The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Robert “Kool” Bell

Episode Date: September 22, 2021

This week's episode of Questlove Supreme takes you into the minds of one of the most genius, transformative and successful bands of all time, Kool and the Gang. Robert "Kool" Bell joins Quest and Team Supreme to chronicle the story of the band that crossed multiple genres, leading to a constant reinvigoration of their music through some of the biggest Hip Hop hits ever! Yes hits on top of hits on top of....Needless to say, it's flower time!  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, the Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I bowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I got you, everyone, I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit.

If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio.

Should we start? Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Quetzelof Supreme. I'm your host. Of course, love Jenkins. We got the Supreme family, fresh off of our fifth anniversary. Can I mean. Fresh from the Met Gala.

What's up? I'm paying Bill. I was just talking off my outfit from the Met Gala. Everything's good. It was good. It was fun. What did you go? Oh, you actually win?

Wow. Yeah, yeah. I was Kim's, you know, date. Man and black. I was a man. I was a man. He just imagine for a second. I actually was. Can you imagine if that was the

I think that one would have been dope? Dude, you work with Muppets all day. Of course I can imagine that. You could have just borrowed an outfit. That's what's more American than the Muppets. I will say I've had some great Halloween costumes care of the costume department at Sesame Street. I was an elephant one year. I was going to say, are you allowed to borrow like extra costumes if you return it? I'm not sure if a loudest correct word, but yes, I have procured, procured, have you snuck like a spare big bird offset? I have not snuck puppets offset.

That would get me like, you know, jail time. But I have stolen other people's costumes. Oh, Bill, that's dope. For sure. Yeah, we got to re-interview you one day, Bill. Yeah, for real. Hey, you know, I am a book of open knowledge. What?

I'm a open book. That's fine. That's fine with me. I'm ready to talk at any time. You tell me you what to talk. I'll go. Oh, good. Took a word like that.

Have you found, have you found God yet? Not exactly, but I am working on the greatest audio book right now. To tell Steve, look, okay, I went overboard in the pandemic. I wrote two books and it's held that Steve is losing his hair right now because the book is like 30 chapters. What hair? Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, you know, I didn't have nothing to do.

I was doing summer soul in the day. Be bored on the farm at night. You start journaling and somehow got turned. into a 30 chapter book or whatever. You better live the dream. Word up. You should break that John up. You should break that John up into an audio book into 30 second snippets and put that shit on Spotify and bring your numbers up.

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Wow. Oh. That's why we wish we paid Fonte the big bucks. That type of thing.

You see he's wearing his glasses today. Yeah. I got my shringo bell glasses on. He's smart. Hey. Smart day. Smart. You want to know my co?

company all day. Right. Hell yeah. And, Yia, with the, with the special Arburn, I think that's,

I don't know if it's my red light or your, you know, no, you're a real family to me because as, as family, y'all don't recognize

I got my hair done until two months later. That is beautiful, Mir. Thank you. We are family. It is official. That shows you that we're,

we're real guys because guys don't recognize. We don't notice none of that shit. We notice if you cut it. Like, if you cut it, I'll notice, oh, you cut your hair,

but a new style. Two months. Yeah. Too much cool. Just saying this is what can I just say before we get into it? I just wanted to also big up to L.A. because we got a big decision to make today. I know this is going to come out later,

but Newsom, Newsom, Newsom, Newsom. Ain't got time for this crazy mess. It got time with this crazy mess. I have faith. I'm also running for Governor of California. I see. The list is long enough. Hey, man.

You know, look, about our guest today, without any doubt in my mind, I believe that our guest is the founding member of the first hip hop band. Wow. Meaning a unit without a direct leader. You know, no disrespect to the James Brown Empire and whatnot. And even though technically Virginia's own the Winston's,

they're a classic single, Amen Brother, that interpolation of, you know, Curtis Mayfield's, we're a winner, which weird enough. They never got litigious on, but I don't want to open up any can of worms with that. even though that's been sampled 5,000 plus times, making that the most sampled single, I'll say that our guest today holds as leader of this band holds the dubious honor of having the most sample catalog by a band in music.

And I'm not singing hip-hop because that's limiting it. Like throughout music, pop artists have sample. Yeah. And, you know, this is the name like summer madness has been used. Billions of times. NT, no title. People don't know that NT stands for no title. Name them.

Jungle Boogie, give it up. Hollywood swinging. Winter sadness. Sport with Lightning and Ride. Jungle Jazz. What was a whole happy Japby? Oh, little children. Little children?

Exactly. All that. Like over, I believe the precise number is 1,800 samples. Over songs that have either sold gazillion triple or or just been declared classic. But to me, what's more, probably more incredible about the legacy of Cool and the gang is probably their ability to check the forecast and adjust accordingly throughout the decades. Be it like their jazz soul, instrumental heavy beginnings with those like the self-titled record and the two live albums that came after it. It also didn't take me.

Yeah, live at PJs and sex machine. the soul-oriented stuff like music and message and good times or their funk masterpiece wild and peaceful light of the world spirit of the boogie those records probably one of the finest disco jazz i'm sorry here's a new word i just figured out unpaid bill of i was not a new word i did not know what a portamento was oh a combination of they call it jazz music disco jazz anyway um in in and in the open Sesame record and also their growth into adulthood with uh celebrate and and ladies night and you know their pop success joanna joanna yes in the heart to hand his album as one something special the emergency record were like one of their biggest selling albums uh to this day hashtag to

this day uh this band continues to still operate and their sound is around forever be it uh samples or seeing them a real deal live. They still make records. And they continue to brighten our lives. And this is a long overdue, overdue episode of Questlove Supremies. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the namesake of one of the greatest bands in music, Robert Coolbell, Cooling gang. Yes, indeed. How are you? How are you doing today? I'm doing fine. Quest, you're a historian when it comes to Cooling the gang.

Well, you guys made me. You know, I'm just glad to be in great company. And, you know, you guys literally have, have written the blueprint that, you know, we, we are still following. And, you know, it's hard to do that. Like, oftentimes when people look at the story of groups and bands that have been around since the 60s and the 70s, there's a point in the 80s in which you kind of have to make life decisions on. Do you go with the flow? Do you fight it? Do you sabotage it? And you guys probably, I'll say that, of course, the story of Jackson's is exemplary. But you know, you guys along with the pointer sisters, along with Lionel Richie, like the transition for making it to the 70s to the 80s was a very hard one that most people. They didn't make it. Yeah. They take it for granted. Like a lot of those, you know, that we loved, they found some sort of sustaining power. via the power of sampling, but, you know, there was a period in the 80s in which a lot of

those bands didn't make it. You guys found a way to really adjust and to silence, as we say, silence to the haters that might have had disdain because every record didn't sound like jungle boogie, whatnot. But, I mean, I personally love in hindsight how you guys have done that. And, you know, as a member of a black band, that's almost going on in the third decade. I mean, it's exemplary. Very much. Exemplary. You know, I also want to note yesterday.

I got in the mail. I love also your for a into the spirit. Speaking of spirit of the bookie, the spirit world, you have your own champagne called Le Coole Coole. I like, and I'm holding it, even though they can't see it at home. I'm showing you guys right now that, you know, Robert Coolbell has his own. When did you get into Actually, Amir, but all right.

When did you first start your kind of your foray into the world of A Fine Drink? Well, what happened was I was on tour About three or four years now. Pramona, he came up to me, said, listen, you know, we had We was in France and we had about 20 days that was sold out

We can ready to do a tour. Of course. But said to me, listen, I'm doing a champagne with the late Barry White and the Barry White lookalike and also one of the BGs at the time. There was a Barry White lookalike touring in Europe? Yeah, they had a Barry White lookalike. You would do a supper club dates. Wow.

Okay. I wasn't ready for that one. He asked me, he said, would you like to? to sell champagne on your tour and come out with your own champagne. I said, well, listen, I don't think that my fans would want to take a bottle of champagne after my show. They want T-shirts and caps and stuff like that. So I said, listen, I want to get on the shelves. He says, oh?

I said, yeah, I want to get on the shelves. I ain't talk about those tour. No, promo items. I came up with this idea and concept with Le Coup champagne and up in the rims where they make Don Perry O'Hourne-Christat all the big boys up there

you know, we ended up cutting a deal with the Bertolo family and we worked on this for about a year and a half with the LeCoole champagne and I wanted to have that surprise element like coming to America, Eddie Murphy. Yeah? That did cool come from France to America. to America. And that's how I got started with that several years ago. And last year,

the one most successful, but we got hit with pandemic and everything else. So, but that's kind of how it happened. I'm feeling that. I'm feeling that. You know, that's, that's, that's a, hard world to break into. So, you know, I'm glad that you found a way to get into it because, you know, it's, it's, this looks, this is a classic package here. I'm, I'm definitely seeing you bottle unpaid bill. I always wonder, the fact that how this country boy from York, South, Ohio

breaking to the cartel 100-year-old families. You know something, I got to say that on your, on the official cool and the gang Instagram page, those little animated vignettes that you guys were doing,

telling the history of the group. Very nice. It's probably one of the best, surprises I've ever seen because I mean I've heard the story of the group but to visually see that it's it's a wonder that you guys even made it to even form a band like not even to get to this point where you are as as as legacy but just what you guys had to go through just to form a band for our listeners that have not heard or seen first of all I recommend that you guys follow cool the gang and look for these like minute long bits on their Instagram.

They're on YouTube. Mm-hmm. Oh, and so on YouTube is, yeah. Well, one, I want to know, are you guys going to continue that series to tell the story of the band that in that manner? Because I love it. But can you tell us basically your beginnings from where you were born to what brought you to Jersey to even form the band? Yeah, we're, um, that's the first time. Yeah, we're going to continue that.

We stopped where you see right now. Of course, I lost my brother, Kelly. But I was still about Kelly himself and also, you know, and then we lost DT. DT. That was, you know, another part of it. But let me go back. Yonk South Ohio, we started off as the Jazziacs.

Yes. The name was changed to the Soul Town Band. It was the organization in Jersey City. It was trying to be like Motown. and we became the band. So we would have to learn all these motile hits and records. And we had about 15 people on the show. We had to learn all these songs.

So we got out of there from the Sozell band. And we came up with Cooling the Flames. Now, our first manager, father, was working with James Brown. And he said, listen, you can't go with cooling. flames because you have James Brown and the famous flames, yeah. What year was this? Now that was back in

1963. Okay. Roughly. No, no, no, no. No, I had been 1965. Because we saw it in 64. Okay. And so that's when

you said, well, you can't use the flames. So we said, well, we don't want to have any problem with the godfather. So, well, we just call ourselves Cooling the gang. The music was a mixture of the jazz and the R&B when we were the Soultown band. And that's when we formed Cooling the Gang and we came out with our first record in July 3rd, 1969.

Okay. One of the most interesting elements in telling that story, and I'm sure that a lot of our listeners, especially the younger ones, might not be familiar with. Could you just talk about, speaking of your names, like the gang, could you just briefly describe like the ideals of actual gangs, at least in your territory? Because that was like one of the most interesting aspects, like you guys were talking about like the fact that neighborhoods were just overrun with gangs and whatnot. And you guys use music as an escape to not go down that route. But how heavy was gang activity in your formative years, like your teen years and. and whatnot.

Well, I'm trying to make it kind of short on that. I mean, we're, you know, we're a, we're a, we're a nerdy. Take your time. Joe, so you don't want to give us the truncated answer. Like, we, we like those, those nerdy details. Yeah. Well, what happened was that I moved, uh, Jersey City, my family and I, uh, I noticed that I, uh, my mother sent me to the store.

they get a loaf of bread. At that time, it was called Lucy. It cost 25 cents. And two guys walked up to me and said, give me your money. I said, what? Yeah, give me your money. So they took the two quarters or whatever,

and I have. My mother said, well, boy, you better go back and get that quarter? I said, I don't know these guys. I don't know. But anyway, so I realized that I was going to have to be a part of what was going on,

or I'm going to have to be the victim what was going on in the streets of Jersey City in Newark, you know, in the surrounding areas. And that was before I changed my name to the Kuh. My name was Tamango. Tamango? Tamango.

What was the significance of Tamango? Well, what happened was that, That movie had Dordi D'Ey D'Angere in there and the slave from Africa, the name was Tamango. Oh, okay. I took all that name. And I ended up, those two guys, one name was Quino, the other name was Monk, and the other one was Tiger. So I became a part of that gang.

And I turned around and I ended up being the leader of that game. and we had about 20 strong. What? Yeah. In the movie and the book, that whole story before we're in the movie and the book. That whole story before cooling. Damn. And so I had to learn the ways, the way of the street at that time.

So you're saying that you had natural, born leader skills that, you know, you've always had your whole life. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, well, my brother kind of pulled me out of that. Okay. Calise, it was getting a little rough out there, and I started playing the bass, and we started working in the boys' club, and, you know, and things started to change a little bit.

I was going to say this is sort of archetype story where, like, where you hear people just randomly say, yeah, and then I started playing piano. Yeah. But like, how long does it take you? Like, how, what was your musical IQ before you picked up the bass? And how long did it take you before you're confident enough to know I can play an event or I can be a musician? Well, the late Spike Mickens, his brothers play guitar. I should come by Spike's house.

And I learned how to play one song or one string called. coming home baby. And we were working at the cafe while out one night. And police said, man, won't you come up? Because I was playing Cootas and Bonn't and stuff. He said, won't you come on up and just play that one song?

Do you know that you lay on that one string? And the guy gave me a bass, a ball of the bass, and I played coming home baby. So wait, I'm sorry, is the question not when did you start playing bass, but when you started playing Cunga's then? Because then you just threw that in there.

And that started back in Youngtown, Ohio. Okay. So we used to speak paint can. Okay. You know, for a bottle. We used to sit up in Youngtown, Ohio. And it was a school called the Immaculate School. And we used to take the paint can,

depending on how much paint is left in the bottom of the can, created whatever tone that he was going to get. Yeah. So we played paint cans. Jersey, and my brother finally brought us some boggars. Wow. Learning this one song. And then I started listening to, you know, different songs.

And then Charles Smith used to show me some lines with my bass, and that's when we became a part of the Soul Child Band. And the name Cool, that came about because there was a guy in a neighborhood, and he was a hood. And he, his name was cool. he spells it with a C. I got to get out of this thing. I said, I like that name.

So I took on the name, Cool and spelled minds with a cake. Not knowing that, that was the beginning. It was going to lead up to Cool and the gang. Did Cool ever find out that you were inspired by his name? Because you said he wasn't like, you know. Not, not really. I mean, he was, you know, he was one of those guys in the projects, man. Oh, but you was a boss.

No, not really. 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,

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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 a TikTok podcast network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

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I'm Ago Wadam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers, Anchorman, Saturday Night Live. and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day,

and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come, look for up-and-coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent,

I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. Mm-hmm. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit.

If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

So were the fellow members of the original incarnation of the group? Were they also gang-related as well? Like, how did you wind up organizing the band? And also, like, I mean, I'm not saying that, you know, I understand the finances of the situation in terms of that, you know, I know it's not profitable for any, you know, band over four members to really make money like that. So, like, how did you incorporate the other members that start at least the first

incarnation of the band once they became cool in the game? Well, I mean, we started with eight members when we became a cool in the game. And, of course, we were all playing at the Soultown Band. And at Soul Town Band, we were, we created and learned the Motown Hills. I mean, I would listen to Bob Jameson, the lines of his plan, you know, for various motelan artists. None of those guys were from the streets. I'm the only one that had to deal with that. Okay, so what were those early shows like?

Like, did you still, once you transition into music, then, you know, were you able to successfully leave the street world that you're trying to escape from? behind or do you still have to worry about those things when you're at shows, when you're going to rehearsal, when you're just walking around the neighborhood by yourself. Like once you make that transition to a musician, does that world still try to suck you in and bring you back to it? Or, you know, once you became a musician, everyone respected that, okay, he's a musician down, like, leave him be. Yeah, you had the problem, you know, a little bit.

You know, you're playing with this group cool, the game now, whatever. Right. And so, you know, hardcore guys that will create, try to create some problems. But I was able to get through that. But that was, but, yeah, we had that. Oh, man, you know, sold out, man, you playing that music stuff, man. They saw it as a step back, like some, you're being a nerd now. You're, you're, that's how they saw that.

They got, learned in the music and they was in the streets. Okay. But, you know, I think for God for the blood of that, because all them guys are all dead. And some of them went to jail and the whole not a yard. So that was a blessing to make it through that during that time. You're right. I'm curious, uh, because I'm familiar with their history with, uh, you know,

acts like Louis Prima and like Gia Malone. I'm curious to how you found, you know, like Fred, or did you, did you have dealings with

Fred, Vigoroto and Fred Fiotto and Ted Simoni Adi? I forget their names. I get those guys mixed up with Hugo and Luigi, but basically the three friends of ours that started Delight Records.

I know that Gene Red was on the staff, but how did you guys make the transition from local band to Let's Make a Record? Okay, so you're talking about the Viglito's game and... Yeah, like, can you talk about them and how they operated? I've heard stories, but, you know... Well, there was a small Gene Red story. Okay. He was our manager with Red Coast Records.

And then it changed to, we went from Red Coast to Delight. And I remember Mr. V, Fyoto, Freddie, and Mr. Vee, they came to my house in Jersey City, knocked on the door. There's two guys down there with these tally-looking guys. So Mr. B, and they came. He said, listen, this is how you living? He said, listen, we have some slight problems of Mr. Red.

And we want to bring you guys over to the Delight Records. So that was the game. And they put a lot of pressure on Mr. Jean Redd. I heard the story, like the five heartbeats, they must have hung up out the window one day. So listen, you're going to give up the game. That's it. Even for the heartbeats.

You say, Rick. I was like, is there a connection? Oh, Gene Writ, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was wondering, I was wondering how, you know, if those stories were true. My dad had, like, minor dealings with delight. Because they were also associated with them, Pickwick, correct? Pickwick International was the, yeah, yeah.

You know what I mean? I knew, I knew of them, involved in guys. I was not, I was not involved with those guys. Let me be clear. Yeah. It's just that my dad, you know, my dad's a Philadelphia. And, you know, after his, his parades into oldies do-wop, you know, he would do like these little one-off records in the 60s. And it's no secret that a lot of the, a lot of the Jersey associated labels, a lot of the tri-state areas, local labels were kind of mob run, you know, which even with sugar,

Hill, like with, with, with, you know, with Sylvia and Joey having dealings with like Morris Levy and all those cats like, you know, it, it was like dealing with the sopranos of the 60s. So, but I'll, I'll add only only because your brother also told me probably probably two of the greatest stories I ever heard of my life on, you know, I'm always curious on how like classic songs get made. and your brother kind of telling me the story of delight pressuring you guys to make jungle boogie against your will and somehow like your you're you're embittered you know and sarcastic response to what they wanted wound up being like a massive hit for you guys

when you guys hated every step of the way of that could you could you share that story Well, Mr. V, as we call him, and friendly Fyoto. You call him Friendly Fyoto? You said, you guys have been having some territorial hits like in Philadelphia, maybe New York. Yeah. Maybe Connecticut. But we want you to work with this. I kind of think of this.

My last name was something. Douglas, he had had this big hit with Mongo de Bongo. And he said, I want your guys to work with this producer. So we met him one time, and it wasn't really flowing for us. So we went downtown to a studio called Baggies. And we went in there around 8 o'clock in the morning. And we came out of there. we had created Jungle Boogie,

Hollywood swinging, and funky stuff. So no more problem from the Biggeralds. But I heard y'all hated it. What did you hate about Jungle Boogie? Well, according to your brother that, you know, your brother explained to me that, I guess, you know, Mongo's world famous hit, Soa Macosa, i.e.

Mama's see, Mama, so. I'm a bomb poopsa. You know, it was, was the origins of that song was that it was a hit in France and over in Africa. And somehow like bootlegs of the of the record made its way to the states right when disco culture is starting. And that was a very, very popular song. And colleagues was basically like, yo, like make make your version of this song. And because they were jazz. snobs, you know, it'd be like, yo, Fonte, like, you know, you and little brother, y'all call your little underground, okay, player stuff, but, you know, y'all, y'all got to

need a little Oozibird album. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. You do a collab. Right. Right. And so, you know, brother, brother Bayon basically said that, you know, they listened to Soul

McCosa and it felt like, uh, just African mumble jumble. music. We don't know this African mumbo jumbled music so kind of mocking that song they made

Jungle Boogie and to me the greatest moment I'll say that my all time favorite television show

is really prevalent in my life right now and there's a really telling moment about what I feel

is the moment that Soul Train solidified itself in history because, you know, the first two years of Soul Train, Don had to lean heavy on his Chicago connections. So a lot of local, you know, favors. Anyone in between Illinois, Ohio, Indiana.

So, you know, he made friends with the Jackson Fives and the OJs and Curtis Mayfield and the staple singers, like all those local acts. But for the most part, you know, Don had to rely on older acts. So, Katz that, you know, Jackie Wilson's on the show, Clarence Card is on the show and that sort of thing. And when you guys make your second appearance on Soul Train and you debut Jungle Boogie, it is such a magical thing to watch because the first thing that Don Cornelius says when he gets on the stage was, you know, usually guys, I have time to preview the A-side. in the B side. So, you know, he thought that you guys were just cool with just funky stuff,

which was the single you were promoting. Jungle Boogie was just a throwaway B side. And he's like, I never in my life thought that I could hear anything funkier than funky stuff. And I think I just did. So not only to watch Don's reacts, like the way that I described,

listen to Public Enemy's Rebel without a pause, that's how Don's like, yo, like this is the future of dance music. And not only that the way that it connected, like if it, it's almost like if trap music was playing for younger kids today. Like it's the way that the soul train dances came to life dancing to, to like that that song really, I feel like you guys are the first band to really connect to a younger audience that wasn't, you know, that saw James Brown as older. that saw Motown as older. Like, where's our music of now, 1973, 73, 74?

And that was, to me, it's just hilarious that you guys, according to your brother, like, hated that song. But at what point did you feel like, okay, maybe we got something, like, that you respected it, and it just wasn't a throwaway B-side?

Yeah, but, you know, when it happened, at that time you know funky stuff with number one our rnb for about four or five weeks and of course jungle boogie uh you know because my brother was one of the key writers of a lot of our music you know back in the day i'm up to the most recent album we had this coming out called the pursuit of happiness right and how he dealt with horn lines and how we dealt with with grooves which the bass, the drummer, of course, that's the foundation, as you know,

that building the house. So me and the drummer, George Brown, myself, Funky George. He used to create that, and then Khalich will always come up with these horn lines. Because even before that, I mean, we were doing songs like Breeze and Soul, see a Tranquility,

funky man, let the music take your mind, or N-T, you know. We were doing all that, too, before we, really, I guess, got really big hits with Jungle Biggie and Hollywood Swig and Funky stuff. And we didn't really have singers, but so, you know, we have, you know, we have, they call this like chance song, you know. This is one thing I want to ask about those earlier records. It's, it's rare to see, uh, like two live albums get released, especially when

there's like no greatest hits to promote, but like, what was the ideology by behind doing the live at the Sex Machine album and live at PJs? Well, live at PJs was right around the time I remember, I think, and Gene Red kind of was around doing to live on the PJs album. And of course, live at the sex machine, you know, we spent a lot of time, you know,

down at Uptown data and I just to try to do a live album. Philadelphia, correct? That is what brought that about. Okay. And that became a pretty popular album. Okay.

And that because dearly, we froze that name. So there I'm calling. Really? Yes. In the music. A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what you'll say. 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man

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

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

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Wode. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live,

and The Big Money Players Network. It's Will Full. barrel. Woo! Woo! My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot.

I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place they come look for up-and-coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit.

If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right. It wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to thanks dad on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Okay, another song that's like really seminal favorite for your soul era is with Summer Madness from the love and understanding album. Could you, or I guess Light of the World also, there's two versions like people like the live version and the studio version. What was the, what was the, I guess, the basis of that. song and how did you guys know that it was good enough to release as a single? And also with like modern technology, like how open were you guys to the entry of like futuristic synthesizers and music? Because oftentimes a lot of the soul acts that kind of hit their peak in the first four years of the 70s, their relationship to the synthesizer with the exception of Stevie Wonder is a little shoddy. You know, James Brown.

kind of like between James Brown and the Ohio players and especially Johnny Guitar Watson like their their experiments with synthesizers and moogs sounds awkward at best it's like the the odd the sonic odd ball out but you guys of course probably again next to Stevie Wonder created one of the most definitive use of the synthesizer in soul and funk music especially with summer madness that's that's that's That's a sense of synthesize that. Yeah. Okay.

So how did that come into play? Mike Micken had wrote a song, you don't have to change. Yes. It's one of my favorites. The vamp of Spike song, my brother was in the studio at 4 or 5 in the morning.

He can listen to that. And he had just got his art synthesizer. And he said, that's another song at the end. So he ended up doing the synthesizer solo on the van. Wow. And we asked what you want to call it. I call it something bad. I don't know.

It happened to something. I don't know. Wow. You serious? The best titles. would have known that that sub of madness was going to become the type of record that it became. There's a DJ, I think, is Rodney, Rodney, Rodney Jones in Chicago, and Rodney Jones, but it was.

E. Rodney Jones. Yeah, so he played Spirit of the Buggy. Right. So he's playing the record. And then he turned it over. And we had some of madness as the B-Side. I'm going to play. He played summer madness.

And everybody was calling up, who was this? Oh, man, I know that's Herbie Hancock. Well, that's, uh, right. Different jazz artists. Right. Oh, this is cool in the game. Damn. So people struggle, a boy.

The spirit of the booge and then flip to a summer madness, it was, oh, wow. Plus, in Chicago, later on, everybody was stepping. off of summer mad. Really? You can step to that song? Yeah. That simple, yeah. Yeah.

You step to that. Is that the most simple cool in the gang song? It was in the movie with Rocky. When he gets up, he gets thrown out, forgive me to have that fight. Right.

So, man, now on the council, and now he's going to get a buttwood. Wait, can I ask you a question about that soundtrack? Were you guys a little miffed at Bill, like,

as a person who works on a late night television show and you know does commercials as well i'm very familiar when when the uh the producer or the director of the show goes to you as the score and says hey give me a sound alike like this song and on you know on the rocky soundtrack they they do uh not going the distance uh we're not going the distance but um the other bill conti song there's like a there's like a there's like a summer man alone in the ring. Oh, it's not along the ring. I know what you're talking about. Yeah, there's, there's a summer madness bite

that, um, I always wanted to know, like, did your people ever call those people like, yo, like, that's our song, that's plagiarism. I always wanted to know, was it, was it, did you guys ever have a situation? I got to find the song now. Yes. It's called, you take my heart. way. But there's a part, like literally

it's built like summer madness with the synth line and the roads at the beginning and Oh, Amir, you're making beef. I'm sorry, never mind. Cool over there like now. What you say now? Play it again. But that's what, that's what like film scorers do.

Like half the time they can't clear the songs. It's like, let me make my own let me take the Rubik's cube and mix it up. And then voila, it's my version of it. But, yeah. Yeah, that one, I'm not sure exactly how that one went down. I think at the time, yeah, the bigger videos were still involved. Oh, there you go.

There my. Of a lot of worlds. Open Sesame in the Saturday Night Fever movie now. Yeah. You know, Columbia Records, you know, cut that deal. And we didn't have any idea. that Open Sesame will become such a big record. And then on the Saturday Night Fever album,

which was the biggest album until Michael Jackson came and knocked it out of the box with Thriller. Yeah. It was over 20 million records. John DeVote was out on the floor doing this thing on some of the man. I mean on Open Sesame. Open Sesame, yeah.

Yeah. So with that period of the group, well, one, I want to know when, When Saturday Night Fever won the Grammy for album of the year, did each individual act on that soundtrack actually get a Grammy or did it just go to, you know, the head of RSO records and that sort of thing? Like, did you, because I saw like you all,

not since like the bodyguard, have I seen so many people on stage accepting a Grammy for album of the year? Like it was literally like almost 50 people on stage between, you guys, the tramps, Tavares, the BGs also, like, you all accepted it. But did you all get your individual, like, Grammys for it for Saturday Night Fever? That just go to the head of the label. And we all, we all each cook at their own Grammy. Yeah.

Ah, okay. Cool. Cool. Could you talk about the transition to disco because, I mean, that marks your third phase. and, you know, how hard is it to make that transition? Actually, one of my favorite all-time cool in the gang songs is the opener aside, too, which is Whisper Softly. Yes. I whisper, you love me.

Dog, like, yeah, like, to me, like, again, the sign of a good band and a good catalog, really, in my eyes, is never the single. It's like what the filler is on the album. and for me, like I know there was, there was indifference with your older fans as far as like you guys switching and changing up on them. But how easy was that transition into disco?

Because it wasn't mindless disco. Like you guys were, your brother was explaining that in his mind, he wanted all the horn lines to be sort of where Coltrane was going, like using these eastern scales and eastern chords that

your average disco unit wasn't thinking. Like he thought that everything else was pedestrian. He was like going to make real intelligent. Like if you look at the chord structures and the horn charts of Open Sesame, that's one of the hardest songs to do if you're a horn player. So like as a band, like who's, are you and him sort of having like these talks together about how to keep the band

intelligent and still stay with the times without like compromise? the music? Well, the way that we kind of slipped into out of the 70s, 70s into the 80s, we were out on tour with the Jackson 5. Okay. Dick Griffey, the promoter who sold our records. Dick Griffey. And Dick came up to us, he said, listen,

you guys are doing okay on the tour. He said, but I think you need a least. singer and we said we do. So we thought about it and we said okay yeah earthwind fire has Phil Bailey Murray's White Commodore's Lana Ritchie and they were burning disco records in Chicago talking about disco sucks. That whole sort of the thing was going on. So we decided to take Dick's advice and get a lead singer. James J.T. Chela was working out in the studio, Jersey, West Orange, called the House of Music. And auditioned him and no one else.

So my brother said, hey, okay, he said, sing to these courts, sing at each course, sing a little jazz, sing a little pop-up. And when he finished, my brother said, you know, you sound like a Nat King Cole. Yes. Wow. That kid, go. Yeah. But on the other hand, my brother, because he was, you know, I wanted to keep by the guy.

He said, you got the job. And Amir Diadallo was in the studio, producing his record. And we also- You're saying that Amir Diodado was trying to produce James as a solo act at the time when you met him? They just happened to be in the same studio. Okay.

Okay. heard what we're trying to do. Of course, you know, Mr. V, they pulled Dian Dio Della and listened, you know, become a part of that. I'm becoming the producer for that album. And that's when we moved on to

into the 80s with a lead singer. Okay. One of the things that Diodala told us is, listen, now, you got to make room for the lead singer because

The horns were like our lead singers. You know, we had to show with a lead singer. So he said, you gotta open these tracks up a little bit. And Ladies' Night, the horns are still doing, playing all the way through. You're da-t-da-da-da-da-da-da. Yeah. Well, it's cool, but also to introduce a lead singer. Oh, ladies-night introduced J-T.

Yeah. Oh, man. That record in New York. Now, my wife and I used to hang out in New York, 3054 regime. We know that every Friday night there was a ladies' night. So I went back to the guys. You know what?

We should call this song a ladies' night, something that was being created by George, my brother. And the rest was the thing. history. Like I said, if I could cross the book that record. Yeah. Why do men write the best female anthems? What is this?

Amen. We know y'all. Yeah. Wait, your brother, as I said, at the top of the show, your brother told me two of the greatest stories, the two of the most unlikely stories of your hits, I'm

asking, and at the top of the show, I said that your brother told me two of the greatest stories I've ever heard. about how an unlikely hit got created. The way that he told the story almost made me feel like he did it by himself. Did he ever tell you the story of how he got the inspiration to make celebration? Well, after Ladies Night, we have won two American Music Awards. And the Vampal Ladies' Night was Decision Tonight and Tonight.

Come on, let's all celebrate. So my brother said, huh, there's something in that. So we kept pack in Jersey and he said, he started playing this track. It had that kind of down home type of vibe with grandma and grandpa sitting in somewhere in Alabama, Alabama, Drickinson Kool-A. He's back on the rocking chair, and he played that track. And we said, then he had that whole country Yahoo in there. Right. And we didn't know that.

country yahoo i never thought about it like that same here the way he's describing i'm like that's exactly yes it is in the context of it it doesn't sound like that you don't associate it with like country kind of whatever that record you know to the day it's it's a one we can't go back and do make another celebration never no that that's a one in a hundred but wait he told me something that he said he never shared with the world

Can I tell the story of how he came up with that groove? It's one of my favorite stories of all time. So your brother tells me that he's in Los Angeles attending a Rick James and Prince Joe. And Prince is opening. And he told your brother told me that he's familiar with the venue that they're playing it. And so he's seeing Prince. He heard about Prince, but this is the first time that he's seeing Prince,

and he didn't have his records. And this is right when I want to be your lover just started to get red hot. And so he told me that he was so impressed with I want to be your lover. He's like, yo, that during intermission, during changeover between Prince and Rick James, I don't know who he's with at the time,

but he said, I'll be right back. I got to run backstage real quick. Because, you know, some of those venues, some of those like shed venues might have like a piano in the dressing room, that sort of thing. And so he runs backstage and he starts playing or analyzing the chords that Prince used for I want to be 11. Dun, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. And he writes the chords down. And he puts in his pocket. Wow. So he goes, he goes, he goes back to his seat. He enjoys the rest of the show. He says the next day, he buys the 45. I want to be

lover, listen to it some more. He gets the piece of paper that was in his pocket from the night before and he looks at the chords and was like, let me try this backwards. So he notates the rhythm. And he looks at the notes, does it backwards and he plays

da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. So he literally just Inversed he inversed the chords of I want to be a lover rhythmically and it's celebration. But then on top of that, he was like, I need a good bridge. And then he goes over to Billboard and looks at the pop charts. Wow. And he notices that Michael Jackson's rock with you is, is, he's like, I looked at the top five and figured which one of these songs like represents where, like represents me. like which one would I be involved with?

And it was like, the Eagles, I can't tell you why. Some other stuff, whatever. And he saw a rock with you. And if you listen to the chords, he's like, I just took the verse of rock with you. So the whole boom, it's time to come together. It's big. That's big. Then do you.

Everyone around. Like, and that's how he crafted. I love this show for these moments. That's called Good Songwreck. shit. Listen. Yo, man. I mean,

my mind, like literally when he, he told me that story. He came to, the first year I was teaching NYU. He came to my class because he's good friends with Harry Wagner. And when he told me that story, then I,

that night I called my manager and say, yo, man, I got to, I heard the greatest story in my life. I need a bigger platform. And literally like that story is what may, made me want to start Quest Love Supreme, like when I heard that.

Like, I need a podcast. Like, the world doesn't know that story. And, you know, can you talk about, yeah, can you talk about your brother and just his creativity? Like, like, can you explain between the three of you and your musical sort of triangle? Like, how, how did that work? Well, I mean, that, that story that you just told about celebration, yeah. definitely, you know,

that's what he did. I learned about it later, but when you listen to it, yeah, okay, you can hear that he reversed the song. And Prince used to open up for us when he first started. And Prince was to come home. He set up the drums, and he'd do everything.

He goes to the monitor, and he would do everything. And there's something about that guy. You know, you know, P-funk. wow. But that's what my brother used to do. He studied the music

and one of the things that my mother was to tell him, he said you have to do for a great song, a simple melody that people know. So he thought about that.

So Hollywood swinging, da-da-dan-da-dan-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And he came out with the melody that would stick with people. That was popular back in the day. Amir Gamble said he did the same thing. Really? Yeah. It's all about the melody.

And the simplicity of it was about the melody. Yeah, Gamble said soul train, love train. Some of the things are kind of similar. Right, right. Okay. Oh, damn. Yeah, you're right. Melodically simple.

Yeah. You're, damn. You're right. This is the first time in five years. Score! Sorry. Oh, come on. You got to drop some jims on and stop playing.

There's been a few. That was colleagues. That was colleagues. The various songs, ideas we came up with. I mean, whispers softly. that was another one, you know, that you like that he did. I love that one, man. Little children is another favorite of mine, too.

I love that. 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, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

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

So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

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

So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to The Girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell.

Woo. Woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot.

I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place they come look for up-and-coming talent, He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved.

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

I did want to know the KG's album. Was that really you guys and then just letting them have the tag? Like, were you guys the action band? Well, it was my brother, Amir. but Khalis was writing a lot of the horn tracks on that. So that wasn't you on bass because you have a very distinct bass playing style on those records? Well, I didn't know to play on none of the KG's records.

Okay. Okay. The haunts and all that was Kales. And then, of course, the guitar parts and all that was Amir, my brother, Amir. During this period in which, first of all, like how are you guys feeling in terms of, you know, this period between 1979 and 1985, you guys are about to really have a rebirth, the kind of moment you've been waiting for. Like, did you even expect this type of reaction from a whole new audience?

Whole generation. Yeah. And I, you know, again, I know that. you know, there's always been this debate of like, well, it's not like their earlier material, whatever, but I mean, how are you, how are you guys mentally handling that? Like, still having massive pop success, but, you know, the occasional scoff of, you know, a music critic that only believes in, like, your earlier material and, you know, might be crying sellout or whatever. Like, is that bothering you guys at all? Well, um, Well, we were surprising and impressed the fact that we came throughout the 79

and then we added the lead singer and then the type of songs that became successful, you know, like I got to get down all this or fresh and cherished misled, which had a sort of a rock vibe to it, you know. Right. So we just continued to grow in the 80s, you know. Everybody accepted. Even your peers, because even, you know, it reminds me of like talking to M2May and him talking about how like jazz purist scoffed him when he came out with juicy. Right.

Yeah. Like even your peers, they were riding with your evolution. Like, this is what Kooling the gang does. They evolve. Yeah, well, that's, it started happening. I mean, through the 80s and the 90s and, of course, they left the band and we had to continue to move on. to the new millennium. And we just continued to grow

and continue to work other markets. I mean, we started going everywhere. We went behind our curtains, and we were doing Romania, Slovakia, all through Europe, Australia, through Africa. Right. Almost 10 years just developing. And the plan, it hits to everybody,

of love. And then it was, you know, happy to see us. The market we probably never went there. Right. And it just continued to build, become a part of the Kool and the Gang experience all you up until today. A question I always wanted to know the answer to. With the exception of Jody Watley, whom, okay, I understand she was living there at the time.

But how was Kooling the gang chosen as the lone, American act to appear on Band-Aids Do they know it's Christmas? We were on tour

and hang on at the time and they told us that there was a song for Ethiopia in Slovakia

and Ethiopia and they asked what did we like to be a part of that I built Bob Geldof, was the one who put in the whole project together. Well, sure, we would definitely like to be a part of that project.

And we got out that morning and went down and joined all these rock groups and it's going to become a part of that. I mean, because it was, I mean, you're talking about Ethiopia. It was a blessing to be a part of that. Right. Right. We were the only band that was a part of that. Can I ask a hip-hop song?

I just want to know, cool sense. Am I wrong, you guys, summertime was the first hip-hop song to sample Summer Madness, right? Or the- Before. Okay. But, I mean, one that took it to the one that, yeah. Yeah. So I'm curious. No, it wasn't the first, though.

But it was the most successful. But I'm curious how y'all made that decision and were y'all always open to hip-hop sampling the music. At that time, I believe it was the record came here again with that song. And they wanted to Westwood F. and jazz Jeff they played the whole track. It wasn't like a sample. They did their whole thing on top of the

track. It came up in summertime. Which was a very, very big record for him. He went from there into the movies. Right. Did you always were you guys always open to that? Like, yeah, just take our song and rap over it. It's no problem. Well, it all depends back in the death.

In the check start. There was a lot of sampling going on. Mm-hmm. They had somebody out on sample patrol. Okay. But what happened

was when they actually in Washington, they made the rule that anybody sample records have to get sample clearance of the record company. And if they didn't do that, then the record company would have a problem.

So Lazy song, we had to get clearance. from the record calling. And you were cool. But you surely knew the difference and I'm sure you appreciate to this day the fact that there's a whole new generation. I mean, yes, I grew up in a household that played cool and the gang on the regular. But definitely by the time, you know, the tribe called Quest come around and like sort of

that that renaissance period between 91 and 2000. in 2001. I'm not, you know, even, you know, I'm certain that Mace, do one feel so good has done a lot of good for, yeah, a lot of business for people even knowing what Hollywood swinging is that probably wouldn't have it had Mace not used it.

You know what I mean? Or even let me clear my throat or that sort of thing. So, you know, I'm certain now that, you know, I would like to think that you guys were like sort of grateful that that happened that your, you know, your catalog gets used and used and that way these songs turn timeless. Has there ever been a situation in which you guys rejected a sample clearance? No, not really. A lot of times between Warner Chapel and they replaced the song and various artists and

not really at that time. Before that, before that, we had a sample of Clarence. Okay. You had a record come in clearance, and that was, it was like all older place, you know,

a lot of songs that were probably done back then. You know about. Right. Yeah. So here's the fact that I don't think, many people know about the group, past the JT period,

which is that, you guys made a curious replacement of James J.T. Taylor with none other than Skip Martin, who was the lead singer of the Daz band. And I don't think people even knew that you know, after the Stone Love and Victory period,

I guess the last JT record, which was, I believe, 85, 86, that Skip Martin formerly the lead singer of the Daz band became you guys' new lead singer. Could you explain the situation that caused, because I never knew why J.T. left the group or even if he's active today singing.

Yeah, it's a good question. Is he still singing the day? Are you guys amicable? Have you spoken? Like, what's the status between you guys? Yeah, I mean, we have spoken to the, to JT from time to time. JT had problems with management and people suggested that.

You know, he kind of do his own thing. You're the group. Okay, I get that. Capsong. Guys, they go out and do their own thing, you know. I kind of thought that, okay, if you're having that problem, if you want to do an album, you can still stay in the family. Right, that's smart.

did, you know, a beat singer, a drummer for Genesis. His name again? Phil Collins. So he could have done that, but he chose, you know, to do it the way he wanted to do it at the time. Then we got back together in 1995 and we did an album together. He came back? I was not aware of it. Okay.

He's speaking about points Well in 1999 He left again So but JT's still around making music then Doing his own thing Yeah he's been doing something like yeah I just remember the tap song Yeah the John Way of Regina Bell

Yes I was curious to know cool about your About two years ago By the way Now that was the jam So about two years ago, your niece, Jenna, she did a show here in Durham, where, North Carolina, and we met and we ended up talking and hanging. And she was just, you know, we talked music and everything.

And she was like super cool. I was just curious to know, do you have any other, first, what was your connection with her or, you know, how was you guys' relationship? And also, do you have any other, like, family members, nieces, nephews, you know, kids, whatever that are making music now. Not right now, but Kalisa's sound, Rashid. Rasheed. He used to be my label, yeah, Rashid. Yeah, Rashid. Yeah, a whole different kind of approach.

That's what he was doing to the music. Nah, I like, I like this album. That was called Prototype. I had that album. It was dope. Very creative of his own way, of course, Kalish was far away. But he wanted to go totally, if you listen to that album, totally different direction than what Khalis was all. Yeah. Yeah.

much on that out. On the hip hop side, he's a DJ and he has a, he goes by the name of Prince High King. Okay. And he had a song called Royalty, him and Walt, and another song called Sexy. As a matter of fact, he has one out now. Okay. His name is one he has out right now, a bunch of family members. Okay.

So with the, uh, the unfortunate. departure of brother D.T. and your brother, how will that affect the future of the group where it is now as far as the band is concerned? Well, the album that we have out now, which is called the Perfect Union. Yes. I was singing the suit of happiness, which my brother wrote 90% of that. That's something that we will be doing in the future and depending on the success of the album. But there was always different guys coming in over the last 10, 15 years, different horn players, you know. I got Skip Martin and another guy named Ravi who played well with a bit. bands along with Clifford Adams plays and these bands.

We have several home players that play when Kalis Or DT wasn't on the road with us. Right. So, hello was, I guess, you see the gang from the other game to the music game. We got quite a few guys coming in and out. Right. Actually, one of those cats is Tuba, Tuba's brother. He plays with you guys. My Susan film player, he comes from.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we talk about the Jermaine. Yeah, Jermaine. Yeah, plays trombone with you guys right now. Yeah. That's a connection. That's dope. Y'all's your family.

We're prepared to keep moving on for it, you know, as we say, inshallah, God willing, you know. Right now, we, like everybody else, for a year and a half, we really haven't been played that many shows, but hopefully in 2022, the doors will open up again. Because we, I guess

we have been blessed to play with all different type of groups. We did 48 shows with Van Halen. Van Halen. What was that like? Wow. Yes, I saw Kuling and Van Halen at Master Square Guard. I don't understand. But it made

sense. What was that like for you guys? Yeah, so, I mean, we, uh, We're going to continue to do that. We started to do the orchestra stuff. We played for the Fourth of July, the last Saturdays for the Micro Orchestra. I'm the Fourth of July. We've played with the orchestra up in Salt Lake City, 60 Peace.

So we're doing, I call it classic evenings. We're cool in the act. I love that. I want to go to a show. When y'all doing the bowl? They did it first. Oh, Dave. You just missed it.

I watched it on Instagram. Yeah. But the interesting thing is that these orchestras, and see how these guys play are music. A lot of us have fun, you know, with strings, with channels, like a challenge, but something that they like. It was like, hey, man, we got the funky orchestra. Who has the funkies orchestra? It's all been good.

And with the pursuit of happiness, and the fact that it's called Pursuit of Happiness, World Peace, and I'm kind of treating that song as a movement. What I mean by that, that, you know, what's going on today, COVID and all the other things that's happening. And my brother has insight to call it perfect union. Mm-hmm. And sure what would be a perfect union now?

This is going to happen in our lives with the city that the Democrats and the republics come together as a perfect union. Oh, Lord, child. I don't know. A man can dream. Yeah. Yeah, Washington.

And the whole pursuit of what happened. Plus, I've been spending time in and out Africa. And they talk about me becoming a part of the AU of the 52 African nations. Wow. What countries have you been going to, cool? Well, we're talking about, I just did something in the Zimbabwe. I've been to Kenya, Angola, Joe Bird. I've been to mostly all of them. But the whole thing is making the transits and the movement now. with the perfect union in the pursuit of happiness. That was one of my brothers' dreams of what he put this album together.

I kind of took a little further to world peace because it's just about world peace. And I have a said, I guess last president said, make America great again. I said, what about making the world cool again? Whatever happened? A start. Can we just start? Whatever happened to the world? How can we get back?

Make the world cool again. There you go. Amen. You've been doing that before message music was even in bog, like, especially with like, you know, on those cuts on like on wild and peaceful

where he has the conversation with the as one. We're scientists of sounds. Right, right. Putting it down. Yes, exactly. Heaven at once. Yes.

My brother, Wahee, he was a little... How old was he then? Yeah, they're cool. What do you think about the world of the day?

Yeah. That was your little brother, Waheed? Yeah. Oh, okay. Oh, this is, I'm just getting to understand. So y'all are really a South Jersey family as well.

Like, y'all, are y'all, everybody Muslim and whatnot, too? I heard Hakeem. I heard a couple of, like, names. No, everybody was Muslim. It's just, you know. Arabic names, South Jersey, Philly. stuff, okay.

The beard, the name, that's all we need. That's all we, and no pork. Right. Well, you know. Hey, I'm like I. I'm with you. I'm coming back home, you know. Coming back home. Impossible pork's coming down in 2020.

No, we don't need no impossible pork. Don't put that out there. Dog, trust me. Sauses at one point. Yeah. My hawking products on this program. That's the whole purpose of this program. It's true.

All products. We did it in the beginning of the show. Remember music history? It's coming out soon. Yes. 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. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes.

And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. And in this new season of The Girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me?

The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the Girlfriends. Trust me, babe.

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

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

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

I just personally want to know for you, with all these iconic songs that you've done, like, what are your three personal favorite? This is my last question for you, but what are your three personal favorite songs that you've done in your catalog? That's kind of one. Summer Amanda is definitely one. Hollywood Swinger. Okay. And of course, celebration.

Now, Hollywood Swinging is all about when we first was going about to Hollywood. And again, Frankie Crocko, Frankie Hollywood Crockett. He broke that record in New York, along the ladies night. Can I ask you a capitalistic, question before we go. If you were to stop doing music right now and no other music

existed, could you tell us what Cooling the Gang song could feed you for life? If I was to stop doing music? Yes. Like if you were to stop doing music and didn't care about any other songs, records, or whatever, what's the Cool and the Gang song that could have been feeding and will feed you for life? Oh, well, that's a celebration. Celebration. I don't know what I was it. wasn't sure. It's so many. Hey, cool.

We, it's even, they're going to do a whole big thing. I think TikTok, whatever that company. Oh, get it, cool, get it.

And something mad is, I mean, I mean, Will Smith. I mean, the movie, and, yeah,

even, what's my man, Levant James did a, with someone mad, he's up on, dumping into the swimming pool with something mad. Something matters is just, it might be some of madness

see not some of celebration it might be no it's definitely celebration celebration ain't never going to die ever yeah hey cool the DJ played celebration at my bar mitzvah in 1983 did you ever get paid for that dude and mine in 1983

93 same thing yeah wait a minute I will ask have you guys ever done celebration at a wedding or at a bar mitzvah as cool in the game. Yes. And what is that rate? I'm stealing my capitalist bag.

Yeah. How do I get that at my next? A heavy price. I want to leave on this, though, when the Super Bowl game, it was the Steelers. And who wasn't that Super Bowl? In 1980. Were they playing the Cowboys? I'm not certain.

I'm still going to come down to the guy. Look it up, Steve. Bill? And the Steel is one. That was that one and the steel is one

by that one touchdown. Okay. And the last few minutes of the game. So we were scheduled to play for whatever that team was. Anyway. And I only came to us and said, well, you guys,

please don't play celebration. You serious? 2009 against the Cardinals. But we didn't play celebration. You did not play celebration? Because they lost that game. Okay. Well, then ladies' night, it is.

Oh. Anyway, I want to thank you guys for the support of the mayor, man. You're just, you're a whiz, man. You know, you ask me questions that I have to remember again. I mean, you know, I'm just your legacy. Wait, Fonda, did you have one last question? Oh, I was, yeah, I had a question about Fruit Man. Was that song, is that a reference to the Fruit of Islam?

No, but Ricky West wrote that song. Okay, okay, got you. It was, yeah, we just came over different ideas in concert. You know, back, you know, the day the fruit band come by at the truck and you want to get some wall and then they'll find out of it. Uh-huh. Yes. Wow.

Okay. But good try. No, I thought I heard that. I really never heard or read that song. I didn't know. It's the fruit like a bean. Love a bell. We had this conversation before and y'all was laughing at me and called me old.

And I'm trying to explain to y'all between at least the fruit, the fruit and the fish man were the same dude on my grandma's block. I remember the fish man. We didn't have a fruit man. We had a fish man. See? Well, you see the look online is. space right now. I don't believe you. I think you're talking about your auntie down south,

not in Philly. Yes, in Philly. Yes, like just like that, just like Mr. Softie comes by every, you know, every 430 on, you know, on his route. However, I will say the watermelon man is still a very real thing in a lot of different cities. Yeah, but for Southwest Philly, like the fishman would just, you know, the back of his truck would be like a whole bunch of ice and a whole bunch of fish. He just go up and down each block. sell mackerel, porgies, like different types of fish. And then the next day he'd come back, same truck, clean. Right, maybe.

And have vegetables. Next day, fruit. Like, they would take fruit to the hood. Like, that's the thing I miss. That's dope, though. What? Having the fruit man deliver. You know, now we got to go to the suburbs to get the good fruit.

Bill said, what? You want to trade your life? Would you say, Bill? Long Island didn't have any man in a car. We had to go to the store. Yeah. Hey, man. It was different in my nation.

That's because y'all had stores. It was called. It was called Food Deserts. Sweet. Aw, we getting to know each other. America. Brother Cool, I want to thank you personally for, you know, your legacy and sharing your story with us. Yes.

Don't forget to support Le Kool. You know. In the new album. Send me a bottle. Yeah. Jenna said to hers, she was like, yeah, my stepmom loves that. So I was like, I got to get some. I'm gonna go back.

Okay. Is that my little wine? Yeah, the lecool. Yeah. Okay. We drinking on some lecool. All right. Let's do it.

So we got the rosé for the late days. Oh. That's all you had to say. So ladies, not rosette. Okay. Ladies, that rosé. So rosé lady.

Come on, Marit. That's chariotype. I do like rosette. That's fine. We go a Questlove marketing supreme. Shit. There you go. There you go.

We have our unpaid bill. Laia. Your Enviola Sugar Steve. Finding. and God and the great Robert Coolbell. My name is Questlove. This is Questlove Supreme. We'll see you on the next go round, y'all.

See you. Yo, what's up? This is Fanté. Make sure you keep up with us on Instagram at QLS and let us know what you think and who should be next to sit down with us. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast. All right. Peace. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio.

For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert 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 Cliford 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 Clippert Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for

For more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I bowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or web.

wherever you get your podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Vodom. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall

and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.