Philip Lawrence

This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. R&B Money! R&B Money! R&B! We are... Tank! Take Valetade. We are... The authorities. On all things R&B. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tank. I'm Jay Valentine. This... The authorities. On all things R&B. We got to hear it today. There are songs. And then... There are never one. There are hit songs. But there's another level. And then there's smash songs. There's Renee's. Life-changing. life changing. Yeah, altering, um, um, melody, lyric and composition like that word. That completely turns the world upside down. Uh, Ricky Bobby said, if you're not first, you're last. What are you? Huh? And my brother here, um, make sure, um, that he's not last. My, my, my billet in my bosom. He, yeah, uh, is led by the spirit of, uh, top of the chart. Yeah, they knew and debuting. Yeah. A man, when sometimes you have to grow into a space to where you're, you're creepin' in, in, and you're running, you're pulling, you're grab at a space, uh, at the height of whatever it is you're trying to achieve this man, debuts at the mountain top. Uh, I don't like them. I do. I do. Keeps doing it. Keeps winning. I want formula. And we don't get it. We're gonna sell it today. Okay, not getting we're gonna still we're gonna still we're gonna stay on the opposite of the park. Yeah, let them fill up. Oh, oh, I'm filling all over the building man, listen, man, listen, man, man, hey, that's an intro man. God, Lee. Shit, it writes itself. Man, can I take it? Maybe you wrote it. Yeah, it writes itself like, yeah, like bro. Man, it's nigger bar record plan man. You can start there. Wow, I'm just the studio that everybody loved wanted to come to LA and record that. Yeah, you wrote a nuff hits to buy the building. What, what, I never even had a scooter with a man. He played on it. Why did you? You know, I mean, yeah, that was planning. Come on. No, that's special order for you, man. Why did you do that? I was in that space. I still take one valentine all over because you know, let's get to the fuck. Why did you do that? Why did you buy? Why did you do that? I, you know, I bought it initially because something told, I feel that thing. Something told me that one day, I'm going to be on a podcast. And I'm going to get to talk about my life. I'm going to talk about the things, amen, that I've experienced. And I'm going to get to look at two brothers who I admire. Who I look up to. You know, I'm saying both musically and executively. And I'm going to say I'm going to tell the story of the record play. That's why part of it was nothing for other than this moment. Right? Yeah. Oh, man, man, you are the man of valor. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, you niggas get out of the game with the rolls. Yeah, that's me too. Everybody. Oh, man. I'm sorry. I just, it's just incredible what you've done, man. Yes. Thank you. And I think, you know, before we were all, and I say it, what you continue to do, because that's the hard part, um, consistency at a level like that. It's just, it's just hard to do. Yeah. It's just hard to do. And you've just, you've just figured it out. And, you know, songwriter, musician, singer, all of these things, you get nothing but celebratory, everything from us. Like we understand what that is. Right. Right. On a whole nother level. And I know, I know people, I know some of our people understand it. Um, but it's not normal. Yeah. Everybody don't make stadium music. No. No. Everybody don't make music that can be sang every night in Las Vegas. Right. Because people, especially in our community, right? Like people don't truly understand what that means. There is very few artists that get those resonances and get those type of opportunities and Grammys and Super Bowls and all the things that are just so unattainable. It's not promised that you've been a part of. Yeah. And that's why we wanted you here. You know, you know, you mean so that really they could put a face with the name because let's be honest. Not enough of us know who you really are. They might have seen your name in the, you know, in the credits. And I'll just keep seeing I keep seeing P. Lawrence, I feel a lot of love. Right. But they don't know you to the fact where it's like, oh no, that's him. You did. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And that's really important for us. You know what I mean? Well, I gotta say it. Thank you. It means the world to me, man. And you know, I think about the irony to what you just described and the things that I've been beyond blessed to experience and achieve and and see firsthand, exceed anything I ever dreamt of. But the irony is a lot of times these dreams and goals you have begin with the love of the craft. The accolades, the achievements, all of the things that, you know, you may think about as a kid, but as you get older and you become a professional, those things go away and you just want to survive. And you want to do your art. You want to, you know, live out this dream that you have. Right. And so when you show up to work hard, make sacrifices. Understand that every day you get a chance to do that as a gift. Somehow these things can happen for you when you are not pursuing them. When you're not trying to do it, when you're not saying one day, you know, there's one thing as a kid, you know, we all have these dreams when we're younger. You know, I'm a being, you know, on an NBA team for you, you're going to play pro, pro ball. I'm sure it's something. You know, I'm, you know, from Indiana, I want to be Michael Jackson, you know, and then you grow older and you're going to see how hard that is. And you begin to see how special that is to be in the NBA, to be in the NFL. This is, okay, this is more rarefied air than I realized. And so you're then faced with a choice. Is it worth continuing on and continually being told that you're not good enough in life, talented enough, you're not whatever enough. Or is it easier to just, let me just get a job in, in coast. And so that, that I have had many of those crossroads throughout my career. And on the other side of that harder choice is always what I believe God wants for me. I think that's for everybody. I think God wants the life for us that isn't always the most easy. And so experiencing the Super Bowl twice in these number one records twice. That's why I have to say, what is one of those one time that you went back? Yes, that was at plus one. Because that's what brother. That is what you did. What public school, your public school, public school, we don't pay for pride. You ain't going to get that for in private. Nope, you probably not. And I go to that. Absolutely. To what? To wise. And it's like, man, I don't even really remember a lot of it when it happened. Because it was just a pursuit of this craft of wanting to get better, wanting to be great, wanting to make people feel something and wanting to do what I believe I was partially put on the planet to do. And that's make people smile and joy themselves. And then the result of that is these things you talked about. A abundance. That's it. You said you want to be Michael Jackson. Yeah, I'm a man. Let's start. Let's go back in here. Was there a curl at any point? I was there. You know, he had a Jerry. Well, you know, there was a Jerry. There was several curls. Man, there were lots of curls. Guys, S. Duke, all of them. See, I'm I'm other certain age. So I said, I can say do. Yeah, you know, about the box. Yes, a lot. Show. You know, I'm saying, I know about the blue box. With the jacquard noir. Second about. There was. It was crazy, man. I have an older sister and a younger brother. And we were there were three of us. We were the lorances. But we emulated all lives after the Jackson. And we had the gloves. We had we had the different iterations of the jackets, the beaded jackets. You have to have it. Mom would sew them up, put them together. Your mom was making them too. Oh, make them made the gloves. Hold on, baby. Oh, yeah. You're a kid. Your rhinestone fell off, baby. We can't go out. Don't say, you're a rhinestone. Which rhinestone on the ground, but that's not a good look. It's not, son. Sit down. Let me put the rhinestone back on. Baby, bring me that glue. Yeah. Get the glue. That's on the top shelf. Get the glue. So I've got the glue. It's it's it's it's I imagine, you know, it's similar to, you know, kind of like what we have, you know, heard about the Jackson's. We rehearsed. And we sort of became local, you know, all that goes in Lawrence kids. Yeah. You know, singing in the talent shows and winning awards. Are you singing gospel? You're singing secular music though. We started singing gospel. Um, because I see the spirit. I see it. So I was ahead that it's there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Appreciate you guys with the presence of the Lord come on. You feel it. That's good. Say the backslide when you renew your worldly thirst. Is that backsliding? This interpretation of it. It's level. This level is the backslide. That's it. I know you know all of them. Wow. I don't be money. My he even friend. My he even friend. I didn't say he know my heart. Well, I'm friends. We just call that being out there. He jumping off the porch. He know my heart. I'm outside. Yeah. Y'all call it backslide. He made me. You know, he made the corner in my side. He put it there. He put it there. He put it there. Okay. Y'all. Yeah. Y'all kill it. So y'all have a city killer. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it was the dream. And it's funny, man. My mom told me a story that I forget one of the shows that we had done. There was someone from California that was associated with the music business that saw us and wanted to take us to Cali. For I don't think it was record deal or something. And my mom said no. She didn't tell us at the time. And how do you guys at this time? This is probably 1911ish. Oh, really? Yeah. About to get a shot. Yeah. Yeah. About to get a shot. Yeah. And she said, you know, I want my kids to have childhoods. You know, I have seen what can happen to young kids, you know, in that in that industry. And so we stayed, you know, and I haven't forgiven her for that. I haven't. I want her to I should say that now, mom. What could my life again? You know, man. Mom, those are overrated. Is that what you want to say? I mean, okay. All right. Yeah. We can get another one. I know. We can get another one. Give me the record deal. Listen. I think I'm rich enough. You can have a childhood forever. Thank you. All right. Okay. It's okay. Thank you. You seem very childlike. You seem very childlike. That's true. That's true. Maybe I'm still living it. It's not even fun. Yeah. I'm young. Let me just say, man. I am grateful. Yes. Man, to do, like you said, what you love, have it appreciated around the world. You know, get at the top of the charts, which is something that is never expected. You know, but I do just believe that, you know, when you put in the work and you forget the outcome, you know, so much in my journey through music and through life, it has taught me, you know, and usually it's through rejection. Yes. That there is no benefit to me thinking about the outcome. There is no benefit to me going in the studio and thinking, I've got to write a number one record. Yeah. Yeah. Because all that's going to do is cripple me and all that's going to do is every idea that doesn't sound good enough, every idea is like, no, that's not, but that's not a number one idea. You know, so it's really like if I can show up with an open heart and I can laugh and I can sing and I can freestyle and we can, you know, that's kind of what got Bruno and I together is he's very similar to that. You know, before you go, you about to do something, go back. How do you get in? How do you even get into the music business from Indiana? Yeah, because your record deal got brought away. Your mom took that from you. My mom took that. So you had to wait. I did have to wait. So this is the 90s. Okay. This is the Boyz II man. Yeah. Yeah. Show this here. Yeah. Yeah. Few years down the road that be a tank. You know, but we're not there. Yeah. We're not there. Oh, I'm gonna. They're sure I thought I'm in the 90s. They do don't. They're sure I throw it on the 90s. I'm old, but I'm not from them. You kind of the 99 2000. You can't tell me 99 2000. That's what I am. That's what I am. Yeah, straight as money. Carbine money. I see what you do there. Yeah. He's good. That guy's really good. Yeah. So it's like, you know, saying with my brother and sister, but also because there's the advent now of boys to men and Jones and all these all these cats, we started a group. So we started a group. Me, my brother and another cat, Carlos, where shut out Carlos, where my sister wanted to do her own thing. That's another way to say, I kick my sister out. I've no because we kicked my sister out. Yeah. Yeah. We kicked her out. I'm sorry. Shout it out. She'll say she quit. She got sister quit. She quit. She's like you need to strip it. I think it was the same going on. This ain't going nowhere. I don't want practice. Yeah. Come out. Oh, yeah. She got out of there. She got out of there. Good for her. I say so too. You know, you got to make decisions for your life. For a minute, for nothing. We just practicing. And just like, I'm saying this time, the practice is called ever-tires. This is on time. Okay. So now you and your group. So we in the group. Yeah. We're doing harmony. We're singing songs, cover songs. And there was a famous pop artist that came through Indiana, a small tiny Indiana. He is legendary, especially in that time. He's saying all names. And saying quite there. Yeah. It's a Nelly story. Michael Bowen. Oh, we're going to say his name. We'll say his name. Okay. Yeah. That's later knowing the difference. Oh, Michael Bowen. So Michael Bowen's on tour. He comes through and I think at that time, every city that he went to, he found a local choir to back him up on two songs. If you remember him records. Very R&B record. Okay. They call it Yacht Rock. They do. I call it white N-R-B. Yacht and B. Okay. I like that. So that. And so they come through and we are a part of the choir that's backing them up. So we see in me, Carlos and Shane, see it as our opportunity. Like, all right, man, these are the pros. We got to get backstage and meet somebody. Yeah. So we are backstage. And we get the attention of the lead guitar player. This guy Christopher Camozzi, shout out to Chris Camozzi. We see you, baby. Appreciate that opportunity. He sees us, loves us and says, you guys got something. Do you have a manager? You're like, no, that's kind of what we're looking for. He was like, I'm a manager, guys. What's next? At the time, my brother was going to go to college for recording engineering at full sale, your university out in Orlando. And I had tried college, didn't work for me because I was just writing songs, starting groups, I hold you. And so we were going to Orlando. He said, okay, you guys go down to Orlando. I'll come in and check in on you guys and see how you're doing. So fast forward, we're now in Orlando. And I needed to find work in Orlando. So I auditioned for Disney World. And I get hired to perform at Disney World. So that sort of became my, I call it my college years of me performing and singing and dancing in Disney World. And I think that that's kind of where I really started to develop as a performer. And that's somebody that can be on stage. And they hired me initially to be a host. So at Disney, I got an opportunity to host shows and interview celebrities that will come through. So I got a chance to interview Cosby back in the day. Oprah came through. I remember you remember Kadeem Hardison. Of course. Come on now. He came through. And so I had this experience where I got to interview people and an experience, you know, what it was like to be a host. And so I think about my time now, you know, with Bruno when I'm on stage, I'm the host of the show. And so, you know, as our journey comes on, we pick, we pull from these things and these experiences that we've had. And it becomes, you know, the more professional version of that. So the group, you know, we recorded an album with Chris Camozzi. And it seemed like there were some other things that were happening kind of personally. I had begun to write songs. And so I used to, I opened up this show called The Lion King Show. And they had a break room. And in the break room, I never, I don't, I don't play like that. But I had these songs in my head. And I was beginning to kind of teach myself or try to teach myself how to play. And so I taught myself how to play one song, one song that I wrote when I was in high school. Right at the same time, another producer locally was looking for a demo singer. And called me up. Or actually, he got connected with me. I went in saying a demo. He was like, man, you can really sing, man. That sounds great. He was like, have you ever written before? I was like, well, you know, I kind of, you know, wrote this little song. He said, have you ever written to track before? I was like, no, no, no, what's that? And he was like, well, I'll play you a beat. And then whatever you hear, you write over that. I'll come back. I'll listen to it. We'll see if we got a song. So that was my introduction into what I now know to be the music business. Somebody throws you a beat. You write what you can over it. Pray to God. You know, somebody likes it. So he leaves the room. I write a whole song in 30 minutes. Verse chorus the whole deal. He comes back. He was like, man, where are we at? I was like, man, I think I wrote the whole thing. But I don't know. He was like, you were the whole song. I was like, yeah, I think I got the whole thing. I said, let me sing it for you. So I sang the whole thing. He was like, man, you wrote the whole song. Let's cut it. Hey, we all going to cut it. And so I cut and record that whole song. So that began our relationship. And it was him. His name was Sean Fisher. Man, he resting peace. And Kareem Mills. Sean was a guy that did a lot of the pop music back then. So this is when you think like the in sync um, Backstreet Boys Orlando. Yeah. Orlando. This is that whole thing. He did Mandy Moore's first out. Yeah. Wow. Kareem came from the Quad City DJs. Oh, true. So he did work there. It is. Yeah. So them together, it was just this cool new sound, you know, that they were working on. So I started writing songs with these guys. They were also doing, dropping some names, fellas. I'm going to drop some names. They were also doing songs for Steven Segal's movie soundtracks. Gotcha. Okay. Because who's not doing that? Yeah. Everybody's doing that. So we're writing these songs. And the songs are getting better. Steven starts to hear the songs. And you know, calls Sean one day. I was like, Hey, hey, hey, these songs are getting better. You guys mixing it up. What's going on down there? And Sean was like, yeah, yeah, no, no, we got this new kid. He's coming in. He's dim on. He's writing like, we got new energy. Baby feels good. We got some stuff for you. All right. Keep him around. I really like it. I really like what you're doing. But then he was like, but what are you doing in Orlando? Nobody's in Orlando. Come on. You should be in LA. Sean was like, yeah, we should. How do we do? Yeah, how are we going to get there? So Steven Segal is the guy that brought me and away. And away. And away. And away. And away. And away. I even told you to go say, show that one day at the studio with the ponytail. I did it. Night after that after he showed up to the studio with the ponytail. Bring the German Shepherd. Cool. Cool. Cool. And the German Shepherd that only speaks German as a shepherd. I know what this is about to be today. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, man. You are. So he kind of discovered us really. And moved us to California and put us up in a penthouse in Santa Monica. Penthouse to fly right near, you know, blocks from the beach. So my first experience in LA was a name. Not like ours. Not like ours. No, no, no, no, not like most. That's crazy. But he put us up. And we loaded up the U-Haul and drove coast to coast. And just the right songs for him. Initially, just the right songs for him. But he also said you need to be in LA. So you can meet the publishing company and kind of move around. That's the good to know. I'll see you as a guy. I'll see you in the truck with your movies, dawg. I know your karate real. I know. I just say, be a no. You know, you know, you know, you know, you know, he was one of my. I don't know who that is, but they be a no. And straight away, let me tell you, it's real. I know. I've seen it. Quick. I know karate man. When I see it, come on man. Don't let the height fool you. Steve's a bad boy. Don't get too close to German Shepherd. They'll get you. All right. So how long is that here? Right with Steve's. It's a guy, man. That particular, that particular legendary, beautiful dream like run of being taken care of by Steven Sagar. Last six months. Oh, Jesus. Oh my. Oh, life's about to hit you. Yeah. Yeah. Life's about to hit you. Wait, wait, it's over. Did you name them up now? No, no more checks. Steven's like, yeah, you know, I'm doing some other things and, you know, it's been great guys. I appreciate everything. I said, yeah, melodies. Yes. And so I think at that point, you know, is the first crossroads moment that and I would experience several of those major life moments. Absolutely. That said, who do you want to be? What do you really want out of life? It's these big, you know, esoteric questions about what do you really think is for you? Because at the time, you know, the guys in the group are like, okay, Steven's not taking care of us no more. Let's go back to Orlando. Work our jobs that we have before. Save up. Move out on our own. And I said, nigga, we in LA, there's got to be a way for us to survive out here. Man, I can't go back. I'm not. This is where I've always wanted to be, man. And we've got kind of a layup. So we hear. So was that moment where one Sean moved back, I convinced Kareem to stay. And that was really a, um, the beginning of me moving into a space of action around belief. It's like, and it follows us in the studio. It's like, no, but I believe that this is right. So then we take action, you know, and, and, you know, it's funny. I try to tell my kids that, you know, it's like, you have that belief and that belief prayerfully can fuel you to make a right decision, even if it's hard. But especially when it's hard is when you'll start to see what you're made up. You know, and what you really want, you know. And so I think in that moment, it was like, we move from Santa Monica to the valley. We're going to be in the valley now. We're going to be in the valley where we can, you know, that's just early start of kid. Come on. We can afford it. Yeah, I'm still in the valley. Yeah, but a different part. It's, it's, you know, that is, it's, I'm sure you're in a different part now. But it's, he's in a different part. I know what it is. But guys, it's the best. It's probably south of the boulevard. It's, you know, it's, you know, it's, tank. We can't just generalize it. It might be on it. It might, it might be on the hill. That's what he said. Look, he's a little bit of you. That could be a view. I, I, I, I, you're a little view. You're all on pool. You're all on pool. Yeah, no, no community. The community pool is different. They know community pool. Let me, some of the community they can talk. Find out your kids and they know my kids today. Yeah. Come on. Yeah. Every other week. So yeah. So we stay. And, you know, it was then it was like, all right, I need to be about the business of learning this business. Now there is no safety net. So now I'm doing a telemarketing job. And I don't have a car. So I have a bicycle. Straight. Bike up. Kind of forgot about that. We're telling this. We did keep you in shape. And. You know, you, you really understand and you really begin to get in touch. And I'm sure y'all can relate to this. With how. You know, with the level of which something means to you. By what you're willing to do for. You know, relationship, career, you know. And. In the middle of summer on that bicycle. It was about an hour bike ride. Going to that telemarketing job, sweating on the phones. Coming back. No, no. To the house. You know what I'm saying? Another hour. More sweat, shower. And then we had built a little studio in the apartment. And then we just ride all night. Like I didn't even think about the discomfort of the bike. You feel me? It's like that wasn't even a thing. It was like, no, it's how I got to get to work. I mean, I come back. It is what it is. It just is what it is. Because I'm here for a purpose. I'm here for this mission. And so, Raymond, I are writing songs and. And. I remember, man, I was like, man, I just got to get out in the city. So I'm going around club, you know, doing anything. And everything I can to really get to know LA. And I remember walking into a publishing company. Leo Williams. I'm a gentleman. Come on, man. Well, we know low. Come on. What's up with this man? Yo, shut up. Leo. Oh, man. Yo, shut out. He was about to give me my first opportunity, man. I remember walking into his office. And, you know, I didn't know nothing. I'm just like, hey, man, you know, I'm in Indiana, baby. Yeah. I want to, I want to be a writer. And, um, he said, I see, I'll see you, Luke. Okay. Here. See what you do with these. And he handed me a CD. You know, yeah, I remember those. Yeah. You know, I'm from the tape day. Yeah, man. Hey, that new. I'm 157 years old. Boy, don't look at them. I'm reporting. I'm trying not to. I'm trying not to. They're good skinned, boy. Yeah. I said, okay, cool. They had eight tracks on it. I went back to the crib, wrote to all eight tracks that night. Went back to the office that next day and said, here. And again, I didn't have any comparison about what that was or what that meant or what, you know, it was just, this is what I feel like I need to be doing. He said, you wrote to everyone in all songs. I said, yeah, and here they are. And he was like, okay. All right. Yeah. That's what you do that call back. You really want this. I was like, yeah, man, I'm, I'm, I'm putting everything on this. And so that kind of began my relationship with my introduction into like the professional business of music. And starting to meet guys like Leo and ultimately Aaron Bay-Shug, who was insistent at the time that we met, you know, going to writers, camps, and publishing mixers. And, you know, like, really trying to get a handle of, you know, where do I fit in here? Because at the same time, you know, I really outside of writing, I moved out here to be an artist, you know, to really go, you know, I want to be tank, you know what I'm saying? I, the pushups, I hadn't, I couldn't commit, man. I didn't commit, but you committed to the songwriting. I did. I didn't commit to the songwriting. I just couldn't, it's good. I started early, man. You did. I started early. What's that, what's that started? You know, titties changed the game. I said, titties changed the game. titties changed the game. It wasn't just, that should be a mix take. It wasn't just a song. That's an album right there. The guy with the titties singing the song. Get the same thing. You compile all of that. You know what, you know what, get out of there. So, see, that's why I got a zit. I can't, he says, that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. I'm with the new young niggas, but they got the quarter zip. It's okay. That's what I'm saying. Okay. The dollar sign got one. You know quarter zip, you're in there. So, you know what I mean? So, it's like, I wanted to be the artist. So, I'm writing songs for myself. I'm performing it at little spots around. And I call an old friend of mine, who I kind of grew up with, Larry Wade, Donald Larry Wade. Larry's boss now. Back then, he was living in Indiana, working corporate. I was making these rounds and everybody was like, yo man, you need a manager. Yeah. So, I'm like, I just happen to know a really good one. I happen to know a good person. Start there. Okay. Start there. I happen to know somebody that I grew up with that I could trust. And I called Larry up. I was like, yo, I'm in LA, man. I'm making moves, baby. Making moves. You're going to want this client, okay? You don't know what that means yet, sir. So, I'm not going to scale. You feel me? It's like, if you want to go to the top. Yeah. Oh my god. If you think you want to go to the top, you're going to want to take these goals. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, so I call Larry. Oh my god. And I'm like, yo Larry. Hey, everybody said I need a manager. I thought of you. He was like, what's a manager? I'm like, well, as an artist, you have somebody that kind of oversees your career. He was like, okay, cool. I bet there's a book on that. Exactly what he said. Yeah. I said, I'm sure there is. He said, give me two. Sure there is. Sure there is. He said, give me two months. Now I'll call you. Two months to the day. Larry calls. He said, I got it. I figured it out. I read the book. I'm on my way. Straight up. It's just like that. The end is a whole another planet. Yeah. I got it. What? This is great, bro. This is great. So, wild story, man. So, he comes in his Montero sport. Montero. Montero sport. So, now I got a road dog. Now I got somebody in the trenches with me. Now I got somebody that's moving out. Now someone's speaking for me. So, when I do my little shows and there's seven, eight people, we get seven, eight numbers. You better be. Seven, eight emails. Everybody's feeling out those. So, you, you, you. So, that was happening for months. And then one day I'm performing. And there's a dude, there's a brother in the back that kind of looked important. He was like, look at like brother got some money. And so, he was back there. And he was watching my show. He leaned over. I heard this like, he leaned over the layer. He said, you know, that, that's not going to start. I like that kid. He was like, look, I just got my artist signed. And he wants female backgrounds in his, but I think he should have a male background singer too. I don't know if he's, if your guy's interested in anything like that. But it's really, be an opportunity for him to be seen. And, you know, we got a label like it's legit. This was Eli Davis. You know Eli Davis? Of course. Manages Anthony Hamilton. So, Anthony Hamilton was my first professional job in the background. Straight up. And I know that. But it's not. On the coming from around from album. Oh yeah. And here's what's crazy. It was crazy. It is. Man, it's about to be a four hour talking. I'm just kidding. This was crazy. You know, before I moved, I remember being in Orlando and watching DeAngelo perform. And Anthony was the background singer. And it was one of the most, and yeah, I'm sure y'all know this, one of the most electrifying, inspiring, out of this world shows I've ever seen. DeAngelo, the energy of the background singer, it was just like, yo, what am I watching? Peter Palette, you know, on the, like crazy talent on that stage. So, to then have an opportunity to perform now. Anthony's up front and I'm singing in the back. Was wild. And that was my kind of introduction into that side of the game. All right, so now we're on tour. Yeah. And I got to see, you know, first hand, what it meant to be the front guy. The responsibility, the commitment, the things that the front guy can't do that the background singers can do. The time that the background singers have, that the front person does not have. And I started to evaluate this dream that I have being the guy, thinking like, man, that's a lot. Yeah. That's a lot of pressure. That's what you're saying. Straight up. Yeah, most are not honest with themselves. No. What they can or can't sacrifice. Yes. Right? By being in front. Yes. You know what I mean? Because it's just that it's a lot of time. It's very time consuming. And then if you become big enough, now you can't go places. Now you can't, you know, just be a regular person. That's right. And you, everybody, the pivot, the pivot, it turns into that to me where it's like, okay, this is because I don't want to do that. Yeah. I don't want to have to do this every single day. So maybe I could be adjacent. Right. To it. And I can still feel it. I can, you know what I mean? I'm the king of the pivot. Absolutely. That nigga famous. Right. I just be there. Absolutely. I just be there. Absolutely. Into the podcast and now. Oh, yeah, he's front and center now. And that's like, hey, what do you think? He's a song. Yeah. But yeah, I get what you're saying, man, you that moment. I definitely had that moment. Yeah, I definitely had that moment. I was on, but when I was singing with genuine and I was primed to be a solo artist. But I enjoyed that position so much. Yeah, he didn't want to quit. Oh, one quit. He's like, tell you got to be yummy. I said, I am, oh man. I'm a woman. The sings backgrounds, but you know why? It was like, no, you know, I said, he's like, he was like, trust me, bro. It's going to be you one day and it's going to be crazy. I was like, I don't want to be me. I just want to be with you, man. Don't put me in coach. Well, man, no, come out, sing my little lead background part and go back and sing my background and hang out with him, carry the bags and buy silk shirts and oak tree. Like that was the life for me. You know what I'm saying? And so like, as you're speaking of the pivot, I didn't purposely pivot to just pivot to go be a solo artist. I got kind of snatched in kind of, this is what you're going to do. You was, but if I had, I had, I had chosen, I'll stand with genuine and Olivia. Well, go north. Wow. It's good. It was good. Love that life straight up. Absolutely. genuine had to be everywhere. Early in the morning. Early and often. Good luck, young fella. Let me know what sound check. Let me know. Yep. I was at six p.m. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Give it up to six a.m. And then got to come on stage and beat the guy. Absolutely. Yeah. And you're right. And people don't understand that people don't really know that the, the sacrifices and the commitment it takes. And I, you know, I'm not only saw an Anthony, of course, but I saw with Bruno, you know, and a lot of the. Just jumping the Bruno. Is that what I did? You did the man listen to that. Begin to that. Okay, you go from Anthony and then. So from Anthony, while I was with Anthony, I really began to take songwriting more seriously. Gotcha. And so. Um, the pull of that started to become started to outweigh the excitement of being on tour, the excitement of being about, you know, because that was his first album and everybody was talking about him. And it was, yeah, there was a lot of glow around that. Absolutely. You know, and I learned a lot from him as an artist. And like how he performed and how he approached it and the energy was, you know, it was really a special moment in music. I think that time, you know, with, uh, I wouldn't call it necessarily Neil. So but that era of music was, you know, especially when we got to do, um, Chappelle show. Uh, yeah. Chappelle show was on two years, man. I got to be on Chappelle show. We did the Lord John episode. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? And this way I had a sweater on. I got all the, I got all the, the, the, you know what I should, you know what I shouldn't say that I have DVDs. Whatever, man. I still got DVDs because sometimes, because sometimes the Wi-Fi be tripping. Popping DVDs. And I still got the blue rated. Give me a, come on. You know what I'm all quality ain't changed. It has nothing quality still there. It's like vinyl. Except when you watch in the Mac, I'll be watching, you know, I'll be watching black exploitation movies too. I got every black movie you got. Whatever you name, I got it at my house. I really, yeah. I'm waiting. You remember the job turkey. Me in big shot. Me in big shot. Takes care of security. Yeah. All he watches. Why? Black exploitation. All day long. Walking black. Best dialogue in history. Oh man, what? Best dialogue in, in cinema. Cinema. Kid comic book. Indian way for the reaction. Why'd you stop? Oh, you saw him right. You saw him right. We fucking wrap him up. Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. Have you placed anything yet? Nothing. Hmm. And here's what's interesting. And I learned the game from this. A part of the game. I was working on Anthony's second album. Okay. And, you know, a lot of people were. And he's the main writer. He writes most of his stuff. But I had written the song with him that seemed like it was going to make it. It was going to make it. Boy. And I was like, man, this is it. We all know that. Because the language and the word of placement. Yeah. Everybody's throwing this placement word around. Like, what is that? And then people say, Hey, man, you might have a place. Placent. Oh, that's real. Yeah. I don't know if y'all knew this month. That was placement. No, that's cool. We don't know. I'll get the copy next week. I'll get the placement. After the placement. And so, and then when, when I discovered it, and I kind of learned a little bit later, he also was a songwriter. And had commitments on his own. Of course. And deals to get out. Has on the NBC yet. He had his own situation. Yeah. And I didn't understand that part of the game at the time. I was like, what are you doing my song? I have everybody loves this song. I've told everybody. I've told the world. I've told everyone in Indiana for sure. Sure. They know. They expect them to place them. I called your main Jackson. I said, you know, no, you don't, bro. Jermaine was not in Indiana anymore, man. But he knew. He saw that area of Cody said, uh-huh. They found me. I better pick up. I better move. I better pick up. So the placement don't happen. The placement doesn't happen. But I understand the game. And I understand what that means. And so, you know, there's no hard feelings. But I realized though, okay, I need to be on my own. If I'm really going to give time to do this, if I'm really going to commit to this, I need to figure this out. Outside of the construct of someone else's dream. And that was a hard time period because I left no money saved. We know you ain't got no money. There's no money. I knew that was about to happen. Because you've been on the road and you've been buying shoes. Didn't hang it out. All right. Yeah. True religion was. Oh, yeah, you was tweaking. You was out super tweaking. And on the road and, you know, you see no. It's happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's going to be in the casino. Oh, man, it be in the casino. It's going to be in the casino. They're not me. MGM. Oh, yeah. Detroit. Come on. That's the way. The Luxee. The boat. The boat in the street. The way for it is three four dollars. Three four. They got a boat. I think it's both. I think it's both. Both. Wow. Yeah. R&B. Yeah. I can see it there. I see it there. So no money. You broke. So no money. You know, nothing saved. So I'm moving around trying to figure it out. Doing mixers. Meet Aaron Bay Shuck. The Bay Shuck. The Bay Shuckster. And he's like, man, you got a vibe. You know, I like what you're doing. Why don't you come to my office and and let's talk. Well, you heard somebody office. We're here. He didn't know. I didn't get any office back. Did love what is true. And I love you. I love you, darling. We know we we talked about this. He did not have. I got to do it. I do it. But Mike had an office. Okay. There's an office on the office. So we're in Mike's office. Right. And Aaron's like, yeah, come to office. You know what I'm saying? I have a seat. That's that good level. I don't know if you ever sat on one of those young men. So I'm in there. Wow. You know. And so Aaron gives me tracks as well. I write to the tracks. And he kind of tells me which artists are looking. You know, they super hip hop. Heavy back then. So they were looking for trick daddy. I think plies. All the AP everything coming to the APG system. One thousand. Yeah. So I'm writing just for whatever. I'm never, you know, not any tools around what I should be writing or how I should be writing. So he was like, all right, man, you got great ideas. But you're putting all your ideas in every song. He said, I need to show you how we write for radio. So now I'm getting another piece of the game. He said, you've got to find a way to write a hook. He said, you know, you're saying, you know, just beat it. Just beat it. Beat it. Just beat it. Yeah, people. Beat it. Beat it. Beat it. Know the beat. That's your angle. Forget. You're not going to believe it. Not go forget it. Run that into the ground. Let everybody know that that's the point of that song. I was like, okay. And it was when I remember going back and listen to my record. I was like, man, I ain't got no hooks. It was overwriting. Just overwriting. Verse. Yeah, I got to tell this story. I got to tell this story. When did you get to the brain? Three minute movies. What did you get? Three minute movies. You could though. You had nothing. You had nothing. When did you get part three? I got no one. Not knowing that the nigga in the office is never getting to the bridge. Not having a man get six people. That's just shit. I need waiting from you for Indiana. Oh, please back Indiana man. But that's how Bobby night. That is how it goes. That is how something has to hook you. Yes. Early. Yes. Yeah. Early. And so I started to refine that, you know, maybe a year or so of that process. And then I get my first place. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. All right. All right. Okay, we don't prize now. Come on. What's the place? Yeah. This is important. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I called you main. He didn't answer. Yeah. Yeah. He was. Yeah, he was. He don't know. You know, you may need to go ahead. Oh. Okay. Um. I'm not a nigga here. No, don't mind. Go ahead. Yeah, man. Yeah. And so. And so I get my first placement. And it's on an artist. By the name of Playa. Yeah. Playa. Playa. Playa. Playa. Yeah. What's wrong? You know, I'm talking about shout. I know. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Shout. No, I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah. With that thing here, right? Yeah. No, I think. I, I feel. I, I would love for you. You know, I'm gonna tell him out. And so. Tank, this is the point in the show where I share with you that you and I. No way. Have worked together. No way. And we didn't know it. No, no way. Fuck out of here. I love. Tank. I know what you are. And the money I'm announcing is you can't read. And fucking possible. Oh, that's the record. And no way we've been trying to figure out. No, you haven't been trying to. Yes, we have. Oh my mom. Mom, we have today. Niga is trying to figure it out. Shut the hell up. Y'all ain't no, no, I have no idea. And idea, an idea. I've been I wanted to know who the nigga was. Because. Oh, I'm being, being, being, being, what's she they doing today? Exclusive. Because because here's the problem. Here's the problem. I go into the studio. Oh, this is a base. Supplies is like, man, I need you on this. I need you on the record, man. You got to get on this record. If I say, man, I got you. I've been on plies forever. His brother and I'm just do clubs out in Tampa. So I used to be out there singing and performing in the club before he was doing any of this. He's like, man, I'm telling you, I'm about to go. I got a record with with T-Pang and it's about to go crazy. I was like, that's it bro, you're my brother. I got you. Whatever you need. I walk in the studio and they're like, this is the record plies once you are and they played it. I don't regret it. I don't get mad. I don't put the man in. I use that. Oh my god. This will ruin me. I said, you got something else. You got anything else but a love of God. And they were like, no, this is the one. This is the one. I said, oh my god. I said, my grandmother will kill me. This is great. I said, but I promised plies. I would rot. So I'm rot. Listen, I put, I put all my religion aside. I put it all and I said, I'm a sing this song for plies. And I do this for plies because that's my brother. And then the song comes out. And I don't hear me. But it says featuring. I said, oh, what was this nigga? What's this nigga? Oh, that nigga on that. What was that nigga on that man? Oh, that nigga. Yo, this is candy lad. So I go. It's going to be. Yo, it's going to be. Candy lad. It says featuring me. But it's another nigga singing. I said, that ain't me. So the whole time I'm up, I'm upset about that because they domesticize it. Those aren't my vocals. It's like, this is not as a note. Those are the original vocals from whoever to do it is. So I'm upset whatever time goes on. I go to Miami, Florida to host the club. And they like, you know, do two, three songs. They're like, cool, I'm doing my songs. I do my songs. I do my hits. Song. Make me deserve. You know, I'm cook. I don't think I do plies. Don't go. Groud is going crazy, right? And the DJ is like, I'm like, y'all making me all make some noise from tank. That's my boy right there. And I think of Carl as he said, but look here, I can't let you get away without doing this one right here. When he first starts playing it, I'm like, but the crowd is like, oh, yeah, that's the one I'm going to do. Yeah, let's go. That song made it to the set. Yep. Yeah, bro. I had no idea what the song was doing in the streets. Yeah, I had no. It's his biggest song in the area. The big fine. Well, what he dropping. I had lies featuring. I had walked away from that moment from that song. What's that you singing? That's my boy. It's him. It's this nigga. Nigger. I say, oh, this you have to be kidding me. Oh, and we prayed before we did this episode. So we prayed before we did this episode. We prayed together, brother. We got to the run. You and the family. And now you go tell us that that's you on you. Boy. I think that's what the crazy thing I heard on this podcast. That's right. Because I've been doing pocket. This is great. Because here's what's crazy. I knew that you were going to be featured on the record. I'm like, oh, yeah, I can't take that. I'm a huge instructor. The song comes out. And I said, now I know takes voice. But I know mine even more. That's my voice. As tank. As tank. On tanks record. You have been haunting me. I hear you. I said, take muster. He must have just really sounded like me like he just stole his voice in there. I was like, no, it's not thanks to engineer mixed up the book. Is that what happened? I'm what I'm going to be tankers singing like you. I'm so I'm going to go with Pete. That's what I would go with. Call it a truce. It's a big record for me. Thank you. This is great. It's some hood chick. Yo, down south right now watching this. Yes, yo, she's like, wait, what? She's pissed. Not the quarters it dude. Nick, not the quarters. Not the quarters. It's a man. I had. And that's your first place. That was my absolute first place. I'm stuck up all day. Over there. Yo, I couldn't wait. I couldn't wait to hat. I was like, I might be able to hold this for years. I've been holding it. I was like, man, one day, there's going to be this thing called podcast. It's going to be a sweet tonight. Yeah, I didn't go no. And we're going to let the world give it to the world. You really messed us up with this one, bro. No, this is not. I'm not. I'm not going to hold you, bro. This is that is. Nick. I forgot what I was going to ask you. Wow. That is incredible. We've been looking for you, man. We didn't know if we was going to whoop you. And Nick. And not neither because that's the other part of bodies. Like, think we got to put hands on the nigger. I said, man, because I felt like it was the nigger that did it. I said, man, you ain't going to change these vocals. You ain't going to change it. Now I don't care what nobody say. You hear me? We have worked. We haven't understood. We have worked together. Yeah. There. I'm part of the magic. Come on, baby. This is crazy. Okay. So first place, people. That's your first place. I too was surprised at how big you got. Like streets did it. Streets did it. Yeah. First placement. Me and Tank. So then I'm in the Atlantic system. Yep. And so it was around that time that I get a phone call from my good friend Keith Harris. Oh my god. Shout out Keith Harris. Yeah. One of the greats. Inside and out, great human being. Caused me up. I had been doing some sessions with him. And he called me up. He was like, yo, man, I got this kid who's crazy talented. He signed a universal. But I think they're going to drop him because they don't really know what to do with him. Man, but he's dope. But I think he just needs somebody in the room with him to kind of help him get his ideas out. I thought of you. I was like, all right, man, I appreciate that. At the time, I'm living in West LA, the studios in North Hollywood. I had no car. Gang in LA, no car. So you didn't get your car? So I didn't have a car. You you didn't get me a car. Thanks. Thanks. You got me if you worked the record. You got me. You got me a car. It's that featuring tank. You see? It's game. How you live? The game. The game. Man, the game's fucked up. The club money worked all right. I got to work that circuit. So I'm in LA, you know, kind of after the Anthony Hamilton thing and working. No car. I'm taking the bus everywhere. So I'm back to sort of like that bicycle thing. You know, and I look back on an in hindsight, man, it was like, I was happy on the bus. You don't I'm saying like, it's like, in those times, you don't consider none of that. You just trying to get to it. Trying to get to it. How is it? You gotta get to the mode of transportation. It means it's the power for the family. And I'll be honest, it's exciting. It's an adventure. Yeah. When Los Angeles, it's the best way to get to the stage with it. It is an adventure. So I had no money. Keith was like, comes to the studio. You gotta beat this kid. I was like, all right, man, and see, you know, everybody says somebody. They got somebody to tell them the next one. They next one. I was like, all right, man. You sure he's dope. He's really dope. He was like, man, yeah, he's like, look, whatever calls you to get here, I'll pay you back. I was like, okay, it's gonna be a $5 bus pass. But I'm gonna need that five. I'm gonna need that five. He said, okay, cool, I got you. So I bought a all day bus pass. Took me two and a half hours to get there. Because on the bus, certain areas, you gotta go downtown first. Then get on the train, come out of the train, get on another bus, and then you gotta go on another bus to get to the valley. So it's you gotta really want to go. Are you going? It's called a connector flight. Yeah, straight up. Lift layovers, all that. Safe boards. But I get there. I show up, open the door, and it's Bruno. And I can safely say, that's the best $5 I've ever spent. You owe him for it. I don't mean at least that. And he's a cool clean vibe. And it was there. And that was a beginning of this 18, almost 20-year relationship, man, of creating with who I believe is one of the most gifted artists I've ever worked with. Just from the standpoint of talent, vision, execution, commitment to the craft, commitment to the song. And a fellow child star. And a fellow child star. Come on, man. Yeah. You know, his parents said, no, no, no, no, no, no, he's going to do that. You know. And so that session was the first time that either of us had written, recorded, produced a song in one night. And so we were just like, oh snap. And there was like, no, we know. You know what I mean? There was no like ancillary distract, which is us in their vibe and laugh. And I'm watching him go from the piano to the bass. And I'm like, yo, who is this kid? I was bouncing around doing everything. Yeah. And Keith, you know, he does the same thing. And I'm just like, wow. And we wrote, you know, we wrote this song. It's funny. That song actually ended up placing years later on two of the two of the Backstreet Boys. Nick, I think it was on Nick and Knight. The album. Hmm. Nick was in Nick Carter and Jordan Knight. Jordan Knight. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, man. So that kind of began this journey of, I met somebody that saw life and approach to music a similar way. Mm-hmm. That's true. Yeah. That's true. And what's he? So he and he wasn't signed to Atlanta yet? No. No, no, no, no. This is like 2006, I think. This is so. And we didn't get signed to 2010. So does the feature come before that? Was that the, was that the, was that nothing on you? Yeah. Yeah. I think we got signed 2009, late 2009. Those two come first before the deal. Yeah. Got you. Got you. Because remember, that's when he used to be at the studio at the stereotypes. Yeah. Absolutely. That's right. Yeah. So that was that time period where we were just bouncing around. Trying to figure it out. Right. You know what I mean? And he had a car. So that was great. Oh, he had, he actually had a car. Take the frame with a car. That was nice. Yeah. You don't, you don't pick me up. Cause something is got a date that funny looking girl that got the car. Man. Man. Is that you know what? He was. Jay. It wasn't me though. No. No, that's what I mean. But I know those guys. Yeah. I'm seeing the guy get around. I know. She just dropped me off. Now you know that's your girlfriend. They laughing like this. Cause they know exactly what I'm talking about. She just dropping off his crazy. So cool. Wow. Wow. He said that's so cruel. That's it's cruel. We got to survive out here. My name is not sir. We didn't have only fans. We got to move it around. You know that you money don't last forever. I thank you money don't last. We got to move it around. You got to move it around. Oh, she's just dropped me. You should give. Oh no, that's my cousin. Oh man. So now you get into a space where you get ready to get you get ready to get to a record. You can ready to get to Yeah. At least one. But he said a writing for what? Four years up until this. Yeah. Y'all still. So we're still so it's like so we meet. And then it was a great session. So like he would have a session. He would call me up. They man, I got a session with X, Y and Z. I want you to come through vice versa. So we just started working together. And initially because he was so talented. And so unique. It seemed to make sense at the time to just focus on him being an artist. We got to get you a deal. You know less like we can do this. Let's write a couple of records. And I think we'll be off to the races. So we write a couple of songs. I can honestly say they weren't that good at this point. Then we start going from label to label. I had met some people. You know, he had met some people. So we're going through these label meetings. Just like, man, this is, yeah, we about we about to do this. Like this is it. No, no. No. Not good enough. I don't understand it. I don't know. What are your group or not? Who's the lead sink? All of these on its unexpected, this unexpected hurtful feedback that was just saying, damn. Are we, are we drinking on cool late here? Are we kidding ourselves? That this is something that's possible. Right. So door slamming after door slamming after door slam. There came a time where it was like, okay, maybe we should try something else. And around that time, you know, in our manager at the time, the kid brought it to our attention, you know, Neo got signed through writing songs. Yeah. T-Pain through writing songs. I don't know if the dream was out yet. I don't know if that had happened yet. But those two were the ones that was like, oh man, you might be able to get a record deal through writing a hit record for somebody else. Yeah. That was kind of a formula. So we begrudgingly put the artist thing on hold and said, all right, man, let's focus on being writers. Let's see if we can be great writers and see what happens. So that's where that kind of schooling came from at that time. But we were bouncing from producer to producer working with all the Dr. loops to soul, shock, and carlons. We did the underdogs, you know what I'm saying? Had an uncomfortable moment one time with the underdogs. You know, when you don't, when you're trying to make it, you know, you're around people that hadn't made it. You're not always that you're most comfortable. At least I wasn't. So we're at the Edmunds Building. I'm never told this story. Neo Bruto, what about this story? I'm gonna tell it now. It's a really short story. But I see Damon, you know, Harvey was somewhere else, but Damon's walking by and he had a straight outfit on. It was almost like, um, I don't know. It was just a full thing. I can't go. I can't go. No, you're gonna get in the hard. Yeah. You know, I think it works. I remember there was leather patches. I was like, I'm sorry. Everything custom tight. I was like, I ain't never seen nothing like that. What is that? Right. So he's walking up and me and Bruno just standing there waiting to be called to go into A room. And he's walking by. I was like, man, just say something. Just say something. Just say something. Nah, nigga, don't say that. You don't know you know, but just say something. I was like, hey, you rocking that fit, homie. Toss. Shit. And Bruno looked at me like, rocking that fit. I was like, I don't know man. And he was just like, I appreciate that. Appreciate you looking at that. I don't. You're looking at it because you put it quick looking at me. You'll never afford this. It looked you now. Come on. I have, I see this shit. I have that. I bought them. Damon. Damon. I got the fit. I got the fit now, Damon. Oh, shit. The leather's pretty. What you sound when they look good. I'm gonna say what you. I just, I don't like it. Clean. I'm gonna find it. I like it. I like that. I like that. Yeah. Somebody is. So I take that. I take it. I take it. I don't get no records over there. We don't get no records there. I think it's sending them out immediately. And so we bounced it around and kind of, you know, I think another one of these sort of turning point moments was we were riding to these beats. And the producers just say, right to this beat. And we were hearing other things. As I'm sure you can imagine because you play. I think the B-Sex should go here. I think the chorus should come back to. And you know, the vast majority of the producers were like, No, no. Just right to that beat. You know what I mean? That's the song. And you know, make that work. So we weren't getting any placements that way. So we kind of looked at each other and I was like, yo, I don't think this bouncing around from producer is the way you paint. You play every instrument. You know, I do what I do. I think we could do this on our own. And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think, yeah, I think you're right. He said, where are we going to do it? I was like, I know, we don't have a studio. And I don't think the hundred dollars going to let us back it. You remember that because I said, and the whole no fit thing. Which lead that along. And so about two weeks, about two weeks before then, I met this kid Ari Levin. Come on, Ari. Come on. Come on, Ari and Josh. And I had heard some of his beats and his beats were crazy. Larry actually had found them for me. And I was writing to some of his beats. Fast or weeks later, I said, you know what, man, we do need to go on our own. And I met a kid that has a studio and he's a producer. Why didn't Hollywood. It was Hollywood. Yeah, like the sunset and high, the little brick building. That became our home base. And so I introduced Bruno to Ari and we meet Josh. And the whole deal was, if you let us write in here, we can write together. You know, like we'll figure it out. Let's just figure this out because we were like, we ain't got no money to pay for studio time. Can we figure something out? And they were like, absolutely. That then became the smeasing turns. And that was when we kind of formed our little three-part Voltron. And figured it out. You know, and what we didn't know at the time was, Ari was and Cilla's an incredible engineer. So we were able to start super talented. Super talented. And so we could move at a pace. You know what I mean? Like we could get records out. Yeah, man. And that decision changed our lives. You know, saying that we believed, again, that whole belief thing and then take an action. Man, I believe we can do it. And then going out and doing it. Even when it's scary, even when it's uncomfortable, even when you don't know. Right. You know, that's like, that's the thing. It's like most of the great things that we experience in life, our things we didn't know could happen. It didn't anticipate. We didn't anticipate it. You know, like the things that we sometimes our vision can be limited by what we think it's going to be. But if you just take action, it may take you somewhere you never thought you could go. So have you signed a publishing deal or anything by this time? So this is, I think, excuse me, I think I had just signed, that's right. I had just signed a deal with rock nation. Okay. Through Jay Brown. Okay. Okay. Jay Brown. More champagne. Yeah, absolutely. Come on, baby. You got to give it up for Jay. Jay was, you know, I've known Jay Brown before rock nation. We'll go here. You can finish. Oh, wow. Then I know you do your thing because you know, I'm going to do my Yo, ask him to do you know the valentine. Okay. All right. All right. Yo, Jay Brown. Yo, Jay Breezy. Brown, Jay Brown. Come on, Jay Breezy. Yeah, sir. So you signed a rock nation? You got your publishing deal. Got my mom. You write a rocket. And then we write a rocket. Those are good times. Because now they got to read the go. Shit, they got to talk about the money. This is all kind of things that's happened. Different conversation. Yeah. And we're in and the introduction of you is different. Yeah. Oh, you know, this is who wrote. Yeah. Right. All the doors are opening. All the doors are opening. I remember we were in Bruno Wentz, New York right. It's certainly after that to sit with Jay. Z. The other Jay. And we're in the office. And we're in the waiting area. And you know, as was customary at rock nation. Yeah, I'ma say it. Jay, I'ma say it. They had his waiting. One hour. It becomes two. Three hours. Appreciate you, Jay. You're a man. Okay, wasn't that long. I'm exaggerating. So we've been walking around the city all day. We're sitting in the front. And now we're lounging on the furniture. Yeah, at this point. With our feet up. Yeah, yeah. He finally walks up the stairs. I had not met Jay. And he comes in and he's like, hey, hey, y'all in the home. What you doing with your feet up on the furniture? I was like, oh, sorry, Mr. Z. Sorry, Mr. Z. Sorry, Mr. Z. So sorry, Mr. Z. We were waiting. We got comfortable. So sorry. Mr. Z. Hi. That was when I met Jay. Cool, cool is a cucumber man. Great. They're great people. Yeah. Every time I met Jay, and I'm, you know, it was a few times. Because you know in this business, you always think, is that, they really remember me? They really, they really know who I am. Is he really, every time? Being on say too. It's always, hey, Bill. Thanks, Bee. Hi Bee. Hi Bee. Bee Bee. Yeah. I know her. Bee Bee. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's perfect. Your texts are coming up green, but it's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Yeah. So yeah, that was it, man. That was the beginning. And so shortly after that, in one week, we write, billionaire and nothing on you. Shee shee. Somehow, and there were many weeks before that obviously, that we did not write records like that. But we really began to kind of like, because billionaire and why would you do that? I And it's literally being part of the launch of two major careers. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Those are both new artists to the world at that time. Yeah. Right. But just in terms of like, smash it. If they're finding a sound, or defining a thing, it's like early on, you guys just fucked up the box. There was no box to put you in. Right. And you know, and it's like, thinking about the earlier statement about, you know, some of these things that have happened, you know, the way that we wrote songs and still write songs, because we were never trying to be producers. So we never had the beat phase, where we knew how to make beats. It was all analog. It was all organic, because it was all band style. So it was like, somebody's got to get on the drums to do the beat. Somebody's got to play the guitar to get the notes. Somebody's got to get on the keeps. So there was just this much longer process. But, you know, looking back on it now, it was trend setting, because nobody else was doing it. Yeah. And you know, it was on some throwback shit. And we was on some throwback, which has kind of, you know, been the calling card, trying to just pay homage to these people that we've been looking up to our whole lives, you know. And so in making music like that, unknowingly we were creating a sound. Right. And we didn't know. It was just like, this is just how we know how to do it. So writing those records, it wasn't, you know, like you could hear the hit factor, but it was also like, we, young might need to reproduce these, because the live sounds, and I don't know, people are going to, it was right at the kind of height of EDM, I think. People don't want to hear instruments. You know, people don't want to hear live instruments. You know, it was what we were being told. And, you know, we were like, now like, we put in our chips in on this. That's dope. This is what we believe. If this doesn't work, we'll hang it up. You can always go back to Disney. Straight up to this day. I'm sure. Absolutely. My back's been back. We should talk about that too. Oh, shit. Yeah. Did you buy a car yet? At this point? Are you, don't tell me, bro. Don't tell me you still on the bus at this point, bro. Don't tell me. You were still on the bus to fight all the past at this point, bro. I know it's the music business, bro. I'll bring it up. Let's pick you up. And then, it's the early Uber days. He was Uber. The early Uber day. No, no, no, I did have a car. Okay. When I signed with Rock Nation, we got a car. I got a car. Three series BMW. Come on, come on. Solid. Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's dependable. Yeah, it's dependable. He said, yeah, good on gas. He said slight flags. It's a slight big one. It's no time for the big one. It's a slight flag. Three series. It's good. Three series. Three series is really what's crazy. Flex right now. No, that's a whip. Three hell. Three hells. Three hells. No, it is a dangerous thing. It's a thing thing. But yeah, that was it man. I remember like, oh my god. Cause you know, no credit. Oh, the credit's bad at that point. You know what I'm saying? Every single lady L.A. trying to figure it out. When you try to figure it out, you just see how black you are. The first thing goes, the credit. Yeah, first thing goes credit. But no, what I wanted to say, I want a personal note. Yeah. Cause I have a daughter that I had left, you know, chasing this dream that was in Orlando, young daughter. And when I first had her, the first few years of her life, I was working in Disney World. And so I was paying child support via a regular check. When I left to go out of my own, that check was not. It kept it kept piling up. Yeah, kept piling up and kept piling up. Rears. Or they call it, they call it a rear. It was in the court system. Yes, I was in the system. Okay. And you know, so when you have a rear like that, you can't leave a country. Take your passport, a whole deal. Shit. So that check, I was able to, because my daughter's, you know, mother, amazing human being, you know, like, always made sure we stayed in touch with one another, always told her great things about me. Your dad is out chasing his dream and he's, he's, you know, he's doing all this, he's doing all this for you. And it was such a beautiful thing to be able to write her. And you got to think about this too, like from Ryan the bus, writing a $30,000 check. To clean that out. Right. Thank you. We're good. Now send you as I have it up. Yes, sir. I think things are, things are coming up. And, and thank you for holding me down. Yeah. You know, and, um, it's like, man, you, you, you don't really understand often times what these pursuits mean to those around you. And the impact of love and family, you know, and so, you know, I, I have learned, you know, she and I have, you know, great relationship. She's a chip off the old block. She's performing singing and dancing. She might ultimately go to a broad way and do her things. She's a bad girl. I see you raving you a bad girl. And, you know, we talk about that time period, you know, for many years, I had a lot of guilt around leaving, you know, and, and, um, she didn't. You know, she was like, no, I didn't knew what you were doing. Mom told me you were doing this and doing that. But, and you never missed anything. Like, when I turned sweet 16, we had this big sweet 16. When I did that, you showed up. Yeah. I was like, right. And so, you know, it's looking back on it now. You know, it's like, man, it's beautiful when you've, you know, because there's a lot of healing work around that. Yes, and you know, oftentimes when someone says, hey, what would you, what advice would you give a young creative coming up in the game? I would say, go to therapy. Get to know yourself. Get to understand who you are. While you're chasing this dream. You know, it's like, chase this dream. But don't forget to bring yourself with you. You know what I mean? So, it's beautiful, man. It's beautiful to kind of like on this side of life. I don't know, we haven't gotten to this part of the story, but on this side of life to reflect on these decisions that I made throughout my life and to know where the healing is. Right. You know what I mean? And what what it all meant, what it was all for. You know, grow. And grow. Now, your journey is incredible. As he said, that's the work for it, bro. And seeing you tell the story. Now, obviously, because as we're all in it, we all hear about each other. Yeah. We may not know each other. But it's like, oh, you know, touch the touch of your dead. And you start hearing these certain names. And you start hearing these people. Especially people that have done great work. You know what you guys have done, great work, bro. Like, flat out. Thank you. Not even about the numbers of it. The actual work. I wanted those guys that I could care for record gets two spans. If they play for me and I feel something, I'm like, oh, he called. Yeah. Maybe the things just didn't line up or for her. It didn't line up for her. That way it should have on that record. But that record and how they wrote that song. And whoever did that, make bro when I hear grenade. I guess grenade for you. Come on, dog. And and your right songs that it's like, I could have wrote that. But you didn't. And that's a special place. You know what I mean? Were you here, certain records, especially as songwriters? And you noticed, I know you've had this feeling. Yeah. Like I could have wrote that. Right. Yeah. That's when you know it's like, okay, it's universal. That's universal. Universe. Because everybody feels like whatever your, whatever those lyrics are, whatever that melody is, whatever they can't get out of their head. Right. Everybody has a connection to that. And you guys have continually made those type of records, bro. Man, thank you, man. Like it's insane. I think kids tell the story too. Yeah. And kids, kids, they're the, they're the final icing on the cake. Yeah. Yeah. Because we as adults, like, okay, you get us. It's cool. You know what I'm saying? We're a little bit more like tuned into what it's supposed to be with those sounds, like what it's supposed to feel like. We have more references. Kids are just innocent. They don't care what they make sounds like. They don't. No. No, the first few years of my daughter's life, daddy put on Bruno Mars. Word. First few years of her life. My daughter is starch. We're Bruno Mars. Gotta have it. Wow. And Michael Jackson, of course. But think of it. You know what I mean? Yeah. With the think of what I'm saying, with the kids. You get, you, you tap into a frequency that can, can, can take that over. That's true. I remember. I envy that. I don't have a good frequency. Yeah, we, we'll be right. We're on ass songs. Yeah. That's what they want is you on you. I mean, I'm the kids. You just made sense. Help me, man. Help me, man. There's time. Help me with the children. Come on. Help me. Now that we've, we squashed our feet. You know what I'm saying? Now that we, you know what I'm saying? That's water in the bridge now. It's a brother. I can do the keys now. It's like universal, man. I want to go to Brazil. I want to go to Brazil. Man. No, I'm watching real shit. I know we, you know, we don't get to it. But this most recent song, or one of the most recent songs that rose, a co-ro, APT. You know, bro, how's this thing going on? I was saying, bro, I remember I had just kind of like a demo version of it and my two youngest were in the car. I'm just two years ago. So like just the nine in tenish. I played the song. I have never seen these kids at this way on a song that they've never heard before. They were frozen. They said, and I'm pretty sure my daughter went like this. Daddy, can you play that again? I said, maybe help. Why are you doing that? Yeah. Yeah. What'd you do to it? It was, she said, I need to know my iPad right now. I said, hey, and my son was like, yeah, can you play that again? And we played that little demo like ten times. And I told bro, I was like, yo, we might have something here. But it's that frequency. There is a frequency to that, you know. But y'all have good, yeah, yeah, I have such a good energy. You know what I mean? Like I've only met him in passing. But obviously I know you, and then I met his brother through Sean Stockman. And I'm like, oh, these dudes just have great energy. And that's why these songs feel and sound like this. Ain't no mad niggas, right? These one of that songs. Yo, that's real though. That's real, bro. I mean, if I'm not a bitch, you even a man, they got to have been so disappointed. Yeah, what? I've been so disappointed, bro. I've been like, no way. Right. You want to close? Ain't real. I ain't even him. And I can name it. And I can name it. Not some bullshit, man. I was there. You know what I mean? I had like, you know, most of the verses or what? Not. But not, like I ain't even with that shit no more. I mean, catch your grinning. I don't know. Like that ain't even like, who I am. He turned into like a Mad O'Maria. Yeah. It's more of a rage here. Really? Yeah, it's like, you know, I'm seeing like, yeah, like, you know, Bruno liked to sing that kind of stuff. But I'm like, all right, man, I'll show up, whatever get the check. But that ain't me. You know what I'm saying? Like, next question. Dead homies. You got to say dead homies. You got to say dead homies straight up. Yo, I appreciate it. No, bro. It's, and it's so cool, especially with obviously, all of us have children. Right. So being able to, because I didn't realize until I had my kids, like, what you can and can't play. Right. What you can and can't play, bro, like you just can't play everything for kids. It's just not in my house. I don't, you know, you gotta get a little older, you know what I mean? One thousand. But it's like that you start as a parent, you start feeling like, okay, what can I, what, okay, okay. This is, it's a certain type of energy. It's like, you said just the frequency. Yeah. It's an energy. It's a tempo. It's certain things that kind of go into your kid playlist and the records you can play for the family. Right. Yeah. And that's why y'all be in Brazil. And places I've probably never heard of doing shows and dancing and singing. Oh, but it got him. Where? Oh, but it got you. Yeah, if I can't even pronounce that. Well, and you know, what's what's wild about that is, you know, and especially Bruno, you know, he's such a student of music and, you know, of trying to be authentic with tapping into a feeling. You're like, most of these songs are finished on a feeling. And paying attention to the guitar, making sure the guitar is perfect, paying attention to the bass, the sound of the bass, the drums. You know, all of these really high level, you know, and working with talented guys like Deep Mile and you're in foam. Yeah. Growing, shout out to all the automobiles who we've been doing records with forever. You know, that kind of level of professionalism and like, you know, you wouldn't think that that's now going to translate to a kids song. You know what I mean? And it almost like you would kind of think like, oh my y'all are thinking about this too much. Like that's going to be over people's heads. But I think it's a combination of like paying attention to detail at every level. You know, at the instrument level, the mixing level, the vocals, the sound, there, there, you know, when you do this a long time, there is a frequency that you're trying to tap into or at least allow to come through. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, let me just give space enough to say, okay, what is what is this telling me that, you know, somehow at times, the kids hear it. And they like, you know, respond to it. How many hot 100 number ones do you have, brother? Wow. With this most recent one that just came out a couple of weeks ago, that made nine. Good Lord. So one more you're going to have both hands. I'm going to have high number. You know what? Both hands both all the way. How many Grammys? Eight. Nine number ones. I know. You'd have eight Grammys. Those denominations are out of control. Yeah, I think it's over 20 nominations. There were 12 nominations before we won one. It was a lot of heartbreak along the way. Yeah. You know, but now you got eight. Now we got eight. Now, you know, we got the Grammys coming up. What do you put all your Grammys? All right. Because, yeah. You know, that is a place. That is a place that no, a lot of people go. Not a lot of people know about. I put them in there. This place is so beautiful. No one has ever seen it. But it is there. It exists. No, no, you will never go. No. Well, I'll be talking too much. Shit anyway. If I never give me a good. You don't want to give me no. I got a deal, Grammy. I won't mind. Oh, get it, man. I'm tired of these certificates. Tank was hard. Where? Where the hard way? I won't, man. Actually, I can't walk into the party of the night with a Grammy. I was like, what do you do? It's a Grammy week. Tank, they just don't know what it is. They don't even understand what this thing is in my head. I don't know why I brought this. I don't know why I did this. I don't know what's going on. I'll see you in one go. Oh, that's a wild. I remember I took a meeting with David Foster. And he was using one as a paperweight. Wow. I see you know what? David, you got to have reverence, buddy. Okay. It was just over there. Just hold down paper. I was like, his 20th. Yeah. When you have 20 paperweight. You just there. I get it. You just use this paperweight. You've done it all, man. Damn. What is? What is the fuel? Like because again, consistency is a challenge. You know what I mean? And the desire to either stay on a level or to eclipse that level, push past that. Like something has to get you there. Because this is many, many years in the making. It's easy to get those number ones and be like, cool. Right. You guys haven't said cool yet. What's going on? We are mad at you. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, I, um, I have the great fortune of being able to work with an artist that wants to be great at everything and wants to treat music with such care and reverence and, you know, specialness that it is. It creates this, this world of. That's not good enough. You know, it creates this environment where, you know, when you, I remember when we had that one week where we had done nothing on you and billionaire, something was different. We have written a lot of songs, but something was different about those songs. We felt something different. Playing nothing on you was like, oh my god. What, what is that? Winded. We tapped into something. That became the barometer. Yeah. It's got to always feel like it's got to feel like you're on the level. It's got to feel it. I don't know what that is. It's got to feel like that. It's got to hit me like that. It's got to be special like that. Because there's a lot of good. A lot of good. A lot of good. But there's very few in that space where it's like, oh, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What is that? You know, and I think that is fun and exciting to find that, to chisel away at that. You know, we talk about it all the time. It's just like the best thing you can do is show up. That's the only prerequisite for creativity. In our camp showing up. Show up. As if we show up enough. And especially with these guys, you know, that are killing to none. Killers, you know, I mean, talking about Brody. You talking about man since he was 14, been that cold. Right. Demile James. You know, like there's a. A collective energy around that that has been excellent in many different spaces. Yeah. You know, so. Very. You can you can. Yeah. Yeah. You can feel it and then you can feel it when it's not there. So it's just like, you know, I think 24k magic took us a year and a and something to write. Wow. One song. And that's great for you to say that because I think it's turned into this thing, right? Because they'll go to the beginning of the interview and hear about you writing songs. Right. In one night. 30 minutes. Oh right. Eight songs. The one thing they don't realize is that none of those 30 minute eight, eight song, one night, songs are these songs. And nobody heard those songs. And a lot of a lot of this younger generation gets caught up into it. Obviously, we talk about all the time. This five. I'm surviving and I'm writing and I'm writing. But they're not really crafting. You're just getting out their thoughts. Which is cool. Yeah. But when you start looking at those charts and you see those records that are consistently at the top and those writers that are consistent at the top, these people are craftsmen and crafts women. Yeah. You know what I mean? These are not just somebody just getting a vibe off. You might get that off once, maybe twice. Yeah. But to do what you guys have done, to do the things that you've done, the things you've been a part of, it takes a different type of mindset. And you've explained it perfectly, bro. And I really appreciate that. I want to highlight you saying like this record took a year and a half. Don't get confused. Right. And it's funny because it's a fun record. And the most people probably think, oh yeah, I was just vibing and y'all came up with that. But no, y'all really went through that. I'm sure and dissected that record. Rest in that. Absolutely. Hold that out. I don't even know. Yo, and you know, the other part of it too, and maybe you can relate to this is, you know, I've been fortunate enough to also perform the record. So it's like, I've got the other side of it to now think about. So, you know, I remember when we were doing Versace on the floor. That song existed with an entirely different verse for nine months. A verse we thought was killing. It had some lines and we talk about these lines today. You know, money. But, you know, Bruno will go home and listen to it and try to perform it and feel it and say, okay, I got to get in front of thousands of people. Is this the truest truth of this song? And one day he came in the studio and he was like, the verse ain't it? After nine months. After nine months. The verse ain't it. And so, like hearing him say that, we know how long you can take the right verse. So it's just like, you sure, I think, you know, I think it is it though. You sure? Though, it ain't. Because do you play, how many times you play it? He's like to say it. And so, you're then starting from scratch. Right. And it would and really, you know, and, you know, a lot to his credit and to his genius. It's like, no, man, I can't imagine myself performing. So simple as that. And so he was like, no, man, we're in this world. And we know we're kind of in this 90s world. And, you know, Sean wouldn't open up a song like that and voice them in. You know what I'm saying? Juan Yewin, you know what I mean? Like you think about these things, but this is like the bar. Like you, you know, you guys are the bar. So, he played something completely different. And it's, let's take our time to not girl. Yeah. Above us all. And it was just like, okay, it is better than okay. Yeah. I'm glad you, yeah, yeah. I'm glad you were in the audition. I'm here. Bro, what? Shit. No, for real. Yeah. Not that, that is. So now, man, it's like now I'm in this phase of life where, you know, on the, on the journey of pursuing your dream and your craft, you don't know why you're doing it, what you're amassing. You're amassing lessons. You're amassing secrets, tools. A, a, a real blueprint, you know, not to repeat the success that you've had, but to enlighten the next generation of what could possibly happen for you. And this is what happened for me at this point. And I think maybe if I had to do it over again, I would do XYZ. But, you know, you make your own decision. So now it's like, man, I've got all this wealth of information. I want to share it. I want to get on the podcast and tell the stories. Yeah. Because people, and I heard you know, when you all interviewed Vince Herbert, he was talking about that. It's like, man, people need to hear these stories. People need to hear that it is attainable. But also like how hard you have to work. If you don't have a car, it's okay to take the bus. Right. If that gets you to a ride your bike. Boy, boy, we're in a car. You know what I'm saying? A Lincoln town car. And when it's supposed to be back in a week, never turn it in. See those mini roads to prison. That many you can take so many tires and end up in prison. But he tank. No kids. Don't. Don't steal the rid of car. Okay. Just get a bike. Be simple. Man, he was still finding me a sense of. Tank. Listen to the thing you talented, man. I'm here. This is... Come on, man. We'll be talented, man. Because if not, you're going to jail, brother. Shit. Some people come respect what I'm saying. He'd been a jail cop with tires, you know. They don't know. Tank really a thug. He really, he really liked that. It is not my fault. They all say that in the whole tank. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes. What you doing over there? I'm brother, you have... What is he done? Journey to the top of Mount Everest. Song, lyric and melody that is... affected the world. When they say top line, that's who they talk about. Mm, that's who they talk about. Top. But brother, we'd like to know... some of the songs and some of the artists... will influence your mountop journey. Yeah. We call that your... We call it, James. We call it... We call it... Yeah. Your top five. I'm all waiting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Your top five. Come here. Same. Same. Your top five. I would be his singer's... Oh. But it'd be song. Come on. Take a stand. We're going to know... Before you go... No, no. We're on the show. Everybody wants to know. We're going to take you to top five. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're wrong. Top five. Oh. Yeah. Come on, do it for the loresist. Clue. Oh. Top five. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Come on. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. See, I know what you're doing. I know what you're doing. That intro. You see, I know. I know what you're doing. For the next tour that you're putting them on. He's trying to be in that top five. See where I'm at. That's what that is. I know what you're doing. That tour that tour announcement went out. Your name wasn't on there. Do the love. Do the love. Don't get that. The sound of the available. Fill up. He's doing it. Your top five. R&B. Singers. Wow. Okay. Donnie had the way. You might as well. Yeah. Okay, Donnie. Yeah. I got a little loose in there. Why wouldn't you? Why would you not? Why would you? If you heard him sing a little bit. It's a legit pick. It's a legit pick. It would be sacrilegious. Hey, ma'am. If I did not add a wreath, I mean, she's. She's a queen of. I mean. And if I did not have her next two. Do I think I've got to do Whitney? Yes. I think I have to do that. We must. As an R&B singer, I have to do that. You feel me? It's something I must do. What's left with the pinky though? However, I was going the other way. He was the other way. That's fine. It works both ways. I was going to say plies, but. No, he's. He's been. He got plenty of money. He gave away a plenty of money. I miss plies, man. I would have to say. It might be a little controversial. Oh, it's ready. No. Oh, it's ready. Why don't we controversial? But because I'm leaving off Michael and Stevie. It's hard about this. It's your list. It's my list. It's your list. And Michael Stevie. Michael Stevie. Go ahead. You can go ahead. Go ahead. Michael Stevie. Oh, it's Michael Stevie. Oh, it's Michael Stevie. It's Michael Stevie. Okay. Okay. All right. Okay, I'm Michael Stevie. Okay. Okay. Your top five R&B songs. Yep. Yep. Yep. You got a lot of songs in your head. We know it. A lot of songs. You know it. To write the way you write, you know a lot of songs. A lot of them. A lot of music. What you only got five. Only got five. And you can name it. But you know what? If you want to name one of yours, you can. You can. Okay. You got nine. I'm going to do my best nine to do it. The ones. Ladies and gentlemen. Because y'all make R&B okay with nobody saying. Come on, man. Put the sand on it. Right. The authority. The authority. Said. Yeah. Yeah. The thing making R&B. That is a light skin. Come on. R&B artists. Let's go. Let's go. Hair curling in the mud. Let's go with before I let go. For me. Yes. Yes. Come on. The greatest pic Nick Sank of all time. All times. You can't have a essence. Fest without it. Let's lead with that. Yeah. Yeah. Number two. Lady in my life. Miguel is actually crafts. Men. Shit. Mm-hmm. That record. They all write that song one night. I'll put it on the next day. No way. No way. Year plus. Do the track in one night. No, none of it. I may have to stay with him. Okay. Come on. Come on. Let's say that's the thing. Because I had that most. You're from Indiana, brother. Yeah. Come on. You know me? You just where you from? I want to rock with you. Come on. Because I'm going to tell you what Benjamin Wright would say. That's my shit. That's the thing. I can't wait to see his. Yeah. Yeah. Is that two? No. That's three. Three. That's three. That's three. Yeah. Yeah. Two Michaels. Yeah. Oh, two more. Two more. A song for you, Donnie Hathaway. Yes. Timeless. Timeless. What I love most about Donnie Hathaway is that he never wanted to be a singer. He never saw himself as a singer. Imagine that voice never coming out. He only wanted to compose and write. And he had gone. I forget some label and he was doing the demos. I'm sure you got noticed. And they were like, who is that? Right. But I'm going to say, I don't see myself as a singer. Donnie Hathaway. And the final song are in B-10. Long live. Because it was just my imagination. I want to get. Yeah. That was nice. Yeah. It's music. It's a great song. It's music. Great song. Music. Okay. Okay. Your R&B Vosron. We're going to make your super R&B artists. We're going to grab the characteristics from artists beginning of time to now to the future wherever you pick. What vocal you're going to pick? Performance style. Styling. Passion of the artist. And who's right? Who's right is? Here we go. One vocal to build your super R&B artists. Who's it going to be? Who's singing themselves? Now I got to pull it back. It's Michael. Yeah. All right. You got to say it. That was hard. That last one. I need a minute. Hold up. Wait. You inhaled a wrong way. I'll never wake up. That's a good trick. You're gonna trick me. The performance style. All stage. James Brown. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Another king. Yes. Shit. Sweat at all now. All out. Um, um, Mr. Styling of the artist. The drip. The drip. I gotta go Michael again. I gotta go. You can't. You can't. You have you ever seen outfits costume? You don't miss. He don't miss. You don't miss. An originality gloves. You don't miss. The stitching. He got like five or six staple pieces. It was his commitment to the pieces. Nobody has that many staples. It was like socks, socks, gloves, penny loafers. That's real. You know what I mean? With his like zipper jacket. The jacket with a head. You know what I'm saying? He got the letterman cracking from the, the movie from the thriller video. So we can get to the hair. All fly. You handle baby here? What? Drop down curl? I have no baby. Dad right there. He got one with me. He still has baby. No, that's you see that? He's a baby. I'm not a baby. I'm a grownup man. He go cry with the really cool. I walked in and do his game and he said, it's your son? Yeah, that's my son. Man, stop my little brother. Right? It was his son. Like me. Crack baby. An Asian always a passion of the artist. The heart of the artist. Who means it the most? Beyonce. Yep. Yep. That commitment. That vote is like none other. Like none other. Like none other. Like none other. That artist is incredible. Out of your vote, Trondas. Crazy. I want to sign the artist. I want to sign the artist man. Oh, we got to find him. That's going to write for this. Yeah, who's going to write? I'm going to write the tunes now. It's totally up to you man. Come on. Fill him broth. Let's go. I'm gonna say. Let's go. I'm gonna say. Well, let's go. You're gonna mess over. Come on now. People are shaking. You're so low. Come on now. Come on. Put me in a coach. Y'all got something like a magic. Come on. Bro. You've done it bro. Yeah. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations man. is man. And you're going to continue to do it. Amen. Absolutely. I think that, um, even for us, you know, as long as we've been doing it, you know, we, we, we never fail to acknowledge the things and the people who are just dope and impressive. Yeah. And raising the bar for us. You know, I mean, we're, we're watching. And, and that is fuel. To say, I'm sitting right next to a guy with nine number ones, hot one hundred number ones. And he's probably going to have number 10. I need to study and see what the hell is going on. What he's doing. Pick is like that's. Yeah. appreciative of you even pulling up and sitting in this chair. Yeah. Thank you. Give him a step, bro. Did you didn't have to? You pay me, but I mean, did we? Because no, no, no, we didn't because you don't, you, you don't have to. Yeah. Now he did though. It's the answer he told me he had to. Oh straight up. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Okay. There's that. Yeah. Yeah. What? Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, that's a white shit. Oh, that's a clarification. That's real ownership. I didn't know you got me. Yeah. Hey, you belongs to someone. You belong. Congratulations, guys. Thank you. Oh, school. You belongs. And belongs. Spellat. Do you know what you're not doing? You're not. No. Hello. Hello. ST belongs. Wow. That would be in Webster. Shit. We did that. Ranked through me all the way off. Fill in my wife's. See that. Don't just. But that's how we got. That's how we got to feel here. Brother. It's what straight up. Thank you. You got to go do it. Thank you. Thank you. Because we needed to hear this. They needed to hear this. Amen. And they needed to see who it is. Ain't to see. Thank you, bro. Yes, sir. I appreciate you all. Anytime. It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. Pull back up, bro. I'll be back. Anything. Yeah. Of course. Anytime. We'll go around table. Yes. Talk. Hits. I mean, adult chart. That's not relative. It's not wrong. That's right. I'm moving tomorrow. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jake. I'm Jay Valentine. And this is the RV money podcast. The authority. Come on. Come on. Come on. All things are in the. Yes, sir. No. Love. Love. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. This is an I heart podcast guaranteed human.