WEBVTT - ELIJAH BLAKE - Plantains to Platinum

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm your host, Coley Witt, and today we have singer songwriter.

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<v Speaker 1>Grammy winning singer songwriter Elijah Blake is in the building.

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<v Speaker 1>How are you.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm feeling good. Yeah, you're feeling.

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<v Speaker 1>Comfortable in the kitchen to burn it down? Yeah, I'm scared.

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<v Speaker 1>I was excited about it. I was excited about the plantains,

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<v Speaker 1>but I'm a little nervous. All right, why don't you

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<v Speaker 1>go ahead and tell me what you're gonna have us

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<v Speaker 1>eating today?

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<v Speaker 2>I am making. I'm making Haitian plantains today. Haitian just

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<v Speaker 2>because in my preference, in my opinion, that's the best plantain.

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<v Speaker 2>It's close between the Dominican plantains and has, but I

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<v Speaker 2>think the Haitian plantains are the best.

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<v Speaker 1>I want to see the difference because I know being

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<v Speaker 1>have jamake it. I don't want you to start asking

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<v Speaker 1>me questions about being Jamaican. But they usually just fry

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<v Speaker 1>the plantains, so there's a difference.

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<v Speaker 2>You guys, see what the Haitian plantains is. There's a

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<v Speaker 2>little more that goes into There's like a juice marinaire

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<v Speaker 2>that's made that you dip it and fry dip it

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<v Speaker 2>than fried. So the flavor that it has in.

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<v Speaker 1>Size, Okay, yeah, go ahead, oil the pot.

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<v Speaker 2>So the ingredients ingredients you feel me? So we got Lemons,

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<v Speaker 2>we got Donalds, we got grape seed oil because I

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<v Speaker 2>just think this is a healthy alternative.

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<v Speaker 1>I've been trying to Oh that's why I thought that

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<v Speaker 1>was special.

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<v Speaker 2>No, I went I did an alkaline diet. I've been

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<v Speaker 2>into like what doctor Sabe has been preaching and stuff

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<v Speaker 2>like that. So grape seed oil is actually like a

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<v Speaker 2>super good alternative vegetable oil.

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<v Speaker 1>And olive oil is better than olive oil too.

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<v Speaker 2>I think it is. Yeah, it's really clean for you.

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<v Speaker 2>If you've ever been to a Spanish market, chick, you

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<v Speaker 2>feel me? This where all the flavor is. I put

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<v Speaker 2>this in my.

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<v Speaker 1>Eggs and everything your eggs.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, no, I'm telling you it's for another time. Take

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<v Speaker 2>a little bit and put it in your season for

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<v Speaker 2>the batter for the eggs, for.

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<v Speaker 1>The batter for the eggs. What do you mean better

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<v Speaker 1>for the eggs?

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<v Speaker 2>Dominican perto Rican friends?

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<v Speaker 1>No? Is that why you thought I was Puerto Rican?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah?

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<v Speaker 1>Or just because I look like a fake Puerto Rican

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<v Speaker 1>not a fake from New York.

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<v Speaker 2>They're like your Puerto Rican. Yeah I heard it. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>but yeah, that's my grandmother used to just put a

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<v Speaker 2>little bit.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh they whip it for like you when they're making

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<v Speaker 1>scrambled eggs, things in it.

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<v Speaker 2>But this is one of the secret ingredients.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna check it out. I'm gonna take it out

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<v Speaker 1>solely based on how well you cook these plantains today.

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<v Speaker 1>So go for it. Get in the kitchen. What are

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<v Speaker 1>we doing with oil in the pot?

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<v Speaker 2>Oil the pot. Get this thing going real quick.

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<v Speaker 1>While you're oiling the pot. I'm gonna just go ahead

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<v Speaker 1>and get into it.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, let's do this.

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<v Speaker 1>Is long before being a Grammy winning songwriter and singer,

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<v Speaker 1>long before the writing for Justin Bieber, Keisha Cole Usher

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<v Speaker 1>writing hits obviously, right long before it all, long before it.

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<v Speaker 1>So take me back to what was going on during

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<v Speaker 1>this era of your life.

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<v Speaker 2>So I came to you. I wasn't born in you.

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<v Speaker 2>People don't know that. So I came to the United

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<v Speaker 2>States when I was like five or six years old,

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<v Speaker 2>and I didn't really It took me a while. Even

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<v Speaker 2>to this day, I don't I'm not excited about burgers

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<v Speaker 2>and a lot of American cuisine. I'm just now coming

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<v Speaker 2>around to it. But this is all I knew. My mother,

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<v Speaker 2>my grandmother, my family all made Listen, it just was

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<v Speaker 2>an easy.

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<v Speaker 1>And you're coming from Dominican Republican, yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>And it just was an easy grabbing and go. So

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<v Speaker 2>for me, I'm trying to pay attention. Am I doing

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<v Speaker 2>it right? You don't get to call Jennifer okay, okay, okay, okay.

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<v Speaker 1>Jennifer is doing it wrong. That's why she knew.

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<v Speaker 2>To wash it too. Yeah, Jenna's Dominican.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh, she's dominic Yeah, so she understands.

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<v Speaker 2>She understands. But yeah, this is one of my favorite things.

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<v Speaker 2>And it just reminds me of home. Honestly, I always

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<v Speaker 2>eat things that remind me of home. Because then when

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<v Speaker 2>I got signed, I moved to Atlanta in ninth grade.

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<v Speaker 2>And again, you.

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<v Speaker 1>Guys signed in the ninth grade.

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<v Speaker 2>Damn from my space. Wow, I was putting up original

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<v Speaker 2>music yep from my space, and I was putting up

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<v Speaker 2>original music on YouTube as well. So yeah, I would

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<v Speaker 2>really say actually YouTube, because I was my Space had

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<v Speaker 2>went down, and then Priscilla Renee myself, Dondrea. I don't

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<v Speaker 2>know if you remember Dondrea. She was like killing it

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<v Speaker 2>on YouTube around that time when money Long before Money

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<v Speaker 2>Long was money Long, and we knew her as Priscilla Renee.

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<v Speaker 2>She was doing like original songs and covers as well,

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<v Speaker 2>and an executive from Atlanta Records reached out to me,

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<v Speaker 2>and then I flew out to Atlanta while Trey Songs

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<v Speaker 2>was working on the Ready album. This is before I

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<v Speaker 2>knew that Clay Songs and he was working on the

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<v Speaker 2>Ready album.

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<v Speaker 1>I love how you said this what it was before

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<v Speaker 1>you knew you could write song?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I didn't know. I just wanted to.

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't know I had that head and saling this

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<v Speaker 1>came out.

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<v Speaker 2>I just was I just got tired of being broke

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<v Speaker 2>one day and I couldn't understand why songwriters have the

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<v Speaker 2>most money. Like the songwriters was pulling up in the cars.

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<v Speaker 2>The producers had better cars than the artist.

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<v Speaker 1>So I'm just like and that the producers had better

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<v Speaker 1>cards than that.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, Sean Garrett pulled up and I saw what Johntay

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<v Speaker 3>Austin was driving, and I saw what like Brian Michael

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<v Speaker 3>Cox had and I was like, okay, And meanwhile, I'm

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<v Speaker 3>so hungry, I'm shaking in the studio.

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<v Speaker 2>There was a point in time work. I was just

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<v Speaker 2>having a regular conversation. I hadn't eaten in a couple

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<v Speaker 2>of days. I didn't want to call my mom and

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<v Speaker 2>tell her, like, I'm not eating because as a Caribe woman,

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<v Speaker 2>she would be like, why are they not feeding you?

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<v Speaker 2>And it's not necessarily that they weren't feeding me. I

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<v Speaker 2>just think that.

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<v Speaker 1>She would have been definitely concerned. She probably would have

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<v Speaker 1>flown out there.

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<v Speaker 2>She would have said, come back and go to college,

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<v Speaker 2>or finish high school and go to college, because she

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<v Speaker 2>wasn't really In Caribbean households, you either become a doctor, lawyer, engineer,

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<v Speaker 2>or you're a failure. Like they don't want to hear that,

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<v Speaker 2>none of that.

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<v Speaker 1>Can I cut that right?

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<v Speaker 2>I think so?

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<v Speaker 1>I don't think so.

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<v Speaker 2>But go ahead.

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<v Speaker 1>We're gonna see.

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<v Speaker 2>I just it's just to squeeze it.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you cut it wrong.

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<v Speaker 2>House was good. The other way.

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<v Speaker 1>You got more lemons you could try.

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<v Speaker 2>We just come to squeeze it though.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, don't see how you do it.

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<v Speaker 2>Yo.

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<v Speaker 1>I can't wait for your family. I say, I'm gonna

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<v Speaker 1>send them the here. I'm gonna send them the video.

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<v Speaker 2>The question is myself is gonna be.

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<v Speaker 1>Five Yeah, that's the real question. Okay, is he gonna

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<v Speaker 1>make them proud?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm gonna make them proud.

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<v Speaker 1>So so you're in high school basically, yeah, and you

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<v Speaker 1>start to discover Is that when you discover that songwriters

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<v Speaker 1>and producers make more money? Or is this right before college?

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<v Speaker 2>You're saying, No, I'm just now figuring just from me surviving,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm too proud for I didn't want to ask anybody

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<v Speaker 2>for money. I didn't I think the day everybody just

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<v Speaker 2>was moving and I was the youngest one in the crew.

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<v Speaker 2>So one day I remember speaking and Trey was like,

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<v Speaker 2>are you a nee me? And I'm like, I don't

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<v Speaker 2>think so why He's like, you're shaking And I didn't

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<v Speaker 2>know I was just I had been hungry for so

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<v Speaker 2>many days. I didn't know I was, but so many days.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I was just oh my goodness.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, because I was thugging it out, like I was

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<v Speaker 2>really just trying to get it. And again, there weren't

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<v Speaker 2>any writers that were coming to write for me because

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<v Speaker 2>Chef Tone was pulling up. He was writing for Trade.

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<v Speaker 2>Johnsy Austin was writing for Trading, and this little kid

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<v Speaker 2>in the corner that everybodys trying to get him a trade album,

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<v Speaker 2>you know what I mean. And my Karen there's all

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<v Speaker 2>there's this kid in the house that my Karen thinks

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<v Speaker 2>might be a star. But ain't the check don't reflect,

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<v Speaker 2>ain't no money behind me, the butget's not open. So

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<v Speaker 2>niggas is trying to get on trade, which I get.

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<v Speaker 2>So just for me, I'm like, I'm wasting time. Let

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<v Speaker 2>me get to it. So I started writing songs on

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<v Speaker 2>my own and people are like walking by and hearing

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<v Speaker 2>my songs, and Bobby Trey had a road manager. His

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<v Speaker 2>name was Bobby. He was like, I think this nigga's

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<v Speaker 2>a storyteller. And I'm getting annoyed because I'm like, I

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<v Speaker 2>don't want to be a story I'm a church boy.

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<v Speaker 2>Give me the songs, I sing them, put my music out,

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<v Speaker 2>you know what I mean. That's that type stuff. So

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<v Speaker 2>then I remember I was singing upstairs one of the

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<v Speaker 2>songs and Trey was like, look, I'm telling you like

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<v Speaker 2>you have a gift of storyteller. And again me being

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<v Speaker 2>stubborn and being a little annoyed, I'm like, I just

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<v Speaker 2>want to sing songs. And he changed my life. Because

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<v Speaker 2>oh lord, you're not supposed to laugh at me.

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<v Speaker 1>So you talk out.

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<v Speaker 2>I turned them all they down.

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<v Speaker 1>You talked out, like those are gunshots, bro, I told you,

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<v Speaker 1>don't let the water hit you know what the lemon?

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<v Speaker 2>Hell No, I'm a.

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<v Speaker 1>Mask, and so tell you know, I like, you've never

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<v Speaker 1>been in the kitchen. You're good. I think you're safe.

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<v Speaker 1>So go back to your story because you a good storyteller.

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<v Speaker 1>Like they said where was a He was talking about

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<v Speaker 1>how they discovered you a good storytelling. You in denial.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm in denial, and i just want people to

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<v Speaker 2>give me songs. So I'm writing these songs and again

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<v Speaker 2>once one day, write me a song, and I'm like,

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<v Speaker 2>right now, it's yeah, right now. And he puts a

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<v Speaker 2>beat on sk as another producer that's on songbook as well,

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<v Speaker 2>And the first thing I hear is, I think it's

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<v Speaker 2>time we take a trip to the band girl. Yo.

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<v Speaker 2>Body's talking and I'm loving what she says. Don't you

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<v Speaker 2>be your friend to let me little faint? You welcome

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<v Speaker 2>you to Super No. So at this point I'm like

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<v Speaker 2>going on like Super and me and Trey are such

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<v Speaker 2>a playful dynamic at that point, and he's like Dupa,

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<v Speaker 2>and we were like Jupiter Love and we're just branding

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<v Speaker 2>things with super And then one day I get a

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<v Speaker 2>call and Troy Taylor calls me. He's hey, Duper Love

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<v Speaker 2>is gonna make the album. What's your being? My information?

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<v Speaker 2>What's your again? I'm so broke right now at.

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<v Speaker 1>This point broken, and you're discovering your anemic too, right.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, broke anemic, just suffering. And I'm teaching dance classes

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<v Speaker 2>at this like White Dance studio. He's really off kids,

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<v Speaker 2>and I'm teaching for thirty dollars an hour because I

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<v Speaker 2>got a little one two stort to perform our high

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<v Speaker 2>school and stuff like that, barely making it by. So

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<v Speaker 2>when Troy Retch helps me register the song, I didn't

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<v Speaker 2>understand the concept of a songwriter who goes and keeps

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<v Speaker 2>track of every time a song plays on the radio

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<v Speaker 2>around the world, collects two cents here, twenty cents here,

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<v Speaker 2>or ten years cents here, a dollar here. I didn't

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<v Speaker 2>know that there was a BMI it does this for

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<v Speaker 2>you or p r oh.

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<v Speaker 1>So when he asked you for the b and my information,

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<v Speaker 1>were you like, huh yeah?

0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.040
<v Speaker 2>But I called my dad. My dad already had one

0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:18.680
<v Speaker 2>set up for me.

0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:24.760
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, my bad. I love that all right, go on.

0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.600
<v Speaker 2>He's super music, literally, like it's from the Philly scene.

0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.440
<v Speaker 2>Once I registered that, I went from being pissed broke

0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:34.360
<v Speaker 2>to bringing in six bands like a month or every quarter.

0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:35.439
<v Speaker 2>And I can't remember.

0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:39.520
<v Speaker 1>Exactly, My goodness, that's how long from that call to

0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.560
<v Speaker 1>you receiving the money? Was it like six months? A year?

0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:44.760
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so they pay out quarterly, so I think from

0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.880
<v Speaker 2>that call it felt pretty fast. Me. I would say

0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.560
<v Speaker 2>about maybe two three months. I was in a penhouse. Oh,

0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:53.439
<v Speaker 2>because I've suffered long enough.

0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.320
<v Speaker 1>So you called your dad and your dad was like, son,

0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:57.880
<v Speaker 1>already taken care of.

0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:00.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. He gave me the information because my dad was

0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.280
<v Speaker 2>also helping me release music when I was in high school.

0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:06.120
<v Speaker 1>Oh, I love your parents, Pops.

0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.000
<v Speaker 2>Everything I got he taught me. He really taught me

0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.200
<v Speaker 2>how to format structure. So he was trying to teach

0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:13.920
<v Speaker 2>me about where we're at now, told me where music

0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:16.960
<v Speaker 2>was going to go, streaming wise, and my dad predicted

0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:18.760
<v Speaker 2>all that because he used to work for Apple Corporate

0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:21.480
<v Speaker 2>and stuff like that. And I think, just me being stubborn,

0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:25.360
<v Speaker 2>I wanted the record deal. I wanted to feel established

0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.120
<v Speaker 2>in that way, and his heart was so beautiful that

0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.080
<v Speaker 2>he let me do that even though he knew better.

0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:31.600
<v Speaker 2>I loved my father for that because he was like,

0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:32.600
<v Speaker 2>I'm just and.

0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.240
<v Speaker 1>This is yeah, but now you're saying that. He also

0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.959
<v Speaker 1>taught you these other elements of songwriting indirectly though, right,

0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.720
<v Speaker 1>So by the time you're in the studio, he baked

0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:44.160
<v Speaker 1>something into you. Right.

0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:46.640
<v Speaker 2>I had that ability because of him. I just didn't

0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.120
<v Speaker 2>want to use it. Yeah. But when I was doing

0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.840
<v Speaker 2>it just off of necessity putting original songs on YouTube,

0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:54.960
<v Speaker 2>my pops was like, format it this way, structure this way. Yeah,

0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:56.760
<v Speaker 2>and he really taught me how to like hone in

0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.600
<v Speaker 2>my runs. He's a really great piano player, an incredible musicians.

0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.480
<v Speaker 2>So by the time I got things started taking off

0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:05.960
<v Speaker 2>from me. People thought I had superpowers because my dad

0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:07.920
<v Speaker 2>was so strict on me. He was like my Matthew

0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:10.800
<v Speaker 2>nos or like my Joe Jackson in a way.

0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:11.640
<v Speaker 1>I love that.

0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.680
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. So I go from being a starving artist and

0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:16.960
<v Speaker 2>then that's them that ended up breaking tray and taking

0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.080
<v Speaker 2>trade to the next level. So when Ready blew up,

0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.520
<v Speaker 2>everybody's like, there's a fifteen year old that rot and

0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.880
<v Speaker 2>Drew Love became instantly the fan favorite Yeah album, and

0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.400
<v Speaker 2>they were playing on the radio in Atlanta. So I

0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:29.320
<v Speaker 2>think that's how word got to Usher, and then I

0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:33.240
<v Speaker 2>went from that to working with Usher, Mary J. Blige

0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:38.079
<v Speaker 2>and Beyonce Keisha Cole all in six.

0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:40.600
<v Speaker 1>Months after that, within six months. Yeah, how old are

0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:42.000
<v Speaker 1>you at the time? You're like fifteen?

0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:44.280
<v Speaker 2>You said, yeah, so I'm fifteen, So let's just say, yeah,

0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.320
<v Speaker 2>I'm like sixteen by the time everything starts to really

0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:49.559
<v Speaker 2>take off when the project releases and people start hearing,

0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:51.319
<v Speaker 2>and all I needed was a shot.

0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:54.360
<v Speaker 1>Now with that shot, how does a fifteen or sixteen

0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:56.840
<v Speaker 1>year old know how to manage money?

0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:00.840
<v Speaker 2>My business manager, So yeah, the business manager I had

0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:02.480
<v Speaker 2>when I when everything took off for me as the

0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:05.360
<v Speaker 2>same business manager I have now and we're like family.

0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.240
<v Speaker 2>So he was really teaching me. He was like, you're

0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.640
<v Speaker 2>not going to become an etue Hollywood story remember those. Yeah,

0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:12.439
<v Speaker 2>he kept saying that he's not going to be that

0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:16.880
<v Speaker 2>on my watch, and till this day he's got my back.

0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:21.200
<v Speaker 1>Okay, So he helped you manage And then what are

0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.160
<v Speaker 1>your parents saying? Was your dad like I told you

0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:23.520
<v Speaker 1>so soon?

0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:27.640
<v Speaker 2>My dad was very protective of me coming into it,

0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.920
<v Speaker 2>just because he knew how they steal and the music

0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:34.079
<v Speaker 2>industry teaches us and they just put us through things,

0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.240
<v Speaker 2>and he was really protective. But then once I got

0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:38.959
<v Speaker 2>signed to death Jam, that's when he was just like okay,

0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.400
<v Speaker 2>like I'm not going to be that father. That's like

0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:44.040
<v Speaker 2>in the way, like yeah, And to this day I

0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:45.679
<v Speaker 2>call him for advice and everything like that. But I

0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.120
<v Speaker 2>think once I got signed to death Jam, which I

0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:50.199
<v Speaker 2>probably should have had him hold on a little bit more.

0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:52.760
<v Speaker 1>But why do you say that, Because I.

0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.840
<v Speaker 2>Really got screwed over in that deal. I really got

0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.120
<v Speaker 2>screwed over in that deal. And I'm not blaming death Jam.

0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.800
<v Speaker 2>I just think that a lot of promises were made

0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.839
<v Speaker 2>and me being so naive, I believed everything so much

0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:06.679
<v Speaker 2>so that I invested a lot of my own money

0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:08.760
<v Speaker 2>that I thought I was gonna get back, and I

0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:11.000
<v Speaker 2>didn't get it back. And I just assumed, like anybody

0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:15.400
<v Speaker 2>else would assume, like your talent alone, if you're talented

0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:17.400
<v Speaker 2>enough you sing the songs, probably, if you're just the

0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.280
<v Speaker 2>best that you can be, your music will come on.

0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.160
<v Speaker 2>And that's not about that, it's about so many other

0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.800
<v Speaker 2>things outside and around it that just it becomes exhausting.

0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:29.160
<v Speaker 2>And I remember Mark Pitts, who's one of my heroes,

0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:30.800
<v Speaker 2>who I worked closely with when I was working on

0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:34.000
<v Speaker 2>the Usher project, and who I remember. He told me,

0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:35.640
<v Speaker 2>he is like, don't lose that smile. And I'm just like,

0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:37.359
<v Speaker 2>I'm always smiling, like I'm a happy.

0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.880
<v Speaker 1>Person, smile heading on you, thank you.

0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.480
<v Speaker 2>But I literally was like, are you sound crazy? I'm

0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.360
<v Speaker 2>never gonna stop smiling and throughout life. And he told

0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.800
<v Speaker 2>me this, He's like, when I signed Chris Brown, these

0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:49.480
<v Speaker 2>guess I knew the star he was gonna be. But

0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:52.440
<v Speaker 2>he walked in and he had a smile that lit

0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:56.440
<v Speaker 2>up the room, and he was like, I don't want

0:14:56.480 --> 0:15:00.440
<v Speaker 2>to watch that same smile fade in you. Wow throughout

0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.840
<v Speaker 2>the years, the way that the music industry can just

0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.160
<v Speaker 2>beat on you and just take everything, take it in

0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.000
<v Speaker 2>dem your life. I was like, you're crazy, but I

0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.120
<v Speaker 2>have to admit, like, throughout the years, even when I

0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.960
<v Speaker 2>look in the mirror, I've seen that smile fade Wow

0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.560
<v Speaker 2>more and more because you become that you start off

0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.680
<v Speaker 2>as this kid that believes in this dream, and this

0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.640
<v Speaker 2>dream just's you're realizing, oh, this was a nightmare the

0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:21.120
<v Speaker 2>whole time.

0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:22.960
<v Speaker 1>Why do you say it was a nightmare the whole

0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:23.640
<v Speaker 1>time though.

0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.440
<v Speaker 2>Just because the more you love it, the more it

0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.160
<v Speaker 2>takes from you. And I think as artists, right, especially

0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:31.960
<v Speaker 2>singers R and B artists, when they're saying the genre

0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.640
<v Speaker 2>is dying, it's not dying, but you're definitely fighting an

0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:40.560
<v Speaker 2>uphill battle because you watch rappers get on stage, right

0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:45.920
<v Speaker 2>and they get they make significantly more than the let's say,

0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.040
<v Speaker 2>like a new rapper versus a new singer would make

0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.640
<v Speaker 2>some significantly more a show than a singer would. And

0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:53.600
<v Speaker 2>they can get up there and sing over the track

0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.960
<v Speaker 2>literally like the same version as you're hearing on Apple

0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:58.840
<v Speaker 2>Music on the spot. They'll sing over the whole thing

0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:02.560
<v Speaker 2>and barely. Whereas as a singer, as an R and

0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:07.720
<v Speaker 2>B artist, you're expected a live band, yeah, background dances, choreography, rehearsal.

0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:09.160
<v Speaker 1>The real singers yeah, yeah, you know what I mean.

0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.520
<v Speaker 2>You're expected to put on a show. Yeah, you're protecting

0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.400
<v Speaker 2>your instrument, so there's a lot of it you're putting

0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:16.960
<v Speaker 2>into it for minimal return.

0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:17.440
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:19.880
<v Speaker 2>The return is your love for the art, your love

0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.480
<v Speaker 2>for the craft. So it's one of them things.

0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:27.880
<v Speaker 1>Man, How old were you when you signed the deaf

0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:28.320
<v Speaker 1>Jam deal?

0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:31.520
<v Speaker 2>When I signed the deaf Jam I believe I was nineteen.

0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.240
<v Speaker 1>Okay, and that's when he started releasing the reins. Yeah,

0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.280
<v Speaker 1>was there any other would you say, looking back, lessons

0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:42.360
<v Speaker 1>that you wish you could have not had learned head on?

0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.920
<v Speaker 2>It was all beautiful. I definitely felt like after I

0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.280
<v Speaker 2>left def Jam, I thought it was going to be

0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.840
<v Speaker 2>easier getting off that deal just because shit, they were

0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:56.480
<v Speaker 2>dropping everybody. So I was like, I didn't sell deeper numbers,

0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:58.520
<v Speaker 2>like just drop me. But it wasn't that easy.

0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:00.440
<v Speaker 1>They didn't get any of yourublishing.

0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.280
<v Speaker 2>No, I was already signed to Sony okay.

0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.000
<v Speaker 1>So they didn't So there's no way for them to

0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.360
<v Speaker 1>get your publishing. Yeah, so it does make it easier

0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.720
<v Speaker 1>for them to possibly drop you. And that's what you wanted.

0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.280
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to get dropped, but it wasn't that easy.

0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.040
<v Speaker 2>There was like lawyers and conversations and how do I leave,

0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.480
<v Speaker 2>which songs can I take with me? Which it was

0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.760
<v Speaker 2>this long process. I remember even in the middle, I

0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.560
<v Speaker 2>just wanted to stay creative as an artist, that's how

0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:24.399
<v Speaker 2>we live. And I remember putting something up on a

0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.159
<v Speaker 2>SoundCloud this is fun just for fun covers or whatever,

0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.680
<v Speaker 2>and with intense the upload didn't even happen. I got

0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.520
<v Speaker 2>a DMC strike down this property. I remember it because

0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:35.439
<v Speaker 2>the image is painted in my face and said in

0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.679
<v Speaker 2>my head it said property of Universal Music Group. And

0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:42.320
<v Speaker 2>I was like, dang, I did sign that contract, Like

0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:44.399
<v Speaker 2>I don't even own me right now?

0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.240
<v Speaker 1>Even when you upload you saw that. Yeah, that's scary.

0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.240
<v Speaker 2>Yeah it was. It was a really And I got

0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.159
<v Speaker 2>this tattoo it says ilegitimate non carbo rundom, which it

0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.520
<v Speaker 2>says what illegitimate non carbo rundum, which is Latin for

0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.240
<v Speaker 2>fuck the system, because the system fucked me. Yeah, can

0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:01.800
<v Speaker 2>I curse on here? All right? But that's how I felt.

0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:04.080
<v Speaker 2>That was the one time and I've never understood being

0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:06.840
<v Speaker 2>Caribbean there like you're not allowed to there's a lot

0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:09.679
<v Speaker 2>of traditional things that you're not allowed to feel as

0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:13.720
<v Speaker 2>a man. And I remember growing up, I'd never understood

0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:16.280
<v Speaker 2>suicide or mental health. I'm just because this is how

0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:17.879
<v Speaker 2>I was raised with my uncles this land. I'm like,

0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.439
<v Speaker 2>you're good, like you got breath in your body, you're healthy,

0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:22.880
<v Speaker 2>you're good. But that was the first time I didn't

0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:25.040
<v Speaker 2>feel suicidal. But that was the one time I was like,

0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:30.679
<v Speaker 2>I understood the empathy that's required for somebody to be

0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:33.440
<v Speaker 2>put in that position, yeah, to think, yeah, I think

0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.200
<v Speaker 2>my faith in God I would. Luckily I've never been

0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:39.600
<v Speaker 2>there and I've never gotten that far. But for the

0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:41.560
<v Speaker 2>first time in my life, I was like, Oh, this

0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:46.760
<v Speaker 2>is the level of helplessness one can feel to just

0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:47.600
<v Speaker 2>not want to feel.

0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.600
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's a scary reality. Did you end up talking?

0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:52.560
<v Speaker 1>Are you only cooking those two little I want to

0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.200
<v Speaker 1>start you smashine. What are you doing?

0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:54.679
<v Speaker 2>So?

0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:58.399
<v Speaker 1>I'm just like, do you need a real fork? I

0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:00.800
<v Speaker 1>feel like I don't know if that's and smashed with it?

0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:02.879
<v Speaker 2>You know, I can use this.

0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.880
<v Speaker 1>Actually, I'm watching you. I'm trying to learn what you're doing.

0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.840
<v Speaker 1>I feel like, just so for all the listeners out there,

0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.639
<v Speaker 1>he's got planting cut in half. I thought he was

0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:18.520
<v Speaker 1>gonna do thin slices like the drinking stuff. Go for it, Elijah,

0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:23.639
<v Speaker 1>you are very entertaining. I don't know. Jennifer, come up

0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:24.160
<v Speaker 1>in here and cook.

0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:26.800
<v Speaker 2>I did do it wrong.

0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.240
<v Speaker 1>Actually, you slice it right?

0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:30.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I did do it wrong.

0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:32.560
<v Speaker 1>Is the slicing? Is it the slicing?

0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:34.840
<v Speaker 2>I did do it I supposed to do this.

0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:37.639
<v Speaker 1>Oh you hear her in the back. There you go.

0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.600
<v Speaker 1>You're supposed to slice it? Yeah, I guys, I wish

0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:45.160
<v Speaker 1>you could watch this. Go to YouTube whatever you got

0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.600
<v Speaker 1>to watch this. No, I meant slice it the long way.

0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:53.680
<v Speaker 2>Is that how you guys do it? This? Yeah? Way? Yeah?

0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:55.320
<v Speaker 1>Okay, yeah, Okay.

0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:57.320
<v Speaker 2>I gotta take these ends because these ain't no good.

0:19:57.680 --> 0:19:59.480
<v Speaker 1>The ends aren't good because.

0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:00.439
<v Speaker 2>We're trying to get it shape.

0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:06.400
<v Speaker 1>Okay, yeah, now make more because I'm gonna want more

0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:07.359
<v Speaker 1>than three bites.

0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.240
<v Speaker 2>If it's good.

0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:11.800
<v Speaker 1>Did you call your dad when you were at these

0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:13.200
<v Speaker 1>moments of like despair?

0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:16.400
<v Speaker 2>No, I just got to the point where I can

0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:18.720
<v Speaker 2>call my dad for again.

0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:21.160
<v Speaker 1>As I was going to say, as a Caribbean man.

0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.520
<v Speaker 2>There's a lot of traits that I am like just

0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:25.719
<v Speaker 2>now learning to undo.

0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:27.520
<v Speaker 1>And you didn't like that one.

0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:29.440
<v Speaker 2>But I think I'm coming up with something right now.

0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:34.360
<v Speaker 1>Okay, okay, I'm I'm trust now.

0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:35.720
<v Speaker 2>My creative mind is moving.

0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.560
<v Speaker 1>By the way, that was like a measuring cup. The

0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:41.240
<v Speaker 1>bowl was supposed to be that. But I don't know

0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:42.280
<v Speaker 1>if you needed the bowl.

0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:46.240
<v Speaker 2>No, we don't need it. I'm gonna be Elijah's.

0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:50.119
<v Speaker 1>I'm watching it learning, I'm gonna enjoy every bit of this.

0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:55.200
<v Speaker 1>So you so the whole time you can't call him?

0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:56.320
<v Speaker 1>Can you call your mom?

0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:58.840
<v Speaker 2>No? I used to really just go through things on

0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:01.399
<v Speaker 2>my own, okay, which is very unhealthy, but I was

0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:02.760
<v Speaker 2>actually did okay with it?

0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:05.080
<v Speaker 1>Is it because you like song wrote too? Did that help?

0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:07.240
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? That was like my therapy. So that's the only

0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:10.280
<v Speaker 2>place I feel safe to really tell people or invite

0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:12.840
<v Speaker 2>people in what I'm going through. I've just always been taught.

0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:15.480
<v Speaker 2>And my mom was like that, like she just got

0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:18.200
<v Speaker 2>shit done, didn't she Never I've never heard her complain.

0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.880
<v Speaker 2>I've never She's literally like the closest thing I've seen

0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:24.280
<v Speaker 2>to Superwoman. Four kids, three jobs, and we never felt

0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:24.919
<v Speaker 2>a lot of.

0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:26.920
<v Speaker 1>Kids and three jobs. What'd your dad do for work?

0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:28.280
<v Speaker 1>So were they together?

0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:30.680
<v Speaker 2>So here's the thing. So when I speak about my dad,

0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:33.679
<v Speaker 2>I don't like using step father or so I'm not

0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.040
<v Speaker 2>speaking about my biological father who taught me how to

0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:39.399
<v Speaker 2>sing and do music. Me and my biological father are

0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:40.720
<v Speaker 2>on the best term, is.

0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:42.600
<v Speaker 1>That the biological that did the be on my account?

0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:46.040
<v Speaker 2>No, yeah, me and me and my biological havn't father,

0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.639
<v Speaker 2>haven't really been close since like elementary school for a

0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:51.600
<v Speaker 2>multi not because he didn't try. I will always say

0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:54.960
<v Speaker 2>he wasn't one of the fathers that like didn't try

0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:58.600
<v Speaker 2>to be in my life. I maybe didn't try hard enough,

0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:01.560
<v Speaker 2>but he tried. But once I feel like my father,

0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:04.760
<v Speaker 2>who God gave to me, I never had to ask

0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:07.119
<v Speaker 2>him to be a father. He was always that in

0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:11.160
<v Speaker 2>some and to me that was enough. And my biological

0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:13.159
<v Speaker 2>father always had this rule that if I ever called it,

0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:15.040
<v Speaker 2>the only way I could disappoint it is by calling

0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:17.840
<v Speaker 2>another man father. And in my mind, you shouldn't have

0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:21.280
<v Speaker 2>left room for that to happen. Damn. You know.

0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:24.480
<v Speaker 1>You want to know something that's facts.

0:22:24.520 --> 0:22:27.240
<v Speaker 2>You feel me damn, And it's just like, how dare

0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:31.600
<v Speaker 2>you feel like demand something that you haven't really earned.

0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:34.080
<v Speaker 1>You're both fathers to Haitian No.

0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:38.399
<v Speaker 2>So my my father who has been really the focal

0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:41.280
<v Speaker 2>point of my life. He's trinidaddy in so both Caribbeans,

0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:45.440
<v Speaker 2>but two different sides. In Haitian culture, I will say

0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:49.320
<v Speaker 2>we can be toxic, and there's just in it. We're

0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:52.360
<v Speaker 2>so traditional that it can be toxic. And now I'm

0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:54.360
<v Speaker 2>not saying in a harmful way, I'm just saying that

0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:56.639
<v Speaker 2>I think a lot of my habits from not allowing

0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:59.800
<v Speaker 2>myself to feel, not being this open with my emotions.

0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:03.040
<v Speaker 2>Not that's a very common thing in Haitian culture. Just

0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:06.360
<v Speaker 2>figure it out. Gets But they're warriors. And yeah, whereas

0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:11.520
<v Speaker 2>my as David, he's I can communicate with him. He's

0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:16.760
<v Speaker 2>more compassionate, understanding, patient with me. And I'm just throughout

0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:19.480
<v Speaker 2>life I've strived to just be more like that. I

0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:22.840
<v Speaker 2>found that gets more things done. I'm more proud of that.

0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:28.200
<v Speaker 2>I've learned better through calm teachings and calm representation.

0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:32.560
<v Speaker 1>With your mom working all these jobs, with her remarrying,

0:23:32.920 --> 0:23:34.120
<v Speaker 1>I would assume she remarried.

0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:39.000
<v Speaker 2>No, she didn't. Actually, I feel like God only brought

0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:43.280
<v Speaker 2>him together for what he was going to mean to

0:23:43.880 --> 0:23:46.280
<v Speaker 2>her kids. I don't think that.

0:23:46.240 --> 0:23:48.959
<v Speaker 1>They really but they're not together anymore.

0:23:49.440 --> 0:23:51.000
<v Speaker 2>But you think they were ever meant to be together?

0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:53.200
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, if that makes any sense.

0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:55.480
<v Speaker 1>So he was in your guy's lives for how long?

0:23:55.520 --> 0:23:57.639
<v Speaker 2>Then he's still in our life. He came in and

0:23:57.680 --> 0:23:59.359
<v Speaker 2>he never left our life. We called him father and

0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:01.719
<v Speaker 2>we met that check on him. I tell him happy Birthday,

0:24:02.200 --> 0:24:03.840
<v Speaker 2>like I talked to him every He's my father.

0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:07.640
<v Speaker 1>I love that, but they split? Yeah, how long ago

0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:08.320
<v Speaker 1>did they split?

0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:11.120
<v Speaker 2>They haven't spoken since since right before my do happen?

0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:13.600
<v Speaker 2>So since I wouldn't even go as far as to

0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:18.520
<v Speaker 2>be like that, they were like ever, like really there

0:24:18.600 --> 0:24:22.160
<v Speaker 2>was a moment where I was like, Okay, this could

0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:27.440
<v Speaker 2>be something, but literally we got along better with him.

0:24:28.440 --> 0:24:30.680
<v Speaker 1>I guess we're I'm confused. I've met people that had

0:24:30.720 --> 0:24:33.359
<v Speaker 1>like great stepfathers and then like when the parents split,

0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:35.840
<v Speaker 1>they feel like they have to choose to stay by

0:24:35.880 --> 0:24:36.520
<v Speaker 1>their mind.

0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:39.280
<v Speaker 2>I've always felt that way, but not it was just

0:24:39.560 --> 0:24:40.920
<v Speaker 2>it was a completely.

0:24:40.560 --> 0:24:42.360
<v Speaker 1>Did you guys say something to like, hey, she.

0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:44.720
<v Speaker 2>Loves him the same way too, but you just said

0:24:44.760 --> 0:24:46.760
<v Speaker 2>that you know what I'm saying. She loves him for us,

0:24:47.280 --> 0:24:50.760
<v Speaker 2>She literally like loves our relationship. Yeah, she's not like

0:24:50.800 --> 0:24:53.040
<v Speaker 2>that at all, like with him. It's because again it's

0:24:53.080 --> 0:24:57.480
<v Speaker 2>not I think growing up you only believe that relationships

0:24:57.560 --> 0:25:01.879
<v Speaker 2>ending like animosity. Yeah, but some it's just I'm not

0:25:01.880 --> 0:25:03.520
<v Speaker 2>feeling you like that, you know what I mean. But

0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:07.160
<v Speaker 2>it's this game, like how could she be mad at him?

0:25:07.400 --> 0:25:09.320
<v Speaker 2>Everything I've become because of what this man.

0:25:09.320 --> 0:25:13.520
<v Speaker 1>Taught me, her children, and what is it unconditionally.

0:25:13.560 --> 0:25:15.840
<v Speaker 2>That's all she's ever wanted for us. We are her world.

0:25:15.880 --> 0:25:19.560
<v Speaker 2>And I literally think that so much load was lifted

0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:22.760
<v Speaker 2>off of her because she was doing everything on her

0:25:22.800 --> 0:25:24.920
<v Speaker 2>own and she never had to ask. I'm telling you,

0:25:25.040 --> 0:25:27.840
<v Speaker 2>like my father, he doesn't. He's not somebody you had

0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:31.040
<v Speaker 2>to ask for anything. He's just there. And for me,

0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:34.000
<v Speaker 2>that is what I want to mean to people, like

0:25:34.080 --> 0:25:36.720
<v Speaker 2>what I want to mean to my kids one day,

0:25:36.720 --> 0:25:38.119
<v Speaker 2>Like I don't want them to ever feel like they

0:25:38.160 --> 0:25:39.560
<v Speaker 2>have to ask me, because I feel like with my

0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:41.760
<v Speaker 2>biological father, there are certain things I would never discuss

0:25:41.800 --> 0:25:44.560
<v Speaker 2>with him because he would probably not even understand it,

0:25:44.720 --> 0:25:46.600
<v Speaker 2>or as somebody was coming to me like saying, hey,

0:25:46.640 --> 0:25:48.280
<v Speaker 2>I understand what you're going through and I don't even

0:25:48.320 --> 0:25:51.520
<v Speaker 2>community I haven't even communicated it yet. That's a deeper

0:25:51.600 --> 0:25:52.439
<v Speaker 2>kind of love to me.

0:25:52.920 --> 0:25:56.000
<v Speaker 1>Is he like doing more of the checking into type all.

0:25:55.880 --> 0:25:58.440
<v Speaker 2>The time, all the time. He watches over he handles

0:25:58.480 --> 0:26:01.640
<v Speaker 2>all my Spotify accounts, he handles all my music accounts

0:26:01.680 --> 0:26:04.199
<v Speaker 2>and everything like that. He watches my social numbers and

0:26:04.240 --> 0:26:06.760
<v Speaker 2>be like, son, you should post more. Yeah, like he

0:26:06.880 --> 0:26:09.440
<v Speaker 2>really it's a deeper kind of love, And for me,

0:26:10.040 --> 0:26:12.200
<v Speaker 2>that is who I feel God put on this earth

0:26:12.280 --> 0:26:15.480
<v Speaker 2>to train me up to be a that is a father.

0:26:15.720 --> 0:26:15.920
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

0:26:15.960 --> 0:26:18.680
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, there's a difference between I believe a biological dad

0:26:18.720 --> 0:26:19.760
<v Speaker 2>and a father figure.

0:26:19.960 --> 0:26:20.480
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah.

0:26:20.520 --> 0:26:24.080
<v Speaker 2>And to me, blood couldn't make him more of my father.

0:26:24.520 --> 0:26:25.040
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

0:26:25.480 --> 0:26:27.840
<v Speaker 2>I've never really spoken about it like at length like this.

0:26:27.880 --> 0:26:32.040
<v Speaker 1>So it's beautiful. I've never even seen it at length.

0:26:32.119 --> 0:26:34.800
<v Speaker 1>But your mom was still hustling multiple jobs while raising

0:26:34.840 --> 0:26:37.560
<v Speaker 1>you said, three four kids, four kids.

0:26:37.640 --> 0:26:40.639
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and I've never felt her be absent. So weird.

0:26:40.680 --> 0:26:43.080
<v Speaker 2>And I'm like, I'll hear people talk about they have

0:26:43.200 --> 0:26:44.720
<v Speaker 2>three jobs and they came in as a.

0:26:44.640 --> 0:26:48.040
<v Speaker 1>Single Oh yeah, no, trust me. I have a neighbor

0:26:48.440 --> 0:26:51.280
<v Speaker 1>who grew up with a single parent, a single mom,

0:26:51.320 --> 0:26:53.040
<v Speaker 1>and she said that she never saw her mom. So

0:26:53.080 --> 0:26:55.600
<v Speaker 1>her goal was like, yeah, I'm a single parent, but

0:26:55.920 --> 0:26:57.879
<v Speaker 1>my kids are gonna see me.

0:26:58.280 --> 0:26:58.480
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

0:26:58.520 --> 0:27:00.240
<v Speaker 1>You know what I'm saying, I'm gonna make it. I'm

0:27:00.240 --> 0:27:02.800
<v Speaker 1>gonna make it work somehow. But you're saying your mom

0:27:02.800 --> 0:27:05.840
<v Speaker 1>didn't miss it be even with all those jobs, because

0:27:05.840 --> 0:27:10.199
<v Speaker 1>she's a truth. You said she's Dominican, Dominican true. I

0:27:10.200 --> 0:27:12.639
<v Speaker 1>don't say Jamaican's we always got a hundred jobs.

0:27:12.720 --> 0:27:18.400
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, what I'm saying, it's culture. Yeah, and she never complained,

0:27:18.440 --> 0:27:21.840
<v Speaker 2>And I feel so bad for her because I'm just like, dang, like,

0:27:22.840 --> 0:27:25.680
<v Speaker 2>I never heard her complain. So maybe that's probably contributed

0:27:25.720 --> 0:27:27.600
<v Speaker 2>to why I don't ask for help. Yeah, because I've

0:27:27.640 --> 0:27:29.920
<v Speaker 2>watched this woman never ask for help, have all these

0:27:30.000 --> 0:27:31.240
<v Speaker 2>jobs and she's never.

0:27:31.320 --> 0:27:32.720
<v Speaker 1>And you never seen her cry or nothing.

0:27:32.920 --> 0:27:35.439
<v Speaker 2>Never. If I see my mom cry, my head might

0:27:35.440 --> 0:27:38.760
<v Speaker 2>explode because I just can't comprehend. My heart would break.

0:27:39.000 --> 0:27:40.160
<v Speaker 2>I've never seen her cry.

0:27:40.280 --> 0:27:44.119
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Do you think that's a good thing? Though? Do

0:27:44.240 --> 0:27:48.239
<v Speaker 1>you look at women like differently because she's held this

0:27:48.320 --> 0:27:49.440
<v Speaker 1>bar of like strength.

0:27:50.320 --> 0:27:52.480
<v Speaker 2>I have to say yeah, I have to say yeah.

0:27:52.640 --> 0:27:55.000
<v Speaker 2>I just think that there's a new there's a new

0:27:55.040 --> 0:27:59.960
<v Speaker 2>normal that's not normal for me because of I was

0:28:00.080 --> 0:28:02.920
<v Speaker 2>raised very traditional. Again, it took my mom a long

0:28:03.000 --> 0:28:06.239
<v Speaker 2>time to assimilate. She's still simulating to American culture. So

0:28:06.280 --> 0:28:08.159
<v Speaker 2>now when I see like women be like, oh, is

0:28:08.160 --> 0:28:09.920
<v Speaker 2>this nigga gonna pay for my hair? Is gonna pay

0:28:09.920 --> 0:28:12.160
<v Speaker 2>for my nails? Done? Is this nigga gonna pay? I'm

0:28:12.160 --> 0:28:15.480
<v Speaker 2>not knocking it. I'm just not from I just can't

0:28:15.520 --> 0:28:17.520
<v Speaker 2>come because even if a man was to try to

0:28:17.520 --> 0:28:19.640
<v Speaker 2>do that for my mother. She wouldn't accept it. Yeah, yeah,

0:28:20.040 --> 0:28:21.360
<v Speaker 2>I just don't understand it.

0:28:21.520 --> 0:28:24.120
<v Speaker 1>I was talking more of the like the I feel

0:28:24.200 --> 0:28:26.840
<v Speaker 1>like the women not hating on women both. If you

0:28:26.880 --> 0:28:30.360
<v Speaker 1>came across a woman that was more like easily frustrated,

0:28:30.400 --> 0:28:33.560
<v Speaker 1>complaining a lot, and all of that, do you feel

0:28:33.560 --> 0:28:38.080
<v Speaker 1>like it would throw you a little bit? No, because

0:28:38.080 --> 0:28:39.640
<v Speaker 1>you'd be like, man, my mom did this and she

0:28:39.640 --> 0:28:40.360
<v Speaker 1>didn't even blink.

0:28:40.880 --> 0:28:44.320
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but I also understand at the same time, like

0:28:44.400 --> 0:28:47.200
<v Speaker 2>I that doesn't bother me as much, just because I

0:28:47.200 --> 0:28:48.520
<v Speaker 2>have friends that are.

0:28:48.920 --> 0:28:51.680
<v Speaker 1>Those look official. I'm getting those look official.

0:28:51.720 --> 0:28:52.360
<v Speaker 2>I'm very proud.

0:28:52.480 --> 0:28:54.040
<v Speaker 1>I am personally.

0:28:56.080 --> 0:29:00.680
<v Speaker 2>Of you right now and that was good too.

0:29:01.000 --> 0:29:03.920
<v Speaker 1>Smell gup, but they look at you're almost burning them. Yeah,

0:29:04.360 --> 0:29:06.239
<v Speaker 1>but you want to know something, I'm very proud of you.

0:29:06.360 --> 0:29:09.840
<v Speaker 1>I know this sounds crazy, but like I was concerned,

0:29:09.920 --> 0:29:11.360
<v Speaker 1>especially when that I know.

0:29:11.360 --> 0:29:14.320
<v Speaker 2>You was because I saw you looking like when.

0:29:14.200 --> 0:29:17.200
<v Speaker 1>It popped and you ran. I was like, oh, yeah.

0:29:16.840 --> 0:29:18.920
<v Speaker 2>But this is actually like how I like mine a

0:29:18.960 --> 0:29:20.320
<v Speaker 2>little well done.

0:29:20.360 --> 0:29:23.240
<v Speaker 1>When you're writing songs for like Justin Bieber and Beyonce

0:29:23.520 --> 0:29:25.680
<v Speaker 1>and all these guys, what's the thought process of like

0:29:25.720 --> 0:29:27.760
<v Speaker 1>where you came from to where you are now? Did

0:29:27.760 --> 0:29:29.160
<v Speaker 1>you ever have an aha moment?

0:29:30.040 --> 0:29:33.680
<v Speaker 2>Yeah with my mom because again, because she made all

0:29:33.680 --> 0:29:36.200
<v Speaker 2>these sacrifices, there was a lot of pressure to, like

0:29:36.240 --> 0:29:39.640
<v Speaker 2>I said, become a doctor, lawyer or or engineer or

0:29:39.680 --> 0:29:40.440
<v Speaker 2>I failed, and there.

0:29:40.360 --> 0:29:41.120
<v Speaker 1>Was to be something.

0:29:41.200 --> 0:29:42.360
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. There was one time she was like, are you

0:29:42.400 --> 0:29:44.080
<v Speaker 2>going to come back and just go to college because

0:29:44.840 --> 0:29:46.720
<v Speaker 2>I don't want the church laughing at me, like she's

0:29:46.840 --> 0:29:48.680
<v Speaker 2>really big in the church like that. And she was like,

0:29:48.920 --> 0:29:50.880
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure she went to church and was like they're

0:29:50.880 --> 0:29:53.680
<v Speaker 2>like where's Elijah? Or my nickname was Red, so there's

0:29:53.680 --> 0:29:55.200
<v Speaker 2>like where's Red and she's, oh, he's doing music. And

0:29:55.240 --> 0:29:58.800
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure there were like snickers. But when I paid

0:29:58.800 --> 0:29:59.840
<v Speaker 2>her mortgage.

0:29:59.400 --> 0:30:01.120
<v Speaker 1>Off, y'all, I was gonna say, but you're making a

0:30:01.120 --> 0:30:03.240
<v Speaker 1>lot of money and you said at that nineteen did

0:30:03.280 --> 0:30:04.960
<v Speaker 1>you ever send money back? Hey, surprise.

0:30:05.040 --> 0:30:08.040
<v Speaker 2>First thing I did was pay off her mortgage at.

0:30:07.920 --> 0:30:11.280
<v Speaker 1>The young teenage. At seventeen, I paid off her mortgage

0:30:11.560 --> 0:30:13.280
<v Speaker 1>and she still asked, though, if you went to college.

0:30:13.400 --> 0:30:16.280
<v Speaker 2>No, That's when she stopped asking no. So the like

0:30:16.320 --> 0:30:19.320
<v Speaker 2>I was saying, right when I went to Atlanta, and

0:30:19.440 --> 0:30:21.360
<v Speaker 2>things were starting to happen. It was like, are you

0:30:21.360 --> 0:30:24.200
<v Speaker 2>going to come back? Come on, I'm like this music

0:30:24.280 --> 0:30:26.360
<v Speaker 2>stuff like that, it's not a real thing. Come back,

0:30:26.440 --> 0:30:27.720
<v Speaker 2>go to college and do it the right way. But

0:30:27.720 --> 0:30:29.080
<v Speaker 2>when I paid her mortgage and she was like, oh

0:30:29.080 --> 0:30:33.320
<v Speaker 2>wait a minute now, like he said yeah, So she

0:30:33.320 --> 0:30:34.920
<v Speaker 2>couldn't wait to go to her friends and be like,

0:30:34.960 --> 0:30:36.480
<v Speaker 2>my son like paid off my mortgage.

0:30:36.800 --> 0:30:41.800
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, he sings yeah. So then when you do songs

0:30:41.840 --> 0:30:44.120
<v Speaker 1>for Beyonce and Justin Bieber, how is her response?

0:30:44.160 --> 0:30:46.880
<v Speaker 2>Then she can't believe it. But what really blew her

0:30:46.920 --> 0:30:50.440
<v Speaker 2>mind was there was I did my first headlining tour

0:30:50.520 --> 0:30:52.120
<v Speaker 2>two years ago. It was just by myself in an

0:30:52.160 --> 0:30:55.320
<v Speaker 2>opening acts, and my sisters surprised her and flew her

0:30:55.320 --> 0:30:58.920
<v Speaker 2>to Atlanta. So imagine a woman from the Caribbean Islands,

0:30:58.960 --> 0:30:59.480
<v Speaker 2>where there's.

0:30:59.360 --> 0:31:01.480
<v Speaker 1>Wait, she's currently where she currently.

0:31:01.440 --> 0:31:05.200
<v Speaker 2>Lives in Florida, but her whole adult majority of her

0:31:05.240 --> 0:31:08.040
<v Speaker 2>adult life was in the Caribbean. So coming where there's

0:31:08.080 --> 0:31:09.840
<v Speaker 2>power on one side of the island and power on

0:31:09.840 --> 0:31:12.720
<v Speaker 2>the other side of the island, half today and coming

0:31:12.760 --> 0:31:17.240
<v Speaker 2>to Atlanta, getting flown to Atlanta, flew out and pulling

0:31:17.320 --> 0:31:20.600
<v Speaker 2>up to a venue and seeing your son's name sold

0:31:20.600 --> 0:31:23.680
<v Speaker 2>out concert, seeing your son's name in and seeing hundreds

0:31:23.680 --> 0:31:25.600
<v Speaker 2>of people singing law to his songs. So when she

0:31:25.680 --> 0:31:28.120
<v Speaker 2>got backstage, I still get emotional to telling. So she's like,

0:31:28.120 --> 0:31:30.800
<v Speaker 2>I can't believe like you came from me. It just

0:31:30.840 --> 0:31:32.840
<v Speaker 2>blew her mind. That was so I don't think it

0:31:32.880 --> 0:31:35.280
<v Speaker 2>was real for her. So she saw that. Yeah, I

0:31:35.280 --> 0:31:37.360
<v Speaker 2>think Prior is like, all my son's getting money, he's

0:31:37.360 --> 0:31:39.760
<v Speaker 2>writing for Usher, And she's gonna see this because now

0:31:39.800 --> 0:31:42.000
<v Speaker 2>she follows me on TikTok, which stresses me out.

0:31:42.360 --> 0:31:45.040
<v Speaker 1>But you monitor the content knowing that she she's going

0:31:45.120 --> 0:31:45.920
<v Speaker 1>to see it possible.

0:31:46.600 --> 0:31:48.680
<v Speaker 2>Not no more. My mama knows I'm crazy. I was

0:31:48.760 --> 0:31:50.800
<v Speaker 2>like a problem child growing up.

0:31:51.080 --> 0:31:51.520
<v Speaker 1>I like that.

0:31:51.800 --> 0:31:57.040
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, she knows I'm crazy. But and it looks like

0:31:57.120 --> 0:32:01.120
<v Speaker 2>and I squish it in enough time, you caush it. Yeah,

0:32:01.160 --> 0:32:03.520
<v Speaker 2>that's when it comes what it's supposed to.

0:32:03.720 --> 0:32:05.120
<v Speaker 1>And then you're gonna put the sauces and on.

0:32:05.240 --> 0:32:06.120
<v Speaker 2>I should make some more.

0:32:10.200 --> 0:32:12.480
<v Speaker 1>The only thing that I'm sad about, Elijah is that

0:32:12.560 --> 0:32:13.720
<v Speaker 1>your time is so tight.

0:32:14.040 --> 0:32:14.960
<v Speaker 2>What time is it now?

0:32:15.240 --> 0:32:18.320
<v Speaker 1>I'm watching it. We got like probably fifteen more minutes. Now,

0:32:18.400 --> 0:32:22.200
<v Speaker 1>we got time, not to capture the whole rest. I

0:32:22.200 --> 0:32:25.800
<v Speaker 1>still want to talk about the deluxe album, Elijah, Yeah,

0:32:26.120 --> 0:32:28.760
<v Speaker 1>I still want to. I guess since we're so clite,

0:32:29.320 --> 0:32:31.840
<v Speaker 1>like tight on time, we can jump to it. But

0:32:31.960 --> 0:32:33.880
<v Speaker 1>I just I want to know. How did it make

0:32:33.920 --> 0:32:36.040
<v Speaker 1>you feel to hear your mom say that to you?

0:32:36.080 --> 0:32:40.560
<v Speaker 2>Though? That was when it was real for me. I

0:32:40.600 --> 0:32:44.440
<v Speaker 2>think that I understood why she said that, because this

0:32:44.520 --> 0:32:47.240
<v Speaker 2>is beyond her wildest dream, like your son are like

0:32:47.280 --> 0:32:49.920
<v Speaker 2>overcoming the odds and making music for the world, and

0:32:50.080 --> 0:32:53.800
<v Speaker 2>you at one point not even knowing if you'd be

0:32:53.840 --> 0:32:56.680
<v Speaker 2>able to see the world. Just insane for her, But

0:32:57.240 --> 0:33:01.000
<v Speaker 2>that motivated, that put a deeper firing, like now, none

0:33:01.040 --> 0:33:03.120
<v Speaker 2>of that shit like that. I thought, mint stuff, don't

0:33:03.160 --> 0:33:05.040
<v Speaker 2>need nothing, and I got her arranged over after that.

0:33:05.120 --> 0:33:07.280
<v Speaker 2>She didn't want it, she wanted it. She made me

0:33:07.280 --> 0:33:09.000
<v Speaker 2>get it for her, and then she said it was

0:33:09.040 --> 0:33:11.840
<v Speaker 2>a gas girler. She's like, take it back, are you serious? Yes?

0:33:12.640 --> 0:33:13.600
<v Speaker 2>Now she got a Tesla.

0:33:14.360 --> 0:33:18.080
<v Speaker 1>That's cute. You does your siblings? Do you get like

0:33:18.240 --> 0:33:20.480
<v Speaker 1>love from your siblings or do you ever get I

0:33:20.520 --> 0:33:22.760
<v Speaker 1>don't know if you ever even would ever admit to this,

0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:24.680
<v Speaker 1>but I know what it's like. To have siblings, but

0:33:25.240 --> 0:33:27.920
<v Speaker 1>is it all love or is there jealousy or is

0:33:27.960 --> 0:33:30.680
<v Speaker 1>there no me and my sisters are really oh you're

0:33:30.680 --> 0:33:31.320
<v Speaker 1>the only boy.

0:33:31.520 --> 0:33:34.280
<v Speaker 2>No, my little brother. He's like way younger than us.

0:33:34.880 --> 0:33:37.120
<v Speaker 2>But so I think I used to worry about him

0:33:37.640 --> 0:33:39.960
<v Speaker 2>just because he was so far like down in age

0:33:39.960 --> 0:33:41.920
<v Speaker 2>from us that I felt like he was trying to

0:33:41.920 --> 0:33:44.560
<v Speaker 2>find him. Since struggling with that and also feeling like

0:33:44.600 --> 0:33:48.040
<v Speaker 2>we he found space where he belonged in our crew,

0:33:48.200 --> 0:33:51.440
<v Speaker 2>just because how big is the age? Can you like

0:33:51.480 --> 0:33:52.360
<v Speaker 2>at least ten years?

0:33:52.440 --> 0:33:55.560
<v Speaker 1>Oh, that's a big age forever he will be your

0:33:55.600 --> 0:33:57.640
<v Speaker 1>baby brother exactly. It's like he could be forty and

0:33:57.640 --> 0:33:59.040
<v Speaker 1>you'd be like, that's the baby brother.

0:33:59.400 --> 0:34:04.160
<v Speaker 2>But we've connected on a level that I never could

0:34:04.200 --> 0:34:09.160
<v Speaker 2>have understood. He's so far, like more mature than I was,

0:34:09.360 --> 0:34:11.120
<v Speaker 2>And I'm just I'm so proud of like the man

0:34:11.200 --> 0:34:13.920
<v Speaker 2>he's becoming, and our friendship there is really becoming a

0:34:13.920 --> 0:34:17.000
<v Speaker 2>friendship and not a brotherhood. But I used to make

0:34:17.040 --> 0:34:18.799
<v Speaker 2>a mental note of my head, I gotta work on that.

0:34:19.480 --> 0:34:23.040
<v Speaker 2>I gotta work on nurturing my relationship with him and

0:34:23.160 --> 0:34:25.680
<v Speaker 2>overcoming that age guy. Ye, And so now we're really

0:34:25.719 --> 0:34:27.640
<v Speaker 2>close to me and my sisters like watch the same shows.

0:34:27.680 --> 0:34:31.040
<v Speaker 2>Growing up. We literally were like in separal like triplets.

0:34:31.120 --> 0:34:31.279
<v Speaker 1>Right.

0:34:31.400 --> 0:34:34.239
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So when I see siblings don't get along, that's

0:34:34.239 --> 0:34:36.120
<v Speaker 2>another thing I don't understand because my mother and her

0:34:36.200 --> 0:34:38.799
<v Speaker 2>siblings weren't always on the best terms. So she was

0:34:38.960 --> 0:34:40.799
<v Speaker 2>very adamant on y'all are all each other half.

0:34:41.920 --> 0:34:44.360
<v Speaker 1>I feel like that's a Caribbean type mentality. But I

0:34:44.360 --> 0:34:46.319
<v Speaker 1>do see what you're saying, because my mom and her

0:34:46.320 --> 0:34:49.040
<v Speaker 1>siblings are the same way, don't really mess with each other.

0:34:49.160 --> 0:34:51.240
<v Speaker 1>She grew into us like the year all you guys

0:34:51.280 --> 0:34:54.239
<v Speaker 1>have you better not fighting public. Don't let nobody come

0:34:54.280 --> 0:34:56.839
<v Speaker 1>between y'all. You put a lot of soul.

0:34:58.200 --> 0:34:58.799
<v Speaker 3>You gotta do it.

0:34:59.160 --> 0:34:59.759
<v Speaker 2>You feel me.

0:35:00.160 --> 0:35:03.879
<v Speaker 1>Excited, And I love that you made sure to make

0:35:03.920 --> 0:35:06.239
<v Speaker 1>that come around with your brother too, because I also

0:35:06.360 --> 0:35:09.440
<v Speaker 1>understand like that little age separation where you're not close

0:35:09.480 --> 0:35:11.480
<v Speaker 1>for a little bit and then boom they turned into

0:35:11.520 --> 0:35:13.640
<v Speaker 1>adults and all of a sudden, you have relatabilities.

0:35:13.719 --> 0:35:16.919
<v Speaker 2>Yeah exactly, but he was my fan first. It took

0:35:16.960 --> 0:35:21.359
<v Speaker 2>my sisters a while if they appreciated it. I didn't

0:35:21.400 --> 0:35:24.200
<v Speaker 2>know to, but I did used to feel away because

0:35:24.200 --> 0:35:27.440
<v Speaker 2>I'm just like Damn. I'm like supporting them and putting them,

0:35:27.440 --> 0:35:29.560
<v Speaker 2>helping putting them through college. And there was a point

0:35:29.600 --> 0:35:31.319
<v Speaker 2>where I was like, damn with y'all even know, because

0:35:31.320 --> 0:35:33.239
<v Speaker 2>the industry was whooping my ass and I'm just like, damn,

0:35:33.280 --> 0:35:35.000
<v Speaker 2>but y'all even know, like y'all brother is actually like

0:35:35.400 --> 0:35:38.720
<v Speaker 2>in the studio with Beyonce or with Usher and stuff

0:35:38.760 --> 0:35:41.440
<v Speaker 2>like that. Because they we were talking, nobody would mention it.

0:35:41.719 --> 0:35:43.520
<v Speaker 2>And I guess that was mainly ego.

0:35:44.280 --> 0:35:46.759
<v Speaker 1>You go on whose side though it can't you can't

0:35:46.800 --> 0:35:49.200
<v Speaker 1>say it was respectfully. I don't think you could say

0:35:49.200 --> 0:35:51.640
<v Speaker 1>it's ego on your side because everybody who has a

0:35:51.680 --> 0:35:53.719
<v Speaker 1>siblings will be like, yo, are you gonna acknowledge it?

0:35:53.960 --> 0:35:55.719
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? Yeah, you know what I mean. And it was

0:35:55.800 --> 0:35:57.560
<v Speaker 2>like and a lot of times when they would tell

0:35:57.600 --> 0:36:00.359
<v Speaker 2>me it was I was going through a lot alone. Yeah,

0:36:00.480 --> 0:36:03.680
<v Speaker 2>And I think I was expecting, because of the relationship

0:36:03.680 --> 0:36:06.920
<v Speaker 2>we had as kids, them to be but I think

0:36:06.960 --> 0:36:08.720
<v Speaker 2>they just were going through their own They were in college,

0:36:09.239 --> 0:36:10.520
<v Speaker 2>you know what I mean, and they were trying to

0:36:10.560 --> 0:36:14.319
<v Speaker 2>figure it out. But once that they can, no one

0:36:14.320 --> 0:36:16.400
<v Speaker 2>in their mind is bigger than It's like me than

0:36:16.440 --> 0:36:19.400
<v Speaker 2>Michael Jackson so once we talked about it, I just

0:36:19.440 --> 0:36:21.280
<v Speaker 2>think that they were going through their own stuff.

0:36:21.320 --> 0:36:23.120
<v Speaker 1>Did they Did you ever get a chance to express

0:36:23.160 --> 0:36:24.120
<v Speaker 1>that kind of window to.

0:36:24.080 --> 0:36:27.400
<v Speaker 2>Them or they I was feeling it. I never expressed it,

0:36:27.440 --> 0:36:30.200
<v Speaker 2>but which I appreciate because now I know how they

0:36:30.880 --> 0:36:34.239
<v Speaker 2>view me as authentic because they just celebrate me in

0:36:34.280 --> 0:36:38.160
<v Speaker 2>that way and they're super supportive because again I was

0:36:38.200 --> 0:36:40.680
<v Speaker 2>going through things with death, cham going through things with

0:36:40.680 --> 0:36:42.719
<v Speaker 2>my publishing company, going through things with artists still in

0:36:42.719 --> 0:36:45.760
<v Speaker 2>my publishing stealing my money, but then also like showing

0:36:45.840 --> 0:36:48.960
<v Speaker 2>up for my family Jesus financially. So sometimes I'm just

0:36:49.360 --> 0:36:51.200
<v Speaker 2>in the movie set it off when Jada Pinkett gives

0:36:51.200 --> 0:36:52.759
<v Speaker 2>them money to and she said, you know what how

0:36:52.800 --> 0:36:55.160
<v Speaker 2>to do with that money? And I'm just kind of

0:36:55.200 --> 0:36:57.279
<v Speaker 2>I don't even know that. I'm just getting it from

0:36:57.320 --> 0:36:59.960
<v Speaker 2>all sides. This is not just money I can want.

0:37:00.040 --> 0:37:01.960
<v Speaker 2>I bought you this Christmas gift for When I sent

0:37:02.040 --> 0:37:05.759
<v Speaker 2>this money over, like, I really was like fighting over

0:37:05.840 --> 0:37:08.440
<v Speaker 2>here on this side, but now there's just gratitude and

0:37:09.160 --> 0:37:11.640
<v Speaker 2>love and it's just authentic. So I just think they

0:37:11.719 --> 0:37:14.880
<v Speaker 2>was figuring out, they were coming into their womanhood, and

0:37:14.920 --> 0:37:17.239
<v Speaker 2>it was never a lack there. You probably just didn't

0:37:17.239 --> 0:37:19.040
<v Speaker 2>have room or space to communicate it.

0:37:19.600 --> 0:37:21.280
<v Speaker 1>Do you now have mentors in the industry?

0:37:21.560 --> 0:37:24.720
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I definitely Like Keisha is like a huge mentor.

0:37:24.800 --> 0:37:25.279
<v Speaker 1>I love her.

0:37:25.440 --> 0:37:29.719
<v Speaker 2>We talked all the time. She just announced her tour,

0:37:29.960 --> 0:37:34.440
<v Speaker 2>so you should we love. Yeah, she's somebody who checks

0:37:34.440 --> 0:37:37.680
<v Speaker 2>on me, like a guardian angel. That's like my sister.

0:37:37.760 --> 0:37:40.680
<v Speaker 2>But Twain right there checks on me. She's like, how's

0:37:40.719 --> 0:37:43.759
<v Speaker 2>your heart through relationships? And she's had to come and

0:37:43.760 --> 0:37:45.279
<v Speaker 2>get me, like in the middle of a fist fight.

0:37:45.600 --> 0:37:46.560
<v Speaker 1>She's fist fight.

0:37:46.800 --> 0:37:48.160
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm from Florida.

0:37:49.000 --> 0:37:51.440
<v Speaker 1>You should ever be in a fist fight from Florida.

0:37:51.520 --> 0:37:53.760
<v Speaker 2>It gets that way. Okay, we pull up, pull.

0:37:53.680 --> 0:37:59.120
<v Speaker 1>Up a seat, let's eat. He did it? What is

0:37:59.120 --> 0:38:00.920
<v Speaker 1>the song? Do we have to any more saut stepping

0:38:01.000 --> 0:38:01.320
<v Speaker 1>or anything?

0:38:01.560 --> 0:38:03.160
<v Speaker 2>It should be? It should be good.

0:38:03.640 --> 0:38:06.400
<v Speaker 1>Eat here? What did you do with this work? He

0:38:06.520 --> 0:38:07.000
<v Speaker 1>was doing something?

0:38:07.880 --> 0:38:09.759
<v Speaker 2>Here we go, I'll let you taste it.

0:38:10.120 --> 0:38:13.160
<v Speaker 1>No, we're gonna do it together. It's gonna be good.

0:38:13.200 --> 0:38:14.800
<v Speaker 1>This is just a version.

0:38:15.040 --> 0:38:15.480
<v Speaker 2>Just do it.

0:38:15.680 --> 0:38:18.160
<v Speaker 1>You're gonna tell everybody how you forgot to I.

0:38:18.080 --> 0:38:20.800
<v Speaker 2>Did forget Okay, So I ended up making a Jamaican

0:38:20.920 --> 0:38:23.560
<v Speaker 2>version on accident. This is not the Haitian version because

0:38:23.960 --> 0:38:25.759
<v Speaker 2>I was so into the story I forgot to put

0:38:25.760 --> 0:38:27.040
<v Speaker 2>the boo yard in that.

0:38:27.080 --> 0:38:29.040
<v Speaker 1>But that would have been so it would have been

0:38:30.000 --> 0:38:32.320
<v Speaker 1>just so you guys know it. But Jennifer said it

0:38:32.320 --> 0:38:34.239
<v Speaker 1>would have been a paste because we just made like

0:38:34.320 --> 0:38:35.160
<v Speaker 1>you made a soup.

0:38:35.520 --> 0:38:37.480
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it would have been a little thicker and the

0:38:37.480 --> 0:38:39.040
<v Speaker 2>flavor would have been in there. But this is not

0:38:39.120 --> 0:38:41.320
<v Speaker 2>bad because Jamaica's killing chairs.

0:38:41.320 --> 0:38:48.200
<v Speaker 1>Okay, here we go. I don't know this, mom, does

0:38:48.200 --> 0:38:52.360
<v Speaker 1>it taste Haitian? No, want to try your version? But

0:38:52.440 --> 0:38:55.080
<v Speaker 1>this is good though, it's perfect.

0:38:55.320 --> 0:38:59.239
<v Speaker 2>All. Oh wow, there's a really good I'm proud of me.

0:38:59.400 --> 0:39:02.239
<v Speaker 1>I'm proud of you too. You should have made all

0:39:02.320 --> 0:39:04.000
<v Speaker 1>of them so you'd have a snack on the way

0:39:04.120 --> 0:39:04.720
<v Speaker 1>to the plane.

0:39:04.840 --> 0:39:07.000
<v Speaker 2>Oh that's all good, is perfect?

0:39:07.760 --> 0:39:11.240
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely one more. I'm Jamaican.

0:39:12.840 --> 0:39:14.360
<v Speaker 2>There, that's what Jamaican cowing up.

0:39:15.200 --> 0:39:17.480
<v Speaker 1>Oh this one could be fried Mar. I'm taking all

0:39:17.520 --> 0:39:21.920
<v Speaker 1>the good ones, okay, Elijah, Yeah, let's get to this

0:39:22.040 --> 0:39:24.759
<v Speaker 1>deluxe album. Tell us all about it.

0:39:24.960 --> 0:39:29.040
<v Speaker 2>The Deluxe for me is my first time really getting

0:39:29.080 --> 0:39:32.800
<v Speaker 2>to be the artist I've always wanted to be. There's

0:39:33.080 --> 0:39:38.120
<v Speaker 2>so much experimentation happening with electronic elements, live musicianships, and.

0:39:38.200 --> 0:39:39.600
<v Speaker 1>I just didn't want you to spend the block.

0:39:39.920 --> 0:39:43.040
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, live musicianship that's happening on there, and it's I

0:39:43.080 --> 0:39:44.719
<v Speaker 2>get to be the artist. And I got a song

0:39:44.760 --> 0:39:48.520
<v Speaker 2>with Kim Barrell, who I've studied. You couldn't tell me,

0:39:49.000 --> 0:39:50.840
<v Speaker 2>like in a million years, I had to be in

0:39:50.840 --> 0:39:52.480
<v Speaker 2>the same room as Kim Borell. And I'm in a

0:39:52.480 --> 0:39:57.400
<v Speaker 2>great space. I'm independent with the team that I've always

0:39:57.560 --> 0:39:59.520
<v Speaker 2>dreamed of. I feel like I call them my avengers

0:39:59.600 --> 0:40:02.120
<v Speaker 2>and collected them and they've collected me throughout the way.

0:40:02.239 --> 0:40:05.279
<v Speaker 2>Like Jen who's on my management team. We've been rocking

0:40:05.320 --> 0:40:07.120
<v Speaker 2>sister the rock Nation days. It was my product manager

0:40:07.160 --> 0:40:12.960
<v Speaker 2>at rock Nation. Peter shout out to Gin, a fellow Dominica.

0:40:13.200 --> 0:40:15.680
<v Speaker 1>I love that you keep everyone in your camp around forever.

0:40:15.760 --> 0:40:18.719
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, that's a good sign of integrity to really.

0:40:18.600 --> 0:40:21.600
<v Speaker 2>Yeah my opinion, Yeah, I would think so. And then

0:40:21.719 --> 0:40:24.160
<v Speaker 2>my my manager, he was the president of Deaf Jam

0:40:24.200 --> 0:40:26.440
<v Speaker 2>when I was there. He was the person who's really

0:40:26.960 --> 0:40:29.920
<v Speaker 2>him and no idea, Peter thea and yeah, that's the way.

0:40:30.000 --> 0:40:35.040
<v Speaker 2>And r I p to my also my co manager

0:40:35.080 --> 0:40:36.080
<v Speaker 2>hoodie that just passed.

0:40:36.200 --> 0:40:37.000
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I heard about that.

0:40:37.120 --> 0:40:41.080
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he managed myself Tone stiff An and he. I

0:40:41.120 --> 0:40:42.720
<v Speaker 2>wish he would have been able to see what the deluxe.

0:40:42.760 --> 0:40:44.200
<v Speaker 2>He was one of the people that put everything in

0:40:44.200 --> 0:40:46.080
<v Speaker 2>place with the label that I'm at now. I would

0:40:46.120 --> 0:40:47.320
<v Speaker 2>say the partner.

0:40:47.239 --> 0:40:49.400
<v Speaker 1>You dedicated a song to him though, Yeah, Well.

0:40:49.280 --> 0:40:51.120
<v Speaker 2>Something happens when I hear does something happened when I

0:40:51.160 --> 0:40:52.919
<v Speaker 2>hear your name, And that's with me made in Tone

0:40:52.920 --> 0:40:56.839
<v Speaker 2>who he was really fighting every day, fight for us

0:40:56.840 --> 0:40:59.200
<v Speaker 2>on just he would show it to my Good Day

0:40:59.239 --> 0:41:01.600
<v Speaker 2>New York performance and I'm just like, did you just

0:41:01.640 --> 0:41:04.120
<v Speaker 2>flying from Australia He's yeah, I'm like leaving to go

0:41:04.160 --> 0:41:06.560
<v Speaker 2>to Jersey per Tone right after this and just he

0:41:06.760 --> 0:41:09.920
<v Speaker 2>really gave his heart and his soul to this project.

0:41:10.040 --> 0:41:11.640
<v Speaker 2>And I think he'd be proud. I think he'd be

0:41:11.760 --> 0:41:12.160
<v Speaker 2>very proud.

0:41:12.480 --> 0:41:15.040
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and he could obviously feel all the love.

0:41:15.160 --> 0:41:17.840
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. We're Dene Malloy, who's been my reference and to

0:41:17.840 --> 0:41:19.680
<v Speaker 2>be and my study. He's who signed me A, B

0:41:19.760 --> 0:41:23.560
<v Speaker 2>and I and he's not my A. And R Shy Riddick,

0:41:23.600 --> 0:41:25.879
<v Speaker 2>who was an intern that songbook when I had moved

0:41:25.920 --> 0:41:28.719
<v Speaker 2>to Atlanta and he was interning there. He's on my

0:41:28.760 --> 0:41:31.799
<v Speaker 2>team as well. So yeah, this Deluxe means more than

0:41:31.880 --> 0:41:33.719
<v Speaker 2>just music and more than just songs. I think people

0:41:33.719 --> 0:41:36.399
<v Speaker 2>are getting the Elijah that I felt a little too

0:41:36.440 --> 0:41:40.359
<v Speaker 2>restricted to be allowed to become at the major side

0:41:40.360 --> 0:41:41.520
<v Speaker 2>of the major label system.

0:41:41.880 --> 0:41:44.320
<v Speaker 1>So your deal right now, is it like one hundred

0:41:44.320 --> 0:41:49.120
<v Speaker 1>percent freedom freedom, one hundred percent yes, And it's not

0:41:49.160 --> 0:41:50.840
<v Speaker 1>independent though it is independent.

0:41:51.040 --> 0:41:54.759
<v Speaker 2>It's with my label and Monarch is the partner, so

0:41:54.800 --> 0:41:58.840
<v Speaker 2>they provide. Yeah, they're a distribution company, so they just

0:41:58.840 --> 0:42:01.560
<v Speaker 2>make sure that we get on Spotify, Apple Music. Actually,

0:42:01.600 --> 0:42:03.279
<v Speaker 2>what I really like about them is they provide other

0:42:03.280 --> 0:42:06.080
<v Speaker 2>services to like we get a product manager internally and

0:42:06.120 --> 0:42:08.360
<v Speaker 2>stuff like that. They just keep everything. They help facilitate

0:42:08.400 --> 0:42:11.919
<v Speaker 2>certain services that I would have liked at a major

0:42:12.000 --> 0:42:14.000
<v Speaker 2>label situation without selling myself.

0:42:14.160 --> 0:42:17.239
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I like that too. And then earlier back, not

0:42:17.280 --> 0:42:20.280
<v Speaker 1>trying to circle back, but you had mentioned like stealing,

0:42:20.320 --> 0:42:23.560
<v Speaker 1>like someone stole stole music from you. Can you talk

0:42:23.640 --> 0:42:24.760
<v Speaker 1>me through how that happened?

0:42:24.920 --> 0:42:26.240
<v Speaker 2>So what happens is those.

0:42:26.080 --> 0:42:28.560
<v Speaker 1>Plans are good. Trust me. I don't want to eat

0:42:27.719 --> 0:42:31.000
<v Speaker 1>it because I have to ask questions and I'm watching

0:42:31.040 --> 0:42:32.279
<v Speaker 1>the clock. So you make this.

0:42:32.280 --> 0:42:35.560
<v Speaker 2>Plane somehow along the way. It's crazy. When I signed

0:42:35.560 --> 0:42:38.680
<v Speaker 2>a deaf jam, the whole question, the only bad thing

0:42:38.719 --> 0:42:40.799
<v Speaker 2>that I kept hearing over and over was like, is

0:42:40.800 --> 0:42:44.000
<v Speaker 2>he a songwriter or is he an artist? I'm like, what,

0:42:44.200 --> 0:42:47.440
<v Speaker 2>Like Prince was a singer songwriter, Lauren's singer songwriter. But

0:42:47.480 --> 0:42:49.320
<v Speaker 2>that was a real thing that they were trying to

0:42:49.360 --> 0:42:50.759
<v Speaker 2>find out. I'm like, they're one and the same.

0:42:50.880 --> 0:42:52.120
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but why can't you be both?

0:42:52.160 --> 0:42:52.319
<v Speaker 2>Though?

0:42:52.400 --> 0:42:53.920
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but now you're great at it.

0:42:53.960 --> 0:42:55.880
<v Speaker 2>But now everybody wants to be a songwriter. And you

0:42:55.960 --> 0:42:59.200
<v Speaker 2>have these artists who don't write, and but they want

0:42:59.280 --> 0:43:01.560
<v Speaker 2>publishing on a song because they realize, like when touring

0:43:01.680 --> 0:43:04.399
<v Speaker 2>is done, when everything is done, and they want to

0:43:04.440 --> 0:43:07.799
<v Speaker 2>still live these extravagant lifestyle. Publishing is what you have

0:43:08.440 --> 0:43:10.239
<v Speaker 2>in the days where your bones don't work the way today,

0:43:10.360 --> 0:43:12.280
<v Speaker 2>certain you can pass down to your kids. It's like equity,

0:43:12.320 --> 0:43:13.520
<v Speaker 2>it's like real estate.

0:43:13.600 --> 0:43:15.920
<v Speaker 1>I heard a lot of the major artists not dropping names,

0:43:15.920 --> 0:43:19.680
<v Speaker 1>but like people like a Beyonce. I don't want nobody

0:43:19.719 --> 0:43:22.120
<v Speaker 1>coming from me for that. But I heard that they

0:43:22.440 --> 0:43:25.719
<v Speaker 1>automatically if you write songs for them, they automatically get

0:43:26.040 --> 0:43:27.719
<v Speaker 1>a part of the deal is that they have to

0:43:27.719 --> 0:43:29.200
<v Speaker 1>get a writer's credit on it.

0:43:29.520 --> 0:43:32.040
<v Speaker 2>I've heard that, mean I've not heard that. I've experienced it,

0:43:32.040 --> 0:43:35.320
<v Speaker 2>not from Beyonce in particular, but there has been certain

0:43:35.440 --> 0:43:38.520
<v Speaker 2>artists that are my heroes and for me, I don't

0:43:38.560 --> 0:43:41.399
<v Speaker 2>mind if it's not. But sometimes it gets a little

0:43:41.400 --> 0:43:43.120
<v Speaker 2>to the point where it's just like being greedy if

0:43:43.160 --> 0:43:45.480
<v Speaker 2>you didn't write a single word on the song. At

0:43:45.560 --> 0:43:48.520
<v Speaker 2>least with Beyonce. But I've experienced what I've told us.

0:43:48.760 --> 0:43:52.040
<v Speaker 2>She's she is. There is musicianship going into it, so

0:43:52.280 --> 0:43:54.680
<v Speaker 2>she's going to rearrange and change the songs, and she's

0:43:54.719 --> 0:43:57.160
<v Speaker 2>going to contribute to it her harmonies and everything. But

0:43:57.200 --> 0:44:00.359
<v Speaker 2>there are certain artists that literally do nothing want forty

0:44:00.360 --> 0:44:05.600
<v Speaker 2>percent of the song. And you're looking like, no ten

0:44:05.719 --> 0:44:08.200
<v Speaker 2>is not a problem. Yeah, that's not a problem at all. Actually,

0:44:08.239 --> 0:44:10.719
<v Speaker 2>on No Love a lot, I gave Rianna ten just

0:44:10.719 --> 0:44:14.440
<v Speaker 2>because she brought them and she asked, so to me

0:44:14.600 --> 0:44:17.040
<v Speaker 2>that there's a respect there, you know what I mean,

0:44:17.080 --> 0:44:19.400
<v Speaker 2>They're you're not You're not No Love allowed.

0:44:19.400 --> 0:44:23.200
<v Speaker 1>That was unapologetic, but she asked, but did she contribute?

0:44:23.719 --> 0:44:25.959
<v Speaker 2>I felt, I felt this is for me. I felt

0:44:26.000 --> 0:44:27.960
<v Speaker 2>like the way she brought the song to life and

0:44:28.000 --> 0:44:29.880
<v Speaker 2>her isms, and there were certain things that were it

0:44:29.920 --> 0:44:33.759
<v Speaker 2>wasn't like Verbatim to make demo record. Yeah, I wrote

0:44:33.760 --> 0:44:37.840
<v Speaker 2>the song myself in a scured though and she cut it,

0:44:37.880 --> 0:44:39.920
<v Speaker 2>but there were ways she brought it to life. So

0:44:39.960 --> 0:44:43.239
<v Speaker 2>I feel like and that wasn't greedy, that's not at all.

0:44:43.280 --> 0:44:45.799
<v Speaker 2>So one hundred percent of zero is still zero. But

0:44:46.160 --> 0:44:48.319
<v Speaker 2>there are artists who do nothing and they're like, yeah,

0:44:48.360 --> 0:44:50.520
<v Speaker 2>I need forty percent of that, And for me, I'm

0:44:50.560 --> 0:44:53.879
<v Speaker 2>just like, it ain't going And I allowed, I used

0:44:53.920 --> 0:44:55.600
<v Speaker 2>to allow it, and it hurt me to the point

0:44:55.600 --> 0:44:57.120
<v Speaker 2>where I'm just like I'm ready to just fall on

0:44:57.160 --> 0:44:59.560
<v Speaker 2>the sword because I just I make I'm setting a

0:44:59.600 --> 0:45:01.400
<v Speaker 2>bad example for the.

0:45:01.280 --> 0:45:04.120
<v Speaker 1>Next president presidents.

0:45:04.280 --> 0:45:06.880
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, to allow this to be done to newer songwriters,

0:45:07.360 --> 0:45:09.200
<v Speaker 2>like it happened to me because somebody literally told me when

0:45:09.200 --> 0:45:10.960
<v Speaker 2>I said, why do you feel like you deserve forty percent?

0:45:11.320 --> 0:45:12.520
<v Speaker 2>I got to earn your stripes. I'm like, I'm not

0:45:12.560 --> 0:45:15.640
<v Speaker 2>a fucking tiger. I don't want stripes. I want Louis Baton,

0:45:15.920 --> 0:45:20.320
<v Speaker 2>I like that Gucci. Yeah, I don't want those stripes.

0:45:20.360 --> 0:45:22.120
<v Speaker 2>I need to doing the first every month.

0:45:22.200 --> 0:45:25.240
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, But yeah, did that takes a lot of courage

0:45:25.239 --> 0:45:27.719
<v Speaker 1>for you to actually stand for up for yourself and

0:45:27.760 --> 0:45:28.160
<v Speaker 1>be like.

0:45:28.200 --> 0:45:30.040
<v Speaker 2>For sure, because they'll take the song off the album.

0:45:30.080 --> 0:45:32.239
<v Speaker 2>I had a huge artist it ended up coming up.

0:45:32.239 --> 0:45:34.560
<v Speaker 2>But the manager there was like, you have ten seconds

0:45:34.560 --> 0:45:36.359
<v Speaker 2>because they was about to put the project out there,

0:45:36.440 --> 0:45:39.840
<v Speaker 2>like give us posting guest or no. Within response to

0:45:39.840 --> 0:45:41.799
<v Speaker 2>this email, we're taking off the album. And I said

0:45:41.800 --> 0:45:43.200
<v Speaker 2>it's not fair, and they took it off the album.

0:45:43.320 --> 0:45:44.759
<v Speaker 2>It ended up being on the deluxe.

0:45:45.120 --> 0:45:47.200
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so if you guys want to hear you hear

0:45:47.200 --> 0:45:50.520
<v Speaker 1>it on the DELX. Yeah, obviously tell us which song

0:45:50.560 --> 0:45:51.239
<v Speaker 1>it is.

0:45:51.360 --> 0:45:53.439
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but I just didn't think it was I didn't

0:45:53.440 --> 0:45:54.920
<v Speaker 2>think it was fair. Yeah, I didn't think.

0:45:54.960 --> 0:45:56.359
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad you did it so now we can enjoy

0:45:56.440 --> 0:45:57.600
<v Speaker 1>on the deluxe exactly.

0:45:57.680 --> 0:45:59.399
<v Speaker 2>And they saw me at a party, the manager who

0:45:59.440 --> 0:46:01.799
<v Speaker 2>was a huge manager. So I'm at a party. It

0:46:01.880 --> 0:46:05.040
<v Speaker 2>was like Ush's birthday party in LA and he was like, man,

0:46:05.480 --> 0:46:07.560
<v Speaker 2>Adam Levine asked me why I took that song. It

0:46:07.600 --> 0:46:10.239
<v Speaker 2>was his favorite that song album, so we're gonna re

0:46:10.239 --> 0:46:12.520
<v Speaker 2>release it as a deluxe and literally I was the

0:46:12.560 --> 0:46:16.719
<v Speaker 2>only song they added the deluxe. I was really at first,

0:46:16.760 --> 0:46:18.879
<v Speaker 2>I was like damn. I like the producers were looking

0:46:18.880 --> 0:46:20.400
<v Speaker 2>at me like, damn, Eliji, you might have missed up

0:46:20.400 --> 0:46:22.920
<v Speaker 2>for us. I'm like, bro, at what point do we

0:46:23.000 --> 0:46:25.080
<v Speaker 2>stand for something? You know what I mean? They're gonna

0:46:25.120 --> 0:46:27.919
<v Speaker 2>And I felt like because I allowed it with two

0:46:28.000 --> 0:46:29.319
<v Speaker 2>instances prior is why.

0:46:29.920 --> 0:46:32.480
<v Speaker 1>It just felt like everybody was like, oh a lot

0:46:32.480 --> 0:46:33.759
<v Speaker 1>of talking about it.

0:46:33.840 --> 0:46:34.600
<v Speaker 2>That's how I felt.

0:46:34.640 --> 0:46:37.120
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you under honestly, it wasn't just how you felt,

0:46:37.160 --> 0:46:38.920
<v Speaker 1>it was reality. Yeah, it became reality.

0:46:38.680 --> 0:46:40.880
<v Speaker 2>Because I'm like, why is everybody just thinking like Elijah's

0:46:41.040 --> 0:46:43.799
<v Speaker 2>is gonna give twenty thirty percent. In the beginning part

0:46:43.840 --> 0:46:45.200
<v Speaker 2>of my crew, I was so young. I was having

0:46:45.200 --> 0:46:47.120
<v Speaker 2>fun with it. I was like, yeah, you can have

0:46:47.280 --> 0:46:49.160
<v Speaker 2>you can have this, And I'm like, why are y'all

0:46:49.200 --> 0:46:51.400
<v Speaker 2>only coming after me? Even I would see emails and

0:46:51.400 --> 0:46:53.520
<v Speaker 2>they're like, Okay, we need to find thirty percent for

0:46:53.600 --> 0:46:56.080
<v Speaker 2>this person and everybody nobody's budget, but they're just expecting

0:46:56.120 --> 0:46:58.640
<v Speaker 2>me to move. So I'm like, okay, I gotta really

0:46:58.680 --> 0:47:01.160
<v Speaker 2>like just double down ten y. Let you all know

0:47:01.200 --> 0:47:02.120
<v Speaker 2>it ain't a game no more.

0:47:02.239 --> 0:47:04.160
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but that takes a lot of courage. There's no

0:47:04.239 --> 0:47:07.680
<v Speaker 1>way you weren't like semi second guessing yourself, especially after

0:47:07.680 --> 0:47:10.480
<v Speaker 1>they pulled it. Yeah, but then the producers were coming

0:47:10.520 --> 0:47:10.680
<v Speaker 1>to you.

0:47:10.760 --> 0:47:12.880
<v Speaker 2>All I had to do was one time and Nigga

0:47:12.920 --> 0:47:16.319
<v Speaker 2>stopped expecting it. I like you feel me to you?

0:47:16.560 --> 0:47:21.719
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, which collaboration on the album do you like the best?

0:47:22.120 --> 0:47:25.080
<v Speaker 1>Not trying to make you choose between your twins and

0:47:25.200 --> 0:47:26.560
<v Speaker 1>Streeter or anybody else.

0:47:26.960 --> 0:47:29.560
<v Speaker 2>You know. I hate with people as like this, but

0:47:29.640 --> 0:47:34.000
<v Speaker 2>they're so different. The one with Me and Seven, I

0:47:34.280 --> 0:47:37.640
<v Speaker 2>just realized, even just like last night, I'm like, dang,

0:47:37.719 --> 0:47:39.480
<v Speaker 2>me and seven are both from Florida, you know what

0:47:39.520 --> 0:47:41.680
<v Speaker 2>I mean. We both have had a similar experience with

0:47:41.719 --> 0:47:45.040
<v Speaker 2>the major label system. We're also experiencing success outside of

0:47:45.080 --> 0:47:47.319
<v Speaker 2>it now as independent artists. And I'm like, that's kind

0:47:47.320 --> 0:47:51.120
<v Speaker 2>of dope. Like two artists from Florida like ninety Babies

0:47:51.360 --> 0:47:54.359
<v Speaker 2>doing the nineties inspired record with Eric Husson who produced it.

0:47:54.800 --> 0:47:57.000
<v Speaker 2>I'm like, that's kind of dope. And then also the

0:47:57.040 --> 0:47:59.080
<v Speaker 2>one how You're Going to I'm like, that's freaking salt

0:47:59.120 --> 0:48:02.480
<v Speaker 2>and pepper like salt, you know what I mean. That's legendary.

0:48:02.520 --> 0:48:06.480
<v Speaker 1>That's awesome. Shout out to her. We had Streeter on

0:48:06.800 --> 0:48:09.200
<v Speaker 1>and her story was really beautiful too. She was a

0:48:09.320 --> 0:48:12.560
<v Speaker 1>very beautiful story. Yeah, and that was like a Chris Brown.

0:48:12.840 --> 0:48:15.480
<v Speaker 1>Shout outs to Chris Brown and her dad first look

0:48:15.520 --> 0:48:17.239
<v Speaker 1>the one that actually like initially put her on.

0:48:17.480 --> 0:48:19.560
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and I had seen seven in passing. We've just

0:48:19.600 --> 0:48:23.239
<v Speaker 2>never collaborated, collaborate, So this song is a beautiful represent.

0:48:23.040 --> 0:48:25.960
<v Speaker 1>I love the song. Thank You's beautiful? All right? You

0:48:25.960 --> 0:48:29.239
<v Speaker 1>know what? You can? Go ahead. I'm so sad to

0:48:29.280 --> 0:48:29.759
<v Speaker 1>see you go.

0:48:30.280 --> 0:48:31.680
<v Speaker 2>I want to do this. Can we have y'all done

0:48:31.680 --> 0:48:33.000
<v Speaker 2>a part two? Can we do a part two?

0:48:33.040 --> 0:48:34.640
<v Speaker 1>I would love to do it a part two? Do

0:48:34.680 --> 0:48:37.319
<v Speaker 1>you come to La a lot? You live here?

0:48:38.520 --> 0:48:38.719
<v Speaker 2>Oh?

0:48:38.800 --> 0:48:41.359
<v Speaker 1>Okay, you know where the studio's at. We gonna see

0:48:41.440 --> 0:48:42.000
<v Speaker 1>a little.

0:48:43.840 --> 0:48:44.759
<v Speaker 2>Real. Yeah.

0:48:45.200 --> 0:48:47.920
<v Speaker 1>You went from non cooking to all excited about cooking.

0:48:47.960 --> 0:48:48.759
<v Speaker 1>It's hilarious.

0:48:49.560 --> 0:48:50.520
<v Speaker 2>We gonna do part two.

0:48:50.800 --> 0:48:53.200
<v Speaker 1>Okay, part two. You heard it here first, but I

0:48:53.239 --> 0:48:55.400
<v Speaker 1>want you to sing us out. Okay, I have to

0:48:55.440 --> 0:48:57.960
<v Speaker 1>because when I heard you sing earlier, did you enjoy it?

0:48:59.520 --> 0:48:59.640
<v Speaker 2>All?

0:48:59.719 --> 0:48:59.919
<v Speaker 1>Right?

0:49:00.560 --> 0:49:10.160
<v Speaker 2>What song am I so we're talking about? Okay, dang sing? Okay,

0:49:10.440 --> 0:49:12.280
<v Speaker 2>I gotta do a gospel song because I'm going ahead.

0:49:12.400 --> 0:49:16.600
<v Speaker 4>I'm feel I've had some good days.

0:49:17.440 --> 0:49:18.239
<v Speaker 2>I've had some.

0:49:18.400 --> 0:49:27.840
<v Speaker 4>He he's the class. I've had some weary days, some

0:49:28.160 --> 0:49:30.360
<v Speaker 4>lonely nights.

0:49:31.080 --> 0:49:33.759
<v Speaker 1>But we're a look around and.

0:49:35.160 --> 0:49:41.239
<v Speaker 4>I think things over all of my good days, all

0:49:41.239 --> 0:49:42.239
<v Speaker 4>the wait, mind.

0:49:44.120 --> 0:49:50.239
<v Speaker 2>My bad days, and die. I won't complaint.

0:49:52.200 --> 0:49:56.799
<v Speaker 1>That was beautiful. Thank you, my goodness, the boy, Thank

0:49:56.840 --> 0:49:58.960
<v Speaker 1>you guys. You heard it here first.

0:49:59.480 --> 0:50:00.120
<v Speaker 2>Hey.

0:50:04.640 --> 0:50:07.920
<v Speaker 1>For more eating while broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect,

0:50:08.080 --> 0:50:11.640
<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

0:50:11.680 --> 0:50:13.040
<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows,