The Breakfast Club - R&B Money: Jermaine Dupri

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

The Black Effect Presents... R&B Money! Join us for a special Episode 150 of the R&B Money Podcast featuring music mogul Jermaine Dupri. Known for his influential role in the music industry, Jermaine talks about his journey from a young music producer to a record label executive who has worked with some of the biggest names in music.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. A lot of times big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways from tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, the unexpected, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the men who went down that day.

On Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage, you'll hear about these heroes and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I get right back there and it's bad. Why is a soap opera western like Yellowstone so wildly successful? The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. R&B Money!

We up! Tank, Jake Valentine. We up! The authorities on all things R&B. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tank. I'm Jay Valentine. This is the R&B. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tank. I'm J Valentine. This is the R&B Money podcast.

The Authority! You know what it is. You know what it is. On all things. What? R&B. Anything else that comes with music. You have to understand today is the day of reckoning.

Yeah. We got a great in the motherfucking building. Stick on it, big dog. Super thinking. Yeah, yeah. Super. I don't need a drink to make these hits. For anybody.

Beat, write it, melody. Hall of Fame with it. Rap. Yeah. Hall of Fame. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You didn't say you know Hall of Fame. I don't need to know no name.

It's only True Nixon on there. One of them sitting right here with us. Yes, sir. And he had birds. All in the intro. He was a bird man too. Yeah, man. One of them sitting right here with us. Yes, sir. And he had birds. All in the intro. He was a bird man too. All in the intro. With doves fly.

With doves fly. Oh my God. Ladies and gentlemen, it's him. That's the best way I can say it. The Mr. Jermaine JD Dupree and Mr. Muthin. That's my brother, my brother. Come on, man. What an incredible intro, God damn. Yes, sir. Jesus Christ. He, the pre and Mr. Motherfucker. That's my brother, my brother. Come on, man. What a hell of a intro, god damn it.

Yes, sir. Jesus Christ. It's got to be right. You earned that. Shit, okay. This ain't, bro, I remember the first time I met you when I was working with Jagged in the studio, late 90s. They was already cracking and they had wrote a little song

for me on a Beacox beat. We was in the studio and you know, me and Brian was kind of cool. Brandon was giving me the superstar shoulder, cold shoulder. You know, Brandon, he was with nobody. I gotta get noticing, I don't know this nigga, I don't know this nigga, right? And so we breaking the ice and getting to know each other.

And I'm like, yeah, we gonna go do some hoop. I'm like, who? Who, where? At Jermaine's studio. It was Jermaine's studio? Oh, cause y'all weren't at Jermaine's? No, we were at Noontime. It was at Noontime.

Yeah, he's like, yeah, yeah, we gonna go to Jermaine's. So I said, well, can I't at Jermaine's? No, we were at Newtown. It was at Newtown. Yeah. He's like, yeah, we're going to go to Jermaine's. So I said, well, can I go to Jermaine's? To Jermaine's studio? Etiquette, though. That's etiquette. Everybody knows that etiquette. Listen, he's Jermaine DePri. Right, you just don't pull up.

No, I'm not pulling up that man's studio. I don't know this nigga. No, I'm not nobody. I'm no one. Listen, if you pull up as that nigga, too, you always are remembered know this nigga. No, I'm not nobody, I'm no one. Listen, if you pull up as that nigga too, you always are remembered as that nigga. That nigga. Roll up in here, start eating snacks, playing basketball.

No, no, no. I said, y'all think it'd be cool? Nah, it's cool, come with us, JD, super cool. Meet JD for the first time, big fan, man. So dope, man. I was on tour with Drew Hill when I was singing Backround with Genuine. And when that remix came on, that whole arena.

Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, that's it. Mm, on the dance, yeah. So, I hope against your guys. That's right. You know, some of the greatest singers, one of the greatest groups of all time. And I kicked their ass. Oh, hey, hey, twins, y'all gotta come here, man.

Come on. Because I wasn't there, so I can't say what happened. They gonna be ready for this one up. Donnie Skantz can attest to it. I think I might, we play a half court, I might have two dunks in a half court game. Oh, God. They switched on me so many times, I might have two dunks in a half court game. Oh God. They switched on me so many times,

I didn't know who was checking me. You dunked on my gym? Absolutely. Oh okay, that's pretty impressive. Absolutely, yeah. My rims is high, that's why I asked it. They a little higher than regulations. My gym.

That's my point. That's the point of really the story. Yeah, yeah. Some of y'all got studios. Couple rooms. Maybe a pre-production. You know what I'm saying? Little NSTN in there.

Little NSTNs in there. You know what I'm saying? No board. Because they ain't got no boards now. You ain't got no board. JD's got a fully Mix Master Jim Hoop Massage Piler, vegan ice cream distribution strip club. I had to put a strip club in the studio.

This was Nelly's request. We had a room. Nelly was like, hey man, let's stop going to the strip club. So we'll stay in here and make music. Make that a strip club. And I was like, and then we figured it out. I'm about to say, it should feel like an easy answer for you.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying. It's the magic city. The king of magic. I like going to Magic. I like going to Magic. I love going to Magic. I like the wings. I knew you about to say,

you get the wings. The wings, that's how you try to get it. Come on, I really. I like the wings. I knew you about to say, you get the wings, that's how you try to get it. Come on, I really only go for the wings. The women are an added bonus. Shout out to Magic City and the women who adorn the facility and Mr. Magic himself. We love you here at Army Money. We need Magic right here.

Matter of fact, yes. I'm doing a documentary, the Magic City documentary is coming out in May. It's on Stars. I think I might be saying this too early, but it is what it is. It's exclusive here. Okay. And it's a documentary, so we do have to get magic on here. Yeah.

You know, the week that- No, no, that's week. Are they having a party? Are you having a laundry party? Well, last year, did, I took, we did a Magic City pop-up at South by Southwest. Okay. That was crazy.

So people been asking me doing it. We gon' definitely have a party, you know that? Release party. Yeah, release party. Yeah, release party. You know, just as soon as that really is. We need to be there to cover it. You can't not be there.

Bro, you go back so far, I mean, me bringing up the studio story was just, I had never seen nothing like that. And I had been to, you know, I had been to a few studios in my day and then Noontime I thought was just an incredible facility of why all those producers and writers were all in this space. But going to your studio was the first time I seen like

a compound. That was my intro to what a compound looks like, where whatever you need to get done, whether it be rehearsal, getting in shape, the music. You don't have to leave. You don't have to leave. The development is all right here. And I feel like that is a testament and a secret,

not even really a secret, but just a secret to your success in that you were instrumental in the developmental process. Like you're more of, you're like a genius A&R, right? With all of these tools at your disposal. You can write it, you can produce it, you can rap it, you got the melodies for it, you got the know it should be about this. You got all of that. And so, and then it's got to look like this. And then, no, you got to move like that. Like,

you're doing all of that and you have the facility to do it in. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't always like that. I think I gathered that stuff that you're talking about from being young and not knowing people. I was too young to actually even have to know studio engineers in the first place. So you got to do it yourself. You know what I mean? I couldn't have nobody come to my house. I was too young and I had no money. So I couldn't be like, yo, come over here and help me record this or whatever it is. It was just always less like... Even writers, it's like now when we write, I see people calling writers. Somebody might call me like, JD, who you want to write on this song?

But even then I ain't know no writers. There was nobody to write. It was like, I want this song done, I'm going to do it. I got to do it. It ain't even like I'm no writers, nobody to write. It was like, you got it. I want this song done. I'm gonna do it. I gotta do it. It ain't even like I'm gonna do it. I gotta do it because there's ain't nobody else around here. It was out of necessity.

Yeah. But it's like, it's almost like a gift and a curse because it's like, I was young. I was so young. I couldn't, I had no access to people. How young were you when you started? When I first started writing songs? Yeah. Probably 15.

You was making the beats and everything? No, I was actually making the beats in my head because I didn't have no money to get to the drum machines, right? So I would make, I would completely like think about how I wanted this music to sound all the way in my head. And then I'd go to the studio and I I try to tell somebody to do what I wanted them to do. And they used to be like, well, you can't do that.

We can't take nobody's music and this, this, this, this. And I'm like, man, like the age I was, if I would have, if they would have listened to me, I probably would have been like the first person to ever sample. Got you. A full record. The way I wanted to sample the record when I was 15, they was like, you can't do that, you can't steal people's music. This was these guys at these other studios telling me. And I'm like, well, I mean, I'm not thinking I'm stealing, but I'm just like,

this is what I want. How do we use it? I want to rap over this. You want it to sound like that. Yeah. And then they was like, well, now we'll remake some, we'll remake it. They start trying to remake it. That's when the producer hunger came. Cause it's like, I need to learn how to do this so I can do it. Cause they not listening to what I'm saying. It's not going the way I want it.

It's cool, but I hear it somewhat the kind of way. And then what was your first purchase as a producer? My first purchase was a, I think it was a 626 rolling drum machine. It might have been a 707, but one of them little, it wasn't no bigger than this. And it cost two, I think it was $250 and I had to put it on layaway. What? Yeah. I had to put it on layaway. What? Yeah. I had nothing.

I mean, but I put it on layaway. I go cut people's grass around the neighborhood, give me like $10, $20, this, that, and the third and I go back and get that drum machine. When I got the drum machine, it had all these wack rock sounds. Like it wasn't like stock sounds. So once again, I had to start imagining that this going to be the 808. This how the snare going to sound. So I make the beat, but I wasn't thinking that it didn't sound like what you heard. Those were the sounds.

I kept thinking in my mind when we get to the studio, by the way, I didn't even know if this was possible because the MPs and none of this stuff was out. Like MIDI and triggering, right? That type of thing. Yeah, I didn't know it was possible, but I was just saying like, OK, it got to be a thing between what I got in the studio. So I kept thinking in my mind, when we get to the studio, I'm going to tell the guys, take this kick, keep the pattern, but change that kick out and give me something. Give me the money stuff, the 808s and

the stuff getting real. I didn't even have sound. They don't even have those sounds there. Give me the money stuff. Give me the stuff that I want. That hunger just from there, it just started unraveling. Me seeing them and me telling them, like, oh, okay, and them showing me I could do it. And I'm like, okay, I got it.

I just gotta get to the equipment. I gotta find, I gotta get to it. And once I got started getting, so I produced the Silk Times Love the album. And that didn't do great, but it did well enough for me to get $15,000. Right, when I took that $15,000, I bought all equipment. And you were how old at this point?

16, 17. 15,000 at 16 now. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah,15,000, I bought all equipment. And you were how old at this point? 16, 17. $15,000 at 16 now, man. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you a dough boy. Yeah. And this boy shit. Yeah.

You take $16,000, and as a teenager, you like, oh, I got some brains. Oh, I'm good. I'm all the way good. And you went and bought all equipment with that brain? All equipment. All equipment. And where you set up?

I had my room looking like this. All equipment. My bedroom. My where you set up? I had my room looking like this. All equipment. Your bedroom. My bedroom. Just like this. That's the set up right there. The bedroom. 100%.

And did you start having people come through? Yeah, yeah. Then people started coming through. JD got the studio. You know what I mean? JD got a studio. That's like when... So, when they started coming through...

Well, they were. They was coming through. It was like some local kids that was coming through. I had a four track, I had some turntables. So you DJing already too? Yeah, I've been DJing. I was DJing since like 13, 14. Like once I went on the Fresh Fest, I learned how to DJ from like Jam Master J, Grand Master

D, all of these guys that was out there, they was DJing. They had just showed me stuff and I just was like intrigued by the DJing too. So when did you drop out? Because you obviously ain't going no damn school. Yeah I dropped out of school at like 14, 15. So you never really went to high school? You was like, nah, this is school for me. Well nah, I didn't, but I knew that, I'm'ma say it was like, I was going to school, then

I went to the Fresh Fest. When I went on the Fresh Fest, I was 12, 13, 14. So, when I went on the Fresh Fest at 12, this is pre-Atlanta music. Like, ain't no music scene in Atlanta when I'm going on tour, right? So the rules for a kid entertainer, nobody in Atlanta don't know what that is. Like this ain't LA, right? This is Atlanta, you know? So my mother and them, they don't know what they're doing either. My dad, they hear about you can get tutors and this, that and third. So we go to the school board and tell them that. I'm going on tour and I need a tutor.

And when I get the tutor, the tutor is going to take my credits and you're going, you know, we're going to make it work. Yeah. And they say yes. But then when I came off tour, they was like, we can't accept those those credits or we can't accept the grades and stuff that you was doing. And I'm like, whoa, wait a minute. So you was actually doing the work? Yeah, I'm like, I've been doing all this work on tour and now y'all telling me you can't

accept it? And that's the day I said, oh, no, I'm good. My parents was basically dis, they was disjointed in the whole decision. My mother wasn't with me doing nothing. Like she was trying to make sure I was going to school. Me going on tour. She didn't know. Like this is all new. Who was your guardian when you were going on tour? Well, my dad was like the production manager for the tour. Oh, so he was out with y'all?

Yeah, my dad was out there. So that's how my mother went on and went along with it. But my dad was actually also working. He was out there working as a production manager. So I was out there by myself. Oh my God. Yeah, yeah. So would you say then that in a sense, Pops was the first identifier then of like, he got

something different? With my dad? Yeah. Yeah, my dad was my manager. My dad was my manager for basically my whole teenage, you know, for a long time, my dad was my manager. And that, but once again, that's, that's also like me not knowing nobody. I know my dad.

I don't know nobody else, right? I know my dad, this what you wanna do, I think this what you wanna do. I don't even know if this what you wanna do, but I'ma put you in it. I'ma put you in it. You know what I mean? So I saw my dad always as a manager type of figure.

Yeah. And when I created Criss Cross, I called him and told him, I got this group, you're gonna be their manager. And that became our rollout. Man, I can't wait for Deuce to call me and say, he found Criss Cross. I can't wait for myself to be like, dad, I got it.

When I created Criss Cross. At what, 17, what are you now? 17. Because somehow at 17, yeah, I know what the people need. I know what they want. I know what's going to shake this shit up. At 17, that's crazy. That's crazy.

It speaks more to what I'm talking about. So do you, do you go the regular route of, let me just go try to get them a record deal? Do you say, let me try to go get me some kind of production label deal? Or do you just- I don't know nothing. You don't know nothing? I don't know nothing.

You just like, I just want to get them something. I seen these kids at the mall and I saw people reacting to them. And I'm like, who the fuck are y'all? Who are y'all? Why the girls at the cookie company giving y'all free cookies and they ain't giving me shit? Like, what's going on right now? I thought I had walked into Nickelodeon or something.

Because you're not that much older than them. Yeah, no, I'm not that much older than them. They was 11, 12. Yeah, I'm 17. So we all at Greenboro and I'm like, what the fuck is happening? That's the hood mall too. For people that don't know, that's the hood mall too.

That's not like they at the- Yeah, they're not. So to get that kind of reaction. Yeah, to get that reaction at the hood mall, for us in the Bay, that's East My Mall. They don't exist no more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They even shut up too many times.

So if you get a crack in there, the world gonna love it. So I'm watching little, well they ain't even little girls. These girls, they got jobs, so they working. They're 17, at least 18 years old. They react, they looking at these guys like they are superstars already. And they treating them like that. And they playing with it too. They running over there, talking to the girl, running back.

They doing all this. And I'm standing there in the middle of the mall watching this. And I'm like, don't nobody else see this? What's going on? So then I'm like, who the fuck are y'all? And he's like, what you mean, who are we? And I'm like, okay, cool.

Y'all ain't no stars or nothing. He's like, nah. I said, y'all rap. Dark Skin Chris was like, rap. Like, and it's crazy because this is a time period where young niggas didn't want to rap. Rap was like, for young people, that wasn't a thing. Not they age, like 11 and 12, they want to think about rap.

And so when I say you rap, they look at me like, rap. What niggas don't do that. That was their reaction. And I'm sitting there having this conversation with them in the middle of the mall and my mind just start going. JD, if you could write these little boys a song, they outta here. If you could figure it out, they outta here. If you get it together, they outta here.

They already got it., they out here. If you get it together, they out here. They already got it. You get it together. My mind doing all that in the mall. I'm trying to figure it out right there in the middle of the mall. By this time, you already got your studio. You got everything. No, no, no, no, no. That's what I'm saying.

I had the Silk Times leather. Silk Times leather, they gave me the ability to get the equipment. Yeah. But that's what I'm saying. You got that set up though now. Yeah, but it's still in my room. It's in my bedroom and I Just like I said, I got their number I still ain't never I mean it never made no record though, right? I think the thing that got me that conversation was that in jet magazine

I think they did an article on female rappers and they listed Silk Times loved them and they showed a picture of them. And Darkskin Chris' mom noticed the girl from the Jet Magazine. So she made them realize, oh, he really, this is legit. It's legit. Because they was on some, who the fuck is this nigga trying to talk to us? So she made it where like y'all should probably, maybe one of them listened to them. I seen them in the book.

So thank God to her. Because they weren't trying to hit me. And for the longest, for like two weeks, I couldn't get, I'm like, y'all got to come over my house. And they was like, go over your house. You know what I mean? They thought I was like a predator or something like that. They had never been approached like that.

That's what I'm saying. And it's crazy because I'm telling them, come to my house. That's where the music was at. So you gotta imagine, 11, 12 year old kid and somebody old telling you, you gotta come to their house. They like, nah, these little ghetto kids too. They like, fuck that. You know what I mean?

We ain't doing that. So I had to break the ice with them. And so I start doing stuff like I'm going to pick y'all up from school on Friday, whatever, whatever. We going to go hang out, blah, blah, blah. So I start doing stuff with them and start hanging out with them. And I start playing music in the car like Ice Cube or whatever was out. And they singing the lyrics like they wrote it.

They know every word. They ain't never seen no lyrics or nothing. And that's when I started saying, man, if I could learn how to write songs good enough that they like it, this could work. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the men who went down that day. It's for the families of those who didn't make it.

I'm JR Martinez. I'm a U.S. Army veteran myself. And I'm honored to tell you the stories of these heroes on the new season of Medal of Honor Stories of Courage from Pushkin Industries and I Heart Podcast. From Robert Blake, the first black sailor to be awarded the medal, to Daniel Daly, one of only 19 people to have received the Medal of Honor twice. These are stories about people who have distinguished

themselves by acts of valor, going above and beyond the call of duty. You'll hear about what they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about

on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action, and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chafkin.

And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. With guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull, we'll take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain.

I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West.

I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian, Dr. Randall Williams and bestselling author and meat eater founder, Stephen Ronella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. Stephen Rinella So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th where we'll delve into stories of

the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. NARESH Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st, and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. So really what you were doing was turning a consumer into the artist. Because they were consumers. So now, and you know that they're your target audience. So if they like it, the kids around the world will like it. Yeah, if they like it. And it's crazy because what, I always hear people, when Jay-Z told people that he didn't

write his raps, right? And people was like, people find that so crazy, right? Even me, I did at first. But I never realized I was already doing it with Criss Cross before, because that's what I wanted them to do. I wanted them to like memorize these words and stuff without seeing the paper. And like, you just filling the song. This gonna be y'all song, you like it?

Hell yeah, like, you know what I mean? Like I needed that energy. So it's a crazy process that I learned about these kids, but it definitely, I had to get sharper. I had to get better. Cause I was writing songs. Yeah, I was writing songs at first and they was just like, you know, they was going to do them.

But I didn't get that energy yet. And I had a song, the first song, cause I had left, I was living in my closet. Right, at my house. Hold on, you're what? What? So, okay, so listen, let me back. You can't just casually say it. All right, I gotta go back. I gotta go back. All right, so listen, let me back. I gotta go back.

I gotta go back. All right. So listen, so, Um, Enberg. Shout out to Enberg. Shout out to Enberg. Enberg was around this whole period, right? Enberg's the only guy I actually know that I felt like was moving around Atlanta. I could trust him.

He'd come talk to me, blah, blah, blah. Um, me and En got cool in this time period. I could trust him, he'd come talk to me, blah, blah, blah. Me and Em got cool in this time period. He started finding artists and he found this girl from Philly, a female rapper. And he was like, JD, I got this female rapper, I'm gonna bring it to your house. Now he was coming, these people started coming to my house like it was the studio. It's my mother's house. So he brought-

Shout out to my house. Yeah, he brought Left Eye to my house. I heard her rap. I said, okay, cool. But she didn't have no place to stay. You know what I mean? She was fresh up from Philly. And my room was just 24-7.

It was just 24-7. There wasn't no sleeping. I'm like, you just kick it here. So for like a week, she basically was staying in my closet, the house, because my mother, I didn't want my mother to know what was going on in there. It wasn't nothing but music going on, but still my mother would have been like, why that girl staying over here? But she stayed.

And in the midst of her staying, I thought I had found it. I was like, oh shit, I'm going to sample the girl is mine, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, and I'm gonna write some raps about Chris and Chris fighting over Left Eye. Okay. I see the vision. I see it. I see it. But Left Eye wasn't Left Eye yet. She wasn't even in TLC. So she just was a girl that could rap. This was the vibe I was on. I'm like, this is' go. And that song just wasn't, it didn't come out. It didn't come out. I had to keep going, keep going.

That ain't it, that ain't it. I had an idea, but that wasn't it. I ain't know how to make that shit. I guess, whatever, but it didn't work. Are you self-auditing at this point, or you got some trusted ears, where you're playing stuff for them, like what you think?

Nah, just me. Just you? Yeah. You're self-auditing? Yeah. Some trusted ears where you're playing stuff for him like what you think and not just me. Yeah, yeah You're self-auditing. Yeah, I go off of The light in your eyes if you if I play you something young Young. Yeah, you don't do that. I automatically do like this. Oh shit Okay Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't need I don't need a bunch of people tell me I could tell when it's when it's dead when it's not Okay. That ain't got to start off. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't need a bunch of people to tell me. I could tell when it's there, when it's not. You give me, everybody give you that without even knowing it. They give it to you. You know what I'm saying? I could play something right now and somebody come from back there and come in here. I'm like, oh.

We got something. Yeah, yeah. Oh shit. Oh shit. We need to pay attention to that. And I won't even say nothing. I won't even tell people that I saw that. I'll just go off that vibe.

That's where I'm going. That's the energy I started following. So how long does it take you to get to the hit? How long does it take you to get down? Or even just the records that makes sense to- It's crazy, because I don't have a time. No, I'm talking about- Oh, for Criss Cross. I'm talking about for Criss Cross because now-

Oh, okay. Yeah. So, two years. Oh, shit. Yeah. I was 17 when I found Criss Cross. They ain't come out until I was 19. Artist development.

Yeah. And producer development. Artist development, producer development, writer development. We all had to learn. We was learning. We was learning, we was learning. And yeah, once we got, we started getting close, Chris came to the house and he had on this Jibo jumper.

And it was so big. And I was just like, man, you should flip that shit around. And he was like, for what? I'm like, I don't know. Just flip it around. Let's just see what it look like. He flipped the Jumbo jumper around. I'm like, that shit cold, huh?

And they was looking at me like, no. I'm like, I said, listen, let's go to Lennox Square with that Richard jumper on backwards. He's like, why? So let's go to Lennox. We went to Lennox. He walking through the mall. He the only person with an arm. He's walking through the mall with a Jumbo jumper backwards. And

the mall stopped. And I was like, what the fuck just happened? Like people was like, what the fuck? Where you get that from? Why your clothes like, what is this? They don't even know this kid. It's people just coming up to him like, where did you get this outfit from? And I'm like, what? It can't be this easy. It can't be this easy. It's your regular jumper.

I'm always wanting to tell people like, you can't be that stupid. You got to jump on backwards. But I'm just like, I'm watching it. I'm like, this can't be, this is crazy. Yeah, that's wild. And I'm like this can't be this is crazy and I'm like we gonna have to do this gonna be our thing y'all gonna wear your clothes backwards and that's where this will then from there I wrote jump in 25 minutes. Did you produce it too? Yeah. Of course he did. So you don't have social deaf at this point? Yeah. Oh no you don't have So So Def at this point?

Yeah. Oh no, I don't have So So Def. At this point you don't have So So Def. You take the record to Rough House. That's a Rough House record. Criss Cross is on Rough House. The next, Criss Cross blows up the record, go number one. Yeah. My birthday came around and I had a little birthday party at my house. Ian came to my house and he brought these girls, some more girls. The girls he brought to my house was escaped. Right? He had them sing Happy Birthday to me. After they sang, I'm like, I fuck with y'all. I'ma sign y'all to my label. I don't have no label. I just said it. I said I'ma sign y'all to my label. They felt like, for

real? I'm like, yeah, I'ma sign y'all to my label. I don't got no label. I ain't had no conversation with no- You got a hot 100, 100. Yeah, I got a hot 100. I'm just like, I'm going to be'all my label. They're like, for real? I'm like, yeah, I'ma sign y'all my label. I don't got no label. I ain't had no conversation. You got a hot 100, 100. Yeah, I got a hot 100. I'm just like, I'm gonna be able to do it. You got everything. Yeah. I said, I'ma do it.

And then, like, after I said that, I think two weeks later, Sony was like, you know, we want to get you a production deal if you can bring out some more artists. Can you bring more artists? And I'm like, yeah, I got this group already. I'm about to sign them. My happy birthday, bro. Because I called them immediately. I'm definitely going to sign y'all. And then-

I got to ask though, where's Left Eye? Oh, so if y'all watch the TLC movie, they had a meeting with Pebbles and left, I called somebody in VH1, but they cut me out. When she makes that phone call, she called me. When she called me, she said, they want to sign us what you want to do. And I was like, damn. And I was so into Criss Cross that I was like, you know what? If they sign y'all, just let me produce some songs on the album.

Y'all go ahead. And I just let them go. So they were actually signed to you? Oh no, TLC was my group before they went to LaFace. Because once, I mean, Ian, so we jumping all over the place, but Ian, Ian found T-Baz and he put T-Baz and Left Eye together. Then they start coming to my house and we start making, I start making demos for them. And that was the first R&B music that I ever tried to write was for TLC.

I never wrote R&B song ever. I tried it with T-Baz. Yeah. Damn. So I heard this other thing. It's a rumor. That you did the choreography for ABC before Criss Cross. I might have. I might have. That's even crazy.

I might have. I can't take full credit, but I was around. I definitely was around. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the word I got. I was around. I don't remember it to be that, but I was definitely around. Cause to do, so, cause ultimately, you know, yeah, yeah, that was part of the song. You know what I'm saying?

With ABC and BBD, you know what I'm saying? I mean, not ABC, not BBD, I'm sorry. ABC and Chris Cross, they had, it was like a little, Kenny B. Yeah, yeah. And the fact that you had worked with ABC as well. Nah, they from College Park. We all, them my little homies.

The only reason I dissed Chris Cross, I mean, the only reason I dissed ABC on that song was that I was trying to establish Criss Cross as rappers. And I was like, I don't, I want y'all to let people know that y'all rappers. What they doing, they singing. We rappers. We rappers. We might be young, but we rappers. And I just kept thinking like, like I said, all I'm listening to is Ice Cube, NWA. They dissing everything. You know. Yeah. Yeah.

Matter of fact, No Vaseline just came out and you know, so Ice Cube going crazy. Yeah. And I'm thinking like in rap, this the only way you get people's attention. This is the only way you really get people's attention and Jump actually became such a big song. People don't even pay attention to the fact that it's a diss record.

It's a diss record. All right, so let's get back to X-K. Let's get back to X-K. Let's get back to X-K. So now you got a deal. Yeah, now I got a deal. And an R&B group. And an R&B group. Which I never did before. It was just purely because you just like, I fuck with them. No, it was purely because I had thought about this once Chris Cross blew up that I didn't want to be pigeon held in rap. And I didn't think I was the greatest rap producer. OK.

I didn't know what type of producer I thought I was, but I'm saying I didn't think that I could come right back with a successful rap record. Your self-auditing is crazy. It's one of the best. Master auditors. Yeah. I told you, I'm telling you, master auditing is crazy. Master auditing. I told you, I'm telling you that

master auditing is a thing. That is, that's the key. Yeah. Because most people don't know what they're good or bad at and won't be honest with themselves to say, you know what, I'm probably not as good doing that. Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking I'm on the clock at this point too, so you gotta start thinking when you're on the clock, okay, you got Criss Cross Day number one, you know the

records, you know, it's gon' pass. And then once it passed, the hype of who you are, what's going on, that's gon' pass. So I'm just like, no. And then I'm like, let me, I don't want my label to be a rap label. I want my label to be all things. So I want my label to be all things, right? So I'm just like, shit, I'm going to do an R&B group. Columbia didn't expect me to say I'm coming with an R&B shit. They like, what?

An R&B group? I'm like, yeah. And they like, what R&B have you done? None. So we just gave this nigga a deal. Here goes the kid now. There's kid. Go do some shit he never did before.

He can refuck no one else. I already know what that mean was like. So you gave the kid how much money he doing what with? Yeah. So yeah, I mean, you know I went in the studio with X-Gate. I mean, by the way, things are starting to happen, so I don't want to make people think that. So an important piece of that puzzle was that this writer named Emmanuel Sill was looking

for a home, right? And I got a call that, um, he was looking for a home. Yeah. And I, you know, once I had my label, people knew, okay, JD got a label deal. So once you say you got a label, you start attracting things. Absolutely. Um, and I didn't know what Manuel's seal was. I didn't know, I didn't know what was going to happen, but I needed somebody to

play for me. I knew that I needed that because we, I'm, I'm signed an R&B group. I can't sample my life away like this. Right? So, Manuel comes into my life and matter of fact, I go meet him at like an hotel. And when I walk in the hotel, he's playing the piano that's in the hotel, killing that shit.

Sound like a concert. And I'm like, what the fuck, who is this? And he's like, yeah, I'm the guy that's supposed to meet with you And I'm like, what the fuck, who is this? And he's like, yeah, I'm the guy that's supposed to meet with you. I'm like, oh shit, let's go. Yeah. I take him back to my house in College Park, me and him talk, I tell him what I want to do.

And I start working on the escape album. Is he from Atlanta too? No, he from Illinois. Man, Yusele is Illinois. Manuel Seal is special. That brother is special. 100%. And y'all marriage, y'all man, the records that y'all have done together is top tier. And Manuel is, when I met Manuel, he could do anything.

That's what fucked me up is that anything I told him to play, he could play it. Or he could play something that I didn't expect him to play. Whatever it was, he just was like, he's probably one of the most musical guys I'd have met ever. So we start working on our escape album. I did a whole album in two weeks. The Humbra coming at you album?

Yeah. Two weeks. Two weeks. The whole album coming at you? Yeah. Two weeks? Two weeks. At this point, are you establishing, because JD has a sound. I know JD drums anywhere. I know when I hear them. Okay. At that point, making the Escape album, is that when you establish those drum sounds? I don't know. I don't know. I don't

know if that album sounds like what you think JD sound like. Just kicking it. Yes. It sounds like it. It sounds like that. I don't know. I don't I really don't know. I know that I got my drum machine now. I'm trying to make beats, but I don't know. By the way, I'm going into this. I don't know what's going to happen. So you're not it's not a conscious thing. You just making the music.

Yeah, but I'm writing the songs. I mean, you know, I mean, like I'm I'm really, really trying to get this group out, right? And I'm really like, I don't have, that label ain't told me nothing. I'm just on this clock of myself and I'm like, man, let's go, I gotta go. And nothing about me thinking about writing the songs even popped in my head that I couldn't.

I just started writing. And Mayo played some and I'm like, nah, I want it to go like this. And I was trying to make it so close to rap. That's why it's just kicking the sound like it's serum. And that's why it's called Just Kicking It, because I'm writing it like it's rap, right? And I'm just starting to think about like, and I'm starting to fuck with girls too, right? So I'm fucking with girls.

So I got a little education to how niggas fuck with girls. So my first mindset was every man want a woman. They can cook them up a good meal. You know what I mean? I'm thinking like, what a nigga want from a girl, not what the girl want from, so I wrote it from that perspective.

And people was like, she talking from the man perspective. I'm like, yeah, that's how I wrote it. Right? And that's why I connected to whatever. Yeah, that's why. But I thought, you know, I didn't think that was going to work at all. Cause I'm writing all them songs. You think your escape was going to work? Not big, cause I'm writing the songs and I know they don't have no, I don't have no chops in R&B. Right. You know what I mean? I'm just praying. But are you seeing the sparkle in people's eyes? No. No? Not at all. Xscape was tough and it was a hard group because you know people didn't think they was cute. Biggie had made dreams of fucking an R&B bitch and I fucked RuPaul before I fucked them

ugly Xs escape bitches. That was hard. I'm out here dealing with this, right? So I took a stand that was like, okay, y'all niggas think they ugly, cool. Find me somebody that can sing better than them. I started acting like just going off of their talent, pure talent. But yeah, it was hard. It wasn't, you know, N-Vogue was out at the time, right?

So Xscape coming out when N-Vogue was out, these little girls, they look like hood bitches and this, that, that ain't fly. And Xscape is young, right? It's another thing. Xscape is a young group, I'm making R&B music and R&B radio told Columbia that the music sounded too young. So I'm almost in a space where it's like where I want the record to be, they're not even playing it.

Because I'm thinking of what those records sound like in relation to the other R&B at that time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was real grumpy. Yeah, niggas wasn't singing, just kicking it. Yeah, nah. So adult radio, what they call adult radio now, is where I wanted Xscape to live. I couldn't get them to live there for nothing. They kept telling, they told the PDs, the radio guys, these songs sound too young. They don't sound like our station.

So that's why I say like all that young shit, I'm the person who brought this to the music, to modern day music. And what broke that conversation for them? 4HK? Yeah. It never, I had to keep, I had to start dressing them and I had to start trying to

Like I think the second album I Was just trying anything I went to dying warning that a song And let her write the song because I was just trying to feel I'm like this group has to Be but you had success on the first album. No, no, we had success I'm just saying as an R&B group, I knew where they had to be. It was home for them, their home. You can't be an R&B group chasing hip hop.

And I was just like determined to try to get these girls. And I'm like, man, these girls can sing that ass up. They sing acapella, it's the best thing in the world. They sing the national anthem, it's the best thing in the world. They sing the national anthem. It's the best thing in the world. Why y'all treating them like, and I'm not knowing that I'm basically doing something from a younger perspective that ain't been done.

That's crazy. I would have never thought that. Yeah, no. From the outside looking in, at that, what year is that? 93, 94, somewhere around there? Yeah, 94. Yeah, so I'm like fresh.

Looks like it's all working. Going from middle school to high school. This feels like every young girl that I know. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Nah, they wasn't. You know what I'm saying? That's why you're creating the music

for my life at this point. Flat out. I'm in the Bay, crisscross, now escape, and they're all around my same age. I'm in the Bay, crisscross, now escape, all this and this and they're all around my same age. I'm maybe a little younger, you know what I mean? But I'm like, this is, I see me. This is, this is my reality right here. Escape looks like my neighbors. Those look like my girls, the girl that I, in the Bannaker homes in Philmo, she looked just like her. So for me, I don't see the difference. And obviously what the labels and what the radio is saying

that the kids would want. Trying to manage it. No, they're not even focusing on kids. They focusing on 25 and up, I think. Or maybe 35 and up. Like you said, it's a dope radio. Yeah, that's what they're, they're paying attention to that. And 35 and up, radio stations, why the fuck would they skate?

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Chris Cross concert. And in between Chris and Chris coming on stage, they bring all these artists, they let people come on stage and do something. And they brought Brad on stage and she rap in Chicago. Lightskin Chris Carlby right after that, he was like, yo man, this girl out here, she cold. And I'm like, female rappers, they suck. Like I'm not-

First thing you said. Yeah. Female rappers suck. Ain't nobody listen to that shit. I got off the phone. He's like, nah, man, you got to listen to it. She cold. And I'm like, we don't even listen, I'm telling him, we don't listen to no female rappers.

Who can write, listen to female rap? I thought it was the worst idea in the world. I never was like, court and brat trying to get her to come to Atlanta. She start pushing her own buttons. So she came to Atlanta. She called my phone and she was like, I'm here. I didn't know she was coming. But phone, and she was like, I'm here. I didn't know she was coming, but she came, she was like, I'm here. So I'm like, you know, and I'm trying not to be completely on the fuck that shit.

I'm just going to listen with an ear. So I go pick her up, or I go to the hotel, pick her up, and I got to stop and get gas because I live on the South Side. So when I stop and get gas, I go in there to pay the gas. She put the CD in the car and I get back in the car, turn the car on and the shit come on. I'm like, who the fuck is this? Who touched my radio?

And I'm like, who is that rapping? She's like, that's me. And I'm like, oh, wait a minute. Wait, you had, she came to Atlanta. You don't even, you hadn't heard nothing yet. Never. You just going off of Chris telling you that she was good. Yeah. I never heard of rap.

And she was so like nigga, you gon' check me out. I'm like, okay, cool. I was taking her to go back to my house to do like a little audition, I guess, basically. She put the CD in. As soon as I hit the, that shit came on. I'm like, who is this rapping? She's like, that's me. And I'm like, oh, maybe this, maybe.

Oh, this might work. It wasn't from Hell No, it may be. Yeah, I'm like, maybe this might work. And Brat, to this day, was the hardest project I ever did in my life though. Really? Yeah. Because I never had it. I made two, three songs a day and they never was right for me. So you sign her, but you can't figure it out. Yeah, I can't figure it out. So how do you land on Funktify? But you can't figure it out. Yeah, I can't figure it out. So how do you land on funk defy? I don't know two years We I mean it took two years for me to get funk defied out

Like literally um we make a song after song every day song every day every day matter of fact I think during an escape video I pulled up in my truck trying to play a demo of I pulled up in my truck trying to play a demo of a song that I did with Brat and I ain't tell nobody. I just tried to pull up to the video playing some live music scene and ain't nobody give me nothing. Ain't nobody come from behind the back room. Ain't nobody give me shit. And I'm like, oh man, this ain't gonna work.

I knew I shouldn't fuck with no fucking female rappers. That's how I'm like, oh man, this ain't gonna work. I knew I shouldn't fuck with no fucking female rappers. That's how I'm feeling. And then one day me and Mayu in the studio, we playing around with the between the sheets and I start rapping. I start rapping and then she jumped in rapping. Behind me, we freestyling. I'm like, uh oh. I'm like, nah, I ain't thinking about it.

I'm not making no records. That's what I'm saying. I'm not being a rapper. I'm not doing this. And she's like, yo, we should make a song like that. You should rap. And I'm like, no, I'm not fucking rapping. I don't want to rap.

Y'all put y'all out. She's like, nah, let's do it like this. So then I'm like fucking rapping. I don't want to rap. I'm going to... Y'all put y'all out." She's like, nah, let's do it like this. So then I'm like, okay. I start thinking about it and then I start writing the verse. Open up the doors, open up the doors, let the funk flow in. You know what I mean? I start writing my part, writing her part, and then I'm like, this how it's going to go.

Then we going to do it like this. We do that song. I'm thinking this just for the car at this point. Like, we ain't putting this out. We do that song, we get that going, niggas start coming in the room. What the fuck is that? What is that?

I play the song a little louder, everybody like, hey man, yeah, JD you gonna rap? I'm like, oh fuck, I don't wanna be no rapper right now. Not yet. Yeah. All right? But it just, it forged me to do that and that's how the song came. And then I wanna say somewhere in there, they asked me to do Usher.

In the middle of you doing Brat? Well, I mean, I think in between, you know, in between these projects, the Criss Cross, Escape, Brat, somewhere in there, it might have been at the end of the Funk the Fire, whatever it was, I'm not really knowing the dates, but in between there, that's when they asked me, you know, would you work on this Usher project? Did you know him already? Yeah, he came to the Criss Cross concert and he wanted me to sign him.

And I said no. Hmm. But that answers the question because I was going to ask you, I'm serious. I had this in my head. I was going to ask you, were there any artists that you had passed up on that became you? Yeah, Usher. Yeah. And why did you say no? Because I was having conflict with Chris and Chris' parents. And I just was like, I'm not dealing with no more kids. I'm not fucking with no more kids because y'all parents don't, they're not, they weren't

at the room with us. They didn't watch me talk to y'all. They didn't watch us talk. But now they end up, they trying to get in here. I got to deal with them. So I was just like, anyway, like when I met him, it was right at the height of that, right? And we had a meeting where the parents had gotten to, the Chris parents, they had gotten in an argument

at the lawyer's office. And it was just like, ah, this ain't what I signed up for. Right? So, and when Usher came, he was a teenager. Once again, and I was just like, nah. Cause AJ brought him, but I'm like, it's a mom somewhere. Oh, it's a mom. It's a mom somewhere. Oh, there's a mom.

It's a mom somewhere. And I just was like, you know, I ain't had a capacity to do it. Yeah, if she don't play. There's a mom. Yeah, but even understanding that though, I think, cause that's, in this business, we see talent and sometimes we just jump at it, even when we don't have the bandwidth.

Yeah. Like I said, even with TLC, that's why I let TLC go. I didn't have the bandwidth. I didn't have a label, right? Right. But that's what I'm saying. At that point, you don't got no label. Yeah, I don't have no label when I'm talking to TLC.

I'm trying to get Criss Cross signed. And today I could do both, but back then I didn't have the bandwidth. I just was like, I was giving Criss Cross all of this energy and I was kind of like giving Tion and Left Eye like some little energy, but they weren't getting the full play. So I just was like, you know, I started thinking as a producer, like y'all make the album, let me just do some songs on the album. I'll get some producer credit.

What do you think prompts the call to do Usher? What nuance that you've created or what piece of music that you've done? Well, they came and they asked me to do a remix of Think of You. So all I'm saying, LA was like his voice is changing. We need, but we need to make this song, I want to put a bridge in the song so people can start hearing his voice. And I know what a bridge was. I mean, I think I thought I knew what a bridge was, whatever. But I'm like, okay, cool. This nigga hit records. He like, I know what that was.. I mean, I think I thought I knew what a bridge was, whatever, but I'm like, okay, cool. This nigga hit records out of here, he like, I didn't know what that was.

He gonna figure it out though. No, I know, bring him, send him up. Yeah, I did. I did, so I told him, come over. I did a remix and then I put the bridge in Thinker You. And they got that back. And Usher was like, man, cause also I made Usher come to my studio

and re-sing his part, right? That was the thing about remixes that I was like man, also I made Usher come to my studio and re-sing his part, right? That was the thing about remixes that I was like, you gonna do a remix? Come sing it over, let's really make it remix. So he came and he sung that bridge part and I wrote the bridge and I sung the bridge to him and he translated my terrible notes into what he was supposed to be. Can we get an example? Oh, fuck that. And he translated it into what it was supposed to be.

And then it was just like, Brian Reed, shout out to Brian Reed, LA's brother. He was the A&R at the time. He's like, man, we love this. We love this. Could you, you think you could go in the studio with him? And I'm like, I guess, you know, but they was like, you know what? We don't want to rush you. We want you to do what you did with Chris Cross.

You want you to take him, take him in, dress him, make him your artist. That's what they, you know, and that's what I did. I took Usher in. I started talking to him. I started training him. I started doing everything that I thought he needed to become who he is today. Wow.

Wow. So, when you making these records. But what is Columbia saying though? Because that's not, that's who your partner is. Sony Columbia is your partner. Are they like at some point they're like, wait, that's not an artist that scientists also think? Well, they don't see it happening.

They don't see it till it happen. I'm sure they would not have been happy. Yeah, they probably wouldn't have been happy. But I mean, I'm bringing groups. I'm bringing groups. I mean, I'm delivering an Escape album still doing your thing. I'm bringing groups. I mean, I'm delivering an Xscape album. I'm delivering Brat's second album.

I'm giving them product that it's not like I'm not doing the work. So yeah, that, yes, I get into the Usher record. I don't know anything about male R&B as far as writing songs and making it. I don't know nothing. I just know what I've heard, but I don't know nothing. And I'm just like, all right, we're going to try this. I don't know how this can work out, but we're going to try it. And it's crazy because I wrote Nice and Slow the night before I was doing this test photo shoot for Usher. So I was going to do a test photo shoot where I went to one of them good hardware goods stores, the sporting goods stores, like Dick's maybe, right?

Pause. And I went in there and i got all these shoulder pads and shit and i'm buying shit like dress usher like just all kind i'm just trying anything um so we do a photo shoot the day that we do the photo shoot the day before that i wrote nice and slow and i'm like this the single'm telling you. Did you have the track or any of that stuff? Yeah, we did it. We did the song. We did the song, because I got us at my house, so we recording, we trying to make, we making my way.

And like I said, I did nice and slow, we going to the photo shoot. I tell LA at the photo shoot, I like, this the single. He was like, nah, that ain't the single. Like, this the single, man. This is it, like, this shit jamming, like what are you talking about? He's like, yeah, it's all right.

I dropped my head. I'm good with it. I'm like, God damn, it's all right. And by the way, they only paid me to do, they paid me to do four songs I think, four to five songs. So I don't have You Make Me Wanna yet. I feel like I finished the project without You Make Me Wanna.

I go up to LA's office, I play nice and slow. I think I play My Way, One Day You'll be mine and just like me, these songs. And I'm like, this it, let's go. You put the rest, do whatever you want to do with it. I'm good. And he sat there, he listened to them four songs and he ain't give me nothing. Like nothing. Just like, you think this it?

And I'm like, fuck. All right, I'm gonna go home. Go back to my house. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I left his office. I went home. I said, man, we gotta do something better than this shit.

We gotta make something. I got an idea. I start making beat. He start playing a little guitar riff. I'm like, ooh, yeah, think, think, think, think. Boom, boom, boom. He playing the actual guitar. Think, think, think.

He playing it to the beat. I'm like, oh yeah, this sound like it right here. This week, this going to be it. When I start writing something. You make me want it. Yeah. You wrote, you make gonna be it. When I start writing something. You make me wanna. Yeah. You wrote, you make me wanna. Yeah, 100%.

Nice and slow, 100% too. This point, the situation's out of control. It's out of control. Ah, I never meant to. This man right here is out of control. Nigga. Oh, yeah. This man right here is out of control. Nigga. But I mean, Make Me Wanna was like a rap song to me. That's what I started thinking.

I started thinking that I was like, JD, you a rapper. You trying to, just cause you did escape nigga, you ain't no R&B nigga. You better get back to that rap shit and do some rap shit. So then I start writing it like a rap. You make me want to lead the one I'm with. Another new relationship with you. This is what we do. Think about the ring and all the things that come along with it.

You make me you make me I'm writing it like a rap song. The same thing with my. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. MC Hurricane understands. The hurricane, that's that's who he is. That's who I am. All right. All right. That's how I like it. All right. You know all the code for that, right? Himayo, whatever. Same thing with Nice and Slow.

All right, I stopped. That's why I thought Nice and Slow was a go, because I put so much rap into it. Yeah. Seven o'clock on the dock, I'm on the drop top cruising the streets, that's a rap song. Absolutely. Right? And I'm thinking like, I got this little niggas talking, he doing some rap shit.

And the Pope Pimp shit had came out around that same time. So I'm like, we gonna take the little Pope Pimp shit and we gonna spell your name, U-S-H-E-R-I-O-M-D. I'm trying to do what them niggas was doing, Poe Pimp, just to add a little bit of that. I thought that was the one. It was the one. Yeah, it was the one.

I mean, it was actually first number one. It just had a one too. It had the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a hell of a one too. It was his first number one Hot 100. Make Me One wasn't number one? Not Hot 100.

How high did that get up? Oh, it went number one R&B, but I don't know what it did on the Hot 100, but as far as his first Hot 100 record was nice and slow. And this is your first time writing for a male R&B artist? Yeah. Nigga, you the cheat code. Cheat.

You're a fucking cheat code, bro. Cheat. I don't know if I'm the cheat code. This nigga's on full Bob Dylan. Cheat. This nigga's on full Bob Dylan out here, dog. This nigga's a master auditor. This is, dog. This nigga's a master auditor.

This is, nigga, that's crazy because these are all first for you. It wasn't like you were bumping your head on other projects that maybe did this or that. No, no, no, no, no, no. First R&B singer they send to you, you give them a number one. Hot 100 number one. Yeah. Come on, bro.

Yeah, that's not normal. Huh? That's not normal. That's not normal. I don't know, man. I don't know. I'm not even paying attention to if it's normal or not. Like I said, I'm just trying to, I'm just trying.

I don't even know what I'm doing. I honestly didn't know what I was doing with my way out. I just was trying whatever. And that album ends up selling how much? I think five million. He was him. He was him. That's when you start buying the Bentley's and shit. That's when you jumped out the Porsche. It started getting close. It started getting close.

And then... Have you bought Southside yet? No. You haven't bought the studio yet? It's all 90s. Have you bought Southside yet? No, hell no. You bought the studio yet? Yeah, mm-mm. This all 90s. Okay. I'm writing so much though.

I'm writing so many songs and I'm, where I'm writing songs where I do like, I'm gonna write a song for somebody, Xscape or whoever I'm working with. And then after I finished writing that song, I'm making dumb demos for me to just ride around to and listen to, right? So I'm not even, in these dumb demos, these are not songs that I'm thinking gonna come out. I'm just doing it because I feel like I'm song, right?

So I'm in there, I'm taking other people, I'm not even making full beats. I might take a beat. So I took the Mobb Deep record, shook once, and I was like, oh, I like them jazzy hoes, them type, make a nigga, all my clut. I started doing the jazzy hoes as a ride around mixtape for me. Like I'm just going to do this. I'm going to listen to this shit in the car.

And I'm just making this shit. I'm making mixtape songs just for me to listen to. I'm not even thinking about it. So then my homeboy Steve Prud'homme from here, they heard my little mixtape songs just for me to listen to. I'm not even thinking about it. So then my homeboy Steve Prudhung from here, they heard my little mixtape one day in the car. They was like, what the fuck is this JD? I'm like, shit this shit I just be making just to be doing whatever. And them niggas start singing the jazzy hoes.

They like, man, you need to make an album. I'm like, nah, I don't. I'm not fucking with that shit. I'm cool. I'm gonna keep finding, I'm trying to stay away from it. And then they like, nah, I don't, I'm not fucking with that shit. I'm cool. I'm gonna keep finding, I'm trying to stay away from it. And then they like, nah, you need to make an album. So then people start pushing me to make an album. So then I think it was the,

one of them movie soundtracks, I don't know what movie soundtrack it was. Me and Brack- My name is Tux? Huh? Go ahead, I'm from- Yeah, me and Bratt. Talks? Go ahead. Yeah, me and Bratt put the party continues out. OK. Right. And that the party continues basically like.

It was me and Snoop record first. That's what it was. So it was me and Snoop. Me and Snoop had a song on the soundtrack. I took Snoop off and did a remix with the Bratt of that song. And that song became my song. And it was basically like my first record that I put out on my album. Me, Bratt, and I put Usher on the hook. Right? And I start saying I guess I'm going to make an album. Right? I guess I'm going to make an album.

And I'm getting a little courage because everybody's saying it. So I'm like, I said, I pay attention to the energy. So people saying it, everybody telling me I should do it. So then I just started going full force on trying to make my own album. And that's what life in 1972. Yeah, like in 1472. But I got a backtrack, I got a backtrack. So I made it, I made, Just Kicking It and Just Kicking It got the ears of Mariah. Just Kicking It did? Yeah. Just Kicking It got the ears of Mariah. Just kicking it did. Yeah. Just kicking it got the ears of Mariah. She wanted a record that felt like that on her album. So I got the car to go in the studio of Mariah.

I didn't know that that's what she wanted, but that's what she was looking for. And we went in the studio. It was a different type of vibe for me. I had never been in the studio early in the daytime, leaving at like seven o'clock at night. So I'm nervous as fuck. I don't know. I'm like, I don't know why I'm doing this project.

Cause I'm like, she's like a superstar. Superstar. Yeah. And I'm a little nigga. I don't know, you know, I don't even know why I'm here. I don't know why I'm here. I'm thinking they using different chords than what I'm on.

Bring out that other key. Yeah, I think, I'm thinking they use- The one I can't afford yet. Bring it out. I'm thinking they using all different chords. They got different keyboards. That's what the music sounded like Honest assessment so so I'm thinking like I take manual with me to New York me and man you go to work with Mariah

I'm like man. I don't know what this gonna be man, you know Just Mariah Carey though, how was the floss to the women when you say, yeah, you know, I'm going to be in New York man. No, I'm not even thinking about the women. I'm 100% locked in like, I can't fuck this up, but I'm feeling like I'm going to fuck up. I'm believing I'm going to fuck up because this is also the first project that I ever did outside of my studio.

So I'm nervous. That is one thing you just, you kept saying. I had them come to the house. I had them with... It was the first time they had me coming to New York and I'm like, oh, this ain't going to work out. I ain't got my records. Just anything I might need, I can't take all that shit to New York with me.

So I'm already feeling like this ain't going to be it. This ain't going to be it. And she started coming to the studio. She came in the studio and she was like, I want to make a record like this. And I'm like, what you want me to do with this? She said, I want to sing over this. And it was Cream, Wu-Tang Clan. And I'm like-

Right, Gary came in here And I'm like- Mariah Carey came in here. I'm like, what? Who are you? I'm like, you want to sing over this? She's like, yeah. Then she played another record. I'm gonna sing over this one. I'm like, I'm looking around like, what the fuck is going?

Like this Mariah Carey, you want me to make this for you? I'm not doing that because I'm not going to be the person to fuck this shit up. I'm not doing that. They not going to do that with me. She's like, listen, this is what I want to do. And I was like, oh, okay. So I saw her following her lead and she was like, you know, I need something like just kicking it. But I wanted to be pretty, but I wanted to have that ghetto shit on it that y'all got and just kicking it. So, Manuel start playing. He start playing that on it and she's like, yes.

Change the key. Change the key, go to where she wanted it. Then I put the 808s on there and always be my baby. Comes to life. Wow. Wow. Just keep winning. And that's the beginning of me and Mariah's relationship. And that was absolutely in the book. Yeah, one of those things.

And this is the first session? I mean, we did two records. It's the first one of two songs. We had a week in the studio, and that's how, that's what we came out of. I mean, we made the cream, but it didn't come out right. Right. Yeah, it didn't come out right. It didn't come out right. I was also not completely dialed in to Mariah yet as far as putting her over top of cream.

It didn't make sense to me. It was like, I'm not doing it. I'm not going to be the guy to do that. Not realizing that she basically was creating hip-hop music. She's actually the creator of that. Like Ariana Grande singing over something. K. Perry singing over something. Yeah, absolutely. Houston Aguilera. Yeah, She's the person who created that sound. In her mind, she did this. And she's still that person to this day. She wants to sing over street shit.

Hood is shit going. Whatever it is, hood, New York shit. That's what she comes to the studio like she's the rapper. Yeah. I want, this is what I want to sing over. And it's been successful. It's worked. Not one of a successful. This work not one of them. Yeah. So we do we do that.

Looking at the guy. We do. We do. Oh, you know, maybe I think, you know, by the way, it's a third single. So I'm thinking, yeah, whatever. My little Mariah Carey shit didn't work. It's cool. I'm on the album. She, you know, whatever. Always be my baby comes out as a single. That record goes number one on R&B charts and Hot 100. I'm like, oh,

okay. That is there, you know what I mean? So I'm like, shit, I'm gonna get you to do a song on my album. She calls me and tells me what she want the song to be. Well, if you're gonna do a song, it need to be this. She sent me Sweetheart. And I'm like, she's like, let's remake this. I'm like, all right, cool. Whatever you want to do. You want me to tell you no?

Mariah Savage. Nah, yeah, she cool. Whatever you want to say, you know. Mariah Savage. Nah, yeah, she's the artist that actually made me realize how lazy artists actually are. You know what I mean? Because she comes to the studio, she know what the fuck she want to do, she know what it's supposed to sound like, she's very direct to what she's doing. And other artists come to the studio,

they don't do it, they just be sitting around. You know what I mean? Just- Waiting for you to deliver. Whatever it is, they just don't have that, she made me realize like- She's just very intentional as an artist. Oh, it's another level to this artistry shit.

It's definitely another level to it. So I did that. We did Sweetheart. I think I had Sweetheart first before Money Anything, right? And Columbia's thinking that they gonna release my album. I got a Mariah Carey single. This seems like the thing. But like I told you before, I don't like to barter the energy

from other people with my records. I don't really like that. And in the midst of me making Life in 1472, I listened to a DJ Clu tape and Jay-Z had took the Drew Hill beat and rapped over it as a freestyle. And he said something, he did my cadence. Y'all want this, I'ma make you that. He did all of this. and rapped over it as a freestyle. And he said something, he did my cadence. Y'all want this, I'ma make you that. He did all of this, right?

So I'm a little kid, well, I'm not a little kid, but I'm a kid from College Park, Georgia. And Jay-Z's like this underground rapper that he supposed to be the one, right? And I'm in fact, you way to rap music, so I'm like, that nigga listening to me, that nigga fuck with me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That mean he know who I am. I'm doing record with this nigga. And I seen him, we did a great day in Harlem photo shoot. And I seen him out there and I'm like, yo, I wanna do a song with you. And he's like, all right, what's up? I'm like, you come to Atlanta, let's make a song. He's like, cool.

I get his information, give him a ticket to Atlanta. I go pick him up from the airport. On my way to pick him up though, I'm listening to his album. I'm listening to Can't Knock the Hustle, because I'm trying to get in Jay-Z mode. I'm trying to get rapper mode all the way. By the way, I'm in a Bentley too, I got my Bentley. I'm going to get in the Bentley. Here we go, here we go.

Yeah. I was waiting for the Bentley. I was waiting. Was that the Arnage? No, no, that was a Continental T that was going. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, big boy, big dog.

Yeah, yeah. So I'm going to get home from the airport. I'm racing down Old National and I'm playing Can't Knock the Hustle. And I'm switching lanes and all this shit, right? I'm trying to get there fast. I'm running a little late. And then I'm hearing the song. You know what I'm saying?

It's an out of state kicking up top game, deep in the south, switching full lanes, screaming through the sun roof money, anything. And I'm like, I'm doing this. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, you are. This is what I'm doing. I'm moving, I'm switching lanes. I'm doing this. I'm in the car like this. I'm wild, right? And I hit rewind. I heard him say it again. I'm saying this, I'm in the car like this. Like, I'm wild, right? And I hit rewind. I heard him say it again. I'm saying, why would this nigga say deep in the South?

He not from Atlanta. And that one word, the South, made me pay attention to that whole phrase. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm gonna sample this. I'm gonna sample this part. That's gonna be our song. Cause I don't have no song. He don't come into Atlanta, I'm gonna sample this. I'm gonna sample this part. That's gonna be our song. Cause I don't have no song.

He don't come into Atlanta. I don't have no song. I'm just- You never have a song. I don't have no song. I'm just trying to wing it. He is the song. He is the song.

He is the song. You're the song, bro. Just start. You're the song. Come on, figure it out. That's shit dangerous as hell, man. So my nerves be going crazy. I'm trying to, cause I know it was like,

the artist gonna be here in like a minute. What you got? The curves be going crazy. I'm trying to... I know it was like, the artist going to be in like a minute. What you got? I'm trying to find something I can figure it out. So I'm doing this. I'm going to pick him up. He get in the car. He's like, what you got?

I'm like, shit, I don't really got nothing, but I was listening to this and I think we should make this the hook. He's like, what? I'm like, this part right here. Screaming through the sunroof, money, anything. That's how I feel right now. He's like, all right. Okay. And I'm not even paying attention to him. He wrote his rap without even hearing the beat. He's writing his rap as we ride into my house in his mind. In his mind. Doing that. Yeah. In his mind. Do a nap.

I'm like, what's this nigga doing? But I'm not really paying no attention. I'm thinking he listening to the music, I'm playing it, whatever. We get to my house, I take the Week in the Knees beat, I loop that shit, start. I'm like, we gonna do it on this beat. He's like, all right, where the engineer at?

I'm like, what? Nigga, we just got here. He's like, I would engineer it. I'm like, what? We just got here. He's like, I'm ready. I tell the engineer, I'm saying ready. That nigga went in the booth two minutes after we got to my house. Verse laid. I'm like, when the fuck did you write this verse? Cause by the way, I'm not even realizing that what he did, I do all the time already, but I'm still use, I'm still, I that what he did, I do all the time already, but I'm still writing on paper. I'm still believing that it's gotta be on paper. And that's the first time I seen him do this no writing shit.

So I'm like, this nigga must have had a verse already. The old ass song. He's saying old ass song. He gave me a throwaway. He don't give me an old ass verse. They gave me a throwaway. They gave me an old ass verse. But I ain't say nothing. The verse was hot, right? So then I had to write my verse. And I'm like, shit, I got this nigga rapping. He rapping, rapping. I'm like, he really rapping. JD, you gonna do this, you got to goddamn rap. So then I had to start writing me a rap.

I'm trying to write me a rap that sound like I'm in, I'm with this nigga. At least I'm writing around in there. So I'm trying to get that. I get my verse and then he give me a third verse. I ain't got no more lyrics than me that day. So his third verse, he leave without hearing my third part on the song. But yeah, that's how the money and the thing came. So once we finished the song, all I wanted for my career was to be placed in the same space as real rappers. I didn't care if the records were number one. I didn't care if they was, I thought that was all for my artists.

What I wanted, I wanted people to respect me for where I came from. I'm a hip hop person. Right? So I'm listening to DJ Clu Tape and I'm like, shit, if I put a rap record out, I want to be number one song on Clu Tape. I want him to play my record. This is going to be the first song on the mixtape. That's all I cared about.

So we finished one end of the thing. I called Clu. I'm like, yo, I got one. I need this to be the first song on the mix tape. I sent it to him, he's like, you got it. You got one. I'm like, yes. And I go to Columbia. Oh shit. I go to Columbia, I'm like, this is my first single. They looking. They say, why? I said, shit, why not? It's Jay-Z. They like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? No way.

He not on the radar yet. 100%. Not on that radar. Yeah, he not on their radar yet. I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, he the hottest underground nigga from New York. What's going on? Jermaine, you have a song with Riot.

Riot Care. You have songs with this person. Yeah. I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z?

I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z? I'm like, who the fuck is Jay-Z. I'm like, he the hottest underground nigga from New York. What's going on? Jermaine, you have a song with Riot. You have songs with this person. Why are you trying to make a song with Jay-Z? We don't even know who he is. But you gotta remember, I'm in the DMV. Jay-Z is a thing for us. So when that song drops, it's like- For sure. For the streets, for sure drops, it's like for the streets for sure

Yeah, we're talking about a building that Mariah Carey also keeps the lights on in 100% And Jermaine you have a record with her? I get it. Yeah. I get it. Yeah, I'm supposed to be coming with that 4th of July. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I give them money and things They don't have no real enthusiastic actions for me, but I'm like, cool, I don't give a fuck. I'm on a clue tape.

This is going to be the first song on a clue tape. We good. That's all I cared about. And then, you know, Money Anything came out. And I feel like that's my biggest non-number one record, I feel like. That record didn't go number one? No. It wasn't number one to me.

That's what I'm saying. We love that fucking record. But by the way, it's like a classic rap song. Absolutely. And I feel like- You're wrapping your ass up on that. I feel like, thank you, I feel like for to have that you gotta have some kind of, you know, I'm not considered as like the poppy rap.

No one might look at me like I'm a poppy rap guy. They look at these rap songs like they real rap. And that's all I cared about. So I'm completely pleased with that. Now that record worked. You come to DMV, that record works. Oh no, 100% in the DMV. Oh yeah, oh yeah, it definitely worked.

Let's get to the brothers. Let's get to the brothers. Okay, so in the midst of this, Candy comes and says, I got a group I want you to see. I'm like, okay, cool. They good? She's like, yeah, they good. They twins. I'm like, okay, cool.

She bring the twins to my house, they get up in front of me and they sing. And I'm like, I don't really know what to do with y'all. It's just them two? Nah, it's the whole group. Oh, the whole group, okay. Yeah. But I'm, you know, I never did a male group before. So I don't know what to do with them niggas either. Only thing I could think about was that I said, okay good, I'ma sign y'all.

I signed them and we got in the studio. Now me, I don't know what to do with them, so I start doing what I did with Xscape, right? Xscape could come to my house and sing acapella and I'll put a beat, scratch some turntables and put a beat under there. Jagged came to my house and the first session, I'll never forget this, the first session we got in the biggest argument ever. And them niggas turned me into an R&B junkie based on that. That's when I became R&B guy.

They singing and I try to put a beat under there and Brandon, Brandon was like, man, we ain't escape. We ain't fucking escape. We want some chords. We want some up. We want some shit. And I was just like, damn, I don't know how to do that shit. This what I know how to do.

I know how to, you know what I mean? know how to do. I know how to do it. You know what I mean? And it was just like, nah man. And it was like, we got no argument. Cause I'm like, nigga, this the shit that work. I want to hear y'all nigga sing over this beat. That ain't R&B, that ain't what we trying to do. We were R&B group.

And I was like, oh, okay. R&B group. So then I started doing my little studying and I started working with Jagged. We did the way you feel or something like that. I think that's the first song. I don't remember this. Yeah. And I put me and Brad on the song.

That's the first time they came out. And that song didn't work, right? It got a little buzz, but it didn't work because I also was trying to figure out how do I market this record, right? So I was thinking like, oh, I got to be able to put it didn't work because I also was trying to figure out how do I market this record, right? So I was thinking like, I got to be able to put it somewhere where I'm going to be able to put my hands on it and do it the same way thing. So I put me and Brad on the song thinking that it was going to go to that channel. It was loop warm.

It didn't do nothing. And then we shot a video for I Gotta Be. Right? video for I Gotta Be. Right? We shot a video for Gotta Be and it wasn't crazy yet. The video was just like a regular video. But the song went to R&B radio and they came back and they was like, they like this song, the song could work.

But the video ain't good. Right? So then we shot another video for the song could work, but the video ain't good, right? So then we shot another video for the song and put Destiny Child in there. They got Beyonce and you know, we got them cause they on Columbia. So they want to barter the energy. And Gotta Be took off and Gotta Be became Jagged

first number one record that I did. You wrote that one? But through this whole process, I'm learning chords. I'm learning, I'm going deep down in R&B. I mean, I was already, you know, Teddy Rhymes my idol, Quincy my idol. I was there, but I'm still like so hip hop. I was like not, I don't like a lot of that shit. I don't like all them pretty ass chords, understand?

That was my mentality. But them niggas, maybe I had to get into it. So I started, we making records, we making records every day. You know what I mean? We did the Gap Band remake, because them niggas sounded like, you know what I mean, Charlie to me. And we just start, I just start getting into R&B, just doing manual, come on, let's get some deeper chords, let's go, let's go.

And Jagged, they really the ones that got me, like on my R&B, really, really on my R&B. Did you write Got a B? No. Got a B? No, they wrote all the songs. The guys wrote the songs. Yeah, Jagged wrote all these songs. Yeah.

And that album, that was really a wake up call to the industry about Jagged Edge though. Absolutely. Yeah. And that album, that was really a wake up call to the industry about Jagged Edge though. Everybody was paying attention once that second album came out. It was like, oh, they legit. No, they were them. Yeah. These guys are legit. I mean, it still was tough though that like Keys to the Range didn't really do what we wanted it to do.

So this is also me, I'm nervous because me and Manuel did Gotta Be. So their first number one record was me and Manuel. Me and B. Cox never did a record with them like that, right? So we in there working, I'm just nervous. So I'm like, but they had success with the ballad, people fucking with them on the ballads, we got to make another ballad. The day before that, I had just gotten an argument with my girlfriend about me working in the studio all late at night and she's sending me messages like, I hope the studio

keep you warm at night niggas, da da da da da. You know, you act like you're going to be young forever. You ain't getting no younger niggas. Let's get married. I'm like, fuck outta here. Right? Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. The response is hilarious. I'm surreal. I'm like, nah, God, nah, nah, I don't know. You don't know who you talking to. I think I've seen that same text before. I'm like, I get it. They had the same reaction.

So I'm like, oh, girls wanna be married. Like I felt, she maybe really believed that women wanted to be married. They want their destination is to get that rain. Right. Right. I'm mad I'm having this conversation. Brian start playing these chords. I call Jack, we got to do this song called Let's Get Married.

They like what? I'm like, yeah, they come. I got the hook. And they fuckin' with it. And they start writing. Let's get married. Let's talk about this might as well line. That's the line. Might as well.

We ain't gettin' no young, we might as well. Depending on what city you in, it's might as well. Might as well, or might as well. It's a big deal's might as well. Or mine as well. Mine as well. It's a big deal. Nigga, that line, it's classic, but it strikes this chord in women. Have you ever had a conversation with a woman about let's get married?

I haven't. I haven't, what days have I had? The nigga who wrote it has to do it. I know I have. Because they like, I was might as well. Because you don't understand that women don't get that. A lot of times the man at that point is just folding. Right.

He's just folding under the pressure. He's got the text. Right, right. He didn't answer like Jermaine asked. He wanted to keep his woman. So he said, I might as well, shit, come on. I might as well do Shit. Come on. Yeah.

I mean, that's what, that's what it said to me. She said it. And from there that let's get married and me writing what I got out of that conversation with her led me into like my writing style of today. And it just led me into like, okay, I'm going to start putting life into it. Life into these songs. Yeah, which you have. Which you absolutely have, my brother. Oh my God.

Okay, so let's get married is going crazy. Yeah. What makes you say this is how we remix this song? Man. Okay, so let's get this. The wedding song of all weddings. The wedding reception song. By the way, it's not a pretty picture for me because in the midst of this.

Hiram Hicks calls me and says, I got this new group and I'm like, cool. I'm not thinking about the group being competition to Jagged Edge, but whatever. I'm just trying to do projects. He's like, I need you to do a remix. I'm like, what? He's like, this group drew here. They got the song called Sleeping In My Bed. The song number one, but we need the up tempo remix. And I'm like, oh, we need something.

We need something to keep, you know, give us some more legs. Mix show type of shit. Yeah. And I'm like, okay. All right. I start going back to do what I do. I start messing with the turntables. I find the beat.

I'm like, yeah, you need to fly them to Atlanta and we're going, I'm going to have them re-sing it. And they flew, they all flew to Atlanta, but the only person came to the studio was Cisco. Interesting. So Cisco come to the studio and I'm like, where the rest of the group at? He's like, I don rest of the group at? He's like, I don't need them. Play the beat.

That was the comment. Give me a play the beat, play the beat, play the beat. I was, I'm like, okay, it wasn't like a diss. I'm David Ruffett. It wasn't like a diss, but it was just like, I got it. I got it. Yes. I got it.

So I said, all right, we're going to do it to this beat and I start playing a boom boom, boom, boom, boom He's like And I said you got a chance you got to make lyrics go to this beat so so I'm like Shit me and Pratchett get on this motherfucker. Mmm Alright, so some going going everybody mad that gone so we're going and we make the remix, right? This remix comes out. Usher called me.

Why the fuck you give them that song? I'm like, it's a remix. It's a remix. I didn't give them a song. No, you gave them that beat. Get out of here, Usher. Okay, man, Usher's mad to this day about this song. Usher, see this, he gonna be, Usher, you ain't have to give him that beat.

Jagged come to the studio. Why you give them niggas that beat? I'm like, what you talking about? That's our competition and you gon' help them. So I'm like, oh fuck. I'm like, y'all got a number one record right now. Nah, fuck that. You gave them niggas that beat. So then I'm like, y'all got a number one record right now. Nah, fuck that. You gave them niggas that beat. So then I'm feeling bad.

I'm feeling bad. I feel like I done let my guys down. You did. You did. Did I? I mean, looking at it from the outside, yeah, I'm giving, I'm playing devil's advocate. You did.

Okay. You got a four guy group who's in competition with another four guy group? a Smashed I didn't know that's a smash though. I didn't know something. I'm just going to this point. You're doing smashes Remix it doesn't matter Don't know that you don't know that's gonna happen It's a remix niggas called called Jermaine for a reason brother But it's a remix. So I'm not actually thinking that it's gonna translate into what it translated into

It started turning crazy going crazy every club every radio stage every club then the song The remix replaced the original in number one So now it's really with a, like what a hit, right? Jagged. It's fucked up, man. Every time I see them, that's what the conversation is. That's fucked up. You gave them that song, you gave them that song.

So then I'm like, I gotta find it. I gotta remix one of these niggas' records. I gotta do something. I gotta figure it out. I gotta make them niggas a killer records. I gotta do something. I gotta figure it out. I gotta make them niggas a killer remix. We gotta do it." So he started getting in the studio, me and Marcus Jefferson. Mark, he put the run DMC. We ain't even gotta change the lyrics. Oh, wait, do it work? Yeah. Oh, wait, do it work? Yeah, okay.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I'm saying uh-huh, cause like, uh-huh, I got it. Yeah, that's why you saying that. Yeah, that's why I'm saying it, cause I'm like, oh, I got it, these niggas gotta, uh-huh. See, first of all, I know these subcomp- Yeah, so that's how the remakes came about. I had to do it because they was on my head.

And I had to find it. The greatest remix of all time. Really? Work really well under pressure, brother. Yes! Yes! Yes! I don't know that.

I'm a... Those two remixes, nobody has R&B remixes like that. It's only other R&B remix that's even mentioned is the Jodeci remix. I mean, the SWV Michael Jackson shit. It's amazing. Amazing. Not for the streets.

But it ain't. It's not for the streets. It ain't Ralph. That's not a street record. You know what I'm saying? Like this is literally a hip hop. It ain't Ralph. These are not a street record. You know what I'm saying? Like this is literally a hip hop. These are R&B hip hop remix records. For real.

You know what I'm saying? And Jodeci was the only one before that that had that. Yeah. That still gets played that I can think of. Now, you know, listen, the comments section go go crazy. You know what? One that was good, not in the same vein though, not the way that you did it,

but that was kind of groundbreaking, R. Kelly, Down Low. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes, all his remixes, R. Kelly's. But in going back to our original conversation, to this day, there's nowhere you can't go where somebody has just got married and that song does not play. It's the reception record. Impossible.

It's the reception record. It's not a real reception. Black, white, Latino, age, I don't care what you are. You better play that. Playing that. So this song comes out, Jagged Edge is a, you know, they're a ballad group. They having success more on ballads than stations like Power 106, here in LA, Pick Up, Let's Get Married remix.

Got Rundee, Rev and Run on it. Jagged Edge start doing interviews at Power 106. They doing KML. They start hitting these other stations. They don't want to make no more slow records. I respect it. That's what they said? Yeah.

They're like, no, no, no. We've seen the world now. We've seen the light. Yeah, yeah. We don't wanna make no more slow records. Yeah. I'm like, that's what y'all make. Nah, fuck that.

I respect it. So they go back to that hip hop shit that you wanted to do in the beginning. Yeah. Okay, okay, I see where you're going with this. JD, your top five R&B singers. Singers. Singers. Singers. Come on.

Michael. Luther. Stevie. Yep. Yes sir, yes sir. R. Kelly and Usher. Ooh. Yes. Yep. Nah, Kelly and Usher. Ooh. Yep. I gotta cover everything.

That will- Tell them about cover. Yeah, yeah, I gotta cover everything. I gotta cover the spectrum of uh- Okay, okay. We got through that pretty nice. Okay, there, go to Singers. Okay. I mean, I want people to know that Usher's really serious about singing. Like, you know, he really takes that singing shit serious.

Like, he really be practicing, really doing, like he really takes it seriously. Just like I'm watching you do this, for y'all to see him do that and make a song like that off top, that means he can write, he writes about anything. You never had writers black. Never.

Because you have no fear of just saying whatever's right on you at that time. Absolutely. Right? And that's a genius in writing. Yeah. Yeah. Your top five R&B songs.

I'm gonna go with this one first because I've been thinking about it, been talking about it this lady in my life. Rolling Stones said this is a good song. Come on, come on, speak on it. Speak on it, speak on it. I don't know what you niggas talking about, first of all, but just the ad libs on that record is so R&B. The nigga Mike say,

stay right here with me, stay right here with me. Don't you go nowhere. That's some pimping. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stay right here with me. Yeah. Forever. All over and over. That song is like, it's the most R&B shit ever. I don't even understand how you can say that, but that's, that's one of my favorite songs. They was on some clickbait shit. That's all I could think of. They was on clickbait. Somebody there believed that dumb shit. They should be reprimanded.

And whoever proofread it, they should be reprimanded. Them too. Whoever printed it. We can find out the name. Oh yeah, now they had the name in my comments. They definitely told me. Then another Michael song is Human Nature. These are crazy songs. Michael got two of them in the top?

Okay. Oh yeah, one of them. I like it. My style of R&B is I got to go with like, make it last forever. Yeah. You see it. This is my thing. Yeah. Yeah. You see, this is my- Yeah, yeah, it makes perfect sense. It makes perfect sense.

Absolutely. This is the type of R&B records I like. Yep. Top five, this is a hard one, but, Let's Wait A While. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy song. Crazy song.

Crazy song. No denying. Like, crazy song. J.M.Lewis song. Crazy song. Crazy song. No denying. Like crazy song. J.M. Lewis's. Musicians. They somewhere else with that. Yeah.

Ignition. The remix? Boom, boom, boom, boom. Now usually I don't do this but. Kitch. It don't get no better than that. Yeah. Oh my god. That's a motherfucking song right there. Yeah. Beep beep. It don't get no better than that. That's a motherfucking song right there.

Beep beep. All right. Well, nah, it's crazy. Two two. Running their heads through my bro. Beep beep. Yeah. I've never written a song.

I got this one thing I was going to talk to you about that I wanted to come here and talk to you about. How do we get R&B on one accord? And why do you think it's separated? There's a certain group of guys, there's another certain group of guys that don't actually coincide with each other. And I don't, for the life of me, rap is not like that, right? If a rapper's over here, this rapper's trying to get on the same space as this person.

But R&B, we got these five artists on this side that don't really swing in the space of the artist that's on this side. And I feel like that's what dampers R&B from being successful. Absolutely. And I'm saying it's what dampers R&B from being successful. Absolutely. And I'm saying it more like with your challenge. The challenge is where I believe I'm really seeing it because I'm like, okay, so I see the people that's doing it, but which one of these guys that's on this left side going to take this challenge?

You thinking, we were thinking the same thing I was thinking, I was like, I haven't added some people. Yeah, so that's what I'm saying, what do you think is the, what's the reason that it won't, it don't happen? I think that, I think that R&B guys, most R&B guys, most R&B guys,

aren't from a competitive space. Rap guys are from a competitive space. Rap is, let's get in this cipher and let's go at it. On the street. Most of these guys, most of R&B guys, especially from where we're from, would just be the one plucked out of this place, one plucked out of this church, you know what I'm saying? Or maybe this do-whop group or whatever.

But in our arena, there is no specific space where we actually build a camaraderie competing against each other. And so that's what makes it hard for us to come together and collaborate, right? And then the other nuance that I think is very, very looked over is that a lot of R&B guys didn't play sports. Like me and him got close because we were ultimate competitors on the basketball court. And I was like, Oh, I'll ride with this nigga anywhere. On a song nigga, through the hood, whatever. I know his level of competition.

Like what he, what he bleed, I bleed. I always do whatever with him. And guys that don't have that, he's my ultimate point guard. I don't need the ball if I know he got the ball. Kill him, Jay. Kill these niggas. I'll run the floor, nigga.

I'll play lockdown defense. I could never get the ball. I'll never scream at Jay, like, nigga, go crazy. You see me, get it to me. But that's the team, you know, the gamesmanship that we're missing. We were never taught that R&B was a team sport. Nope.

And it got, it is, and it's got even more watered down that we don't even have groups, right? So you don't even see that camaraderie. You don't even see the guys in the group together. But I also blame it on, you know, because, yes, I come from the creative side and I've done all these things on the creative side, but I also consider myself an executive.

It's also the executive's fault because they've kept artists away from each other. I don't get on that song. It's always a manager. It's always a manager. It's always an executive. Maybe they're not always black. That's saying, hey, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This your space.

This you. Don't share that light. Instead of saying, this all of our life, we stronger together. Homies even, making phone calls, calling Tank, calling Usher, calling Chris, calling Trey, calling Rob when he was out. Like literally making those phone calls and say, hey man, you know, nigga, I was with such and such and such, that nigga cool as a motherfucker, bro. Y'all niggas need to... We haven't really had that in the R&B space. I've lived in the rap space. I've done records. You know

what I mean? I've had artists sign. Of course you have. You know it's a different world. Two R&B niggas aren't picking each other up from the airport. Shit you said earlier, a nigga is not taking the underground R&B singer who he thinks is on his way up and saying, I'm gonna pick that nigga from the airport. We're gonna do a record together. I'm gonna fight my label. He gonna get the first single over the biggest artists in the world right now. But why? Why you think that is? Why you think that? Why? Why you think that? Why you think it's learned behavior? Yeah. Think it's learned behavior because that's just what it's been. It's just what it's been for so long

that now these conversations though of you saying why now opens up the floodgate for niggas to make those phone calls. You know what I'm saying? Us having this platform where we talk about, you know, where James Fonleroy says he wants to work on the Numoreo Project and then they do a project together. You get what I'm saying?

Where now these, these connected worlds and these conversations, because what we say here goes out, you know, to that atmosphere. Leadership also reflects that too. Because whoever's back then, whoever was holding the mantle kind of dictated how we operate. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like for, when Rob had the mantle,

what no other R&B nigga get none of that. Good luck. I am king. And niggas who've stood on that I am king space. When I get the crown. When I get the crown have always stood alone. The first person that I've seen to operate like a full rapper and say, let's get it in, send it.

I'll send it back to you tomorrow. It's Chris Brown. He's a first person. I don't, rap, Afrobeat, R&B, nigga country song, send it. If I'm fucking with it, I'm fucking with it. I don't care if you ain't even signed this rock. And that's how it should be. That's what I'm saying, I don't care if you ain't even signed this rock.

And that's how it should be. That's what I'm saying, I don't understand it. Like even like I said, with your challenge right now, I'm waiting to see one of these artists do it. But I'm saying I don't understand what the- A lot of that too comes from fear. What fear? Fear what?

Singing is different from rapping. It is, one of the things you gotta know how to sound on here. Rapping has got to a point where... Anybody can do it. Yeah. Everybody can sing. I agree. Singing though? Yeah, yeah. Cause there's some really good singers

that don't sound good on that challenge. Listen, and then when Mario just did it... Got busy. He put some additional fear. Nah, he ain't messing with that. That ain't crazy, is it? Nah, he did it, he did it. I'm fucking with that challenge, though.

That's that challenge, huh? But I'm looking for, like you said, the cassette, though. Where the cassette? Yeah, I'm out, definitely. Or it's like, aw, I don't wanna do that. It's Chris Brown, I ain't trying. You know what I'm saying? I'ma let him have that. No, it'm out. Or it's like, oh, I don't want to do that. It's Chris Brown. I ain't trying to. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna let him have that.

No, it's us. It all contributes to the pot. The bigger this is, the bigger we all are, which is what this challenge is showing you. Yeah. No, we need it. We need it. I appreciate it. But these conversations change that.

Yep. Because these conversations make people look at these things differently. Maybe it's not this specific challenge, but maybe it's the next one Yeah, or maybe guys are like, okay, you know what? I'm in on that. Yeah fucking with that. You know what? I Do got a record that I need We walk on. Yeah, and we should do some shit together and we should tour together and we should like The thing that you and your father created the scream tour The fact that it's still going this long, right?

It's amazing. But it shouldn't only, it shouldn't take artists 20 years to jump on these tours together. We gotta have that now. Yep. Bro, Budweiser Superfest, Drew Hill, Genuine, Aaliyah, Mary J, Bone Thugs in Harmony. All platinum artists, all with number one records. Yeah. All of them.

I mean that was the Budweiser Superfest though, that's what, you know. But I'm just saying. We got, we have, we need it. That was a tour. Yeah. We need it. All summer. We need it.

Where is the tour right now where it's not, I'm the big artist and I got four little guys under me, where it's really collaborative, where at any night it's anybody's night. Right. And who the, they don't care about who's closing. Don't matter who's closing. We can rotate this motherfucker if you want to. We gotta get to that space.

We gotta get to that space. Take a triple threat to him. We gotta get to that space. GbD, Al Bisha, Bobby Brown. That shit was a tour right there. Come on. That was that was a- Who gonna get it? Yeah. Listen, I watched Bobby Brown go crazy right before a new edition. Go nuts on their Heartbreak Tour. Wouldn't leave the stage. Pants with the fucking thing down to here. Parachute.

Parachute. Them hammer pants. Hammer pants. Yeah, yeah. We gotta get back to that. We gotta continue these conversations. Yeah. I'm gonna try to do my best, you know what I mean?

I'm gonna try to do my part, keep doing my part, try to make it, we gotta get back into the, you know, make sure that R&B gotta get back to the forefront for sure. Yep. Two more things from you before you leave. Let's make a Voltron, man. Let's make you a super R&B artist. I mean, making your super R&B artist

where you gonna get the vocal from, performance style, styling, the drippity artists. Who going to produce and write for this motherfucker? Your super R&B artist, one vocal that you would make that you would take to make your super artist. Your voice would be R. Kelly. Mm hmm. Performance style. Yeah, the performance style would be we see shit performance style, be, let me see, shit.

Performance style, I'm gonna go with Michael. Yeah. Rob Michael, he been a thousand. A lot of people don't go with that because they didn't really actually see him. No, what do you mean? A lot of people do go with that. Yeah, but I'm saying majority of people don't,

they never really seen Michael actually. But I'm saying majority of people don't, they never really seen Michael actually. Video of Michael is still better than live 99s. Oh yeah, it's way better. But I'm saying to be there, to see it, it's a whole different ballgame. The styling of the artists. And she like to put groups in dickie suits.

Who's style you taking for that? Kanye. Mm. Wrist taker. Mm. He'll be a star. He'll be a star. Niggas a star. He won't be a star, you got, you know, Kanye is-

You going to the wrong way. He's one of one, man. He's one of one. I don't care how niggas feel about him. He's one of one. He is who he is. Yeah. The passion of the runway. He's one of one, man. He's one of one. I don't care how niggas feel about him. He's one of one. He is who he is. Yeah.

The passion of the artist. Heart of the artist. Who mean it? I'm going to go with Prince. Yeah. That's a real passion right there. Matter of fact, I'm going to go back to the beginning. The R in R&B is Stevie Wonder. So that voice has to be Stevie. He is the voice of R&B. He's made every type of R&B record that we, everyone

on. That you can think of. And he's created it. It's his. It's his. It's his. Everything that everybody does. They got pieces from it. It's a piece pulled from Stevie Wonder. So I gotta give Stevie that.

He's the voice. Prince with the, you know. Passion. Yeah, the passion. You gotta be really passionate to sit on a horse butt naked. Yeah. Cause that had to hurt.

Well, you gotta be passionate just to, I mean, Purple Rain was a passionate movie man. I know, absolutely. The idea of what he was doing, the love for performing, the love for putting it all into the music and doing it the way he did it. We ain't seen nobody black do that. Yeah. And who's writing and producing for this artist? Quincy and Rod Templeton

Yeah, yeah Yeah, it's pretty nasty Yeah That's nice. Yeah. Them boys bad, Rod, Tumpet and Quentin. Finish up. Alright, so we come to the very, very important part of the show. Alright. When you tell us a story, funny or fucked up, or funny and fucked up, the only rule to the game is you can't say no name.

Yeah, so this story, you know, if the cameras was around, life would be so much different if y'all would have saw this. Just, you know, it's a group of individuals that came to the studio to play basketball. It's a group of individuals that I'm in the studio working with. The basketball individuals, they out there playing basketball, they're not paying no attention to what's going on in the studio. But they are, some kind of way. But they're not really, you know.

And I don't know, like me, for the first time I let all these motherfuckers in at the same time. I don't know why. For the life of me. But I did. I let them niggas go play basketball while I'm in the studio doing what I'm supposed to be doing knowing that's not safe that's not what you're supposed to be doing and One of them found in the studio that the other ones out there and then they had a meeting in the middle studio

That out there and then they had a meeting in the middle studio that was like the most, I don't even know how to say it, it's just crazy shit ever. The disrespect, the unbelievableness about this. I was in complete shock in my own studio. Like. So you didn't know that they didn't rock with each other? I did, but I didn't. Because it's always competitiveness. It's a competitiveness. We know it's a competitiveness but to hear what was being said in front of the person and they right there in front of each other was mind-blowing and I will never have no, I will never allow that to happen in my studio again.

Somebody's at my studio, you in my studio, and somebody say they want to come by, artists, I'm, nah, it's closed. I tried to let everybody in and this was, this could have been really bad. This could have really got bad. And I'm just going to leave it at that, let people try to figure this out. But this shit was wow. But nothing happened though? Nothing happened. But this shit was wow. But nothing happened? No, nothing happened.

Nothing happened. Just disrespect. But the level of disrespect was on a hundred. Like unbelievable, by the way, there's no way possible that you could say the things that was being said. And not get shot at. Right. Cause it's no way that it's true.

One artist is higher than the other artists just so y'all can notice is one artist that's a that's a you know I mean so it's no way possible that you can say oh I ain't I never fucked with you how how's this possible? There you go. I gotta know what the fuck is going on. I gotta know what the fuck is going on, man. Yeah, it was rough. For you to make up new rules, it had to be. Nah, it had to be, you know what I mean?

Like I said, I never really, I, I, I never thought that this could get to this space. Gotcha. Right. You know what I mean? I just thought that, you know, of course, everybody's competitive. Everybody's making music. Everybody's trying to be the stars. Nobody's more competitive than Bow Wow. Right. Bow Wow wants, he's at, he beef with me, he's so competitive. Like he don't, it's like, right? So you have people, I'm used to that level.

That's what it is. Everybody around me, they all competing for time, my time, record, da da da da. So I'm used to it. But this was some other shit. I just didn't, I didn used to it. But this was some other shit. I just didn't expect it and I walked in into it and I was just like, wow. Okay. Well, how we keep this from being somebody's head getting splattered or something in my

studio? Because I ain't trying to do that. It was like that. It was definitely crazy like that. I don't know if that's the story y'all want. I can't trying to do that. It was like that. It was just definitely crazy like that. I don't know if that's the story y'all want to tell me. I can't say no name. I can't say no names. It's just, you know.

Well, hey man, manage your studio spaces properly. Okay. Don't invite rival gangs, rival artists, rival groups. control your space, man. Yeah, yeah. Make sure you let everybody. Per JD. Everybody do what they gotta do.

You might not have the insurances to cover the type of shit that can go down. Oh, God. Disgusting. Amen. Brother JD, we are appreciative of your time. Yeah. As we are, as we are fans first. We are those who you've inspired. You are, you have been our steady guide and material. You've, you've you've been the the voice and the

soundtrack to our lives you continue to be cut that shit out and you're you are one of the greatest of all time. And, you know, my brother. My guys, this 150, right? This what you told me? It's 150. It's 150. It's 150. Congratulations.

We needed you. Congratulations. Listen, we needed you. Congratulations. For 150. Congratulations. You understand what I'm saying? I gotta be, I'll be back.

I'll be back, because this year I'm planning to put out more records this year than I put out in probably the last 20 years. Really? Shit, just this year you gonna put out more records? Yeah. Okay cool. I planned. Come on.

I feel good about that. Yeah. I feel good about that. Come on back. You know what I'm saying? I feel good about that. You gonna get your week. I'm getting my week. You gonna get your week. Yeah, I'm getting my week. He gotta get his week.

I'm getting my week. I'm signing D.V.I.Z.I.N. Yeah, yeah, we rock with D.V.I.Z.I.N. Yeah. Yeah. We need D.V.I.Z.I.N. on the podcast. Yeah, yeah, I'm churning them out. About that collab, I think I hit him about something too. I was like, man, if you got something on there,

I'm y'all working, let me get on that. He didn't hit me back. Oh, he didn't hit you back. Yeah. There you go, man, if you got something on there, I'm y'all working, let me get on there. He didn't hit me back. Oh, he didn't hit you back. There you go, see? Now I'm coming to you. Yeah. Division. Exactly.

Yeah, come on, we gotta make it happen. That sign. Yeah, now I'm trying to go crazy. You know what I mean? Like I said, I have a goal. If I go, something's happening to me. I want my music to played at the Oscs. I love that.

I love it. Like for real, I just think that, you know, you can't, that's a thing that I want to do is try to leave a real soundtrack. Like my soundtrack that people, you could just play this, all this music as a thing. I got an idea. Uh huh.

I'm not even gonna say it on here. Oh, okay. Oh yeah, and I'm doing the Quincy Jones tribute at Essence. My Quincy Jones tribute at Essence will be the one I believe that everybody's been looking forward to seeing. I thought Queen Latifah was amazing last night doing E he's on down the road. But what I'ma do, in essence, is different than anything you just seen as far as a tribute to Quincy. And it's gonna really tie in the young people

and the older people to understand who Quincy Jones is and what he was to me as a musician. And I'm excited about that, cause's going to be, you know, I'm bringing out the... Let me know if I should black those things. You got black them days out. Rehearsal is. Yeah, come on.

Yeah, you got to come on. You know. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, what it is. Without... Come on. Nah, it's going to be...

You be a tambourine. You can sing on Secret Guard. Come on. Nah, it's gonna be, it's gonna be. You be a tambourine. You can sing on Secret Guard. Come on, man. Yo, Secret Guard, a dog. Come on, man. See that James Eagle part. You better believe it, come on, man. All right, yeah.

We gotta go audition. We gotta go audition. I'm gonna send in my tapes into my reel. I'm gonna get my El Debarge on. I'm gonna get right here, yeah. You got a hell of. Yeah, yeah. You got a hell of a Dabaj. You got a hell of a Dabaj. Come on, man. You look like a Dabaj, don't you?

Man, what? Yeah. You send it. You know, we always shouting out Bunny. Come on, man. Yeah. You look like a Dabaj. We thank you, brother.

Yes, thank you, bro. 100%, man. Thank you. We appreciate you. And shit. You know, I'm pro. Like I said, I'm pro keep on being alive. I'm glad that y'all got this. I'm glad that y'all got, you know, that y'all getting everybody on the show.

And I'm glad that people come in here. I saw LA, he didn't even know that y'all had the whispers on here. Like, you know what I mean? I like the fact that y'all have y'all hitting all, you know what I mean? Y'all hitting from all angles, that's dope. Yes sir. And we depend on people like you to make phone calls that we can't make sometimes and say, you know what?

You need to go down to the R&B money. Yeah, yeah, gotcha. And then you go sit down with the brothers, man. I gotcha, I gotcha. I'll be back. When I come back, we ain't gonna talk about a whole 10 new records. That's my goal.

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tank. I'm Jay Valentine. And this is the R&B Money Podcast, the authority on all things R&B. Yeah. For the last 30 years. And still. Yeah, yeah. And the new. And the still. Yeah. Yeah.

And the new. And the new. Both of them. Our brother, Jermaine DePriest. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yep, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastain. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app,

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