The Ebro, Laura, Rosenberg Show - 182.) Rapsody On Carving Her Own Lane, Legacy & Messages From Stevie Wonder (9/18/26)

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

In hopes to give YOU our most loyal FOTS & ELRmy more on Patreon, we are moving our Friday show to Patreon. Every Friday is FOTS Friday on The Ebro Laura Rosenberg Show. In a segment named “Family Matters” is where we share our most intimate family stories with yall, as Ebro, Laura Stylez & Rosenberg grow up as parents, husbands, wives and more. We also read, listen, and watch as well as share our responses and give feedback to your letters EACH week! To be featured in a future show, send your videos, voice notes, and letters to [e-mail]. Today we have Rapsody, with her new project “God Gotta Afro & Gold Hoops” sitting down with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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New season is now streaming on Paramount Plus. Just don't call in a podcast. The Ebro-Lara Rosenberg show. We didn't have the intro ready because of me. Hit it. There it is. Okay. TGIF, guys.

T-G-I-F. Friday vibes. Rhapsody is in the building. I'm here. Rhapsody, when you've been a rapper for this long, an artist for this long, like who doesn't have a joby job, do you, do Friday still feel like something?

No, I don't even ever know what day it is. Is that crazy? I thought it was the day before. See? So the days don't even matter when you've been an artist, a professional artist for this long. No. That's a beautiful thing.

Yeah, it's just yesterday and tomorrow. But you send an alarm clock sometimes for flights, I'm guessing. All the time. Absolutely. I said alarm clock for flights, to remember to do things. Oh, me too. Calls, all the things. So are you a big, are you, would you consider yourself organized?

Yes, yes. Absolutely. Hang on one second. Okay. Is someone watching a cartoon? Someone's watching Bluey right now? Oh, is it me? It's me.

Oh my God. What's that? The nanit just goes on, bro. You ever had that happened? Yeah, okay. But why? I didn't open it. Why does the nannet just, it's on?

Probably because you have that. I was like, is someone watching Blowing? No, it was, yeah, somebody was watching. My daughter. My. The, you know how you get, what's that called? You get the notification? Yeah.

That triggers it to be on. I think that sometimes triggers it because parents, I'm sure we love that. Today she's one year, eight months old. But yeah, it's annoying. It's happened on the radio radio, too, where I'm like, what's going on? What is happening? Well, I automatically, it's happened so many times with me

that I assume it's me. Yeah, I should probably start together. Or like my Instagram will just be playing stuff. Typical white exceptionalism. I'm like, you can't be me. What kind of idiots doing this? So rap, you're an organized person. Yeah, yeah, I got to be.

Why? Because that's how you get things done. You know, you don't forget things. You got to be on top of your, you know. It's so much that we have to do as artists. I don't have people that do things for me. have a large team that's like reminding me like I have to be organized. How big is your team?

Let's see. I have two managers. That's my immediate team that I talk to every day. So they're a management team. They work together. They're a management team. Yes. And then like my creative team, I have two photographers, a videographer, and two art directors.

So fast. This team was little bigger than I expected when she said she had a small team. I think that's small. Is that small? Yeah. Yeah. Seven persons. team. When I travel... That's two people on the bench.

You got five starters and two on the bench. You know, when I travel, it's just me and one other person. Okay. Okay. But what about... So you don't bring photographers when you travel necessarily? Sometimes, not all the time. So, max three. All right. Including myself. But I didn't hear, like, no stylist, no makeup, so you do that yourself. Absolutely not. Okay.

Whatever. Whatever. What about a city I'm in? Yes. You tap in. Oh, I love that. You get to give other people, like, an opportunity to style you. Yeah, I got a roller decks. I know in each city who I like. I love that. Yeah, that's nice rather than because it's expensive too.

It's absolutely expensive. I ain't platinum yet. Speaking of that, I saw your earrings and I saw that's part of your collection. Yeah, I did a collection with Simone Smith. That's so fire. Yeah, she and Mary J. Blige have all, they also have a sister company. But she and I did three earrings. This is the Raveen hoop.

So I had the Raveen hoop, the coil hoop, and the Heritage Hoop. Where are they available at? at Simoneysmith.com. Or I AmrapSty.com. I love it. Has the I AmRhapsody.com, which I have bought vinyl from and other things from. He has. Supported Brother.

Damn, I need to go buy some vinyl right now. Go buy some vinyl, man. And for those of you who love to purchase vinyl and purchase things like that, she puts a lot of effort into more, you know what I mean? Like, you're buying something that is thoughtfully made. You know what I mean? It's not just that. Have you ever opened, when you support people by Bridgety and their vinyl, do you

ever open it. The vinyl and play the vinyl. I opened the package. I haven't played the vinyl. I haven't touched your turntable in my house. And you bought a good amount of vinyl. Yeah, and vinyl's not cheap these days.

No, but I have a plan. What's the plan? Retirement. Oh, okay. At which point I'll be able to play all the vinyl I want. You know, it's going to be so sad when I Ebro's finally retiring at 75 and he's like, finally going to play the record. Never got to it.

Never got to it. And East is like, we go. to get this crap out of here. You never wanted to show Issa how to get busy on the, it is Family Friday after all, you never wanted to show Issa how to get busy on the Turntables? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've had thoughts. I've had thoughts and I've showed her, she's been like to Apple with me to the studio

and I'll show her, but not turntables, just CDJ. Digital. Yeah, digital. I haven't showed her turn. I just now am setting up the, we got like new shelving, so I'm have the turntable set up, but I'm also gonna have space to have the digital set up. Yeah. Okay.

working in reverse order. I let her start with the vinyl. Yeah. So she's already like getting comfortable with touching a record and then she'll go to the digital. That's a good plan. I like that. It's like so just as she has a little, I will tell you my daughter now granted she does have some moments where she just you know and I have to go no and she goes for the to try to hit the tone on. Oh yeah. Now I don't know if I got this from you. I may have. So my. my technique for getting my daughter, like I think because you said to me at some point, like you've got to have the thing you say.

Oh, the sound or whatever. The sound is stop and it gets them to look. And it took a while for it to work. But for me, it's variations of a-uh-a-a. Is that the same thing as you? So for parents out there, it's start, unfortunately, you have to plan a seed of fear. So you start really loud.

The first time they hear it, it needs to startle them. But in a safe way. they're going to the trash can. And you go, that's what I did. You just do one? One,

I like my way better. Your choice. But then I level it down. It's three. But you start there. And then it's just like, now I'm just ass. That's all you need that.

All you need now is X, because they already know. So I have the ah, uh, uh, going. And the arm, when she goes to the arm,

it's a, uh, and she looks back. The problem is, though, based on their mood, I'm sure you've had this experience. the a a a could be fine and she takes it back and just looks at you and then you hit it another mood and she was back and she goes yep and i'm like no it's cool it's cool it was just we don't want you to go near the socket we can't go near

no no i'm okay with the i want you to cry i know me too but i feel bad i still feel sad in my heart i'm trying to save your life in my brain this is like i've tried to prevent you from running out in traffic but once you see them with the full-on he's like yeah that don't feel good so don't go don't do it right But that is the point of you do have to have it be effective. So I'm working on it with that. But like, it is very satisfying to see your kids start doing anything hip hop related. It does feel really special. Even though she's so annoying.

Like she, every song I play, she just goes, all done, all done, all done. I go, it's just the first. I tried to play Fantastic Four by DJ Clue. And she didn't even get to puns verse. And she's going, all done, all done. You ain't found her song yet, bro. Bro. The only thing she wants to hear is keep it thorough by prod.

You gotta let it rock here. Put it back on. Now you know why people in the car wanna hear the same song over and over there. Yeah, but I can't have her walking around saying, how does it feel to hold my dick in public cockblower? Duplicate rap cloner. You don't have to clean out?

No, it's just dirty and instrumental. You gotta get the clean. You gotta get the clean, bro. I'm sorry. And also, why'd you start with Keep It Thurl? Ask yourself. I did, it was sitting there. It is one of, I think about it literally every day.

And it was just sitting there and I said, let me just let her hear it keep it thorough. and when that alchemy's shit kicked in, she was on it. She's like, this is my type of time. And it starts out with him like, oh word? So y'all kill us now. Catch you coming out your fucking crib. Yo, goddamn, Maya, this is how we're doing it?

That's how she did it. I played her. She loves Midnight Marauders in the car. Midnight Marauders in the car is part of her zone out. So she's cool. But then I tried to flip it the other day. I was like, let me play her some. I had the Who, Whiteish Wednesday.

a classic, Baba O'Reilly you know, teenage wasteland. Everyone has to fuck with this joint. All done. All done. Beat ain't hard enough. She's a soundtrack girl. Depending on where she is what she's going to like.

That's a good point. I got to start learning, yeah, time and place. Or like me, lady, you don't get to control the radio. What are we even doing right now? I try to argue. Salasi tried to argue about like getting the Moana and he's, we're not listening to Stevie. Well, relax, sit down.

Be quiet. Well, I got to put her on to Stevie because the show's coming up. Are you going to try to hit any of these Stevie shows? 50th anniversary. I would love to, absolutely. Have you met Stevie before? Yeah, we did a record together. Yeah, yeah, I met him a few times.

He calls every birthday to sing happy birthday. Oh, my God, that's beautiful. That's a real thing. If you meet Stevie and he's like, what's your birthday, he's going to call you and sing happy birthday. Do you realize how insane what you just said was? I know. It's crazy to me, too. man.

He calls you on your birthday every year? Yeah, do you see his number pop up? But you're like, oh, Stevie. Yeah, I mean, this time I missed it and I looked at my phone. He left a voice note. Do you still have it? Yeah, yeah.

Wait, and I mean, no disrespect. Can we hear it? Can I happen? I mean, I mean no disrespect while she looks for this. What? He didn't actually hit the button to call you.

What do you mean? He might have said, he might have said, hey Siri, call Rhapsody. That's what I'm saying. So what's the difference? I'm just pointing it out. You're just pointing out that Stevie's blind?

Fuck you, Ebro. Oh my God. You guys are the worst. No, but we have to go see Stevie, guys. Have to. It's the Thursday before Thanksgiving. Oh, wow. MSG?

MSG. And my nephew is so obsessed with Stevie. I'm going to be on crutches, though. Oh, yeah. That's great. You have it? Oh, my God, this is so cool, rep. I'll hit play.

Here, give it to me. I'll plug it in. Oh, wow, this is insane. Stevie Warner. You have it. Oh, I got the old phone. You got the old joint. All right, play it in a lot.

Yeah, absolutely. You don't have a don't. I'm not a girl that, you know, upgrades her full all the time. Rhapsody. This is me. Thank you for the message. Thank you for the message. I too wish to you and your family and loved ones.

Happy giving thanks. Oh, this is not the birthday one. Oh, that's Thanksgiving. Yeah, it's Thanksgiving. Tim, you got multiple voice notes from receiving me. Hold on. That's still beautiful. That's crazy.

I don't know where the birthday one is. So you mean he had to every holiday? Maybe I did answer the phone that day. I don't know. But this is a great. In fact, she doesn't know. Means she hurts. Stevie just chopping it all the time.

It's a great indicator, though, that you've gotten to do some pretty amazing things. Are you happy with like, listen, I know aspirationally there's still more for you. I know the MC that you are and what you, you know. And that even though a lot of people know, you want everybody to know and you're competitive and all that stuff.

Yeah. But are you? happy with sort of the space that Rhapsody has carved out? Absolutely. It's pretty cool, right? Yeah, I wouldn't change a thing, you know? Like, I'm very content. I haven't changed anything.

I've grown and evolved within it. Yeah, I know why I'm needed. You know, I know what I give, what I bring. So I'm super happy. There's several moments on this project, God God, got an Afro. Mm-hmm. And goal hoops. Let's not forget to go hoops.

where you that acceptance of who you are and what you doing no i'm just pulling up to you already sorry um that acceptance of who you are right uh is in the lyrics right from you uh there's a line where you talk about do i got to you know and i'm paraphrasing do i got a like you know titi yeah for y'all to get it yeah yeah yeah nani exactly i'm glad you said um for y'all to like really understand what i stand for what I'm saying. Also, even things like, you know, I think it's called Free Your Mind. I think. Free of mind. Yeah. That's the opening track. Yeah. But just where you're just talking about just acceptance in what you, who you are to yourself, but also who you are as an MC. And also just being black and being black in America and in this social construct. But it is a, it must be a

freeing place to be once you accept that. This is the most free I've ever been and the most fun I'm having. and because of that, the best art I've ever put out, in my personal opinion. Doing, please don't cry, like healing and really understanding, like, you know, how this works, how the world is, how the business can be. And at the end of the day, it's like, all of this to me is just an illusion and fake, and I don't really exist well in those spaces. So you go back and you, it's kind of like a return to self. Like, why did I really even get into this? What did I love about it? And I operate from that place.

Like, that's where I'm at. I don't necessarily care, you know, if anything goes viral or if you get this or that because my goal was to connect with people. And as long as I'm doing that on any level, it may not be the biggest level. But, you know, I always said I would do this for free. That's how much I love it. So just do the thing. How many times have you had to remind yourself or like make sure you centered yourself

around those original kind of catalysts that wanted you to be your emcee and put you a hip-hop? Before, like the please don't cry time, I had to do it all the time. Yeah. Because you weren't happy in that moment? I wasn't happy with like the business.

You know, like you grow up as a fan and you look at it and you think like it should operate in a certain way and you think it's off talent alone. It's absolutely not, you know. It's so much that goes into this and that could be frustrating. The politics of it can be.

be frustrating. So it was just like being young and even not really fully understanding that or how to exist in or how to be free in it. So please don't cry. Like, you know, I learned to have a better understanding of myself and how I fit in the world. And that's when I like surrender. Like, 2024 is my surrender year.

And this is my freedom season. So I don't even, yeah. It has the, I mean, this is, this album is one of the most musical. I think you've put out. Because you know most of the time, and not that they weren't musical in that way, but like every song is live instrumentation. Right, that's what I'm like, I'm a sample heavy.

You know, a majority of my sample clearance time was always a headache for us. But this one, like, we replay things, instruments. And I gotta shout out Teres Martin because he was the one that really like started that idea and Danon, the non's from Detroit, you know, they're just pure musicians there. But I would go see Terrance and he was like,

yo, let's just do a jam session one day with a bunch of musicians and you just freestyle. We just come up with songs. And we never did it, but the planting the seed of what that was. And then me being in a season of like, I'm listening to voodoo and I'm listening to Falakutie. And I'm just loving the sound of that. So by the time I get with Denon, like, that's where we are, you know. That makes perfect sense. Because that's why I know you announced the four shows, L.A., Chicago, New York and Atlanta.

Right? All unplugged. Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be me, a three-piece band. I'm trying to get two more, but we'll see, budget-wise. Yeah, we're just going to run through the records live. You know, like, it's a certain vibration when you can feel a live instrument like that. It's just, it feels different.

And, too, as an artist, you can do so much more with the show. You get your TV tracks, and, you know, you kind of have a few block it. Like, I can't do it so much. But live instrumentation, I could, the song can end, and I could be like, keep it going. Right, right, right, right. Like, let's talk. It just allows you so much freedom to create. The band in hip hop is like such a fascinating.

To me, it's like a really interesting relationship. Yeah. And it has so many ways of being dope. And I've seen it not be great. And I've seen people be like, eh, you didn't need a band. You know, a DJ was definitely the way for you to go. If you're not able to be an MC and really lead this thing.

Right. But when it's done right, when it's done right, It's magical. And it also, I hate when people used to like dis-rap shows because they're like, oh, it's just a DJ and a rapper. No, we're not going to do that.

We're not going to do that. Because it's an art too. And that's an art too. But I will say, but when you do the band, well, it dwarfs what it can be with just a track. Like if you can master it and you have all the pieces going right and you have that relationship, it really can be like, damn, this is what shows should be like.

Yeah, and sometimes we do both. Like, we have the DJ. I'll even have like TV tracks, with certain instruments pulled out but some still in. Like there's so many ways that you can do it to make it feel good.

Because some shit doesn't hit hard enough with the band though too and you're like I didn't need to hear I've definitely had that feeling where I went I just wanted to hear the instrumental of that. Right, right, right. But it is dope when they're scratching samples

and they're getting creative. I mean, to me, turntable is like an instrument within itself. Well, with stems now, you could have your DJ with Serrato with stems playing the pieces you want and then you take them out. It's pretty easy to do so much cool

stuff. But like, we mentioned Keep It Thoreau. Like, if I'm in a concert and Prodigy were to show up and do keep it thorough, first of all, you go, oh my God, Prodigy showed up to a concert. This is worth note. Second of all, when the song comes in, you'd be like, yeah, I just wanted to hear Alchemist's version. I didn't need to hear the like. Well, the great ones will

incorporate, like she said, incorporate. Yeah, you got to do it. You'll hear the band will start and then the DJL drop it in and it'll break for a second. You'll feel that, and then they'll show how the instruments work with. Yeah. You know what I mean? A real music, like that's what Quest Love is. You ever been at a wedding though? And young guru's doing a great job with that right now.

It's a crush show. You ever been at a wedding, though, when they hire a musician, like this has become a thing now to hire the violinist? I DJed once, and they were like, we hired a violinist to play along with some of the songs. I was like, all right, cool. And like, you hit a couple, and you're like, that's cool. That's cool.

And then it's like, every song. And I'm like, all right, man. No one needs to hear this much violin. Let's let this record play. I've seen it multiple ways. I've seen it that way or just the random drummer. No, the drummer.

Just drumming along with the DJ. Yeah. It's like, you're trying to play louder than the actual music. I think my first wedding there was a drummer. I think I might have thought. And it could be cool. Like you said, it's cool sometimes. Sometimes.

You know, and then after a minute, you're like, all right, bro. That's enough, no. You remember when I had that, remember when I DJed at that birthday party in, in L.A. And Justin Bieber showed up. and there was a drum set and then Bieber drummed for like...

Do you know this story? You, by the way, I just need new friends. Grip says he remembers. No, I just need new friends. Because nothing that could happen would be enough for these pieces of shit to remember. Nothing. It's a lot of happened.

No, Bieber showed up. This is Prime Bieber. This isn't 20 years ago. I don't remember me. Beber shows up. Rock it. I post a video of me to put him. Beber, boom, bat-p-tap.

We're stets of sonic with me and Bieber. Bieber's Fruit Kwan Or Prince Paul Whatever version And I tell them I'm glad this happened to you It was in 20s This is a great story

They don't remember This special time of your life Griff, what was the last one They didn't remember? Oh my God There was just another one Like a week Like a week ago

I was like man bro you guys remember When I saw so and so And you're like no What happened? All right do you want to stick around For more hijinks on Patreon? I'm here Listen we're gonna go over to the Patreon

Join us over there Rhaps and he's hanging out If you don't have time to join us make sure you go get this guy got an Afro and go hoops you want great bars great music Rhapsody always delivers

so go get that and what's your website again when people want to go if they want your final t-shirts all that I am Rhapsody.com I am R-A-P-S-O-D-W I don't put no H in my name though

Yeah fuck that H All right we'll see you on Patreon Come over now Don't call in a pie