The Breakfast Club - Best Of Full Interview: Marsha Ambrosius On Linking With Dr. Dre, Blending Genres, Self Care, New Album + More

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

Best of 2024 - Recorded April 2024 - Marsha Ambrosius On Linking With Dr. Dre, Blending Genres, Self Care, New Album. Listen For More!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's up, y'all? So, on a recent episode of Quest Love Supreme, my co-hosts, I'm-a-Bill and Sugar Steve and I sat down with the king at rock of the Beastie Boys. We talked about the early days of the Beasties, thinking for records around the globe, and now he makes music these days in a cabin in the mountains. Oh, and this jewel. I was trying to start a band in the 90s called the Nasal Tongues. Me and Q-Tip and MC Milk and Be Real.

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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. Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning everybody.

It's DJ Envy Jesselarius, Charlamagne the guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. We have Marsha Ambrose. Welcome back. What's happening? Hi guys.

How are you? How are you, Queen Marsha? It's been about seven, eight years. Nine years. It's been a long time. Crazy. How are you? I've been about seven, eight years. Eight, nine years. It's been a long time. Crazy. How you feeling? I'm great, how are you?

Doing well. Let's black and holly favorite. I mean, you got so many classics to me. Late nights, early mornings, friends and lovers. Nyla, you've done it again with Casablanca. Thank you. You heard it? Yes, absolutely.

They gave it to you. I feel it's such a vulnerable feeling when people would like have it now. It's like not real. It's like this is all a dream. Well, congrats. Thank you. So I heard it was your mom that actually got you

to link back up with Dr. Dre. You know what she did in true Scouser fashion, the Liverpoolian that she is, she hit me up and said, using words we have no idea what that means. Scouser means you were born and raised in Liverpool. Liverpoolian that she is, she hit me up and said, oh, are they? You're using words we have no idea what that means. Scouser means you were born and raised in Liverpool. The Liverpoolian, right? So I'm born, Liverpool, born and raised.

So my mom calls me, my mom calls me and says, oh Marcia, have you spoke to him? I'm Dr. Dre lately. No, I don't even think she referred to him as Dr. Dre. She just said Dre, like I was supposed to know who that was. And I'm like, no, mama, I haven't spoken to Dre lately. And I was like, all right, I'll call him up. So this is around about the end of 2020, December.

So I give him a call, say what's up, we reconnect. He's like, I'm working on a couple of things. I'll send you a couple of ideas. So we started shooting ideas back and forth. What would then be the GTA video game? But I didn't know that that's what was being worked on. You know, Dre is just like, let's just work. You never know what's gonna happen. So we're going back and forth and a couple of weeks go by

and the top of 2021, he had a brain aneurysm. I was on the treadmill when I found that out. Like looked at my phone and you know, it popped up, whatever news outlet. And it was like, what? I just talked to him like less than 24 hours ago and made all the calls, found out everything was okay and stable.

24 hours after that, he called me, said, look, Marsh, I'm cool, I'm in recovery, but I wanna get back to work, so I'm gonna get you out to LA and let's just figure some things out. And he's- So he in a hospital bed calling you like, look, we gotta get back to work.

Wow. All I know was like plugged up. Plugged up? Just like, yep, on the way back. I said, okay, Dr. Dre, whatever you say. And within a couple of weeks, I was in LA most of that year, 2021. And the creation of Casablanca happened

a couple of months after that. So it was really all the GTA stuff. And then I told Dre that I was over doing this artist thing, Nyla's mother's now, and I just wanna chill. Like I just wanna produce and write. I've never been a, ugh, pick me, I wanna be in front of the camera, no. I was done, and he said, yeah, nah.

You was done with music? Yeah. Really? Well, being an artist. Being an artist. Yeah, being an artist, like I was always gonna create, but the whole being the artist thing, I was like, I've done everything

that I could possibly do on this bucket list that I tried to create for myself. I've surpassed my bucket list. My actual list. What was on the bucket list? I'm just curious. Get signed, win a Grammy, lose some Grammys. I don't know, like work with my favorite artists, like regular stuff.

But my actual things, I didn't write, ooh, work with Michael Jackson, work with Prince, work with Stevie, work with Dr. Dre. I didn't write those things out loud, but I wanted those things and I'd achieved that by now. This is 24 years in for me. So I'm like, ah, what's next? I'm on my Quincy Jones mission.

Yeah, I know you write for other people and produce for other people, but is there something about your sound and your music that I don't think nobody else can deliver? Your voice, your energy, is something about a Marsha and Brochus album that's just different than everything else that's out there. This is true.

I done those. I felt like I'd said all the things that I wanted to say up until that point. I say all that to say I told Dre this over, like we had a party for the kids at his crib chilling. And I'm like, look Dre, I don't want to do this no more. I'm really into producing and writing. I love this team. I want to stay creative.

But as far as me doing it, and he was like, yeah, no. I just want to keep you creative. I just want to keep you inspired. but as far as me doing it, and he was like, yeah, nah. I just wanna keep you creative. I just wanna keep you inspired. And we did one song in particular. I can safely say the titles now, yes. So we started with a song that used to be called curfew, cause there's a line where I say, let's fall in love before the streetlights come on.

And I was like, hmm, before curfew. And I was like, mm, before curfew. And Dre was like, no one likes curfew. No one likes a curfew. So we used a sample from a night in Tunisia. And I called it Tunisian Nights. Oh, it's a classic jazz record, right? So it's a classic jazz record. It starts, the way we sampled it,

we used this elaborate piano intro that Bluetooth came up with, and I just started singing this intro, and then that A Night in Tunisia hits, and then it goes to an entire Nas situation, and then the Mary thing comes into it, and it's just all of these things, and it was that magic happening in the studio

at that moment that we knew, you know, you know, you know, it was one of those moments. Like sometimes in the studio you're creating and it's like, oh, this is fire, it's cool. We'll go home, listen to the beat. Everyone in that room felt something shift, felt something new happen. And to have done everything that I've already done musically,

everything that Dre has done, we've never done this. So we were onto something and it felt like we had to see it through. So Casablanca became a destination, Casablanca became the mood, the vibe, the standard, and we just took it from there. I like the pedestal you put hip hop on, on this album. Because just musically, it just shows how much of a classic musical art form hip hop is. The fact you can go from,

that's Tenucine records like from the 40s, right? Yeah. The fact you can go from Nat to Nas. To 90s, right, and it blends seamlessly. A lot of things that we did on this album shouldn't make sense. I truly believe we will be in the Guinness Book of World Records for how many things we sampled

and the way that we sampled them. So no, Wu Tang, Duke Ellington, and Michael Jackson aren't supposed to fuse, but on Thrill Her, they did. It was a wild ride, but one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had, not only recording it, just the entire process, even getting to this point, even it taking so long to get a release date

for it to be available, the entire thing has just been, no one's done this before. Now you talk about inspiration, right? And Charlamagne say how you inspire so many people. But you must have inspired Dr. Dre as well, because we haven't heard music from Dr. Dre. We haven't seen him executive produce things.

We've only heard rumors and like, it's almost like a tease. And nothing ever comes out. You hear Dr. Dre's executive produce such and such album, but you never hear this project. He recently said this in a bit, in an interview. He recently did and said, and I absolutely believe this, he may have only released 5% of the music

that he's ever recorded. And now working with him as extensively as I did during the pandemic, it's absolutely true. And he doesn't do it purposefully. It's because he loves the creative process. And it's like, no, this is just for us. This is ours. So what did you do?

How are you one of the few people to actually get your album up? Did you ever think it wasn't gonna happen? I'm the only. There you are. The only. There's not one person. Damn. Before or after, I don't even think this happens again,

that has an entire project solely produced and mixed by Dr. Dre. How did I do it? Not clear. But I know that I did it. I know that this is something that he'd never done. And I feel like that that was the driving force for it to be something new.

He could have just did a hip hop record, it could have just been a soul R&B, it's none of those things. It's something so specific, so different, but so familiar. And I feel like we were both going through a similar situation. It was, he had a health scare, I had a health scare, the pandemic is happening. And I feel like we were both going through a similar situation.

It was, he had a health scare, I had a health scare. The pandemic is happening. It felt like the end of the earth during that time. So it felt desperate in a way. It felt, if we don't do this and this world ends tomorrow, what's the mark that we actually leave on planet earth? And musically, like you said, I've done things that, you know, a Marsha Ambrosius album is this specific thing.

If I had to leave it all on the floor and put up my triple double and win a chip, that's this album. If it was all said and done like, okay, apocalyptic world that we're now in because of the pandemic and many other things. It was that, it was out of desperation and feeling like I could have lost my life,

Dre could have lost his, we didn't, we survived these things, we're now post-COVID, how do we navigate through this and what does that sound like? And that's why and how this happened. So yeah, Dre being inspired by me, I'm inspired by him and it just took off. Tell me, tell us what the title means.

So Casablanca, I initially, within a week of recording what we knew this was gonna be after Tunisian Nights, he threw out some album titles, a couple of which were things like I Sing or I Sing Mother, one of those. And I was like, Drake, we need an actual title. Like, what is this? It was like, I mean, you sing, motherfucker, that's it.

So I'm like, no, Drake, that needs to be a title. Like, what is this thing so I was in a spoiled circumstance where I'm driving through the Beverly Hills like just Hollywood Hills every day to the destination to record and it felt very vintage Hollywood like the lights the lamps it was glitz glamour red carpets the nine. And I felt underdressed for the studio every time I got there based on what we were creating. So it was strings, it was a symphony, but it painted these pictures and I was like,

no, it feels like a place. It feels like Casablanca. And it was like, mm, okay, Casablanca. It's a banana, it's that Dre shit, so it's a little bit more gangster than that. It's like Casablanco, like Griselda Blanco. So the fusion of that very vintage jazz, Hollywood feel meets hip hop

is how Casablanca became what it was, what it is. And all you make it feels like it's soundtracks to make love to. Of course. Like nothing more, nothing less. Why is that? I have no clue.

It's just in me. It's ridiculous. Like I've had this, well, a friend of mine recently was like, how do you even come up with another one? Why not? Even in a place of desperation, even in a place of the world was over, I still find a song to make love to and it's a gift. One of them is called One Night Stand. Music Music too good to have a one night stand too. Like that's not the type of music

you have a one night stand too much. Well, that was the point. My one night stand is now 10 years long. Oh, okay. And I'm saying, so I definitely lent from other experiences and wild drunk nights over the course of Grammy, Open Bar, it gets very ridiculous. So yeah, those one nights,

they're a part of that song too. But ultimately, it's that one night that could be your forever. That could be your eternal one time. You have a bunch of people that'll be like, you shouldn't have one night stands. Why not? Exactly. You don't know where it's gonna go.

Like if you don't, everything is a one night stand. Think about it. So we've all done it. It's whether or not it lasted or it didn't. But you shouldn't be, ooh, I'd never do that. If I didn't do it, 10 years later and a seven year old, maybe that doesn't happen if I don't just, you know what I mean?

Like if I don't say hey. I got to, I want to ask too, I want to go back to what you said. You said the health scare and your child. How did that change your life with the healthcare and your child? Cause I guess if the baby was six, seven years old, happened right before COVID. So you pretty much raised the baby during COVID.

It's just COVID babies are different. Oh, they different. It's ridiculous. Like, but for me, how it all changed, it changed all of us, you know? So it was being a bit more sensitive, being a bit more open. And I feel like all of our issues,

all of our mental health, it was everything was on the table because we could all see each other now. We had way too much time to spend with ourselves so you were like, oh you're, I see you and we're going through exactly the same thing. So there was much more, well for me anyway, much more dialogue even though suicide skyrocketed. Like all of these things, all of these numbers, all of these things are happening. And I have my baby, I have my husband,

I have my own bubble that allowed me to feel safe amidst the chaos. Like it was, it still is chaotic, but that was my peace and me being able to be grounded. So that definitely helped. But at the same time, being in a dark place, I don't think there's anything that could bring you out of that.

And that was terrifying during the pandemic. And I'm pretty sure for anybody where you're like, not even your kid could bring you no my mother my father my brother like close friends couldn't write you we are this is what Casablanca ended up being Casablanca when the timing of it all was I could see the light at the end of the tunnel now I was over the other side of that dark place. And even with this tentative, oh, there's gonna be a release date.

Or we have, think about the samples on this album. We literally took over a year to clear the samples. And I didn't mind that, because I felt like I still needed time to heal. So waiting for this release date was almost like, when I say a death date, it was, okay, that's the end of that era. So whenever it was happening, it was like,

okay, now it's June 28th. I was like, that's the end of all this madness that I had to get through to get to it. So it was like, if I can survive that long, I made it. So what, we've got a couple of days to go until we get there. I didn't think I'd see this moment at one point. So to get here and to be happy and to be in a space that I'm in is just, wow.

Wow. Is that where the song, I guess, Self Care Wrong Right might come from? But even that is a song to make love to. Yeah, I mean, making love is a form of self care. Right, it's self care, it's being in tune to oneself, put the, do the math, one plus one is, do you? So yeah, it's self care,

and no matter who's wrong or who was right, it was just don't leave me me and don't leave that feeling. And once the music started, it was all of those emotions. And even in that, like you said, it all came back down to in true Marsha Ambrosia's fashion. You gotta fuck. Right in that love song still. So I'm just glad to be able to do that.

What's the wrong right part of it though? Like what does that mean? Who's wrong, self care, wrong right was? So initially those were two separate songs and the self care was I needed to do me. Figuratively and literally. So by the time we got to wrong right, it's me inviting that person then into my space.

And it's given me good like, you so hood like, please don't go. It's that, you're so wrong right now for even trying to let me let my guard down. Cause I was so cool with just letting me do me and then here comes this this this fine dark chocolate sweat me off my feet and let me put my guard down and I'm a Leo and that's hard for me to do. So when it happens, it's both terrifying, but the fear and a lioness comes out in aggression and anger

and a lot of sexual appetite that is, or anyone that knows that knows. And yeah, that was, you're so wrong right now. Where did y'all meet? Where did you meet your husband? On tour. On tour? Yes.

How did that go down? Because you talking about him, you just, you started, your mouth started salivating, and you just started getting hot. I know, you started getting together. You turned an envy on. Because you say, I'm thinking about the song wrong, right? I'm like, hey, woo, you know.

Envy thinking about your man getting turned on. I was like. Chill. Chill out. Chill out. No, we mess around? I'm like, hey, whoa, you know. And be thinking about your man getting turned on. I'm like. I'm chill. Chill out. No, we met. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, she was just so excited. I'm just asking, where did they meet?

But that's where the music came from. That's love is love. I got me thinking about my wife, all right? I'm sorry, Gitt. It's fine. No, we met on tour 10 years ago. And I saw him. It's 10 years ago and I saw him. It's 10 years later.

I said, you know when you know, you know, you keep like all the movies that you see, that's corny shit, like never happened. Yes it did. It was, I seen him and he had a red fitted on and I was like, who is that? And I approached him like, yo, what's up? And we got to talking and we haven't stopped talking since.

You need to write a book called One Nice Day because there's so many people who think you gotta make the man wait 30 days or 60 days or 90 days. There's so many formulas to it. Maybe you don't just follow your intuition because it all depends on what type of person you are. Like there are people that are, I've never been, I'm not approaching unless I know it's for sure.

I don't know, there's many formulas to it. So even if I did write a book, I'm going with what worked for me. I'm not giving you the manual to how this works out. Like, ooh, you too can find your 10 years later. Or, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not giving it as game like that. I'm saying if you saw what it was that you wanted

and you didn't make your move, that's on you. Cause then you'll sit there and ponder and be like, well, what if I just said something? What if I just approached? By the time that I did and it was what it was and I knew that it was more than just that one night in Philadelphia, that one night in Chicago, that one night in Virginia, that one night in LA, now it's many nights, now it's, ooh. You wanna move in?

Sure, moved in together, and then it's, oh, you wanna go back to the UK for Christmas with me, meet my whole family? Sure, and then by April, we were pregnant. Wow. Is that serious? I can't. Sounds ridiculous when I say it.

No, when I say ridiculous, it's like, that's the timeline though. And we were both very short. I can't remember what song it is. Maybe it was Greedy. What's the song, maybe I'm trippin'. It's not like you was talking about having a threesome. Oh, Thrill Her.

Thrill Her. Thrill Her, that was a dream, not really came true, but a fantasy. So Thrill Her was a drunken high knight. I want to say I took that story from, was it Atlanta? No this one might have been at LA. It was definitely a Grammy week and I painted the picture. He came in drunk as hell, gives him head, then a knock at the door and it's another chick. I'm like, who the, is this? And I'm like, oh, it's about to go down.

Oh, it might have been a Philly story too. There's like a lot of stories involved. So, yeah, when people hear this album, they can claim that. Yeah, that was me. And then, which is great. I love that figure. Yeah, it was a wild night. But it was a dream.

Who knows? Okay. Was it? I don't know, it sounded real to me. It sounded real to me too. And the album is very like 1990 now. Like how do you have such a nostalgic feeling but keep it fresh?

Cause that's what, I mean, any hip hop connoisseur or R&B head, 90s is just, it's unmatched. It was a time if you weren't outside, just stay there. And I feel like with this album, to have grasped what the Nazis of the world were doing then, the Marys of the world were doing then, but making it now, it's because that was timeless. And that's, I think our, we're all the same age, like our generation of timeless,

like whereas our parents, it's Temptations, it's,, it's Earth Wind Fires, okay, even later than that. But it was timeless music, so it survives now and sounds fresh now because it was that good then. So I couldn't integrate, I wanna say couldn't, didn't really want to integrate what we feel like hip hop is now or R&B is now. I could only learn from what I really know. And me creating in my creative process

has always come from the Jodeci era. It stops and starts there. It's Jodeci. That's my R&B, like ultimately. So my hip hop is Nas, it's Jay. So it's all of those things in one album that make it fresh because it was good then, so it's gonna be good now.

Like singing, what's a classic to you? Any classic. Mary J. Blige, My Life. Right, so you sing that now, it's then, but it's absolutely now, because it was that good then, and I feel like I've always, when I say attempted, to write timeless music.

For me to sing Say Yes or Butterflies, now I can, but that is 24 years ago, for me, in my real time. 24 years later, absolutely timeless. So to create a Casablanca and know that 24 years later that can still live, that's the goal. It's like, what is your tomorrow? And musically, I've been doing things that could live for tomorrow whenever that future is.

I just love the fact that a Nas ilmatic can inspire something like this. Because when I hear this album, I hear a lot of ilmatic. Yeah, and that was unintentional. I guess with that first Tunisian Nights, it's trying to outdo how we implemented, unintentionally, Nas in there.

And it was all of these things, because hip hop back then was still lending from classic jazz records. So it only made sense that we not only borrowed from what the 90s did with those samples, but reinventing and elevating them in the only way that a Dr. Dre can and did. I was gonna ask, you talk about Dr. Dre

only releasing 5% of the music that he actually made. How much music did y'all make? and what was the process of trickling it down from the amount of songs you made to this 11? You know what's crazy? We made about 12 or 13 songs. Really? And knew when it was time to start. We knew it when it was completed.

And the only reason why the other two didn't make it is because one of them, it made the album play a little longer than we felt comfortable with. And it matched another song on there, like evenly. Like if you had to get rid of one or the other, and it was like, ah, it's definitely that one though. And one of them we couldn't clear, like, get, nah. Damn.

One of them. So I was like, okay, we couldn't clear, like, nah. Damn. One of them. So I was like, okay, we can't clear that one. We have an album and Dre in the creative process has like a whiteboard on the wall. We'll write the titles for each song. We just looked at it and was like, that's it. That's it, we're done. So between April, end of April, 2021 and end of May,

we were completely done with recorded, vocally, I recorded everything, written everything. And we took a couple of weeks off and reconvened and Dre said 27 piece orchestra. So we were at Gower Studios, Eric Gourfain did the string arrangements and we were in with the orchestra listening to them go crazy on this album that we created

which was already doing what it was gonna do. This symphony just took it to another place. Like just didn't even make any sense. So by the time that's happened, it's just timeless in that way. How does, you know, really thinking about your mortality and like, you know, maybe I guess being face to face with death in a way, how did that change

just everything about you as an artist, as a person? I don't know if you can see it. I'm so happy and chill. Like nothing can really like phase me. And if it's anything that does kind of interfere with my peace, it's, whereas I would get upset or combative or defensive about things in the past, it's, okay.

That's how you feel, cool. Like, there's so many more important things than being mad about anything or holding onto things unnecessarily. Like, that brush with what you think death looks like and that flash across your eyes of like, that was it. The things you think were important never were. And by the time you get your life back, it still feels like that, like not important. Importance, like prioritizing the importance

of things in your life changes, like not important. But you know, you taking so much time off, it's part of the reason like, I just don't wanna deal with the noise, with the people talking, with the social media, with the conversations. It's just you have a clear mind when you don't deal with things and people. Not necessarily that. I love people.

I love the internet. It's a very entertaining space. So it was never that. It was the obligatory having to do it, the whole artist thing. It's the. Gotta show up to interviews. It's the interactions.

Gotta be here on this day. Right, it's the, now I have it, itinerary? Nah, let's just live and chill and maybe do stuff for fun and live how the other side lives or whatever you think that looks like. It was always that, but as far as noise, I think I've forced myself to engage, to get perspective on where people are actually at

in their lives, to understand me more, if that makes any sense. Cause I couldn't, I think during the pandemic, we all internalized a little bit more and understood ourselves a bit more, but I think not enough people were sharing that for the fear of being looked at crazy. Cause you have more time to think about who you were,

why you were, and if it all had to end tomorrow, what did you do while you were here? So all of these things are happening and I was okay with noise. I felt like I was more terrified of the silence. Would you say okay with the noise meaning you didn't mind people discussing and talking and- Oh no, like if no one's talking. Makes you feel like you're still there.

Yeah, like if I wasn't there, I don't know. I want to say it doesn't matter. I think I was engaging in conversations and catching up with at such and such on Twitter or at blah blah blah because it was, oh, we're still here. We're still able to communicate you okay blah because it was oh we're still here we're still able to communicate you okay whether it was negative or positive it was like you've made time. You're talking about me regardless. Yeah so it was like you've made time.

It's the fear of when they're not talking about you. But yeah I didn't mind that it was life I was comfortable with again and in all of its noise. So I think for anyone during the pandemic, that silence, it was like the zombie apocalypse. Like, is anyone here? Am I crazy by myself? Are we all gonna die? What's happened?

Like it was the silence? It was scary. Yeah, especially if you've never done any internal work. You never did no therapy, if you never did no meditation, if you've never done any internal work. Oh no. You never did no therapy, if you never did no meditation, if you never have been on no healing journey, and that was your first time having to deal with yourself. That's noisier than anything.

You and your thoughts by yourself screaming at times. And then it was quiet, but then it was peaceful. And then it was, okay, let me breathe. And everyone okay? Everyone good? You know, and it felt like that. What did you learn new about yourself during that time? I have way more patience than I thought.

I'm terrible, like terrible. Like Uber Eats, where you at with my food delivery? You said you made a left turn. What do you mean you're still waiting? What do you mean you're, yeah, I'm terrible. I don't like waiting. I got no patience and I hate waiting. So mama get your ass in here, let's rap, rap, rap.

My favorite line, whatever. Yeah, patience. Didn't have any. Now I, one of mine. Yeah, patience. Didn't have any. Now I have all of it. Cause it's, oh it's not happening right now? Cool. Before? What you mean?

Why? What's up y'all? So on a recent episode of Quest Love Supreme, my co-hosts, I'm P Bill and Sugar Steve and I sat down with the King Ed rock of the Beastie Boys. We talked about the early days of the Beasties, thinking for records around the globe, and now he makes music these days in a cabin in the mountains. Oh, and this jewel.

I was trying to start a band in the 90s called the Nasal Tongues. Me and Q-Tip and MC Milk and Be Real. Listen to Questlove Supreme on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, y'all, I'm Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, host of Therapy for Black Girls. And I'm thrilled to invite you to our January Jumpstart series for the third year running. All January, I'll be joined by inspiring guests who will help you kickstart your personal growth with actionable ideas and real conversations. We're talking about topics like building community and creating an inner and outer glow.

I always tell people that when you buy a handbag, it doesn't cover a childhood scar. You know, when you buy a jacket, it doesn't reaffirm what you love about the hair you were told not to love. So when I think about beauty, it's so emotional because it starts to go back into the archives of who we were, how we want to see ourselves, and who we know ourselves to be and who we can be. So a little bit of past, present, and future,

all in one idea, soothing something from the past. And it doesn't have to be always an insecurity. It can be something that you love. All to help you start 2025 feeling empowered and ready. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls starting on January 1st something that you love. All to help you start 2025 feeling empowered and ready. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls starting on January 1st on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sup y'all. This is Questlove and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been

working on with the Story Pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records. It's a family friendly podcast. Yeah. You heard that right. A podcast for all ages. One you can listen to and enjoy with your kids starting on September 27th. I'm going to toss it over to the host of Historical Records, Nimini, to tell you all about it. Make sure you check it out. Hey, y'all. Nimini here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Historical Records brings history to life through hip hop.

Flash, slam, another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. The cracker, the bat, and another one gone. The tip of the cap, cause 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 if you get 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 into 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.

Hey everyone. Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's John also known as Dr. John Paul. And I'm Jordan or Joe Ho. And we are the Black Fat Film Podcast. A podcast where all the intersections of identity are celebrated. Oh, chat. This year we have had some of our favorite people on, including Kid Fury, T.S. Madison, Amber Ruffin from the Amber and Lacey Show, Angelica Ross, and more.

Make sure you listen to the Black Fat Fam podcast on the iHeart Radio app, Alpha Podcast, or whatever you get your podcast, girl. Ooh, I know that's right. Hey, guys. I'm Kate Maxx. 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. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty

crazy and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't even care. When I say don't care, I can't do anything about time. And it's, I thought I had time at one point. And when I realized I had none, oh, now I'm patient with everything. Because now I feel like I've held onto more time than I could have had. So that's different.

I was watching the R&B Money podcast, shout out to Tank, and you made a comment, I guess you were joking, I don't know if you were joking or not, talking about you throw a Stevie Wonder really can see. And people took it as they were mad at you for a little bit. Mad at me how? I don't know. Because if you're a Stevie Wonder fan, what I said was he can see, if you listen to the music to be one of the most prolific descriptive songwriters of our time,

how can he not, and maybe not in the way that you believe that that is, How can he not, and maybe not in the way that you believe that that is, but his pen game makes you visualize us with actual sight, visualize everything he was saying. That's a gift. That's what I said. Yes, he can see, because there's no way he says,

I never dreamed you'd leave in summer and I literally see the summer day He's referring to mmm. That's Not fair Mary wants to be a superwoman and I know who Mary looks like I've already made that character The song plays and I see it Stevie more than any Songwriter I believe on planet Earth has made me see a song the way Stevie does. That's what I said. I said what I like I said.

That's what I said. I get what you're saying. He might be blind, but he got vision. There's a difference. Speaking of vision, to use that song on Casablanca. I remember Dre actually, he might, Dre was nervous about using the Stevie record or like asking him like, yo, let's hit Stevie

and see what he thinks. I'm like, okay, crazy. But yeah, we got to use Visions on Casablanca and with Stevie's Blessing and Bucket List, like this fake Bucket List. Wow. This fake Bucket List I keep making up. I'll check that one off. Did he wanna hear it?

Oh yeah, yeah, he heard it. I mean we had to go through that process. Did he love it? Did he give any creative input? We had creative input because I did curse in that song at some point in the bridge. But when I curse in music, it's for emphasis. So I think with this one, I've taken it too far.

Steve was like, now, now, now. And he might have cursed during, like, nah, fuck me. He might have cursed trying to tell us not to curse. But it was necessary, I took it out. Made sense, I didn't have to. Wanted to in that emotional moment though, and did, and maybe live, Stevie would be with it,

I would absolutely still sing that same line that I did. But yeah, it was a wonderful experience. Is Stevie FaceTime, Zoom? What did you do? I wanna say it was a phone call that I had and Dre had spoken to him also, so yeah. How involved is Dre? See, we're just gonna let that one do this.

Cool. What? How involved? How involved? Me, sleep. How involved? You caught it, as long as you caught it. Oh, absolutely. I was like, oh, everyone. You caught it smooth, long as you caught it. Absolutely, I was like, oh, everyone.

You caught it smooth, too. That would be cool, like, right, but no. You caught it smooth. FaceTime, not any FaceTime. I love it, cool. How involved is Dre, as far as creative direction? And like, just taking your input. Oh, for this, this was a complete hand-in-hand,

50-50 battle of the creative minds. And his respect for me, my respect for him allowed us to really do this. And he's a genius, I'm me, and he said that I was a genius. You are, you mean, what are you talking about? He said that I was a genius. You are, you mean, what you talking about? It's crazy to hear it from who, I'm looking at a genius and he's looking like, it's like the Spider-Man meme,

we're all doing this in the studio. And he's like, yeah, I'm Dre and I do this thing, but I ain't tell Michael Jackson what to do. I said, ah, you're absolutely right. I did that one. So there was just a respect level there and he let me push boundaries in a way that I'd never done. One is Dre's budget and he's literally saying no limits. You can do whatever you want. If you had to make the perfect song and implement all of these things, what is that? Just do it.

I didn't think that me having Wu Tang, Duke Ellington, and Michael Jackson on one song was possible until we did it. I didn't know a Patrice Russian and a Mary J and Mary Jane girls, one song could happen, we did it. I didn't know a Patrice Rushin and a Mary J and Mary Jane girls one song could happen, but it did. And all of these things were happening because Dre said no limits. It's unreal for real, for real.

If I'm honest, I've never done anything like this. Like I've made music before, but with the creative freedom and no limits on it allowed me to do things that I'd never done ever and may never will. Might really truly be the one of one and I'd be okay with that. Damn, so you don't think you'd put out another album after this?

It's not even another album. It's not another this. I'll create music for the rest of my life, whatever that sounds like, whatever that looks like. But this, in its moment, it's like we can't recreate the timing of when these health scares happened, the desperation of what's happening with planet Earth, the uncertainty of life and why we made this album.

You know, we can only do celebratory, like, happy to be alive albums after this. You know, everything else was kinda just, but this album was made because we didn't think we'd ever get the chance to make one again How was it when you played the record for method man during the roots picnic? We're sitting on your I had like most of my best friends standing behind me waiting to just hold him

like Method man, please. Would you listen to me? I mean, he's a dream. I can still say that. I know I'm married. My husband knows what it is. Method man. So to play him, I remember when I was writing that moment in the song and the go outside

and the rain sample is happening and I knew the beat was about to come in and I'm like you got that M-E-T-H-O-D. Man, do that thing. You do those hands. Kiss on this and make it dance. Take it baby, giving you permission with persistence. O-I-L-O-V-E-I-T and I can't get enough of this ocean flow below my legs swimming it go diving inside inside my love babe love you babe. That's wet right? That's wet. Ain't it? That's the song wet. Are you alright over there?

That's the name of the song. What? That's the name of the song. It's okay. But you see, you feel me? So to play it for him, fantasy. Bucket list you can't make up. Like this Method Man, play wet, the Method Man. And just to see him blush when the moment came in and. Him do a little two step. Right, two step to that, give me all the audibles, said he's gonna be the leading man in the video.

Mm, dope. And it's the mini Ripperton inside me at the end and it's just all the things. It was a fantasy. All of this feels very surreal. Like it's happening, but it's happening in real time. Like I get to go, hey Stevie, listen to what we did with your, hey, George Benson, here's Patrice Rushin,

here's Mary, here's Nas, here's Clayton. Just, yeah, so Mev, thank you Mef, my leading man. I just got a couple more questions. You said you didn't tell Michael Jackson what to do or Dre didn't tell Michael Jackson what to do? Both of y'all. Dre didn't. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

So he's saying, basically his nod to me was, I'm Dre and I've made several other goats, but I didn't tell Michael Jackson what to do that was you so it's I'm coming to the room with something that he's never done Wow so don't devalue what it is with you in the room and I I get that and you have to understand the amount of people that have probably crossed paths and been in the studio with Dre and possibly gotten to a stage where they thought maybe a project is happening.

This part has barely happened for, like I said, that 5% is just the creating of the music. The actual artists that get to be at this part only happen if you're the five people that you can count, six or seven, maybe, but don't happen. So it was that. I'm one of one. And are you MJ Culturable?

What? Yes, I'm wanted to be. Like I think that was the, I had a spoiled experience. I was just getting to Atlanta, then get to Philly, get signed by the end of that year. Now I'm in the studio within less than a year of the time it took me to get to the States, then work with Michael Jackson because he's had this demo. And we were here in New York, hip factory

and he was there two hours. Michael Jackson was there in the studio two hours before call time just warming up his vocal. He was that guy like he was great because He worked like unlike any other and I'll never forget the first moment where he goes in the booth like that glass behind there and it was, I'm at the mixing board and Bruce Swede and Gorges Sisol too.

Andre Harris is at the board. I have the talk back button and the first chord happens and Mike just whispers like, butterfly. And I just started crying immediately. Just couldn't even hold it back. I'm in the studio, I'm 22, 23 at that time. Like those were my younger years, my formative years, and I'm doing this at that age.

And then it was taught back, one more time, Mike, get your timing right. One more time, Mike, make sure you like vocally produce that entire song. But when I press play is only when I can hear the reality of that because it's seamless there's nothing wrong with that song and he allowed me at my very young naive very green to everything industry not only do me retain

all my publishing and flourish in that studio as a vocal producer, producer and writer for that record. And Mike was just the king for all reasons. Can you take us back, how did he hear Butterflies? How did he hear that reference track and said I wanted that? Well I'd written this song when I was about 16, 17 in Camberwell, South London, about a boy that worked at McDonald's.

Don't even know his name, I just knew that he was a neighbor's friend and he was fine as hell. He gave you butterflies every time you went to McDonald's. Every time, so I recently put two know his name. I just knew that he was a neighbor's friend and he was fine as hell. He gave you butterflies every time you went to McDonald's. Every time. So I recently put two and two together. You know I went to McDonald's giving you bubbleguts. Then there's that. I wasn't eating McDonald's like that though.

I never really ate, well I did kind of, but I was basketball back then. So I was in athlete mode for sure. But Camberwell, the place that the McDonald's is in is called Butterfly Walk. And I never put that together until we recently went back and started taking pictures there. And I was like, look at God, look at that.

So I ended up writing this song, Get to Philadelphia, year 2000. So that's a couple years after that. Meet the team at A Touch of Jazz. One producer in particular, Andre Harris, who'd done two of my favorite Jill Scott songs, Long Walk and The Way. And I was like, who did those two?

Oh, that's Andre, that's Andre. I was like, I want parts. So within a week, Andre Harris and myself had recorded Say Yes and Butterflies together. So Say Yes was for Ron Isley, so we did that demo together and that was with the intent that Ron Isley was going to do Say Yes for his album, he just didn't take it, rest is history. And then Butterflies a few days after that, five or so in the morning, six or so in the morning, play the chords, I'm like Dre, slow those down, yada yada yada. And Butterflies happens and John McClane,

who ended up signing Floatry to DreamWorks, was Michael Jackson's personal manager. So he has the demo, plays it for Mike, so listen, you have to listen to these girls, listen to this demo. And Mike was like, I want that one there's butterflies Mike you can have the entire album it's yours I don't have to do another thing and that's how we heard it we got the call in Philly at a touch of jazz everyone thought it was a prank call

went to voicemail the first time and then I think Jeff spoke to him or Carvin spoke to I think Carvin said he spoke to him, and he thought it was Dre messing around. We were practical jokers back in the day. And Mike, you don't really know, you think you know his voice? Mike had a deeper, rasper voice, and I think he only used a higher tone

just to preserve his greatness. Like he didn't want to use or project. He was only using that for the booth or the stage, and that's it. So by the time we've spoken to him, this is the summer of 2000, I was in the studio with him in New York the following year, March. So it's like that quick. Wow. Now you also mentioned Flowetry. Fans were always, will Flowetry ever do an album together again or that chapter your life is over who knows no Chapters are closed and I think

Rewinding to what you said about you know when I met my husband. I did a flow tree Tour 2015 2016 and that's when I met him and got pregnant the following year on the other tour So it was like a back-to-back. Hey reunion. It's all love and yeah, who knows now also I seen Amanda Seals was on Club Che Che and talks about, she said that she thinks you wanted her to quit flowetry, was that true? The loaded question, quit flowetry is very vague. What was happening with Amanda Seales, and this is what,

because I wanna spend a lot of time in this, this is like a quick bit. When did we last do the Breakfast Club together? This is like seven years ago. When the 9 years ago. When the dollar came up. So 20 and things. Yeah, so initially,

the first thing I said about Amanda Seales is, sorry, I can play the clip. You can go to YouTube and see it. And it was, she was put in a position that she shouldn't have been in in the first place. The label and management were trying to reestablish what that was and it just didn't work. So by the time we've put all of these things into action,

we've rehearsed a show and you've given it to the public, everyone has gone, oh nah. And there's nothing I can do about that part. And this is also 17 years ago, three weeks of a summer tour. We may have done like 15 or 16 shows and it just didn't work out. And that was the end of that really. But we've had nothing but, for me,

and I'm saying like, well, for me, we'd had nothing but positive interactions thereafter, like I saw her 2013, we took pictures together, we reminisced, and she'd been texting me throughout the years after that, nothing but positive vibes. So, I'm in a good space right now, 17 years later, so for whatever she believes that was, I don't think publicly we can do this combative,

well, you said this happened or I said this happened. I know exactly what happened on my end, but you know, it's kind of... 17 years ago, I've done all this healing between now and then. I'm not the same like 17 years ago 2007 I'm still talking to Michael Jackson at that point. I've still got prints on speed dial like I was still very much Grammy winning Grammy nominated me that was in a position to

do what I wanted to do at that point moving forward and Here we are 17 years later, and I'm still moving on and moving forward, and Casa Blanco with Dr. Dre's about to drop, and just in a different space, you know? On the song Greedy, it makes me wonder does your husband ever hear certain lyrics and be like you talking about us,

because you say it's never enough to love you. Same old lame old, ain't no way I'm ever gonna take that shit. I'm giving you everything and just the things I get. Don't play that shit. Even if it was greedy during that time, and even during the creative process of Casablanca, my husband and I had a conversation about where I was at mentally to create the actual, basically he said,

I didn't have to be married, Marsh, and come from that space. And I understood what he said when he said that, because the love songs are different. If I'm attached to the relationship I'm in and having to kind of skirt around what that looks like, those songs sound like Don't Wake the Baby or Just Like Old Times, and they're different. With this it was you need to

stretch that pen and write from a space of you doing you and what does that sound like. So by the time I got to Greedy I was angry at the world. Like it's never enough to love anyone or anything love anyone or anything and then be satisfied in a way that you feel like you put your 100 in and they only claim it's 30%. So I could give you the moon and it's like, well where the sun at? Like it's the moon family. You know, and I feel like greedy.

I was talking about everyone. It wasn't even just about him. It was everyone and everything playing this tug of war of if you're not next to me, you feel as though you're missing out on something that you only gain by being with me or taking something from me. I'm like, well, what's the end game?

Like, what exactly do you want? Cause you're really upset. Like you mad as fuck that you not around me like that. Greedy. I love that song. On music on my mind, you said it's a, it's that Wu Tang meets Coltrane. And what I love about that is like what I told you earlier,

it's like you're putting hip hop on this proper pedestal of being like a classic musical art form. Was that intentional throughout the project? Maybe not intentional, but my affinity and adoration for hip hop has stemmed from me knowing all the words to Beech Street, breaking, like being overseas, getting all of these imported hip hop 12-inch records from my uncle and hip hop hip up you the love of my life. And I feel like on this album, it only made sense that I made sure that that last music on my mind was my

love letter to music. And I couldn't fit everything in in so I just gave you the bullet points of what those errors and times so yeah Wu Tang gets a shout out. I even shouted out Mace and Cam before I even know they would reunite. This is 2021 I'm calling this out and I know what Horse and Carriage did for me in the 90s you know so it was all of these small nerds two things and this is in the 90s, you know? So it was all of these small nerds, two things, and this is in the same breath I'm saying, you know, MJ, J Dilla, Marcus Miller, Murder Maze Cam Killer, Miss Patty, Bunkadelic George Clinton,

and I even shout out Luke Skywalker. Just things that I've loved over the course of my life, and if that were my last speech to planet Earth, like it's been real. This was it. That's what music in my mind and that last statement was. The last thing that I say is, D-R-E, that mamba mentality,

the game went in shot for the three. Kobe. Kobe, Swish. It's good. Great way to end the project. That's right. Great for the fantastic album. Comes out next Friday, June 28th. Oh my goodness, when you say it out loud, it's real.

That's right, next Friday. Oh man. Listen. But what do you wanna hear off the album? What do I wanna hear? That you're gonna allow us to play because we gotta get it from you guys. But we have it but.

Might be Wet. Wet? Might be Self Care Wrong Riot. We could do both. Thrill has a thing though. That thing is a story. We ain't got enough time for three but we got two. It's Pick One. You tell us Wet. We ain't got enough time for three, but we got two. We will.

Oh, it's pick one. You tell us, wet. We literally used to be done at the board, like, okay, what we saying? Throw her wet? Skirt? Okay, cool. Throw her and wet.

Let's do it. All right, we'll get that on. Thank you so much for joining us. The album Casablanca comes out next Friday. Today, the track listing is released. You guys can check that out, and we appreciate you for spending it with us today. Thank you so much for having me. There you go. It's Marsha Ambrose. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. What's up, y'all? So, on a recent episode of Quest Love Supreme, my co-hosts, I'm P. Bill and Sugar Steve and I sat down with the king at rock of the Beastie Boys.

We talked about the early days of the Beasties, thinking for records around the globe, and now he makes music these days in a cabin in the mountains. Oh, and this jewel. I was trying to start a band in the 90s called the Nasal Tongues. Me and Q-Tip and MC Milk and B-Real. Listen to Quest Love Supreme on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey y'all.

I'm Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, host of Therapy for Black Girls. This January, join me for our third annual January Jumpstart series. Starting January 1st, we'll have inspiring conversations to give you a hand in kickstarting your personal growth. If you've been holding back or playing small, this is your all access pass to step fully into the possibilities of the new year.

This is it there for you for Black Girls starting on January 1st on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's John, also known as Dr. John Paul. And I'm Jordan, or Joe Ho. And we are the BlackFatFilm Podcast. A podcast where all the intersections of identity are celebrated. Ooh, chat! This year we have had some of our favorite people on,

including Kid Fury, T.S. Madison, Amber Ruffin from the Amber and Lacey show, Angelica Ross, and more. Make sure you listen to the Black Fat Fam podcast on the iHeart Radio app. Have a podcast or whatever you get your podcast, girl. Ooh, I know that's right. Hi, I'm Dani Shapiro, host of the hit podcast, Family Secrets.

How would you feel if when you met your biological father for the first time, he didn't even say hello? And what if your past itself was a secret and the time had suddenly come to share that past with your child? These are just a few of the powerful and profound questions we'll be asking on our eleventh season of Family Secrets. Listen to season 11 of Family Secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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.