Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Coley Witt, and today we have singer songwriter.
Speaker 1: Grammy winning singer songwriter Elijah Blake is in the building.
Speaker 1: How are you.
Speaker 2: I'm feeling good. Yeah, you're feeling.
Speaker 1: Comfortable in the kitchen to burn it down? Yeah, I'm scared.
Speaker 1: I was excited about it. I was excited about the plantains,
Speaker 1: but I'm a little nervous. All right, why don't you
Speaker 1: go ahead and tell me what you're gonna have us
Speaker 1: eating today?
Speaker 2: I am making. I'm making Haitian plantains today. Haitian just
Speaker 2: because in my preference, in my opinion, that's the best plantain.
Speaker 2: It's close between the Dominican plantains and has, but I
Speaker 2: think the Haitian plantains are the best.
Speaker 1: I want to see the difference because I know being
Speaker 1: have jamake it. I don't want you to start asking
Speaker 1: me questions about being Jamaican. But they usually just fry
Speaker 1: the plantains, so there's a difference.
Speaker 2: You guys, see what the Haitian plantains is. There's a
Speaker 2: little more that goes into There's like a juice marinaire
Speaker 2: that's made that you dip it and fry dip it
Speaker 2: than fried. So the flavor that it has in.
Speaker 1: Size, Okay, yeah, go ahead, oil the pot.
Speaker 2: So the ingredients ingredients you feel me? So we got Lemons,
Speaker 2: we got Donalds, we got grape seed oil because I
Speaker 2: just think this is a healthy alternative.
Speaker 1: I've been trying to Oh that's why I thought that
Speaker 1: was special.
Speaker 2: No, I went I did an alkaline diet. I've been
Speaker 2: into like what doctor Sabe has been preaching and stuff
Speaker 2: like that. So grape seed oil is actually like a
Speaker 2: super good alternative vegetable oil.
Speaker 1: And olive oil is better than olive oil too.
Speaker 2: I think it is. Yeah, it's really clean for you.
Speaker 2: If you've ever been to a Spanish market, chick, you
Speaker 2: feel me? This where all the flavor is. I put
Speaker 2: this in my.
Speaker 1: Eggs and everything your eggs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I'm telling you it's for another time. Take
Speaker 2: a little bit and put it in your season for
Speaker 2: the batter for the eggs, for.
Speaker 1: The batter for the eggs. What do you mean better
Speaker 1: for the eggs?
Speaker 2: Dominican perto Rican friends?
Speaker 1: No? Is that why you thought I was Puerto Rican?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Or just because I look like a fake Puerto Rican
Speaker 1: not a fake from New York.
Speaker 2: They're like your Puerto Rican. Yeah I heard it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but yeah, that's my grandmother used to just put a
Speaker 2: little bit.
Speaker 1: Oh they whip it for like you when they're making
Speaker 1: scrambled eggs, things in it.
Speaker 2: But this is one of the secret ingredients.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna check it out. I'm gonna take it out
Speaker 1: solely based on how well you cook these plantains today.
Speaker 1: So go for it. Get in the kitchen. What are
Speaker 1: we doing with oil in the pot?
Speaker 2: Oil the pot. Get this thing going real quick.
Speaker 1: While you're oiling the pot. I'm gonna just go ahead
Speaker 1: and get into it.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's do this.
Speaker 1: Is long before being a Grammy winning songwriter and singer,
Speaker 1: long before the writing for Justin Bieber, Keisha Cole Usher
Speaker 1: writing hits obviously, right long before it all, long before it.
Speaker 1: So take me back to what was going on during
Speaker 1: this era of your life.
Speaker 2: So I came to you. I wasn't born in you.
Speaker 2: People don't know that. So I came to the United
Speaker 2: States when I was like five or six years old,
Speaker 2: and I didn't really It took me a while. Even
Speaker 2: to this day, I don't I'm not excited about burgers
Speaker 2: and a lot of American cuisine. I'm just now coming
Speaker 2: around to it. But this is all I knew. My mother,
Speaker 2: my grandmother, my family all made Listen, it just was
Speaker 2: an easy.
Speaker 1: And you're coming from Dominican Republican, yeah.
Speaker 2: And it just was an easy grabbing and go. So
Speaker 2: for me, I'm trying to pay attention. Am I doing
Speaker 2: it right? You don't get to call Jennifer okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: Jennifer is doing it wrong. That's why she knew.
Speaker 2: To wash it too. Yeah, Jenna's Dominican.
Speaker 1: Oh, she's dominic Yeah, so she understands.
Speaker 2: She understands. But yeah, this is one of my favorite things.
Speaker 2: And it just reminds me of home. Honestly, I always
Speaker 2: eat things that remind me of home. Because then when
Speaker 2: I got signed, I moved to Atlanta in ninth grade.
Speaker 2: And again, you.
Speaker 1: Guys signed in the ninth grade.
Speaker 2: Damn from my space. Wow, I was putting up original
Speaker 2: music yep from my space, and I was putting up
Speaker 2: original music on YouTube as well. So yeah, I would
Speaker 2: really say actually YouTube, because I was my Space had
Speaker 2: went down, and then Priscilla Renee myself, Dondrea. I don't
Speaker 2: know if you remember Dondrea. She was like killing it
Speaker 2: on YouTube around that time when money Long before Money
Speaker 2: Long was money Long, and we knew her as Priscilla Renee.
Speaker 2: She was doing like original songs and covers as well,
Speaker 2: and an executive from Atlanta Records reached out to me,
Speaker 2: and then I flew out to Atlanta while Trey Songs
Speaker 2: was working on the Ready album. This is before I
Speaker 2: knew that Clay Songs and he was working on the
Speaker 2: Ready album.
Speaker 1: I love how you said this what it was before
Speaker 1: you knew you could write song?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't know. I just wanted to.
Speaker 1: I didn't know I had that head and saling this
Speaker 1: came out.
Speaker 2: I just was I just got tired of being broke
Speaker 2: one day and I couldn't understand why songwriters have the
Speaker 2: most money. Like the songwriters was pulling up in the cars.
Speaker 2: The producers had better cars than the artist.
Speaker 1: So I'm just like and that the producers had better
Speaker 1: cards than that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Sean Garrett pulled up and I saw what Johntay
Speaker 3: Austin was driving, and I saw what like Brian Michael
Speaker 3: Cox had and I was like, okay, And meanwhile, I'm
Speaker 3: so hungry, I'm shaking in the studio.
Speaker 2: There was a point in time work. I was just
Speaker 2: having a regular conversation. I hadn't eaten in a couple
Speaker 2: of days. I didn't want to call my mom and
Speaker 2: tell her, like, I'm not eating because as a Caribe woman,
Speaker 2: she would be like, why are they not feeding you?
Speaker 2: And it's not necessarily that they weren't feeding me. I
Speaker 2: just think that.
Speaker 1: She would have been definitely concerned. She probably would have
Speaker 1: flown out there.
Speaker 2: She would have said, come back and go to college,
Speaker 2: or finish high school and go to college, because she
Speaker 2: wasn't really In Caribbean households, you either become a doctor, lawyer, engineer,
Speaker 2: or you're a failure. Like they don't want to hear that,
Speaker 2: none of that.
Speaker 1: Can I cut that right?
Speaker 2: I think so?
Speaker 1: I don't think so.
Speaker 2: But go ahead.
Speaker 1: We're gonna see.
Speaker 2: I just it's just to squeeze it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you cut it wrong.
Speaker 2: House was good. The other way.
Speaker 1: You got more lemons you could try.
Speaker 2: We just come to squeeze it though.
Speaker 1: Okay, don't see how you do it.
Speaker 2: Yo.
Speaker 1: I can't wait for your family. I say, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: send them the here. I'm gonna send them the video.
Speaker 2: The question is myself is gonna be.
Speaker 1: Five Yeah, that's the real question. Okay, is he gonna
Speaker 1: make them proud?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna make them proud.
Speaker 1: So so you're in high school basically, yeah, and you
Speaker 1: start to discover Is that when you discover that songwriters
Speaker 1: and producers make more money? Or is this right before college?
Speaker 2: You're saying, No, I'm just now figuring just from me surviving,
Speaker 2: I'm too proud for I didn't want to ask anybody
Speaker 2: for money. I didn't I think the day everybody just
Speaker 2: was moving and I was the youngest one in the crew.
Speaker 2: So one day I remember speaking and Trey was like,
Speaker 2: are you a nee me? And I'm like, I don't
Speaker 2: think so why He's like, you're shaking And I didn't
Speaker 2: know I was just I had been hungry for so
Speaker 2: many days. I didn't know I was, but so many days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was just oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I was thugging it out, like I was
Speaker 2: really just trying to get it. And again, there weren't
Speaker 2: any writers that were coming to write for me because
Speaker 2: Chef Tone was pulling up. He was writing for Trade.
Speaker 2: Johnsy Austin was writing for Trading, and this little kid
Speaker 2: in the corner that everybodys trying to get him a trade album,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. And my Karen there's all
Speaker 2: there's this kid in the house that my Karen thinks
Speaker 2: might be a star. But ain't the check don't reflect,
Speaker 2: ain't no money behind me, the butget's not open. So
Speaker 2: niggas is trying to get on trade, which I get.
Speaker 2: So just for me, I'm like, I'm wasting time. Let
Speaker 2: me get to it. So I started writing songs on
Speaker 2: my own and people are like walking by and hearing
Speaker 2: my songs, and Bobby Trey had a road manager. His
Speaker 2: name was Bobby. He was like, I think this nigga's
Speaker 2: a storyteller. And I'm getting annoyed because I'm like, I
Speaker 2: don't want to be a story I'm a church boy.
Speaker 2: Give me the songs, I sing them, put my music out,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. That's that type stuff. So
Speaker 2: then I remember I was singing upstairs one of the
Speaker 2: songs and Trey was like, look, I'm telling you like
Speaker 2: you have a gift of storyteller. And again me being
Speaker 2: stubborn and being a little annoyed, I'm like, I just
Speaker 2: want to sing songs. And he changed my life. Because
Speaker 2: oh lord, you're not supposed to laugh at me.
Speaker 1: So you talk out.
Speaker 2: I turned them all they down.
Speaker 1: You talked out, like those are gunshots, bro, I told you,
Speaker 1: don't let the water hit you know what the lemon?
Speaker 2: Hell No, I'm a.
Speaker 1: Mask, and so tell you know, I like, you've never
Speaker 1: been in the kitchen. You're good. I think you're safe.
Speaker 1: So go back to your story because you a good storyteller.
Speaker 1: Like they said where was a He was talking about
Speaker 1: how they discovered you a good storytelling. You in denial.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm in denial, and i just want people to
Speaker 2: give me songs. So I'm writing these songs and again
Speaker 2: once one day, write me a song, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: right now, it's yeah, right now. And he puts a
Speaker 2: beat on sk as another producer that's on songbook as well,
Speaker 2: And the first thing I hear is, I think it's
Speaker 2: time we take a trip to the band girl. Yo.
Speaker 2: Body's talking and I'm loving what she says. Don't you
Speaker 2: be your friend to let me little faint? You welcome
Speaker 2: you to Super No. So at this point I'm like
Speaker 2: going on like Super and me and Trey are such
Speaker 2: a playful dynamic at that point, and he's like Dupa,
Speaker 2: and we were like Jupiter Love and we're just branding
Speaker 2: things with super And then one day I get a
Speaker 2: call and Troy Taylor calls me. He's hey, Duper Love
Speaker 2: is gonna make the album. What's your being? My information?
Speaker 2: What's your again? I'm so broke right now at.
Speaker 1: This point broken, and you're discovering your anemic too, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, broke anemic, just suffering. And I'm teaching dance classes
Speaker 2: at this like White Dance studio. He's really off kids,
Speaker 2: and I'm teaching for thirty dollars an hour because I
Speaker 2: got a little one two stort to perform our high
Speaker 2: school and stuff like that, barely making it by. So
Speaker 2: when Troy Retch helps me register the song, I didn't
Speaker 2: understand the concept of a songwriter who goes and keeps
Speaker 2: track of every time a song plays on the radio
Speaker 2: around the world, collects two cents here, twenty cents here,
Speaker 2: or ten years cents here, a dollar here. I didn't
Speaker 2: know that there was a BMI it does this for
Speaker 2: you or p r oh.
Speaker 1: So when he asked you for the b and my information,
Speaker 1: were you like, huh yeah?
Speaker 2: But I called my dad. My dad already had one
Speaker 2: set up for me.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, my bad. I love that all right, go on.
Speaker 2: He's super music, literally, like it's from the Philly scene.
Speaker 2: Once I registered that, I went from being pissed broke
Speaker 2: to bringing in six bands like a month or every quarter.
Speaker 2: And I can't remember.
Speaker 1: Exactly, My goodness, that's how long from that call to
Speaker 1: you receiving the money? Was it like six months? A year?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they pay out quarterly, so I think from
Speaker 2: that call it felt pretty fast. Me. I would say
Speaker 2: about maybe two three months. I was in a penhouse. Oh,
Speaker 2: because I've suffered long enough.
Speaker 1: So you called your dad and your dad was like, son,
Speaker 1: already taken care of.
Speaker 2: Yeah. He gave me the information because my dad was
Speaker 2: also helping me release music when I was in high school.
Speaker 1: Oh, I love your parents, Pops.
Speaker 2: Everything I got he taught me. He really taught me
Speaker 2: how to format structure. So he was trying to teach
Speaker 2: me about where we're at now, told me where music
Speaker 2: was going to go, streaming wise, and my dad predicted
Speaker 2: all that because he used to work for Apple Corporate
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. And I think, just me being stubborn,
Speaker 2: I wanted the record deal. I wanted to feel established
Speaker 2: in that way, and his heart was so beautiful that
Speaker 2: he let me do that even though he knew better.
Speaker 2: I loved my father for that because he was like,
Speaker 2: I'm just and.
Speaker 1: This is yeah, but now you're saying that. He also
Speaker 1: taught you these other elements of songwriting indirectly though, right,
Speaker 1: So by the time you're in the studio, he baked
Speaker 1: something into you. Right.
Speaker 2: I had that ability because of him. I just didn't
Speaker 2: want to use it. Yeah. But when I was doing
Speaker 2: it just off of necessity putting original songs on YouTube,
Speaker 2: my pops was like, format it this way, structure this way. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and he really taught me how to like hone in
Speaker 2: my runs. He's a really great piano player, an incredible musicians.
Speaker 2: So by the time I got things started taking off
Speaker 2: from me. People thought I had superpowers because my dad
Speaker 2: was so strict on me. He was like my Matthew
Speaker 2: nos or like my Joe Jackson in a way.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I go from being a starving artist and
Speaker 2: then that's them that ended up breaking tray and taking
Speaker 2: trade to the next level. So when Ready blew up,
Speaker 2: everybody's like, there's a fifteen year old that rot and
Speaker 2: Drew Love became instantly the fan favorite Yeah album, and
Speaker 2: they were playing on the radio in Atlanta. So I
Speaker 2: think that's how word got to Usher, and then I
Speaker 2: went from that to working with Usher, Mary J. Blige
Speaker 2: and Beyonce Keisha Cole all in six.
Speaker 1: Months after that, within six months. Yeah, how old are
Speaker 1: you at the time? You're like fifteen?
Speaker 2: You said, yeah, so I'm fifteen, So let's just say, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm like sixteen by the time everything starts to really
Speaker 2: take off when the project releases and people start hearing,
Speaker 2: and all I needed was a shot.
Speaker 1: Now with that shot, how does a fifteen or sixteen
Speaker 1: year old know how to manage money?
Speaker 2: My business manager, So yeah, the business manager I had
Speaker 2: when I when everything took off for me as the
Speaker 2: same business manager I have now and we're like family.
Speaker 2: So he was really teaching me. He was like, you're
Speaker 2: not going to become an etue Hollywood story remember those. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he kept saying that he's not going to be that
Speaker 2: on my watch, and till this day he's got my back.
Speaker 1: Okay, So he helped you manage And then what are
Speaker 1: your parents saying? Was your dad like I told you
Speaker 1: so soon?
Speaker 2: My dad was very protective of me coming into it,
Speaker 2: just because he knew how they steal and the music
Speaker 2: industry teaches us and they just put us through things,
Speaker 2: and he was really protective. But then once I got
Speaker 2: signed to death Jam, that's when he was just like okay,
Speaker 2: like I'm not going to be that father. That's like
Speaker 2: in the way, like yeah, And to this day I
Speaker 2: call him for advice and everything like that. But I
Speaker 2: think once I got signed to death Jam, which I
Speaker 2: probably should have had him hold on a little bit more.
Speaker 1: But why do you say that, Because I.
Speaker 2: Really got screwed over in that deal. I really got
Speaker 2: screwed over in that deal. And I'm not blaming death Jam.
Speaker 2: I just think that a lot of promises were made
Speaker 2: and me being so naive, I believed everything so much
Speaker 2: so that I invested a lot of my own money
Speaker 2: that I thought I was gonna get back, and I
Speaker 2: didn't get it back. And I just assumed, like anybody
Speaker 2: else would assume, like your talent alone, if you're talented
Speaker 2: enough you sing the songs, probably, if you're just the
Speaker 2: best that you can be, your music will come on.
Speaker 2: And that's not about that, it's about so many other
Speaker 2: things outside and around it that just it becomes exhausting.
Speaker 2: And I remember Mark Pitts, who's one of my heroes,
Speaker 2: who I worked closely with when I was working on
Speaker 2: the Usher project, and who I remember. He told me,
Speaker 2: he is like, don't lose that smile. And I'm just like,
Speaker 2: I'm always smiling, like I'm a happy.
Speaker 1: Person, smile heading on you, thank you.
Speaker 2: But I literally was like, are you sound crazy? I'm
Speaker 2: never gonna stop smiling and throughout life. And he told
Speaker 2: me this, He's like, when I signed Chris Brown, these
Speaker 2: guess I knew the star he was gonna be. But
Speaker 2: he walked in and he had a smile that lit
Speaker 2: up the room, and he was like, I don't want
Speaker 2: to watch that same smile fade in you. Wow throughout
Speaker 2: the years, the way that the music industry can just
Speaker 2: beat on you and just take everything, take it in
Speaker 2: dem your life. I was like, you're crazy, but I
Speaker 2: have to admit, like, throughout the years, even when I
Speaker 2: look in the mirror, I've seen that smile fade Wow
Speaker 2: more and more because you become that you start off
Speaker 2: as this kid that believes in this dream, and this
Speaker 2: dream just's you're realizing, oh, this was a nightmare the
Speaker 2: whole time.
Speaker 1: Why do you say it was a nightmare the whole
Speaker 1: time though.
Speaker 2: Just because the more you love it, the more it
Speaker 2: takes from you. And I think as artists, right, especially
Speaker 2: singers R and B artists, when they're saying the genre
Speaker 2: is dying, it's not dying, but you're definitely fighting an
Speaker 2: uphill battle because you watch rappers get on stage, right
Speaker 2: and they get they make significantly more than the let's say,
Speaker 2: like a new rapper versus a new singer would make
Speaker 2: some significantly more a show than a singer would. And
Speaker 2: they can get up there and sing over the track
Speaker 2: literally like the same version as you're hearing on Apple
Speaker 2: Music on the spot. They'll sing over the whole thing
Speaker 2: and barely. Whereas as a singer, as an R and
Speaker 2: B artist, you're expected a live band, yeah, background dances, choreography, rehearsal.
Speaker 1: The real singers yeah, yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: You're expected to put on a show. Yeah, you're protecting
Speaker 2: your instrument, so there's a lot of it you're putting
Speaker 2: into it for minimal return.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The return is your love for the art, your love
Speaker 2: for the craft. So it's one of them things.
Speaker 1: Man, How old were you when you signed the deaf
Speaker 1: Jam deal?
Speaker 2: When I signed the deaf Jam I believe I was nineteen.
Speaker 1: Okay, and that's when he started releasing the reins. Yeah,
Speaker 1: was there any other would you say, looking back, lessons
Speaker 1: that you wish you could have not had learned head on?
Speaker 2: It was all beautiful. I definitely felt like after I
Speaker 2: left def Jam, I thought it was going to be
Speaker 2: easier getting off that deal just because shit, they were
Speaker 2: dropping everybody. So I was like, I didn't sell deeper numbers,
Speaker 2: like just drop me. But it wasn't that easy.
Speaker 1: They didn't get any of yourublishing.
Speaker 2: No, I was already signed to Sony okay.
Speaker 1: So they didn't So there's no way for them to
Speaker 1: get your publishing. Yeah, so it does make it easier
Speaker 1: for them to possibly drop you. And that's what you wanted.
Speaker 2: I wanted to get dropped, but it wasn't that easy.
Speaker 2: There was like lawyers and conversations and how do I leave,
Speaker 2: which songs can I take with me? Which it was
Speaker 2: this long process. I remember even in the middle, I
Speaker 2: just wanted to stay creative as an artist, that's how
Speaker 2: we live. And I remember putting something up on a
Speaker 2: SoundCloud this is fun just for fun covers or whatever,
Speaker 2: and with intense the upload didn't even happen. I got
Speaker 2: a DMC strike down this property. I remember it because
Speaker 2: the image is painted in my face and said in
Speaker 2: my head it said property of Universal Music Group. And
Speaker 2: I was like, dang, I did sign that contract, Like
Speaker 2: I don't even own me right now?
Speaker 1: Even when you upload you saw that. Yeah, that's scary.
Speaker 2: Yeah it was. It was a really And I got
Speaker 2: this tattoo it says ilegitimate non carbo rundom, which it
Speaker 2: says what illegitimate non carbo rundum, which is Latin for
Speaker 2: fuck the system, because the system fucked me. Yeah, can
Speaker 2: I curse on here? All right? But that's how I felt.
Speaker 2: That was the one time and I've never understood being
Speaker 2: Caribbean there like you're not allowed to there's a lot
Speaker 2: of traditional things that you're not allowed to feel as
Speaker 2: a man. And I remember growing up, I'd never understood
Speaker 2: suicide or mental health. I'm just because this is how
Speaker 2: I was raised with my uncles this land. I'm like,
Speaker 2: you're good, like you got breath in your body, you're healthy,
Speaker 2: you're good. But that was the first time I didn't
Speaker 2: feel suicidal. But that was the one time I was like,
Speaker 2: I understood the empathy that's required for somebody to be
Speaker 2: put in that position, yeah, to think, yeah, I think
Speaker 2: my faith in God I would. Luckily I've never been
Speaker 2: there and I've never gotten that far. But for the
Speaker 2: first time in my life, I was like, Oh, this
Speaker 2: is the level of helplessness one can feel to just
Speaker 2: not want to feel.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a scary reality. Did you end up talking?
Speaker 1: Are you only cooking those two little I want to
Speaker 1: start you smashine. What are you doing?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 1: I'm just like, do you need a real fork? I
Speaker 1: feel like I don't know if that's and smashed with it?
Speaker 2: You know, I can use this.
Speaker 1: Actually, I'm watching you. I'm trying to learn what you're doing.
Speaker 1: I feel like, just so for all the listeners out there,
Speaker 1: he's got planting cut in half. I thought he was
Speaker 1: gonna do thin slices like the drinking stuff. Go for it, Elijah,
Speaker 1: you are very entertaining. I don't know. Jennifer, come up
Speaker 1: in here and cook.
Speaker 2: I did do it wrong.
Speaker 1: Actually, you slice it right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did do it wrong.
Speaker 1: Is the slicing? Is it the slicing?
Speaker 2: I did do it I supposed to do this.
Speaker 1: Oh you hear her in the back. There you go.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to slice it? Yeah, I guys, I wish
Speaker 1: you could watch this. Go to YouTube whatever you got
Speaker 1: to watch this. No, I meant slice it the long way.
Speaker 2: Is that how you guys do it? This? Yeah? Way? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2: I gotta take these ends because these ain't no good.
Speaker 1: The ends aren't good because.
Speaker 2: We're trying to get it shape.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, now make more because I'm gonna want more
Speaker 1: than three bites.
Speaker 2: If it's good.
Speaker 1: Did you call your dad when you were at these
Speaker 1: moments of like despair?
Speaker 2: No, I just got to the point where I can
Speaker 2: call my dad for again.
Speaker 1: As I was going to say, as a Caribbean man.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of traits that I am like just
Speaker 2: now learning to undo.
Speaker 1: And you didn't like that one.
Speaker 2: But I think I'm coming up with something right now.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, I'm I'm trust now.
Speaker 2: My creative mind is moving.
Speaker 1: By the way, that was like a measuring cup. The
Speaker 1: bowl was supposed to be that. But I don't know
Speaker 1: if you needed the bowl.
Speaker 2: No, we don't need it. I'm gonna be Elijah's.
Speaker 1: I'm watching it learning, I'm gonna enjoy every bit of this.
Speaker 1: So you so the whole time you can't call him?
Speaker 1: Can you call your mom?
Speaker 2: No? I used to really just go through things on
Speaker 2: my own, okay, which is very unhealthy, but I was
Speaker 2: actually did okay with it?
Speaker 1: Is it because you like song wrote too? Did that help?
Speaker 2: Yeah? That was like my therapy. So that's the only
Speaker 2: place I feel safe to really tell people or invite
Speaker 2: people in what I'm going through. I've just always been taught.
Speaker 2: And my mom was like that, like she just got
Speaker 2: shit done, didn't she Never I've never heard her complain.
Speaker 2: I've never She's literally like the closest thing I've seen
Speaker 2: to Superwoman. Four kids, three jobs, and we never felt
Speaker 2: a lot of.
Speaker 1: Kids and three jobs. What'd your dad do for work?
Speaker 1: So were they together?
Speaker 2: So here's the thing. So when I speak about my dad,
Speaker 2: I don't like using step father or so I'm not
Speaker 2: speaking about my biological father who taught me how to
Speaker 2: sing and do music. Me and my biological father are
Speaker 2: on the best term, is.
Speaker 1: That the biological that did the be on my account?
Speaker 2: No, yeah, me and me and my biological havn't father,
Speaker 2: haven't really been close since like elementary school for a
Speaker 2: multi not because he didn't try. I will always say
Speaker 2: he wasn't one of the fathers that like didn't try
Speaker 2: to be in my life. I maybe didn't try hard enough,
Speaker 2: but he tried. But once I feel like my father,
Speaker 2: who God gave to me, I never had to ask
Speaker 2: him to be a father. He was always that in
Speaker 2: some and to me that was enough. And my biological
Speaker 2: father always had this rule that if I ever called it,
Speaker 2: the only way I could disappoint it is by calling
Speaker 2: another man father. And in my mind, you shouldn't have
Speaker 2: left room for that to happen. Damn. You know.
Speaker 1: You want to know something that's facts.
Speaker 2: You feel me damn, And it's just like, how dare
Speaker 2: you feel like demand something that you haven't really earned.
Speaker 1: You're both fathers to Haitian No.
Speaker 2: So my my father who has been really the focal
Speaker 2: point of my life. He's trinidaddy in so both Caribbeans,
Speaker 2: but two different sides. In Haitian culture, I will say
Speaker 2: we can be toxic, and there's just in it. We're
Speaker 2: so traditional that it can be toxic. And now I'm
Speaker 2: not saying in a harmful way, I'm just saying that
Speaker 2: I think a lot of my habits from not allowing
Speaker 2: myself to feel, not being this open with my emotions.
Speaker 2: Not that's a very common thing in Haitian culture. Just
Speaker 2: figure it out. Gets But they're warriors. And yeah, whereas
Speaker 2: my as David, he's I can communicate with him. He's
Speaker 2: more compassionate, understanding, patient with me. And I'm just throughout
Speaker 2: life I've strived to just be more like that. I
Speaker 2: found that gets more things done. I'm more proud of that.
Speaker 2: I've learned better through calm teachings and calm representation.
Speaker 1: With your mom working all these jobs, with her remarrying,
Speaker 1: I would assume she remarried.
Speaker 2: No, she didn't. Actually, I feel like God only brought
Speaker 2: him together for what he was going to mean to
Speaker 2: her kids. I don't think that.
Speaker 1: They really but they're not together anymore.
Speaker 2: But you think they were ever meant to be together?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, if that makes any sense.
Speaker 1: So he was in your guy's lives for how long?
Speaker 2: Then he's still in our life. He came in and
Speaker 2: he never left our life. We called him father and
Speaker 2: we met that check on him. I tell him happy Birthday,
Speaker 2: like I talked to him every He's my father.
Speaker 1: I love that, but they split? Yeah, how long ago
Speaker 1: did they split?
Speaker 2: They haven't spoken since since right before my do happen?
Speaker 2: So since I wouldn't even go as far as to
Speaker 2: be like that, they were like ever, like really there
Speaker 2: was a moment where I was like, Okay, this could
Speaker 2: be something, but literally we got along better with him.
Speaker 1: I guess we're I'm confused. I've met people that had
Speaker 1: like great stepfathers and then like when the parents split,
Speaker 1: they feel like they have to choose to stay by
Speaker 1: their mind.
Speaker 2: I've always felt that way, but not it was just
Speaker 2: it was a completely.
Speaker 1: Did you guys say something to like, hey, she.
Speaker 2: Loves him the same way too, but you just said
Speaker 2: that you know what I'm saying. She loves him for us,
Speaker 2: She literally like loves our relationship. Yeah, she's not like
Speaker 2: that at all, like with him. It's because again it's
Speaker 2: not I think growing up you only believe that relationships
Speaker 2: ending like animosity. Yeah, but some it's just I'm not
Speaker 2: feeling you like that, you know what I mean. But
Speaker 2: it's this game, like how could she be mad at him?
Speaker 2: Everything I've become because of what this man.
Speaker 1: Taught me, her children, and what is it unconditionally.
Speaker 2: That's all she's ever wanted for us. We are her world.
Speaker 2: And I literally think that so much load was lifted
Speaker 2: off of her because she was doing everything on her
Speaker 2: own and she never had to ask. I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: like my father, he doesn't. He's not somebody you had
Speaker 2: to ask for anything. He's just there. And for me,
Speaker 2: that is what I want to mean to people, like
Speaker 2: what I want to mean to my kids one day,
Speaker 2: Like I don't want them to ever feel like they
Speaker 2: have to ask me, because I feel like with my
Speaker 2: biological father, there are certain things I would never discuss
Speaker 2: with him because he would probably not even understand it,
Speaker 2: or as somebody was coming to me like saying, hey,
Speaker 2: I understand what you're going through and I don't even
Speaker 2: community I haven't even communicated it yet. That's a deeper
Speaker 2: kind of love to me.
Speaker 1: Is he like doing more of the checking into type all.
Speaker 2: The time, all the time. He watches over he handles
Speaker 2: all my Spotify accounts, he handles all my music accounts
Speaker 2: and everything like that. He watches my social numbers and
Speaker 2: be like, son, you should post more. Yeah, like he
Speaker 2: really it's a deeper kind of love, And for me,
Speaker 2: that is who I feel God put on this earth
Speaker 2: to train me up to be a that is a father.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a difference between I believe a biological dad
Speaker 2: and a father figure.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: And to me, blood couldn't make him more of my father.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I've never really spoken about it like at length like this.
Speaker 1: So it's beautiful. I've never even seen it at length.
Speaker 1: But your mom was still hustling multiple jobs while raising
Speaker 1: you said, three four kids, four kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I've never felt her be absent. So weird.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, I'll hear people talk about they have
Speaker 2: three jobs and they came in as a.
Speaker 1: Single Oh yeah, no, trust me. I have a neighbor
Speaker 1: who grew up with a single parent, a single mom,
Speaker 1: and she said that she never saw her mom. So
Speaker 1: her goal was like, yeah, I'm a single parent, but
Speaker 1: my kids are gonna see me.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, I'm gonna make it. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna make it work somehow. But you're saying your mom
Speaker 1: didn't miss it be even with all those jobs, because
Speaker 1: she's a truth. You said she's Dominican, Dominican true. I
Speaker 1: don't say Jamaican's we always got a hundred jobs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what I'm saying, it's culture. Yeah, and she never complained,
Speaker 2: And I feel so bad for her because I'm just like, dang, like,
Speaker 2: I never heard her complain. So maybe that's probably contributed
Speaker 2: to why I don't ask for help. Yeah, because I've
Speaker 2: watched this woman never ask for help, have all these
Speaker 2: jobs and she's never.
Speaker 1: And you never seen her cry or nothing.
Speaker 2: Never. If I see my mom cry, my head might
Speaker 2: explode because I just can't comprehend. My heart would break.
Speaker 2: I've never seen her cry.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you think that's a good thing? Though? Do
Speaker 1: you look at women like differently because she's held this
Speaker 1: bar of like strength.
Speaker 2: I have to say yeah, I have to say yeah.
Speaker 2: I just think that there's a new there's a new
Speaker 2: normal that's not normal for me because of I was
Speaker 2: raised very traditional. Again, it took my mom a long
Speaker 2: time to assimilate. She's still simulating to American culture. So
Speaker 2: now when I see like women be like, oh, is
Speaker 2: this nigga gonna pay for my hair? Is gonna pay
Speaker 2: for my nails? Done? Is this nigga gonna pay? I'm
Speaker 2: not knocking it. I'm just not from I just can't
Speaker 2: come because even if a man was to try to
Speaker 2: do that for my mother. She wouldn't accept it. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I just don't understand it.
Speaker 1: I was talking more of the like the I feel
Speaker 1: like the women not hating on women both. If you
Speaker 1: came across a woman that was more like easily frustrated,
Speaker 1: complaining a lot, and all of that, do you feel
Speaker 1: like it would throw you a little bit? No, because
Speaker 1: you'd be like, man, my mom did this and she
Speaker 1: didn't even blink.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I also understand at the same time, like
Speaker 2: I that doesn't bother me as much, just because I
Speaker 2: have friends that are.
Speaker 1: Those look official. I'm getting those look official.
Speaker 2: I'm very proud.
Speaker 1: I am personally.
Speaker 2: Of you right now and that was good too.
Speaker 1: Smell gup, but they look at you're almost burning them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you want to know something, I'm very proud of you.
Speaker 1: I know this sounds crazy, but like I was concerned,
Speaker 1: especially when that I know.
Speaker 2: You was because I saw you looking like when.
Speaker 1: It popped and you ran. I was like, oh, yeah.
Speaker 2: But this is actually like how I like mine a
Speaker 2: little well done.
Speaker 1: When you're writing songs for like Justin Bieber and Beyonce
Speaker 1: and all these guys, what's the thought process of like
Speaker 1: where you came from to where you are now? Did
Speaker 1: you ever have an aha moment?
Speaker 2: Yeah with my mom because again, because she made all
Speaker 2: these sacrifices, there was a lot of pressure to, like
Speaker 2: I said, become a doctor, lawyer or or engineer or
Speaker 2: I failed, and there.
Speaker 1: Was to be something.
Speaker 2: Yeah. There was one time she was like, are you
Speaker 2: going to come back and just go to college because
Speaker 2: I don't want the church laughing at me, like she's
Speaker 2: really big in the church like that. And she was like,
Speaker 2: I'm sure she went to church and was like they're
Speaker 2: like where's Elijah? Or my nickname was Red, so there's
Speaker 2: like where's Red and she's, oh, he's doing music. And
Speaker 2: I'm sure there were like snickers. But when I paid
Speaker 2: her mortgage.
Speaker 1: Off, y'all, I was gonna say, but you're making a
Speaker 1: lot of money and you said at that nineteen did
Speaker 1: you ever send money back? Hey, surprise.
Speaker 2: First thing I did was pay off her mortgage at.
Speaker 1: The young teenage. At seventeen, I paid off her mortgage
Speaker 1: and she still asked, though, if you went to college.
Speaker 2: No, That's when she stopped asking no. So the like
Speaker 2: I was saying, right when I went to Atlanta, and
Speaker 2: things were starting to happen. It was like, are you
Speaker 2: going to come back? Come on, I'm like this music
Speaker 2: stuff like that, it's not a real thing. Come back,
Speaker 2: go to college and do it the right way. But
Speaker 2: when I paid her mortgage and she was like, oh
Speaker 2: wait a minute now, like he said yeah, So she
Speaker 2: couldn't wait to go to her friends and be like,
Speaker 2: my son like paid off my mortgage.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he sings yeah. So then when you do songs
Speaker 1: for Beyonce and Justin Bieber, how is her response?
Speaker 2: Then she can't believe it. But what really blew her
Speaker 2: mind was there was I did my first headlining tour
Speaker 2: two years ago. It was just by myself in an
Speaker 2: opening acts, and my sisters surprised her and flew her
Speaker 2: to Atlanta. So imagine a woman from the Caribbean Islands,
Speaker 2: where there's.
Speaker 1: Wait, she's currently where she currently.
Speaker 2: Lives in Florida, but her whole adult majority of her
Speaker 2: adult life was in the Caribbean. So coming where there's
Speaker 2: power on one side of the island and power on
Speaker 2: the other side of the island, half today and coming
Speaker 2: to Atlanta, getting flown to Atlanta, flew out and pulling
Speaker 2: up to a venue and seeing your son's name sold
Speaker 2: out concert, seeing your son's name in and seeing hundreds
Speaker 2: of people singing law to his songs. So when she
Speaker 2: got backstage, I still get emotional to telling. So she's like,
Speaker 2: I can't believe like you came from me. It just
Speaker 2: blew her mind. That was so I don't think it
Speaker 2: was real for her. So she saw that. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: think Prior is like, all my son's getting money, he's
Speaker 2: writing for Usher, And she's gonna see this because now
Speaker 2: she follows me on TikTok, which stresses me out.
Speaker 1: But you monitor the content knowing that she she's going
Speaker 1: to see it possible.
Speaker 2: Not no more. My mama knows I'm crazy. I was
Speaker 2: like a problem child growing up.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she knows I'm crazy. But and it looks like
Speaker 2: and I squish it in enough time, you caush it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's when it comes what it's supposed to.
Speaker 1: And then you're gonna put the sauces and on.
Speaker 2: I should make some more.
Speaker 1: The only thing that I'm sad about, Elijah is that
Speaker 1: your time is so tight.
Speaker 2: What time is it now?
Speaker 1: I'm watching it. We got like probably fifteen more minutes. Now,
Speaker 1: we got time, not to capture the whole rest. I
Speaker 1: still want to talk about the deluxe album, Elijah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I still want to. I guess since we're so clite,
Speaker 1: like tight on time, we can jump to it. But
Speaker 1: I just I want to know. How did it make
Speaker 1: you feel to hear your mom say that to you?
Speaker 2: Though? That was when it was real for me. I
Speaker 2: think that I understood why she said that, because this
Speaker 2: is beyond her wildest dream, like your son are like
Speaker 2: overcoming the odds and making music for the world, and
Speaker 2: you at one point not even knowing if you'd be
Speaker 2: able to see the world. Just insane for her, But
Speaker 2: that motivated, that put a deeper firing, like now, none
Speaker 2: of that shit like that. I thought, mint stuff, don't
Speaker 2: need nothing, and I got her arranged over after that.
Speaker 2: She didn't want it, she wanted it. She made me
Speaker 2: get it for her, and then she said it was
Speaker 2: a gas girler. She's like, take it back, are you serious? Yes?
Speaker 2: Now she got a Tesla.
Speaker 1: That's cute. You does your siblings? Do you get like
Speaker 1: love from your siblings or do you ever get I
Speaker 1: don't know if you ever even would ever admit to this,
Speaker 1: but I know what it's like. To have siblings, but
Speaker 1: is it all love or is there jealousy or is
Speaker 1: there no me and my sisters are really oh you're
Speaker 1: the only boy.
Speaker 2: No, my little brother. He's like way younger than us.
Speaker 2: But so I think I used to worry about him
Speaker 2: just because he was so far like down in age
Speaker 2: from us that I felt like he was trying to
Speaker 2: find him. Since struggling with that and also feeling like
Speaker 2: we he found space where he belonged in our crew,
Speaker 2: just because how big is the age? Can you like
Speaker 2: at least ten years?
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a big age forever he will be your
Speaker 1: baby brother exactly. It's like he could be forty and
Speaker 1: you'd be like, that's the baby brother.
Speaker 2: But we've connected on a level that I never could
Speaker 2: have understood. He's so far, like more mature than I was,
Speaker 2: And I'm just I'm so proud of like the man
Speaker 2: he's becoming, and our friendship there is really becoming a
Speaker 2: friendship and not a brotherhood. But I used to make
Speaker 2: a mental note of my head, I gotta work on that.
Speaker 2: I gotta work on nurturing my relationship with him and
Speaker 2: overcoming that age guy. Ye, And so now we're really
Speaker 2: close to me and my sisters like watch the same shows.
Speaker 2: Growing up. We literally were like in separal like triplets.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So when I see siblings don't get along, that's
Speaker 2: another thing I don't understand because my mother and her
Speaker 2: siblings weren't always on the best terms. So she was
Speaker 2: very adamant on y'all are all each other half.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's a Caribbean type mentality. But I
Speaker 1: do see what you're saying, because my mom and her
Speaker 1: siblings are the same way, don't really mess with each other.
Speaker 1: She grew into us like the year all you guys
Speaker 1: have you better not fighting public. Don't let nobody come
Speaker 1: between y'all. You put a lot of soul.
Speaker 3: You gotta do it.
Speaker 2: You feel me.
Speaker 1: Excited, And I love that you made sure to make
Speaker 1: that come around with your brother too, because I also
Speaker 1: understand like that little age separation where you're not close
Speaker 1: for a little bit and then boom they turned into
Speaker 1: adults and all of a sudden, you have relatabilities.
Speaker 2: Yeah exactly, but he was my fan first. It took
Speaker 2: my sisters a while if they appreciated it. I didn't
Speaker 2: know to, but I did used to feel away because
Speaker 2: I'm just like Damn. I'm like supporting them and putting them,
Speaker 2: helping putting them through college. And there was a point
Speaker 2: where I was like, damn with y'all even know, because
Speaker 2: the industry was whooping my ass and I'm just like, damn,
Speaker 2: but y'all even know, like y'all brother is actually like
Speaker 2: in the studio with Beyonce or with Usher and stuff
Speaker 2: like that. Because they we were talking, nobody would mention it.
Speaker 2: And I guess that was mainly ego.
Speaker 1: You go on whose side though it can't you can't
Speaker 1: say it was respectfully. I don't think you could say
Speaker 1: it's ego on your side because everybody who has a
Speaker 1: siblings will be like, yo, are you gonna acknowledge it?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, you know what I mean. And it was
Speaker 2: like and a lot of times when they would tell
Speaker 2: me it was I was going through a lot alone. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I think I was expecting, because of the relationship
Speaker 2: we had as kids, them to be but I think
Speaker 2: they just were going through their own They were in college,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, and they were trying to
Speaker 2: figure it out. But once that they can, no one
Speaker 2: in their mind is bigger than It's like me than
Speaker 2: Michael Jackson so once we talked about it, I just
Speaker 2: think that they were going through their own stuff.
Speaker 1: Did they Did you ever get a chance to express
Speaker 1: that kind of window to.
Speaker 2: Them or they I was feeling it. I never expressed it,
Speaker 2: but which I appreciate because now I know how they
Speaker 2: view me as authentic because they just celebrate me in
Speaker 2: that way and they're super supportive because again I was
Speaker 2: going through things with death, cham going through things with
Speaker 2: my publishing company, going through things with artists still in
Speaker 2: my publishing stealing my money, but then also like showing
Speaker 2: up for my family Jesus financially. So sometimes I'm just
Speaker 2: in the movie set it off when Jada Pinkett gives
Speaker 2: them money to and she said, you know what how
Speaker 2: to do with that money? And I'm just kind of
Speaker 2: I don't even know that. I'm just getting it from
Speaker 2: all sides. This is not just money I can want.
Speaker 2: I bought you this Christmas gift for When I sent
Speaker 2: this money over, like, I really was like fighting over
Speaker 2: here on this side, but now there's just gratitude and
Speaker 2: love and it's just authentic. So I just think they
Speaker 2: was figuring out, they were coming into their womanhood, and
Speaker 2: it was never a lack there. You probably just didn't
Speaker 2: have room or space to communicate it.
Speaker 1: Do you now have mentors in the industry?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely Like Keisha is like a huge mentor.
Speaker 1: I love her.
Speaker 2: We talked all the time. She just announced her tour,
Speaker 2: so you should we love. Yeah, she's somebody who checks
Speaker 2: on me, like a guardian angel. That's like my sister.
Speaker 2: But Twain right there checks on me. She's like, how's
Speaker 2: your heart through relationships? And she's had to come and
Speaker 2: get me, like in the middle of a fist fight.
Speaker 1: She's fist fight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm from Florida.
Speaker 1: You should ever be in a fist fight from Florida.
Speaker 2: It gets that way. Okay, we pull up, pull.
Speaker 1: Up a seat, let's eat. He did it? What is
Speaker 1: the song? Do we have to any more saut stepping
Speaker 1: or anything?
Speaker 2: It should be? It should be good.
Speaker 1: Eat here? What did you do with this work? He
Speaker 1: was doing something?
Speaker 2: Here we go, I'll let you taste it.
Speaker 1: No, we're gonna do it together. It's gonna be good.
Speaker 1: This is just a version.
Speaker 2: Just do it.
Speaker 1: You're gonna tell everybody how you forgot to I.
Speaker 2: Did forget Okay, So I ended up making a Jamaican
Speaker 2: version on accident. This is not the Haitian version because
Speaker 2: I was so into the story I forgot to put
Speaker 2: the boo yard in that.
Speaker 1: But that would have been so it would have been
Speaker 1: just so you guys know it. But Jennifer said it
Speaker 1: would have been a paste because we just made like
Speaker 1: you made a soup.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it would have been a little thicker and the
Speaker 2: flavor would have been in there. But this is not
Speaker 2: bad because Jamaica's killing chairs.
Speaker 1: Okay, here we go. I don't know this, mom, does
Speaker 1: it taste Haitian? No, want to try your version? But
Speaker 1: this is good though, it's perfect.
Speaker 2: All. Oh wow, there's a really good I'm proud of me.
Speaker 1: I'm proud of you too. You should have made all
Speaker 1: of them so you'd have a snack on the way
Speaker 1: to the plane.
Speaker 2: Oh that's all good, is perfect?
Speaker 1: Absolutely one more. I'm Jamaican.
Speaker 2: There, that's what Jamaican cowing up.
Speaker 1: Oh this one could be fried Mar. I'm taking all
Speaker 1: the good ones, okay, Elijah, Yeah, let's get to this
Speaker 1: deluxe album. Tell us all about it.
Speaker 2: The Deluxe for me is my first time really getting
Speaker 2: to be the artist I've always wanted to be. There's
Speaker 2: so much experimentation happening with electronic elements, live musicianships, and.
Speaker 1: I just didn't want you to spend the block.
Speaker 2: Yeah, live musicianship that's happening on there, and it's I
Speaker 2: get to be the artist. And I got a song
Speaker 2: with Kim Barrell, who I've studied. You couldn't tell me,
Speaker 2: like in a million years, I had to be in
Speaker 2: the same room as Kim Borell. And I'm in a
Speaker 2: great space. I'm independent with the team that I've always
Speaker 2: dreamed of. I feel like I call them my avengers
Speaker 2: and collected them and they've collected me throughout the way.
Speaker 2: Like Jen who's on my management team. We've been rocking
Speaker 2: sister the rock Nation days. It was my product manager
Speaker 2: at rock Nation. Peter shout out to Gin, a fellow Dominica.
Speaker 1: I love that you keep everyone in your camp around forever.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's a good sign of integrity to really.
Speaker 2: Yeah my opinion, Yeah, I would think so. And then
Speaker 2: my my manager, he was the president of Deaf Jam
Speaker 2: when I was there. He was the person who's really
Speaker 2: him and no idea, Peter thea and yeah, that's the way.
Speaker 2: And r I p to my also my co manager
Speaker 2: hoodie that just passed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I heard about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he managed myself Tone stiff An and he. I
Speaker 2: wish he would have been able to see what the deluxe.
Speaker 2: He was one of the people that put everything in
Speaker 2: place with the label that I'm at now. I would
Speaker 2: say the partner.
Speaker 1: You dedicated a song to him though, Yeah, Well.
Speaker 2: Something happens when I hear does something happened when I
Speaker 2: hear your name, And that's with me made in Tone
Speaker 2: who he was really fighting every day, fight for us
Speaker 2: on just he would show it to my Good Day
Speaker 2: New York performance and I'm just like, did you just
Speaker 2: flying from Australia He's yeah, I'm like leaving to go
Speaker 2: to Jersey per Tone right after this and just he
Speaker 2: really gave his heart and his soul to this project.
Speaker 2: And I think he'd be proud. I think he'd be
Speaker 2: very proud.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he could obviously feel all the love.
Speaker 2: Yeah. We're Dene Malloy, who's been my reference and to
Speaker 2: be and my study. He's who signed me A, B
Speaker 2: and I and he's not my A. And R Shy Riddick,
Speaker 2: who was an intern that songbook when I had moved
Speaker 2: to Atlanta and he was interning there. He's on my
Speaker 2: team as well. So yeah, this Deluxe means more than
Speaker 2: just music and more than just songs. I think people
Speaker 2: are getting the Elijah that I felt a little too
Speaker 2: restricted to be allowed to become at the major side
Speaker 2: of the major label system.
Speaker 1: So your deal right now, is it like one hundred
Speaker 1: percent freedom freedom, one hundred percent yes, And it's not
Speaker 1: independent though it is independent.
Speaker 2: It's with my label and Monarch is the partner, so
Speaker 2: they provide. Yeah, they're a distribution company, so they just
Speaker 2: make sure that we get on Spotify, Apple Music. Actually,
Speaker 2: what I really like about them is they provide other
Speaker 2: services to like we get a product manager internally and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. They just keep everything. They help facilitate
Speaker 2: certain services that I would have liked at a major
Speaker 2: label situation without selling myself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that too. And then earlier back, not
Speaker 1: trying to circle back, but you had mentioned like stealing,
Speaker 1: like someone stole stole music from you. Can you talk
Speaker 1: me through how that happened?
Speaker 2: So what happens is those.
Speaker 1: Plans are good. Trust me. I don't want to eat
Speaker 1: it because I have to ask questions and I'm watching
Speaker 1: the clock. So you make this.
Speaker 2: Plane somehow along the way. It's crazy. When I signed
Speaker 2: a deaf jam, the whole question, the only bad thing
Speaker 2: that I kept hearing over and over was like, is
Speaker 2: he a songwriter or is he an artist? I'm like, what,
Speaker 2: Like Prince was a singer songwriter, Lauren's singer songwriter. But
Speaker 2: that was a real thing that they were trying to
Speaker 2: find out. I'm like, they're one and the same.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but why can't you be both?
Speaker 2: Though?
Speaker 1: Yeah, but now you're great at it.
Speaker 2: But now everybody wants to be a songwriter. And you
Speaker 2: have these artists who don't write, and but they want
Speaker 2: publishing on a song because they realize, like when touring
Speaker 2: is done, when everything is done, and they want to
Speaker 2: still live these extravagant lifestyle. Publishing is what you have
Speaker 2: in the days where your bones don't work the way today,
Speaker 2: certain you can pass down to your kids. It's like equity,
Speaker 2: it's like real estate.
Speaker 1: I heard a lot of the major artists not dropping names,
Speaker 1: but like people like a Beyonce. I don't want nobody
Speaker 1: coming from me for that. But I heard that they
Speaker 1: automatically if you write songs for them, they automatically get
Speaker 1: a part of the deal is that they have to
Speaker 1: get a writer's credit on it.
Speaker 2: I've heard that, mean I've not heard that. I've experienced it,
Speaker 2: not from Beyonce in particular, but there has been certain
Speaker 2: artists that are my heroes and for me, I don't
Speaker 2: mind if it's not. But sometimes it gets a little
Speaker 2: to the point where it's just like being greedy if
Speaker 2: you didn't write a single word on the song. At
Speaker 2: least with Beyonce. But I've experienced what I've told us.
Speaker 2: She's she is. There is musicianship going into it, so
Speaker 2: she's going to rearrange and change the songs, and she's
Speaker 2: going to contribute to it her harmonies and everything. But
Speaker 2: there are certain artists that literally do nothing want forty
Speaker 2: percent of the song. And you're looking like, no ten
Speaker 2: is not a problem. Yeah, that's not a problem at all. Actually,
Speaker 2: on No Love a lot, I gave Rianna ten just
Speaker 2: because she brought them and she asked, so to me
Speaker 2: that there's a respect there, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: They're you're not You're not No Love allowed.
Speaker 1: That was unapologetic, but she asked, but did she contribute?
Speaker 2: I felt, I felt this is for me. I felt
Speaker 2: like the way she brought the song to life and
Speaker 2: her isms, and there were certain things that were it
Speaker 2: wasn't like Verbatim to make demo record. Yeah, I wrote
Speaker 2: the song myself in a scured though and she cut it,
Speaker 2: but there were ways she brought it to life. So
Speaker 2: I feel like and that wasn't greedy, that's not at all.
Speaker 2: So one hundred percent of zero is still zero. But
Speaker 2: there are artists who do nothing and they're like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I need forty percent of that, And for me, I'm
Speaker 2: just like, it ain't going And I allowed, I used
Speaker 2: to allow it, and it hurt me to the point
Speaker 2: where I'm just like I'm ready to just fall on
Speaker 2: the sword because I just I make I'm setting a
Speaker 2: bad example for the.
Speaker 1: Next president presidents.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to allow this to be done to newer songwriters,
Speaker 2: like it happened to me because somebody literally told me when
Speaker 2: I said, why do you feel like you deserve forty percent?
Speaker 2: I got to earn your stripes. I'm like, I'm not
Speaker 2: a fucking tiger. I don't want stripes. I want Louis Baton,
Speaker 2: I like that Gucci. Yeah, I don't want those stripes.
Speaker 2: I need to doing the first every month.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But yeah, did that takes a lot of courage
Speaker 1: for you to actually stand for up for yourself and
Speaker 1: be like.
Speaker 2: For sure, because they'll take the song off the album.
Speaker 2: I had a huge artist it ended up coming up.
Speaker 2: But the manager there was like, you have ten seconds
Speaker 2: because they was about to put the project out there,
Speaker 2: like give us posting guest or no. Within response to
Speaker 2: this email, we're taking off the album. And I said
Speaker 2: it's not fair, and they took it off the album.
Speaker 2: It ended up being on the deluxe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so if you guys want to hear you hear
Speaker 1: it on the DELX. Yeah, obviously tell us which song
Speaker 1: it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I just didn't think it was I didn't
Speaker 2: think it was fair. Yeah, I didn't think.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you did it so now we can enjoy
Speaker 1: on the deluxe exactly.
Speaker 2: And they saw me at a party, the manager who
Speaker 2: was a huge manager. So I'm at a party. It
Speaker 2: was like Ush's birthday party in LA and he was like, man,
Speaker 2: Adam Levine asked me why I took that song. It
Speaker 2: was his favorite that song album, so we're gonna re
Speaker 2: release it as a deluxe and literally I was the
Speaker 2: only song they added the deluxe. I was really at first,
Speaker 2: I was like damn. I like the producers were looking
Speaker 2: at me like, damn, Eliji, you might have missed up
Speaker 2: for us. I'm like, bro, at what point do we
Speaker 2: stand for something? You know what I mean? They're gonna
Speaker 2: And I felt like because I allowed it with two
Speaker 2: instances prior is why.
Speaker 1: It just felt like everybody was like, oh a lot
Speaker 1: of talking about it.
Speaker 2: That's how I felt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you under honestly, it wasn't just how you felt,
Speaker 1: it was reality. Yeah, it became reality.
Speaker 2: Because I'm like, why is everybody just thinking like Elijah's
Speaker 2: is gonna give twenty thirty percent. In the beginning part
Speaker 2: of my crew, I was so young. I was having
Speaker 2: fun with it. I was like, yeah, you can have
Speaker 2: you can have this, And I'm like, why are y'all
Speaker 2: only coming after me? Even I would see emails and
Speaker 2: they're like, Okay, we need to find thirty percent for
Speaker 2: this person and everybody nobody's budget, but they're just expecting
Speaker 2: me to move. So I'm like, okay, I gotta really
Speaker 2: like just double down ten y. Let you all know
Speaker 2: it ain't a game no more.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that takes a lot of courage. There's no
Speaker 1: way you weren't like semi second guessing yourself, especially after
Speaker 1: they pulled it. Yeah, but then the producers were coming
Speaker 1: to you.
Speaker 2: All I had to do was one time and Nigga
Speaker 2: stopped expecting it. I like you feel me to you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, which collaboration on the album do you like the best?
Speaker 1: Not trying to make you choose between your twins and
Speaker 1: Streeter or anybody else.
Speaker 2: You know. I hate with people as like this, but
Speaker 2: they're so different. The one with Me and Seven, I
Speaker 2: just realized, even just like last night, I'm like, dang,
Speaker 2: me and seven are both from Florida, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. We both have had a similar experience with
Speaker 2: the major label system. We're also experiencing success outside of
Speaker 2: it now as independent artists. And I'm like, that's kind
Speaker 2: of dope. Like two artists from Florida like ninety Babies
Speaker 2: doing the nineties inspired record with Eric Husson who produced it.
Speaker 2: I'm like, that's kind of dope. And then also the
Speaker 2: one how You're Going to I'm like, that's freaking salt
Speaker 2: and pepper like salt, you know what I mean. That's legendary.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Shout out to her. We had Streeter on
Speaker 1: and her story was really beautiful too. She was a
Speaker 1: very beautiful story. Yeah, and that was like a Chris Brown.
Speaker 1: Shout outs to Chris Brown and her dad first look
Speaker 1: the one that actually like initially put her on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I had seen seven in passing. We've just
Speaker 2: never collaborated, collaborate, So this song is a beautiful represent.
Speaker 1: I love the song. Thank You's beautiful? All right? You
Speaker 1: know what? You can? Go ahead. I'm so sad to
Speaker 1: see you go.
Speaker 2: I want to do this. Can we have y'all done
Speaker 2: a part two? Can we do a part two?
Speaker 1: I would love to do it a part two? Do
Speaker 1: you come to La a lot? You live here?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Okay, you know where the studio's at. We gonna see
Speaker 1: a little.
Speaker 2: Real. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You went from non cooking to all excited about cooking.
Speaker 1: It's hilarious.
Speaker 2: We gonna do part two.
Speaker 1: Okay, part two. You heard it here first, but I
Speaker 1: want you to sing us out. Okay, I have to
Speaker 1: because when I heard you sing earlier, did you enjoy it?
Speaker 2: All?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: What song am I so we're talking about? Okay, dang sing? Okay,
Speaker 2: I gotta do a gospel song because I'm going ahead.
Speaker 4: I'm feel I've had some good days.
Speaker 2: I've had some.
Speaker 4: He he's the class. I've had some weary days, some
Speaker 4: lonely nights.
Speaker 1: But we're a look around and.
Speaker 4: I think things over all of my good days, all
Speaker 4: the wait, mind.
Speaker 2: My bad days, and die. I won't complaint.
Speaker 1: That was beautiful. Thank you, my goodness, the boy, Thank
Speaker 1: you guys. You heard it here first.
Speaker 2: Hey.
Speaker 1: For more eating while broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect,
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