WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Big Lez 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:09.600 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio, Ladies. 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:20.800 And Gentlemen, Our guest today is legend wait for it, Dairy. Seriously, 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:27.720 I am fanning out. Okay, just a brief, brief side note. 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:31.120 We are we're zooming this particular episode, so I'm looking 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:37.040 at it right now and I'm flustered. That's I'm fanning 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:43.120 out right here. Because she has been an unavoidable presence 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:47.160 in every aspect of my life, from those from those 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:52.120 legendary n. C. Martin videos from the early nineties and 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:56.760 early nineties kind of world Hint Hint, as a legendary choreographer, 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.880 as the host rat of the b Tea Staple Rap City. 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:03.760 One of the first times I was on the show 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:09.560 is because she's interviewing us. I mean, even her dancing 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:13.959 silhouette and the living single credits is etched in all 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.080 of our brains. As an actress, as a journalist, as 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.800 a fitness instruction, as a radio host on Dash Radio. 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:23.800 I'm certain I'm getting on her nerves. 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:25.399 Right now as a bad bitch. 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:28.240 Yes, I cannot believe I'm saying this. Ladies and gentlemen, 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:33.920 please welcome big less Leslie. Wait, pronounce your last name 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:36.640 for because I always get it wrong everybody I always want. 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:40.679 To say, I usually say cigar. As long as you 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:42.520 spell it right on the check, I don't even care. 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:47.039 All right, no, because I was calling you sugar for 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:49.440 the longest. He used to always correct me. All right, Yes, 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:53.480 ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to Quest Love Supreme, Leslie 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:55.120 big Les Cigar. 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:59.120 Thank you, yes, thank you so much for being here. 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:01.800 Oh I got this is amazing. So where are you 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:02.440 right now? 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:08.280 I am in Los Angeles by myself and uh, you know, 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:11.120 trying to keep the sunshine, keep the smiling because it's 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:15.119 been crazy, between the protests, between you know, quarantining, it's 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.200 been an emotional rollercoaster. For real. 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.360 Wait, I was gonna say, right now, you seem like 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:25.120 you're ready. You're like camera ready for a red carpet, like. 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:27.480 It's for real, for real. 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:29.880 This is a casual flex for you, like you just 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:30.960 wake up in the morning. 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.840 Like I wish, you know, our whole lives one zoom now, 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:37.519 So you know, I gotta look presentable at least a 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:39.480 little bit, at least from the waist up. 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.120 I was gonna say, waist down. I still got my 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:43.200 old Navy underwear on. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.360 So yeah, yeah, what is your skincare regimen? Before we 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.840 can get into your career? What is your skincare regimen? 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:58.120 What come on this genetic? Yeah? Okay, whatever side of 0:02:58.120 --> 0:02:59.720 our team, So you know. 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:00.600 Steve take notes. 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:02.840 I wanna. 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:05.480 I want to have that shine. 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:09.560 Hr C. 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:12.680 I want We ain't got no department. 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:13.799 It's okay. 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.920 Hey man, I almost went down the ship earlier. 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:22.720 So I'm so proud of everything that you're doing. Congratulations. 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:24.680 It's nice to meet all of y'all, and thank you 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:27.280 preaching out to me again. I appreciate it. 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:29.040 Thank you. 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:30.680 We've been trying to get you for a long time. 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.040 This has been one of our bucket list episode. 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:34.800 Yeah, it's definitely a bucket list movement. 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:36.400 And it was nice to be able to walk up 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:37.840 to Big Lass and say can I have your nub 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:40.520 We'll be on our show and her go yes, of course. 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:41.880 Yes. 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:46.119 I'm so lonely everybody in their hang ups and I'm 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.720 just like, it is what it is. You know, that's 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:52.000 my brother right there. So you know good. Plus, you know, 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:53.680 if you really got to find somebody, I can hunt 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:55.320 you down. I can call hunt you down. 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:00.200 You can find me, you can find me, So we 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.720 we basically at a course Love Supreme, go through the 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:07.520 journey of everyone's life. So I always start with question 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.200 number one and they tease me for it. Where were 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:10.720 you born? 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:14.520 I'm from Queens, New York, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona. 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.880 That's where I am born and raised. My family my 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.400 mom is from Augusta, Georgia. My father's family from Virginia, 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:25.080 but he's a New Yorker too, So. 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:28.080 So what what was the environment like? Like normally on 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:32.039 the show, we have music figures, and you know, the 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:35.960 story either starts out in church or some sort of uh, 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:39.480 there's always some sort of entry that leads to music. 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:44.039 But for you, though, like what was your environment like 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:45.400 in Queens? 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.680 It's it's interesting because you start off in a two 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:51.800 family household and then your parents get divorced. Came from 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:56.159 a middle class family. Literally, Like you know, every neighborhood 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.839 in Queens or New York really is a mixed neighborhood. Dominicans, Borricans, 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:03.640 go Lamias, Kuvano's, Jewish, Europeans, whatever, And that's kind of 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.000 what my neighborhood was. Even my high school was considered 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.359 like the United Nations of New York because everybody was 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.760 so mixed, and so even moving out to California and 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.240 people going or realizing that the only Latinos that they 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.200 were familiar with were just Mexicans. I'm like, what are 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.160 you talking about? What about the Epidorians, what about the legions? 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:22.560 But you know what I mean. So that's kind of 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:27.039 what I grew up around. And when my parents got divorced. 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:33.159 You know, my mom was very independent, very structured, very strict. 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:36.400 She didn't play no games. And I only moved two 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:38.440 blocks away from my father, so he was still like 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.600 in my life, I have an older sister. We don't 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:43.920 get along. We are like night and day. She's four 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:45.800 years apart, and you would think we grew up in 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:49.760 a completely different household, a miserable human being. But that's 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:50.680 a whole other chapter. 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:54.279 Still to this day, like y'all still don't get along now. 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.599 Oh no, not at all. We're actually in court over 0:05:56.680 --> 0:06:04.039 some stuff. When my father thought, real, yeah, yeah, it's 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.440 like that to the point where her and my mother 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:09.040 don't even speak. So's it's you don't stop. When you 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.479 stop speaking to a parent, then you know there's a 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.680 problem that somewhere, and you know, but my parents. My 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:18.919 mom was an educated she went to nursing school, you know, 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.200 raising us me and her, my sister. And my dad 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:25.040 was he didn't finish high school, but he worked in 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.800 US medal. He was a good guy but turned out 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:31.360 to be an alcoholic. But he was really like one 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.000 of those calm alcoholics, you know what I'm saying, Very loving, 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.000 very friendly to everybody. But he just I think fell 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.520 into a depression really when my parents got divorced, which 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.000 is the irony of it, all right, because while out 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.680 and womanize and you do all these things. But I 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:48.200 don't think he ever healed from my mother finally leaving him, 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.600 and when my mom remarried, it's like the drinking intensified 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:54.080 for him. So as much as I love my father, 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.760 I always knew I didn't want a man like my father. 0:06:56.880 --> 0:06:59.640 He was physically abusive, even though he was the nicest 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.240 man on the lot. It was that thing that happened. 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:03.960 And my mom even said, I don't know what happened 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:08.000 when he turned forty. He became somebody else. And I've 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.880 seen it happen even within the relationships of what happens 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:13.960 when men change, or that there are men that have 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.720 a broken history or something that kind of rears his 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:21.840 head somewhere down the line. Oh yeah, no, I mean 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:23.680 I think even for women too. I mean, you know, 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:26.400 whether they're going through menopause or all this other stuff. 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:28.440 It happens to both people at the same time. So 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.600 their mid life crisis and your hormones and everybody. You 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.000 don't recognize it. It becomes crazy. So when you see 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:36.160 that in your parents, you don't understand it until you 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.880 get there. But you know, I was very structured. I 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.920 was like in Girl Scouts, I was in gymnastics early. 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:45.640 I never missed a day of school in high school, 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:47.840 so I got like attendance awards. I was in honors 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.239 classes in third grade. I studied French for eleven years. 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.600 Like all these things that my mother made sure that 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.360 we were in, you know. And it's crazy because even 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:58.280 though I grew up in a mixed neighborhood, I literally 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:01.320 was like the black girl and mostly the only black 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:03.440 girl and everything. I was the only black girl in 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.720 my Girl Scout troop for seven years. I was the 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:10.360 only black girl on both my young gymnastic team and 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:13.480 my college gymnastic team. I was the only black girl 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.320 one of four and like all of my honors classes. 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.280 So it's interesting. 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:23.040 So when you're training for the gymnastics, in your mind, 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.800 is the goal like, okay, I might be an Olympic 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:30.560 hopeful or like or is it just to get college tuition? 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:34.440 Like when one enters the world of gymnastics, like what 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.439 are you aspiring for? 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.400 Initially for me, it was because one I was a 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:41.520 tomboy and two I had too much energy. I couldn't 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.320 keep still, So my mother put me in trampoline class, 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.640 and like a month or two later, the guy was like, 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:48.760 she needs to be in gymnastics because you know how 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:50.920 you do all the street tumbling and all that other stuff. 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.720 But it was refined and literally within a year. I 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:55.640 started late. Most of didn't start when they're like two 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:57.760 and three. I started when I was ten, but by 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.400 the age of eleven I was competing in national competences. 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.679 So my mom made the switch. And at first it's 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.520 really you just are thinking week to week of beating 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.800 someone in the competition, right, you just kind of want 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:10.840 to be the first on bars, the first on floor. 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:12.400 You want to win. Overall, you want to win a 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.160 team because it's a team sport and it's an individual sport, 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:18.280 and it's interesting that as close as I am to 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.920 my coach, the coach, of course never signs up to 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.160 be anyone's parent, but you end up spending more time 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.600 with your coach than you actually do your parents who 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:27.439 are working all the time, or being a lash key 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.160 kid in New York. So I learned a whole lot 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:33.360 of structure from the rules of gymnastics, from showing up 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.080 and being in a team sport and being held accountable for, 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:38.319 you know, if I fall off a beam, or if 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.480 I show up late, or if I you know, did 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:42.680 thirty push ups instead of the fifty we were supposed 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.440 to do, like there was no cheating otherwise you're punished 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.800 as a group. So therefore you take accountability. And those 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.840 are the kind of things that have you structured or 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.200 going into this business. But it wasn't until you know, 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:57.080 you get older and you realize, okay, I'm not Olympic material, 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.480 because of course that's the goal. Then it was like, well, 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:01.120 I'm going to college. Now, let me see if I 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.320 can get a scholarship. And I was able to do that, 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.120 got a four year gymnastics scholarship, which was a blessing. 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.760 Were you like a gymnastics head, Like I remember. It's 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:10.920 interesting because in the eighties gymnastics was kind of like 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.000 a thing, right, Like it was the Mary lou Retten, 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:15.640 Nadia Komaniche. 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:15.920 And stuff like that. 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.079 American anthem were like, were you like ahead, did you 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:18.920 become a fan of it? 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:24.720 No? Absolutely, you know, wild world sports on Saturday, Gymnastic me, 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:28.480 gymnastic posters all around the room and the names escaping me. 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:30.480 But there were only like two black genasts that I 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:32.440 had seen come before me, you know. 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.520 What I mean, girl the black that did that that 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:37.040 she did the black the backflip. 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:38.520 Not Dominique Dolls because that. 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:40.600 Was no, no, no, not Dominique Dolls. It's the other girl, 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:45.000 Syria Bonley were tripping. 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:46.079 But it'll come to me. 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:54.080 I was like, wow, I was like too, so I 0:10:54.120 --> 0:11:03.959 was going to say, yeahie Thomas. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:03.600 Wait, but yeah, So it was you know, being a 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:07.680 black gymnast was really like being a unicorn for most people. 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.120 And then you get in high school. I only competed 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:11.920 on my high school team for one year because they 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.320 had really bad equipment and my private gym was just 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:17.240 like you're gonna get hurt, so they only let me 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:19.079 do it for one year, and that one year was 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:21.240 the year where they had like the Big Apple Games. 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.080 I won the whole region, you know, the whole thing, 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:25.760 and it was it was a blessing. And so when 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:29.160 I got my scholarship, it was like, shoot, you know, 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.640 your mother is like, thank God, all right, I don't 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:33.360 have to come out of my pocket anymore. You know. 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.359 It's that whole thing. You know, there weren't any HBCUs 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:39.040 that had gymnastics, so I literally, you know, and I 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:40.560 knew I was going to go out of state. Like 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.920 I only applied to like one New York school which 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.079 was upstate to Courtland, which was eight hours away. I 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.160 applied to Penn State, which I got into, and I 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.520 got a partial gymnastics scholarship and a partial academic scholarship. 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.200 But I got a full scholarship to Springfield College. So 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:55.839 that's what I took. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:01.679 So how did dancing into your life? Like, I mean, 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.160 at the end of the day, I mean, you've done 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.240 so many things, but like, what what was your aspiration 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.240 as a ten year old or an eleven year old? 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.480 To my core, I'm literally like if I could do 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:18.679 surf to so lat and dance, like that's who I am. 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:22.200 Ice skating all those artistic things is really who I am. 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:25.840 And it really wasn't until two things. The TV show 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:31.079 Solid Gold, where Wayne, Oh my god, you don't understand. 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.960 She had Darcel Wayne own black gazelle legs. She wore 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:38.080 this Leo tar ponytail, and I'd be in my house 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.000 knocking over furniture, you know, pulling my underwear out of 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:45.200 my hast, trying to be like her. And I mean 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:46.960 last year I had a chance to have her actually 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.000 on my show, and I almost cried like a baby. 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.600 Darcel Wayne is what she and. 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:57.440 She looks exactly the same, son, Oh my god. And 0:12:57.480 --> 0:12:59.199 you know when people say you don't want to meet 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:01.560 your idols, like, be careful when I tell you she 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:03.880 like I could call her any day. She's given me 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.160 her number. You go out to like you don't understand. 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:09.840 And that's what I watched and was like later for gymnastics, 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.480 I want to dance like this. And then when fame came, 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:13.480 I was like, I'm sold. 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:14.439 I was gonna. 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:16.520 I was gonna ask, was you a Debbie Allen baby? 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:21.520 Like yes, and Debbie are my two right here? But 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:24.920 once you finish gymnastics, like I knew I wasn't going 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.240 to the Olympics. But you can only compete for four 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:30.160 years in college for NT double A, and I had 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:34.720 a five year bachelor's program that I got into where 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:37.880 I was studying sports medicine and physical therapy. But year 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.280 four you can't compete more past four years. I'm like, 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:42.000 I'm not gonna sit around even if I'm gonna get 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:43.679 my master's. Like, I gotta go, I gotta dance, I 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:47.120 gotta whatever. So I actually left early after I got 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:49.559 my bachelor's and my mother, of course to this day 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:52.920 is still giving me the side because here to get 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.720 my masters. But once I left, we came back to 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:57.920 New York and started auditioning. You know, everything was in 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.840 the newspaper back then, backstage and all this other stuff. 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.480 I pretty much booked everything that I auditioned for probably 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.440 the first year two years out the gate, and my 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.760 mother was like still giving me the side when you 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.320 go back to school, when you go backward. Still to 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:15.080 this day, my mother can't believe that cartwheels is the 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.400 thing that travel around the globe and TV shows and me. 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:20.800 She's like, how did this happen? She's still scratching her 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:21.800 head and less. 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.520 At what point did you know that you were physically 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.760 different than the other ladies that usually exceed in these things. 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.440 But my body has always been a topic of discussion, 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.840 you know. Third grade, I was literally wearing a bra, 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.000 so I was bigger, tested and I had to deal 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.640 with the boy snapping my bra, called me like ubani 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:43.840 great hard, I was wearing a bro so, and then 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.000 like being tall. I'm five ft six, so being taller 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:48.960 of the genus. You look at, you know, somebody like 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:52.080 some own biles and that she literally is up to 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:54.880 like my breast, and most gymnasts of people think that 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:57.760 you can only do genastics if you're like four for eight. So, 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.280 but when you see college genists, we're really probably all 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.960 around the same size. You know. Most started late, but 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:06.520 it took a long time. Like if you see me now, 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:08.680 I'm making half the time like I've never done any nudity. 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.800 But I had issues growing up because I was always 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.840 very muscular. I was always very athletic, and guys would 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.800 just be like, you look like a linebacker, why are 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.160 you so muscular? Me? So, I really didn't even take 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.240 my shirt off at the beach until I was like 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:29.640 a junior senior in college. So now you can't keep clothes. 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.520 On me, and now your body is the model to 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.600 what a lot of women pay to look like, which 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:34.800 is ill right. 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.000 But it's crazy too because even the name big Les 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:41.400 came based on who's the big girl doing backflips? And 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:43.440 that was like how he asked the producer of that 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:45.200 and they were like, oh, that's just less and somebody 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.840 just literally said big Less come here. And that's literally 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.280 how it happened. Who's the big girl doing backs? And 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:52.400 I say to people even who don't know me, well, 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:54.440 I do gymnastics, and they're like, yeah, right, maybe you 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.760 run track, maybe you play basketball, gymnastics never, and I'm like, 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:02.120 I can't even dribble, what do you sorry? You know? 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:03.760 And then I have to kind of show approve and 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:05.840 it's happened to a lot of gigs, like you don't 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:07.760 do gymnastics, and I'll be like, can you move over 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:13.520 three backhands rings and a full twist? And they're like, oh, okay. 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.080 Can you still achieve that? Now? 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:16.400 Absolutely? 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:16.800 I don't know. 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:20.440 If you've seen my Instagram, I do try to do 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.680 things with softer landings. Now I do trapeze and I 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:26.440 do tramp. I had to have some major surgery a 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.040 couple of years ago, which I'm actually working on my documentary, 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.040 so I'll take everybody through it. But I didn't think 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.560 i'd be able to tumble again, so I just have 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.400 to have softer landings. Or even if you saw the 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:41.520 don't the don't rush challenge, we did one with the dances. 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:42.560 I was so dope. 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.080 Yeah I'll flipping the cement pools and yeah, I can 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.520 still tumble. I just made need some groken after a 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.160 little ice. Mama said that. 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.800 What prompted you. I know that you said that you 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:01.720 started well with al but you mentioned backstage newspaper. I 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:05.959 remember that that was such a staple in my household 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:09.000 because my sister would, you know, try to land auditions 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.280 and all those things. So, like, I mean, at the time, 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:18.280 how did you get into the rotation of what is 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:23.520 known as choreography work or your video work? Like what 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:25.719 was your first professional job that you booked? 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:30.480 Oh? God, be actual, because I was doing It's crazy, 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:32.359 you know, being a club kid in New York. And 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:33.760 I don't know how much you guys know about the 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.760 club scene, but back then in the nineties, everybody hung 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.760 out right all the record label execs, all the artists. 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.040 There were cyphers over there, there were dance battles over there, 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:44.320 and everybody actually had business cards. And that's kind of 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:46.639 how work happened for me because there was no internet, 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:48.800 there was no telephones. There was nothing that was a 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.760 business card or calling the receptionist or watching the music 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:55.000 video saying MCA Records, let me call front desk find 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.679 out blah blah blah. There were two major jobs that 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.719 happened for me that really weren't mainstream ones. That I 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:03.080 got hired to be a cheerleader for a full force 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.520 game that they were doing for WBLS. I never really cheerleader, 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:08.399 but it was mostly danced anyway, and I got to 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.560 do backflips across the gym. By the time I finished 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:13.200 and we had to head back into the locker room, 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.080 there must have been about six people from different labels, 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.600 some artists. I need you in my video, I need 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:21.400 you to dance for my artists, blah blah blah. Then 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.280 I did an off Broadway play. Auditioned for that, and 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:28.879 ironically the play was me y Clet Lauren came somewhere 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:30.880 along the line and we were all just club kids 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.640 from New York to New Jersey whatever, and Big Beat Records. 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:37.560 Big Beat Records was going to grab a play and 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:43.840 produce it. And what's his name, Calmen Hellman, right, had 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.680 an artist, Jay Williams. I'm gone to Sweat Sweat, Sweat 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:49.480 Sweats and I'm silking with those of you who know 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:54.159 house music. That was a huge, huge, huge record. That 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.280 was my first artist. And we toured all over the 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:01.120 country and literally from people seeing me on that as 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:03.400 one of his dancers, we would call hugs and kisses, 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.320 and we were doing every club, the sound factory, the garage, 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:10.280 I mean just every club late night, three clubs a night, 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:13.080 four clubs a night to four or five o'clock in 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:16.119 the morning, and people would be in the clubs. And 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:18.159 that's how I got my work. And so I was. 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:20.920 You went to the legendary garage. 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:24.080 Oh I still have my garage card. Let me pull 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:28.120 it up on the phone. Wow, car of course, the world, 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.359 the choice, I'm telling you. 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:39.160 The music that Larry Levin's. 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:39.400 Louie Vega, Robert Owens, all of them. 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:43.280 Man, just yeah, how how immersed were you in New 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:46.159 York club? Oh? 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:46.879 Here we go. 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:51.879 The club scene, like you know, breaking her through the 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:54.160 whole bit. But most people think, is I mean because 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:57.160 you were being up from Queen's right. I actually went 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:00.720 to school with you know, kid and Play Herbie Wiz 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:03.120