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Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Good People. What's Up is Questlove?

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Speaker 1: And this is part two of qls's Black History Month celebration.

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Speaker 2: All right, this particular episode, we're focused on the media.

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Speaker 1: We got pioneers and innovators from radio, television, and theater.

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Speaker 1: Last season, we had two episodes that really touched on Black.

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Speaker 2: History from a media perspective.

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Speaker 1: In the first, you'll hear Erica Alexander speak about the

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Speaker 1: Freedom Theater in my hometown of Philadelphia, where she spent

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Speaker 1: time growing up, and I missed it so much. Shout

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Speaker 1: out to Dice Fral who's now one of the chair

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Speaker 1: people at the Freedom Theater. All right, here's Erica Alexander.

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Speaker 1: What part of Philadelphia? Where are you from?

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Speaker 3: Mound Area? Oh?

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Speaker 4: Nice?

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Speaker 5: He was nice part of town.

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Speaker 1: See, when you're from West Philly, I just think anything

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Speaker 1: that's north of City Hall is just n o RF

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Speaker 1: North Philly, even if it's Mount Area. So what was

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Speaker 1: your beginnings in the world of acting? Like, were you

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Speaker 1: a Freedom Theater kid? Or was this stuff in your school?

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Speaker 1: Did you not want to go to creative and performing arts.

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Speaker 6: Or well, you know, I think we had a conversation

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Speaker 6: in Mire and I know you've had plenty of them,

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Speaker 6: But you went to school with my little sister Charlanda. Yes,

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Speaker 6: he's the one who went to the School of the

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Speaker 6: Artists that you did. But I was discovered when I

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Speaker 6: was fourteen in the basement theater called new Freedom Theater.

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Speaker 6: The Freedom Theater closed. I talked to the council in

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Speaker 6: the other day.

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Speaker 4: We got to get that back.

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Speaker 5: That theater is beautiful.

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Speaker 6: It's beautiful, but it's stuffed in the middle of Temple

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Speaker 6: University and surrounded by I don't think people who understand

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Speaker 6: what it's.

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Speaker 7: Significant gentrification, what's going on with Howard University. I can

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Speaker 7: Roger that Roger that so discovered.

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Speaker 6: In the basement theater by a movie company, merch should

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Speaker 6: Ivory Film Independent Film came to Philadelphia. They were looking

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Speaker 6: for Little Girls Back and Brown to audition for this movie.

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Speaker 6: And after nearly twelve to thirteen auditions.

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Speaker 2: And for screen screen tests, screen.

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Speaker 6: Tests, yeah, I was the one they chose. When this

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Speaker 6: is both cleared, Wow, Okay.

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Speaker 2: What happened at Freedom Theater?

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Speaker 1: Like because that was one of the places where I

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Speaker 1: wanted to go, but instead my parents put me in

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Speaker 1: Settlement Music School and my sister went to Freedom Theater.

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Speaker 1: Like it was like, Okay, we're going to have her

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Speaker 1: act and he's going to do music. But we would

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Speaker 1: only pick her up afterwards. But I never knew like

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Speaker 1: what happened in there, Like what was what would they

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Speaker 1: teach you there?

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Speaker 6: Well, Johnny Allen Junior and his partner, they started it.

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Speaker 3: They started in the sixties.

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Speaker 6: Sixties famously were starting to try to train black children

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Speaker 6: the way the Black Panthers did. That they knew that

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Speaker 6: the schools that were primarily white weren't giving them any

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Speaker 6: sense of themselves. And you had people like the Great

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Speaker 6: Meanness Simone talking about young gifted in Black so that

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Speaker 6: that's really what was going on. There was some sort

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Speaker 6: of idea that if you infused a child with the

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Speaker 6: strong sense of themselves and you also gave them creative outlets,

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Speaker 6: got them in touch with their body, discipline, voice, sound, body,

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Speaker 6: all of those things, performance, speech, communication, that you could

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Speaker 6: influence the rest of their life. And they proved their point,

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Speaker 6: like a lot of the schools that were going around

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Speaker 6: the country at the time and new Freedom Theaters of

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Speaker 6: that kind of tradition.

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Speaker 1: How old were you when you started Freedom Theater, Like

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Speaker 1: at what age did you start?

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Speaker 3: Fourteen?

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Speaker 6: I only went there for the sixth week program, and

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Speaker 6: then I also did like two summers of a play

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Speaker 6: called under Pressure, which was their residents production that they

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Speaker 6: put on every year every summer.

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Speaker 1: Is the Hope where I guess the goal of the

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Speaker 1: school to draw people, notable people to see the kids

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Speaker 1: and have them work with someone notable or or is

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Speaker 1: it just like we teach you the craft of acting

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Speaker 1: and then you're out there in the world, like, are

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Speaker 1: they like this how you get an agent?

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Speaker 2: Or this is how you you know this?

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Speaker 1: This this commercial casting directors come into our thing tonight,

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Speaker 1: Like is it any of those things involved? No?

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Speaker 3: Not. When I was going it might have changed.

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Speaker 6: It really was about self love, self reverence, power, black power,

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Speaker 6: young gifted in black, A sense of yourself inside of

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Speaker 6: a white world.

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Speaker 3: How can you move through it? How do you stand?

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Speaker 6: Lifting your head, your skins, making the children go home

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Speaker 6: and get undressed and look at themselves in a mirror,

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Speaker 6: all parts of themselves, the lower parts of themselves, having

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Speaker 6: some kind of regard and respect for hygiene. The way

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Speaker 6: you spoke, the way you stepped up rammar, all of

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Speaker 6: those things. It was really more like a boot camp

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Speaker 6: for life for black kids.

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Speaker 1: Did you realize that immediately or is this like in hindsight,

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Speaker 1: like I hated going to Okay, I'm sorry. I did

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Speaker 1: not hate going to Settlement music school, but I hated

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Speaker 1: the homework assignments. However, I now realized, thank god, I

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Speaker 1: went to sell them in music school. That saved my life.

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Speaker 1: But you realize that stuff like when you're way older.

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Speaker 1: Did you realize that at the time, or because even

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Speaker 1: when we were doing those types of exercises at performing

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Speaker 1: art school whatever, like we'd be in the back laughing,

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Speaker 1: like you know, they want us to learn Elizabethan and

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Speaker 1: project with your voice, and you know.

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Speaker 2: We're just like that.

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Speaker 7: Settlement wasn't as black as freedom in that way though,

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Speaker 7: that's like a different experience, right right, that's true.

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Speaker 3: I think my sister went to Settlement to my baby's sister.

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Speaker 2: How many siblings do you have.

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Speaker 3: I'm one of six, and fourth there's too younger than me.

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Speaker 6: There's Charmanda, who you know, and then there's Mayesha, and

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Speaker 6: I think she went to Settlement.

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Speaker 2: And all of you have dabbled in the arts.

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Speaker 6: Yes, in some way. Although my sister, he was a

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Speaker 6: social worker, there in Philadelphia, and my brother's a Philly.

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Speaker 4: Copp Oh, so your family really stayed in Philadelphia?

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Speaker 3: They did, did we?

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Speaker 6: Both My parents were orphans, so we didn't necessarily have

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Speaker 6: a place to be. Wherever we were was where we

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Speaker 6: were at. But I think you were talking about did

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Speaker 6: I recognize what it was doing?

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Speaker 8: Then?

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Speaker 6: Yes, they were very over. They kept it was like

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Speaker 6: a boot camp. It was like an officer and a gentleman.

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Speaker 6: They were going to make you understand the power of

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Speaker 6: being black and blackness, and more importantly, the power of

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Speaker 6: self love. And we needed that because at the time

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Speaker 6: I was going in there, the streets were a battleground.

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Speaker 6: It was crack incarceration, Young women were getting pregnant. It

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Speaker 6: was really like some kind of weird pathology movie. And

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Speaker 6: I think they couldn't be soft about it. They had

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Speaker 6: to be over. They didn't have the privilege to set

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Speaker 6: back and not act like they were trying to do.

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Speaker 6: They were trying to radicalize you, and I think that.

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Speaker 3: It worked well.

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Speaker 1: When you said offers and a gentleman, I'm like, wait

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Speaker 1: a minute. I remember Lewis Gossig making it.

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Speaker 2: Cry in the right in the rain. I'm like, wait

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Speaker 2: a minute.

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Speaker 6: So yeah, a lot of people cried, but they were

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Speaker 6: crying because it was like church. You got in there

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Speaker 6: and you had real awakenings and you reckoned with even

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Speaker 6: though you might have thought a lot of people had

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Speaker 6: to confide events and didn't have. I guess the fears

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Speaker 6: that some children had, they all had that we weren't

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Speaker 6: allowed to be children. And there I think that they

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Speaker 6: knew they were different type of child and that they

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Speaker 6: needed to break us down so we could be vulnerable,

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Speaker 6: all right. Not me though, by the way, I'm a

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Speaker 6: preacher's daughter. I came in already vulnerable. I was scared

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Speaker 6: of Philadelphia and students and I wait, your dad was

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Speaker 6: a pretty different student.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Church of God in Christ, baby, what's.

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Speaker 2: All a kojak kojak? Sure? Where where was the church?

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Speaker 6: Well, my parents are coming out of New Mexico, Carlsbad,

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Speaker 6: Las Cruses. They were Bible students. They traveled around in

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Speaker 6: the car, and that's why I spent the first eleven

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Speaker 6: years of my life in a hotel called Starlight off

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Speaker 6: a Root sixty six.

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Speaker 2: Wow, that was where you lived?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, that was Erica Alexander h Part one.

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Speaker 1: Next up, we're gonna hear from Wayne Brady. In part

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Speaker 1: two of his interview, Wayne told the story of him

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Speaker 1: getting down with Chappelle's show, but not after his feelings

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Speaker 1: were hurt and something that have shaped his journey. So

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Speaker 1: my version of the story was when I was a

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Speaker 1: staff member of the Chappelle Show.

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Speaker 9: Sorry, I mean sorry sounds yeah, I don't want to

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Speaker 9: hear here.

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Speaker 10: What's your version is?

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Speaker 1: Okay, So I'm a staff member of Chappelle, I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: go on location with those guys. I did all the

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Speaker 1: music for season two, and so the roots just happened

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Speaker 1: to be in La at the time when we were

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Speaker 1: shooting a lot of the La Chappelle things. And what

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Speaker 1: you have to understand is that most shows are like

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Speaker 1: planned week in events.

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Speaker 2: They have a writing staff.

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Speaker 1: The genius of season two was the fact that Neil

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Speaker 1: Brennan and Dave Chappelle were pretty much just flying off

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Speaker 1: the seat of their pants, knowing that on there is

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Speaker 1: day night they had to turn in that tape the comedy.

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Speaker 1: Really you're supposed to turn in like the Tuesday before,

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Speaker 1: like days before. I mean there would be times where

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Speaker 1: like maybe a half hour before the show's on the air,

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Speaker 1: like the Sesame Street Q tip.

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Speaker 2: Thing, that snoop thing.

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Speaker 1: I happen to know that they finished the edit maybe

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Speaker 1: a half hour before airtime. Yeah, before airtime, like Comedy

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Speaker 1: Central has to like approve things were standings, like we

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Speaker 1: went down to the wire. So I do know that

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Speaker 1: we had went out to the Four Seasons because we

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Speaker 1: wanted to get our Sinio to do the whole cheese things.

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Speaker 2: Why don't you tell me the cheese was good, good.

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Speaker 1: Right, that whole thing, and also got Anthony Anderson to

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Speaker 1: do the Ashy.

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Speaker 2: Larry You remember the dream?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what I remember was we have met Anthony Aji

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Speaker 1: and the hotel lobby, Anthony Jay the bar wash. He's

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Speaker 1: also the father Maya Rudolph's Fire and Bridesmaids and.

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Speaker 2: He's legendary comic.

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Speaker 1: We had spent so much time talking to him, and

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Speaker 1: our Senio was there like just comedian war stories from

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Speaker 1: the seventies or whatever. That I had to go so

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Speaker 1: I can go to the airport. So what Neil will

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Speaker 1: tell me when I landed? He says, dude, we just

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Speaker 1: created a masterpiece. Like the way they were describing how

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Speaker 1: the night was was like they had made Purple Rain

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Speaker 1: and thriller at once, and I'm thinking, like, wait, from

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Speaker 1: the whole.

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Speaker 2: From that sketch.

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Speaker 1: He says, no, man, He's like, so when you were

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Speaker 1: leaving and checking out at the last minute, guess who

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Speaker 1: we saw in the lobby. I was like, who it's

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Speaker 1: a dog. We saw Wayne Brady and I said, oh

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Speaker 1: my god, what happened? Because I instantly went back, Mooney,

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Speaker 1: ipect this is going to be like even broccoli.

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Speaker 2: I said, well, went down? What went down? He said, nah, man,

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Speaker 2: we shot something.

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Speaker 1: And so I'm under the belief that it was off

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Speaker 1: the cuff.

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Speaker 2: You just happened to be in the lobby.

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Speaker 10: You and Dave.

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Speaker 1: Had a meacopa kind of understanding moment thing, and then

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Speaker 1: it was like, so what are you doing?

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Speaker 2: Do you want to shoot something?

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Speaker 1: And it was very off the cuff, and I was

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Speaker 1: not prepared for any of those things.

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Speaker 10: Like oh no, no, no, no, no no. It was

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Speaker 10: so much different for you.

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Speaker 2: All Right, So what's your version of it?

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Speaker 9: Well, well, my version is, well, just going back to

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Speaker 9: when the sketch aired, and I'll do it really really fast.

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Speaker 9: And this isn't me complaining because I've said this before,

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Speaker 9: like on the Breakfast Club, and there's always an asshole

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Speaker 9: in the comments like like, well, you shouldn't have the

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Speaker 9: reason that the sketch bothered me. And I'll just say

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Speaker 9: it in the nutshell. Jokes are jokes. I do comedy.

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Speaker 9: Everything jokes. A joke's fine. I just happened to come

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Speaker 9: from a very, very particular place. And you can't tell

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Speaker 9: me what I can and can't feel. I feel Paul Mooney.

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Speaker 9: I worshiped at the shrine of Paul Mooney. I never

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Speaker 9: said that Paul Mooney wasn't funny or home. Mooney was

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Speaker 9: in a genius and a writer. I love Paul Mooney.

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Speaker 9: I love Dave. So imagine my shock. I'm sitting at home,

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Speaker 9: I'm getting my barber. Came over to my spot. He's

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Speaker 9: doing Da Da Da Da, and the Chappelle shows on.

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Speaker 9: I'm excited. I was like, okay, we can get through

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Speaker 9: the whole thing. And then and then boom, Negro was

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Speaker 9: Wayne Brady looked like him. I went, oh, oh, okay.

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Speaker 9: I didn't laugh at it, not because I was like,

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Speaker 9: I'm above being made fun of. If your joke is funny,

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Speaker 9: please make fun of me. That's what we do. But

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Speaker 9: to me, and now, because you saw me talk to

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Speaker 9: my bullies. Oh, also Kendra and Nicole and Nicole come

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Speaker 9: on now, it's Adams Jones, Johns Harris. Race has always

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Speaker 9: been a subject that has played because what does it

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Speaker 9: mean to be black? You know, the kid that grew

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Speaker 9: up watching certain things, doing certain things, like making certain

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Speaker 9: things that have died, so those things form you. So

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Speaker 9: I've always had that in the back of my mind

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Speaker 9: as a as a thing. So when I see that,

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Speaker 9: I'm like, the joke isn't funny to me, It doesn't

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Speaker 9: even scan because you're now making fun of Brian Gumbel, who, like,

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Speaker 9: say what you want to say. But Brian gumble this

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Speaker 9: incredibly successful man in his own right, doing this thing.

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Speaker 9: So now you're gonna use me to take down him

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Speaker 9: or him to meet And then that means that I'm

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Speaker 9: not black enough? And so does that mean that one

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Speaker 9: of my comedic heroes, Dave Chappelle, who I've rocked with

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Speaker 9: since Robin Hood Men in tights and watching him at

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Speaker 9: evenings at the Improv before he blew up, This dude

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Speaker 9: really knows who I am. Oh, that's awesome, but nothing

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Speaker 9: gonna shit on me. And Paul Mooney, who I love.

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Speaker 9: He doesn't think I'm black enough. That's really wow. That shakes,

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Speaker 9: which is why Wayne doesn't go out and talk to people,

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Speaker 9: because I don't want to deal with that shit sometimes.

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Speaker 9: So I was already in my feelings about it from

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Speaker 9: a race place and just from a joke point.

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Speaker 10: I didn't feel that it was a good joke. I

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Speaker 10: thought it was too easy, so blah blah blah blah blah.

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Speaker 9: So fuck those guys immediately, and I'm like, I don't

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Speaker 9: give sex second and third chances. I am a I'm

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Speaker 9: a very petty, angry person inside sometimes when it comes

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Speaker 9: to certain things. So I was already like, well, I

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Speaker 9: guess I can watch a Chappelle show. Click, I can't

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Speaker 9: enjoy the genius that is Dave Chappelle. Fast forward to

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Speaker 9: I forget what the show was. It was an award show.

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Speaker 9: It might have been the Hoodies Steve Steve Harvey's Hoodies

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Speaker 9: or something. But Donnelle was in the lobby bar. We

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Speaker 9: were in the bar. Donnelle was with somebody else, and

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Speaker 9: I recognize them immediately because I like the show. Oh

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Speaker 9: it's ashe laire, but you gonna drink my drink. He

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Speaker 9: comes over so wonderful and gracious, Wayne, Hey, I'm Donelle.

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Speaker 10: I play.

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Speaker 9: Actually I know who you are. I've seen your little

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Speaker 9: play all right, just just through the energy. And he

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Speaker 9: was so sweet. He was waiting blah blah blah. I said, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 9: that's great. I love the show up until that whack

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Speaker 9: ass joke by Paul Mooney.

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Speaker 2: Blah dah da da da. But thanks.

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Speaker 9: He goes, Oh my god, I mean we you know,

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Speaker 9: we have love for you. I was like, I was like,

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Speaker 9: to be honest, I don't know. And I have to

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Speaker 9: preface it. I had been drinking. I had been drinking,

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Speaker 9: so I was like, really, was that how you love me?

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Speaker 9: Black man?

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Speaker 2: Is that really?

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Speaker 9: And so just going about my day, cut to the

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Speaker 9: next day.

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Speaker 2: This is how fast the shit did happen.

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Speaker 9: So I don't know the timeline that you're talking about

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Speaker 9: in terms of when you came out to LA, but

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Speaker 9: it happened where well.

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Speaker 2: I was at the fourth season hotel, so.

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Speaker 9: Okay, so that might have been so so whenever I

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Speaker 9: saw him. Then the next day I was doing my

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Speaker 9: talk show. I get my assistant comes as I'm in

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Speaker 9: the writer's room.

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Speaker 10: Wait, wait, got phone call, who take Chapelle? I was like,

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Speaker 10: why no, you're lying Tay Shamelle.

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Speaker 9: Okay, hello, hey man, it's Dave oh Man, just so

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Speaker 9: sweet as like, look, I didn't write that joke.

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Speaker 2: Mooney came up with it.

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Speaker 9: I really didn't like the shit either, but you know,

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Speaker 9: I like the character and da da da, no offense

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Speaker 9: was meant now the fact that and now we live

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Speaker 9: in a day and age, no one's gonna backtrack on

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Speaker 9: a joke for folks like I said what I said,

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Speaker 9: and I said it like like I said, Dave was

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Speaker 9: one of my guy He's one of my heroes. So

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Speaker 9: that itself, we could have just stopped it there. It

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Speaker 9: couldn't have gone any furthers like thank you, and I

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Speaker 9: mean you didn't. Thanks, It's fine, it's cool. He goes, Hey,

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Speaker 9: would you ever want to be on the show? Said,

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Speaker 9: are you kidding me? It would be a dream of it. Well, then,

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Speaker 9: what are you doing doing this weekend? Or if this

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Speaker 9: was a Friday or something. So I flew out. I said,

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Speaker 9: I'll come to New York immediately. Great, I'm gonna puts

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Speaker 9: you in touch with Neil and you guys decide what

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Speaker 9: we're gonna do, and we're gonna do something great with that.

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Speaker 2: Great. Thanks Dave.

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Speaker 9: I was on cloud nine, so I immediately started thinking

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Speaker 9: of ideas. And this is where it is so cool.

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Speaker 9: So I so I'm writing stuff on the plane. Neil

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Speaker 9: had already worked out some stuff. So when I get

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Speaker 9: to New York, it all happens like this. I get

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Speaker 9: off the plane, we go to where you guys shot

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Speaker 9: a think in Brooklyn or someplace whatever.

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Speaker 10: We get up. As soon as soon as I.

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Speaker 9: Get in, I go. Neil's waiting for me. He's like, so,

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Speaker 9: what do you want to do? Blah blah blah blah.

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Speaker 9: He goes, We've got this idea of like doing this

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Speaker 9: training day thing, because you know, like you do your

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Speaker 9: talk show. Oh and at this time, this is when

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Speaker 9: I was leaving my talk show because I found out

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Speaker 9: that because I told somebody off at Disney that they

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Speaker 9: that they threatened me and said said, oh, you know,

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Speaker 9: if you don't do this particular thing, we always can

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Speaker 9: find someone to do your show. And I said, oh,

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Speaker 9: if you can find another Wayne Brady to do the

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Speaker 9: Wayne Brady Show, please be my guest.

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Speaker 10: I come back in. Tony Danza's name is in the papers.

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Speaker 10: But that's cool. I was like, great, I'm out.

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Speaker 2: Of this bask the wrong goddamn question.

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Speaker 9: I'm handling all the black people because they they they

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Speaker 9: had a band, not a band, because they were gonna

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Speaker 9: say we never said that. Certain guests that I'd bring up,

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Speaker 9: they'd go, oh, no, you can't do that, blah blah

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Speaker 9: blah blah blah blah blah. So I was like, really,

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Speaker 9: I had Missy Elliot bust the rhymes if you were black,

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Speaker 9: and my favorite rapper. You were on that show you

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Speaker 9: show at that time, so this was great. I was

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Speaker 9: like yes. So in my mind, I was like, we

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Speaker 9: need to do something that will burn burn the house down.

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Speaker 9: Fuck it, let's go. So Neil's idea was the training

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Speaker 9: day thing, and I said, well, if we're doing training

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Speaker 9: day where I'm showing Dave through the neighborhood and doing shit,

383
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Speaker 9: then we really need to lean into the fact of

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Speaker 9: when folks are like, oh, Wayne, I love you because

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Speaker 9: I see your talk show where you're this you're everybody's

386
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Speaker 9: favorite black guy. Blah bah blah blah. I said, I

387
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Speaker 9: want to do a thing where a cop stops me.

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Speaker 9: And he started singing my jingle and I wrote that

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Speaker 9: and then I'm gonna go, but be behind him.

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Speaker 10: And I'm gonna kill him and that'll freak.

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Speaker 2: That'll rereak out.

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Speaker 9: Dave and I want a microphone to come down and go, great, well,

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Speaker 9: let's do that and then we'll do the other thing

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Speaker 9: with an ATM and you'll get your money. So like,

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Speaker 9: we'll follow the beats. I said, great, So we came

396
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Speaker 9: up with it. So we had these two ideas and

397
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Speaker 9: mushed them together. We shot it all night. We wrapped

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Speaker 9: like six in the morning. I had to get back

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Speaker 9: on a plane to go back to shoot and then

400
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Speaker 9: I get a call like Monday. He's like, dude, this

401
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Speaker 9: is amazing. You aren't going to be ready. I think

402
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:16,119
Speaker 9: we I think we've made history. Yes, and I knew it,

403
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Speaker 9: like not often are you in the middle of something,

404
00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:20,840
Speaker 9: but I knew it as we're doing it, because there

405
00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:24,520
Speaker 9: was such desparate worlds right of Daving this and me

406
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Speaker 9: especially of that time, of what folks thought of me

407
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Speaker 9: and the gigs I was doing. It's like, well, wow,

408
00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:32,040
Speaker 9: does that all fit together? And we weren't doing a sketch.

409
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Speaker 9: In my mind, I was like, no, I'm really doing

410
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Speaker 9: this shit because I'm also showing you what I do

411
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Speaker 9: as an actor. It's like we're really doing this and

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Speaker 9: the way that he shot it. It was a beautiful

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Speaker 9: thing that came together. And I knew that we made

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Speaker 9: TV history.

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Speaker 2: I knew it. And I'm telling you this, like Rick James.

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Speaker 1: This we have a problem, right, Rick James and Prince

417
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Speaker 1: they were excited about but we were more excited about

418
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Speaker 1: the scripts because we had the scripts way before they

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Speaker 1: were shot. But I do remember we up until that

420
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Speaker 1: point they were really excited about the racial draft. But

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Speaker 1: the way they were talking about how quickly this thing

422
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Speaker 1: came together and how and I was I was disappointed

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Speaker 1: because I couldn't add music to it.

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Speaker 2: Like I was like, all right, so what am I

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Speaker 2: gonna do? What am I gonna do? They're like, it's done.

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Speaker 1: Already, man, you just you wait till it comes on

427
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Speaker 1: and literally okay. So I mean that was that was

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Speaker 1: the beginning of what we call like the viral phase.

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Speaker 1: How did your hour was perception of you or reaction?

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Speaker 1: How did that change after that episode?

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Speaker 9: It was instantaneous because at that point, you know, the

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Speaker 9: Chappelle Show.

433
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Speaker 10: Was everywhere all the time.

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Speaker 9: It was on a loop, so everywhere you went and

435
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Speaker 9: being on tour and going you know, to very various cities.

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Speaker 9: I could see the reactions like if and right after

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00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,119
Speaker 9: that it was on tour, you know, like I was

438
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,600
Speaker 9: in Philly and New York and and Atlanta and Chicago

439
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,800
Speaker 9: and Troit, so I got to see firsthand black reaction

440
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:07,880
Speaker 9: to the sketch. Now, the thing is that I never

441
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:10,679
Speaker 9: wanted the narrative to be like all black people voted

442
00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:14,399
Speaker 9: unanimously that Wayne Brady was corny or whatever, because that

443
00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:15,399
Speaker 9: was not the case.

444
00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:17,639
Speaker 10: More black people rocked with me than not.

445
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:18,239
Speaker 2: It was.

446
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,720
Speaker 10: It was some fine, you couldn't say what you wanted to.

447
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:23,680
Speaker 9: But I did notice as soon as that sketch hit,

448
00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:27,480
Speaker 9: this is the thing that I got, which I loathed

449
00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:29,679
Speaker 9: to this day. But I know where it comes from.

450
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:35,000
Speaker 9: When like there's a particular cat comes up, Yo, Wayne, nigger,

451
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:40,640
Speaker 9: that's that dude, i'mosa slap me a home. It's like, no, no, man,

452
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:45,159
Speaker 9: it's actually it's actually it's actually it's actually choko.

453
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:48,680
Speaker 2: That's what I meant. That's what I meant. I gotta

454
00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:49,399
Speaker 2: tell you something.

455
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,000
Speaker 10: I gotta tell you something. I didn't fuck with you before.

456
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:52,320
Speaker 2: I didn't.

457
00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:54,560
Speaker 9: I didn't fuck with you, honest, I didn't fuck with

458
00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:56,399
Speaker 9: you before. I was like well, thanks for telling me

459
00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:58,280
Speaker 9: you're in the thoughts I did. Really you didn't digest

460
00:22:58,280 --> 00:22:59,480
Speaker 9: my Okay, fine, but.

461
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:01,280
Speaker 11: Now now.

462
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:09,160
Speaker 9: Now now hug me, now, man now, And then I'm like, well,

463
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:11,320
Speaker 9: thank you. But the funny thing is, oh, so you

464
00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:17,400
Speaker 9: love me now because I had hoes, made Dave take drugs,

465
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,800
Speaker 9: and it was yeah, I get I get it, I

466
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 9: get it. But the thing that I loved the most

467
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,320
Speaker 9: about it is whatever your reaction and whatever you felt,

468
00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:29,040
Speaker 9: and I feel it to this day. It's a classic sketch.

469
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,400
Speaker 9: It's in the Museum of Television History. I love Dave,

470
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,760
Speaker 9: and I thank Dave, and I thank Neil for and

471
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,760
Speaker 9: I thank Donnelle for coming up to me because I

472
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:40,920
Speaker 9: got a chance to do something that was so dope,

473
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,840
Speaker 9: and I see the effects of it today that people

474
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:46,960
Speaker 9: got to see because I was doing a Disney talk show,

475
00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:48,919
Speaker 9: I was doing an a ABC talk show. I was

476
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:51,440
Speaker 9: on a Who's Line at night. I was doing those things. Now,

477
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 9: the people that followed my act, that saw me in

478
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:56,800
Speaker 9: the comedy clubs and theaters, they knew that it's kind

479
00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:59,760
Speaker 9: of like the Bob Saget thing. My act is my acting,

480
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,040
Speaker 9: and you tell you tell folks just because you watched

481
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,600
Speaker 9: whose line or your kid likes Sophia the first, don't

482
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:07,640
Speaker 9: bring your kids to my show because it's not that

483
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,400
Speaker 9: kind of show. So it's not that. So I felt

484
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:13,359
Speaker 9: that that began a shift where folks to your point earlier,

485
00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 9: where folks say that they really don't know me, they

486
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 9: know the things that that I do. I feel that

487
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:21,080
Speaker 9: was a step in people going Okay, I guess there's

488
00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:23,639
Speaker 9: more to the person than I thought. And if it

489
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:25,960
Speaker 9: takes an event like that to make you open your mind,

490
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:27,960
Speaker 9: then cool. I don't care where it comes from, as

491
00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:28,920
Speaker 9: as it comes.

492
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:33,520
Speaker 8: Well, then I'll ask you something I thought. We're on

493
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:37,720
Speaker 8: our way to being best friends. We started with we

494
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,440
Speaker 8: wanted to be friends friends?

495
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 1: Is so excited, Yes, sir, And this is an objective question,

496
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,040
Speaker 1: so I don't know if I can get a definitive answer.

497
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,280
Speaker 2: Of course, is the grass greener on the other side.

498
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:59,240
Speaker 9: Well, you know, I would not know still because and

499
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,720
Speaker 9: this is a larger conversation for a thing I have

500
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:07,680
Speaker 9: issues where I still feel where now it's mostly oddly enough,

501
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:12,520
Speaker 9: ironically it's white Hollywood and white studio exects. And I'll

502
00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,240
Speaker 9: even say agents that I've had in the past and

503
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 9: people because black is black to me, we are not

504
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:21,399
Speaker 9: a monolith. That's what Whiz is about. Come see the

505
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:25,879
Speaker 9: Whiz until June tenth. So until oh no, no, but you

506
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:27,520
Speaker 9: got a seed in general. But just know that's onory.

507
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 9: So black is all these beautiful things. But the problem

508
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,000
Speaker 9: is that when we call each other out and we go, oh,

509
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:35,000
Speaker 9: you're not black of this or your experiences in this,

510
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,920
Speaker 9: there are people on the other side listening, like studio

511
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 9: execs and like other people that they're oh, so that's

512
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:41,600
Speaker 9: not black enough.

513
00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:42,800
Speaker 2: So what is black?

514
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,320
Speaker 9: Jamal tell me what is black? And he's like, well,

515
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,080
Speaker 9: I don't mess with that, do But I think that dude, okay, great.

516
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:52,159
Speaker 9: So my problem on the grass side isn't even with

517
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 9: my own folks. I love my folks, and my folks

518
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,560
Speaker 9: mess with me. It's how I am perceived. I think

519
00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:01,359
Speaker 9: even for roles even in series that I know that

520
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:04,560
Speaker 9: I would kill it, I am by by the gatekeeper

521
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,720
Speaker 9: who maybe the show creators black, but the studio head

522
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 9: is like, oh no, I wouldn't consider Wayne Brady for that.

523
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:12,160
Speaker 2: Are there three roles that got away?

524
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 10: Three roles that got away?

525
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,919
Speaker 2: Three? Is there one? What role? Almost?

526
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:18,359
Speaker 3: Well?

527
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:20,679
Speaker 9: I have a few that I have almost had it

528
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:24,160
Speaker 9: that that I'm not gonna blame on Race because maybe

529
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:26,040
Speaker 9: I wasn't the dude on that day. But I was

530
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,120
Speaker 9: offered some a couple of things, and then offers got oh,

531
00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 9: because but the one that sticks out in my head

532
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 9: that and I feel it We're going so long, so

533
00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:37,280
Speaker 9: I'm trying to make things quol Okay, this is not

534
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,440
Speaker 9: a great movie by any stretch, but it was one

535
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 9: of the ones. It was around the Chappelle things that

536
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 9: I was like, I'm gonna show folks what the fuck

537
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 9: I do. It was snakes on the plane and here's

538
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,920
Speaker 9: the thing. It was for the role of the rapper. Now,

539
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 9: now the dude that got it, that's my boy Flex.

540
00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 9: I did a movie with Flex. I love Flex. So

541
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:04,159
Speaker 9: if I'm happy that, yeah, she said. I was like

542
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,000
Speaker 9: doing another Flex, So if anybody got it, I was

543
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:11,359
Speaker 9: happy because Flex, And yes, that's fam But what I

544
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:15,120
Speaker 9: did and my audition was so genius. I have to say,

545
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,480
Speaker 9: this ship was genius. It was for the rapper. I

546
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,359
Speaker 9: looked at the script like, uh, not a great script.

547
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 9: The concept you said. I was like, screw it, I'm

548
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:28,639
Speaker 9: going to go in. So I hired two actors to

549
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,399
Speaker 9: play my bodyguards, and I hired a couple of girls

550
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,240
Speaker 9: to be my video vixens, and I for the audition.

551
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:40,440
Speaker 9: For the audition, I'll never forget, I drove in traffic.

552
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:42,520
Speaker 9: Like if any of you were actors back in the

553
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:44,600
Speaker 9: day in la if you had to go over to

554
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,560
Speaker 9: Santa Monica to audition for this day, it was horrible

555
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,359
Speaker 9: getting there. I spent about an hour and an hour

556
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 9: and a half in traffic, and I came up with

557
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,600
Speaker 9: the idea. I said, I could do this script, but

558
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:57,679
Speaker 9: what I'm gonna do is I'm going to be this

559
00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,480
Speaker 9: dude and then I'm in a freestyle what's in I'm

560
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,199
Speaker 9: gonna freestyle the story of snakes on a plane, and

561
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 9: then I'm gonna walk out. So I get there. I

562
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:11,239
Speaker 9: timed it so that my time was I don't even

563
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 9: know what time. My time was like four thirty. I

564
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,040
Speaker 9: now keep keep in mind, I'm in full like I'm

565
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 9: in my Adidas thing. I've got chains, the whole nine,

566
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:21,840
Speaker 9: I've got these rings, my shit to the side. I

567
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 9: walk in and the dude, the one of the bodyguards,

568
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,800
Speaker 9: has a boombox. Were the track I walk in the

569
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:32,360
Speaker 9: casting office click boom booms, boom boots, the boom booms.

570
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:32,760
Speaker 2: Walking.

571
00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:37,640
Speaker 9: There are actors waiting. I walk right through. I walk

572
00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:42,680
Speaker 9: right through into the wait. Wait, you can't get a click. Hey,

573
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,360
Speaker 9: how you doing? Oh wait is it yo? I'm not waiting.

574
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:47,479
Speaker 9: I'm gonna read that shit. Blah blah blah. Went on

575
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 9: this whole thing about that script, like that script. Look,

576
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 9: he hit the thing and I did all. I can't

577
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 9: even remember what I said, but it was based basically,

578
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 9: because you want me to explain. I got snakes on

579
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 9: a plane that's up in their legs and the contempt,

580
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:00,800
Speaker 9: and we got this dude, want to sit next guy?

581
00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 9: And Sam Sam said, fuck these planes.

582
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:04,120
Speaker 2: You know who I am. But I come and I

583
00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 2: do this about a da da dad.

584
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:06,000
Speaker 10: And when it's finished, like.

585
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 9: I I cleared their desk of these papy flash dance

586
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:11,240
Speaker 9: of like the.

587
00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:12,560
Speaker 12: Good shots in the scripts.

588
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:14,840
Speaker 10: I was like, because clear shit.

589
00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:16,960
Speaker 2: And I through the script because I reading this ship.

590
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:17,479
Speaker 2: Let's go.

591
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 9: Walked right back out, walked out of the casting office,

592
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 9: went to my car and I was.

593
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,400
Speaker 10: Like, oh, hey, thanks, here's fifty bucks. Thank you so much.

594
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:28,480
Speaker 10: You guys were great.

595
00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:31,440
Speaker 9: I'm get as I'm driving home by the time I

596
00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:33,960
Speaker 9: get home, I have on my next tail.

597
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:39,080
Speaker 2: I had a cease and desist.

598
00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:44,680
Speaker 9: I had a message from my agent call nine one

599
00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:51,440
Speaker 9: one oh. They wanted to offer me the role. They

600
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,400
Speaker 9: really liked you for this role is. I was like,

601
00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,080
Speaker 9: I did it. It actually worked, and it was that

602
00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 9: thing of I've got a name. You see me on

603
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:02,200
Speaker 9: TV every day. Of these things, I'm still begging and

604
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 9: fighting people to get into rooms, and I'm even trying

605
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:08,040
Speaker 9: to get into this whack movie. So at least I

606
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 9: was like, at least I know that I'm good, and

607
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:13,400
Speaker 9: this thing happened, and now it pays off. Now here's

608
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,240
Speaker 9: where I'm gonna be careful because all I know is

609
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 9: what I was told by my reps at this time.

610
00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:19,760
Speaker 10: So they get a call.

611
00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 9: I'm not gonna name who the person was, but somebody

612
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 9: who was in a position of power at the studio. When,

613
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 9: of course these names are being run up the flag pole,

614
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:33,840
Speaker 9: Wayne Brady's name comes up, and this white person says,

615
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 9: oh no, uh uh, not Wayne Brady. He's not black enough. No,

616
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 9: he's not black black, He's not black black black black.

617
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,760
Speaker 2: There's always an expert air quotes, Yeah.

618
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 9: But I love how he hit black black, so I'm

619
00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,600
Speaker 9: not black black, but so so then flex gets it

620
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:57,360
Speaker 9: and that's cool. And I found out this information because

621
00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 9: I guess somebody at some point in the chain felt

622
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,600
Speaker 9: so They're like, I just want want you to know.

623
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,280
Speaker 9: So I was like, okay, So that one stung me,

624
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,680
Speaker 9: not because I didn't do a great job, but because

625
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 9: I knew it would be something that i'd be facing

626
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 9: and I'm not gonna boohoo because it's something that just

627
00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:18,960
Speaker 9: as black actors, black people, black, black lawyers, black, we

628
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,080
Speaker 9: face a certain thing. The naivete that I had up

629
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:26,360
Speaker 9: until that point was, well, surely if I'm really dope

630
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:30,720
Speaker 9: and you've seen me do things and I'm a great actor,

631
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 9: I do Broadway I do, surely I should.

632
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:35,040
Speaker 2: Get the job.

633
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 9: Like Nope, because I don't think that you are based

634
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 9: on blah blah blah. I was like, oh, I'm an adult, now,

635
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 9: fuck it, I get it. So so that helped me understand. So,

636
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,360
Speaker 9: so that's that's the one that got away that I

637
00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:50,400
Speaker 9: was disappointed in, not because of I didn't get it,

638
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 9: but because I was like.

639
00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:52,960
Speaker 2: Man, you're being judged.

640
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,280
Speaker 9: If I'm dealing dealing with this, then that sucks for

641
00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:00,680
Speaker 9: the actor. Who is coming up and doesn't have any

642
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 9: cloud or doesn't have who's a thing to fall back on.

643
00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:06,760
Speaker 9: So so that made me very sympathetic to that.

644
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:10,520
Speaker 1: Damn man, I'm sorry you didn't get that, and it's

645
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:11,600
Speaker 1: this could have been.

646
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:16,240
Speaker 2: That movie was terrible though, right, I mean it was a.

647
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,760
Speaker 13: Commercial yeah, yeah, because it was actually one of the

648
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:24,240
Speaker 13: first movies I remember like that really went viral, Like yeah,

649
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:32,479
Speaker 13: the viral because the campaign that later later because they

650
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 13: was like people.

651
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,120
Speaker 9: Right, I don't even say right, like, am I right?

652
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 9: Thinking that Sam was already doing this thing? Of course

653
00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:42,240
Speaker 9: he was Sam Jackson. But I feel like that line

654
00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 9: in that membost kind of made the mythos of Sam

655
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:51,800
Speaker 9: Jackson where in every movie motherfucker. That that and and

656
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:54,320
Speaker 9: the Tarantin Tino joint, so like those are the two

657
00:32:54,360 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 9: that cemented Sam as that dude.

658
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 1: You know what, I made a promise on that episode.

659
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:10,400
Speaker 1: Probably the one complaint that people have on me is

660
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:16,240
Speaker 1: sometimes my non committal and not by choice. I'm not

661
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: saying noncommittal like as an I don't consciously choose to

662
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,640
Speaker 1: not commit. But of course even I can acknowledge that

663
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:31,040
Speaker 1: perhaps my love of work sometimes and maybe purposely keeps

664
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 1: me from having to interact with people. I know that

665
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:38,480
Speaker 1: sounds mean to say, but I don't mean it in

666
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 1: a such a blatant way. But yeah, I'll acknowledge that

667
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 1: oftentimes when people are addicted to work and do long

668
00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 1: work hours, it's often because.

669
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 2: Socially they lack in other area.

670
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:57,160
Speaker 1: So, you know, I said I would stay in contact

671
00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:00,720
Speaker 1: and start a friendship with Wayne Brady. I have sort

672
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,680
Speaker 1: of dropped the ball on my end. We text occasionally,

673
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:07,560
Speaker 1: but yeah, we got to do that dinner. I just

674
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:11,840
Speaker 1: think it's important for birds of a feather to flock together.

675
00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 2: And if we take.

676
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 1: Time out, I think we will all notice that we

677
00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:24,040
Speaker 1: all have creative commonality, social anxiety commonality, a lot of

678
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,719
Speaker 1: things in common, and if we sort of just took

679
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:31,480
Speaker 1: time out to explore those things and share stories with

680
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:34,439
Speaker 1: each other, war stories or common stories with each other,

681
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:36,520
Speaker 1: we'll be better off.

682
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:41,520
Speaker 2: So but yeah, Wayne, I love that guy. Man.

683
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:46,359
Speaker 1: You know it's beautiful cat And I will hold up

684
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 1: my end of the bargain.

685
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:50,399
Speaker 2: I'm saying this to the world, all right.

686
00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:54,920
Speaker 1: So here is Kathy Hughes, who pioneered the quiet store

687
00:34:55,640 --> 00:35:00,560
Speaker 1: format from her own record collection. Keep Mad that like

688
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 1: you run a radio station, you got to use your

689
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:07,239
Speaker 1: own records to keep it afloat. So part one of

690
00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:12,160
Speaker 1: our interview, and this is from twenty twenty three, Kathy,

691
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:15,680
Speaker 1: you shares a story and this is important history, so listen.

692
00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 14: But one of the things that I've been proud is of,

693
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:25,360
Speaker 14: quite frankly, was the assistance that we did provide for

694
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,360
Speaker 14: the do wop groups and for the oldies but goodies

695
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 14: as they call them, because so many of these individuals

696
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:36,399
Speaker 14: were starving. Okay, all right, I mean they loved the art,

697
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,280
Speaker 14: they loved the music, but they couldn't work any longer,

698
00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:42,600
Speaker 14: and disco just killed so many of them off. And

699
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 14: it was not until we, during that same era, came

700
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:50,279
Speaker 14: up with this concept of you know, basically oldies, but

701
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:55,040
Speaker 14: we you know, put more sophisticated titles to it dealt contemporary.

702
00:35:55,280 --> 00:36:00,920
Speaker 1: Okay, So you help us here in like nostalgia.

703
00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,040
Speaker 4: Or the urban ac category.

704
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:05,279
Speaker 7: I mean, I think she's saying that they created the

705
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:07,640
Speaker 7: urban acne category.

706
00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:12,920
Speaker 14: No question, okay, And it was to really provide platforms

707
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 14: we have this had this event for years until it

708
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:20,520
Speaker 14: became too big, quite frankly for us to handle. I

709
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,160
Speaker 14: admired the fact that Philadelphia still is able to do.

710
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,239
Speaker 14: There's called the Stone Soul Picnic, and the Stone Soul

711
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,799
Speaker 14: Picnic was only these old groups that you know, the

712
00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:37,359
Speaker 14: Ohio players, Okay, all these groups that had been dormant. Okay,

713
00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:42,160
Speaker 14: nobody was buying them, nobody was sampling them, okay, nobody

714
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:46,359
Speaker 14: was recognizing them for their their brilliance, and uh, we

715
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:49,680
Speaker 14: started resurrecting them, Okay. And I kind of stumbled into

716
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:52,840
Speaker 14: it after I had created the Quiet Storm, because the

717
00:36:52,920 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 14: Quiet Storm was love music, love was ballots, and I

718
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:05,320
Speaker 14: had to really reach back, all right to eras where

719
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 14: lyrics told stories.

720
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,080
Speaker 4: You gotta tell that story. You need to tell the

721
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:11,480
Speaker 4: Quiet Storm story.

722
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:12,760
Speaker 2: Where's the name from?

723
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,799
Speaker 1: Explain to us who Melvin Lindsay was and how you

724
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 1: guys invented. You guys basically helped triple the population.

725
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:23,359
Speaker 14: And let me tell you that. The reason, the main

726
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,839
Speaker 14: reason I want to write my book is because when

727
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:30,040
Speaker 14: w h U R celebrated as anniversary, there were several

728
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:35,360
Speaker 14: inaccurate accountings of the Quiet Storm. Number One, Melvin Lindsay

729
00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:39,040
Speaker 14: was not the originator. Melvin Lindsay was my third era

730
00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 14: whoa not my first? He was my third. Okay, whoa

731
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:49,240
Speaker 14: all right. First was a kid named Don Roberts, who

732
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:52,439
Speaker 14: broke my heart because he was the most talented of

733
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:56,960
Speaker 14: my first three. But he was good looking, and he

734
00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,520
Speaker 14: said to me, I got a face for television, missus

735
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,080
Speaker 14: linccoln's okay, because I wasn't even married to do even,

736
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 14: He said, I don't want to be in at a

737
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,560
Speaker 14: radio studio where no one could see me. Sure not

738
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:12,560
Speaker 14: went on to be a big time anchor in Baltimore, Maryland. Okay,

739
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,520
Speaker 14: Don robert My first. My second was a young man

740
00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:21,640
Speaker 14: named Jack Schuler. Jack Schuler was Melvin Lindsey's best friend.

741
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:25,600
Speaker 14: Melvin Lindsey was my intern that I paid out of

742
00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:28,399
Speaker 14: my pocket. He picked my son up from school. He

743
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 14: came because Howard said that they didn't have a budget

744
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:35,920
Speaker 14: for interns and I needed some of the students to

745
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:40,040
Speaker 14: actually be in a position to earn some money. So

746
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:45,080
Speaker 14: Jack Schuler was vomiting literally after each show or doing

747
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:47,879
Speaker 14: the show. He was so nervous, he was trembling. He said,

748
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,640
Speaker 14: please don't make me do this no more, missliggoans. Please

749
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,600
Speaker 14: please Melvin to do it, Melvin to do it. So

750
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,359
Speaker 14: Melvin told me he would do the Quiet Storm if

751
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:01,200
Speaker 14: I didn't make him open the microphone. So if there

752
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:05,080
Speaker 14: were any early tapes that you're looking for it, yeah,

753
00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:08,560
Speaker 14: he would say good evening and welcome to the Quiet Storm.

754
00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:11,560
Speaker 14: The next time you would hear Melvin Lindsay's voice, he

755
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 14: would say, thank you for listening to the Quiet Storm.

756
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:20,880
Speaker 14: I'm Melvin Lindsay. There was nothing in between from Melbourne

757
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:24,480
Speaker 14: except the music. Great taste in music. It was my

758
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 14: private music collection. And I started it out on Saturday

759
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:34,239
Speaker 14: night and then on Sunday, and then I decided that

760
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 14: it was the conception of the Quiet Storm was for

761
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:44,120
Speaker 14: a senior to be chosen by the faculty, two seniors

762
00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:46,719
Speaker 14: in fact, one for each semester, to give them a

763
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:52,520
Speaker 14: commercial experience on their resume. Okay. It was never for

764
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,480
Speaker 14: one person to host the show. It was never supprised.

765
00:39:55,520 --> 00:40:00,400
Speaker 14: It was supposed to be a rotation opportunity. As I

766
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:04,000
Speaker 14: came to it was Milton Allen who was married to

767
00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:11,080
Speaker 14: Pat Prescott in La Sheila Eldritch and Franklin. Those were

768
00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:14,800
Speaker 14: my three, Okay, students that I was able to rotate. Okay,

769
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:20,879
Speaker 14: nobody else rotated. Okay. People came and got stuck, including Melbourne. Well,

770
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:27,799
Speaker 14: Melvin did so good that kys Kiss told him that

771
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:30,799
Speaker 14: they would give him an opportunity if he would come

772
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 14: and be on the air at Kiss. So Melvin walks

773
00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:35,960
Speaker 14: into my office. Now, this is like I told you,

774
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 14: he said Jim Tern. I had literally supported him. Okay.

775
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 14: His parents would say to him, well, you need to

776
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:46,040
Speaker 14: ask miss Liggans first before you do so. And so

777
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:48,359
Speaker 14: I had picked his classes for him the whole nine years.

778
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:50,840
Speaker 14: He tells me on a Friday that he's got an

779
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:53,560
Speaker 14: offer and he's going to work at Kiss. And I'm

780
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:56,399
Speaker 14: thinking he's somebody after graduation and all this. And I said,

781
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 14: when he said Monday, I was so irate. I told

782
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:04,560
Speaker 14: him get out of my office. Hey, yes, So Dewey Hughes,

783
00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:10,200
Speaker 14: who at that time had fourteen Emmys for his productions

784
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:14,640
Speaker 14: at the r City NBC fourteen Emmy's Okay, he created

785
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:20,160
Speaker 14: youth News, he created music videos as Quiets as Kep. Anyway,

786
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:23,279
Speaker 14: Dewey comes to my office and he tells me that

787
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:27,120
Speaker 14: it's a setup, that NBC just wanted Melvin off the air,

788
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:30,200
Speaker 14: and that they had him in the mill room and

789
00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:34,680
Speaker 14: would I please bring him back? And I said bring

790
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:37,000
Speaker 14: him back, and he said, let me take you to

791
00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:40,600
Speaker 14: dinner and talk to you about this well ultimately doing,

792
00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:44,600
Speaker 14: and I got married and Melvin came back. Okay. And

793
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:50,120
Speaker 14: years later, okay there and years later, I'll never well forget.

794
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:52,759
Speaker 14: We were at this big affair and Melvin was being

795
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:56,480
Speaker 14: honored and I was in the audience with Dewey and

796
00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 14: Melvin didn't acknowledge the fact that I was even in

797
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:03,920
Speaker 14: the audience. And Dewey had torn his achilles, attended to

798
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:07,160
Speaker 14: play a basketball, he was crutches. He went up to

799
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:12,439
Speaker 14: the head table. He grabbed Melvin Lindsey around the neck

800
00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:13,759
Speaker 14: and he said.

801
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:23,600
Speaker 15: I'm married because of you, Okay, and then we went

802
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:24,759
Speaker 15: back to the microphone.

803
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:26,799
Speaker 14: Well, I'm so sorry. I didn't know she was here.

804
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:29,799
Speaker 14: He grabbed her right in front of the whole room.

805
00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:32,839
Speaker 14: It was hilarious because that's how Juey and I ended

806
00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:35,600
Speaker 14: up getting married. The reason my name is Kathy Hughes.

807
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:40,040
Speaker 1: How did you get Melvin out of his shyness? Because

808
00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:43,680
Speaker 1: I didn't know Melvin Lindsay as a radio personality. I

809
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:48,520
Speaker 1: knew him as when we first got cable. I knew

810
00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:52,120
Speaker 1: Melvin Lindsay as a news personality. So he was like

811
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:54,359
Speaker 1: Brian Gumbele is, and I'm like, wait a minute, you

812
00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,279
Speaker 1: were a quiet storm guy in so.

813
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,520
Speaker 4: Sexy and I was too young to even know it all.

814
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:03,320
Speaker 2: Yes, I was like, so how did you?

815
00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:05,120
Speaker 3: And did the song come afore the show?

816
00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:07,960
Speaker 14: I cannot take full credit for getting him out of

817
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:14,760
Speaker 14: his shell. Number one, Melvin was introduced to the gay

818
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:18,839
Speaker 14: lifestyle by I also had the distinction of hiring the

819
00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:25,800
Speaker 14: first openly gay air personality, Robin Holden in d C.

820
00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:29,440
Speaker 14: Robin Holden, I had to talk in code back in

821
00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:31,640
Speaker 14: those days. She said, the children will be meeting this

822
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,400
Speaker 14: Friday night and so and so she was talking code

823
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:38,600
Speaker 14: and Howard University was up my rear end. Okay, are

824
00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:39,800
Speaker 14: you out of your mind?

825
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:40,520
Speaker 2: Conservative?

826
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:46,400
Speaker 14: Okay, executive, conservative, homophobic, all of that, okay, and uh.

827
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:50,200
Speaker 14: At the same time, I'm getting all these rave reviews

828
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:55,880
Speaker 14: from the UH because d C, as quiet as it's kept, okay,

829
00:43:56,040 --> 00:44:00,600
Speaker 14: is a big gay and lesbian sick all right, okay,

830
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:06,840
Speaker 14: all right, okay for many many decades and so okay.

831
00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:10,840
Speaker 14: So Robin was, and Robin was an incredible air personality,

832
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:15,520
Speaker 14: incredible air personality, all right. And she helped Melvin come

833
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:17,680
Speaker 14: out of his show because I think that she made

834
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:22,120
Speaker 14: him comfortable with his sexuality. She made him feel that

835
00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:26,680
Speaker 14: it was okay because Melvin was very closeted at that time,

836
00:44:26,719 --> 00:44:31,520
Speaker 14: which contributed to his okay. He was engaged. I bought

837
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:35,120
Speaker 14: the engagement ring for a young lady and she left

838
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:41,440
Speaker 14: him because she recognized that he wasn't comfortable with her.

839
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:44,920
Speaker 14: But during those times when Melvin was quiet and withdrawn

840
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:49,320
Speaker 14: and went to open the microphone, his show was almost

841
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:52,880
Speaker 14: like a black musac, and so it grew in popularity.

842
00:44:53,239 --> 00:44:57,560
Speaker 14: We didn't have any commercials because it was a student shift, okay,

843
00:44:57,840 --> 00:45:01,800
Speaker 14: so they popular. We became number one in a matter

844
00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:06,080
Speaker 14: of like eighteen months. We went from no listeners to

845
00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:09,439
Speaker 14: being number one in the market because Melvin wouldn't open

846
00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:11,440
Speaker 14: the mic and I had no commercials, so it was

847
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:19,040
Speaker 14: NonStop love music. Wow, Okay, okay, okay music the theme

848
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:22,680
Speaker 14: of Philly International. There's a message in our music. Okay.

849
00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:25,279
Speaker 14: We believed in that, and the message was one of

850
00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:29,920
Speaker 14: love and affection and attention. And so Melvin blossomed and

851
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:36,319
Speaker 14: went on to become an incredible personality, incredible, He grew

852
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:40,200
Speaker 14: into himself, He got comfortable with himself. Deanna Williams was

853
00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:43,480
Speaker 14: very much a part of his growth and development, okay,

854
00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:47,200
Speaker 14: because he realized that he could be loved regardless of, okay,

855
00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:52,120
Speaker 14: his sexuality. His sexual preference had no bearing on his talent.

856
00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:59,600
Speaker 14: And he really, really really blossomed and became this incredible,

857
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:06,840
Speaker 14: credible television and radio personality and died too soon, too early,

858
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:11,279
Speaker 14: and so age took him away, way too soon. But

859
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:12,520
Speaker 14: he was he.

860
00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:13,920
Speaker 4: Was our first right like I felt like he was

861
00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:15,440
Speaker 4: our first major.

862
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:16,400
Speaker 8: He was.

863
00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:21,120
Speaker 14: It just it just hurts me to my heart to

864
00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:24,360
Speaker 14: think what he could have been, what he could have

865
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:29,400
Speaker 14: done had he not been discriminated against, had he not

866
00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:35,120
Speaker 14: been unable to be who he really was, because talent

867
00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:39,160
Speaker 14: personality galore, and once it started coming out, it was

868
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:41,520
Speaker 14: only out for a short period of time and then

869
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:42,960
Speaker 14: he was gone.

870
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:44,880
Speaker 4: He still needs to be in the Radio Hall of

871
00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:45,480
Speaker 4: Fame somewhere.

872
00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:51,839
Speaker 14: Absolutely absolutely deserved it. He became my most popular, but

873
00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:54,040
Speaker 14: the most popular of all the hosts of the cliss

874
00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:58,520
Speaker 14: Starm was Von Harper in New York. Von Harper, let's.

875
00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:01,440
Speaker 7: Talk about the franchising, the franchising of the Quiet Storm.

876
00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:03,360
Speaker 4: Then, yes, I'm sorry, I don't mean interrupt you.

877
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,319
Speaker 14: Howard wouldn't let me franchise it. They wouldn't let me

878
00:47:07,360 --> 00:47:10,359
Speaker 14: license it. And at one time it was on there

879
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:13,680
Speaker 14: were stations that actually called themselves the Quiet Storm station.

880
00:47:14,719 --> 00:47:18,680
Speaker 14: Howard could have supported not just the School of Communications, Uh,

881
00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:24,360
Speaker 14: they could have supported the entire school off just licensing.

882
00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:25,600
Speaker 16: Yes, sounds like.

883
00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:30,799
Speaker 14: The reason I left Howard University was I realized that

884
00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:35,360
Speaker 14: they had taken a billion dollar baby that God had

885
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:41,400
Speaker 14: given me, you know, uh, the motherhood of Okay, that

886
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:44,400
Speaker 14: I had birthed a billion dollar baby for Howard University,

887
00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:47,080
Speaker 14: and they had thrown the baby the bath water and

888
00:47:47,239 --> 00:47:51,520
Speaker 14: me out of window. And so I resigned. Because I

889
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:55,600
Speaker 14: resigned telling Doctor Cheek that I did not want to

890
00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:59,319
Speaker 14: miss the next billion dollar baby that God might impregnate

891
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:02,840
Speaker 14: me with. I would not allow anyone else to be

892
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:06,280
Speaker 14: in charge of my destiny. And that's what Radio one became.

893
00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:10,520
Speaker 14: They became that Okay, that that baby that God once

894
00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:14,799
Speaker 14: again blessed me with. Because before Howard they persecuted me.

895
00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,680
Speaker 14: They punished me for the Quiet Storm.

896
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:20,640
Speaker 2: Really why terribly.

897
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:26,960
Speaker 14: I was very very very provocative in my days at

898
00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:31,000
Speaker 14: Howard University. I stood up for the students. I you know,

899
00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:38,040
Speaker 14: opened doors, and it wasn't Howard's fault HBCUs only you know,

900
00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:42,840
Speaker 14: recently realized that education is a business. You have to

901
00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:48,440
Speaker 14: make money at it, Okay, and all this to be announced, books,

902
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:52,120
Speaker 14: not being in classrooms, not being a signed, having to

903
00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:56,359
Speaker 14: stand in line for hours to register, Okay, all of.

904
00:48:56,320 --> 00:48:58,440
Speaker 12: That, that's that's part of the experience.

905
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:05,680
Speaker 14: But Howard was very good to me. Howard sent me

906
00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:10,120
Speaker 14: to Harvard University for six weeks to learn broadcast management

907
00:49:10,360 --> 00:49:11,960
Speaker 14: because when they told me they wanted to put me

908
00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:16,640
Speaker 14: in the job as general manager first as sales manager.

909
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:19,160
Speaker 14: I said, I don't know how to do it, and

910
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:23,120
Speaker 14: they said, well, you know, you know some of the basics,

911
00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:29,359
Speaker 14: and they paid my tuition to the business school at

912
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:32,640
Speaker 14: that time they had a six week course called broadcast Management.

913
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:33,080
Speaker 11: Wow.

914
00:49:33,719 --> 00:49:37,200
Speaker 14: And then they paid my way for a two week

915
00:49:37,239 --> 00:49:41,160
Speaker 14: course at the University of Chicago called psychographic programming. That's

916
00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:44,160
Speaker 14: when I came back and created the Quiet Storm. So

917
00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:48,560
Speaker 14: both times, so you know, they say that, you know,

918
00:49:48,840 --> 00:49:53,920
Speaker 14: I was their best student that never matriculated at Howard University.

919
00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:57,360
Speaker 14: But Howard invested in me quite seriously. I would not be,

920
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 14: you know, professionally who I am or what I do

921
00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:05,440
Speaker 14: now were it not for university. And so it was

922
00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:08,160
Speaker 14: easy for me. When I found out that the School

923
00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:12,759
Speaker 14: of Communications was, you know, in a danger of not

924
00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:17,279
Speaker 14: losing his accreditation and perhaps having to close that, I

925
00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:19,880
Speaker 14: was like, oh, no, that cannot happen. I can't allow

926
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:24,839
Speaker 14: that to happen, because they produced me. Okay, even though

927
00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:29,239
Speaker 14: I was never a student. Okay, Howard University produced who

928
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:32,680
Speaker 14: I am professionally. You know, I think that that over

929
00:50:32,719 --> 00:50:35,120
Speaker 14: the years that some of the things that I wanted

930
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:38,320
Speaker 14: for the students and for the university have come to fruition,

931
00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:40,440
Speaker 14: and for that I'm eternally grateful.

932
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:50,799
Speaker 1: So the Quiet Storm. I lived in Philadelphia and we

933
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:58,680
Speaker 1: were lucky to have the legendary Doug Henderson. Like even

934
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:01,279
Speaker 1: when you talk about Doug Henderson and your voice goes

935
00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:05,560
Speaker 1: down a couple of octaves. So we had Doug Henderson

936
00:51:05,840 --> 00:51:11,200
Speaker 1: back in WDASFM one oh five point three. I believe

937
00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:14,839
Speaker 1: he also came to Did he come to Power ninety nine.

938
00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:19,400
Speaker 1: I'm not too sure I think he did, but yeah,

939
00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:22,479
Speaker 1: the Quiet Storm format. When I was young, I didn't

940
00:51:22,480 --> 00:51:27,400
Speaker 1: appreciate it. But you know, after they got rid of

941
00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:31,600
Speaker 1: the Quiet Storm format in nineteen ninety seven, and suddenly

942
00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:36,440
Speaker 1: I became the Quiet Storm format. So many of you

943
00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:39,000
Speaker 1: have heard me many times sort of name drop and

944
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:43,799
Speaker 1: talk about all my illustrious friends that I make playlists for.

945
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:46,360
Speaker 2: This February is no different.

946
00:51:47,080 --> 00:51:50,560
Speaker 1: Once a month I give over four hundred people my

947
00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:56,959
Speaker 1: mixes because music calms the soul sometimes and so yeah,

948
00:51:57,080 --> 00:52:00,440
Speaker 1: now I'm the guy that makes quiet Storm mixes. But

949
00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:03,319
Speaker 1: back in the day, you needed a platform that could

950
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:06,960
Speaker 1: play slow songs all the time. If not, then you

951
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:09,960
Speaker 1: had to take time out to make like a three

952
00:52:10,040 --> 00:52:16,800
Speaker 1: hour mixtape. So that way, when your loved one comes.

953
00:52:16,360 --> 00:52:20,719
Speaker 2: By the spot, you got a soundtrack. And that's important.

954
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:22,000
Speaker 2: That's how we all got here.

955
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:27,920
Speaker 1: So all right, So next up is the legendary Lady B,

956
00:52:28,719 --> 00:52:31,680
Speaker 1: the first woman on a rap record.

957
00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:34,480
Speaker 2: She released a single to the beat Y'all back in

958
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:35,759
Speaker 2: the day. A little history for you.

959
00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:39,600
Speaker 1: She spoke about the power of black radio in Philadelphia

960
00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:43,320
Speaker 1: and how the legendary Mary Mason. If you're from the

961
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:46,920
Speaker 1: Tri State area, especially Philly, you know the name Mary Mason.

962
00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:51,239
Speaker 2: Mary Mason shaped Lady B on air and off air.

963
00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:54,800
Speaker 1: And there's also a great story about Nancy Reagan in

964
00:52:54,880 --> 00:52:59,799
Speaker 1: there too, all right, enjoy for our listeners listening. She

965
00:52:59,840 --> 00:53:03,319
Speaker 1: may h a t w h A T was an

966
00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:06,560
Speaker 1: AM radio station. I knew as a kid. I knew

967
00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:09,760
Speaker 1: it because like my I mean the way that people

968
00:53:09,800 --> 00:53:13,160
Speaker 1: always listening to talk radio. Now, we had a woman

969
00:53:13,239 --> 00:53:17,239
Speaker 1: by the name of Mary Mason in Philadelphia, who I

970
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:20,879
Speaker 1: owe grand mom, And I mean, I don't know how

971
00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:23,520
Speaker 1: typical it was for a black woman to have her

972
00:53:23,560 --> 00:53:31,000
Speaker 1: own platform to that of like, uh, I mean, who's

973
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:32,560
Speaker 1: just can tell you something.

974
00:53:33,560 --> 00:53:35,680
Speaker 12: In terms of like Alex what's his name?

975
00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:39,200
Speaker 16: Like, let me let me just share one Mary Mason stories.

976
00:53:39,320 --> 00:53:39,600
Speaker 2: Please.

977
00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:45,440
Speaker 16: Yeah, I'm eighteen years old and Nancy Reagan walks into

978
00:53:45,440 --> 00:53:48,800
Speaker 16: the lobby the Secret Service with her blah blah blah.

979
00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:52,279
Speaker 16: She just doesn't pop up right, dude, stop by to

980
00:53:52,280 --> 00:53:55,239
Speaker 16: say how to marry? This is how politically strong she

981
00:53:55,520 --> 00:54:00,319
Speaker 16: was was. And she told me, and I quote, tell

982
00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:00,800
Speaker 16: that bitch.

983
00:54:00,840 --> 00:54:02,799
Speaker 14: I don't want what.

984
00:54:04,239 --> 00:54:05,200
Speaker 16: I'm trying to get.

985
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:05,960
Speaker 4: Carter and off.

986
00:54:10,080 --> 00:54:13,360
Speaker 16: Here I am so here, I am, y'all eighteen Like

987
00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:14,879
Speaker 16: how do I.

988
00:54:15,239 --> 00:54:16,680
Speaker 4: Oh, she told you to tell that bitch.

989
00:54:16,840 --> 00:54:20,239
Speaker 16: Yes, So I gotta go out here and look this

990
00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:23,040
Speaker 16: lady in her face and like, ma'am, I'm so sorry,

991
00:54:23,080 --> 00:54:27,120
Speaker 16: but miss Mason, it's a flattered that you stopped by, however,

992
00:54:27,239 --> 00:54:28,759
Speaker 16: her schedule, you know, I had to go through the

993
00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:31,600
Speaker 16: whole shebang. But that's what she told me. I've heard

994
00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:33,799
Speaker 16: her hurst at the Mayor and hang up on them

995
00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:37,080
Speaker 16: about her Philly's tickets like she Miss Mason was to be.

996
00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:40,040
Speaker 16: She is the reason I have the backbone and that

997
00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:44,600
Speaker 16: my shoulders are back. And I've never let anyone talk

998
00:54:44,680 --> 00:54:47,120
Speaker 16: to me or or or try to get over at

999
00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:48,880
Speaker 16: least not knowing me. I mean they ended up a

1000
00:54:48,920 --> 00:54:51,799
Speaker 16: couple of times anyway, but they had to sneak and

1001
00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:56,680
Speaker 16: do it. No, I've never allowed anyone to be blatantly

1002
00:54:56,760 --> 00:54:57,960
Speaker 16: disrespectful in my face.

1003
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:00,319
Speaker 4: If you will, Oh, I'm gonna talk about that to me.

1004
00:55:00,480 --> 00:55:07,239
Speaker 1: She was like the original Russe Limbaugh like she's very

1005
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:10,960
Speaker 1: controversial also, like I know she supported like Frank brazil

1006
00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:12,440
Speaker 1: Or she cried.

1007
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:15,400
Speaker 16: He was a politician on the radio. Is what Mary was.

1008
00:55:15,560 --> 00:55:19,919
Speaker 16: And I will have to say that she walked her walk.

1009
00:55:20,040 --> 00:55:25,280
Speaker 16: She was dedicated to this community of people. She got

1010
00:55:25,320 --> 00:55:28,719
Speaker 16: on the air and talked about things that other people

1011
00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:33,120
Speaker 16: wouldn't even touch and called people on it like she

1012
00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:39,360
Speaker 16: she she may she I witnessed this woman changed lives.

1013
00:55:39,840 --> 00:55:42,480
Speaker 12: Yeah, and she was something.

1014
00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:44,080
Speaker 4: And then you took some baton and now you do

1015
00:55:44,160 --> 00:55:45,719
Speaker 4: the same thing well.

1016
00:55:46,239 --> 00:55:48,200
Speaker 16: Later, because I mean I didn't take the time from

1017
00:55:48,239 --> 00:55:50,600
Speaker 16: her then, because we take it. I mean she when

1018
00:55:50,600 --> 00:55:51,600
Speaker 16: she passed that the time.

1019
00:55:51,480 --> 00:55:52,480
Speaker 5: To me, I was doing hip hop.

1020
00:55:52,520 --> 00:55:53,719
Speaker 16: I was crazy. We was having fun.

1021
00:55:53,840 --> 00:55:54,640
Speaker 5: Y'all was having fun.

1022
00:55:54,719 --> 00:55:56,600
Speaker 16: You just said it. I was playing all that good

1023
00:55:56,600 --> 00:55:59,279
Speaker 16: stuff with y'all. I just came. I just came into

1024
00:55:59,320 --> 00:56:01,880
Speaker 16: my Mary Made vibe right now, That's.

1025
00:56:01,760 --> 00:56:02,239
Speaker 1: What it is.

1026
00:56:02,320 --> 00:56:05,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay.

1027
00:56:05,320 --> 00:56:12,120
Speaker 1: So I remember like discovering your show around like late

1028
00:56:12,360 --> 00:56:17,520
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty early eighty one, you know, every Saturday afternoon whatever,

1029
00:56:17,640 --> 00:56:19,560
Speaker 1: we my brother and I would just record.

1030
00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:24,120
Speaker 16: Like everybody says, I remind them of Paul's record. Paul's record.

1031
00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:26,320
Speaker 16: Whenever I see Banie Sgual, he goes, Paul's record.

1032
00:56:26,480 --> 00:56:29,520
Speaker 1: All right, No oh, you're world famous, fat get your part,

1033
00:56:29,680 --> 00:56:33,520
Speaker 1: press your pause, press your pause button. But to have

1034
00:56:33,680 --> 00:56:36,279
Speaker 1: a radio show, and you were on for like two

1035
00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:39,680
Speaker 1: to three hours, But I'm thinking, like back in eighty one,

1036
00:56:41,080 --> 00:56:44,040
Speaker 1: was there even two to three hours worth of quality

1037
00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:45,439
Speaker 1: hip hop to play?

1038
00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:48,399
Speaker 16: I like to explain it like this. I laugh every

1039
00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:51,799
Speaker 16: time I hear the term digging into crates and that's

1040
00:56:51,840 --> 00:56:55,479
Speaker 16: crates with an S. Because when I started playing hip

1041
00:56:55,480 --> 00:56:58,720
Speaker 16: hop on the radio, there was a crate one crate.

1042
00:56:59,719 --> 00:57:00,279
Speaker 4: Was it full?

1043
00:57:01,080 --> 00:57:04,120
Speaker 16: It was full to the max. I mean not everything was.

1044
00:57:04,960 --> 00:57:08,000
Speaker 16: I was picky. It was was good enough to play right.

1045
00:57:09,160 --> 00:57:12,440
Speaker 16: You know when when we first started, when we realized

1046
00:57:12,440 --> 00:57:14,360
Speaker 16: we could take what we were doing in our backyards,

1047
00:57:14,360 --> 00:57:17,320
Speaker 16: in our neighborhoods and our courtyards and put it on

1048
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:22,240
Speaker 16: wax and that you know, this was possible. Everybody tried

1049
00:57:22,280 --> 00:57:25,520
Speaker 16: to do it, whether they could rap or not, but

1050
00:57:25,600 --> 00:57:30,000
Speaker 16: I was very I think the thing that number one,

1051
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:32,400
Speaker 16: you have to understand when hip hop started, it was

1052
00:57:32,600 --> 00:57:36,680
Speaker 16: its purpose was to stop a terrible disease in the

1053
00:57:36,720 --> 00:57:39,560
Speaker 16: black community that was full of violence and gang war,

1054
00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:42,920
Speaker 16: and it was it was crazy. It was getting a

1055
00:57:42,920 --> 00:57:45,439
Speaker 16: little out of hand with it. So hip hop gave

1056
00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:47,800
Speaker 16: I mean, I'm sure if you spoke to an Africa

1057
00:57:47,800 --> 00:57:49,840
Speaker 16: band body he would co sign this. But hip hop

1058
00:57:49,880 --> 00:57:54,280
Speaker 16: gave us away to battle each other and represent our neighborhoods,

1059
00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:57,000
Speaker 16: not with knives and guns, but with turntables and microphones.

1060
00:57:57,080 --> 00:57:59,640
Speaker 16: And it became this thing like you had to wrap

1061
00:57:59,640 --> 00:58:03,320
Speaker 16: your nameighborhood with your rhymes and God forbid. If you've

1062
00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:05,400
Speaker 16: been to anybody else's rhyme, you had to come with

1063
00:58:05,440 --> 00:58:06,760
Speaker 16: your shit and it had to be real and it

1064
00:58:06,800 --> 00:58:09,080
Speaker 16: had to be raw, and it had to be authentic.

1065
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:11,680
Speaker 16: And everybody couldn't do that. Some people just thought they

1066
00:58:11,680 --> 00:58:14,960
Speaker 16: could just get out a book of words that rhyme

1067
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:16,920
Speaker 16: and put some shit together and hand it to me

1068
00:58:16,960 --> 00:58:18,880
Speaker 16: to get on the air, and that that happened a lot.

1069
00:58:19,880 --> 00:58:24,880
Speaker 16: But if I couldn't understand number one, what you were saying,

1070
00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:28,800
Speaker 16: like I no disrespect to what people like these kids

1071
00:58:28,840 --> 00:58:32,280
Speaker 16: like today or whatever, but mumble rat was it just

1072
00:58:32,400 --> 00:58:35,160
Speaker 16: makes my skin call because for me, a good MC

1073
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:38,200
Speaker 16: is very articulate. You can hear everywhere. I don't care

1074
00:58:38,240 --> 00:58:40,840
Speaker 16: what if he's saying something wrong, disrespectful. I have to

1075
00:58:40,920 --> 00:58:43,800
Speaker 16: hear what you're saying or why did you waste that

1076
00:58:44,040 --> 00:58:46,720
Speaker 16: banging ass beat? Like why are you here?

1077
00:58:47,120 --> 00:58:49,680
Speaker 7: B do you remember like your first show and the

1078
00:58:49,720 --> 00:58:51,680
Speaker 7: records that you had to play out of the crate,

1079
00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:53,040
Speaker 7: like all right, this is my first show.

1080
00:58:53,160 --> 00:58:54,600
Speaker 4: I gotta get so well, you have.

1081
00:58:54,600 --> 00:58:58,640
Speaker 16: To understand then we kind of got, you know, we didn't,

1082
00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:00,560
Speaker 16: you know? I laugh when I see Jeff and Cash

1083
00:59:00,600 --> 00:59:02,920
Speaker 16: and and Richard Dean and them Casts and U Quest

1084
00:59:03,000 --> 00:59:05,760
Speaker 16: and and Biz. May he Rest in peace, go deep

1085
00:59:05,800 --> 00:59:08,160
Speaker 16: into this this DJ thing. But you have to understand

1086
00:59:08,160 --> 00:59:10,520
Speaker 16: when hip hop start is when we first learned how

1087
00:59:10,520 --> 00:59:13,600
Speaker 16: to cut and scratch a brake beat. So that took

1088
00:59:13,680 --> 00:59:16,040
Speaker 16: up so much time. And not only am I gonna

1089
00:59:16,080 --> 00:59:17,520
Speaker 16: just take the train, but I'm gonna take the train

1090
00:59:17,600 --> 00:59:20,840
Speaker 16: for about good twelve fourteen damn minutes, so that with

1091
00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:21,400
Speaker 16: a lot of.

1092
00:59:21,360 --> 00:59:24,120
Speaker 5: Time on the road, you know what I mean?

1093
00:59:24,480 --> 00:59:28,160
Speaker 16: Yeah, you go, You're gonna cut that joke, what sucker

1094
00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:30,240
Speaker 16: mcs And then you got the flip side, Then you

1095
00:59:30,320 --> 00:59:32,640
Speaker 16: got the instrumental that you could cut in with that joint.

1096
00:59:33,080 --> 00:59:35,120
Speaker 16: Then you got another DJ. At one time on Power

1097
00:59:35,240 --> 00:59:38,560
Speaker 16: ninety nine, it was so dope, me and Jeff Mills.

1098
00:59:38,560 --> 00:59:42,600
Speaker 16: May he Rest in peace. Had he got two turns, Yes,

1099
00:59:42,720 --> 00:59:44,880
Speaker 16: he had two turntables on his side. I had two

1100
00:59:44,920 --> 00:59:48,000
Speaker 16: turned turnative tables, and we had a reel to reel,

1101
00:59:48,680 --> 00:59:51,840
Speaker 16: So we have six elements coing in. I'm cutting in

1102
00:59:52,120 --> 00:59:54,120
Speaker 16: other songs in the minute people it was blowing People's

1103
00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:55,800
Speaker 16: make Blueyna cross my mind.

1104
00:59:55,840 --> 00:59:57,480
Speaker 7: I'm gonna just have a real dumb moment because I

1105
00:59:57,520 --> 00:59:59,280
Speaker 7: know I'm not alone in this I don't think it

1106
00:59:59,320 --> 01:00:00,000
Speaker 7: ever crossed my mind.

1107
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:02,000
Speaker 4: And as you were literally mixing records like that.

1108
01:00:02,240 --> 01:00:04,840
Speaker 16: I remember run And and Dal coming to my studio

1109
01:00:04,880 --> 01:00:06,840
Speaker 16: for the first time. They're like, so you're gonna mix

1110
01:00:06,880 --> 01:00:09,440
Speaker 16: the record and interview us. I was like, yeah, right.

1111
01:00:12,560 --> 01:00:15,080
Speaker 2: You were more than just a personality. It's like I

1112
01:00:15,200 --> 01:00:16,160
Speaker 2: was a big.

1113
01:00:15,920 --> 01:00:18,720
Speaker 16: Girl on a radio and I still am.

1114
01:00:18,840 --> 01:00:20,080
Speaker 12: Yeah, I was gonna say that.

1115
01:00:20,240 --> 01:00:25,120
Speaker 1: You also, you guys would at least on like the

1116
01:00:25,280 --> 01:00:28,480
Speaker 1: like the midpoint or at least the last hour of

1117
01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:31,600
Speaker 1: the w H a t portion of your show, like

1118
01:00:31,680 --> 01:00:37,200
Speaker 1: you were also playing like craft work, like what would

1119
01:00:37,240 --> 01:00:39,680
Speaker 1: become like b boy, you know, like it's time.

1120
01:00:39,720 --> 01:00:42,480
Speaker 16: Well, you have to understand, break dancing was a major

1121
01:00:42,520 --> 01:00:45,240
Speaker 16: element for us in the beginning of this thing, So

1122
01:00:45,320 --> 01:00:47,920
Speaker 16: if you couldn't break to it, it definitely didn't get played.

1123
01:00:47,920 --> 01:00:51,440
Speaker 16: And they demanded it because you have to understand, I

1124
01:00:51,480 --> 01:00:54,080
Speaker 16: am taping the only hip hop y'all gonna have for

1125
01:00:54,120 --> 01:00:56,000
Speaker 16: the week, and then y'all with Jones until the next week.

1126
01:00:56,040 --> 01:00:59,600
Speaker 16: Like I was the only one with PEPSI understand, I'm

1127
01:00:59,640 --> 01:01:01,840
Speaker 16: the only only place you can get it. People were

1128
01:01:01,960 --> 01:01:04,680
Speaker 16: driving you canna ask Chuck d they would drive down

1129
01:01:04,720 --> 01:01:08,840
Speaker 16: to Philly to take my show. Yes, so it was

1130
01:01:08,920 --> 01:01:10,520
Speaker 16: like that. It was it was like this thing and

1131
01:01:10,600 --> 01:01:13,400
Speaker 16: everybody had to have it, and it was just so

1132
01:01:13,520 --> 01:01:15,240
Speaker 16: much freaking fun doing and it.

1133
01:01:15,160 --> 01:01:18,919
Speaker 7: Was so And Mary Mason never said she never pulled

1134
01:01:18,920 --> 01:01:20,480
Speaker 7: your coat on anything, not a record.

1135
01:01:20,480 --> 01:01:23,600
Speaker 4: Nobody ever said, listen, I can't be playing that no more.

1136
01:01:23,600 --> 01:01:24,040
Speaker 4: It was never.

1137
01:01:24,320 --> 01:01:25,120
Speaker 2: We won't even.

1138
01:01:24,920 --> 01:01:26,680
Speaker 12: Mention the discombobulated boobulator.

1139
01:01:26,880 --> 01:01:33,640
Speaker 16: No, I'd love this combined bulat you love that anymore?

1140
01:01:38,560 --> 01:01:41,840
Speaker 1: That all right, I'll get the nineteen eighty six in

1141
01:01:41,880 --> 01:01:45,280
Speaker 1: a second. Hang on, we had a small controversy with

1142
01:01:45,520 --> 01:01:49,760
Speaker 1: mc breeze discoboblaated boobulator. But wait before before I go on,

1143
01:01:49,800 --> 01:01:53,640
Speaker 1: there's two things I gotta ask you. One, how often

1144
01:01:53,640 --> 01:01:56,640
Speaker 1: did you record your own shows on w h A t.

1145
01:01:57,520 --> 01:01:58,320
Speaker 4: He wants them?

1146
01:01:58,680 --> 01:02:02,880
Speaker 16: I know everybody tap money, every DJ has asked me

1147
01:02:02,880 --> 01:02:05,360
Speaker 16: this question. So in my possession, I have not gone

1148
01:02:05,400 --> 01:02:08,560
Speaker 16: through them. I do have some real deriels, but as

1149
01:02:08,560 --> 01:02:11,600
Speaker 16: far as cassettes, people have been given them to me

1150
01:02:11,680 --> 01:02:13,440
Speaker 16: over the years. I meet a listener on the air

1151
01:02:13,480 --> 01:02:15,320
Speaker 16: and said that they used to take me and they

1152
01:02:15,360 --> 01:02:17,400
Speaker 16: still have them. As a matter of fact, I've been

1153
01:02:17,440 --> 01:02:19,920
Speaker 16: asking people to give them back or I can make

1154
01:02:19,920 --> 01:02:21,960
Speaker 16: a copy off them of them and give them back

1155
01:02:21,960 --> 01:02:24,840
Speaker 16: to them because and I didn't even have a cassette

1156
01:02:24,840 --> 01:02:27,160
Speaker 16: player in the house, but my niece and nephews brought

1157
01:02:27,160 --> 01:02:30,920
Speaker 16: me one last year. So it's fly little joint. It

1158
01:02:30,920 --> 01:02:33,160
Speaker 16: looks like a boombox, but its Bluetooth compatible.

1159
01:02:33,240 --> 01:02:33,880
Speaker 14: Is so cute.

1160
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:35,520
Speaker 16: But I have was sitting there here on my desk,

1161
01:02:35,720 --> 01:02:37,480
Speaker 16: but I now want to get the cassettes so I

1162
01:02:37,520 --> 01:02:39,439
Speaker 16: can hear them. But I do have, like I do

1163
01:02:39,480 --> 01:02:40,840
Speaker 16: have some of those real to reels.

1164
01:02:41,040 --> 01:02:43,360
Speaker 12: You got to convert those in like I have to.

1165
01:02:43,680 --> 01:02:47,080
Speaker 16: I know I'm getting to the point. COVID did allow

1166
01:02:47,200 --> 01:02:49,240
Speaker 16: me to do a lot of purging, so there is

1167
01:02:49,400 --> 01:02:52,280
Speaker 16: a little order to my madness. So I'm getting it

1168
01:02:52,320 --> 01:02:55,680
Speaker 16: all together. At least I know tapes are here, real

1169
01:02:55,720 --> 01:02:57,520
Speaker 16: de reels are here, and now I just got to

1170
01:02:57,560 --> 01:02:58,240
Speaker 16: dive into them.

1171
01:02:58,640 --> 01:03:01,360
Speaker 1: Okay, I gotta ask a question. There's a record you

1172
01:03:01,440 --> 01:03:03,160
Speaker 1: used to always play and I thought it was a

1173
01:03:03,160 --> 01:03:06,840
Speaker 1: Philly record, and I'm just finding out that this guy

1174
01:03:07,160 --> 01:03:12,280
Speaker 1: is from New York. But do you know the whereabouts

1175
01:03:12,480 --> 01:03:15,960
Speaker 1: of our sela rock a ka the mic stro are.

1176
01:03:15,840 --> 01:03:18,360
Speaker 16: You ready, hold your hat, hold your hand, because you're

1177
01:03:18,360 --> 01:03:22,320
Speaker 16: not gonna believe it is right here. Hit me Sunday night.

1178
01:03:22,960 --> 01:03:24,600
Speaker 16: My show was sold out, by the way at the

1179
01:03:24,640 --> 01:03:26,160
Speaker 16: Dell Music Center. It's been sold.

1180
01:03:28,920 --> 01:03:29,120
Speaker 7: It is.

1181
01:03:30,880 --> 01:03:37,640
Speaker 16: It's my fortieth anniversary in radio and hitting the stage

1182
01:03:37,680 --> 01:03:41,320
Speaker 16: for the very first time at the Dell. We'll see

1183
01:03:41,880 --> 01:03:47,760
Speaker 16: everybody around the nation give you because I have to

1184
01:03:47,760 --> 01:03:51,400
Speaker 16: fulfill my obligation and set you on a gutification.

1185
01:03:51,680 --> 01:03:53,160
Speaker 5: But you don't need no vessel.

1186
01:03:56,040 --> 01:03:59,720
Speaker 12: You found our sela rock the micstro Yo.

1187
01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:02,280
Speaker 16: He's so hyped about doing this show that me and

1188
01:04:02,360 --> 01:04:05,160
Speaker 16: Charlie Mack are like, I don't know how old is now?

1189
01:04:05,160 --> 01:04:07,680
Speaker 16: And I'm like, does anybody told me he's gonna have

1190
01:04:07,720 --> 01:04:09,280
Speaker 16: to put a track behind him because he's not going

1191
01:04:09,360 --> 01:04:13,400
Speaker 16: to make her do all the lyrics.

1192
01:04:11,720 --> 01:04:14,160
Speaker 1: Like, there's no way me and Turk will drive down

1193
01:04:14,200 --> 01:04:15,440
Speaker 1: and do the lyrics for him.

1194
01:04:18,280 --> 01:04:22,160
Speaker 12: Yo, this is nine d expecting.

1195
01:04:21,720 --> 01:04:25,480
Speaker 16: Sunday night at the Dell. B there or B Square?

1196
01:04:26,040 --> 01:04:27,360
Speaker 12: Who else?

1197
01:04:28,200 --> 01:04:31,919
Speaker 16: Oh, you don't want to know you ain't ready. I've

1198
01:04:31,960 --> 01:04:35,439
Speaker 16: never had EPMD. They will be in the building because

1199
01:04:35,520 --> 01:04:37,320
Speaker 16: I've been doing this for ten years now. I've never

1200
01:04:37,360 --> 01:04:39,200
Speaker 16: had nice and smooth. They will be in the building.

1201
01:04:39,760 --> 01:04:42,640
Speaker 16: I have my iconic Sugarhill game Melo Email and his

1202
01:04:42,840 --> 01:04:46,040
Speaker 16: crew I have I've said Shantee, I always trying to

1203
01:04:46,120 --> 01:04:49,600
Speaker 16: have a female every year. She's my female. This year, EPMD,

1204
01:04:49,840 --> 01:04:52,560
Speaker 16: nice and well CuMo d will be in the building.

1205
01:04:53,160 --> 01:04:55,400
Speaker 16: And uh my headliner is Big Daddy King.

1206
01:04:56,160 --> 01:05:00,160
Speaker 12: Oh man, Yo, you know where the mixtro is.

1207
01:05:01,480 --> 01:05:04,120
Speaker 16: He's gonna be on my state. You gotta see this video.

1208
01:05:04,280 --> 01:05:06,600
Speaker 16: I gotta. I'm gonna say, send me your number. I'm

1209
01:05:06,600 --> 01:05:09,920
Speaker 16: gonna send you this video that he did. He is

1210
01:05:10,280 --> 01:05:12,800
Speaker 16: he He's the mice trop That's all I can say.

1211
01:05:12,880 --> 01:05:13,160
Speaker 6: Wow.

1212
01:05:13,480 --> 01:05:16,280
Speaker 16: You can't want somebody old lady beatings your bull or

1213
01:05:16,360 --> 01:05:19,400
Speaker 16: see the rock I'm coming down here to rock the joint.

1214
01:05:19,440 --> 01:05:23,160
Speaker 7: Or it's making be the promo videos for everybody.

1215
01:05:24,480 --> 01:05:26,840
Speaker 16: People were doing oh when you have to do one too.

1216
01:05:27,800 --> 01:05:30,320
Speaker 16: People are doing happy forty aeth the anniversary videos. We're

1217
01:05:30,320 --> 01:05:34,160
Speaker 16: trying to make happy fortieth Lady be. Spread the word,

1218
01:05:34,160 --> 01:05:36,120
Speaker 16: get everybody to do it. Let's blow the spot up

1219
01:05:36,880 --> 01:05:38,680
Speaker 16: hashtag happy fortieth Lady beat.

1220
01:05:38,800 --> 01:05:40,120
Speaker 2: Let's go woo wow.

1221
01:05:46,400 --> 01:05:49,680
Speaker 1: You know now, I think because we have the Internet,

1222
01:05:50,280 --> 01:05:54,840
Speaker 1: there is a sense of community in the Internet, but

1223
01:05:54,920 --> 01:06:01,160
Speaker 1: before the Internet, black radio was the Internet. It's where

1224
01:06:01,320 --> 01:06:05,440
Speaker 1: you learn new music. And you know, they had a

1225
01:06:05,480 --> 01:06:09,600
Speaker 1: trust in the DJ. The DJ was a taste maker.

1226
01:06:10,640 --> 01:06:14,560
Speaker 1: You hired someone that had good taste. That's the one

1227
01:06:14,680 --> 01:06:19,480
Speaker 1: thing I wish we could really, really truly grapple with

1228
01:06:19,840 --> 01:06:25,120
Speaker 1: the issue of taste. Someone discerning, someone that can make

1229
01:06:25,160 --> 01:06:27,040
Speaker 1: informed decisions on.

1230
01:06:27,600 --> 01:06:29,760
Speaker 2: What is good, what is not good.

1231
01:06:30,320 --> 01:06:33,920
Speaker 1: You know what needs work, what needs practice, what needs

1232
01:06:33,960 --> 01:06:38,160
Speaker 1: to be upheld, what is getting too much time? And

1233
01:06:38,200 --> 01:06:40,120
Speaker 1: that's what black radio was. You know, it was like

1234
01:06:40,160 --> 01:06:44,440
Speaker 1: a community billboard. You learned about, you know, local gatherings.

1235
01:06:44,440 --> 01:06:48,800
Speaker 1: You learned about like anything from like local inner city

1236
01:06:48,880 --> 01:06:53,040
Speaker 1: farming on Saturdays, like a farmer's market type thing, or

1237
01:06:53,640 --> 01:06:57,080
Speaker 1: an event happening at you know, local theater or that

1238
01:06:57,120 --> 01:07:00,480
Speaker 1: sort of thing, or concerts coming up. Music should be on,

1239
01:07:00,640 --> 01:07:04,480
Speaker 1: especially at nighttime. Radio would get more experimental. So that

1240
01:07:04,600 --> 01:07:08,120
Speaker 1: lasted up until about like nineteen ninety seven, and then

1241
01:07:08,400 --> 01:07:13,280
Speaker 1: you know, kind of the corporate arm of radio as

1242
01:07:14,000 --> 01:07:17,720
Speaker 1: money tool sort of came into play. But yeah, man,

1243
01:07:17,960 --> 01:07:21,680
Speaker 1: black radio was important for back in the day to

1244
01:07:21,760 --> 01:07:25,160
Speaker 1: keep you abreast of all you needed to know, all

1245
01:07:25,200 --> 01:07:29,520
Speaker 1: types of music. You needed to know, not just hit singles.

1246
01:07:30,320 --> 01:07:35,640
Speaker 1: All right, So here is Donnie Simpson. If you are

1247
01:07:35,880 --> 01:07:42,040
Speaker 1: my age slightly older living in America and you had

1248
01:07:42,160 --> 01:07:44,360
Speaker 1: cable television, you.

1249
01:07:44,400 --> 01:07:45,920
Speaker 2: Know who Donnie Simpson is.

1250
01:07:46,520 --> 01:07:51,120
Speaker 1: Donnie Simpson is such a pioneering figure in black radio.

1251
01:07:51,880 --> 01:07:54,200
Speaker 1: I believe on this show he shares with us that

1252
01:07:54,280 --> 01:07:58,520
Speaker 1: he is the reason why you know the song Benny

1253
01:07:59,080 --> 01:08:04,040
Speaker 1: and the Jets by Elton John. Having DJed in Detroit,

1254
01:08:04,800 --> 01:08:09,680
Speaker 1: he premiered the song like around seven pm at night

1255
01:08:10,680 --> 01:08:15,760
Speaker 1: on Detroit radio instant hit, and people just kept requesting

1256
01:08:15,880 --> 01:08:19,519
Speaker 1: Benny and the Jets. And then suddenly Elton John got

1257
01:08:19,560 --> 01:08:21,880
Speaker 1: word because you know, they heard that they were playing

1258
01:08:21,960 --> 01:08:26,520
Speaker 1: Biddy and the Jets in Detroit, and then nearby territories

1259
01:08:26,560 --> 01:08:33,360
Speaker 1: like Chicago, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and then of course you

1260
01:08:33,400 --> 01:08:34,600
Speaker 1: know the Tri State.

1261
01:08:34,360 --> 01:08:36,639
Speaker 2: And d C, you know the DMV.

1262
01:08:37,840 --> 01:08:42,839
Speaker 1: Suddenly the song just spread like wildfire, and Donnie Simpson

1263
01:08:42,960 --> 01:08:44,559
Speaker 1: is the first domino that fell.

1264
01:08:45,160 --> 01:08:46,840
Speaker 2: So yeah, man, Donnie.

1265
01:08:46,479 --> 01:08:50,519
Speaker 1: Simpson such a legend of BT in its early days

1266
01:08:50,520 --> 01:08:54,320
Speaker 1: with video soul. Such a hero is from back in

1267
01:08:54,400 --> 01:08:58,200
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, and Donnie's going to discuss his experience as

1268
01:08:58,520 --> 01:09:03,639
Speaker 1: an ambassador of black culture on radio and television. How

1269
01:09:03,640 --> 01:09:08,080
Speaker 1: are you convinced, uh to Well, you didn't totally abandon

1270
01:09:08,200 --> 01:09:10,880
Speaker 1: radio when you did video solo. Oh no, you did both.

1271
01:09:10,920 --> 01:09:15,120
Speaker 1: But did you figure that, Okay, it's time for the

1272
01:09:15,120 --> 01:09:19,719
Speaker 1: black version of MTV too, uh to come to fruition

1273
01:09:19,880 --> 01:09:20,880
Speaker 1: and I.

1274
01:09:20,840 --> 01:09:21,960
Speaker 2: Want to be a part of history.

1275
01:09:22,240 --> 01:09:24,040
Speaker 11: Now, Well, this has not happened. I mean, it wasn't

1276
01:09:24,040 --> 01:09:30,640
Speaker 11: my creation. I got a call from Bob Johnson asking me,

1277
01:09:31,000 --> 01:09:35,200
Speaker 11: or actually was Jeff Lee, his right hand man, said

1278
01:09:35,240 --> 01:09:39,000
Speaker 11: we're starting this show called Video Soul, and we like

1279
01:09:39,200 --> 01:09:43,280
Speaker 11: for you to host it. At the time, I was

1280
01:09:43,320 --> 01:09:45,519
Speaker 11: still doing radio, of course, but I was also I

1281
01:09:45,560 --> 01:09:46,360
Speaker 11: just started.

1282
01:09:46,000 --> 01:09:48,599
Speaker 5: Doing TV locally in DC.

1283
01:09:48,960 --> 01:09:51,559
Speaker 11: For the last two years, I was a sports anchor

1284
01:09:51,880 --> 01:09:54,000
Speaker 11: George Michael, Yeah Michael.

1285
01:09:54,080 --> 01:09:56,000
Speaker 5: Backup for George Michael Sports.

1286
01:09:55,680 --> 01:10:00,080
Speaker 11: Machine, so you know, so yeah it was cool. I

1287
01:10:00,120 --> 01:10:03,080
Speaker 11: mean I enjoyed that, but I like music, you know,

1288
01:10:03,560 --> 01:10:04,720
Speaker 11: sports is not what I do.

1289
01:10:05,000 --> 01:10:10,080
Speaker 5: So anyway, thank you, go ahead.

1290
01:10:12,760 --> 01:10:17,160
Speaker 1: Sports that you're thinking, that's actually how how I know you.

1291
01:10:17,360 --> 01:10:20,400
Speaker 17: I went to school down in College Park, Maryland in

1292
01:10:20,960 --> 01:10:23,639
Speaker 17: late eighties early nineties, so I was watching the George

1293
01:10:23,640 --> 01:10:25,120
Speaker 17: Michael sports.

1294
01:10:24,800 --> 01:10:31,799
Speaker 1: Oh wow, cool dream machine sports, machine sports legend Donnie Simpson.

1295
01:10:35,360 --> 01:10:38,599
Speaker 11: So so anyway, they said, wanted me to do this show,

1296
01:10:38,840 --> 01:10:43,519
Speaker 11: and I'll be very honest with you, my first answer

1297
01:10:43,720 --> 01:10:46,880
Speaker 11: was no. You know, no, I didn't want to do it.

1298
01:10:48,200 --> 01:10:50,719
Speaker 11: I've always been very careful about what I get involved

1299
01:10:50,720 --> 01:10:55,960
Speaker 11: in because all I have to sell is image, you know,

1300
01:10:56,000 --> 01:10:58,960
Speaker 11: so I'm very protective of that. You know, it's got

1301
01:10:58,960 --> 01:11:02,640
Speaker 11: to be right. And b e T in its infancy

1302
01:11:03,360 --> 01:11:13,360
Speaker 11: wasn't a pretty baby exactly exactly right.

1303
01:11:13,439 --> 01:11:15,120
Speaker 5: So I didn't want to do that, but I thought

1304
01:11:15,120 --> 01:11:16,000
Speaker 5: about it for two.

1305
01:11:15,920 --> 01:11:20,360
Speaker 11: Days and then finally the bottom line became this that

1306
01:11:20,439 --> 01:11:24,280
Speaker 11: this is our first black television network.

1307
01:11:24,680 --> 01:11:27,120
Speaker 5: If you have something to offer it, you have to

1308
01:11:27,160 --> 01:11:27,439
Speaker 5: do that.

1309
01:11:28,120 --> 01:11:29,360
Speaker 2: Period. Let's go.

1310
01:11:29,920 --> 01:11:31,519
Speaker 5: And so I'm glad I did, man.

1311
01:11:31,560 --> 01:11:33,920
Speaker 11: I mean it was, uh, you know, it was amazing.

1312
01:11:33,960 --> 01:11:35,880
Speaker 11: When we first started, we were in one and a

1313
01:11:35,880 --> 01:11:39,160
Speaker 11: half million homes. When I left, that number was like

1314
01:11:39,280 --> 01:11:42,519
Speaker 11: forty five million, you know, now it's like one hundred

1315
01:11:42,600 --> 01:11:42,920
Speaker 11: or something.

1316
01:11:42,960 --> 01:11:44,640
Speaker 5: I mean, it's just crazy, you know.

1317
01:11:44,840 --> 01:11:47,840
Speaker 11: And uh, you know, it put me in black houses

1318
01:11:48,360 --> 01:11:49,519
Speaker 11: all across this country.

1319
01:11:49,840 --> 01:11:51,280
Speaker 5: You know that.

1320
01:11:51,920 --> 01:11:53,719
Speaker 2: Just know about your radio career.

1321
01:11:53,760 --> 01:11:56,679
Speaker 5: I just yeah, most people around the country don't get

1322
01:11:56,720 --> 01:11:57,599
Speaker 5: shocked when they find out.

1323
01:11:57,600 --> 01:11:58,280
Speaker 10: How do radio?

1324
01:11:59,200 --> 01:12:03,320
Speaker 5: Yeah? Yeah, but you know it was really something special, man.

1325
01:12:03,400 --> 01:12:04,840
Speaker 2: It was you know.

1326
01:12:06,000 --> 01:12:08,640
Speaker 11: Terry Lewis, we were talking about it recently and he

1327
01:12:08,760 --> 01:12:12,920
Speaker 11: was saying how that I was just telling him about

1328
01:12:12,920 --> 01:12:15,040
Speaker 11: the love and respect that I get and how it

1329
01:12:15,200 --> 01:12:19,840
Speaker 11: just blows me away, you know every time. And he says,

1330
01:12:19,920 --> 01:12:23,400
Speaker 11: it's because you mean something to people. You know that

1331
01:12:23,439 --> 01:12:27,600
Speaker 11: you represented a time when music was fun. You know,

1332
01:12:27,640 --> 01:12:29,880
Speaker 11: the videos were fun and.

1333
01:12:29,800 --> 01:12:30,360
Speaker 5: All of that.

1334
01:12:30,520 --> 01:12:32,639
Speaker 11: You know, it was clean fun, you know, and you

1335
01:12:32,680 --> 01:12:34,800
Speaker 11: represent that time. It's like, well, I've never thought about

1336
01:12:34,840 --> 01:12:41,880
Speaker 11: it like that, but you know, it's I remember one

1337
01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:45,160
Speaker 11: night VH one did a series called Black in the

1338
01:12:45,200 --> 01:12:48,479
Speaker 11: eighties and then he had interviewed me for it, and

1339
01:12:49,800 --> 01:12:51,759
Speaker 11: so they told me it's coming on, So I watched

1340
01:12:51,760 --> 01:12:54,040
Speaker 11: it that night. It was an hour long and the

1341
01:12:54,080 --> 01:12:58,240
Speaker 11: first fifteen minutes they did Brian Gumble, the first black

1342
01:12:58,320 --> 01:13:02,080
Speaker 11: to host the early morning national television show.

1343
01:13:02,280 --> 01:13:05,920
Speaker 5: Then they did or Senel Hall, first black to host

1344
01:13:06,040 --> 01:13:07,639
Speaker 5: late night talk show.

1345
01:13:08,160 --> 01:13:12,880
Speaker 11: Then they did Cosby The Cosby Show and first black

1346
01:13:12,920 --> 01:13:16,280
Speaker 11: TV show where uh, the mother and dad were doctor

1347
01:13:16,320 --> 01:13:18,639
Speaker 11: and a lawyer, not a plumber and a Janitor or something,

1348
01:13:18,840 --> 01:13:21,599
Speaker 11: you know, and then they did Donnie Simpson and Video

1349
01:13:21,720 --> 01:13:25,080
Speaker 11: Soul and man, I'll never forget it. When the show ended,

1350
01:13:25,120 --> 01:13:28,360
Speaker 11: all I could think was, well, how the hell am

1351
01:13:28,360 --> 01:13:29,559
Speaker 11: I supposed to sleep tonight?

1352
01:13:32,360 --> 01:13:32,759
Speaker 5: Seriously?

1353
01:13:32,800 --> 01:13:35,280
Speaker 11: Because I never had it put in perspective like that,

1354
01:13:35,360 --> 01:13:35,920
Speaker 11: you know what I mean.

1355
01:13:36,439 --> 01:13:36,880
Speaker 2: It's like.

1356
01:13:39,040 --> 01:13:42,800
Speaker 11: A line from that I've always loved from Elton John

1357
01:13:42,960 --> 01:13:47,000
Speaker 11: rocket Love. Not rocket Love, that's Stevie Wonder Rocket ma

1358
01:13:47,360 --> 01:13:50,160
Speaker 11: Man right when he says in all the science, I

1359
01:13:50,200 --> 01:13:53,679
Speaker 11: don't understand it's just my job five days a week,

1360
01:13:53,840 --> 01:13:54,040
Speaker 11: you know.

1361
01:13:54,280 --> 01:13:56,880
Speaker 5: I mean, you think this is a rocketman an astronage.

1362
01:13:56,920 --> 01:13:58,040
Speaker 5: It's like it's so glorious.

1363
01:13:58,160 --> 01:14:01,880
Speaker 11: You know you were DJ's a glorious man.

1364
01:14:02,000 --> 01:14:06,120
Speaker 5: I don't care who you are, what you do. It's

1365
01:14:06,200 --> 01:14:06,920
Speaker 5: just what you do.

1366
01:14:07,960 --> 01:14:11,439
Speaker 1: So at the time, you weren't thinking that you're doing

1367
01:14:11,479 --> 01:14:15,920
Speaker 1: a historical service for mankind, that there's.

1368
01:14:15,760 --> 01:14:17,720
Speaker 2: A bunch of eleven year olds watching.

1369
01:14:17,400 --> 01:14:20,400
Speaker 1: You and recording this because we will record the show

1370
01:14:21,360 --> 01:14:24,519
Speaker 1: and watch it over and over again.

1371
01:14:24,640 --> 01:14:26,599
Speaker 5: Crazy to me, No, I never thought.

1372
01:14:26,880 --> 01:14:29,960
Speaker 11: I've had three or four to ESPN anchors come up

1373
01:14:29,960 --> 01:14:31,760
Speaker 11: to me and tell me you're the reason I do

1374
01:14:31,920 --> 01:14:34,080
Speaker 11: TV because I used to watch you.

1375
01:14:34,160 --> 01:14:34,599
Speaker 5: It's like.

1376
01:14:36,280 --> 01:14:36,320
Speaker 3: That.

1377
01:14:36,600 --> 01:14:38,800
Speaker 5: Man, that's mind blowing to me. Of course, I'm telling you.

1378
01:14:38,840 --> 01:14:43,559
Speaker 1: Man, Between you and probably probably the only person that

1379
01:14:43,600 --> 01:14:47,200
Speaker 1: could challenge or even match your cool might be Don Cornelius,

1380
01:14:47,240 --> 01:14:50,759
Speaker 1: like you two are parents.

1381
01:14:51,120 --> 01:14:55,320
Speaker 2: It was cool one the next. And that's the thing.

1382
01:14:55,680 --> 01:15:02,720
Speaker 1: You always pervade, this, this level of of intelligence and

1383
01:15:02,840 --> 01:15:09,479
Speaker 1: cool and knowledge no matter who the artist was. Like

1384
01:15:09,720 --> 01:15:15,760
Speaker 1: if I were interviewing like Wild Animal era Vanity, I

1385
01:15:15,760 --> 01:15:17,720
Speaker 1: would have been sweating profusely.

1386
01:15:20,400 --> 01:15:23,240
Speaker 2: But you gave her the.

1387
01:15:23,160 --> 01:15:28,519
Speaker 1: Same level of respect that you would have done for

1388
01:15:28,800 --> 01:15:34,000
Speaker 1: Sergio Mendez or or Side Garrett or Quincy Jones or

1389
01:15:34,040 --> 01:15:36,680
Speaker 1: I'll be short, like you know what I mean. Like that,

1390
01:15:36,800 --> 01:15:39,960
Speaker 1: to me was was even more amazing. Like it's one

1391
01:15:39,960 --> 01:15:43,639
Speaker 1: thing to interview someone that you love and that you're

1392
01:15:44,040 --> 01:15:46,040
Speaker 1: you know that you have history of, Like I'm sure

1393
01:15:46,080 --> 01:15:49,200
Speaker 1: that you know if a Motown luminary comes on the show,

1394
01:15:49,280 --> 01:15:50,200
Speaker 1: then you know you're just.

1395
01:15:50,160 --> 01:15:53,439
Speaker 2: Giddy about it. But how do you prepare yourself.

1396
01:15:55,120 --> 01:15:58,320
Speaker 1: For an artist that you might not know of, Like say,

1397
01:15:58,360 --> 01:16:01,200
Speaker 1: of first year Karen White comes on the show and

1398
01:16:01,240 --> 01:16:03,160
Speaker 1: you might not know that much about her, but.

1399
01:16:03,320 --> 01:16:04,320
Speaker 5: I ask her.

1400
01:16:07,040 --> 01:16:07,559
Speaker 4: Like you did.

1401
01:16:09,000 --> 01:16:12,840
Speaker 11: Seriously, that's how I prepare. There's no like ten years,

1402
01:16:13,280 --> 01:16:16,599
Speaker 11: but there there's no preparation. I mean, every artist I've

1403
01:16:16,640 --> 01:16:18,400
Speaker 11: ever had on Video Soul, they would give me a

1404
01:16:18,479 --> 01:16:21,040
Speaker 11: bio and a list of questions and I would take

1405
01:16:21,040 --> 01:16:22,920
Speaker 11: a car right set.

1406
01:16:22,800 --> 01:16:23,599
Speaker 5: That on the side.

1407
01:16:24,080 --> 01:16:28,120
Speaker 11: Seriously, I would never look at it because I felt

1408
01:16:28,160 --> 01:16:30,840
Speaker 11: that there's nothing wrong with me not knowing you grew

1409
01:16:30,920 --> 01:16:34,479
Speaker 11: up in Tuscaloosa that I can ask you that. I mean,

1410
01:16:34,520 --> 01:16:37,120
Speaker 11: this is an interview, this is getting to know you.

1411
01:16:37,200 --> 01:16:38,880
Speaker 11: What's wrong with that being the first so where you

1412
01:16:38,960 --> 01:16:41,360
Speaker 11: grow up at? You know, Oh, I grew up in

1413
01:16:41,400 --> 01:16:44,200
Speaker 11: Philip oh Man, what happened to the Sixers the other night?

1414
01:16:44,600 --> 01:16:45,600
Speaker 11: That's conversation?

1415
01:16:46,000 --> 01:16:47,360
Speaker 2: Okay, you know it.

1416
01:16:48,960 --> 01:16:49,760
Speaker 5: That's just you know.

1417
01:16:49,880 --> 01:16:52,600
Speaker 11: I mean, if it's somebody I knew, I'm telling you

1418
01:16:52,640 --> 01:16:55,240
Speaker 11: this may be the depth of the preparation. I'd go,

1419
01:16:56,040 --> 01:16:58,280
Speaker 11: all right, Luther's on this show today. I'm riding in

1420
01:16:58,320 --> 01:16:59,800
Speaker 11: and I go, what is it you want to know

1421
01:16:59,880 --> 01:17:03,800
Speaker 11: about Luther Man? Why you why does your weight keep

1422
01:17:03,840 --> 01:17:04,719
Speaker 11: going up and down?

1423
01:17:09,240 --> 01:17:11,120
Speaker 5: I said, all right, that's what I'm going to ask him.

1424
01:17:11,200 --> 01:17:14,160
Speaker 13: And you know it's but you could ask him that

1425
01:17:14,200 --> 01:17:15,760
Speaker 13: though I don't think nobody else could get away with.

1426
01:17:16,520 --> 01:17:20,000
Speaker 5: But you know, and and that is a blessing for

1427
01:17:20,040 --> 01:17:21,280
Speaker 5: you to say that you get.

1428
01:17:21,080 --> 01:17:27,120
Speaker 11: It, that it's just like uh on, with all due respect,

1429
01:17:27,160 --> 01:17:31,759
Speaker 11: I'm going back to Johnny Carson the Tonight Show that

1430
01:17:32,400 --> 01:17:36,920
Speaker 11: when the conversation with Johnny was always different from any

1431
01:17:37,000 --> 01:17:41,559
Speaker 11: other host I ever saw because they had so much

1432
01:17:41,640 --> 01:17:42,439
Speaker 11: respect for him.

1433
01:17:42,640 --> 01:17:45,400
Speaker 5: He could ask things that others might not because they

1434
01:17:46,040 --> 01:17:49,439
Speaker 5: just lose. But but Jimmy's like that too, because he's

1435
01:17:49,439 --> 01:17:50,080
Speaker 5: so cool.

1436
01:17:50,240 --> 01:17:53,120
Speaker 11: You know, when you when you're cool with people like that, man,

1437
01:17:53,200 --> 01:17:57,320
Speaker 11: and they feel you and it's real, it's not staged questions.

1438
01:17:57,320 --> 01:17:59,639
Speaker 11: And you know, when you've read the bio, the chances

1439
01:17:59,640 --> 01:18:02,479
Speaker 11: are I'm to ask you a question based on that bio.

1440
01:18:02,520 --> 01:18:05,559
Speaker 5: It's something that you've been asked a thousand times already before.

1441
01:18:06,200 --> 01:18:09,320
Speaker 1: What was your first interview on Do you remember your

1442
01:18:09,400 --> 01:18:10,479
Speaker 1: very first interview on the show?

1443
01:18:10,520 --> 01:18:13,559
Speaker 11: Who was your first My very first interview is with

1444
01:18:13,600 --> 01:18:21,960
Speaker 11: the Fat Boys? Eighty three or eighty four? God, so

1445
01:18:22,160 --> 01:18:24,280
Speaker 11: like that? Yeah, man, the Fat Boys.

1446
01:18:24,560 --> 01:18:26,760
Speaker 5: Second one was with Rick James.

1447
01:18:26,880 --> 01:18:33,759
Speaker 2: Bitch Okay, what was that like? Okay?

1448
01:18:33,920 --> 01:18:38,200
Speaker 1: We have yet to have a potential off the chains

1449
01:18:39,120 --> 01:18:41,840
Speaker 1: guests we're kind of entertaining that, like all of our

1450
01:18:41,840 --> 01:18:45,160
Speaker 1: guests are either like super legend or we've worshiped them. Yeah,

1451
01:18:45,240 --> 01:18:51,200
Speaker 1: but okay, Rick James a perfect example. If someone has

1452
01:18:51,240 --> 01:18:53,280
Speaker 1: the potential disorder be off the.

1453
01:18:53,320 --> 01:18:57,080
Speaker 2: Chains, Oh, how do you wheeld them in? How do

1454
01:18:57,120 --> 01:18:59,280
Speaker 2: you how do you maintain how do.

1455
01:18:59,200 --> 01:19:01,320
Speaker 12: You drive the car and not have them drive the car?

1456
01:19:01,880 --> 01:19:04,520
Speaker 5: Wow? That's wow, what a great question.

1457
01:19:04,360 --> 01:19:06,559
Speaker 12: Because you still have to steer and navigate.

1458
01:19:06,680 --> 01:19:11,120
Speaker 11: Yeah, you still gotta steer and right.

1459
01:19:11,880 --> 01:19:13,920
Speaker 1: And it was the eighties, so we know that Rick

1460
01:19:14,040 --> 01:19:16,519
Speaker 1: might have been on that, you know, so you don't

1461
01:19:16,560 --> 01:19:18,200
Speaker 1: know where the conversation was going to go.

1462
01:19:18,200 --> 01:19:19,599
Speaker 5: But I've never had that problem.

1463
01:19:19,640 --> 01:19:22,200
Speaker 11: I never had anybody, had anybody go rogue on me,

1464
01:19:22,360 --> 01:19:26,799
Speaker 11: just you know, go crazy, go just it just never happened.

1465
01:19:26,840 --> 01:19:28,600
Speaker 4: But a little left, you've had some people maybe go

1466
01:19:28,600 --> 01:19:29,679
Speaker 4: a little because even.

1467
01:19:29,520 --> 01:19:37,000
Speaker 5: That in every Everybody Left, you know, shoot.

1468
01:19:38,160 --> 01:19:41,000
Speaker 1: You has an interview going a little weird, and you

1469
01:19:41,040 --> 01:19:43,080
Speaker 1: guys had to do a lot of editing magic.

1470
01:19:43,800 --> 01:19:46,840
Speaker 11: Well back in the day for like what interview was

1471
01:19:46,880 --> 01:19:51,000
Speaker 11: like most of the years on Video Soul, we were live.

1472
01:19:53,760 --> 01:19:55,920
Speaker 11: It was live until the last three or four years.

1473
01:19:56,000 --> 01:20:00,479
Speaker 5: Really, Yeah, I never do that. Yeah, yeah, we used

1474
01:20:00,479 --> 01:20:02,400
Speaker 5: to do it live Man Risky.

1475
01:20:02,479 --> 01:20:05,120
Speaker 11: Well yeah, but today that's the way I liked it

1476
01:20:05,560 --> 01:20:06,960
Speaker 11: because that made it like radio.

1477
01:20:07,080 --> 01:20:07,400
Speaker 12: For me.

1478
01:20:08,120 --> 01:20:09,160
Speaker 2: I hate tape.

1479
01:20:09,520 --> 01:20:10,400
Speaker 5: I hate recording.

1480
01:20:11,680 --> 01:20:15,080
Speaker 11: It's just it's a different pressure that you perform better

1481
01:20:15,160 --> 01:20:17,800
Speaker 11: when it's live. For me, you know, when it's live,

1482
01:20:17,840 --> 01:20:19,360
Speaker 11: and I know you don't get to back it up

1483
01:20:19,439 --> 01:20:20,200
Speaker 11: and then it's real.

1484
01:20:20,400 --> 01:20:21,320
Speaker 5: Because for me.

1485
01:20:21,600 --> 01:20:25,040
Speaker 11: When you backing it up and editing, then you're trying

1486
01:20:25,040 --> 01:20:28,400
Speaker 11: to make it perfect. And like I never ever ever

1487
01:20:28,560 --> 01:20:32,080
Speaker 11: watched video soul. I don't listen to tapes of my

1488
01:20:32,200 --> 01:20:35,720
Speaker 11: radio show because I feel like I'm trying to make

1489
01:20:35,800 --> 01:20:37,679
Speaker 11: myself perfect and I'll never be that.

1490
01:20:38,160 --> 01:20:39,960
Speaker 5: All I need to be is me.

1491
01:20:40,680 --> 01:20:41,080
Speaker 2: That's it.

1492
01:20:41,600 --> 01:20:42,400
Speaker 5: That's all I need to be.

1493
01:20:42,439 --> 01:20:43,040
Speaker 4: Donnie Simpson.

1494
01:20:43,080 --> 01:20:44,720
Speaker 7: Does that mean a programmer has never pulled you in

1495
01:20:44,720 --> 01:20:46,080
Speaker 7: an air check meeting and it said.

1496
01:20:45,920 --> 01:20:47,879
Speaker 5: Oh lord, no, since.

1497
01:20:47,720 --> 01:20:49,800
Speaker 7: You were a teenager, there's never been a boss because

1498
01:20:49,800 --> 01:20:52,200
Speaker 7: I meant people know this, but like in radio, usually

1499
01:20:52,200 --> 01:20:54,000
Speaker 7: your boss will at some point at the end of

1500
01:20:54,000 --> 01:20:55,400
Speaker 7: the week, pool you in a room and say let's

1501
01:20:55,400 --> 01:20:56,400
Speaker 7: listen to what you did here.

1502
01:20:57,280 --> 01:20:57,760
Speaker 5: You know what.

1503
01:20:58,400 --> 01:21:03,120
Speaker 11: For one period when I moved to DC, in seventy seven,

1504
01:21:04,280 --> 01:21:07,240
Speaker 11: we did have a program director and oh my goodness,

1505
01:21:07,960 --> 01:21:09,840
Speaker 11: it was crazy for me. For a year and a

1506
01:21:09,840 --> 01:21:13,000
Speaker 11: half I did live under that. I've forgotten that because

1507
01:21:13,000 --> 01:21:14,639
Speaker 11: it was such you know, that's out of how many

1508
01:21:14,720 --> 01:21:18,559
Speaker 11: years got I started in sixty nine, so you know,

1509
01:21:18,600 --> 01:21:24,800
Speaker 11: one and a half years of slavery. But you know

1510
01:21:24,920 --> 01:21:27,280
Speaker 11: where he would walk in with a stopwatch and go

1511
01:21:27,720 --> 01:21:30,679
Speaker 11: that was seventeen seconds. You had to come in under

1512
01:21:30,720 --> 01:21:33,160
Speaker 11: fifteen seconds on anything you said, you.

1513
01:21:33,120 --> 01:21:36,320
Speaker 5: Know, I mean, it was just so finally I was gone.

1514
01:21:36,720 --> 01:21:37,280
Speaker 2: I was gone.

1515
01:21:37,320 --> 01:21:38,360
Speaker 5: I said I can't do this.

1516
01:21:38,439 --> 01:21:38,960
Speaker 10: I'm leaving.

1517
01:21:39,000 --> 01:21:42,280
Speaker 11: And I had a job offer in la and so

1518
01:21:42,360 --> 01:21:46,680
Speaker 11: they offered me the music directorship to keep me. So

1519
01:21:46,920 --> 01:21:50,519
Speaker 11: I stayed and then I worked under this music director.

1520
01:21:50,560 --> 01:21:53,160
Speaker 11: My music director was he's a brother, but he had

1521
01:21:53,200 --> 01:21:56,200
Speaker 11: so much or let me be careful.

1522
01:21:56,439 --> 01:22:00,559
Speaker 2: Yeah, really we know when we get it.

1523
01:22:00,720 --> 01:22:03,519
Speaker 5: Yeah, we need Muller to investigate this one.

1524
01:22:07,439 --> 01:22:12,599
Speaker 11: But he we would have our record meetings or every week,

1525
01:22:12,640 --> 01:22:15,000
Speaker 11: you know, the music meetings, and he'd go around the room.

1526
01:22:15,120 --> 01:22:17,439
Speaker 11: I was the music director under him. He was the

1527
01:22:17,439 --> 01:22:19,960
Speaker 11: program director, and I had two assistants and both of

1528
01:22:19,960 --> 01:22:21,320
Speaker 11: them were political appointees.

1529
01:22:21,360 --> 01:22:21,920
Speaker 5: This is DC.

1530
01:22:22,400 --> 01:22:25,960
Speaker 11: One was David Brinkley's son, the other was his senator's son.

1531
01:22:26,640 --> 01:22:28,519
Speaker 11: He go around the room, he play, Uh, I'll never

1532
01:22:28,560 --> 01:22:31,920
Speaker 11: forget this. When he played Beast of Burden Rolling Stones,

1533
01:22:32,520 --> 01:22:34,439
Speaker 11: you know, so he goes, so, John, what do you

1534
01:22:34,439 --> 01:22:34,920
Speaker 11: think of that? Oh?

1535
01:22:34,960 --> 01:22:36,000
Speaker 5: I love it. I think it's great.

1536
01:22:36,080 --> 01:22:36,519
Speaker 10: David, what do you?

1537
01:22:36,640 --> 01:22:38,439
Speaker 5: I think it is great? I think Donnie, what do

1538
01:22:38,479 --> 01:22:39,320
Speaker 5: you think? I think it's great.

1539
01:22:39,400 --> 01:22:40,800
Speaker 2: We can't play that ship you.

1540
01:22:47,000 --> 01:22:49,320
Speaker 5: Right, you know, I mean I love it, but it's

1541
01:22:49,320 --> 01:22:50,280
Speaker 5: got the fit brothers.

1542
01:22:52,040 --> 01:22:54,680
Speaker 1: Can I assume that that was the single after Miss You?

1543
01:22:54,880 --> 01:22:56,520
Speaker 1: Were you guys playing Miss You?

1544
01:22:56,560 --> 01:22:56,720
Speaker 9: No?

1545
01:22:56,880 --> 01:22:58,439
Speaker 5: That was that was before Miss You?

1546
01:22:58,840 --> 01:23:01,560
Speaker 11: Because I Miss You came after, as I recall it,

1547
01:23:01,600 --> 01:23:05,280
Speaker 11: because I played Miss You as a program director, so

1548
01:23:05,320 --> 01:23:10,280
Speaker 11: I wasn't programming then. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we could.

1549
01:23:10,760 --> 01:23:16,200
Speaker 11: We could check the records. Yeah, I think that's the

1550
01:23:16,200 --> 01:23:18,759
Speaker 11: way it went. Because I played Miss You. That works,

1551
01:23:19,240 --> 01:23:23,720
Speaker 11: Beast Burden does not. Little River Band reminiscing we can't.

1552
01:23:23,439 --> 01:23:26,040
Speaker 5: Play that, man, you know. Yeah, it's it's.

1553
01:23:29,240 --> 01:23:31,200
Speaker 7: Because you also got to consider the area, right, Like,

1554
01:23:31,240 --> 01:23:32,520
Speaker 7: it's not just the people.

1555
01:23:32,200 --> 01:23:34,639
Speaker 5: In the d C and go go baby.

1556
01:23:35,200 --> 01:23:35,400
Speaker 6: You know.

1557
01:23:36,000 --> 01:23:38,679
Speaker 5: It was hard, Yeah, that's my next question.

1558
01:23:39,080 --> 01:23:45,519
Speaker 1: Okay, Now, as the the top taste maker of DC

1559
01:23:45,720 --> 01:23:50,639
Speaker 1: that had the world's ears, how is such a beautiful

1560
01:23:50,680 --> 01:23:57,560
Speaker 1: subculture like go Go, How's it meant so many obstacles

1561
01:23:58,200 --> 01:24:04,000
Speaker 1: And I feel like the ripple never gets to expand.

1562
01:24:03,600 --> 01:24:07,040
Speaker 2: West West more West than West Virginia or.

1563
01:24:07,200 --> 01:24:10,400
Speaker 12: Ohio West Virginia or Okay.

1564
01:24:11,920 --> 01:24:16,000
Speaker 1: It's like, let's let's just go back to Virginia. Yeah,

1565
01:24:16,040 --> 01:24:19,760
Speaker 1: but it's You've lived in DC for decades and I

1566
01:24:19,800 --> 01:24:24,120
Speaker 1: assume you still do oh yeah. How is black people's

1567
01:24:24,240 --> 01:24:30,160
Speaker 1: jam bam music not resonated to the rest of the

1568
01:24:30,320 --> 01:24:31,960
Speaker 1: United States of America at least?

1569
01:24:32,200 --> 01:24:35,160
Speaker 5: I have no idea why that is.

1570
01:24:35,560 --> 01:24:38,519
Speaker 11: It's like, I mean, we thought it was going to

1571
01:24:38,600 --> 01:24:41,360
Speaker 11: break out when we've had Yeah.

1572
01:24:41,200 --> 01:24:43,120
Speaker 2: Well and good to that movie came out.

1573
01:24:43,320 --> 01:24:46,840
Speaker 11: Chuck was the first bust and Loose was the first

1574
01:24:47,280 --> 01:24:49,439
Speaker 11: number one go Go song in the country. I mean

1575
01:24:49,479 --> 01:24:51,200
Speaker 11: it was number one song in the country. That was

1576
01:24:51,200 --> 01:24:54,000
Speaker 11: Go Go and uh. And then the second was the

1577
01:24:54,040 --> 01:24:57,320
Speaker 11: Butt by EU with the help of the movie School Days.

1578
01:24:57,400 --> 01:25:00,639
Speaker 11: You know, so we're thinking, man, it's great break out now,

1579
01:25:00,800 --> 01:25:03,000
Speaker 11: and it never did. Those are the only two to

1580
01:25:03,040 --> 01:25:05,479
Speaker 11: this day that ever went number one in the country.

1581
01:25:05,640 --> 01:25:07,280
Speaker 5: You know, you had people like Grace Jones.

1582
01:25:07,360 --> 01:25:10,439
Speaker 2: Some people used it, elements, yeah, I used.

1583
01:25:10,320 --> 01:25:13,439
Speaker 11: Elements, yeah, but it just never broke out for some reason.

1584
01:25:13,520 --> 01:25:16,280
Speaker 11: And I don't know, you know, I don't know why

1585
01:25:16,479 --> 01:25:17,559
Speaker 11: Western world never.

1586
01:25:17,400 --> 01:25:20,040
Speaker 5: Caught on to drop the bomb on the white boy.

1587
01:25:21,360 --> 01:25:22,519
Speaker 14: You know, I just don't get that.

1588
01:25:23,880 --> 01:25:35,120
Speaker 1: I wonder, all right, So that was Donnie Simpson back

1589
01:25:35,160 --> 01:25:38,840
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen, and now we are fittingly going to

1590
01:25:38,960 --> 01:25:43,559
Speaker 1: Big Les in twenty twenty. So big Les came at

1591
01:25:43,560 --> 01:25:47,679
Speaker 1: a time in which, you know, to see people pivot,

1592
01:25:48,840 --> 01:25:54,040
Speaker 1: especially hip hop people pivot. You see the fresh Prince

1593
01:25:54,840 --> 01:25:58,799
Speaker 1: morph into Will Smith. You see a rapper morph into

1594
01:25:59,200 --> 01:26:00,960
Speaker 1: an accomplished actor.

1595
01:26:01,880 --> 01:26:05,080
Speaker 2: That's important to see. You see Jay.

1596
01:26:05,000 --> 01:26:12,240
Speaker 1: Z more from back of the trunk business to real

1597
01:26:12,320 --> 01:26:17,360
Speaker 1: business and real is and quotes. And for me, you know,

1598
01:26:17,439 --> 01:26:22,360
Speaker 1: big Les was such a pivotal figurehead and hip hop dancing,

1599
01:26:22,360 --> 01:26:26,320
Speaker 1: which often doesn't get celebrated as much as MCN and

1600
01:26:26,760 --> 01:26:31,760
Speaker 1: DJ and and graffiti art. So the fact that big

1601
01:26:31,840 --> 01:26:37,280
Speaker 1: Les was taken street dancing to a higher level, and

1602
01:26:37,439 --> 01:26:39,120
Speaker 1: you know, she became one of the most sought after

1603
01:26:39,280 --> 01:26:45,640
Speaker 1: choreographers and dancers and kind of pivoted to media personality

1604
01:26:45,960 --> 01:26:49,320
Speaker 1: and so yeah, such a legend to come on our

1605
01:26:49,360 --> 01:26:54,439
Speaker 1: show and talks big less from twenty twenty. What was

1606
01:26:54,479 --> 01:26:58,120
Speaker 1: the moment that led to you sort of ease out

1607
01:26:58,240 --> 01:27:04,840
Speaker 1: of comfort zone and go into being a personality because

1608
01:27:04,880 --> 01:27:07,960
Speaker 1: I've seen you on mini of Red Carpet doing Rap City,

1609
01:27:08,120 --> 01:27:11,880
Speaker 1: Like was that your first job as a Like how

1610
01:27:11,880 --> 01:27:13,920
Speaker 1: did you know that you had a personality? Because it's

1611
01:27:14,080 --> 01:27:17,639
Speaker 1: it's you know, even even for me to ease into

1612
01:27:17,680 --> 01:27:20,800
Speaker 1: this zone is a little weird, Like just because I'm

1613
01:27:20,840 --> 01:27:24,360
Speaker 1: a public figure doesn't mean that you know, just because

1614
01:27:24,400 --> 01:27:25,960
Speaker 1: you could do that doesn't mean that you can carry

1615
01:27:25,960 --> 01:27:28,360
Speaker 1: a conversation, go to be engaging and all that stuffing.

1616
01:27:28,920 --> 01:27:32,040
Speaker 1: You're really engaging, like you are a personality. It's almost like,

1617
01:27:32,760 --> 01:27:34,720
Speaker 1: you know, when I when I saw that you first

1618
01:27:34,800 --> 01:27:38,960
Speaker 1: started like doing red Carpet stuff and starting with Rap City,

1619
01:27:39,479 --> 01:27:41,240
Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, she's a natural, Like she is

1620
01:27:41,280 --> 01:27:44,120
Speaker 1: a personality, Like where did that come from?

1621
01:27:44,320 --> 01:27:44,599
Speaker 14: Wow?

1622
01:27:44,800 --> 01:27:48,479
Speaker 18: Thank you for saying that. Career, It's interesting the things

1623
01:27:48,520 --> 01:27:50,639
Speaker 18: that you write in your diary have so much power.

1624
01:27:50,960 --> 01:27:52,760
Speaker 18: When I was in high school, I was going to

1625
01:27:52,800 --> 01:27:56,040
Speaker 18: study journalism and I took like three journalism classes, and

1626
01:27:56,080 --> 01:27:57,880
Speaker 18: the last one I took I didn't like. So I

1627
01:27:57,920 --> 01:28:00,479
Speaker 18: was like, I'm switching to sports medicine and athletic training

1628
01:28:00,479 --> 01:28:03,479
Speaker 18: and all that other stuff. But I still always kept

1629
01:28:03,520 --> 01:28:06,160
Speaker 18: a journal. I always still wrote short stories and always

1630
01:28:06,240 --> 01:28:10,120
Speaker 18: kind of like been inquisitive by nature. Rahap City is

1631
01:28:10,120 --> 01:28:12,439
Speaker 18: a blessing that came after I did not become a

1632
01:28:12,439 --> 01:28:16,080
Speaker 18: fly girl, Like that's a whole other was curious audition.

1633
01:28:16,439 --> 01:28:19,599
Speaker 16: I didn't want to ask, that's so okay, Oh yeah, what.

1634
01:28:19,680 --> 01:28:21,200
Speaker 2: Gigs didn't you get that you wanted?

1635
01:28:21,760 --> 01:28:24,680
Speaker 18: Well, being a fly girl was the gig that I

1636
01:28:24,760 --> 01:28:29,000
Speaker 18: wanted more than anything. I literally did not get it.

1637
01:28:29,280 --> 01:28:32,800
Speaker 18: And it was already like set up. I had the

1638
01:28:32,840 --> 01:28:35,640
Speaker 18: best audition. All the local news channels are interviewing me.

1639
01:28:35,720 --> 01:28:37,639
Speaker 18: I did all these flips and this, that and the other.

1640
01:28:37,680 --> 01:28:38,519
Speaker 4: Everybody knew you.

1641
01:28:38,600 --> 01:28:41,360
Speaker 7: It was the New York fan, the Wayans and Rosie

1642
01:28:41,400 --> 01:28:42,559
Speaker 7: and yeah.

1643
01:28:42,600 --> 01:28:44,840
Speaker 18: But Rosie came over to me side barbers like can

1644
01:28:44,880 --> 01:28:47,599
Speaker 18: you lose ten pounds? And Jenn already been on the show,

1645
01:28:47,640 --> 01:28:49,280
Speaker 18: and I'm like, but Jen at the time was bigger

1646
01:28:49,320 --> 01:28:51,160
Speaker 18: than I was, Like I was really muscular, but she

1647
01:28:51,320 --> 01:28:54,960
Speaker 18: was thicker. And then I found out that you know,

1648
01:28:55,000 --> 01:28:58,120
Speaker 18: by Josie's own words, that she had been approached well

1649
01:28:58,160 --> 01:29:00,880
Speaker 18: before the audition, by I guess one of the ways

1650
01:29:00,920 --> 01:29:02,720
Speaker 18: called her and said, listen, we need you to show up,

1651
01:29:02,760 --> 01:29:04,360
Speaker 18: but we want to know if you want the gig.

1652
01:29:04,600 --> 01:29:06,600
Speaker 18: So she pretty much already had and just kind of

1653
01:29:06,640 --> 01:29:09,840
Speaker 18: had to look like she had the audition. And you know,

1654
01:29:09,960 --> 01:29:12,800
Speaker 18: usually they do what's called typecasting. You say you want

1655
01:29:12,840 --> 01:29:16,320
Speaker 18: somebody likes in this tall, Latino women, black women, whatever.

1656
01:29:16,120 --> 01:29:16,920
Speaker 14: You very specific.

1657
01:29:17,040 --> 01:29:19,160
Speaker 18: This was an open audition, but they already knew who

1658
01:29:19,160 --> 01:29:22,519
Speaker 18: they wanted and what they wanted. And Rosie years later

1659
01:29:22,600 --> 01:29:26,120
Speaker 18: came and apologized for even asking me that question and

1660
01:29:26,160 --> 01:29:28,720
Speaker 18: wishing that she had fought for me because she knew

1661
01:29:28,760 --> 01:29:30,720
Speaker 18: that I was the baddest thing in the room at

1662
01:29:30,720 --> 01:29:35,160
Speaker 18: that time. But rejection is God's protection. Right after I'm

1663
01:29:35,160 --> 01:29:38,040
Speaker 18: flicking my wounds and I don't get flygirl, I go

1664
01:29:38,120 --> 01:29:42,519
Speaker 18: on Madeline Woods Show video LP and dance on the show.

1665
01:29:43,080 --> 01:29:45,280
Speaker 18: I'm talking about all these artists that I've worked with,

1666
01:29:45,680 --> 01:29:48,120
Speaker 18: you know, as a dancer, that you spend time with

1667
01:29:48,240 --> 01:29:50,040
Speaker 18: on the tour bus and in rehearsals, so you know

1668
01:29:50,120 --> 01:29:52,320
Speaker 18: them more than the fans do, sometimes even better. Than

1669
01:29:52,360 --> 01:29:55,080
Speaker 18: the family does. And so they're like, you know these people,

1670
01:29:55,160 --> 01:29:56,920
Speaker 18: You've been around them even before some of them had

1671
01:29:56,960 --> 01:29:59,960
Speaker 18: their deals, And would you like to audition for rhaps City?

1672
01:30:00,640 --> 01:30:04,280
Speaker 18: And I auditioned, and the producer Keith Patchell and Sanita

1673
01:30:04,280 --> 01:30:06,880
Speaker 18: Brooks and Eric Watson still had to fight with me,

1674
01:30:07,479 --> 01:30:10,559
Speaker 18: had to fight for me with the producers upstairs, because one,

1675
01:30:10,840 --> 01:30:14,160
Speaker 18: I didn't look a certain way right there goes our

1676
01:30:14,240 --> 01:30:19,160
Speaker 18: lovely black on black colorism, and there wasn't a female

1677
01:30:19,280 --> 01:30:21,880
Speaker 18: voice really in hip hop on that level other than

1678
01:30:21,960 --> 01:30:25,559
Speaker 18: Dee Barnes who came before me. So once they were

1679
01:30:25,600 --> 01:30:29,240
Speaker 18: able to give me a couple of episodes to prove myself,

1680
01:30:29,280 --> 01:30:32,439
Speaker 18: I got the job. But they were gracious enough to

1681
01:30:32,560 --> 01:30:34,679
Speaker 18: let me do the show while I was still dancing.

1682
01:30:34,720 --> 01:30:36,559
Speaker 18: I think I was on tour with Heavy d And

1683
01:30:36,600 --> 01:30:38,639
Speaker 18: it worked it to their benefit because now as we're

1684
01:30:38,720 --> 01:30:41,439
Speaker 18: city to city, I could do interviews in city to

1685
01:30:41,520 --> 01:30:43,799
Speaker 18: city and they didn't have to pay like any extra

1686
01:30:43,840 --> 01:30:45,320
Speaker 18: for it, so I could catch up with Common in

1687
01:30:45,400 --> 01:30:47,920
Speaker 18: Chicago and so and so and so and seem when

1688
01:30:47,960 --> 01:30:50,320
Speaker 18: it became too much, they were like, you're gonna have

1689
01:30:50,320 --> 01:30:52,040
Speaker 18: to choose. And by that time, you know, I had

1690
01:30:52,080 --> 01:30:55,000
Speaker 18: already done like fifteen years of gymnastics, even though I

1691
01:30:55,040 --> 01:30:58,160
Speaker 18: wasn't ready to quit dancing, but I had transitioned into choreography.

1692
01:30:58,200 --> 01:31:00,439
Speaker 18: I was still doing more choreography and I could the tour,

1693
01:31:00,800 --> 01:31:02,400
Speaker 18: so I just kind of was like, let me focus

1694
01:31:02,439 --> 01:31:04,920
Speaker 18: on TV altogether. And that's kind of how that happened,

1695
01:31:04,960 --> 01:31:06,880
Speaker 18: and then radio was born from that.

1696
01:31:07,920 --> 01:31:09,840
Speaker 17: I think the thing I used to always like about

1697
01:31:09,880 --> 01:31:12,280
Speaker 17: you hosting Rap City, I would notice how a lot

1698
01:31:12,320 --> 01:31:14,920
Speaker 17: of times guests would change up who they were with

1699
01:31:15,000 --> 01:31:17,840
Speaker 17: you in a way that they wouldn't with like d

1700
01:31:18,320 --> 01:31:20,080
Speaker 17: or you know, Chris Thomas orhoever.

1701
01:31:20,160 --> 01:31:22,360
Speaker 2: I remember it was a Boogie Monster's episode.

1702
01:31:22,520 --> 01:31:25,840
Speaker 17: Hell shit, one of the guys he was trying, Yo,

1703
01:31:25,960 --> 01:31:27,760
Speaker 17: he was trying so hard to kick it to you.

1704
01:31:27,760 --> 01:31:30,960
Speaker 2: I can't remember which one it was. Yeah, Yo, man,

1705
01:31:31,000 --> 01:31:31,400
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.

1706
01:31:31,439 --> 01:31:33,559
Speaker 12: We all tried to kick it to Yeah.

1707
01:31:34,240 --> 01:31:36,120
Speaker 2: I mean, but I was so obvious though.

1708
01:31:36,120 --> 01:31:37,759
Speaker 5: He was like talking all my daughter.

1709
01:31:37,640 --> 01:31:38,280
Speaker 2: Shirt that day.

1710
01:31:38,320 --> 01:31:41,519
Speaker 1: I was like that first day of school feeling when

1711
01:31:41,800 --> 01:31:44,760
Speaker 1: you standing at the outfit iron my shirt, you know,

1712
01:31:44,920 --> 01:31:45,439
Speaker 1: iron shit.

1713
01:31:45,479 --> 01:31:48,760
Speaker 2: I get out there, I was like, Yo, we doing

1714
01:31:48,800 --> 01:31:49,519
Speaker 2: rap city today.

1715
01:31:49,560 --> 01:31:50,679
Speaker 12: Let me use my good shirt.

1716
01:31:52,720 --> 01:31:54,840
Speaker 18: The blessing that happened for me with that is that

1717
01:31:54,920 --> 01:31:57,080
Speaker 18: a lot of the labels and the artists would request me,

1718
01:31:57,400 --> 01:31:59,439
Speaker 18: and I think because they knew of me as a dancer,

1719
01:31:59,560 --> 01:32:01,800
Speaker 18: they knew me from the clubs, they knew I had

1720
01:32:01,840 --> 01:32:03,720
Speaker 18: been around and been in the trenches, and that they

1721
01:32:03,760 --> 01:32:05,880
Speaker 18: could trust me with their story. And then I actually

1722
01:32:06,000 --> 01:32:07,840
Speaker 18: knew the story, you know what I mean, because I

1723
01:32:07,920 --> 01:32:10,519
Speaker 18: was there, I was part of it, So it was

1724
01:32:10,560 --> 01:32:12,320
Speaker 18: easy for them to like come on the show and

1725
01:32:12,400 --> 01:32:15,479
Speaker 18: us just have real conversations. And you know, if you

1726
01:32:15,479 --> 01:32:17,880
Speaker 18: see my first episode to my like twentieth, yeah, I

1727
01:32:17,920 --> 01:32:19,920
Speaker 18: grew a whole lot because I had real you know,

1728
01:32:19,960 --> 01:32:22,160
Speaker 18: producers who would teach me how to talk and to

1729
01:32:22,280 --> 01:32:25,080
Speaker 18: listen and this and that and stuff. So it made

1730
01:32:25,080 --> 01:32:27,840
Speaker 18: a difference, and I felt really comfortable. I think when

1731
01:32:27,840 --> 01:32:31,560
Speaker 18: you're a performer, and maybe it's a little different for you,

1732
01:32:31,640 --> 01:32:33,760
Speaker 18: quest like there's certain things you're comfortable with or not.

1733
01:32:33,880 --> 01:32:36,599
Speaker 18: Like I've always, as a gymnast, been comfortable on camera

1734
01:32:36,640 --> 01:32:40,479
Speaker 18: and performing and being a show person. And I've always

1735
01:32:40,520 --> 01:32:43,719
Speaker 18: been a talker and I'm always inquisitive, like I'm nosy,

1736
01:32:43,760 --> 01:32:45,760
Speaker 18: and I can ask you like eight hundred questions and

1737
01:32:46,000 --> 01:32:48,680
Speaker 18: without a que Card and just because I want to

1738
01:32:48,680 --> 01:32:52,080
Speaker 18: hear your story and I have human interests love, Like,

1739
01:32:52,120 --> 01:32:53,720
Speaker 18: I just really want to know how you got from

1740
01:32:53,760 --> 01:32:56,400
Speaker 18: A to Z and I'm curious about it. So I

1741
01:32:56,400 --> 01:32:59,840
Speaker 18: think you kind of get that and appreciate telling their story.

1742
01:32:59,560 --> 01:33:00,160
Speaker 14: In that way.

1743
01:33:01,640 --> 01:33:01,960
Speaker 3: All right.

1744
01:33:02,000 --> 01:33:05,120
Speaker 1: I want to thank y'all for celebrating Black History Month

1745
01:33:05,479 --> 01:33:08,559
Speaker 1: with Quest Love Supreme and stay tuned for more.

1746
01:33:08,560 --> 01:33:09,960
Speaker 2: Episodes coming soon.

1747
01:33:13,160 --> 01:33:16,320
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Quest Love Supreme. Hosted by

1748
01:33:16,800 --> 01:33:21,599
Speaker 1: Amir Quest, Loft Thompson, Why You, Saint Clair, Sugar, Steve Mandel,

1749
01:33:22,240 --> 01:33:27,799
Speaker 1: and Unpaid Bill Sherman. Executive producers are Mere Quest Love, Thompson,

1750
01:33:28,720 --> 01:33:36,400
Speaker 1: Seanch and Brian Calvin. Produced by Brittany Benjamin Cousin, Jake Payne,

1751
01:33:37,280 --> 01:33:43,200
Speaker 1: Eliah Saint Clair. Edited by Alex Conwod. Produced by iHeart

1752
01:33:43,360 --> 01:33:52,680
Speaker 1: by Noel Brown. West Love Supreme is a production of

1753
01:33:52,840 --> 01:33:59,519
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the

1754
01:33:59,560 --> 01:34:03,080
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

1755
01:34:03,080 --> 01:34:03,880
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.