The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Ne-Yo

Episode Date: July 20, 2022

Ne-Yo is one of the most accomplished songwriters of the last 20 years. He tells Questlove Supreme about his creative process, working with Beyoncé, and recalls a pivotal moment on Amateur Night At The Apollo.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Clifers 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 Clivert Show on the I-Hard 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 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 podcasts. Quest Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Questlove Supreme. I am your host, Questlove You. It's a hot summer. It's hot, man.

That's not going to say. I know that Fonte and, and, and why you are not in New York City right now. Yo, it's hot everywhere, y'all. I just left D.C. It's hot. I'm in L.A. It's hot. It's just wet hot or hot. It's hot. See, I'm on hiatus right now, so, you know, if I'm at work,

then it's always 67 degrees, so I always have a sweater on. But, you know, this is one of the rare times in which I'm not under freezing conditions. Sugar Steve, are you, are you an Uber driver right now? So I'm in a limousine, heading to power lunch with a big-time producer. And I was telling Neo and Leah about this earlier before the interview started. I can't disclose. It's a very big thing, very big thing happening. So you're basically going to see Elvis Costello, right?

Oh, shit. It's bigger than that. Whenever he gets a secret, it's always Elvis Costello. I met one of your comrades on the plane this morning. He kept waking me up out of my sleep. Who was that? Jeffrey Miller. It's a great trombone player.

He's on one of our records on JMI Recordings.com. Check it out. Yeah, he woke me up twice. He wants to tell me that he records to you. The second time, he woke me up out of my sleep to share a joke with me about carrying his plunger, his toilet bowl plungers that he uses for his trombones. Well, you know, you could have bumped into worst friends of mine.

Anyway, y'all, we're here today. I will say that our guests probably doesn't need, I won't say, I'll say that he doesn't need an introduction, but he's one of my favorite bridge writers. He's one of my bridges. Yo, you know rare bridges? And the bridge is undefeated. Our guess is indeed.

He's a three-time Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, producer, actor, collaborated with the best of them from Jigga to Beyonce to Pitbull to Rihanna to Kanye to fabulous. I mean, the list goes on and on and on and on and on and on. He has released seventh albums and his eighth,

which is entitled self-explanatory, will be out by this recording in July. I believe the date is July. Yes, July 15th. A track as well, I hear. Three platinum albums, prolific songwriter and producer and entertainer. Yo, ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for the one and only. The one, Neo.

The one. The one. The West Love Supreme. What's up, brother? How you doing? That was a hell of an introduction. I needed down like, that from now on.

Hey, man, every hero needs his theme music and his own fanfare. I love it. I love it. Greetings, brother. So for our listeners, you can't see you right now. Yes. You're in a house that looks like it's nothing but art deco lights, like

neon lights. I'm at home currently. This is my recording studio that I'm currently in. I tell people all the time that they're like, so what do you do? spare time. What are you doing when you're not doing music? I'm like, uh, music. That's, that's, that's pretty much. I do this because I love it, man. And I, and with that being said, I couldn't have a house without a studio and it had to happen. So I built my own.

I love it. Same here. I'm in mind. That's dope, man. Yeah, I was about to say, uh, Fonte, you got your blue light on as well. I feel like I'm here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Had to keep the vibe going. Got to you. Where, where are you from? Where were you born? He was born in Camden, Arkansas. Yes, deep, deep south. Oh. Don't feel bad if you don't know where Camden is. No one knows where Camden.

People from Arkansas don't know where Camden. I always thought it was vaid, the Nevada. That's what I was confused. Well, I did the majority of my growing up in Vegas. I went to high school and Vegas whole nine. Like, all of that happened in Vegas. My dad was a truck driver. Oh, that's a cool.

That's a cool job. You rode in the back of the cab. He had one of those cabs with the beds in the back and everything. Like he had gone with him. Oh, wow. Okay. The reason he wasn't ever at home because he was. driving trucks and doing other stuff.

Okay. Yeah, yeah. Do you have any siblings? Your parents, are they musically inclined? Everybody in my family does something in regard to music, be it playing an instrument or singing or rapping or whatever, what happens. Everybody does something. Like, my mom used to sing.

My dad plays bass. He sings. My sister sings ridiculously. She's an alien. Well, yeah, I have two sisters and a brother. one one sister sister and then one half sister one half brother you know Papa was a bit of a rolling stone

we hold no bridges we pass no judgments it is what it is but um but yeah yeah um closest closest to my main I don't know if I call it my main sister how did that work the the sister that I share a mother and father with that that system we're the we're the closest no disrespect to my situation too so

you know I go no disrespect to my my other sister and my other brother, you know, they just, they moved around and did their own thing, and it is what it is. But, but yeah, grew up in Las Vegas under a very, very musically inclined mother. She did everything to music, every single thing you could think of, be it cleaning up the house, watching TV with the stereo playing type type situation. So, yeah, it was just always there, right? Just always there. What was your first musical memory? First musical memory. Sitting in the living room, in front of the stereo, crying and not understanding why as I was listening to Billy Ocean

Sudden. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is an 80s baby. That is an 80s baby right though. Yeah. 79.

Yeah. Yes, boo. I know. I know. Steve, he is hitting your, you sit in your groove right now, man. Life has no meaning to me. Life has no meaning. Suddenly.

No, life has new meaning. Oh, that's what I'm named. That's what I meant. That's what I said. No, he wasn't suicidal. His life has new meaning. You know, I always fuck it up in me. Are you right? I have to fuck it up. Wow. No, no, that's actually dope to hear it because oftentimes, I think people are rather ashamed that I think that's the purpose of music is to either document a time period.

Like, music to me is always like a musical polar rate because it helps me remember what year it was or what time it was. or what happened at a party, like, oh, yeah. Like, whenever I hear, you know, ironic by Lance Marcette, I'm forever going to remember, like, oh, my first car accident, you know. I'm just giving an example. But I'm just saying that music does that. What do you think it was about that song that touched you? You know what?

To be completely honest with you, man, I might have been maybe five or six or somewhere in there when this happened. But even now, as a 42-year-old man, It's something about some of the melodies that just gets you, bro. It's just, I think it was just, I think that was the first time I realized the power of melody. You know what I'm saying? That hitting a certain chord on a guitar or a certain note on a piano could like put goosebumps on your arm type thing. You know what I mean?

Like I didn't, and mind you, at the time, I didn't know that's what it was. But thinking back now, it's like, that had to be what it was because I couldn't have understood what he was talking about. I'm five. I don't know what I'm talking about. But the music. The way the melodies was hitting me, I think that's what it was. Again, I have to ask in light of what I lovingly dubbed as the versus comedy hour. Hmm.

Hey, bruh. Didn't know he was going there. Didn't know it, but I'm not mad. Not mad. I'm not, I'm not about gotcha journalism, not about putting the next man down. Yeah. Are you rather perplexed at, and the thing is, I don't believe that music is. dead. I just believe that the particular music I like, I have to search like far and wide

for it. Like, I have to search for it. But for you, are you kind of perplexed at what passes for music now, the fact that that type of melody might not necessarily be exposed to a mainstream audience as it once was? Hmm. That's a beautiful question. And I have to say, I, I definitely share in where you are with that. You know what I mean? Now, mind you, I've put myself in a place where if I'm going to be a part of this industry,

I have to find a way to like a little bit of everything. You know, maybe not love it. I probably, I wouldn't turn it on in my car, but if it's on, I'm not going to sit here and bad mouth the door or sit here and not have a good time because they're not playing the kind of music that I want to hear, quote unquote. Do you still listen to the radio?

Not as often as I once did. uh, nah, not really. Normally I'll go on, you know, uh, one of the stream is, streaming joints or whatever and pull up what it is. I'm looking for it. That's, that's, that's, that's easier for me than, then, then sitting and trying to tolerate some of the things that, because I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm from that place too, where I'm, I'm from the place where, you know, it was, it was the, the intricacy of that, that, that three-part harmony, like, that place. And then, and that's just, you said it, you said it in my intro, bridges, like, Nobody writes bridges anymore.

It's like people like people ain't got time for it to be good no more. Like which may like what are we all rushing towards? Songs are like a minute long now like where are y'all going so fast? Oh man. No, that I mean they're fucking fast. Yeah, my son, my son, he has a, I don't know if you're up on her. He has an artist he listens to is his girl Pink Pantherist. I don't know if you're up on her.

She put out an album, I think it was last year, 10 songs, 18 minutes. That's like fantastic volume one. It means this is the whole album. Yeah, straight up, straight up. Wow. But he, this is my 16 year old, my youngest son. But yeah, that's, that's kind of where the youngest, that's what it is. I'm really, I'm really curious as to why that is.

Like, like, I, because even when I was, even when I was 16, like, it was about, it was about the story of it. You know what I mean? Like, like, I don't know. Maybe I was a different little 16-year-old, but like, what's the joint? What's the joint? is 10 minutes long. Luther Vandross. Okay.

Long ago. Superstar. Superstar. Yeah, yeah. That's a 10-minute song, and it feels like two minutes because you just enjoy that shit so much that it passes quickly,

but that song is 10 minutes long and you wouldn't even know it. But it's about the beginning, middle, and end of a story. I used to listen to music for that. Yeah, I think now... Yeah, I think now, bro, I think we got like,

it's the tail wagging the dog, like, in that, you know, people are making music. specifically for streaming services. And so they know a one minute or one and a half minute song will naturally be streamed more in five minutes than a five-minute song would be once. You know what?

From a business and commerce standpoint, that's smart as hell. Music and art is not supposed to be inspired by commerce, at least not in my personal opinion. That's just supposed to come from the heart somewhere. And if it's coming from the heart, it might take a little longer than a minute to get my point across. But that means that my song is going to play it on the radio now?

Damn, all right, well, here we are, ladies and gentlemen. I learned that lesson with, I think really with Old Town Road. I spun out of the party once and thought, you know, okay, I'll put it on. Like, back when it was red hot, I would, that would be my first record, my stalling record, until I find out what I really want to play. And I looked at the thing, and it was like two minutes and 27 seconds. And I was like, whoa. Like, I had to play it twice.

I meant the Billy Ray Cyrus thing stretches it a little bit to like 17 seconds but yeah man it's it's also maybe that this generation doesn't need a lot of time to express itself

I won't say that doesn't have much to say they do have the language they have the words it's like meme culture it's right statement next statement But they also have new words that we didn't have before where we used to be taking forever to say a gaslight trigger. You used to have to think, come on, that shit didn't exist.

You could do a whole sentence about what that shit really was. Like, it was like, trauma. The lingo is going to change with the times. As long as these young people, it's always going to be new lingo. I ain't mad at that part. Yes. I just wish that everybody would just slow to hell down. You know what I felt why music is suffering is because nobody's taking a time

to keep it good no more. Like, everybody is, as you're saying, everybody trying to get their streaming numbers up. And it's like, listen, we'll worry about quality later. Right now, let's just get it out there so we can get these numbers up. That sucks. I just, I just hate that we're in this place now, man. But it's not all young people.

Let's not, not everybody. Because there is a section of young people that are appreciating the 90s right now that are rediscovering Neo Soul and all of that and making it new against. I mean, you know, let's just get the baby some love. There's always exceptions. Yeah. You know, the mass is, the mass situation right now is, you know, a song need to be a minute long because I got something to do. What do you have to do?

Do what you get? You ain't got time to listen to some good music. I don't get it. I don't get it. I used to tell people on the radio, listen, if you want to find good music, it's not going to be the shit that easily comes to you. You're going to have to go find it. And I'm on the radio telling you that the good shit is not what you're easily on the radio. Okay.

We had, we're repeating some things, but I'm sorry. Go back to you. I feel like this show is now turning into the corner of do the right thing. There's one other element of this that I feel like might play a very, very strong factor. Okay. Now, I am not anywhere near good enough to say that I am a piano player or a guitar player or a drum player. I'm good enough to tap around and find what I need, right? But I recall a time where music was kind of like a really, really exclusive club.

you had to know what you were doing. It's a hobby now. You had to be good at, you had to be good at what you was doing. Like now, anybody can do it. Anybody can do it. It's the door,

it's the YMCA. Come on in, y'all. That's what we're at now. So, of course, if you got just anybody doing whatever, of course things are going to suffer.

The quality is going to suffer. There was a point in time where the quality was up because the cat said it was doing it was quality, taking nothing from anybody. today, I'm not saying no names, I'm not doing that, I'm not bashing. I'm just saying that now, I mean, take something like DJ. You remember when you had to like learn timing and like figure out how to mix records and it's wrong with it?

Now you push your button and you got it done. You're done. You push a button. Yeah. Yeah, I think those tools are just going to have to push people to like be creative in a different way because I mean, even though like even with DJ and it's like if you have the records, you can give me a MIR's hard drive right now. And I wouldn't know what to do with it.

You know what I'm saying? Like I, you still have to know how to play the records. You know, there's just still skills, a skill set that's involved. But with now with technology, in many ways, good and bad, has leveled the playing field so that the barrier of entry is pretty much nonexistent. Well, no, it's the same thing with, like, brought with, with, with, uh, auto tune, for example. Yeah, 100%.

You gotta know what you're doing with auto tune to make it do what it do, right? Oh yeah, so you're gonna be out of doing with, There you go. And so it's the same thing with DJ. I understand that there's a technique to it. But you can't deny that back day before the buttons came, you had to be a little bit better at what you was doing. You know what I'm saying?

You had to be good. You had to be that dude a little bit. And the same thing came with playing instruments. The same thing came with singing. You know what I'm saying? That's why we kind of seeing what we're seeing right now. It's not the craft itself, I don't feel like, is as respected as it once was.

Like, nobody's blood, sweat, and tears to get good at this no more. You know that means the bottom's going to fall out, right? Y'all know that, right? The bottom fell out. Or, God willing, somebody comes along and saves us. 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 imagine. 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 IHeard 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. 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 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 Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, for wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slice of Life 12

and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember the first album that you purchased with your own money? The first album I purchased with my own money, surprisingly was not an R&B album. It was the Far Sides. Wow, was it the Wild Ride? Bizarre Ride to the Far Side. Bazaar Ride, yes.

Big Surrog. First one. Yeah, huge Far Side fan. Yeah, yeah. So you were 13. Okay. Easily. Something like that.

Wow. You know, it's weird. That album was a hard sell for me in the very beginning. I didn't like your mama. Oh. I wasn't big on your mama either. It was cool, but yeah. Was it the remix that turned you around, or was it just?

No. When I heard for better for worse. Ah, yeah. Oh, damn, y'all, all right, all right. When I heard your mama, I just thought, corny. And I ignored them. And, well, Laya, you know, like when Richard Nichols and A.J. Shine were producers. AJ Shine was like Philadelphia's Stretching Bobito.

And he had a copy of the album. And I looked at the album cover. and it was just the craziest thing I've ever seen, which is really weird, because when he put for better for worse on, I feel like the album cover, that's the soundtrack to the album cover for a lot of worse.

But when I heard those Fender Roads, like, that just totally, I don't know, it just opened the whole portal. Literally after I heard for better for worse, I told Rich, like, we need a keyboard player. And he was like, I know this

like this guy living in my house named Scott Storch and that's how Scott came into the group. Wait, speaking of which I'm just realizing I didn't realize that you were the third writer

of Let Me Love You. I've always thought that was just Scott and Cam. Yeah, shout out to my man Cam. No, that was me. Yes, I was absolutely there for that. Oh, man. This old, yo, man.

I've known Cam, like, I've known Cam since I've known Scott since they were like, yay high. I thought Cam wrote those lyrics, yo. I was like, no, no, no, no. We definitely went back and forth on that. That was my first time ever working with Cam. And it was, I just remember it because I remember it being such an easy situation.

Because I worked with other writers since then, and it's, ego is getting away and, you know, well, I wrote this much, you know, and all of that stuff gets in a way. That was not the case when this song came to be. I feel like that might be why the song did so well, because it was just such a, it was like it was just love. The whole situation was just love. Nobody was tripping off of who got what percentage.

Nobody was trying to do more than they did. Like, it was just a love situation. You know what I'm saying? Shout out to that man. Shout out to Cam. Shout out to Scott Storch. That's to a large degree. That's where my career started.

Because that was a song that finally got me the attention. You know what I'm saying? For a long time, I was the little nigga that wrote the Mario song. That was my name. Can you talk about the process of you discovering your voice? So, yeah, my sister was born with just, she came out the womb, high seat, like just in there. Easy. It takes her, takes nothing.

I had to work for mine a little bit, you know. I knew I could hold the note. I wasn't tone deaf, but I wasn't, I wasn't my sister. You know what I mean? And in our house, you know, the standard became my sister. So, you know, I fell a few notches below that. So it took a little minute for me to just really, really get comfortable with my voice. A lot of Michael Jackson, a lot of Stevie Wonder, you know what I'm saying?

Moms actually put me on to both of these gentlemen. And it helped me get more comfortable with just how my voice sounded. I used to really not like the sound of my voice because, for one, I couldn't do what my sister could do technically. She had the ad libs and all of that stuff, right? And then my mom was like my hero. and she used to listen to a lot of like, you know, husky voiced singers, the OJs and your teddy peas and you take them off and that. And I didn't have that, you know what I mean? So I didn't like, I didn't really like singing at first.

And then she introduced me to Michael Jackson's off the wall, not the other than off the wall. She introduced me to songs in the Key of Life. She introduced me to just how they were doing, what they were doing with their voices. and it helped me become more comfortable with my own because there was a similar timbre there, kind of that nasally high thing, you know what I mean? And it just helped me get more comfortable with it. But not comfortable enough to sing four people. It was at the height of what I was doing, I'm in the 10th grade,

and if ever I'm upset about something mad, it's something whatever the case may be, I got a little red note, but go under my bed. I pull that joint out, I'll write a quick song, sing it to myself. Throw the no, pick up back under the bed and gone by my business. Like my friends didn't know for a long, long time. Because it wasn't for them. It was for me.

It was therapy for me. You know what I mean? So I went to a performing arts high school for visual designs, drawing, paint and whatnot. And every year, this high school, Las Vegas Academy for Theater Performing and Visual Arts, every year they would do something called pop concert. And this was primarily for the dancers and the choir majors.

And, you know, the techie guys will do the lights and all of that. It was like a like a super glorified talent show. think, you know, they got smoke machines and like it's the biggest thing going on. Yeah, yeah. So, of course, this is a major deal to the whole school. Everybody except the art majors. We were kind of left out of that. They ain't really, there wasn't really nothing for us to do.

You can make your backdrop. Nah, we fine. We got lights. We don't need. All right, cool. So we were kind of like the grassy-n-n-old kids. Like, they weren't nobody studying us because the whole, the rest of the school is on pop concert, pop concert, pop concerts.

There's kids crying in the cafeteria over choreography. You know, it's five and six. Seven, you don't have to be. So. Sounds like someone I know. So this particular year, me and the grassy-noe kids, we decided, you know what, we're going to do something to just kind of take the piss out this whole situation, right? So we pull strong.

Of course, I pulled a short straw. The plan was to somehow get into the talent show because you had the audition to get into the talent show. So that was a hard part. get into the talent show and then once you got on stage turn around moving the crowd runoff like that was that was what we were going to do how was our plan

I pulled the short car this was the plan it was kind of like this a big fuck you to everything that y'all making such a big dollar no one's getting signed from this this talent show guys

calm down that was our way of saying that to everybody okay so how are you gonna get on stage okay you art majors were always assholes man I'm sorry on purpose We thrived on being an asshole.

We did it on purpose. But, okay, so I go to the choir room to audition. I sang, Boyceman, end of the row. The choir major instantly asks me, why are you not in my class? Because I'm not a singer. He was like, yes, you are. Whatever, am I in? Yeah, you in.

All right, cool, bye, go. All right, I got in. How did you get in? Don't worry about it. All right, cool. Get there. It's a day of. Everybody's excited.

All my homeboys are sitting in the front. I don't know how the hell they managed that, is just something that you had to get tickets to, but we find our way in, damn it. We always, the grassy-nilkills always find a way. Anyway, it's my turn to go up. They introduce me, show you love for Schaefer Smith.

That's my real name, Schaefer, Smith. I walk out on stage to no applause because, mind you, the kids at this school know me as the little dude with the braids that would draw your picture if you give them $10, right? This is who I was at this school. So the music starts,

and I can't make this up. The music starts and I look up at the crowd and all of a sudden nobody's there. Everybody's gone. I don't know. It just in my head, everybody's gone. The crowd is gone. All I can hear is the song.

So I just started singing. I sang the whole song, said to one place, eyes closed, sang the whole song, ad-libs and all. All of that, all of that. Song ends. Right.

No applause. All of a sudden it was like a, I can't, it was a slow clap to us to the roll. Like, oh, like, what in the fuck? Because it was, it was like a where the hell did this come? Again, they were shocked. Little nigger with the braids that'll draw you a picture for $10. This is who I was. All of a sudden, you know what I'm saying?

So at that moment, suddenly, you know, the following days is girls saying hi in the hall and shit that I knew that I knew. I was all of that. You know, a buddy of mine said, hey, me and some friends, we had a singing group who don't know if you want to join the group. Yeah, sure. All right.

And then once I got into the group and met, you know, some like-minded gentlemen that wanted to do the same thing, we sitting around creating three, four-part harmonies and whatnot. That's when it was finally like, I could do this for a living.

Like, I could really, yeah, I could do this. So you just left the grassy and old people. Like, you just rolled out on them like, fuck it. No, I mean, friends. friends and we was always at, but, you know, at the same time, I'm spending a little bit more time in the choir room these days.

I have to ask this question. Your class of 98. 1998. So, that said, did you go back to your 20th reunion in 2018? Say yes. I did. Did you stun on him?

I don't, I'm not, I'm not a I'm, my flex is real light. It's like, you know what I'm saying? I'm gonna put this shit on, but not say I put this shit on. I'm gonna just wait for you to notice that I got that shit on. Like, you know, that's me.

That's me. You know, I'm not gonna draw attention to the diamonds, but should you see them, goddamn, you know, that's me. Right. Heavily imply. Evely imply. So, you know, I went and mind you, the most famous people there was myself.

Apparently the drummer from the group the killers went to the same, high school. Oh, okay. I know. I didn't have in Vegas. Yeah. And 702, right? It's 702. 702. 7.02 was on their way out as I was on my way in. Okay. I just knew y'all. Okay. I just knew. Yeah. But, um, ah, she's an actress. Beautiful chocolate actress. She was on that True Blood show.

Routina, Routina. Yes. Routina Westlena. That's the homie. That's the homie. We went to, we went to school together. Yeah, man. Yes. He old. I told you. I mean, Rout. Rout. I mean, Rout. Rout. Rout. Rout, Ritina. I mean, Ritin, You're not old, but you know what I'm saying? Queen Sugar. Wow, man. Nowadays, this is a blessing to get old, so I ain't even tripping. Hell yeah.

Hell yeah. So the thing is you're saying that your gift of journaling or writing poetry was sort of your stress reliever, your way that you let off steam. Did anyone ever hire your services as like, you know, quasi-serino-divergiac as a and write me something. All the time. Yes, all the time. Yeah, I used to do a lot of that for football players. Not the football players at our school because there was no football at our school.

But Rancho was down the street. And yeah, I know a lot of them guys. Yeah, I would write poems that they get their girlfriends or whatever. Yeah, listen. But not for three, though. Okay, $10, $10, $10, $10, $1,000. I got you. Nice.

I'll let you say you ready. Go for it. 10 bucks I never went hungry I would like to know what your process was then as opposed to now as far as

writing with the song are you a person that can get an idea of just words without melody or knowing what type of song it is or you know do you have to sit and listen to the song

or how different is your songwriting process high school, post high school, versus what you do for a living now? I can honestly say that when it was, you know, back in high school before the stakes got high, you know, so to speak, there was a, there was a freedom to my writing that, that dwindled over time, you know, as I got into that place where it's like, all right, you've had success. Now you've got to do it again. And so now you're overthinking every fucking thing you do because it's like, oh, is it as good as that thing? Before that, it was kind of just writing whatever it came to mind. And there was no wrong way. You know, sometimes it was it was a cadence that came to me. No melody, just, no words, just a cadence.

Whatever the case. And then sometimes it was words. I used to, so I used to my training, so to speak, if you want to call it that, I would just go somewhere and look around the room, find a word. a phrase, a picture of something, create a story around it, and then write a song based on that story. Just to sharpen, you know, just to sharpen the tools. So it could be a word.

It could be, you know, somebody sitting with a guitar and we sit and create melodies that way, and the words over the melody, like there's no wrong way as long as we got to that thing you feel when you know, like, yeah, that thing, you know what I mean? I want to thank you for validating me. Oh, yeah. Thank you for validating me right now.

No, because, you know, I wrote a book on creativity, and I was trying to give various exercises. Well, the first thing I told people was that they have to embrace boredom more. Because when you're silent, when you're bored, when you're still, that's when the ideas come to you. And, you know, I was suggesting games that you could do, like, brain exercises where, you know, I think Carly Simon used to randomly

open a National Geographic page and look at one sentence and then base a whole song on that. So to hear you say that, yes, I'm glad that you validated me because I don't consider myself a songwriter,

but I figured that for writing, that's a great exercise to do. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's because if you don't, your songs tend to become stagnant, you know what mean like there's there's the okay there's let's write about love let's write about sex let's write about money let's write about girls these four things are always going to you know float to the top for the younger generation that's just kind of is what it is to be young I get it but if you just focus on

those four things then all of a sudden your songs kind of start sounding alike it's like all right well you need you need new ways to say the same shit if that makes any sense and the only way to do that is to step outside your comfort zone to find a word that it's actually difficult. Write a song about graphite. What? Hold on. Hot what? What? How do you sing graphite? Yeah, because

you can rap it easy, but singing in something. Step away from I love you, so never let me go. You know what I mean? Like step away from that and figure out another way to say to get that same point across, but with different words and different phrases and different melodies. Like, I used to, I still do. I can't.

lock into one specific genre of music because, you know, if it's, if it's hip hop is these, these three melodies that every hip hop artist is using, right? So that's a very small bowl. If it's R&B, you know, it's these chords, it's the church chords, it's that type of vibe. Okay, that's cool. Step outside of that and listen to some country music. Listen to them melodies over there. Step outside that, listen to some, some, some Hindi music or whatever, just melodies that you wouldn't typically go to. And it helps just expand your, you're, you're, you're, library of sound, you know what I'm saying? When you sit down and do it, you got more shit to play with as opposed to I love you,

so never let me go. And, you know, your latest church song made over with R&B lyrics on it. Yeah. I want to ask, what are your taboo no-noes in songwriting? Like, okay, I hate your mind all the time. All the time. Maybe you all my mind, I think about you all the time. Yeah.

Oh, right. Yeah, those hurt. Those hurt the song. It's just so, come on, man. Like, you ain't even tried. You phone, you phoned it into that. Like, that's, yeah, I hate that. I hate the phoned in lyric.

Not, not mind you, the phone didn't look. Not the simple lyric, because you can say it simply, and it still be clever. It still have, you know, a little kick to it. Smokey Robinson is the king of that. The king of, I'm going to just say it, but I'm going to say it. Smokey Robinson is the king of simplicity. Yeah.

Yeah, but it's, but still, but still, but still fly, though. Like, simple but fly. Not just simple for the sake of simple. Like, I used to have an issue with the whole concept of repeating one word over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Why? There's so many words. There's so many words.

You mean rhyming words with words or you mean like my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, like just saying one word. Or baby. One word. Oh, no, no, baby. This is why I have. the utmost respect for the dream. Because the dream found a way to do that shit and it don't bug you. I don't know how.

But it don't bug you when you do it. You know what I'm saying? It works for him. Shout out to the dream. How the hell you do that, bro? Because I be trying that shit. It's like, nah, it's crumbo-ta-toss. No, this ain't it. This is not it. Of your contemporaries, who are the, you know,

the people that you respect the most? And who are your, I guess you could say your, I'm about to say Mount St. Helens. The poor president is in the mountain. Yeah, who who who who who who's the Mount Rushmore of of songwriters for you? Of songwriters. See, that's that's that's an interesting question. I've actually never been asked that question before.

It's always who's just your Mount Rushmore like like so. So if for that question, the question you didn't ask. You didn't ask. Well, okay. Let me let me reask. Instead of who do you respect now. who writes a song today that you're like, damn, I wish I wrote that.

Like, is there a song that's like, ah, man, I wish I had a crack of it. Like, damn. I've, I've heard one or two Drake records where the lyric was clever enough to where I'm like, oh, I didn't think of that. That was good.

That was good. Yeah, that hurt. I've heard one or two records from him in that space. I don't know, I'm going to be real honest with you. I don't know a lot of the newer, newer generation of writing. I don't know their names, you know, no disrespect or anything like that. But it's just I have to be, I have to be enthralled in the record today and take it upon myself to go back and look at who wrote it, who produced it.

And if I don't, if I don't feel like that, then I'm not, I'm not going to waste the time. I'll let it be what it is and keep it moving. Are you up on a Victoria Monet? She's a right. I really like her. Love Victoria Monet. I consider her artist, but yes, she's a hell of five. work on a fontet oh she's uh ariana she but she's an artist like you know like you said but yeah

i love her music yeah yeah her music yeah yeah shout out to victoria mona shout out to shout out to the girl her who's your mount rushmore before you as in that's the level of the pin game that i would like my mount rushmore ultimate mount rushmore be an artist writer whole nine because all of these guys kind of embody all of that uh five gentlemen Michael Jackson, Prince, Sammy Davis Jr., Steve Yuwanda, and Marvin Gay. You said that list like 5,000 times. Sam, David's Jr. Yes.

That's a nice one. Group in Vegas. A group in Vegas. Ah, there it is. The rap pack, I was, I fell in love with the rap pack. My mom brought it home, and, of course, I gravitated to Sammy because he was the one that looked like me. So, yeah, man, that's what it was.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clipper 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,

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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? 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 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 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. If you're in a rut, what's the process of you dealing with it? Do you have other hobbies or other things that you get into? Like sometimes if I'm a great example is whatever, the movie or I write a book or I do something else creative and that'll make me miss music. So do you have like another pivot that you go to if you're ever in a trap of not being able to finish the song?

I think the key word is pivot because you kind of have to pivot. Because if you don't, you sit there and force it until paralysis. Yeah, exactly that. So the thing for me has always been to step away from it, you know, as hard as that may be sometimes because, you know, that that whole defeated thing starts setting. It's like, damn, I let the song beat me. No, you're not defeated.

It's not done. Relax. You can come back. I'll step away. And normally for me, I'll play street fighter. I'm an absolute beast that street fighter. Challenge me. Anyone?

Who's your people? Who's your player? Riyu. I don't need nobody. Riyu. Me and Raiu. Go on. Dragon, dragon.

Dragon. That's right. So I'll do that. Or, you know, remember the practice I tell you about where I just look around the room and find another word and just something to get the wheels turning again.

That's all I really need. And that's, and that normally helps. that normally helps. See, that's how I play Wordle. So I guess I should sort of channel on to actually write in lyrics because I actually, I treat

my wordel game like I'm writing a song. I should have been writing songs by this point. Tell you that is hard as people make it. What's the average time that you'll spend writing a song? Like how fast does it come to you?

I like that. And what song took you the longest to write? What song to get the longest to write? So when I first started getting attention, so to speak, I used to prod myself on how fast I could write a song. That's kind of where my name, that's kind of where the name Neo came from. Dionne Evans, Big D.N. Evans' main recipe piece. He gave me the name because he, like, we'll talk, give me an hour,

I could give you 17 records. Wow. Now, mind you, 17 records. I didn't say 17 smashes. Right, right. They're 17 records. Of the 17, you might, three of them joints might be something, but 17 records.

Yeah, yeah. Now, so now it's definitely more of a quality versus quantity thing. Whereas then that same hour, where I gave you 17, I'd take that hour to give you two, but it'd be two smashes, you know what I mean? Two that I know are going to hit the mark because I took the time. Yeah, because I took the time to make sure that I was doing exactly what I, what happened up here. That's always been the hardest part for me

because I can hear it done up here already. I just need to get it out of here and into the world. And somehow through that process of that transition from my mind to the world, shit changes and things happen. And all of a sudden, it don't sound like it sounded in my head no more.

And now it's like, ah, shit, I failed. All right. Step away, beat somebody able to street fighter. Aha, come back, fix the property. That sound like Fonte process. No, yeah, no. You have to walk away. That's not straight up for real.

I want to ask you, man, specifically about your work with Stargate because you have like really great chemistry together. And I remember we've met on a few occasions, but I remember this was probably like, God, this is like 07, 06. But your first album, in my own words, it just dropped. And we was in Atlanta. And it was at drama. Drama was having a party.

If I feel like it was drama, it was drama. But anyway, some part of Atlanta. And I saw you, I was like, oh, man, it's Neo. And you were like in there. I was surprised that you were even there. You, like, had the hat on. You were, like, super chill. I was like, oh, wow.

Like, you were, like, super quiet enough. And I just walked up. I was like, yo, man, like, sexy love is the joint off new record. And he was like, yo, appreciate it. You know what I mean? And then you were like, I'm single. But I love that song, man. And you and Stargate, like, y'all have chemistry, man.

Like, talk about that process of working with them, what it's like. Well, firstly, I was, I was so chill that night because I was, I was shitting on myself in my soul. inside. Because I'm like, oh, my God, it's people and I know that person. I know that person too. I just calm down, relax. Three, three, two, four.

And my mind, this is what happened in my mind. Outside, it's like, yeah. We all been there. Oh, no, I was losing it. But Stargate, the beauty of Stargate is how genuinely humble and just kind of, I hate to use the term regular because there's nothing

regular about their level of talent, but they're just ordinary people. Like, you'll never see these cats with the big, dumb jewelry. You'll never hear, yeah, Stargate, at the top of the joint. They don't do that. They let the music speak for itself. These cats have figured out simplicity. It's like, they came along right on time where it was like, you know, again, no disrespect

to anybody, but we got to that place where the producers are celebrity too now, right? So you're so enthralled in making sure that everybody knows that this is you and you do so much to the track that you ain't leave room for the song now. Where does the song fit over all of this beautiful, amazing shit that you done done on this track? Here comes Stargate with, listen, we're going to give you a skeleton and let you put the meat on. We're going to let you let the song create the body. Because that's what, because technically, that's kind of what it's supposed to be. It's a marriage between the two, you know what I'm saying?

It's the foundation that's holding up the structure that's holding up the structure. And that's what they do to the point where, you know, they'll give me like so sick, for example, was that, that harp and a drum and that was it and that's what I wrote to and then later on they went back and put the chords and like filled it up you know what I'm saying sexy love same way do do do don don't do that and a that's it wrote the song they go in later and put in the bells and whistles later because it could to make to make the track meld to the song you know what I mean no it's like it's like Cass was casting doing that like no I got to make sure everybody I know this was my track. I did this. Damn that song. Yeah, whatever the song, I did it. All right. Those guys, they're Swedish, if I'm not correct. That's from Sweden.

They're from Norway. Norway. My brother's from Norwegian mothers, yes. Which kind of, again, speaks to your point, Quest. It's different over there because there's a different level of respect for the craft over there. Like, these cats, they would sit on that piano. They would get on that guitar. They will get on their drums.

They playing everything. You know what I'm saying? And it's fun for them. It's like the fringe benefit of it is that you make money. But that ain't why you're doing it. You're doing it because like when we finished so sick, well, we said studio, listen to that shit 90 times that night. Just awesome.

Yo. Yo! Like just joy, you know what I'm saying? Like that. And then the song comes out and does well. And it's like, all, cool. But in that moment, honestly, even if the song had come out and not done well, just what we felt when we finished that joint was like,

that was it. That's what you do. it for it. Not the, not the, not the, the, the, the money of it. Those are, those are, those are all fringe benefit. Those should be fringe benefit based on the fact that you did something from your soul and the world agreed with you. That's how that's supposed to work. Not the other way around. I would like you to talk about, uh, the left eye, um, show. Oh, uh, the cut. Yeah. Yeah. So the cut, um, that was, that was me and remember the guys that told you, uh, right after that situation with the talent show,

that a friend of mine was like, hey, at the scene group, I wanna know if you wanted to say, that was the group, that was us. We caught ourselves envy because we were from Nevada. Yeah, it was, I thought I went into it, but not a lot. Yeah, the cut was after Apollo. We did Apollo, amateur night at Apollo,

and things did not go to plan. I'll say that. What you're saying? Well, I mean, well, I'll put it this way. Sandman didn't come out. Okay. He was double dutching in the corner, though. He was ready.

What did you sing? What did you sing? We sang, we sang players in the hood by Donnell Jones. And to this day, every time I see Donnell Jones, I apologize to that man for murdering his song the way we did on the estate. It was, it was, um, yeah, it was not good. It was not good. But we was young and we was cute. And there was a lot of girls in the audience, so they kept us alive.

But it had not been for that. He was warming in the first. He was in the corner like, am I going? I'm going? Man, it was bad. It was bad. So, yeah, after. You, you, wait, you got to walk me through the process.

What is it to do? Like, everything, even to the house span. Like, what is the process when you do showtime amateur United of the Apollo? So, so basically you send them, at the time, you send them a tape of what you do. And they say, yeah, we'd love to have you. Come on. on down. Mind you, they don't pay for you to get there. If you can make it, come on.

Yeah, it's the Apollo. So you get down there. Now, what's supposed to happen is you're supposed to come down a day early so that you can rehearse your song with Rachel and the cruise, who it was at the time when we was there. Shout out to my man, Rachel. I do not blame you, bro. That was us. That was our fault. We didn't do that. We showed up the day of the show with a tape because we thought that it was going to let us play our music off our tape.

And it was like, no, singers have to use the band. We haven't rehearsed with the band. Well, why were y'all not here yesterday? Anyway, it turns out Rachel and the crew didn't even know the damn song at the time. They had no idea what the song was. So they had to learn the song and then had to learn how we wanted to come out to the song. It was, yeah, it was completely messed up. So many lessons learned.

So many lessons. Would you've chosen another song in hindsight? Oh, no, no, no. That had to happen. That had to happen. It had to happen exactly the way it did. we needed to be knocked down a couple pegs because we yeah we had done all that could be done in Vegas we did every talent show one you know what I'm saying we did all that and we just we went in there

like I should this thing like we really literally walked in a place oh y'all needed that oh yeah yeah yeah this Vegas yeah we do that yeah oh no not in New York when I tell you after we got off that stage it got back to the back we all ran in the bathroom and just stood around and stared at each other for like 15 seconds and all busts out crying at the same time. It was bad. Yeah, so after the Apollo, we was like, man, man, Corey. So, you know, shout out to my man, Corey. Corey was like our manager.

He was a part of the group, but he was the manager. He was the one that was, you know, he was the one that wasn't afraid to talk to people. You know, we ran up on Diddy one time. I was, hey, let us sing for you. That was Corey, but Corey was also the one that could never be on time for anything. He was like, hey, did he told us be there by eight? 12 o'clock, 40,

you're not the shower type situation. That was, that was Corey. Where is Corey? I don't know where Corey is currently. In the shower still.

Probably. Shout out to my man, Cory Clark. We got to the cut two days early, right? Because he was like, is there a band we need to rehearse with it? Good.

Good. And we look at. It's like, no, no, no, y'all got tape of your music. Yeah, okay, cool. We can use the tape. Woo!

All right, we can use a tape. We went in with an original song. that we had written called Pillow Talk. I think we did okay. It wasn't terrible. It wasn't great by any means, but it wasn't terrible. And we wound up losing to a girl that got on stage and got next to naked. And I.C. gave her two more points than he gave us.

Yeah. Because who were the judges of the cut? I couldn't remember it. No, I think it was it was guest judges every episode. It was different every episode. So I.C. was one of the judges for us. He literally said it on the show. He was like, you know what?

I wasn't really crazy about to. but when she started stripping, I gave her a nod. Damn. It was like, oh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Damn, but everything happened for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. Yes, indeed. That was one of the last shows that we did as a group

before we finally decided, you know what, let's just... Do you remember performing with us out in Vegas? When Jay brought me out, was that? Yeah. All right, so I literally... Okay, so, you know, as president of Def Jam, You know, by that point, I felt comfortable enough with Jay to, you know, to rib him or, you know, joke with him. Like, you know, most people just treat him like the king, like the good version of Ediamine. Like, they don't mix words or whatever.

But, you know, I felt like a little comfortable where I just called him up randomly about something. And I would say that you were one of the artists that he always advocated for. He always fought for it. was basically trying to figure out which one of you guys that he wanted on the next Roots record, you know, prominently, either like Cressette or you or, you know, T.R. Like, one of you. And so when he got word that you were in town, he's like, all right, keep your eye on him. Because at that point, I was not familiar. You know, I have my head under the sand when it came to, like, any music. that, you know, wasn't the music I already had in my record collection.

And you came out like someone owed you money. Like, I didn't realize. Oh, you didn't know he had it like that. Dog, in the first, I wish there was a videotape because there's a thing. There's a thing with Jay where he turns around real slow. And I hate when that smuggy, I told you so, look, he'll give me. He's like. Yeah, because it's like the cherry on top.

You're like, well, wait a minute now. You was killing it. I was like, oh, my God, he's going for James Brown, Tammy show levels. Well, I knew the importance of where I was at. I'm like, let me get the straight. The roots and Jay-Z and me, I'm going to show my ass. All right, so you leave Envy, and then what's the process of how do you get the attention of record labels? So I left Envy, but while we were in.

in in me. Again, shout out to my man Corey, you know, constantly moving around, trying to try to get things to pop force. We met this cat who had a boy band signed to Hollywood Records, you know, at the time that was a Disney's record with me. Yeah, a group called Youngstown. They were, they never got huge, huge, huge, but they did well enough. So it was like, it was a concept where it was like, write some songs from my group and I'll try and I'll help y'all get, help y'all get signed type situation. So, you know, we wrote the songs, was what it was. Like at this time, I know nothing of publishing.

I know nothing of any of that. I'm just like, we're going to get a deal. Yeah, yeah, right, it's on whatever. So after I broke up, after the group broke up, I basically started being managed by that guy. Now, his name was, names, Dubs. Everybody called him Dubs, Wilson. And he was the one that was kind of moving me around,

you know, showing me to different people. I was living with this cat by the name of Pauley Paul, the producer. he did Tidra Moses's first album Oh yeah Paulie yeah yeah yeah yeah

we actually met we actually met Tidra I met Tidra through that whole situation I vocal I vocal producer and arranged that whole first album I didn't I didn't write

I didn't write anything She did all the writing herself I was I was infatuated with what Tidra at this time She was right All the record of itself I would just come in and you know Through harmony here and that type of thing

Ah okay still that's dope That's music history. What is your patience level with vocal producing? Because I hate it. I don't do it anymore. I'll say that. You see it. Yeah, I'm not.

So shout out to my man, Sauce, Curtis Bulls, and AKA Sauce, of the formula of the group, Something for the People. You remember something for the people. Yes. My love is a shit. My love is shit. Sauce is my vocal producer, Ranger, you know what I'm saying?

And so if I wrote it, he's no. normally the one that's going to take it with the artist and get it recorded properly because he has the patience for that. I do not. See it. I tried for a long time. That's what you need. I don't have it. All right.

So can I say, or I won't ask for specific names. Ooh. But no, because it's real. Like, there's certain artists that I hate working with because you got a Jedi mind trick them. You know, they don't want to do another take. So are there artists that you've. had that situation with where like they catch the attitude or don't want to do it the way that you give you one more take.

Yes. Your silence is telling me everything. Absolutely. So I've been in with people that, that people that you know, I've been in with people and it's like it's either, it's either that or it's, they're so anal, like, yo, did you hear the breath on the beginning of that? Let me just get that breath one more time. Oh, do it again.

No one here. No, just the, just the, on the very, on the very top. Let me get that. No, that wasn't it. Let me get it again. No, that wasn't it. One more time. No, one more time.

One more time for the breath. I just got to get the breath right. That sounds like Beyonce, Rihanna. Man, this breath took an hour and 30 minutes for the breath. It's not a word. It's just the breath at the top of the word. An hour and 30 minutes. Wait, I got to be, I got to ask you.

Was it Beyonce? It was not. Okay. It was not. Wait, do you remember, do you remember, a Bronx tale when they had that now use can't leave moment. Yeah, yeah.

I had that with her once and never again. It was about figuring out an ending of a song and I was like, I said the wrong thing. I said, no, no, maybe Sue Vance. It's cool. We can just do it with the regular ending. We're good. No, you didn't challenge it.

And Jay Woff would be like, oh, and she's like, oh, we go. going to get this right. And I said, well, it's lunch break now. So we can just come back in two. He says, no, we're going to do it right now. I don't care if it takes three hours. And it took, yo, it was the now you can't leave moment. So. Yeah, that's the, that is, that is the Beyonce that I'm familiar with. But it was, but when I, when I worked with it, I wasn't needed. I wasn't there for a lot of it. Like, she, she had it. I didn't have to, I didn't, that was, that was one of the things that made me fall in love with her

even more. Like, I didn't have to feed her no notes. I'm like, here's the next note. I got it. Oh, okay. All right. She knows what she wants. I went and got coffee. I came back. The song was done. Okay. Well, what y'all got doing today? What y'all doing? Because I'm, if that's the case, then what's your, what's your favorite, what's your favorite song of hers that you done that you, you come back and heard her finished product

and was like, oh, shit. Yeah. I can't think of one that I did with her that I didn't feel that way about. Wow. I think you did. Because mind you, so at this point, at this point, I know a little bit about how to sell a record, right? I know that you can't sing the record ridiculously well because you mess around to scare artists off, right?

You have to keep it kind of middle of the road, just good enough, you know? Oh, you're talking about making the demo. You're talking about making the demo. Yeah. Okay. Oh. Yeah.

Oh, that's something I did not know. Oh, yeah. No, so anything that I did for anybody, I sing the demo and then send it to them, and they like it, dislike it, whatever the case they can be. So, Beyonce... And you do it dry. You do a dry.

Dry, you know, one take down. I have melody ideas here and here. And not in stone, but here's, it would be a good place for a harmony here. It would be a good place. That's all was needed. When I come back and it's the irreplaceable that you, we all know and love now. So, irreplaceable, flaws and all. You know, it's very...

in the morning. I'm a bitch in the afternoon. Yes. Yes. Don't do that. Dry. Everything, all of the,

all of that, that's heard. That's all heard. I wrote a, if there's a joint on that same album called If, if you let him take me from you.

Another one where she just went to church on shit, like just, yeah, I've never felt so useless in a session than a session with Beyonce. Like,

I did not need to be there at all. Is there a, song of yours that vocally you wish he could have been there in the room for just because it wasn't the way that you envisioned it? Yes.

Okay. Yes. It just didn't do what it was supposed to do. So I love Luke James. Luke James is my guy. Luke James has one of the best voices that I've heard in a long time.

He does. He does. I wrote a song for Luke James And what happened was the original key of the song was way higher than he sings in his regular voice. So they had to drop it down to where he sang. And if anybody knows anything about

when you take a high key song and drop it down, it kind of takes a little energy from the record. So when I heard it back, it was like, damn near three notes lower than I initially gave it to him. And I wasn't there when he cut it. So I'm like, as much as I love Luke, this is not, no, this is not, that's not what this song's supposed to be.

But by that time, it was too late, the song came out, didn't really do anything. I was about to say, I didn't, I'm sorry, I like the shine. Yeah, it didn't, yeah, it didn't do much of anything. But take another from Luke again, an amazing singer, just amazing dude, period. That was just a moment in time where it's like, oh, if, if I knew that they were going to drop it down that many, that many keys, I would have, I would have just been like, nah, dude, let's do something else. Let me do something that makes more sense in the realm of where you like. Write a different melody. Yeah.

Yeah, because it just took, it just took all the energy from the record. Like, yeah. It happens. Like, when I first heard Champagne Life, man, I was like, yo, dog. Ooh, that's the one right there. This is going to be the one. That's the one. I wish Champagne Life was your magnum opus.

That is my all-time favorite song of yours. And I wish that shit would have. Because I felt it was like, an anthem. Like if there ever was a black excellence anthem. Yes. Yes, Amir. I've seen it and I wish that song was just like way, way bigger. Are there songs of yours that are not your, you're out-the-gate hits that you, you know, which were bigger singles or that that jam worked? I'm not a, I'm not a dictator. Meaning I'm not the dude going, you know what?

To hell with your opinion, hell with your opinion. I like this song, that's a single living long. I'm not that dude, right? There's a small group of people that we all get together and we pick what songs are going to make the album, what songs are going to be singles, you know what I'm saying? And everybody respects everybody's opinion. My manager Tango, this is one of the oddest creatures

on the face of the planet because Tango don't even listen to music, yet Tango can always pick the one that's going to go. Okay. Whatever reason. But that's good, though. He always knows, like, nah, no, no. The whole room would be like, hey, he's like, nah, trust me. B and damn it'll be B. I'm telling you. It's the most frustrating thing in the world.

But so him, yeah, just a small group of people that I do this with, which means that there's been a multitude of times where it was songs that I wanted to be singles that didn't wind up singles. Mirror from the first album. Yes, I wanted that to be a single. I wanted that to be a single. This was before Def Jam realized that I could be sexy. They didn't view me as sexy. So it was like that song. Hey, it's all good. You know what? At the time, I was priding myself on not in that R&B dude. You know what I mean? I'm like, okay, if I can step on stage,

you're in a three-piece suit and get the same screams that you can with your chest out, who went it? Yeah. All right, cool. Right. So because of that, I guess they were like, you know, mirror, nah, not, that wouldn't work.

All right, cool. Champagne Life, that whole, that whole album, the Libre scale album was just, man, it was just so many things it went wrong. So many things it went wrong. I take my responsibility for the things that went wrong. So the Libra Scale album,

which is where Champay Life was on, when we went to, when I came back from doing the Red Tales movie, and then I did another movie called Battle Los Angeles. So in the process of doing these movies, I'm sticking real close to the writers,

real close to the directors, because like this, I want to, I'm learning, yo, I want to know how to do this. I know I can tell a story in three minutes. I want to tell a story in two hours. I do this, right? I guess I'm not asking the right question. So I go back to Dev Jam,

And I say to them. So for my fourth album, I want to do like a 30 minute, maybe 45 minute, little mini movie and let the album be the soundtrack to the movie. And I like, okay, that's a pretty dope idea. Okay, bring us the script. Cool. Notice. I said 30, 45 minutes, right?

This is before I learned that in the world of screen and script writing, a page equates to a minute. I didn't know this. So whereas I told them 30, 45 minutes, I brought them a script with 145 pages in it. And they were like, what you, what are we doing? What you want us to do with this? What the, this is not 30 minutes. This ain't going to go.

So I had to then take the 145 pages and bust it down to 30 pages, which took way, way long. Because again, I'm green to this. I know what I want to do. I just don't know how to do it. So bust it down to 30. By that time, the clock is ticking. We ain't got time to shoot no movie. All right, you know what, let's do this.

Let's do four, let's do five long form music videos. So the video for Champagne Life, video for one in a million, the video for a beautiful monster. Yeah, I just, it didn't go to the way it was supposed to go, man. It just didn't go how it was supposed to go. We got three videos in. Devjans said, we can give you no more damn money. To hell which is to be continued.

We're not doing it. Champagne, like, was all supposed to be the first single. And then we come to Beautiful Monster. But then all of a sudden, in the ninth inning, everybody switches up and goes, Well, no, we think Beautiful Monster should go first. And I'm like, no, because I know what Beautiful Monster is. Beautiful Monsters are chasing closer. I don't want to do that.

Close with a moment. Let that be that. Let's, let's, let's, you hear this record. Let's go here. Nah, nah, nah, you got an international fan base now. You got a feature fan base. Oh, international. Can I ask, is this Jay Brown talking?

Is this L.A. Reed? Like, who's the, who's at the drive? Who's the will? All of them is. Yeah, everybody, everybody, everybody. Everybody got the hand on the wheel and it's pushing at this point. At this point. This is the fourth album.

This is after you're the gentleman. So everybody's hands on at this point. Right. So right. And you're the gentleman. So now it's like, all right, all right. We've proven. Let's, you know, let's let's pay more attention than we ever had before,

almost to a fault because I had to go a beautiful monster first. Micro Manage. Beautiful monster did, you know, what it did. It did well overseas, which we know it was going to do because that's what it's for. Then do it over here And then they put out champagne life Trying to pick Trying to clean up behind

Beautiful Monster Because beautiful monster They let it rock for a little while It wasn't picking up So they All right We're moving on Moving on champagne life

Champagne Life comes out It's moving It's moving It's moving We want to drop another single Why? Let it glow Let it live

Right Why would you chop the legs Off of this? It's going Ooh You got a heat rock With this next one Okay if it's a heat rock

Now it's going to be It's going to live They didn't want to let it live. Chop the legs off of champagne life with the next single, which did not do well either. Then we ended everything off with one of the notes, which kind of, you know, at the very least, leveled us out.

You know, I wasn't in the red after the damn album. One of the million level us out, but it didn't do what everyone anticipated. Yeah, I was really, really down at that period of time. I just remember being real sad a lot, because it just so many things were wrong. I'm like, there's no way that this is this bad of an idea for all of these things to be happening like this.

And then I'll never forget that year, I got invited to Prince's Grammy Party. I mean, he saw as you throw a party party his house. So, you know, that was silver lining in the dark cloud. So we went to the party. I remember we're in the pool house and there's like a, like a plexia glass thing over the pool. So we're literally standing on the pool.

I thought that was cool. So he's on a little stage with his band, talking out, he sees me, puts his guitar down, be lines to me, and says, it comes to my ear and whispers and says, Liebers scale was a good album and don't let anybody tell you different. Wow. But Amir, this is, but did you know what was, but Neo, did you know what he was whispering in everybody's ear? Sorry, Amir, this reminds me of all the stories that you told me that, like, that's what

he would do. That's kind of what he does. You know, we had one other encounter where I was, I was drinking some vodka, and he leaned over to me at a party and said, vodka's bad for you. And that was, that was a thing that he did. 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 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, 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. for 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 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 it. this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

for wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Before we wrap, I just wanted to, I always wanted to know

the song Time Loop for Sherman Showcase. Yes, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Yeah, man. That's me and my production partner. I can take no credit. But wait, do you know, Neil?

I can take no credit. Do you know? Yeah, we met on set. I think the day that you, that y'all take, we met because I sang the demo on that. And like, right, right now. They didn't know that. Yeah, we met that day.

You was like, yeah, man, you sound like just like Walter Scottie on that joint. It was like, but yeah, we did that, man. And I was like, yo, this is like crazy. I don't know who the fuck they're going to get to sing it. And then I guess maybe like a month later, Diallo, shout out to Diallo. he came and was like, yeah, man, we got Neo to do it. I was like, fuck, yeah, that's perfect. So what was it like for you?

How did that song, like, come to you? Like, what did you think? Like, what was it like on your side? Well, Diallo reached out and told me about the show, the Sherman Showcase show, and asked me if I wanted to be a part of it. I'm like, yeah, man, I always want to do funny stuff. I don't never get the funny roles. Just for whatever reason.

I guess I'm not funny. All right, I thought I was. I guess I'm not. No, you killed that shit, man. Well, thank you. Tell somebody the damn casting directors that I'm funny. It's like, it's funny shit.

I don't never get it. No, I'm always, I always get the music roles. All right, you're a starving artist in the Mean Streets in New York. That's what I get all the time. So he sent me the record. At first I asked, I was like, do I need to write something? He was like, you can, but I have, I have an idea. And then he sits to him, I'm like, oh, shit, I don't need to do none of this.

Yeah. I was listening to that joint like it was a real song. Like, like, that's the idea. You all of us were that watched the show. We was like, all them songs. He was like, yo, what an album at. You listen. Word.

I'm down to do more. Now that I know you down to do more, because we, yeah, now that I know that, oh, yeah. For sure. Can we get a Sherman Showcase update? Is that what you're doing? Yeah, what you're doing? What's taking on so long? Yeah, we're going on.

The day that, well, it's why, I mean, you know, like everything else, COVID pushes back. But the new season, I believe, is coming in the fall. Okay. We did the music, all the music and all that's been done. But, you know, we got pushed back from COVID. But the new season. season is coming this fall, though. I'll let me.

I will happily revive the character. Come on with it. Let's do it. Okay. That's what so. Can I ask about self-explanatory real quick? Yes, yes, yes. I just want to know, because back to this conversation that we were having in the beginning

of the show about music or whatnot, I'm curious to how you continue in the legacy on this album and while still keeping it fresh. Okay. So this album, I started this album in 2018. And then, you know, of course, COVID pandemic, quarantine. and all of that stuff hit and just through a monkey wrench and everybody's situation.

It happens. So a good half of this album I had to, I wound up having to kind of do over, you know, because it's like, all right, you work with a producer in 2018.

You do a song. He's like, all yeah, this is for the album. You didn't pay him yet. And then y'all ain't spoke. And then you call him in 2022 and he's like, what?

Oh, bro. I sold that. I sold that thing. Oh, wow. Oh, no. Happens like that. So good. So we had to redo some stuff.

But overall, this album is, it's definitely me as me. I mean, I called itself explanatory because I feel like I've been here in 20 years. You really need an explanation to a neo-recorded at this point.

Not really, not really. You understand what it is. But on top of that, this is me acknowledging what's going on right now. I can never become it. I'm 42. Leave me alone.

I can never become it, but I can acknowledge it. You know, I can acknowledge it. I can acknowledge the parts of it that I dig. You know, so there's one song in particular. Actually, the first song on the album. Cat from the newer generation, his name is Zay France. If you ever heard the name before, look him up.

Okay. Yeah. He got something. He got something to the point where I let him feature on the album. The name of the joint is laying low. It's probably the record. But it doesn't sound like typical Neo. It's more, the song, the song leans a little bit more towards his generation. And I'm just kind of, you know, uncle on the side of the thing. But I'm never the cat that's going to jump on a record and not be me. I can, that, that could never, I can't do that.

So even if it sounds a little more contemporary than normal, it's just me acknowledging the changes and the evolutions that have happened in R&B. Well, at the same time, I'm going to still get my bridges. I'm still getting my three, four, five, four, par harmonies where I can get them in there. All that is going to be on this album as well. It's just me celebrating the fact that I get to do music. for a living, Samo. That's pretty much what this album is.

That's dope, man. Oh, and I've been to tell you, too, man, like, good man. Oh, God. Yeah, I thought that was so dope. Like, y'all chopped up. How does it feel? Like, that was, yeah, that shit was changing. Another one that I felt like should have got way more attention than it did.

But, you know, I can't tell people what to do. And she's got her own. Like, you'd be creating the anthems for the fellas and the ladies. It's kind of amazing and, like, progressive, to think progressively in a way. That's got a dope. It's Miss Independent. I know that,

but I like to say she got our own. Yeah, yeah, black people. I like, we say she got our own. Yeah. Oh, man. Oh, I want to see ya. You're, seeing her working with her.

We got to, yeah, got to tell her. Yeah, yeah, see it, man. She's like an amazing writer. Love see you. Talk about working with her. Yeah, man. So, so, she wrote the hook to let me love you. Wow.

And I would love you and I will love yourself. Funniest thing, I was like, because I heard that lyric. I'm like, yo, where did you come up with that? And she said, oh, my, meeting. That's what they say. Wow. We're going to love you until you love yourself. I'm like,

y'all fuck with you so happy. That's the. He is the realest person alive. I remember that it was actually that session. We were sitting in the back. We was at Westlake Studios on Santa Monica. And we were sitting in a little back room off of the A room. And I was

looking at the tattoos on her arm. She has pictures of dogs, but it looked like a four-year-old drew a dog. And it's just a bunch of them like all over her arm. I'm like, what is... Anyway, I'm sitting there because I'm in all of her because, mind you, I'm 07,

you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm... Yes. Yes. Yes. And I finally get to work with her, so I'm geeking out. And I'm like, yo, I'm sorry, you're just supposed to be way bigger than you are. And she's like, yeah, but I don't want it. I want to go to Taco Bell.

And I'm like, what? She's like, I want to go to Taco Bell. I want to be able to go to Taco Bell and get a taco if I feel like it. If I get any bigger and people don't my family. I can't go to Taco Bell. I'm like, that makes a lot of damn sense. So I guess we got to figure out a way for your music to get the recognition that loves, but you'd be there and still go to Taco Bell. She's like, I didn't play. Publishing. Yeah, yeah. She said, I'm working on. And the next thing you know,

he comes up with the video, with little Maddie dancing and half the world don't know what see it look like, yet the whole world loves her music. I'm like, she figured it out. And it's just victory stories like that just make my heart smile, man. Because I just, I just I remember sitting there with her like, how are we going to get you to Taco Bell? They need to hear this music, but we need to get you to Taco Bell. How are we going to do this?

She did it. She figured it out. Now I have one question because I was one day old. I didn't realize that you wrote Mac Wilds' own it. Yeah, man. I still spend that to this day. My God. Do you ever have songs that you wish you would have kept for yourself?

Not when they do well. You know what I'm saying? I look at it like, if it came out, And it was a hit on who it came out. Clearly, that's where it was supposed to go. That's what it's supposed to be. Now, when it come out and it don't do well, I'm like, well, damn, that's all you was going to do.

I should have kept it. I could have did better than that. Another question, because you were one of these staff writers of the Empire series. How much pressure was that? Like, at the top of the season, where I would imagine, even the summer before, it's like, you got to have, like, whatever, 15 songs or whatever. Like, what's the division of labor?

where, like, how do they assign those songs to get done for it? Because every episode of Empire had at least, like, six to seven ready-made, like, real-sounding songs, not just like, you know, whatever they would just play on the background of a different world, but, like, really fully produced. No, no, no, no Gordon-Gartrelle songs, but how much pressure was that? Like, was this just stuff inside your,

your canon that you had in the back already, or were you like custom making these songs on the spot? Well, I didn't come in until the following season. The first season, none of that was me. I didn't do none of that. Second season is when they pulled me. And it was honestly a really painless process, and I don't know if it was just because it was me,

but they was basically like, well, what you got for us? What do you need? What you got? Oh, well, damn. All right, well, let me look in the, and then I got to meet Jesse. to meet, you know, Yaz and got to meet Saray and all of them and, like, kind of really developed kind of a friendship with them to where it's like, all right, I know how to write a song

for you now. I know what your voice does now. I know what works, what doesn't. You know what I mean? So they really rolled out the red carpet for me. They made it very easy for me to produce anything that I needed to produce for the show. Definitely would be it. Sweet.

Well, I want to thank you for, you know, doing the show with us and, you know. Thank you for the records. Thank you for the records. for the record. No, straight up. Thank you. Thank you for the bridges. Yeah, yeah.

Right up. Especially the bridges. And you should audition, maybe start auditioning for like some romantic comedies. I see like a, maybe starting out as like a sidekick situation and being the funny, funny if you want to do the, I just, I see that. I see that for you. You're doing it.

You do it. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. I know, I feel you. I don't want to do, I won't say I don't want to do a romantic comedy because if the the rap will come along, I'm going to do it. But I want to be. I want to play a paraplegic white man who just realized.

It's kind of going here. Shut this shit, that. Mama is black. I want to do something that's so not me. You want to be Lieutenant Dan? Come on, man. I'm trying to tell you. I want to be something that's so not me that when people learn this meeting,

they go, oh, well, damn. Okay. We didn't know he had it in. That's what I want to do. I understand that. That's what I want to do. I understand. You went real far to the left, left.

I need that. I need. A German chef just got shipwrecked in Africa and has to learn how to make. Sherman Showcase Season 3, Lord. Yeah, family. Fonte, did you hear that, Neo? Come on.

He's going to write that song for you. I can tell it. Let's go. So, I'm ready. On behalf of Laia and Fonsecolo and Sugar Steve, and I'm Pay Bill and Lieutenant Dan over here. This is Questlove Supreme. Thank you, Neo, for doing this,

and we'll see you on the next program. That's what I'm saying. Quest Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. For more podcasts from IHeart Radio, 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 what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the Fourth. 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 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 Slice of 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 podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed human.