Episode 326 w/ NE-YO

snipers on the black block. They're thinking keto when I'm saying one mill of day, ain't talking fact that when I'm talking one mill of day, could probably double it by leaving out the country before gez keep my ass home. I'm happy Monthfuley secure like Ray, I interview with Easter raymore blunts against the hips to be on Lisa. Ray makes that drink and it's straight and it's straight cast. So bo up now, I was too late. Don't mix that drink and it's straight cast, So bar up now,

I was too late. Coming drinking me, Get get drunk too, coming drink with me, get your cousin come through time. I'm really happy. I'm really yappy, really drinking your jews because y'all drink happy fad Winkle my suit stone Winkle always had the piss. I never had the twinkle, nor re masculine. Yes, we had to masculate big boy trucks. In the big boys, we had to left. I see they claiming that they rich to the bill, come to they accident or I got him, like they tell drawing

a new life to me? Like new life to me? Is cocaine a whole new white to me? I see they copy me without a gun. It's still a robbery. Drink camces ahnomenally looks that drink and it's straight cast. Sole up now, I was too late. Don't make that drink and it's straight cast. So up now I was too late. Come in drink with me, Get shook and drunk too. Come in drink with me, Get your cousin come through. Welcome to Drink Champs, the production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio and it's Drink chas

motherfucking podcast. He's a legendary queen's rapper. He's like Green is your boy in O R. He's a Miami hip hop pioneer d J E f N. Together, they drink it up with some of the biggest players in the most professional unprofessional podcast and yet number one sort for drunk fast drink is New year Z does time for drink Champs drink up. What would it good be? Hopeys?

What it should be? This is your boy and right what up is d J E f N and it is drink chance make some when when you talk about a man that got eight albums, been in the game, making hits after hits, his he got his own, his playlist, pop listening to his playlist, and she just keep going and just keep going because he just making world music and then writing music for others. We talk about songwriter, composer, all of that. Actor, he was even on a mass singer.

I think she's wild out his motherfucker. This motherfuckers out there doing it, still making the still making baby, making music. He got he got a little bit stuck up in the pandemic and then he then the pandemic helped him fixes goddamn marriage like a man to post him In case you don't know who were talking about, you don't a matter one. The only I remember one time I've seen you at soho house. This is right when you was going through the break up. I knew nothing. I

knew not the interview. I was like, oh no, I never seen you like that. Yeah, that might that might have been a bad I think I think I made the good. Was like, nah, but how how is that? Because um uh I was I was getting the world knew you was breaking up, but the pandemic actually helped you out. Yeah, man, so we um. But right before the pandemic was was when things was at his worst. You know what I'm saying, Like, just couldn't talk to

each other, you know, like it's clearly beef. But I'm on tour, I see you win three weeks, you know what I'm saying, that type of thing. So when the pandemic hit and everybody had to go home, it kind of forced us to sit in each other's face and talk about the stuff that we had that we just wasn't talking. No, we mean, it wasn't. So when the pandemic hit, there was a multitude of places that I could have went, but my in the beginning, they wasn't

really telling us nothing. So I'm like, listen, Cats is dying. And when we got to go home and the NBA has shut down already, I'm gonna go to my house house I'm gonna go where I know my kids is at when my why I know my mama at where I know my you know, my wife don't like me right now, But it's alright, because if we're gonna die, we're gonna figure it out. Yeah, it was, it was. It was that that was the thought process. It's pretty harsh. I'm just saying, really had to confront yeah, talk, I mean,

and it was. It was scary because you know, I mean, I think the whole concept of the pandemic and just just you know, people was dying every week and all that. I definitely feel like that helped us really go, like, listen, people say life is short all the time, but it's in our face now we might want to just go ahead and figure out if get right whatever it is we need to get right, you know, just just just in case, just in case, because life is short, let's

let's figure it out now. I heard you say somewhere that you said, uh you said, he was like, yo, man, if this album doesn't do well, I wouldn't lose no sleep. Nope. Is that is that? Is that the time when when you think like that, is it time to hang it up? Okay? Not at all. No. So so here's the thing. My my definition of success has changed a little bit over the years. Like I did them, I got, I got the money, I got the fame and recognition, I got the accolades, I got grand mus I got all that.

So like now and now, my my definition of success is like you know, people using my music for their first dance as they marriage at their wedding, or or you know, uh yeah, I got three kids because of your music, or what I'm sorry your congratulations. One of the two are so so now it's it's like I'm not I'm not just I'm not out here on from oh man, I hope, I hope I sell a trillion records like if I mean, don't get me wrong, nobody wants they product to not do well. But if it

don't do well, my kids are still gonna eat. You know what I'm saying. My house ain't going nowhere. I'm I'm gonna be right, I'm gonna be right. So so at this point, I'm having fun with the music. So no, it's the exact opposite. It's not time to not time to it up. At this point, I'm I'm enjoying myself with this. I'm not letting the the pressure of oh,

we gotta do so well. I'm not letting that bother me. Man, Like, if if I'm doing what makes sense to me, I'm doing what feels good to me, and I'm rocking with like minded people. And if you don't dig what I'm doing, there's so many other options for you, Like you can go anywhere. You know, I'm rocking with the Fox is rocking with me. Okay, do you do you want some rock?

H come? Because because you know why, um, you know the fans critiqued us when when we didn't give them the drink because yeah, if they brought their own bottles, Yeah, drink Champs. I'm kind of what's the lady actually gonna for the drink? Because we fired Mr. Yeah, we used to only have a bottom boy, Jack Bottom. Can the bottom boy get their us? What's I go with the regular drink? Regular rock? Yeah? Blue Die, Yeah, we upgraded that.

We we we've got RB nigger head. We can't having no dudes for him, No goddamn drink than you're going straight. You're going straight? Now? Give me Ginger? Okay, alright, Ginger, Okay, that's a unique one. You drink vodka and ginger. Ain't gonna lie. Listening to your records, just going through and preparing for this. I saw what he was gonna drink. Jack Daniels, Jack Danner, how did you get that? I

don't know what I mentioned you writing music? Slip? You cave me slipping, I sweeping, came in slippers and I been to you with like a big cue and just sitting there just right. Yeah, I mean that's that's a flop picture. Yeah, okay, you might have to take a photograph like I'm abouta dude. Man, honestly, can't really drink much else like wee tequila. We we ain't friends. Man, I'm killer at all bad. Yeah, and then call yourself with Japanese DELI on that's a killer. It's okay, I've

never had that. You never had. You're experious today by eight pieces, you're getting prepared because we're gonna come right. Okay, but alright, so not you're not a Jack James guy. Not not a come yet guy. I mean I can make me mad. I don't know, it's weird if you if you drinking, I'm like, all right, he's gonna he's gonna start some ship indeed, Yeah, especially Hennessey. But it's great space. You already know how I feel about that.

You don't drink rare occasions that I drink? Did I drink? Coming? Could have do? I definitely like do se, but I just can't drink a lot of it because I'd be ready to fight. And none of my people ever let me fight. And I get even matter because they won't let me fight. No, we don't want to see Neo fight. Some white want to see Neo fight unless it's like get another R and B dude, and we want to see like we want. We want you to push each other like you hit me, because don't you don't want

to see you make it great? You make great music? And what what what makes you? What makes you stay stay doing it? Like you said you got the one? You got everything? Um does an artist always be making an artist all? I mean, I can't speak for nobody else, but I do this because I love it like I didn't. I didn't get into the game to be rich and famous and all of that, like I mean, those things are French benefit cool. But I got into this because somebody told me that I can make a living doing

some ship that I was just gonna do anyway. Like I literally I have a studio in my crib. If you can't find me, that's where I'm at. Like I don't need to, I don't. I don't do it for that for that reason. So that's the thing that keeps me going, just just a genuine love for the craft.

Like I'll do music for free. Let me not say that, because something can come something stop getting right now, everybody, I gotta do it before and then you give us wonder no man, because man, the the level of of substance in your music, that the it's just remarkable, like I and and for you to be so successful and can still tap into that area is that's that's like how do you do that? Because I'm not defined by

my success? Like that's not what that will free you? Yeah? Absolutely, I mean there's there's definitely a point in your career where all right, you have to top of your game and and and everybody you know, everybody's favorite, and everybody's your best friend or long lost family member, whatever case

may be. And there there's a point where if you're not careful, you could start smelling your own ship, you know, so you can start feeling like, wait, maybe I am that dude, right, but I've I've I thank God for my team because I've always had a type of people around me that that was gonna let me know, like, hey, if that ain't it, yo, Neil, that ain't it you know what I mean? Like that's that's the kind of folks that I keep around me. I don't have no

yes men. I can't do that, you know what I'm saying. I need people arond me that I know are looking out for me, and that that's the kind of cast that I wrote with so being them. And then on top of that, I'm just not that dude, Like I've always been the kind of cat that wanted what I was doing to speak for itself, Like I don't. I don't got to sit here and bragg on what I've done. Push play that's me right? So um, because because you did like a versus But yeah, but we did it

when it was like you know, in the pandemic. We I mean, we did what we had to do at the time, so it wasn't that yet. And if you were doing over what you should, who would you want to do against Because I was honestly going to ask y'all. That because I've been talking to the versus people because I told him I'm down to do it. They want me to do it, like who, and I'm like, I don't know Chris Brown. Now, I see, I was on an impression that the world wanted to see Chris and

I should go at it. So you and dream, Okay, you're kind of like j Z both for y'all. From a songwriter standpoint, I feel like that would be a really dope versus You need to relax. No, no, I gotta love about be shot about you. But come on, it'll be I mean, it would have to make sense, man, I mean mind. So it's twenty records, you know, records. So as long as the cat got twenty records, we can rack out. But tony records versus twenty hits, it's

gonna be difficult for anybody, you know what I mean? Hey, listen, my flex is like it's it's minimal, you know, like the machine off. It's minimal, like the machine up. Holy, I ain't gonna lie though you ain't bullshit And though I went to your catalog said, damn, can you miss we've been moving? Can you something you don't work please Jesus, can you be you moving? Man? Man, I'm like, damn after then at that and you know, um, what's the record with Jeremy It was the name of You Love

You Love shout out to the boy jam. Whenever I feel like my my wife is getting a little mad at me, I'm like, huh I put that on. Yeah, I'm like, I only want you. That's no, that's what it's flaying. Thank you for you so put out for real versus who who? I don't know that I like you and dream like that. I like you and dream somebody saying me and Trey one time? Yes a good No, I think that dose. I'm with whatever who smoke, let's go.

And if Chris Brown don't do it, I think you and Chris I think I think you gotta be against them, the real R and B guys like these people you name it. Because now it's a performance. Now it's just not just it's just not just play. Yeah, before it was remember Chris, me, Chris and USh altogether. That would be good. That would did a crazy concert. Did you see um the Marion? I was there, I was I was in the house. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you heard my

boy ray Jack listen. Rey Ja is a marketing genius. Okay, bad mad at the film Hip Hope with him The next day he was acting like it wasn't bother with ke freaking because Yo, what the funk were you doing? Ray Jack? I kill you that. But as a vocalist, what did he do wrong? Um? Okay um everybody. So as a singer, you're gonna have good days, you're gonna have bad days, and you have to take care of

your instrument, you know what I'm saying. So if you thinking and smoking and and you know, going wild and then grab the mic and get on stage, you're probably not gonna sound your best. It's just the reality of it. So I don't know what. I don't know what what Ray was doing prior to get on stage, but it was it was not taking care of the situation, you know, And and it's it's all good. It happens. Happens. I don't have some bad ones. I don't have some Yeah, man,

he was off beat. It was off key. It happens. I don't never beat off key. I definitely had some some questions for somebody that don't know what was off key and off beat? Yeah, off key is if the if the key, if the key of the song is is here and you're singing over here, didn't you have your off key? Yeah? And that happens. That happens off beat is when you can't catch the the beat of the record. You know. What I'm saying is that that clap that goes everywhere but where everyone else is clapping

at all, if everybody's here in your right. So you had some off key, yes, just never been off because your souls ain't gonna let you do. So, will not allow me to be off beat? And let it happened? Yes, my friend would let me be off meul with me like you. You really need friends. Yeah, you know sometimes you see. But you made the kind of slightly off beat thing fly like you made like you made you made that the thing. Okay, became a style. Okay. Now

I'm saying, I'm feelings. You're trying to get your flowers. Baby doesn't look on them. But let's get you show every better. When I'm over there to him, I'm did we got good energy going on in here? God? Did I ask you? Are you smoking? Yeah? Man, let's go. That's a smoke chap right there, that's in your local dispensary in the California. Wait wait wait yeah, and it's organic paper, so it's no tobacco, you know what I mean? God damnit, we got you. It's smokers. Now did you

did you? Did you hear? Tank came on here and take sad He said, he said that black love it's more threatened than than black violence. Like they accept more black violence than they do black love. They said that black love's a threat. I thought that was very That's

really I feel like. I feel like because you think about it, if we if we as black people was to ever was to ever at any point really come together, Come on, man, ain't it ain't nothing that we couldn't take over it and a' nothing that we couldn't accomplish it. The ain't nothing that we couldn't we we would run this if we ever decided to come together. But you know, we were crabs in the barrel we do that thing. It's unfortunate. I kind of I kind of I need.

I need my folks to get to get their life together on that because it's like any city you go to in the world is trying to sound you know what I'm saying. They go to where they go the literal italy. You know what I'm saying, Like every other race doesn't, but us, it's just us. We need a little black town. But why not maybe that's the word, but maybe that little black we could find creative name.

But I'm saying just the fact that they'll go somewhere, figure out how to get money and then tell their people and then they people come and then everybody's getting money. Like we don't do that. That's that's that's sad. You know what's sucked up when we do it. They call it rico. Wow, jeez, why Yeah, that wasn't a joke. It wasn't. I mean, it cut like one. But I

just think about it was trying to do that. He was trying to put his people on and they actually flipped that on him to make that a bad thing. So maybe like sometimes damn if you do damn people don't. But listen, I mean, the odds is always against us. That ain't never not been true. However, if it was impossible for us to get there, there would be no black billionaires. There would be there. We wouldn't we wouldn't be in there if it wasn't possible possible for us

to get in there. So it's about once we get in there, what we do when we're in there, that's what that's what's importing. Well, Neo, our show is about giving people the flowers. So we want to personally give you your flowers. You got, we got them ready, want to personal to give your flowers. You know what I'm saying, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Snoop Dogg said it's better than when the Grammy because

it's from his people. But you got Graham, come on now, so it might not be better for you now that you got Yeah, you know they you know they took time when they put your name on it. That's right, that's right. Somebody sat there life, that's right, goddamn it straight. That's why I appreciate it. Man. So the more to gram me have to wait to put this put to it. But um so what are you like more making the record or performing the record? Making the record straight away

straight away? Um so, I'm forty two years old at this point, right, Uh, the knees don't be knee and like that. You keep it all the way with perform even I love to perform. I love you know just that that energy exchange that happens between the artists and the crowd. But I can write. If my knees decided to stop working on Mark, I can still write a song, you know what I'm saying. So it's always going to be the writing for me, which is how you started. Yeah, Yeah,

that was my first love. That was my first big break, you know what I'm saying. I got success as a writer before I got success as an artist. What was your first big break? Mario's You Should Let Me Love You? That was the first one. Yes, damn, I don't counting your pockets. Yeah, man, that got your deal. That got you your deal kind of kind of. I got my deal somewhat by accident. I mean I don't I don't

believe an accident. Don't believe coincidences. All I know is we didn't walk into the Deaf Gym building that day with the hopes of leaving what the record did? We went in there that day so that my homeboy Sauce UH, amazing producer UH used to be the group something for the people like Early nine, you remember them. So we went to Deaf Jam that day so that he could reunite with an old friend of his from high school. Uh,

little known to me at the time. That friend was Tina David at the time, was you know, David was a legend. David cover you and Chris. Yeah, absolutely absolutely. We went up there so that they could, you know, get there, you're not in it feels so good on um And by the time we left the building, I had performed for l. A. Reid and the whole nine and then yeah, we left for the record there, not for the record there. It was cool, It was cool. It was weird because it's like, you know, it's the

whole situation was like you're looking for your keys. You can't find the damn keys to flip the whole house and down looking for these keys. You said, you know what, to hell with it, I'll find another way to get there. And then the ship's falling a lap. That's what it was. That's what it was because I so many different times that we, you know, trying to get a deal talking to this rep. That rep. Center songs over here, this, this is and everything is thanks for no thanks all right? Cool?

So I said, you know what, I'm just right. It would just be right. It's my money over here anyway, I just write so we went and we went over there. I mean, we was in New York because we were shopping music around. We didn't go to Damn Jam on purpose because we had already went like two days prior. So on the way back to the hotel, he's like, yo, let me stop here quick and say, what's uping at home? Girl? I ain't seen it forever? All right? Cool? So you

know they're doing that. I'm sitting in the corner waiting. Uh. He starts playing her some the music that. Yeah. So she looked at me. She goes, your does your music? Yeah? You wrote this? Yeah that you're singing too? Yeah? Can you dance a little bit? Yeah, Okay, let's turn the music up. She said, go for it. I'm like, what, no, mind you again. I'm just I'm well, I'm hungry, Like, can y'all pick this up so we can go eat Damn I'm hung already go I'm like, all right, y'all

know in in Tina Davis's office. Yeah, so she turns your music up and she says back, like, go for it, stone face go oh ship, Well, I'm not gonna challenge me. So I got up. I'm performed before the whole not again, no response whatsoever. So I'm like, all right, this is a waste of time. As soon as I got finished, she said, hey, yeah, Mr Reed, I think I got somebody you should beat. And the rest of his root

from there, the rest is history. Accidentally got a record there in the midst of you actively trying to shop this moment, you wasn't trying to shut not at all, not at all. And Read and l a Read he doesn't put on baby face all this Now? Is this surreal for you? Do you know who? L A Read? Is? Absolutely a matter of fact. When she got off the phone, I said, you said, Mr Read, that's that's that's She's like, yeah, yeah, we're about to go meet him right now. Okay cool.

So yeah it was. It was definitely a surreal situation. Um, you got in there, he says his first words to me, and so you're the next big thing. Huh, Like funk, what the fund is happening right now? Because the selling you or something else. So I performed for him, him and his tastemakers. It's him and like like nine other people in the room. Everybody. I feel like the Chinese woman was in there. There was definitely a Chinese woman in there. You don't come about Yeah, you know what

I'm talking about, Karen Karen kwak, God damn it. So the performer, performer, performer, I get done. He goes, all right, thank you very much. Can I talk to about people? Step outside. We sat outside in the lobby of his of his office for like an hour, like a solid hour, to the point I turned this offs like yeah, man, let's just go. Clearly they ain't interested. It wouldn't be taking this long. Let's just go. So as we're leaving, somebody pokes their head out the wind like, hey, um,

what is your lawyer information? Because Mystery wants to give you a record deal? And it was it was like a I'm trying to find the words to explain how I was there, but I wasn't there, you know what I mean. It's like, this is this is not really this can't be really happening. You know how hard, how long we've been trying to make this happen, and and just on the on the humbug it happens. This can't be real now I'm gonna wake up in a minute. But yeah, it was. It was a beautiful situation. Man,

what's up you ain't got quick time, so I'm ready. Okay, cool cool, cool cool, Holy mo, get on my notes, Let me go on my notes. Okay, yes, yes, yes, yes yes. So what are the writers? Were you inspired by that? Other song writers that I was inspired or any artists that you're inspired by? Um, well, you know what it's It's actually funny in that moment when I'm in Tina David's office and uh, she's asking me about

the music I got finished performing. He was waiting to go in l A's office, and she said to me, is there any artists out there that kind of like keeps you on your toes? You know what I'm saying, somebody that you always check them for it just to you know, keeps you on your toes. And the second she said that, usher's yeah, video came on. Yeah that dude right there. She's like, interesting, I'm about to put you in front of the man and made him shit. It was it was yeah, it was right moment. Yeah,

Holy moli GUACAMOLEI man, this is some good ship. This is some good ship, all right? Um play hard with David Gutta at a calm. Yeah. I don't know how to pronounce this ship. How how did how did they call you? How who called you? What was happening? How did you so? I? Um I did something with David Ghetto already and then um so okay, so the funny thing, damn can I even say this? Yeah? The music is all right? So that hook that work hard, play hard? That was supposed to be uh for the remix to

with Wiz Khalifa's uh the WIRs Khalifa joint? Which one? He got a lot of joints. The wonder where the one way he says something about work hard, play hard on which one it would the record he probably don't even remember. He got to huh, you've been sucking up all down you ain't been well. It wasn't that record, but it was supposed to be the remix to to wis Wis Kalifa joint, and Uh I finished it and David get David was like, no, this is this is this is bigger than the remix. This is this is

a record. So then he put uh put a con on it akin been a friend for a long time, you know, it's just the hommy Yeah, man, it was it was It was easy. David Gjenna is one of them cats. That before he became David Getta. He's just he's just a music dude. You know. Some of these cats that do it clearly for for the money and for the recognition of it. David ghett to do it because he loved music, you know. And and that's that was our initial connection. We've been cool ever since. Trying

to sell you properly in Africa. He didn't, Yeah, but he didn't. He didn't do it like I'm trying to sell you something. He was like, he was like, this is cool, right, yeah, yeah, you should be a part of the Yea, he got me. What's the price? Man? You're going? Man? All right, I just want to say that. Man, I gotta gon do it Africa. That's just hard. That's just even if Yeah yeah Africa. Man, he's still building Wakando over there. Yea, I might ride. Oh man, Man,

We've got a quick time of slim. Okay, this is a game. It's a game played with all the guests. All right, so we ask you do you are a b choice if you be politically to conrect and do you wanna uh not please the fifth? The fifth, then you gotta take a shot both and if you say neither you take a shot. But so it's pretty pretty much FO you want to take, you want to stick with the rock, We take the shots. We don't leave you the same. I'm gonna drink this Japanese whiskey. I

mean streaming Japanese deadly. Y'all know what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying. You know. Yeah, I'm from Japan, you know, by the way. But yeah, smoke, Okay, I'm gonna get mine, Juanna, I'm gonna get mine ready in the building. You're ready? Yeah? Why do I feel like you're about to give me in trouble? No? No, no, I mean you can't play and safe. We just drink a lot. Yeah, you want to go first? You all right? Got it? Oh? This is good. It's a good you're

drinking off top. Uh, Michael Jackson or Prince, I don't get my shot ready? Uh just take the shot, damn shot? What I got? Yeah? Leave him the bottom. Just kind of question a moment. Okay, you're drinking. Look that was either don't have to you can take half of that. You can take half. You might as well get your shot ready. You definitely don't have to pull that heaven because you're definitely you're not gonna do that. You definitely you definitely. UM have to be politically correct on this one.

All right, let's go Beyonce or just take this up. Let take that off. Let me just hold o my god. Okay, wait, what's what's what's the question? Exactly? Whatever? It is? It musically being reality period your mind? Yeah, you just take literally correct. I can't. Yeah, I can't. I can Okay, don't you just do Yeah? Yeah, you gotta go crazy solottle kid. I feel like this game is fixed. Let me just say that I've been set up. Yes you have, sir. This is one I don't know, but it could go

either way. Tupac or dmx A Tupac, Alicia Keys or Kadu sh uh uh okay note against Alicia. I love you to death. I love you. Don't don't don't think I'm hey, did you did you? Did you support Erica bardus incense? I did not. I don't think no married man, you have pussy instance, my wife loves you too. But like that, I don't even act likely notable. But the product is I did. I did, But because I think that's women empowerment. I believe in our house to smell

like Erica. But I don't think so, sir, I don't think I think that's accurate. Uh, ice cube or iced tea, mhm, all of them. Respect for ice Cube, but I'm gonna say ice because he let me see call go booty one time. I'm sorry, said, what did you say, doesn't mean squeeze called booty ones like? Respectfully? Yes it was, it was respectfully. It was a Halloween party, right, And how does this work? You have grappy, wife's asked, I literally walked up to your mind. I had had a

couple of drinks at this point. I walked up to him and I said, because she had on like she has. So I walked up to him and I was like, bro, all due respect, h I've wanted to squeeze Coco's asked for a really long time. And he said, you know what, and I'm just kind of pimp to let you do it. And he called over and he whispered something in her ear, and she looked at him and smiled, and it looked at me and smiled and turned around and bent the thing over and I grabbed as much of a handful

as I could. He gave me a pound and we finished and we drinking hung out for its to night. That was that. I'm trying to figure out who's more gainst in the situation, him or cocoa or is it all It might just be a I'm taking a shot for that. I'm sorry that the shot shut up. My friend shot right now outside just because of that. That was. That was a moment for me. He got there, a moment weized all of us. He threw me off with

that one. You got. I ain't never been I'm not able to say something on my show like I'm saying here like this is good. Okay, you know what I think. I think he knew that I ain't posed no threat met him on adition that it was cool. It was a no no, we understand. And that thing is very soft. Chris Brown or Usher Ussher only because Chris Brown is talented as hell, but Usher, I grew up Usher. You know what I'm saying, Like, that's Ushers part of the

reason that Neo exists. I'm keep it all the shop like that's Jackson five or new addition, damn uh, new addition, new edition. Because my I was I was a fan of the Jackson five, but I was more of a fan of Mike than what Michael was doing as opposed to the whole Jackson five situations. New addition. The first first concert I even went to in life was a

new edition. It was a coming home concert. Well you know everybody like BBD got a section, Bobby Brown got a section, Rob Tredsman got a section, and they all came back that they broke up. This is after they broke up. Agamea first concert ever in life, and they came out in these red suits with this embroidered tiger on the joint and these these red baller caps. And I'm like, yo, one day, one day, like if you saw, if you saw me a lovers and friends, that whole

red ensemble that was inspired by the addition. H Jeremiah, he got quiet because or trade songs on my bad Jeremiah Trade songs, Uh, Jeremiah much love of trade song, But jeremiahs is a Jeremiah is a is a. I look at Jeremy Moore as a writer and a musician than an artist, you know what I'm saying, Like like, don't get me on his art His artistry is dope, his songs is dope. But I have the respect for that man, for the way that he makes music and the music that he the music that he makes. Jeremah

Jeremiah the big up Jeremond. I don't think I forgot forgot bro. He looked out for me when I needed them when I'm very thankful for that. When when the you love record. So I'm sending the studio with a man, rock star, and we're just having a random conversation about people that I haven't worked withducing rock star, rock Star, shout out the boy rock star. So we're just talking

about people that I've never worked with. To get my light mynd like that I would, but rock star sending the studio, rock started talking about people ain't working with yet Jeremie's name popped up. He was like, work, hold on, hey, pull up. Nick pulled up. He pulled up with with the bag he had, putting me like seven records, seven amazing records. I'm like, listen as my pride won't let me pick more than one because because I'm looking, I'm

listening to these records like, damn, why ain't thinking that? Damn? I don't know how many of crazy that lyric it was. It was one of those moments. So I picked the one that I felt safe with and that was the Love Record And yeah, man, rest history. Shout out to the boy Jereminda. She already got my shot ready, Yeah, because I don't think I could choose in this one. Jay z or Nas got my shot ready set up. Look at what solo? This is not cool. It's not cool.

Has anybody ever been carried out of this show? Afterwards? Everyone survives afterwards? Is it's a little bit crazy afterwards. But okay, we've had some wild ones h that I mentioned. I'm not a shot taker that I mentioned that nobody is. We're just here. We just he we all side. We celebrated yo yo yo shuh The Dream or Ryan Leslie? Wow, Um, all right. I've always felt like they never got the flowers deserved, but I never got the recognition deserved. But

I do it as a genius. Um. But from the standpoint of you know who took it and did and did what they were supposed to do with it for whatever reason, I gotta give it to the day Dream. Bryan Leslie is dope, dope as hell. We've act. We actually got records together that the world has never heard. But yeah, the Dream. Yeah, man, you know what, you know what's dope about the Dream? I okay, So I personally don't like the songs where it'd be like one word repeated over and over and over and over and

fucking over again. That's just annoyed at me. But the Dream, for whatever reason, when he do it, it don't annoy me. Like when he doing that's I was like that, Yeah, all right, that's seventeen times you say that one word. But the ship is dope though, like I like, yo, I have respect for that dude because like I've tried that before, Like let me, let me see if I can. No, I don't like this ship. I'm annoyed by myself. I can't do it, but he should be working, So shout

out to the Dream. It was dope. Tory Lanes or the Weekend, Uh, the weekend, the weekend Tory Lanes. I'm gonna lie Tory Lanes. It's cool, little dude, talented, a little dude, but the Weekend is a is a and that that thing is like an entity like I don't even know. I don't even know where to how to categorize him. He's something else. I agree with you everything something else. These things about that a hunted house that goddamn uh uh one of them damn amusement parks. What

what R and B cat is doing that haunted house? Yeah, his own haunted house. Like it's different, different dudes and different dude Mario or Marian. Uh the set up question, No, No, I can make a distinction here. I'm gonna Mario. So I broke this down for somebody, uh during the BT weekend because everyone because of course everybody's asking me about

the damn versus I don't. A performer, Mario will always have issue against a singer Mario because a singer Mario can get all everybody in the room with just his voice. He can literally stand in one spot and just sing and get the whole room. Whereas the performer Marian, he gott to do a double flipping land on his head and then turn around and split and eat some watermelon. That's There's so much that has to happen. Was a

little uncoming. It was a little uncoming. It was I think I think that I think everyone It was a little uncoming. But but yeah, so I'm always gonna go away with a singer, you know, remind you I I dubbed myself a performer. I'm a performer that can sing, but I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I wouldn't go up against Mario in a battle, in a singing battle like nobody's doing that was doing that, that's what that dude does. No, that's not so shot. Marian and Mario, everybody, everybody knows

who want that thing? S soso double xl uh. You know what? The source? The source? Because the source actually put me on a cover at one time. Yeah me and keeps your cold it's fire. Yeah, that was weird. I'm gonna get my shot ready for this next one. Fifty cents or jeezy damn, just get my shot ready. Get that pop got ready for both of them? I do, and they are both friends. Solo, can't you slottle slot good choice, get easier as you go. Yeah, it's getting

easier right now. It's not Jermaine depris on pop daddy. Damn uh that's a shot. Damn the fucking set up. Damn, come on, come on, this is thank god. I ain't had nothing to do today different so I'm going to bed after Oh oh, just get the good one. This is my favorite major or independent independent. Wow comes, I'm not gonna you have debates over no. Speaking from personal experience, major label is dope when it's done the right way. But nowadays, how often is it done the right way? Right?

You know what I mean? We we've got to a point where where all you really use a major label four is a bank. You know what I'm saying. It's it's it's money that you don't gotta pull out your own pocket. But as far as the legwork, as far as you know, all of that, that's that's that has to happen. Like castes that are doing it theirself, catch that are promoting themselves, cats is making records in their bathroom on Monday and dropping them ships on Spotify Tuesday.

You know, it's a real thing. It's it's happening there. And the more are the more these young artists realized that the power is kind of in their own hands. The less and less the less unless you feel like you would need a major label. And mind you, I'm talking about the major labels that don't the way they said the EXXL had you on the cup and not for that you sucked up me with you. I just got to text, so you know, what I mean, we just got the tex little gun, salut the clock, Let's go,

let's go Independence, shout of clock. But I'll tell you, I'm gonna tell you something I got spoiled after having hit records, after having streaked records. When I first came out was the warri Port we me and Capone, we had records that was was considered hits. But just in New York said that that streak records right the minute I touched hit all fifty markets, the minute I hit the number one. It was hard not to try to

not have that same feeling. So it's like it's like if they say when when a person does drugs or does crack, that that first hit is always the best, So you always go out there and you're chasing that. That's the same thing like when I was here when I hit, When I hit a different it's a different time period of social media that pre social media all that. So I had to sell a million records. I had to go to a million places, you know what I mean.

Like it wasn't as easy as what like I used to be called on that Like I'm like people look at me like I'm prehistoric, you know what, I'm saying, I'm doing you I heard you know, people know what the fact is, I came out of the nineties. So people think that I'm prehistoric because they just think everybody everything in the nineties is you know what I mean.

But I did get it. I did get used to um that major label look and that you know, going being able to go to every morning show throughout the whole country, being able to go and then when you get the independent you don't get that same look. You know what I'm saying, You have to you have to work very, very harder to get the little results that you actually get when you get them when you're work, when you're with a record label, they believe in you

and wants to actually do the work. That's that's all switch which should be to the combination of both being independent to the point where the major is just your distribution. It's the right deal for you, and then they take you to the next level. That that's always all componis when we argue about that, that's all we we where we see out of eyes. Stay independent, but get that major labeled distribution. You know what I'm saying. So when you because man, I ain't gonna lie it'd be hard

to go to go back to the non suitets. What's the economy, loud, I don't want to stay there. I can season, you don't have to. I've never been independent. Okay, we're taking a shot for you're not going independent. Keep that big check money man talking to check money. Let's go. Mm hmmm h Japanese Delion is fighting back. Yes, sir, yeah, yes, stay stay stay Major, stay Major. No no, no, I'm so.

I've never been an independent artist, so I don't completely know the struggle of independent artists other than you basically have to do everything yourself, right, I get, I understand what that is. I get that, you know. Shout out to my motown team. They do me absolutely, talking right over there right spending their motown money, baby, definitely, But start spending your own money. It's different. There are also about give up ownership. Let's keep that in mind as well.

To be on the major label, you don't have to go up. I don't mind. I don't mean. Well, you know what, So I watched something the other day and I think it was older. I'm not sure, but it was it was the boy uh that made sense. It made sense. He was like he was like he just wanted to buy his masters back. He wanted to get his masters back, and and they was giving him a hard time about getting the masters back. He said, what

are you gonna do with the master? Yeah, it's like what you're gonna do put the ships on your on your dress, Like what you're gonna do with the ship? If you don't know what to do? It it's worth it's worthless, it's worth. So I get that. I get that. I think the independent route just is attractive to me because it's like your own agenda, you know what I'm saying. They're definitely on a Record Labels agenda, you know, on

their timeline. You gotta do ship when when they need you to do it, when they want you to do it. Whereas the independent you could just do your own thing. Like I would love to do a so on Monday and drop the ship too, say, because I felt like it. I would love to do that, Like that's that's that's the kind of freedom. That that's the kind of freedom that I feel like, you work, you work this hard for this long to get to get that kind of freedom. It's like the same. Not all money is good money.

So you might make some less money as an independent, but that freedom is just as less money as an independent I mean say, if if that was the case, that freedom might be just as valuable for someone made a little bit more. Always is always the exception. Like you're looking at the rocket Fellers where they own their masters.

You look at the master each to look at the you know, um, the cash money is always the exception to that rule, you know what I mean with with people like that, like those, But I mean that's the they're there are definitely exceptions to the rule. They're they're the rare occasions where the independent thing work, not only work, but but flourish. Yeah, completely, I bet you. I bet you little Wayne, I bet you, um Turk. All of them never felt like they was on an independent label

because they have those independent labels. Was sucking conglomerates be then theirselves like it's the like independent because it's independently owned. Like it's just y'all know I think y'all are y'all are a major label? Okay, all right? A connoty pain? Why do you want to put all my friends against each other? That's the evil Dominican and the evil Columbia. I'm gonna say, uh, I'm man, let's do it. I'm glad you're playing the game. He's playing the game. He

is playing the game. I love it. I love it. Thank thank you, thank you. You be a little too for Okay, you know a little so little okay, m M Quincy Jones or Stevie Wonder, this is you might as well kept pouring out of here. This was a great idea. We're right second, Quincy Jones or you said, Quincy Jones, step Wonder okay, Uh Stevie Wonder. And I would say this because because he could see it on the low, Shock said he see him in the elevator.

He pressed the body because boys up to big walking. Well, come on, I think you see y'all finger pop and ship for years. That's the one that I love you to death. I ain't say that with me, no, God, Stevie Wonder, because I learned. I learned how to sing listening to Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. I hate more voice, so okay. So I come from uh musical family. Everybody and my family do something. My sister came out the wound just blowing right, so it's effortless for her. My

ship was not effortless. I had to had to like learn how to sing and drink tea and definitely drink. But my mom used to listen to like, you know, temptations, Oh Jay's teddy pentagrams, turn them off, big heavy voices, and I ain't had that ship. And my mom was my hero. That was that was like, that was my person, you know what I'm saying. So I wanted to sound like the ship that she liked to listen to, but I ain't sound like that. So she introduced me to

Michael Jackson. She introduced me to Stephen want because it was kind of a similar tone to what huh literally not Michael Jackson, kids your coaches. All I met was Kennyson growing up. I was mad jealous one second met Michael and one of the steve me one as a job I met as an adult. Wait, we could get into that. Hold on, don't don't go too fast, you're going too fat. Now we're going to beat That's the first way we're gonna We're gonna straight to Michael and

print stories if you have, we love them here. Yeah, when Patty the Bell print story was kind of crazy, it was that was a good show speaking of that wall of Drilla. Never expected to see Patty the mail as she drank. We didn't expect everything that was amazing. And she drank and she signed my guacam only company too. Let's make some noise for me close up and I made it deal immediately, let's go back to you. You might distribution. I went mad, I went I went independent

this time. Okay, okay, off the water, throw off the wall. Because, as I was just saying, I learned how to sing listening to Mike and Steve. The first Michael Jackson music that I ever heard was off the Wall. Kanye Wessel for Rell fu fuck um fuck that blue Dotter is looking at Emmett. I'm too nice. I mean, this is this is, this game is made. I told you I don't take shots. I don't know. I don't have shot etiquette.

I don't know what I'm just say etiquette it because it's long long, we're not even have we all have way through? Were not with the show? Over the show? Yea, yeah, we have way through. My answers is about changing on this one. This one. It's gonna be ill all right, tank or keep sweat, uh, keep sweat. Gotta go with the history go absolute o G radio or podcast that's independent of major all over, and I can honestly say that in the history of me, I've made my money

via radio. Then I have your podcast. We can respect that. Respect that, you know, as soon as the podcast checks are rolling in, Hey, yeah, no problem, no problem, we respect that, all right, e F And you want to go, Okay, I get it now. I didn't. I didn't get it before. For Dora's or baseball hats, I didn't get it that first, sorry, or because it sounds like a new clearly you live quality and else the number three topic wearing niggers in the world cats or had the shower back there? I do?

That was a lot. I know, k I'm saying something, so all right, I feel like world world known people know the for door like if you if you you think neo, you think for door world. However, they both embodied me like it's just it's just it's just who the hell I am for doors for do? Okay? I love a baseball cat, but I feel like I look better at the door. I love that they a little emoji for the big but the cat, like you, like, we wouldn't know what that Okay, Our Green or Curtis Mayfield, Damn,

let's go, come on, let's drink it. Yeah, I'm ahead. Uh, I'm gonna get mine ready at least I really don't want to take another shot. Fuck y'all. Damn damn. Yeah, that's not a you can't do that. Yeah, you gotta show respect to the old JS. So I look serious. M hm awk our Green grets may that man find christ def Jam. We've been talking about that, people telling about the Grits Jef Jam my Motown. Who um, you

know what think's drinking that? I'm take a shot. I'm gonna advise, I'm gonna listen to your advisorysory committee, not real ship because def Jam set it up in Motown, spiked at home. You know. So they both played very intricate injurgle role in my success. So I can't slot to both pick up tons of two tons of tongs. He's doing a great jobs, gonna get it ready and the tinay Rick James and Bobby Brown Bobby Brown head No I fock Rick James, Rick James. But as far

as influenced me personally, Bobby Brown is my imagination. Did you hear that Bobby Brown frog um chicken with cocaine. I did not hear that. However, I am not shocked surprised by that at all, as they said he had so much cocaine one time that he got he bred chicken. He bred. I ain't gonna lie to that work. I don't know where. I ain't allow to you order me.

He wants to know how that part like, because that was either some complete bullshit like it was going to be the best chicken regards, this is the best you taking by and that it's the best, yo, don't let you. Who told us that Rick James their babysitter? Wow? Who told that? Was it snow that Rick James? Was it? Conway? It was snow that Rick James was just babysitter somebody kids? By the way, that snow by the way, whoever that was your parents is out of live. I'm saying he

talked about his mom. That's a strange I'm not I'm a good babysittering. What are you doing as what are you doing as a parent to where it becomes a good idea for Richard James to watch the I gotta be there, I gotta Rick you mean slide you gotta be there. What's happening? What does that Evan? It was definitely picture what you got to go? Something was ship hey, listen, ship hold little man, damn bottle every two hours. Okay, Whitney Houston or Amy wine House. Whitney Houston Love Amy

wine House. But there will be no Amy wine House where wit Houston, Adele or Mariah Maria Love be now Adele. I got record with Mariah. She came to the studio and didn't my record and drink and I ain't gonna lie. I was so embarrassed when she came to the studio because we didn't clean up. You know, I had like a clubhouse studio. And then Marian carry walls to like, what do you do? You do you take the garbage out? Now like he's not so much like you just go

with it, but but hold on. But I deflected, Neil. You know what I did. I said, you drinking wine? She said yes, I yeah, and we went and then she had her eyes on the wine and not how filthy my studio was. Riots in the back of her head. She was like, it's dirtiest hand, but let me just say good, let me just tell your something. So we had so so she was walking around and like I've never seen my my my niggas groupy out like this, like my niggas was really following her up and down

the studios. So I said, I said, I said, I said, my Ryan, I said, you can't show stop following my rife. And then Mariant hits me to to the side. She said, they may never see me again. Just left them, just left them. And because I was taking the too far, because this is my guest, you know what I mean, I'm like this before cameras and U Instagram. But she said, she said, she leaned over so politely said no, they

may never see me again. Let them you know. You know what she meant was, I ain't never coming back. I am coming back different. That's like a life that's a life accomplishment. Yes, yes, I got a record. I did. I did ship with Mariah. I did shout out the big shout out the big life accomplished that that line is all because everybody felt like, yeah, yeah, that's it. That's it. Dicky Smalls or big punt Biggie Smalls, a

big pun Biggie Smalls, all respect to Big Punk. But I was introduced a Biggie Smallest first, I fell in love with Biggie word played first, big smalls good. It's the last one, the last one the interview, but the last for quick Time and slide Everyone these is a m a trick question. It really is a trick question. Isn't what it kind of is? Loyalty or respect? Loyalty or respect? Can you be loyal to somebody that you

don't respect? Step? Not really right? If I don't. If I don't respect you, why would I Why would I waste my loyalty? Only final respect you? So it's a definitely loyalty. Let me respect respect, definitely respect. Okay, yeah, god damn it. We survived quick time, you did it. I'm gonna take a shot for surviving. I'm gonna take surviving. Yeah, quick time yet. Okay, okay, And let me just tell you something. We've been doing this for six years. There's

only two people who came here and changed cheers. You just made a list. But who else you think is the other person came here and changed? Changed like I mean change clothes, like clothes changed. But actually actually I didn't. I was going you had a whole plan was changed. You know what I'm about to drink and smoke and it's probably gonna be bad. I love rock. Let me right, I'm with family and friends. Let the rock. Why I'm good good? Who's the only I ain't got dressed up

for you? Who's the other person that you think that came here and came here and changed? Clowes did Patty the change and love it. She she came ready to rock hat out here and make a lot of people there. We picked up my boy, go go. We picked up with the ghost. We had a red carpet for because we don't even have to you know what I'm saying. And yeah, but she she stayed ready. But she didn't take my easies. He took my easy slippers because he

wanted to go to the bathroom. Wanted to go to the bathroom, and I had my slippers right there, and so I opened it up and she did it. And then when she when she didn't, she started she started dancing. I said, holy movie, we want, we want. We got hanging about dancing. And soon as she put the easiest off slippers off, I'm framing them right now, I'm framing them. And so when you walk in my crib, you first

walk in my crib. You're gonna see the yeasies that Palliati about war because see the video footage of her wearing it, Because that implies you have a very large crib. No, no, no, actually actually don't. Yeah, because actually next to that, I got memorabil you just said doing the six years. But actually I got Floyd may Whether his whole outfit that he wore a drink chance is, I'm the biggest Floyd Mayweather fan, So he sent me that. And then I

got um Lennox Lewis boxing gloves. I got a memorable bill. You like a sting going on. You know what I'm saying, If you know what, I'll take that. I'll take that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll take that. I'm just saying that. Yeah, yeah, you'll be up in there amongst the gad that's cool, and we're taking a shot for that. I think we shouldn't take a shot of that. Let take a shot for yourself. Everyone shot yourself. I know, I knew I was coming to gym saying take a shot, take a shot with

you're heavy short, I'm drunk, God damn man. Oh I stick got my drink on the side too. My spade. You sad she chose violence. Yes, listen, listen, listen. We used to have a Dominican guy named Mr Lee pouring drinks. Now we got a girl for you. You know what? Yes, yes, yes, because it would have been weird if you're having a un all his love songs. You're saying strange dynamic. Yeah, Joe, do you like being married? I like being married. I'm sorry, you know I love being married. Yeah, I love streets

is gross? Yeah, I'm sorry. It's it's true. It's true. It ain't it ain't it ain't ship. It ain't ship out there, but some ships you don't want. It's real, it's real. Like you see somebody do some whole ship. You'd be like, I'm going home pretty much, yo, real talk. I don't really, I ain't really ain't really outside like that, you know what. I gotta say that. I realized that. I'm sorry to cut you off. I know. That's the other day. My fun. My fun is being bored, like

that's fun to me. But see, I ain't bory. It may be boring to maybe, but I'm having a fucking ball. I'm at the crib. I'm killing the refrigerators right there. My bedroom is right there, my kids is here. I got my video game, nigger, I'm good a good video games. Oh damn yeah, I mean well, not all that Zelda I have, Legend of Zelda I have. I'm gonna play. I'm a PlayStation dude. Yeah yeah, I'm waiting on that Street Fight of six to come. Ain't got that Nintendo,

I don't. That's all the games. This nigger got all the games I've not seen that he got. He got. That's in the Super Mario Brothers. He had Mike Tyson punch Out and Rob knew how to play that. Nick Ros is not his age Ross is alright, age bro, this this young and you know to play Mike Typson, come on home, Bro, even lying us Bro, Bro like and this is a crazy ship. This is a is a cheat colde and Mike Tyson. How the funk he

knew that I said this? He yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's be out your lying, bro, at least be keeping it real. You forty two, yeah, I'm forty four. Goddamn, Holy moly, holy ship. Okay, we said, okay, stay down with featuring Young Blue or just just Blue. He took the young offer. He took the young He just Blue now okay, shout out to the boy Blue. Yeah, man, so how did this happen? What was going on? Um?

Stay down was one of my favorite actually one of my favorite joints on this album because uh so it's all right, so real ship. What happened is I wrote two songs about the same thing, right, and I didn't want to get rid of either song, so I just chopped the bitches in half and put them together. Um uh. The the addition of Blue, that was my nigga. Mr. Shout out to my man, Mr. Uh, that's that's my cat that just keep his ears to the street. Right.

He introduced me to Blue, introduced me to blues music, and I was impressed by the young boy, you know, went over to his house, you know, to to kick it with him, to just kind of fill him out, and like, I feel like he's getting he's getting love right now. But just that's that's that's the that's the nigg to watch for real real because like what he's giving y'all is good. But like I've heard some ship like like he come with some ship ship like for shout out to the boy Blue. Has it been on

another thing? How has it been filming the World of Dance Show. So The World of Dance Show unfortunately is not coming back now. They they did it, so I didn't realize that it was such an expensive show to shoot. It's a very very expensive show to shoot. I mean, I mean Jelos on the show. Of course, it's an expensive show to shoot. But I will say that the

four years that we did that ship, it was amazing. Um. You know what it feel like when you come to work and everybody at work feel like they want to be there, and I'm talking about it is that. It was that thing like like this, the energy from the production people, to the dancers that's doing it, to to me, j Lo Derek, it was just it's just a great experience all the way across the board. Yeah, my girl forced me to watch it and I ended up liking it,

like she's a jail fanatic. And then and then we've watched all the ladies. You know she's talking about sometimes now you know what you're talking about. So how was the Mass Singer? Yo? So I did the Mass Singer UK and I did that because I felt like if I did it here, I would have got caught easy. I feel like people have recognized my voice. But in the Massing of UK there was like, yo, if you can change your voice, change it, like whatever it is you gotta do to not get caught. Do that. And

I'm like, oh, ship, all right, we're cool. So that ship is beautiful and weird. It's fun. I can't breathe. No, no, no, I mean, aside from the fact that you can't breathe, don't you see units in those elaborate suits. No, little fans, Nah, come on, Disney characters, give that ship. I mean that's Disney. No. But the wow ship is that even backstage, nobody knows

who anybody is. Like, okay, so it's it's it's like one cat that helps you, like you know, work through the music and then like a handler and that's the only people that see your actual face everywhere, like you walk them around backstage. They give you this, uh it's like a like a it's like a visor, like a mirror advisor over your face and it's COVID pretty much. And it's big black hoodie with the words don't talk

to me right across the front of it. You. No one knows who anybody is even after the show, even after I got limited. I was like, all right, so real talk, Who's who's who's in the sausage suit. I can't tell you, gotta wait till the show comes out. Come on, man, I'm going home tomorrow. You can tell me. I can't at you. But yeah, it was. It was a dope experience. I loved it, especially because because they allowed me to like try to change my voice, try to sing a different way to not get caught. And

honestly I was. I was a little piste off because read the aora you know what you know read or I know read or read it or knows me. We worked together. I'm like, if anybody gonna catch me read it or read it or did not catch me. It was some guest judge that came in on like the last two shows and finally tig out who the hella was. I'm like, readA real for real, that's what it is, Okay, I get She's like, no, no, they I knew who you were. The second shodow, I couldn't say anything bullshit,

you didn't know what hell it was? But it was. It was all good though it was. It was. It was a great experience. I just feel like I really don't want to. I really don't want one. I'm about to hear me slurn over here. Come on, that's what you can skip one. You can skip one. We're gonna rocket y'all girl, mand I can't tell you what, but we're gonna take a shot for you. And you would read the order in the mask. No that she was fun. I didn't saying right, should not read the plan. Mhmm,

you're good. You're good, Yo. Listen, listen Neal, I'm gonna be honest your whole lection out here. Bro. Appreciate that I got to see your career from the beginning, from when you first worked with Pete Crack. Yeah. Man, you never gave Peter Cracker record back though she asked one, he won the crack he asked one. He record. He didn't tell me you want to record. Shout out to Pete Crack. I was in Philly just recently, like a couple of days ago. Yo. So so I was there.

We was at the Dall Center. It was ridiculous. We pulled up and I'm like, oh wait, funk, we're in Philly. Yo. Can somebody get ahold of Petty Crack? Compete Crack come out on stay, Pete Crack pulled him. He was like, Bro, I was at a whole family the bart with you. I was on the grill, I was getting it in, but I paused that to come fork with you. And I'm like, yo, yo when this nigga came out on stage, because mind you, it's Philly. You know, it's hot everywhere

right now, but it's it's dumb hot. It's like nine degrees at night. It's nuts to the point where even the crowd is like, hey, n ship, you know what, I'm gonna rock with you sitting down near this hot out here. Right when this nigga came out on stage, Nick, the whole place went nuts. Shout out to the boy, Petty Crack, because he literally pulled up on me in the last I called it. I called him in the last minute. I called him in the night in the ninth and he pulled up on me and he rocked

out and it was beautiful. Let me look at you face to face, man, and man, you gotta get Pete Crack ahead. Petty, how let you pet you have my personal phone. Numb nigga could call me bro. That's literally from the beginning, and that was my first single as an artist on that gym why I Got You, Brother,

and they did. They asked you to Crack brought that so they wanted So they knew that they wanted to go with Stay as the first record, and mind you, l A had like like a whole game plan and he was like, right, so we're gonna put this out first. This record is not gonna go to number one, but it's gonna do just well enough to get attention, to get people, and then we gonna hear him was so sick and we and we off. J. L A re

told me this like months before it happened. I'm like, this is a psychic But anyway, so they knew they wanted to go with Stay, but they felt like it needed something. So that's when Jay was like, we gotta get a hip hop feature on there. And I was like, all right, well, I'm it's jay Z soly listen whoever you decide, I'm rocking whatever. So he came with Pete. I wasn't familiar with who Pete Crack was when he put him on the record, but I loved what he

did to it. He killed it. Dully Kelly, Damn Kelly. I'm like I don't know who you are, but I don't even know what right, So so yeah, so Jay brought him around and and it was it was love. It was all up. He'd been a real nick for a long long time. Is my brother? We both Nicko Rican, We're both black and Puerto Rican. Yeah, yeah, I love Beattie. We haven't spoken a long time, but shas beatty crack. I love. He's a Drink Chance of alumni, straight up

and working and working with Pitt. Yeah, that's the next picture. That's another dude. That's another drink Chance and family. Listen, I'm gonna keep a funk with ya because I'm drunk. I don't have a lot of industry friends because I don't do funny. Well, Like, if I don't funk with you, you're gonna you're gonna know, like right away, you know what I mean. And the whole concept of hanging out with somebody, taking pictures with somebody because it's it's it's

good for your image. Like if y'all take a picture together, you know what I mean? He likes that. To guy, I don't. I don't give a damn. I don't rock like that. If I don't, I don't sunk with a lot of people funk with pit Bull because he's because aside from this music ship, aside from all of that, he's like a straight up, like just real you know. He's a genuine cat, you know, and he's always been at from from before the success, from before the success.

He's always been just a genuine dude. And uh yeah, man, that's that's that's one of my real friends, not industry friends. Not we see each other and we say what's up, because that's what you're supposed to do in the industry. Like, that's one of my real friends. Like if the ship hit the fan, I would call people and he would pick the phone up for me, you know what I mean, Like real friendship. Did you get to watch his drink Champs? It was class try to get because he's friend. He

brought they brought the vodka through. Yeah, he brought. He brought the first Mama Wanna that I started drinking and it was crazy. Is he came by himself, by himself because he literally that that speaks to the kind of cat is like you know what, I'm at home. I'm at home and pull up on my home boys. We're gonna do this it's gonna be fun like the career of only nobody with me. That's that's that's that speaks to the kind of cat that people shout out to

the boy shout out to Mr. Worldwide. The time of my life, It's time of our lives. That's the It was the second one we did, the second one, we did? Uh when we did the first one? This is the super Yeah. Well, I mean, I mean give me. Everything was was massive. Like I've performed at Womley Stadium before, but when I performed at Womeny Stadium with this cat, It's eighty people jumping up and down at the same time. Grab somebody sexy, tell him electric, nigga, it was. It

was electric. You have no idea. So it was different. It's different with that dude. So so he hit me with the second When he sent me the track, he was like, we gotta we gotta hit him again. We gotta do something. And mind you the concept of because at this point, I'm rich, I'm not paying rent, I'm I'm ownership at this point. But you know, I got

casts around me. That's that's you know, up and coming and you know, trying to make it happy and I'm working with young writers and trying to get them right. And I'm listening to I'm listening to somebody tell their story, you know, about the whole. I knew my real was gonna be later by the week ago. I knew I worked my ass off, but I still can't pay it though. I'm sitting listening to this cat tell the story to

his home. But like yo, I knew I wasn't gonna be able to pay the rent, but it only costs twenty bucks again the club. So I went to the mother club and I'm like, yea, that is the realist ship. Ever, it's like I can't pay it today, I ain't gonna be able to pay it tomorrow. But tonight I can get this guy damn club. I can get in there to have a good time. And I'm like, that's that's it, that's it. I knew my real was gonna be later.

By the week ago. I worked my ass off. I still can't pay it, though, but I got just enough to get off in this club, had me a good time before my time is up. N you just wrote the hook come in hugs love yeah, and sent that to bit and the rest is history. The rest is history. Yeah, man. Yeah, I write from personal experience. I write from the experience of the people around me that's willing to tell me the story. You know what I'm saying. I always try

to make it relatable. You know, everybody knows I ain't paying rent right now. I mean, at least if you're smart, you know I ain't paying on that rent. So you know I wasn't talking about myself. Same way, same way. It's like, I'm a married man, but I cannot write every song from the aspect of a married man. Ain't married. I heard you said, because everybody ain't married, I don't

write sauce like when you was depressed. You don't even right it for fully, for all depressed people, because everybody's not depressed, because everybody ain't depressed. I try. I try to tap into the different aspects of what the human beings is going through. That's just what I'm going Also heard you say that hurt music like when when you go through a hurt situation, it makes for better music. Yo. I've never been able to completely understand it, but I

have I have an understanding of it. It's like, okay, so everybody on the face of the planet knows what love is to us to a degree, even if you've never felt it, you know that it exists. You know that it's a force that exists, and it's and it's it's hard to put a finger on, but but you

know that it's there. So if you take the number of people that are in love or experiencing love versus the people that are not, versus the people that are searching for it, versus the people that are that are in in in the darker elements of love, I promise you was more people over here than it is over here. So for whatever, so so them them, them funked up situations just make four amazing song lyrics. Because it's like, all right, if I need to cry, I need something

to cry too. I need I need a song, I need some If I can't find a person that can relate to what I'm going through, I'm gonna put this song on because I know that whoever wrote this song knows exactly what I'm feeling. With Pinky Ring, Pinky Ring, you made pinky ring. That was different. That was that was anger, That wasn't that was I was. I was upset and no, no, no, no, it wasn't a disrecord. I didn't say anything about her, so to speak. I didn't say anything all about her. I was just speaking

on the way that I was handling this situation. Straight up, shut up. We forgive you, thank you, and she gave me some good. That was when I seed you at Shoolls. I ain't gonna lie because I met you very early on with Tina Davis, and I seed you very very successful. And when I knew that, I knew. I knew he was going to work it out for some reason, because because I believe in love. I'm sorry, I know I made all these gangster records mean stuffing. You're passion the nigger.

I get it, I get it. But but I knew even because at that time, I can tell you what hurt, I don't know what we were going through. Bro. So okay, So the peaky ring record, right, she came back, the wedding ring, I turned into a pinky ring that was completing other cap that was me moving around hurt as hell, trying to not look hurt like I'm out with my niggas. We had strip clubs like and I get back to the room at the end of the night and just cry myself to sleep. I was fucked up. I was

fucked up for real, for real, and I couldn't. I couldn't show people that, you know what I'm saying that the pride of me was like, no, I'm good. Yeah, she didn't want to be you know what, I'm straight, and in the back of my head, I wanted to go home, nigger. I was hurt, hurt like it was bad. It was bad. So so the fact that you could see that means that I wasn't hiding that ship as well as I thought. No, No, I saw this and we had so hard. So we just me and you,

a bunch of white people. And I looked at it and I said, no, that didn't need He's not gonna say you know what. And by the way, this is the time when we really first started drink champs. But I didn't want to pause. I didn't want to take advantage of you. I didn't want to. I was just like,

you know what, nigga, that drink chaps. Yeah, that would have been hard, that ship would have been because Beau, you know what, the crazy you've ever been a guy that told the dude you'll leave that bitch and did he get back? That don't have a good seat. Now you know the children that you don't never want to be that dude to be like yo man yo, and then you get back when you get back with a whole that's that's real. That's real now. I uh, I knew that I didn't want to get to get a divorce.

I mean coming, you know, you know what it is for negative even decide to get married, like especially like, let's keeping a nig in my position to be like you know what, cool on all, y'all, this one is just this one right, like that ship ain't like that's heavy. That's heavy. So if I go there, if I go to that extreme like I wanted to be just you, I ain't trying to get divorced. That's an all moment, y'all. To three, that's a woman's Yeah, that's a shot moment. Yeah,

that's also a shot clock time. We can do it because we're taking a shot for your wife, kid, say no, it's also a for my wife's also a let's go and for y'alla for year, Yeah you go too far. This is for y'all. Kindling y'all, and you believe in it. Love because I love love and I love love. Let's get it in and I also love love thanks Mr Lee. I've been together. I've been together. I've been together with my wife fifteen years. We've been married ten. I've been

married six, we've been together eight. God damnit make some noise for that. I how did you count wrong? How did you count that wrong? Taking a lot of shots? I didn't want he was married for no I I was telling him how long I was married. He shared his information with me. Because you're not married, right, technically you better relax. I mean, I'm pretty pretty much married, man, So what are you gonna do it? Hey? Man? Relaxed? You want to get and then you want to tell

me to relax. Come straight up, don't do that. We we lived together, we're married as far as i'm that's that's Latino marriage. You don't like you, but let me ask you. You got to work with Beyonce and wed. Yes, let's let's let's talk about that. Man. So in which one you want to talk about first? But your we one? So pick the wrong one? We got drinks ship. I'm being carried out. Um No. So when I first met Rihanna, she was a brother was not I was perform broy

she was young, young. She was like this might have been sixteen and seventeen somewhere there when first when I first first met her death Jamp had Tianna Taylor too. It was it was Rihanna, Tianna just got uh black Butterfly. Oh damn you? Hey, hey, Spike Tea, what's pop? Listen? We drunk? That was all of Yes, Uh, I don't want to what I meant sa Marie Rihanna and and uh black Butterfly? That yeah, uh still Yeah. When I first met Rihanna, she was very much still. She was

a kid, you know. Always we started working together, you know, japol me and studio what you know, I'm writing with or whatever the case may be. I'm sorry, man, you can't just be saying it. That's so nonchally to my jay Z. Yes, I'm sorry. Jay Z put me in the studio with Rihanna very very young, which she was very very young, and you know, we're writing and I'm taking the Jimmy jam Terry Lewis approach like I'm just sitting having conversations about what's going on with her so

that I can then turn around right the record. Right. So the odds ship is that as Rihanna is growing up and becoming the sex symbol that Rihanna is and all of my nigga's run. He's like, yo, yo, you saw Rihanna in them shorts. And I'm like, because it's like baby sisters, you know, my little sister. I'm like the DJ record out, yet this is not this is this is after the DJ Okay cool out and us have seen her and the niggas is on it, and I'm like, I'm like, I'm I'm pretty to these conversations,

but I can't engage. It's like, yeah, yo, nigga Rihanna. Yeah yeah, trying to down can't. Yeah, I can't engage these conversations because she's weird because like we've had like in depth conversations about real ship, like this is literally yeah yeah at this point, you know what, because I'm trying to write records for so we're talking about everything. We're talking about dudes, We're talking about all of that ship, right, And it's just weird because it's like as she gets older, act,

you know, act, she's growing into a young woman. It's like every nig around me is like yo, Rihanna, and I'm like, uh stop, She's weird. She was just weird for me, Like I couldn't. I couldn't look at us that little from from the first day I met her, it was like I under the wing protecting you after that, and then it's still that. You know what I'm saying, Like we ain't as close as we once was, but like you know what I'm saying to this day, and

was like, yo, Rihanna get it. I'm like, yeah, right, cool, Yeah, that's that's cool. I can't. I can't engage in that because that's because because of where we started at, you know what I mean, But you do respect Brihanna is. Rihanna is a worse Rihanna is the chick that's gonna show first and leave last, which is why when I heard she was a billionaire, I was like, yeah, that makes sense because she's accordable. Period. It's like, what we're doing, it ain't done yet. How many days it's been four

or five, We're still here. Fuck it until it's done. I'm here, Like that's who Rihanna is. Yeah man, yeah man. And that's what it takes to get to that billion straight up, that's what it takes. You gotta you gotta do this ship, like like you ain't got nothing else to do, or even if you've got something else to do, you've chosen to be here. Goddamn it. That's that's Rihanna. Now let's just get to be So is your first

time working, first time working with Beyonce. I'm in the studio and uh, I'm I'm I'm in the studio as a writer at this point. You know, I gotta deal. I'm on def Jam and I'm working on my album, but I'm also just righting. Period. We get a commission to do some ship for Britney Spears. M interesting, I'm like, oh ship before Brie she was Britney. Motherfucker brit Oh Ship. Yeah, let's get it. So, I'm in the studio, I'm working and writing them, writing songs with Britney Spears in mind.

Uh shout out to my nigger, Top Time. Top Times comes in the studio every other day, just listening to what I'm doing and every other song. He was like, yo, yeah, let me copy of that, and I'm thinking and for for the label. It's cool. Yeah, yeah, go ahead, go ahead. If I'm doing it for somebody specifically, you're not supposed to give away a copy of the ship, but again my nigger. So Um, I did a song called Flaws

and All like the Gun again, Flaws and All. If anybody knows this record, Flaws and All, but it's Beyonce record now, But it started out as a Britney Spears record. I wrote the record for Britney Spears. Talk comes in listening shout out to my boy shor shout out ty talk. I'm saying, listen, listen to what me and she is doing. It's like, yo, let me get let me get a copy of that. I'm ride home to the ship whatever. Al Right, cool, yeah, whatever, we give them the ship nigga.

Maybe a week later he was like, yeah, so that flaws on All ship. Yeah, don't put that into Brittany pack. Yeah, Beyonce is taking that. What what the fun? What? Wait? Yeah you know yeah, yeah, Beyonce is taking it. Don't worry, boy, don't worry. I don't worry about beyonest is taking that. So, um, what's the other one? What's the other one? Uh? Question exists question existence on Rihanna's Uh Good Girl Girl, Good Girl, Gone Bad album, another song that was supposed to go

to Britney Spears. So Outside came in. It was like, yeah, let me get a copy of that. I'm ever just ride to it. Let me get a copy of that. A week later, he's like, yeah, that's that's on Rihanna ship. Yeah, don't put that in the Brittney pack. That's Brianna Nigga. Every Beyonce is the replaceable was not for Britney Spears. I wrote that. I wrote that it for my everyplaceable. It must not know about me, sir, that one. That one wrote that for me. And that's sound good. It

sound good. You didn't drink that tea, Honey, you alive? Text me to curse good. I love like you said. He was blown before, Like you don't have vocals before, and then I have not. The police don't hear my super ballot. Listen when you get ready, I'll let your boy ballots all that. No, but but yeah, Beyonce is a placeable. I wrote that ship to keep. Initially I wrote that ship for myself. Yeah, I mean the story

is okay. So I grew up in the house with my mother, my grandmother, my sister, and five aunts all women until I was like sixteen, right, So I have one aunt in particular that was This was the aunt that had a new boyfriend like every fucking month. Every month. It was, girl, I love him, he makes me feel he makes me right there to say the least. So this was then in the house that had a little bit more money than everybody else. She was by no means rich. She was living in the house with us. However,

she had more money than everybody else. So when she started so when she bought a car for this dude, she bought a jag for this dude. Mind, you you are living in a house with seventeen other people and

you bought a shag for this dude. It was so it was it was like it was the talk of the crib for like, mind, I'm like eight eight years old, but I remember this because every conversation, like like my mom and my grandma Aunties, they used to like commune in the kitchen, you know, get their little wine and you know, their their little reef and just just talk that this this is nineteen, this might be this be nicety, right, and they were just sitting just just talk about, you know,

just what's going on, talking about her, Like you you you you're spending money on this dude. You didn't even got you, ain't got a jag? Which was wrong with you? Right? And I'm privy to all of this because I'm not I'm literally the only male in the carib So I'm sitting watching Time and Jerry, but all of this is going on. I have no idea that this ship is gonna be song lyrics later on in life. I'm just

I'm just locking I'm just locking it in. So I remember when she found out that this dude was rolling around in that same jack But like with other bitches type ship, I remember, I was privy to all the conversations like girls, right, you're gonna be high. I ain't gonna I love you. But that ain't her name, that's her nickname because that no, no, no, that that's what I'm talking about. You take a shot, cook y'all talk.

I can take a shot. You can you can't leave cooking suddenly become the person that is not succumbing to pure preser all of a sudden, miss me, we got you? So I so the song is a true story, is a completely true story, like I remember, because I remember this dude. He stuck around just a little bit longer than everybody else, right, and he was always the dude that like, like wanted to rub your head when you come in the group. It's going on a little man,

You'll get the hell off me, bro, know you. I feel like I did not like this dude because he was just trying so hard to be liked, you know what I mean. So I remember the day that he pulled up and mind you, because mind you, the auntie hasn't talked about it. Hold on, He's like, oh, yeah, you know we're coming over tomorrow. Oh no, I got all this stuff in this box right here. Yeah, all his stuff is right here. So he pulls up. I'm watching Tom and Jerry walking in house. You do look

rub my head was on America. Fuck me off that to this day, to this day, here part of you called trauma? You did you? You called trauma in my life? Did no? No? So so he go back in the room where where we're cookie at, and he's looking for something specifically, like baby, hey, where my mother jacket that. She's like, oh yeah, to the left, yeah, in that box right there, to the left of the closet. That's all your ship right there. And I'm like, mind you, I'm eight, So I'm like you so like they get

into it. You know what I'm saying. You you roll around in the car and I bought you with this bit, and I'm just sitting there just soaking it all in. It's hilarious to me at this I'm eight years old. It's hilarious, is funny said, because I didn't like to snik in no way. So I'm like, I'm I'm enjoying the fact that he's getting it. Remember his name, I ain't ain't gonna ain't. I ain't gonna get his ning. Not now. You caused tarum in my life where I

wear hats because of you know, give you know credit, bro. No. But so the cat, like I vividly recalled this cat walking out of the house with that box, with all this stuff, and they're talking about you don't never find a little you're like little you know up today, You'll never find somebody little you like me, And it's like and all the aunties just just laughing, just dying laughing. And I wanted to be a part of the laughter

like I was. I was eight years old. I just it was joy in the house and I wanted to be a part of that joy. So I'm laughing too. I don't know what the hell I'm laughing, and I'm just laughing with them, and I remember so fast forward to Stargate, I mean the studio with him and they played me at the beginning. It's just just the guitar, the guitar sound that you hear on a replaceable. It's just that initially, and I'm like, I wanted to country ship today and like, yeah, let's try this. Saw some

country ship. So I'm listening to this ship and for whatever reason that that that that image of old boy talking at the crib with this box, with this cardboard box with all this ship in it just pops into my head. So so I wrote the song and I'm like, I'm like, but but this was this was my Auntie story. Let me try to flip it to where it's like like I'm telling the girl to leave because she did some foul ship or whatever, like, yeah, let me try that.

So I wrote it like that. I wrote it in first person, like it's me telling the girl, awesome, you must not know I can have another U in a minute. Matter of fact, she'll be here in a minute. But then I listened back to the ship and I'm like, all right, at this point in life. The problem the majority of my fan basis female. Do chicks really want to hear me say I can have another U in a minute, matter of fact, she'll be here in a minute.

Maybe not maybe not right? That's that? Yeah, like that that that ship comes across real mean, real misogynistic, you know what I'm saying. So but but then a little bit, a little bit, I'm sitting with starting and I'm like, yo, okay, so there's clearly something to this record, but this, this ship might not be for me, y'all. This we might need to we might need to get a female to

sing this. Because if you take that same concept, that same lyric, I can have another U in a minute, matter of fact, he'll be here in a minute, and you give it. You let a chick sing, and it's it's it becomes empowering. You see a seeing women behind her with the fist of like, that's right, girl, we ain't gonna take it. Like you can see that ship. So I'm like, yeah, this, we might need to get

this to a female. So basically, you sold men out, I mean, boyfriends and baby Daddy's all over the world was mad at me for a little while behind that ship. They was, they were let's listen all up. But at the end of the day, if I can't get if I can get in good with the smarter race, I'm problemnna do that. You can't. That's the start of this. That's that vision. I can't figure some sh out my wife, come and figure it out, because I was like, why the same ship? And then again, I can't hook up

with Nintendo. You can't hook up with Nintendo. I don't know how to look up. I'm not the fact that you said Nintendo and not Xbox or he's still it speaks to the fact that you can't help Nintendo. Let's all good. You can't, so good, keep the like this is not worth Let's go on, let's go, Let's get that week guds going again. You met Michael Jackson. I met Michael Jackson. How was it? Um threal? Which Michael Jackson's What era of Michael Jackson is? I met my

definitely white. I met Mike roughly eight months before he passed. Oh wow, yeah, that's when you first met. That's for the first first minute that so I get a phone call one day my personal cell phone. I'm actually in the car en route to rehearsal because he was getting we was gearing up to get on tour. So I get a call. I answered. The call is an unknown I normally don't answer unknown numbers, like if I don't got you saved in my phone, enough with you. But

I answered this one just because on a humbug. I'm in the car. Whatever, So I pick it up. Hello, Hi, Hey, who is this? It's Michael because it was a crank caller. Michael Who Michael Jackson? All right, click because clearly somebody's working with me at this click. Somebody messing with me, right, So within five minutes of that phone call, I get another phone call from my assistant. At this point, he's like, Yo, so um are you sitting down? I'm like, I'm in

the car. We're talking about it. It's like, Yo, Michael Jackson is about to call you and talk to you about some music. I'm like about to call me or already called me like ten minutes ago. Down. Oh she didn't already call you? Yeah? I hung up in his thinking, hung up on, Michael, you're being late with this call, baby, hang up with Michael was so so he calls me back, and of course our front. I'm like, yeah, you know, I was, I was, I was going under a bridge.

We got this bad reception. But he was like he basically said, I would love to get in the studio and work with you. And I'm like, I'm literally not inside my body right now, Like, what do you want to work with me? Alright, cool, let's let's let's set it up. Let's get it together. You know there's people, call my people whatever. Whatever. He said, he wanted to meet. I want to I want to meet with you, and I want to talk to you about the kind of music I want to produce. So we set it up.

We set up to meet at Leo Cohen's shout out to Leo Cohen. Up set up to me that Leo Cohen's crib because he wanted to meet somewhere private out the way, you know what I'm saying. And I completely understood that York in New York Y, so I don't I don't know, you get details. So I go. I go to Leo Cohen's house, whichever one it was in at the time, right, you know, we chopped up for him and he's like, he's here, he's just just going.

He put me in like a study, like because because it's Leo Cohen, so he has a study in his house. He's there, he's yeah, he answered the door. It's there. So he puts me in the study, which is like a room three times besides of this room just full of books. It's Leo Cohen. All right, cool. So Michael Jackson walks in. He has on an all black suit, sup sup shirt, whole suit, he Nigga. So I'm gonna tell you, so I knew. I knew that Michael Jackson was like six ft tall, but like when he walked

in the room, he's six ft tall. Michael jacks sick. Yeah, he's sixty six too big. His tall dude, Michael is a tall dude. Yeah right now, you didn't know that Michael Jackson was easily six ft tall. Yeah, tall dude. But when he walked in the room and Nigga was ten feet tall, Like like he walked in he had on these aviator the aviator glasses with the mirror joints though, like this ship that like the bike cops were like, you know, how fast you were going? Like them cops?

He had on them ships right with the fucking with the with the whole ship on his wrist, like he broke his thumb with some ship. And he walks in and his first words to me are, oh my gosh, you know what my favorite song of yours is? Now? Mind you? Tom stops at this moment because I'm like, Michael Jackson is asking me if I know what his favorite song? This is Michael, he had like like an

arm break, like a break some ship. Like like, I'm saying, that's that's on the left hand, the whole joint on the right glove finger with the whole joint with didn't have that on. You didn't have it on, Okay, So mind you. He says to me, oh my god, you know what my favorite song of yours is, and then the nigga commences to singing the song. Please don't worry about me. I'm fine with the hand pop on the whole line. Now. I never felt like a twelve year old girl in my life. In that moment, I was

a twelve year old girl. Did you compose yourself? I kept I kept it cool, And I'm like, this is Mike. I can't. I can't fan out of front of this nor hands. No, I cannot this is Michael fucking Jackson. No,

I gotta, I gotta maintain. But inside it was oh my god, I say my music, it was that inside, But I kept on the inside, right, So we said we talked for about an hour and a half, which is about music in general and how choreography looks like he said, he said, choreo your feet now looks like Calistenics. And I was like, okay, that's interesting. No, no, he was like. He was like, it's like people aren't dancing for the joy of dancing anymore. Like it looks it

looks like a robix now. And I'm like, okay, okay, that's interesting. So so we talked about, you know, what he wanted to do with the next album, what he wanted to sound like the whole nine and uh, he gave me a phone number. So for the next like two weeks, I'm back and forth on the phone with Michael fucking Jackson. I'm sending him records. He's critiquing the records. They called me like, yo, I really love number three.

Number three is so special, but I feel like the hook is just not right, Like if you just just just retouch the hook on number three, and like so so it's like about six records that me and Mike put together via just on the phone, just talking about the ship's right if she's to send in a hard driver. I've done nothing with him, but um, the plan was to get in and record these records after the so you saw the film, this is it. So after that tour, we were supposed to get in the record these records.

And of course, you know, he passed before he even got a chance to do that tour. So yeah, so I still got the records. They're just sitting You're sitting waiting for me to figure out what the hell I'm gonna do with him. It's just it's never filed any of his no, no, no, so I saw it's all me on the vocals. But it's records that I wrote with Mike. The prep we was prepping them for him to get them after the tour. He died before the tour.

We didn't get a chance to get him. So I got the records, and nothing feels right, if that makes sense, Like, it don't feel right to drop him as my own because I wrote them from Mike. Don't feel right to sell them because I wrote them from Mike. You know what, I mean, and I would never want the motherfucker to fix their mouth, to be like Neo trying to make

some money off of Mike's name. If I just put them ships out like these as the records and me and Michael's gonna do before he passed, you know what I mean? So so I would you sell it to like Chris Brown or something like that would be crazy. All the love in the world to Chris Brown, all of that, But these records were written for Michael Jackson. I'm not putting another voice on his records. I'm not doing it. I can't. I personally can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it, and I and

I don't. I don't doubt that that Chris or or Bruno Mars and some elements were smashed these ships, I don't doubt it at all. But the fact that I wrote them for Mike, intended for Mike and Mike's voice, I can't. I can't. I can't tell you my Mike story. I've never met Mike, but um for roll called me. This is the most exciting for Rolls every story man, and and It's and and It's life. He called me, and It's like, yo, Mike called us and said that he wants records from us. So it's like, yo, that's

fucking dope. He said, we seen them all these fucking records and if it goes so, then were seen on these records. And then Mike gets on the phone with us and says, no, we don't want this, we want something. Nor we wild wrapped one, nor would wrap one. I want super Doug, but nor wouldn't rap on it. Don't You didn't know that till for real said it, right? No? I did not on the show. No, no, no, I knew that because he called He called me. He was like,

how I would walk around knowing that. I was like, oh yeah, just having Mike reference from oh yeah, I'm taking a show that now, Yeah, thank you. Okay, look that's different. Yeah, that's different. That's yo. The whole Fellers. So it was crazy. The whole concept of the people comparing like Drake to Michael Jackson. People are preparing Chris to Michael Jackson. It's a compliment. It's an absolute compliment,

and I hope the book has taken it as such. However, how dare you like the numbers that this man was doing at the time that he was doing them. Mind you, this is before YouTube, Spotify, all these different things that allows the whole world to get the music. At the same time, that ship didn't exist when Michael was doing what he was doing, and the numbers that he was doing, Like even if you matching Mike's numbers right now, it's like, you still can't compare NI because you're doing it right now.

Do that in the eighties the video market, Come on, there is no comparison. That's not You can never say that talent ain't going to exist after Michael Jackson yet, sure of course. So let me just tell you. So. The funny thing is so all the records that he made for Mike, he gave the Justini I know I heard that, and and one of them the baby face,

so it's crazy. And then he was basically telling me, Laurie, I need you to pick these beats for me, Like I had to kind of go pick the worst beats because because you know, I like, I like gangs, this, I like, you know what I mean. And that was an honor though it was it was it was a real honor. But I never got to meet Mike. At least you got to know that Mike was sitting somewhere in the world like I need something like this, call it, then call it. There's no bigger accolade than that. But

that might be the best Michael Jackson depression. Other people tried, but I believed him. Just now listen, this is this is the machine. We are trying to get everyone in the room high because we are good people and I'm not.

Can I tell you how genius of a concept this whole show is because you you already know you're dealing with artists, artists coming in there with the politically correct like, let me they got, they got The answer to your question is already set, like I'm gonna say this as to not to say that, and you get him a fucking and you get him drunk. You listen, you're gonna say the real ship the girls want, not you don't

talk to real ship. Genius concept. But by the way, me and him was in the locker room with you guys, I mean, work your records. I worked for them, Jim. So he's a real real DJ, re create DJ motherfuckers with the c driving you know what I mean. He's that type of any gigs who worked your records to the part of the Street Team. Nowords too as well. So now only is a DJ. He he ran the street team. So and then me, I was, I'm a real artist. Like I'm a real artist. I don't know

what I got platform blacks, you know what. I don't want to reproduce your fan So I'm fancies. Don't tell me you staff somebody to come porn. I mean I thought about it. You heard of many that may consider right, but now I didn't go there. But so that's the reason why. Like, and you know what it is. Oh, bring it on, bring it on rental. It's gonna make him talk more. Yeah, the way you do it is hilarious. Yea. I need one of them ships at the crib bl

you know what I'm saying. I need I need this ship set up to the A C system in my house. A C. Oh. So when you walk in my house, no choice but to take the shoes. He went to the room. He went to the room, cleanse the rooms. At this stage, Nig's gonna be in the house. Honest. I don't know why. I don't know why. I just gotta tell you the truth right now. Then we gotta

take a shot. Yo. I was having a uh, I was having a conversation just recently, what somebody about about the state of R and B. State of R and B. You know, the album is out, so everybody want to talk to me about the state of R and B. And I had I had a realization, like in the in the midst of this of this question. So you know that, like right this second, hip hop is the biggest genre of music in the world period, in the world, right and it's been that for like the last few years.

So when that happened, because before that it was like what it was rock or country or some ship. But then it then it happened with hip hop, and then all of a sudden, every other genre gets the hip hop makeover. Now we got trap country records, you know, everything, everything has gotten trap country basically. That's that's I mean, that's how it started. I don't know what you call him now, but that's how it started. So it occurred to me that like, yo, everything got like a hip

hop makeover. When hip hop became the most special genre of music on the face of the planet, R and B included, and you look at the new generational R and B and what and how they do what they do. And mind you, some people have issue with today's R and B because it don't feel like R and B in the nineties and nineties was the last time R and B had its own identity like traditional, It wasn't the ugly cousin of hip hop right kind of what

it is now. So but you look at the new the new generation that's coming up, and you look at what they're coming coming up on. They're coming up on hip hop. So of course that even they R and B is gonna feel like hip hop because they came up looking up to the hip hop niggas. So you know when people actually like the whole concept of the vulnerability of R and B and what that was like we we we came up in the air where niggas was begging on the record and that was what it was.

That was what it was like, Baby baby please was what it was. You know what I'm saying, We're singing and the wife beat up like this is what it was. But these young cast is coming up off of the hip hop niggas. They want to be that, you know what I'm saying. It's like, all right, I say, and I gotta be that. And that's a blurry line something I'm not even saying. The R and B. They straight rapping with auto tune, really right, it's rapping to a melody, a lot of a lot of the R and B

right now. But but it's like, I can't be mad at them because I have to look at where they're coming from, what they're coming up, listening to who they're coming up on. Hip Hop became the biggest genre music in the world, so not everybody is paying paying attention to hip hop. So no matter what genre you doing, you got hip hop right here. So even if it's if it's country, if it's R and B, if it's if it's if it's uh, if it's Spanish, whatever the fuck, it's going to have a hip hop element to it

because everybody sucks with hip hop. Take a selfies, what happened? No, no, no, no, no no. So I can't be mad at these names for that. I can't be mad because cats ain't singing the way they were singing when I was coming up. You know, I grew up on fucking boys man in jeto see. And you also sunk in church a little bit,

a little bit like church, like church. No disrespected church, no respected religion in Christian Christianity would have a m I went to church with my grandmother because I had to go to church with my grandmother because she was not accepting the kids not being in church on Sunday. I am a spiritual person. I believe in God. I don't so much lock into commercial religion, not really, you know what I'm saying. I know that God exists. I

know that there's a power higher than myself. I know that I felt a hand on my back though my entire life. You know what I'm saying, so many different situations where I was supposed to be sucked up and I wasn't because of his hand on my back. Right, So I know that that exists. The fine print of it is where it is where it gets questionable to me, because I know that the nature of man, you know what I'm saying, and and and man is about control,

is about power. And if I can say something to you that's gonna make you let me control you, I'm gonna say that as the human being. You know what I mean. So, so that's so that's what makes me go spirituality, God, Sure, Christianity, UH, Catholicism. All of these these commercial choices, all of these, all of these businesses. Ye, I'm in, but I'm not in, you know what I mean. I ain't gonna never show on what nobody believes. You

know what I'm saying. At the at the end of that, if it's if it's making you smile, rock by all means rock, and who am I to take that from you? But at the same time, I'm not going to sit up and feel like my destiny, vert uh past, this life is determined on whether or not I apply to your fucking program, you know what I mean? Like it ain't it ain't that for me. I'll talk to guy personally.

I'll sit by myself and talk to God. I don't need to go to your building every Sunday and put on my Sunday best and watch the women in the hats talk crazy about me when I walk away, Like, I don't have to do that. I don't have to give you ten percent of what the hell I what the hell I worked hard for to prove that I believe in a higher power. That's not that's not necessary. As parts of the Bible that will tell you churches two or three four two three, two or three and

joined in my presence. That's church. Church could be your money. Gotta go over there. Yeah, I do all that. I ain't gotta sit back and feel judged by y'all because I ain't been here in months. You know what I'm saying. It's like you see Neo in here praise God whenever the last time we saw him praise God. I'm not. I don't got to sit through that. I ain't got

to deal with all that. You know what I'm saying, Me and my wife, my kids will sit down and pray and then have a conversation about the higher power. And that's the church. Were good good, you know what I'm saying. That's me go back to your training. Thought though you were talking about, Oh yeah, I'm drunk, so I'm under tangent. What was I talking? You were talking about like that. You grew up on Jody C Boys de Man, right, I grew up on R and B Cats.

You know what I'm saying. Jody C was in leather in the desert talking about I'll cry for you and then got on stage at the MTVV the Music Awards and masks and machete's like this Thuggist ship. Ever, Stuggists R and B Ever, however, and Niggas was like, do you believe in love and the power that it gives? Right? I grew up on that. I didn't grow up on what some of the newer generation is coming up on it.

So I can't fault them for the way that they do what they do because they're following the ship that inspired in them, you know what I mean. Like people are like, how do you feel about what do you feel about the state of R and B right now? And I think back to like my uncle's and how my uncle's used to run up on me and my friends, Like that ain't real music now, listen is bullshit? You just listen to listen to that, And it's like I've become my uncle's to my son's, you know what I mean.

Like I'm listening to what they listening to like a ship what they are right now? My old my older son is nine. He's weird. So it's some other some other ship. But it's not music to me. It's like, Okay, so there's there's some game and I'm about to give your props. You should send me a check. Uh, there's this game called Friday Night Funking, right it's a it's a video game. But in the video game, the characters are quote unquote battle rapping against each other. But it's

no lyrics. It ain't even words. It's just sounds and beeps and ship. Yeah. And my son's loves this ship to where they feel like this is a battle rap and I'm like, son, just so lost, oh so lost, but they love this ship and I'm like, that is not battle rap. What are you doing? What are you And and instantly I'm like, oh ship, I'm My uncle's sitting listening to me and my friends listen to what we listened to, like Nigga, that ain't music, earth fire

if it's legit just noises. That's not being uncle, mind you mind you to my uncle's What I was listening to at the time was just just I don't know, man, I think of a Niggai group on Earth win and fire and listening to dos effects, no no facts. That's yeah, that makes sense, you feel me so so so it's it's the same thing. It's secular. All this ship happens

in cycles. I'm looking at my son's like, yo, that ain't music, And instantly my uncle's popping in the back of my head, like, Yo, that ain't music, and I'm like, fuck, it's music to him. It's music to him, And what the funk he decided to do with music behind? This is going to come from this inspiration and I can't. I can't. I can't shoot on him for that. I

can't talk. I can't talk bad. I can't talk down for him for that because that's my uncle's talking down for me, down to me for listening to the docs effects talking the far side of ship, like when he was on Earth, Wind and Fire and all of that. So I can't. I can't fault him for it. But at the same time, I can also go, you know what, Okay, all right, that's music, but this is music too, the way your mom and your aunt put on the exactly exactly.

So that's that's the that's the place I'm taking right now. But just to hold just to sit back and realize that this ship is secular. Like like, so, I got five kids. My oldest is twelve, my girls twelve, my youngest is one, and I find myself saying things to my kids that my mama said said to me, like the second I said it's like, yo, I remember this to the point we're like, I gotta call my mom Like, yo, yo,

I'm sorry. I apologize because you was literally just really just trying to figure it out, like just trying to make it make sense as you went alone, Like you was really on that because I'm in this ship, like, oh, how do I in this climate make sure that my young prince understands that he's a young prince? You feel me? How do I do that right now when when he's being bombarded with everything else? Like how do I do that? And so so. Yeah, I literally had to call my

mom ast Yo. I appreciate the way that you made it make sense, even if it barely made sense to you in the moment, you made it make sense to me. And I appreciate that because I'm going through it right now and that ship is hard. It's hard. I'm sorry, I'm drunk. You're living living at different times. Yo. Bob's cart telling a spice flipped your miss independent. Yeah, did

you clear it? I didn't not clear it, but the star the streets cleared it right away, which which made it virtually impossible for me to not clear it even if I was thinking about not clearing it, which, by the way, I was never thinking about not clearing it. I'm saying, first and foremost, before the song was presented to me, the concept of vibes Cartel and who he was was presented to me like this is that dude? Oh and by the way, he did this with your song.

It was presented to me like that. So I'm like, so, what are we talking about right now? Of course it's fine. Why would I have a problem with this? To this day, I can't, like you know, I can't be over there and perform misindependent without showing, without giving props to what the funk he did? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, man, like you created a whole another vibe and essence off of this ship that I was trying to do. I got give you love for that. Yeah. Like, uh, I

think his name is a Monti White, Mony White. He did my song over nothing on boy Um and I co signed it to you. You gotta have to bro, you gotta realize it's a whole. It's it's generations coming behind you, like generations on generations on generations, and if you decide to not let nobody funk with what you did because it's what you did, and you can have this pride about it. Them generations don't get it. Them generations don't get to experience it. They don't get to

enjoy it. They don't get to they don't get to know who Noriega was, you know what. But but but I don't always co sign everything. I mean, of course I can't lie to you. I can't look at you're looking for. I can't because there's been a certain records that sample like there's certain people that be like, yo, this is this is no real or whatever, and they're trying to like like immulate me, and I don't like it, but they shouldn't that. Why would you okay some ship

that that's a whacker version of what you did? Why I wouldn't do if certain records I do love um Um Flow right of the artists she did, super dog Over, I approved it, um Amani White Billy Irish, I approved it. But let us say everything does that like I hate when someone touches bad from TV. From TV is my record with Big Pun. Pun will never be able to come and redo this again. So why the fund would you do it? Yeah? You know what I'm saying, So

don't touch So I won't. I won't if anything from bad from TV, I won't clear if Beyonce sample man from TV is good he got do you know right now, y'all such and such from whatever? Not but that But that's also what I like though. I like when a person take the record and make it their own. When they take it and try to remake minds, that's what makes me angry. Same ships like, So, I rather you take it and you don't reproduce it like like like

remix it or complimented like make something else. No, So it's it's the plight of it's the plight of a a songwriter that is also an artist, which you know, back day every hip hop artist was. If you was writing your own lyrics, you're a songwriter and an artist, right. So somebody come along and want to sample something that

you did. If you're not gonna take it and take if you're not gonna bring it to another level, leave it the funk alone, Because why would I ever want the last memory of my ship to be the whack ship that you created? Why would I ever want that to be? Nah? I wanted to when they think of my ship, I don't want them to think of the greatness that I brought to it. Now, if you're gonna add to that greatness, yeah, rock out ba all means, but you ain't for to bring my ship down. It

ain't gonna lead people back to the rand. It's like, you know, I used to funk with this song and it's such as sample and I was like, fun that song that happened. That's true, that's real. I'm like real ship. So as a songwriter, I always respect the artists that's gonna take this ship and make it their's Beyonce. Like, if you listen to my demo of Irreplaceable and listen to Beyonce is Irreplaceable, you hear slight differences, you'll hear

the nuances that make that ship a Beyonce record. Right, she didn't follow what I did to the fucking t because for all that, nigga, let me keep it and let me just do it myself. So I always have, I always have. I've always had the utmost respect for the artist is gonna take it and make it. There's you know what I'm saying, Like, it's don't don't don't don't do it just for the fucking take of doing it, because you're working with my legacy. Like that. You know

what I'm saying. Like the last time somebody heard my ship was on some white ass remix. That's something did because he just felt felt like it. No, I'm not. I'm not rocking with Da Nola's time you heard a remix of my ship was something that Beyonce touched. Mie Floss Life Floss. Yeah, you know what I mean. Difference. How about Prince You ever met Prince? Yes? Yes, yes, Lesten. I live on this planet, in this and in this realm of reality with everybody else. Prince could fly. I

don't get with nobody. Everyone says this motherfucker could deny, could defy gravity anyone. Everyone said so. It's right after Year and a Gentleman, which was my biggest album ever, right next album Leabre Scale. I go into the label, I tell them, yo, I want to do like a thirty minute like mini movie and let the album be the soundtrack to the movie. And they're like, Yo, that's a dope idea, let's do it. Mind you this. I'm

fresh off the heels of Red Tails. I did red Sales with with George Lucas Life Flex, and then I did uh Battles with George Lucas George star Wars. George Lucas said, I want to pick up the Red Tails, the Tuskegee Airman, the Black, the Black Fleet of fighters in the Air Force. So he did Red Tails and then let me be a part of that, and that she was amazing. She was beautiful. So I'm fresh off the hills of that, and I come into the label excited, like, Yo, I'm off this movie ship. I want to do some

movie ship. I want to do like a thirty minute movie and let the album beet the soundtrack. This is what lever Scale was supposed to be. What I didn't realize that in the realm of screen and script writing, a page equates to a minute, right, so one page is one minute. I told him I want to do like a thirty minute mini movie. I brought them a script with a hundred forty five pages in it. It was like, that's that's that's not a mini movie to teach your film what what the funk are you doing?

So my mind, I didn't know. I didn't know this. So I learned that through that process. Al right, cool. So I had to take this hun of forty five pages and busted down the thirty. By the time I figured out how to do that, the clock is ticking. We gotta get this ship out. We don't have time to cast and shoot a whole fucking movie for thirty minutes. So all right, let's do Let's do six long form videos. Right.

So you got you got Champagne Life, you got uh, you got beautiful Monster, you got one in a million. One are the million ins with it to be continued. That never continues because Devin jam was like, Nigga, we don't give you no more money for this ship, Like this is nuts because mind you, I'm literally just do I'm figuring it out as I go along, right, and

they rock you with me. They let me do it because like you're the Genleman was like, I ain't get what you wanna do, and and I'm just really figuring the ship out as I go. So the album didn't perform well, you know, and the singles did I but the album didn't perform when I was fucked up about it. That same year, we get invited to Prince's Grammy party. Prince used to throw a party at his house for

the Grammys. Every everything purple. There was a lot of purple there was an I'll say there was an overabundance of purple, and not everything was purple. But if it was ten ships in the room, not at them ships was purple. Anyway, So I go to we go to the party. We're in the pool house, right because it's paid, it's it's the spot, and in this pool house and there's like a plex glass ship or we're literally standing

on top of the swimming pool. And I just think this is the coolest ship ever because I'm a little green at this point. But anyway, Prince is on the stage with his band rocking out, just just all some freestyle and just rocking out, crooning, just just rocking out and playing his guitar. He sees me, he puts his guitar down and be line straight to me. He gets right up on my ear because because this is how Prince speaks to you. If you've ever talked, if you've

ever spoken to Prince, you know this. He'll get real close so that he don't gotta talk real loud. He got right up on my air and he said Leebra Scale was a good album and don't let anybody tell you different, and walked away and say ship to me for the rest of the night. That's all they say

to me. The whole night. I was fucked up about Leabra Scale, like I really wanted it to be really good and it wasn't good, and it was it was performing poorly the whole nine and you know, the label is trying to be nice about ship, but the ship is not working. He walked up to me and was like, yo, Libra Scale is a good album, and don't let anybody tell you different. I was like, nig we could go double wood. I don't give a fuck. Prince said that this is a good album straight princess, so I wouldn't.

That was a great moment. That's that's that's one print story. I really wasn't trying to get you to take another shot. We gotta take a shot to that print story. We have to take the shot. Print story. I'm sorry, I'm sorry you disrespect for this because you know what, Oh, I'm gonna take and then went the whole was like, but now self explanatory, I'm gonna take a piss, guys,

I'll be back. That's the most humbling, disrespectful statement that it's humble because it's like, yeah, I shouldn't know but it's disrespectful because it's like straight up, straight up and that was the intend um did I hit it on? Pretty much? Okay? So I called. I called the album for a couple of reasons. As as I said earlier in this in this whole situation, I've always prided myself on my my products speaking for itself. I don't got to sit here and sell you on what the funk

I do. I don't got to sit him brag to you about what I've done. I can push play and that is going to be enough for you to understand who I am, what I am, how I am, how I rocked right. So that and then on top of that, I think it's been it's been sixteen, it's been almost twenty years at this point. Do you really need like a full on explanation to a neo album at this

point in the game, you know what I'm saying. So it's like, neo music is music to live life too, write be it be it the nigga you just broke up with, or the chicken just broke up with, or the new love that you just found, or it's Sunday and you just want to clean the crib or it's Saturday and you're gearing up to go out and turn up. There's not an aspect of life that you can name that you can't put a neo song too and allow

that song to be the soundtrack to that moment. And that's and that's how I rock, and that's how I've always rocked, and this album is kind of a celebration of that. Straight up. My flexes light blow, my flexes light. I ain't gonna you know, I don't gotta point the diamonds out, but when you see him, goddamn you feel me. That's what I said. I gotta put it out. Any song that you wrote for somebody and gave him and

that you regretted that, I was like, damn. This is a question that has been popping up a lot lately, and I can only think of, really and truly one instance where it happened like that. And I don't like talking about it because people like to take ship and turn it into hate. And I'm not hating because I love this nigga. You know what I'm saying. This is my guy shout out to my man Luke James. We did a record together, right, well, mind you, we didn't

necessarily do a record together. It was a record that I wrote, and he fused with it, and he was like and he sucked with his people fun with it. It was like, Yo, let's let's cut this on Luke James, right, And I was all for it because Luke James one of the dopest voices right now period. The nigga is dope. So I'm like, yeah, let's do it. So the song was the way that I did. The song was in a key and a pitch higher then Luke James regularly sings. So they took the song and they dropped it down

to a key that was comfortable for Luke James. Now, anybody that knows anything about music, when you take a song and you dropped the key, you take a city, you take a little bit of energy from the record, you know what I'm saying. And in the case of this, it was exactly that. It was like what the record

was versus what the record became. It just wasn't as good, And I felt away because I'm like, fun man, for all of that, we could have just gotten a lab and did some did something from scratch, you know what I'm saying, Because again, a funk with Luke James's my guy. The name of the joint was was making Love to Me? And if you listen to my demo of it and then you listen to his version of it, you see how many keys they dropped it down, and it just it just didn't make the song work for what it

was supposed to be, you know what I mean. So again, all love to Luke James. This is not a dead Okay, fuck any blog that's trying to turn this into a disc. It's not that I got love for Luke James. I love that dude, but that particular song just didn't become what it should have been. You know what I mean? Is that a risk? Because when you write a song for somebody, is it is it? Is it you laying your your vocals down and then sending it to them Because if this ever comes out, now, this is your

what do they call that ship? Uh? Your reference track? So it has that ever been a problem for you because you gotta you gotta realize like hip hop and hip hop, because if I don't move them and being myself could have done at the same time, look at me crazy. Let's just let's just take the band aid off the thing right, UM and R and B yes, you know um having someone help you with your your stuff. It's not not at all, But so is that? Has

that ever been a problem for you? Like you're sitting in reference tracks and maybe the engineer got mad at somebody and sent it out. Now, the version that Neo just did for Selee Dion, it's out there, and it's Neo's version as opposed to Slean Dion's version. Like I'll just give your example. Have you ever had a ranto a problem? Like? Um, it never became a problem, but it was a It was a lesson to learn in the realm of uh songwriting and trying to shop records.

So if I write a record, right, I I can sing. So if I write a record, I'm gonna sing the reference to that record. Not every songwriter right can sing get somebody else to sing it. But the smart songwriter is gonna tell the person referencing the record to keep it as basic and minimal as humanly possible. Because what you don't want to do, You don't want to outsing the pression that you're trying to shop it to you

know what I mean? Like you want to you want to keep and you want to keep it in a realm where the person listening to it can hear whether they can bring to it in order to make it their record. You know, if you're going there and you're doing all the libs and you're singing this ship like you, like you're trying to audition for the Ship to be

your record, you're probably not gonna sell that joint. Even if it's dope, even if it's amazing, You're not gonna sell that record because nobody's gonna listen to it and be able to hear themselves on it. They can only hear you, right, So it's only it's only ever really been that, you know. I had to I had to

learn that. Uh. I had to learn that early on because in the beginning writing the record, I'm excited about the ship and I'm singing that, I'm doing the harmonies and the lives and I'm doing this ship like like it could potentially be my record, to where it's like people people are listening to it and giving it the love and giving it the respect, but nobody wants to buy it because it's like this, this is your record, this is you, you know what I mean. So it's

always only been that. That's that that type of situation. Let's talk about crazy with jay Z. How man, how'm this happened? Oh so so l a read signed me to death Jam And it was right when jay Z had become president of Death Chance. Jay Z is president, he's my friend. I can say he took anybody the whole. He took the whole label budget, and nobody had a budget of that. Dog. I just so. I mean when I when I first met jay Z, uh when I first got to deal and I don't mean where then was.

I think it was in the l A office and I walked to the age to jay Z and I, you know, I extend my hand and he he shakes my hand. But his first words to me it was like, Nigga, why you get that song away? I don't. And he's talking about Marios. You should let me love you like Nicka, Why you get that song away? Not hey, how you doing? Welcome to the label, none of that ship. Nigga, why you get that song away? It was that and and and that kind of like set the set the tone

for like our entire relationship. Like jay Z has always been that dude that's gonna just keep it funky about whatever, you know what I'm saying. That was a point where I was questioning, questioning my worth and my value in the game because I hadn't reached the level of some of some of my peers. And he and jay Z said to me, He's like, Nigga, you will never not be all right because you can always right yourself out of whatever situation. Regardless of what's going on with you.

You can always right your way out like you have. You have that. It's cats out here that couldn't write a song that will sing, that will sing the ship out of a song, but couldn't write a song if their life depending on it, That person is depending on somebody to write a song for them. You're not that and you will never be that dude, So you'll never be fucked up. You'll never be in a position that

you can't get out of. And like I took that ship to heart, you know what I mean, Like he like he's he's always been that dude to me, Like I'm doing yeah, yeah, reasons to take shots, Like I'm sitting over here trying to be cordial, but you over here, like listen, there there's a reason that I got to the levels that I got to because I had some of the most amazing motherfucker's in my corner in my ear telling me how to move, you know, from from jay Z to l A. Reid to you know, to

my Nigga Tango to Sean like it was it was people around me that genuinely wanted to see me win. And I feel like that's rare nowadays, you know what I'm saying. I had people in my corner that was like, Nah, we want to see this dude get there, and we're gonna make sure that he has the tools that he

needs to get there. Like I've never not recogned, not eyes that, you know what I'm saying, Like, like I know that this ship don't happen for everybody, and you know, for this, for the way that it does happen for certain people, it's it's it's always uh, it's always something interesting,

it's always something traumatic, you know what I'm saying. Like my journey from where I was to where I am has been paved in fucking gold bro and I don't, I don't, I do not not recognize that as a blessing because it don't happen like that for everybody, So it's a blessing. I appreciate everybody. For you. I'll run for that for you. Meal, You're a remarkable motherfucker. You're impeccable. Motherfucker.

You out here, you got hits after hits. Not only you got hits for yourself, you got features with other people. That's hits. And then you have writing you're right for mother motherfucker. That's crazy. They try to give me the right for another fucker. I was too lazy, Like you gotta like shot because what is exactly you gotta do the right for motherfucker. You gotta hang out with them.

You gotta have no listen, you don't gotta either. If you are blessed with the opportunity to sit and talk to the artists that you're writing for, that's a blessing, bro, because like in the beginning, the beginning to talk to you writing records and hoping that somebody here that ship and can't relate to it, like you ain't had no inside track on who this person is, what this person is going through, how this person would deal with X y Z situations. You don't know none of that with

with those situations where you're not with them. Are you writing general records where you right yere like they're just like these general records that are gonna work. I have always tried to lock myself in two things that are timeless, things that are never gonna go anywhere. The sound of a piano that ship ain't gonna go out of style, the sound of a guitar, the sound of a drum that ship ain't will never go out of style. Love as a feeling, as an emotion, as a topic, and

gonn never go out of style. Anybody love love? Yeah, if you felt it, if you've never felt it, if you're craving it, you you ain't never felt that you want to feel it? You have felt it, you know, the black, white and gray that ship, That ship will never go away. It's water, bro, It's just it's kind of needed and necessary for us to survive. Right So I've always locked myself into things that I felt like,

we're never gonna go away, you know. And that's the way that you that's the way that you stay timeless. I don't I don't, I don't pay I pay attention to trend, but I don't lock into trend, you know what I mean? Music is always going to evolve and expand and change as times change, as the people producing the music change. It's never gonna stay the same, you

know what. Concept Actually, it could be consistent conceptually, it could because people are always going to go through what they're gonna go through, but they're they're uh their description of that or there or there there the art that they create based on that, it's always going to change with the times, you know what I mean. So so I've I've always kind of prided myself on being being flexible,

like I can't not be me. I'm gonna be me, Like even in even in this new album, this is the self explanatory album, there are out there are songs on this album that are classic Neo. If you've been a Neo fan from since, in my own words, you're gonna relate to these records right right the funk away right. But there's also out records on this album that are me acknowledging the fact that the times have changed, the sound has changed, the vibe has changed. I can never

not be me, I'm always be me. But I'm but I'm even me that I can apply to whatever. I've always been flexible. I've always been able to move in and make sense with whatever's going on. And and though those records, you know, so to the die hard Neo fan, you know, these are new records to you because you're accustomed to a certain sound from Neo. I just need you to jump into this album with an open mind.

Just jump into this album anticipating quality, because even if you don't so much understand what the music is doing, even if it's not so much your bag, even if it's not so much your cup of tea, you will never ever be able to deny the quality. I do that for y'all. I make sure that my ship is quality period, so that at the end of the day, if you can't say nothing else, you can say that sh sounded amazing, like that's that's how I rock. Sorry, are you? Are you composing the music as well? Are

you composing music as well? To a to a degree, to a degree. Uh. There's a a group of producers that I work with. I don't even I don't it's not even fair to call them producers. I call them composers because these are the kind of cast that you can tell them that you have an idea that sounds like this, and they go take that idea and run with it as opposed to giving you these are these are kind of tracks I do. And that's just what I do. You know what I'm saying. I've always I've

always had an appreciation for the versatile, versatile producer. You know, I can give you hip hop ship, I can give you some quote unquote neo soul ship, I can give you some this like, yeah, all of it. Because at the end of the day, I'm a I'm a I can apply me to whatever, nigga. I could do a fucking rock song. I could do a poker record if I felt like I could apply me to a poker record, straight up. Yeah, not the not the game. Wooden Shoes, Wooden Shoes and Netflix. Yeah check it out, you see

yeah don't Yeah, I seen it. Yeah they started it. We'll talking about off air alright. Look um the fabulous record make Me Better, Make You Better that was recorded for jay Z written when I did that hook, I was in the studio with jay Z and and I'll never forget this session because I had always heard that jay Z doesn't write anything down. I had heard that, like multiple times, like he's not a cat that will sit because because there was a point in my career where I was a slave to a pen and pad.

I had to write it down. I had to, I had to be able to visualize. I could see it. So I'm in a studio with Jay and the beat is playing and it's a beat from Timberland. Shout out, shout out to Timberland. And he's like, what what you hear to this? I'm like, all, give me a minute. So I sit with my pad and pen and I write. I'm sitting there trying to figure out what to right.

And as I'm sitting there trying to figure it out, Beyonce comes to the studio and they find and they kind of like find a corner and like dip off from everybody. This is Sony Studios in New York. She won't exist, you know what I'm talking about, My nigga and she don't exist no more. But so much history was made in that building. So we're in that building and it's J and B in the corner like nigger. It might as well not have been nobody else in the because they just they just in there, just in

each other, you know what I'm saying. So I'm looking at this and I write, I I'm thinking about j jay Z. I'm a moving by myself, jay Z. I'm a movement by myself, jay Z and Beyonce. But I'm a force. We're together. You know what I'm saying, Mommy, I'm good all by myself, but you you make me better. You feel me, you feel me. I'm watched. I'm watching him in the corner, like trying not to be a creep because most weird. If anybody turned around and look at me in every right, now, they can be nigga,

what then you staring at my bad? Bad? Bro, my bad, But you can't help but feel the energy in the corner because they they're in the corner and their own fucking world they might have will not have been nobody else in the room, Like this is the vibe that they got and I'm just looking at it, like all right, I'm jay Z, I'm fucking jay Z. I'm a movement just by me, just by myself. I can walk in the room by myself and ship is gonna change because

I'm in the room. I'm a movement, nigga. But when I walk in with you, now, I'm a force now, regardless of what you thought regardless of what you felt like, your mood, everything about you changes because we are in the room. You feel me like, that's that's different, bro, that's that ship is different. So I wrote that ship and I presented it to Jay and he was like, this is dope. This is R and B ship. You

should keep it. And it was like yeah and boo at the same time, because like Nick, I just took your whole No, of course not, I'm not not not, But in my mind, I'm like, you don't want it? Wait, wait what Like I just I just took your whole element and and and put it in words like your whole ship and this is this is y'all you and be supposed to get a ship and and spas out right. Yeah, this ship is dope, some R and B ship that you should keep it. Thank you, thank you, thank thanks

so much, thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you. Now like I thought I was onto something like Nick, I have figured out I have. I have cracked the code. I have, I have cracked the matrix on Jay Z and Beyonce boom. And then they said, yeah, that's do keep it for yourself. I'm good. He's a great story. Buddy. Right, So I so at this mind you, this is jay Z telling me I should keep it for myself something, and I'm gona keep it for myself. So I write

versus to the ship. I create a whole record. Right, Everybody likes the record, you know, the team likes the record, but they don't love the record. It's other ship that's that's getting the attention. So this record kind of becomes just a fucking archives just sitting in the archive. Right. I don't honestly even know how it got to FAB, to be honest with you, I don't know how it got to Fab. But Fab No, no, but Fab just hit me up and they're like, yo, hey this this

makes me better. Ship, Nigga, you need to let me rock on this. And I'm like, bird, go for it, because again, it's it's an archive record. At this point, it was using it. It's just sitting. He's like, bro, you need to let me do your thing. So he does his thing, sends it back to me. I'm like, yeah, nigga, that's yeah, Yeah, that's yeah. That's one and and the

rest is history. The label runs with it and it becomes that makes me better that everybody knows, but the and originally I wrote that ship with the intent that night I was like, Yo, Beyonce and jay Z is going to do a song to this tonight is happening right now, And I played the ship with j He was like, Yeah, that's dope. That's some R and B ship. Keep it for yourself. Records. Timber Land shout out to

the boy, tim God, what a fucking amazing story. Man, God had no singing, Like, this is dope for you. For you, Timberlands, take on all of that Fab too, right, I don't. I literally you might want to ask fact. I literally don't know how Fab heard the record because I didn't. I didn't. Maybe I don't know because saying I'm gonna sit on this record. To all I know is I get a hit from Fab to Blue like, Yo, this ship is dope. You need to let me funk

with this. And I'm like, Nigga, go for it, go for it, because at this point it's literally just sitting in the archives like I'm not doing nothing with it, it's just there. So he's like, Yo, let me throw some verses this. Nigga do it, and he did it, and that ship became you know, the song we know now and the rest is history. Broa, it's just that, yo, fat, what's going on? Yeah? We got Neo dream. I thought you usually FaceTime FaceTime of you right now FaceTime you

just face on your FaceTime. I don't want you want some creepy ship. WI not working in my face. Oh I'm hitting the wrong but and I'm sorry. I'm old school. I'm old school. Family's going on, Kevin, we got Leo here, we got Leo here. Yeah, I dropped. I'm telling the troup. He dropped. You want to or you want me to ask the questions in so so so so, but look check it. He he wants to know, how did you hear about of the record you made me better? How did I hear about it? Yeah? I said this hall

of s okay. Yeah, he was like, he got a smash record. But it's but it's and his words I want to say. He said, it's a fat record, like like it's too, it's too. I mean, home could have did it in my eyes, but he said it was something and it was really fat. Now he's he said, he said, he said, it's an R and B record. Hold on, hold on, so the night so the night that I did this ship, telling the story. I'm sitting

and telling the story. The night that I did this ship was like the first night that I really saw any interaction between him and B and that's what made me right the way I wrote it. So I'm sitting there like, yo, I didn't I've cracked the code to Jay and Beyonce. I'm moving by myself, but I'm a force. One were together and I played this ship for the nick and he was like, yeah, that's dope, you should keep it, nigger. I was. I was so honored and hurt at the same time, Like sometimes you can see

records that and the right, but but you're running. I can't see how that that's that's a j B bro. The ship was inspired by just watching them sitting in the corner of the studio, spassing out, just being them, and the nigga was like, yeah, that's dope, Yeah, hold on, keep that on me. That's yours. I'm like, oh, hey, damn, but no, I literally never knew how how the record got to you. I just niggas was like, yo, fathers

like he loved that ship. Let's rock. I'm like, all right, fucking let's rock, Like but I never knew how it got to you. So yeah, that's that's where this whole came up. Definitely was the whole out of you. Um. And he came to me. It was like, Yo, I got this joint. He said, I think it's a smash And he was like, I think he explained to me it was kind of originally set for him, but he think it was more of my lane. And I said,

y'all this joining us out of here. I said, I don't know why hold giving me this record, but I asked a little question. That's crazy, straight up, straight up, when the God give you a blessing you on your only question, straight up straight up? My name a man. Good to see you, brother, hold on your yo. Father. I just want to tell y'all man, y're making New York looks so good you Jim Jones, Dave East every

time I see y'all all together. May no, man, I really really appreciate y'all man for keeping that you know Camaraddie, Joel said, Tanner and that and that tightness. Man, you're making us look good. Man. I'm gonna coming and and and come hang out y'all very soon. We can't wait. We can't are you on rock the bells? Because if you're not, can I bring you out of special guests? Know? I hate y'all. Let you know my y'all. All right, y'all, well, look,

thank you so much. That's crazy that you didn't know that you didn't know that jay Z that that that that's a lot about Jay because not only did he notice it was a hit, but he gave it a Yo, it's it's a You gotta be a different kind of dude to be like this is a hit, but this is a hit that's not for me. That's different. What was the time frame between the time that he told you it's not for him, that's for you that night?

It was? What was that time? Uh? Yo? It was it was easily like a like a year, like a year because when he told me that, when he said, when he said, like, Yo, this is dope, you should hold on to it, I wrote versus to it like I wrote it like on some All right, I'm gonna hold on to it for myself and and and as much as we love the record, it just didn't feel right for the moves that we was making. It just

never felt right. And then all of a sudden fab him be like, Yo, that makes me better join nigger. That's me Like, and I'm like, ah, yeah, let's rock. But but it wasn't it. It happens like that sometimes it's like it's you know, all the records that you're right, the records that the world here's you need to understand. It was like maybe twenty records that happened before that record, you know what I mean, And the is just sitting waiting to be groomed properly, to be presented to the

world like and that. And that was what made me better was it was it was written for this, it was intended for this, didn't so much work for that. We re freaked it and worked it for this, and it worked, you know what I'm saying. That's That's what I think it's crazy, is that he told you the record, you should just take the record for yourself. So he obviously a year later, was like, this is a hit record. This guy did not put it out for himself. This

needs to go somewhere. Yeah. Yeah, And and to this day, I got records I'm sitting on right now that are hits, just not exactly hits for me. I'm waiting on you know the right. I don't believe in a coincidence or an accident. I feel like everything that happens is supposed to happen, and it doesn't happen a second before it's supposed to happen. So there's there's there's a multitude of songs that I've written that I feel like if the

world heard this, it would be a hit. But it's about who they hear it on, you know what I mean. If they heard it from me, maybe not so much. If they heard it from this cat maybe, you know, So it doesn't I have like a whole folder full of records that I'm just waiting on the right artist to jump up to be like, yo, yeah, all right here this is for you. Take this and go in the world and rock with this. Yeah. Yeah. Can you write a record for like uh Santana? I can write anything, bro, anything.

Words are words and and they have power. And if you learn the power of words, you could run the planet if you felt like it. I could on the planet if I felt like it. That's the lightweight drunk drunk, but lightweight me telling the truth. I could write a record for anybody, bro, I could write a rock record. I could write a poker record, I could write a Spanish record that matter, It doesn't matter. I can speak passionately about a subject matter, and that's part of what's

needed to be able to write. The other part is melody and and and creativity. I have all these things. So yeah, I can write a record for anybody. It don't matter, don't matter. So of course you just come to you and say you listen man. I think I think he's saying, if I come to you, I think I'm coming back what we're doing, Yo, listen, send me, send me to beat with your verses on it. I want to do that too. I got you. We're taking

the shot of that. We're taking the shot of neo biking me out of retirement, but now we're bringing you out of retirement. When you're doing versus against Acorn, would I absolutely? And you're smoking him. Let's just I mean, that's for a free apartment in Africa. That's the best for the free apartment. It's a five million dollars Joe,

I would happily do versus against a con. That's my brother, that's my guy, and I feel like it would be entertaining his his his category his his catalog versus my catalog. I feel like that would be super entertaining. Yeah, but at the end of the day, Yeah, I felt like I take that. I take I feel like I take that. On Holy we're supposed to salute y'all. Y'all did this. That's a good versus the prizes is a condo in Africa. If I win and I don't get some residency and

this this city that he's creating, I'm gon fell away here. Okay, but let me just ask you something because we just came up with a question these workers that she wrote from Michael, Yeah, would you give him the janet? That's what I said. That's what I told him, and nobody to somebody. Somebody I said it to him, and then y'all was talking over we didn't rewind the tape. No real ship. That's not a bad idea. That's not a

bad idea because that don't point of this guy. Yes, No, that that allows me to keep it genuine, to keep it real, you know what I'm saying. At the same time, taking sure that the records just gonna get the recognition that they need. Wait, what happened? Freddie Jackson? Freddie Jackson. I don't know, Freddy Jackson, he got the finger ways I'm definitely I'm not wrong. Freddy Jackson. Come on with with'a laughing Freddie Jackson got the figure where he out

was out Michael Brother. Shout out the shout you know what, shout out the iconic he parted the Jackson five and he is not he was not he not. I went too far, My bad Jackson was. Freddy Jackson was devil, he was the smartest. He was not. You are, my lady, Freddie Jackson. He wasn't in. He wasn't in Jackson five. No, my bad. Everything I need and more. Hey, man, shout out Freddy Jackson. I don't know, Freddy, I don't know. I'm gonna take a shot to Freddy Jackson taking the shot.

He didn't. He deserved fun to take a shot. But Freddy Jackson, listen, man, get back, get back to my original Jackson. That's that's an idea. That's actually a really good idea. That's that because that uh represents and respects Michael Jackson's legacy while at the same time not being you know, so far outside of what he was and what he would have done anyway, so now that's that's a really good idea. You know, his daughter and her

son is an artist too. For that, Mike, Mike got or a son that's being an artis or you got done? Which one? I think you're both both both being artists. Well I don't know if they both artists, but you got a daughter and the son legacy doesn't validate you for me and the talent, I don't given who he dad, he was, what can you know? I think Janet would

be the right. I'm gonna tell you what my grandfather told me the first time my grandfather met me after I was famous part of Wecan grandfather he said, you're telling cups from what dick. He was totally correct, He was totally correct. He was like, Jesus said, your mother little sing. If I don't know sing, it's me. It's like and I was like, damn you adressed dude. That's dumb. That's dumb. Because because he was, you call it one of them. The base he played, the beating. He got

you straight. Was like, he was like, Rover, get sucked up. He comes from me. Good your mom me. He dead seriously said that to me. That Then I looked at pictures and then they showed me pictures of him touring, and I was like, damn, he's kind of correct, but because he's Puerto Rican and he's like this, he tells a couple of Monday. Wait a minute, we just kind of mad. And you said, that's like a shot to that. You know what I'm saying. I didn't say. We went

to take a shot to that. Got the neo because your career is truly rather than thank you, truly beautiful, truly dope man. And to see the level that you act, to see the uh, humbleness that you still display because you don't gotta be humble. You definitely don't have to be hume. I don't have to be. But it's more fun. How many Grammars you I got? Only only three? Only three? Three more than three? I say three. I was nominated and they said, don't come though, Why they didn't want

my kind company? They no, I say, I say, only three, But I got to take a shot to your three Grammys. We can do that. Please, come on, Stephen winning double digit Grammys, you know, come on, man, listen. I'm up for myself in the category of the greats. How else can I achieve that greatness if I don't rock with the greats. Steven want to got double digit grammars, which means I got more. I got more work to do, got more work to do. What I'm saying, right, I've done.

I've done great things. I'm gracious and I appreciate all the love that I've received. But there's so much more ship to do, so much more ship to do. So as long as y'are giving the fun rockets? Who Who's who? Who? Who's the record that you have never done that you want to do? Okay, So I've written records for Beyonce. We've never done anything record together. Right, I've write, I've done, I've done songs like you know with certain motherfucker's that I would love to do a song with them, not

just me writing for them. You know, I'm anxious to see what me and Drake would come up with, like that might be, that might be interesting. I could see that it might be trash, but it might be interesting. It's I'm willing to take the chance and just see we're not We're not doing that. It's not gonna be trash. What are you going to be? It's gonna be as we won't call it panty wet music. I like it. I like it. That should be the last two panty wet music because how let your boy, let's figure it out.

This gota yes start off, that should be your logo right there when he goes, and that's the logo. And then you just see the panties and then it just it just turned dry and just turn wet, you know what I mean? Like it just like it's like I did that West sitting over the crowd, like like a hologram or holographic you and then you're in the range. Doesn't Drake do a record and not? I mean people don't get pregnant? Yeah, failed true pregnant nine million. Hey, Aubrey,

how let your boy listen. Let's let's Aubrey I did I prospected. It's his name, Yeah, it's his name. It's just your rappers by the real name. Why not. I would never call elko J Tard. I would call you by your real name if I knew your real name, because I funk with you. If I was just a fan, then I would call you by your artist name. You know what I'm saying. No, that fused you as a person, But you as a person to would call you call your name day record though we're gonna get petty. How

did your boy what You're Gonna be? A crazy record? What was it? Pet crack record? Sound like? I don't know, I don't know. But if it has any if Wedy has any entrance on that, you know that it's gonna be some fire ships come to dark because you ain't doing you don't do no, you don't do no bullshit. You refused to do mediocre records. Why what forward? It's enough of that in the world. You don't need it for me. Ella, my bad, bad bad. It's a surf way of the way you pop ship is fucking dope.

You know. We have everybody on here kind of humble. But it's not like the title of your your album. It's like going there, it's gonna be based in fact. I'm never I'm never the nigger popping ship. And then you go and do the research and it ain't valid. No. Now, if I'm a pop ship in mind you, I don't have to pop ship because you can google it. You can see it. You know what you see if you really want to see it, you can see it. I don't gotta point you in the direction. Nah, if you're

really thirsty, the it is over there. I don't have to I don't have to lead you there. You can go there yourself and get fulfilled. It's that's what it is. That's what it is. I do what I do. I've been doing what I've done for roughly twenty years at this point, and I'm doing it like I do it for TV. Goddamn it. That's what it is. I'm done. You gotta make some noise for that. My last question, let it go? That's that worldwide music which one? Let it go? Let it go? Uh, how's it dance go?

I ain't mad? I ain't Madsten, you bring your sh it out of me. Did you get a thug to put his hands up perfect? He didn't say. He did something like that and a purpose. So yeah, I see easy music. He sent me just move altering, just and he may he's always on time. I make ship. You work out for me, y'all. He told me, this is this is the key to make it to making girl music. Listen, this is this is the big thing. I can't. I can't make a girl record if it hurt. I can

help you. I love you at least one girl can help you record. I can help you listen. I'm okay, so let me let me work this out for you. Let me please. If any woman on the planet has ever danced to a to a Noriega record, you can make a girl record girl. Because they funk with your voice, They funk with your tone, they funk with your vibe. You just need to You just need somebody to step in and remind them that they funk with your vibe. It's like, no, you know this vibe, mind them that

I'm a finger pop straight up? Shut up? May me stop there, shut up. I can gonna word. No, no, no, we got great. Well, we don't find a fly away to express to get you the finger pop. You don't find a fly away to let it be. No, oh, guys, I'm joining aboutself and always singing my light along like I don't know if let me my light back. But he don't inject you. He's been on some smooth, army ship thinking that I see you y'all came around, But you made a record called mad, Yes, absolutely did. Why

were you mad? I wasn't mad. I was telling her that I find it sexy when she's mad. That's director. Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait, let me get that right. So, because so there's two records. There's mad and then there's when You're mad. When You're mad is a joint the telling the check that she's sexy when she's mad, because I remember, I recall the female that I wrote the song about, like she was about three ft tall, itty bitty, right,

but she was a little firecracker. So whenever she would get whenever she would get upset, like crinkle her nose up, like like she was a little thug. But it's like like three ft tall, your three ft tall, cut it out. So it was just beautiful, right, it was. I just really used to get off on what she would look at me like when she was upset. So that's where that's saying. That's pretty much pretty much pretty much, man, Listen. I've always been I've always been a fan of convenience,

you know what I'm saying. If I if I can just stand where I'm at and you can stand where you're at and get it going, that's that's convenient for everyone, you know what I mean. Thing became her, So that was that's when You're mad. Mad is a whole other song talking about being in a relationship and not going to bed mad at a situation same person. No, that's

a different persons difference. Now this this person. You're in a relationship with this person, and the whole concept of y'all beefing and you go to bed with the beef still hot, like that's not cool. That ship ain't cool. Nobody wants to wake up beef and I don't want cool. I don't want that. So I've always been I've always been the cat. Like, listen, let's try to figure this

ship out right now. Let's let's find the resolution right now, as opposed to going to sleeping on it and waking up tomorrow still funked up, trying to figure out what we're doing. I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. Let's figure out what we're doing right now. That's me again. Okay, you take a picture process like in the movie Stoping the Haitian. There wasn't any haze process. They didn't didn't hit you with the paddle. I will say this. I moved to Atlanta after I

shot from Vegas. From Vegas, I moved to after shot Stumped Yard. Yeah I did. I was not aware of a place where every female that I came in contact with had just the most amazing and most beautiful ass I've ever seen in life until I came to Atlanta to shoot Stump the Yard. So I moved there after we shot the film, and rightfully, so, okay, I'm gonna go yearn it I bury back. So there wasn't no hazing, no hazing, not not for something to Yard the Canada

inviolate you. Nick Cannon was not there. Yard was not Nick thinking drum It's okay, it happened. You know. Cats regularly run up and me like, Yo, you was doping drumline. I don't but you was doping drumline. You killed that. Oh good man, let's talk about that. Good Man the album's song the Whole Night. Yes, uh, because I'm a good man. I believe you, Yes, please believe that. Genuinely believe you. I believe that you can't be a good man without exploring what it is to not be a

good man. You need the contrast, you need it. You know, Um, it's not a chore to be a bad man. That's just easy. You know, it's easy. To run around and just doing whatever fun did you want to do because you want to do it. The chore is to be a good man. It requires disciplines, it requires restraint, it requires self control. You know what I'm saying something that is raring us. You know, just as a human being. As a human being, we pick desire over necessity all

day long. You know what I'm saying. This ship you want to do versus the ship you need to do all day long, you pick the ship you want to do, right, you know, So so to to to on purpose say this is what I want to do, but this is what I should do. And then to do what you should do. That's that's a thing. That's a thing you can't you can't overlook that like it's small, because it's not small. Because again, people do what they want to do all day long, men and women, men and women,

all right, they ain't just us. Ain't just us. So to have the to have the level of discipline to do what you're supposed to do versus what you want to do, that's something that should be celebrated, you know. And and anybody acting holy er than now, to hell with you, because because you can't sit here and act like I'm not telling the truth just because it's anotherly, truth is still the truth, see the truth. So you also made a record where you said don't love Me. Yeah,

so the new album self Explanatory. Um, the song don't love Me? I wrote that, mind you. It didn't start out as a song. It started out as a letter. There's a letter that I wrote to my wife. And feel like you expressed yourself more when you write it down. Yeah, I've always been better writing it down, like to to speak it out in the in the in the heat

of the moment. You know what I'm saying. When you she pissed off and you pissed off, but you're still trying to figure out a way to get your point across. I've never been good at that ship And and I've always been the cat to say, know myself, know what you're not good at, know what you are good at. Work towards your strengths, work on your your weaknesses. Right. So, if I know that I can't in the moment say this to you and get it across to you, I'm

gonna fall back. I'm a retreat for the moment, and I'm gonna write it down right. So that song, that particular song started out as a letter that I wrote to my wife basically saying to her, I know you want to be here, but I don't think that you should be here because I don't think that I can be the kind of man that you deserve, you know what I mean. And it takes a level of vulnerability, it takes a level of just just kind of taking pride off the table to even come to that realization,

you know. So, so it's it's a it's a it's a no viself moment, Like if you you're in a relationship with somebody and you definitely dig that somebody, but you know in your heart of hearts and in your mind of minds that you're not gonna do what that somebody wants you to do. So so I'm sorry because it's not It's probably the realest questional party asked on

this show. So at one point, because this this is this is ill, you felt like you couldn't be there for your wife so much that you was willing to give her away, not give her away, but in the

relationship because I knew that I was hurting her. I knew that the person that I was in the moment was hurting her and I was so enthralled, and being that person that I was, I looked at it like, all right, me being this person is hurting her to the point where I'll let her go before I allowed myself to continue hurting her, you know what I mean? And and and so all right, So so here's the flip. Here's the flip, because that was that was honest on me.

I was being honest. But at the end of the same day, we just discussed how we choose desire over necessity all day long. Right, So here's what she here's what her response to that was. Okay, so you tell of me that you can't be this person. Is it that you can't be this person? Or is it that you won't be this person? Because it's not like there's somebody physically holding you back from being this person. Like

it's it's all decision. It's what you decide to be, is who you decide to be, is what you decide to do versus what you decide to not do. So it's all on you. So if you have told me that you can't be this person, you're telling me that there's something outside of you that is preventing you from being this person. It's either that or it's not that you can't be this person, is that you won't be this person because again, it's all decision based, So you're

deciding to not be who you know I need. That's that's a decision that you're making. And if that's the decision you're making, then yeah, we should get a divorce. I have too from a relationship prior to from up shout out to money, had a SHOT's mother, my two oldest children, it's my home girls, my folks, and then

we have three together, me and my wife Crystal. Yeah, so it but it literally took her pointing that out to me for me to realize, Yo, I'm I'm I'm lightweight, trying to cop out right now, and she's not letting me. She's not letting me cop out. Like there's something to that, man, you gotta pay attention to that, Like this woman's love for you was so strong that she's not allowing you to be a fucking coward right now. She's not allowing

you to do that. You know, she's holding you accountable and making you stand up for what it is as you truly want, If you want to be that, Go be that, and that's that. But don't tell me that you want to be over here but you don't feel like you can, because that's bullshit. If you want to

be here, you're gonna be here. And that's what that's the reality of it, and that's the reason that we see together because you can't you can't come across somebody that is that enlightened and that willing to hold you accountable on your bullsheet, even at the level that you are, like a nigga, I'm I'm I'm the breadwinner. I take care of my family, period. No one has to worry

or about anything because of me. Right, So there's a level of me that says within myself that I'm within my right to do whatever the funk I want to do because of the fact that I take care of everybody in my family. You feel that, but at the same time, but at the same time, you decided to be married, you decided to take that choice, you decided

to take that step. That is you saying that though you understand, you have the right to do whatever the funk you want to do, whatever the funk you want to do, because you provide for your whole family, You are deciding to consider the emotions and feelings and concern of another person. You're you're you're deciding to do that to choice that you're making to then turn around and like be to then turn around and and and to be fun up towards that, Like it's it's it's like,

it's like you sucking yourself. Fuck you know what I mean. It's self destructive self understand mind you, I don't never, I don't rever want of my mother fucker to feel like. What I'm saying is that it's not it's easy. Na. Of course, temptation wouldn't be temptation if it wasn't difficult. Like that's the reason that it's called what it's called temptation. Yeah, but there's a point in life where you gotta be like,

all right, do I genuinely care about this person? If and if I genuinely care about this person, am I going to continue doing the ship that I know is genuinely hurting me? As person? You have to outmaneuver temptation as well. Yeah, you know what, what what tempts you? Indeed? Get out that absolutely absolutely? But see but see so does it does a concept? Oh no, only anybody that's never seen Neo's head, and it's just just it's just a big gas head. The baby. That's it. That's it.

Ain't nothing wrong and no bucals and a weird tree. That's all it is. If m m m m damn, my brother, you Yo, you really allegend, though, Bro, you really allegend. You really kept it to the R and B core. If you know what's strange, I'm gonna tell you my my compliment has changed so like now like people will run up on me and be like, yo, you were my entire high school career, like my entire high school experience was you. I'm forty two right names.

But I have to accept that that is a compliment for nigger to be like, yo, you thought it wasn't I loved Jim music since I was eleven years old, And I'm like, oh shit, oh wow, can I stop you for one second. Let me just tell you what niggas tell me, Like I did a big to your ship. That's fucked up. Why don't you're like back in the day, let's be like world up. I'm like, I'm like, my nigger, do I owe you someone? Like why didn't you want didn't you go to jail for me? Why did you

feel like you listen to my music? Music? So at least but they made mute, they made babies. Yeah, No, it's just I feel like the music industry is very good at, uh hiding from you, from you the fact that you were aging. They're forty two years old. That listener after her, he agent, you're looking good. No no, no, no, no no, no, I'm nothing. I'm handsome as funk. I know that, say that. I say that with zero ego.

I'm a beautiful motherfucker. What I'm saying is to know that my album came out and like, oh what it was? Oh six oh six were in you know what I'm saying, Like he came out of oh six were two years after? I don't know, and you know your officiology. But yeah, so it's it's like I'm either uncle or o g now. And it's different. It's different from when I first came out and the love that I would get when I first came out versus the love that I get now.

It's still loves, but it's a different kind of love. It's like I grew up to you the type of love and and I mean I guess it's just me. Like when I'm in the moment, when I'm moving to shaking, I don't realize the time this passing. Like Nigga, we we toured off of in my own work, not in my own words. You're the gentleman. We toured off a year to the general for three years straight. We're talking about this Niga on the road three years. You come home for two days and you back out like three

years straight. Once that ship is done and you come home and it's like, oh, ship Nigga, we did win three Grammys. Oh ship Nigga. We did. We did sell this many records. Oh ship Nigga, we did do Wimbley Stadium eighty thousand. Motherfucker's jumping up and jumping up and down at the same time, Like you know what I'm saying, It hits you all at one moment, like yo, we have fucking we have made moves in this ship, but

not until until you sit still. So to sit still now, it's like I'm forty two years old, you know what I'm saying. And I'll do these little walk through these little host things or whatever, and it's like a little chicks run up on me. Like, oh my god, I've loved you since I was twelve, and it's like, how do you take that? You know? I mean, it's love, She's given love. I've loved you since I was twelve, So sick came out when I was twelve years old.

Fuck she's but listen, listen, you know how you take this. Let's let's think about the icons we've spoke about on the show already, the Stevie Wonders, the Bobby Browns, the Michael Jackson's, the Princess. It's generational. Age is age. We're all gonna age understand age to do it. That's no, no, no, that's reality. That's that's actually true. I'm like, yo, I'm not gonna try fuck it. This is good. I didn't think it was good white, but that's another story. Good,

he's good. He's good. But it's true. It's ages, and that doesn't make sense. We're all do it. We want to be legend. Look and what we're doing in entertainment. Listen to the legends that we talked about, the icons we've spoken about. You can't let that bother you because you are leading to that icon status. You want to be that person that transcends generations, not that one eleven year old or that seventeen year old, or someone calls it o G. Someone calls you onto your own gole

or whatever your fingers. That don't matter. M that's real. That's real with ticktok'll funk with TikTok. I have I have a I have a love hate relationship with TikTok. It feels say that because mind you, because of TikTok. My my record because of you is charting right now. You know what I'm saying. That's from my second fucking album. I've been here damn to twenty years. A song from my second album's charting because of TikTok because some little cats somewhere decided to get on there and and and

and figure out to dance whatever to my ship. So I can't I can't ever, I can't what I'm saying, I can't ever feel a way about TikTok because that that reality is reality. However, at the same time, there are songs that I've discovered via TikTok. There's artists that I've discovered via TikTok, And it's like what happens more often than not is that you hear the song on TikTok for the first time, well whatever, you know, clever ass video or creative whatever, whatever the case may be.

And then you go to Apple Music, you go to Spotify, pandor or whatever Top two, and you listen to the whole record and you realize the only part of the song that you like is the TikTok that is damaging there, that is damaging to the point where there's literally cats going to the studio creating records specifically for the TikTok. You get fifteen minutes of quality, you get thirty minutes of quality. Anything after that it don't even fucking matter

because you got your fifteen seconds. You got your fifteen your thirty seconds, right, you know what I mean. So that's that's the love and hate again. I've discovered artists off of TikTok. I've discovered music off of TikTok. But at the same time, for a cat to go into the studio and create art based off of what based off of the boundaries that TikTok has created, that's a problem for me personally, you know what I mean, that's a problem for me. I had to accept the fact

that as music evolves. Attentions fans are shorter. Now, so where you know, shout out to the boy, what's what's what's my boy? Cappella? Cappella Gray, what's his name? It's about the gallus Gallas. This is my palace. But I'm gonna do this song is like two songs amazing. Don't talk about shouted to the boy I made you Cappella Gray. I don't know his name. I'm whack. I'm right now, but shout out to him. But but that is just prime example of the fact that attention spans are shorter.

Now that that's not a like for the standard of what a song is supposed to be. That's not a full So it's two it's two minutes, it's a two minute records shorter. Second, bro right, this is TikTok's This is TikTok's uh algorithm. Yeah, this is there, this is this is why it is what it is. TikTok text has created this to where anything over two minutes too long. Then they banked on the fact that attention spans are shorter, and they and and they played to that you get

fifteen seconds. That does that make you make records different? Not me? That will make an artist make records different. But I don't make music specifically for TikTok. I make music for people. Now, if a person finds it within theirselfs to take fifteen seconds of a song that I created and do something TikTok to it, I'm not gonna stand in this way. But I will never go in the studio like, all right, let's create some records. I'm not that's I'm not doing that. I'm not doing I'm

not doing Come on. I came in, but I came up in an era where Luther Andres could do a ten minutes song and he didn't realize it was ten minutes until it was over. You know I'm talking about because you was just in the whole time, every fun, every swell, every lyric, every every fucking uh violin lick whatever that you was in, and then the ship was over, and you're like, oh ship, but in minutes. That's where I come from. That's where I come from. And to

truly get your point across, I'm sorry. Sometimes to take a look takes a little longer than two minutes. It takes a little longer than you know. In my opinion, it might be you need three verses. Yeah, at least at least so let me ask you out. When John comes to you, that actually about so he said Tanna earlier. I don't know if you called it. But Elton John comes to you, Old John says, I want you the writer record for me. But it gives you the subject matter.

It's not necessarily something that you are part of your straight man. Yes, we want to stand there, but John want to go ranching right, he wanted to do that. How do you how do you go about saying, oh, John, I got you to be a To be a songwriter, to step out in front of the world and declare yourself a songwriter is to declare yourself a public servant, meaning I am a person that writes music for the world. I'm a person that writes music for the world to enjoy.

If Elton John comes to me and says he wants to write a gay anthem, but I'm not gay. But he comes to me and says he likes the way that I use words, then I'm gonna jump in. I'm gonna jump in. And that's what it's that. That's that's what I try to get a lot of these young songwriters to understand. The more versaustl you are, the bigger

the potential for your bag. If a gay artist comes to you and ask for a song and you're not gay, so what You're not gonna write the song doesn't mean you're The way you write it is for you, it's no you find you find a way to tap into their ship. You find a way. That's I got into songwriting. I can't friend about this. I got into songwriting because of the ability to not be me. There was a point in my life where I ain't want to be me. I ain't want to I ain't want my reality. I

want any other reality but mine. Songwriting allows that. If I write a song for Beyonce in that moment, I'm sucking Beyonce, Goddamn, I'm I'm hurt, I'm here, I'm whoever the fuck? You know what I'm saying, I'm not I'm not me, And that was the the attraction to songwriting. Initially. I ain't want to be me for a minute. You know what I'm saying. It's it's it's it's it's deep, and it's darkness, dumb, and I don't want to go there.

But there was a point in my life where anything outside of who I was was good for me, and that's what helped me really lock into songwriting, you know what I mean. So if you're writing for somebody other than yourself, you have to consider the fact that you're writing for somebody other than you. This is not about a person that likes Mexican food and digs of color red. No, you're writing for somebody else. This is somebody outside of you.

This motherfucker likes purple and and and fucking Italian food, whatever the fuck. Whatever the fuck, you lock into that and you're right from there. That's that's that's how I've always got it in and that ship is works for me. Anybody could come to you, anybody write a subject about anybody like abody, if a person like pistachio ice cream. M hm hm no, no, no, because I see what you're doing. Go and you have you ever had past I have. I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan.

And Beyonce came to me and said, yo, I love pistachio ice cream and I want to sing about it. I'm gonna writer. I don't write, just want to make you like pistachio ice cream. If you don't your cream. You will do something like it too. I'm gonna write this song to make you go yo. I ain't never had pistetio ice cream, but let's get some. I'm gonna write that record. That's that's the that's the mentality, you know what I'm saying. That's that's what it is. Ice

King in Queens, New York. That was y'all shout out because that's my favorite Italian excuse me, ice cream shout out for staff your ice cream. I'm sorry, well I would, Yes, you want to smoke a blood with me, I've been I've been smoking a blood. Let's smoke a blood together, real blood. Give my blood blood. Listen. I came here from the airport, right, we try to give straight here. The newcases in the back room over there, all right, okay,

funk with y'all. It's like funk with y'all. I just I've worked hard enough in this business to be like, hey, I understand y'all got a time frame, but I'm gonna go to the hotel and get my ships straight and get him with y'all. I've worked hard enough to you to demand that. Came here the airport when job you know why you know why, I'm gonna be honest. Man, were so artists friendly, were so artists basic, and we so the thing about it is, I've lived this life

that you're living. I lived it, and I want to I want to salute it, like I love this life so much. Has changed my life. Like I literally had six months to find a job when I came home from jail, and my job that I found was hip hop. That's saved my life. So this is my way of giving back, And this is my way of seeing people like you, you know who came up probably after me, but you came up and you got that. You deserve your flowers, You deserved people to tell you how great

you are to your motherfucking face. And I'm gonna do it. And then you don't take nothing away from me. I don't take nothing. I'm still I'm still the ill nigger that I am. But to tell you that motherfucking Neo is a motherfucking and all the ship you did and continue to do, and all the artists that you work with. When I looked at your discography, and I looked at

because you know that's what I do. I google, but I like I like Foogo it's not like really Google, like I like half freegoogl right, So because guys, but all I and then when I see your name and when I see your name attached to all these other names, and I was just like, damn, this is this is so dope for my homie to come because because I know you from back there, but but for my homie to come and bless us because that's what you choose is you could have been in any world in the

world tonight. You can't here though, but you're here with drink chance, So thank you so much. And don't mix that drink. Hit it straight cast. So bo up now. I was too late. Don't mix that drink. It's straight cast. So bo up now, I was too late. Drink Japanese whiskey preferably yeah Zaka eight teams. Definitely, I still got you, like who got out? You spending big money since big hat who shot you? Time? And is everything? So why you gotta whack watch? I got security and snipers on

the black block. They thinking Keto when I'm saying one mill of day, ain't talking fact that when I'm talking one mill of day, could probably double it by leaving out the country before keep my at home. I'm happy, mom, fleet secure like Ray. I interview with Isasa raymore blush against the hips that be on Lisa Ray wikes that drink and it's straight and it's cast. So for up now, I was too late. Don't make that drink and it's straight cast, So war up now, I was too late

coming drink with me. Get shook and drunk to come and drink with me. Get your coups to come through time. I'm really happy. I'm really yeappy, really drinking your jews because y'all drink pappy fad winkle. My suits don't winkle. Always had the piss. I never had the twinkle, nor remasculine. We had Tomasgulate, big boy trumps in the big boys.

We had to left. I see they claiming that they rich to the bill, come to they accident or I got him, like they tell drawing a new life to me, like new life to me is cocaine a whole new white to me? I see they copy me without a gun. It's still a robbery drink. Chances a phenomenalone looks that drink and it's straight cast, So w up now, I was too late, don't make that drink and it's straight cast. So up now it's too late. Come in drink with me, Get get drunk, to come in drink with me, Get

come through. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Drink Champs, hosted by Yours truly, d J E F and n O r E. Please make sure to follow us on all our socials. Let's add Drink Champs across all platforms at the Real Noriegan I g at Noriega on Twitter, mine is at Who's Crazy on I g at d J e f N on Twitter, and most importantly, stay up to date with the latest releases, news and

merge by going to drink Champs dot com. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.