WEBVTT - QLS Classic: Fred Hammond Part 1 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.680 A Quest Loft Show is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:10.680 So up, y'all. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:13.160 June is a Black music month, and every year we 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.960 use this time to acknowledge something that really can't be overstated. 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:22.560 Black music is one of the foundational forces behind modern culture. Now, 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:25.200 back when Teams Supreme and I were doing the Questluf 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.160 Supreme and now on the Quest Loft Show, we've always 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:31.600 tried to create a space for those stories. So for 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:34.840 the entire month of June, we're bringing you an episode 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:39.559 every day focused on the history, influence, and ongoing evolution 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.720 of black music. A Team and I Doug Crew the 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:46.680 catalog of selected episodes that feel especially meaningful for now, 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:52.600 conversations that inform entertain connect the dots between where this music. 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:53.920 Comes from and where it's headed. 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:59.160 Now, alongside those, we'll be releasing four new episodes of 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:03.400 Quest Left Show featuring trailblazers, innovators, and cultural connectors and 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:07.640 visionaries who represent the past, present, and future of black music. 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:09.320 I want you to enjoy this. 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:20.800 Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This is Quest Love Supreme. 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:27.200 Welcome to our our are nominated our NAACP nominated Team Supreme. 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.119 Like Yeah, Hello, how about you. I'm feeling good. 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:33.080 Image Award nominated, sir, I have made it. 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:37.039 Yes, that's fine. And uh, Suca, Steve, how are you 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:38.600 this evening? I'm good. 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.920 My image has been nominated as well by the NAACP. 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:46.800 That's how I'm feeling. 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:47.920 I'm feeling good. 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:52.560 And uh, you know, the keeper of Rocco and Elmo? 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:55.120 How you doing, un pay Bill. 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:56.720 I can't say that. 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:59.040 I ever thought in all the awards that I'd ever 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.280 been nominated for an end double a CP award. 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:03.520 So feels good like that. 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:05.200 There you go. 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:07.200 How's it going. 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:09.919 I'm good, brother, I'm good man, glad to be nominated, 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:14.040 and uh yeah, I never thought this would happen this way. 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:23.320 Over three years right straight, ship Threet came, It's okay, 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:24.400 we're back here here, sir. 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:26.840 He went to get cigarettes for a long time. 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:27.560 Okay. 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.280 So I know for the longest, you know, I've been 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.120 talking to our listeners at q LS, especially in the 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:38.200 last year, about you know, the direction of transformation my 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.960 life is going, and how it's important to often get 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.560 out of your comfort zone. You know, I'm stretching out 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.200 to different territories. So I will be the first to 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:52.760 be very transparent with our longtime listeners of q LS 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:58.400 that this episode should be notable for Unlike previous Quest 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:02.639 of Supreme episode sodes, this will probably the first time 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.680 that and it's not like I have a PhD in 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.720 every guest that ever comes on the show, but this 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.560 will probably mark the first time that I don't know 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.440 the entire canon in history of a particular guest of 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:18.280 the show like. 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:20.160 The back of my hand. I'm not saying that I'm 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:21.959 not familiar with our guest today. 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.520 So that said, I would actually like to say and 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.880 injac that we have two special guests today. So joining 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:34.000 the Team Supreme is my brother and soul or soul 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:43.520 aquarian James Alo Wishes, poiser, producer, songwriter, fellow Randy watsoner 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:47.520 extraordinaire and Gospel of ficionado and mean and. 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:48.880 World famous meme on Twitter. 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:53.720 Oh yeah, James is definitely like a meme. I'm not 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.480 even a meme, Like that's a life of mine? 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.720 Do means get nominated for naacp A Woods. 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:07.320 Years backup, you have Grammy and you know, but I'm satin. 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:09.680 That's a meme hall of Fame, and the Meme Hall 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:10.080 of Fame. 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.800 You will make it that said, I brought brother James 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.559 here to help me pick up the pieces on things 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.080 that I otherwise wouldn't know because for me, I don't 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:21.560 want to leave any stone unturned. 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:24.960 Our guest today, I will say. 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:32.400 Is one of the most legendary and influential musicians that 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:34.239 I know in Black music. 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.320 That's not hyperbolic or anything. 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:41.560 I say this literally because I've not met a musician 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:47.880 post five that has not made our guests their north 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:51.680 star as far as their musicianship is concerned. We'll get 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.480 with that in the show today, but without further ado, 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.600 Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to quest of supreme be 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:00.400 legendary brother Fred Hammon. 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:05.240 Yes, appreciate it. 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:10.880 Appreciate it, and congratulations everybody and your nomination. 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.279 Thank you very much. We thank you for that. You 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.279 know what's weird, I didn't even know that you were. 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:24.120 Active on social media and you had left a comment 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:25.960 in one of my things, and I was like, yo, 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:31.880 Fred Hammond knows who I am. Like I had zero 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.880 clue that you even knew that I was alive or anything. 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:40.400 So this conversation is long long overdue because, as I 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.960 said at the top, back when I was really honing 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:45.279 my skills as a musician. 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.080 There was like one of three routes you can go. Now, 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:51.080 we all knows that I chose the hip hop route. 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:55.600 Most musicians in eighty three, eighty four, eighty five, they 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.599 chose the purple route. And then there's a sect of 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:02.159 black musicianship in which which you might have a household 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:06.800 that might not allow secular music in the household. And 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:12.680 that said, I will say that you were probably their 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:14.680 main choice. And when I say you, I'm talking about 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.720 you and your very influential group commissioned. 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:20.000 So I thank you. 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.919 I've been dying to have this conversation with you because 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:24.760 I need the edumacation. 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:28.080 So where are you right now as we speak. 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.040 I'm at my studio here in Dallas. 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.440 I have a warehouse and the studio here that I 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:36.800 do everything out of me and my family, my brothers, 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.320 and I was actually just finishing up a vocal that 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.840 I'm working on for the New Addition tour, just to 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.400 kind of give them some stuff to go through some transitions, 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:49.080 you know, give them some suggestions and stuff. So I 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.160 was just finishing up that, you know, and then we'll 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:53.880 send it out to them and say, you know, give 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:57.720 some ideas of what can happen. My brother Ray is 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:01.039 the production manager for the tours. So when you see 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:04.360 BBD a new addition, he's front of the house and 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:07.480 the guy that runs the you know, gets everything together 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:08.279 production line. 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:13.000 So you're telling us that you're sort of quasi m 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:16.480 D or co MD of this reunions or that's. 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:21.280 About it's just uh, right now, we're just seeing some stuff, 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:24.360 and I wanted to show them, like a lot of 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:26.560 the transitions that they want to do from song to song, 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.480 the song that they could do some vocal right here, 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.960 that's simple, that's what they do, because it's not normal 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.240 for them to do that. And so I just went 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:37.320 in there and just did some old commission new edition 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.080 type stuff, simple just to get them to the next song, 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:43.600 you know, so to give them another just to give 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.720 my idea of what can happen. So you know, it's 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:47.240 up to them. 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:54.120 You know that sounds like yeah, quasi Okay, Well it's 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:57.360 funny you say that because I think maybe like a 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:01.760 month ago, I was listening to Heartbreak and I was 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:05.280 just talking to Jimmy jam about the intro song of 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:07.960 that album, which is called uh, that's the way We're living, 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:14.480 which as far as it's execution is concerned, I feel 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.960 like that definitely falls from the tree of what Commission 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.360 was about. You know, when a lot of these cats 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:25.000 that have what we call gospel chops, they're basically saying that, 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:29.400 you know, they're sons of Commission. So always wanted to 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:34.560 know how you felt about your influence as far as 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.560 the black musicianship we have now with gospel chops. Like 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:40.240 you know, do you watch acts often in R and 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.440 B say like, well, that's our lick, and that's our lick, 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:43.319 and that's our like. 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.320 Well, you know the thing about it is back then 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:50.920 a lot of people don't notice. But I was close 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:52.760 with a lot of those guys back then. 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:53.280 You know. 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.040 You know, it was funny because you know Davante his 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.080 father is a pastor and one day we did a 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:02.480 concert at their trick and DeVante said, yo, man. You know, 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:04.480 he came up I style. He was a young fella. 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.400 He said, hey, man, I just want to tell you 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.680 guys that have been influenced us and I just got 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:10.600 signed to m c A and the name of my 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.720 group is called Jodasy. I say, really, he say, you 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:16.640 know k C and I knew Little k C. From 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.199 Little Cedric. I used to Friday so Little Cedric and 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.080 the Hayley Singers. We would do concerts together and pass 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.360 on the road and do interviews and whatnot. So I 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:27.440 was I kept up with all of those guys and 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.280 you know a lot of the cats, Chucky Booker and Da. 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:33.840 And they would bring me backstage. 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.400 They would bring me backstage and whether they were doing 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.760 the Budwives and Superfessor, and I'm a student. You know 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.160 a lot of people, you know a lot of church people, 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.040 they don't go places and learn because they can't control 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.880 theirselfs when they get inside or behind the curtain, you know. 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.000 But I would go, you know, I would go to 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.959 Al Hayman, Budwiser, Superfessor, and I would meet the guys 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.480 backstage and I would watch. I'd be a student of 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.400 production of how they were playing, and I would take 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:00.360 it back to Commission. You know. 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:01.080 Uh. 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:06.440 Commission is a amalgam of the Clark sist number one, 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.040 the vocal of the Clark Sisters. Then the rest is 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:15.400 the time, earth wind and Fire, the genesis. 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:15.679 You know. 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:20.960 Chicago, we did just a different thing, and we noticed 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.560 that a lot of the guys that were coming around 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.120 at that time, were coming up to us and they 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.600 were starting to get get put on like boys and men, 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:30.360 and we just kept in touch and we were just 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:35.360 cool and friendly. Little Joe and Buddy from the Rude 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.960 Boys were always doing something. We're always together at some 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.679 point doing something, letting them hear music. They're letting us 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.760 hear ours and hear theirs, and you know, so we 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:46.920 kept connected with our R and B family. 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:52.960 You know, did he just say Genesis, Yes, But. 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:55.680 If you if you really look at it, yo, I mean, 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.800 there's really not that much difference. 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:03.280 Between Pride Rock and Got the Chops. 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:10.080 Crazy dude, we just saw it like we just literally 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:15.319 I forget the brother's name, but I remember when James, 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:20.400 I think you remember this. Do you remember when Who's 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:24.160 Who's the group that who were they were formerly known 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:26.079 as at the Drive in? And then when one of 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:31.160 their members, right, So, do you remember when Mars Volta 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:36.199 auditioned a drummer at our studio like behind literally next 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:36.880 to your studio. 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:39.000 He was a Gospel Chops. 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:43.640 Drummer, Thomas Pridgin. I think yes, yeah, and. 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:45.280 It was it was the match made it. 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.559 At first, I was like, that's weird that they got 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.640 a gospel chop drumming to do it, but because of 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:54.360 the intricacies of what Mars Volta is, it was like 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:56.080 a marriage made in heaven. 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:56.880 And that's when I. 0:11:56.920 --> 0:12:02.520 Realized that gospel chop and progue rock are almost neck 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:03.480 and neck with each other. 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.280 I mean, of course gospel chop has more soul to it, 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:08.680 but every every pop group now has a gospel drummer. 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.040 I just an Ariana Grande and all those guys they 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:11.400 all have. 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.319 It's all like big fills from three to four and 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:16.520 one every every bar. 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:22.120 Yeah, it's literally music. I think that all music. 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:23.719 Like everything's like at the end of the four of 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:24.280 our phrases. 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.840 What the notable thing about my entry in music is 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:34.160 that on the opposite of that, but literally which is funny, Well, yeah, 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:38.160 which I'm saying that Basically, I feel as though Commissioned 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:46.600 really is probably the most influential black group in at 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:51.400 least the last forty years of music, second to Prince, 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.400 you know, as far as the as far as the 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:56.840 ripple effect of Nah. 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:58.560 Absolutely their contribution. 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:00.960 I mean, because you look at a I'm like I'm learning, 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.000 I mean, which is one of my favorite songs for y'all. 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.040 I mean, that wouldn't sound out of place on a 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:08.240 Jodasy album or you know what I'm saying. 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.839 Like it was that they always liked about y'all. 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:13.480 Y'all stuff was that it was I could tell when 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:15.440 you say, you know, you were a student and you 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.040 would go and meet the other groups and stuff. The 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.120 songs always sounded current, you know what I'm saying, a 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.120 lot of times gospel because for those very reasons you said, 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.040 you know, gospel stuff would always be behind, like if 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:29.800 it came out in ninety two, it would sound like 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:30.480 something from. 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.640 Like eighty eight, eighty seven, you know what I'm saying. 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.920 But Commission Records, y'all was always like right on time 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:37.840 and it was never dated. 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.000 I always appreciated that man, that right there. 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.719 Was it was just our DNA. It was like we 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.960 listened to everybody. I give you a story. One of 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:50.679 the guys wrote a song called It's so good to 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.559 Know the Savior, and he was a tempo guy, so 0:13:53.760 --> 0:14:00.240 it was like a church tempo It's so good know, 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.480 let's say, and the record company didn't pick it. It 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.160 was it had all of the fizzle and the buzzer 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:09.480 and everything, and the guy. He came to me and said, hey, man, listen, 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:11.960 I think we need to change the drummer out, which 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:14.240 is our drummer. I was like, no, man, it's not that. 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.720 I say basically, it's man, it's kind of dated. And 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:21.720 I said, tomorrow, we just need to castle over to 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:24.200 that month. And they didn't know because they hadn't heard. 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.800 They hadn't heard LeVert. I was cool with Gerrell, and 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:31.320 so when Casanova came out, they hadn't heard it yet. 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:35.120 So I said, let's just get in the studio and 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:36.600 let me flip it a little bit. And I had 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.080 an ra drum machine and some stuff and I just 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:41.119 boot boom. 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:44.200 Got to him boom boom, boom. 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.280 Cocka boom, and then it changed into you can see 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.800 a vamp into that and then the song had life. 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.400 Well that was because we stayed current and we paid 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:54.920 attention to the trends and our counterparts. You know, we've 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.880 paid attention to everybody from the old school, whether it's 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:02.240 luther Al Green, you know, earth Wind all the way 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:06.920 up to the verb to a babyface to the deal. 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.000 You know, like we were talking what song we like? 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:11.840 We like Sweet November or do we like this? 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:13.960 Because our vocals. 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:18.200 Were off of the whispers and the dramatics. Those are 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.240 our male vocal counterprices that we love. 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:20.800 Do watch. 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:23.840 So if you hear a lot of our harmonies we 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:27.200 sing like Ron Banks and Scottie and Walter, you will 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.280 hear a lot of that in. But then we add 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:33.040 what we are. But it's because we paid attention to musicology. 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.800 We just paid attention to everything, you know. So it 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:40.800 was funny too you said something about Jimmy. Jimmy Terry 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:45.360 is like my hero, Jimmy Terry, Teddy Tim baby Face 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:48.640 in La. So one time we were going to do 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:52.840 this thing in Minnesota called uh It's a Methodist church 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:56.680 and they were Soul Liberation Outreach and they said where 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:58.480 you want to go to? My said, can we go 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.160 see flight Time? Because we we were just you know, 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:02.920 we didn't have no studios. So I said, can we 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:04.520 go see flight time? We want to see some black 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.240 guys who were owning something. And I walked in the 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.920 flight Time and I was just blown away. And that's 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.960 when I was just influenced heavily by you know, these 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.320 two guys. And they were just finishing the controls starting 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.480 on we about to start on this new record called 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:25.360 Rhythm Nation they're recording now, and we just had those moments. 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:27.760 Then they said, well where you want to go next? 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:30.640 Now we church boys now remember this, this is this 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:33.600 is for we church boys, so we don't do clubs 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:34.440 and stuff like that. 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:36.760 So somebody said, you want to go see Prince studio 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:41.360 and we was like, oh, I don't know, so. 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.800 I think were like, I think something gonna jump over us. 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:46.920 But I said, yeah, man, I want to go. I 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:48.840 want to see it. So we went over there. Man, 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.240 and on the whole ride over there, because at that 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.320 point Prince wasn't in his last space. He was in 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:57.080 that that I want to I'm gonna really mess you 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:01.000 up with whatever I'm talking about. And we walked up 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:03.280 to the place and people was praying Jesus help us Lord. 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.240 You know, we're walking into the spot and we're thinking, man, 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:13.160 you better pray and put some annoying oil on. When 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:18.080 when we walked in, it was business as usual. People 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.919 just walking around doing business. It wasn't nothing crazy. And 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:26.720 I said, man, this is whole thing is a persona 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:32.120 I thought it was. And the rest of the guys, 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:33.639 some of the guys said, I'm just stay in there. 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.359 I'm gonna stay in the van, I said, I'm going in. 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.160 I want to see what's what I mean, how find 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:42.400 you get this? How do you get this close? And 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:45.320 I see this guy had a complex. I mean at 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.880 that time, to think about Paisley, it was it was 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.640 it was like Cowboys Stadium at that time. 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:53.840 She said, I gotta go see it. 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:55.879 But when I walked through, they took us to his 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.600 personal room and they just my mind was blown because 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.399 it was business. And at the end of the day, 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:05.320 I say, man, this is just a persona. And then 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.399 I learned how to be an owner. So now I 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:10.880 mean I got seventeen thousand squar feet. Well, it came 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:14.960 from Jimmy and Terry. It came from Jimmy, Terry Prince 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:20.639 and Michael Powell who lived in Detroit, who Baker that 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:25.240 was my close friend. So I had to learn. And 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.240 that's you know, I looked at my big brothers to 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:27.960 do that for me. 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:35.680 You know, Okay, I want to start at the beginning 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:40.960 of your life. I'm assuming that you were born in Detroit. 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.200 Michigan, was born in San Antonio. 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.680 Oh all right, See the one time I don't ask 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:50.560 the question, I get burnt. Sorry, can you tell me 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:52.679 what your first musical memory was? 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:58.240 My first musical memory, honestly was first of all. You know, 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.640 I say this because a lot of people have these 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:06.320 misconceptions about gospel artists and preachers that everybody thinks that 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:06.840 they're perfect. 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:08.320 I don't. I was. 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.160 I was born different, you know, I was. My mother 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:16.840 and father were married to other people, and he was 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:20.960 a pastor and my mother was a musician, and the 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:26.400 church really dogged my mom and protected him, and so 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:28.119 they kind of put her out. And so it was 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.320 basically me and her. And before I was born, you know, 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:33.280 we went through this whole thing about she was she 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.240 wouldn't have had an abortion and it didn't work, you know. 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.040 So it's a lot of stuff that goes on with 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:45.879 me being here. So yeah, yeah, And so she was 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:49.639 my biggest musical influence. So I followed her everywhere to 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:54.399 because she taught choirs. She was very amazing at teaching 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.760 choirs and playing the piano for churches. And I never 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:01.240 forget I'll go back to she came home with this 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:03.200 little forty five and I had a clothes and play 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:07.159 and she said, you know, I bought these boys, you know, 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:09.359 and it was just a picture of these five boys, 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:11.879 was the Jackson's and she said, you know, listen to this. 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:13.119 I hadn't even heard them on the radio. 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:15.720 And I put it on my clothes and play and 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:19.000 I Want you back came on, and I just saw 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.399 Michael as my age because they were saying he was 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:23.840 younger than they said he was my age. I was 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:28.200 probably five six, and I was just I was enamored 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:32.359 with this group, and so I was singing and I 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:36.080 found myself singing Jermaine's part at six seven years old. 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.680 And my mother said, you know, if you open your mouth, 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:40.480 you can sing better. 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:41.160 You can sing like. 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:44.119 That little boy right there. And I was very shy, 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:46.119 and I didn't want her to hear me because I 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:47.840 thought she would make me sing in front of people. 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:50.200 So I made sure she didn't ever hear me again. 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:52.520 So I took my clothes and play in the closet 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:55.159 because you ran her own batteries, and I sang in 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:57.359 the closet because I didn't want her to hear me sing. 0:20:57.440 --> 0:20:59.040 I was afraid she was going to put me up 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.960 there in church. And so that's my earliest knowledge right there. 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.960 So were you kind of born into skepticism of the church, 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.359 like sincere because of your situation. You know. 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.080 The beautiful thing is God kept me from that from 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:16.000 the knowledge of people now thinking I was worth it, 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.159 you know. But when I look back at it, a 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:22.320 lot of people just thought I was just worthless because 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:24.960 you can't do nothing with God because you're born. 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:26.280 Out of wether lite. Who are you? 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.399 You know your mother, your mother's is an adult, so 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:32.720 they just kind of threw us away. But the reality 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:35.600