0:00

Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

0:09

Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome

0:11

to another episode

0:14

of Quest Love Supreme. I'm

0:16

here with the almighty Team Supreme. I assume

0:18

that brand new Bill is on

0:20

the streets right now.

0:22

We're here in the water, okay.

0:25

Now here on vacation with the girls.

0:28

He's on vacation. Where Bill vacations?

0:30

Where's these vacations? They didn't want to boat

0:32

somewhere?

0:34

Damn?

0:35

Okay, you would say, I'm with a

0:37

bunch of all the girls though, so you know, it's kind

0:39

of vacation.

0:40

That's what quality time. Let's let's

0:42

what's up? We got fon Tigelow.

0:45

You're in North Carolina,

0:47

I.

0:47

Assume, yeah, yeah, man, what.

0:49

Is that artwork that's on the

0:51

left side, your left side? I

0:53

always wonder that when you're interviewing from this place.

0:55

What is that we did? An

0:58

artist did that illustration for us? It

1:01

was like a card. Okay, let's

1:03

warn me on top of about like a like a plane

1:05

card.

1:06

And yes, I just framed up put in my studio.

1:08

Okay, that's what's up? Like, Yeah,

1:11

how a y'all doing?

1:13

We are good.

1:14

I'm sorry y'all all forgiving you all this.

1:15

I'm after looking at Sara's

1:17

album cover, I realized I need to put my workout

1:19

clothes on every day, and like, I'm a workout So

1:21

that's what I'm going to do after

1:24

this.

1:24

Is inspirational physic

1:27

together, in your post pandemic

1:30

physical together. We

1:32

all hear you loud and clear.

1:33

Bro.

1:34

You know summer's coming

1:37

up, you know, giving my Sarah on

1:40

Steve, how's it going?

1:41

Good morning everybody.

1:44

Yeah, how's the network doing? I'm

1:46

not sure if it exists anymore?

1:48

No more network? Oh wow, I

1:50

don't know.

1:51

There was some tumultuous season seven. Now

1:53

we're in season eight. I'm not really sure he's in

1:55

charge, and you know we're

1:57

moving forward.

1:58

Damn, you got m needed out of your

2:00

own network kind of Damn,

2:05

Steve, It's okay, we got to do a

2:07

network episode. Yeah, you're right.

2:09

I still got my quest of Supreme family though.

2:12

So basically I will say that

2:15

this particular episode, this is

2:17

one of those practice what you preach moments,

2:20

because I think around

2:22

October of last year, I kind

2:24

of put a note out to the producers

2:27

of the show Layah cousin

2:29

Jake Brittany that you

2:31

know, I didn't want to get too comfortable, Like when

2:33

you get way too comfortable in your comfort

2:35

zone, that could be too an easy

2:37

downfall. And I was noticing another podcast

2:40

that sort of stayed in their.

2:41

Comfort zone and they had a really great.

2:43

Run, and now they're kind of running out of ideas

2:45

because they're not pivoting

2:48

and getting out of that comfort

2:50

place they like. And of course, when you're coming to Quest of

2:52

Supreme, nine times out of ten, we're

2:55

talking to veterans that have put like, you

2:57

know, twenty thirty, forty fifty years

3:00

the game, and you

3:02

know, it's always fun and very easy to go back

3:04

and and sort of marvel

3:06

on someone's legacy. I gave

3:08

a note that I really, especially after

3:10

the Dave Matthews episode, that I wanted

3:12

to talk to newer artists,

3:15

younger artists that maybe I

3:17

wasn't that familiar with, like the back of my

3:19

hand. You know, it's not like us

3:22

doing a Narti Michael Walden episode, or

3:24

us doing a Quincy Jones episode, or you know, something

3:27

of that level.

3:28

And so wait, we did a Quincy

3:30

Jones episode, Steve.

3:32

I'll talk about it.

3:33

We did a Quincy Jones episode, believe it or

3:35

not.

3:35

Actually, you can tell us

3:37

about it.

3:38

Yes, we've done a Quincy

3:40

Jones episode. So anyway,

3:43

that said, I kind of said,

3:45

start in twenty twenty four. I

3:47

want to switch it up a little bit and start

3:49

connecting with tomorrow's

3:52

legends. You know, people kind

3:54

of ten years maybe

3:57

fifteen years in the game, younger than

3:59

your thirty your forty year old veterans

4:01

that will be tomorrow's legends.

4:04

I think it's rather apropos that

4:07

our guest today is sort of running

4:10

on an ongoing theme that we've

4:12

been having with a lot of ours that we've been speaking

4:14

to in that what their

4:16

lives were before the pandemic has

4:19

sort of pivoted and moved into another

4:21

direction. And basically this artist,

4:24

of course has Brandy recognition.

4:27

He has a new album entitled Heavy,

4:30

sort of making the rounds as we speak, getting a lot

4:32

of accolades, and along with his collaborations

4:35

and his previous records, I'm

4:38

kind of liking this new

4:40

place that artists are in right now

4:43

in terms of.

4:44

Putting their heart out there and.

4:46

Showing their vulnerability and showing their journey,

4:49

which is needed. So pretty much

4:51

the ongoing theme

4:54

to me is rather apropos

4:56

and our guest is no exception to it.

4:59

Please welcome. Two question of supreme

5:01

sir.

5:04

What are you doing?

5:07

Where are you talking to us?

5:08

From this morning eighty fourth?

5:11

I'm over here in Inglewood, man.

5:12

You're still in Inglewood?

5:14

Yay?

5:15

Course, of course, of course, yeah,

5:17

I can't leave. Man. It's the neighborhood actually

5:19

got better since they did the stadium and

5:21

they're working on Clippers stadium over here. If you know anything

5:23

about the city, has been a lot of changes over here.

5:26

This gentrification thing is real over here.

5:29

It's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing

5:31

for somebody that still lives in the city. People that

5:33

held onto their houses and didn't sell

5:35

and move and stuff like that. They're up

5:38

right now. The house, I mean it is

5:40

up right now. So I know everybody around me is

5:42

happy.

5:43

There's something special about LA people.

5:44

They really hold on to their homes in South I

5:46

live in lamert So I'm just saying, get these people hold on

5:48

to their.

5:49

Homes for sure, if they know any

5:51

better, because the property value is just going to keep going up.

5:53

The center city of Los Angeles, including like Inglewood

5:55

and Coppt in the inner city is flourishing,

5:58

you know, what I mean. And the people that owned homes

6:00

have been there thirty forty years. So my neighborhood

6:03

is the same people I run into, the same people

6:05

I grew up with. They still live in their mama house.

6:07

And thanks, I'm Merre's funny because the landlords

6:09

around here are old and black too, so they just is discriminatory.

6:11

So when I got my place, he definitely looked me up and down like,

6:13

okay, you fit.

6:14

Like, yeah,

6:17

that's weird.

6:18

I went back to my old

6:20

neighborhood, my old house that you remember,

6:22

Laya in.

6:23

South Philly, Saint Albans.

6:25

Yeah, sad to.

6:26

Say that I'm the

6:29

last owner of pretty

6:32

much of that block, and sad

6:34

to say I'm the last black owner, Like it

6:36

was a black neighborhood when I.

6:37

Moved in, and now I

6:40

didn't recognize that shit.

6:41

I felt like Marty McFly walking

6:43

through nineteen fifty, like we

6:46

got Starbucks on the corner, Like that's

6:48

hilarious.

6:49

It's crazy.

6:49

Because for reference, sir, you should know that, like Philadelphia

6:52

is probably in stage eight A, gentrification

6:55

is a one to ten. I always say, like DC and Harlem

6:57

are in stage fifteen past

6:59

ten, but LA is

7:01

probably in a five or six. So I

7:04

know you're saying what you're saying, Yeah, I

7:06

do. Y'all just got there. You just got the stadium.

7:08

We just get in the train stations. It's

7:10

no, they're jogging. They're jogging.

7:13

They're jogging.

7:14

Wait, so you're saying to me, because the thing was,

7:16

I went to that stadium on

7:19

not opening night, but like opening month.

7:23

Now the stadium beautiful.

7:26

Where I park though, Dad.

7:30

You park at the Forum, probably trying to get you over

7:32

to so far dog.

7:37

You know, that was a couple of years ago. I hope

7:39

it's gotten better. So you

7:41

know, it was, it happened.

7:44

It was a little weird.

7:46

No, No, it's still a hectic now, mind you. I'm not I'm

7:48

not a I'm not a football fan, so I don't

7:51

care about the stadium. It's not my thing, you know

7:53

what I mean. But it's just it's done a lot

7:55

for the city, you know what I mean. And having met

7:57

the mayor and talked to him about it then

8:00

and seen you know, all of the businesses that

8:02

have come up, and you know it kind

8:04

of it makes you look at it differently. You know. I

8:06

definitely was thinking about protecting, you know, the people

8:08

that were getting displaced because people got displaced.

8:11

You know, we ain't gonna talk about that, but you know they tore down

8:13

homes and stuff like that to move

8:15

things in for the Clippers stadium, and

8:19

you know, that was a big thing. But once you start

8:21

to see the benefit, you kind of look

8:23

at it like this can work, you

8:25

know. But it's all about the community coming together.

8:27

And I from from my perspective,

8:30

I don't think Inglewood ever being completely

8:33

gentrified, you know what I mean. I see

8:35

it as it might end up being a melting pot, which

8:38

it already kind of is. There's a huge Asian community

8:40

out here, there's a huge community of someones.

8:43

There's a huge you know, Mexican community

8:45

as well as all the black folks out here. So you

8:47

know what I mean, you're gonna have to kick out a whole bunch of different people

8:50

before you get to straight up just gentrification,

8:53

you know. And I don't think I don't think we're on that route.

8:57

I dig it. There were you born in Inglewood.

9:00

Inglewood Adjacment. We're Los Angeles

9:02

baby, So me and my family were all born

9:04

in like South Central, but my dad was

9:06

born in Inglewood and

9:10

the house that we grew up in My grandmother

9:12

bought in nineteen sixty four, so we had been in the

9:14

city my whole life. But

9:18

no, I was born at uh she I think

9:20

I was born a Killer King. I

9:22

know my mom was.

9:24

Okay, Killer King? Is that what you said?

9:27

Killer King? Is the hospital in la is

9:30

famous?

9:32

What is it known? For people that aren't?

9:35

It's in the hood. So when you get shot, they take

9:37

you to Killer King and nobody survives at Killer

9:39

King.

9:41

Like Brady, you were going to say

9:43

that, Okay.

9:44

Every city to Killer King. You're

9:46

telling them take me anywhere.

9:47

But in

9:50

Philadelphia that would be Misser Cordia Hospital.

9:52

I get it.

9:53

I got you. That makes sense.

9:55

We called it miserable Codia Cordia.

9:58

Yeah.

10:00

I'll ask you what I ask all of our guests.

10:02

Do you remember what your first musical

10:05

memory was in life?

10:07

Great question? Okay? Now?

10:09

Which had a piano roll on me? Because I don't have perfect

10:11

pitch. But let's just give an example. My

10:14

mother will be at the piano and she'd be like, this

10:16

is see. If

10:18

you have your fingers here, you're hitting the

10:20

note.

10:21

If you go down here, you are flat.

10:24

If you go up beast, you

10:27

are strong.

10:29

See you know what I mean.

10:31

That's my first musical memory is my mother teaching

10:34

us how to sing, or trying to teach us how to sing.

10:36

And my first musical performance, I was five

10:38

years old in front of the church and we

10:40

sang Oh Holy Night, and so

10:44

I you know, I grew up. I grew up in a house where

10:47

music was everything. You know, I don't remember

10:49

my life when I don't remember a time

10:51

of my life where somebody wasn't creating

10:53

or somebody wasn't performing. And you

10:56

know, I'm blessed to be in a musical family.

10:59

Your mom, she was a singer and already

11:01

she sang for Steve not Stevie Shaka

11:04

and Michael Jackson that she did

11:06

backs for them, yep, yep,

11:09

yeah man, Miss Jackie, Miss

11:11

Jackie, yep.

11:12

And prayers up for my mom. Man. She was in a

11:15

car accident a couple of days ago. So she's she's

11:17

got surgery today at twelve, and

11:20

we're just fearful.

11:21

Man.

11:22

She fractured her second vertebrae and

11:24

it's been you know, his last couple of days has been really

11:26

tough on us. But she's doing good. She's in good

11:28

spirits, but she's

11:32

yeah, resu.

11:34

How long was she singing?

11:36

She grew up in a church too. Her her grandfather

11:38

was a pastor, mother's singer in the church, you

11:40

know what I mean. Her and her brothers

11:43

were raised in church. So

11:45

my mom doesn't know anything about music. She started

11:47

playing piano when she was six years old. And

11:50

my uncle Andrew started playing bass when he was seventeen

11:52

and never looked backing. Yeah, you guys

11:55

know Andrew Gruchet. If you know anything about

11:57

gospel music, yea better know Andrew

11:59

Guchet.

12:00

God, yes, yes.

12:01

Yeah, the Godfather of base you know. And

12:04

my mother was blessed to have a brother like Andrew. I

12:06

can say their dynamic kind of creates the

12:08

dynamic that you see between me and my brother the Smoke

12:11

and my brother Deveond. They help each other

12:13

when they can, but they're individuals and

12:15

they're very powerful on their own. So, you

12:17

know, it was it was always the you

12:20

know, just the joy to watch my mother work,

12:22

you know, being the minister of music at church. You

12:24

know she was out there every Sunday.

12:27

Well, let's let's be honest. She was there Tuesday, Thursday,

12:29

Friday, you know choir,

12:32

Yeah, Bible study choir, rehearsal, Friday

12:35

service, Sunday service, you know what I mean. My mom

12:37

was a workforce, you know, and still to

12:39

this day. We was with her yesterday

12:42

and the only thing she was worried about,

12:44

you know, when they're talking about surgery,

12:46

she's like, can I play the piano? That's

12:49

you know what I mean, Like, I don't care about nothing else.

12:52

I need to play the piano, you know what I mean. So that's

12:54

the type of mother I had.

12:56

Well, were you Seventh Day of ventist

12:58

or.

12:59

Oh no, we're non denomination okay.

13:02

Oh damn, okay, Okay, it.

13:03

Was just real Christians that did the thing. Like you know,

13:06

it's just different church days.

13:07

Well often when I hear every day usually

13:09

it's seven Day of Venice. But and

13:12

it's weird, not denomination when people

13:15

always thought with more lenient, not.

13:17

Too super strict

13:20

on things that are.

13:21

Normally you know the law,

13:24

right right?

13:25

Okay, So non denominational.

13:27

Do you remember like your first

13:30

creative project, Like what was the first

13:32

thing that you remember doing creatively or

13:34

what was singing in that church?

13:35

Your first Okay?

13:37

So when I was younger, my mom bade us

13:39

do music, and as a kid, I didn't appreciate

13:41

it. I didn't understand it. I shunned away

13:43

from it, and I didn't I didn't like it. So when I was about

13:45

fourteen fifteen, we sat down and had a conversation

13:48

about what I wanted, and I was like, I want to play sports.

13:50

So I stopped doing music. Didn't do music ten

13:53

years. I didn't even come into the game until I was

13:55

like twenty three, twenty four. My brothers were writing

13:57

twenty four something like that.

14:00

Yeah, twenty four, twenty five, something

14:02

like that. Yeah. I didn't write my first song until I was twenty

14:04

six.

14:04

Wo Yeah, you

14:07

know what, I man, how old are you right now?

14:09

Thirty seven?

14:15

I gotta know a beer?

14:16

Well, I'm sorry, I think when you're my age

14:18

fifty three? Hello, but everyone

14:21

to me is just nineteen.

14:24

Yeah.

14:24

We got to work on that.

14:26

Yeah, you thought you just talking to a

14:28

kid. Man. I got.

14:31

This young kid. Let me hear me, let me.

14:34

Some things.

14:35

My knowledge on this young boy.

14:39

Man.

14:40

Hey, So it just it just the hands up. You know. I started

14:43

off my because I'm I'm the type of person

14:45

I am. My thing is knowledge. When when I like something,

14:48

I got to know how to do it right. You know what I mean.

14:50

So I went to school. I went to Los Angeles

14:52

School. I was my first step when I when I started writing

14:54

songs, I was like, oh, I stuck, let

14:56

me figure out what's going on. I was terrible

14:59

at it, you know what I mean, And my my brother was kind enough

15:01

to show me that there was potential behind it.

15:03

But I was like, naw, this don't sound like what

15:05

these niggas are doing. So I went to

15:08

the LA Film School to two years

15:10

of my life and really focused

15:12

in on trying to just become a better

15:14

musician and engineer. So I'm

15:17

a recording engineer by trade. That was my first, you

15:19

know thing, And from there

15:21

I started to just develop my sound and my songwriting

15:24

and stuff like that. And this is all

15:26

while I was just working as an engineer. My first big

15:28

gig was working for Tyrese, which,

15:30

yeah, that was interesting.

15:32

Yeah, I like that faith and

15:35

that's love Supreme Afice next

15:37

week.

15:42

Shout up to Tyrese. Taught me a lot about

15:44

people, taught me a lot about the music industry,

15:46

taught me a lot about independence and

15:49

how much I wanted it at the time, Like

15:51

I'm showing up the sessions. I'm his you know head

15:53

engineer in the house. I got six people working

15:55

for me, you know, and I'm just watching all these

15:57

other songwriters come in and try to bless him.

15:59

Wow.

16:00

At the time, I was writing songs and I

16:02

had found a little confidence. But I wouldn't have said

16:04

that because it was my job, my day job, so I wasn't

16:06

even trying to like get in get in the mix. But

16:09

I played a couple of records for one of

16:11

the other songwriters one day and they were like looking

16:13

at me crazy, you know what I mean.

16:15

We were at a camp for his last

16:17

project called the Black Rolls Album.

16:21

Yeah, Yeah, and my

16:24

brother Davion was one of the songwriters.

16:26

I got him in to write songs for Tyrese

16:28

and he just wasn't having it. He was like, fuck

16:30

that, you know what I mean, You're gonna play some of these folkus

16:33

fucking songs for Tyrese. So they had this big meeting where

16:35

everybody would sit down at the end of the week and play two,

16:37

three records or something like that. And I had like a batch

16:39

of like five ready, and I

16:42

was the last person to play records. Everybody played records

16:44

as like Darrel got records. I come in, I play

16:46

my songs and everybody

16:49

lost their shit. It

16:51

was like a big This was probably the biggest

16:53

music moment for me at today at the time.

16:56

But Tyrese runs up gives me a

16:58

big hug. I didn't know, Oh my God, like

17:00

I didn't know. I had to tell him

17:02

underneath my wing, you know,

17:04

I just you know, you

17:07

know what I mean, And like a two weeks yeah,

17:10

you know, just there's so much

17:13

going on, man, God is moving in this room.

17:15

People. Hey,

17:19

look, look, can't nobody do Tyree's

17:21

like me. I'll tell you what did.

17:23

You make Black Role? Did you get on the record?

17:25

Yeah?

17:26

Yeah, I got a couple of songs on it. I can't tell you the names of him

17:28

because I forgot I don't remember, but I definitely

17:30

made the project for sure. But

17:32

you know, having that big moment, and this

17:34

is a lesson for a lot of musicians. Just because people

17:37

look like they fucking with you or they look like they rock,

17:39

and don't mean they got your best interests at heart, you know

17:41

what I mean. Even after that incident, you

17:43

know, I kept working for Tyreese. He just our

17:46

relationship didn't like progress.

17:49

It seemed like he was trying to like he's

17:51

trying to stand back me.

17:52

Man.

17:52

He wasn't trying to let me shine. He wasn't trying to put

17:54

me out there to where he wanted me to be his engineer.

17:57

And there was a day where Jennifer hood

18:00

And came to the house. I don't know if she remembers this, but you

18:02

know, she came in to meet him, and I let

18:04

her in the house. You know, I'm like, hey, she you

18:06

know, anothers nary, nonchalant, and

18:10

he, you know, was introducing her to everybody

18:12

in the house and just didn't even say my first

18:14

name. Bro. Like it was that this one man. I don't know if

18:16

Tyrese knows this story, he remembers this, but he couldn't

18:19

say my name to Jennifer us and Jennifer Usson

18:21

didn't look me in the eye. And I took

18:23

that very personally. I quit that day. I

18:25

walked in the room. It was like ten niggas in that room, writers,

18:28

producers, Jenniferussis didn't right there. Eric

18:30

Bellinger was there. I forget who else was there, but oh

18:33

ty dollad Time was there, I think. But I walked

18:35

in there, I was like, hey, Tyrese, Hey, hey, pay me for

18:37

the day, bro, I quit in front of everybody,

18:40

was like, what what what do you mean?

18:42

Him? Hey, hey, hold him on, y'all, hold

18:45

him on, y'all. Let me go out at him and talk

18:47

to me outside. And there was no convincing

18:49

me of that. And I think after

18:51

that, I probably was signed to TDE like

18:54

after like six months or something like that, or

18:56

I you know, I was already like popping.

18:58

I put my own project out. Wouldn't was the first thing

19:00

we dropped into Seven Sundays And it

19:03

was over after that, and I've never looked back,

19:05

you know what I mean. And I think ty for

19:07

that experience because it taught me a lot about how to treat

19:09

people, you know, first or four

19:11

months.

19:12

I want to ask you about your first about

19:15

Seven Sundays and the label you put that

19:17

out on Fresh Selects.

19:19

Talk about just that period in your life. Man.

19:21

I love that record.

19:22

I played it, you know all the time.

19:24

Uh No, man, just I just wanted to talk

19:26

talk about that time in your life.

19:28

Man.

19:29

I was I was broken, homeless.

19:31

I just put tyree and I

19:34

didn't know what I was gonna do with my life, you know, I

19:36

was trying to figure things out. And we had just put

19:38

out this this tape that had like twenty one songs.

19:41

What it's called Wooden Voodoo is it's my first tape.

19:43

If anybody really looks for it, it's

19:45

like fault Wooden

19:49

Voodoo.

19:52

It's got some stuff on there. But Kenny

19:55

heard it. Kenny Fresh from Fresh Selects heard

19:57

it, and he contacted me and was like, I want to

19:59

put this project out. I was like, okay, I'm already working

20:01

on something, and we started to playlist for seven

20:03

Sundays and seven Sundays is

20:05

what introduced me to Top and

20:07

got me in the room with Tde So I

20:09

look at that time as like this that was probably

20:12

like the highlight of my

20:14

career because it opened

20:17

so many doors for me. And I did that all by

20:19

myself. It was just me and Kenny, and

20:21

he really didn't even do anything. He just suggested, like I

20:23

like this song. I like that song. I did

20:25

the master, I cut the vocal, you know what I

20:27

mean? And yes, I said, I did

20:29

the master myself. Like I was engineering

20:32

back then. I don't do that shit no more. I got I got

20:34

helped.

20:34

But wait, even now, as

20:36

as an artist, you I mean, you're

20:38

an engineer, so you would know how

20:41

you want the song to sound.

20:42

Yes, yes, oh yeah, I mean I still cut my own vocal.

20:44

I can't let go of those rings. Like

20:46

I've tried. I've hired engineers,

20:49

I've sat down. But imagine that you're

20:51

in the booth, guys in the chair, and you

20:53

cut a vocal, but you just want him to nudge it. You

20:55

have to say, I need you to nudge this to

20:57

the left. Now imagine I'm sitting in the

21:00

here, I cut the vocal. I need to nudge

21:02

it. I can nudge it, right.

21:04

I nudged it, you know what I mean. And that's it.

21:06

That's the whole thing. Steve, Yeah,

21:09

yeah, yeah, yeah, No. A mirror is

21:12

much more for people who don't realize.

21:14

He's much more of an engineer

21:17

than people know. He mixes

21:21

more than I do most

21:24

of the time. I mean I'm recording because

21:26

he's you know, playing and producing

21:30

a lot of times. But when it comes time

21:32

to do rough mixes, and certainly in the final mix

21:34

stage, Amir has got his hands on the dials

21:37

since I met him, since Electrical Lady in ninety

21:39

six, he's been He gets gets.

21:41

Right on the board.

21:41

It's easier and quicker than to try and explain what

21:44

you want if you just know the basics, you

21:46

know, and and a mir loves plugins,

21:48

so he just loves playing around

21:51

with toys essentially.

21:53

But yeah, I mean, I'm sure there's a

21:55

lot. I mean, D'Angelo was recording his

21:57

own vocals, Yeah, things

22:00

like that. But yeah,

22:01

it's certainly helpful to

22:03

as an artist to know how to engineer

22:06

it, I.

22:07

Would think from a singing standpoint,

22:09

which is such a vulnerable thing to do. Are

22:11

you the type of singer that needs pretty

22:14

much your space? Like,

22:16

are you the singer that can turn it on if

22:19

five people were in the room watching you,

22:22

the engineer, your boys, your

22:24

family and there watching you, or is

22:27

it like everyone get out the room engineer

22:29

too.

22:29

I could do this myself.

22:31

No, no, no, I don't care who's watching you watch.

22:35

Especially with this album.

22:37

Yeah oh yeah, oh well this album was different.

22:39

I was high most of the time, so that wasn't

22:42

nobody around. Okay,

22:45

no, no, you can stay in the room. I don't I don't mind people

22:47

being around. Just shut the fuck up. I got

22:49

to cut the vocals. Be quiet. I don't

22:51

want to hear you on my track. But you

22:53

know, nah, these last few years I

22:56

honestly don't know how these songs came. I

22:58

can't explain it. I don't even remember most of these sessions.

23:00

I don't remember a lot because I was

23:03

just slated. You know a lot of people have heard

23:05

the story of a million times about me going to rehab

23:07

and all that blah blah blah. You know, I

23:09

beat that story into the ground. So if we can just

23:12

swim by this real quick, I'm

23:16

sober. It's been a year and five months,

23:20

you know what I mean. I found so bride. I

23:22

found sobriety my way, you know what I mean. I still

23:24

smoke a little weed. Everyone. I'm going to ask you, I thank.

23:26

You for saying this. Thank you because yeah,

23:29

you want to say space, no sobriety.

23:31

Sobriety is different for everybody, you know

23:33

what I mean, everybody has. If you're an

23:35

addict like I was, you have a DC now

23:37

your doc. Your drug of choice is your drug of

23:39

choice. That doesn't mean that everything will affect you

23:41

like that will, but you got to stay away from that thing.

23:44

And you know, I found my way

23:46

through depression because

23:49

you know, people don't just do drugs. There

23:52

are root issues too. You know,

23:54

there's reasoning behind it, and I had root

23:56

issues that I find so therapy, rehab,

23:59

family, everything that. You know, all

24:01

of the love I had helped me kind of figure out

24:03

what was going on, and it placed me

24:05

back in a position where I could fight for my life.

24:07

You know, I've been somewhat

24:10

transparent about my journey.

24:13

I mean, I'm now like three years

24:15

removed from the path

24:17

I'm on now, but I can definitely acknowledge

24:19

that year one of

24:23

this new paradigm shift quest love. The

24:26

first seven months I was actively,

24:29

subconsciously and consciously trying

24:31

to sabotage

24:33

it because it was just a very

24:35

fearful place to be in. Could you talk about

24:37

your experience behind me?

24:39

Yeah, of course, Yeah. And I like what you said about,

24:42

you know, there being a fear of success because

24:44

I think like there was never

24:47

down in my mind that I'll be good at music,

24:49

you know what I mean, But there was. I'm a married

24:51

man. I've been married for fifteen years,

24:54

my wife being with my wife at twenty and

24:57

you know, the type of music I make and the

24:59

artartists that everyone wanted me to be,

25:03

me being a married man, those two things

25:05

didn't mix. So you know, there

25:07

was always this push and pull of

25:10

you know what I mean. I want to succeed, but

25:13

you know, I don't know what it's going to look

25:15

like, you know what I mean. And as

25:17

I started to progress in my career, I started

25:19

to notice that, you know, people

25:22

didn't give a fuck about my marriage, you know

25:24

what I mean. And that made it very hard

25:26

for me to enjoy

25:29

my career, you know what I mean, and enjoy the successes

25:32

of my music. And then on top of that, the

25:35

attention that you get when you're in the position

25:37

we're in makes it very hard for you to

25:39

be you know, to see

25:41

things how everyone else sees it. Let's feel like that,

25:44

you know what I mean. It's used your view on

25:47

you know, relationships and people, and

25:50

it really kind of like set me back because

25:52

I didn't go about it the right way, you know what I mean.

25:55

I wasn't doing a good job of just taking care

25:57

of myself first, you know what I mean. I

25:59

was so concerned with what everybody thought about

26:01

me and what everybody wanted me to be as an artist and stuff

26:03

like that, and I was people pleasing and things like that,

26:06

and then I was just neglecting my

26:09

relationship with my wife. You know what I mean,

26:11

for this image of serve that I thought

26:13

I needed to be, and then I got sick of

26:15

him, and you know, it had

26:17

already caused problems at home. Didn't

26:19

want to go back to who he was, and found this

26:21

middle place of like, I'm just gonna silently

26:24

like self medicate, you

26:26

know what I mean, because I'm depressed, My home

26:29

life is messed up staring who

26:31

I want to be. But niggas love him. They

26:34

love that guy, you know what I

26:36

mean? And I just, you know, I started

26:38

to self medicate, and you know, didn't

26:40

tell anybody until it was too late. And once

26:42

I decided that it was time to tell people, the pandemic

26:45

happened, you

26:49

know. But you know, as someone that you

26:51

know doesn't give a fuck about like fame

26:54

or like, I don't do this for accolades. I actually

26:56

like love music. It's very

26:58

hard to appreciate artistry

27:00

and everything it comes with when

27:03

you know what I mean. People don't like

27:05

respect it or respect you. They don't respect

27:07

your humanity when they see you as an artist, you know what

27:09

I mean. And I had to learn that the hard way.

27:12

I was just gonna ask, what else did you have outside of rehab

27:15

coming out of COVID. You also it sounds

27:17

like you also have people around you that you may have had

27:19

to shuffle a little bit change.

27:21

Oh, for sure, for show for shows, I got,

27:23

I got friends I can't see, you know what

27:25

I mean. My

27:27

family was very hands on in my

27:29

health and my recovery, you know what I mean.

27:32

So me and my family we were

27:34

already tight knit, but this kind of just brought us

27:36

closer together. But yeah, I

27:38

definitely like my whole circle is different.

27:40

I don't got I got like two friends that I call, you

27:42

know what I mean. And for the most part, I speak to my mother,

27:44

my father, and my brothers and try to keep it like

27:46

that.

27:47

We haven't talked about your dad.

27:50

My dad. My

27:53

dad is a he's a funny guy. His

27:55

name's ron and he's gonna be on

27:59

the interview. It is, yes,

28:01

Ronald. Yeah,

28:05

my dad is the oldest of like six kids.

28:07

He's one of the most gentle people

28:09

you'll ever meet in your life. And he don't sing,

28:11

he don't do music. But he loves my

28:14

mama.

28:14

He loves you

28:17

know what I mean, sir, talk about growing up

28:19

in that like being a married man and

28:21

growing up and having that because a lot

28:23

of.

28:23

People have example, might

28:25

not mind you. My father, when I was growing

28:29

up, he spent some time in the pen. He

28:31

he had two strikes before I, before I

28:33

was you know, thought of so when

28:36

I when I was when I was six,

28:38

he got out of jail and never looked back,

28:40

you know, and took care of his family. And I've

28:42

seen him struggle so hard, you know what I mean.

28:45

You know, I having two strikes in the nineties, it

28:47

wasn't too much work for him. He you know, he was a limo

28:49

driver, he's a chaplain. He's

28:52

done so many different things just to provide

28:54

for us and give us opportunities to be

28:56

great. And we love him to death man. And he's

28:58

still you know, just superhands

29:00

on in my life. And you know, I talk to him all the

29:02

time. But I think he's

29:05

a funny guy because my dad is getting old, Like

29:07

he's an old man. Now what is old, sir?

29:10

Oh my gosh, she's an old

29:12

But what's even more, what's even more funny is my brother's

29:14

are turning into old man to meet and me and me

29:16

and my brothers we wake up in the morning with neck pains

29:18

and all kind of thirty seven. You know I ain't no

29:20

spring chicken. Man, Are you the youngest

29:22

of you had?

29:23

Three?

29:23

Yeah? Yeah? Wait hold

29:26

Steve smoke he thirty eight about

29:28

to be thirty nine.

29:30

Alas youngins man, it

29:32

was moving fast.

29:36

See this explains it because again

29:38

I'm thinking, like, damn

29:41

man, for twenty four year old,

29:43

this guy got a lot of wisdom under his belt.

29:46

Now now I get it. I get

29:48

it now. As

29:53

far as your pen game is concerned, how

29:57

hard is it to.

29:59

You use your music to express

30:02

what you're feeling inside.

30:04

I wouldn't say it's difficult. It just hurts when

30:06

I do it. You know, then this is like a superpower

30:09

I've developed over years of like trying,

30:11

of trial and error, just pulling

30:13

from emotional places. You know, I'm

30:15

really good at it. And you know the

30:17

poetry comes from pain. So it's

30:19

kind of a second nature thing for me

30:22

now.

30:22

Man.

30:22

And like right now I'm sitting in my house. I

30:24

haven't written a song in like probably three four months.

30:27

I'm like an out of practice musician, it feels like,

30:29

but I know as soon as I sit down to do it,

30:31

I know my process. I know what I want

30:33

out of these songs and if I hear the music

30:36

and it's it's there, the songs down there already

30:38

written at this point, you know what I mean.

30:40

But that comes from years of working.

30:43

I put so much time in that people don't see, you

30:45

know what I mean, with songwriting, writing for other artists,

30:47

writing for myself. I got a pile of probably

30:50

five hundred songs that I ain't never

30:52

gonna see the light of day. But I go back and listen to

30:54

them and examine them and pick them apart, just

30:56

to you know, try to find too

30:58

my craft, you know. But I'm

31:01

proud that people like know me as like a songwriter,

31:03

like they actually like the lyrics and ship like that,

31:05

because you know, I don't put you

31:08

know, I don't want to like ever ever,

31:10

you know, assume that people listen

31:13

to my ship and they love it,

31:15

you know, they love what I got to say, you know what I mean. I'm

31:18

crashing down, that's my record. Yeah.

31:21

Yeah, I'm blessed to be in

31:23

a position I'm in. Like a lot of people just they try

31:25

to say cool ship, you know what I mean, I'm

31:28

trying. I'm trying to dig

31:31

so the end that it's relatable

31:33

to the outer world, you know, what I mean. I think

31:35

that's my secret.

31:36

When you sit down to write, are you like a

31:38

lyrics guy first or melody guy first?

31:41

It depends. Yeah, it

31:43

all depends.

31:45

You know that.

31:45

People people that try to say that one or the other don't

31:48

really to me, I ain't doing it right, you

31:50

know what I mean? Because you you know it's

31:52

this is this is I

31:54

don't know. It's like basketball. And in a basketball game,

31:56

you dribbling down the court, You're not gonna shot the same shot every

31:58

time, you know what I mean? You got to have some kind of

32:00

you know, knowledge of where you're at

32:03

and what you know what the court is dictating.

32:05

So my songwriting is dictated

32:07

about the court that I'm standing on.

32:10

When it comes to your songs, is it more of a

32:12

your writing songs and artists or A

32:15

and R are picking the songs, or is it also

32:17

to your writing songs for certain people?

32:20

No, just right now, I don't write for anybody. I

32:22

have a pile. And you know, even when I

32:24

was writing for other people, I never really wrote for them. I didn't

32:26

like, sit down like, Okay, I need the Beyonce song. I

32:28

hate them niggas that shit. Don't that that shits trash.

32:31

Let me write a.

32:32

Song for Beyonce. Want to get up on

32:34

a Beyonce rat? No, No, I

32:37

just write vis you know what I mean?

32:41

Now, I came from that. I came from like we were what

32:43

works first. People don't know I was in. We were writing

32:45

songs for other people. My brothers had

32:48

big placements, they at Usher placements and like John

32:50

placements back in the day. And that's what really like sold

32:52

me on becoming like a musician.

32:55

So my first like before I wrote my own

32:57

projects, we were working on like

32:59

writing for the people, and I was in a songwrinning

33:01

camp of six motherfuckers. So

33:04

you know that taught me a lot about who

33:06

I wanted to be as a writer.

33:08

Can you explain to me what those I always

33:10

hear about those types of camps, especially

33:13

from artists that come on this show. Never been

33:15

a part of those camps because apparently

33:18

I'm doing it wrong.

33:19

Like, no, you're doing it right,

33:21

brother.

33:24

I don't know, But what are camps like?

33:26

Because it's also like it's every it's is

33:28

it every man for himself?

33:29

Is it like you're off of blood?

33:31

Like I got to get a placement on this record, and

33:34

it's pretty.

33:35

It's pretty cut throat at certain points, but

33:38

I mean, I'm so displaced from it. I haven't been in

33:40

a camp for ten years, man, so

33:42

I don't know. I don't know what they like nowadays.

33:45

But when I was doing it, it was tough.

33:47

It was tough. So what we used to do

33:49

because we all loved each other and we wanted everyone

33:52

wanted to succeed, as we would break songs down into pieces

33:55

that's not mine. That's how Woodworks did it. Somebody

33:57

got the first verse, we're writing a hook together. Somebody

33:59

got I can burtse, somebody get a bridge, you know what I mean? Yeah,

34:03

that and that was I mean, that didn't always

34:06

work, but that was the game plan. That's how we went into

34:08

the situations. And then it

34:10

would if you're going into a writing camp

34:12

where it's like a whole bunch of individuals writers

34:14

that are coming in, Like look, okay, let's say Tyree

34:17

sets up a camp where he has producers the writers in

34:19

come. That is very cutthroat

34:21

because everyone's writing by themselves on their

34:23

own little setup to bring to play to Tyree

34:25

so that he can choose what records he's gonna cut.

34:28

You know what, I mean, and that was a different environ

34:31

I can say that the songwriters that I've come

34:33

across, they're they're all very competitive,

34:36

but you know there is a community

34:38

of like I'm going to help you out.

34:40

You know.

34:40

It was never so cutthroat that work

34:42

wasn't getting done.

34:43

I can only imagine that, you know, if

34:46

it's coming from your insides and

34:49

it's your song, it's like your child.

34:51

So I wonder, like, all

34:53

right, well I got a first verse,

34:56

you know, And I do I do believe in that whole

34:59

thing of how inspiration hit you that

35:02

you know, you have to be in the right environment acquired him.

35:04

I mean, some people need to be in a chaotic of environment.

35:07

I know people that feel like they need

35:09

to be in arguments with their girlfriend or

35:11

you know, whatever whatever floats their book.

35:13

But to have the ideas come.

35:15

Quincy Jones on the episode That

35:17

Will Never Come Out says that all

35:19

of his ideas come at one in the morning, that

35:21

sort of thing. But I don't know,

35:24

I can't imagine like, Okay, having

35:26

half a song and just in the name

35:29

of time, like all right,

35:31

well you take it over now it's your child

35:33

and we're co parents. Like I

35:35

just never understood that process. Like I always

35:37

felt like, once this song comes out of you,

35:40

you should see it through soup the nuts. But

35:43

you know, I don't know, like do you recommend

35:46

writers camps or for

35:48

you it's it's better when it's

35:50

just coming from you, isolated alone.

35:53

Well as an artist,

35:54

I don't recommend writing

35:56

camps, but I do recommend writing with other

35:59

writers. Like, for example,

36:01

there's an artist in Jazzi that

36:03

is she's a singer songwriter and she's

36:05

very popular. I brought

36:07

her in to help me write the song

36:09

that I have with Ti Dallas Sign on the album.

36:12

And I did it because you know,

36:14

when creating albums, I feel

36:16

like you need to have different Like

36:20

let's just use the word vibes. I hate the word, but

36:22

let's you gotta you gotta have different.

36:25

Different.

36:26

This is how I know you're not twenty all right, exactly.

36:30

You gotta have different There has to be

36:32

some type of variety, you

36:34

know, to to the sound. In my opinion,

36:37

to make a great project. You

36:39

know, it's really hard to pull off when

36:41

it's just you in your head, you know what

36:43

I mean. I feel like I've I've

36:47

learned to let people

36:49

in because people, you

36:51

know, can improve something for

36:54

you, you know, can make something better by you

36:56

know, looking at it from their perspective, you

36:58

know. And I can learn a lot still,

37:01

you know, I definitely don't think I know

37:03

everything. So having help, you

37:05

know what I mean, to get you through

37:07

your own thoughts isn't a bad thing. It just

37:09

depends on how you handle it, you know. And

37:11

I think I've I've had years

37:13

of trial and era with working with other artists, so

37:16

I know what I like. Immedia, It'll take ten minutes

37:18

for me to decide if we actually gonna do the session, you

37:21

know what I mean, Like if

37:23

we're sitting down and you know, once I'm

37:25

locked in with somebody, it's gonna go smoothly. But

37:27

it's all trial and there, and I

37:30

feel like I've learned for

37:32

me, I need help, and

37:34

my music sounds better when I have the right

37:37

type of help. So it's not just about having

37:39

a whole bunch of songwriters people come in. It's about having

37:41

the right of.

37:44

All the storied clicks

37:49

in contemporary music. You

37:51

know, start with native tongues, and then start

37:53

with Wu tang, and start with death

37:56

throw tde to

37:58

Me is well one one

38:00

of the most ubiquitous, but also on the other

38:02

side of that coin, one of the most mysterious

38:05

organizations that I

38:09

know of but don't know jack about.

38:12

Are we all right?

38:14

Look when you join.

38:15

This organization number one, I'm

38:18

gonna be impression that if you join TDE then

38:21

yeah, like Sizza and Isaiah

38:24

and Schoolboy and Absol and

38:26

Doshi and like the whole clique

38:28

are all family

38:31

in like working together on each other's projects

38:33

and that sort of thing.

38:35

But like, what is it like? Because I

38:37

know nothing about about Anthony and.

38:40

It is it is right. We

38:43

were just talking about the songwriting camps. It is

38:45

the songwriting camps at the highest

38:47

level. So everybody, everybody

38:49

is alp for blood. We are all hungry, we

38:52

are all independent. We help each

38:54

other out where we can, but we all got careers

38:56

to take care of. Now, mind you,

38:58

we're family, you know what I mean. And

39:00

we're very tight. We're very close

39:03

knit, you know what I mean. But man,

39:06

TD, there's still a learning curve

39:08

for me, you know what I mean. Let's

39:10

take away the music industry like him

39:12

his bloods, these game members, you

39:14

know what I mean. And yeah, from

39:17

l A, so I gotta, I gotta, I gotta first

39:20

just respect that, you know what I mean. Like

39:22

at at any given time, she

39:25

can go a sour and you

39:27

know, all hell could break loose on this side,

39:29

you know. So I just had to learn who I

39:31

was dealing with and learned that. You

39:33

know, respect is

39:36

earned, you know what I mean, before it's

39:38

given in this circle. And we

39:40

don't tolerate disrespect. We don't tolerate

39:43

ignorance stuff like that. Top Is like, he's

39:45

hardcore man, and as hardcore as he is,

39:47

he's also very gentle and very loving. He's a father

39:50

of like nine kids. He's got a lot of children.

39:52

Yeah, top is a is an interesting dude.

39:54

Man's Charlie Mack.

39:57

You know. But as

39:59

far as the egos, I will say this,

40:02

I've never been in a place where

40:04

I'm that motivated

40:06

to stand out in my life. There's

40:08

so many great things happening. It just makes me want

40:11

to work so much harder to be the best version of myself.

40:13

Sizzle's on top of the planet. Motherfucking

40:16

do she scares me? Scares

40:19

me? Oh? I did.

40:22

Yeah, if you're not familiar, go

40:25

check out. That's the Florida girl. And she

40:28

she's like, yeah, you can't tell me nothing.

40:30

I know music, and I know what I like. I

40:32

know beyond what I like, what is proper

40:35

like. I know, I know when it when it hits,

40:37

when it's smacks, and when when the artist behind

40:40

it knows how to make it smack. This

40:42

bitch.

40:44

I didn't even know she was with y'all. I like, what, y'all,

40:47

that's great.

40:47

Look, look I met I met dochiuh

40:50

like uh, I guess

40:53

a couple of weeks before they announced she was starting to TV.

40:55

When they first came, she came in so nice and played

40:57

me some records. She played

40:59

me the craziest

41:02

records. What's the song that she has out?

41:04

You probably won't know anyway, but she played me something

41:06

that.

41:06

I was like.

41:08

I was floored. Well,

41:11

lord, this is one of the most talented

41:14

women in the game right now, and I knows,

41:16

you know, scissors scissors and deserves everything

41:18

that's going on. But Adolcie, he

41:20

could ask about Doci, she gonna say the same

41:22

thing. I'm scared of that girl.

41:25

You know.

41:25

But that's the environment that TD creates. It

41:27

creates monsters, it creates people that are so hungry

41:30

that you ain't don't give a fun what y'ad got going

41:32

on?

41:32

It's me?

41:33

Is this this is PD or it's nothing

41:35

else, you know what I mean? And it's always gonna be that.

41:37

As an avid watcher of

41:40

King of the Hill, can you please.

41:43

Explain your logic behind John Redcorn.

41:45

We can talk about King of the Hill all day. Okay, let

41:48

go of my person. I don't know you, okay.

41:51

Oh, John Redcorn he was the indigenous

41:53

dude on in King of the Hill. Yes, that was married to the blonde

41:56

right right, Yeah, I.

41:58

Know John Redcord was not

42:00

married, motherfucker.

42:04

He was the dude on the side.

42:06

Dale Gribble is blind and

42:08

when he could not see what was.

42:10

Going on, he was dirty.

42:11

Now there was a boy on the show, his name

42:14

was Joseph,

42:18

but we all know the truth behind

42:20

that whole story. Now that now, mind you and

42:22

me and my wife like we we oh

42:26

my gosh, we burned King of Hill into the ground. I've

42:28

watched the season finale so many times and like

42:30

I'm I'm a huge, huge

42:32

fan of John

42:35

Redcorn in general, just because of the episode

42:37

that I remember him on. Yeah,

42:39

and you know that song, that song

42:41

was a happy accident. Let's be honest. Nobody

42:44

expect. I didn't expect that motherfucker to go as crazy

42:46

as it did, but it did.

42:47

I only asked you simply because you know, oftentimes

42:50

artists, especially under the umbrella

42:54

hip hop, and I kind of blamed ghost Face

42:56

for this, where they'll just title their song

42:58

anything that has nothing to do with the song.

43:00

Yeah.

43:01

But when I saw that, I was like, nah,

43:04

there's something deeper behind this besides

43:06

just naming it John Redcorn,

43:09

and especially I know the character that he

43:11

is, and it was

43:14

curious to how you landed

43:16

there, and so I.

43:19

Actually started with with I was like,

43:21

I was watching King of the Hill and

43:23

we were watching I was watching the episode where

43:26

Joseph was like it was like a Joseph

43:29

John Redcord episode. Yeah, and

43:32

you know he left and was

43:35

just and it's always crying in a car or

43:37

something like that, and it just it made

43:39

me so sad. I was like, oh my

43:42

gosh, this poor guy. And

43:44

the first verse came of the hook came immediately

43:46

alone every night alone, and

43:48

I was like, this might be interesting, and I

43:51

started I wrote that I actually helped produce that

43:53

song. So I did drums

43:55

first, I beat by and then I did the harmonies.

43:58

And recorded over the harmonies and then had somebody

44:01

coming in and play guitar, so I have musicians

44:03

build around my I

44:08

did my little three part or whatever, and

44:10

we went from there. But you know that

44:12

that was, like I said, a happy accident. But

44:15

it definitely helped, like

44:17

shape how I wrote songs for the next few

44:19

years because of how people responded to it.

44:21

You know, it made me a little more adventurous.

44:24

It made me want to connect the dots before

44:26

I sat down to write. I do a lot of that, like

44:29

a lot of repping before I actually write

44:31

the song in thought where I

44:33

you know, I listened to the music, I said, I'm listening to the beat, but

44:35

I'm also trying to just figure

44:37

out, you know, what would go good

44:39

over the beat and blah blah blah. But anyway,

44:42

you know this this is like John

44:45

Redcorn is my baby, man. It's it's it's

44:47

the gift that keeps done giving.

44:49

I love that song, man

44:51

for real. I wanted to ask you about one of your collaborators

44:54

you've been working with over the years,

44:56

Dek the Punisher Man. Hey

44:59

and you guys, y'all relationship in y'all's

45:01

creative chemistry, how did that come about.

45:03

Me and DK met through one

45:05

of my favorite people on the planet, Qui. I

45:08

don't know you remember. I think I met you back in the day

45:10

through this guy, through Andre Harris, through are

45:14

Yes. Yeah. Yeah, dang, you've

45:16

been to a Playlist retreat. I met you got the

45:18

Playlist retreat.

45:19

You've come to Jeff's thing.

45:21

Yeah, yeah, I've been. I was there the first three

45:23

years and then the drug.

45:25

I mean,

45:27

you know what.

45:27

The night I came to the Playlist Retreat, I got

45:30

there late from the tonight show and

45:32

there.

45:33

Was a taco truck outside it. And

45:35

what they failed to tell me was that all the tacos

45:38

were infused.

45:40

And I at that time, I

45:43

was, you know, post pandemic, I microdos,

45:45

I like edibles. I'm very lightweight,

45:48

and so I downed about four of those

45:50

tacos because I was starving, and

45:53

I found out the hard way.

45:56

Yeah, don't Oh yeah, this

45:58

night was interesting. Oh you four you' all around?

46:00

Yeah, the most euphoric tacos you'll

46:02

ever have in your life.

46:03

Correct.

46:05

But I actually met DK the Punisher

46:08

in two thousand and ten at

46:11

Andre Harris's house. This is the first

46:13

opportunity I had to write songs as

46:15

just as songwriter. Nobody's engineer was

46:18

given to me by Andre Harris, and

46:20

me and DK met working

46:23

under Andre Harris, and we got great placements,

46:26

had some great work. Met Miss Jill got

46:28

placements on the Woman project. You know, I

46:30

did Fool's Goal. DK produced Fools

46:32

Gold for Miss Jill on her last project.

46:35

Nice.

46:36

But like, that's my brother at this point.

46:38

That's that's and

46:40

you know, that's my Baltimore connect, you

46:42

know, so I like me

46:45

and him have a different type of relationship

46:48

now outside of music. Like I'm about to call him right

46:50

now. We're supposed to work out today, so it's

46:52

going to go link up. But that's my literal

46:55

brother at this point. And musically,

46:58

you know, me and him

47:00

just click whenever we decide to work. It

47:02

just works now, y'all boys. That chemistry

47:04

man, man. But the music industry is

47:07

tough man. DK actually had to shift.

47:09

He's a web developer now, so you

47:11

know, and this is one thing that I always recommend

47:14

to, you know, career musicians, if

47:16

it's not paying your rent, like, don't force

47:19

that, don't be a broke musician. I don't recommend that

47:21

for anybody having experienced that go

47:23

get you a fucking job. You're getting. Your job

47:25

isn't going to take away from your talent. It's going to make it

47:27

easier for you to get things done if you really think

47:29

about it. You know. So DK did

47:31

that, and of course he still has placements

47:34

on Heavy. He's still working, you know what I mean.

47:36

But I'm happy for him because

47:38

his life is balanced out now and

47:40

he can focus on being a better musician because

47:42

he has a career to

47:45

kind of.

47:45

Balance another skill, another skill.

47:49

You didn't mention, what was your first placement? That's what I asked

47:51

the mirror that I forgot.

47:52

My first placement. Oh my god,

47:55

a song called Drink Saints Free

47:57

by Warren G. Oh

48:00

wow, all right, I like

48:02

that face.

48:05

That came out of nowhere. All right, Yeah, it's

48:08

a peculiar.

48:08

It's a peculiar. One artist

48:11

named Mono Maury, which is yeah

48:13

shouts of man, yeah, Eman

48:16

is the one that set that session up. He called me like girl,

48:18

Hey, hey, I got a chest with Warren G. Pull up and

48:20

then we pulled up and uh

48:23

yeah, I got I got my little part off.

48:32

Can you talk about the LA music

48:35

scene because I'm curious about the camaraderie

48:37

because I heard you mention the interviews before that it's a lot

48:39

of competition, but there's got to be camaraderie because

48:42

you collaborate with Anderson, You've collaborated,

48:45

uh with I'm guessing like the majority

48:47

of folks out here. So, but what

48:50

is the scene? Like, where do y'all go to? Like,

48:52

what's the club? It just doesn't feel like LA

48:55

is like that, like Billy, Yeah,

48:57

I know, it's weird.

49:00

That ain't no, ain't no scene for me. I

49:02

came to myself now l A the LA

49:04

musicians like it's like, all right,

49:06

so you go to you know how you go to LA shows and the crowd

49:08

just like stares at you. Yes, yeah,

49:11

that's how. That's how the LA musicians. Then feels

49:13

like we don't really get along like you think we

49:16

would. Nah, it ain't no camaraderie

49:18

or anything like that. CD is td

49:20

E. We keep to ourselves and it's everybody

49:22

else outside of that circuit.

49:24

Tie td though, right tis not a TDH

49:28

Yeah.

49:29

No, no no, but that's

49:31

like TYE is time. It's

49:33

hard to get to the only reason I like have

49:36

these connections because I'm me and I don't say that like

49:38

as a musician, like the type of person I am.

49:41

You know, once you meet me and you shake my

49:43

hand and you start to talk to you understand that I have

49:45

no ill intention. I really respect

49:48

the art and the game. And I think

49:50

that goes a long way with a lot of artists like Anderson.

49:52

I was a fan of hands and I met him when he was

49:55

still Breezy Love Joy and you

49:57

know he was I forgot

49:59

the project. It had a song on their I was like, take me to

50:01

the Star Gay and Black be

50:03

in the Space, this

50:06

beautiful song. And I met him and

50:08

FANBOYD and like was genuine about

50:10

it, Like, wasn't you know I didn't want to like

50:13

act all hard.

50:13

I was like, yo, I.

50:14

Love your shit, man, Oh my gosh it.

50:16

Me and him have been friends ever since because

50:19

I was genuine and like when I meet people like ty

50:21

and and you know, I was always genuine.

50:23

So I feel like they

50:26

see me come back around with my own stuff and they

50:28

want to help, they want to work because of the type of person

50:30

I am. And that's the thing. It's always a people thing for

50:32

me, you know what I mean. I don't care where you're from,

50:35

what you do long's you go. Good people, you know,

50:37

and I'm here to support that.

50:38

You see that in a circle back, even when you mentioned

50:40

Jill and how you had met her as an engineer

50:42

and then y'all ended up collaborating on your

50:44

album, I was like, well that speaks volumes.

50:47

Yeah for sure, for sure, And I mean, shout out

50:49

to Miss Jill Man. She's still

50:51

very instrumental. Like when I was going through all of

50:54

my drug youth, she was calling me and

50:56

like, didn't nobody call me, didn't nobody check

50:58

in on me? Yeah, she called me

51:00

the other day just about my mother, just to check in and

51:03

by my album. She called me to let me know she

51:05

heard my shit and like she loved

51:07

it, you know what I mean. And that shout out to Miss

51:09

jail Yeah, I mean, you guys know it's Jilly

51:13

and shout out to Philly. Let's let's

51:15

start there. Let me go back, shout out to

51:17

Philadelphia. Okay, all of

51:19

my music connects or all of the things

51:21

that are all of the people that have

51:24

really like put on for me are from

51:26

Philly, you know what I mean. And I mean,

51:29

you guys, I don't know what's in the water, but

51:32

like the talent even now, the talent

51:34

pool is phenomenal, you know what I

51:36

mean. And I'm glad to be a part

51:38

of that community. I'm glad to say that I'm

51:41

somewhat a part of that community of people.

51:43

You know.

51:44

Well, thank you, brother, I appreciate that.

51:46

Before we close, I gotta

51:48

ask, can you tell

51:51

me? And I'm asking more personally,

51:54

like, what was the process

51:57

the steps to your your health journey?

51:59

Now out?

52:01

You know a lot of prayer, a lot of prayer.

52:04

And when I mean health journey, I'm actually mean your

52:07

physical health journey, because oh

52:09

oh, I.

52:10

Tell you a lot of prayer.

52:13

I still right, Well,

52:15

now you know, all right, So I'm

52:17

a foodie. I love to eat, and during

52:19

all of this, you know, the pandemic

52:22

and stuff, all we had was postmates sitting at

52:24

the house. I got up to about two hundred and fifty pounds.

52:27

But yeah, yes,

52:30

look, and you know even

52:32

now, I'm I'm just shocked to see

52:34

where I got. To honestly

52:36

answer your question, I don't know how all this happened. I

52:39

just I was I was just

52:41

standing on a wing in the prayer man, no,

52:45

no, no. I started I started by

52:48

asking questions, what did I want you know what

52:50

I mean, who do I want to be? What do I want to look like? And

52:53

I came up with a goal to get down

52:55

to two hundred pounds. And after

52:58

I lost a few pounds, I got

53:00

to this point where I wasn't losing any more weight. So

53:02

I got a nutritionist because I felt like my

53:04

eating was the biggest thing. So

53:07

my nutrition is this the real reason? And I'm

53:09

in shape. I'm in now. You taught me how to spread

53:11

my meals out. He taught me how, you

53:13

know, eat the right amount of protein, make sure I

53:15

get the right kind of carbs in. So my diet

53:18

did everything.

53:20

You know, sugar, what you're doing with?

53:22

No bread, no sugar, no salt, no life,

53:24

no love, no hoogs, no happiness.

53:30

With you Right now, man, I'm drinking

53:33

my salads. That's right,

53:35

That's right, these damn seaweed

53:38

chips.

53:39

On a personal note, if y'all ever

53:41

need information on the I'm a wealth of knowledge

53:43

when it comes to like healthy and yeah, like

53:46

that, you know, because it's important, especially

53:48

for us. It's black folk, you know what I mean. We have our

53:50

issues and we need to pass knowledge around so

53:52

that we can all you know, thrive and be healthy.

53:54

So feel like you need some information,

53:57

man, feel free to reach out broad got you.

53:58

So, sir, you want to functional mushrooms? You

54:01

want to.

54:02

No mushrooms, That's that's part of my I can't do mushrooms.

54:05

No, No, not rooms,

54:07

sir. I'm talking about.

54:10

I do the badrooms.

54:11

Yeah, not a I'm talking.

54:13

About the other on the

54:16

coffee rooms over here. That's mutual.

54:18

Okay, you did say that, you did that, like matter

54:21

of fact, I'm right now. We have some in the kitchen.

54:24

Yeah, my

54:27

multi vitamin for sure. I definitely

54:30

like try to stay as healthy as possible. But I

54:32

mean I feel like people that

54:34

need multivitamins are eating like ship.

54:36

You know what I mean. Eat healthy, You need to do all the

54:38

extra ship. Just just do. Put some greens

54:40

in your body. This is one. Here's the note of the

54:42

day. If you're gonna eat like crap, put

54:45

something green on your stomach first, because

54:47

there's something inside of you

54:49

know, in the fiber or so. There's a chemical that

54:51

gets put in your stomach and it lines your stomach and

54:54

helps you digest your food better if you eat green

54:56

before you eat anything else. So just eat a little

54:58

salad before you eat anything else that'll

55:00

help out.

55:00

Yes, Sally, you're not like a.

55:04

If you if you blending if? Yeah, the juice works.

55:06

I'm not a salad fan at all, so all my

55:08

juice, you are salads.

55:11

So smart man, smart man, and

55:13

it works just as well.

55:14

Can I ask Fat Sir one question I did? I'd like

55:16

to ask Fat sir old faster. Can

55:19

you tell me though, in Inglewood three

55:21

of your favorite places to eat, because I just would

55:23

like to know there right now, Inglewood Service?

55:27

All right, all right, if

55:29

you just want to like small little breakfast spot,

55:32

Emma is and it's a hole in

55:34

the wall. This is our bodegga. Okay,

55:36

So now Emma's

55:38

is on Market in Manchester. She right

55:40

across the street from the swat. Mean, she's

55:43

just a little hole in the wall. But you go in

55:45

there. You just get you a breakfast burrito, Emma to take.

55:47

Care of it.

55:48

I'm a breakfast burrito theme, so thank you. I'm always

55:50

on the chase.

55:50

Okay, all right, So now and you tell it. You

55:53

tell her that Daniel sent you. Don't tell it Daryl

55:55

sent.

56:00

Extra g a yeah, uh

56:03

Doulans really you

56:05

don't like see you

56:08

have me no, you just disrespected.

56:11

I thought it was commercial. I didn't

56:13

know if it was.

56:14

Dolens is all we got. No,

56:16

I'm not gonna say it's the best. So who out

56:18

here because they be lying, But Dolings

56:21

is what we got. So go get

56:23

you somebode. Go get you from the sun, some

56:25

some smother chicken from Duelings. You'll be all

56:27

right.

56:28

Now, give me a healthy spot, give me one of the last spot

56:30

and simply hot.

56:32

The Oh well, yeah, that's I live down the street.

56:34

Okay, perfect, Ye, that's not that's not Inglewood, but that's

56:36

that's where we go. That's where we go.

56:39

Y'all know my two cents anymore, that's

56:41

spout.

56:42

That's not my spot. No, no, no, no, that's

56:45

out of towns Inglewood spot.

56:46

I support my two cents.

56:49

Ain't nothing wrong with that shout off.

56:51

To Dustin Felder, but simply holds theme. It's

56:53

historic in in uh of

56:55

course South l A. And the ownership so got

56:58

it?

56:58

Got it?

56:59

Well, thanks sir, I

57:02

thank you for taking time out to speak

57:04

to us. Also, godspeed on

57:06

on your good

57:09

energy to her. But more than that, I

57:11

really appreciate just you and

57:14

applaud your ability to not only

57:16

share your life, not only for

57:18

your music, but in your personal story, your recovery

57:22

and just your your daily walk.

57:24

And it's it's needed.

57:25

And especially the air quote

57:27

tumultuous times that we're in when

57:29

you're watching a lot

57:31

of the old guard get

57:33

dealt with and you're seeing the new

57:35

guard come into play.

57:38

You know this is overdue

57:41

and needed.

57:42

And I applaud you and thank

57:44

you for coming on and of course love to Supreme to

57:46

share your story with us.

57:47

Man.

57:47

Thank you, Man. I really appreciate

57:50

you guys inviting me Man, and and just to

57:52

say, I'm a huge fan, Bro, I have been

57:54

for years and years and years. I gonna

57:56

gash you too much, man, but you you.

57:58

I look up to you, man, and thank

58:00

you brother.

58:01

It's a pleasure to talk to you.

58:03

Thank you, Thank you for having man that the album

58:06

is dope. But the song like that's my

58:08

favorite record on the album. That's

58:10

just a beautiful song, Man, really really

58:13

vulnerable. Just the vocal performance on it is just

58:15

really beautiful. Man, So thank you, thank you,

58:17

thank you for saying that.

58:18

Bro. I really appreciate that this this album

58:20

is a laborer love and you know,

58:23

I'm just excited to start getting out here and

58:25

performing these songs and getting through this.

58:27

It's gonna be tough.

58:29

It's not gonna

58:31

be tough.

58:32

Well, this this album is it's

58:34

gonna.

58:34

Take one step at a time. Nah man, Just look,

58:36

it was uncomfortable. Go with it.

58:39

If it's out of your comfort zone, go with it.

58:42

I've learned not to hold back on my emotions. If

58:44

I got to cry on stage, I'm gona let it out.

58:46

But we're gonna get through it, for sure.

58:48

That's important. I applaud that ship.

58:50

All right, we have a particular Sugar

58:52

Steve, get your network back, bro.

58:55

We thank you all are here and uh

59:00

I'm changing.

59:04

Shout the cousin Jake and Brittany,

59:07

thank you and sir big

59:09

up.

59:11

We'll see you next week.

59:12

Quest Love Supreme all right, yes,

59:15

sir, thank

59:17

you for listening to Quest Love Supreme. This podcast

59:19

is hosted by Mere Quest Love, Thompson, Maya,

59:22

Saint Clair Fante, Coleman, Sugar,

59:24

Steve Mandell, and myself. I'm paying Bill

59:26

Sherman. The executive producers are mer

59:29

who just walked into the goddamn room, Thompson,

59:31

Sean Jean, and Brian Calhoun. Produced

59:34

by Brittany Benjamin, Jake Pain, and Lias Sinclair.

59:37

Edited by Alex Conroy, I Know Alice

59:39

Conroy. Produced for iHeart by

59:41

Noel Brown.

59:43

West. Love Supreme is a production of iHeart

59:46

Radio. For

59:49

more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the

59:51

iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

59:54

or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.