The Breakfast Club - Janelle Monae and Jidenna Interview

Episode Date: March 27, 2015

Janelle Monae stops through her her artist Jidenna to discuss the Wondaland records movement, collaborating together and much more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. Special guest in the building with us this morning. Guest, I should say, Miss Janelle Monae. And you brought your artist. That's because you can't pronounce his name. Jidenna.

Jidenna. Jidenna. Okay, okay. Jidenna. Jidenna. Yes. Jidenna. Good morning, guys.

Namaste, Janelle. How y'all doing? It's good to see you again. Good to see you again. I was stalking your Instagram. I saw you taking yoga. That's why I said namaste. Thank you.

Namaste. Right back. All right, well, Jidenna, you're from Brooklyn. You're from Flatbush, actually. He's from everywhere. I'm from a lot of places. Okay. Yeah, I'm not an army brat, but I was born in Wisconsin.

Grew up in Nigeria, Boston, California. Work in Atlanta, but I live in East Flatbush now. That's confusing. You look like you came out of a time machine fresh out of the Malcolm X movie. Boston, California, work in Atlanta, but I live in East Flatbush now. That's confusing. You look like you came out of a time machine fresh out of the Malcolm X movie, sir. Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment. Absolutely.

Explain your look to the people, because the thing you got up top, it was like a curl. The finger curl? The thing you got up top. You look like you're ready to run for office. Yeah, I don't know what it's called. I am. What is that? That's a finger curl.

You do that every morning? You finger it? I have to. Finger it's called. I am. What is that? That's a finger curl. You do that every morning? You finger it? I have to. Finger it? Why did you have to say it like that? Wow. It's not like that. I'm talking about the curl.

The curl. Absolutely, yeah. I can't see you because there's this little screen and stuff. I mean, the look came out of studying the Jim Crow era, honestly. I feel like we live in the new Jim Crow right now. You know, the media is really catching wind of it, but it's been going on for a long time. So I just studied how men really carried themselves in that era

and then formed what we see now. You even got the pocket watch. Now, I'm going to tell you something, it's hard to pull that off. Yeah. You got to be a certain distinctive type of brother, a certain amount of elegance to pull off the pocket watch. Wow, Solomon uses big words. He's not using the N-word.

Wow, you're impressive. He always uses big words. He's not using the N-word. Wow, you're impressive. He always uses big words. Exactly. Gosh. Now, what's the classic man? That's your single right now. What is the classic man? Classic man is a man

who carries himself with dignity, a certain amount of poise, discretion, excellent taste. I meet a lot of classic men. I think you all are classic men as well.

No. Well, I'm not. You know, I believe that it really is a celebration of integrity. And a lot of the OGs that I grew up admiring really held themselves in a certain regard, especially when I lived in L.A. and South Central. A lot of them, you know, they got their chest up like this, button all the way up top. Those are the men that really inspired me.

I took it as classy, but you whooped somebody's ass hearing the song. Yeah, you're not afraid to roll up your sleeves. You threw a couple of curses out there

that'd be like, boy, I'm dressed up in a suit, but I will whoop your ass. I mean, that's how it's been. That's how it's been. It's only recently, you know,

hip-hop era that we started to dress down, if you will. And you dressed like that as a kid? As a kid? As a young only recently, you know, hip-hop era that we started to dress down, if you will. Right. And you dressed like that as a kid? As a kid? Yeah, like as a youngin'.

You dressed like that as well? No, definitely not. I wish I could say I did, but I definitely didn't. I had my fitted. As a kid, I had my Tims. I had my, it wasn't a V-neck back then. You just had a little T-shirt and jeans. That's why you shouldn't stereotype people, because you see the guy In Timbs and jeans Sacking his pants

You're like oh I'm gonna stay away from him But he'd be the soft one He'd be the dude in the suit That'd stomp you out With the hard bottom Right Absolutely

So Charlamagne's Calling himself the soft one And you are the one That's what that was I'm not saying nothing I just said you shouldn't Stereotype See you don't listen

All the way through Now Janelle Well I'm saying it Wonderland Records That's your own label Yes What made you want To start your own label

Well I mean I came up From you know Puff Diddy gave me my Gotta talk to the mic Okay There you go Sorry Yes So What made you want to start your own label? Well, I mean, I came up from, you know, Puff. Diddy gave me my start. Got to talk to the mic. Okay. There you go. Sorry, look.

Yes. So I'm ready to give back. A lot of people help me get to where I am. And I've always had my imprint, but we didn't have distribution. And so once I felt like there was a void in having female people uh who no talent when they see it um able to see visionary artists and see something remarkable like jadenna i wanted to make sure that i was the one leading the way for that and so um i spent a lot of time last year just really humbling myself like it would be jadenna an artist a few other artists and we would literally just sleep

on the floor cook for each other and just write music and have conversations about the music industry about minorities about um what was going on you know in today and uh how we could help and as I humbled myself um I just a lot of great opportunities started to come to me. Now you said humble yourself. Were you feeling yourself? Not that. It's just that I've always been a humble person, but you know, you just want to go back to the roots. Like, okay, what does this mean? You know, I have great leadership qualities. I'm in a very great place in my career where I'm releasing the music that I want to I have influence

what else can I do and so I've just been excited about Wonderland Records and what we're going to do in the music industry actually I met Jadenna at a masquerade I don't believe that I believe that you were time traveling you know what we can go exactly

you know what we are we always have Exactly. You know what? We are. We always have our clones, you know, so my clone did most definitely meet him in that Jim Crow era. But no, we really met at a masquerade on the West Coast. But he invited you, I heard, through MySpace? Yep, through MySpace. So all somebody asked you to come to their parties and invite you through MySpace? I was performing. I was about my business.

Why are you still on MySpace? That was when I was on MySpace. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, so I've known him. I've known Jidenna for years. Okay. So we met at the Masquerade, face paint. It was crazy.

And we ended up just feeling our kindred spirits and understanding what our purpose was. And we kept in contact. And when I got in the position to help him with his career I did it now you've always had the Wonderland Collective though and so now doing the label what made you decide you know to go with Epic with LA Reed did you guys already have a relationship well LA had had been a fan of mine for a while and I had recently recently reconnected with him at an outcastast show. He was just really excited.

He pushed me up on stage. He was like, I just love you and I want to figure out what we can do together. When I reached out to him and told him I had something very special, a very special group of artists for him to meet, he instantly fell in love,

offered us a deal. Yeah, because he's the only real style. He'll be like, you're not leaving the building until we get this deal done. And I need to know who does your suits too, young man. Right. He was not playing. He was like, I'm not missing this opportunity to pass up an opportunity to be in business with Janelle Monáe. Now, when you said you first met, were you guys attracted to each other?

Or was it just because somebody hits you on MySpace and you go to parties, not just, you know, I want to hear his music. No attraction? Well, I was to hear his music. No attraction? Well, I was performing at the party. He was also performing. So I was about my business then, and I'm still about my business now. There you go. So with that said.

What? With that said. No, with that said. Would you have asked that if it was a man who was going to another man's performance? I was going to ask him if he was going to attract it to each other. What? I'm just asking a question. I understood your question.

All right. Listen, Jadenna is nice looking and any woman watching this right now, I hope y'all can see that and realize why I did sign him. But most importantly, again,

visionary artists, people who have ideas as well as vision. I think that what he's doing right now is going to be something that the music industry and the-hop industry

has not seen he has a different perspective his story is very unique and the way that he tells his stories lyrically as a rapper so you rap um you didn't hear i was an mc before anything oh yeah okay you got to listen this guy's. But it seems like you can sing as well from the record. Yeah, I mean, that's where hip-hop is now, though, right? It's all melodic. So I think that we are at a different phase in hip-hop where the old school really did not embrace melody in the way that the new school is embracing it now.

So absolutely, I walk that line. I've heard you refer to your music as swanky. That's usually a term reserved for fashion. Yeah. So what does swanky mean? Well, the music is called swank. Swanky means classy and funky. And so I believe swank to be a sound that's really the evolution,

the next stage of hip-hop. It violates certain rules, like I said, like a full embrace of melody. The culture really is about going to a party, dressed to the nines, but then sweating out your dress, sweating out your suit, whatever you're wearing. I'm thinking Andre 3000 for some reason. Would he be considered swanky?

He's definitely swanky. I think Outkast has a lot of that sound that really made you feel that vibe. I feel that Pharrell and Jay-Z, especially when they collabed, would make you feel that. So it's not something that comes out of nowhere. I definitely respect everybody that inspired the sound and the culture. The song is dope. The song is dope, by the way. Thank you.

Appreciate it. It's different. It's nothing like you heard on radio before. And the video is, too. The video was dope. But did you get nervous at all? Because it's not like anything. I saw the video.

It's not that bounce. It's not that New York, you know, boom bap sound. It's totally different. No, no, no. We knew it was special, you know, when we wrote it. I mean, we wrote, Jadena wrote classic man. We were there when he was writing it. And the rest, Nana, who's also part of the production team and Roman, who's another artist on Wonderland Records. When they were writing it, we knew it was special. And that's what we move on. You know, we knew it was remarkable.

We knew that we hadn't heard men speaking in that way uh singing in that way rapping in that way and and so i was excited because we were going to be bringing something special seemed like a party all night in the studio that seemed like that session it was it really was i mean everybody just got in i mean we was fixing special drinks for each for each other we had a good time during the process of writing this music. Working on this EP, I picture like, did y'all all stay

in a house together? I don't know why I picture this, but with Wonderland, I know you said you had to humble yourself and take it back to that, you know,

sleeping on the floor. Was everybody there together for like months working on the house? We were. It was in Wonderland and we, again,

literally on the floor. nobody slept in a bed we were like we're gonna take it back to the basics and it really helped our process i wasn't in no tuxedo you know nobody was was really them them themselves that the world perceived them to be when we came into wonderland we just stripped that away and and we focused in on the music and the ideas and um really collaborating with each other and not being afraid. Like I will say, this process in writing Ephus has made me a more experimental artist. Like I'm experimenting with new sounds, new ideas, new concepts.

You know, I'm not really inspired to repeat anything that I've done. So I'm excited for you guys to hear that too because my contribution is different. Do you guys like video tape or is it super private? She had us in white tunics on the grass. Oh, God. What the hell is a tunic? We agreed.

A tunic? Go on 116th Street, you know what a tunic is. No, I don't. You know what I'm talking about. It's really when everybody was wearing the quadru quadruple XL shirts oh the long white teeth I mean a tunic is is what that was trying to be but we were all dressed um in tunics on this uh in the grass in Wonderland um so we definitely filmed because we didn't feel like who feels like you know you go to bed at five in the morning trying to get dressed

it's just like where that Sometimes we didn't bathe. We just kept, we slept in that, got up. We didn't. We was focused on ideas. We was focused on music. We were really saying, look, if we're going to do this, we got to do it. Don't come in here trying to slick your hair down. Why not wash?

I don't know. That might mess up the rest of your life. Because we didn't want to wash off the phone. We didn't want to wash that the foam we didn't want to wash that off we got to keep that you keep that in the music now are you ready

for the stress of being an executive because you've been an artist and how artists can get disgruntled and like when my album coming out I don't want to do it

like this sure I think that I've always known like again I've known Jidenna we have a duo named Cotton Roman St. Beauty.

These have been my friends for a really long time. They've helped with my project. So it's organic, our relationship. And I'm more like I'm in the music industry. I'm here if you need any questions answered, if you have any concerns. And I just want to also say that it was inspired by a dream that we had. There was a dream that we had that we were swimming to this boat. All of us.

All of us. Yeah, well, Nate, the producer, brought it to us, and we just kept talking about, like, water. Water kept coming up in our minds, and there was this dream that we had of the artist swimming, and we were all swimming to this boat. And no artist, no person was going to be left behind. And this was before I talked.

This was a year before I talked to L.A. Reid. So we were not even thinking about a label deal. We were just saying, as a collective, we wanted to create more water to redefine the creative waters within the music industry. And so when we got that offer with L.A., it then, no, no, no, I'm skipping. Then a year later, we went to Mexico and literally had a water experience where all of us were there. We got stung by jellyfish. We're trying to swim. It was a mess. Really? Yes. And so the dream kind of happened. And it taught us, you know, there were people who couldn't swim as much as others.

They hadn't felt what it felt like to get stung by a jellyfish. We had to put each other on our backs. And, like, some people were dipping each other down in the water just trying to help everybody get to land because we all were freaking out. Most people just got to audition to get signed to a label. Your artist got to get stung by a jellyfish. You got to go through it.

You got to go through it. It was harder than making another band. Because one of the things that I had actually talked to, I had the opportunity to meet Jimmy Iovine, and I talked to him, and he said, you guys, don't mess up the vibe that you guys have. There are going to be people who say, oh, such and such, we can do this for you,

or you're not doing this right, you should leave them. That's what happens in the music industry. People want to divide. And those experiences know, that's what happens in the music industry. People want to divide. And those experiences taught us that we have to. We came here together. We got to stick together. When you see your brother or sister, you know, off message or just out, not remembering what we're doing this for,

it's up to you to put them on your back and take them to land. Don't let them drown. Now, Jadenna, do you get to save money? Because you got an expensive habit over there. Like sneakers are about $100. That ain't cheap what you wearing, bro. Those suits are expensive, bro. Pocket watches. Like that got an expensive habit over there like sneakers are that ain't cheap what you wearing bro suits are expensive watches they like that's an expensive habit your hair alone and that bed is very well kept thank you thank you no it looks a lot more expensive than it is the style developed from thrift shops and thrifting i couldn't keep up

with the trends everybody's spending 60 70 on T-shirts nowadays. So I was like, okay, let me do something else. Go to thrift shops, you see a suit, buy that suit for $5, $10. You go upstate though, upstate New York, not here nowadays.

Like Buffalo? You got to go up, up. Go to Canada if you can. You get that suit and you really spend money on the local tailors. You know, a little mom and pop shop and all of a sudden you've only spent about $50 and you really spend money on the local tailors, you know, a little mom and pop shop.

And all of a sudden you've only spent about $50 and you have yourself a new suit. So it looks a lot more expensive than it is. All the suits, the majority of the suits that I wear were designed and styled by Whippa Wiley, who's on my team. And a lot of the pocket squares and the ties were designed by Kateri. So it's predominantly in-house. Are you a designer? I am. I co-design. I'm not a stylist. But I got style.

Is it true that you have a slogan, come in dry and leave wet? Almost. It's come dry and leave wet. Why put that kind of pressure on yourself? You should undersell and overdeliver. Undersell. Lower your expectations, heighten your appreciation. Right.

Well, we have soirees that we host. And at those soirees, we have women coming in backless dresses. We have men coming in knickers. And they come dressed to the nines. And they come dry. But we want to make sure you sweat. Right, you have a good time. Yeah, our generation. You were thinking something else. Man, my mind was all in the gutter. Right, you have a good time. Yeah, our generation.

You were thinking something else. Man, my mind was all in the gutter. I know where you were running. You was in the late night. I'm like, oh, okay. You was in the 3 a.m. category of your mind. You know, it's all about our generation really letting loose. And that's what Wonderland, that's why I'm at Wonderland Records,

because Wonderland's not afraid to let loose. You know, you go to a party, everybody turn up for like two seconds and laugh, and then check their phone. Table dance. Yeah, the table. It's, yeah.

We don't know what it's like. I listen to my sisters. They talking about the 80s, the 70s. My mom talking about the 60s. Everybody used to really actually cut loose. Yeah.

So that's what come dry, leave wet means. Well, you said it. The clothes are too expensive now. If I'm going to the thrift shop by the $50 suit I'm not afraid to sweat that right right exactly now in the video in your video there's a scene where cops are harassing or arresting a young African right right and you guys walk up what does that represent it represents what's going on and has been

going on in New York City and you stopped the cop and started talking to the cop during the arrest I said man yeah man, this is going to end bad. Well, I don't think it ended bad. I hope it didn't end bad in the video. It hasn't ended badly in my life. You know, I've often found friends on the police force, you know, the officers that I think really represent that job to the fullest. I do think it's a very noble and honorable profession, if done righteously.

I think the issue we're having nowadays is just that the institution has been militarized, and so that we feel that we're occupied. I'm in East Flatbush, I'm hearing the rad siren. And we're not in Palestine. And I'm feeling, you know, it's designed to scare you. Now, do you think that African-Americans, young African-Americans should dress differently? You know, because, you know, when I'm looking at the video, I'm looking at the guy in the video. He has a hood and jeans, baggy. And, you know, and then I look at you walk up.

Do you feel that we should dress more respectful and look a little better as young African the cop may have been taking you Sarah simply because you had a suit on there's a lot of things you can get away with when you wear a suit but I don't think that everybody should dress in suits I think you should dress how you feel comfortable you know it's better to walk and carry yourself and whatever makes you feel comfortable for me a suit suits me but for the young Latino and an African-American boy in the video and for the ones that I've actually worked with in New York and other cities they can wear what they want but people you should be aware that people are gonna

perceive you a certain way but in no way shape or form do I think a classic man has to dress in a three-piece suit. It's much more important that you carry yourself. So you can wear a V-neck and jeans and Timbs and a fitted Yankee cap, and you're a classic man. You can wear a mechanic outfit, and you can still be a classic man. It has nothing to do with the price of your garment. It has everything to do with your character. Absolutely. Do you do yoga with Janelle?

I do. She's taught me some new moves, tree pose. All I knew was the downward dog before. Everybody's favorite course. That's what got me on. Have you always been into yoga, Janelle, or is it something new? For about the last year, I really got into it. It was one of the rituals we did when we were working on Ephesus, when we were working on the compilation.

And we would get up, some of us would lead it. I didn't really know anything. I started to do Bikram yoga, or Bikram, however you want to pronounce it. But I started to do that. And then recently, when we were doing the project, again, I started to just experiment with different ways to be balanced. And so yoga does balance me a lot. And I saw it as bending and never breaking.

And so I just kind of apply that to my life. I love Bikram yoga, but you've got to shower before you do that. She just says she don't like to shower. That's it. Or when she's trying to keep the funk alive. You said that's stinky when you go. You said that's stinky when you go. life like I love Bikram yoga but you gotta shower before you do that yeah no sometimes when I go if the people in there have a shower like if it's early in the morning yeah I roll out of bed and just yeah I've smelled that before but I go in and I have to get what I need I can't be worrying about them stinking I got to get my peace of mind now you say you look of a peace of mind balance you say you're looking to

be humbled like what what what what did you feel like you needed to change I just felt like I was change you a little maybe no I wouldn't say that just as a person you know evolution is important to me and evolving absolutely and if I'm not learning from my mistakes or too much in my head, you know, if I'm trying to be a leader and try to lead somebody, how can I lead when I'm not balanced? You know, and I think when I knew that I have these leadership qualities, I'm surrounded around Puff. And, you know, I have the support of L.A. Reid and, you know, the support of, you know, Melody Hobson, who's an investment and an amazing investor in black woman. And I have the support of all these people. I've met George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. And it's like, OK, I'm a young black girl from Kansas.

I have a clear, big opportunity to. Move forward and to develop my business and be just as great as these people. You know, I come from, my grandmother was a sharecropper in Aberdeen, Mississippi. So I come from a line of women who have worked hard and built nothing out of something. And so I knew that there was something I can do. So when I, when I got the opportunity to get this label and, and to lead in the way that I needed to I knew that I needed to get my my mind right for real like I wanted to make sure that when I'm feeling low and I need to be more balanced I have to figure out ways of how to deal with it because you can get lost in the music industry you ever go

back to Kansas to find your balance click your heels go home click my heels and go home I wish it was that simple no I do. I was just home with my mama, and I had the opportunity to buy her her first car. So that was like a huge thing for me last year. I just bought my father a car. Did you get a Prius last week? No, I got our BMW. Okay, okay. Yeah, I saved up, and I was like, I'm going to do a couple shows, and I'm going to give my mama a car.

A couple of shows. You could save up. Now, I've seen you perform several times. It's always been an experience, and you talk about evolving and not wanting to do give my mom a card. A couple of shows. You could save up. I would think, now, I've seen you perform several times. It's always been an experience, and you talk about evolving and not wanting to do what you've done previously. So what's going to happen now with the live show? What's going to be different about that? Because it's always been amazing, and people always discuss that.

Thank you. Thank you, babe. We'll see. I'm excited with this project that we're putting out, and it's going to be great for the summertime. My contribution, again, is like I'm just in a space where if you know my music, I experiment with so many different sounds.

And when I look to some of my heroes, like Michael Jackson, Prince, you know, even Madonna, they never repeated themselves. And they always figured out new ways to shock and to um reinvent themselves and so that's what i'm going to do we have a song together called yoga yes it's jamming oh it's so jamming and people are not going to be able to yeah y'all when y'all see it y'all gonna be like oh my god i'm not gonna give too much away but just know that I'm not. Yoga. I'm being sarcastic.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Is it about yoga, literally? It's great. You know, part party, part ponder. Hmm. Huh? Part party, part ponder. Oh, got you.

Okay. Yeah, yeah. And you just have to listen to it. I just want you guys to jam to it first, and hopefully you find some things in there that can help you find your way. How many times have people asked you, speaking of not repeating yourself, how many times have people asked you to take pictures and recreate that Solange wedding photo?

I haven't been asked. And that's my friend. That was a beautiful wedding. Like those two. Alan has directed a lot of my videos. And, you know, Solange is a friend as well. And so to even be there, I was very thankful. He did the classic band video, right?

Yeah, he did classic band. And he made a cameo. So it's all family. You know, when we get together, we try to make sure that we're creating more opportunities for each other. Now, a lot of legendary artists have embraced you as well. People that you look up to. Who has impressed you the most that you've been like, oh, my God, I this person is you know a janelle monae fan wow whoo um we were kind of out uh i don't i mean again for me stevie wanted you know to do that tribute

when we did i think it was a few days after grammys that was the one when he you know, to do that tribute when we did, I think it was a few days after Grammys. That was the one when he, you know, reached out to me and told me that he had listened to my music and he was singing some of my lyrics. And the president, you know, Michelle, the first lady, Michelle Obama and the president, I'm like, they are so busy in my mind leading the world. But when you realize that your music is reaching the white

house and it's in the hands of people who can change this world for better it is definitely something that i that i don't take lightly because i'm like if y'all listening to tightrope and that song was about balance and about tipping on your haters and when people try to pull you down and it's it's about oppressive people if they're getting that and they're they're doing better and doing a better job because of because of my music i feel like i have a bigger responsibility you know what i'm saying it's like the president is listening he could be making decisions and like you know what i heard this girl's song today i ain't even gonna i'm not even about to push that button so now some people say um like like you have a great career but some people say you know a, Monet should be a little bigger.

Do you feel like you feel like why push other artists now when you still could be focusing on yourself? No, because this is a movement and I can't do it alone. I know that these artists are just as visionary as me. I know something when I see it because I'm able to see the things that make me special and preserve those it allows me to see that in other people gotcha and so this is a movement and I knew that it was important and I'm glad you even mentioned that I knew that it was important to get my tribe with me to make sure that when we come in this time we're not around with y'all. There you go. I don't even use the cuss,

but I'm about to tell y'all right now. No, it's serious. It is in terms of black female artists and just black music in general. It's a lot of marginalization that has been happening. And of course it pisses me off. I was listening to a song that I had done on the electric lady. And I was listening to a song that I had done on The Electric Lady.

And I was like, man, this song is amazing. What the hell? And I'm just thinking about it's going to take more people to push forward a sound, to push forward ideas that are as big as mine. I feel like they do marginalize you. They don't know what category to put you in. You know, and when you think about, I think it'll be great. I think with Ephus, I think with Wonderland Records,

I think that this is going to be a time where, I think I'm going to go somewhere different this time. And I'm excited about that. I think when I came in, my main focus was my messaging. Just, you know, people look at the black and white and when I wear the tux. And, you know, when we wear uniform as like, you know, people look at the black and white and when I wear the tux and, you know, when we wear uniform as like, you know, she's rebelling against or not rebelling, but she's not trying to conform. But it was all about just being in control as a woman.

And I think if everybody was wearing tuxedos, I might be the one that's naked. I just you know what I'm saying? It's just one of those things where if just because I'm woman, I don't have to to go into those stereotypes but now I'm at the point where I can experiment a little bit more I think that people know my intentions and I come in peace but I mean business are you gonna pay your artist fairly are you gonna do them like Puff used to do his artist back in the night now let me tell you I'm not gonna talk about Puff because that's who gave me my start you know when I got the label I went down to Miami and I thanked him all right yeah I flew in just to say thank you and I and I left he's always been hands up kind of letting you do you it's never like absolutely always supported yeah I never Puff

was I'm taking the same approach once you know she swerved a question about paying artists fairly no let me tell you no let me tell you what they got they they are taking care of this is family if they ain't happy they come this is not This suit I give my artist I give my artist Yeah, I do want I do want to say this that I don't flex as I'm the boss or do I don't we're all We're friends. We love each other. This is a movement. I'm just here to guide. If we're on a boat, I'm captain for a little bit. And I might not be, I might need them to captain me.

You know, we're just there to, as any tribe, to uplift each other and to make sure that we don't fall or nobody drown. She's the most humble captain. I can speak that. Everything she's saying is genuine right now. I know a lot of people say that, and they're behind closed doors. They're not that. Janelle Monáe definitely is. So it's been a pleasure to be beside you and really never feel like you were above or below me.

You were just always leaving the room for growth, but still a general at the same time. We're following a good woman, man. Honestly. Let's have a big hug moment right there. That was positive. But the EPA is coming out next month? Yes. It's called EFIS, and we were inspired by baseball terminology, if nobody is familiar.

I just learned it myself when we were going through it, but baseball terminology of, you know. That's like a slow pitch or something, right? It is. It's a game changer. And we're just excited about it. Jadena is the first with Classic Man. We're getting a lot of support on that. We'll have a song called Yoga coming out soon, according to our soul clocks.

And we have Deep Cotton, St. Beauty, and we have Roman. And all of these artists write and produce. They're playing their instruments live. I mean, they're getting in their 10, 10 000 hours they're studying their heroes and realizing because you know music has changed so much music coming out right so it's like get your live performance up work hard stay humble and just take it back to the old days when people were just talented as hell and you you you're so talented that they got no choice but to see you. Like we see you. You cannot see me now. You cannot not see me right now. I'm talented and I'm here and I'm remarkable.

So we're doing that. You're beautiful. Well, you know, thank you. You have beautiful skin. Let me touch dermatologist, baby.

I love it. Y'all are so, let me tell you, y'all are great. And I appreciate you guys coming in and just, you know, talking to us. And again. Well, actually, you came to talk to us. I know.

Thank you. Well, you know, it's early in the morning. So my wires just went. No, let me tell you. Look, this is my house. This is my house. Thank y'all for coming to talk to me. So May 19th is the date.

Make sure you pick up the album. And we appreciate you guys for joining us. Thank you. You know, Monet and J appreciate you guys for joining us. Thank you. Janelle, Monet, and Jadenna. There you go. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Good morning. 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 Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan 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. 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. all people. We discuss everything from prejudice to politics to police violence, and we try to give you the tools to create positive change in your home, workplace, and social circle. We're going to learn how to become better allies to each other, so join us each

Saturday for Civic Cipher 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. Did you know, did you know I wouldn't give up my seat Nine months before Rosa It was called a moment 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.