#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 5.11.20 RMU: Paying tribute to Andre Harrell, Little Richard and Betty Wright; latest in Arbery case

Episode Date: May 13, 2020

5.11.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Paying tribute to Andre Harrell, Little Richard and Betty Wright; Latest in Arbery case; Maryland Gov. vetoes bill for HBCU funding; What role do schools play in building communities Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Today is Monday, May 11, 2020, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. We remember three music legends who all passed away this weekend. Andre Harrell, who really fused R&B and hip-hop. Also, Little Richard, the architect of rock and roll. And of course, soul singer Betty Wright.

We'll hear from folks like Al B. Shore, Teddy Riley, Reggie Hutland, Tamika Mallory, a whole host of individuals, a whole host of folks, remembering these three amazing artists. Also, the latest in the Ahmaud Arbery case, the Georgia AG is calling for the Department of Justice to investigate.

A special prosecutor has been assigned to the case as well. And video over the weekend shows Arbery looking at a home under construction. A lot of folks say many have done that. It doesn't warrant somebody being killed. It's time to bring the funk on Rolling Martin on the filter. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the the piss he's on it whatever it is he's got the scoop the fact the fine

and when it breaks he's right on time and it's rolling best believe he's knowing putting it down from sports to news to politics with entertainment just for kicks he's rolling he's funky fresh he's real, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling. Martel now. Martel. A tragic weekend for music lovers as we all found out. Andre Harrell, the music executive who founded Uptown Records, later, of course, ran Motown. And a significant influence in the R&B and hip-hop industry passed away due to heart failure. That took place late Thursday. We did not really find out until Friday night.

Then, of course, you also had Little Richard, of course, the architect of rock and roll. Many people say he is indeed the king of rock and roll, who died at 87 years old on Saturday. Then on Sunday, we found out that Betty Wright, soul singer, died at the age of 66 due to bone cancer. DJ D-Nice, of course, who has known Andre Harrell for years, was playing music on Friday night when his phone started buzzing. And this is how we all found out about the passing of Andre Harrell. All right, folks, I'm going to prepare in a second. First, I want to go to the first platinum selling. You've got it, guys. Play it.

Craziest thing I've heard. It's hard to DJ because I keep seeing these text messages. My man started Uptown Records. If you don't know his history, you should. Jodeci, Heavy D and the Boys, Puff, like Mary J. Blige, like, man, this is just crazy. It was so, he was fighting back tears and ended up stopping his set. And so many people were stunned to hear of the death of Andre Harrell, one of the folks, his

first selling platinum artist, artist Al B. Shore, who joins us right now. Al B., welcome to Roller Mark Unfiltered. Al B.: Thank you for having me, Roland. Yeah. It has certainly been a very, very difficult 72 hours for the folks who were very close to Andre Harrell. Absolutely. I was, you know, a little older now, so I get to sleep a little early unless I'm on

air, you know, during the evening. And I try not to sleep with electronics, so I plugged my phone in and kind of left it on the floor. And for some reason, you know, the notifications kept going and going. And I finally just, I was startled. And I woke up and I look and it's my son Quincy. And then I see Eddie F. And I'm just seeing all these, you know, back to back. And I'm on the WhatsApp and I'm going, oh, man. Okay.

So immediately I call Quincy back and says, yo, Pops, Dre. I'm like, Dre what? And it's like, oh, man. And I just, I froze. I mean, like, you have to understand, this man, and we joked about it in the past, and it's funny because he thought it was actually heavy D, but I was in the basement with DJ Eddie F, who was my, you know, my best it in the past. And it's funny because he thought it was actually heavy D.

But I was in the basement with DJ Eddie F, who was my best friend in high school. I was kind of the roadie, and he was the best DJ in Mount Vernon. We used to do all the parties, and I would carry the equipment. And we started producing and cutting demos together in Mount Vernon in the basement. And one day we had a flood. And I remember we were listening to, I think, the Beastie Boys or Slick Rick or something that was on the turntables. And I went over to the corner. After we finished cutting one of the demos for Heavy called

It's a Party Hall, one of his first demos, I go over and I pick up, for the young people who may not know, this thing called the Yellow Pages. And I'm scrolling through and I'm looking for this company because I'm reading the record and it says Def Jam. So I find the number and I call on the basement phone and I literally kept calling back to back to back

and I wanted to speak to Russell Simmons. I said, you know, my name is Albie Shore from Money Heard in Mount Vernon. And then he thought it was funny because he says, you mean y'all bushy from the Bronx? And I said, hey, you know, I have this group, Heavy D and the Boys. And I know it wasn't necessarily part of the group, but, you know, I'm doing production with Eddie and singing backgrounds.

And he says, you know, well, send us something. So I just kept calling and calling and calling. And finally, they got a meeting set up. So I finally asked him. I said, well, who's this? And he was like, it's Andre Herrera. I was like, I want to speak to Russell Simmons. So we've always laughed about this.

And in fact, we were just together on the Grammys. So we had a meeting out in Los Angeles at the Grammys on the Sunset Marquee. And we just had the most wonderful plans because it was finally time for him to get his flowers with this BET miniseries, this three-part series. had the most wonderful plans because it was finally time for him to get his flowers um you know with this bt mini series this three-part series and he explained how he wanted everything to go down and you know night one will be heavy d and night two will be i'll be sure night three

will be guy with a mixture of puff and mary and everything that culminated i used his nickname roland his nickname i used to call him baby barryy, and he would call me Baby Quincy Jones. And single-handedly, this man, you know, along with Quincy Jones and Benny Medina, he allowed me to feed my family and travel the globe and introduce my art to planet Earth. I mean, you know, and then outside of that, just always being there if I needed to have a conversation and needed this man just to, hey, what do you think about this? He always took the time. I mean, I don't care if he's running networks

and running movies and TV shows. You know, you're good, B. All right, okay. I'll meet you right back. And would always just, it's just, what a wonderful icon, another icon gone much too soon. And in my heart, I haven't slept in the last 72 hours, so forgive how I look right now. I literally, you know, my eyes are swollen.

You know, it just really hit home. I mean, as you know, Roland, we've had a difficult past few years, you know, of course, with the loss of my ex-wife, Kim. And it's just been something else, but it's also been an eye opener. And imagine right in the middle of the current pandemic and things that are going on here. And I'm like, something's going on, you know, from we get, you know, you sit in L.A. and you get an earthquake and this has happened. I'm like, something is really going on. And it's truly an eye opener. And I really want to try to find a silver lining in this.

Once my, you know, my heart is like in pain, like it just hurts so much. Like just after sitting with him at the Grammys, you know, sitting outside and us having brunch together and just him just lighting up like a kid because he was you know he had this whole thing crafted about he want how he wanted to have the story and this is how unselfish roland this is how unselfish this man is the first thing he says now you know we're going to do the uptown story and we're going to tell it right and we're going to so-and-so, so-and-so, we're going to do this. And this is just the DC, quote-unquote, he said, this is just the Marvel comics of what's to happen next. Because once we plant the seed with the Uptown story, then, you know, it's going to be the Al B. Shore life story, you know, like the Bobby Brown, who just asked, will be married to the Jonas scenes. And then imagine just the list goes on. I can clearly say unequivocally that Andre Harrell's legacy is clearly, it's the boutique version of what Motown was.

And we're just, you know, social media and all the other things attached to it. The modern day Motown. He's the modern day Barry Gordy. And no disrespect to, I think, I don't think anybody would disagree. Just to be able to hone in and find talent of that nature. You know, if I brought in Faith Evans or Jodeci and this, and he just had a knack for saying, okay, you work with Teddy Riley, you work with so-and-so, and then Teddy, you work with Marion, and Teddy work with Heavy, and Heavy, you do a song from Onifa.

I mean, he just had this in his brain and it was, you know... And as you know, you know, and... One of the masterful things he would do, you know, dealing in this entertainment industry and how it is, and you know, come on, you deal with everybody from gangsters to so-and-so forth. He was just the smoothest cat. I don't care if cats came in blazing and he would just sit there.

Look, money, let me tell you something. We're going to work this out. We're going to make this right. And it was just always, it was just the most, he was just the most unselfish, most charismatic, caring individual who introduced people's art to planet earth and allowed them to feed their families. I mean, I don't even want to sound technical,

but that's how amazing this man was. And I truly, and I have to say this from the bottom of my heart, I truly, you know, he wanted me to come in as a producer on the show, and I've been talking to the writers and getting the story right and everything, because every time I see some of these films and these things, these depictions of what this represented, it's always slightly to the left or slightly to the right. It's never accurate. It's never fully accurate. So I want this man's

legacy to be told properly and for him to get his flowers. And I don't use the word hate, but I hate having to say it after he's gone because I said it when he was here and I told him at the table when I was sitting there with Paxton Baker and Andre. It was just so important, man, and this has to happen. So with your powerful self, Mr. Roland Martin, let's make sure we keep it out there and just make it worldwide because this is a story that the entire planet needs to really be inspired by. I'll be sure. We know we have to go. We certainly wanted to have your voice as we remember the Red Andre Harrell in this special, I call this virtual

homegoing. Unfortunately, we really can't have the large funerals that we used to. We've done this with Reverend Joseph Lowry, with Bill Withers, Earl Graves. And so we know mainstream media won't do our folks justice, which is why we do what we do. We're certainly glad to have you participate in this special. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Yes, sir. Thank you. And anytime you need me back rolling, you know, that's just a phone call. I'm there. Appreciate it.

Yes, sir. We'll do it. Yes, sir. I want to go right now to, of course, I told you what we're focusing on. And just so you understand, initially, we were planning this to be a salute to Andre Harrell. Then on Saturday, we find out, we wake up, Little Richard has passed away. On Sunday, we find out Betty Wright has passed away. And so we said, look, we've got to combine these. So right now, I want to bring in an amazing entertainer, Wayne Brady, of course, who has a

connection with Little Richard. I reached out to him. And so, Wayne, glad to have you in Roller Martin Unfiltered. My camera is... Wayne, are you there? Yes, I'm here. You can hear me? All right. How's this? All right, folks. So let's do this here. To control room, y'all get straight with Wayne. What I'll do is I'll go to Teddy Riley and come back to Wayne. Okay, do we have Wayne there? Yes, I'm here. I see him. All right.

Wayne Brady, glad to have you in Roller Martin Unfiltered, man. Hey, sir. It's good to be here, Roland. Thank you. Again, this was this, you know, as we kept losing greats this weekend, as we kept losing greats this weekend, it was like, well, this sort of this memoriam evolved. And so when Little Richard passed away, I said, look, we got to get Wayne Brady on. You, of course, have a connection there to Little Richard. Yeah, Little Richard, I'm so sorry for my dog in the background. What can I say about him? I had the pleasure of working with him a couple times. Once when he was on Celebrity Duets years ago, and then before that when I had a variety show on ABC, he was one of the first guests that I booked,

and he wanted to be on the show, and he wanted to come on, and I got a chance to sing with Little Richard, and then I got to play him on American Soul, and I have to say that it was one of my life's honors to know that he got to see me portray him in a light that wasn't, you know, it's not a sketch show. It wasn't doing a mockery. It was an actual tribute trying to embody the essence of Little Richard and to get his stamp of approval meant everything. When we think about James Brown, we think about Prince, we think about a number of artists. I mean, I mean, Little Richard, at the end of the day, had an impact that was multiple generations because folks looked at his style, looked at his singing style, looked at his clothing. Whether you want to talk about, you know, the lead singer of the Bar-K's. I mean, so with the hair and, I mean, heck,

you can even go to Elton John with the costumes and all of that. I mean, Elton, excuse me, Little Richard, and let's not talk about rock and roll. So remember, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, these cats opened for him. So it was amazing to see these photos where they were unknowns and all crowded around him. That's called major influence.

And not only was he influential in terms of when he says, I was the architect and I built rock and roll. It wasn't hyperbole. It was true. This man built the form that became known as rock and roll, but what I appreciated about him as a Black man was his ability to live out loud and live in his truth. In the sense of, he wanted to present himself a certain way,

especially when he started. How many brothers were running around dressed like he was and with the lyrics that he had? He basically shoved anything that he wanted to say in the way that he wanted to present himself in the face of the listener, whether that listener was white or black, and say, here I am. And if you don't like it, too bad, because I'm not going away. And I think that that is such an important lesson to live as a performer, but just as a human.

We spend way too much time worrying about what that other person thinks, especially in this social media day and age. So I love a man like Little Richard that spoke up for himself and lived the way that he wanted to live. One of the things that, look, people often mocked his persona, mocked him demanding respect, but the reality is this here.

You look at Pat Boone doing the stripped-down version of Little Richard songs and selling more copies. You look at the adulation of Elvis Presley. The reality is that black artists had to deal with the reality of not getting their just due and respect. You look at sports, you look at the major college athletic awards. I mean, it was later in life, a long time before you finally had one named after a black athlete. And so in so many places, black artists, black athletes have been left out of in terms of those accolades and in terms of how people receive them and treat them, even though they form the backbone of all of these different industries, whether it was

entertainment, whether it was sports. Little Richard certainly fought for that respect and demanded that respect and had no problem saying that from the stage at major events. And we should follow that example. I think we as a people should follow that example. We need, no, we demand, demand the respect that is due you. If you know that you have done something that is respect worthy, do not be a shrinking violet. Do not be shy. That's a lesson that I had to learn later in life because you're trying to be, be, oh no, no, no. I want to be demure and I don't want to look like, like, like I'm asking for too much. Little Richard was so unapologetic in telling people that he was the innovator,

the creator, the one, the number one. He stood at the mountaintop. Why not? If you did this thing, why not? And then, if we would put more energy in supporting our people that make breakthroughs, instead of filling our-ourselves with toxic derision, then we would be a force that couldn't be stopped. We need to get behind the Little Richards of tomorrow.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And of course, we also lost the great soul singer, Betty Wright. Oh, my goodness. It is not... Death comes to us all, and we know that. I think that no one's ever ready, and I think it affects us when someone that we follow, whether it's an actor or a singer, when someone makes us feel a certain something.

But I like that saying, give them their roses now. I think we need to appreciate the legends that we have while there are legends walking among us, instead of waiting until Roland Martin does an episode where we are giving them their due. That's our problem, I think, is we love to honor the past, which is wonderful, but let's honor the present right now, too. Let's tell people what they mean to us. Absolutely. And so that's one of the reasons I, you know, I do a lot of these one-on-ones all across the country.

And that is why, to be able to show folks while they're here and to thank them. And when I've sat down with Smokey Robinson or even Harry Belafonte and others, I mean, that's why, because we need to, and tell them, I tell people all the time, tell them, thank you. We appreciate you. Thank you, and we love you for what you did for us. Absolutely. Amen.

Absolutely. Wayne Brady, I appreciate it, man. Thanks very much. Thank you so much for having me, Roland. You take care. Be safe. Will do. Thank you very much. Do the same. Folks, one of the people who texted me on Friday night to alert me of the passing of Andre

Harrell was one of the other folks you heard Al B. Schur talking about, and that is Teddy Riley. Of course, Guy, the group Guy worked with uptown in Teddy Riley, is known Andre Harrell for a very long time, and he joins us right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Hey, Roland, how are you? Teddy Riley there. Guys, let me know. Yes, I'm here. Okay, I can't hear Teddy at all. Hello, hello, hello. So Teddy's... Keep talking, Teddy. I can't hear you. Hello. Hello, hello, hello. Now keep talking, Ted. I can't hear you.

Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Yep. Okay, guys, he's coming through loud and clear to you, but I'm not hearing him. So please let me know what's going on so I can properly hear Teddy. So Teddy, I'll do this here.

I'll throw the first question out. You just answer it while they try to figure out the audio coming back to me. Just what did Andre Harrell mean for you as an artist, as a human being? Well, I can call Andre Harrell so many things, and they all are great as far as being a coach, as far as being a mentor, as far as being, you know, a big brother figure. You know, he's been that for me.

You know, even times when, you know, I kind of moved on, you know, I would always see Andre, you know, when I was doing the battle, the versus battle, Andre was the last person on the phone that I talked to. And he was the person that gave me the pep talk, you know, like what I need to do. Because he knew that, uh, L.A. and Babyface was together. So I think, and this is just him, like I'll be sure said, you know, he's such an unselfish guy, you know. He always gives his time, his spirit, and his humbleness to others.

You know, and when he talked to me, the one thing he asked was, you good? Are you all right? You know what to play? You got this? And I felt like the Andre, when I used to go to Brooklyn to his office, the uptown office, I used to stay there, sleep on the couch, you know, and just to learn everything I needed to learn.

And, you know, I would go straight from school to Andre, you know, to the actual office. I don't know if you're hearing me. Are you hearing me? Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Okay, so I'm still having some issues, guys.

Literally, I'm hearing every fifth word of Teddy Riley. And so if we could, let's do this here. I'm going to go to a break and I want to come back. I know we're having some issues in terms of with Ethernet. Speed's been going up and down. So go to a quick break. Let's come back to Teddy Riley so I can hear him, so I can do this interview, okay?

We'll be back at Roller Mark Unfiltered. If you want to check out Roller Mark Unfiltered, okay? We'll be back at Roland Martin Unfiltered. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. as Roland Martin Unfiltered. Support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. I'm here!

All right, so a lot of y'all are always asking me about some of the pocket squares that I wear. Now, I don't, and Robby don't have one on. Now, I don't particularly like the white pocket squares that I wear. Now, I don't know. Robby don't have one on. Now, I don't particularly like the white pocket squares. I don't like even the silk ones. And so I was reading GQ magazine a number of years ago, and I saw this guy who had this pocket square here, and it looks like a flower. This is called a shibori pocket square.

This is how the Japanese manipulate the fabric to create this sort of flower effect. So I'm going to take it out and then place it in my hand so you see what it looks like. And I said, man, this is pretty cool. And so I tracked down, it took me a year to find a company that did it. And so they make these about 47 different colors. And so I love them because, again, as men, we don't have many accessories to wear. So we don't have many options. And so this is really a pretty cool uh pocket screen and what i love about this here is you saw uh when it's uh in in the pocket you know it gives you that flower effect like that but if i wanted to also unlike other because if i flip it and turn it over it actually gives me a different type of texture and so therefore it gives me a different look. So there you go.

So if you actually want to get one of these Shibori pocket squares, we have them in 47 different colors. All you got to do is go to rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So it's rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. All you got to do is go to my website, and you can actually get this. Now, for those of you who are members of our Bring the Funk fan club, there's a discount for you to get our pocket squares. That's why you also got to be a part of our Bring the Funk fan club. And so that's what we want you to do. And so it's pretty cool. So if you want to jazz your look up, you can do that. In addition, y'all see

me with some of the feather pocket squares. My sister was a designer. She actually makes these. They're all custom made. So when you also go to the website, you can also order one of the customized feather pocket squares right there at RolandSMartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So please do so. And, of course, that goes to support the show. And, again, if you're a Bring the Funk fan club member, you get a discount. This is why you should join the fan club.

I wanted to do a deal. All right, folks, welcome back to our Roland Martin Unfiltered Special. So just so you understand, it's been an absolutely crazy technical day. We, of course, normally, you know, here I got like 250 megabits per second. It's like a drop to four. And so we're trying to figure out exactly what's going on, technical. But we know there's a huge upsurge of usage because people are at home due to the coronavirus epidemic. And so we're sorting through that right now.

We're doing a reconnect with Teddy Riley on our Skype. So we have Teddy back. Teddy, can you hear me? Yeah. There we go. Now I can hear you. See, I can't people on YouTube and Facebook, I'm like, y'all, I'm like, I can't

interview the man if I can't hear the man. It's always me. No, no, no. You know what? I had so many gadgets ready. I was like, look, I had all these ready. I was like, if this don't work, this is going to work. No, it wasn't you.

The reason we were 10 minutes late, because Al B. Schur was supposed to leave by 610. We were 10 minutes late because same thing. I had to go through three different connections. So it's all kind of drama. And so, but the bottom line is, people that understand this, you got to make it work. And so we finally made it work. We played that clip from the Black Breakfast Club on how you guys got together. You said you were supposed to be the producer. Okay, how did you go from whose idea was to say, no, no, no, Doc, I need to have you in the group as well.

Was it Andre's idea? Was it yours? How did that all work out? Well, Andre was the last one to champion me being in the actual band. But Aaron was the one who really pushed it because he wanted, you know, a group. And he wanted to try it with a group before he went solo. So if we're speaking about Guy, that's, you know, that was basically Aaron pushing it and Andre, you know, sealing it. And Gene Griffin as well, you know, who actually said, you know, no, you need to be visually seen.

You're doing the music. You're doing all the music. So you need to be in the group. So that's how I became a part of Guy. Do you think it was, when I think back to what Al B. Shurer had to say, Barry Gordy was a songwriter. I mean, he wrote hit songs. Then, of course, he found Motown. Andre was in a group, then becomes an executive. There are people who are in the industry who are executives who've never been artists.

So do you think he was so successful because he understood the artist because he was once in that position? Yes, he definitely understood being an artist, and that's the one thing that I have to say gives him the credit of being that Barry Gordy, because he played both sides of the fence. But he also was a songwriter, I mean, as far as rap is concerned, because with him and Alonzo, they, you know, I was fans. I used to go see them at Harlem World.

And I would see them perform and they would come out with the fur coats, you know, and that's how, you know, it kind of inspired me to do, you know, with Guy. We had to be fly. We had the, you know, just all of the high-profile clothing lines like, you know, Kaukanai, his actual upper echelon line, and also Sean John and, you know, Cross Colors and all of that. André was one who pushed not just music, but he pushed fashion. He pushed everything. He pushed the scale of everything. So Andre was that guy on the other side who did it different as far as, you know, the culture

and as far as the style and direction of each group. And nobody looked the same. So that's a true record man and a true visionary. You know, he knew what people should look like and nobody looked the same. So yes. When D-Nights was spinning Friday and he told the world what happened, shortly after that, you sent me a text saying the same.

And it has to be jarring to lose him suddenly, especially somebody who was so active. His former wife said he had heart problems. He had a heart condition. A lot of people didn't know that. But also I think for so many of us, losing another black man before the age of 60, when I think back to some of our other greats, Barry White, Luther Vandross, we can go down the line.

I think that also is what is still shocking for so many people, because I think we look at losing greats a lot different when they're in their 70s or 80s or 90s, because they lived a long and full life. And you hear people say, man, we lost him so soon. But Andre Harrell packed a whole lot in 59 years. Yes, he did. He did a whole lot. In fact, I don't think there's a person out there in the music industry that he haven't crossed paths with. And I'm talking about even the new artists.

The respect that he got from the new artists, you know, and also working back with Diddy, you know, that was the greatest reunion that I've ever seen of two coming back together, you know. It was just, he was just that lovable guy. Like, I think that his reflection reflected on me. It reflected on Heavy. It reflected on Albie and all of the people from Uptown. Because if you speak to any one of us, you would hear, you know, somewhat, something from Andre that comes out of us. Whether it's a slang word or something, you know,

that he would do. You know, it was just that, that he was just that type of person. Give, um, you saw him in totally different settings than Franklin from the general public. What is the funniest or the craziest Andre Harrell story that you can share with us? The craziest was when we were, I think we were in Canada, and we were speaking at a music symposium out there, and I was trying to figure out, you know, what we're going to wear. So the picture that I post was something that we both just put together,

and, you know, he had his assistant and I had my assistant, and I just didn't know what to wear because i know andre was going to come fly he was going to definitely come with the with the sports jacket on and and the one thing that andre always say is you know man just come how you are you teddy rally you teddy f and rally i'm like he does that with everybody. And I'm like, he said that with me. And that's what a lot of people say, you know, you Teddy effing Rowley. And I'm like, I don't curse. You know, I try to just stay, you know, clean, because my kids watch me all the time.

And you know, that was one of the things that he would say. And then he go, when I walked in the room, and he said, you're good. He said, you're good. You one of the things that he would say. And then he go, when I walked in the room and he said, you're good. He looked at you and that's the one thing. If you get Andre approval or the Diddy approval or, you know, some of my friends, Snoop, Danelle, you know, they'll fix your collar or whatever. Something you would do, you know what I'm saying with with your guys and even me you know when we did the short essence you came up to me you fly you i like that and it was it you know when you get that approval from your big

brother you're good and that's what andre he was that person to tell you when you're good, you know, even down to the females. Like he would tell me, you know, you straight, you fly. Don't worry about it. Don't change. Because most times, you know, females want to wear different things. I don't think I look right. You know, we just roll with it, especially if we get approval from Andre. So that was him. He was the he was the coach. He was the guy that, you know that gave the approval, the fly approval. Last question for you. What is it? Obviously, the movie, the three-part movie is going to be coming up later this year on BET. And if there is a kid 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now

who comes across the name Andre Harrell, what's the one thing that you want that kid to know? All-around guy who did it all, who was an artist, who was in record company, publishing company, everything in the music industry that he's done, you know, and giving others, you know, pointers and swag. He was that guy that was that visionary, and we can go back on a lot of things that he's done for a lot of us. These kids should definitely know that he was one visionary that became our new millennium, Barry Gordy. You know, and he was that, you know.

I was one of the producers of Uptown Records that he called on to work on different projects and several projects, and I was that sponge in the back, you know. And, you know, when I was called, I came out and I shined because, you know, Andre, you know, when I was called, I came out and I shined because, you know, Andre, you got to shine with him. So kids need to know what he's done, especially he's going to, they're going to know through me and they're going to know through this film, you know,

what he's done for all of us and what he means to the culture. Teddy Riley, it's always a pleasure. We're going to have you back on the show on Wednesday. Looking forward to that conversation, but we certainly wanted to have your voice, as we remember, do this special. And just real quick, if you've got anything you want to just share with regards to Little Richard and Betty Wright before we go. Yeah, I mean, Little Richard was definitely an uncle to us because we got to actually spend some time with Richard

at the Sunset Marquee. A lot of people didn't know that he had a residency in the Sunset Marquee in LA. And he stayed in the same room. Every time we check in that hotel, he's in that same room. So we were trying to figure it out. Well, he's in that same room. So we were trying to figure it out. What, he live here? So he came out of his room one day,

and he said, Teddy, Aaron, are y'all all staying next to us? I was like, who's us? It was Milly Jackson. She was there too. And most of the legendary artists had residencies, you know, the hotel would give them that same room when they come to that hotel. I think it was the week of Aaron Hall's birthday. And this is one time we got a pep talk from him that was a... It was a scolding. And I'll tell you the scolding.

We had got into a problem. Aaron had got into a situation with his girlfriend. And when he got into that situation, it made a lot of noise in the hotel on that first floor. And that particular floor, we was all staying on there. And Little Richard came out of his room, and he told us, you know, man, y'all can't be doing this.

Y'all are the new thing. Y'all are the new stars. And, you know, y'all don't need to be going through all this, man. Y'all fighting girls and all of this stuff. And I said, well, it's not me. He said, I know, but if it's him, it's all of you. And he's right. If one gets in trouble, you're all in trouble. It's one for all. And that's what he said. And then my favorite song that I learned first that my father put in front of me was Tutti Frutti. And just so that you know, that's my connection with him and actually getting to

meet him. And then Auntie Betty. She was like an aunt to me and she always wanted to work with me because she felt like my music would be the answer to what she wanted to do and she wanted to get into some gospel as well. And she was like, what you did with the Winans was so special to do and she wanted to get into some gospel as well and she was like what you did with the winings was so special to me and you know things of that that nature you know that was my connection to her and getting to speak to her on the phone at least three four times you know i i have to say we're we're going to miss all three of these incredible entrepreneurs and entrepreneur. Teddy Riley, we really appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much. Thank you for having me, man.

And I'll talk to you soon. Yes, sir. Folks, I was on Facebook on yesterday and a brother jumped on my page and he said he was a tour manager, road manager for Little Richard, Andre Willis. He joins us right now. Mr. Willis, how you doing? I'm doing great, doing great here in the ATM. How you doing? All right.

Glad to have you here. So the great Little Richard. How long did y'all work together? Well, we were together from 77 to 82. I took over his career when he left rock and roll. And we met by accident in Compton, California, where his cousin, then Pastor George Rainey, was conducting a tent meeting on Tamarind Avenue. And his musician, who is still alive here and well, matter of fact, the whole team, the evangelistic team,

is still around. One is in Florida, the other here and myself. But we traveled with him throughout his ministerial career, the other side of Richard. But even though he had the ministerial career, was an evangelist, the reality is rock and roll could never leave because that art form was so personified as a result of the persona of and the music of Little Richard. That's correct.

He tried really to stay focused on the ministerial side of things, but he was battling because he did have this band, a lot of folk that he was responsible for in terms of their finances, et cetera. And then as he tried preaching, and the man was a great, prolific preacher, having been a student of the word, a theologian, graduated from Oakwood College, one of the seven universities in Huntsville, Alabama. Bible. And when he decided to make that change to try to go full-blown towards ministry, it was difficult because he wasn't making the kind of money that Rock and Roll was awarding him.

What still stands out, and just give us a sense of this personally, even though he was focused on the evangelism piece, and they called him self-proclaimed. I took issue with that, even emailing some folks over at ABC News, because that was an Associated Press story. And so he had to be self-proclaimed because it wasn't properly given to him by the music critics and the writers and to him or to Chuck Berry, and all the attention was on. I mean, Jerry Lee Lewis had no style. He took it from Little Richard. They stole everything from Richard. If you look back, there was a show that he did on Arsenio. He did the Arsenio show.

And he made a statement. He said, you know, of course, he said how pretty it was. And he was the architect of rock and roll. And he was giving this just due. And he went on and on and on. He made a statement. statement he says i know y'all probably think i'm conceited he said no i'm convinced he said and the fact of the matter is at the 30th grammy awards he was uh introducing the recipient or the awardee shall i say of the of the Grammy. And he said, me, which, again, it went over real well. And he laughed. Everybody laughed.

Everybody applauded. Everybody stood up. But he was making a truth that even to this day, he has never received the just due, even down to a Grammy, for all the things that he has done to penetrate the music world and has started so many careers. The Beatles he founded, a number of artists, James Brown. I even know a story about how they met. James Brown was in his band. James Brown wanted to be famous. So he started a group called James Brown and the Famous Flames.

So Richard has never been given what he should be, should have been, should have received, shall I say. But one thing I do know is that Richard did know Jesus. And the way he started off is not the way he ended. And a lot of folks, you know, are probably speculating, you know, well, you know, how did he die? How did he die? Well, let me tell you, Richard went out with a bang

because not only did Jesus know him, but he knew Jesus. Well, you're absolutely right about the respect when it came to the Grammys. In fact, when he got the Lifetime Achievement Award, he almost didn't go to the show because what the Grammys did was they would just acknowledge the person sitting in the lifetime Achieving the World Grammy on stage and then be honored and get the adulation that he fully expected and should have received. Exactly. And of course, we all know it's a black and white thing.

It goes back to, you know, a topic that we don't need to really dabble into, but I'm sure everybody gets the gist of what I'm referring to. But Richard was a philanthropist. He was a giver of not only resources and money, but he was a giver of his heart. As Teddy Riley would say, you know, that room he speaks of was 319, and at that time was called the Hyatt Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. He stayed there, and even from there, he would help people. He would minister to people. He would encourage people. He would encourage artists.

And Richard was a giver. But, again, he did not get that kind of respect of being the type of giver that he was. And I'm just glad that you're doing this show and to the Wright family and to the Rell family, all those who are connected to those two individuals. We have lost three great superstars. And yet, because of the magnetism that these three have seemed to have grabbed, the essence of who they really are would never be felt and understood

and told, the whole story. They tried to do a story about Little Richard. Of course, he didn't like it, and hopefully they'll get it right. He wanted Prince, actually, or Michael Jackson to portray him. That didn't happen, but again, we give respect to Leon,

who did do a fantastic job, but again, another story needs to be done. All right, then. Andre Ellis, I appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much. God bless you. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. Folks, we're certainly not giving short shrift

to Betty Wright, an unbelievable singer. Of course, tonight is a night clean-up woman. We can go on and on and on. Gold record at the age of 18 years old. Joining us right now to share her thoughts and perspective about the great Betty Wright, who we lost on Sunday at the age of 66, is a great singer in her own right, Regina Bale. Hey, Regina! Hey, how you doing?

Doing great. It has been a real difficult weekend for music lovers, for folks in the industry losing Andre Harrell on Friday, losing Little Richard on Saturday, and then losing Betty Wright on Sunday. Yeah, that choir is about to be something else up there. I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

This was a rough one. This was really rough. Betty Wright. First of all, to think that she was doing her thing at such a young age. We think about Stacey Ladisau. We think about a lot of people

who hit it big when they're young. I mean, my goodness, to be 14, 15 years old, hit record, on tour with James Brown and others. I mean, that, I mean, she was a phenom. Yeah.

She, amazing. I mean, I don't really know. And the thing is, is that Roland, her career spanned. So like a lot of the times, you know, you, you, when you have young artists at that age, by the time they hit their twenties or even maybe maybe their 30s, they kind of tap out. A lot of us don't last for the duration. But Betty, like, superseded generations. I mean, she's just amazing in that she had something for all of the ages. And, you know, I mean, we, we really lost somebody,

somebody great and not just an artist or a songwriter, but to me, we lost somebody who encouraged us, who, who, who, who was a champion for the aspiring artists, always had some time to teach and reach. She, I mean, just being in her presence was a master class. Mm-hmm. When we think about music, when we think about sound, I mean, people often talked about Michael Jackson singing the Smokey Robinson hit song when he was a kid,

but folks talked about her voice, to have that sort of voice, have that such a mature voice at such an age is amazing. Absolutely amazing. Listening to Betty growing up, she all made us want to sing those songs, even though I couldn't sing Tonight is the Night around my mama because it kind of wasn't a song to sing as a little girl in front of your mother.

She wasn't trying to hear it. So, but those songs, in terms of the depth of her voice, you know, that was part of my training class growing up. I wanted to have the depth. I wanted to have the fullness. That's why out of the box, when I first started, I came out and, and, you know, I'm thinking I'm going into, um, R and B. I mean, immediately I went into adult contemporary because of the bigness of my voice. So, you know, um, it's, uh, in other words, she's left footprints on a lot of us in terms of how we still maintain and sustain our careers today.

One of the things I think is funny is to hear people, I saw somebody post a tweet and they said that their mama's favorite song was Tonight is the Night. And the person was like, oh my God, I can't. And they were like, I can't believe that's my favorite song. And then somebody replied, how in the hell you think you got here? You know, it's like, what? I was like, yo, a favorite song is a favorite song.

I mean, if somebody said, Darling Nikki is my favorite song, they don't mean you are free. It's just you like the song. I'm like, yo, calm down. Well, no, because when you growing up in a house where you going to church and your mama is an avid church goer, I'm sorry, Roland.

I hear what you're saying about the premise and I get it, but it didn't work in the house with Lois Bell. So, so sorry. She, and a lot of us, I mean, a lot of us, a lot of my friends, the same thing, we would kind of go undercover and listen to it. My favorite though, I think was, um, clean up woman, because that was the song I played on Saturdays because we had to clean up in the house. So that was the day of chores. So clean up woman was, and you know, she went with

us, not just in the house throughout the house, but she went to with us to, to the cookouts. You couldn't have a cookout and not play a Betty Wright song. You didn't really have a cookout Betty Wright and Al Green was in there. So, you know, And that's the thing for me and it is, is look, I try to explain to people all the time. If you want a measurement of look, I try to explain to people all the time. If you want a measurement of,

look, there are people who are singers and they have successful songs, great songs, hit songs, but classics is a whole different category. Yeah. And if you get, if you are a cookout staple, you in the classic category. Especially in black America, you ain't never lied. That's the truth.

And that's what we love about it. I would say a cookout classic is the equivalent of making the cover of Jet Magazine. Yes, it is. I've never heard it put quite that way, but you know what? I'm going to roll with that. That's exactly right.

You're exactly right. That's what it is. That's what it is. That's what it is. That's what it is. And look, it's the cookout where you got a lot of food or it's the cookout where you just got some hot dogs and ain't no hamburgers. It's the cookout period.

There you go. There you go. Uh, last question for you. One of the things that I think is, is always great when you talk about our older artists is that they went through stuff that this generation of artists did not go through. Um, and so, and so that this generation of artists did not go through. Right. And so do you recall any of those conversations that were like when class was in session? Well, for me, you know, when everybody and I got together, it was, you know, we were at gigs.

We didn't have a lot of time to, you know, kind of have that space to really, really. So we made the best we had quality time wherever we were. And, um, uh, I, you know, she did some of the backgrounds for my, and in fact, she, she kind of, she made, she made the voicings. She made it be what it was for a lot of my early hits. Um, when I was in the studio with Nick Martinelli. So, um, her thing was about perfection, doing the best that you could possibly do. If you know that God has called you with a gift, then you need to please him by doing the very best that you can do. And that's where she always came from with me. It was always, like I said, being around her was always like a master class or a teaching and reaching moment to make sure,

you know, hey, sis, I'm just trying to make sure you got it, you know, that you understand that, you know, a hit is a hit for as long as it is, but you can literally roll as long as you want to if you always give the people everything that you have to give. And so I'm indebted to her for that. And I just, you know, knowing all the things that she was able to do, all of the different artists that she reached, that's, that's what really gets me because when you look at some of the hell that she went through

in her own life, it never stopped her from serving the people and, and sharing her gift with people. And that's huge because a lot of people, you know, you would be by right to have a nervous breakdown or just go to, you know, I'm out, I'm going to take a hiatus or whatever. I mean, she was always doing something to help us. Even if it wasn't on stage, she was so-called, quote-unquote, backstage helping us perfect our craft, helping us to be the best that we could be, believing in us

even in places where we didn't believe in ourselves. So that's why, you know, when I say we're really going to truly miss this icon, those of us who are in the recording industry, we know what I'm talking about. Mm-hmm. Regina Bell, it's what I'm talking about.

Regina Bell, it's always great chatting with you. Always great to see you. Take care. Roland. Thank you. Listen, I wanted to just say, um, uh, uh, with the, um, manager for little Richard, that was, that was amazing to me. That was amazing to me. I only met Andre Harrell in passing, so I didn't really have a relationship with him. You know, my condolences to his family. But the one thing I loved about Little Richard, you know, is that he always let folk know who he was and where he came from.

And my thing is, if you can't toot your own horn, who can you toot? And he rightfully had the right to say the things that he said. I was really it was an eye opener listening to the manager because I remember that Grammy incident where he said that. And, you know, people stood up because, you know, people know. And I can just get with him on another note. I can get with him when he started talking about the dichotomy that he faced in, you know, answering his calling and also, you know, making sure that his band can work and that people who love him still answering that call. That's a really rough area. And I know that, you know, being in the church, being a believer, and knowing how hard it is, when I first started, you know, when I got ready to do my gospel records, I faced the same kind of situation. And I faced it a lot from the

industry people more than I did, you know, in church folk than I did people in the R&B world. And so I basically had to say, this is what God called me to do, and I'm going to have to do what I do. I had amazing people going before me, like the Clark sisters, for the fact that they had had such a hit with You Brought the Sunshine, it made it a little bit easier for me to swallow this pill to be able to say, I love God, and I'll let folk know, even in the club. So I really, really, to that torment that he kind of experienced, I can definitely concur with that and how that is so much of a big deal. And you really have to fight within yourself to get past it to do what you feel like you've

been called to do. Just wanted to throw that out there. All right. Regina, I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Love you, Ralph. I love you, darling. You take care. Folks, of course, we're remembering three great icons we lost over the weekend, Andre Harrell, Little Richard, and Betty Wright. Earlier today, I got a chance to talk with Jesse Collins, Jesse Collins Entertainment. He has been working with Andre the last two years on that three-part series slated to air later this year on BET. Here's a conversation, folks. And again, it was amazing. Their last phone call took place on Wednesday. Here's Jesse Collins talking about his last discussions with Andre Harrell. Jesse, I saw your Instagram post, man,

and as you reflected on that last phone call with Andre on Wednesday, it had to be surreal because just reading what you wrote, that he had this sense of urgency that he needed to say this now. Thinking back on it, I mean, you had to say this now? Thinking back on it, I mean, you had to say,

man, he must have known or felt something. That's, you know, that's the thing about it. It's like it makes you believe that there's a higher purpose to everything because the conversation that he felt like he

needed to have, we were going to have 20 more times because you know it's just all part of the script process and but it was like she needs to you know talking about Tasha our writer uh she's she needed to feel his energy that's all he kept saying was she needs to feel my energy on what this last part of my story needs to say. And he's like, and I got to tell her now. It had to happen right then and there. And then their conversation actually went on for,

went into Wednesday and Thursday. And then they were supposed to speak again on Friday. And unfortunately they weren't, You know, it never happened. And that's really what I felt, as what you posted. And I can imagine hearing the conversation, him going, no, no, no, you don't understand. Now.

Now. And you were like, dude, what the hell is the problem? I know, I'm like, come on, Dre. Like, look, we don't even have a budget yet. You're going to have to give a lot more notes. And he's like, dude, what the hell is the problem? I know. I'm like, come on, Dre. Like, look, we don't even have a budget yet. You're going to have to give a lot more notes. And he's like, and we don't even have the first two scripts yet. And he's like, I don't need to know all that. Worry about that later.

Just I need to talk to her right now. And so he did. And, you know, it's amazing. She got a lot of great information out of him. So things that we didn't have in all the years of developing this story. So he was absolutely right that he had to talk to her. And I'm so glad he got that opportunity.

How long have y'all been working on this story? Well, I've been on this project for, it's over, it's probably going on two years now of just the process of, you know, the interviews slowed us down and it just allowed us to take more time and keep developing the script, which Andre was happy about because he was so, he did not want to rush this out. He wanted his story to be told correctly

and when we talked about it, he was like, this is good because now I get to go back and really make sure this script is right before the world sees it. Give people a sense of what it was like to work in collaboration with Andre Harrell. It was just infectious energy.

Just everything was, nothing was impossible. He was always the first one to get whoever needed to be on the phone on the phone to make it happen like he was a great connector he always knew someone that knew someone and he knew how to make things happen he knew how to inspire you to go beyond what uh may be or what somebody up above may be saying can't be done like nothing could stop him and he was just great at you know making things happen and he was kind of like the Clarence Avon of our generation and that he could just connect people that needed to be together to make something great. One of the things that, um, um, obviously people talk about,

you talk about the connecting, but you also talk about, people talk about the mentoring, uh, the conversations with the numerous people, uh, whether somebody was an artist, an executive, whether somebody was a dancer, whether somebody was, whether somebody was on the acting side as well. He was someone people wanted to

hear from for him to pour into and for him to be able to guide them in terms of where they need to be going. Absolutely. I mean, Andre's advice kind of could fit into whatever your walk of life was, because it was all about black excellence.

It was all about inspiration. It was all about creating a situation where you are providing the best at what you do and making sure that you are providing an opportunity to others and pulling them up with you. So it didn't matter if you were on Wall Street or you were in film or you were in music. That can apply to everything. That's why I say that, like, the handprints of Uptown are in every company, whether it's Bad Boy, Rock Nation, Charles' Macro, everybody, Will Packer, everybody has taken a piece,

whether they know it or not, from the Uptown Blueprint. And so we all have a great debt of, we all owe a great debt to him. This story, obviously, this three-part miniseries, docuseries, I've heard different names associated with it. One of the things that I think it serves the purpose is to give people a real understanding, I think, of what you just laid out, that impact.

And I think all too often what happens is that we know of these individuals because we operate in these spaces. But the general public really doesn't understand how all of these dots connect and how it is really this significant web that's going on. No, absolutely. That's why. And it's a three-night miniseries. And it is educating the audience on who Andre Harrell was and how you don't have not just Bad Boy,

but you don't have Roc Nation. You don't have so many other companies. You know, Andre was one of the first to really embrace, you know, uplifting and sharing our culture with the world. It wasn't just about a song from Heavy D, or a song from Mary J. Blige, or a song from Guy. It was the whole package. He was showing us, you know, the fashion, the dance, the music.

And then he evolved into film and television, New York Undercover, and all of the other projects. And so he was really the first to say, no, it's a lifestyle that we have to offer to the world. And the world embraced it and emulated it and just continued to grow and grow with it. So, you know, everybody now says, for the culture, for the culture, this is for the culture. You know, Dre was screaming that before. And it's because he was screaming it so early in his career that we have it now.

Personally, what did you learn from Andre Harrell? I learned, one, I learned so many things from him. I learned about the right restaurant, the right place for brunch, breakfast, all those types of things, being in the right rooms, the right place for brunch, breakfast, all those types of things, being in the right rooms, the right watch. You know, Andre always knew what was right. But I think the thing that I learned from him most was that you have to help people. If you are continuing to ascend, then it's worthless if you're not pulling up those that look like you around you and giving them opportunities and making sure that whether they went to school or not, maybe they don't have the degree that says that they can. All right, folks.

All right, folks. Having some issues there with the Jesse Collins interview. Great conversation. Great insight about Andre Harrell. I'm going to go to a commercial break. When we come back, we'll hear from Tamika. Okay. All right, folks.

So, exactly. So, are all of our videos frozen? Let me know that. Then I'll be able... Okay. All right. So, it looks like we're back. We're fully back. I told you how we have a crazy day with technical issues.

Can we pick up the Jessica Collins interview from there? We'll play Tamika Mallory. Let's just do this here, folks. Let's go to the Tamika Mallory interview. Let's play that right now, and then we'll go to the rest of the news of the day. So Tamika, just share with us, you know, just your thoughts and obviously so many people are stunned with the death of Andre Harrell and just how close you were. And I saw a lot of your post where you were just sharing with people what he meant to you. You know,

Andre was special to a lot of people. And one of the things that I see that's a consistent thread within all the different tributes about him is how much he supported everyone and pushed people and encouraged them. And how everyone wanted to prove something to Andre or to be their best selves for him. And I think that's what he meant to me. You know, when I first became executive director, I like to call it when I became an adult leader of National Action Network, Reverend Al Sharpton's organization, I had a reception in which, you know, not a lot of people, especially celebrity type people like Andre and Veronica Webb, who we know is a famous model. They didn't know me at that time, you know, and he Andre came and they were the co-hosts for my fundraiser.

And I remember Andre talking to me that night, like, listen, kid, this is not you know, this is not a kiddie role. This is serious. Like, you have a big responsibility, and a lot of people are looking for you to do some, as he would say, fly shit. And I was like, OK, you know, that's the way you say it in music. But he meant it even from a civil rights perspective. You need to do some fly stuff.

And we went on to do that. Every time I would see Andre, he was always pushing me. I call him. We debate back and forth on issues. He would play devil's advocate just to get you sharp on your game. And, you know, the thing I think that was really incredible is the way that he was able to help you navigate Puff, right? Because Puff didn't just go along with anything. You had to really be able to get Andre to help you get Puff to understand the issue and the that plane unfairly. And Andre got celebrities from Snoop Dogg to Eva, all types of folks to get involved to talk about how I had been wronged. That's just the type of dude he was. And I think, Roland, the last thing I would say is

that, you know, a lot of people are talking about Andre being the music guy, but that's not all that he was. He was also in civil rights, arts, entertainment, history, black culture in general. He had his hand in all those places. So long live Andre Harrell. When you talk about, again, the role responsibility, I think one of the things that people really don't understand that oftentimes, and you understand this intersection, oftentimes you have folks who want to see celebrities and others out front and invisible. I've often said that's not everybody's space. And so you need those individuals who are behind the scenes,

who move in those spaces to get people to certain points. And I think that's really what I hear when you talk about what Andre did. You weren't looking for him to be standing with you on the front lines of the march. Your deal was, I need you doing this. Right. Right. I needed him to be the connector because influence comes from many different places. The movement is not just about those of us on the streets.

It's about the people in the suites. It's about those people who don't even understand nor care about the movement, but they have an influence. And if you can win them over and help them see how it applies to their lives, then we make a stronger, bigger, more powerful unit. And Andre was good at that. He was good at taking a rapper who was like, man, you know, I got money. I'm living in my big house. I'm doing my thing. This has nothing to do with me. He was really good at helping you to craft a message that would work so that that person could understand how important their role is in the movement. And so those are valuable lessons because not everyone has that.

Some of us, we have our talking points. We've studied them. We've read the history books. We know what we know, and that's it. But that's why our movements are so secluded, if you will, and everything is in silos. Andre was the guy who brought the music and the entertainment to the civil rights event. And you could have a march and fly entertainment

and look good, because he was in fashion, wear you some dope glasses, and attract young people and folks who never was turned on by that, you know, type of scene before. So he was just the connector. A fly dude. Sort of like a little, he had a little rolling mark. Y'all got a little bit of each other.

A little rolling mark. No, no, no, no. I think Andre was a whole different, that was a whole different level there. I had to get a kick out of your line about you saying he always had good-looking women around him. Oh, listen. I told you Veronica Webb, he bought

Veronica Webb to be the co-host for my function. And I was looking at this beautiful woman who I never met, but he got her to come there to endorse a woman that he had that she never met.

It was because Andre asked her to be there and she was beautiful he made you feel you had to be perfect in your own way not perfect you know he you could catch andre with street folks people who didn't you know they weren't looking like they were going to the ball but you felt like you were going to the ball because that's just the type of dude he was uh and obviously i think what look look death hits us in so many different ways there are those folks you take a little richard or betty wright who passed away both of them were older because little richard 87 betty wright 66 when we expect somebody uh you know obviously when they are when they're older but

but i think it obviously with and Harrell, it was so sudden. 59 years old and literally on the phone having conversations and working deals, according to reports, and then just leaving us. I think that also, that suddenness of such a vibrant individual, it catches everybody off guard. Yeah, it does. and you're right he was working deals because you as we know puff had just made his statements most recently about voting and joe biden and and the presidential election and andre was engaged in the aftermath trying to help make sure that Puff, you know, that his emotional state and his feelings and passion were connected to some real action and real movement on the ground. And so that's what Andre was doing. You know, I know for sure he was talking to Charlemagne.

I had just had a conversation with him and I saw that message from a lot of different people. So we know what brother Andre was doing. He had purpose and meaning, and I can't wait until someone tells the real story about who Andre was beyond the music. Absolutely. Tamika, always a pleasure. Thanks for joining us on Rolling Martin Unfiltered for this tribute to three of our iconic figures in music.

Thanks a lot. Thank you. I appreciate you, Roland, and I'll see you at a club, Brown Liquor. You know it. You know it. All right. Talk to you. All right, folks.

We have so many different people who want to join us to pay tribute to Andre Harrell, Little Richard, as well as Betty Wright, and so we'll have more to share tomorrow. Right now, we're going to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about the mass graduation taking place on Saturday.

President Barack Obama is going to be the commencement speaker for the class of 2020. We'll also talk about, ladies, in the Ahmaud Arbery case, major developments there, and what pressure will the Black Caucus

in Maryland put on legislature to ensure they actually override the veto of Governor Larry Hogan when it comes to the $577 million for HBCUs. All of that, Roller Martin Unfiltered, next. You want to support Roller Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club.

Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com Folks, on Saturday, President Barack

Obama will give the commencement address to the class of 2020. High school students all across the country are greatly disappointed they're not going to be able to walk across that stage to receive their diplomas as a result of the coronavirus international pandemic. That, of course, has shown tremendous light

on what schools are doing to educate children in this whole new world. Joining us right now is Shetoya Ward. She's the principal at Purdue Polytechnic and Chris Terrell, executive director at Crosstown High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Folks, how y'all doing? Great. Thanks for having us. So I got to ask you, Shetoya, I mean, how do you lead a school when you don't even get to see your students? Man, I think the most important thing that we love at Purdue Polytechnic is we had a very good culture when we were in the building. And so we just extended that culture in the virtual world. What we like to do is emphasize belonging and community.

And that's what our videos are about with our teachers. What they do is they engage our students in videos on life skills, on their projects, and they get them engaged in community. Obviously, that is communities. Schools do serve as communities, Chris. But we're also, though, seeing, we're seeing how so much is being exposed, and that is the number of students who can't access online learning.

There are students who don't have computers or laptops, the districts that are underfunded and can't even afford to give those resources to the students. And so it is made for a very difficult transition for a lot of places educationally. Absolutely. I think it's absolutely a shame and a travesty that we can't better provide for our students when it comes to technology, when it comes to internet access for all. I was in Mexico City in February,

and everywhere you went, there was free Wi-Fi available within like a 20-mile radius of the city. It's a shame that we can't do that for everyone and for our students in this age. All right, Chris, I want to reset my question, and that is what we are dealing with now is we're dealing with what this whole thing is also exposed is the difficulty of being able to educate all children. We're here in school districts not being able to afford the laptops or the iPads.

I mean, you name it, and that's what's been going on. Absolutely. And so what we've done is a multi-tiered approach. Like we have online learning. We're doing full PE lessons. We're doing poetry slams. We're doing everything that we can to combine isolation with our students. But we're also reaching out individually and making phone calls and having conversations with our students on a regular basis to keep that connection. It's going to be six months at best case scenario from the last day that they were in session until we can return

potentially in August. And that is a huge time. And I'm fearful that we'll lose students if we don't connect with them on a very personal level using multiple avenues to do that. Shetoya, I want to talk this question to you, and that is, look, we're nearing the end of the school year, but I'm hearing from parents who are concerned that their children, that they've fallen behind. Now you've got summer school, now you've got summer coming up, and that they may be even further behind come the fall. What would you say to them, and what should other principals and other school leaders be doing to prepare for this going longer than we even anticipate? that we have going on with us is the assessments that are going on online that we utilize

throughout our time on a day-to-day basis to support our students in the areas or the gaps that they are having so that we can prepare them for the next year. I would just advise that they stay connected to their students, just like Chris talked about, whether it's going out, using a mask, going to their home, seeing how they're doing, seeing if they're connected online, seeing if they have access. That is the only thing right now that we could do so that we can support

our students and making sure that we're supporting the gaps, but making them ahead and enhanced for the next year. Chris, same question to you. All right, so it looks like we're having some issues with Chris's Skype there. So let's just do this here, folks. Chaitanya, final question to you. And that is, we don't know how long this is going to go. We don't know if this will extend to this. This will extend through 2020. A lot of people are scared, of course, for kids being exposed.

And so for school leaders like yourself, is this going to seriously accelerate e-learning, if you will, that educators may need to be thinking about this might be what happens online, distance learning for the next 12, 18 months. Yeah. And you know what? You thinking about 12, 18 months, I'm thinking about this is the new normal. Now technology is involved and enhances what our education system is now. So yes, we're spending a lot of time with getting our students access and getting them machinery and things like that. Guys, this is for the best. This levels the field.

And for me, I think it's a new opportunity for the new normal as we have education moving forward, not just in 18 months or so, but moving forward provides a lot of opportunity for our students in all levels. Chris, you're back with the final same question to you. Should educators be preparing themselves that this is going to be, as Shetonia just said, a new normal for the next 12, 18 months, potentially two years in terms of distance learning, e-learning? I think absolutely. We are dealing with a cultural shift here. I'm not sure that we'll

ever return back to what we thought was normal before. We've got to make accommodations and be ready for whatever the world will provide us. And we're doing so in multiple ways. I've listed out like 14 different scenarios for the start of the school year next year. And the honest answer is that we have no idea what that future is going to look like. All right, then. Shatoya, Chris, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. And folks, don't forget, high school commencement speech, Saturday, President Barack Obama and others like LeBron James will be involved participating in And, folks, don't forget, high school commencement speech Saturday. President Barack Obama and others like LeBron James will be involved, participating in that. It is going to be a great day.

I know. Look, I've got two high school students, my niece and nephew. We all want to be at their graduation. But I think this is going to be a special deal for this initiative being put together to be broadcast on networks across the country. And we also will be live streaming it on the Roland Martin Unfiltered platform. And so, folks, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks so much. Thank you.

Thank you, Roland. All right, folks, real quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk Ahmaud Arbery. Man, talk about big changes that have come down the last 24 hours. We'll tell you about it next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roland Martin Unffiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible.

RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Folks, big developments in the case of Ahmaud Arbery. The black man shot and killed February 23rd by two white men as he was jogging down the street. First, the Georgia Attorney General has called on the Department of Justice to come in and investigate the district attorneys who were involved in this case. The initial DA, Janice

Johnson, recused herself. Cops, though, in Glynn County Police Department say they wanted to arrest the two men involved, but she said no. The second prosecutor, George Barnhill, he absolved these two men, George McMichael, Travis McMichael, of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and then recused himself. And the third prosecutor took forever trying to make a decision before the Georgia Bureau investigation. They were called in and made an arrest within the first 36 hours. That's one issue. The second issue, that is, a special prosecutor is now being appointed in this case, a black woman from Cobb County who is a Republican appointee of Governor Brian Kemp. Also, over the weekend, this video was released showing Ahmaud Arbery inside of the home that was under construction. Oh, people on the right, conservatives, white folks and white folks who think like, black

people who think like Candace Owens, raced and said, oh, here you go, Ahmaud Arbery. It wasn't, he wasn't jogging. They were saying that this is just like, hands up, don't shoot. Well, the owner of that home said nothing was stolen. And all of a sudden, a bunch of people on social media, black, white, Latino, Asian, said, I've gone to look at houses like this before.

What's the big deal? Okay, guys, we have the video. Roll it. So, go ahead. All these things... ...case. I want to bring in my legal panel right now. A. Scott Bolden, former National Bar Association political action committee,

Robert Petillo, civil rights attorney. All right, Robert, I'm going to go to you. So a lot of things happened, Robert, in the last 48 hours there in Georgia. Well, you know, one of the interesting things about what you were just saying, that you have a lot of these conservative online bloggers with absolutely no legal experience or knowledge who are putting out disinformation about the liability and the ability to assert self-defense and or citizens arrest in Georgia. You have Patel v. State. You have Brunson v. State. You have Carter v. State, which lay out when an individual can assert a claim of citizen's arrest. And none of it involves pulling a gun on somebody, chasing them with a pickup truck, surrounding them with three people and then shooting them.

With regards to self-defense, as has been thrown out there as an option for a for justification as to why this individual was shot. You cannot assert a claim of self-defense when you provoke the action. When you approach somebody with a gun drawn, with a shotgun, that person then has the right to defend themselves against you. There is no claim of self-defense. You have committed a felony yourself by pointing a shotgun at them of aggravated assault, and you lose all claims of self-defense. Anybody who is a Second Amendment advocate or a gun owner knows that you cannot brandish a weapon at somebody in a threatening manner. That is a felony charge in this state. So it's ridiculous to what they're trying to muddy the waters and sully what is going on. At most, Mr. Arbery was guilty of trespassing. And me and

my wife, when we were building our house, we went through the neighborhood and we went through houses just like that to see what they were building inside of our houses. So I don't think that anyone could justify that being the basis for killing an individual. And if the facts were changed, if this wasn't a 25-year-old black man, if it was a 80-year-old white woman or a 20-year-old white cheerleader or something, and two rednecks had chased her down and shot her, I don't think we'd be having this argument. Yodit Tuelde, again, all of a sudden the Georgia AG wants DOJ to investigate

these DAs for wrongdoing. You now, of course, have this video where people say, oh, here you go. Why is he in khaki shorts and Timberlands jogging? Hell, you got people who jog in a combat boot. This is the part where they're going to try and make out this career criminal, that he was doing something wrong.

And what we're doing is feeding into that and we shouldn't. I don't care what he was doing on that property. At the end of the day, the McMichaels didn't see him commit a crime. is feeding into that and we shouldn't. I don't care what he was doing on that property. At the end of the day, the McMichaels didn't see him commit a crime. That is the point. They said that they, well, Barnhill, that is a second DA who recused himself, said that they were well within their rights to detain him or at least try to detain Ahmaud under the citizen's arrest law. And that's just incorrect. They can't believe or try and detain Ahmaud based on a belief, based on what they think they know. They didn't actually see him commit a crime. Therefore, the citizen's arrest law was not appropriate at the time.

So while we sit here and argue about what he was doing, whether it's a normal thing to go through a property under construction or not, we have to keep focused on what the law is and what we know as facts. Right now, that just wasn't appropriate, and it would have been an illegal arrest. And therefore, they can't now cry self-defense because they were approaching it when they shouldn't have. Scott Bolden, I'm going to bring you in here again. When you look at these things that are coming out, the homeowner says nothing was stolen. And then all these people, I mean, I've had white conservatives, black folks, others will say, I've often gone into homes under construction taking a look around,

and people are saying, this happens all the time. Your deed is completely correct. I mean, it's all irrelevant. It's ridiculous and irrelevant. The video actually helps us, helps the prosecution, because whatever the defense is going to be about their right to stop and their right for reasonableness just goes completely out the window. So what?

And by the way, one thing we have not talked about is Tennessee v. Garner. I know my colleagues know that case, because I've written about it, that even the police cannot shoot a nonviolent fleeing felon who is running from them. Even if he was committing a felony here, he's not committing any crime. He's looking around. If he was trespassing, the only person that could stop him and file charges against him for trespassing isn't the defendant, isn't the arrestees, but the owner of the property. And they weren't around and nothing was stolen. And so we have to keep perspective, as my colleagues have said here. This will be part of the defense, but that dog won't hunt.

And it'll be highly insufficient or completely insufficient of the defense, but that dog won't hunt. And it'll be highly insufficient or completely insufficient of a defense. You got a good judge, a former judge rather. I think Robert talked about this judge in Cobb County or rather this prosecutor in Cobb County. She's a conservative, but that's okay. That means if she's a judge and she's a politically conservative, she's going to play it by the book. And if you play it by the book here, the only thing that matters is do you have the elements for felony murder and aggravated assault here? You have that. This case is going to go to a jury or it's going to be a plea because nothing else really matters but the facts. And you've got two videos that tell the whole story.

This is also, of course, when you look at the calling in of the DOJ to investigate. I think that is obviously it's important. I'm not confident at all, though, Robert, in this Department of Justice when it comes to this issue. But something does stink when you have police officers saying they wanted to arrest these two men on the spot. Janice Johnson said no. The second DA weighs in, pretty much acts as the defense attorney for these two men, but then refuses himself.

And the third attorney, I don't know what the hell he was doing for several weeks. It took the Georgia Bureau of Investigation literally 36 hours to come in and then do an arrest. This guy only announced after the video leaked, oh, I'm going to take it to the grand jury. The DOJ investigation, not just looking into the prosecutors, but they should look into the hate crimes elements.

With regards to particularly 18 U.S.C USC 241, 242, and 249. Because what we've seen throughout the South historically is the inability of local prosecutors to convict white defendants for killing black people in the South. You go all the way back to Cheney, Goodman, and Schwerner. You can go to Kenneth Walker. You can go through police shootings throughout the South. So you have to have that federal backstop there, both to investigate the deeds of these previous prosecutors, but also to ensure that if there is an acquittal or if there is no indictment in this case, because remember, you still have to have the grand jury with the Atlanta Judicial Circuit. We want to make sure you have as many bites of the apple from unpartial and unbiased bodies to get a conviction. With regards to the Cobb County prosecutor who was appointed to be the special prosecutor in the case,

we do need to keep an eye on this because one, she is politically conservative. Two, she's only been on the job about a year. She's up for re-election this year. And so there's no guarantee that she will even be the prosecutor on the case if she does not win re-election. There are more experienced black prosecutors in the state, people like Sherry Boston in DeKalb County, Darius Petillo down in Henry County, who I think much of the legal community would like to see prosecuted in this case. Also, remember the Ross Harris case, the man whose

son was left in the back of a hot car. That case was removed from Cobb County and tried down in Brunswick. There is a question as to whether or not there are conflicts between the chief murder investigator in that Cobb County DA's office, having worked in Brunswick and lived in Brunswick for three months during that trial? You know, Deet, you know, we look at a whole deal here. I mean, it just boggles the mind that you could go through three DAs and none of them act until the video gets leaked and finally has an arrest in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. I mean, they need to answer to themselves here. They are there to protect the public. It's more than just removing these DAs from office.

They actually need to be disbarred. This Barnhill guy, it's more shady than we actually know. And the AG in Georgia, Chris Carr, stated that there were things he didn't know when he appointed Barnhill because the first DA, Jackie Johnson, recused herself. He had already been involved the day after the shooting. So he was involved before he was even appointed as a prosecutor. And not only that, the National Association of District Attorneys condemned him because he realized that he had a conflict of interest on

April 2nd. On April 7th, he wrote a memo literally laying out why this killing was justified after he knew that he had a conflict of interest. How inappropriate, how beyond disgusting is that? This is someone who not only needs to be investigated, but his bar card needs to be in jeopardy. Yo, D, what we call that memo was, you know what we call that memo, right? We call that memo leaving a defense for the defendants, even though he was going to be, he knew he was going to be out of the case.

He didn't have to write that memo at all. He voluntarily wrote that memo. And Scott, to that point, I've never ever seen a prosecutor write a memo that lays out completely every plausible defense, creates a taint to jury pool in a way

that will make it impossible to get a conviction at jurisdiction, and then have another conflict they do not disclose at the beginning of the case. It's completely outside the realm of any possibility. He created this paper trail for the good old boys, as we say. He created the paper trail. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Yodit, this guy. Yodit, go ahead. What I was just going to say is not, yeah, I mean, he's not only making it difficult for the next prosecutor to try this case, but he's potentially tainting a jury pool. Exactly. All of the defenses for the defense, and to put that in a memo format that was made public for anybody to read, it's disgusting. He needs to be removed and his bar license needs to be taken,

period. Right. It was done purposefully. It really was. I mean, there's no accident when you do that, because prosecutors don't have to put everything in writing. But the uneven justice system in Georgia has to be looked at. I think Robert's right about that. This is a broader issue. When I was researching the updates on this case, there's a case in the AJC, the Journal of Constitution, about Shannon Brown, a very a former NBA player, won a couple of rings, lives in Fayetteville, Georgia. Now, his house is up for sale and two people came to see the house.

Apparently there was some dispute. He got his rifle and fired a shot, didn't hit anybody. Four to six hours later, the couple who came to the house reported him to the police. He was arrested hours later and recently released to go back to his home. He didn't kill anybody. He was defending his property. And he was arrested within hours of them reporting it. And they delayed the report. It's just completely uneven justice and enforcement in Georgia.

And we've got to do something about it on a broad basis. Prosecutors have a lot of discretion, but it's got to be more even across the state of Georgia, I think. Well, they can start by getting rid of that citizen's arrest law. I mean, it's- Oh, there's no question about it. It's worse than staying on your ground. Well, remember, Rambo pursued the state of Georgia in 2013 to try to repeal some of these

laws. It's very difficult when you have a majority of one party, a constitutional majority in the House, the Senate, and all judicial agencies in the governor's mansion, but I think this might be the groundswell support that people need to get out there in November and replace many of these officials

because it is impossible to make the changes that are needed to have justice in the system as long as you have antiquated laws that go back to the Jim Crow past of the state. Yeah, but you got to elect blue dams. You have to. You got to. The broader spectrum here is that this is a very red state.

We know the corruption politically and civil rights, criminal justice system. But if black people vote in Georgia in numbers, we can change that red state to a blue state locally at the state level where these crimes matter and those who prosecute them matter, and then the governor's race. That ought to be a priority because politically, these are Republican decision makers making these decisions, not Democrats. But it's not enough to just remove these people from office. These lawyers, these prosecutors need to stop practicing law because they'll go somewhere else and practice. You're absolutely right. You're right. I couldn't disagree with you. I couldn't agree with you more. I've been at this a long time, perhaps longer than my colleagues on this panel, but I've never seen anything like it.

There's a lot that goes on wrong in the courtroom all around this country. But this is just this is like something from a bad movie. That keeps happening. All right. Sorry, Roland, you always talk a lot. Yeah, no kidding, really. He loves us on this stuff., no kidding, really. He loves talking stuff. God bless you, Roland. Yeah, because you finally

had something to say. There you go. Yo, D, Robert, Scott, see, if you don't open your mouth, I'm going to hit you right back. All right, well, D, Robert, Scott, I really appreciate it. Thank you so very much. All right, folks, I just saw this here.

Diddy finally made his first public statement since the death of Andre Harrell. This was go to my iPad, please. And let's go ahead and show it. Come on, let's go to my iPad. Here. Y'all see the tweet there? Okay.

Alright, let's see here. Let's see if we can get this straight. Not sure why you can't see it, but yeah, hold on a second. I'm going to try my switch iPads. Come back to me. I'm trying to switch the iPad here. And then I'm also going to play a video if I can. This is let's see if we can go to the Twitter. Just give me a second, folks.

We're also getting our next guest ready. Let me know when we have our next guest. This is what let's see here. We got a problem here. All right. Let's see. All right. Let's see. Come back.

Let's see. All right. I'm still working on it, folks. I want to show you this here. I want to play this video because remember at the Grammys this year, at the Clive Davis salute, David was actually saluted at the event, and he also praised Andre Harrell at that particular event. I want to see if I can bring it up now.

Let's see here. Okay, this is the tweet that he just sent out. I honestly still cannot believe it. I've got to give myself the reality of this in doses because I can't even handle this. I hope to God that you're all blessed to have someone in your life that loves you and believes in you like this man believed in me. I'm going to miss him so much. I can't even imagine life without Dre. God bless Gianni, O'Neal, and the rest of the family.

Love you forever, Dre. And again, at the Clive Davis tribute, this is what Diddy had to say about Andre Harrell. Okay, you're not getting any audio? All right. So, all right. Not sure why we're not getting any audio. So we'll have that from your end and we'll work on that.

So let's right now, let's go to our, we pay a tribute tomorrow. And so we'll try to have that video for you. But I do want to go to our next story, our final story. We've been covering, of course, what's taking place in Maryland, HBCUs. 13-year lawsuit. They finally got the legislature, the General Assembly, to approve a $577 million allocation. Governor Larry Hogan, though, he decided to actually veto it. Interesting. And the rationale he gave was that, well, because of coronavirus,

that they've had some funding issues, some revenue issues. But I don't quite understand why he funded some other stuff. Joining me right now is Delegate Charles Sittner of Baltimore County. Delegate Sittner, how you doing? I'm doing well, and yourself? Doing great. So please explain to me how the governor can say it's funding issues.

Yet, didn't he also sign the bill spending more than $400 million to fix a racetrack? You know, a number of us were very surprised to find out that the governor wasn't signing the bill. I was in the middle of work and saw an email go out just after three o'clock on Thursday. And for weeks prior to that, I kept telling everyone that there was no reason why the governor should veto the bill. I thought after his press conference that he may not sign it, but we had an op-ed that was put out the day before that talked about the importance of our

HBCUs in dealing with the COVID virus and other health disparities, given the fact that most of our HBCUs here in Maryland have a variety of health programs, whether it be nursing or preparing people for medical school. I mean, if you wanted to spend money on COVID, one way of doing that and ensuring public safety or public health as well is financing this bill. In the scheme of things, you were talking, we're talking about a bill that would have cost

$57 million a year over 10 years. And Maryland's budget, its annual budget is about $46 billion with about $18 billion that goes into operating. So you're talking about a really small portion of the budget that would have put this governor on the right side of history. I mean, this legislation was meant to settle a lawsuit where the state had been found to be guilty of engaging in unconstitutional conduct. I mean, so there's no question about liability. It was all about damages. And one of the arguments that I made to my colleagues was, we can settle this thing for $577 million versus what the state itself said during the court case that damages could be between $1 and $2 billion. So fiscally, I thought we were making an extremely smart decision. Morally, we were certainly making the right decision.

And the thing that was really great about it, when we passed that bill, when we passed that bill, there had only been two legislators in the entire General Assembly that voted against that bill. And they were in the House of Delegates. My colleagues and I in the House of Delegates. My colleagues and I in the Senate, and I'm talking Republican and Democrat, voted unanimously for this bill.

So will the General Assembly override his veto? You know, I've been talking to my colleagues, and I think we're going to do whatever we can do to make certain that this case is settled and that these schools are made whole. One of the things that we've been doing— If only two voted against it in the House and it was unanimous in the Senate, to me, I mean, this is a no-brainer. Override it. The vote should be there. The vote should be there. The vote should be there. But what I wanted to make certain that I said is we need the general public to make certain that this governor knows how important it is for him

and to let him know that he's on the wrong side of history. Let him know that. First of all, him, but also the Black lieutenant governor who's a graduate of HBCU, Howard University, Boyd Rutherford. He should be he should be standing with HBCUs in Maryland. Yeah, I have not had an opportunity to speak to speak to him. I certainly know that he cares about HBCUs, but I think he, I would appreciate, and again, I don't know what discussions

that maybe him and the governor had, to be honest with you. I thought this was a slam dunk, easy decision for the governor. So I think, like I said, a number of us are shocked. All right, then. Delegate Sidnor, we certainly appreciate it. We'll be following this story and see what happens. Appreciate you.

All right, thank you very much. All right, folks, we'll be following this story and see what happens. Appreciate you. All right. Thank you very much. All right, folks. We're going to end the show with this here. The folks who, of course, have joined our Bring the Funk fan club are going to read their names out right now. Reginald Spivey, Willie McClain, Rodney Rambo, Jason Waters, Scott Hudson, R. Byam, Ricky Reynolds, Keisha, Lynn Worth-Daily,

Quincy, Sula, Geneva, Frederick Neal, Ron Williams, Peaches, Deborah Underwood, Jamal Myhan, Michelleula, Geneva, Frederick Neal, Ron Williams, Peaches, Deborah Underwood, Jamal, Jamal, my hand, Michelle, Marvin Norris, Gerald Gifford, Arms of Love, Cynthia Addison, Udell Hollins, Don Powell, Mildred Starwood, Latrice Anderson, Lucretia Hall, Edwina, Brenda Davis, Latrina, Terrell Cook, Corinne Perry, Tiffany Stewart, David Matthews, Benita L. McRenna Osaka, Future Leaders One, Sean Edward Ware, Sheila Davis, Tawana Perkins, Brenda Sullivan, Tiffany Stewart, David Matthews, Bonita L. McGuinn-Osaka, Future Leaders One, Sean Edward Ware, Sheila Davis, Tawana Perkins, Brenda Sullivan, Leon Hill, Anika Sledge, Carla Hopkins, Jimmy Dover, Ute Tumble, Fatima Kitchens, Carrie Dorsey, William Beal, Bonita B. Patterson, John Jones, Susanna Skinner,

Danette Samilton, Clint Williams, Ronell Gardner, Shavia Workman, Karima Sadiq, Jbrisco357, Vincent Porter, Janetta Whipton, Paula Davis, Eric Booker, Christopher Johnson, Tarekah Bates-Wells, Kim Singleton, Sabrina A. Smith-Foster,

DeVry Rice, Sudi Mott, JDSCoffeeCafe.com, Terrence Lurick, Sandra Wallace, Errol Firth, Up and Up Productions, LOC, Sweet Potato Pie Express, Luanna Cook, Danielle Quarles, Expressations, LOC, Dana Henderson, Women of Icon International, Keith Klingscales, Tony Anderson, Tanya McDowell, Farley Johnson, Delonda Walls, Lisa Norman, Willie Williams, Ariella Brimley, Brian Lucas, Lisa Young, Edith Christie Burris, Peter's Full Stack Applications,

Progress for All, Albert Miller, Beverly Nettles, Tasha Williams, Marissa Edwards, Thomas McCleary, Shandrika Feliz, Tyrone Sutherland, Linda Van Dyke, Jarius Finney, Napoleon Demison, Chad Lindsey, Tony Bridges, Wayne Lawton, Dr. Ralph Austin Jr., Roosevelt Daniels, and Brian Rogers. We appreciate everybody who has given us support in what we do. You look at the special, again, saluting the passing of Andre Harrell, Little Richard, and Betty Wright. This is why this show matters, for us to be able to control our nerves, speak our truth, and to be able to celebrate and honor us. The same thing when it comes to what happened with the HBCU, the Ahmaud

Arbery case. By us being here, we get to cover the news that matters to us. We need your support in doing so. If you want to support us via Cash App, download our site, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, paypal.me forward slash RM Unfiltered. Venmo, at RM Unfiltered. And, paypal.me forward slash RM Unfiltered. Venmo, at RM Unfiltered. And also you can support us via Square with a credit card by going to rolandmartinunfiltered.com. You see the address there as well. New Vision Media, 1625 K Street, Street 400, Washington, D.C.,

200006. All right, folks, I will see you guys tomorrow where we will have more tribute for Andre Harrell, Little Richard, and Betty Wright. And so I'll see you guys tomorrow. Have an absolutely great night. Ho! I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season

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