Bryce Wilson

This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Hey, y'all, it's Lauren Moroza with the latest with Lauren Moroza on Black Effect. And I cannot wait to see you guys at the fourth annual Black Effect podcast festival. We are coming back to Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, April 25th at Pullman Yards. And it's hosted by me alongside DJ Envy and Charlotte Maynard. We got Drink Chance with Noriega and DJ Effing. We got Keep Your Positive, sweetie, with my girl. Crystal Renee Hayslett. We got Reality with the King, with my guide and my brother, Carlos King. Y'all know he does reality commentary like nobody can. Now we also have Don't Call Me Right Girl, the podcast. I love Mona and Club 520 Podcasts along with the Grits and Eggs podcast. So this lineup, Stacked Baby. You're also going to want to check out the panels that we have lined up to feature in Kev on stage, Tika Sumter and John Holt Bryant, just to name a few. Of course, it's Way Bigger in the podcast. We're bringing the Black Effect Marketplace with Black on Businesses, plus the Food Truck Court to keep you fed while you visit us. OK. Listen, you don't want to miss this. Tap in and grab your ticket now at blackeffect.com slash podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Jay Valentine and this is the R&B Money Podcast. And today I got one of my good brothers, somebody that really gave me a lot of game and I just want to put it out there. He's the reason I'm a video hoe. The man trying to get himself. Huh? He been making y'all high for a long time and hopefully he tells me some really cool shit today. My brother, Bryce Wilson. My guy. Hey man. Thanks for having me. I've been waiting for you to pull up on me, dawg. Yeah, man. I've been waiting to come on here, man. You know, because I know you don't talk to everybody. I do not. I know, man. And that's when I first hit you. I was like, I could feel it's hesitant. I'm his brother. So he gonna know that I ain't on no bullshit. Absolutely. Hey man, we're going to kick this off. We can start something before we tell the story. Your story. So Bryce Wilson. I meet and we just had, we were kindred spirits from the beginning, right? It was like, all right. The quote unquote pretty boy niggas who from a dark place. That's the best way I could put it. Exactly. And I'm like, yeah, me, you. And it's funny, bro, because when we first met, I would just pull up on your sessions. I would just come pull up on you, man. Come hang out. Just hang out. Yeah. People that know me know that I don't do that. Yeah. Yeah. I got to really fuck with you. Exactly. If I'm just pulling up and it ain't about nothing else. Yep. Absolutely. And one night I'm like, big bro. Wildest request came my way, man. And I think you would understand this. Yeah. I'm like, man, my home girl, new artist. I don't know if you heard about her. Kiss you, Cole. She asked me to be her video. Yep. And I said, I'm asking you because you've been one. Exactly. It's an elite club. And that's what you said to me too. And I'm like, bro, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm about to say, no, I don't think I want to be in the videos, man. Yeah. I was like, nah, you got to. Got to do it. Got to do it. And I trusted your opinion of it so much. And I'm like, OK, that's what I needed. I needed my dog to tell me like, nah, bro, you should do it because you could have told me too. Like, listen, I did that video, bro. And it just, it fucks me shit up or it wasn't right for me. Yeah. And does surprisingly well for you. It did. It won't wait. It won't. It'll never go away. Especially now with the internet. Exactly. The internet, I am a meme. Yep. I am, you know, somebody would be like, I've seen something. I've seen one when somebody posted it and it was like, this, if he looked like this, this is he going to cheat on you. I'm like, what the? Like I was just in the video. That's the do rag on. Every nigga with a do rag cheats. Exactly. Exactly. You know what I mean? But, but yeah, bro, you're the, you're the reason why I ultimately said, yeah, they're doing that video. Yeah. Those are, you know, it's like, that's not, that's not really our personality type. Right. But, you know, when it's done, it represents a moment in history. Yes. You know what I'm saying? I'm forever stamped. Yeah. In that video. And I mean, shit, Kanye produced the record of John Legend's in the video. Like it's random things that are happening in that video, man. And, you know, obviously Keisha went on to become a legend. And I'm forever etched in. Yeah. In that part of our story. Yeah. Yeah. Man. But, but yeah, bro, I just, I had to get that out there. He's still available for more. No. You young ins come check on me. No. I don't want, I don't want to be in nobody else's video. I haven't been asked. Yeah. And I've said no. Yeah. I didn't get, I don't think I got paid for that video either. So I'm still, I'm still waiting on Manny Haley. Yeah. Man, let's get that paper. Come on, man. You mean Brooklyn niggas, man. I know. I know. I got Manny in that gig too. Yeah. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah. I hung out with Keisha and she was like, yo, you should manage me. And I don't, something was going on with, with, with the management company needs you and we have, we just had a lot going on. And she was like, this guy, Manny, I was like, Manny from Brooklyn? So I took out to eat, call Manny, put him together. It was like, he's going to be a manager. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't know that. Yeah. Yep. Look how it all. So, okay, you were planning it there to tell me to do the video. See you next time. It's making sense. Oh, this whole time. I just, I just knew your mindset. I knew your mindset because, you know, I've been there and that, you know, I do videos I didn't want to do and then it ends up having that cultural currency where it's like, okay, this, this ain't, you know, this ain't so bad. Yeah. You know, it works out. All right. So, okay, let's, let's get to it now, man. Young Bryce, New York City. Give me, give me a little bit of how this whole thing kicked off, bro. Whole thing for me kicked off. I grew up between three boroughs, right? I grew up between Brooklyn, Jamaica, Queens and Washington Heights, which is the top of Manhattan. Okay. And, man, I heard it was like I'm dating myself, but it was like when hip hop was just starting to, you know, like become a thing, right? The rest of the country didn't know what was going on. It was a New York thing. Yeah. Super New York thing. And it was right before the crack era came. And man, I heard a record from Run DMC and it was just over. And I just, I just kept evolving like into what I wanted to do. I wanted to be Rozelle from the roots. He was, I think Rozelle, he's from Harlem or the Bronx, but he moved to the corner of my block. Oh, sure. So I had literally the best beatbox on the planet. Yeah. Living up the street. Right. So he's beatboxing. He's older than me. And I'm just like, you know, it's like we got a celebrity on the block. And I ended up going to the school I wanted to, the high school I wanted to go to, they had an aviation program and they didn't take me. So there was a pilot. Yeah. Just, just like last minute, I know what I wanted to do, but I was like, let me do that. They didn't accept me. And it was a high school near my aunt's house in Jamaica, Queens, that it looked, it just looked beautiful. And from a child being in the backseat of that car with him in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, wherever, that was just one of those iconic pictures, this beautiful school. So my mother last minute was like, you want to go there? I was like, hi, let me do that. So how old are you at this point? 14. Okay. So he's my aunt's address. I go and this shit ended up being gladiator school. Like literally out of all five boroughs, we were number four in crime rate. So my school was the testing ground for every measure of security, picture IDs, task force were like six, five, six, nine, secure. They were basically bounces, right? Yeah. Hopping out of vans on you. First school in New York City had metal detectors. Like this shit was crazy. Yeah. So this is the high, this is the school from juice. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. Like I look at lean on me, it's a joke. Like this school was really like this school was, it was, it was gladiator school. So I go there, not knowing what it was. And it's like, you got to figure it out. Like you go be a victim or you go be on the other side. Yeah. And I went there and I was, I was a victim for the first month. And then by the second going to the third month, I started turning up. And I started, it wasn't in my neighborhood. I was kind of foreign and I met a good friend of mine, Jeff Shira. And he was from the hood. So he took me out there, introduced me to everybody. And then I just turned into a whole other person, like a complete lost soul. And by month six, they were doing a lot of things to try to fix it. They changed the name of the school 15 times. It just never worked. But the principle basically, they put together a task force, they put together a list. And I made that list. And when you're on that list, they did a sweep and you out. Oh, sure. Yeah. But the. And this is in within six months. Yeah. Yeah. So I was out by January. I was out. Right. The problem is some, so my mother takes me shopping, right? And this is January. We go shopping in September for the school. And that's it. Yeah. The January, she take me shopping. I'm like, OK, this is cool. So I'm looking like this is like all my friends from the hood with because they always fly. Hood niggas always fly. Of course. Right. They do nothing to school, but they, they parents make sure they fly. So I'm like, oh, she gets it now. She gets it. Yeah. Like she gets it. Cool. So, you know, I'm feeling good next morning. She comes to me and she's like, so, you know, you good? You OK? You like your clothes? I'm like, yeah, yeah. I love it. She said, cool. Because you got to go. I can't do this. You got to go. I was like, what? So at the same time she does this, the next week I get swept. Right. So now I'm kicked out the school. I don't know what the fuck to do. And then I find out that once you get kicked out of Andrew Jackson, no school in New York City takes you. Because it's the worst of the worst. So they're just like, you got kicked out of there. Yeah. We're not taking you. You can't get into any school. Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, nowhere. Staten Island, you're deadlocked out of the school system. And you got kicked out of the house. And kicked out of the house. Yeah. So, so. Yeah. So and this is the weird thing I met. I was in eighth grade. LL Cool J was in eleventh grade. We went to the same school. Right. So while I'm in the school, I'm weak, me and him rolling to every school we cut in school every day. He's rapping on beatboxing. And I'm like, I'm about I'm making your LL Cool J. I'm his beatboxer. I'm his beatbox man. Like literally I'll just do his beatbox. Right. So it was just this really exciting time because you're watching this culture explode, this subculture explode. And in the middle of it, I was just like, I was just stuck. I had to get out the house, all of that. So at the same time, my grandparents, I thought my grandparents were from St. Thomas, the Virgin Islands. Because I was going there since I was two months old. Right. And then once I hit like six, seven, me and my sisters would go there for the summer. So I thought they were from there. I didn't know that my grandparents retired and then moved out there. Right. So during this year, the September before the January got kicked out, they moved back to the States and moved to Atlanta. So that was the only place I can go. So you go to Atlanta. I go to Atlanta at what you 14, 15 at this point. 14 years old. And it was like to my culture shock. Yeah. Like this, this is at that time, it was the fastest city in the world. And I mean, you know, my motion is like I'm in it. And then now I'm in Atlanta. My two grandparents, who were the most solid humans I've ever met. Like they, they went to college in their sixties. They were just sharp, you know, sharp athletes, like really on it. And their mission was like, we're going to, we're going to fix him. We're going to tighten him up and get him straight. So I went to Atlanta and I'm in Atlanta. This hip hop thing didn't happen. There's like little remnants of it. And I had to, I had to thug it out for about two and a half years. But it was good because I changed my life. I went from in New York, if you get a 55, you fail. If you cut school, you get a 40. I got five, seven, and twelve. Like they had a dead out of me. Like I had the worst grades. Anyways, and I didn't pass any classes. So I went from failing every class to now passing every class because of my, my grandparents. So it's like every movie I see where you just got to go through that fire and you hate this person that's actually saving you until you get through the fire. And then you love that person, you know, when you, you know, when you understand. So I did that and slowly but surely Atlanta was starting to get a little bit of the whole hip hop movement. The fresh fresh has started. I remember I went to Jermaine Dupri's 14th birthday party and his dude had the turntables. He little, the literal opposite of my life. Well, my life was like my family's like you're throwing your life away. His family was like, no, no, no. Here's you taking 1200. Yeah, this is your life. Right. Yeah. So there were little remnants of that. You know, I went to a popular school where, you know, Ludacris a lot of, you know, there were like three high schools. I went to Warner High Schools where a lot of music from Atlanta came from. And my grandparents, they said, hey, we built a house about 50 minutes out. Fifty. Yeah. That's not close. Yeah. This year. This year. This ain't in Atlanta. Yeah. Like this is outside of Atlanta. So I go there. Well, my grandparents say they said when you graduate, I mean, the 11th grade now they say when you graduate, we'll move out to the house in the country club. All right, cool. And I'm just sitting in this new house. I see cows on the way to school. I literally see cows on the way to school. My teacher tried to paddle me. Yeah. In high school. Yeah. Teacher pulled pulled out, pulled the draw and pulled the paddle out. OK. All right. Yeah. Worst person he ever got in his life. And I just sat there and I just kept thinking about, you know, because I go home for the summer, you know, so I'm just thinking about everything I'm missing in New York. Yeah. I'm like, oh, you're never going to make a record. And I thought about it. I'm going to call my mother and I said, yo, just listen to me. She's like, don't start like just listen to me. I'm going to kill myself. And if you think I'm playing, you go get a call from people. I'm telling you, I got to come home. And my mother was like, you know what? I can come home and I came home. And this your 11th, 12th grade year around that. 11th, middle of my 11th year. Yeah. Middle of my 11th year. Like, all right, you can come back. Yeah. So do they let you back in school now, though? Now you didn't fix your grade. You got all every got everything together. Yeah. You're a new guy. I'm a new guy. I'm a new guy. And all this is to get to the music. All of us to get to the music. All of it. So when you get back to New York, what's your what's like? What's your plan of attack? So I met in Atlanta. I met Andre Harrell, a guy named Casual Cal, who became the ringmaster for Soul Circus later on. He had like the video show down there. And I met them and I met a guy from sleeping bag records. And I got the guy from sleeping bag records number. So when I came up to New York, I was the first call I made. I go up there. He gives me he worked in promotion, gave me a bunch of records. I'm excited, like it's going to happen. And it just didn't happen. It never happened. It used to happen like that now. You know, you get a little different. But yeah. So I went up to the label one time and I rapped for the owners. And there was a head producer there, Mantronic, and he heard me. And he was like, yeah, I want him. And I was like, for real? He's like, yeah, he wants to replace the rapper he's got with you. So I was like, cool. So the guy's sleeping bag was kind of hating on it. OK, bro, you can manage me. What he was trying to sign you directly. Yeah, but I don't know what he was. He was just on some weird shit. And I was just like, bro, what are you doing? So I ended up just giving up on it. Was like, fucking now I'm in my senior year and I'm back into being an idiot. But I'm on course to graduate. Right. You're still handling your business, but you you're into some shit. Yeah. And I get a call. And it's like, it's bright. Stay on like this Steven Shapiro, you know, I'm like, nah, he's like, I'm a lawyer for Curtis Mantronic. I'm like, OK, how's he doing? He's like, I just signed him to a million dollar deal of capital. I was like, OK. He said, so you want a deal and everything changed from there. Got my first record deal in the 12th grade before I graduated. Shit. Yeah. Before I graduated. Yeah. That phone call changed everything. Do you remember what you signed for? Like the advance? Yeah. The advance was 50 grand. OK. And I think was for 17 year old. Yeah. And I only got 10 of it. I got a limo from my graduation high school. Wait, wait, they know that you talk about this, which you spent your 10 on. No, this is a 40 on. Oh, yeah, I didn't understand under the shit. OK, so you did actually get the 50. No, I got the 10. OK. My first check was 10. All right. And it was just like, it was, yeah, you want a limo for your graduation? Yeah, you mean my cousin? Yeah, billing you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you get your limo. Yeah. We did. We did a trip to to Europe. Wait, wait, what? Yeah, we did a trip to Europe. Right. Time out, bro. Business, though, on Manchonics business, right? Like promo shit. We stop in a in a in a suit store. I get a suit for twelve thousand dollars. But I'm thinking because Curtis is rich. So I'm thinking this is on him or it's on it's on somebody. Right. Twelve thousand dollars suit. Twelve thousand dollars. At seventeen. Yeah, I have no idea that it's just coming out of my pocket before it even reaches my pocket. You got you at a blank check. Yeah, I thought I was. I thought I thought this is what that life's about. Like, oh, my God. Yeah, I'll take two of those. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, yeah, I had I had a deal before I finished high school. By the time I graduated, I was in probably Europe like three times at seventeen. Wow. Yeah. So did you and obviously at that point, your mom probably had to sign the deal for you. She did. Yeah. I had to go to the courts and all that. Yep. Sir, get caught. Do all that stuff. Yep. That's crazy. Yeah. So seventeen. And as this is happening, you also your homie, you see him become the biggest star in the world. LL Cool J. Like, people don't understand how massive. How massive that dude was. It's the best way to put it. It's massive. Yeah. Massive. Like, he was in the vent. Everybody wanted a can go. Yeah. Niggas start doing push-ups. Yeah. It's like, LL, bro. Yeah, he was he was next level. Walking around with the radio. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, he was next level. And he just had the whole like he had the whole the hustle gear. You're saying like, yeah, you know. So at that time, though, you go back to Atlanta, he blowing up. Do you stay? Are you still in contact with him? Or it's like, you just see him. No, I'm watching him. So what I did was in the school I had, they had a pay phone in the hallway. I spent every dime I had calling this dude's house. I spoke to his mother probably three to four times a week. Todd. But he's out on the road. Yeah, he on the road. He on the road. And then I spoke to him one day he was at home, like literally after like eight months. When I went and this is, you know, back then, I'm putting in $2 worth of quarters. Say like every day. So his mom's pick up. It's over. It's over them $2. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's over them $2. It was it was a it was a financial struggle getting in touch with that dude. And then I got in touch with him and he just kind of broke my heart like, nah, you can't come on the road with me. Oh, you asked to come out. Yeah. I was like, nigga, rescue me. Like, bro, I'm in the country. Like you got to get me out. Yo, they was calling me crush groove. All kind of wild shit. You know, you come from New York, you mad arrogant too. So yeah, it was it was a culture. And I'm sure they didn't believe that that was your homeboy. No. They're like, you don't fucking know. No, they didn't believe that. They didn't like my attitude. I didn't like what was going on down there. It was it took me took me two years to like be comfortable around the Atlanta scene and be cool with people. Yeah. You know, I had to do I had like a team of like 3040 New York dudes that I rocked with. And we just, you know, we, you know, we get into it with the dudes in Atlanta and all that. I learned quick like prison in a sense. Like, oh, you from here. OK, you got to sit at that table. Yeah, it was yeah, it was it was a lot. Atlanta Atlanta was Atlanta was rough until I until I had to give into it. No, but when you straight from New York, you're not giving in nothing at first. It's going to take it is going to take no. I mean, listen, I under we have a shared experience in that. I didn't I didn't go to Atlanta, but I went to five or six other cities because obviously my father was hustling. Yeah. And it would be a new school. Yeah. You got to have that first fight. Yep. All right. You know how to use his hands. We're going to leave him alone. Yeah. You know what I mean? You have to. It's just certain shit that happens when you go to these new schools and these new places where you don't know anybody. Yeah. Yeah. And if you're dressing a little different, you talk a little different. Yeah. It ain't easy. It ain't easy at all. You know, I learned them dudes in the South may talk slower, but they think fast. Hell yeah. They get fast. And it's a hood everywhere. Everywhere. And it's street niggas everywhere. Yep. Exactly. Fight everywhere. So you go making you walking into these places thinking you go and do something. It's like, I got to figure out how to survive where I'm at. Exactly. And I got to have respect. Yeah. Yeah. For where I'm at. You have to. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember I came down there. I was just on this old, y'all, Jamaica Queens, Brooklyn, and all that. And I remember the two terrors in Atlanta was named Chip and Dip. Chip and Dip. They was homies. They was homies. And when I say these dudes walk up to the school and niggas will go running, Chip and Dip is here. These dudes had eyeliner. Nah, make them up, bro. Yeah. You taking the two for one. That eyeliner. And it was just weird. Like, I'm looking like, why are you all like, what? But they were terrors, though. These dudes were actual terrors. But I just had to. They was the literal world class record crew. Exactly. It was just in a different form than, you know, from what was in New York, you know? So yeah, I had to take Atlanta serious. It was wasn't the place to play with. I found that out. All right. You on the road. You didn't been to Europe. How many times? Three times? You haven't even turned 18 years old. Yep. Y'all get your first hit record, though. Mm-hmm. How does that feel? It was weird because our first hit record was... R&B. Yeah. Yeah, it was R&B. And it was top, I think, top five or top 10 in America. It was number one in every country on the planet. You look at Billboard, it was literally number one in every single, except for America. So we weren't really hot in America. Yeah. But I would go to London. After a while, we go to London every month. Go to London, they're being... And that's easier coming from the East Coast. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. There'd be a Jaguar limo and a Range Rover out 24 hours at a disposal with drivers sitting in it 24 hours. So this is like... Like this dude Curtis is... You're living it up. Yeah, he's Elvis over there. Yeah. Now he's a literal... He's Elvis over there. And you got a song called Got to Have Your Love. I can only imagine. Yeah. The good times. Yeah. He was like... And he was a giant and I was just this young, stupid kid. So was he... He was the producer. He was the producer. Yeah. So conceptually, this is his thing. He was a big producer that was able to do rap and R&B and he was one of the first guys that conversed both. Yeah. You know, both genres. Who sang that record? Who was the singer? A lady named Wondrous. Okay. Yeah. But she wasn't in the group. No. No. It was just me and him, but then we'd feature singers. So this way it was a rap group, but this way he can really... And y'all would have different singers come on the road and sing that part? Yeah. Like for that, she sung our first two hits. So for that, she would go on the road. And then the second album that I did with him, we had another girl named J Trini and then she came on the road. Bro, this is wild that you're still a kid, literally. While all this is happening. Yeah. How are you embracing it? Were you... Did you get caught up in it? Being that young with a hit record and being out around the world? I fought it. I had a really... I had a really interesting journey that I'm really proud of. My girlfriend at the time, her family. You know, we're all Caribbean. Her family was Jamaican. And there was a book in the window sill and I picked it up. I looked at them and I said, is this good? She said, you never read that? I said, no. So she gave it to me. It was Malcolm X, the autobiography of Malcolm X, right? So my journey was I would go to Europe and I was really resentful and hateful because I'm reading this book. It's making you militant. Yeah, it's super, super militant. I'm looking at, I'm looking at structures like, I'm gonna throw that shit to much. Like, that was like, that was the mission, right? Yeah. But it was interesting how the book just takes you on this roller coaster and then he becomes this humanist. And then all of a sudden Europe and everything, different races and colors just became something different. Open your mind. Yeah. So, so for me, coming from where I come from, I had such a different perspective on life because now I'm not the racist at the beginning of the book. You know what I mean? Now, and now I'm meeting like white people, Spanish people, Swedish people, people from all over the world that are actually really good people. You know what I mean? And that I'm still in touch with to this day, you know, like really quality people. So it was, it was a really interesting journey that I had going on the road and reading that book, you know, and it just ended well because I just, I started to really understand like, wow, this is what the world is like instead of this bubble that I come from, you know, right? That that changed my life. Now, that's incredible that you even had a chance to have that type of experience. Yeah. And it makes some money. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Some cool shit to happen. Yeah. At this point, you're really just focused on being a rapper. Yeah. When did you start playing keys? So when I was in Manitronics, I was, I was kind of upset the whole time because, you know, this is Big Daddy Kane era, this LL Koojee. I want to be that rock. I want to be that. Yeah. You know, I want to be the hood thing. And I resented this international rap R&B. I resented that. And and then after a while, when I started like opening up to the world, I was like, OK, this isn't this isn't that bad. So I would go to Curtis's house all the time. You know, we'd be making music. He had a duplex in the village and upstairs in the bedroom. I would just sit on the floor against the wall and he'd sit by this this $16,000 emulator keyboard that he had. And I would listen to him and I would I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I'd watched the slide and I would hear him hitting the sample. And, you know, that was like truncating, but I didn't know the word or how to do it. All right. You know, but I would watch how he would fit samples into beats and stuff like that. And then I woke up one day and was like, I don't want to do this rap shit no more. I want to be him. Yeah. And this is why you're in the group, though. Yeah. So I quit the group and I called him and I said, yo, what do you what should I buy? He's like, what do you want to do? I was like, I want to make beats. And he was like, OK, go buy this computer. This, this, this, this, this was $10,000. It's probably like a hundred and twenty thousand dollars now. And I bought this stuff and the learning curve was just crazy. I didn't care. So this is like the era of New Jack swing now. Right. I come from this, this man, Trani's group that's left of center. But, you know, mainstream radio is all New Jack swing. So I sat in, I got a townhouse. Now I'm 18, 19 years old. I got a townhouse for like two thousand dollars a month. Fourth store is just crazy. And I'm sitting in my bedroom with this keyboard and this computer. And I sat there for a year until I figured out how to produce, how to produce every, every record Teddy Riley did. I did my best to imitate it. Yeah. Which was hell. Yeah. Yeah. There's a kick or snare I want. It's a fucking bass note on top of it. I can't, I hated it. But I did it. And then when I learned how to, when I figured out New Jack swing, I was like, I want to do a complete departure from this. Because the other thing that was how it was, Tribe Called Quest. Right. So that New Jack swing, which Teddy is the evil genius of all music. He's amazing. You got Tribe Called Quest, which is left. And then you got Manitronics in the middle, which is my teacher. So I was like, I'm going to do this over. And then I just came up with a groove theory. I just basically did it over. But before you get to groove theory and you're learning, are you trying to go the space of placing records? Or no, that's not even your thing. No. And you understand that. So at this point, and you're just living off the money that you made in the Manitronics. Yeah. Yeah. You're not actually working. No, I had a publishing deal for I met a lady in Karen Durant and publishing deals with $20,000. I sat down with her and she kept wanting to do this deal with me. And I was like, this is odd. So I threw out a number, 90,000. And she said, OK, and she got it. So I had 22,500 coming every four months. And then I had $60,000 from New York. Cash. OK. So I had money to live. Yeah. I just didn't I just didn't spend much. $60,000 I wasn't touching. OK. But I lived off of that publishing deal and I just sat in this room and then Karen's assistant was a male. Yeah. So it was plug and play. Karen's assistant was a male. Me and a male were cool and I would give them tracks and it was starting to get ugly. And it was like, we don't know what this is. And we about to drop your ass. And Karen was like, you know, male could sing. I was like, really? Yeah. All right. Brought a male to my house. I had a really dope track. She went in the bathroom with a mic, sung it. And that was it. Everything she did made what I was doing make sense. Yeah. Yeah. So I saved my publishing deal. Everything. No shit. Yeah. Yeah. And I never got to the placing tracks. I never I never understood. Yeah, I never understood it. And obviously. OK. So when you do when you and a male get together and you make the demo. Mm hmm. How long does it take for you to get an actual deal? A little over a little over a year. A little over a year it took because at the same time I met Jimmy. Jimmy and Peter Thomas had a company together from Real Housewives. They had a company together and they had a English band called Rhythm and Bass. We gave them Tell Me. Well, you gave it away at first. Yeah. Yeah. Gave it away. So when you said this in the beginning, too, I'm going to go back a little bit. When she went to the bathroom to record, it was Tell Me. No, it was another song. Oh, it was another song. I'm about to say shit. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was another song. But Tell Me was like the second or third song. It was really early. Yeah. Really, really early. Yeah. And we gave it to Jimmy's group. And then at this time, me and Jimmy are getting to know each other. And when my money started getting short, then Jimmy started coming in, if using cash. OK. So I was funding the whole operation now. Jimmy's helping. And I met a guy named Paris Davis, who lived. My house in Brooklyn was on St. Mark's. He lived two blocks away on Sterling. His father knew my father. We didn't know. Right. But his father knew my father. Trying to work. Right. Yeah. From when they were younger in Brooklyn. And he was like, yo, I'm getting his job at Epic. And I was like, for real? Yeah, I'm getting his job at Epic. I got his townhouse. I said, yo, take the top floor. He took the top floor. I'm Lily in my bedroom every day working on music. And I met the entire industry coming up my steps, going up to the top. Because they're going to see him. Yeah. Lily every day. He's bringing somebody out. Yo, what's up? How are you? OK, cool. I go back to my thing and he goes upstairs. They go upstairs, they drink, smoke, do whatever. Yeah. And are you using the rice from the Manitronics? Are you using that at all? Or it's not even a conversation at this point? It ain't even important. It ain't even important. Because you know how this business is. And you know, you know, whatever the pitch is when somebody introduced you. So you literally like, no, no, it's just a homey rice. Yeah. For the people that knew about Manitronics, about, oh, remember that song, stuff like that? But it wasn't. We didn't make that much of an impact. Right. And you guys were bigger around the world. Around the world. Yeah. Yeah. So I was just his homeboy. I was just his little bro. And I just meet people and they go upstairs, hang out. And I just close my door and I just work on music every day. Yeah. And then he brought a friend named Jeff Burroughs by. Jeff. And yeah. And Jeff was at Howard, I think. Oh, he's still in school at the time. Yeah. Howard or Syracuse? Because they I think they met at Syracuse at the time. OK. And Jeff heard it. He liked it and Paris is now epic. But epic is moving slow. So Jeff flies us out to Warner Brothers. Benny Medina heard it. So I'm like, OK, we sit down with Benny. He's singing everywhere to every lyric. Like he knew. He studied it. He studied it. Yeah. Right. So I was impressed because this was like Fresh Prince just come. You know, Benny. Yeah. Yeah. He's the guy. So he did that and in Paris had to step it up. So Jimmy was like, bro, you got to something. If not, we over here at Warner Brothers. And got back to New York, set up a meeting with Time Matola. And time was like, what do you want? I was like, a publishing deal for her. What else? I don't know, like $600,000, $500,000. Yeah. As a girl coming out, Meluru, you get her a publishing deal. Anything else? No, we could. And we decided for another $12,000. It was different by then. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. So where did you come up with that number? The numbers were usually $253,000. OK. So I didn't want to ask. I didn't want to ask for something that was a deal breaker. Mm hmm. But I wanted to. I wanted something that was reasonable. But yeah, but substantial. You know, substantial where they knew we do this for five, $600,000. We got to work this group. Yeah. You know, that was really the magic number that that me and Jimmy and Paris talked about. Yeah. And there was also a publishing deal being done for her, too, though. Yeah. And then she got a publishing deal. And were you still in your deal? Yeah. So you were so you couldn't do a new deal? I couldn't do a new deal. For that deal. Yeah. But for the group? Yeah. Yeah. So it's something I paid attention to. You said when you left Manitrona, you said, I want to be him. Mm hmm. And now when I look at group theory, that's what you became. Came him. Yeah. Yeah. Because I may be wrong, but do you rap on the group theory album at all? Mm hmm. I was about to say, I don't remember hearing you rap on that album. I never touched that rap shit ever again. And then on Tell Me, a lot of people thought that that was you singing. And it was Trey Lorenz. Yeah. We gave it to him, too. Trey Demo tell me as well. So you just kept his vocal from the demo? Yeah. Oh, this is great. Yeah. So this is not like, oh, yeah, we got this song. It's knocked out. Hey, yo, Trey Lorenz. I need you to sing this part. No, we gave it to Trey after Rhythm and Bass. Oh, shit. Right? Because they just had a deal on Epic London. So we gave it to him. He was on Epic as well. He was on fire. He ended until they whatever was like the same pop enough. Like you're going pop. So it was like, cool. So we finished the whole group theory album. We sitting in there with the engineer Angela Piver and Amel and my god, Darryl Brown, who was a great musician, played on a bunch of stuff I did. And we sitting there. And then we learned about that close composition clause at that time. And they're like, you need another song. I was like, let's just read you fucking tell me. The anthem in New York was rising to the top. Yeah. So I was like, I got a whole new vibe. We going to do it on. And we sat down, did that. She did it as Lily the last record. Now that's a Hail Mary. Now that's a Hail Mary. Now none of that just like we got to fill a quota. Like just let's fucking let's just tell me. And we did that. It wasn't going to be on the project. Not at all. That was the last record. That was the last record. And ultimately was someone else's record at first. Like it wasn't even like, yeah. Yeah. So when she got to that part, we just punched him in. I was like, you want my love? Yeah. Tell me when you want to. We punched Tray in. And that was it. And then the world thought it was me. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Because obviously I didn't know you at that time. And I'm like, oh, well, that's the. Yeah. Yeah, it's him. Yeah. They both said it. Yeah. Like, yeah. Yeah, that was Tray. That's crazy, bro. Yeah. Yeah. Was it ever? Obviously, he's always been in the credits. But it was never like featuring Traylor in. So you kind of like, if you knew, you knew. Yeah. Does he perform that record? Nah, I don't think so. No? Man, I'm getting that off. I'm Traylor. I'm performing. Yeah, guess what? And for my next trick, I'm going to sing. Tell me. I guess you didn't know that I was on that record. He's in an interview with somebody. He was like, soon as the guy brought him, he said, wait, did Bryce say he sung that? He's like, nah, he just said, oh, OK, OK, OK. That's like. Yeah, but yeah, that's his voice on there. Now you guys, are you specifically, you got another hit record. You're in it again, but now you're in it in a different way. Different way. Yeah. What's the focus for you now? Because that's the other thing I feel like with Kendrick Spears in is the pivot. Right? I've done different things in his business. You've done different things in his business. What are you locked in on now for when you're in it and tell me takes off? Smash record. When it took off, the fight was for me to be seen. That was the first fight. What do you mean? The fight? Like if you look on the album cover, I'm blotted out. Yeah. Because I never thought about that part. OK. The process was done and it's time to do the visuals and the video and all that. I'm like, yeah, let it go through a thing. And they're like, you got to do it too. I'm like, no, I don't. Like you have to. So everything was forcing me to be in the video. It put me in the video. I'm like, what am I supposed to do? I'm like, OK, let me stand by this board and look through it. OK, let me. I don't even know what I played on this. But turn the volume down. Let me do that. Let me do a little two step. And that was it. So that was the next struggle for me was like. You're fighting with the label. Yeah, with the label. As all these artists are trying to figure out how to be in the front, you're like, nah. Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, I'll do the shoot. But I got to be in the back and I got to be blurred out. Why didn't you? I mean, other than I get the group you had come from, but why didn't you just sign her as a solo artist? It was going to be her project as far as the artist. I didn't have those thoughts. Every thought I had as a producer was what I learned from Curtis, everything. So I really, I had no departure from that concept group, whether it's solo, solo, scene, music, fact, or man, trying to exist. That was all I had in my in my purview. That was it. Yeah. So that's all I knew. That's that's what I went for. OK, now the business of it. How does that break down when, ultimately, and I can't speak for her, but if she's looking at it like, well, I'm singing. So now we got to go perform these things live. How does that work? When it's like, OK, well, OK, whatever the fee is, y'all getting paid to show, y'all getting 20,000, 10,000. Are y'all like, OK, it's a group. So if you want groove theory, we split this. Yeah. We were 50-50. So at first, Amel was going to sign to me. OK. Right. And me and Jimmy got her a new place, and I dropped her off and she said, hey, my lawyer wants to talk to you. I was like, about what? I don't know. OK. Next day, I get a call, go to the lawyer's office, and the lawyer's like, yeah, we're not doing this. Not doing what? We're not doing this. This is her signing you. Like, what do you mean? This is while group theory is out? Or no. This before? This before y'all get the deal? Or yeah, this is when the deal is sent to the lawyers. Oh, shit. OK. Yeah. So she's supposed to sign to me, and then I go through the deal. So you're going to be the furnishing company? Yeah. So last minute, he's like, now we're not doing that. Y'all going to be 50-50. And I'm thinking to myself, I paid for everything, and I put her in this, like, what are you talking about? So me and him had it out. And he was like, groups don't do this. I said, what about C.C. Music Factory? What about Soul to Soul? Well, yeah, they did what about Mention? Yeah, but they did. Well, I come from Mention. I was like, what the fuck are you talking to? I just go off. You blacked out. Yeah, blacked out on him. So my lawyer's on the phone, on speakerphone. He's like, let's take a recess. It's getting too hot. So I go in the conference room, and he's like, so I find out what's happening. Benny Medina called her lawyer. So I'm like, oh, shit. Hey, kids, this is the music business. If you're tuned in, and you're watching this right now, this is how the music business really works. This is how you learn to play chess. Yeah. So I love Benny. Benny's a really good friend of mine. I love Benny's death. But he had to do. He's doing business. Yeah, I told him no. So he was like, all right. I'm going to get a piece. Yeah. I'll get her then. So when that happened, I was just stuck. There was nothing I could do. So I go in there, and I'm like, all right, we'll do 50-50. We do the 50-50 deal. I don't have any producer points to none of that. It's just produced by me. But everything's 50-50. So I'm basically an artist. An artist, please. You're not getting no extra producer points on top. Nothing. Nope, just 50-50. And that worked out. It was fine. Yeah. It was fine. And then later on down the line, it kind of came back to bite me because I was in the background so much. So we had a show. They say, OK, we got a clothing budget. I give it to them. I go to Barney, spent $1,200 on the show. I already had money. It wasn't nothing. So I would just give that to them out. And then it just started to seep into everything, where it became a weird power struggle. And I was losing it because now you're hearing little murmurs from the label, like, well, she's the talent. She's the face. So we go ahead and take her. So I was like, wow, OK, that's interesting. So then I did the smart move. My biggest crush at the time was Tony Braxton. Right? OK. I've known Billy Woodruff since I was a teenager. Right? I met him in New York at an hour release part. Some shit when I was like, me and a bunch of dudes in my hood, we just at this party. And Billy got me an autographed picture of Tony saying, to my future husband, see you at the Grammys. Oh, shit. Right? This picture every day. And he went, come to my house. I'm like, yo, read this. Read this. Read this. So you can never met her at this point. Never met her. OK. Now that group days out, I get all these phone calls. Yo, guess what? Tony wants to meet you. OK. I go meet her. And the same time I meet her, I meet Ellie Reed. And Kenny, babyface. LA's in the studio. He's like, you brought some heat? I'm like, yeah. He's just sitting in there just loving every fucking track. Then me and Tony start hanging out. And then that leads to the record with her. So now the power dynamic. Because you produced. Co-produced and co-wrote. Exactly. You're making me hot. So now I'm with, now I got this number one pop and R&B single. And I'm on a roll with groove theory. And you're the video. Yeah. And then I did the video, which was, yeah. Turns out you're a sex symbol, brother. Yeah, it did. Yeah. Yeah, it did. It was loving y'all here in these streets. No. Bill Bellamy said to me then. He was at MTV. He said, brother, BET is good. But MTV will change your life. And groove theory was definitely BET. Tony was absolutely MTV. Megastar. Yeah. So that happened. And then I was in the Atlanta family. It's me, KP, Dallas, LA. I was like, forget. Because in New York, you had to either come through Andrey Herero, Ross Simmons or Puff. Yeah. And I circumvented all of them by just going to Atlanta and messing with the big boys. And when that happened, then everything changed. Everything changed. And I was young. I was an asshole. Because y'all been playing me this whole time. So yeah, now I'm on fire. But y'all on the road, you said? We on the road. I got off the road. I said, Mel, you take half my money and go do the shows. It just wasn't worth it anymore. I make it $40,000, $6,000 a song. A song, yeah. I could stay at home and do two songs a week. I'm 120 in. I was like, I could play and crash. I'm not doing that. I'll just stay home. So that changed the trajectory of everything. And then Epic has called me in to pick the first singles. Everybody's off in a joint venture. But I was more, that was my ego trip. My ego trip was, I was a nobody y'all. And y'all was picking her. And now I'm selling 270,000 units a week, literally. Now that record is 21 million. So I'm on fucking fire. So I'm like, it was just such a difference, the group theory world to the pop world. And that changed. And that's when it became the placement king of everybody wants, A&R guy walks in the room. And I look at my engineer like, when I say hit it. Hit it. Right. Play something. Who's that for? It's Michael Jackson there. Yeah, Mike Wonstat. Mike Wonstat. Yeah, Mike Wonstat. Would you cab it? Or would you tell the truth? Oh, you were cabbing. I made up a different artist every single time they came in that room. I made up a gigantic artist. Like, yeah, that's for them. Wouldn't you just do that? She's here. She's just here. You missed her. Yeah. And you go, for real, for real. Like, yeah. I mean, unless you get to check tomorrow, I see what I can do. But you know, turn that up some. Turn it up. Get them hooked. Play it on the bigs. Yep. Get them hooked. It was just all fun and games after that. Yeah. You already know. You got to get it. Have you left Groove Theory at this point? Like, officially? No. I didn't leave. But we got to. So we got our deal for the next album. And then things just went left. Because now things are changing. Amel, it's like, I want 60% of every record. I'm like, how? Like, yeah. You need to take 40. And you take 60. I'm not doing that. Then the label's like, we're going to front y'all, check for $100,000 to get started. No, you're not. This is $2 million for the next album. You're not giving us $100,000. $100,000 comes because everybody, like, come on. You got to take this money. Then it's like, well, price me. You got so much money. Give me 60 of that. And I do it. But by that time, it's just broken. Yeah. Part of the label's like, Amel, come over here. And I'm tired. And I always wanted Groove Theory to be a different feature singer on each project. Yeah. So mentally, I was on to another sound that in my head was way, way, way more dynamic than what Groove Theory was. Groove Theory was cool. It was mellow, jazzy. It was hip hop. But I want some fire shit just jumping out the speakers. So my mind was there. And Amel's mind was on, I just need to go do my own thing. And then the power struggle between me and the label, I was just like, it was vengeance time for them. I ain't go lie. It was vengeance time. It was like, they were not going to let you be more successful there with them. Well, they wanted to. But I was like, no. Like Paris Davis, they fired him. And I sat down with the president at Epic. He said, I know you got Paris a new job at Atlantic. Yeah. What'd you do? Did you change your faces video? He was like, what? You know these damn videos, bro? Exactly. That much power where you do a video for somebody and you can get another human being a job, an executive job. Yeah. So after that, it was just like, it was just my playground. And Groot, at that point, it was, I don't want to say it was too small, but it just wasn't worth the headache. Wasn't worth the headache. Y'all played me. And it's like, now there's no one in front of me. There's no one that can say no and stop my motion. Because I'm the motion. People want me to do their music, or their video, whatever. But that, don't leave that out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that was the pivot. That was the new life. And the main focus was now you are a mercenary, in a sense. You are a hired gun to go get these records. Exactly. And at that stage of the music business, it was a lot of money to be made. And it was a super producer era. Yes. So it was like five of us. Yeah. So once you get that super producer under your name, it's like, now Niggas was getting paid. Yeah. Yeah, it was getting paid. Yeah. It was a different one. Did you have in your mind, though, that you were going to do another group or do another artist project? Was that a part of your focus then, too? Yeah. That was part of my focus. I actually ended up doing one. I did another album with a girl named Kata Davis that was from Devante's camp. Because remember Missy, Timble, and Genoa, all of them were from Devante. Yeah. Right, Hank is the main. The basement. Yeah, exactly. Barry came and took all and put them over in Black Round. And I found this young girl that was from that camp that was just insanely talented. And I did a project with her that was just an extremely undeniable, crazy album. And I did this album, and we got into politics with it. She wrote Best of Me, the remix, for My and Jay. For My. She wrote that. And we were having problems with Epic. And I texted Puff and Steve Stout. And I said, Makeda's free agent, good luck, Niggas. I got a call in two minutes from Tone, from Trackmaster. He was like, Steve wants it in the scope. I did the album over there. Then Steve left. But this is not a group, though. No, this is a Groove Theory album. Oh, this is Groove Theory? OK, OK. Yeah. I had the second album at Epic. Epic was acting weird about Black music. Got off of there and then got to deal with Steve Stout in the scope. Did that album, Steve Left, and started going into the marketing world. I'm dealing with this album. I take that album off. I got both labels and took my masters. It was not in my deal. I just took it because nobody stopped me. Yeah. So I took all the masters. And then Chill from Chicago? Yes. Chill. Lupe's guy. Lupe's guy. Yes. Chill was best friends with Jay at the time. And he calls me up. He's like, yo, you trust me? I'm like, yeah, this is five years later. I'm like, yeah, what's up? He's like, come to New York. Come to New York. Jay's there. Beyoncé is there. We play the album. And they just sitting there like, yo, what the fuck is this? I don't know. Jay's like, bro, you wasting yourself. You stop? I'm like, yeah. I stopped making music. I just got turned off from all of the personal demands of giving everybody my money, all that. And he said, yo, we'll be back. He took the CD. They called back two hours later. They said, yo, we want six records. I was like, real? And this stuff is five years old at this point? You said? Five years old. Five years old. It took six records. Jay called the next week. He says, yo, we at the Rose Bowl. I played his records for Janny. Janny wants this sorry record. Can we get that? Sorry records, huh? Four for Beyoncé? Yeah. All right, let's do it. And Janny got a record. All of these records were just all five years old from the Makeda project. Yeah. Yeah, so Track Masters loved it. We did the first single that we had. They did a remix because they had that R. Kelly moment. Yes. The best of both worlds and all that. So they did a remix with Maya and Jagged Edge. Everybody wanted a piece of this record. So I basically just sold the record out. Just pieced them out. Yeah. Amy Marie Beyoncé, a bunch of people. Beyoncé ended up only taking two because her father had already paid Scott Storch. But yeah, between Chill, me, and Jay, we just gave them records to everybody. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, it was a crazy, crazy album, no. Crazy album. Like that, yeah. Makeda was exactly what I was looking for. It was way more dynamic. It was like, we did a showcase and she's singing a natural born killer. Janny and Ice Cube. Yeah, like she was a rock star. She was different. Super hood, super rock stars, everything. Yeah. Then you turned into an actor. Yeah. Then I wanted to be that guy. Yeah. What made you say that to yourself? Like, all right, you know what? I'm going to try this acting thing. I got tired. Was it because of the videos? No, it was because of the group theory situation. I didn't like being held hostage by an artist. I didn't like that. So I said to myself, if I can get used to the camera, I could probably do this acting shit. In the midst of this, Tracy Edmonds had called me to do soul food when they were doing the series. Yeah. And she was like, why you should just got to trust me? I fly out here. The dumbest audition you could ever see, was done by me. I'm literally like this. And he said he's going to the store. I'll be right back. I can see it was so bad. Like, it was unbelievably terrible. It was just really bad. So I did that. And then that killed. I was like, I don't want to do this acting shit. And then there was an opportunity for Vibe Magazine was doing a TV show. Quote, We Can Vibe. And I got on a plane in LA. And my lawyer at the time said, yeah, they doing this thing. And I was like, if I host this show, then I could get used to the camera. And then I could act. So I land in LA. And they're like, auditions are tomorrow in New York. Of course. I'm like, all right, well, I'm in LA. So I'm cool. And I sit myself. And I'm like, don't be a little bitch. It's dumb. I literally turn around, fly back to New York. And I'm like, you just go be who you are. Ghetto, if it's whatever it is, that's what you go do. I saw a bunch of people in audition. And they're like, oh, hey, I'm cool. Let them. And I'm hearing these people go. And they just sounded just so scripted. Yeah, scripted and corny. I just go in there. And I'm like, I read it. And they're sitting there. And they're like, whoa, introduce this. It was like some artist. Yeah. So I just freestyle it. This artist comes from, I mean, the music business. This artist comes from song. So there's a guy who was discovered by songs of Duelat. And they're like, you got the job. So I did that job. On the spot. Yeah. I did that. And then I went on into acting from that. Yeah. I couldn't just jump into acting. Right, right, right, right. That first attempt was, yeah. But you were preparing yourself. Yeah, I was preparing myself. For sure. You got a legendary scene. A legendary scene. I don't, you know, me and you ain't talked about this, but I'm gonna bring it up in Beauty Shop. A legendary scene where I want to say, you might be the first brother to introduce the man back. That is now very popular in our community. Absolutely. Now I think it's like, yeah, I keep 100,000 in here. I might got a million dollars in this bag. I might have a pistol in here. But you was in the shop with a man back. It wasn't very acceptable at that time. It was not. And I felt crazy. Can you take me back to that scene, please? And how that was introduced to you. Like, OK, so this scene, you're gonna walk in. Yeah, it was just weird. They were like, yo, your character's not gay, but they don't know. I was like, they don't know? But am I? No, no, no, you're not. But they don't know. OK. And they just started popping shit out a little sec. And I'm like, what do you mean? Like, I'm in wardrobe. Like, all right, cool. I'm ready to go. I got on baggy bag. I got on Tim's. Yeah, corn rolls. Yeah, corn rolls. And like, oh, yeah, one other thing. And they put it around me. I'm like, you can't be serious. They're like, it's the roll. Like, yeah, this is what you got. So yeah. So this wasn't in the script that you had read, though. OK, this is what you introducing. No, because I didn't read. There was a part where they talked about it. And I didn't read that part yet. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't read that part yet. I didn't read that part yet until the day before. And I didn't even notice it. I didn't notice anything until they put it on me. And I just felt crazy with Tim's on and a purse. Yeah, it was crazy. Because going back to, obviously, like going back to your Manitronics days, you had been around the world. Had you seen that already? Because obviously, that's something that came from overseas. That's not like an American thing. I saw Haitian Jack was the first person. He used to carry a little thing in a little bag. It wasn't a strap bag. But he used to always carry that. And I used to always look at that like, oh, that's interesting. Always had a man bag. Yeah, but it's Jack. You ain't go questioning. Right, right, right. You know, he's definitely not questioning nothing. Yeah, he's gangster. Yeah. And he ain't holding the wallet in there. So that was the first time that I saw it. But yeah, I never saw it in the shit with the strap on it. That was just cross body. Yeah, cross body. Yeah. No, bro, you're the first. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You're in urban history, bro. Like, you're the first one. That scene is very legendary, bro. How was that movie for you? It was good. Did you know a lot of the cast are ready or? Nope. I only knew Latifa, though. New Latifa and Billy. Me and Billy got a history. The same thing with the Tony video. I didn't want to do it. And he was like, well, you got to do it. And I was like, nah, I don't. J and DMX were getting hot. I was like, yo, this is dude J, my man from Brooklyn. And so I do DMX. Tony was like, I don't care about that. So Billy was like, you got to do it. I did it. And then it worked out. So Beauty Shop happened. I did another movie called Hair Show with Monique. And he called me and I was like, bro, I did this other thing. And he was like, bro. And I was like, you want me to just shut the fuck up and trust you again? He's like, can you just do that? Can you just shut up and just show up? I just went to audition and got it. Wow. And he was the director of it. So it was like, just do good enough. And I'll figure it out for you. Yep. Yep. Wow, bro. Yeah. Yeah. And then you became a real actor. A real actor after that. Yeah. And then I quit that. I didn't have a next guy to be like, I want to be him. I just was like, I don't have. I think I was like 32. I was like, I don't have the stomach to get 10 years of no before they tell me yes. Yeah. I did that. I did the 100 auditions where I only booked three out of 100. You did. Yeah, I did all that. You did the whole round. I did that. I went to film school. I did all of that. But that's when the music mind came in. Because the music, it could be me, you, an engineer. And it could change our life. Right. Film, you need 30 people crew, 60 people crew. Yeah. It's no making a movie without all of those things. Without all the moving parts. Yeah. So you're like, all right. I was like, I had the heart for this in music. I don't have the heart for this for acting. I just didn't. In my 30s, I was like, I don't have the heart for this. You walk away from acting. You don't want to deal with the back and forth of the rejection. And people don't realize that. You audition all those times to maybe get one role. Yeah. And you go out. What's something, OK, before you do that, though, what's a role that you auditioned for that maybe became something like really dope? And you're like, fuck, I could have been. I don't know. Was there any big movies or anything that you auditioned for? American Gangster auditioned for, which I definitely wanted to role in that. You was going to be Denzelney? No, no. No. I wish. You Frank Lucas? But I think I was supposed to be like his nephew or one of the brothers or something. And it was the hype around it before they shot. Oh, the hype around American Gangster was very high. Yeah, the buzz around Hollywood for that was really high. So that was a role that I really wanted. It's just a lot ups and downs. I remember I got so cocky. I went to this audition. And I was like, I'm going to go kill it. And I flopped so bad, the cast agent was like, where did you come from again? Because she heard so much hype about me. I was like, yeah, I know. She was like, yeah, OK. Get out of here. And she was like, where did you come from again? Yeah, because she heard a whole bunch of hype. And he just got this role, this role. Yeah, and I went in there. And I literally was on the plane reading these lines. Like, I'm going to go murder this. Who else is going for this? I'm killing all of them. So what happened? You just forgot this shit once you got in there? I just flopped. I don't know what happened, but I flopped bad. I was just like, door. All right, cool. Say no more. As you know when you fucked up. Yeah, you know you fucked up. All right, acting's now in a rear view. Yep. Do you go back to producing? Do you like, what's the? No, I just chilled out. I bought a seven bedroom in Hollywood Hills. I was just chilling. Why did you buy a seven bedroom? Why did you need seven bedrooms, Bryce? The house was a good deal. Seriously, seriously, the house was a good deal. We always tell ourselves, it was a good deal. Something wild. Yeah. I bought this one car. And I remember it had this button on the side that made all my doors open. I was like, wait, so it's how much more? So it's 30,000 more for the doors, for the tech store? Yeah. Stupid as hell, man. Yeah. I bought that house. This one was a house. Yeah. I bought that house. I was chilling in LA. Then I bought a condo in Miami. And I had another place in New York. And I just went every two weeks from each place to each place. And I was in real estate at the time. OK. Because I'm invested in two hotel restaurant groups. So my plan after all of this, I was like, I'll just do clubs and hotel stuff like that. And I had all this property everywhere. And the market started shifting. And then it was education time. That crash that happened. That perception that happened. So every dime I had was in real estate. So I went from having four cribs to an LA, Miami, New York, to ending up in Atlanta. Back to Atlanta. Wondering if I could pay the rent. Shit. Yeah. I felt so hard. The thing, the fall was obviously bad, but it wasn't really the fall. It was the fact that I had no options. You know what I'm saying? I had really good friends in this business, LA, Sylvia, Craig Kalman. But the people under them, I was an asshole to them. Because they were assholes. I didn't like record people. OK. I didn't like that whole he's hot now. So give me a record that sounds like that. I just didn't respect any of that. You know? So when I went broke, there was no coming back to my old job. There was no because at this point now the executives. You didn't have those relationships. Yeah. And they're the star now. You know what I mean? They want to be the star. Everybody now want to be like Puff. So it wasn't about the music anymore after that. It was about give me something that sounds like what's number one in the chart now. So I just sat in Atlanta like, damn, I'm really broke. Like, should I get a job? Like, where does this go? I just really didn't know. And my royalties never came for any of my songs. Why? Just never came. 50 million records. I mean, I made about $540 million for the labels. Never got my cut. Like, when you got money, you just be sitting like, I guess it's coming. Yeah. Yeah. Never came. So I sat there in Atlanta. And this whole culture was shifting. And this new culture was emerging with indie bands and EDM DJs. So that was my pivot. After that, I started, I met a guy named Junior Sanchez, one of my really good friends. And Junior's a house DJ, one of the best producers I've ever met. And just has great relationships everywhere. And the huge audience, like, he's a legend in that world. And I used to make these pitch decks. And I would call Sylvia and LA. And I'd say, hey, this EDM thing is like, we need to get in on this shit. Because this ain't our culture. They took our house music and made it into something else. And I wasn't really getting anywhere with it. And it was weird. I would put Swedish House Mafia in my pitch decks, right? Because they were the case study for the genre, right? Yeah. And I called LA. And LA was like, I don't know nothing about this stuff. But I know it's huge. I want to do the meeting. So I was hooking up a meeting between LA Reed and Steve Angelo, who Junior introduced me to. So Steve Angelo was one of the members of Swedish House Mafia. And LA was doing their TV show at the time, American Idol, or one of them. And they kept pushing it back. So by the fourth time they pushed it back, I said, listen, tell LA we're not going to do the meeting. But just let him know, when he brought my man, J, in that building, J sold out the garden in 24 hours. These guys sold out in four minutes. Shit. And they were like, for real? I was like, yeah. Swedish House Mafia sold that shit out in four minutes. So I left it alone. And it was an interesting thing. So Swedish House Mafia became the biggest band in the world at one time. And then they just woke up one day and was like, what are we doing? Let's just stop this shit. And then he announced one last tour. Swedish House Mafia is over doing one last tour. So in one last tour, I went to the last show in Miami. Me, Junior, Maxwell was there. I met Steve Angelo. And then I moved on with Steve, worked for his company, ran a management company, and then I became his co-manager. So now I'm in the EDM world and the private jets and the arrangements. They live a whole different life. Different games. And it's a game that you have to respect because they never needed radio for it. These guys, $40 million, $70 million a year, and they never needed radio. So all the things we rely on, they didn't rely on. They just needed the internet. And that was it. $1 million a show, $2 million. These guys are playing for two hours. Make it $200,000, a million. There's nothing, though. Yeah. Yeah, it was. So that was where I pivoted to. I pivoted into that world because I just couldn't get no hate from there. Nobody can shoot at you in the dark. And you're a new guy in that space. I'm a new guy in there. Nobody knew. But who's also tenured, right? Exactly. You're new to the space. But when they run your resume, they're like, oh, and he did. And he did. And he, oh, yes, he's supposed to be here. And I had friends in Sweden that these guys grew up under. They were my friends from Matronik. You know what I mean? So it was all like a full circle moment. I was the black tea guy every day. That was my uniform, black tea for these guys. If you came to a show, if you were a barber, a banker, whatever you were, you go wear black tea to that show. Like you had to dress like the Swedes. And I was already dressing like the Swedes. And this was perfect. And it taught me, I did it because I wanted to really understand how the business of that world works. How you can become such a big success without the machines that we rely on. And they, you know. What label were they on? They were on EMI. They were on EMI. Now they're on Def Jam. But Steve, when they disbanded, Steve was on no label. He was on his own label. But it was interesting. Steve had, I ran the management company. We had a creative agency, like a full-on creative agency. And we literally were a full 360 within this building. Like he just got this gigantic office and we were full 360. So when he had an album coming, an album release or a single release, the amount of creativity and intelligence that went into it was just like mind blowing. Mind blowing. And was this technically your first job in a sense? As an adult, yeah. As an adult, yeah. Yep. My first job. It was six grand a month. Number one, at that time I was like, I'll take this. Yeah. And number two, I was just getting a front row seat to something that was just exploding all over the world. You know, that was completely different than the world we came from. But bigger in a sense. Yeah. You know, much, much bigger in a sense. Yeah, it was a great education. Did you stay in that world as far as like taking on other artists in that space? No, I stayed in that world for a while. And what happened was Steve's best friend and business partner, they had a bit of a falling out and then me and him got cool. And then we started being business partners. And then we just went into all different kinds of businesses after that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But that was a moment. That whole EDM thing was definitely, that was to me, that's being an artist, I think it's cool being a producer's cool. I think that's the coolest job on the planet. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you make your music and these people pay for you to come and play your music. And play your music. Yeah. It's that simple. Yeah. You get on a private jet, you do a couple of edits on a laptop and you walk in literally with a USB and plug that into the damn CDJs. And it runs for two hours. Yeah. And they got some little, what's some little things to be going off to? Yeah. The pyro, Tyra Techs, all that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's huge. It's a different world. It's definitely a different world. And as producers, one thing I did get out of it on the music side, on the creative side was, we taught myself how to produce. So I produce like them. Because technically we cannot touch. DJs are the best producers on the planet. Absolutely. By far. Yeah. By far. Cheat code. Yeah. By far. Because they're doing all of this in a box. Right. You know, vocals, engineering, they're mixing as they're making the music. It's just such a completely different skill set. You know, I've sat with producers and played them records and said, how would you recreate it? And they think they can until they actually try. And they just don't understand how intricate it is. Yeah. It's a serious game as far as production. Yeah. So that was, that gave me a new spark as far as a producer. Yeah. Where whenever I do decide to go in the studio, my angle and my entrance into it is completely different than the old me. Yeah. Way, way, way different. So what's next? Content. OK. Content. The one thing I did when my money was messed up was, I just sat in the house doing nothing for so long that I said I need, like I need some kind of structure in order to get back into the world. And when I was younger, I had boxed twice in my life. I did karate when I was really young. My karate teacher then actually lived on my block as well. And he was one of the other people, Peter Molino, he was one of the other people that I have a couple of people that saved my life. Right. He was one of them. So I was always into fighting. And there was this, you know, from a teenager, I was watching UFC from UFC one. And this whole Brazilian Jiu Jitsu movement came and it got to the point where I was like, number one, I want structure in my life. I need to start something to structure. I'm just feeling worthless. And number two, I'm OK with my hands. But if I ever come across somebody who knows this, I don't want to. I don't want to be in that kind of deep water. Yeah. It's different getting knocked out than someone slowly breaking your arm or your knee or choking your ankle. That's a completely different. Yeah. It's like death. That's something different. Yeah. You're looking death in the eye. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yes. So I really, that was my motivation. I was like, let me just do this. I started like 44, 45 years old, which was crazy. Like I'd be in there and they'd be like, we talk on the mass. Like 45, bro. This bro is he's 40. You know, he's fucking old, bro. Shit is 45 years old as a white belt is is is traumatizing. It's exciting, but it's it takes a lot of heart. You know, it takes a lot of and you and you get you get your ass beat every single day. It takes you six to eight months for your mind to reconfigure to understand what's going on. And for those six to eight months, you're getting murdered. Like you're getting murdered. You can't beat up nobody in the gym. Yeah. Right. Anybody at all. You know, this guy's got knuck knees and pigeon toe. You're like, he can't and he's killing you. And it's just a discovery. You know, it's just a discovery of a different level of information. You know, so I did that. I did that for five days a week for eight years straight. Eight years straight. I did that five days a week. Five days a week. I just shut my mouth up. You mean my partner has something going on? I'd make it to the meetings and everything, but everybody knew 12, 15, two o'clock. He's going to be training. Did that for eight years. I'm on my 11th, 12th year now. And about a year ago, a light bulb went off because I'm like I'm like I'm like a cultural snob. I think you are too. Like as like the level of music we did, like we're elitist. You know what I'm saying? But it's not like we're haters. We just want to show the world our version. You know what I mean? So about two years ago, I had this idea and I was talking to I was talking to this girl. I was actually my partner in the podcast and she said, well, you want to address theatrical and perform in the masculinity. And I was like, that's what the fuck I want to dress. Yes, that. So I wanted I'm doing a bunch of content stuff that are introducing combat culture, combat sports culture into our culture and also just confronting a lot of the crap in our culture. A lot of the tough guy shit that we do and all of that. I really want to address a lot of that full on because I just think that it's it's we're so lopsided in that sense that it's just dumb. You know, like we were here when the culture was not about that. You know, so I want to kind of kind of add a counter conversation and a counter balance to it, besides the fact is that it's the fastest grown sport in the world. Right. You know, not people are crazy about it. Yeah, they're crazy about it. You know, it's I mean, it's the last gladiator sport, honestly. Yeah. I mean, it's this goes back into the olden days. Exactly. And it changes lives. Yeah. It really I mean, for me, at that point when I had no money, no hope, no nothing, that was the thing that that came through for me. That's what my camaraderie went through. And I mean, and I've shared the map with like, like real gangsters, like Navy Seals, like Delta Force, like real like people that really get up and do gangster shit every day, whether they want to or not, because the president said, go do this. You know what I mean? So that that alone, just that world, I think that I think we are behind in. You know, there's a couple of things that technology stuff like that that we're behind in. Yeah, within our culture. Yeah. That we need to we need certain beacons to kind of catch us up on that stuff. You know, and I think that white people are doing MMA like black people did basketball. Right. Like it's serious out there. Yeah. You know, it's it's really, really serious. So that's yeah, that's the new mission just to really do that. I got one more belt left and I might stop after that. I don't even know. But you know, it's something that you could do till you know, till you die. You know, I see people at 70, 80 years old doing it. You know, so that's that's where my passion is now. I'm slowly going back into the studio. I just did this song with Storms and Tyler. Yeah, yeah. That was interesting. But I just did that. I'm doing Lupe Fiasco doing some stuff. We want to kind of bring him back to the radio spot now. So yeah, so it's cool. I like now I like I like doing music now. I don't need it to survive. You know, it just feels better. Yeah. You know, to not. That rat race is different. Yeah, it's way different. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's a young man sport. To me, it is, you know, it's a young man sport to do, you know, the placements and all that stuff. I don't got the energy for that. Did you ever think of like being on the label side or doing anything in that capacity? No. I mean, I've thought about it at times, but I don't think I would ever get that position. But I don't know how long I would last in that. Because I don't like for me, I like I only want to be involved with something that pushes the culture forward. I can't just sit still and just keep repeating. Yeah. You know, what's been done. Right. You're not an analytics. Yeah. I don't think that's I don't think that's a fun job. You know, like we when we came into this, it was all about everybody having identity and everybody adding something, you know, and that whatever that addition was, pushed the ship forward. Right. And now is I don't really see that desire with, you know, within the labels or any of that stuff is I just think we're in a weird spot. So yeah, I think with the combat sports, that's something that my heart is in. I think that that's something that we're falling so far behind. And I don't mind trying to help that. Right. Push that to the floor. Yeah. No, I'm bro, this is is dope. And I, you know, I'm always I'm always very supportive and happy when when I speak to my peers and my people, I consider family. And they're like, yo, I found something else that I really enjoy. Right. It doesn't have to be the norm of what, you know, is everyone is doing or everyone is chasing. Yeah. You find what you like to do. Yeah. And you know, I mean, like even for me, you know, it's funny, like when people are they're like, I didn't know the podcast nigga could sing. Yeah, it's interesting, right? I'm like, yeah, yeah, actually I kind of came from that. Exactly. And I'm known for this now. And yeah, but I'm a I'm appreciative of it because I really enjoy this space. I really enjoyed a multimedia space and a content space and giving something different for me personally. You've been a star. Thank you. Your life. So a star is a star. You know, if you was on fries, you're still a star. You know, you're just like that. You know, it's like it's hot. Yeah, exactly. It's a star. Yeah. Put a little salt on that thing. Yeah, he sent him out there. A star is a star. You always been a star. You know, it's funny with you because you always been a star. You're Joe's low-key, but a gangster. No, I'm in a bit of a family of that. Nobody knows that though. But they started. Yes, it's getting out more. He got a history. I got it. I got to interview you because he got a history, history, like the pretty boy thing is the afterthought. That's just, you know, that's what God gave him. That is what it is. But, you know, you just always been a solid dude. Man, I always. That's I've always been intentional about about that, man, about, you know, I show. I always want to show up for my people. I want my word to be my word. Yeah. And, you know, I feel like it's it's just a me through this through this business that isn't always as people would say, isn't always real. Yeah. Yeah. I found the real spaces in it for me. Yeah. And I found the people who I consider real. And I try to stay as locked in with them as I can. You know, even if it's, you know, we may not talk for, you know, whatever amount of time. But when we do, it's always the same type of love and respect. Yeah. And I don't care what, you know, quote, unquote, business I'm supposed to be in. I'm going to operate that way. Yeah. I don't get it. That's why it's working for you. Yeah. That's why it's working for you. You your relationships are from when you were young and yeah, it's it's just paying off now. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? But this is this is the vibration you set as a very young man and you're just walking into your own vibration that you set. That's all it is. Yeah, man. You know what I'm saying? And it's great. Now, I'm enjoying myself, bro. Like I am. I really am. And I, you know, I want to I want to put this light on people that I know, not even that I think that I know deserve, you know, to have this light. And it's been it's been a hell of a ride for me, man, and experience that I'm super thankful for. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, I'm super thankful to the people who tune in and are interested. Yeah. And who I think and we think should sit down and have these conversations. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because, bro, so many of us that have been a part of this thing that sometimes don't always get the opportunity to have that light shine on them. Mm hmm. Yeah. And for me, man, it's something I want to be a part of. No, absolutely. And having a place where people that you've known for a long time that really, really mess with you to have them tell their stories is like, that's gold. Yeah. That's gold. Yeah. Yeah. Now, this is really a lot of these are me catching up with my friends. And that's that's really it, man. We talked about this before we we start filming it, you know, 90, probably 90 to 95 percent of the guests on this show are really my personal friends. Yeah, exactly. Up until this point, you know, like, and that's and in some people who've come after we met through this have become exactly my friends. You know what I mean? And people that I really, really enjoy and have great relationships with now from this show. Yeah. So now, bro, this is this is a really cool thing, man. And I'm man, I'm man, I'm happy as you pulled up on me, bro. Like, I'm happy to be here. This is this is super cool. But let's let's let's get into some of this music thing, man. Let's let's, you know, get into this, get into this music that tanks sent over, man. Come on, let's play you something real quick. We got it. We got to see your thoughts on stuff. Yeah. Yeah.哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎 From you. Ain't no joke. Oh, wow. Okay. Niggas, I've got no sense, man. No sense at all. You're the craziest hill, man. No sense at all. No, before we get into this, though, did you produce the record that he was in the video for? No, man. I forgot about that. I forgot about that. Yeah, because I thought y'all had that. Yeah. Why I played the dud, and he played the stud. Yes, I forgot all about that. Take a video, bro. That damn Jimmy, I'll tell you, boy. That was another one I stepped into. I didn't quite know what the hell was going on until I got in there. I was like, oh, I'm the dud? I'm the one knocking on the door and she don't answer. And she in there with Tank with the muscles? He said, oh, shit. Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, I just thought I'd bring that up. Yeah. We all together, bro. We all been there. We all been there, man. So, yeah, let's get into the music, man. Top five R&B singers. Male and female? Whatever. Top five for you? R. Kelly. Kale. K. C. Mm-hmm. Dead or alive? Old or young? Whatever come to your mind, brother. Donny Hathaway for sure. I got to go a little left. Bob. Bob Marley. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. I love Bob Marley, bro. Yeah. The world is still catching up to his message. Yes. So, gotta be him. I'm trying to go with people that were like really like, like slap me in the face, artists. I gotta say KC. But you say KC. Yeah. I did? Yeah, you say KC. Because you say Kale's first and then you say KC. Kale's KC. Bob. Donny Hathaway. Donny Hathaway. Bob Marley. What do you got? Sonanda Maitreya. Mm-hmm. Know what that is? I don't. That's Terrence Trent Darby. Is that his? Yes. Phew. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That's the name he changed or that's his real name? That's the new name he's got. He's had about what, 20 or 15, 20 years? Yeah. Oh man. That dude there? It's incredible. It's incredible. James Brown, he's everybody. Yeah. He's, yeah, I would say him. Yeah. Yeah, he's nice. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Top five R&B songs. Anything off of Diary of a Mad Band. Okay. All right, all right, okay. What was that Tony record? Love Should Have Brought You Home. Yeah. Love that. Yeah. Anything by Guy. Nothing, you were studying it for it. Yeah. Anything. That, that Tony Riley just poof. He had a goodbye record by Guy. That one. I don't want to leave you. Yeah. Yeah. Phew baby. Yeah. That one there. For all we know, Donny Hathaway. The most patient record. Yes. It's very hard to recreate that art, to even sing it with him because of the timing. Yeah. And the pocket that he has on that song. Yeah. Is insane. Yeah. Yeah. Daffy for all we know. And Sonandre Maetreya, he's got a song called If You Go Before Me. I like death songs for some reason. Yeah. I mean, think about when we were younger, those were the songs. I'll die for you. Yeah. I like them kind of songs. I like the I will die for you. That's real emotion. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I like take it to the grave songs. So, yeah, if you go before me to Sonandre Maetreya, that one, yeah. I like take it to the grave songs. Yeah. Yeah. We go throw prints, I will die for you and then like, is it? That's one? Yeah. That's one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like them joints. All of them. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right.哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎 Well, people watch the show know that babyface is like top top for me. So yeah, I'm gonna say baby. Okay, so babyface the singer Mm-hmm Performance performance style who's gonna who gonna kill the stage? Kelly Man listen, okay Kelly had a me show live show so crazy crazy Anti-actical yes Yes, all of it. Obviously, you know just hits after hits after hits. Yeah, like it's yeah he's got those presents and the way they support his shows together with the Costume everything. Yeah. Oh, yeah, he not like stage plays. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Okay styling. We're gonna put the fly shit on Who's a fly artist to you? damn it, I Left him out in the old list Joe But I'm not gonna say him for style. Okay, but he's on he's your vocalist vocalist. Hell. Yeah, five R.B. Singers Yes, yes for sure no argument style I'll go with R. Kelly which version no like to talk about like with the Little mask No, no, no, no, no, no, no Like cool not the not the baggy suit Like the like the black leather blazer. Yeah, what about the mink though when he when he had the mink on on the cover That's all yeah, yeah, if it fits that song, okay? Yeah, okay? So so so Kale's get he gonna get the he get to Performance style and the style and yeah, and look okay, but but not the mask Absolutely not okay cool not the mask of the T since none of them Who who has the passion like who gonna make you feel it who you who you think would die for this shit I Mean get home and be pissed cuz the real ass is gonna come That's how it goes. You know, you you was supposed to prepare you didn't but it's okay. You my brother. I know I tried I did try I did try that's not that's the one I skipped I On yeah The vote trying like that fuck that's overwhelming Passion, you know what I'm gonna go super level passion I'm gonna go so I'm gonna go super left you gonna look at me crazy. Okay, Gerald avert No, I'm not okay. No, I'm not he's the roll on the floor. Yeah, come on bro. This is me dog lived it lived it lived it lived it legend of legends. Yes Yeah, come from it. Yes. That's Eddie son. Yes. That's Eddie son Lose five pounds on that stage Gerald was not not playing not playing Yeah, and I'm not big as he and as big as he got in his career. He still had the same passion Yeah, yeah, if you talk to tank tank will tell you that it was Gerald avert who told him. Yep No, no, no, no young fella You got to give your all. Yeah Yeah, give it all your all. Yeah, yeah, he checked me a couple times call me Hollywood I was like, I would call me Hollywood But I said it was like is he right? Yeah, you know joke you got Hollywood on Joe. No, no But he but he but I felt it though. Yeah, you know say I felt it though Gerald had the presence that he was 20 years older than you when he wasn't so he just had that that father presence. No, right, right? Yeah Yeah, all right, and then for you Who's gonna produce this artist I got that are you producing it? No? Absolutely not I got it. I got it and it's not Kells Who does babyface look up to Jimmy Jammu take Lewis no Oh, yeah, so you gonna have L produce it absolutely nobody knows what to do with them, but L L the barge 1000% Wow, that is the genius right there. I do the barges Eldridge, yeah creatively spiritually and just gift wise. Yeah gift wise. He's he's yeah Yeah, no to this day to this day. He's so different. Yeah, he's different. I watched L we had um Him and tank did a did a show together in Vegas a few years back and and I had some family members there with us and We watched in all In all I want to say it might have been for might have been for something that D nice had it might have been Okay, it might have been one of the club quarantine shows or something and we were just like this Yeah Nah Yeah, he ain't it. Nah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey this goes still yeah to this day Effortless just cold like he's easy and you know, you got on the piano. Yeah, you know he played. Yeah He's like come on bro. You are the cheat code. You know, he he's his bop is this way? Yeah, everything is here Exactly. Everything is he got the timeless. Yeah, it's like he got a time Yeah, it feels good to me. Yeah, and in conversation. He'll drop something spiritual on you. They're just Like fuck your whole life up. Yeah, like he'll just like He's he's deep. I'm still I'm still trying to get out of pull up L. You told me. Yeah, he needs to you were gonna pull up L Randomly will text me. Oh really at one in the morning. Oh when we setting up Really Whenever you want it. I'm gonna hit it like I ain't got one in Texas in a minute, but like I'm like, bro, whenever you want to pull up I don't get him on here. You have whatever you want to pull up. Oh gee. I got you Yeah, but yeah, oh What episode are you on man? I don't know 70,000 Please Yeah, he's that dude right there. He's he's he's he's alien. Yeah. Yeah, he's he's something else. That's a covo trying bro Yeah, all right. We got something else for you man before you know before you get out of here What you did don't say Yeah, so we didn't come to a very important part of show brother, okay Will you tell us a story? Mm-hmm funny or fucked up. Mm-hmm or funny and fucked up Okay, the only rule to the game. Mm-hmm. Mr. Bryce Wilson. You can't say no. No, I got one. Oh Okay, I got one. All right. Okay, so I'm in New York and I drop off at Forgot the name but aim studio back. You said names brother. Oh, okay. That's The other homie studio right they say you coming up like no In the car have an artist with me And it's kind of like weird energy So I'm just lean on my window outside listen to music music soul child listen to a Neal soul singer I'm listening to right and I'm like, you know, I just bop my head in my own world and I'm getting tired of the energy So I'm like yo when we take you your hotel the artist is Yeah, yeah, that's good. Okay. I don't know there's an attitude 10. I don't know. Mm-hmm. I just ain't got time for right now It's drizzling York City is dark outside Strangest thing happens I get to the block I make a left turn and I hear Real light Now look at my doors cracked and my car is empty I Don't know I Don't know but Batman was in my car Can't say no names, but When I turn that corner, I heard the wind this person just hopped out hopped out in the rain in the drizzle While I was moving You hadn't stopped I didn't stop so stop dropping rope I don't know the fucking roll. It was a cable. I have no idea It was a cable. I don't know you're driving the bus thing, but I heard I heard the wind What I made the turn I heard the wind I looked My passion seat was empty and my door was cracked and I leaned out and I closed the door Went around like five blocks about five times. Is you trying to find them? Yeah Yeah, I looked on this side of street went around and looked on this side winter street And then I and then I gave up but that was a feat That was a feat that to this day. I have no idea how that happened But yeah, just like did you ever speak to said artists again? Yeah, but never never talked, but they were okay. Oh, they were fine They were fine. They were fine. They made today hotel and everything it was it was yeah It was just weird felt a little first 48 ish man. Yeah. Yeah, it was weird Yeah, and so you've never talked to this artist about that never it was too strange I don't even know how to like this is weird Yeah, fly that's the next time you see me. So, you know that time you flew out my car Yeah, it was it was a Batman move. I just heard a little bit of wind A little bit of wind cause empty yep, am I two homeboys that dropped off did not believe me and I'm like I'm telling you I made a turn is all I did and Gone Wow. Yeah Okay Cuz we're gonna we're gonna bleep the names you said but um This is the that's a wild story. Yeah, that's a that's a what the fuck. Yeah, that was a what the fuck was that? Yeah, yeah Yeah Yeah, I have no idea how the exited the vehicle I didn't even hit I didn't even hear the feet hit the ground. That's what was great Like I didn't hear the feet hit the guy heard nothing at all was when I just heard wind That was it and they were gone by that time gone Yeah, that's why I'm yeah, that's why I don't know what part of the turn escape was I have no idea the escape. Yeah No idea They was they didn't want to ride with you no more brother. No, they didn't I was in there. I was I was dropping them off. It was like, you know, yeah, yeah Nah, sick of this shit. Yeah, it was like, I'm good Okay, good move Wow, bro. Well played. Yeah. Hey, man Thank you again, bro. Thanks for having me brother. This is this has been incredible for me, man I mean to my brother for real man. Yeah, I'm Jay Valentine This price Wilson and this is the army money podcast. I see y'all next week This is an I heart podcast guaranteed human