The Breakfast Club - Kevin Liles On Protecting Black Art, Using Lyrics In Court, Takeoff And More

Episode Date: November 2, 2022

Kevin Liles On Protecting Black Art, Using Lyrics In Court, Takeoff And MoreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We got a special guest in the building. The legend. Kevin Lyles. Welcome, brother. What's good? What's good? How my girls doing? You really got the big cigar early in the morning, Kev?

All the time. It's breakfast time, Kev. Let me put this down. It's my coffee, man. Y'all drink coffee. You know, I smoke cigars, man. Where's the whole case? I know you got a whole case with you.

No, the case is downstairs. I got 50 in the car. You know what I mean cigars, man. Where's the whole case? The case is downstairs. I got 50 in the car, you know what I mean? How much one of those cost? This one is $49. And what is that, a Cohiba? It's the Atabay. It's the Atabay. Okay. This is like my new thing that I do, and I love everybody got their vices.

This is just one of the things that I've taken up and become a connoisseur of. True, true. Now, you know, on a sad day we want to start with one of the groups that you first signed, the Migos. Man. One of the members' takeoff was killed. People that don't know, I just want to go back to what made you first sign Migos? What in the Migos that made you sign them? Talk about his personality, because a lot of people just won't know, you know?

Listen, you know how i feel when you have a great partners and um first of all my condolences to um his family um to amigos and um qc coach and p um i know what it is since you know i've been in business for 40 years to lose an artist an employee, a family member, and he was all those things to them. And as I came up here to talk about protecting black art, I still got to talk about protecting us. And I think we're putting ourselves in a situation where we're not humanizing our everyday lives. You know, yes, we are superheroes, but we're still human.

And stage names are one thing, but you're somebody's son, you're somebody's brother, you're somebody's aunt, and a life taken too short. You got to understand, i literally just went through this with rock yeah you know what i mean and these are not people that i just know or listen to their music i know them personally and so um i didn't sign migos i work with coach and p to develop um a group that became one of the number one groups in the country. And now we're sitting here today saddened by another unnecessary loss that's happening far too much, in my opinion.

And I think it's based on a lot of things. COVID, people coming outside of COVID, lack of education, constant oppression, constant gun laws not getting passed in the right way. It's like there's a whole host of things. But more importantly, that's somebody's son that's not here no more, man. You know, I got a 24-year-old. You know what I mean? So it saddens me.

You know, to your point, there's so many socioeconomic conditions that, you know, just lead to crime or lead to putting people in that state of mind where something like that can happen. But, you know, a lot of people feel like the hip hop, the music, you know, has either become or always been a deaf lifestyle. What do you say to that? I live it. And I haven't killed anybody. And I consume more hip-hop and party hip-hop than most people but I will tell you that there's an issue that it's it's black-on-black crime because we were taught to be against each other I had to be better than you I had to do more than you that's that just hip- hop That's what we've been taught in an oppressive country that you know the things that that we shouldn't value life like it's meant to be valued and for those of

Us over black white green purple whatever car that believed that music kills No gun kills lack of education kills, racism kills, white supremacy kills. Those are the things. And I don't believe hip hop kills people. I believe people kill people. And hip hop provides a lot of opportunities for people too, for the artists, for the people that work with the artists, for people that have anything to do. I think that it has done a lot for us. Some people would tell you that hip hop saved saved their life. Well, hip-hop saved my life. I think I'm sitting in a room with people that if it wasn't for hip-hop, you guys wouldn't be here.

You can act like Breakfast Club would exist without it, but there's good and bad. No, hip-hop saved my life. In everything. And if you think about it, I think as we talk about protecting black art, I think we don't have enough conversations. I commend you, Charlemagne, and all the conversations we're having around mental health. But think about these massacres that happen.

I'm not talking about one person killing another person. I'm thinking somebody thinking it's okay to take a gun and go to a school. It's okay to take a gun and go to a church. That's not hip-hop. That's not racism. It's things that people have been... It's okay now. You know, it's okay now

to let your racism out to everybody. It's okay now to go do it because, oh, I'm just going to get locked up. But we've been locked up for 400 years and we're still mass incarceration and you can't put that around a genre of music. You know what I mean? I guess the difference is... Oh? I guess the difference is,

and this is what we're here to talk about, right? Some people will be like, well, other people don't put it in their music. They don't celebrate it. They don't glorify it through the art that they create. Well, what about Johnny Cash? What about the guy who said, I shot the sheriff? You know what I mean?

Tell your story. So there was a country song, and it was lyrics, and they gave it to one group of people who said, I shot the sheriff. Let me tell you a story. So there was a country song, and it was lyrics, and they gave it to one group of people and said, hey, it's a country artist, here's the lyrics. And they took the same lyrics and gave it to another group of people and said, you know what, it's a rap song. Which one did people say offended people the most? The country song.

No, the rap song. Oh, the rap song. Oh, yeah, I can understand. You know what I'm saying? You gave them the country lyrics, but told them it was a rap song. So technically it was the country song so I'll take it a step further there's been a study 500 cases where lyrics were used against black and brown people and since 1950 only four cases have been of lyrics have been used three of them got thrown out and one of them was overturned and then if you need for this. And then even if you listen to heavy metal music,

some of the things that they say are rock music. I remember Guns N' Roses had that song, I used to love her but I had to kill her. Right. Listen, it makes...

But did the person really kill somebody though? Okay, and 90% of the people didn't kill people. The shit they talking about is entertainment. Listen, if you want to go there and I'm a person that says

as long as it's for everybody, as long as it's justice for everyone, I'm cool with it. But I can't I have guys sitting behind prison. I'm in prison right now. Not even they're using this racial bias thing to scare jurors, to scare judges, to scare the community to say, hey, they're rap artists. Hey, you know what? They call them King Slime, so therefore he's the head of a gang. Well, how about this, Atlanta? They've been in Fulton County. They've been locked up for five months.

Crime is still up. Rape is still up. Burglary is still up. So what are we talking about? We're talking about lyrics here. Let's talk about it because a lot of people will say, yeah, they agree to a certain extent. But then somebody will say, like, you know,

if you're a rapper and you commit a crime and then you wrap that crime in your lyrics you should be prosecuted for it okay if you're a rapper and you snitching on yourself you do I do believe you should actually the lyrics should be able to be talked to the judge and see if they could be used but not if you can't just do it just to hold somebody. I agree with that. I agree with that. That's the laws that have been, that's the legislation that Newsom signed off on,

the legislation that Bowman and my man Hank Johnson in Atlanta is going federally. So these are things, but we got a lot of work to do. Right now, young thug is sitting in prison and he can't be a father to his six kids he couldn't bury his man little keith gunner is sitting can't take care of his mother these are these are pillars in the community and if you got this listen to what they're doing they're taking positive things out of the community so then you have chaos again and so this this is what if you've never been to

cleveland af and you never talked to somebody on Cleveland Ave, then you don't know what I'm saying. But I know that in Baltimore, because the streets there, because people know, I know people think differently. I know when you did the back to school festival. I know when you

do the Christmas thing, the Thanksgiving. I know people think differently. And that's what these kids were doing. Now, I did see something which I didn't understand, and I don't know how they're getting away with it. I seen in the Thug case when the prosecutor said, he was reading the lyrics, right? And the prosecutors were like, yeah, and he even says, fuck the judge, Your Honor.

And I couldn't understand how they were basically saying, him fucking the judge was basically saying, fucking that judge at the time. And, of course, the judge held them for longer. But how are they getting away with just using just random lyrics to make it fit for a case? They've been getting away with it since NWA. They've been getting away with it since Ice-T.

I'm 40 years in the business right now. I've been fighting the same fight. But understand, if we let this go, I don't know if we'll have another Spike but understand if we let this go i don't know if we'll have another spike lee if we let this go i don't know if we have another steven spielberg i don't know if we have another uh creator or or artist if we let this go i think the difference with film and music is we know film is entertainment film is it says this is fiction we know this is not a real story but rappers always base their lyrics on being real. Okay, and I have to tell you,

because maybe America doesn't want to see what's happening in the oppressed places, that maybe they don't want the news every single day, but I believe that stories, a lot of stories and movies and games are created from Call of Duty. For those of us who play games, there's no wars that ever happened. Is it

a simulation of wars that have happened before? Let's talk about Tony Soprano. Let's talk about Scarface. Those are all still fictional things. We know they're fictional. It's not fictional. What I'm saying is there know they're fiction. It's not fictional. What I'm saying is there was a Scarface.

It might not have been named Scarface, but there was a big drug dealer that came from somewhere that did it. There was a Tony Soprano. It might not have been in that particular. There was a wire. I lived it. So these things have happened. It's just that we've been programmed to say that is that,

and this is this. And Freddie Mercury, you could say you shot a man that's watching him die. You can say that is that and this is this and Freddie Mercury you could say you shot a man that's watching him die you can say that but you can't say that in your music that that's the the issue here is I think we've been programmed in a way to think it's not all creativity and again I preface this by saying if you said my name is Kevin and I kicked down your door and robbed you and I actually went and did that, I think you are snitching on yourself and you should be using the gun.

There's a point in time when yes, if you committed this crime and then you rapped about it, then it should be permissible. That's all we've been saying. But it shouldn't be something that's used, if it's something that's vague and ambiguous that maybe doesn't apply but it's just a story that somebody's telling

like Tee Grizzley put out his album and he's telling stories and they could be fictional, it could be something based on things that he saw or experienced or it could not You know, Tee said to me because I think it was one of the most creative albums I've heard in a very long time to actually tell stories he said, man, I had to watch

of me saying it was me that I had to tell it was a story that because you can slip up in any kind of way. And it's a saying to you, Charlemagne, that if guess what, if you say something out your mouth, it could be used against you because you said it just because you're a black man or brown person in America. And we can do that to you, but we won't do it to other people. That's the problem I have. Think about the insurrection. What if black people decided to go take over the Capitol? What do you think?

We wouldn't be having a conversation about bond, jail, jury. We'd be dead. We'd be dead. So to me, I just think it's injustice for all. And this is the first time in the history of our business where we put the bat signal up and we got Coldplay to Megan, to Drake, to Spotify, YouTube, ACLU to Color of Change. You got so many groups.

That's it. Listen, think about it. Do you think that, you know, I'm going to say what I'm going to say anyway. Do you think that companies would support the rhetoric? I talk about white supremacy and all these things. No, but every Universal, Warner, Sony, everybody's backing it because enough is enough. Because as soon as it happens, it's going to affect every industry. And so I applaud them.

Kevin, what do you think is happening in Atlanta in particular? Because it feels like Atlanta has really taken this to the next extreme level. What's happening in Atlanta with their justice system? Who are the attacking rappers in Atlanta? I think it was New York before. Then it was L.A. Wherever it's the hottest music bed, it's going to happen. Because it's a way to intimidate and give racial bias to

jurors and people in the community. I guarantee you right now, if you put 100 people from Cleveland Ave and said, should Young Thug, is he good for the community or bad for the community? They're going to say he's good for the community. The same thing with Gunna. These guys are doing things that nobody else is doing in their community, and I applaud them. Now, what are your thoughts on them at one time when they were trying to, quote, unquote, ban drill music and ban the negative type of music?

What are your thoughts on things like that? It's how I feel about banning anybody from having freedom of speech, banning anybody from having an opportunity to say what's going on. Unfortunately and fortunately, drill music is happening. It's out there. And you could say, well... And those are the ones that are snitching on themselves already. Like detailing, and not all of them,

but a lot of them are detailing exactly what happened, who it happened to in the videos with pictures of their ops and everything else, like, eh. Listen, I can only uh we should be smarter as a people um um i believe that you know how can you sit and actually do something and say you did it and really did do it you know i just don't believe like that's a smart way to live your life that's not forget drill or rap or anything it's's a smart way to live your life. That's not, forget it, drill or rap or anything. It's not a smart way to live your life.

Everything ain't for everybody. Now, they were saying that, you know, record labels are bad for, because they're making these records singles. Those are the records that they're going for. They're going for mix show. And I know I seen a clip that was running around. It was Leo Cohen when he was up here. And he was talking about how, you know, how he did.

You should play that for Kev. I don't even know I think in the clip Leo was talking about how he knows that sometimes rappers talk about things like promoting drugs and promoting violence but you know he knows it's wrong but he still promotes it because it's almost like their freedom I don't want to take word for word you're paraphrasing but it's something along those lines I think that think that's a little bit of unfair criticism to the executives, but only because artists make the music, and you're letting artists be artists,

and then you're distributing the art they give y'all. Yeah, listen, again, I remember when we had Onyx Throw Your Guns In The Air, but I also remember when Public Enemy said Fight The Power. That's right. I also think about one fight the power that's right I also remember I also think about what artists that I love little baby if he did not come from where he came from if Thug didn't say here's money don't do this that's true

he wouldn't have created the bigger picture mm-hmm I do believe that Jay in his journey wouldn't be the contributing citizen and father that he is without going through that journey. I don't believe Malcolm would have been Malcolm. I don't believe you go down the list of people. So you can't say, they used to say the same thing about jazz or Negro spirits or race music. They used to say the same thing. This is the shit we're still fighting today. Well, how do we continue to fight?

When I look at the judge in Right. In the gunner case. Right. And he was a brother, black man. And, you know, you hear all the details where, you know, they say basically they really have no violent information on gun and nothing violent on gunner. And that the fact that the guy that looks like us that we fight for, because we always say we want more people like us in the court system, more people like us to be police officers, more people like us to be in the judicial system.

And the guy that looks like us says, now we're going to keep him in here. Yeah, you have to understand why it was a RICO charge. A RICO charge is to get affiliation. Anybody stand next to, be next to the whole thing. And the only reason you would use a RICO charge in this particular situation is to shake the tree. Yeah. They clearly don't have nothing on guns.

There's nothing there. Listen, it's to shake the tree. Yeah. They clearly don't have nothing on guns. There's nothing there. Listen, it's to shake the tree. And I have to be honest with you, if you African American in America, if you ain't been around it, seen it, you ain't black. And that's just the reality of it because we grew up not in places that people would say are safe places.

So I can't say I haven't. I think if you're from a certain era think if you're from a certain era, if you're from a certain era, you definitely was around it. Cause you know, our kids aren't around it cause we've created a different life for them. Yeah. We've created a different life.

But when you say our kids, you're talking about the 1%. I only speak on the fattest part of the majority, you know, and that is, I joke with my, my, my kids.

I said, I'm doing it, protecting black art thing. I said, we're going to go to the club later. And my son and my kids, I said, I'm doing a protecting black art thing. I said, we're going to go to the club later. And my son and my daughter, 24, 22, they all say, well, who's DJing? But my 11-year-old, 8-year-old say, the country club. So the reality, yes, we are evolving, but we're still in the percentage of ourself. And I just feel like this is not a moment in time.

This is a movement. This is one of the biggest movements that we had. And I think we got to be better fathers, better rappers, better human beings, better executives. And I think this is the first sign of you seeing adults in the room. And they come from our culture. I want to go back to something else you said Kev, just real quick. Why you 20-year-olds don't know the country club?

You've been a millionaire for a long time. What are you talking about? Why they don't know the country club? Charlemagne, I think they know the country club, but they also know me. And so they know what you're talking about. They know what you're talking about. I would have said strip club. Ouch.

You didn't hate what I said to strip club. Now, Kevin, I want to ask you since you said better executives, right? Let's talk about you as an executive with your artists because we've seen you in the courtroom. We've seen you going there, taking up for your artists. We see you, you know, with Megan Thee Stallion supporting everything that she's doing. We see you with Megan Thee Stallion, supporting everything that she's doing. We see you with Tee Grizzly at the screenings. What is the boundary between being an executive and working with these artists? Because sometimes people feel like business and what it feels like kind of a friendship sometimes gets mixed up.

So what are your rules when it comes to that? I'm them. I'm an artist. I'm somebody who, I was an artist and I know how I want to be treated, but more importantly, every person you've talked about just now, I've met their mother and their father and they said, take care of my baby. And so I, you know, Megan's my daughter. You know, Doug, Gunna, T, they're my sons. And, you know, Jay's my brother. You know what I mean? LL's my brother.

Like, this is, you know, I heard something come up, they don't treat us like family. No, I treat my artists like family. Their stomach hurt, my stomach hurt. My stomach hurt, their stomach hurt. That's why you see me on the front lines. And I think we have a responsibility. See, that's

the problem with our industry. And they want the to get to reap the rewards, but they don't want to go through the bullshit. I want to smoke. I want it because I know if I stand next to them, it's going to make them a better person.

If I help them get through it, and that's why it's a different thing to me. And I applaud the executives that are now coming up and understanding that it's not about sitting on the sideline. You got to be a player coach. Can't just be a coach and owner. I've always had respect for you. I've always had the utmost respect for you. But when I saw you in the courtroom, you know, standing up for Gunna,

standing up for Thug, standing up for YSL, my respect went through the roof for exactly what you just said. Because, you know, people will stand next to the artists and reap the benefits of all that. But then when things go south, they're like, oh, they back away. So, I mean, you did that with no hesitation. I'll do it because I come from it. But the thing you guys

know about me, I'm always on the front line of what's right. And especially the front line of the things that I've been able to change my life and my family's life with it. And I believe, call me an executive, activist, father, whatever you want

to call me, I'm going to bend the arc of justice to the right side. Now, you've always been very vocal, and I know Kanye was one of your artists when you were over at Def Jam. You ever picked up the phone and tried to reach out to him and try to have some conversations with him? I spoke to Kanye prior to all of this new stuff going on,

and I have to tell you, man, I'm against racism of all kinds. I'm against anti-Semitic rhetoric. I'm against discrimination. I'm against us not focusing on us being one human race. And so when you see someone going through what he's going through, you have to allow that moment to, I'm sure enough people's talking to him to put him in a place. Kanye's not fighting

with the world. He's fighting himself right now. And the best position that I think we need to do for him is to provide love and guidance. And that love and guidance has to come from different places. It doesn't come from tearing people down. You know, it comes from helping them understand where they are in life and helping them get to the right. Because Kanye has helped more people than he's hurt. I think the rhetoric is wrong. And what he's trying to accomplish is a better way of accomplishment.

And everything doesn't have to be for the media. Things should be able to happen behind closed doors. And you guys know we've moved a lot of things that you guys have not even heard about because we have the relationships on all sides. I want to go back to the Protect Black Art thing. How much of the focus is being put on the artists to not record records about their criminal activity? I don't think, if I knew an artist was a criminal,

a drug dealer, a murderer, I think that's a different conversation. But if I'm with an artist and he's around certain things and that's just his environment, he broke around certain things and that's his environment, he's broken, he's poor, and he's prolific, I want to help him change the narrative of his family and his life. And I also want to have the conversations that I have with a lot of the OGs that we have to do better and we have to be in their life, not move out of their life constantly

and check them sometimes, but also listen to them. And so that is, you know, when I turned 50, I said, I want to listen. I want to learn. I want to lead and I want to love. And if it don't fall in those things, I'm just not about it. Do you ever teach? Of course you teach, but I'm talking about like, you do come from that era of public enemy. You do come from the era of socially conscious music. Do you ever tell these artists like, hey man, you might want to try to do a bigger picture uh look how many records kendrick sold uh look what j cole is doing have you ever done that um i never say emulate i always say tell your truth and i believe that uh you know if i would have went to Public Enemy and told Chuck, yo, right, fight the power.

Or N.W.A., right? No, no. These things, these are moments in time that a record was written. Marvin, right, what's going on? That don't come from a space of being told what to do. And I don't believe my job is to tell them what to do. My job is to provide them by the means and the education and the resources to tell their truth. And that's what I promote.

Tell your truth. And if your truth is what you saw, what you did, how it was, just tell your truth because those things are the things that are going to bring and change people's lives. You know what we didn't ask? How is Thug and Gunna doing? Like, how are they doing? I mean, you speak to them daily, I'm sure.

How are they doing? How is their mental? How are they holding up? How are they feeling? Because they see it from a different side. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I can't normalize jail. I can't normalize not talking to your kid.

That's real. Your mother's sick, not being able to take her something. I can't normalize how you feel. How would you feel behind it? I know how I feel. And if I couldn't talk to my kids, I couldn't be. My father's suffering through frontal lobe dementia, hasn't talked in two years.

I can't be there for his last day. One of my biggest, I'm going to come out as a little kid, I can't pass. I can't be there for his last day my one of my biggest I'm gonna come out a little keep past I can't be at the funeral I know I would feel so I will never normalize that those four walls in itself that whole too many black and brown people for a racist and white supremacy and all the things that the oppression that's been put on myself. People. How's your man in jail? He's in jail.

Do you think that kind of like he was 24, 23 and one that he was down for 23. He couldn't come out. So, yeah, I'm trying to change that for him and all that. Yeah. Listen, if you don't if the people don't know, we don't and we don't even know how people don't even know how to fight, like how to stand up. What what like how they can petition. How could they be a part of it? You know? Yeah, I think one of the things that we have to do with the midterms coming up next week, we have to vote. We have to get out and put people in the places that understand who we are, why we are and the things that we need.

You know, we have laws that are still in place for hundreds of years ago that they think they should work in 2022. My cell phone from 10 years ago don't work the same way my new cell phone works. So why should we change these laws for what we are right now, for 22 and beyond? And I just look at what can you do today? I think you need to go and make noise about this racist act because it's not only affecting. Listen, how about this this racist act because it's not only affecting listen how about this a New York that's awarded somebody for the Malcolm X 36 billion dollars listen this is not about lyrics this is not about revenue this is about a racist

system justice system that's put there to put more brown and black people in jail so this is bigger this is about you getting out and voting this is about passing legislation and pushing your congressmen your senators your mayor's your governor's to help us protect black art And I'm not talking about music guys. I'm talking about you are art your art your art I'm to protect us protect us, but we also got to protect us from us. We gotta protect ourselves You think gonna we'll get out next time on bail cuz I know we've been hopeful and it's been, what, four times now? That'll be the fifth time, right? Yeah.

I am hopeful that the judge will look at these past six months and see that these guys are not the reason crime is what it is in Atlanta. I'm hopeful that now the lead prosecutor has left and they're regrouping, they're trying to push the case back right now. I'm hoping that the judge will see through this whole lyric thing and allow them to have a fair trial. See, the thing is, I don't mind going to trial.

I don't mind, because the guys that I know, that's not what they do, you know what I mean? But I don't mind because the guys that I know, that's not what they do. You know what I mean? But I don't mind going to trial. But what I mind is the racial bias that's happening because of the music and how the guys look. So do I think he's going to get out? I pray, Angela, I pray every day. I pray every day for God to have an understanding and to give the understanding to the judge and even the prosecutor,

because I don't think this is even worthy going to trial for gun. I wonder if the fact that you have like all of these different RICO cases happening in Atlanta is hurting the YSL case, because you do have a whole other group who were actually rapping about home invasion and stuff. So sometimes when you hear it, you just feel like it's all blurred if you're just listening you know in the public yeah again but our justice system shouldn't be blurred mm-hmm and that this is that this is the problem this is and so if you think about the actions that are being taken and you think about this this one area we're gonna clean Atlanta not not not not I'm not in my county was a lot of a lot of things that we need to

do it it's not locking up entrepreneurs, not locking up record labels. Again, anybody who commits a crime, I think they should be given a free trial also. But I think if they're rapping about it, they're snitching on themselves. And those lyrics should be presented to the judge, but you use the evidence. But you can't just say, because I want to go to war like Russia, that I want to go to war in Atlanta. It's like, no, it makes no sense what they're saying. So I don't believe that.

I do wonder also, too, what changed in hip-hop. Because it's not like gang affiliation is new to hip-hop. So why all of a sudden now, it's like, okay, now this leads to Ricos. We're the number one music in the world when you're number one yeah it's it's so many things go at you and so so many things are heightened right now i don't believe we're ready to pass the legislation that we passed we want the number one music in the world i think you would have people scared to even come on with the movement if you want the number one music in the world but it's no denying who we are why we are you you have to address the issues right now and we're in the position where we can

hold people accountable you know back when i was young kev i couldn't i couldn't say i was trying on my come up now i don't care what are you going to do with say or do to me i care about my people i've always cared about my people and i care about it to a point right now where I don't mind being on the front line and taking whatever it takes to get our people to understand that all we want

is a free opportunity to be judged like everybody else and not be persecuted because of the color of our skin or the lyrics that we rap. I heard that you're, so it's like full circle, right? You're executive producing the Milli Vanilli bi rap. I heard that you're, so it's like full circle, right?

You're executive producing the Milli Vanilli biopic. I heard that. Yeah, I mean, you know, I want to make sure they get the story right. You know, I got to protect that black art. Even if they didn't sing, I got to protect that black art too. You wrote a song that Milli,

can you break this down for people who don't know? I was 16. I think you hate telling this story. I do, okay. People might be listening and have no idea. wrote a song that million can you break this down for people who don't know uh i was 16. i hate telling this story okay people might be listening i have no idea yeah i was 16 in love wrote a record uh put it out sold a hundred thousand copies girl you know it's true yeah girl you know it's true two years later i'm watching uh mtv and my video comes on i never made a video and it was millie vanillie and they sold 18 million copies. It's the only reason I'm in, I would have still wanted,

if I would have made it, I still would have probably wanted to be in the music business. It's the only reason I got into the business of music is because I never wanted that to happen to another artist because it changed their life

in a lot of ways and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that opportunity. So how did that come about? Because I don't, a lot of people are too young to remember but Milli Vanilli

was a joke for a long time. I mean they blew up but then it became like this big joke because of the lip-syncing thing. But one of them ended up actually taking his own life. Yep. Was it because of that? Absolutely.

He couldn't handle what was going on in his life. But you have to understand, I'm going to put it into perspective. They sold 18 million copies of one single. They were the biggest group at that time. They were the biggest. They had some bangers. They were the biggest group. You couldn't tell them anything. It was sex, drugs, rock and roll They were the biggest. They had some bangers. The biggest group. You couldn't tell them anything.

It was sex, drugs, rock and roll, all the things that you want to talk about. And when that's taken away from you and people, and you know you're trying, but you got caught up in the system, in the hype, some people can't deal with it the same way. And so, again, I wish they would have took my call back then

because they didn't take my call and they stole my song because I might have been able to help them get through it. So you ended up having to take them to court to get paid and all that? Take them to court, man. Yeah, that's why I learned the business

like I know it now because I had to take it at 17 years old, 18 years old. So they just stole your song that you put out, that you sold copies and was like, what was your name back then?

It wasn't Kevin Lowry. No, it was Crime Genius. They just took Crime Genius' song, and just sang it over, and just F you. That's why you want to protect black art. You don't want them to get out and get you. No, you know what? It was, my record was out in Germany,

and I had toured, and went on tour with Rob Bass and. Crime genius. It's so funny. And I was, you know, big and they heard it in the club and the guy just went and remade the song, put two people on it and never thought nobody would fight it. You know, I'm just a kid from Baltimore. Yeah. You know, and really if I didn't have the resources and I didn't have the will, you know how many people are cheated on and

stolen from and they just don't have the means or the will or even... Because that's a fight. A fight? Oh, did it? How much did that cost you to fight that? Seven? You know what I mean? Seven grand? No, man. They took

the song. They didn't want to give it back. $7 million. Yeah, that was... $7 million? What did you get $7 million back then? You had that kind of money back then? At that age. You really was a crime genius.

The wire. You know what? Listen, guys. Here's what I want to say. Everything is for everybody, but more importantly, when you're on the side of right, you have friends,

you have family, you have lawyers that work in a sense of, they'll settle the case, you know, all those kinds of things. And I was just in a, I was so loved in the city and loved by my family that we were willing to clear my name and get what's rightfully mine that still to this day I'm

able to sit back and collect checks and when I'm not here my kids will be collecting checks from the record and that's why I want to be honest with you. It is why I fight for us because I never want that to happen and I will always protect black art.

No, I think the Protect Black Art campaign is great. The only pushback I have is literally those guys who commit crimes and then go actually rap in detail about the crime they committed. That's just ridiculous. And we are on the same page about that. And when I send those lyrics, if they can prove a b c d i'm with presented to the judge but for the prosecutors to say because they called you king slime you're the leader of a gang i'm not with that yo no i'm with you right i'm not with

that he is a leader he is a leader he's a leader of young stone of life i was right you know i'm a regular but yeah he's a leader you a leader. I'm sorry he's come up in a place where his people have been oppressed and people have been in and out of his life in a way and he's still learning how to be a man. It goes back to CB4. Remember CB4?

CB4 was literally a movie Chris Rock made about rappers who started emulating the gang life in their music, just their music, just because they knew that's what would sell. Yeah. But do you see what you just said? That it was a true story.

It just wasn't their story. It just wasn't their story. So all I'm saying is, like, art is art, man. And I want to protect it. And if we don't get these, get the legislations passed, if we don't get our congressmen and senators on our page, I don't know if there's going to be another Spike Lee. He might not be able to make that movie. I don't know if there's going to be another Stephen King.

He might not even make that novel. It's interesting you say that because I remember I had Megan Good on my talk show last season, and she said that, and I was like, nah, that ain't true. She was basically saying, like, I got to watch what character I play, because nowadays people think that's really me. And I'm like, really? As an actress? And this is the issue. This is the issue that we have, that yes, what you do and what you say

is part of you, no matter if you're acting or not acting. But if you're black and brown, it's definitely who you are. They're going to say this. They would not treat Denzel different than they treat Russell Crowe, period, because of the color of his skin. And how can people follow you and help you and get more information to the cause that you're running? I think it's hashtag protect black art,

and you can go online and change that org and look at the Petition I think we over 70,000 people Right now and then like I said go out and vote Make sure your legislators your congressmen and senators know and your governors and hold them accountable You know, let's hold them accountable for more than just saying okay, we're doing this for this person and that for this person. We've got to hold them accountable to put laws in that help us govern our country and govern our poor communities in a better way.

All right. Well, Kevin Liles. That's right. What is it? Genius? Crime genius. Don't do that. We're not trying to implicate him in anything. No, I was not a crime genius. I was KB and I was in a group called New Marks. Girl, you know it's true.

Kevin Lyles, ladies and gentlemen, the OG. We appreciate you, brother. God bless you guys. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. 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. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own?

I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God.

What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best,

and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey y'all, Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. 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. 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. Hey, everyone. This is Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same as Melrose Place was introduced to the world. We are going to be reliving every hookup, every scandal, and every single wig removal together.

So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.