The Breakfast Club - John Legend Talks Skin Care, Current State Of R&B, Leaving The Voice + More

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

John Legend Talks Skin Care, Current State Of R&B, Leaving The Voice + MoreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake that ass up early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Charlemagne Tha God. We are The Breakfast Club. We got our co-host this week, Pat, Miss Pat, joining us. And we got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. John Legend, welcome. It's good to be back, fellas. How you feeling?

Miss Pat, good to see you. Oh, Lord, John Legend don't say my name, Charlemagne. I'm trying to figure out, has John been in since he won the EGOT? Has he? Oh, of course. Yeah, he was. I won the EGOT like a few years ago. Yeah, I've been back.

But not because it was COVID. Oh, maybe on Zoom. I think it was on Zoom. Got you, got you, got you. Charlemagne ain't too cute on Zoom. Shut up, Mr. Extra black on Zoom. They got a lot of filters on Zoom. You can play with it lighten it up a little bit

congratulations everybody's good everybody's good we got you know three kids now it's good do you uh you know do you hate seeing every time i watch million dollar listing la they always reference you in your house and your old house some way that they keep saying our names and Rihanna lived at that same house too and I don't like that they keep saying our names like we are selling the house we're not selling it we already sold it mm-hmm and then they're trying to sell it again but we ain't got nothing to do with it now that's the house that John Legend used to us serenade Chrissy yeah yeah That's the house where they had to come. Like, this is weird.

That house been going. Yeah. Yeah. We don't live there anymore, and we're not trying to sell it. Somebody else is, but they're using our name plenty. How you look so refreshed with a newborn in the house, man? Well, are you segueing to my loved one's skincare? I might have to use some of that if you've got you looking that for us.

Chalamet. Ain't nothing you can do to look this good. I'm sorry. Even if he rubbed this all over you. We do have a new skincare line. We do have a new skincare line. And, you know, it's formulated for melanin-rich skin. And the focus is really on moisture.

So, you know, if I'm looking moisturized. And it's called Loved 01? Loved 1. Loved 1. Yeah. Loved 1. What made you want to go down that lane? Well, you know, I've been working in skincare,

doing deals with other brands, and I was like, why not start my own? And I didn't want to start it unless we had a real reason for it to exist. And when we started doing the research on the business, we realized that there's a lot of black and brown folks that want skincare that's actually formulated for us. And that takes into consideration is the unique differences that our

skin has. And there weren't very many companies that was actually doing that. And so we said, why not create it? And not only did we want to create it and formulate it for us, but we wanted to make sure everybody could afford it too. So're selling everything for 15 or less right now we're selling it at cvs and walmart places where people shop and so we're like why make this a celebrity skincare brand the only celebrities and their friends can afford make it so that everybody can afford it and formulate it for a population that's been underserved and hasn't been catered to in this business. What can Ms. Pat put on her hands right now? We got some good moisturizer. If you ask me, we got moisturizer, we got oil.

Oh, Lord have mercy. You rubbed my hands, didn't you? Let me tell you what happened. Ms. Pat put the wrong one on her hands. Ms. Pat put the exfoliation in her hands. Oh, no. She did it first. Oh, Lord, let me rub it on now. Yeah, there you go.

You're running your black mouth. You'll never look good as Ms. John Legend. the moisturizer is really good and the oil is really good yeah oh this is nice it's creamy rich creamy rich and creamy come on let me put something on your lips the fact is we got jokes but the fact is uh black and brown people actually lose moisture more quickly than lighter skin. And so when we talk about being ashy, like, that's a real thing. I was, too. And we're more likely to be ashy because we lose moisture more quickly. And so a lot of our products are focused on moisture and hydration. Yeah, I was getting a facial yesterday,

and she was telling me that you have to put a serum in your face because your face, I never heard this term put a serum in your face because your face i never heard this term but she said your face drinks and the serum actually is what hydrates your face yeah and you're finding different ways to protect your skin barrier and moisturize hydrate it's good is product the only way for artists to create generational wealth i think it's a combination i make a lot of money playing live and make a lot of money on my music But I think having product allows you to make money without having to be out Doing a show all the time

you know so it gives you the ability to create wealth that can build and can be generational because These products can outlive you they can be in stores forever And we're trying to build a brand that people really trust and will Make a part of their daily routine that they're going to be buying for decades to come after I'm gone. Are you tired of entertainment? No, I love it. Okay. I love making music. I'm always writing, always recording.

I just put an album out in September, put another solo version of the album out in February. And I'm going to keep making music, keep playing shows. And that's always going to be my first love. And I think it'll be my main job for the rest of my life. Well, I guess a better question, are you tired of being the main product? Like, are you tired of having to get up and go do the physical work in order to make? I feel like I can diversify. Honestly, I think that's what I'm doing is making it so it's not all riding on me being present every moment.

And I'm always going to make music, always going to do shows. But this allows me to diversify. on me being present every moment. And I'm always going to make music, always going to do shows, but this allows me to diversify. Now, you know, with artists selling their catalogs, you sold your catalog. I sold a piece of my publishing, yeah. What made you think to do that? Because I've seen so many people selling their catalogs now.

Because a lot of times people say, you know what, I'm going to keep my catalog so I can continue to eat and my kids continue to eat. But you... But it's diversification too, because what you're doing is saying you're letting is saying you're letting this other company invest in this piece of your business and then you're saying i'm going

to take that cash they give me and invest in other things and so for me it makes it so you're not completely relying on the ups and downs of the music industry but you're saying i'm going to take some of this money and invest it in other things and that's what i did because you break that down a little bit more because you know when black people tend to do things like that people be like oh you selling your catalog you gotta have ownership like but white artists do it i'm watching all the white artists selling plenty of people are doing it and and honestly i did it at a time when i felt like they were offering a high premium uh when it comes to the multiple so basically the multiple is they see what you're making per year

and they offer you something X times that per year amount for your catalog. And I felt like the multiple they were offering me was very generous and I was going to take that cash and invest it in different things. So it wasn't all relying on my music career to make the money. What are they doing with the music? What's the upside for them? Basically they're doing the same thing we were doing before they're getting it placed in movies uh the the regular revenue of it streaming all the other uh money you bring in from your catalog they're just taking that money in and so they're taking a bet that maybe they can

find ways to grow it beyond what it was you know normally getting and uh that's a bet that they took and i figured let them take that bet on my music and then i'm going to take this cash they give me and bet on other things yeah i have one question is this this shower chair is it unisex yeah everything's unisex oh good yeah so it's face and body wash um face and body moisturizer shave cream everything's unisex and formulated for melanin risk skin. We will use it on your son? Huh? You will use it on your son?

I'm gonna use it on me, the place that's hidden. You gonna love it. The place is there. You gonna love it. I'm sick of him, Jeff. No, you said you had washed your son or you had to fight this. I'm gonna use it.

I just wanna make sure I ain't putting nothing smelling like no man down there between me and this thing too. Only two of the products even have a light scent, but both of the scents are very natural, and it's definitely unisex. You're not going to smell mannish. And you know what? You got some shaving cream here, and I ain't going to.

I'm going to lower it. Everybody needs a shave too. I be growing them whiskers down now, so I'm going to use some of that too. Hey, we're over 50. This is for us too, ladies. Because I get chest hair sometimes and and the thing about shaving you know and all the other things we do to our skin they can strip the skin

it can make it feel dry and everything we do is focus on moisture and hydration so the shave cream is gonna be nice too you're gonna like it oh lord have mercy you ever look at your shaving style miss pat miss pat don't fight him no No. You just said you get the whiskers. You know what? Ms. Pat, don't fight him. You ever look back and think about some of the moves you made and when people challenged those moves back then and then it all unfolds and they'd be like, you've seen the vision. I'm just thinking of Kanye West, right?

Yeah. And when you first decided, this is not where I want to go. This is not the route. And people were like, you're crazy. He's this. He's a genius. And you should stay there. And you decided to take your own lane. And then you see how it unfolds well those same people kind

of follow what you did well all all of these decisions though there were people in my camp that didn't want me to sign with kanye when i signed with them because i signed with good music and i signed through good music to columbia records so all of my first few albums were through good music to columbia records and you give up certain things when you sign to an artist production company. But I felt like it was the right move for me because creatively, we were in a great place together. And his star was ascending as a producer and as an artist. And I felt like being part of that team was going to propel my career to a place that it needed to be. And it did. And it was really important for me to be with good music for my first few albums.

And my career wouldn't be what it is without that. And then when it's time to move on, it's time to move on. But we had a really successful run together. And you make these decisions. And, you know, hindsight is 20-20. And everything looks good now. It's like everything worked out. It's all good. But at the time, you know, is 2020 and everything looks good now it's like everything worked out it's all good but at the time you know it's complicated and it's difficult making these decisions and you're not sure if it's going to work out and you like to think that you you know

you can foresee the future and you can plan ahead but you never know how it's going to work out but it worked out what are some of the things you give up when you sign to an artist company well you give up a piece of your revenue. But the bottom line is with any of these deals, you're like, would I rather have 100% of a smaller amount or 50% or 60% of a larger amount? And so you've got to do the math and say, is it worth me signing with somebody and giving up a portion of my revenue? Are we going to grow the pie together and make something bigger that we all can share together did they have any concerns about you being r and b and him being hip-hop like no i think it actually made it so i had my own lane within good music it made it so that you know i wasn't really competing with the other rappers that he had signed i was in my

own lane but why did you leave the boys uh i didn't really leave the boys i just am not doing this season but i'll be back. Oh, okay, okay, okay. So you just take a break? We're having a kid. There's a lot going on. He was tired of hitting that bell. Tired.

Turn it around for these seconds. So it's like paternity leave? Paternity. Paternity leave. Paternity leave. I mean, it would be kind of deceitful to say I'm really taking a full paternity leave because I'm doing plenty of work during this time. But I'm doing a little less work.

And it was a perfect time to take a break. And, you know, it was Blake's last season. Let him have his moment. I love Blake. Blake is my guy. He tweeted me one day. I almost fainted. I was like, you know me?

People were buying checks. That wasn't him. That was him, Miss Pat. What do you think about the current state of R&B? I know one time Diddy said R&B is dead, and this conversation's been going on and on for the last couple of months. What's your vision of R&B? It's not dead.

I feel like there's a lot of great artists making great music. I was just on Spotify listening to music in the car today, and a lot of it was R&B, and a lot of it was current, and a lot of it was dope. And I feel like there's so many really good artists making R&B. And, no, it's definitely not that. Who does John Legend listen to? I was listening to SZA today.

I was listening to Summer Walker. I was listening to Daniel Caesar. I was listening to Her. I was listening to Frank Ocean. I was listening to, I. I was listening to her. I was listening to Frank Ocean. I was listening to, I mean, we could have some new Frank. That'd be great. Leon Bridges. Did you listen to John Legend?

I mean, occasionally I listen to myself. Okay. But most of the time I'm focused. Like when I'm making the album, I listen to it all the time. And I'm like tweaking and getting it exactly right. And then once it's out, then, you know, know i let it be out but my kids actually love it and so they'll ask me to play it in the car a lot so i end up listening to myself in the car with my kids when i take them to school dang i can't do that with my kids i curse in my comedy i got like an occasional

curse word in my songs and so we just try to ignore that. And my daughter will laugh. She said, Dad, you said a bad word. But, you know, keep it moving. Do you intentionally put out an album every two years? Not exactly intentionally, but I'm, like, I'm intentionally creative. So I like to schedule time in the studio. I like to, when I'm off tour off tour like actually actively make time to make

new music and by the time you know i do that for like six or nine months it's time to put another album out because i got enough material for it is there any song that you created that you just can't stand anymore but like i hate performing it i hate doing it no no no no i mean i have enough songs that i don't have to play any song i don't like really um and there's none of my popular songs that my fans want to hear that i don't like to play okay what was it like touring with shah day incredible i loved it honestly um it was like a master class every night she's just an incredible performer her myst mystique, just everything about her. She seems so mythical.

She's not even a real person. Did you see her? She just disappears. The last tour was the one we did together, and that was 2011. Wow. It's 2023. She's chilling. She's chilling.

Even then, did you interact with her, though? We did. And she was super cool like you would honestly you'd be intimidated by her mystique but in person she was very chill and she had her family along on the tour and all of her people were really kind to my people which isn't always the case when you're going towards somebody else who's the headliner and uh they were all super like kind and interactive with my musicians and my band and uh we just had a great time on tour with them but if the headliner didn't want you they could just say that right so man i've been part of when early in my career

i've been part of tours where the headliner would do things like you know little slide things like make sure your decibel level was lower and uh wow control your stage position you can't have a band or you can only have a little bit because they gotta get on yeah yeah and then once i started having opening artists like i i remembered that and i never would do that to them yeah i never would do that to them i was always i would always give them what I felt like was the proper Shine and I never was scared that they was gonna upstage me I was just like let's give these people a great show and that includes the opening act having a great show, too Was it difficult opening up for somebody because you can do these tours on your own?

But now you actually have to open up for somebody was that it was actually kind of easy because doing two-hour shows is a lot And doing a 45- minute show is very comfortable so those artists that fronted on you like that back in the day now that you're the e-guide winner do you hold that against them like i don't honestly i'm i'm good i'm i'm happy my career is great i've done very well and had wonderful tours like i'm not gonna worry about small things that happened at the beginning of my career I got a question you ever get on stage and be singing and then forget get your lyrics oh yeah oh cuz they happen to me too oh yeah remember that joke yeah I'm tired you can pain yourself I don't know what you're talking about. We're both world-class performers. What are you talking about? He is a hater.

He ain't got no talent. So what do you do? You start humming? Sometimes I'll actually laugh about it because I honestly think fans like having those human moments in the show. Yes, that's all I'm saying. It makes them human. Sometimes I'll be like, well, I fucked that up.

Excuse me. And, you know. No, I curse. You can just fight. This is, you know i curse you just yeah y'all this is you know pre-tape um and i'll just be like i messed that up and started it started over and the fans love it because they get a real moment because they don't want you to be perfect and they don't want you to be lip-syncing and and all that they want you to be a human that's why they come to the show like if they want to listen to the record they can listen to the record how'd you come up with

the name loved one for the loved one my you come up with the name Loved One? Loved One, my team came up with it. Obviously, I put love into a lot of what I do. My wine is called LVE. A bunch of my music is, of course, love music. And I felt like when you think about that skincare ritual, it's about self-love, but it's also something you share with the people you love. And so we felt like that name would be dope and we made it kind of different with the the

kind of raised oh and the one and some people say loved oh one and we got to correct them but once they learn what it is loved one just you know rolls off the tongue how long does it take for you to like get all of that together like you have to go these different products yeah we started like a year and almost a year and a half ago and so we started with the idea that this needed to exist that there was a gap in the market that that um melanated skin wasn't being paid attention to and if you look at the actual the policy that goes into it the fda doesn't even require you to test on any shades lighter than i mean mean, darker than like white, basically. No.

Yeah, they don't actually require you to test on it. So if you're testing efficacy, you don't have to test it on brown and black skin. Wow. And then when it comes to dermatology, the dermatologists don't even have to learn about the conditions that brown and black skin are more likely to face. And you look in their textbooks, they're not even seeing pictures of our skin. And so there's a big gap in skin create something special that our people can use confidently knowing that we put a lot of care and research into developing it for us and then making it affordable for everybody now it makes all the sense in the world because you know we

always say black people love the skin you're in but how about take care of it too take care of it and we want to give people the opportunity to take care of their skin in a beautiful way that's effective but also affordable and that's why we wanted it available everywhere available at cbs walmart for me ten dollars fifteen dollars for everything that's affordable not an oscars dinner party yes did you know it was gonna be boring that's why y'all bought the uno cards we were like it was like our insurance in case it was boring but it was not boring well it must have been because y'all pulled them out. We had a good table. No, we didn't actually end up playing. We just had them.

We just had them with us. Just in case. Yeah. We had a good table. Gabby Union, D-Wade, Queen Latifah, Kevin Bacon. I should have pulled some spades out. Kieran Sedgwick. I know.

We could have had some spades going, too. But, yeah, we had a good table. We had a good time. Oh, so the conversation was good. Okay, I get what you're saying. So the conversation was good, so there was no need to. We didn't actually end up playing they might have played after we left because we left right after dessert because we both had to fly east uh on a red eye

um but i don't know if they played after we left maybe they needed it after we left you know because did you see the list that they put out uh rolling stone did a uh greatest singers list did you see that list yeah what do you think about that he's laughing i did i don't understand their criteria it was like it was a lot of people left off leave aside the fact that i was left off but you were left there was a lot of other people left off i'm like it didn't really make sense but i feel like they just are, some might call them the trolling stone. And I feel like they just wanted to spark conversation and be a little bit controversial. And they were controversial. Did you hear Aretha Franklin's comments

on some of the singers on there? Aretha Franklin's dead. No, that's not Aretha Franklin. I was about to say. Keep that in, please. What did she say? Oh Lord. If you heard her comments, Jesus Christ. Have mercy. I was like, fuck did she say? Oh, Lord. If you heard her comments, Jesus Christ.

I was like, what did she say? You got a seance. Rita is a bad mama jammer. She is a queen. She came back and told us what she thought. I love her comments, yeah. We want to hear what Rita Franklin said. Don't tell us anything.

Who was you thinking about? You hear you think women mix up. Was it Blac? Was it Patty? Patty. No, it wasn't. Wow. No, it wasn't Chaka either.

Who was it? It was Chaka Khan was on Blac. She was on something else. Stephanie Mills was on Blac. Oh, Stephanie Mills. Okay. Chaka was on something else. Who he scared of?

The thing is, what is your criteria is it like actual like pure vocal ability because there are definitely people on that list they're not i wouldn't call them great singers but they're very like successful artists and so are you basing it on their vocal ability are you basing it on just their pure success as a lead artist and then you know there's there's different ways to make that list. And it just seemed like it was all over the place. I hate when they bring success into it. Yeah.

Success, money, accolades. Like, let's just talk about raw talent. Like, even when it comes to the rap, when it comes to the singing. But it's like, you know, there's an argument for that, too. Like, if you're talking about football, you talk about Tom Brady as the GOAT, you're not saying he's the most purely talented quarterback. You're saying he won the most championships. He had the most success at what he was doing in football.

And so there's an argument to make a, you know, most successful list. But if you're going to call it the greatest singers, I feel like they should be good singers. I agree. It was according to who wrote the list and who was hearing it. Yeah. I don't think anybody but singers can make those lists.

And I don't think anybody but rappers should be able to make the rap list. Did you see the Billboard hip hop list? What did you think of that? I mean, it wasn't terrible. I thought it was more, it was less controversial than the singing list. I thought it was too early for some people like i

think it's too early to put kendrick lamar number two and i love i am i love kendrick lamar but it's too early to put him at how many albums is he in i was like four yeah but it's a decade yeah hip hop is i think for me it got to be at least 15 to 20 years me personally i just think he's never missed yet yeah he hasn't missed yet kendrick has never missed and his skill is is impeccable like his skill as an mc is impeccable and he's never missed with an album or a tour not even a video really like he's like so many people you got to jump over to be number two i understand i understand i understand i think jay is number one i agree and after that i think it gets difficult because i think it mixes a lot of different factors but i think kendrick should be in the conversation

because he literally is that great and he's and you just compare his raw mc ability against any rapper of any era and he's right there he's in my top five now let me ask a question a rapper that doesn't write his own is he in that list but who are we who are we saying is not writing their own because it was times that it was kanye it was times it was drake there was times it was a couple people but that's all rumors that i mean i never saw kanye being ghostwritten and i've been in the studio with him a lot he writes i'm not saying he's written every single thing but i never saw him being ghostwritten i've seen guys in the room like bouncing ideas around but kanye is a writer so who's your top five i've never been in the studio with drake so i have no i can't testify

so while you said kendrick should be in that, Jay. Jay. I'm going to say Nas. Nas. I'm going to say Biggie. Anybody from the South? Honestly,

I would put Andre in my top five. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, we appreciate you for joining us. Can we,

can we have a package to send to somebody right now? Can we do that? Who are you sending a package to? Right now, we can give somebody a, oh now. We can give somebody a... Oh, yeah. We can give somebody... Let's send them some love.

Send them some love. And when can they get this? Everybody says CVS. CVS. There's 2,000 CVS stores that have it. Walmart.com has it. And we're rolling out at 500 Walmart stores. So it won't be every Walmart store, but it'll be quite a few.

So what about Alta Beauty? Not yet. Not yet. We want it to be in mass retail. Okay. And we wanted to sell it at prices that everybody could afford. And so that was an intentional strategy because we feel like there's plenty of celebrities doing things that are more exclusive, more expensive. And we decided we wanted to do it affordable and accessible.

And the regular people like myself appreciate this. I am a CVS person. You need to hush your face. I no longer shop little fast CVS, but I will be there buying your item. There you go. Call the 105 right now if you want this package. 800-585-1051. You get the shaving cream.

You get the face and body moisturizer. You get the toning mist. You get a cleanser, exfoliating cleanser, and you get a face and body washer. The oil? toning mist, you get a cleanser, exfoliating cleanser, and you get a face and body washer. Oh, I don't get the oil. That's one of my favorites. What's the oil for? It's more moisturization. I usually

use the moisturizer than the oil. And it's got a really nice light scent. It ain't loud. It ain't heavy. The oil ain't heavy. It ain't heavy. The oil ain't heavy. It's really good. Okay. Well, call them 105.

It's yours. And John Legend, we appreciate you for joining us. Satisfied customer. Satisfied customer. I'm going to go back. I'm here for black products. That's all I do. I was just there for makeup the other day.

Take me where the black people at. And I just buy it. I buy it. Because you got to support our own. Because for years, people that look like us has made stuff for us that wasn't for us. So when I see somebody black do something, everybody except

Charlamagne, I'm gonna do it. Support everybody except Charlamagne. There you go. The John Legend is The Breakfast Club. Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.