WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: David Porter 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.040 Questloft Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:11.799 So of y'all, June is Black Music Month, and every 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:15.040 year we use this time to acknowledge something that really 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:19.880 can't be overstated. Black music is one of the foundational forces. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:20.640 Behind modern culture. 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:23.800 Now, back when Teams Supreme and I were doing the 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.920 Questlove Supreme and now on the Quest Loft Show, we've 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.440 always tried to create a space for those stories. So 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.360 for the entire month of June, we're bringing you an 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:38.160 episode every day focused on the history, influence, and ongoing 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.800 evolution of black music. Team and I dug through the 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:45.640 catalog and selected episodes that feel especially meaningful for now, 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:50.239 the conversations that inform, entertain and connect the dots between 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:55.200 where this music comes from where it's headed. Now, alongside those, 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:59.160 we'll be releasing four new episodes of Quest Loft Show 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:04.160 featuring trailblazers, innovators, and cultural connectors and visionaries who represent 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.679 the past, present, the future of black music. I want 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:23.679 you to enjoy this. Thank you. What's up, lazies and gentlemen. 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.959 This is another episode of Quest Love Supreme. I mean 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:33.600 host Questlove, which means the family. We got Layah, Hello, 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:34.240 how are you. 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:36.600 I'm well, Hello, sir doing well? 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:38.720 Yeah, you're back in LA right now? 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:39.920 I am back in La. 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:42.319 Yeah. Yeah. Gloom and Doom. 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:44.640 Yeah, Gloom and Doom. 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.160 Yeah, May Gray June Gloom. People don't know this about La. 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:48.640 Get it, get it into it. 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:54.920 Okay. It's good to hear. Fan Tickeolo is in the 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.320 blue room. Yeah, man, yeah, man, I got a new 0:01:57.400 --> 0:01:59.800 light bulb. I think previously you're going purple. 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:01.040 Yeah, I was on purple. 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:03.280 I went blue. I went cool. You know what I'm saying. 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.200 We got a legend in the building with us today, 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.480 so you know, I tried to make it cool for him. 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.000 So yeah, that is what it is. 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:12.480 Saga, Steve, what's up, bro? 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:14.960 How you doing? Hi? Everybody? 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:15.720 What? 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:20.239 Everything's good? Everything's good, Thank you, Steve. 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.040 Ladies and gentlemen. I will say our guest tonight is 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:27.160 I mean, I feel like all of our guests are legendary, 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:31.880 super legendary, but our guest tonight world famous Songwriting Hall 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:36.880 of Fame member having damn near pinned over close close 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:42.600 to two thousand joints joints in his illustrious career. He 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:46.480 is the architect, in my opinion, the architect of the 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.520 sound of Memphis, you know, a city that has rich 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:53.760 musical history, and you know, as a staff member, as 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:58.000 a writer, as a producer for Al Bell's legendary Stax label, 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.920 he is giving us so much magic over the decades, 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:06.520 along with this songwriting partner Isaac Hayes, and on his 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.639 own of course, you know, he's worked with too many 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.840 legends to name. Uh, there's Sam and Dave, There's Otis Wridding, 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:18.359 bar Kay's, Carla Thomas, the Emotions, Albert King, Rufus Thomas 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:24.400 and of course Johnny watch out for Jodie Taylor Eve. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:28.640 Even if those names I mentioned are slightly before your time, 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.799 I will say that, you know, if you're a hip 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:36.560 hop head, can we say that his composition might be 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:41.520 the musical backdrop of the East West La beef. 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:44.520 O Man, Oh my god. 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:46.520 Well no, no, no, because the word is that you know, 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:51.760 Pop got yeah, Pop sort of felt that you know 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.360 who shot you was about him, which you know, we 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:58.800 have clear evidence that Biggie did that rhyme with Keith 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:03.240 Murray for the Mary j b interlude, you know, long ago. 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.040 But the truth didn't matter at that point. The truth 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:05.520 didn't matter. 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.760 Yeah, the truth didn't matter. I guess the perception was 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.840 bigger than what reality was. You know, we live in 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:16.160 a time where facts don't matter, and so I will 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.640 just say that, you know, between like Biggie and Wu 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.400 Tang and Kane and Mop and Will Smith and so 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:26.000 many others have used his work. You know, we're in 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.440 the presence of a legend and we're honored to have 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.080 the one and only great David Porter on Quest Love Supreme. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:34.840 Welcome to the show. 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:39.320 Yes, yes, as how I read said, how do you 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.960 talk that? It's really. 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.719 You laid the foundation. So I'm just you know, regurgitating 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.640 your your life's work. So were you right now? Are 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:51.719 you still a membhers? 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:55.760 No, I'm in New York. I was speaker at the 0:04:55.839 --> 0:05:00.839 ai mp A summit, which I left there, came right here. 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:03.560 That's why I have this loud jacket on. I was 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.360 along with your fan and your friend Doug it Fresh. 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:09.400 He wanted me to tell you. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.799 How Oh okay, we had Doug on the show. 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.159 Oh yeah, yeah, you know I was going to ask, like, 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.200 do you normally dressed this swinky every day? 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:22.520 Now? A sweatsuit guy? That's me? 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.480 Okay right now. 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.920 Loud jacket on it. But he's folk. But Dougiees wanted 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:30.880 me to be sure to tell you hell and yes, 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:32.400 it's an honor for me to be here. 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:33.279 Thank you. 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:33.920 What you guy? 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.440 Can you tell us your first musical memory? 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:42.080 Well, you mentioned one of the cornerstones of those memories, 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.000 and that's Maurice. I was born on the Dating Street 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.760 in Memphis, Tennessee. My next door neighbor was a family 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.599 called the Cunninghams, and they were drummers, and we sang 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:55.320 up the street at a church called Rosy, a Baptist 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.839 church where if you read Maurice's autobacco, he mentioned that 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:03.000 in his bikle but which is true? And Kelly Cunningham 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:05.760 and Leander Cunningham were the brothers that were older than 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.480 Carl Cunningham, who just so happened to be the drummer 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.440 that was an airplane press with Otis Redding. He was 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.840 the original drummer for the barcades. Four to us up 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:17.440 the street on the left hand side of the street 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:22.560 was Maurice White and we came together eight nine years 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.840 old singing a rose here back to church right on 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:29.600 that same dead end street. And the stimulus for the 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:34.360 impressions and the motivation for her creativity and people making 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:36.880 us thinking that we had some singing talent because they 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.359 were clapping and shouting, and we didn't realize it because 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.840 they were worshiping. We thought it was all about as 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.719 young kids. But the motivation to want to have the 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:49.160 passion for music where they stem out of that experience. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.120 So you were nine years old when you started playing 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:52.680 in your church. 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:56.719 Well, actually I was before nine. We were going to church. 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:01.719 Uh yeah, but but actually singing in a kind of 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.120 a quartet that's not the right kind of word, but 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:08.400 loop kids singing together Linn, Kelly and Maurice and I 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:10.800 was about eighty nine years old. We were going to 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:14.680 Rose Elementary School and singing in church on Sunday. That 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:18.760 was the real experience of learning how to feel good 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:20.239 about doing that in front of people. 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:22.960 And you were born in Memphis, Tennessee. 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:27.160 I was born at two ninety Virginia Street, up against 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:31.400 a building called Coal Manufacturing Company, which was the last 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.640 last house at the bottom of the hill. When it rained, 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.160 water would roll down the hill and up against that 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:41.080 tin building and very close to going into our home. 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.520 And the next door neighbor was the Cunninghams, which Carl 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.840 was the drumming, and right up going up the hill 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.960 was Maurice and that was it right there. 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:53.360 Like I know, a lot of legends were born in Memphis. 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:55.080 Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis. 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:56.360 Was she notice she was? Yes? 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:57.760 Okay, she was. 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:01.600 Her father preached Reverend Franklin preached my father's funeral, you know, 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:05.400 at Great Whitstone Baptist Church. Yeah. When I first when 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.480 I told her Reef that years later, it just blew 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:09.280 her away because she had recorded I Take what I 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:13.040 Want one of the compositions bizic and I and I 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.440 told her then she just blew her away. Yeah. Yes, 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.920 she was born in Memphis, Tennessee, right near Fourth Street. 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.360 So just tell me, like the general like, why is 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:24.440 that town so musical? 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:29.040 Well, there, in nineteen forty seven, forty eight, there was 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:32.760 a radio the first black radio station in the country 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:37.240 was WDA in Memphis, Tennessee. And the fact that that 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:41.760 before that, all of the music you heard was you know, 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:44.920 the pop, flavorite kind of kind of vibe. And so 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.600 the energy for the originality and I'm going to speak 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.080 for in just a second didn't come to bear until 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:56.400 WDIA started playing all of those amazingly emotional connecting music 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.320 by black artists. And the one thing that happened that 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.800 was really really meaningful and impactful on young kids during 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:07.440 that time was the individuality of artists and artists. You know, 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.200 back then you had a four piece rhythm based drums, 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.520 guitar and keys, and so in order for that kind 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:15.640 of magic to happen in a unique kind of way, 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:18.440 artists that you were listening to on the radio. One 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:20.720 thing that as a he had, one thing that really 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:24.120 manifested itself to you was the individuality of artists. You 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:26.320 listened to Chuck Berry and what he was doing with 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:28.840 the guitar and his rhythm essence of how he was 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:30.559 doing what he was on even though he had a 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.000 rhythm of compingment, but the focus was his guitar playing. 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.319 And you listened to Little Richard and his piano playing 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.920 and what he was doing. The individuality, in addition to 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:43.440 his persona as a singer was was his personality. Fats 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:47.360 Domino with the same piano playing. The individuality of Fats 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.040 was the Fats buy So you were you were able 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.480 Jackie Wilson with the range and the magic in his 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.040 tones and things you were looking at as a youngster, 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.080 those kind of impressions that were in turn motivating you 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:02.280 to understand that the magic having through music was trying 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:06.240 to find something that identified you and your uniqueness. And so, 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.199 starting from that kind of foundation, all of us started 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.920 trying to find that magic. So when you mentioned Al Jackson, 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.400 his father was a musician and a drummer. But L 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:18.000 started finding his own niche out of an individualistic way 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.680 for himself. And by the time we got to Stacks 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.800 with the slope floor in the room, the Stacks was 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.480 an old movie theater and the floor was sloping. We'd 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.880 get in there during our records. L would be at 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.360 the bottom of the floor. We'd be doing the vocal 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:34.959 off the top of the floor with Sam and Dave 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.920 or Johnny Taylor, Aba King or whoever. Isaac would be 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:39.960 the mid floor and Steve would be a little higher 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.400 than that. L heard of the lake when he would play, 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.559 and his pocket was feeling where the true essence of 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.280 the tempo was with that laid back kind of essence 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.960 that was coming throughout the room, and so but everybody 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.760 would work to find the individuality because of the motivation 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:56.559 of the music that we was hearing coming from Wdia, 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:59.600 even with BD King before he blew up. You know, 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.160 there was magic that he was finding it within himself. 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:05.080 Bobby Blue Blain and Johnny A's and all these people 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.520 had their own persona. Of course, was also in turn 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.280 motivating us with aspirations to do music, to try to 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:12.760 find that for ourselves. 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:16.200 Actually, I'm glad I have you now because you know, 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:21.319 even though it's been kind of six months since the 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:27.719 release of the movie. As a director, Baz Luhermann kind 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.440 of has us at arm's length a little bit with 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:35.199 his You know, it's when you make Hollywood biopics, it's 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.560 either like did these facts really happen? Or is this 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:43.480 a Hollywood tale? And I want to believe the Elvis movie, 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:48.400 but I gotta hear from someone that was at least 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.920 in proximity. The way they portrayed it was like, you know, 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:56.960 he was just hanging around the way amongst the brothers 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.400 and whatnot. I mean, is that a fact or was 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.760 that more or embellosing beers. 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:07.920 Lhrmann came to Memphis and asked if he could talk 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:10.280 to me. So he came to my studio in Memphis. 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:13.000 The reason he came to the studio in Memphis because 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:18.800 HBO did a special called The Searcher on Elvis Presley. 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:22.480 And if you saw the Searcher, which they showed it 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:24.559 for a couple of days in a row, and it 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.280 was a few years ago, then you saw me talking 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.800 about Elvis on that special. The reason that I was 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:34.679 able to talk about everscol So when I was a 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:38.000 kid walking up from the Virginia Street where I was born, 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.720 up to Beale Street, which wasn't that very far, Maurice 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.600 did the same thing. We would see people because we 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.199 were not able to go in the clubs or anything like, 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.720 we would just walk up the street and just see people. 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:49.480 I was a poor kid, like I said, from a 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.200 lar's family. My dad was died when I was two 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:53.599 years old, and so I had a little bit of 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.680 freedom of beautiful, amazing mother. So I was able to 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:59.640 go and just with these aspirations that want to do music, 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.280 get that kind of vibe. And so there was this 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.840 young kid, white kid hanging around the street. I didn't 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.720 know it was Elvis especially anything like that, nothing akin 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.480 to that. But I've found out that that was, in 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.280 fact Elvis, a white boy that wanted to sing black 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:20.320 And so what I did was I really told bears 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.000 where Elvis got the vine from. Elvis got the vine 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.599 from Roy Hamilton. And if you saw the movie The 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.000 Search It, the reason that the name Roy Hamilton is 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:29.880 mentioned in the movie is because I told him that's 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.480 where it came from. Otis Blackwell, who was the writer 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:35.840 who didn't get all of the money and certainly didn't 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.400 get all this writer credit, was a writer of so 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:40.400 much of the Elvis still and if you listen to 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.120 ODIs if he was alive, you see where Oldis also 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:46.200 got it from. But but Roy Hamilton, the flavor and 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.160 the nuances of Elvers's singing came from Roy Hamilton. Check 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:50.880 us out of some MISERI to catalog. 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:54.600 I used to Yeah, I used to listen to I 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:59.760 think Isaac covered Don't Let Right, Yes right, So my dad, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.559 my dad used to play the Roy Hamilton version. Now, 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.760 I always thought that was Elvis. The turntable was too 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:07.520 high for me to see, like what was on the lake. 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.000 So yeah, yeah, for the longest I thought that was 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:12.120 an Elvis Presley song. 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.680 So what with this being straight up in real there 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:20.440 was an authenticity about Elvis's comment being influenced by black 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.320 artists and that that was in fact true. Elvis would 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:27.000 come to It was an event that WD I with 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.240 Hole in Memphis called the Good Real Review. Elvis would 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.880 show backstage at the Dead Review. There are pictures of 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:37.200 Elvis with Rufus Thomas and so, but that's real now. 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:39.960 So was he the only white gentleman to do that? 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:41.320 Is that why I feel so special? 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:42.720 Because he was just by himself? 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:48.560 Listen, the individuality of black talents was a template that 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:52.640 American used to break talents like that them finding ways 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:56.400 to replicate some anuances of black talents was the cornerstone 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:00.400 became whatever you want to call it, even up into 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:03.320 this day. So no, no, he was not. He was 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:04.320 not the only one. 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:06.840 And not the first I'm guessing either, just the maybe 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:07.640 the most talented. 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.960 He just blew up, but he, you know, he was. 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:15.200 There was so much magic happening around Beal Street. This 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.800 is famous street Memphis, a lot of poor people, but 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.240 we were people having a good time inside of what 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.720 they had to deal with, and that was the place 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.480 they would go to do it. And there were clubs 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:30.000 and the like on that street. That was magic. And 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.640 like I said, the individuality of people being proud of 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.360 who they were would manifest itself, not only in the 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.680 way people would perform on stage, but even the way 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.480 a guy who may have been working on the garments 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.400 shop were dressed for the weekend, just be having a 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.160 good time in his own world. In in the bias 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:48.400 and the racism that was going on in that prevalent time, 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.040 you could not kill the spirit of a people, and 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:52.880 that was that was what it was. And then there 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.640 was some folks lock in the Elvis would would come 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.520 and hang around that vibe and that spirit, and obviously 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:00.440 we eventually found out what it a being. 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:00.760 Friend. 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.480 Well, let me ask you, so, you know, having come 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.960 of age in the mid seventies early eighties, I'll say 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:12.200 that you know, your average soul singer is pretty much 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.080 at this point like emulating Stevie Wonder like with his 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:21.040 soulful voice and whatnot. And so you know, I've of course, 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.360 because I wasn't born during the time when Elvis first 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:27.480 came out, I didn't know for sand like, so everything 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.320 I learned was you know, sort of like later in 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.440 my life. And I always knew, you know, that the 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:34.840 theory of like, you know, if I could find a 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:36.720 white boy that sings like a black guy. I'll make 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:39.520 a billion dollars from you know, Colonel Tom Parker saying that. 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:44.440 But like, in your opinion, was Elvis's voice in your 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:47.360 opinion as a true blue Memphis in that in that era, 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.600 was that the actual voice of a black guy? 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:51.200 Like? 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:53.560 Was it if you were to put him more, was 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:59.920 it sort of like Bobby Carwell? Well, yeah, I know 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.360 I agree with the Roy Hamilton thing. But is that 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:07.280 sort of snarling thing that was gonna was that the 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.080 actual voice of because if I'm thinking of that time period, 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.520 I'm thinking more like Ray Charles and whatnot. But is 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:16.040 it just was it just typical for black singers to 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:17.240 have that sort of voice? 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:21.320 That isn't you got to give him a little bit 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.919 of him finding what the black brother couldn't give, and 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.439 that's the whiteness of who he was. And so the 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:29.480 nuance is that that gave him a little bit of 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:31.800 a tort came out of him not being able to 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.680 replicate with the truness of what all these talents were. 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.520 And you consider what Otis was doing. Otis Blackwell, who 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.120 wrote the songs I Wish you could hurt. I met 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.359 this brother and knowing that there were a lot of 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:45.280 credits that were given to Elvis that I knew Elvis 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.080 didn't write the songs with him, but he's written the 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.680 songs with Otis Black well, things that I heard, those 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:53.399 kinds of things. But you can listen to him, and 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:55.800 you can hear this guy saying and you can say, oh, 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:57.600 Ever's got some of that from him. Ever's got some 0:17:57.680 --> 0:17:59.520 of that from Roy Evers got some of that from him. 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.440 And so he was able to put those things together 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:04.400 but also find a niche that gave you a little 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.879 bit of what he was about as well. And it 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:10.960 became a combination of those things. But it was magnified 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.080 by the uniqueness of the Black contribution that he grew 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:20.480 from fast forward justin without a doubt, right. You know. 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:23.480 The interesting being if you think about the seventies and 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:31.040 before them, listen, Teddy was Teddy, Otis was Otis. Johnny 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:34.640 Taylor was Johnny. Albert who couldn't read, and we would 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.080 whisper the lyrics. I would be on the mic when 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:39.480 he was singing, say the line before he was singing. 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.200 But the uniqueness of Albert planning to get to us 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:46.679 hitting the line, the uniqueness of Albert was inside of 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:52.439 his personality as avert. Oh wow, only he to do 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.280 those kinds of things. You give Johnny Taylor the melody 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.720 that Isaaca and I we wrote out, got love Somebody's 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:00.560 Baby because somebody been loving mine. Now were the song, 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:04.160 and Dave wrote a song and to teachers. But when 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:08.399 Johnny sang the song, the individuality of Johnny took it 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:12.520 to another another kind of a blue song, Little Bluebird. 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:16.280 We wrote that one listen to it. The individual reality 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:18.920 of the artists, even with the hazing for the song, 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:21.600 would take it to the persona that was the inside 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:23.600 of their uniqueness. And then by the time we get 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:25.680 the Sam and David, we're doing the church thing, which 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.520 is all we're doing the individual of Sam with the 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:30.960 combination of David and I would direct them like a choir. 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:32.919 If you listen, I think you you're gonna hear me 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:36.159 holler at the very intro, I thank you because I 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:38.640 make the mistake and holler. We kept that tape, but 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:40.640 that's because I'm on the other side of the mic 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.000 directing them. But I cannot give them the individuality that 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.280 brings out the uniqueness of what they were. And it 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:50.280 became an identity thing because they were focused on making affairs, 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:52.960 and so that's what all of those are. So even 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:58.280 before Stevie, the individuality that ultimately ended up being Stevie 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.240 grew out of some of the influences that he heard 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:03.280 as a youngster. Because the first record I heard on 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:07.080 Steven Fingertips, I didn't hear Stephen One like Stevie Wonder. 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:10.359 You all I heard Steven want to like Stevie Wonder 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:13.800 because he stopped affecting the uniqueness that was truly him 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:17.280 and he magnified it. And then everybody says, to your point, 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:21.000 chus start trying to follow that template. But those who 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:23.840 followed the temple never got to the strength that Stevie had. 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:34.640 I see, I see class for you. When do you 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:39.119 sort of credit the moment that you started your mission 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.560 like you're not your come to Jesus moment with music, 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:46.400 but that this was something that you professionally wanted to pursue. 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.879 I was, how real should I be with this? 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:54.160 Let's super real? 0:20:55.680 --> 0:21:02.159 I was so so poor, from a family of twelve 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:06.720 with an outdoor toilet in Memphis. I told you who 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:09.440 my neighbors were, and we all were that way. Maurice 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:11.680 and I moved from where we worked to a housing 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:15.040 project called Lamau Gardens at the same time, which was 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:20.080 a housemand I just felt that I had to find 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.600 a way to do this thing. I thought I was 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:27.480 a singer to do this thing, and I was trying 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:30.440 to find an identity and didn't know where that was. 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:33.960 And so here's a kid working at a grocery store, 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:37.359 just getting ready to graduate from high school from Booker T. 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:40.080