WEBVTT - PJ Morton 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:12.560 R B Money. We all take valut. We are the 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:18.600 authority on all things R and B ladies and generally 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.160 what's going on. My name is Tank, I'm Jin and 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:30.600 this is the R and B Money Podcast, the authority, Yeah, 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:38.720 right on all things R and B. Yeah. Oh my 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:45.760 god in the building Gumbo himself. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:49.320 go ahead and mix that thing out. Oh you all 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:55.160 the ingredients? Oh man, And that's all I'm gonna say. 0:00:56.240 --> 0:01:04.760 Gordon Lady to be my god. You know what I'm saying. 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:12.399 You're so cold, like like cold cold, Like there's levels 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:18.399 to cold, right, Cold is like Donny Hathaway. Cold is 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:25.160 like Stevie wonder Man. Cold is like Eric Dawkins. Yeah, 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:32.839 you're like all of that. We've into one human being 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:40.760 with a beanie on. It's sick. Yeah, man, coming from 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:44.800 from you, who is you know code? I mean you 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:51.240 know you know because because I mean a cloth of it, 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.160 and so now I appreciate it, man, I appreciate it 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:57.720 just being in the same room. You know, I don't 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.400 know if I were if I told you, I feel 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:02.240 like I told you when you when I was doing 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.880 the show during the pandemic, when I was doing uh, 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.480 the game show whatever. But I met you at a 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.480 super pivotal time in my life. When I my freshman 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.679 year of more House, I moved to Atlanta. My boy 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:21.639 Chuck took me the noontime. Took me the noontime. Jake 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.520 q is his brother, that's his older brother. John Ta 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.600 was there. Jaz Fade was there, you know. B Cox 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.520 was there. Donnie Scans, who became my man, was there. 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:34.919 And I walked in there and said, since she shakes 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:39.919 for dollars, I don't like the holler. I was like, wait, 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:43.520 what I mean that night and it feels like one night. 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.600 I don't I can't remember if it was one night 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:50.240 or a time frame, but me walking through noontime literally changed. 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.840 It changed my life because I was coming from New Orleans, 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.040 where there was a bunch of music, but there was 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.720 no music industry. And I was saying, these dudes, every 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.320 room when you went in, you were you heard music 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:04.320 and were inspired and you were the first artist. I 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.160 walked in and and I was like, oh my god, 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:09.519 what are we doing? This is how this go? You 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:11.360 know what I'm saying that you might have had maybe 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:13.760 I deserve it that you might in that era. I 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.440 don't know but it was that vibe. It was no, 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.080 you weren't out, No, no, you know I'm saying I 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:24.680 might have heard that record, you know early on. I 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:26.800 did it in nineties when I did a record like 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.240 eight or something like that. So I got before I 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.519 got to before I got this in bro. Yeah, yeah, 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:37.960 I wrote that record, Shakespeare Dollars. It is a noontime classic. Yes, yes, 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:40.720 time changing my life by the way. We shared that 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:47.680 right special and Scans became my man became yeah, so cool. Yeah, 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:49.920 you know what I'm saying, like that became Scans. Guy, 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.600 that's my that's one of my sins. Sate listen, bro. Yeah, 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:59.040 that Shakespeare Dollars record came about from me going to 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:03.440 Atlanta strip clubs right for the first time with with 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:11.040 all of sixty dollars because it hadn't started raining then, 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:14.760 you know what I'm saying, So so so working those ones, 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:17.880 it was had none of that, not sixties, This was 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:24.960 this then it was it was so my thirty ones, 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:28.200 like it looked like something you know what I'm saying, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:33.800 Friday turn the money overs had to make this work. 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:39.680 And I saw it in goose Bumps that I was 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:44.960 in love with Wow, like I like you, and I'll 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.640 be back tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow with another thirty, 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:52.520 with another hot when it's under the hunt, it is hot, 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:57.520 it's hot, and I'm hoping, I'm hoping that our conversation 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:03.120 about her goals and aspirations and my goals and aspirations 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.479 can lead to us somehow being together. And if somehow 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:10.480 her goals and aspirations still, you know, the designs are 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:13.039 still for her to be in this place. That's fine, Yeah, 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:21.760 that's fine, Free Nation. I'll drop you off, I'll pick 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:30.039 you up. Yes, just will just be with me. Keep 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:36.679 from that. Since you started with that damn record the place, man, Yeah, 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:39.719 that sounds like true love, man, sound like true love. 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.360 I used to fall in love in the strip had 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:47.000 a song called I always seemed to fall in Love 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.560 in the Strip Club, that is, And I didn't. I 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.760 just I don't know what it was. And it wasn't 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:57.479 like I'm in the strip club and I need to 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.599 get something out of here and tap it up and 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.000 what I'm saying and be on like some some some 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:09.559 some ogre savage type. No, they was dancing and throwing 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.680 hips around exactly who you are. And I was looking 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:18.800 at the eyes. Followed Diamond home and I saw that 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.480 your eyes just have to look at I thought about it, 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:27.600 but I following home. Don't be him. We didn't get 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:31.640 jealous though, when when it was he was jealous when 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:33.559 he had to go to the next nigga who morning 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:38.279 and I was kind of watching, Oh my god, I 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:42.640 gotta I gotta figure out the nigger giving him more. 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:47.719 And she gave that can't be the love of my life. 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.800 It can't be. Can't be, that can't be, not my 0:06:52.279 --> 0:07:02.760 my lady, not mus not musing, can keep He told me, 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:13.160 what is a really sentiment? Right? The girls come over 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:14.720 and asked me about it. There it was like, no, 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:21.520 I'm here with somebody I'm taking. You were taking taking, 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:32.120 were taking that crazy man, Yeah right right. But that's 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:34.560 when we that's when I met you. That's when I 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:38.280 met you. That is Crushman in college and just figuring 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:40.800 it out. What a time in Atlanta though at that 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.960 tall Man, it was special, bro, special, it was special. 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:46.520 I just fell right in it and shout out to Noontime. 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:48.800 I gotta give I gotta give Noontime a special shout 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.800 out man, because just in terms of how they were 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.200 making their records, the amount of talent that they had 0:07:54.320 --> 0:08:00.320 up there, um sharing and collaborating, true, you know what 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.480 I'm saying, Like true collaborations like this was the first 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:09.400 time I had seen producers share sounds like this. They 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.040 was like, Oh, you gotta get this new new stick. 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:13.920 I I was crazy. Everybody passing the disc around this 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.880 new kickoff, this new that's the new Time saying on 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:22.160 that right there. I had them all, Yeah, the stick 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:26.080 from the planet fact, that's the new Time stick. Like 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.480 they were they were they were making this magic together 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:34.480 and creating an identity that it was noon very motown 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:36.360 ish because you could that's what I'm saying if you 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:38.480 were stuck. You go in another room and it's like 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.200 you're hearing something that you know what I'm saying, that 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.280 was special, Like everybody had their own things. So for me, 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.360 that was brand new because when I was growing up, 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.040 I was the only person I knew like me, you 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:51.360 know what I'm saying, Like wanting to make records that 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.040 we're gonna be on the radio. You know, it was 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.560 like either you wanted to be in jazz in New 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.480 Orleans or you know, a rapper. I wasn't either, so 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:01.600 I just didn't really you know, find a place there 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:07.000 until I got to Atlanta. Wow. Yeah, Um, let's let's 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:08.760 go back to let's go back to the let's go 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:12.360 back to the beginning, because because they had to, somebody 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:17.480 looked at you and said that boy there got it. Man, 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:19.640 he can do it, and he got it. When was 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.120 that and when was the time that you actually felt 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:27.120 like that? Um? Well, I'm preacher's kid, you know, and 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:31.280 not just a preacher's kid, but I was. My father 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.440 was a singer, is a singer, like a for real, 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.840 for real singer, no play play and um, so our 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:42.439 church was very musical, like um, the musicians he brought in. 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:45.080 I mean it was like top not she was like serious, 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.160 we started making records like in the eighties, you know 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:52.080 what I'm saying. Um, And so I had a lot 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.400 of it around me. So my family was the family 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.360 that pushed you. If they saw it, they're like PJ planning, 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.240 you know. My dad said he prayed over my hands. 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:02.160 So eight years old is when I got when I 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.400 started playing, like when I felt like I was playing. 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:09.679 Fourteen is when I remember saying, Okay, I'm like I 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.679 can play. I didn't want to sing for for a 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:15.920 long time. That was keys was kind of like my 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.480 comfort zone. So yeah, singing during this time, you know, 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:20.960 not really. I had a solo probably at you know, 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.240 ten years old, humble yourself, you know, with the youth choir, 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.520 you know, but like I didn't want to sing. Once 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.199 I started playing, I was like, na, this is all 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.199 I want to do. And um, the way I started 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:35.920 singing was, um, I wanted to hear. I started hearing 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.640 harmonies and stuff in my head and I'm like writing 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.559 these songs at fourteen and fifteen, and I was like, 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:44.439 I just want to hear him, so I will go 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:48.720 to the studio and like just record him. I had 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.160 an s Y eighty five and I started sequencing on 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.120 that Yamaha joint and I took it to the studio. 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.000 Remember I would pay my own money. Literally, I didn't 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.920 have any concept of placing songs. I didn't know how 0:10:59.920 --> 0:11:02.800 to industry work. That just wasn't around. And I let 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.440 my best friend here one of those songs. Uh. Kenneth 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:11.320 and his brother Brian was in ministandard years old, and 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.040 he was like, you should let Brian here that they 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.600 just started a group because they were on the road 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:20.560 doing sneaky Um, yeah, I was. I didn't know where 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:22.319 R and B songs weld play, so I didn't let 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.400 nobody hear those at that point. I was right though. 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:26.400 I thought I wanted to write for Brian McKnight, and 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.360 I'm like, I don't, I don't know, but I think 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.160 I can. Yeah. That's why I was like I skipped 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.240 because Stevie was the first thing that came to me, 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.280 like really you and I became obsessed. Like at thirteen, 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.560 I became obsessed, so I wasn't necessarily listening to what 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:41.439 was popular at the time. So now I listened to 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:43.120 the kid groups that you didn't want to write for them. 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:46.719 I think Brian, I think I could do you know 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:49.160 what I'm saying. That had no idea with that confidence. 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:53.319 But but Ken let Brian hear that song and they 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.000 recorded that on It Feels Like Rain album. So I 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:57.760 was fifteen. I remember I had to bring the CD 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.880 to school because they didn't believe me. I'm like, YO 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.600 wrote a song for a real person, and I brought 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:05.800 the CD cover there to show them that. Yeah, And 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:07.680 then I got to check and I was like, wait, 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:13.599 I could do this and get a money like it 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:15.880 No I didn't know. I didn't know at all. I 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.120 was like, they want to do my song? J Mark 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.800 Pajam was producing it. P D A and J Mass 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:25.400 they produced it. And I always tell this story. It 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:27.560 is funny because my s Y A D five would 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:31.200 cut out if it was overload, like sequencing right, so 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:33.760 you go from the hook to the verse and sometimes 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:35.880 if it's too many sounds at the at the one, 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:40.640 it would drop out and P D A and then 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.720 they dropped out. They did a break and I said 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.400 in my fourteen year fifteen year old brain, I said, oh, 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.679 I'm a producer, like they did my mistake over you 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:51.920 know what I'm saying. And that was it. Man, I 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.760 was like, I was like, and so to your point, 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.080 gospel music was the lowest hanging fruit for me. That's 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:58.760 what it was around me. Like I said, my dad 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.960 was making records all that. So I was writing for 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.440 the church and stuff and until I moved to Atlanta 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.600 in college and that's my junior years when I linked 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:12.120 up with in Dr Red and places. That's my first placement, 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:16.040 like mainstream placement when she was on Motown. But so 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.560 I guess fourteen was like when I started playing the 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:21.959 House of Blue, Sunday brunch, playing for different groups. Again, 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.880 wasn't singing singing was like not mom, I was too 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.400 shys to shake. My dad asked me to singing church. 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:29.480 My hand to be shaking. I didn't want to be 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:31.360 in front of people. I tried to be in the 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:35.120 back for so long. Still worth singing at four nah, 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.880 just to myself, but not not out, not out to people. 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.199 Now I was. I was terrified, man, until my dad 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.719 asked me to sing a solo and I was, I 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:47.720 did it for him, you know, And then I kind 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.320 of I was like, I liked, I like this. I'm 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.680 just scared, you know what I'm saying. But when I 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.920 went to college, I got to kind of re reinvent 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.040 myself for seeing myself in a different light because I 0:13:58.080 --> 0:13:59.960 was just Paul Morton's son, you know, in the world. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.360 So I was just it was huge, it was a 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:07.000 huge shadow. So like I got to just restart in 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.160 Atlanta's when I started to like think about being an 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:14.679 artist at all. You know. Yeah, that's at fourteen. That's 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:19.440 nice grade, right, yeah, eighth yeah, ninth grade. I sang 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.960 in front of them girls, I say that gospel song 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:25.040 in front of them women yeah, and went to that 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:30.080 howard he no, and they started screaming at just something. 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:44.240 I said, this is a different homely spit this w Yeah. Yeah, 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:46.960 that was playing to me. But the singing I just 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.440 was not. I didn't care at that point. I was 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.360 I was, I was playing that. You did none of them. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.800 You didn't none of the talent shows, nothing, you do 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:56.360 any of those things in high school and I skipped 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:58.320 all of that stuff. I mean, my dad's church was 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:02.920 such a popping like that. It was almost like I 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.440 was in the middle of all of it anyway, Like 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.120 all the musicians will come to my dad's church Sunday 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:12.560 nights and sit around and around the musicians, and so 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:13.880 I was like I was in it. It It felt like 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.480 a professional already. Yeah, I did, because that was like 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.080 that was a professional job. Like if you if you 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:22.240 got a job as a musician, and my dad's church 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.240 that was like you were really were really somebody. Yeah 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:31.200 you're one of them. Like I'm really, I'm really puzzled 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:33.800 by you not singing it, still not singing it fourteen 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:38.720 fifteen years old, because like in your mind as you're 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.760 going through the progressions of becoming a really dope musician, 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:46.440 Are you also in your mind developing yourself vocally and 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:49.600 just nobody knows? Yeah, just behind just kind of behind 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:53.040 the scenes, like like even I remember my mom saying like, yeah, 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:56.000 you don't think about the writing song, you know, but 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.720 voice was changing probably just like no, this ain't it 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:04.120 for me, you know, and playing fulfilled me so much, 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.360 like just being in the band fulfill that was my 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.840 biggest dream. I just wanted to play for an artist 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.560 who performed on the Grammys, Like that was it. That 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.320 was my dream. No records, no writing. It was like, yo, 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.280 I just that's it if I could get in this 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.560 person's band, you know what I'm saying. So um The 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:22.840 singing though, for me, was like behind the scenes. I 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:27.000 started to, like I said, around thirteen is when Stevie 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:31.040 and then probably one of my earliest records I bought 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:33.400 CDs I bought was like Brandy or something, you know, 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.760 and I started seeing like okay, because I always felt 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:40.000 like what was current wasn't singers in my mind, you know, 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:42.680 as a kid, I was like that ain't really what 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.160 I That don't move me. So I didn't really want 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.920 to be like a current singer or anything like that. 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.600 Uh So I never thought of it that way because 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:56.000 then it it fast tracked though, because yeah, it had 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:59.280 to happen quickly. Yeah, yeah, in terms of once you 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:01.680 come out into decided to get the confidence to sing 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.399 like this, just don't come out of nowhere, right. So 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.399 I tried to start a band in college and I 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:09.240 was still trying to be the background. But I wanted 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.400 the Beatles. I wanted a black Beatle so bad. Like 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.760 the Beatles. I was a huge fan, and I'm like, yo, 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:18.719 it was dope because they all were sweet at singing 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.280 and those harmonies were crazy. So I'm like, I'm gonna 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:23.359 be the keyboard player and sing, you know, in the back, 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:25.200 and then there's gonna be a lead singer. And I 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.560 couldn't get anybody to commit. And that's when I was like, 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.280 all right, man, I'm gonna just sing these songs. It's 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:35.439 gotta be me. Like it just was. It was purely necessity, 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:37.159 though I was, it was not because I wanted to 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.520 be there. And then it went fast and then my dad. 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:42.760 I remember my first show. My dad came to Atlanta 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.920 and little five Points at this place called Seven Stages 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:48.359 I was opening up for. It was me and algebra 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:53.560 and and my dad saw me perform and I was 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:58.840 like talking and like He's like, who was this person 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:09.440 that's like looking like they're comfortable on stage? Atlanta is 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:13.680 what Bradney like as one hundred percent as a writer. Everything, 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.679 Like Atlanta was really the place that the developed me 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.679 in that it's just always been so many dope people 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:24.359 in Atlanta always, and it's it's musical and it's probably 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:30.600 because there's so many churches in Atlanta, Like you can 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:33.640 you find a real diamond in the rough down there 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:37.520 that has no idea what they are in one of 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:41.920 those open just just monsters. And I'm telling you it's 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:48.000 it's church, absolutely as church. When people ask me about 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:49.920 R and B in the state of R and B, 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:54.960 I said it it changed when grandmothers stopped making these 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:58.280 kids go to church. That's when R and B changed. 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.440 And get it at for saying, I didn't get it 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.159 till I moved home, because when I came to l A, 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:07.640 I adn't really go to church, you know, it wasn't 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:10.840 really the same culture of like what I'm saying, and 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:15.000 so I lost some of it, Like I didn't realize 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:16.840 it until I moved back to New Orleans and I 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.200 was in my parents church and I'm like, oh, this 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.960 is where I used to write them songs like it 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.040 used to just hit me. I mean in R and 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:26.399 B songs, you know, like my dad those, I'd be 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:28.240 on the organ behind them while are you talking? And 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:30.919 you know, and I'm wrong, I'm back there writing songs 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:34.439 because something about the environment and like the spirit of 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:39.719 what was going on was just inspiration NonStop. And that soul, 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:42.720 that same thing you needed to move church is the 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.200 same thing we need to move in R and B audience. 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.440 It's there. It's no different. It's what comes from the heart. 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:50.280 You know, what I'm saying reaches the heart and so 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:52.520 like when you're in that environment, I just I mean 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.679 that that that schooled me. Man, it schooled me. And 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:58.040 I agree with you, like that's where we lost some 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:00.520 of that soul in R and B. When but when 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:05.879 the church things started to change, you know, yeah, absolutely so. 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.359 So how long are you in Atlanta before he said 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:11.639 you got your first place? Man? How long are you 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.080 in Atlanta before you get your break where it's like, Okay, 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:17.240 I'm I'm really like this, I'm a professional. Yeah, this 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:18.880 is what I'm doing Did you finish that more house? 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:23.560 I finished that more house. I got my degree in marketing. Nice. Okay, 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:26.160 so it all makes sense then, okay, all right, okay, 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:29.359 yeah that really came into play. Like you know what 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:32.400 I'm saying. I'm so happy I did that. Um when 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.680 I graduated. UM So, when I was in school, I 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:37.960 would get these calls to like go on tour because 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:40.240 I was a keyboard player and people knew that, but 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:42.199 I would just I was like, let me just finish school. 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:44.800 But right out of college I went on tour with 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:48.679 Erica badu Um as her keyboard plays. First was my 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:51.280 very first tour, very first. How did you get to 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:55.239 er Did you look in the eyes? I did, and 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:59.359 it was it wasn't good. It wasn't. I love Erica 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.159 but not feel I was scared. I was kind of 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.960 like the first rehearsal, she just came and said, you know, 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.040 if you need anything. I was just like, I didn't 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:10.760 want to. I appreciate you know what I'm saying, But no, 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:13.720 it was. It couldn't have been a better first tour experienced. 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.480 Oh so uh. The guy who gave me the cassette 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:21.080 tape with Donnie Live on it and gave me a 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:24.159 cassette tape with I Ain't Ever dream You're Leaving Somewhere. 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:27.120 That put me on my Stevie Geno, I go heart. Um. 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:30.040 His dad was my best My dad's best man in 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.879 his wedding became Erica ba Dudes music director. When I 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:36.720 was at Morehouse and he was like, pe, you want 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:38.680 to come out, and I'm like, man, I just I'm 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:41.080 in school. And it came back around right when I 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:44.159 was graduating and Gino took me out. Man And it 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:48.160 was like my first time on a tour bus lo keep, 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:52.000 my first time missing church, like like missing the Sunday. 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:57.280 This is college after yeah, and I didn't know what 0:21:57.320 --> 0:21:59.480 to do on a Sunday. Like I was like, you know, 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:02.439 so we it's one of the buses going to church, 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:07.280 or like it's one of the it's one of the 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:09.719 it's a group. It's a group of I'm gonna I'm 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:15.280 gonna sitting in the window seat on this literally because 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:19.080 through college, just to have a job, I played. I 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:21.320 played at the church all throughout college. I mean I 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:25.520 really I played at a church until Maroon five. Like luckily, 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:29.520 to be totally honest, Um, I always kept a church job, 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:32.280 you know, helping my dad out at that at that time. 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:34.879 But um, I didn't know what to do on a Sunday. 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:36.320 I was just like, all right, we supposed to and 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:39.359 they're like, no, it's just it's a it's just a 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:44.520 show day. Just the lower rest of them and your 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:47.840 whole life. Sunday is church. Sunday's church. My literally, Mom, 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:49.919 you're and you're playing in church, so you're you're there 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:52.920 the entire day. Oh no, I'm like, I'm yeah, I'm 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:55.960 fully a part of what churches on Sundays. So that 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:58.880 was the experience. But by dude, man, she is ah 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:01.480 and I think about it out because everything connects. But 0:23:01.640 --> 0:23:04.440 like the way I became a touring artist, Like I 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:07.359 couldn't afford radio at the beginning of my career and stuff, 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:10.040 so tour was my radio. Like that was the way 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:12.399 I got two people. But now that I think about it, 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:16.680 that's by do and that's why she worked forever, current single, no, 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:20.760 current single, whatever. She has developed her audience, you know, 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:22.840 to know that she's going to be on the road 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:25.640 and they're gonna have this experience with her every year 0:23:25.880 --> 0:23:29.760 or every other year. And I mean I got paid 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:33.800 on time. I mean, like shout out. It was a 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:37.960