WEBVTT - QLS Classic: LA Reid Part 1 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.880 Questlove Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. What's Up? 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:08.119 This is Sugar Steve from questlof Supreme. Anybody who knows 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:10.880 this podcast is well aware that our interviews can last 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.720 for hours, so often we split them into two parts. 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.680 It also gives listeners a suspenseful reason to come back 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.640 next week or check their podcast feed for more episodes. 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:22.160 Back in twenty twenty two, we sat down with la 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:24.920 Reid for what became a rare three part interview. 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:26.120 Part one of La. 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.800 Read's three part QLs recalls his childhood in Cincinnati, playing 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:34.480 the Indianapolis club circuit, working with Midnight Star, and meeting Babyface. 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:37.720 This classic episode was taped in July twenty twenty two. 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.519 Please rate, like, and subscribe to this on your podcast feeds, 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.720 check back for new episodes, and follow our new YouTube 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:53.880 page at QLs. 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.240 You know good and well, you might as well get 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:00.920 some water. Dog. I'm gonna Memphis for all I can, 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:07.720 and you need some snacks or something. Bro. All right, 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:10.080 ladies and gentlemen, I was already told at the top 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:11.399 of the show, make. 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:17.440 This quick, quick on this one. 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:22.360 I'm going all right, ladies, ladies and gentlemen. Uh, this 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.240 is another episode of Quest Love Supreme. How are you guys? 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:31.039 That's nice anyway, if you know me based on the show, 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.720 you you know there's a particular type of interview that 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.920 I that we all love the nerd out on, and 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:41.520 this is no exception, I guess today. You know he 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:47.920 is former super executive chairman CEO of Epic Records, former 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:55.600 chairman CEO of def Jam, former president and CEO of Arista, 0:01:56.200 --> 0:02:02.560 and also his own uh in print record not to mention, oh, 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:09.640 former award winning songwriter and producer and former drummer and 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:13.239 probably the most moisturized band of all time. 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:22.600 Yeah, not to mention. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:27.360 I mean, look, y'all know me. It's gonna take forty 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.040 five minutes once I started reading off the accolades. Look 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:33.000 you already know it, man, like you literally know it. 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:36.880 Two occasions. This guy a girlfriend, This guy Ronnie rock 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.440 with you, don't be cruel. This guy into the road, 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:41.640 this guy I love should have brought to you home 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:44.160 last night, this guy not to mention the Axie sign. 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.840 Name him Tony Brason, Damien dam Goodie Mom, Jermaine Jackson, 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:52.520 us outcasts. I can name them all, ladies and gentlemen. 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.320 We finally have him. I feel like this is the 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.280 sequel to the baby Face episode. It really is. 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:01.799 Nah, this is the baby fake, the Baby Safe episode 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:03.080 that was breaking bad. 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:07.320 This is better call Sault exactly. There you go, yo. 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:12.800 This this guy is so legend that he even dropped 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:21.079 me from the label and took me back on my birthday. Yo. 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.320 I got dropped the morning of my birthday and came 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:29.280 back the night of my birthday. 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:32.000 Is gonna be a long one. 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:40.320 Yeah, please welcome l A Reed, thank you, thank you. Welcome. 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.720 That's accurate, but well. 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.840 You know, dramatic. Richard Nichols was so maybe rich was 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:51.880 just using a Jedi mind trick on me to get 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:56.840 that I'm done. Rich woke me up for my birthday 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.160 and six in the morning, like a mirror, the brooch 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.560 just got dropped off. Def jam. I was like no, literally, 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.400 I was all depressed. And then like I we met, 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.160 didn't we? I called you up and I literally called 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:12.000 you up and I left the message. I was like, 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:13.480 come on, dog, it's my birthday. 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:13.760 Man. 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.840 Ah my god, that's my favorite story of all. Look, 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.800 every every artist has a CEO executive story, and I'm 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:30.279 glad that's my story because it could have been with 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.680 you hanging me out the window of my ankles or something, 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:41.760 or or any any other unsavory CEO story. How are you? 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:42.360 How are you doing? 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:45.520 I'm good, man, I'm good. I'm entertained already. This is 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:46.320 already fun. 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:50.279 So la where right now? Where are you speaking to 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.880 us from? I am in Los Angeles in the studio. 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:58.480 We have a studio in Studio City. And I'm I'm 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:02.320 I'm I'm in the studio, all right, my favorite place. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.800 Dare we ask you what you're doing in the studio? 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.960 Is this top secret? No? 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:14.440 You know, I'm always digging and just I love the 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:16.839 idea of being around people. And I just have a 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:21.000 lot of writing camps and some writers and producers come 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.640 by meet with people. I'm just always looking for music, 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.640 you know. But right now I'm actually working on Usher. 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:29.839 And it's so good. 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:34.360 Yeah, this is camp Usher time, Camp Usher. That's right. 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:40.760 Usher's tiny desk performance is probably a pleasant, well needed 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:45.240 jolt in the right direction of reminding people. And I'm 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:49.360 also I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that. Uh, 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.800 The versus Comedy Hour also played a part. 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:54.880 I missed it. 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.279 I heard about it. Comedy show history. 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:01.080 Needles to say happy to hear there may be a 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:05.920 Chris and Usher versus that is the dream four hours, 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:07.240 six hours, seven hours. 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.839 I think sometimes people should set those out. That's my opinion. 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:13.360 I don't think that. I don't think they're for everybody. 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.320 I think because I don't know. 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:19.720 The way that initially came to us, I wish it 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:22.520 would have stayed there, which was mainly about like two 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.680 producers working on beats at the same time, you know, 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.240 like the Buster and what Alchemists was the first one 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:32.040 or was it not the Buster Alchemist? The just Blaze, 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:32.760 Swizz and. 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:34.040 Swizz and ten. 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:40.159 That was first. Yeah, just Blaze and the Alchemists. 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.279 I remember, if we're talking about verses, how versus started, 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:46.120 that was. 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.680 Well, I meant the the pre versus there was like 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.000 there was this thing where like just Blaze and Alchemist 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:53.680 would do this back and forth thing. You don't remember 0:06:53.800 --> 0:07:01.839 remember the yeah yeah right. But for me, I was 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.560 kind of hoping that that was more of the modus 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:08.680 operandi where it wasn't about you know, winner take all. 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.160 But I think, you know, once the pandemic started, people 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.880 just want to entertainment, and that seemed like a logical 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.280 way to keep people entertained, of course with the best 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.400 aless talent, but eventually you're gonna run out of a 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.520 list talent, right, and then what do you do. 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:26.600 It was supposed to be the classics too, It was 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:28.480 supposed to be like up into you know, a certain 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.680 age kind of era range. I felt like too, and 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:32.200 they kind. 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:35.960 Of well, now, just think it's finding somebody that has 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:40.040 had ten to fifteen notable hits, right, which is that 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.600 that was going to run dry quickly, you know what 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:43.960 I mean? 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.240 And so that's funny because I don't always like to 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.760 bring light to it. But the truth is, we're hard 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.680 pressed to find artists with fifteen to twenty hits sacks. 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.520 That's hard, it is, and those that have it aren't 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.720 with us anymore, right, And so the well is, I mean, 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:06.640 we're in we're in a place right now where it's 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:11.000 diminished returns, and you know, you gotta let people in 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:14.440 the door. Like lately, I will say, for my own group, 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.200 you know, we've been having this sort of conversation with 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:21.120 the powers that be at least the last five to 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.200 six years, like you have to let us in the door, 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:25.400 Like who the hell is left? You know what? I mean, 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.160 so it's sort of like I'm not saying that there 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.800 was a begrudging all right, come in, you know, like 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:32.600 that sort of thing. 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:37.360 But could battle, y'all. That's kind of hard. That's hard anyway, 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:37.760 that's a. 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:42.120 We're not even built like that. Yeah, we we did. 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.400 We did get in, we did get an offer once. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:45.920 I guess I could mention it now. 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.880 Yeah, please tell everybody, because you're totally the. 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.640 Roots and Goodie Mob had a versus on the table 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:57.720 that we weren't able to do and really wow, But 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.280 you know, I mean that. 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.679 Is I get it, though, I actually get it. As 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:05.400 odd as it is, I kind of get it. 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.080 Well, I meant, but you guys don't have rivals. 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.000 The truth is you don't have rivals because we don't 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:14.280 live in an erab for there's no black bands. First 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.560 of all, you're an only black band that and and forever, 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.439 so you you would actually have to go back and 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:23.720 battle like like cameos. 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.040 I would have actually we talked to our last episode 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:33.280 was with Larry. Amazing episode, by the way. No, I 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.400 think probably if it were to come down to that, 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.840 we probably would do like d'angela did, which is like 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:41.240 have roots and a whole bunch of friends come by 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:45.719 and so fun. Anyway, Jo, we're wasting time here, La. 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.400 What was your very first musical memory. 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.559 Sh first musical memory ever, like. 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:57.200 Ever, your first thought of music? What like what it 0:09:57.280 --> 0:09:57.600 might be? 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.079 It might be a little hazy, but I think that 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:06.240 it was growing up Cincinnati, Ohio in the kitchen, small kitchen, 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:12.160 transistor radio in the window, and I think it was 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:17.000 It's My Party, and I cry if I want to. Yes, 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.320 I think it was that because for some reason I 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.920 remember that name, Quincy Jones. Don't know why, but like 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.920 I knew that name as a baby and it never left, 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.080 you know. I think it was that, or it was 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:32.560 something from Motown, right, like one of those dancing in 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:33.160 the streets. 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.480 So I can't exactly. I was very young. 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:40.280 But the one that, the one that got me though, 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.640 the one that, like the life changing moment, was when 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.360 I heard give the drummer some and and cold sweat 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:52.120 James Brown. That moment, like that was that the world stopped. 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:58.000 So speaking of Cincinnati. Oh, by the way, uh case 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.680 our listeners don't know. Not many people knew that Quincy 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.600 Jones produced Leslie Gores. It's My Party. 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:07.520 That's his very first, very first hit as a as 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:12.080 a pop producer. I was going to say that I noticed, 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:16.240 at least from what Bootsie told me and just from 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:24.080 observing that anyone who's in proximity of King Records and 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:29.320 their whole operation had their life changed, either as someone 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.440 that works inside of King Records or the studio or 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:36.360 the factory, or someone like Bouotie Collins did hung in 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:39.000 the alley way and just hoped maybe one day we'll 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.160 get used or something like that. Yep. But because there 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:45.400 is a five year of five to ten year age 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:51.640 discrepancy of you and Boucie's generation, right, how did the 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:55.840 James Brown Ohio effect? And Plus this also explains why 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.880 Ohio is the funk capital of the United States, because 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:04.319 I mean, basically, King Records moved their operations to Cincinnati, 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:09.400 and basically at a time period in which the ripple 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.440 effects started happening even in other cities like Funk just 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:18.080 spread throughout Dayton, Columbus, Cleveland, been all over. So just 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:22.120 as a ten year old, were you aware of James 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:23.760 Brown's presence in the city. 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.760 I feel like I didn't know it officially, but I 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:31.880 felt the presence. Like the first concenter ever went to 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.440 was a James Brown concert at the Cincinnati Convention Center, 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.840 and I hung outside and I met mace O Parker 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.080 and that that was a big deal for me, like 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:46.640 literally walking down the street outside the convention Center. And 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.800 also King Records was like a few doors down from 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:54.000 like my karate school as a kid, right, so I 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.000 would go to karate school, but when I wait on 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.880 the bus, right, take the bus home afterwards, and I 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.840 knew that that was King Records. So I never saw 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:06.760 a soul, but I would just stare at it. I 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:10.280 felt drawn to it. But then as I got like 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:15.200 slightly older, all the musicians in Cincinnati were all so 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:20.520 impacted by Bootsy and James Brown, but more Bootsy to 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.760 be honest, right, James was like the godfather of soul, 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:29.319 but Bootsy was our local superstar. So everything that Bootsy did, 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.680 we all, you know, aspired to do. Bootsy holds his 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:34.280 base this way, so you hold your. 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:35.040 Base like Bootsy. 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.600 Right, Bootsy wears these kind of shoes or he has 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:41.600 these Everything was about whatever boots he did was the magic, 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.560 you know, and he was like a god to us. 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:49.200 James Brown needed Booty more than Boots. He needed James 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:54.160 even though Bosi needed that guidance, right, Yeah, James Brown 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:58.960 needed that validation of you know, the next generation respecting him. 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.880 And this was the first song super bad, very first 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:08.199 song with sex Machine. Sex Machine was boosy, very first one. Yeah, okay, 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:10.760 you got it. There's there's an amazing all right. So 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:13.599 they did that song in two takes and there's a 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:18.600 there's a really amazing rare dialogue for James, Like if 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:23.800 you listen to James's outtakes, normally it's sarcasm or I 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:26.320 mean not like mean spirited, but like if they mess 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.960 up or whatever, you'll you'll you'll you'll hear them like 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.320 chass Tis the engineer or something like that. But when 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:37.000 they do the second take of sex Machine, there's like 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:40.560 a forty five minute conversation of James just like you 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.840 hear him walking in the studio and tell them like 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:47.520 like being encouraging almost, like which is rare for James Brown. 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.560 But he's like obviously knows like these these six seventeen 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:54.600 eighteen year old kids are really really scared right now, 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:56.960 and he's just oh no, you got it, man, like 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:58.920 you can do it. And da da d D like, 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.680 which is oh wow, compared to the rest of what 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.600 James does, like on the other takes or whatnot. Like, 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:09.200 it's almost like he knew that he was dealing with children, 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:09.760 you know what I. 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:15.800 Right, So, yeahs some sensitivity and he was, yeah, that's great. 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:21.400 So you're a drummer sort No, you're you're a drummer. 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:23.760 I played the drums. 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:29.560 Well okay, well, first of all, your home situation. What 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:34.960 was your domestic home situation then, like, was your family 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.000 musically inclined? Your parents? 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:43.600 And my immediate family meaning my mother, my sisters. We 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:46.080 had a stepfather there. I never knew my father, but 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:50.400 we had a stepfather there. Occasionally he was there, I'm 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:54.560 being me and he was there. But they played music 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.280 because they had poker games all the time, right, So 0:15:57.600 --> 0:15:59.840 they always played music and it was always kind of 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:05.040 a The weekends were festive. And eventually I became. 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:07.800 Like the guy to play the records at a very. 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.760 Young age, right, And I could play what I wanted 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:12.600 to play, you know, So I played slat in the 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.440 family stone, or I played war or I played you know, 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.520 whatever I wanted to listen to at the time. And 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.560 James Brown and you know King Floyd. 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:23.480 I remember that song. 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:25.960 Was it a situation where you where they say, let 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:28.320 me see what you got the first record? 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.640 No, it's just like the record player would stop and 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.520 they're all and they're all into the game. So I 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.120 just walk over and play what I wanted to play 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:38.080 and no one said anything. 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.760 Okay, So question for them for that music. And at 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.480 that time, would that be the equivalent of say, like 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.240 my nephew or my guy kids putting trap music on? 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:50.360 When say the adults in the room when he hears 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.440 something older, yeah, more Ray Charles. 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:57.040 So like they love Bobby Womack. They just like, you 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.200 know communications album. I think it was like they they 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.240 like they like things that felt more like the blues, 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.720 more soul, blues and and funk. 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:08.800 Was the music of the kids? 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.560 Yeah, yeah for your people from Ohio. 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.359 Yeah, everybody's from Ohio. Yeah. So I have an uncle. 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.800 I had an uncle. He passed away, and he's a drummer. 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.720 He is a jazz drummer, right, And I remember him 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:24.600 taking me to jam sessions with him when I was 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.760 very very young, and he set up a set of 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:31.800 drums in his uh in his apartment and he lived 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.000 in an apartment, so you couldn't like, you couldn't really play. 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:36.000 So I was just playing with my fingers, but I 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:37.280 was playing James Brown. 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.640 That's the best I could. And he was like, that's 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:44.440 not music. Oh man, that's not music. Yeah, that's music. 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:47.560 Jazz guy, a jazz guy like that. 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:49.000 Okay, I got it. 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:51.080 So I knew early on, like, okay, I see, I 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:54.440 see what the purists are thinking here, you know, versus. 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.640 That was commercial. James Brown was commercial. And by the way, 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.240 your music, your real music college can ask your question. 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:06.280 So did Miles Davis? Now who ripped off? Who? 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:15.040 But h so what? Yo? So what Miles was first? 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:21.040 Pee Wee pee Wee Ellis? Yes, yeah, I went on 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.040 record to say that you know all those and actually 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:28.520 all those guys start alongside your uncle, as in, I'm 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.280 a jazz musician, but let me just make some money 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:33.399 on the side and play this pop stuff that I 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:37.080 don't care about, and then I'll have a jazz career. 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:42.520 And basically, Pee Wee Ellis would basically steal jazz arrangements 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:46.080 that he liked and incorporated James Brown. So the whole 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:51.640 cold Sweat is essentially what. 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:55.760 Right? Right? Okay? 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:59.639 Yeah, yeah, and so that's that's that's weird for me 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:04.920 because like I know, and that's the thing where even today, 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:10.400 like just to fight my urge to not say something 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:16.439 derogatory to you know, another generation about their music. You know, 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:21.600 like for instance, like trap is about to be old 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:28.080 school and now drill is replacing that and right, and 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:30.919 so the temptation to not roll my eyes in the 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:36.320 air right is heavy, right, And I don't. I don't 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.520 want to be the guy that's just like performatively co 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:42.199 signing everything just to make me look young and me 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:45.919 look hip. Right. But you know, it's it's weird how 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.119 the timeline of music lasts, whereas something could be totally 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:54.040 foreign to you but seems like so innovative to the 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:54.800 next generation. 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:57.600 It's funny because they both share regional commonality too, because 0:19:57.600 --> 0:19:59.560 a lot of New York is jazz musicians. Because my 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:02.160 dad is eighty something, he was a jazz musician. They 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:04.600 thought James Brown was country, just like how some New 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.200 Yorkers may think about trap and you know other music. 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:16.040 That's right, Yeah, definitely that How old were you when 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:19.760 you felt that you really developed your drumming skills? 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:24.159 I was probably about fifteen and I actually liked the story. 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:25.760 I was in a choir class. 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:29.359 Interestingly enough, I was the only one in the choir 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:30.880 class that didn't have to sing. 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:31.760 Right. 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:35.199 My music teacher was incredible. His name was Terry Brown, 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:39.400 and he was the choir teacher. And he had a 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:43.440 class that all the talented people in school were in 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:48.360 this class, all the singers, all the you know, the performers, 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:51.080 the guys that knew how to do the harmony. And 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:53.399 I was just drawn to the class and he liked me, 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:55.400 and he let me hang out in the class although 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:58.359 I wasn't in the choir and I ended up like 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:01.640 standing there for hours and hours day. But he had 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:06.840 a group outside of school called the Mystics, and it 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:09.720 was a three man singing group. It was Terry Brown, 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.040 it was Gerald Brown, and I don't remember the third 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:17.400 guy's name. And one day I'm walking down the hall. 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:20.480 I'm probably I'm about fifteen years old. I always carried 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:22.440 my sticks in my pocket. I bet you can relate 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.840 to that, right, I just always kept them with me, right, 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:27.520 And he stopped me in the hall and he said, hey, 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:29.560 you have you have a set of drums. 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:31.719 I was like, yeah, what are you doing this? Weekend. 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:36.520 He said, I want you to audition. Bring your drums 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:39.880 to Mary Junior High School. I forgot the time, and 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:43.520 I want you to audition. So I walk in and 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:47.080 there's three other two other drummers. I'm sorry, there's three total. 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:49.480 There's two other drummers and there's one guy. 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:53.119 This guy he has he looked like he looked like 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:55.600 he was going to kill it. He had a beautiful, 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:56.360 big afro. 0:21:56.920 --> 0:22:00.520 He had a double bassed drum and the most beautiful 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:03.720 kit in the world. And I came in with like 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:05.920 this little ricky dick that's what we call it. I 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:09.679 don't know if you guys know I came in with. 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:12.520 I came in with the rinky dink kit right, with 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:15.919 like one crash symbol, one ride symbol, and some my 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:20.800 hats one time, and this dude intimidated me. But when 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:27.840 he started playing, he wasn't good, and I was like, oh, and. 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:28.359 We were playing. 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.240 I remember the audition like it was yesterday, and we 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:33.160 were playing the Ojays. 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:35.000 The Ojas had. 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:44.320 Backstabbers nine hundred and ninety two arguments. Yeah right right, 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:48.399 that's that's Philly music, right, And but it was my turn, 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:52.920 Like I knew those songs cold, and so I aced 0:22:52.960 --> 0:22:54.040 it and I got the gig. 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:55.600 So that weekend. 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:59.400 The following weekend, he took me to Chicago and we played, 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:02.639 uh the weekend gig at a place called the Skyway. 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:06.320 And I was fifteen years old. 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:08.440 So you were just allowed to leave the crib. 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:10.919 My mom was okay with it, Like I talked to her. 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:16.720 She trusted my teacher, and we drove to Chicago from Cincinnati, 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:22.919 did two shows, and came back and had about seventy 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:29.199 five dollars. Mom was okay with that real money. Yeah, okay, 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:34.119 that was pretty good money. That was seriously some good money. 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:35.199 That was awesome money. 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:38.680 And that was the beginning that your daddy paid a 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:40.280 mere He paid what. 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:42.879