WEBVTT - James Fauntleroy 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:22.836 Pushkin. James Fauntleroy is one of the most prolific pop 0:00:22.876 --> 0:00:26.516 songwriters of the last fifteen years. Some of his most 0:00:26.516 --> 0:00:31.356 prized placements include songs written for Beyonce, Rihanna, Justin, Timberlake, 0:00:31.356 --> 0:00:35.476 Bruno mars In, so many others. He's also contributed background 0:00:35.556 --> 0:00:38.556 vocals to songs by Travis Scott, Jay Z, and his 0:00:38.716 --> 0:00:42.916 longtime friend the late Nimsey Hustle. Similar to his music 0:00:42.956 --> 0:00:47.716 industry idol and mentor Babyface, James Fauntleroy is also an 0:00:47.836 --> 0:00:50.676 artist in his own right. His own songs, that are 0:00:50.716 --> 0:00:53.596 best described as a really innovative take on alt R 0:00:53.636 --> 0:00:57.276 and B have lived on streaming platforms for the last decade, 0:00:57.596 --> 0:01:01.356 but in December he finally released his first official debut album, 0:01:01.636 --> 0:01:04.756 The Warmest Winter Ever, a Christmas album that's put through 0:01:04.836 --> 0:01:08.276 the font Leroy filter. On today's episode, I talked to 0:01:08.316 --> 0:01:11.316 James Fauntleroy about why he decided to drop his debut 0:01:11.396 --> 0:01:15.156 album well over a decade into his career. He also 0:01:15.196 --> 0:01:17.756 explains how hundreds of his songs were stolen and posted 0:01:17.796 --> 0:01:21.396 online by international hackers, and why he considers both weird 0:01:21.396 --> 0:01:24.756 Al Yankovic and John Mayer among some of his biggest 0:01:24.956 --> 0:01:31.556 musical influences. This is broken record liner notes to the 0:01:31.556 --> 0:01:36.836 digital Age. I'm justin Mitchman. Here's my conversation with James Fauntleroy, 0:01:37.756 --> 0:01:38.236 little man. 0:01:38.716 --> 0:01:40.756 I mean, too, what's that? 0:01:40.876 --> 0:01:41.356 I through? 0:01:41.716 --> 0:01:43.356 Yeah, my first album came out today? 0:01:43.716 --> 0:01:44.196 Your album? 0:01:44.236 --> 0:01:46.396 I know, man, come on dog, this is this is it? 0:01:46.636 --> 0:01:49.556 So that's nice? And then my first the last album 0:01:49.636 --> 0:01:51.876 for that was not my album, but it got nominated. 0:01:51.916 --> 0:01:52.516 I mean, I'm sure you know. 0:01:52.676 --> 0:01:54.956 Yeah, the EP with with with Terrists, that's right. 0:01:54.996 --> 0:01:58.036 So I'm going to sing one of those songs today. 0:01:58.396 --> 0:01:59.596 You nervous about it? 0:02:00.196 --> 0:02:04.996 No, I that's hard for me to feel nervousness. That's 0:02:05.036 --> 0:02:08.076 always been like that. It's hard to feel nervousness and 0:02:08.156 --> 0:02:13.916 also excitement, like since a kid, even yeah, I don't know, 0:02:13.996 --> 0:02:16.116 there's always been like that. Always just been like fuck it, 0:02:17.436 --> 0:02:22.036 getting on stages and talking and doing speeches and know whatever. 0:02:22.956 --> 0:02:24.876 If you don't feel you have nervousness, how do you 0:02:24.916 --> 0:02:27.116 deal with Not that you've experienced a lot of it, 0:02:27.156 --> 0:02:29.116 but how do you deal with any even small level 0:02:29.156 --> 0:02:32.196 of not even failure. I guess it's something not going. 0:02:32.036 --> 0:02:37.716 On experienced exponential amounts of failure. Rejection, disappointment because that's 0:02:37.836 --> 0:02:43.516 music business. It sounds like good podcast stuff, but I 0:02:43.556 --> 0:02:46.916 think that it helps in that sense, because you have 0:02:47.036 --> 0:02:51.996 to be some type of insane to continue to do 0:02:52.076 --> 0:02:55.676 anything after you've been told no, I'm seven. 0:02:55.556 --> 0:02:58.756 Hundred for me. I've only recently gotten to the point 0:02:58.916 --> 0:03:01.796 of where I was just just fuck it, you know 0:03:01.836 --> 0:03:04.516 what I mean. Like people used to say that, like 0:03:04.596 --> 0:03:06.956 you know what I mean, like or that Cat Williams 0:03:06.996 --> 0:03:08.436 bit back in the day of just you know your 0:03:08.436 --> 0:03:09.916 a little fucking well. 0:03:09.956 --> 0:03:15.276 That's probably because a lot of artists have like tough lives. 0:03:15.436 --> 0:03:17.836 So my life was so rough before I started doing this, 0:03:17.876 --> 0:03:19.396 I didn't even notice it was a thing you could do. 0:03:20.156 --> 0:03:23.236 Man, So before the music industry, you sh your life 0:03:23.276 --> 0:03:24.636 was tough. It was crazy. 0:03:25.076 --> 0:03:26.956 It was crazy on multiple levels. 0:03:28.036 --> 0:03:30.036 When you look back, what do you what do you see? 0:03:31.276 --> 0:03:35.036 I see somebody that ended up being really super lucky, 0:03:35.436 --> 0:03:38.596 just general lucky, also l the luck of being exposed 0:03:38.636 --> 0:03:43.396 to different identities and possibilities. So yesterday I met with 0:03:43.436 --> 0:03:46.756 the Department of Corrections, which was funny cause the first 0:03:46.876 --> 0:03:50.756 cause I'm doing a pilot program for like juvenile probation 0:03:52.516 --> 0:03:55.236 kids and shit, and the lady was like, just so 0:03:55.316 --> 0:03:57.276 you know, these kids are dangerous, and I just started 0:03:57.356 --> 0:04:03.276 laughing cause I was like, lady, I'm dangerous. I'm not 0:04:03.316 --> 0:04:05.836 scared of these kids. You know, I know what their 0:04:05.876 --> 0:04:07.796 lives are, like, I know why they cause I had 0:04:07.836 --> 0:04:11.196 the same experience. It was like all ds and f's 0:04:11.196 --> 0:04:12.796 for the entire time I was in school. Which is 0:04:12.796 --> 0:04:15.276 so funny because I'm such I'm so such an intellectual 0:04:15.356 --> 0:04:17.676 that it's almost like, you know what I mean, like. 0:04:18.196 --> 0:04:20.436 You damn yourself identify as a nerd right. 0:04:20.356 --> 0:04:22.836 Like, oh not damn near it. I mean, I'm wearing 0:04:22.876 --> 0:04:28.876 a Pokemon diamond chain. But yeah, I've been thirty modeling 0:04:28.916 --> 0:04:31.476 for ten years. I'm always trying to get people to 0:04:31.516 --> 0:04:37.156 watch CS fifty that's Harvard's free computer science course on YouTube. 0:04:37.516 --> 0:04:40.036 I'm a serious, serious nerd. But I just happened to 0:04:40.076 --> 0:04:44.596 be born in you know, a wild environment at a 0:04:44.596 --> 0:04:46.556 wild time. It was like the height of well when 0:04:46.556 --> 0:04:48.596 I was born was the year Crack was born. 0:04:48.796 --> 0:04:50.436 Yeah, you know what I mean. 0:04:50.996 --> 0:04:53.596 And so my father, who I don't know he was, 0:04:54.276 --> 0:04:58.916 he was military intelligence. When you finish military with that 0:04:59.036 --> 0:05:01.076 level job, you can get a good corporate job. So 0:05:01.116 --> 0:05:04.676 he got hired at Xerox Corporate where he was taking 0:05:04.716 --> 0:05:07.396 money out of the safe to buy cocaine, and people 0:05:07.396 --> 0:05:10.436 didn't know that crack turned you into a zombie. So 0:05:10.476 --> 0:05:12.436 when he ran out of money, obviously got fired. That 0:05:12.516 --> 0:05:16.316 caught him. Can put the money back fast enough and 0:05:16.436 --> 0:05:18.596 he started smoking crack. Just take the edge off and 0:05:18.596 --> 0:05:22.396 then boom, that's crackhead. So how old are you when 0:05:22.396 --> 0:05:24.716 he was strung out of three? So I don't have 0:05:24.796 --> 0:05:27.756 any memory of it. When my dad was a crackhead. 0:05:27.796 --> 0:05:30.596 My first cousin was a heroin that age. I grew 0:05:30.636 --> 0:05:34.836 up in all these extreme like just hood environments, losing 0:05:34.916 --> 0:05:38.716 friends and gun violence from childhood to my adulthood because 0:05:38.756 --> 0:05:41.516 Nipsey was one of my best friends. So like I'm 0:05:41.836 --> 0:05:44.436 I mean, one of my friends died last year. Still, 0:05:44.436 --> 0:05:47.396 so it's still like that, even though it's nowhere near 0:05:47.436 --> 0:05:48.836 what it was when the murder ate it was like 0:05:48.876 --> 0:05:49.756 two thousand people. 0:05:50.076 --> 0:05:55.516 That's what I'm saying. When when things like Nipsey happened, now, man, 0:05:55.556 --> 0:05:58.556 it's almost for me it feels like like damn, Holy 0:05:58.596 --> 0:06:01.316 pat Like it feels like because it was obviously where 0:06:01.316 --> 0:06:04.116 it was much more, it was happening much more often, 0:06:04.156 --> 0:06:05.996 but so it feels, I hate to say, like a 0:06:06.076 --> 0:06:08.076 throwback almost sometimes still when when. 0:06:07.996 --> 0:06:12.436 Well, you know, you know, if you if you work 0:06:12.516 --> 0:06:14.836 on the symptoms and not the cause, then the disease 0:06:14.956 --> 0:06:20.956 is not gone. So the cause of the environment, of 0:06:20.996 --> 0:06:25.316 low socio economic environment is something that we're not allowed 0:06:25.356 --> 0:06:29.036 to actually talk about, our address under the social contract 0:06:29.076 --> 0:06:33.036 of human life. So until we can do that, which 0:06:33.076 --> 0:06:36.156 is gonna take, you know, probably another couple hundred years, 0:06:36.516 --> 0:06:39.596 then the issue is not gonna change. 0:06:39.996 --> 0:06:40.996 Revolution is slow. 0:06:41.116 --> 0:06:42.836 I didn't know we were we were doing the podcast, 0:06:42.836 --> 0:06:45.396 so I wouldn't even talk about you won't take that 0:06:45.476 --> 0:06:47.756 and we can take it out. No, no, it's cool. 0:06:48.516 --> 0:06:52.636 See let me know, man, all right, so let's start. Hey, 0:06:52.716 --> 0:06:54.156 what's up. Well, now we're gonna put it. 0:06:54.196 --> 0:06:55.196 We're gonna put a mask on that. 0:06:57.836 --> 0:06:59.516 What's up, hey man? 0:06:59.516 --> 0:07:00.116 How you doing? 0:07:00.276 --> 0:07:06.676 Hey good? How are you doing? Man? Man? Congratulations on 0:07:07.076 --> 0:07:08.476 your debut album. 0:07:08.716 --> 0:07:10.996 Thank you so much. Man, it's a wild thing to 0:07:11.036 --> 0:07:13.356 have a debut album almost twenty years. 0:07:13.116 --> 0:07:17.076 Into it's like a young buck. 0:07:17.356 --> 0:07:20.596 Yeah man, yeah, bro, it's I think it's time. I 0:07:20.636 --> 0:07:24.636 think we're in an era that it's hard to keep 0:07:24.676 --> 0:07:28.636 that age stigma. You know, existing in the Internet era, 0:07:28.676 --> 0:07:31.676 because it's just obviously not really anymore. 0:07:31.956 --> 0:07:35.836 This project that you put out almost whenever been out 0:07:35.916 --> 0:07:38.036 to some degree a couple of different iteration years. 0:07:38.156 --> 0:07:39.396 Yeahah, the majority of. 0:07:39.356 --> 0:07:42.156 It, so first time in twenty fourteen, first batch of 0:07:42.156 --> 0:07:47.156 songs released in twenty fourteen, then twenty twenty sixteen. Yeah, yeah, 0:07:47.636 --> 0:07:50.276 why did you decide to compile those and drop those? Now? 0:07:50.716 --> 0:07:53.236 It's a gift, you know what I mean? Like, I 0:07:53.276 --> 0:07:56.276 haven't identified as an artist for this my entire career 0:07:56.356 --> 0:07:59.996 for a bunch of different reasons. But from the very 0:08:00.036 --> 0:08:02.756 beginning till now, Like let's say I had a thousand 0:08:02.836 --> 0:08:05.756 fans when I started off, but like ten of the 0:08:05.796 --> 0:08:08.236 fans were some of the biggest artists on the planet Earth, 0:08:09.236 --> 0:08:12.636 and they were finding my music either from me working 0:08:12.636 --> 0:08:15.356 in a session somebody or someone telling them about it, 0:08:15.436 --> 0:08:17.956 and then going on YouTube, where I had hundreds of 0:08:18.036 --> 0:08:23.396 songs uploaded, and especially at that time I uploaded exactly 0:08:23.476 --> 0:08:25.956 zero of those songs. We were all hacked, and like 0:08:26.476 --> 0:08:28.836 who was putting them up? There were hackers from Germany, 0:08:29.116 --> 0:08:34.716 from Paris, from Russia. They would contact me and tell me, 0:08:34.796 --> 0:08:36.996 like I remember one time, this is just I think 0:08:36.996 --> 0:08:39.996 it was a German, German or French hacker, but he 0:08:40.476 --> 0:08:43.276 found my aim, this aim at the time, and he 0:08:43.916 --> 0:08:46.516 sent me a picture of like two hundred songs and 0:08:46.676 --> 0:08:49.916 was like, these hundred, these are all stolen. He was like, 0:08:49.956 --> 0:08:53.436 these hundred I'm posting, but this hundred over here, I 0:08:53.516 --> 0:08:55.676 really like these. I'm gonna hold on to these. Just Rockulus. 0:08:57.916 --> 0:09:01.076 So shout out to the hackers because they really they 0:09:01.076 --> 0:09:03.076 were my first digital marketing team. 0:09:03.276 --> 0:09:04.956 How did these hackers know about you? Like? 0:09:04.996 --> 0:09:07.756 What was basically the hustle was, which a lot of 0:09:07.836 --> 0:09:10.076 music business people don't even know that because they're not 0:09:10.276 --> 0:09:14.156 computer people. And I've always been a serious, serious computer man. 0:09:14.996 --> 0:09:16.876 I knew the hackers were going to be stealing people's 0:09:16.876 --> 0:09:19.996 songs before it happened, because I know how, I know 0:09:20.076 --> 0:09:23.196 how it works and how they stole it. And so basically, 0:09:23.796 --> 0:09:25.276 I'm not going to say who it was with a 0:09:25.316 --> 0:09:28.836 prominent music business person sitting out a mass email one time, 0:09:29.516 --> 0:09:32.276 and they didn't know how to use blind carving copies, 0:09:32.356 --> 0:09:34.956 so they put the email of almost everybody I'd ever 0:09:34.996 --> 0:09:36.756 met in the music business was in this one email, 0:09:36.796 --> 0:09:39.516 and I remember seeing it and I was like, knowing 0:09:39.676 --> 0:09:41.756 what I know about hacking. I was like, this is 0:09:42.276 --> 0:09:44.036 this is not good because the wrong person gets their 0:09:44.036 --> 0:09:45.956 hands on all these emails. This is the beginning of 0:09:45.996 --> 0:09:46.476 my career. 0:09:46.516 --> 0:09:48.636 And I was like, and with someone trying to help 0:09:48.676 --> 0:09:50.756 you essentially that he just. 0:09:50.796 --> 0:09:52.716 Was sending out like a blast about an artist. It 0:09:52.796 --> 0:09:54.756 was like, yo, I got a new artist. Everybody look 0:09:54.796 --> 0:09:58.236 at this. But he put almost everybody's music in the 0:09:58.316 --> 0:10:01.436 music business email and this thing. And I was like, 0:10:01.476 --> 0:10:03.436 this is just not smart to have everybody's emails in 0:10:03.476 --> 0:10:06.436 one place like this. This is the purpose of blind 0:10:06.436 --> 0:10:10.996 carving copy. And shortly after that people started receiving these. 0:10:11.036 --> 0:10:13.556 It's called phishing, which now is a more known term. 0:10:13.636 --> 0:10:17.316 But sure enough, phishing emails started going out of people, 0:10:17.716 --> 0:10:21.996 you know, like cloning industry emails and saying, yo, did 0:10:21.996 --> 0:10:24.156 you get this file to this? And they still do 0:10:24.196 --> 0:10:25.916 that to this day. But basically what they what you're 0:10:25.956 --> 0:10:28.436 able to do, especially the further you go back in time, 0:10:28.516 --> 0:10:31.116 the less security you had to deal with the emails, 0:10:32.076 --> 0:10:34.316 and so they were tricking them into giving you their 0:10:34.396 --> 0:10:36.756 user name or not to use the name of their password. 0:10:37.636 --> 0:10:39.636 Then when you can go in the email and set 0:10:39.716 --> 0:10:43.316 up an attachment filter and have it forwarded to another email. 0:10:43.956 --> 0:10:47.796 So basically they were going in all the an RS, executives, producers, 0:10:48.396 --> 0:10:52.036 everybody's emails, setting up attachment filters to forward all attachments 0:10:52.036 --> 0:10:54.996 to their emails. And then they're incentive for doing this 0:10:55.196 --> 0:10:59.196 was they were uploading all these leaks to websites where 0:10:59.196 --> 0:11:01.476 like music fans would go, and then they were getting 0:11:01.476 --> 0:11:04.276 money from the ads on the website. Wow, so they're 0:11:04.276 --> 0:11:04.876 cleaning up. 0:11:04.916 --> 0:11:08.876 I was on those websites. I'm those websites yet, so. 0:11:08.876 --> 0:11:09.396 Think about it. 0:11:09.476 --> 0:11:11.076 When you went to them old websites in the early 0:11:11.116 --> 0:11:14.516 two thousands or mid two thousands, they were covered in ads. 0:11:15.116 --> 0:11:15.796 Crazy ass. 0:11:15.836 --> 0:11:19.396 Yeah, so the hackers were cleaning up. But they also 0:11:19.876 --> 0:11:21.716 a lot of these guys, which if you think about 0:11:21.716 --> 0:11:23.356 it makes sense because a hacker is someone that sits 0:11:23.396 --> 0:11:25.476 in front of a computer all day. So they love. 0:11:25.476 --> 0:11:27.276 Music, you know what I mean. 0:11:27.476 --> 0:11:29.876 So like because they're listening to music while they're doing 0:11:29.916 --> 0:11:31.276 their various hack things. 0:11:31.676 --> 0:11:32.076 I love it. 0:11:32.076 --> 0:11:34.916 It's not all it's not it's not only commercial concerns. 0:11:35.196 --> 0:11:36.596 So like these under songs, I'm. 0:11:36.916 --> 0:11:39.396 No, they're like and And a friend of mine got 0:11:39.396 --> 0:11:41.916 to email that of a hacker that was like, we 0:11:41.956 --> 0:11:46.356 want all of your James Funtleroy unsure. Uh, I forgot 0:11:46.396 --> 0:11:48.316 who the other people were they were. It was like 0:11:49.236 --> 0:11:50.756 he was like, we're coming for your ship. 0:11:52.076 --> 0:11:54.636 We know you got them Usher songs. We coming to 0:11:54.676 --> 0:11:55.396 get that ship. 0:11:55.956 --> 0:11:57.676 And so what end up happening is they're putting all 0:11:57.716 --> 0:12:00.116 they're putting all these songs on YouTube also so they 0:12:00.156 --> 0:12:04.676 can get ad revenue. And now my small fan base, 0:12:04.716 --> 0:12:07.356 which includes some of these huge celebrities, are able to 0:12:07.396 --> 0:12:10.796 go on YouTube and listen to my songs and other 0:12:10.836 --> 0:12:13.076 writers and go on YouTube and listening to a hundred 0:12:13.116 --> 0:12:16.516 of my songs, and so that that really had a 0:12:16.516 --> 0:12:20.196 big impact on me getting work and having something to 0:12:20.236 --> 0:12:24.436 support the word of mouth, but also giving like hundreds 0:12:25.316 --> 0:12:29.236 of writers, like just hundreds of songs to study my style. 0:12:29.396 --> 0:12:31.996 So that was a part of my style. 0:12:32.076 --> 0:12:37.196 Becoming proliferating around right big with this in the you 0:12:37.236 --> 0:12:40.116 know R and B saying, so you were just making 0:12:40.116 --> 0:12:43.436 these songs like your own personal songs. 0:12:43.116 --> 0:12:45.876 And I was trying to get placements. So when I 0:12:45.916 --> 0:12:50.356 got my first placement or or song on someone's album, 0:12:50.356 --> 0:12:52.756 it was on Katherine McPhee's album, and I don't remember 0:12:52.796 --> 0:12:55.396 the name of the song. But I was so excited 0:12:55.436 --> 0:12:58.516 because you know, like just getting one song place is 0:12:58.596 --> 0:13:03.396 a miracle. And the time, yeah, it was popping, I 0:13:03.516 --> 0:13:07.556 was I was happy. And the guy, one of the 0:13:07.556 --> 0:13:10.276 guys that worked at the publishing company came to me 0:13:10.316 --> 0:13:13.636 and he was keeping track of like everybody's songs because 0:13:13.636 --> 0:13:15.756 that was part of his job, and he gave me 0:13:15.756 --> 0:13:17.396 a spreadsheet and was like, I want you to see this, 0:13:18.116 --> 0:13:20.236 and showed me that I had written or started three 0:13:20.316 --> 0:13:24.596 hundred songs before my first placement. So like a lot 0:13:24.636 --> 0:13:26.956 of those songs and we're the ones that people are 0:13:27.036 --> 0:13:29.156 sending to an rs and stuff trying to shop them, 0:13:29.796 --> 0:13:31.756 which is so funny because I have almost no I 0:13:31.756 --> 0:13:35.436 have like five hundred releases, and I think one came 0:13:35.476 --> 0:13:39.516 from shopping of all those five hundred songs, the other 0:13:39.716 --> 0:13:41.916 hundreds of songs came from people was just finding my 0:13:42.036 --> 0:13:47.076 personal music and becoming fans. And to answer this extremely 0:13:47.116 --> 0:13:49.356 long answer to your question why I wanted to do 0:13:49.476 --> 0:13:53.076 this now is because over the years, my super small 0:13:53.156 --> 0:13:56.756 fan base has grown to a bigger small fan base 0:13:57.276 --> 0:14:02.796 of people that are really so supportive and just you know, 0:14:02.876 --> 0:14:05.796 like giving me so much energy, especially when I'm the 0:14:05.876 --> 0:14:07.956 music I've been releasing over the years is really just 0:14:08.716 --> 0:14:12.436 you know, like to satisfy create my creative you know, 0:14:12.516 --> 0:14:15.916 desire or whatever, just wanting to be able to release 0:14:15.956 --> 0:14:17.476 things that I don't have to think about all the 0:14:17.516 --> 0:14:19.956 parameters that come with working with superstars, even though I 0:14:19.996 --> 0:14:23.516 also love parameters because they forced you to do something different. 0:14:24.156 --> 0:14:26.836 And so why I'm putting the album out now is 0:14:26.836 --> 0:14:28.316 I I just can't take it anymore. I want to 0:14:28.396 --> 0:14:30.756 let the fans and people that listen to my music 0:14:30.876 --> 0:14:34.556 in the community and at large know that I appreciate 0:14:34.676 --> 0:14:37.756 all the support by putting some energy into it. And 0:14:37.796 --> 0:14:41.876 then also I want to update these niggas because you know, 0:14:41.996 --> 0:14:45.316 like so many people study me. And then also it's 0:14:45.556 --> 0:14:47.476 because I've already seen a lot of people talking about 0:14:47.516 --> 0:14:51.436 like why is James's first album on Christmas? Album? Actually, 0:14:51.436 --> 0:14:51.796 today I. 0:14:51.796 --> 0:14:53.876 Saw don't steal My question broll No. 0:14:54.036 --> 0:14:58.276 Today I saw a sweet that said James Finloy's debut 0:14:58.396 --> 0:15:01.636 album being a Christmas album is such a James Finleroy 0:15:01.716 --> 0:15:05.996 thing to do, and I was like missing accomplish. So 0:15:06.036 --> 0:15:10.156 it was why is your first album with christ Well 0:15:10.756 --> 0:15:13.276 part of it, there's a couple of answers one is like, 0:15:14.316 --> 0:15:16.276 because these songs have been out for so long I have, 0:15:16.396 --> 0:15:17.996 I've had a lot of time to see what people 0:15:18.076 --> 0:15:20.676 like or not, you know, and I get a lot 0:15:20.756 --> 0:15:24.316 of responses about this Christmas music throughout the year and 0:15:24.436 --> 0:15:27.676 four years, like so I know people like it, and 0:15:27.676 --> 0:15:29.716 I know people listen to it not only in Christmas, 0:15:29.796 --> 0:15:34.836 but creatively. It's just it's a fun way to stretch 0:15:34.956 --> 0:15:38.236 my imagination because like, like, for instance, I did an 0:15:38.276 --> 0:15:42.436 album one time that people don't even know. It's seven 0:15:42.516 --> 0:15:44.676 songs on the projects and each one of them is 0:15:45.236 --> 0:15:48.276 referencing one of the days of creation in the Bible. 0:15:48.796 --> 0:15:50.676 And you know, like I did that because I was 0:15:50.676 --> 0:15:54.196 studying philosophy at the time, but also because it's just 0:15:54.236 --> 0:15:57.516 fun when you give yourself new. You know, almost every 0:15:57.556 --> 0:15:59.396 song is about the same like three or four things. 0:16:00.076 --> 0:16:01.916 And I told you I wrote three hundred songs before 0:16:01.956 --> 0:16:04.156 my first one, so you can imagine that was almost 0:16:04.156 --> 0:16:06.396 twenty years ago. How many have written up to this 0:16:06.436 --> 0:16:08.716 point and you started running out of shit to say 0:16:09.236 --> 0:16:12.036 and do, and like, how do you how do I 0:16:12.116 --> 0:16:16.156 make this fun? It's like coming up with something new 0:16:16.476 --> 0:16:20.636 to challenge myself and pull something new out of myself 0:16:21.276 --> 0:16:24.156 and I'm still I feel like I still haven't had 0:16:24.476 --> 0:16:26.236 which is gonna sound crazy. I can feel it right now, 0:16:26.236 --> 0:16:27.796 but I feel like I still haven't had the success 0:16:28.116 --> 0:16:29.316 trying to get well. 0:16:29.396 --> 0:16:32.316 But it's funny because you're working in two different like 0:16:32.316 --> 0:16:34.316 like you could judge your success a couple different ways. 0:16:34.316 --> 0:16:38.116 Like obviously, working as a writer producer, you've had just 0:16:38.156 --> 0:16:40.796 about as much success as won't can help to have 0:16:40.876 --> 0:16:43.036 as a writer producer, right, But then there is this 0:16:43.196 --> 0:16:44.756 like thing of you as an artist, and it's like, 0:16:44.916 --> 0:16:47.716 you know, now, when I go to look for James 0:16:47.756 --> 0:16:51.516 Fauntleroy on Apple Music or Spotify or whatever, it's not 0:16:51.596 --> 0:16:54.196 just you featured on whatever, it's like an actual body 0:16:54.196 --> 0:16:55.836 of work from you that I could So it's like 0:16:55.876 --> 0:16:58.116 this other thing probably keeps things fun for you man 0:16:58.156 --> 0:16:59.716 to like keep yourself challenged. 0:16:59.716 --> 0:17:01.796 And yeah, I got to think of something because the 0:17:01.876 --> 0:17:03.156 music business is not fun. 0:17:03.236 --> 0:17:05.436 So like what do you mean by that? 0:17:05.876 --> 0:17:09.076 It's terrible? I mean, like, you know, every movie about 0:17:09.316 --> 0:17:13.796 the music business is terrible, like The Temptations, that's the 0:17:13.796 --> 0:17:14.796 one I always use. 0:17:14.956 --> 0:17:18.316 But you got to stay off of drugs. 0:17:18.996 --> 0:17:22.196 You got to show because it's like we're selling an 0:17:22.196 --> 0:17:27.396 intangible product, you know, and so like it's a breeding 0:17:27.436 --> 0:17:31.916 ground for common and you know, like people who are 0:17:31.996 --> 0:17:35.916 unscrupulous because it's it's it's a great environment to hustle, 0:17:36.116 --> 0:17:39.036 you know. So like that's really one of my life 0:17:39.396 --> 0:17:42.836 goals is to prove that you can be successful without 0:17:42.876 --> 0:17:44.916 being a piece of shit and fucking people over left 0:17:44.916 --> 0:17:48.036 and right, and you know, like doing fair business. 0:17:48.076 --> 0:17:51.556 And do you find yourself in the and wanting to 0:17:51.596 --> 0:17:55.436 practice less predatory sort of business practices? Do you do 0:17:55.436 --> 0:17:58.476 you find that like people try to screw you over 0:17:58.956 --> 0:17:59.636 every day? 0:17:59.836 --> 0:18:00.436 Absolutely? 0:18:00.876 --> 0:18:02.156 And do you think people are trying to screw you 0:18:02.196 --> 0:18:05.076 over more because necessarily see that as maybe a weakness 0:18:05.116 --> 0:18:06.236 and you're not trying to hustle. 0:18:06.316 --> 0:18:10.636 I think they're just on autopilot, just doing whatever they can, 0:18:10.876 --> 0:18:13.676 just trying stuff like the raptors in Jurassic Park when 0:18:13.676 --> 0:18:18.076 they're like hitting an electric fence. That's these guys are 0:18:18.156 --> 0:18:20.516 just like testing every fence they get they come in 0:18:20.516 --> 0:18:24.156 contact with. And I wish it would be nice if 0:18:24.436 --> 0:18:28.796 people would, you know, like consider that before I got 0:18:28.796 --> 0:18:31.396 to this latest person that's trying to take advantage of me, 0:18:31.436 --> 0:18:33.516 how many people I had to get through to get 0:18:33.556 --> 0:18:35.636 to this point, it would be nice and they would 0:18:35.676 --> 0:18:38.116 just but I can't be mad. I you know, I've 0:18:38.116 --> 0:18:39.596 been in Vegas. I played Rouette once. 0:18:39.676 --> 0:18:43.036 It was really I was like, I get it, you 0:18:43.116 --> 0:18:43.476 get it. 0:18:43.556 --> 0:18:46.076 Yeah, man, you know you win one time and it 0:18:46.156 --> 0:18:49.116 just hooks you. So every time somebody, every time I 0:18:49.116 --> 0:18:52.076 see anyone do anything crazy or say anything crazy, my 0:18:52.076 --> 0:18:53.996 first thought is, though they got away with that shit before, 0:18:54.036 --> 0:18:55.556 and that's why they think they could do that. 0:18:55.796 --> 0:18:58.116 So it's really it's the business that's not fun. 0:18:58.556 --> 0:19:04.556 Yeah, the music that can also lose its excitement for 0:19:04.796 --> 0:19:07.116 a number of different reasons. But yeah, it's the business 0:19:07.156 --> 0:19:10.836 and just human life. Like I study forhilosophy so extensively, 0:19:10.876 --> 0:19:14.796 Like I spoke at the Philosophical Research Society. I think 0:19:14.796 --> 0:19:15.436 that was this year. 0:19:15.996 --> 0:19:18.196 Wow, what'd you speak on? This? 0:19:18.276 --> 0:19:24.636 One was about a famous philosophical text called The Secret 0:19:24.796 --> 0:19:30.196 Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall's who founded 0:19:30.236 --> 0:19:34.076 the Philosophical Research Society. And my first talk there was 0:19:34.076 --> 0:19:36.556 like a decade ago, and that was on NPR. And 0:19:36.596 --> 0:19:38.476 I just found the footage because I feel like people 0:19:38.476 --> 0:19:40.636 think I'm lying when I say that ship, but I got. 0:19:40.516 --> 0:19:42.116 Evidence now it's on NPR. 0:19:42.476 --> 0:19:45.356 And then it with NPR and now I had college 0:19:45.396 --> 0:19:47.316 professors for risks. 0:19:47.316 --> 0:19:48.596 Bro, you did it. 0:19:48.916 --> 0:19:50.796 It's like I did it on Believe. 0:19:51.116 --> 0:19:54.556 Yeah it Ron Rihanna Sance, You're like pulling up MPR footage. 0:19:54.876 --> 0:19:59.836 Chance Bro, Damn well, how'd you go to the philosophy going? Broke? 0:20:02.196 --> 0:20:02.596 Some people? 0:20:02.596 --> 0:20:04.676 When you lose all your money, that's when you really 0:20:04.716 --> 0:20:06.996 started looking for God, right in that moment you started 0:20:07.036 --> 0:20:07.836 praying and ship. 0:20:08.156 --> 0:20:09.636 It was just after you had some money. 0:20:09.836 --> 0:20:10.036 Yeah. 0:20:10.156 --> 0:20:13.196 Man, you know, I haven't met a person yet that 0:20:13.236 --> 0:20:18.196 didn't blow their first million dollars, and most people I 0:20:18.236 --> 0:20:20.636 know are have also blown their last million dollars. So 0:20:20.956 --> 0:20:25.276 it's just a That's Another part of the predatory environment 0:20:25.316 --> 0:20:28.756 that makes it hard to enjoy is like you know, 0:20:28.836 --> 0:20:32.356