The Breakfast Club - Babyface Talks #1 Records, Signing TLC & Toni Braxton, New Album & More

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

In this interview with Babyface, they discuss about working with the younger generation of female singers, signing TLC & Toni Braxton, and sings some of his favorite songs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water,

500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zaka Stan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-A-S-T-A-N on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best, and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing.

Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all. Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids

and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Flash, slam, another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. The crack of the bat and another one gone.

The tip of the cap, there's another one gone. Each episode is about a different, inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat.

Nine months before Rosa, it was called a woman. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get real and dive straight into todo lo actual y viral. We're talking musica, los premios, el chisme, and all things trending in my cultura. I'm bringing you all the latest happening in our entertainment world and some fun and impactful interviews with your favorite Latin artists, comedians, actors, and influencers.

Each week, we get deep and raw life stories, combos on the issues that matter to us, and it's all packed with gems, fun, straight up comedia, and that's a song that only nuestra gente can sprinkle. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are The Breakfast Club.

We got a special guest in the building, an icon, a legend, Babyface. Welcome. Yo, what's up, man? How's it feeling? Good, man. I'm good. He walked in with a guitar, so that feels like we're going to get something special.

They told me to bring one. I don't know. They told you to do it? Yeah, they told me. It's not like I said, I wanna bring a guitar. I thought you said, no. See, I'm just gonna be traveling around, but since your ass, I'll bring it.

But you got Girls' Night Out now. I'm excited for this. So you started off with Angie Martinez, Girls' Night Out, Makes Sense, Ladies' Night, and Lala, and they're getting ready to go out, and that's how the album starts. What made you decide to do that? With Lala?

Mm-hmm. Well, it was fun because it's Girls' Night Out, and we just wanted something to start off the project and make it a party to begin with. It's all about the girls anyway. I want to back it up, if you don't mind, for people that don't know who Babyface is. Of course, I grew up on Babyface.

My mother did. My father did. My parents did what got babyface into music let's start from the beginning for people that don't know who babyface is what got me into music um first song i wrote because i fell in love with this girl in sixth grade so i wanted her to know that you know i was in love with her i never played her the song but then that didn't matter it's just that i wrote the song for her so that made me want to pick up a guitar my brother had a guitar in the house and so I started I picked up the guitars specifically to learn how to write this

song I wrote this song called here I go falling in love and that started it and how did it continue on because I mean we all like I wrote a rap but but I didn't say I wanted to be a rapper. You did put out some rap albums. No, well, I wasn't actually rapping. I was DJing. But what made you want to take it serious and be a musician at the time with so much going on? It was just, it was kind of in my blood. I started there, and then my brother Melvin, who was in After 7, he's not with us anymore, but he was a great singer, and he had a band, and I just kind of used to watch him and his band play.

And then he asked me to sing Who's Loving You one time in a homecoming that he had at high school, and I did that, and it kind of got in my blood. And the first act I saw was Jackson 5, saw them coming back to Indiana tour, or going back to Indiana, and I saw them on stage and it was over at that point because at that point you know they were big as hell and it was just like seeing them in my hometown and which was indianapolis and to see them on that stage it was something

that i wanted to do and most musicians a lot of musicians i should say they're artist mode all the time right they want to be an artist they want to be in front of the camera, on stage, in front of the lights. But you also took a take into writing as well. What made you say, you know what, I'm going to write for some of these people and produce for some of these people? Because you could have kept it all for yourself and your brothers and your band. I never felt like the star anyway. I just kind of felt like it was, I only wanted to do it for the love of music and, and to write it in the first place. So I wasn't trying to be the main one. Even when I saw the Jackson five, I didn't want to necessarily be up on that stage. I just wanted to have a piece

of it, be a part of it somehow. Is it hard when you write songs for other people and they don't sing it like how you kind of interpreted it or how you feel like you heard it? Well, usually since I get to produce it, I can usually get them to do it the way I kind of imagined it or how you feel like you heard it well usually since i get to produce and i can usually get them to do it the way i kind of imagine and and they usually will they usually take it a little bit further than i would have i saw you say end of the road you originally were going to keep that record yeah are you mad you didn't keep that record no i was i mean that was huge yeah it was huge but if it wouldn't have been huge if I did. Maybe. Nah.

And how do you tell an artist like a Michael or Boyz II Men or anybody else that you work with, like, nah, do that over? Because, you know, artists are sensitive. They're sensitive about this shit. It depends on how you tell them. You know, because as long as you're giving them praise on the other things they do, then they'll trust you enough to try something else. Who was the most difficult to tell them that you had to sing again or that they were wrong or something didn't sound right. Who was the most difficult? Cause they just knew they were great.

Yeah. I don't know. I usually, I usually don't get fights. Uh, but I, I can't, most people,

some people, you don't even, you don't even get the chance to say they're difficult because they end up doing it themselves so like it's not really and if I usually

run into that problem I would rather they do it themselves and then then kind of critique it you know long distance

gotcha you know what happens when you write a song that is you write a song but more than one person wants it like how do you decide okay I'm gonna let cause some of the songs

I'm sure that you've written like maybe you give it to this person they didn't respond fast enough and then someone else got it and they're like no I want that song well there was one song in the beginning that I ended up you know giving to another artist and actually LA got blamed for it but I was the one that actually did it can we

talk nope that it was girlfriend yep that was so initially we had a deal we were supposed to do a thing with Vanessa Williams we had three songs that we're gonna do on Vanessa Williams and then we met with this lady Cheryl Dickerson at Universal at the time MCA she said you guys should meet the boys and you should meet Pebbles and we went over and

met Pebbles and Pebbles played Mercedes Boy Do you wanna ride a Mercedes Pebbles had you know what's great about Pebbles she had like she was very I don't even want to use this word, it sounds corny, but sassy. She was sassy and we thought she was rich because she had champagne and stuff in her session. We never had champagne in our sessions. And she had fruits and stuff like, and so we looked at her and thought, wow, she's like famous already.

And so then she played Mercedes Boy, which was like, it was so good. And as she was talking, I should plan that. I thought the song Girlfriend was already written and it wasn't written for anybody specifically. But I had already written it. And then I said to L.A., I said, she's girlfriend. That is that's who that's who girlfriend is. And he's like was like yeah but we already we already put it on vanessa i said yeah but this song belongs to her and i've always been a believer that the song comes first and the song should go where the best artist and i thought that she was the best artist for it she she was girlfriend so ultimately we snatched the song back um la started dating pebbles so they just figured that pebbles in la you know it must have happened that way but it was actually my

fault i take the i take the blame well it was a good call it was a good call it was the right call the song was supposed to go where it was supposed to go i wanted to ask like what a song like can we talk right huge record to this day right in all genres young mid old whatever doesn't matter yep so when you're working with a new artist and you have that record and i'm sure when you did that record you're like oh this is it do you have any reservation like maybe we shouldn't give it into this young whippersnapper which tevin campbell was at the time maybe we should give it to somebody that's already seasoned do you ever have those reservations? Not really. It all depends on the voice.

If somebody has that voice and gives it a good feeling, then you think that's ultimately what you want. You can give it to somebody that's seasoned, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to pull it off the same way. And that song was just kind of right for Tevin at the time. And I know there's this whole thing on Usher and it's supposed to be Usher's song. And the reality is I wrote it specifically for Tevin at the time. And I know there's this whole thing on Usher and it's supposed to be Usher's song. And the reality is I wrote it specifically for Tevin. That's Quincy Jones had asked me to work on this project.

And I had already did one song called I'm Ready. And he called me, Quincy Jones called me, he was excited and said, can I get another one? I was like, I'm gonna give Quincy Jones another song because it was Quincy. So I ultimately wrote that and wrote that with Darryl Simmons and we wrote um can we talk and it was for Tevin from the get-go and the whole stories that kind of happened around it not true just it was

specifically for Tevin at that time. And that's that. The rumor has it it was supposed to be for Usher, and Usher never got it or whatever. Yeah, I know, and that went for a very long time. Well, there you are. That is not the truth. Vital, that's not the truth. It was ultimately, from the beginning, written for Tevin and went on Tevin.

I think after the fact it was done, I think L.A. definitely wanted to have it on Usher, but it was too late. It was already done. Do you remember how much you were charging back then for records to write records? Nope.

I know for the whole Vanessa thing, for three songs, I think we were going to get 12 grand for three songs. 12 grand. 12 grand for three songs we was happy

and you guys were excited for that we was excited we was excited about that and then but Pev's manager at the time

he offered us 15 for one so you know went that route it went that route think about it Drake recently posted

like his opening for Ice Cube he got $100 he posted recently that you know that check that's amazing Think about it. Drake recently posted his opening for Ice Cube. He got $100. He posted recently that check. That's amazing to see where you started, and then as the money starts to increase, increase,

to levels that you never would think imaginable. Yeah, no question. Well, coming to music in the first place, I wasn't even thinking about money. It just just wanted to hear my songs on the radio that's all you thought about you think about buying no house or buying no cars anything like that it wasn't that wasn't the thought it was really just about the music and i think it's changed nowadays it's really about like the money not a business it's about the money and there ain't nothing wrong with that though so was two occasions the first big song or what was i think the first big song placed in terms of

that i did was a song called slow jam that was out with midnight star and then after that the first like charting song was probably rock steady that we did with the whispers wow i was gonna ask you know then you know you were so popular hip-hop artists started calling you and asking you to do records for them. Do you remember your first rapper or hip-hop artist that called and said do a record, and what were your thoughts when they called? I don't clearly remember. I just know I did this one record for this artist I wasn't very familiar with, and they said he was going to be really big.

They didn't think he had an album out already, but he said he was going to be really big, and I did this hook for him, Sunshine. Jay-Z. Exactly. Jay-Z. So you didn't know who Jay-Z was? I wasn't really familiar with him, no. Did you go in the studio with him to record that record?

Yeah, I went in. And honestly, I think he was there, I'm not sure it was there, because I didn't really know him. I was like, yeah, I do this, it was a favor. So who called you if you didn't have no idea? I feel like Andre Harrell called again. And you were babyface at that time.

So you was like, who is this? What, rapper? No, no, I never had this. I was never babyface, if you know what I'm saying. I never looked at myself as like babyface. So if I knew somebody and they called and wanted me to do something, then I'd do it. Now let's talk about the iconic Waiting to Exhale soundtrack

and how that happened. Because that soundtrack, and I really think in particular back then, like soundtracks are so important, but that's probably one of the best soundtracks to this day ever. So how did you work on that? How did all of that happen? What was the process? I got a call from Forrest Whitaker, who called me.

Everybody just calls you, babyface. You know that. All you got to do is call him, he'll do it. No, but I was surprised I got a call from Forrest Whitaker, and I was excited that he wanted to meet with me. Everybody was chomping at the bit to do Waiting to Exhale. But as a soundtrack, um, everything about it, everybody was hoping to get it.

Then Forrest Whitaker called me and I didn't know he was directing the movie at the time. And he told me he's, I'm getting ready to do this project and Waiting to Exhale. I said, really? And he said, I'd love you to do music and I'd also love you to score it as well. And I hadn't done that, scored it and,

or written all the music for the film, which I was glad to definitely write the music for the scoring. I was a little afraid of it. And he said, no, no, you can do it, and I'll walk you through it, and we'll get this done. And so it was really Forrest that kind of called it for me to do it. And then as we were doing it, I thought it made a lot of sense for it to just be all girls. And initially Whitney, since it was a Whitney film,

you thought, okay, great, we get Whitney to sing. But Whitney initially wasn't going to sing. It wasn't any guarantee that she was going to be on it. But then she knew it was you, and I know she trusts you. Yeah, she trusts me. But even then, because I had met with her, and I asked her, are you going to sing? She said, I don't know, babe.

I don't know if I'm going to do this yet. So I was like, I wasn't writing anything for her. So everything initially was all songs written for all the other artists. And then finally she said she would sing, and that's how XL ultimately was written. And I started writing, but I didn't finish it. And that's how i ended up with shoot shoot instead of a full course at it because i hadn't really thought it all the way through

we gotta get this done she's in the studio now just say shoot shoot which is very catchy now you know i want to go back to versus right yeah um versus opened you up to a whole younger demographic yeah Yeah. So how has that been? Because, I mean, I remember the first day, you know, you and Teddy, y'all were trying to figure out your Wi-Fi problems and getting on. Your Wi-Fi was good. Yeah, your Wi-Teddy's was a little crazy. So how has that been opening up to a whole new demographic of people

that probably didn't know who you were at the time but now are so into you? Yeah, I think that was no question the turning point. I think that it was doing it. point i think that um it was um doing first i was scared as hell or nervous as hell anyway doing that as we were doing that because i didn't you have so many hits you know it's the weirdest thing because you know you're sitting here watching the phone and ain't nobody else in there and so why should you be nervous because you don't know any you know you don't know if anybody's on the other side or not but the whole idea of going up against Teddy cuz Teddy had a catalog he just didn't he just didn't plan it out right right he could have

got me you know and I was like I was prepared we were prepared to come at him you know every song people okay you got that i got this got this got this and so you know that's how i ended up doing the i knew one song he would play i knew i couldn't beat it that's what why i ended up pulling the guitar out and did the when can i see you because i knew i couldn't beat when he went to um the remix with uh swv i was like i ain't gonna be able to beat that so it was it was fun in that sense but i, but I didn't want to do it in the first place. Why not? Because I didn't want to compete like that.

I thought that was, I didn't like the idea of that. And it was Andre Harrell who talked me, once again, Andre called me again and talked me into it. And I'm glad that I did it. Because when I did it, it did, it changed everything. Because I went from like, you know, Instagram followers overnight from 300,000 to over a million. The streaming numbers. And everything, it just, it kind of changed to where I started seeing younger people that were into me.

I went to Walgreens and was in there. This was during COVID times. I had a mask on. And the girl says, I know who you are. I can see you under that. I watched Versus, and I just want to tell you I'm a big fan. She was like 18 years old. I said, okay, that's interesting.

Which brought up the idea, you know, Rika, who's my partner on Girls' Night Out, she kind of came to me and said, what you need to do is do another project. Not exactly Exhale, but a project with the younger R&B girls again. And this time you should write it with them. And they write with you, collaborate. So it can feel natural in that sense. And so that's what I ended up doing. And how was that, getting all those different attitudes,

all those different people, all those different moments? It was great because, like, every girl had their own thing. And everybody wrote on the song. We actually collaborated together. So we'd just walk in the studio, and then and then i say so what's going on in your life what's going on you're happy you're sad you're in love you're not in love and everybody kind of would talk about whatever's going on man i thought about that right while i listened to the album and there's a lot of things like what would you say when it comes to what's going on in women's

lives was kind of a a theme in this album because I feel like Ella Mai and love yes you know butterflies still coming yeah but then I listen to some of the other songs and I'm like Coco Jones you know she's jaded yep she doesn't believe in love yep and then you hear Kalani yep and she's like you mad at me for breathing, you know, and then you hear baby Tate. Don't even think about it. And you hear stuff like that. She's got problems with commitment. Do you feel like, you know, sometimes when you're getting creative and writing in the studio, it's easier to tap into more of those type of emotions? I mean, that's true, but this is also a sign of where we are today because, like, you know, it was a time when, you know,

we would sing about love and women would sing about love and being in love, and now it's a little bit, everybody's more independent, and these girls, they got their own, they're like, I ain't taking this, and I'm not going, and I'm going to say how I feel,

what I feel, and how I feel what I feel and how I feel and that was the cool part about the process because every girl that came in was very independent very strong and a lot different than before and you know plus I was writing the songs before so it was completely what I imagined they might say so they were saying exactly how they felt you're like this is how women really feel. Yeah, they're like, you know, you might have thought it was love, but no, I ain't. What did you learn? I learned that, you know, besides musically just learning how to flow differently, how the lyrics flow, how the melodies flow,

everything's not on top of the beat, it's behind the beat, it's everywhere. It's all about feel at this particular point and just from the their perspective uh of life is um is a lot different than it was say in the 90s girls uh our 90s people period um relationships period everything's a lot more toxic but that's like it's a lot more access like money long and her song the recipe yes you know she's going through your phone you don't have to worry about that back in the day like well yeah there's a lot of things you have to worry about back in the day but money came in there killed it too she did what i like about her like it's not so surface like what she's saying because she's like going to your phone but at the same time she's like i don't want to leave though right you know like i still want to work it out i don't want to be here without you but yeah that's a real thing

um money's a great writer and she's and that was like i said that was a great one to do but every everybody that came in was writing great so and the funny thing is that we really just did it every song in one day so we basically came in wrote it, and recorded it on that same day. Who surprised you the most in the studio? Out of all artists you worked with. There kept on being surprises. Like I knew Money Long was great, but I didn't know that she was that great. I didn't know she could blow like she could blow.

And I knew that some surprises were tiana major nine i heard her voice before and then when she came in i realized how rich her voice really is he's like this girl's really good and then coco jones surprised me yeah like where'd this come from um baby tate who was more of a rapper who came came in singing. I know. I was surprised with that one. That was dope. I was like, Baby Tate, and her song is dope. So it's a lot of, there were surprises with everyone, because everyone came strong, and it was honest, you know?

You know what I think? Did you film any of your conversations? Oh, we filmed it all. Because I feel like it sounds like a podcast series. Because like you said, they come in, they talk about what's going on in their lives right now. I even think about you and Ari Lennox on lip service. And you kind of making her think about her responsibility in relationships. Not working out and reflect on those things.

But just to hear what they have to say, where they are in their life. I'm sure that's also kind of therapeutic. And Annie, you're talking to Babyface about it. Yeah, I don't know about the Babyface part, but I'll just say that if you just get in there, you just start having conversation and you just chill. Everybody gets chill and just kind of start talking about it. Then, you know, you relax.

Then it just opens up and you can get a sense of where you should go musically or not, you know, or what you should talk about. some people want to talk about things and some people don't first time i work with whitney i remember i played her the song why does it hurt so bad and she heard that she goes i can't sing that it's like i don't i don't know anything about that i would never be that kind of person so that's there's there's no reason for me to sing that. And then she sang it on Excel years later. Unfortunately, she learned about it. But initially it is about whether it's something you can feel or not and how honest you want to be.

And I think for the most part, most of the artists, they want to be honest about their truth of who they are. No one's hiding from anything at this point. They're just kind of like just giving it for whatever it is. Now, Diddy recently came out and said R&B was dead, and it was trending, and people were mad. R&B artists were mad. What are your thoughts on it,

especially since you just did a whole Girls Night Out R&B album? Yeah, R&B is never dead. R&B is even, it's in everything that we do. And it's in every new artist. I mean, Kehlani has been killing it for a very long time. You have Gideon, you have Pieces of R&B. Lucky Day. And Lucky Day.

You have R&B and Steve Lacey. Usher's Residency and Vegas is killing it. R&B in Lucky Day. You have R&B in Steve Lacey. Usher's residency in Vegas is killing. R&B is everywhere. And also you have R&B in pop artists too. It's like, don't think that Justin Bieber, that that's not R&B. That's not those producers and those people that give those songs.

That's still part of R&B. R&B will never die. Because it's always, it's in so many things. So I disagree with that wholeheartedly. You just named a lot of R&B. R&B will never die. Because it's always, it's in so many things. So I disagree with that wholeheartedly. You just named a lot of R&B guys. So does that mean there's going to be like a guy's night out? I don't know. Maybe.

You should do a guy's night out. Absolutely positive. The hangover. And I was going to ask, is there any song that you wish you redid that you hear now? Like, I wish I did this different. That's why I don't listen to radio when my songs come on I usually won't listen to it because I will reproduce it in my head and be like damn I should have did this that could have went for this note could have made it a little bit better so I try not

to listen to things and I'll turn the station if I hear something or if somebody's listen to stuff then I just don't try not to pay attention when you were la re had um the face and you guys had so much success why did you guys say okay we're done with the label the label ultimately was uh in terms of the label part it was um just that kind of time for la he wanted to move on and he got an offer to run arista and we ultimately built uh we were building the face to hopefully one day sell it and you know and uh we we got that chance because la was able to go run arista i think that's why we were able to actually sell it at that point i don't know if we would have been been able to do it any sooner than that but it ultimately um we ultimately put it there and uh he was he went on and ran arista and and other things as well out of all the artists that you signed on the face who

was some of your favorites because you just really found that raw talent and really made him to who they are today say again though uh what's all the artists that you signed on the face what is your favorite artist that you found and you know you you love watching that that journey to who they are today i i think that um it's uh it's a little hard to answer because it's so many artists that we we touched um where you didn't imagine that their careers would go where it would go you know um from even starting with tlc where you know those girls what gave you the vision for tlc we're gonna go through something like tlc when they came to you the way that they looked at different clothes the singing the rapping all together what made you say that is the group well tlc was tlc was actually brought uh brought in through pebbles and um that was uh

and and she had a vision for them and then when she brought them it was kind of clear to see and uh at that point chili wasn't even in the group yet and chili actually was a background dancer for damian Dame. And when the three of them came together, then it just seemed kind of obvious. It just felt new. It felt fresh. And Dallas Austin kind of worked on the first part,

the first records with them. And it was so clear that there was something there. And then Dallas doing the work helped me, helped make it easier for me to see what kind of music to do on them as well. And then there was obviously Toni Braxton, which was in, Toni was in the girls,

she was in, had the group herself with the Braxtons. We pulled her out of the Braxtons because she had this voice. How difficult was that, making her leave her sister's? It was kind of difficult it was a family affair and they didn't really want that to happen but I felt like she was she was a star by herself initially she always call you guys the perfect pairing musically I think that the thing that hit Tony hit me about Tony was all this pain that she had in her voice

and I love to write from pain so when I heard her voice I said ah listen to that pain it's like that's something great something to work with and we just all the things kind of fell together right because you know Tony ended up getting

songs that weren't actually even meant for her that she you know they were written for anita baker first at first from the boomerang soundtrack we wrote love should have brought you home should have brought your ass home yep and that's exactly and that was written we wrote that for anita baker and she turned it down and uh said y'all should let that little girl do it that little little girl do it? That little girl that did the demo. Why did she turn it down? I don't know. She didn't like it, I guess.

It didn't hit her. It didn't seem like it was something that she wanted to sing. And then I think we sent her another one. Like, you mean the world to me. And she turned that one down, too. So Tony got that one, too. I was like, thank you. No, baby, I don't want to do that one either. Let tony got that one too because she's like no baby i don't

want to do that one either let that little girl sing it do you ever get did you ever get offended like when you like this is a hit i got turned down not i got turned down many times i've sent a song so never you never get offended that's good that's a good ego lesson for people to understand that even baby face might submit a song that this is not it's not personal and that little girl singing there's some other little girls saying um but yeah I mean you spent a good piece of your career people turning down things and songs they don't think it works for them and that that's fine now you had the Claire burner boys last last what's that had the Claire Burner Boys, Last Last. What's that? Yeah, the Claire Burner Boys record.

African artist that redid Tony Braxton's song, Over. Right. So when they brought it to you, do you automatically care? What's your process in clearing records? For the most part, when people are trying to sample or do any piece of your records,

initially you could have an ego on and say, no, no, I don't, I don't think that's happening. But at this particular point, I think that you let you let creativity go and let everybody go for it. As long as it's not junk, you know, but sometimes how do you know what's junk and what's not junk? Cause there would be some things i would hear in my whole life right here i said why did why is this a hit and uh and rather than being

judgmental on it i just listened to it harder to figure out what everybody loves about it and i think okay that's what it is y'all cleared that record did y'all know who burner boy was did you know he was an african artist so which record that see that wasn't actually my record it was on the face but it wasn't one to didn't write the record so I have to clear that one gotcha and and then sometimes you get surprised where someone does a record what was that a blue blueberry bagel blue vendors what Blue O'Vendros? What was it? There was a huge song a couple years ago that they did a My My, pulled a My My My sample out.

And it became, it was crazy. And I never approved it. I didn't know I did. And I found out I didn't approve it. You didn't? No. So do you just wait for it to get big and be like, oh, I'm going to get this money back soon?

Well, yeah. Somebody at the publisher company they just go get it you know I want to ask you this since you just bought a publishing because people always have these conversations about publishing deals should you sign them should you not you know and we see a lot of these artists getting you know hundreds of millions of dollars the big ones to do these deals what are your thoughts on signing publishing deals on signing publishing if if a beginning artist

signing it's hard to call um in some cases if if you're if you're a prolific writer it's great if you can hold on and not do a big deal with someone because it could be worth a lot. But, you know, you never know. And at this particular point, you know, cash is king. So if you can grab that money at this particular point, then it's okay. But know that that's it. You know, you got to roll with it for a little bit. So it's changed over the years.

And in some cases, people get a lot of money for it. In some cases, they don't. so it's um it's changed over the years and and in some cases people get a lot of money for it in some cases they don't so it's hard to call what was your first publishing deal like didn't have one to begin with our publishing was just taken because we signed up to the record company so it was like they take it automatically you didn't get any advance or anything so we've been through it all. Damn, that sounds. Because I was listening to you talk, and I'm like, I wonder if being that you have family that was already doing music, your brother was in After 7, did you have more knowledge about the business?

Actually, I was in the business before my brother was officially. And so I ended up bringing After 7 into the business. But I think initially, back in those days when you start out, you know, you kind of go, you got to roll with what happens. And so if the record company is going to take half, then, you know, and you want to get a deal, then that's what it is. And everybody went through it. I'm sure Teddy and we can all give you horror stories on publishing things.

So as it started back in the day. but it's gotten, um, it's gotten a lot better these days. And, um, and kids, you know, they, they, it's a, it's a whole different game at this particular point. And it's not even all about the music. If you're a star, then you can make so many money, so many other places. And, and it's not really just about the music so it's uh it's a whole different game today ever in the industry was there ever a time where money was low or you became broke did that ever happen after you were successful in industry because you always hear those stories or money is low and maybe you went too much too many private jets too many louis vuitton sunglasses who knows too many chicks you buy too many bags a stab at you? You buy too many bags. You never know.

Is there ever a point like that? Yeah, there's a point where you don't make as much as you used to make. And so you got to keep that in mind. And then you work hard to make more. Whenever someone asks that question, I say, well, you just got to start writing more hits.

And put in the time to make that happen or and be smarter and what you put your money into but i think initially um it always changes and and people should always look at the money doesn't always keep coming at some point people don't play the songs as much as they do so you don't get the same performance you know the same money doesn't come at it so you have to always consider that and um that is a forever thing and there are some kids that when they come out they come out hitting it so hard they don't realize that one day it slows down might not stop altogether but it slows down so you should you should be careful and i wanted to know too like how much time do you spend in

the studio did you ever get to a point where you're feeling yourself so much right everything's coming you'd be like oh i'm taking a month off of the studio i'm gonna do i'm gonna enjoy the fruits of my labor has that ever happened or you always were like a studio rat i've always i've always worked and always because i didn't look at it like work so it was always a joy to be in the studio right and it's not always you don't always have to be in the studio to write so you can always do that but there's never a point where um you feel like you can just take off off so if you're not in the studio then you're actually you're out on the road or doing other things but always something musical something attached it's

it's just part of as a musician it's kind of one of the things you want to do. Gotcha. How big are you on always writing for yourself? Do other artists write for you when you put out your own projects? Sometimes people write for me. I don't usually, I'll write together, but when someone hands me a song,

I don't usually do that. Have you ever done a song that someone just handed you? Teddy calls you up and says, I got this song for you. Or, you know, Quincy or Andre Harrell says, hey, you need to take this song from somebody. Yeah, it's so hard for me to just do that. Wow.

And that's hard. No, I usually have to collaborate because people, they'll think they know exactly what it is that I'm supposed to do and I don't feel the same. So that's the one place. It's weird for me to be behind the mic

and if someone's trying to produce me, it's hard for me to, that's a rough one. I did that with a couple people and I got through it. You said, I got through it. It was difficult. Have you ever felt like you wanted to experiment and like let me try this different sound?

Yeah, through the years I've done different things. It was different when I worked with Pharrell. This was when we did, what song did we do? I lost my song. We did a song. I'm spacing out together. What was the song with the Neptunes?

Hold on. That's the Google song. Yeah, see, y'all know it either, so. Get the name of the song. There she goes. There she goes. There she goes. There she goes.

That was a different experience for me to work with Pharrell I enjoyed it because I was able to see how Pharrell worked and I was surprised because he was doing everything all on this one little keyboard I said you created all this with that it was amazing

just to kind of see everybody's work ethic and how they put things together and I knew at that particular point that was way back things together. And I knew at that particular point, that was way back in the day, and I knew at that point that Pharrell was going to just be, he was just going to blow up.

He was going to be amazing. Think about it. Steve Lacey, when he was doing music early on, he was doing everything on his iPhone. Yeah. And with plug-ins and everything. Have you done things like that with technology? Or are you more like,

I got to be in the studio and do it this way? No, no, I believe in that. I believe that whatever inspires you and how you get it done that's it so i think it can come from anywhere anything and um and that's inspiring to me to know that he could do that but for you personally me personally have i do i mess around with yeah like have you tried some of those maybe facing the iphone, I don't know. The iPhone? You never know. I would. I'm not saying I wouldn't, but I haven't yet. Okay, because an app like that endorsed by Babyface that you really use,

that could go crazy. I'm just saying. It's like, cut me a check, and then we can talk about it. I'm just thinking about it. All right, well, you do have the guitar here. Yeah, you do have a guitar here. It's Monday morning. People are driving to work.

They're stuck in their office. I think it's only right we should give them a little something. A little something. We don't want you to have this here, you know. I was excited. I thought I was like, oh. I don't know why, you know. Give us something special.

I was going to play it, but I don't think you want me to play it. All I know is old McDonald had a farm. Yeah, yeah. That's all I got. What am I doing? And what time is it in the morning? It's about 7.30 a.m. Yeah, this is not, you know, morning voice.

It's not... The easy one. Yeah. The easy one. When can my heart beat again? When does the pain never end? When do the tears start running over? When does you get over Every end We sit and say

Even if It's not making sense So when can I see you again When can I see you again When can my see you again? When can my heart beat again? When can I see you again? When can I see you again?

Thank you. That's it. Yay! That was amazing. That usually costs millions of dollars to get something like that. So that's our gift to all of our listeners. That was definitely amazing. I know this might be a stretch.

No. Just tell them no already. But me and you will help you with this one. No. Can we just do Can We Talk? Just one good time. We'll help him sing it. Let's see if I can remember it.

I usually play it on the keyboard. Hold on. Yeah. Here we go. That's really high. Can we talk Can we talk Can we talk Can we talk For a minute?

Girl, I want to know your name. Can we talk for a minute? Does Ebi's dream come true? Girl, I want to know your name. Okay, we're going to have to work a little bit. This was Ebi's dream come true by the way I just want to say we can fix that

congratulations on having a number one single from off the album Ellen May Keep On Falling the video starring Tiffany Haddish it looks like a Bridgerton theme what do you want to play from the album hold on let's think about this let's see you heard it what would you like to play from the album? Hold on, hold on. Let's think about this. Okay. Let's see. We could...

You heard it. What would you like to play? Oh, man. Let's see. What song? You know what? We talked about the song with Baby Tate. Yeah.

So let's do that one. Don't even think about it. Don't even think about it. Let's do it. All right. It's Babyface, the icon, the legend. It's the Breakfast Club. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you. Good morning. And me trying so hard to be on that Boy's Night Out album. Just know. He wouldn't be on the internet. Like, guys, where we going? Where we going? It's Boy's Night Out. Hey, guys.

I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast Post Run High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the

power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own?

I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakatistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all. Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman,

Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me Did you know, did you know

I wouldn't give up my seat Nine months before Rosa It was Claudette Colvin Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, tuning in to Historical Records because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Gracias Come Again, a podcast

by Honey German, where we get real and dive straight into todo lo actual y viral. We're talking musica, los premios, el chisme, and all things trending in my cultura. I'm bringing you all the latest happening in our entertainment world and some fun and impactful interviews with your favorite Latin artists, comedians, actors, and influencers. Each week, we get deep and raw life stories, combos on the issues that matter to us, and it's all packed with gems, fun, straight up comedia, and that's a song that only Nuestra Gente can sprinkle. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.