One Song - SWV's "I’m So Into You" with Brian Alexander Morgan

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

One Song celebrates 100 episodes with Brian Alexander Morgan, an era-defining producer of early 90s R&B. Brian breaks down how he created his own lane in the genre, fusing gospel, funk, and hip-hop on SWV’s 1993 breakout platinum single “I’m So Into You.” Plus, Brian gets his mind blown when we reveal how Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire shows up on the track. Songs Discussed “I’m So Into You” - SWV “Weak” - SWV “Wednesday Lover” - The Gap Band “You’re My Everything” - The Gap Band “Anything” - SWV “Moments In Love” - Art Of Noise “Anything (feat. Wu-Tang Clan) - Old Skool Radio Version” - SWV “Right Here (Human Nature Mix) - SWV “Here Comes The Judge” - Pigmeat Markham “Funkin’ For Jamaica” - Tom Browne “Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me?)” - The Gap Band “Backstrokin’” - Fatback Band “You Can Make It If You Try” - Sly & The Family Stone “Bon Bon vie - Gimme the Good Life” - T.S. Monk “Ladies Night” - Kool & The Gang “Welcome To The Terrordome” - Public Enemy “Is My Living In Vain?” - The Clark Sisters “Sweet Thing” - Rufus featuring Chaka Khan “Rain” - SWV “Portrait Of Tracy” - Jaco Pastorius Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 100, 100 bottles, beer on the wall. That's what we're doing? No, we're counting up. Oh, we're counting up. It's the opposite. You're right. 100 episodes. Can you believe it?

100 episodes of one song. Thank you so much to everybody who's been listening from the beginning. We know some of you have not been listening from the beginning, but that's right. We've been making a big mistake. There's 100. You've got 99 to go back and listen to before this one. Go do it now and then otherwise you won't understand episode 100. It'll make no sense to you.

It's not Game of Thrones. You don't have to listen to every episode. But hey, we're celebrating here one song because it's been 100 episodes of the show. There are so many great songs that we've covered. We've got everything from Stevie Wonder to Olivia Rodriguez. We've got Delight to massive attack. I'm talking hip-hop, R&B. We have guests like Jimmy Jam and Questlove. There's so much back there to listen to. No matter what kind of music you're into guaranteed over these last 100 episodes, we've definitely tackled a song that you'd love to hear more about. So without further ado, welcome to episode 100 of one song. I think our listeners are going to be so excited. I have been asked so many times, are you guys going to do an SWV episode? Today is the day. Today, we're talking about a song that I know and I love. I mean, literally, it was definitely played at almost every party I went to in Atlanta in the early 90s.

This song really made everyone stop and take notice of this R&B girl group, or shall I say, sisters with voices. That's right, Diallo, and today we have a very special guest, the man behind the mix of gospel-inspired harmonies and chord changes, plus hip-hop-infused beats on this three-time-platinum-selling single. That's right, we've got super-producer Brian Alexander Morgan in the house. That's right. We're talking one song, and that song is, I'm So Into You by SWV.

I'm after writer-director and sometimes DJ Diallo Riddle. And I'm producer, DJ songwriter, and musicologist luxury, aka the guy who whispers, Interpolation. And this is one song. The show where we break down the stems and stories behind iconic songs across genres and tell you why they deserve one more listen. You will hear these songs like you've never heard them before. And if you want to watch one song, you can watch this full episode on YouTube or Spotify.

And while you're there, please like and subscribe. So the work of our guests today has endured the test of time and Vinsome. He's been sampled and covered by the likes of Wu Tang, Kanye, Rick Ross. He's worked with Drake. Ty Dalla sign. Most notably, though, for today's show, the 90s R&B group, SWV.

Please welcome producer, legend. Brian Alexander Morgan. Welcome to the show. Thank you, sir. Thank you guys. How was that intro? Amazing intro, and I'm honored to be here.

Thank you guys so much, seriously. So I want to start up by saying, I honestly have a high school story about every single song on the SWV album, It's About Time. Like, literally, every single one. This album has so many classics. It has, you're always on my mind.

Yeah. Downtown, which sparked a lot of debates. A lot of debate. A lot of debates at school. For those who don't know, might be about pleasuring a certain gender. One of my favorite songs of all time is weak. Let's hear a little bit of that.

Let's hear a little bit of week. So, Brian, is it true that you wrote Week about your own experience? experiences with love? Absolutely, or without love, you could say. Yeah, yeah. Because there was an absence of and the dangers of, you know. Yeah, yeah. And that's one of the most honest songs I've ever wrote.

And it was at a time when I had just gotten dropped from my label. Just sad, just the whole spiel. Like, I'm just, uh. And you know what? That pain, it was real financially. It was real emotionally. and putting it into words was good for me. It was cathartic.

But I never thought it would be something that people would go back to. Because at the time, you wrote this in what you're 88? 88, yeah. And I was trying to just get work, man. I was just trying to listen. Charlie Wilson was one of my heroes in the gap band. My thing was, let me just do something

I think Charlie can sing. And at the time... It was written for Charlie. I written for Charlie. And the vocal that I was most impressed with in 88 by the gap band was a song called Wednesday Lover. Wednesday Lover. And that's why I was trying to get it in that zone.

Charlie thinks it was, I wrote it based on this other song called You Ami Everything, which is completely. And it is similar in a couple, one little spot, yeah. Can we hear a little snippet of that? Like, should we listen? Are you my everything? Yeah, is that the one? You could.

That's the joint that Charlie thinks I wrote it based on it. But it's, I didn't. That part. Yeah, I get that. Because of I get so. And that's it. That's the only similarities. The Little Descent right now.

You like the Gap Band. I love the Gets. I love. I love. I'm from Kansas. And Wayne and Tisdale is one of my best friends from Tulsa. I don't know if you know, Waymintondale used to play for the saccharacterical. Of course, yeah.

And a bass player and a more respected musician. So Tulsa, Oklahoma is like my second, you know, it's where I'm from, bro. So Gabban was like the nearest heroes we had of people that had made it. By the way, yearning for your love. Yearning. Comes into play.

Now that is a direct. Now I'm doing a tribute to Charlie Whitford because that's directly me saying, hey, yearning is so big in my life. that I want to try to do something even close. So that's what always on my mind is. Well, before we go too far, I want to hear a little bit of the demo version of a week that you sang yourself.

Let's hear a little bit of that. 1988. Holy crap. Crazy because the whole song is there. You're not like doing, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, no, the whole song is there. And I'm talking every single thing. Wow.

Did you have lyrics first or melody or quartet? In that case, it was music first. Okay. And then once I decided to write it about the truth in my life, at the moment, then it kind of wrote itself. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. And I hear the connection, too, but I love when the connection is so small.

Right. Because all you needed for inspiration, in this case was that little descending part from the Gap Band song. And I did that subconsciously, because I wasn't even thinking about that song at all. I was thinking about a whole other song. So when he said that many, many years later, Charlie was like, you know, I was like, what? I never thought about that. Oh, Charlie whined out the connection?

Oh, what? Oh, yes, he did. On an interview, I think on a breakfast club or something. And he was like, that's from, I was like, I never even thought about that. That's crazy. When I heard it, I was like, that's a subconscious thing because he's so deep in my spirit. Absolutely.

Come on, man. And I was writing it for him. So, of course, it's going to be some kind of crossover. You know what I mean? Well, we, huge hit. Huge, huge hit. But we heard that Coco from SWV didn't want to record week. She was, she like ran to the bathroom.

Hated it. Started crying something like that. Absolutely hated it. Did not get it. And she'll tell you that. She said it in interviews. Like she just, you got to remember when I met them, she was coming out of just being really a church girl singing in church where the big voice is what you want and the whole, you know, all that.

So I'm telling her all of a sudden to, no, no, no, we're going to tone all that down and we're going to just do it, stay in this space right here. That was uncomfortable and weird for her to do. And plus, being directed. One thing I knew, and I learned very quickly about the girls in that early stages was that they were getting produced by some people that not necessarily were singers. Oh, wow. And couldn't direct them. Oh, I see. And so I'm coming in straight as a singer.

So I'm speaking their language right off the top. I guess as a talent management aspect of producing. I mean, like you do it too because you're a songwriter. And I'm always curious, like, how do you deal with that situation? How do you, like in this case, how did you manage to get such an incredible delivery from her? Oh, my goodness. I think once she got on the mic, it was easy after. Even as resistant as she was once we started, I think once a singer starts to hear what,

It's like a director and an actor. If the director, if the actor trusts the director with letting them do the performance and they can see the performance in dailies or whatever, and they're like, ah, you get me. I think somewhere in there she realized I wasn't trying to. You want her trust over. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

So by the time we get into it, she understood. I think she understood. Was it the lyrics that she was kind of feeling vulnerable about? Or what was it? I don't think, I think she said an interview that she wasn't even, she didn't even know that when I said the cause and cure is you. Uh-huh. she didn't even get that.

So, like, I think it's just a whole idea of some old guy telling her what to do. I see. And I'm only a few years older than. But at that time, it just seemed like this guy is just telling me what to do. It sounds like it was also the delivery. Like, she wanted to do it more church style. Sure. And that was comfortable for her.

It's comfort zone, all that stuff. But I think in my case, because I sang the demo, made it much easier. And I just kept telling her, just do what I'm doing. And that's what you hear. Yeah. And I just got to ask the nerdy question in the demo. What drum is? Is that an over?

What was that drum machine? That's so funny, you asked that. Now, that is the exact time. I saw y'all's drum machine episode, which I posted on my... Which I love, by the way. That is a combination of... We had a lind drum, but then we also had an 808, and you could middied them up together. Right.

So in that time period, I was doing that, a lot of midying and... You're getting the sounds from one, but the patterns from the other? Exactly. And yeah, and I would program it in the lind and still be able to play an 808 sound here and there. Because that snare didn't sound like a lint to me, but... It is. It is. Okay. That's when they started the chip.

And you could interchange chips. And that's why Jimmy and Terry could do things with like what have you done for me lately. And they could change those chips out. We had Jimmy on the show and he talked about that. Like he would just, man, he had Oberheims, he had Lins and he would just sort of, they solder new chips in and get new sounds in. Before you had like presets and you had to use the presets otherwise. Right. You could change what the presets were basically.

It's so, it seems like ancient. Yeah. When I think about it now. But we were so happy to just have those chips to be able to change the sounds at all. We're going to get into the sounds a little bit later. I got some questions about some of the sounds in here. We're going to go on a little deep dive into some of the... You're very distinctive to my ears sounds.

Clearly, in the day, spent a lot of time dialing in those claps and snares. Those are real crucial. Again, we'll save that for the STEM sector, but I can't wait to get nerdy with you on that. And we're going to take a step back. For those listeners who may not know, SWV or Sisters with Voices, you know, NWA had, you know, a different acronym. SWV.

A different withs. They were a R&B pop trio of three women from New York. You've got Cheryl Coco Gamble, Tamara, Taj, George, and Leanne Leely Lions. That's right. And for those really paying attention, that's TLC. Exactly. That's like the perfect band to call themselves TLC. But lo and behold, there was another group that beat them to the punch.

Yes. So SWV, just to avoid all that legal wrangling, change their name to SWV. And a little season to this later. Oh, is that right? They weren't TLC for a minute. Yeah. Oh, wow. Well, here's the thing.

I make the case that, again, you are an unsung hero of the 1990s because I think SWV, more than almost any other girl group in the 90s, is 90s R&B. Oh, thank you. TLC, you know, I love them. I'm from Atlanta. They came across as a pop group. Total was like hip-hop and R&B together. Like, they're all these groups cut close and, you know, so many groups. But SWV, even more than even Mary J. Blige, I would say they are almost strictly.

They're not trying to do some other sort of hybrid sound. Was that intentional? It's funny you say that because we're coming at the time of, in my mind, the end of New Jack's wing. Like, where Teddy's even changing up on the Michael stuff. And like it's time to change it up. So for me, since I wasn't in a duo, I wasn't Jimmy and Terry. I wasn't L.A. and baby phase.

And I wasn't Teddy. So I knew that in order to make my mark, I had to do something different. So for me, I'm swooned to you is that. It's like, I'm going to do, nobody was sampling and chopping. Yeah. In the worlds of the, where you just,

I just described. It was all linear, play, drum machine, go. I was like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to chop myself and my keys and this and that.

So when you hear the things that I'm someone to you, it sounds like hip hop and R&B, but not like it's trying to. No. Right? And so it taps right into what you're saying. It's like,

I'm going to do the things that hip hop does because all of a sudden we got this new device called an NPC, and I can now chop myself. I can play the parts and then chop it. Right. So, and then elements in it are certainly samples. And I feel

like you can hear it throughout the album. When I went back and study this album, I was like every single between anything and downtown was a single in Atlanta. Like, every single song. Yeah. And they had six singles, which they don't do anymore at all. It was insane. It was insane. And I got to say, like, when the album first came out, a buddy of mine said, man, I just heard the

best slow jam of all time. And I was like, what is that? He was like, SV got a song called Anything. And he was like, this is the best R&B slow jam song of all time. So like, the first time I go to listen to this album, I'm like, well, I got to hear this. What is the best slow jam of all time? Let's play a little bit of the album version

of anything. I'm yours, baby. I'm going to say to the listeners, listen to this song in your car today. and listen to the whole thing. It is a massage. It is an absolute massage. Like, is that an organ bass that you're playing there?

No, that's a corg, 01W, but I chose an acoustic bass. Okay. Like an upright bass sound on purpose. Because, Wayman, again, with Wayman Tizzo was a good friend of mine. And I wanted him to play, like, the fretless. Yeah. But he was on the road with the king. So I was like, let me try to do my Wayman interpretation.

And that's what that is. You hear me at the end where I'm doing, do, do you know, do it. You're right. Some of the sound set is sort of in the same count. of like what we would call new age now because like enya, there are some sounds you're using. What is the main synth? Is that like a Yama, is that a DX7 or? It's a combination of things I used to, because my thing was, I'm coming from Jimmy Jam. So they always do these nice layers.

I hear the human, only human. You right? Yeah. So I learn from them layers, layers, layers. So you start with a rose, throw a piano under it. And they don't always do the same thing, but they're still hitting in the same spots. But I want to touch on something you mentioned earlier about samples and sounds. Okay.

Even in that ballad. Yeah. At that time, we didn't have a whole lot of sound packs that everybody has now, all this ready-made stuff. So I had to make my sounds. So that water you hear dripping, I lived in my apartment. I turned on my closet from my water. From my faucet. I'm like snapping along, but I'm like, he didn't use snaps.

He used water drops. And then I used the water drop in order to get that plop and that sound, I dropped a quarter into a glass, sampled it. What? I'm hearing, I'm hearing, are you an art of noise fan? A huge art of noise fan. I'm hearing some of that same kind of, what? Moments of Love. Moments of Love.

I came up on that. Yes. Play a little bit of Moments of Love. Play a little bit of Moments of Love. Have some freaking Lootley. I will say Moments and Love was such a huge hit in Atlanta. And did you the feel. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes. Right? It's timeless. It was 1986, but it didn't matter. That joint is timeless. And it makes you feel a certain way. I wanted my joints to feel like that. And I felt like, I don't, there's no way I'm going to get the snaps down and the water drop I want without doing a real.

water drop. So it was really just a matter and I had a crappy mic. It wasn't like even I had like a good mic. But then because even the dripping that it's supposed to sound like running water. The A&R guy was teasing me back and he said, bro, that sounds like frying baking. Bacon, that's not

water. It sounds perfect. It sounds good. It sounds unique. I had to EQ it to get the frying bacon part of it out of it. Undo the frying part. Right? But it is, it set a mood. Yeah. And I love that you said it's a massage It's a massage. When I'm driving around listening to it, like all my speakers are working my back.

I love it. I love it. And I put the time into it because it was a love massage to me. It is. If the song is saying it's intimate, it's talking about an intimate exchange, I'm like, how do I get the listener in the space of that? It's an amazing song. Thank you. It's called One Saw.

We're here to talk about I'm So It to You, but before we even move on from anything, I do want to talk about the remix with Wu Chang. Like this used to set the party off. And still does. And still does. Anytime you play it anywhere. How did you feel when your song got remixed? What was you? I was overjoyed because first of all, All Star is a genius.

So, and I've talked to Kalil about this, DJ Kalil. Yeah. We've, and I've been blessed to be on two of the biggest remixes ever. Right here, human nature and anything. And the same guy did both. So, I mean, we, that right here, human nature going to number two. That was crazy. Number two, pop as a mashup.

Yeah. That wasn't even a concept yet. It created the concept of one song on top of the other, creating a whole new song. Whose idea was that? That was Kenny Ortiz, the A&R God, bless his art, and an all-stars, genius of putting it together. This song used to go so hard in the party. And by the way, this is at a time when people thought Wu-Tang and R&B, that cannot go together. Abs of freaking looting.

And that's what I loved about it. It was great. It was the biggest. biggest cosign you could ever get. Absolutely. At a time when hip hop was distinctly saying we're not R&B and then talking big shit about things that were. I will say this remix, anything remix, and also the remix to Feining, Jodacy, when they hooked up

with the RZA. Got to come and talk to me. Come and talk to me. Like that, those were, that was like with hip hop, like you said, it didn't do R&B. And yet to have them together, it was the ultimate. Reese's pieces. Right. It was the ultimate.

And have them be, because they were the most underground, most hard. They were so hard that you could get. Yes. So. They were underground. And I feel like,

yo, bro, like in the history of all, everything, I'd never thought in a million years, I would have one song associated with that level of street cred. And the other song with the highest level of pop with Michael on it. Those are the two extremes that you can't even, you know what I'm saying?

Come on, bro. So I hold that to All Star and I love him. And I shout him out every chance I get. He approved it. Man, listen. You had to get Mike's approval. Oh, yeah. Oh, for sure.

Yeah. You had to get Quincy's approval? Nope. Not only approved it. Yeah. Put it in Free Willy, the movie itself, into the end credits. Here's right here, the remix. Human nature.

Human nature. That's really cool that Mike was savvy enough to know. Amazing. And a blessing of beyond because he let us use his image on the video and everything. That's right. Right? So just amazing. moment for us, you know.

And again, coming from the level of the street credit with Wu-Tang with anything and then the highest of highest king of pop endorsement. You don't, it doesn't get any better. And it doesn't ever change because that's for all time. That's all. That's amazing. All right. Well, listen, we're going to take a quick break. And when we get back, we're going to break down the samples and

stems on this error-defining 90s R&B track with the man who produced it himself, Brian Alexander Morgan. See in a minute. Welcome back to One Song. We're here with Superproducer, Brian Alexander Morgan. and we're going to jump right into the stems of I'm So Into You. Let's do it. Well, listen, let's just jump right into it.

And this is my favorite part of the show when we have a guest is you were there. You made this. You made choices. We're going to listen. You're going to tell us what was going through your mind. How some of these choices came about. Let's start directly with not one but two kick drums that I hear. Kick number one sounds like a sample and sounds like this.

And I actually hear two different kicks in there, right? That first one's got a little bit of the instrumentation behind it. Right. When you chop a sample, you can EQ to a certain degree. Exactly. Cut the beginning and the end, but there's stuff buried in there. It's going to stay. Yeah.

Right. And you can hear a little bit of the hi-hat in the... Mm-hmm. And then you have a second kick. You know what? Actually, I'll just continue to build the beat once it's done. Cool. You can tell me a little bit about how it came together.

Here's kick number two. A little more subtle. So tell us a little bit about what we're hearing there. It's very bare bones. We're just at the bottom of the song. But where are those kicks coming from? And how do you choose to merge them like that? At that time, again, no sample packs.

And you're on an MPC, you were saying. And I'm on an MPC. 60 or 3,000? The very first one in 92. Yeah. No sample packs. So what we used to have was these records. Okay.

That's how you get samples. You would sample the records from the source. But they were, they were tools that DJs had. And they were sample records. It was like ultimate breaks and beats. Ultimate breaks and beats was a series. Shout out to Breakbeat Lou. Yeah, absolutely.

And there was a series of them. So I would just gather and buy as many of those breakbeat records. as I could and then just listen for sounds that made me, you know, inspired me. So what you're hearing there is a kick from one of those records. And what we do it for, and the reason why there's two different kicks is because we want one kick to be dirty. We always want some dirt. Because if it's too clean, then it doesn't, you know, it doesn't translate to it.

I wanted to sound like hip-hop. Well, let's add to it this next layer. We're going to talk a little bit about it in a second. This clap sound, I went down a big old clap rabbit hole for two reasons. One, as I was listening to this song and then the rest of your catalog, I realized how crucial, your clap slash snare decision. And snaps, whatever it is. Yeah, it's a bit of what happens on the two and four, basically. Sometimes it's a little bit of both and you can't tell where a clap ends and snare begins.

Right. Super crucial. And I like it like that. Yeah, I can tell. I can tell. So here is your crucial clappy snare by itself. And then I'll put the kicks back in so it forms the core beat. Wow. So is that too different. And I never use that word. I never use the word. But that is surprisingly funky. Thank you. Is that two different portions of the same sample, or is it you just kept the high hats for a little grit like you're saying in the first one and not the second one? It's definitely two different parts of a sample.

Of the same sample. No. No. Different samples. No. Interesting. Because that other little thing you hear that is coming from a hi-hat sample. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.

So that high hat sample and that element is doing its thing. But that's underneath. Underneath, yeah. The clap that happens the same twice without it. is three different things put together. Let's put it all together and see what we've got so far in the rhythm section. Already, iconically, the sound of the song, right? Yeah.

Right. That's so incredible. That takes so little to evoke this song. I never heard it like without the high hat. But that's when you realize how important that high hat is. Yeah. It brings it glue. It's the glue.

I thought some of that was actually record scratching, which is funny because now I hear it without all the other instruments. And I realized, no, that's just, that's just little drum samples. Yeah. And those moments, those little, uh, little dirt. Well, let's talk about the high hat because you brought it up. Let's listen and then we'll discuss where it comes from because you're going to reveal the source, right? Yes, I'm going to reveal that source.

Here we go. Those are the little loops. And the space you hear is where the kick and snare come in. Exactly. So simple, but right, but effective. Cool. So incredible. I love it.

much, where did that high hat come from? That high hat came from a 1968 record called Here Comes the Judge by Big Me. Big Meek. Markham. Wow. And I think that's the first rap record ever. Because when you listen to him on there, he's actually rapping in time. In 1968.

Let's listen to a little bit of it. I took it from the very beginning. Yeah, you did. There's high hats at the top. The very, very top of it. And I kept that vocal in there. There's a voice going, dig it. Let's hear it.

Listen. This coat is now in session. His honor, Judge Pigmeet, Mark, and Mazadon. There it is. You got a little bit of that chatter in there. You hear that dig it? Now, I had a choice. If you noticed, I had a choice.

I could have kept the part without the dig it in. I kept the dig it. But you liked the dead. It's some of that dirt. Yeah, that's some of the sort of hip-hop. And that is absolutely in the record. Right. That's so interesting.

And by the way, do you know who's playing drums on this record? Now, I would think it was the guy from the Motown session. This, fun fact, so playing high hats on Pygney Markham and therefore on SWV is Maurice White from Earthwind and Fire. Because that was Chicago? That's who the session drummer was that day. Whoa. Yeah, and the backing vocal, another fun fact. It's crazy.

It's credited to Andrea Davis. So I think that vocal you might have kept. Yeah. But that's Minnie Ripperton. Okay, so definitely Chicago. Definitely Chicago. That's like Chicago because he was a session player. Right, of course.

In 68, you're right. And that record is on chess. That's 68. You're absolutely right. Wow. That makes all the sense in the world. So you got Maurice White on your record. That's amazing.

Who I love. And many repertons. Yeah, who I also love. Come on, man. By the way, it's worth pointing out like this is an entire production. Everything musical in this was made by you, which is always super fun. So, again, you can tell us everything that went down. For example, when it came time to lay down a baseline, where did that come from, first of all?

Where are you getting this? Well, listen. and then you can tell us all about it. Here's the baseline. So nasty. Little portamento. That's not a sample. That's you playing.

You're performing that, yeah. So, records that inspired that would be something like Funcoford, Jamaica. Records where the bass goes, mm-hmm, and bends down. I always love that. Love, love, love the bending bass. You got the wheel.

Yeah, and the wheel. So, portemanteau will. So that's really what it is. It's an ode to that. That's great. And Herbie, too. That's a big Herbie Hancock. Absolutely. And so many records. Roger.

Oh, yeah. So rough, so tough. Like, the bending bass is a thing. And even Gap bands burn rubber, like, there's some burning. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right.

That's how it starts. And a really big one was fat-backed bands, backstroking. Mm-hmm. They went crazy with it. And Bernie, where else doing that all the time? What? All day.

All day. All the biggest base heroes. Between him and Jimmy Jam, those are my two favorite keyboard bass players, period. James Jamerson is my favorite. It's up at eBay's. But Jimmy Jam and Bernie. Once you get on keyboards with bass, you have a whole new set of capabilities.

Absolutely. And that's maybe the biggest one is you can go between the notes with that port of Vento. And I'm doing almost all my songs on the SWV album. I'm doing it. I bend it. I do it on you're always on my mind. So the bend is part of your signature.

We're going to have done a whole episode on it. So let's add some keyboards on top. So let's add some keyboards on top. Now it said it said in the stems piano. It sounds roadsy to me. It's definitely roads. Either way it's coming from which machine. That would have been.

probably the O1W. Here it is. And I'll add that bass in. And that's your main loop. Yep. This is everything in the song that's not the pre-chorus, basically. Right, right, right, right.

Let's jump to the pre-chorus then and talk about this because one thing I had a question about, this to me really harkens to your, you have a gospel, there's gospel in your background, I should say, right? I want you to tell us a little bit about, to my ears, I'm hearing that come in here

with some of these spicy chord changes, right? Yeah. Okay, well, let's listen and talk about it. This is the pre-chorus, the only part of the song where we don't have that loop going. Here it is, in the bass first. We're right back into it. So tell us a little bit about how your background as a keyboard player in church, right? Probably laid the groundwork for some of the choices you're making here.

I just think that turnaround, that type of turnaround is kind of a typical turnaround in gospel. And I just always relied on it. It's a comfort place to go. And you know what? Coming out of the hook, the hook is kind of happy. That's a little darker. So that's a big, I look at it as colors. Like the hook is happy, that turn around is darker,

and you get best to the half. It has some chords that are a little uncertain. Like you got the sevens and the ninths in there. It's like, da, da, da, da, da. And I call those darker. Yeah. So it's just color. The color.

Emotional color. That's so interesting because when we write scripts, I often say that like you need to do a down period for the character, then a nut period for the character, then a down. Right. It's sort of the same thing here. Light dark.

Yeah, for sure. And you do it because it's contrast. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It can't all be happy or it's just a one note. You know what I mean? It's one note. So you've got to do something to contrast that.

And that's what that is. Right. You've had this emotion going through the whole song and you're about to have it again in the chorus. Right. So let's go somewhere else for a moment. Right. And it needs to be emotionally different. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's funny because there's some chords that I don't know if this, if everyone does this, but some chords make me raise my right eyebrow. Like it's like it's like, duh, da, da, it's like that sound. Right, right, right. It's like the subdominant with the seven or some, like, I hear them. And I know exactly when you do the eyebrow raise where I do that one little note, that one note.

Yeah. And a half step. Yeah. I got you. Because I think, I think the eyebrow is representing where I want it to go. Exactly. I want it to resolve. Yeah.

For sure. It's a leading tone, but get me back to the one or whatever. I got to ask, what is the note that makes you raise your rap? Let's just do it again. Let's find it. Because it happened in real time. There it is. A few.

We're back again. We're going somewhere. This one. Where are we going. I thought it was that way. Wait, this one. That one that happened. This one here really makes me one.

Okay, sorry. Got it. Is this journey, we talk about this a lot because the core change is a lot of recent episodes, the journey going from home somewhere else and then coming back again home. This is one of those things where you're leaving home and you're like wandering a little bit for a minute

because I'm like, I was surprised that we went there. Wait, we were going here now? Wait, it's like, are we getting farther from home? Or we're going really far from? Oh, we're back home. Oh, I see. He brought us through the back gate. to home kids. I was not expecting that.

The turnaround. It's the turnaround. That's why they call it a turnaround. So we turn around and we get right back home where we belong. So those are the primary musical sections, chord change harmony-wise. All right, so let's move on to the next sample. This is also happening on top of those chords and bass line. Let's listen. Another cap here and bring the bass back. It works.

What do you want to tell us about that sample? I wanted a guitar, but I didn't want a live player. Okay. Because I knew that the live player would make it sound too clean. Yeah. And so, again, very intentional with the dirt. Dirt. The whole thing.

When you're doing something this simple and this basic, if it's not dirty, then it's going to sound generic. It could sound easily like a generic, you know, two-for group. So every single element is dirt. That hi-hat is dirt. Those keys, I could have played it all the way through, but I didn't. I played it one time, sampled it. Can I ask you a question about this? Because just to build on that idea,

because it matters that this is 19, I guess, 92, 92, 93-ish in that zone that you're making it. You're making it-191. I'm making it in 91. Okay. So that matters because what's happened in the world, the sounds that you've been hearing all this time, the grit you've been hearing maybe in some of the tribe called Quest Records. Sure.

You know, there's stuff happening. Who was a huge influence on me. Yeah. E-T-M-D. Dirt, dirt, dirt. You're starting public enemy for that, but let's not drop the big ones. Like, freaking looly. There's dirt in a lot.

those dirty funk mob deals. And I try, there's a story I tell about, I'm so into you, I actually had it sounding way heavier. I believe it. Way bigger, way funkier. And the ANR guy, Kenny Ortiz said, nah, nah, take all that stuff back off. That's funny because I can, exactly what you hear. There is an EPMD version of I'm So Into You.

Right, with the, that was a Taney remix. Yeah. And it goes back there. No, no, no. I'm saying like there's a version that you could have made. Oh, I have, yeah. It would have been 100% worthy of EPMD parish and Eric Serbian. I was going all the way there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that was my, again, I'm a hip-hop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, a lot of people don't really know how much of hip-hop head I am. I'm a gospel head. I'm hip-up. And I'm a house music head. And I'm very passionate about all of it.

So if I'm going hip, I'm going. So I went really hard. And Kenny Ortiz was like, bro, the basic thing is all you need. Take all that other stuff off. Because here's why I did it because I knew I was going to go meet Eric Simon. When I was going to New York, I was like, I'm going to meet him. I'm going to play him this. trying to impress it with his own sound.

Yeah. And Kenny was like, that sounds great, but no. It's not right for this. And thank God that I took all that stuff off and stripped it back down to just these basic. But I love that because some of the choices you're making. You're making choices obviously about like core changes and patches. You're making choices with some of the sound selection that is genre based. In other words, you're bringing in gospel.

You're merging gospel. It's R&B. It's pop. And it's also got hip hop. And part of, because you're a one-man orchestrator of all of the sound, upon which the voices will soon be resting, right? And the song will be resting. You're able to kind of control exactly how much of each like a chef.

Absolutely. How much hip-up do I want to put on top of this sort of gospel R&B pop stew? Yes. So I think the main way you're doing it is with a little bit of grit here and there in a high hat, a little bit of grit here and there in a clap. And overall, the balance is not a hip-hop song, but it's got a little bit of that flavor because you put that on top. Rodney Jirken said it best in the YouTube interview he did with me,

He said when he first heard it, he made the distinction that, whoa, I never heard R&B have so many chops. Like hip-hop chops. Yeah. And then that's what made me feel good because it meant that what I did worked because all of a sudden it's not linear. It's not Teddy. It's not L.A. in face, it's not. I will say in preparing for this episode, I told our producer, I was like, again, unsung hero the 90s because

I feel like what you did on this album specifically this album is post baby face it's pre-timbelin it's post keith wet it's pre the Neptunes like there's there's so much that you

help define with this album specifically that makes it firmly R&B and nothing else and I just think that until we you know started prepping this episode I was just like holy shit one person kind of produced the whole album. Like, it's crazy.

Right. It's wild that you did the whole album. Yeah. All the singles. All the singles. Except downtown. Except downtown. There's seven singles.

I did six. And there's one more thing going on in the instrumentation in that is the sort of Solina E-sounding strings, which is that, is that, again, a preset from one of your machines. Definitely. Yeah, yeah. Performed by you. Call it the stab. A little psycho stabs. Aresi stabs.

Oh, yeah, you're right. It is very psycho. Tyco Stout. Take a shower. I'll put that in the mix. Right. Let's bring back the guitar loop. I love it.

I love the bridge on this song. The breakdown, the you're not mine? The breakdown. You're not, you're not. So good. Again, that's my hip-hop thing coming in. I was like, I got to have some. How do I get 808 in here?

I was firmly in the demographic to be pleased by this song. When you break it down right there, it was just like, Oh, he ain't forgot us. Exactly. Exactly. And listen, never would forget you, always. Can we hear the bridge, sir? Let's hear the piano parts,

the keyboard parts, I should say, in the bridge. There's three of them. I'll play them together, and then we'll break them down. Roads. Aha. And here's the part I like, you know, the beat, yeah. That beat drops that, yeah, man.

Here it comes. Love it. Why am I going back in time right now? Music is a time machine, my friend. I'm a breakdown person, like, period. The breakdown is always great. Any break, give me a break, please. Give me a break.

Give me something good, then take it away. Then break it back. And that's why you're like house. House? Back to the office. Has amazing breaks. I just love, I've always loved breaks. James Brown created the brakes, you know, funky drummer break.

Equals hip-hop. Get involved. That break. We waited on that break. Everybody over that. Get on that. But when you get to that break, yeah. Forget it.

Slice stone. What's call it. Bacca. Yeah. Yeah, you can make it if you try. Yeah. Break. And by the way, we had Jimmy Jam on here to talk about how you use that for Rhythm Nation.

Absolutely. It's brilliant. So breaks are everything to me. Yeah. Period. And so I was just an amazing breakdown. I always get chills or I started losing my shit on the dance floor. Well, speaking of breakdown, let's break down the breakdown because you play three

different parts there. Here's the main one. You've also got this one. That's a rose, right? Yes. We got three Rodeses. Right. Beautiful.

And one more. A little flare there. I'll build it back up from that last one. Yeah. That one slipped on the radar for me. This was fun for you. This was like a little fun little thing for the misos. And that piece, the whole,

a nod to a record called Bumbon B by T.S. Monk. Ooh, this hurts. Hear that? Oh, yeah. I hear the stale. Just the rhythm. I'm hearing a cool on the gang song in my head. I think it might be ladies' night.

Let's just listen. There it is. There it is. I just had to scratch that edge. You understand what that's like. You get that a lot. The eighth notes on a Rhodes happens a lot in 1980. But just them going,

yeah. I always like that. Don't do. By the way, eighth notes. To the bomb squad for knowing to sample that. Exactly. That.

That's huge, right? Right. But it is interesting how those little pieces, I think because of my growing up in that post-disco era, that's why I thought that. Yeah. Yeah. That fragment, that little eighth-note fragment idea, pops in your head. For Jamaica's right there, 81. You're bringing in all your influences.

Yeah, man. Completely transforming them. I'm 15, you know, when those records are hitting me. 15 or 16-year-old me. Those things stay with me. They're shaping you. man, like a decade later when I'm doing it, I'm just going back to what made me feel

what was high. But you've already listed, there's a hundred things in this song, and none of them are the same as the song. Absolutely. You completely synthesized them into your own vision. Absolutely. The way you molded everything and put it together. And more than like, you know, like a D-like groove is in the heart, which is entirely created out

of samples. Which I love, yeah. Love it. But you've got samples. You've got original playing. Like, you've got, you're throwing everything into this box. Right. And I think that was the thing that I love that you mentioned this post-phase LA and Jimmy pre-timbelin. Yeah. Because that's exactly what's happening in between those two things with these records.

And I don't see a lot of people knowing that. Doing that. Or knowing that. Yeah. Or acknowledging that. Listen, again, we are here in part to give you your flowers because I don't think it can be overstated how big an impact you had on the decade. Thank you, sir.

100%. Appreciate you. So sisters with voices, we got to hear some voices. We got to hear some... Would it be sisters with voices without voices? I don't think it would be. I don't think this would be a good episode. Without some voices.

So let's talk about some vocals. Be crazy. Let's start with verse one. Boy, there you go. You're telling me that you love me. Plain, simple. You were in the studio that day. This is before people just sent MP3s

back and forth to one another. Right. When she's singing that, what's going through your brain? Since our previous experience with Week was bad. Yeah. This was the exact opposite. She loved it.

She loved this song. And so when she first heard this song, I was in my apartment, played it for him. I had this, you know, a little restroom. She went into the restroom and was talking to her mom on a phone. And I heard her tell her mom, Mom, Brian's got this song. I think it's a hit. It's called I'm so into you.

That's sweet. And she loved it. Is Coco? Yeah, but she came back out and still gave me her cool. It's cool. She's trying to play it off. But she knew the truth. She still gave me her cool New York.

But when it was time to cut it on that mic, she was happy. Yeah. And that's why at the very end of the song, she laughs. And it's a joyous moment when I kept the laughs. When she's going, do-da-da-da-da-do-do-do-do-do-do. At the end, she's bust out laughing. Can we jump to that? It's crazy.

I keep the laugh. Coming us. I heard it. I heard it. We were talking earlier about the pre-course. Let's hear the pre-course. Things you do for me. Things you do for me, but I know.

I'm so into you. I don't know what I'm going to do. Can I put out the smallest thing? Sure. Something about the way they sing the word what. I don't know what. It just sounded like the girls I went to school with. Boom.

I can't figure out what it is, but it's just that around the way girl. That's right. I was just about to say it. It's that, it's that girl from, from your hood. That's right. Something about that what? Yeah.

I don't know what. Actually, I'm going to put somebody a blast. I think I had a crush on a girl named Peter at the time. Oh, wow. And just the way that she talked, I was just like, damn. That was it. On SWV, when they say what, it sounds just like Peter. But there was something so, something so authentic and real about.

Their vocals across the board, but just that what? And I appreciate that. I think that's one of the reasons why they were so successful because people could hear themselves. You can hear the realness. You can hear the realness. You know what I mean? It made you want to do it.

It made you want to sing it. That kind of thing. Now, how are they arranging their vocals and how are you working with them to come up with who sings what part, what note? Again, my demos already had it laid out. Oh, really? Oh, interesting.

Every single demo I already had it done. Because some of those harmonies are really interesting. They're not your typical, like, root third, fifth all the way That was part of my Clark sister influence. I was going to say. One thing I learned from Twinkie Clark was she always does a back and forth between unison harmony. Unison harmony. Never stays on one too long.

And it acts and that's why that you and those harmonies where they happen are very intentional. What is that you? I didn't break down. Like what is that chord even? I don't know the name of the court, but I know that I know that when I wanted to get that fourth sound instead of just a typical triad. I just had a fourth in there. I think I hear like a ninth in there too. The point is that these are unusual chords for pop music.

Right. But because of you and SWV, like in this moment, we started to hear more of them, I think, over time. Exactly. But it's because you were consciously, again, peppering your stew, you've got the gospel. Yeah. And you've got some of those chords from gospel and the gospel influences yourself. Absolutely. And then not me not wanting to sound like corny.

Like I want to do something different. Like I didn't want to be like just, you know, basically that was it to not sound typical. What would be a stack that we wouldn't have heard before all the time, maybe? Is that kind of going into it? I think that if I'd have just done just a triad, then it's kind of way. Like your typical way. It's just a try it.

Let's try it right now. That note in there is the fifth in there, I think, that makes it give it the sauce. You know what I mean? And then plus the unison. And how well they stay, do the unison. That's Clark's sister-esque.

When the three girls are singing that same note and they sound like one voice. And they split off for a moment. They sound like that. That's a very Clark's sister move. It's my living in. Bain is based on that type of thing. Is My Living in Bain?

Great song. Let's play a little bit. One more time. It's not all in vain. Back to unison. Harmony. Harmony. So the back and forth is beautiful.

That's what my style is. I love it. And I never would have drawn that connection. It's totally in my style. Incredible. I'm so into you literally does that. And I hear, I heard the turnaround thing. They just hit 10 chords on the road from the pre to the chorus.

Like that was incredible. And so when your background is that, like, then that's how it ends up in a pop world the way that I get it in. Wow. Thanks for turning me on to this music. I really haven't ever listened to gospel music before. And there's so much more. Like the commission is Boystam in before Boystam in all day.

Like the whole Boystamend blueprint is commission. It's commission. You will hear it. Let's listen to the bridge. I love You're not You should hear You're not

You're not You're not I love those little stabs Now I just hear The clerk's sister Singing hip-up That's exactly what You should hear

I love it I love that you said that Because that's what it is And then I'm Even then I'm still doing a knot To a whole other record Because that's what Kind of like

Who I am So that's a nod To Shaka Khan's sweet thing You're not mine I can't That's so cool. I love it. I love it.

Thank you for being generous with your references too. Yes. Because I think that's really important. I think attribution, this is like a big deal for me. I was literally just talking to a Duke Law professor about this, about music copyright law. And attribution, I think we agreed. I think we agreed, Jen, you tell me later. That is an underrated component of sampling and interpolation in reference.

It's just giving credit to your sources. Yes. We talked a lot about the blurred line decision and why we think it was fucked up. It's not just about money. It's like where did this come from? And turning new people on like with me today, with the Clark sisters,

to music that came before. Though SWV's debut album would go three times planned and influence R&B and pop music throughout the decade, SWV was only nominated for Best New Artist at the 1994 Grammy Awards and went home empty-handed. It's a bit of a notorious snub. have to ask both of you because you guys are both musicians, do you care about Gramby's? I got to say, I've always like, why does anybody care about a Grammy?

Go first. What do you say? I don't so much. I'm more of the Prince line of thinking, like awards and things. No. I'm going to say this is the best art that was made. And then when it's so politicized, because, okay, for example, they were nominated in 93. They, well, the machine that they were recording.

for had another person that they wanted to be the one that get that. And that's the person that got it. And who was that? Tony Braxton. So that machine put the push and the money behind that person. And that's who got it. So I understood very clearly that that was the label was like, Tony's our girl. Well, because you see the ads in board, you see the money, you see where it's going. And you're not it. Yeah. But here's the thing that's more important to me. I think now, this many decades later, the influence. Undeniable. The thing you're not in control of.

Absolutely. The thing that's organic. Right. And so the level that these girls have been sampled and covered is, I think they might be the most in hip-hop RV history. They're huge. Like, as far as the sheer scope of the amount of big names, the Chris Browns, the Drake's, I mean, all the people that have sampled these records. The badass was a great song. Crazy. And that totally samples your work. Yeah. It's nuts. And then she ain't you, another hit single.

Right. Pulling me back, Qing and Tyrese is rain. And it was a whole hit single on its own. Absolutely. The fact that Jermaine DePree actually used another producer's work to do it that has never happened before. That's like me taking some, dutch yourself off and try it again by Alia

and didn't try to make a new song about it. Who would ever do that? But he had the balls to do that. And I asked him why he didn't. He said because it was dope and it worked. But that's, I love that. At least he was honest. Yeah.

But I'm just saying, like, he didn't have to do that. And it became a whole hit record. She ain't true for Chris Brown in 2011. Another hit record from right here. I mean, it's crazy the levels of it. I love the way you're answering that, too, because you're contrasting what's meant to be, if the Grammy is ostensibly, like, a measure,

a way to, like, say that these are the best. An actual way to tangibly measure it is, no, what songs have lasted from reuse, maybe going on to who sampled and see whose numbers are highest versus how many Grammys someone got is a real test of time. to see how influential and important the music ended up being.

Do you care about Graham's? I mean, I think I was listening to your answer and processing it, and I think that is the right way to think about it. Grammys on their own are a measure, there's some degree of like, you know, this is a consideration set. There's a good list of albums

to maybe listen to to represent a genre in a year, but ultimately there is so much happening behind the scenes that is political, and there's some arbitrariness, and you're by definition going to leave out every piece of good music that just didn't get sold a lot, that didn't have a good marketing campaign

that had the bad luck of not having the demo hit the right ears, but was still good music. So I like your definition better. And a Grammy is a moment. Yeah, because here's the deal. 12 months later, it's another moment. So that's a snapshot in time, right? Yeah.

But time is the arbiter, ultimate arbiter. Absolutely right. The whole thing. So we got 30 years in, and then you do your reflection and look at where you are, and you go, oh, people are still listening to this and they're still sampling and interpolating.

Just this week, right now as we speak, Wale's new single has I'm So Into You in it. One coming out with a new artist on Interscope. He's an amazing record. He's using rain in a brilliant way. So, I mean, it just never stops. Speaking of rain, do you mind if we talk about rain? Not at all.

My favorite interpolations. Love to talk about rain. So this is accredited and paid one. But this is one of those interpolations that when you discover it, you're like, Oh my God, how did you go from this to that? Let's just play it and then we'll talk about it. So here's Rain from 1997.

First of all, those three four chords now. So beautiful. Lots of eyebrow raises. But that's an interpolation of Jaco Pistorius from 1976 on bass. I don't think I know. Portia of Tracy. Didn't know. With harmonics.

Right. And just for you who don't know, Jaco Pestorius is one of the greatest bass players of all time. what you just heard was a single player playing a single track of bass guitar with harmonics and he's making those chords out of just innovative ways of playing the instrument. How did you come across that record?

Layla Hathaway. Really? I was working with Layla in 1994. I did a song called Let Me Love You on her second album called A Moment. Before we recorded, she wanted to hang out, like as people do when you're trying to work. Just get a little vibe going. So when I was just at her house,

she's all this amazing vinyl. So she pulled out that black and white cover of jockey. And I was like, what's that? And she's like, oh, you don't know Jock? I'm like, no. And so she put it on and then it was ran. She played multiple things. But when we got to Portrait of Tracy, that just gave me the chills.

I was like, whoa, what is going on? And then when I realized he was doing harmonics with just a single instrument, making those chords with one instrument, I was like, that's insane. So what I said to myself then, that was 94, I said, if I ever used that, that's going to be crazy. And then I forgot about it. Yeah, completely forgot about it. That's 94.

So cut to three years later, I'm in the shower. I had the hook to rain in my head already kicking around. Like, I was like, oh, this hook is, I've had it for a few weeks. Just singing that hook over. And I was like, whatever, this hook, this hook. When I was in that moment in the shower, it's just a light bulb. I said, oh, my God, if I've put that Jocko thing pair it with the hook that I already have, that's going to work.

So I ran down to my studio, which I had already bought the record. Yeah. I put it, I said, God, if this song is in the key of what my hook is in, then it was meant to be. That's a sign. Then it was meant to be. And I just dropped the needle on portrait. And it was, it was in the G that I had planned on.

Because I had already had the hook. I knew it. I knew what the hook was. I knew what the key was in. So I was like, that's it's incredible. This man is so talented. That is such a, I don't even know. That is an incredible flip.

That's crazy. That's an incredible work. Appreciate it. And for those who don't know JakaBast stories, and I do have a California accent. I know so it's jacaa. Jacko, but was in Weather Report and played with

Johnny Mitchell, among others, one of the greatest of all time. Died too young. But yeah, definitely go check out his work. We really like this quote from you about the making

of I'm so into you. You say, I'm so into you, without that record, none of us would exist. Do you still feel that way? And what do you think the legacy of I'm so into you is?

I do feel that way because you got to remember I'm so on you is not the first single. It's the second single. So the first single was the original right here. Did not? Wow. And it tanked. Wow.

It tanked. And this is at a time when TLC. That's like how Thriller's first single is. Right. It's kind of, eh. But here's the thing. The GLC was on the rise at this exact moment. They had changed their image.

They were crazy, sexy, cool. Yeah. They were everything we were not. Huge. on the pop chart, huge pop records and beautiful and gorgeous and all these things. And our girls were considered, you know, hood, roundaway

girls, all the things that we didn't know that would still work in a pop world. But the I'm So End of You Breakthrough happened when I don't know if you guys remember, but back in the day there was grunge in Seattle. Of course. And there was, you know, certain markets. So for some reason, I'm swimming

you started blowing up in Seattle. Really? Really. Like these teenage white girls in the The mall kids, remember Tiffany? And she's a new mall tours. Yeah. New kids on a block. Those kids loved, I'm so into you.

So it started blowing up in the Seattle station. They're like, I'm getting tired of, I think we're alone now. Those lies. I'm telling you. And so like, look, once those white kids in Seattle started requesting it at their power pop station, then they started playing it. Then L.A. jumped on it. Then KMEL jumped on it.

And then it spread across the country. It started on the West Coast. It started on the West Coast. And it spread across the country. But that was after right here had flopped. And we were like very, very nervous that if this next record didn't work, they were done. It was going to be no more promoting of anything. So that is the legacy.

So like if I'm swearing you hadn't broke the way that it did and showed that it had pop potential, it would have been just another R&B record. I will say my wife is from Alaska, which is technically the West Coast. And the second I said, oh, yeah. Yeah, we're going to do this SWV episode about I've so into you. She was like, so into you. And I'm like, you know it too? Like, I just feel like it tracks. This was a huge.

Ironically, I made the case earlier, this is the ultimate R&B group. And yet it took something of a pop. Absolute pop. And when you go to their shows now, I've seen them at the Greek three times. I've seen them at the YouTube theater recently last year with the Queens of R&B tour with escaping them. Yeah. The crowds are white, Mexican.

black, Asian. They're just like the Michael Jackson thing and it's just like the Prince thing of their time. It is truly because those people were in college or high school or whatever they were. And they all have the shared experience of those records being huge at the time. So it brings everybody together.

And yet when we were just deconstructing all the different elements that went into it, right? Are blackety black. Shout out to EPMD and the blackety blackness. But it shows that music can be the great. of course and I think that's one of the reasons why we've uh we've had it's weird to say progress right now in 2025 because it feels like we're going back we've had progress we enjoyed it while we have had the progress that we have had I think it was a large portion to music yeah

100% actually the one thing that makes me uh sort of sad about the story you just told is that people used to call it through radio stations and request songs and now everybody sort of siloed off into their own Spotify playlist yeah and we don't really have that shared moment. And that's why, versus. Oh, versus, yes. Which SWV and Escape were had huge, huge numbers that got them the Bravo show

because the numbers on the versus was so huge. Because that was a moment where we all were watching at the same time. We were all there. And it took us back to that where everybody's having the same moment. Well, listen, there are so many songs in your catalog and we

would love to talk about all of them. But before we have the show, we want to play game with you. It's called What's One Song? And Here Are the Rules. We'll ask you a question. And you'll give us a one song answer. The song must be one that you either wrote, produced, or played on. Please answer as quickly as possible. Don't overthink it. Okay. What's one song that you recently worked on? A singer called This Could Be the One. By who? By Nefertini. Perfect. What's what song that changed your career? I think we know this one. I'm sorry to you. What's one song you wish you could record again?

The mix of I'm Sway into you. Really? What would you change? It's too thin. I could have fattened it up. Wow. Yeah. Interesting.

You heard it here first. What's what song you wrote earlier in your career that you still love? Rain. What's the one song you are most proud working on? Rain. And what's one song you regret giving to an artist? A song called Crazy by Usher. Because Diddy changed it after the fact.

Okay. And changed the drums. And what was it called? Called Crazy on his first album. Oh my gosh, I remember that at first. I was an intern at LaFace. Wow. With that kid.

Yeah. He changed the drums without telling me. That's the song I have bad feelings about because that's the first time I ever spoke and ever had any kind of conversation with Diddy. Yeah. And it was like so shitty. Like he was so rude. He's like, I'm changing the drums on that.

You mean you had a bad experience with Sean Puffington? It was like horrible. That's a first. So when I hear it, but the, but the, but the, but the, but the, but the, but the, but the, But the karma that came back later, like only a few years ago, Usher was doing his residency in Vegas. Yeah, I went to it. Right?

Yeah. And he called me. He was like, hey, do you still have an old version of the original way we did it? I said, hell yeah. He said, can you send it to me? I said, why? He said, because I want my band to learn the way we originally did. Wow.

And that was my... That's validation right there. It was my validation. I wasn't wrong. Because I felt like shit when he changed it. Like, you know, it was horrible. He tried to make it like New Jack Swing and some other weird shit. And I was like, nah, bro.

That's a Midwest ballet. Well, Brian, thanks so much for playing and spending time with us today. Where can folks follow you? And what are you up to? Any things you want to plug? I have an EP that I'm excited about called Brew. Acronym is BAMS rare, exclusive unreleased. And it has two unreleased SDABV songs in it from the 90s that I flipped into today's thing.

And it has brand new music from me. and this writer and singer that I write with called Nefertiti. She's amazing. And we have just awesome songs on that. And then there's other surprises on there too. And it's a nine song EP. All the songs play into each other. Like they go like a real mixtape.

Each song goes into the next song. Love it. Love it. And so I got videos on a couple of them. And I'm just excited about that EP. Where can people get that? Not out yet. Getting a distributor locked down now.

I will keep you posted on these places. I'm on Instagram at B underscore A underscore Morgan. You are active on Instagram. I love your account. It's a very fun account. So, yes, please follow this mail on Instagram. Very active on there. Some say it's super political.

Yes, I am. Because life is, you know, lifing. But you're doing it all. You're doing it all. Music, projects, everything. Yeah, and I'm thankful for the following I have on Instagram because I do house music too. I have two or three new house records out right now.

One of them called Won't Go Back. That's on Quantized, huge label with DJ Spin, his label. I have another one out right now on my friend, EZL. He has a label called, I can't pronounce. but the song that's called, it's on track. All these records are on track source.com.

You can get those house records. That one's called Just Don't Give Up. I'm very positive with my house output because I want to do something uplifting. So you can catch me on my uplifting house music stuff. We love that. All right. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Brian Alexander Morgan, y'all. Love you guys. Wow. We hope you enjoyed that episode. As always, you can find us on Instagram and TikTok. You can find me on Instagram. at Diallo, D-I-A-A-L-O

and on TikTok at Diallo-R-R-L. And you can find me on Instagram at L-U-X-X-U-R-Y and on TikTok at Luxury-X. And you could also follow this podcast at One-Song podcast on Instagram and TikTok for exclusive content.

You can also watch full episodes of One Song on YouTube and Spotify. Just search for One-Song podcast. We would love it if you'd like and subscribe. Also be sure to check out the One-Song Spotify playlist for all the songs we discussed

in our episodes. You can find the link in our episode description. And if you made it this far, we think that means you like the podcast. So please don't forget to give us five stars, leave a review, and share us with someone who you think would like it.

It really helps keep the show going. Luxury, help me in this thing. I'm producer, DJ, songwriter, and musicologist luxury. And I'm actor, writer, director, and sometimes DJ Diallo River. And this is one song. We'll see you next time.

This episode was produced by Melissa Duanyas. Our video editor is Casey Simonson. Our associate producer is Jeremy Benbo. Mixing by Michael Hardman and engineering by Eric Hicks. Production supervision by Razak Boykin, additional production support from Z. Taylor. The show is executive produced by Kevin Hart, Mike Stein, Brian Smiley, Eric Eddings, Eric Wyle, and Leslie Guam.