Terrace Martin

Published Oct 3, 2024, 6:00 PM

In this episode of the R&B Money Podcast, hosts Tank and J. Valentine sit down with the multi-talented producer, musician, and artist, Terrace Martin. Known for his innovative blend of jazz, hip-hop, and R&B, Terrace takes us on a journey through his dynamic career, from collaborating with music giants like Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg to his roots in South Central Los Angeles. He shares intimate stories about his creative process, how he approaches making timeless music, and the importance of staying true to oneself as an artist. Tune in for a deep dive into the mind of one of the most influential musicians of our time and hear Terrace Martin's insights on the future of music, collaboration, and the magic behind the music.

Whether you're a fan of R&B, jazz, or hip-hop, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the evolution of sound and the artistry that drives it.

 

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Podcast: @RnbMoneyPodcast

R and B Money. We are.

Take Boloti.

We are the authority on all things R and Ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Tank, I'm Valentine, and this is the arm Money Podcast, the.

Authority, yes, sir, on all things R and B and A. I'm sick, yeah of you not knowing here how to use your instrument? All your instrument? Who if these walls could talk? Oh my my mind? Yeah?

Well studied, yeah, yeah, loyal to it, honestry groomed, yeah, how musician?

What? Yeah? Who is it again? I'm sick of the Tans moment in the building. I made it. I made it. Yes, I'm on this show. I made it.

I've been pressing you about this show. You can't press me after you you know what. We're gonna go into that God sometimes universe roll bumps, No, no, no, no, let's get into this because he tried me. He tried me immediately, and I wasn't gonna bring it up because I don't let nobody cancel it did come?

They don't cancel it?

Did come on the podcast after they cancel on this. If you canceled, you just canceled. But you're my friend in real life.

For forgiving thank you, thank you, thank you for I run into you at the whole fol everywhere I run to you, I run to your real life. When I first ran to you, it was you and your father giving Snoop a paperback with a lot of money again County late one night. That's what I do know. I've seen that. I seen y'all that money. You and daddy come down like clear the roong. Hmm, yeah, clear the wroong. Yeah, they doing music and money. Yeah. Shout out to j T the Bigger Fixure. Shout out to j T the Bigger and Jilly.

Yeah them out man, because they made that happen.

That happen.

We came and got a verse. It was called uh. The song was called Get with This Pimper.

Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember that night.

It was written by Static and had a trade off about that record.

Yeah yeah, we traded songs I had.

I gave him a song called Miracles and he gave me give it this Pamper and you came down.

Then I went and got the Snoop cat I had to saw yeah, yeah, all hondles. Yeah. We had to count it out with Pops too. That was hards family affair. That is the first time we met Broy. It was like then I just started hearing them from the Bay Area. I got folks in the Bay Area. So man, he born and raising this thing. Oh listen, because you know when you're from l A. You know, you think LA is the only place in the world. When you were a kid, you think l A is like we the rather you a church or jazz or whatever. You just think it's l A. You know. But Man, I started going to those those uh Hawking family type things up in the Bay Area, those those church God in Christ conventions up there. Yeah, I know, but but but I start hearing this meeting like Thomas Prison, all these different dudes in different Bay Area dudes. But I just always was hearing your name all through different different circus and of course your pops for sure, because you know that's another circuit. You know what I'm saying that's connected to the church. It is. It's all why not, it's all true.

You you're you're you're, you're my kind of guy. Come on now, thank you Undertand what I'm saying, man, that's you're the you're the cloth.

Yeah, yeah, you're of bet fabric, my brother.

You're trying to get better that thing. That's what we're doing every day. But what you've done so far is immaculate. You know what I'm saying. It is strong and it speaks volumes for me coming out like you know, coming from church on the on the east side.

You know. Of course, the musicianship was the thing.

It was crazy, right, But then as I got more into R and B and producing and things like that, it seemed like the musician ship took a back seat to the production. And it wasn't until I got to the West Coast in early two thousands that I that I saw the musicianship being, if not more, just as important as the production. As I'm in there with Warren Campbell, like what are you doing?

What is all?

What do you need? All of this ship? Like a room full of everything? And he could play at all everything and it was all in the song.

He don't stop smiling while you do amazing. Battle Cat is just on everything. I'm like I was working with my caviar and overdose four knocks. They got me, got the guitar, nigga got the horn. I'm like hood niggas. I'm talking about playing full instruments.

Fresh off of selling something into the studio to play music right. And and then as I as I reflected my O G. He used to take me to a jazz night. Big Flint used to take me to a jazz night. I think it was on Mondays or Tuesdays in the hood. Say nigga, we're going to get We're going to hear some Musicga, we are you are you?

Are you like me?

Nigga full jazz, come on man like and so's when I got to this we, I was like, that's and that was a should't want to ask you before we do the deep back dive.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, how has that always remained a staple for the West where the musicianship is just always the leader, whether it be Snoop, whether it be Kendrick Lamar, whether it be Dre, whether it be what, it's always the music and the musicians.

I feel like me, well, I can speak on my kind of view, yeah, which may not be everybody's thing, but it it's a lot of people's think me myself, Thundercat, Kamasi Washington, a few of us, you know, but we grew up with in musician households and I was telling my son the other day, I said, at one, but I thought everybody played music because literally, in South Central LA, every third house in the eighties was a musician because people moved here from the South in different places to do what to do records, you know what I'm saying. So like to say, I always say, you know, the seventies, it probably was the most happiest times for black folks and music. Funk music makes so many people rich, you know what I'm saying. And the early eighties. I remember seeing as a kid at the early eighties, me going to different people's houses in View Park. It was it wasn't it wasn't regular, but it wasn't out of the norm for me to see somebody in the Darraw Heights that father is a producer, not even a famous producer, but I have an SSL in his living room, Like that wasn't that was? That was that was? And this was a black man. Yeah, yeah, because I didn't. I grew up in South Central I grew up in Inglewood and View Park and Baldon Hills, all these places. So I think with the music, I think the music is such a big part of Los Angeles culture. Like Barry White's from the hood like we It's like I always tell somebody just asked me the other day, man, what you know. I don't like to do this, but somebody did ask you know, what do you feel the differences between DJ Quick and Battlecat and that you know, I hate doing that because it'll make you compare, but it was a question, and I have to give an answer. So I had to think, and I think, and I said, oh t J. Quick is undeniably one of the greatest record producers that ever lived. Battle Cat, to me is undeniably one of the greatest orchestrators that ever lived, because when he writes music, it's when he puts together his music. It's like orchestration. It's very similar to one of my favorite composers is named Wayne Shorter. And Wayne Shorter wrote for Miles Davis everything. But he would do write on mainscript paper and say that, then maybe another day a whole different set of paper, write another piece, and then maybe one day remember that piece of paper and that piece of paper and put it together. You know, he would like he would he would have a concept of nothing is trash. Nothing is trash musically. And when I seen battle Cap composed, Like I seen him work out a baseline, because he's a baseline master, work out a baseline for a while. Will see him do step by step and bill bill bill, even some of the mistakes that I thought with mistakes which I probably shouldn't have, he would save on a separate sequence. Then at the end I'd be like, what is he doing? And then an hour later you have like a week of freaking a ged up. You have all these big records that he just piece at a time, took his time and orchestrated those records very detailed. You know what I'm saying, where quick as a master of like bringing that energy to that room, had them records feel is how he's producing it absolute if that record is moving, he's on that SSL dance in a movie. Why he's talking about impedance and all these other crazy things back and forth with people, you know what I'm saying. So that's that's that's but going. They're both from Los Angeles, I mean compt in LA. But they're both from Los Angeles. But they're both strong music based and I think just the culture of LA. I mean it's a record culture. It's just everybody in LA even before Instagram. Motherfucker was talking about they was the record producers and this and that it was just a record. We don't we grow up understanding what publishing is because we are able at seventeen to see a Warren Campbell drive through the parking lot with a Mercedes that's not even on the fucking in California yet, and say how did you how did you get that? And then he says writing music or not not to but I mean, you just know he's a record producer, he's a songwriter, he's a composer. So we see that at sixteen. Then we see the homie Charlie Barrel. At first we just looking at Warren the same way. Then the next year he signed the Warren what you do Man? I did a pub I'm doing, man, I'm doing I'm producing producing. Huh what what? Then you hear Walter Mills up except so youious it's rare and you see it, Kenny Krause making all this money with Eric clapping, So you see you so you see all these things. You know what I'm saying. Then you you know, you get with a Nie sougn and a rapture. Then you hear you hear things of a guy named Tank coming through the system. You go to the SAR rehearsal at seventeen, you see so anxious being right before the world hurt this ship and you're like, this is shit. You see they forming playing this is like these are genius. You see you you see a Nissan Stewart playing drums. Humble Nissan, right, It used to be this thing called the Praise Connection. All the beasts came out, all the amazing God from musicians, everybody came out right. Nissan always kind of played his thing where it's like I'm confident on me, I'm doing me. All these drummers to do all this, and for years that was the biggest thing. And I remember me always saying to myself like, damn, I'm trying to like what's special. I'm trying something special about Nissan. I'm getting to a point something special about n And then when I walked in thatw rehearsal and saw him play so anxious with his brother Rapture with two NBC three thousands on the side being then m D and they playing so anxious, and I saw a Nissan lock to that click track and still being able to move air with the kids drum. I said, oh, these niggas is geniuses, geniuses when I see when I see Dante play bass, and Dante was so infatuated with Andrew Bouchet and you know, but then when I see him now his his his thing that in the world at one point was like huh, but now his thing is like the sound like that. That group. That thing you came through was like monumental, high level, like Duke Ellington type ship to me, and it was just it was all under the the Master teacher to me, Davante. So so anything that you have, anything that goes under that has the opportunity to be blessed to go under that fabric. I'm always gonna pay attention to.

You know, man, listen, you're talking about niggas studying. Yeah, it's all of them. Yes, please go look up every name, all of them.

Yeah, shout out the Rapture Man changed my life, man, Rapture Man Man. One of my not my last casual gig. I've done plenty of casual gigs after this, but it sounds good if I say my last one. But uh, this is I don't know. This could have been ninety this could have been ninety six ninety seven. It was my first summer jam. I know that playing with Michelle like first summer jam and Rapturing that was playing with Missi and Timberlin. This was like the big deal, like they got a band and they was smashing all the Missy Timberlin music with these guys was just because they was using the cast that was on the record live. So it was like cheaters, you know, and they had the best anyway. So what was I saying? Was I just saying the last time you played a casual gig? It was it was in Palisades and it was for a doctor and Nie sounds on drums, raps on the keys. So you know, when you a casual band, this is before anybody got cracking your casual and you gotta eat. You gotta eat on the side by the kitchen. I can't be mingling with the people you in the band work. I'm sorry. Hell you all black. You're all black on this hot sun. It sounds like.

Slavery, That's what I'm getting too.

So we're eating right. And then Rapture I didn't have a card then I didn't even have to have my license or something like that. And then some came to the conversation, you know, rapped big big energy, rapture, big energy, and some came to the conversation where like, if if I was to give five thousand dollars, but what I do? And he was going down the table. If you was to get five thousand dollars, what would you do? Right? And somebody will say by He was like wrong, you know, you get five thousand, what would you do? I remember, just like yesterday. And then he got to me and I was like, if I got five thousand, I'm getting a car. He was like a car and I was like yeah, because y'all had to come give me a car. He was like, man, I'm a well he said, that's what you're gonna do. Said, I would get a drum machine. I would get an NPC so I can make more money than buy me the car. I won't. And for some reason that's simple logic.

That day just went it's a light bulb, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, because you were thinking of the now.

Man. I was just talking about the future. I was gigging, man, I was seventeen, trying to play the horn, play the Oregon, trying to make love to who I can make love too, and just put the NPC.

It takes you to another level of making love too though, because you're making love to a different type of woman once you have success with this NPC.

Yeah, and I striving kids. You had to pay for them. So the NBC helped me a whole lot. You're gonna have to do that too. Yeah, you gotta pay for the kids, you know. Uh, you know it's nothing beast writing a song. Let me give you five. Yeah, you're a jazz musician. Yeah, my os is twenty seven nodulations brother, yeah yeah, mind twenty three.

Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah out there he still got a little You got a baby, yeah, I mean five six No, no, no, no, she's not okay.

Yeah, my son seventeen. So you know, I'm getting there. I mean I'm getting there. A yeah, we might go somewhere special. What he got going over there? I'm trying to raise.

Let you know, I know what you're doing doing job trying to I'm trying to raise the future, you know what I mean?

It is this whole ship.

We're trying to retire. You're trying to retire. One of them retire. But I both let that I let that Terrence, take me back to the beginning and you even falling in love with musicianship. You're in the house with music, and what is the like? I can pinpoint when I heard two things. My cousin Alfonso Giles playing the panel upstairs in my grandmother's room, my grandmother's living room and teaching my mother and my cousin's parts to songs that he wrote, church songs. And I remember watching him playing the piano, playing the drums and playing. He went to Berkeley College of Music and every every summer he would come back and I couldn't wait for him to come back, just watch him do whatever it was.

He was doing his magic to me.

And the second moment was walking past the TV and being stopped in a cold stop like and then Charlie Browns Christmas was playing. I was like, what is it? Why do I feel like that? Why is that hitting me like that? What are those moments for you that said I gotta do I gotta do this.

It's three of them. The first one, my earliest memory, is my first rap cassette we bought. We was we were staying off of Century in Western and it was a That's by Eddy's Market the record store, and my dad was like, man, I met this young man at the at the liquor store. He said he do rap music. He was out of taste, but he said this store got got his tast. I said, my son loved rap. I'm gonna buy his tape. And it was Ice t Ryan Pass. So when I heard so Ice t Ryan pays, you know, my my my dad was a very free thinkerminder. I didn't have no very similar, very similar vibe, like very protective of let me be free because I wasn't gonna get in trouble. He just let me For the jazz musician himself, super yeah jack and a hustler, you know what I'm saying, which is which I mean.

But but honestly, you had to be yeah in in in that field. Yeah, it's not like you you you did jazz to retire from anything else. It's almost like the old NBA where it's like, oh, you go hoop, but then you go work to go work. You got a gig, yeah, or you got a hustle or whatever that thing is. So that's how I look at jazz musicians and that.

And that's that is the smart way to look at it. Unfortunately, the jaz musician doesn't look at it that way though. The jab spends this whole life trying to get to this pinnacle of of when they're just on let me say, a certain type of music. Jazz musician, his whole life is getting to this this pinnacle of being the greatest at their instrument. And sometime sometime they spend so much time being great at the instrument they don't spend the other time with it takes to survive because because you you know, you you never mastered this ship. You know what I'm saying, Well, nothing't mestering nothing, you know what I'm saying. But the jazz thing, that's that's that's the unfortunate part about a lot of peersts that just that just deal with that one. You know, it's not a lot of I mean I could count, I mean, when I could count, probably be on two hands, how many uh jazz cats could could probably afford to live in a certain type home. And you know you got when Marcellius and you got all the famous guys. But I don't come from that. I come from a real South central how whatever he had to do, you know, yeah, so he gets you to take we gotta edit this one. Okay. So my dad just passed like and I'm not I'm only crying because when you ask that as he's dying, I'm like, I'm like, hey, man, what uh man? What are you thinking about? He had cancer? You're like, man, I want to y'all probably know. But he said, Man, if I could just think of anything, I said, this is all the bitches you fuck, nigga. Now, it's all the kids. You didn't raise, all the cocaine. What was it? He was like, Man, poor judgment on time, poor judgment on who I spend time with, and poor judgment on what I think about. And that's the death to a lot of jazz musicians. That's the death to a lot of peers in general. Like poor judgment, thanks wrong, it's like poor adjudgment. But I just thought about that. It's just poor judgment on time, man, because you know him. I got a lot of cats that I know, cat like I buried about twenty six jagmus just and that's what we do, me and my own boy. They can't afford the funeral. And we learned that from I can't say his name, but it was a cat that did it. That always paid for the jazz funerals. People know who I'm talking about. They know, but so we carry on that that tradition. But it's like, it's a sad thing to bury a bad motherfucker. It's a sad funeral because you the obituaries always read like all these amazing artistic accolades, all these this this, and they're always like and almost and they read like the almost vibe. It's just is man, the jazz. The bad motherfucker's funeral is a sad thing because it's hardly never know money. You always gotta have a go fund me. Shit is dark. Yeah, that's why I got the NPC, you know, and really using as a thing as when I saw it. When I saw the n PC, I said, oh shit, Warren Campbell, boom ideas boom, write him down. Kipper Jones said, publishing, Kipper, what's publishing? Man? You should hook it with water millsap. He's young, like you, doing deals. He knows it. What okay, Walcher, what's up? I'm sixteen? Oh you yeah, come over here, hang with me with the same age. Oh you should meet my publisher, Big John. Matter of fact, come do this wedding for him. You got your horn. I gotta do Jay Brown's wedding. Who's Jay Brown? Just come to the wedding. Oh that's Ti dollar Sign on base. He's eleven years old. He's bad on base. So let's go over to the wedding. Oh, oh my god, we're at Jay Brown's wedding. That's Mario winning, Mario winning. I know, Mark, you know you know what I'm saying. Man, All these connected fibers. Yeah, and those are the.

Things that that drive you to put it all together.

Those are all the things. And that's why my whole existence is like, let me just hope I inspire like enough kids that I'm not tripping on inspiring kids how to play instruments. Sometimes that shit is boring. I just love it, you know what I'm saying. But I just want to inspire kids like to think of other ways out, think of other things like that. That's why I love like, man, when I when I see kids that masters on that fruity loops, it reminds me of I just get just I get just as excited as seeing Corey Henry play Orgon, Like, oh this is amazing. Look at this. It's kind of like the pianos and horn switch to the laptops.

You know, look at them as cheat codes. No, because some people do, and some purist dude, that's why I asked you that.

That's unfortunate for them. I feel that it's not a cheat CDE too. I don't because I can't do it.

Only thing I don't like is allto too. That's the only thing, you know what I'm well, I'm not the biggest auto too.

I'm gonna say this, and I tell every artist is you know, I tell every artist and these are the facts. What I say. I say, you know, you gotta be careful about continue on tracking through auto tune. It's gonna build such a hard crutch for your live show. And I tell people this, they just whatever whatever. And man, every time I do a show with somebody, if they don't got the auto tune, man there, they don't want to do the show. They don't want to do the show, you know.

But I tell certain artists that if your thing is the auto tune, if your sauce, keep it.

Keep it on you. That's your investment. As you said, you get your first five thousand dollars. Yeah, but then a lot of cats, don't you know. Somebody that that uses auto tune a lot. But we just did seven nights in a row at the Blue Note, and that's James Foleroy. We did seven nights, two sets a week at the two sets a night at the Blue Note, and that boy sign sign. But always said because everybody, all the youngsters, well James, James has he's built the option.

Yeah, those of us who can sing use it as as a sonic, as a tool tool.

But don't get it twisted. Don't get twist. There is the difference. Yeah, James, the two sets at night at the Blue Note. That's bad. Hey, that's bad. That's you know what I'm saying. You got to say a lot of the they ain't cordless, Mike, Oh no, no, no, no cards cards the Blue Note. Yeah, we ain't read that. Come on, man, come on our song shared monitors. Come on man.

So we were talking about your pops. Give you that tape. He gets you an ice tea taste.

He gave me then ice ta tape. You're a great songwriter. You've always been great at that. See how you brought it back you see how you did that. You've always been good at that. Man, even through conflicts, you're great. You know you're amazing. This is what I got that ice t tape man. And I remember the first song I heard when I popped it in at at the house my dad left. He didn't know about cussing on tapes, none of that. I remember. The first thing I heard was six in the morning, police shot my door. And I was like, because our house I got raided a few times. Because when you were a jabb you just trying to survive. Dad, you say a little dope, ha there, you know what, whatever, take the help. You know what I'm saying. So you know you you grew up backspacked by the door fore visions and different things like that, And so I was familiar with just the lifestyle he was talking about, Like he's talking about the police come to history too. Who I don't feel alone, you know. So I started alling nice seeing and then my mom used to go to the Rhodium Swap meet. This is a place in Guardena where I see a lot of casts talk about the history of West Coast hip hop, but they don't bring up one of the meccas in the place that without this place, none of this ship would be moving. And that's the Roodium swap Me a brother named Steve Yannold. This is where like this, this is the swap me where you could go to the swap meet and see easy E, doctor Dre spinning ice Cube on the mic. DJ Yellow. Everybody knows Steve, this is the radiom and this is this is this would change my life. So I had the ice Ta tape that whole weekend, my mama started going to the Rodium swap me, and and my parents had just separated, and so now she's on trying to figure out how to beat a single mama. She young, she l a single mama. So she like, I'm gonna go to swap meet. I know you like music. I'm gonna stick you at the music store, right I drop you off. I'm gonna drop here. I'm just right there, Mama, be all gone. Don't if you leave. We knew man. Let me tell you, man, I remember the first time she took me, my first blink of I and the first record I can think about was Christmas Rap and then Public Enemy, and then Steve came to me and said, man, man, you like rap? You ever heard of Easy E? And I'm like, this is a guy who's running there Steve Janno. Yeah, this doctor Dray Boyce knew. Everybody knows Steve Jannald. The ones know who I'm talking about. The ones that don't know. That's why they That's why they music, because they history and they foundation shaky. That's why they records to this day is shaky. It all counts. But so Steve Yannold, and it's like, uh, I said, easy E. But I said, well, I think you played boys. He played song called boys. Nuh. I'm like, oh yeah. Because my cousins that lived in Bakersfield, I had two fine cousins, right, I got a gang of fine becausin been in the eighties though the basket Waves and you know what with the dope billers in LA. But they were from Bakersfield. So my mom would send me to Bakersfield for the summer. I remember coming back down. We would take the Greyhound bus bus and get get off and downtown and they would tell my mom and them, uh, cousin louis coming to get us. But it always be two niggas with Jerry Crolls and loud music and Nissan trucks, just like eighty six eighty seven. I never forget so we hoping they'd be like, oh, now I know I'm in the back of everybody, sitting next to the cousin the shoulders moving. Now I know what's up. You know I'm older, but I'm like, oh, but I would be in the back of the figures. And I remember when I first heard and woke up quick at about noon, just thought that I had to be in confidence song Nigga my eyes. I was a kid. I said, what is this? And then it when I'm about to damn man, when blond young nigga got the path throwing up gangs. I just remember and when he said throwing up gang songs, the two niggas in the cars they threw up their hood and we was going down cripshaw and I just got so infatuated with that song and these crips going to show with this music because my dad that it was jazz and the Hawkins, it was you andre crowds. And I was like, man, I'm not with I was a kid and I was like sowing back to what what And they started letting me say, cuzin around this this. Now I know that they turned me out, you know, you know, because because and my cousins say, now, when we get off the car terry, don't tell your mama who came and got us. So I ain't saying nothing. If we could do that again, nothing, So man, I started hanging with them, young man. The dudes are all yeah, yeah, they off off. And I grew up in that neighborhood anyway, but uh, that was that was the time anyway. Going to the rodium swapping, Steve Banna said, you heard it easy to Eat And this happened a week ago. But I didn't know the artist's name, and I said, I don't know what I was young like. He got like a sore voice, sound like a soword voice. Is his name Sore Void? And he plays this and he played the remix again. Then he was like, I'm goa he this record. He was like, it's a radio version on the other side, that's what you play. But he went and winked aside, and that record, I tell Doctor Traider's story. I took that record home and being being my mom was in the process of learning how to be a single mom. He's working, so she didn't have a lot of time. So I'm playing all the cussing. Now I'm full fledged wearing loaks in the mirror, Cortes in the mirror. You seven. I'm telling my mama, Mama, how come we not from Compton? Why are we not from Compton? Why are we easy from Compton? Why? I want to be from where easy from? So I would get good grades, man and her treatment to drive me. She would drive me in front of the Compting sign when I was like seven eight because I was like infatuated. Then watch this, Watch how God work. So at eight years old. By then, my family's in the music business. My aunties do all the background at this time for Nita Baker, for any Cravis to Perry says, we're so at this time, we're going to all the concerts. I'm I'm now I'm the child in the black kid in the industry, drawing up with the other black kids in.

This initial Mama side though, my mama side, so now we're all singer and daddy side is a musician, all musicians. Okay, okay, I had a funny joke.

But family looks at this. I won't say fucked up joking. One sized writers, one side of the musicians, and it's very obvious. But uh so I'm at the Universal Amphitheater and at this time, this is a this is deep too, This is this is deep. I ain't gonna bust no tears on this one, but this is deep because it had to be eighty eight. It's had to be eighty eight, and uh eighty eight was deep because crack cocaine I hit La tough at that time. Crack cocaine was like everybody was affected by crack cocaine. And if you're around that air, everybody either if somebody was selling it or doing it, or one of your cousins you thought was balling. When you figure out what happened to Leroy Leroyd and tested this shit, it was a typical story. People were selling phone cords, people was tearing off roofs trying to sell you know, VC ours was you know, niggas was saying. There was cableman with gas station shirt song trying to get into the house. It was crack was running, rapping and the music that was that was soothing everybody and making sure black people dance was one man named Teddy Roley with new Jack Swing at that time, and so my mom would always play that album The First Guy Out. I'll never forget, and that was eighty seven. It came out eighty seven and she played out of New Year's part of New Year's e Party eighty seven, going in eighty eight and piece of My Love Autumn type records. But going back to this concert, so eighty eight comes guys coming to the concert. The tour is Guy was the headliners Empty Hammer with two big mc kidding play and kwame this with the tour and we was at the Universe with theater. I was in the pit, and I was in the pit. I was always in the front row. Now I'm kind of used to it, but I'm like, we about to see Guy. I'll never forget. God, come on. They used to come on with the sheets like this, Joe Hayron then playing journal. They used to come on with the sheets where you couldn't see crowd screaming, and ain't they started doing the running man. I remember I'm looking up and a joint dropped from somebody's head, a joint, and I seen it and I picked it up, and my mama right there, Teeley, my cousin Teey was right there. I picked it up and I looked up and it was Eric. It was easy e it dropped out of his ear and I went and I remember looking at him and he said, man, he said, you're gonna be here the whole night. I'm like yeah, He's like, I'm gonna see you backstage. When we went backstage, it was Doctor Dre. He's I remember going to Easy I still got the Raiders hat sign he signed, and he signed, they all signed my rail sid and he said, stay in school. Listen to your mama at the joint.

Yeah, stay in school though, Yeah, you didn't understand school after that day.

No, I'm just now now we just talk. I'm just bringing I even thought about that till now. Wow, that's crazy. Did you give miss Dray back? And did you smoke it? I gave it back? Well, I gave it back and he talked to my mom that day. See here, that's a cool little man. He gave me back my joint. He said, when I was smoking his age. You know what I'm saying. It was cool my mom. My mom still remembers that because I was so infatuated with Easy Eata you know what I'm saying, Like you know, and then just with doctor Dray and then when Straight out of Compton came out and ice Cube, and we used to see ice Cube right around the neighborhood in a Suzuki Samurai because he grew up less than a mile from where we all come from, so we to see him. He's like, we see the ice cube, you know, But what's good about l A. You grew up seeing that, you grew up seeing to go battle Cat and that duley man he put he get his haircut there. Okay, okay, I'm gonna wait there because I don't want the plug from this other nigga because he's trying to get some money. I'm away at the barbershop for battle Cat at good friend's barbershop in the VNS. I'm gonna walk from the six sous and walk to the VNS and wait for battle Cat right there. So when he sees me, you know, I'm serious because I'm waiting for him in the vans and I found him how to tape damn? What's up to tape beats? Waiting my life to see battle Cat man, I'm you know, is this point I was a little older. I was I was seventeen right then. I was seventeen, And is.

That your first I'm like, obviously you've been playing with you know you on this circuit. Yeah, but is this your first kind of entry into trying to get into the music business side of it though, because like you said, you got a tape of beats at seventeen before that, you just is jamming.

This is my first This is my first entrance into like battle is a fancy car, fresh jewelry, fresh clothes. He's with snooped all. This is the door and battle Cat has given me so much information and teaching me. So he's giving me so much to where it's like I'm just like even I'm so spiritually in debt to him, but it's like I'm it's just like he's like, I'm studying with him. So I take it he likes your beats. Yeah, yeah, because.

There's another side to that of if they don't like your be yeah, you don't get these opportunities.

You know what I was But at that point, you know the good part about me being such a focused musician at that because at that age I'm already playing. Though at that age, I'm I'm I'm playing. I'm already in the jazz clubs, I'm already the midnight musicals, I'm already playing with Andrew, I'm already with I'm already I'm already on the whole other thing. Club Tank was going to to hear, ay, I'm already, young God. My my teachers is Billy Higgins Andrew Gus. I mean, I'm just I'm La. I'm already moving. But when I told you I saw Warren Campbell with that Mercedes bro that changed my life? What what do you mean? Wasn't nobody pulling up like that? And I'm from La, so I like all this. I like everything, you know. I like everything they teach us not to love and not to like. I like those things you know, meaning finances. I like the freedom money allowed you to have. I like property. I like buying my children things. I like food, I like him from I like shit, I like nice ship. So so my my whole head, all my life weren't waiting for the meek to inherit the earth. When I when I saw Warren with that bance, I followed his program. I said, Okay, if I know anything, I know to shut the fuck up and follow a program. So I followed this program. I start reading his credits. Did that quit battle cay? Hmm? If he feels like that about that. I need to I need to something. So what did I do? I prayed to get with them, like I prayed to get with Snood Dogg. I like I knew I was going to I knew I was going to get with battle Cat. I knew I was going to study with DJ Quick. I knew these things because at this time it just wasn't nobody of a fan and the level of studying with production and frequencies and signing things at my age as I was, because I was into knowing who Dave Aaron is the tracking engineer for all eyes on me? I was. I wasn't just into knowing who played the mini move. I was into knowing who was the second who passed the eleven seven, who passed the prison, who patched? Who whose decision wasn't for that? I was yeah, because I because I wanted to know why. And then LA got tricky because I want to know why niggas said they was good because my dad from the East Coast. I also going back and forth to the East Coast a lot where the focus wasn't about finances and it was about the face value. Are you a bad motherfucker? Wraether you in church? You in the club. Can you play? It was just about that. It wasn't about who you was with, what gigy was on, how does your watch shine? How do you smile? How many things? It wasn't about none of that. Can you play tonight? And can you bring emotion to the table. If you can't, you irrelevant. That's where he was coming from, you know. So I had that in me. So when I got through La because my dad used to talk crazy shit about LA musicians horrible. I used to hate it, Like, bro, I'm from LA. You have me corner just motherfuckers, you know, twirling sticks and dance corny, you know, but you know, you know, you know, you know, i'd be like ya. I think I like everything he says. He doesn't like. I like that, you know what I'm saying. But I just you know, man, just yeah, where was we at? You said, don't get too high. You showed a way too late. I smoked to join the car, wrote you showed a way too late.

You are a real musician, though, this is this is it, This is this is what. And people don't get to see real creatives, right, They get to hear yeah, real creatives, but like seeing a real creative, bro. Like, that's why you were so important for us to bring on this podcast. Your your resume is your resume. But and I don't think you know this when I when I call you, I call you about being a creative Yeah, when we talk, because I know that I'm tapping into a source for me. And I have no problem saying that openly and honestly.

You know what I mean. Look, we never talk about the ball game. No, we never talk about the ball game. I have great ballgame talk to No.

We like when I when I call you, it is to tap into a source of real creativity and the mind of somebody who lives music. And people don't always get to see that. And that's why I said you were so important for us to bring on here.

You know what I mean? Because this is unscripted, we don't do you know what I mean? Like, Man, I've been waiting to get on this show.

I want I want you to I want you to forget the stories in the middle of the story.

Sometimes Yeah, and then it comes to you. It come to you because you know it's the these are we talking about in the late nineteen hundreds, Man, We're talking about something like you know you know this is funny. I was supposed to play Nissan used to try to give me on so many gigs. Nothing was coming through for a while, Right, I'm gonna try and get the horns and get the horns and get the horns, and you know, the horn is always last. That's why I started playing keyboard a whole bunch whole snoop. Really be cracking to get the horn section. Yeah, you gotta have a real budget. Yeah, real budget budget. You know. You know, y'all not cheap, bro, The horn section is not cheap. I'm never in the horn section keys no now.

But I'm just saying it goes. It goes your basic four piece, right, maybe you maybe you get some money double up on the keyboard player, and then when you get a little extra.

Change, the percussionist comes in.

The percussion you're a percussionist, and then you get.

Harmed because horns is like to me on the outside of like y'all super musicians, right, I do music.

It's a difference. So for me, I look at whenever niggas got a horn section. Oh, the niggas is no. That's I'm like, like, I mean, when you see a band of when you see an artist. When you see an artist with a full band, when you see an R and B artist with a when you see a black arm and be artists keep going. You had a full band on stage. They care about the people. We ain't no money being got made. It's all for y'all. I got it, like I gotta do the l a show like this. I gotta do that, you know. It's it's when I see horn section and this, you know, when I started seeing dancers and horn sections, I'm like, oh man, but the horn section is always, you know. And my job for a lot of artists is to like, Terrris, how can we make money and kill this? And my job is to say never mind. But my job is to protect a lot of the artists and tell them how to kind of cut the band but still give the same effects so they can make money for their family, because a lot of people don't know when you have a band sometimes, I mean other than the huge top five arena artists, right, but but having a band and usually with an artist. For me, even being a touring artist, is because we loved the fellowship and love the musicians on stage because sometime we're not even taking on half the money. I learned something by you a cup. Every time I bump in the Tank, it's on a flight, and to one time I was humbled because it was one of these flights that I was like, I shouldn't be flying first class because I really can't afford this first class sticket. But I'm so used to doing it. I'm gonna do it anyway. And Tank was on the same flight, right behind me on the Premium Plus with have the money, and this is Tank. That's when I told you premium Plus. I told you I saw Tank four times in the past five years with a pillow. I saw in Atlanta. I saw taking different. I saw him for nessing Dorp, at the people at the I saw Tank Tank as a well traveled touring artist. So that's why actually I say I saw Tank. No more first class.

I gotta get early, build my mileage up Come on and I can I can get that comfort seat.

Yeah, and bet on the upgrade.

Can you get if I don't get guess I still got a nice window. The TV show you what I'm leanked over sacks on me some cheese.

It's and that way. That way you can still have the band.

And you have a club membership where you can go eat before you get on the frame.

So you good.

That's that's really the difference on most first class flas.

The food is the food. You get to eat some food. The only time I need first classes overseas.

You definitely need first class. How many lay down Japan? Your you know you're doing those runs.

Yeah, when you're doing those runs. Now we you haven't been to your Oh, let's do the project together. Let's go a project of bat ballots. Robert loves his piano. The hey talks about that. Yeah, he takes record. Yeah, man, I heard it. Man, you know I'm gonna taken man.

I was telling him the other day too, like I appreciate guys like you, Robert.

Adam Blackstone, Oh yeah, Adam.

Guys that are guys that are that are purest in your thing and in music, but that still can relate to a tank who is and this is this is, this is me just speaking freely.

He got that same type of gift.

But I think some musicians say because of the songs that he sings are the way that he looks singing those songs with his shirt off and all that other ship, I think he gets judged by that.

But I don't think y'all do. But yere, but there are a certain section of these purists.

Who are like, no, no, no, we can't, we can't include him. Yeah, I appreciate y'all for that.

Yeah, well that will he won't say that, but I'm gonna say, yeah, Well, I mean, I mean, Tank is a proven generation bad motherfucker artists. Like it's just he's done all the all the proper steps from he's done it's steps to this ship. Yeah, because I'm not giving this ship up for all the no no no no no no no no no, no no no. We're talking about it. Man. You said some years ago on Sway, uh uh you said, uh about publishing. People just want to publishing. You said, man, you better write an idea. You better come home some you better come like just give me something. Yes, Like when you notice like the like Tank is in the class of its own, and usually what happens is is like nobody wants to be confronted with the truth. Mhm. You know, it's that's hard. That's that's that's that's hard to no matter what the theatrics are, what the pyro is, what the that's that's a hard emotional thing to know. You was talking about it man with your lady the night before, and you gotta go on after this man. But he just stripped the whole band because they missed the flights because we had to get them certain tickets because you know, be like that. But he just he put a piano out there and just tank you only got four minutes. And then he decides to do something like he looks in the front five six rolls and see all these beautiful women and all these men on their phones, not paying it until they women, and he does, I can't make you love me. And no matter your pyro, your flips, even your hits, you can't fight the heart. You can't when people when somebody has a gift musically to make the heart, to make another human's heart, do things that's more powerful than the ear. We all the ears, physicals and muscles, you go on and you know when you get older about but the heart, you never forget how something make you feel. You know that and that so it's like a lot of people don't got time for that. They don't got time to make people feel like anything. They're trying to get to the next thing, and you know, and that's a reminder of you gotta practice, you gotta practice. He's practicing every day. He's singing every days in the gym. That's a serious mind. You I'm from the era of serious musicians, like are very physically in shape, Like it doesn't go one way. Like my father was like, because I'm not like my dad. My dad was a run three mile this prote you know, till I remember when he couldn't even walk and he was like that Dad, what you doing? He was like, I'm working out because the blood got to go somewhere. He's working out his hands. The blood gotta go somewhere. Wow. And when he couldn't move his hands, he started doing his eyelids like he would read charts and do the claping count with the eyelids every day, every day, every day. So it's like tank, I I come from a line and from a thing where that this this is a product of a this is this is a real this is R and B. You know that's really what it. He embodies that, and I think a lot of people are just worried about everybody that embodies the truth. You know, these are my opinions and you know, these are my opinions. He's are in law. These aren't anything. But I do know, you know what Herbie always teaches me and Quincy always teaches me. It really is like everybody has their book. Everybody book is completely different, and one of the worst things we could do is pay attention to someone else's book and timeline because everybody's got a book. It's like, you, man, you know how this shit go. Man, they're not going to tell you the shit or we say till we go. You know, that's one of the prices you pay to make sure you're doing the right thing to them hearts. You know what I'm saying. It's a miserable thing that I got so many friends that focused on the ears of their career, big houses, nice fast cars and this, and then I go visit their house and it's a new nigga this year, standing in the house they had in the same house. They you know the rotations, you know the rotation. Come on, y'all, we know the rotation. And I'm from here, so I grew. I grew up seeing the rotation, the same the same visitors, same people. You know. It's so hard for me to go to some of these award shows now, because I'm like, man, it's all these either are the same guys have been fucking everybody over twenty years. They still get the seats. You know, it's amazing these days, you know what I'm saying. But uh yeah, man, you know, when it's the truth, it's very difficult. But when you got to stay on that path, Miles David stayed on the path, you know. You know, James Brown stayed on the path. He was a bad motherfuckers man without the memes and the funny should that go around. Now, the serious of these of these catch is serious, man, you know. So as you start to move into this space of.

Music business, right the recording side of the music business, producing, making your own projects, doing this whole thing, because now that that's a whole other world. We all know this is what is your first taste of success, and you're My.

First taste of success is really sitting down figuring out a plan. And I remember when I got done, right my mother fucking playing what I'm gonna do. I said, I'm gonna follow. I'm gonna look at Nissan and Rapture and Warren Campbell. Nissan Rapture was doing beats and was I mean, it was playing for everybody. Then they hustled up on the beat thing moved, they moved, they moved through the musician shit. Warren Campbell was playing on everybody record and ended up making the name. So I was like, okay, Warren got that bends. I mean, he didn't stay in the musician touring chair too long. So I said, okay, I can't stay here too long. And uh you know that was that was like, really the the the real thing is, let me use the saxophone. All those saxophones my first love and my love I love Charlie Parker, John colechran SONI instead cannaball Adlie, Eddie Clinton and Vincent. I love the saxophone. But I also grew with a single mom in the South, like whatever daddy that played jazz, but he wasn't one of the famous guys, Like he wasn't going to Japan like me and my friends are. He wasn't also lucky, you know what I'm saying. So I'm aware of what I what. I like this jazz shit. I like this, I like this. I love this, damn bro, I'm trying to go to the Marina to the movies. I'm trying to get the Jays and I got a baby at fifteen. I got his mom on my head, shot out on the car, his mom on my head. I'm like, she on my head. Bro, She's like, you're gonna work at toys r us. I'm like, I ain't doing none of that. I'm gonna be a famous jazz musician. Got me fucked up, but I'm gonna make it. I was saying that, but in my head I was like this, Josh is I just it's sounded good, you know, man? So I really followed what I would like to hope. I think I followed that Warren Campbell and that I follow portions of the Warren Campbell and the Nissan and Raptor. They were the closest ones I seen be a musician. And then my boy, my friend that really put me on with Snoop was a brother by the name of Marlon Williams, a guitarist like the like all the records I've done with Kendrick Travis Scott, Snoop and my whole catalog for like sixteen years of catalog music. He is the guitarist that's writing the guitar parts. Like not just playing on top of my harmony one note lines. He's writing parts that if you solo them, the crowd will sing like King Konna, all these different records, just you know, if these walks just drill deep records. So he was already with Snoop, you know, And I never will forget because I was like, man, I need to get with Snoop. I needed because I messed with when I was sixteen and I heard him say, Lok, I know he from Long Beach from twenty Crip. I'm involved, I'm involved in I'm involved in the Crip card, the crib Nation. So I know, I know if I get with Snoop and Snoop find out that I'm a musical guy that come from that thing, that is familiar with that thing. And I was like, if I could get with Snoop, you know, I never asked battle Cat to put me with Snoop. I never asked none of them guys to put me with Snoop. Marlon Williams, I said, man, I gotta get with Snoop, you know, because I was always a real respectful musician because I grew up with musicians, so I knew not to overstep my boundaries. If a producer called me, I knew when I was a musician to leave when it's time to leave. You were just you were there to play session. That's why I work so much. I knew how to shut the fuck up and keep pushing keep my job because I saw a lot of musicians that I grew up. My uncle's in different family that was very opinionated people, you know. And I saw how opinions didn't work too well in the workforce in Los Angeles. People arguing over pins the most stupid shit in the fucking world. So I knew then to shut the fuck up if I want to work and make a living in La record culture. So I never asked battle Cat and none of them to put me with Snoop. And I didn't want to ask battle Cap for that because I didn't I didn't want to be around Snoop and battle Cat. I just wanted battle Cat. I didn't want to share no time with battle Cat. I wanted to get everything I could. Battle Cat is enough of the star and still to this day he's he's I look at him the same way I look at Quincy Jones For me personally, you know, for me personally, I look at him as the architect. He's the guy from my neighborhood that was on the radio with Domino that whoa Okay, so we could still be us. But we could still be us, still be g with it, love our families, love God. If we got a trip, slap a niggas, we got a trip. But love music, you know. And he loved his He loved his kids, you know. And I used to love the fact he he loved because I back then, I'm from the air of you know, you didn't have no money. The baby mama was not fucking It was a bad time and in black history, I call it straight up, you know, And it was just money was driving the world where I didn't have a lot of man at a certain age. So seeing battle Cat raised as kids really helped me maneuver with my children and they moms just to the best of my ability at that time. You know what I'm saying. But Marlon Williams uh Man, I mean, I'm at the GMW, a Gospel Music Workshop of America. I'm doing credit card fraud. I'm flying choirs out on fake credit cards. I'm hustling, but I'm also but I'm also playing with God's problem. I'm playing now, I'm scamming for me, not the chuck. We're not gonna put God in that. It's great. So I was at the gmw A and it was in Minneapolis, and back then I was doing credit card fraud a lot. I got in trouble for that. When I was trying to make my way to be a musician. I want to fly places and meet up with the homies, So I knew how to run the plays. You feel me like, I ain't gonna be broke if the horn break, if the music stopped me, I ain't gonna be broke. That's what I ain't gonna do. I ain't grow up like. We ain't gonna even move like that. So I was just trying to get it, not to do anything other than my music career and the fly the homies out, the fly keyboards out. And you know, we did have I went to jail for this. So we had these fake business cars that it's a Dog, the travel agent. So if we ever get called by the police, we gave him the car like man. We didn't. We didn't know we got the ticket from Dog. But come to doubt, dog bad idea so I flew about five choirs out to the GMW Way, but for some reason they return tickets didn't work. They got stuck, and I'm there and I'm there on these tickets too. But now I'm like, I get the car. I'm like, don't trip. Let me get back to my hotel room because I got a sweet you know, I got my see to my laptop. I'm u. Back then, it wasn't no fast internet, so I had to go to Kinko's a lot. Yeah, feel me surviving. So I'm like, don't trip. I'm gonna get all y'all homes. Just just I talked to Homie. I just tell them, tell them, mister glitch cud, we're gonna work it out. Just tell him, pray we're gonna do. It's nothing. But when I go back to my room to get on my laptop to do the un my card ain't working. And then I'm like, but now, let me tell you. When you when you're doing that life, you gotta believe in the in the whole thing. So you like, they made a mistake. So I go down I can't make this ship up. Many I go downstairs. I'm like, I'm like, my keys not working, and they said, oh, wait right here, that's what you're supposed to leave when you committed, because this is when we was you know, he kind of god what And I was like, get the manager, are you gonna do that? And my sense in the room, my horn, my bags, everything's in the room. So I called my dad because my dad's living in Minneapolis, right, I said, Dad, the thing just boned out. I need you to pull up and just I'm gonna say some shit to go and get. I'm gonna say I got asthma. I'm about to fake this asthma atack. I'm about to get into this room and get my ship. I need to pull up, get this back door. I'm'na hopp in the car. We're gonna bone out. And this is when Sprint. I was doing the burnout phones with Sprint. No next till to burn out the chirps, right, So I'm like right, so I never forget. They let me out, like, well we will, we'll iron out the payment. But let me get my asthma ship. We'll iron out the payment. So I went up got my ship. That's why to this day I keep my shit be by the door. Get got my ship. Hotel, my dad waiting to hop in the car as I'm getting the car. Because I told Marlon, if Snoop needs a nigga to roll his blunts, take pictures to wipe his shoes, to carry the luckas Marlin had been with Snoop since ninety five and tour him with Snoop forever. So Marlon was the real plug for all of us to any bit of celebrity anything. So I said, if Snoop me anything. So a year later, Marlin said, Hey, Snoop want to try horns. He want to try horns. I said, what you mean horns? I said, I said, what you mean? He like he wants you to he I got it. Situation, try horns. She said, hey, just to burnout, he said, he keep your motherfucking beats in your pocket. Do not do this gig to give him beats. You do this gig to do a good show, to mention the music is right. If you do this wrong, you're gonna fuck up any window of giving him any music. Don't be the typical musician fucking up the moment and rushing the moment because you feel like it's your moment. You're it is, You're I'm going to get this or it's never gonna happen in it. Just chill, you're already in. Just chill and man. And for a year I had a back pocket full of beats, and every day I just go this minute, snoop, just look at me the wrong I was right. So one day we was rehearsing, I flew back and oh mind you, I'm in the car running. I never got back to choirs. That's why I left the gospel, my gospel career alone. I left them all there, so I had to come back to l A. Wait. Wait, I never figured out the choirs. I see something to this day. Everything cool now. But they made it back. They made it back. Shout out. They know me. I was young. I was young. I was just doing my thing. I didn't mean no harm. But you gotta know if she is a real discount crazy rate, like, come on, I fly back. My mama sent me the money. Mama, send me money, fly back. I ain't got no money. Please whatever me your money, Mama. I can't talk to you. You know what I'm involved in. Get me back home, mama, because they could the police. I just I want to go back and I want to with Snoop. This is I've been praying. So that's the chirp you get. Just the church, Hello, Mark like a nigga, get back to La tomorrow. We gotta rehearsal Snoop on a horn section what I'm out of God's property? Fuck them get back the dog, won't you. I'm on the way.

Because I probably can't talk to God's property this because I did you out because they're stuck in Minnesota.

I came back. We rehearsed s I R my first time. I'm like, wow, I just how old are you at this point? Nineteen? Oh, your baby nineteen? Right now. I'm not letting a nineteen year old nigga book my ticket anyway. You know what I mean. I'm just not. Let me tell you somebody respectfully, back in those days, you gotta say, back in those days, you know every you know, the Black Church is a real culture. Man. Discounts is a real thing, discounter real thing.

Well was a discounting No, No, I mean, I mean you gotta get to it.

You gotta get how much did they pay you?

Because they paid him on twenty five fifty most ever got a Sunday was one fifty fifty.

Yeah, sat big. Did you even get that? Did you get that? It started off at twenty five. He's from the East coast though, Like that's you you, that's I mean the campers play, I mean the biggest guys just I played for. Like, that's just more of the l A was always different. It's like I feel like LA had more of a business culture. Nineteen Yeah, close to for sure. The music going out here for sure. Yeah, eighteen nineteen twenty for me, those three years I was at Church oft the Harvest and for a week for sure. I remember ninety eight, I was getting twelve hundred a week. That's five serve because I was selling for Donald Hayes for three years. He went on on a play god for plays was a real Oh yeah.

Church Harvest was the first mega church I'd ever been to. Oh that's the real in my life.

It was real, man. I never seen nothing like that. I knew I was making money because I ran the car for three years. What I was making Church, I was getting paid. I was making I was like twelve hundred bucks a week. I didn't have no rent. Yeah, you just cooking. I'm just hanging trying to get the Snoop Dogg Wow, still trying to get out the church, though still trying to not play in the church, still doing rebel shit like like like I was doing because because like mcclennan was on TV, and I was like, man, I can't be known as as I don't want to be known as a church dude, like I don't want to be known as the jazz dude. I want to be known as a musicians. So what I'm gonna do different? So I was always early with like I'm gonna die my hair fire engine red because I'm directly behind the camera. I'm gonna die my hair bright red so everybody could see me because we're on TV. I ain't got nothing, no mystery, that's TV, that's business. I was on that thing. We cut the cameras off. Your were on TV. I gotta be seeing like you know. But so church I was. I was, I was making and then I grew up and then like Andrew guhat my mentor, I was doing like whatever Donald Hayes didn't want to do. I remember me learning, trying to learn so many Donald hayes uh way of playing because he he knew how to play saxophone, where I've seen it creates real estate, you know, high notes and grace notes and knowing how to play those gospel tunes like be grateful and like really knowing how to pull out the like the spear come through when he plays. So I was like, oh, I see, I see. So I just always saw Donald Hayes rock crowds and Andrew. Andrew wasn't doing no these the wasn't local church dude. These are innovators, animals. Yeah, so I was on. I was young and really not worthy at all, but I was on. They gig, you know whatever Donald didn't want to do. I do them all. You know, I do everything. You know, Donald was the only dude and getting bread all the records shout out to Donald Hayes. Man shot Donald Hayes like for real, Like, yeah, so you end with Snoop? When does he hear it beat? I'll hear it go. Yeah. I did one whole tour with Snoop Red Hot Chili Pepper tour, three months. I didn't say ship played my role, kept it cool. Uh, I got close with it. When we got back. We built a relationship and I ended up staying staying with him, just always going to his house, just pulling up and then, uh, one day I remember he was a it had to be one of the days he You know, everybody knows if you when Kobe was playing a Laker game, Snoop is not dealing with music when the Laker games playing, when the Laker games on, and we used to live so far. By the time I get to Snoop's house, the Laker game had just starts. So and I'm not leaving right and I'm not that much into sports, but I learned through this. Like you know, when Snoop says yeah, you say yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying, yeah yeah. I feel like I want to say, I want to say. I want to say one night the Lakers lost or something like that, and uh, I just happened to be there with the beat, and you know, he would always playing video games and Nate Dog be around. And then I remember asking the engineer play some beats. I'm like, he means like pre existing because now I'm trying to listen for the clues because I don't want to because Marlin said, don't don't don't, don't pre do it, don't suck it up, So I don't want to suck it up. So I'm listening for the cues. I'm like the beat. And then the engineer took a little while and then he just for something. It must have been god, bro. He just turned me and said, you got any beats? And I was like, and I remember this exact day. He took the b said, I said, these are eighteen beats. These for you. I made these for these feet, these for you, like these for you. He probably thought I was weird because I was like, I'm built to work with you. I am, I'm built to work with you. I prayed to work with you at twelve, like I. So he like then. So then he says, he said I could do whatever I want with these beats. I said yeah. He say, these beats are all mine. He said yeah. He said again, I could do whatever I want with these beats. I said yeah. And the start of me and his relationship of me by myself without being a ghost keyboard player like I was for years on a lot of a lot of major producers by the time I got when he said that, it was at the time we also met a young man by the name of Sycamore, and Sycamore was really influencing Snoop Dogg back then on doing mixtapes and Snoop has started this series called Welcome to the Church series and it was tearing up the streets at LA and the first important series, the ones, was mainly produced by a young terrorist Martin doing most of the music with a jelly roll and a battle cat and then he'll say my name, And then I was on the road with him. So then I start learning. So then I was saying in my head, I said, as I'm on the road now records just mixtape records. But I didn't need no money. I didn't. I never, I never, I didn't need no money. I was. I'm just gracious you wrapped on the beat of mine. I didn't need no I would have I would have worked, I would have paid you to do this. I don't need no money. I'm just happy you did it. And I was on the road and I started doing things like how I got on so many records. I start seeing, you know, most musician behavior on the road with the artists is either go back, go hang by themselves. Some go eat with the guys. Some try to hang out laughing joke with the artists. I hate those guys. They laugh and joke with the artists, you know. For me, I knew that Snoop stayed in studios in LA, but it was no studio for him on the road. So I convinced the security cars. I said, man, can I ride the security bus? And the securities was intense. Nobody wants to ride a streep. I said, man, can me give me and my friend k Kmoski Washington Kmosity ride the security bus because I told you, man, I'm gonna bring a studio. But he didn't know I was doing this, so I lie and told security, Yeah, Snoop said it's cool for me to bring the studio. Because now now I'm finessing because now I'm knowing he don't talk to the excuse he's a start. He talks to him, but about security him. He's not worried about the studio with these guys. So I'm already like, this is what we're gonna do. So I'm like Snoop saying, man, let me get the whole back of the bus so I could. I could because this is before this is the inbox. Absolutely, I still have to bring a power supplier. It's it's no soft sense going on right now. So I had that studio on that bus, and I just know every Snoop because now that I'm already in with Snoop, I still respected Marylon. Marlon was still with me the whole way, and I said, what should I do? Now? Should move? He'd be like, when we get to the next city soundcheck, you make sure you sit at that keyboard and whatever song Snoop sing, you better know it. And if he sing a song, you play a song that he knowing that keyboard. After that he gonna be fucking with you. And then tell him, man, I got a studio on the bus, let's get out. So I was like, oh shit, this is like some some other shit. The snoopid Gun sound checks and do a blue Magic song and do a temptation. He's a he's a walking DJ. So I'd be like, oh, I don't have as many years of music. But at this point I grew up playing the Townhouse and play black clubs, black weddings, Like I know all the songs I need to know for a black wedding, a baby shower of anything. I know all the so I know your songs. I know I know the songs. And he starts singing, what song did he start singing, hold on, oh guy. I think it was God will take care of You. About the Hawkins, it was some obscure. It was some like esoteric song that you had to have like a love a live album to know this. And it just so happened to see how God do he put me ride in place? I had just spent a year studying this music with with Robert but See Wright and Dallas R. C. Williams, Sean Martin. I had just left Dallas for a year studying with all the gospel baddest motherfuckers in the world and knowing all the Hawkins songs. So I was white when he said God will take care of You and the band started playing it, and I was like, right after I said, hey, I got a studio on the bus because I'm trying to fuck with you. I'm on the bus. He like, you got a host on the bus YEP. So he started making that security bus park in the It was I was looking like, you know, the whole bus with parks or snoo could get to the studio early, you know, and I would be the only engineer on the bus. And that's how we really bonded. Studio. Then when I got back to La, I would go to his house because I wasn't going to Snoop Dogg for placements. See that's where everybody got it fucked up. I wasn't. My quest wasn't to come out on records with Snoop Dogg. My quest was to be next to him and just figure out what can I learn from him? What can I how can I learn? My goal was never how many records I got on Snoop. If that was my goal, I probably would have a lot more. My goal was to be around and be a service, no matter what I was doing for Snoop. If Snoop needed the baddest musicians in the world done a cat Robert Glass for this, if Snoop needed that, blah blah, same thing for Kendrick. It just so happens. I'm I'm you know, I'm a very good record producer and musician. But if I could just fellowship the vibe, that's my thing, you know, I think that's my gift, Fellowship the vibe. You know, that's kind of my thing. Man. You know. So I think with Snoop we really bonded because he see I didn't want nothing, you know, I didn't need nothing because I didn't know I didn't need anything. You know, I didn't know what nothing about. I was just happy that I had food and I could be traveling the world. And I know, damn well, this man could do this shit with a fucking MP three and they still gonna come. I never would forget. The band sounded horrible one night cause niggas was being funny. If the band they was being funny, there was being you know, when band members get paid a little late, they be little attitudes and shit. But but now Snoop, he didn't build me. I'm five years now. He got me. I care about the whole program. And I'm like, okay, yeah, we gonna uh nah cause I know so many people when I go back home, they would love this. They would love this. You know. That's when you see Snoop was the first one I had, me and the band Kama seeing the band, Thundercat in the band, Robert S. Bussey right in the like, Snoop is the fucking Billy eckstein oft this shit. And if you know about Billy Ecksteon, you know Billy Extern had Disney Gillespie. Billy extn't had Miles Davis, Charlie Parker. Snop is that without without Snoop, any equation, Los Angeles is nothing musically, not rap. Rap is one part of Snoop Doggie Dog, the franchise, the whole thing of UH. The death Row and the Snoop are are the ones that hired all the musicians. That's what hired all the musicians. The musicians was so mad when when Roger Lynn put out that fucking drum machine. They were so mad when the Lyn drum came out because drummers lost work. They were so mad when the Yamaha DX seven came out because horn players lost work. They were so fucking mad and depressed and broken hearts, families getting lost, people live in hotels. It was dark. Death Row came that kind of music, you know. It was when you have a hit record with live music on it on the baseline. Now those local musicians in that town, they got to play that record at that club. So you when you have a hit record with live mentionruments, you supplying the job for other people. Craig Craig Brockman taught me that. Hmm. He said, every time you play a horn on the record, or you play an instrument. We are supplying work for the cats. Never leave the cats behind them. They make the ship tick, they make the shit tick. Ain't about the money, because it ain't. It ain't never been about the money with me, even with Kendrick, I've just been on all the records. But that's my friend. I care about that guy because he's so gifted before it, but I've always cared about him. You know, I just want to be I just know, if you on the vibe, you good. Get to the motherfucking vibe. People people so busy trying to get to a spot without they trying to you know, the sponsors there. Just get to the vibe. And if you you know, you'll get for make room. If you're a bad motherfucker, if you all talk, you'll be the god bringing the bottles all the time. We need them too. But you ain't making no decisions, bringing no motherfucking bottles. Buy my own damn bottles, you know what I mean? Yeah?

Mm hm oh yeah. So let's get into this. Because you went, you went, you went. You segue into Kendrick and your work with Kendrick. You were, you have been a very instrumental part of just the tde family one, but especially with Kendrick and then when you guys get to to Pimp a Butterfly, that's when to me it felt like, Okay, they're fully in sync at this point and in popular rap you had never heard that type of musicianship in a long time. I won't say ever, but like cause Snoop and death Row had that right, But in between that, it really wasn't a lot of you hear no horns on records. You hear no you know what I'm saying, Like you did you just that that feeling?

Yeah, that feeling at that level.

Yeah, yeah, I felt like Kendrick was taking a real chance because it could have just been written off of like ah, yeah, that's just too musical and too creative and that ain't really what this thing is. I feel like he figured out a way to merge the worlds and you were a big part of that. What was the conversation behind you know, like to Pinper Butterfly, it's.

It's a uh, you know, when you're really in sync. It's like, I don't trull with a lot of people. When I do decide to come outside, it's with herb be Handcock because I learned so much. Okay, you you are lost in today, he said, handcut. That's that's the only side I'm not being. That's the only side. Man. I'm gonna be to Herbie forever because I'm in dead to him. But uh what Herbie always says, like, and I'm sure both of y'all notice touring that third week when everything started taking shape, everything started where you ain't gotta look behind you, you ain't gotta It's like, even if you make a mistake, your guy is and everything is. It's just you're not even thinking about it. You are not even going you They're not even going to sound check right now. It's just it's flowing for what the mic is there? It's just there? Uh with with me? With the TD guys, mhm. Top and Punch are masters of getting a bunch of borderline insane crazy people in one room that all have loud voices and figure out a way where we all follow a common goal. I've never seen leaders like like Topping Punch in my life. Punch, I'm Top, definitely Punch, I'm close to Punch, you know what I'm saying. Just I've never seen leadership done like that, you know, I've never because we was difficult to deal with it. You don't know, you know what I'm saying. One day we all said out with Punch. We was he could tell you some stories like oh man, ha oh shit. But the I'm saying that the conversation, it was never a conversation because we've been in sync for so long. We've been in sinks since the mixtape. Like I mean, like I produced the first record for them to get the deal at Warner Brothers. That's how long it's to start. It's not a I'm not coming. It's like we just hear you know. That's how God, that's how the creators just they put us together. Like which is crazy to me when you think about to Peper Butterfly, because finally, after all these years, I was able to use everything from the relationships to the skill level to the breaking rules. I was finally able to use everything. You know, most of the records I've done, even though it has been great success. You know, I'm you know, I love him. I love him when they especially when they make money, love them. But it's you know, some records you're more connected to, you know, Uh, the conversation with to Pip a butterfly wasn't really so it was. It's a lot of loose conversation. A lot of things was going on in time, and you know, it's a lot of a lot of that's when the police had really started turning back up on the Brothers and the news was getting crazy, and hip hop was had a weird little stand still. Everybody was kind of sound the same, and you know, he was heavily influenced at that time by jazz. We was just I mean, one day I walked in he was rapping. I was like, man, you man, you like a jazz musician. Man, you rapping like Freddie Hubbard. And you got one song you sound like Woody Shaw, And you got one song you sound like classic Clark Terry, and you got one where you sound like you playing Don Cherry Freeze. You just made all these rhythms because one day I got I got high as fucking I transcribed the Kendrick solo. I just wrote it out and I stood it next to a couple of my favorite cold training solos that I've transcribed in my earlier days of transcribing, and I was like, oh, this is deed that has to be ancestral recall this kid, don't even this de don't know no Cold Train records that that's that has to be ancestral recall, that has to be that's weird. And as we start going there and he start, you know, I never forget what wanted this story will say everything. The horn up until that record was like it was starting to make you know, but the horn was always I never bought the horn in the record sessions because in LA record culture, you come with you. If I'm a record producer, producer and artists R and B artists, they ain't going on the fucking saxophone. At this time. The a't gonna know if I'm alto they singing alto what I fuck? They won't me. They don't do no, no, they don't want that. And the horn is it was deemed as two musical to this. It was to this, to that, to that. So I remember when sound Wave and Kendrick we was in the studio and they brought up the record, Uh, we gonna be all right, And I remember hearing that record like he's like, I want you to play on this record. I'm like, the fuck do you want me to doing this? Bro? Like you know, because even even I'm so free. But even up until this point, I'm kind of a separate thing. I'm kind of like my production is this guy, because that's a different set of jokes, that's a different restaurant you're going to, that's a different perfumea wearing, that's a different kind of boss talk in that world. I've always kept those worlds separate until to a butterfly. I've kept my friends separate, like got some wild mother fucking friend. And then they said, man, nah, just play, you know, And I started playing on it and I was playing with I assume that people want to hear side form player off rap and you know what I'm saying, and Dying Wave said, man, look, man, play that ship that we you play like this the chance this a for real baby, just and even then I was like, man, for real, don't like people playing all this ship because I know, for real, you know what I'm saying, you know, I said, Man, maybe I should ask them in my head, I asked for real first, and they was like, man, were doing this record. Man play on this record and think about how many people we're gonna help. Think about what's going on, think about what we're saying. Think about what's going on in life, like this ain't a record. This, this a this this this, this is where we at. This this where we at. Just if we this is where we at, We're gonna we could get them. We could. I felt like, you know, the concept was we you gotta get the message across. However, you got to get the message across. Yeah, you know that horn, That horn speaks to the struggle. Yeah.

Yeah, Like I'm sure the record before the horn had a good amount of soul and spirit to it, but that horn, yeah, puts something that automatically sent you into a space of reflection, like it just made you think about some ship intensely. Yeah, that's what that horn did. That's what that horn does. Every time I hear it.

That was intentional. Yeah, that that spirit that talk that that like, man, it's fuck this music, it's some's some life things going on that's before we Before we are musicians and ours, we're human with sons, fathers and some other ship that ain't got nothing to do with this SSL and this crazy electric bill and it's some ship that ain't got none to do that. People going through in Omaha, Nebraska, which you talk Kansas and Baltimore, like it's people going through ship that ain't got nothing to do with the life we live, and it's more of them than what we're doing. So that that was like, okay, yeah, because I've been I've been through a lot of different struggles as we all have it being you know, being like that, but that it was it was more like a continue on conversation. But as we got deeper, I remember I started being like, Okay, this kid is crazy. He started hey. He's like, hey, I want to do something jazzy. I'm like, yeah, okay, let me get the drums out. He's like, no, no, no, I want to do like some shit. I'm like okay. I started playing ideas like that my Memories. It was a brand from Marcelli's record that was playing the minor blues with Kenny Kirkland on piano, Jeff tang Wats on bass, Jeff taint Wats on drums, Forgive Me, Jeff tang Wats on drums, Bob Hurst on bass, and he was digging out and I was like, just what you like? And I was like, oh my god, if we do this on this album, this is gonna help so many musicians. If I write the right piece of music. Once again, you're not forgetting the catch. Yeah, if I write the colds, if I write little what And I remember the night before because I was like, nigga tomorrow'mnn come in five ideas. I got you. But I was like, damn, this is pressure. The rapper asked me to write a jazz song. Now, I'm like, I said, my daddy always taught. He's like and went in doubt. The blues, the blues don't never fail you. The blues. The blues sing, the blues, play the blues. You gotta hear the blues. We love you because we hear the blues in your music. You know. I told camera, we we love that Coco Jones song. Uh, I see you because we hear the blues in that. We hear the praise and worshiping that. That's why we love that song. We hear that. Yeah, yeah, connected to it. So I said, okay, I remember I was hired as fuck watching MO Better Blues all night because that's what we was on, Like MO Better Blues, that's like my movie. I'm like, oh, I gotta I gotta put like this shit. Gotta feel like South, It gotta feel like our shit. It gotta feel like South Central it came. It gotta feel like what It gotta feel like our best expression of what we lived. Because one thing I know about my brothers and sisters in the art world, the jib or whatever you want to call it, like, it's not about money. It's about clues. It's about clues and little keys that people could take from that and open another door. So my thing was what how many clues? What can I and what's gonna help Kendrick. So all these thoughts was going through my head. And when I wrote, I remember, I was so serious that this was and I could have taped it, but I didn't. The only person that has me writing this music and going up with this band on tape, Kendrick was taping the whole session with his phone. He the only one. And I remember the first the top of it's a song called for Free, And I remember, and I remember because my boy marlind he don't play jazz and Craig Brock don't play the style of jazz. I was writing. But these are geniuses and I was hanging now here go to l a ship. I'm hanging with these niggas every day. He was my folks. So writing the studient, I'm like, I gotta write apart for them. So that's why the topic goes. And I was like, Craig and Martin gonna kill that part. But then when the band get to going, y'all fall back and y'all gonna let these these hunters go hunt. Yeah, Roberts, but see right, Brandon owns Robert Glassper. We're gonna hunt for a minute. And when we started hunting, I remember that ship was fast and then we slowed it down. We got a good groove and Kendrick, I'm gonna send you out a picture of that night. Kendrick uh So Sissor was there too, Kendrick was. He put the mic out, so you want to go on the booth. Bro He's like, no, no, no, no, no no, I want to record right now as we write. He's writing right now, right now, right now. And then when that first light said this stick came free, I said, the jazz is gonna hate me. Yeah, I know what do you know? What I'm saying it that that that record helped a lot of people. Man, it helped, it helped, you know. And I did Thundercap myself and it was able to like fly low he went and got you know, he had been we had been doing music together. But this I feel like this was the time I was able to incorporate everything I've learned thus far in my in my music, Catalitee and my social and my showing up on time. Because Punch Punch will tell you the story about good Kid, Mad City, how we were so friends when Kendrick first started blowing. It was so new and fast, be like, man, you better come on this album, Man, come on, man, and I you know not taking it that serious, right, I'm gonna show up. I'm gonna show up. Punch was so mad at me. So I finally showed up and end up being on a decent far the album right, but but I did? Yeah, madd City real Uh, Few and Few I forgot, you know they're they're thereot. But but what which is one of my favorite songs? Thank you?

That's one of my not only just one of my favorite Kendricks. Some people know how and collectively Kendrick put together a super team.

It's not just like you hear my stamp and my different my imprint on different things more than others. But it's a super team where it's like even with me, like my shit is not working on Kendrick record without a sound way being next to me. Because when they tell me go as far as you want to go, man, you're talking to a person that don't even believe in the ocean. I only believe in the world. I only believe this shit in. So my sense as far as is a little different. But you got a god that's in between me and Kendrick like wave that's say you go far right there, We're there with you, and I'm like cool, And they still always allow me to go as far as far as more far than any other artists. A lot of artists called me in to work with them, and they always want to work with me based off my history. But then what you hate that when they never want you to do what you do, but they call you based off your they just.

Want the same thing, the same thing, yeah right, because I mean that's just been a tried.

And true yeah. But it's like if you.

If you want the same process, that's different because you're always gonna get a different result.

By the way that process. Now let's talk that talk real quick. Now this is this is Jimy Evan's exit record, This is the end of This is the Thing of the Butterflies, not a It's not a Garage Earth the Inexpensive album at all. It's it's a guy saying I want to try strings on the record. Can can we just try them? And commansies writing for strings while we're having union stream players waiting all day to get charged at all, the having all the major studios locked down for years. So it's a very to be that free. Is so expensive to be able to gamble with. So it's to be able to say even as a business I'm a business owner, you know, if I'm looking at the numbers with the artists, if I'm like, okay, you want to do what you want to get? We like tears, Tears is good, yeah, Boom album, feeler, god good. He's gonna keep boom boom, lining up, playing on the records. He's gonna play on the hits Boom yeah, yeah, yeah, But how much of tears you want? Like to do those kind of things? And they say whatever, is like you know what I'm saying. So those those those things are expensive pieces of real estatement.

You know, And you have to start from a business standpoint, you have to look at the ro Oi event. For people that don't understand what that means.

That's the shout out to Top and Punch and everybody. Dave a lot of meetings with me, sure because because also my job is as a record producer. A record producer is just to help the artists get to the finish line. So a lot of times Kendrick would say he wants easy, I want all these boom boom boom boom boom, and I'd be like done, but I wouldn't check with nobody, and I'd be like, you know, Top New call me in the room and what is this. I'll be like, he's a genius. The genius is expensive to genus. Did you learn that from Quincy? I just know, I knew, I knew. I got so much love and respect for Top for forgiving me opportunity and dealing with so much mishap for me, uh but just being always there for me as a big brid's a business man. Very He's taught me how to be very firm, because it's just it's just yes or no, you know. And I think his his leadership is a big part of them records. Absolutely, he would be in them studio when he and them studios, you know, because I'm like the party homie, because I'm like the older brother to the homies. I'm like at this time, I'm like, I'm the middle child in the game, but I'm the older bro to Kendrick. And now so I'm seeing I've seen all the mishaps and then I'm kind of I'm kind of jaded a little bit at this time. Right, so I'm coming to the you know, tequila every night, the classic vis couple of homegirls pull up, just sit in the corner, watch me do beats all night. You know the vibe and yeah, yeah, you know. Yeah. So Top Top was very Uh his presence didn't make you want to invite nobody. I'm just saying, now, you didn't want to and they got studio rules. Oh no, no, it's rules. And you know, I'll be trying to be like the bad cousin, you know what I'm saying. But Top man, uh nah man. I remember he had he only told me one time, and one time I had some might show up to a studio session that I shouldn't have had. We was a serious night and I had a homegirl come come pick me up, but I left before she came just dumb shit, right, And I remember when she came by, he left, and then Top came and said, hey, hey man, I didn't tell you to invite anybody to the studio. You gotta invite and he said it that's simple. But it felt like a thousand words to me. And I said in my head said, I said, don't fuck off your opportunity with this man. He's giving you opportunity, respect to shit, pay attention, ter hers, you know what I'm saying. But that the TV thing was like college to me, like it's so many things. I and that's the first crew that that that I seen a few million dollars with. That's the first crew like they you know, like like like them dudes stay they stay down if you if you love him, they rolling with you, you know what I'm saying. And that's the first crew I really like. With Snoop, I saw the world. I saw my craft get better. I saw this with the and and the blessings because of the of the things that we've done, thank God in history that have helped the others and been able to help us financially. Is it's been a well maintained thing as well. And that's so rare to say in business. You know what I'm saying, especially from a producer and a musician standpoint, But you gotta tell top what you're doing before you do the beat. I'm gonna play keys, bass, saxophone because he in tune and that's what I learned from him too, be in tune. Punch the same way. You know what I'm saying, Like the TDS is like a university. This should be a university if people are ever so blessed to go through that tutelage. Because these are brothers that didn't grow up playing music. See this is different. These are brothers that consciously said, we gotta figure this shit out. What are we gonna do with the music? You know what I'm saying. This is Punch saying. You know, Punch is one of the best songwriters in the world, one of the greatest things because ever and I've worked with all of them, all of them, and for Punch to to to sit back and give his tootelage to to j Rock Q Dot to app just to his like his view is so and they're all great em seeds. But it's like that crew is so magical.

I look at I look at Punch as this generation's d OC. Yeah, and what he meant to death Row with the tutelage that he gave to the younger mcs, you know what I mean. Like, that's how I look at Punch, Like he gets it.

It's not like, oh yes, an executive that no no no no no no no.

This is an artist that understands the executive side and that is willing to give of himself for someone else's game.

Yeah, and a lot of us don't do that. He's definitely coming under the umbrella. What if I've seen this before in my career. It's like I'm a little older than you know, so I grew up under like General Buzzby, you know these things. But Punch is reminded me of if I was reading a history book. It will remind me of like Today's on his way to being a progressive Claire's ain't about of today, because not only does he understand the music as the massive teachers did, but he also understands relationships. He understands politics, he understands he understands what people just care about. You know. He's really a great leader, you know, what I'm saying, and that's that's like we don't have we don't have leaders now, we don't have leaders. You know, we see what's going on with everything, we don't we don't have leaders, like a lot of the leaders at least like when I was younger, it was so many music industry leaders, you know, don't we don't have a lot of them right now that are really serious and not chasing the bag but care about. That's why the show is. That's why I be begging you. Yes I did cancel, but it was a real legitimate thing. I'm sure I don't remember, but I know. That's why this show is so important. And this this is the looser I've been on. Usually I have a whole thing, I know how to talk. I'm wearing glad you know, I got my whole shabamy. But this show is so important because in R and B music, other than a couple of cats an R and B, other than the cast that's in it, it's not talked about. Let me let me give you this clear. It's like the world needs to know that Davante's Duke Ellington. Like it's like R and B. Just now I'm saying, is getting talked about at a real point where I can see this in the schools being taught. I can see different cultures really understand the lineage and the history and why we do this, Why it's so important you to keep doing this? Why and soaring for me to keep doing what? Why? It's so it's okay to love something in the air of no love. It's okay to love something, and it's okay to be great and not just not just asks every week, what what are your monthly listeners? And you know what I'm saying. Fine, Wait, funny side story. I just did napp but the Napa Jazz Festival, and let me tell everybody about these this this monthly listeners ship for the motherfuckers. I hearna get out some gun. Eric Roberson, M hmm my god. That's my point. Very talented, talented. I saw him rock the Napa Jazz Festival from stage to the wall and get these people a crazy show. Everybody screaming with real fans. That's buying things. You know what I'm saying. I know what you mean. You go to monthly listeners or whatever whatever that new thing is people do, it'll make you think like he ain't doing that doing that. I saw it.

But then on the flip side, the ones with all these monthly listeners can't go do with daddy.

Yeah, I know them, you know what I'm saying. We see them.

You know, listen, once we once we get into computers, the numbers aren't real numbers anymore, you know what I mean, all the whole the days of you know, the numbers don't lie.

They absolutely lie. They're absolutely you know it don't lie. You know Michael Jackson videos with them people fainting and crying and shaking and that feeling emotion the people people don't lie, that feeling. I remember. I remember when I first saw Snoop dog I was sixteen, and he walked down the hallway and shook everybody I was. I was at Studio fifty six. I did school to go and just see if I could listen to Keith Crouch to a beat at Studio fifty six and Snoop had walked out the room and I shook his hand, and that's when I first met him, and he shook everybody's hand and said Snoop dog Snoop Dogg, like nobody knew who he was. Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg, you know what I'm saying, Why the fuck I tell that story because that's a that's a moment in time for you though.

Yeah, and it also it also something that stayed with you as far as humility, I.

Thought, Yeah, that's where I'm getting at, and that's that's like I never forgot that with him. He was it was about the people. It was beat and for Snoop, as we see.

As about as international as he is, about the people. It's always about the.

People, right, and they've always given back, always given back. Now that that that's what separates him from anyone.

Yeah, he's from anyone. He is. He's absolutely the guy.

Yeah, you know what I mean because Snoop is everyone's family member and he supports everybody.

Yeah, he supports everybody. Energy is always amazing energy.

I want to ask you something too, though, about what you're on now, Nintendo. So that Forever record Bro, Me and Knife wonder Ah, Bro, that's my boy. I love that rec Thank you man. I love that record, Bro. Thank like you got you.

Got your you got your Roger Troutman on on there. I did that record sixteen years ago. What that record sixteen years old, fifteen or sixteen years old, I have to be doing music, bro, Warren Carroll told me, a recording artist job is to record every day. I'll be on the same page off this whole time. I'm recording today. I have a show tonight. I took a break book Larybie to record and go back to those shows. I record every day. Songs are my I look at songs and certain things as apartment buildings, little houses, little this little, that little that little that real estate. Bro. Every day, what I got to student? No house, Yeah that's what that's Yeah, that's how she get paid for I mean technically, yeah, yeah, on some way. So you know, I'm just speaking to me right now because I got to sit there at my house and I don't use it talk. Warren Campbell told me. Say it again. Warren Campbell told me, Warren Campbell told me that's a T shirt. If you artist, your job is to record every day. When he told me, that changed my life because I'm like, what else I rather I'm not driving a fork lift. Respectfully, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not the you know, you want to know work, the the it was a blackout in my neighborhood and the electricians that I got to climb on that thing with kids at home. That's work. That's work writing a song, whether I like it or not, because everything I write ain't good. Most of it is not good. But I get it out every day. You know what I'm saying. You know, you know? And I got different buttons from my work, like I know if I'm going into it, No, I don't have those buttons no more. I don't have no expectations, no more. Yeah. But it's also like.

It's how I tell people when it comes to fitness, and they're like, well, how do you always stay in shape?

Like what do you do? What's your regimen? I said, My regimen is something? What do you mean by something? Every day? I do something something right. It don't have to be the most strenuous thing or I don't have to lift the whole gym, but some did something. I do something. I'm struggling with that. I'm struggling with that, the workout thing because because I'm that's just a real thing in my life because my father, I just know what health is and how important it is and everything. But I always struggle with like working out and then stopping. But right now I've been really meditating and just chanting, trying to just like like I'm going to I want to fall in love working out about deals in music. I want to fall in love with it, because I think that's like it's it's kind of weird for me to keep being his music guy and not be in loving all the My health is fine, but really I think if I'm helping people to clearn the music, I got to help the whole ring of things. Because the doctor said, man, my dad would have been there five years ago. The only thing I say to him is his core, the core, the core, the core, and I never will forget. My dad used to be like, you better some crunches, you fat motherfucker, so squatch or something. Boy, he lived five more years because yeah, it's healthy. It was like even when I mean, he was so strong from every day. He died at seventy six, so he stopped working out at like seventy right when he got real sick. But every day, man, he was for real, like doing something three times a day, squad. Like my earliest memory is listening to him listening to Cold Train with a forty five pounds weight and doing squats ore burpies, burpies squats and then practicing the drums. It never was. It never was health without music in my in my life. You know, I think I got that ship from hanging out, you know what I'm saying. But yeah, the hell thing is real, like the food thing is real. Like that ship is so real. You know what I'm saying. You get your blood work, yeah, okay, yeah, your blood work. Some late night drinks, some stress, the musical nights, some tequilas hanging make you drink a lot of water. Make sure you eat. You gotta eat, because what do you eat? You got to carry around like a steak with nose with pepper on it. Carry it around though. You got a ziplock in my back pocket. Yeah, are you that guy that it's like I'm weighing the broccoli. No, it's not. He just does the work. Most duders are safe, don't. They eat burgers and everything. But I perceive I don't eat.

I don't eat like I'm a moderation guy.

Yeah.

So, I mean the fancy term is poor in control, but that's that's not really what I do. I just don't. I just don't eat a lot of food naturally. So for me, with the work that I do, I actually should be eating more food. Wow, but it's hard for me to. I just had to just program them. Just worried that way to not eat more food. But I have my snacks.

But you grew up.

Yeah, plus because because it's like plus it was a balance for me. I wanted to play football and play for three churches.

See you know what I'm saying. So so that tells me he just he wanted all. I mean, well at that time, I was you know, the Lord was first. I wasn't you know, I wasn't really about that n PC earlier. It gives you a different different level respectfully. You know a lot of guys be you know, they get intimidated by the athletes and everything. Like like a lot a lot of guys, I know you don't understand. We don't. I don't get that yet, but it's a real thing for I've always I remember just hanging out with a gang homegirls back in the day, and one homegirl let me know, she said, she's so cool because you just be making me laugh. I said, oh, just be a listener.

And just hey, man, I started writing the secrets.

Man, I start writing songs because you know, and I grew I love women. I grew up you know, my Mama raised me daughters. I love a woman. I respect the woman. I think women are the most powerful human beings on this earth. I think that the woman is so powerful. So I love them all the way. So I've always loved just to be connected with women. I love the point of views that I learned so much from them. So like I was always I always had a lot of homegirls, you know what I'm saying, And you know, I just used to learn so much. That's why I was writing certain kind of music like they was. I sit down listen to my homegirls talk, and they always say, Man, you know, dude, don't listen, don't listen, don't listen, don't listen. I said, all we just got to write a hundred songs about listening, right.

No, Because the other part about it is, as they say, the gift will open the doors right, all doors the doors right. But there's something about and I talk about this here and there, there's something about magic. This thing that we do is magic. Jumping from the free throw line really ain't magic. I listen all due respect, catch the touchdown.

I get it. I respect it. I respect it. You can learn that.

You can learn that. You can't learn this type of magic. You can learn trickery because that's being that's a magic, smoking mirrors, that's that's that's trickery. With all due respect, this thing is not trickery. No, it's either you know how to grab it out the sky. You've opened up your porter, talk to talk. Are you having That's it, and that does and that has nothing to do with with a hit record. It's a feeling. I can sing something to you or write or play you something that I wrote that evokes feeling.

I got you. Listen. He just said that whole crowd and Eric Roberson is magic, He's.

I saw Eric Robertson at Howard University as a kid in high school and me, I'm the you know, I'm the vocal gymnast. I got all, I got all that, you know what I'm saying. And they keep talking about this Eric Robson. Okay, he probably cool. And I watched him play and sing.

I don't think he had no shoes on. And he wasn't doing he wasn't doing all that ship I was doing. Yeah, I'm doing all that.

He was in their souls focused and I'm looking at him like, oh.

You what you're doing? You are? I need that in that bag. When I saw the whole crowd sun dresses, get the dance, I said, I need to make a subject. Ain'ted some covers and he's arranged. I'm like, he giving a show. He's a monster.

You don't want to come behind him as well. He knows his gift, he knows what he got the millions on that one song. You don't want to go behind there, Robinson.

Show because in this music thing, as it relates to people, there's no contract you can look up because the contract don't matter. I don't care what Kendrick Lamar makes other than the music that he makes. I don't care about the money that he makes from it. I don't care that Prince didn't own his masters in the beginning. It didn't matter because when Purple Rain came on, Jesus Christ, when Darling Nicky came on, you better talk that talk, you know what I'm saying, Like, let's let's be let's be real with this thing.

Man.

When Sexual Healing came on, I go, there's no way I'm not googling the contract that was connected to it, and that to me is what is the true separator of music in any other industry.

Yeah, yeah, and you need some records and.

They're trying because what they're trying to do is put that on top of what this music thing is. Well, how many records did he sell it? And listen, between the three of us, we got that part. We sold a lot of records.

We've made some good money doing this thing.

That has nothing to do with the respect that we all have for each other of the music that we've created.

Way different. It's way different. That's true. That's way different. It's magic.

Like you said earlier, it's magic, bro absolutely magic, and I thank God every day that I can create magic.

I mean the add to that, I'm even thinking of the past past, maybe five six years. A lot of artists I've noticed a lot of younger artists, they go in and they do the worst. A lot of them I've worked with. They they go in and do some of the worst mistakes, which is going in trying to create the hit, trying to create the hit. And I always I always try to tell the cats, you know, when you try to create the hit, for me personally my opinion, some people got the power to say boom, it's a hit. I bless them. Yeah yeah, but I feel like some of about trying to create something that's not in your control. It's like a mind fuck and it kills all the positive frequencies out the whole session because your name and records that were big records, but they're not like they're not like us not, but we know a lot of big Like I was thinking about what's the b side the the Bobby Callwell, now what you're gonna do for love? Uh? Not? The one common sample, the one biggie sample. It's not the light, it's not what you want.

Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the biggest sample.

Right. So I remember, I'm young, a kid, but I grew up in a household of mute. I remember when Bobby Calwell was was a thing you thought there or did you not know or did you know because of the cover, nobody knew. Nobody knew, and if somebody said they did, they lie, it's impossible that was. I talked to him. I talked to him, and I know him, I knew him, and nobody knew. That was why he was so soulful. They didn't want nobody fucking know he's so you know he was, he didn't got so many black folks married. He's getting it off. You know what I'm saying. Love but that But this song is like to me a culture, a love song. It's so powerful. It's like, but it wasn't the top ten, right, but it's powerful when you listen to Faith Evans Caramel Kisses on the top ten. But guess what when it comes on as soon as I get home, chop ten for us for magic though, first of all, that's that's that's elerent me. The Faith Evans is she is like I don't.

Know, I had to Catt. I got the cassette as a gift. That's how much I loved her. I got it as a gift.

She's the only when I still get starstruck to be around. I still I just.

Remember Faith looking so angelic on all of her covers. She had just a different tone, different, just like just like she's shining.

She was every she was everything for me. But them songs felt you felt, you felt like we get we got to know her through them songs like without even mean her. I felt her story through them songs like I grew up with that, So I grew up with homegirls, with aunties, with women, you know, like that was man.

I try to see people and I and I try to give them a bit of normalcy because I know that they've been you know, everywhere they go it's fans. It's fans fans, and you know, then they run into me and it's one more fans.

I try to I try to give them a little bit. It was like, you good, you know what I'm saying. How how's the family? You know?

Try to well, really, I want to be like man, I just want to shake your head.

For some reason, when I see Faith, I try to get regular, but I think I always say some stupid ship like I don't know, you know, I'm such a fan.

Her something bro everything, man, everything. Let me let me get Let me get one one thing from you.

Let me get it.

What would you one piece of advice that you would tell that you would tell a super musician who wants to do, who wants to produce? How would you tell him in terms of making that transition about.

Asking him what is the end go? Why does he want to produce? He said, I wanted to make music want to make music. It's the whole thing. I gotta ask him. But but I'll tell you this if at the end of the day, my questions will be, are you here to make music, to make a mark in whatever blessings come from that you take, whatever down falls you take to or are you here to come with it. I'm coming to get this bread because if you come and get this bread, I can tell you I do that too. I know the guy's gonna talk to too. It's a thing. It's the thing that I don't like that tell people how to do it, but it does. It's the thing, you know, and you have to sacrifice so much of who you are financially, business wise and everything if you want to go straight to it in my experience, but if you're here to make a mark and just right you know, the massive teacher Roy Hargove to say this, this is one of the only business music. You got to give music one hundred and fifty percent and hopefully you'll get back fifteen percent. You know what I'm saying. So if you on that journey, and this is the journey you want to be on, I got some things I could definitely tell you, which is love, it all, and you know, you gotta it's so dark when I say this, but it's not. But you gotta find a weird way to fall in love with the pit falls just like the success. And you got to get to be safe. You got to acknowledge when you win andcknowledge things. But you got to kind of keep a steady pace going on because this game is so many valleys. You know, I've been this. I'm third generation this. So I grew up all publishing. I grew up when crack came in. We lived in a hotel. I've grew up in a popular era. This I know all. I'm a child that grew up in a record business household, so you know. And I don't have other I do music for a living. I don't have the ten apartment buildings over there. I don't I do music. I'm a I'm a real creator. I'm gonna die doing this. That's what he said. I'm here to do. I can't fit into no other mode. I could love everything. This is what I'm gonna do. But if you on that real question, you you got to fall in love with every aspect of it. You got to fall in love at every aspect of it, because that's the only way you're gonna develop that thing, to stay focused on that art thing, you know, once you start bringing the emotions to the values. Because it's rough, especially when you ain't got the rent money and it's bad. You got kids and everybody calling because it's rough and nobody it's hard to get money for everybody. So even the person calling pressing for money is not they want to press you. It's just fucked up for them. Y'all. Now, y'all arguing in this, but it's all no, it's all this, it's all these things. It's all these things that that go down. Why why you're creative because you don't make a lot of money when you're gambling on yourself in the beginning or whenever, you know, I'm so much, I'm such a I want to drop myself so much from my own company because I keep getting I love I love the music artists to come from the label, you know. But I would tell a man fall in love with everything and learn as much as you can and just be in love and just be in love with it, man, just fall in love with it, you know. And it's hard to fall in love because people get the business confused with the art. It's not the same thing. You know. The business is the business. You know. You know people people people do business where it works out for them. I mean, how it the name of businesses. I gotta protect me and my family no matter what. It is, just business, you know, So don't be scared of that ship. I do business all the time. I called you to clear out, you know, I'm I'm I'm doing business because I'm like, that's how we're gonna eat, That's how we're gonna live, That's how we're gonna party and see each other later on and not be weird when we see each other in the mall. Because the business is cool. The business has to be cool. The business. You got to focus on business too. And it's a few ways you could focus on business. You could go get the book like everybody was teacher ever, go go get the book. Or you could build your own book and run your own race. Because certain books that's written about this business are based off certain views things are done. My journey is completely different. So my journey doesn't. It hadn't fit in any book yet. I haven't read my journey yet. It's so weird, Like, yeah, you know, it's so it's like you gotta get in, you gotta dive in, and you can't be diving. You got to dive in. But let me be clear though, because all motherfuckers be you know. It's just it's it's so tricky, man, because you know, I see so many other most talented people make the craziest mistakes. Like I always tell people, like my job for years, I feel the creator got me here to where when I meet a young artist, I be friend of doing music with them. And it's been a couple that I've had to call their parents like you should come get your baby. I would come get my baby because LA getting to them in a different kind of way. It ain't my business, say how but you need to come and get your baby. Two ways. A kid gonna come out here with a dream, they gonna make it. They're gonna go back home, or they gonna die broken heart. That's Los Angeles. That's the entertainment business. That's what I've seen. That's just what i've seen. I could be wrong, you know what I mean. So it's like having that head, having that spirit right, making sure you when you in line with your folks, like making sure you're in line with your family members, your mom and your daddy if they're still here. Just making sure you align with people that got the truth. People that's praying for you, loving you. If you're gonna be in this game, like it's it's a real game, you know. I don't call it bad, I don't call it good. I call it the ball game. And I made a conscious decision to be a part of this, you know, So I take whatever with this. But that's that's kind of that was my view on the streets though, I take with that. And this is much safer than the streets for me. When I hear rappers saying the rappers David's job, man, shut the fuck up, you talking ship getting chased. You, shut the fuck up. You can go home. You know what I'm saying. You know that, and not could be sensitive some but you know, you know I'm from that thing. So I just get let's get home, you know. But we gotta respect this ball game. I would tell I would tell all these things, like and just do good music. If you're good, we'll hear about you. We always do it, don't we. We always hear about him. Again. I remember hit Boy, and when I first saw hit Boy. Uh uh. Paulo to Don, Pollo to Don. He was in l A for a while, and Paulo's like, man, I really want to work with Snoop. And I was like, all right, let me let me ship. I'm gonna bring him by the studio. Could press play, I'm bringing bad So I go pick up Snoopy, go see Paulo and donnad record plant. He playing these beats. I'm like, oh, he played when that's a monster. Everybody bobbing their head. But I see this little kid in the back, a little kid, a teenager kid, Like you know what I'm saying, Like, Loo, get headphones. He ain't saying nothing. Years later, he said, hey, bro, remember that studio session, follow Don. That was my beating. That was me in the back. And I said, man, I'm glad I was nice to you because you are a monster. God, I'm glad I'm on the other side of you, because you are a monster. Hit Boy a monster. He is a monster. You see what he's doing with his father. That's that's the human. That's that's that's the part, that's that's that's the trophy that the game won't give you. But that's the trophy that the universe and the creator will give you that that that's the thing that after the game is washed up with you in all this situation, we all gotta go home and be along. We all, we all got to pay the pipe, good or bad, I ever gotta go. That's what you do. That's what you do to secure your family, your spirit, your touch. That's important this game. That's what you do to secure that. You don't listen to nobody else. You roll with your folks. Man. When my daddy finally got cancer, but I did so many records on him, all my records that grabbed me. Now everything Kendrick loses all my dad playing drums, I do. That's what you do. That's that's how you put in a stone for your babies. You know, your daughter sing, I got my oldest daughters, the beast, the beast. That's the beast. I thought, you know, I thought about that because that was me and my dad. Like we we bonded so much over music and recording together. You know what I'm saying. That's recording man, that's yeah, you know, I forgot what I'm talking about again. Up let me say this though, it's do what I want to talk about that. Nobody talks about him, but people talk about him with a certain era. His name is Reggie Andrews, the producer and writer for a group called the Dazz Band. Yeah Teacher, Yeah teacher, music teacher, a lot dh teacher that taught Patrise, Russian, Tyrese, Tyresse, a real Reggie baby. Shout out to Reese for always being on debt Tyrese, Jold Albright, Patrise, Russian, Kamasi, Washington, Terrace, Martin Thundercat, like Jay Swift from the Far Side, like his His list of successful artists that all could afford place to live on her own is huge, and that's a hard thing to do, you know. Shout out to Reggie Andrews because just deep I thought about this. So my father came to LA from New York in nineteen seventy four, and in New York in the seventies, in the early age, it was like, you get to LA, you got a find Reggie Andrews. He's a big producer. He gonna put you on. Reggie Andrews. My dad comes, everybody comes. Reggie so cracking. Nobody never finds him. He's in Holly, he's doing he's he's arranging, he's doing huge records producer and uh, it's just funny. I think about that story because Reggie so important to meet me and Thanny Cat always like without him, Without Reggie Andrews's no to pimper Butterfly. We started to pimp a Butterfly in Reggie's van in the nineties. That's when that record started. We started coming up with those weird, freaky, unorthodox, strange ideas because of Reggie, Andrews gave Thundercat myself all these different keys to unlocked doors in your brain, young black kids. So my father came out here to find Reggie and he never found him. And then ironically I go to I go to Santa Monica. Hi, I'm getting to a little trouble. I got kicked off for a fighting a gun case. They sat out a gun, right, So I go to JAM I come out of jail. I got I gotta change schools. There's no other school I could go. I'm playing. I'm playing saxophone though I'm on my shit. I'm but I'm selling guns at the time. I'm not robbing, I'm not killing it. I'm not a fighter. I'm a lover. I love making love and music. You know. You know what I'm saying. I'm just selling a gun. I'm not a punk, though, but I'm just selling a gun. And because I got to say that so it won't be this weird, because it ain't no when you're from the hood, like I mean, you ain't trying to be hard. That's regular, like you just trying to get some money. You ain't tripping like that. So it ain't the glorious hood story I'm giving you. I'm just trying to sell a gun. I got hemmed up, ended up, getting kicked out of the whole school district. I had nowhere to go, but I was excelling the music so high. All the district was hearing about me. But now I had this like this sixteen year old kid, a concealed loaded weapons following you, and I would tell you I have trauma. That's why I keep saying I was selling the gun. It still bothers me where I stay. I was only selling them, I wasn't. I don't hurt nobody. I'm not a gangster. I'm just hanging. You know, I just know the language. I just grew up around the guys. You know what I'm saying, I'm just doing music. But Reggie Andrews took a chance because the security man watch out guy work the security at Santa Monica High School name was mad Dog. Mad Dog was a drummer. I also knew my dad. I never knew this, but mad Dog was a drummer in La. He knew my dad. Mad Dog was best friends with Reggie Andrews and they had a little thing where Reggie would tap into all the high schools to see who's the young kids playing music. I need to get him to my school. I need to get him to my school. So mad Dog had been watching me and one day I never catch He said, hey, man, these folks out here don't understand you. Man, Man, you're gonna have to get to a real black school. And I was like, man, I'm going to crench Shaw because that's my school district. He said, Man. So I got kicked out. Mad Dog called my mom and said, my friend Reggie Andrews would like to take a meeting with you. He has a school that your son would excel in. And he could almost he saw his grades. He could almost guarantee almost Niggas was saying almost that he would get into a college, and that was a big deal then because it wasn't looking like I was going nowhere. I was just playing a horn and studying Cold Trane, having a kid young and trying to have other kids probably at that time. And so mad Dog's old Reggie Man, Reggie came to my mom and I remember sat down. My mom was like, so what you do. He was like, I know what to do with him. Like, I've seen his grades, I heard him play. Everybody talks say, he's a good kid. He's a little trouble. I know he's going through some trouble, you know, and he's had he's at a turning point in his like for he gonna either go here or he gonna go full fledged here. And in my head, I was never going to go full fledged here, but I probably would have went full fledged out of pure pressure of not wanting to be called weird or not want to be just not want to be not in the end crowd as a young black kid. That's I probably would have done some dumb shit like most, like most a lot of my friends didn't, you know. So I never wanted to be a street dude. So when Reggie got to me, my mom was like, what school you teach at? And when that nigga said Lock High. Now y'all don't know, do y'all research on lock High? Lock High? At this time? It's one of LA's crazy at school. This is like one of the first schools with the metal detect. This is like he's oh no, no, no, no. This is like they found a girl hanging from it. Like this is a whole. This is like we When he said Lock High, me and my mama say, I ain't going to lock Hall. I'm not going to lock Call. I ain't gotta go. I'll go to I ain't gotta go to Crenshaw, but I'm not going to Lot And he said hear me out. I mean, he broke it down, while I should go to lock Card. And the best thing I did in my life, man, was go to lock Card. That first day I went to that school, tenth grade. The first day I win. He said, the first day you went, we have to play. Bill Clint was was doing his run, trying to be a president, trying to be the president at the time he ended up being coming to President. Ty Reese was there. He had some brown leather boots. So then I got oh Man. Anyway, So Reggie Andrew. So the first gig, Brandy's there, Reggie has me there. It's a big band and it's with Wayne Shorter. And this is the first time I'm seeing Kemasi Washington, the first time I'm seeing done that. The first time I'm seeing really an NPC is at Lock High School. Because Reggie was building a crew of he knew what he was doing, and all of us went to colleges. It ain't one dummy off the crew. Camasi at u c l A. I went to cal Arts and you seet Ronald Cayle Larks though the only one did go to school because he was he didn't. He was already with Eric about doing doing all the records with thunder Cat, but everybody had options to go to. He made sure our grades was up and the musical he was up. He would do things like, uh, terrors, you want to do this shit for real? He like, Okay, I'm gonna take you on a field trip. We're going to Tyree's house because Tyree's graduated two years before me. Right four, Me and respectful. First of all, we we love Tyree. I still love Reese. But we used to get sick here in Tyree's name because Reggie, he was so proud of Tyree. He'd be like, come on, because did you see what Tyree's doing? So we grew up being like come on because another Tyree story, like so Tyre's in high school for us was like he was the model, right but and I never told Tyree this, And I never told this is kind of deep. I thought about this in the shower. This is brand I thought about this in my life. I was like, when did I first want to? I started looking at my house, like why am I in this house? Why did I? How did I get here? How ma in this community? How am I? I just had a weird brain fart, like how did I get here? Like night ship?

How do I?

How do I do this? Though? And I said, Reggie took me on a field trip to Tyreese's house. His tyres had just started making bread. He had a house in Temecula. I never seen I never seen. I never seen nobody close to my age that was still hood, still pulling up. I never seen nobody with a kitchen with an island in it, like it was life changing. And I remember I remember it like yesterday. I don't know his manager. He was filming something and he was on a strict diet. He didn't say that, but I knew because it's the first time I seen like this is this is gonna be funny, this is for real. I was seventeenth the first time I seen like a boneless, skinless chicken breast with a piece of broccoli with no season. I just remember like, why is he eating that ship? But he's all in shape, you know, And I just remember him being like cool. I remember me asking him. I remember asking him a question like because I didn't grow with Tyres, we from the school this class later, but we feel like he's our bigger if we was in a attorney, he's our bigger brother, and we have all the respect for Tyree. He's a bad motherfucker. And where he come from it let me tell you something you don't but whatever Reese go through, and let me tell you something, where he come from is a different thing, you know. So I get the whole artistic bobe with him. But uh, that fucking island man, He had an island, and I didn't know, why do you need this? But he was so cool man. And I remember asking him because I was kind of like, let me see if he knows what's up. Kim Barell just came out with Everlasting Life at that time, or it was about to come out with somebody. Everlasting Life was out, and I was like, you know, Kim Morell is and he was like, that's my folks hard and he was so like, I said, damn, that's hip that Tyreese is hip to Kim Barell. You know, I wouldn't he be if I'm just an asshole kid that going through the same school he went to, and my teachers always saying, yeah, he called that, you know, but tyre has always been like he wrote from Afar, but so close. Reggie Andrews to always want to get us to work together, like he was busy and I was always but our birthdays. I think my birthday is December twenty win this races. This is the December first I got Reggie's text. All your birthdays around that same Reggie always said, hey, I'm calling Tyree's next. On thirty twenty five years on the birthday text. You know, ask Ty's about Reggie's birthday text. I'm sure you know it's a real thing. Like so Tyree, Tyree comes from that thing though, see it gets deep. He comes from that channel. He comes from that channel. So it's like him acting, singing, being so poetic when he talked, all this is that's he comes from the Reddy Andrews. He's he's one of our most important black artists in the world that just so happens to be from Watts. M M. It ain't it ain't easy. That's a bad motherfucker. It's a bad motherfucker. Man, Reggy Andrews, you gonna be like talking, Okay, Goddamn. When I saw Tyree's house, I said, I gotta be like Tyree, cut my hair, go ball, sweet lady. I love him, Man, TANJ Martin. Yes, your top five R and B singers, R and B. You know all all that all it all encompasses the whole universe of singers. Let's just say that half your way. Charlie Wilson, keep running, keep on running, Faith Evans, yet or not. You better not do this, not in this order, this order. You better not tank Uh. It's okay, okay, you take it, just takes. It's hard for me to take that too. People's I just I turned my head down. Just weird. It's it's it's the church and it's so weird and the studio. We could do it though, with a certain kind of but just no, brother, is that four three perfect? Not in this order? Eric Dawkins, Yeah, since yeah, but way, I've seen all these people make up things in the moment. That's I'm judging the whole. It's a lot of things I'm judging off of. I've seen all these artists create songs in the middle of sound checks and tags the end of songs. I seen all these artists sang when the mics was messed up. I've seen all these artists when I've seen all these artists at all the levels. Yeah, been to so many and yourself no so uh, I said Eric Dawkins, benefit of his since ninety five. I'm with you, yep, talks and talkings. Got one more. God rest his soul. Jesse Powell. Oh yeah, yeah, Jesse. We're talking about the level right, Oh, the level, talking about the level, I'm talking about intonations, saying performance, theatory syllables. Oh thing, Daniel eye. I've seen them singing praise and worship. I seen him seeing to a woman. I've seen I've seen Jesse when I was younger, Auder and back then I said, man, they oh yeah, the one He's gonna inspire too many good things. They don't. Nobody even fries to re sing that Record're good, We're good people leave you alone good. Yeah, that's a record, We're good. That's the record smash. But nobody plays around with that. No, leave it alone.

Man.

You remember Jesse's range? What there are? There are lanes and levels. Man, that that's just five. But though if I was me and Robert always blasts were always saying we was going to war and we had to fight and heal the world with music. What top piano player with? Those are my five that I know. I could go anywhere from all the levels from heart thriving music core changes to dexterity to that's just the five. I know.

They taken off phase off Pasey that you know you don't when need to come to the park like I got my five?

Yeah, I got my You know what I'm saying, that's you know, songwriter, I got a song. I gotta all all. We do this a lot Top five R and B songs. Whoa oh, he said, I like that list some more water Man. We got some more water Man. Top R and B songs. Oh okay, here we go, Here we go, Top five, thank you by the top five R and B songs. You could tell a lot by a person about these answers. Jennet Jackson any time, any place. My heart belongs to you. Do that. Next rendition, rest in peace, Kenny A Ribbon the sky.

Hm hmm.

We don't talk about Kenny A lot that we haven't. You just brought something crazy that had a song called coming Side.

Yeah, you let me, if you let me, if you the tone though, it's the tone, the arrangement, you know.

So that's that's three. Tevin Campbell, Now can we talk. I know where you're going. Come on, set you by the fire, your place. You know what I'm saying. Break it down, can get it down?

Press wrote that bottle stop playing? Yeah yeah, I mean I don't want no said. I can't let you do it by yourself. Come on, I need it back. I need that back.

That's four. You went too crazy on my record. I need it back. Uh now I need faith even as soon as I get home. No, no, no, no, come over sorry come over fight That was once you come over and make a lot of me. Yeah, because that song hit a certain way in my Honda Core when that came out, Come on, Chucky, come on man, come on Chuck. When you finally brought that car boom, dude, dude, oh manm keyboard sounds with and you had two twelves in the back, that's when that's when that's when you would just you would pick up the young lady. You know, both of y'all in high school. Everybody's of age, same age. You know, everybody's seventeen together to say that these days here, so I'm in behind the core, I'm banging faith that was. But this is when you on purpose in La you just drive fast in the Gutta line for no reason, looking straight while the girl in the car and you're playing faith that she's scared going fast, but the faith that was just still than her and you're just looking and you just you saying the words I lived this R and B ship broke because they're only so cool in the can push it to the streets. You ain't going and yo, remember the air your tape collection and your CD collection was how everybody yea and to see the evening I want to hear the city booklet.

Come on man, Yeah, I had the black leather boot want the move, we said, But I was writing my own songs to the fifteen, so I have you know, I mean.

Yeah, yeah yeah you go oh yeah yeah Maxill It was like yeah, Max, yeah, all that was five yeah yeah, actually hit us with two. That's all good because you know, you get weird when they come around. I love every time I see be like some music, like some music. Here we go. Let's make your vulture on your super r and B artists easy.

We want to know who you're going to get the particulars from, Who you're gonna get the vocal from, who you gonna get the performance style from, the styling, the passion of the artists, and.

What all star musical cast is going to play for this artist. Yeah, it's different. You expect that one. Okay, I'm gonna get Aaron Ray going on what vocal? Whole plan? What vocal are you getting for this artist? One vocal? Which which second? I know you the singer A right? Mm hmmm, I.

Spelled performing right, styling a right, passion a right? What group of musicians is playing for?

There we go, Now it's real. The group of musicians playing for Aaron Ray is uh.

Whom I heard all the names, you know, I know the names.

I know all those names. You know, you know the group of Aaron Ray. I would can I get a little bit in death? I would want to get. I would go to get. I would find out what spend a month going to midnight musicals and I would get a bunch of young cats to play with them young cats, and I would take them, take them to a rehearsal place. And I was would we would? We would study the genuine tapes. We will study the genuine tapes. We will do these things. Because Aaron Ray needs a band that's he needs a different kind of He needs a band that's just like that band. But he needs one guy that's a jazzy, real piano guy. He's a jazzy guy because he likes jazz, but he needs that. He's an R and B guy. He in the gym right now. He like Baby Tank, he got the he doing it and he's serious about that. So he needs a band that understands that show. The one thing about the genu Wine band, the music was a high level, but the show was a high level. The backgrounds and you know geniu Wine, all these Genie Wine was the first singer shout out to genu Wine too, and this this takes strength and courage to have the type of background singers genu Wine used to be. It takes courage even for some of these bands to say they had Dave Polisher singing background. Yeah. Yeah, that takes a good person that's secure and his biceping. He used to dance all crazy, all kind of ship and he could sign don't get it fucked up. His thing is his thing. But Aaron Ray is like to me, because I've I've I've I've had Aaron with me in New York at the Blue Note. That's like the training ground. It's two sets tonight. But people that don't know you and I want to see and he bam. The musicians would be all young casts. But but I would I would go get knee signed, m M. The anchor, the anchor it that season, to anger that that new, to blend that, because Aaron Ray is that songwise, James Finload would write everything. You write everything, you right everything, He would write everything because I would have to treat this like a car wash a little bit to really do it, in my opinion, to do it how I see it. Where it could be done at this crazy level. I would get James farl Royd to write it to an R. The an R is tricky because it's such a high level record. I would have to go get Sycamore or somebody left to go an R. You know what I mean, A couple of an rs. I have to get after pay Tina Davis a consulting fee mm hmm, to figure out how to push this thing through. I mean it's a whole thing. M The publicism, now that's tricky. I love them all. Where we would cut the record, that would be larrybie Man. He would mix the record, yep. The musicians on the record. We would do a blend because even with James writing it, I would still blend like I would randomly go get like a what does James sound like? With exkewoy Q writing and go get sew you to get like, what what does that sound like? Because I could put all of them in one wrong. I could do it. That's my thing is putting oil and water together making it smoke, you know. But that's what I would do with an artist like Aaron Rakers because I feel as has everything going for him. I feel he's such a different type of artists. He just needs to be surrounded with a certain type of a thing, you know, because he does all the work himself, and he's a bad motherfucker. I don't need anyone, but I know with them type of artists, those special ones. It's the reason why we all work for a reason. It's the reason why those names are the names we just. The only thing different I would do is involved the live band with the live young because I'm into young musicians. I love young energy.

You know.

I'll even deal with the show up later a few times to the airport, something about the young musician. I get monsters, you know what I'm saying. Monsters, Hey man, I do a fire song album with you all ballt us with strings though we'd have Derek God to the strings. We'd have Darrey do the strings, and it would be we would write the tunes kind of like jazz. Thenny but R and B. You know jazz. They go to the bridge like, what's the cat? Everybody likes this cat. I'm not man. I don't want to disrespect the white guy Blue Black, Michael Blue. Yeah, everybody likes that guy. That's like small world music to me. But everybody likes that thing. We don't have nobody in our world that's seeing that kind of music and attacking hearts. The queen some more joys doing it from a jazz perspector, But we don't have you. You you could bridge that man, because the piano with the strings, we don't do nothing up temple. If it's up temple, it's just a mid temple box and nova. It ain't nothing fast. It's just like it's when you do this. We going to the Kennedy Center. We're going back to d C with the orchestra. Well, you know what happens when you say stuff on the Army Money podcast. Binding I've been telling you. You know that's what I'm saying it like you have to do it. I mean when I was first hearing Tank around, you know, I used to be on Molly so much. Tank. Tank was another guy I would I would get starstruck four, but the Mollys too. I'd be like, hey, Tank. In my head, I had a whole talk with him, like I love the music.

Man.

Yeah, we gotta problem, era the problem.

The problem ah man, I liked everybody I shouldn't like.

Like everyone. That makes me a lover more of a lover. Yeah, I used to give good love speeches all night, seven hours. What talk to me? I used to accidentally confess the truth when I shouldn't have. Certain times, I've been there, Like i've been there, I've had to hear the truth. Don't tell me that.

Man, Here we go, ship, you got cham I ain't saying no next day, I ain't saying no names.

I ain't saying no names. Ain't saying no name.

He was what you need.

She ain't saying no. That's stupid. Yeah, come on now, come on you you're here. Now you're here. You really welcome.

He said, you wanted to come on the podcast, come on there. So it's the moment I saw Punch. I saw I saw the story. Punch was clever with that.

I like how Punch did it funny and fucked up a funny and fucked up. Maybe it was high. Maybe you wasn't. Maybe, Oh man, the only rule to the game is you can't say no name, not one. That's the only rule. Oh man. The year was two thousand fourteen. I like what I'm going. I love the year twenty fourteen. I just got down with some very important records, very important records that helped. When I say important, I mean they helped people. They helped more than me, They helped the people, they helped the whole world. So I never go on to row. But being a producer, hustler, what you do you follow that record? The artis Wan't you going to road for a couple of months? Why now let's go. We just got to know the album. Don't chip on a weekly money. I'll get you on that production agreement. Don I got you. Let's go. It's I go on the road. Now. This is when I I've came to the realization at this age, I think I'm like thirty six at this time or something like that. So this is the this is the run that made me say, Okay, you can't hang with these young motherfuckers no more. It's you. You gotta hang with your world. This is different you used to be. This is different. So we're touring all over. The artist has a very good record. It's going up, it's going big. It's not Kenrick Lamoar. So it's not that kill Oh. I can't say nothing, but I gotta say that because I can't say that. So we're out of town. We go to New York. It's the artist first time sold. Our show New York is cracking. Everybody's in New York. Everybody's coming to this show. I can't say no names, but a lot of my guest list is very who's who in New York, like you know, and this is like early, This is like we we we're just about to start the run. So we already we already kicked them off, but we now we're about to start to run. So you know, you know, when when you're hot, everybody comes to the show. God guy, So everybody's coming to the show. We have a good time. This is another friend of mine that was involved and with this that was involved musically, got in business with a friend of mine from Atlanta, got in business with a tequila company. Right, and everybody knows I drink tequila. I love tequila, right. I was drinking a lot more in tequila than though. This is like when somebody said tequila was a guy that I started thinking of. At least I'm having ala veria in my at at least I'm going through this whole thing. So it's a health benefit to tequila at least, you know what I'm saying. Liquor courage anyway, So he said, team, man, I know you try this. Man, it's try this all nice. I said, I'm gonna try it on stage. I'll said to Tequila about my keyboards. I'm playing and I'm not it's smooth. I'm like, this is smooth. One of those expensive bottles, heavy bottles. So I'm like it gotta be good. So I'm just drinking until I'm seeing, you know, a little buzz. I'm cool chilling. Now it's the end of the show. I didn't get too lifted, just coupled. But when we got back backstage, I started trying taking shots. I'm usually good at this time my life. To be able to move and now have a hangover and get that car time and not say nothing out of pocket. I'm like, I'm good. I'm like a seven to eight shot. Good dude right now with water consistent moving around the party. You feel me. I'm like, so, I'm but I got to my sixth shot and I was like, man, it used to be the show called your TV Rats with with with Doctor Dray and Ed Lover and aed love to do this dance like this, No, Chris, Now that's something holding the show. That's BT wrapped Chris the Mayor, the mayor on BT The mayor Sorry, sorry lover. The Mayor used to do this dance and all I remember me for some reason, I'm sober, but my bodies start going. I'm like, what's going on? It's making me feel weird, like this liquor. So long story short, I don't remember what happened. Right. I wake up in the morning. I met the w hotel in New York. I'm not gonna say which one, but I woke up. I'm like, where's my clothes? Why am I? Where am I clothes? Where am I? Where am I? Where are my clothes? No? No, I'm like, okay, Actually, I'm like, oh, I must have got drunk and just took them off and got in a bed. So I got up and like, let me find my clothes, and I'm like, where's my saxophone. Where's my clothes? I see my saxophone neck in the mouthpiece. I'm like, I don't have no clothes, no clothes. I'm like, wear am my clothes? I'm like, I'm thinking. So I get a knock on the door by the artist I'm working with, and he brings me my clothes. He said, Hey, don't even worry about it. Take your clothes. So later I got dressed, I said, man, how'd you get my clothes? Bro? Was you in my room playing a game and stole my clothes? Well, how did you get my clothes? Bro? He said, I heard you banging on the door on the tenth floor. Your room's on the fifth. You kept saying you had to use the bathroom. I just looked at my people. I didn't come out, but I just went back and you got naked in the hallway floor and start using the bathroom on somebody's door and walk to your room neckad. That's my story. And that's when I stopped drinking so much tequila. That much. Yeah, that happened. That's a real story. If you know, you know about that one to I'll tell you later. It's a different guy. The jazz. I'm always with the music, but I always liked having a good time. Respectfully, that is a good time, man. You just so you got on the elevator room. Oh no, was your like it? I must have still had my kids next with my keys.

There's so many questions, so many questions. That was that journey from the tenth floor to the it's gotta be a movie.

Because I'm like, it's some more. It's some more. Somebody had to get a key for it. Some more. It's but that that that was, that was when I started chilling out. That level of that level, that that was a real level. That was like, we're just I'm just because that was when the body, the man's body starts taking change at thirty with the alcohol and everything. You know, all depends on how much you drink and how much you've been a part of this, wow, crazy business casually drinking for so many years. So thirty five is about that time. You're about to hit the forty soon. So everything is changing. So I didn't calculate I was ship was changing, Ship was changing. And now you know, I can still go, but I gotta do the I gotta do the water as I go. That means I'm not getting sucked up. I can't even think about it. Yeah, you don't know no more. I drink a little bit. I can't even think about it's over, run over, it's over. Yeah for the turn I'm drinking. Let me tell you when I the last time I got I get drunk on accident. It happens because when you play at clubs and ship like that. Let mebody, you will drink And I'm like, why not what you're drinking? When they ask me, I'm not the guy. I don't drink what you drink. If you will buy me a drink, I'm like an expensive day top shelf. I'm looking up there since But nah, man, but yeah, man, the liquors start changing my body, the weed, everything start changing, man. And it comes from all of us just changing. But the late nights in them studios. The amount of mental stress we deal with don't the amount of spiritual warfare we deal with. We deal with so much shit just to sing a fucking note to pay some mortgage. It's crazy. It's crazy what we all deal. It's like it's the I mean, it's like war Bro. Like war Bro. We deal with so much weird ship and we just get through. It's like war the mind of all. It ain't just that. That's what I'll be trying to tell you young kids, Like, if you're gonna do it, just you know, do it to it and don't believe in what Nicholas, what's that meaning? It's too good to be true. It's too good to be true that some of that.

Yea brother, Terrence Martin, Man, we appreciate you. Come on, I appreciate you as a as a as a brother, as a as a man of a cloth.

Come on.

As a purist, curator, super musician, and super producer. You do it all man, You check all the box. I'll take some taco. I'm with all that.

It is Tuesday, Yeah, it is Tuesday. Y'all should come to my residency. I'm playing tonight at Verse. Have you been the Verse yet? That's Maddy's restaurant next door to Larry Bie. No, you've been, but you went on it as for an event, for a camper's events event, a wild night cameraman. That's it, like my but you gotta come one night tonight, tonight. Then I'm gonna take a break this moment. Pick it back time. We play six thirty for a couple hours, then we play against nine thirty. That's the only local shit I do. Because we could we curate them tables so we know who's in there. It's all like minded people. I'm on a whole mission right now, so you know how I'm doing. I tell you you know I'm doing the table. It's a little different I'm a you. I'm with you. We appreciate you, brother. Come on, man, I appreciate you. Man. Let's say it. Man.

My name is Tank Valentine and this is the R and B Money Podcast, the authority on all things R and B.

Yes, sir, yeah, that's real. Know your craft. You better tell you a story for the other people telling fuck it up. That's what this is doing. Giving people a shot. The fact that we could go see all these cats here, that that that y'all know who's who is black history. Man, people are going to this is a real fucking thing to record. This, to record history of giants that would have never got looked at, and that are giants like we're talking about a person named Warren k. We're talking about giants here that will never like giants. That's just as important to me as Duke Keellington. Man. So I love you guys for doing this show. I want to come on this shit a gang of times. I got so much to say, ladies. Terrence mart

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R&B Money

R&B Money Podcast is hosted by the Legendary Grammy Award winning R&B singer/songwriter/producer TAN 
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