The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Raphael Saadiq Part 2

Episode Date: October 6, 2021

This episode of Questlove Supreme is the one you have been waiting for. There are too many words. Just listen to the iconic Raphael Saadiq. Part 2, you're welcome! 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. 2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange, modern world. Put yourself through some hardships and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person.

Listen to 2%. That's TWO percent on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 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, 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeartRadio. Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, we had an epic conversation with the one and only former Tony Tonytonian Rapio Sadiq. This episode, we continued that conversation. with part two. He talks about more of his solo career, making records.

He talks about scoring movies. He talks about other artists that he's worked with. Really interesting tippets for your music heads out there. This is part two. Part do of Raphael Sadiq on Quest of Supreme. Hope you enjoy it. Yo, how many other random stories do you have like that? Yeah, because you just drive.

Maybe one or two, but that's my favorite one. Oh, my God. Wait a minute. I don't even want to skip. I got to ask you something. Yes or no, and this is without blowing up your spot. I already know what you're going with. No, no, no.

I don't think you know. Is the four tops strung out for your love? Does that mean anything to you? You got me strung out that? No, it's on the catfish record, 1977. I mean, every record means something to me, but not like that. I don't know. I'm curious to what do you think.

Let me then ask who was the creative head behind? I couldn't keep it to myself. Me. All right. I'm just asking. No, there's... Similarities? Yeah, there's a song on that Catfish record from 1977 that is literally the twin of that.

And I was like, oh, damn. They made their version of that song. I mean, I felt like that's, I felt like those two core progressions back and forth with a lot of different records. Exactly. Like anyone could, that's what I'm saying. It's like a Sam Smith situation. Like anyone could have picked those scores.

For that song, not that close, but. Right. Now, speaking of which, now with House of Music, for House of Music, was that just your derivative challenge album where it's just like, I'm going to do my version of this song and that song? man my whole career is that I know but this this album

did anyone from Nirvana's camp ever get at you about let's get down because to me I think they got that I thought that was from a derivative of a derivative of also get down

get down not cool in the game but I'm your buggy man that's what I am Pacing in the Sunshine Man Yeah like they got a song that sounds like that too with that um come on let's get down they got a joint like that too but the way i the way i was singing that song i started singing it like it was an effect on my voice and then i put an effect on my voice i was so going come on yeah i start doing that but but kisi and the

sunshine band got a joint just like that really yeah so they might be a second rapio i thought you're about to say no, their version goes D-Din-Din-Din-Din-Din. But mine, ding-ding, ding-a-ding-ding. Right. No, I'm playing. McDonald's and McDonald's. So, for me,

I got to bring up, all right, yes, we'll enter some sort of talk of what they do, but can you please talk about how you discovered the great spanky Chalmers

Alfred. Yeah, sure, man. The guitarist god. My mom, it's funny, my mom is 89 now. Oh, bless her. And she has, she's lost some of her short-term memory. But one thing she never forgets to say to me every other day is,

I show Miss Spanky. Wow. All the time. Spanky lives with me for a long time. And so what happened was Spanky, growing up in, you know, Oakland and listening to gospel quartet, Spanky was sort of the king of that. And I didn't know him for years. I just knew his music.

I knew how he played. And at one point, the last album was House of Music, I think, that Tony's last album was. And we had these musicians that everybody thought I needed to make music. This is when the Tony sort of split up. It was like Outcast. I did my sided album and they did their sided album. And was there a neutral coach in the middle that sort of facilitated? Yeah.

For years, I couldn't really understand what I did. You know, because there's always two sides to a story. And sometimes you like to point you, if you're on one side, you could point the finger. But I never knew what happened. So we were getting together and we were going to record together. We had this house. Jerry Brown was going to record. The whole thing was we were going to bring the press all to one house.

they're going to interview us before we put this album that was going to be a part of the press humble marketing plan then I get a call and they were like you record your side by yourself and we will record our side ourself so they took the guitar player that we had at the time

it took him so they was like well if he doesn't have the guitar player he can't be do what he do I don't whatever so I get home it's like a game of basketball Yeah, exactly.

So I get home. And my mother has a friend named Frankie. And somebody at my house said, Frankie called you. I call him back. My mother's friend, this guy, was kind of like my godfather. But he said, I said, Frankie said, no, this is Spanky. I said, Spanky, who? Spanky Charmers. I said, the guitar player,

Spanky? I was like, put something on it. I said, where's your guitar? Play. He played the guitar on the phone. and next day I had him in my house in Sacramento. And we was in several, I let him leave after that. He never left. So I got him and we recorded that album. We recorded with you.

We recorded with a lot of different people. And he sort of wanted to teach me to play. But I just thought it was impossible to learn how to play that good. So some things I did learn. I kick myself every day for not, you know, sitting down with him more as I should have but I really want to introduce him to people like yourself and

be in different people and he got a chance to meet people like Pino because he was so well respected in the gospel field I felt like his talent will lend himself to so many people and I was just you know happy to have him in my life as much as I did but that's how I actually met Spanky.

How old was he? He was an older guy how about how old was he? Yeah he was the older guy but this guy could teach I mean for many years people would knock on my door, my house, my studio. I'm here for Spanky. Spanky's, I got a guitar lesson with Spanky. Or even the album that he played, the voodoo album on,

he played this guitar that I bought from my uncle for like $350. Some guy sold him. It's Gibson. I let Spanky use the guitar. He played it all over the album. And it was my guitar, but when it was time to give it back, Spanky didn't want to give it back. So, and Spanky kind of fell out.

I was like, Spanky, I just let you use it, but it's my guitar. To this day, people still come by my studio, and they just want to look at that guitar. You still have that guitar? I still got it. Wow. And he played everything on. You've, of course, met Sharkey, correct? I met Sharkey a million times.

Amazing guitar player. Yeah, the story that Dee tells me about Sharkey was like, he met Sharkey when Sharkey was like maybe 12 or 13. And it's so weird, it's so weird meeting like, and this is the same for like DJ Harrison. Like there's, there's a slew of Gen Z or millennial Gen Z, you know, born in 88, 89, 90, that was like seven or eight when this stuff is coming out and how it affects them. Like there's at least five cats I know now. four of them who've never met Spanky ever and it's as if it's like I know you know when people say like well the spirit of blah blah blah is in them

like I've fully believe that because I've never seen such a mythical figure like Spanky and his story and the legend of Spanky like now spread out through the universe Yeah, it's just something to believe. And like, and right now, like, I don't know if you've been back to Oakland or if you're still, like, heavy into it.

Like, do you still meet musicians that are, like, just off-kilter like that that are, like, killing that no one will ever know about but, like, just local cats? There's a couple. I haven't met anybody. I haven't met anybody like that, but I know there's a few people brewing, you know, I. in every department, you know, beat makers, samplers,

keyboard players. If you keep your eyes open, it's going to be another one. But that was, that one right there was a special one because he was so good, but he was always keen

on making records. You know, if he worked with somebody, he wanted to give you a part that can make a record. Like, every time I play, you know, what they do,

when they go, blarn-do-blown, blan-de-blown. Blan-blarn-blarn-blan-blan. Now, I sit on the guitar and I try to learn those parts now. And I pretty much got it, but I'm not as nice as Spank. You know, Spank is like, I got hard bass fingers. I play really hard.

But just knowing, like, to put him in one of the greatest hip-hop bands ever, you know, to you guys, that gracefully put that on your record, when I was working with you guys in that record, I feel like I had to do nothing. You got the best, you got a guy that rap in your group. that could rap for 69 months without stopping. You got you who's just going to play a beat

that everybody liked, I got Spanky playing guitar. I didn't have to do nothing but whisper something. Wow. That was the... So that's him. I'm playing with the beginning. Oh, wow. I mean, all I had to do was match a mirror drum, but I just go.

Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. So people say, you produced that record. I was like, bro. That's like being Phil Jackson with Jordan on the team. I don't know if that's producing. That's called a perfect storm, being in the room with the best people. Sometimes less is more, and that, trust me, that helped.

Everything about that should help. I also like to note, you were the person that also taught me the one thing that my girlfriend hates, which is abusing my awards. When I got to your house, your American Music Award was your doorstop. that's when I was like well you know rapio's so I abused every Grammy ever had like bathroom all that stuff and you know is that is that American Music Awards still like somewhere in the trash somewhere

probably you don't you know it is probably man I just said like I just I remember I did this interview and I forgot that that thing was in the corner man and somewhere and this lady wrote yeah his American Music Awards was like in the corner with like dust all all over him. Like, uh, I just never, I always,

when we went home that night, I was like, yo, man, his award was a doorstopper. And I was like, yeah, man, I want to be that famous one day where I just don't give a fuck. Where am I green? That's what I'm gonna do when I get my shit. And you know what? A guy from around you went right on the tour.

I was like, I'm gonna top of you, Raphael Sadee. That guy from one of the guys from around your way to the famous Tom Bell. Yeah. Yeah. I met Tom Bell through his daughter one time. I was walking down the street. and I'm like, hey, in San Francisco, I said, you look familiar.

She said, I met you before she said, you know, it sounded like a one-liner. She was cute. And she goes, yeah, I'm Tom Bell's daughter. And I go, damn. You said, that's what you said last time you met me. So I said, come to the show. She comes to the show. We're walking down the street.

She put Tom Bell on the phone. Tom Bell tells me, don't worry about awards, Grammys, any of that stuff. He said, because when the IRS coming to your house, house, they leave those on the mantelpiece. They were shit. Damn. That ain't real gold. And so then one of my friends who got a drug case and one of my good friends and he

wanted me to bail him out. And so the bail people came to my house and they wanted me to sign my, they wanted me to sign my house as collateral. This guy I grew up with. And I was like, I'm not putting up my house collateral with my head. Like, I don't know if I'm doing that. Even though I knew he wasn't going to run. But there was all.

offering him nine year, nine year deal. They wanted to cut his locks off. He wasn't doing none of that. So the lady and her daughter, they look up in my wall and they see all these gold albums. She goes, what about four of those? And I did like this. They don't mean nothing.

They don't mean nothing. No, I act like, you gotta sell it. A billion dollars. I sell it. I was like, are you acting? I love it. Okay. Maybe I could part with just,

maybe four for a little while to, they took those gold out. down like they was worth a million dollars a piece. For the record, are gold albums gold? No. No. No. They're not.

Their joints is about worth $25. I mean, I, thank you, Font. Yeah, they're not. Anyone getting to have a more work? Honest question. Sorry. Wait. Ray.

Rip then. What? That's hilarious. I got to say that your, your work with, with G1 and DJ Quick. definitely I felt like was a marriage made in heaven.

I always wanted to know why you didn't do more with them, or at least in that period. You're good. You're good. You're good. You can ask really good questions. I'm a fan. Yeah.

I want to ask you about Jake and the Fat Man, too, after this. Of course. That's a going. Yeah. But I wanted to know why G. All that. DJ Quick didn't work with you more, which lets you.

And I love your work with Jake and the Fat man, too. Well, what happened was they, uh, Jake and the fat man, he just scratched them. They're just terrible people. Damn. Okay. Well. Simple and da, for real. Now, we're not worth talking about, except Bobby, the guy who programmed drums was like really good.

He was more like a, he was more like trying to be like a dilla. And he, I've always needed drum programmers to, to finish what I like to do. And he was that. But the rest of it was not even not worth anything talking about. But, damn. Back to Quick in G1. The reason why we didn't do more songs because it was a budget thing,

and I wanted to do three songs with them, but the band kept saying it was too much money. So every time I would say it was okay, Rick would come back to me and said, lawyer said it wasn't okay. After three times, I asked my brother, who's saying no and I'm saying yes? So we were going to get about three songs

for probably $45,000, which was a deal for Quick. Yeah. And Quick was being really cool with us, and they wouldn't, they were never okay to budget, so we end up only doing one, which we would have follow-up songs, and it was let's get down, and pretty much nobody showed up to the sessions but me. So that was, the band wasn't it, that was just me and Quick and G1. Wow. And that's why we didn't get more songs.

I wanted three songs. I wanted three songs, so if we have this record, we'd have a follow-up and a follow-up. You know, you're young, you know, knowledge is wasted on the young. You know, they didn't know. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter, and on my podcast, 2%, I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange, modern world.

I'll be speaking with writers, researchers. and other health and fitness experts, and more, to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong. Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress.

Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-P-Sent on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here.

unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so...

Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black. black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

get your podcasts. Towards the end of House of Music, did you know that this is the end of my tenure with Tony, Tony, Tony? Yeah, I was sort of a dummy in that one because I think I went to like the president and was like, yeah, this is my last

album and I had written more than half the songs and so that's the mistake you don't do when you because they would have promoted the song even more the albums if I said I was doing the next album right exactly they thought they had more in the tank yeah and so instead of putting the money into

us they put into the other little group they had those little three kids I forget the name of them now three little white kids a little pop group at the time they were brothers no no No, the Nicholas She and them? Nope, before them.

Was it, was it all, it wasn't all in soul? Was it TRL like, like those, that type of group, like, yeah, TRL group or? Yeah, I saw with a TRS, there's something brothers. They were brothers. I look like a Hanson. No. Hanson.

Hanson. Oh, Hanson. Okay. It's not a T. Yeah. No. That one out of them. TV.

TRL group. It was Hanson. So once I came back like, you know yeah i don't think i'm gonna do any more records and a solo record and so what they did they just made the money back that they put out on this and and they kept it moving with the next group yeah yeah that was a bad move on my part but i was definitely i definitely knew that i didn't know if i was going to do a solo record i was really confused because i really loved being in bands and so you know yeah which leads to the the original lucy perro which was supposed to be

Delroy With Rose Yeah She was saying Delaware So can you talk about your Uma Slash

Linwood Rose slash Like your side groups And the idea of The super group That sort of Stalled I mean

Yeah So Lucy Pearl Got off the ground But You know Well the first The first was going to be Linwood Rose

With With Michael Archer And Right And And Q-T Kamal. So Kamar was in this as well?

Camal was part of Linawera Rose. I did not. That I did not know. It was us three, but you know, those are my really good friends and we're very left brain people. Right.

And we're artists and at the time, Dee was hot as, you know, he was hotter than fish grease at this point. So, you know, his defense, he couldn't really stop to do that. Right. You know what I mean?

He couldn't stop. to do that. He wasn't going to stop to do that, but he wanted to do it. Um, Chip kind of wanted to do it, but all of us being so left-brained, it just, it could have never worked. You know what I mean? I mean, you know the story better than me. So,

speaking of what, wait, before I forget, what exactly did you do on midnight? Because I asked Bob Power all the time, like, Raphael has credit on midnight, on midnight, on midnight, on midnight marauders. Is that you on bass? Is that your fuzz line?

No, that's me on the night is on my mind. Yeah, well, the song's called... Playing bass. Midnight. Oh, that's in playing bass. Oh, okay. Okay. Right.

Yeah, I don't know. I'm thinking it's the guitar organi. My claim of fame is I'm the only R&B cat on one of the biggest hip-hop album in the world. I'm like, shut it down. Drop the mic. Yes. I don't want to hear it. Hip hop fans.

I want to hear it. Living out your dreams. You came out to play with the... the first, like me and Tariq went to a tried New Year's show in New York and you came out and played bass with him. We was like, yeah, like losing our minds and shit. Yeah, man, I love, hip hop was just so

base-heavy for me. And I just like, when I first heard, when I first heard rappers delight when I was a kid came on the radio or I was like, and it wasn't good times, I was like, what is this? I was like, oh, it's on. And from there, I was all about New York hip hop for me.

I just always, I mean, I just always like the Brownstones. I was in love with Brownstones. I didn't even know what they were called. You know, I actually like, when I saw Ron DMC come to Oakland and they got off the tour bus and hurricane and all these jackets came out with Dev Jam, it just looks so, New York looks so powerful and strong for hip hop. I just always knew it was a bass thing. And I just always wanted to, you know, beats and bass. I still want to do a project where I'm playing bass. And it's just bass and drums.

And I just got like MCs just like rhyming on an album. Just all MCs. Why is that hadn't been done yet? Well, fine. What was that? Organization, you know, organizing it. Oh, yeah, y'all needs something. I feel you.

How, how when you finally got to do Instant Vintage, how is that for you like to, you know, Like now that you're officially on your own as a solo artist, was it an easy pivot to do or, you know, because now you don't have, I mean, I'm assuming that there's some level of collaboration between you and the rest of your band that, you know, makes the process easy. But if you're there alone, just making the decisions, that has to be a harder thing where you're responsible for everything.

musically it wasn't hard at all um what was hard was the interviews um the press because i was used to being able if i was tired to break up the interviews into like two or three i don't know how people do the whole solo thing where it's like people talking to you all day that that drove me crazy playing music i could you could leave me in a room i mean i got everything in my room right now I got Ableton here. I could pull up right now and write a song. Right now. I got my mic in here.

I can do that all day. But when you start getting me like, you got to talk to 20 people and I'm like, I can't go like, Dwayne, take just take 40s. Tim, take three of these. I was confused about that. I think I gave a call to Mike, Mike Archer. And I said, hey, bro, I said, man, I got to give you a couple of props because this is like a little different. you know like and you know he don't really do interviews i'm about to say that's why he don't do him yeah he don't do them you know but you know you can't you know so i i'm i can't really be that person

it looked like i'm copying prints or somebody i don't talk to people i mean i really couldn't pull that so um but yeah i think that was the hardest part and i think performing live was i thought i had it all together and i did this show in chicago right i think i was singing a song called um um um i don't even know the name of the song now um go upstairs and change something whatever that song body parts body parts yes i was singing body i love the string arrangements on that song too man i love the string arrangements on that that shit is thank you thank you that was um that was um that was mr benjamin right and i think i walked out and i just uh i sound like a sheep every for the whole song i was like there's been a long time i'm talking about the whole entire song

I'm like, shake out of it. Shake out. I couldn't do it until like maybe second, in the middle of the second song, I popped out of it. I didn't even know I could be that scared. I was really nervous because when I had my brother on this side and Tim and all the guys behind me, it's like you got a wall of people. It'll be like you playing with the roots and be like,

an army. Just leave everybody off the stage and you just go play drums and you go rap a song. It's going to be a little different, even though you know you're about to get off. Yeah. That was a little weird. AKA your DJ career. Yeah. I want to ask you about that record too, man.

The record with Calvin Richardson. How did y'all hook up? He's another Carolina guy. Yeah, excuse me. Yeah, man. Excuse me? Well, that song, I wrote that song for Angie Stone. Okay.

And so once we was singing and it was happening, and I was like, hey, Angie, I think I need this for my album. And he just happened to be hanging out with her that day. And I told both of them, I was like, yeah, I think I'm taking this one from my album. And that's how I got on the album. And they were cool about it. Speaking of excuse me, speaking of excuse me,

dog, why did you, why did you take the live off the House of Blues album out of rotation, like in streaming? Oh, I can't find it nowhere, only because that version of Excuse Me on that record, to me,

will you guys do the false ending? It's gonna be y'all. And then you go back into the song. That's my favorite shit. I abused, like after I heard that almost every root song does a false ending. Yeah.

It goes back to the, that is my favorite thing. I'm just begging you, please put that record back. Yeah, I am. That was a Navar. That was the first, when I,

that was the first records that I like, that I did independently. So those two records, Ray Ray and that record I'm re-releasing and I'm trying to get the Lucy Pearl album back right now to release them all of my new my new venture.

Wait, Lucy Pearl's not available for streaming? No, it's still available but it's not the way it should be available. Trying to bring that thing back under new management. Oh, I got you, I got you. I got you. I got you. So about Lucy Pearl, man.

So I've seen, yeah, I've seen like, I've heard stories from a lot of people that were involved, said her Don stuff. From your perspective, what was that experience? Like, what was the kind of rise,

fall, whatever? How was that? What's part? Yeah, why did you only do one record? Well, Don Robinson only,

she wanted to do a solo album before she actually worked with us. And I think she wanted to do a solo record when she worked with, in Vogue. So I think Sylvia Rohn gave her a deal, Dr. Dre gave her a deal. And none of those worked out.

And then she kind of grew up in Oakland. I think she's from Connecticut, though, from some part of Connecticut. But she grew up in Oakland a lot. So I just thought first we were going to, we were auditioning girls. And the first girl we talked to, Amar Braxton. Oh, okay. So then we were like, maybe not. And then we said, so somebody said I should call Don Robinson.

He kind of heard some stories, but I was like, you know, let's see if she wanted to do it. And she agreed to do it. We worked with it. I got my friend Monet to, she's a female writer who Don knows. She's from Oakland. She's singing with a lot of country singers. She was a great writer. And so she came on board and we just got together.

As soon as the record came out, we got to Amsterdam. Don was like, this is my last record, my last tour. And we were only like three months into the record. record. And so she pretty much quit. He pretty much quit pretty fast. And, I mean, if you follow her thread on YouTube, you'll hear her dog in just killing me saying, I help her lose her house. Oh, yeah. She's not happy. I mean, but the group was on together for three months. I mean, her house would have been an escrow. I mean, okay. I also, we didn't stay longer. We didn't, we didn't stay together long enough for somebody to buy house or lose a house. Yes. And then came

joy, right? And then joy helped me out and came to, finished the tour for us. We were just finishing the tour off, really. That was it. But we had a blast making the album. But when we were doing the vocals, I pretty much would go to LaMondriott and get drunk. And then the other guys would produce vocals with her.

That's how that album got done. Dr. Dre said, Dr. Dre said, sit telling you. I want to know this. How did you get an album done? Wow. And I'll say, basically, I went to LaMondriotti got drunk when she did vocals. I just appreciate this honesty

That's hilarious So with Joy Because I love like of your Of your solo records I think maybe Ray Ray might be my favorite You know what I'm saying You gotta be real thin And Ray Ray Ray's your record

Man listen We was on we was on tour We was touring I forgot little brother was touring Something damn where I can't remember But we used to run that shit on the tour bus And Joy's intro Like I did a record with Joy a couple years ago

She came to a crew we recorded. A Ray-ray theme? Man, listen. What? How do that? You and I love the because for me, Save Us is the greatest song of all time. I'm jacking the shit out that song on the next

Roots record. Especially now. Especially now. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah, that was that was going to be my record to, the way I kind of curated those records were like, yes, when I

Instant vintage, I was like, this is my introduction. Ray, Ray, I was like, I'm just going to have the most fun I could ever have. And then when I did the way I see it, I did, when I did the way I see it, I was like, this is going to tell everybody how much I was like loved Motown in the 60s. So I just really played dress up on that record. And I dressed like that for a whole year. And I had, because that record actually came out before Amy Winehouse came on. We used to talk a lot about it.

And she came out with her record and really blew up, which gave me an open gate to, like, really taking that record further. But, yeah, that was in my records. And, yeah, your little brother records, though, bro, were just, I was like, what? I mean, what, what record, what record was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it a little brother or was it, um, the other group out of Detroit? Excheon. That did, uh, slum. The slum that did the spoof of. of, uh, um, cheating.

No, Bob, um, of the jazz singer. Blue Yarnstrom. That was slum. That was slum. That was slum. That was on fantastic. Didn't y'all did spoof, too, though, right? They did, we did, we did, like the cheating and the Ron Isley, R.

Kelly kind of spoof. We did that on the show. Yeah, that was all me. Okay. Okay. Don't, Dante. Your spooks had me rolling. Uh, thank you, bro.

I didn't realize, I didn't realize that you were doing both voices. I thought. the straight guy was was always font. I thought you were Ron Isley and I thought the straight boys guys was a I'm forgetting your partner's name right now. Damn. Big poo? Pooh, yes.

Nah, no. Oh, hell no. Excuse me later than that. Pooh was a level genius because I thought, oh, Pooh's purposely singing like sharp. Like I thought there was a whole science behind that thing. No, nah, that was me. That really makes you be.

then the fact, okay. When little brother came on, I was like, oh, little brother, I was like, I was telling everybody. I was like, hmm. Thank you, man. Thank you, man. And you can sing, bro. You can sing, sing.

Man, I try. No, yeah, when we did Roots speaking. Yeah, so last time we were together, Raphael, you know, the last time we were all together, Fonté was singing was on stage. I was confused that he was little brother because he was singing so good. I got, I got all the way to. home and was like, yo, that was him.

It was from a little brother that was singing the hell out of that song. Thank you, bro. Yeah, I hit you afterwards. I hit you. I was like, yo, appreciate it. But yeah, no, I love that time, man. That was a fun time, man. That was a picnic was like, I was like in shock because, I mean, because question them, like,

the way they just kind of grew and everything, you just sit back and look at how somebody grow. Yeah. I'm looking at these people. And I'm looking all like the African artists on the, on the, on the, on the, actually on the bill that all the people, the kids in Philly knew. Yeah. Yeah. So I would go to that that stage, and I would look at the artist and look at the audience.

And when I was just sitting there, like, blown away, like, wow. You know, the highlight of your show for the whole Ruth picnic was that if you was grown, you was having a real good time, Ross and Rapiosk. Man, listen. But speaking to that, speaking to that, who is that dude that was playing a drum machine with his fingers? Your boy. Strow Elliott.

Yes. Stroh, Elliot. That's crazy. And then I'm mirroring them. I like flipping songs, but ever since that day, I've been trying to flip everything I do since that show. You know, we just wanted to do something different. It's weird you say that because, like,

I was trying to figure out, like, okay, now that we've turned into Earth, like, you know, the roots started out as a threesome, as a foursome. You know, we just, when we meet interesting characters, It's just like, all right, join the band, join the band. Oh, you play too, but join the band, join the band. I was actually having like a Graham Central Station moment. And I was like, yo, be really dope if we had somebody that played the role of chocolate. You mentioned chocolate earlier.

Larry Graham's former girlfriend that was playing the drum machine back in the day. And I was like, I want something. And we just happened to look on YouTube one day. At the time, you know, Jeremy Ellis and Stroh were two days. dudes that just played, you know, instruments. It's like we still don't know what to call. We just say Stroh Elliott on the beatbox, but it's, it's, it's a new, there's a whole new generation of cats that like, that are redefining what musicianship is.

You know what I'm saying? What the roots do. You've been doing that for years. We do that. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter, and on my podcast, 2%, I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world.

I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong. Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world, are the result of stress. Put yourself through some hardships,

and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-Persent on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little

Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode. where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wait, Ameri, you're going to go off a Ray, right? Because I just wanted to ask Raphael about an unsung singer that needs to be sung. Tidra Moses, can you just talk about her for a second? Yes. Yes. Please. Tidra is my, it's a weapon, man.

People, she just, she started a little later in her career. You know, she had twin boys when she was younger and she had to take care of her boys. But like she, so Tidra, I wrote that, I had had this at my label and I had signed truth hurts for a second. Yes. And I had, yeah. Okay. So I put truth. That record that Tidra sing, Take Me, was for Truth Hurst.

Yeah, me too. That's what I said after she sang it. Yeah. So, she, she, so Tisha was singing a song in the studio and I'm looking at Tidra. You know, Tidre got these beautiful legs too, right? So. And the bottom. I'll just say it.

And her body is like, oh. Yeah, so I'm sitting there, she's singing, take me. And I'm sitting here like, yeah. Yeah. Ain't no way to start singing this song. Yeah. And, but Tidra is like, her pen is crazy.

Her vocal arranges is crazy. If anybody, I say if anybody wants somebody, she even wrote that song, I want you back on the, I want you back on the, I want you back. Yeah. Yeah, so I took the melodies from her for those records, and she just always somebody I really like to work with.

If I was ever into doing a duets album, which I don't think I really am, you know, but she would be the person. It would be with you. Wow. That's my, man. man she was my crust back in the day man and people

she's singing and bring tears that's all rascats I was like fuck man could you could you have ever had guessed like how big of a song that Scott can you feel me was gonna become good one Fonte

I had no I had no cool so I there was the night did Alia passed passed away when I wrote it I wrote this I wrote this son with a Leah in mind

um everybody was calling me and I thought my friend was in the plane too, Fatima Robinson. So I was in this kind of different mood. And I had Ray Murray with me from Organized Noise. From Organized Noise, yeah. So Ray programmed the drums on that.

And Ray also titled my album Instant Vintage. I just remember him making the beat. And I just started playing those chords on the piano. And after that, we started writing it. It was just a song on the record. And this guy from London, one of the biggest DJs ever. Joss Peterson. Josh Peterson.

Josh Peterson. He knew somebody. They took the record. They remixed it. And I saw the record at Amoeba. And it said, Sky, can you feel me? Remixed. But it was for sale.

And I'm like, what is this? And it was extended. And it was long. And I bought it. I listened to it. And it was a look. Yeah, you know, that happened. And I finally met the guys like 15 years later.

I met him like on my last tour. And we were all talking about it. And I would go places and I would play that song and people would just like go. It was almost like the guy of that movie. He was like really big in Africa and he didn't he didn't know it. Searching for Superman. Right. That's how Sky was for me.

Like I would go somewhere and I'll be. And people start like, I was playing like, Thriller. What? No, I had not a clue. And I usually can end my show with that song. Yes. Nah, I love that song, man.

So wait, the version that we hear is the version that we know recognize, which version is it? The version on the album is the one that you hear, but there's a version that's so long. Yeah, they just extended the strings. Yeah, they just extended the strings. I wonder if it was Jam Hoo who did that, Yamhoo edit. I think he did it

when I was too. Yeah. He did the editor Make Me Hot. That's him. Oh, he did that? That's him.

Yeah. Nice. Okay. Yeah, Ray, Jiles did the same thing for us. Like, back when our first record was just like some local thing,

he took our record and pressed it up and just started playing it. Like, he was the John Peel. But did he sell it? Because that's a whole other thing. Like, what's the up with that?

You can't just be selling the shit, though. No, of it. I don't think he personally sold it. Like he just made, he was just making something for it. It'd be like me making an edit so I can DJ it that night, that sort of thing. Right, I get that. Right. You know,

because he needed four hours of content for his radio show. Yeah, man. You know, that. A long as big. He was damn near almost like a hidden cut of like buried on side too. But I always wanted to know, like, why wasn't that shit a single? Like,

ah, it's frustrating. Yes. I mean, people, I just, So like, after our after it never rains in the anniversary, we were just floating. It's like whatever it fell. Unless you were a music connoisseur, we were, we were just floating. And so I'm still floating. You know what I mean?

That's what I've been. I just floating, floating, floating. If I didn't love music, man, I'd have been done after it never rains. Well, Raphael, would do all those romantic words come from, those ways of saying things? Like, where does that come from? Is that like relationships or is that just this is what I feel? Like, where does that come from? It's just what I feel.

It's just, I just, I just say the things that the guys want to say that they can say. But that's why I would, I see people just, I remember I went to a show like the West Coast hip-hop show, old school hip-hop show. And it was a universal before they tore it down the Gibson Theater. And in the back, it looked like the, it looked like the yard. It looks just like crisp blood, just. And when I walk through the yard, Every gangster was like, no.

This song and this song means this to me. At the end of the day, at the end of the night, when you're trying to be hard as bricks, at the end of the night, you're probably trying to lay down with something. Get some. And, you know, we grew up with the Isley brothers, and we grew up with Ron.

And, you know, like in my biggest, you know, Delphonic, which is a Philly group, right? Yes. And those are some of my favorite groups. And the Delphonix was the coldest. group because they was talking about leaving girls and girls was in love with them. They was like, didn't I blow your mind this time?

Did not? My older brother said, you didn't want to take your girl to a delphonic show because even though they was like, I thought this heart was true girl. Now, did not think it, baby. But this time, I'm really leaving you. But every girl wanted to see them. So I think for me, it was always

if you could like make them passionate songs but honestly I want to blow it for girls but go ahead I was really in love with the music the words that I put on top I just felt like the words that go on top of the song ain't this some shit

this is all the love songwriters all y'all is full of shit this is what are we learning it's okay all right let's just rapid fire because let's rapify because you work with too many people between DeAngelo and Total and Solange and

yes that's all totally Erika, you won a Grammy with Love in My Life Mary J. Blige. Much. Yeah, I want to I was curious to know.

Yo, peace of mind, the Little Dragon and Faith record, man, how'd that come about? I love that song. I've been a little dragon before they really got hot

in the States. So when they started coming over, when they started coming over because they were on my record, one of my records. I just, you know. Yeah,

she was on, what you call it, right? She was on Stone Rolling. She was on Stone Rolling, right? He was on that album, yeah. She was on that record. I got to go back. Yeah, she was on that record with the name of the record.

But, no, man, I just, I'm a utility guy. Plus, it's like, I just feel like if there's somebody who want me to, you know, to work with him and they feel like I could bring something to the project. And then that's, that's kind of what I do. I just worked with Kanye on Donda. And I'm on the record, but nobody knows I'm on the record. It's almost like one of those tribe things. Everyone's on the record.

Just tell me the track so I can skip to it. I just, I couldn't finish. What is one of it is. I'm not really on it. I'm just singing like something at the very end of, I think it's called Pure So. And it's funny how everybody was like talking about like, he took me off the record.

I've never seen people get mad because it wasn't on somebody's record. Right. But it's a new generation. Like our generation, we come from the generation that following wasn't a big word. Right. You know, now follow is different. Leading one. But I just think I work with a lot of people,

I tell my nephew, who's an amazing, my producer, piano player, guitar player, like, just be a utility guy, a person that don't mind showing up to work with somebody that's really good. Yeah. You know, for me, and that's what it is for me. I just like, if you, if I see you and you're like, y'all, I'm in a studio tonight, bring your bass. I'm coming. I'm showing up. I don't know what you're doing.

And I don't care. I know it's you. And when I leave, if it come out, who if it don't? I had an experience and I learned. Like, I learned from working with different people, so I'm working with Snoop a lot too. And it's like, but there's so many different people that come through this, like great producers, new musicians, new people. You see people running different programs, like when I came to your show, I spent more time looking at that kid. That dude was making the beats.

I was like, glued on this dude. When I left, I was like, I just seen all these lights on my head and these drum machines. I'm like, to me, that's what the music is about. Like, who can I learn from? Like, you, I play drums on records. I mimic you on drums. It never sound like you because I'm not you, but people like the beats. Like, I don't program good drums, but I play, if my drum set could sound,

I got a drum set that finally sounds like SP12. It's your drum set that, one of the drum sets is you, one of your drum sets that one of my friends who's an artist, he took your drum set and he painted it to look like my guitar. So it was in my room for like a year. My engineer took it out. And he, man, he set it up. That drum is the best drum set sound ever had.

You want to know why? I told them, see, they wanted to like, you know, we got these, we got to connect in Japan and we're going to use the hollow wood of this particular forest and blah, blah, blah. and I was like, no, I said, what do y'all use for, like, them cheap high school sets? And they're like, oh, you don't want that, Quest. You want these hollow trees and da-da-da-da-da. And I was like, no, I want the throwaway trashy shit that y'all hate. And I was trying to tell them that, like, the breakbeats we grew up on was done on the cheapest.

There's them on cheap shit, yeah. Yeah, like a serious drum set, that sort of thing. And they were, they tried to talk me out of it. And I said, and I want you to sell it cheap, too, because, you. You know, they're like, our bottom line is if we sell a drum set for 200 bucks, then we can't sell this one for $4,000. I was like, no, it's going to be like a drug deal. Like you're going to give them a taste and get them at hook.

Like you get a kid at 5 to 6 year old a drum set for $200 and it sounds dope. Then when they turn 13, 14, they're going to be drummers. And I need a couple of those in my life. I got one. I'll give it to you. I mean, because I'm trying to get rid of these boxes and my girlfriend will gladly welcome. that request to make less space in the house. I have room.

I can't give them away. I played those drums. I went back into the control booth. I was like, what? Sound like break beats. Yes. Like break beats,

but I've been chasing my whole life. All right. Working with Total. Yes. You gave them some jams, not them whole day. No. They just jamming.

Yeah, they go. One, I want to know how taxing was the process to produce Total. but more than that how easy was it as far as puff breathing down your neck for magic

and you gave them really kind of two hits this is funny so I didn't really want to do it yeah I think because I didn't know what I could

I didn't know what I could do you know what I mean like you got to know if you could pull it off so Joshlyn Cooper at the time was a publisher at midnight music And so she was telling me Puff was looking for me So I was basically running from Puff

I was like Everyone runs away from Puff I was not answering the phone And nothing So Jocelyn called me like hey Ray I got Puff on the phone Put you on the spot right And so this is even the funny part

This is what Puff says I love Puff it is Puff say man I really think you could do something with this group, man, like, write down your alley. Like, they're not really singers. They're something like you. Oh.

That's a neg and a half. Classic. I was like, I was like this, okay? I mean, I'm never said I was Luther. Right. Definitely. You know, I'm like, you got a point. I sing to make it work.

But what he meant is, like, I make things work. And so when he said that once he got me on the phone, when they came out, that girl Pam, right. She has so much swag and attitude. And I think they thought they were so much under the gun. They sung with so much personality that it was just flying off the tape. You know what I mean?

They sung the tape. Oh, I bet Pam's seen where her sunglasses on. Oh, yeah, Pam is like, she's like, I've never seen Pam's eyes in my life. You know, she just like, ever. I wouldn't know Pam if she walked in my house right now. She looked the same. She looked the same.

She looked the same. It's actually being a really a fun project. And like I said, I had Bonnie Boreer, actually vocal coaching them too. Oh, wow. No, kissing you jam. I love that song, man. What was the other one?

Do they think about us? Do you think about us? Yeah. Now, I was going to ask a music, supervision, scoring, composing situation. It seems like whenever you jumped into the game that you were really selective. I thought that, like, insecure was your first,

but, like, you even did underground, which is impressive. Could you talk about, like, why you went that way and do, are you selective and how you, because, I mean, love craft, like. Is Laura, your, your official partner when you do TV scoring? Sometimes, yeah, sometime. We do a lot of projects together. She do a lot on her own. I know she did some stuff with you guys, too.

She got a bigger picture in the woods in her studio. Yeah. You work with us. You actually work with a good friend of mine for my buddy, my man, Deshawn, Daniel Crawford. Yeah. That's my man.

Yeah, that's my guy. Yeah. Daniel, yeah. Daniel, yeah. Daniel, yeah. Yeah. That's one of my piano teachers. All my friends that play keyboards are my piano teachers.

I'm playing piano like as good as I can a lot. But, yeah. Be Daniel Crawford that makes the remixes and all that stuff? Yeah. Yeah. Wait, you do know that Daniel also can do Stro does, right? You know what? I have seen it. I've seen it, but he kind of sneaks and does it around me. He don't do it like, I've seen him, I've seen him do it before and I was like, no,

this is what he does. He goes like, I'm like, who's the drummer? He's like, oh, that's me. I was just like this and then it goes away. But when I saw your guy do it, it was like a whole show. He plays it up. No, Daniel's in that first generation. I couldn't get him. So then it was like, who else? Oh, Stro. And, but Daniel's like one of the first guys I saw. He's, like, one of the first guys I saw like play drums and keys at the same time. And I'm like, how are you doing it? Just. Astin. No, that's my God, man.

Laura's my partner on a lot of stuff. We did Lovecraft. We did underground. We did a couple other little flicks. And I was really just getting, you know, just getting my feet. You get my feet in. And Laura went to, she's a great, she's like a professor at a school. So it was kind of great going up being with her because I was learning from her at the same time.

You know, like I said, I'm like a sponge. I like to be around people I could learn from. With Laura's role just for us. Laura Hartman, she's a string composer. Okay. Oh, okay. But she, like, she just, you know, she pulled me into the academy. Okay.

Yeah. Like, she got power, you know. Yeah. And she's really, like she talks it. Yeah, she's really good. And, I mean, you can't really be selective in that business, you know, if you want to get in. Really? But at a certain point you can.

I just happen to be able to, I just happen to get some great phone calls. So tell me about the Lovecraft phone call and the underground phone call. Because, well, Misha Green is she did. Right. Misha Green did underground underground. And Lovecraft, right. So it's like, once you're on the team, if they think you could handle it, they call you. And they call us as a team.

And we jumped right on it and it were insecure. I was working with Salonge. And she said you did all the work. I think that's what she did she tell us that? She was like, close to that. So long. So Lange is funny because when I was doing insecure, I would be working on the song, the salons would be like,

oh, that's for my album. And she would just take it, and I'd be like, yo, but I think it's in the show. Not now. And he'd be kind of gone. So, yeah, I just felt like with music, you just have to be able to, you know, I'm sure you guys all experienced that with radio,

being in radio, whatever we're in. We all have to diversify and do different things. Yeah, honey. I just felt like in music, we all have the knucklehead status of he's a musician. He can't be on. time, he can't do this. And I kind of want to get rid of that

before somebody started believing that I was that person. And in film and television, if they need a pink elephant on Sunday, you have to deliver it. You deliver it, yeah. That's why I have my setup right here in this room. I just pull it out, bloom, blum, and you start working.

So I, and I start to really enjoy it now. I actually, I didn't enjoy it at first. I was just trying to be a part of it because, you know, I liked watching like Donnie Hathaway used to score, he scored this film on, Welcome to come back to Charleston Blues. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available.

I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange, modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that, dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong. Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress.

Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-Persent on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger

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

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and you. and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple, podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, so you've worked with a lot of your heroes, like Earth One and Fire. I know you work with the BGs. I think, shit, it was Earth One in Fire, the BGs, I forget. Whitney Houston. Well, yeah, you worked with Whitney Houston. Is there a classic artist that you almost work with that it didn't go down?

Yeah, man, Eddie Kendricks. Wow. Are you serious? Wow. Yeah, we were, we was, I did this song called, that song called Leaving. Yeah, yeah, on the son of the song. He was gonna sing that song with me. Oh, wow.

Don't hear that part though. So we're going on. So when I sing that one part, it sounds like the ghost of Eddie Kendra, because it don't sound like me when I do that one part. I'm like, oh, you see. When I heard it back, I'm like, that's not me. That feels like just like it's him on that one part. Yeah, Eddie Kendrick is because my older brother, Randy, he's like Eddie Kendrickson. That's his favorite and that's one of my favorite.

I know you did some on one of those Lionel Richie records. What was it like working with him? I did. See, I first toured with Sheila after the Under the Trade Moon tour. She opened for Lionel. She opened up for Lionel. Lionel on the out was that, it wasn't outrageous. It was dancing on the ceiling tour.

Mm-hmm. After outrageous. Oh, yeah. You won all the Grammys. Yeah. Yeah, so I tour with Lionel. So we call him Lionel B. So we were always pretty much close.

And I did this one song on Lionel. But Lionel is it. Lionel is like us. Lion's a great storyteller. He'll tell you. He's like, if you don't have any stories, then you can't talk to me. Ooh. You need stories.

He said, who wants to work with an A&R guy or an artist, a person that doesn't have any stories? But, you know, we have stories. We have stories. We tour with different people and, you know, me touring with NWA and hanging out with Ice Cube every day, you know, and Ice Cube telling me stuff like, you know, I want to make movies. I'm going to make movies and then to watch him make next, you know,

next Friday. I'm like, I heard him say that early in his career and watched him do it. Did you go to those NWA pool party? I went I went to I went to the to the the the water gun parties when everybody just run around the hotel there's like the cheap motel six is like firing off water guns and right is that in all that stuff yeah man it wasn't a movie okay I want to ask you man you had a record um because I was thinking about your um you were talking about your scoring career and like stuff with insecure and everything it's a record you just dropped I think it was last year maybe a full last But is it good? It's good to you. It's good to me.

Bro, like, what's the word on that? I love that song, man. Yeah, well, that's like, that was one of the songs I put in Insecure. And I was, it was like, you know, those songs, when you put them on the score, they're very low. So Issa Ray heard it and she said, can you go back and make a song to that? So then I just went back and then I just put a verse on it because at first it was just saying, Is it good to you? Is it good to me?

And I did that in like, during the pandemic, I moved to Portland, Oregon. Oh, wow. Because I, I got COVID, and I was like, I'm not going to be in dusty-ass LA.

Hey, we are right over here. But he chose Portland, Oregon. Yeah, I'm going to Oregon. My world is my all-time favorite city. So, you know. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I know. People tell me that, you know, I see all the venues you play. My best friend is Brian. He just played for the trouble. I've been going out there for years, so I got a place out there so I can hike, and it's just nothing but trees. So you're just walking through these trees, getting all this oxygen. And in like in a month, I got my smell and my taste back.

And I just got back to L.A. I just got a place there besides my studio. I was standing in my studio. Like, stay there for like, well, three months, three months ago. I've been in Portland the whole time. Wow. And I found a nice studio to record that, bro. I found studios.

It's inexpensive to record that. It's a lot of musicians out there that's untapped and nobody know about. I told. Yo, I'm trying to tell the world. Portland is where it's at. They don't. You see it.

Every morning, bro, I got a 1985 Volvo wagon, bro. I'll be out there. You see it. I'm not far behind you. When I get my money right, yo, I'm getting me a spot in Portland. Oh, you're telling you. Hey, Ravi.

On a side note, what made you lock your hair? I was always curious. Donald Trump. Word. Explain. Yeah. What happened was I was watching the news earlier on.

He was talking to and I was like, this shit sound crazy. And I was just like, I was watching the news. And before I knew it, my whole head was twisted. Yeah. Anxiety.

How about you to worry about anxiety twist? Anxiety. Yo! Wow. Yeah, wait a minute. Shit. I was just twisting watching the news going like,

fuck! Wait a minute. I got to turn the white lights on. You're right. That's when you started to a mirror. In the pandemic. I was, I don't know why.

I just... Yeah, you've been double-strand twisting. You look at my album. My last album cover of Jimmy Lee. Yes. It looks like my hair is short, but there's little tiny, tiny, balls on my hair.

That's how short it was when I was twisting my scalp watching them. Before you knew it, I was growing up. That's what happened. Anxiety. That's a cool story. That is what happened. One good thing that Donald Trump did, thank you.

Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. Is there anything that you've not done that you wished to do? I want to I really want to live in Europe for a

minute. I've been, um, I just, I don't know really where I want to live. I kind of want to go somewhere and, um, I kind of want to make a record with a symphony, but not a, not a large symphony with like, so when I listen to the Delphonics, I always felt like they had a drummer like you. He had a bass player that was like, good as hell, but they had an orchestra that was right by the book. So I've always wanted to make that record, but not the big, big, giant, just like, you know, something that you can't ever imagine having on a tour. But just something like that would have, but just, I always wanted to make that record when I can, I sort of did it with, when I had Spanky and people where I could just, I could write on the spot, I could just sing parts of people. Right.

And we baked the record that way. I mean, like, without just sitting back in writing, kind of sit back and play and then go, okay, you do this, you'll do this, you do this, and then go write the words and have people. I don't want to do that, because I think we're living in this experimental phase where nobody really understands streaming or how are we making money or any of that. And, you know, we're so happy about making pennies and people are all about, like, you know, people holding up gold albums talking about they streamed a million, he goes a million, a million plaque.

It's really confusing right now to me. So I just think the only thing that. thing we have left is it's creativity. I think we should be at the top of creativity and don't worry about what everybody else is doing and don't knock any younger kids or anything like that. But, you know, like yourself,

just bringing light with that, you know, I don't know. If you notice, but like, that documentary of that that guy that had hosted the soul. Tony Lawrence. That guy and listening to him

and his struggle to get that thing to fly and it still didn't come out. But all of those people until now, we might as well just kind of just create. And so I think for me, I just want to just, you know, create. I kind of want to take out a tour where it's just me. I'm working on a tour called a recital, whereas it's me just playing piano and bass and telling my stories now.

The reason why it's called recital is because I can't play the piano that good. I just can play good enough to like, for my songs and, make mistakes so i'll be making mistakes but most of it'll be me talking about my career like this interview that we're doing like a warm man show i'm there yeah yeah i love that you know i mean so h1 storytellers always wanted to tour like a comedian with like with a chair and a glass and some water and bring all the money home there you go and you're gonna versus i was just yeah i'm just a versus yes yeah who would you go against in the versus who could go they had me going against DeAngelo, right? I was supposed to do that.

He's the only one that did the show. Stop it. That wasn't even a versus. Love him, but that wasn't no versus. No, but I didn't, I didn't do it because it was supposed to be, they wanted to be. Maxwell. It was probably Maxwell and you. It was Maxwell. It was supposed to be Maxwell in him.

Right. He didn't want to do it, but I don't, I don't know. I don't know. I like versus for, it's this fun as entertaining. But who could? I love it. Who could sit on stage with you? See, if your, if your legacy were more tighter with the Tonys, I would have loved to see a live Tony Minkondition thing.

I would have loved to see it. I think that was being out. Every time Chris Weber sees me, he loves Minkindition. He's like, yeah, buddy, I'm going to get you on the stage with Minkindition and see what you do. Chris Weber loves Minkindition.

So he's always trying to put Stokely against me. Chris is my boy, though. Chris is my boy. That's a good thing. But like, no, honestly, but Stokely, this is my boy. Stokely's a monster man. Right, so you could do the same condition

in the Stokely records and the Raphael and the Tony Tony records. You welcome to West. I tell people Stokely sing circles around anybody. Anybody, yeah. And then you know, Stokely the kind of person you'll be like in France and somebody would like,

hey, Stokely's down the street doing a fusion gig on drums. Right. Exactly. Right. And then he's like Stokely Carl, Michael. So his dad was a black college professor. He's like this intellect and everything. Like every time I talk to him on, hey, secret smart guy.

Oh, I was going to ask just about the, um, with, you know, with the Tony's, you know, with you guys breaking up. But, you know, y'all actually family, how does that play in your family dynamic? Like, is it Thanksgiving? Is it cool? Is it smoke? Like, how do y'all handle each other in real life? Man, our traditional Thanksgiving has been over for so long.

I don't even think families have traditional Thanksgiving. Indigenous people Yeah, I think for us, my father always wanted to see us get together and do something. And I think what we're going to do is we're going to get together, me, Dwayne and Tim. Because, you know, we're pretty much a group in the beginning

that wasn't really R&B. We're more like the black police. And we're going to get together and do like a trio record. Kind of like a farewell, like, thank you. Please. Thank you. We're going to do that. I was at Duane last night

if you look on his Facebook. Duane can't go anywhere but I'm playing. Let's get down. With that what? If you see Duane, he's going to be singing whatever you want. Or let's get down or singing hey, hey, the blues is all right.

Duane is like an old man just running around singing like the same song. He had a dope single. He had a dope single. Yeah, but I'm just saying Duane, he's not going to miss the performance. So last night I was in San Francisco before I got to New York.

We're sitting in this club called Black Black Cat. These guys up there killing it. I mean, I mean, killing everything. We sit in the audience with the mayor of San Francisco and this is a young lady and it's her friends. And at the end of the night, Duane grabs the guitar from this guy from the nationals and piano player and start playing. Let's get down and get on the mic. Isn't I like to call my brother. So then we're doing two verses.

I'm embarrassed because we're doing two. two verses of let's get down after these dudes who's up until they're playing cold training I'm like, come on Wayne but I just asked my introduction

of like, of telling people that we are about to get together and do our farewell and like, you know, thank people

for, you support. And we're actually going to do like, we're going to do instrument, we're going to put out four songs

and it's going to be instrumental record, just instrumentals. Almost like, you know, summer madness and brick and stuff like that. And then because we've never performed the last album, house music anyway, we're going to get together and learn that album and then give people like three new instrumentals, three or four instrumental songs. That's the plan.

And this is the first place I said it. Dog, I'm going to amplify this shit out of that shit. Yeah, man. No, I'm going to love to see y'all do Wild Child Live, man. That was my record. Yeah, yeah. That's our, that was our thing. Even when we did that record, that's the record when they said,

you do your side of the record and I do mine. And even though I did that record, I went back and got Dwayne and said, Hey, bro, you got to sing him on this part of the record. He was like, of course. But I found out the reason why he didn't read. This is a funny thing. You're going to dig this because I was always trying to figure out, like, what did I do to these guys, you know, that they didn't.

want to record a record with me because my dad came over and he was like, where everybody at? I said, I didn't want to break his heart. My dad passed away about five years ago. And I said, I don't know, dad, they just decided they wanted to record their side of the record on their own. So he was looking. He said, are you going to be all right? I just have to make my dad feel good. I said, you know,

because he thought I was on my own. And I used to say, like, Muhammad and Ali reference to him like, dad. I'm like, I'm like, Ali, I flow like a butterfly sting like a B. And my dad, he starts smiling when I say that. I just want to make him feel, but honestly, I didn't know what the hell I was going to do. But I figured it out. And so I asked Tim, I said, so, man, what did I do to you, man? Like, what did I do?

Like, I don't really understand. Like, I understand what I, what y'all did to me. I understand what they did to me. It was just like, you know, we just had regular band issues when you don't have enough money. Every black band that don't have enough money. That problem is money most of the time. So what happened was I figured it out because they never told me

Every time we did an album When you heard strings on the album It costs $40,000 $25,000 a song I was going to ask about Claire Fisher Okay So that's me I would spend all the money

In the production I put the money on In the film Right You know And so They didn't want to record me because they're like, he gonna spend all the money.

He never said the sentence. I was like, I got it. But they never told me. I just figured it out. Look, you need to watch Metallica some kind of monster. And I want that for y'all because you'll be really shocked

on how the smallest issue can cause the biggest problems in a group. And then when the hindsight, when you talk about it, it'll be like, you remember that time you stole my Ritz Cracker and said that you didn't and I saw it in your bag? That's why I ain't talked to you, you know, it's...

Yeah, I mean, actually that's... It's ironic that you talk about Metallica because I told Duane, I said, I said, bro, like Metallica, I say when we come on stage, I said, my mic is going to be far right, your mic is going to be far left or you're going to be right on middle left, and Tim is going to be right in the middle of the middle, And I said, we're going to make this shit like Metallica.

If we're going to have a choir of like a 16 people and a keyboard player to the side and they're going to be singing backgrounds and we're going to just be playing these instrumentals. I said, it's going to have to feel like Metallica. When we record some of our albums

like Sons of Soul, Metallica was in it was there too. They were at the Sausalito at Record plan. A plant. Yeah.

And so I was hanging out with Metallica, like, you know, all day times when they would play shows in New York, I would go hang out with them. So we have a lot of, you know, in common with Metallica and those little petty things, like you said, is definitely, we probably have some of the most silliest reasons. Yep. And your family. You'll be shocked at, yeah, at what little communication could do. And, you know, I will admit that, you know, me and a certain member probably as close now as we were, you know, it's weird. that we did this operation for 19 years

almost without communicating with each other. But, you know, me and people the same way. We didn't really become friends to make the little watch. You got to communicate. That's the same thing. You got to communicate. I mean, I was with my brother last night, and I just said, bro, look,

it wasn't for you bringing all them records and playing all those Ernie Isley solos and playing all those Larry Graham records and put me on the Larry. I wouldn't be the person who I was today. That's a little plan. But something about getting that record deal and shit change. And start going backstage and you'll be like, hello, hold on, I'll be back.

Everybody started getting new friends and all of a sudden, you're like, right. And then all of a sudden you like the five heartbeat, you're like, five heart beats, front center. Right. Flash, it's lonely at the top. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available.

I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%, I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more, to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong. Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-Persent on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill,

waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed Correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wait, I got two more questions and then I got to go. But, well, you kind of brought up one thing. You brought it one thing, which was, did you, when you, when Claire Fisher did the strings for anniversary, did you get to meet him?

Or you just send him the tapes and then he sent it back? I was with him every time he worked with me. What else did he do besides anniversary? He did a song that we call, that we have called on the revival album that we never put out. It's called Sherry Love with Me and it's ridiculous. Wait, you have a, you have an unused Claire Fisher song? Motherf-what? What? It's on cassette, bro.

I don't think we can find the multi-tapes in. If I could find it, I'll send it to you. You can just freaking let a Claire Fisher song go unscathed? And bro, he like, I met Claire even in the last. So then I did Claire the song we were talking about with Tidja Moses, Take Me. Yes. That's Claire too. Wow.

To our listeners, Claire Fisher is String Arranger All the print stuff that we love Ask Rufus And Ask Rufus, yeah Like switch Look up Reaching for Tomorrow

That's probably like one of my favorite Claire Fisher moments And but you know He had to push me away with the Jackson's And he really turned like a lot of like black music And it's a really like lush Lush arrangements Steve and I got to work with

Claire's son Brent on the Elvis Costello record. Claire, actually the last thing that Claire did before he passed away was really love. Like I know that he wrote the string arrangements for DeAngelo, but his son finished and executed it. At the time he was doing it, he passed away. But that was one of the last things he worked on. The last thing I wanted to ask you, just in general, like in your canon, and your songwriting canon,

what's the fastest song that you wrote that was, like, popular with us? Like, oh, I wrote that song in three minutes. Hmm. Popular, but you probably, probably was the blues as far as it. That was... It just wrote itself.

Yeah. Just kind of wrote itself. Yeah. Okay, okay. And what was the struggle song? What was the song that, like... All of them. I'm no, um...

Like, you really just... To fight to the finish. I think the struggle song, it wasn't a single, but we just have this thing where our album will be done. And then the label would say,

now we need a single. Right. Okay. So that single was if I had no blues was that. But the song that I had a problem with was coming into the man of who I was. It was probably blind man. What?

Yeah, yeah. I know that song. Yeah. Yeah, because Blind Man was a song that I thought like it would have been a voice like Bobby Blue Blaine. Right. And I was singing all those kiddie songs,

you know, like da-da-da-da-da. And all of a sudden I had to say the first lyric in that song was like, look at here, I'm still standing. That's the Teddy Pendergrass line. You can't say, look at here with the voice I've been singing with the albums before that. So I wrote it. And when I got to the mic, I walked to the mic, and I was like, look it here.

I was like, hold on. I told you, I said, hold on, shit. That's just not going to work. So I stood back and I saw, I looked at my shadow on the floor and I had a conversation. And I was like, you got to pull from within. You got to pull all these other different energies and spirits from these people. And that song I struggle with But after I did leaving in that song

I sort of like My sister passed away And my sister got hit by this car My sister was a great blues singer And she had a strong voice Like Millie Jackson and Aretha And just I'm talking about my sister could sing any type of soul song

She was a parole officer She graduated from you know College had degrees On a lot of property And until my sister used to sing the Al Green's version of I can't get next you like below it

and when my sister passed away I felt like her spirit just kind of got into me after that I started singing better I started singing better after that and that was after my sister died when I was in the hospital

singing it never rains damn what yeah and then I went to the hospital and they pulled her off the they pulled her off the machine at that point they pulled her off the machine and I went back to the studio

and I started recording that, those songs but then my life for singing it just after that sort of changed but I never really got comfortable singing vocally until really the way I see it Wow. Until the 60s album. Okay, pretty much.

Man, I was going to ask before we go on Instant Vintage, the high tech and the ludes. How did y'all hook up? I thought it was so dope that you reached out to him, man. Wow. Yeah, because, I mean, like I said, my hip hop thread goes deep, you know what I mean? Like, I just hit high tech.

I was like, bro, I'm doing these interludes. And it'd be so sick. If I could drop three, a few high tech joints right in the middle of everything, you know, because he would just, yeah, I just always love, you know, high tech. Because I could play bass to, you know. I mean, all I ever need is is beats, man. And beats, beats and I can go all day. If somebody give me a beat and I'm like, I'm more of like a MC on a bass.

Like I could just play bass lines all day. And I could come up with a melody because it's, and even in, I was in Trinidad when we did slow wine album, the Tonys was over there. And his guy told me, he said, man, you know, Africa, we all speak through drums, right? Rhythm, we all speak through drums. Drums is our thing. So drums and bass just sing to people. And that's why with all this different music, it's really, you know, drums and bass.

And I feel like even when I did Still Ray, it's just really drums and bass in keys, right? But it's the way those drums sounds with people always want to rhyme over room. I can't find a multi-tracks to give them to nobody. Say no more Ray Wiggins, I will send you some tracks. Great. Please, please. No, a dog, it ain't nothing for that. Let me some of the boxes with some drum sets in them, bro.

I got you. I'll text you. I got you. Wait, it just hit me. You know what? Fonté just hit me to something like a couple years back, and I just got trapped inside of this hole. I don't know if you saw that playlist I gave you Fonta.

Oh, the Lickhouse. Hell, yeah. Come on, huh? Yes, uh. I feel, I feel like, I feel like that's, I feel like, I feel like, even more than go-go liquor house music is the undiscovered

gym of R&B music like Sir Charles Jones and all like male waiters yeah down home like it's the last place it's the last place white people ain't took over yo

I feel like Ray you need to you need to do a look at house out of the thin line between liquor house music and gospel quartet yeah yeah that's You all send it to me.

Let me, send me the list. I will. Yes. I will. Oh, God. Marvin C's candy liquor. Like, it's all just. Floyd Taylor.

Some people call it blues. Yes. Come on. Come on. Like that Malaco Records, real cheap sounding karaoke R&B, but it's my favorite shit of all. I've been listening.

Are you talking, are you talking about like songs like the bitch get it all in all them songs? The bitch get it all. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yeah, Stan Mosley. Yo, yo, my ex-girlfriend, parents, I've been listening to that shit for like 15. You know, I got a whole list of it. Yes. Yo, I'll be in the phone.

Yeah, they're going to take that over too pretty soon. These do will be like 25 when old school hats. Yes. So are you talking about, so you ever heard of Theotis? Theotis Ely, that's my man. That's my man. Yeah. That's my guy.

So The oldest, you're seeing a. Stand up in it Stand up in it Stand up in it You got to stand up in it Dude played in my sister's band My sister blues band Theodos was her guitar player

Wow I know That's right Because it's Oakland He always been normally since I was like Eight years old bro Wait There's a liquor house moving in Oakland as well

Man That's his universe But Theonis lives in Atlanta now He lives in Atlanta Yeah Yeah Um Stand up in it

Yeah Stand up in it Yeah stand up man is my, my friend. He's an only guy. His stepdaughter is like real longtime fan of ours,

like good friend in my like she, he came out, he came out to a little brother show. He came back and we just went back and he came out and kicked with us. Straight up. That's dope. Yeah, man. Yo, but them horns,

those cheap horns I cannot take. But I'll be definitely. There's a way, there's a way to add your twist to it. But it's just like, for me, it's the most, but I mean,

Fonte's right. It's the last sort of ungentrified. the last ungentified movement of black music that we have. Right. But then Raphael do it and it's going to get gentrified right after that. I'll tell you who's going to end up doing it first. I know.

Oh, oh, you said a white artist. I said I know Michael Archer is next to be on Malco. Nope. It's going to be Molly Cyrus' dad. Oh, God. You think you think Billy going to do this? Oh, wow. Oh, damn.

Billy Ray going to start singing about Jody. It's a rap. And it's a rap. I can't take it. That's the Akey, man. That's a rap. Big colonizer energy.

Ray, I want to thank you. Thank you for doing. We've been begging for this episode for so long, man. Thank you so much for. All in person. Hey, can I just ask you as a fan?

I feel like you've just done so much for us. Is there anything we could do for you? I'm never asking you about. And you know what? By his records. Play his video games. Everybody's. everybody's, I'll be around when this, when this Tony's project comes out.

Like, I'm going to start bringing out a couple artists pretty soon myself. And these artists are, they're going to be pretty much underground artists, but I just feel like when that happens with the platforms that you guys have, you guys are already doing so much with the platforms. And all we need is the platforms for people to be hurt. I feel like we're going back. Absolutely. That's it.

And when we come to town, just buy tickets. That's it. Okay, we got them, right, y'all? Okay, they say yes. Yes, we got them. There's a T-shirt out that says that Niggins don't buy tickets. I didn't make it.

But we do, though. Because if we didn't, Don't. Essence Fest. No, we know. Exactly. Essence Fest, the Super Fest.

The Roos Picnic. Listen. Right. Well, I keep my joining. I saw that. What did you say? I saw that.

You're right. You right. No, it's black. You right. It is. Yes. Yeah. I saw that show.

You're right. You're right. You're right. It's 80-20. 80-20. We're killing it. 80-20. Hey, man.

that's because we keep the price under 100 bucks. Sorry. Oh yes. That's it. You know what I'm saying? We got generational wealth, so it wouldn't help us. Yes. This is not Coachella. I'm not charging a thousand bucks to get in to some shit. Yo, man, I want to thank you.

And this has been an amazing episode. This is definitely a two-part episode. I know it is. Oh, yeah. A big fan of yours and, you know, this is everything I could ask for. And I'm really mind-blown how many things we have in common. Like, now, Now I'm going to listen to Larry Graham a whole other way, man.

But no, thank you for doing the show. Oh, bro. Like, Larry is the Bible for us. Yes. And we come out, we're thinking about playing today as our opening song. Dog, there you go. There you go. Raphael Sadiq, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, bro. Thanks for all the music, man. Thank you. Much appreciate it, bro. Thank you.

Thank you, too, man. Thank you. Good seeing you again. Oh, for sure, for sure. And sorry, I got you fired. It's all right. It was breaking. Look where I am today.

Talking to you for three hours. I couldn't do that on black. You're with the best. You're with the best right here. You're in the best hands right. And my man, how are you on the bottom? And I get to say, hi, hello. She holds this together.

Steve, Steve, seems like a long time electric lady. Steve probably worked on Untitled. Like, I was, I was in the room when that was, when Deanne and Ray were recording that song up in C, up in Studio C. That's right. I remember. Now I'm looking at you like, yeah. Yes.

Of course. And so were you in the room and Dee was like, When we went and talking about he was like when a cat was making this moaning noise, you was in the room. And D goes like, hey, Jimmy. And everybody was like, yeah, Jimmy. And I was like, there ain't no goddamn Jimmy, that cat hungry. I'm the hell always keeping it real. Man, we didn't, hey, we had three grilled cheese sandwiches, all those extra bacon that they put in it.

The cat was watching us eat. It's over. It's over. Wait, Ray, you don't even get it. You don't even get it. The amount of bacon references I got for Steve. The fact that you brought that up, even on my audiobook,

which I just finished like fucking half hour ago, I credited Steve for bacon. Dude, we used to be in the studio, and we would eat, we would smoke, eat smoke, eat smoke, four times. And Dee was like, So Dee was like, yeah, he would be like, wait, I'm going to eat something more on the healthy side from this other restaurant.

So it's not Waverly. So I'm like, what you order? He's like, yeah, I'm going to order a burger. I'm like a burger. But at the Waverly, we would go get like a grilled cheese and the bacon come in it, right? Right. He would say, and I get extra bacon. I'm like, extra bacon.

The bacon is already filled in that 10 thing with baking. Steve. But I know. This is the greatest moment in the history of this podcast. Yeah, but, but, but Ray. But getting on title, all I remember is the bacon. Duh. Voodoo was nothing but Bacon Fest.

That's how he got his summer body, eating bacon and nothing else. That was the original title of the record, actually. I've credited Steve on most albums with bacon because you know, like what spinach is the Popeye, old boy is just like, yo, I need a break. You know, it's so crazy. He used keto before keto. I'm about to say, most of the earthy people do

just think y'all didn't even eat pork. I'm in shock over here. Like, oh, he's from down south. He's from Virginia. What hell? And you too, Raphael? What that? He was making it up. Hey, Raphael. Raphael. You remember recording on title, though? You guys were standing in front

of the console. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Yeah. Not on the engineer side, on the other side, like in between the console and the window to the live room and you guys were playing, you were on bass and D was on guitar or, or no, vice versa. I don't remember now. Yeah, well, I was on guitar.

He was playing, he was playing a piano thing. Oh, so you played bass and guitar on that. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. But you were standing in front of the, in front of the console. It was like one of my first gig. I was like, whoa.

And then we ate bacon. I remember the tape ran out, and Dee was like, you all was going to change the reel so we could finish it. And I was like, nah, it's finished. Don't just leave it like that. And just call it. And then the dad said untitled.

And I was like, just call it untitled. Oh, that was like. Yeah. Then I was like, when you leave, I said, when I left, I said, you just got a scream at the end of the record. got a scream. He's like, he said, yeah, we're going to do the video. We're going to do the video. So I told my boys like we did this song. I said, it's good, but I like the Spanish joint

the best. That was my favorite doing the whole album. So I didn't think Untitual was a single. So they put it out and the video came out. My boy was like, hey, it's a good thing you ain't in the video. You only had one part you could have did. Yeah, but if I recall at the time, y'all both had body around that time. And everybody just everybody just say, yo, the only reason, you think that song was popular because because he was naked and I was like, he couldn't, I said, if it was wacky, couldn't have been naked.

Right, exactly. That's true. Like when Maxwell was naked with that rubber ducky in the bathtub. Was that the cops knocking? Was that the cops knocking? That didn't work. Nah, that was the, it was Cocoa cure, the luxury cocoa cure joint. Yeah, you can't, you've got to ask some weapons to do that.

So, Nicky, you are so right. He said rubber-dunk. Well, anyway, man, thank you. I appreciate this long overdue. Thank you. And, man, congratulations to everybody, man, on your success. And, wow, man, it's good. No one has you.

Look, now I'm looking. I'm as soon as he said it, I'm like, wow. We all have bacon and coming. Yes, bacon. All right. So on behalf of Laia, Fonticolo, Unpaid Bill, who's not here, and Dr. Bacon. This Questlove,

Supreme. We'll see you on the next go-round. Thank you, Ray. All right. See ya. Hey, this is Shigas Steve. Make sure you keep up with us on Instagram at QLS. Let us know what you think. And who should be next to sit down with us.

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast. What's Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter.

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