WEBVTT - Episode 305 "Muni Long" 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:05.600 Word with me here you know, bt know how it goes, 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:08.760 shout out oct no real color, what we see? Whole game? 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:09.840 Wait, the Butler book something. 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:12.120 Oh, you can't stand on their ownsle see I already 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:14.840 know you can't with me because with the squad on me, 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:16.960 they get a little They called me. 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:22.840 He love by love he love her. 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:24.160 Ball of Alert. 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:25.319 Welcome to the ball Alert Show. 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:29.200 Podcasts available everywhere you get your podcast. Please continue to like, subscribe, 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.519 and share our YouTube page at baller Alert Tv. I 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:33.920 go by the name of Ferrari Simmits. 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:35.839 I'll go on to name you know bt C t. 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:44.600 Of that money log in the building, grab me with it? 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:50.080 Yeah, I love that for me. 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.040 I love that for you too, cause you've been you 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.040 have a journey you've been on I have. You know 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:58.240 what I'm saying, How are you feeling though? Like I 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:02.080 know you been diagnosed and you know you just recently 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.120 said you had autism, Like. 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:05.600 How is that? How's how are you doing? 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.160 I mean, I'm still doing me. You gotta keep you pushing, 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:13.680 you know. I think one thing that keeps me on 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.560 the right path is just like knowing that everybody has 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:21.559 their own journey and their own unique experience and it's 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:25.200 my life and it's my responsibility to make the best 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.199 of it. Sometimes it does get a little tough because 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.600 it's like I have so much success based on like 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:36.080 the standard right status quo that when I have my 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:38.840 moments when I am down, it's hard for people to 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.600 relate and so they be like girl. So I have 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.119 to kind of struggle through those moments on my own sometimes. 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:48.760 But God don't give you more than you can carry. 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:53.640 Yeah, And I've learned a lot through about loopus, through 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.160 like Tony Braxton and people who have it, like those 0:01:56.200 --> 0:02:00.400 type of celebrities, and they say it inflame, like if 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:02.920 you're if you're worked up or if you're you know, 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:03.760 too excited. 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.520 Have you had any flirps do to things like that? 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:12.760 Absolutely? Mostly mine are like in my hands and joints, 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:17.359 so sometimes I can't really like open things as you saw. 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.040 But Yeah, it's funny because it's like it's a cash 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.560 twenty two because with something like an autoimmune that is 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.880 stress related, it's best if you don't talk about it. 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.600 But yet if you don't talk about it, there's no representation, 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:36.240 you know, So it's tough. I gotta choose moments when 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.200 when I'm feeling good, when there is anything happening like 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.840 right now where I'll share, and sometimes I'm just like, yeah, 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:46.160 you know, I don't really want to talk about it 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.360 right now because I'm kind of going through it. But 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:51.079 I think, you know, keeping your stress level of down, 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:55.880 stand positive, eating right, getting sleep, and just not putting 0:02:55.880 --> 0:03:00.000 yourself in scenarios where you could be triggered, that's really 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:01.160 the key. Mm hmm. 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.000 You have a lot of support from your family and husband. 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:09.280 Yeah. I mean I don't really ask for much, very 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.160 self sufficient, independent. I like to be by myself. So 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:16.080 when I do, they just give it to me. You know, 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.840 it's like dad, can you make me a gro cheese? 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.760 You know? So yeah, I'm very I'm very blessed. 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.079 Now, if we could take it back a little bit. 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:30.240 You're from Gifford, Florida, which is right by Vero Beach, 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:31.360 a little bit south Florida. 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.880 They pushing, they pushing the boundary to border. 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:35.880 What do you say you from? 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.560 You say you're from, Yeah, it's becoming smaller and smaller. 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:41.760 I'm a Florida guy And I literally had to look 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:51.680 that up. I was like, yeah, Florida from Okay, because 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:53.760 I've been to Vio, but I didn't know right on 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:54.720 top of Zo. 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:56.120 It's okay. 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.600 So we like a train track community, you know, like 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:03.560 they put the MLK train tracks and the you know, 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:08.840 Dollar General in the hood, and then right across the 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:13.520 train track is the beach. So there's literally people from 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.839 where I'm from that have never been to the beach 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:21.640 ten minutes down the street because it's not it's a 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:27.440 different neighborhood, you know, it's literally like driving driving hood 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:31.000 hood hood, section eight housing, you know what I'm saying, 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.000 and then train track and then boom mansions. 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:36.960 So how was it like for you growing up on 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.520 your side on that side of the tracks? Was because 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:41.920 I know somebody saying in the. 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:46.440 Family mom My mom saying yeah, in the navy, my 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:51.479 biological father, my stepfather worked for the Sheriff's department for 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:55.680 many years, I think twenty plus. He still teaches in 0:04:55.760 --> 0:05:01.520 the town. Yeah, I I don't know. I was very 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:06.000 so I actually grew up all over the United States 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.440 in my younger years. It wasn't until I was about 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:13.400 fourteen that we moved to give For which my mother's 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:17.120 hometown where she was raised as Wabasso, was twenty minutes 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:22.080 down the street. And I grew up on a farm, 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:24.159 and I was very much like if I was hungry, 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:26.520 you just go pick an orange off the tree. So 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.800 I didn't really have an actual concept of like status 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:35.159 or like we struggling because we literally lived off the land. 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:39.760 But you know, I didn't have no Jordan's or nothing 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.719 like that. Like we didn't have designer clothes. You know. 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.279 We definitely was shopped at J. C. Penny, you know, 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:49.919 buy one, get one for eighty eight cents jeans. So 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:52.440 I don't know, I was very oblivious. It wasn't until 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.360 I got older that I realized, like, wait a minute, 0:05:56.040 --> 0:06:01.600 that's not right, you know, I was. I wasn't. My 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.159 mom did a good job with keeping us, keeping us 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:09.160 shielded from that. Yes. I have two brothers, yeah, older 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:11.520 one older one younger, and I had a step brother 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:15.640 he passed away years ago. Uh so yeah, I'm the 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:16.120 only girl. 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.320 Oh wow, So you was out there you know with 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:20.920 your milk and cows and stuff too. 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:23.040 We had no cows, but I did feed the chickens. 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.679 We used to fish in the pond. We had geese. 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:28.920 I had a pet hog. 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:31.200 Yeah they are pretty smart. 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:36.320 Yeah, well they killed them and broasted them. Yeah you do. 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:36.560 You s. 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.000 No, I don't slaughter chickens when we don't do that. 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.800 I did have to learn how to gut fish when 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:47.920 I was younger, because again, we live off the land, 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:52.159 so you wasn't allowed. You have to eat what you kill, 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:54.280 so if you kill it, you got to eat it. 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:03.400 I do and I don't particularly. Yeah, a long time ago, 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:08.600 we used to shoot squirrels. I'm just throw it on 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:08.920 the grid. 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.320 But like you said, once you you know, hit your 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:14.200 teenage years and stuff like that, you was in like 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:18.080 a sheltered space with your parents and at home and 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:18.680 stuff like that. 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.320 But then you got on the internet and you. 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:24.680 Started to do your thing in two thousand and four, right, 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:26.480 two thousand and four was my first video. 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:28.400 Yes, wow did your research? 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.440 Yeah, like you said, you were sheltered. So it's like, 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.200 you know, I don't think many people you did sleepovers or. 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:35.760 Seminaris something like that. 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.520 You know, people on the internet now have friends like 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.440 fans who are online, and that's kind of like what 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:48.000 you kind of started doing at that time. You know, 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:50.680 how did that shape you as far as doing your 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.360 music in two thousand and four, I think it's kind of. 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:56.360 Like two separate things. I think one my mom didn't 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.800 let me do nothing, did lease squat. I remember one 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:02.840 time this boy asked me to the movies for Valentine's Day. 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.240 And we've known him, we've known each other since we were 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.440 like seven, and he finally was like, yo, can you 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.640 like can we go to movies? So I told my mom. 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:12.760 I got all dressed out on my pink and red. 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.920 She drove me to the movie theater. The boy came 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:21.440 up to the car. He had chocolate to bear, flowers, balloons, 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:27.000 whole nine yards like you know, miss Sheila. I was 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:30.080 just gonna let her pick the movie, and my mom 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:32.960 was like, okay. One second she rode the windor she said, 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.400 y'all think y'all sleep, you know, and mind you. I'm 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:42.960 so like not even I'm so green. I was just 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.240 excited that she was lett me do something telling me 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.120 about this lady rode down the window and said, you 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:53.200 at the movies. Tell him by and all. I drove 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:57.240 off and the boy was standing there like with the flowers, 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:01.120 like oh, and I was just one little tear coming 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:05.680 down my eye. It's literally for real. And I was 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.440 so upset and so hurt. But that was my life. 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.080 She didn't let me do nothing. So I think the 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.440 computer became my escape right because I could talk to people, 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.480 I could make videos and respond to comments, and I 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:24.000 did develop relationships with some of my supporters I still 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.719 talk to to this day from years ago. It's one 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:30.560 girl named Liquida. She's buying me gifts and stuff. I'll 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.080 invite her to my shows. You know. It's just like 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:38.520 we do create a genuine bonding connection with our fans sometimes, 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.560 and it's hard to do that now because people be 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.640 like pushing it a little bit, like tellate what I 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.200 need to do and talk it to me crazy and 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:52.080 you forget. Like somebody said something like I was gonna 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:53.559 beat your ass if you didn't. I said, who was 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:54.040 gonna be? What? 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:57.960 You know what I'm saying, like my favorite song? She said. 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:02.120 They really they pushing it. They be pushing it. So 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.680 sometimes I'd be having to like go in, like I 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:06.520 went on on, went in on this girl on TikTok 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.560 the other day. She couldn't take it, though, so I 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.720 had to erase what I said because I'm like, okay, 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.680 people are laughing at her a little too much, and 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:17.400 you know, I know how that feels, so I'm gonna 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:19.160 just take it down and give her a break. But 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:20.880 I have to do that sometimes to let people know. 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:21.160 She's like. 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.400 She was just like, girl, you being you're doing too much. 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:27.559 You're a celebrity. People gonna tell you what to do, 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.840 you know, And I was like, so, I'm not gonna 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:32.960 say what I said, but I basically gave her a 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.120 taste of her own medicine gotch and she couldn't. She 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:35.880 couldn't handle it. 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:36.760 Most fans can. 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:39.160 A lot of people just Internet people, and they just. 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:42.480 Calm, you know, and a lot of people probably don't 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:44.320 think that you're actually gonna see their comment. 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.800 They don't. They don't. They don't think that I'm gonna 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.160 say anything back. They expect me to be scary. They 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.160 also don't expect me to have the personality that I 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:56.200 have because you know, I'm from Florida. Like we we 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:58.959 can't nobody talk junk like somebody from Florida. If you 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.120 pissed me off, If you piss me off, I'm calling 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.719 you all types of roly poly nick turtlehead. 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:06.400 You know. 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.280 You know, if I'm Whitney, I'm Bobby and Whitney Whitney 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:16.440 minus all the extra, you know what I mean. I'm 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.040 very much like somebody asked me the other day, like 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:21.319 what R and B songs am I listened to in 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.800 my car? I'm like, I'm listening to Big Dude, I'm 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.480 listening to money Bag, I'm listening to Key Clock. I 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:30.240 ain't listening to it. I make R and B I 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:30.959 don't listen to it. 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.400 Is that like a cleanse for your ears? Sometimes you 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:35.600 just hear it, you write it. 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:37.680 No, I just want to jump on my bed and 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.840 throw things like everybody else, you know what I'm saying. 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:44.960 Like I used to remember, for like a year straight, 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.240 I would put on bmf Rick Ross and that was 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.720 my alarm. Literally, like I'll be in the bed asleep 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.079 and all of a sudden, it's like boom boom. I think, oh, 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.320 big bitch every morning. 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.560 And that's how people you know her Joe's story, Like 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:03.840 as far as you're growing up, you was outside, you know, 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.000 skinning fish, you know, playing with hogs. You know, you. 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.920 Had a pet hog and then they killed it and 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:15.240 ate it. 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:24.200 Damn so that he was my pet. But they tricked 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:26.840 me it into feeding it and fattening it up and 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:28.480 making me feel like you know, I used to come 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:30.840 home every day from school and be like, hey, Powder, 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.959 talk to him. And he was a wild hog, so 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:36.559 he used to he was he was, he was. It 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:41.400 was a big freaking animal. And he would like he 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.560 would charge at the fence for anybody else, but for 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.480 me he was nice. He would walk over and like, 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:52.480 you know, you talk to and he had these big tusks, 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.160 and I would go in the house and get there. 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.920 We had an empty chipling bucket that we used to 0:12:57.960 --> 0:12:59.959 put our scraps in, so I get the slop bucket, 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.079 put it in the traw and sit there and talk 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:06.480 to him. And one day I came home and the 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.680 cage was empty. And mind you, my my grandparents lived 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:14.120 on four acres, so it was huge. So I walk in. 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:17.880 I go straight to the cage. He's not there. I 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:21.520 go in the house. I'm like, Granddaddy, what powder. He 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:23.360 took me to the window. It was a big, long 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:27.040 window in the front of the house, and he pointed 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:29.880 to the edge of the yard. So his cage is 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:33.520 over here. He poured it over here, and powder was 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.840 there roasting on the spit. And I just remember falling 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:44.360 out and being like and I remember calling my mama, 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:50.920 like mama daval and she said, we don't eat. I 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.000 didn't the first day, I did not eat that second 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:58.480 day it was so good. Yeah, he's with me forever. 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:01.920 Did you ever write a song about powder? 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:03.439 I didn't know too much. 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:06.640 We'll be right back with more of the Baller Alert Show. 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.000 You're listening to a special edition of The Baller Alert Show. 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:12.480 What's Up? 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:13.400 Is your Girl? Money Long? 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:15.560 And you are now tuned into the Baller Alert Show. 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.199 I do want to acknowledge the fact that you were 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.720 doing all this and this was dope left well, I 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:22.960 don't want to say it's dope eating powder or dope. 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:26.120 You know, your mom leaving to board the young man 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:30.160 at the movie theater. So when did music come into play? 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:32.280 Was mom singing all the time in the house and 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.080 then as we started singing too, and she was like, 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:36.320 oh god, you can sing, or she. 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:38.840 Says she knew I could sing at two years old. Really, 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.000 we used to living in Connecticut and there was this 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.920 commercial that used to play. I actually remember this too, 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:51.400 and it would go Spirit of Hampton Roots like you know, 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.320 it was like a airport commercial or something like that. 0:14:55.840 --> 0:15:00.840 And so yeah, and she says she heard me doing 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.200 that one day and she looked with the TV was off, 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.760 so she knew that it was me nice. And there 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:10.160 was always music in the house. My biological father played 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:12.960 the trumpet. We had pianos in every house that we 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:16.240 were in, upright piano. My mom was always singing. There 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:19.120 was always music playing. She used to have like those 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.480 CD towers full. She had like three of them, so 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.040 it was like always music every get in the car. 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.360 She had the CD book. So, I mean, it was 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.560 just kind of like I thought everybody could do it 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.440 because that's just how we were in our house, even 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:37.800 my grandma be you know, humming and cooking. My biological 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.480 father also could sing. He had like one of those 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:49.440 like high pitch temptations, you know, yes yes, and then 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.080 even writing songs like I wrote my first song when 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:56.920 I was eight, and I remember I was vacuuming and 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.280 just walking down the hallway. I'm looking at the skyllay 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.240 and my brother was like, what song is that. I 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:05.880 was like, I made it up. He's like, no, you didn't, 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:08.600 and I was like, yes, I did. We started arguing, 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.320 so we went to my mom and my mom was like, well, 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.720 I never heard it before, and then she bought me 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:18.160 a composition notebook, and I started making my own songs. 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:22.040 I just thought everybody did that, And it wasn't until 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.560 I started sharing it online, like fifteen sixteen years old 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:29.720 that people were like, will you be making that stuff up? Really? 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.520 Even now, people still do that to me. When I 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:33.920 come up with something, they'd be like, you just wrote 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:37.880 that right now. So it's just my gift. Everybody's not 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:39.240 very talented. 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:43.080 So you're writing the songs. You know, you're on the internet. 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:45.840 Two thousand and eight, you decided to go to La? 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.480 What decided that in your mind? I'm going to go 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:51.240 to LA and do this thing? 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.800 I think I had reached the ceiling here in Atlanta 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:00.520 my first record deal. The guy who signed me, him 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:02.880 and his lawyer made more money than me on the 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:05.560 first record deal I had, and so eventually that money 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.040 ran out very quickly actually, and I was like, well, damn, 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:13.200 you know what am I going to do? I found 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:16.600 out about songwriting and I was like, well, I don't 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.760 want to go back to Gifford because he need nothing 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:24.640 to do there. But you know, have babies and so yeah, 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:26.800 and get married. I have babies and you know, be 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.960 a mom, which there's nothing wrong with that, but that's 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:33.119 not what I wanted, and so I was like, well, 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:37.560 let me go to La do some sessions. I had 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:42.840 no idea that I was going to grow in notoriety 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.840 so fast as a songwriter. But when I got out there, 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.680 I was doing like five sessions a day every day, 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:54.399 two songs minimum in every session. My first session, I 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:58.480 got a placement with this UK artist named Cheryl Cole 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.040 that went number one over there, and then after that 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.960 it was just like Selena Gomez who says Chris Brown 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:06.960 doing me at Rihanna, it was like boom boom boom, 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:08.679 you know. But I think it was just because I 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:13.000 was working so much that I had so it's like 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.639 a you know, the ratio of songs I had to 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:19.960 choose from made it possible for me to have that 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:21.000 kind of like Snowball. 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.440 Are you married at this time? A relationship and get married? 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:25.840 Yeah, I've been married for nine years. 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:30.840 Okay, So so you got married when like where were fifteen? 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:33.040 Where were you then? In Florida? 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:34.399 Uh, California. 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.840 You're in California. So how was that like? Because you know, 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:42.240 being married is not easy, that's a whole different job. Yes, 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.120 definitely happily married, but she crazy and I'm crazy, so. 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:45.879 It's a little lift. 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.199 So I'm just saying marriage is a job. It's so 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.120 much communication that needs to be happening, and someone will 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:56.480 like you that has a crazy schedule, and then I'm 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:59.960 not sure you know who your husband is, but how 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.080 is that conversation with him when you guys communicating like, hey, 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:03.360 you know. 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:05.200 I have to go to the studio and you might 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:08.119 be on all day. I think there has to just 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:11.840 be a mutual respect, right because it's like this, I've 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.879 been working to get to this moment for seventeen years. 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:20.600 You know, you wouldn't want to stop the person that 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:24.800 you love from doing something that they're obviously, you know, 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:28.680 blessed with that is my gifting. But I definitely made 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:33.280 it very clear like you're not stopping nothing. I'm gonna 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.000 I'm gonna work, That's what I'm gonna do. And I 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:38.600 think also too, it's just like there's no formula, there's 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.560 no one size fit all. You have to communicate, you 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:46.199 have to make time for what's important to you, and 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:49.520 you can't be prideful, which I think that stops a 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:54.000 lot of people sometimes from thriving into relationships because you know, 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:55.600 you don't want to admit when you mess up. You 0:19:55.600 --> 0:20:00.560 don't want to be soft, be vulnerable. And also the 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:05.120 death of relationships is trying to please anybody else outside 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:07.560 of the two of you. You know, if you're doing 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:11.000 things for you boys, if you're doing things for the 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:15.320 general public, the perception you already lost. It has to 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:21.919 be a real genuine respect, mutual connection, respect, communication, maturity, 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:22.960 all that. 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:24.520 An he seems supportive of you. 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:29.040 He named your label, he came up with the name. Yeah, 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:30.800 but also too, I think that's part of it, right, 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:39.720 Like sometimes it's just kind to like allow your partner 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:46.840 to feel as if yeah, like of course I don't 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:51.399 need anyone to name anything or write anything, but you know, 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:54.320 if he comes up with a name and it's cool, 0:20:54.359 --> 0:21:00.720 why not use that thank you? You know what I'm saying, 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:03.359 like versus being like no things like it's just it's 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:06.040 there's it's not it's kind of productive. There's no purpose 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:11.400 for me to do that. And that's with anything like hairstyle, nails, outfit, 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:16.439 you know, video treatment, Like if you have a dope idea, 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:18.640 why not share? 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:21.200 Do you guys have fun? Time to date each other. 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:26.160 It's a little tough, but I mean again, every day 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:28.080 is what you make it, you know what I'm saying. 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:32.720 I'm happy with walking around the block like I'm happy 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:35.160 with that that, you know, or just sitting outside looking 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:38.560 at stars or Netflix and Jill like, I'm very simple. 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.160 How did he get you or how did you get him? 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:42.280 How did y'all get each other? 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:48.720 You know, I honestly don't even I just remember liking, 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:54.960 uh no, That's why I thought he was going to no. 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:59.480 I just remember liking the fact that he was taking 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:04.239 care of me, like health wise, so you know, we 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:08.120 were working out a lot. I had like holistic medicines 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:10.600 and stuff. He was making sure I would take it 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:13.440 because sometimes I don't. I'm not the best way remembering 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:16.359