WEBVTT - Wyclef Jean - Live from On Air Fest 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:22.076 Pushkin why Cleft John had spent the last three decades 0:00:22.116 --> 0:00:25.156 as one of the most impactful rappers, producers, and composers 0:00:25.196 --> 0:00:28.036 in popular music. As a part of the Fujis, he 0:00:28.036 --> 0:00:30.876 helped craft their nineteen ninety six landmark album The Score, 0:00:31.116 --> 0:00:32.836 one of the best selling hip hop albums of all 0:00:32.836 --> 0:00:36.876 time and personally one of my favorites. The following year, 0:00:36.876 --> 0:00:39.596 he released his debut solo album, The Carnival, which included 0:00:39.676 --> 0:00:43.716 hits like Guantanamera featuring Celia Cruz and the platinum certified 0:00:43.756 --> 0:00:47.116 single Gone Till November. As a writer and producer for 0:00:47.156 --> 0:00:49.916 other artists, Wycliffe is behind Whitney Houston's My Love Is 0:00:49.956 --> 0:00:53.756 Your Love, Santana's Maria Maria Shakira's Hips Don't Lie, and 0:00:53.796 --> 0:00:56.436 the Destiny's Child remix of No, No No, which was 0:00:56.476 --> 0:01:00.076 their breakout single. Today, we're bringing you a live conversation 0:01:00.196 --> 0:01:02.636 recorded at the On Air Podcast Festival, where I was 0:01:02.716 --> 0:01:05.796 joined by special guest host Sam Sanders to sit down 0:01:05.796 --> 0:01:08.116 with wyclef. We get into what it was really like 0:01:08.156 --> 0:01:10.196 in the studio with Whitney here Houston, how the Fuji 0:01:10.236 --> 0:01:13.156 shaped their sound while recording The Score, and the wisdom 0:01:13.276 --> 0:01:15.276 y Cleft would pass on to his younger self about 0:01:15.276 --> 0:01:21.436 what makes a great creative collaboration. This is broken record, 0:01:21.876 --> 0:01:30.676 real musicians, real conversations. Here's my interview with y Clef. 0:01:30.916 --> 0:01:32.876 Head over to YouTube dot com slash Broke a Record 0:01:32.916 --> 0:01:34.916 podcast if you'd like to watch. 0:01:36.036 --> 0:01:39.916 Without further ado, justin Richmond and why Cleff Jean, come 0:01:39.956 --> 0:01:41.956 on out, come on out. 0:01:42.956 --> 0:01:49.716 Yes, yes, welcome. 0:01:53.076 --> 0:01:54.796 You know are you? 0:01:55.356 --> 0:01:57.156 Yeah, you're in charge, boss man. 0:02:00.356 --> 0:02:02.956 Man. I'm so happy here with you. 0:02:04.076 --> 0:02:05.596 Yeah, right, that's right. 0:02:05.916 --> 0:02:06.756 It's James Bird. 0:02:08.756 --> 0:02:09.276 Uh. 0:02:10.236 --> 0:02:12.596 I remember one time we did an interview twenty nineteen 0:02:13.396 --> 0:02:16.396 and uh we were talking about something and you were like, 0:02:16.756 --> 0:02:18.276 you know, it'd be easy if I just showed you, 0:02:18.796 --> 0:02:20.316 and I was like, well, we don't got a guitar. 0:02:21.276 --> 0:02:24.476 We got up, We walked around this office building, every 0:02:24.556 --> 0:02:28.156 damn room. We found the most busted guitar missing, the 0:02:28.196 --> 0:02:31.036 string wouldn't stay in tune. You tuned that thing up. 0:02:31.156 --> 0:02:33.116 It was a miracle. I don't know how you tuned it. 0:02:33.196 --> 0:02:37.156 Tune that thing up and played it like like Billboard is. 0:02:37.236 --> 0:02:41.996 Jimmy Andrix combined was like the craziest thing. And that's 0:02:41.996 --> 0:02:43.676 when I realized, I mean, I always knew you were 0:02:43.676 --> 0:02:47.556 a great songwriter, great vocalist, great producer, great. But I 0:02:47.596 --> 0:02:49.916 was like, wow, why Cleff is a player? Man? Like 0:02:50.196 --> 0:02:53.996 y Clef is a musician a player, and not a 0:02:54.036 --> 0:02:55.756 player in that way, but I mean a music player. 0:02:55.836 --> 0:03:02.916 I mean maybe, but you really, you really are an incredible, 0:03:02.956 --> 0:03:03.836 incredible musician. 0:03:03.956 --> 0:03:05.796 And uh, you know, not. 0:03:05.756 --> 0:03:07.916 Everyone, not everyone can just do that on a you know, 0:03:07.956 --> 0:03:10.196 we just go find a random beat up, bust the 0:03:10.236 --> 0:03:12.156 guitar with the missing stream and play it. 0:03:12.236 --> 0:03:14.596 You know, what did you play that day? Do you remember? 0:03:14.636 --> 0:03:16.836 I just tuned the guitar and then I just started 0:03:16.996 --> 0:03:21.316 just playing, you know, playing chords, playing perfect fifths, just 0:03:21.356 --> 0:03:21.836 having fun. 0:03:21.916 --> 0:03:22.836 Yeah. 0:03:22.876 --> 0:03:28.116 But for me, like uh, instruments. It started for me 0:03:28.236 --> 0:03:31.796 like in Haiti, I would say I left, I left. 0:03:32.156 --> 0:03:36.116 Oh there's always one Haitian somewhere, so right, so that 0:03:36.236 --> 0:03:39.716 that's why you see the flag. Yeah, but you know, 0:03:39.836 --> 0:03:41.796 I say, like it starts for me in that small, 0:03:41.916 --> 0:03:42.756 tiny village. 0:03:42.796 --> 0:03:43.836 Man, how old were you when? 0:03:44.396 --> 0:03:48.076 Like I was, I was like four, Like my aunt 0:03:48.116 --> 0:03:50.556 will tell you like my first song was to my 0:03:50.716 --> 0:03:53.756 straight Dogs. It's the worst, probably the worst song I 0:03:53.796 --> 0:03:56.876 ever wrote. But tell us I'll tell you this song. 0:03:57.076 --> 0:04:00.876 It's terrible. So what happened though, was I used to 0:04:01.076 --> 0:04:04.076 in this village like straight dogs would constantly come and 0:04:04.116 --> 0:04:06.436 I would feed them. And then one day it was 0:04:06.516 --> 0:04:08.996 marti gra Carnival. And then so I put a bunch 0:04:08.996 --> 0:04:13.156 of tar on me, like tar, like black tar you 0:04:13.156 --> 0:04:15.196 gave your h So I was like, and then I 0:04:15.316 --> 0:04:19.596 put a bunch of like rags and then just creating 0:04:19.596 --> 0:04:23.436 an outfit for carnival, right, And then I'm out there 0:04:23.436 --> 0:04:26.756 and then the dogs see me and they literally all 0:04:26.836 --> 0:04:30.356 come to attack me because they couldn't recognize me. And 0:04:30.396 --> 0:04:32.116 then when they jumped on me, and I was like 0:04:32.436 --> 0:04:40.396 gulliblebib and then they all just started licking me. So 0:04:40.436 --> 0:04:42.836 my aunt was like, that's his first song, the worst 0:04:42.836 --> 0:04:45.676 song I've ever wrote, but saved my life. 0:04:46.196 --> 0:04:46.876 What did it mean? 0:04:47.996 --> 0:04:52.796 It was just the tone, right, because because the the 0:04:52.796 --> 0:04:57.236 the music is built from vibration, So lyrics are what 0:04:57.276 --> 0:05:01.116 we put afterwards. We just feel an expression, you know 0:05:01.156 --> 0:05:03.036 what I'm saying before words, it's an expression. 0:05:03.196 --> 0:05:06.276 So interesting then you're saying that the lyrics come afterwards. 0:05:06.476 --> 0:05:09.716 When you're writing a song, are you thinking mel first 0:05:09.796 --> 0:05:11.276 or are you thinking lyrics first? 0:05:12.156 --> 0:05:19.596 It comes melody at times mostly melodies. Yeah, rap wise though, 0:05:19.636 --> 0:05:21.836 because I was a battle rapper. That's how I learned 0:05:21.876 --> 0:05:25.636 how to speak English words. Was fierce, you know what 0:05:25.676 --> 0:05:29.436 I mean. So I would write raps depending on who 0:05:29.476 --> 0:05:33.636 I'm about to battle. That's how I would write my schemes. 0:05:33.956 --> 0:05:37.556 But when it came to like song writing, it all 0:05:37.596 --> 0:05:41.516 came from the church. So I would just hear melodies first. 0:05:42.316 --> 0:05:43.076 What kind of church? 0:05:44.076 --> 0:05:48.436 So my dad grew up in Haiti when he came 0:05:48.476 --> 0:05:51.996 to Brooklyn, it's a church of the Nazarene, so it's 0:05:52.156 --> 0:05:56.756 very it's like Pentecostal. It's literally like club church, you 0:05:56.756 --> 0:05:58.636 know what I'm saying, Like, if you missed the Club, 0:05:59.156 --> 0:06:01.236 come to our church on Sunday, you're gonna get that 0:06:01.276 --> 0:06:03.036 same energy. 0:06:05.596 --> 0:06:08.236 It's incredible to say. But it's been thirty years since 0:06:08.276 --> 0:06:11.196 The Score, which is for me, the Score one of 0:06:11.236 --> 0:06:15.396 the foundational albums of this This is gonna be like 0:06:15.516 --> 0:06:17.636 maybe blasphemings to certain people, but for me, when I 0:06:17.636 --> 0:06:20.636 think about The Score, I think about it like it's 0:06:20.676 --> 0:06:23.836 like hip hop's Abbey Road in the sense of there's 0:06:23.956 --> 0:06:27.876 great music. There's great rock music after Abbey Road. But 0:06:27.956 --> 0:06:29.716 it could have stopped there and we would have been fine, 0:06:29.756 --> 0:06:32.556 you know what I mean. And as much hip hop 0:06:32.596 --> 0:06:34.636 came after the Score that I love, and I love 0:06:34.676 --> 0:06:36.916 a lot of it. If we had just stopped right 0:06:36.916 --> 0:06:39.276 there at the score, we was good. That was it, 0:06:39.316 --> 0:06:43.116 I mean incredible and much like the Beatles too, the 0:06:43.236 --> 0:06:46.636 sum of all those parts man incredible. But I want 0:06:46.636 --> 0:06:51.156 to play something real quick, because your first album blunted 0:06:51.156 --> 0:06:53.636 on reality. You guys put it out and to your 0:06:53.676 --> 0:06:57.476 point of being a battle rapper. It was very for 0:06:57.516 --> 0:06:59.516 the people who know out there. Maybe this makes sense, 0:06:59.556 --> 0:07:02.436 maybe doesn't. Very fool schnickings in a way. It was 0:07:02.476 --> 0:07:05.796 heavy on the round underground, heavy on the boom, bat 0:07:05.916 --> 0:07:09.916 heaving on the like you know, dope rhyme schemes and 0:07:10.076 --> 0:07:10.556 is it okay? 0:07:12.556 --> 0:07:16.276 You're kind? It sold two copies, Okay, I. 0:07:16.196 --> 0:07:19.996 Didn't want to say it. But then Salon Remy did 0:07:20.156 --> 0:07:22.196 the Nappy Heads remix and I want to play a 0:07:22.196 --> 0:07:24.356 bit of that real quick, and this became a hit 0:07:24.396 --> 0:07:24.836 for you guys. 0:07:25.516 --> 0:07:28.036 Yo, Mona, Lisa, Could I get a date on Friday? 0:07:28.076 --> 0:07:32.796 And if you're busy, I wouldn't in might takeing Saturday, hey, or. 0:07:32.756 --> 0:07:35.356 I don't know, if did pass coming around the way. 0:07:36.276 --> 0:07:38.316 Yeah, your head it was. 0:07:38.236 --> 0:07:40.876 Shut what you got did? Can I guess some of 0:07:40.876 --> 0:07:41.516 that lyric. 0:07:44.836 --> 0:07:45.316 A cheap of. 0:07:45.356 --> 0:07:49.876 Cheaper y'all, Well, I'm anaik briyall, y'all, darn darn a. 0:07:49.956 --> 0:07:54.596 Cheaper cheaper y'all. Well, I'm a leak briyall y'all, y'all, y'all. 0:07:54.756 --> 0:07:56.916 You on a battle swing my brink comand the man 0:07:57.036 --> 0:07:58.956 like I was king, and all your dreams are right now, 0:07:58.956 --> 0:08:01.636 all replica sleeping kink cling the box almost the face 0:08:01.676 --> 0:08:03.676 and say I got tired as a fat lady, so 0:08:03.676 --> 0:08:05.116 wat sing nobody own our pro but. 0:08:07.596 --> 0:08:08.076 Lit by that. 0:08:08.156 --> 0:08:10.476 So I'm your king died like that because I got 0:08:10.516 --> 0:08:13.436 Saliza Moore girls convinsist. I was wanted to quote, but 0:08:13.476 --> 0:08:16.556 now I'm killing with a good minute assassination on the kid. 0:08:16.476 --> 0:08:17.236 From the Capitol. 0:08:17.316 --> 0:08:19.436 I never played us Omar, but now I'm in general 0:08:19.556 --> 0:08:20.596 Raw hospital. 0:08:21.156 --> 0:08:25.156 And this is the first time classord that's that's not 0:08:25.316 --> 0:08:25.916 that remix. 0:08:27.116 --> 0:08:31.436 I ran back the nineties, spring back the nineties, so I. 0:08:31.436 --> 0:08:34.436 Missed the ninety But that to me, when you listen 0:08:34.556 --> 0:08:38.396 to the the Fuji's in order, like that's the first 0:08:38.436 --> 0:08:41.316 time it sounded like you guys figured the sound out 0:08:42.196 --> 0:08:45.476 like that sounds like what this like? That sounds like 0:08:45.556 --> 0:08:49.196 the genesis of the score. And I never put it 0:08:49.236 --> 0:08:53.956 together until I listened to Blunted in Reality Napihead's remix 0:08:53.956 --> 0:08:55.956 and then the score back to back to back to 0:08:56.076 --> 0:08:59.036 do this because it sounded at the time, it just 0:08:59.036 --> 0:09:02.356 sounded like the score came out fully formed. Everyone immediately 0:09:02.396 --> 0:09:04.116 loved it. And so where did this come from? And 0:09:04.156 --> 0:09:08.276 I was wondering, did working with salam Remi on this 0:09:08.356 --> 0:09:10.956 Napyheads remix? Did that unlock something for the three of 0:09:10.956 --> 0:09:11.916 you guys creatively? 0:09:12.716 --> 0:09:12.956 Yeah? 0:09:13.076 --> 0:09:15.636 So I think the first part about it is so 0:09:15.756 --> 0:09:18.956 growing up in Jersey, we was raised with Cooling a Gang. 0:09:19.436 --> 0:09:23.916 So the first Fuji album was produced by Kalise Beyond 0:09:23.956 --> 0:09:26.396 from Cooling a Gang. So he's like the wizard. He 0:09:26.436 --> 0:09:28.356 did jungle boogie and everything. 0:09:28.756 --> 0:09:29.316 So at a. 0:09:29.316 --> 0:09:31.996 Very early age, I think I was like fifteen sixteen, 0:09:32.516 --> 0:09:35.956 so hanging Aroundalisekalise. 0:09:34.676 --> 0:09:37.596 Took me in as a like a son. 0:09:38.276 --> 0:09:40.676 I was a jazz major in school, so he took 0:09:40.716 --> 0:09:43.316 me in and he started he was like mister Mayagi, 0:09:43.396 --> 0:09:45.516 so he would quiz me and give me all these chops. 0:09:45.836 --> 0:09:50.716 So in the process Kalise was responsible for producing Blunding 0:09:50.796 --> 0:09:54.916 on Reality. So what happens is there was a sound 0:09:54.916 --> 0:09:59.116 out there, so Kalise was like, Okay, I know they 0:09:59.116 --> 0:10:01.356 can rap, but we're going to get them in that sound. 0:10:01.596 --> 0:10:04.676 The best way to explain my relationship with Salam Remy 0:10:05.156 --> 0:10:09.556 it's like Ray Charles and Quincy Jones, because it's like 0:10:10.756 --> 0:10:13.276 I already had everything in my head, but I'm real 0:10:13.396 --> 0:10:17.476 young and I'm doing beats quietly. So like when I 0:10:17.516 --> 0:10:21.356 would go to Salaam, I would share with Salaam, like 0:10:21.436 --> 0:10:23.956 what I'm doing, he would share with me. I actually 0:10:23.996 --> 0:10:27.236 went to see Salam first and then I bought Lauren 0:10:27.316 --> 0:10:32.996 and praz over, so we had an idea of in 0:10:33.036 --> 0:10:34.756 my head, like what I wanted to do, but it's 0:10:34.796 --> 0:10:35.636 like cooling a gang. 0:10:35.676 --> 0:10:36.396 What are you going to say? 0:10:36.436 --> 0:10:38.996 You're gonna shut up and you're gonna eat the l 0:10:39.116 --> 0:10:42.356 and figure it out. So they had a big studio 0:10:42.396 --> 0:10:45.396 in West starring So every time we record, then I 0:10:45.516 --> 0:10:48.116 go back to the hood. When I go back to 0:10:48.156 --> 0:10:51.636 East Starringes, what was being recorded in the hills was 0:10:51.716 --> 0:10:55.116 not sounding like what was coming out of the trunks. 0:10:55.436 --> 0:10:57.356 So in the trunks, me and Jerry Wonder in the 0:10:57.356 --> 0:11:01.236 book of basement. We was literally doing what was coming 0:11:01.356 --> 0:11:03.876 out of the trunks. And this is one last part 0:11:03.876 --> 0:11:05.996 that you had to know. So I ain't want to 0:11:06.036 --> 0:11:09.036 sell dope. So I was like, yo, I gotta figure 0:11:09.036 --> 0:11:11.436 out of hustle because the burger king wasn't working too 0:11:11.476 --> 0:11:14.316 well for me, right, So what I did was like 0:11:14.396 --> 0:11:17.876 I was like, well, everybody on the block they rapping. 0:11:18.436 --> 0:11:21.036 So if we become our own versions of Doctor Dre 0:11:21.476 --> 0:11:23.596 then we don't have to sell dope. We can just 0:11:23.796 --> 0:11:27.556 charge them to do records. So in this concept, we 0:11:27.676 --> 0:11:32.356 literally just started developing a pulse within that vibe. So 0:11:32.436 --> 0:11:35.116 when we all went to see Salam, the first thing 0:11:35.156 --> 0:11:38.996 Salam was like was like, y'all too talented? 0:11:39.916 --> 0:11:42.116 Like y'all over talented, right. 0:11:42.036 --> 0:11:45.756 Because in this industry too, Now you gotta keep it 0:11:45.796 --> 0:11:48.796 stupid like one plus one got it equal to we 0:11:48.876 --> 0:11:50.316 gotta do some knucklehead shit. 0:11:50.516 --> 0:11:52.556 Did they throw out some ideas that they thought were 0:11:52.556 --> 0:11:53.196 too talented? 0:11:53.756 --> 0:11:54.516 They they just. 0:11:54.436 --> 0:11:58.676 Felt like because this group, I mean, I played fourteen instruments, 0:11:59.076 --> 0:12:02.636 you know, I'm a jazz head. I was scoring like 0:12:02.796 --> 0:12:06.836 off Broadway stuff. Lauren was heading to Sister I too. 0:12:07.276 --> 0:12:10.636 She just crushed the apollo so there was a lot. 0:12:10.876 --> 0:12:14.436 It was like, yo, how do you break that? Because 0:12:14.556 --> 0:12:20.876 you see in the industry, it's harder to break sophisticated talent, right, 0:12:21.196 --> 0:12:24.716 you see the because when you have talent that don't 0:12:24.756 --> 0:12:28.356 care about fame but care about artistry and will not 0:12:28.436 --> 0:12:30.396 compromise it, it's like hard. You'll be like, okay, what's 0:12:30.436 --> 0:12:34.396 the middle? And so it was like a Beach Street movie. 0:12:34.436 --> 0:12:37.076 So Salam put on the beat and he was like, Yo, 0:12:37.796 --> 0:12:41.316 just go in the booth and literally, now I'm about 0:12:41.316 --> 0:12:44.636 to see a different style of production. So he puts 0:12:44.676 --> 0:12:47.076 on the snappy head beats and I go into booth first, 0:12:47.796 --> 0:12:51.116 and Salam has a tape where we're wrapping for twenty 0:12:51.196 --> 0:12:51.876 minutes straight. 0:12:52.436 --> 0:12:54.716 So Salam, you listening to this? 0:12:54.796 --> 0:12:57.436 You got to drop this for the thirtieth year anniversary, 0:12:57.716 --> 0:13:02.396 and it's this wizard Salam literally, so we left to 0:13:02.436 --> 0:13:05.876 go to Europe. He went back and then he cut. 0:13:07.396 --> 0:13:11.276 He cut the twenty minutes. It's literally three minutes and 0:13:11.316 --> 0:13:14.316 thirty seconds. And then the minute he did the math, 0:13:14.956 --> 0:13:19.156 something happened in my head too, and I said, oh, okay, 0:13:19.516 --> 0:13:20.876 I understand. 0:13:20.516 --> 0:13:23.476 Yeah, can I actually go a follow up on this song? 0:13:23.996 --> 0:13:28.356 So it opens with you singing Mona Lisa, that melody, 0:13:28.876 --> 0:13:33.076 that little ditty that motif ends up and an R 0:13:33.116 --> 0:13:35.476 and B ballad that you make for your solo album, 0:13:35.516 --> 0:13:37.796 The Carnival with the Neville Brothers. 0:13:37.876 --> 0:13:39.516 Yes, yes, yes, I'm very. 0:13:39.356 --> 0:13:44.396 Interested in understanding how you take a motif like that 0:13:44.436 --> 0:13:48.556 Mona Lisa riff and have it work for a rap 0:13:49.196 --> 0:13:52.556 song with Silamam producing, and also an R and B 0:13:52.636 --> 0:13:53.956 slow gem with another brother. 0:13:53.996 --> 0:13:55.716 Play the Carnival vision of Mona Lisa Real quid just 0:13:55.716 --> 0:13:57.116 so people get here with Sam's talking. 0:13:57.276 --> 0:13:58.796 One of the greatest love songs. 0:13:58.796 --> 0:14:02.716 This is, by the way, and just for context, one 0:14:02.796 --> 0:14:04.596 year I want to talk about this too, one year 0:14:04.636 --> 0:14:08.796 after the score recorded on tour, you know, promoting the 0:14:08.796 --> 0:14:11.516 school on tour. Yeah, let's hear this. 0:14:16.876 --> 0:14:21.836 My ticket Saturday, right about nine. 0:14:22.876 --> 0:14:25.516 If you want your gee, you gotta hear the Nevills 0:14:25.556 --> 0:14:26.356 on Thistle Up. 0:14:27.636 --> 0:14:29.956 If you don't have a gee, if you have a 0:14:29.956 --> 0:14:31.956 little bode, I still want to the front. 0:14:34.236 --> 0:14:39.276 We want all the ladies fast, relax, let your hair out. 0:14:39.516 --> 0:14:41.356 At least White Left. 0:14:41.196 --> 0:14:45.516 Presents the Neville Brothers in the house tonight. 0:14:47.316 --> 0:14:47.876 I knew. 0:14:49.916 --> 0:14:50.636 She grew. 0:14:53.516 --> 0:14:54.156 Incredible. 0:14:54.716 --> 0:14:59.156 Whatever I can't take that same riff and make it 0:14:59.196 --> 0:14:59.876 work in both. 0:15:00.116 --> 0:15:01.876 I did a party file I'll cut the top Office, 0:15:02.396 --> 0:15:06.076 but we heard it's all good. You know. 0:15:06.156 --> 0:15:09.316 How do you so like when you're doing that, how 0:15:09.356 --> 0:15:11.436 does your mind say? How does your mind know, well, 0:15:11.476 --> 0:15:14.276 this one little riff, it'll be two different songs that 0:15:14.316 --> 0:15:14.956 are very different. 0:15:15.036 --> 0:15:15.836 Like walk me through that. 0:15:16.316 --> 0:15:19.876 Yeah, I would say the best way to understand that is, uh, 0:15:20.156 --> 0:15:22.836 in high school at fifteen years old, my music teacher 0:15:22.876 --> 0:15:26.716 walks in and I'm playing piano and I'm doing circle 0:15:26.756 --> 0:15:29.476 of fifths yeah, and she's like, where do you learn 0:15:29.516 --> 0:15:31.036 that from? And I was like, oh, I just play 0:15:31.076 --> 0:15:33.636 every day and trick and she was like, close your eyes, 0:15:33.636 --> 0:15:36.236 what do you see? And then I said, well, on 0:15:36.316 --> 0:15:39.116 the right side of my eye, I see one, three, 0:15:39.236 --> 0:15:41.956 five and on the left side I see one five. 0:15:42.476 --> 0:15:45.476 So I haven't read music. I didn't understand theory. So 0:15:45.516 --> 0:15:48.396 she was like, tomorrow you're gonna start jazz and I 0:15:48.436 --> 0:15:51.116 was like, nah, jazz ain't for me, it's for old people. 0:15:51.596 --> 0:15:53.436 And I said, I'm gonna be a battle rapper like 0:15:53.596 --> 0:15:56.756 L COOLJ. I got this thing figured out. And then 0:15:57.236 --> 0:15:59.516 she was like, you could do both right, So now 0:15:59.596 --> 0:16:01.996 when once I got into jazz and classical. 0:16:01.596 --> 0:16:03.516 Music because you were seeing scale degrees. The one three 0:16:03.556 --> 0:16:04.356 five and the one five. 0:16:04.476 --> 0:16:07.916 Yeah, y five is a try I one three five 0:16:07.996 --> 0:16:10.596 and then the one five and the left hand. So 0:16:10.996 --> 0:16:14.676 the numbers are the notes of a scale eight, and 0:16:14.716 --> 0:16:16.076 it's like perfect harmony. 0:16:16.316 --> 0:16:17.676 Right, that's the happy one. 0:16:18.596 --> 0:16:19.236 It's perfect. 0:16:19.396 --> 0:16:24.436 So I was a happy baby someone saying that. So 0:16:24.916 --> 0:16:29.156 I fell in love with a few composers, Gershwin, cap Callaway, 0:16:29.636 --> 0:16:34.716 Quincy Jones, Louis Armstrong. Now what did I give from that? 0:16:34.876 --> 0:16:37.556 So when you hear Yo Mona Lisa, can I get, 0:16:37.636 --> 0:16:39.796 It's like, so let's go there, I go there, I 0:16:39.916 --> 0:16:41.396 go there, right, go bye bye. 0:16:41.516 --> 0:16:41.716 Right. 0:16:41.916 --> 0:16:46.636 So in my brain when I do a composition, long 0:16:46.716 --> 0:16:51.036 before the AI, it was I I have literally seven 0:16:51.196 --> 0:16:53.356 different versions in my brain. 0:16:53.276 --> 0:16:54.796 Of what this thinking, of what it is. 0:16:54.916 --> 0:16:55.156 Right. 0:16:55.356 --> 0:16:56.756 So it's like at the end of the day, I 0:16:56.756 --> 0:16:58.276 could do a song and I can hear it in 0:16:58.316 --> 0:17:00.756 a ballad form, and then I can hear it in 0:17:00.796 --> 0:17:02.436 a house form, or I could hear it in the 0:17:02.476 --> 0:17:05.396 reggae form. So all that time when I was hearing, 0:17:05.476 --> 0:17:07.996 I was like, man, I'm obsessed with the meters. 0:17:07.996 --> 0:17:09.436 I was obsessed with Aaron. 0:17:09.796 --> 0:17:11.476 I was like, man, if I could get these guys, 0:17:11.716 --> 0:17:14.476 that would be the R and B version of Mona Lisa. 0:17:14.596 --> 0:17:17.236 Would there ever be another version of Mona Lisa today 0:17:17.236 --> 0:17:18.796 that you made? And if so, what would it be? 0:17:18.996 --> 0:17:20.956 I don't know, Man, we got I think Burnap Boy 0:17:21.036 --> 0:17:21.676 did a version of. 0:17:23.956 --> 0:17:28.476 Its generation. Yeah, we'll be back with more from y 0:17:28.516 --> 0:17:35.636 Cleff after the break. Going back real quick to uh 0:17:36.116 --> 0:17:38.676 to that Salon Rummy story. So you learned? So you 0:17:38.676 --> 0:17:42.716 you when you heard that cut down version of Nappyhead's remix, 0:17:43.316 --> 0:17:46.636 were you you? Instantly? You weren't upset. You knew this 0:17:46.716 --> 0:17:48.236 is what we need to be doing, Like this is 0:17:48.236 --> 0:17:50.356 the right he heard the magic, he cut it to 0:17:50.396 --> 0:17:52.676 the right parts, and this is what we need to do. 0:17:53.276 --> 0:17:56.996 Yeah, I mean again, like I understood the math right, 0:17:57.156 --> 0:18:00.716 so like my brain like it's like infinite math. 0:18:01.316 --> 0:18:04.836 So but one plus one equals too. Like he just 0:18:04.916 --> 0:18:05.396 taught me. 0:18:05.716 --> 0:18:08.836 Salim taught me like, all right, if you're not gonna 0:18:08.876 --> 0:18:13.436 be in in Carnegie Hall every week with your instruments 0:18:13.436 --> 0:18:15.636 sitting amongst the orchestra, and you want to be in 0:18:15.716 --> 0:18:18.196 the music business, this is how to go. 0:18:18.316 --> 0:18:19.356 You got to figure it out. 0:18:19.556 --> 0:18:22.196 Because Quincy Jones was doing the sinatra and all of that, 0:18:22.476 --> 0:18:24.396 but then he figured out how to do the other thing. 0:18:24.476 --> 0:18:28.596 So once Shalam did that, my eyes opened up. 0:18:28.956 --> 0:18:31.036 So then what's the I know you got from the label. 0:18:31.076 --> 0:18:32.516 You got a bit of an advance. You buy a 0:18:32.556 --> 0:18:35.076 bunch of equipment, you put it in the basement, the 0:18:35.116 --> 0:18:37.796 book of basement as you call it, the studio, And 0:18:37.956 --> 0:18:40.836 what's the first thing you make then for Because you 0:18:40.876 --> 0:18:43.516 produced all but two songs on the score, So what's 0:18:43.516 --> 0:18:46.196 the first thing you do for that album? Okay? 0:18:46.316 --> 0:18:52.276 So the equipment we got it from a garage cell really, so. 0:18:53.756 --> 0:18:54.516 All the score okay? 0:18:54.596 --> 0:18:57.196 Yeah, so everything you hear from the score, Me and 0:18:57.236 --> 0:19:01.036 my cousin Jerry, and my other cousin. You know, he 0:19:01.436 --> 0:19:03.596 funded us. He was like the chef, so he had 0:19:03.596 --> 0:19:06.636 a higher up job and he funded us. So I 0:19:06.716 --> 0:19:10.396 only tell you this so you understand how my brain works. 0:19:10.476 --> 0:19:13.436 So we went to a garage cell music stunt. Now, 0:19:13.516 --> 0:19:16.396 for my nerds that are watching this, let's just run 0:19:16.436 --> 0:19:18.076 through three things, which is important. 0:19:18.236 --> 0:19:19.916 We bought a four five six. 0:19:19.756 --> 0:19:23.356 Ampex rail big tape machine, so like when you be 0:19:23.396 --> 0:19:25.676 seeing the Ferdie Mercury, and then they cut tapes for 0:19:25.676 --> 0:19:29.076 the backgrounds. It was very important the tape machine. You 0:19:29.116 --> 0:19:32.036 got twenty four tracks, right, the twenty fourth is the 0:19:32.076 --> 0:19:35.396 sympthy that's where the noise come in and you try 0:19:35.436 --> 0:19:37.756 to stay away from that. That was one we bought. 0:19:37.796 --> 0:19:40.276 A second thing we bought was an old MCI board. 0:19:40.676 --> 0:19:43.116 Shout out to one Riker, one of the engineers, and 0:19:43.156 --> 0:19:46.076 this old MCI board just sounded warm, and then we 0:19:46.196 --> 0:19:49.876 just built a bunch of patch base around that. Again, 0:19:50.236 --> 0:19:53.436 we did this ourselves, like the way Steve job was 0:19:53.436 --> 0:19:56.116 doing what was in his garage. It was like, why 0:19:56.836 --> 0:19:59.756 go to pay a million dollars for a knave board 0:19:59.916 --> 0:20:03.396 or an SSL when the soul is inside of your brain, 0:20:04.276 --> 0:20:07.196 inside of your heart, right, So we just figured it out. 0:20:07.436 --> 0:20:09.556 So in saying that, that's how that was the mystery. 0:20:09.636 --> 0:20:12.996 So we did the score inside of that basement. And 0:20:15.156 --> 0:20:17.876 you have to imagine this is thirty something years ago. 0:20:17.956 --> 0:20:22.036 This is thirty years ago dating today. So now a 0:20:22.156 --> 0:20:25.796 child like my daughter or my niece, they literally can 0:20:25.956 --> 0:20:29.356 just pop their computer and do music right from wherever 0:20:29.356 --> 0:20:31.396 they had around the world. So I just say that 0:20:31.476 --> 0:20:36.396 to show you how advanced and how far ahead we 0:20:36.396 --> 0:20:40.036 were when it came to the technology yeah, Yeah, what's 0:20:40.076 --> 0:20:40.556 the first. 0:20:40.396 --> 0:20:42.996 Thing you make with all that You get the pass 0:20:43.036 --> 0:20:45.596 base set up, you got everything together. What's one of 0:20:45.596 --> 0:20:47.636 the first things at least that made the album that 0:20:47.676 --> 0:20:47.916