WEBVTT - Questlove & Open Mike Eagle Talk Aging In Hip-Hop...And More 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:09.879 Quest Left show is a production of iHeart Radio. I'll 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:12.840 never forget it. Sorry forget it. Sorry, that was a 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:17.000 rough day. Okay, So what should we speak on? You 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.320 wanted to know about agis and well, not so much agism, 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:25.120 more like aging. Okay, like I was, I am. 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.800 Still like some part of me is still dealing with 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:34.760 like by power passing. Yeah, and yeah, for transparency's sake. 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:36.920 I mean, you know, you had given me his contact 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:39.960 and I had been talking to him about being the 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.839 next guest on what had happened, and like you said, he. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.519 Was having me pitching on it. He was having me, 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:48.720 and it was tough. It was tough. 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:51.400 He didn't want to talk about He felt like I 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.400 was asking him to tell other people's stories. 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:57.280 No, he has his own story. That's and that's what 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:01.320 That's the conversation we were having. And of course he 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:02.160 passed away. 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.360 And much like your platform, what it happened was was 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:09.560 really all about giving people their flowers. But obviously we're 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:11.840 not going to be able to give everybody their flowers. 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:14.360 People don't want that half the time. But I don't 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.600 understand why that is. I know, for me, like I 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.479 used to see, now I'm to the point where I've 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:22.920 to even watched my words. I can't say I hate 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.840 D D, because then it'll happen. I think we are 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:33.680 trained to think and live small again, despite the primitive, 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:39.800 exotic package here. I hate attention, despite everything on my 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:41.880 outside beeing like look at me, look at me, I 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:43.120 have the things to get out of my hair and 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.880 a bunch of legover my heart, and you know, like, 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:52.680 but I think that maybe if we avoid compliments. You 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:54.000 heard this when you were a kid, Like I don't 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.440 want you to get big headed, or I don't want 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:58.520 you to get a big head. I think it's the 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:03.680 fear of separation or the idea of you being alienated 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:07.200 because your light shines a little brighter than someone. 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.359 The trouble I have with wrapping my head around that 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:17.400 notion is the amount of ambition it takes to do 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.040 a lot of the stuff that we want to give 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:22.880 people flowers for. Like you're stepping up to the plate 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.320 to hit a home run, and you hit it, so 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.640 why would you not want to hear the people cheer? 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:34.239 Sometimes I think people are from the ground wul double 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:36.800 or just a trip or getting walked. 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.960 But usually people don't get flowers for getting walked. I 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.480 will tell you that I went through a four year 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:52.720 period where I was absolutely happy. Look Midsummer Soul maybe 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:54.360 seven months before the Oscar. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:56.720 I'm gonna see the point where I was having my 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:01.919 management contact Disney to take us out of the road 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:07.359 to the Oscars is paved with at least forty to 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:11.960 fifty other smaller well not smaller, some like you know 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:15.760 the Sundance thing, or if you went to can or 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:20.040 like other award things you have to do, film festivals 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:24.280 and whatnot, and you know coming out the gate first 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:29.760 of all, I mean timing is what really helped Summer Soul. 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:34.040 I had content when other people weren't prepared to have 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.000 their content because the world shut down. It just happens 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:41.000 that I finished my film right when the pandemic started. 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:42.839 I mean, to a lesser degree, that was the same 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:45.000 kind of time and network for what had happened was 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:45.920 at the same timing. 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.960 It just you just had something to entertained people. And 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:52.800 you know, again, had it been released at any other 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.240 time period, it would have just been like, oh that 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:56.840 was that was a nice little thing you did. Like 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.840 I've done three other things that didn't get that level frenzy, 0:03:59.880 --> 0:04:02.880 but I understand the times that we were in and 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:06.040 when it was award time, an award season, I mean, 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:11.160 we just started drinking everybody's milkshake. And after like the 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:14.600 thirtieth plaque comes in my house or whatever, like I 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.680 started to feel like the Grinch that stole Christmas because 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:23.080 versus like, oh, and there's like request love, you know, 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:25.680 And then I started feeling bad, and you know, it 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.000 was to the point where I was just like, you know, 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.120 I've heard of situations before where people will take themselves 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:36.120 out of getting nominated or whatever because they don't want 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.720 to stand out or whatever. So and it took a 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:42.440 long time. So there's a whole other deserved this thing. 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.279 I don't think as humans we really have dealt with 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:48.239 do we deserve love? 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:53.800 Which is an interesting question given how much you have 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.720 to fight through that same thought to make something like 0:04:57.760 --> 0:04:59.800 It's not like it's not like you roll out a 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.760 and make a masterpiece album or a great documentary. 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:08.200 It takes so much work. People are not honest. People 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.480 are not honest on what it is that they really want. 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.080 So one of the exercises I went through with therapy 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.560 is this writing exercise where I have to write the 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.560 twenty things that I went for my life right, and 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:27.599 wrote down the twenty things, turned it in, looks at it. Nope, 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.880 hey you what it's like? Those aren't real dreams? Like 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.640 do it again? All right? And this happened like seven 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:37.120 or eight times, and I was like, why do you 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:42.200 keep making me do this? And the person pointed out 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:46.600 of those twenty things, none of those things were for you. 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:50.000 You wanted to fix your moms sink. You wanted to 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:52.800 buy your banda da da da. You wanted to give 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:54.800 raises to all your staff. You wanted to da da 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.400 da da da da. She's like, it took you eight 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:02.360 drafts before you actually said the basic things like oh 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.039 I want to like myself better or love me. I 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.080 didn't even think about because I think we're just trained 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.800 to be so self sacrificing, so people aren't honest. Like 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:13.680 when people ask me like yo yo, I just want 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.960 to get your feedback or what you think. Sometimes I 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.640 have to just straight up ask them like okay, because 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.040 I don't like that whole Simon Cowell on the Spot, 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:30.320 you watch me as I do demo nod whenever you 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:32.479 do that, that then that means like oh, this is 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:36.160 a very awkward moment and yeah, let me hear whoa Okay, Okay, 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.960 Like when people start doing demo nod, it's not authentic 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.680 and so like I know there's an idea of the 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:45.960 quest love co sign. In my mind, I think it's 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.760 also a curse. Like if I say, like shied away 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.880 from doing that often because I don't want to jink 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:56.840 someone's project or whatever. If someone thinks like I'm tired 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:58.600 of seeing them, at least in my mind, I think 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:01.800 that's the thing that happens. I'm tired of seeing them thing. 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:04.719 So I mean, yeah, every day we wrestle with that. 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:07.520 Some of that seems to be about perception, I guess, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.280 tudo right, Like you don't want to be perceived as 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:14.440 winning too much or perceived as getting too many And 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:16.640 I don't mean you specifically, but I mean a person 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:22.960 shying away from receiving compliments or accolades or awards for 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:25.560 their very real hard work. 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:29.040 Yeah, but there's a lot that comes under that. Okay, 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.840 So where we are politically right now, I know, like 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.200 there's some I don't know if I should call them 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:38.720 political pundits or people that give commentary on what's happening now. 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:44.600 But you know, the general belief is that the and 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:49.160 the whole revenge of the nerds, like nerds versus jocks thing. 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.680 I think we're now realizing that, like everyone that's running 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:57.160 stuff now, we're definitely the nerds. And I definitely had 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:01.120 my moment where like, you know, oh, girl breaks your 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.680 heart and you're in the bathroom mirror like looking like 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:09.280 I'm gonna show them. Like literally, I willed this character 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.600 named Questlove Delight because of like some girl breaking your 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:14.240 heart and it didn't work out the way you wanted to. 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:16.720 I've done big stuff out of Spike, yeah right, and 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:19.840 literally like the whole joker way, they get a little 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.240 to me thing, Like I think the first four years 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:27.640 of The Roots was just based on that. And first 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:29.920 of all, I had to totally rework that whole thing 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.960 because if you don't rework that, I believe that what 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:37.880 ends up being made isn't as effective at the end 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:39.880 of the day, it won't resonate as much if it 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.760 comes from like this kind of broken and selfish place. 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.040 I think that reflects in the product. So the question, 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.560 I mean, obviously with your music, like your music is 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:54.520 so transparent and so of the moment of the present 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:58.200 of how it is that you feel like, I'll say 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:01.640 right now, like I as far as like my hip 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:05.960 hop consumption, Quelli, Chris, you of course a gene as well, 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:17.000 you know, some sort of whatever, the best of the rock, Marciano, Griselda, whatever, gritty, underground, 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:23.720 the drum less, the drumless period of what we're dealing 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.600 with hip hop, which you know, I mean, I'm very 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.360 selective in what I take in. I mean, for you though, 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:33.880 like you're the voice, You're definitely the voice in my head, Quelle. 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.920 Also for him as well, like a lot of that 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.680 what I deemed nerdy hip hop were kind of done 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:45.400 by voices that didn't look like me. So you know, 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:49.439 I'm finally, like, finally, like the people that I relate 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:52.959 to or who I see myself in are now speaking 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:56.000 for me. So that's the thing though, Like I believe 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.040 that at the end of the day, yes, this is 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.520 a business, you are surviving on it, but I know 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:07.760 for you that this is a therapeutic, healing, cathartic process 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.679 of just you as a human being. Right that to 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:16.679 me is authentic. I think that ninety five percent of 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:22.560 the participants in music now, especially in Black music, is 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:27.240 based on survival sick. But who am I to judge 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.800 that because I too used to live fifty second to 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.920 No Sage Avenue, dreaming of the day where I don't 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.400 have to look to the left, look to the right 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:42.760 outside my to make sure that you know, said bully 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:46.400 is not anywhere in proximity. I gotta get out of 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:50.360 here by hooker crook. So a lot of us are 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:54.760 are kind of in that survival still the residue of 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:55.480 survival or. 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.560 But even even in that, right, I mean, I'm assuming 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.000 you're talking about even the early Roots album still having 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:07.560 that sort of energy of trying to get out of 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.960 your situation through making this music. 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.760 Because of the pureness of how the Roots really started. 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.839 Of course, you know part one was just me lying 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:21.199 to a girl in school. Oh right, right, I'm in 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.760 agree with him, like that was the first seven years 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.040 was just you know, yeah, we're a group, just so 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.560 that we can we wanted to get girls phone numbers, 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:33.840 like you know, but just the whole the way that 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:38.440 the dominoes fell on, that whole college audition that led 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:42.040 to a girl thinking we were in a commercial that 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.760 we weren't in. Hey, let's try it. Like I'll put 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:50.559 it this way, I'm about to embark on a really 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:55.800 big presentation with jay Z for the Roots Picnic, and 0:11:55.920 --> 0:12:00.000 the way that I'm sweating overthinking every song, every segue, 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.520 and the fact I'm very shocked that we did what 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:08.520 we did as a shrug. You got a bucket, Yeah, 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.600 I got a bucket. My grandma got a bucket. All right, 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.360 So what three thirty, I'll meet you in South Street? Cool? 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:17.440 Like it was so casual as a matter of fact, 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:21.360 it's no overthinking, no, none of that stuff. And that's 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:24.160 the level of what we need to get to. But like, who, 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:29.120 like do we even see this as an art or beauty? 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:35.320 Do we? Who's the we? It's participants? Like is it 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.560 a means to an end to get out of a situation? 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:38.440 To get see? 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:40.120 Okay, So this is and this is kind of where 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:45.800 I'm getting at right cause you're asking that question. I 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.800 developed in the wake of your art. Do you know 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.880 what I'm saying? And you see the way I do it? 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:55.200 And I can sit here and tell you that part 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.679 of how I do what I do is inspired by 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.640 what y'all did, even though you were still asking that question. 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:06.880 Well, you are now literally the back to the future plutonium. No, 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.920 I'm not lying to you, Like right now the main 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:14.880 people are asking what is the hold up? I want 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.960 to feel the way that I feel when I hear 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.120 your thing, Like right now, the beats are incredible, the 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:25.800 musicianships up there, Tarik is at ace level of game 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:31.880 spitting like all the parts are technically there. But I 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:35.520 still I still think that we lack we feel emotional 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:46.240 because so adapting Phyla's warribly kind of sense of rhythm 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.559 makes it feel human. I think that the frequencies from 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:55.520 certain patches we use the Fender roads like, it feels human, 0:13:55.640 --> 0:14:00.280 So that is what gives the illusion of human this. 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.480 But I don't think that the roots have created much 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.240 in the way of Yeah, I relate to that because 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.679 a lot of it is rhyming for the sake of Riddomly, well, 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.079 am I breaking your art? Right? No? No, no, you're not, 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:16.520 You're not. 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:19.560 But I'm like, I'm like, now, see, if these mics 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:21.280 were on, I would ask you a bunch of different 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:23.040 questions that I'm not going to ask right now. 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:28.000 I ask questions, and the most diplomatic where you get ask, 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.080 I mean the most I could do is not answer. 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:39.440 What it's got me thinking about is what do y'all 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.600 even think of the roots music in twenty twenty six 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:46.080 as trying to have a conversation about something? 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:51.320 All right, this is what I do know, I think 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.440 because of my attempt to try to be all things 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.200 to all people, because this is what I'm thinking about 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.640 when I'm thinking about the roots today. What I'm thinking 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:05.320 about the roots today is Number one, everyone worth a 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:13.560 damn is dead. Anyone who's really worth a dam is dead. 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.040 So that's for starters. So let's say I already lost 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.480 half my collaborators that way. And I don't mean like, 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.120 oh the gods are dead. I mean people I actually know, 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:30.640 brilliant people. They're dead. So that's number one. Number two 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.960 is all right. So a plus for us was the 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.200 idea of being a band. But even for us to 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:40.960 be a band and get to where I am right now, 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.320 where I can sit here and talk to you, we 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:46.080 had to leave the United States to move to Europe 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.120 to live for four years just so that we could 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:53.640 survive as a band. So there's no bands. Were one 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.440 of few black bands with a deal. Well, I mean 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.800 having a deal now is not the same cachet as 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:02.960 well in the nineties. So being a black band that's 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:09.000 viable in today's society. The idea of a group, the 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:13.800 idea of more than one person presenting something. And then 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:18.760 just like you know, jamming, the idea of jamming, Like 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.800 there's four or five or six things that are passing 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:26.440 dangered species that's not left. So thus when we do 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.880 that two hour show, I'm thinking of all right, there's 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:32.200 people that neither backscratch for a classic hip hop that 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.760 they miss. There's people that neither backscratch for tarik'spitting lyrics. 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.680 There's people that miss dancing to music that's good that 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.480 doesn't feel like a wedding band, like to be a 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.880 good musician in a wedding band where I'm not overplaying 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:50.000 none of that shit. Like there's so much missing. I'm 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:54.640 so busy checking off the marks that maybe perhaps the 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:56.400 roots have lost their identity. 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:58.600 Well, I mean cause the question and if you're checking 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.200 all of those boxes is much like the conversation you're 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:03.400 talking about having with your therapist. It's like, when does 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.359 it get to what you want? Like what music that 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:08.200 you want to be in the world. 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:12.320 And this is why this is a ten year wrestling 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:17.080 match with this record, because one the most glaring part 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:22.280 is that Richard Nichols isn't here exactly. So this means 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:30.200 that Tarik and I have to really one as individuals grow. 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:35.680 So there's been a lot of therapy just individually between 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:39.320 he and I, but then also he and I have 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:43.479 to do our kind of level of couple's therapy or 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.439 that sort of thing. You know, this is thirty eight 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.680 years behind this, and so a little. 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:51.199 Bit right there, right, you're talking about a thirty eight 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:56.000 year relationship. To me, it seems like there's a ton 0:17:56.520 --> 0:18:01.480 of conversations to be had about that, and you're talking 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:05.720 about not necessarily feeling like what's on the table right 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.199 now is relatable outside of the instrumentation, but it's like 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:10.239 that's where it would be. 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:16.879 Right. So I came under you know a lot of 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:19.160 stuff I have to like, wait a minute, why am 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:27.199 I in therapy again? Wait a minute, I think this 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:32.000 is what our fan base was complaining about. Tell me 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:48.920 about Project Blude, Man, what the fuck I think? Watching 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:54.640 the way that my dad did business growing up, there's 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:59.159 always unsolicited advice that either a parent or uncle figure. 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.160 It gives you that this is always in your head. 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:06.720 And what I learned was if you build a business, 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:11.720 do not build it with your relatives or your friends. 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:18.400 And I think I had a fear that our friendship 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:23.720 issues would be key in the demands of the group. 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:26.520 And I think in my fight or flight mode, it 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:31.040 was what do I have to do to never return 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:35.479 home metaphorically home to West Philly, tail between my legs 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:39.520 and defeat. The group is over and now here I 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:42.439 am as a thirty eight year old without a degree. 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:44.080 I dropped out of Kylee to do this. What am 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.040 I going to do? Now? You know? And trust me 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:53.200 the amount of my hip hop peers that I now. 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:56.359 I mean, there's a hip hop hero of mine that 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:01.080 came up to me reaped like last month that was like, yo, dog, 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.199 let me tell you something. And I thought, like, you know, 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:06.440 a compliment was coming, like about my music or whatever. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:11.280 And he's like, yo, man, you're the greatest. And I'm thinking, like, oh, wow, 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.680 he listens to my music or whatever. I said, Oh, 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:16.240 thank you, and I'm really shocked at like, oh, I 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.000 never thought you'd listened to the roots whatever. And he 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:23.879 was like, yo, man, you are when I tell you 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.440 you're one of the best uber eats tippers I've ever 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.680 had in my life. And I tried not to get 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.080 but no, it's real to feel like that. It's real. 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:37.760 Some of our heroes have to get sneaky, theay jobs whatever. 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:41.119 And that was kind of a Jacob Marley moment for me, 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:44.800 like that's my worst and again it's not me shaming 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:49.159 someone for doing that. Look, I'm still doctor nine jobs. 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:51.399 One of these jobs is being in the roots I do, 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.439 but you know those are my passions. But when he 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:00.560 said that, it instantly brought me back to man like, see, 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:03.560 this is why I got to keep business, business and 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:07.560 friendship separate. But you know, but I also know that 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:12.560 we need each other as humans. So we are slowly 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:15.280 when I mean slowly, trying to get back to the 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:18.200 space because I do envy when I watch Daylight Soul together. 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:22.800 Every time I ask pos, I'm like, damn, like you guys, 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:26.760 are you guys are really friends? Yeah? And they're looking 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.800 at me like are you shocked? Like I'm really Jimmy 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:32.760 jam and Terry Lewis, I asked them like, wait, why 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:34.520 are you guys still acting like you like each other 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:38.560 after fifty one years? Like not one argument, I have 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:42.720 to rewrite the narratives of I've learned that any relationship 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:46.399 where you don't argue, someone's not communicating right, and so 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:51.800 I just have to read to reprogram all those things, 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:54.879 which this is what I'm doing. So we are in 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:59.520 the very slow process of getting back to the same 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:03.600 fifteen year olds that loved hip hop back in eighty seven. 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:07.280 I mean, I think these those conversations between y'all, those 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:10.119 conversations that would end up in the music even you know, 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:15.720 whatever conversations may come about the riffs, the challenges that 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:19.080 y'all have had to deal with over the course of 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:23.960 the years. Like again, like there's another generation coming behind us, 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.720 and there's no instruction manuals for any of this shit. 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:32.040 So it's like we need those lessons, like we need 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:36.200 those like we need to understand how to be in 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:40.760 high stakes organizations with people we don't necessarily agree with 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:42.440 but are both good at the thing. 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:47.760 So this is why I am also just very meticulous 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:53.160 in terms of representing whatever creative moves come next. This 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:55.520 is why I'm doing the movies so that way that 0:22:55.600 --> 0:23:00.919 you know this particular group means something for other reasons. Besides, 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:04.960 they were money makers and for us, I you know, 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:10.320 I really want to be exemplary in terms of walk 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:15.040 it like they talk it, show the growth. So yeah, man, 0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:18.920 there's a lot of you know, we're both in our 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:22.000 mid fifties and there's just a lot of personal work. 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:25.480 We had to do a lot of partner work that 0:23:25.560 --> 0:23:29.560 we had to do. And to do this in wake 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:34.720 of a two apocalypses, you know, are we depressed now? 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:41.480 I mean, look, aging is a tough subject to talk about, Okay. 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:46.000 Okay, So in your world, in your ecosystem, at one 0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:49.880 point you came to this in form of a group. Now, 0:23:49.880 --> 0:23:53.120 I don't know if you do collaboration projects just as 0:23:53.119 --> 0:23:57.000 a one off or as a hey, let's let's keep 0:23:57.040 --> 0:24:02.600 this a thing. Do you like working essentially by yourself or. 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:05.760 I mean, I'm very comfortable working by myself, and I've 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:07.480 and I'm in a group now. I'm in a group 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:09.880 of previous industries right now, me Video, Dave, and steel 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:13.959 Rift and we work together every week. But it is 0:24:14.000 --> 0:24:16.879 a different It touches on like a different part of 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:21.000 my creativity to try to filter my ideas through a 0:24:21.080 --> 0:24:23.639 group of people because we're not always aligned on everything, 0:24:23.680 --> 0:24:26.840 and these are and it's interesting too. Like Rift I 0:24:26.880 --> 0:24:28.680 went to high school with, day If I went to 0:24:28.720 --> 0:24:31.960 college with I've known these dudes twenty thirty years and 0:24:32.000 --> 0:24:34.960 we have decided in the last five years to start 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:37.760 doing music together. And it's difficult. 0:24:37.920 --> 0:24:38.360 Sometimes. 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:40.560 It's difficult because we all see things a bunch of 0:24:40.600 --> 0:24:43.320 different ways three MC's. I mean, you don't see a 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:46.040 lot of groups with three MC's ever, And this is 0:24:46.040 --> 0:24:49.040 a part of why. It's because it's hard. 0:24:48.840 --> 0:24:52.679 To get three people to agree on anything. And I 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:53.199 enjoy it. 0:24:53.240 --> 0:24:58.000 But yeah, like when I do that, I've noticed working 0:24:58.000 --> 0:25:01.520 on this group stuff, it ends up making me work 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:02.840 on my solo stuff faster. 0:25:04.960 --> 0:25:05.800