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Speaker 1: You were listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair.

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Speaker 2: You never know what's going to happen. A few nights ago,

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Speaker 2: having dinner with friends in the garden of the River Cafe,

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Speaker 2: a message came that Wycliffe Jean was sitting at Table

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Speaker 2: four and he wanted to say hello. An hour later

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Speaker 2: he joined us at our table, and an hour after

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Speaker 2: that we were still there talking about music, politics, and

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Speaker 2: of course food, late into the night. What a man.

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Speaker 2: Wycliffe emigrated age nine from Haiti to the Brooklyn Projects,

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Speaker 2: played fourteen instruments by the time he was thirteen, won

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Speaker 2: three Grammys, speak seven languages, and was asked to run

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Speaker 2: for president at least two times. When the evening was

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Speaker 2: over saying goodbye, we agreed we'd do a podcast when

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Speaker 2: he was back, and, like his beautiful song, I thought

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Speaker 2: he'd be god on till November. This morning he called

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Speaker 2: and said, Ruthie, I've delayed my flight. Let's record tonight.

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Speaker 2: So here we are back in the River Cafe, two

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Speaker 2: new friends, continueing our conversation about food and music and memories.

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Speaker 2: You never know what's going to happen.

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Speaker 1: Ah, that's beautiful.

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Speaker 2: It was a very good night, wasn't it that night?

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Speaker 1: It was surreal night way because I'm a viber You

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Speaker 1: saw how I just walked in in and I saw

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Speaker 1: the piano and I just jumped on the piano and

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Speaker 1: I believe, like everything is energy. And I came in

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Speaker 1: the restaurant humbly, just chilled, and I was looking at

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Speaker 1: everyone's eyes. Everyone was amazing, and it was cool because

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Speaker 1: one by one people started coming to me. They was like,

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Speaker 1: you are Clef Jean, right, yeah, yeah, what's up?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: This wild clep And then I really wanted to meet you,

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Speaker 1: so I was like, yo, I gotta meet you. And

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Speaker 1: then when you came over, we just we click. You

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Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. We click click like we said, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to give y'all a lot of hip hop

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Speaker 1: terminology here, so we click click. Translation means where we bonded.

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Speaker 2: And so when you were here last time, you had

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Speaker 2: I think you had these peppers which we're cooking right now.

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Speaker 2: One of the duties of this of this podcast is

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Speaker 2: that the guest breads a recipe which kind of connects

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Speaker 2: you with the people who are listening to you. So

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Speaker 2: would you like to teach us how to cook through

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Speaker 2: reading this recipe?

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Speaker 1: Perfect, but we about you know, as a producer and

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Speaker 1: as a creator. I'm a creative. I already knew I

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Speaker 1: was going to do this, So I was like, so

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Speaker 1: in hip hop we do this in the cafeteria. This

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Speaker 1: is where we be boxed. So I was thinking, what's

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Speaker 1: dope is you? You start off every recipe you go,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to repeat it, but I'm going to repeat

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Speaker 1: it in a hip hop way. You feel me like

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Speaker 1: we used to do in the cafeteria. So it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be rocking.

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Speaker 3: So let's go.

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Speaker 1: So this is the recipe here, okay, perfect, We're going

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Speaker 1: in uh huh yeah, yeah, you could just read it.

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Speaker 1: I'm ready for you.

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Speaker 2: Go me to read it.

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Speaker 1: Yes, you ling from long.

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Speaker 2: Okay, got grilled red peppers, an chovies, capers and bisquetta blush.

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Speaker 4: That and capers, anchovies, grilled red peppers.

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Speaker 3: Here were you go?

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Speaker 2: Oh oh, fifty salted capers soaked?

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Speaker 4: Hey, yeah, I fifty salt capers soap, soap soap. Let's go, y'all.

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Speaker 2: One hundred salted anchovies.

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Speaker 4: Hold up, one hundred salted anchovies. Wy cleft the refuge.

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Speaker 2: Come on. Twelve red peppers and three garlic clothes.

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Speaker 1: Oh, twelve twelve red peppers and three garlic clothes. Come on, y'all,

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Speaker 1: Come on, y'all.

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Speaker 2: Basil, leaves, extravergin, olive oil.

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Speaker 1: I like the way you did that. Three slice sword

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Speaker 1: dough cut in half. Let's go, baby girl.

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Speaker 2: I like you grilled whole peppers until blackened on all sides.

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Speaker 1: I like that. That could be a top line.

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Speaker 4: Grill the whole peppers until blackened on all sides.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, when cool. Remove the blackened skin by rubbing peppers

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Speaker 2: in your hands, and do.

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Speaker 4: Not worry if they fall apart. Remove the seeds and cars.

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Speaker 2: Layer the peppers in a large dish with slivers of garlic.

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Speaker 4: Layer the peppers in the large dish with silver of garlics.

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Speaker 1: Don't panic. Let's get it right.

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Speaker 2: Capers, anchovies, basil, black pepper.

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Speaker 4: Eh eh, eh hey, black peppers, and genuine amount of

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Speaker 4: extra virgin olive oil, oil oil oil.

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Speaker 2: The final layer should have all the ingredients visible.

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Speaker 1: I agree with you. Grill the bread on bull side

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Speaker 1: and gently garlic over one side. Only, only, only, only.

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Speaker 2: Only serve the peppers with the busquetta.

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Speaker 3: I agree with you.

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Speaker 1: Earlier, I got a chance to go to Buckingham Palace.

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Speaker 2: Right, but you went to I.

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Speaker 1: Went to the Garden Party. But the part I was

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Speaker 1: most excited about was the chambers to listen to the parliament. Right.

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Speaker 1: This is very important, right because this simple act of

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Speaker 1: democracy don't happen in a lot of places. Right, because

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Speaker 1: you got places where you know, in these chambers when

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Speaker 1: they don't agree, next thing, you know that the one

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Speaker 1: of the like in our countries you have which called

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Speaker 1: senators and deputies. Right one leaves and next thing you know,

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Speaker 1: you hear about you know, this person getting killed or

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Speaker 1: this person. So the democratic process within anything, I applored

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Speaker 1: one hundred percent.

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Speaker 2: The interesting thing isn't it that they disagree and they

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Speaker 2: insult each other. It was must have been question time

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Speaker 2: right on the Wednesday.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was question time. That's why I was like,

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Speaker 1: you know, into it. Coming from HATI, I came to

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Speaker 1: the United States, and I haven't uncle. His name is

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Speaker 1: Raymond Joseph and he has a book called for Whom

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Speaker 1: the Dog Spy? So my polycide brain as a young child,

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Speaker 1: I would always hear these. So he was one of

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Speaker 1: the guys that was upfront and the idea of baby

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Speaker 1: Doc having to leave so he was someone like, if

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Speaker 1: you're a dictator, he's gonna come for you, because the

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Speaker 1: idea is, you know, we don't support that. So Raymond

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Speaker 1: Joseph made his way to America and he started a

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Speaker 1: newspaper called it up Savata, which is equivalent to like

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Speaker 1: the New York Times but in French and crayle. This

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Speaker 1: is where the consciousness of just the idea of understanding

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Speaker 1: policy and how important it was so at a very

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Speaker 1: young age. This is why I gravitated towards Barb Marley

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Speaker 1: a lot, because I feel like a you know, a

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Speaker 1: man who's.

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Speaker 3: Saying emanship, patriotshell from minto slavery. Nothing but that with

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Speaker 3: shelves can for ya, We're might have no fear further

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Speaker 3: time making ninji for none of them can stop the time.

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Speaker 3: How long will they kill out? What profits? Why we

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Speaker 3: stand this shide didn't look Some say it's just a

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Speaker 3: part of it. We've got to fulfill the pool. Won't

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Speaker 3: you help me? Shane another song of freedom, because all

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Speaker 3: I've ever had Redamntion song right again, So I always

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Speaker 3: go back to the music because just again, and I'll

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Speaker 3: constantly say this, the artist should be present in this time.

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Speaker 1: It's very important.

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Speaker 2: Growing up in Haiti, you grew up in poverty, extreme poverty,

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Speaker 2: and was that a reflection of the food that you ate?

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Speaker 1: I remember food very well. So my father left me

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Speaker 1: when I was one years old. He had got a

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Speaker 1: work visa to come preach in the United States and

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Speaker 1: so we was rais Is mostly with my grandmother. So

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Speaker 1: one of my bandmates from the Fujis Miss Hill, she

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Speaker 1: was like, yo, clef yo. Remember back in the days, man,

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Speaker 1: when you used to tell us you used to eat dirt. Man,

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Speaker 1: we thought you was like beyond exaggerating, until we went

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Speaker 1: back and did our research and realized mud pie was

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Speaker 1: a real thing. Me and my brother was eating dirt

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Speaker 1: from the floor. When you are in extreme poverty, you

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Speaker 1: don't feel it. You have to understand. So when I

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Speaker 1: would see a poster of a child from either Haiti, Africa, Brazil,

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Speaker 1: different places, and you show me the child crying and

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Speaker 1: he looks desperate and he looks in need, be like,

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Speaker 1: but hold up, hold up, I'm from extreme poverty. When

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Speaker 1: you inside of the poverty, you don't feel it because

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Speaker 1: that means that you're living inside of it. So your

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Speaker 1: way out is imagination.

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Speaker 2: You you were not exposed to wealth. You didn't compare

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Speaker 2: yourself to someone with wealth.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't know that what that is, right, Yeah, so

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Speaker 1: my level of wealth would be this man, no matter

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Speaker 1: how much we can't eat. I know one thing about Grandma.

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Speaker 1: She just got two chickens, and once some chickens have

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Speaker 1: lay some eggs, and then we go to the main

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Speaker 1: city and she sells.

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Speaker 3: Some of them eggs.

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Speaker 1: We gonna come back and we gonna we're gonna have

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Speaker 1: the biggest meal. So I want you to think like

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Speaker 1: so every like three weeks, no matter what happened, my

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Speaker 1: grandma would go. She would go and from planting tomatoes

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Speaker 1: to corn, to different things. She would she would always

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Speaker 1: get these seeds and from there she would go to

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Speaker 1: the city. She would was it Porter Prince, Yeah, Porter Prince,

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Speaker 1: and she go to Porter Prince. She would sell in

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Speaker 1: the market, sell what she grow, and she comes back.

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Speaker 1: So that was wealth to us. So no matter what

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Speaker 1: we was going through, it didn't matter because we know,

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, Grandma is gonna make us. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Julli suspik relations Julie Rice black beans, sorry, Kra.

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Speaker 2: Okay the vegetable Okra love.

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Speaker 1: Okra and susqua is black beans. So this was this

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Speaker 1: was one of the things that we we always was

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Speaker 1: excited to look forward.

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Speaker 2: What about fish?

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Speaker 1: We get whitefish, what's a lot of whitefish? Snapper we

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Speaker 1: get snapper, get we get shrimp. So now my daddy's

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Speaker 1: side straight fisherman. Yo, let me tell you something about

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Speaker 1: my daddy. My daddy heat the original aquaman. Like this

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Speaker 1: dude can hold his breath for a date, like when

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Speaker 1: he going underwater to get that fish, or he coming

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Speaker 1: up with that fish, how.

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Speaker 2: Did he catch it? Did he have an attack or

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Speaker 2: have the stick?

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Speaker 1: They have the stick and then they have the nest.

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Speaker 1: So so you know, this is like I remember being

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Speaker 1: now later in Brooklyn and with my daddy and then

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Speaker 1: my grandma, my daddy's mother telling us, you know, she

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Speaker 1: would make us laugh how my dad would like just

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Speaker 1: jump in the water and he would get the fish.

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Speaker 1: So that side where the fisherman was at was a

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Speaker 1: little more easier to eat right, to get the food.

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Speaker 1: But the thing is once he left us, remember we

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Speaker 1: wasn't on that side. We was more on the side

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Speaker 1: of you know, depending on is it going to rain today,

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Speaker 1: is it not going to rain today?

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Speaker 2: Let's go back to your childhood. You lived with your

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Speaker 2: mother and your grandmother.

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Speaker 1: I was one, my mom was pregnant and my dad

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Speaker 1: left and my mother joined my father right after she

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Speaker 1: had the baby. My second brother, Samuel in America and

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Speaker 1: Haiti this is Haiti. They didn't even have babies yet

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Speaker 1: by the time my parents got to America because of

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Speaker 1: the immigration laws. Now Ford was the president and it

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Speaker 1: was said like if you had a child in America,

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Speaker 1: now you can go back, so and bring the kids.

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Speaker 1: So my parents had two kids in America.

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Speaker 2: Who was looking after you? Your parents were my grandma,

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Speaker 2: your grandma, grandma, your mother's mother. So we're gone to

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Speaker 2: school by that time.

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Speaker 1: I was going to schoo when I was like five. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I started going to schoo when I was five. So

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Speaker 1: my father was a tailer. He worked in a factory.

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Speaker 1: It was a sewer, so.

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Speaker 2: As well as being a pastor.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and so keep in mind the visa them ran

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Speaker 1: out right, and so he's knitting and then he hears

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Speaker 1: immigration and my father takes off to start to run

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Speaker 1: like a gazelle. This dude done took off. His name

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Speaker 1: should be changed to Greyhound. That's how fast this boy running.

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Speaker 1: My daddy running. He running.

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Speaker 2: How old did you think he would have been?

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Speaker 1: My dad while he was running. My dad was like

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Speaker 1: thirty something like he already was like thirty. So he

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Speaker 1: was running because he didn't want immigration to catch him.

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Speaker 1: So now they raided this place, and while he running,

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Speaker 1: the immigration unit goes to my mama the apartment that

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Speaker 1: they're staying. So while my dad's running, this is a

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Speaker 1: big raid, like they day about that. Yes, this is

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Speaker 1: in Brooklyn. Now immigration officer gets to my mama apartment.

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Speaker 1: Immigration open up the door now, man, and my mom

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Speaker 1: is so scared. The immigration officer has a translator with

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Speaker 1: him that speaks French and crayle. So the immigration officer says,

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Speaker 1: I'd have knocked on this door four times they ain't open,

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Speaker 1: and I know somebody in there. I need you to

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Speaker 1: say it in cray all, in French whatever language that is,

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Speaker 1: tell them to open that door. And the translator says

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Speaker 1: to my mother and cray all fair softly man, translation,

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Speaker 1: do you not open that door right now now? The

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Speaker 1: reason why I say this right is, at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, people get caught up in these situations,

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Speaker 1: and we the United States of America, like there was

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Speaker 1: a time where we would take keed to this, and

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Speaker 1: we would take like cause to this, and we would

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Speaker 1: be so sensitive to that, like where we could say,

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Speaker 1: we'll give you a pass because we know what you're

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Speaker 1: doing here. You're not breaking the law. You just had

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Speaker 1: a bad day, and these days do not exist. No.

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Speaker 2: Also, you know you're making the country better, you know,

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Speaker 2: by coming from another country. And I was just given

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Speaker 2: a prize in America. It asked to be in the academy.

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Speaker 2: I was made a member of this Academy of Arts

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Speaker 2: and Letters. And I wrote the letter and I said,

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Speaker 2: my grandparents came from Russia and I came in nineteen seventeen.

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Speaker 2: You know, they were part of that Ellis Island. I

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Speaker 2: was just thinking, two generations. How you know if your

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Speaker 2: grandparents were here watch watching you, did they Did your

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Speaker 2: grandparents know the measure of your success? Did they see?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 1: My my my grandparents, my grandma knew my musical abilities

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Speaker 1: at a very young age because I would just like

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Speaker 1: make songs up. There was these women in the village

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Speaker 1: every Sunday that would sing these church hymns and I

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Speaker 1: would just get I would just be part of it.

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Speaker 1: Remember one, Yeah, I remember a few of them.

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Speaker 3: She sat fair, not do you aren't bad.

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Speaker 1: One benea.

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Speaker 3: Heya, she shuck fair, Oh what do you walk?

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Speaker 2: Pair?

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Speaker 3: We'll be me yeah, and work on that U pogod man.

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Speaker 5: Theylluyah wah wah poco man llluiya po show whoa.

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Speaker 2: Wha.

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Speaker 1: So that was that was you know, you could just

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Speaker 1: feel it. But the the the the the hem is

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Speaker 1: saying we're blessed and we should acknowledge that like basically

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Speaker 1: every day of our life. So again that was some

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Speaker 1: of the I would hear these these these are these

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Speaker 1: amazing women like and and then so the heymns would

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Speaker 1: just channel.

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Speaker 2: Through me after church. Would you would that be food?

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Speaker 2: That a meal? Would you go home?

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Speaker 1: And we call it Lucky Sunday. You get that Lucky Sunday.

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Speaker 1: Everything come out on that Lucky Sunday. But it doesn't

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Speaker 1: happen often. Lucky Sunday happens on Easter. The meal is big.

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Speaker 1: The meal is big. The meal is a lot of meat, goat,

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Speaker 1: goat goat cooked very interesting. It's called tassu. It's fried

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Speaker 1: traditionally in Haiti. If you see how they cook, they

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Speaker 1: use the chabon chocoal so it's caught with the chocoal

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Speaker 1: because you know, the food gonna taste different. And then

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Speaker 1: they put the big aluminum pan and so the goat

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Speaker 1: is fried. They would make a uh poisson gorse. The

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Speaker 1: passo gorsel is the white fish, a little saltea like codfish.

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Speaker 1: At times, it.

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Speaker 2: Sounds like you're saying gross sell is large salt, doesn't.

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Speaker 1: It Yeah, yeah, yes, yes So in Crele the word

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Speaker 1: means big yeah so yeah, and then phonetically yes so

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Speaker 1: because uh crayle in French at times the words do

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Speaker 1: mean the same thing else.

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Speaker 2: And so when you your father around and your mother

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Speaker 2: didn't open the door, so were they safe in the

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Speaker 2: United States for you to come?

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Speaker 1: They were safe. But let me tell you so in

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Speaker 1: the village, what I want you to understand, I've never

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Speaker 1: seen LeBlanc. I've never seen a white person in my

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Speaker 1: life in this village. Never, right, So one day in

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Speaker 1: the village and a jeep pulls up in this village.

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Speaker 1: Keep in mind, I've never seen no jeep before. So

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Speaker 1: that looks like a UFO to us. And we all

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Speaker 1: like five, and we all get next to my grandmother

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Speaker 1: and we're standing next to us and I'm right next

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Speaker 1: to her, and then LeBlanc gets out. So now this

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Speaker 1: is my first time seeing a white man. I've never

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Speaker 1: seen that long hair. You know. He got this this

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Speaker 1: robe thing on, and then he goes in the back

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Speaker 1: and then he gets these bags of rice, and I

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Speaker 1: was like, Grandma, who's this. My grandma looked at me,

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Speaker 1: dead in my eyes, and she said, that's Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 1: So when Jesus brings me this rice, we take this rice,

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Speaker 1: brings it to my grandma, does the prayer right, because

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Speaker 1: he's actually a missionary. And then as he's leaving, I'm

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Speaker 1: five and I remember telling my grandma, why ain't Jesus

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Speaker 1: leave the seeds? Why ain't he bring no fertilizers? Because

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Speaker 1: once he leaving, I'm five and I'm saying that, and

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Speaker 1: I say that to show you these kids in these

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Speaker 1: villages and what they want is an opportunity. Even at

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Speaker 1: a very young age, I'm screaming, bring back the rice mills,

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Speaker 1: Like is there a way where we can just start

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Speaker 1: producing in the country. So in saying that, this is

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Speaker 1: how it started. So my parents came and got me

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Speaker 1: and my brother. Now they get on the plane, they

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Speaker 1: immigration laws work out they come and get us from Haiti.

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Speaker 1: So me and my brother going to see my parents

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Speaker 1: for the first time. Now yeah, So now I'm like

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Speaker 1: eight nine and now my parents are coming to get me,

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Speaker 1: and I've never seen them. For them, So my grandma

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Speaker 1: gets us dressed, she takes our bags, she brings us

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Speaker 1: to the airport. I never seen an airport before. So

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Speaker 1: when the airplane is landing, you can imagine what that

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00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:58,080
Speaker 1: looks like. To me, it looks like another UFO. So

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Speaker 1: the airplane lands and and I'll never forget. My mother

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Speaker 1: had a yellow outfit. She looked like Jackie Jo. She

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Speaker 1: had the glasses on, you know, she looked like Miss America.

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Speaker 1: I was like, yo, that's my mama right there, you

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Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. My dad had the long bed

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Speaker 1: looking like he moses.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 1: He comes, and they come and they hold me and

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Speaker 1: my brother in that hog. I could still feel that hog.

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Speaker 1: I hadn't seen you for how long they haven't seen

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Speaker 1: her since we were born.

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Speaker 2: The River Cafe cafe, steps away from our restaurant, is

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00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,800
Speaker 2: now open in the morning an Italian breakfast with cornetti,

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Speaker 2: ciambella and cristada from our pastry kitchen in the afternoon,

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Speaker 2: ice creamed coops and River Cafe classic desserts. Come in

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Speaker 2: the evening for cocktails with our resident pianist.

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Speaker 1: In the bar.

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Speaker 2: No need to book see you here. Did they continue

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Speaker 2: cooking the food of Haiti in Brooklyn.

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Speaker 1: My mama had a thing you only can eat in

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Speaker 1: the house. I didn't even know what it was like

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Speaker 1: to go to a fast food restaurant. A lot of

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Speaker 1: what was cooked in Brooklyn was something called ligan. Ligan, yes,

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Speaker 1: ligan is similar to a gumbo, right, but all in vegetables,

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Speaker 1: so eggplants, water cress, this was like part of it.

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Speaker 1: Also a lot of yam, sweet potatoes and this is natural.

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Speaker 1: A lot of fish in the morning. It was very,

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Speaker 1: very important that you had breakfast. My father, who was

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Speaker 1: also an amazing cook, he used to cook liver for iron, right,

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Speaker 1: So again like it would all, but he would like

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Speaker 1: cook the liver with egg whites.

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00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,640
Speaker 2: They dipped the liver and the whites, yeah, they beat.

379
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,920
Speaker 1: The egg whites and the batter, yeah, and they batter

380
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,320
Speaker 1: the liver so it's very it's not rough, so everything

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Speaker 1: is very tender. And so this is like some of

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Speaker 1: the stuff. There was a juice that we had called coasal.

383
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Speaker 1: I don't know how you said that in the English,

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Speaker 1: but it helped. She always made us drink this juice.

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Speaker 1: If if if the name comes to me in English,

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Speaker 1: if anybody from Haitius listening, it's coo salt, maybe you

387
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:39,080
Speaker 1: could send the translation. But this help with cancer. This

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00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,200
Speaker 1: was it's called coal salt. I have to find the

389
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Speaker 1: name of it. But it was a cold war sort,

390
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:47,159
Speaker 1: so we might have to I might have to call

391
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,960
Speaker 1: my wife figured that out, but it really like helps.

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00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: So this is some of the the So we naturally

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00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 1: grew up in an environment where the food wasn't processed

394
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Speaker 1: like they literally, Oh you know what she used to do?

395
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:05,280
Speaker 1: Polg chicken. So from the chicken. She would always go

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00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 1: to the butcher. Like they would not if the meat

397
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,600
Speaker 1: wasn't from the butcher, they would there's no such thing

398
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,840
Speaker 1: about she go to the supermarket and get chicken. So

399
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 1: everything is from the butcher. And it was called pool gee.

400
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:22,359
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you, just thinking about that

401
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,600
Speaker 1: chicken right now and how they seasoned it and cooked

402
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:26,680
Speaker 1: it was pretty amazing.

403
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Speaker 2: Did you ever go in the kitchen and cook with

404
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:29,040
Speaker 2: your mom?

405
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Speaker 1: My? Mother? She was like, you gotta be real successful.

406
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 1: I said, why because she said, every time we cook,

407
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:38,200
Speaker 1: and all you do is you come in the kitchen

408
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,680
Speaker 1: and sing, and you sing, and you stay here and

409
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 1: you wait. So you're the first one with the first

410
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:46,720
Speaker 1: meal out right. My mom, when she would cook rice,

411
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Speaker 1: she would had me work with the seasons with her.

412
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Speaker 1: There's a seasoning called magi. You've ever heard of it?

413
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:54,800
Speaker 2: I think I have.

414
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Speaker 1: It's like amazing because it's like a mixed season and

415
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,440
Speaker 1: it was something like she caught it literally works in everything,

416
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,680
Speaker 1: like literally like a little cube yes, yeah, yeah, like

417
00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:09,480
Speaker 1: a yellow ye.

418
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,480
Speaker 2: Like it's like it's like a cube of vegetables and they.

419
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: Put Maggie in.

420
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:17,560
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah.

421
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:20,199
Speaker 1: So that was one of the things. She was like, Yo,

422
00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:25,800
Speaker 1: give me the two Maggie's so the rice game is crazy,

423
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:31,119
Speaker 1: and Haiti and and and then the the the kitchen.

424
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:34,240
Speaker 1: So she'd be like, okay, put this amount of water

425
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:38,520
Speaker 1: right in the pot. And she put the water. She says, okay,

426
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,480
Speaker 1: put this amount of oil right. And one of the

427
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 1: things she used to have me do was wash the rice.

428
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,840
Speaker 1: Cleaning was very very important to her. How she actually

429
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 1: cooked the food. So I'd be like, but the rice

430
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:52,680
Speaker 1: is already in the peck just but no, she says,

431
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 1: you got to put the rice in the water.

432
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Speaker 3: Got it.

433
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:57,159
Speaker 1: So literally for five minutes she has me cleaning this

434
00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 1: rice out, and I remember, like, now, sit back and

435
00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:04,800
Speaker 1: I watch the water boil. And while the water was boiling,

436
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:14,080
Speaker 1: I was singing my mother's favorite French song Jack, which

437
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:35,760
Speaker 1: one if my says kitche and marry and faithful, Mary

438
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,720
Speaker 1: and faithful? Did it sting?

439
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 6: Did it?

440
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 1: I have a version of it?

441
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 2: You go away?

442
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you go away, Yes, that's right. Yeah to trust.

443
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 1: Now you got to hear they version.

444
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 2: So you sang it in Creole?

445
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:54,200
Speaker 1: No, I sang it in English. But I put the

446
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:55,200
Speaker 1: hip hop to it. I was like.

447
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 3: To pursue, you know.

448
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:08,840
Speaker 1: I put the hipness to it. I put that sauce,

449
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 1: you know, I put the maggi in it.

450
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 2: Did you live in an enclave of Haitian culture?

451
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 1: So we grew up in Marlborough Projects, one of the

452
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 1: roughest projects in Coney Island in Brooklyn. So yeah, so

453
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:29,360
Speaker 1: we got there from Haiti. We grew up in Coney Island.

454
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:31,880
Speaker 1: As far as me and my brother was concerned, we

455
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 1: came from a hut. And so we're in a building,

456
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 1: so we were rich. We like the Jeffersons. We moved

457
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 1: on up on the east side. Did you what was

458
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 1: school like? We went to school in Brooklyn. But this

459
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: is what was amazing about Coney Island. We lived in

460
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:53,520
Speaker 1: this big project, one of the most dangerous projects. But

461
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 1: when we go on the roof, we could see the

462
00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:00,960
Speaker 1: entire amusement park in the beach in Coney Island. And

463
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:04,720
Speaker 1: then so we was like living on up because me

464
00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 1: and my brother was like, this is amazing. So literally

465
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 1: we could go from the projects and then like walk

466
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 1: to the beach, which was pretty amazing. And the reason

467
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:19,320
Speaker 1: why we identified with the beach again and Haiti and

468
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:24,960
Speaker 1: a village. We played in the cemetery, so I will

469
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 1: walk Disney and our playground was this big cemetery, so

470
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 1: in I had we watched the transformation go from the

471
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:43,680
Speaker 1: cemetery to this amazing amusement park. And again, what that

472
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 1: did for us was, you know, we are in the

473
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,960
Speaker 1: land of opportunity, and we was like, there's nothing now

474
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,720
Speaker 1: that's going to set us back. So the Eagle gave

475
00:30:55,840 --> 00:31:00,600
Speaker 1: us that opportunity. America has given us this opportunity. And

476
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 1: I don't say that just for me, I say that

477
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 1: for many of my friends, my peers that ended up

478
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:08,520
Speaker 1: being super successful.

479
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:10,160
Speaker 2: Tell me about music.

480
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:16,120
Speaker 1: Rap music was forbidden in the house. My parents never

481
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,200
Speaker 1: knew I rapped. That did not exist in the house.

482
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 1: The house was Amy Grant. It was if you want

483
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 1: to listen to rock, it was Petra Christian rock, and

484
00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:35,680
Speaker 1: it was hymns like I would write the church Hams

485
00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:40,480
Speaker 1: and all of that. But being that I was the oldest,

486
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:43,600
Speaker 1: I would get into a lot of fights. Cousin of

487
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,520
Speaker 1: mine's ended up getting killed in Brooklyn. I mean, I

488
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 1: still have a stab on my left leg, like, and

489
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:54,280
Speaker 1: we're teens, right, So it was rough. It was real,

490
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:58,440
Speaker 1: and my parents saw that I was headed in the

491
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:00,920
Speaker 1: wrong direction. You know what people be like, why are

492
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: you so sensitive to prison reform? Why do you connect

493
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:05,960
Speaker 1: with the youth so much?

494
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 3: I said.

495
00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:13,920
Speaker 1: I remember me and my cousin going into a you know,

496
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 1: a bodega, and you know, like we're gonna rob it,

497
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 1: Like it's just it's just a natural thing at the

498
00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:23,520
Speaker 1: time we feel like we have to do. It's just

499
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 1: this this false sense of reality becomes reality within the

500
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: environment that you win. If you don't have the right

501
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,160
Speaker 1: mentors at the time, and your parents ain't gonna be

502
00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:39,320
Speaker 1: with you all the time. So my introduction to rap

503
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 1: was I'm on the on in the neighborhood and I

504
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:48,040
Speaker 1: see two guys in front of each other with big

505
00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:51,160
Speaker 1: crowds around them, like the eight Miles Em and Them movie.

506
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,760
Speaker 1: These guys got too and then man, the one guy

507
00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:59,440
Speaker 1: is insulting the other guy. He's like, Yo, mama, blah

508
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:01,280
Speaker 1: blah blah blah, bye bye bye, bye bye bye. And

509
00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 1: the other guy, Oh, yeah, well your uncles are drunk

510
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,080
Speaker 1: blah blah blah, and they're rapping. And I told my man,

511
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 1: I was like, Yo, what's that. He said, Yo, that's

512
00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,920
Speaker 1: called battle rap. So battle rap. If you was to

513
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,880
Speaker 1: ask me to translate that, I would tell you this

514
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:23,760
Speaker 1: is what we call Shakespearean jousing. It's a jousing of

515
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:29,880
Speaker 1: metaphors and wordplays and similes and in a very unique

516
00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:32,880
Speaker 1: way which is created in these communities. So then I

517
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 1: was like, man, if I learned how to battle rap,

518
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 1: then I won't have to slap box and fight as much.

519
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 1: This was my introduction to rap. So I learned how

520
00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:51,240
Speaker 1: to rap as a mechanism of self defense to save

521
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:54,880
Speaker 1: me in the ghetto that I was in. So this

522
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:57,720
Speaker 1: sort of like where it started for me. So rap

523
00:33:58,000 --> 00:33:59,960
Speaker 1: was a secrecy thing that we did in the street.

524
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:05,880
Speaker 1: My dad moved us from Brooklyn to Jersey after the

525
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 1: craziness and he started a small church and eleven eight

526
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:17,640
Speaker 1: South Orange Avenue, North, New Jersey. The church was a

527
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 1: funeral home. So again here you go. So my father

528
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:28,840
Speaker 1: from Haiti right again, he always used to say, he said, America, America,

529
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:33,280
Speaker 1: He's the good, best place in the way because America

530
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 1: provide you with say it opportunities that and it provides

531
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:42,839
Speaker 1: you with opportunity. That means as long as you don't

532
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:46,719
Speaker 1: break the break the law did, you can be what

533
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 1: successful dad. And then he breaks. He takes us out

534
00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:56,439
Speaker 1: and it's a big funeral home eleven o eight South

535
00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:00,399
Speaker 1: Charlenge Avenue, a burnt down funeral He says, God has

536
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:04,279
Speaker 1: given me a vision. My father moves us into a

537
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,839
Speaker 1: burnt down funeral home and this is where he has

538
00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,959
Speaker 1: this vision where he's going to create the first bilingual church,

539
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:15,680
Speaker 1: where he's going to push the faith in English, Creole,

540
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 1: in French. He has this vision. His church is in

541
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:23,040
Speaker 1: the middle of eleven eight eight South Javenue, on the

542
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:28,400
Speaker 1: right side is a pub, an Irish pub. On the

543
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:35,799
Speaker 1: left side is a Sicilian crew that you know, they

544
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,239
Speaker 1: run in their numbers. They're doing what they're doing. My

545
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,480
Speaker 1: father's church is right in the middle of this.

546
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:42,080
Speaker 3: Right.

547
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 1: One night, my dad looks outside and it's nothing but

548
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 1: El Dorado's in the back of his funeral home. And

549
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:58,920
Speaker 1: my dad said, whopoc all these that literatos. Now I

550
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,600
Speaker 1: go call the police. I go talk to them. So

551
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:05,319
Speaker 1: my dad and his Haitian short sandals, right, he goes

552
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:09,799
Speaker 1: to the Sicilian crew and he knock on that little

553
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,600
Speaker 1: joint like, and then the dude goes on and my

554
00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 1: father said, who popped these e lorados? I call the

555
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:23,960
Speaker 1: police now, and the dude goes, Fanny, Fanny, Hey, it's

556
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:27,040
Speaker 1: the Manaster. Come talk to the minister, right, so many

557
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:33,080
Speaker 1: he goes, Manister, I'm Catholic, right, he can't call the police.

558
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:37,200
Speaker 1: Some Catholic. Look, every Sunday I'm gonna come and you know,

559
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:42,399
Speaker 1: and contribute something to the church. And guess what, every

560
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:46,400
Speaker 1: Sunday they came, contributed something to the church. The Irish

561
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:50,520
Speaker 1: pub came. And it wasn't until a year later I realized,

562
00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:57,000
Speaker 1: holy shit, my father bought that funeral home because of

563
00:36:57,120 --> 00:37:02,839
Speaker 1: the big parking lot, and that parking lot was how

564
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:06,160
Speaker 1: he was able to rent it out to different communities

565
00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 1: and different things and raise money to actually built the church.

566
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:14,320
Speaker 1: So so in seeing that, you know, I just started

567
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 1: seeing things completely different. And then so with us, we

568
00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:20,560
Speaker 1: were his church band, like the same way you see

569
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:25,160
Speaker 1: the Jackson five. This was us. We was prodigies in

570
00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:30,000
Speaker 1: the church. Me and my brothers, my sisters. We all sang,

571
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:34,360
Speaker 1: we all play instruments, and everyone came every Sunday to

572
00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:37,200
Speaker 1: see these young kids. Like you know what I'm saying,

573
00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:41,640
Speaker 1: I be how be you witness a sanct of five?

574
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:44,000
Speaker 1: Witness a witness father in law?

575
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:49,800
Speaker 4: How be you with this sCOD five?

576
00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:53,960
Speaker 1: Withness a witness father in law? And the churches turned

577
00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:58,960
Speaker 1: up and all the Catholics were there, everybody there Catholic.

578
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:03,200
Speaker 2: And must have had a great time. Church could be

579
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:03,719
Speaker 2: so fun.

580
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,040
Speaker 1: Man, church was fun. We called you know, at one time,

581
00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 1: we called it club church.

582
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:19,520
Speaker 2: If you like listening to Ruthie's Table for would you

583
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:23,640
Speaker 2: please make sure to rape and review the podcast on

584
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:28,719
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, o wherever you get

585
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:39,920
Speaker 2: your podcasts. Thank you and the music in schools. One

586
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:43,160
Speaker 2: teachers in your high school recognize your talent.

587
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 1: Well, in high school, I didn't want to sing and

588
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 1: show off my music because I don't think I didn't

589
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,799
Speaker 1: think it was cool because I'm like in a rough

590
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 1: school and everyone's listening in the hip hop. You know

591
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:02,560
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Everyone's listening a hip So one day

592
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:06,240
Speaker 1: I happen to be in the auditorium and I'm playing

593
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:10,040
Speaker 1: what's called the Circle of fifths, very simple but yet

594
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:13,320
Speaker 1: complicated chords on piano. I could just hear it, and

595
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:17,120
Speaker 1: a music teacher called Valerie Price walks in and she goes,

596
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,600
Speaker 1: where did you learn that from? And I said I

597
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:22,080
Speaker 1: could just hear it in my head. And she was like,

598
00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:27,920
Speaker 1: tomorrow you're starting classical music and you're starting jazz. And

599
00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:30,560
Speaker 1: I was like, no, I'm not jazz is for old people.

600
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,200
Speaker 1: I'm going to be a battle rapper like LLL cool J.

601
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 1: And she was like, well, you're gonna be a battle

602
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:42,320
Speaker 1: rapper like LLL COOOLJ, but you're starting jazz and classical

603
00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:47,920
Speaker 1: music again like sixteen now. So this teacher took me

604
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:53,520
Speaker 1: and shaped me into reading sheet music and first composer

605
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:55,120
Speaker 1: she put me on was Gershwin?

606
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:57,919
Speaker 2: What did you What did you play?

607
00:39:58,080 --> 00:39:58,759
Speaker 3: Summer Time?

608
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,480
Speaker 1: The home Parking bes like the whole She put me

609
00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:05,160
Speaker 1: up on Gershwin and I fell in love with Gershwin,

610
00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:08,000
Speaker 1: and then I fell in love with Quincy Jones. And

611
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:10,480
Speaker 1: so then I was like, Oh, I'm not going to

612
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:13,279
Speaker 1: be a rapper. I'm going to be a composer. So

613
00:40:13,719 --> 00:40:16,919
Speaker 1: then one day I hear Michael Jackson on the radio,

614
00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,040
Speaker 1: and I'm the kid that would get the vinyl and

615
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:21,880
Speaker 1: out look for the back. But when I look in

616
00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:25,360
Speaker 1: the back, I never looked to see the artist. I

617
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,279
Speaker 1: look to see who's doing the music. I see a

618
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:32,560
Speaker 1: name Quincy Jones. So then I get obsessed and I'm like, oh,

619
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,000
Speaker 1: I'm going to do like Quincy Jones. I'm from a

620
00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:39,440
Speaker 1: jazz background. I'm going to create a you know, be

621
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:42,880
Speaker 1: part of a supergroup, and then I'm going to literally

622
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:46,800
Speaker 1: produce and create the biggest artists in the world. And

623
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:50,880
Speaker 1: that happened. I was like, I'm going to be a

624
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:53,480
Speaker 1: composer and I'm going to produce and be part of

625
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:56,239
Speaker 1: the biggest groups in the world. So the way that

626
00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 1: the Fujis happened is very amazing. So I want you

627
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,200
Speaker 1: to think about. I'm still like in my dad's church.

628
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:07,560
Speaker 1: Lauren Hell, Miss Hill goes to Columbia, which is another

629
00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:12,680
Speaker 1: school high school. Prize comes to my school. Prize was

630
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:18,320
Speaker 1: in the studio with Miss Hill and another girl called Marci.

631
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:22,000
Speaker 1: This the group ain't formed yet and the producer was

632
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 1: named Calise Beyond from Cooling the gang. So I'm in

633
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:28,600
Speaker 1: my dad's church and Prize gives me a call, and

634
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:33,040
Speaker 1: Prize goes, Yo, man, I'm out here. You know, I'm

635
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:36,560
Speaker 1: doing this recording, and I have these two girls, and

636
00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:38,960
Speaker 1: I need a reggae hook. Man, could you come sing

637
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:42,759
Speaker 1: a reggae hook. So I get to the studio and

638
00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:47,440
Speaker 1: I see Lauren, and I see Marcy. Yeah yeah, And

639
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:49,960
Speaker 1: I see Laurence Marci and I go in the booth

640
00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 1: and I sing this reggae hook.

641
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:53,360
Speaker 2: Can I ask you what a reggae hook is?

642
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:55,799
Speaker 1: So let's go back to the word hook. So when

643
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:59,960
Speaker 1: I say hook, that's chorus. So the idea of a chorus.

644
00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:04,200
Speaker 1: So now when we say a reggae chorus, we're saying

645
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:09,520
Speaker 1: something that feels like Bob Marley ish whalers ish, you know,

646
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:13,399
Speaker 1: by the Rivers of Babylon two Siage, so they knew

647
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:15,080
Speaker 1: that I had that kind of voice that I could

648
00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:17,920
Speaker 1: deliver that. So there was like can you sing a

649
00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:20,319
Speaker 1: chorus like that? So literally it's like, can you give

650
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:22,400
Speaker 1: us an incredible top line in.

651
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:26,719
Speaker 6: The song that's where the Fuji's sang was the birth Yeah,

652
00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:31,040
Speaker 6: and then Lauren and Frise and Marcy and it was

653
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,400
Speaker 6: four of us and I sung, and then that the producer,

654
00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:38,040
Speaker 6: who was Collisbie, I was like, there's magic here, like

655
00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:39,399
Speaker 6: there's something going on here.

656
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,360
Speaker 1: And then this is how it started. And then so

657
00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:50,480
Speaker 1: we literally kept like recording, dancing, popping, locking, writing your

658
00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:53,840
Speaker 1: own music, writing our own raps, writing our own songs.

659
00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:56,719
Speaker 1: And then the first album, which was called Blunted on

660
00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:01,919
Speaker 1: Reality and the album bombs. I think Lauren's mother picked

661
00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:05,640
Speaker 1: up a copy, so maybe five copies. So the album

662
00:43:05,719 --> 00:43:09,280
Speaker 1: ain't go platinum, but it went coppa like it didn't

663
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:12,879
Speaker 1: go like Coppa went Coppa like you know that means

664
00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:16,640
Speaker 1: you ain't selling nothing. So but what was interesting about

665
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:21,279
Speaker 1: that was now it's time for the score. What made

666
00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:25,279
Speaker 1: this score amazing is that because of what was going

667
00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:29,120
Speaker 1: on in the community, in our community, we was able

668
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:33,640
Speaker 1: to hear it. So now I go with my other cousin,

669
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:37,520
Speaker 1: Jerry Wonder. We go with Lauren and I would say

670
00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:39,520
Speaker 1: like we had the whole stacks group that was the

671
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:42,759
Speaker 1: Fouji's and we go in stacks like Motown, think of that,

672
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:45,680
Speaker 1: and then we go in and then we just start

673
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:49,239
Speaker 1: to young kids like the Beatles. We just started recording

674
00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:52,080
Speaker 1: all of this stuff, but now it was coming directly

675
00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:52,480
Speaker 1: from us.

676
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:53,480
Speaker 2: And were you in New York?

677
00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:59,120
Speaker 1: Are you're still in New Jersey and my uncle's and nope.

678
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:01,680
Speaker 1: My dad had kicked me out the church at the

679
00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:05,560
Speaker 1: time because he said, you can't serve two masters. You

680
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:08,839
Speaker 1: can't do circular music. So my uncle was like, it's

681
00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 1: not like the boys selling drugs circular music.

682
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:12,399
Speaker 2: Do you mean secular music?

683
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:12,759
Speaker 1: Yeah?

684
00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:17,720
Speaker 2: Okay, yes, And so you were independent at a young age.

685
00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 2: Did you live in your own apartment?

686
00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:23,239
Speaker 1: And did you know my uncle took me in. And

687
00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:26,640
Speaker 1: of course it takes a village to raise a community.

688
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:28,880
Speaker 1: So when my father was like, you can't do my

689
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:30,440
Speaker 1: uncle took me in. He was like, it's not like

690
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,480
Speaker 1: he's doing anything wrong. So he took me in.

691
00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:36,400
Speaker 2: And so did he look after you?

692
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:40,200
Speaker 1: He looked after us. Of course, he fed us, he

693
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:46,240
Speaker 1: took because this is strong family morals. If my father

694
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:50,240
Speaker 1: kicks me out for some religious reason, that my mother's

695
00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:53,360
Speaker 1: brother is going to take me in. You see, this

696
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:57,839
Speaker 1: is another thing that we're missing in our rural communities right.

697
00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:01,080
Speaker 1: A lot of fathers are getting put in person. The

698
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:04,320
Speaker 1: kids are having absolutely no guidance. There's not an uncle

699
00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:07,359
Speaker 1: or aunt that could take them in. So I had

700
00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:10,359
Speaker 1: that privilege where someone takes us in. So we took

701
00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 1: us in, and the score the score. We did it.

702
00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:18,320
Speaker 1: But again, a lot of the score came from a

703
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:20,800
Speaker 1: lot of inspiration. I said. One of my biggest inspiration

704
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:24,200
Speaker 1: was probably Pink Floyd the Wall the way like that

705
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:26,799
Speaker 1: album was recorded. So when you hear records like ready

706
00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:30,200
Speaker 1: or Not, here I Come, you can't hide. And you

707
00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:33,960
Speaker 1: hear the when you hear Ready or Not, there's a

708
00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:40,239
Speaker 1: humming in the background. It's like, h Now, anyone who

709
00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:44,319
Speaker 1: listens to this, I'm in the hood in Newer New

710
00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:49,440
Speaker 1: Jersey and that's in ya okay. And how does a

711
00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:54,319
Speaker 1: kid from the hood finds in Inya? You know, that's

712
00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:57,239
Speaker 1: living in the castle. So again this was the Fuji's.

713
00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:00,920
Speaker 1: Fuji's is short for refugees, and that goes back to

714
00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:04,160
Speaker 1: that story, right. My whole thing was the consciousness of

715
00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:07,480
Speaker 1: the village of where we come from. And then so

716
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:10,200
Speaker 1: what we wanted to do is Fujis wanted to speak

717
00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:13,479
Speaker 1: for the less fortunate. So that's how that came about.

718
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:16,600
Speaker 2: We just talked for a minute of becoming a success

719
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,400
Speaker 2: and how that changed your culture and your life.

720
00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:27,040
Speaker 1: So I call it the Cinderella's Story imagination. I'm playing

721
00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:30,759
Speaker 1: the air guitar before I'm at Madison Square Garden. The

722
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:37,160
Speaker 1: success it happened, I mean, the Fujis did not sell

723
00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:40,800
Speaker 1: one million albums. It went to sell like twenty million

724
00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:46,520
Speaker 1: albums with just to score so overnight. The phone calls.

725
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:49,160
Speaker 1: You could call anybody that'll pick up the phone. The

726
00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:52,120
Speaker 1: White House wants you to come play. You know you're popping.

727
00:46:52,719 --> 00:46:55,440
Speaker 1: Bill Clint was my man. Clint was my man at

728
00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:57,719
Speaker 1: the time, Like Yo, the way that jay Z was

729
00:46:57,760 --> 00:46:59,839
Speaker 1: with Obama. That was like me and Clinton at the time,

730
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:01,160
Speaker 1: Like what up, Belly, what's up?

731
00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:01,399
Speaker 3: Man?

732
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:02,080
Speaker 2: Yo?

733
00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:04,240
Speaker 1: Clip, if you want to come jam at the White House,

734
00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:07,359
Speaker 1: it's gonna boom. Everybody jump at the White House. Jump

735
00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:08,520
Speaker 1: jump jump, So.

736
00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:16,400
Speaker 2: And so success, fame music, the White House.

737
00:47:16,480 --> 00:47:19,160
Speaker 1: At the height of the Fujis. I took the Fujis

738
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:21,360
Speaker 1: to Haiti. I bring the Fujis to Haiti. We do

739
00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:24,480
Speaker 1: a big concert. I cried like a little baby. It

740
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:27,759
Speaker 1: was It was emotional because you got to understand. We

741
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:31,359
Speaker 1: talked about the village here. I am the biggest group

742
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:34,000
Speaker 1: in the world, and we go back and again to

743
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:38,680
Speaker 1: bring a weirdness to this place. Fujis also did the

744
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:40,680
Speaker 1: Rock the Vote. We was one of the first people

745
00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:44,040
Speaker 1: to do Rock the Vote. Also in Tibet, the Tibet

746
00:47:44,120 --> 00:47:47,680
Speaker 1: Freedom Concert. Fujis was like one of the first to

747
00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:49,960
Speaker 1: do that. I remember, like you know, meeting the Dalai Lama,

748
00:47:50,080 --> 00:47:56,480
Speaker 1: different things. So again, we've always used our fame and

749
00:47:56,560 --> 00:48:01,400
Speaker 1: that energy to promote consciousness, which is that's what the

750
00:48:01,440 --> 00:48:02,239
Speaker 1: Fujis are known for.

751
00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:05,920
Speaker 2: Many people that I talked to who grew up in

752
00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:10,200
Speaker 2: poverty or certainly unentitled see food and being able to

753
00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:12,680
Speaker 2: eat a certain way, or to drink the wine, or

754
00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:17,200
Speaker 2: to expose yourself to restaurants was a measure of their success.

755
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:20,440
Speaker 2: Do you see that You remember when you could go

756
00:48:20,600 --> 00:48:23,920
Speaker 2: to a good restaurant and order something that you might

757
00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:25,000
Speaker 2: never have had before.

758
00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:30,480
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny, so because you remember I told

759
00:48:30,520 --> 00:48:33,560
Speaker 1: you we used to eating home, so we never really

760
00:48:33,640 --> 00:48:38,640
Speaker 1: used to go to restaurants. So when the fujis get signed,

761
00:48:39,600 --> 00:48:43,239
Speaker 1: you know things are good. You feel me And the

762
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:46,719
Speaker 1: product manager brings me in prize to an Italian restaurant,

763
00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:49,680
Speaker 1: keep in mind in New York City and New York City,

764
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:52,520
Speaker 1: but keep in mind we ain't never eat out right,

765
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:55,920
Speaker 1: So I'm just showing you the mentality. So now we

766
00:48:56,040 --> 00:48:59,799
Speaker 1: get there. Oh, table looks nice, the glasses look nice,

767
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:06,320
Speaker 1: and this dude brings this amazing bread out. Me and

768
00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:09,719
Speaker 1: prize ate at least three hundred pieces of bread. This

769
00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:12,200
Speaker 1: ain't no regular but I don't know where does bread come.

770
00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:14,600
Speaker 1: This is a different type of bread cause when you

771
00:49:14,760 --> 00:49:17,000
Speaker 1: used to taste this bread, we used to have wonder bread.

772
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:21,279
Speaker 1: This bread tastes like a different kind of bread. And

773
00:49:21,400 --> 00:49:24,319
Speaker 1: after three hundred breads, the guy come out, he's like, YO,

774
00:49:24,440 --> 00:49:26,520
Speaker 1: do you want to order? And I looked at prizot

775
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:29,839
Speaker 1: I said, I thought that was the whole meal. I'm

776
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:33,160
Speaker 1: only giving you these realities because it's real. So by

777
00:49:33,239 --> 00:49:38,839
Speaker 1: the time that we can get to afford the lifestyle

778
00:49:39,560 --> 00:49:43,920
Speaker 1: and now start to read, start to read about, yo,

779
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:46,000
Speaker 1: what restaurant you want to go to what type of

780
00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:48,239
Speaker 1: food you want to go to? Then you know, you

781
00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:50,640
Speaker 1: start to read about okay, what kind of wine do

782
00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:54,440
Speaker 1: you like? What year did this wine come out? Right?

783
00:49:54,560 --> 00:49:57,600
Speaker 1: Then you start to look at different fishes. Right, you'd

784
00:49:57,600 --> 00:50:00,200
Speaker 1: be like, okay, what kind of fishes? Is this going

785
00:50:00,239 --> 00:50:01,440
Speaker 1: to work? Then you'll be like, oh, I got to

786
00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:03,640
Speaker 1: do a movie this week. Then you'll be like, okay,

787
00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:06,520
Speaker 1: we got to do all lean meats. Then you'll be like, okay,

788
00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:10,000
Speaker 1: which restaurant is all grass fed? Right? You start you

789
00:50:10,120 --> 00:50:12,520
Speaker 1: won't be able to do this without money. Like at

790
00:50:12,520 --> 00:50:14,319
Speaker 1: the end of the day, that changed too.

791
00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:18,480
Speaker 2: And when you're performing, do you go on a certain

792
00:50:18,719 --> 00:50:19,399
Speaker 2: type of tie.

793
00:50:19,640 --> 00:50:25,359
Speaker 1: So when I perform, Quincy Jones like call me one

794
00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:28,600
Speaker 1: of the greatest performances. Shout out to Quincy very humble

795
00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:32,360
Speaker 1: by that. I have a lot of energy, So I

796
00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:36,120
Speaker 1: go very light before I go on stage. So I

797
00:50:36,200 --> 00:50:38,560
Speaker 1: might have like a soup or I might have like

798
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:42,120
Speaker 1: akunk salad or something right because I know I'm about

799
00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:44,880
Speaker 1: to burn some calories on that state. But when I

800
00:50:45,040 --> 00:50:48,520
Speaker 1: get off that stage, I promise you, like, if it's

801
00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:50,640
Speaker 1: steak day, you know we got the best steak. If

802
00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:54,520
Speaker 1: it's poultry day. We have the best poetry off stage

803
00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:57,440
Speaker 1: after burning that calorie. I always like to do a

804
00:50:57,520 --> 00:50:59,120
Speaker 1: lot of veget vegetables.

805
00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:00,719
Speaker 2: Are you doing now?

806
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:04,640
Speaker 1: Well? My focus right now for the next level or

807
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:08,879
Speaker 1: a few things. One is working with Google with Leo

808
00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:12,600
Speaker 1: Cohen's on the AI side of the music. As a

809
00:51:12,719 --> 00:51:16,240
Speaker 1: purist of music, I was definitely one of the perfect

810
00:51:16,280 --> 00:51:18,920
Speaker 1: people to bring in and so the best way I

811
00:51:18,920 --> 00:51:22,239
Speaker 1: can explain it, my niece is twelve, and I want

812
00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:26,480
Speaker 1: her to understand, don't let the algorithm control you. You

813
00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:31,440
Speaker 1: control the algorithm, meaning that as a purist, anything that

814
00:51:31,560 --> 00:51:34,400
Speaker 1: you see the AI does, it couldn't do it unless

815
00:51:34,680 --> 00:51:37,640
Speaker 1: the human did it first. So you can be lazy

816
00:51:37,760 --> 00:51:40,719
Speaker 1: and you have to be innovative and create the next thing.

817
00:51:41,520 --> 00:51:44,920
Speaker 1: I'm very very excited about that touring with the Fujis.

818
00:51:45,920 --> 00:51:48,200
Speaker 1: Look out for some dates. That's going to be Yeah,

819
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:49,920
Speaker 1: So the Fujis is going on to it. That's going

820
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:53,000
Speaker 1: to be amazing. Come here, I'm coming here with Johanna Jackson,

821
00:51:53,640 --> 00:51:56,440
Speaker 1: so you could be my guest for that. Okay, perfect,

822
00:51:57,760 --> 00:52:02,319
Speaker 1: We're going to Janet Jackson fandom. It's gonna be cool.

823
00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:07,520
Speaker 1: And I've been inspired while in London so working on

824
00:52:07,760 --> 00:52:11,960
Speaker 1: some new music and talks. I probably maybe do a

825
00:52:12,040 --> 00:52:13,080
Speaker 1: residency out here.

826
00:52:13,200 --> 00:52:16,520
Speaker 2: Why not, Yes, you do residency right here up the

827
00:52:16,600 --> 00:52:17,080
Speaker 2: River cafe.

828
00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:26,279
Speaker 1: We're talking residency, m.

829
00:52:30,280 --> 00:52:30,320
Speaker 4: H.

830
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:38,880
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership

831
00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:39,560
Speaker 1: with Montclair

832
00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:42,000
Speaker 6: M