The Questlove Show - Black Music Month QLS Classic: Angélique Kidjo

Episode Date: June 16, 2024

Travel back to our conversation with five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo and her down with team Supreme.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed human. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

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the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed, I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe.

On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Quest Love Supreme is a production of IHart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. What up, y'all? It's unpaid bill for Quest Love Supreme. As you may have seen throughout June, we are celebrating Black News,

month by releasing an episode every day. So every day you're either here a specially picked QLS classic, and on Wednesdays we are dropping new two-part episodes with Wayne Brady and the legendary James Poyser, both of which were filmed in studio. Black music is deeply important to me and has been an influence throughout my entire career. It's also something to celebrate here at QLS. Today we look back at our 2018 conversation with the incredible five-time Grammy Award winning Angelique Kijon. We spoke about Afrobeat, Falakuti, and more. Suprema Role Call. Suprema,

Subrema, Subrema, So, Supremia roll call. Suprema, So, Suprema roll call. Suprema, So, Supremia roll call. Just so that you know,

Angelique Kujo. Yeah. My roots just might be. Yeah. And Ben and Katoono. Ripple call. Before you know. Suprima, sub,

Supriamara roll call. Suprima, Sa, Suprima, Sub prima role call. It's La Aia. I booked an African diva Then I didn't show up Yeah

I'm at home smoking Sativa Ropee ROLA Supraima Roll Callout Supremea Wow I'm unpaid bill Yeah

And I'll tell you so Yeah I wrote my college thesis Yeah On Angelique Guido Roll call Supreme Supima

Supraima Role call Suprema Suprema Roll call. Boss Bill's excited. Yeah. For this here show.

Yeah. I'm ready to learn. Yeah. What I do not know. Roll call. Supremma. Suprema. Role call.

Supremma. I think I killed her here. Submper. Role call. So here I come. Yeah. From Africa. Yeah.

I got something. Yeah. To tell you, dude. Roll call. Supriva. Subima. Subima. Superma.

Ro call. Suprima. Supra, Supraima roll call Suprema Subrama roll call Suprema Subrama Subra Roll call

Oh, hi lae you Wait Sativa Wait What just happened You ever cough so hard That you have a headache Yeah, I think I've

I said a blood vessel Great Did you have an aneurysm? That's good Oh God I was mad Oh no, come on, don't joke with that We got Sugar Steve

and the Bill twins. Hello. I'm paid and boss. And boss bill. If you hear any noise, it's just the voice because Lai is not here.

Sound of. Where is Lai? Why did you call her out? She's moving. She's not here. Okay. I don't know. Well, she's moving.

And this would be, it's just that she's not, this would be such a great sure for her to participate in. I mean, we have royalty with us. And Lai is not here for this. And I guess Fontigolo is still tending to his kitchen countertop.

Anyway. Moving is not easy, guys. Come on. I see. It's true. Anyway, tonight or today, we're in the presence of royalty. We have the undisputed queen of African music. And according to Time magazine, she is Africa's premier diva.

I don't know if, what's the jury on the word term diva? It's over with diva, isn't it already? Is it? Yeah. Enough of that nonsense. Enough of that nonsense. Enough. Okay, okay.

So we'll just say that according to Time magazine, you're just the premiere. I will just. No, I'm not a premiere. I'm just a regular singer. Oh, okay. Okay. She's one of those. Yeah, yeah.

No, I'm always humble because this life is like that. One day you're up, the next day you're down with your nose in the ducy. This is true. All right. Well, ladies and gentlemen, fresh from dukeye nose. Let's welcome. Right. The queen of the queen of all,

Angelique Kujo to Questlove Supreme. Thank you so much. Yes. Okay, now I'm Paid Bill. Yes, boss. And you rarely take the, you're rarely out of the batters box first on the show. Here I am.

You did your final college thesis. Yes. On our subject today. I did. Explain this. Okay. Well, I was really into West African music in college. I went.

to Ghana for a semester when I was in a sophomore junior or something like that. Wait, you what? Yeah, I went, I've been to Africa more than anybody in this room besides Angelica. You serious? Yeah. But anyway, so I went to... Wait, I'm not using this just to play your new theme. Oh, and by the way, there's a lot of random shit that goes on in my life.

And here's why. Okay. What just happened? That's my new theme, so I'm welcome to it. You finally have your theme. Wow. Wow. Yeah.

You didn't know that? No, that worked because I felt like I was so high. No. Like more than normal? Or just like... Unpaid Bill is random. I'm running. He's just...

So, wait. So I... How many times have you been to Africa? Three, three times. Two times. Twice. Okay. That's too more than me.

Anyway, that's not important. I wrote my thesis about what I called transatlantic diasporic feedback, which is a smart way of saying, we all know how West African African music affected the States. but then in turn how the states, how the music went back around and affected West Africa. So people like Phelam, people like Angela Keijo

who were influenced by funk and also African music, but like other stuff that happened and then there's another trip across the Atlantic and it kind of keeps on going in this big circle. Dog chasing its tail. Yeah. So I wrote my thesis about that.

That's beautiful. Okay. Well, anyway, Angelique, that was sort of like the movie preview. Now I'm going to get to you. But I think that is interesting that you thought of doing that, but most of the time people don't even understand.

man, don't even realize that the music they have been listening to for so many years or centuries comes from Africa. And I always tell people, no music will exist in America without the blues. Everything starts with the blues and with the blues. Bluegrass is not white people's music. It's black people's music. All the music in this country is black people. That's sorry.

A lot of my students, the first year, started teaching at NYU, didn't know that three students didn't that the banjo came from Africa, like a lot of instruments that are used in country western music. They don't even know that. They didn't know that. Wow. They didn't. So how are you today? Me?

I'm cool. Apart from the rain that makes me stay in the car for more than, and now when I have to get here and my bladder was crying for help when I walked in here. I mean, come on guys. Just for you, I do that, that, that, right? Yes, just for me. Yeah. Because every time he invited me, he invited me, I mean, I mean, you know.

I always have to go for traffic. There's something going on with this guy with traffic. Sounds about right. Yeah. And three minutes. I'm glad you made it. I'm glad you made it. So you're, you've been a New Yorker for a second, correct?

How long have you been? I've been here since 1997. Okay. So I guess 21 years makes you, my official rule is that if you're a transplant from out of New York, you can officially start calling yourself a real New Yorker. Yeah, I am. After 20 years.

Yeah. Oh. So I'm only on my ninth year. I am Brooklyn now. I'm from Brooklyn, y'all. That number keeps changing. Yeah, I feel like you always change that number. Not from you.

I hear it from a lot of people. I first heard of it. No, the number of years it takes to claim New Yorker status. I've been here for 16 years. I think I'm a New Yorker now. Once you pass 10 years, you're New York. Sorry, boy. Nah.

Come on. Because I can't. I've renewed my driver's license here twice. I'm still Pennsylvania residents. My tax, like, I'm still. a Pennsylvania because I'm too lazy to go to DMV

I guess I don't know But it's so close it doesn't matter Yeah But how long have you been I was about to ask I grew up on Long Island Which all New Yorkers don't think You exist

No you're really New Yorker Yeah How do you don't have an accent My mom does I don't know I don't even know you have an accent I have so many accents I don't even tell you

You have a little bit of an accent too Just a tiny one I don't care me I have accent and I'm proud of it What part of Brooklyn? Park Slope. Oh, okay. Nice.

Cool Brooklyn. Is there an uncrew Brooklyn? What's hitting for our Bensonhurst these days? I live in Bushwick. Bushwick is in Brooklyn. That's cool, Brooklyn. You live in Bushwick? And you don't wear an ounce of camo?

Not since like 2008. Okay. Oh, jeez. No, I've seen them brothers in Bushwick. Like, they still have like one leg rolled up. and a Dutch in their ear A white out

It's changed a little bit So okay So there's art Like pickles shops and art Okay I see I understand One day I'll check to Brooklyn No you are

Yeah You go to Brooklyn Bowl don't you Like once a month Yeah I guess they can I don't know If Williamsburg really counts As super like Brooklyn

But anyway So I would like suburb. Okay, I see. Yes, the Manhattan suburb. So I have to say that in the years that I've been collaborating with you and, you know, doing stuff and shows with you, you and I've never, ever talked about your story and what brought you to prominence and dominance across the world, and especially in the, in the world of African music. First of, of all, okay, when they say African music, I almost feel like it's being too

broad. I mean, it's, I call it, reducing Africa to one thing that Westerners can understand, chew, and absorbs without asking themselves questions. We're idiots, okay. We're idiots. I just read us for Phil. No,

no, no, you, I'm saying it, but I'm talking about Westerners. Because who tell the story of black people from the beginning, the Westerner? From the beginning when they set a food, in Africa, we were doomed because they come with a plan. And that plan was to enslave us, to colonize us, and to take our wealth away, the resources away,

and keep their hands on it, and continue telling the story of us not being smart enough, being stylish, we have no culture, we have no civilization, we have no library, we have nothing. We are savage people. When you are dehumanized from the beginning, how do you reclaim your humanity as, as Kerry James was telling me when I was sitting down with himself,

we never win any battle. We've been defeated. So it's very hard for us to tell our story from the point of being defeated because we're never given a chance to do whatever we wanted to do the way we wanted to do it. I mean, it was this, she's woke-dy-wook-woop-woop.

Okay, so I just recently, up until maybe five or six months ago, I was told that my family history starts in Benin, Benin. You're from there. How large is the territory that you're from? Well, I know in kilometer, I don't know, in 1.6 million kilometers is the country. It's the small country. We are close to pretty much 12 million, and we have 50 different languages.

Whoa. Oh, yeah. I may take one, five miles, you go to the next village, different rhythm, different drums, different languages. Everything is different. So out of the 50, I only speak four. But those four allowed me to be able to move completely in the south all the way to the center of the country.

But as soon as I hit the northern countries, I need an interpreter because I don't speak any of the language from the north. How many languages are, would you, Your assessment, how many languages are in the continent of Africa? Some people say 1,500, and I say there's more than that. Because every little village, the language, sometimes what happens is that it's like between Latin and French. The language of my father, phone, was, at the beginning, it was called Peda. It was a tribe.

And it was very difficult for people to understand. And so step by step, when colonization coming, it starts being diluted a little bit to make it more understandable. So it turned to French instead of being the Peta language. But the Peta language, when you speak, but the Peta language, you understand a lot of languages from the southern part, like Ava, like Nago, many different languages in the South. And what is interesting to me is how, as a little girl born in the city,

I was able to be surrounded by different languages in one street, the street I grew up in. So in front of my house, I have the Muslim, have the mosque. I have people from the mono that comes from between Ghana, Togo and Benin, that kind of thing. And then I have people from Nigeria. My mom is from Nigeria. So I have, I speak Yoruba too. And then you have all those people during the battle between the kingdom of the phone and the kingdom of for Yoruba when they used to fight for territory.

Every time somebody win a battle, you bring the prisoners back. So the prisoners that come from the Yoruba land, you find them in the place, the village, the village that they built is called Ketu. And the language is called Nago, which drive from Yoruba, but mixed with the language that was in the area. So they mix it up and it's a completely different language from Yoruba. So is it quite often that there's conflict between the Nigerians and... No more.

No more. At the beginning, it was Nigeria being in Togo, Ghana, there were one country. Okay. So it's the colonizer that put the frontiers, the separate tribes. We are all the same pretty much. If you do the DNA test of Nigerian, Ghanaian, even Cameroonian on the northern part of Cameroon and Togo, we're all the same people all the way to the north. The north of Benin frontier is the Niger River. So what makes it complicated for me to learn a language from Niger is that you have a lot of trade that go from the northern part of Benin to Nigeria.

You have the Aoussa. Aoussa is the language. Aoussa and Swaheli are the two biggest language in Africa because there are languages of trade. So if you want to trade from west to east, north, south, if you speak Aousa, you can turn, you can do the whole continent and you speak Swahili to. So you have the Aoussa and the north.

You have the northern people from Togo that are there. You have the northern people from Niger that comes in because all the nomad, they're coming when it's too dry in the desert. The closest place where they can get water is, in Benin. So they cross the river to come in. So it's very, very complex to north and they have so many different languages and the rhythm

also is completely different. How's the rhythm different? The rhythm in the south is much more 6-8. And in the northern is more complex. You have 5'4, all those kind of different weird rhythm. And it's the

only place in the whole country where women have their music, the traditional music separate from the man. When they are playing, they want no guys in there. And it's like, you just don't touch our drum. It's kind of pretty serious. Really? Oh, really? Also, the drums themselves are totally different. The whole rhythmic complexities are completely different. If you go like five miles east or five miles west, because all those countries are really close together. So Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria are all next to each other. And you can get to them by going through them. And then

you go from an Anglophone to a Francophone to an Anglophone country. So there's this constant dealing of languages and it's insane and not in addition to Benin sorry to get all Ganani but like that that country also as you go north has totally different languages and totally different drum cultures by going 50 miles you have Kumasi which is the middle of the country which has its own culture I love Kamasi better than Akra yeah me too and then Tomolay which is closer to the desert which is more like talking drums and things like that it's a totally different culture as well as you go as you go like in like one verse one village that was...

Wait, hang on one second. Okay, so good. Like, your mom is Jamaican, what the hell you know about that? No, you know, one of the thing that was really interesting for me, growing up in Benin, I never went to the north

because when the colonizer came, they divide the southerner from the northerner. And they tell us, they told the southerner, you go to the north, they're going kill you. They are savage people there. So when I was little kid, I'm not going to go to the north. When I travel to desert, my father said, yeah, I like to go. My mom and say, no, don't send my child there.

I'm like, what's going on? I have to leave my country because of the communist dictatorship. Go to France and coming back to my country to discover the north. And I discover a village. Insane. It's called Manigri. They speak Nagu Yoruba, but it's different. I understand them, but there's a certain thing I don't understand.

And in that village particularly, the only thing the guys are allowed to do when they are playing music is to play the equivalent. I think the ancestor of Berraimbao, that's where it comes from. It's that small guitar that go ding, bling, ding, ding, ding. And the only thing he can say, the women are singing, he's going, mm-hmm. He can only hum. That's it. You say more than that. In agreement.

They just go like, we don't ask you to sing yet. Shut up. So it's sort of not segregation. No, it's not segregation. It's that one. When the guys are doing. Respecting the culture. But the thing is when the guys are doing their music, the women are not singing.

They are cooking. So there's no tribes that collaborate with each other? They do when somebody die. So somebody dies. Only in death. When somebody have a baby, when somebody's getting married, when there's something that is not official. Because when I come to see them in the village,

do women want to pay tribute to me? So that's when they come and want to sing to me. And they tell the guy, she's our sister. We want to sing for her. You can come in, but we are the main attraction here. So that's the choice. And the men respect that, but they are there.

They do. Oh, yeah. Because I would figure that there's... In music, there's no violence. It's just like this. And then everybody respects each person. person's desire to play the music they want to play at that time. And that's what is it really interesting. And it's also a Muslim village. And even now and today, like that is still respected? Well, you want to go, come with me, I take you there. You see it for yourself.

When's the last time you been there? It was three years ago. Boss Bill? When's the last time? Unpaid Bill. He's why he'll be our boss one day. 2001. 2001. Okay. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying.

Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment.

And the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko,

joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl.

You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield and in this new season of the girlfriends Oh my God, this is the same man A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist

I felt like I got hit by a truck I thought how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care So they take matters into their own hands I said oh hell no I vowed I will be his last target He's gonna get what he deserves Listen to the girlfriends

Trust me babe on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Ego Wadam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo! My dad gave me the best advice ever.

I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up. through and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot.

He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat just. hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to thanks, Dad, on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a year's long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in someone's, correct?

doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Lusby and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona.

Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So let's go to Benin. Yeah, let's go. Let's do. Because you are from beneath. Well, I was asking, because I think the story that was told to me was that, um, when the last slave ship, American slave ship, the clotilda, was gathering their last flock, their last cargo of slaves, that the, there were prisoners. I guess they were either there were Nigerians captured in Benin or Benin in Nigeria.

That part I'm still kind of rusty on. But I believe that they were Nigerian captured in Benin, and it was 200 of them. And they were taken to Alabama. And then at the last, not at the last minute, because slavery was illegal by that point. It's kind of like the great-great-grandfathers, the last slave. he was allowed to start his own Yorba practice in Little Africa in Alabama. Have you gotten a chance to see that village at all or what it's... No, I've been to Alabama, but I stopped.

I was in Birmingham. Okay. This is more near Mobile. So I think I have to go back there because I went to visit the memorial of those young girls in school. It was just a moving moment for me. What is really sad for me when I go to those places is that we in Africa, we got no idea what's going on what goes on when people left.

We have no idea. And we are so ignorant about the history of African-American is painful. And I came here in 1997. I knew very little. I knew a little bit because I always asked questions and because music has attracted my attention to the fact that there are African people

in America that they are doing the music that speaks to me that I can bring to the traditional musician. It's the funniest thing ever. I brought James Brown in the middle of my village. Their groove on it, man. It's just like, how you go, what the hell? They don't understand nothing. They're going, say, la, I'm back and blah,

and they're playing it. I'm like, oh, sure. Damn, what is that? It was even gruevier than James Brown stuff. So I'm like, we have so much in common yet. The job of brainwashing us and dividing us has been done so smartly that we keep believing

the people that enslave us what they tell us is the truth. I have a different take on this because I grew up with, my both grandmother died over 100 years. And the first time I heard the word slave, I'm like, what is that? I was 9 years old. Because my brother taught himself to play guitar

by listening to all the guitar player. And he was a huge fan of Jimmy Hendricks. And he was born bold. He never had any hair. So one day, the axis of love, what the... Accesses board is love, yeah. That's what... That album, come home, I'm like, this guy is Beninese.

But how are you hearing that? You thought he was... You think that Hendon was... Yeah, he was playing. My brother was played the guitar. He put the freaking Afro week on. I said, you don't need an Afro week to play the guitar, man. But dude, what the hell is going on?

He said, I want to look like that guy and sound like him. I said, yeah, that guy, by the way, he's African. He's Beninese. What is his language is he's singing in? And he goes, he's not Beninese. He's African. I was nine years old. I looked at him and I said, I might be nine, dude. I ain't stupid. You can't be African and American at the same time. And then he said, yes, you can't. I said, no, you're lying to me. He said, no, he's a slave descendant. I said, what is the slave? What is the descendant? He goes, you know what? Because my nickname in my family is when why, how? I asked so much question. Every elderly people, as soon as I come into the video, they go, pshu. Everybody just scatter around. So he said, go ask grandma.

So I went to ask my grandma, my grandma started telling me the story of slavery. I'm like, She's mad. Because I never... My mom and dad always used to... One thing they're repeated every day to us is that a human being is not a matter of color. Do not come back to this house and say you feel because you're black, because that's the day you're going to see our hands.

Because they never raise a hand on us. I'm like, why did they say that? I grew up in such a protected, loving, musical, cultural place where the house was open to everybody. Today you go to Koton and you say, you're my friend, my mom, say, come on, this is the room. Eat, sleep. That's how my parents are. They don't have any kind of

fear about any other human being. So for me, when I arrive in France and start hearing all those racist slur, I was like, what does this thing come from? I never felt like that. And even the story of slavery, for me, it was not true.

I did not believe in it until I turned 15, and I saw Winnie Mandela on TV talking about Nelson Mandela in jail and apathy. And I was sitting in the living room and I turn around for the first time in my life, I start cursing at my parents and insult to them. Think I've never done. And they were just like, take a back.

Whoa. You were allowed to live after that? I was mad. I said, you are liars. You're lying to me. Suddenly I realized that I've been living, believing that my skin color was not going to be any liability for me ever. That everywhere I go in the world, I'll be welcome with open arms.

And then I'm not far from where I live. People are still under appetite and what a song? And I just go crazy, literally go crazy. I was sobbing so much. And I walk into my room, slam the door. And I stay in that room for two, three hours. And I come out and say to my dad, I wrote a song. And I was still crying.

My father said, let us hear it. So I start singing the song. And I finished the song and my father said to me, well, I understand you're mad. I understand you're sad whatever feeling you have tonight I get it but one thing I have to tell you

you never as a musician praise hate nor violence what you're saying not going to go in my house you're never going to sing that song unless as an artist you realize that your role is to build bridges

to hold the key to close door for people to come together because it's a gift that is given to you with love not with hate unless you went, go back in that room that you come from and rewrite this song and think about what that anger can be turned into positive, what strength it can give you, what you think the future can look like,

and you rewrite the song. If you don't do that, you know what I'm going to sing under my roof anymore. So I went back and I rewrite the song and it becomes for me to be able to live with it an anthem of peace. where I said in that song the song comes out everywhere the same way the bird flies in the sky the same way

there's no frontier is no color wherever they go they go free and I'm dreaming of a world where we are as human being we can move around free with no fear that I'm dreaming of the world where there's not there will never be any more ever oppressor or oppressed people

my father said now I like that song you can sing it so you're saying at that moment When you saw Winnie Mandela, you were 15 years old this time. My life just to like, bam, it's like two customers come together. So suddenly what my grandmother told to me, I'm like, it's kind of the same thing. So were you not aware of what was going on next door in Nigeria with what Fela was doing with his music? Oh, yeah, Fela, yes. I mean, when I was a teenager, I knew because when zombie come out, first of all,

When fellas' music started, it was a kind of revolution, a huge revolution. Because for years, the music that was coming from Nigeria was Fuji music and Juju music. And we were like, dingin, ding, niggi, ding, niggi, and we were all dancing on that. Fuji music and Juju music. Sonia Day, Ishola. I mean, I just like dancing it. And then, fella comes in there. People say, come on now.

Come on now. So it sounded radical to you at the time? Oh, man, I like it. Because the first song I heard was open and close. Okay. We drive our parents crazy because we invented a so nasty dance. I don't want to tell you even how it would be doing. My father and my father said, you're not going to listen to that music anymore.

If we dance like that, you're like, yeah, right. As soon as you go to work, we're going to come around and crank it up and then move our booty and open it up. I mean, just like crazy. it gives us as a young girl freedom of making our own music on top of it and dancing it because we see it fell out dances dancing and we are like, it was an eye-opening

for me as a young girl what you can do with music, how you can empower people with music to. Then he wrote the song Zombie because I always used to go back and forth on vacation in Nigeria because I have part of my family in Nigeria. So we arrived in Lagos one day and my auntie said you come in that house

you close the door you don't go out I'm like auntie we gotta go see the other cousins they say you and live in this house what's going on? Me I'm curious like here you tell me no or be it. That's a yes yes yeah yeah yeah yeah you better wait for something that's gonna happen to you and I don't know all the way to sneak out of that house

because all my cousins this shit we do the press don't see so they were sitting in the living room with you out there We get into the street Oh my God The house of my auntie was not far from The shrine

Not far from the shrine Where all the taxi comes to And all those people were there And then you see the military out there And everybody's walking from the military Somebody, you know, go talk unless you tell them To talk to their face like this And they would chase them, they'd be running

And then at one point I'm like You don't live here They're going to kick you And then at that time my mom realized I was no longer and she would start screaming my name Father going to kill me and something happened to this child and I came out and said, why are you?

I said, I didn't go know I went to the toilet I didn't go anywhere. I just went to the toilet. Really? I said yes, ma'am and I was covered with dust. So where was the toilet?

I said we went to the next neighbor because somebody was in the toilet just we make up your mind who makes up because you're going to get a slap on your face. So that's what fella did. And also, by me growing up listening to Miriam McEyba, when she came near, I was eight years old. When I was with my mom, they have a group of women asking for women right to vote,

to decide who they're going to marry, no more arranged marriage. And I was eight when I'd be singing the retreat song of Miriam Akeba with them because they're like, we can't sing. When you're in front, you're singing, everybody stop and listening to our message. Just keep on singing. That's all. I was sitting in front. I didn't understand nothing about what they were saying. I'm like, I'm not doing my homework.

I'm here having fun. I'm singing. That's it. I be singing. And then I start having that political conscience, actually, about what you can do with music for people to empower people first and to make people aware of what is going on

because the news most of the time what they're telling you might not be the truth. So fella, Miriam McKeepa, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, there were the women musically that opened my eyes to a lot of things. How would American artists in the 70s trickle to the culture in Africa? Like, was there a radio station that often played?

Oh, the radio, I mean, our radio was playing every music. I mean, I'm talking about it now, and then looking back, I'm like, I didn't even realize how revolutionary it was at that time before the communism regime arrived and say no more music from outside. I mean, they would do a traditional music program. And then right after there, they would go to Chuck Berry or they will go to the Rolling Stones or they'll go to the Beatles or they go to Amazing Grace from Arisa Franklin. To crazy, for me, it was the norm.

It was okay. It was really what it is. And those music, I was listening to them home because my brother, they have a musical band way before the polyrhythmia. They started and my father bought the instrument for them. The first time I saw a drum. kid. And for a music, the bass,

a guitar, percussion. It was because my father bought the instrument. The boxes were in outside. And I come from school, I start poking myself. And when they open everything, I sat down in the rehearsal room, looking at the drum kit going, is it one person that played out

or two? And I said, no one person. I said, how many arms? How many feet? Wait, how many siblings do you have in the family? We are 10. Seven boys? and three girls. And where do you fall?

Seven. You're the seventh child? Yeah, and I have three brothers after me. Okay, okay. So, I see now. Now, I don't want to sound like the ignorant Americans who also happens to be African.

Let me tell you how Aritha Franklin has impacted my life. Okay, go ahead, go ahead. Save me, thank you. All of those, I mean, there was the period of LPs. And some LP will come with two songs, some will come with all the whole song.

And I just get, my brothers, I drive them nuts. I'm like, can you get any LP out in this house that have some women on the cover? I'm sick and tired of seeing boys on the covers, man. Boys band from Kong Zaire, the trio of Majesi here and this, there. There are no women that does music. And my brother said, you better start bringing some city in the LP here with women

because this little girl, she's going to break all this stuff down. So they start bringing the French female singer. I'm like, yeah, okay, I take that. But there any black women playing? Right. And a friend of them come from New York, from America, and brought amazing grace of Aretha Fronty. Whoa.

I was not home where the album came in. The singer of the band of my brother, his ego can't even fit here. He said, I can sing anything. I'm the best singer in the world I'm like, I would look at me like, yeah, sometimes you sing of key, baby. But I'm a little girl. I can't say that, right?

Right. So I came back from school and they were having that heated discussion. Because my brother wanted to do some of the song. From Amazing Grace. And the guy said, that woman singing shit crazy. Me, I can't sing that. I'm like, huh? A woman?

I'm going to see that. Me, Mr. I know everything. Oh, I'm going to find out who's whooping his butt right there. and I grabbed the CD from the table and from the first time I saw, I read the Franklin, I'm like, thank you, sister. You whooping these guys' butt.

I like it. I like it. I like it so much. I can't even scream up enough. And then I sat and I look at him and said, and I start to him and say, don't you sing everything? He said, what are you about singing?

I said, I can sing better than you. I tell him, my brother said, shut up. Because my brother always tells him, come and listen to the note. Sometimes you're off. And he said, but she's the woman. What woman knows have to sing.

This one is just screaming. I said, no. She ain't screaming. She's singing. And you can't. He was so mad. I did that day. My brother said, he didn't come for the two.

You remember that? He was so pissed up. I'm like, well, you know that he can sing. I said, but you can't say everything that you think. I mean, you do you have filter a little bit? I said, was he a good singer? Was he okay? He was the lead singer or where?

Was he okay? Was he a good singer? No, he was an impersonator. That's a different thing. Singing in it because he likes to do James Brown with the cape, with the thing, and he come up. That guy's stupid, man. I mean, they play where they play. They have red clay on the floor.

He wore white, all white, Jim's Brown. And I'm like, one day, I was like, looking at him and said, this guy is just a fool. And he did the, what you call that? The splits? The split and the pango. Oh, no. I'm like, yeah, man, I like this. Undirectly, and I'm loving this, baby.

She's like D on what's happening. I feel it. I'm like, well, that's a go, man. The eagle gonna take some. Takes a beating. Yeah. Have you, I know how much that album means to you. Have you ever been fortunate enough to see the documentary that Sydney.

Stop making sense? No, no, no, no. the Amazing Grace. No, I haven't. So basically, Sidney Pollack directed, had eight cameras

on her at the whole time. The funniest part of that documentary is the fact that the Rolling Stones are the deacons. There's a scene where, like, Mick,

the drummer, Charlie Watts, Keith, and the bass player. Brian Jones No that's that Mick McTaler No

Bill Ryan Thank you Thank you Yeah they They usher Like the church is in like the hood Of South Central Los Angeles And

And then you see the Rolling Stones Get out of like a Rolls-voice limousine And they're ushered and flanked them between like the deacons on the side of the choir and um it's it's i mean i saw a good 10 minutes of this um a friend of ours a friend of this show um matthew uh has the complete movie what oh yeah okay okay i gotta see that come on edit i don't know he has the complete movie um but

For the longest, for some reason, Aretha keeps these injunctions from stopping it from being shown. It was supposed to be shown on its 40th anniversary at Cannes Film Festival. But even at the very last minute, right before they were about to press the thing, like, a judge injunction came through and, like, prevent it. I guess there is, she gets last rights option. So for some reason, obviously it's money or something, you know, she doesn't want that footage to be seen. So, but it's the 10 minutes I saw some of the most life-changing, probably the best footage of any 70s act I've ever seen. And this includes like watching Michael Jackson do the robot on. I mean, she's great.

I mean, she's the ultimate. I mean, she's just, there's no word. Have you met her? Oh yeah. We did a show at Radio City Hall for Nelson Mandela's birthday and the lineup was intimidating. She sang right after Stevie Wonder.

And Alicia Keys and myself were to go ride beef after Aritha. And my husband was sweating and going, how are you going to do this? I'm like, I mean, she's giving me the baton and I'm taking it. We put in flame on that baton, man. We're going to light up the place.

I was about to say, you, I can't even imagine, like, your show is so high-powered and so, I can't imagine you being stopped or getting nervous about anything. I'm star-struck when she sings, I mean, because she's such a good singer. She's such a great performer. She has something that is, if he's not giving to you, by nature,

there's no way you can be like that. You know, the people say they have it and they're wasted. They don't know how to use it.

She's in control of every part of her body in that voice. Every word that comes out of the mouth of Aritha, it doesn't come out because it can't come out.

It just come out before it has to. It has to. So when she finished and she go, Hallelujah. I'm like, hallelujah,

I'm coming, man. And I look at Alicia. I say, girlfriend, are you ready? She goes, let's go, kill it. And we walk on that stage

and bam. Wow, it inspired you. I inspired us, both of us so much. We look at this other. We're singing this song differently. Because when you come after somebody like that, you don't want to shame her. You want to shine to prove to her that

everything she does we admire and then we're going to continue doing it. We need the continuation of whatever she gave us to pass on. So that's it. That's very noble because I know a lot of people would just be like, nope, I'm going to outdo. you and... Well, music is not competition for me.

If you're there to do competition, if you're not there to empower people, my mother used to say a phrase to me. For years, I'm like, what did she mean? It took me years. One day I was about to go on stage in Boston, at Somerville Theater.

And as I was getting... Because till then, even though my show are really great and everything, I used to be a little bit stressed before I go on stage. And as I was staying on the wing of the stage before I go on stage, I hear that voice of my mother saying,

before you set a foot on the stage, you have to be able to think of yourself and be naked spiritually. And then suddenly it hits me. It hits me like, bam. I walk on that stage, no fear. My feet barely touched the ground. around, I'm like, I'm free.

No more fear. I'm never going to be afraid of going on stage because what she means by that is that you are not on stage you look at your belly button and how beautiful your dress is or whatever you wear is. You are there to be humble at the service of the music and the song that you are doing to be able to open yourself to the public. The more open you are, the more you give, the more you get. And from the moment I understood that, it transformed completely my life.

And what amazes me is people that come back and say, you never can see what we see when your show is over. When we are walking the street with people, the smile they have on their face is just like you can't even put in a bottle. I don't think about it when I'm on stage. My stage is my sanctuary. My stage is my heaven on earth. And I always tell my musician, if you have an issue,

check it on the garbage before you walk on that stage. It will be waiting for you, you can pick it up when you came out. But when you come on my stage, you make faces, you dare know me. I don't have to talk. I look at you, man. And you know you don't do it right. You can leave. If you don't like it, you can go.

No one is indispensable, and even not me. So when we are on stage, what we do, we artists, is to play, to entertain. And at the same time, not knowing, because we don't know that. We are empowering people. And that's what we do the best. That's why music, specifically, and art in general, are the first thing that dictators, authoritarian regime, the target. Because we set people three.

We tell people what time it is. We give them the strength to go in the street and march, to speak out the mind, and they don't want that. Do you remember any speech of JFK? As smart as he is, you don't. Martin Luther King, we love him, but we remember. I remember phrases of his. But songs, you listen to from 60s, 70s, you can sing them. Is it true?

That's the power of music right there. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever

supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports

Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects, from hidden traits teams look for, to the biggest mistakes franchises make, to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that, trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of The Girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist.

I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends.

Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Ego Wode. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo.

My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day. And I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved.

And he's like, just give it a shot. And he goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that.

There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in someone, correct? I doctored the test ones.

It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Alespian and Michael Nanchini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young.

This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember your very first performance on stage? Oh, Jesus.

How long ago was it? I was six years old. Okay. My mom had a theater group. Till today, she's the only woman in West Africa that has had such a large theater group ever. And she wrote the piece, she did everything by herself. She learned how to do lighting. She does the costume, everything.

It was her passion. So a little girl in the theater group of my mother, that sing a song that I knew before she started singing it. And I knew every part of the piece. And I would tell my mom why I'm not the one singing it. And my mom was like, because you ain't playing the part. I said, what does mean playing the park? She's like, can you shut up?

Then I finish what I'm doing? I'm like, wait, every time you don't want to answer me, you have to shut up. But I'm going to ask the question tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, every day. I see why they called you why and how. Shoot, man. Oh, geez.

And then every time there's a play. I'm going to, just to piss her off, I'll be messing up with the costumes because she has nobody. So, sin after scene, she would put this, I'll mix them. And then one day, the girl had malaria crisis, something like that. So I am. You gave her that too, didn't you? No. I was playing in the, the costume she came and dragged me by my feet and said.

Come out, you want to sing now? This is your turn. Come and sing. I say, no, I ain't singing. She goes, yeah, you're singing. No, I'm not. Yes, you're singing. She put the dress on me, and I swear. She shoved me in that stage.

She shoveled me literally on the light. For the first time I realized I have a skeleton. Oh, no, no. I can't sing me. I can do this. She was looking at me like this in the wings, saying, you want to play the part? I don't know.

Thank God for me. Only one light. in that theater. The spotlight was right on my face. I can't see nobody. People know in my house, I'm the clown too. I always making jokes, croaking up jokes. And people start laughing. I'm like, oh, you ain't seeing me. I can do my thing as I do. And I sing. And I start singing, oh, who you get a sound day. Oh, betta me, job, me, wayke me, yeah, you, Gondalagotong, oh, mezeh who are way

t'allowardot D'i whona gweewee a-g-g-g-g-tag-guntag-gank-le-me Oh, my majah farlae, ch'u-joo-hun-chee-law-weewee. Bo-gall-gall-gall-nit-we, And I'm going to go to do. And I finished, I just ran off stage.

And my mom was like this. I said, Mom, how did it go? She just shake her head. I'm not, come and take this shit off me head. I took it. Vood drive back to the costume. Wait, you didn't wait to see if the audience applauded. I was going to run in evasion.

I was gone. Mom, come back. I say, I'm going back there. I don't want to go back there. So I have to ask, you said that most of the, that was in 6-8, what you were clapping. Yeah. So was that typical of the rhythms? That's typical of the rhythm from my village.

But also, that's like a backwards clave, like a backwards rumba clave that's in 6-8. It depends on how you hear it. Yeah. Because that's the other thing. It's like you're thinking about it. Like, where does your one line what she was just singing? Can you sing it again? Where's one?

One, two, three, four, five, six, one. So where's your one? Four, five. Not there. One, two, three. It's not there. That's the whole thing. It's like the perception of where one is is a completely different thing and that you have to

completely abandon all of that. Oh, so she could easily join the roots because nobody knows how to fucking one. I mean, she could easily join the route, period. But like, but like, that's, yeah. Abandon the one. A band with no one. Yeah. I mean, the thing, he's right about that because my husband and I, we've been working together forever.

We married for 31 years. And the first time we met, he knew nothing about African music. Nothing at all. He just listened to Van der Graf or whatever he tried to. I'm like, your music, you know, if you're not date me this time, kind of music, don't be playing that shit for me. I want something else. So I sat in teaching him traditional music, and when he started listening to it, it transfers. from completely his life.

And when we went to Bin in 1995, I always tell him, forget to count. Don't count. If you go to Africa, you count, you're out of the door. It's like, it's part of the body. Don't count. It's feeling? Yeah, it's like it's not.

So when you do that, you're thinking like a drummer right now so bad, you can't. No, you can't. Just play. Just play. It just doesn't matter. But math and sciences, Yeah, well, math and science is, wait, you know what, the drums and the music in Africa, they are coded, they are cycle all the time.

Like you're playing, somebody's playing the clave, the person's standing up and go pee, somebody coming in gluck there, because he knows where his body is. I mean, it's such, you've got to feel it in your body. And that's why when I'm dancing, I can't be dancing six, eight, and doing any rhythm on top of it. Because the one I don't count, it's just my body that I follow. So, I mean, when we start doing this field trip, recording songs and music everywhere, that's when he realized exactly what I was saying. Versa village, in my village where I come from, the village where my father come from, is the village where you have the gate of no return.

It's the memorial that had been built by the President Sugglo that no one wants, especially not the French wanted, because he said, we cannot be in denial of this country's past. slavery have happened here and we have no memorial for it and we need to build a place for that and not far from the beach where they take the slave where you have the gate of no return we have a village that belonged to us

that is called Azizakwe and you only can get that by boat, little boats because it's between mangroves and swamps and you have a kind of island that that village is. And in that village, one of the rhythm of my family is made of

how can I explain this? I would say symphony of Caldell. You have Carbell that are high like this. You have big one all the way to the small one. And there are like that. Big sound, playing, right? And you have two drums in the middle of it.

Okay, I can... I'm visualizing this. You're visualizing. I have the sound of it in the computer and you look at the Pro Tools is the craziest thing ever. Everybody's sharp on time. It's crazy. The wave are like, kh.

He goes, woohoo. And then I tell him, didn't I tell you it, don't count? He said, how do they do that? I say, no, I don't know. So you're saying without counting, they're somehow in sync with each other? Because we live together, we breathe that. We were born in it. It's like, for example, I give you an example.

another example in the northern part of Benin where the rhythm is completely different from the southern part okay? Vers the rhythm that is called teke. All right, what's teke? Teke is a rhythm, okay? And it's played by two drum in the front

and stick along like that. There can be 80 of them singing and dancing and when the rhythm speed it up, right? They'll go, they dance, and they are dancing. They're not looking at each other. And they all come and they clack.

All the stick come together, you hear one sound. No fly. Do you want a comparison? I think what it is, it's like everything is by feel. In the same way, what you're known for is like when you play with Dee and like you're never on the beat, right? Dee's thing is he's always behind the beat and it's a feeling that you feel that you're famous for that this is your shit.

You're on the back side of the beat. It's a feeling. So is this. It's exactly the same thing. It's just like you're born into your father was a drummer. But are you saying that I can't make. you could try to mathematical sense of this you could try to and people have done it like like scholars who go to Africa to study the music they're like this is actually has Alan Lomax been around the villages like recording stuff yeah but the thing is you studied that and you write it down when you played it's not the same right and when they would look at it they'd be like what the hell is that it's like it's like 12 8 versus 6 8 because that's the thing it's like she's saying it's it's a lot of 6 8 but it's like well I couldn't read it but in my head and now I'm trying to figure when she said that I was like I wonder if only because I've spent met meticulous amounts of time, like decades,

of having this inner clock in my head when I'm drumming, I don't even know if I can drum without the inner monologue of... You can. But the other thing that you're not getting is that... You should comment on this, is that often it's tied to the dance. And so, like, more often than not,

the drumming is tied to the dance. So where they are stressing certain beats is where they feel it. So it doesn't have anything to do with the music. Yeah, the accents a lot of times come from the dance. But the thing is when we start playing, for example, let me set it for it.

We all, from some reason, it's always a circle. And I never understand why it is, but that's the way it is, right? Only in the north that you have lines like that. People stand like that. The tecker is one, San San San San Su is another one. Cincinnati is something they put on the feet

all the way up here. And then they do the rhythm. And then they do the rhythm. Check, check, check, check, check. And it's now, it's like that, all of them. and it's one sound. Okay? So here it is.

When you are in Africa and in the middle of this thing, you haven't been taught to think about counting. It's just you breathe it. You're born in it and you don't ask the question at all. So for me, since I have been a little girl, I have been always exposed to that rhythm. So this is how we start. We come together.

We start playing. You have the cowbell, you have the drums. You have people that clap. You have people that say. So you start playing. Pacta-to-back-tac-tac-coc-coc-cote-pac-coc-pac-coc-pac-coc-pac-coc-pac-cac-cac-cac-c. And then you have the dancer coming in and then he's that. The drummer, the principal drummer, he takes his cue from the feet of the guy.

when he starts going to it's changed immediate it's the same rhythm but it's completely brings up brought somewhere

because the guy he can decide to dance slowly in that he can decide go everything changes

wow some people were born with it and maybe it's maybe it's going that's fascinating it is fascinating my mind is yo dude

I knew I was going to learn something, but damn, I didn't... You gotta come to me. I think I gotta smoke weed. No, no, no, you gotta come to be in. Well, I'm just saying that. When I was in this shit, yeah. I think when you have a lot of

thoughts in your head and, you know, being a sober guy that I am, like, I'm almost thinking that I have to clear, like, even if I wanted to clear my mind, like, there's no amount of meditation that will ever not make me think, one of you and two, any, a three, and a four you, and one of you

It's okay. That's what the music is about. Is counting overthinking it or underthinking it or constricting? I think the lesson I'm learning now is that counting is overthinking it. But that's just how you were taught, how you were born.

That's what you came up in. She's saying that hers is completely different. And what you count and I can do it too, without any problem. Why? I don't read music. And I can play with classical orchestra. I mean, I did a piece.

I wrote a piece with, Philip Glass, based on three poems that I gave to him the mythology of the creation of the world according to Yoruba. So the first piece is Olo Dumaire, the second one is Jiamanja and the third one is Shumari. And knowing Philip Glass, he changes from 5'4 to 5, 6, and then you sang it. So I memorize it. I memorize the whole thing. In my dream, you wake me up, I go straight for it. Because you develop that memorization in the wound of your mom.

You remember songs that you never even know it has been played because you have heard it. So for me, I memorize everything. Everything that has to be memorized is in my head. All the music I listen to. For example, when American music start coming to my house, I didn't speak in English. I mean, I was speaking, I mean, Pijin from Nigeria.

I mean, proper English. I mean, I don't know what that is. But I make up my own words. and it fits perfectly. That's how I start, when I create songs, I create word like Batanga is the word that doesn't exist in my language. Wombo Lombo doesn't exist.

I just come up with that because it describes, it feels right, and it describes something that I've seen that I can't put any word in it because the world doesn't exist. And for me, when I'm inspired, there's no limit. I don't care if it works or not. I just put it there. So I grew up in such a rhythmic surrounding.

The language form is the language of the language. Amazon, it's ta-t-tat-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ha. That's like, all-law-law-de-bao, I want to be a-reou-reque-raig-le. No, the phone? Uh-uh.

That's what I sing before. That's what I sang before. All that kind of stuff. So, you got to be so tight. I have perfect rhythm. And you move the, me, I look at you like, hey, I'm moving from here. Because I know it's right.

Because that's what it is. So is westernized basic 4-4 rhythm sort of looked down upon in... The 4-4, you have it in everything. The 6-8, you have the 4-4. But I just meant something like...

Okay, so when Billy Jean first comes across the pond as a song. And I know it's hard to separate the presence and the artist that is Michael Jackson separate from the song. But is that scene as something that's just basic?

Boom, cap, boom, cap, boom, cap, boom, cap. What I'm saying? You know, you know what, though? It's not the boom, ka, boom, ka, boom, ka, that's, that appear, appeal to the African people. It's the space in between? No, it's the bass. It's the bass.

Doon-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d. The bass always sings. You're never going to hear any music in Africa, the bass going, boom. Boom, boom. People are going to go, what the hell is wrong with you? Chauvin's saying, man. Sing that. Make that bass sing.

And the thing that is really interesting to me, I never realized is that till I start writing music with my husband. And one of the bass line, because I can, because I can't play the bass, but I can sing it for you. I can't play the drums, but I can sing it for you. So that's how I write my song. So it's a song that we wrote on the album IA that had been produced by David Zee in Pesley Park. And it's called Yemanga.

And David Zee go, what is that bass line? I say, if you start counting one, two, three, you're not going to get it. So he was the one playing it. So I come up as I was singing the song, Ojo, Fé, Fé, Ojo. The bass, oh Joe, Fe, Fe, Fe, Fe, Ojo.

Come on me there, Ojo, how do, Fee, Fee, Ojo. Come on me there, Ojo, the bass, go. The bass go. The bass is always giving the cue to the percussion and the drums. The first go, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do I change it all the time to four.

So it never goes in a loop circle. No. Aha. Old Davis-Z. He found his match. He's match. And it was fun because I have fun. I can't be able to do.

dance. I always say, on stage, if you remove the keyboard and you remove the guitar, you leave me the percussion and the drums, I'm cool. That's, hey, drums and bass are the key to life. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying.

Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the fourth. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects, from hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar.

This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes.

And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that, trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care.

So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Ego Wode. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo! Woo! My dad gave me the best advice ever.

I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot.

He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall, and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck.

Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in someone, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for.

Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg, a lesbian, and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police.

As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So why did you move You moved to Paris in the early 80s? What caused your... Well, I moved to Paris in 1983

because of the communism dictatorship in Benin. In the 70s, when they arrived, my home becomes an open jail. The freedom of speech was gone because you can't speak. Everybody's spying on you. My father has been asked to do politics. They say, I don't do politics.

retire from post. I'm a postman. I don't want to sleep with blood on my hand. Please. I don't do politics. So therefore, it created the surrounding of paranoia. The phone were tap or not. The thing is

brothers, family has started eating at each other and you find yourself in jail. I mean, because basically they tell you, your father have to be called comrade. Your mom have to be called comrade. Everybody has to become comrade. You see anybody on the street, you say, hey, comrade. I'm like, what the hell?

And me, I've been told by my father that I can never bring my music to be associated with the political party because they come and they go. I have to be neutral. All I have to do is just be the voice of the voiceless. And every artist in Benin at that time, all of us have been elegantly urged, if it's impossible to put it like that, to write propaganda song, which I refuse to do. So it coincide with the release of my first album, Pretty. So I was touring in West Africa, Cameroon, it's Ivory Coast, all different places. I was always able to dodge the political gathering where you have to sing to. And then one day I was strut and been in and have to do it.

And after that, I just said to my parents saw me through it. My father and mother said, you got to do it. go because then I'm going to open my mouth and I'm going to finish my life in jail for sure. So it took them one year to plan my escape. And we were waiting for an occasion that will coincide with that. And one of my cousin was getting married and she lived close to the airport. So my mom and dad has been made the witness of the couple. And that was our reason to plan this.

So everybody knew about it. in the street where I grew up because everybody's spying. Our house was already a movie theater because people from every kind of work of life will come to the house. White, black, yellow, blue, whatever color you are, you come to the house. So we were suspicious

before the military regime arrived. So the day of the wedding, we went to the city hall marriage, went to the church, and then the evening was the moment where my father put the car in the house. I put my my evening dress

and in the plastic bag I put my traveling clothes he put the suitcase in it and everybody saw us going to the party so my flight the flight that I took to leave is still leave from Cotonou

to Paris 1155 still the flight still exists and what happened when the military regime started the military coup was was perpetrated by military that come from northern part. So the division comes into the politics.

So in every powerful position, they put a southerner and a northerner. So they spy on each other. So I walk, my father dropped me far, so I checked my luggage, and then I have to go through customs. And I was praying. Because there I'll end up in jail,

because before you leave the country, you need the authorization of the government and you say to them, what are you going to do? Where are you going? How long are you going to be going and when you're coming back? You don't come back. Your parents are the one that they put in jail. Oh, word. Oh, man. So I didn't have that paper in my passport.

So I walked to the custom and I saw one of the friends of my brother that they used to do music with. He saw me, he almost had a heart attack. He goes, what are you trying to do? You have the authority. I said no, he goes, my, you, one second, you'll have the guy here. He just stepped to the toilet, run, disappear, just disappear. I didn't see you.

I don't want to see what, just go. And I ran. I ran so I never run that fast in my life. And I walk into that plane and dive under the seat and crawl down there until the plane take off. And pretty much before we learned, I came out. I was so scared that the police was still there looking for me.

Even in Paris, you thought that you weren't safe yet? Until I get off and I see my brother I was not safe yet. And I walked out, it was September 11, 1983. And I saw my brother, my brother say, you made it.

But for six years straight, I couldn't speak to my parents. Because we didn't know, nor my brother and my parents if the phone were tapped. So my brother, he left from Togo So they didn't have anything on him. They didn't know when it was.

And then they have a code to speak about this or about that. So I arrived in Paris and I decided that if I want to do music, I want to learn to know. My father told me, whatever you choose, if you become a human rights lawyer or you become a singer, whatever it is, go to school and learn to know your capacity, your strength and your weakness, to be a better person at what you do. So I started going to music school and I spent a trimester at the university to learn a little bit about law

and I realized at that point that law don't serve justice and if you want to be a human right lawyer you have to study politics. I'm like, it's too much for me. I don't want to go there. I'm just going to focus on singing. And my first year in France,

oh my God, I cry every day. People were so racist. I'm like crazy, man. And for the first time I took vocal class because no, I never had any vocal teacher. And the teacher was like, I come from the classical school of Italy. So you're going to have, I'm like, whatever, as long as I know how to do skills, I'm starting. And that's when people start telling me all those crazy stuff.

There come one day, some two or three of them, the same guys, those stupid guys. They come and say, so, Angelly, tell us, how do you go do your groceries? How do you go to the market there? You have cars or you go on the back of elephants. I say yes, and then the wings of the monkeys, too. Oh, everyone's thought of Africa being... Yeah, 1983. I'm not just crazy. And sometimes the vocal teacher will play some off and back,

we're singing all those stuff. And then one day she said, okay, I want you to listen to this song and tell me what you think. So she played Ravel Bolero. And when it's finished, I said, this is African, man. And, oh, what didn't I say? I'm like, okay. And I shut up. I didn't say anything anymore.

That's why I did my version of Bollero, Ravel Bollero. I put lyrics on it. I'm like, hit this. I just, I settled my issue later on. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to stay there. Got the last word. Oh, you always got the last word. And in the same period, we go sometime.

I make some friends, a good friend that you always used to say to me, they're stupid, man. They live on another world. Just leave them alone. It's not because they parents have money. They think that they're entitled to say everything they want. I say, do I care? They don't pay my rent.

I don't care. So we went to a party, and then at that party, I heard once in a lifetime. Talking heads. And I was like, this is African. Na,

na, na, na, no, no, no, no, no. It's so African melody is ridiculous. So I like, hmm, I like this. This is African. And they say, actually, don't say this in front of other people. And then people say, yeah, well, Africans, you know, you're not sophisticated enough to understand all of these things.

You can't do this. And I say, well, I'm just saying, you're stopping me from saying what I think to say. So that's how my life started in Europe. And I was lucky to work with a piano player called Jasper Vantov. That guy is a crazy dude. But men, independence he have in both hands. He can play something completely crazy here. Be playing this.

He had a song, he goes, on the left eye, he goes, do, do that, don't da, da, da, and dead, and dead, and dead, and then right, go, dun, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I was doing multiple rhythms. Oh, yeah, you're going to kill me. That just hurt my brain trying to even think of it. Yeah, it's just that crazy. And that, for him, from him, because he did an album with Archie Shep called Mama Rose.

And he comes from that world of, I mean, free jazz. And he went to Africa with a guitar player. from Belgium called Philip Catherine. He came back, he said, the first time we met, he said, I have to apologize to you. We white people didn't create nothing. We just tip from all you from Africa, man. That's what I hear.

I'm like, oh, really? Okay. He said, man, please teach me some of your stuff. I want to make music. I can't live my life being the free jazz musician anymore. So we started to tour. Pili Pili was the name of the band. And I wrote a lot of songs with them.

Oh, Pili Pili Pili. Pili. So after that, you know, I started making money to pay my tuition. But I have to go do hair. I have to clean hotel room. I have to do babysitting. All the things that are. And I was a big star when I left my country.

But me, it doesn't mean nothing to me. I knew that I had to do something. I have to start from scratch. So you had to start all over again. Yeah, because I'm like, now I'm an adult for real. Mom is no longer there. I've got to pay my rent. I got to pay my food.

I got to pay my transportation. I got everything. And I like the responsibility that it bestowed upon me to do that. And one of the things that was really important for me to bring up here is that my mom and dad, before I left, I knew they were worried. And I know my parents. They won't tell you why they're worried. And I went to them one or two days before I left. I said, Mom and Dad, what is this going on?

What is it? And they say, we just worry that in France, if it's too hard for you, maybe tempted to go through prostitution or take drug or deal drug. I say, I will clean a floor for $1 a day, for how long it takes before I come back or I'm doing that. So for me, doing music was the thing that really keep me together. And after that, I went to jazz school, and I started learning jazz. For me, jazz was before, when I was listening, I was.

to Mahalia Jackson I was listening to because my mom, my dad loved Mahalia Jackson, love Sidney Beshe, my mom used to play clarinet and all those things for me was jazz but real knowing more I become just a junkie of music and it's just

because for so many years no music came I mean the talking heads never made it to been in. It was crazy I mean I missed out so much that I started just kind of hurry hurrying up to to catch up with all the music.

I'm taking in everything. I'm taking everything. And then I get to the jazz school the first day to register. And as I was walking the stairs to go to the office of admission, the admission office, there were one brunette and one blonde girl. And I met them halfway because it was an old building with corners. You never know if you're going left or right. So I asked them what is the admission office?

And they go, why? I said because I have to go register. And they said, you're African? I say, yes. And they look at me and say, what are you doing here? Jazz is not made for African people. I'm like, okay, don't matter.

I just worked up. Really? Yeah. And the founder of the school listened to it, and he didn't say anything. I finished my registration and paid. And then he came to me and said, don't listen to them.

That is ignorant speaking. Every school and year end, we do music here. I will help you put a song together and I know you can't do it. And at the end of that year, they all pick, Ella Fitzgera,

they pick up all the songs. But like, okay, just got him, just go ahead. And I came with George Benson, this masquerade. And I nailed them on the wall. Nice.

Nice. Wait, besides the overt cultural racism, what were the other, cultural differences, as far as that you faced for the first time when you got to Paris, that you weren't used to... The indifference of people.

Indifference completely. People weren't friendly. People weren't... People are indifferent completely. I mean, when I get out of my building, my house, my apartment, you cross your neighbors on stairs. You say good morning, everybody just go like,

you just have a gun. you're gonna shoot them there. I'm like, just say. Then how you make it out in Brooklyn? Right. Brooklyn, we say hi to each other. I tell you, man. In Man, we all are polite.

We know each other. Come on. It's like a village, man, works. Okay. But no, but you got, there's a different, there's a profound difference. Here in America, when you make eye contact with people,

there's a nod. Or there's a kind of recognition somehow. You know? In France, it's just like, you can be transparent. cares. And everywhere she performed, I mean, one thing that really

struck me to the point where I just, like, how am I going to live in this country? I was in the subway going to school, and there is, and at one station a girl walked into the station and she just sobbing so much, she barely could sit. So I stood up

and gave her my seat, and she was crying, and I was there. And I was looking at her, turning the head. And I'm like, there's something profoundly wrong with this crying. It's not like crying for a regular cry crying. There's something bad about this. So when she came out of the subway, she was thumbling. So I get

out. It was not my station. I get out and grab her because she was going to fall on the tracks. So I brought her to sit and I gave her my handkerchief and I sit there and said, I hold her hand. She was shaking so much. And I said, what's going on? Can I help you? She couldn't speak, but I stayed there and I miss my class. But I was

not going to let her there because I didn't know what was going on. And finally she said to me that she's orphans of her, both of her parents. The only person she still had alive was her brother. And she just got into accident and he's very critical in the hospital. And I said, let me take you to the hospital. But I can't stay alone. I say, I'll stay with you. So I have to find a way to call my brother because I was living with my brother.

I could not live without him knowing where I was. So when we get to the hospital, I say, this is what happened. And this is where I am. And then he said, if he's too late, tell me, I come and get you. The brother make it. He was feeling better when I left her. And I said, you want to come to my house? You can stay with me.

And she looked at me and said, no one do that here. I said, yes, but what are you going to go? You don't have the key? Yeah, brother was the one that had the key. And then I said, let's go ask the nurse if in his stuff there are keys. So we find the keys. I accompanied her to where she was going, and I tell my brother where I was. He had a car at that time.

He said, now, it's past 10 p.m. I'm going to come and pick you up. And for me, it was just something that really no one just cared. And that's why my first album that I released in France, when I was signed by Island record, I call it Tortoys. Logozo. And with the free sign, see no evil, talk no evil, hear no evil. For me, it's represents so much this Western society that call itself civilized, developed. Yet, we have lost the ability to reach out, helping hand to somebody that is in need because we are just so

swamped in survival mode. We don't live. We survive. And we have everything. People that are poor in Africa, they leave. They have one meal a day. They will laugh. We are resilient. And that's one thing that no one can take from us. No one. They can't. There's no way that you can take it. Go. Oh, no. I was just, I was just agreeing. Oh. How did you, how did you come across meeting Chris Blackwell? Well, that's, that's an interesting. story. The founder of the jazz school where I was had a label called Open. And he produced only jazz, right? And then he said to me, he came one day and see one of my show. We had to bend together with my husband and some friend and I was doing my

own music. And he said, man, I love the way you sing. I want to produce your album. So he produced the album one. By the time we finished, he was broke. So he said, okay, I'm printing 500 copies of CDs. I give you 200 and sell 300 and that's it. With the two, the two I sent it to record labels. Every record label that exists in France have my CD, promoters, and I start playing at the New Morning Club. And I gave one of my CD to a guy from Mali called Mamadou Conte. He's the one that founded the festival Africa Fent.

Okay. And he was the Yusund Duo's manager at that time. Okay. And then he, without telling me anything, send the CD to Chris Blackwell. So here I am playing a show at the New Morning Club in Paris, and you do two sets. I think the first set, the owner, Madame Farie and all the team of the club, everybody had just been hijacked. When I walk out the stage, they are very important people waiting for you in your dressing room.

I say, really? more important than God? All right, let's go see. So I walk in. You have the A&R from UK Island and you have the head of Ireland, France. And they introduce their steps to me and say, we really want to work with you, want to sign you.

And I'm like, this dude from France, I send them tickets to my shows. I send them everything. Nobody reply. We're coming. We're not coming. It's just like, Now you want to work with me?

You know me how I ask question. I say I don't know what I was going on here, baby. I don't want to want to help. Come on. I want to walk. So you didn't trust this situation at all. Yeah. And then I get my hand on the fax that Chris Bar, Blackwell sent.

And say, you better sign this girl before somebody do. If somebody sign her before, you guys are losing your job. I'm like, yeah, baby. I like this. I like this. All the powers in your hands. Were you excited because of the lineage that he had

as far as... I didn't even know who he was. Oh, you didn't know what a Chris Blackwell was. No, I just know the label island. I didn't know who he was until the signature, the day we were going to sign. I was kind of reluctant because I never signed any contract. Because signing a contract for me in my culture

is a hand check. So why am I signing a paper for? I just thought, what hell? And I was just worried that signing such a big record company I might lose my identity, my cultural identity that I would be doing music that I don't like. So Chris Blackwell came before we sign and said,

I'm really happy to have in the family. If you have any resistance, if you have any doubt, this is the moment to talk to me about it. And I just say, I just want to keep my artistic freedom and do the music that I love to do. And he said, that's no question about it. You do a sell.

Just sign it, put it in. And I'm like, yeah. And for the first 10 years of my career, I have the privilege of having Chris Blackwell as my artistic director. That guy has a ear. Oh, my God. He goes, on the 16th bar, your snare is too loud.

I'm like, for real. And you listen Mark You go It's out of place Not good And every time I do a demo When I send it to him

It's like he's in a candy store Because I always do my demo So well Because you have to think about something It might be hanging out somewhere Somebody might put his hand on it You don't know who listens to what It got to be clean, man

It got to be perfect even if a producer have to put his hand on it, he got something good to work with. Like when I did this project, Remaining Light that I'm doing now, the demo, the voice of the demo are the final voice on the album. My backing singing, all is in there. Off from the demo? Oh, yeah.

Percussion from being all in there. And I add some more percussion. Everything about this album, start with a percussion. The drum follows, Charles Haines, follow the percussion player when we were doing once in a lifetime. We do calling response with the drum. And then he asked, I mean, when he played, he started playing

with the percussion player. I was sitting down like, in the studio in Ellie going, this is my brothers, man. This dude are killing. They start right there. Nobody else can play like that. And I just, I just raised myself. Anjali, don't be racist in the other way, just shut up.

Just shut up. A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep. That's me, Clifford Taylor the fourth. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else.

If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

I'm Anna Sinfield and in this new season of the girlfriends Oh my God, this is the same man A group of women discover They've all dated the same prolific con artist I felt like I got hit by a truck I thought how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care

So they take matters into their own hands I said oh hell no I vowed I will be his last target He's gonna get what he deserves Listen to the girlfriends Trust me babe on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Ago Wadam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network.

It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot.

He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know. the cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcast. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice. sell-ins, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case.

I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Gregalespian and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap.

Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Ameriopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You work with so many musicians and so many different producers. What are the highlights of your working relationships? Like I know that you did a project with Tony Viscani.

Tony was a wonderful kind though. Tony was, because I told him point blank, I don't like studio, huh? I don't like me in a studio at all. I was about to say the first time, you always tell me you don't like the studio. I hate the studio. But it's where the magic happens

so that you can do it on stage. You don't have the freaking daylight. I'm like, if it's rain, it's snow, or something happened, I don't know. Right. And if there's no public to sing, I'm not, why should I sing to a wall? Well, in that case, what was it like working at Paisley Park?

Because you did your whole album. It was like your snow in Minnesota. Oh, shoot, man. My daughter was 10 days old when we started doing it. I just, because that album had been produced by two different producers. Wilmore had from Seoul to Soul in London and David Z. So I was between both. I'll grab my child and go do this and go back.

I love Pesley Park. It was the time of revolution, the Michael, the drum. Michael B. We got so much fun, man. We'd be talking about music when Prince was not there. We were like, come on, come on, let's jump up there. I'm like, yeah, come on. It was fun, Pesley Park.

And then the funny thing is, you see, Sting comes in and you have Prince here. Sting is just like regular Prince is all made up. I mean, the crease of the pen is now, right? I'm like, Jesus Christ. And you look, you see, two monster of music here. a completely different world. And I like that. That's what music bring me to.

I mean, what is important for me when I'm doing an album is that the producer becomes also as part of the music. It's not just pushing buttons. And if you have any idea, I come from a culture where we do things together. And my father always used to say to me, that's the reason why he encouraged me to play soccer. He said, you play soccer and everybody works together. for one goal. You have to learn to do that,

to have people around you, that even you don't think the same, you have the same aesthetics. You have the same goal to achieve. And then you are stronger because you bounce off each other. And two, three brands together is powerful. It's more powerful than any atomic bomb. And that's how I like to do my work.

And I remember the first time he played on my album was in quad. You remember? Yeah, Quad Studio. when I was doing the cover of Voodoo Chai. Right. And I hate that. We call it Tupac Central. That's you?

Yeah, that's me. Oh, I don't know. I'm kind of everywhere. There's a rumor going to be. But the thing is, I didn't like it. I didn't like that process because I didn't come to meet everybody. And after that, I'm like, the next album is everybody in the studio otherwise. Forget you.

At the same time, right. And that's what we did for a Black Ivory Soul. The Black Ivers Soul album we recorded, it was the funniest thing ever. Out of this world. Here comes, I'm here. The best player come from French West Indies. The percussion player have never been to America.

We do all the paper for him to come from Salvador de Bahia. He does not speak a word of English. Go to listen to that album, Rhythm Section. Oh boy, it is tied or what? It was tight. I'm telling you. We didn't speak a word to each other, but it was tight. You don't need to speak the same language to do music.

And it's the only form of art. But I was counting. I mean, I remember the song I cover a song of Gilbert O'Gill. And then, oh, Jesus. I'm still listening to it. And then I mean, go, one, two. And the guitar go,

and the guitar go, ta-da-dam, ta-da-dum, ta-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da--a-----------------------------. and he just, he sits. Everybody down saying, okay, this is where it is. And you have the bass player. He was so happy when he left and said, I wish all the drummer is like, have me and me. I say, hey, hey, hey, oh, don't be messing up with me right now.

I can count. So many numbers, so much math. Now I wish I redid my roll call. Angelique, how do you pick your covers? Because you're known for a lot of, like Voodoo Child and the other ones. You're known for a lot of your covers. How do you pick them? Well, Vodoo Child one started, I mean, I've known Jimmy,

Hendricks sings Benin. But then I came to Paris and we had a friend called, come my Saper, Dijer? He's the specialist of, he knows Jimmy Hendry's more than any American. Come on Zabed? Yazid Manu. He's from Benin.

There's nothing. I'm telling you, sitting down here, you want to try him next time. I tell him when he comes, come and speak to you. There's nothing you would say about Jim Henry that he doesn't know, ever. Really? I swear to you, he got everything.

This is, this guy is crazy. I mean, he loves Jimmy Hendricks so much. I'm like, it's not even your brother, dude. Come on. And we were listening to us, telling him how I discovered the music of Jimmy Hendrith. And he said, I have some news for you. He started playing me all the stuff that I miss because of this stupid communist regime in my country. I couldn't listen to all those stuff.

And then he puts Vuru China on. And I'm like, oh, this is my song right there. I'm doing the cover of it. And he looked at me like, really? I said, what you mean? Really? Well, let's see. I'm like, oh, don't dare me.

You don't know me. Don't do this. It's not good for you. It takes me, can take me 10 years? I'm going to do this cover. Take me six years. I woke up one morning and I started singing the guitar in my head with words. Because I say, Jimmy Hendris can't.

I play this guitar. I'm also saying it, damn it. I don't want anybody else, but Jimi Hendon needs to do it. He can't do it. I'm singing it. So that's what I did. I go, Amon Michael Gia, for do we am.

Amo, Michael Gia, for do you, for doing my kille it, for doing it, I mean. And that to you is a Benin spirit? It's the Amazon. What other American songs?

Because, you know, we're lost in America. I haven't know. five months ago. So I'm just saying that what other songs do you hear in American culture that you feel in your heart? There are so many of them are just sing on it. It has to be, I mean, versus,

for example, when I was doing the listening win on the album of the Talking Reds, The Remainting Light, the Remainting Light. I sang, and Ezra signed that song with me. And that song is a song that is really profound. He goes, You can't cast a spell you can't stop. When a hunter goes out to hunt, he's the one telling the story.

When you shoot at the Black Panther and you miss, the story is different. Because that spell you cast before you try shooting him, he can come back and get you. And then who's telling the story now? The Panther. There it is. There it is. I do want to ask you about remaining light. How long has this been a passion project?

I mean, I'm assuming that for you to cover an entire album, it has to be a passion project. So what, first of all, did you know the history of David Burns' obsession with Nigerian music and you didn't know anything about? I didn't know all that until I started working on it. Wait, what? Yeah, when I started working on it, I went out. and find out.

Oh, really? I started listening to the song first because the song have to speak to me before I get, dive into it. Because I don't want to know anything about it, then it would impact my inspiration. So as I was, we were working on it, I had so many traditional songs that had been sung to me by women when I was doing, Beninese women in Kenyan women

when I was doing my album Eve. And that album that I dedicated to the resilience and the beauty of the African women that won the Grammy. It was not only songs that I come back with. Life stories, too. Women that have been going through hell. I've sung with Amazon Descendant in Nabomi.

Many songs, profound songs. So I put them there. I listen to talking head. I listen to the women. And the song goes, they go together. And the message just match so well. And I also think that this project for me is about many things.

After the last election, I said, I don't want to live in darkness. I don't want to live in fear because I have never been raised in fear. Whatever going to happen, my music is going to be always the one that are going to remain in light and keep people in light. One. The second reason is that the voice of the women, have so much wisdom that this album deserved to have it. The third thing is, when they wrote this album

and did this album, it was at the Reagan era, war on drugs. And now we have war on democracy. So I start listening to the lyrics differently. And people used to tell me, those talking head songs, man, the world's absurd. You don't understand nothing. And I'm like, you got to know how to listen to it.

you got to know how to listen to it. And the first time I heard, born on the punches, I'm like, this is corruption big time here. We are all born on the punches. Our leaders have set up a system of corruption that deprive us from our rights to thrive,

our children to thrive, our society to function. North, south, east, it does not matter where it is. It's not an African problem. It's a worldwide problem. And that, for me, is one of the things that we have to shed life.

on. Because if you look at it, you look at the world in which we are living, I'll take it from Africa. After colonization, and I say colonization still exists in Africa. The independence that we have is just a word with no substance. Because the independence that we had does not allow us Africans to sell our resources the price we want. We don't set the price. We don't set the price. price of our resources. People come and take it and pay the price they want. Sometimes they don't pay. They don't give money to a government that they want to keep in place to be able to take what they need from Africa. And in order to continue that after what they call independence, they have to find a way to stop every single person that are going to say to them,

this is not doable. It started with Lumumba, Kwame and Krumma, all those educational. Maine, when the country colonizing them, presented to them what they call the colonial pact, in which basically they have no power. You are independent, but you have no power. You can have a currency. If you want to build a rose, we have to come and do it. Anything you have to do, we have to do it for you. You cannot make any policy that will impact our interest.

and you have to keep your population on the check. No riot in the street against our interest. All those things are written in the pact. So when Lumuba stand up against it, they kill him. I mean, with the help of CIA. The guide of CIA said, we kill him and dump him in acid for him not to have any place where people can come and say,

this is our hero. So why did they do that? because they put people, puppets in politics, in high places, they continue doing it. I don't know if you see the documentary on CNN about the cobalt.

Well, you've got to see that. The children are working to get cobalt. The cobalt, people don't even know where it's going when they put it on the bus. They have paper and they write the amount. Well, who is it going to? You can't find it. I mean, the head of Tesla is saying,

oh, we always follow the origin. And then they go and they say, ask him, where it is? The paper is here, what is your name? So it's always everything. The business, the way business is done in Africa, is done nowhere. The rule of business don't apply in Africa.

It's just we come, we take, we leave. So for me, Bono de Ponches, was the first song, and I said, I'm going hard on this one. I'm going to do it. And then you have crossed, cross-eye painless. Cross-eye painless is about calling people names. You call us what? You call us the N-word. You call us any kind of name. But what kind of name you want us to give you?

You start telling me who you are. That question never come out. Who are you? How do you see yourself compared to us? If you call us name, who are you? Why do you call us that name and who give us that name? What gives you the right to give us that name? So that's it. cross-eye headlights, your eyes are crossed and goes to the direction that functioned for you. The rest you don't want to know. And so on and so forth. So the whole album I listen to it completely differently. The Great Curve is about Mother Earth, not only the nature, but the women.

Since we have been on this planet, who tells the story of the women, not about the bed? Adam and he is all my mom say all our problem as women start from there from the moment a man cannot stand for his own, take responsibility for his own desire

and have to blame a woman for tempting him and he has a brain to think knowing very well that apple if he takes it there are going to be consequences he took it anyway and blamed a woman did I always ask the question

And did Eve just knock him down and put his feet on her throat and shoveling in his mouth? No, no, no. So why do we have to be blamed for the men's sexual life? I mean, there's a war of rage again in this country against women to go through abortion. Abortion is not never an easy decision to make for any woman. It takes two to death the tango. Where's the guy? If the guy is there helping the woman, the woman don't think two seconds to go have a abortion.

So we are blamed for that, too. everything we are blamed for. So the me too movement is a great movement, but we have to have a me too movement for the mother earth. Because the way we're treating this planet, oh my God, oh my God, it's bad. Beyond bad. Beyond bad, exactly.

House is in motion is the 2008 crisis. There's another one looming that's going to come. And it's always the same. We choose, we have chosen as human being. when we come to this planet not to go for the greater good not to go for kindness but to go for the juggler

go for the violence you want something you want it and then somebody is on your way we kill we eradicate your race and that's it we did it for the Indian in Peru we did it I mean everywhere the genocide of the aborigines people

here the native Indian in Africa slavery I mean and we all have made an excuse, the word of excuse for those crimes is business. When you're doing business, you're making profit. Everything is cool. We worship money more than we worship God, more than we worship human life.

So for me, the whole Dremany Light album is the anxiety of the Reagan era that we are feeling today. So how do we reconcile that? That's why my take on once in a lifetime is so joyful. because there's something positive about it it brings us to question how do we get here can we ask ourselves the questions and see the symbolism of water in all this

every single human being have to grow up in water before you come to be born to this earth water have been at the center of our migration in this world all of us from Omo Erectus to almost sapiens, to the northern town, to David, all of the brace we can call goes through water. The migrant crisis of today is on water.

We're going to be fighting for water pretty soon. We can live without gasoline. But can we live without water? So how do we get here? Are we wrong? Are we right? my God what have we done

um hang on and jose so woke woke in you woke woke yo this is the wokenest episode

of this show ever like like I can we go on after this like like I feel like

I need to go home and listen to Remain in light a couple times exactly yeah now

now you or you should start a coffee table book of your saying do you have you ever done that

no a lot of people have my quote on you Yeah, that's, I mean, yeah. Well, is there anything that you haven't done? You've worked with

everyone, you've experienced everything. We have never done our album. We've been talking about. I know, we were, I know, I know. We're going to do it. All right, okay. We're going to do it. But, okay, so, and if you, that's like the running theme to the show.

Everybody does a record with Questloaf. Yeah, more than that I've yet to hold up my end of the bargain. Too many jobs, too much curating. No, it's not that. Because he liked music, I like him for that. I mean, he's open to, I mean, it was very surprising for me when he started playing with me. I'm like, this guy is American drummer, but he's more than that.

Because he listened to so different type of music. It's like me, he grew up with parents' musician. And sometimes you can grow up with parents' musician and he goes, I hate music, man. And I want nothing to do with that. They drive me crazy. He listens and he come up to be who he is. I don't have a choice. He does not copy.

He is himself. When you hear his drumming, you know it's him. Nobody else plays the drum the way he plays. That's it. And that's the most difficult thing to do in our business where you have so many talents around. How are you unique and true to yourself? Well, let's see if you feel that way after this Prince project comes out.

I'm playing. I'm playing. I'm playing. Thank you very much for coming on, Quest Love Supreme. I appreciate you so much. Thanks for having me. It's fun.

Man, I need a sandwich. I need to go back to college. Exactly. Anyway, I want to be a half of, damn this public school education in my. Or on behalf of Sugar Steve, of Chat with Sugar and Twin Bills. Twin Bill's. This is Questlove.

Also, shout out to Fontigolo and it's like you. It's like you. Thank you, Angelique. One more time. This is Questlove Supreme. Thank you. I appreciate it.

This is Quest Love Supreme on Pandora. We'll see you on the next go round. Thank you. Quest Love Supreme is a production of Iheart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators,

and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at Tickford. TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest.

The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, for wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed human.