WEBVTT - REPLAY - Eric Benét 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:03.360 R and b's Money. 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:10.280 Child. 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.920 We are the authorities. 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:16.080 R and B. 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:18.440 What's going on? People? 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:21.440 You have just tuned into the R and B Money Podcast. 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.799 I'm Tank, this is Jay Valentine, and we are the 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.040 authorities on R and B music and in the building 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:34.400 all the way from mell Walkee mail town. 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:44.120 Huh anything with mail letter mail do my brother from 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:45.000 another mother. 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.440 Thanks for the insight man waiting to come up in this. 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:57.639 Listen this. We want to this. We want to kick 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.600 this thing off the right way. Okay, we want to 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:01.720 kick this off the right. 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:06.640 In honor, yes, okay, in honor of Okay. 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.520 Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:13.880 First of all, are you all of a sudden organic? Yeah, 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.840 all of a sudden? Are you in touch with the 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:23.800 earth people? All of a sudden? You? Wait, listen, I'm 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:28.640 gonna tell you. Started this ship there was a man, yeah, walking. 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:29.759 Barefoot, barefoot. 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.199 He had already had sea shells attached the strings and ship. 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.280 Yeah, And we was trying to figure out how is 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:41.280 he doing this? Is he Listen? 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.320 I'm trying to tell you every girl I knew everyone 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.560 was like, oh my god. I was like, no shoes up. 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:52.080 I love Eric B. 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.320 I'm looking at my temple and was like, still represent 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.720 we are not wearing shoes. 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:06.720 With no shoes, I'm gonna get rid of my heir. 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:13.880 Jesus is here man, Jesus ey thing. 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:22.359 It was every nay, Lenny Kraviss Maxwell, a very small 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:26.200 group of elite organic men. 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:32.880 We all smell like that. You back then, some of 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:36.160 the ladies like, remember he would be on Venice Beach 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:39.560 and the nigga be selling. I got some portunity for you. 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:46.000 Yeah, see this, he's been doing this, so you said 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.680 some money eventually eventually. 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:49.760 Now y'all come in the terms. 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.320 Now you've got your feet now you now you now 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:55.880 you're not now you hold he's been doing it and 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:56.960 the women have been going. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:59.320 So let me ask you a question. Yes, answer your question. 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:00.400 Please do that. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:02.760 I want to talk about the bare feet thing. Go ahead. 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.240 Was that on Was that on purpose? 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:10.000 Like did you know going into this like I'm gonna 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:14.880 give them something, something different, I'm gonna give them something vulnerable, 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.160 something you know what I'm saying a different kind of 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.200 with my feet out, I'm comfortable. 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:22.880 I'm gonna tell you about that. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:24.639 I'm gonna go a little surface with it, then I'm 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:25.240 gonna go deep. 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:26.200 Okay. 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:30.840 So when I was first signed back in nineteen Hendres 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:34.600 and Hum, it was me and my sister. We were 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.560 called Bennet. We were first. My first record deal was 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.320 with E and My Records, and so you know, we 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:45.040 came up in Milwaukee. We did like the clubs we 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:49.640 would do, like the obscure cities in Michigan and Illinois. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.920 And then we got our record deal. And I was 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.440 always used to looking to my left and seeing my 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:59.520 sister right there. Okay, first record deal didn't work out 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.000 so good. My sister was like, baby brother, you go ahead, 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.640 it's music business, shit crazy, I'm gonna give me a job. 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:05.320 A wow. 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:07.960 So my dumb ass hung in there a little bit 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:12.120 longer and I got my solo deal. Once I got 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:14.680 my solo deal, I started to have to perform by myself. 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:15.680 I was not used to that. 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.720 The stage fright when you are used to looking over 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:21.559 and see your family member and all of a sudden, 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:22.400 it's me out there. 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:23.360 It was. 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.480 It was like I'd be backstage a little debilitated, just 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:29.920 like stage fright will come on me like that. So 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.080 I discovered one day that if I just took my 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.520 shoes off and went out on the stage. I relaxed, 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.720 almost like you felt at home. I felt at home. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.800 And a byproduct was of that was women. Apparently I 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:45.560 must have had a good foot day or something and 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:46.080 they'd be like. 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.120 Oh, look at his feet. I was like, oh, y'all 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:48.640 like this shit. 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:50.760 Okay, I'll keep doing it because it makes me feel great. 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:56.040 So let me flash forward. Great, I'm gonna flash forward 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:57.600 to something that I've reached. I told you I was 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:01.040 gonna go deep, something that I've just discovered, which you're 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:05.080 probably hipped to. You're so health conscious and YouTube. But 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:08.960 there's such a thing. It's called grounding and earthing. 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:10.040 Have you heard of this, yes? 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:10.440 Yeah. 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:16.640 So basically, grounding is the science based upon the fact 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.400 that the Earth is just one big battery full of 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:25.400 negative electrons. We as human beings, are basically electric beings. 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.400 We're full of positive electrons. But when we walk around 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.400 with shoes on all the time, especially rubber soul shoes, 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:37.040 we are insulating ourselves from those negative electrons, which balances 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.039 our body and reduces inflammation, makes us healthy, makes us 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:47.720 sleep better, makes sex more boili. So basically, I've since discovered, 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.800 which I didn't know back then. That shit just keeps 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:52.800 me healthy, It keeps me young, It makes me feel 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:55.600 makes me feel like I'm twenty years younger than I am. 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.919 At least an hour day, I will walk around outside 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:02.200 barefoot in the dirt, in the sand and the grass. 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.320 Wow. Yeah, it's real ship, you know what. And and 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:12.320 thinking about that, I used to always wonder why my. 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:17.400 Country cousins healthiest ship well, was so far ahead every 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:18.120 party elements. 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.200 They were faster than you. They were faster. It was 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:25.040 right right like they was driving. I was like, you're 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.680 not right, how are you driving? Just dropping the car. 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.559 Broke bruh, you and me both because that where's your family? 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:32.960 From my mobile? Alabama? 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.560 I got Alabama, I got I got all all all 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:41.400 over Alabama, Birmingham specifically, I got Arkansas, little Rock all 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:41.920 through there. 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.560 And then they all migrated. They Migras's how they got 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:45.720 to Milwauk into Detroit. 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:47.760 But you are you are speaking the truth. Like we 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.240 would go down to Alabama and my other I'd be 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:52.440 ten years old, and my other ten year old cousins 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.159 be like driving, got girlfriends and. 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:58.320 They got everything. We're going to see these goods around 0:06:58.360 --> 0:06:59.040 the corner you want to go. 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.200 I was like, I ain't much nowhere, you can't go. 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:02.880 I don't know we're gonna do. 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:07.080 We get exactly the joke, but they was ready to 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:08.840 get to it. It was like and then I had 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:09.400 two goods. 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.320 Like, so, what you're saying with it, with the whole 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.440 barefoot thing, is that we shouldn't make jokes about the 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:17.160 little drunk white girls after the club. 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:27.840 We can still make fun of this drunk Let's keep 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:28.400 that funny. 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.160 I'm just wondering, man, how that all works. All right, 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:35.960 let's tap into the music. Man, Yeah, let's go. 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:40.440 Let's go to the beginning, right, we like we like 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.400 to go to like the introduction of of you to 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.280 music and music to you. You know what I'm saying, 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:49.960 like the complete where your old story. 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.040 No, I mean you can break it down in the pieces, 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.840 but the part where it's where you said you know, 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.480 where it claimed you because normally claimed you first. 0:07:57.720 --> 0:07:59.880 Right, you don't know what the gift is. You don't 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.760 know you have a gift. True, you were in a group. 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:07.320 Yeah, you're able to do things that you just think 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.280 you're able to do. And then there's a moment where 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:10.240 you recognize. 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.400 Oh yeah, you really hit up. You really hit on 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:17.000 something right there. Because I remember as far back as 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:21.400 I can remember, you know, Milwaukee in grade school, sixty 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:25.600 Pith Street School and Capitol Drive, you know, something as 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:30.960 simple as music class. I just remember having an ability 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.319 to sing and understand music on a level that was 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:37.680 way above like the rest of the kids. 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:38.839 And what I would do. 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.760 I don't know if you did this, but because I 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.680 didn't want to stick out and be weird, I acted 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.000 like I was on their level, you know what I mean. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.000 It's like I don't I don't want too much attention 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.160 on me right now. It's like, you know, the music 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.439 teacher would tell us, okay, class, it's like here's the 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:56.680 scale or here's the song, and it's like I would 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.880 already be like five steps ahead of them, and little 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:04.080 me over here and Dondrell over here is like completely clueless, 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.280 and I'm just like okay, I'm like I'm struggling too, 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:07.400 isn't that weird? 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:07.719 No? 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:10.839 That was me in sixth and seventh grade, and so 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:12.679 I was just kind of like staying here and then 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:15.920 really right right right right. 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.600 It was almost like this, Yeah, I played football. 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.719 Like you sing were you sing. I'm like, right, I 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:26.080 don't know if I want to, you know what I'm saying. 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.080 Because my cousin was the lead singer. My cousin Kisha, 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:31.319 was the one who was doing all the solos. And 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:33.360 then when I finally tried a solo, I tricked it 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:34.440 off really bad. 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:35.880 You know what I'm saying. I was like, how do 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:37.439 I do? She was like, you was off? You know 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.040 what I'm saying. So I went back into training. You 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:43.559 know what I'm saying. Okay, So so you're starting there 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:45.679 and you're and and about what time is it? 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:48.199 So this is I mean, this is grade school. And 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.720 then when I go home, like I'm I'm the youngest 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.360 of a group of five siblings, we're all musical, we 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:55.520 all sing. So that was the place. The whole house 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.960 from from my mom playing the piano. My dad didn't 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.200 really sing, but he had this extensive classical music collection. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.040 So I would be in my dad's music collection listening 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:07.920 to Tchaikowsky and Brahms and Mozart, and then with my 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.760 sisters and my brother, we would sing. We would listen 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.720 to like the Silvers or the Carpenters, and we would 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:18.719 deconstruct the harmonies and like, you know, sing them, and 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.520 I you know, before my voice changed, i'd have the soprano. 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.360 So Michael Jackson, Yeah, I was michae I was a 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:29.920 little Microjacks established that. So that's where music that's really 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:32.400 People ask me who's my biggest influence, My biggest influence 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:36.839 on my older siblings, because I've always equated music to 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.679 love because that's how we that's how we would have 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.040 fun together. That's how we would show each other our love, 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.800 like like making music. So but outside the house, it 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.599 was almost like, Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep that 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:51.400 talent close to my vest because it comes off a 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:56.600 little too overpowering for people outside the family circle. Now, 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:01.520 then puberty happened. So I've always been like the nerdy 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.480 and you know, I kind of still am. I've always 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:09.599 been like the nerdy science fiction book reading, you know, 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.360 into writing my own little weird stories and making up 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:16.640 my own songs. And so I've always been that little kid, 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.560 even in like thirteen or fourteen, where I would stick 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:24.640 to myself, and like I said, I still wasn't singing 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.840 publicly in school. But I remember when puberty hit, there 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:32.280 was a singing competition, and nobody really knew I sung. 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.880 There was a singing competition in junior high school, and 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.000 my sisters told me, go ahead, Eric, get into the contest. 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.240 And keep in mind, I'm thirteen now, and my all 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:48.400 my siblings are beasts, and that's when I come home. Yeah, 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.880 seventh grade, middle school. So I just grew up with 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.520 older siblings who literally could deconstruct the song and we 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.200 would put it back together. So I was at thirteen, 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:04.480 I was dope. So I entered the contest. Nobody really 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:05.160 knew I could sing. 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:06.600 Bruh. 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:11.400 I sang Lionel Richie's truly I kill that ship. I 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:16.360 killed that ship. You know that's still a fro no offense, Linel, 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:19.440 But at thirteen, I probably sang that ship better than 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:25.160 you respected. But you respected Bruh. Can I tell you? 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:27.719 The next day at school there were two girls I 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.880 had crushes on that did not know I existed. They 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.400 were waiting at my locker the next morning. I was like, 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.440 that's something to this ship. Both boup. 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:39.440 Both up. 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:44.040 Vicky Stanton, Vicky Stanton, Laura Oldenburg. 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:49.640 Them oh vi VI Vicky Stanton, Laura. 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:51.880 Oldenberg Oldenburg Oldenburg. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:52.320 Yeah, I was. 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.000 You were early there too. You were early there too. 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.719 I didn't learned about equal Effers is way later in. 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:09.160 I don't even know if I know now where, but yeah, 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.760 and from there, you know, from there it was just 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.679 like my cousin George, who was always like the musician, 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:19.480 the musician of the family. My George, cousin George played 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:21.679 you know, he was like you. He was like, played 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:23.880 piano and he played the guitar. And it was just 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.360 dope and my cousin George and my sister Lisa and 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.480 I we started writing songs. Then I dropped out of 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:34.959 college UW Milwaukee, joined this band, and then we got 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.160 our first record deal, the one I told you about Benet, 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:39.880 me and my sister. That's dope too. Yeah. 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:45.600 So between time wise, when you guys get your first deal, 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:48.560 so when you get your deal and get your first 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.439 hit wreck, a lot of shit happened between that and 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:52.760 me having a solo deal. 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.960 So what's the what's the time frame. So we're talking 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:02.280 about we signed the Benet deal with EMI Capital in 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:06.920 ninety two, Pluck from Milwaukee in Los Angeles, and that 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:12.360 was just culture shock man. That was yeah, yeah, but yeah, yeah, 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:15.800 I mean, I love Milwaukee, but it's like you come 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:19.240 out to la In the early nineties, it was a 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:25.640 whole nother expansive universe, from musical like the community of 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:29.480 badass music dudes, to like the most beautiful women you've 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.400 ever seen in your life, to like people who are 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:37.400 the hell of a lot of bullshitters, but but a 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.440 lot of people who are on a higher level of consciousness, 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:42.800 like talking about eating right and you know, you go 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:44.840 back home to Milwaukee and you just eat a vat 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:48.200 of pork. It's just you know, it's like salt pork. 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:50.400 You eat it, but come out here and it's like, no, 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:53.200 you know, it's like higher level of taking care of you, 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:55.320 your mind and your body. So it was just like 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.280 culture shock all the way around. 0:14:57.560 --> 0:14:58.360 And that's ninety two. 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:02.920 That's ninety two. That record did not work out, as 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.920 everybody in the industry has these stories where your first 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.360 management deal, your first record deal, it's like, well they 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:10.880 kind of sort of put a single out but didn't 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.480 really put any money behind it, so we got dropped. 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:15.480 Right. 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:17.800 This was one of the hardest times in my life 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:22.120 because a few years prior my father died. My father 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:27.200 was a detective for the city of Milwaukee. So Dad died, 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:38.040 my girlfriend, Tammy Stouff, we became parents. We became parents 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:43.160 India short my daughter, India Shortly after I got dropped, 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:48.320 Tammy died in a car accident. So now I lost 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:52.560 my record deal. Dad's gone all of a sudden, single dad, 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.400 and I'm just trying to figure out, Wow, how am 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:57.960 I going to do this? Thank God, I have the 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.960 family I have because between my mom and my sisters 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:05.000 and my brother, they would let me like I could 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:07.160 take India. India was only fifteen months old, and my 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:11.320 mother did. So I have the most amazing family in 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:14.240 the world because I could, you know, if I had 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.440 to fly out to La to talk to some people 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.920 who were thinking about signing me. You know, as a parent, 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.800 especially as a single parent, you need to know that 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:25.280 your children or your child is safe and taken care 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:27.120 of and loved. And I never had to worry about 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:29.280 that when I was out there trying to make the 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:35.880 dream happen. I basically got a gig in Milwaukee as 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:40.680 an assistant engineer at a recording studio on Fondilac, Okay, 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:47.440 and I between George and this crazy ass dude who 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:51.320 is one of the baddest keyboards ever. Dmante you know Demante? 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:55.720 Do you know Demante Posi? Nigga's bad anyway, He's from Milwaukee. 0:16:55.840 --> 0:17:00.200 Also met Demante and my cousin George during the off 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:02.640 hours at the at the recording studio that I was working. 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:04.880 They would let me use the studio to record demos. 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.800 So between me and George and Demante, we just started 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:12.840 writing all these songs, writing all these demos. That demo, 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:15.560 all those demos turned out to be my first album, 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.560 the first solo Eric Bene True to Myself album Nowhere, 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.800 which is amazing. Thank you, sir, crazy, thank you sir. 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.480 Yes's it's an incredible story. 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:26.480 I'm riding with a girl through d C. 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:31.120 Was it side Boom? It might have been that's another beast. 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.600 I was upside. It might have been signed, She's a beast. Yeah, 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.880 it might have been signed. You gotta hit this from 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:41.600 I'm really she played that, she played that femininity. Oh 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:44.240 ship and at that time, pronounce it. 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:53.320 That's how I like it. And I was like everything 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.080 for me was John p Key and Burrell, It was 0:17:56.160 --> 0:18:00.680 Fraying Hammond and and then it was it was it 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.080 was all that, you know what I'm saying, so when 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:05.840 you tell me to listen to something like at this point, 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:08.040 I have every run in the book downloaded. 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:11.800 That's how I lived my life. I run. I don't 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.360 want to verse, no first verse. 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:16.520 Let's not gliss over that that you nigga. 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.000 You don't just run, you just you kill it at 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:26.560 that time, Nigga, I have no verse. I'm gonna run 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.800 this hol of thame five minutes. So so if you 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:33.879 ain't doing that right, I don't want to get you're 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.760 not running through the whole song. And she started playing 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:37.439 this song and a. 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:38.359 Missing to the thing. 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.399 You was making the faces and ship right interesting right, 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:49.480 and the vocal was so clean and straight ahead, and 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:51.040 I was like, who's this again? 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:56.200 After she had already told you. And then and then, 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:58.840 and then you did something that we do in church. 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:03.120 Was about the three and a half close to four 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:03.720 minute mark. 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.720 You did a vamp. Okay, you let the band play 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:11.040 for a minute, and then you went into a vamp. 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.040 Yeah that's this nineteen seventy ship. 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:24.200 Oh yeah, this niggas ba nigga vam. I was so 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:26.600 at that point, man, thank you you went into a vamp. 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.680 I was coming from yours. I said, your problem coming 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:31.960 from and then even I know we'll we'll get to 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:34.879 we'll get to the later in the two thousands, But 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:38.000 then you started going digging into your false settle with 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:40.760 the uh. 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.280 I cried sometimes sometimes yeah yeah, yeah. 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:42.920 That bothered me. 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:46.760 I took a shue with that. 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:52.800 I took I took it. I felt the person at okay, okay, 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:57.320 because GEORGI said, I took that person because I'm going 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:01.960 thumb back, say let it. Why is this nigga, why 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:10.800 is this false settled? So clear it's been connected with me. 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.280 And and I hear you sing that on stage and 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:21.880 you didn't miss a no wow a no, And I'm 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:23.760 a false settle that's what I do. 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:24.840 You known for that? 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:25.240 No? 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:27.840 No, no, no, no, literally not just a false sttle, right, 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:33.760 you're known for not missing, which is as guys who 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:35.919 we all sing, right, we've we've been around one thousands, 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:39.320 so you know where that comes. But not missing, it's 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.800 a different type of gift, right, That's just that's that's 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:45.200 that's just special. Like you talk to somebody, especially me 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:46.840 being from the baby Me and my brother was talking 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.280 about it and he's like, man, because he's the first 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.000 person to put me on to you, right, and he 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:52.679 wanted to go see you. 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:53.440 A Yoshi. 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.200 Yosh and he was like, nigga, he didn't miss. 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:02.399 And you know, as singers, we all know what that means. 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:04.119 But I had to ask again. I'm like, what do 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.359 you mean he didn't miss? That's a huge conference, Like 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:08.840 he didn't And you. 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:12.200 Know about this that comes from that comes from going 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:16.159 through the ranks, like like, okay, so I dropped out 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.760 of college, but my college was being in those shitty 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:25.080 clubs all over the Midwest, right having to it's a 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:28.200 drunk crowd. This nigga over here is about to start 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:31.280 a fight with this nigga. There's some something going over here. 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.320 I'm gonna have to like take command of this whole room, 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:37.800 and I'm gonna have to do it consistently, And maybe 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:39.680 I wasn't able to do it for the first six 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:41.600 months I was in the band. But it was a 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:45.680 honing process where a lot of artists today they don't 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.280 have that honing process. They might they might be in 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:52.440 their lab in their base and they yeah, doing some beats, 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:55.440 put a couple of loops on it, you know, and 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:57.760 they got all kinds of technology. Catch your record and 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:00.840 catch a record, and then you put them on stage 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:02.679 and it's like, nah, you didn't go through the process, bro, 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:03.359 I can tell. 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:06.879