The Breakfast Club - THROWBACK: Angie Stone On Being A Rap Pioneer, History of The Sequence, Coming 'Full Circle' + More

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

Throwing it back with Angie Stone! The rap pioneer breaks down the History of The Sequence, Being A Rap Pioneer, Coming 'Full Circle.' Listen For More!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We got special guests in the building. Columbia South, Carolina's home. Angie Stone. 803. That rhymes. I like that. How are you? I'm good. I can't complain. You know, I've been blessed for a long time 40 plus years in this business

You already know yeah people I don't think people realize that Angie's one of the pioneers of rap The sequence your first Go gold. Yeah, the first female group period to do an original rap record to do a rap record that gone at the world Mm-hmm. We had our neighborhood rappers, we had our New York City rappers, but Sequence was the world's rappers, and I think people get it twisted. Funk it up was the song, right? Funk you up.

Funk you up. See you got that mix that with Bruno Mars, I ain't gonna go there though. Didn't he sample it? Well what he did, it did an interpolation of it. Ah, avoid pain. You know, like when he did the up, down, funk it up, we goin' up town funk, it's funk you right on up. We're gonna funk you around. Oh same thing. Yeah

We can pay no attention right now, but guess what? Yeah, well my attorney went in and we tried to do some stuff and of course because it's three group members and I've been Doing my thing for a minute it kind of pulled the seams that who's who's with who and who's down with who. I just say you know what let it rest because we're getting a lot of negative slack because a lot of people that don't know about the sequence or that song we get a lot of negative slack because they're like they don't sound nothing like it. I'm like they don't understand the interpolation process and how you know the reason we were upset because Bruno admitted

That he it was influenced by the sequel Wow, and he did that on Instagram and it's a magic snatched it down, right? And yeah people do interpolation so they don't they don't sample so then they well, dr They keep his ring. There was a direct rip from funk you up. They they did I mean we wrote the song, we wrote the melody, wrote the chant. We added singing to hip hop, and now that everybody's doing it, it's okay. And I think it's wrong for them to try to overlook us,

because we're from South Carolina. I mean, where'd that go with? Right. Nothing. So y'all didn't get paid from Dr. Dre neither? Yes, we did get paid. Okay, okay, okay. They did the right thing.

And Bruno admitted it. Well, he admitted it. If he had kept that post up, boy, you'd have got paid. Drene either? Yes we did. Okay okay okay. They did the right thing. And Bruno admitted it. Well we had, he admitted it. If he had kept that post up, boy you'd have got paid. But you know it's still there, everything that's been on the internet. The beauty of it is they admitted it but the minute the elephant is brought out of the closet, everybody runs because nobody wants to be labeled a thief and we just say that. I'm very honored and I got my girl blinded from the sequence here just Well, you know snoop I've worked with snoop he did I want to thank you along with me and our jazz They pay back in the day, but he wants me to work with his daughter. He wants to work with my son so we we have a kindred spirit and LA hip-hop was reminiscent to sequence. Funk, the whole funk era.

So I just think overall people need to respect the fact that it is what it is. So both of your children are doing music? Pardon me? Both of your children are doing music? Yes. All right. I guess it's in the blood like there was no getting around it. Well both my kids father's I I was with

Close you know, I was with the angel and then before that I was with little Ronnie C from the funky 4 plus one more So my daughter sings and my son raps it kind of went this way Do you think I think that you should be getting credit as a pioneer female rap? Like I don't think then y'all go gold We went go with the first group to go gold, sell 12 inch records, that means 12 inch records, along with the Sugarhill Gang, toured the world pretty much.

We never get the recognition, of course you know that's probably platinum 10 times over by now, but we don't get the recognition because I think the New Yorkers got a little salty because you know, we made it at the starting gates I mean, it's like a race a marathon race. You're doing a full 40 relay you pass the time We end up at the finish line. Hey, it's fair game You know what? Nobody knows the story cuz well, I'm a New York and is as deep in Miami as in hip-hop

Maybe I know the numbers. I don't know. You know, I Know clue what fuck you up No, I knew fuck you up, but I didn't know that sequence the sequence was the first group that pretty much go gold But as a girl, but who did you think went gold first salt and pepper? Oh, and we were 10 what 10 15 years before them mm-hmm There used to be a thing you probably would know to see the in cash box called cash box and billboard if you do your research it's there we were the first female group hip-hop group period to make cash box and Rolling Stone just did a big article on us because a lot of people that were back then they knew why they getting any attention and you know

I just think it's sad because a lot of the females hip-hoppers and I trust me I love them all big respect props but Lauren Hill loves Angie Stone because it's reminiscent to what she did right with her group rap sing and that's what we did and you guys are all still cool with each, and that's what we did. And you guys are all still cool with each other? Yeah. That's good. So it was never like a falling out

with the group broke up with Sequence. Oh, no. You know, you girl group, you have your rap pack moment, but we are sisters. Right. And at the end of the day, we love each other. We look out for each other. We got each other.

We don't always agree. Of course not. I mean, nobody always agrees But I decided to leave the group early on because I moved to New York I learned a lot of stuff about songwriting. I was a songwriter and A brother named Craig Darry who used to be with the sugar Hill clique So you need to get out and go to New York your And I moved to New York and I learned a lot of stuff Well, let's listen what I want to start because this is a history lesson for myself

Yeah, so you signed to sugar Hill game. How did you get signed? How did you how did you first of all? How did you get into hip-hop? How did you get signed and how did you get your deal? Cuz wasn't like before where it now where it's internet is TV. That's playing hip-hop radio wasn't playing hip-hop back then right how did you get into it? Well, I've said Columbia. Yeah coming from Columbia South Carolina was 16 17 18 years old We had a group that was doing rap back then King Tim III was out And we wrote a song called funk you up I think Sylvie Robinson came to South Carolina. It was the first leg of the first Sugar Hill Gang tour. Okay, the first show the first city

We happen to be in the concert the role manager from Sugar Hill Gang Saw me as thought I was just pretty chocolate chick And so I said well if you let, you gotta let my friends in. That's right. So we all came in, got backstage. Sylvie was backstage. We was literally on the stage. And we said, hey, we rap.

And she said, well, let me hear what you got. Right there on the side of the stage. On the side of the stage. And we went, funk you right on up. We gonna funk you right on up. And she flipped. She said, oh my God, oh my God. The next thing I know, we were sitting in the dressing room,

giving out phone numbers, she says, I'm gonna make you girls star. Yes. Now we had already been a group. I mean, being a cheerleader, seeing Johnson writing cheers and creating stuff like that was what we did. And she called us the very next week.

Wow. Blew us to New Jersey, our foul, you know, we was talent show bound, doing everything that everybody did, but just in South Carolina. And we cut the record, Funk You Up. And a couple of weeks later, I think in three weeks the record went golden.

Wow. Was it a fair deal? Or, they did they take advantage of you? You know one thing I've learned in life is you have to have experience. Yes. Sylvie Robinson, I give her mad props because quite contrary to what a lot of people think, you know, when you're the first at anything, you're gonna make mistakes.

So I lean heavily to that because she did something phenomenal that turned out to be great for a lot of people, but you had to have some crash test done. Right. What has the stand power been like? Like transitioning from a hip hop artist to an R&B trio to a legendary soul singer? And writer. Yeah, writer.

Well, I'll tell you the blessing for me, I'm a Sag, and I think out the box. One of the things I always hated was when I saw groups that were from the 50s and 60s and the 70s and 80s still in the same uniform doing an old hit. I said, I never want that to be me. So what I did was I learned to be a chameleon and I wanted to change with the times.

So what I did was I kept myself around fresh, hotness and I learned. Everything in life is a learning process. The moment we think we know everything, we absolutely know nothing. That's right. So I learned to be a chameleon and change with the times. So the staying power has been number one,

my faith is unshakable in Christ, I love the Lord and that's my rock, my salvation. So I decided when the music change, you change too. But you can't stray too far away from who you are. You just have to be authentic. You're such a great singer that it's like I can't see you ever doing anything else. I can't believe you even used to rap.

Well the beauty of that was when we got discovered as rappers, the first question I asked Sylvie Robinson is, Miss Robinson, is it okay if I sing too? Because I wanted to put a hook, you know, I wanted to sing. So when you said, hey you, I was begging to do that because I knew one day in life I wanted to sing from the church. So I mean, I love rap, but I can sing too. So can we combine the two? And she's so excited about the rap. She's like, oh honey do what you want to do. Wow. And that is what kind of set the segue up for me to make the transition from after being 30 years old you want to transition from hip-hop to hooray. So I

just went ahead and started singing and you know kind of juggling. Now when I did my deal with Arista, the one reason you don't know a lot about the hip hop is one of the things that Clive Davis and Peter Edge wanted to do was say, okay, look, we don't wanna date you. I'm like, I'm still young, what are you talking about? Well, we don't wanna talk about all that stuff

at Sugar Hill, so they kind of gag ordered me not to talk about hip hop. So they wanted to bait ordered me not to talk about Right right got you and Because I'm a singer now and they want to focus on that and I'm like, I don't have a Telescope into the future not knowing what it was gonna be how it's gonna be all I know is I'm in this game for survival So what happens when people recognize you? You pull up to the radio station, you're like, hey. Oh, I rap on stage all the time. OK, OK, OK.

Yeah. She just wasn't talking about it in interviews. I couldn't talk about it in interviews. And I didn't want to. I never heard of anything like that, that they put a gag on it. I didn't even know. Well, I'm using that word, gag.

But when your boss tells you. It was a gag order. Right. So who taught you how to make the music, like how to do a 16 and do a hook and all that? Because you said you was dead. I self-taught. Wow.

Well, I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was ambitious. And I went, I started, it's like now I'm developing film and, you know, reality shows and stuff. It's having that bug to say, I'm a rubber band, you can stretch me, but I won't pop. I'm always rubber band. You can stretch me, but I won't pop. I'm always do me. So, you know That you know being a rapper is a life lesson for me But it hurts when you put over 40 years in the game and the people that are now eating Off of the foundation that you created don't look back and say yo good looking. That's why Snoop shows us love. That's why Dottie Dre them show us love. The people

in LA embrace us because Yo-Yo can say hey MC Lyte can say yo hey it's because of y'all that we're doing this. She thanked me. Yo-Yo thanked me. We got a show our first show coming up with MC light and salt and pepper And just don't I saw you know, I got Go like that in Philly. So that's coming up and I'm excited about that I'm sorry. He has any the new yard artists. Thank you city girls. They never thank y'all. No, they don't know they never think y'all? No. They don't know.

Yeah, they don't. You just learned about it. But the beauty of it is, right, how you expect other people to know. But I promise you, they will know because I'm actually getting ready to do working on a biopic. That's what I was gonna ask.

That's why you said, is Jamie Foxx working on that too? Or was that? You know, Jamie and I were, Jamie wants to do another film with me, but Ralph Farquhar is who I'm working with, who did Hollywood Husbands on the biopic, and we're gonna have to cross all these lanes. So I'm very excited about my journey and my career, my life coming from hip-hop to neo-soul all the way up through my vertical-hold days and just having a bird's eye view like I'm gonna

I'm gonna blow your mind you ready for this? Mm-hmm. One of the things that I can't wait for the world to see is hip-hop was in the Bronx before it ever came downtown it was something in the Bronx. Mm-hmm. It was myself and Lil Rod and I see they introduced hip-hop to downtown. We did the first party of the show in the club that was called The Roxy. It used to be a skating ring. We made it into the club. It was Andre Harrell, myself with the sequence, the funky 4 plus one more, Africa Bambaataa. This was a show that my money paid for.

Made the flyers for, put together, and henceforth hip hop moved from uptown to downtown single-handedly and it never changed. Madonna used to serve us drinks at Danceteria. That's how real it gets. Danceteria? Danceteria. Danceteria.

Okay, that was a club that she was a waitress at. How do you remember her? Because she served me drinks. Wow. And you remember, like you, she had that type of presence. She was a waitress, I was a performer there. Wow. Did she say, you know I'm an aspiring singer also?

No, she didn't have to say that, she was working. She was just, but. You know how sometimes people will do that, they'll be like. But I'm just giving you, sharing a little light on some because a lot of people when they disrespect the sequence they disrespect the culture of hip-hop because they don't even know how they got from uptown to downtown and when you overlook the fact that hey Leroy the CNGP booked this show paid everybody mm-hmm for the show

and here's for us, the Wildstyle movie, Fab Five Freddy, he'll tell you, all these people know. So when you overlook that, you overlook a movement. It's not just about the one song, you have to look at the legacy of what hip hop really stood for back then, and the sacrifices that were made, and I can't wait for the story to be told. Yeah, when I think of like Sugar Hill gang I'm like there's no reason for

anybody to ever mention sugar hill records and not mention sequence thank you yeah I don't understand why sugar hill girls they called us that but we wrote all their hits yeah did you hear what I just said yes ma'am yeah Apache eighth wonder we were the West Street mob that let's dance I know you got the fever that's the sequence We all getting paid. Yeah good money Is the movie gonna be do you know where it's going to be is it gonna be on like a like a BT series or is it Gonna be the theater. It will be it will be it won't be just one episode it'll be a series a mini series that's what we're working on because it spans too far talking about 1979 up until today and and just

releasing an album that's already my single dropped and it went straight to number two. Full circle baby. So, it's a reason for everything. I thank God for this time for us to get the story right. So you know. What advice would you give to this musical generation? Because when I hear you talk, I'm saying to myself, man, it's almost like you always got to constantly tell people what it is you do, because if not, they will forget. Well, they will forget.

I mean, because the unfortunately, the masterminds are the powers that. Hey y'all, it's your girl, Cheeky's, and I'm back with a brand new season of your favorite podcast, Cheeky's and Chill. I'll be sharing even more personal stories with you guys. And I know a lot of people are gonna attack me. Why are you gonna go visit your dad? Your mom wouldn't be okay with it.

I'm gonna tell you guys right now, I know my mother. And I know my mom had a very forgiving heart. That is my story on plastic surgery. This is my truth. I think the last time I cried like that was when I lost my mom. Like that, like yelling. I was like, no.

I was like, oh, and I thought, what did I do wrong? And as always, you'll get my exclusive take on topics like love, personal growth, health, family ties, and more. And don't forget, I'll also be dishing out my best advice to you on episodes of Dear Cheekies. So my fiance and I have been together for 10 years. In the first two years of being together,

I find out he is cheating on me, not only with women, but also with men. What should I do? Okay, where do I start? That's not love. He doesn't love you enough because if he loved you he'd be faithful. It's going to be an exciting year and I hope that you can join me. Listen to Chiquis and Chill Season 4 as part of the My Cultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, it's Amartines. The news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you can't just ignore las noticias when important world-changing events are happening. That is where the Up First podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen up first from NPR on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the

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And as I was about to learn, no amount of showering can wash your hands of a bad hookup. Now, take a big whiff, my brah. Listen to The Hook Up on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Be, in my opinion, have taken the love and the genuineness out of the livelihood of being, you know, an artist. Back when you had to work and enjoy touring, and you know, a lot of that stuff has been kind of cut out

because it's like a fast track now to success. And a lot of people are consumed with money. Back then we were having fun. You know, when you did a block party, you had fun. Right. You know what I mean? When you went to the skating room and you bounced rocks, you had fun. Now it's all business, business, business.

And at the end of the day, so my advice to anybody doing this, man, take your time, it's like going through school. You wanna be a senior so bad, but the minute you graduate, yeah, I wish I was back in school. But you gotta take it serious serious though because a lot of times We didn't look at business and we had fun. You have somebody else a and we didn't guess what?

That's me all day, but I'm still here to tell you That's me, but I'm here to tell you that I wouldn't change a thing because I had a great time I had a great time. I had a great time. And sometimes you can't compromise the monetary value of it for, you know, my daughter gave me a penny that had a hole in it, said don't be so busy making a living that you forget to make a life. That's right. You know?

All right, so let's talk about your children and their respective fathers. So what was your daughter's father right? Did you guys ever think you were gonna end up together, get married? Who is it? Is that D'Angelo? No. My daughter's father's little Ronnie C from the funky four plus one more. Did I ever think I fell in love with him? He was a good person. Still was a good person. He was a Leo. We were compatible. You're very into sons. You're like I'm a sadaz. Yeah, yeah because I you know energy. When we hooked up he when he came to Sugar Hill was I think after we had been on a couple of tours

Sylvia signed the funky four plus one more. The young man that I was dating prior to becoming a celebrity died a tragic accident in high school. So I was in mourning when we dropped funky up I was really grieving and touring he came along with the group. We had so much fun just clicked And I got pregnant with my daughter. And of course from the Bible belt at that point realized Oh my god, I can't be pregnant. I can't be pregnant. I have a husband So my mindset the way I was taught back then was you can't have a baby out of wedlock gotta get married Gotta get married. So I got married for that reason Not because I didn't love him because I did but he wasn't ready. I'm an only child so my mom and dad was gonna

Ring my neck if I didn't Do the right thing. I was trying to do the right thing. How old were you at the time? 23. Wow, I mean that shows how much respect we have for our parents and God. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So at that point we did get married.

We did get married. It didn't last long because it wasn't right. But at the end of the day we did good business together because I have to shout him out as the person that taught me the ropes. Really? Yeah. He was a part of Sugar Hill.

Sugar Hill didn't like him. They didn't agree with him because he didn't take no mass. And it was like, you ain't finna take me to London and pay me the same thing I made in New York. So I started to learn the ropes to the game. I moved to New York because of that and that's why I credit him for that because after learning what I learned about the industry, I could shape my life up a little different. So then you had the highly publicized relationship with

D'Angelo and I told you I used to work for D'Angelo. So I was around like when all of that was happening and you guys used to work together. Well, you know what, without giving a lot away, I was with D'Angelo four or five years prior to him becoming the Brown Sugar Man. So a lot of people don't know that. They just think it just was an overnight thing that happened. It wasn't that way.

We were together for quite a while. And by the time we fell in love with each other, it wasn't anybody's business because nobody was checking for him. There wasn't no blogs and all that stuff. No it wasn't all that stuff going on. By that time we were here though we was in love. You're like what you gonna do? So you know you can't just start picking and plucking people apart because oh somebody gets a hit record because I think 10-15 years prior to that, Funky Up had dropped. I was already there.

I was with Vertical Hole, was already in the game as a celebrity. So by the time he was discovered, I was there already. And so I was more of an asset than the way they try to make it look. Because at this point, if you take somebody who you're trying to get in the game

and say, hey, I need you to hook up, it's like right now, anybody connected to Beyonce gonna win. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you're winning, you wanna put people that you want to win with winning people. And I think that's where they kinda, I'm gonna use the word tick,

cause the tick sucks the blood out of a situation. And I think the industry, the conglomerate of people kind of use that situation to kind of. But you was already like a couple solo albums in by the time you got with him, right? Mm-mm, mm-mm. One? One, I had just done my first.

I was with Vertical Ho when I got with him. Okay. I wasn't even in my solo career yet. When did you guys fall in love? Because like you said, you had known him before Brown Sugar and everything. You knew him before Abs. No, when I before you guys knew him I knew him but it was just it was chemistry we worked in the studio and as we were

working it just you know the same magic you heard that was being created was something that was being created that the creator created. I didn't do that. I didn't go, oh, oh my God, I want you. No, it was never that. I remember working for his management team and they didn't like the fact that he was having a baby because they felt like it would take away from him as this sexy.

But you can't control God. I didn't make the baby by myself. He didn't make the baby by himself. You know, when people get, when that happens happens it happens. You don't plan it. You know, you know, you can't say oh tonight I'm gonna have a baby. Yeah, you just don't do that. That's That's a part of God's plan, but You know, I'm sure a lot of you don't like you just never got married, but you can't stop his world That's so mad, but I'm just making a point.

People, you know, Can't dictate your life. You can't dictate what happens, and they might not have liked him having a baby. How they didn't know he didn't want a baby? I'm not gonna say I mean he wanted it. No, absolutely. And my thing is, I think that people read way too much

into, again, dollars and cents, right? That all he was a check for them. Absolutely. What about your label? How'd your label fit in with your girlfriend? How did the relationship end? Why did it go left? As if I tell y'all that you won't watch the movie.

Yes, we will. We wanna see it play out. We're gonna see it anyway. We read Bobby Brown's book and we watched his movie. No, just for the sake of being cool, it's really about me. It's like anything, you put too much pressure

on a situation. You take somebody who is again thirsty, hungry to be successful and I don't know what they said behind closed doors. I don't know what they did. I don't know how they push buttons. I can only tell you a lot of stuff was done, but it wasn't a normal. It hurt us both to break up. And I can honestly tell you that it affected us, and it still affects my life, his life, my son's life. It's still, those kind of moves hurt people.

And at the end of the day, you're not happy because at the core, it's not what you put an industry broke Y'all up. I can't say that yeah, I can't say that without Telling really going into yeah, but I mean you you you can baby tell me You should be able to tell me do you think we broke up on our own do you think I know you did it okay? How do label feeling you got pregnant? Your label. They can't dictate my life because I'm a woman.

It's like Lauren Hill. She did Zion show. Y'all can't tell me I'm a woman. So at, should I not have children because I have a record? Or should, you know, you have to look at life and say, should I put everything that God has intended for me on hold to accommodate the people that are leeches? No, if you want what I got you got to take all of me and that's just it. So yes I had two children and if I could have had ten children I would. I was an only child so I loved big family.

I did put myself on hold so that I wouldn't have all these babies because you know, I wanted to work I want to have a life was it hard co-parenting with the Angela it's hard co-parenting with anybody if you're not married Mmm, especially y'all y'all both on tour all the time schedules crazy All of us like I said both my children's fathers are in the entertainment business and it's harder for anybody who is not or in the entertainment business. It's harder for anybody who is not living together every day to co-parent if you're both traveling. So at the end of the day, my husband is God. The reason I say that is because that's who helped me

sustain the life with my children. Was there ever a time that you were disenchanted with this music business, having been in it at such a young age and said I don't Want to do this anymore absolutely Absolutely, I've quit four or five times So yes disenchanted is the right word I think because I see the good the bad and ugly and because a lot of people that are in the

You know the the fans don't see the perimeter and we see the perimeter it makes you say you have to pick and choose how you're gonna use your gift so I choose to use my gift in lyrics and in positive messages and real messages so that the people that are listening from a hard space get it so I can't really be consumed with oh they and positive messages and real messages so that the people that are listening from a heart space get it. So I can't really be consumed with, oh, they're not recognizing me,

oh, they're not doing this, because they didn't give me the gift. Mm-hmm. And what happened with your daughter? You got an incident with your daughter, I know that was publicized. Everybody have incidents with their daughter. We all right.

That's my daughter. But y'all good. The beautiful thing is, when we were raised, and he could tell you this, from the South, our parents didn't play with us, okay? I used to get a straightening comb, throw a straight cross room at me, or a shoe, or a boot, anything.

Whatever your mama could grab. Whatever they could grab. So the reality is, we were raised in a certain way and disrespect is not tolerated. That's the fabric of who I am. Now my daughter and my son, they can wear me out. I'm gonna stare at those on you if you make me mad. Because that's not how we do, she have kids of her own now

and I have to get between her. Hey wait but it's called family and The only reason it gets magnified to the tenth power is because inquiry minds Want to know if I didn't have a name it wouldn't care. Mm-hmm. So My daughter's my that's my heart. Yeah, when you get beat as a kid when you kid when you get older and you know, the objects don't work no more and you think you can Raise up on your dad. You won't do exactly daughter raise up on her mama put them hands up then let me see where you at Oh, yeah, cuz you can't you can't come at me want to fight me like a street person and I and I just get the bell the bell. Oh, that ain't gonna work. Oh, we pulling up now. Now that's my baby. She, you know. But y'all good now? Always. Do you think about making timeless music, right? Because

you have songs that you've done so long ago that today still are relevant and still people could listen to it like it's brand new. But that's what I was talking about. You know, you have to know your purpose. And that's what I meant when I said creating music that meets the amount of people that it touches because you know when we're gifted with certain things we're gifted for a purpose and when we make ourselves more important than the purpose we lose the gift. So I had to make sure that I didn't get consumed with everything that everybody else worries about in terms of, oh, you ain't working.

Like I've never been invited to Black Girls Rock. No, man. I'm shocked at that. Never. Wow. Come on now. But I love Black Girls Rock. Black Girls Rock, come on now, that's just ridiculous.

But I'm just saying, if I let little stuff like that stop me from rocking as a black girl, then I've lost the purpose. I'm about to hit Connie right now. That ain't even right. I'ma tell Beverly Bynes. Yeah, tell Beverly Bynes for real, man. I'm only saying that because a lot of people come to me,

you're coming to black girls rockin'? I say, oh really? No, they haven't invited me. So I would never assert myself. But again, this goes back to the way the industry shapes a situation because of another situation. Well, let's talk about some other things. That's crazy.

Because you are developing reality shows, but you've also been on reality television, right? R&B divas. And so what was your experience like? Because they did. It wasn't what I thought it was gonna be, or what you thought it was gonna be right? We're thinking Angie Stone's gonna come in. She's the voice of reason. She's the person that's going to

Well, that's what they hired me for. Mm-hmm. I went I went just the backstory to R&B Divas When before the show was created I had created a show similar. So the same guy Phil who put the second show together Was a person that I was working with to develop show so same idea faith had I had and Nikki and When they call me say yeah, we can all do it together. Okay I thought I was gonna be a producer on that and then when we address it, they said well, we've already down contracts We've done it, they said, well, we've already done contracts. We've done that.

I said, OK, well, I won't bother. I let go. I walked back because I realized it's crazy. Right. So the second season, I got a call from TV1. And they said, hey, look, these girls are fighting too much. They're doing this. They're doing that.

Angie, you, you know, we all love you. We respect you We need you to get in here and try to smooth things out so I said Okay, that's easy enough for me so my Purpose for being a part of the show was to make them focus on who they were as singers Even though they had the catfight stuff going on I

My job was just to try to smooth it over. Let's do some music. Well of course, it's reality TV and I learned this to Hardway. They turned that thing all the way around and like, who you think you is? And blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, I'm old enough to know the difference, still young enough to make a difference. You need to chill. Okay? So it really ticked me off because even though they didn't know the ins and outs of my

being there to smooth things out, they used to get upset when I say, well let's sing something. Look, I'm trying to help y'all stay relevant. Let's sing something. People need to hear your voices in this capacity, but they, I think, underneath it all, they trying to figure out why she's still doing this and I sing better than her and I'm not here and I'm not there. And I think that was the problem. They became a little bit envious of the fact that, well, who she thinks she's, I was their biggest threat. And as a result, I said, you you know I want a part to this.

Yeah so you walked off during a reunion? I walked off because once they started to manipulate and you know I was not comfortable with the lies of touring and I'm like look I can't let you guys destroy my brand. I've been doing this almost 40 years at this point so I'm not willing to throw my entire life away because you need five minutes of fame so y'all got this I'm good over here. They were even trying to say that your husband slept with my husband I mean your boyfriend at the time or manager slept with somebody from the staff. You know what I really don't want to address that because he's fighting

for his life right now. So I kind of don't want to go there that's a very good friend of mine that I had some wonderful times with and yes there's been a lot of rumors about a lot of things and if you saw the show then you saw it was very uncomfortable for us, but again manipulative and You know, he just had a very very bad motorcycle accident. Okay, been down. We'll pray for him. Thank you I don't want to go there. Why did you name the new album full circle? Well, that's a great question. I Dictate the success of my album based on the title when I did did Mahogany Soul, I went into this whole Mahogany vibe, and Baruchka lipstick, and all this,

because I think that a song or a title of a song dictates the strength of it. Full circle, I'm at a place where I've seen this industry do this. Go around and around, it's the same old thing. I wanted to get back to Angie Stone, the one that when I started out, when I did Mahogany, so when I did Black Diamond, I wanted to say, okay, I've tried all these other things. Let me go back to me. And full circle is the complete circle of, in my opinion, where I've come full circle and I know who I am. I know whose I am, I know what I... I've survived. If I walked away today, I can say, I am a survivor.

And Full Circle dictates that. The fact that we've got five stars out of five stars on everything across the board on this album proves that, you know, staying power, whether it's 79 or 2019, it's who you are, you know, what your purpose is. So I'm good. You know what I noticed too about music sometimes when we go through the most tragic things that's when the best songs yes come out of it. Do you feel like that's true for you? I do you know just about two months ago I was fighting for my life and when a lot of people don't notice but when the album dropped but when the album dropped, I was just getting back to myself. And I realized at that point, you know what I'm saying?

Now it's time to just make a life, enjoy this thing again, get back to the place where music matters. Because I think at some point, it's so much mess going on that music doesn't matter anymore and I wanted to make some music that matter and This is the time of my life where I met my greatest. I think I've walked a Powerful journey that t-shirt that she has on sis. It's about me and the men in my life These are all the people that I ever did a duet with and I've worked with almost every These are all the people that I ever did a duet with and I've worked with almost every one of the artists of our generation.

I see legends on there, I see Prince, I see Stevie Wonder, I see Ray Charles, Snoop. Oh, she got it right now. Yeah. Oh, I can't, my eyesight's terrible. So that's a specialty that I'm working on because not many people can say that. And I say everybody's so worried about who's Angie's dating.

I said, let me put it straight. Me and the men in my life. I ain't dating all these guys, but I've worked with them all. You know, so I'm in a good space. What was wrong with you two months ago? What was it? Oh, you don't want to say? No, no, no.

Well, I'm a diabetic. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. I've been, you know, dealing with that. I have a diabetic that was produced, induced by cretinazone. And I had a chemical spill at Presbyterian Hospital when I was 26 years old, that exposed me to a German cause to diabetes.

So because the medicine they had to give me. So when you guys saw me yay big, it was the medicine. But a lot of people was like, oh, why are you with that big figure? I said, you don saw me yay big, it was the medicine. But a lot of people was like, oh, why you with that big fat girl? I said, you don't know my story. So now that I'm completely healed and I ain't got my little swag back, I ain't had no surgery, I ain't had nothing.

But let the world tell it, she was just a big fat girl. But again, gotta watch the movie. I can't wait to see this movie. She is selling this movie right now, I just have to say. Are you scared to have a Popeye's chicken sandwich? Pardon me? Are you scared to have a Popeye's chicken sandwich? Oh no, honey.

Okay. I'm not scared to, but I don't eat fried stuff like they never have. I don't eat like a bunch of junk food, never have. So, but you know, you can eat, but you have to eat right. You can't just. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You also have to.

That's hard coming from where you come from. No, but I cook, see. I'm not excusing my food without using. I heard that, you know. Somebody say Angie don't cook her ass off. I don't use all that stuff. A lot of people use a lot of heavy salt. You can use lemon, and it tastes just like salt.

You have got to just know know now we love to cook don't get me wrong oxtails and cooked all of that now but you don't have to eat unhealthy you know I think God has preserved me all this time because he knows my heart and he knows I'm gonna do right so that don't mean I don't sneak every now and then and then I'm gonna go buy a bad chicken. That's right. Every now and then. Have you found somebody to play you yet for the bio pick? I got some ideas. Mm-hmm. I got some ideas. A couple of people that are really really I'm interested in. I know one segment of Angie Stone is on. Your daughter gotta be in it. Of course. But the young lady that used to be Bernie Mac's daughter. Oh yeah. We appreciate you for joining us. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Did you learn anything?

I learned a whole lot. Okay. I learned a whole lot. I've always wanted to meet you so I'm glad I had an opportunity. Look, I'm glad it's you. Mainly because you know the backstory to a lot of this stuff that I've been hating on for years. I think being involved with a sex symbol can be a blessing and a curse. Yeah, my wife knows the feeling. No she doesn't. I was like, who was she involved with? But anyway.

Well Angie Stone, thank you for joining us. Thank you. It's Angie Stone, it's The Breakfast Club, good morning. ["Breakfast Club Theme Song"] I'm Kristin Davis, host of the podcast Are You a Charlotte? The incredible Cynthia Nixon joins me this week for a conversation filled with memories and stories I didn't even know. Cynthia could have been Carrie? When I first read the script, they asked me to read for Carrie as I think they asked you to read for Carrie.

Did you? I did. And they were like, yeah, not so much. You can't miss this. Listen to Are You a Charlotte? on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Calling all 9-9ers, now streaming. It's the more better podcast with two episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine Fun. Host Stephanie Beatriz and Melissa Fumero welcome former castmates Chelsea Peretti and Joe Lattrull former castmates Chelsea Ferretti and Joe Letrulio for one episode each to laugh and swap stories.

Like Andre would always be like trying something and they're like do less. Do less. Yeah. But then some of the biggest things were the biggest hits like Vindication, remember? Listen to more better with Stephanie and Melissa on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm David Borden. And I'm his grandson Langston Kerman. Stephanie and Melissa on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm David Borden.

And I'm his grandson, Langston Kerman. And we host My Mama Told Me, a podcast about black conspiracy theory. And we're here to tell you that we have our boy, Lamorne Morris on the podcast this week. You will not want to miss out on hilarious moments like these. I'm the same guy who believes in lizard people.

So I don't really. Oh, Marlo. So I don't really. We should have started with that. I look at all this like this. I go, Catch Lamour Morris on My Mama Told Me with Lex and Kermin and David Borey on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Amartinez. The news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you can't just ignore las noticias when important world changing events are happening. That is where the Up First podcast comes in. Every single morning, in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three

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