WEBVTT - MC Lyte 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:04.880 R and B Money. 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:05.960 We are. 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:10.240 Take volatility. 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:16.919 We are the authority on all R and Ladies and gentlemen. 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.560 My name is Tank, I'm Valentine. This is the R 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.759 and B Money podcast telling what it is the authority 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:25.759 on all things. 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:31.560 R and B authority because we have one of the 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:35.080 authorities on all things authority. 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:44.239 Yeah. Yeah, we don't take this word in this moment lightly. 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:54.960 Uh as it is light. It is extremely heavy. 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:55.800 Yeah. 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:02.400 Yeah, it is not paper thing. It is not paper thin. 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:09.360 The way it has been paved and what shines upon 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:14.120 this path and has been trail blazed is a light. 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:20.840 Oh, ladies and gentlemen, No introduction is needed, but I 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:24.400 just felt the need to say a few words that 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:41.240 coincided with light, Ladies and gentlemen, the theeah MC Yeah yeah, 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:43.720 thank you, jeez. 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:45.280 I want to. 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:49.600 Here's what, Here's what this this this, this moment is right, 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:52.960 this part is this is I don't know how often 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:57.960 you get to do this. This is to pop your 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:06.600 ship moment. This is the yes I am who I am. 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.120 That's what this pod is about. Talking about time fifty flowers, 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:17.120 all time flowers, and you are allowed to smell them 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:24.800 on this pod. I want to ask question in the beginning, 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:31.120 and I want you to step outside of yourself and 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:42.000 answer this. For me, what makes mc light timeless? What 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:43.600 do you feel the ingredients? 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:48.880 Okay, well, first of all, I try my damnedest to 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.840 stay inside my body. So you're asking me to step 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:57.079 outside of my body. Because we're always out right as 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:58.080 creative people. 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:06.960 We're always out, So get out. Look in timeless. Fearless. 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:12.480 Got to be fearless in order to be okay, to 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:14.680 move where you were to where you. 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:15.040 Want to be. 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:21.000 And so for me, being timeless has everything to do 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:24.960 with changing, with what is happening. Oh, at the same 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.520 time keeping who it is that you are at the core. 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:33.120 But for me, yeah, it's about realizing that change is 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:37.920 good and to implement it wherever it feels most natural. 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:47.320 Was that, Okay, you're you're really good? Like you're you're good. 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.080 I say that, and I asked you that because you know, 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:55.240 as I'm as I'm walking, I go on my snack 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:59.560 walk and and I'm listening to to the new records, 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:06.600 and I'm like, you haven't missed the beat. Doesn't sound 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:10.560 like we're trying to figure out how to pay homage 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:15.680 to someone who was we are actually in the midst 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:20.240 of celebrating someone who is This is now like those records, 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.360 I'm like, oh, I can't wait to be in the 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.120 King video. If you haven't shot shot it already, we did. 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:34.360 I just want to be somewhere the album album is 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:35.960 done out. 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.160 Yes, I mean. 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:42.320 The wonderful thing about this new age of music you 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:47.440 know on all of the DSPs of streaming, uh, is 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:49.400 that people find it when they find it, and it's 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:52.200 it's new for them and it's invigorating for them. It's 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:53.160 no longer like. 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:54.960 This mad rush. 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:57.159 The record is in the stores on the shelves, and 0:04:57.200 --> 0:04:59.000 if you don't go get it now, they're gonna return 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.679 all of them. This is no pressure. 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:05.800 It can be digested at a study pace, which is 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:10.640 which is great business for you, sure, but it's just 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.880 like that's not very that's not the easy feat to 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:20.320 be you and be able to be applied. This is 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.920 twenty twenty four going into twenty twenty five. You've been 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:32.880 doing this and you sound and feel fresh as day 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:36.120 one on these records. I gotta give you. 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:37.960 That thank you, thank you, and that means a lot 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.360 coming from you guys who know everything R and B. 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:49.520 The authority, the authority authority, you know what. I kind 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:54.479 of can attribute that to Warren Campbell, who the master 0:05:55.400 --> 0:06:00.320 executive produced the record, and he was just like, be yourself, 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.240 you know it was It wasn't this thing where sometimes 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:05.560 I can find myself in the studio with other producers 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.200 and they're like, we need you to put a little 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:07.880 bit on this song. 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:09.000 O got it. 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.000 They doing this now, so you gotta do that, and 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:14.000 you got it. Wasn't any comparison. As a matter of fact, 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:17.200 he doesn't really listen to a lot of music at 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:21.880 all because he likes to keep himself somewhat in the tunnel. 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:23.960 Of what he's creating and what feels good to him. 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:27.159 Yeah, he is music. I about to say he is music. 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.560 He's a child prodigy, doesn't He doesn't have to listen 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:35.440 to any more music. He knows everything. I saw another 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.800 saw another day up at at the concert Kirk with 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.680 kirk In and Fred and all of them, and he 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.120 just did this musical bed for this song that had 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.279 been creat created many moons agof and he created the 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:51.800 musical bad for it. That was. That was the twin 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:59.400 identical twin like clone, if you will, the same everything 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.560 the same. I'm like, what is wrong with you? How 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:05.960 did you do that? He said, well, Tank, you just 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:07.479 got to know when you hear that sound, that means 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:09.480 you got to go to the overhigh and you hear 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:11.040 that sound, you know that's going to be in this. 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:18.240 I said, no, nobody knows. He knows that this too. 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:19.720 I don't know that. 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:26.520 Well, what what's what's so great about even this record? 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.480 It was, you know, so many samples and at a 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.080 certain point, you know, we're dealing with the sample clearance 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:37.080 person and things are coming back so expensive to the 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.440 degree that I called up one of the labels and 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.240 I was like, this is just too much. I need 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:45.800 you to be on my side for a second. You know, 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:48.960 I have something to contribute to hip hop and I'm 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:50.640 not going to be able to do it at at 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:55.480 this cost. And then finally Warren was like, okay, I 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:56.800 didn't want to have to do it, but I will, 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.680 and he went and replayed. 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:07.720 Everything is exactly like it. 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.960 Is exactly, and I thought I was, you know, kind 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:12.920 of chivalry. 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:14.560 Because I was like, oh my goodness, what is going 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:15.120 to happen. 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.960 It's like, I'm so used to this sound demo itis 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:20.240 and I was just used to it. 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:21.640 And you know, with samples, it's. 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:26.480 Compacted, and it feels so solid, like real food. And 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:28.760 I was afraid we were gonna get soup or you know, 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:32.440 things were going to be separate, but it just it's everything. 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:41.439 Chef worn, chef worn past, the elder chef. And and 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:48.080 you sound you sound excited like you sound you know, 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.640 you sound still very much in love with this process 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:54.920 like you sound. You sound bright. You don't sound like, 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:58.920 all right, let me get this one more like you 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:03.160 sound like nah, we. 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:03.160 We're about to do another one. 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:07.280 We got about maybe five that didn't go on this record, 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.640 and so we just go do five more, put it out. 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.520 It's like I heard Jazzy Jeff said, don't don't die 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:16.720 with anything, HM, give it all, give everything you've got. 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:19.280 So I'm just gonna keep going till I don't have 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:20.079 anything left. 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:22.720 And you should. I saw I saw some R and 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:28.360 B artists names on on the feature featured a couple 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:28.840 of songs. 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.680 Just he didn't see his name, you know is going? 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:33.760 Was I know what this is going? But he got 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:35.320 five more for this next project. 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:39.160 Yeah, sure enough, look to be looking for his name. 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:39.640 Look at it. 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.360 I know the context of the music. Okay, you do, 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:46.280 I can put some like I can put I can 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:54.080 keep clothes on. Yeah, okay, he's having I'm having a problem. 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.000 No, Well, now that we know, we can call you. 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.840 You know, you're so busy, you chap traveling the world, 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:03.640 snack walks and stuff. You know. 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:10.680 I just I just want we're coming after you. 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:16.560 I am available. It sounds, it sounds, and it is. 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:21.000 It is so good. It is so good. And I 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.680 was like I was, I don't think I was expecting 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:30.480 anything less, but it just for me. It it just 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:34.400 serves into the idea and the image that I have 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:38.240 of you, of this, of this timeless icon, this this 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:45.280 this gifted light that continues to shine in in any avenue, 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:49.560 in any arena, wherever. Whatever you're called upon to do, 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.559 you just you just seem to you you just are 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:53.360 special in it. 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:56.280 Thank you so so much. 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:01.720 I'm just on a to still be able to do it, 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:06.400 to still have somebody. It's funny because during the record, 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.840 you know, Apion writes he's an MC And so we 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.800 came into the studio a couple of times, and then 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:15.559 we took a break, I think it was a holiday 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:17.959 or something, and he hit me up like Okay, what's 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.680 up when we're going back in? Yeah, And you know 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.480 I was like, oh not yet, Okay, well when we're 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:25.400 going back in. And then finally I had to just 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:27.320 call him and say, you know what, this record has 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.040 become really personal and I. 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.760 Can't really do it with anybody. I gotta go. 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.760 I gotta go inward and come out with what it 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.920 is that God is telling me. I need to deliver 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:43.400 on this record and so to have you. And I 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.400 got a call from Busta, a call from Sway. I got, 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:48.880 you know, like all of these folks are reaching out like, 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:52.480 oh my God, like like yo. 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:57.360 You you put some work in. And so it feels good. 0:11:57.800 --> 0:11:59.880 Chrus One, you know I grew up with her. He 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:09.559 hit me like that king. 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:09.000 Be called Flex, you know, like he just was like 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:10.880 on a mission call w B L S right now. 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.199 I told him he's gonna be calling, and he was. 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:17.160 Like kind of setting things up for a win for me. 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:18.240 So that felt good. 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.240 I mean, listen, your gift makes room for you and 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:29.840 the the relationships, the very good relationships and the things 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.480 that you've imparted along the way, along the journey, all 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.719 calming it to make this moment, you know, even more 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.800 special because it's just like you said, calling cats is 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:45.520 making place for your off the top. Like I was 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:47.640 immediate like oh yeah, when they shoot that video, men 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:52.480 that you shot it already, you got to keep it moving. 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:55.600 But it's just really done. 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.880 People love it to the King King video because what 0:12:59.920 --> 0:13:03.319 I did is mis a gentleman named mister Upfront. I 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:05.160 don't know if you're aware of him, but he's been 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:11.960 shooting footage since like the mid eighties, and so he's 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.040 got all of this footage that we were able to 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:19.440 tap into so much that Vivo didn't believe that he 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.559 owned all the footage and so he wasn't gonna sit 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:26.360 there and do a licensing agreement for every piece of 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:27.560 footage that he put in there. 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:29.839 But we said, you know what, we're gonna put this up. 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.520 And it is that one video that guys are always 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.400 comments like, if you look in the comments, it's like 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.559 thank you, thank you, oh you see us, you love us, 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.560 Thank you to you and Queen Lati for doing this record. 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:47.560 And I thought it was really necessary because nobody's really 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.720 especially in hip hop, it's like everything that's wrong with 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:56.000 a man, let me tell you, right, right, Well. 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:57.640 It's just like we're coming out of it though. 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:02.000 Okay, personally, as music is starting to shift again. I mean, 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.400 and we've all been in music business for you know, 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:09.160 our lives practically, and we've seen so many times where 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:12.720 you know, that shift happens, you know, and I personally, 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:14.680 I kind of I see it, you know, I see 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:18.240 a little more emotions coming back, people speaking how they 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:22.040 really feel, more so only just being a fad of 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.480 like oh yeah, if I'm just as toxic as I 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.440 possibly can be, or if I'm the killer. 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.160 Of all killers this week, you know what I mean. 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:31.560 I feel like that's that's starting to change in my 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.840 opinion as I'm you know, as I'm experiencing it and 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:38.600 seeing it and especially having kids and a teenage son, 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:43.000 so I'm listening to what he's listening to and I'm like, oh, okay, 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:45.480 you're starting to tap into something different. 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:45.680 Now. 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.720 It's starting to be more like it's starting to be 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:50.200 you know what I mean, it's. 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:53.960 You know, more reality, more you know, love songs. And 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:56.720 then I'm like, Okay, I hear a melody coming from 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:58.600 the room, you know what I mean. 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:02.760 Listen, we went through a moment where we didn't have 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.560 any melody. Even from the R and B side, they 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:06.960 were taking out some of the melody, and. 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.720 I'm like, this is dark, this is weird. 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:13.520 Yeah, but I feel like we're I feel like we're 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.160 getting back to that space in my opinion. 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:17.240 No, I love it. 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:18.080 I love it. 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:22.400 I remember one time going into a gym and literally 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:26.280 it felt like war. It was like the darkest hip 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.720 hop that you could ever listen to while working out. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:32.600 But I guess if they you. 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:45.760 Know, I said the guys like that's. 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.200 That was the music. It just was like so dark. 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.280 I could not wait to get out of the gym. 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:52.520 I was like, this is too much. 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:56.640 Yeah, but yes, it has taken a turn, and especially 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:00.920 with R and B, like, I'm really feeling the young 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:06.920 cats coming up and giving a different perspective on not 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:09.720 just getting all of the women they can, but actually 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:11.920 choosing one and say I'm gonna spend some time. 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:13.160 I'm loving on you. 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:16.360 I'm liking how this is going, and you know it, 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.640 it feels good to see it brighten. 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:19.160 Up a little bit. 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.320 You're gonna get these young the junctions back to courting. 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:27.640 Yeah, putting, well, you got to get the women to agree. 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:31.160 To but I think they will. Okay, I think they will. 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:35.080 I mean personally, I believe I believe that that that 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:43.520 most people follow things they believe are cool at the moment. 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.160 And I think when someone that they deem as cool 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:55.120 try something different, are goes back to grab what's always 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:57.440 been that's been cool and said, hey, no, no, no, no, no, 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.000 this is this is how it's supposed to. 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:01.440 Yeah. 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.560 And if you're a leader of that, you know what 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:08.479 I mean. Now it's you know, the conversation gets different. 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:12.360 So I just think that you know, we just need, 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.600 you know, a couple more than you younger cats to 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:16.879 feel like they can stand in front of it and 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.439 not feel a way about somebody being like, oh you 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:20.320 only got one girl. 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:27.200 Well yeah right, it's. 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:31.320 Like me, you know what I mean. 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:37.280 So, speaking of like going back to things, you being 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:43.720 a pioneer in this whole rap world, especially from the 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:49.560 female side of it, Like what made you say because 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.000 we talked off camera and you know, we were talking 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.200 about growing up in the whole thing, But what made 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:57.119 you say, like, you know what I want to rap? 0:17:58.320 --> 0:17:59.760 This is this is what I'm about to be on 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:01.080 right right? Uh? 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:05.320 Well I was. 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:09.920 I was rapping ever since sequence, you know, you know, 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:17.800 sequence infinitse, no requests sequence is bing g B Blondie 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:22.080 and okay, okay, and hearing them and that was a 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:25.879 lot of melody during that time, and then hearing the 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:31.800 message and Lottie Dottie and I felt like, ooh, this 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:32.600 is something to get into. 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:33.680 So I was doing it for fun. 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.399 But it wasn't until I heard Salt and Pepper and 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:41.119 I was like, oh, oh, I'm gonna do this. And 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:45.240 then that's when I really started paying attention and writing 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:50.040 and yeah and cultivating. 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:50.880 Yeah. 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:56.840 Because okay, so you it's crazy how things. You know, 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:03.479 the manifest is the big word. But even you seeing 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:08.040 that moment in saying that's what I'm going to do 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:13.399 at any moment, are you thinking, well, let me also 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:16.760 have this plan B, you know, to make sure that 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:17.480 just a case. 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:18.120 Yeah. 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:20.239 Well, even when I said that's what I was going 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:24.040 to do, it wasn't at the sacrifice of. 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.359 What I already was going to do, which was going 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.399 to go to school. Yeah. 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.760 So it just happened to be that it all kind 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:37.560 of fell into line prior to school, and so my 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:38.760 mom was like, I don't want you to go all 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:41.720 the way to Norfolk State University. With this record deal, 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:44.119 I would rather you stay in New York City. 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:46.360 You had your record deal, Yeah. 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:49.560 I got my record deal when I was in my 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:50.720 last year of high school. 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:52.760 I got a record deal in high school. 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.919 Yeah, and the record was on the radio. So I'm like, 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:57.600 walking through the hallways. 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.600 Are you cracking? Are you acting out? Yeah? You acting? 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:01.159 Senior year? 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:04.360 It was a fun time acting Yeah, it's a fun time. 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.080 Did you get most likely to succeed? 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:11.040 That's a good question. 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:14.480 Hey, guys, I do have a record deal. I'm succeeding. 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:15.480 I'm going somewhere. 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:17.320 I don't know if you've seen this happened? Did you 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.879 have a video out? And all that? Uh not? 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:21.320 For I cram to understand you. 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:25.520 That was the first single that was in the bottom 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:29.159 half of nineteen eighty seven, And in January I graduated, 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:31.320 so I left six months early. 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:34.000 Do you get a record deal in high school? 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.520 I just went and at the time it was an audition, 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:40.200 but I didn't know to even call it that. I 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:42.960 was going to meet the people that own the record label. 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:46.840 And I got there and I sat my rhymes. You 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.719 don't have my little book, And at this point I 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:53.520 had already been rehearsing with George lucy and who is 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.400 Full Force's father. So he would come to my house 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:00.040 every Saturday and we would practice. And so about the 0:20:59.880 --> 0:21:02.679 time I got to the audition, I was like, I 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:06.840 was alive wire. They was like, oh, okay, she ready. Yeah, 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:09.200 And that's how I was able to get the deal. 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:15.439 Did they give you like this is what this is 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:18.240 what we like about you, this is what's dope about you. 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.560 Where you can expound, where you could build on like 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:25.320 using those outside. 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:25.960 Of just she's ready to go. 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:28.359 She's ready to go, and we're gonna let her do 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:33.480 whatever she wants. And most of that first album existed 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:34.840 in that book Light as a. 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:43.040 Rock then, yeah, cause you were writing about yeah before 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:44.280 you ever even got a deal. 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:45.600 Yeah. 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:51.840 I think the only song from that first album that 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:55.560 I didn't have written might have been Light as a Rock, 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:59.120 and then I just wrote it to the music okay, yeah, 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:01.600 but everything else was kind of written already. 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.480 Did you know did you know at the time. 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:12.440 I know nothing, but you can say the rest. 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:19.240 Did you have an idea that your voice was different? 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:23.880 Oh? I don't think so. I knew that. 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.159 Carol Ford, who did New York radio that our voices 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:27.800 sounded alike. 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:29.760 And I was like, Oh, I'm gonna do radio. That's 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:30.280 what I'm gonna do. 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:32.640 And so that's why I was headed to Norfolk State 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:34.920 University to major in communications, because. 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:38.000 That's what I was gonna do. But not to the 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:40.160 degree that I know now right. 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:47.000 I just I remember performing at Latin Quarters and later 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:50.560 my manager telling me that Red Alert said she's not 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:54.840 gonna make it. She's too monotone, and I was like, oh, okay, 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:58.800 mono tone. Well shit, I'm just talking very different from 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:03.120 what was happening in hip hop prior to nineteen eighty eight. Well, 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:06.040 even rock Kim always just talked to me, but he 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:09.679 was the beginning of that. I'm just smooth, just talking, 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:15.120 telling a story, no extra who aff And so I. 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:16.600 Was like, okay, well we'll see. 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:30.320 Okay. 0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:35.320 It's great to have people who understand. 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:37.880 Who you are, what it is. 0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:44.320 That you do, how important you know, respect for what 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:46.520 it is that you do, along with who it is 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:48.359 that you are. Now, of course, I've got plenty of 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:50.840 friends that are not in entertainment. 0:23:50.480 --> 0:23:51.159 As well. 0:23:53.520 --> 0:24:01.880 Who are worthy of friendship and since yeah, but those 0:24:01.880 --> 0:24:05.439 are some of the names and Chuck Chuck d is 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:08.000 a really good friend of mine. Kris One is a 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:09.919 good friend of mine. 0:24:10.320 --> 0:24:11.200 Yea, I feel like. 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:17.240