Eric Benét

Welcome, welcome everybody to another episode of On That Note. Of course, this is the place where we speak a language we all understand and that is music. My guest today is a long time friend, someone who I've known for a long time and we've just rolled the wave together of this music industry. Woo, boy. And it's a small world yet it's a big one too. To see people that you've actually watched go from here to here, for me is always a pleasure. It's always something cool and for me to say that, yeah, I know this guy. You know, just the fact of his consistency and his ability to stay relevant in a very turbulent world, let alone industry. But, Claude. Yeah, but let's get the formalities out the way. He's a Milwaukee native who was surrounded by creativity at an early age that shaped him into one of the greatest voices we've ever heard. His smooth, unique vocal style, including that stratospheric falsetto. See? It's recognizable in any space, if not in and of itself, a head turner when executed. His prowess on record and on stage represents not only what was in classic R&B vocal sensibilities, but what it can be, carrying the tradition for future crooners and lovers of the art and the culture. In 2026, he's not just a voice in music and song, but he's etched a reputation of being one of the most outspoken figures in the state of the world and its leaders. And we've all appreciated his stance as he's become the voice of many of us who are witnessing a planet that has become out of course. Some people chase the moment, others preserve a feeling. This brother is one of those special human beings who built his life on soul, discipline and truth and has never let go of it. He is a brother, a father, a husband, a chart-topping platinum-selling singer, songwriter, producer, actor and unofficial politician, political pundit. Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Eric Benet Jordan, aka Eric Benet. Hold up, man. First, we got to talk about the intro, man. That was beautiful. Thank you, sir. Man, that was beautiful. You know, we give flowers at the show. That's the whole thing. That's our stick. We have to provide the understanding that we respect the person that sits across from us. Seriously, that was actually touching, especially coming from somebody with the prowess such as yourself, man. Oh, man. It's like, you know, yeah, I mean, if we just going, I mean, it's your show. I don't know what to jump into. Yeah, but no, you do. It's about you. I just want to say. Speak how you like. Coming from you, somebody who, you know, came from the streets of Philly and as long as and you have achieved iconic success and you have maintained this level of respect and of intellect and in your career and to meet people who have somehow been able to achieve such lofty goals, but remain so humble, y'all. I've like every time I run into this brother, he is, he's always that dude. He's always that, you know, let me tell you something. Artists who consistently fill stadiums, that does something to your soul. I have never consistently filled stadiums, but I have known artists who do. And when you have people, the adulation of thousands and thousands of people every night, but then you talk to them afterwards and it's like, they just the same nappy-headed kid from Philly who's just down to earth and just like, I mean, I mean, that's why I ain't taking my shit off of you. But no, man, coming from you, that means so much. No, thank you. Thank you. I mean, this business, I don't know. I don't know if how I was somehow mentally, spiritually prepared before I even got into the game. Like, and I think it's just mom and dad and just my journey, I guess, like, I was the kid that no one paid attention to. I was a dark-skinned, big-eared kid from Philadelphia, skinny. And I was the youngest of three other brothers and one sister in the middle of the street in Southwest Philadelphia. And, you know, I had my friends, we played and we kicked it and all that other stuff. But as I got older in high schools, like, I was literally the little fish in the big pond. So no one really paid attention because I didn't have these unique features. I wasn't light-skinned. I didn't have pretty eyes. I didn't have a six-pack. I wasn't athletically stupid. You know, I wasn't that guy was just a kid. Which speaks to your talent because at that time in Philly, it was an explosion of talent. Yeah. It was as if it were 1965 in Detroit, Motown. Yeah, Philly was popping. Philly was like, you couldn't throw a rock or a hoagie without hitting somebody who could sing, who could write, and then to excel in that environment. Once again, he's proving my point or the humility. Well, I say that to say, and I always say this because whenever I get, well, I think I get too big for my britches. God always has a way of humbling me. But he never, I know he's looking at me because anytime I get too out of pocket, he'll do something to humble me back and say, yo, bro, relax. You better preach. And I preach. You understand? So I've always kind of kept that understanding of my position. Like, I enjoy all of this. I enjoy the fanfare. I enjoy the tension and all that other stuff. And I'll embellish on in it when necessary or when it's appropriate or whatever. But I never forget because, again, I always remember that it didn't have to be me. There were so many other people that were so much more talented than me. I've always felt the same way. There are people that sing circles around my ass that could dance better than me. No, I'm just saying. I've run into some of the greatest, even two of my group members. My group members are some of the most profound artists I've ever had the pleasure to work with. So to see that, if anything, it kicks me in the ass and go like, yo, I need to make sure I keep my shit up because I can't be standing next to them. And they doing what they're doing. I'm going to be the eyeball out. Not to mention, you know, again, I wasn't the cutest. I wasn't the prettiest and all those other stuff. So I had to work extra hard to be who I am. See, that's the part right there because I love two things that you just said. I love the fact that when I when I looked at my talent coming up, I never thought. I never thought of myself as an incredible. I've always thought of myself as I'm a solid lead singer, right? This is my perception and you touched on something that solidifies. I guess it would be excellence because still to this day, some of the things I hear you do vocally, a lot of the things that I hear like this new generation grew up on the Clarks, the Clark sisters and all of these incredible runs that I knew the things that I can't do. I'm not a runner. I can't do that. So the things that I can do, I think I just leaned into them, leaned into them more. You do it very well. Well, thank you. I think I've leaned into my tone. I think I've leaned into my falsetto. Yeah. And I think I've leaned into knowing that I can't do multiple crazy acrobatics. I think I've leaned into how can I finesse this melody without doing the acrobatics. Because really, that's what it's all about. It's about the melody. Yeah. The acrobatics is the... I wish I could do the shit you could do, Nicole. But let's be real. The acrobatics is the behind the back going up to later layup. Yes, true. That's all it is. At the end of the day, it's about the layup. He could do all this all day, but if he misses that damn layup... Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And I think that's one of the things that I hear if I could be the old man for a minute. Go please. When I hear... Swole men's, isn't it? Yeah, too. You ain't old naked. It's... When I hear the young singers who are incredible with the acrobatics and... It's almost... I feel like they put too much worth into the sizzle without... But let's work on the meat of it first. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, see now it sounds like an old man. No, you don't. How about this? Then you have an old man sitting next to you because I just went to Coachella. I took my daughter. This is my first time going to Coachella. Wow. How was it? It was a lot of walking. I'm still sore. It was a lot of what? Walking. Oh, walking, yes. I'm still sore. Like literally, I'm in pain. Like, you know what I mean? That's what we owe. From my back to... Yeah. It was no joke. But my daughter loved it and I took my wife and I took one of my daughter's friends and her mother. And again, I'm a music fan. So I'm going open mind. I'm just going to check out some stuff. I'm going to see some artists. I don't care if I don't know the music because it doesn't matter. Before you even tell me what happened, the idea of Sean Stockman trying to be like, I'm going to be an open mind. And then you can't turn the critical off when you're as strong of a musician as you. So I'm very curious. No, no. Yeah. But that's what I do. Listen, I went to a rave. Like I never went to... I always wanted to go to a rave and I drug my wife. And to this, I don't even know who the DJ was, but it was lights and it was a bunch of people that were probably on drugs, but it didn't matter. Did you partake in some of the drug taking? No, I did not. Not that night. You didn't do the rave. No, I did. I did say no to drugs, kids. But yeah. So I'm in the middle to... I mean, I'm having a good ass time. You know what I'm saying? Like just living a dream. You know what I mean? I always wanted to be amidst that ad. And it was... Let me... I don't want to... I can kind of extrapolate with some shit, but I had fun. I understood why people go to those. Yeah. It's fun. It is a level of freedom. It's zoning out. Yes. It is literally you're in the dark and you got lights and you got people that are just happy and... And transported. Yeah. And I get it. I understand why people go to those because I think no bullshit. I'm not just trying to sound corny, but I felt the freest that day. Yeah. Because I didn't know these people and they didn't know me. And we were just... That's beautiful. And we were just dancing. You know what I'm saying? And it was so fun. But anyway, so I did that. And I'm not going to talk about the people's name. I'm not going to say names, but I saw a few acts. And here's my thing. Just like you said, these artists focus on the sizzle. Right? They got the whole production laid out. It looks beautiful. The aesthetics beautiful. The outfits beautiful. Got it all done. Like if no one went and they took a picture on Instagram, you would have swore like, yo, this person ripped. Yeah. And then they start singing. And then I go... So I'm the only one looking around like, okay. And not even saying that they sounded bad. It just wasn't great. Yeah. And... And it is the norm. Well, my daughter was like, well, what did you think? I said, sweetheart, my critique may be a little unfair. Yeah. Yeah. Because I actually saw Michael Jackson perform. Yeah. I saw him. Like I saw it. I was in Hong Kong. We was doing a show. We opened for him. And we were 20 feet away from him when he broke on the Billie Jean. I screamed like a bitch. I would have been right there with you. All of us. All of us. I screamed. Like I screamed. It would be unnatural not to do that. When he did the hat, I went... Yeah. Yeah. You get it. You get the fainting. You get the fainting. I get it. I get like, it was like that. And so I told my daughter, I was like, sweetheart, I've seen the best of the best. Yeah. So it's hard for me. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Let's talk about something many of us feel. Financial stress. It's not just a numbers game. It's something that can affect your mind, your sleep, and even your closest relationships. Just earlier this year, 88% of Americans were dealing with some level of money stress. And for couples, it's often a major source of tension. I remember a time when I felt that pressure. For me, it wasn't just about bills. It was that sense of being stuck, not knowing what's next, and how it even affected my focus on other things. I've seen people close to me in similar situations, where money stress just starts weighing you down. We're here to remind you, feeling that way does not mean that you fall in short. Sometimes you just need a space to work through all those emotions. 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The whole thing is, if you got the right team behind you first off. Once you get to that level, the team is going to make sure you're monitoring, we're going to make sure you hear what you need to hear so that you can do what you need to do. That's right. Yeah. That's right. What artists don't understand is, this is a microphone. This is a device that is designed to amplify. That's it. So if I'm talking like this, Mateo just turns the mic up. So my point is, I should be able to sing however I want to say. Absolutely. I should be able to say whatever I want to say, because this amplifies what I'm trying to. I would say more from like a sound system outside. No, I'm going to get there. I'm going to get there. My point is, is that, yes, there are some places that suck, that no matter what you do, the sound is just terrible. There are some venues that are just bad, but in a festival, but one in particular that's been running for 30 years. Right. Yeah. They got the sound system down packed. Right. Like they know what they're doing. They got the best of the best. There's nothing that an artist don't have. Okay. And if they don't have it, they can get it. All right. So with that, you got your sound man, you got your PA system, you got all that stuff laid out, band is popping, the whole thing. But at the end of the day, what you got, what you really got. The lights on you. Yeah. Like I don't care how good the sound person is. If whatever comes out of your mouth is shit, sound man is just going to turn up shit. You know what I'm saying? So again, I see these artists and I love them. Let me just say that I love them. I respect them for what they do and I love their art. But they're not being taught correctly. And I'm going to just say it that way. They're not being groomed correctly. 100%. To perform like you. I just watched, you know, because again, I do my research. So I just watched a whole bunch of videos of you and your performances and stuff like that. No matter how big the place, no matter how small the place, just your presence alone commands attention. You stand on stage with a certain type of confidence with an with an understanding of where you are. I'm a singer. Before you open your mouth, people know how to use a singer. Just by your positioning. Then you open your mouth and then people settle down and go, okay, all right, now we're going to hear some good shit. I so appreciate that coming from you, bro. Listen, man, I'm not blowing smoke. This is just what it is. This is why you're here. This is why we've been friends for so long. I respect you. We've had these conversations in many places. And I always admired your vocal tone, your choices. Just like you said, you don't do a lot of riffs and you don't have to because somehow you still deliver the record how it's supposed to be delivered. You have a ear, which I put in a category of, you know, there are very few people that I say that they have musical, like you sound expensive. Like there's an opulence with your tone. Like there's a few people that I put in that category and you're one of them. And no, it is like the harmonies you choose, the vocal, the chords you choose, all of those things just make you go, oh, in a good way. Like, oh, I like that. You know what I'm saying? Like it's always sonically interesting. And music is like a book. You want to be able to have a story arc with a song, you know what I'm saying? And you have that. You've mastered that. No, no, from the beginning, like I think the first song I heard of yours is a femininity. And first off, I saw the video on the ocean. I was like, oh, he going to get every chip. Tiss, motherfucking. Like, yeah, he's got pecs. Oh, God. I'm like, oh boy, he's in the water. The water glistening all over his skin. And he has a nice voice. I'm like, oh boy, he's going to be a problem. Can I tell you, can I tell you about some of what you touched on that we said in the intro? It's like when I said I never really, I never 100% thought of myself as a lead singer coming up, even though I dreamed about it and it was always in aspiration. So I grew up in this family where. Which is my first question. By the way, I like to do this segment called We Gonna Go Back, Way Back, Back into Time. Let's do this thing. So let's go back. Let's go back to this. Let's go to your family because there's some history with that. Oh, yeah. So I just grew up with this family where everybody has an ear. My older sister, Audrey, she was the keyboard player. My brother played the drums. I would dibble and dabble on guitar. And so my sister, Audrey, what we would often do, what was fun for us was to deconstruct harmonies. We would deconstruct the silvers. We would try. I don't know if you know who Gene Perling is, but we would try to deconstruct the singers unlimited. Do you know the singers unlimited? I've heard the singers unlimited, yes. Bro, let me tell you something. It is like, let me put it this way. Take six is spawn of the singers unlimited. So the singers unlimited were this incredibly tight comp, those harmonies that make you go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So and Gene Perling used to arrange these harmonies. And so I was this kid that grew up in this black household in the hood where my older sister and my brother and my other older sisters were deconstructing and reconstructing these harmonies and they would give little Eric a part. And so it just became so I think that was my early conditioning of zoning in on the note, staying on your note, because as you know, there are more than two types of singers, but in this example, there are definitely two types of singers. There are singers who are incredible lead performers. They can just grab that mic and captivate the audience. And then some of the most unsung people are your backup singers. Yes. Who are oftentimes more talented than the lead singer, but they don't get the love because the background singer has the gift of performance, but they got to be able to lock in on that note and to jump in and do some heavy lifting when they see the lead singer like slipping. And so, yeah, so that was my environment growing up. It was just like, I always thought I had a great ear for harmony. And I was like, I don't know if I'm a lead singer or not. And then I went to college for a year, mainly because my mom and dad told me it was what I was supposed to do. Okay. And then after I felt like I was fucking off for a year and not really utilizing my time properly, my cousin George told me. George Nash. Yes. Look at this nigga do research up in this motherfucker. George Nash Jr. These Philly niggas. So George was like, George was playing guitar for this band, which was basically a little corporation in Milwaukee. And they were known through the tri-state, through like Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin. They would just do gigs. Sure, sure. Just gigging, gigging, gigging. Sure, sure. And they were like, my cousin George called me because George and I used to musically mess around all the time when I was like 15, 14. George was like, yo, the band, the band's name was Gerard. Gerard needs a lead singer. So I was thinking like maybe you and Lisa, my sister could come audition. So my sister Lisa and I, we were like the lead singers of Gerard. And it was one of those, you know, it was like, yeah, the local band that you hear on the radio. This Sunday on Highway 95, Gerard performs with, you know, girls coming free prize with her. You know, it was like, yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure. And we were gigging a lot. We're making no money, but that was my college for being a lead singer. Because now I already had the musicality, I already had the ear, I already had the harmony. But how the fuck do you, how do you become, how do you command an audience? Yeah. So doing gig after gig and shitty place after shitty place and where the whole front row is drunk and they're like fights are starting. You got to. I still perform in crowds like that. Yeah. No, you don't. Yes, I do. You got to fight. Yeah. No, no, no. Little fights niggas like, like, hey. Yeah. Right. Hey. Yeah. Yeah. You got to come to our shows in certain places. When we throw roses. The girls we fight. Oh my gosh. Like fights. That's a different time. That's a different fight. Yeah. It's still a fight. But I know, but I'm thinking like me and you got some beef out of Boyce Dimension. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's more like positioning. But I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, but I mean that for me, that turned out to be my, when I dropped out of college, that turned about, turned out to be my college for my career. Because I learned how to sense when I'm losing the audience. I learned how to, it was that in church. Learned how to, how I hang onto a note and how I sing a note. And I can see the body language where I'm like, oh, I am really touching this person in their soul right now. Yes. So I think that's how I learned how to be a lead singer. I had to learn how to be a lead singer. I think because of my family, I was always musical and I always had the ear. Yeah. Well, I mean, it showed and with, well, let me go back to school. Were you an artist? Did you want to be an artist at first? Who's the, who's the goofy white motherfucker that always doing the interviews with people and he pull out some, I'm where, what's his name is? I'm where, what's our, our, our, Nardwaard. Nardwaard. I know I can never say his name. Nardwaard. Nardwaard. Who is it? Nardwaard. Yeah. He's just really quirky. Yeah. He's really, he's definitely on the spectrum. Yeah. But he'll be, he'll be interviewing. Yeah. Yeah. Like, like Tyler, the creator and he'll pull out. Wasn't your third grade teacher Mrs. Church? Yeah. So this nigga's doing the Nardwaard right now. But I'm assuming I'm correct. Yeah. What was the questionable? You're an artist. Yeah. You're an artist. So I was, I was like a nerdy painter, drawer, science fiction reader, nerdy kid. And yeah, that was, that was, that was a passion of mine. So was I. That was the same guy. Yeah. Wow. Comic books, Marvel comics. That's why we... Yeah. And we're both leavers. That's it. That's it. So I was like, yeah. I really fit. That's right. You are. I think I knew that. Yeah, yeah. And I had my mom and dad... Like my dad was that... That pillar of the community. My dad was a detective. A detective Lawrence T. Jordan. And he was like this revered guy in the neighborhood. Respectable name. Respected name. He was very quiet man. He would come home and, you know, me being the kid, I was like trying to connect with... My dad wasn't like the most emotionally available person. So I would always try to... Connect with him on like... I was the kid wanting to know like, wow, detective, I want to know what... How was it today? My dad never wanted to talk about his work. He would just always... He would... Every time I would ask him about it, he would just say, you don't want to know about them. No, go ahead. It's out there. Right. And my mom was the kind of mother that told me every day... She told me every day, Eric, you can be whatever you want to be. Yeah. And I believed her. Well... And then I looked up for my dad for that pillar of respect. Yeah. Well, you definitely pursued that. You listened to Mama after your tenure in Gerard. Gerard! You went off and recorded your own stuff. In 1996, True to Myself, first album, the song Femininity, which I was talked about. How was that actually doing the solo thing, considering that you never considered to be a solo artist? It was an adjustment because... Before I had my solo career, my sister, Lisa and I, we got signed to EMI Capital for like, if you blink, you missed it type of thing. I see. And we were called B'nai. Okay. And we were signed by Allison Ball. What's up, Allison? And we'll talk about Allison a little bit later. Oh, okay, sure. And, you know... So up until that point, I felt like when my sister and I were signed, I felt like I had a knack on how to perform, but my sister was always there with me as a duo. And so when B'nai didn't work out and my sister decided that, look, this music business shit, man. You have at it, little brother. But she's out. She doesn't do any music at all. Yeah. My sister is... When you said earlier, like you've known people who could sing circles around you and were just incredibly talented. You know, my sister and my family, I've always felt the same way about them. It's like, I am no more talented than my siblings. It's just like, I have this knucklehead like, oh, y'all don't mess around and let me taste what it's like to come out to LA and meet these people. And I get to have conversations with Eddie LaVert. I was hanging out with Cool and the Gang. Man, that's like, oh my God, I just met Luther Vandross. Are you kidding me? So it's like, even though I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve, I got a chance to see it and get close enough to it to smell it, to taste it. And then you get dropped and you got to go back home. And so I spent maybe a couple years back home. By this time, I'm a single dad. And I am like, I got a couple jobs. I'm at UPS and I'm an assistant engineer in a recording studio. And I stayed in touch with Allison. We became really good friends. And so when I was in this recording studio as an assistant engineer, I started writing songs with my cousin, George. And our friend, Demonte. Yeah, Closie. Yeah, Demonte, he's incredibly talented. And then I just, we did this demo songs that I written about really inspired by getting dropped in retrospect. Really? Yeah, indirectly that first album that we did with Benet was kind of in a lot of ways, the record label telling us what to do and how to write. And then we got dropped. And so I told myself, look, if I ever get a shot at this again, I got to grab it by the reins and do it the way that I want to do it. So I just recorded a bunch of demos in Milwaukee and those demos turned out to be, I sent them to Allison who was now at Warner Brothers. She had an anar gig at Warner Brothers. And I was like, look, I messed, I skipped a whole lot because there were times where I flew out to LA and worked with this young producer, this hot producer to try to get a solo deal. That's part of the whole process. Right, nothing connected. Nothing connected. All the producers would say, yo, the nigga can sing. There's no question about that, but he just don't feel right on these tracks. So that's why when I was home, I was like, all right, well, let me do my own stuff. Yeah. And when I did these demos of me with my cousin George and Damonte, that's when everything connected. Those demos turned out to be my first album, true to myself on Warner Brothers. My wife had a question for you. And I was like, I'm not going to ask him that. But she's like, they're just asking us fun. I was like, oh, you're fine. Like when you went through the mode or where you would go on stage with no shoes on. Right. And you would just go bare feet. And my wife was like, ask him why he did that. No, that's a great question. Okay. I didn't want to seem like I was being like, No, that's a great one. and asked about that. But yeah, what was that? I thought you were going to ask about that time I got arrested. No, no, no, no, no. We're going to stay away from those. But it's a positive show. But yeah, like, so yeah, what was the imagery? Like your image was very, how we like to say earthy. Yeah. You know, that type of thing. That was intentional. It was intentional. That was the zone you were in at that time. It was. It was part intentional and part manufactured. Okay. I'll explain. So, so up until that point, like I felt like whenever I hit the stage, I always had my sister with me, Lisa. And so now I'm a solo artist and the stage fright used to really like before going out and perform it really used to mess me up. And so the shoes off thing happened. Just one night I was just, I'm really having a panic attack, but backstage stage fright before performing as a solo artist was heavy for me. So I think one night I just took my shoes off just to feel more grounded and just in it and I felt more comfortable out there. And I happened to notice that people had a reaction to it. So I was like, Oh, okay, this can be a thing now. Never got cold. No. Like your feet never like, you never stepped on like that's the weird thing. It's like a Lego on stage or anything like that. That has happened. That, that has happened. There's been a couple of times where I stepped on some shit on a janky stage and inject my foot up and I would, you know, try to act like it didn't hurt. You know, when he adrenaline is, it's like, no, I didn't feel it after. You feel it after. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Cause yeah, I always wondered that too. Cause there you've done it and there I'm sure you've seen other performers that do it. And I always would wonder like, damn, like how did they do that? Like is, is there, are they feet cold? Like are they afraid of my step on a nail or something like that? Like I was always afraid of it. It makes me feel like I'm home. Yeah. When, when, when my nerves were like this, it would calm me down and then, you know, the grounding thing actually works, huh? Like, you know how people used to say like touch grass, like, like, Oh no, 1000%. Yeah. That's real. Let's say go down to the beach, put your feet in the sand. There's, there's, there's peer reviewed scientific evidence that it's not just mystic mumble, jumpal, like the earth, the earth without getting too technical. Please. Uh, the earth is one big charged. It's a battery. Battery. Yeah. Every time lightning strikes that, that battery is recharged. And so, uh, when our skin is connected to the earth, um, it brings down the inflammation in the body and it, it, it, you know, it does everything and inflammation is the source of most diseases. Yeah. Most sicknesses. So by eliminating the inflammation, you, you make yourself healthier. You sustain your, your, your lifespan and, and just your overall, you know, condition of, of living by staying connected to the earth. I've always done it, but not really understanding exactly why I was doing it. Like I've heard these things, but never really, really taking in what I'm doing for myself. Yeah. So now I get it. I understand this. Truth in it. Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's, there's truth in it. And it's whether you, whether you believe the truth or not, when you go to the, when you go to the beach and you put your feet in the sand, or if you're at the park and you just have your shoes off and you lean against the tree, you can feel it. You can feel your soul calming down, but it's, it's more than just meta, it's, it's metaphysical, but it's more than just a, a visual experience that's calming you down. There's something, um, energetically happening in your body. So we urge people. This is not like some corny stuff. Like this stuff that actually provides a, uh, your, your, your body health and, and strength. So you see a park, look out for the dog poop. That's right. Other than that, touch some grass, hug a tree. It's real. It's a real thing. It's real. That's interesting. Okay. Well, you obviously knocked it out the park with the first album. Everybody loved it. I know it was played all over Philadelphia. That's for sure. And again, the video with you in the ocean and shit. And then, uh, he came out with a day in a life. Yeah. Probably my favorite album of yours from, for me personally, specifically the first song, which, what, what, just my way. Spanky Alfred on guitar. May he rest in peace. One of the greatest. If anybody knows who don't know who Spanky Alfred is, I say that every time, if I do that show, I know people don't know his name, but go ahead. Yes. He, do you like the Angelo? Good. Yeah. Then you like Spanky too. Yeah. Cause anything that was on guitar, that was on that particular, uh, uh, uh, brown sugar. Oh my God. Album. Yeah. That's Spanky. Just my way is the very first single that you hear on his second album. Yeah. And you hear that Spanky. Produced by Ali Shaheem Ali. Ali Shaheem. And Ali introduced me to Spanky. Yeah. I wish I met him. Oh my God. Spanky was one of those musicians where even when he's tuning his guitar, it's just like, what is that you are playing? One of the baddest. And Spanky would be like, oh man, that ain't nothing, man. I don't know what, what do I do? What do I do? And I'd be like, do it again, bro. Yeah. Yeah. And he would say that about me, which is a huge compliment. He would be like, I would just be in the corner just trying to warm up or something. And he would just be like, Hey, what, what? And then he take his guitar. What, what was that? So, so that that's just my way started like that. I think we were, we were about to, it was before the session, if I'm not mistaken, that was a song called why you follow me. That Ali Shahid and Spanky and I did. But in that session, Spanky was just in the corner doing that thing in the intro. Yeah. I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, keep doing it. Keep doing it. Keep doing it. Yeah, man. And then he and Ali put together a track and yeah, man, I appreciate that. No, but the thing about the thing about you loving that album was a lot of that album was recorded in Philly. And that's when my love. Interesting. My love affair with Philly really, really happened because I went there and recorded with Larry Gold over on seventh to Callow Hill. Shout out to Larry Gold. Shout out to Larry Gold and hanging out with James Poiser. And that's where I, where I met, you know, Amir and all the Roots guys. And yeah, yeah. And Billy Kings, Philly Kings. And it was just like, that was such an incredible time because like I said, it was like I likened it to, wow, this must be what Motown felt like in 1965. Yeah. Because I'd be in the studio and, you know, James would be like, hey, hey, they just signed this girl and she wants to know if she could just sit in on your student, on your session. I'd be like, yeah, tell her, come on in here. And, and he bring in somebody and she would just be wide eyed and be like, oh, hey, nice to meet you. What's your name? When's your album come out? Oh, my name is Jill Scott. And it'll be like, you know, so it was like that music soul child coming through. James Poiser would be doing a session with me and maybe he would have to be. I'd be like, what you working on? What you going to do when we finish this session? No, bro, we pulling it all nighter. Lauren Hill is doing this album. It was a miseducation. So it was just like, it was an incredible time. Just, yeah, it was, it was. And probably bias most of that, I guess, is the reason why I like that song in particular, because that's, that is an example of what I mean as far as like opulence. Wow. That song just sounds rich. Wow. From the boom. The sparseness of it. And just again, I'm a producer too. Yes. Yes, love it. Hearing the way to snare snaps. That's how they do. That's how they do. I'm like, oh, yeah. And then your lyrics. Thank you, sir. Fill me. Take me in slowly. Sean singing my lyrics. So you can understand how deep my love can go. Do. Your river is flowing. So let me just feel you up till you just don't. You just overflow. So sexy shit. Like, like, like, like, it's like. The lyrics, this is nothing too. You're, you're. It's how people used to write lyrics. Yeah. You knew what he was talking about. But you didn't have to say. But you didn't have to say it. It was suggestive enough where the mystique still remained. And it's just like when we used to talk to girls back in the day. Right. Back in the day, girls used to wear baggy clothes. Yeah. But they had pretty faces. Yes, Lord. So part of the part of the allure of seeing a fly girl is seeing what's under them baggy clothes. And most of the time. Yes, Lord. You are pleasantly surprised. You be sitting like, Oh, these shit girl, you had you had all of that in those yearbows, right? We know they're like, which made us heighten our ability to communicate. Go to try to go to the beach. It's one round side. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, so the music. It it mirrored the time because we were communicating with with the women and they understood they picked up what we threw down. Words and it was one of the dance. Yes. So they were kind of like game. Yeah. Yeah. So the girl was looking at you like, Oh, yeah. And you like, yeah. Yeah. Because how. How you were able to put those words together for the girl was like, OK, what is this intellect like? And they liked it. What's the spiritual? While whether she read just like when we look at. OK, when we look at when we're attracted to a woman because she is voluptuous and she has the hips and the and the curves. In the evolution of our our psyche as a human being, it's it's about. Whether we realize it or not, we are attracted to her ability to. I know this is going to sound weird, but it's not. We're attracted because subconsciously we are evaluating if she can have children. Yes, it's the hip area. Yeah. How well are you going to be able to carry multiple children to term? We're not thinking that. Yeah, look at them. Right. But evolution has made us attracted to that. Now, for the women, I think my opinion, touching on what you said, the eloquence and how you speak and how you can communicate your thoughts. Yes. Signals to her. Wow, he's going to be a good father. Right. She's not thinking that. They look for security. Yeah, the security of the. It's also conscious. Yes, it is. Yeah, how conscious you are. So yeah. And I think. Oh, man, sound like an old man again. No, no, with the advent of social media, it's it has eliminated a lot of those. Those those those developing skills. Well, it's synthesized. Yes, that's that's that's all social media is. It's it's it's a cosplay of what real connection is. Thank you. They create. They they they create the set. Thank you. It's like a Broadway play. Mm hmm. But they put the set together and you got the characters and everybody's saying the right things and all this other stuff. At the end of the day, you got to put the set down. Right. And and what's left after you put the set? What's left after you put the set down as a bare stage and a lot of people don't really understand the difference between the two, which is why you see so many relationships play out on social media, whether good or bad performatively performatively and all those other things. They're living a play. Yeah, there's opposed to when we were coming up and when we were writing the songs, we would invite girls. That's the barometer. To the studio. That's the barometer. It wasn't it wasn't inviting girls to Scooby-Doo, Booby-Doo, Booby-Doo. It was like, no, I need it was like the canary in the mine thing. Yeah, it's like, I need to know. I need to know if this is touching you. Yeah. Um, not not physically, but spiritually. When you hear this, not just the words, but the but the melody. Are you reacting to this? Yes. Yeah. So that was very much a part of it. And a lot of times he all we would do is just hit play. Yeah. And just sit back and just look at their reaction. If you see him squirm a little bit, if you see him look at their girlfriend's a hit, I'm like, yeah. Like Quincy used to say, Quincy, Quincy said, look, if you got to explain the song, you lost. That's it. Just push play. Just push play. Push play. Come on. Like this, see, we, I get, we got, we got a time constraint, but we could talk about this all got there. Yeah. I know you, you limit it on time, but I just want to say one of the, one of the. Benefits of my journey in life is being able to have conversations with people like you to have people like wise to have people like Quincy have intimate conversations with them. Like I would like, um, I like stayed at Quincy. Quincy was the type of guy where. He would, um, he was like, man, get your raggedy ass over here. About let's just, I got a rule, but about let's, let's come on over here, man. Just let's talk shit. And so I would go to Quincy's house and we would stay up all night and he would just tell me about, um, what music was like back in the day. Frank Sinatra, what it was like being black in the fifties and sixties. Man, let me tell you something. Y'all think y'all ghetto, man, we was ghetto or shit back in the day. Man, come on, man. Get to get out of here, man. Come on, man. And, um, and, and to sit down with Maurice White to get a call from Maurice White and say, yo, I've been watching you, bro. Come on over to the studio. Have those moments, man, or sit on, sit on a bus with Bill Withers, um, just by chance, because BET was doing, uh, um, the Edmund Pettus Bridge crossing anniversary thing. And they decided to put a bunch of celebrities on a bus and ride from Atlanta to, um, uh, Selma and to have those conversations with, with Bill Withers on that bus and just, yeah, man. It's just, oh my God, man. I look back on those conversations or Stevie, Stevie Wonder coming to my house and just playing on the piano and just like, you know, it's these moments where I'm like, this shit ain't real. Eric, at the time, did you know you were having these special moments or was it absolutely? Which made it, it was difficult to stay in the moment. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, because it's like, okay, if I bug out too much, I'm going to miss this moment. Yeah. I'm going to miss this moment. Yeah. So, yeah, I get it. Can you give us a really good story from one of those sit downs with Bill or Stevie or Quincy, like a really. Yeah, give us a minute. Tell us something. So we can indulge with you. I mean, I mean, well, tell them which bit. Yeah, Bill Withers. I mean, Bill was one of those. I didn't know it was going to happen. And of course, Bill Withers, like Bill Withers was like the alchemist of taking the melody and the lyrics and the most emotionally resonating and seemingly not trying to. That was his gift. Yeah. You know, of being able to, you know, that person who can say the most with just three or four words. You know, sunshine when she's gone. Oh, ain't no sunshine when she's gone. It's not warm when she's away. It's like so many songwriters get it. Well, make the mistake of trying to paint the emotion that he captured in those five or six words with with paragraphs when he could just say, you know, sunshine when she's gone. That was the brilliance of Bill Withers. So I'm I'm I got a chance to they sat me next to Bill Withers. And one of the things about that bus ride was Bill Withers clearly did not like everybody. Cool. I love it. Already. He would. There were times, but but he immediately liked me. And I think it was music based, like felt felt an immediate camaraderie. He felt connection. And because of that connection, he just opened up. On that and we were on that bus for like five hours. He opened up. He told me about a story of him and Donnie Hathaway was like his his one of his best friends, if not his best friend, he communicated that to me. And he was like, man, let me tell you about the story of me and Donnie, man. He was one troubled boy, man. He told me, man, one time I got this call. He said, I was in LA. I was in the studio. I was working and somebody came in and told me that Donnie is on the phone and he has to talk to me. And he said, I heard Donnie's voice on the other line. And he said, I could tell right away he was in a bad way, bro. And he said, Donnie told him, Bill, I need you, man. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't I'm in a bad place. Because Donnie struggled. Yep. We don't we don't got to go. We don't got to go with a lot of things. Yeah. And Bill Withers said, I am that was my that was my brother. That was my friend. And I I canceled the session and I immediately went to the airport and flew to New York. And and as soon as I landed, you know, they didn't have cell phones back then. He said, as soon as I landed, I called Donnie and he said, I'm here. I'm here, brother. Like you want me to come over right now? And he said that Donnie told him, he said, oh, man, I'm feeling much better now. Man, forget all that, man. I'm good. He said, man, let me tell you, Bill said, I cussed that nigger out for the next 10 minutes. I said, nigga, do you know what it took me to get that session together? Nigga, and he hung up the phone. He said he got on the next thing smoking back to LA. No, no, no, no. Yeah. He said by the time he landed, Donnie took his life. No. And he was like, no, no, no. Right. And we both said that. I mean, that hearing that story. No. With us. It just like. Wow. I kind of think when you said New York. Yeah. I was like, yeah. And he said when he spoke to him once he landed, he said, Donnie was the Oh man, thanks for coming. But I'm good now. Like, I need you to know. No. I don't want anybody to mess with me right now because I think that's what he was saying. I know what I got to do. I don't need my boy here. I just got it. And he said, man, I think about that every day. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. That was one of those. Oh my God. Could you imagine your boy hitting you up? Yeah. And then so you feel like you let him down. Right. Yeah. So he carried that. Wow. But yeah, Bill, I just, that was my. Only real interaction with them for those hours on that bus. And I got a chance to see how it was powerful. But if somebody came back there and they weren't invited, didn't nobody tell your ass to come back in? I was like, oh, shit. I'm glad he liked me. Right. Wow. Yeah. No, those OGs, man. What's your, what's your favorite Bill Withersong, each one of you? My favorite one to perform is, is, is lovely day. But my favorite Bill Withersong, you said it. Ain't no sunshine. I mean, ain't no sunshine when she's gone. Probably pick a different one. He said, ain't no sunshine. Yeah. It's probably lovely day. Okay. It's probably lovely. You want backwards? Like, you know, yeah. Because that feels so Philly. When I look at, dude, they used to play that all the time. That feels so Philly. And the world. I don't even know if it was recorded there, but it feels so Philly. Yeah. Like that, that felt like center city. Yes. That felt like my mother driving me downtown in a brown 78 Impala. Wow. Right. You know, like that. Did your mama put them, remember them air fresheners that would be the brick on the floor? The brick. No, she had the trees. Oh, the trees. Okay. She did the trees. Yeah. Like, like, yeah, she did the trees and always smelled nice. She always took care of the car. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, I remember just listening to that record. In summertime. In summertime in Philadelphia, the windows are down. Like those songs imprinted a moment. Talk about time travel. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Take you right back. 100%. Well, let's continue because there's a lot to, you know, only ask like two questions. I know. That's because we, you know, we boys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Get into some shit. No, it's all good. Another time we're going to need a part two. Yeah. Yeah, we're definitely going to need a part two. Yeah. Yeah. So you got to come back. But I remember during, well, first off, Georgie Porgy. Yeah. You did that cover with the beautiful, the amazing Faith Evans, right? Faith's voice. Jesus. That song though, first off, y'all killed it. Thank you, sir. Y'all smashed. It was one of the most beautiful, amazing covers ever created or recorded. It is, that's the real, but it was written by David Pache of the group Toto. Do you remember when we met him in Zurich? Do you remember that? We were all in Zurich. God damn, my memory as a 59 year old. Yeah, yeah. We were in Zurich a couple of years ago. Okay. We were with Shania Twain. Yes, yes, of course, of course. We were Ray Parker, Jr. Yes, yes. We were all these guys and David Pache. David Pache. Was there and you actually. Steve Lukather was there too. Steve Lukather was there too. Steve Lukather is the gentleman who plays the guitar on human nature as well as other stuff too. Like if you listen to that thriller album, Steve Lukather is all his guitar. Yeah, he's unbeat it. He's in, you know, like basically all of it. Yeah, for the most part. Yeah. Like if you listen, a lot of people think it's Eddie Van Halen. No, he just did the solo. Yeah. Eddie Van Halen did the solo on beat it. But what? Chica-ta-ta-ta-da-da. Yeah. Steve Lukather doing all the rest of that shit. 100%. But you, you actually sang Georgie Porgy with Dave. Oh, that's right. In Zurich. That's crazy, right? And he was playing it. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Yeah, bro. Like that was a bug out for me to see. And, and... That was one of those, let me hold it together. Yeah. Because I'm bugging out on stage doing it. It's like... Mm-hmm. No, it was, it was a great moment. Like, did you get to talk to him about that song in itself and, and the conception of it and, and all of that? Because I remember us having a few conversations because we also talked about that and we talked about Africa. We talked about Africa. I, you know what? Oddly enough, I didn't, I didn't zone in on the actual writing and production of Georgie Porgy. I love talking about their, their, their studio sessions because back in the day, all of those cats, Jeff Piccaro, Steve Lukather, David Pace, they were the go-to motherfuckers for some of the biggest hits of the 70s and 80s. Yes. They were like these young white boys who were just funkiest shit and talented as shit. Maurice White would call them all the time. Like if you listen to a, what you find, they're playing all over that shit. That's crazy. And they're playing on so many sessions and they were just like Steve Lukather, which he would just tell me most of the time he was like high obviously. He's been sober for a while, but he would just tell me, yo dude, I was so fucked up. Half the time, bro. It's like, like, I thank God I had talent, bro, because I just fucking be zoned out, bro. And they would go from session to session. Session to session to session. Like Michael McDonald was another one of those mugs. Yes. So to be on stage. Yeah, that was pretty cool. With that, like, I don't geek out over celebrity that much. I geek out over talent. You know, so it's like to be on stage with Steve Lukather and David Page or to have Stevie Wonder in my house playing the piano. That's crazy. And it's wild. Listen, listen. All right. Let's go because you did Georgie Porgy. You did spend my life with Incredible Tamia. Y'all had a viral moment when everybody had to keep their asses in home. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was great. That was great. And y'all both sang that song, Y'all, Respective Homes. How did y'all get that together? Because for me personally, I think that kind of res... It was a resurgence then of people having to focus on what mattered. Yes. And that included music. Absolutely. And that moment encapsulated what I felt was important to how people appreciate it music because I think we went away from that for a minute. So seeing you guys actually in your houses singing. It was great, wasn't it? It was awesome. I wish I could say that that was my idea. I mean, any opportunity to share the stage with Tamia I am down for, she is just like her voice. And every time somebody brings out Spend My Life, I want to say thanks again to Tamia because that was really my first number one song. We would not have gone number one if it wasn't for that voice on that record. The Ultimate Wedding Song. Oh my God. So thank you, Tamia. Yeah. What up, Grant? Yeah, yeah, right. What up, Grant? Yeah, yeah. So that was actually Tyrese's idea. Interesting. Please expound on that. How did Tyrese connect you to this? Yeah. So Tyrese was, he wanted, it was either for his then wife's birthday or their anniversary. And he, you know, he reached out to me and said, yo, I want to do this for my wife. Would you, would you, wait a minute, I might be mixing two, no, no, no, no, no, this is the right. You get old, you start conflating two different stories. Yep. You're all the time. Yeah, it ended up being happening because Tyrese asked me to sing it for his wife. And I'm not mistaken in me and Tamia and we couldn't be there together at the same time. So we did it. And it was so great that we put it out into the ethos. Yeah. Yeah. If I'm getting the story wrong, my bad Tyrese. But I think, I think you did that shit, right? Yeah. Well, thank you Tyrese. Yeah. You know, putting things together. Like no, it was, it was a great moment. And it was well-deserving of the song itself, but it spoke on you guys' talent. And again, something that I think the industry was kind of getting away from. The ability to just kind of put on a microphone and begin. You know what it is? It's interesting that we're seeing the cream always rises to the top. It does. And I think when it comes to performing on stage, and I'm going back to something we talked about before, when it comes to performing on stage, I think the greatest performers, you and people like us, who when we were 16, 17 years old, knees were shaken and trying to figure out how to perform in front of an audience until month after month, the year after year, honing these skills until we got good at it. We got good at performing in front of people. But one of the things that I felt like was missing with this generation is because of the sensationalism of social media, folks are plucked from obscurity quickly and pushed out into this huge audience and they're not ready for it. And I think that's one of the things that maybe you saw. It's not that the talent isn't there, but there's a process. There's a process to get good. You can, hey, when you're at home and you have your phone right here and you drop vocals and you sing a song and you know damn well, soon as you sing that song, you're going to put it through whatever and fix the vocals. Lots of people can sound great. But when you just stand in front of an audience and you command a stage, that comes after not doing it well for a little while. And figuring out what works well. Ooh, what am I strong at? Ooh, when I hit this note, how do people react? Oh, I can't hit that note. I'm going to do another one live because I knew I'd do that in the studio, but that one live don't work. So that whole process is part of getting great. Yes, 100%. And unfortunately, the fast track, they skip the steps. They skip the steps so they may have a hit, but then them niggas is forgotten. Yeah, because they don't know how to maintain it. Because they didn't sustain it rather. Yeah, and that's what I see. I see a lot of great potential in a lot of artists. Incredible talent. I see a lot of talent. I don't see the process. Just like you said, they skipped a few steps and I can see it. I can call it out. Like instantly, as soon as they say something or do something, I go, ugh. You know what I'm saying? I really like going to, sometimes there's open mics around Philly. Man, that was some of the best times of my life. All day. You know, Jaguar, right? And Jill Scott would get up and all these people would like these open mics and the mirror would be on drums. And like those were some of the most incredible times. So now some of these open mics are popping up all over. I love going because like you said, there's always that one. Yeah. Where it's like, that motherfucker right there is dope. The rest might think they're dope. The audience thinks they're dope, but we're listening with other ears and we're looking with other eyes. Right. Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, again, you got to trust the process. And you got, not only you got to trust the process, you have to go through the process in order to understand that you got to trust it. But again, Georgie Porgy, Faith, Spend My Life with Tamia, you've grown to have like a reputation for performing with some beautiful, incredible women in music of Faith, Tamia, NDR, Tammar, Shante, like, okay, let's put it out there. When's the duet album coming out? Yo, the duet album was out. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah. The duet album. But when's the next one coming out? Well, I don't know when I'm going to do another one. Because you've kind of created, and it's a good stigma of it, because it looks good. It sounds good. Your voice lends itself to being, and I guess maybe because you weren't a group, that you know how to trade off with voices very well. It's the same as being a producer who knows what voicings to use in a chord. Do we need a horn section here? Do we need to just drop the rhythm guitar right here and just let the bass in the ... It's that same talent, I think, that lets me know which female voice is going to sound absolutely perfect on this song. You have a knack for that. I think I do. You know how to do it. Because every one of your collaborations, from what I've heard anyway, I didn't hear all of them, but from what I've heard, they're spot on. I want to thank Tammar Braxton because ... That's a sexy record. That song went number one. Shantay Moore, who was a fucking beast. She's ridiculous. That song went number one. India, I read, blessed me. She's ridiculous. We need her on the show. We love to have them all on the show. I'm saying, India always comments on our stuff, and it's like, just come. I reached out. I reached out. India, you know. Oh man. I am so thankful. India, thank you so much for blessing my project. She said yes, and she doesn't say yes to a lot of people. When she got on the song with me, must be love. Yeah, it's a beautiful song. Yeah. Yeah. And Camper, DJ Camper, who produced that song, Felly the Voice, who is an incredible songwriter, this generation songwriter. Yeah. So I do have a knack for picking the right voice for the right song. You got it locked down. Yeah. I think that's your question because a lot of fans want to know this, because a lot of people don't know this about you. You have to have another Nardwar. How you say that nigga's name? Nardwar. Nardwar. You about to have another Nardwar moment. Yeah, no. Well, maybe. You know, because people wonder. You know, because my friends are like, oh, you're going to have Eric? Oh, ask him this. So I want to know, how do you feel about politics? You know what it is, man. Because people want to know. Yeah. I mean, I know you're kind of a little ambiguous about it. You know, you don't really say much. You keep it quiet. Right. Like, how do you, like, how do you really feel about just what's going on in the world today, Eric? Because people want to know. I think you get to a certain age. Yeah, I think it's coupled with the fact that there is a certain mentality or a certain, you know, idea that an artist, and we grew up in this era with Prince and Michael Jackson and Madonna, they're supposed to have this quiet mystique about them. Don't get too open and show too much of your inner workings of how you feel about either religion or politics. And so I think that's how I came up in the industry. And that's, that was something that was, I think, conditioned in me from my first deal. It's like, look, if you want to have a long career, shut the fuck up when it comes to politics. Don't talk about certain subjects. Just get on stage. Do your dance. Sing your song. Get your shit. Get your check. Go home. And that's what I've been taught. But I think at a certain age and I think in certain extraordinary world consequences and circumstances, you just can't be the silent, I'm just going to sing and that's it. I mean, I'm not only a black man, but I'm a father. I'm a husband. I am a citizen of a country that has a beautiful idea of, you know, Iplorum busunum, a nation for the people, by the people. It's a beautiful concept that we ain't never got right yet. And but the idea of it is beautiful. And I think it's the idea of America that makes me so vocal when I see the only word I can think of is shit. It's just like a molesting of a beautiful idea. Interesting choice of words. Yeah. And it makes me so angry that I can't be quiet. And when I can't be quiet, my anger sometimes comes out as it's going to come out. It might come out as comedy. It might come out as song. It might come out as ranting that doesn't make sense. But I just can't stay quiet. Yes. Prince and Michael did have that mystique, but they were very political too. That's true. From a long line of artistic dissenters, from Prince to Michael to Bob Dylan to Bob Marley to public enemy to rage against the machine to. I would say Tupac. He's always got to be. Yeah, like when I hear people and it's so funny because I'm kind of outspoken to to some degree. And yes, sometimes I got to appreciate it. Well, sometimes I'll get a couple of mean low DMs. Stick to singing. I hate that shit. Shut the hell up. I don't want to hear you sing. I don't hear about, but did you did you say that to, like I said, to the Dylan's of the world? Did you say that to John Lennon? That's why you love John Lennon. That's why you love John Lennon. That's why you love Bob Dylan. That's why you love Bob Dylan. That's why you love Bob Marley. You love Bob Marley for that because they stood up. So yeah, like I appreciate. Thank you, man. You're you're saying what you have to say because it has not fallen on deaf ears. People are listening and people appreciate you for not just being an artist, but actually being a human being. And I appreciate you for that because it's very brave and in a lot of in a world where people tend to stay away for whatever their reasons and rightfully so whatever, whatever they they're both, everybody's not political. Yeah. And everybody's not articulate on how to speak out on them. So some people should shut the fuck up. But yeah, if you have a voice and you know how to use it, I would urge everybody to do it. And I thank you for being able to do that. You know, man, I appreciate that. And I just wrote a book. Did you? I did. I just finished the manuscript. Okay. So it's not out yet. No, it's not out yet. I see. Yeah. When you plan on bringing it out. Well, I'm talking to I'm talking to publishers right now. Okay. Cool. Yeah. I'll be one of the first to buy it. Please do. Please sign one for me. Please. I would love to. It is a young adult fantasy. Okay. So I would watch on topics of the power of your inner voice overcoming your trauma to become the best version of yourself that you possibly can be all within the backdrop of a fantastical journey that I hope 13 and 14 year olds will have a lot of fun without realizing that I'm slipping little nuggets in the story of lessons that they can take there, take with them their whole life. I can't wait to read it. Thanks, man. Hey, man, let's have fun. Top five. Yeah. I'm a singer of all time. No matter what the genre, I don't care if it's pop rock, blues, bluegrass, whatever. I know I'm putting you on the spot, but that's why how we like it. You know how you know when you're talking to an actual singer or whether it's not a singer, whatever the profession is, you know when the answer to those questions are often people that were from before they were born because a person who's not really knowledgeable might only mention somebody from the past 20, 30 years. So okay, so me. Yeah. Because I know you're eclectic. So I know you're not just maybe not in this order. Okay. Yeah. It's not about the order. It's just, you know, throw them out. Singers. We're talking just singing. The next one that comes to mind is Ella Fitzgerald. Who would argue? I cannot. Actually, she may be my favorite. Yeah. Skat Queen. Yes. Nat King Cole. Donny Hathaway. He's pretty good. Stevie Wonder. He's not bad either. Got one more. Mel Torme. Mel Torme. I mean the... Moonlight in Vermont. You know what? You know what? Hang on. I love Mel Torme, but I'm going to have to put... No, you're going to add a bonus. No, no, keep him in. This is a bonus. I'll keep him in, but he's going to have to go behind... Okay. ...Eretha Franklin. Okay. Yeah. She's pretty good too. Yeah. She's not bad at all. Yeah. I like that playlist. Yeah. What about you? Oh, come on. It's going to change every time you say it. Every time. It would... Me too. Me too. Me too. Yeah. No, because you change it. Okay. I'm going to do this. I'm going to base it off of what... Did I say Stevie? Yeah, you did. You did. Okay. I'm going to base it off of what you mentioned, because a lot of times we get caught up in the lead vocalists of a group, but I'm the guy that looks at the guy behind the guy. Right. Who's the guy behind the guy? And I go, yo, y'all heard his tone, right? Walter from No.J's. Wow. He doesn't get enough credit. No. That boy, again, shout out to the king, Mr. Eddie Laverne. You know I love you. You know what I'm saying? You know I love you, but I love Walter. You're going like unsung heroes, right? Yes. Unsung heroes. Unsung heroes. Okay. Okay. Melvin Edmunds, after seven. Wow. I love this list. You like... You doing the B-size. Melvin's tone. Crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Mark DeBarge. Mark DeBarge. Mark. I've been thinking about you for quite a while. You're on my mind every day and every night. That went in the eldritch. That was Mark. Yeah. That's right. That was Mark. That was Mark. I used to listen to that song over and over and over and over them harmonies, man. It's Mark. And I just saw on, I think, YouTube or something like an old VCR of them in the studio doing that. We'll explain that. So it's under Eldritch, right? But it's Mark's record? No, it's DeBarge. The group's DeBarge. But he sang the lead on that. Like he's on that particular record. Yeah, Eldritch did the... He did all the hot falsetto because he was just a Bobby Jr. Yeah. Bobby from Switch. Yeah, yeah. That was his older brother. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? So he was just a version of Bobby, which was amazing. Right. But people sleep on Mark. I like Mark. Wow. That's dope. Mark, so that's three, right? Did I do three? Two more. Two more. That's three, yep. And I mean, I wouldn't say that she was an unsung hero because she was one of the leads, but Cindy from Invoke. Ah, that's dope. Cindy's strong. Cindy's strong. Strong. But she didn't always do the either Dawn or Terry or even Max. Right, right, right, right, right, right. But Cindy had that... This is sweet. Can't keep running and out of my life, out of my life, out of my life, out of my life. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Cindy. Number... And my fifth, we're just for the sake of the conversation, Kelly Rowland. Kelly is another one where it's like... Yeah, I love Kelly. Kelly, listen, Beyonce's Beyonce, right? Right. So it's, you know, she's who she is. True. She's a star, you know, in her own orbit. But Kelly, knock it off. You get no argument from me there, sir. Kelly, Kelly got chops. You get no argument from me. We've done live shows with Kelly and just hearing her singing all night. Like the consistency, the technicality. Yeah, just, well, Beyonce too, I mean... I mean, that goes without saying. That is what I'm saying. Right, right. Like that's a given. We know what Beyonce does. 100%. But a lot of times you tend to overlook the one... What's right there, the one behind the one. Yeah. It's like, wait, what'd you... Yeah. That's how I used to choose girls. Like all the girls that, the guys that the girls would, they would choose the one that was the shiniest, the most colorful, the brightest with the brightest hair and stuff like that. I looked at a friend. You smart man. With the glasses. Yeah. And the jacket, but she's wearing a skirt that's good enough where you see the shape. See that's... Where you going, wait. What's that smart Libra thing right there? Wait, wait, you don't see her? See the Libras, we weigh all of the factors. Yeah. Come on, man. Like I don't, I don't want the trouble. Don't, don't give me the brightest. Oh, lord. Give me the one that's sitting on it, reading the book. Just kind of being chill or whatever. Round the way girl. That's the one. That's the one right there. Amen. Shando. Shando. Anyway, what's your favorite restaurant, E? Give me one. What city? It don't matter. Pick one. I got to go with my daughter Luna partly because of the food, but because like it lights her up every time we go. Okay. Shout out to Luna. Shout out to Luna. Katsuya. Katsuya is good. Katsuya is, Katsuya is, look. It's solid. I've been all, it's good food. We traveled. It's good food. We traveled the country and every time I go to a city where they're like, you know, you can go to some city that's not in LA and oh, you have to try the sushi here. Yeah. It ain't it. Yeah. Southern California, we got the best sushi. Dare I say, and I'm going to get shit for this, we got the best sushi. I've had better sushi in Southern California than I've had in Japan because in Japan, listen, in Japan, when they do sushi, there's raw fish and rice, buddy, and you're going to like it. Right. But in LA, it's all kind of sauces and the ponzu and twigs. It's swag to it. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Well, shout out to all the Japanese fans out there that watched the show. They're going to be pissed off at you. These opinions of Eric and Eric's own opinions. Okay. Was that racist? No, no, no, no. No, no, no. Okay. They can take a joke. Okay. Okay. All right. Yeah. They know it's funny. But so you're in Katsuta, Katsuya with Luna. Yeah. Hanging out. Yeah. And Lucia because we usually go together. And Lucia. Okay. Luna and Lucia hanging out. Yeah. Right. Having you, you know, sushi. Yeah. And in walks into the door, a younger version of yourself. I know where you're going with this. So Eric, he's been looking for you. He wants to know what to expect of his future. He's looking for jewels of wisdom from his older self. So he sits down next to his future daughters and he's just looking at you. And he's saying, give me something. What would the older Eric say to the younger Eric? Wow. Give him something good. I would probably say something along the lines of it's coming. And younger Eric would know what I was talking about. I probably wouldn't need to explain in depth what it is. And younger Eric would understand that it is success. Is my dreams coming true? Is money? Is the accolades? Is boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I would probably say it's coming. It is not what you think it is. And it ain't all good. But it will, the journey will heighten your intelligence and heighten your worth. So don't rush it. Say some version of that. And then I'd say pass the soy sauce. There you go. Yeah, that's good. That's good advice. And on that note, ladies and gentlemen, can y'all please give it up for Mr. Eric Benay. Thank you. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. Thank you Clayplan. Thank you Clayplan.