Speaker 1: The quest Loft Show is a production of iHeartRadio. What's Up,
Speaker 1: Good People? This is quest Love. In addition to our
Speaker 1: weekly interviews of The Quest Love Show, I'm going to
Speaker 1: be doing some things periodically where I'll tell you a
Speaker 1: little bit more about a guest or what's going on
Speaker 1: in my life. I think they call this musics. You know.
Speaker 1: Another thing we want to do is take your feedback,
Speaker 1: take your questions, and I will answer them to the
Speaker 1: best of my ability. So I'm giving you the listeners
Speaker 1: a chance to engage with me. You can DM me
Speaker 1: to either the QLs account. Matter of fact, only dm
Speaker 1: the QLs account. Don't DM my account because I barely
Speaker 1: check my own account. Okay, follow QLs on ig or
Speaker 1: go through Questlove Supreme dot com. And you know we'll
Speaker 1: be recording these a few times a month where I'll basically,
Speaker 1: you know, answer letters. All right, Alan Holm Mass, I
Speaker 1: have a question about how James Brown recorded in the
Speaker 1: studio based on the way he hells out changes in
Speaker 1: the song take him to the bridge where songs written
Speaker 1: in the studio? Did he chart songs ahead of time
Speaker 1: and then provides changes on the spot. Did he just
Speaker 1: hum the melody of the band and let him figure
Speaker 1: it out. Hopefully someone from the JB Glory days are
Speaker 1: still alive and I can ask them, Yes, I happen
Speaker 1: to know some of the methods to James Brown's madness.
Speaker 1: Some of the evidence is literally right there. You can
Speaker 1: find a lot of the answers if you go to
Speaker 1: kind of the reissue versions of stuff. There was a
Speaker 1: period in the late nineties early arts in which kind
Speaker 1: of full extended versions of songs or maybe alternate versions
Speaker 1: of songs and whatnot. So I would say that for
Speaker 1: the most part, I believe that James Brown will go
Speaker 1: to each individual member of the band and hum out
Speaker 1: what they sing. I do have for real, I forget
Speaker 1: what song it is. It might be super bad, but
Speaker 1: literally he's telling Jimmy Chank, Nolan Chank bring out that,
Speaker 1: and Chank gives it back to him. Yeah. But if
Speaker 1: you listen to the original give it up or turner loose,
Speaker 1: there's a part where the horn section is not catching
Speaker 1: James's Q and James says starting over again. And I
Speaker 1: often wondered why didn't they just stop the tape and
Speaker 1: start over again? But then I realized that that's a
Speaker 1: waste of tape, so oftentimes mistakes were just left in there.
Speaker 1: And actually, you know, James is one of the probably
Speaker 1: the best examples of just freestyling. There are some examples
Speaker 1: of like lyrics. My good friend Alan Weeds, who you know,
Speaker 1: that name holds Holy He's managed di'angelo the p Funk Universe.
Speaker 1: Prince got to start managing both Cool and Gang and
Speaker 1: James Brown in the early seventies. He was with the
Speaker 1: artists during their peak period and I believe the night
Speaker 1: that Sex Machine got recorded, James asked Allen Leads for
Speaker 1: a show poster and they pulled a poster off the
Speaker 1: wall and he grabbed an inkpin and on the back
Speaker 1: of the poster says like shake your arms, use your form,
Speaker 1: stay on the scene like a sex machine. Got to
Speaker 1: have feelings, she as you're born, get it together right on,
Speaker 1: right on, like you see the hamwritten lyrics for that.
Speaker 1: So sometimes he would just write occasional idea out but
Speaker 1: for the most part you can tell that he's freestyl
Speaker 1: and it's funk is a feeling, and it's just as effective.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know where a cat like Bob Dylan
Speaker 1: really sort of stretched the bounds of imagination on what
Speaker 1: an artist could and should talk about in songs. I
Speaker 1: believe that James Brown was just as effective and poetic
Speaker 1: kind of just living in the moment and see what happens, which,
Speaker 1: to me, that's the key of life, living in the moment,
Speaker 1: see what happens. So I hope that answers your question.
Speaker 1: Alan Okay, Darren See asked who my all time favorite
Speaker 1: comedian is. Comy's so weird man, because it's such a
Speaker 1: dated thing, tell you who I love currently now, right now,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite comedians is uh Fahim an War.
Speaker 1: Fahim an War to me is he knows the funny
Speaker 1: and every day life situations. But for me, the funniest
Speaker 1: bit he ever does is uh well, first of all,
Speaker 1: just go to his YouTube page and just fall down
Speaker 1: a rabbit hole of comedy there. But Fahim's take on
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel video, that's
Speaker 1: that's the one for the record books. I mean, I
Speaker 1: like a lot I became friends with. When I found
Speaker 1: out this particular comedian was from Dayton, Ohio, I was like, wait,
Speaker 1: from the birthplace of funk. Her name is Beth Stelling.
Speaker 1: She's from Dayton, Ohio. A lot of her Netflix specials
Speaker 1: are up. She's funny. I'm really sad that I kind
Speaker 1: of had a hope that Patrise O'Neil was going to
Speaker 1: pick up the baton where Chappelle left off. I felt
Speaker 1: like he was going to be next, But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I love hanging around comedians because I just love watching
Speaker 1: their madness. Of course, being around the Big Hohuna, especially
Speaker 1: now and is probably his most dangerous, controversial period. It's
Speaker 1: so weird because like for me, I love my entertainment dangerous,
Speaker 1: like I love writ the risk factor of it all
Speaker 1: and one of the craziest nights in comedy I ever saw.
Speaker 1: I love observing Chappelle because I love watching people freestyle
Speaker 1: and figuring out how do they get out of this situation?
Speaker 1: You know when people come up t Reek and ask
Speaker 1: on the spot like you know, find me and Ryan
Speaker 1: for Bronosaurus and within seconds like Tarik's like instantly has something.
Speaker 1: I was at a club one night at one in
Speaker 1: the morning and Chappelle was just in rare form and
Speaker 1: when I mean in rare forum, I mean controversial rare
Speaker 1: for him, this new Chappelle that we got, and it's
Speaker 1: like he says something and the audience turned on him
Speaker 1: and half the audience walked out and I sat there
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, I've never seen this before.
Speaker 1: And then he managed to dig himself out of the
Speaker 1: hole four minutes later and it was like sh okay.
Speaker 1: Cause again, to me, the joy watching him is how
Speaker 1: he navigates himself out of a situation. And he got
Speaker 1: back on safe ground again. It was like, oh, back
Speaker 1: to Dave and said, you know, funny stuff and haha.
Speaker 1: And then I saw a look at his eye and
Speaker 1: then he went somewhere else controversial and the whole audience
Speaker 1: turned against him again and I was like, Dave, I
Speaker 1: don't think you can say that dog, And he got
Speaker 1: himself out of it. This happens like six times, and
Speaker 1: afterwards I'm it's like, yo, dude, like are you purposely
Speaker 1: trying to for him? That's the zone where he's in now,
Speaker 1: where it's almost like a psychological exercise. Look up this
Speaker 1: documentary called The Aristocrats, and it's a bit that comedians
Speaker 1: do when they're about to bomb, like if they're about
Speaker 1: to have a bad night. It's a smoke signal to
Speaker 1: let the other comedians know I'm messed up and I'm
Speaker 1: giving up. And they do this joke the Aristocrats, and
Speaker 1: it's not a funny joke, but it's just a wink
Speaker 1: to the other comedians, like, well, that was a bomb,
Speaker 1: so let me just ruin it. And that joke requires
Speaker 1: a kind of creativity that really requires you to use
Speaker 1: your brain. And I feel like he's taking it a
Speaker 1: step further where he's like silently telling me a mirror
Speaker 1: check this out. Now. Most people will use the check
Speaker 1: this out moment to do something like crazy, like shoot
Speaker 1: a ball from half court, or the way that Jazzy
Speaker 1: Jeff cuts or like a crazy shack solo. Not watch
Speaker 1: me lose the entire audience and get them back in
Speaker 1: four minutes, and he'll get them back and then he'll
Speaker 1: be comfortable and he'll press the button. I'm gonna lose
Speaker 1: the audience again. And I see no one that takes
Speaker 1: more joy in this kind of new found wizardry power
Speaker 1: right now than Dave. So I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: it reminds me of listening to NWA. It reminds me
Speaker 1: of like listen to a Dirty Mind era prints, Like
Speaker 1: I know, it's weird to embrace that level of danger.
Speaker 1: Some I wouldn't personally do, but I am curious about
Speaker 1: daredevils who kind of do the Lukmano hands tricks with
Speaker 1: their craft. So anyway, hope that answers your question, Darren
Speaker 1: See Michelle Davis wrote, I'm listening to the Bonnie Raid
Speaker 1: episode I forgot we did a Bonnie Rad episode while
Speaker 1: running errands today and we were talking about being human
Speaker 1: nature to not be able to enjoy a moment for
Speaker 1: long before moving on from that feeling to something like
Speaker 1: worry anxiety, and for me, certain music can extend that moment.
Speaker 1: I'm not at all trained to music, so maybe it's
Speaker 1: easier for non musicians to use music in that way.
Speaker 1: My question is, is it possible for you to enjoy
Speaker 1: music in that way? Are there some bands, performers, albums, etc.
Speaker 1: That extend those positive feelings of joy for you? Just
Speaker 1: had this conversation with someone I'm seeing right now. She's
Speaker 1: rather curious about my choice of music that I listen
Speaker 1: to in my spare time, when I sleep, when I wake.
Speaker 1: Right now, my favorite music aren't songs. You know. There's
Speaker 1: kochhy Bells, so there's a musician. Well, there's a collective
Speaker 1: called doctor tones and float waves, and all they do
Speaker 1: is just this very calming like it's the kind of
Speaker 1: music you listen to if you go into a spa,
Speaker 1: if you get a massage, sort of eperial music. But
Speaker 1: that to me is pedestrian. I mean, anyone could do that.
Speaker 1: These are very specific sounds and patches, like sound bowls,
Speaker 1: koshi bells. To me, just the sound of a sound
Speaker 1: bowl is the most comforting. That's what I learned in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. Sometimes I'll grab a few balls just, you know,
Speaker 1: while my lady friends taking a nap or whatever. I'll
Speaker 1: just start playing that and you can't stop. Like once
Speaker 1: you do it, it's like I keep on and then
Speaker 1: next thing you know, you're like playing sound bowls for
Speaker 1: like two hours or arms are tired. But I often
Speaker 1: make playlists, so it's not one particular album. But there
Speaker 1: are some songs like Alice Coltrane's music calms me. Some
Speaker 1: John Coltrane ballads do that to me. I mean I
Speaker 1: could listen to Naima. I wish there was like a
Speaker 1: an hour version of just Naima by John Coltrane. Don Cherry,
Speaker 1: the father of Eagle Eye, and Nna Cherry have there's
Speaker 1: a meditative chant song that he has called North Brazilian
Speaker 1: ceremonial hymn. When I first wake up in the morning,
Speaker 1: I sing that song, and when I go to bed,
Speaker 1: I also sing that song. There's Pharaoh Sanders his electric
Speaker 1: period in the early seventies, a song called Astro Traveling,
Speaker 1: a song called Summer Nights by Lennie Listen Smith, and
Speaker 1: the Cosmic Echoes. So well, a lot of futuristic, like
Speaker 1: afrofuturist music is what I listened to. Sir Green Down
Speaker 1: by John L. Manet is one of my favorites. Jimmy
Speaker 1: Hendrix's nineteen eighty three Amerman I Should Turn to Be
Speaker 1: is also that way. So yeah, there's a lot. Thank
Speaker 1: you for your question. Michelle, a commenter on Spotify, said
Speaker 1: that they really appreciated me for sharing the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: six lock in with the Roots and forecasted a ten
Speaker 1: from Pitchfork after I was discussing open Mike Eagles critical
Speaker 1: acclaim A weekend into the year, how's it going? It
Speaker 1: is going great. I have locked the Earth, Wind and
Speaker 1: Fire film. I'm eager to show it to people. HBO
Speaker 1: is very happy with it. As far as the roots
Speaker 1: are concerned. We are closer than ever than nipping this
Speaker 1: bad boy in the butt, slowly mixing all the songs
Speaker 1: I recorded, were just mixing them now, And yeah, that's
Speaker 1: how it's going. Like I feel more alive than ever
Speaker 1: as a creative, as a musical creative. And then I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do my next film project in May. Yep, there
Speaker 1: you go, all right. So an anonymous listener reminded me
Speaker 1: that I have a birthday this month and asked if
Speaker 1: I have any special plans for birthday rituals that I
Speaker 1: can share. Yes, I do have a birthday ritual. My
Speaker 1: previous ritual was not being available. There was a moment
Speaker 1: when I turned thirty and I was under the impression
Speaker 1: that my peeps were going to throw this big, giant
Speaker 1: blowout party for me. So rented a car, put a
Speaker 1: suit on. And this is before the Tonight Show days,
Speaker 1: so you know, me rocking a suit back in two
Speaker 1: thousand and one, you know, had my suit on. I
Speaker 1: had a show for driven my day and I went
Speaker 1: to like a nice fancy seafood spot and I arrived
Speaker 1: at this place that I thought my friends were like
Speaker 1: gonna bestow me surprise, and I walked in and was
Speaker 1: like dead empty. And I went to the friends like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what's going on? And they were like, yeah, man, I
Speaker 1: you know, I guess the it being the Martin Luther
Speaker 1: King holiday and the presidential inauguration. This is when I
Speaker 1: think Bush two was in office around that period. It's like, yeah, man,
Speaker 1: like everyone's throwing parties tonight, so no one's coming. And
Speaker 1: in my mind, I'm like, wait, based on the questions
Speaker 1: you guys were asking me earlier, like I was hinting
Speaker 1: like all right, y'all pull my leg or is this
Speaker 1: like is in everyone like waiting to yell surprise in
Speaker 1: another room in this big ass nightclub that's empty as hell?
Speaker 1: And they looked perplexed, like no, like we wanted you
Speaker 1: to DJ, and why you wear in a suit? I
Speaker 1: was like, uh, you guys wanted me to DJ, and
Speaker 1: I like left my records home because and they were shocked,
Speaker 1: like why would you come to the club with no records?
Speaker 1: And I didn't want to tell them like, oh, I
Speaker 1: thought you guys were throwing me a birthday party. Like
Speaker 1: they didn't realize. I just went home and they were like, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's no need to do it. Anyway because no one's here,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't until the next day they were like, yoh,
Speaker 1: we're so sorry, we didn't know, like and so to
Speaker 1: save face. Normally I would book gigs in Japan. So
Speaker 1: there was a period maybe from fifteen to twenty years
Speaker 1: where I was not at home. I was either in
Speaker 1: Japan or at Sun Dance. But this year I've been
Speaker 1: doing the same thing for the last like seven years.
Speaker 1: Is I rent out a movie theater and for twenty
Speaker 1: four hours, well not for twenty four hours, like sixteen hours,
Speaker 1: I show movies so and I curate them all. So
Speaker 1: this year I do the same thing. Number one is
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a cereal bar with over forty different
Speaker 1: cereals shout out by the way, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you guys know this Post Cereal makes all of Walmart cereal,
Speaker 1: like the Walmart brand I can't front man. The Walmart
Speaker 1: brand of Cereal, which is Post Cereal is the best,
Speaker 1: better than Captain Crunch, like literally, like who has like
Speaker 1: French vanilla ice cream with apple pie cereal? Anyway, I
Speaker 1: think it's called morning Glow or something like that. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but we have a Cereal Orgy over forty
Speaker 1: different cereals, and our hosts show classic cartoons from the seventies, sixties, seventies,
Speaker 1: and eighties. I like the Animaniacs, and I also like
Speaker 1: Rocky and Bullweakle. They more or less show like hilarious.
Speaker 1: Didn't know it was problematic then, but you know, like cartoons,
Speaker 1: like a lot of g I Joe's stuff from the
Speaker 1: eighties is hilarious now, Jim, I'm even catching up on
Speaker 1: like the kind of nineties stuff that I outgrew, like
Speaker 1: I wasn't hip with. I wasn't hip to, like Dug
Speaker 1: or Magic school Bus, Magic school Buses wild Yo, Like,
Speaker 1: so I guess Magic school Bus is a cartoon in
Speaker 1: which a school bus is inside the body of a
Speaker 1: kid and this kid has diarrhea and he has to
Speaker 1: throw up. It's like a sick day. And so basically
Speaker 1: the Magic school Bus is like stalled in mud. And
Speaker 1: I say mud in air quotes because we know what
Speaker 1: it is. But I was literally this kid either had
Speaker 1: to throw it up or shit it out, and they
Speaker 1: did that anyway. So we're showing cartoons in the morning,
Speaker 1: and then at one o'clock we are going to have
Speaker 1: a lunch tasting menu for the seventies original version of
Speaker 1: Willy Wanka, So everything that they eat in the film,
Speaker 1: we're also eating out here. So we are doing the
Speaker 1: Willy Wanka Tasting Show, and then at four we are
Speaker 1: going to show Love and Basketball, and then at six
Speaker 1: thirty we're going to see the classic movie called Heat
Speaker 1: with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. And then closing,
Speaker 1: I'm going to debut my Earthwood and Fire doc for
Speaker 1: a select few. So yeah, I ran out a movie
Speaker 1: theater and just going to watch movies all day and day.
Speaker 1: I highly recommend it. There you go.