The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: The Foreign Exchange

Episode Date: August 14, 2024

Nicolay joins Phonte as The Foreign Exchange to speak with Team Supreme in-studio. This conversation celebrates the 20th anniversary of F.E.'s beloved debut album Connected and the 25th anniversary of OkayPlayer, where this duo first met and formed. The special discussion revisits the message board days and reveals why Nicolay and Phontigallo still honor their original formula. The episode also follows Nic's music-minded journey from the Netherlands to North Carolina, his distinct approach to production, and how The Foreign Exchange was unfazed by Grammy recognition.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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. I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend. This is my friend. I'm much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel.

On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, Football, soccer is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, folks, Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes here. And we know there is a lot of news coming at you these days from the war with Iran to the ongoing Epstein fallout, government shutdowns, high profile trials. And what the hell is that Blake lively thing about anyway? We are on it every day, all day.

Follow us, Amy and TJ for news updates throughout the day. Listen to Amy and TJ on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of our of us likes. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. Listen to a slight change of plans on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. It's Financial Literacy Month and the podcast Eating While Broke is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future. This month hear from top streamer, Zoe Spencer, and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum Pierre, as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. There's an economic component to communities thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they failed.

Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. Here we go. Supremo. Suprema Roe Call Supremia Subra

Subrama Role Call Supremea Subrema Role Call Supremma So Supremma Role Call Yo, it's the season Yeah Like I shared delight

Yeah To have a good reason Yeah To talk about that sight Ro Call Supreme Subm Subrama Role Call

Supremea Subima Subrama Role Call My name is Sugar. Yeah. Is this thing on? Yeah.

This took so long to start. Yeah. My buzz is gone. Rob-cah. Supremia, so-s-s-s-s-sprima roll call. Suprema, sub-s-s-sprima roll call. I'm unpaid bill. Yeah.

And lordy lord. Yeah. Let's talk about life. Yeah. And the OK player boards. Ro-Call. Suprema, Sub-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-Reyva role call.

Supriva. Sub-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-P-S-P. Role Call Inslae Yeah And oh my God Yeah Fonté and Nicolay

Yeah Well OKP Dream Tomato Role Supreme I did that Shut Supriva RoleC Supremma

Supriva RoleC My name is Nick Yeah And I'm a cancer Yeah I'm good at music Yeah Not much of a dancer

Ro call Supriva Supriva Supriva Ro call Suprema, Subrema Rocah. My name is Fonte. Yeah.

And I won't be boring. Yeah. Me and him had an exchange. Yeah. Now I'm whipping a foreign. Rocah. Subremma. Subremia.

Oh, so, sub. Supremia roll call. Subrama. Role call. Suprema, Subrama, sub, sub, sub. Supremma, sub. Subramal.

Subramal. Subramal. Wow. We did it. Like Japanese car? No, it is a Japanese car. I mean, it's technically a foreign, but yeah. No, I'm kidding.

The bars. Yeah, it ain't German. It ain't, I don't know. I don't do that. Wait, what kind of car you got? Alexis? Oh, okay. Oh, okay.

Yeah, I mean, yeah. Yeah, hey, listen. It works for me. Great gas mileage. Yo, Toyota's are the best. Yeah, man. You ride that thing for Elvis. Hey, I just got my son.

I'm fixed. I don't know. I'm here you still got that silver sion? I'm still hanging on. It is the 20th anniversary of me getting my driver's license. What's funny are the Questlove and a Sion? Not much. I don't know.

I don't know the answer. Like, am I driving a classic car now that I've been driving the Sion for 20 years? Yeah, the kids don't know what a Sion is. They don't even make that car on the way. You don't? Yeah. So how do you get it serviced? So the guy that drives me around now, he has a hook up in the Heights where they got.

That Sion Park. It's been a very loaded thing. There's a lot of garages up there in the Heights. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's talk about it. Talk about the Heights. Shop, shops. Understood.

Let's just say that I'm good for at least maybe nine rounds of needing batteries. This is a hell of a way to start this episode. We are live in New York. Well, we're not live. We're in New York City. We're in person. Yeah, we're in person. This is live.

Good, too. Shout out to, I'll take a little for. for getting up early this morning. Did I hear you say that you did not get sleep? Not really. No, we didn't. No, we didn't really. We had a, yeah, I got it in this morning.

Yeah, we had a movie that he scored. We had that yesterday. That was at Full Frame Documentary. Full Frame Festival. So that was like all day yesterday. And then we rolled out six this morning, got here like eight. Okay. It's been up ever since.

Well, since Fonte already assisted us on that, we might as well introduce our esteemed guests. And I guess you could. say that this is a special episode because of course this being 25 years. Yes. Oh, I thought we're that 20. Well, it's 20 for in his name. It's 25 for O'K Player. Oh, wow. So being as though this is like

25 years of what OK Player is, I guess we're still trying to define what OK Player was, but if there was ever a moment, I wouldn't mind flexing the very played out. What a time to be alive, hashtag. Man, I would say that probably OK Player is one of those moments in which I think everything that I intended it for that site to be actually came to fruition, which is that people connected with each other way above than that just being a Roots website. But people were able to do that. And probably one of the most pioneering moments that will have defined how it is that we make music and how we stretch. you know before okay player like i lived at a time when you went to europe that was europe

when you did things in the states that was like now it's colonized and stretched out and the fact that you know the the the storied journey of how von tigolo and nicolay met and hooked up on okay player you know even that this is a dream interview for us to finally get you guys because you're such a You two to me are the actual physical result of what happens on the internet when it's a good thing. Yes. Thank you. Many different ways. I just want to point that out.

That statement was the whole up. When internet goes larger. Right. The internet goes platonic. It's just platonic. Nothing else. Yeah. So that's it.

Nicola, welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. It's weird. I know the legend of foreign. exchange. Hopefully this will be what I initially intended the D.Zas and Muriel episode to be. Oh my God. Before it just went. Before it went totally left.

After real. Maybe if you guys aren't familiar with that legendary episode, there's a lot of inside baseball talk about what OK player meant as a community. This hopefully will be a more nuanced, better version of that episode. So, shout to Deas and Miro, though. That was a Oh, definitely. That to me is one like the funniest moments, at least for me, even though it was a lot of inside baseball. Nicolet, what is your first musical memory? My first musical memory is hearing Secret Life of Plans by Stevie Wonder. I credit a lot of my musical interest and taste to my mother's music collection. And I have a distinct memory of being, I must have been five or six years old and feeling the braille on the cover of, Secret Life implants while taking in the sounds. And I think looking back, the synthesizer pioneering more so than anything else,

ecclesiastic and some of those cra, like that had a massive influence on me. And that must be one of the first, if not the first, true musical memories that happened sort of before I consciously got into music and was interested in music. And like, shout out to my mom for that. How old were you in 1979? I was five years old. That is so crazy. I'm a 74.

Shout out to all the 74 babies. Yeah. I distinctly remembered that record. Like now, I would argue with people a lot about songs in the key of life versus Secret Life of Plants and how they were kind of back to back. Right. And so different in so many ways. And for me, I never had that connection with songs that I did with Secret Life of Plants

for the very reason that it. it hit me so profoundly as a kid. And I have a specific memory with each of the songs. With Black Orchid, we'd come back as a flower, with tree, race babbling. Like, I think it really shaped me. All right. So just to give our listeners just a little backstory because I had the opposite experience that you had, even though you and I had the same shared experience, you know, like when

the classic hip-hop records came out and we discussed it on an OK player and then it would be like 900 threads of just, yeah, like, that happened before the internet. And especially in my household in which there were so many musical experts, a Stevie Wonder record actually had the power to make someone have like almost a four-hour summit meeting. Like the day that songs in the Key of Life came out, September of 76, both songs in the Key of Life and Spirit by Earth, When and Fire came out the same day. And that was also the first day of school. And that was also the first day of for me. So like, you know, that day was like in a major event. Like, we got home early. We sat as a family. It sat in front of the record player to see like what else. Because it's two years since

fulfilling this first finale. So it was such an event in my household that come three years later in 79 when we had that same anticipation opening the record and listening. And man, to watch my father's face during the earth's creation. Yo, I just, I've never seen my dad cry until maybe like 1984 at a funeral. But the day, I saw the day that music died for my dad. And it was such a heartbreaking. Like he just looked at the floor like, I've lost hope in humanity. Wow.

But for me, any albums that were rejected by my, like, my dad. band or them, I would wind up inheriting. And so I inherited that record. And so just like you, that was my dark side of the moon. Yeah, mainly because it was like, oh, it's something I own. And I would listen to it in the headphones and imagine. And I loved everything about it. I loved the photo of Stevie in the booklet.

Right. I love the fact that there were Japanese lyrics included, the Braille. I didn't know what that meant at the time. And then I think I asked my mom, like, what is this? And the lime green cover. If I'd have to describe it, maybe almost pastel. Like, it was so, it wasn't just the music. It was the totality of that record.

And it wouldn't have happened on, it was vinyl. It was just a big, beautiful. The one time I realized that there was such a major pushback on that record. Like, besides, I would dismiss my dad's thing, like him shit talking about. Like, Stevie lost it. I'm so disappointed. Was like when I started going back to read, like, reviews. And it got a lead review in Rolling Stone.

and they just, they just, they went to town on it like this. It's almost in a way like, I don't know if I should be this honest about it. When Glover's camp got a 1.9 in Pitchfork, okay. There was an energy shift between he and I and almost felt like that devastated him so much to know that I knew about, because I instantly hit him like, yeah, man, don't. Like, ignore that pitchfork, like. Right.

Terrible reviews. I certainly have a few. But just until like maybe three years ago, I truly let the opinions of a critic go. Okay. You know, like, I didn't go back to look at the movie. Like, none of that stuff. Like, I'm just, I now make art because, like, I want to make beautiful art. And I'm like, oh, this will keep our rating high or whatever.

But word up. I didn't realize, like, how much of a beating he took for that record. Me neither. And in fact, like, I weighed everything that I heard by Stevie after that. I compared it to Secret Life and it didn't always live up to me because of like and I think like we can talk about this later

but like my love for synthesizer pioneering what what Stevie was doing with the with the CS80 on that record like I think it looking back it's clear why the larger public didn't really get it but for the nerds if you will like it checked all the boxes because he was going further

and but I still think it had like come back as a flower is up there for me. Yeah, like, Black Orchid. That's the only record I can think of that Stevie singing falsetto win. I can't think of no other record. What song? Power. Oh, wow. That's so good.

Like he's not. You're right. You're right. Yeah, I've never heard him sing falsetto on nothing else. And so when I heard songs after that, I was like, yeah, it's cool. You discovered songs proactively. Yeah, anything like, I think the second thing I heard by Stevie was the musical a queer the um the compilation

music queried that had Steve's original music choir and it had like living for the city I think and it was like all right this is I'm hearing more of what I like right but like everything that I've heard after and it's largely probably because of the warmth of the memories

involved with it everything thereafter didn't quite have the same magic for me so now that I hear this it makes even more sense at you guys Man, the day you guys covered If She Breaks Your Heart.

To me, like I still have a dream that somehow, if the masters of the Junglefield soundtrack get free, I have such a dream of just hearing that same. I've never heard an album which song structure, I like it. A lot of the instrumentation and the production. If he changed the instrumentation on it, like that, he could have pulled a wine house.

But I don't know if, like, okay, if he did a fulfilling this first finale or whatever, like sonically made it sound like that would have had the same impact. But hearing you guys like update his sound but still keep, ah, man. No, it was your big song. This is a beautiful song, man. I just thought it needed to be updated. Like, but it's a great record. I love that song.

So let me ask for you guys, the point where I realized that OK player was just bigger than, a website for some acts to post announcements on it, you also just have to sift through the many personalities because you guys are on a constant blind date. Like there are many people to whom I've had interactions with that, you know, you can't see what they look like or you don't, you know, I don't know what trolling is or none of that stuff.

But you guys have to find each other. Because even in my mind, even though you are definitely a charter member, I do have, at least in my social circle, I have an inner circle, like, an inner circle, like around one, around two. And you were always around three person, like, even though we've talked a lot not to the level of. No, for sure. So how did you two meet?

Yeah, it was, I think this was back in like, it was 2000, what, two? Yeah, I think a one is when we first sort of found each other in the same topic. In the same topic, yeah. So with him, like, and I didn't know anything about this guy. I didn't know. We would even joke with the crew like, yo, was Nicolet? Is it a girl?

Is he a girl? Like, we, you know, it was just a name on the screen. We had no idea. And so, but I think, I feel like I remember it was a radio head topic. And, and he jumped in the thread. But I just kept seeing him in threads and I would notice that he had a lot of the same taste that I did. Like, we liked a lot of the same shit. And so I was like, okay, I kind of fuck with him.

And so then one day he just came and was like, yo, this is a new track by me. and I'm like, okay. And so I listened and I was like, holy shit, this is amazing. And I reached out and I was like, hey, man, would you mind if I did something to this? You know, we got emcees over here. Like what, you know, he was like, nah, man, go for it. And so. The famous DM.

Yeah, we hit DM, yeah. We put it in the LBDAQ. And so the first time we did, the first record was, I think, was it lighted up? Was that the first one? Yeah, that was the very first one. Light it up and Nick's group was a two-for that we did. And if I may rewind, like, I think for me, I think I might have a unique perspective on OK player as a European. Yes, I want to know how you came into the community.

Like, it was sort of finding connection with this completely different universe. Like, I saw you, okay, I bought voodoo in 2002. It must have been April, right? Something like that, may. It came out in January. Okay. Well, I may have been late. But either way, like, I was familiar with the root.

but I hadn't really ever heard full albums. I was familiar with Common, but Voodoo was a... So Voodoo brought you to OK Player? Voodoo brought me to OK Player because I looked at the booklet and it said, OK Player, and I had no idea. So Voodoo brought me to OK Player. That summer I saw you guys twice on the Voodoo Tour, once in The Hague for the North Sea Jazz Festival.

And once in Belgium, which was an open-air daytime show. Didn't Third Base open up for us? I don't remember that. I know Slum Village opened for y'all in Belgium. It wasn't with JD, but it was a religious experience in many ways. In Belgium specifically, because it was during the daytime. So it was a very, it hit very directly. And I remember you guys hitting send it on and I was crying.

Like I'm not saying that just to blow smoke. It was dead. And so like 2000 is when I learned about OK player. But then it took me a while to get to the boards because that was sort of the second layer. You know what I mean? And it took me a while to get to the boards. And then it took me a while to go from lurking to posting. I signed up.

I got a username. At that point, I was going under Nicolet, which is my first name. I have three. I was baptized. I have three first names. And it seemed like the most international sounding one. Right. So I registered that Nicolet music username.

What do they call you back home? Matthias, yeah. With all three names. Go ahead. Well, yeah. No, Matthias is like what I kind of, with the person behind the screen. I guess the man behind the curtain. Okay.

But so it took me, I think a year maybe to go from discovering the site to realizing that there was the lesson particularly. Like I've never been on any of the other. Like I was specifically a lesson had. I didn't really do general. I didn't really do. So the lesson, so he's basically saying that to our listeners out there, we would have boards. And the boards was like a playground.

Different subsection. Or, yeah, like a nightclub. And then. But the lesson was for the snobs, the music snobs. I was on the lesson for it more than I was supposed to be on like the general okay artist like nobody went to okay art. Right. Well, newbies would go there like, you know, is this really you?

And that sort of thing. But people either went to general when they were trying to get some. General was Rikers. Yeah. General was Rikers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

The lessons were for like the dweeps. And so for me like just in Europe, I didn't have connections. with a lot of people that like the music that I liked for a variety of reasons. I'm not really sure why. You earlier asked what was my first interaction with hip hop and it was actually three feet high and rising. 89, I guess.

Yeah, 89. And that, like, I was kind of a metalhead before that time, like ironically. But something about sampling really appealed to me. And so I heard three feet high and rising, and then I started getting into, you know, the first tribe album and stuff like that. So by the time, like fast forward 10 years, I'm full on.

And so I didn't have a lot of people around me. Can I ask something? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can educate our viewers. Okay, so of course now, because everything is colonized. Yeah, right. You know, if Drake is to release a song, we're all going to get it at the same time. Can you explain what the process is like before the Internet and how it trickled down and got to you?

So in 90, the early 90s. to maybe midnight is we started getting yo MTV reps on the European MTV and that is when so it was I want to say a nightly and then on Saturday they had the Fab Five Freddy hours or whatever and so I just

started watching that and so anything like it wasn't like we had a lot of that on the radio there was a hip hop show that every week would play like you know I remember here and come clean for the first time J-Rue and you know, like Ice Cube and stuff like that.

But it was your MTV reps and then seeing everything like the leaders of the new school episodes, the all, like I was taking all of that. The Miss Fight episode. Yeah, right. Yeah, what'd you say? Yeah. So it was like TV, I guess. And just, I don't know, I ate all that up.

But at the same time, I was kind of, like, I had a best friend in high school. was also very, like his favorite stuff was duck down. Like he was super into like UGK and all that stuff. And so together he and I went to hip hop shows in Amsterdam and the Paradiso saw like stuff like onics and what we went to all of the shit that we could find stuff, my bad. All right, we're good. Have you met?

Farnsack? Really, no. Right. So, yeah. So OK Player for me was literally a direct connection to the culture that I really, really was interested in. This is the thing. I've had conversations with people, the 1980s generation that got hip-hop like to hear Moni Love describe that she can hear her voice on those public enemy interludes

on a nation of millions. You know, like the interstitials of which they're doing the top of the fresh, what are the, who's the pump master flex of the UK? Westwood. Yeah, it's in Westwood show. Like, if you listen to that funky. drummer loop, somebody, anybody scream, you hear the one girl scream. Like, Moni Love, that's her voice.

So to hear an 80s generation describe that, but we can all attest, especially Fonte and I, that there's a different type of hip-hop fan, like post-94, but post-95, that you fall under. Yeah. And the thing

is that I notice, and a lot of artists, especially now, Jay were the damage other had to move to Europe. Right. Just to make a living. So we lives there now. Oh, really? Because that's like, yeah, but it's a lot of acts that are doing that. At any point did you realize like really the essence of the hip hop that you, that attracted you, the perceived underground thing?

Did you have any clue whatsoever that that's really a culture that is tailored for Europe? Like there was no place in the United States of which, like the roots could see. sell out the Parisian version of Massa Square Garden. La Zenith. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, where Prince played like a bunch of times. But, you know, we can't do that here. At any point, did you realize that that level of hip-hop, like, that was the true home of it? Or did you still think of it as an American thing?

Like, what did you think we were doing in America at that time? I didn't pick up on that. Like, I didn't, I wasn't raised on, you know, the classic run-d-MC stuff or something like that. I had no clue. Like I, like you said, I came on board in the early 90s, but my true fandom was like 95, 96, all the way up to 2000 when I bought like stuff like water for chocolate, which was a... And I don't think I realized that.

In fact, I felt kind of isolated over there, specifically musically because what I liked was in my group of people perceived as American. Okay. Oh, they thought that was R&D American, not softer. Even my sound, when I first started making music, a lot of people over there felt it was kind of slick and a little American. And I didn't realize at all later.

Like now what you're saying makes perfect sense. But for me at the time, it was an American thing. And it, I think, subconsciously realized that if I wanted to make music like that, I needed to connect with Americans. Black Americans. That's weird. So the slur word over there is it sounds American.

Whereas that same type of music here, I think they would just say like, oh, that's soft. You know what I mean? Yeah, smooth. It's emotional. Yeah, because over there, like, the type of hip-hop that exists there natively is more abstract, you know,

is not necessarily purely musical, per se. Right. But it's very aggressive, and a lot of it is local language-based at this point. Who was the biggest local artist that had the biggest pool over there? That's a great question. I didn't really listen to any of them.

Okay. Because a lot of them were Dutch language artists, and I never thought that sounded very good. And that was probably a little snobbish of me. But I really liked. Was everyone trying to be like DJ Premiere or like? Even more abstract. Just not really anything.

Like people under the stairs or? Maybe like company flow or some stuff like that. Oh, okay. So all deaf jucks. Not definitely not what I did. Okay. Definitely not with like chord progressions or like bass lines. that fit the key or like you know what he's that let me let me let me let me just let me

me me make it up like cannibal ox like the first generation yeah I didn't mean that as a I meant that more right right there's always one troll that's going to be like oh no no no I definitely didn't mean that I don't want the Detroit singer effect yeah I was dashed I was gonna say something right I'm sorry I'm sure my shit to myself no I guess I mean it more as a style that is more marked by a level of expression versus like, again, like when I heard like water for chocolate, like production wise, or when I first heard Fantastic Volume 2, or even when I later heard things fall apart, which was a little bit later from me or Voodoo, those were the albums

that made me realize like, okay, so you can make hip hop and make it beautiful versus you have to make hip hop that is aggressive. Not that there wasn't, you know what I'm saying, but like it was for me a realization, because when I first came into contact with hip hop, I had a very naive understanding of like, there's a guy with turntables who is making the beats. For instance, Tribe Cold Quest, that's how I sort of saw it. You know, you have two rappers. You felt the guy that was DJing was the guy that... Ali is making the beats with the vinyl. And it wasn't until later that I found out like, okay, there is actually people doing this that are more musical inclined. And so that was for me sort of like really kind of the eye-opener of like, okay, I understand now that there's something that I could contribute to this music.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what 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. bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the 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. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars, and now I guess also as the co-host of the Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist. And John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86.

I was nine years old. I watched every game and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan.

I love this game. I love its history, it's hope, it's hard. heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Orsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew.

Pinky has financial. issues. I like the boozy style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it. I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, When people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. On a recent episode of the podcast Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant, I sit down with Tiffany the budgetista Aliche to talk about what it really takes to take control of your money.

What would that look like in our families if everyone was able to pass on wealth to the people when they're no longer here? We break down budgeting, financial discipline, and how to build real wealth, starting with the mindset shifts. Too many of us were never, ever taught. Financial education is not always about, like, I'm going to get rich. That's great. It's about creating an atmosphere for you to be able to take care of yourself and leave a strong financial legacy for your family. If you've ever felt you didn't get the memo on money, this conversation is for you to hear more. Listen to

Money and Wealth with John O'Brien from the Black Effect Network on the I'd Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on the Army's Stewart the chip. I'm Ty Bramos.

I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Polisic. I'm not worried about balligan. I'm not worried. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team.

And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, you get your podcast. This is real important for me to hear that because this part of me

that has this negative slash glass half empty view of how the community sees the music and for the most part I always felt like whatever neuriety that we got we were only chosen

because we weren't gangster rap. Like the amount of times that someone will performively come up to me backstage to differentiate themselves like, yo man, like, I like y'all because, you know, y'all don't be killing bitches, y'all don't be selling drugs.

Like, and y'all care about success. You don't care about getting paid. Definitely do. No. So again, the idea, and that's the thing, I know in their mind they're thinking like, wow, they're trying to give me a quotable that I remember, like, yeah, that one fan

in Boise, Idaho that just liked me for me. my looks. Right. And really, I only walk away thinking like, oh, man, they just, they hate Snoop Doggy dog, so they only like us because we're the opposite of that, which is really not saying why you like. So this is like one of the rare times in which, like, I felt chosen.

Yeah. Oh, yes. I know that for everyone to be on OK player. Right. But then because of just, you know, an artist being over-analytical and, and. self-deprecating. For me, like, the fact that I allow people

just slander us and talk shit over there, have more or less about me just feeling to justify like my nondeservedness. But I will say that this is a really good time for me to hear that,

oh, someone actually just liked the music and gravitated towards it. Not only that, but it made me feel like I had something to contribute. Like, I wasn't a DJ. I've never really truly done vinyl. I've never really, truly done vinyl. I'm an instrument guy.

I started out playing guitar, bass, drums, some keyboards. And so I had always played in bands. I didn't have a beat-making background in that sense. But what I heard in those records, y'all's records, the common, was musical layers on top of drums, if I had to just put it very basic, that told me that there was a place for a musical approach to production.

To me, like, it wasn't just about to turntables, but, like, added keyboards, added guitars, added, like, basically whatever y'all would, like, you know, road, like, obviously the roads, ear candy that made me think, like, okay, wow, like, I can actually probably contribute something to this. But did you realize that? Because the thing is, is that at least back then,

if I'm going to Europe, the same way that you got to fill up your gas tank, Like I know in prime roots time in 95, 96, in 2001, 2002, that I'm going to go bin shopping with Dallas Peterson or do a lot of, I'm almost certain. I still believe to this day I had, I did like $2,000 worth of record shopping in Amsterdam. And I think the records are still in their basement because I forgot to nail it home. but like I would have to go to Europe and to these whatever the cosmopolitan European Westernized European cities to get the music

that's going to help me make the music that you think is coming from America but really like it's coming from you it is those obscure bands from Holland or the Prague rock group or so at any point is it registering to you that you're actually kind of at an advantage where you live in the place where a lot of tastemakers,

the Giles Peterson's of the world, are exposing y'all to music that otherwise, only very few people are doing in the United States right now. I think not- Sorry for that nerdy-ass questions. No, no, no, no, this is a great question, actually. I don't think to that extent, but like, there were a lot of Europeans' strands of music

at that time happening that I think I was influenced by that gave me a leg up over here, like for hero in the UK, like jazz. as a Nova in Germany, like some of the more down tempo stuff in France. So when I put my music out to the world in the States, people said it had a European field. And again, ironically, back home, people were saying that stuff sounds American. I had no idea.

I think I perceived all of this music as purely American. And I don't think I had this sophistication of knowledge at the time to realize that it was kind of a full circle that sort of- That really you're in places where- Yeah, no, not at all, not at all. So did you think like we were like all in America having like, you know, poetry slam meet? Like everything that you talk about.

Yeah, right. You know, right. Trandles all that caprice. Yeah, like, did you think like we were just like, you know, cutting up coconuts and guava? I don't think it was to that extent, but I definitely heard. I think maybe it was because of the

perception of the roots as a band. Right. I heard something that was not a guy on a beat machine. I heard a more richer kind of sound that made me think like a lot of it was played by instruments. And again, the instruments is what appealed to me because I didn't know how to make a beat, but I knew how to play a bass guitar, you know what I mean? Like how far were you from Amsterdam?

So I grew up in Utrecht, which is half an hour. Oh, Utrecht. suburb of, which is a, Utrecht is a used to be a, it's a thousands years old city that used to be a Roman outpost. And that's where the North Sea Jazz Festival is held, right? No, that was in the Hague. The Hague, okay.

And now I think nowadays it's in Rotterdam. They moved it from the Hague to Rotterdam. But I went to school in Amsterdam because that was the thing that you did. Like when I finished high school, I went to school in Amsterdam, largely because I didn't know what to do. So I started musicology at the University of Amsterdam. And I started going to the Paradiso, which is a venue you would be familiar with.

Yeah, very much. That was, you know, we got a lot of great, like I remember seeing Wu-Tang for the first time they were in Holland. Can I ask a question? Yeah. Okay. As a Holland resident. Right.

How frustrating was it for you? Because there's the thing. Now, it's 2024, so kind of perception and the relationship. with cannabis and weed. Oh, man. Now it's like it's getting nationalized and slowly but surely. I think right now Germany's voting to see if they'll legalize it totally. Right.

So, you know, the world's open up the reins. But like, of course, in the late 1990s, early 2000, in people's minds, like the whole Pulp Fiction thing, the glory story of like, you got to go to only in Amsterdam and Holland. Yeah. Can you get fucked up and not get fucked up? Right. Great.

And so as a result, like the amount of shows that I've saw, just the amount of artists. Because a lot of artists, when they start their European tour, they would make Amsterdam the Hub first. Oh, yeah. Like, let's go there a few days earlier and go to all these coffee shops. And they would. And fuck your tour all the way up. Right.

Right. And so, you know, I do know in my mind, a lot of the most adventurous, Root shows were in Amsterdam. An adventure is probably one way. What's an adventurous root show sound like? It's where they might hit four or five coffee shops before we get on stage. So even though the muscle memory is strong, like we've, the most closest to freestyle shows where it's just like. I was like a fish show.

Yeah, but I mean, not like that. The thing was I wasn't partaking so at least like I could. It was just harder to control the guys as a traffic cop. Oh, yeah, I was a you designated driver. Right, because, you know, Tariq might forget the third verse to Mel and my man and then we got to, you know. But I also feel as though those shows excited me because I didn't know what to expect. So basically, I think I just revealed to the world that what you already knew is like I'm tightly wound and I rehearse. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm tightly wound just in terms of like my spontaneity is rehearsed. a band as a band leader. And so I always wonder if people in the audience get frustrated looking at us like, ah, dumb Americans, they always get fucked up before they come on stage and now they're falling all over and forget their lyrics. I can confirm that. Like, have you seen a good hip-hop show in Holland where nobody was so fucked up, but they couldn't perform?

Yes, I've seen both. So I've seen like, Lords of the Underground, Circa, Funky, child. Amazing, amazing show. They were focused. They were focused. It sounded incredible. Like Paradiso, as you know, is an old church. Yeah. Sound can be very finicky there, but it was amazing. But I'm not afraid to relate this anecdote. It's there years later now. The first time Wooten came to answer to them. No way. Apparently, like, you know how Paradiso has the dressing rooms in the basement? Yes. You go up the stairs to the stage. To the balcony. Yes. And so, Jizzah apparently was so high

that he wouldn't come out of the dressing room and they brought the microphone down using the stairs so there were a lot of shows where you could tell like it was impacted So you just expected American artists to be fucked up and the thing for people in Amsterdam is like

it is legal so a lot of people don't really bother to partake because you know how that kind of becomes a thing of like hi whatever so we were not I've seen both. I've seen incredible hip-hop shows where it seemed like,

and maybe they were still go, but like, but, but largely we love the record so much that you wanted to get some of that. You wanted to get what you loved about the record. And I remember really, really great show, like Onyx was incredible. Onyx opened up for Run DMC

because they were being managed by the MESJ at the time and it was the down with the King era. And that was an incredible. incredible show. Yeah, obviously Cypress Hill worked out really well in Amsterdam

because they were. I'm saying that we, like I enjoyed many of our shows over there. Yeah. But I will also acknowledge and the same with L.A. Like,

all of our L.A. shows are so high-pressurized because you know who's in the crowd. Blah and blah is watching you over there. So you're like going all out or showing off. And it's not like the shows

that I wish you guys could see like one of them nondescript shows that we did in Italy or in France that we didn't care about and we just retired and went on state. Like those shows are the best root shows that

will never get seen. But I always wondered if you guys felt you were getting to you don't think about it. You just be going a win. A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the fourth. You might have seen the skits,

the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what 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. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars. And now, I guess also is the co-host of The Away End, a Bray and Bray. brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known

each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game, and I fell in love. On our new podcast, the away end, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, it's heartbreak, and above

all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On a recent episode of the podcast, Money and Wealth with John Hobrient, I sit down with Tiffany the Bucconista Aliche to talk about what it really takes to take control of your money. What would that look like in our families if everyone was able to pass on wealth to the people when they're no longer here? We break down budgeting, financial discipline, and how to build real wealth, starting with the mindset shifts.

Too many of us were never, ever taught. Financial education is not always about, like, I'm going to get rich. That's great. It's about creating an atmosphere for you to be able to. but to take care of yourself and leave a strong financial legacy for your family. If you've ever felt you didn't get the memo on money, this conversation is for you to hear more. Listen to Money and Wealth with John O'Brien from the Black Effect Network on the I'd Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down.

Georgia accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise,

the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it. I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up? I'm Miles Turner.

And I'm Brianna Stewart. And our podcast, Game Recognized Game has never been done before. Two active players giving you a real look at our lives and what we actually think. on and off the court. Nothing's off limits. We talk trade requests. What's the vibe of that when it's like your star player is like, well, I want to leave? And then actually now I'm going to stay.

We talk tanking. I mean, honestly, like, I might get in trouble for this answer, but I think it's like definitely happening in the WBA. And yeah, we talk about our mistakes too. They pulled me to the side and was like, hey, man, we got a call last night, man, you can't be rolling around the city like this tonight before games, you know, doing this, doing whatever. And of course, family stories.

And we'll be like, mommy, why did you miss that? Mommy, do you play basketball? Check out Game Recognized game with Stuy and Miles on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Another question I have, because the thing is, and this is for the both of you, to me, I'm thinking like I had such a flag planning moment with like, yeah, this. this thing called the Super Information Highway and the internet. Like, I'm bringing a real life magazine or the way that Rosel described it, he's like, yo, man, you're just open up your own mall and you're selling stores to everybody to come and do their thing. And that's what OK player is.

So I thought that's as far as I could take it. So the day that someone, and they explained to me like I was a 65 year older, he's like, no, you don't understand. Like, they made their music on a, on computer. I was like, wait, you can make a studio, like, it sounds like I came from battery studios, like a real song like that. So the way that people were explaining to me that you can now make an entire album on your computer and check this out of me. You can email it to somebody and then they could add vocals.

And I was trying to, like, the way that somebody was explaining to me what it was, like, why it was such a big deal that this pairing was happened. It was one of the things where I didn't know of Frutie Loo, even though, like I heard you guys mentioned. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we lose fruity loops. I've never to this day he's seen fruity loops or,

like I'm also the guys just ashamed to admit I make records in the old way. Hey, man. Steve is very, see how Steve is smiling right now. I've never saw fruity loops either. I've always, I really haven't.

Well, I know that. I'm just like, you're very glad that I'm very analog with my. Pretty much. Yeah. I don't know that I can make my whole record

for the same age. So yes. Yeah. So at what point did you guys decide to like, okay, this worked out. like, why don't we make something of this? Because I would have never, even if you did that, like, can I rhyme over this?

You never met each other. So how did you know this would work? Man, it was just the music. It was just the music. It was just a belief in the music. I didn't, again, I didn't know him. I didn't know nothing about him. You know, and so finally, you know, we would just use instant messenger.

And at the time, we made connected. I didn't even have a computer of my own. So all that whole album. How are you making your vocals? So how I was doing my vocals back then, we had a studio. I mean, we had our studio. We were recording the Chop Shop. We were making all the LB records.

But I didn't have a personal computer in my crib. So I would go to the Chop Shop, do my vocals, and then I would either, I would mix down to MP3, and I would go to my home voice crib, my man, MC. I would use his computer. My man Median, he had a. pass to the computer lab at NC State. And so he would let us

all kind of, we would be on some bootleg shit, like using his credentials to get into the computer lab at NC State. And I would like log on and be like, yo, bro, I just did this. And I would like, you know, get on I.M. Aim. I would send it to him? How long would it take to email files back then?

It wasn't bad. So it wasn't email. Because this, again, this is prior to like Gmail or any of that shit. Send space, none of that. This is AIM. This is AIM. messenger and I was just mail file file sharing yeah yeah and I think we never shared wave files because that wasn't part yeah that was back then you could do waves so he would send me an MP3 and then when we were like okay this is really it like he actually snail milled me some CD some CDRs so that I could mix on it yeah and you're doing this straight to MP3 yeah I'm doing this I mean

he's not saying like the drum tracking the keyboard tracking oh no no no this is just straight two track. So how do you line up? Like, are you lining stuff Jimmy Jam style? Like, Jimmy Jam revealed that for at least 80 to 90 percent, they'd never use Simpy at all. Right. And he would just blend the vocals, like when they would do a remix or something.

Are you essentially just... So basically, I had the beat, I had the track, and then Fonte would send me a ref. Like, he would do the vocals, and he would mail me a ref. And then I would essentially line them up using the ref. So I'd be like, okay, this is my session. This is where the lead starts. This is what I would literally like, like, my ear.

A live sleep. And then normally he would be like, now, push it back for like a little, you know, like it was sort of like a trial and error. Right. And when it sounded right, you kind of knew like, okay, it sits right. But it was very, there was no process to it. So you would tell them sometimes like nudge the drums back just all right. We're really with vocals.

I would, the track, you know, I would let him do that. But my vocals, you would dilatize your vocals too? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Every time. Yo, man. Like, still to this day. Like, to this day.

Yeah, just, what are you talking about? Wait a little nudge to the right? Everything's four frames to the right. No. In the whole world all the time. Yeah, man. That's what the, that's what the flamethras. That's the funniest.

The best one of the big person. Pino is four frames to the right. Everybody is four frames to the right. Yeah. I got to admit, though. No, but the thing is, is that I thought you were on some Steph Curry shooting from Halfport. Like, some of these vocals.

you know, the beat would be behind this thing. I was like, yo, Fonte is so immaculate. That's how he lives. And in many ways, he is. But it would still be like... But we would exaggerate it. I mean, you know, naturally I would kind of be, you know, on it. But I would always like kind of nudge it a little to the right.

But that was how we did the first album. So he was in the Netherlands and I was in Durham. And so Little Brother had a show. at Paradiso. This was what? They didn't get high. Yeah, we didn't get high. We saved that for a couple of years ago.

That was straight. We came back for Queens Day. I was very high. But we did, it was like 03? No, that was 0, 2004, okay. April, April, 2004. That was our first time ever meeting each other face to face. We came over and by that time we had connected,

damn near done. Yeah, I would say, done. Yeah, we had it pretty much done. So what was the first meeting like? Because I also feel like the reflection. of the music, there has to be some sort of social camaraderie. Absolutely. Yeah.

No, man, listen, bro, if you can, you know, if you have the level of trust to sing your raw vocals to somebody, I mean, that's, you know, that's a bond that, you know, just regardless of them person not being in your physical space, that's just a level of intimacy and trust that it supersedes, you know, any kind of physical. or any kind of whatever, you know, because you're just, you're essentially like putting yourself out there and you send it to this guy that you don't know. And it's like, hey, man, I trust you with this, make it happen. You know what I mean?

And so when we met each other face to face that first time, it was just like, oh, all right, what up? It's Nick. Okay, cool. Yeah, it was like almost like, yeah, I saw you yesterday, but I hadn't. Yeah. Ever. Because we had literally been working on this album like for months and months.

And at that time, you know, that was when LB, we were touring heavy. So it was really, oh, we just lost the contact. Oh yeah, I was wondering what the hell was happening to your eyes. He's just got a little emotional about all this stuff. Yeah, right. I got it back up here. I'm doing. You know what I'm like Kevin Nealing?

Oh, wow. On Esed Elle. And look at the camera. Right, right. Yeah. No, man. So we, so I was at the mercy of L.B.'s touring schedule. So that first album connected, it took a long time to get done, well, longer in a long time back then.

But because it was just kind of, all right, I could get a couple songs done. Then we're going to tour for six weeks, whatever. ever come back. How long did it take to make Connect? We started in 02. We started at the beginning of O2 and we were done at the end of O3. 04. Yeah, 03, yeah, because matter of fact, it leaked.

Right, then we had that whole couple. Wait, it leaked. Yeah, connected, leaked on OK player of all places. Surprising. Of course. But which board? But wait, it's the lesson. The lesson.

The lesson. Yeah. But the thing is how, like, I'm assuming the entire creation is under your, like, possessions. Yeah, but I mean, it was at that time, I mean, it was just so loose. I mean, so like, we would record but then at the end of the session, whoever was engineering the session, if it was ninth, or

if it was crisis or whoever, like, all right, who wanted a copy? And we didn't think anything up. It's like, yeah, here you go. Oh, it was just getting around. Yeah, it was just getting around. So I'm on tour, a high row, and I see like, oh shit. The whole shit is out. This is even before line wire. I don't even know,

I don't even know how people getting it. I think it was soul seat. It might be soulcy. I think it was so sick. So I'm like, damn, the album leaked. And, you know, in my mind, I'm thinking like, damn, we did in the water. Oh, we thought it was the end of it. Yeah, we thought it was like, damn.

But we saw the response, and it was like, well, damn, people really fuck with this. So it really was kind of a, it was validation in a lot of ways. You know, it affirmed what we kind of believed that we had. And so when I came back from tour, we did a couple extra bonus tracks. It was like, all, it leaked, but let's do a couple extra joints. and BBE came and we did the deal with them. That was like, yeah, and we, 04, I mean, yeah.

Well, I think if I remember, we had the deal when it leaked. Oh, wow. Because I remember thinking, like, is this going to be the end of our journey? Like, do they, will the label still mess with us? And it was one of those leaks where the response was greater than the loss of not being new. And so it worked out. but at the time we were kind of devastated by it because like, but leaks at the time were very normal.

Like, Jay-Z would leak and like, you know, like there was that time of like when people started carrying CDs out of the plant under their belts and shit. So it also means that there's like excitement because there's some people that just. Right. There's a million albums that leak, then I'll never hear.

I'll never download. I think at the end of the day we took it is track. Who were you asking Bill? I was going to ask just with the track making, like you were talking about roads and guitars and stuff, like what comes first for you? I'm always interested in when people are making beats, is it rhythm heavy or is it?

I think the musical idea comes first. And that might be a chord progression, that might be a sample, that might be a bass line, but that's what I built around and drums under, if that makes sense. At the time, it was a combination. I really was interested in sampling, but I didn't have an MPC.

I didn't have a computer and had a keyboard and a bass guitar. And I used a tracker, which there was a tracking scene at the time. Yo, mod plug. Mod plug. Yeah. He showed me that shit, dude. It looked like he was about to launch a fucking missile. I'm like, dog, what is this?

Like, that was when I really saw the way his brain works is just different. Because it's not, mob plug is a program. And I'm not like the super. techy guy, but like, we recorded that first album in Cool Let It Pro, which is now Adobe audition, but it was cool, let it. That was what we did all the vocals in. And it's just a basic, just a basic DAW. So it's, you know, it's side to side. Mod plug is vertical. So he- Like the Matrix. No, it's literally like the Matrix, bro. He pressed play on the beat and then you just start to see all this shit flying. I was like, bro, what the fuck is that? And,

but that's what he made beats on. And I was like, yeah, he did. So is this, okay, true to the legend of other beat makers that I know. What was the standard at the time and what, like when I found out that Joe Ron Bombay was making these beats on Sony acid, like these really cheap, like my first Sony kind of, yeah, what were you using? I didn't know what the standard was.

And my brother, my younger brother had introduced me to trackers, which is essentially a machine code kind of thing where you can load, the wave files in and triggered them by using certain codes. And so it started with you have four tracks. And then they, like all of a sudden it was eight tracks. I think by the time I started working with them, it was like eight tracks. And at some point you had 16 tracks of having sounds together.

So you're doing a song like Daykeeper with this sort of primitive? So Daykeeper at that point, I had at least 60. But yeah, I did Daykeeper like that. I did take off like all of the first. All the connected, The first two records, yeah. The leave it all behind the album, I started getting into Pro Tools because I, somebody told me like, look, dog, like if you need to. That's another way.

Right. You need to. You need to. You need to was a big word, but like, they were like, yo, most of the pros use Pro Tools. And so I started, but like. I'm going to feel bad now because one of the things that I feel horrible about is. All right. You see the smug look on.

see his face right now. The way that I've been, like I'm in such a zone with this end game record right now with the roots, but when I tell you the embarrassingly kind of primitive way that I'm building this record, like, yes, I read how half a nation of millions was built by them

as an actual jam session. Each guy had a 1,200, manually pressing the samples by themselves, not programming shit. And even the mixes, too. They would mix live and bring some. And the Beastie Boys admitted that every sample in Paul's boutique was basically just lined up one by one. And then they would just do that. But there's no like programming and stuff.

And so like I'm also inspired by like, like, again, like the whole Sony acid story and that sort of thing. So like I've been like, like, you think you're the lost bomb squad member. Yeah, I do. I do. I just, you know, I do. But it's just the fact that like James T. me about it and like sometimes I let it get to me that see you're not a real beat maker like you're actually looping the stuff from your sorado DJ thing like amen and whatever works whatever

works exactly I think I think I had a little bit of that I guess what you called imposter syndrome where you're like okay I'm not using the like I remember the first time I after we met for the first time right and connected had been pressed up we met in New York in July of 2004 and we did something called Beat Society, which is where producers come out and essentially play their beats. That's right. And so I came out with my little laptop. You did Beat Society? I did.

I did Beat Society in Knitting Factory. And that's one of the first time we literally performed together. But I came out with my laptop and I realized like, okay, like everybody else is using NPCs. And I'm just here like as though I'm checking my email. Right. You know what I mean? Look at like craft work.

You're right, like craftware. But it was one of the first times where I realized, like, yeah, I had no idea. I had no real knowledge of how the music was made. And I saw, I just used what I know. Again, my brother had introduced me to. I knew Q-Base existed and stuff like that, but I didn't know. I didn't have that. So it became a weapon of choice.

It became my secret weapon because I learned to use it in such a way that I could really make it do whatever I want. And that was that story, I think, like, a big part. It was really just about using the tools you have, just making do with what you have. You know, it was when people would ask like, oh, man, so making the internet, like, oh, man, making an album, that's so crazy.

Like, it was just this crazy idea. And I'm one of those people. Yeah, but yeah. Like, dude, he was in the Netherlands. I was in Durham. What else was we're going to fucking do? For us, it was kind of, we never even thought about it like that. We were just like, yo, like, I like what you're doing.

He likes what I'm doing. Let's do it. When you're part of the analog generation, though, and I was very much stuck in my ways person, I just couldn't fathom, like, I don't see how they're doing that, like emailing stuff at the same time, and, like, it was just such a storied, uncharted thing.

And, like, when did garage band come out? Garage band was, yeah, that was later. Garage band, for me personally, I started in Garage Band 2009. Yeah, 9-10. Yeah, 2009. That was when I built my studio at home. And so I had, everything, all the old LB stuff, like the first two foreign exchange albums,

that was at the chop shop in Durham. And we tracked all those vocals and cool at it. And then, 09, I built my studio at the crib. And I used garage band. So like, authenticity, my first solo album, charity starts at home. Yeah, all those records, like those are all garage man. Garageman was free. At the time, it was free.

At the time, it was free. What is it the game changer that people claim that it was? Well, I don't know if I say, for me, it wasn't so much a game changer. I think it was just, by that time I had learned it, like, listen, it doesn't matter what you're recording into. It's all about the signal that you're sending. You got to, in the recording process, really the recording engineer is God. You know what I mean? Because it's not going to, your, your song.

This is God speaking. The recording engineer because your song is not going to rise above above whatever the signal is. So, you know, if you got a choice between buying, you know, a crazy mic, a $3,000 mic or whatever, but you haven't treated your room first, that mic is just going to pick up your room. You know what I mean?

So you probably would be better off spending some money, treating your room, and you get a little, you know, a little $200 something. And, you know, you can make that work. And so that was kind of my approach. And so I started doing those records in Garage Man. And what I liked about it, it was very, it was simple. And then also when I upgraded to Logic in like 2012, Logic is basically GarageBan on steroids. So how I learned Logic was I would take my old Garage Man sessions and open them up in Logic. and just kind of work backwards and be like,

oh, okay, so this is what reverb is, this is where the delays is, and I would learn it like that. So GarageBand, for me, I mean, you know, people clowned on it, but I made crazy records in GarageBan. But Logic was around for a long time before it turned into the logic we know today. There was like a logic that had the node.

The E-Magic logic? Yeah, the E-Magic. That looked, that looked, what I think is like your matrix. It was really hard to understand. And that's what there was like a Pro Tools Sequencer, da-da-da-da-da. And then finally, Logic became the visual thing that it is today. And I think that's what people liked about GarageBand was we looked at it and it was pleasing to look at and easy, easy to use.

No, because you, I mean, because you got to think about it. Like, if you mix and something, I mean, you're looking at that screen for fucking hours. So it was really, from my experience, it was really intuitive. It was just very easy to use. And I was not the super techie, like, engineered guy. I just kind of knew what I liked and just kind of how to get that. And that was it. You know what I mean?

So when do you think you'll ever have a number? enough money to buy pro tools. Nah, I'm logic, dog. I'm logic to the end. 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, filtered 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 Clivert 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. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars. And now, I guess also is the co-host of the away end, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist. And John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old.

I watched every game. and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years

since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak,

and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Auer Kohn and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On a recent episode of the podcast, Money and Wealth with John Ho Bryant, I sit down with Tiffany the Buccaneista Aliche to talk about what it really takes to take control of your money.

What would that look like in our families if everyone was able to pass on wealth to the people when they're no longer here? We break down budgeting, financial discipline, and how to build real wealth, starting with the mindset shifts. Too many of us were never, ever taught. Financial education is not always about, like, I'm going to get rich. That's great. It's about creating an atmosphere for you to be able to take care of yourself and leave a strong financial legacy for your family. If you've ever felt you didn't get the memo on money, this conversation is for you to hear

more. Listen to Money and Wealth with John O'Brien from the Black Effect Network on the I'd Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down.

Norsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They hold Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama,

the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it. I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up? I'm Miles Turner. And I'm Brianna Stewart. And our podcast, Game Recognized Game, has never been done before. Two active players giving you a real look at our lives and what we actually think on and off the court.

Nothing's off limits. We talk trade requests. What's the vibe of that when it's like your star player is like, well, I want to leave? And then actually now I'm going to stay. We talk tanking. I mean, honestly, like, I might get in trouble for this answer, but I think it's, like, definitely happening in the WBA. And, yeah, we talk about our mistakes, too. They pulled me to the side and was like, hey, man,

we got a call last night, man, you can't be rolling around the city like this tonight before games, no, you know, doing this, doing whatever. And of course, family stories. They'll be like, Mommy, why did you miss that? Mommy, do you play basketball? Check out Game Recognized game with Stuy and Miles on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What was the session like when you guys are in the same time zone together and in the studio together?

Totally fucked. Wait, what? To this day? No chemistry. Yeah, no. To this day, now we, this is kind of like I like this. And is this the rule of the group? Yeah.

You must email. Yeah. I'm liking it to Prince not wanting to meet. Claire Fisher. Right. Like we had such a chemistry going in this way. Like I've always explained it to people like we each take care of our part of the music in such an inhibited personal way that we can fully realize what we have in mind and then we send

it to the other person versus like being in the same room and listen to this kick drum for three hours. Right. that word or you know what I mean like we always sort of kept it our 50 50% of the total separate and and would send each other I guess fully realized versions of stuff that we thought could work and by the time that I came to the states and and started my career here it almost felt like it would really break the magic so we never have like to this day so can you just briefly tell our listeners, viewers, how you guys built the F.E. community of like the cat,

because it takes a village and obviously, we're invested in you guys, but also like Zara and Carlita and like just every, how, and Zo, like, how did the community of musicians come together for these projects? Man, so, uh, Zoh was someone, I actually met Zoh, this was in 2005, maybe six. Uh, this is right. right after the Mitchell Show it came out. And Zoe had been remixing, he did remixes for a couple of LB records. And the thing I always listened for for producers when they would remix our stuff, I stuff had hooks and singing hooks in it.

So every producer could always lock in on the rhymes. It's like, you hear it, it's like, okay, y'all got it. Y'all matched the beat. Okay, cool. What this goddamn hook about the sound like? Is this shit in the same key? And the hook would come in and it would just be a fucking trailer. All over the place.

You know what I mean? And so Zoh was, well, one of the guys, like, he had put up a remix that he did the way you do it. And I was like, that's the way you do it, man. Come on, I hope he fucked this up. I did not know who he was at all. And I just heard it. I was like, oh, he smoked this shit.

So we did a show, L.B. show in, I think, Ann Arbor or something. But he pulled up, gave me a copy of his record. He was like, oh, man, yeah, yeah, check it. So he gives me a copy of his record. It was the, I think it was the passion and definition album. And so it was just an instrumental record he did. And again, I'm still. kind of cynical because we had just been getting trashed that whole fucking tour.

And so I finally got at home. I'm like, all right, let me give him a shot. Let me put it on. Track one was dope. I'm like, all right. I bet track two won't be dope. Track two was dope. I'm like, okay, is he going to go three in a row?

He went like 12 in a row or whatever. How many songs don't happen? He was just smoking that shit. So I reached out to him was like, hey, man, like, your shit is hard, bro. Like, you know, you want to do something, whatever. And we just started collaborating. And so that was how he came into the fold. And then when we did, if she breaks your heart, Nick and I had the idea of like, okay,

Zoh, like, he does like the first half and then Nick did like the second kind of, you know, four, not four hero, but. Yeah, Boston. Yeah, we got, yeah, shout to Martin Mack who did the string arrangement. Yeah, Mark, man. But yeah, so that was kind of how he came. And everybody else, man, they were just all, they were just all people that, like, you know, Carlita was a student at Central at the time.

And we needed a hook for him. song and Yazara, she and I went to school together. We went to Central together. Darian Brockington, he and I, we went to Central together. Carlita, she was a Central student. Yazar was supposed to sing on a song one night and I called her to do the hook. She was out of town. Called my man, he was like, yo dog, I know this singing chick from Central.

I'm like, okay. And he shows up and it was Carlita and she did the hook for Life of the Party or for the LB song. And from that, we just started working together. Man, I mean, shit. Musina was somebody. My man, Shouts my man, Cousin B, who's, he run, you know, he's the NPR Tiny Desk guy now.

Mucina had a MySpace page. And we had just started, I think we had kind of started leaving it all around. We might have maybe one, two tracks. But she had a MySpace page, and she had a song on it called Millions. And me and Dary and Brockson, we won't tour with LB, and we were roommates. Cousin B sends me the link. He's like, yo, man, check this chick. She sounded like Georgia.

And I was like, oh, shit. You're talking about Georgia and Moldro. And I listened to the millions. And if that song had a thousand plays on her MySpace, 990 of them was me and rock. Were you? Okay. We played that shit. I was like, holy shit.

And I just reached out to her and was like, yo, man, I'm working on a new FE album. I don't know if you know who I am, whatever. But I think you dope. A couple months later, she came down to the crib. You know what I'm saying? We locked in. And we did Daykeeper House of Cards and something to be whole for, leave it all behind. Everybody else, yeah, I just, I always looked at, because, you know,

our division of labor, Nick is very much the music, and I'm more like personnel, you know, I'm saying production than that side. So I always look at FE albums whenever people would ask me, like, yo, what are you listening to? I put the people that I was listening to on the albums. I'm like, yo, Musina, this is who I'm fucking with. You know, Gwen Bunn, shouts to her. She was just another artist out of Atlanta and she did a record for my man, Daryl Reeves. She did a cover of every time I see you by Roy Ayers. Okay.

And smoke that shit. I was like, dude, who the fuck is this? He was like, it's my girl Gwen. She came to the show that night. You know what I mean? We hooked up and did Can't Turn Around and we did like a couple of the race. Like after the movie singing on that? After the show or just?

This was maybe like a couple months afterwards. Okay, okay. B-My Fiasco, who's like the latest signing on our label. She was somebody who was based out of Dallas, and she would just always Twitter. There's another kind of like the okay player next kind of way. She was someone who big F.E. fan would come to our shows, and one day, much like Nicolay, she came on Twitter and was like, yo, this is a new record by me. Check this out.

It's very foreign exchange influence. I thought it was dope. So I hit her one time and I was like, hey, man, do you have the ability to record at your home? You got your own setup? She was like, yeah. So I put her on the record I did with Glasper, Violets, the Miles Davis joint. That's her singing on that.

And I would just put her on records. You know what I mean? I'm like, yo, sing this. She sings something and like, you know, we would just rock like that. So, um, 2020. And none of you guys are meeting or like, nah, this is all online. Sysmith. This should be called Blind Date.

Yeah, man. It's a lot of trust. I mean, listen, it's just, you know, man. Because to me, it just gell so, the final results, gell so good that I imagine that you guys were in the room together, we were in all those records, all that stuff was done pretty much remotely. I think, uh, pre-COVID record making.

No, listen, so when COVID hit, that's crazy. So when COVID hit, because a lot of times for the vocals, like, that was my side. So my house used to be. the spot where everyone recorded it because I had to set up and everything. So that's what we would track the vocals. But COVID hit and it was just like, well, we can't do that. So we just pretty much invested and set all our team up. It's like, all right, look, y'all need this.

We're going to get y'all this. The mic. You need this. You need this. You need that. And we just set our team up remotely. So all through COVID, we were still cooking. We ain't miss a beat.

Damn. You know what I mean? So you all just buy the right equipment for each other. Yeah, man. Just like, okay, you need this compress. I'm a big fan of the, I'm a big fan of the LA 2A. I don't want to go too nerdy with it, but I'm a big fan of the LA 2A compressor.

That's just my favorite. It's just two knobs. It's like, you know, I mean, it's simple. Like, you know, it's like the big green egg of compressors. You got that, Steve, big green eggs. Last time you, a barbecue and a microphone were fucking over. So I was like that. I'm trying to think, yeah, Sysmith, we did her album.

She came and, God, when did Sae come on? I met Sai in 2004. I did a record with Sai in 2004. Yeah, the Quarry's Rising John. Yeah. And then we had a show in 2010 where we needed a new female vocalist and I was like, well, I could call Cy,

but she's going to have to have a chemistry with Fonte. We're going to have to see and that worked out. Nah, it very well. So Si I went to Europe with us, you know. And I think with all of the people that we've ever had on our roster, it was partly musical talent, partly like the hangability factor.

That's the big part. Like, but I just wonder about that like, because I've seen situations where new members will get inducted into shows and the chemistry might not be right. Right. And that affects the show that you see. You guys are like torn together doing shows and always wondered how,

and actually doing like nice little presentation of things. Like I'm wondering like how are you guys even rehearsing? Well, rehearsing that's, we got to do that in person. and you can't rehearse online. But, yeah, we were rehearsing. Not a whole lot. Not a whole lot, yeah, because it's still. The first show of the tour was sort of normally diverse.

That was rehearsal. Right. But, yeah, I mean, we would just like start with that. And Zoe actually, when we did leave it all behind, that was really a thing where Nick and I, we kind of saw ourselves more as like a Steely Dan kind of studio band. Right. We had no intentions of touring whatsoever, like none.

And so Leave It All Behind came out. And management director of opposite time, Amy, she was, she called me one day and was like, yo, this is right after the album came out. And she was like, yo, Nokia Theater, they want to book y'all for a show. And we was like, a show, what are you talking about? She was like, they won a foreign exchange show. Nick and I had no idea how we were going to present this material. You go up on stage and playing MP3.

Listen, I mean, we could have done that. We could have did that. Yeah. But that was when I called. I was like, yeah, we got to build this up. So that was when I hit Zo. And I was like, yo, bro, like, you know, you want to help with this. And he became my MD, you know what I'm saying?

That's how, okay. Yeah, so that was kind of how it came. But, yeah, man, we were just making records purely just to make the records. We had no idea, no clue of wanting to present it live. Like, that just was not on our radar. So what response was it when you guys got nominated for a Grammy? Like, at that point, was it like, were you guys actively campaigning for it? I had no clue.

woke up one day and they were like, congratulations. No, that's legit. No, legit. I was knocked out. Right. What had happened was we never really submitted it. You know how normally, like nowadays somebody has to submit. Campaign and, right.

At the time, there were these committees. I think they at this point have done away with them because there were some concerns about democracy. They don't even have, I think the category we were nominated for is not even- The category doesn't even exist. but essentially what they retitled it something out yeah what happened was somebody on the committee at the time and i know who it is but that's not really uh super relevant entered that record as a um a record with merit that hadn't been selected by by the members right just as another suggestion and um

it made it through the nominations list which is kind of miraculous because we never ever campaigned. And so Yazra called me and she was like, are you sitting down? And I was like, I don't know. Like should I be? And she's like, she's like, tomorrow the nominations are going to come out and we're in it. And I just didn't really, it took a while to register because like as much as I was very sure of our merit, like that was beyond my wildest dreams, as I'm sure you would have been the first time, like as much as you strive for that sort of professional acknowledgement, we were so niche in a lot of ways. And at the same time, I guess we had touched enough people that it went all the way up

there. So I called Fonte. Fonte was asleep. I don't know if I left you a voicemail. No, you caught. We talked. I remember that. I was knocked out.

Yeah, you were, you woke up. And you were like, oh, bro, we were on the grant. Well, we're up for a Grammy. I was like, oh, shit, word up. All right. All right, peace. And I went back to sleep. That's how you actually everything.

It didn't get real to me until I woke up and then I saw, because this is back on the Blackberry days, you know what I'm saying? This move. Bro, yeah, man, my, my shit were going crazy because this was like early days of Twitter. Yeah, it was just boom, boom, boom, boom. I was like, oh shit, we got nominated for a Grammy. And so, yeah, it was just, yeah, crazy. I think for us it really was just a validation of our art and it just was like, you know, we did that record ourselves.

Like we had no machine behind us. It was no major label. Like, it was none of that. It was just me Nick and Amy just thugging that shit out. And so, you know, it was a real, it was a moment for me because that was, I mean, we talked about it in the doc too. Just on the business side, foreign exchange was the first time that I, in my time in the music business, that was the first time I was ever really paid for my work, like ever. Wow. That was the first time I really saw.

We got to enjoy some cake. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, we did. when we did leave it all behind and, you know, we just put it out and we had talked about, because at that time, I think BBE, they was knocking, they wanted to re-up, they wanted to do they were interested in it. Yeah, they were interested in it.

And we looked at the deal and the deal was cool. And BBE, shouts to BBE, shouts to Pete, Eddie B. Yeah, Eddie B. No, they did it right by us on connected. So we were open. It was like, all right, yeah, let's see. But by that time, you know, Nick and I was like, yo man, man, like, what if we try to do this ourselves, man. I think we can

pretty much, I think we can do this. And so, you know, Neo over here, he ran the numbers through his matrix. He was like, yeah, man. So I think, yeah, I'm like, all, fuck it, let's go. And so we did it. And so, yeah, my first check, like

my first statement off the first month of sales to leave it all behind was like $25 grand. That was more than I had seen off the last four, five little brother albums, four, three albums at that time. Wow. And so, and it It wasn't so much, it was again, just having, what I saw was just the transparency of like, listen, dude, if I owe you, if I owe you a dollar, just show me a piece of paper

showing that, saying that how I owe you this dollar. You know what I mean? But I had never had that at no point in my career. I still haven't had that moment. Right. Fam. And a lot of people had not. So finally, when we put out that record, man, that was really the start of our label.

And we started it in 08.8. So this is like right around the time. This is like when the economy is like going crazy, right around the crash and everything. And I think my mentality was, if we can launch a label during a fucking recession and survive, then we can make this shit. And it's been 16 years.

I got to admit, man, I say this with a little bit of shame. The 2008 for that year, that was the first year that I actively voted in the Grammys. even the three that I won before, I didn't vote in that. Like, we just happened to win. But, you know, it was on the road and I missed the ballot. Yeah.

I tried to be a part, like, because after we got the nomination, they hit us and was like, hey, you know, do you want to be in whatever? And I'm like, all right, cool. But then I saw, like, you had to go to meetings and shit. I was like, man, I want to do this shit. But even the voting process itself is so, like, there's so much stuff. Yeah. Yeah.

It's politics. It's, it was just a lot of things. that I saw, it didn't really, I just wanted to make music, just period. And that was just the side of the game. I understood it and I understood the importance of it. But yeah, I remember my Grammy lesson, we were at like the Grammy post-Grammy brunch or whatever, Grammy dinner or whatever. And I was in line, like, waiting to get some food and stuff.

And it was this old lady that was in front of me. And we just started talking. And she was like, so, you know, what bring, what's you doing here? And I was like, yeah, my group, foreign exchange, we were nominated for a Grammy. And I said, you know, we lost this year. I said, we lost to Indiaree because that year we lost to Indiari. She did a cover of Pearls by Shadeh. And so she was just like, I'm never getting it.

I said, yeah, you know, we lost the India, you know what I mean? And she said, yeah, it's hard to vote against her. And I was just like, got it. Vote for Tracy Flick. I understand. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You're a reference.

You know what I mean? From downtown. You know what I mean? An election reference. It's right at you. You know what I mean? I'm like, I got it. This is a campaign.

You know, it's not a meritocracy. And once I understood that, I was just like, okay, cool. It wasn't no bitterness and nothing. I'm like, okay, that's what the game is. You know what I mean? But no, man, the Grammy nod was, no, it was incredible. Just have that experience. And I think me and I, we went, we had our soups and all that shit.

I remember. I drew with y'all. Oh, yeah, yeah. You're doing with us at the end of the hour. There were two Questlove related memories. Like, you invited us to the Roots Jam. The Roots Jam, yeah, we did Rooney Jam, which was a big honor. We did Daykeeper that night.

Yeah, yeah. But you also set in with us. Like, I remember, like, so it was me and Tay and Yazra on stage, and I was just doing the keyboards. And I remember hearing some drums at some point. this was not pre-planned. Right. And you just sat in with us. And it was like one of those things that I'll never forget

because it was really kind of a, it was a moment for us that felt like we were accepted. Yeah. By a larger, like obviously you had been a champion of us in general through okay player, but like it was kind of that moment where you realize like, okay, we might have a future in this. Like this might be, you know,

there were a lot of people that we met. Nah, seeing that getting, props from the OGs. I remember we did like we did Kiss and Grind. We performed at Victor's thing and we performed with a pickup band for the first and last time ever we never done that shit no more. We never doing that shit no more. But like, but during sound check, you know, weird singing is me, Yaz, it was just me and

Yaz at that time. We, I don't think Darien wasn't. No, it wasn't. It was just, yeah. It was just me and Yaws were singing. And so afterwards, you know, I walk off stage and it's this lady. there and I'm looking at trying to figure out who she is

and she's like, that was some real singing right there and I love that was some good singing that I like that. It's fucking Ann Nesby from Sounds of Blackness and I'm just like, holy shit, you know what I mean? So, that was the year we met like Jimmy Jam

Quincy Jones, Charlie Wilson, like it was really kind of we were rubbing shoulders with everybody that we admired and we went to all of the events that, you know, The irony is, like, as a Grammy nominee, you don't get to go for free. It's still a pricey endeavor.

And we didn't really have the money to campaign. Right. So we just like, look, we're going to go. We're going to go to all of these events. Like, there's a producer thing at the Village studio. Like, you know what I mean? Like, all of the things that you're very familiar with. We did hire a publicist to help us through the red carpet thing, like,

because that was, like, recommended that we would. make the most of it. Yes. But it was kind of like one of those things where we realized like as much fun as it is, like I don't know if we truly belong here. And at the same time, the acceptance of it felt really good. I remember personally feeling very proud because this was something I could tell my

parents and my family and it made what I did very real versus like, oh, I just make me, you know what I mean? It was kind of thing you do with your friend in the United States. Yeah, right. It was a moment of like. Like, okay, this is like kind of a real thing. And so, you know, but we haven't really ever pursued another nominate, like in the same way because, like, ultimately, I think we both realized that for us it was much more important

to make the music versus being the campaigners. Yeah. Like literally as soon as it was over with, as soon as like, you know, a jam announced, you know, the India wine for the joint, I think me and Nick just kind of looked at each other, I was like, all right, bro, so you ready to get back in the studio? Like we were like we're out of time. Well, yeah, we were like, all right, we can get out of time. I'm like, yeah, we can, you ready go back to the studio?

We was just cool. Found what year was this? That was 2008. The actual 2010. Yeah, 2010, yeah. I'm dropping at 08, end of 08, 09. So yeah, 2010. 9 is when the nomination happened and then January of 2010.

How hard was it for you to sort of uproot yourself from living over there in the Netherlands and coming to the United States. To be in North Carolina. Dead ass at the middle of it. What year did you move? I moved in 06. Basically what happened was Connected did really good. And BBE, our man, Eddie B was our A&R guy.

He ran the American part of BBE, which we never dealt with the UK guy so much. And Eddie had a vision of like a roster of releases that were all foreign exchange related, like a Nicolay album, maybe a Darian album, a Darian album, maybe a Yasra album. And so he first brought up to me, he was like, look, like, if you want, we could sponsor you for a visa because that's what would be required. And so they ended up doing it. I realized that at the time, kind of going back to our conversation of how my sound was, perceived that America I knew that back in Europe I didn't have a chance to really pursue a music

career certainly not in a touring capacity or otherwise and and my dream was again like as this music that I saw as inherently American it felt like it made sense to come to the states and pursue a music career and so I was awarded with a E1 visa which was a big deal but yeah it involved leaving And that's what leave it all behind partly alludes to. It did involve leaving my family. My parents are still there, my brother and sister. So it's been bittersweet in the sense that it was the right decision to make, but it wasn't an easy decision to make.

And it will always be something where I realized that I did have to leave something behind that is not necessarily easy to replace. What city? Did you move? So I moved to Wilmington, North Carolina because so this is a kind of a airport, right? Yeah, yeah. It's a beach, it's a beach, right on the coast. This has got like a cool sort of quick anecdote that made me realize that North Carolina

was kind of always in my crosshairs. As a kid, I had a puzzle, a jigsaw puzzle, and it was a mansion, just like a southern mansion with a lot of magnolias. Okay. And I really liked jigsaw puzzles as a kid, and I would make. make this jigsaw puzzle and basically what I found out once I moved to the Wilmington area was that that mansion on that puzzle is actually a mansion that is there in that local area which I would have never known so that made it almost like a serendipity kind of thing

manifestation and I remember like North Carolina had this sort of magic to it by way of Fonte and everybody that was there like it seemed like an exchange already before I moved was a North Carolinian group. And so he would talk about Raleigh. He would talk about Durham. And it always, like, I always thought, like, what if one day I actually get to be there and sort of, like, know what that is like. And even yesterday, we took a little trip to sort of see a lot of those early locations

where Fonte's, like, the first apartment after college. Oh, okay. I wrote all those songs. Yeah. Is this near, so when I think of North Carolina and the beach life, I think of Cape Fear. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's literally Cape Fear. River, I'm on to Cape Fear. You live in Cape Fear?

Yep. For Tarika and I, the soundtrack to organics is we get home from recording at like two, three in the morning. We either watch do the right thing and Cape Fear. Yeah, like just night after night. That's the most weird selection. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the most opposite. Okay.

Right. You're sorry. Yo, no, it's just like, but it was a tradition. We would get famous, famous, famous cookies, a half gallon of orange juice, and then you just get in the crib and put, because the news would be on. It was like 92. Like, you know, I mean, cable culture was sort of the thing, but, you know, we didn't have like the internet, so it was just like, all right, get your VHS tape that has do the right

thing and Cape Fear to like six in the morning, watch it every night. Yeah, was that the remake or the original with Gregory. I'm a Scorsese. I like both versions, but I'm Scorsese's versions, my favorite version. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so back to your question. Like, it's been, like, I think in a lot of ways, like, I've learned a lot about America in those years. A lot through the people that I've surrounded myself with.

I came here sort of when it was Obama era. Yeah. And it felt very optimistic. six of that. Yeah, I've been now through the. How's it going now? Or the white latch. So it's been really interesting.

Obviously, it's politically a completely different world from what I'm used to. But that's a whole not a story. But it's been interesting. It's been really, I often tell people that in order to appreciate where you're from, it is sometimes helpful to not be there for a while. And so like the interesting thing is once I moved, I gained a much greater appreciation for where I'm from. Going back home.

Going back home and it just all of a sudden started looking a little bit different. And that's been very interesting. All right. So to wrap it up, this is a, for me, an important moment in development history. And hopefully, you know, history is kind to you guys in terms of really acknowledging how early guys were in the game of how we, now make music. Like, you know, you guys were so early in this level of

the first digital generation pre-SoundCloud, pre- you know, like... Pre-G-mail. Yes, pre-G-mail, right. Social media. So Google. Like, what was Google back then?

So, no, man. It was really not. It was OK player really was. I mean, it was just, you know, I don't think y'all understood what y'all built, but, you know, it really was, you know, just you were able to really find your tribe there. And, you know, I don't think Nick and I would have found each other on any other site. We wasn't, wouldn't have found each other on, you know, anywhere else.

It was just that fucking online asylum that is OK player that we found each other. And, you know, our movement with F.E., it really was, a lot of it was inspired, you know, by Soul Quirians, of course, by, you know, Dungeon Family. just understanding the power of having a crew in that y'all each work to make each other better and, like, collaborate with each other. And, you know, you're able to keep records out without burning yourself out. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you got to do a Fonte solo album every year for five years, you done. Like, it's over, you know what I mean?

But if it's, okay, I got F.E. And that allows you to do other projects. Yeah, we can produce for the people. We can write. We can do things, you know. We can do Sesame Street songs. Like, you know what I mean? All kind of shit.

This was up. So no, man, it was, that level of community was certainly influenced by Soquarians. Again, you know, organized noise. Just all of just those big collectors, just, you know, just seeing y'all in that vibe, that vibe, the infamous vibe picture. Yes, yes, exactly. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.

For real, though. But yeah, but seeing that and being like, okay, like we can do that. But then Yazara at the time, she was singing for Erica, taking background for Erica. So she was one of the first people that I saw as a professional musician and saw what that grind was like, you know what I mean? And so, yeah, man, I'm just thankful. But, you know, it was all came full circle.

Well, we're going to have to also do, like, a Part 2 story because we didn't even get to my favorite, like, I didn't get to talk about flying colors or, like, authenticity or, like, any of my favorite moments off the records. But we do a Part 2 on. online or whatever. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, hey, do it online.

Do it for an exchange style. That would make sense, actually. Right, right, right, the one time. We should definitely do it that way. All right, go back home, both of you all. No, on behalf of okay player. Yes, yes, thank you. That's up you.

And, oh, okay, player, for sure. Yes, on behalf of okay player, and then on behalf of QLS, Bill, Steve. Wait, where did I go? She was just here. Byia, myself, and of course, the fam of QLS. Thanks for on exchange for joining us for this episode. Thank you.

In person episode of Quest Love Supreme. We'll see on the next go-round, y'all. Peace. Peace. Thank you for listening to Quest Love Supreme. This podcast is hosted by Amir Questlove Thompson, Big Boss Man. Lair, St. Clair, St. Clair, So Blackety Black. Myself, Fonte Coleman.

Sugar Steve Mandel. and unpaid Bill Sherman. The executive producers are Amir Questlove Thompson, Sean G, and The Unbothered Brian Calhoun. Produced by Brittany Benjamin, my dog, cousin Jake Payne, my motherfucking man, and Laia St. Clair, my work wife.

Edited by Alex Conroy, produced for IHeart by Noel Brown. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeartRadio. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 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 IHard 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. I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend. This is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, co-hosted the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important.

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