Speaker 1: Who was presented to collab with Usher and he turned
Speaker 1: it down and he's like, Damn, I shouldn't have did that.
Speaker 2: You're gonna hate me for this one Oh jay Z
Speaker 2: for real.
Speaker 3: Diddy, Damn and Me was supposed to be a group.
Speaker 4: All my life, grinding all my life, sacrifics, hustle pact
Speaker 4: the price. Want a slice, got the Bronu dis swap
Speaker 4: all my life, Poppy grinding all my life, all my
Speaker 4: life and grinding all my life, sacrifics, hustle pactic Price
Speaker 4: one slice got the Bronic diys to swap all my
Speaker 4: life Poppy grinding all my life.
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Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to a vari's edition of Club Shay Shay.
Speaker 1: I am your hole Shannon Sharp. I'm also the propriud
Speaker 1: of Club Sha Shak and for this one, we got
Speaker 1: a whopper for you. He's an eight time Grammy Award
Speaker 1: winning pop icon, a multi gold, platinum, and diamond selling artist.
Speaker 1: He received the last certified Diamond by a black artist.
Speaker 1: He a generation defining megastar, singer, songwriter, producer, actor, dancer,
Speaker 1: all around entertainer. One of the most influential voices and
Speaker 1: accomplished singers in the world. One of the most successful
Speaker 1: pop and RB artists of the twentieth century and early
Speaker 1: twenty first century. He's been active in the game for
Speaker 1: three decades. An NBA championship owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 1: And please, whatever you do, do not leave your girl
Speaker 1: or your wife around this man. He's an international sex symbol,
Speaker 1: a successor to Michael Jackson, the.
Speaker 6: King, the King of R and B, mister usher Shaw.
Speaker 6: I'll do it.
Speaker 1: Well, let's go ahead. You got your own, you got
Speaker 1: your ranby, I got my shape.
Speaker 2: Listen, by the way, only in the best, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, we bring out the best. You know China,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying now. But you got it
Speaker 2: in the brock of rock glass here in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: Enjoy it, man, I'll figured I come having a drink
Speaker 2: with you.
Speaker 1: Well, I should appreciate that. I appreciate that. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: And you get to say, who was sitting down having
Speaker 1: a drinking conversation? But you see who it is now, bro,
Speaker 1: How you doing.
Speaker 3: I've been good, bro.
Speaker 2: You know, we've been out here man and Vegas. Man,
Speaker 2: just really enjoying the time. You know. It's spent an
Speaker 2: amazing almost one hundred shows and I don't know if
Speaker 2: there's anybody that's been able to track this fast to
Speaker 2: one hundred.
Speaker 3: Shows, you know, but it's been great.
Speaker 6: Man. The super Bowl?
Speaker 1: Yeah, was that always in the back of your mind?
Speaker 1: Or where were you when you got the call that's like, bro,
Speaker 1: we want you to do the super Bowl?
Speaker 2: Was it always in the back of my It's in
Speaker 2: the back of every artist's mind really?
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2: I mean as many times as we've seen performers kind
Speaker 2: of have an entire career, right, a legacy career, you know,
Speaker 2: to have that moment. I mean, you can win awards,
Speaker 2: you can travel around the world, have fits everywhere, play arenas, stadiums,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I know. So it's
Speaker 2: like that is it's a lot of pressure over me, okay,
Speaker 2: but but but it is it's a dream, I guess
Speaker 2: for everyone, and I'd always wanted to go there, had
Speaker 2: the opportunity to go there, you know, with the Black
Speaker 2: Eyed p Yeah, sog so after being bitten by that moment,
Speaker 2: I was like, I gotta go back again.
Speaker 3: I mean it's well overdue, but you know what I'm saying, definitely.
Speaker 1: But you didn't want to go back. You wanted to
Speaker 1: go back as a headliner. You want to do your
Speaker 1: own thing. Now, how do you talk what you did?
Speaker 1: Because remember you jumped over wheel I am you hit
Speaker 1: the split and so now people are like, okay, thusher
Speaker 1: by himself, what's he going to do the top back?
Speaker 3: I don't know if I'm gonna have somebody to jump over.
Speaker 2: You know, man, I think that this is a legacy, right, this, uh,
Speaker 2: this entire career and everything that you had to say
Speaker 2: about me, I really do appreciate it.
Speaker 6: Did I leave anything out? Though?
Speaker 2: I mean I became a I got a doctorate this year. Okay,
Speaker 2: so the city got a key to the city of
Speaker 2: Las Vegas. Became a doctor at Berkeley. But you know,
Speaker 2: it's it really kind of comes down to your ten
Speaker 2: thousand hours, you know what I'm saying. And if you
Speaker 2: worked hard, then you should be given that opportunity. Jay Z.
Speaker 2: He reached out to me personally, right and so.
Speaker 6: What was that called? So what was that called? Like?
Speaker 1: Okay, phone ring? You looked down. It's whole, Jay. I
Speaker 1: mean you probably got it and your phone is over.
Speaker 6: Jay.
Speaker 1: You pick up the phone. You're like, man, I wonder
Speaker 1: what are you calling me for? Okay, here's the conversation,
Speaker 1: not what.
Speaker 2: I had an idea that he might be calling. He
Speaker 2: happened to be coming to town in Atlanta.
Speaker 7: B was in Atlanta with the tour.
Speaker 3: The tour so every time we're in Atlanta, we play spades.
Speaker 2: Okay, just so you know, me him one and I
Speaker 2: have to pick my partner, you know, and the last
Speaker 2: time they kind of gave it to me. So I'm
Speaker 2: thinking he's getting ready to call me to say, yo,
Speaker 2: pull up to you know, the arena or a stadium
Speaker 2: and come get this work. And nah, he was like, no, Nah,
Speaker 2: I'm not.
Speaker 3: Calling about spades.
Speaker 6: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I'm like, so, what what's up? He was like his time? Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean yeah, it is five o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 2: What you mean this to now? But it was early,
Speaker 2: you know, And he said, you know, this is this
Speaker 2: is the magic moment. This is the Michael moment. Actually
Speaker 2: how you put it? And you know, are you ready?
Speaker 2: I was like, well, you want to do it. I'm like,
Speaker 2: first of all, I was a bit in denial. So
Speaker 2: my girl walks in the room and I'm like, she's
Speaker 2: like no way, He's like, yes way. It was like
Speaker 2: he was in the room with us. Yeah, man, it was.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 3: It was an incredible moment, man.
Speaker 1: And you know some of the greatest have done. Prince
Speaker 1: done the halftime and remember in Miami he was playing
Speaker 1: purple Rain and it starts to rain. Yeah, Michael Jackson, Beyonce.
Speaker 2: So everybody realized that God was a Prince fan and
Speaker 2: man and man, it was playing and it started random purple.
Speaker 6: It started ready for real.
Speaker 1: So so how long is it gonna take you, because
Speaker 1: we're probably about four three and a half four months away. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how long is it gonna take you to put a
Speaker 1: set together? Because it's not like your residency here and
Speaker 1: we will get into that a little later. You probably
Speaker 1: got fifteen twenty minutes to put something together that will
Speaker 1: lead the people, that the people will remember for the
Speaker 1: rest of their lives.
Speaker 2: Well, exactly that right for your entire life, I guess
Speaker 2: for the entire time that you've been building. That's how
Speaker 2: long it took wow to prepare for that moment. It
Speaker 2: didn't just start these few months that I have that lead.
Speaker 3: Up to it.
Speaker 2: It started, you know, thirty years ago, man, when I
Speaker 2: decided that this is what I wanted to do, and
Speaker 2: you know how to support my mama and a host
Speaker 2: of an incredible a lot of people. Man. I mean,
Speaker 2: this journey is not just mine. To celebrate this everybody
Speaker 2: that has something to do with it, from the beginning
Speaker 2: in Chatta Nigger, Tennessee, making my way to Atlanta, sign
Speaker 2: up with a record company at fourteen years old, then
Speaker 2: having this incredible journey finding music, finding producers, finding sources
Speaker 2: of inspiration, you know, and then moving on to other areas,
Speaker 2: you know, finding artists and working and collaborating with other people.
Speaker 2: So I celebrate all of that leading up to that moment.
Speaker 2: So if anything, if you want to take note, the
Speaker 2: preparation starts to date, working on it right now, then
Speaker 2: hopefully you'll get there someday. But man, don't take those
Speaker 2: you know, those those ten thousand hours lightly.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: We live in a time where you know, you can
Speaker 2: have success overnight. I mean, you know, we have social
Speaker 2: interaction that gives us access to everything, but you know
Speaker 2: that work that you have to put in in order
Speaker 2: to you know, own that moment and and deserve that
Speaker 2: moment can't be taken lightly.
Speaker 6: Any early super Bowl prediction.
Speaker 3: Probably too early for me. Man.
Speaker 2: I don't know, Bro, I come here to ask you
Speaker 2: to be honest. I'm like, Yo, what you think you know?
Speaker 2: You know, but somebody said, somebody says something by Miami,
Speaker 2: somebody says something you know about.
Speaker 3: Kansas, Kansas City, forty nine ers, somebody said something about
Speaker 3: forty nine ers.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you're a Cowboy fan.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I was born in Dallas, Texas
Speaker 2: and have always been, you know, a fan, you know,
Speaker 2: of the Cowboys throughout the years.
Speaker 3: You know, so you know, who knows it could be
Speaker 3: could be a good year. They seem to be getting
Speaker 3: it together.
Speaker 1: The new album Coming Home releases going to release on
Speaker 1: the same day as the super Bowl.
Speaker 6: That's not an accident, is it?
Speaker 2: No? No?
Speaker 3: No, that was that was strategic. You know.
Speaker 2: Part of it is, you know, paying tribute to the past,
Speaker 2: you know, being present here in Las Vegas. What what
Speaker 2: a surprise right to have an incredible residency run here,
Speaker 2: one hundred shows I would have played by the end
Speaker 2: of November, and then to have the treat of being
Speaker 2: able to play the Super the Bowl, you know. So yeah, man,
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, here you have this this grand
Speaker 2: opportunity that is almost like a crescendo of what started
Speaker 2: off really in a pandemic. Right, People don't really know
Speaker 2: that part. Right When I came to Las Vegas, it
Speaker 2: was quiet, nobody was here, nothing was happening. People thought
Speaker 2: I was crazy for putting tickets on sales, But to
Speaker 2: be honest, it was belief. Belief that we would get
Speaker 2: back to the norm you know what I'm saying, and
Speaker 2: a time when the world just felt like upside down,
Speaker 2: like what is normal anymore? We ain't been outside or
Speaker 2: been into a concert hall or celebrated with each other.
Speaker 3: In a year, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: And here you have this grand opportunity to start this
Speaker 2: journey that now leads up to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: For me, so that moment was also for you because
Speaker 1: you wanted to get outside. Also, you wanted to see
Speaker 1: people because you were shut there and you wanted to
Speaker 1: They was like, oh, man, I get you, but you
Speaker 1: like usher.
Speaker 6: Get a chance to see you.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 2: The first thing that we did, we did a show
Speaker 2: in Los Angeles for iHeartRadio, which was like the actual
Speaker 2: first time I'd sing. And also to have been in
Speaker 2: a room or anybody had been in a room in
Speaker 2: La So that was the first thing. And then to
Speaker 2: come to Las Vegas and then launch my residency successfully
Speaker 2: as I said, you know the time that we spend
Speaker 2: here now to be able to come here and celebrate.
Speaker 3: Man, this this incredible moment.
Speaker 1: This is your ninth solo album. Yeah, this is your
Speaker 1: first and eight years. What can we expect?
Speaker 2: Well, first, after the super Bowl, as you said, the
Speaker 2: album comes out coming Home. We released one record so
Speaker 2: far good good feature in Summer Walker, and also two
Speaker 2: twenty one Savage number one record there. So really happy
Speaker 2: about that. Radio has played a major part in that
Speaker 2: social interactions a ton of other things. But you know,
Speaker 2: I really, you know, feel like I put a lot
Speaker 2: of heart and time into making certain that this was
Speaker 2: curated right, something that felt like, you know, this next
Speaker 2: chapter of my life, as I talked to you about
Speaker 2: the past, the present, happening here in Las Vegas, the future,
Speaker 2: and once we get there in February, is the next frontier?
Speaker 2: Is that next chapter of my life and my legacy. This,
Speaker 2: by the way, marks the first album that I put
Speaker 2: out as an independent artist, very important part, right, because
Speaker 2: what you should know is that, yeah, legacy obviously is
Speaker 2: a part of what gave me the hit records to
Speaker 2: be able to have a foundation to stand on. But
Speaker 2: at that juncture of my life, I didn't just rely
Speaker 2: on that. I decided to move away and also to
Speaker 2: be independent. Mega myself, Larry Jackson, La Reed and I
Speaker 2: came together and formed Gamma, and Mega is the support
Speaker 2: of it. Since then, it's just been a labor of
Speaker 2: like being reminded of why we did it. I can
Speaker 2: go back to my thirteen year old days and remember
Speaker 2: beginning between me and La now at forty five years old,
Speaker 2: and him having a world of it experience, know all,
Speaker 2: you know, just one of the greatest executives of our time,
Speaker 2: Black executives of our time, you know, breaking so many
Speaker 2: artists in so many different genres. Now we get to
Speaker 2: bring all that equity together and do something that is
Speaker 2: all about passion.
Speaker 6: The greatest record executive regardless of color.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 1: You look at all the acts that he's discovered and
Speaker 1: what and put on. He's been unbelievable this residency, and
Speaker 1: you spoke about a little earlier that was that something
Speaker 1: that had the pandemic not happen. Would the residency with Usher,
Speaker 1: would that have happened?
Speaker 3: It was going to happen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was going to happen. We had
Speaker 2: plans for it to happen. And right as we were
Speaker 2: in the process of launching, you know, I think I
Speaker 2: was in France at the time, and it was just
Speaker 2: this crazy outbreak came back to America and then before
Speaker 2: you know, we were quarantined, you know, and I've been
Speaker 2: working on music, so I've been kind of ramping up
Speaker 2: to something. Rather it was new music, a new tour,
Speaker 2: and we all felt like Las Vegas would be an
Speaker 2: incredible reintroduction of new music also to celebrating legacy.
Speaker 3: But it turned into something far, far more than that.
Speaker 1: Man, you know, right, we're here at the No Man
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas, right down the hallway from where you're
Speaker 1: performing your residency to night at Adobe Live Park.
Speaker 6: MGM.
Speaker 1: My daughter, who's flight with the Lady, wanted to be here,
Speaker 1: but I'm bringing her tonight for a birthday.
Speaker 6: So when you caught a lot of flak got you,
Speaker 6: the women come and you.
Speaker 2: Know, you come with your daddy or come with your
Speaker 2: sugar daddy.
Speaker 6: No no, no talking about your husband actual daughter.
Speaker 1: I'm very protective my de but all I ain't got
Speaker 1: but two girls, and I'm very protective more of us,
Speaker 1: and so don't be don't be battling around. So the criticism,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're just having a good time. You say
Speaker 1: you got your things on. I mean, are you surprised
Speaker 1: that you've got the criticism and the blowback that you've received.
Speaker 2: I don't know, man, I just know that this juncture
Speaker 2: of my life is just about having You don't even care. Now,
Speaker 2: it's not that I don't cares that I want you
Speaker 2: to notice I'm having and that is a part of
Speaker 2: me having fun, being out in the audience amongst the
Speaker 2: fans and also to the.
Speaker 3: People, and then feeling that energy.
Speaker 2: I don't remember the last time that I've been to
Speaker 2: a show like that. You know, I know that we
Speaker 2: all feel good when we go to Frankie Beverly and
Speaker 2: we you know, we all dressing our white. We go
Speaker 2: out there and we enjoy each other and you know,
Speaker 2: in the aisles and have a great time. But like
Speaker 2: what an artist comes out and just is amongst the people.
Speaker 2: You know, this arena gave me an opportunity to be
Speaker 2: able to be closer to my fans because i'd been
Speaker 2: I didn't put out an album in almost six years, right,
Speaker 2: so now being able to reconnect in that way, you know,
Speaker 2: obviously it spun into something that became.
Speaker 3: It gave me a new title.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Charlemagne a god named me like the
Speaker 2: domestic Terrorist. I'm like, bro, I'm just this is this
Speaker 2: is actually an usher's show.
Speaker 6: Right what you said you can feel the energy.
Speaker 1: You can't feel the energy for them husbands and the
Speaker 1: bar friend and giving you to eat a lot like
Speaker 1: you need to back up.
Speaker 2: Nah, they're actually cool. The guy I said, are there?
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. The girls, they get a
Speaker 2: little out of you. I'm just saying, but you know
Speaker 2: it's don't leave your girl around me. I to come
Speaker 2: with your girl. You know what I'm saying, Come with
Speaker 2: your daughter. You know what I'm saying, bring your white
Speaker 2: but yo. By the way, again, it's all in good fun.
Speaker 2: And then the whole purpose and point is to bring
Speaker 2: that energy to Las Vegas. When I look at it
Speaker 2: and I see my people, I see you know, I
Speaker 2: see us doing something that.
Speaker 3: I don't even felt I don't feel like it's been.
Speaker 2: Done here, like the Black Dollar is strong and Vegas
Speaker 2: man more than it's ever been, and the cast in
Speaker 2: the in the crew and the feeling of what this
Speaker 2: has built. It's been a celebration. So you know, nah,
Speaker 2: I didn't. I don't know if I was able to
Speaker 2: even look at it as a negative. And then anything
Speaker 2: that has happened in terms of the girls who came
Speaker 2: up there, rather it was to recipe hensign or you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, Keiki you know Palmer or you.
Speaker 6: Know that woman had just had a baby and she would.
Speaker 3: I mean, she wanted to get out and have you
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying. Should you not feel like you?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Like you? You should get
Speaker 3: out with your girls and enjoy yourself. You should, right, yes,
Speaker 3: And now you have me to sit your usher.
Speaker 1: Oh you you aren't bringing them into a good time?
Speaker 6: You taking that lift up. You caught your fout with them.
Speaker 6: You know the ushers help you.
Speaker 2: To the chail five and I'm ushing you to a
Speaker 2: good time. You know what I'm saying, Come have a
Speaker 2: good time with me. No, but working out, yeah, man.
Speaker 1: I talked to Steve stout yesterday and he said that
Speaker 1: when you getting ready for a show, that you would
Speaker 1: train chasing the U Haul and they're playing Confessions because
Speaker 1: you are an entertainer. You're not just sitting on the
Speaker 1: stool singing. You're moving and you're every word and you dancing.
Speaker 1: You're doing all these dance moves. Who how are you
Speaker 1: able to do this.
Speaker 6: Night in and night out? But you still got them
Speaker 6: twenty year old knees.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, man, It's like the conditioning. There's no
Speaker 2: different you know, football, you know what I mean. You
Speaker 2: gotta really have the you know, you gotta have a core, right,
Speaker 2: you gotta make certain that you can sing and dance.
Speaker 2: It's so part of my moving and singing and running
Speaker 2: and doing some of these things that are probably not
Speaker 2: a part of the you know, the build of artists.
Speaker 2: You know, that type of artist development is something that
Speaker 2: I learned. I learned it from a guy by the
Speaker 2: name of aj Alexander, the guy who actually discovered me,
Speaker 2: who was Bobby Brown's bodyguard. Right, so as a kid,
Speaker 2: he had his kids in Atlanta, right, And this was
Speaker 2: our training, like it was like boot camp. Singing wasn't
Speaker 2: just like oh, we're gonna get out here and just
Speaker 2: jam and sing the girls. Now, you gotta like he
Speaker 2: was like putting us through straight boot camp.
Speaker 1: So you had to learn why you had learned to
Speaker 1: sing while you're tired because you're running, and like you said,
Speaker 1: if boot camp.
Speaker 2: But you know, I just think that that generation of entertainment,
Speaker 2: it was different, you know what I'm saying. And I
Speaker 2: had been in a group before, and we as a group,
Speaker 2: you know, we worked in the same way, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying. We played basketball, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: and we got our wind up. Or when we were working,
Speaker 2: we would sing and dance and move around. He would
Speaker 2: help us running and singing all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: That wasn't uncommon. That's not an uncommon thing. If you
Speaker 2: consider yourself an artist, right as part of artist development,
Speaker 2: if you want to be able to get out there, sing,
Speaker 2: dance and I miss a beat, be on key, that's
Speaker 2: the type of work that you got to do, right.
Speaker 1: You You mentioned you're born in Cha, You're Chattanooga. You
Speaker 1: moved to Atlanta at a very very young age. And
Speaker 1: he said, your mom I read where you said your
Speaker 1: mom like kind of quit what she was doing. To
Speaker 1: devote all of her attention to you, and you said
Speaker 1: your mom was like kind of hard on you and
Speaker 1: making sure that's what you wanted. Where do you where
Speaker 1: does your stance Because we see Richard beanis in Serena.
Speaker 1: Richard Williams was very hard on them. Here we see
Speaker 1: Tiger story, his dad was hard on him. And then
Speaker 1: I see Dwight Howard trying to push your son and
Speaker 1: he gets blowback. So where's Usher? If your kids? How
Speaker 1: are you going to be with your son? You say,
Speaker 1: you got a son that's playing basketball? Now, how's Usher
Speaker 1: the parent? Given where he came from, knowing what he knows,
Speaker 1: how's he going to be?
Speaker 2: Man? I deal with the same you know, issues that
Speaker 2: any parent deals with kids who are influ by you know,
Speaker 2: the things that they see, the things that they get into.
Speaker 3: But the one thing that I do is care for
Speaker 3: my kids.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 2: I view disciplinary, you know, you know kind of measures
Speaker 2: as something that is preparing your kids, especially black kids
Speaker 2: for you know, the reality of the world that they're
Speaker 2: living in. You know, I hold you to a higher standard.
Speaker 2: You know, I personally hold you to a higher standard
Speaker 2: because I know what work it takes to be great
Speaker 2: and for parents who do that. You know, look at
Speaker 2: the evidence, look at the incredible you know, artists, the
Speaker 2: incredible athletes that were creating in that moment. This generation
Speaker 2: may not necessarily have the same respect. But God bless
Speaker 2: the coaches that we have. God bless the mentors and
Speaker 2: stuff that we have that motivate our kids, because it
Speaker 2: almost puts this pressure on parents to not be parents. Now,
Speaker 2: that's it's a hard dynamic, especially if you come from
Speaker 2: an industry where you know what it takes to not
Speaker 2: naturally kick into that mode and say, oh, if you
Speaker 2: want to do something, you want to play basketball, you got.
Speaker 3: To run at a certain rate. I'm gonna push you.
Speaker 2: If you really want to do this, you gotta show
Speaker 2: me you're gonna show up on time.
Speaker 3: You ain't on time. Give me push ups right now?
Speaker 2: What, Yeah, gimme push ups, Run these laps, run these
Speaker 2: suicides right now? You serious?
Speaker 3: Dad?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: For real? And I'm not playing.
Speaker 2: And if I catch you, if I get if I
Speaker 2: get there before you do, you're gonna give me one
Speaker 2: hundred extra push ups.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: That's just that's just the nature of the you know,
Speaker 2: the animal that is inside of who we are as
Speaker 2: as I don't know man, as as entertainers.
Speaker 3: As athletes.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 3: So I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't look at any of that kind
Speaker 2: of disciplinary kind of measure as bad. I do think
Speaker 2: it's equally important to talk to your kids. Okay, if
Speaker 2: you're gonna push them that way, then you gotta love
Speaker 2: on them just as much.
Speaker 6: You gotta explain to them why you push it.
Speaker 2: There, you go, that's right. They got to know that. Yo,
Speaker 2: my dad's gonna push me to be great. My dad's
Speaker 2: gonna talk to me as well and help me understand
Speaker 2: why he's pushing me the way that he is.
Speaker 6: But how is that?
Speaker 1: Because you have to understand you're in a totally different
Speaker 1: situation than what they are.
Speaker 6: Your mom didn't have it like your key is. Dad
Speaker 6: has it right.
Speaker 1: So they're looking because you, like, man, I got to
Speaker 1: get my I got to get my mom out of
Speaker 1: this situation I want to have when your kids come home.
Speaker 1: They got a six car garage, they got twenty five
Speaker 1: thousand square feet, they got many, they got made, they
Speaker 1: got shelf, they got they got all.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is that is a harsh reality, which is
Speaker 2: more of the reason why you got to be harder
Speaker 2: on them, but mindful that their normal is different than
Speaker 2: our normal, right, and the access that they have is
Speaker 2: greater and grander, and the expectation is actually higher. That's
Speaker 2: the one thing that I have empathy for my children,
Speaker 2: especially the ones you know that you know, I name
Speaker 2: my son Usher, So every time he's out, obviously there's
Speaker 2: that pressure. You know, I've even battled at times, you know,
Speaker 2: my kids sometimes they don't want me to come. They
Speaker 2: don't want me to be at the you know, their
Speaker 2: basketball game or they recital, or they want to be
Speaker 2: very very low key because they don't want that energy.
Speaker 2: They don't want our dad walks in the room and
Speaker 2: took you know.
Speaker 6: All their focus off of me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's hard because I tried my heartest to
Speaker 2: have that empathy. But I want to be there. You
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying countless times being able to just
Speaker 2: sit at the back of the room quiet. You know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying is keep myself as small as possible
Speaker 2: and be as quiet as I possibly can.
Speaker 3: I want to be a parent, yeah, man, Yeah, but
Speaker 3: it is if.
Speaker 2: You're right, like that access and that reality that they're
Speaker 2: looking at, it gives them some expectation, and unfortunately I
Speaker 2: can't take it back.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Like I walked so that we could ride, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, And now that you're riding, you know,
Speaker 2: I want you to understand the importance of walking.
Speaker 1: Did you always at the age of ten, eleven and
Speaker 1: twelve you're on star search, did you always know you
Speaker 1: wanted to be this?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 3: Which part of this do you mean?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 1: Because the guy that's sitting across from me, that's internationally
Speaker 1: known that goals and sells out every concert, the guy
Speaker 1: that's almost at one hundred shows at a residency God,
Speaker 1: that's doing the halftime show, one of the king of R.
Speaker 3: And B this, Thank you very much. But let me
Speaker 3: give you a little clarity, right, Okay, No, I don't know.
Speaker 7: If I I don't know if I was prepared for
Speaker 7: any of it, but I know that I was dedicated
Speaker 7: enough to stick to it until something happened, and then
Speaker 7: something that I didn't expect happen.
Speaker 2: To become a businessman, to then understand entrepreneurship, to understand philanthropy,
Speaker 2: to understand empathy, to begin to understand the other.
Speaker 3: Side of it, I wouldn't prepare for that.
Speaker 2: I knew that if I set my mind to anything,
Speaker 2: the affirmation of me once saying it and actually making
Speaker 2: it happen it willing it to happen was something that
Speaker 2: I was committed to as a kid. Yo, I walked
Speaker 2: around and my mother used to tell me all the time,
Speaker 2: you need to stop telling people that you're going.
Speaker 3: To be a big artist.
Speaker 2: I'm like, why, that's what I believe, is what I
Speaker 2: think about myself. If I don't believe it, nobody else would.
Speaker 2: But you don't have to say it. It ain't happen yet.
Speaker 2: I'm like, but I wanted to, so let me just
Speaker 2: I must keep saying it until it actually, you know,
Speaker 2: becomes the reality. And I'm gonna not only just say
Speaker 2: it and expect somebody to give it to me. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna take the long way around. I want to work
Speaker 2: for it. I want to be able to say I
Speaker 2: earned it, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I remember the first time that I saw you, and
Speaker 1: I didn't quite know who you were. I saw you
Speaker 1: in Nike Town and Phillips Plaza. Man, I just see
Speaker 1: you in Guccia all the time, and you always sing
Speaker 1: I was like, man, why do this dude sing it?
Speaker 6: Man? I like he's like, he's like and you was
Speaker 6: just singing and singing and singing. And I was told
Speaker 6: my sister, I said, man, I saw this, this.
Speaker 1: This a I mean, you couldn't been no more than
Speaker 1: like sixteen or seventeen.
Speaker 6: I said, I saw this. I saw this kid in
Speaker 6: niked Town and he was singing. I think I think
Speaker 6: he might be something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I was auditioning
Speaker 2: or what I said. I was preparing for my moment,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. And I think that that's
Speaker 2: that's the plight, you know what I'm saying. To anything
Speaker 2: that you want to be great at, you have to
Speaker 2: make it a you have to make it a process.
Speaker 2: Like it's a part of your every thought. Like if
Speaker 2: you want to play basketball, you always bounce on the ball.
Speaker 2: You want to play football, you always readjusting, you always managing,
Speaker 2: you always ready and alert.
Speaker 3: You know, if you want to play sports, it's like
Speaker 3: you have to stay activated and stay active. As an artist,
Speaker 3: it's the same. And you know, I'm also too.
Speaker 2: Haunted by the idea that I had this talent, so
Speaker 2: it's naturally just coming out.
Speaker 3: It's like, you can't help but just be who you are.
Speaker 1: You had this talent obviously in high school. Normally when
Speaker 1: you have a talent, everybody's not as talent as as
Speaker 1: everyone else.
Speaker 6: So were they're hating going on it with you in
Speaker 6: high school.
Speaker 1: The people hate that you were so gifted because you're
Speaker 1: in a talent show.
Speaker 6: You win it. You know that you're not losing a
Speaker 6: talent show.
Speaker 1: No, So they're like it's like, okay, okay, you won
Speaker 1: the last five talent shows.
Speaker 6: You're not in this one.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: But that's what makes you great, right, the fact that
Speaker 2: you know that there's opposition. You know, if you're playing
Speaker 2: on the football team, right, you're gonna go out there,
Speaker 2: you see that, you.
Speaker 3: Go up against some dogs. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You gotta go out there with a different attitude. You
Speaker 2: gotta like believe it, you gotta like be it.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: And by the way, I had a hard high trip, bro.
Speaker 2: My name was Usher, Like yeah, like I don't I
Speaker 2: don't have like Marcus or like Eddie or something like that.
Speaker 2: Like I was already like an outlier, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, Like, wait a minute, you're walking around with
Speaker 2: this name, and they weren't nice to me.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, Rshell, what's Arsha? You know
Speaker 3: you want arshboard? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Hershey Bard.
Speaker 3: I was like, man, come on, man, all right, that's cool.
Speaker 6: So so what was dating like for Usher? In high school?
Speaker 2: Dating?
Speaker 3: It was a bit difficult, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: because I.
Speaker 6: Just you can say, you can swound them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, but you know, I was just trying
Speaker 2: my hardest to stay focused on my actual go and
Speaker 2: I don't know, man, I was you know, I was
Speaker 2: just trying to figure out how to get to the
Speaker 2: real goal, you know, to have a girlfriend. That was cool,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, Like I would definitely impress
Speaker 2: the girls and.
Speaker 6: See I do I do, go get it out you
Speaker 6: I do? I get it out of chorus.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. But you know, I just
Speaker 2: you know, it was it wasn't about that, man.
Speaker 3: I was focused.
Speaker 6: Bro.
Speaker 2: I was like, I need to I need to stay
Speaker 2: focused and I have a goal, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: When I figured out this is really what I want
Speaker 2: to do, I think I was willing to make the
Speaker 2: sacrifices that would needed. And while I wanted to enjoy,
Speaker 2: you know, having relationships. It was like, if I find
Speaker 2: a girl that I think is really cool and I
Speaker 2: can learn something from her, she can learn something from me,
Speaker 2: then we can help each other.
Speaker 3: But for the most part, I ain't. Yeah, man, I ain't.
Speaker 3: Yeah we can help each other out, Yeah, yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't think it was a phase while I was
Speaker 2: girl crazy, you know what I'm saying. But yeah, man,
Speaker 2: I just I was trying to figure out how to
Speaker 2: get as many numbers as I possibly could because I
Speaker 2: wanted to be a player, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: From the Himalaya, You know what I'm saying. But you
Speaker 2: know I was, I was. I wasn't really focused on
Speaker 2: you know that too much?
Speaker 1: How did you deal with your voice at ten is
Speaker 1: not the same as the voice at fourteen, and the
Speaker 1: voice at fourteen is not the same as the voice
Speaker 1: your mature voice is gonna be. So how did you
Speaker 1: handle the voice change going through pubid.
Speaker 3: It's crazy, you know.
Speaker 2: I just had to figure out how to focus on
Speaker 2: something else until it changed back and just keep working.
Speaker 2: I changed my eating habits, you know what, I'm saying,
Speaker 2: in addition to losing my voice, I had pizza face.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Y'all know my teenagers, you yeah, you go through a
Speaker 2: phase where it's just like NESTLEI craped, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying.
Speaker 3: And I was like, man, I gotta figure this out,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: But I didn't let it hit it that determin me
Speaker 2: from like oh yo' I still got to stay focused
Speaker 2: on what I want to do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I lost my voice completely. It was hard. So
Speaker 3: I didn't lose my.
Speaker 2: Voice and didn't have anything right. I lost my voice
Speaker 2: and I actually had a record that was on the radio.
Speaker 2: I had a record that I put out just call
Speaker 2: Me a Mac, and I couldn't sing it here I
Speaker 2: am at you know.
Speaker 3: I think it was Jack the Rapper in Atlanta. Can
Speaker 3: I be down here?
Speaker 2: Remember? Which was one of those two. And I sang
Speaker 2: my song and I got through it. That was the
Speaker 2: first and the last time that I actually sang and
Speaker 2: I impressed an audience of people, some of whom still
Speaker 2: come up to this day, Like ya, I remember you
Speaker 2: in this yellow something. You was like a little kid
Speaker 2: man and you really just had this this real big
Speaker 2: energy and then after that I lost it and trying
Speaker 2: my hardest to not lose my mind in that and
Speaker 2: become like depressed, like fall into a deep depression.
Speaker 3: It took a great deal of support.
Speaker 2: It took my mama, It took my grandmother to my nanny,
Speaker 2: It took my family members who you know, just continue
Speaker 2: to you know, encourage me, and I managed to make
Speaker 2: it through it. The people who managed to stick around,
Speaker 2: you know, the people that I was working with at
Speaker 2: the time, Lady by the name of Shirley Riley, you know,
Speaker 2: an amazing coach as well, you know, but you know,
Speaker 2: working with Kawan Prayer, who was the person who I
Speaker 2: worked with at the time, Shanty Doss. You know, these
Speaker 2: people who you know, were kind of appointed for me
Speaker 2: to work with. They didn't give up on me. They
Speaker 2: continued to see something bright in me, La Reid. They
Speaker 2: continued to invest in me working with you know, vocal
Speaker 2: coaches and continue to help me find my way. Sent
Speaker 2: me to New York City to work with Puffy. It
Speaker 2: was just like, Okay, we're not giving up. We still
Speaker 2: believe in it.
Speaker 1: How difficult is it as a child to find topics
Speaker 1: to sing about because you like thirteen fourteen. You can't
Speaker 1: be singing about this mature stuff. Man, You're not a
Speaker 1: gangster rapper. You ain't shooting up the club and talking
Speaker 1: about this, this being this guarden tool and all that.
Speaker 3: So was it difficult this garden tool?
Speaker 6: Was it difficult for you to fuy material? Come? Was
Speaker 6: it difficult for you to file material to sing sing about? Yeah?
Speaker 3: It was like uh, pips and guard tools.
Speaker 2: Man, I didn't.
Speaker 3: Have to worry about that as much.
Speaker 2: I think they.
Speaker 3: Spent time with me. That was funny.
Speaker 2: Eddie Bishop and uh Tim Thomas, the first two producers
Speaker 2: that I work where he just posted something and uh,
Speaker 2: I look back and it's like, man, I just so
Speaker 2: great that you on the road to riches you stop
Speaker 2: and take pictures because it actually just takes you back
Speaker 2: to that moment I almost forgot about, you know, just
Speaker 2: the hope in my eyes and the fact that I
Speaker 2: was just a little kid, right But here they are
Speaker 2: trying to make songs for me about being a mac.
Speaker 2: I don't even know what a mac is. You know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, mac truck, a big mac like nah.
Speaker 2: But you know again, you know, I just I think
Speaker 2: I left it to them to help, you know, help
Speaker 2: me figure out how to talk, because I could have
Speaker 2: easily right became you know, one of the sensations that
Speaker 2: would have been locked into being a kid. Only had
Speaker 2: made kid music specifically for kids. But I think that
Speaker 2: they were trying to make music that adults would listen
Speaker 2: to as well. That was a real smart thing for
Speaker 2: them to do, and really it was. It was great
Speaker 2: to think ahead because it made it easier for me
Speaker 2: to transition when I worked with you know, Organized Noise,
Speaker 2: when I work with Puff, when I worked.
Speaker 3: With you know, those those guys.
Speaker 2: They were trying to tell the coolest young guy's story,
Speaker 2: the guy who you know was kind of having emotions
Speaker 2: but still trying to be a young fly player.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You know, like, yo, I got a little movement here,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. I talked to women a
Speaker 2: certain way. They were giving me like yo, you gotta
Speaker 2: talk to a girl like this, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: And you know we.
Speaker 2: Would do intros like you talk overt R and B
Speaker 2: records just how you got to talk to him bruh,
Speaker 2: you know. But great that I was able to have
Speaker 2: more mature conversation because I didn't get caught in the
Speaker 2: kid thing. I wasn't like a kid teen type sensation.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I was out there trying to figure out to take
Speaker 2: my shirt off and show my.
Speaker 6: Six pack package.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You mentioned La Reid sent you to New York and
Speaker 1: you live with he did it.
Speaker 6: They called it flavor Camp.
Speaker 1: Flavor Camp, So what was that experience like and how
Speaker 1: did that help Ush's career?
Speaker 3: I think?
Speaker 2: But I think I don't think I would be the
Speaker 2: artist that I am today without.
Speaker 3: The experiences that I had in New York City.
Speaker 2: One, just being in a new place where I would
Speaker 2: have to adjust, right, I didn't have the comfort of home.
Speaker 2: I'm in New York City and they was you know,
Speaker 2: done and sonning me to death, bro. And I was like,
Speaker 2: shout it, I don't know what you talking about. You
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, We Finnah, go over hell, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. And they was like laughing at
Speaker 2: me because I was Southern and they were like New York.
Speaker 2: But they like took me and they like they took
Speaker 2: me under their wing, you know what I'm saying, And
Speaker 2: looked at me like the little bro, you know, I
Speaker 2: think back to, you know, the earlier times of being
Speaker 2: there when Bad Boy was formed. You know, I learned
Speaker 2: something about business, I learned something about artist development in
Speaker 2: a different well, I learned something about culture. So having
Speaker 2: the ability to be around all these different cultures of people,
Speaker 2: it just helped me understand the world that I lived in.
Speaker 3: I didn't.
Speaker 2: I wasn't isolated and felt like I needed to be protected.
Speaker 2: I wasn't. I was like, Yo, We're gonna show you
Speaker 2: the real ropes to show you what the world really
Speaker 2: looks like and give you a front seat. I'm looking
Speaker 2: at Biggie, you know what I'm saying. I'm looking at
Speaker 2: Craig Mac. I'm looking at Onyx. Were running in the streets,
Speaker 2: we like literally out here seeing how we in barbershop?
Speaker 2: They shooting nice? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: You know, bet, I don't full four fol You know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying. Four five? You know what I'm like, Yo,
Speaker 3: what is this? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: But so great to have had those experiences, because one
Speaker 2: I didn't have a big brother and.
Speaker 3: My dad wasn't there in my life as a kid.
Speaker 2: So all these experiences just readied me for life so
Speaker 2: greater than just being an artist.
Speaker 3: That man helped me understand life.
Speaker 2: He helped me understand what it was to be an artist,
Speaker 2: helped me understand what it was to be passionate about something.
Speaker 3: He helped me understand.
Speaker 2: He helped me understand business at a different level because
Speaker 2: I'm seeing him go from his independence to then becoming
Speaker 2: puff Daddy, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: And I got a front row seat looking at that.
Speaker 2: Thank God that I.
Speaker 3: Had that experience, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Then you and by the way, at New York's Hottest moment.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, This is Terror Squad and
Speaker 2: Fat Joe. I'm like, how do I know all this stuff?
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, Like, I'm literally I can
Speaker 2: remember being on stage. I can't curse on this, but
Speaker 2: I was like, one of the craziest experiences ever. I
Speaker 2: happen to be on stage performing with Biggie And this
Speaker 2: is back when he had a song called Partying Bull Dung.
Speaker 3: Cal Dong. You know what I'm saying. I was like, Yo,
Speaker 3: this is crazy.
Speaker 2: But I was able to take all of that and
Speaker 2: then begin to understand, Oh okay, I get it. I
Speaker 2: see where the world is, but now I want to do.
Speaker 6: This my way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Atlanta, Jermaine Dupree, you link up with JDL And.
Speaker 6: What makes JD so good at a job?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: Creative?
Speaker 2: He's extremely creative and he's mindful of the artist that
Speaker 2: he's working. When he spends the time that is necessary
Speaker 2: to understand how to tell the artist story, he spends
Speaker 2: the time making certain that he understands the cadus as
Speaker 2: he writes. He's one of the world's greatest writers. I mean,
Speaker 2: you don't get no better, bruh, like somebody who has
Speaker 2: like multiple skills as a writer, as an artist, as
Speaker 2: a creative. Rather it's fashion, rather, it's lifestyle, cool, incredibly
Speaker 2: emotional when it comes to knowing how to pin it
Speaker 2: because he listens. He listens to every word. He manages
Speaker 2: to get out of the way too. That's another thing.
Speaker 2: It's it's about him because it's about his interpretation and
Speaker 2: the interpreter always wins. But his ability to not make
Speaker 2: it about just him, he makes it about his artists.
Speaker 2: He's able to then say, all right, I'm gonna breathe
Speaker 2: life into this artist who's trying to find that way. Now,
Speaker 2: what you do with it rather you dance, you rap,
Speaker 2: or you go into movies and you do other things.
Speaker 3: That's how you keep going.
Speaker 2: But he really does understand the art of artistry, the
Speaker 2: art of being able to see the greatest things and
Speaker 2: pull the best things out.
Speaker 1: Confessions, Yeah, everybody thought Confessionals was about you, like you
Speaker 1: was just confassion. You went to a confessional, but it
Speaker 1: was about yeah, well no, it's about you.
Speaker 2: Nah, it was about a It was a collect by
Speaker 2: the way, we made an album and we as men
Speaker 2: sat around like this. We were having real conversations, real talk.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, Mark.
Speaker 3: Pitts, you know, you know myself, JD. There's a couple
Speaker 3: of casts.
Speaker 2: In the room that was going through this situation. I
Speaker 2: ain't trying to put nobody on blast, but I'm just
Speaker 2: saying we all were having a conversation about this thing
Speaker 2: that was happening, and it ain't the first time that
Speaker 2: it happened. But here's an opportunity for me to be
Speaker 2: able to tell that story in a way where everybody
Speaker 2: could relate to it. It wasn't just me I'm at JD.
Speaker 2: It was it was everybody.
Speaker 6: Everybody at that table was going through something.
Speaker 2: Yo, bid I'll tell you no lies. Everybody was going
Speaker 2: through some portion of what we were talking about in that studio.
Speaker 1: It's Confession is the album that Usher is a bona
Speaker 1: fide superstar. He's here to state he ain't no flash
Speaker 1: in the pan. You're not here today going tomorrow. Usher
Speaker 1: Raymond is here and you will forever remember this man's name.
Speaker 3: You gotta tell me, bro, Yeah you think so. I
Speaker 3: think that's your greatest that's the greatest.
Speaker 2: Uh body of work?
Speaker 3: Eighty seven O one?
Speaker 1: I don't know, okay, se see where you put it
Speaker 1: like that? Eighty seven O one.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. So it's like, it's great that
Speaker 2: I could even he.
Speaker 1: If you could sing one album, if you only had
Speaker 1: to sing one album and you could couldn't say you
Speaker 1: got you got a lot of but you got to
Speaker 1: saying one for the next year and only one what
Speaker 1: you're rocking with, Man, that's a horror. Bro.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a rock with Confessions. I'm right, it's well rounded.
Speaker 2: But I mean just saying this, like between those two albums, yes,
Speaker 2: I think that it would. It would definitely have to
Speaker 2: be based off of success.
Speaker 3: It would have to be confessions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean when you look at it, I mean diamond, crazy, sexy, cool,
Speaker 1: Whitney here, Whitney Houston, thriller, bro.
Speaker 6: You get the diamond. Ain't a whole lot of diamonds
Speaker 6: out there.
Speaker 3: There has been no other diamond since in this yard.
Speaker 6: That makes you feel good.
Speaker 3: It's a good thing to have, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But also too, it's a.
Speaker 2: It's a bit of a thing, right because you're then
Speaker 2: aiming at that. And I never wanted to get caught
Speaker 2: up in what I've done in the past so much
Speaker 2: that I can't focus on where I am because the
Speaker 2: success has changed. Right If we, you know, could count
Speaker 2: success by how many albums you actually sold, they don't
Speaker 2: sell albums in that way as a physical copy. When
Speaker 2: we get on a line, we stand outside of Tower Records.
Speaker 2: You know you did it right. I did it too,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. And we got that album.
Speaker 2: We weren't like quick ordering that joint or either just
Speaker 2: clicking out a button and it's just there. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's like the measure of success has to change in life.
Speaker 3: And by the way, this is important.
Speaker 2: Because if you don't do that, you managed to get
Speaker 2: caught in your mind and the psychological like damage that
Speaker 2: could happen if you don't reach the same goal makes
Speaker 2: you feel as though you're not a success.
Speaker 3: That's not true. There's just always a different ship. Yo.
Speaker 2: I remember when you know what I'm saying, Vince Carter
Speaker 2: was jumping out the gym, bro Like Yo, he shifted
Speaker 2: his whole game and three Crazy still can jump if
Speaker 2: he wanted to.
Speaker 3: But the Mankels, you know what I'm saying, They going,
Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying. It's about. Yeah, those are the
Speaker 3: people that I look up to.
Speaker 2: Bro.
Speaker 1: You said something very interesting because a lot and I've
Speaker 1: heard people say this about Michael is that he kept
Speaker 1: trying to replicate the success that they had with Thriller and.
Speaker 6: Dirty Diana was a great album.
Speaker 1: It's sold eight million copies and subsequent albums that came
Speaker 1: out after that, but it wasn't Thriller, and it drove
Speaker 1: him to a point that if it didn't do thirty million,
Speaker 1: forty million, sixty million copies, he didn't feel like it
Speaker 1: was successful. You said, I got in my mind early
Speaker 1: on that if I don't do the physical number that
Speaker 1: Confessions did, I'm okay with that.
Speaker 3: How were you.
Speaker 6: Able to do that? Usher?
Speaker 1: Because we're measured by success, because we're only people judge
Speaker 1: you by what you did as a younger you. They
Speaker 1: don't compare you to anybody else that's in your genre currently.
Speaker 1: They compare you to a younger you.
Speaker 3: Well, they shouldn't.
Speaker 1: Talk about how do I get it out of y'all?
Speaker 1: See what he said, y'all be the leader a battle
Speaker 1: all y'all keep talking about yall a keiga.
Speaker 6: This is a key of that. I was sitting with
Speaker 6: the kid right here.
Speaker 2: You know, I'll just tell you two things on King
Speaker 2: talk right, but the confessions right again.
Speaker 3: If you are.
Speaker 2: Living by the applause, you will die by the bulls TI.
Speaker 2: I told me that, and it's spot on. If you
Speaker 2: live for the applause, you're gonna die by the bulls.
Speaker 2: You gotta do what you gotta do, and you gotta
Speaker 2: make your offering as clear as it could potentially be
Speaker 2: because it's gonna serve at least one person, because that's
Speaker 2: why we really do it right. We do it because
Speaker 2: we want to offer something that's gonna be the right
Speaker 2: dialogue or the right help or the right moment or
Speaker 2: the right service to whatever needed to happen in that moment,
Speaker 2: the celebration of love making, the baby making, the ability
Speaker 2: to be emotional and finally be able to say what
Speaker 2: you really mean to this person, you know, be true
Speaker 2: to that. If you start to chase the success in
Speaker 2: that same way, it'll it could.
Speaker 3: Drive you crazy.
Speaker 2: The only way that I was able to do that
Speaker 2: is to focus on other things, to focus on building
Speaker 2: lontitude lonchitude latitude, Right, I gotta build more space. Let's
Speaker 2: take this thing that I got, my perspective, and I
Speaker 2: want to introduce some other artists.
Speaker 3: I want to try and go.
Speaker 2: Let me go fail at some other things and get
Speaker 2: great at that. Right, because you peak in some way
Speaker 2: in some ways and then you figure out something else
Speaker 2: to work on, and then you peak at that and
Speaker 2: you figure out something else you peak at that.
Speaker 1: But how you able to have such success in willing
Speaker 1: to go try something that you might fail at. I mean,
Speaker 1: once you become successful, you like, I kind of like this,
Speaker 1: I ain't really trying to.
Speaker 6: Fail, so I kind of want to stay.
Speaker 1: I want to come and stay where I'm at, But
Speaker 1: you're willing to go outside, and it's like, okay, let
Speaker 1: me try to be a producer, let me try to
Speaker 1: discover talent.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean part of it, as to honestly,
Speaker 2: became a bit of a reckless sting for me because
Speaker 2: I think some of the actions that i'd taken, some
Speaker 2: of the decisions that I made, began to sabotage me.
Speaker 2: And it may have been personal sabotage because I just
Speaker 2: wanted some idea of normalcy. I wanted to be able
Speaker 2: to get back to normal. I wanted to be able
Speaker 2: to have like a little bit. I didn't look at
Speaker 2: it the same way like, yo, I gotta go like
Speaker 2: we just were now, you know, we're getting ready to
Speaker 2: take off. Now, I want to go to the moon.
Speaker 2: Get to the moon. I want to go to the sun.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Nah, I think that in some way I started to
Speaker 2: figure like I need to move things around and maybe
Speaker 2: move things, and some steps didn't help me.
Speaker 3: Some things that I did were not right, some decisions I.
Speaker 2: Made, you know, hey, but I lived with them all too,
Speaker 2: by the way, and I'm okay with that.
Speaker 3: That's the only way that I was able to get
Speaker 3: through it.
Speaker 2: I actually enjoy being in a position where I'm a
Speaker 2: bit of an underdog and I gotta fight my way
Speaker 2: back up to the top. I love for you to say,
Speaker 2: oh it's over. I love you to say, oh, now
Speaker 2: he ain't gonna do it again.
Speaker 3: Oh no, I can't happened. You know that? Right there
Speaker 3: is motivation.
Speaker 2: Because that means I got someplace to go, I got
Speaker 2: some pace to grow.
Speaker 1: I mean, you were the first artist in the twenty
Speaker 1: ten to collect three number one singles in three consecutive decades.
Speaker 1: The nineties, Nice and slow you make me want to yep,
Speaker 1: you make me want to lead a one my way,
Speaker 1: And then in two thousands you remind me you got
Speaker 1: it bad. You don't have to call it yeah, burn
Speaker 1: Confessional part too. And then twenty ten, omg, there goes
Speaker 1: my baby climax.
Speaker 6: D hits.
Speaker 3: I mean you got hits, Yes, got some hits.
Speaker 6: Brou I mean you were landing more puces than Mayweather.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah?
Speaker 1: Have you When will you sit? When will you go
Speaker 1: back and sit back? I mean, or do you take
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 3: Like this is it? That's what's happening right now.
Speaker 2: I'm actually sitting back and enjoying all of the labor
Speaker 2: of that.
Speaker 3: That's the moment I'm in right now.
Speaker 6: I'm in.
Speaker 2: I'm in that moment of really enjoying the hard work.
Speaker 3: Now I don't get a lot of sleep, but.
Speaker 2: I think that that's just the reality of who I
Speaker 2: am as a person, because I love the work and
Speaker 2: I love I love to create.
Speaker 3: But I'm enjoying it.
Speaker 2: Finally, I'm able to, you know, because I've always been
Speaker 2: of service to people. Rather I'm offering something and raether
Speaker 2: they like it or not as really up to them,
Speaker 2: not up to me.
Speaker 3: But I like that that actually makes me feel good.
Speaker 2: But now I get a chance to actually enjoy what
Speaker 2: I am creating, enjoy what I have created.
Speaker 6: What's your favorite decade meanties?
Speaker 2: I think somewhere in the seventies, like being motivated by
Speaker 2: that and bringing that forward because so many incredible artists
Speaker 2: were born in that time or created in that moment.
Speaker 2: Living in the nineties, I say it was a grand
Speaker 2: moment for all of us because it was a mixture
Speaker 2: between R and B and hip hop and a way
Speaker 2: that felt, you know, it felt sensational by the way,
Speaker 2: even in the South, because the South it didn't have
Speaker 2: as much of a definition. But through the nineties and
Speaker 2: then onto the two thousands, you then begin to understand,
Speaker 2: you know, organized noise, Jermaine Duprie, Little John, incredible producers,
Speaker 2: out of the out of the out of the South,
Speaker 2: you know, begin to really really have a moment. But
Speaker 2: I really do think that it's something in the seventies.
Speaker 2: Bro like the artist that came out of the seventies.
Speaker 1: If you could, if you could have left, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give you three. If you can perform with three, collab
Speaker 1: with three artists from the seventies, who would it.
Speaker 2: Be if I could have collabed with them in the seventies,
Speaker 2: it would have been Quincy Jones.
Speaker 3: You know, it would have been out of Philly. Huh,
Speaker 3: gambling huff.
Speaker 2: Let me see who else seventies? I think I said
Speaker 2: the two that that that actually is so.
Speaker 1: I thought you, I thought you was talking about artists
Speaker 1: that you would have liked to perform with, Oh, perform with?
Speaker 6: Yeah, an artist you wanted collab with?
Speaker 2: Our artists, to collab with, man, it would have been
Speaker 2: great to do something with like Diana Ross would have
Speaker 2: been great to do something, would you know, Donny Hathaway
Speaker 2: would have been great to do something with.
Speaker 3: Michael Jackson.
Speaker 1: Yeah, give me a mount rushmore of r and B singers,
Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore. You only get four ushers. So I mean
Speaker 1: I've had people on here that Stevie Wonder.
Speaker 3: Let me see Donny Hathaway, Whitney Houston.
Speaker 8: Oh, I said Stevie Wonder, right, you put him on twice,
Speaker 8: Michael Jackson, Marvin Gabe that not just.
Speaker 6: Yere, you had four.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I'm saying, I'm okay, so I can't take
Speaker 2: Michael off from Marvin. All.
Speaker 6: Come on, now you look at Michael's R and B
Speaker 6: do I you you know? I mean I thought he
Speaker 6: was the king of pop, but.
Speaker 2: Man, he created a format that like R and B
Speaker 2: was like, I mean, you know this is He's interesting, right? Kings?
Speaker 3: Right? Yes, I think all of those guys are kings.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 2: I think that we get so caught up on being
Speaker 2: the number one king person right to have that title,
Speaker 2: to be the king.
Speaker 1: Because normally only got one king. You got a king
Speaker 1: or the queen. You got a lot of princes. You
Speaker 1: can be a lot of princes, but you can only.
Speaker 6: Have one king. Usher.
Speaker 2: You can only have one king one queen, which you
Speaker 2: can only have one usher. Baby, and Usher, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying. He gets the ceremony. Right, he come
Speaker 2: out white glove service. Baby. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: We're gonna delip knob now. But greater than being a
Speaker 2: king or either saying I want to have that one spot.
Speaker 3: What I see is needed is a king, dumb okay.
Speaker 2: Right, So when I look at all of the genres
Speaker 2: of music, I see EDM and I look at festivals,
Speaker 2: and I look at the lifestyle, the equipment I look at.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, Country music, I think boots,
Speaker 2: I think cowboys. You know what I'm saying, I think chaps,
Speaker 2: I think cowboy hats and rodeos and all kinds of.
Speaker 3: Stuff like that. I think pickups.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. There's a culture there, right,
Speaker 2: there's a kingdom to this idea. There's a monetization of
Speaker 2: that thing. R and B are either the genre that
Speaker 2: I came from. I don't think it possesses the same
Speaker 2: weight in terms of the other ancillary businesses that are there.
Speaker 2: And that's what I'm focused on. We gonna be all kings.
Speaker 2: Matter of fact, you know what I'm saying, it's tons
Speaker 2: of people who put in the work. I ain't the
Speaker 2: only person that's been put in them thousand hours, and
Speaker 2: I don't know or profess to be the only king.
Speaker 3: Am I the king of what I feel?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I am. Every day I wake up feeling like a king,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. And I work hard to
Speaker 2: be that king. But I want a kingdom. I want
Speaker 2: us to be able to have the same pope to see.
Speaker 3: In hip hop.
Speaker 2: Right, when I think of hip hop, I think of
Speaker 2: what you're drinking. I think about the glasses you wear.
Speaker 2: I think about the shoes you got on. I think
Speaker 2: about you know, the records, I think about that culture.
Speaker 2: I think about the clothes you're wearing. Right, I want
Speaker 2: the same thing. I want that kingdom for R and B.
Speaker 3: In that same.
Speaker 1: Way, who was presented a collab with Usher and he
Speaker 1: turned it down and he's like, damn, my should have
Speaker 1: did that collaboration?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Is there collab that someone asked you to be a
Speaker 1: part of and you didn't And when it came out, you're.
Speaker 2: Like, damn, Yeah, you're gonna hate me for this one.
Speaker 2: Oh jay Z for real, Diddy, Damn Usher and me
Speaker 2: was supposed to be a group.
Speaker 3: Yeah that's crazy. Yeah, you're gonna hate me for that.
Speaker 3: I know Yeah.
Speaker 6: Why Why did you say no?
Speaker 3: I didn't say no, you didn't say yeah. I didn't
Speaker 3: say yeah.
Speaker 6: You said yeah on the record.
Speaker 2: But that's the one I think that we just got
Speaker 2: caught up. I think we all got caught up in
Speaker 2: a moment. We was talking about it, having secret meetings
Speaker 2: about it. We were talking about music and how we're
Speaker 2: gonna flip it in the business of it, and somehow, man,
Speaker 2: we just got distracted, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: And it never happened.
Speaker 2: You know, that's the one that I actually wish would
Speaker 2: have happened. Is there a movie or something that I
Speaker 2: was supposed to be a part of a collaboration. Yeah,
Speaker 2: David Geffen reached out to me to be uh in
Speaker 2: dream Girls, and.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, it just didn't happen.
Speaker 2: And I had, I think everybody hit me about this
Speaker 2: joint too.
Speaker 3: I had Eddie Murphy hit me, Man Brandy hit me.
Speaker 1: It's just there's never just there's always a reason. You
Speaker 1: don't get in your car just sit there. You go
Speaker 1: to the grocery school, when you drive to the you
Speaker 1: drive to a concert.
Speaker 6: I know you turned that down.
Speaker 3: Yeah I didn't do it.
Speaker 6: Didn't you know about this? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Drink of that.
Speaker 1: I read that you were beyond saves nanny? Will you
Speaker 1: beyond nanny?
Speaker 3: First of all, how can I be a nanny?
Speaker 6: I'll be a manny, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: No, Noah, I wouldn't. I wouldn't be on sa nanny.
Speaker 6: Nah.
Speaker 2: Darryl Simmons, he had a group by the name of
Speaker 2: the Dolls, Okay, and they came to Atlanta for the
Speaker 2: first time. This is when this before Destney's child became
Speaker 2: Destney's child. And I think I looked over them while
Speaker 2: they were doing something in the house. I had to
Speaker 2: watch them because I was like the the authority, because
Speaker 2: I guess I was the teenager at the time. But nah,
Speaker 2: I wasn't a nanny, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6: No, But you were just overseeing them, making sure they
Speaker 6: at break them.
Speaker 2: Make it certain that they didn't You know that they
Speaker 2: didn't get in no trouble in the house at the time.
Speaker 1: Did you see Did you know that little girl was
Speaker 1: going to grow up to be that big international superstar?
Speaker 1: Can you look at because you did discover Justin Bieber,
Speaker 1: So you did see something so clearly you got an
Speaker 1: eye for talent.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, and not just by myself. There was a host
Speaker 3: of people.
Speaker 2: You know, they say success has a million fathers and
Speaker 2: an orphan you know, you know, I got it. So
Speaker 2: I think when I saw them, I knew there was
Speaker 2: something very special about all of them because as Destiny's child,
Speaker 2: they all thrive. Even still to this day, when you
Speaker 2: see them and you see them together, they all thrive.
Speaker 3: They all are an incredible unit.
Speaker 2: Beyonce had a talent and also too, a brilliance and
Speaker 2: a brightness that was much different. And it was actually
Speaker 2: Frank Gatston Gatson who helped me. See he worked with
Speaker 2: me at the time, he was my choreographer, and then
Speaker 2: he started working with them, and he'd always told me, man,
Speaker 2: like she's really special. You need to keep your eye
Speaker 2: on her. I was like, man, she is. She is
Speaker 2: really special and really great for my sister. Man to
Speaker 2: see that she's done so amazing and continue to thrive
Speaker 2: and just get bigger and better and just you know,
Speaker 2: just I mean, rather it's musically or in our life
Speaker 2: or creativity, all of it.
Speaker 1: Man, how is it working being on the stage with
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson Because he's I mean, if you're in this business.
Speaker 3: It's nerve breaking.
Speaker 2: Bruh, I'm gonna tell you you know.
Speaker 3: So I'm in my seat.
Speaker 2: And his manager comes over to me and he says, yo,
Speaker 2: you're gonna dance with Michael tonight. I'm like, I'm watching
Speaker 2: the show. What the heck do you mean I'm getting
Speaker 2: ready to dance with Michael. So he's like, no, come backstage.
Speaker 2: I'm like, first of all, i ain't got my air
Speaker 2: Force ones and I'm in boots. I can't dance in boots.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, oh my god, So now I'm going crazy.
Speaker 2: I'm backstage running around your lasting. I was asking like
Speaker 2: the people on the street yoah. I literally left bru
Speaker 2: and I ran outside down the street asking somebody for
Speaker 2: some shoes, give me some air Force ones. They it
Speaker 2: was like wallabies and like some new balances. I was like, Nah,
Speaker 2: that ain't gonna get it.
Speaker 3: I need air Force one.
Speaker 2: So I come back in. I ain't got my air
Speaker 2: Force ones. I ask some like some boots. So anyway,
Speaker 2: I went out there, so y'all see me like, I'm
Speaker 2: I look, I'm stuck a little bit that that's really
Speaker 2: what happened. But no, I it was nerve racking to
Speaker 2: actually dance for and with Michael. I can remember rehearsals,
Speaker 2: and I mean I don't normally go all a lot of rehearsals. Dude,
Speaker 2: I was going off out singing at the top of
Speaker 2: my lungs, dancing harder than I've ever danced, sweating, flying
Speaker 2: all over the room. He was like, man, you really
Speaker 2: have a talent. That was one of the greatest compliments
Speaker 2: that I could ever get. Wow, he says to me,
Speaker 2: you not only sing, but you dance to I know
Speaker 2: how hard that is.
Speaker 3: You sing and you dance. That combination is vicious.
Speaker 6: That the greatest compliment you received.
Speaker 3: He didn't say vicious, but he said you dance and sing.
Speaker 3: I'm putting two into ten, right.
Speaker 2: He said that that that's a really special talent and
Speaker 2: it really felt good to get that compliment from him.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, at we running the music game, absolutely
Speaker 1: were on top of the world. How did that because
Speaker 1: you're a part of that. Yes, I mean you can't.
Speaker 1: You can't tell the story of Atlanta music without mentioned
Speaker 1: usher raiment.
Speaker 6: No, man, how did that make you feel? Man?
Speaker 3: We did something? Man that a man.
Speaker 2: Listen, I've got something to say, is what Dre said,
Speaker 2: and we've been saying it for a long time, you know,
Speaker 2: and the potency of that, you know.
Speaker 3: I think it's great. I think more than anything.
Speaker 2: Again, there's this transition and this focus just for me,
Speaker 2: and I think it should be a focus for more artists,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, to really focus on the
Speaker 2: other things that these genres or Southern music and entertainment breeds.
Speaker 3: There's an entire.
Speaker 2: Movement and feeling when you come to Atlanta, right, the
Speaker 2: world needs to know that.
Speaker 3: That's why I brought Atlanta to Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: You need to understand it no different Like you look
Speaker 2: at Circasole and all of those shows, right, they celebrate
Speaker 2: their culture.
Speaker 3: Whether it's in Spain or wherever it is. Our culture
Speaker 3: is the same.
Speaker 2: It might not be marketed the same, it might not
Speaker 2: feel because it's culture, but all cultural things eventually become
Speaker 2: something that's commercial.
Speaker 3: And I wanted the world to be able to see
Speaker 3: and celebrate.
Speaker 2: Who we are, how we get out, what our music
Speaker 2: feels like, what our energy is, what our experience is.
Speaker 1: You know two part question, yep, it's R and B
Speaker 1: dead and will R and B ever be what it
Speaker 1: once was? At the height I'm talking about at the
Speaker 1: height nineties, early two thousand it was.
Speaker 6: Will it ever be bad again?
Speaker 3: So long as we.
Speaker 2: Quantify the success of it as a number one spot
Speaker 2: that has to be garnered in order to consider R
Speaker 2: and B the biggest thing. I don't know that's in
Speaker 2: question for the world musically. I think that R and
Speaker 2: B is in everything. See, I ain't no fool. I
Speaker 2: understand where it all comes from. I understand the source.
Speaker 2: Maybe y'all don't understand the source. Maybe you don't understand
Speaker 2: that it's gospel blues, R and B and everything flowed
Speaker 2: upward from there. So no, it's gonna forever be a source.
Speaker 2: Will it be and have potency for the entire world
Speaker 2: to celebrate? I believe so, and I'm gonna continue to
Speaker 2: fight for it. I'm gonna continue to be that conduct
Speaker 2: for it. As I said, Man, it's a kingdom. I'm
Speaker 2: kingdom that I'm after. I want the world to understand
Speaker 2: the value of what this music is, not just the
Speaker 2: service of it. Yeah, you put it on to make love.
Speaker 2: Yeah you put it on to celebrate good times. Yeah
Speaker 2: you put it onto the mode and have emotions, But
Speaker 2: it also to serve so many other things that we
Speaker 2: got to celebrate as well.
Speaker 1: You know, how do you balance being a father and
Speaker 1: being this have the have the residency here in Vegas.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're going to go back to
Speaker 1: tour again, because you got it pretty good right here.
Speaker 6: You don't have to leave. You don't have to leave
Speaker 6: at one stop shot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, get once you get done, you go up
Speaker 1: to your root where you gotta place now here in Henderson. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so now you don't have to worry about getting
Speaker 1: on plane, getting on planes, trains, automobiles and going one
Speaker 1: state to the next state, to the next city.
Speaker 6: How how do you how do you balance that?
Speaker 1: Because you said because your father will than around when
Speaker 1: you were younger, that's very important to you that you
Speaker 1: around for your kids now. But you also understand that
Speaker 1: the way that it make a living is by doing this.
Speaker 6: So how do you balance that?
Speaker 2: Well, the balance is, you know, up until seven o'clock, fuddy,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm focused on my kids, right, and then
Speaker 2: at seven o'clock on the dot, you know, I'm working.
Speaker 2: It's funny how that works, but you know, man, it's
Speaker 2: a balance. Man, It's a balance in any field that
Speaker 2: we are, right, especially if you got.
Speaker 3: To travel with a team. I like to travel.
Speaker 2: Actually, so I don't think that I'm done touring, right.
Speaker 2: I do see it in the future, but maybe in
Speaker 2: a different way. I just played Paris, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, and I had an eight day residency or
Speaker 2: eight night residency in Paris. That was a major success
Speaker 2: to be able to you know, find space to sit
Speaker 2: down and really enjoy, you know, because that's the most
Speaker 2: important part. Yes, like the greatest, the greatest thing that
Speaker 2: we have is time. It's not money, it's the time
Speaker 2: that you spend, right, and being able to spend that
Speaker 2: time with my children and spend that time and really
Speaker 2: enjoy the places that I go.
Speaker 3: I don't want to lose that.
Speaker 1: You part owner the Cavaliers and Lebron comes back and
Speaker 1: wins a title. Yeah, what was that moment because you
Speaker 1: were there? What was that moment like in Cleveland? And
Speaker 1: what was that moment like for you?
Speaker 2: Well, it all started right because I don't know if
Speaker 2: I had as much to do with Cleveland as much
Speaker 2: as it was a business opportunity for a minority minority
Speaker 2: ownership and this team and Dan Gilbert gave me that opportunity,
Speaker 2: you know, just as Lebron was making its way in
Speaker 2: to the league.
Speaker 3: So we all, you know, had heard and known about
Speaker 3: him and his talent.
Speaker 2: So I felt like the luckiest man in the world
Speaker 2: to be a part of this incredible organization.
Speaker 3: And what a story to be told, in a legacy
Speaker 3: to be built.
Speaker 2: I was just happy, obviously to have that be one
Speaker 2: of the first major entrepreneurial you know kind of things
Speaker 2: that that I had gone after and it had the
Speaker 2: potential to be successful. Man, when he left, I think
Speaker 2: it was hard for everybody in the world, specifically in Cleveland.
Speaker 6: Right because he's a native son.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, But sometimes, man, sometimes you got to leave.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you have to go away from home in order
Speaker 2: to be truly valued and appreciated and maybe find yourself.
Speaker 2: I mean sometimes in the wilderness you'll find something valuable
Speaker 2: and you come back and you can really enjoy it.
Speaker 2: And what I've seen after that moment after he left
Speaker 2: and came back, and then one in Cleveland, obviously, it's
Speaker 2: just been a joyous moment for him.
Speaker 1: So you look at that the opportunity, because you said
Speaker 1: this was in two thousand and five. You become a
Speaker 1: minority owner and you've done really good. You've you've invested
Speaker 1: you've broaden your portfolio. Is there are there other opportunities?
Speaker 1: Are you looking like an NFL team, an MLB team
Speaker 1: or you just kind of like stick to kind of
Speaker 1: what you know?
Speaker 3: No, I mean always open, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I'm open to continue to expand I want to make
Speaker 2: certain that it's authentic right and also to it makes sense.
Speaker 2: I want to grow. I want to work in different areas.
Speaker 2: I want to, you know, engineer and pioneer new things.
Speaker 2: There's no reason for music to be the only thing
Speaker 2: that you recognize me. For business is something that is
Speaker 2: very important to me here in Las Vegas specifically, I've put.
Speaker 3: My flag in the ground here. You know.
Speaker 2: It started with a Vegas residency, has now grown to
Speaker 2: a very successful festival by the name of Lovers and Friends,
Speaker 2: and just received the key to the city. Now I'm
Speaker 2: trying to see how many doors I can unlock it, right,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6: Are you gonna get in the restaurant business?
Speaker 3: Hey man?
Speaker 2: I mean that's tons of opportunity out here. If there's partners,
Speaker 2: I'll let you boy.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get you out of here them this one.
Speaker 1: I am bringing my daughter to tonight. So if you
Speaker 1: would like, you know a song that's appropriate for someone
Speaker 1: her age in the thirties. I'm not here, won't really
Speaker 1: tell you exactly how old he is.
Speaker 2: But she's not married, she's not mad. Okay, cool, I'm customering.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm customizing this moment.
Speaker 3: Go ahead, yeah, Ussher.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time, man, congratulations and everything you've done.
Speaker 1: Continue success, bro, and uh, I know you're gonna knock
Speaker 1: it out the park with her.
Speaker 3: Hey, Bro, I appreciate you too, though. Ah, thank you man.
Speaker 2: Keep it real.
Speaker 3: Usher, Yes, sir, God bless you though.
Speaker 1: All Right, guys, you can see your boy address to impress.
Speaker 1: I'm in Las Vegas and I'm getting ready to take
Speaker 1: my daughter for a birthday to the Usher concert. She's
Speaker 1: super excited because the very first concert he ever attended
Speaker 1: was Usher. So for her birthday, she was like, Daddy,
Speaker 1: I want to go see Usher. So here we are,
Speaker 1: let's go. Thing we do for our kids. Bro, wonder
Speaker 1: what my my son gonna want for his birthday. Knowing him,
Speaker 1: he gonna take the money. My other daughter, yea, knowing her,
Speaker 1: she gonna take the money. Leave the one I'm with,
Speaker 1: Dn't you got it.
Speaker 6: You got it. I got bad baby, my nurse you know,
Speaker 6: got nervous, your whatever, cal see sharp. You wanted to
Speaker 6: kick it off. Yeah, you tell me that all the time,
Speaker 6: aren't you. Actually? With your very first concert that you
Speaker 6: ever saw, I was.
Speaker 2: Twelve and this was during the Confession's era and Kanye
Speaker 2: West opened up for tearing up.
Speaker 6: It's a sad baby. So we're making the weekend of it.
Speaker 1: So we got ushered tonight, we got a day tomorrow,
Speaker 1: and then Thursday we got Lakers game.
Speaker 6: They opened up against the Suns.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, yeah, talking to day, they're telling them money.
Speaker 6: Yeah, thank you. I'm excited. I'm excited you yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2: M hmm.
Speaker 4: All my life and grinning all my life, sacrifice, hustle,
Speaker 4: play the price, Wanta Slice got to brow the dice.
Speaker 4: Thats why all my life, I've been grinding all my life,
Speaker 4: all my life and grinning all my life, sacrifice, ustle,
Speaker 4: play the price, Wanta Slice got to brow the dice
Speaker 4: way all my life, I've been grinding all my life.
Speaker 5: M hm