The Questlove Show - Wallo267 Part 2

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

In part two of Questlove’s conversation with Wallo267, the tables turn. Wallo takes over, pushing Ahmir to make some changes. They trade questions about the albums that changed their lives, ’80s jackets, Soul Train Saturdays, and the day Wallo flew to London to meet the artist whose music carried him home from prison. The result is raw, funny, and—as Questlove admits—the most public intervention he’s ever received. Wallo's latest book, Yes To You, No To Them is available now.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL fantasy football show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The Questlove show is a production of IHeart Radio. What's up, people? It's Questlove, and last week, we ran part one of my conversations with Wallow. I wrote an Instagram post about it, and this conversation really hit me in an extreme stressful time in my life. I was trying to fight my instinct to cancel the show, and I'm glad I didn't.

You know, it was just a dark week for me, and this conversation meant a lot. But Wallow ended up giving me kind of an intervention, so to speak. Yes, there are these episodes of QLS where I talk more than I want to. This is one of those episodes. So, but, you know, Wallow showed me how he lives and how liberate his mind and his soul are. You know, I found it really inspiring and damn near moved me to tears, but I really wasn't sure I wanted to air this, but, you know, it's real and I'm authentic. And I owe that to myself, and I owed it to all of you out there, and thank you for supporting the show and all the feedback and whatnot. That was part one, and we left that part of the conversation with a breakthrough, and now this is part two.

And while it kind of takes over my show, imagine that. and we exchange stories and talk about music and life. You can hear that I'm genuinely affected by his pep talk. So this is part two of the interview with Wallo on The Quest Love Show. Hope you enjoy it. That was a hell merry pass, and I caught that shit with just one second left, barely. And I got to feel good about staying in my ground. You got to his game, time.

Oh, man, how can I pivot? All right. Can you take it over the podcast? I'm going to take it over. I got this. I think I know something. I think I know how to do something like this. Let me just say this, right?

Oh, man. Let me break this down, right? Shit, man. So I'm going to just talk about you, right, very quick. The roots, right? So y'all was having the picnic, right? So this young cat come and say, damn, man, like this root story, man, this choice.

Because he didn't really understand it. He said, you know, I mean, he heard Jay Z was coming. So he was like, he didn't even know. He's from Philly. Didn't even know what the roots was, young guy, right? So he was like, man, like, what is this, man? Who, like, who started this joint where I said, The Roots, man? He said, yeah, but what is the roots, right?

When is that? Is the story? Like, they didn't know what it was, right? No, I know. So I broke it down to him, right? And this was an unbelievable education, right? So I tell him who you are, I pick it up a little bit here. I'm showing me the albums and all.

He's like, yo. And you know what he asked me? He said, how did they become so big, they're on picnic and that? And they're here, young. I said, listen, because he was messed up with, like, and how I plays your stuff. He's like, yo, man, they did that type of rap.

Like, how did they? I said, nephew, the marketing of music today and how they marketed to y'all in what y'all think it is, y'all didn't understand that hip-hop was the soundtrack to a struggle. It was a sound track to our struggle in the 80s, the 90s. It was something that we listened to when we didn't have no food, when the refrigerator was broke, when the stamps ain't come through,

whatever it was. It was just this energy to get flied to, the streets, the block parties. I said, whatever. So I go all the way back. I take it all because he asked me about the festival

and didn't know who y'all was. So I had to break it all way down. I said, listen, I said, this is the thing. We didn't segregate hip hop who we came up. I said, listen, I will make a mixtape. He's like, USB. I said, no, I wasn't no DJ.

I was right. I said, I would make a mixtape. I had, listen, I said, I had the, my brother had this boombox and had two cassette players, right? And what I would do is I would just, he said, I would, it was hard to explain to him. Trying to explain to him how you got music right?

So I was playing to him, right? Because he saw me with a walkman one time and it blew his mind, but so I'm breaking it down how was it. I said, in my mind, I was a DJ. I was making my own mixtapes, right? And I said, this is how it would be. I said it would be NWA. The next song might be slick Rick.

The next song might be, leaders of the new school. The next song might be ultramagnetic. So I'm bringing it down. He's like, what the fuck is there, man? I said, all right, bet it. I said, bet. Let me bring it down.

I said, say you might be listening to 21 Savage. The next song will be Jay Cole. The next song would be, he was like, that don't mix. I said, Nuff. This is what I'm saying. Y'all segregated hip-hop, so you're not allowed to enjoy hip-hop. you had somebody like you you only listen to Oh man I only listen to drill

So it's like you leaving out a whole We didn't do that Every all hip hop was ours And I said the part that the roots played They played the major part Because I said let me explain something to you At the beginning you missed introduced me Because I am an emcee

I'm a former MC so you got So you got understanding I'm a figure So I was like hold I am an artist I know this yes you are And you got to remember this too though You know when the hood Everybody rapped

Was crazy about the roots says, when y'all first came out back in the day, y'all had dice with y'all. My homeboy lived next door to Dice, P.M. Lowe of Logan. He introduced me to Dice when I was doing the music thing. He introduced me to Dice. Dice took a liking to me. Dice took me to my man Peanut.

This when I started major figures. I started major figures. Dice helped me pick that name out. Because Dice was in the basement. Dice was in the basement. He came to my grandma, he was in the basement. And I wrote some names down. He was like, yo, pick that joint, that's join.

And Dice used to take me to my. my homeboy Peanut Studio is like, yo, Tina, I got him, just let him record. Me and Gil. Gil ain't really know him like I did. But Dice was just a connection. But what I'm saying to say is this. Marketing messed everything up. And even if you think about the music, like right now, marketing told us that digital is better

than everything in life. Internet is better than everything in life, right? But guess what? Everybody in the world is trying to go back to when we existed. We're dinosaurs. Me and you, to when we're. existed. Vinyl is jumping. CDs is jumping. VCRs is jumping.

Regular. You got, you got cafes and restaurants that don't allow you to use your phone because they want you to talk. Everything about us dinosaur time, everybody want to reconnect with that. Everybody is trying to put their phone down more. Think about it. Think about everybody. Everybody's, like, everybody is fascinated. I remember I was talking to, what's the name, Lil Yadi. I sent him 50 albums

and I sent him 50 black sports black movies period from back he lost his mind he couldn't believe the covers he was like yo this shit crazy I was like yeah

he's like there's a lot of ideas this is the problem us older people is losing the younger people is winning this is why they had daytime and now they could spend

a lifetime going back to check out our time to check out our music to check out our movies to check out our era to check out our club clothes or style. Do you realize that everybody's fascinated with yesterday?

But they told us that today is better. Think about it. Think about everything. Everything is popping right now from back in the day. Like, one of your vinyl's probably causing shit load of money. Yeah. You got people. I'm seeing, I'm in a, what's that record store, Jake?

You might know it too. The record store in L.A. Adorp, start with it. I mean, but, yeah. I'm in there on a Saturday, right? So I'll go in there. I'm going to grab some CDs. Because I bought this Supreme

got this dope-ass CD player, right? All right. I bought that joint. I'm like, damn, this joint. So I go running there. I'm buying some CDs and buying anything. I'm like, I see all these young people when they're buying vinyl.

They're buying record. I'm like, what the fuck are you know about vinyl? And they just, I'm like, he got, man, he got prints. What the fuck he's not about that? I know he, like, he ain't even got no much. Like, you ain't even got, like, I'm in there. I'm seeing all these young kids of all racist nationality just grabbing vinyl.

I'm like, what the fuck is going? I'm like, NW. I'm like, they're just going crazy. I'm like, where did they even get these lists? They must be Googling because I'm like, you know, but the fact to see all them in there, so I'm like, they got so much more to tap into. They got a vault of greatness.

I'm talking about, like, even when I talk to kids about certain movies, I'm like, you never seen this? You never seen, they'd be like, it's just crazy. But the marketing told everybody did it, digital is better than real life. We also live in a disposable culture that, you know. Yep. We don't revere or even consider it.

All right. Or worthy. Just to hear it today and discard it. It's deep. That was the hell of a pivot, man. You're good. I'm a, I'm a, I know how to do this. I know how to do this, man.

Okay, so as a person who fears never working again, like, how long did it really take for you to acclimate? Yes, I know the importance of, I don't want to give people that a false impression that I am 24-7, constantly working all that stuff. I'm very much aware that, you know, I have to, just to survive, you know. And so it feels foreign taking a day off. Like now I'm in a cycle where like one day, usually a Sunday, I don't do nothing. And like to still be in my pajamas like after 2 p.m.

Because I'm so programmed to like, I got to work, got to do something, got to feel worthy or whatever it is. But like, how long does it really take you to where, like, where you mean it and you're fine with it? Coming into this new year, I mean, coming into this year, right, I say it to myself, I'm enjoying me. And I just did it. I just started, like, stop taking a lot of phone calls. Like, people would be like, you know, added a couple calls, it may hit me that I might text them. Yeah, I'm cool. You cool?

I'm really grateful for you stopping here because. Oh, no, no, no, no. I wanted to come here because I enjoy the platform. So my whole thing is like I reached out. So Sean, I reached out to Sean. Yo, Sean has always been like a mentor. Dude. By the Sean is the guy.

Your biggest champion. He's that guy. So what happened is I just said, no. I woke up in the St. Regis and Dominican Republic this new year, right? Unbelievable. It was unbelievable. It was like a new joint they built, right? So I'll leak up.

I'm running. I'm playing in them. I'm running water. I'm just loving, I'm just like, yeah. And I'm like, mm-hmm, yeah. I ain't answering my phone a lot. I don't need, like, no, no, no. No, I'm like, I'm not answering my phone.

The pain I feel. I'm doing me because I realize, and then I want to be getting the spot. I'm going to Miami all the time. I'm like, hold up. I go down here. I might spend in a weekend, you know, to stay in the one or whatever. You spend in the grip. I said, Dad, let me get my own place.

Got a place down there on the water, a Collins, out there in the service side. Oh, Bob, dope. And I just started walking. Walking around my bike. Right? I'm walking. I'm enjoying life.

And I just keep going. Next thing you know, I wind up in Arizona. I'm like, damn, I'm in Scotty. I'm like, let me just draw to Sedona. Dried to Sedona.

Next thing, you know, I'm on a trail. I'm going to Devil's Bridge. And I'm walking on these trails so deep. I'm in there. I'm like, I got to sit down. I'm sweating so much. I'm like, I feel like I'm in a real desert.

I'm hiking. I'm doing all this. I'm just talking about. I'm just really living, bro. I'm sitting in the crib, right, on a random light Wednesday in the middle of the day, say, I ain't going away.

I'm just watching these movies. I ain't watching a while. And I'm just living, listening to the music, grabbing CDs and I got cassettes, and I'm just doing me, man. It's like because what I realize is I got to get out of this joint one day. And I don't want to be the person

that get to my funeral. And when I show up at my funeral, I'm talking about some, damn, I should have done this. I was in a hospital one time, And I did a video, I was talking about it. And I just walked in there because I knew this girl there. So he was like, wow, I would have it come through you?

I mean, I got somebody here that went to see. I went there. Somebody was ill. And I was just going room to room. And what I noticed is all these rooms I went to just, I was like, tell me to all your pace. Nobody was sitting there with him. And I would ask some questions and talk to him. And I realized a lot of people would be like, live, baby.

You better live. So you never know. You just never know, never know. So I don't want to be the person that sit out here question. and don't be like, no, like, I'm telling you, when you get yourself time and you say, I don't even call it cheat day, that's a life day. I'm not doing nothing.

Don't try to be slick and just go Sunday. Go Wednesday, go Tuesday and just cut, listen. A weekday? Let's see, see. Squander a weekday? Listen, listen. You know what I got to accomplish in a weekday? This is what you do.

This is what you do. Right down, right. Listen, listen, all right. Write down your favorite restaurants in the country. So wherever you're at that Tuesday, hotel, whatever. sleep later, make a reservation for the rest of the round later. Just chill.

Listen to the music you want to listen to. Just, Quest, just, just enjoy it. It's going to be all right. Nothing's going to have you. Wake up Wednesday. I'm like, ah, and you're going to feel better. I'm telling you. Leave it to me to manifest a life of drumming that leads to a life of a career that leads to a

path of a talk show that leads a path to for okay let's just say short version of it giving me time to to take my dream seriously because that's a whole other thing like survival and hustling versus like asking shit like what is it that you want to do what is it that you and that you and that spawning off to a platform is kind of really the most public intervention talk I've ever gotten probably in my life. I'm just at that place now, you know, and I thank you for this. It's hard being this raw, and, like,

this is a major fear of mine. This is why I hide and hide behind a drum set, hide behind DJ gig, hide behind Tariq, behind Jimmy Fallon, behind everything, hide behind the shell, hide. Because, you know, we know what our, like, life mission and our life purpose is.

and like sometimes trying to heed the call is just like one of the most fearful things ever. And so, you know, I think maybe watching you, you seem to think is where Marty McFagging it on a skateboard and they're on the platform, like, look at them go, look at them go. And I'm just like, yo, like leadership. Like he knows how to talk to people and communicate and da-da-da-da-da. And the way I dream about like, what's my version of that in life

and really it's me also knowing my avoiding that mission and how now I know I don't have any choice. Like I can't help but accept that. And so I mean, I've been running away from it. And it's just like I needed somebody to really, thanks, man. No problem. This is the Questlove show?

Oh, we're not ending. We're not. We can still talk. No, I got to process. everything I just learned today, man. The long loading times. The glitchy video calls. That's your house asking for better internet.

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Hi, this is Kylie Breakman. Angel Geratana. Jeremy Colhane, Patrick McDonald. And we're the hosts of the Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists Podcast. The Improvised Character Comedy Podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of wellness influencers. What I try to do is faux journal. I don't know. Have you guys heard of faux journaling?

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Just don't tell my coaches I said that. Listen to Big Kick Energy on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is the game we're going to play. Question for question. Easy. Simple questions, right?

Okay. I think they're simple. They might not be, but we want to ask questions for question. Yes. I'm going to start for this. Okay. Greatest album you ever heard in your life.

Okay, the analytical part of me is going to intervene because there's kind of two categories. Damn. Which is like, there's the album that was the, this is my calling. And then there's the album that's like, this is what I want to do for a living. I think the calling one's the more stronger one. I spent a lifetime in the family business. My dad was an oldies du-op singer from the 50s. My mom sang with him.

They had a nightclub backed. So by the time I was five, I was part of the, they didn't believe in babysitters. So they wanted their, you know, like, there's people in the block that never let the kids out their sight, even if it has to be in the nightclub, like, working the lights or whatever. But I grew up interning for my dad, you know, but it's like junior prom time. And I want to get like a, I'm going to get fresh or whatever. So I had to get my first real job. And there's a, you remember Big Owls on, U-Pen, 34-1? I ain't familiar.

Big Al was a hamburger spot based on a fictional character from Happy Days. Oh, shit. If you ever seen the video, Bloody Holly by Weezer, they're in. I remember that. Right. So they're in Big Al's Cafe. Like, it looks like the 50s. Happy Days.

So that was my first, like, getting an after-school job, just so I can get extra money for, like, a tux and all that stuff. For most people, summer job is also, like, saving up for a leather jacket for next year for school. And this is the third week of June. And Public Enemy's Nation of Millions album is coming out that day. That album is an achievement of a lot of things. But primarily what it means to me is that's the album that made all the boring parts

of my dad's massive record collection makes sense. Because like music-wise, I'm like, wait a minute. Dad plays that song at home. I know that song. Oh, I know that guitar line. And suddenly became like a... It made sense. My mind, like...

Yeah, yeah. So it was like CSI. Like, literally I'm going home. Like, so how do they get these drums for that? And then like I taught myself, you know, watching Stevie Wonder on the Cosby show, like do the whole jamming on the one thing with Malcolm Jamal Warner. Like, I don't know if you remember that episode.

The Huxstables getting a car accident with Stevie Wonder's limousine. I didn't see that one. In the most Cosby way ever, him being Stevie Wonder, he invites the Huxstables to... visit with him in a music studio in Brooklyn. And I was like, yeah, what a way to get out of a lawsuit. Like any other Brooklyn family would have had a come-up,

like Stevie Wonder. So they all come to visit Stevie Wonder. And he's just like messing around having a jam session. And what he's showing them is how sampling works. And so he has each one of them come up like, say a word, Fio, and he'll be like jamming on the one. Like, this is Prime Rocket. All that stuff.

All that stuff era. But what it's also doing, it's planting the seed with every 15, 16, 17-year-old. Like, what's that? And I'm watching this. Just Blaze is watching this. DJ Premier is watching this. Pete Rock is watching the Q-tip. So what it's doing is putting a chip in our head that there's a digital way to be creative

with music and records through sampling. And so it seemed like a novelty on that show. But what it's secretly going to do is going to change our lives. And three years later, this is when classic hip hop makes sense. So in order to sample, you need something to sample. So we all go in our whatever's at home. And my dad just happened to have an immaculate record collection.

So by the time Public Enemy comes along, it was a moment so powerful. And I, you know, I'm supposed to be there to start cutting french fries at like 11 a.m. for the rush order. I'm from West Philly, 15 second of newsage. And I worked at 34-01. And you pin. And by the time I got to work, I was at the top of Side 2, showing what you got.

Jump, show him what you got. Yeah, and I just never heard a musical assault of my life soundtrack thrown at me that way. And I wanted in on it. And I went on my lunch break, and I had to hear what Side 2 sounded like. So I went on my lunch break, sat in the park, and I just never went back to work. I listened that record six times over and was like, this is what I want to do for a living. So, call Tarek, and we're, this was back in the day,

remember you used to play like songs over the phone and whatnot? Every classic hip-hop record, like, he would play me the entire Cool G rap thing, like, play men at work like four times in a row. We've been closing our show with men at work like for the last 20 years. Just, you know, that's our connection. But yeah, nation of millions is really the out. that like was my come to Jesus moment where I can take the ingredients inside my house and figure out a way for me to utilize that so I can get me and us out of that house.

Because it's also the 80s. And you know what it is. So to me, I mean, it's a creative album, but it was also like the blueprint I needed music education to figure out. how to get out of there. Major. What's yours? Process.

Sanfa. What is it about that album that touched you? I first got home from prison, right? And I used to walk Broad Street all the time. I walk from Brewing Allegheny to South Street, downtown, whatever, right? So I'm in a record store on South Street, 2017.

So I go inside, and there's a lot of albums I can name that I love over the years that was just great, but this is different. I go inside the record store. and there's a song called Plastic playing. He got a song called Plastic. If you hear his voice, it's like, I know his voice well.

So I asked the dude in the record, I said, yo, what is that? Because it was a sound I never heard before, but it was emotional. It was like, and he said, right there, you stand in the front of he pointed, and I was like, and the album was there, the vinyl, right? Mm-hmm. So I went on my thing, found it, and I must have had that song on repeat for like weeks. It was something that I needed to, I don't know, it was just that it was a lot coming home from prison. My brother and my brother getting killed when I was in prison.

I'm coming home. And it was deep because I came home and I remember myself, I was looking for my brother without looking for my brother because, you know, I never be in the prison. I ain't go to the funeral. So I'm thinking like, it'd be like, I'll be laughing about something.

And it'll be, you know, you know how sometime we might let. Well, I don't know of everybody do this. I'm laughing myself. I'm like, wait a tell Steve this. I might see something funny. Catch yourself. And I'm just, but that song, it just reminds, it just was like it was the emotional thing I was going through just being home. And I always talking about thinking I'm a see, it was deep by my brother.

So that song got me through all this, it got me through. And then after that, that's the album. But just him and itself, he got another song called Can't Get Close on the EP had, but it was just deep. So I always say to myself like, yo, I don't care. So I started DM and email like, yo, I got to, I'm like, man, I got to meet you. And I see here read the DMs, but don't listen to. So everybody like this, this, no, it was so powerful, right?

Because I'm the dude that's like this. I'm still a fan of music and people I know. Like, I still lose my mind. I see a legend. I'm like, whoa, I go crazy, right? So, and I'm, all right, so I'm like, I'm, so anybody I will run it to that would be like a supporter where I got going and they'd be from London. I'd be like, yo, you know Sanville? They were like, yo, I'll be seeing him on the train.

I'm like, yo, tell him that I'm looking for him, right? Like, oh, shit. So everybody that knew me knew that I love sampling. I will post his stuff. I will put stuff in the store. I'm like, yo, this is the guy. His music is the greatest in the world. So one day I get a call, right?

It's 2002, my birthday, June 21st, right? So I get a call. I get a call from, Shanice, my homegirl, She needs in London, she worked at you because I'm the coach her advisor at YouTube

at this time. So she worked at London and I get a call from her and Tuma. You know Tuma Basa. Yes. So him and Tuma called me a tree

with like, yo, Wallow, this that third, we need you to come to London and I'm like, what we got to do?

We got to do some like, we need you to come to London and we're doing this thing program because they had a program where you know interview people or different type of stuff.

Right. So it's like, yeah, we need you to come. Yeah, I mean, you know it's your birthday, but we need you to come to interview somebody.

I'm like, all right. I'm like, what? They're talking about, we need you to interview Sanfa. I hung the phone. I'm like, yeah, all right. So I'm like, I'm laughing. They're like, no, we're trying. So I'm thinking, they're joking, right?

Right. Man, so this is my first time ever out of the country. At this time, I was on parole. I'm not on parole. I already had my passport, but I never knew when I was going to use it. So they say, if you had a criminal record before, they're not going to let you in London. London's so hard, man.

So listen, so listen. I'm, this is my first time out the country. I'm by myself. I get off the plane, right? And anxiety. Little I said, hold on, hold on. I get off the plane, right? So when I get off the plane, I walk into these, you know how they got the thing you put your

your passport on and the open? But when I go as a dude next to me, so he got, I put my drawing, as he put his joy, he turned red. So I'm like, oh, is that me? So I'm like, no, but it ain't. So it's him. It kept, so the people come out like, come with me. So I'm like, oh, shit.

So I go back again, put it there. It's taking time, right? It's taking time, right? It's taking time. So I'm like, oh shit. And it turned green and it opened. I was like, so I'm like, damn. Because listen, you gotta think about it.

I've never been out. I'm by myself. So I go and walk through the air, you know, you gotta go get to the Ubers, but they'd be like, I couldn't wait to get into them cars. Oh, that's taxi, right, right. I'm like, yo, this is decent. I'm a little scared because I'm not used to the cars coming this way. Right. So I'm in the window.

I said, let me slide away because this seemed weird, because the car is coming this way. coming this way. We go. So we go, I get there to the hotel. And I'm like, I ain't really believing this happen. So I can remember a couple days. I'm in London, going to Soho with Tuma, going to do a bunch of stuff. Next thing you know, they're like, yeah, man, the day comes something like, I go to meet him. I couldn't believe. When I walked in that room, you know, tears, just unbelievable tears came, just kept coming out of me because I was like, yo, you've been the soundtrack to me getting, telling my brother, it was just a create. I put it on, I don't know if you seen it was on social media. It was just like, it was so much for me because I was like,

I grew up at a time whereas though you never got to personally talk to the artist you was a fan of. I never met Charday. I never seen it need a big of print. So it was like this back in the day moment that I was loving because it seemed like everybody is so attainable. And the thing that I like about him, he don't post like that. You don't see him. You don't really like him. And we did The interview that I got, we never released this. And that interview that day, it never was released. I still got it. You just talked to him?

I talked to a crowd, but if we never released it, I got the footage. We never released it. Why are you holding it? No, no, I'm going to put it out. I got something I'm working on, but I put it. But me and him, he told everybody to lead a room and me and him talk. And he said, like, he was so messed up because he was like, I didn't know my music would do this for somebody.

And it was like, humbling to him. And I'm like, what? I'm saying myself, like, you don't know who the fuck he would. Like, he didn't, like, I think hearing somebody talk to you about, because this is personal, this is about my brother dying, this is about my life, about me coming, you know, my reentry back to society. This is different, I think it's a different story for him. And the main thing I wanted, I was like, I said, did you know I was looking for you?

He said, I had about five people tell me. I said, yeah. He said, I was on the train with this guy one time. I was like, that's the dude, they should see you on the train. You just tell me I see Sample on the train. Right, right. So it was this like, that album was like everything to where he got to him. got to him.

To where it's, though, that's like every playlist I have, Sanford is always number one on my list, on my playlist, no matter what sound it is. So that's, that's like the album that's like everything. The knows that are easy to give because of logic is the know of my unavailability. And I have to say, like, two of my biggest regrets and creativity, I first met him. So there was warm time in life. and really it was only for a day and a half where I was the Raphael Sadiq role of Solangis's seat at the table

she had asked me to like this is a part of my life where like now that DeAngelo's voodoo is like 20 years old like the ripple effect is now like all right where you start getting the calls of new artists that are like influenced by like that's their Stevie Wonder or whatever and so we literally only do one song

with the song that opens that album Fall in your ways Yeah. Oh, then de l'ambo. And to be in a room full of musicians I never met before. And the odd thing about it was that when we recorded, it was done in one of those

hipster Brooklyn studios, but we weren't facing each other as we were playing. Our backs were turned. Okay. And so I never got to see Sampa's face. Like, he was a keyboard player on that song. Yeah.

And she's trying to tell me, like, on the low light. Because she has that antenna where she knows, like, who the next, you know, and brings us together. And I did my homework. Because of touring and all that stuff, I couldn't finish the rest of the album. However, like, once I discovered, like, whoa, I played with that dude. Then I became an instant fan. And twice, he's asked me to, like, play on his record.

But I just had, like, that's, like, one of my main regrets of that and Thundercat, like two people that I should have made time out to work with and I never got to do so. But especially for him. Yeah. I feel you with that. All right. So I will ask you, what is, and I'm talking about your childhood. Mm-hmm.

Memories from one to 10 or whatever. When you mark that time period. What is the one cool kid item that you got to experience or have when you were a kid? Like a happy memory that or something that's fine and fuzzy to you. This is major. I remember. I never forgot for like Christmas, right? My brother got me a troop jacket.

I went, I lost my mind. For Christmas? Yeah, yeah, for Christmas. But this is what happened. What was so crazy is that he didn't even wrap it that good. So as I'm going to, I'm a nanny house, I see some. I'm like, what is that? And I see it.

And I'm like, and I seem like it was like a whole, probably like this big. I'm like, that's a troop jacket. That got to be for me because it's small because I'm like the pack. I'm like, yo, listen, there's no BS. I ain't remember my mom told me one time. She's like, boy, I know that jacket's thing.

Take it off. I slept and I never took this jacket. I wore that every, and you know I got all the different type of, it was different colors on it, so it don't even match anything. But I wore that jacket every day. I'm talking about I wore it damn it until it

be like spraying like sun coming up. I wore that jacket. Listen, man. I never took that jacket off. He got me that. That was like, because he got it for me. I was like, yo, and I had these colorful, like, Reeboks. I forget the name.

And it didn't match. Nothing matched. But I just wore that fit forever. Like, it didn't matter. There's this legendary dude from Philly. Okay, like, I'm born in 71. Yes. So by the time LL's bigger and deffer comes out, it's 87, I'm 16.

Mm-hmm. And, of course, like, that second LL album, like, was kind of these. explosion of like obtainable street wear, if you will. For those that couldn't afford the dapper dance and, you know, that level of dress, you could get you a troop. You know what I mean?

I mean, there's T.I. There's a bunch of other stuff. Hip-hop was inclusive. If Run Dem C. can get in Adidas, I can get in Adidas. Lee Kalsportique. Yes, yes, exactly. So there was this cat, though. I lived in West Philly and my elementary school

was downtown in Philly on Broad Street. And so every day This guy would get on And he would be dressed He only had three outfits And they were all troops And he would dress like LL Cool J. That was major

He was major then You know this guy? I don't know him But the dude that is major All the whole shit But the thing is You remember how LL's dancing And I'm bad video

He was doing that That's how he would approach you Like, you know me from the video. Yo, he was crazy. He was crazy. He was crazy. I love it. It was like, it was 87.

I would have, if I'd have sold him, I'd have been like, yo, he alleged. It was like seeing a real, yeah. And he was deaf. So the thing is, but the thing is like, you know, like sometimes you'll, you'll see a person that, like, if you're on your routine. And he would always, usually hearing impaired. Okay. They will have, like, these cards. that teach you how to do.

I've supported that guy. I believe he's giving him $30 over between seventh grade and ninth grade. That's a lot of money back then. You loved him. You loves him. He's a lot of money. I think I still remember that you would buy a pamphlet for him and you give him a dollar. And that's how he'd come up.

He'd just get on the L and go through each thing. And Jesse's like a jelly bean and girls be like, oh my God. Like, but he only. It was a legend. Every day he wore a troop. But it was like it was his job to be on that 716 AM train. He made some money on that train. That was his route.

That was his route because he knew he was to see you. You got to say, you giving him a dollar. Listen, $30. I mean, that was a span of time you gave him that. You ain't just giving him $30. I've always had a soft spot for buskers. Even now. I think it's because Billy Jean was my favorite music video.

Yeah. And there's a moment. Like everyone has there They want to emulate Michael Jackson Movement It's just that my moment Happens to either moment Billy Jean where he tosses the quarter

Inside of the cup And then his It turns into white tuxedo and glues That's my God complex moment Where you know The first time we got In advance

Like I was that guy Like going around like You know What the hell? You know like that sort of thing And be out But I've always had a soft spot for anyone, a street musician or a busker or... Yeah, all that.

I was your perfect demographic for that. The long loading times. The glitchy video calls. That's your house asking for better internet. Switch to Bell Pure Fiber, Canada's most reliable internet awarded by OpenSignal. From $75 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for more details and to check availability.

Bell, connection is everything. Hi, this is Kylie Breakman. Angel Geratana. Jeremy Colhain. Patrick McDonald. And we're the hosts of the Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists Podcast. The Improvised Character Comedy Podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of wellness influencers.

What I try to do is faux journal. I don't know. Have you guys heard of faux journaling? Yeah, it's reading. It's called reading. So we don't like to use that word anymore. Okay. of New Yorker cartoonists.

Have you guys done Terry Gross's Peloton class? No! I've been dying too. I'm so sorry. I'm seeing a reading of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Audra McDonald's at the Wonderland Bookstore on 14th.

That's crazy. I went to the Wonderland Bookstore yesterday and I heard Nora Jones do a reading of Zero Dark 30. No way. You have to come to the last bookstore, though. Kim Cottrell is reading the guitar tabs of yesterday. A panel of Eurovision participants. And we do a little Halloween sometimes. Does the Pope dress up?

He winks on Halloween. He gets right up next to the microphone. I hear you can almost hear the eyelashes hit each other. You never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. Listen to artists on artists on artists on artists on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The World Cup is over. But if you caught the soccer bug and aren't sure what to do now, check out our podcast, Big Kick Energy. I'm Cameron Dicker, the kicker.

from the Los Angeles Chargers, most accurate kicker in NFL history, but I was raised on the soccer pitches of Shanghai. And I'm here with Timmy Tillman, LAFC star, grew up in the academies of Germany and now under the bright lights of Major League Soccer. So we know a little something about kicking balls. Maybe you're new to the game,

or you're ready to take your passion to the next level. Each week we'll tackle things like, who's winning the Premier League this year? Playing like a number 10, do you know what that means? Then we go over to France, Ligone, Ligand, League on? Oh, damn. He knows more.

He's better as me. What do you think is harder? Scoring a penalty kick or scoring a field goal? He's in the NFL and I'm like, just a big fact guy. I do enough. That's crazy. Join us each week for a quick chat with your soccer-loving bros about the best sport in the world. Soccer.

Just don't tell my coaches I said that. Listen to Big Kick Energy on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You know who I was fast-naked with? What? Who's the dude that you? that used to be on a soul train. Louis. Louis Carr.

He was the greatest... He was the greatest dude in the world of me. He was the coolest dude. Listen, he'd do a dance move, right? He'd be like this and he just dance. And just come back. And he always was sharp. He always had that gear on.

Greatest moment of my life. Go ahead. Okay, like, this is now the second greatest moment of my life. No, the greatest moment of my life was a moment Tariq and I just had last week in before I texted you about the book? Yeah, yeah. You don't even know that what you really did

was you helped heal. Torea and I had a healing moment. Yeah. After I read you, you said something, but that's a whole other episode. But I will say, and that turned that moment and that show

into the greatest show that I've ever did. But the second greatest one was in 2006, we had finally made what was then known as the Universal amphitheater. It was like the last days of that particular destination point as a concert.

So like we kind of feel like we made it. Not exactly the form or staple center, but like worthy. I had invited him because Dice's mentor, Kilo. Kilo before he really started getting deep into the roots world, like he did clones and all that stuff. His claim to fame was that Bell Bette DeVoe had liked his beat tape and picked him to work with him in Los Angeles. So he's like in Camp Belved DeVos inside their mansion and all that stuff. And like, because they've been on Soul Train so many times. Legends. Louis Carr was always with him.

Louis Carr was just like before YouTube, before. He was that guy. Every week, if you wanted your fix of how you think Michael Jackson would dance and he wouldn't dance. He would just. He'd be cool. He is the seed that basically planet Diddy. Like someone that sells charisma.

He also gave me the version of a younger Billy D. Williams mixed with a dude that got happy feet. Because he had happy feet. You know how to do it. Yeah, but he exuded confidence. He was that guy. And there's a reason why we were drawn to that because we never got to see. It seems silly. Like just Google Louis Carr Soul Train.

I'm going to need the name. But, yeah, Louis Carr. And his name is ski. Lou Ski, Loo Ski, Loo Ski Karr, Loo Ski Carl. And there's just a period between 1981 and like 1990 that he was just our weekly fix on Soul Train. I got to check him out. For just how to be the man, like how to pose and mean it. Yes.

You don't understand. Soul Train is. You know, like, people will be like, yo, when I come up, I'm going on a soul train. No, no, no, no. I'm talking about just regularly like, like, yo, I'm going to get this mansion. You know, I'm going to get this car. I'm going to get this girl. If you were to ask me in 1996, 97, like, what is it that you want most on this earth?

Without no doubt, my idea of heaven is like if I can own all 1,000. 137 episodes of Soul Train. Anybody got that. You're a legend if you got that. The way that I would dream, like I will, every memory of my life, the reason why Soul Train, I was raised in a, you're not allowed to watch

television, read a book, listen to a record. I was raised by those parents. If it was music education, they would allow me to watch it. And here's the thing, though, which you might don't know. Now, when you talk about Soul Train, Soul Train is normally a 12 in the afternoon activity.

Clean the house. Soul Train is on. Now, there's a period between 1975 and 1982 where the powers it be at Channel 48, then turned to Channel 29, then turn to Channel 57, and then back to 57, where syndicate, local syndicated. Like, you just had to be there kids. Ask your parents about local syndicated. Local cable.

We had local. Right. And it would really just depend on the, the cultural sensitivity at whoever is running that station. And if they decide, Soul Train, put that on it at 1 a.m. on Saturday. From 1975 to 1982, my parents and I had an agreement. By 8.30, I better be in bed. The shower, bed 8.30.

However, when the second song comes on Saturday Night Live at around 1240, we'll wake you up. and then by one in the morning in West Philly in a dark-ass house under a crocheted blanket, peeking through the eyes. I'm allowed to watch a gray dancing train yell at me from out of space. I'm five, so it's a little scary hearing Joe Cobb saying, like it's scary. But it's also like we like being scared. that burst of adrenaline I just fed off of week

after week after week after week after week after week after week after week so the way that I would just dream of like in my level okay oh God I'm having my Thundercap moment with anime when I describe

like what it means to me and so that's my North Star and I think I got music education to start a group with my best friend in high school so that I can maybe get famous so I can figure out a way

how to get to Soul Train episodes. Like, that's my level of Soul Train. I know all the light combinations of this particular thing, like the way that you know, like dunk combinations with Nike, like that's my synesthesia, the my everything.

And so, yeah, like Soul Train is my North Star. So one night in 2006 at the amphitheater, at the end, Luski came out from nowhere, from the wings doing his, like, his dance. Some shit. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Isn't I? Legend. I just, I lost it like I was seeing Michael Jackson. If you only could watch one episode. Motherfucking. Yo. I got to. I'm asking root.

Like, you got to pick one episode. Ah. Come on. There's two greatest episodes of all time. God, it's two. That's cheap. Okay, so this is what people don't know. Most people will acknowledge based on the movie

that the tipping point of Michael Jackson's career is the night of Motown 25. in 1983 where he unleashes the moonwalk and thus enables Thriller to start selling a million a week for like 28 weeks in a row. That's the viral moment that all of America was watching that caused Thriller to get Michael Jackson to that point. However, 10 years before that in 1973 is where he kind of had a moment, like you've seen magazines where they do the whole thing like stars are just like us. before the gift of the Jackson Five really was the fact that they looked you know like Jill Scott looks like our audience and that's why they gravitated towards the Jackson Five were primed to look like their audience what America's kids were looking like and the moment Michael unleashes the robot in 1973 on dancing machine which have been displayed on the show since 1971 but it's the first time that a star or something. celebrity, didn't have to do, you know, the four tops dance or the temptation stuff. It's like, oh, you dance like I do. And that was the first connection of Michael Jackson.

Like, oh, not only does he sing with his brothers, but when he moves, that's even more important. And like, that's the moment that Michael Jackson where, like, the power of dance, and I might be a better dancer than you are. And when you got to watch him dance, like that episode, he had a most of the moment. Motown 25 moment 10 years before Motown 25. Like on the real, what sustained the Jackson 5 was just that period of dancing machine being on the Carol Burnett Show, American Bandstand, all these shows in the 70s and him doing the robot. You know him for like five seconds that he's doing something that you can never do in your lifetime.

No, you can't. And the reason why it was magnetic is because we didn't have VCRs. You can record that. You can record that. So you, when the Jacksons were on between their. inception and say maybe 1983, dormitown 25. When you seen it, you studied

it and that was it. And that's why the ushers or the Cisco's like there was a period where like because they're the generation of the remote control, they were allowed to watch that at 5 and keep

rewinding and studying the precision of it. So it's like the timing of Michael Jackson to me is even more fast. than that. Oh my god, yo. This, you brought me down a rabbit hole that I did not expect. Well, thanks, man. No problem. I appreciate it. Wow, 267. Wait, did I even introduce him at the top of the show? Did we go right into it? You need to. I'm sorry, brother.

You don't need to. Go out there, get the book. Yes. I signed your copy. Yes. I go get it. I needed this. Thank you. I appreciate you. And I receive it. Thank you, y'all. Yes. We'll see you on the next go-round. If there's a next go-round, a Questlove show.

The Questlove show is hosted by me. Amir Questlove Thompson. The executive producers are Sean G. Ryan Cahoon and Meek. Produced by Brittany Benjamin and Jake Payne. Produced for Eye Heart by Noel Brown. Edited by Alex Connoll. I-Heart video support by Mark.

Canton. Logos, graphics, and animation by Nick Aloe. Additional support by Lance Coleman. Special thanks to Kathy Braun. Special thanks to Sugar Steve Mandel. Please subscribe, break, review, and share the Questlove show wherever you stream your podcast. Make sure you follow us on socials. That's at QLS. Check out hundreds and hundreds of QL.

episodes including the Questlove Supreme shows in our podcast archives. The Questlove shows a production of I Heart Radio. Hi, this is Kylie Breakman. Angel Geratana. Jeremy Colhain. Patrick McDonald. And we're the hosts of the Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists

Podcast. The Improvised Character Comedy Podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of Eurovision participants. And we do a little Halloween sometimes. Does the Pope dress up? He winks on Halloween.

It's right up next to the microphone. I hear you can almost hear the eyelashes hit each other. You never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. Listen to Artists on Artists on Artists every Thursday on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Mike Yam. And I'm Trevor Sycamma. And together, we host the NFL Fantasy Football Show. Are you ready to dominate your fantasy league this season?

Because if you aren't locked in with us on the NFL fantasy football show, you're already playing from behind. Whether you're a first-time player or a grizzled vet chasing another championship would give you the advantage and the confidence you need to make every move counts. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Show on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author, Patra Mathers, and her husband Michael,

mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Dear honies, this is goodbye. By the time you get this letter, both Petra and I will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? Listen to death of an artist on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.