One Song - DeBarge's "I Like It" with Bryan-Michael Cox

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

This week on One Song, Diallo and LUXXURY are joined by Grammy Award-winning songwriter, producer, DJ and music executive Bryan-Michael Cox to break down what makes DeBarge’s “I Like It” so special.  They discuss the group’s experiences with Motown and the Gordy family, the lofty expectations the label had for them as successors to the Jackson 5’s throne, and the just why “I Like It” has been sampled and interpolated countless times. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/onesong today. Have you ever dreamed of starting a business? Go to tailorbrands.com/podcast35 for 35% off all Tailor Brands services today. Get to Insurify.com to compare car insurance quotes in real-time and start saving today! Songs Discussed: “I Like It” - DeBarge “Believe” - Usher “Saturday” Childish Gambino “Stop! Don’t Tease Me” - DeBarge “I Call Your Name” - Switch “Throw Some D’s” - Rich Boy fr. Polow Da Don “30 for 30” - SZA and Kendrick Lamar “What’s Your Name” - DeBarge “A Dream” - DeBarge “I Ain’t Mad At Cha” - 2Pac  “Somebody’s Watching Me” - Rockwell “I Like It (I Wanna Be Where You Are)” - Grand Puba “Ride Wit Me” - Nelly “My Place” - Nelly “I Want It All” - Warren G “Joy” - Blackstreet “The Lady In My Life” - Michael Jackson “Candy” - Cameo “I Said I Love You” - Babyface “Love’s Train” - Con Funk Shun Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lexury, today's song is a classic from a family band that will have you asking the question, do siblings sing the best harmonies? That's right, Tialo. The song was this band's first major hit, peaking at number two on the R&B singles chart, has been sampled and interpolated dozens of times by artists ranging from friend of the show Warren G to LL Cool J, Fiance, and even Nellie, not just once but twice. Today on one song, you'll like it because we like it. We're talking I Like It by DeBarge.

After writer, director, and sometimes DJ Diallo Root. And I'm producer, DJ, songwriter, and musicologist luxury, aka the guy who whispers, Interpolation. And if you want to watch one song, please go to our YouTube channel and watch this full episode. And while you're there, please like and subscribe. And today, to help us break down, I like it. We have a special guest. We do.

A Grammy Award winning songwriter, producer, DJ, and music executive, whose music has shaped contemporary R&B and pop for over 25 years. His iconic hits include Usher's Confessions, Part 2, Mariah Carey, Shake it Off and Mary J. Blige's Be Without You, Among so many more, please give it up for Brian Michael Cox. Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me, man. I got to say, I was just at Anderson-Pox nightclub last night with my wife.

They played three or four of your songs. This man, I'm going to be talking to this man tomorrow. So, you know, that Mariah Carey still goes off so hard. Yeah, man. I appreciate it, brother. All the millennial ladies still rocking hard to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How does that feel, by the way?

Like, you know, just to know that so many songs come and go, but, like, your songs have just, you know, they continue to just blow open the doors. You know what, man, I mean, for real, it never gets old. I think people, you know, you hear people say, oh, yeah, well, you know, I'm, you know, hitmaker. Like, bro, like, it still amazes me. Like, I just came off a tour with Usher and, you know, watching the people still react to this music. You know what I mean? I saw a show in Vegas. Yeah.

Oh yeah, yeah, that's right. He had Sawadie up there singing, singing songs with him and stuff. And I'm from Atlanta, so I always take great pride in Usher's success. I feel like I put him where he is. He doesn't know this. I've been working behind the scenes decades. These songs have longevity. Do you have any, like, feelings or, like, ideas?

Like, why you think that is? Well, at the years, I've had different ideas, but I think now at this point, it's just, we've just stuck with it. It's like, you know, you really, really just plow through the storm. You know, you have ups and downs. And there's one thing, one lesson that Quincy Jones, you know, always just say, or we would say all the time is like, take care of the valleys that peaks take care of themselves, right?

So when you're in the valley, you just got to just power through, you know what I mean? I just really try to take care of your mental health and try to, you know, whatever you do. The career is a journey. It's not always going to be Grammy Awards every year. Yeah. Although a lot of years, a lot of years you win them. Yeah, you know, so for me it's like it's, to me it's simple. I just, I, I enjoy the work.

Like, I still enjoy making music. It's not like, oh, I'm doing music to become a whatever, you know what I mean? It's not the side hustle. No, no, I still enjoy going into the studio. It's this and nothing else. What else would you do even? Exactly. Yeah.

And also just, also, I think that people don't realize how many, how many records you don't hear that we make, or how many tracks. Yeah, like, what's the race? You know, that's a good question. As a producer, what's the ratio of B2 start to stuff that gets the point that you play for someone and you work on it, to stuff that gets finished, to stuff that gets released? Like, people don't know this. What is that ratio for you?

Like, if we're working every, like, I try to write every day. Okay. Right. So let's say you write one thing, or, you know, most times it's more than one. You'll do two or three or four ideas and one. You know, some of these kids are doing 20 ideas. 21 minute ideas. That's right.

That's right. me. I'm just... Eight bar loop, 16 bar loop, that's it. That's an idea at the end. I like to get at least flush out a lot of, some structure. You know, when I would say, man, you know, by the time you get to a placement, you might have, you might have created 45 to 50, like, songs. Yeah. You know, before you get to...

Fully fleshed out songs, not just the beat, but you put a melody in, you've done some lyrics, you done the whole thing. Even if there's no harmonies yet, if, you know, let's say you structured the track. You have a verse and a chorus, maybe. Yeah, verse, chorus. You may have two verses in the chorus. You know, you might get to 45-50 before you get to the one placement. And you never know.

So, you know, you may have a bashwater that 50. You know, you may last two years because you're just plucking off of the 50. You know what I'm saying? But then you're steadily making new things. It's just, it's a never-end cycle. Right. And it doesn't even take you to account that the ones that get placed, they're not all the singles. Exactly.

And not every single makes the top 40 or gets pushed for more than a few days. is they give up on it. Exactly. So it's a high, you know, the ratio of what you work on to what hits is really high. I've got to ask you this right out of the bat because I've been on the other side of that board and I know that there are times when you're like, this song is so good and then it doesn't get released or the label gets weird or the artist gets weird about it? Is there like one song, is there like one song you're like, man, that that's the one song?

I don't know. Why has it not been released? Like, people need to hear that song. Like, do you have a favorite? You have a favorite unreleased song? favorite unreleased song uh actually yeah right now it's a song right now this is on usher's current album a song called believe that i think that they should have literally put out it should have been a single from my perspective i love that song i've heard it yeah yeah like the fans were

asking for this song first of all they didn't even put the song on the album initially the fans were asking for the song because jermaine and usher would be like a clip doing pandemic we first of i wrote the song in like in like 2017. Wow. Like, first of all. Secondly, they were like playing songs during the pandemic on a live and played the snippet and the snippet kind of went viral

and everybody asked for the song. The album comes out the songs not on the album. So then they had to go do a re-release to put the song on the album. But then I feel like you know, it got, you know, got lost because they were going after all these other songs. I think Good Good was a great way to start. And I think I believe probably should

have came after or... They just went in a different direction. I believe it's justice for that song. Right. And the reason why it's important just to drive on the point is because the difference you're getting released and getting pushed and becoming a hit is money on it. It's like it's food on the table. Literally, right?

Like track nine that doesn't get any. It doesn't really help. It doesn't really help. You don't know what I'm saying? And when you have the fans, when the fans are actually asking for a song. Like that's the thing. Like, you know, beforehand, you know, we don't know. Beforehand it's like, okay, we hope the people get it and they like it.

You know what I'm saying? But for you to do a snippet, the snippet goes viral everywhere. It goes viral on X. It goes viral on Instagram. It goes viral on TikTok. Everybody's talking about this song. Right. And you guys don't go after that.

Like, that's the data you're looking for. I never understand that. It's crazy. One of my favorite Chowder's Gambino's songs of all time is a song called Saturday. He performed at one time on SNL. Yeah, yeah. And he's never put out a studio version. And every time you find a video of it,

people are like, why is this not available? This is nowhere. This doesn't even exist. You just leave them food on the table. I don't get it. We're going to get into all that. But I want to start this episode off by asking you, Brian, what does the group DeBarge and the song I like it?

What do they mean to you? Well, DeBarge is like such an important layer to like my development as a creative. You know what I mean? Growing up in a household that would, was musically, you know, driven. You know, my mother always, I mean, every, I can remember what release days were back in the early 80s, but whatever those days while my mama always be at the record store.

Yeah, it was Tuesdays. Yeah. Mama, we'd be at the record store every week, getting new records, new patches, new packs of records. What was your record store? In Houston, there was a record store called Soundwaves. Nice. Right.

They had Sound Warehouse back in the day, too. But Soundwaves was the Houston, like, you know, you get everything. Soundwaves actually still open in Houston. Is it really? It's still a function. in a record store. In Atlanta, we had turtles.

I don't think there's no turtles anywhere anymore, but turtles was great. So I always talk about the year in 1982, specifically in music, and how important that year is, how pivotal that year is, to just the music in general, but specifically what's happening in black music, right?

82 is a year that Prince comes out with 1999, 82 is the year that Michael Jackson released his thriller. 82 is a year that George Clinton puts out his first solo album, Computer games, Atomic Dogs on that record. 82 is when you have Evelyn Champaign King. You got Charlemar's second album. We're through a third album.

So it was like 82, to me, is like the year that this shift happened. You know, you're coming off a disco and you're in like this middle of this era they call Boogie. Totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because she's on the East Coast.

You have Leon Silver's on the West Coast. You have, you know what I mean? You're starting to get machines also. Exactly. Yeah. And this person. combination of live music and tenology. Yes.

You know what I mean? You get Jimmy and Terry in 82 doing the first. Oh yeah, Planet Rock was 82 too. Yeah. You know, so it's like 82 was this year. It's just like this music renaissance is happening. You know what I mean? Not to mention you got Toto doing Toto 4 and you got, you know what I mean?

All these stuff is happening, you know, in like late 81 or going into 82. And this music is just, it's some amazing, amazing music. The barge bits, they're so important in that transition. You know, because they had an album before. Well, it's also MTV's coming in, right? So that's another factor. The visuals start to be important, like what these bands are looking like. Exactly.

Yeah, right? Exactly. So you think that the barge had album before that, maybe two albums before that. They had one album before. It was the one that did nothing. It was like, yeah. So yeah, I'm before that. Coming off of the album before that.

brothers, you know, and Switch. Right? And I don't think any of us know what Switch looks like. I mean, not for real. I'll sound like, you know, maybe that out of a second album cover. You know, like it's one of the heads, the real music people, but you make a good point, which is that. I feel like to know DeVarge is to know, like,

what they look like, and we saw them, you know what I mean? And I think that MTV, you know, it's very important what the group looked like. Yeah. As opposed to those groups in the 70s, like to this day, I may not, a member of Tower of Power might well pass me. Exactly. Okay, who was that?

There's an album cover if you go to the record store. Otherwise, you might see a flash of it in the newspaper or maybe it's a flash on TV. For the most part, yeah, you're hearing it far more than you're seeing. Exactly. All these bands. So I feel like all this love, the album, all this love, is one of those albums just kind of like, wow.

Like it just kind of pops out. And I like it's like, you know, if you grew up in a, like, especially in a black household, like those, those, those. Which one of us did? those parties, those, those house parties, your mom and your dad, you know, throwing them little kickbacks and the barbecues, all that, all this music is such a major part of what,

you know what, that triggers your memory. So in 82, I'm what, five years old, you know what I mean? And I have such a strong memory of this music and that particular song specifically, because my Annie Jackie was a huge DeBarge fan. and all this love was one of her favorite albums but like literally so I remember I remember the song that was came on before

I like it because like literally when you would have to drop a needle on a record you're hearing the end of the one you don't want to hear you would catch the end of the real music and I remember it went right into it was like you're talking about stop them tease me right and at the end it would be like baby don't you just stop and it really fat

you've never heard any other part of that song that's only part of the song I don't know You know what I'm saying? Girl, I need more than jazz. You've got to please me. Baby, won't you stop? Piecing together a lot of what you're saying, what's interesting about this song, too,

is that it is kind of the, it's more of a 70 song instrumentally speaking to Arno drum machines. We have four trumpets on it. You're not getting trumpets on Prince Records, you know, not until later, I should say, New Power Generation, maybe. Yeah, but at this point. It was parade.

He started using live horns under the Chaymo. Right, yeah, he brings them back a little bit. But in this moment where we have maybe synth pop There's a lot of electronic music and like the English, the British stuff is coming into it and Prince loves that stuff and he's putting it in there. But DeBarge isn't doing that yet. They're on Motown, they're very gorty.

They're still kind of in the 60s, soul and R&B tradition. But in this moment, this song, it's like maybe the last moment that you can have it on the radio in that way in 1982. Before the machines take over. Yeah. It's interesting because I think about who played drums, Ali Brown played

played drums on us. Randy's playing bass. It's like you can tell they just went to the studio and he rehearsed and said okay take you know I like it take one yeah two two it's a band playing the song that's right you can tell you can tell that you know yeah well here and when we hear the stems you'll hear that there aren't any loops like Randy's playing the four the three and a half minutes so there's little differences even though it's just a looping baseline in quotes it's all real performers playing and there's little tiny differences wow across the song it's so interesting I was watching something about Greg filligames yeah talking about the

line on Thriller. Yes, on Thriller. I've seen that clip too. And he was saying that he basically played it. He said, that's why we, as the song goes along, they get heavy into the group because he's just playing that thing down, the same thing down. Yeah, because you get into a trance. And that's not something kids today know, producers today know, because why would you do it?

I did it once and it sounds good. I'll just like copy and paste that for 100 bars. Wow. Yeah. No, you're right. So it just goes to show you got to get yourself into that, into that trance place. Into the trance zone and just like repeat that line. And it will be, it'll kind of give more life to.

the music or a different kind of life. That's sort of how you whip yourself into a frenzy sometimes speaking in tongues in church. You know, that goes back to the black church tradition. Speaking of, before we get to these stems, let's talk a little bit about the origins of DeBarge. Like so many black artists, this story begins in the church. And their mom, Etterlene DeBarge, was a gospel singer in Royal Oak, Michigan, who, you know,

met at an early age, a gentleman who we won't linger. on but Robert DeBarge Sr., a white military guy, very abusive guy. We're not going to linger on him, but at some point she takes her family and all these children that she has, and they move to Detroit. They start, like, you know, literally, you know, singing on the street. And it's like a family, it's truly a family affair. And one thing that I noticed when we were preparing this episode is that the members of the DeBarge family, they all have these nicknames and almost none of them makes sense.

Like, there is so questionable. You've got Eldra who becomes El. Okay, that one's fine enough. Ederling gets nicknamed Bunny. You've got Mark, whose nickname is Marty with a T. Sounds like Ms. Heard. You've got William whose nickname is Randy. Randy.

James is just James. Jonathan becomes Chico. Darrell becomes young, and Carol becomes peaches. These are real nicknames. These are not like somebody shortening David to Dave. But, you know, they start, you know, singing. They eventually get the chance to work with Switch, which is a Motown group consisting of Tommy and Bobby, which is really one of these groups that, like, I feel like when I was young and I heard Switch songs,

I thought it was DeBarge. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounded like a DeBard song. And one of the songs that comes out of this collaboration is the song I Call Your Name. Yeah. I Call Your Name is really a fantastic song. I know that Blake has actually never heard this song before. And I want to play it for him because mainly for the intro.

Because I want to get his reaction in real time to what I think is one of the greatest intro to any song of all time. Here is the intro. It's fantastic. For the song, I call your name. I used to think about immature things. Immature things. You know, like, do you love me?

Do you want me? Are you going to call me like you said you were? Is this your real phone number? I mean, I just felt like he was being so vulnerable in that moment, especially with, is this your real phone number? Are you going to call me like you said you was? It was that inner monologue that I just think made that song so special. And you can't bring up, I call your name,

without mentioning how it was sampled by Rich Boy and Polo de Don in Throw Some Dees. I think until this moment, I didn't realize that I had the edited version, but that's from when I used to earn a living as a DJ. you get these mixed-aged crowds you got to have that that clean version of you got you let's make sure we don't make the the kendrick fans in the comments mad because it's also used on oh yeah that's the way i like it and that's the way i like it and that's the way i like it's gonna smile for none of these bitches that's the way i get that loop in that one time yeah oh i can't why can't wait to see that line they work with switch that basically gets the attention of barry

he goes into the office with his siblings they perform for barry and he's like yo let's do this album So they do this album and what can you say? It does not, doesn't do like no business. Like it's a flop. I think that's pretty safe to say. The one song that comes off of this album is it's almost like they were trying to continue with I Call Your Name. Let's listen to it's called What's Your Name? Another conversation.

In her monologue. No, I just, I mean, they didn't have, maybe they didn't have therapy. This was their like outlet. Absolutely. You know what's interesting about DeBarge, the group DeBarge and the producer, right? So Iris Gordy. Yeah. I was interesting if you ever talked to Elle, right, about his frustration with Iris, Gordy was that she wanted him to be Bobby.

Basically, he's Bobby Jr. You know, basically that you know, but he has the false. He has the, he even looks like Bobby. He's like Bobby's twin, you know what I mean? Bobby's in Switch, the older sibling and kind of helps DeBarney. Just get off the ground. Exactly. So Elle is like, but he's like the gift.

Elle is like he got the gift. Everybody got the gift, but Elle got the, he got the gift, right? So Iris is basically saying, you know, I'm producing you like Bobby. I need you to sound like Bobby. You know what I mean? That's a lot of pressure. And the pressure is crazy. So he's like, you know, why he wants me to sound like my brother?

I want to sound like myself. You know, there was a lot of that in the beginning. You know what I mean? And then with, I like it, it was very specific. She was like, you wish you could sound like your brother. Yeah. That's how like that's what, that's what pushed him to try to, like at the end with the falsetto at the end of I like it and all. That's him showing Iris that he could do.

He did. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, I want to get ahead. But once you get into the stems, I learned a couple things about the song. I didn't know. But there's the interband. I was going to look for that word, internecine.

Yeah. What I don't know. I don't know. I don't say it. That's like a word you read. but never say out of life. It's when the siblings, the sibling rivalry.

Yeah. The sibling rivalry happening on this song and beautifully coming together in the harmonizing. But, you know, behind the scenes, and again, we'll get into a little bit, there's a little more than meets the eye with kind of like trying to get that,

you know, the Bobby's footsteps situation, I think. Yep. Another thing that people don't talk about a lot with DeBarge, the group DeBarge specifically, is literally their songwriting. Yes.

Like some of the most talented and most incredible songwriting from Bunny to Elle to Randy like the songwriting is just ridiculous I'm glad we bring this up because the group does make some changes after that first album floss they had James they had James yeah they had James to the mix and then with him there and with Elle now feeling a little bit more

you know I feel like confident in his production and his production of skill they produced their second album which is the one that we all know it's all this love which features the song of today I like it. So now we have sort of like, you know, Peak de Barge at this point. And this is where I actually want to stop and say, Brian, you know something about working with a group that has family members in it. Yeah. Okay. You know that dynamic. You work with Jagged at. Yeah. Trust me. I know.

Identical twins, Brian and Brandon. Can I ask a question about Jagged Ed? Yeah. In working with Jagged Edge, do you feel like there was something unique about the creative process when you got the, when the band members are literally family? Right. Pros and cons of that, maybe. Well, they might come in like, you cut the head off my G.I. Joe 10 years ago. And they're twins.

Oh, man. So there's a, there's an almost like. Yeah, there's a shared brain and something. Yeah, like they'll come to the studio dressed alike. They didn't even realize they were put on the same clothes. Like that kind of, you know what? Science is still not figured that out. Like, yo, y'all are doing this on purpose.

I swear we're not doing this on purpose. You know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about? That's crazy. So when you're, you know, that's crazy. So when you. you're dealing with twins and they finish each other's sentences. It's really just, it was an interesting dynamic for me being that young too.

Like we were so young when we started making music together. And I didn't even really have a time to grasp the dynamic then. You know what I mean? It was kind of like, okay, we were moving so fast. And I was thinking, especially work with Brian and Brandon, because they could finish each other's sentences, because they were like basically one brain, well, I couldn't move fast enough. I couldn't make tracks fast enough.

You know what I'm saying? because they were just so Because they had their own shorthand. Yeah, they were just on to the next. You had two voices saying, hurry up. Exactly. So I feel like that was a pro, right?

A con is when they would try to be individuals, right? I feel like they would start arguments just to shake the money up. Because they often need to differentiate. Yeah. Right? They already have the names that are so close and the clothes. They're the same. You know, they look alike and they sound alike.

You know, they sing the same. It's just, you know, unless you're like me or Jermaine who really knows them. Like, I know, I mean, I obviously know them through and through now. I know who's who. I know their voice is doing through. You know what I mean? But in the beginning, it was very, very interesting to see that dynamic. Iris's job is what you just described, but like times five.

Yeah. So there's five. And with Bobby, Bobby stopping to the, stopping in the studio, chastising him. And the other four siblings are probably on the phone every now. I was not even in a group, and he's coming in there chastising them, and, you know, like, it's a crazy. There's 10 opinions. Yeah. There's 10, you know, situations.

There's a lot of, I'm sure with everybody being family, there's a lot of issues around, like, credits and also splits the goes. Oh, absolutely. And this is where this man knows quite a bit. So, you know, this is a little off the beam path. You know, stay with me. Mark is the sole writer, right? Oh, really? I didn't know that.

Stay with me, right? And it's interesting because L is like, I wrote that too. Okay. The L didn't get, you know, any publishing, marked out for publishing. This is the time. Bunny tells the story that this is this record and this song is around the time that these conversations, they didn't happen before. They were blissfully ignorant about it to a degree, probably because they were kept from it by Barry Gordy, like not the best way. But the idea of publishing and splits and who wrote what meaning money wasn't really in their minds until this song.

and there is stuff that we're about to talk about with the sum, but that's interesting that it carries on. Yeah, like, Mark is so writer, and Elle is like, yo, because Elle produced it, but Elle changed a lot. You know, Elle is a gifted piano player. You know what I mean? He changed a lot. He structured.

He was, you know, he wrote it too. And for that to be like the most sample DeBarre's record and you know, tell how much money Mark made from that song, you know what I mean? Like in real life, you know what I mean? Talk about that sample you're talking about. And just, and the way you're talking about it, just really brings up. Almost every episode of this show, we talk about how in songwriting,

you need to math something that's really unmathable. Who wrote this? When there's more than one person, the value of a contribution is like two people have to agree on a number. And what is that number going to be? Because in the one person's mind, it's probably never going to be exactly the same number as that other person, so you've got to have some trust. So the songwriting credits for I Like It By Debarge show three names right now. If you look in the public records, it's L DeBarge, it's Randy Debarge, and it's Ederline and Bunny DeBarge. But if you bought the record in 1982, you would not have seen Bunny's name on there. So something has obviously happened in the ensuing years where a lot of other stories have gone down.

And there's a lot of public, unfortunate sort of back and forth between the siblings, the story you just told. Clearly at the time, my speculation would be based on that fact of if you have the 45 of I like it. It just says Elda Barge and Randy on it. It doesn't mention Bunny. My speculation would be that at a certain point Bunny was told or learned about how this money stuff works on public. and what these names mean when hers is left off. And, you know, it's difficult. I wouldn't begin to speculate that that is why the rest of the conflict between the siblings

began, but it seems like it might have started around this time. You could definitely look at that as the genesis of it. It could be. You know, of the music business, you know what I mean? I mean, they have a lot of that with those two albums, but all of this love and the special way. It's a lot of like who wrote what, who got credited, like a dream. and Bunnies credited solely on a dream. You know what I mean?

Right. A dream, which is a fantastic song. Yeah, fantastic. And was prominently sampled in a Tupac's, I ain't mad at you. Yeah. All the homies that I ain't talked to. I'm going to. Blackstreet and, you know, goes crazy.

Oh, yeah, Blackstreet. Yeah, that's right. And they kind of use the Tupac sample, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Elder Barich, who's the producer, of these two albums, you know, maybe the siblings like, well, yo, you produce an album. Yeah, you're already getting great on that.

You're getting production royalties. You get money to get five or ten times as much the rest of us here. You know, and then, not to mention, Barry Gordy had a plan to pluck L and make him, you know. So it's, they got a lot. Yeah. A lot there. The business came in and started to unfortunately break apart the siblings and

the family. Well, after the break, we'll get into the stems that send chills up my spine every time. We'll be right back. Oh, you got to say that the right way. Chills up my spine every time to be my back. I've even thinking about starting a business, but not quite sure of how to take it to the next step. Well, Taylor Brands is here to simplify that.

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incredible he used to be for those who don't know the drummer for the song i like it by debarge uh started life uh among other things playing with radio with ray parker junior so let's listen to some Olly Brown on drums starting from that opening pickup. Yeah. That was the kick. That's what makes it. Oh, you know what? I just noticed, listen, the kick drum.

Yeah. Again. It's like a, then he goes back, three on the floor. Three on the floor. You got to do that. It really is. It's just that one hit. For real.

That one kick drum. Yeah. That unexpected little, significant moment. Little, just minor detail. Yeah, real basic. You know, that just, that just, that make it, give it the proper feel.

And it's just the unexpected. Because, you know, you think you know where that drum's going to hit, and it's always like, yeah, and that sets us up for the verse. In the chorus, it's a little bit different. Let's just listen to it for kicks. And then he just goes straight up. He gets rid of a little syncopated moment.

Should I put in a little bit of, let's tease a little bit of bass to give us some context. By the way, another unsung hero. Yeah. We always have unsung. heroes on this episode. I would say Bunny DeBardge, one of the unsung heroes for that songwriting credit. She, by the way, I think it's the bridge that she made a contribution to or post-chorus. The other one, though, is Randy DeBartz, because I got some surprises for some

people, not everyone in this room. He's not just playing bass in this song, but he is playing bass. Yeah, I'm going to throw in a little bit of that for context. Yeah, at the bass is. The bass is ridiculous. Hmm. Some taste. And there's two, like, passing notes, I guess, like those sort of chromatic, unexpected? Yes. The leading tones. Dun,

he flattens that note. It directs you to the note it's going to, and you can't wait to get there. It's so tense, but it's delicious. And then finally we have this, again, it's a bridge, maybe it's a post-chorus, but right after the chorus,

we have the second hook of the song. And by the way, it's a different singer, a little bit of foreshadowing. And let's hear what the drums do there. Kind of throws in that open eye at. I'll give you a little bass. Wow.

It's so funny. It's so delicious. Randy's working overtime. Randy's working double time on this song. Absolutely. Yep. Sounds like they are like, we have a point to prove. It sounds like, you know, y'all are just going to write us off

That's some, you know. Us instrument players, you know what it was supposed to do, but now it's coming back. We musicians who play drums and bass, it's 1982. I know Planet Rock's over there with the Aida Waits.

I know Prince is over there playing with a Lynn drum. I know a lot's going on. On 1999, he's got both, right? He's playing with a Lynn drum and he's playing live. Well, at this point, DeBarge is not into drum machines yet.

No. But they don't need them. They don't need them. That's all I wanted to hear. They don't need them. Towards the end, we get Randy, and Ali locking in because the last minute and half of the song is, we got a longer bridge and one more chorus. And they just, they just go crazy.

When I say go crazy, I mean, they lock in. This is crazy. That loop is just so gratifying. Crazy. Here, over and over again and not be bored by it. Well, but let's move on to some of the other instruments. What do we hear in the keyboard piano family on this song? What are we listening to?

Well, again, they're not. They're not ready for since yet. So there are keyboards, but it's a Rhodes and a piano. So again, still with the 70s soul funk instrumentation. It's still good. No one's bad at it yet. But yeah, they didn't buy the Junos or anything yet. So let's hear the credits, by the way, are to Russell Farante, who is in the yellow jackets.

Another type of, you know, sort of Tower of Power, you mentioned. It's another type of like kind of fusion band of the late 70s. And Raymond Crosley. Not sure who's playing what. Well, let's check it out, starting with the roads and then I'll air the piano on top because they're pretty much just doubling each other. And piano comes in. Those chord brushes are so great.

That little hook. The progression is so fantastic. Yeah. And it's simple, but it's good enough to last the duration of the song. There's a little variety in that bridge. It kind of extends it and adds it, throws a new chord in there. Yeah, let's go to that section, the bridge section, which is a little variety, but not by too much.

And I'll bring the instruments in one. time. Wait, let me hear that. You can hear the drums and the blee. That's a band playing. I just love this piano so much, by the way. I just want somebody sitting at a piano playing this point, you know. And you can tell it's a piano player because they're sort of taking the voicing as they go along.

Add those high notes, but same chords. There's just so much life in that music. There's so much life. And we've talked on the show many times about, like, how do we get back to just feeling like life, you know, in the music? Yeah, man. And the dynamic, man, the dynamic of, you could tell he's leaning in. He's like leaning in. You can feel the musical communication, like looking at the drummer.

You can hear his posh. You said earlier in the show that, like, you know, the trumpet, the trumpet of the saxophone will soon fall out of favor. Yeah, I mean, it hasn't happened yet, though. But it has not happened yet. I love the horns on this song. What can you tell us about the horns? All right.

So not unusually, but it's interesting, I should say, that it's, it's, the horn section is really four trumpets, which I think is. is kind of one of the characteristic sounds of this song. It is the one thing that takes it out of the bass drums keyboard family. So we've got Mark DeBarge, one sibling, with George Boannon, Ray Brown, and Roy Popper. And let's just, without further ado, listen to them, horn it up. No, I said that. Horning it up. I stay with it. Let's horn it up. Oh, that reverb. Reverb's doing some work there. So it's just a unison line also, right? Four horns, yeah. I guess doing octave. but no like thirds and fifth and stuff, which is interesting.

A little bit later, there's another horn line. So let's listen to that. This happens in the chorus. There's your harmony staff. I think that's doubling the vocals, too, right? Let's listen. I'll bring in little tease of those background vocals with the horns so we can him together.

With a little call-in-response thing there. You just teased us with those background vocals, and I think we all felt that moment. Crazy. That was so beautiful. And then there's one more part in the post chorus where they do a more staccato thing. I love bringing one thing back at a time and getting a little lost. Those cards are just punctuating that same.

Yeah, I love everything there. I love how interlocking it is, like you said. But I got to say, I have newfound respect for that piano because that piano is just like crystal clear. Yeah, man. Yeah, yeah. Special happening there. What's happening with the guitar? All right.

So, interestingly, we have three guitar players credited. did. And it's not like a super important part of the track. I mean, I will play for you the parts, but I barely hear three players in this. But it is Curtis Anthony Nolan, who interestingly produced the Rockwell song, Somebody Wachshould. Rockwell is a gorty, so that makes a lot of sense. Oh, right. I didn't think about that. So he's in the family. He's in the family. Yeah. We got Robin Lee Ford. By the way, just for the one song nation, a couple callbacks with this gentleman. He was in LA Express with Tom Scott. Go back to our Steely Dan episode. He played one of the guitar solos also in that same episode that was not used on Pegg.

I remember I was talking about that. Yeah. And last but not least, he was in the yellow jackets with Russell Ferranti. He was also in this track. Who was signed by Tommy La Puma. Go back to our George Benson episode for that one. You don't have to go very far away. We're making connections to other episodes of this show.

We talk a lot about him on our George Benson episode. Tommy, you used that guy. Yeah. Yeah. So it's the two of them with Charles Fearing, also from radio with Ray Parker Jr. and, you know, tell me how many guitars you hear here. Such a snapshot of what was happening in the L.A. music scene. Totally.

Such a snapshot of, like, these musicals. The circle of musicians. The first call players for these sessions. Yeah, like, you know, just incredible to hear those names because it's such a great snapshot of what was happening back then. Here's the guitar part by those three players. That's about it. That happens a few times.

I'll give it to you in context. I know we're at it. Yeah. So that's in the chorus. I'm laughing because, I mean, they do some more stuff later on. But right now, that's all that was needed in the chorus. Because when you throw it into the mix with the rest of it, it helps with the answer part of the call and response there.

I'll bring back some of the other instruments that lead up to that moment. That's all that they need. I mean, it's a little bit of a spice. And then later on in the song, they have a little bit more of a chance to unwind with this part. Context? This is the final bridge. And when I hear stuff like that, that's like, as we've been talking about, these are session players. By the time they get to the three minute mark, they're like, let's just kind of like let loose a little bit.

And you start hearing kind of fun things in the track. Because not looping, they're performing. And they've played that part a lot. So they're ready to kind of like vary it up a little bit. But that is the totality of guitar in the song as played by those three players. Shout out to those three players and what they're brought to the song. I know one thing I love about the song are the vocals. Me too.

And I want to hear some of these isolated, wonderful vocals from the DeBarge crew. So where do you want to start? Well, listen, I alluded to Randy Debarge being one of the unsung heroes, co-writer, bass player of that's, you know, half of that stone groove when we just locked in the bass and drums. He shares the song with Elle, but it's him who starts the song. And it's him that hits that first high note. So I think a lot of people are surprised when you see the video and it's like, hey, that's not Elle singing and hitting that high note. So let's give Randy DeBarge his flowers and listen to his opening verse. The things you do seem so satisfying to me, I must confess it, girl.

Okay, so we get the background vocals. We'll hear them in a second. Don't you fret. You send chills up my spine. Girl, you're blowing my... All right, so that was Randy hitting those two high parts. And then L takes over for, I guess what we're calling the bridge, this post-chorus moment. I like the way you comb your hair.

And I like those stylish clothes you wear It's just the little things you do That's show how much you really care What are you hearing when you hear these isolated vocals? Well, I mean, for me, it's just The first thing is when you are a family And hearing the similarities And the timbre of their voices

But knowing the difference, like they have their own individuality thing That's amazing But they have such similar tones but the way it plays off each other is amazing to me. It's similar but different enough. But I did have a hard time finding the moment that Randy stops and Elle begins. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah. It's, it's, I would say with Elle, you could tell that he had the, almost like the youthful energy. Yeah. You know what I mean? More sultry. You know what I mean? More mature.

What's wild is that, you know, hearing this, I say it for the first time, when Elle comes in, you're calling useful energy, but I also feel like there's a little bit of like that Michael Jackson style growl. You know what I mean? Like there's a little bit of that. And you don't know. I mean, like this is 1982.

So, but you feel like there might be not, I don't want to say competition. I'm saying like there might be influences going. Oh, no, they were definitely in that. They're very well. It was definitely a bit of that. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. I've never noticed that before. I knew that the Barge family was thought. of is, oh, this could be the next iteration of the Jackson's. But not until I just heard that. Did I hear the similarity with the Michael of that era? Well, it's interesting to hear too, and I want to get your opinion on this. Because, like, we know for Randy, that was him.

And he was nailing it. And there's no problems with what he did. But across the, like for the rest of their career together, how much Randy is in the mix? I mean, Elle kind of gets bumped up to number one, front and center, right? If you had to use comparison, because it's like, it's like, Jermaine and Michael. Yeah.

There's competition. Of course there's competition. You know, Jermaine is on all those songs, you know, I'll be there. Like all them songs, Germain is singing. Mm-hmm.

You know, he's just as important on those records as Michael. Right. At some point, you know, that's got hurt. You know what I mean? So, you know, and with Randy,

also same with Jermaine, base player. Oh, interesting comparison. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. The thing about the Barz and Jackson's, the,

the resemblance is so eerily. It's eerie. The similarities is really crazy because they're both from the Midwest. Right. You know, there's a lot of them. It was a lot of the Jackson's a lot of the Bardsons. You know what I mean? Both Motown.

You know, you have to say that maybe Barry Gordy was because he was salted and the Jackson left. Right? So you got to say that he's like, I'm about to get the Jackson's again. Yeah. And, you know, let's, you know, we have, you know. I'll make another hove, so to speak. Exactly. And let's play a bit into the colorism. You know, it's a little bit of, oh, these cats might be a little more marketable.

Well, we haven't talked about that, but that's a whole other podcast, my friend. I know, but with marketing, you think about it. He's how these record labels market things. Like, he probably looked at them as like, oh, yeah, you know, five light skin kids. Oh, right. Because in 1982, Michael Jackson's still not on MTV. I mean, Thriller is the beginning of it. Thriller's the beginning of it.

But in early 1980, 2008, too, before it's on the radio. And Michael. won Grammys for Off the Wall but was not televised. He won one American Music Award, you know what? Like, Michael was really upset about, I mean, off the wall

so 10 million records. I mean, it's kind of insane. You don't televise it. I didn't know it was not televised. Yeah, they showed the commercial through, it was commercial, he won the non-televised part. So it was like, yo. You know what I mean? And another thing about, to your point about Barry Gordy is that

Bunny tells the story about they almost lost their deal with Motown because they had a different management deal. And Barry had come in. She tells this, it's very charming story about how she didn't really understand that Barry was saying, hey, I also want to manage you, which, as we now know, to be double-dipping. Like management and label and publishing. Publishing. Yeah.

It's all that. It's all Joe Beat, you know, publishing. So Barry comes in and says, you know, implies that he wants that, but doesn't say it. And they miss the point. charming story, like they didn't get it. So they go and sign with somebody else. And then they learn that their album is being shelved. Yeah.

And then someone explicitly says to Bunny and her siblings, what that means is if you don't sign with Motown for management, it's over for you guys. Your career is done. So they quickly, on a kind of technicality, get out of their management deal. And they sign with Barry. But that's, you know,

that's unscrupulous. Like to have that trip to living. Yeah. But it also shows you how relentless Barry was to replace the Jackson's. You get that backstory. That's really him saying, I'm mad at the Jackson's. Yeah.

I'm going to put all of my, double down. My might into getting this. Power move. And to get in this group up the ground. Which makes it even more interesting. There's this moment on Motown 25. Richard Pryor introduces DeBarge.

And they do this outstanding performance of all this love. It's an outstanding performance. Fantastic. Yet the only thing that people really talk about in terms of Motown 25 today is Michael Jackson Moonwalk. Is Michael saying, hey, I like those old songs. Like, you know, and walking away from his brothers and sort of, you know, launching into the strategy. He launched Thriller on a Motown show. Yes.

Barry had to be. Appaplectic. He needed that moment, though, for the ratings. Like, Barry probably was, it probably was bittersweet for Barry. Yeah. So on backing vocals, we have five debarges. It's Bunny, Mark, James, and then Ellen Randy again. And here's a five-part harmony stacked by siblings,

and therefore it is perfection. Of course. I get chills up my spine. Every time. But here's the best part is the second time they do it. I mean, look, on the show, sometimes we like to have a far argument. This is my vote for the best part. Anybody with me?

Or do you want to hear it first before you place your vote? Yeah, let's hear it. This is the best part of the song, Fight Me. And then as we get towards the end of the song, the backing vocals, They have a new part, which is that I'm for it, adore it. Let's listen to that. I like it.

I like it. So come let me enjoy it. I like it. That part sounds weird in isolation. You know, like in the song, it sounds like perfectly harmonized with everything else. But like, well, let's bring. There it almost sounded eerie. Yeah, no, let's listen to that part again.

But I'll add back some context, one instrument at a time. So backing vocals first, and then I'll bring some more stuff in. I like it. I like it. I like it. Just bass and drums and vocals. I hate hitting stop on this show. I hate doing it.

What do you hear when we listen back to some of that stuff? I'm curious to, I would love to talk to Elle about what he feels when he hears this music. You know what I'm saying? When he hears his song from four years ago. When he hears it. It's one thing like obviously he plays, he's on tour. He does his thing. But like when, like to hear this stuff isolated this way.

and to hear really the innocence. You know what I'm saying? They sound like kids. The naive aspect of them not even really even knowing what they're entering into. Yeah, right. You know, what happened to them in this business. That is such a, that's what erie to me. Like they sound so innocent.

Yeah. And this. Young, barely teenagers, right? Some of them not out of their kids. Yeah. Late teens, early 20s. They sound young. They sound.

fresh, they sound optimistic of life and they're making their second album, they're now prime for success. With Motown, it must be exciting for them. Yeah, what's on the other side of this success. Right, right. And they don't even know if it's going to be a success. Yeah, but just, I just, I hear optimism, I hear

excitement about being in the studio. I hear just what I feel is just you know, I just hear optimism and innocence. When you hear it, bro, broken down like this, does it just rev your energy to be like, oh man, I want to get back in the studio right now?

Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And it's inspiring because, too, you know, people think when you write songs, right, sometimes we can get in our head. We could be overthink. We over, you know what I mean? Everything has to be perfect.

Yeah, we made over lyric it. We made over, you know what I'm saying? Over with the overdubs, over, you know, we tend to over, you know, want to use every aspect of the studio. And I think that this is a prime example of just when it's good, it's good. Yeah, they had like, they had from 10 to 5 that day or whatever to get these studios in to like pay them to be there and their engineer in the studio time. And at the end of the day, what they recorded was what they mixed and put out.

You know, they couldn't overthink it by having it in their pro tools rig for, on their laptop at the airport. At your hotel room. I'm like literally as like tweak tweak tweak till it's like dead sometimes yeah like I think that there's something extremely beautiful and special about the simplicity

of you know this record so even though the DeBarge family is unfortunately no longer making music together this song has left behind a huge legacy having been sampled and interpolated countless times and we've talked a lot about unsung heroes in terms of making this music but I would argue that DeBarge themselves as a group is an unsung R&B.

I mean, their music had such an influence in the 80s. It's one of those weird things where, like, if you weren't in, if you weren't around for it, they can easily get left out of the conversation about talking about R&B in the 80s. But their influence was huge. And I think their legacy is secured by just the sheer number of hip-hop artists and R&B artists who have come along and sampled them. Yeah. You know, we are protected their legacy by, you know,

sampling them, interpolating them, and using their lyrics in so many songs. So many songs. But the first one that springs to my mind just being a hip-hop head is Gran Puba. Yes. The song is, I like it, and it's by Gran Puba. I mean, that song really takes me back to a very special time. And by the way, you know, like, that was at a time when, like, I didn't know every sample. You know, it was always like a pleasant thing when you're like, oh, wait, is that the bar song?

You know, like, we didn't have the internet in the same way back. then so you had to talk to somebody and be like yeah that's that's a large sample yeah for sure the line I like the way you comb your hair and I like the stylish clothes you wear and it's so 1982 first of all it is and it's also we've heard it in so many so it's like yes it's like a go-to yeah for so many rappers for so many songwriters but as a songwriter too just like it's it's adorable these lyrics are adorable it's that innocence you were talking about because then it goes on to it's just the little things you do that show how much you really care that's so like cute songwriting.

That wouldn't happen now. He's like, I like the way you comb your hair. That shows that you care. And by the way, this is a long... That did you comb your hair? Because, you know, if a girl says, but she ain't combed the hair, then you're just like,

does she really love me? Is that really her phone number? Yeah, like, you don't care? He goes spiraling again. You don't care enough to comb your hair. She put on some unstilish clothes, which we all have. Yeah.

They love us wear too often. And Nellie, by the way, has used that many times. Yeah, no, I love how much Nellie obviously love the song. because shows up not just once. So here's Rye with me by Nellie featuring City Spud. Spud.

I like the way you brush hand. And I like those style of clothes you wear. I like the way to light hit the ice and glen. I can see you from where over there. If you want to go and take a- You know, comb, I don't think she'd use a comb. I think she used a brush. Yeah.

It's an update. It's an update. She brushes a hand. The 21st century, man. You got it, Nellie. You got that. Yeah, nah. I mean, Nelly, obviously, I think people underestimate his taste in music.

Like, Nelly is a huge R&B fan. Like, he loves old school R&B music. And that's his, like, that's his, I mean, of course, that in country music. Yeah. And he's also from the Midwest. Yes. So he's keeping that Midwest tradition going. Yeah, and he loves DeBarge and he loves the song, I like it.

And he likes it so much that he did it again. My Place from 2004 by Nelly. So Altogether Now, what is this? Is this the sample or is it a interpulation? Oh, I'm the only one who did it. You all right. It's a lyrical. Oh, I'm sorry.

It's all right. It's an interpolation. It's a lyrical interpolation. It's a recent. It counts as an interpolation. And we got to mention the Warren G lifted. I like it for I want it all. I want it all.

I want it all. House is expenses. My own business. A truck. And a couple of business. I won it all. Brand new stocks and draws. And I'm bowling every time I'll stop and talk to you.

Brand new. Sox and draws. That is a classic. I want it all. By the way, I love the fact that, like, socks and clean underwear made the list of all. Yeah. That means a lot. Brand new socks and draws.

Brand new socks and draws. Love it. Again, we could talk about songs by Beyonce, L.L. Cool J., so many others that are keeping the legacy of DeBarge alive. I mean, like, it's not today's song, but stay with me. Yeah. how it was sampled for the notorious BIG's One More Chance remix. We always say that song changed urban radio.

At that point, they had to play hip hop in the daytime, which was such an earth change. And I just feel like their legacy is safe. How do you feel about the legacy of DeVar? Oh, no, the legacy is there. The legacy is safe. They have it. You know, even if you know any of the kids, you know,

they understand it. They, you know, and the talent, I mean, the family was so talented. You know what I'm saying? Just a talented group of people, you know what I mean? And the barge to me is like, even though they, their run was cut short, the barge to me is in the same kind of like pedigree as for our culture as like a Franklin Beverly amaze. Absolutely. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Like just. Big time. They're there. They've always. been there, they'll always be there. Zab and Roger. Zab and Roger. Absolutely. Zap. I mean, like certain people, that's just, it is

what it is. You know what I mean? And DeBarge is that group. That's so funny because I think that despite whatever we can't, we don't, we can't know what was going on in Barry Gordy's head. He clearly thought at some time I have some New Jackson's and because they look the way they do, this is going to be a huge crossover success. Ironically, I feel like DeBarge didn't really have the same level of crossover success as a lot of other artists did. And therefore, they're sort of forgotten.

So, like, when you go to, like, you know, your wife friend who likes R&B, you'll be like, hey, they'll be like, oh, I like Barry White, but they don't always know Teddy Pendergrass. You know what I mean? And they might know Michael and Prince, but they're not always going to know DeBarge. You know what I mean? It's just one of those groups that, like, you said, is like, it's so black. You know, like, it's such a black thing to reference. It's so crazy.

And what's it's like, you ever have a conversation with you. with baby face, he'll talk about how he was like, man, they were like dugs. You know what I mean? They was like, they was, they was with, you know, with that energy. They were, he's like, they were, you did not, you did not want to like have no problems with them.

Because they was, you know what I mean? Michigan would come out fast. Yeah. So it's like, but also, it's, it's to, it's to contrast. It's like, just imagine them growing up being mixed kids in a place like, Detroit or Michigan Like they probably

On the block You know You know what I'm saying Probably was You know Had to really fight And had to really like Show that they were

You know what I mean Like they could get with the people In the hood I would argue Chico Debarge Is like the Is the ultimate pretty boy thug At least in how he was

marketed to us How many years did He did like how many years in jail But cocaine Like he did some He was selling big drugs Chico Debarge He was marketed

You know what I mean? Like, so it's, I think, some of which are legal now, so don't judge him. Don't judge Chico. But I just think that is just the contrast of like growing up in that time.

Yeah. Being, you know, being not black enough, not white enough. You know what I mean? It's just that contrast of growing up, you know,

in that period. And that's, you know, debarge into the, it's like they were more, you know, hood than, you know,

they were very, it was very hood. If you talk to anybody who knew them, and everything guys were very, very, very, very hood. I would hope that after all these decades, if they still have any doubt that they're black enough, no, y'all are black enough. Absolutely, absolutely.

The blackest. Elle is back out there a lot, though. I'm seeing Elle a lot. Elle is doing a lot of, he's on the road. We've talked a lot. He sounds great. Sounds amazing. His voice is not all in all.

He still sounds so good. You know what I'm saying? It's just a beautiful tone, just everything about what his voice is just incredible. Okay, Brian, before we let you go, want to play a game with you. It's called What's One Song? Here are the Rules.

We'll give you a scenario. And you give us one song you would play if that scenario. And we'll want you to answer these as quickly as possible. Please don't overthink it. Okay. Here we go. Let's begin. What's one song you've had on repeat lately?

Joy by Black Street. What's one song you wish you wrote? Lady of My Life by Michael Jackson. Ooh. Interesting. Good one. Good one. What's one song that gets your whole family dancing?

Candy by Cameo. Never fails. It's like candy. What's that song about? Well. You have to add. I'm afraid of confections. As I've gotten older, as I was a kid,

you didn't think about candy, but I was older and you listen to the lyric and how clever Larry Blackman and you guys who co-wrote that song. Anyway, you watch the video. Yes. First of all, the video is probably the most ridiculous, like, as far as I put together

and for the technology of 86, Yeah. The video stands so, stands on its own. Yeah, man. Right? Strong choice.

And does he have peak like Gumbie? The peak, he got the, the cod piece on. I can't forget the codpiece. Crazy with it. I mean, at that point, you're like,

oh, they're talking about drugs. I just like he, and I do like the fact he rhyme, heart attack with kind I like. It's the cock. It's the card all right. That's a bold choice. That's funny.

Right. Yeah. Strong, strong rhyme scheme there. What's one song that makes you fall in love? Babyface, um, anything by baby face. But,

but there's a song he has on his album called The Day called, I said, I love you. It's a great record. Go listen to that one. What's one song? We have to break down on a future episode of this show, one song.

Um, so many. But I would say you can get a proper breakdown of Confunctions love train That would be great That's a really good I've seen different stories about it But like get a proper

You know Breakdown Because that's the story behind that song With The guy who created the track And then Michael Cooper Who actually wrote the song The Love Triangle that was going on

With them too And he actually made Like He wrote the song on the dude track It's a whole thing There's a whole backstory They were like They were competing

They're competing for the same girl and they're making a song together. They didn't even know. Like Michael didn't know that he pops up at the girl's house and his man is in there. It's a crazy, crazy. That sounds like an R. Kelly song. Yeah, no, you have to. That's that song.

You guys got to break down. All right. Well, with that, that is a hell of a suggestion. We will definitely have to go after this. Okay. Okay. Brian, thank you so much for playing this game and spending some time with us.

Where can people find you? And is there anything you want to, you know, tell us to keep an eye for it? Yeah, I mean, you can find me on all social media at Brian Michael Cox, B-R-Y-A-N, M-H-A-E-L-C-O-X. Brian with a Y. Brian with a Y, exactly. You know, I have an artist named Jack Freeman. We've got a project called Nina that's out right now.

I would like y'all to go check that out. The album is called Nina. The single is called MVP. Great, great music on there. Obviously, I'm in the studio with, you know, back in the studio with Usher. I'm in studio with Ari Lennox. Me and Jermaine are working on multitude. of artists.

Love art, Linux. Yeah, so, you know, I'm out here, man. I'm still working, baby. As always, you can find us on Instagram and TikTok. You can find me on Instagram at Diallo, D-A-L-L-O,

and on TikTok at Diallo-R-R-L. And you can find me on Instagram at L-U-X-X-U-Y and on TikTok at LuxuryX. And now, One Song officially has its own Instagram and TikTok. Go follow at One-Song podcast

for exclusive content and all the music debates you love. You can also find full episodes of One Song on YouTube right now. Just search for One Song podcast. Please like and subscribe. And if you made it this far, I think that means you like this podcast. So please don't forget to give us five stars, leave a review, and share it with someone you think would like it. It really helps keep this show going.

All right, luxury, help me in this thing. Well, I'm producer, DJ, songwriter, and musicologist, luxury. And I'm actor, writer, director, and sometimes DJ Diallo Riddle. And this is one song. We will see you next time. This episode was produced by Casey Simon. with engineering from Marcus Homme and Eric Hicks. Additional production support from Razak Boykin.

The show is executive produced by Kevin Hart, Mike Stein, Brian Smiley, Eric Eddings, Eric Wilde, and Leslie Guam.