yes, and you've been through it all because you know you are made. Yeah, you have to gauge and check people. If you are not that person that likes a hug, just extend your hand. Be real clear, this is not a hug. This is a handshake. 01:30:16 Speaker 10: You know, your body language tells volumes, speaks volumes about you know, you can set boundaries with people, and you have to do that sometimes. But sometimes people do not respect the boundaries. 01:30:27 Speaker 2: And they'll come in for a hug, and if you don't want it at that point, you just have to you know, you have to speak up and be very honest. You just cannot if you feel that you're being offended or people are doing something that is disturbing to you. Hey, the closed mouth does not get fed. 01:30:40 Speaker 10: You got to speak up. 01:30:42 Speaker 7: They're gonna get the point. 01:30:43 Speaker 9: Yeah, you have to let them know too, because you can't assume that a you can't assume they know and then be I think it's unfair to assume that they're doing it with bad intentions. You know what I'm saying. If someone comes in for a hug and you're not with it, you. I feel like you just have to say that. 01:30:57 Speaker 10: Because exactly speak up. Like today, you know, when I arrived at the studio, Fante gave me a hug that I did not want to release. I mean, who does not want that kind of hug? I mean you feel like you're being hugged? Okay, I accepted it. 01:31:17 Speaker 4: Definitely. People know, I can't place it boomerang. 01:31:31 Speaker 10: See how they have cut together the Biden videos. It looks creepy. You know, he's like this touching the child's forehead, the chin, under the. 01:31:39 Speaker 3: Neck and he's still the and it's still he was the vice president. 01:31:42 Speaker 2: So it's also for some women who don't say stuff, it's like, well, can he affect my life? 01:31:45 Speaker 3: If I tell this motherfucker to get off me? Is he gonna be like hey? 01:31:49 Speaker 10: Right again? You have to decide your what, your space and you and if you don't speak up, then that's kind of on you. If you are feeling uncomfortable with some wanted any. 01:32:00 Speaker 2: Time man woman anything like I went over to a girlfriend's house recently and her dog kept humping me, you know, and I had to be like, yo, get your dog, get your dog, and she put the dog in the cage. 01:32:12 Speaker 10: You know, Michael big Point, I would. 01:32:18 Speaker 4: Just like to. 01:32:20 Speaker 7: Dog was your din on the the Beyonce kiss. 01:32:25 Speaker 10: The Mari's a friend? 01:32:30 Speaker 4: I was like, opened, was that some awards show and double a. 01:32:37 Speaker 9: Uh? 01:32:38 Speaker 7: MARII Hardwick. 01:32:39 Speaker 9: He greeted Beyonce and first he came in and he gave her kiss on the cheek, hugged and it was like no problem, and then he went back for the double tap. 01:32:46 Speaker 4: He kissed her again and it looked kind of. 01:32:50 Speaker 3: Addressed Jay Z right who was sitting. 01:32:52 Speaker 10: That is not accurate. It started with jay Z he first and then walked around him to Beyonce, hugged her, kissed her. 01:33:01 Speaker 7: Were they in the movie together? 01:33:03 Speaker 4: No? I don't think so. 01:33:05 Speaker 10: No, I don't think so, but. 01:33:08 Speaker 4: I don't know. 01:33:10 Speaker 10: Maybe they know each other some kind obviously. But it was a double kiss and the double to the double tap. But you know what happened she I think she kind of moved so it almost when he kissed her, it looked like he was kissing her close to her mouth. 01:33:23 Speaker 2: So I think a black woman says power. Yeah, yeah, no, I think it just but he people the Beehive came for him. They were like, yo, you're wrong, that's about. But our man was standing right there. He is not a disrespectful person. 01:33:43 Speaker 10: I know, Amari. He's a good guy. And Layah, that wasn't nice. It wasn't but it wasn't. 01:33:53 Speaker 11: And I got it from her, Okay, get it from Okay. So before we wrap, Yes, what is next for you? 01:34:04 Speaker 4: You've she's going to media coach Bill Sherman. 01:34:10 Speaker 3: At Harvard. You've traveled to South Africa for. 01:34:14 Speaker 2: What do you? 01:34:15 Speaker 4: Isn't pict next? 01:34:17 Speaker 10: No, not at all, not at all. That's just too confining. That's not a book. 01:34:22 Speaker 8: You haven't written books, but I've approached. 01:34:25 Speaker 10: Yeah, write letters, I should collective letters. 01:34:29 Speaker 4: But if you write a book, well people feel certain. 01:34:32 Speaker 10: Nois well, you know, I respect that. Like even the stories I shared with you there, there's I didn't tell you anything super private and nothing that I don't think my clients would be adverse to me sharing. But I have been approached to write a book. I'm interested in documentaries. My long game always was producing documentaries. So that's why Fante being on Unsung suits me. I did executive produce, the co executive produce the episode on Teddy Pendergrass. 01:35:03 Speaker 4: And that was your thoughts on the Teddy documentary. 01:35:06 Speaker 7: Mm hmm, oh, hit me. I just watched because I watched it, and I mean. 01:35:15 Speaker 10: Nothing lest I watched it. I think I should give you contexts. I watched it with his widow, Joan Pendergrass, who is a dear friend. I watched it with Olivia Linchenstein, who is the director, her associate Tyreese and the sister who runs his company, and Charlie Mack. We had a private screening. Yes, absolutely well. He was like a son to Teddy and Teddy had picked him. Charlie Mack is the one who approached Teddy and said, need to do your biopic, and he introduced Tyreese to Teddy. Tyrees slept in the room in the hospital. Teddy was in the hospital nine months in intensive care before his passing. Tyrese came from California slept in the room with him. I will forever love him for his devotion, his dedication to Teddy. It was more than a movie. They developed a very strong bond and Teddy gave his blessings to have Tyrese portray him in the biopic, which is now official Lee Daniels as directing. But back to the documentary, I watched it, and I was extremely happy to hear my friend's voice, to see him when he was able body walking. All of that, there was footage that I had never previously seen. But at the end of the day I read Olivia. At the end of the documentary, I felt very disrespected for my ex Kenny Gamble. I felt that Shep Gordon made comments suggesting that Gamble and Huff abandoned Teddy, which is the furthest thing from the truth. Teddy did not think he could sing anymore. Teddy didn't want to live. Teddy wanted to commit suicide. So when Gamble and Hoffs severed their relationship recording wise with Teddy, what what The man was on the edge of life and didn't think he could sing, So that's what happened. But the way Sheep was representing it and the way she was representing I also didn't like the amount of time they spent on the taz Lang murder. That was bothering bothersome because Teddy. 01:37:26 Speaker 7: It left. 01:37:30 Speaker 2: A little inference here that Teddy was involved or who had the most to gain from her death. 01:37:36 Speaker 4: So what were your feelings on Sonny Hopson's comments. 01:37:40 Speaker 2: About the same thing, Same thing, Sonny's been running around for years making allegations in the windows or suggestions that Teddy was involved and that, so of course I have problems with that as well, And. 01:37:54 Speaker 10: So you know, I let her know, and Joan Pendergrass opened up her husband's archives to Olivia. They made three separate trips to Boston, which is where Teddy's widow lives, where she opened up the archives. So it was nice to hear Teddy's voice because he pretty much guided the documentary. He narrated it because she had access to those tapes. She did not mention Joan. She interviewed Joan, but decided to exclude reference to Joan. And meanwhile, I saw I didn't know all of Teddy's girlfriends, but I knew the main ones, and I saw a bunch of random chicks up in that documentary that Joan never knew of. I didn't know anything about. It was crazy. So at the end of the day, it had value because it did tell some of his story. But I felt disrespected because of how she treated Joan and the inferences or suggestions that Teddy was involved in Tazz's murder, and that Gamble and Huff abandoned Teddy Gamble helped pay for Teddy's funeral. Gamble went to the hospital. I would bump into Gamble with our children in Brynmar hospital. I never once saw Shep Gordon, nor did I ever see Danny Marcus in the hospital. However, Danny knew how to find his way to a telephone to ask Joan when Teddy died, could he represent the estate the same person Danny Marcus was manager a manager with Shep Gordon of ty Yeah, and when Teddy needed financial help and went to Danny, but when he died they wanted to be in control of the estate. I have problems with those people, and I'm happy to have this opportunity to go on the record and say again parts of the documentary had value and were good, and then the parts just negated a lot of it. To me and with Joan. I told the director, I said, you could have kirnned at the end, because they kirned at the end of the film that Teddy went on to have four gold albums. But not only did Teddy go on to have four albums, he got his ged, he went to Drexel University, he fell in love again and he married Joan. Yes, sir, he went to college. He did not graduate, but he attended at Trexel University. She could have chir on that. And he established a foundation to help other paralygics and quads. He was a quadriplegic. So I just felt like, you know, she said, oh, we decided to ended it Live Aid. By the way, I went with him that day to Live Aid. That was his first public performance post his accident. He was terrified, but he got through it. So I encourage people to still see the doc. 01:40:41 Speaker 2: But at the same time, you know, now you're hearing my notes, there's a lot of behind the scenes. 01:40:47 Speaker 7: Wait ask you. 01:40:48 Speaker 4: Okay, since we kind of brought up Tesz, is there anything can you explain what the environment was like in Philadelphia at least with the legend of was the was the junior Black Mafia trying to get in the music business or like I mean again, I'm I only hear things in hindsight, like thirty years forty years after the fact, But what was the presence of them in Philadelphia at all? Is there anything you can speak on? 01:41:27 Speaker 10: No, I just I mean everywhere you got Black Mafia's, you got them. You got the Mafia everywhere you got organized crime, involved in unorganized and organized living. 01:41:39 Speaker 4: But I'm just saying that it was so different back especially Okay Joe and Sylvia Robinson. Yeah, I was. 01:41:44 Speaker 10: Pretty sheltered from all of that a mirror. I just didn't. 01:41:47 Speaker 4: I didn't so even in Dillian radio and stuff. 01:41:50 Speaker 10: Yeah, but I didn't. They didn't mess with me. I was kind of Gamble's woman. I didn't. I was insulated from that. I didn't have to deal with that. 01:42:01 Speaker 4: But I mean, was there, it was. 01:42:04 Speaker 10: I'm saying it was there, it is, it is here, it is everywhere. Yes, yeah, but I was a little, as I said, protected and insular. Oh okay, it's just part of life. Good answer. 01:42:17 Speaker 7: I don't know. 01:42:18 Speaker 10: That's real talk, actual good You don't you know what I'm saying, but you know what I mean. I want to take a moment to thank you all for having me today because I respect what you do. Having an opportunity to have long form discussions about the history and the culture is significant. So the role that each of you play with this broadcast, with your podcast is significant. And personally, I'm so very proud of Laiah because I changed her diapers. 01:42:48 Speaker 4: I was. 01:42:59 Speaker 10: The fact that she holds her own with you, gentlemen, because you're all formidable, as is she. 01:43:05 Speaker 4: But you do it, but you do it. 01:43:08 Speaker 10: And I'm very proud of her because in the entertainment game, she has so many capacities as a woman in this business, as a professional, and I love her. I love listening to her on the radio, I love watching her on TV. And I think that's promise. Well you guys, yeah, well that's fine, And I'll take some of the credit because I support her. I believe in her. She represents the now in the future for me as a woman in this game. So I'm very proud of you. I love you dearly, and all. 01:43:42 Speaker 7: Guest has done the sign. 01:43:48 Speaker 2: I can't wait to officiate your wedding. I'm available, amir if you should ever get married. I'm willing to do that last already. 01:44:00 Speaker 4: Oh you mean. 01:44:08 Speaker 10: How about that? 01:44:09 Speaker 2: I love Fontage and when he was talking about Nicola because I loved the foreign exchange, and so I developed a friendship with Nicole and that's how I met Fontage. 01:44:18 Speaker 4: Him back crazy, did you? 01:44:20 Speaker 10: So? 01:44:21 Speaker 4: Can I tell the DM story? Is that or just that? 01:44:23 Speaker 10: Go ahead? 01:44:25 Speaker 4: This is the moment I really met Diana Williams. 01:44:29 Speaker 9: Okay, and she revealed more about me, revealed more about her than any interview, any anything. 01:44:35 Speaker 7: Okay. 01:44:36 Speaker 9: So we had met backstage at the at the World Cafe Live thing, and so from that point on, like we follow each other on Twitter and everything. So we're talking on Twitter one night and it was late one night, and I don't remember what we were talking about, but it was talking about something on the timeline and then we like we got into the d MS and so we were laughing about something. 01:44:55 Speaker 7: So I just said her. 01:44:55 Speaker 9: I was like, oh, sorry, you been It was good meets everything, and she was like, fante, I'm tired, and I you know, immediately I was just saying, I said, okay, well, I'm thinking, I'm Eve been working so hard, you know, like what's what's going on? And she gives me the greatest response that let me know that she was the illest. She said, I'm tired of niggas. 01:45:20 Speaker 5: I said. 01:45:22 Speaker 3: I said, I am to. 01:45:25 Speaker 4: Say so much that let me know. 01:45:28 Speaker 9: I said, yo, yo, she the realers one out. From that point on, we've been cool. I said, listen because she's so eloquent, and so you know, because you said, like her alreadyything, she just said, I'm tired of niggas. 01:45:40 Speaker 4: Boy, I felt that ship in my soul on behalf of Light Fante, Boss Bill, Unpaid Bill, Sugar, Steve and myself. Niggas. Thank you coming on the shelf. You's been a long time this Quests Loves Supreme only on Pandora. We will see you on the next go round. Thank you. 01:46:07 Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic episode was produced. 01:46:12 Speaker 4: By the team at Pandora. 01:46:16 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.