The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: John Legend (Part 1)

Episode Date: April 29, 2020

John Legend stops by the first QLS Live to talk about current events and his upcoming album. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee 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,

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, unfills of 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at 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 bowed. 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 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 Podcasts on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12

and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Quest Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Quarantine Quest, broadcasting live from the Cabot's Upstate New York. We welcome you to, shall we say, someone special version of QLS because the current COVID-19 reality were living in the present, not exactly idea conditions with technology. That said we had slight issues with this particular recording of John Legend's episode,

but we promised you guys that we're going to record a proper sequel in the future so we could deep dive with all those questions. But for now, please enjoy our conversation with one and only John Legend on Questlove Supreme. Let's do it. Two, three, Supremma, Supremia roll call. Suprema, Supremia, sub, sub, suprem a role call.

Supremma, Supreme, sub, sub, sub, sub, sub. Supreme, so, so, sub. The latency has kicked in. What? My name is Amir and not when. Yeah, yeah. I'm now realizing

this roll call has to end Yeah I have my First though As you see Ladies and gentlemen We did not even bother to practice

To see what If we would have latency issues It doesn't work I've tried this music thing over the Zoom call It does not work It's forever That was a roll call fail. Like I heard.

I was getting my freestyle ready, too. What's you drinking on? You got brown in there. What you drink it on? It's actually pink. It's my rosé. Ah. I got my own raleigh.

It's rosé time. You mean your rosé? Like, I'm the proprietor. We have LVE. We have rosé. We have rosé. We have Chardonnay, Cabernet Sovignon.

You know. What's it called? LVE, legend vineyard exclusives. LVEEWines.com. Brother, you didn't made it. I'm done. That's the show. I made, you know, going to be going up now.

I make grand little money on it, just so you know. Everybody doing it. So how, the beard's growing in nicely. Oh, yeah. I'm trying to join the roots. You're trying to join the roots. truly lived in Philadelphia. Yeah, I can't wait for a month from now to see how everyone's grooming or lack of grooming.

We're all going to look like Tom Hanks and Castaway. I'm glad all of y'all have your hairlines. Look at that, beautiful hairlines. Steve, man. Steve is the new quest love of the crew. Ray Allen can't say the same. Just saying. Yeah.

So, John, thank you for joining our second live show of, uh, Quest Love Supreme here on YouTube. I'm happy to be here. Thank you. Well, yeah, I want to know how are you coping or making the most of this time period? Well, my kids are probably happier than ever because we are home and we are hanging out with them all the time. Are they holding you hostage right now? Are you reading a ransom note?

They are napping right now. I'm so lucky because otherwise they'd be all over the house. Luna likes to get in my Zoom calls, say hi to everybody, whistle, whatever she can do to get your attention. And yeah, they're nonstop, except when they're sleeping. So this is a lucky rest of it.

This is the best time you like. You guys started this whole kind of IG programming over in your house. Like, I feel like after you guys started singing songs live in the other ones? Yeah, we were early. We had talked to Chris Martin. My team and his team at the same time basically had the same idea. We should start doing these IG live concerts. And then we, we both are affiliated with Global Citizens, so we started working with them to get the message out about staying home

and raise the money for the World Health Organization. And he started it on the Monday after everybody was in, and I did it the next day. And it's just blossom. We've seen, you know, Quest DJ and De Nice DJ. And we've seen so many battles with the different producers and whatnot. You know, I feel like we've gotten a lot of interesting comments. out of this. Dope. So what is your, what are your, I guess your, I know everyone's winging this at the same time, but yeah.

What's coming up next for you? We are winging it, but we have music. So that was actually the fortunate thing about the timing was that we basically have finished the album for all intents and purposes right prior to everything happening. So there was just a few more like horns and random, you know, overdubs we had to do. But I had done all my vocals. The songs were written. So we have music ready to go.

We've been releasing a couple songs already. And then we have more coming soon. And we hope to put the album out in June. But, you know, we were supposed to tour in July in Europe and then in the U.S. and Canada in August and September. And we don't know. We don't know what's going to happen. Have you considered the Badu method? I mean, you're in a position which you could be self-contained

and just do it for Delph. Would you ever consider just hosting performances, just you yourself alone at your piano? I've done similar shows like that. I used to do, we did this thing called The All of Me Tour, it was just basically me and a couple other players, and it was most of the night was me just telling stories. and singing on the piano.

And so I'm definitely open to doing other shows like that, but I'm not open to putting people in a room together right now until we can do it safely. I'm not trying to get people sick to come to a John Legend show because you read the news about people getting sick going to church, people getting sick doing all these other things. And we need to get to a point where it's safe for people to even gather like that before we can invite them into our shows and expect them to show up.

Yeah, I was going to say, I don't, you know, I know that a lot of people are kind of defiantly trying to go to church. Don't do it. Sunday for Easter. No. They, they, they, I was just listening to, uh, the news from last night and, uh, Rachel, Matt, I was going through the list of how many, uh, vectors of infection have been literally at church. alone. She was just talking about how they can identify these big clusters from people going to church. And they say, I read another article, they were saying something about singing is more

viral. Yeah, it's more viral than just being around somebody. You're pushing out your saliva and all these other things. And so it's actually less safe to be singing around people than it is to just be around them in general. So it's like, you can't be going to church in those circumstances. Yeah, I agree with you. But, yeah, it's just killing me, watching people's reactions because, you know, most of them are just like, you know, I got the blood of Jesus covering me. Yeah, no, don't do that.

I'll be protected. And now the black numbers have come up this week crazy in a lot of our favorite cities. And that's a problem. Yes, it is. And we are the, we, all of us are equally susceptible to the disease. But when you have a community that's, already underserved in so many other ways, we are more susceptible to getting the worst of it,

to dying, to having really severe outcomes out of it. In my mind, I imagine that you and, and Chrissy watch the day, well, we, in this household, we watch the daily briefing. It's just, we got to know some things, you know. I don't watch it. I've watched zero. It angers the shit out of me. What are you doing, like on the daily?

Because I know you like to. Chrissy's rule is she does not listen to. Trump's voice. Okay. She will not, if he's on the news, even if he's on the news of an anchor that she likes, she doesn't want to hear his voice, and we will change the channel if his voice comes on.

What about Dr. Fauci, though? I feel like I can read it later, and Rachel Maddow summarizes it for me well enough, so I'm like, I'll just listen to Rachel. I catch all that. You know, it's to the point where now even, I mean, you know, normally I would watch

Maddow without fail, Because, you know, but this will be my second week without watching. Yeah. I can't. You know, I'm one of those people that, like, I would always not watch the news if there was, like, a disaster or any kind of thing where the prep was all kind of, even, even like a shooting. Like, I couldn't watch it because I don't like, I don't like everybody gathering around a tragedy on the news. Like, I just, it's something about my personality. I don't enjoy that as news.

I don't like it. I don't like being around it. But for some reason, I've been watching this because I do actually want to know what's going on. And it's such a political story, too, because it's about leadership, and it's about how leadership organizes people around a crisis. And I think that's the thing that interests me about it. Well, one day I'll jump back in the fray, but for now, just for my mental health. No, I get it.

And that's how I am about most of the fact. This is me and these chickens on this forum, man. I'm happy. 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,

you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at 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. They 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 IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wodom. 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 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 they 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.

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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Can I just ask you and Fonte a question real quick? Because y'all are both a part of one of my favorite shows on TV. Oh, yeah. Yes, indeed. Can we just talk about Sherman Showcase real quick? Yes, let's talk about it.

Okay, and what's going on? You know, I'm just, you know, I'm just let. Well, Fonte, you want to tell her what we've filmed a couple of months ago? Yeah, man. So we got a Black History Month special, which in true Negro fashion is coming late in general. June. We're in black music, man. You're black music, man.

We shot it in January, and I have, I still haven't seen the whole joint. Diallo was kind of telling me stuff. It's dope. I've seen the edits. It looks great. Yeah, he said it's amazing. He said he really is dope. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to that.

That's coming June and a streaming showcase is on Hulu. And Hulu just announced, like, free subscription or free trial. Yeah. So, I'm going to check it now. Can you get refunded from my, uh... No, but everybody else, Amir, does not work in every night like you are. Right. And we were in a scene together.

Me and John did one scene together. Yes, she did. Was it with Fonte or the guy? And I are in it, but we're in a minute. He was the pastor at the time. Yes, isn't he? Pastor Dane. Yeah.

Pop their loaf of Jesus. Now, the show is the most well-reviewed thing we've ever done as a production. company, I've never seen so many great reviews for something we've done. The New York Times, all these other lists, you know, what to watch while you're on the quarantine, like the show's on all those lists too. So hopefully

people will give it a chance because I think once you get into the world, you really get into it. I just, I don't want to discount, though, your other show that you had on WGN. Yes, Underground. Yes. I'm just saying that. What's the deal with on the ground now? We couldn't bring it back. You know, the station

was getting bought by that conservative news organization. St. Clair, yeah. So they were buying the station and they decided to go in a whole other direction, even though we were the most popular show and got the most buzz for the network of any show that they had on, they decided to go in a different direction. They're the same organization that bought all those local news stations. Do you remember that? Yeah, the news reporters.

The news reporters are reading the same script. Yeah, so they're the same organization. So we didn't have much of a chance to stay around. We tried to sell it to other networks. And it was a bit of an expensive show to produce. And so a lot of networks didn't want to take it because it was kind of like secondhand and they didn't want to spend all that money to make a secondhand show. As a show producer, how do you, like, how do you figure that's different than

music, working on music and whatnot? Well, it's less hands-on for me because you're leaving it in the other creators' hands. So you have writers, you have directors, you have all these other people that are involved. And hopefully you hire people and you work with people that are really good at what they do. And so it's not nearly as hands-on as I would be on my own record. I feel like it's mostly about making good personnel decisions and then picking good projects to be part of creatively. Are you going on? There's too

TV is a lot more organized than music. Music is a wild-while west. It is. Dude, music is, yeah, you might get paid, you might not. TV, everybody,

it ain't no such thing just doing some shit off spec. Like, if you do something, you're going to get a checks. Yeah, TV's better organized, films better organized. Hollywood's just more,

like, corporate than the music world is. Now what is theater? Not. Theater, well, the theaters have the strong unions, though, you know. So there's a lot of rules around how you do things in the theater, too. The unions are very strong, and so there's a lot of structure around that. And so I feel like that's pretty, you know, it's pretty on point as well.

Well, you know, I have a wish to see the, I mean, you can weigh in on this bill or not. I mean, at the beginning of in the Heights in Hamilton, like, did you feel as though, you know, the system was pretty much stuck in its ways, whatnot? Funny too. I didn't know what the fuck the system was or which way it was stuck in it. But yeah, something like that.

I don't know. To me, theater has the worst business plan ever. If it's a success, then you make money. If it's anything before success, it's a total disaster. Yeah. I see. I see. So it's a shitty business plan.

It's a shitty business plan there is. It's either you invest millions of dollars and only if you're a humongous success, you make the money back. If you don't, then it's a failure. Just the business plan doesn't make sense to me. So there's no middle ground. There's no such thing as a moderately successful theater show.

Absolutely not. Well, just think about real estate in New York. And so part of it is you have to occupy and pay for this real estate. estate in New York and get people to show up. And then you have to pay everybody's salaries and everything based on the union scale. And just the original baseline nut that you have to pay for is a lot of money. I'm scared. No, Tarek's play starts in November and like this isn't like, you know, where you just

put a little bit of money in and then you're a producer. Like we're really funding this joint. So is that. But Amir, are you fearful now? Because, I mean, not to put that on you, but when are people really going to feel comfortable in and in theaters? And in New York and in New York and Broadway. The thing is, is that, you know, we, after taking a cue from Hamilton to see how radical that was. I mean, I just have this desire to really update Broadway. Broadway is somehow stuck between this post-Timpan alley jazz hands kind of Broadway, like that kind of era where, you know, it could really use a refresh or a redo.

And, you know, based on, did you see, did you see in Tarek's? play yet, like any of the practices? I heard about it. I heard it's amazing, but I haven't. It's right. Like, it's, it's, it's just mind blowing to me as, as Hamilton, but it's like the complete opposite. Where you don't feel good about any

the characters, it's like if Obama, if, if Hamilton represented everything that was beautiful about the Obama era, then this is the tray for the play for the Trump era. And the thing was, they wrote

this, you know, during the beginning of Obama's second term as a kind of a satire. But it's just like, it's real now, which makes it it even more on point. So it is like idiocacy. Dude, it's idiotic is

idiocacy the play? That's what it is. Wow. Like people are mind blown, but it's so... What's the name of it? Black no more. Okay. It's based on one of the very, John Ridley, who did 12 years of slave. Yeah, I know, John. Right.

He wrote this back in 2012, came to Tarreek around 2013, and they developed it the last four years. It's a scathing play. It's amazing, but no one's going to feel good about themselves. They won't be congratulating themselves for going.

No, but I mean, yeah, I mean, the guilty aspect of it is going to, it's a real, it's a play about kind of in the Harlem speakeasy era of Harlem, a black man who meets a white girl and a

speakeasy who, you know, they flirt and whatnot and she's sort of like, you know, this ain't going any further than this basement because, you know, I could never take you home to my father, yada, yada, yada. And this guy wishes kind of wishes that

there was a way that she could fall in love with him and he gets some sort of operation. This is based on a book. He goes through a process that turns him into a white man. Like soul man in reverse. Would you say? Like soul man in reverse. Yeah, this book was written in 1936 as a satire. Oh, wow.

It's kind of like Eddie Murphy's S&L. It's very much like that skit. Yeah. It just hits the fan even crazier. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, let's rack up the Tonys. Let's go.

Allie y'all. Get this Egot. Oh, ghetto, man. Getto, my bad. Yeah, you geto. You got it. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clever 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at 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, 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. Everyone, I'm Ago Wodom.

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, who. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with the, 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

The single is out now or streaming on now, correct? Yeah, so we have two singles out. One's called Conversations in the Dark. We put that out in January. And then Actions is the one we just put out a couple weeks ago. You played it on your online Instagram live there tonight. Do you have a title for the upcoming record yet? Yeah, it's called Bigger Love and the next single is going to be the title track

called Bigger Love. And then we got joints, man. I'm excited. I did Raphael Sadiq, exec, produced the whole thing. He's done my last couple albums exec producing-wise for the Christmas

album and the Christmas deluxe. We were just in a nice groove and we just kept working together on this. But I worked with other producers and writers, and Oak produced the last single Actions, Oakfelder. He produced another one on my album that's really crazy called Ula. And, yeah, we've got some good stuff on there. Do you record at the crib, John, or you still go to the studio? I still go to the studio because I like to feel like I'm going to work.

I like to leave the house, be away from the kids, go to work, and then come home and be present with the family. What studio did you record out of? At Raphael's, Blake's Lee, up in North Hollywood. Oh, is Jerry still his engineer? Yeah, Jerry still mixes. With the Christmas lights? Yeah, so Jerry mixes.

This guy named Alex is the recording engineer, but Jerry mixed. Yeah, Raphael's dude, Jerry, like his atmosphere, to look like Christmas. So he always, even when he is not at his studio, ahead of time he'll send like all this Christmas decorations to the studio to get set up and he wants it to look like Christmas when he's mixing so he's been doing that for like the last 30 years with Raphael's his first record he did for me was my Christmas album so how perfect oh yeah okay I thought he had it in there just for the for the festive music nah when we Jerry engineer what they do on I La Deladale fat fly and was like, we had to wait an hour for him to get like the Christmas decorations up. So, no, he's been doing that forever. He's been doing that forever.

John, I always wanted to ask you, man, who is Maxine? Because she had you going down through that, bro. Oh, you know what? Maxine was completely fictional, truthfully. Really? Bad. I love that song. You know, I was writing that song with the guys from Sarah.

from Sarah. Oh, yes. So, you know, the whole crew, including Omaz and Taz and everybody. So we're in LA at there. They had that house studio in Los Felas or somewhere around there. So we're like, and we were just hanging out and we were writing the song. And I had just listened to

guess who I saw today, my love. Nancy Wilson. Oh, Nancy Wilson. So Nancy used to sing that song and it was about, it kind of goes through the whole story of, you know, I was hanging out at this lovely bar and I blah blah blah. And oh, I saw this beautiful couple and blah blah blah. And oh, it was you, nigga. I saw you.

The original one's Jones. And so I had listened to that not long before that. And we were just singing, we were just playing around on the instruments and I started singing, she may not be you, but she looks just like you. And we wrote, I was like, we should write a song kind of in that same lyrical vein where I described this whole setup of these two beautiful people

hanging out with each other looking like they're so in love. And it was her the whole time. I'm like, she may not be you, but she looked awful lot like you. And then we decided at the end we should call her name. And we just made up a name that sounded good. Maxine. Every Maxine I know is over the age of 60. And we wanted it to sound quaint and like old school.

And then it turns out, and I did not know this at the time, my grandmother's middle name is Maxine. And so she thought I had written it Maxine because of her name, but I had no idea that was her middle name at the time. I love that song, man. I love that record. That whole once again out. I love that once again is my favorite like it's one of my favorite things I've done wake up is one of them too the one I did with the roots and then

Once again is like my heart. I don't know That's my favorite one that's about my show me on it right? Yeah show me's on there Yeah, yeah that's the one. Sorry, that's a lot of them, but that's Hey John Rebrize, that's yeah Steve has a question over there. It's me sugar. Have you written any new songs since the quarantine started, anything at home? I have not.

And part of it, I think, it's just kind of feeling like, oh, I'm done with my album, and I can relax for a while, I don't have to write something. But also, I don't like writing at home, so it's the perfect storm of me not getting anything done at home.

So, wait a minute, when you're home, that's not your creative hub at all? No, I almost never write at home. I like to schedule time, go in. Sometimes I'll sing stuff, into my phone at home, like, oh, I have an idea. I'm going to sing this into my phone and then finish it at the studio, because I like to go to work.

Oh, see, your separation of church and state. I get it. Yeah. Because if anything, I would figure that this time period is probably the best time period for all songwriters and all screenwriters and book writers. But it's really not, though. Explain. If you have kids, it's not.

If you don't have kids, maybe. If you don't have kids, maybe. So you just can't get three hours of complete Doing shit Oh hell no So the middle row is just Hell no I got a tornado

And we got one of those at home We don't do shit Do anything Okay duly noted I'm about to buy a crib We'll have a separate back cave for myself I got it now Okay

I get it now I just don't think now like in the middle of with everybody dealing with just the stress of the pandemic, I don't think that really lends itself to creativity very much. You know what I mean? So much of, at least for me, so much of what you pull from comes from outside sources, either, you know, like if you go out and you see a couple

and you think something or, you know, you kind of go out and pull from these experiences when you don't really have that anymore and on top of not having that, but you're constantly watching people that you know or know of get sick or die. I mean, I ain't thinking about no goddamn rap music. You know what I mean?

I just realize it. I think some people will be inspired by it and write some dope shit from it. It will fit into certain people's style of writing and their worldview, and it'll propel them to write some dope stuff. I really believe that's possible. But it just, it ain't inspiring me at all. You're making me feel bad now, man. And I'm like, I don't roll five chapters.

No, I got, dude, having kids, like, I got responsibility. I know it's not the same as having kids. No, but you got responsibility, though. You know, I'm just saying, but I also know that when you have two children in the home every day, all day, that's the different situation. And I appreciate my privilege. Yeah, that is very good. And into Amir, I think with you, I think maybe why you kind of are getting stuff done in that way

is because you finally have been forced to something. now. So, you know, when you're writing and stuff like that, it's like, I, you know, you finally have a chance to really buckle down to do it. All right. And which is different than a lot of people. I'm just not feeling like writing songs right now. You thinking about writing a book at some point in the future? I had always thought about it, but I, he has to. I have to at some point. Do you write one on finance, John Legend? No, I'm not. I'm not enough of that. So seriously, John, save everything.

Like don't, you know, save everything. Just put it in storage. Like, it'll, you'll need it. You'll need it for your memoir. Trust me. I got to write one at some point. There's stuff I wish I saved for, you know, memoirs that notes that I wrote old lyric sheets or that sort of thing.

Save everything. Yo, I have, oh, I have, oh, I look, all right. So two questions. One, is there a full-in version of Angel with you and Stacey? Yes, there is. We put it on her. It was on her record, the one that was on. Her EP, yes.

We put it on Stacey's EP, Stacey Barty. She's a dope singer and songwriter. She's written a lot of songs for big artists. And she was signed to my production company for a while as an artist. And she put out a couple of EPs. and we had her guest on Love in the Future. We did a shorter version of Angel. That's my favorite version.

I like that version. I wanted to full live for that one. Yeah, so that's on, you could find it, but Stacey put it on her EP. And also, okay, second question, hold on longer. Talked me about that one. I love that fucking song.

That was, oh, that was Fontleroy's idea. So you want a couple of those songs with us, and, you know, you know, his zone. It was right in his zone. He wrote a couple of those type of joints with us for the album. I love that record, man. And also, since his Q-Tips birthday, tomorrow, talk about that.

Don't wait till tomorrow. That was me and Kanye's, like, sleeper favorite on the album, because Kanye was executive producing that album. And I went in over to Kamal's house in Jersey. And we just jammed for a little while and we came up with that song. And that's our sleeper favorite on Love in the Future. It didn't get a lot of buzz, but something about it, just that group. That's the one.

That's the one. It's a good step for song, too. Yeah, exactly, exactly. I have a question. Yes. In the wake of Bill Weather's passing and your great re-recording of his song, I can't write left-handed. Can you just comment on the recording of that song?

Yeah. John. Here's one of the things I did say, Quest. Where's that email? I have it. I'm going to pull it up right now. Hold on. I was like, did I imagine an email?

Did I make that up? Yeah, he wrote it for real. I resented to my manager that was with me back then. And he had sent it to me. This is from October 6, 2010. And here's an email from Bill Withers. I'm going to read it to y'all. And everything.

Exclusive. Exclusive. Okay. Here we go. Alex, some time ago, you contacted Marcia regarding John Legend's recently recorded album and offered to introduce her to Greg, one of the guys who managed me at the time. She probably attempted to forward the message to me or meant to forward it to me. Quite possibly, it was during one of those periods where I was in Marsha, Alex, and

everyone else overload and just ignored all incoming information for a while. Anyway, I just found out about the John Legend recording yesterday in a much more interesting fashion. Having sat down to watch a documentary on Louis Armstrong, the phone rang 15 minutes into it, and the voice on the other end says in this stilted tone, did I awaken you, sir? Just as I was about to hang up on whoever this clown was, the voice said, Bill Withers, This is William Felton Russell, which of course was followed by the unmistakable cackle of Bill Russell, laughing on the other end of the line. He then proceeded to read me the titles of the songs on a John Legend album that he was listening to and informed me that I can't write left-hand that was included in the list of songs that were recorded with the Roots Band or the album. We then proceeded to share stories of the people that had impacted our lives such as Jackie Robinson, Joe Lewis, Jesse Owens, etc.

We continued on to have the obligatory conversation about Obama and whatever else, two 70-plus-year-olds of our ilk might run their mouths about in catch-up conversations. An hour and a half later, having purged ourselves of all current topics worthy of chit-chat for the moment, we ended our conversation. I hit play to resume watching the Louis Armstrong tape as I digested the call. conversation that I had just had with my old friend and lifelong hero. When the Louis Armstrong story finished, I went to my computer and watched the session with John and the Roots on YouTube while digesting the pleasure of

witnessing the heartfelt and caring interpretation of this song by John and the band that Ray Jackson and I had written, probably before he and most of the band were born. It occurred to me that it had indeed been a day spent in the company of legends, Conversation about legends with a legend while watching the story of a legend, capped off by the flattery of John Legend, taking the time to revisit and revive an old song written with a dear friend would actually gotten me into the music business and who left us much too soon. Ray Jackson passed away some years ago.

I'm sure that Ray Jackson would have joined me in thanking John and the Roots for their attention to this song and in congratulating them on a job well done. Since they put me in such a good mood, I will find it. in my heart to not hold a grudge against Quest Love for making me sound so ancient in his otherwise flattering introductory comments on the video. Smiles, I was further sued by the fact that Bill Russell is really old. Congratulations to John, appropriately named legend, for all the work he does in education and for projecting a good, wholesome image for us all to appreciate. I would appreciate it if you, whoever you is, would share this letter with John and the Roots. I would further

advise you to avoid contact with me in the future if you don't. Rendered grumpy by the rare, rainy, cloudy, yucky weather here in L.A. today, but Boyd, revived and sustained by my day with the legends yesterday, Bill Withers. Wow. That's the letter. This dude can tell a story, man. He's the musical uncle we never had. His emails were legendary because every time he wrote one, he had all those extra little colors and flavors in there that you, normally I'm just like a yes because I'm always like approving

something. Yeah, like, okay, great, nice. Thanks. He would write such great emails. Wow, man. Yeah, when he came to the show to see his perform it, he was

just, it was everything I ever wanted. And that was the point in which I was really kind of not, you know, I was a little gun shy with meeting idols by that point because so many had let me down before.

Yeah. But he lived up to everything. Like he was full of stories, like and humor and seemed like he did not seem or act like he was in his 70s. I thought he was like, oh, he might

be 59, maybe 60, maybe. Yeah, that's one of my regrets, man. Like, I was, I was gunned for him for at least 12 years to try to, try to work with him. Yeah, so he heard the live version of that, too? That was the first thing you heard was the YouTube. We had made a YouTube video. I think that was actually in the studio.

There's like one of those promo things we shot in the studio. But it was a live performance, though. It was like a, it wasn't, like, edited. It was, you know, it was a straight up live performance. But there wasn't an audience there. Yeah. Oh, I forgot. We did something with Spike Lee as well.

I totally forgot about that. That thing in the one of those built in New York. Something five. Terminal five. Oh, yeah, Terminal five. We shot at Terminal five. John, you know how long we've been trying to get this to happen? You know, this is just a preview, right?

Like, you know, at some point when we all come back together in real life, we're going to have to sit in a room. Oh, man. I would love that. Yeah, that's why I'm not asking, like, the questions I normally ask for Questle episode because I'm trying to say that for the real episode. Yeah.

Well, just in case we don't get the real episode, I got another music question. We will get it. All right, so. Monti, like, I ain't going to be there, Nick. Nah, I don't know. Hell, we all might not be there. All right, so, John. Hey.

Your first, again, on once again, the leaked version of it was just acoustic, and then the album version, you added drums, and what made you change? I don't know. I mean, I had always thought we were going to put a little instrumentation on it.

So sometimes I'll record a demo of it, and I don't know who leaked it. I'm trying to remember how that came out. I also did a version on a deaf poetry jam. They kind of let me half sing, half sing on a deaf poetry jam. That was the first time anybody actually heard any of it was on deaf poetry gem.

Oh, wow. Remember that? I didn't miss it. My first time hearing it, it was the LEAP version. Yeah. This is back when albums would leak. You know what I mean? Yeah.

The album elite and that version of, again, it was just, it was just you and piano. I'm not even sure if I knew it leaked, honestly. I'm not even sure. Oh, I had it. That's just you in piano. That's crazy. Yeah. Now I've got to go back and revisit it.

I sent it to you. Oh, thank you. How much fluid is in that flasky? Yeah. Is this a horrible beer? That's a goblet of happiness. South Carolina. North Carolina.

What is that? What's up, Steve? Is again the joint you sampled for doing it again? Yeah, that's again. Okay, I was thinking it in my head. Like, they're doing it again. Yes, that again. Yeah, and then I had another song on a record called Another Again.

Another again. Yeah. No. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. John, I still remember that first album where you were sitting on the beach in your Lina outfit when you were back in the Philly days. Am I trip?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's crazy. Before the John Legend. I still lived in. Actually, wait. Did you sanction, because that, the early record, even before your first album is up, your version of burning down the house. Yeah, so that was the one we did live at, I think. SoBs.

S-O-Bs, yeah. Yeah, that was from, like, 2002, I think. Yeah. And I got my deal in 2004. So it was, you know, a couple years before everything popped off. I remember listening to that. You had that album. You were selling it.

This is back in like old three. It was Little Brother and Kanye. We was on tour together. Yeah. We did the Norva in, um, Yes, I remember. And Norfolk, yeah. Norfolk, yeah.

And you were selling that joint. And I remember those shows, man. And I remember I would sell those CDs out of my, you know, out of my trunk, you know, everywhere we would go. I would do gigs in New York and Philly by my, myself for a while, I would play at like SOBs and knitting factory, North by Northwest, Five Spot, all these places in Philly and New York. And I would just sell them.

And I was my own web person. So I would like, I didn't program the site, but I would, I would handle all the CD sales. So I would be like shipping them off to people. I would go to the post office every couple days and ship some more CDs off the people that ordered a one line, can you believe we actually use to buy CDs? Your own distribution system. Ask you to sign. Yeah, I feel like it's time for a sequel now, John, where we are.

Like, we got to do it. We got to do it. We always say we got to do it, but we got to do it. Wait, which sequel? Y'all getting together making music. Us and the roots. Me and the roots coming back. Yeah.

Real protest songs, man. Yeah, man. I like that. I like that y'all bowed to do that on tape. right here in front of everybody. Yeah, we really need to do it. It's true. I mean, all we do is work, so.

As long as I have a collaborator that's will and shows up. Let's work. I'm down, you know what I'm saying? No, thank you, John. I appreciate you doing our live YouTube broadcast, of Questlove Supreme. I want on behalf of Leah, Steve, unpaid Bill, Fontegolo and John Legend. Thank you very much.

This is Cust Love Supreme. We'll see you on the next show now. Peace, everybody. Thanks, John. Be well, y'all. See y'all. Bye, bye, bye, man. Peace.

All right. Quest Love Supreme is a production of I-Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I-Hart Radio, visit the I-Hart 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 what you're saying.

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